Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: No Time To Die by Billie Eilish
Theme: Writing's On The Wall by Sam Smith


Inspired by the Transformers: Punishment comic.


"In other news, in the 2 weeks since the tragedy of the Initiation Massacre, negotiations between the Valerian and Atlesian councils has come to a standstill. Just after the battle in the Valerian plains, the Valerian council had been the first ones to contact Atlas and petition for military assistance and protection, but now, with the growing possibility of Atlas using the Initiation Massacre as an excuse to try and impose their own law and order onto the kingdom, the Valerian council has begun to argue back against several orders and suggestions that Atlas has imposed, such as assistance in police investigations, and the ability to begin their own investigations on Valerian soil.

"In response to this, as well as the growing refugee crisis and presence of White Wolf terrorists in the city, the Valerian government has imposed a new conscription law for the police, and has begun to draft multiple persons from the public into the police force, pressing them into service on the streets and around the few remaining settlements around the city of Vale.

"However, many have criticised this new law, stating that these new police forces have been rushed into service and poorly trained for combat, and leading to a ride in confirmed cases of corruption and police brutality in the already corrupt police force, and has also lead to poor coordination between Atlesian officials and soldiers and these new police officers, with several Atlesians and Valerians intentionally aggravating and angering the other, leading to further poor communication and disorganisation between the 2 forces, all the wide allowing for the crime rate to grow, not helped by the corruption in the police force and the growing flood of refugees from all around Vale.

"More at 11..."


"You got the stuff?"

Fyre-Fly looked at Pat Lie, and went, "Yeah, I got the passports, now let's just-"

"Hey, hey, dude, don't say that out loud, not here. Who knows who's listening in?"

Fyre-Fly moved his head back slightly at the Faunus' words, and looked around, spotting the tall walls that surrounded Vale right behind them, the massive structures blocking out the morning sun as gargantuan cannons, both anti-ground and anti-air, freshly brought in from Atlas and Mantle, nested themselves on top of the rounded wall that stretched of the port of Vale all the way around to the other.

Right now, they were just outside of Vale's walls, having sneaked out one by one over the night under the cover of darkness, and were currently resting in one of the old entrances to the city through the old tunnels and sewers that'd been blocked off by the council in the wake of the Valerian breaches and the Initiation Massacre. Around them, trees hugged and grew on the stone and metal walls, and ivory vines and Verdigris climbed those same walls, colouring the metal and green and blue and orange, and letting mounds of dirt and grass rest themselves against the stone and steel.

Fyre-Fly looked back to the snake Faunus with sharpened claws and a snake's tongue, and said, "Pat, don't be ridiculous. You're being ridiculous."

"What? I'm not being ridiculous. They could have cameras up there", Pat pointed up to a random part of the wall, "The council, I mean. They could have cameras up there."

Fyre-Fly looked to the other Faunus in their group of 3, one wolf Faunus with sharpened claws and a wolf's tail named Jaylon Karamel, and he shrugged and went, "He's not wrong. What if the council or the Hunters or someone else finds you?"

The Techion with mechanical firefly wings on his back rolled his optics under his visor, and just went, "Well, if the authorities do know we're out here, what makes you think they'll care? They're all too busy with the Grimm and shoring up the city. They won't give enough of a damn about 3 guys with fake passports to divert anyone to try and stop us from leaving."

"But", Pat began, "But what if they do?"

"Wha- Pat, did you not listen to what I just said, like, 5 and a half seconds ago? No one's gonna care. So what if we've got fake passports? We're just 3 random people trying to leave the city and start over somewhere else. Preferably somewhere safer. Why should the council or the cops even give half a damn about that?"

"No, we're not 3 people, Fyre-Fly, we're 3 Faunus", Jaylon pointed out, "Well, 2 Faunus and 1 Faunus Techion."

"So?"

"So, it means that the council, and definitely the cops, are gonna be paying a lot of attention to us. Humans can travel between kingdoms, Techions can travel between kingdoms, hell, Hunters can travel between kingdoms. We Faunus, we can't. We can't travel between kingdoms. We're too suspicious, you see. We might be White Wolves, or murderers, or criminals, or at least something worthy of arresting, or even killing."

"We are White Wolves, Jaylon. We are part of the White Wolves."

"Yeah, well that'll make it even worse."

"Yeah, well, screw that. Screw the Wolves, screw Vale. Screw it all", pulling oven the bag in his hand, he presented 3 false passports to the 2 Faunus near him, "Look, like I said, the Valerians and Atlas are too busy securing the city against the Grimm, that's where they're focusing all of their attention on, and in times like these, I doubt that Taurus and the rest of the Acolytes of the Ascended are going to notice 3 grunts deserting from the Wolves."

"You kidding me!?" Pet yelled out, "You saw what happened to that Tukson guy, didn't you? They sent a death squad after him and shot up the Central Valerian Market just to kill him!"

"Yeah, well he was always a flake, even during his service. Never had the conviction to do what needed to be done. They had a better excuse to kill him, not us. Look, we've got the passports, now let's huff it out of here. Try our luck in Jewel, or Argus, or Kenyte, or some other settlement far enough away from here to not worry about a possible Grimm invasion. I've got the passports, now all we just need to do is-"

Nearby, the bushes rustled, and a twig snapped. The 3 Wolves looked to the bush and tensed up, "What was that?"

"Oh, er, s'probably just a squirrel, or some-"

The barrel of a gun poked out between the bushes and fired twice with a blue muzzle flash.

The round impacted with Fyre-Fly's head, burning away the metal, and then coming out of the other end, bringing with it a spray of metal and flesh, black oil and red blood. Armour piercing rounds, it seemed. Another round went right into his chest, the armour piercing round doing its job and tearing apart the metal, slamming right through Fyre-Fly's augmented heart and slamming him onto the floor. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Pat and Jaylon screamed as the muzzle lifted up, firing off into the wall and knocking out a security camera, before the figure revealed themselves from behind the bushes. Jaylon reached for a nearby gun and yelled, "Pat, run! Call Yuma, tell him-"

The figure fired off 2 more rounds. Once more, these rounds went through the head and the heart, killing Jaylon instantly as he dropped to the ground, blood pouring out of his exit wounds.

Pat screamed, but the figure cut him off by firing another round from their gun. Pat, however, had twisted around quick enough for the round to hit him and barely miss his heart, but he still dropped to the ground, crying and whimpering as he held his chest, trying to stop the blood from rushing out in a torrent as the figure walked up to him and looked down on him.

Pat looked up to the figure in turn, and groaned out, "P... Please..."

The figure didn't respond with words. A blue muzzle flash and a bullet lodging into his forehead, spraying blood over the ground, was the answer he was given.


Report number #1: Inner City Incident

Beginning:

Right, so this is the first time that I've ever written one of these before, so keep that in mind.

Or don't. Your choice.

Ah, poor choice of wording. I won't hand this in immediately. I'll just look over it once I've finished and edit it all down into something more professional. Like a first draft for an essay, and all that.

Why am I even typing this stuff down? Whatever, doesn't matter, I'll edit this all out later.

Editing note: Stop waffling on about stuff, Past Me. It's time wasting and it's silly...

Right, anyways, after that little rant, or detour, or whatever, let's get on with it.

I guess that the first place to start, would be with our team leader's meeting with Headmaster Ozpin and Miss Goodwitch, where she introduced us to a few veteran Hunters from around the world, and told us what we were going to be doing...


"Work experience?" Jaune asked, as he and the rest of the assembled team leaders of the first year sat assembled in the classroom on the Saturday of their first week into their new Beacon life, with Miss Goodwitch and Ozpin standing before a assembled troop of Huntsmen and Huntresses (Or Hunters for short), Who had been introduced as Joanna Greenleaf, Winter Schnee, Elm Ederne, Carmine Esclados, Marrow Amin, May Marigold, Bertilak Celadon, and Vine Zeki, some of them, the ones dressed in white uniforms, standing patiently with their arms folded behind them, the others acting much more lax and less uniform, with the one called Bertilak leaned against the wall and glaring daggers at Ozpin and the assembled troop of team leaders, much to the annoyance of the one called Carmine next to him.

Ozpin took a sip from his mug once more as he then said, "Of a sorts, Mister Arc, of a sorts", nearby, Skipjack, DJ, Razor, and a few other team leaders tilted their heads, and Ozpin elaborated, "For the next few days, starting from midday today to Wednesday of next week, you shall be assigned to a group of professional Hunters in order to see and understand how they act in a professional environment and pick up on anything that you could use in your own teams, as well as ask any important questions that you may have about how to operate as an effective team leader."

Melanie, having just been forced to silence an exited Ruby (She'd kept geeking out at the thought of being around real Hunters and seeing their weapons), Raised her hand and asked, "Um, Headmaster Ozpin, with all due respect, shouldn't we be doing this later in the year, when we've more properly gelled and moulded with our teammates? And are our teammates even going to be with us during all of this as well?"

Ozpin raised his mug to her and then went, "Good questions, Ms Malachite, and to answer the first one, originally, these Hunter shadowing missions and activities were supposed to have happened later in the year, when you would've been considered ready to partake in these missions and learn from those experiences, preferably shadowing one of the teachers", he took a sip of the mug, ignoring a few of the pointed stares from the Hunters behind him, and continued, "But, with the recent events of the last few weeks, and the fact that you all survived one of the biggest battles since the Rights Revolution, I have decided that you are ready for this task. Plus, with the amount of Hunters from Atlas and Vale gathered in the city, it is an opportunity that shouldn't be wasted."

He took a final sip from his mug, and then brought the now empty cup into both of his hands, tapping the nail of one of his fingers against it.

"As for the second question, it was originally going to involve your teammates as well, but the Valerian Council has judged that you are an exceptional case, and must be evaluated on your own, to identify how you react to scenarios on your own, and the capabilities of your judgement and analytical skills as the next batch of team leaders."

There seemed to be something else behind his words, but no one but Jaune caught on it, who then asked, "Is there another reason, sir, because that can't be all of it."

Miss Goodwitch looked at him with a cross look on his face, and Jaune, realising his tone, moved to apologise, before Ozpin cut him off with, "A wise question, Mr Arc", a faint smile came over the headmaster, before he sighed and said, "All that I am allowed to say is that there are a few people out there who... Have their eyes on you as team leaders. That is all, I'm afraid."

There was a faint shiver of uncertainty from the assembled team leaders, before Skipjack loudly groaned and went, "So we're going to be having freakin' politicians scrutinising us", he sighed and muttered, "Great..."

Ozpin just laughed at this, and went, "If it's any consolidation, I greatly dislike politicians myself as well, despite myself being one."

Ruby then shot her hand up (So fast that Jaune was sure he could see the phantoms of rose petals falling onto her desk), And asked, "Are these going to be the only Hunters that we work with, sir?"

"No, Ms Rose, there are other Hunters over the next few days that you will be able to shadow and work with. The Hunters behind me are just the ones that you will be working with for the rest of today and tomorrow."

Ruby began to squeal with excitement as her legs almost started to kick the table she was sitting at. Melanie gave Jaune a look that said, Your turn, And Jaune just rolled his eyes and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Down girl, down", he said to the little reaper, causing Ruby to realised what she had been doing and glare at him. Well, he said glare, but it was really more of an adorable pouting face.

Ozpin chuckled, and then asked if there were any more questions, to which he answered, and then sent the team leaders to their assigned Hunter guides, who informed them to gather up enough clothing and gear for their time out for the next few days, and to inform their teams on what was going on, even though those same teammates would be told in an assembly later on in the day.

Jaune then looked to the Huntress whom he had been assigned to, "Um, Miss... Er, Winter Schnee, was it?"

"That is correct", the Huntress that was now confirmed as Winter Schnee said, her hands still behind her back and her posture stilled and formal, looking over him with scrutinising eyes as she then went, with a stilled face, "Pack your things and meet me at the Beacon Docking Bay at 1200 hours, on the dot", she then turned to leave, "I do not believe in fashionably later", and walked away, out of the room and down the corridors, not offering him a second glance.

"..."

Jaune looked to the corridor, and took a guess that that was Weiss' mother or older sister, or something. She definitely had the looks to back it up, and the... Attitude? He really didn't know Weiss that well to make any kind of judgement like that on her. He supposed that he should change that, and try to get to know the white haired girl more.

Well, in all honestly, he had tried. A lot of people had tried to talk and get to know Weiss, but almost every time, she had shot them down.

Ruthlessly.

With a tommy gun.

Every time someone had tried to approach her about anything, she had turned them away, sticking her nose up and putting them down with veiled insults and haughty tones. Only a few days ago, Jaune had tried to approach her and ask about how her team was doing, but she had just turned the opposite way, and said, "Do you plebeians know any better than to try and smooth talk someone of my stature? At any rate, you would have much better luck slamming into a brick wall rather than asking anything of me", but when he had tried to, awkwardly, ask again, she just wheeled back at him and stuck her finger in his face, "Do you know who I am? Of course you do, obviously-"

He really didn't.

