Ironwood checked his watch again as the elevator slowly rose up to Ozpin's office. The breach had been put to rest a few hours ago and a lot has happened since then. The Council of Vale and Atlas had decided to have him oversee security for the Vytal Festival and Roman Torchwick was in his custody. He wasn't talking yet, but he will, given a few weeks. He had been thinking both of these over and coming up with what exactly he'd need to protect Vale when he got a message from Ozpin.
That Ozpin had messaged him so soon after the meeting with the Council was surprising, even more so in that it was marked as urgent and simply said, 'Come to my office.' Ironwood didn't know what to make of that, but Ozpin never used 'urgent' unless he meant it. So Ironwood took a ship down to Beacon as soon as he could. He could get most of the important work needed for Vytal done on his scroll anyway.
The elevator finally stopped and Ironwood walked out into Ozpin's office. The man himself was sitting at his desk while Summer Rose was in front of it looking back at him. Her and Ironwood shared a look for a moment until Ironwood stood in front of Ozpin's desk as well. "Sorry for the delay, I came as soon as I could," he said.
"He's here, can I continue now?" Summer asked and looked at Ozpin, who only nodded in response.
'He looks white as a sheet!' Ironwood thought now that he got a good look at his fellow headmaster. Ozpin had his hands clenched in front of him and his eyes were narrowed dangerously at his desktop. "Continue what?" Ironwood asked aloud.
"I was giving my report on my team's mission to Mountain Glenn," Summer explained and crossed her arms, "but when I got to one of the bigger points, he stopped me and said we had to wait for you."
"Well, no offense, but I've pieced together what happened more or less. The train that caused the breach today was from Mountain Glenn right?"
"A White Fang operation in the undercity, yes. And the Moon General was the one who pulled the trigger." Ozpin's hands clenched tighter and Ironwood felt his heart stop for a moment. Then anger started to wash over him.
"The Mo— one of those monsters was at Mountain Glenn!? Are you sure?"
"Positive. This is the second time they've been involved with White Fang activity, third if you count overall sightings." Summer uncrossed her arms and started pacing a little. "I don't like this at all. They have to be planning for the city and today was just another part of it, but I just can't understand why!"
"I don't think it's the city they're after," Ozpin said. Ironwood looked at him, their gazes meeting for a moment, and he nodded.
"It's the Vytal Festival. It's one of the biggest events in all of Remnant. All these preparations and planned attacks might be aimed to weaken the ties that bind all the nations here!" Ironwood clenched the fist on his right arm before letting it go. "Well I won't allow that."
"But this feels like overkill!" Summer said, "Would Salem really send some of her strongest monsters just to oversee small operations like this?"
"I don't doubt it in the slightest," Ozpin said and pushed himself up straight in his seat, "though it is odd you ran into Moon. That one has no prior affiliation with anything outside of Atlas, especially with the White Fang." Ozpin looked at Ironwood, who nodded to the silent question sent to him, and started lightly tapping his fingers on his desk. "It would have made sense if the Hierophant was there again, but with Moon there…"
"On that subject, I need to ask how you managed to survive against it," Ironwood said looked at Summer. "Please, don't leave anything out." Summer bit her lip and rubbed her chin for a moment before she sighed and shrugged.
"Teamwork and luck. I went to scout the White Fang base alone, got caught, and met Moon there. If the others hadn't shown up and given me a chance, she probably would have killed me." Summer moved to lean against Ozpin's desk and continued, "I regrouped with my team and started our assault on the train. We split up along the way and I ran into Moon after dealing with Torchwick. I fought her as hard as I could, but I think she was just toying with me."
"Is there anything that stood out about the way she fought?"
"She was fast as hell, just as strong as the other ones, skilled in swordplay…" Summer paused and wondered if she should really add the last part before rationality won out, "and she used glyphs."
"Glyphs?" Ozpin asked.
"Like Schnee Glyphs. I know it sounds bizarre, but I don't know how else to describe them. She fired icicles, used them for platforms, and trapped me and my team in a block of ice. What I don't get is how. Aren't the Schnee glyphs a part of their Semblance, and even then they still need to use Dust." She looked up at both men, both looking unnerved, and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"If I were to guess," Ozpin started, "it's probably an ability Salem gave it to assist with tasks. As for why so specific an ability though…"
"Just like with everything about them, this is all just speculation based on too little information," Ironwood finished and rubbed his eyes. When he was done he gestured to Summer, "Is there anything else? How did you fight it off?"
"I didn't. Like I said, she was just toying with me." Summer crossed her arms and stared down at the floor, the gears underneath her doing little to assuage her. "She was just stalling me until the train was too far along its route to be stopped. She said as much when my team rejoined me before she froze all of us in ice and left us to deal with the mess." Her fingers dug into her arm and she grit her teeth, "And I fucking fell for it."
"That you survived is commendable. Don't think less of yourself because you didn't do more," Ozpin said gently, though he couldn't tell if his words had an effect from where he sat.
"I agree, and even when the situation was the most dire you and your team took a stand in defense of your kingdom," Ironwood said and stepped closer to put a hand on Summer's shoulder. "Don't worry that you didn't do more, you did enough. You're not the only Huntress in Vale you know, and I swear that this won't happen again." Summer nodded slightly and waited for Ironwood to take his hand off before she pushed off the desk and turned to Ozpin.
