SO! Before we proceed any further, I think it's prudent to bring up that this story now has an official TV Tropes page! If anyone here wants to give it a look through or add their own two cents to it, just look up TV Tropes Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter and you should find it fairly easily! (Christ, has it really been several months since the last chapter? ._.) Some colossal thanks also goes out to the fine fellow who created that page for me, one Epiclinksam, who in addition to making what looks to be a great crossover between JJBA and Akame Ga Kill, is also working on a kickass Dangan Ronpa and Persona 4 crossover that I'm quite fond of.

In any case, I hope you all enjoy and that this latest chapter to JJHH provides some enjoyment during this turbulent, shitty, and Corona Virus infested time in our lives.

Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter

(Battle Tendency OST: Overdrive)

"Back the hell off! Move back you slobbering monsters! I'LL SPLIT ALL YOUR DAMN SKULLS IN TWO!"

Joseph was starting to see black spots momentarily pop into his vision, and he just knew it wasn't the Grimm in this case.

He was beginning to lose track of how long he'd been at this for, the steadily increasing and persisting aches and stings all over his body leaving him unable to focus on time. All he knew was that it felt like ages since he'd been trying to fight off this Grimm hoard.

"Damn freaks…! Real good thing my hamon works on them or I'd be a dead man…!" Joseph groaned to himself as he slammed his UV-infused knee into the face of an approaching Beringel, the hamon already beginning to eat away at it's pitch-black face. Honestly, it was the only practical edge he had against these monsters. He might've been a hamon master at the top of his game, but the UV energy didn't enhance his body to utterly superhuman limits like aura did for the huntsmen of this world.

"Which is why…!" Joseph ground out, wrapping Hermit Purple around the neck of a raging Beringel as he fluidly dodged one of it's incoming strikes, quickly following this up by leaping onto it's back and causing it to lose it's balance when he yanked back on the vines as hard as he could. "I'd like to keep my injuries from you freaks to a minimum, if you don't goddamn mind!" He finished angrily, punctuating this statement with a blast of Hamon that instantly put the ape Grimm down. As the limp monstrosity fell to the ground, Joseph was quick to get back to business against the seemingly endless flood of Grimm.

"This is such a load of crap, the authorities of this world only have a handful of major fucking cities in this poor man's excuse for Earth, so you'd think they'd at least make sure shit like this doesn't happen in those few they got! Or that they'd at least have things under control in a jiffy! This was the last way I could've possibly wanted to spend this morning!" Joseph seathed, venting his complaints with every hamon-infused punch he threw. Between his peaceful, lazy plans being utterly dashed, having to fight for his life against the psychotic servant of a vampire very literally out for his blood, being dealt with horrific facial burns that might very well be permanent, and the ungodly nausea he felt from a combination of disgust with his burns and the motion sickness that came with falling out an airborne vehicle, he was just not in the mood for this miserable day to be topped off with making his aching body fight against a Grimm horde looking to tear him to shreds.

To make matters even worse, as Joseph continued to feed these Grimm with some healthy doses of UV energy, his eyes drifted across a sight that reminded him that keeping himself alive against this onslaught wasn't his only problem, and that was the sight of a bipedal Grimm known as a Creep closing in on the unconscious Mohammed Avdol, who was still propped against that tree.

"Shit!" Joseph exclaimed in panic and alarm, quickly reaching out with his right hand to stop the approaching Grimm from killing the only lead he had on the circumstances that brought him here. However, just before he could bring his stand out to stop it, a Beowulf tackling him to the ground stopped him. The trickster only had an instant to comprehend his and the hot breath boring into his face before he had to grab onto both it's fangs to stop it from tearing into his flesh.

"Damn… freak…! Get the hell off me!" Joseph ground out, ignoring the screaming pain he felt from his aching muscles and his still-fresh burns as he struggled to throw the persistent Grimm off him. As he did this, he felt his stomach sink when he saw the Creep close the distance between it and Avdol. 'D-Damn it all! Would it be too much to ask for a single miracle amid this shitstorm to turn things around in my favor!?'

And it seemed as though the deity that presided over fate was listening in on Joseph's thoughts, for his prayers were answered an instant after the thought/plea went through his head.

*ZAP!*

Just when it looked as though that Creep was going to add some grade-A dark meat to it's diet, it was repelled when a zap of hamon energy scalded it the moment it came into physical contact with Avdol. Eyes widening, Joseph was about to wonder just what exactly happened when the realization hit him. With his gaze drifting towards the flowers that bloomed around Avdol, he pieced together what just happened. 'H-Ha! Would you look at that!? Guess I got that small miracle I needed afterall! That bastard must still have some residual hamon dancing around inside him after getting a facefull of my overdrive! My lucky day~!'

"GRAAAARGH!"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Of course, the roaring and sharp jaws of the Beowolf were quick to remind Joseph that his lucky window of opportunity wasn't going to last long and that he needed to act now. Recovering by headbutting the Beowulf as hard as he could, he reached out and used Hermit Purple to ensnare the Creep before it could try to sink its teeth into the bloodied and unconscious fortune teller again. Giving his stand a powerful tug, the purple vines snapped back and sent the bipedal Grimm flying towards him. "I GOT A LOT OF LONG OVERDUE QUESTIONS I NEED TO ASK THAT ASSHOLE AND HE CAN'T DAMN WELL ANSWER THEM AFTER YOU SHIT HIM OUT! REBUFF OVERDRIVE!"

Flattening his body as much as he could, Joseph watched as the Creep slammed into the Beowulf just as it recovered, sending them both tumbling off and finally allowing him to get up and recompose himself. Once again, however, Joseph's victory was short-lived as several more grimm were already beginning to close in on the dark-skinned man with the intention of killing him. Swearing in a panic, Joseph extended both his hands and once again sent out his stand's vines. This time, however, he instead ensnared Avdol in his vines and had them snap back to him before the grimm could sink their teeth on him.

"D-Dammit! This was supposed to be a week of me relaxing! How in the hell did it turn into playing babysitter for the bastard that just tried to kill me in the middle of this mess!?" Joseph lamented, maneuvering Hermit Purple's vines in a manner so that the unconscious stand user was now attached to his back through some vines that were now sprouting out of it.

With the immediate issue of Avdol's mortality no longer a problem, Joseph was now able to worry about more general issues!... like the fact that he was still surrounded by shadow-y monsters that were all quite eager to take a bite out of him.

Letting out a frustrated swear at how this didn't seem to end, Joseph steadied his breath and used his hamon on any Grimm that tried to rush him, hitting them with either bone-breaking blows or a scalding whip from Hermit Purple. Unfortunately though, it wasn't long before the fodder gave way to something considerably more large and aggressive on the Grimm, hierarchy, like a group of Beringels charging him with the intent to rip him limb from limb.

Ducking under the jab the lead Beringel sent his way, Joseph was quick to counter by quickly ensnaring the outstretched arm with his stand and whipping both it and the hand down to the ground before following this up by completely covering the ape monster with Hermit Purple's vines.