"-Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, thank you very much. I don't need another idiotic charlatan trying to ask me out for my money, or whatever other reason you may have, so if you could kindly be gone from my sight, that would be great."

…Yeah, she wasn't exactly approachable.

Not even her own teammates, or even her team leader Ruby was safe, as she stayed away from them as much as she could (She specifically avoided Ruby like the plague) And chose to hang out with Ciel and Pyrrha as much as she could.

Actually, Pyrrha was one of, if not the only person that Weiss would willingly, and even eagerly approach and chat to (Which he supposed was fair. I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with the Pumpkin Pete mascot, right?), Always going off with a happy smile on her about this and that, while Pyrrha sat next to her and talked back with her own smile on her face. He was glad that, despite the seemingly growing negative attitude towards Weiss by the rest of the first years, at least she had one person in Pyrrha to be friends with. At least Pyrrha liked her.

Then again, Pyrrha seemed to like everyone, so maybe he was cheating with that.

Didn't matter. Weiss had a friend, and that was all that mattered.

Jaune then looked past an awkward Ruby as she talked to Carmine while Betilak sneered at her (If she was going to be partnered up with him, then he was really worried for her), And looked back down the open door.

Maybe that could be a conversation starter between them, Winter and himself, a way to break the ice. He could ask about Weiss and how to get her to open up, and she could help him figure out how to get past her haughty shell, and they could have a good laugh about it.

Or maybe he could have a good laugh, and she'd stand there with a straight look on her face.

He supposed he was going to find out.


General James Ironwood looked down at the bodies with a growing sense of dread in his chest as he watched them be picked up, one by one off of the ground, and placed onto stretchers, before being carried onto a nearby Bullhead, ready to be flown back into the city walls.

He'd hated seeing dead bodies. He knew that it would be routine in his job, seeing as how he was a general within the Atlesian military, and it was his job to fight wars and kill other soldiers, men and women, and order his own men and women, brothers and sisters in arms, to die in combat as well, for the good of Atlas, and the good of Remnant.

But he still hated it. It was a reminder of his own failings as a general, his own failings as a leader, and his own failings to keep these killings from happening, no matter what. It was always a personal strike at his heart, at his conscience. For most people, when they see corpse after corpse like he did, overtime, they would become numb to such a thing, and in a way, so had he, but there was always that strike to him, that personal attack against his morals and his conscience.

It was one of the many things that kept him moving forward: To never have to see another dead person's body ever again. Most would think that it was unrealistic, and it was, but he thought that it was an ideal worth following at least. The more people he saved, the less of a chance he'd have to look upon their broken bodies in a morgue.

A random memory- A chameleon Faunus covered in her own blood, with a specialist trying to save her and stop the bleeding, calling for a medic, while nearby, a pair of limbs laid clumsily on the concrete ground- Came to his mind.

He shook the thought away as he looked around at the crime scene, blood splattered against the grassy and muddy floor and the bushes, now having been cornered off by police tapes, lazy forensics, and freshly recruited CSI analysists. Above them, the Valerian walls stood tall, but with a fresh blast mark on the side of it, the remains of a broken, burnt out camera dangling off of the wall, tilting side to side in the soft breeze of the late morning. Police evidence markers were clumsily placed here and there as police officers, freshly recruited off of the streets and pressed into service by the Valerian Council, stumbled around, trying to look for anything of importance, coming across duds and false leads.

In Ironwood's opinion, the entire handling of the crime scene by these police officers was poorly managed and a bumbling mess. It was obvious that these officers, from the way they moved, acted, and handled themselves, were from the new wave of policemen and women that the Valerian Council had been conscripting or hiring off of the streets and giving them a crash course in police ethics and protocol before letting them loose on the streets with a badge and a gun, which was an extremely stupid decision, and fraught with holes and flaws.

In the council's defence though, they did have a good reason for doing so. Simply put, most of their best officers, as well as militiamen, soldiers, and Hunters, had died above the Emerald Forest and the Grimm Tidings, and then more were killed in the following breaches at the time of the CCP Massacre and the GVMC Breach, meaning that Vale had a massive lack of law enforcement, meaning that they had to call upon Atlas for protection, and with the sudden influx of refugees from across Vale to the central city, and the city itself stopping all food from leaving it's walls, the council would need all of the law enforcement that it could get.

So, firstly, they began to recall all of their Hunters from around the kingdom to the city, followed by every settlement's militia forces (Most of whom were themselves poorly or barely trained conscripts), And tried to unify them together into one cohesive force. But then the refugees began to flood into the city by the hundreds, they found that what they had just wasn't enough at all. So, in a panic, and scared for their own safety, the council started to bring in anyone who could hold a gun, and filling out their ranks with as many people as they could.

Too many, in fact. So much so that supplies were strained between them, and training was rushed, which left them poorly trained and motivated, not helped out at all by the deaths of most of the city's defenders, as well as their children, in the Initiation Massacre by the once largest army of Grimm ever seen on Remnant, and the rise of this new Ascendant Court. Corruption began to fester within these new police ranks, and bribery became even more common than it had ever been before. In fact, Ironwood suspected that there were so many new police officers, that in every gang and criminal organisation in Vale, there was at least one officer in them.

In all honesty, Vale's police department was never that good to begin with. If anything, it was already plagued with ineptitude and corruption, not as bad as Mistral, but it did allow criminal groups such as Roman Torchwick and his Circus of Horrors to set up and embed themselves within Vale's criminal underworld, and begin paying off many officers, and even a few Hunters, to look the other way when it came to his crimes. Forensics themselves were never that good as well, being lazy and poorly managed, leading to many cold cases and serial killings that could only be solved through the intervention of a Hunter, who regularly raised complaints to the council, who, along with Chief Warren Mores, at the time were trying to put in for more reformations and clear out the corruption in their ranks, until the Initiation Massacre happened, and then the next day, Chief Mores was killed in the GVMC Breach, leading to their current situation now.

Ironwood also suspected that the council had begun to train up all of these masses of officers as a way of trying to get another bargaining chip on the table in the negotiations with Atlas' council. Ever since the Initiation Massacre, Vale had petitioned Atlas for military support and protection (Which was a decision that Ironwood had voted for, as it allowed him to more closely monitor the Grimm and protect the Maiden under Beacon, moral reasons aside), But was now fearing a possible complete takeover of Atlas, and was using the recovered remains of the Atlesian jamming field from Outpost Orion as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with Atlas to allow them to have more control over the forces in Vale, and what they were and weren't allowed to do, and with the sudden rise in police officers and law enforcement, then it might convince the Atlesian council that they can protect themselves with their own army, and give them better leverage against anything that Atlas may try and impose on them (He knew that Jacques Schnee was looking to impose new regulations in the dust trade to Vale that he could exploit, and he was not letting that bastard of a man anywhere near anything to do with dust. Not with his reputation).

"This is embarrassing", the words of one of the Ace-Ops, Harriet Bree, broke him out of his thoughts as he noted her watching the fumbling forensic team stumble around the crime scene with an unmotivated look to them, a hand to her face as she shook it, "I mean, look at this, I'm pretty sure they've just missed, like, 30 different pieces of evidence."

"Be nice, Specialist Bree", said a Hunter that was not part of Ironwood's Ace-Ops or the Atlas military, but had been called here by the Atlesian council, one Fiona Thyme, a member of the Happy Huntresses, an all girl team headed by Robyn Hill that supported and worked to better the city of Atlas (Robyn was the only member of the group to have not been called by the council to Vale, which Ironwood suspected was a political reason), "It's not in our jurisdiction to interfere with an ongoing investigation. We're just here to provide security for them."

"'Jurisdiction'?" Harriet asked with an edge to her voice, having not gotten along with Fiona or any of the Happy Huntresses at all, due to moral and (Obvious) Political differences, "Oh c'mon, Thyme, look at them. They're waddling around the place like penguins, with their asses hanging out as well. Aren't they suppose to be 'Crime Scene Investigation', not 'Dilly-dallying until the sun goes down'?"

"Hey, lady, don't tell us how to do our job!" one of the forensic officers yelled as he clumsily placed a broken, cylindrical object into a bag with tweezers. Harriet just looked to the side and grumbled something in annoyance, before the forensic officer in turn then muttered, "Fucking Atlesians…"

Harriet scowled and looked at the forensic officer with a glare that screamed she was going to vault over the police tape blocking them off and land a haymaker on his jawline, but Fiona put an arm before her and went, "Miss Bree."

"What?"

"Just... Just cool it, okay?" the white haired sheep Faunus said to her in a hushed tone, "As much as I have my own criticisms of this investigation so far, and as much as I would like to lend my own hand, we can't."

"Because politics?" Harriet asked with a frown.

"Unfortunately, yes", Fiona sighed out, "If we, as Atlesian and Mantlian officials, try to assert ourselves as interlopers in a Valerian investigation, no matter our intentions, it will be seen as a breach of jurisdiction and invasion of Valerian affairs. We're here to provide security for Vale as it heals, not to interfere with ongoing sovereign investigations, no matter how poor they may be."

"Miss Thyme is right", General Ironwood spoke up, "If Atlesian officials were to begin investigating crimes on Valerian soil on their own, then it would be seen as akin to surrendering sovereignty and trying to impose our own laws and ideals onto another nation, and no one would ever want that", Harriet looked away for a second, a scowl still on her face, and Ironwood continued, "Think about it this way: If Valerian officials began to impose their own laws onto Atlas, and began to invade our own investigations, how would that make you feel?"

Harriet looked up to him, and then sighed, "Right, right..S'just infuriating, you know?" she stopped for a second, before amending, "Oh, er, sorry sir."

He waved her off. Not a problem.

"Apologies for being rude, General Ironwood", Fiona spoke up with an apologetic tone, "But may I ask why you are here? I mean, no offence, but wouldn't you be better suited in the centre of Vale, trying to coordinate Atlas' and Vale's forces together, instead of staying outside of the walls?"

Harriet looked like she was going to say something out of indignation, but Ironwood stopped her by saying in an unoffended tone, "Because, Miss Thyme, I have found that when it comes to things like murder investigations, sometimes one's presence can be a good motivator", he spotted another forensic officer almost stumble over a stray log, and sighed, "Of course, that's not a universal law."

"Doesn't matter now, we're done here", the head of the CSI officials spoke up as he and the rest of the forensic officers began to pack up and move to the Bullheads, not bothering to remove the police tape as they moved, "We'll get someone to replace the camera when we get back."

"Wait, did you find anything out?" Fiona chirped up, "About who murdered those 3 men?"

"That's confidential information, Miss", the head officer spoke up, "But I think we can close this case already."

"Wait, really?" Harriet spoke up, "You're sure? Just like that?"

"Yep, just like that", the head officer got onto the Bullhead and called out, "So get packed up. "We're done here."

Ironwood just sighed, and Harriet looked over to him and said, "I can always come back later, sir, and try and find out anything else."

"That would be considered tampering with a crime scene, Specialist Bree", Ironwood said, "As well as an breach of Valerian affairs. I'm afraid that we can't."

"Can you not do anything about that?" Fiona asked as they reluctantly turned to the Bullheads, "I mean, you are on the Atlesian council, aren't you? Can't you just ask the Valerians to... I don't know, do a better job?"

"Well, it's like you said, Miss Thyme, that would be an invasion of Valerian laws and politics. I can suggest it, but I doubt that it will do much."

As they got on the Bullhead, and as it began to lift off, Harriet muttered out, "I hate politics..."

"As do I, Specialist Bree, as to I", Ironwood patted her on the shoulder, before going, "Now, let's get back into Vale. We need to accommodate for the new Hunters in training from Beacon."


"So, um", Jaune went as he held his stomach, feeling queasy from his motion sickness as the Bullhead lifted up, not knowing why it had to strike now, in front of a professional Huntress as he then said, "Er, is there a bag, or something, please, that I could-"

"There is a bucket in the cabinet in the corner", Winter Schnee spoke up as she pointed to a corner with her sabre, not sparing a look at him as she stayed sitting down, her hands at her side as they sat in her personal Bullhead, "And there is a toilet in the other corner. And please, do not... Empty yourself on the floor. I just had my ship cleaned."

"Ah, right", Jaune went as he sat up, opened up the cabinet, and pulled out the bucket as he took off his helmet and sat in down on his lap, "Thanks."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, er, thank you, ma'am... Sorry."

She looked away from him once more.

Jaune just stayed sitting in place, tapping away at the (Thankfully) Empty bucket on his lap, before he went, "So, er... Do you... Er, this might be a dumb question... It probably is, but... Do you know a Weiss Schnee?"

This caught Winter's attention, and she turned to him with a curious look and said, "Yes, she is my younger sister. Why?"

"Well, I- Wait, really?" he questioned, "I- Forgive me for sounding rude, but I kinda had you pegged as her mum, or something..."

Winter's eyes widened a tad, and she looked down to the side.

"...Best she's got..."

Jaune quirked an eyebrow, "Pardon?"

"Nothing, disregard", Winter waved it off, before looking back to Jaune with a narrowed gaze, "You know, it is rude to assume a woman's age."