"So I take it you've heard about the Grimm during the breach too?" she asked, "About how easy the whole thing was?"
"From you and several other Huntsmen as well. It is concerning that a deathblow wasn't dealt after all of this, but we should also be thankful for that as well." Ozpin clasped his hands together and shook his head, "Whatever it is Salem is planning, it seems our instant death isn't on the table just yet."
"And as I've said, she won't get another chance for that," Ironwood added forcefully. Summer gave Ozpin a questioning look that only got a small shake of the head in response. Ironwood missed the small exchange and he continued, "So, unless there's something else, I need to get back to work. There's a lot of that today."
"Actually," Summer said, "there is something I wanted to ask you General." Ironwood gestured for Summer to continue, which she did after crossing her arms. "Professor Ozpin told me that you've been cracking down on cults that form around Moon, even finding idols that depict her. I don't suppose you have records of those idols?" Ironwood blinked in surprise and looked at Ozpin, who looked at him with the usual imperceptible gaze.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm just curious about something. How close they look to the real thing." After a moment of thinking it over, Ironwood nodded and took out his scroll
"You would be right about the investigations, though it doesn't always pan out. The bigger ones always seem to know when raids are coming and clear out, while the small ones aren't normally worth the time," he explained as he browsed through his scroll. "We don't usually find anything worthwhile aside from the odd trinket and idol. This was the last one we found, just before I came to Vale."
Ironwood brought up a picture and held his scroll out to Summer. She took it and looked at the picture, that of a piece of confiscated evidence from a raid. It was an idol of a woman about a foot and a half to two feet tall, made of wood and painted black and white. Summer narrowed her eyes at the face and hair of the idol and shook her head.
"It's simplistic and sort of stylized, but surprisingly accurate to the real thing," Summer said and handed Ironwood's scroll back.
"So that's what it actually looks like?" Ironwood asked, looking at the picture.
"Moon is taller and a hell of a lot scarier, but the basics are right. Same face and hairstyle especially."
"One step closer then," Ironwood muttered with a nod and put his scroll away, "Is there anything else?"
"…No, at least nothing that comes to mind right now."
"Very well, then I should get back to work."
"Have a pleasant night," Ozpin said as Ironwood started walking away. He stopped halfway across the room and turned halfway back to give them both a smile.
"And thank you for keeping me updated. I mean that."
"Of course. We're all in this together James," Ozpin said and returned his own smile. Ironwood nodded and started walking again, stopping only long enough to call an elevator. He stepped inside and waited for the doors to close before letting out a breath.
"What a night."
'Well that could have gone a whole lot worse,' Summer thought once Ironwood was out of the room. 'I'm worried about all that stuff he was talking about, but…'
"Are you sure there's nothing else Summer?" Ozpin asked. Summer looked at the headmaster, his eyes filled with concern, and shook her head.
"No, I said what I needed to. If it's alright with you, I'd still like to look into things on my own." Bringing up the Moon General's appearance brought back some thoughts that Summer had been having. 'I can't say anything about that though, not until I know for sure. I don't want to get innocents involved.'
"As long as it doesn't interfere with your schooling or get you into trouble." Ozpin's words may have been serious, but the smile on his face showed just what Ozpin's expectations were. The smile dropped after a moment and he shook his head, "I have to apologize for sending you and your team into such danger again. It's becoming a very bad habit."
"We knew what we were getting into," Summer said gently. 'Even if it is bigger than we thought,' she added mentally before she brushed some hair out of her eyes. "Having said that though, I think it would be for the best to schedule some therapy sessions for my team." Ozpin looked at her questioningly and she shrugged, "I'm just being safe. Things got really heavy down there and I know how none of us want to say how it affects us, Raven especially."
"If you think it's for the best, then I'll schedule it. For now, go get some rest with your team. You've more than earned it."
"Thanks Professor, I think I'll do just that." Summer gave Ozpin one last wave before making her way out of the office. The elevator doors had just closed when a screen popped up on Ozpin's desk, showing a small report that he groaned at.
"This again?" he asked to himself as he looked it over. One of the security nodes in the Emerald Forest was acting up again, something that has happened before with this station and others around the academy. It didn't last for very long before going back to normal, so Ozpin had attributed it to a glitch before. Now though, after everything that has happened and especially with the Generals getting spotted more often, he didn't want to take the risk.
Ozpin leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together. The glitch would probably continue for a few days before clearing like always. Something nagged at him though, and it nagged enough for him to open another window and schedule a mission to investigate it. He looked over the available teams and stopped on a first year team that was free thanks to the breach throwing a wrench into everything.
'I'm sure they won't mind a small mission,' he thought as he selected the team. 'I'll give them a day or two of rest before assigning it to them, if this node is still acting up by then.' With the mission squared away Ozpin closed the windows and picked up his cane before walking out of his office.
A few days is what they got. Time enough to rest up and let life return to something somewhat resembling normal, despite a few damaged buildings and people missing their cars. Normal was definitely good. And then when the standard break day at Beacon came, a mission came straight down about something up in the Emerald Forest. Which is how Jaune found himself sliding down a hill in the forest in a very undignified manner.
