On Sunday Jaune had woken early and had emptied the first batch of dishes from the dishwasher and then loaded up the second batch. This was something he did at home as a trade-off for dad and Lavender dealing with the cooking. He had then spent the day with Saffy, Terra and Adrian wandering round Argus. They had taken the tram to the beach and had been by the sea wall when the Atlas military had taken their Colossus out for a test drive in the bay. Initially it had been called Cordovin's folly, but the fact that she defiantly demonstrated it seemed to have won people over. It's bi-weekly outings had become a tourist attraction. There were toys of it you could buy, and it had even been licensed to makers of sandcastle moulds. Adrian insisted on a plushie version of the Colossus being purchased for him by his uncle. On balance it made the people of Argus feel safer and reduced negative emotions. Oddly the fact that it was seen as OTT helped with morale. It might have been worse if people had really thought that it was needed.

In the evening Saffy had taken him to the station while Terra bathed Adrian, read to him, and put him to bed. This gave Saffy and Jaune to have a mean at Argus Station. While not as expensive as the Blue Express in Mistral it did good local delicacies at a reasonable price.

Saffy had explained to him that this was fine with Terra as it gave her time with Adrian by themselves and in addition allowed Saffy and Jaune to talk about family matters. Apparently Saffy did the same when friends and family of Terra visited. The fact that Amber had encouraged the acquisition of a spacious house eight years ago had been a wise call. Not only had it almost trebled in value, but it also meant that there was room to put up friends and family.

As Saffy sipped at her fresh soup and Jaune tackled his prawns in garlic and herbs, he said to Saffy, "I had not really realised before last night that you spent more of your childhood in Argus rather than Ansel. Was it a shock moving away?"

Saffy thought about it. "The twins were only four and Lily was two, so they quickly got used to the change. Besides which the new house had a room for all of us and it was good not having to share a bedroom anymore. The fact that we could play outdoors and fish on the lake meant that we all liked the new home. Well, it had been dad's family home before his mother died and so we had often been on holiday there."

Jaune nodded, "Is it true that the twins nearly drowned twice?"

"Debo and mother kept an eye on them most of the time and Amber taught them to swim after the first time Nancy dared Jessica to get out of her depth. It was the right thing to do for the family as a whole."

Jaune could sense the lurking but, and said, "But you Amber and Debo must have left friends behind here?"

"True. I was halfway through middle school and had a close group of friends. Look, going to Ansel was a shock to my system. Argus was at that time a very polite city. The Faunus and the humans who had moved here from Mantle found that they more in common with each other than the native Mistralians but quickly got used to the more relaxed attitude of them. The native Mistralians liked the fact that those from Mantle worked hard and were fundamentally law abiding. There was quite a bit of give and take and an attitude of live and let live."

Saffy looked almost sad for a moment. Jaune asked, "Was it really that bad moving to Ansel?"

"Looking back, I may have overreacted. It's just that there was a whole load of fundamental assumptions in Ansel which were different to the ones I had grown up with. It had only been ten years since schools had been mixed and even then only children of well-off Faunus went to the school me, and Amber transferred to."

She paused, "My accent was different from everyone else's, and I came into a class where everyone had their best friends and cliques. I didn't fit in, and my politeness was seen by some as being snobby."

"How was it for Amber?"

Saffy laughed. "First, she hadn't entirely fitted in at Argus. Fundamentally, you must realise about Amber that she reacts badly to people who are certain about things and use that certainty to despise others. Second, she started middle school at the same time as others did and so it was easier for her to find her niche. Third, she already knew that she wanted to be a hunter like dad and even then anyone trying to put her in her place was destined for retribution."

Saffy laughed and Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Go on, there must be a story there."

"Some of the boys in my class were bullying me at lunch time at the prompting of some of the girls. It wasn't just words, but hair pulling, pinching and threats to cut my hair with scissors. Unfortunately for them Amber was also there at the time and even then had a creative mind when it came to controlled violence. Be fair to her, she did not leave any permanent injuries and she did warn them first before attacking."

