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General James Ironwood was having a rather good day today. The weather around Atlas was surprisingly clear for the season, which meant his patrols were safer than normal and the routine Grimm purges on the steppes were being handled easily. And the Council had approved his spending bill finally, with only a few concessions on his part and, for once in a whole-moon eve, without him having to hammer down with both his seats to force their hand. Even the sea-lanes were offering good news - Leviathan sightings and encounters were both down by ten percent ever since the deployment of the Guardian unit at Argus, which handled Leviathans often enough in the relatively narrow sea region between Vale and Mistral.

She had used the bottleneck to take advantage of the beasts for long enough…

"Best not to rest on your haunches, though." He muttered to his empty office, quietly approving his own planned upgrades to the mech and sending it back to R&D in Atlas proper before he turned. Outside, the world was nothing but ocean and clouds stretching out below as his ship traversed the open ocean towards Vale and he frowned. "Arrogance isn't something any of us can afford, Ozpin…"

The man would come to understand in time.

He had plenty of it, after all…

He heard his door open and turned as one of his staff officers came in, carrying a tablet in one hand. He paused for a moment until Ironwood waved him forward and finally came over and set the tablet down on the large metal desk that he used on his ship. It took up half his office space, just about, but had the storage space he needed for his paperwork, so he had to deal with it. Picking up the tablet, he hummed and opened it.

"Summary?"

"A report on a small town far to the west, on Mantle-continental." The officer reported, "Small town reported a Grimm incursion. It was dealt with by a Huntress who has occupied the town. She has them meeting their contracts, but…"

"But?"

"Who she is is more important than what she's doing, Sir." He nodded, "Page five."

He thumbed through and found a picture of a young sheep Faunus he recognized, standing in the snow in Mantle's streets. He recognized her even without her name at the top of the page and frowned, "Fiona Thyme…"

"Yes, Sir." The officer nodded, "And with Robyn having announced her candidacy for the next election…"

The officer let the implications hang, and for obvious reasons. Strictly speaking, everything he'd skimmed through so far was, as the officer had said, perfectly above board. And Robyn was well within her rights to have a friend running a small… Fishing town, from the report. But the report also said they'd been shipping out stone and wood, too. The wood was easily explained - raw timber was easy to source along that coastline, and that was what the report said came in - but stone was not, and that meant she had a quarry of some kind nearby, too. Which the next page detailed simply - a newer, small-time outfit that had been declared defunct by surviving management and subsequently also claimed by Fiona Thyme as part of Atlas' resource recovery initiatives.

Stone and food were valuable, after all - if someone could retake a site, it only benefitted Atlas to run it.

Usually…

But this was a way to undermine him, he was sure. He could already see the ways Robyn could play it to her favor, and against his, that she'd been saving towns out in the tundra. Not to mention the voters there, and their families in Mantle, who may go against him in her favor…

"Contact Specialist Bree." He ordered, turning to the officer with a frown. "I want the mentioned sites scouted for… Potential terrorist activity."

"Terrorism, sir?"

"Thyme is a Faunus." He answered with a shrug, turning back to the window. Playing the White Fang card put a sour taste in his mouth, but it was more than enough of an answer. Especially when he added, "Hill's group is also known to be an agitating group. We need them watched, if they're branching out like this. See that Bree understands that, and to be subtle about it."

"Yes, General."

"Good." He rumbled, barely turning his head and adding. "Dismissed."

"Yes, General."

