Quick reminder: The site now has an "opt-in" for alerts, so if you're not getting emails for updates it's because of that and not something I've done. Not so much a problem for my stories that update on set days, but I can imagine a lot of stories slipping by because no emails were sent out despite you signing up for alerts.
Also, double whammy. I updated the drunk Jaune story.
Cover Art: Mysterywhiteflame
Chapter 10
Jaune would have loved to say he threw himself into action and came up with a kickass plan in the heat of the moment, but that would have been a lie. The first thing to cross his mind was "oh shit" and the next was a blast of panic, followed by nausea and a little fear. If that soldier was dead… well, no one could say it was their fault but oh god, what if he was dead!? Jaune stared at the seemingly unmoving body until Flynt jostled his arm.
"What do we do?"
"I… I guess we go down there." Obvious statement in hindsight, but probably the right idea. Jaune peeked over again and tried to judge how safe the landing zone would be. The thick snowfall was pretty much hiding everything. "It doesn't look safe to just jump down. There could be a ravine down there. And if we land hard and set off another drop like this – or worse, an avalanche…" He didn't need to finish that statement. "We have rope, right?"
They had some spools – and it was proper climbing rope and not your typical stuff. It was coloured green and black, knotted and weaved of some synthetic material. It felt rough in his hands, but strong enough to take someone's body weight. In the time it took him to get it out, Penny and Neon had already caught up and Flynt had filled them in. Jaune tossed the other man a spike and got to work driving his own down. He had to dig through the snow to reach the ground, and that was wet and mushy.
"We're going to have to hold the ropes as well as pin them down," said Jaune. "Neon and Penny are probably the lightest, right?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty light," said Neon.
"Not me!" blurted out Penny. She looked genuinely afraid for a moment. "I… I should stay up here and hold the rope. I am more than capable of supporting your weight, Jaune. I've carried you before during initiation."
He thought it odd she was that insistent, especially when she was the team medic, but there really wasn't any time to argue. "Alright, fine. We'll go down and check him out. Uh. Maybe we can lift him back up or if that's not safe move on."
"Move where?" asked Flynt. "We didn't get out final co-ordinates."
"If that guy is hurt then I don't think that matters anyway," said Neon. "We'll have to activate our emergency beacons and tap out. Unless we want someone to die on our watch."
This was getting well past the point at which it was a simple assessment. Their VIP was injured, potentially dead, and they didn't have a proper destination. Worse, he was aware of them looking to him for answers – and it was a fair thing. He was the one who'd been receiving leadership training in Atlas. He was the one who was supposed to know what to do in this kind of situation.
"The important thing is to be decisive," he could remember General Ironwood saying during one of his lectures. "Few decisions will ever be made with perfect information, but your squad will be looking to you to set the pace and instil confidence. Sometimes it's better to go with a bad plan than no plan at all."
Jaune could have screamed. Okay, bad plan. He could do that.
"Neon and I go down there and check if he's okay. Once we're down, I want Penny to try the transmitter again and see if she can reach Winter and get our co-ordinates." He waited for them to nod. "If that fails, or if our guy down bottom is badly hurt or dead, we abandon the assessment and activate our emergency beacons. Our dorms aren't worth getting someone killed for."
Not even Neon argued that, and she instead took the metal clip on the end of the rope and secured it to a ring on her camping gear. There were a few more, four in total, and then they grasped the rope tight in their gloved hands. It wouldn't be rappelling because of the terrain, so they'd be slowly lowered down by Flynt and Penny above. Penny took Jaune's rope while Flynt took Neon's, quipping lightly about how much weight she was putting on.
"Fuck you," replied Neon, laughing faintly as she stepped backward over the edge.
Jaune knew it was just banter for their nerves. He appreciated it as much as Neon did. Walking backwards over a cliff was not a fun experience; he clenched his eyes shut as he felt his foot fail to find the ground beneath him, and his hands reflexively grabbed the rope tighter. It wouldn't have made a difference if Penny hadn't been able to hold on, but his partner didn't even flinch. The rope was given a little bit at a time, Jaune stepping down the sheer cliff face with every foot of rope. Soon, the two of them were ought of sight, only able to see the cliff in front of them or look down to the snow below. It wasn't a lethal drop even if they fell now but that didn't mean it wasn't scary.
