And here we go.
Individual System
"So it was really Merlot's research then?"
"Unless someone managed to build an entire lab under his building without him knowing, the evidence looks pretty damning."
Doctor Polendina scratched his unkempt beard as he gave his report. There was a pot of lukewarm coffee on his desk. On his screen and many miles away, James Ironwood frowned in thought.
"Merlot was always a little too interested in the creatures of Grimm. At the time, I merely thought it was the result of his inquisitive mind," Ironwood said, almost thoughtfully. "He was a brilliant man who did much for the people of Remnant and a strong proponent of expanding the kingdoms' borders. He and I were like-minded in that regard."
Polendina took a sip of his coffee. Others would have grimaced upon noticing how lukewarm it was. Polendina was used to it.
"As I recall," the scientist said. "Merlot Industries used quite a bit of capital to finance many expansion projects, Mountain Glenn being the most notorious."
Polendina was not the sort of person who bothered to watch the news. His interests in current events did not extend beyond the latest scientific journals. Yet, not even he had been able to avoid hearing about the tragedy of Mountain Glenn. "Vale's Greatest Tragedy" the newspapers of the time had called it, and not without reason. It was the single largest loss of lives since the end of the Great War.
"He did. At the time, I was grateful that a man like him existed, one who did not put profit over the benefit of humanity. After dealing with so many two-faced businessmen, I found Merlot a refreshing change of pace." Ironwood smiled mirthlessly. "Ozpin warned us both against the project, but we did not heed him. He warned me about Merlot. I did not listen. I'll have to tell him he was right."
"Oh?" This he had not known. Polendina raised an eyebrow. "Ozpin and Merlot did not get along?"
"Believe it or not, it was one-sided. Ozpin disliked Merlot and never made an effort to hide it. Meanwhile, Merlot was quite fond of Ozpin, which only made Ozpin angrier." Ironwood smiled. "Merlot infuriated Ozpin, and he did so without trying. Back then, I enjoyed knowing Ozpin was not above petty dislikes, but I should have treated his worries more seriously."
Polendina's eyebrows rose progressively higher as Ironwood kept talking.
The scientist had met the headmaster of Beacon only one time. It had been at a stupid party Ironwood had forced him to go for utterly meaningless reasons. The people there had been the blandest and most uninteresting lot Polendina had ever met, and the old man hadn't bothered hiding his thoughts.
The same could not be said of Ozpin.
Ozpin had maintained a placid smile all throughout the evening. No matter what was said in front of him. No matter how the people around him acted. Never once had his polite mask faltered. Polendina may not care much for social niceties, but that didn't mean he couldn't spot a master when he saw one.
For someone like Ozpin to outright not get along with someone was... curious.
And alarming.
"Merlot sounds like an interesting man," Polendina admitted. "If it helps, you were not entirely wrong about him. It's clear he did have an inquisitive mind. One which was very interested in Grimm."
Ironwood leaned forward, lips thinned and hands steepled together.
"How interested?"
"Obsessed. Mad, even." Polendina's fingers moved over the keyboard. "I'm sending my report on what I have been able to glean from his files. Bear in mind Grimm Studies is not a field I specialize in. There was a lot of stuff I could barely make sense of, and even if you call your Grimm experts, I doubt they'll fare much better."
"That bad?"
"Bad. Good. It's all the same in this case." The old scientist waved a hand distractedly. "I'm sure you're probably going to spend all night reading what I just gave you, but let me give you the short version."
"I'm listening."
"Let's start with the big one. Studies on negativity. It's the age-old question, isn't it? What exactly constitutes as negativity from a Grimm's perspective. Suppose you have a happy murderer on one end of the room, a depressed child on the other, and a Grimm in the middle. Which one does the Grimm kill first?"
Ironwood did not pale like others would have. Still, his facial muscles tensed in a way that would have sent lesser men running.
"Don't tell me…"
Polendina nodded. "Yep. Human experimentation. He would place human and faunus subjects near Grimm and see how Grimm reacted to them. Drugs would be used to create different emotional states." More cold coffee went down his throat.
"Let me tell you something, the man kept a very detailed record of his experiments. Everything from the drugs used, the age of the subjects, and which species of Grimm he fed them to. The last one he added to see if different species had different emotional preferences. He suspected the abilities of the Apathy had arisen due to a predilection for emotional numbness while simpler species like Beowolves and Ursa preferred the fear they created while attacking."