He heard the door open and shut and sighed wearily, "And I was having such a nice day…"

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The Ascalade was a fast enough ship, with a comfortable enough interior that even had a fold-out cot for if it was needed. But inside, he and Fiona could barely stand side-by-side, the same cot folded up on one side behind fold up seats and a tiny kitchenette - barely more than a mini-fridge and a small electric stove with one burner - shoved into the back corner. All it had for a bathroom was a little seat in the back corner, with a rolling door that could be tugged out of the wall made of loose panels of metal like a shower curtain. And the cockpit was a one-person affair, too. Which meant that by the time they'd packed enough food, water and medical supplies for any kind of emergency, there wasn't much room at all. And while they could pack Minion in, the more weight they added, the less the fuel would take them. As it was, they'd be dangerously close to empty by the time they got to the old, abandoned settlement, and getting back was…

"Not gonna be easy." Fiona nodded, sitting in the small pilot's chair while Jaune leaned against the door-frame that let into it from the other compartment. Shaking her head, she said, "Old ruins like that often have leftover depots, though. Worst case, though, we land in Vale and you-"

"Stay on the ship." He nodded, meeting her gaze when she turned. The question on her face was obvious, and he nodded at it. "Yeah… Call me paranoid, but I don't fancy being seen out and about in the big city. Not yet."

"Can I ask why?"

"I might not be well known," he said, "but… I don't want to take any risks on the Tower being discovered that I don't need to."

"Fair." She shrugged, turning back to her controls and checking the system over while she asked. "When do we leave?"

"When should we?"

"Now would be best." She hummed, cocking her head to one side and flicking a readout until it did whatever she wanted and she nodded. Turning to him, she explained, "Clear skies won't hold forever, Overlord. Clear skies means a faster trip. Safer, too."

"I get it." He sighed, "Just… We can't take anyone."

"Yeah." She nodded, flicking him a smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm a Huntress, you know."

"I know, but…" He shrugged, turning to rest with his back against the doorframe so he could look out the open rear at the first few houses nearby. "I'm not used to doing any of this without back-up, you know? You have an Aura but I don't."

"You have Aura and I don't." She pointed out dryly, sticking a tongue out at him when he turned to give her an unamused look. Shrugging, she said, "Also, Gnarl said that if you get hurt we just have to get you back on the Throne, so… Just relax, okay?"

"Easier said than done…" He muttered, "And even if I know I can heal, getting gored by a Grimm isn't my idea of a good time."

"Hey, don't worry, Jaune." She smiled, flicking a switch that half-turned her seat so she could stand up. She bounced over to him and pressed against him in the same motion, leaning up on tip-toes to peck a kiss at his chin so he'd lean down enough she could kiss him properly. Pulling back a second later, she said, "We run jobs like this all the time in the Huntresses. We watch each other's backs, we work together, and we find whatever we can. Who knows, any luck we'll find an army there, right?"

"The Greens…" He nodded, sighing and lifting the Faunus up with a surprised little squeak.

"Yeah." She smiled, tapping her fingers on his chest and smiling. "And worst case? We have a nice trip. Just you and me, out in the mountains, killing Grimm."

"Maybe I can catch you another deer…"

"Maybe." She smiled, blushing just a bit and adding, "Maybe I'll let you catch s-something else, too…"

"But I've already caught you…." He said. She raised an eyebrow and he smiled just a bit more widely. Turning, he pressed her against the doorframe while she held onto him, legs wrapping around his waist for support. She smiled, gnawing on a lip and looking up at him while he smiled and leaned in for a kiss.

"Ahem." Jaune froze and, after a second, turned away from the blushing Faunus to meet Gnarl's gaze. The Minion's brows were raised and, after a second, he said, "If you're going to make the boat rock, at least lock the door."

"Make the-"

"Oh, shut up Gnarl!" Fiona squawked, pressing Jaune back with a hand so he'd let her down. Straightening her shirt, she snapped, "What we do in my ship isn't your business. And what do you want, anyway?"

"To give my Master a bit more information, before you all head out." The Head Minion quipped, flicking him a look and raising an eyebrow. "Though, if you would prefer I come back in a half hour or so…"

"You've already ruined the mood, so don't worry about that." Jaune blinked, surprised, and shot Fiona a look. But if she felt him staring into the back of her head, she didn't show it, just asking. "What did you want to tell us?"

"That if," he stressed the word, "there is a Nest site there, you should look for any ruins nearby. If we're lucky, the Portal Gate may still be intact there."

"Portal…?" Jaune murmured, turning to look at the Head Minion and raising an eyebrow.

