A/N: A lot of things have been going on with the Coronavirus Breakouts. I know I've been behind my stories and I have seen all the guest reviews (By the way it doesn't help to ask questions when I cannot be able to reply to them) I'm doing my best. I've been busy, and I'm hoping the lay off I get from this outbreak might be the opportunity I need.
Back to the story, it continues with the Hunter becoming...the Hunted.
Chapter 2: The Hunter and the Hunted
Several Days Later.
After his infiltration in Atlas, he spares no minute returning to his Employer. He arrives at the Encampment on the outskirts of Anima. The Base Camp of the Branwen Tribe.
The guards outside kept him held until Raven orders them to let him in. Patrick meets Raven outside of her tent and offers the scroll he used.
"Here we are. This scroll contains all the information of the Schnee Dust Industries from Amina to Sanus: Company Locations. Cargo loads. Transport Routes and every Access Code."
Raven smirks proudly. "Gotta say, I'm impressed. You really live up to your reputation." Raven steps forward but stops when Patrick retreats the scroll.
"Not so fast. Where's my pay?" Patrick demands.
The bandits ready their weapons. They turn hostile when Patrick questions their leader. But Raven orders them to stand down. "Stand down, everyone." And they obeyed. "A deal's a deal...Vernal?"
Vernal nods, she approaches Patrick and offers a suitcase. She opens it to reveal it being filled with Lien. Patrick looks carefully at the money, then back at Raven. "Payment's fair...And the Information?"
Raven raises an eyebrow as she looks at him suspiciously. "Why are you so fixated with this...Organization? I thought you want nothing to do with them."
"I don't. But their leader is my target." He starts to get aggressive. "For various personal reasons." then he clears his throat. "I'm sure someone like you would understand. Now...the Information?"
There's nothing but silence between the two, then Raven speaks. "We don't where their hideout is...But we manage to learn about their next targets." Vernal takes out a scroll. She sends the information directly into Patrick's scroll. When he opens it, it reveals a picture of Winter and Weiss. "He's most likely going after the Schnee Daughters...Oddly, I'm not sure why he's target the second daughter. She's still pretty young."
"He has a thing with royal blood. Thinks it's delicious." Patrick looks down with fire in his eyes, whispering the next sentence. "Really boils my blood!" After taking a deep breath, he puts his scroll away and accepts the money. Then handles the other scroll to Vernal. "Pleasure doing business with you, Lady Branwen."
With his pay, Patrick makes his leave. Patrick leaves the encampment. And the Black Bird hanging out on a tree branch takes off once he leaves.
The next day, Patrick walks the empty street of an open grass-field. This time, he wears his usual clothing: Dark Gray short slave shirt and black pants with dark boats, still wearing the Dust-Enhanced Leg Bracers, and wearing a black trench coat. On his back in a quiver filled with arrows and a pair of Dual Swords sheathed on the sides.
He walks down the empty road. Lost in his thought. Nobody knows who is he is where he's from. All they know is he's a late-16-year-old unlicensed Huntsman that works as a Mercenary. All while fixated on a target he's determined to find...and destroy.
While Patrick's walking, he suddenly stops. Dart his eyes to the side barely looking back. He has a presence feeling he's being followed...and watched.
He keeps walking, keeping his mind sharp and his guard up.
After several meters, he turns around to see what it is he's feeling. But he sees nothing but trees...and a bird that flies to another tree. Patrick watches the bird. He sees something unusual about it. But not in a way he can make sense of it.
He continues walking, and a minute later, that's when he sensed it.
And immediately turns while drawing out his sword and strikes...to block an attack.
The attacker flies back and lands several feet away from Patrick. Qrow stands and chuckles. "Quite impressive, for a young, untrained Huntsman."
Patrick positions himself to fight. "And I suppose you think above me, Huntsman?"
"The name's Qrow, and I never said I was. You're only young and inexperienced." Qrow says.
"But I know I have enough experience to survive on my own. Since my family's gone." Patrick says.