Ironwood's face might as well have been carved from stone.
"Continue."
"Right. Here's where the interesting part comes in, and I don't mean that in a bad way," Polendina was quick to reassure him. "As we all know, studying Grimm in captivity is a difficult, almost fruitless endeavor. However, Merlot was capable of keeping several Grimm in captivity for significant lengths of time. According to his files, some specimens were kept in captivity for years."
Ironwood did not miss the significance of this information.
"The longest we have managed to keep a Grimm from killing itself is around a month. How did Merlot surpass our best efforts by such a wide margin?"
"Two ways." Polendina held up two fingers. "First, by keeping the Grimm—and there's really no easy way to say this—fed. According to his notes, Grimm showed decreased self-destructive tendencies if allowed to periodically kill humans and faunus. He likened this behavior to animals in a zoo being healthier when their habitat was recreated as opposed to being kept in cages."
"That is not an option for us."
"Obviously! However, that was not all he did. Merlot also figured out how to put Grimm in suspended animation. I started to suspect it when Specialist Schnee gave her report and told us about the state Merlot's experiments were in before being released. Looking at his notes confirmed it."
Ironwood's eyes glowed with interest. "Can we replicate this?"
"Merlot's notes are heavily encrypted. Even with Penny's help, it took a long time just to learn this much. That said, the machines are all there. It shouldn't be a problem to reverse-engineer them."
Ironwood sighed. "That's one good thing to come out of this mess at least. As for the bodies of the people Merlot used, did Jaune come across any of them?"
Polendina shook his head. "By some miracle, he didn't. Human subjects were kept on the second floor, not that there were any alive by the time those two arrived."
The doctor wondered just how much of that had been luck and how much had been thanks to Penny's directions. Had his daughter intentionally chosen a route that would keep them from seeing what remained of those people? If so, was it kindness or practicality that guided her hand?
Had Penny wanted to spare them that sight or had she reasoned seeing such a thing would lower Arc's combat efficiency?
Oh, who was he kidding?
Of course it had been kindness! His daughter's heart was way too large for her own good.
"What about the mutated Grimm?" Ironwood asked. "Specialist Schnee mentioned them in her report. What do we know about their creation?"
Polendina grimaced. "Not much, and by not much, I mean nothing at all, It's not likely to change either."
Ironwood's very unamused face somehow managed to become even more unamused. The man truly had a gift for displaying multiple levels of stern disapproval.
"Explain."
"Merlot covered his bases well. The moment his systems detected our virus, several security measures were enacted. Releasing the Grimm was just one of them. Deleting the most sensitive files without leaving a trace was another. We have full access to Merlot's installations now, but without his files, it's going to take a lot of guesswork to figure out how he modified those Wendigos."
Polendina's shrug showed what he thought of their odds.
"I see." Ironwood took a deep breath. His muscles strained against his neatly-pressed uniform, a testament to how frustrated he was. "For now, that will be our top priority. I want you on it as soon as possible."
"No."
"I beg your pardon." The frozen cold barely held back in Ironwood's voice would have sent battle-hardened Huntsmen running in fear. Professor Polendina did not even flinch. He stared back at Ironwood, nonplussed.
"Finding out what Merlot did might be your first priority, but it isn't mine. Need I remind you of our deal?" Polendina fired back. "Penny is my top priority. I don't care how many people died in Merlot's experiments or why he thought making Grimm more dangerous was a good idea. My research is for my daughter. You want someone to help you figure out Merlot's mess? Get another scientist to do it, preferably one who actually specializes in Grimm research. Gods know there are enough PhDs in Atlas."
Their eyes warred against each other. It lasted no more than three seconds, yet had someone else been there, that person would surely have suffocated.
In the end, it was the general who gave up first.
"You're right," he admitted with a sigh. "That's not what I hired you for. IXA is still a priority, and I have more than enough people to investigate every inch of that accursed place without unduly occupying your time." Ironwood's mental hand curled into a fist. "I am just… frustrated. How did this happen? How could we miss it? Fort Grey is right there! How was that lab even working?"
"I can help shed some light into that," Polendina said. "According to the blueprints Penny recovered, there is a Dust vein located right under the building. The lab was supposed to reach all the way down there, allowing the droids to mine it."
A costly endeavor. There was a reason why mining companies used people instead of robots. If a robot broke, you would need to spend quite a bit of money on repairing it or buying a new one.