"Burn to a crisp!" Joseph hissed, following this up with an all-encompassing surge of hamon. The surge of UV energy caused the ape Grimm to spasm uncontrollably, but before he could properly roast it to ashes, he was thrown off balance when a Creep tackled him to the ground when he was unaware, the ensuing lapse in focus causing his stand to dissipate

"Ah, Fucking chump! Get your grimy mitts off me!" Joseph exclaimed, beginning to reach the tail end of his patience as he elbowed the Creep right in it's monstrous mug repeatedly before it could try to sink it's jaws into either him or Avdol. Unfortunately, it was a knee-jerk reaction that the brunet forgot to charge with hamon, meaning that while the elbow blows to the face caused it to recoil and certainly hurt, it wasn't enough to get the hunched over Grimm off his back.

To make matters even worse for Joseph, it was around this time that an absolutely furious Beringel recovered from the hamon shocks he bombarded it with and was very eager to pay the Joestar back with interest for the pain he caused it.

All too aware of the irate ape Grimm's gaze on him, Joseph's struggling against the Creep intensified, with him finally putting some hamon into his hands to put the persistent Grimm down for good. By this point though, Joseph was well-aware that he wouldn't be able to properly get up and counter the Beringel's oversized fists on time, meaning all he could think to do now was use his words. "No… Wait, don't don't nononoNO-!"

*WHAM!*

However, to the surprise of absolutely no one, trying to talk down a snarling monster made of dark gunk doesn't exactly work. A powerful fist proceeded to slam into Joseph's face with such painful force that the sickening *CRUUUNCH* of his nose breaking came as no surprise. Letting out a pained gasp, Joseph and Avdol were subsequently sent flying and tumbling down the street, with the rest of the Grimm swarming him all eager to get a piece of them both.

"For fuck's sake!" Joseph growled through grit teeth, bringing his skidding to an abrupt halt by having Hermit Purple sprout from his hands and feet and attaching to the concrete below him. Well, aware that hoards of more grunt-like Grimm were right on top of him, he immediately followed this up by whipping his stand's vines like a whip, the hamon-infused vines scalding any Grimm they hit causing them all to keep their distance from him after several swings, all of them snarling, growling, and waiting for an opening to overwhelm him with.

However, Joseph provided them with no opportunity to do so, instead breaking into a sprint right towards the Beringel that sent him flying. In response, the ape-Grimm let out a furious bellow and jabbed it's oversized fist straight towards the brunet. However, Joseph anticipated this and countered by merely jumping up, causing the fist to miss him and collide crashing into the concrete where he was just standing.

Briefly landing on it's gigantic knuckle, Joseph immediately followed things up by jumping up and several feet above the Beringel's head before it could react to missing its target. At the peak of his jump, the hamon master steadied his breathing, causing a familiar glowing aura to surround him, all to make damn well sure this next blow was charged with lots of hamon.

"TORNADO OVERDRIVE!" Joseph roared before he suddenly shot straight towards the Beringel's head, utilizing a hamon technique known as the tornado overdrive, a spinning, drill-like dive kick bolstered with hamon that was guaranteed to cause some agony for any UV susceptible creatures. The hamon attack connected with the ape grimm's face, and seemed to do the trick as it let out an agonized roar before falling face down to the ground.

Unfortunately, Joseph wasn't even allowed a moment to sigh in relief before several more Grimms of varying sizes and species bum rushed him.

"Is it too much to ask for a single moment to steady my breathing without you slobbering monsters getting in the way!?" Joseph grunted, dodging and weaving past all the swipes and attacks that came his way as nimbly as he could possibly manage with someone strapped to his back. 'Starting to wonder if having this shithead strapped to my back is gonna be hazardous to his health and mine…'

Willing himself to keep his breath steady despite his growing fatigue, the brunet's eyes darted around the street and past all the vicious black masses out for his blood for anything he could use to help even the odds, and his gaze lit up when he caught sight of something that stood out city road laden with construction equipment, and that was the metal folding ladder he used and discarded during his fight with Avdol, now lying abandoned in the middle of the street

'That'll work!' Always quick to improvise with whatever he had available, Joseph didn't hesitate to have Hermit Purple zip towards and ensnare the climbing apparatus, all while avoiding the swipe of a panther-like Grimm's razor sharp claws. In fact, the hamon trickster opted to capitalize on this by willing his stand's vines to zip back to him after securing the ladder, causing the heavy metal ladder to suddenly fly towards the unaware panther Grimm.

*CRUUUNCH!*

The end result of this action was a caved-in Grimm skull and a familiar makeshift weapon landing in Joseph's hands.

'If this thing worked against a fellow stand user, it'll definitely work on a bunch of slobbering monsters too!' The brunet decided, wasting no time in charging the ladder with hamon and swinging and slamming it into the Grimm forces that were upon him.

*Tug, tug.*

However, Joseph only got about 4 shattered Beowulf bodies under his belt before he felt something persistently tugging at his pantleg. He almost immediately assumed it was one of the Grimm he downed trying to claw himself, and almost responded by slamming the ladder down on it, but stopped himself at the last second. This proved to be a smart move, since Joseph soon found out that it was Zwei that was tugging at him. The black and white corgi repeatedly tugged at his pantleg, growling all the while in a seeming effort to get Joseph to make a break for it with him. Unfortunately, between his injuries and having Avdol's unconscious body weighing him down on his back, as well as the fact that Grimm had no interest in animals like they did him, Joseph knew that dropping everything and trying to run would just be a fast ticket to getting the both of them killed.

"Arrrgh! You mind taking a hike you little mutt!? I know you can understand me, so go make like a tree, leave, and find somewhere to lay low till this all blows over, will ya!? I already got my hands full looking after the heavy bastard strapped to my back!" Joseph groaned, in no mood to be patient with the little corgi while he was in the middle of fighting for his life. This impatient order caused Zwei to stop trying to drag Joseph away, but rather than immediately make an exit, the little dog merely stood there for a moment and watched as he continued to fight off the Grimm to the best of his abilities. If Joseph hadn't been occupied fighting for his life, then he might've noticed the little corgi staring at him with what seemed to be concern in his beady black eyes.

Fortunately, whatever was going on in that surprisingly intelligent dog's head, he at least seemed to be heeding Joseph's words judging by how it eventually scampered off and through the various hordes of Grimm, all of which ignored him completely and had their attention focused entirely on Joseph.

'Okay, nice! That's one less problem I gotta worry abo-OUT!" Joseph choked out, feeling his feet skid back as he just barely raised the stepladder to block the spinning dash of one boarbatusk. Gritting his teeth, he used the fact that the boar grimm's horns were stuck between the ladder's steps to his advantage by tossing it in a spinning motion. This in turn caused the boarbatusk to fall flat on it's back, and before it could even attempt to reorient itself, Joseph capitalized by slamming the top of the ladder into it's neck area, killing it instantly.

"Okay, whichever one of you freaks wants a piece of me next, step right up! I could do this all day!" Joseph boasted with a scowl, readying his improvised weapon once more as he faced down the rest of the hoards coming at him.

As shitty as this situation was, Joseph survived much worse from foes much more grandiose and dangerous than a bunch of generic monsters like the Grimm, and now that he was on the verge of finally getting some answers, he had no intention of dying now.

***O***

(Elsewhere)

'Man… and here I thought this morning was just gonna another slog through those boring ruins.' Yang mused to herself as she did what she adored and was best at, which consisted of using her fists and Ember Cecilia to shatter some Grimm skulls. 'Welp~! Definitely not complaining now! This is ten times more fun than dragging myself through some dusty ruins~!'

