Walking alone in the falling snow, it was getting pretty chilly and if not for the reflection of the light upon the snow, fairly dark.
Reaching her prefab garrison that served as the base for the Vale Rangers 3rd Company.. Technically, in reality only half a Platoon was on station, with the rest scattered about on patrol or finishing up that escort mission. With its steel buildings and concrete ramparts it was nonetheless home to Captain Garnet, whom was greeted with an unusual sight..
Most of her soldiers who were still on base watching her officer quarters in hushed whispers or bundled next to fireplaces, short of the two on gate duty... Why in the Devil were they all out here like a bunch of nosey old women and not in the barracks keeping warm and eating meals?
"Report." Juniper says plainly as a Corporal shouts alerting the rest, snapping to attention, with the rest following suit.
"Ma'am! Err… Two… Well one officer, male, young looking from the Security Division and a… I think a Civilian, older woman came here for… Well you... We are trying to get their car here now… They got stuck in a snow drift, the tires aren't made for this weather." The man says smartly, still holding his salute. Suppressing a smile it was funny that people from Atlas would be unprepared for snow, the car had to have came from Vale.
"At ease.. Anything odd about our visitors?" Half worried about the Security man, the Civilian was another thing… More so as the Corporal seemed hesitant at calling her that.
"... No Ma'am, well..the woman is uniformed but I seen no obvious rank..she spoke with authority and has been demanding blankets or warmers from us. Some of us have been joking that she's part Lizard."
"I see… So why are they in the officer barracks and not the Mess?"
"They insisted ma'am… And none of us… Well… The Security Division..." Leaving the rest unsaid, it was clear they didn't want to run afoul of the man, shaking her head with a slow sigh, Juniper heads for her Officer Quarters, hopefully the pair had sense enough to stay in her office and not make themselves at home.. Reaching for the handle she enters..
"...While everything had been under control, I definitely did not expect such dire weather when we reached Vacuo… Still, Medusa… Aren't you being… Overzealous?" A man dressed in a fine white suit stated as he stared, from a couch at the corner of the room, toward a mountain of blankets, and numerous heaters pointed at the Captain's Desk.
"... Freeze… to death. I don't mind." A woman's voice replied with a slight muffle. With only her eyes peeking out from beneath the mound of cloth, the obsidian orbs soon disappeared into the warm bellows below. Offering no solace for anyone caught out in the "cold".
With a sigh, the well-dressed figure turns to the newcomer with a playful smile and a wink.
"See what I have to deal with at times? Hope you never got to do anything similar." With that, a sheepish laugh leaves his mouth as he gets up from his seat and walks towards the Captain, extending his hand in the meantime and tipping his hat in a greeting.
"Name's Nick Kope, Inspectorate Bureau. Forgive Medusa for her little antics," The man stated, briefly glancing at the pile of textiles on top of the desk.
"...But we would like to speak with you, Captain. It will be brief." His hand still extended, he smiled thinly. Clearly, his intentions were to analyze her response. Most low-ranks would be scared of his position, given his lack of fear when flaunting it about, but he seemed to think of it as honesty more so than pride.
Gazing at the pair, it seemed the Corporal wasn't joking, the woman seemed to really hate the cold.. How in the world did she ever survive in Atlas? Worried about the clear fire risk this was, the male was quick to identify and welcome her, though brief.
"Well, if you were here to arrest me, or to shoot me you already would have." Smiling at him with a bit of a whimsical look to her face, the Captain takes a seat behind her desk, staring at the pair before reaching to move one of the heaters aside.
"Well.. What can I do for the two of you? I assume you are here for more than setting my office on fire, Captain Juniper Garnet, Third Company Vale Rangers at your service."
Taking less note of just whom's desk she was squating on, the mound of blankets concerned itself more with the free flow of warmth circulating the room. So as the Captain made to move one of her heaters, a sharp hiss escaped the makeshift Igloo before being followed by a set of venomous fangs, attached to a thin silver snake, that leapt out toward her hands.
Before it could connect, a sharp movement cut off it's trajectory, severing the head of the snake before it reached its intended target.
"Now, now… Let's not get hasty, shall we… " Nick said as he moved closer to Juniper, pulling the heater back to it's original position, briefly eyeing up the cotton dome with a scowl.
Stepping closer to the Captain once more, Nick turned down his blade and stabbed what remained of the viper's head. Extending his hand once again, he spoke.
"We are not here to cause trouble. Make our time brief… We'll make yours too… Captain."
