Once again, sorry for getting this chapter a little later than I normally do. As usual, life had gotten a little busy for me in a few ways. That, and once more, writing the most recent chapter for my original novel took a fair bit of time to do due to mild writer's block.

That, and figuring out how best to handle the continuing aftermath of the previous chapter was kind of gnawing at me. I knew how to start it and what I generally wanted to do next, but for once, the small details eluded me until just a while ago.

But I believe I've got it all figured out now.

Now then, let's start!

P.S. As you may have noticed, finally put up a cover for this fic! Art is done by Rokuji aka At6zi as a congrats for Silverio Trinity Beyond the Horizon being released. He was one of the artists who worked on it and posts regularly on Twitter and it all gets uploaded to google. Yeah, basically, the guy in the cover is how Jaune looks in this fic, just with the clothes mentioned in chapter 1.

Chapter 10

Two days go by since the dock incident. During these past two days, Jaune has healed up quite nicely, much to the amazement of the doctors when professor Goodwitch, upon having seen the state he was in that night, had persuaded the medics to take him to Vale's closest hospital.

Of course, his friends had been amazed by his healing ability as well as had the professor and headmaster when he, Ruby, and Blake had been called up to his office immediately upon returning to Beacon to speak with him.

That said, though today was the start of classes for this week, Jaune had been quietly ordered by the headmaster and professor Goodwitch to take the day off and rest up, preferably in bed much to his surprise.

He'd actually wanted to protest this by going to class anyways, but when he'd first returned to Beacon that other night, his own team had been shocked and even horrified over the events at the dock and his own state and he'd pretty much been confined to their room by them for almost the entirety of these past two days.

And earlier, when he'd tried to get up and change into his school uniform, his partner had practically held him down in bed and nearly yelled at him to stay down, rest up and that she'll take care of taking any notes for classes for him. He'd tried pleading with Nora and Ren for some moral support here, but they'd taken Pyrrha's side and as a result of being outvoted despite being the leader, here he now was, all on his lonesome.

Lying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling, he sighed in mild befuddlement over everyone's fussing. Really now, his injuries hadn't been that bad. Again, he really has taken worse, though he hadn't told them that.

That said, he'd ultimately complied because if nothing else, doing so would alleviate his friends' concerns. However, this came at the price of boredom.

Having been advised against doing anything even remotely strenuous, there really wasn't much he could do beyond reading, but he's done plenty of that since the incident anyways. Refreshing the news page on his scroll would only get so far after a while.

He was tempted just to get up and train, but even as broken as he was psychologically, even he knew when it was sometimes better to rest than to continue pushing himself, though this was strictly only in regards to training – battling 'evil' was another matter entirely.

But again, simply lying here on his back wasn't exactly appealing. Indeed, he was going stir-crazy. Having always been on the move or otherwise doing something during his time traveling out in the frontier, staying generally still for so long was just crazy.

Sighing quietly, he got up and changed into his casual clothes as well as gathered his blades after giving them a quick inspection to make sure they were in good form.

Surely, going for a little stroll in Vale wouldn't hurt, yes? It wasn't as if he was going to try actively hunting down the White Fang or Roman or any criminal in general… though if he did see some criminal activity going on, well, ignoring it certainly wouldn't be something he could do.

Huffing at his own slight deviousness there, Jaune actually cracked a slight smile. But this only lasted for a second before his usual stern countenance took place.

A thought just occurred to him – perhaps he could stop by the docks and give it a quick look again, if only to see if there were any clues he could work with here.

If nothing else, he could do his part in trying to preemptively stop any future Dust thefts by locating where Roman and his crew may have gone to.

With this goal now firmly in mind, Jaune wrote a small note and placed it on the room's sole nightstand before leaving.

Though it was barely halfway through the first class of the day, a time where most students were normally on the verge of falling back asleep, Blake was wide awake and alert as one could be.

The past few days have really changed her outlook on things.

First, there'd been the soul-crushing truth of the White Fang not only doing the recent Dust thefts but also working with scum like Torchwick of all people too.

Then there'd been the entire battle at the docks, where things had swiftly spiraled out of control in a number of ways. It was amazing no one had died by the end of it all.

After that, there'd been her quick reconciliation with Ruby and then her even quicker chat with Jaune, which had helped lighten the dark mood the White Fang's new activities had put here in at the time.

