Chapter 14

"We've identified the likely containers that Torchwick will be targeting." Ozpin tapped away at his tablet, bringing up a list that seemed to be some kind of inventory dossier. "It seems he would have been timing his heist with the arrival of new Schnee Dust shipments. The SDC has been planning a larger delivery to offset the loss of so much of Vale's own commercial reserve."

He brought up a schematic showing the map of the docks. Countless little abbreviations were on screen that Pyrrha couldn't decipher, but she understood enough to follow along. "This is the storage locations?"

"Correct Miss Nikos." He gestured towards a few of the different areas. "Storage of containers needs to be managed in accordance with their transport routes. Containers which will be require access earliest are to be stacked so that they can be most easily accessible. The dockyard logs keep track of cargo ship IDs to monitor where they need to be, and when they need to leave, however they do not link directly to the manifesto of the containers contents for security purposes. Helps to avoid risks of theft. However, due to the volume of Atlas deliveries expected to arrive, an area has been cleared just for the SDC. If Roman Torchwick were to have access to dock records as we believe he does, then deducing the containers he needs would be easiest."

"He brought in Bullheads with the White Fang." Pyrrha reminded him. She'd never seen it of course, but Ruby had been very excited to tell her all about it, and the news had managed to obtain some security footage of the incident, though most of it had been unavailable. "They must have been looking to take the containers away and empty them later."

Ozpin nodded. "The White Fang grunts must have been there for manual labour, hooking up the containers for extraction. Speed would be of the essence, especially for something as brazen as an aerial presence. We'll make our first strike on Torchwick and his White Fang supporters at the docks heist."

A new image appeared on screen, an overhead map that had been combined with additional sketches and showed positional information and team identifications. "Huntsman teams will be laying in wait to ambush Torchwick and his ground forces, with police presence kept in reserve for support with capture and transport. For the aerial forces, I'm looking to borrow a few of your ships if possible James."

Ironwood, who had been fastidiously taking notes during their meeting, gave a nod even before he answered. "I can increase our security patrol during the next equipment delivery, then have claims of maintenance issues delay their leaving. Just one machine will need to be 'inoperable' to keep the squadron on standby. Should the ambush fail, what are our contingencies?"

"Tracking of the Bullheads overwater and destruction if capture is not viable." Ozpin said it casually, though the image flashed through Pyrrha's mind with a shudder. She understood that it was quite possible that people would die during the operation, chiefly the inexperienced White Fang grunts, but there was something much more visceral about the idea of shooting down the craft over the ocean and leaving them to either die in the explosion or drown beneath the waves, maybe even dragged under by the Grimm. "I would also like to request that we have several dummy containers placed in the delivery, those most likely to be taken by Torchwick should he succeed."

Ironwood nodded before gesturing to the second person on the call. "We will need to place other materials or weights inside of the containers to match the expected load." Winter explained. Both as a specialist and as someone familiar with the SDCs inner workings, her input was considered essential for the operation. "All containers are weighed when leaving and arriving at the docks. All of this will be recorded and accessible by Torchwick, if he finds a discrepancy he may change his plan."

"Easy enough to arrange." Ironwood changed the subject. "The Huntsman teams, who are we looking to comprise them?"

"Only a small number would be required, personnel we can have on hand or made available. Qrow Branwen will be returning from the field to participate in the operation. Glynda will be on site already, her telekinesis will be invaluable should the Bullheads be at risk of crashing into the city. I believe Winter Schnee would be valuable would be of great assistance as well, alongside…" He paused, sharing a glance towards the lone student in the room. "Pyrrha Nikos, I believe this would be a chance for you to assist us."

She was taken by surprise. Had he not said anything, she was going to insist on being involved anyway, but the fact that he'd offered had her feeling a swell of butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't quite describe it. Pride? Respected?

"Pyrrha?" Glynda nodded.

"I- uh, yes, absolutely."

He gave her a nod and smile. "There's a bright future ahead of you Miss Nikos, this can be your first step."

"I won't let you down."

When the meeting concluded, Miss Goodwitch led Pyrrha to the elevator to accompany her down.

"I've heard good things about your studies. Homework is excellent, you've been active in class participation… how are things on the team side?"

Pyrrha thought for a minute, frowning slightly. "It's… ok."

