Chapter 6 (Stan Crow)

"Where is she?"

Hope muttered, more to herself than anyone. Outside of class, Patience had an annoying habit of ditching Hope, even during practice. She was, of course, the team's designated scout, but even that seemed like a flimsy excuse for the general lack of communication. Still, when she did report in, her information was solid, relevant, and timely.

Maybe I'm just inventing a problem in my mind, Hope thought. Maybe she really is a good person at heart, but just doesn't know how to express it in a way I can understand. Besides, she hasn't actually done anything wrong since joining Team THEO.

No. Not Team THEO. Hope still couldn't get past the fact that she was now a team lead, not to mention the fact that the team had been renamed after her. Glancing to her left she saw Optima and Everest chatting, though their eyes were in constant motion, surveying their surroundings. Optima's mortar sat ready; Everest gripped his moon glaives while doing pushups. Hope knew the pair would act immediately if Patience called in trouble.

Not as though we've seen anything in three days. Why did my vision send me here, anyway?

Atinny voice suddenly crackled in her earpiece. "Girl," Patience said, "what I'm looking at will make you need to change your panties. Get the team to the coordinates I'm sending you."

A set of numbers blinked on map pasted across Hope's personal palmtop computer. The target point was halfway across the Emerald Forest—probably an hour's walk at a minimum. "Um, guys? We need to hurry," she said to her team. "Patience says she found something. It's a bit of a walk to her position.

"Are you guys okay with that?" Optima's answering smile was radiant, but Everest raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we don't have to. Or, I mean, you don't have to, Everest. I can't make you do
anything. She's my partner after all. If you two wanted to stay behind—"

"We will all assist our new friend," Everest said calmly, "even if she has no sense of chastity."

Relief flooded through Hope. She was nothing compared to the leader Theresa had been, but seeing the support in her teammate's eyes gave her hope that maybe this might work out after all. "Well, I guess we should run."

She waited for assenting nods before turning and dashing into the forest.

Patience hadn't been exaggerating in her report. A half an hour later, Hope caught her breath as she crouched next to the older girl on a small bluff overlooking a dell on the skirts of the Emerald Forest. Large, cave-pocked hills surrounded three sides of the small valley. Hope swept her binoculars across the gathering, taking in what was at least an entire legion of the soulless creatures. A quick estimate suggested over five hundred Boarbatusks, another three or four hundred Beowolves, nearly six-score Ursas, a quartet of King Taijistus, and a pair of Death Stalkers. Overhead a full half-dozen of the dreaded Nevermores shrouded the entire valley in the shadow of their wings. Strangest of all, ants the size of Ursas weaved in and out through the group.

Standing near the entrance to the valley were four comparatively puny humans.

"What… what are those ant things?"

Patience grunted beside her. "Don't know. And I don't know how they pulled this off, but I've gotta hand it to them." She sounded slightly awed.

"What do you think they're doing?" Hope lowered her field glasses to look at Patience.

"Nothing good, whatever it is. I think this would explain, however, why we haven't run across anything in half a week."

"What...should we do?"

Hope's eyes flicked to each of her teammates in turn, hoping for the answer she knew she didn't have.

Everest looked pensive, but Optima smiled her usual smile. "The element of surprise—it is ours, girly. And we'll be using our upper hand just fine, wait and see."

"Thanks, I think," Hope muttered. Reluctantly, she shot a glance back to Patience.

"Don't look at me like that," the young woman said. "You're the team lead. You figure this out. Besides, tactics is your love child. Mine are way cuter."

Hope's face scrunched. "You have children?"

Patience fought down a guffaw. "Do you really think I'd inflict a brood of people like me on this world? Girl, I got that problem fixed a long time ago. Besides, can you really imagine me as a mother?"

"I've seen worse," Hope said, feeling small. She wasn't sure if she was right, but it was good to be nice.

The weight of the moment pressed on Hope like an angry elephant. Hope had ceased liking elephants when one of them unloaded a pile of dung at her feet during a trip to the zoo at age five. She preferred that situation to this. And yet, an army of Grimm—especially one with a whole new type of creature—was not something she could ignore. She closed her eyes and covered her ears, trying to focus. What was she to do? She had four people—one of whom was barely tested as a teammate—to challenge not only another team, but enough Grimm to wipe out a small town. Tactically, her only advantage was the element of surprise Optima had mentioned.

Beyond that, she clearly needed help.

"Ozpin," she blurted, eyes popping open. "He knows everything that goes on. There's no way he couldn't know about this."

"Except," Patience replied, "for the fact that the static cameras aren't out this far, and the remotes are almost never here either. Ozpin wouldn't have let this kind of a buildup happen if he'd known about it."

Hope's mouth flattened. "Then we're going to have to let him know." And suddenly, a plan of attack formed in her mind.