After having been thoroughly lectured by professor Goodwitch for all the trouble that she's caused, albeit inadvertently in some respects, she'd then had a private talk with both Weiss and Yang upon returning to Beacon that had ultimately ended with them reconciling too.

All things considered, Blake was feeling much better than she ever had before.

And as if to physically indicate this, her cat ears – her uncovered Faunus traits – twitched a bit for all to see.

Due to having lost her bow in all the chaos of that night and thanks to her talks with Jaune and her friends, Blake had opted to not get a replacement bow and braved showing her Faunus traits in public.

And much to her pleasant surprise, people had barely batted an eye. Hell, not even Cardin and his team had commented on it!

Of course, that isn't to say her cat ears have gone unnoticed, it's just that a lot more students than she'd thought couldn't care less. Only a few have even spoken of her sudden reveal, but never in any nasty tones.

That wasn't to say Beacon was completely devoid of racists and other unsavory sorts, but evidently the number wasn't anywhere near as high as her paranoid self had once thought.

It had all been quite humbling and she only felt like even more of a fool for how she's been acting.

However, as good as her mood currently was, that didn't mean all was hunky-dory in her personal world now.

Only barely paying enough attention to class to avoid being called out, Blake silently mulled over the revelations the dock incident had forced upon her.

The White Fang had once again declined, now stooping to the level of Dust theft of all things. And with Torchwick at the helm too.

As much as it hurt her current good mood to even dwell on this, she couldn't help but do so. For it meant something was seriously wrong here.

Ever since the White Fang had radicalized, the group as a whole had held little to no fondness for its human members and had wasted no time kicking them out of the organization. While it would be wrong to say the entire organization hated humans, it also wouldn't be wrong to say they held no real love for humanity.

Put another way, the White Fang was now a group that wouldn't dare collaborate with any humans if it could be avoided, no matter how many sympathizers there may be for their cause in general.

That the White Fang, even if it was just a single cell or two, would not only work with someone like Torchwick but even seemingly put him in charge of an entire group was an obvious indicator that whatever their current plans were weren't something they could achieve by their lonesome.

This brought to mind some questions – for one thing, just what exactly were the White Fang's plans? Why all the Dust? And why work with a thief like Torchwick?

These were but three of several questions Blake now had floating around in her mind, but they were easily the most important ones too.

…Well, whatever the White Fang's reason was for all this, it definitely couldn't be good, especially not when Torchwick was with them now.

There wasn't a doubt in her mind about that – it wouldn't surprise her one bit if right now, somewhere, that bowel hat wearing scum was plotting his next heist while recuperating right now.

This thought was enough to get Blake to narrow her eyes now, even tense up a bit.

She had no idea when the next Dust heist would be, assuming that's what they decide to go for again. But whatever the White Fang's and Torchwick's plans were, she vowed silently to stop them with all she had.

And she wouldn't be alone now either.

Sparing a glance to her teammates – her friends – all around her, Blake's expression immediately softened and she even smiled a little.

She wasn't alone anymore. She had her team and she also had team JNPR as well… especially Jaune.

But more than that… it's been quite some time since she's ever spoken with Tukson, a former White Fang member much like herself who'd helped her get a fresh start here in Vale.

Perhaps later today or tomorrow, she'll pay him a visit.

Yep, it's official, Roman decided, this wasn't the time to be plotting his next move.

For one thing, he was still hurting like a bitch despite it having been two days already. For another, well, his mood was more than a little shitty anyways, which made it hard to really think of anything else to do.

As things currently were, they'd all have no choice but to lie low for a while, at least until the heat dies off a bit.

All that chaos at the docks had drawn attention from the media since, you know, it wasn't exactly every day the docks suddenly go up in smokes and flames, with bullheads crashing left and right and White Fang mooks being apprehended.

It was all over the damn news and since the stars of the show – those damned superpowered teens – weren't being mentioned on it – probably because Beacon was doing what it could to keep them out of the spotlight – that meant the news anchors didn't really have much else to do other than to keep talking about the White Fang and him and what their actions could possibly mean.

Roman huffed as he sat in his chair, trying not to move too much. Though he's been tended to by one of the damned animals that actually knew how to properly do first aid upon getting back to base, the cut he took to the torso was practically on fire still. Even with his restored aura and medication he'd gotten from a few back-alley doctors that knew their shit, he had to avoid twisting around too much to avoid the pain flaring up like a damned firework.