True to her thoughts, the day certainly escalated much more than Yang thought it would after experiencing the dull beginnings of the Mountain Glenn mission. When she pictured the first official assignment her team would take as huntresses -a secret mission assigned to them by the academy's headmaster no less!- she an expected a nonstop roller-coaster of action and combat that they'd be through with in a few days like mom and dad did… or at least usually did. However, Professor Oobleck was more than happy to inform Yang that her idea of huntsmen assignments was far from correct as they all spent the day searching for the slightest sign of anything suspect in the ruins of Mountain Glenn's destroyed city. It was an experience that the boisterous blond found to be quite dull.

However, things certainly took a turn for the exciting when Ruby woke her and the others up to frantically tell them about something she found. One thing led to another after that, and it wasn't long before they stumbled upon the rumored White Fang hideout that was the objective of their whole mission, all topped off by a return by her team's favorite criminal jackass Roman Torchwick leading this whole operation in Mountain Glenn.

From what Yang could gather between all the excitement that ensued after finding the hideout, Torchwick and the Fang were apparently planning to use the underground railway that was meant to connect Mountain Glenn to Vale's capital to rig a train with explosives and subsequently cause a flood of Grimm to attack the city. Why the hell they'd want to pull something like this off was beyond Yang, but regardless, it went without saying that her team and Professor Oobleck weren't going to just sit back and let something so catastrophic happen.

Of course, it wasn't long before things escalated and they were all left fighting their way through a runaway train set to crash into the city with Torchwick in the driver's seat. As they cut through the ranks of White Fang and any Grimm that managed to latch onto the speeding train, the group steadily grew smaller and smaller as they seperated in an effort to hold off the hostile forces, all so at least one person could stop Torchwick before this train reached it's destination, which was what led to Yang's one-on-one reunion with that ice-cream colored freak from the docks and highway. One look at her was all it took for Yang to realize that the tiny freak was looking to settle a score with her in particular, and she used that grudge to allow Weiss and Blake to continue on towards the operator's cabin while they fought one-on-one.

To say their battle went poorly in the beginning would be an understatement, with the small freak deftly and effortlessly countering or avoiding anything she threw her way and using silent taunts and provocations to further kindle Yang's steadily growing frustration and anger. She'd almost lost her composure completely and went red-eyed, but if she'd learned anything useful from Joseph during her first run-in with that freak, it was that losing her cool would've only made her chances of beating her worse.

To make a long story short, keeping her cool during their battle allowed her to fare considerably better against Neo than she would've under normal circumstances, where a few taunts and lucky shots would be all it would've taken for her to go into furious red-eyed mode. That being said, their battle was cut short when the train reached, and subsequently crashed into, it's destination, which just so happened to be the middle of Vale's shopping district.

From there, Yang and Team RWBY's morning mainly consisted of combating the Grimm infestation that now swarmed the city. Not that she was complaining, since it was easily the funnest highlight of the day. She had no idea where Torchwick's little assistant disappeared to after the crash, though. She hadn't seen any sign of her when the dust settled.

Not only that, but she and the rest of the team got some front-row seats to see Team CFVY in action! Yang definitely had to admit, seeing a team of experienced 2nd years like them take control of the situation and effortlessly wipe the floor with any Grimm out for their blood, no matter their size, was awe inspiring. As the daughter to two people that were quite experienced in this line of work, Yang always knew that she had plenty more fights and brawls ahead of her if she wanted to be on par with an actual huntsman, but the sheer difference in skill each member of Team CFVY displayed certainly helped reestablish the line in the sand.

In any case, the Grimm threat basically became a nonissue once some staff from Beacon dropped onto the scene to assist as well. By now, after professor Goodwitch used her telekinesis semblance to seal up the hole that the Grimm were flooding in from, it was just a matter of clearing the streets of any remaining stragglers.

"Don't know about you guys, but I'm already starting to see this day as a success in my book~!" Yang brought up to the rest of her team as they continued doing what they did best. The fact that the blonde could bring this up so casually and still keep her head in messily blowing these Grimm apart was a testament to her talent in battle.

"It's kind of hard to agree with you considering they still did what they set out to accomplish, Yang." Blake grunted, using a combination of her semblance and Gambol Shroud's blade mode to make quick work of any aggressive Grimm that tried to rush her. Yang could only scoff at this dry remark before responding, an eager smile still clear on her face.

"Welp, that's where we come in! We're like the clean-up crew!" Yang punctuated that statement with a backhanded jab from her gauntlets, nailing a Creep right in it's ugly mug.

"With how much Grimm ash we're scattering around, clean-up crew is hardly the word I'd use to describe us." Weiss cut in dryly, brushing the hem of her skirt off with a look of distaste that only grew when she saw the particles of Grimm remains fly off her formerly pristine dress.

"Sorry to hear you aren't big on the comparison, Ice Queen. Guess I'm just no good at thinking up witty things like usual when I'm fighting." Yang retorted with an uncaring shrug, and neither Ruby, Weiss, or Blake had the mental fortitude to try and get it across to their fiery teammate that her 'witty remarks' were about as appealing as a raging dumpster fire.

"Okay… between everyone else stepping in and Ms. Goodwitch sealing the hole the crash made, this should be the last of them!" Ruby decided as she sent a high-impact bullet through the skull of a beowulf that, after a quick look over the street, turned out to be the last beast that needed culling.

"Ah, laaaaame. I was really just starting to get into it too." Yang sighed in melodramatic disappointment, taking a moment to stretch her arms as she did so.

"If I had to guess, then at this point, the Grimm in the other parts of the city have likely been eliminated, either by any on-sight huntsmen or General Ironwood's robot soldiers." Blake assumed, letting out a quiet breath as she placed Gambol Shroud's blade back in its sheath, turning back towards the road that led to the shopping district's square, which also happened to be ground zero for this entire infestation. "Anyway, since we seemed to have eliminated all the Grimm in the area, we should probably… proba… u-uh…!" At the sound of their aloof faunus teammate's voice trailing off into something considerably more shocked and alarmed, the rest of Team RWBY were quick to take up an alarmed stance once more.

"More Grimm!?" Weiss was quick to ask, her blue eyes quickly scanning the street for any sign of what left Blake so shaken. However, as far as she could tell, there was nothing black, white, and threatening nearby. Confused, the white-haired girl was about to ask just what it was that Blake saw and left her so freaked out, only to be distracted when she noticed Ruby lowering Crescent Rose with a shocked look of her own. However, contrasting Blake and the building dread on her face, her silver-eyed partner's expression was filled with building awe and glee. "R...Ruby? What is it?"

"I-It's… It's…!" And just as Weiss trailed her gaze downward to where Ruby was looking, she got her answer when her partner let out an exclamation that was filled to the brim with happiness. "ZWEI!"

The only thing Weiss could think to say in response to this sudden exclamation was to let out a baffled "What?" Before Ruby zipped towards down and wrapped something white, black, and furry in a gleeful and loving hug. After taking a moment to get a good look at it, the heiress realized she was holding onto a small dog. "...A dog?"

"Huh… so is it weird that out of all the things that happened today, this is easily what has me the most blindsided?" Yang piped up, watching as her sister gleefully picked up the small corgi and embraced him, giggling at the feeling of his warm and furry body squirming against her. Blake, fittingly enough, just glared at the small dog while making sure to keep a healthy distance from it. A curious trait about her partner that Yang could easily chalk up to cat faunus genetics or something.