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" Jaune waved in a bit of a panic, almost causing his bucket to fall to the floor before he quickly caught it.

Winter looked away once more, content on looking at the birds outside of the airship's windows.

"...How do you know my sister?"

Jaune turned to her, "Oh, er, she was with us in the Emerald Forest, and around the Grimm Tidings. She fought with us, and she's currently in my- I mean, one of my team's sibling team, RSBL."

"'Rosebloom', hm?" Winter looked like she was tasting the word on her tongue, before nodding, and asking, "Is that all?"

"Hm?"

"Is that all that you know my sister for?"

"Oh, er, she was the one who- Er, sort of- Introduced me to my partner, Pyrrha. I mean, she was kinda, er...", he trailed off, and looked at her.

Winter's eyebrow quirked, "Kind of... What?"

"...Forceful about it", Jaune rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, I'm pretty sure that she wanted to have Pyrrha as her partner, so that might'd be the reason."

Winter's eyes narrowed, "Oh, so, what's so special about this... Pyrrha?"

"Oh, well, she's on the cover of every Pumpkin Pete cereal box in the word!"

"...Hm? What is- Wait", Winter paused, and then stared at him with slightly widened eyes, "Pyrrha as in Pyrrha Nikos? The 4 time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament?"

"Oh, yeah, all of that stuff too", Jaune added, "Whatever that is. I know that Weiss really likes talking to Pyrrha in their spare time, so she's really attached to her."

"...Hm", Winter hummed, before looking away once more, "I see", there was silence once more between them, before she asked, "How is Weiss performing, may I ask?"

"Hm?"

"In Beacon. How is she... Doing?"

"Um, in terms of grades?" Jaune asked in turn, "'Cause I know that she's pretty much at the top of our class, and-"

"Not that, you dolt", Winter said in a frustrated tone, "I mean how is she doing? Does she have any friends? Is she eating and sleeping well?"

"Oh, er", Jaune paused, tapping his finger against his chin in thought, before going, "Well, for the last 2, I don't know. I'm not on her team, so I can't say for certain, but... Well, Pyrrha's the only one she willingly talks to. Her and Ciel. Everyone else, she... She kinda shoots down, or turns them away. She's- I don't mean to sound rude or offensive, but... She acts kinda haughty about it. Like's she better than everyone else. She doesn't even talk to her own teammates. I've tried to talk to her before, but she... I think she thought that I was trying to flirt with her, or something. Honestly, I had hoped that you might know something about that. I mean, you are her sister, do you know what'll get her to open up a bit more? Talk to her teammates a bit more?"

Winter paused, nursing her lips and trying to find the right thing to say, before coming out with, "It's... It is not my place to say."

"Ah", Jaune went, sort of satisfied with that answer, if a little disappointed.

Winter continued on though, "She... Hasn't had the best experience with people, that's all. I'll have a word with her about it, but... But ultimately she has to be the one to open up about herself. She's stubborn like that, you see."

"Hm", Jaune nodded, before adding, "Well, stubbornness can be a good trait in someone."

"Yes", Winter quietly added, "Sometimes..."

Jaune didn't say anything else, not sure what else to add onto that.

They spent the rest of the ride down the Vale in an awkward silence.


The ride down to Vale was nothing to (Pardon the pun) Ride home about. Apart from the nausea from my motion sickness, and a little interaction between me and Winter, nothing happened at all.

Editing note: Take out the motion sickness bit. No one want's to hear about me almost puking my guts out.

It was when we got down to the surface, that things started getting interesting...


"And this is the central Atlesian military staging ground", Winter said as she led Jaune out of the airship and made their way through the airport that he had walked through less than a fortnight ago, only now it had been fully converted into, as Winter had just said, a staging ground and refuelling centre for Atlas' forces, as well as a few of the hotels that were near the airport as well, with soldiers marching from left to right, and Bullheads and Verity-class fighters parked and sectioned off into refuelling columns as technicians and workers saw and tended to them, while walkers and wheeled vehicles transported supplies from left to right across the airstrip and between the terminals. Up in the air, the massive airship that was the Saviour-class carrier airship called the Endurance hung above Vale, casting a dark shadow and bloting out the sun. Winter continued on, "This is where you will be staying until Wednesday next week while you're on rotation. For today and tomorrow, you will be working with me, so you are to follow my orders to the letter. I have no patience for recklessness or idiocy, so be sure to do exactly as I say, whenever, whatever, and however, understood?"

"Er, yes ma'am", Jaune said as he quickly carried his things with his behind Winter, the woman in question walking in a formal, quick paced formation as nearby soldiers and workers in Atlesian uniforms saluted to her, She must be high up in Atlas' food chain in order to command this much respect, he thought to himself.

As they past what appeared to be the airport's control tower- Which had been reconverted into the Atlesians main HQ, Winter then continued with, "That is our main headquarters, and nearby is our new barracks", gesturing her head to a different terminal that was sectioned off with tents and covered entrances and windows, "You'll be staying in there until it is your time to leave. Once you get there, you will unpack your belongings and then follow me back down to the HQ where you will be provided the details of our assignments, understood?"

"Y-Yes ma'am", Jaune quickly replied, feeling slightly intimidated by the older Huntress as she commanded him along.

Fortunately, someone seemed to take notice of this as a voice, with a slight jovial tone behind it, quickly called out, "Specialist Schnee, please feel free to not intimidate the Hunters in training?"

Winter's head quickly darted to the side, and Jaune followed it to see a tall, older man dressed in a white long sleeved overcoat and trousers, grey undershirt, black sweater and red necktie walking up to them- Or to her- With his hands crossed behind his back. Flanking him on his right was a brown skinned woman with violet eyes and brown hair, as well as platinum blond in the middle, separated into a V that resembled rabbit ears, whilst also wearing a short sleeved Atlesian uniform with trouser legs that left her inner thighs exposed, and a metal backpack clinging to her. Nearby, what Jaune assumed to be another Huntress- A white haired sheep Faunus dressed in a green and black coat, white and green shirt, black trousers and grey boots- Moving over to speak to May Marigold and their charges for the day, Skipjack and DJ.

"Sir!" Winter quickly called out as she saluted, darting her eyes to Jaune as if to tell him to do the same.

Jaune, picking up on this, moved his hand to salute, but then found that he was still carrying very heavy boxes.

So, in a fit of genius, he began to lower himself to the ground to try and reach his hand, going lower and lower until after a few moments, he found himself squatting on the ground and leaning to the side to try and reach his hand, looking like a constipated dog as he tried to do so.

Winter, somehow not breaking her pose, looked down to him and hissed, "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to salute but my hands are full."

"Let go of the boxes, you dolt."

"Wait, I can- Oh yeah, I can do that! I completely forgot about that!" Jaune went as he quickly got back up and dropped his very heavy boxes with a-

{THUD}

-And quickly held his hand out for a handshake, before looking down on it, "Oh, woops!" and bringing it in for a salute, before remembering that he still had his helmet on and taking it off, slinging it under his arm as he then saluted again.

A single tear rolled down his cheek.

"Er", the violet eyed woman began, "Are you okay?"

"...I dropped my boxes on my toes... Please help."

Winter, despite herself, slapped her hand against her face.

The violet eyed girl just rolled said eyes and lifted the boxes from his feet, dropping them right next to him.

"Thank you."

The violet eyed girl sighed and muttered to the man next to her, "Why are we stuck with the idiots?"

"Hey..."

"Be nice, Specialist Bree", the man said to her, before looking down at Jaune with an amused smile on him and going, "You must be Jaune Arc, correct?"

"Oh, er, yes sir", Jaune gingerly rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry about all of that. I just... I'm not usually like that, I just... Had a bit of a dum-dum moment, is all. Oh, and, er, whom may you be, if I could please ask?"

"General James Ironwood."

"...Oh... You're a gener- Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh fudge cakes", jaune slowly drawled out, "Er, hey, er", his head darted to the side as he then quickly went, "Actually, y'know what, let's just- Can we just pretend that the last minute didn't happen, please, thank you, hi I'm Jaune, nice to meet you."

Winter let out a quiet groan, the violet eyed girl- 'Bree', apparently- Raised an eyebrow, and General Ironwood just chuckled and took his outstretched hand, "Hello there, Headmaster Ozpin has told me good things about you."

"Oh, has he?" Jaune asked, "Well, that- That's good, I suppose", he paused, relieving his hand from Ironwood's, and going, "I mean, if he said bad stuff, then that'd be bad, obviously", he paused again, "Sorry sir, nerves. I'm not, er… I guess I'm not good with people", he rubbed his side, and went, "Sorry, am I interrupting something? Did you want to speak with her about something? Should I go?"

"Ah, well, I just wished to talk with Specialist Schnee about something. It doesn't concern you", General Ironwood said, before gesturing to Bree and going, "I'm sure Specialist Harriet Bree can show you to your barracks."

'Harriet Bree' looked like she was about to argue against it, before biting her lip and going, "Yes sir, I wanted to polish my weapons anyways", patting Jaune on the shoulder as she then said , "C'mon, I'll show you to your room."

"Ah, right", Jaune went as he quickly picked his boxes back up and went, "Sorry about that, by the way, I'm not- I'm not usually that dumb. Hopefully."

"Ah, it's fine", Harriet waved it off as they began to walk, "Just having a bad day, is all. Got paired with someone that I really... Dislike, and then-"

"Please, don't worry the poor boy with things that he doesn't need to hear, Specialist Bree", Ironwood called out to her.

She just sighed and muttered, "Well, I think murders might be things that he needs to-"

"Murders?" Harriet winced, obviously not having intended for Jaune to hear her as he wheeled around in front of her, a concerned, suddenly focused look on his face underneath his helmet, his straightened body language communicating all that needed to be said, "What murders?"

Harriet groaned, and went, "It's nothing important. Nothing to worry yourself over. We've got... Professionals... Looking over it."

"You paused. You hesitated. You put too much emphasis on the word 'Professionals', meaning that these guys- Whoever you're talking about- Aren't actually professionals at whatever they're doing, or at least you don't think so."

Harriet looked at him with a surprised look on her face. Had he been accurate? Looked like it, "Huh, you're quick on the update. Seriously, though, don't worry about it. Just gotta let the authorities handle it. They'll pull through."

"...Will they?"

Harriet spared a glance at him, "It's their job. Just worry about following orders and learning as much as you can. It'll be fine."

Jaune just looked down as he walked, and after a moment's hesitation, nodded. She was right, he was worrying about nothing. The authorities- The cops and the investigators- Knew what they were doing. They had it all in the bag.


Jaune had a sneaking suspicion that the authorities did not have it all in the bag.

"I trust you've never been to a police station before?" Winter Schnee asked him as they, as well as a few other Hunters- Elm Ederne, Joanna Greenleaf, and May Marigold- Walked up the steps to the overpopulated police station, trying their best not to bump into any of the hundred officers that were packed into the station like sardines. Outside, a small crowd had begun to gather, chanting and protesting against the poor treatment of Faunus and refugees, police brutality, and the conscription law, hands and picket signs in the air as pairs of officers got before them, pistols and batons in hand, their eyes training on the crowd, looking for anyone who would stand out of line.

"Er, if you're asking if I've ever been in trouble, then, no, no I haven't", Jaune went, fully decked out with all of his weapons attached to his armour, his voice having an radio like tone to it as it sounded through his helmet into the open. He looked behind him, back to the crowd that was chanting on and on, and pointed to them, "So, um, should we be... Be doing something about... You know, that?"

"Ah, don't sweat about it, kid", Elm Ederne spoke up as she hit him on the back with a hefty slap, causing him to stumble forward a step before she apologised and continued on, "Me and the guys and girls, we've seen these kind of crowd protests before. They hardly ever go violent, so it'll be all fine and dandy."

"Yeah, you say that, but look at the response from the cops", May went as she jabbed a thumb at the police officers standing guard, "These guys are jittery. They're asking for a fight."

"They're militiamen", Jaune looked to his side to see a female Faunus with cricket legs walking over to them, "Just came from the former settlements on the outskirts of Vale. Still shaken from it all. Just shaken nerves, or however the saying goes", she gestured a thumb to them, "They're itching for a fight, all right. We're trying to install some trigger discipline into them, but... Yeah."

"If that's the case, then why the hell are you letting trigger happy gunmen walk around with badges?" Joanna called out, "That's just asking for a whole hell of a lot of trouble."

"Don't blame me, blame the council. It was their idea, and despite everything, out of all of the new guys, these ones are by far the best officers of the bunch, which is fairly depressing to think about", the cricket Faunus then turned and held out a hand to Winter and went, "I'm Officer Connie Jessabelle, one of the original police officers in Vale before the conscription law got put in."

Winter seemed to hesitate, before taking her hand and going, "I am Specialist Winter Schnee, please to be of your acquaintance."

"Ah, a Schnee, I see", Winter flinched at this, "Don't worry, it's alright", Connie amended, before turning to the group and going, "So I heard there was a junior Hunter or whatever that was going to be shadowing you, or is that another day?" Jaune quickly indicated to himself, and Connie continued, "Ah, I see. You need anymore guns on you, by the way?"