And then there was his knee.

The White Fang, useless as they usually are, didn't exactly have a proper doctor to look at and treat the wound, which had prompted him to pay a dirty surgeon under the table to swing by and see what he can do for his knee.

The wound had thankfully been a through and through one, but the damage had been done. Even with proper medical aid and his aura, his knee may not make a full recovery. According to the surgeon, who'd dealt with aura users before, the scary blond guy that had thrown his sword at him had apparently channeled his aura into the blade when he'd tossed it. Roman hadn't understood all the jargon the surgeon used nor cared to learn it, but basically the blond teen's aura had only fueled the sword's sharpness and other traits, making the damage that much worse somehow.

If it wasn't for that, the surgeon had commented, his knee would have had a far better chance of making a full recovery, but instead he may very well be walking with a limp the rest of his damned life now.

Combined with his beloved cane being ruined and having to pay a fair price for a replacement to be made ASAP, it was easy for anyone to see why Roman wasn't exactly in a sunshine and rainbows mood.

"Great, just freakin' great!" he hissed as he tried to get out of the chair.

He really, really wanted a cigar right now, but he'd also run out of those too, so he had no choice but to settle for pacing around the damned room instead. It was hell on the knee, but he refused to be sitting on his ass any longer. He's done plenty of that the past two days, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, as one of those pathetic animals entered his room, Roman knew just by the expression on the masked woman's face that his day was about to get even worse.

"She's here," the Faunus muttered quietly before exiting the room, making sure not to bump her antlers against the wall on her way out.

Roman sighed. "Lovely."

Looks like his boss had finally deigned it fit to pay him a visit after all this time having a hands-off approach. No doubt to reprimand him for failing.

It's times like this where he wished Neo was with him for all this crap, but unfortunately just because he was now unwillingly working for this woman didn't mean all of his previous little 'projects' could be left completely alone. That meant having Neo constantly run little errands for those matters while he got stuck having to work with the White Fang to steal all this stupid Dust.

Ah well, at least his boss was hot. Not much of a silver lining given how much of a slave-driver she is and all that, but he's got to take his victories where he can nowadays.

Limping out of his makeshift room and to the main one where he did all the planning and discussion (i.e. explaining to those stupid animals), he did little to suppress his frown upon seeing his boss once more.

Cinder Fall. A leggy, enigmatic beauty of a woman in a red dress, and dangerous as all hell.

And all it took for her to immediately remind him of that last point was merely to frown in his direction as she turned to face him, her eyes blazing as if they were on fire.

"Roman," spoke Cinder in a low and even husky voice. It was enough to make him shiver a little. For no matter how good she sounded, there was no denying the sheer disappointment in her tone.

Still, he sucked it up as best as he could and managed a little grin. "Cinder. Been a while. Would've rolled out the welcome carpet for you, if you'd given me a heads up."

"Heh, as if you'd ever own something that classy," snarked someone else in the room.

The voice, all too familiar to Roman, made him grimace.

Oh joy, she'd brought the kiddies along too.

"Surprised you even know of the word 'classy.' Guess you've been studying, Merc. Oh and how's the little wannabe thief? She hiding somewhere behind you?"

"Hey!" spoke the other girl that was there, her red eyes glaring fiercely at him. "Don't even think of comparing me to you, especially after you messed up!"

Roman rolled his eyes.

Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, Cinder's two young little lackeys.

He'll admit they knew their stuff, but at the end of the day they were just brats on a power trip due to being around Cinder. Honestly, he'd rather deal with Little Red and her friends than these two. At least with Little Red, he could actually rough her up, unlike the two here who he couldn't wail on due to Cinder preventing in-fighting.

The one good thing about that is that this meant she also keeps Mercury and Emerald from trying to off him when they thought he wasn't looking, if only because he was still (hopefully) useful to her plans. This was something he was rather grateful for right now given his current state.

"Emerald," Cinder said calmly, but that was all it took to get the feisty girl to frown and back up. Cinder then stepped forward. "Now if you three are done with your usual snark for the moment, care to explain why such an important operation has failed so spectacularly, Roman?"

The thief huffed and motioned to his bandaged state, particularly his knee. Due to having had to rest the past two days and get tended to, he didn't have his signature coat on nor his hat, something he was amazed those two punks hadn't commented on at first.

