A/N: Sorry for a late chapter. Holidays happened.
Two men stood on the ledge of a tall, rundown apartment building. One was tall and somewhat skinny; the other was much taller, and very beefy.
They stood facing the distant ships hovering over the city.
The heavily muscled man spoke, "You sure we aren't gonna do something about this? That general is screwing everything up, and we're just gonna sit here and watch?"
The other man spoke back in a quiet voice, "Yes. We shouldn't get involved in a war that has nothing to do with us. The Hunters are keeping the Atlesians busy, and vice versa, allowing us to operate freely."
"And then what. One side is gonna win eventually. And when they do-"
The shorter man cut him off, "-And when they do, they will be severely weakened. I am done arguing about this, Lieutenant. Inform the troops we are moving out immediately."
BEACON ACADEMY
After Jaune was dropped off and taken to the makeshift surgery room, the "Doctors", Velvet, Weiss, and Ren, set to work cleaning and assessing his damaged body.
The rest of their teams sat in the waiting room, in a heated discussion on what to do next.
"Now that Jaune is back, he can re-assume his role as our leader… never thought id say that sentence out loud." Blake said, Yang nodding in agreement.
"Did you see the shape he was in!? I doubt he'll be able to lead us, let alone stand-" Pyrrha argued back.
"Maybe-" Nora attempted to say, but Yang talked over her.
"Not all leaders stand. I read a book once…" Blake gave her a look, "A comic book once where the leader of a highly skilled team of hunters was in a wheelchair!"
"That is science fiction. This is real life. You really think someone like Jaune is gonna be able to make hard, life changing, or fast decisions from a hospital bed?"
"Guys, lemme-" Nora attempted again, but was again silenced, this time by Blake.
"Science fiction though it may be, the argument stands. Even in the Atlesian Military, some people in command don't leave their desk, and work at computers and sign things… It is not a stretch if we have a leader who doesn't-"
This time, Nora cut her off, but a lot louder.
While Blake was talking, she'd gotten up, unfolded Magnhild to hammer form, and smashed her chair to splinters.
Needless to say, the room fell silent.
"FINALLY! Now, as I was saying; We should leave the decision whether or not Jaune can, or cannot lead to… hmm… I dunno…" she paused a second for dramatic effect, "…Jaune? I mean, here we are, infighting, while our dear leader is in there, possibly on his deathbed, while we sit out here yelling at each other over whether or not he can be leader, or would want to be leader, or whether this is science fiction or…" She stopped and took a breath, "All I'm saying is we should leave the decision about Jaune to Jaune himself. If it comes to it… We'll find a… replacement leader."
Nora sat down, and put her face into her hands, and began to cry.
The rest of the room sat in shocked silence. They had never seen Nora act this way before. Sure, they'd seen her ramble, but never cry.
Pyrrha reached out to comfort her teammate, but recoiled when an arc of electricity went from Nora's shoulder to her palm.
"Don't ." Nora said, sniffling.
A COUPLE HOURS LATER
Ren, Weiss, and Velvet all walked into the waiting room.
Velvet, being the huntress with the most medical training, spoke, "We managed to stabilize him. While not as bad as I f-first thought, its still very bad. Whoever did this to him p-put burn dust in his hand, mouth, and eye. His hand is repairable, as it's only his skin that h-has been melted, and can be fixed with a scalpel and hand exoskeleton. His eye can be fixed too… but a-again by technology. His mouth, though… the tongue has been irreparably destroyed, and we don't have the technology to repair or r-replace it. Until then, he'll have to use a state of the art text to speech program."
Nora resumed crying, as did Pyrrha. Ruby, who didn't want to hear this, and so put her fingers in her ears, stared blankly at the floor.
Weiss spoke, "We have him sedated, until the cybernetic eye can be applied."
Ren simply walked to Nora, lightly took her hand, and led her from the room. Yang and Blake did the same with Pyrrha.
Velvet was left standing alone with Ruby, who quietly said, "Why is this happening?"
A/N: Posting will be back on track, and Sorry for anyone who saw the last upload of this chapter... stupid computer.