Note: good news! I'm just about done with writing this story, which means I'll be shifting to weekly updates, every Sunday evening. Cheers!

The HuntsMan had lost his chance to do noontime patrols. The demands of Jaune Arc's mild-mannered trainee alter ego meant mornings and afternoons were out, too. That left some evenings, a few nights, and occasional weekends.

It burned him up, knowing there were so many hours where evil could be wreaking havoc, and him unable to mount a response.

He would do his best, though. He would just have to hope the city could hold together in his absences, and pray he'd have the good fortune that Neo and Torchwick and (shudder) the Red Huntress would only make their moves when convenient for him.

"Alright, Zwei, we're in position," he said, ducking into an alleyway. "Now, up to the rooftops!"

"Mrr?"

Jaune sighed. "You haven't read many comics, have you?"

The dog barked at him.

"That's fair. I'll tell you, then: superheroes are at home on the rooftops. From up there, they can see far and wide, looking for evil to thwart. And they can move about freely, jumping from rooftop to rooftop without getting stuck in traffic! If you want to be a superhero, you have to learn to love roofs."

"Arf!"

"And that's why… we're going to… um…" He looked up. The roof was really far away from ground level. He'd known that, he'd wanted and planned for that—the taller buildings gave him more visibility and were obviously better for silhouette shots of moody brooding. That abstract attraction fell apart when faced with the practical task of scaling said building, when its height transitioned from being an asset to an obstacle.

"That's really tall," he murmured.

"Arf!"

Jaune shook his head. He couldn't be deterred by an obstacle this mundane! The HuntsMan was better than that! His eyes wandered, looking for alternatives, and found a wireframe structure. "The fire escape, of course! Onward and upward!"

Minutes later, having had to make a few aura-assisted vertical jumps to complete the ascent, Jaune hauled himself over the lip of the building's roof. He had a stitch in his side, was gasping for breath, and felt like he'd maxed out his heroism budget for the day just making the climb, but he'd done it.

"Next time… I'm taking the elevator," he panted.

That thought struck him. Panted?

"Oh no—I left Wonder Zwei!" he exclaimed, whipping about to see how his faithful canine companion was doing, because without thumbs and arms to climb he was surely—

And there Zwei was, sitting on the roof right behind where Jaune had stumbled, tongue hanging out and panting contentedly.

Jaune's jaw dropped. "How did you…?"

Zwei scratched at his ear with a hind leg.

"You know what, I'm not gonna question it," said Jaune. "I'm just going to write it off as you being Wonder Zwei and leave it there. Speaking of which…" Jaune slung off the duffel bag he'd been lugging about. "It's time to get changed."

In moments, Jaune no longer resembled Jaune Arc, aside from being a medium-height, slightly-built blonde. He had become The HuntsMan.

"And now," he intoned, "we begin our watch. As evil never rests, we too must be ever-vigilant!"

"Arf!" barked Wonder Zwei.

"As evil lurks ever in the dark, we must be always ready to shine the light of justice!"

"Arf!"

"As the stench of evil reaches everywhere, we must be ever-prepared with the bleach of righteousness and the mop of good!"

"…mrr?"

The HuntsMan nodded, his voice reverting to its usual tones. "Yeah, you're right, that last one was a bit overboard. But the others were good, right?"

"Arf!"

"Then let's begin."

With that, he sprinted to the corner of the building, where he could look out onto the street below. Wonder Zwei followed happily at his heels.

It was, as Jaune had expected, quite a view. The people down below were barely discernible as people; the cars were like the Hot Tires models one of his sisters loved so much. He could feel the superhero within him swell with pride. These were his wards; this was his station, to let all the little people carry on their little lives while he watched over them.

The novelty wore off after about five minutes.

The HuntsMan scurried to another corner of the roof. The view was much the same from there. As he kept looking, he realized that being so far up made it hard to tell what people were doing. How could he see a crime in progress if he couldn't actually, well, see?

After five more minutes of scanning he went back to his original position, eyes wandering up and down the street. Wonder Zwei, having lost interest, was sniffing around the roof access. The HuntsMan felt his own ardor fading, too.

This rooftop had a great view, it was true, but he could still only see so much. Unless someone committed a crime right in front of it, the HuntsMan would never know, and maybe not even then. He didn't really want to wait all day in this specific spot, either. Maybe he should have brought binoculars. Those would help him see, but they wouldn't solve the boredom problem.

"If someone could just go ahead and do something illegal, you know, get on with it, I'd really appreciate it," he muttered.

"Arf!" barked Wonder Zwei.

"Maybe we should change rooftops," said the HuntsMan. He looked to either side, to the next buildings in line. One was much taller, the other about the same size but further away. He tried to visualize what his jump to get to either would look like.

…yeah, no. Both images featured him missing the jump, cartoonishly flailing his arms, and making an impact crater at bottom. Granted, now that he had aura he could survive such a fall, but it would hurt his body and ego both.

There was only so much damage a public image could take, after all.

He sighed, deflating, and returned his gaze to the streets. "If only my nemeses would do their crimes right in front of me," he moaned. "Or would that be too much to ask?"

