As team SNOW minus the "S" made their way to the landing pad they saw that team JNPR was already waiting for them. The first sign that there was a problem was when they noticed that everyone was wearing dark colors and Pyrrha had placed a sound suppressor on the end of her rifle.
Willow looked at her brother for a moment before she turned back to her team. "I might have forgotten about the fact that this is a night op" she said.
There was a set of groans and grunts from her team who were not dressed for such events but still had to get on the bullhead since there wasn't enough time for them to change. As they left they didn't see the drone that was being launched from Beacon to follow them.
..
They deboarded in silence the mission had been a failure and it had almost cost them dearly. Team JNPR headed for the infirmary. Nora had a new scar across her right shoulder, and Jaune had to get his hands put into a cast.
Once they had gotten Nora situated Jaune went to get his hands wrapped. Thanks to his aura all he needed was simple but firm wrappings of cloth to keep the bones in the right spot while they healed.
One his way to his room to get the wraps he passed by Shiro who called out. "Jaune, come here!"
Jaune knew that Shiro was serious by his tone so he chose to listen. When Jaune stepped into the room Shiro took one look at his hands and asked "what happened to your hands?"
Doing his best not to growl, Jaune answered. "You know full well what happened to my hands."
Shiro was about to respond when instead of speaking he decided to nod in agreement. Shiro had seen the entire operation from his hospital bed. Ozpin had given him the control for the drone. Which really meant that he gave orders and the drone did all the flying.
During the recon mission Olivia had been compromised and an immediate retreat was called by Jaune but it was too late. Team JNPR was already inside the compound and they needed to fight their way out. Ren managed to somehow sneak out on account his being a ninja, Nora was thankfully close enough to the exfil point that she didn't have far to go but she still took some shrapnel from a grenade.
Pyrrha made it out fine but that was why Shiro had called Jaune in. two men had both tried to shoot Pyrrha and Jaune. In response Jaune grabbed both guns by the muzzle and forced them away. He also got shot in both hands. His aura blocked the rounds but he still broke all the bones.
What Shiro saw next would stay with him for the rest of his life. The man who had tried to shoot Jaune was promptly thrown with an excellent hip toss that knocked the air out of the man followed by Jaune kicking him to keep him down.
The one who tried to shoot Pyrrha wasn't as lucky Jaune shot a double on him ducking under his muzzle in order to slam the man into the ground. While in full guard top Jaune grabbed the man's left hand and tucked it under his own back. Performing a semi guard pass the bandit tried to get to his feet only to be dragged to his hands and knees.
Jaune smoothly slipped his left leg between the man's and triangled them dragging the attacker's right leg away from his body. As he did this Jaune's right hand went to a half nelson position and his left went under the man's body to lock with his right on the back of the man's neck. In a single savage motion Jaune cranked and broke the man's neck.
Untangling himself from the now dead body Jaune sprang back to his feet and kept moving.
"Does she know?" Shiro asked. He was talking about Pyrrha. She hadn't seen Jaune stop or deal with the two men. In fact she hadn't even seen the bandits.
"Know what?" Jaune countered.
They both knew what Shiro was getting at. Jaune had disabled the man that was a threat to him but he made a fact of brutally killing the man who threatened Pyrrha. There weren't too many reasons for such a severe increase in his aggression.
A subtle smirk crossed Shiro's face as she said. "I'll take that as a no."
"Does Olivia know?" Jaune asked in response. What Jaune meant was that the man who spotted Olivia had just enough time to raise the alarm before he was shot by the 308 rifle mounted to the drone.
Shiro shrugged. "She knows that she had overwatch, I don't know if she knows who it was." as they spoke Shiro looked into the hallway and saw someone leading to him asking Jaune. "I thought Oliva made it back alright?"
Turning to check the hallway, Jaune saw Olivia in the room across the hall getting her right hand wrapped in a temporary cast. "She did." Jaune answered moving to get some answers.
"What happened to you? Jaune asked, trying to sound sympathetic.
"You know exactly what happened to me, your damn monk broke my wrist." She snapped.
Jaune had a feeling that Ren was less than happy with Olivia but he wasn't under the impression that he would ever act like this. "you're the one who tried to attack him." Naomi chimed in.
Olivia seemed displeased with Naomi's words but also seemed to agree with her.
The matter having been addressed. Jaune returned to Shiro who had somehow fallen asleep in the less than two minutes that Jaune left.
With a slight shake of his head Jaune went back to his dorm. He didn't see Ren but that was to be expected. Nora was staying in the infirmary overnight so that was where Ren was staying too.
Pyrrha was sitting at her desk, Jaune couldn't tell what she was doing but he needed to talk to her. Before he could she spoke."I know what you did to those men today." she sounded down and Jaune could tell why.
Jaune had killed a man because he was going to shoot at her. She was still trying to handle that fact. And Jaune wasn't aware that she had even seen what happened. He wanted to say something but he didn't have any idea what to say. He had killed before and he was probably gonna kill again.
He gently set on his hands on Pyrhha's shoulder. "You didn't have to kill him." she whispered. "You could have just disabled him like you did the other one. So why did you kill him?" Jaune was about to try and talk his way out of answering her question when she cut him off. "You're my partner if you have an issue about killing without reason then I deserve to know."
Her tone was stern so he knew that he needed to answer. :I don't really want to talk about it." The look she gave him told Jaune that he needed to give her a better answer than that. "I kinda saw red for a few seconds. I don't really know why I did it"
"Don't you dare lie to me" Pyrrha interrupted. "Over the past four weeks you have never done a single thing without reason so why did you kill him and why are you trying to avoid answering."
Pyrrha was getting more and more worked up with each second and it made Jaune look away and mutter. " I would never be talked to like this at home,"
"Well then maybe you should go back there!" she spat.
"That;s not what I meant," Jaune said. "I appreciate it, I really do. Back at home I am something of a big deal, my father is the head of the family and I am the only son. Every one but my father mother and sisters does exactly as I say and looks at me like some kind of fucking prince."
Pyrrha was stunned. She had never thought she would say the words she was about to say but that didn't stop her. "I know how you feel, I really do. Being a multiple time undefeated champion everyone puts me on this pedestal. The only people who are willing to talk to me tend to want to use me and the only people who wouldn't try and use me don't think of themselves as worthy of talking to me."
There was an uneasy silence that fell over the room. There was a lot that was being left unsaid but Pyrrha had a pretty good idea what it was. She snaked one of her hands from her desk to the hand that Jaune had on her shoulder.
Turning to look at him for the first time in the conversation they shared an unspoken sentence in that moment. A look that shared more than words ever could.
…
Nora was awakened when she felt someone move her blankets. She was still in the infirmary so they could keep an eye on her wound's healing. But she knew who it must have been. Ren. he was the only one who would bother sneaking into her room.
When she felt his arms wrap around her and curl up to her back she knew for a fact that it was Ren. Nora felt Ren's face press into the small scar on her right shoulder. When she felt him start to shake and silently cry into her back she laced her fingers through his and did her best to comfort him.
She and Ren were all that they had left in life so the fact that Nora could have been hurt today had sent him through a loop she understood that about him. Just like she understood most everything else about Ren.
Ren had settled down and by now was on his way to sleeping. She leaned her head back and set herself into the curve of Ren's body. Sleep was a welcoming Idea so she settled her mind and decided to go back to sleep.