"Gah! Stupid slopes," Jaune muttered once he hit the bottom and picked himself up. Once he brushed himself off and was sure he was free of any possible pebbles and sticker plants, he started down the only path available to him. "And of course, I had to be the one to get separated from the others. Just my luck." Jaune sighed and shrugged, "Well, on the bright side, at least there's no Grimm around." That silver lining lasted up until he got to the top of another slope and saw a few Creeps roaming around in the clearing below. "And of course, just as I say that," Jaune muttered and shook his head as he drew Crocea Mors and slipped the shield onto his off arm.
The sound drew the attention of the Creeps and he jumped down into the clearing and held his shield up as they growled and charged him. The one furthest in the back leapt face first into the ground to start burrowing while the other two ran right for Jaune. The first leapt at him with its mouth wide open, which Jaune easily sidestepped and countered with a slice into its mouth and out its side. With that one dead and disintegrating behind him, Jaune focused on the second as it jumped to claw at him which was blocked with his shield before being knocked away.
The ground beneath Jaune's feet shifted a little and he instinctively jumped backwards in time to avoid getting caught in the middle of the hole the burrowing Creep had jumped out of. The Grimm had also tried to swing at Jaune with its spiky tail and just barely missed his nose. Once Jaune landed he charged at the Creep and swung at its face twice, left and right, before finishing with an upward swing that knocked it on its back. Jaune jumped and swung his sword into a reverse grip to stab down onto the Creep's exposed stomach. It gurgled out a death rattle and Jaune left the sword in the ground to focus on the last Creep.
It growled and swung its tail at Jaune, which he parried with a swing of his shield and knocked it back. With his sword behind him Jaune did the first thing he could think of and kicked the Creep's leg out from under it before he lifted his shield up and smashed the Grimm's head with it. Its bone head cracked under the weight and it only needed one more swing to give out and leave it sprawled out and disintegrating, leaving only Jaune in the clearing panting.
"Heh, not dead weight anymore huh?"
"I'll say!" Jaune jumped at the sudden voice and looked up to see a sheep Faunus grinning down at him from a tree branch. "You missed one by the way, but I took care of it for you. You're welcome."
"For the— don't scare me like that! I thought I was alone," Jaune said as he went to pull his sword out of the ground and collapsed his shield so he could sheath it. He turned back to Maribelle as she hopped down to the ground and approached him. "So why are you here?"
"Training with my team. We have to be ready both for the tournament and in case anything else happens. That breach was a bad wake up call." Maribelle shrugged and added, "Plus I have to do something while my laundry gets done. Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of a white wool sweater? It's rough, I'll tell you that. I do not look good in denim."
"I'm… sorry?" Jaune offered while Maribelle tugged at her denim vest in annoyance. Then Jaune's scroll started ringing, filling the clearing with some kind of horrible auto-tuned rap that left Maribelle a snickering mess. "S-shut up, it's catchy!" he weakly defended as he pulled his scroll out and answered the call to silence the song. "Hello, Jaune here."
"Ah, there you are Mr. Arc! I was worried when you went flying on your own," Professor Port said on the other end followed by a quick laugh.
"It's not my fault. I'm sure those catapults hate me," Jaune whispered and looked around at the trees around him. "So can you see me on the cameras?"
"Oh yes, quite clearly. And I see Ms. Sinopia is with you as well."
"Hello to you too Professor," Maribelle said and set an arm on Jaune's head, which he found annoying since she was shorter. "So what mission is he here for? Kind of weird for them to be out here right now, isn't it?"
"One of the security nodes in the area has been on the fritz lately, and you know how much trouble that is. We needed boots on the ground to find out what was happening and help fix the issue."
"Yikes, that's not good. Especially with what happened," Maribelle muttered and glanced at Jaune for a moment, "I don't suppose you'd mind if my team helped out?"
"Of course not! You know what they say, the more the merrier!" Port laughed loudly for a moment before stopping to clear his throat, "Just be on the lookout. The Creatures of Grimm are on the move throughout the forest. Keep your wits about you."
"Can do! This'll be cake compared to the other day."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Jaune asked as the call ended and sighed as he put the scroll away.
"Aw, don't worry Jaune," Maribelle said and pat Jaune on the head a couple of times, "I won't take any of your mission reward. I've got to be a kindhearted upperclassman to you when you're not clinging to Summer and Coco." She stopped and rubbed her chin for a moment before taking out her scroll and tapped her team name. "Now that you mention it, I probably should tell my team what we're doing." She walked away as the call connected and left Jaune behind to look at his own scroll.
"I should probably let the others know what's going on. That's probably for the best," he said and opened it and dialed Pyrrha's number. "I also have to stop talking to myself."
The rest of JNPR were further into the woods fighting off a group of Grimm with Nora doing most of the heavy lifting with Ren providing any help as needed. Right now that was covering Pyrrha while she was on the phone with Jaune.
"How did you run across Maribelle?" Pyrrha asked.
"She said she was just training with her team out here."
"Wow, they really do get everywhere." Pyrrha tapped Milo against her leg and glanced at Nora as she blocked a swipe from an Ursa with her hammer before countering with a swing to its head that spun it around 180 degrees. It let out a whine before it crashed to the ground disintegrating.
"What was that?"
"We ran into a small group of Grimm. We're just cleaning them up now."
"You sound way too casual for being in the middle of a fight."
"… Do I?" Pyrrha supposed that she was, especially with Ren having just sliced off a Beowolf's arms before jumping up, stabbing both of his blades into its neck, and flipped over it to slam it into the ground. "Maybe actually. So when are you going to join us?"