"This'll be a story to tell the folks back home, eh?" joked Neon. He couldn't make out her eyes past her mask, but he could see how clenched her jaw was. "Is this a bad time to mention I have a fear of heights?"
"I'm not keen on them myself. It's not a phobia."
"Course it's not. Phobias are irrational fears. Nothing irrational about being afraid of falling five thousand feet to your death."
Jaune looked down. They were about halfway. It looked longer because of all the white snow making it hard to tell where the ground began and the slope ended. "Nearly there. And I think we'd be fine even if we dropped. Not that we should."
"I mean, he dropped. Probably a good sign the ground is solid."
"Want to test it?"
"No."
Jaune laughed. "I didn't think so."
They reached the ground a minute or so later, and Jaune shouted up to the others that they could stop. The rope went slack, still secured but not held down, and he knew Penny would go and try to reach Winter Schnee. Flynt would probably stick close to the edge in case they needed him. Letting the ropes hang, Jaune and Neon hurried over to the mound of snow and the body, crunching through the thick snow as they went.
The soldier had obviously been prepared for spending time out in the snow. They had thick, insulated clothing, a scarf over their lower face and a mask over the eyes. Working the hood down revealed bluish hair. Jaune stuck his hand under the man's chin and buckled open his collar, searching for his neck under layers of clothing. When he found it, he held still, and Neon waited, lips bitten together.
The beat was strong.
"He's alive."
"Breathing?"
Good question – though one that was very easily answered when he pulled down the man's scarf to check. He didn't have to press his cheek to the man's lips to see the cloud of mist come out with every breath, nor did he have to tell Neon. She had eye. He pulled the scarf back up instead and began to check the man over. He was no medic but he could check for blood and puncture wounds like the next person. The snow was clean, however. Or the blood was being kept inside his outfit. They couldn't unclothe him to check in these conditions, however.
"Is he okay?" called Flynt, from the top of the cliff.
"He's alive and breathing!" replied Neon, not shouting but voice raised. "Anything from Penny?"
"Bugger all. There's no signal!"
He'd expected and feared as much. It wasn't like things were going to suddenly improve the second time they called, but it had been worth a shot. He looked at the downed man and back up again and bit his lip. If they had a stretcher they could loop the rope through then they might be able to carry him up, but he couldn't think of a way to tie him without putting him at risk. Maybe someone better with knots could fashion a hammock or some intricate person-related mechanism, but he certainly hadn't been taught that yet. Evacuation of injured personnel hadn't even been hinted at in classes.
Make orders, he reminded himself. Just make orders. Perfect doesn't matter, as long as we're doing something.
"Neon, can you check around and see if the area is secure enough for them to come down a little rougher than we did. If so, have them jump down. I'll try and wake the guy up. We're not going to be able to carry him up, so we might as well go around and look for a clear space for our emergency beacons. If he's injured, I mean."
There was a tiny chance he was fine. It depended on the solider. The fact he was unconscious didn't fill Jaune with confidence, however. When Neon hurried off, he climbed up the mound and began tapping the soldier's face and shaking him. It might not be the best way to wake an injured person up, but it was all he had. He kept going until a groan slipped from the man's lips. His eyes cracked open behind his visor and he coughed weakly.
"Hey," said Jaune, then felt stupid for such an asinine greeting. "We're Team Jackpot. Are you okay? Are you in pain?"
"L… Leg," whispered the man. "What happened…?"
"It looks like you took a fall off the cliff." Jaune let the guy look upward. "We think a part of it fell under you and brought you down here. Not the longest drop in the world, but enough to knock you out. Can you move?"
