Heathcliff wasn't happy, the blood-stained hill that was strewn with bits and pieces of bone and viscera wasn't a sight that would please any sane person. But that wasn't what was grinding his gears at the moment, what was agitating him was the dry dark colorization of the blood and the viscera and bone also had some discoloration along with other little signs that all pointed to the same thing; This happened a few days ago. This had been left in the open and unreported for at least a couple of days!

"When?" Heathcliff did not attempt to hide his displeasure. If I find out that this had something to do with stupid internal village politics….

Sheriff Silvia answered, "We found it about two days ago."

Heathcliff nodded, "So it probably happened the night before, bloody hell. How did someone or something git shredded like this while you had blokes on watch? The Grimm aren't exactly ninjas, and people aren't exactly quiet when being murked… So who's missing?"

"So you think it was a Grimm?" Silvia asked nervously.

"Heathcliff shook his head, "It's a bit too soon to tell, doncha think? Now, who's missing?"

Mayor Carla answered, "So far everyone is accounted for but there are exceptions. It's nothing to be concerned about, it's just people who were already out of town for one reason or another. My aid wants to try and contact them to let them know but, I don't think we should bother them for no good reason."

"They're going to find out one way or another, chances are that they already know. Might as well go ahead and ask them where they were." Heathcliff began to take pictures of the hill. "I'm gonna collect samples and send em back to Vale. It probably won't help, but at least we'll find out what this poor bugger was."

"You said What instead of Who! You don't think it was a person?" Carla asked.

"Dunno yet, I'm not even sure that it was a Grimm attack."

"What do you mean you're not sure it was a Grimm attack!? Look at all this blood and gore! How could it have been anything else? Only a Grimm would be so cruel!" Carla said with open anger not appreciating Heathcliff's more relaxed attitude.

"How can you tell?" Silvia asked while also feeling a little agitated. She tried her best to see it from Heathcliff's point of view and failed. She had seen the remains of many of an attack before, she knew how to tell the difference between a corpse killed by an animal and one killed by a person. Granted, she had never seen the remains of a Grimm attack, but she knew what those things were like.

Heathcliff was unbothered by both the question and their growing frustration with him, he had expected this. Grimm attacks were serious business, lives were on the line and he was supposed to be the expert and what did he do? He just suggested that they were worried about nothing, there was a hillside covered in blood, bone bits, and meat and he dared to suggest that this wasn't what it looked like… they deserved an explanation but it had to be one that left the possibility of a Grimm attack open. He quietly groaned to himself, This is the part of the job I hate the most.

He then looked away from the blood to look at the sheriff and the still-upset mayor and considered how to phrase his next sentence. But before he could say anything, he spotted Taem PRAN walking towards them with Brandy following them, and that put an idea into his head. They must have seen the mess from the watchtower, this is a good opportunity for a little test. The mayor and sheriff will be mad but they'll get their answer and maybe they'll understand better this way.

He then looked at the mayor and sheriff as a small impish smile appeared on his face, "I'm gonna let them explain if they can."

"If they can?" The mayor asked incredulously.

"If they can," Heathcliff repeated rather unhelpfully.

Team PRAN was now close enough that they could speak without shouting and Pyrrha asked "What do you mean; If we can?"

Heathcliff pointed at the bloody hillside, "Test time, look it over and tell me what you can piece together."

The Team glanced at each other before shrugging and splitting up to examine the mess from different angles while being careful to avoid stepping into it, they didn't want to contaminate the scene… Meanwhile, Carla and Slivia watched silently wondering what those kids were supposed to find while Heathcliff hoped that they would see what he saw. And as time went on, he only became more confident as PRAN began exchanging confused glances with each other. And then those glances became whispers and then those whispers became a group huddle. Then the huddle broke and one asked the question that was stewing in the mind of the group.

"Are you sure that this was a Grimm?" Nora finally asked.

The mayor just scoffed at the question while Silvia voiced her disbelief, "Why would you ask that?!"

"Nora waved a hand towards the mess, "A Grimm would have no reason to do something like this."

Mayor Carla couldn't believe what she was hearing, "I thought you were supposed to be a student at a Huntsmen Academy, so why are you saying something so insane? Grimm kill people! Everybody knows that! Literally, everybody knows!"

