"I hope Jaune's okay," Ruby said quietly, fidgeting in her seat. "After seeing what those villagers have done to other trespassers, it makes me scared to think about what they'll do to the man that killed several of their friends."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Yang assured her baby sister, while not looking very sure herself. "Vomit Boy's a tough guy. Besides, he's got to save your daughter and my niece, remember? He's got to pull through!"
"Well, we're about to see how things turn out for him," Qrow grunted, pointing at the screen as the lights in the theater dimmed. "The show's starting back up again."
The episode began with a white light, before it faded to reveal Jaune, still unconscious and propped up against a wall, his hands tied behind his back.
"Feeble humans..." a low, crooning voice sneered, before a pair of men approached the Huntsman. One was dressed in a black robe with red embroidery, and carried some medical equipment. "Let us grant them your power," the other man whispered. Of the two, he was dressed more elegantly. His robe was a rich purple color with golden embroidery. He clutched a long black staff in his left hand. Hanging around his neck was a silver and golden necklace with a blue gem embedded in its centerpiece. His upper face was obscured by his robe's hood, but his mouth was visible, currently curled into a smile.
"Um, who the heck are those guys?" Sun demanded, unsettled by their appearance. "They don't look like villagers..."
"They could be the village priests," Penny suggested. "Roman deduced that the villagers in this region are highly religious. Perhaps these men lead the villagers in their worship."
The man in the black robe stepped forward, before taking a needle connected to a long tube and sticking it into Jaune's neck. A second later, the tube turned red as a large amount of blood was drained from the Huntsman.
This caused several members of the audience to cringe, or squirm in their seats.
"This is making me really uncomfortable." Emerald gulped, before rubbing her neck in discomfort.
As more blood was drained from Jaune's neck, the man in the purple robe stretched out a hand, gently cupping the Huntsman's cheek.
"Soon, the world will be unable to resist your extraordinary power~" he purred, before the screen went black.
"Unable to resist Jaune's power?" Blake mused. "What did he mean by that?"
"I think that man is referring to Jaune being half-Grimm," Weiss suggested. "But I cannot possibly imagine what they hope to accomplish by taking some of his blood."
The scene changed to show Jaune finally regaining consciousness. The Huntsman grunted, then looked around in confusion at his surroundings. He was sitting in the middle of a dusty storage room, with farming equipment and a couple wooden crates propped up against the back wall. Jaune turned his head to find the man he had rescued earlier propped up on him. The two men were back-to-back, their hands restrained to each other's by a couple pairs of handcuffs.
"Well, that's quite the pickle," Tai said with a grimace. "How's Jaune supposed to get out of that?"
"He could use his Aura to pull the cuffs apart," Ironwood suggested. "Of course, that requires his Aura to have replenished itself, first."
Noticing the other man was still unconscious, Jaune twisted his body to tap the man on the shoulder with his own.
"Hey, wake up!" the Huntsman whispered sharply. The man grumbled, as his eyes fluttered open.
"Aye-yai-yai," the man moaned, shaking his head. He took a look around him, and then let out a dramatic sigh. "Crawl out of one hole, and into another."
"Yeah, that's the story of my life..." Jaune stated, a resigned expression on his face.
"Hey, at least this place is more spacious than a wardrobe," Coco pointed out.
"I don't think that's much of an improvement, given the circumstances," Velvet told her leader timidly.
"So, do you have any idea about what the hell's going on around here?" Jaune asked, craning his neck to look back at the man he was currently handcuffed to.
"Hey, you're Valean, aren't you?" the Huntsman received in reply. "What brings a bloke like you to this part of Mistral- Ah! Hey! Easy, whoever you are!" The man winced as Jaune bent their arms awkwardly, in order to fish through his trench coat's pockets.
"Sorry," the Huntsman apologized. He produced the photo of Summer from his pocket, holding it out at an angle his fellow captive would be able to see it from. "My name is Jaune. I came to this place looking for this girl. Have you seen her?"
"Smart thinking, Mr. Arc," Ozpin said with a nod. "If this man was being held prisoner by these villagers as well, there is a chance he and Summer might have come across each other at one point."
The man stared down at the photo of Summer for a moment, before looking back up at Jaune.
"What, are you supposed to be a detective or something?" he said with a scoff. "Nah, you don't look the type."
"Maybe," the Huntsman said, shrugging his shoulders as best as he could. The other man lifted his head, looking up towards the ceiling.
"Okay, let me guess," he said finally. "She's your daughter?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.
"That's too good for a guess," he stated. "Mind telling me how you figured that out?"
"Gee, that sure is a mystery," Mercury said sarcastically. "It's not like she has both your hair and your eye color or anything."
"Don't be an ass, Mercury," Cinder said coolly. "That was a valid question to ask."
The man looked into Jaune's eyes, as a serious expression came over his face.