"I've been a little busy trying to survive," he started as he then gestured to his knee. "As you can see, jury's still out on whether or not I'd have been better off just dying."

Though he'd opened up with a complaint, rather than be annoyed by him, Cinder looked a little intrigued, if the way she quirked an eyebrow slightly was any indication. "I've noticed your physical state. How did that come to be? I take it someone interfered in the operation?"

Trying to not huff at how much of an understatement that was, Roman immediately launched into an explanation.

How everything started off relatively okay, only to then be interrupted by two damned Faunus teens that were undoubtedly trainees, followed then by the appearance of Little Red and finally a blond freaking monster who was the one responsible for pretty much the entire operation going completely off the rails.

As he got near the end of his little tale, Roman became vaguely aware of himself shaking a bit. He inwardly grimaced and tried to calm himself; recalling the expression on that blond teen's face as he'd fought and nearly killed him… it was coming back to him right now and it was pretty damned haunting.

He's never once seen someone that intense before.

It only took about ten minutes tops to explain everything in as much detail as possible. By the end of it, Roman was feeling suddenly fatigued.

Cinder looked contemplative.

Her little brats, however, looked skeptical.

"Seriously?" Emerald began. "You got your ass kicked that hard by just one teen?"

"Heh, you're getting on in age, I guess, aren't you? Must be losing your edge," Mercury then chipped in.

Roman grumbled and seethed. "Yeah, go ahead, keep smack talking. Say, if you ever come across this guy, maybe you try fighting him for just a minute or two. Then we'll see afterwards if you can laugh at my misery."

"Oh come on, a single guy being that good?" Mercury started. "I mean, yeah sure, he's probably a prodigy if you really aren't just playing things up, but taking down two bullheads? Surviving gunfire from one too? Probably just you misremembering things."

"Fine then, don't believe me. See if I'll care if you get your ass kicked or your stupid prosthetics cut right off."

Before Mercury could snark back or Emerald decided to chip in, Cinder spoke up again, silencing them all. "Enough. Must you three always behave like this?"

Her two punks shut up and backed down, which Roman took delight in despite doing so as well.

"So," he said to Cinder. "What's your thoughts on this, oh great and powerful boss?"

Cinder turned to him and just stared for a few seconds in thought. "While I'll admit to being a little skeptical over such a powerful person, especially one so young, suddenly coming out of nowhere like this, I will take you at yoru word… for now. Regardless if it's all true or not, it doesn't change the fact that this operation had been a complete failure. We're now going to have to make up for that night if we wish to remain on schedule."

Roman grimaced. "Then you want me to go back to raiding Dust shops? If you're expecting me to take enough from them to make up for the loss at the docks, it's going to be a while, especially since I'm not exactly in a condition to get that involved anymore. And I don't exactly trust the animals to do that good a job either."

"Nonetheless, it needs to be done," Cinder said almost flatly. "When one encounters failure, it's important to make up for it as soon as possible. This is especially true for you." Her eyes glowed slightly as she said that.

Again, he grimaced. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, it seemed. Either disobey Cinder and get turned to char or risk potentially running into that blond freak of nature again and get cut to ribbons. His options really weren't the most optimistic ones, weren't they?

He sighed. "…Just give me the rest of this week to recuperate and map some stuff out. No point hitting the Dust shops right now when the media's going this nuts over the docks. I may not exactly have a high opinion of the public and the authorities, but they're not that dumb or oblivious. They'll be on edge for a while."

"As long as you can make up for the Dust lost at the docks in time for the next phase, do as you please," Cinder commented. "But I do expect you to not fail again."

"What about the other stuff you told me to do?" Roman asked. "Some White Fang traitor or something like that…"

"A former member that has been trying to keep tabs on his former group," Cinder explained. "It's been causing the White Fang stationed in and around Vale and even in Mistral a little inconvenience here and there. "

"So, you need him snuffed out then? Not sure if I can spare the time or manpower for that right now-."

"Which is why you won't be dealing with that anymore." Cinder then turned and motioned to the two brats. "It'll be up to them to remove him instead."

Judging by the lack of reaction from both teens, they seemed to have come here already knowing this.

Just because they did know this in advance, however, didn't mean they were going to do the deed in silence.

"Having to help clean up the mess you've been ignoring," Emerald began haughtily. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Merc is right – you have been losing your edge."