Pyrrha was unbothered by the older woman's outburst, she had dealt with many angry people in the past, "I'm sorry that I offended you but please look at this mess, look at all that blood and gore. The Grimm didn't just kill this poor person. Whoever or whatever this was got torn to shreds. But people aren't that durable, whoever was attacked would have died long before their body was reduced to this… so why did the Grimm keep going?"

Carla wasn't convinced, "So what? Grimm are monsters, why wouldn't they act like it?"

Ren then spoke, "You're thinking of Grimm like they were a blood lusted animal or a violent psychopath but they're not. They don't have feelings. They don't have souls. And as far as we can tell they don't feel pleasure. These things are far closer to machines than they are to anything else."

"W-what does that mean?" Silvia asked, becoming rather morbidly interested.

Pyrrha was the one who answered the sheriff, "Grimm want to kill and that's it. They don't eat and like Ren pointed out, they don't get pleasure from it. They kill simply because that is what they do, they don't care about anything else so the idea that a Grimm would torture someone like this is… strange because it goes against what they are!"

The mayor stared at the scene dumbfounded but there was a bit of hope starting to emerge from the back of her mind, "So maybe, just maybe this wasn't a Grimm… But what about this mess? It didn't get here on its own."

"That's a good question," Jaune confessed. "This had to get here somehow but ask yourself this, why would the Grimm stop here?"

The mayor's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying, "If it was a Grimm then why did it stop at only one victim? It would have tried to kill as many as possible… But what if it was smart? What if it figured that going after more would be risky?"

Now it was Pyrrha's turn to answer, "Grimm don't run away. They don't care about their own life, they only care about ending yours. If one decides that it is time to attack then it will keep going until it dies or everyone else dies."

The sheriff then pointed out a possibility, "Okay, so what if the Grimm did die? Their bodies disintegrate when they die so if it slipped and drowned in the river or just broke its neck then the body would be gone by the time people noticed."

"That is a possibility," Pyrrha conceded before adding. "If this was a Grimm attack then this is one of the better outcomes." Her eyes glanced back at the blood, "Not the best by a long shot but one possible victim is better than several."

Heathcliff who had been silently watching up till now, finally spoke up, "And what of the poor sap? Do ya have any thoughts on that?"

Pyrrha looked at the gore. It wasn't a pretty sight, she couldn't piece together what could have possibly happened to this person assuming that it was a person at all. "Are… are you sure that this was a person?"

Heathcliff was pleased but he didn't show it, this test wasn't done yet. "All it takes is a quick look at you all to see that each one of you has some doubts, mind sharing?"

There was a pause as everyone waited to see who would speak up, Ren was the one who answered, "I see a lot of guts but nothing that would suggest that it belonged to a person. We need to send some samples to a lab for testing or we could find something here that could only belong to a person. Only then could we know for sure."

Nora chimed in, "Ren is right. I can see some intestines and maybe half of a liver, but that could easily belong to a pig, a cow, a horse, or any other animal that has those. But I don't see any hands or legs or a head."

"But no animals missing!" Said the Sheriff. "It was one of the first things that we checked!"

"Did we check the freezers?" The mayor suddenly asked.

"What? What are you suggesting Carla?"

The mayor looked her friend in the eyes, "I'm not fully convinced that this isn't a Grimm attack but Silvia, we need to consider the possibility that this is just a prank. Just the actions of a troublemaker who heard the rumors of a Grimm and decided it would be funny to scare the town without realizing that they were putting everyone in danger."

"I get that Carla and I'm aware that there are troublemakers in Autumn Hills but this is beyond anything that they have ever done or could do. This can't be a prank! Not unless they had help but who would help with that?"

Brandy, who had been silently observing everything until now finally interjected, "What about the visitors?"

"Visitors?" Heathcliff asked, glancing at Brady before turning his attention to the sheriff and mayor, "What visitors?"

Carla briefly glared at Brandy before answering Heathcliff "It's just the usual. People visiting family and friends, arty types looking for inspiration, some weirdos, etc etc etc, just the usual."

"I'd still like a list and an interview with them if ya don't mind?" Heathcliff gave her a withering look that made it clear that this was not a request.

"Sure… Silvia will make all the arrangements."

