Prompt – Jacques Schnee finds himself being hunted by Grimm in an abandoned factory near Atlas' border. He is rescued by a huntress/huntsman who hates him.

Disaster. The lot of it.

The brand new refinement facility was supposed to be up and running at full capacity when he arrived. It had taken years to build something that close to Atlas' borders, and a considerable amount of funding as well. There were plenty of things that tried to stop the project. If it wasn't the workers incessant complaining over how far they would have to travel from home to work, or the military complaining about the need for more defenses, it was James lecturing him about how to run HIS business. All of it compiled into one constant thorn in Jacques' side.

All of that was exactly why everything needed to be up and running without a hitch. It would be the ultimate victory over all those who argued against him. However, when he exited the bullhead with his security team, he was greeted with a horrific sight.

The facility was in shambles. Windows smashed, pieces of metal and robot were scattered everywhere. Some still burning from whatever battle had taken place. Everything he had worked towards these past few years, all the investments he had made, gone. The only thing that remained was an abandoned building that looked like it should belong to the scum in Vacuo.

Even with the destruction and fire, he had to see the damage first hand. The loss of the facility drove him forward though the pain in his chest of what could have been. His security team attempted to stop him, but he would not hear any of it. He had paid thousands of lien for soldiers like them to protect this facility. He was beginning to wonder what he even paid them for.

Glass crunched under his boot as he walked through the facility. It was a rather cathartic sound. At least it was him destroying what was left of the building HE paid for. He took another step, waiting to take in the wonderful crunch.

The splash that it made startled him. His eyes fell to the floor to see a dark red liquid scattered across its surface. He nearly fell backwards as he jumped away from the sight. He looked over the massive pool of blood a second time with wide eyes. He thought for a moment that there would be a reasonable explanation for why there was so much, but his thoughts stopped when a drip added itself to the rest.

A ripple ran across the pool of blood. Followed quickly by another. Jacques froze. The next drip came quicker than the first two. His eyes looked up towards the source. Panic hit him when the red eyes of a nevermore looked back.

The next moments were a blur to Jacques. The nevermore screeched. Gunshots rang out. The crunching of glass echoed through the halls. The howls of beowolves added themselves to the noise.

Jacques didn't have a weapon. He shouldn't have to. He paid others to fight for HIS life. It made watching them get picked off one by one an even more terrifying sight. There were screams, cries for help, calls for backup. All of them silenced as he hid behind closed doors. He tried calling for help on his scroll, but the distance to Atlas left him without a signal.

He was trapped. There was nowhere that he could run from the remaining Grimm. They would find him. They would sense his fear. When they did, he would be torn apart just like the men before him.

Jacques fell to his knees. His hands covered his face. He was going to die. All of the hours of work that he had put into making HIS life different… It was all a waste. Even he would fall to the same fate as a typical human on Remnant.

The door in front of him shook with loud bang. Followed by another, and another. The Grimm were going to break in! They were going to burst through the metal doors! Another loud bang. The metal door started to contort from the force inflicted upon it. His eyes were locked onto the damage it faced. One more attack would send them hurdling after him.

Another bang rang out. The door burst from its hinges and a beowolf crashed through its doors. Jacques held his hands over his face in a pathetic attempt to defend himself.

Death never came. He opened up one eye from behind the protection of his hands. In front of him, a beowolf lay dead on the floor. The black smoke rising from its body already evaporating the creature. His eye went wide. What could have possibly killed the monster? What had saved him?

He heard the sound of a click from just beyond the broken doors. "You've gotta be kidding me. YOU are my 'Special Assignment'."

Jacques watched as Qrow Branwen tucked his scroll in his jacket. "At least I got a good picture out of it." The man snickered. "The way you're holding that 'don't kill me' pose, I suppose I should've gotten ten."

Jacques looked back to the fetal position he had yet to break himself from. His body still shook with the adrenaline of the battle, but he forced himself up before being subjected to even more reticule. "What is the meaning of this, Qrow? Why are you here?"

Qrow scoffed. "Yeah. You're welcome for saving your sorry excuse of a life." He pointed at what remained of the Grimm. "Ironwood asked for a favor regarding some distress signals in the area. He failed to let me in on the fact that it would be helping you."

Jacques temper flared. "Well what good are you huntsman if you aren't going to help defend against the Grimm? I lost this whole facility because of…"

"You lost this whole facility because you're an idiot." Qrow snapped back. "Only someone with no regards for others would decide that this was a good place for work. I should've known better. 'A colony in trouble on the border of Atlas'. Yeah, I should've known from the beginning that this would have something to do with you."

Jacques teeth ground together in his mouth. "If you're going to keep running that mouth of yours, this conversation is over. I have better things to do than listen to you spat nonsense of YOU being high and mighty."

Qrow's hand clenched into a tight fist at his side. "Fine. I have better things to do than escort a wannabe Schnee back home so he can hide in his castle." He turned to leave, only to stop in his place. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He turned it over in his hand to make sure that it was still intact before turning to face Jacques with a coy smile across his face.

Jacques looked at the letter and then back to Qrow's new smile. "This conversation is over." He said in a commanding tone.

"Yeah… well… You're going to do me a favor." He said holding out the letter to Jacques.

Jacques didn't make to move. "And why would I do that?"

Qrow continued to hold the letter in the air. "Because you owe me one for saving your life."

Jacques scoffed at him. "I don't owe YOU anything." He said confidently.

Qrow's smile grew. He pulled out his scroll from his jacket and began flipping through its screens. When he found what he was looking for, he turned the screen towards Jacques. On it, a picture of Jacques pleaded for mercy with his hands blocking his face. A single eye peaked out from behind his arms as he braced for whatever fate might send his way. "Alright, have it your way." Qrow said with a chuckle. "You're going to do me a favor because I have blackmail."

Jacques eyes darted from the screen, to the smirking man's face, and then finally back to the letter. He snatched the envelope from Qrow's hand and nearly crumpled it in his tight grip. Qrow laughed as he turned to the exit once more. Gods did Jacques hate that laugh. He flipped the letter over to see who was so important that HE must be the one to deliver it. It almost ripped when he read Winter's name with a heart.

Author's Notes

Hello everyone!

For this one, I wanted to try to make a few key things stand out. Not just as an 'in character' thing, but rather, a way to write my stories. Here's a few examples.

Number 1: Jacques thinks very highly of himself.

I tried adding a few things to the story to have this stand out. Throughout, when Jacques thinks on himself, it is in capital letters that are italicized. If Jacques was a completely unknown character, I felt like having this added bit helps make that stand out. It's something very small, but I felt like it adds a lot to his character in this short.

Number 2: Jacques business is more important than anything else.

I feel like this sits with canon really well, but again, it's something I wanted to come out in the short. Things like the complaints from Ironwood, and his employees not mattering to him, but the cost of the project eating at him. Then the building is destroyed, but all he sees is a failed investment. Finally, Qrow doesn't earn a favor for saving Jacques' life, but instead, Qrow gets one because he has blackmail over Jacques that could affect his PR in some way.

These were all little things that I tried to add. I'd be interested in hearing if they stood out to everyone reading them, or if everyone just passed them by. I personally felt like they added something, but I'm the writer here!

As always, thank you for reading!

~Sh1f7er