"Psychic powers," he whispered. Seeing the Huntsman's incredulous stare, the man let out a short laugh. "Ha, ha! I'm just kidding. She looks enough like you that it wasn't too hard to make the connection. As for where she is, I seem to recall one of the villagers mentioning something about a little girl being held in a church." The latter part of the man's dialogue became a voiceover, as the scene abruptly cut to outside the building that he and Jaune were currently being held in. Making his way up the pathway and through the gate leading to the building was another man in a black robe, wearing an executioner's hood over his head. He dragged a large axe across the ground behind him.
"That's not good," Roman said, gritting his teeth.
"No, it is not." Ms. Goodwitch pursed her lips. "Brace yourself, Mr. Arc."
"And who might you be?" Jaune asked, as the scene returned to him and his fellow captor.
"The name's Forest Hemlock," the man introduced himself. "I used to be a cop, back in Atlas." His chest heaved as he slumped downwards. "Now, I'm just a good-for-nothing guy, who happens to be quite the ladies' man~" Forest smirked at his own description of himself.
"A ladies' man? Him?" Whitley demanded, staring at the screen in shock. "But he looks so scruffy!"
"Some women like their men rugged," Kali told the boy, before cuddling up against her husband. "I know I do~"
"Kali! Not in front of the kids," Ghira groaned, covering his face with one hand.
"Why'd you quit?" Jaune continued his questioning. Forest shook his head again, and let out another sigh.
"Jaune, lemme tell you something about the Atlesian police," he declared. "You put your life on the line every single day, and nobody really appreciates you for it." His head lowered in disappointment. "Being a hero isn't what it's cracked up to be, anymore."
"That is true," Winter said, frowning. "The citizens of the Kingdom of Atlas have been hostile towards the law enforcement for quite some time. Especially in the city of Mantle."
Well, you guys kind of come off as a bunch of authoritarian stuck-ups, Neopolitan pointed out. But then again, I'm biased. Being a career criminal puts you on the bad side of the police in general.
"I see," Jaune said, frowning sympathetically. "Me, I'm a Huntsman, myself. I even attended the prestigious Beacon Academy. Only for a semester, though."
"And I thought I was bad," Forest said with a chuckle.
"Oh, it wasn't that," the Huntsman clarified. "I just happened to enroll the very year Beacon was destroyed."
"Ah, you mean the large Grimm attack during the Vytal Festival," Forest realized. "I saw that whole fiasco on TV while watching it with some of my old friends on the force..."
"I still cannot believe Beacon of all places was destroyed by the Grimm," Willow whispered, shaking her head. "Out of all the Huntsmen Academies, that one is supposed to be the best."
Jaune and Forest were abruptly interrupted as the door to the storage room was thrown open, revealing the hooded man with the axe. His eyes glared at the two from underneath his facial covering, before he lifted the axe off the ground.
"I'll have your heads," the man snarled, as he advanced on them.
"Time's running out, Jaune," Adam stated. "What are you going to do?"
Forest began to struggle and thrash, shooting a glance back at Jaune as he did so.
"Do something, Huntsman!" he demanded.
"After you!" the Huntsman shot back, simply glaring at the robed man as he came to a stop right next to them, raising the axe over his head.
"Oh no!" Penny gasped.
"Look out, Jaune!" Ruby shouted, silver eyes wide.
"Now!" Just as the axe began to swing down, Jaune tugged in the opposite direction Forest was, pulling the handcuffs' chains taut. The axe narrowly avoided the Huntsman's head as it sliced through his restrains, instead. Jaune quickly rolled away, attracting the robed man's attention, while Forest fell flat on his face. "Run, Forest!" the Huntsman called over to him, before leaping up onto his feet, in time to grab the axe by its handle as his attacker came in for a second swing. The two men struggled over the weapon for a couple seconds, before Jaune threw himself onto his back, using one leg to launch his attacker over him. The hooded man smashed into the wall behind the Huntsman, then dropped onto his head, his neck snapping from the force he hit the ground.
Most of the audience squirmed or cringed at the sickening crunch that emanated from the man's neck.
"Oh, I did not like that noise!" Blake whined, covering her human ears with her hands, as her feline ears flattened themselves atop her head.
Jaune stared down at the hooded man for a couple seconds, making sure his attacker was not going to get back up. Once he was satisfied that they wouldn't, the Huntsman looked around for Forest as well, in case the man had failed to escpe, but he was nowhere to be found. Nodding, Jaune pulled out his Scroll and opened it up.
"It's Jaune," he reported. "Sorry I couldn't get in touch sooner, but I was a bit tied up."
"Ha!" Yang laughed, clapping her hands together. "I need to remember that one!"
"Of course you would find that funny," Weiss sighed, shaking her head. Then she realized something. "Wait a minute, why would you need to remember it? You are not expecting to be tied up in the future, are you?"