"That's going to be difficult," the Sheriff muttered to herself.

Unfortunately for her, the mayor was close enough to overhear it, "Well that's your job and you do have deputies, use them. In the meantime, I have a town hall that I have to arrange for everyone here if that's okay."

"Go right ahead, we'll see what we can put together here," Heathcliff said with a dismissive wave.

Team PRAN watched as the woman walked away, and each one of them wondered privately to themselves just what her problem was. Each one worried quietly to themselves if those problems, whatever they were, might affect the case. And each one felt a bit of resentment for the woman but only one was willing to voice it…

"What's her problem?" Nora asked once the mayor was far away enough so that she would be able to hear her.

Sheriff Silvia gave the young woman an annoyed glance but Nora returned the glance and held it, for a second or two they just stared at each other. Then Silvia broke eye contact and sighed with resignation, "Carla… has always been a perfectionist. She holds herself to high standards, higher than most people would, and when something happens… She doesn't react well. It's even worse if what happened was something that she had no control over, something that she couldn't predict like this bloody hill."

Silvia then muttered something to herself but none could hear it.

Ren then asked, "And I take it that she doesn't react well to people suggesting things she should do next?"

"Yup, Carla has always been a proud woman. It's her greatest strength… but also her weakness." Silvia shook her head, "Look, you guys do what you have to and in the meantime, my deputies and I will get things ready for you to start interviewing folks."

"But do we have enough?" Brandy asked his boss. "We might need to deputize a few folks-," He looked over to PRAN. "-or maybe we can get some help?" There was an oddly eager look in Brandy's eyes, it was uncharacteristically hungry.

Pyrrha answered but was quickly interrupted by Heathcliff, "We'd love t-!"

"Sorry, but we're gonna be a bit busy here. Maybe next time!"

There was a palpable sense of awkwardness in the air as Brandy wanted to say something but didn't know if he should or even what he wanted to say in the first place. He looked to his boss for any guidance that she could offer him but she was just as unsure. After that, there was no other choice than to walk away and get to work.

"Oh… okay, um, good luck."

"Good luck to you too, Brandy, and to you as well Silvia!"

Brandy started to walk away as Silvia lingered on for just a little bit longer, perhaps expecting Heathcliff to say something more but it soon became clear that he already said what he wanted. "I hope next time we see each other we'll have good news."

The members of Team PRAN watched as the sheriff walked away with a sad look on her face before slowly turning their attention over to Heathcliff. The man wasn't even looking at the leaving woman, instead his back was towards her as he was sitting next to the blood and trying to collect some samples as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't acted like a complete asshole for seemingly no apparent reason.

"What was that!?" Nora asked not caring that the man was a professional and she was just a student. "We're supposed to help them solve this case and we were going to interview the people here anyway so why not help with this!?"

"Nora, I'm sure he has his reasons," Ren insisted but his voice suggested that he wasn't completely sure himself.

"Do ya really think I turned her down for no reason?" Heathcliff asked, there was no anger in his voice.

Nora didn't hesitate to answer, "Maybe. I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt but I just met you, I don't know you well enough to know what's normal for you or not."

"It was odd…," Pyrrha said in agreement.

"I guess it is odd…, I owe you guys a bit of an explanation."

"That would be appreciated," Jaune answered.

"Okay…," Heathcliff stood up and pointed at Pyrrha. "Your Semblance is Polarity, yeah?"

"Yes… why?"

"Cool," He then held up some tweezers and a few small boxes with transparent lids to hold samples. "While I explain myself, could you use your Semblance to collect some meat and bone? It's okay if they mix, the folks at the lab know how to handle it."

"Sure." Pyrrha walked up to him and took the tweezers. She then used Semblance to pick it up and hold it in the air, as it floated she opened and closed it until she had a good grasp on how much force she needed to use. Then she walked to the edge of the blood and floated the tweezer over to a lump of meat and got to work.

At the same time, Heathcliff addressed their concerns, "I'll keep it short. This town has some internal politics that they tried to rope me into the last time I was here. Naturally, the sheriff and mayor are involved and I don't think I need to explain why it's in our best interest to remain a neutral party."

Ren had a question, "If this was a concern then why didn't you bring it up on the ride over here?"

