Chapter 1: Wounded

There was a damp, meaty thump as the Beowolf went down, dropped by a strike to the throat. It wasn't the first Grimm Jaune Arc had killed today, and it was unlikely to be the last. He whispered some choice words regarding the Intel his team had been given, before a Creep leapt at him, landing on his shield. The blonde youth hurled it backwards, stabbed the reptilian creature through its stub-nosed face and decided to repeat those choice words loud enough for his whole team to hear, because why not? "An easy mission they said! No more than thirty Grimm, forty at most! Well this is the largest forty I've ever seen!" Pyrrha nodded curtly before smoothly switching her weapon from sword to spear, killing a Grimm that Jaune in fact hadn't seen, and then going right back to sword, one of many such timely interventions made over the past hour.

"Thanks Pyrrha! That's another one I owe you!" Jaune shouted, to the huntress at his back straining to be heard over the noise of combat. "You don't owe me anything Jaune, we're teammates!" She called back, kicking a Boarbatusk in the jaw to flip it over and skewering its belly with a single neat thrust of her Xiphos. Jaune and Pyrrha were stood back-to-back in a circle of Grimm, guarding each other with their shields and hacking through the horde of beasts, Nora was in the thick of it, bludgeoning a cluster of Ursi into paste, and Ren was keeping mobile, sort of orbiting Nora and bringing down Grimm with the blades of his weapons and short bursts, no more than three rounds.

The press of monsters was starting to thin, no more than twenty or so left standing, but it had been a long hard fight, so those twenty were a tougher prospect than they had any right to be. Pyrrha shot an Ursa in the back of the head just as it was about to send Nora flying with one swipe of its enormous paws. "I'm out of ammo; that was my last round!" And Nora had run out fifteen minutes ago, Jaune thought to himself, meaning Ren was the only one of them left with any ranged options, unless someone felt like throwing rocks. "Okay guys," The blonde hunter called out. "We're nearly done here, but don't take any stupid risks! Nothing fancy, just kill them, okay?" The others simply nodded before returning to the task at hand. It turned out to be a joint venture that killed the last Grimm, as Ren spin-kicked a Creep toward Nora, who swung her hammer like a baseball bat, sending the creature flying into a tree with enough force to break every bone in its body, or at least all the really important ones.

The members of team JNPR were exhausted; Jaune was bent double, Ren and Pyrrha were both leaning against trees, and even Nora was swaying gently from side to side, her arms slack. After taking a minute to catch his breath, Jaune spoke up. "Alright, status reports; Nora?" He enquired in what he hoped was a confident and professional tone. "A-Okay!" Nora replied, enthusiasm apparently overwriting exhaustion. "Pyrrha?" He turned to look at the girl who had repeatedly saved his life, as well as teaching him how to fight. "I'm alright, just tired." She gave him a small smile, which he decided was to show that she was fine. "How about you Ren?" Ren cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders before replying. "I'm fine, but low on ammunition; only half a clip in each gun, and no spares." Suddenly, there was a rustling noise in the tree line. "Well, that should make our job a lot easier."

With that, a group of Faunus wearing the uniform of the White fang emerged, accompanied by men in suits and sunglasses that screamed "hired muscle". Team JNPR had just spent an hour, an actual honest-to-Oum hour, fighting Grimm, and now they had to fight again, right away. "Well," Jaune muttered. "I'm not too proud to admit that this caught me a little off-guard." His forced attempt at levity rang false in his ears, but it was all he could manage, and he was just desperate to keep his mind off of how bad their situation was. A quick count revealed there to be forty enemies; given the typical skill level of White Fang grunts and hired muscle, not too much of a threat under normal circumstances. Of course, these weren't normal circumstances, and with team JNPR exhausted and almost completely out of ammo, they were looking like a worrying prospect.