"That depends on where you are compared to where I landed. This forest is so big I don't know where to even—" Pyrrha jumped a little when an explosion went off not too far away, though the manic laughter of Nora that followed put any worries at ease. "Never mind, I think that was Nora I just heard. We're not far off then. Hopefully we'll be there soon and if not, we'll regroup at the security node. Sounds good?"
"Pyrrha, behind you!" Ren shouted. Pyrrha threw her javelin behind her with the smallest push of magnetism to send it faster. A high whine and the sound of bone shattering announced she found her mark and barely looked down as a Beowolf slid next to her with Milo buried in its head.
"Yes, it does. We'll keep pushing to the node and keep an eye out for Marigold as well. See you soon?"
"Yeah, stay safe." Jaune was quiet for a second, almost long enough for Pyrrha to end the call, before he whispered, "I love you."
Pyrrha only just barely kept her composure at the sudden declaration and, after making sure Nora and Ren weren't paying attention, put her hand over her mouth and whispered, "I love you too," before hanging up. As she put her scroll away she looked at Nora and Ren as they approached her and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at the smug, knowing grin that Nora was giving her. 'I hate that grin so much.'
"So what was that?" Ren asked.
"Team MRGD happened to be in the area, so they'll be helping us with this mission," Pyrrha summed up and pulled Milo up to her hand.
"They actually do stuff?" Nora asked, which got a stern look from Ren. "What?"
"That aside, Maribelle is with Jaune, they're both not far, and we'll meet up with the rest of the team on the way to the node." Pyrrha flipped Milo in her hand to transform it into a rifle and started leading the way through the forest. "We should hurry and clear it before more Grimm show up."
"You're telling me," Nora said, shifting Magnhild and started watching the left while Ren looked right. "I don't remember there being this many during initiation."
"They were probably drawn here by the breach, or the security being on the fritz lets them wander a little more freely," Ren theorized. A small sound from a tree drew their attention and all of them aimed at a branch, though they managed to relax before they completely ruined some poor squirrel's day. "But we're probably not making it hard for them to find us."
"I'm going with all of the above," Nora replied with a nod. A gunshot echoed through the forest and caused the first years to jump a little before they looked at a flock of birds flying over the trees. "Uh, that wasn't any of us."
"It must be Marigold! Let's go!" Pyrrha shouted and ran toward the gunshots with Nora and Ren just behind her. They didn't have long to run before they stopped at the edge of a ridge overlooking a small clearing. They looked around the clearing, taking in the rocky hill with a few trees and a stone circle that could have been any old kingdom building, before focusing on three huntsmen fighting in the center.
"Yup, it's them," Nora said and lifted her grenade launcher up, "So, nail it or…?"
"No, too much risk of hitting one of them," Ren said pointing at the Grimm and drew a circle around them, "if we drew some away though..."
"It would help a lot," Pyrrha nodded and knelt down and pressed her rifle against her shoulder, "I'll give covering fire here while you two—"
"Smash our way in?" Nora finished and unfolded her hammer, "I'm down with that." After she got a nod from Ren, Pyrrha let out a breath and fired. The first shot hit a Creep dead on when it tried to leap onto Gray and the noise drew the attention of some of the other Grimm. Nora jumped down with a yell charged at the approaching Grimm with Ren right behind her. The first Creep that was unlucky enough to meet Nora got its head smashed in with her hammer. Nora crouched just long enough for Ren to get onto her back and launched him into the air to fire down on the rest of the Creeps.
Pyrrha continued firing until she saw the Grimm were spread out enough and switched Milo into a javelin before she joined the fray. She threw her shield and maneuvered it to hit two of the Grimm her teammates were fighting before she caught and slammed it down onto a Beowolf's head. Pyrrha jumped back just as a Creep tried to attack from the side and kicked it toward Ren so he could slice it head to tail with his blades. Nora killed the last Grimm of the group with a swing of her hammer that sent it flying into the air where it disintegrated and looked to the upperclassmen as they finished off their group.
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at Gale as she emptied one of her weapons into a dead Beowolf, but at least all the monsters were dead and they all could relax a little, for a given value of the word.
"Sneak up on me will you? Not laughing now, are you bitch!?" Gale shouted at the patch of black smoke that rose into the air before she emptied her claw's cylinders with a shake of her arms and set about reloading.
"The Grimm are out in force today," Gray said as he coiled up his whip and crossed his arms, "guess we don't have to worry about missing out on exercise." Redd rolled her eyes and started walking to Pyrrha's group with her spear resting over her shoulders.
"So you guys pulled node duty today huh? Figures it'd be you," she said with a small shrug. Pyrrha shared a look with Nora and Ren with the latter being the one to speak up.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, every year has an 'exceptional team' that ends up getting some extra attention one way or the other. We all had you pegged as that team and it seems Professor Ozpin agrees." The underclassmen all shared a look again, Pyrrha and Ren looking a little surprised while Nora had that smug smile she was getting more fond of lately.
Pyrrha managed to fight off a twitch in her eye and turned back to Redd to ask, "So you're all fine with helping on this mission?"
"Oh we're fine. We had to do this shit all the time last year. It's pretty easy once you know what to do." Redd looked back as her teammates joined the conversation and specifically leveled her gaze on Gale. "Are you calm now?"