Heathcliff scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment. Ren was right, he should have warned them, "I didn't think that it would be a problem. The last time I was here I told them that I didn't want myself or you guys to be dragged into this… I guess it was foolish o' me to expect adults to act like adults."

"Well now is a good time to start," Jaune remarked.

"Alright then, but I'm going to warn you right now that it's going to be very stupid and boring."

"All politics is stupid," Ren bitterly muttered loud enough for others to hear while Nora nodded in solemn agreement.

Ren's voice was so bitter that it took Heathcliff, Jaune, and Pyrrha by surprise though none of them commented on it. There was time and a place for everything and right now they had work that needed to be done. But more importantly, Ren and Nora had to be willing to talk and right now the pair was feeling a bit irritable.

Heathcliff then sat down on the grass, "Alright then, let's get this over with. Remember how back on the ride here I mentioned that there was some erosion due to a flood?"

Jaune quickly recalled parts of the conversation, "Yeah, you mentioned that a family called the Whitebays paid for the repair and that the mayor reimbursed them to avoid owing them. I'm guessing that all of it was politics?"

"Yup. The Whitebays are an old money family that wants to expand the farming operation of this town. They envision a future where Autumn Hills becomes a major grain producer and even a part of Vale's Logistical Chain. However there are also plenty who suspect that it's all for personal gain, the Whitebays are still fairly rich but their finances won't last forever and there's not many opportunities to make money out here."

"So instead they'll try to expand an already successful venture, like the farmlands." Said Ren with a tired tone in his voice.

"I'm guessing you've seen this before?" Heathcliff remarked before adding, "I can't read minds but I've spoken to enough people around here to know that many are suspicious o' the Whitebays. Though the suspicion may be stemming from an old wound that never really healed."

Nora let out a low angry growl, "That's stupid. They're just creating their own villains. I bet that they'll probably act surprised if one day the Whitebays just gave up and embraced it."

"Maybe, but let's not start pointing fingers. There are other groups that we need to cover and we gotta get ready for the town hall meeting tonight."

"What's going to happen?" asked Jaune.

"We'll be introduced to the town and take a few questions, nothing major."

Pyrrha walked up to Heathcliff and handed him back the tweezers and the small box that were now filled, "So it's a press conference?"

"Basically, just without the press." He looked inside the boxes, "That's a nice sample size, the folks in the lab are definitely going to find something with this."

Pyrrha then walked over to Jaune and sat down next to him, "So what other groups do we need to know about?"

Heathcliff pulled out his scroll, "You're gonna wanna take notes."

Natural defenses were the single most important factor in determining which settlements would grow and thrive and which ones became ghost towns. It wasn't a coincidence that the capitals of each Kingdom were also the source of their names, each one was once a mere settlement that was able to grow into a city-state and expand into Countries. They were able to do this because their natural defenses afforded them the stability necessary to become the political, economic, and cultural center of the region that they would come to rule… but those natural defenses also came with limits.

As a population grows the space needed to contain them also grows, the walls need to be pushed out but they can't be pushed forever. Nature's blessings did not stretch forever and the existence of Grimm made it difficult for man to provide where Nature didn't. Compromise became a necessity and it was that compromise that led to the founding of new settlements, some would fail, some would grow, and many would just exist… Mount Glenn was one of those settlements and it stood out because it was supposed to be a success. Mount Glenn had the defenses, and the backing, and was even integrated into Vale's Logistical lines, and yet despite all of that and more, Mount Glenn became a mass grave.

Vale was a city surrounded by mountains, Ruby Rose knew that though she had never appreciated what that meant until now. She was a citizen of Vale but she grew up on the island of Patch and unlike her sister, she wasn't into traveling for the sake of traveling. If she went to Vale it was because she had something that she wanted to do, she'd seen the mountains but never paid them much mind nor had she climbed them like Yang had… at least until now.

Now she was on Mount Glenn, she was in the city that was built there, she was standing on top of the roof of what was once an office building, and she was looking at the ruins. Below her was a street, cracked, broken, filled with holes due to a complete lack of maintenance. The road was being overtaken by plants, the entire city was being overtaken by plants. And in every direction that she looked, she saw the hollowed-out corpses of buildings. It was difficult for the young woman to wrap her head around the fact that it wasn't all that long ago when the city was alive, the buildings whole, and the streets filled with people and cars.