Motion caught his eye, because of course it did.

A growing number of people were clearing out from a particular area. He couldn't quite see what was going on, but it looked like a commotion.

It bore investigating. Investigating would get him off the rooftop, at least.

"Wonder Zwei, we have a lead!" the HuntsMan proclaimed. "Turmoil has engulfed the city! There's new taxation on trade routes!"

"Mrr?"

"It's a metaphor," said the HuntsMan, thrown off his rhythm. "Because people made roads to help trade, and people blocking it is... like a tax..."

"Arf!"

"You're right, it's not my best line. But it's a problem either way, and we investigate problems. Back to ground level!"

"Arf!"

Descending the fire escape was almost as strenuous as climbing it, but faster, especially on those occasions when the HuntsMan missed a handhold and dropped to the next station directly. Soon enough he was back on the street, at which point he realized he'd forgotten Wonder Zwei. Again.

"Don't worry, Wonder Zwei! I'll help you!" he shouted back up at the roof.

"Arf!" came a bark from his ankles.

The HuntsMan started in surprise. Wagging cheerfully by his feet was Wonder Zwei, panting without a care. "When did you… oh, right. I decided I wasn't going to question it. Well… onward! Let's see what's going on!"

The Red Huntress was getting exasperated.

Something was going to give, soon. Either police and/or actual Huntsmen would show up, or she'd lose control of the chain in her hands.

"No thanks to you," she said harshly, not that the creature on the other end of the chain could understand her. As if in answer, the Beowolf snarled at her and jerked hard in the opposite direction.

Even by Beowolf standards, it was small, almost gangly, though it had the ferocity of a much larger beast. It had, of course, attacked the Red Huntress on sight; after a quick beatdown, it wanted to escape from her, but she had plans for it. Now it was trying its hardest to thwart those plans and get away. There were, after all, abundant people to feast on in Vale, if only it could break free.

Not that the Red Huntress would let that happen.

Still, if it kept fighting her like this, she might have to smack it some more, and risk killing it on accident. She reluctantly raised her estimation of Professor Port; he might be a bombastic blowhard, but stuffing a live boarbatusk into a small cage like he had was, she was discovering, no mean feat.

"Come on!" she shouted at the struggling Beowolf, tugging hard on its chain to drag it down the sidewalk. "We've got to keep going until he notices us…"

"Notices what, vile intriguer?"

"There you are!" the Red Huntress said, almost sagging with relief. She took her eyes off the Beowolf for a moment. Sure enough, pushing through the crowd moving away from her was the HuntsMan (and Wonder Zwei). He'd found her, and taken it upon himself to determine what was going on.

"You're just in time, my… ahem… nemesis," said the Red Huntress, forcing herself to say the last word when she had very different relationships in mind. "Behold!"

With that, she located a fire hydrant and whipped the chain in her hands around it. The Beowolf was yanked along in its wake, and ended up bound to the hydrant. Pleased with her handiwork, the Red Huntress turned and planted her hands on her hips in a power pose.

"I'm sorry, but, per Vale Law Code § 83, it is illegal to chain a live Beowolf to a fire hydrant," she said smugly.

She was glad she'd put in the effort to learn how to pronounce the '§'.

"And now… and now you've done just that!" gasped the HuntsMan. "You monster! Why would you commit such a heinous act?!"

"If you want to know," said the Red Huntress, trying to put on an air of mystery, "you'll just have to pay attention. This is the second part of my grand plan. More is coming. You'll have to figure out the rest if you want to force a final showdown!"

"I won't have to if I catch you now," growled the HuntsMan. "Wonder Zwei, sic 'em!"

There was a very loud silence.

"Wonder Zwei?" squeaked the HuntsMan, looking at the open space where a dog was supposed to be.

"You lost your chance, HuntsMan!" said the Red Huntress, dashing into the road and stepping on to a manhole cover. "I'm sorry!"

The following jump was one part natural ability, two parts aura, three parts semblance-powered body throw using the manhole cover as a launch pad, and all parts unreproducible by the HuntsMan. Her escape was assured.

She touched down lightly on a nearby roof and vanished into the city.

The HuntsMan watched with naked jealousy as the Red Huntress made the rooftops her highway. "Well, that's not fair at all."

The Beowolf decided to try its luck with the newcomer. With a snarl, it bared its teeth and leapt out at the HuntsMan.

It didn't make it. Its chain went taut, pulling it up short. It slavered and growled at the HuntsMan in frustrated bloodlust.

The HuntsMan sighed. Oh, yeah. Right. Really, who had time for Beowolves when foes as dangerous as the Red Huntress were on the loose? He absent-mindedly backhanded the Beowolf hard enough to crack its face mask; it backed away, whimpering uncertainly.

"She just had to drag you into this," said the HuntsMan with a shake of his head. "I'll put a stop to this, I swear it." A siren wailed from down the street; the HuntsMan's eyes widened as his throat went dry. "But not today. HuntsMan, away!"

Jaune, with impressive foresight, had envisioned times when he and Wonder Zwei might be separated in the course of their duties. In that case, it was best to have a rendezvous location picked out ahead of time.