"Oh, er, well, I'm, er, not as good as the rest of-"

"There's no need for you to divulge that kind of information to anyone, Mr Arc", Winter chastised, "It's called 'Sensitive information' for a reason."

"Ah, right, sorry."

Winter seemed to supress a sigh as she then turned to the 4 Huntresses that'd come with them and said to them, "You 4, stay out here, and make sure that the... Militiamen, don't do anything foolish, understand?"

""Yes ma'am"", Elm and Harriet spoke at the same time, whilst May just rolled her eyes and muttered something, which Jonna silently giggled at.

Winter nodded, and then went to Connie, "Well then, if you would please show Mr Arc and myself around, Officer..."

"Oh, right then", Connie went, "Right, let's go have a mooch about then, shall we?"

Winter just raised an eyebrow at her.

"...'Have a mooch about'... Have a look around... It's slang."

"I do not do slang."

"Well, yes, that is very much evident", Connie muttered, before gesturing to the police station's opened door, "Follow me", and walking off, Winter following close behind, and Jaune shortly after, closing the door to the police station behind him as he went through.


The police station was packed to the brim, filled with the calling voices and tapping feet of officers with fresh faces and nervous postures going left and right, flowing through the station's atrium and hallways like water, while Winter and Jaune tried to fight against the current, weaving through the crowds of officers as they followed behind Connie, their shoulders banging and pressing against others as they moved.

"It's so crowded in here", Jaune muttered as he tried his best as to not get pushed over., "What the hell is going on here? Why are there so many officers? Is this normal for Vale?"

"Hah, we wish", Connie called out as they began to make their way to the break room, moving past a group of chatting officers, their postures laxed and chilled.

"It's because of the council", Winter pointed out to Jaune, "The Valerian council, at least. They were panicked about the new Grimm forces and began to conscript people into the officer ranks in mass", she paused in place, coming closer to Jaune as she then said, "Quantity became more important than quality."

"Oh?" Jaune quietly asked, "So, these guys are poorly trained, like the officer leading us through here said?" Winter nodded in response, "Is this what it's like in every other city? I've only ever been to my old home and the town of Jewel, and I don't remember it ever being this bad there."

"You have never really been into a city before now, have you?" Winter asked with a genuine tone.

"No, why?"

"Well, all of this", she gestured to around them with her finger, "Is because of one thing: Fear", Jaune raised an eyebrow, and she continued, "There had never been an attack on Vale like the one 2 weeks ago since the end of the Great War. Not even the Rights Revolution was that bad on the kingdom, as that conflict was mostly secluded to urban rioting and lynch mobs. But then again, there hadn't been a battle at all like the Initiation Massacre since the Rights Revolution and the battles of the 7 Forts, nothing that devastating. Even if the city wasn't directly attacked, the thought of an army of Grimm that size somehow arriving in Vale under our notice, and then the possibility of another army of Grimm attacking Vale... Well, it caused the council, and everyone else that lives inside the city walls to panic."

Jaune nodded along, signalling his understanding.

"And, to say that the main city of Vale, as well as the central cities of every other kingdom are important is to undersell the magnitude of their presence. The central kingdom cities are the lynchpins, and the hearts of every kingdom. Almost all trade goes through the cities. The main Hunter and military bases are located within the cities, as are the Hunter academies, as is much of each kingdom's population, as well as their central leadership. Apologies for sounding dramatic, but if the kingdoms are the bodies, and the settlements are the veins, then the kingdoms are the hearts. If the cities fall, then the kingdoms fall."

"Ah, I see."

Winter nodded, "I hope that you do, because if you do, then you can understand the severity of the situation, and the perspective of the situation. The council's, in order to protect themselves and the city, introduced the conscription law, and then recalled all of their militias around the kingdom and inducted them into the police forces to boost their numbers, before pulling in as many people as they could from the conscription law. Although, that's obviously causing problems."

"They're not doing well?" Jaune asked, "Poor cooperation, I guess, between all of these new officers."

"Indeed. Because they've been rushed out of training, these new officers still don't know enough about the laws that they are meant to follow. They don't have discipline or organisation, and they don't have the right attitude at all."

"They're acting like mercenaries?"

"That would be an insult", Winter paused, "To the mercenaries, because most of the time, PMCs at least have some form of order, but these people don't. Like I said, quantity over quality has become a standard. They've essentially been given a barebones crash course in policing, a badge, and sent on their way, as if the council expects every single one of them to be utterly obedient and law abiding themselves", she looked him right into the glowing blue visor of his helmet, as if she was looking right into his eyes as she then said, "From what I have seen, the council has mostly been pushing most of their recruitment drives into the new arrivals and refugee population, in order to get at least something out of them, but it is a poor decision, because psychologically, they are in a bad state and ridden with PTSD and trauma from just loosing their homes and children, and will most likely been more susceptible to corruption and bribery. Since they just lost their homes and their livelihoods, they will need to put bread on the table somehow, and if someone's willing to pay just to look the other way when a tiny little bad thing happens, then all the better."

"But has it ever really been this bad?" Jaune asked, "In Atlas, or Mistral, or anywhere else, I mean?"

"Well, after a shooting in Mantle by the White Fang, the Atlesian council did push for higher recruitment rates, but never went so far as to pass a conscription law. Of course, the situation was much better. Well, things were morbid, of course, but nothing compared to a war scale battle on a kingdom's own soil."

"So, I'm guessing we just have to make the best out of a bad situation?" Winter nodded, and Jaune then asked, "So, why are we here, anyways?"

"And here's the break room", Connie stopped them as she pointed to a closed door, with the sounds of commotion and laughter coming out from behind it, "Well, I mean, there it is", she took a peak in, and then looked to Jaune and Winter and went, "Yeah, I don't think that we're gonna be able to go in. S'a bit packed, and, well", she gestured to Winter, "They might not be very friendly to a... Well, you know..."

Jaune tilted his head to the side, "Er, no, not really."

"Yes, I understand", Winter interjected, "We will stay out here."

"Ah, right", Connie went, rubbing the back of her head, before going, "Well, I'm, er, I'm on my break now, so, y'know, have a good enough day, I suppose", and with that, she opened up the door to the break room, and walked in, getting a small cheer from the people inside as the door closed on them.

Winter then turned and looked at Jaune, "You wished to know why we're here?" Jaune nodded, "Well, we're here because, as a Hunter, it is not uncommon for us to work with kingdom police forces, providing security for them during their investigations, and sometimes even participating in them in order to further those investigations along and, eventually, catch the people behind them. Now, while you won't be participating in any of them, I will, and since you are meant to be shadowing me, you will be following me along as we provide security for several police operations until the day after tomorrow, where you'll be handed off to another Hunter for the rest of your time."

'Handed off to another Hunter', huh? Feeling a little insulted right now, Jaune thought to himself, before admonishing himself and going, "Right", Winter gave him a look, "Er, I mean, yes ma'am", Winter kept looking at him, "What?"

"Nothing", Winter said as she looked away, "Forget about it..."

"...Oh... Okay, then...", he looked to the side, before adding on, "Hey, I've gotta, erm, find a bathroom, quickly. Forgot to go before we left, so... Yeah."

Winter sighed in response before waving him off and going, "Alright then, go, and... Relieve yourself, but come straight back here, understand?"

Jaune nodded, and ran off, pushing past the many officers that flooded the halls and following the signs, so that he may indeed 'Relieve' himself.


Once Jaune had finished relieving himself, and having followed the proper sanitary protocols, he made his way back out of the toilets, and proceeded to walk back down to Winter, passing by all sorts of fresh officers commingling through the corridors.

Many of those officers looked over him with distain, murmuring to each other as he past them.

"It's a Hunter..."

"Great..."

"Fucking Hunters..."

"What's he doing here?..."

"He's just gonna fuck everything up..."

Jaune tried his best to ignore the harsh whispers and the pointed stares, biting the insides of his lips as he marched along, his feet slightly picking up speed as he walked along, weaving his way through the crowds of officers that glared daggers and sniggered at him.

He failed to notice the foot that had stretched out in front of his path until he had tripped over it and fallen to the ground.

He groaned and sighed while he picked himself back up, all to the growing mocking laughter and mutters to the freshly made officers around him, whilst others of them cleared off to told the others to knock it off.

Was this what it was always like for Hunters? Did the cops always treat Hunters like this? He didn't know. Surely not. From what'd he'd heard and seen about Hunters throughout all of his life, as well as at his time at Beacon, is that they were supposed to be beloved warriors and protectors, the best of the best and respected by all and all that, and yet here, these people seemed to treat him with nothing short of contempt. Was it because he was a Hunter, or something else entirely? Again, he didn't know. He'd have to ask Winter about this.

He found himself broken out of his thoughts as he stopped in place, paused, and looked up to a worn sign atop a door.

It read 'Forensics'.

He stayed paused, and thought back to earlier in the day, how Harriet had mentioned something about murders. She had said not to worry about it, that it wasn't his problem, and to let the authorities worry about it.

Well, she had said that... But... Well, he was a Huntsman, wasn't he? He was a Hunter in training?

It was his job to help out.

His feet carried him into the forensics room, the door closing behind him as he found that, contrast to the rest of the police station, the room was surprisingly empty. It was dark, with scattered notes and tools here and there across the desks, with a few of the monitors flicked on with white and blue screens. The entire room looked like it was in poor quality, with dust staining the monitors and sticky notes fallen to the ground.

There was a single person in the room, a young man with chestnut hair and glasses, sitting by a lit monitor, going over footage from what looked like a security camera, before closing a folder on his desk, and then realising that there was someone in the room, and looking behind him to see Jaune standing near the closed door, and going, "Er, hey... Who're you?"

"Oh, I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc", he paused and put his hands to his armoured sides, "I'm a Hunter in training. I just- I just came in with an instructor. To shadow police investigations, and all that."

"Ah, I see", the officer at the monitor went, before turning back to the monitor and saying, "What'd you doing in here, then? This ain't a place for a Hunter."

"Er, well, I heard about- About murders, earlier", the officer looked to Jaune as he continued, "I heard that there'd been murders, and I just wanted to know what was going on with that", he paused, and then went, "I just wanted to see if I could help."

The officer paused, and looked back at him, "Sorry, but, this is an official police investigation, and it's pretty much case closed by now, and, well, you're a Hunter, you've got no jurisdiction in this. Sorry."

"Really, because from what I've heard, Hunters are sometimes brought into investigations as, well, investigators to help out?"

"Well, like you said, you're a Hunter in training, not an actual Huntsman. You don't have the license to do anything, anyways."

"Yeah, well... Well, yeah, you're right, I'm still learning", Jaune went, finding himself as he then added on, "I'm still learning on how to be a team leader. In fact, the other team leaders and I were selected by the council in order to judge our own judgement and analytical skills, something which I will be learning about when I am on the field and shadowing more experienced Hunters, and what not?"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Yep."

"Get to it, or get out."

"Oh, er, right then. Well, there are gonna be times where I can ask questions, isn't there? But it's also limited, isn't it? I won't be able to ask any questions or learn anything about police investigations because I'll only be able to observe them, and not take part in them and massage my analytical skills, and I won't be able to do anything about it because the Hunter that I am with and I aren't part of that police operation, so how will I be able to be properly judged on my abilities as a leader by the big men upstairs if I'm never given the chance to do so?"

The officer with the glasses looked at him with a questioning gaze, and then asked, "What're you getting at, kid?"

"I'm just asking, give me a chance", Jaune went as he took off his helmet, the glowing blue in the visor fading away as he slung it under his arm, looked at the officer and went, "One chance, please. I want to help out. Really, I do. I don't like it when there are people dying and suffering and whatnot and I'm not able to do anything about it. Just, one chance. One chance, then if I'm not good enough. I'll leave. You can kick me out, and write me up, or whatever", he held up a single finger, "One chance, please."

The officer looked at him with an amused look on his face, and then went, "Alright then kid, you want one chance? Here it is", he pointed to the monitor, "See this?"

Jaune walked up to the monitor and squinted his eyes, "The monitor?"

"Yeah, the monitor", the officer went as he tapped a series of keys onto the computer terminal, and brought the video back to its start, "Here's the video of the murder. I'll show it, you take from it what you will, understood?" Jaune nodded, "Alright then, here you are."

He played the video for Jaune, the Hunter in training placing his helmet on the desk near him, facing it away from the monitor, and then letting his eyes scan over the moving image, as the video, with no audio, showed a 45 degree angle of 3 people- 2 Faunus, both male, and 1 insect like Techion- Gathering around an opening in a foliage of trees and bushes, with them seemingly arguing over something, and the Techion opening up a bag to them, presenting something within them that he couldn't completely make out.

Then, the barrel of a gun poked out from a bush, and with a blue muzzle flash each, 2 shots rang out from the gun barrel, both of them passing through the Techion, first shot through the head, the second through his chest, forcing him to the ground and killing him instantly. Jaune thought that he wouldn't blanched at this, but he remained still. He supposed there was a difference to seeing death on a screen than to seeing death in person.