"Ah. I can imagine."

"Anyway, there was a huge row about it. Amber and mother forced the headmaster to backdown. When Amber explained why she had beaten up the boys bullying me, he said that she should have brought in the teachers. Amber pointed out that the head bully was a teacher's daughter, and that when I had complained before I had been ignored and told to get a thicker skin."

Jaune nodded. "I think I can guess mother's response."

"Yes. She waited until the headmaster had tied himself in knots and then asked why snitching about bullying was bad and snitching about being beaten up for bullying was good. She also asked for guidelines on when it was acceptable to report bullying or not."

"So, what happened?"

"Everyone pretended that nothing had happened, but I was left alone afterwards. Well, the teasing was there, but no one pushed it too far. Actually, after that things were OK – not good, but not miserable and I did make some friends."

"And Debo?"

"Deborah was eight and adapted quickly. She was good at sports and believe it or not was a bit of a tomboy then. She was accepted as an honorary boy by the boys and respected by the girls in her class. She had the knack of making people want to be her friend. Anyway, when she arrived at middle school, the fact that she was Amber's sister guaranteed that no one messed with her."

Jaune said, "Dad says that she is the most like mother of you all."

"Perhaps. Mother is more like Amber than the rest of you know. Mother did teach Debo how to choose the battles she fought and to keep her options open. Debo does like children more than the rest of us."

"I've seen you with Adrian and Lily with hers." Jaune protested.

"That's different. They are our own and we love them unconditionally despite the noise Adrian makes when he is tired or wants something. Debo likes children full stop. Mother could never have joined the LGDF when she did if Debo had not bullied me and Amber into helping her look after the rest of you after school."

All too soon it was time to bundle him on to the sleeper train back to Mistral. It was the sister train, the Mistral Limited, but the journey was as smooth and Jaune slept well. He woke up early and dressed in the LGDF uniform. He would be back on the clock as soon as he landed in Ansel. There was a letter waiting for him in Mistral from Professor Pink to mother, but he gathered for the thinness it was more of a thankyou letter rather than a request for supplemental information to be provided for his visit.

Jaune arrived in the office at nine and had a full day in the office. On the way home he had passed on the intel about the White Fang attack in Argus to mother who had nodded and looked thoughtful. She was also inquisitive about Lucas's (ex?) girlfriend.

After dinner, he shared the photographs which he had taken of Saffy and family including some taken by Saffy of Adrian riding Jaune. Lavender was amused. She would be going to stay with them for a week at the end of term and was happy to be briefed about Adrian's idiosyncrasies. He didn't say much about the dinner party. He wanted to think about things further as well as investigating the Mustang option in more detail.

After he and mother had finished the washing up, she poured them both a glass of wine and asked about the trip.

Mother had sat down with him on Monday evening and said, "It sounds as though Adrian is growing up fast."

"He is."

"Nicholas will be going to see them himself next weekend while Pink visits Kulsa. Lavender will stay with Debo. I thought that you should join me in Kulsa."

"That will be good."

She looked at him and said, "Jaune, I know that I may have seemed half-hearted in my support of your attempts to go to Haven. I'm not being so on purpose, but I have talked about this with Nicholas, and he says that if I tried too hard here it would be counterproductive. I have been noting the names of some of the better security firms if you wish to investigate the Mustang option."

"Mother, I understand. You asked a question about whether the fact that I had been a student for a term made a difference and apparently it does. Not in a good way. But I'm glad you asked. You sensed that there was a trap and it helped me."

She paused, "Jaune, I'm receiving reports which concern me from Awkney County. I will be sending Reynard off t on a two-day road trip to investigate them tomorrow and Wednesday. I was proposing to send you with him. Darren Marine will be running patrols near the county border tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday morning just in case you need to call him in."