"It hasn't been that long… has it?" Ruby asked out loud to no one but herself.

However, Doctor Oobleck, who was the Huntsman in charge of the mission, had overheard the young lady and he was never one to let a teaching moment go to waste. "What you are observing Miss Rose is a phenomenon that has been observed many times in communities that have fallen to the Grimm. Accelerated Deterioration is what we call it though I should warn you that naming something and understanding it are two very different things."

Ruby held back a sigh, she didn't really want a lesson but it wasn't like she could just tell a professor that to their face. If only I hadn't lost to Yang in Rock, Paper, and Scissors, then she'd be here and I'd be out there patrolling. Oh well, I might as well learn something new today.

"Accelerated Deterioration?" Ruby asked with a bit of resignation.

Oobleck didn't look at her, he was too busy also looking at the ruins around him but he did hear her. "Everything will eventually fall apart if it's not properly maintained or stored, you know this. It's why you take such good care of your weapon, Crescent Rose. It's normal for things to deteriorate but the rate of deterioration is what we are talking about here."

"The name sort of gave it away," Ruby chuckled, hoping that he'd appreciate a little playful jab for the sake of levity.

"Indeed it does but the name only explains what is happening but not why and how it's happening." If he had any opinion of what she had said then he didn't show it.

Ruby decided to leave it alone, "So why and how is it happening?"

"I don't know," Oobleck answered with uncharacteristic bluntness.

"What?!"

"As I said earlier, this phenomenon isn't something that we understand yet. All we know for certain is that in areas that have fallen to the Grimm, the infrastructure deteriorates faster than normal. It's not much faster, but it's still something that can be observed and measured. The greater the tragedy, the faster the deterioration."

"So what does that mean for us?"

"That is an excellent Miss Rose and it is one with a pleasantly simple answer… probably nothing."

"What!?"

Oobleck chuckled at her reaction, "Apologies Miss Rose but that's just the facts. Mount Glenn's success was considered all but certain, a lot of resources were poured into this. This city was built to last and even with Accelerated Deterioration, these buildings are going to remain standing for a while. The White Fang could theoretically be hiding in any of them."

"That's… so… helpful." Ruby's disappointment was so vast that she couldn't have hidden it even if she wanted to.

"Oobleck gave the young woman a sympathetic chuckle, "I know it's frustrating but there is a reason I said; Theoretically. In practice the actual number of viable hiding places is rather low, the Grimm are to thank for that." The doctor then laughed to himself as though he remembered a joke, "For once those monsters are on our side!"

"That is pretty funny," Ruby admitted, appreciating the change of pace even if it was just coincidental and the Grimm would still attack them on sight. "So do you have any idea where they could be hiding? Assuming that the White Fang are here at all."

"I do have a few but I think it's better to discuss it with the rest of your team, besides they should be returning to camp soon. Let's go back and wait for them."

"Sounds good to me!"

The two of them looked over the edge of the building they were on and mentally mapped out a route before jumping off. They didn't jump right to the ground though they could have done that thanks to Aura. But they were in hostile territory and wanted to exercise a little bit of caution, so instead they jumped to a ledge on the neighboring building before jumping to a lower point and continuing the process until they reached the street below. Through this method, they could climb and descend the buildings without having to enter and potentially run into any Grimm hiding inside.

They then made their way over to their camp, they did this by carefully and methodically moving from building to building. They were doing this to try and keep off the open streets for as much as possible. Out in the open, it would be easy to be spotted by the Grimm who'd attack on sight, or even worse by a White Fang Guard who'd flee and warn the others and if that happened then the mission was as good as over…

Eventually, they made it to the former apartment building that was serving as their campsite. The 15-story building was located close to the center of the city where there was little chance of encountering Grimm, those monsters preferred to be at the edges closest to Vale. As for the building itself, it was sturdy but the staircases, elevator shaft, and even the fire escape were unusable, and that ironically made the building safe. Neither Grimm nor White Fang Grunt would be able to enter without considerable effort, too much effort for most to consider it worthwhile and the ones who could enter easily were also too valuable to waste on a patrol.

