"Are you absolutely sure?"
Professor Peach had been handed the engraved chip and once she saw the engraved "M" on the front, it was like she saw a ghost. "Positive, I watched Mr Moss examine the broken down tower and he picked it out of the still intact chip from the scrap." She explained as she turned the extracted software in her hand.
"But that's impossible…After what happened, the last we heard of him was years ago." Glynda chimed in as she was on speakerphone alongside Ironwood in Ozpin's office.
"I know…I was the one who combed through the rubble of that monster factory that he made, several hours and non stop searching but I thought that Dr Merlot was crushed in the rubble…" Peach detailed as she recalled the horror that was the mad scientist's ambitions of manipulating Grimm on a genetic level. "If I may be completely honest; I'd have hoped to have been right."
Ozpin listened to the trill of the line cutting and turned to face the window overlooking the city with a face that held an equal amount of concern and a odd sense of tiredness as he then heard the familiar sound of his mug making contact with his glass desk. "Thank you, Glynda."
"So…If he is back then we need to pull back Team JNPR before Merlot finds out what Mr Moss is capable of." Glynda suggested as she grabbed her tablet; "At the very least we need to make James aware so we can all be on the same page."
Ozpin mulled it over but then shook his head; "Let them stay the course…We need to know more."
"But…Professor, if anything should happen then we need to be cautious, Merlot was a dangerous man and his beliefs regarding the Grimm prove that…If he is indeed still alive or his work is still being used then-"
"Then we need to act fast!" Ironwood interjected as he finally spoke up; "Dr. Merlot was considered a genius and the fact that his fixation on the Grimm and their supposed evolution is not just a horrific idea…But it is incredibly dangerous if he somehow makes a breakthrough." The general explained as he knew that Grimm alone were a threat but with one that had Merlot's genius to motivate it was too reprehensible to imagine. "You need to call upon my men and call those children back…Moss especially!"
"General, there is much of this situation that we still do not understand and simply mobilising hundreds of troops into a territory that is or was Merlot's territory is more likely to cause trouble than it will fix." Ozpin pointed out as he brought up an image of the island that Merlot had reportedly conducted his research on. "With his research in Grimm evolution and his dabblings in robotics plus AI…It's too much to just rely on an offensive."
"So you put these children and a teacher at risk just to satisfy your curiosity?" Ironwood argued the point back but relented when he remembered something that Goodwitch told him. "But…Vale is your territory nonetheless…I can offer my soldiers but truthfully I cannot condone these decisions."
"I am not asking you to blindly follow my orders to the letter, James…" Ozpin said to reassure him; "All I ask is that you demonstrate trust in me and in Team JNPR plus Professor Peach, they've proved themselves capable and this can also show you how well that Jason can control himself and his abilities enough to earn YOUR trust."
Ironwood nodded as he hesitatingly decided to compromise on that; "Let's get communications with them set up…If they are going to Merlot's Island then we need to be sure they have all the information that they can require…Does Peach have a communicator that can reach that kind of distance?"
Ozpin turned his screen to show Jason in his Patch form; "If Thumbelina has indeed given them some rudimentary details, I can assume that Mr. Moss can use his Technomorph form to try boosting the signal."
Peach had indeed filled Team JNPR in when the suspicions were raised…Or rather, Jason had asked about Merlot when he overheard Peach talking out loud and offered to continue his help once the Grimm stopped attacking in the forest. "So when Mountain Glenn suffered it's accident, Dr Merlot and his research was supposed to disappear with it's main facility when the whole thing came down."
The four nodded as they set up camp on the shoreside of Merlot's Island once the sun had gone down; Peach advised that they needed to be on the same page with what could happen and even more so when Merlot started showing his tracks.
"So...You think that this believed to be dead scientist is somewhere on this island trying to attack Vale?" Ren asked curiously as he helped to set up a campfire while Pyrrha made sure a perimeter was set up.
"It's a theory at best and one that I hope is wrong." Peach admitted as she built together a tent that she pulled from her bag. "Like what we said before; This is a surveillance mission first and a reconnaissance mission second, what we found was several pieces of modified tech from a company that is long since dead and lingering around Vale's security systems…If someone IS trying to get a back door into the City's network or worse: Trying to break in to Beacon's archives…."
