Here we go
Chapter 3
The only way left was up.
Jaune and Penny crept toward the staircase, with Penny taking point in case of an ambush and Jaune clutching his sword behind. The main hall and entranceway were as good as lost now, with the sniper ready to finish what they'd started if either of them showed their heads. It shocked him how close he'd been to death, so close that if it weren't for a push from Penny, he'd have been left bleeding out on the floor.
Aside from the personal fear he felt, there was a sense of guilt as well for the sniper who had trusted him to have aura. The person would have been horrified, even traumatised, and while it was hard to feel too sorry for someone who had ambushed him, he did feel bad on his end. It was all just more self-recrimination heaped on his shoulders. Jaune hunched them to try and dispel the sentiment and focused on his aura, the new and volatile source of energy he could feel rushing through him.
Penny reached the curve of the staircase and peeked around and up. The lack of any immediate retort suggested it was safe and she kept moving. The sniper would be higher up most likely, but that wasn't to say there might not be another person. If a team of four were in here, they might have three waiting in ambush while the last searched for the Intel. They didn't have the benefit of Penny's Semblance to let her detect computer signals. It was only that giving them a chance really, as the team would have been out with the Intel long ago if they did.
"How far up is the computer? Which floor?"
"I can't tell that exactly," said Penny. "I would say it is near the top but not at the top. We may need to deal with the people who ambushed us."
"Let's try not to." He didn't much fancy their odds. Penny might be capable, but he wasn't, and this might be two of them against four if Flynt and Neon didn't show up fast enough. "Our mission is to get the intelligence out, not fight other teams."
"You're right." There was a surprised and equally pleased tone to Penny's voice. "You are absolutely right, friend Jaune, we do not have to fight them if we get the intelligence and leave. Hmmm."
The girl paused and frowned. Jaune crept up behind her but didn't push her to move on or push past her up the stairs. "Something wrong?"
"I am thinking that perhaps I can make a distraction if we meet them, allowing you to run through and reach the terminal. Once you have the terminal downloaded, we can make a fighting retreat."
"That sounds good to me." Especially the retreat part. "What do you have in mind?"
"Something…"
"Something?" Jaune eyed her for a moment and Penny glanced away. Well, it didn't much matter if she didn't want to tell him. It wasn't like he was going to call her out on it. "Well, if you can do something, then that's great. Anything to save us having to actually fight them. I'll trust you to tell me when to make a run for the computer."
"You will? I mean, yes. Of course." Her smile returned, as bright as ever. "I will not let you down, my friend. We shall secure this intelligence, graduate, attend Atlas together as a team and become the greatest friends the kingdom has ever seen!"
Lofty goals. Not unreasonable ones though. Penny was a little odd, he'd be the first to admit, but she was so earnest and honest that there was no doubting how she felt about him. It was strange to have someone so boldly consider you a friend when you'd only met them the day before, but it wasn't a bad strange. I guess mom was right about strangers being friends you haven't met yet. Flynt, Neon and Penny were shaping up to be just that.
"We'll be awesome friends," he agreed. Penny's eyes shone. "But let's get this out the way first. Neon and Flynt will be waiting on us to get the intel."
"Yes. Onward, friend. I shall take the lead."
That was fine by him. Penny knew aura better than he did, was faster and probably stronger, especially with her prosthetic arm. All he had going for him was a good pair of legs and a functioning set of hands. Well, that and a shield. Speaking of, I should really get that out. He drew Crocea Mors and opened the sheathe into a shield, holding it over his head protectively. If an attack was going to come, it'd come from above.
Every moment it didn't was painful.
They moved up faster than he'd have liked but they were on a time limit and couldn't take as much care. Still, ever corner was a tense, nail biting moment of stepping out into what could become a firing line at the drop of a hat. It never did. They took one floor and then another, and then a third without sight or sound. Their enemies were probably setting up the perfect ambush for them and had a better place for it in mind, but that didn't make him feel any better. As they reached the upper end of the staircase Penny paused, cocked her head and said, "It's on the next floor."
