Jaune folded his hands in his lap and looked out the window to the streets and spires of the academy outside. He shuffled in the armchair and looked across to the friendly face of a woman with her scroll in her hand.
"Are you comfortable Mr. Arc?" Dr. Jasmine asked, typing something into her scroll with a stilius. "Would you like anything? A different seat? A glass of water?"
"I'm fine," Jaune assured her, crossing his arms. "Let's just begin."
The psychiatrist nodded. "Very well Mr. Arc, just so you know I have viewed the footage recovered from Miss Polendina. Also know everything you say to me is completely confidential, anything you say here doesn't leave."
Jaune nodded, "alright," he said. "Where do we begin? When the truck was attacked?" He asked her.
"This isn't a debriefing Mr. Arc, we don't need to retrace events. I'm here to evaluate your psychological condition so please just relax." She explained to him. "How have you been the last several days recovering?" She asked.
Jaune sighed as he considered the question. Being told to relax always had the opposite intended effect for him. "A little stir crazy," He answered her honestly deciding that the best and most relaxing thing to stare at was the ceiling. "Being confined to the academy grounds hasn't been easy, especially with my friends still working with the General, I probably would be pulling my hair out by now if it wasn't for Penny."
"You have been spending time with Miss Polendina?" She asked him, continuing to make notes on her scroll.
Jaune nodded, "yeah… we're stuck here together so we've been passing the days with one another."
"Did you have a particularly close relationship with her prior to these events?" Dr. Jasmine asked him.
"No, I honestly barely spoke to her before this, never really had the time to." He admitted to her.
"How would you say your relationship with Miss Polendina has changed now that you're interacting more?" She asked him.
"It's… nice," he admitted to her. "It's good to have company after all of this and she's pretty fun to be around."
"But?" The doctor asked clearly, sensing that there was one.
"But… I don't know but it seems like she's been doing everything for me," he explained releasing a frustrated sigh. "Ever since I woke up she does everything for me, she gets my medicine, she fetches me water, she does every little thing. I don't know if she pities me or if she's just trying to be helpful but it's been a bit frustrating."
Dr. Jasmine wrote something down again on her scroll. "Let's move on to the incident itself. There are a couple moments within the incident I'd like to examine."
Jaune nodded, "alright."
"When you fought Vasily you pulled the knife he'd stabbed you with out," she explained, "you risked bleeding out."
"I needed a weapon," Jaune explained, a little embarrassed that he'd done that. "My sword felt like it was made of lead and I knew if I didn't stop him I'd be dead anyways."
"So you feel that you were being pragmatic in your actions?" She asked him clinically.
"I don't really remember what I was thinking at the moment," He admitted with a shrug. "Penny was down and I needed to do something," he confessed to her considering the mental image he had of her trapped beneath that wire net, the razor thin steel cutting her.
"I was scared," Jaune admitted, "I never really thought much about it but I've already seen Penny die once before back at Amity Arena, I just… I don't ever want to lose anyone, not if there's something I can do about it."
The doctor nodded and typed more on her scroll. Jaune wished he knew what she was writing about him. "The assassin Vasily Patterson, you allegedly killed him," she explained, "have you thought any about that?"
"A little," Jaune admitted feeling a coldness to his words.
"Any particular feelings about it?" Dr. Jasmine asked him looking through her spectacles at him.
Jaune sighed, "I don't know, I should feel bad right?"
"No one is telling you how you should feel Mr. Arc," Dr. Jasmine told him.
"But aren't you?" Jaune asked. "This is a psychological evaluation after all, how I answer you is supposed to reflect on me and determine if I'm mentally fit enough to continue working as a huntsman. So there is a way I'm supposed to feel, isn't there?"
Dr. Jasmine didn't answer him at first, instead she studied him clinically through her spectacles for a long moment. "It's not a wrong answer if it's true Mr. Arc."