It took a little bit of effort but Ruby and Oobleck were able to enter the building by climbing the wall to reach a hole on the side of the 7th floor while carefully preserving their Aura in the process. Once inside they moved through the ruined hallways of the apartment until they reached one room in particular that had had a hole in the ceiling leading to the floor above it. They went through that hole and after a few more turns they were greeted by the sight of their campsite.

"Looks like we were the first ones to arrive," Ruby commented as she grabbed an electric stove to start prepping dinner. It's a good thing Yang packed some seasoning and spices, rations taste bland without them.

Oobleck in the meantime walked up to his pack and took out a map of the city; he had taken it from Beacon's archives to help with the mission. But the map was from before Mount Glenn's fall, it needed to be updated but it could still be useful as a checklist of places to investigate. While he was out on patrol he had taken many pictures with his scroll, and now he was going to use those pictures to help him start crossing out the areas that he and Ruby had visited. More importantly, he was using the condition of the city to try and narrow down other potential locations worth checking out. It was tedious work that required a lot of double and triple-checking but it was the only reliable method available to them at the moment.

Yang arrived a few minutes later, "Hey sis! What are you cooking?"

"Just some rations."

"Cool, I got some powdered beef jerky in my bag. You can add that for some flavor."

"That's actually a good idea, I'll try it out now!" Ruby walked to her sister's bag to look for the jerky.

Meanwhile, Yang walked up to Doctor Oobleck to report on her findings, "I got the pictures you asked for but sadly I didn't find any signs of the White Fang."

"The pictures are good enough, every area that we can remove as a possibility makes the job simpler. By the way, where are Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee?"

"They're on the roof, Blake wanted to take a picture of the horizon for her collection and Weiss went with her to keep watch."

Oobleck nodded in perfect understanding, "This city makes for a terrible sight but it's not one most people will ever get the chance to see, it's important to remember and record these things… Anyway, let's see the results of your patrol."

Yang pulled out her scroll and projected a hologram of a map of the city. She then pressed a few more buttons before walking up to the hologram and using her finger to highlight one of the areas that she searched with Weiss and Blake; It was an emergency bunker that civilians could take shelter in during emergencies like a Grimm attack.

"There is nothing there, nothing but the remains of remains. It's a coffin, all of the bunkers we searched were coffins." Yang's voice was solemn as the fresh memories of those tombs flashed through her mind.

Oobleck took some notes before asking some questions, "And what about the electricity? Did it work? Were you able to check the water?"

"Neither worked, but I couldn't tell you if it was because the systems were down or if it was a burst pipe and a cut wire." Yang then looked over to her sister who was holding a bag of peas and trying to decide whether to add it to the dish or not. "And what about you sis? Any news?"

"We searched a mall and the area around it, found nothing."

"A mall? The White Fang isn't going shopping, why search there?"

Oobleck answered, "Malls are a commercial center and as a result, they are built to double as a shelter in an emergency. So while a terrorist organization may not be interested in purchasing their goods, they can still find many uses for a mall."

"Why are you talking about malls?" Weiss asked as she and Blake entered the room.

"Because Oobleck and I visited one!" Ruby answered as she conducted a little taste test. "Hmmm… needs paprika."

"Okay, but why?" Weiss asked.

Blake answered as she walked over to where Yang was standing to show her the picture she had taken, "Is it because malls can double as shelters?"

"They can? Or is that just a Vale thing?"

"Malls don't double as shelters in Atlas?" Blake asked while wondering to herself if Weiss had never been to a mall or just never noticed.

"Of course not! Why would they?"

"In case of an emergency… like a Grimm attack?"

Weiss' eyes lit up as though she had a revelation, "So the malls in Vale are different! Or rather it would be more accurate to say that the malls in Atlas are the odd ones out."

"How so?" Ruby asked as she prepared the plates and utensils for everyone to eat.

Weiss was more than happy to answer as she was handed a plate by Ruby, "The only malls back home are found in Atlas itself and it's a floating city, most Grimm can't get in, and the ones that can are stopped by the hard light shield."

"So you have no shelters?" Asked Yang as she found a comfy spot to sit.

"We do but they are leftovers from when the capital was Mantle. Back then Atlas was just a district where all the important decisions were made. It only became its own city after the great war."

Blake then bitterly added, "And in the process, it screwed over all of Mantle who now has to literally live under Atlas' shadow while also providing for it."