"Huh, you just say something?" Roman asked, pretending to have not even heard her. He allowed himself a little grin when Emerald's right eye twitched in annoyance.

Mercury also had a little shameless laugh at Emerald's expense, drawing her ire. When the girl glared at him, he simply looked to Cinder. "So how soon do you need us to get this done, anyways?"

"Not immediately, but preferably before the week is out," Cinder answered.

The grey-haired teen nodded. "Got it. We'll find his place and head there tomorrow probably. Until then, I figured we might as well just hit the shops, see what this stupid kingdom has to offer."

Cinder merely nodded and that was all that was needed for the two teens to take their leave, bickering as usual in the process.

Ah, sometimes he almost envied the leeway those two were given by their boss. Almost.

Now that he was alone with Cinder, his previous bravado was starting to balk.

"Anything else you need?" he asked to try and break the silence before it fully settled in.

"Nothing at the moment. Cinder sized him up. "This teen you spoke of… he really did do this to you?"

Roman blinked in mild surprise but nodded. "He'd have done a hell of a lot more if I hadn't bailed when I had. I'm serious here, Cinder, whoever that kid is was used to taking people down – permanently."

Cinder hummed softly. "Interesting… did you happen to learn anything about him during your escape?"

Thinking back to that night, Roman couldn't really recall learning anything about the crazy strong teen, if only because he'd been too busy just trying to stay alive.

But there had been one thing…

"Little Red called out to him at one point," he stated. "His name is Jaune."

"Jaune…" Cinder repeated. She nodded slightly just a few times to herself. "Very well, I'll look into this 'freak of nature' as you called him during your explanation. In the meantime, just do as I've asked. And remember, Roman… no more failures."

"…Got it," Roman said as Cinder turned her back to him and left. He was halfway tempted to immediately grimace and mumble under his breath but managed to keep from doing so. After all, he couldn't be sure if Cinder had merely left the room or was in the process of leaving the entire warehouse here. After narrowly surviving death one time, he wasn't interested in trying to walk right into another incident like that anytime soon.

That said, damn, this sucked. Did that woman really expect him to make up for the Dust lost at the docks just by raiding Dust shops? The amount needed to do that would be ridiculous, not to mention would take a hell of a lot of time since he was going to have to really start traveling further and further around to avoid getting too predictable.

Eh, whatever. Not the first time he's had to do stupid shit like this. And if nothing else, at least he'd essentially been able to send Cinder after that Jaune guy. With any luck, she'll deem the blond too troublesome to be alive, try to kill him and either succeed or end up getting offed herself.

Or maybe they'll even take out each other if a fight ever broke out between them. Regardless of which three possibilities took place, he'd walk out of it a winner.

He'd just have to survive until then, something he'd have no problem committing himself to.

This also would make him a stark contrast to the poor schmuck Mercury and Emerald would be going after. As much as he hated to admit it, those two were good at what they did.

What was the schmuck's name again too? Tukson or something like that?

Bah, why did he even care. It wasn't his problem anymore.

And if all went well, all of this would cease to be a problem in due time.

After arriving in Vale, Jaune had wasted no time making his way towards the docks. And as expected, because clean-up was still ongoing in addition to the investigation started by the police, the whole area was pretty much cordoned off from everything else.

This didn't deter him, however, for it wasn't necessarily the docks itself that he'd wanted to meticulously look at.

After all, with all the destruction that had occurred that night, finding any clues wasn't exactly high on the list of likelihoods. And it wasn't as if Roman and his White Fang cohorts had traveled by foot or by car, so looking for any possible tracks wasn't going to happen either.

But they had come in those bullheads and when he and Ruby had been making their way to Blake's and Sun's rescue, they'd seen from afar as those bullheads had arrived.

He merely wished to come to the docks as a way to orient his thoughts and try to mentally backtrack the way the bullheads had come.

Although there was no way someone as smart as Roman would make a straight beeline from wherever he and the White Fang were set up at to the docks and back, if he could at least figure out the area the bullheads generally came from, he could then narrow down the areas to be searched.

Getting as close as he can to the docks without causing any trouble, Jaune stared up at the sky and started to relive the memories of that night, recalling the direction he and Ruby had traveled from and the flight paths the bullheads had taken to get to the docks as well.

He must have looked out of place to anyone around him, simply standing there like a statue, but he paid it no mind as he focused.