Jaune sighed looking at the carpet and clenched his fist. "I hope Vasily is dead," Jaune confessed. "Part of me thinks I should feel bad or guilty for taking his life but I don't. It was him or me and I don't regret choosing me, I don't regret saving Penny, I don't regret anything."
Pain. Even with his numbing pills and drink Vasily felt it with every movement. He welcomed the sensation, he savored the focus and clarity it gave him though these long tedious days. Pain kept his mind sharp and centered on the one who'd given it to him.
Arc.
That name. He thought he'd heard it before, a hint of familiarity when he'd told him, when he thrust the android's blade through him. When he beat him.
Arc, Jaune Arc. A huntsman, a warrior from a family with a long history of warriors and heroes. He wasn't some amateur huntsman as his informant had claimed. If he had known he wouldn't have underestimated him.
Jaune Arc, age nineteen. Beacon student, partnered with the renowned Pyrrha Nikos, survivor of the fall of Beacon academy. His record, incomplete as it was, left Vasily with much to ponder. Atlas's documentation on the boy was sadly limited and with the Vale tower inoperable Beacon's more detailed files were out of reach to him.
It hardly mattered however. Vasily would not be underestimating him again, he would give him the care and attention he deserved.
He stood up from his chair feeling his wound ache. Balancing on a cane he suppressed any sound of discomfort or show of weakness. It mattered not that he was alone.
Whatever few sensations he could still feel all seemed to remind him of Arc. Of his humiliation. The stitches in his temple would itch and temp him to scratch the sensitive flesh, the stab wound also was filled with fiery pain as he tried to walk through this temporary safe house he was calling his home.
He looked down at his chair spotting the blade resting against the table with the tip leaving a tiny mark on the hardwood floor. He'd intended to take such a blade as a trophy, another trophy to add to his collection. But this blade wasn't a symbol of triumph but another reminder of his defeat, a trophy of his failure. He'd caught Bonnie trying to dispose of the blade and reprimanded her for it.
His cane thumped on the floor with every painful step. He'd been rather pleased that Bonnie had managed to procure such a large safe house here in Mantle but now it was difficult just to get around in his simple state.
"Bonnie!" He called entering her little workshop and finding her sitting in front of her workbench fiddling with a drone assembling it from scratch. Most of his support drones had been destroyed, felled by Arc himself.
"Yes darling?" She asked turning away from her technical work rising to help him find a seat but he waved her off, having no interest in resting here. "You could just call me," she told him, "the doctor said you should avoid walking for the time being."
Vasily scowled. "I'm sure that butcher would be delighted to see a better man than him weak and bedridden." Just the thought of that doctor made his blood boil. Some black market surgeon with a revoked medical license who didn't ask questions and kept his mouth shut.
"You should conserve your strength," she suggested. Her brow furrowed with worry, pity. It infuriated him.
She sensed his anger and took a step back calming herself and remembering her place. "Do you need anything?"
"I want an update on our progress," he explained to her.
"I've just finished constructing your new rifle," she explained, moving to another bench where a shiny long sniper rifle awaited him. She picked it up and held it for him. He handed her his cane and took the weapon shouldering it and looking through the scope.
"It's a little light," he mused, taking hold of the bolt and cycling it as fast as he could before lowering it and handing it back to her, trading the rifle for his cane. "The bolt is a little stiff, and add a pound or two to dampen the recoil," he instructed her, looking at the other weapons on her workbench. A new express rifle, a four barreled howdah pistol, a bayonet.
"Yes," she nodded, setting the rifle back on the stand, "I hope you will find these weapons to your satisfaction."
Vasily picked up the four barreled pistol and checked the empty chambers. "They'll have to do," he said bitterly, "hardly adequate replacements to the trophies I lost."
Bonnie nodded, "I know, it must be hard to lose such treasured weapons," she said sadly.
"Indeed," Vasily grumbled turning to leave, "I imagine the Atlas military likely took possession of them after recovering the Arc boy and the android."
"I see," Bonnie said, "so they are likely at the academy?"
