Dawn woke up as the morning sun shone down on her.

After the events of the previous night, the little Nevermore had taken roost on top of the abandoned grocery market. It wasn't quite as comfortable as her perch back home, but it did the job well enough. Stretching her wings, Dawn glided down to streets below.

Manslayer had expressly ordered she stay in Mountain Glenn until he arrived, leaving her stuck there for a couple of days, maybe more depending on how he traveled. Dawn was happy to be safe, but at the same time didn't feel like sitting around and waiting for Manslayer to arrive.

So, she took a walk. The abandoned city was an interesting place to explore, as Dawn never had a chance to see human structures up close like this before. Sure, she'd been through a village or two on past missions, but nothing like this. The massive, concrete pillars reached for the sky, their smashed open windows making them almost look like beehives.

When Dawn thought about it, humans were actually kind of like bees. They formed their hives to protect themselves, and always came in swarms with painful stings. Well, if the bees formed groups specifically made for killing the Ursai that liked to open up their nests and eat their honey. Close enough.

Humans were very weird. The hunter system always confused Dawn, to be honest. Sure, they protected people in danger, but they also went out of their way to kill Grimm who were just minding their own business. Was it really a crime to them, just to exist? Well, Dawn was forgetting one important piece of the puzzle here.

Salem. The one who kept the Grimm shackled with mindless blood lust.

If it weren't for her, maybe there could have even been peace between the Grimm and humanity with Manslayer at the helm. Manslayer was, paradoxically to his name, always one to try to keep human deaths as low as possible. Even hunters that tried to kill him would usually have the mercy of simply being knocked out or beaten to the point of immobility.

Dawn once asked Manslayer about why he was named the way he was, given his "human loving" nature. He'd shifted uncomfortably and told Dawn that maybe someday he'd explain, but didn't think it was the right time. Though curious, Dawn had let it go. She was sure Manslayer had his reasons, and pestering him probably wouldn't help.

Walking through the abandoned city, Dawn held out her injured wing for inspection. The smoking had stopped, thankfully, and the hole was slowly beginning to close. While Grimm didn't have aura, they could still recover from wounds quite easily. As long as it wasn't say, an entire limb being chopped off, you were usually good to go.

Without aura, humans were pretty squishy compared to Grimm. One time, when she was out on a recon mission, a screaming human with a pitchfork tried to stab her. Dawn, startled, used her talons to defend herself. The poor human's chest practically exploded from the strike. Instead of smoke, he leaked this red liquid. It smelled awful, and was annoying to wash out of her feathers.

Manslayer explained to her that the red stuff was called blood. Humans used it to stay alive, so if it leaked out, they would die. Unlike the Grimm liquid in them, which when exposed to air would turn to smoke, blood just… bled everywhere. It was pretty gross, to be honest.

Dawn climbed and flew her way up one of the concrete spires. It wasn't very difficult, as the weathered face of the structure provided many places to grip. Once she reached the top, Dawn looked out onto the ruined landscape. Groups of Grimm patrolled the ground, looking for any trace of human life, while a flock of Griffons flew in the sky above.

However, everything was not as expected. Dawn spotted what looked like a group of humans moving in the distance. Strange… Mountain Glenn had been abandoned for years. Why would people be coming back now? They didn't strike Dawn as huntsman, as instead of flashy outfits they all wore the same black and grey outfits, along with these strange white masks. Dawn couldn't put a talon on it, but they seemed oddly familiar.

Curiosity drawn, Dawn decided to investigate the unusual humans. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, gliding as she went, after the group. Closer up, Dawn noticed some more peculiar features. Some of the humans had horns or an extra set of ears on their heads. While not an expert on humans, Dawn didn't think those were normal.

Now that she thought about it, Manslayer had mentioned there was another kind of being that lived alongside humans. Faunus? They were supposed to have the features of animals, so that might be it. Still, what was a group of Faunus doing wandering around Mountain Glenn? Even if they had rifles, a pack of Beowolves would make quick work of them.

The weird group of Faunus kept traveling onwards. They'd occasionally look around to see if they were being followed, but never bothered to look up. Dawn continued to track them, making sure to keep quiet. Eventually, they reached a subway tunnel. One by one, the Faunus filed in and disappeared.

Dawn cursed her luck. If she followed them down there, she would lose the advantage of verticality that gave her the edge in most fights. But, however, finding out what the suspicious group were up to might be important. Mountain Glenn was a bastion of safety for Grimm, and these Faunus might pose a threat to that.