Awkney County was a sparsely populated areas of Western Ansel. It had never really recovered from the Faunus wars. The Grimm had overrun the area and it had taken a long time for people to come back to the area. There was still only one sizeable village which still had less than half the population it had forty years ago. The small population impacted on the amount of resources mother could normally devote to it. In addition, the main population consisted of miners and loggers. The companies running the businesses employed hunters and security personnel of their own to protect the industries and the workers. Because of the proximity of forests which Grimm thrived in, this was a necessity to protect the people.

Mother explained that the local LGDF office had reported increased Grimm activity. What made her suspicious was that the logging camps and mines had not mentioned any such uptick.

"Jaune, in the current economic climate, the logging camps in particular are of doubtful profitability and if they closed the workers there are unlikely to find work easily. This means that they are worried about their jobs. I got a heads up this afternoon that one of the logging camps is up for sale and will be issuing redundancy notices on Thursday."

Jaune said, "You have told me before that the workers normally know that trouble is coming."

"Yes. That's why I am disturbed by the lack of reports from the camps and mines. I suspect they all believe that if they have to implement an evacuation plan, their employers will use it as an excuse to close down operations. That means that there is an awful lot of pressure on people to see nothing or to identify something as a bear rather than as an Ursa. That's why I want Reynard and you to go have a look see. Reynard will also be making it clear to the people running the camps that unless the LGDF is happy that safety protocols are being followed we will be forced to consider test the evacuation plans."

"Why wouldn't the security forces report Grimm activity?"

"They are worried for their jobs as well and having a reputation for crying Beowolf loses contracts. The workers may not be reporting all they see to the security personnel, and everyone may be reassuring themselves that everything is fine despite the fact that it isn't, or it is closer to the tipping point than they want to accept."

Mother paused, "I know these are all just theories about how negative emotions attract Grimm, but if people are being wilfully blind to the risk of Grimm attacks this produces a whole load of stress as the unconscious mind knows the reality."

She looked over at Jaune, "Remember this when you mess up or are in charge of people who mess up. Often worrying about whether or not you have messed up or about admitting that you might have is more stressful than actually admitting to it."

"Why is that?"

"In my experience twenty per cent of the time people have got obsessed about something which really does not matter very much. Another twenty-five per cent of the time there is an easy fix. In other cases, having someone else looking at the problem and saying how do we solve it means that at least positive action is being taken."

"But what if someone has really FUBARed?"

"Often it is a forgivable error, and one learns not to do it again. It's one of the things the bullhead industry does right. The emphasis is on finding out what went wrong and preventing it happening again rather than of finding someone to blame and in practice that is what happens. Admittedly, when there are fatalities the temptation to blame it on pilot error is great as they aren't around to object, but at least in general no one is hiding information."

"Don't Jasper and Debo say that usually the cover up stinks more than the original problem?"

"Yes. I would say that it is the unsuccessful cover up which people recall and who knows how many are successful."

"Mother?!"

"It's true. Still more people should engage minds about the effect of the cover up going wrong than automatically assuming it will work."

Jaune then asked about the political position in Kulsa. Mother said, "Scarlett will run for mayor next year and will assume that all the Faunus are White Fang sympathisers. Braun will dither about whether he tries to compete with Scarlett or go for the centrist vote or try for both."

"I thought you got on with Braun."

"I do, but he has to hide the fact that he fundamentally wants to keep the show on the road and merely thinks Faunus are on average less intelligent than humans rather than stupid or a threat. He is not a cruel or insecure man who needs to have people bow to him, but he tries to talk tough and act reasonable and sooner or later people will notice."

Jaune nodded. He knew mother trusted him not to repeat what she had said. Besides which he thought to himself that the road trip might allow him to investigate the opportunities of joining the professions from which the Mustangs came. This would allow him to fight the Grimm and even if he did not get into Haven would give him experience which might allow him to come back into the LGDF with useful experience.

He set out with Reynard in one of the LGDF 4-wheel drive cars at 7 AM on Tuesday. Curiously Reynard had brough along large suitcase as well as an overnight bag. The deputy chief winked at him when Jaune looked quizzically at the luggage.