Then, another blue muzzle flash, and the screen turned to static. Whoever had killed the Techion had shot out the camera, ending the video.

Jaune paused, and then, at the nonverbal urging of the officer, asked, "Where the other 2 killed in the same way?"

"The Faunus? Yeah, they were."

"Hm", he went, rubbing his chin, "Well, I couldn't tell what was in the bag that the Techion one was holding, but it looked like there were 3 things in them, and it seemed to be important to them, since they were arguing over it. This was on the other side of the wall, wasn't it?" the officer nodded, "Well, Atlesian military forces are currently in Vale right now, peacekeeping guard while Vale rebuilds, but we all know of Atlas'... Less than favourable reputation when it comes to treatment of Faunus, as well as the currently unstable political, military, and social climate of Vale due to the Grimm attack, so I'm going to wager a bet and say that these guys were carrying something to help them leave Vale. Perhaps they couldn't do it legally, and there wasn't a good place in Vale for them to gather in, hence why they were meeting outside of the walls. So, they were either meeting out there to begin a hike through Vale- Which isn't very likely considering the recently reporting dangers in the Valerian wilderness and the still lingering threat of any more Grimm attacks- Or they were meeting outside the walls, before heading back in so that they could find a car or a ship or a tunnel out of Vale and to wherever there was they could reach, perhaps Vacuo, or somewhere else", Jaune paused, putting his hand down from his chin and leaning against the desk, "Or, they could be making new identities for themselves with whatever was in that bag, and not leaving Vale at all, but I'm not entirely sure about that one. I could be wrong."

The officer looked at him, bemused by his words. Had he been right? Had he been so far off from what had been confirmed as the truth that he might as well have been aiming for the moon? And missed? Horrifically? He didn't know, but he continued on regardless.

"Additionally, the gun that was used to kill the Techion: The muzzle flash was blue. I wouldn't say that that's unusual, seeing as how my guns have blue muzzle flashes when they shoot, but it is fairly common in Atlesian weaponry and firearms, though some of their airships have been known to fire red blasts instead of blue. And also, the way that the bullets passed through that Techion? They had to be armour piercing rounds. Normal rounds would just embed themselves within his armour, or just bounce right off then. Even if the armour was weak, it still would've had some stopping power, and the bullet still shouldn't have done as much damage as it did to him, so it must've been armour piercing. It's the only way that they could've passed through the armour that cleanly, and done that much damage."

The officer nodded, listening in to him as he continued.

"And not only that, but there was the execution style as well. Whoever it was that killed the Techion went for the double tap, one in the head, the other to the left of his chest, where his heart was. The other 2 died the same way, didn't they?"

"Er, well, almost. The snake Faunus had a round that went through his chest that missed his heart. He was angled in a twisted position, though. Forensic boys think that he must've twisted himself around to try and avoid the gunman, but was too slow."

"Ah, well, even so, whoever killed the Techion, and subsequently the 2 Faunus, knew what they were doing. They used one bullet for each shot, neither missed. He was conserving ammo. Same way for the others? One bullet, no more?" the officer nodded once more, "Well then, whoever it was has some sort of professional training, seeing as they were saving their ammo, and then going for the double tap. And then there's the reaction time. If you could please move back to when the Techion was shot, and also slow down the footage?"

The officer nodded, and did just that, rewinding the footage and slowing it down as the blue flash from the muzzle slowed down to a few frames per second, slowly flashing on and off, twice in a row, as the bullets passed through the Techion and slowly sprayed black and red ambrosia across the ground.

Jaune pointed to the screen as the second muzzle flash erupted from the gun barrel shortly after the first, and went, "See that? The quick changing time between targets as they fired? The amount of time between them changing targets from the head to the heart was barely a second. Now, for any other person, that wouldn't be possible, but that right there. That quick precision and timing, and quick fire rounds? Whoever was shooting those rounds off was fast. Hella fast, and that kinda timing can only come from professional training and experience. Not only that, but the precision. That first shot went right in the visor, right between the eyes, and then the next round went right through the heart, right in the middle of where the heart usually is. On point, exactly. And then there's the recoil, or rather, lack of it. Notice how the gun hardly moves at all when they're shooting. For this person to be able to switch from targets so quickly, and to be able to be so precise with their shots, they must have excellent control over the recoil. Either that, or the gun that they're using has hardly any recoil at all."

Jaune moved back, looking back to the officer, still sitting down and looking at the younger boy.

"Whoever killed these 3 must have some sort of professional training, and as such, must have a background in some armed force to have that kind of precision and control over their gun, and how they killed him. Not sure about a police officer, though, but possibly a member of the military, or even a Hunter, or at least something along those lines, and the blue muzzle flash and the usage of armour piercing rounds, that might narrow it down a bit, but probably not. However, like I said, whoever we're looking for is well trained, so not just some random thug or psycho with a 9mm."

Jaune then finally noticed the surprised look on the officer's face, and he then looked the other way, and rubbed the back of his head.

"Er, I mean, I think. Was... Was that good? Was that accurate? It was... Well, I mean, it was all that I could get from that footage, so, er… Yeah."

"...You got all of that..."

"Yeah..."

"From under a minute of footage..."

"...Was it accurate, at least?"

"Er, yeah. Yes, actually. That was... That was pretty spot on. A little more than that, actually."

"Oh, well, that... That's good."

"But anyways, that doesn't matter", the officer said as he looked to his watch, "Meeting time", he muttered, before he turned off the monitor and picked up the folder, getting up from his seat and taking the folder with him as he moved to the door, "Case is closed, now."

"What- Is it?" Jaune went, "You serious?"

"Yeah, I'm serious."

"Oh, well, I know forensics would've gotten more answers than I would've, but... It could've have been solved that quickly. When did these murders actually take place?"

"This morning, and we've placed the murders on the Grimm. The new ones."

"The ones in the Emerald Forest?"

"Were you there?" Jaune nodded, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's fine", Jaune waved it off, and repeated, "It's fine."

"Well, anyways, since you were down there, you should know that these new Grimm soldier types have been acting like scavengers, picking up any weapons and armour that they can find. We've had reports from all over Vale that the Grimm have been picking and pulling apart as much as they can across the kingdom and the Grimmlands. So, working, and accepted theory is that a Grimm with a scavenged gun wandered upon them and shot them."

"Huh?" Jaune stopped, and shook his head, "But that's- That's too convenient. That's too convenient of an answer. If it was a Grimm, then why did it shoot out the camera?"

"To hide it's presence, or it's allies, and move them into the tunnels under Vale, like during the fights at the city prison. Something like that, I assume", the officer went as he opened the door out of the forensics room, "And anyways, it doesn't matter."

"Wha- 3 people were murdered!"

"Yeah, and they were terrorists", at Jaune's sudden look of confusion, the officer continued, "All 3 of them were confirmed to be members of the White Wolves. That Faunus terrorist group. No one wants to waste precious resources looking into the deaths of people that deserved it, and even if it wasn't a Grimm that killed them, and was some trigger happy cop or soldier with a grudge, so what? They're terrorists, they got what was coming to them. I say we give that fucker a medal", the officer waved Jaune off, and left, "Later."

The officer closed the door behind him as he left, leaving Jaune alone in the dark room, surrounded by desks, stray paper, and blank monitors. With a hand on his chin, he began to think once more.

It couldn't just end like that. They couldn't just end an official police investigation like that. Not without any proper evidence to justify their ending conclusion?

Did they have that evidence? Had he just not seen the same conclusion or come to the same understanding as the official investigators had? This was an obvious conclusion, as he hadn't been part of the official investigation. He hadn't seen the same evidence as he had, so perhaps whatever they had found at the original crime scene was enough for them to reach their conclusion.

However, the way that the officer had dismissed him, and the case, and the murdered persons, and, well, anything at all, it seemed... It was very careless. Very lacklustre. Very much in wanting. He had just easily dismissed the deaths, and thereby dismissed the possibility of a murderer, well trained or not, running about, and had even, in a way, celebrated their deaths. Sure, if what he said was true, the 3 people who had been killed were White Wolves, terrorists, but still, if there was even a slim chance of a murderer roaming around Vale, then they had a responsibility, and a duty, to investigate and follow that lead until they had reached it's conclusion.

If the weapon was Atlesian, then... Well, it was a possibility, but perhaps there was a way to track Atlesian weapons when they were out on the field. Like back at Beacon, when one would take weapons out, they had to sign a report that said that they had rented one of them, and would mark them down when they returned them. Perhaps there was something like that for Atlas' weapons.

Winter was a member of the Atlesian military. She would know. Perhaps if he asked her, she could guide him to the armouries and look over the weapon lockers and look for any bullets and rifles or whatnot that were missing or had been taken out, and cross reference that with the guns that were currently out on the field, and try to find something that stood out amongst them, or something that didn't add up, like the armour piercing bullets, for instance.

"Arc!"

And speaking of which...

"Ah, Winter", Jaune went as he grabbed his helmet from the table near him and looked to the elder Schnee as she walked through the door to the forensic labs, putting his helmet back on as he then said, "Hey, I just had a thought. I was speaking to an officer earlier about a couple of murders that happened earlier today, and I have a feeling that whoever this murderer was had used Atlesian weaponry to kill those people, so I was just thinking-"

"Mr Arc, I distinctly remember telling you to come back to me immediately once you were done earlier, did I not?"

"Er, well, yeah, but I-"

"And yet, you disobeyed my orders, and decided to interfere into an official police investigation, which, might I add, is an immoral, and illegal act."

"W-Wait, I-"

"Mr Arc, please, give me one good reason why I shouldn't report to Headmaster Ozpin, or Miss Goodwitch, or any other one of my and our higherups about your inability to follow orders, and your willingness to butt into business that is not your own, illegally as well."

"Wait, no!" Jaune began to wave his hands around and began to panic, "No I didn't- I didn't butt in, I just- I asked! I asked about what was going on and the guy who was working on it gave me a chance to help out, and then I did! He showed me a camera recording and then just told me to point out what I could see and I did! But he just- He just told me that his investigation was over, but..."

"But what?"

"But I think he ended it too early", Jaune went on to explain, "These murders happened on, what? This morning? He just immediately dismissed it, and blamed it on the Grimm. I don't think he even put that much thought into it. He just- He didn't care. Not at all from what I could see."

"Why did you even want to join in this investigation in the first place?"

"Well, I just- I just wanted to help out", Jaune went, his arms sagging to the side as he then went, "There were people being killed, and the possibility of a murderer running about. I couldn't just- I can't just stand by and do nothing."

Winter just looked at him, and said, "Mr Arc, as much as we might like to, we cannot just interfere with a police investigation, even if we believe that it is flawed to begin with. We need official jurisdiction from the police force to be able to join in on an investigation, and even then, if the investigation is closed and solved, there's no point in trying to gain any jurisdiction to look into it. It's not a job that Hunters are trained or assigned to look into."

"But-"

"Arc, there's nothing that we can do about it. The investigation is closed, and it's not our place to try and intervene."

"Winter, we can't just-"

Another officer barged into the room, a panicked look on her face.

"Um, we need all hands on deck. The crowd outside are rioting."


Yeah, suffice to say, me and Winter didn't exactly get along that well. Differing viewpoints, and all that. I mean, I'm sure that she's got tons of experience on her belt, and she's got all of her military protocols and drills and stuff, but we just didn't synch. We were too different, too mismatching.

But we couldn't let that get in the way of our jobs. Or, well, her job, and my... Internship.

Is an internship a job? Dunno, I'll look it up.

Okay, so apparently it is. Good to know.

Editing note: Just... Get rid of all of this. It's needless information.

Anyways, we got outside, and found that, indeed, the crowd had gotten... Rowdy.

And that's when the real fun began...


"DOWN WITH THE DRAFT!"

"FUCK ATLAS!"

"WE'RE PEOPLE! NOT ANIMALS!"

"NO BETTER THAN THE GRIMM!"

"Get back!" one of the police officers, armed with an electric baton and a riot shield yelled as he pushed back one of the angry protesters back, screaming at them once more through the loud cacophony of screams and cries from the massive crowd of protesters that had gathered outside of the police station, holding picket signs and bats against the police officers holding batons and shields and tasers.

At the front of the entrance, Winter and Jaune, with Joanna, Elm, and May, stood by the entrance to the station, their weapons in hand as a show of... Force? Intimidation? Jaune didn't know, and this time, he asked, "Why are we here?"

"To make sure that this crowd doesn't get anymore riotous", Winter went, her sabre and hands at her sides, and not sparing a glance at him, looking down on the crowd with a still look upon her.

"Well, okay then, but isn't this a bit excessive?" Jaune asked again, "We're armed with guns, hammers, swords, and...", he looked to May and Joanna's weapons, "Weird mace spear things. Meanwhile the crowd's armed with picket signs and broken bottles. And even then, most Hunters have superpowers-"

"Semblances."

"-That, most of the time, break the fabric of reality and bend the laws of reality to their will. I'm just saying, aren't we packing a bit too much heat for this?"