"I'm always calm," Gale defended and crossed her arms.
"Sure you are," Gray commented and stretched his arms while ignoring his partner's glare. "So which node are you guys going for today?"
"Um…" Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and opened the mission briefing, "it says node 45-C in the briefing."
"Ugh, that pain in the ass," Gray moaned and deflated along with his teammates.
"Of course it's that one," Gale added.
"I take it this is a repeat problem?" Nora asked as Pyrrha put her scroll away.
"You'll see when we get there," Redd said and pointed into the forest, "It's just up the path from here. Hopefully there's not too many Grimm in the way and Mari will be along soon with Jaune. You never know with her though."
"I'm sure they'll be along. Jaune wouldn't want to be away from Pyrrha for too long," Nora said with a chuckle.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pyrrha asked, narrowing her eyes at Nora.
"You know what I mean."
"You seemed pretty clear on the phone earlier," Ren added calmly.
"What!?" Pyrrha shouted and looked at Ren with wide eyes.
"I have good hearing and I tell Ren everything," Nora said with a shrug, "What do you think happened?"
"Nosing into my business! Keep out!" Pyrrha shouted.
"Oh trust me I'd like to, but we also share the same room." Nora scoffed and shook her head, "Turns out that's no fun when you're on the receiving end of that."
"But you're not even on the giving end," Ren said.
"Shut it."
"First STRQ, then CFVY, now these guys," Gale commented as she watched the first years argue, "why do these teams all have to be filled with such fucking weirdos?"
"It's more entertaining this way," Redd answered, "besides, it's better than letting a team like CRDL get the spot."
"Ugh, got that right. You know, one of those pricks tried to hit on me the other day. I don't even remember which one it was, but I made sure he remembered me when I tossed him into a trash can." Redd couldn't help but laugh a little at that, which at least brought a smirk to Gale's face.
"Maybe we should refocus the first years? They look about ready to throw hands," Gray asked and pointed at the underclassmen. Ren was now holding Pyrrha back as she clawed at the air at Nora, who was giggling to herself as she took pictures of Pyrrha's angry face with her scroll. "As funny as it is, they might attract more Grimm."
"Yeah. I suppose we might as well do our jobs," Redd agreed and walked forward. She stowed the spear on her back just as she reached Nora and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Nora barely had the time to let out a startled gasp before she was led away from her team. "Come on kids, we got shit to do."
Pyrrha and Ren watched Nora for a moment before she tore herself out of his grip, grabbed her weapon and spear off the ground, and stormed after MRGD. Ren simply followed after her, sure that she'd calm down after a walk or another fight.
Jaune and Maribelle had continued through the forest until they came across another clearing full of Grimm. With no other easy way forward they prepared for another fight and charged in before splitting away to deal with one side. The Creeps proved to be of little difficulty to Jaune as he sliced and bashed the ones that charged him with only the occasional Beowolves giving him some trouble. Maribelle held her ground solidly on her side of the clearing, bashing and deflecting away attacks with her cane and switching to shooting the bigger threats with her shotgun. After a few minutes of fighting the monsters were whittled down to just two Beowolves.
Jaune quickly finished his off with a few swipes and a stab to the chest. The Beowolf started to lean on Jaune's shield before he threw it off and started to run to Maribelle, only to slow down when she shot her Beowolf in the leg. It fell and hit the ground hard, barely having the time to growl a little before Maribelle stabbed her Aura Blade into its head. When it fell limp and started disintegrating, Maribelle pulled the blade out and pulled her Aura back, taking a few deep breaths as her Aura went back to normal.
"Dammit, I'm really out of shape," she muttered as she reverted her weapon into a cane and leaned on it, "I guess I really need this exercise. Are you doing ok Jaune?"
"Yeah, I'm doing ok," Jaune replied.
"That's good. Welp, time for a break!"
"Yeah- wait, what?" Jaune barely blinked and Maribelle had zipped over to a pillar lying on the ground, sat on it with her cane resting next to her, and took out a granola bar to snack on. Jaune watched incredulously as she took a few bites before he shrunk his shield, sheathed his sword, and put both on his belt while walking to her. "I'm starting to see why you have a reputation for tardiness."
"Not my fault I know how to pace myself," Maribelle replied with a mouthful of granola, "I know my niche and I intend to stay there. I'm not like CFVY who always bite off more than they can chew or STRQ who burn themselves out by going 100% every time a mugging or something happens. It's good to pace yourself Jaune, remember that."
"Yeah, sure." A minute of silence passed as Jaune kept watch for Grimm and Maribelle enjoyed her granola bar. Once it was apparent there weren't any Grimm coming, Jaune let out a sigh and scratched the back of his head as he turned to face Maribelle. "Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?" Maribelle shrugged, which Jaune returned before continuing. "I was wondering if you know what happened to Summer's team. They just went dark after the Breach."
"Not surprised about that. They always do this when things go bad for them. And since the grapevine says Sum went and signed her team up for therapy sessions, it must be especially bad."
"Wait, we have therapists here?"
"Of course we have therapists. Do you really think random schmucks like you can just walk into this line of work without needing fucking therapists? Get over yourself."
"Ok, sorry," Jaune said while holding up his hands. Maribelle shook her head and finished off her bar while Jaune set his hands on his hips. "But really, them?"
