"Answer me honestly," Jaune said before Cinder could get in another word. "How long did it take you to install that trap door? I know that storage warehouses don't come equipped with them, so don't even try to gaslight me."

"Ugh… Far too long with those idiots." Cinder replied honestly.

"Why did you even build that? I mean, what were the chances that I would even fall in? Really seems like a waste of time." The criminal mastermind bristled at the criticism.

"Well it worked, so that's all that matters. Anyway!" She changed the subject, gaining her classic evil smirk. "Imagine my surprise when you entered Schnee's holding cell without alerting a single scout to your presence. Tell me, how did you accomplish this?"

"I've got nothing to say, Cinder." Jaune's false bravado was in full effect. Perhaps he'd be able to pull yet another miracle and avoid a fight with Cinder Fall yet again.

"My first inclination was stealth, but you never set off any of the temperature sensors attached to all the entranceways. It's almost like you never really entered the building at all… Like maybe you teleported…?" The criminal mastermind was clearly starting to suspect someone, and Jaune would bet every Lien on him that the 'someone' was Neo. For all the ice cream themed criminal did for him, Jaune could not let that happen.

"Does it really matter how I entered your facility? The fact is, I got in. Weiss has been rescued and I'm sure Atlas and the police will be on their way shortly. The way I see it, you have a choice. Either you can make things difficult, potentially revealing your whole operation to the police… Or you can let me go and get a headstart on fleeing."

"It's interesting that you mention that, 'my whole operation' being a secret and all. But I have to wonder, why is that?" She was being coy now, clearly enjoying the fact that she knew something he didn't.

"What are you getting at?"

"Oh, just the fact that you told Ozpin and Ironwood about me." Her grin was maniacal, and Jaune had to rely on Gamer's Mind to prevent him from showing much emotion. Even still, he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"How-?"

"'How I know' isn't the right question, Jaune. The question is, 'what have they done?'" Cinder cut him off. "You gave them just the information they needed to track me down and stop me. You've seen how stupid the White Fang grunts are, they could never compare to the full might of Atlas bearing down on them. So why haven't they done anything?" It was a challenge, one that he was required to answer.

"Ozpin said for security reasons. You must've put a bomb in an important place or have taken a valuable hostage." Jaune inferred.

"Good guess, but sadly incorrect." She shook her head. "No, I'll tell you why. Ironwood, I'm sure, is dying to take me down. But he sees Ozpin as a father figure and follows the headmaster's word as law. Ozpin is ordering him not to interfere."

"But why?"

"Don't you see?" Cinder started to get exasperated. "Ozpin is evil. He wants me to destroy Vale because he's tired of playing the 'good guy' all the time." Jaune needed to process this information. Ozpin? A bad guy?

"Why are you telling me all this?" With this question, the criminal mastermind's smile grew wider than he had ever seen.

"Because I could be lying!" She shouted out, laughing. "And now you can never know the truth! If I'm lying then you won't trust Ozpin because of the chance that I'm telling the truth, and if I'm telling the truth, who knows what would happen to you and your teammates if you confronted him about it. For the safety of you and your friends, you will never trust Ozpin again! Mwahaha! The ultimate plan- forever splitting my opponents from working with each other."

Jaune was at a loss for words. She was absolutely right. His detect lie skill had never activated that whole conversation, so as far as he knew, she was telling the truth and Ozpin was evil. But that could also simply be because she was a higher level than he was, meaning that she might be wrong. In either case, there was uncertainty. And it was because of that uncertainty that Jaune could no longer trust Ozpin anymore. Even if he was a good guy, the points Cinder brought up, as well as his own feelings about the man made it so he could never have Jaune's trust.

"Oh, and one more thing." Cinder said once she'd stopped cackling. "I really appreciated it when you called me the final boss, but that isn't exactly the case… Behold, the Queen of the Grimm: Salem!" She pressed a button on the computer she stood next to, bringing up the image of a pale white skinned woman onto the screen- looking both inhuman and beautiful at the same time.

"So who is thi-?" The Grimm Queen's bored expression was destroyed in an instant as recognition flashed in her eyes. "Jaune!"

Bond Revealed:
Salem
LV: 200/200

[OK]

A shorter chapter, but one with a lot of important information- fake or otherwise. And finally, the secret bond is revealed!

That marks the end of Volume 2. I can't believe we've actually made it to this moment. I'm going to take a week off to try and catch up on writing chapters so that I can go back to posting regularly every Sunday and Wednesday afterwards.

Until next time,

-RMV