The soldier nodded and pushed himself up into a seated position. When he tried to kneel, however, he gasped and clutched at his left leg. "Gah! Argh!" He threw his head back and stifled a cry. "I… I think it's broken. D-Damn it, that hurts."
Not good. Not good at all. Jaune heard the thump as Flynt touched down first and then Penny, though to say Penny touched down didn't do the absolute explosion of snow she caused justice. It was like she'd bombed into a swimming pool. That could wait.
"Penny, this guy's leg is hurting him. Might be broken. Is there anything you can do?"
"Not out here," said Penny, "and not without putting him at increased risk. The best I could do is fashion a splint for his leg to keep it in place and find him some sticks to act as crutches. Unless he is wounded, or bone is coming out his skin, he needs to go to a hospital."
"I don't think I can walk," said the soldier.
Jaune did swear this time. "Do you know where our extraction point is?"
He shook his head. "I… I was told to just wait at the location. The idea was to say I was a survivor of a Grimm attack you had to extract." He winced. "I had this speech memorised, something about getting a bonus prize if you get me out, but you don't have to take me. I'm meant to activate my beacon if you don't and get picked up."
As he said that, he reached into his coat and pulled out an emergency beacon like theirs. Unlike theirs, this one was smashed to pieces. Little bits of machinery came out of it and dripped onto the snow like rain.
"Oh… That… That's not good."
"You must have fallen on it," said Flynt. He pulled out his own. "Here, you can use mine."
Jaune nodded for the soldier to go ahead. If the extraction team came then they could just explain what happened and say it wasn't their fault. They'd probably not have another VIP to give them, but if they could just hand this guy over and continue on the assessment then at least they'd have a chance to reclaim their dorms. He was sure the people coming for them would understand after hearing what happened. When the soldier pushed the button, however, the emergency beacon flicked with an amber light, instead of the green they had been assured it would. The light was blinking slowly. Ominously.
"What does that mean?" asked Neon. "I don't like that."
"It means there is a fault," said Penny. She brought out hers. "I'll try mine."
Amber light.
Jaune pulled out his and activated it, then Neon with hers, but all four were flickering amber. There was a moment of fear that ran through the team – Jaune could feel it like a ripple. And he could almost imagine their morale as some kind of bar dropping fast. It wasn't, but he could imagine it. This was the panic General Ironwood had warned them about. This was what he had to stop, even if it meant outright lying.
"It's the same as the transmitter!" It was the first thing he could think to say, and he had no idea if he was right or not. Either way, it had them looking at him. He pushed on. "The transmitter to Winter wouldn't connect, and now these won't. We must be in some kind of dead zone. That's why all ours aren't working at the same time."
"You might be right," said Flynt, relaxing just a little. He laughed. "I mean, what are the odds all four of our beacons fail at the same time? We can't all have rolled on them in our sleep." The others were nodding. "What do we do?"
"We move on. Any direction," said Jaune. "We'll just make some distance and try the transmitter and then the beacons again. If it's an issue of signal then we just need to find an open area to try again. Or failing that, we'll set up camp and wait until morning. We still have enough food for days." He smiled suddenly. "In fact, even if we chose to just camp here all week we have enough food, and then they'll come find us just to make sure we didn't get lost."
Neon laughed this time. "That's true. What about our boy here?"
"Marrow," said the soldier, smiling faintly. "Marrow Armin. A-And I'm fine. I can't walk but I can hop." He winced. "If someone can give me a hand."
Jaune was first to offer, looping Marrow's left arm over his shoulder. Flynt took his right, and rather than make him hop on one foot and slow them down, they raised him up between them. Marrow was short enough, or they were tall enough, that they could manage it and keep his feet off the snow.
"What direction?" asked Penny.
"Whichever is easiest. We're just looking to make distance."
/-/
They travelled for ninety minutes before stopping to make camp. It wasn't much, and they could have done more if not for Marrow. Sadly, the injured soldier was slowing them down drastically. He did try to help by hopping on his good foot, but he still weighed both Jaune and Flynt down, even after Penny and Neon offered to take their bags. The heavy snow didn't make them any faster, and Jaune and Flynt had to wade their way through it since they could no longer travel single file behind Penny.
