How was she okay with all of this?
Overlooking the icy tundras for any signs of smoke or a crash site, Winter sighed, her hands gripping the steering wheel of the bullhead a little tighter in annoyance. Behind her, the remaining four members of the Ace-Ops were still arguing about the importance of the mission General Ironwood had provided them with; To recover Penny from the tundra after her fall from Amity Global Communications Center. Her head was already throbbing, and the argument her colleagues were having only made focusing on flying the aircraft harder than it already was.
Focusing on anything at all seemed to be a particularly difficult task for the Schnee operative right now.
The last handful of days had been an emotional rollercoaster for the white-haired woman, burdened with a great task, and she was physically and mentally exhausted.
From taking care of an elderly woman with the constant, creeping reminder that in the very near future she would have to kill that woman and absorb her powers, to fighting another powerful maiden who tried to steal the powers with force, only to have them be transferred to someone else completely. How had it all gone so wrong? And how did she manage to miss the signs of enemy infiltration before the launch of this city-wide attack, she wondered. She was a highly trained military officer, she was supposed to know when her city and her people were in danger.
Yet, she failed.
When she had finally laid down in the hospital bed of the military compound that night, sleep didn't come easily. Yesterday's fight kept haunting her, as she was fully aware that she was very lucky to still be alive at this moment, and probably wouldn't be anymore if it wasn't for her sister and her friend.
Adrenaline and the fear of losing another maiden's powers to the malicious Grimm-armed woman kept her going during the fight, swinging her sword at the fall maiden even though her aura had completely depleted and she was in a very vulnerable position.
Then, when the fight came to an end with the entrance of Weiss and Ruby, she realized that the former Winter maiden had passed peacefully, and the Winter maiden's powers hadn't been transferred to herself, but to a person who wasn't even made from flesh and blood. How that was even possible still remained a mystery to Winter, however.
But it happened, and there was nothing else she could do anymore but to retrieve the young maiden and take her back to Atlas.
"Now we're wasting our time, searching for broken junk!" Elm exclaimed angrily at her colleague Vine, who tried to calmly explain to her why their investment in this mission was necessary.
Broken junk. That's how they were calling Penny, the person who chose to save her from falling to an inevitable death, even though the maiden's powers were in great peril. The way they addressed her just didn't sit right with Winter. Nothing about this whole situation did. Because even though she was made of metal and bolts, Penny seemed to possess more humanity than almost any real people she knew, including these four 'professionals'. And now her autonomy, the very thing that made Penny different from all the other Atlesian androids, was stolen.
They were retrieving her… so Ironwood could force her to open the vault and lift Atlas into the sky, high above Salem's reach. And whether they would really be above her reach, wasn't even certain.
It felt.. wrong to the Schnee woman. But she knew that once Ironwood set his mind on something, no one would be able to stop him from achieving his goal.
After all, he shot councilman Sleet just hours before they set off on this mission, in an attempt to assert his dominance.
Just as Vine was about to counter his colleague's sudden outburst, Winter intervened, having had enough of this nonsensical fight.
"Enough." Winter snapped towards the rest of the group, immediately falling silent as the operative in charge shot a glare in their direction. "You're Atlas elite, act like it."
She couldn't believe that these people were Atlas' renowned fighters. Undisciplined, impatient and foolhardy, that's all they were inside Winter's mind. But arguing about the orders they were given by their superior was something that the woman really despised. The people that outranked you were the ones calling the shots, and you had to obey their orders without complaining. That's how it worked.
At least, that's what the Atlesian Military training taught her. Disobeying your officer's orders resulted in a dishonorable discharge, and a dishonorable discharge meant a bad reputation, something Winter wanted to avoid at any cost as her family name already carried a large reputation.
"Uhm, ma'am?" Marrow intervened, his concerned voice catching Winter's attention. "We're picking up an open comms broadcast."
An open comms broadcast? Was it Penny? If so, they would immediately be given her current location and she would finally be relieved from the tiresome and constant arguing that made up most of this plane-ride.
"Play it." She demanded him.
A short static filled the silence before switching to a steady frequency which contained the familiar voice of Jaune Arc, one of Weiss' friends and a fugitive who was still to be captured by the Atlesian Military.
She almost couldn't believe it; her own sister and her friends were now enemies of the state, and thus enemies of her. It was another thing Winter did not agree with in the slightest. But she had to comply with the General's orders as he was her supervisor, even when those orders were contradicting her own wishes.
"-Is headed straight for Mantle. I repeat, a large mass of Grimm is headed straight for Mantle! Please anyone." The voice on the broadcast pleaded, alerting them of an unknown danger that seemed to linger wherever the broadcast was sent from.
'A mass of Grimm?' Winter thought to herself, shivers running down her spine at the thought of what that would look like. They had to go and see it for themselves, prioritizing the contents of broadcast over their search mission for the winter maiden.
Winter sincerely hoped that this 'large mass of Grimm' was just a pack of sleeping Sabyrs that looked like a large mass from a distance, but she knew the blonde-haired boy wasn't that foolish.
Back when times were simpler, Weiss had told her stories about her friends, Jaune included. Even though Winter was considered a perfectionist that disliked people who slack off and and hated it when someone achieved anything less than the optimal performance, she sympathized with the blonde-haired boy. He had suffered a ton of losses over the past years and struggled to keep up with the people around him for the longest time.
It was a scenario Winter felt uncomfortably familiar with at this moment in time, feeling like she stuck without the possibility to escape. She also felt like she was unable to understand the intentions of the people around her, constantly having the creeping doubt that she failed as a high-ranking officer. She had never doubted General Ironwood in years of serving under him, why was she doubting him now? She sighed defeatedly.
What she wouldn't give to go back to those simpler days.
Her mind wandered back to the subject of the blonde boy. In some way, Winter was jealous of Jaune's ability to keep his optimistic composure, and lift everyone's spirits when the situation was deteriorating. He was level-headed, something Winter secretly wished she was. But when a situation was grave, the woman would shut down, not being able to think straight and strategize. Jaune seemed to excel at this.
An idea formed inside the woman's head.
Once they would land at the broadcast area and apprehend the group, she could initiate a conversation with the blonde team leader, to consult him about his ability to keep a levelled head and think straight, even when the world around him seemed to crumble down upon his head.
Maybe she could learn something from that conversation, and she would stop feeling so conflicted about everything constantly.
"Let's go." Winter ordered sternly, giving the steering wheel of the bullhead an abrupt yank southwards, towards the source of the broadcast.