Making up her mind, Dawn swooped down from a rooftop. This problem had to be investigated, even if it was risky.

"Sorry Manslayer. I know you told me to hang tight… but this has to be checked out."

…

Roman took a long drag from his cigar.

Things were coming along well. Bar one interruption by that pesky Red, all of his dust thieving operations were going without a hitch. Cinder, of course, demanded more and more, but Roman knew he was doing his job well.

Meanwhile, the Mountain Glenn endeavor was coming along nicely. The tunnels had been cleared of any remaining Grimm and debris, leaving the only thing left to do being gathering arms. Roman already had that covered, too. In a few days there'd be a shipment of Paladins that would mysteriously never reach Atlas.

And then? It was only a matter of loading up the trains and waiting for Cinder to give the order. Roman was sure that his efforts would impress her, or at the very least loosen the noose she had wrapped around his neck. If he ever turned and fled, Roman had no doubts in his head Cinder would personally take care of him.

So Roman Torchwick played along. For now.

The sound of approaching feet grabbed Roman's attention. He turned his head to see that it was a returning White Fang patrol. Roman's face curled into a frown. They were late, of course, the animals. If they didn't need the manpower, Roman would have disassociated with them long ago.

"Hello there boys. I assume you found something very interesting to have come back 15 minutes later, correct?"

The White Fang members stiffened. "Well, you see mister Torchwick, while we were out patrolling we found an… uh… m-magic Grimm?"

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do I look like, I'm stupid? Just go report back to your Lieutenant."

Shamed, the White Fang grunts moved past Roman further into the complex. With a sigh, Roman took another drag from his cigar. Stupid animals and their stupid excuses. Roman turned to leave, but something caught his eye.

In the darkness of the subway tunnel, four white lights shone. Roman squinted, trying to get a better look. As he did, the lights suddenly vanished.

"Well that's weird…"

Roman decided not to dwell on it. Resuming the motion, he followed the White Fang grunts further into the tunnel system.

…

Dawn let out a massive sigh as the man in the bowler hat finally walked away. He'd seen her, but Dawn was quick to closer her eyes and leap behind cover. Hopefully, the human hadn't realized that a Grimm had been spying on them. But then again, who would? For all they knew, Grimm were unintelligent, unorganized beasts.

It almost made Dawn laugh, knowing how much they underestimated them.

Once the coast was clear, Dawn crept the same way the Faunus and the man in the bowler hat had gone. The tunnel went on for a bit longer, before opening up into a massive open cave. To Dawn's surprise, there were the same concrete structures down here saw the man in the bowler hat walking up a ramp to the top of one of the concrete spires. The man, once at the top, entered a doorway and disappeared.

Stealthily, Dawn sprinted up the ramp. Thankfully the humans hadn't thought to station any sort of guard, so Dawn was able to walk up to the door. Using her break, Dawn gripped the handle and twisted it. The door, apparently not locked in any way, opened.

"Wow, that was really easy!"

Suddenly, two armed Faunus ran out of the door, weapons at the ready. Dawn squawked in surprise and leaped backwards as a burst of bullets were fired her way. The attackers kept firing at her, but Dawn was too fast of a target to get a good aim on. With a descending dart, Dawn slammed into the two Faunus, throwing them back and knocking the weapons from their hands.

Footsteps echoed from deeper inside the doorway.

"What are you animals doing now? If I hear the excuse about a magic Grimm again so help me I'll…"

Dawn looked up as the man in the bowler hat from before exited the doorway. He seemed shocked.

"Is that the magic…? Oh for the love of…"

At times like this, Dawn really wished she could understand what humans were saying. Dawn could understand tone usually, but the language they spoke was gibberish to her. She'd have to ask Manslayer for lessons at some point…

The man eventually snapped out of it and raised his cane towards Dawn. Weren't canes walking tools? Why would-

Dawn narrowly dodged out of the way as a ball of light shot from the end of the cane. The projectile carried onwards for some distance before colliding with one of the concrete structures, which it exploded against.

Dawn took mental note not to get hit by those.

"Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here you stupid Grimm!"

Hissing, Dawn raised her wings and puffed out her feathers. She lunged forwards, dodging out of the way of another ball of light. Dawn slashed three times with her talons, but each time she did the cane blocked her.

"Feisty, eh?"

The man swung his cane to sweep Dawn off her feet. The Nevermore leapt into the air and flew around the man in the bowler hat, whipping up a small vortex of air. The man attempted to fight back, but the attack took him off guard. He spun around like a top, hat somehow remaining on his head the entire time.