A few minutes later, Jaune made a little motion with his right hand as he held it up and mimicked the escaping bullhead's flight path with his fingers. He did it a few more times as he started to focus more and more on the moment when Roman and the others had escaped and finally nodded to himself.

"Alright, I think I got it," he mumbled to himself, after which he turned and left.

He figured from the start that whatever base the thief and White Fang had established wouldn't be anywhere near downtown Vale, where the likelihood of being seen and identified was far too high, meaning they would have had to hold up elsewhere.

But the problem with this is that it wasn't as if Vale was a small kingdom. The downtown area was easily a city in size all on its own, if not much bigger. This in turn meant that any and all residential, business, industrial and abandoned zones were equally large in size compared to the towns and villages that lied outside the kingdom's walls, meaning there was still a ridiculously large search area to cover.

Thankfully, his little mental reconstruction helped narrow the down the search a bit, if only in terms of direction.

By now, the thief would have likely moved elsewhere to recuperate and plan out his next move, but with any luck, Jaune may possibly find the thief's previous base and maybe locate a clue that will either help him locate Roman or at least allow him to possibly interfere with the thief's plans just a bit more quickly in the future.

Walking a little more quickly than before, Jaune headed for what he was hoping to be the correct destination.

In complete silence, he moved, just barely aware of all else around him, people going about their peaceful lives without a care, something that helped soothe him a little as he kept on going.

Five minutes go by, then ten and then twenty.

It wasn't until he hit the half hour mark that he realized just where he'd ended up at.

And his presence hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Oh, Jaune!" a young voice cried out.

Blinking, he turned to the left and spotted a lively Faunus boy jogging his way.

Seeing the boy, Jaune smiled a little. "It's been a while, Corrin."

Yes, he'd wandered back into the neighborhood where he'd initially stayed before Beacon. Now that he bothered focusing on his immediate surroundings, he recognized the area. He was still a fair distance away from Isaac's motel, which in turn meant he was also a little bit away from most of the other people he'd gotten to know.

However, Corrin here along with his friends Alisha and Mark were among the relatively few people, even if they were only kids, that ventured far out of the neighborhood.

Speaking of which…

"Where's the others?" Jaune asked, feeling a little concerned. It was extremely rare for the three kids to be apart.

"Ah, they had to help out their parents' shop," Corrin said with a bit of a pout as he got close, his beaver ears twitching in mild annoyance. But this pouting lasted only a second before he looked back at Jaune in joy. "But, hey, at least you're back! How are things at that Beacon place?"

Inwardly sighing in relief at Corrin's answer, Jaune then proceeded to give the boy a quick rundown of how things had gone so far at Beacon Academy.

The boy, only seven, looked at him with ever widening eyes. Though this area of Vale had little in the ways of safety and opportunity to move up in society, Corrin and most of the other kids here were still able to retain their innocence amongst the other traits typical of ones their age.

"W-Whoa, that sounds awesome… Maybe I should become a huntsman one day. That way, me and Alisha and Mark could all be on a team or something."

Chuckling quietly, Jaune patted the boy on his head. "Well, if you do end up being serious about that, make sure to work hard, okay?"

"Heh! Working hard is my middle name!"

Jaune quirked an eyebrow in bemusement. "Oh? Wasn't aware climbing on top of small buildings and jumping around was considered work."

"I-It helps me get strong!" Corrin replied, embarrassed and then tried to flex, making for a comical sight. "See?! Check out these guns!"

Jaune laughed for real, something that only got the boy even more embarrassed, but he was smiling too despite his face being all red.

"Oh, so what brings you back though?" Corrin then asked. "Came back to beat up the gangs again?"

"No… have they become a problem again?" Jaune responded, this time not hiding his concern.

"Nah, they've been staying away from around here thanks to you. You sure laid into them good!" Corrin pretty much waved off his concern.

"Ah, glad to hear then." That had been one of his concerns when he first dealt with the gangs. He'd sensed within them the possibility to turn their lives around provided they were given enough motivation, something he'd hoped his confrontations with them had succeeded in providing. Though they'd left the area well enough alone during the last week or so of his stay at Isaac's motel, he'd still been a little worried about what they may do.

He was truly glad to hear that if nothing else the gangs were no longer an immediate problem.

"Well," he began, now opting to address Corrin's question. "I'm actually in the middle of a little search."