"So I guess it's safe to assume you and Ruby are familiar with this dog?" Weiss asked, getting a nod from Yang in response.

"Uh, yeah, he's our family's pet. Our dad's usually the one who watches him back home in Patch. Speaking of which…" Yang trailed off, an inquisitive look on her face as she took in her sister and their dog. On one hand, seeing her sister acting exactly like her old self before that ungodly shitshow at the dance filled Yang with a relieving sense of warmth that she couldn't get enough of, but as happy as she was to see Ruby unburdened by the scars she received that night, why did Zwei suddenly pop up here in the middle of Vale during a Grimm breach? Additionally, if Zwei was here, did that mean their dad was too? "Uh, hey sis?"

"Team RWBY…?"

However, before Yang could properly get Ruby's attention, a familiar meek and accented voice caught the girls attention. Turning towards the source of the voice, they saw Velvet approaching them with a mildly surprised look on her face.

"Ah, Velvet, perfect timing. If you're here, then is it safe to assume that the others were successful in taking out the Grimm?" Weiss inquired, her attention shifting from the (Admittedly very adowable) Corgi to their rabbit faunus upperclassman.

"More or less, yeah. We took out enough of the heavy hitters that anything that remained wasn't much of a threat to a first-year, let alone me and the rest of my team. I would've stayed to help clear them all out anyway, but…I noticed this little fellow at the shopping district sniffing around and looking for someone. I was under the impression that he'd either lead me to you four or JoJo, and since the Grimm were a nonissue at that point, I decided to follow him." Velvet explained, a thoughtful expression on her face as she looked at the squirming corgi in Ruby's arms, her words drawing looks of mild surprise from every member of the all-girl team except Blake.

"JoJo? Wait, rewind a bit, Velv. What does Ruby and me's dog have to do with him? Last time I checked, he never even knew we had a dog." Yang asked, clearly confused by the turn this conversation had taken.

"Right, well… the rest of my team and I actually saw him off before his mission yesterday, and your dog was right by him and following around the entire time." Velvet elaborated hesitantly, remembering Joseph's request that she keep her knowledge of Zwei under wraps. If the current circumstances didn't involve a Grimm infestation, she would've been inclined to keep her promise to Joseph, but in this particular case… well, better safe than sorry.

In response, Ruby and Yang could only feel baffled by what they were hearing, but before either of them could voice their confusion on this, Blake, who had been silently following along with the conversation the whole time, suddenly spoke up. "That makes sense. I'm smelling the exact same 'unwashed dog' smell from that thing that I got from Joseph yesterday."

"Wait, so if that's true, then Zwei's smell was what got you in such a pissy mood yesterday?" Yang asked, her eyes lighting up when she realized the reason behind Blake's strange bout of irritability.

As this new bout of information sank in, an brief, awkward silence settle between the five of them before Ruby had this to say. "I'm… not sure how to take all this." Yang was about to voice her agreement on this when Zwei suddenly managed to wrestle himself out of Ruby's grasp and landed on the concrete on all fours. Nobody present had any time to react to this before the small corgi bit down on Ruby's combat skirt and began to tug at it repeatedly, growling all the while.

"Zwei…?" Ruby asked, her confusion only increasing in response to her dog's strange behavior. Growling in clear agitation, the small corgi quickly gave up on trying to move Ruby around and instead sprinting back the way he came, stopping momentarily to bark repeatedly at the five girls.

"I… think he wants to lead us somewhere." Weiss noted, not sure what to make of this turn of events.

"I already realized. If I had to guess, then he was likely trying to find the both of you." Velvet agreed, her gaze still on the small corgi before she began to follow it. Turning back towards the all-girl team, she asked, "Are you coming?"

"O-Oh, yeah! We probably should see whatever it is Zwei wants to show us. He definitely seemed pretty desperate to take us somewhere." Ruby agreed, finally shaking off her confusion and quick to follow after Zwei and Velvet.

"On it." Yang agreed, following after the others with Weiss close behind her.

"...Guess we have nothing better to be doing." Blake shrugged, instinctively iffy at the thought of following a dog around, but smart enough to put those kind of faunus biases coded into her aside.

***O***

Before long, the unlikely group consisting of several huntresses-in-training and one tiny corgi reached where the latter was trying to take them. They had come across a road block or two consisting of some stray Grimm, but between the five of them, they were no trouble whatsoever.

Eventually, they were brought to a halt when Zwei led them down on a particular avenue rife with building equipment and he proceeded to bark repeatedly, quickly going around in circles as if to signify they arrived.

"Looks like all the streets haven't been cleared out just yet!" Yang said, narrowing her eyes and readying Ember Cecilia as she and the others caught sight of Grimm of all sizes across the street. The others were quick to follow suit, readying their own weapons, however, it wasn't long before they noticed something curious about all the Grimm on this street.

"Uh… is it me or do they seem a bit too… busy to notice us…?" Ruby asked, lowering her guard slightly when she realized that none of the Grimm were paying them any mind. Rather, they all seemed to be gathering at the other end of the street. The girls quickly realized what was going on when the sounds of labored yelling and struggling, all coming from the far end of the street, reached their ears. This was all topped off by a spray of high-pressure water being seeing shooting upwards in the general area where all the screaming was happening.

"Ruby… Yang, I think your dog just led us to someone that needs some help right now!" Weiss exclaimed, voicing the same conclusion that the others came to. However, what they didn't seem to notice was that both Yang and Velvet seemed to realize something else about this situation that made their faces contort in dawning horror.

"A-And it's gotta be-! Oh no!" Mocha eyes widening in horror, Velvet was quick to spring into action, sprinting down the street all while deftly and brutally slamming any Grimm that noticed and tried to attack her aside.

"V-Velvet!? What's wrong!?" Ruby called out, only to be ignored completely by the rabbit faunus. Her confusion was only worsened when Yang followed after her with similar urgency, angrily and impatiently blasting apart any Grimm that tried to attack her with Ember Cecilia as she did so.

"Y-Yang too!?" Ruby yelped, confused by the brutal desperation both girls were displaying.

"Enough with the confusion, If someone over there needs our help, then they both have the right idea! We can ask questions later!" Blake decided, and despite their confusion over the entire situation, both Ruby and Weiss were quick to agree with that train of thought. With that said, the other three girls made their way down the street, their combined might making short work of any Grimm that tried to attack them… not that there were many left to begin with. Both Yang and Velvet tore through most of them with a scarily brutal efficiency.

It wasn't long before the three of them reached the area where the sounds of fighting were coming from, and none of them had any time to act before Yang, Velvet, and whoever it was Zwei brought them here to save cut through the cluster of Grimm gathered like a hot knife through butter. Curiously enough, when the Grimm stopped being an immediate threat, neither girl made any attempt to help whoever it was that was fighting the Grimm, instead just standing there like they both saw a ghost.

"Well, it looks like whoever it was your dog brought us to save, they're certainly not… defenseless…!?" It was only when the three of them caught up to Yang and Velvet and they caught a good look at the person the Grimm were ganging up on that they understood their shock.