Jaune looked up. There were another two floors above the next, and maybe a rooftop beyond that, and the ambush could be on any of those. Better yet, it could be too high. Maybe the team already here were starting from the top down and had skipped the floor with the Intel entirely. Unlike him, they didn't have a teammate with a convenient Semblance able to detect it.
"Guess we'll make a play for it," whispered Jaune. "Are you going out first?"
"It will be safer."
No argument there. Nodding, he let Penny take the final stretch of stairs and stand at the opening. To be safe, she leaned around and peered up the next flight in case someone was there. They obviously weren't since she came back down and stuck her head out onto the corridor. It was a wide thing with a barrier overlooking a long drop down to the ground floor. The whole building was designed like that, with floors ringing a wide, open area looking from the ground floor up to the ceiling.
When Penny leaned out to look up, a sharp crack sounded, and she yanked her head back. A streamer of orange light pierced down so fast he almost missed it. Another shot quickly pinged off the barrier as she hopped back. A floor above, he heard the tell-tale crack of boots on concrete as the sniper moved, either repositioning or running around to get an angle where they could shoot at them.
"They're on the floor above us," said Penny.
"That's their loss then. Since the Intel is on this floor. Hurry, let's find it before they get line of sight."
"Yes." Penny nodded. "It's this way. Come."
Penny jogged ahead and Jaune followed, one eye on the floor above in case the sniper reached a better angle. Just as they reached an open doorway, he caught sight of a dark blue coat flapping in the small distance and a person slamming something black and metal down on the barrier. Ducking through the open doorway and left, he held his breath. No shots. They'd gotten through just in time.
"You think we're safe?"
"No." Penny shook her head. "We are two and they are four. It is a better decision strategically for them to press their advantage and hunt us down rather than risk us being on the correct floor. Which we are. It's over there."
Jaune looked. There was a wooden desk at the end of the room by the window. Or what would have been the window had there been any glass. Atlas obviously hadn't seen the point in spending money on such a fragile thing in a testing zone, which made the wooden desk all the more unusual because there hadn't been furniture anywhere else. It had obviously been planted there. Better yet, an open terminal stood in the centre of it, turned away from them but with the insignia of Atlas stamped on its back.
"Jackpot!"
Rushing over, he rounded the desk and looked down on it. The screen was black with red text that simply said "OBJECTIVE" on it. Clearly, they didn't want there to be any confusion. Pulling out his drive, he connected it into the side and looked for a download button, only to blink as the screen changed to "DOWNLOADING OBJECTIVE" and a filling bar. A slowly filling bar along with a timer.
"It's got a download time!?" groaned Jaune. "Are you serious?"
"Not all data transfer is instantaneous."
"This would be if they wanted it – it could just be a blank text file if they cared." The fact the timer was forcing a whole two minutes on them was a bullshit moment, too. "One hundred and ten seconds," he said. "With the kinds of download speeds Atlas has – that's bullshit. There's no way this isn't to make our lives harder."
"That does seem probable. We are likely expected to defend the objective."
A crack of a rifle and another round pinging loudly off the floor all but confirmed that. The sniper was still active, but why shoot now when no one was in the doorway? Another shot came through, spaced six seconds from the last if the timer on the terminal was anything to go by. "Is he just wasting ammo at this point?"
"Rhythmic shots with spaced timing and no particular target would speak of action designed to keep us pinned in place." said Penny, sounding remarkable calmer than she had any right to. "Either to trap us here and buy his team more time to search for the Intel, or to keep us here so that their team can come finish us off."
"Well, which is it?"
"I don't know."
"Crap." Jaune hunched down behind the desk. It wasn't in line of the doorway, but it didn't hurt to be safe. "I'm going to call Flynt and Neon and tell them what's up."
"Good idea. I will hold the doorway."