Jaune drove while Reynard consulted his scroll and wrote out a to do list. The deputy chief than explained that they needed to be careful and should not hint that they believed that people were supressing reports of Grimm. As they got into the county they stopped in a diner/bar for brunch. The village was a Faunus village, so Jaune ordered the food and paid the bill. Apparently this worked well with the Faunus who were partly amused to see a human behaving in a subordinate way and partly glad to see it happening.

An old pony Faunus followed them out when they had finished their light meal. Reynard had warned Jaune that they would probably be having at least three and probably four meals before 2 PM today with a view to learning things from people. The Faunus congratulated Reynard on his career and then blithely mentioned that his grandson and his friends has seen a large number of wolves and bears with white streaks in their fur recently.

Back in the car, Jaune turned to Reynard, "Should we take that seriously?"

"Probably yes. It could have been someone making trouble but the fact he talked to me reduces the risk of that. It's more likely a grandfather worried about his grandchild and wanting us to pull the plug on a job which could kill him."

Reynard checked the map, "Ok, another lunch in thirty minutes. They do a good omelette there."

At the second village they first stopped off at the house of a local LGDF reservist, Charlie Blanc. Reynard ordered the man to make certain that the armoured car was fuelled and serviced and then taken to a mile outside the largest county village. The man nodded and said, "The security men have been avoiding me in the pub for the last week or so. Not unfriendly but keeping themselves to themselves and not letting the ones I know best be by themselves while I am around. A little too insistent that everything is fine."

Reynard thanked the man, told him that they would be getting a bite to eat at the diner, and then walked with Jaune down the street towards the village diner ignoring the man's attempts to say something to him. Before entering, Reynard changing the angle of his uniform cap to a more raffish look and fluffed out his tail. He said to Jaune, "Call me sir loudly when we sit down. Don't react on my behalf but be ready to flare your aura if something kicks off. The owner will stop things getting out of hand."

They walked in and Jaune noticed that the humans were sat on one side of the room and the Faunus on the other. Reynard somehow managed to walk arrogantly and ostentatiously took a table on the human side of the room with Jaune. A Faunus waitress in her forties took their order and referred to Jaune as a fine young man. Reynard replied, "Yes, he's a good boy."

There was an audible gasp from the nearby tables. Jaune then compounded it by after taking the first bite saying, "This was a good choice, sir."

Jaune noticed one of the human customers who looked like a miner grow angry and punch his fist. His two neighbours restrained him, and the owner came over and there was a whispered conversation. The angry man grimaced and walked out muttering loudly about a bad smell.

The waitress served them their omelettes and coffees quickly. They were as good as promised, but Jaune could sense the relief when he and Reynard left. Reynard loudly said as they left "Let's head back to Ansel."

Jaune said nothing but in the car asked, "What was that all about?"

"It's best if we make them think we aren't doing an inspection tour and just detoured for a meal and to wind them up. Things are as bad as your mother feared and the danger is that we might be the tipping point before we can get our ducks in a row."

"How can you tell?"

"I can lip read and I was relying on Charlie giving the diner a warning call that I was coming in. I learnt long ago that seeing how jerks react to the sight of a Faunus in a uniform is a good, if risky, way of obtaining intel. Today I found out how worried the customers were about things in general and in particular about the consequences of the LGDF to fully investigating what is going on."

Reynard shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "The owner must have seen the same Eddie Mauvie film I saw twenty-five years ago."

"Doesn't he mostly do cartoon voiceovers nowadays?"

"Yes, but back then he was a star. Anyway, the owner told the angry guy that I was his worst fracking nightmare, an animal with a badge. He then explained that I was a deputy chief of the Ansel LGDF and the last thing anyone wanted was to give us an excuse to come in mob handed."

"But we only try to save people's lives."

"I have the power to recommend to your mother that she order evacuations. People are worried for their jobs and most have debts they have trouble paying."

"What would have happened if they hadn't stopped him attacking you?"

"The owner would have told them whose son you were. In the unlikely event that failed I would just have had to improvise. The odds would have been that we were the only two with unlocked auras and any training in how to use them."