For an ever so brief moment, they all had trouble recognizing him. It was understandable, given his burnt and bloodied clothes and the fact that they were looking at the side of his face that was seared by fiery burns, but it was only for a brief moment. It wasn't long before they all got a good look at him from another angle and they noticed the familiar sunny aura that was weakly emanating from him, confirming that they were indeed looking at a grievously injured Joseph Joestar fighting for his life and brandishing a folding ladder as a makeshift weapon.

"J… Joseph…?" Yang called out quietly, the look on her face in response to the grizzly burns on Joseph's face being a combination of horror and concern, with the others, Velvet especially, looking much the same. The brunet in question seemed to be oblivious to his newfound company's presence, judging by how his tense and strung-up body language hadn't loosened up in the slightest.

Slowly reaching out her hand, Yang took a cautious step towards Joseph, but any attempt she would've made to get his attention was dashed when a new problem in the form of a Deathstalker reared its ugly, multi-eyed head. Blindsiding everyone present when it suddenly made its entrance onto the street by leaping off of one of the building's roof, Yang and the others could hear Joseph let out a panicked swear before ducking under one of the scorpion Grimm's pincers, just barely avoiding getting sliced in half.

***O***

(A few minutes earlier.)

"AaaaaarrrRRRGHHH! I just can't catch a break today, can I!?" Joseph fumed in utter frustration and growing exhaustion. Nonetheless, the brunet only ever threw in the towel in a battle once before in his life, and he'd be damned before he let that repeat itself. However, his exhaustion was still a problem nonetheless. Given that he couldn't keep this fighting up for much longer, the trickster decided that it was high time he used that genius intellect of his to get rid of these Grimm in a speedy and efficient manner.

As he weaved around and dodged any attacks that came his way, Joseph's eyes darted around the street for anything he could use to his advantage, and once again, an idea went through his head as he gazed upon the dislodged piping of the fire extinguisher he used to his advantage while fighting Avdol, still spraying high-pressure water like there was no tomorrow. On it's own, the most those water sprays would do is disorient the Grimm around him, nothing that would leave a permanent mark, but if he used Hermit Purple and applied a little 'something-something' to it, then...

'Yeah, that should work!' Joseph decided, sprinting towards the uprooted water pipes just as an Ursa tried to take a swipe at him. Undaunted, the trickster merely leaped over it's attack before stomping down on it's head with a single foot. With a burst of hamon, he left the bear Grimm writhing in agony, and at the peak of his jump, he ensnared the pipes with his stand's vines.

"Heave… HO!" With a mighty tug, Joseph further uprooted the pipes from the ground and subsequently maneuvered himself and Hermit Purple so that he could aim the pipe and it's spraying water wherever he so chose. However, he wasn't done just yet. With a steady breath, Joseph opted to give the water he was spraying an extra bit of kick with a steady stream of hamon before he leveled it at the nearest cluster of Grimm and doused them.

Much to Joseph's satisfaction, being utterly doused with the hamon-infused water caused any Grimm he hit to burn like they were splashed with acid. With a vicious glee at this turn of events, Joseph let a toothy grin show that, when combined with the grisly burns that took up half his face, gave him a very unhinged and nightmarish look. If any of the Grimm fodder he was spraying had the capacity for intelligent thought, like certain, older types that can be found throughout Remnant, then they would be undeniably terrified by the unhinged brunet and him brandishing what was essentially an acid cannon.

Turning the pipe towards any Grimm that got a bit too close for comfort, Joseph tore through the Grimm hoard like a hot knife through butter, and given all the grief they've caused him since defeating Avdol, he found it to be an incredibly cathartic experience. Finally, when the ever-annoying sound of Grimm snarls finally faded away and was replaced with a sizzling, dissolving kind of noise that permeated the area, Joseph let his stand's grip on the water pipe fade away as he stumbled forward, placing his hands on his knees as he abandoned his breathing's rhythm for the chance to breathe easy, if only for a little bit.

'Urgh… is that it for today…? I really hope so, cause I'm at my limit here…!' Joseph thought as he gasped and wheezed, oblivious to Zwei's return or the fact that he brought aid in the form of Team RWBY and Velvet.

However, none of the girls were able to get Joseph's attention before fate decided to leave Joseph with one final middle finger for the day in the form of a Deathstalker out for his blood. The gigantic scorpion Grimm immediately got Joseph's attention when it leaped off a nearby roof and he found himself within snipping and stinging distance of it, and at this point, on top of everything else he'd been dealing with today, the boisterous trickster had to fight the urge to just curl up into a ball and start crying.

"Oh COME ON! Is a single fucking minute to breathe too much to ask for!?" After suppressing that urge, Joseph instead opted to let out a yell of frustration at his predicament as he was forced back into action. As he dodged several attempts from the Death Stalker to slice him in half, the trickster opted to once again ensnare the water pipe with Hermit Purple, since that previous attack strategy worked wonders for him just a few moments ago. However, the Death Stalker seemed to anticipate this and responded in kind by using it's pincers to snap the vines in half before swiping at the uprooted pipes, effectively destroying Joseph's chances of repeating that strategy.

"Great…!" Joseph groaned under his breath before stumbling back and just out of the way of another stinger jab. Thinking quickly, the brunet used Hermit Purple to once again latch onto that folding ladder -which at this point was shaping up to be a more reliable weapon then his goddamn clackers- and used it to block the incoming pincer and stinger strikes. However, remaining on the defensive was all Joseph could do at the moment. He knew first-hand from initiations that Death Stalkers were a cut above your standard fodder Grimm -with it's sturdy shell being an especially prominent problem- and he just didn't have enough energy in any regard to work around it.

'Too tired to think, too tired to breath… hell, I'm almost too tired to hold this damn ladder up right…!' Joseph thought numbly, doing everything in his power to avoid thinking about the panic he felt bubbling up in his gut. 'O...Okay, don't freak out, Joestar. You got this… I-I'll just… wait for an opening, then high-tail it outta here first chance I-ARGH!" And it was during a lull in his thought process that he failed to properly block one of the Death Stalker's pincers standing into the right side of his body, the same side that was littered with nasty and 2nd and 3rd degree burns.

With an intense agony wracking through his body, Joseph felt his muscles fail to respond as the Death Stalker's strike sent him flying. He managed to keep his grip on the ladder, but the same couldn't be said about his stand's grip on Avdol. The intense pain and shock that went through him caused his stand's vines to fade away and subsequently sent the fortune teller flying off to whoever the hell knows where.

"J...JOSEPH!"

As he slammed back-first into the wall of a nearby building, Joseph faintly heard a vaguely familiar voice call out to him in clear horror in desperation. He didn't have any time to dwell on this before instinctively bringing the metal ladder up to his face, just barely catching the Death Stalker's stinger between the gap in the steps. Still, the Deathstalker showed no sign of relenting, instead taking this chance to apply more pressure into its stinger thrust.

"Ahhhhhh...! ARRRGH!" With the crushing sensation of being trapped between a rock and a hard, or rather, sharp and poisonous place truly beginning to sink in, Joseph mustered up the last ounces of strength and hamon energy he had left. Completely oblivious to the fact that help had just arrived, the brunet forced himself back up to his feet despite the pressure and strength from the Death Stalker not fading in the slightest, his hamon aura beginning to crackle and radiate from him far more intensely and brightly than before, the desire to live while face-to-face death's abyss-like gaze causing him to draw from physical and spiritual strength he didn't know he had. It was something similar in nature to the 'comeback switch' Whammu used to properly psyche himself up when Joseph getting the better of him during their duel shattered the confidence he'd built up for several millennia.