Eventually, he called for them to give up and set camp again. They set Marrow down sitting on one of the bags while Flynt, Neon and Penny got to work on scraping out a flat area and setting up the tent again. It was quicker now that they knew how to do it. Jaune, meanwhile, set up the transmitter anew and tried again to sent a call through to Winter Schnee.
"Any luck?" asked Penny. She'd come out the tent that Marrow had been dragged inside of by Flynt and Neon. Jaune shook his head.
"None. It can't even find Winter, let alone connect. Are the beacons working?"
"They are still amber. I'm sorry."
It wasn't her fault. Or any of theirs. Jaune shrugged and deactivated the transmitter, then folded it back down. It might not be safe to leave it outside in case the weather turned, or it got damaged in the wet snow. He moved for the tent, shucking off his boots in the stitched-up between fabrics where they could stay dry but not trample snow inside. Not that a little wasn't clinging to him anyway.
"No signal," he told the three inside, basking in the warmth of the heater they'd already set up. Marrow was nursing a cup of coffee between his bare hands, his thick gloves and coat having been taken off. He looked young – older than them, but mid-twenties at best. "I figure we'll sleep and try again in the morning. It might just be weather or a glitch on their end. No point worrying about it when we have the supplies."
"You certainly have those," said Marrow, smiling faintly. "Coffee, chocolate, enough meal rations to go around. You guys came prepared. This tent isn't military standard either. I'd know. We don't get this kind of comfort unless we're going on a serious campaign."
"We might have figured out the assessment," said Jaune, fairly sure it wouldn't get them in trouble. Besides, the guy had obviously figured that much out on his own. "Lucky for you, eh?"
"Yeah. Lucky. I'm sorry if I'm dragging you four down."
"It's fine," said Flynt. "You didn't toss yourself off that cliff, did you?" His eyes narrowed. "Did you?"
Marrow burst out laughing. "No! There was a Grimm."
The four of them froze. "A Grimm?"
"It's dead," Marrow assured them. "Died in the fall. I saw it disappear before I passed out, and you know I'd be dead if it hadn't. My plan was to bait it to charge me and then duck out the way, but when it stepped on the edge I guess it must have been too much weight. We both went down." He shrugged. "Can't complain too much if I'm alive, though. It could have been a lot worse."
It could have at that. Still, it was a worry. Flynt was the first to suggest the four of them take shifts on watch, and they rolled out their sleeping bags, along with a fifth for Marrow, and went to bed soon after.
/-/
It was windy come morning.
That wasn't helping the signal any. Jaune growled into his scarf as snow blasted across his ski mask and whipped at his puffy coat. On the tiny bit of skin exposed at the corner of the mask and his scarf, he could feel ice forming. It flicked off as he pushed his scarf up to wipe himself clean. The transmitter's aerial was buffeted left and right by the wind, but it continued to turn and seek a signal that might as well have not existed by this point.
"Any good!?" shouted Flynt.
Jaune shook his head in the negative and collapsed the tower again. Their beacons also weren't patching through, making his mood all the worse. So much for Atlas being technologically advanced; he'd expected them to be a little more freaking capable. His team could be dying out here and they'd not get help. And, yet again, they were looking to him for instructions. Jaune wanted to scream into the wind.
Can't carry on because we don't know where our destination is. Can't stay here because there might be Grimm and we don't know if the signal will ever get better. He bit his lip behind his scarf. What can we do? I have to decide on something.
"Maybe…" He trailed off, but then realised that might be just as damaging. To hell with it. He doubled down. "We're going to head back to base camp."
Neon was the first to talk. "Give up?"
"We're not giving up. We're extracting a wounded soldier by the only method we have available. If the beacons won't work and we don't know where the target point is, then the only place we do know the location of is our starting point. It's literally the only place we can head to other than Atlas itself. That'll take a week."