"That's… true," Weiss remorsefully admitted. "According to the council back then, it was done to lift the spirits of the crestfallen citizens of the kingdom. It was supposed to be a symbol of the kingdom's bright future despite losing the Great War… Meanwhile, the people down in Mantle strongly disagreed."

"I don't blame them," Blake said as she sat down next to Yang and tried to enjoy the food.

"Neither do I…," Weiss replied as she bit into Ruby's cooking, it had a bitter aftertaste.

Oobleck then spoke up, "Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee, did either of you find anything of note during your reconnaissance?"

Weiss shook her head, "I'm sure that Yang has already informed you that the bunkers were empty. However, I do have some good news."

"Please, do tell!"

"Before we left for this mission I took the liberty of contacting the SDC's Vale branch to get the records for Mount Glenn. Specifically, I wanted to find out what sort of energy distribution systems they were using. I have the files on my scroll, with it we can narrow down where the White Fang could be hiding."

"That was an excellent idea Miss Schnee… but why didn't you mention it earlier?"

"Because I wasn't sure if they would be accurate. The Branch had a bit of a corruption scandal after Mount Glenn, there were arrests and the Branch was nearly shut down."

Blake smirked, "Can't say I'm surprised."

"Neither can I," Weiss said to Blake's pleasant surprise. "The man in charge was a friend of my father, which should tell you everything.

Oobelck took a sip of coffee from his thermos, "I appreciate you wanted to make sure of the validity of these documents but please, next time don't hide it."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want us to waste any time chasing a false lead. To be honest the only parts I know for sure are accurate so far are the parts involving the bunkers."

Yang then thoughtfully pointed out, "Well bunkers are areas that would have common and thorough inspections. So maybe that is where we should focus on, areas that are guaranteed to be connected to that energy grid."

"But does it still work?" asked Ruby.

Blake answered, "Even if it doesn't, it wouldn't be too hard to fix it just enough to power one area. It's not like the White Fang wants to restore power to the whole city."

"Well then Miss Schnee, project a map of the system. We'll talk about it while eating and use it to plan out tomorrow." Oobleck said as he took a bite out of what Ruby cooked, "Hmmm… could use some honey glaze."

Autumn Hills didn't have a Town Hall, apparently, the town planning council considered it a waste of space that could have been used to build more important buildings. Besides, there were already plenty of empty houses that could be used to host events when they were not being used by watchmen. And as far as Team PRAN could tell, most of the town seemed to agree with that line of thinking and there was some sense to it. A settlement had to grow in accordance with its natural defenses, every bit of land mattered and there was nothing a town hall could do that an empty house, a big tent, a camera, and plenty of folding chairs could do.

In this case, the house belonged to Sheriff Silvia, she volunteered it for location for the Town Hall meeting. The long table where they were all sitting behind was on the patio and on the lawn was a large tent with over a hundred chairs under it that were slowly but surely being filled. Several lights had also been set up so everyone could see clearly even if the sun started to set and some scrolls were placed on stands to serve as cameras to livestream the meeting to everyone else in town who couldn't be in attendance but still wanted to watch.

"I've never been in front of a camera before," Jaune confessed as he sat along his teammates, a little further down the table sat Heathcliff, and even further away was Mayor Carla and Sheriff Silvia.

"Neither have I, it's exciting!" said Nora who was nearly bouncing with energy.

"Same," Ren calmly said as he used his Semblance on himself to keep his nerves under control.

Pyrrha on the other hand was perfectly calm, at least on the outside. "I'm a little nervous myself."

"What?! But you're Pyrrha Nikos! You've been on TV so many times, how are you nervous?" Nora asked, nearly sitting up from her heat in the process.

"I got better at hiding it but the butterflies are still there."

Nora nodded as she settled into her seat, "Well that makes sense."

"Are you all done?" asked Carla somewhat annoyed. "It's about to start."

An older gentleman was walking around, he went up to the people manning the lights, the cameras, and the mics to talk to them. He asked them if everything was in order and if they were ready to go and when they all answered yes he smiled and went back to the cameras. Once there he raised his arms and opened his hands, he then started to slowly close his hands by curling one finger at a time. He was counting down from ten to zero and when he finished he spoke one single word loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Action."