He senses an attack from behind. Patrick turns and strikes at the incoming Ice Shards, shattering them. Patrick gets a clear look at his attacker. Much to his surprise, it's Winter. "The Schnee daughter." He whispers.
"Patrick the Shadow Hunter! By the order of General Ironwood and the Kingdom of Atlas, you are hereby under arrest!" Winter says.
"Humph." Patrick draws out his second sword. "And here I thought you'd be on my side. Especially since I raided your father's home."
"While I admit I am against father's idealisms, that being said, I shall not allow your crimes to go unanswered." Winter says.
"All right, pal. We don't want any trouble. Either you come quietly or we'll take you by force." Qrow says. Patrick doesn't say anything, only maintains his fighting position. Qrow makes his position as well. Qrow draws his weapon back, then dashes towards Patrick. Winter does the same as well. Both of them come at Patrick at once.
Patrick blocks both of their attacks at once, then repels them. Winter uses her Glyphs to break her midair fall and launches herself towards him. Winter throws swift attacks at Patrick, only he either dodges or blocks them. The minute Qrow lands on his feet, he starts shooting from the gun part of his weapon. After Patrick repels Winter's last attack, he quickly faces Qrow and deflected the incoming bullets.
Qrow shifts his weapon into a scythe and comes charging at him. Patrick activates the Gravity Dust. He leaps high enough to avoid Qrow's charge. With him and Winter close by, Patrick shifts his blades into a bow and shoots arrows while midair, rising then falling. Winter uses Hard-Light Dust to block the incoming arrows.
Once Patrick lands on the ground, he switches the dust on his legs to Lightning Dust. Then dashes off.
"Oh no, you don't!" Winter activates a glyph beneath her, a trail leading towards Patrick's direction, and uses it to dash off at equal speed. Qrow turns into a bird and follows them as fast as he can.
Patrick runs at high speed. He looks back to find Winter is catching upon him. When they're neck and neck, they throw swift strikes at each other as they run. After a while, Patrick hits the breaks on his run. He excepted Winter to kept running or have trouble stopping, but he underestimated her Glyph Semblance, and she's able to stop on a dime.
"That's some Semblance you have there. Just like a Schnee." Patrick says.
"Oh, I'll show you what I'm capable of!" Winter summons a large glyph on the ground, and it summons a Beowolf Companion. The Beowolf comes at him. Patrick slays the Beowolf in a single swing. With the Beowolf vanquished, Patrick realizes there are more and more being summoned until he's surrounded.
It's not the summoned Grimm he needs to take out. It's Winter. Patrick fights his way through the pack of Beowolf's. He's fast, but not fast enough. Some of the Beowolfs land successful hits onto Patrick. His Aura remains strong but it's fading with each hit.
In the struggle, Patrick loads one of the blades with Fire Dust then, with a single swing, unleashes a wave of large flames directly at Winter. The wave burns through the summoned Beowolfs and cancels Winter's concentration on her Glyph. And all the remaining Beowolfs faded away.
After her staggering, Winter notices her opponent running away at his lightning speed. She contacts Qrow. "Qrow! He's heading your way! Cut off his escape!"
Qrow flies towards Patrick's direction. Patrick notices Qrow, but since he's in bird form Patrick finds himself confused to see the bird. Then becomes shocked when the bird suddenly transforms into Qrow and Qrow strikes right at Patric's legs. The Aura protected them, but not the Dust Bracers.
And Patrick's super-speed comes to a halt. "Shit!" Patrick looks at his legs. The device is beyond manual repair. Patrick looks at Qrow, surprised. "What-How did you...?"
"Not gonna escape now, pal. Are you?" Qrow says, proudly.
Patrick growls. He charges towards Qrow to make the first strike. Qrow blocks his attack and repels. The two of them fought, swift and hard. They don't land any hits. Soon, Winter catches up with the two of them and joins in on the fight.
Patrick struggles in his battle against the two of them. He is focused on mostly defensive. Even with all his might, Winter and Qrow still manage to land some hits. And Patrick's Aura levels become low.