He could tell they were annoyed, but they nodded along. There really wasn't any other choice besides camping in spot and hoping the signal improved, which there was no guarantee it would. They had the supplies and they had the gear necessary to make the journey back, even if it would be slower because of their injured member. He imagined the anger was more at how hopeless the situation was. He couldn't say he was in a much better mood.
"I'm sorry again," said Marrow, glumly. "If I hadn't-"
"Bro, it's not your fault," said Flynt. "Stop apologising. Sheesh."
"Flynt has the right of it," said Jaune. "Penny, Neon, are you good to carry more of our gear again? We'll take Marrow between us. Do we have a clear line from here back to base camp?"
"Yes," replied Penny, checking her scroll. The map function worked signal or no. They also had paper maps if things got desperate, and he really hoped they wouldn't. "There aren't any major obstacles between our current location and where we started. We went uphill to reach that cliff, so we haven't really stepped off the main path."
"Good." Jaune sighed and pulled Marrow up against his side. Flynt stepped in to help. "Let's get this show on the road, I guess. With any luck we'll make it back to base camp after just the one night. With luck…"
/-/
They weren't lucky.
To be fair, they weren't unlucky either. No serious blizzards and only one nasty storm that Jaune decided they'd best camp through rather than brave, because it started getting hard to even see Neon and Penny ahead of them. There hadn't been any Grimm, but then there hadn't been on the first pass through so that didn't surprise him any. Really, it just took longer. Two nights in total, and almost three full days. It was five in the afternoon when they tramped back toward the base camp, and the sun had already set. The days were that short.
The base camp was still there. He had no idea what he'd have done if it wasn't. In all fairness, Winter had probably kept it there just in case something did go wrong, and as a sort of desperation place people could retreat to. The Specialist greeted them with some confusion at first, and then a serious expression when Jaune was made to report how they'd found the missing soldier.
"And then you decided to come back here?" asked Winter.
"We couldn't reach you for our destination," said Jaune. "And we tried to activate our emergency beacons but those didn't work." He held his out, still blinking yellow even though he was three feet away from Winter. He wanted to chuck it in her face. "With all due respect, ma'am, I'm not thrilled my whole team had faulty emergency beacons. We could have died out there!"
"Noted, Mr Arc, and I will forgive your tone out of reasonable concern for your team." She crossed her arms and looked to the side, to where Marrow was being pushed into an Evac-Bullhead. He was strapped onto a stretcher, though he was in a good mood about it. If there was one saving grace, it was that he hadn't been too much of a hassle. "You made the best of a bad situation. You did not complete the mission." His mouth dragged down. "However…"
His teammates perked up, almost desperately. Winter Schnee looked over them with a barely concealed smirk.
"However," she repeated, "I suppose that I must commend you for saving the life of one of our soldiers. Despite not officially fulfilling the requirements of your assessment, I am willing to mark this down as a team success."
Neon almost sobbed. "We keep our dorms?"
"Yes, Miss Katt. You may keep your dorms." Winter had to wave her hand for silence, and even then it took a minute to quieten their cheers. "This is an exception to the usual rules. Do not get used to such generosity from me in the future. You will be expected to fulfil every requirement of a mission given to you next time."
Her warnings did nothing to stop Team JCKP bouncing off one another and cheering and laughing. They would have hugged if not for their thick, puffy winterwear making it hard to get their arms around one another. Winter Schnee clicked her tongue, shook her head, and left them to it, returning back inside her command test as they were ushered to a separate Bullhead from the medical evac; one that would take them back to Atlas.
We did it, thought Jaune, elated and excited. No, he'd done it. He'd led the team – and unlike the last assessment where he'd just told them to run and the team had sort of blind lucked their way through, this time he knew he'd done something right. He'd made the calls, given the orders, and directed them back to base camp. They'd trusted him, and he hadn't let them down.
For the first time in months, he felt proud of himself.
It was a good feeling.