Jaune typed away on his scroll and quickly called Neon. The device buzzed for a few seconds before being answered with a click. "Hey. What's up?"
"We have the Intel!"
"Already! Hey, they have it!"
Jaune heard Flynt say "Sweet!" on the other side of the line.
"It's not sweet yet!" hissed Jaune. "The stupid thing has a two minute download time-" He took a quick check. "-ninety seconds left. We're also pinned down with a sniper shooting at us and their team nearby. How far away are you?"
"We're close. Like, almost there now. You want us to rush in?"
Did he? How was he supposed to know? It wasn't like he had any experience in situations like this or any practice in military or huntsman matters. "I don't know," he admitted. Maybe they'd know better. "What do you think?"
"We'd be on the ground floor, and I don't really have much of a ranged option." said Neon. "Flynt has his trumpet, but that's medium range from what I saw. This guy is high up, yeah?"
"Near the top floor."
"Yeah, we're no good unless we climb all the way up."
"Can you get out?" asked Flynt. He must have pushed his face close to Neon's to speak into her scroll. "Any escape routes? Might be easier for us two to set up outside, cover your retreat and then ambush them as a team if we have to."
"We're pinned down pretty bad here." said Jaune. "I don't think we're walking out."
"What about the window?"
Jaune looked. "What about it? We're, like, six floors up!"
"Four." called Penny from the door.
"Same difference!"
"That's not so bad." said Flynt. "You can survive a fall from that high."
Was he joking? Was he insane? Jaune took another look out the window for good measure and felt nauseous just looking down. That was one hell of a drop. He must mean it can be survived with aura. They don't know I only just got mine unlocked. He glanced back to Penny, who was listening in.
"You there?" asked Flynt
"Y-Yeah. I'm just thinking. It's kind of a long drop."
"Jaune only just-"
He shushed Penny wildly, finger to his lips. Her eyes widened, hands flying to her mouth as she realised what she'd almost done. They'd only made their pinky promise ten or so minutes ago and she came this close to breaking it. If they did pass, he was screwed in Atlas.
"Jaune's what?" asked Neon.
"J-Jaune only just learned a landing strategy." lied Penny. What the hell was a landing strategy? Surely that wasn't a thing a huntsman had to learn. "He told me that he wasn't certain in it. Um. I might be able to get us out, though. If Jaune trusts me, that is."
"He's gonna have to." Flynt answered for him. "We're approaching now and can hear the gunfire – and that means other teams can as well. If we waste time clearing them out, I guarantee we'll draw another team and get ambushed tyring to walk out the door."
He made a point. The timer was on the last fifteen seconds now, so close to completion, and though the shots hadn't lessened, he could hear metal heels or boots above. Penny had been right with her second guess that they were being kept in place to be cleared out. The team wasn't going to take any chances of them stealing the Intel. They were right to be afraid of it, too.
"Do you?" asked Penny. "Trust me, Jaune?"
"I… I mean…"
What was he meant to say to that? They'd only met yesterday, had one meal and barely interacted before this. He didn't think it insulting to say that no one could develop trust that quickly, let alone of the `trust them with your life` variety. On the other hand, he could stay and fight two against four versus a team with more experience and actual huntsman training than he could ever hope to have.
"Ah, to hell with it." Jaune groaned, snatched the pen drive as it beeped completion and shoved it into his pocket. Penny knew his secret and hadn't ratted him out, and surely splatting him on the pavement would be a failing grade for her as well. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?" He pulled the scroll to his mouth. "Flynt, if I pancake then I swear I'm coming back to haunt you."
"Hah. Fair play, man."
"I'm serious. I will personally ensure you never get laid."
"Awfully bold of you to imagine I have any chance with the ladies anyway."
"Catch you soon, Jaune." teased Neon. "Hopefully, not literally."