"Quite likely," Vasily mused, "I'm sure Ironwood would be interested in learning a thing or two from them," he chuckled to himself, "especially considering the damage I did to his little toy soldier." The thought of the General wanting to know how he damaged the android so much was a pleasant one at least.
"Speaking of which I have procured the materials and dust for the ammunition," she told him, "you can begin assembling rounds if you wish."
Vasily nodded, "something to pass the time at least, I'll be sure to put Arc's name on one."
Bonnie smiled at that, "Yes, and worry not my hunter I'll see you are adequately armed to face him once more."
Metal hissed against metal as Jaune drew Crocea Mors. His ancestral blade ringed for a moment as he inspected the fine edge finding no nicks or chips. The shield deployed, unfolding from the scabbard form. No black dents scarred the white and gold surface like before, no scrapes from robotic claws, it was as if the battle had never happened.
"Good as new," Jaune praised looking over to Pietro. Penny sat in front of his back turned and open allowing him access to her weapons compartment.
Penny and Pietro both smiled as he inspected his restored weapon. "I repaired the dust dispensers too, next time you're looking for another upgrade just give the word."
"Thank you," Jaune said, collapsing the shield and clipping it to his belt before sheathing his blade. It was a welcome feeling to have the weight of Crocea Mors on his hip again. After so long with it at Beacon, traveling to Mistral and finally here to Atlas being without it felt wrong. He supposed he now understood Ruby's attachment to Crescent Rose.
"Don't mention it," Pietro said as he worked with Penny, sparks came from her back compartment and Jaune tried not to stare. Some part of him felt embarrassed with her in such a state, like he was witnessing something rather intimate. Penny however showed no sign of discomfort or embarrassment, perhaps he simply wasn't comfortable seeing something that transparently showed Penny to be quite inhuman.
Pietro closed the compartment in Penny's back and his mechanical chair stepped back away from her. "Alright darling let's see if you're combat ready once more," he said.
Penny obeyed, she took a stance as the compartment in her back opened up and deployed Floating Array. The multiple blades fanned out separating from each other around Penny like points on a steel star.
The elegant movements of the many swords and their wielder. She moved with an efficient and mechanical grace as her blades cut and thrust at holographic targets. Each blade moving independently but with an almost choreographed unison. They slashed at the floating lights and others morphed into their laser gun forms firing low energy blasts at the dancing targets.
"Weapon test complete," Penny announced proudly, "all blades are operating at peak performance, I am once more combat ready."
Jaune smiled watching the dozen blades reform together stacking atop one another before folding back down and setting themselves back into the compartment on her back.
"Mantle should feel safer already," Jaune smirked, pleased to see her fall back into her role of combatant so easily. He'd probably need a few hours of training to polish off any rust he picked up since being injured.
Penny smiled at him and nodded. "I hope so, I have been away from my duties for too long."
"I hear that," Jaune agreed. Back before everything that had happened the idea of having a break from the day in and day out huntsman contracts, training and escort jobs would have seemed wonderful to him. But now more than anything else he wanted to get back to his work, to fighting grimm and criminals with his team and the rest of his friends, to taking his usual contracts, to helping those kids get to school everyday. "Just another day or so," he said, hopeful that his evaluation would indeed clear him. He was at least able to form an aura now that it wasn't being immediately drained to heal him.
"Don't be in too much of a hurry," Pietro warned, "I'd hate to see either of you hurt again so soon."
"We will be careful father," Penny assured him. "General Ironwood is boosting security in light of the recent events and has already warned me to be careful."
Jaune nodded in agreement, "Ren and Nora already made me promise to take it slow," he admitted.
"Glad to hear it," Pietro said.
Jaune's scroll buzzed in his pocket. He retrieved it and activated the screen seeing the still image of General Ironwood next to a text message asking him to see him in his office.
"Looks like the general wants to have a chat," Jaune said, giving them a wave goodbye. "Thanks again for the repairs Pietro, I'll catch you later Penny."
"Anytime," Pietro said, giving him a wave.
"Goodbye Jaune," Penny said watching him leave.