/-/
Winter Schnee stepped onto the medical evac and took a seat opposite Clover, with the lone soldier strapped to the gurney in the centre. Clover had been chatting with him when she stepped on, and they stopped on seeing her. Marrow sat up as best he could and raised a hand.
"Hey Winter."
"Good evening, Marrow." Marrow Armin was a Specialist like herself, and thus the same rank as her. He was also more experienced than her in terms of service time. Still, he was so affable that she sometimes didn't know how to react. "How is your leg?" she tried instead. "I hope this little sojourn wasn't too painful for you."
"I volunteered so it'd be my fault if it was." He looked down at his foot. "Besides, the doctors gave me the all-clear before we even came here. It's a little cold, but nothing I can't handle."
"That'll teach you to keep an eye out for traps the next time we track the White Fang," said Clover. "You're lucky it wasn't worse."
Marrow had been injured two weeks back on a confidential Ace-Ops mission targeted at locating and capturing Adam Taurus. The mission had been a failure, and the White Fang had made off with an experimental Paladin. That was less the Ace-Ops fault and more because they'd smuggled the machine out a week earlier. Clover and his team had caught the remaining White Fang, but all they could say was that the goods had been taken to Vale. General Ironwood was furious – and worried. Vale were allies, and Atlas couldn't afford to harm an ally, even by accident.
"I know. I know." groaned Marrow. "As if Vine, Elm and Harriet haven't been shoving the fact down my throat already. This was a nice break from them to be honest. Getting carried around by rookies, force-fed hot chocolate and left out of the watch rota. It was like a paid holiday."
Winter rolled her eyes. "How did they do?"
"Honestly, they were professional."
Bold praise. Marrow might have been fun-loving and friendly, but he was still a Specialist and his standards were much higher than regular military – which in turn were higher than first-year cadets in Atlas Academy. They weren't huntsmen yet. If he'd called them "brilliant" or "exceptional" then she wouldn't have believed him.
"Walk us through it," said Clover.
"Well. They found me down at the bottom of the cliff where you left me – and they found the broken cliff you knocked off beforehand. They rappelled down, checked me for wounds, made sure I was conscious and then tried to signal you."
Winter nodded. Despite what Team JCKP might believe, she had received every transmission loud and clear. They all had. "What was their reaction when we feigned no-contact?"
"Angry, annoyed, pissed off." Marrow cracked a smile. "Basically, the same as any soldier would."
"They weren't afraid?"
"A little worried, maybe, but I got the gist it was more worry about me than themselves."
Interesting. Also promising. Winter had expected them to panic a little, but she was pleased to hear that'd remained calm. Panic served no one. "How much did Penny do?"
"Not as much as you're probably worried about. She didn't carry them through the assessment if that's what you mean. Penny carried more than the average human could, but I don't think they noticed. The rest was a whole team effort. They split duties well, always kept watch, didn't argue and kept moving." He chuckled. "Funniest part was them doing their best to keep my spirits up."
Clover snorted. "You played the useless rookie card, didn't you?"
"P-Please, sirs," stammered Marrow, looking small and vulnerable. "T-This is my first m-month on the job. I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment."
Winter rolled her eyes as Clover and Marrow burst into laughter. Their little games and pranks on her students were asinine, but she could appreciate them doing her job for her. If Marrow had maintained the image of a complete burden then that meant they'd excelled at her little change in the testing. It also meant they'd been challenged, which was good. No one would be strolling through the assessments if she had her way.
"I was impressed with their leadership especially," said Marrow.
"Mr Arc? How so?"
"He was obviously a little nervous but he kept his voice clean, made good calls, and he didn't let any doubt slip through. And they were good calls, even if he probably could have done better. One of the first things they did was decide to throw their personal rewards away to get me to safety by activating their emergency beacons."
Which, of course, she'd received the alert for. The only reason teams hadn't been despatched was because she'd deactivated their beacons. Marrow had his own, hidden on his person besides the broken one, which he could have activated if they really got into trouble. Marrow also would have been able to deal with any Grimm, a broken leg from a past mission or no.
"Do you think they're good enough?" asked Clover.