Hanging up, he caught the footsteps coming closer still. They were on their floor. "Pen-"
Strong arms swept him up off his feet without warning. Jaune yelped and clung to Penny's neck, hands around her as she easily hoisted him like a blushing bride. The position was so embarrassing he did flush bright red.
"Hold on," she said, approaching the open window with far too much calm. "You may feel a slight dropping sensation."
"You thin-" Penny stepped out into nothingness, "-nkkkkkkkkkkk~"
The moment they fell, he saw the first attacker come through the doorway. It was a guy. Not much else was made out as Jaune's view suddenly became the side of a building racing up as he went down, but he heard the guy shout, "They have the Intel!" in a panic. He'd seen the computer.
Anything else was lost as Jaune shrieked and clung on to Penny so hard he became a limpet on her head.
"I cannot see, Jaune." said Penny calmly. "You're covering my eyes. This will impact my ability to perform a landing strategy."
"We're going to die!"
"That is a distinct possibility if you do not remove your crotch from my nose, Jaune."
It was hard to tell if she was making a joke or not. Either way, she pulled him down and he forced himself to let go. As the last horrific part of the drop came to be, Penny grunted and bunched her legs. This was her landing strategy!? Jaune threw up his own fledgeling aura and prayed for the best.
The impact was sudden and jarring, but, amazingly, it only felt bad in terms of slamming into Penny's arms. Almost the entire force of their fall, enough to crack the pavement, was taken by Penny's legs. If he hadn't had his aura unlocked, his spine would have still been broken as he folded over Penny's arms like a matchstick, but as it was he just ended up feeling like absolute crap.
"You made it." Neon was grinning but also favouring one leg. There was blood there, not too big a wound, but enough to look painful. She was lucky to be balancing on roller skates of all things. At this point, he didn't question it.
"Do you have it!?" asked Flynt.
Jaune flashed the pen drive, the end of which was a bright green.
"MVP!" Flynt laughed and helped him out of Penny's hands. He stood shakily, propped up by the dark-skinned man. "You two putting us to damn shame out there. I'm glad we shacked up with you."
"Heads up." said Penny. She had turned to look back up. "They are on their way."
On their-? What the hell!? Jaune gaped at the three people literally falling through the sky toward them. Were all huntsmen insane, or was this just the ones who came to Atlas? Even as he thought it, a fourth leapt from a floor higher up and, by some mad design, angled down enough to fire at them. The shot pinged harmlessly off the ground some ten or so feet away, shooting in freefall being no easy task, but it made his point clear. They were going to be hunted down for securing the Intel first.
"Do we fight?" asked Penny.
Four on four was good odds. Or would be if Jaune could fight at all.
"No point." said Flynt. "We just make ourselves an easier target for the next team to find us. Our job is to get the Intel and get out. Phase one is done; it's phase two now. The Schnee didn't say shit about standing around to fight." He gave Jaune a shove to get him moving and followed soon after. "Let's get out of here. They can't run and shoot. Run!"
Never had Jaune heard a better idea.
/-/
Running.
Running hurt.
Jaune thought he knew that from years of being on the above average end of school gym classes and the dubious pleasure of running at sports festivals. He'd been alright at it; nothing special, nothing bad, but decently good. Good enough to think he could run for a fair time at a fair pace. That was the problem. Fairness. Running for your life – or their career, but it felt as bad with bullets pinging off the floor – was a different matter altogether. It was mind-numbing sprinting, constant pain, the torturous feeling of your throat being so raw from panting that it felt like you'd swallowed glass. His sides hurt; his feet hurt; his legs hurt; his teeth hurt from being grit so hard.
He wanted to collapse and curl into a ball. A spark as a shot ricocheted off the floor less than two inches from his left foot reminded him why he couldn't. Their pursuers were, well, they were losing ground last he'd dared look back. Shooting on the run was inaccurate at best and every time they stopped to take another crack, Jaune pulled ahead. Flynt and Neon, too, the latter struggling with her injury and setting the slowest pace. Neon could only run so fast, and while she was augmenting it with her skates, her left leg still buckled every now and then, forcing her into a clumsy recovery. Penny was the only one who didn't seem winded. Hell, she looked fresh as a freaking daisy.