"Perhaps, but as I said earlier, it isn't uncommon for Hunters to work with police in their operations, mostly to provide security for them. Helping to diffuse urban disturbances is among those instances. So, while bringing in Hunters to deal with a crowd of civilians is, to some, extreme and disproportionate, sometimes it is necessary in dealing with riots, and even then, the sight of fully armed Hunters looking over them, tends to lend a helping hand towards deescalating scenarios like these."

"So, intimidation, then?" Jaune said in a deadpan tone.

"Essentially, yes."

"That's stupid", Jaune went, holstering his ML-15A back onto his chest and crossing his arms together, "These guys aren't rioting, they're protesting. There's a sharp difference between a riot and a protest, and yet here we are, showing off our pew pews and blunt objects so that the one guy in the crowd who wants to start a fight doesn't throw a beer bottle or something."

"It's part of the job, kiddo", Elm spoke up, hefting her hammer over her shoulder, "Being a Huntsman or Huntress doesn't just mean fighting the Grimm, it also means protecting the innocent, and it's when people start to panic that they become a danger to themselves and others. Crowds like these are volatile, and all it takes is one idiot with a Molotov to start a panic. Then, before you know it, they're all scared and confused, and are trampling over and kicking the crap out of each other in the meantime. As much as I hate to say it, sometimes a little show of force goes a long way."

"Kid's got a point, though", Joanna then pointed out, "We can't just use force for every crowd that we come across. If we go into every situation with a loaded gun, then it's not exactly going to deescalate anything, is it? It would only make things worse. People get scared when you point a gun to their heads."

"People get scared either way", Elm said, "That's just the way that people work."

"So what, we just approach every problem with a weapon? Is that it?"

Elm looked at her, a slightly annoyed look on her face as she then spoke, "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean that not every situation can be diffused peacefully. Sometimes, regrettable as can be, we have to show a bit of force in order to-"

"What, get people to clam up and sit down? That's not peacekeeping, that's fear mongering, and it never works any of the time. What you're saying isn't ethical, it's tyrannical. Imperialist, even!"

"You know, I'm not trying to sound evil intentionally, y'know?"

"Yeah, but you are, though", May scoffed, and then muttered, "Head as big as your hammer, I see. And just as empty as well..."

"What was that?" Elm went in an aggravated tone as she glared down at the girl, hands massaging her hammer as May looked up to her with a confident glare, while Joanna got behind her and backed her up with her own challenging look to Elm.

Before Jaune could interject and ask as to what was going on, Winter stopped him and addressed the other Huntresses with them, "That's enough, you 3. You're Huntresses, not children, so act like it. The last thing we need is to act like immature brats in front of-"

"FUCK YOU, SCHNEE!"

A protester in the crowd threw an empty drink can over the police shields and at Winter. However, she, without even looking, just extended her hand out and caught it, then crushing it, "In front of a crowd of civilians who look up to us...", she finished off.

A few seconds later, the cries of the crowd grew louder, as the protesters began to shout and scream out expletives and profanity at Winter, or rather, about her.

"FUCK THE SCHNEES!"

"GET THEM OUT OF OUR KINGDOM!"

"I LOST MY JOB BECAUSE OF THEM!"

Jaune paused at all of this, unsure as to why Winter was receiving sure bile against her. He had only recently heard of the Schnee Dust Company, since Jewel had it's own dust mine supplying them, so he didn't know what it was about this company that got them such hatred, or what Winter had done to received part of that, since he'd only met her today. He'd have to look it up later on.

Then, something amongst the cries of the protesters made his eyes widened.

"MY MOTHER DIED IN THEIR MINES!"

Died?

Jaune looked up to Winter, a worried look on his face underneath his helmet, "Winter... That woman... She said that her mother... Died, in... In your mines?"

Winter's own eyes widened, and she looked away, and it was Joanna who spoke up this time, "Let's just say kid, that her dad isn't exactly the most ethical businessman out there."

Elm rounded back on her, and a fresh wave of arguing amongst them, but still, Jaune had his eyes trained on the older Schnee next to him, herself still looking away.

Winter... What the hell did you do?

Then, as he turned his head and looked out around the crowd, something caught his eyes. The same police officer from the forensics room earlier, with the chestnut hair and glasses, the document in his hand, taking advantage of the distraction from the rest of the Hunters and the crowd, and going around the corner of the police station, and then down an alleyway.

"You see that?" Jaune asked Winter, who now turned to him with a questioning look.

"Did I see what?"

"That officer from before... The one I spoke too... He just... He went down that alleyway..."

Jaune, not sparing a glance towards Winter, moved past the 3 still arguing Huntresses, and began to march towards the alleyway next to the police station. Winter, marching past the other Huntresses as well, firmly placed her hand on his shoulder and stopped him, "What are you doing?"

"That guy had a folder in his hand. I think it was the same document about the murders that he had earlier, and I don't think he's going to be putting it in a safe place anytime soon", Jaune replied, "I know it's off mission, or whatever, but... I just got a feeling, that's all."

Winter looked away for a second, before looking back at him, "Fine, but stick by me, okay?" Jaune nodded, and they both quickly and quietly walked to the side of the police station, slowly looking over the stone corner, and down the dark alleyway.

In the alleyway, 2 figures were seen. One of them was the police officer, handing off the folder, with a wad of lien in his other hand.

The second figure was a bat Faunus in a black, grey and gold uniform, with grey eyes and brown spiked hair and a goatee, taking the folder into his hand with a satisfied smile on his face. His chest was undone to reveal a blood red tattoo of a wolf's head over 3 claw marks.

"Wolf...", Winter quietly snarled.

"Got it", Jaune nodded as he pulled out one of his pistols and jumped out into the opening, "Hands on your heads!" he yelled as he drew a second pistol, aiming it at both of them.

The police officer and the White Wolf then spun around and saw him, "Ah shit", went the bat Faunus, before shoving the police officer down in front of him and then using the downed man as a springboard to-

"AUGH!" the now confirmed to be corrupt police officer painfully cried out.

-Jump up into the air and spread his wings, the animalistic appendages flapping in the air as he then began to fly upwards, chuckling to himself as he looked back down at them, as if mocking them. Probably mocking them indeed.

And then, a black glyph in the shape of a snowflake appeared over him. He didn't see it until he had slammed into it, comically crumpling up and beginning his descent back down.

He wasn't so mocking anymore.

Jaune looked back to Winter, to see her pointing her sabre up at the Faunus, a small black glyph appearing around it before fading away. The Hunter in training then turned his attention back to the White Wolf up in the air, as he regained control of himself and snarled, before diving down and flying right through the alleyway, right towards the 2, with a razor bladed dagger now in his free hand.

Winter was able to quickly summersault over the flying Faunus, slicing her sabre at one of his wings and cutting at the thin skin, but Jaune hadn't moved out of the way, electing to stand in the middle of the alleyway, holster his pistols, and catch the White Wolf with his bare hands, his fingers catching and wrapping around the White Wolf's arms as he flew forward and drove his daggers down, halting him and forcing him to skid backwards from the momentum, but otherwise still standing.

"So", Jaune went through a strained voice, "I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you're a bag guy, right?"

"Matter of perspective", the White Wolf grunted out, "Shame you won't get to think about it", before twisting himself around in the air and smashing Jaune into the wall, his aura and armour taking the brunt of the blow, but said aura weakening enough for the White Wolf to embed his dagger in his chest.

Where his heart was located.

Thankfully, the extra padding of black metal that he had attached to the left of his chest helped to stop the dagger from piercing through him and killing him, and he used this to grab the White Wolf's arm and pull him forward, sending a haymaker into his face and staggering him back, the Faunus ripping his knife out of his armour and allowing Jaune to quickly recover and pull out his Crocea Mors, parrying a blow from the White Wolf's knife, and allowing Winter to get back at him and slash him across his back.

Or at least, she tried to, but was stopped by the corrupt officer on the ground unloading 3 rounds into her back, her aura taking the blow but waning down, herself then turning around and deflecting another bullet with her sabre, and then casting another glyph that forced the officer back and pinned him to the wall.

The White Wolf noticed this, and moved to take a stab at her, but Jaune stopped this by slamming the hilt of his blade into his throat, and then taking another swing at him, the White Wolf recovering almost immediately and jumping back, before spreading his wings once more, "Fuck this!" and then flying down the alleyway, towards the entrance to the streets.

At the end of the alleyway, Elm poked her head around the corner, "Winter, we heard gunshots, what's-" the White Wolf didn't let her finish as he slammed into her, knocking her down in surprise and beginning his ascent into the air.

"I'm on him!" Jaune yelled out as he sheathed his blade and pulled his ML-15LE Wire Rifle from his back, pulling the safety off as he ran to the entrance out of the alleyway, into the street. Winter had yelled at him to wait, but Jaune hadn't heard, running out across the street, and switching his long rifle to its stun setting, before aiming it up and firing several blue bolts of electricity at the Faunus, himself weaving around these bolts as he flew away through the air, "Dammit!" he cursed out, flipping a switch on his rifle and letting it quickly cool off, recharging the batteries and allowing him to aim up once more.

Then, a hand grabbed at his arm.

And then another.

Then another.

Then a dozen more.

The mob from before had jumped him, trying to pin him to the ground, though Jaune was able to keep himself up, surprisingly, having to crouch down a little to crouch down, and commanding his aura to support and strengthen his limbs.

"There he is!" one of the protesters, a woman with brownish orange hair and deer antlers called out as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a chokehold, "Here's the motherfucker that was trying to shoot that guy!"

"ACK!" Jaune choked out as he dropped his Wire Rifle and clawed at her arms, "Let- Let go of me!"

One of her arms left his neck. At first, he hoped that she was complying, but then she whipped off his helmet, "He's a fucking human!" and slammed him in the head with it, tossing it to the side and smashing his head into the ground, chipping one of his teeth and drawing blood from his nose and mouth.

The woman lifted him back up, but before he could get a word out, he saw another one of the protesters, a Faunus man with glasses and floppy dog ears on the sides of his head, pick up his Wire Rifle like a bat, and slammed it into his face, "Racist motherfucker!" the man yelled out as he felt more hands claw at him, pulling at his armour and stealing his guns away.

"Wait, I'm not-" another swing from his own rifle impacted with the side of his head, cracking against his jaw and drawing a line of blood. Nearby, he could hear the crowds clawing at the other Huntresses that had been with him, the Hunters themselves unable to do anything in fear of injuring them.

"You see this?" the White Wolf up above called out, a wry smile on his face as his wings floated him above the crowd, and his words encouraged them along, "This is what humans do: They shoot us with impunity, and arrest us for crimes that we have no part in. They treat our kind like dirt, but we're better than them. We're better than all of them."

"Hate to burst your bubble, dude", Jaune loudly grunted out from his chokehold, "But you're the one buying police documents from a corrupt officer!" a punch to the face from the woman holding him shut him up, however.

"Eh, all in the past, kid", the White Wolf went as he waved the folder still in his hand, and then floated down a smudge, "See you around", and then soared down another alleyway.

The man above him, the one with the floppy ears on his sides, lowered the Wire Rifle in his hands, however, having been looking up at the flying member of the White Wolves, and presumably having seen the document in his hand, looked to his compatriot that was still holding Jaune in a chokehold, and went, "Deery, did he- Did he just say that he-"

"Who gives a shit, Perry?!" 'Deery' called out, "Just help me hold down this asshole until-"

"Sorry about this."

Deery looked down to Jaune, "Sorry about wha- AUGH!" she called out as he flipped himself around onto his back, prying himself free of the hands that'd been holding him down, and allowing his momentum to shove the deer antlered girl to the ground and-

"Yoink!"

-Grab his Crocea Mors off of the person who had taken it, slipping out of any of his armour that was still being held by people, grabbing his collapsed electrostaff off of the ground, and quickly pulling his Wire Rifle out of 'Perry's' loose grip.

"I'm sorry!" Jaune called back to the crowd (Realising how much he had been picking up from Pyrrha), and then shot off down the alleyway, clicking the stun back onto his Wire Rifle, before-

2 shots from his own gun that Deery had stolen from him, one of his ML-17 heavy pistols, handed on the back of his legs, forcing him down. Luckily, he'd already set most of his guns to their stun settings, and he was already pushing his aura around his body to cope with the lack of muscle mass and the weight and strength that he had lost from the Emerald Forest and being in a coma for a week, so it wasn't really a hindrance as much as it was an annoyance.

"I got him, I got him!" he heard Deery cheer as he forced himself back up, running back down the street and towards the alleyway, Wire Rifle in hand, "What're you waiting for, let's get after him!" he heard her yell out.

"Deery, calm down!" Perry called out, "We need to-"

"Shut the fuck up, Perry, you fucking hypocrite! I saw how much you liked beating the crap out of that human, so don't start preaching to me about-"

A loud, guttural scream cut them off, emanating from within the alleyway that that White Wolf had flown down. Jaune's feet picked up the pace, and behind him, he could hear the crowd behind him begin to speed up as well.

Dammit, he thought to himself, Did I just let him hurt a person?