Corrin's beaver ears perked up. "Search?"

Jaune nodded. "Afraid I can't say what exactly I'm looking for, but have you or anyone else seen or heard anything out of the ordinary over the past few days? Anything at all?"

The boy's answer was immediate. "Yep, sure have!" His little eyes lit up with good cheer. "You should've seen it, Jaune – just the other day, there was a loud 'fwoosh' over my house and when my dad and I ran out to see what it was, it was some crazy big ship thing flying right over us!"

Jaune pulled out his scroll and proceeded to look up a picture of a typical bullhead. "Did it happen to look like this?" he asked and showed Corrin the picture.

Corrin's head bobbed up and down several times in confirmation. "Yeah, definitely!"

"Did you happen to see where it went after that?"

"…Is this ship thing what you're looking for?" Corrin asked after a second. His expression was scrunching up now in slight worry. "Is it dangerous?"

Never let it be said that kids couldn't be perceptive.

"It is what I'm looking for, yes. But dangerous… no, it shouldn't be." Indeed, given his earlier line of thinking, Roman and the others would've already headed elsewhere, meaning the neighborhood shouldn't be in any immediate danger. That said, there was still a chance, however slight.

And if that was truly the case…

"But if it does turn out to be dangerous someway, I'll deal with it," Jaune stated firmly. "I'll protect you all, no matter what."

His words, spoken as intensely as always, were enough to immediately put the boy at ease, judging by the way he beamed.

"Yeah, we all know." The trust the boy had in Jaune was practically evident in his tone. "But yeah, me and my dad saw where that thing went."

He then pointed to the southwest and made a bit of a sweeping motion with his hand. "It went over there, like where the old shopping center was at, you know? But like, a bit more to our right…"

Jaune allowed himself a smile. It was generally in the same direction he'd been going in. But now thanks to Corrin's confirmation, he could reduce the search area even more.

"Got it. I'll go look right now. You be safe out there, okay?" Jaune said as he started to walk again.

"You bet! Oh, right, Jaune!"

Jaune paused and looked back at the boy.

"Make sure to stop by again sometime! We all miss ya!"

Touched, Jaune could only give the boy a firm nod and small smile before walking off, leaving the boy to continue on with his usual trek.

Now that he knew more or less exactly where to go, Jaune picked up the pace even more now, jogging lightly towards his destination.

It took him only minutes to cover the distance and he was immediately greeted with the sight of the old shopping center, which long ago had once been the main attraction of this neighborhood before more infrastructure and additionally more shops of higher and more attractive quality were built elsewhere, taking with it most if not all of the customers and employment opportunities and in turn leaving this center now destitute.

It had been this event that had marked the area's steady decline into its current state.

As such, this shopping center wasn't the only abandoned spot around, with many of the surrounding buildings and alleyways having long since been left alone as they decayed and fell apart, forcing the citizens here to try moving just a little further away.

Yes, this was definitely the place where the likes of Roman would hide, away from prying eyes. Only kids like Corrin or street punks looking for a nifty hang out spot ever really came this way anymore, but with increasing rarity.

Starting at the entrance to the shopping center and working his way to the right of it, Jaune scoped out each and every building with a critical eye. If it came down to it, he'd willingly search every single one of them for any signs of former inhabitance, but mindful of his friends' concern for his well-being, he was going to have to be a little quick. Just because classes were far from over for the day just yet didn't mean he'd be back in time for his trip to go unnoticed.

And although he'd left a note earlier, he was kind of hoping to get this done before the note proved necessary.

Thankfully, after only fifteen minutes of walking down the block, he spotted an alleyway that didn't quite seem as dirty and messed up as the others.

It was slight – smashed cans here and there along with weeds sprouting through the concrete, with some being flattened, but it was these very few signs that indicated someone had walked atop them at some point and semi-recently at that.

Going down the alleyway all the way to its end, he discovered that the building did indeed have an open space behind it in the form of a large abandoned parking lot, which had some scuff marks here and there on it.

These scuff marks were undoubtedly from that of a bullhead, he could tell by the general distance between each one. This indicated a rather rough landing and take-off. They must have been in quite a hurry to leave this place. Understandable, given the possibility that they may have been followed.

Heading back down the alleyway, the building did have a side door, the knob of which also wasn't quite as coated in dust as the rest of the place, again likely due to constant use and he wasted no time entering.