*RIIIIIIIP!* "SKREEEEEAAK!"

"W...Whoa...!" Back with the others, Yang was momentarily rendered speechless as she and the others watched Joseph, in one brutal motion, twist the step-ladder in a clockwise motion before yanking it back, ripping the Death Stalker's stinger off from it's tail.

'That... that's it. That took every ounce of strength and hamon I had left to do that... Hell... I used strength and energy just now I didn't even realize I still had...' Joseph thought numbly, gasping heavy breaths as he stumbled backwards into the wall, a wide-eyed expression on his face that was a cross between utterly dumbfounded and lethargic. Collapsing into a sitting position, Joseph could only helplessly watch on as the Death Stalker screeched at him, it's chittering conveying a clear murderous fury. While ripping off it's tail had certainly crippled it, the rest of its body was nonetheless unscathed and still ready to go. Frankly, for all the effort that feat had taken, it seemed all he'd really accomplished was prolonging his life for a few more seconds and ensuring that the Death Stalker was just going to chop him into bloody chunks with its claws instead of impaling him with its stinger.

'So this is how things end, huh…? Right when answers I've spent close to a year waiting for are right around the corner…' Joseph thought weakly and bitterly, taking one last moment to take in Avdol's unconscious body lying in the middle of the street before he noticed the Deathstalker opening it's pincers wide and rearing back. Forcing his eyes shut, Joseph could only wince at what was about to come.

*SLAM!*

However, what Joseph figured would be a bloody and miserable end never came. Instead, what he got was the feeling of intense heat rolling off his skin. By comparison, this heat felt… different from Avdol's. Whereas the heat his Magician's Red radiated made him feel like he was stuck in a burning building, this heat just made him feel like he was standing too close to a fireplace.

"...Huh?" Blinking in confusion, Joseph looked in front of him, and felt a combination of surprise and awe when he saw the unmistakable figure of Yang Xiao Long standing right in front of him, all while holding the Death Stalker's pincer back with her bare hands. Even though he could only see her backside at the moment, the burning aura the blonde was radiating combined with how her hair was positively glowing told him that the heavy-hitter of Team RWBY was absolutely furious.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" Yang roared in clear outrage, punctuating this demand by throwing her hand forward with enough strength to send the Death Stalker staggering back. Before it could react, Yang followed this up by sending a blast from Ember Cecilia right into it's chitinous mouth. Letting out various screeches of fury, the scorpion Grimm began to charge her in an effort to crush her and the incapacitated Joseph between the wall and it's body.

"WEISS!" Yang called out, unmoved and keeping her glare trained on the Grimm. Instinctively reacting thanks to several months of working as a unit, Team RWBY's rapier wielder summoned a large glyph that was enhanced with ice dust and positioned it between Yang and the Death Stalker. The glyph stopped the Death Stalker in it's tracks and it's icy nature caused a layer of frost to coat it's body, but regardless, it was undeterred and pressed forward in an attempt to break through the semblance-made barrier.

In just a few seconds, the giant glyph began crack, making noises like breaking glass, but before it could break through completely, it was knocked back by Yang and Velvet striking simultaneously, with the former simply socking it in it's face through the glyph with a powerful punch and the latter hitting it with a swift and brutal divekick to one of it's eyes.

However, Velvet wasn't satisfied with just that. Deftly landing on her feet just inches away from the Death Stalker's face, any astute observers would notice that the bunny faunus was tightly gripping onto a lead pipe in her right hand. With a determined glare on her face, the brown-haired girl was unphased by the gigantic elite Grimm and instead took the chance to jam the pipe into the scorpion Grimm's most glaring weak point; one of it's unshielded eyes.

"Take this!" Velvet exclaimed as she slammed the pipe into the eye as far as she could, ignoring the disgusting *squelching* sound it caused followed up by the Death Stalker's agonized screeching.

Immediately after this damaging blow, it was like a floodgate opened up with how the rest of Team RWBY jumped in to assist the two girls against the scorpion Grimm. While Yang and Velvet continued to bombard the Death Stalker with brutal physical blows, both Ruby and Blake entered the fray by bombarding it's face with a barrage of bullets and Weiss nullifying it's body with a time dilation glyph, slowing it down substantially.

Joseph, for his part, could only watch the brutally efficient way in which Yang, her team, and Velvet fought with a look of surprised awe on his fate. Once again, this miraculous turn of events left him wondering just what exactly the deal with his love-hate relationship with fate was.

"Crawl up your own ass and DIE!" The brutal gang-up soon came to an end when Yang punctuated this furious statement with a brutal finishing blow. After nimbly dodging under a haphazard swing of the Death Stalker's pincers, she took the following opening to rear back her fist and slam it into the tail-end of the pipe sticking out the Death Stalker's eye. The force of the brutal punch caused the pipe to rocket further into the Death Stalker's head lodge itself fatally in it's brain. With that, the scorpion Grimm could only shakily recoil before it's opened claw slowly reached for an undaunted Yang, who merely continued to glare at it with dark-red eyes before the last of its strength finally left its body and it collapsed, already beginning to dissolve into ash.

"...That… was brutal…" Was all a wide-eyed Blake could think to say, echoing the rest of Team RWBY's sentiments as they looked at the livid blonde brawler. Out of all of them here, only Ruby had ever seen her sister this angry before, having witnessed this level of brutality from her back on Patch when they were younger.

"Times like these certainly make me relieved she's on our team…" Weiss agreed. However, they were soon brought back to reality and the matter at hand when Joseph's pained laughter caught their attention. Flinching at the sound, Yang's red eyes quickly reverted back to their usual lavender and her aura flickered out as she quickly turned around to help the injured Joestar, Velvet being right behind her.

"Joseph! Are you okay…!? W-What even happened to you!?" Yang asked frantically, kneeling down to get a better look at Joseph's condition and instinctively flinching when she took in just how ugly and painful those burns littering his body looked.

"Heh…hehe…! so that'd make this the 2nd time you two lovely girls have saved my skin… huh…?" Joseph laughed weakly, the pleased cheeky expression on his face nonetheless genuine as he forced himself to stand up and greet his saviors, ignoring how every muscle in his body and his injuries were screaming at him for the action. Despite the effort and agony he required, he continued to stand on wobbly legs since he felt it was his obligation to look at least somewhat good and not completely helpless in front of a couple of beautiful girls.

"Okay, I want some context right now. Seriously, what the hell happened to you!?" Yang exclaimed, a combination of horror and alarm on both her and Velvet's faces as they took in a first-hand look at Joseph's grizzly burns and injuries.

"Good gods, what happened to your face!? Weiss asked, horror and disgust clear in her tone as she covered her mouth, feeling a sickening bile rise in her throat as she took in how half of Joseph's face was thoroughly burned.

"Well, to sum everything up in a single sentence… I had a really bad day…"

"Yes, I think we all gathered as much given that you look like you just crawled through a trash incinerator!" Weiss pointed out, in no mood for Joseph's sense of humor given the state he was in. "How did this happen!?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened! That asshole right there happened!" The question seemed to have lit a small fire under Joseph, since despite being on the verge of passing out, he suddenly flared up angrily before pointing at where he left the unconscious Avdol. "Jackass threw me out an airship thousands of feet up in the air, made a good chunk of my body look like bloodied freaking slag, and uh… did I mention that he tried to chop off all my limbs…? Cause he tried to do that too…" As he gave a hasty explanation to the horrified girls, Joseph's furious tone slowly ebbed away as he staggered back against the wall once more, quickly being reminded of his exhaustion and how practically every fibre of his body was screaming at him. He was, quite frankly, running on an empty tank at the moment.