They left the village and after five miles, Reynard stopped the car and changed the number plates on the car. "Let's change into civilian clothes before the next lunch. I've got a chauffeur uniform and you can pretend to be a toff slumming it." The fox Faunus opened the boot, got out a case, rifled through it, and handed Jaune a dark wig, "Put that on."

"Ehh?"

"I'm not that well known, but you do look like your sisters. Besides which I need you to roleplay being an idiot and the wig helps."

Reynard explained his plan and Jaune nodded. He got what his superior was up to. Reynard also put on glasses and adopted a Canary accent. Allegedly this was the accent used by working class people who were born within half a mile of the Blue Bell Temple in Mistral City. Jaune doubted that anyone who actually came from that part of Mistral City would be fooled by it, but it was certainly better than Dick Van Illa's in the old musical. Jaune also noticed that the tail instead of being proudly erect drooped as though acknowledging Jaune's superiority. He had always respected Reynard but was beginning to understand why mother and Marion referred to him being crazy like a fox in an approving way.

"Do you always carry a disguise and false numberplates with you?"

"Not always, but I thought better safe than sorry today."

The next diner was a Faunus run one with outside seating. The two of them were objects of curiosity to the locals. Jaune ate outside by himself and pretended to be a rich wildlife enthusiast. He asked the locals about where he could find the rare species of bears and wolves with white streaks in their fur he had been hearing about. The waiter and the other customers were polite but denied knowledge and looked shifty.

After lunch which this time had been gammon steak with chips, Reynard emerged from inside the diner still role-playing being a chauffeur. Jaune struggled keeping a straight face as he was called "Young sir" by the deputy chief

When they were on their way again, the fox Faunus said, "You were very convincing as a well-meaning idiot, Jaune. They were all very concerned for our health and welfare and warned me of which areas of the county to keep you away from. They even pointed them out on my map. It has only been in the last week that the sightings have really gone up and I suppose everyone was hoping that it was a blip. What did worry me was that they asked whether you had heard the rumours about the large black eagles as well."

Reynard then called Charlie and asked him to add fire dust bombs to three of the drones and carefully mark them. He also said "The Chief told me about your cry-baby notion. Could you add that option to them?"

The next stop was the main LGDF office in the county which doubled as a bar. The local representative, Ronald Berry was glad to see them, but his face fell when he saw the map which Reynard had marked up according to the information he had received. Reynard spent time reassuring the man that he and Jaune had advantages in obtaining information and that his reports had ensured that Reynard and Jaune were sent in.

The man did not look entirely convinced and Reynard said, "Look, I took advantage of the fact Faunus are used to looking after each other and the older ones especially can be leery of speaking to humans. You have to live with the humans, and you can't very well call them gods dammed liars to their faces. You warned us that the information you were getting from the businesses did not tally with what you were hearing from others and that meant I knew what I had to do."

Reynard called mother on his scroll and filled her in. Mother said, "Reynard, you're Johnny on the Spot. Do you want to do the site visits first or should I get Darren and his team closer in now?"

"I think we need a fly over as I doubt that we will get honest answers from those on the ground and each site visit will take at least an hour. Tell Darren to watch out for medium sized Nevermores. He'd best divide his squad into his team with auras and the reservists without and place them on separate bullheads. I'm going to cold call the local security teams and business managers and tell them to don't hesitate to call us in."

"Hinting that someone else has broken ranks or is under attack?"

"Yes, I'll rub it in that delay costs lives and that we have limited resources."

"OK. I'll reposition our other hunter teams so that they can get to you quickly if needed."

Jaune listened as Reynard rang round the contact numbers. He targeted the businesses in the areas that he had been warned the young master should be kept away from. Jaune called Charlie and asked him to bring the armoured vehicle into town while Ronald Berry put the reserves on standby.

Twenty minutes into the calling process, Reynard put the phone down after one call and said, "Ronald, do you have numbers for any contacts you know personally at Bad Rock Lumber Mill?"

"Yes."