"Nearly there!" shouted Jaune. It was as much a guess as recalling the map, but they were approaching the end of the buildings. Since this arena had been made as a training ground the buildings just sort of stopped where the edge was. It was that they were running toward. "We're nearly there, guys! Just a little longer!"
Once they were out, they were out. It would count as their win. Jaune felt a rush of relief as they rounded the last corner and entered the final sprint. It seemed almost impossible they'd be caught now. His mouth stretched into a wide, manic grin. They'd done it. They were-
The entire world burst into fire.
It hit him first, Jaune being ahead of the pack, and he distantly heard Penny shout his name in panic before he was thrown up and off his feet, sent rag-dolling through the air to crash to the ground and roll over and over. There was a ringing in his ears, a hollowness to his breathing and a tingling pain across his entire body.
"You sons of bitches!" he heard Flynt roar.
The crack of gunfire was louder. It riddled the street, pinging and kicking up gravel all around them. Neon and Flynt were forced to run for cover, but a stray bullet caught Neon's left leg, kicking it out from under her by sheer force. The girl tumbled and landed face-first on the floor as her skates span out.
"Ambush!" yelled Penny, successfully parrying several shots with her blades.
I can see that, Penny. I can see that…
Four people coming out the smoke – three girls, one boy. Two of them rushed Penny while the others split between Flynt and him. Jaune swore and tried to scramble to his feet only to struggle. His stomach was flipping and when he lurched onto one foot, the world swayed left as vertigo set in. Balance was impossible. He caught himself on a nearby wall with one hand, helplessly swung Crocea Mors at where he thought the girl was, only to miss and catch the butt of a spear to the stomach. The girl rolled over his back, locked the haft of her spear against his throat and then rolled him over her back, hurling him six feet down the road.
Directly at the other group who had been pursuing them.
"They're ours!" shouted their chasers. "We found them first!"
"That's not how it works, is it?" the girl with the spear fired back.
"Fuck you! You didn't even try and get the Intel, did you? Just sat at the exit point laying a trap."
"We fought smart instead of hard."
And they were fresh for it. Jaune and his group were exhausted from one fight and a sprint, and their pursuers were equally worn out, whereas this new group were fresh as daisies. I can't believe they banked everything on an ambush at the end. It was a backhanded and shady tactic he'd not expected, but then he'd thought everyone would fight fairly for their place in Atlas. Obviously, he'd been wrong.
"This one doesn't have it." One of the girls stood above Flynt, her boot on his back and his hat in hand. She tossed it away with a snort. "Who has your Intel? C'mon. Let's not make this any harder than it has to be."
"B-Bastards…" croaked Flynt.
Jaune had it. There hadn't been any time to switch it to anyone else even if he felt he should be the last one trusted with it. The second they had it, they'd started running. Their pursuers were already at Neon and one of them planted a knee in her back to keep her still while they searched her. They came away with an empty pen drive, confirming she didn't have it and leaving just him and Penny. All of a sudden, there were too many people staring the two of them down. Penny backed up until her back touched his, a silent promise to have his back as long as he had hers.
For all the good that would do.
"Get them!" yelled another.
There was no telling who.
All eight of them charged in.
Calling it a fight was an injustice. Jaune got two swings off, and then he was piled with so many bodies that he didn't have the space for more. Hands grappled his weapon, more his neck, and somewhere along the way he was dragged away from Penny, left to shout out a warning as she was suddenly assailed from all sides.
In the midst of it, Flynt staggered to his feet and charged back in with a battle cry to try and save him. It was all for naught. Two people attacked him while three focused on Jaune and four on Penny, the last keeping Neon pinned. There was just no way for them to win against two whole teams who wanted them beat.