"But?" Glynda verbalised the silent word, and Pyrrha's frown grew stronger.

"Things don't seem to be… clicking, like they did with JNPR. Weiss fights with Jaune a lot. Ruby seeks out her sister whenever she has free time. And Jaune… he's strangely withdrawn, a lot more so than he was before." Jaune had not been a confident person as team leader, not at first and it had taken quite some time for him to improve. But now it seemed he wasn't changing at all. "I don't know what to do."

Glynda considered for a moment. "Well, as team leader it will be up to you to try and lead the effort to fix the issues within your team, but it's not solely your responsibility. Remember, your teammates have a duty within themselves to make your team function as well. It's quite typical for students, especially first years, to have a lot of teething issues with each other. Part of the reason we force teams to be put together as we do is specifically to draw out those issues, and make people become willing to oblige one another. It doesn't always work, some people are simply incompatible with one another, and others just don't work well on teams. In certain circumstances we allow for changes where needed. However, the first and most important step is communication. You did well with hearing out everyone's concerns about the workload and your schedule, but the next step is to figure out what everyone needs from the other."

Pyrrha nodded, mind already trying to form some kind of solution. "Thanks Miss Goodwitch. You know I almost feel like you're leading my team more than me at this point."

"I'm a teacher, I'm here to help you in any way I can, but it's up to you to put my advice into action." The elevator doors opened as Glynda put a reassuring hand on Pyrrha's shoulder. "If you have any other questions, just ask."

"Thanks Miss Goodwitch, I will."

She left the teacher with something akin to a spring in her step. Things weren't perfect, but they were looking up. There was a future, a possibility for everything to work out just right. When she reached her room, she was reminded that things weren't there yet. Weiss was at her desk doing homework, though Pyrrha was fairly sure she'd already completed it and this was just extra revision. Ruby and Jaune however, were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are the others?"

Weiss shrugged her shoulders apathetically, in a move that surprised Pyrrha. Though she could be… well frankly Weiss could be a bit of a bitch, her rudeness had a particular way of manifesting itself. If she didn't like you, she would tell you up front and to your face. If she didn't care about you, then she would again dismiss you to your face. Weiss wasn't the one to ignore point blank questions so dismissively.

"They didn't tell you where they were going?"

"I didn't ask."

Pyrrha felt her teeth begin to grit, before she paused and forced herself to take a deep breath.

"Weiss, we need to talk." There was a familiar stillness that went through Weiss' body. The same sudden freezing that all teenagers had whenever they thought they were in trouble. Pyrrha pulled Weiss and her chair out from the desk, and grabbed one of her own, sitting down in front of her. "I understand that you have had some problems on this team. I want to talk to you, so you can tell me what those problems are, and we can try to fix them."

She didn't answer at first. In fact, Weiss didn't even look at her. But slowly, she began to speak, and it all spilled out. She was much kinder about her problems with Jaune than what she'd spat at him yesterday, her venom winded and shame having built inside of her instead. Her issues with Ruby were obvious, but it seemed a lot tamer compared to when Ruby had been her partner and team leader. Weiss still felt she didn't belong in Beacon but was a lot more forgiving of her failures in academics as a 15-year-old who had moved two years ahead. And then there was…

"Where do you go? You're always off having meetings with the headmaster, and then whenever you aren't you're working us to the bone! Every day I wake up tired and sore, but you keep pushing us and you don't tell us why. You say it's because of the Grimm but we have four years to train for them, not to mention we're already strong enough to deal with most of them! So… why!?"

Pyrrha could see the exhaustion in Weiss' face. There were slight bags under her eyes, hidden with carefully applied makeup, and a heaviness to her body with every movement seeming more sluggish than it should be. Pyrrha sighed, not answering for a while as she considered Weiss' words.

"I… I should apologize. I know I've been pushing you all very hard, but know it's been for your benefit. It might be hard to understand but there are dangers out there that we need to be prepared for. More than just the Grimm, there are people out there, people like the White Fang and worse who would try and kill you if given the opportunity."

Weiss sneered. "Trust me, I don't need to be reminded about what people like the White Fang will try and do. I already know their victims. Friends and families of people who work from the SDC… You know they've tried to kill me already? They failed before they ever managed to get close, but we've found proof of their attempts, their plans. They say it proudly, and I know that on my own in Vale I'll be target number one for them."

