Notes : Sorry for the notifications, the first upload went badly and therefore the chapter was broken. I had to reupload it to fix it. Good reading !
"As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all, we must remember that this may go beyond Vale, beyond Beacon. And if this is truly part of some master plan for which we do not know the final move, we mustn't be so bold nor can we risk spreading panic."
"I have served you faithfully for years, but if you mean to tell me that your plan is to merely hold the defenses and wait..."
"It is not! You're a general, James. When you prepare to go to war, who do you send in first? The flag bearer or the scouts?"
"The heavy artillery to crush the enemy before he even has a chance to approach. And you already have the perfect team for such a job," Ironwood said, smirking as if he'd just cracked the code to ultimate victory.
THE NEXT MORNING
"So what mission do you think we should take?" Jaune asked, poring over the mission board with enthusiasm. "I'll admit I'm partial to this one. We don't usually get to do investigative work, but it could be interesting to witness another facet of Hunter work besides Grimm. I always wanted to be a policeman before I received the Dust calling. It would be a good way to verify that."
As Jaune waxed poetic about his dreams of upholding law and order, Pyrrha's smile widened so much it threatened to split her face in two. Tears of joy welled up in her eyes. At last... It took nearly six months, but Jaune was finally breaking out of his Dust shell and thinking about something other than large-scale devastation.
"And we would have a great setting for some city tes..." Nora began, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
"Ren!"
"Already on it," he replied, moving with military precision to stuff a pancake into Nora's mouth.
She swallowed it whole, but Ren wasn't taking any chances. He quickly followed up with a deluge of syrup and another pancake. It took a good 15 pancakes to make Nora forget about her suggestion, but it was worth it. If it allowed Pyrrha and Ren to have a week of reprieve from damage control, it was worth going through half their reserve of PASNUC—Pan-"Shut Nora up"-cakes.
Pyrrha had initially thought Jaune was the ringleader of the destructive duo and Nora was just a gleeful accomplice. But as the year wore on, it became increasingly obvious that Nora thrived on chaos and Jaune was just her excitable cheerleader.
Jaune was about to click on their chosen mission when Ironwood intervened from behind them.
"Hum... You're going for that one? Such a pity. I was really looking forward to seeing what results you would achieve with the experiments of Dust Warfare in a city environment."
Four pairs of eyes locked onto him as he scrolled through the various missions and plucked an unassuming one from the list.
"What would such a mission entail?" Jaune asked cautiously.
"Unlimited, purest Dust at your disposal."
Two fingers immediately crashed on the "Accept" button. The general had first prepared an entire speech to convince JNPR to take this particular mission. The enthusiasm of Jaune and Nora for everything Dust-related was grossly underestimated in his first draft, leading to this second version.
"Nora... You know what that means, don't you?" Jaune asked, his voice barely containing his excitement. "It's time for... our Magnum Opus..."
When the headmaster felt the pull on his mechanical arm and noticed the black aura of a certain Mistralian champion, he added with a smirk,
"May I mention that since it will take place in the ruins of Mountain Glenn, a famous Grimm nest, maximal destruction is required and complete annihilation preferred?"
Instantly, the faces of all the team lit up, although for different reasons, while Jaune promptly collapsed on the ground, foam forming at the corners of his mouth, his body convulsing with sheer joy.
"NOOO..." Nora cried dramatically. "You can't go now. Not before witnessing the beauty of our baby!"
Electricity surged between her fingers.
"Clear!" she shouted, delivering a shock that made Jaune's body arc off the floor without eliciting any further response. Nora desperately shocked him several more times to no avail.
Ironwood raised an eyebrow at Ren, silently asking for an explanation.
"Jaune is a very sensitive guy. Having Atlas' headmaster and general ask him to create the biggest explosion possible... That's like being proposed to, in his head, I think."
"In his completely messed-up head," Pyrrha added, her tone dripping with exasperation.
"I hope it won't prevent him from succeeding in his mission," Ironwood mused.
"About that, sir..." Ren began cautiously. "Did you really mean it when you mentioned complete annihilation? There will be no turning back once we unleash them."
"I meant every word."
Pyrrha handed him a legal form she had just extracted from her belt pouch.
"Could I have your signature on this request for destruction, please? Make sure to note this clause and this one. These will absolve you of any legal recourse in case of unintended destruction."
Ironwood raised an eyebrow, looking mildly bemused.
"Surely that can't be necessary for such a mission."
"Miss Goodwitch won't let these two past the school gates without proper legal documentation," Ren explained, pointing at Nora and Jaune, who was finally waking up.
"And after all the detentions we've had because of these two, we've had enough legal lectures to become urban planning lawyers if the whole Huntress gig doesn't work out. I'm not keen on another session," Pyrrha added.
The general sighed but signed the document before leaving. On his way out, he patted Jaune on the shoulder, who was barely recovering from his previous convulsions.
"I'm not sure you're aware, but in Atlas, we have a Hunter division specialized in large-scale destruction. Your results for this mission could be your admission ticket to that unit," Ironwood commented innocently. "Imagine if this mission became your everyday job..."
Jaune's eyes rolled back as he collapsed again, but this time even Nora joined him on the floor.