Three minutes. In a way, it was a miracle he lasted that long at all, and most of it was just him refusing to give up, flailing and trying to hide the pen drive. In the end, Jaune ended up cheek to the ground with a boot on the side of his head. A knife was wedged into his clenched fist and used to pry his fingers open and reveal the green, blinking drive.
"I'll be taking that," said the sole boy on the team. "Oi! I've got it – let's split!"
The three girls, still fresh compared to the team that had chased them, were able to break off and sprint for the extraction point. It wasn't so much a brave escape as an exploitation of the rules. They were fresher, had more aura, and could afford to just sprint away and take whatever attacks in the back they had to. The other team tried to give chase, and others opened fire, but it was less than forty seconds for the ambushing team to cross the line and hand the drive over to the Atlas soldier waiting there.
"Fuck!" shouted their pursuers. "Fucking damn it!"
"Leave it," said another. "We should set up like they did. Maybe we can catch another team trying to get out. It's our only bet now."
Ours as well, Jaune thought, except that it was a lie. His body felt like it was about to break down and everyone else was no better. Neon was crying and cradling her leg, which had been torn open and was bleeding profusely. Flynt was in one piece, but worn out and flagging on aura, while Penny was the only one capable of fighting. There just wasn't any way for them to overpower a full team. The horn that blew out over the arena took that choice away from them anyway.
Initiation was over.
/-/
"I'm sorry." Said Jaune.
"It's not your fault." said Flynt, angrily.
He, like all of them, were tired and dispirited. Losing the Intelligence so close to the end was a punch in the gut from which none of them had recovered fully. Hands were clenched tight, teeth gritted, and Flynt had drawn his hat down to cover his eyes, stewing in silence.
"If anything, it's my fault." mumbled Neon, slumped on a seat with a pink-stained bandage wrapped around her leg. The girl was pale and coated with sweat. "I'm the one that got injured and slowed us down. I was next to useless-"
"It's the fault of that asshole that attacked you." countered Flynt angrily. He looked like he wanted to punch something. "And the absolute bastards that waited at the extraction point for the whole thing. Lazy, good-for-nothing, cheating bastards!"
As he said it, he glared at the team that had taken their Intel. Three girls and one boy, all laughing and exchanging high-fives. Jaune heard the dark-skinned boy snarl and felt just as angry himself. More than that, he felt defeated. They hadn't been able to hold them off at all, and it wasn't just his fault either. They'd been exhausted from running from the team in the radio tower and in no state to fight another.
On the stage, Winter Schnee stood beside a few other soldiers, talking quietly with them as she looked over some screens they were holding out. She nodded, tapped and gave orders for a few minutes before approaching the raised podium and tapping one gloved hand against the microphone. The noise echoed, a loud pap-pap-pap that quickly brought the audience to a respectful quiet.
"Thank you." Her voice was calm. Even. "Behind me, the teams who passed Initiation will be displayed on the screen. Those who pass should move to the right side of the room to receive their designated dormitories and school scrolls." Her hand came up to point, showing she meant their right and not hers.
Instantly, rows of faces appeared on the screen – each next to a number, with four faces spanning out from those and a team designation, a four-letter name, beneath. The screen was filled quickly. Jaune didn't look. He could already see the looks on everyone's faces when he returned to Ansel. It wouldn't be disappointment or anger, but the easy acceptance of family who had never really expected him to make it in the first place. His hands clenched into tight fists.
So close. We were so damn close.
"Flynt!" gasped Neon. "Look!"
The well-dressed man sighed. "What am I supposed to be looking at- what? W-We're in!?"
Jaune's shock echoed his, tearing through his body and ripping both his and Penny's eyes up as one. It took a second to find it, a second that felt so long it was painful, and then there they were, the four of them. His own goofy face and his awkwardly embarrassed smile looking out over the audience. Flynt, Neon and Penny's images were beside his.
We made it in. How!?