He wheeled around the alleyway and pointed his rifle down the side.

Did my stupidity allow him to take an innocent's...

...

Life...

The White Wolf was standing over a person, his face frozen, not panicked, but shocked.

This person was leaning back against a red sprayed dumpster. A short, young woman with pale blue eyes and hair, with grey veins covering parts of her body that'd been exposed. She wore the same zipper as the White Wolf above her, with the zipper opened up as well, revealing the blood red symbol of the White Wolves to the world.

This woman was dead.

Her chest had been opened up, a wide puncture wound where her heart should be. Her head had been cracked open as well, right in the bridge of her nose, reducing her eyes to mush and caving in her skull. Blood and bits were spread across the dumpster and ground, and her mouth was wide open, as if she had been screaming. Or at least, trying to scream.

The same M.O. as the one who had killed the other 3 Wolves this morning.

Jaune quivered and almost dropped his rifle, resisting the urge to vomit. He hadn't noticed the crowd behind him that'd gathered until he had stepped back and bumped into them.

Did... Did this guy kill her... Couldn't have, he doesn't have a gun on him... The same guy from before must've... Oh, god, do they think I killed her?

The White Wolf then noticed them, "Fuck this!" and jumped up once more, spreading his wings and flying straight up, dropping the folder in his hands and letting it fall to the floor.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune called out, but was stopped by the crowd grabbing and holding him back once more, Oh, so they do think I killed her, "I didn't-"

He was stopped by the blue flash of a tracer round flying through the air.

Right through the White Wolf's chest, where his heart should be.

Blood and gore violently sprayed out of the man's chest, impacting and coating the wall next to him, and raining down on the ground below. The man began to fall to the ground, and Jaune was able to free himself from the grip of the protesters that'd been holding him, in order to run up and extend his arms out.

The man fell into his arms, and Jaune was forced to kneel down and try to sit him upright, not sure of what to do, except call out, "Somebody call for an ambulance!"

"Hey, get away from him!" Deery called out and rushed forward.

"Deery, don't do anything stupid!" Perry yelled and followed her forward to Jaune and the man in his arms.

"Hey", Jaune said to the man, the life fading from his eyes as he kept both hands on either side of the hole in his chest, trying in vain to keep the blood in, "Don't you worry, buddy, we're gonna get you all patched up and-"

Another blue tracer round spun through the air.

It impacted with the centre of the man's head, splitting it open, caving the bone and gore into it, and spraying blood all over Jaune and the 2 people behind him.

Jaune screamed, Perry and Deery screamed, the crowd behind them screamed, and the White Wolf's body crumpled and folded back onto the floor.


The crowd had dispersed shortly afterwards, out of panic, or just not wanting to be arrested, though a few people had been kept behind for interrogation and pending assault and vandalism charges. Luckily they had dropped my helmet and armour, since they probably couldn't find any use for them, and later on, I would be able to replace my stolen guns, so thanks to that, I wasn't really inhibited that much.

Save for the fact that I had just seen a man murdered right in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it.

The tags on the 2 people's bodies revealed the man to be one Yuma Landis, and his supposed accomplice to be Trifa Fajardo. Low ranking members of the House of the White Wolves, and especially the inner faction, the Acolytes of the Ascended (The name is more ominous now than ever, it would seem).

And now, another pair of body bags to ship to the morgue.


Leaning over an empty rubbish bin, Jaune finished vomiting up the last of his stomach contents, and thanked the officer next to him for giving him a bottle of water and a wet cloth, squirting the water into his mouth and swashing it around, before spitting it out into the bin and wiping his mouth and face dry of bile and blood, "Thanks", he said again, as the officer nodded and walked off.

After finishing up with the cloth, he threw it into the bin and put the lid on it once more, before leaning himself against the wall and putting the last part of his arm's armour back on, clamping the shoulder guard back into place, and then looking down at the 2 people sitting down, another officer leaning over them.

"Hey...", he waved to Perry and Deery, the 2 of them looking up to him with vacant eyes, both of them still covered in the splatters of the man's- Yuma Landis'- Blood.

They were silent when they looked at him, mouths open slightly, still sucking in air as they shivered, and then looked back down at the floor. Deery held Jaune's helmet in her hands, clutching onto it for dear life. Perry had just balled up.

"...", Jaune didn't say anything either for a while, trying to find his words, before getting off of the wall, letting his arms swing limply to his sides, and going, "...I know you think that I killed them...", it wasn't an accusation, nor was it the beginning of a threat, "And, yeah, I- You've got a right to think that I do."

This got the 2 of them to look up at him again, questioning gazes on them.

"I mean, well... I didn't kill them. I know that you think I do, but I didn't...", he paused again, looking to the side and trying to find his words again, but coming up short, "I was trying to arrest him, not shoot him. I mean, well, he was buying police documents. I said that to him, and he didn't deny it. For god's sake, we arrest people for that, not kill them...", he tweezed the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes, "I... Yeah, that's... That's all that I've got in the tank... I'm sorry..."

Deery and Perry looked at him a little while longer, and then looked down once more, "...What about your friends?" Deery finally said, a hint of distain in her voice, "Did they kill him?"

Perry looked like he was going to say something, as well as the officer above him, but Jaune waved the officer off, "I don't know. I don't know who it was."

"He was a Wolf", Deery said, "Wolves've got a lot of enemies", she then, slowly and with a shaking hand, pointed a finger to the congregation of Hunters near them, "And you've got a hell of a lot of suspects."

Jaune didn't say anything for a few moments, looking around to the Hunters, some of whom were arguing about something, then to Winter and Ironwood talking to the new police chief Nathen Raymond next to the newly placed bodies of Trifa and Yuma, and then to the officers looking over the few protestors that they had arrested, and then to the few congregations of officers and Atlesian military personal walking about, a few of them giving each other glares while random civilians stood by the sides, some of them recording the event on their scrolls, the others just looking and talking to each other.

"...Unfortunately, you may be right."

"You wanna press charges on them?" the officer standing behind and above Deery and Perry asked, which got the 2 of them to freeze up once more, "They did punch you, didn't they?"

Jaune paused, and then said, "No, let them go, they didn't do anything wrong."

"You serious?" it took him a second to realise that it was Perry who had said that.

A shrug was his response, "Bygones be bygones, and all that", Perry and Deery looked to each other, with Deery giving a shrug in response, and they then got up, before Jaune asked, "Er, hey... Could I have my helmet back, by the way?"

"Huh?" Deery went, before looking down, and remembering that she still had his helmet in his hands, "Oh, right!" and then handed it back to him, "Here you, er, here you go."

"Ah, thanks", Jaune went as he carefully took his helmet from her hands, and looked over the white and gold paint over the metal, before looking up to the retreating forms of Perry and Deery and calling out, "Hey, and er… Just be safe, okay?" the 2 of them looked at him again, "Just... Just stay safe. Hunter's orders."

Perry and Deery exchanged glances, before nodding to him, and without another word said, they walked off, still shaking and nervous as they weaved in between the small gatherings of people around and across the street, and then disappearing around the corner to parts unknown.

Well, to Jaune, at least.

"You let them go."

Jaune turned to the officer, "Yeah?"

"Why? If it was me that they'd punched, I'd be taking them straight to court. Be going after bank details and everything."

Jaune shrugged again, "I just think it's a silly thing to hold a grudge over."

The officer just looked at him, and then walked off, "You are too nice for your own good."

Jaune paused, looking at the retreating back of the officer, and muttered to himself, "I'm gonna take that as a compliment", before looking forwards to Winter and Ironwood and Raymond, and walking towards them, a stride in his step as he unconsciously kept a hold of his Crocea Mors.

"You okay there, kid?" Jaune flipped around, hands grasping at his sheathed sword's handle, before calming down and seeing that it was only Harriet Bree, who jokingly raised her hands to surrender and said, "Relax, I'm friendly", before lowering them, and going, "But seriously though, you okay? I heard from one of the officers that you were there when those 2 Wolves over there were killed."

"Er, y-yeah", Jaune went, looking down to the side and letting his hand let go of his sword, "Sorry, I just- I'm fine. Just a bit jittery, is all", he paused, before going, "Thanks."

Harriet raised an eyebrow, "For what?"

"For, er, for asking", Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, "And for helping out earlier."

"Earli- Oh, you mean at the airfield. The barracks, I mean", Jaune nodded in response, "Ah, s'no problem, least that I could do."

"Right", Jaune went, before gesturing to the gathering that he was going to, and saying, "Yeah, I'm... I gotta go-"

"I take it you wished to speak to us, Mister Arc", the 2 of them looked forward to see that General Ironwood looking at them, as well as Winter and Raymond, the former giving Jaune a cautious look.

"Oh, sir!" Harriet said with a salute.

"Oh, er, hi- I mean, hello sir", Jaune went, giving an awkward salute in response, before sparing a quick glance to the 2 bodies that'd been laid out on stretchers nearby, and going, "I, er, I wanted to talk to you, about the, er, the case", Ironwood gave him a look to continue, "Er, the murder cases, sir. It's obvious now that whoever's killed these guys and the people earlier are the same people, so-"

"How do you know?" Jaune looked at Ironwood in confusion, "How do you know about the murders earlier?"

"Oh, er, I just- I asked", Ironwood raised an eyebrow at this, "When I was passing the forensics, I just- I popped in, and I asked for a chance to help out, and the guy there gave me a chance-"

"I take it that you are referring to the same man who tired to sell the report of that case for money?" Ironwood asked, gesturing his head to that same corrupt officer who was being carted away by 2 Atlesians, ranting on about needing to put bread on the table and paying for his wife's healthcare.

Jaune felt sorry for him on the mention of that, but pushed it to the back of his mind as he then nodded to Ironwood.

"Mister Arc", Ironwood began, "You cannot just impede and interrupt a police investigation, no matter what your intentions."

"I-I know, but he just- He let me in."

"And it's clear now that he allowed you to join in the short time that he did because he was corrupt, and had no proper respect for the law."

"I've already informed him of why he shouldn't interfere with these investigations, sir", Winter told him, before saying to Jaune, "I do hope you are not trying to suggest what I think you are."

"Hey, cut the kid some slack", Raymond went, "Just want's to help, and all", Jaune nervously rubbed his armoured arm, and Raymond continued with, "Anyways, I'm gonna need to have that entire investigation redone, since it's clear now that there's good enough evidence to prove that there was too much wrong with it to-"

"I wanna help", the 3 of them, as well as Harriet looked to Jaune, who then repeated himself, "I want to help with the second investigation."

"Not happening", Winter said, "We haven't got jurisdiction."

"Unless we seek permission to intervene, yes", Jaune went, before gesturing to Raymond and going, "But we have the police chief right here, so we can just-"

"Can't happen, kid", Raymond waved his hand, "You're not an official Hunter yet, and your handler is an Atlesian official, and that's a whole 'nother can of political worms. If the council finds out that an Atlesian military person is taking part in a Valerian investigation, then they'll view that as a breach of sovereignty."

"Yeah, but I'm a student of Beacon", Jaune argued, "Which makes me a Valerian citizen by default, meaning that it won't be a breach of Valerian privacy or whatever if I'm in the investigation, and before you say it, the council gave the rest of the first year team leaders and I these internships that we're in in order for us to learn from professional Hunters and assess us based on our skills in analytics and judgement, and as such, if Winter- My current handler- And I are placed in the murder investigation, then it won't be a breach of sovereignty, as much as it will be simply Winter doing her job and showing me how to be a good team leader, and to help me exercise my skills."

Raymond paused, musing over his words, and it was Winter who asked this time, "Why do you wish to take part in this murder investigation, Arc?"

"Because a man has died because I couldn't do anything about it", Jaune pointed down to the body of Yuma, noticing a sliver of light coming from the zipper, but continuing on, "A man was murdered, and so was his friend. I was holding him in my arms, and I couldn't do anything but watch as he was shot in the goddamn head. If the guy who murdered them both, as well as the 3 people over the walls earlier, then I want to find him, and put him behind bars. Not because it would be satisfying, but because I, as a Hunter, regardless of training, have a basic duty to do so, and a debt to pay for the death", he paused, and folded his arms together, "That's all."

Raymond paused, as did Winter, as did Ironwood. Next to them, Harriet looked to the left, and rubbed her sides.

"...Okay."

"Okay, why are you so... I'm sorry?"

"Okay, I'll let you into the investigation", Raymond went, "We need all hands on deck anyways."

Winter gave him a look, "You can't be-"

"Miss Schnee, from what I've seen so far since former Chief Warren's death, it is that the police force, in it's current state, is unreliable", Raymond interjected, "And is in need of a serious reform. The conscription law by now has been good at filling gaps, but the cement used to do so is poor. If this kid has got the spunk in him that we need, then by all means. Plus, it'll be a good way to foster cooperation between the police force and Hunters, if we can both see how we can compliment the other."

"As well as between Valerians and Atlesians", Ironwood finally added in, "I can see your logic", he then turned to Winter, and went, "Specialist Schnee, Mister Arc, go with Chief Raymond, he'll provide you with temporary police identifications. I'll inform Ozpin of the change in plans."