If a miner broke, you could just hire another one. There was no end of faunus looking for jobs out there.
"By mining the Dust, the lab would have been able to continue functioning without trouble," Ironwood deduced, his brow furrowed in thought. "Runaway miners would have easily been captured by the robots without us noticing. The SDC wouldn't have bothered to report the disappearances."
After all, a missing miner was hardly unheard of.
"Yes, that would explain everything… except the construction never reached that point," Polendina said. "Penny confirmed it for me. The lab was working, but it was never finished. It never reached the Dust vein. There is no way those droids would have been able to mine it. Similarly, while the droids could have captured some of the miners who ran away, there is no way they would have been able to capture so many Grimm without drawing attention. "
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying all evidence points to someone having used that lab very recently. Someone came in and brought people and Grimm for testing. They also brought enough Dust to power the facility for months."
Polendina pressed his hands together, a severe frown on his face.
"Just how sure are we that Merlot died in Mountain Glenn?"
xXx
"So you're not actually in Fort Grey?"
It had been an hour since Jaune had left the infirmary, having lost consciousness shortly after the soldiers picked him up and loaded him on the bullhead. By the time he woke, IXA had been taken off him, and his body had been wrapped in bandages.
The suit had heated his body enough to cause minor burns. Nothing serious, of course. Although it had been Jaune's first real battle, IXA had not taken nearly as much of a toll on him as it had the first time he put the thing on. His Aura had already healed his injuries.
Well, Jaune thought, rubbing his arm, almost all of them.
A minor burn had been left on his arm from when he'd used the IXA Knuckle on the Grimm, the Wendigo.
It was nothing serious. According to the base's doctor, his Aura should slowly heal it over the next few months until it was barely noticeable. He had wanted Jaune to stay the night for observation, but Jaune had been too restless to listen. The moment the doctor turned his attention elsewhere, Jaune's legs had taken him out of the room.
He had wandered through the base and eventually reached the roof. His Atlas-issued jacket protected him from the cold while he stared at the horizon, sitting on the edge.
It was then that Penny's call had reached him. For the past few minutes, she had been keeping him company.
"Negative," she replied. "I currently reside in Atlas, Rider Jaune."
"Then how...?"
"As I said before, my father called upon my aid to sift through the data recovered from Merlot's computer. The virus my father designed transmitted the data from Merlot's lab to Fort Grey and then to Altas using the CCT support towers. When I found out what Merlot's security measures would do, I had Father transmit the call to you."
"You were able to go through so much information so quickly? That's amazing!"
"When it comes to computers, I am, as they say, the bomb."
Jaune chuckled. The call was sound-only, but he could almost imagine Penny puffing her chest with pride.
Come to think of it, he had no idea what Penny looked like, did he?
"I guess you are." Jaune scratched his cheek. "So, Doctor Polendina is your father then?"
"Indeed, he is, Rider Jaune."
"And how is that like?"
Jaune didn't mean to sound rude, but he couldn't imagine the workaholic man ever finding the patience to settle down, let alone raise a daughter.
"Oh, he is wonderful!" Penny said. "Father teaches me many things. We spent a lot of time together."
"You do?" Jaune blinked. That didn't sound right. "I thought the doctor barely left his lab?"
He was pretty sure of it. It was a running joke among the staff.
"O-Of course!" Penny hiccuped. "Of course, Father is a busy man. I meant to say we call each other a lot." She hiccuped again. "Yes, we spend time together through scroll calls. That is what I meant, Rider Jaune!"
Jaune blinked. Not even he was dense enough to miss something wasn't quite right with that answer, but his parents had raised him better than to intrude on other people's family matters.
Besides, he owed Penny for helping him out. Might as well change the subject.
"Say, Penny, since it's safe to say you know about IXA," Another oddity. "Do you know if it's going to be fixed soon?"
"Ah, yes!" Penny seemed happy for the change in subject. "Father was most pleased by the data collected during your fight against the Wendigo. He is currently reviewing IXA's video feed, although he had to mute it first."
Jaune furrowed his brow. "How come?"
"You were screaming too much, Rider Jaune."
Jaune swallowed.
"I was screaming?"
"Oh yes, you were quite loud, Rider Jaune. I tried giving tactical advice several times, but you did not seem to hear me," the girl replied. "Based on my analysis, it is safe to say the pressure of the situation overrode some of your cognitive abilities. As I understand, it is fairly common when facing combat for the first time."