Dawn suddenly ended the vortex with a dual legged kick. The man was thrown back and slammed against a wall, but quickly rose back to his feet. Not giving him a chance to fire again, Dawn sprinted forwards and closed the distance. Once again, Dawn's talon slashes were blocked.

However, that was exactly what she was counting on. As the talon slashes continued, Dawn suddenly plunged her beak downwards. The man was forced to raise his cane to block, giving Dawn another window to slam him with her talons.

The man took this once a bit more harshly, aura flickering. He bounced and rolled, landing near the door he had exited from. While he did get up, the man was a lot slower about it.

It occurred to Dawn she was still under strict orders not to be killing anyone. While those orders had been about the Emerald Forest expedition, Manslayer probably wouldn't be pleased to hear she tracked down and killed some random human in the middle of Mountain Glenn.

As the human squeezed the trigger of his cane to fire, Dawn did a backflip into the air and took off. In a twist of fate, the hot air thrown off by the explosion acted to boost Dawn's glide away, allowing her to easily escape the conflict.

While the tracking "mission" hadn't really gone planned, at least Dawn had made it out unscathed.

…

Roman fired a shot off at the fleeing Nevermore. He knew it wouldn't hit, but it felt cathartic. Torchwick, the master thief who had brought Vale's dust industry to its knees, taken down by a scrawny Nevermore? It was ridiculous!

Cinder would not hear about this. Roman had no doubt in his mind if she did, Roman would be thrown away like a used napkin. He shuddered to think of the reaction she might give if she did find out.

Dusting himself off, Roman made his way back through the doorway, making sure that it was locked this time, just in case the Grimm came back for round two. Using his cane for its intended use, Roman hobbled through the short hallway that quickly opened up to the base proper.

Roman felt something tug on his sleeve as he made his way through the compound. Looking to is side, he found Neo, his faithful companion. She was looking up at him with a faceful of concern as she gestured to his rough state.

"Eh? Oh, don't worry Neo. Just a little scrape with a Grimm."

To drive his point home, Roman grinned. Neo was still unconvinced, however, pulling his sleeve again and pointing towards the medical ward a short distance away.

"You're killing me pipsqueak, you know that?"

With a sigh, Roman relented to Neo's pleading look and started making his way towards the medical ward. Even as she traveled alongside him, Roman's mind lingered on the Nevermore. Eventually, he pushed it aside. There were more important things to worry about then Grimm.

Like dust.

…

Sheer was pacing.

Sheer had been pacing for hours on end now. His usual clearing had grown larger as a result, more trees around the edges having been bulldozed as he walked in circles, thinking. Meanwhile, Tai and Ju watched him nervously.

Tai finally broke the silence. "He's been doing this ever since last night…"

Ju nodded in agreement. "Ever since the news of that silver eyed hunter being discovered got out. I think the possible relation to the one he had a fight with is getting to him."

Wincing, Tai remembered the aftermath of that fateful mission. Sheer was never the same after his encounter with the silver eyed huntress, jumping at any chance to kill silver eyed humans. Tai knew they were dangerous threats, but Sheer's hatred for them went above and beyond.

"Poor guy… should we do something?"

"Yes. Preferably before he destroys all the trees on the island."

Tai and Ju slithered forth towards Sheer. The Deathstalker froze as they entered his path.

"What do you two want?"

"Sheer… you've been pacing all night. Are you alright?"

Sheer's claws opened and closed, showing his irritation. "I am fine."

Ju shook her head. "No, you are not. This is not what fine Grimm do."

Sheer hissed with anger, but did not try to disprove the notion. He looked off to the side for a moment, before looking back.

"Manslayer doesn't want me to go on the next mission because he's afraid I'll ruin it by being 'overly rash' and 'excessively violent.' It's ridiculous! This is a personal matter, and I will see it to the end!"

"Did it ever occur to you that's why Manslayer doesn't want you to go?"

All seven of Sheer's eyes locked on Ju, smoldering with anger. "What?"

Ju sighed. "This sounds like a pretty delicate matter to me, Sheer. You mucking it up with all your personal baggage might not be what Manslayer wants."

Sheer looked like he was about to stab Ju with his stinger, the deadly venom deliverer twitching out of pure anger.

Tai looked frightened at how standoffish the two were being. "Guys, guys! Calm down! Don't fight, please?"

