23

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Pyrrha was scared. Terrified, even.

Several days had passed since the meeting on top of Beacon's tower, since the day she'd made the choice to undergo this operation. Back then, she'd been so certain. Full of the valor she'd been told Mistralians all felt when asked to risk their lives for their brothers and sisters in arms. But now she was shaking in her armor. Ozpin and Glynda were with her, and they could tell easily.

She nearly jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder, turning to see Glynda's concerned gaze, "Are you alright? It's perfectly understandable if you wish to… put this off. For a day, maybe two."

She honestly considered doing just that, before she sighed and closed her eyes, "No. Everyone else is doing their part to save Jaune, and I must not shirk at my own. I have to master the Maiden's powers quickly." She opened her eyes and looked at the other pod. Or rather, at the girl lying inside. "She didn't shirk hers either… It would be a dishonor to her to hide from this now."

"I doubt she would have anything at all against you not doing what I want." Ozpin said from the terminal, entering commands and chuckling dryly, "She and I… did not always agree on every front, I suppose."

"Why not?" Pyrrha asked quietly, more to take her mind off the machine she'd be inside soon than anything.

"She was… willful, and brave. And she thought she'd be safe without anyone around her to help her. To protect her." He sighed, turning around to look at the Mistralian warrior sadly, "That's why she was beaten, Miss Nikos. She thought she knew better than anyone what was good for her, and for them."

"I won't be like that." She said quietly, making Ozpin smile in a knowing way and nod.

"I know you won't, Miss Nikos." And he did. It was why he'd chosen her in the first place as a candidate to consider. Even if he'd decided on her for entirely different reasons after that. "The procedure is prepared. Do you want us to use anaesthetics to make this easier on you?"

"No." She said, shuddering and hugging herself slightly, avoiding looking at the man, "I… am afraid I have developed something akin to a fear of needles as of late, sir. I have been quite apprehensive about all of this, were I to be honest."

"Understandable." Glynda said quietly, nodding and smiling sympathetically, "Is that part of why you wore your armor? Your apprehension about what we intend to attempt today?"

"Yes. I feel more comfortable, more… myself when I'm wearing my armor." She sighed and smiled thinly, almost painedly. "And given the implications of this procedure.…"

"Wearing your armor and carrying your arms might, as a matter of fact, actually help you retain your sense of self." Ozpin offered quietly, the pod hissing open and lowering down expectantly. Pyrrha swallowed nervously, her throat dry and heart hammering in her chest, and Ozpin turned to put an arm around her comfortingly. "Are you ready, Miss Nikos? As Miss Goodwitch said, we can afford to wait longer, if you so wish."

"No." She said again, taking a deep breath and rolling her shoulders habitually. She did the same whenever she used to go into tournaments and ranked fights, it helped her calm herself. "We have to do this now. You'll need the Maiden's power as soon as you find where Jaune is located, and I need to know how to use it when that time comes. That means training, and one cannot learn the art of the spear and shield without picking up both."

"A Mistralian saying." He muttered, giving her shoulders a comforting squeeze and letting go. "It's one I rather like, myself. It portrays a certain… drive, to get the job underway and completed. And I rather like the attitude that conveys about the Mistralian people. The willingness to do what must be done, when it must be done."

She nodded and took the cue, climbing into the cold pod and laying in the bottom on the thin pad that had been put there expressly for her. The pod closed slowly, and she closed her eyes as she felt the machine lift up, eventually causing her to slide down until she landed on her feet, and she opened them again Ozpin spoke to her.

"Miss Nikos, on behalf on Remnant I want to thank you for the risk you are undergoing. And for my own state of mind, I need to ask once again if you are ready for this." She looked at his stern face, the man leaning forward on his cane heavily. "This decision has to be yours and yours alone, Miss Nikos. And it is not too late to change it. Once I press the button and start the process though, your choice is final."

"I want to do this, sir. For Jaune, and Remnant, and for myself." He nodded and stepped out of sight, and Glynda took his place. She pressed a hand against the glass and smiled sadly, and Pyrrha nodded at her.