"Could you call them and see if they are in trouble? Their nearest neighbour told me that they weren't surprised to hear from me considering the gunfire they were hearing from there. The security personnel and the management team at Bad Rock aren't answering my calls."

Ronald called a contact and put the phone on speaker when he was answered. The sounds of gunfire told their own story, but the sounds of a large explosion suggested things had gone badly wrong. Two minutes later an emergency call came in from private security force at the lumber mill at Bad Rock. Reynard's face hardened when he heard the details. He then called mother and Darren Marine and announced a class two Grimm attack and called for back-up. He also warned that there were avian Grimm involved and that they were prepared to attack aircraft and had already taken one down. Ronald was told to call up the local reservists, order the other businesses in the vicinity to lockdown their sites, and ask for those personnel with huntsman qualifications or unlocked auras to stand by to assist the evacuation.

Reynard looked at Jaune and said, "You can come with me. Flare your aura but understand that we are coordinators, drone operators, and snipers today and not front-line warriors." Three reservists joined Charlie in the armoured vehicle and Charlie drove quickly towards a hill overlooking the lumber mill. He and Reynard followed behind them in the car with Jaune driving and Reynard using his headset to try and coordinate things. Reynard had decided that he needed to see for himself what was happening on the ground.

Details flashed up on the scrolls about the mill. There were around one hundred and fifty workers and ten security guards at the site. The mill was in a dangerous enough spot that mother had vetoed allowing families with young children to stay there and there was a detailed evacuation plan.

He gathered from what Reynard was saying that the security team must have dithered (or been ordered to delay) when things first started going pear shaped and should have called them in at least an hour earlier than they did. Someone had then panicked and tried to implement the evacuation plan. It was then that they discovered that the attacking Grimm included medium sized Nevermore and one had taken out the first evacuation bullhead. That had been the explosion they had heard over the scroll. This not only meant that around twenty people were likely to be dead, but that the evacuation and the reaction plans were up the spout.

A sizeable Nevermore colliding with a military bullhead in the wrong place could bring it down in the same way as a civilian bullhead. This meant that the second bullhead from Darren's team which had people without aura on it would need to stay back until Darren's team or Reynard had dealt with the flying Grimm. It also meant that Darren's bullhead would need to fly low so that if it was taken out the crew could rely on their auras to avoid being killed by the fall.

They got to the top of the hill overlooking the lumber mill. They could see the burning bullhead, but it was surprisingly intact. Jaune looked through the binoculars and said, "Must have hit the flapping wing." He then said, "Looks more like a small helicopter." The only good thing was that it reduced the likely dead to between four and six.

Reynard studied the skies. "Let's get out the drones."

Charlie and the other volunteers took the drones out of the armoured vehicle. There was a quick exchange, and it was concluded that Charlie was the best driver and that Reynard and Jaune were the most experienced drone pilots. Charlie took the armoured car to try and run over Beowolfs with strict instructions not to mix it with Ursas or anything larger. Two of the reservists went with him to man the machine gun and the third stayed with Jaune and Reynard to snipe at any Grimm which charged in their direction.

Jaune knew that the main reason for the armoured vehicle's approach was a mixture of distracting the Grimm and giving the workers some hope that rescue was possible.

He and Reynard launched the first two fire dust carrying drones. They both had their fingers crossed that the remaining Nevermores were gammas rather than betas. Jaune discovered that the cry-baby option involved the drone playing the voice of a screaming bay. He decided that he would recommend Adrian Terra-Cotta as the voice artist for the next edition as this baby was merely plaintive.

Luckily the Grimm were medium sized, and the cries did distract them. Jaune took out one and Reynard manged to take out two by evading the attacks of one until another came in range of the blast. They then launched two surveillance drones and after a couple of minutes Reynard gave Darren's pilot the go ahead to move in carefully. While he and Jaune had taken out three medium sized junior Nevermores using the fire dust drones, he could not guarantee that there weren't more around.

