He was too late. As he rushed out of the bullhead along with his men Captain James Ironwood felt his heart sink at the scene in front of him. The village was full of chaos, with flames and destruction everywhere the eye could see. But more importantly to him personally was the half collapsed manor house sitting on the hill at the edge of the village. He quickly turned to his men and ordered the majority to sweep the village to eliminate any remaining grimm or attackers and search for survivors. The rest were to come with him to search the manor house for the family that resided there or for any villagers that might have hid there for safety.
As he quickly made his way down the street towards the manor he found himself getting lost in his thoughts. He had begged them to move to Atlas or even Vale. But Vert Arc had always been a stubborn man. Vytal Island had been his family's home for generations and even more so he felt a responsibility as the island's governor and therefore refused to move to safer locations despite the gathering threat against his family. James could only hope that that decision hadn't doomed the whole family like he feared. Through all their arguments he and Vert had been best friends since they were on the same team in the academy.
Upon reaching the manor door he quickly stepped to the side and let two of his men breach the entrance before he entered first. After seeing the entrance room was clear he swiftly made his way towards the upper levels to where the main family quarters were followed by his men. Upon reaching the family room his worst fears were confirmed. There on the ground lay Vert and Lissa Arc along with several of their children. Looking over the bodies Vert and Lissa had clearly put up a fight worthy of their positions as leading hunters of their generation. Both wore their full armor and kit and had clearly been in a great struggle before being overwhelmed. Thankfully the children appeared to have died swiftly and James thanked the gods at least for that mercy.
However he quickly realized something that sent a jolt of hope through his body. The Arc family was 10 strong at the moment. But the eldest Saffron was currently away from the island attending a hunting academy. That should still leave 9 bodies but by his count there was only 8, looking around the room Vert was the only man there meaning his son might still be alive somewhere else.
He quickly turned around to his men "There's only 8 bodies here, the boy might still be alive! Quickly fan out and search through the manor, he might be hiding somewhere out of fear. There's still a chance some of the family survived and we must hope for the best!"
He and his men quickly moved out of the room into the surrounding halls and started checking the rooms for any sign of life they could find. He went through several rooms filled with knick knacks and signs of the family that once lived here but no missing Arc. Suddenly he heard his men call out down the hall and swiftly ran down to see what they had found.
He entered the kitchen which is where they had gathered and took a look around the room. It was a large room as required by a family historically as large as the Arcs and as one that often had guests or other hunters staying with them. It was also where the collapsed part of the building met what was still standing. It would appear that this is where a breach had happened with some sort of large force knocking through the cobblestone walls and then rampaging through the other side of the building. It was also filled with several slain grimm and what appeared to be places where humans had been killed as well before having their bodies dragged away. Something that sent chilling implications through his mind that he put aside for later.
His men were gathered around the pantry where a beowolf corpse lay on the ground going through the stages of grimm decompensation. Next to it lay a small bloody hatchet and his godson, Jaune James Arc. He quickly ran over to get a closer look at the boy and asked his men for a status update. They reported that they had found the boy under the grimm passed out from the wounds on his body but with the hatchet buried in the grimms throat having successfully killed it before it could finish him off. But it landed on him and pinned him, stopping him from being able to move due to its weight and his young age of 7.
The medic told him that Jaune should be all right, especially being strong enough to kill a grimm at his age, but they still needed to get him out to proper medical treatment as soon as possible due to the blood loss. The beowolfs blows had avoided any of his vitals but he still had several cuts running up and down the front of his chest and defensive wounds on his arms from when he had tried to defend himself. The medic had already wrapped them but he still wanted them checked out by a professional and the boy would need a blood transfusion and possibly his aura awoken despite his young age.
He nodded and told the medic to take another man to get a stretcher and get transport ready to get the boy out of there and back to Atlas. He looked down at Jaune, the boy was so small compared to the beowolf and yet had survived that and more when the rest of his family hadn't. He didn't know if one would consider that good luck or bad considering the circumstances. He knelt down and brushed some of the boy's hair out of his face. He had been an honorary uncle to all the Arc children and Godfather to Jaune specifically. He never thought that title would come to any use except maybe giving him advice. But looking down at him now he knew he would accept the responsibility to be a part of his life. His sister was still too young to take care of him and there was no other close family to take over the role. His thoughts of how he was going to balance being a headmaster and captain with being a father were quickly interrupted when the medic arrived back and picked up Jaune to get him airlifted out.
He sighed, closing his eyes and taking a moment to rub his temples before standing up and looking around the room. Upon seeing the highest ranked soldier he turned to him and requested an update on the status of the manor and surrounding village.
The soldier swiftly snapped to attention and responded "Sir the Manor and the surrounding village was secured with little to no difficulty. We found many grimm corpses and strangely signs of human corpses being dragged away, possibly by bandits sir. Some buildings are still on fire and we don't have the resources to put them out but we did what we could. We were able to find several families of civilians that had survived due to hiding or being protected by local huntsmen. They're currently being gathered up and treated for any injuries or shock. Unfortunately our first estimates still report about a 60 percent loss of life sir."
Ironwood sighed, no matter how many times he saw it the loss of life in events like these were always devastating. He knew he did the best he could with the resources given but there were always so many lives lost. And the same bureaucrats who criticized him for not doing more here were the same ones restricting resources beforehand. He may have taken over as headmaster of Atlas academy and gotten involved in politics as a result but he would always be a soldier first at heart. He turned to the soldier and placed him in charge of the area for now as the highest ranking.
"Keep a guard around the perimeter and do what you can. I don't expect there'll be any more attacks but one can never be too careful. I'm heading back to Atlas to deal with the aftermath and prepare medical response and temporary housing for the survivors here. We should have more men on the way to assist you and they should have the proper tools to deal with the fires in town as well as any structural damage that needs immediate response. I'll also be sending along a forensics team due to the possible human element in this attack."
With that being said he turned around and walked out the building. Taking more time now that he knew the situation was under control to look around at the house he had spent so much time in visiting the family that was very nearly ended today. He didn't believe for a second this was a random grimm attack combined with bandits attacked. The Arcs were an old family with a long history of battling the force of grimm. And few had been more active in recent years than Vert and Lissa. When the call for help had come in, Vert had sounded panicked and it was difficult to rattle a man who had seen the things they had. He would have to call Ozpin and let him know about this. While the Arcs weren't direct members of his circle they knew more than most about what was going on and had been strong supporters of his throughout the years.
As he exited the building he began to think about what he needed to do before the day was done. First things check on Jaune at the medical center and see how he was doing. The medic had mentioned he might need his aura awoken and if anyone was going to do it it would be him. Then he would need to contact Oz and let him know of the situation and the possible threat it represented. And finally he cringed, he would need to get in touch with Saffron and her academy to let her know what had happened and to prepare for the funeral which he would have to set up. He sighed knowing the next couple weeks would be filled every waking hour with something to get done or some paperwork to fill out. Upon entering the bullhead and strapping in he closed his eyes intending to sleep on the way back to Atlas. Gods know he'll need it in the near future, maybe he'd even consider trying some of the overly caffeinated coffee that Oz is so fond of drinking again. He slowly drifted off to a troubled sleep as the bullhead rumbled along through the cold sky's back to Atlas.