There was a small terminal for the airships on the Vale-Beacon beat and, to the side of said terminal but inside its fencing, a dumpster. The HuntsMan hopped the fence and touched down between it and the dumpster, out of sight of any passing traffic.

Zwei, already out of costume and with Jaune's bag sitting next to him, barked happily at the HuntsMan.

"You missed the action again," the HuntsMan said.

"Mrr?"

"She was there!" said the HuntsMan, even as he started taking off mask, cape, and weapons. "She was right there! Deeding her evil deeds right in front of me!"

"Arf!"

"I can't believe she got away with it," Jaune mumbled as he zipped up his duffel. "But I won't let that get me down! I wouldn't be Jaune Arc if I got discouraged easily. We'll rally, we'll think about this, we'll come up with new ideas on who she is, and we'll keep moving forward. Sound good?"

"Arf!"

Jaune took a deep breath of satisfaction and determination. Then he made a face reflecting nausea and disgust.

"And we'll do all those things away from this dumpster."

"Arf!"

"And we'll find a different dumpster for next time."

"Arf, arf!"

Fully transformed back into civilian mode, Jaune went into the terminal with Zwei at his ankles. The terminal was barely a quarter full, which allowed Jaune to get a seat in the front benches for easy boarding. He did this automatically, deep in thought all along, the other people in the terminal registering as little more than shadows.

He was reviewing events in his head. The Red Huntress had said and done plenty for him to digest. Surely there were clues to be found here.

Jaune didn't like the new movies of his aspirational superhero, Flying Rodent-Man. Those movies seemed to think FRM's biggest talent was punching people, and they spent a lot of time building those scenes and working up to them. Any true devotee, like Jaune, knew better: FRM's tagline for many years had been "Remnant's Greatest Detective". His best weapon wasn't anything on his bandolier, but his ability to figure out what the villains were getting at and predict their next moves.

If Jaune could channel a little bit of that energy, it would go a long way towards forcing this "final showdown" the Red Huntress wanted.

He frowned and dove deeper into his thoughts.

Pyrrha was conflicted. Jaune had walked to the front of the terminal like he was blind and Zwei was his guide dog. He hadn't noticed her at all.

On the one hand, it was refreshing to be able to be anonymous. The other patrons of the terminal had noticed her, and one had even taken the agonizing step of calling out to her and complimenting her on her tournament record. It was less common in Vale than it'd been in Mistral, but it still happened, and it was grueling every time. Jaune doing the opposite of that was nice.

It was also maddening. What did she have to do for him to notice her, shave her name into his hair?

Oh, right. Nora had tried that with her man, and even that hadn't worked.

Pyrrha shook her head to refocus on Jaune and saw him talking quietly to Zwei. She could appreciate that. Zwei was an excellent listener. She could tell him all sorts of secrets and he'd never blab. It was like having a diary that gave snuggles.

Maybe Jaune was confiding in the dog?

Ambivalence rose up in Pyrrha again. She wanted to know what Jaune was talking about, especially if he was using Zwei like she did. Ooh, but eavesdropping wasn't nice! She hated it when people tried that with her!

Well… he was in a public place, wasn't he? He couldn't expect anything he said in public to be private, right? So she wasn't really intruding. Not really.

Swallowing hard, she slipped forward several rows until she was sitting behind Jaune, and she tried to fight down the feeling that this was a more villainous act than anything she'd done as the Red Huntress.

"I think I have it," Jaune was whispering as she approached. Oh, good—she was just in time! "I think I have a new theory."

"Mrr?"

"The Red Huntress," Jaune went on with increasing confidence, "has long hair, she says sorry a lot, and she has one-hundredth percentile jumping abilities. Right?"

"Arf!"

Despite herself, Pyrrha felt excitement surging up within her. There was a touch of dread, too, but that added to the thrill instead of poisoning it.

"We know someone like that," Jaune said with a confident nod. "Someone who checks all those boxes."

"Arf!"

This was it. This was where Jaune would strip away her costume.

No, no, no, Pyrrha thought as heat surged into her cheeks. Don't think like that. This was when Jaune would… would penetrate her disguise.

Oh, so much worse! Those were mortifying thoughts! This was when Jaune would… unmask her?

That was less of an innuendo, at least, but she still felt like she was on fire. Oh, Jaune…

"The Red Huntress… is Velvet Scarlatina."

Pyrrha froze.

"Mrr?"

"She has to be," Jaune said with a nod. "I'll check her schedule to be sure when we get back, but I've got a good feeling about this. It's always the ones you least expect, you know?"

Pyrrha didn't scream, or sob, or explode. She was impressed with herself for that. She simply stood. She walked to the ladies' room. She shut the door. She locked the door. She filled the sink with water.

Then she stuck her head in the sink and tried to break the Valean law about underwater screaming.

He was not the hero Vale needed, and also not the hero it deserved, but he was the one it got. Will the HuntsMan survive barking up the wrong tree a second time? Who else might be interested in his mistakes? Will Zwei do anything besides be cute? And is there even a single person Pyrrha can turn to for romance advice? Find out next time in THVTRH:NON Episode Four: Incommunicado.