"Then trust me." She took Weiss' hands in her own. "The training we're doing, I know it's far more intense than you ever imagined, but it's what we have to do."

Weiss looked down at Pyrrha's hands holding hers. She didn't pull away, but she didn't relax either, staying silent as she considered what Pyrrha said before she finally responded. "Okay."

Pyrrha smiled, and Weiss faked a smile back. She barely registered the words as Pyrrha said she would go and find the others and have conversations with them too, and Weiss nodded and thanked her for the effort. It wasn't until the door shut and Pyrrha had left that Weiss dropped the smile into a frown.

Pyrrha was hiding something. She'd avoided answering Weiss' question about her meetings with the headmaster, and she clearly hadn't been pulling a figure out of thin air when she'd mentioned the danger people like the White Fang posed. Weiss sat for a brief moment, chewing on her thumbnail anxiously before she pulled open her scroll and began to look through the news for any latest information about White Fang activities.

/\_TIG/\_

"-and then she was all 'Oh Ruby, you have a spelling mistake on the word beautiful, you have to rewrite the entire page now' and I was just mentally going ughhhhhh." Ruby theatrically dropped her head onto the desk as Yang hummed in agreement.

Awkwardly, Yang looked over to the rest of her team who were looking at her and waiting. "Um, yeah that really sucks Ruby. She sounds mean. I play Atlas Recon Patrol, show me one card from your hand."

The others did so, but Yang didn't even register what they had as Ruby began again. "I said I'd just cross it out and put it in the fine print but she was acting like I killed her cat or something. Just going 'no no no, you can't do that, it will look messy, YoU cAn'T hAvE mEsSy HoMeWoRk.' Bleh." She swatted at the invisible Weiss with a pout. "So anyway, mind if I join in?"

"Er, sorry Ruby, it's only a four player game after all."

"She can take my spot." Blake said unenthusiastically, only to jump as Yang banged a fist onto the table.

"No! I went and bought that Menagerie faction deck just to get you to play, and you agreed. Now play your last pathetic card Blake Belladonna, and behold your defeat."

Blake rolled her eyes at the theatrical cackle that Yang let loose. "Ugh fine, I play… Faunus worker sabotage. Totally a racist card by the way."

Yang suddenly balked, doing the mental health at her remaining resource points. "But wait, no, that means that… NOOOOO!"

Her winning streak thoroughly over, she hurled a chair away in anger as a garbled mess of expletives broke from her lips. The loud "shh" from the librarian utterly failing to silence her.

"Does that mean I win?"

"Nope." Nora said cheerfully, popping the P with glee as she prepared to select her next card. "Me and Renny are still in the game."

"It's Ren and I, and you two are totally in an alliance, that doesn't seem fair."

"All fair in love and war Belladonna, now behold your doom!" Nora slammed down her Grimm Kaiju monster card as Yang tuned out from the game she'd lost at. She'd totally had a card in her hand that would have saved her, but a certain someone had been distracting her too much to notice.

"Ruby, why don't you go play with your team? I'm sure they'd love to have you."

"I told you, Weiss is stupid, Pyrrha is busy, and Jaune's been hiding ever since something happened with him and Weiss." She slumped onto her sisters' shoulder, turning her into the cushion she'd long treated her as. "And now I'm bored…"

Yang let out a sigh, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. As much as she loved her little sister, there were some times she wanted her own private space, or at least time alone with her own team. It seemed fairly clear that Ruby wasn't at the point of understanding that though.

_/\_TIG_/\_

The hunt around Beacon for Jaune took longer than she had expected. He wasn't answering any messages that Pyrrha sent him, and she couldn't find him in the usual spots. So instead she'd taken to scouring the school from top to bottom, until she'd eventually found him in the place she'd least expected.

The training room.

With how much Pyrrha had been pushing everyone, she really hadn't expected to find Jaune still working out. He was going through the motion of his sword swings, hitting a practice block again and again with his sword and shield in hand. Poorly. His aim was off and each swing was becoming more like a slap with the flat of the blade instead of a slash, and Pyrrha winced as she watched it. She'd seen him fight before already of course, but watching him self-practice really drove back home just how far back his abilities had gone.