A Hiss… what in the dev- Leaning back as the Viper came up, Juniper was leaning back at once, bringing her large green box up to waist level, but then stopping as the Security man suddenly jumped in the way, or rather, struck at once, killing the beast. Offering his hand again, Juniper didn't like this, not one bit, that woman was giving her the same feeling as those two men earlier… Plus where in the hell did that snake come from.. Though the man seemed civil enough, more so than most in his position, eying him briefly and lowering the box, she accepts his hand this time.
"Fair enough... Though I have to say I'm the wrong person to call if you need animal control services." Leaving the heater where it was this time she wasn't about to attempt taking on the blanket fort with anything short of a flamethrower in hand.
"So… Nick wasn't it, do you have a rank I should call you by? And, your friend is? So, what is it I can do for the two of you?"
With a nod, Nick shook her hand and walked towards the desk and pulled a chair to its side, given the heap of fabric that would stand between the two, were they to sit across from one another.
"Technically speaking, Captain, I'm just an Officer. The Bureau doesn't like to classify their agents. Tends to mess things up when on the field." A thin smile crossed his face as he spoke.
"...And as I said… Do not mind my friend. Medusa is… A bit of a shut-in. Just leave her as she is and she will be satisfied… Until we have to leave." Saying the last part a bit louder, as if to remind his partner that they were going to have to leave, he proceeded by faking a cough.
"I'll get straight to the case, Captain Garnet. Me and my partner here--" Nick said as he tapped the cavern the woman hid in almost comically.
"--have been assigned with the hunting of some… Very, very specific targets. Would you have found anyone…" Trailing off, Nick moved his hands to the insides of his coat, apparently wanting to pull something from within it…
Pulling from within it two pictures, he showed it to the Captain, this time the smile gone from his expressions.
"...That looked anything like this?" Both were pictures of young boys, apparently in their teens, who looked eerily similar to the two Huntsmen Juniper had met earlier this evening.
Glancing at the picture the woman pauses a bit, while taking in all the rest they said in regards to the mission or rankings as it were. On the one hand she had a bad feeling about lying to the pair, but on the other she couldn't just hand over the Huntsmen, she had her own duties to do out here, so a Truth from a point of view would have to do.
"Hmm..Very well Agent. There weren't any men like this in the Convoy we met earlier, there was evidence of a camp nearby but it's occupants left in a hurry, there was some sign the inhabitants were armed, but I didn't have the manpower to investigate further. Either way it's unwise to go out in this falling snow in the dead of night, I suspected Bandits, in fact that is very likely, two men alone out here would be dead.. Unless they are very skilled..I can pass out this to my Patrols however, was there anything else you wanted?"
"Who said… They're… alone?" The black eyes from before resurfaced and turned to focus on the Captain intently. With a deadpan expression, Medusa gave a cold, calculating stare as she shifted interest to the conversation instead of the presence of warmth.
With a couple clicks of his tongue, Nick leaned back on the chair he was sitting on. Pulling open his jacket once again and placing the photos back inside it, he pulled his hat down a little while smirking slightly.
"Back down, Medusa. There's no need to harass the Captain… Now is there?" A quiet hiss in response saw Medusa's head recoiling once more. For a moment, he locked eyes with Juniper before sighing.
"I thank you for your cooperation, Captain Garnet. Your information is sure to be invaluable to us in our search." With those words, he leaned forward slightly once more.
"Before we go, however, I'd like to inform you that these two targets we are seeking are extremely dangerous and should be arrested… Or terminated, at sight. If you find one of them, please inform the Inspectorate Bureau or any Security Division officer nearby. You wouldn't risk your position for a couple of wanted criminals, right?" Nick's smile was once again thin, but this time there was a tinge of suspicion attached to it. Clearly, this wasn't the first dance he was in. Even if the woman was telling the truth, nothing warranted he believed her blindly.
Listening to the pair, her eyes arch slightly, mostly in response to Medusa, though the other man provoked some of her ire, taking a seat at her own desk and narrowing her eyes with the same ever pleasant smile she chuckles softly.
"Wait, you two are going to search? Have you ever been out in these woods before? I know we..soldiers are incompetent for such jobs in the Security Bureau's eyes, but well one of you is hiding in a blanket and the other is in pure white. I'll give you it's useful now, but I don't want you two getting in the way of my job. Last thing I want is having to drag your car out of the damn trees."
Sighing a bit and rubbing her nasal passages with her free right hand, the woman shakes her head a bit.