The pain hit her like a hammer blow, knocking the breath from her lungs before she could scream. Like fire creeping up her body, burning at her. She couldn't stand it, and collapsed with a strangled scream into the bottom of the pod. She heard the scream echo before she lost consciousness, and the last thing she remembered seeing was Miss Goodwitch's concerned face pressed against the glass.

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"Another dead end." Weiss huffed angrily, shaking her head as they walked away from one of the myriad police departments scattered throughout Vale. They'd decided days ago to hit up the military outposts and police departments to try and find anything suspicious, and found nothing. "We know they took a bullhead, and they had to stay close enough to the walls to avoid Grimm, but no one saw anything?"

"It is possible they didn't land in Vale." Blake offered, following behind them and watching the alleyways, ever the paranoid one. "If the White Fang are involved, it is possible that they took him out of Vale. Strictly speaking, of course."

"Then where would they go?" Weiss asked instantly and irritably, sighing and shaking her head, "The reports from the Atlesian battlegroup showed that no craft matching those analogues left Vale's airspace. They'd have to stay close to Vale or Beacon, and that limits the places they can go by a large margin."

"I don't know, this is making my head hurt." Ruby whined, lagging behind Yang slightly.

The blonde turned to look at her and sighed, "Worried about your crush, Rubes?" The brunette pouted slightly, but otherwise didn't react, and she let the fake smile drop, "I have an idea, guys."

"There's a change of pace." Blake teased quietly, smirking at the girl's raised eyebrow.

"Be serious for a sec, okay? I know a guy, he knows everything about most things. If we have the lien, he might tell us something good." Weiss saw Yang's sheepish expression and rolled her eyes.

"I can cover it."

"Thanks, Weiss-cream!" Yang cheered, throwing an arm around the smaller girl and sighed, "There is one little, teensy, tiny problem though… might be nothing!" She added, when everyone looked at her with the typical expectant sarcasm, "I might have trashed the place once before, so.…"

"I'm sure he can be made to see reason." Weiss dismissed haughtily, holding up her card and smiling, "Lien makes decent glasses, I hear."

The quartet made their way back into the town, following the brawler of the group while she told them about the night at the club. When they stepped inside, a couple dozen men in black suits were waiting for them, along with a massive man holding a bat on his shoulder.

"Blondie." he inclined his head, watching his men shift at his side nervously, "You know you aren't welcome here, after you trashed my place the last time you came by."

"I thought you learned your lesson, Junior." She said relaxedly, walking forward with a sway in her hips and poking his chest, "Besides, I'm not here about what I was last time. Just want to ask you something and I'll leave. We can even pay you, if you ask nicely."

"I'm an information broker." He grunted, stepping out of her reach and kicking out a chair at a table, "Sit down, tell me what you want to know. I tell you the price, you pay, I give you the information."

Yang started to say something, but was interrupted when Weiss bumped into her, "I'll be paying, not her. So you and I can talk, if you like." Junior huffed and walked around the table, his circle of men following the man and his smaller counterpart as they sat down. "A friend of ours went somewhere recently in a personal travel ship, and we can't seem to track it. The military forts we went to and police both say that no small personal travel ships have left their perimeter, meaning they have to be in Vale or nearby." She folded her hands on the table in front of her, smiling politely, "His name is Jaune, and we'd like to know whatever you know."

"Don't know anything, sorry. Heard about a few smugglers headed for Vacuo, but nothing came of it. They got busted." He shrugged when she looked displeased, "Sorry. But sometimes," he looke dat Yang meaningfully, "even I don't know things." He continued immediately, before Yang could act on the anger she felt at it, "I will pass word down if I find anything out, though. If I do-"

"I'll be by as soon as I can to pay you, of course." Weiss interrupted politely, smiling diplomatically and taking a hundred lien out of her sleeve. She set it on the table as she stood, "Thank you for the help, and for hearing us out. I do apologize for my hotheaded friend."

He took the lien, working his jaw as Weiss made a show of pushing the chair in and turning to leave, "I did hear one thing." He said quietly, leaning forward, "Small craft, don't know the make, but it went down apparently off towards Mountain Glenn. Probably nothing though, so I'll make that one free of charge. Since you're so polite and civil."