Oh.
Was that how things happened?
Sure, his throat had hurt after the fight, but had he really been screaming all throughout it? Had Penny been giving him advice, and he was just so focused on stopping the Wendigo that he hadn't heard it?
That was worrying.
It was also not something he wanted to think about right now, so Jaune tossed that knowledge and everything related to it to a dark corner of his mind that housed most of his doubts and fears.
It was a very cramped corner.
"You know," Jaune said. "You don't have to call me Rider all the time. It sounds too official. We're friends. Just call me Jaune."
A garbled, high-pitched sound came from the other end of the line.
"F-Friends!?" Penny said. "Do you... Are we really friends?"
"Of course we are! We watched cartoons together, and you helped me save a bunch of people from Grimm. That makes us friends as far as I'm concerned." He cocked his head to the side. "Don't tell me I was the only one who thought that way?"
"N-No! Of course not, Friend Jaune!"
"You don't really need to add the-"
"This is sensational!" Penny wasn't listening anymore. "We can play games. Oh, we can play right now!"
"Right now?"
Penny did not answer right away. Instead, a chess app he didn't remember downloading booted on his scroll.
The enemy player's username was P3nny14159.
Jaune shrugged. "Okay, sure. Why not?"
xXx
The night's cold air hit Jaune's cheeks as he idly traced a finger over his scroll. In the end, thirty games passed before Jaune and Penny said their goodbyes. She sounded like she wanted to keep playing, but her father had entrusted her with a few tasks that required her full attention.
Although the number of games played might give one the impression a lot of time had gone by, it more spoke of the disparity of skill between them.
Jaune was no stranger to chess. In a family as large as his, board and card games were fairly common. Monopoly. Chess. Checkers. Poker. Remnant. If it existed, chances were the Arcs had played it at least once. As far as chess skill went, Jaune was probably one of the better players in his family, below his parents and Bleu, but above everyone else.
Penny defeated him in ten turns the first time they played.
Their last game lasted thirty-five turns, but Jaune had only been delaying the inevitable. Playing against Penny was nerve-wracking. She chose her moves so quickly, he ended up getting caught in her pace.
It was like she didn't need to think at all.
The whole thing would have dented his pride, if Penny hadn't been so happy throughout it all, and not in a mean-spirited way. Rather than being happy she beat him, Penny just seemed glad to have someone to play with. She was so unfailingly innocent about her overwhelming strength, Jaune couldn't muster the will to feel bad about losing.
He was still going to suggest another game next time they played.
It was probably going to be Hungry Hippos.
"Ha! Told you he was here!"
Jaune turned to see Red and Blue walking into the roof. Red smiled at him and raised his hand in greeting.
"Am I in trouble?" Jaune couldn't help but ask. He had left the infirmary without permission.
"For what? Taking a walk? Nah." Red plopped himself down next to him. "Figure you'd need some time to yourself, Jaune."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "No Yellow John this time?"
He immediately cursed himself for reminding Red of that but was surprised to see the soldier shaking his head. "Eh, it wasn't catching on. It's fine. We'll figure out a cool name for you later."
"Please, don't."
"What he means to say is that he's trying to be considerate in light of what happened," Blue said, taking Jaune's other side. "How are your injuries?"
Jaune turned to Red, looking for confirmation, but the soldier's face was a mask. Literally. He and Blue never seemed to take their helmets off.
Seriously, how did they not get tired of wearing those things?
"I'm okay," Jaune answered. He absent-mindedly rubbed his arm. "A bit sore, but my Aura already took care of most of it. The doctor told me there wouldn't be lasting damage."
"I guess that's what having a big Aura does for you," Red said, clicking his tongue. "You're so lucky. If it had been me, I'd probably be in bed for a week."
"I'm sorry?" Jaune said, not knowing how else to react. Blue sighed.
"He's trying to compliment you."
"Oh," Jaune said. "Thank you then?"
"No problem!" Red said, patting Jaune's back energetically. Months ago, those friendly pats would have knocked him over. Now, he barely felt them. Aura was truly amazing. "But hey, your first mission! You did good!"
"I did?" He really needed to stop answering with questions. "I mean, Winter did most of the job."
Winter had taken three Wendigos on her own while he had barely been able to take down one.
He hadn't even been able to stop it from reaching the town!