"How's it going?" She had considered opening up with a correction of his posture, but knew Jaune would be more self-conscious if she did so. Instead, she decided on the friendlier approach. "I'm impressed to see you working so hard."

He sagged as she approached. The brief moment of interruption allowing his exhaustion to catch up with him. "It's not much. I'm still… so tired."

She smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. But for what it's worth, I'm really proud of what you've been doing."

He slumped down on the floor, letting his weapons drop from his hands and clatter on the floor. "Why?" The pause was both for him to catch his breath, and allow an opportunity for her to answer, though she only looked at him in confusion. "Why be proud? I'm terrible. I should be so much better than this. All of you run literal laps around me, I can't… I can't do what you guys do."

Pyrrha bit her cheek. This was like the first time they'd spoken about his insecurities, when he'd revealed he'd faked his transcripts and didn't belong. With the benefit of hindsight, she knew a bit more about how to handle this. She sat down by his side. Close, but not too close, as much as she missed the days when she'd been able to lean against his shoulder for comfort.

"I know that this must be hard for you, and I know someone like Weiss will tell you that you aren't good enough. But I know you are." She held up her hands as he moved to cut her off. "Not because of before, anything you've done before Beacon, but what you have done here. During the initiation, I trusted you to hold your ground and you did it. Afterwards, you've been keeping up with the same training as the rest of us. Not in results, I'll admit, but in determination." She faced him, and with great gathering of her courage she took his hands in hers. "Jaune, every time we have trained you have been there completely. You've devoted yourself, and you haven't whined about it not being far, or that you shouldn't have to. It's not about what you are now, this is a school, you're here to learn, and what matters most is where you will be at the end. I know you'll be strong, wise, and dependable. And if you want more help getting there, I'll be right by your side."

"I-…" He hesitated and started to pull away. "I shouldn't have to, I should be able to do this on my own."

"Jaune!" She grabbed him by his cheeks and turned him back to face her. "Listen to me. I didn't become who I am today by myself. I had trainers, I had other schooling. Weiss had her private tutors. Ruby had Huntsman parents, and went through training academies like I did. None of us are here because we were naturals, we're here because we put in the effort, just like you're doing now. So please, don't think for a second that you should be ashamed, or embarrassed."

He was quiet, looking back at her. No doubt he was thinking deeply about what she had told him, and arguing with himself about whether or not to listen. Pyrrha found herself unable to think similarly, as she came to several sudden realisations.

She was holding his face in her hands. His big goofy face, with those lips that had been so soft against hers. Her lips parted slightly in memory, and she felt the blood rush as she looked into his deep dark blue eyes. There was a tuft of hair dipping down that she wanted to tuck away, maybe ruffle his hair and giggle. Maybe pull him towards her, close the gap between them, taste that minty fresh breath on hers again. Would she taste his tongue this time?

Hormones overloading, she pulled away with a blush. "Um yeah, anyway so… yeah. You uh, you matter, don't doubt yourself, and come to me when you need help. I'll always be here, and we'll work together to make you stronger. So yeah, good talk." She patted him on the leg then rose up. "I'll be back in a bit, I just need to go and… get my training equipment."

She wasn't about to let this moment slip through her grasp, but she needed to take a break before she started trying to make out with the man who from his perspective, had only known her for a short while.

Not too fast girl, or you'll scare him away. Let's go somewhere between waiting for him to notice you and sexual assault of a near stranger.

She quick walked out of the room and turned the corner, letting herself slump against the wall as her legs went weak. Oh she could still smell his wonderful scent…

"Pyrrha and Jaune-y sitting in a tree." Cardin sing-songed as he stalked towards her smugly. "K-I-S-S-I-N-" Pyrrha's fist hit his nose and cut off his mocking with an embarrassed squawk.

"I really don't have any patience for you this time Cardin, so I'll say this once." She growled, grabbing him by his shirt. "Leave Jaune alone. Leave me alone. If you don't, I'll crush your balls into paste so you never forget the mistake you made."

She shoved the startled man away, Cardin tripping over his feet as she turned on the spot and stormed away. Pyrrha had no time for Cardin's playground bullying, she had a man to claim.