"Everyone has their limits, Jaune. Granted I'd think someone like Raven would have very high limits, but they are there. It's best to sort those out before they're pushed too far, yeah?"
"Yeah, I agree with that. Still, I didn't think fighting Grimm was so taxing on people. I mean I get it, fighting vicious monsters and all that, but you'd think you'd get used to—" Jaune trailed off when he saw Maribelle giving him The Look. A very specific look that he only got in one specific circumstance that he had hoped he was long past. Evidently not.
So, with a roll of his eyes and an annoyed groan, Jaune said, "I said something stupid, didn't I?"
"Yep," Maribelle answered as she put her empty wrapper into one of her vest pockets.
"Well, care to explain what I said was stupid so I can avoid it?"
"Do you really think we only kill Grimm?"
Jaune was thrown off by the question, shaking his head a little and blinking at Maribelle, who watched him carefully as he thought up a response. "I mean… that's the job isn't it? To protect people from the horrors of the world?" While that felt like the right answer to Jaune, it still felt a little textbook even to him. Evidently Maribelle felt the same way if the way she growled was any indication.
"Why do I have to be the one to give this talk?" she muttered as she grabbed her cane and stood up. "You are right Jaune, Huntsmen are called in to deal with threats the average person can't. The Creatures of Grimm are just one of them. Criminals, bandits, the occasional doomsday cult, we have to deal with them too if they prove to be too much to handle." Maribelle gripped her cane and pressed it against her face, her eyes boring into Jaune's, and added, "And sometimes, it ends the same way it does with Grimm."
It took Jaune a second to realize what she meant, and when he did his eyes widened and he took a few steps back. "Wait, y-you mean…?"
"Have you ever killed someone Jaune?"
"N-no!" Jaune nearly shouted. He did not like the turn this conversation went, same with the look Maribelle was giving him or the tone of her voice. Not a trace of humor or the joking attitude he had gotten used to since the beginning of the school year. She was deadly serious, and he hated it. "And I hope I never have to!"
"That's a nice sentiment and I really hope you never have to either, but you're in the wrong line of work if you want to keep it that way." Maribelle stopped leaning against her cane and spun it a little to carry as she walked towards Jaune. "We're Huntsmen, fighting against anything that would see our world snuffed out. Killing Grimm is fine, but one day you'll find yourself facing a real person with real feelings who really wants to hurt you. Not everyone can be talked down and some will even see being beaten down as a challenge. One day you will have to make that choice: them or you. Them or someone you care about."
Maribelle poked Jaune's chest with a finger. "But don't forget it goes both ways Jaune. Everyone has someone they care about and who cares for them. Killing isn't easy, it's not meant to be, and it never should. If it ever does become easy, then you're well and truly damned. Just look at what happened to the White Fang: they used to actually stand for something good once and now they're just a band of terrorists because violence became too easy and got more immediate results." Maribelle took a breath and, once she saw Jaune's uncomfortable expression, tapped him on the shoulder with her cane.
"Not that I'm saying I expect you to end up like that. Pretty much everybody has good expectations of you and your team and I don't see a reason to disagree. Even if you have to do some bad things for the good to happen, you're better than you think you are. If you ever do have to go down that path I'm sure it'll be for a good reason."
"I hope so," Jaune said quietly. Maribelle hummed for a second and tapped him again.
"Well, we still have a mission to do. Let's try and walk this bad mood off before we get to the node huh? Don't need to drag things down any more than it already will be." Maribelle slung her cane over her shoulder and started walking. She didn't notice the look Jaune gave her and how he raised his finger before lowering it and following after her.
A lot of things Maribelle had said sounded a little too personal to be general advice. He had a lot of questions about all of that, but given how she was talking and what they had been talking about, it was probably not a good idea to even begin to broach that topic.
'Everyone's got a bad past after all. I can't forget that.'
It was a short trek later that Jaune saw the first signs that they were getting close to their objective. He and Maribelle passed through a small path between two hills and found an old fence in front of a small cliff face leading around the hill to the right. The more immediate sign was an explosion on the other side of the hill that sent a small group of Grimm flying through the air and off the cliff. Once they were out of sight, the perpetrator groaned loudly.
"I'm so boooooooooooooooooored!"
Jaune and Maribelle shared a look and Jaune shouted, "Nora, we're coming around the corner!" to avoid meeting the same fate as the Grimm. When they walked around they found Nora leaning against the fence in front of a cave entrance, or more specifically Magnhild in gun form on one of the fence posts.
"Ugh, finally!" Nora said and pressed a cheek against her weapon's barrel, "do you have any idea how long we were waiting for you guys?"
"Five minutes?" Jaune asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Exactly!" Nora pushed off the fence and properly held her weapon as she led them into the cave. "But now that you're here we can get started. I wanted to get it over with before you got here, but apparently 'hitting it with a hammer' is not the correct solution."
"She's joking, right?" Maribelle whispered to Jaune.
"It's about 50/50 when it comes to Nora," he answered and looked around as they entered the cave. It was fairly big with a couple of holes in the ceiling to let sunlight in along with two side tunnels in the far left and far right walls. Right in the middle of the cavern was the security node, a six or seven foot tall machine colored Atlas standard white, which was being inspected by Pyrrha and Redd.
"They're here!" Nora called out. Pyrrha and Redd looked at the new arrivals while the rest filtered in from the side passages.