He exited the small training room and moved for the elevator pressing the button for up and waiting. The doors opened and a stern but serene face greeted him.
"Good evening Mr. Arc," Winter greeted him as he stepped in, "you are looking well."
"Um thank you Miss Schnee," Jaune nodded seeing that she was already on her way to the same floor as him. "I'm definitely starting to feel better," he said, watching the doors close again to take them up.
"That's good to hear. I've noticed you have been spending quite a lot of time with Penny since you woke up." She told him remaining rigid and statuesque as the elevator rose. Her stiff posture and rigidly formal demeanor made Jaune decide against leaning against the corner and simple stood straight next to her.
"Yeah we have," Jaune confirmed to her. "Since we're stuck in here together and everyone else has been bust we've been killing time together." He explained to her.
Winter nodded silently to him showing that he understood. "That is good, it at least seems that this incident has made the both of you closer if nothing else."
It was Jaune's turn to answer with a silent nod of his own. They had grown closer. Before even coming here he hadn't even met Penny only heard of her through Ruby and her Vital Tournament matches. Even arriving at Mantle, their interactions were short to say the least. Before now he would have even hesitated to have called them acquaintances. Even if he was finding her insistence to help him with every little thing overbearing and insufferable he couldn't deny just how close they have gotten. "We've become good friends," Jaune told her meaning every word.
"I am pleased to hear it," Winter said with a tight but sincere smile. "It's reassuring that something decent could come from this unpleasantness and I confess I've been concerned about how this has affected her."
"Have you talked to her?" Jaune asked.
"I've been indisposed managing the investigation," Winter explained to him.
"I see," Jaune said, "how's that been going? If I am allowed to ask."
"You may ask," Winter told him, "but I am afraid I cannot say much right now, except that the General might have some questions for you."
"That probably explains why he called me to his office," Jaune mused aloud as the elevator dinged and opened its doors to their desired floor.
"Probably," Winter agreed, her heels clicking on the floor as they walked down the corridor. They reached an intersection and Winter turned down a different hallway. "I wish you the best of luck Mr. Arc, good day."
"Thank you uh... Miss Schnee," he said as they parted.
He approached Ironwood's office and entered after being let through by a secretary. He stepped into the rather spacious room and a Jaune noticed the lack of any other furnishings save for his personal desk and chair. Jaune hadn't noticed it before when he was here the first time but it seemed Ironwood expected people to remain standing when coming to meet him.
"Mr. Arc, thank you for coming." The General greeted him from behind his desk hands folded in front of him. "I see the repairs on your blade have been finished, just in time too."
"Uh sir?" Jaune asked, not quite understanding what he meant.
"Your evaluation was just sent to me," the General said standing up. "You've been deemed psychologically fit to return to duty. Thought Dr. Jasmine has recommended that you use her services and schedule future appointments. I'll leave that decision to your judgement."
"Thank you," Jaune said, "and that is good news, I was a little worried I hadn't left the doctor with a good impression."
Ironwood nodded and stood up rounding his desk to approach Jaune. "I can relate, I had to undergo such evaluations myself. I could never quite feel comfortable being observed trying to explain myself to someone who's never been under fire before, I could never quite relate to them."
Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Yeah," he sighed. "It was kind of the same way for me. Do uh… sir would you mind if I asked you a personal question?"
Ironwood considered him a moment before answering, "you are welcome to ask, though I cannot promise I'll answer."
Jaune nodded and swallowed a lump in his throat. "You've… you've killed people before… right?"
Ironwood nodded, "this is about Vasily isn't it?"
"Yeah… I mean I know it hasn't been confirmed that he's actually dead but if he is, and if I'm the one that killed him then how should I feel?" He asked him tentatively.
"Well, what did you tell Dr. Jasmine?" He asked a Jaune.
"I told her that I hope he's dead, that I don't regret killing him or saving myself or Penny," he explained to him. "But I also feel cold… I feel like I should feel some sort or guilt or regret or sadness but when I think about how I put that blade through him the only thing I feel is bitter satisfaction. And I've felt it before, when I've thought about killing a Cinder."