"Hard to say. I mean, they've only had the two assessments. I'd say they have the grit to get through the training." Marrow didn't say potential, which Winter appreciated. Everyone had potential. It was more a case of nerves, attitude and determination which would decide if they excelled or not. "What I can definitely say is that they're no worse than I was at their age. Maybe even a little better. I'd have felt safe with them if I really was a wounded and helpless rookie caught in the middle of nowhere. That's a lot more than I can say for most squads that have been together for only two months."
"It's promising," said Clover, looking over Marrow at Winter. "And we do need active agents at Vale."
"I'm aware. General Ironwood is trying to get permission for the Ace-Ops to mobilise."
"That's not gonna happen," said Marrow. "It's one thing to have the headmaster of Atlas who just happens to be military show up at an allied city. It makes sense when the Vytal Festival is on its way. It doesn't make sense to allow a full combat squad into the city, weapons and all."
That was the long and short of it sadly. General Ironwood wanted feet on the ground to find the White Fang and recapture the Paladin before something happened to it, but Vale's Council were worried that they'd push the White Fang into a corner and force them to use it in their city. Winter could understand the concern even if she despised the attitude; their hope was clearly that if they ignored the White Fang, they might take the Paladin out of Vale and not cause any trouble. The problem was that such thinking left the decision in the White Fang's hands.
"There's no way we can get into Vale and snoop around without causing a diplomatic incident," said Marrow. "But a team nominated for the Vytal Festival have special dispensation to bring their weapons and equipment and use them if they're threatened. And I mean, what team of kids wouldn't want to explore a brand new city, see the sights, check out all the little nooks and crannies?"
"You're suggesting we send a team of kids against the White Fang."
Marrow cocked an eyebrow. "Is that a problem?"
"Not really." said Clover, with a shrug. "They're no more threatening than the Grimm and we send children against those. I'm just making sure we're on the same page. Aren't there any upper-year teams who could do this better?"
"There are one or two," said Winter, "but while they may be better qualified and stronger in combat, that doesn't necessarily mean they are the best for the job. They're more combat focused. Team JCKP has the potential to be more… specialised."
"You're referring to Penny as a use for electronic warfare and ECM?"
"Not only her. Neon Katt is a faunus with perfect night vision, excellent balance and will likely serve as a good liaison to any faunus. Flynt Coal's Semblance enables him battlefield control and was instrumental in their defeating of two upper-year teams. His weapon is also incredibly easy to conceal, making him perfect for undercover work. As for Arc, I've yet to see any specific advantage he has, but if Marrow is to be believed then he is a good leader."
"A promising leader," said Marrow. "No first year two months in is going to be good. He's taking it seriously, though. That much is obvious. Strikes me as the type who is determined not to let his team down, though whether that's personal resolve or outright terror of failing them is yet to be seen."
"He did lead his team in uncovering the secrets of this assessment if our research is to be believed," said Clover. "If nothing else, that speaks of good instincts. I always prefer leaders who do their preparation work ahead of time. Makes missions so much easier." Clover leaned back and grinned. "I approve this approach. If Marrow thinks they show promise, I'll support it. It's about time we start looking for another team of specialists."
"Thinking of retiring?" quipped Winter.
"No, but it'll take a couple of years to really mould them into the role anyway. Who can say whether my answer will change in four years. And if not, well, we always need more Specialists. And General Ironwood needs people he can trust to poke around in Vale. We don't need the best of the best. We need people who are quick-witted, disciplined, capable of independent action, and who won't get distracted or bored and forget the job. Looks to me these four qualify."
Winter nodded. "I agree. I'll speak with General Ironwood when we return."
Oh look, here comes the plot.
Yep, we're looking at Jaune leading a team of Specialists. Though, not really. As Clover says, they're be no means being made into specialists – more like they've been highlighted as potential candidates a full four years before they'd actually be tested for it. They're just talking about giving them the opportunity to engage in extra specialised lessons to direct them toward it.
Next Chapter: 3rd December
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