"I've had enough of this!" He says in frustration. His eyes turn crimson red. While dodge Winter and Qrow's attacks, he is seeing target spots on certain parts of their bodies. Once he marks his targets, he fights back, swiftly, and aims for the targets.
Winter and Qrow suffer heavy damage, their Aura's too. The parts Patrick hits are their Weak Points. When Patrick finishes them off, their Aura levels are critical and they fall on their knees, then Patrick runs away as fast as his normal legs can muster.
"He's getting away!" Qrow says.
"Oh no, he's not!" Winter summons several black Glyphs ahead. Each of them slows down Patrick's movement. Once he's slowed down enough, Winter gets a clear shot and throws her rapier. Upon impact, which lands just behind Patrick's feet, he is completely snared in ice. The only thing not frozen is his head and shoulders.
Winter and Qrow get back on their feet. They gather around Patrick. "Had enough?" Qrow says.
"Shut up." He barks at Qrow.
Winter turns away and turns on her communicator. "This is Atlesian Operative Schnee reporting: We've apprehended the target. We're gonna need a pickup."
What the three of them don't know is that they are being watched, from all the way to the Land of Darkness.
Salem finds herself slightly amused by what her Dark Orb was showing. The doors open and Salem turns her attention to the man that's walked in.
"You wanted to see me, my Queen?" The man says.
Salem gestures at the chair closest to her. "Have a seat, Rufus." Rufus approaches the table and sits on the chair next to Salem. "I've been keeping an eye on a certain someone. One who I think you'll find most interesting."
Rufus looks into the orb. He sees Qrow, Winter; whose's appearance was-most pleasurable to him-And Patrick, which surprises him.
"You're joking. He's still around?" Rufus asks. "I thought he was long gone when his Sister abandoned him."
"You thought wrong. He has survived this entire time. He's skilled and smart, I'll give him that. But now he's in Ozpin's hands." Salem says.
This leaves Rufus confused. "Uh, no disrespect, my Queen. But I don't see the problem."
Salem looks at Rufus with disappointment. "Have you forgotten who he is?" Rufus is feeling the heat, in a nervous way.
"Uh. O-of course I haven't, my Queen." Rufus clears his throat. "So-What do we do?"
Salem turns her attention back to the orb. "We wait and see what developments. After all." Salem puts a hand on the orb, right on the close view of Patrick's face, sliding down. "He could be the key to our missing Fall Maiden."
The airship picks up Qrow and Winter and takes off to make its way into Atlas.
Meanwhile, Patrick finds himself in a small roof, hands cuffed to the table. The door slides open and Winter walks right in. He looks over the citations listed on her Scroll. "Patrick Aki." Patrick glares right at Winter. "You are hereby charged for crimes of Robbery. Infiltrating. Impersonating an Atlas Official and resisting arrest."
"If you're here to lecture me, you are wasting your time." Patrick says.
Winter slams her hands onto the table and glares right into his face. "If it were up to me, I would throw you in a cell and leave you to rot!" Patrick shows no sign of weakness. "However-I was only ordered to capture you. There is someone here who wishes to speak to you."
Winter moves aside. The door opens and Ozpin walks right in. "Patrick Aki..."
Patrick finds himself confused. "A professor?"
"I'll have you know I'm more than just a professor. I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy." Ozpin says.
"Oh, a headmaster. How scary." Patrick says sarcastically. Then he turns to Winter. "Is this really the best Ironwood can throw at me?"
Winter just glares. Trying hard to contain her rage. "Look, I know this we aren't speaking on the friendliest of terms. But I have a proposal for you." Ozpin says.
Patrick is curious. "A proposal?"
"Indeed. And if you are willing to accept it, you will be free as a bird...and all the charges against you will be dropped."
Hearing this surprises Winter. "What? I was never informed of this!"
"The General as agreed to my terms-he wasn't too happy about it. But he has accepted them." Ozpin says.
"Well, whatever it is. The answer is no." I say.
"At least let me explain." Ozpin takes his seat across Patrick. "After all, don't you want to hear what happened to Amber?"
Hearing this has shocked Patrick. Then he looks at Ozpin with a serious expression.
"What do you know about my sister?!"