"Overlords with the proper resources and knowledge can construct, or in this case find, Portals linking places important to the Tower to it through Gates." Gnarl explained quietly, running his fingers through his wispy beard idly while he went on, "These allow easy, rapid travel from the Tower to these places. There's no guarantee that the one that would be there will be intact, and if not retrieving the Nest will be a challenge, but if you can find one-"

"I can bring the Nest back." Jaune filled in, "And I can travel to and from Vale whenever I want…"

"It's not in Vale," Gnarl sighed, "and likely to be underground and in danger regardless. But if it were secured it could be moved, if it's in good enough condition."

"Alright. What will it look like?"

"It will be either an array of stones arranged around a larger, flat one with a sigil your Gauntlet will resonate with," Gnarl explained, "or, if it was a place of particular power, it may instead be a basin. Whether filled with water or not, it will also have a sigil."

"So I'll know it when I see it?" Gnarl nodded and Jaune returned the gesture, turning to give Fiona another smile when she turned to face him. "Ready to go, then? We have a long ride ahead of us, yeah?"

She flicked him a look, flushed a brighter scarlet than he'd ever seen, and turned to bounce away into the cockpit. A second later, the door whooshed shut behind her and, confused, Jaune turned to give Gnarl a look.

"Women are strange creatures, mysterious, confusing creatures, my Master. You can't expect a straight forward situation from them." He shrugged, waving a hand dramatically while, outside, the engines started to thrum gently. "Don't ask me for help here. You might as well ask me to tell you how to talk to a straightforward politician, for all the chance you'll have of finding one."

"How are those comparable…?"

"They both annoy me and don't exist."

"How does that make any- Women exist, Gnarl! And how does something that doesn't exist bother you?!" The Minion just blinked, brows furrowed as if he didn't understand Jaune's point. Sighing, he fell onto one of the seats that the cot folded under and waved him off. "Just go, Gnarl. Unless you want to come on our little adventure?"

"Oh, and have to sit there while you two hang on each other?" The Minion blerghed, faux-gagging and shaking his head as he left. "No thank you!"

Jaune watched him go and flicked a look at the cockpit door as they took off and the door slid closed. It was only when the airship angled to one side and banked away, and his stomach wrenched in his gut, that he remembered what he'd forgotten and scrambled up.

"Fi!" He called, "Do you have any Dramamine?!"

"No?" She called back through the door, "Why do you need-" Jaune wretching into the toilet cut her off and she sighed, "Why didn't you tell me you got motion sick before we left?!"

"I forgooooot!" He whined.

"The door opened a second later and Fiona stepped out, nose scrunching at him as she dug around in the tiny cabinets of her airship's kitchenette and dug out a couple little baggies and a pot. She set it on the stove, poured a bottle of water out and said, "Ginger and Chamomile tea. It'll help."

"How do you know…?"

"Robyn gets motion sick too, when she can't see out." Fiona sighed, "This works. Trust me."

"I could kiss you…"

"Don't you dare," she snapped, turning to point at him with a furrowed brow, "until you brush your teeth."

"Got it- Bleck."

"Oh, aim for the toilet and flush!" She squawked, "Aim for the toilet and flush!"

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Ruby sat at the top of the dilapidated tower they were camping in and frowned, watching the Grimm meandering around way down on ground level. It was just Beowolves, mostly, and some Creeps. So she let them be while her team rested, like Doctor Oobleck had said to. She still tracked the ones that came closer to the old building, though, following them with her rifle.

One of these could have found him, down in that valley… Maybe that was why they'd never found him?

"Snrf." She flicked her dog a look as he wiggled into her lap and rolled over, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he looked up at her.

She smiled, rubbing his belly and sighing, "Hey, boy… Back from going potty already? Didn't smell anything?"

The little corgi sniffled and rolled onto his side and she sighed, turning back to watching the Grimm, "That's good. At least everyone can rest up, right?"

They all needed it. Who knew what tomorrow would bring after all?

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