"What did these two men do? If they are terrorist or Criminals we'll do my utmost to capture them. If they happened to piss off some Noble in Atlas, well, pardon me saying, but Atlas is far away and I have thousands of Grimm out in those damn woods and 120 men spread out over fifty miles of Front... I can provide some help to your search and Thermal clothing for your..snake charmer at the least. But you have to understand, out here in the wilds, we don't Jump just as we are told, mostly as we get little in terms of manpower and replacements, and I don't want Atlas breathing down my neck if one of you gets frozen to death and the other gets shot by a bandit as he stood out like a sore thumb."
Speaking directly and without the decorum common to the City, true to her Rural roots, the Captain was clearly not happy with the situation and was worried about consequences should the pair not report back in to Atlas.
"At the least I don't like it if it's two and two, unless you have reason to believe these two men are with others... Either way I must ask you both remain till morning when the snow stops, I won't risk my men looking for you in the night, the Grimm are always out there. More so at night, subzero temperatures are slated by the forecast, you'll freeze before you reach the first marker."
Nick, for a moment, laughs off as if bemused by the girl being so upfront and combative of his words.
"Well, I've had my suspicions, but you definitely wouldn't be this defensive if what you told me was truth. Let's cut formalities, Juniper." With that, the man took off his hat and placed it atop the desk, signaling that from now on, the conversation wasn't going to involve his own work. His long, tied hair swaying back, he began to speak again. He seemed far more laid back given the woman's words, almost as if he was more used to the honesty she produced than to the whole act he was doing a while back.
"You might've heard of it, Captain, but these two are escaped subjects of Project Grimm. While telling you the specifics of the Project would get my head on a pike in a few days, what I can tell you is that most subjects were extremely unstable and tended to be violent and very dangerous. My mission is to locate and capture them."
With that, he stood up from his chair and walked towards the tiny hole where Medusa hid.
"Medusa here, has the same objective. She's just a little more pious of it. Regardless, we mean them no harm if they come with us peacefully. If they react violently, however… I'll be forced to terminate them."
With that, he walked back to the desk and collected his hat.
"Ranks off, Captain… Trust me, we can deal with bandits, Grimm, these two or anything else these woods can throw at us. I would, however, be glad to have a guide and my jeep off the dirt by tomorrow morning… If possible. The sooner you get me off of this garrison, Captain, the sooner the Security Division gets off your unit's back. Besides… I can turn a blind eye to most things going here, except those two." With that, he pulled his hat back and placed it atop his head once gain.
"And I wouldn't mind travelling through the snow… Sadly, as you can see, my partner would likely stay if I proposed such an outlandish idea… Meaning regarding your offer to stay, my hands are tied. I do not mind my accommodations, but arrange a… Hot room for Medusa… She tends to get moody in the cold."
"... Freeze… to death. I'm staying here." Repeating her words as before, the mention of subzero temperatures was more than enough to convince the cold blooded officer to stay put for the night and resume their search in the morning. Rustling her mound of covers, she inched off the Captain's desk yet remained firmly near the floor. Appearing to have a hunch back as she took the Inspectors side, her pale face and hair peeked out to be lead to their quarters.
Grunting, Juniper still didn't like this, but these two were allied forces, her concern with the frost and Grimm was genuine, but the mention of this project Grimm didn't sit well with her and explained much about them.. And her. Looking pointedly at the desk sleeper, Juniper let's out a yell;
"Corporal Marron! Get in here!"
Running in and snapping a smart salute, the man comically rubs his hands together around the room of heaters, seemingly thankful for the warmth and getting a head shake and sigh in return.
"Lead our guests..let's see, put our agent in Lieutenant Spruce's Room, and take our poor freezing friend here to the Power generator room, the Engineering Barracks should have space, put her somewhere private, that room is always fairly hot..and some ear plugs, arrange for deep cold gear for her as well."
"Also Agent Kope, I'll be assigning our best tracker and fighter to this. Judging by the Camp I have some idea on where they were going, either deeper into the interorier or out to Vac, too many patrols for Vale and we have some abandoned positions out that way. Well I'll be seeing you both off in the morning."
What she hadn't bother to add in was the best they had here was her, she intended to find those two, and see to it they were captured alive, or at least had their side of the story, though she hoped they would escape, well depending on how much that agents story held; To Protect the Citizens of Remnant against all threats... Either way something very wrong was going on here.. Nothing good could come of anything with the word Grimm in it, unless proceaded by Anti.
"Don't worry Agents, this isn't a problem for me..no not at all, we'll have breakfast up in the morning at daybreak and head out at once."