"Have you had trouble with the Grimm?" Jaune asked.
"There were a couple hanging around in here, but we cleared them out. Since then there were only a couple small groups trying for the entrance we came through," Nora explained and hefted her grenade launcher, "I've been deterring them from trying though."
"Good job Nora. So what's wrong with this thing exactly?"
"Well," Pyrrha started and scratched her cheek, "I'm not an expert on machines or anything, but…"
"We're pretty sure the thing sticking out of it like a swelled tick isn't supposed to be there," Redd finished and jerked a thumb back at the node. Both leaders leaned around their teammates and saw what she meant, since there was a very noticeable hunk of machinery sticking out of one of the panels of the node.
"Wow, you weren't kidding. That doesn't look standard," Maribelle said as they walked up to the node. She leaned in to inspect the box and ran a finger along the seam connecting it to the node itself. "Hm, sloppy attachment. This was recent and done very fast." She traced out the insignia on the box, which looked like a stylized 'M' and hummed. "This insignia looks familiar too… Jaune, get a picture of this and send it to Port."
"Sure thing," Jaune said as he took out his scroll and took a picture of the box. He had barely sent it to Port when the teacher called them all up.
"Ah, you all have made it! Excellent work! And it seems you've found the problem already." Port hummed as he looked at the photo Jaune sent while the students either inspected the node or the cave around them. "Hmm, I feel like I've seen this insignia before. Well nevermind that for now, we should get started."
"I'll need my tools from my locker for this," Maribelle said as she took out her scroll and started typing on it, "Don't let that stop you from starting professor."
"I already have! The node is shutting down now." The node shut off as he said that, dispelling the quiet hum it had been giving off and sending the cave into silence. "Get your weapons ready and your mustache wax stowed! This is about to get hairy!"
"What does that mean?" Jaune asked and drew his sword.
"It means Grimm will swarm this place and try to destroy the node until it comes back on," Redd replied.
"What!?" Nora shouted.
"Why didn't you say that before it happened!?" Pyrrha shouted and drew her own weapons.
"We're telling you now," Maribelle answered and put her scroll away, "I gotta get my stuff. Don't let them destroy the node, but a few scratches won't go amiss." She started walking to the cave entrance when a Creep leapt out of the ground at her, only to get whacked out of the air by her cane and into a bit of the cave wall just sharp enough to pierce its head. "Fuck off, I'm busy."
"...You heard the lady," Gray said and unfurled his whip. Everyone else got ready as Creeps started digging their way in while the growls of Beowolves filtered in from outside.
"So how long do we need to do this?" Nora asked.
"Depends on what needs to be fixed," Redd answered.
"That's reassuring," Ren said just as the first Creeps finished digging in. The teams charged in, JNPR taking one side of the cave and MRGD taking the other. The fighting wasn't too bad on either side all things considered; with Creeps you just had to stay away from their mouths and keep an eye on where they dug if they dove underground. Jaune honestly was more thrown off by the cracking of Gray's whip during the fight.
He had briefly thought about it, but shook the thought away. If it works, right?
It was only a few minutes into the fight when both sides got a moment to catch their breaths, which of course was when Maribelle came running in screaming like a banshee with a cloth wrap in her arms. "Fire support on the entrance now!" she screamed and Jaune, who had been standing between Nora and said entrance, threw himself to the ground before Nora turned around and shot three grenades. Maribelle slid under them and glanced back just as they blew up the trio of Beowolves that had been following her.
"Yikes, and that's just support?" Maribelle said as she got back to her feet and jogged to the node. Nora just shrugged and swung her gun at a Creep that had just jumped at her, the barrel slamming down into its throat, and aimed at another group of Grimm that had just burrowed in and fired. The Creep flew off the barrel with a flashing pink light in its stomach and exploded when it hit the middle of the new pack, taking all of them with it to Nora's very loud joy.
"At least someone's having fun," Redd said as she swept a Creep off its legs and stabbed her spear into its stomach. "I'm getting a little beat though."
"Just give me a few more minutes," Maribelle said as she unrolled her tool kit and took out a flathead screwdriver. She had said it was sloppily attached, but she didn't expect it to come off with only the barest amount of jiggering on all four sides of it. She yanked it off and was even more surprised to find it was just spliced into the node's inner workings with a few wires. "What the hell is this thing?"
"MARI!" Gale shouted angrily as she fired a few rounds into a Beowolf's head.
"Right, questions for later." The wires gave Maribelle enough slack to kneel down and get her wire cutters, which soon freed the node of whatever the hell this thing was. Maribelle set it at her feet and finally took a look at the inside of the node.
All around her the battle continued with a small pack of Beowolves having joined the fight now along with a few older varieties intermixed. An Alpha Creep burrowed in just in time for Pyrrha's shield to slam into its face and stun it long enough for it to become the latest victim of Nora's game of 'Whack-A-Creep'. It wasn't enough to kill it, Ren took care of that with a few bullets, but Nora didn't care as she continued to increase her high score.
"Good god! What manner of catastrophe happened to the wiring in this!?" Maribelle shouted and blanched at the wiring, "the worst electrician in Vale would have to be blackout drunk to be this bad! What were the schematics for this again?"