"You are okay, right?" Winter's voice demanded Jaune. The Huntsman nodded.
"I'm fine," he assured the Specialist. "There was a male civilian held captive. According to him, Summer's in a church somewhere."
"What happened to him?"
"He managed to escape," Jaune responded.
"Do you have a fix on the location of that church?" Winter asked.
"No, but I do remember seeing a chapel back in the village when I first arrived at this place. That seems like a good place to start." The Huntsman pocketed his Scroll, then headed out of the room.
"Well, now the kid's back at square one," Qrow grunted. "Talk about bad luck."
"True, but now Mr. Arc has a better idea as to where he is going," Ozpin pointed out. "That should make finding Summer a tad easier."
Jaune made his way out of the storage room and into a long hallway, where he found Crocea Mors, Ebony, and Ivory all laying on a table. Smiling, the Huntsman took back all of his weapons -strapping his sword to his back and bolstering his twin handguns- before making his way outside.
When Jaune exited the building, he stopped to take a look at his surroundings. From what he could tell, he was near a gorge, based on the slope of the hill the building was built upon, as well as the sound the wind was making. A large stone wall had been built in front of the building, preventing the Huntsman from seeing what lied ahead. A metal gate was built into the wall, and appeared to be the only way out of the area, as far as he could tell.
"How much do you wanna bet there's a bunch of villagers behind that wall?" Mercury asked Emerald casually.
"Oh, I'm sure there's a bunch of them waiting for Jaune on the other side," she replied. "It would be more interesting to bet on the exact number of them there might be."
Jaune stared at the wall, steeling himself for the fight he knew was sure to come, then headed for the gate.
"Hang on, kid!" a familiar voice called out, causing the Huntsman to stop in surprise. "I don't think you want to head out there just yet." Recognizing the voice, Jaune turned around, and there he was. Leaning against one of the exterior walls of the building, one of his trademark cigars in his mouth, was Roman Torchwick.
"Check it out, Neo!" Roman said with a grin. "Looks like I'm in this show as well!" Neo waved her hands in celebration.
"What's Torchwick doing here?" Nora demanded. "He'd better not be planning to cause more trouble for Jaune!"
"Actually, Nora, if you will recall the first episode, it sounded like Torchwick was assisting Jaune is his search for Summer," Ren reminded his partner.
"So Roman's going to be helping Jaune?" Pyrrha wondered aloud. "I didn't think he was the type to risk his own neck."
"Roman!" Jaune stated, surprised to see the criminal. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?!"
"Whoa, whoa! One question at a time, kid," Torchwick said, holding up his hands. "I wasn't getting anything from my contacts in Mistral or Kuchinashi, so I decided to join you on your hunt through the Mistralian countryside. As far as I can tell, I got here soon after you did."
"Okay, that explains what you're doing in the village, but how did you get past all those crazed villagers?" The criminal raised an eyebrow.
"Kid, I'm a master thief," Torchwick told the Huntsman. "You don't get far in my business if you can't do things quietly."
"That is certainly true," Ozpin said with a nod. "Torchwick may flaunt about Vale like he owns the place, but when he actually commits a crime, he is usually quite discreet. There are several robberies we are positive he is responsible for, but there just is not enough evidence to link him to them."
"Anyway, from the looks of things, you've been having a rough time here," Torchwick commented, taking his cigar out of his mouth to let out a puff of smoke. "I never thought a bunch of country bumpkins would be able to knock you unconscious."
"Well, actually, that was the doing of their leader..." Jaune began, before noticing the unimpressed expression on the criminal's face. "But I'm guessing that's not the point you're trying to make."
"You're supposed to be a Huntsman, kid," Torchwick said flatly. "So why don't you start fighting like one? You're never going to rescue Summer if you keep allowing these UNTRAINED CIVILIANS to score hits on you!"
"Jeez! You don't need to be so harsh, Torchwick!" Coco said with a frown.
"Yeah, Jaune's doing his best," Velvet added meekly.
"On the contrary, that is exactly what Mr. Arc needs," Ms. Goodwitch stated. "His hesitation to harm these villagers allowed them to repeatedly land attacks on him, which lowered his Aura enough to allow their leader to knock him out. What if they had decided to simply kill him afterwards?" That question caused most of the students to shift uncomfortably in their seats.
"It's not that simple, Roman!" Jaune protested. "Whatever has happened to these people has made them violent and cruel, I won't deny it, but they are still people!"
"Then let me make this simple for you, Jaune," Torchwick stated coldly. "Either you START killing them, or they WILL kill you. You saw what they did to that cop; do you really think they won't do the same to you if given another chance?" The Huntsman shifted uncomfortably.