"He… tried to cut off your limbs?" Velvet repeated, horrified at the mere thought of what Joseph just said before looking over the unconscious fortune teller's body. "Just who is this man?"

However, whether he ignored Velvet's question or just didn't hear her, the brunet had no answer for her, instead slumping back into the wall. "Y...Yeah, so uh… if uh… no one minds… I think… I think I'm gonna take a little lie down now. I'll just… let you guys take things from here…" And that was all Joseph could get out before he slumped down into a sitting position, and for a brief, incredibly uncomfortable instance, the five girls were left alone on the ravaged street with nothing but the acrid smell of burnt flesh- Joseph's burnt flesh -accompanying them.

"JoJo!" Yang exclaimed, kneeling down next to Joseph but hesitating to actual touch him for fear of making his condition even worse. "Shit shit shit! What the hell do we even do about this!?"

It was at this point that Velvet decided to take control of the situation before Yang's panic escalated and spread to her similarly horrified teammates. "Ruby, go find Professor Goodwitch and get her to bring medical support to this location. Now." She ordered, using a tone of voice that was very uncharacteristic given her usual kindly and timid behavior. Ultimately though, it certainly did a good job reminding the girls that the bunny faunus was their senior.

"G-Got it! I'll be back with help as soon as I can!" Ruby nodded, wasting no time in speeding off back towards where she last saw Ms. Goodwitch. Velvet took a brief moment to watch her speed off and leave a trail of rose petals being -which she couldn't help but notice mixed with the Grimm ash scattered all around the street- before turning towards Weiss, Blake, and Yang. The black and white girls stiffened at her serious stare while Yang was still preoccupied with looking over Joseph.

"Do any of you possess any abilities that can heal his wounds, or at the very least stabilize him?" Velvet asked, and neither of them could give her the answer she wanted. Thankfully, the question reminded Yang of her hamon and it's healing properties.

"I-I do! I do! I just… give me a sec to focus, alright?" Taking a deep breath, Yang made sure to think back to what Joseph said to her several nights ago when Ruby was hurt.

''This isn't a fight. You're trying to heal here. Not cause cardiac arrest.' Okay… you got this, girl… just focus up and stay calm.' Keeping that advice in mind, Yang steadied her breathing before taking care to make sure the UV energy in her body began to slowly but steadily flow into Joseph's body. A brief moment passed before the golden, crackling aura that surrounded Yang covered him as well. It didn't seem to have any physical effect, but the sight of Joseph's expression becoming considerably less pained brought her great relief.

Upon seeing Yang look towards her and give her a thumbs up, Velvet let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Okay… all we need to do now is stay here and make sure nothing else happens." And with that, it was simply a matter of waiting from that point forward. They couldn't just leave the two of them alone at this point with the threat of more Grimm wandering around. While Yang could certainly handle herself against any threats, her attention and efforts needed to be focused entirely on Joseph and keeping him stable.

It wasn't long before Ruby returned and informed them that a medical airship was en route to their location to get Joseph some proper medical attention. True to her word, the futuristic aircraft touched down several feet away from them and the medics were quick to load the unconscious Joseph onto a stretcher and into an airship, with Avdol's body soon following him. As they watched them go, a variety of thoughts were churning through each girl's head at what they stumbled upon at the tail-end of the breach, but the one constant thought among all of them was a simple question: 'Just what the hell happened to Joseph?'

***O***

"Well… things definitely escalated this morning." Weiss sighed as she leaned back against the wall of Beacon's infirmary, she and the rest of her team taking in the sky's orange hue, signifying that the day was on the verge of ending.

To better clarify, several hours had passed since the breach in Vale that allowed the Grimm hoards to infest the city streets, and while relief efforts were likely occurring all over the city in wake of what happened, the worst had long since passed. However, the state Joseph was in and the circumstances that led to him being in such dire straits were still a major cause for concern for both his friends and those who were aware of the circumstances that brought him to Remnant.

After being taken onto that airship, Joseph was immediately brought to the Academy's infirmary so he could recover from his injuries while the man that assaulted him was being detained in the General's personal airship for immediate questioning once he regained consciousness. Given what Joseph told them about his circumstances, the girls had no doubt that professor Ozpin, the General, and Mr. Speedwagon had a lot of questions they wanted to ask him.

"Understatement of the year, Weiss." Blake noted dryly before turning her gaze back towards the door that led into the infirmary. "I guess Joseph was going to run into trouble whether he went with us or not. The only difference was what kind of trouble."

"I'm just glad he's already healing up alright." Ruby added in, a relieved smile on her face. During their visit to the infirmary to see if he was going to be alright, they were informed that Joseph was already recovering from his injuries quickly… so quickly, in fact, that the staff attending to his case were frankly baffled and didn't know what to make of it. The girls were quick to piece together that Joseph's hamon likely had something to do with that.

"Anyway…" Ruby continued, ruffling up Zwei's fluffy body as she spoke. "Do you think we should try and learn something about that man who attacked JoJo from professor Ozpin or the General?"

"Use your head for more than just fighting, Ruby. They probably don't even realize we know that Joseph isn't from this world. Just going up to them and bringing it up before expecting answers would be more trouble than it's worth." Weiss pointed out. As much as they all wanted some more clarification on what exactly happened with Joseph, they were in no position to get answers, at least not until the man in question was roused from unconsciousness.

"Hey, I just wanted to know what's going on, Weiss!" Ruby shot back defensively, hugging Zwei close to her chest as she did so. However, her defensive posture soon slouched into something much more sullen and gloomy before speaking up once more. "Still, I guess we're better off not even trying to sneak around for answers. With how quickly professor Ozpin caught onto us the other day, I doubt we'd have better luck here."

"True… I suppose at this point, all we can do is wait and get some rest." Blake sighed, already beginning to start her trek back to their dorm room. 'Between this, being unable to stop that Grimm breach from even happening, and -ugh- having to room with a dog from here on out, this day turned out to be much more bittersweet than I thought.'

"Mmh. It has been a busy day." Ruby yawned, before taking her mind off this murky series of events by focusing on the world's cutest corgi. "C'mon Zwei! We gotta go set up where you're gonna be sleeping in your new home now!"

However, as they began their trek, the girls noticed that they were short one blonde and busty brawler. Looking back, they noticed that Yang, who'd been uncharacteristically silent for this entire trip to the infirmary, was still standing by the door into the medical center with an unreadable expression on her pretty face.

"Uh… Yang? You coming?" Ruby called out, concern written all over her tone and expression, and for good reason. She and the rest of the team knew just how close the energetic blonde was with Joseph -if the utterly brutal way she and Velvet disposed of that Death Stalker didn't make it obvious- and she made it no secret that she didn't take how badly he was hurt today well.

After an uncomfortable moment of silence, Yang finally raised her head and spoke for the first time since they arrived back in Beacon. "Ahh… you girls go on ahead. If Joseph wakes up overnight, I got no doubt he'll want someone to fill him in on what happened in the meantime. You all know how he gets." She spoke with a forced cheeriness in both her tone and smile.