"That could lead to anything happening…" Pyrrha mentioned as she walked over to where the group were and sat by the fire. "You've said that Dr. Merlot specialised in genetics and AI…Why would he need an island all on it's own?"
"Grimm accumulate when Negativity starts budding enough for them to take interest…For someone to be so obsessed with Grimm must harbour negativity strong enough to draw them in…My guess is that he used that to bring them to this island for privacy." Jason mused out loud. "Remember when Nora found those cages back in the Forest? Those weren't meant for regular animals to be caught and normal Grimm wouldn't last long in cages or in containment."
"Exactly…Which means with an island for them to roam that no one would go looking for, it is practically invisible unless you know exactly where it is." Ren followed on as he was sat with Nora.
"That's right…For right now, we need to get some food and make sure we are ready for what could be on this island…If there is indeed anything here besides Grimm." Peach explained as she looked to Pyrrha and Nora; "Do either of you have food for tonight?"
Both girls were silent as Nora let out a nervous giggle which in turn earned an exasperated look from Ren.
"I got this covered." Jason remarked as he got up; "It shouldn't be too hard to get something at this time." He said confidently as he walked over to the beach before bathing himself in a green light.
What emerged on the shoreline was a creature that stood roughly as Jason was; his body was bare except for a loincloth that had the orange mark from his watch positioned on his waist like a belt, his skin was a pale grey. He had webbed digits; four on his hands and two on his feet, the former of which hosted sharp yellow claws. He sported gills going down his neck and torso, as well as patches of scales all over his body, mainly on his arms and atop his neck were short, orange fins. The stem of the angler sprouting from his head appeared the same color as his webbing but had an orange glow to it, this was a Piscciss Volann or as Jason and Ozpin liked to refer to him; Angler.
"I…Does he have an entire animal kingdom in his Semblance or does he make them up as he goes along?" Peach asked with a mixed reaction on her face; As a professor from Beacon, she was filled in on Jason's Semblance by Ozpin and was warned when it came to certain ones.
"Honestly, in our experience; It's better to just roll with it." Nora shrugged like she wasn't the one who got the most excited when Jason found a new form to take. "That guy's a new one though…"
Ren nodded along since he and the others were told about the ten forms that Jason had in his wheelhouse; "Angler is a very capable form but it is also very specific."
Pyrrha then went to prepare some skewering sticks since she could guess what Jason had planned. "Angler is very powerful in the water and he had some really strong jaws but he is also limited on dry land."
Nora then laughed a little to herself; "Not to mention the fact that he can't use it around Blake without her drooling~" she whispered to Ren and looked very proud of her joke.
Before Peach could question the logic, Angler emerged from the water with handfuls of fish and dropped them nearby before heading through to the beach; "I'll try and check the surrounding shore so we don't get surprised." He said with a deep yet bubbly voice before heading back out.
Once Peach heard him vanish under the water, her attention changed to the trio sat around the fire and she had her curiosity about the team. "Now then…While we wait, I'd like to go around you three and quiz you about something."
The three nodded but Nora was the one to ask the first question; "Okay, but shouldn't we wait for Jason to get back so we can all answer?"
Peach shook her head. "No, this is actually a question that has been nagging at me since I heard about your team…You used to have another Team Leader; Jaune Arc, I believe his name was? I have to ask…How is it that you can work alongside someone who replaced him after so long…Do you not resent him for taking your friend's place?"
There it was…The question that had been on everyone's mind but never had the tact or the nerve to ask without causing problems.
Nora was squirming in her seat before looking to Peach; "Why would I hate the guy? He's been a friend to us just like Jaune has, I don't see why he can't be a leader too but to say that I resent him especially after what happened leading to Jaune's expulsion would make me a bad friend…"
Ren was a little more composed but even he had a distinct tinge of guilt on his face especially when he considered the whole picture. "Jason acted on his own when he first got to Beacon…From what we have been taught in training: Acting as a team is paramount, Jaune could have been a good leader and Jason did try to help him back on that path when Cardin was antagonising him…Jason himself said that he didn't feel right jumping in to lead and that Pyrrha should have been the one to take over."
"So you're saying that he doesn't fit the role as a leader?" Peach asked him, curious about how Ren came to his conclusion.