"If not for you, that Grimm would have hurt all those people. That's a huge achievement!" Again Red patted him on the back while laughing. "It's okay to be proud of yourself, you know? How many people get to say they saved an entire town during their first mission?"
Blue sighed again. "He's trying to ask how you're doing after the mission. From what we heard, you didn't exactly get that many cheers."
"Dude!"
"What?"
"Ever heard of tact?"
"Ever heard of getting to the point?"
"I was getting to it!"
"No, it's okay," Jaune said, surprisingly himself by calm he sounded. "It's fine. Really. It kind of bothered me a little, but it's not a big deal. I didn't do all those things to get praised."
Even if it would have felt kind of nice.
It was how things were supposed to go, wasn't it? The hero saved the village from the monster, and everyone cheered for him. They sang songs in his name, and a pretty girl would kiss him before he rode off into the sunset.
They weren't supposed to look at the hero like he was another monster.
In the townspeople's defense, Jaune had been wearing IXA. He knew he hadn't exactly cut the most approachable figure back then. Besides, he wasn't lying when he said he hadn't saved those people to be praised. The thought had not even once crossed his mind.
All Jaune had been thinking about was that he needed to stop the Grimm. He needed to save those people. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Still, it hurt.
"That was a nice answer," Blue said, nodding. He then pushed something into Jaune's chest. "Too bad we aren't buying it. Drink."
Jaune blinked as he looked at the cold metal can in his hands.
Atlas Bock.
"You are giving me beer?"
"Damn right, we are!" It was Red who spoke this time. He held a beer can in one hand and a six-pack in the other. A look at Blue confirmed there was another six-pack next to him.
How had he not noticed those?
"You did a good thing. Now, we celebrate!"
"You guys know I'm fifteen, right?" Jaune asked, earning a snort from both men.
"You're old enough to fight Grimm and save a town. You're old enough to drink. Just make sure not to make a habit out of it," Blue said, opening his own beer. He took a long swig. "Besides, if you don't drink, Red will pour the beer down your throat."
The man in question nodded. "I totally will."
Faced with pressure from both sides, Jaune sighed and opened his beer can. The drink ended up not tasting as bad he feared, nor did it burn its way down his throat.
Jaune took another sip, then a longer one.
Red grinned. "Good, eh?"
Jaune nodded.
"Yeah."
For a while, none of them spoke. They just stared into the horizon as empty beer cans accumulated around them. It was when Jaune was halfway through his third beer that he opened his mouth.
"Is it always like that? The people… do they always react like that?"
Red mulled over his question for a second.
"I want to tell you it had more to do with you looking like a killer robot, but that wouldn't be fair to you. Don't get me wrong. People have a lot of respect for the military, but when it comes to faunus, it gets complicated."
"Complicated how?"
"There are several factors that come into play," Blue said, taking over the explanation. "The Faunus War is a big one."
Jaune frowned.
The Faunus War. More commonly known as the Faunus Rights Revolution. The whole thing had started with Mistral trying to deport all faunus within its borders to Menagerie. The faunus hadn't liked that and fought back.
To everyone's surprise, the faunus ended up winning.
"Officially, the Faunus War was an affair between the Kingdom of Mistral and all the faunus living there, but troops from Atlas were sent to Mistral during the war. Not to aid in suppressing the faunus, of course," Blue was quick to add. "With Mistral using most of its militia to fight the faunus, there weren't many people left to protect the borders from the Grimm. Soldiers from Altas were sent there to bolster Mistral's defenses."
Blue grimaced. "However, it would be a lie to say no incidents between the Atlas military and the faunus belligerents happened, and a bigger lie to say no people died during those. It was war, and tensions were high. Shit happened. If you ask different people, you'll get different answers over how the whole thing went down. Over time, it became accepted among faunus that Atlas sent troops there to help Mistral pacify them even though that's not what really happened. It has been decades since then, but many faunus are still leery about us, not necessarily without reason."
"Also, they were miners, so that kind of adds to the whole thing," Red added.
Jaune was about to ask what that meant when a new voice provided the answer.
"The SDC is known to skimp out on their screening processes for hiring laborers. This leads to people with less than desirable attributes being placed in positions of authority."
Jaune's eyes bugged out as he saw Winter Schnee walking towards them. The woman was dressed in her Specialist uniform. There was not a single wrinkle in it nor a hair out of place in her head. No one would be able to tell she had been fighting against dozens of foes less than a day ago.