"What the flying fuck!" howled a girl whom, by the sounds of it, wasn't on the screen. It was one from the group that had attacked them, and they weren't laughing anymore. "Why aren't we in? We passed the test!"
She wasn't the only one who looked shocked. Several others were shouting their own disagreement, making their displeasure known. Many were arguing that they'd escaped with the Intel, too.
Winter Schnee leaned toward the microphone. "If your names and faces are not here then it is clear you have failed the test."
"We got the Intel! That was what you said we had to do!"
"It was," said Winter, "But then I also said that this was a scenario in which you were acting as Atlas agents responding to a bio-terrorist threat threatening innocent lives. You were sent against a threat to all life in Atlas. If that was somehow not clear, let me say it clearly now. You were all on the same side."
Jaws dropped.
Winter wasn't done. "In what world would we accept our soldiers fighting against one another to secure an objective? It was never stated that you would be accepted or not dependent upon completing the mission – only that the mission must be completed and that only one team could collect each piece of Intelligence. Had you escorted that team to an extraction point, you would have passed the test regardless of whether you collected the Intel or not. Those that attacked their fellow aspirants showed that they could not be trusted in the field, and that they do not have what it takes to become Huntsmen here. Other Kingdoms might accept that, might judge you on your strength and nothing else, and try to teach you the correct attitude and morals later, but that is not how Atlas works. I clearly said at the beginning of this that this initiation would test your decision-making skills and your capability for teamwork. Nowhere did I say this would be a test of combat ability. If it were to be, we would have sent you against Grimm."
Realisation dawned slowly, and for many who had looked despondent before, it brought laughter and hugging. Jaune wasn't alone in that, suddenly wrapped up in Penny's arms and squeezed so tight he thought his bones might break. They hadn't been the only ones to be victimised at the end, it seemed. More than a few teams had camped the extraction points and attacked exhausted teams. And they were all going home.
"T-That's not fair," said another team. "You never said-"
"I said," interrupted Winter, "-that this was not a combat test. I told you, several times, that you were not being tested on your combat ability, and that this was to be a test of decision making and your ability to work together toward a stated objective. I explicitly explained the scenario of a bioterrorist threat, a threat to life in Atlas. Do you think I wasted my time giving you all a story for my own entertainment? Did you think the detail unimportant?" Her cold eyes roamed over them, and several ducked their heads. "Did you think I was expelling air? There were multiple cues within my speech designed to inform those who paid attention. We are an academy – we can fix deficiencies in skill, strength, and speed, but one thing we cannot teach you is the right attitude. Atlas has no need for those who cannot listen, nor those who cannot follow orders, and certainly not those who would turn on one another for personal glory in a scenario where innocent lives would be at stake."
"Here in Atlas, we work together for a common goal." Winter announced over them all. "That goal is the protection of Remnant against whatever might threaten it. Grimm, terrorists, tyrants, or criminals. It matters not. You may dislike one another, you may despise one another, but you will learn to put aside your differences and work together when the time calls for it. This, we promise you. Those who cannot, or who would place their own success above the completion of an important mission, have no place in this academy. To all others, whether you succeeded in your mission or not, I welcome you to Atlas." Winter saluted suddenly, clicking her heels together.
Jaune was among the many who clumsily repeated it among the audience. He, along with Neon, Flynt, and Penny, wrapped their arms around one another and hollered happily. They'd done it. They'd bloody well done it.
They were in. They'd done it.
Expanded Winter's speech a little at the end there from the original draft because I found some people were generally surprised at the switch. If you go back and read Winter and Ironwood's speeches before the initiation, you'll see a whole lot of clues that they weren't supposed to fight.
Things like:
"As I said before, this is not a combat test"
"You will represent numerous extraction teams" – why would extraction teams fight one another?
"To test your ability to think on your feet, and to work with others"
Those and a few more, for the eagle-eyed reader. Not that Jaune counts as that.
Next Chapter: 15th October
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