Ironwood looked at impassively for a moment before holding his hand out to Jaune. "May I see your sword Mr. Arc?"
Jaune nodded and removed his sheathed blade from his belt handing Crocea Mors over to the General who unsheathed it and activated the shield letting it fold out. He inspected the sword, its intricate hilt and well honed edge. "This is a family sword is it not? Your family fought in the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution, and with a distinguished service record as well."
Jaune nodded, "Uh yeah," he answered not quite sure what he was getting at.
"Did you know Mr. Arc that statistically of soldiers on the frontline and under enemy fire only twenty five percent fire their weapons?" He asked him.
"I did not know that," Jaune answered him.
"And of that twenty five percent who fire their weapons only three percent fire with the intention to kill, the rest aim above or below their target. What does that tell you Mr. Arc?"
"That even though they're soldiers fighting for their lives, most of them don't want to kill someone." He answered him.
"Yes that is indeed true," Ironwood agreed, "but what does it tell you about the other three percent that do fire?"
Jaune frowned, "that they don't have reservations about killing."
"It's a little more complicated than that but yes," Ironwood explained. "Some soldiers don't feel guilty killing other people, others are hateful of their enemy or fervently motivated by their duty, others are afraid for their lives and see their only option is to kill. And then you have those who kill because they're trying to protect their friends on the frontline, usually these people have statistically come from large families or backgrounds where others have depended on them, they make strong friendships and bonds with those they fight alongside and are motivated to protect them."
The shield collapsed back down into a scabbard and the General sheathed it once more and held it out for Jaune. "I know your background Mr. Arc, and you said that you wanted to protect Penny and I believe you. I have no doubt what kind of man you were when you killed him."
Jaune felt a bashful, once again he felt like he was earning praise he didn't deserve. "Thank you sir," Jaune said, taking his sword back from the General, "that helps."
"I have been in your position before Mr. Arc, I too found myself lacking remorse after doing what I had to," he explained, "but it is natural for soldiers to dehumanize their enemies, it makes their duty more palpable, and for what it is worth I believe you did the right thing."
"Thank you," Jaune said again, attaching the scabbard back onto his hip and resting his left hand on the pommel.
Ironwood gave him a smile and nodded. "Now as to the actual business I called you here for, I have a couple of questions for our investigation into the incident."
Jaune nodded, "Winter told me you might have some questions," he explained.
Ironwood nodded, "yes, I simply want to know if you might have noticed any potential discrepancies with Fredrick Carlan, the driver who escorted you the day you were attacked."
"The driver?" Jaune asked, "what about him?"
"We think he might have been involved with Vasily or whoever hired him," Ironwood explained, "Winter's investigation has uncovered a number of large monetary transactions into several accounts of his shortly before the truck was targeted, it is possible he was the informant that warned Vasily that Penny took Miss Belladonna's place aboard the truck."
"I see," Jaune said, "but I didn't really know the guy or notice anything, did Penny perhaps record anything?"
"Penny was busy conversing with you, I was simply wondering if you might have noticed something she did not, an unusual use of the radio or type of signal."
Jaune shook his head, "sorry I can't think of anything that stood out."
Ironwood nodded, "well I appreciate the-." A red light bathed the office in scarlet and the screech of an alarm could be heard just outside the door. The General pressed a button on his desk. "This is General Ironwood, status report!"
"General sir! A body was located in the east wing, we believe there is an intruder here on academy grounds and have initiated lockdown, we're sending a security team your way." The intercom on his desk crackled.
I almost didn't finish this week's chapter with everything going on. Thankfully the words came easy to me on Sunday and I was able to write more than I honestly expected so I hope you all enjoyed it. As usual please review and give me your thoughts on the story and how you think it's going. Once again I'd live to express my gratitude to MidKnightMoonglow99 for discussing the story with me and providing many helpful thoughts and opnions.