"I-"
"And another thing," the criminal continued, "Have you noticed that there is a complete lack of children for a village of this size? Doesn't that bother you?"
A sudden chill swept over the audience.
"They... They didn't, did they?" Nora whispered, her eyes wide as the severity of what Torchwick was implying sank in.
"Of course they wouldn't," Pyrrha assured her, looking very pale herself. She turned to Ren, though, just to get some support for her claim. "Ren, they couldn't have, right?"
"I..." Ren's voice caught in his throat for a second. "I sure hope not..."
"Before you suggest that the kids were just hidden away inside, I looked through ALL of those houses," Torchwick said, holding up a hand to keep Jaune from interrupting him. "And there wasn't any sign of them. Now, I can't say for certain what that means, but with the way these people are acting, they're basically Grimm in all but name, so nothing good happened to those children, I'm sure of it. Now why don't you take a page out of Adam's book, and carve yourself a path to Summer before they decide they don't need her anymore?"
"Really, Roman?" the Huntsman groaned. "You both know Adam and I come from completely different backgrounds when it comes to things like this."
"That's true, Adam was exposed to the evils humanity is capable of far earlier in his life than you were," the criminal shot back, causing Jaune to frown and look away. "You think he could've stopped that whole fiasco with the Atlas Titans last year if he got hung up on the fact that his enemies were people, like you?"
"Roman has a point," Ironwood said with a nod. "A Huntsman's job is to protect the public from threats to their safety. Those threats include criminals, bandits, and the like as much as it does Grimm. As such, a Huntsman needs to treat every danger to society like a Grimm, and put a stop to it, permanently."
"Not to mention the fact that Mr. Taurus was confronted with the fact that his enemies were human," Winter added. "But he simply determined that the Titan soldiers opposing him needed to die, so that he could prevent a lot more deaths later on."
"All right, you've made your point," Jaune groaned.
"Good," Torchwick said, patting the Huntsman on the shoulder. "Now, I think it's time you got back to work. First things first, though, you're going to need some better weapons." Jaune looked a little indignant.
"What's wrong with Crocea Mors?" he demanded.
"Nothing's wrong with your sword, kid. But if you're going to go up against another angry mob, you're going to want some better firepower than those little pea shooters of yours." The criminal slipped a hand inside his white suit coat, feeling around for something. "Here, you left this back in the village," he said, producing the double-barreled shotgun. "I assume that was because you don't have any ammunition for it, so here." From one of his pockets Torchwick pulled out a box of shotgun shells. The Huntsman accepted them eagerly.
"Thanks, Roman."
"Sweet! Vomit Boy's got a shotgun again!" Yang grinned. "Those villagers don't stand a chance now!"
"Just as long as he doesn't keep hesitating like he has been," Whitley murmured.
"Wait a second," Roman said. "Those villagers have got themselves some firearms as well. Hunting rifles, specifically. They'll have a greater range with those than you will with yours. So I brought along something to counter that." The criminal disappeared around the corner of the building. He emerged a few seconds later, carrying a very familiar weapon.
"Wait a minute!" Ruby said with a gasp. "That's Crescent Rose! Where did he get his hands on my precious baby?!"
"Heh. I think Summer might have some competition on being the favorite child in the family," Adam snickered.
Jaune looked equally surprised.
"Roman, why did you bring my wife's weapon along?!"
"Kid, your wife was recovering from a head injury in the hospital last I checked," Torchwick pointed out. "I had a feeling it would come in handy, so I swiped it before we left. Trust me, it'll be a lot more useful to you than it will her at the moment. You do know how to fight with this thing, right?"
"Ruby's in the hospital?" Kali said, surprised. "What happened to her?"
"Maybe she tried to stop Summer from being kidnapped, and got knocked out," Ghira suggested.
"Yeah, I know how to use this thing," Jaune said, taking Crescent Rose from Torchwick. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. You'll need this," the criminal stated, handing him a trapezoidal dmblem. "I managed to snag this from one of those villagers while they weren't looking. Apparently there's another gate up ahead that requires two of these things to unlock. I wasn't able to find the other one, so I'll leave that up to you."
"Okay. Thanks again, Roman."
"No problem, kid," Torchwick said, waving his hand. "Now, I'm gonna make myself scarce. I'll try to get in touch with you again down the road. Good luck, Jaune, and say 'Hi' to Summer for me." The Huntsman watched as the criminal disappeared back behind the building again, then turned back towards the gate.
"Okay," Jaune said, mentally preparing for the fight he knew was coming. "I've had a setback, but now I know for sure where I'm going." His eyes hardened in determination. "Hang on, Summer. I'm coming for you." The episode ended.
"You can do this, Mr. Arc!" Willow grinned.
"Yes. Now that Jaune has obtained superior weaponry, the odds are exponentially more in his favor," Penny agreed.
That was a mouthful, Neo commented.