Winter looked up at him, "But-"

"Is there a problem, Specialist Schnee?"

Winter looked down, and went, "With all due respect, sir, this is going against protocol. The last time this happened...", she stopped, going quiet.

"I know, Winter", Jaune raised an eyebrow at this as Ironwood placed a hand on her shoulder, "But sometimes, desperate times calls for desperate measures, and Chief Raymond's points stand", Ironwood stepped to the side, and then looked to Jaune, "I hope that you catch the man who has killed these people, Mister Arc."

"Heh", Jaune went, giving a quick salute to the General, "So do I, sir", he dropped his salute, and nodded to Ironwood, "Thanks."

Ironwood nodded to him as well, and began to depart, "If you need me, Winter, let me know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of paperwork to get through, and other criminals to catch", and then walked off towards a pair of Atlesian soldiers in full body armour.

"Well then", Jaune went, muttering to himself that that went well, before he looked down at the body of Yuma, queasily looking over the cold body of the White Wolf, and then noticing once more the shining glimmer in Yuma's zipper, "Let's get to work then."

"Indeed", Winter said with a... Not an angry look, but a concerned one, crossing her arms together and going, "Alright then, you wanted to be in this investigation, you've got it. So, let's test your 'Analytical and judgement skills', then. Do you have a theory on where to start?"

Jaune felt his eye twitch at the judging tone within Winter's voice, but thankfully his helmet hid it, before he then said, "As a matter of fact, I've got a theory in my head", he knelt down to Yuma's body, "But first", he gestured to Harriet, "Er, Harriet, could you get me a pair of tweezers and an evidence bag for me, please?"

"I got some", Chief Raymond went as he opened up a pocket on his vest, and pulled them out, "It's a requirement for the job. I think I finally see why, now."

"Thanks, Chief", Jaune went as he took the bag an tweezers, and then, with the tweezers, picked the glimmering object out of the zipper on Yuma's vest, and carefully placed it within the evidence bag, revealing it to be a glistening shard of... Something, "Now, what'd you reckon this is?"

"Glass", Harriet said, "It's glass, or plastic, or something."

"It's definitely glass", Winter said, "You can tell by the reflection of the light and the angles of the cuts", she paused, leaning over to look at it, "Coloured red, it would seem", she paused, and tapped her chin, "No, maroon coloured, I apologise."

"Not a problem", Jaune went, giving the bag and the maroon coloured glass shard within a look over, and then went, "Chief, do you know anywhere which would have this specific shade of glass?"

"Well, there are a few places, if my memory serves correctly", was his response, before he smiled, and clicked his fingers, "But, I do recall seeing a break-in report 2 days ago, from Navi Heights", Jaune raised an eyebrow, "It's a rich people's home. An apartment complex for the wealthy and the mega-wealthy of Vale, all the way up in the upper class district, and, one of the few buildings in Vale to have rainbow coloured glass windows, including maroon."

Jaune raised an eyebrow at this, and tapped his helmet under his chin, "So one of the apartments was broken into, one which had maroon coloured glass. Who was the person who's apartment was broken into?"

"One Oliver Maxwell, a minor politician within the Valerian Council. This guy is Atlesian supporter through and through. Kept fighting Ironwood, of all people, and Ozpin on allowing his buddy Jacques Schnee-", he turned to Winter, "No offense- To begin allowing for SchneeFall security operatives to protect SDC owned and proxy owned dust stores in Vale, and to jack up the dust trade as well", he paused, and then mused, "I don't think Jacques has the same ideas as the man, but I'm pretty sure that Maxwell was thinking of running the proposed SchneeFall presence in Vale as his own protection racket or something, extorting dust stores that aren't SDC owned or partners and strong arming them into joining up with the SDC. I never had any proof on the matter, but it was always a theory."

"'Was'?"

"Well, 'Is', too, I suppose. He's not dead yet."

"So where is he?"

"In a private hospital in the upper district known as Sanctuary Spa. Pretty much a 5 star hotel, up there."

Winter seemed to be catching onto Jaune's theory, as her own question was, "And was he discriminatory to Faunus?"

"Oh yeah, through and through. He doesn't say it publicly, but I've heard rumours of the man going on tirades against them. All of the usual old Rights Revolution survivor."

"He fought in the Faunus Rights Revolution?" Jaune asked, getting a nod in return, "Well, I suppose that only cements my theory."

"What theory?" Harriet asked.

"It's only a theory for now, but if this guy really did fight in the Rights Revolution, and is going on these tirades against the Faunus, then it's safe to say that he was on the losing side of the Revolution, then he's feeling particularly resentful, and if he really is going off of the Faunus for losing, then that gives the House of the White Wolves enough excuse to stage an 'Intervention'."

He made the air quotes with his fingers for emphasis.

"So, the Wolves send a thug to break into Maxwell's apartment in Navi Heights to make a point. Bust him up, and land him in the hospital. But it doesn't make him afraid of the Faunus, rather it makes him angry, and gives him that push over the edge, giving all of his anger and hatred towards the Faunus a valid target. So, he hires someone- Could be a police officer, could be an Atlesian, could be a Hunter, could be anyone else- To begin knocking heads and executing White Wolves in retaliation. Now, if he just wanted to kill regular Faunus, then that would raise suspicion and concerns, because wherever the people like it or not, these Faunus are still regular citizens of Vale, but if the people being murdered are White Wolves, a very known terrorist cell, then who would lift a finger to stop him? Nobody, because the people being killed are terrorists, not your average Joe. Who knows, maybe soon, he'll own up to the murders, and if he plays it right, he'll be treated as a hero for it, wiping the scum from the city, and furthering his own political power, giving him more leverage in his own negotiations and deals on the council. After all, who would dare want to fight against the guy who helped wipe out the scum of Remnant and kept Vale safe in these troubling times?"

He then looked around, to the wide eyed stares of the 3 people surrounding him, and coughed into his hand (Well, into his helmet, but the point was still there).

"Well, it's just a possibility, at least."

"Well, it's better than nothing", Raymond said in response.

"Agreed", Winter interjected, "Your theory had solid ground, Arc", she then turned to Raymond, and went, "Chief Raymond, if you could please give Specialist Bree a search warrant, that would be most kind", and then turned to Harriet and said, "Specialist Bree, I will need you to go to Sanctuary Spa and question Councilman Maxwell on the break in at Navi Heights. Question him about and from every angle that you can think of, and try to get everything that you can out of him. Not 'As much', everything, understood?"

"Yes ma'am", Harriet saluted.

Winter then turned to Jaune, and went, "Arc, you're with me. Once we get our temporary badges, we'll retrieve a search warrant for ourselves and investigate Councilman Maxwell's apartment in Navi Heights."

"Roger that", Jaune saluted, "Time to go see what skeletons we can dig out of the old man's closet."


"What'd you suppose they wanted the documents for?"

Winter turned to Jaune as they parked their police cruiser in the car park to Navi Heights, and made their way to the entrance of the grand building that stood before them, coloured in gold and green and white and with a different coloured set of windows for each apartment, "Hm?"

"The White Wolves, I mean", Jaune elaborated, "What'd you think they wanted those police documents and reports for?"

"Well, one of the most logical assumptions would be that they were going to release them to the public", Winter replied, "Like the whistle blower reports from 2 weeks ago."

"Well, I guess that's a good point, but something like that isn't exactly going to drum up any support, is it?" Jaune questioned, "I mean, as much as they were people, they were also terrorists, working for a terrorist group. People aren't exactly going to feel sympathy when it's the bad guys being offed?"

"That is true, but it isn't illogical to think that they wouldn't change the reports before they released them", Winter answered with, "Editing software exists, Arc. It would make sense that they would change the report around to, let's say, remove the part about the murder victims being Wolves, or giving the murderer a face, and an identity."

"Ah, I see", Jaune went as they then found themselves at the door to Navi Heights, and then looked at the buzzer, "Well, might as well give them a buzz."

"Was that a pun?"

"Huh? Oh, er, not intentional-"

"Never do puns again", Winter said as she pressed on the buzzer, "I hate puns. I despise puns. I am actively in hate with puns."

"Er… Sorry?"

"Hmph, I should hope so."

She removed her finger from the buzzer, and on a holographic panel above it, the face of a red and blue Techion with a white helmet and blue faceplate, appeared on screen, the name 'Warden' scribbled onto his chest, "This is Warden. Who is this?"

"Huntress Winter Schnee and Hunter in training Jaune Arc", Winter spoke up as she flashed their search warrant at the holographic projection, "We have a search warrant for Councilman Maxwell's apartment, as part of an ongoing police investigation."

"Hunters?" Warden went, before sighing and going, "Alright, c'mon in. Not sure what you're gonna find, though. Councilman Maxwell's apartment's been scrubbed clean."

"What?" Jaune interjected, "Since when?"

"Since this morning", Warden shrugged, "Councilman Maxwell's orders. He called up earlier this morning and told the cleaning crew to clean every inch of his apartment. Replace the windows and everything. He's coming back tomorrow morning from Sanctuary Spa, and he wanted the place spotless for when he gets back."

Jaune sighed in response as the doors in front of them opened up, and he turned to Winter and went, "Well, that makes our job a lot harder."

"Indeed it does."

And indeed it did, for when they got up to Maxwell's apartment, the entire place had been refurbished from top to bottom. The carpets had been freshly hoovered, the bed sheets had been changed, the walls had been repainted, the maroon windows had been replaced. The room smelt of new and freshly cleaned and Jaune and Winter, in this context, hated it.

"Great", Jaune went as he kicked nothing in particular, "There's nothing here. No smudges, no fingerprints, no stray pieces of glass, no nothing."

"Where to the rubbish bins go?" Winter asked Warden, who had accompanied them up to the apartment block, "I assume that there is some sort of rubbish collection point somewhere in this building?"

"You wanna fish something out of there?" Warden went, "Good luck, I guess, but we've got an automatic processing machine down in the basement which sorts out the complex's rubbish. It filters them from recyclable to unrecyclable, and then into a million different categories, where they're then shipped off to the rubbish and recycling plants. It'll take time to sort through all of that."

Winter sighed, and tweezed her nose, "Time is something that I do not believe we have."

Jaune, meanwhile, was looking around the room, trying to look for anything that was out of place in the slightest, before noticing that one of the draws in the small cupboard next to the bed was slightly open, and he pulled it fully open to see a worn pocket book in the middle of the draw.

Picking up the book, he then flipped it around in his hand, before looking over the title.

"'The Utopia Manifest'", he muttered, before looking at the details in the 3rd page of the book, and looking over them, "Written about... 60 years ago, so 10 years before the Rights Revolution... Well, isn't that flipping ominous..."

Then, Winter's scroll began to vibrate, and, beckoning Jaune's attention, she pulled it out and turned it on, "Specialist Bree."

"Ma'am", Harriet saluted over the phone, "You need to get over here."

"What's up?" Jaune asked, "is there a problem?"


"Yeah..."

Harriet looked away from the scroll, to look at the bed next to her.

In the bed was Councilman Oliver Maxwell, lying dead in his own blood, a bullet having gone through his chest where the heart would be, another going through his head, covered by a blood stained, once white now red pillow.

"A real big problem..."


6 people were dead. 5 of them were members of the House of the White Wolves, the other a politician who hated the White Wolves, and the Faunus. All of them killed in the same way, presumably by the same person. Those were the only links between the Wolves and the Maxwell, no other.

Maxwell's apartment was a dead end, we got precisely nothing from that trip, and to top it all off...

Those wouldn't be the only bodies that we found that night.

All we could do, at the time, was follow up on any lead that we could, and pray that we would, eventually, catch this psycho...

Editing note: Yeah, wait a go, idiot, as if the murderer wasn't staring you in the face the entire time.


And there we are, the beginning of the next arc of Ascendancy, CSI: Vale!

That's right, you wanted war time drama? Well get ready for the exact opposite: Political drama and murder mystery!

As stated above, the main inspiration for this arc was Transformers Punishment, one of my favourite oneshot comics from the Transformers 2005 IDW run. Another inspiration can be found in the Shadowplay arc of James Robert's MTMTE run, so go check them out. There are a lot of ideas there that are similar to the ones that I am doing here, so I will try and do those comics justice.

In case you couldn't tell, Pat Lie, the snake Faunus up above, is based off of Pat Lee, who is pretty infamous within the Transformers fandom. In case you were wondering why he was transplanted into a snake Faunus, have a read of his TFWiki page. That'll tell you all that you need to know.

Meanwhile, the design of the Techion by the name of Warden was based off of a generic Security Operations Autobot from issue 18 of the Transformers 2019 run of comics from IDW.

Anyways, that's where I will leave this off, so please, feel free to stick around and watch me try to juggle a cohesive story with issues of racism, discrimination, politics, police drama, murder, crimes, and the like for the rest of this arc.

And with all of that said and done, stay safe, good night, sleep tight, don't let the coronavirus bite (Remember to always wash your hands!), And I'll see you all next time.

Titanmaster117 out!