A Beowolf rushed at Maribelle as she took out her scroll and started looking through it, its claw raised to strike her down, when Gray wrapped his whip around its arm and yanked it down. It started to push itself up when Gale landed on its back and stabbed both of her claws into its head and pried it apart like a piece of fruit. She hopped off it while Gray took his whip back and asked, "Are you almost done?"
"Just getting started. Here they are." Maribelle knelt down for a piece of double sided tape to stick her scroll to the node, though not before taking a picture of the wiring. Once that was done and the scroll was in place, Maribelle finally got started sorting the Drunken Mess.
The fight dragged on as the repairs were done. Everyone silently agreed to a change in formation, with JNPR on the outside handling any first contact with Grimm while the rest of MRGD stood around the node itself and took care of any stragglers that got too close. They had to be extra careful about that since their leader was far too busy staring at wires to worry about anything else.
"So was it 'Red, green, blue' or the other way around?" Maribelle muttered and looked at her scroll, completely unaware of Gray snapping a Beowolf's neck with his whip a few feet behind her. "Oh ok, red and green are switched."
"Please tell me you're almost done!" Jaune shouted over his shoulder. His arms were starting to get sore from the constant fighting, even if he did still have the strength to block Pyrrha's shield so it could fly around and knock down the Beowolves that had been giving him trouble. A few swipes of his sword and they were gone.
"Hold on, I think I almost got it in vaguely working order," Maribelle called back with a shake of her head, "once again really glad I'm not color blind." Jaune and Pyrrha shared a worried look as Maribelle stepped away from the node, looked it over, and put a finger to her earpiece. "Ok Professor, try turning it on."
"Rebooting now!" Port said. A second later the node came back to life with a much louder hum. When the hum reached its loudest, several Grimm roared loudly and turned around to escape the noise. Jaune in particular stared at the sight of a Creep collapsing, scratching at its head harshly with a leg, and burrowed hastily into the ground. Soon the only Grimm left in sight was an Alpha Beowolf that, once it realized it was alone, hightailed it out of the cave as well through one of the holes in the cave ceiling with gunfire from Nora and Ren pushing it to run faster. The silence after all the chaos of battle was almost deafening, though that may have just been the node.
"It looks like there's a few fluctuations, but otherwise the node is back to full capacity!" Port said with a hearty laugh.
"Yeah, but this is very much a patch job. A lot of tape and stuff was used," Maribelle said as she knelt down to get her tools back into the wrap, "You might want to get someone down here to actually repair it later."
"I'll get someone on that tomorrow, but for now good job. Come on back to Beacon and get some rest, you've earned it."
"Fine with me," Gray said as he curled up his whip, "anyone else hungry? I think they had hot dogs in the cafeteria today."
"Oh YES, that sounds good," Nora said and folded her weapon to stow at her waist. "But first, do you want to see my rock Jaune?"
"Uh… your rock? What?" Jaune asked and looked at Ren for some kind of translation.
"We were clearing Grimm on one of the other paths when we stumbled on an Old Kingdom ruin. Nora found an intact rune and grabbed it," he explained.
"Not a bad find," Maribelle said as she gathered her tools and the unwanted addition to the node, "If you give that to Oobleck he'll give you extra credit for it, or just pay you outright."
"Didn't we pass a test we totally bombed once because we found a pot somewhere beforehand?" Gale asked.
"I thought it was a wine goblet?" Maribelle asked and looked at Redd, who shrugged after a few moments of confused staring. "Ah whatever, still the easiest A I ever got. You guys can do what you want with it." After shifting her gear into a more comfortable position, Maribelle and her team started walking out of the cave with Gale taking the lead.
"Well… good job Nora. I would like to see the rock," Jaune said and couldn't help but smile at Nora's giant grin. She dug through a pocket of her dress, pulled out a small slab of stone, and held it out at arm's length to show Jaune and Pyrrha.
The rune looked weathered from the years, but it was otherwise intact. It was surprisingly intricate too, being a vaguely circular shape with arrows like a compass along the outside with a cat's eye shape taking up the middle. Jaune wondered why something like that would have been carved in the first place, but whatever importance it had was lost on him.
"That's… lovely," Pyrrha said with a small cringe.
"Kinda creepy though. Eyes always freak me out," Jaune added.
"Eh, creepy sells," Nora said and started spinning the rune in her fingers, "why else would horror movies be so big? What should we ask for?"
"Extra credit," the team said simultaneously, though Nora looked specifically at Ren for his betrayal.
"Don't give me that look," Ren said and poked Nora's forehead, "You nearly bombed a Dust studies class because you didn't know how to make Steam Dust. You need all the help you can get." Nora stuck her tongue out at Ren as he and Pyrrha started walking to the exit.
"He is right though," Jaune added with a shrug, "Even I figured that out after, like, three tries."
"Shut up, your underwear's pink," Nora retorted.
"And who's fault is that?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow before he turned to follow his team. After a second, Nora followed with her arms crossed, her cheeks puffed out, and her cheeks bright red.
"Is nothing sacred anymore?" Nora muttered to herself.
Hello again. I am still trucking along and working on this, even if it's too slow for my liking. So welcome to Grimm Eclipse!
Honestly, that game is a bit of a mess. The story is thin and the gameplay is janky, but so are a lot of games I love wholeheartedly so I can't help but find it charming. Plus I find I have enough wiggle room for a slightly more straightforward story.
So keep hanging in there and I'll see you again when I'm ready.