Ju seemed to consider the sentiment, while Sheer simply sneered before walking past them, resuming his pacing.

"He's a lost cause, I'll tell you that…"

"Maybe you were being a bit rude to him, though?"

Ju shook her head. "It's not my fault if he can't set aside his personal issues. Let's just go, I don't particularly want to be around him anymore."

With Tai in agreement, the two slithered back into the forest, leaving Sheer alone.

"An eye an eye, a life for a life…"

…

Ruby yawned.

Grimm studies class had to be the most boring thing in the universe. Port would always go off topic about some probably made up adventure, usually about fighting Grimm with ridiculous impromptu weapons, leaving the class to both not learn anything and be bored to a standstill.

The worst part was that Port was frighteningly good at noticing when you were goofing off. Trying to take a nap? Do some work for another class? He'd catch you faster than a Beowolf after its prey, reprimanding you for not paying attention to his "glorious deeds."

"And so the Nevermore was no match for my sheer wit, tenacity, and the clever use of a cart of carrots! Now class, to review, why is it that we as hunters have the advantage over the devilish creatures of Grimm?"

Weiss's hand shot up.

"Yes Miss. Schnee?"

"Well, that's for a few reasons Professor. Grimm are soulless, so they lack aura, unintelligent, except for rare cases due to extreme age, and have no emotion of any kind."

"Correct! The creatures of Grimm, while deadly in their own right, don't have the same cunning mind as us! It can take hundreds of years for a Grimm to mature enough to have any sort of higher thought, and even then they are nothing in comparison to you or I! With that, class is dismissed. I'll see you all next time for the next exciting chapter in my adventures!"

As the rest of the students filed out of the classroom, Ruby couldn't help but think about that Weiss had said. Soulless, mindless, and heartless… The Nevermore and Deathstalker during initiation definitely didn't seem to meet any of those criteria.

Ruby had seen them communicating with each other, and coming to the defense of one another when they were wounded. The Grimm had even attempted to run away, and in the end, they had only caught the Deathstalker. What had happened to the Nevermore, she couldn't guess, but Ruby had a few ideas.

Still, it seemed crazy. Why would these white eyed Grimm be anything more than their usual counterparts? There were stories of silver eyed warriors, but not white eyed Grimm. Were they a brand new kind, or just elusive? So many questions, and not enough answers.

"Ruby, what are you doing? Class is over."

Ruby's focus was abruptly broken by Yang.

"Oh, sorry! I'm coming Yang!"

As Ruby jumped up from her seat to follow Yang, she made a mental note to take a trip to the library and see if there were any mentions of white eyed Grimm in the books there.

Something wasn't right, and Ruby Rose was going to get to the bottom of it.

…

The wind whistled as Manslayer flew on the back of the Griffon.

There was something like excitement brewing in his chest. Manslayer, even if he'd made the trip many times, always enjoyed the rush of flying. The wind, the height, the sights… it all came together to put a smile on his face.

Manslayer's thoughts drifted to Dawn. Even if he knew she was capable, Manslayer couldn't help but be a bit worried. Dawn was brash, and had a tendency to be prideful, which got her in trouble more than a few times. However, Manslayer pushed his worry away. Besides his island, Mountain Glenn was one of the safest places on Remnant for a Grimm.

Next, Manslayer's thoughts went to Sheer. He felt rather guilty for making his right hand Grimm stay behind on a mission he so dearly wanted to come on, but Manslayer had feared he would descend into a violent outburst upon seeing the silver eyed huntress Dawn had reported.

Silver eyes… it would be interesting to meet this huntress. Manslayer wasn't too worried, he'd dealt with their kind before, but dealing with silver eyed humans in general was always risky business. You could never know how much control, if any, they'd have over their ability.

Hopefully Manslayer wouldn't have to kill them, though. He never liked killing humans himself if he could avoid it. Destroying other intelligent life was never fun to begin with, but after the incident with that maiden, Manslayer actively tried to avoid killing when he could.

"Human… Huntress… Silver eyes…"

Manslayer hoped this would go better then last time.

The plot thickens on several fronts! Hopefully all the POV jumping wasn't too breakneck, for you guys, but there were a few things that needed to be gone over in the aftermath of the Emerald Forest incident.

Dawn getting involved has brought up some serious concerns for our friends Rose and Torchwick. With Volume 1 drawing to a close, how might the docks incident be impacted?

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter of "The Manslayer!" Make sure to leave reviews (I read them all even if I don't respond for the most part), and I'll cya'll next time!