"Jackpot…" he mumbled as he entered.

The signs of people having once been here recently grew in number. Not only was the room he was currently in much cleaner than the outside already, but there were even some spots where some stuff must have been set down due to the dust displacement.

Still, just because he'd found their now former base of operations didn't mean he could take things easy just yet.

Keeping his right hand near his right sword, Jaune proceeded slowly to the nearest hallway, listening intently for anything out of the ordinary. Just because the place was clearly no longer in use didn't mean a trap or two might have been left for any wanderers.

Was he perhaps being paranoid? Maybe, but he's encountered his fair share of booby-trapped hideouts during his time on the frontier.

Heading towards the nearest door, he glanced at a faded logo on it and was just barely able to make the word 'restroom' on it, the paint having faded a lot. Opening the door slightly so that it was ajar, he could tell that this room was easily the cleanest thus far. He supposed even criminals had to worry about unsanitary bathroom conditions.

Closing it and heading further down, he now began his search for real, taking his time checking every nook and cranny.

Minutes go by as he thoroughly looked around every room and hallway he entered. Then a few hours go by, for this building, though a little on the small side compared to most other buildings in Vale, still had multiple stories to it.

As he did this, his paranoia over the possibility of a trap faded and he was able to pick up the pace a bit, but he still took things slowly overall.

It hadn't taken him long at all to realize that any chance of finding a clue of where they might have gone next was next to nil, but he kept on hoping anyways, hence why he dragged out the search.

And if nothing else, maybe they left behind something that could be taken to the proper authorities to be dealt with. Not that he was expecting to find some kind of weapon lying around or anything, but if he did come across something and ensured its disposal, it was one less thing Roman and the White Fang would have on hand, though he was certain they'd have their own ways of keeping themselves armed.

Ultimately, he found nothing. While this was expected, it still somewhat disappointed.

However, that didn't mean he was deterred.

Heading back outside, he made a quick revisit to the parking lot, where those scuff marks were at.

He neared them and kneeled, examining each individual one. He even went as far as to place a finger or two on them, as if trying to divine some mystical purpose from the markings, which obviously wasn't going to happen.

But he had his experience and his sharp mind about him still and by looking at the markings long enough, he got a feel for which ones were the more recent ones despite them all overlapping a fair bit.

Again, just because the bullhead turned to face a specific direction before lift-off didn't necessarily mean it had fully gone in that exact direction, but in his experience just about every pilot would fly their aircraft in the general direction they were facing just prior to lift-off.

Not exactly the most solid reasoning he's ever had for anything, but it was better than nothing.

Now if he just knew how far a distance a bullhead could cover before needing to refuel, he could better calculate the new search area…

…But that will have to wait until tomorrow or so.

Taking note of the sun's position in the sky, Jaune realized just now how much time has passed since he even left Beacon. Taking into account how long it would take him to get back to the air docks where he could then take a bullhead back to campus, he could just barely make it in time before classes let out for the day.

But to do that, he'd have to leave right now or else his team will head back to the dorm and see the note he left. In hindsight, he could only imagine how many times they might then try to call him to make sure he was okay and not pushing himself.

And though his injuries were already doing much better, to the point where he really questioned why it was even an issue anymore in his friends' eyes, he knew better than to risk worrying them unnecessarily.

Oh well, from the start, him leaving a note had been more of a minor precaution than anything else anyways.

Beginning his journey back to Beacon, Jaune silently vowed to return tomorrow to continue his search.

One way or another, he will find where Roman Torchwick and the White Fang were now hiding. And when he did, he'll make sure this time to stop them for good.

Unbeknownst to him, at the exact same time he swore this, Roman and the remaining White Fang mooks from that night paused in what they were doing to shudder.

Why were they suddenly getting an ice-cold chill?

Heh, probably should've named this fic something catchy like 'Detective of Light' or something, right? Ha ha.

But seriously, as you can see, Jaune is no slouch when it comes to analyzing things and figuring out extremely minor clues. Hopefully this doesn't come across as being too absurd somehow. And though he's done a pretty decent job so far of tracking Roman's tracks, rest assured, he's not going to be bumping into our resident thief again that soon.

That said, as you can also clearly tell, the danger is far from over just yet, especially now that Cinder has entered the fray, though not completely just yet.

May you look forward to the next chapter.

Until next time, everyone. Take care!