He cast another meaningful look at Yang, who simply gave him the bird and turned to stalk away angrily. Weiss ignored both acts, simply smiling brightly and shaking his hand when he offered, "I appreciate the kindness, sir." She put another hundred lien on the table and turned to leave, Junior smiling behind her.

Once they were outside, Weiss smiled almost cockily at Yang, "That is how you get information. Now let's go, we should get to Beacon and tell Ozpin about this."

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Jaune was having a pleasant dream before he rolled over, his face meeting something soft, and amusement echoing into his thoughts from beside him as he woke up. Opening his eyes, all he saw was white cloth, and it took a moment for him to realize where his head was and pull back, banging his head on the wall beside his bed as he did. All the while Neo laughed mutely in front of him.

"That's not funny, Neo." He said angrily, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head with a blush on his face. "I was having a nice dream."

"I could tell, you kept nuzzling my chest." She typed after a second, laughing hard enough to shake when he pushed past her and went to sit at the table irritably. After a second she sighed and got up, showing him another message. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I was just bored."

"I'm psychic." He said roughly, turning to glare up at her, "I literally know for fact that you are lying when you say that. Well, the first part. But being bored isn't a good excuse to sexually assault someone!"

"Hey, if anything you assaulted me. Your head was in my chest after all." She smirked and sat at the other end of the table, drumming her fingers on the wood. "I wonder what Roman is up to…."

"You can go see him if you want to, you know." She perked up immediately, and he almost smiled. But he still had that picture she'd sent him on his Scroll, so the smile never came. "I could use the time to myself, maybe get a nap in without being assaulted."

"Yeah, keep pretending you don't like it." She said, smirking when he grimaced before continuing, "And I can't, Roman said to stick with you and keep you safe. So that's what I have to do until he says I can stop." "Even if it does suck hardcore.…"

He sighed then, and Neo watched him sit in the chair for a few moments before the door opened to deliver their dinner. They ate in silence for a while before Neo slid the Scroll across the table, "Are you still angry about what I did to get you here?"

"Of course I am." He saw her face fall a bit and almost felt bad, but continued anyway, "Imagine if I'd done that to Roman, and you'll probably start to get it. You tortured my friend and kidnapped me. And I could feel how much you enjoyed doing it too."

She nodded, looking almost depressed, and slid the Scroll back to him, "But you're the one I have to stay with after this is all over." "Roman made me promise, said it'd keep me safe after he was gone."

He paused when he felt her grief and pain, and not for the first time cursed his Semblance. Putting his cutlery on the table, he sighed and spoke, "Look, you're a messed up person, that's just a fact. But an Arc always keeps his word, and Roman has mine that I'll protect you if he helps me." He shrugged and leaned back, "It doesn't matter how I feel."

"But we'll both be miserable if you hate me. I can change if you want. I won't hurt anyone if you say not to." He sighed when he read that, and looked at her. Even though he could feel the sincerity, he still couldn't quite believe it outright. But he knew that wasn't because what she was saying was untrue.

It was just what he didn't want to be true.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." He said, even though it practically tasted bitter in his mouth. "I mean, if you want to change then it would be wrong of me not to allow you to. You will have to apologize to Pyrrha though, before I let you anywhere near my friends. And I'll know if you don't mean it."

She nodded, and smiled sadly. So they returned to their food quietly.

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[Archive Entry 0024] Inner-Kingdom Defensive Fortifications

Due to the nature, and unfortunate frequency, of Grimm incursions into settlements, it is common for Kingdoms and moderately sized villages and towns to have small 'forts' scattered throughout their internal structure. These forts serve as emergency defence hardpoints in the case of a Grimm attack, ammunition depots, and a sort of barracks for soldiers to stay at while not deployed outside the walls.

They are often also connected to the local police department networks, supplying officers with additional logistical support and an emergency contact in the case of any violent incidents requiring military intervention, like a terror event. They have also been known to function as contact points between militaries, both local and foreign, and local Hunters.

Larger fortifications often include civilian bunkers, in the case of dangerous circumstance as listed above. These are stocked well with food, water and emergency fuel generators. In Atlas, it is rumored that these sorts of bunkers are interconnected under restricted access. The Atlesian government has neglected to confirm or deny such things.

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