A/N: Patrick may seem pretty cruel in the last chapter but in the end, he does show to have a heart. Plus there IS a reason for his behavior. One that will all be revealed soon...or very later. Right now, we focus the story back on the action where Team PASM is assigned to another Huntsman Mission, with a surprised trainer and an unexpected condition.
Chapter 15: Teamwork
"This is gonna be great!" Marlene says, excited. "Another Huntsman Mission!"
Team PASM is walking down the hallways. It is yet another time for a Huntsman Mission for the students of Beacon, and PASM is ready to head out for theirs. "It certainly is nice to be able to go out and put our skills and strength to the test once more," Akira says.
"I just hope it's not a difficult one. That Shadowcrawler was frightening." Selena says.
"You talk as if you were the one it kidnapped," Marlene says, feeling uncomfortable.
"Plus I hope we don't get a creepy huntsman like that Qrow guy," Selena says.
Patrick only rolls his eyes as he turns his face away from his team to sneer. "He is indeed an unqualified huntsman due to his drunken state and womanizing personality but he does live up to his job when it comes to fighting," Akira says. Akira turns his attention to Patrick. "What of you, leader? What do you hope for on this mission?"
"Just for it to be over with," Patrick says. "But above that, I'm with Selena. I hope we don't wind up with a huntsman anything like or worse than that idiot Qrow."
Next, PASM meets with their assigned huntsman out in the courtyard. And Patrick is utterly disappointed.
"I just had to say something!" He says, disappointed.
The huntress they are meeting is none other than General Ironwood's commanding officer, Winter Schnee. While Patrick and Winter do nothing but exchange glares at each other in silence, the other members of PASM are more confused about the huntsman that is standing next to her.
"Wait. If Ms. Schnee is our assigned huntsman, then...who are you and why are you here?" Marlene asks.
"Apologizes," Clover says. "My name is Clover Ebi. And while it is true that Winter here is your assigned huntress, I am here cause my team and I are also on this mission."
"Beg your pardon?" Selena asks.
"The mission your school was given was said to be so difficult and dangerous that it would require two teams and two trained huntsman to accomplish it," Winter says.
"And here comes my team now," Clover says.
Team CPER arrives, which surprises both them and Team PASM. Patrick is even more upset. Winter was bad enough now he's gotta spend the whole mission with Peter the Perverted Jerk. And the big brute proved Patrick's point when he got all turned on at the sight of Winter. Frustrated, Clawdia grabs Peter by the ear, hard, to return him to his scenes. She 'A-paw-ogizes' for his behavior, but winter only turns her head and whispers 'Hooligans'.
Clover just laughs at Winter's attitude. "Go easy on them, Commander. They're only kids after all."
"That may be true but I never behaved that way," Winter says.
"Right. Anyways, shall we go?" Everyone gets onto the airship.
Clover then Team CPER and then Team PASM. However, as Patrick was going onboard last he was greeted with a blade at his throat. He turns his eyes to the pursuiter, Winter. "Let's make one thing clear, Shadow Hunter. The General may have approved your Headmaster's release request but that doesn't mean you are free of your crimes." Winter leans in to give him an eye-to-eye glare. "I will be watching you!"
Patrick only gives Winter an aggressive sneer before he gets on the airship, and Winter follows.
The Airship takes flight, heading towards its destination. While waiting, Winter explains the details of their mission. There's a village that has been suffering endless, continuous Grimm attacks. Under the recommendations of the police and other Huntsman, the villagers are to evacuate the area for it has become too dangerous to be habitable.
About an hour later, the airship arrives at a broken-down village on the outer fields of Vale. The airship lands outside of the village. As everyone walks through the village they take a good look at everything happening: Broken homes. People hurt and scared. It makes almost everyone here feel nothing but pains in their stomachs.
Winter and Clover take their teams until they approach a young lady. The woman takes notice of the team of huntsmen and huntresses. "Oh hello, are you the Huntsman we hired?"
"Indeed. I am Commander Winter Schnee of Atlas." Winter says.
"And I'm Clover Ebi of the Ace Ops." Clover introduces Teams PASM and CPER. "And these are the students of Beacon."
"I'm so glad you are all here. My name is Anna Diamond, I'm the Chief's Daughter." Anna says.
"And where is your father?" Winter asks.
Anna's expression turns to sadness. "I'm afraid he was killed during the last wave of Grimm Attacks. As I'm sure you are aware, the Grimm attacks have grown worse every day, eventually, they overwhelmed us. We seek to look for a new settlement for our village somewhere in the west."
"You sure that's a good idea? The open fields of the continent aren't very safe." Clover says.
"We are well aware of the dangers. After all, our ancestors have lived in this village for hundreds of years." Anna says. "But since we've lost our protectors and there are only a few of us left, we can't protect ourselves from any Assassins, Mercenaries, or Grimm attacks."
"And that's where we come in. We protect your people from any attacks." Winter says.
"Indeed," Anna says with a nod. "We will depart as soon as you and your students are ready."