"He does…and I'll admit that Jaune should have been given another chance…But I can't resent Jason after his efforts to help us when Jaune was with us." Ren reiterated, he knew that Jason was by no means a replacement for Jaune as a leader or a friend, he also couldn't help feel his respect for the blonde shift a little when he kept hanging out with Cardin…Especially after doing so resulted in Jason getting his arm broken.
Peach nodded; "They seem reasonable enough to recognise their feelings and not get upset about me questioning them." She thought as she then looked to Pyrrha who was oddly quiet for someone who was normally the most supportive.
"I…I should probably go see if Jason's back with the fish." Pyrrha said with an oddly hurried tone as she got up and quickly left to go towards the beach.
Ren and Nora both looked at each other with confusion and with some apprehension at the normally self assured Pyrrha, though the hammer wielder was equally as quick to go question it but was stopped by Peach.
"Let her, I think she still might need to think about her answer…But I am sorry to bring that question to you out of the blue, it does seem like you guys work well as a group in any case." Peach said but then apologised as she started to help make up the camp.
Pyrrha sat on the shoreline and watched the waves rolling in as she contemplated her thoughts; She liked Jason, that much was a given but the fact that they were still trying to get used to changing leaders after Jaune got expelled. "Nora and Ren don't seem to mind it so much but…I do kind of wish that Jaune was still here, he could've been able to do something good if I could've been with him f-" She stopped mid thought as she realised that this now brought up a rather confusing conundrum; Her crush on Jaune that she developed in the beginning of their time at school still seemed to linger in the lower parts of her heart, though it seemed to also make her feelings about Jason confusing at the same time.
A splash from the water threw her out of her tangent as something came out of the water; Angler was grunting as he dragged what looked like a couple of sharks out of the water before bathing himself in a green light to turn back into Jason. "Pyrrha? What are you doing out here? I thought you were back at the camp."
Pyrrha felt herself grow even more nervous considering she was wavering between considering Jason a very dear friend or another crush. "NOTHING!" She squeaked but then steadied herself as she focused on the fact that Jason just caught sharks. "I mean…I needed a little air and to think about something Professor Peach talked about." She explained a little though with a little white lie mixed in, she didn't quite want to go into details about her inner debate with the man who was part of it.
"Yeah? What about exactly?" Jason asked with a hint of worry, he wasn't blind to Pyrrha's moment of shock but he also knew that whatever Peach brought them along here for was out of the ordinary.
"It's…" Pyrrha started but then hesitated, she knew that this was a hard topic since Jason had been there when Jaune got expelled but her thoughts also told her to make sure that this was straightened out. "It's about Jaune…And when he got expelled…"
Jason felt his expression slacken as he realised what kind of talk this was; "Oh…Right…Well, what about it?" He asked her as he went to go sit down opposite her.
"I've been thinking…Well, I have been thinking a lot about things ever since Jaune got expelled." Pyrrha decided that the best thing for the moment was to be honest with him, leader or not. "I know that Ozpin let you join us...But did you want to be a part of the team together if he was still around or did you only say yes to being a leader if Jaune wasn't here."
Jason thought on it and felt that same guilt from watching Jaune getting expelled and even now it still weighed on him. "Pyrrha…After what happened in the forest; I tried to explain everything that I could about the situation, they understood about Cardin's bullying and they at least factored that in but Professor Ozpin couldn't let the transcript fabrication part slide." He explained as he glanced to the waves coming in and out.
"I suppose that's true…But if they had let him stay, we could've helped him try to improve." Pyrrha admitted, she did have her sour grapes with Jaune after he basically let himself get treated like a doormat but at the same time, she knew that he had some potential in there since he was still a Beacon student for those weeks.
Jason nodded; "I know I can't exactly match up to Jaune and I'm not asking for you to follow me blindly as a leader…That's why I'm gonna do everything I can to help make sure that you can at least trust me to do what I can to keep us on the right track." He said with certainty and then stood up; "Whether it takes us to our next year, graduation or beyond that…I'm gonna try to be the best leader I can be."
Unbeknownst to both Pyrrha and Jason; A small black bird was watching them from the treeline, it looked fairly unremarkable at a basic glance but it's unblinking red eye gave away it's true purpose.
"Fascinating, a child who can trigger an instant metamorphosis from a sea based creature to human form with no side effects…I should keep monitoring, he could be useful."