They kept to the formation they'd used against the Grimm; Nora right down the centre with Ren supporting her, while Jaune and Pyrrha charged in side by side, watching each other's backs. It worked well enough for a while; they might have been tired, but even Jean had these guys seriously outclassed for the main part. But of course, it got bad soon enough. The key differences between creatures of Grimm and humans and Faunus in a combat situation are as follows; humans and Faunus have Auras to protect them, meaning that they can often get up after a blow that would kill a Grimm. Humans and Faunus have weapons; while Grimm may have claws, fangs and tusks, these are rarely as sharp as a well-maintained blade, and Grimm have nothing equivalent to a gun. And finally; humans and Faunus are smart, able to plan, adapt and work together. As a result, team JNPR were being worn down fast; lucky hits from blades, bludgeons and bullets were eating through what little Aura they had left, and over-exertion was slowing their movements and weakening their strikes.

Seeing that team JNPR were weakened (at the expense of half his men), the leader of the attack joined the fray. Nora was briefly unsupported while Ren fought his way clear of a small cluster of thugs, so he targeted her, striking with the weighted chain (actually a high-tensile cable) of his kusarigama. "Nora, look out!" Ren tried to warn her, but she had her back turned to her assailant, and before she could turn, the weighted cable was wrapped around her, pinning her arms to her sides. The ram-horned Faunus grinned before pressing a button on the handle of his weapon, and Nora screamed as the smell of burnt hair and ozone filled the air. Stunned by the electric shock and dazed by the pain, Nora offered no resistance as her attacker pulled her toward him with a vicious yank of the cable, and she couldn't even raise her hands to defend herself as he struck at her; the razor-sharp kama slicing through what little remained of her Aura and opening her belly.

Jaune thought Nora's scream was loud when she'd been electrocuted, but that had been nothing compared to what he was hearing now. It barely sounded human, more like an animal in pain than anything else. And suddenly they were moving; rushing to protect their fallen teammate, and Jaune needed to think on the fly. "Nora! Try to keep pressure on the wound, that'll slow the bleeding. Pyrrha and Ren, keep them off of her." Pyrrha nodded in acknowledgement before moving into position; Ren simply dropped three hired thugs with precision shots from the pistol in his left hand while sprinting forwards. "I'll be with you as soon as I've called a medic team for Nora." With that, Jaune pulled out his Scroll and made the call.

Peter Scarlatina was leaning back in his chair when the call came through. He was tired after a long shift spent dealing, mostly, with huntsman and huntresses in training who, thanks to their Auras and inexperience, were so unused to injury that they called for a medic squad at the slightest provocation. He sighed and, taking the call, saw the worried face of a blonde-haired huntsman. "One of my teammates is hurt! We need a medic pronto!" Peter rolled his eyes and twitched his huge ears before responding. "Seriously? Kid, my team's shift ends in five minutes, I'm sure whatever flesh wound your friend has can wait for the next team to take over." At this point it should be noted that Peter Scarlatina was, by and large, a good person. He made regular donations to charity, spent altogether too much time worrying about his niece Velvet, and made a point of always buying his team the first round of drinks after work. As such, he probably didn't deserve what happened next.

The blonde huntsman narrowed his eyes before speaking. "You listen and you listen well," He started, his voice suddenly full of steel. "My teammate is bleeding out, so you're not going to wait for the next medic team on duty to show up and let them handle it. You're going to get over here just as fast as you can, and you're going to work overtime to save her, otherwise I will devote the entirety of the Arc family's resources to making you suffer for the rest of your life. Do I make myself clear?" Peter was reminded of an incident that occurred once when he went ice skating and the ice had broken under him. If he'd been skating alone he would have died for sure, and he still remembered the creaking that he'd heard just before the ice had given way under his weight. That's what the blonde kid sounded like; a warning that there was only a thin, fragile layer separating him from freezing cold death, and that layer wasn't going to last long. "Okay! One medic team coming up! Based on your coordinates, the ETA is fifteen minutes, but we'll be there in twelve!" Peter's voice had taken on the slightly manic tone of someone desperate to be as helpful as possible for fear of what might happen if they were unhelpful. "Okay boys, get your butts onto the airship, we're moving out!" This was met by a chorus of groans from the rest of Peter's team. "Aw, quit whining, there's a life at stake here!" And it might just be mine, he thought.

Author's notes: I know what you're thinking. You must think I'm a bastard, wounding Nora in the first chapter. But I promise you, it will serve a purpose. This was the best option available to me.