Once the preparations are made, the villagers take their formations. About four caravans creating supplies and defenseless citizens. Winter and Clover go over the plan for protection. "We form into teams of two, each team lined up with the caravan. Clover and Akira take the lead and Clawdia and Marlene take the rear."
Akira's fox ears perk in surprise. "Why am I in the front with Clover?"
"We need a Faunus in front and back. You have sharp instincts to sense any incoming attacks." Winter says.
The way the formation goes, it's Akira and Clover in front. Winter and Patrick between Caravans 1 and 2, Peter and Earnest between Caravans 2 and 3, Selena and Rayla in Caravans 3 and 4, and Marlene and Clawdia in the end. Patrick feels some relief Peter's not being paired with a girl, especially Selena above all, but he feels more upset that he's paired with Winter. Even cause he knows this is one of her 'Keeping an eye on him' tactics.
Once everybody is set, they are headed out. The Caravan moves at a slow steady pace, about as much as the average walking person.
They don't get far, not even spent more than five minutes, without being ambushed by the Grimm. Winter was right about the Faunus and their instincts. Akira was able to sense their presence and hear their movements before they stroke.
"Defend the Caravan!" Clover shouts.
Clover, Peter, Clawdia, and Akira fight in the front lines. Winter, Rayla, Selena, Marlene, and Earnest stay within midrange as the other lines of defense and offer their support to the fronters when they came. Patrick, on the other hand, stands on top of one of the caravans and shoots at the Grimm. He mostly focuses on the winged ones but he does shoot at the charging Grimms when he gets the chance.
The Grimm put a heavy fight but in the end, the Huntsman was victorious.
"We'll need to get moving before the Grimm overwhelm us," Winter says. "Anna. Do you know how far the Grimm Nests are in this area?"
"If we can make it past the river, we should be safe," Anna says. "But it's a long walk."
"Hmm. Given the Grimm Activity around here, I would advise we get there before Sundown." Clover says. And everyone agrees.
Our fellow Huntsman and Huntresses remain sharp and aware of any more incoming attacks. The Grimm comes at them in fierce numbers. The Beowolves and Deathstalkers weren't the only ones. The giant Ursa that come in proved to be a real challenge. Against it, Peter faces the Ursa on the front line. He uses his Ironwill Semblance to fight against the Ursa. First, the giant bear charges at him, and Peter stands his ground and blocks the charge, not even moving or flinching an inch. While Peter holds the Ursa in place, Akira and Clawdia attack it from behind. While the Ursa was provoked by the sneak attacks, Peter repels the Grimm and, while it is staggering, grabs his ax and chop off its head.
With the Ursa defeated, the rest of the Grimm were finished. The Caravan and the huntsmen and huntresses moved on.
After hours of walking and fighting, they have reached the river. Only with one small predicament. "Not good. The bridge is out." Anne says.
"Grimm attacks?" Clawdia asks.
Patrick steps forward. He looks at the bridge, or what it used to be. He looks down to see the bridge hanging over the river, then to the other side where he uses his Vision to get a scope close view of the other hand.
"I don't think so." Patrick turns to everyone else. "The bridge was cut, but not by the hands of mindless creatures. Must be the work of bandits."
"Takes one to know one," Winter says, under her breath.
"What do we do now?" Peter asks.
Everyone takes the moment to think. Clover spots a large tree, or a rooted log is more like it, on the other side of the river far to the left. From the looks of it, the tree is tilted a bit over the river. And judging the height it seems to be as long as the bridge would be. Using his Kingfisher, Clover gets a hook on the tree and pulls. But with all his strength it's not enough to pull it into the river. Rayla comes to his side and uses her Steel Wires to coil around the base and pull with all her strength.
With their combined power, they were able to bring down the tree, and it drifts into the river sideways until it reaches the bridge. Once there, Selena uses Ice Dust from her staff to freeze parts of the water creating pillars of ice on both ends and the middle, holding the log in place. But not completely.
Clover takes a step on the log. As he stands on it, it only sinks in slightly and feels wobbly. "This doesn't feel very safe," Marlene says.
"You might be right, but we don't have any other choice," Winter says.
"It will be fine. But just in case, let's have one person go at a time." Clover says.
Everyone does what Clover says. The first thing they do is let about half the huntsman, which is Winter and Team CPER, cross. Winter and Team PASM stay behind to keep watch for incoming Grimm attacks. The citizens start crossing over, one at a time. Even those on the Caravans cross over on foot. When the Caravans start to cross, only one person is on to drive them.
When the Caravans begin to cross, the log becomes more unstable. Starting with the ice pillars holding it in place beginning to break. The citizens are panicking. With quick thinking, Clover and Rayla use their weapons to grab hold of both ends of the log, but it's not enough. Then Winter uses her Glyph to hold the log in place. Even using all of her willpower through her semblance it's a struggle.
The citizens mutter at the situation. "It's fine. Keep moving." Clover says.