One effect of the exploding of the Nevermore and the appearance of the armoured car was that the security personnel had calmed down and were now streaming footage from the compound to Reynard. The walls had been breached but somehow the Grimm had not taken full advantage of it. There seemed to be something wrong with the cameras as the coverage seemed to jump. It took some time for Jaune to realise that one of the defenders was literally moving yards without taking any steps. He then realised that the defender was a kangaroo Faunus who mixed in kicking the Grimm with head shots from a pistol.

A few minutes later a bullhead raced over at a low altitude and Jaune watched Darren Marine's team paraglide into the compound from the bullhead. The bullhead then landed near to where Jaune and Reynard were standing.

Reynard called Charlie and told him to come back and wait near the compound gate. From here on in it was a mopping up process. The breach in the compound walls became a killing zone as Darren's team played the percentages. They may not have been Vytal Festival contenders, but as Amber had told mother they were great at killing beta Grimm without taking risks. An hour later Jaune and Reynard joined Darren's team in the compound and took over the control room as the regional headquarters for the time being. Casualties were less than had expected. There had been five people in the executive helicopter and another seven fatalities on the ground.

Reynard handed over responsibility for the lumber mill evacuation to Ronald and Charlie and tried to get better information from the other businesses in the areas identified by his earlier investigation. Just because one attack had been fought off in one area, it did not mean that another might not happen. His play was that the LGDF was in the county and that now was not the time to be shy about needing help. He warned Jaune not to speak about their ruses other than to mother and Marion as they might want to use it again in the future.

Jaune felt a tap on the shoulder and turned to see from Darren Marine. "Jaune, I know we will probably need to move out soon to deal with more intrusions. There is someone here needs to talk to someone nearer their own age."

Jaune looked surprised and Darren played the footage of the Kangaroo Faunus kicking and shooting Grimm. He said, "If it wasn't for him the casualty figures would have been treble. He lost his father in the executive jet."

Jaune nodded, "Fine." He paused, "Did your footage jump as well?"

Darren looked embarrassed. "Frankly Jaune, I think he has a semblance which needs to be trained. It may even be as useful as Amber's. Just keep him on side as we don't want him joining the White Fang. I do not want to fight a Faunus who can dimension-door during a fight."

Jaune stared at Darren. "Hey, I'm a Wyverns and Caves player. Shoot me. Let him know that if he needs a Mustang recommendation I will give it and I have no doubt that Amber will second it."

Jaune nodded. From what he had seen of the kangaroo Faunus fighting he deserved the chance. He took a deep breath. Today had been as close as he had got to serious action and between them he and Reynard had ensured that the LGDF had been there when it counted. He had killed a beta Nevermore, admittedly remotely. Honestly though, apart from a few minutes in the second diner, neither he nor Reynard had been at risk of injury. Reynard had called in Darren, had made certain that he and Jaune had been useful, and had saved lives. They had both lived to do the same another day. Neither of them was heroes but both had done their job well. Working in a LGDF run by mother, Reynard and Marion, there was no chance he could prove himself to be a hero. Still, that was a thought process to go through.

"No problem, Darren. What's his name?"

"Evelyn Fitz-Green."

Darren looked at him and Jaune knew the score. The mother had acknowledged her child was a bastard. Well, Remnant, he had proven himself today.

As Darren led him to the recreation room where his team were recuperating before moving on, Jaune told himself what he needed to do. Tell the young man he had done well and that despite his losses he had earned a chance at financial security and public esteem.

Darren said, "Evelyn, this is Jaune. He's Chief Arc's son."

Evelyn looked at them both and Jaune thought two things, well maybe three. First, maybe Darren doesn't have sisters. Second, Evelyn is a girl. Third, that moustache is a fake and and I'm not certain that she's even as old as me."

This is a transitional chapter which just grew on me. I've only reached the halfway point of where I originally expected the chapter to end. Having given Jaune's mother a deputy who is a Faunus I felt I needed to show that he had earned it. I do hope my liking for oldish films is not too much of a distraction. Perhaps 48 Hours does show its age now, but Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy made a good double act, and I am told that the bar scene was effective in its day.