More importantly, she was his superior officer, and he had a can of beer in his hand.
"I-Ma'am this is…"
"We were just…"
"This is their fault!"
Winter sighed. "At ease, gentlemen. I am not here to punish you."
The three men watched in bizarre fascination as Winter Schnee sat down next to them. She grabbed a beer and opened it with practiced ease.
Jaune stared as she drank. He wasn't the only one. Jaune then looked at his beer for a very long second in which he wondered if things would make more sense if he finished it.
He did, but they didn't.
"So," Jaune said, deciding to give up on things making sense, "What did you mean by people with less than desirable attributes, ma'am?"
"She meant racists," Blue answered.
"Precisely," Winter nodded. "Imagine what would happen if someone with less than kind feelings towards faunus were to have dozens of them working for him. It is a mining town, which means it will most likely be isolated from civilization. The people there all work for the SDC. Many abuses of power can and do happen under those circumstances."
"It's the sort of thing that leads one to become disenchanted with authority," Blue added.
"Are you saying those miners were being…?" Jaune trailed off, blinking as his mind made the connection. "But would they be able to get away with stuff like that with a military base so close by?"
"Usually not," Winter said, taking another swig of her beer. "Unless, of course, someone here deliberately looked the other way, or worse, was paid to look the other way."
Blue frowned. "Ma'am, are you suggesting that-"
"I am," Winter cut in, her voice cold. "I have included my suspicions in my report to General Ironwood. An investigation will be launched soon enough to verify how accurate they are. Fort Grey, it seems to me, has been left unattended for far too long."
"So that's why they acted so scared of us?" Jaune asked. "The overseers in the mines abuse them, and the military doesn't do a thing to help?"
"It is a possibility," Winter said.
"Makes you feel better about how they reacted to you, doesn't it?"
"It makes me feel worse! Shouldn't we do something about it? We should do something about it!"
"Easy there," Blue said, grabbing Jaune by the shoulder and pushing him down as he was about to stand. "What do you think you're going to do? Go there, demand answers, and beat anyone who tries to stop you?"
"Maybe…?"
"That would be pointless," Winter chided. "Such a course of action may make you feel better at the moment, but it will ultimately cause more harm than good. General Ironwood has already been informed of the situation. That is all we can do right now." Her gaze softened. "The general is a good man. If anything crooked is happening in Fort Grey, he will make sure to stamp it out. Additionally, the discovery of Merlot's lab means more personnel will be sent here, personnel approved personally by General Ironwood. You can be sure any potential abuses of power happening will cease to exist soon enough."
"So maybe, just focus on the stuff you can do right now instead of the things you can't," Red added.
Jaune did not say anything for a while. He thought of the miners and Dr. Onyx all the way back in Atlas. He thought of IXA and Ironwood and his role in everything.
What could he do for now?
"Are we doing laps tomorrow?" He asked Winter.
"Do you wish to?"
"Yes, I think I'd like that, ma'am."
xXx
Penny was unmatched when it came to sifting through data, but not even she had been able to glimpse every action taken by Merlot's security system. She hadn't realized that the moment the facility had detected intruders, all the video files being recorded were streamed to a nearby CCT Support Tower which had bounced them to another Support Tower then another and another until it reached the central tower in Atlas.
From there, reaching a small island many miles away from Vale had been all too easy.
Thin lips curved into a smile as their owner watched a recording of IXA tearing apart a security droid before manhandling a medium-sized Ursa.
"Well," the man said. "This is interesting."
AN:
Do Individual System, I told myself. It'll be easy. No heavy subjects. Just mindless action. You can leave all that stuff for when you're writing Maybe I'm a Lion.
Screw you, Past Me!
In case it isn't clear from the chapter, the SDC doesn't go out of its way to abuse faunus. It just ends up creating circumstances in which abuse is likely to happen because Jacques is a penny-pincher.
Also, canonically, the Faunus Rights Revolution seems to have been a conflict between the faunus and all four kingdoms. As you can tell by the chapter, I'm changing it to something smaller. Because the faunus managing to win against the four kingdoms at once never made much sense to me. Here, it was just Mistral who they fought against. There were a few conflicts with the Atlas troops sent there, but nothing critical.
Anyway, IXA has had its first successful field test. Jaune has gotten a taste of heroism and befriended Penny. Merlot is lurking in the background. Time for the story to move to the next stage!
Next Time: Count the Medals!