The caravan keeps moving, but more slowly. Clearly a sight of worried caution. Winter demands that they hurry up, as it gets harder for her to maintain her Semblance. The last Cavaran is crossing, and Winter is falling on her knees, and her semblance is weakening. "Go! Go!" Patrick shouts at them, and the last caravan rushes through. Once it crosses, Clover and Team PASM hurry on crossing the log. Once everyone's through, Rayla releases her wires from the log and Winter ceases her Semblance, resulting in her collapsing.
The Ice Pillars give out and break leaving the log to drift away in the river.
It was a major relief everyone made it through, but some of the citizens are more concerned about the collapsed huntress. Selena and Akira tend to her aid. Akira uses her Chi Semblance to boost Winter's Aura. Winter groans when her Aura powers up.
Everyone gathers in consideration for Winter. However, Patrick feels uneased. He turns away from the crowd to look at the open fields all around them. He uses his Vision to scope search all around. Far away, he catches something. A shadow moving quickly behind the trees and boulders.
After a moment is seeing nothing he looks around. "Pet-rick? Is everything okay?" Clawdia asks him.
Patrick doesn't answer at first until he drops his seriousness. "Fine. Just thought I saw something."
"Mistress Winter, are you okay?" Selena asks.
Patrick and Clawdia return their attention to Winter. "I'm...fine," Winter says. Once Akira is finished, she and Selena help Winter sit up.
"You don't appear to be injured. It's probably just physical and Aura exhaustion." Akira says.
"Well, it's going to be dark soon. I suggest we find somewhere to make camp for the night." Clover says.
Everyone keeps moving. The fields have been more clear since crossing the river. So everyone has been at ease with fewer Grimm attacks coming. The sun is mostly set and darkness is covering the world. The unconscious Winter is resting in one of the Caravans, with Patrick sitting inside with her. He just looks down at Winter, then opens his Scroll and takes a look at the wanted picture of her and Weiss.
His expression hards as he thinks back to when they departed. 'The General may have approved your Headmaster's release request but that doesn't mean you are free of your crimes. I will be watching you.' Her voice echos in his head.
Patrick gives a sharp exhale as he closed his eyes, lowers his scroll then looks at Winter. "You are just damn lucky I hate them more than your attitude."
Patrick gets up and moves out of the Cavaran, sitting next to the driver.
Eventually, the Caravan came to a stop near a mountain, where there's a small cave. It's not enough to fit the village but the Caravans did get stored in it. Everyone sets up camp. Rayla and Marlene handle the cooking. Patrick and Clover keep an eye out for any incoming threats.
"Sure is a quiet night," Clover says.
"Hmm." Is all Patrick could say. Clover chuckles a little, which catches his attention. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing. Just that you are pretty much like what I've heard about you." Clover says.
"From Winter I bet?" Patrick says.
"A little. But mostly from General Ironwood." Clover says.
"Of course he would," Patrick says. "You know, I always thought he'd sent you and Winter to be our instructors just to keep an eye on me."
"Listen, I know things are intense between you and the General, but it's nothing for you to worry about," Clover says. "I know the General, if he is as bad as you claim him to be, he would have kept you behind bars."
"Winter begs to differ," Patrick says.
Clover laughs. "Yes, it's true Winter is on the hard side. Full of pride and stubbornness."
"Like father, like daughter," Patrick says.
"Yea, well. Once you spend enough time with her, you'll soon see that she has a soft side." Clover says.
"Yeah. Probably one that'll lead me to 60 instead of life." Patrick says. Rayla calls Patrick and Clover letting them know dinner is ready. "We are done here." Patrick says. He starts heading back to camp, Clover just sighs disappointingly while watching him walk away.
Meanwhile, at a tribe camp, Raven is sitting alone in her tent, holding a sword in front of her. Focused. In her meditation, Vernal comes in. "Lady Raven, our scouts have returned with the information."
"Speak." Raven says.
"Our targets have crossed the river. They made it out of the Grimm Territory." Vernal says.
"What are we dealing with?" Raven asks.
"Two of Atlesian Soldiers, and a group of what appears to be student Huntsmen and Huntresses." Vernal is hesitated. "But..."
"But what?" Raven asks.
"I'm not sure if I should bring this up, they are not sure if they really saw him..."
"Spit it out!" Raven says.
"It's the Shadow Hunter! He's one of the students guarding the Villagers." Without saying a word, Raven's sword drops. It even startles Vernal. "L-Lady Raven?"
"Leave me," Raven says. Vernal doesn't say anything, just bows, and turns. "And Vernal...Send me the Masked Assassin."
"Of course," Vernal says.
Raven is once again alone in her tent. "So, the Shadow Hunter is playing the part of a Student Huntsman." She looks down at her hand, clinging it into a fist. "You better hope you are not working with him, Patrick Aki!" Someone enters the tent, and Raven can scene his presence. "Our target is on the move. But it is well guarded. Not with just Huntsmen, but with also a mercenary with a skilled reputation." Raven turns and turns to the Masked Assassin. "I'm sending you and a handful of our best men to carry out the mission. Do whatever it takes to finish the job."
The Masked Assassin pounds a fist to his chest and speaks. "Fa Mask Assin nuffer bails." Though he really speaks in a muffle nobody can understand.