Carla instantly looked right at the camera that was pointing towards her and began speaking with a calm, even, and utterly professional tone, "Hello and welcome to tonight's town hall meeting, today there is only one subject that needs to be addressed so I expect this to be over fairly quickly. As usual, if you have any questions then you may ask directly after during the Q&A portion either by asking directly or through the chat of the live stream. Direct questions will be given priority. Sheriff, can you please introduce our guests."

"Thank you, Miss Mayor. It is my pleasure to introduce you to the honorable people of Autumn Hills River Heathcliff, he is the Huntsman who has agreed to take our case-"

Heathcliff gave a little wave to the camera as Slivia continued.

"-next to him is a team of Students from Beacon Academy, they will be assisting Heathcliff's investigation. They are Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Jaune Arc, and Nora Valkyrie. Now that introductions are out of the way, Mister Heathcliff, can you please tell the fine people here what they can expect?"

Heathcliff cleared his throat and began, "We're going to be working very closely with the sheriff here. That means we're going to take part in the nightwatch and during the day we'll be talking to witnesses. We. Are. going to find out what has been plaguing this town. We. Are. going to take care of it. All we ask is for your cooperation. If you have any information, then I humbly ask you to please contact either me or the sheriff or even any of the students."

Silvia then spoke up, "Until this situation is settled, the curfew will remain in effect and it will be enforced. Failure to comply will result in spending a night in holding. Please, for the sake of everyone, I hope that you will cooperate with us."

Carla then wrapped it up, "We will be keeping everyone up to date on the situation so please pay attention to the town board. Also before we move on to the Q&A, I want to remind the good people here not to bother the Huntsman, the sheriff, or even the students while they are working. They are not here on vacation, they are here to solve a mystery and if necessary protect us from a monster. Let. Them. Work."

That last bit felt as though it was directed at someone in particular, maybe it's those troublemakers that were mentioned earlier, Jaune thought to himself as the Q&A session started.

Most of the questions were nothing of note, just civilians taking an opportunity to say something directly to their mayor and sheriff with occasional questions or concerns given to Heathcliff. As for Team PRAN, nobody had any serious questions for them, which was exactly what they expected. Why ask the student when the master was sitting next to them? And while many may have taken offense to being ignored, Team PRAN and especially Pyrrha welcomed the lack of attention. Frankly, their last couple of missions had given them more than enough attention for their tastes, and each one of them decided to themselves that they would take more missions like this in the future.

And then a certain man stood up to ask a question, he was a large man who seemed to be the same age as Heathcliff. He was dressed in a simple blue shirt with suspenders, his hair was a faded blonde, his skin was tan and leathery, and his eyes were silver and clear.

"I don't have a question," his voice was deep but there was a tremble in it. The man was nervous, no, he was beyond nervous. He was scared and it was taking a considerable amount of effort to keep talking.

"What is it this time, Erik?" Carla said clearly annoyed but still willing to hear him out.

"I…," He glanced behind him at a group of people sitting in the back, his family. They were concerned for him but gave him a nod to keep going. Erik then turned back around and looked right at Heathcliff. "I am the Grimm."

"What did you just say?"

Erik gulped and then repeated himself, "I said. I am the Grimm that you're all looking for."

Author's Notes: Originally there was going to be an encounter between Blake and Corporal Greenstone from chapter 36. However, that conversation was too important for a proper introduction to Mount Glenn and an important part of the White Fang storyline.

As for everything else, I have to admit that I'm a little worried that I'm not doing a good job describing the scenery of Mount Glenn or Autumn Hills. But this chapter was good practice and I'm going to keep trying until I find something I'm comfortable with. The same thing goes for worldbuilding, the main series leaves a lot of things about the world unexplained and I don't blame them. The nature of the medium and the limits of their budget means that a lot has to be implied and a lot never gets addressed… But I don't have those limitations, I'm allowed to write nearly whatever I want.

However, that doesn't mean that I should just drown you in details that don't add anything to the story and characters. You don't need an explanation of the nature of Aura or how Hard light works or the metallurgy of the setting or the entire government structure of each area, etc, etc, etc… unless it's relevant, it's empty calories.

And in that regard learning what to explain, when to explain, and how much to explain has proven to be an interesting challenge…