Understanding was shared among the rest of Team RWBY upon hearing this, unanimously and silently agreeing that just leaving Yang be for the time being was for the best. "...Alright. In that case, give us a call if something happens and keep us informed." Blake advised.

"C'mon Blake, do you really need to tell me that?" Yang asked rhetorically, a playful tone in her voice. The cat faunus could only roll her eyes at how her partner still found it in herself to joke around before giving her a wave of affirmation.

"Let us know if you get tired and need someone else to watch him. Me and Zwei will be happy to give you a break!" Ruby brought up, quickly closing the distance between them to give her big sister a hug with Zwei's warm, fluffy body between them. Yang could only let out a genuine chuckle in response before lightly ruffling up Ruby's black and red hair.

"I'll keep that in mind, sis~. But for now, why don't you rest up? From where I'm standing, you're all looking dead-tired." Yang advised, getting a nod in response before she left to join the rest of her team.

As she watched her team go, Yang maintained the smile until she was certain they were out of sight, before slumping back into the building wall and letting out a sigh that screamed emotional and physical exhaustion. Clearing her eyes with both hands, the normally boisterous blonde inhaled and exhaled deeply before propping herself back up into a standing position and walking back into the infirmary.

'I get he's fine and safe now, but… better safe than sorry, I guess.' Yang told herself as she walked through the halls of the infirmary, up to her eyeballs in murky thoughts in wake of the day's events, although most of those thoughts were preoccupied with what happened with Joseph. If this day just finished off with she and her team putting a stop to the Grimm breach and seeing Torchwick being put behind bars, then she wouldn't have devoted a single brain cell to thinking on the matter. As far as she was concerned, the entire matter was wrapped up, maybe not with a pretty little bow on top, but still.

But suddenly seeing Joseph so… utterly fucked up like that left her feeling the same ungodly helplessness that night she saw Ruby scarred and mauled. It didn't help that they only got a bare-bones explanation of things that made more questions than it answered. Just who the hell was that guy in the robes? Why had he been spending all this time since she saw him at Junior's club searching for Joseph? She could go off on a limb and reasonably assume that it was linked to the Joestar in question not being a natural native to Remnant, but that was about all she could think up without anything else to go on.

'Ugh… all these questions are giving me a headache. Guess this must've been how Blake felt worrying over the White Fang on a daily basis… Well, getting some answers just gives me another reason to hope JoJo'll wake up soon.' Yang decided, beginning to double-time her pace to Joseph's room. However, she soon slowed to a stop when she caught sight of three familiar figures adorned with varying shades of brown.

'Team CFVY…?' Yang thought, momentarily confused by the appearance of Beacon's sophomore team. "Uh… hey guys. What's up? One of your friends end up here?" The blonde greeted after shaking off her confusion, getting the team's attention.

"More like one of your friends, although I'd say Joestar and I get along just fine." Coco explained coolly, eliciting a surprised look from Yang. Now that she was taking in her surroundings properly though, she did notice that they were standing in the same hallway where Joseph's room was located.

"Oh, you guys stopped by to see JoJo, huh?" She asked, getting a nod in response.

"Yeah, we heard about what happened to him from Velv and she was insistent about paying him a visit." Coco explained, her gaze drifting back towards the door that led into Joseph's room. As she did so, a slight smile grew on her face. "Still, glad to hear he's gonna be fine."

"Yeah, you and me both." Yang sighed, running a hand through her hair before noticing that the sophomore team was short one person; specifically, the same bunny faunus that she fought with to save Joseph from that Death Stalker. "Say, uh… where is Velvet, anyway?"

Upon hearing this inquiry, the fashionista leader of Team CFVY could only let out several muted chuckles, seemingly finding something about Yang's question funny, before providing an answer. "Oh, the fawning little bunny's just looking after her crush. She's right in there if you wanna talk to her." Coco explained, either not noticing or not caring about how Yang suddenly flinched and froze up at her offhandedly claiming that Velvet had a crush on Joseph.

Regardless, after saying this, Coco took a moment to briefly clean her aviators before speaking up once more. "Anyway, Velv said she's gonna stick around here for a bit longer, so we were just about to call it a night. Seeya around." And with that said, the cool, calm, and composed huntress-in-training began to head towards the infirmary's exit at a leisurely pace, leaving the silent Yang alone with Yatsuhashi and Fox.

"Have a pleasant night, Yang. And please, if you don't mind, remind Velvet to get some rest if she starts getting tired." The burly swordsman bid farewell to Yang, with Fox silently giving her a nod of acknowledgement before the both began to follow after Coco.

"I'll uh… yeah, I'll make sure to do that…" Yang called out offhandedly, leaning back against the wall as she took a moment to process what she just heard from Coco.

'So… she's crushing on Joseph too, huh?' Yang mused to herself, wondering what exactly she should do with this information, considering that the two of them apparently shared a romantic interest in the same guy. Honestly, Yang couldn't deny that hearing Coco bring that up so casually definitely struck a nerve of irritation with Yang, but she was quick to shake that unpleasant feeling off before heading into the room. 'Whatever, I'm not gonna just start shit out of nowhere.'

As she stepped into the infirmary room, Yang couldn't help but wince as she once again took in Joseph's battered and unconscious body lying on the bed provided to him. While she wouldn't classify it as a phobia, there was just something about hospitals and places like this that the blonde disliked on a base level, and seeing her crush lying on that bed, a majority of his body covered in bandages hiding his cuts, bruises, and burns, all topped off with an IV drip sticking out of his arm, was certainly not a pleasant sight.

'I should've kicked that asshole in the gut while I had the chance! Hell, I got half the mind to have another 'party' at my good friend Junior's place if he was the one that led him to Joseph…!' Yang seethed inwardly, clenching her fists in contained fury at the thought of the bastard that left Joseph in this state. If she had known this shit would've happened to him after he went on that assignment, she would've insisted that he come with her and the rest of her team on the Mountain Glenn mission. At least that way, Joseph wouldn't have had to deal with that psychotic asshole by his lonesome.

"Yang…?"

Yang was soon brought out of her seething thoughts when she heard the voice of a certain bunny faunus call out her name. Perking up, she turned to see Velvet sitting by a window that showed off that night had just come and covered the campus, with the school grounds being lit up either by the moon, stars, or the various man-made lights littered throughout Beacon. Seemed as though Velvet was taking a moment to look outside when she noticed her company.

"Hey there, Velvet. Hope you don't mind some company." Yang greeted, leaning against the door as she looked towards Velvet.

"Oh, not at all! Please, make yourself comfortable." Velvet offered without hesitation, gesturing that she take any one of the chairs available in the room before returning to her own seat, which was located right by Joseph's bedside. Yang merely gave a hum of acknowledgement at this before taking one of the chairs and placing it on the opposite end of the bed.

From there, silence pervaded the medical room as neither girl found it in themselves to say anything. Yang's gaze either stayed on Joseph's bandaged form or briefly drifted over to Velvet, and the Velvet faunus either kept her gaze on him as well or simply looked down at her legs.

"Heh… bet all this was the last thing you and the rest of your team were expecting when you imagined your homecoming, huh?" Yang asked, a slightly joking tone and smile on her face as she attempted to start up some sort of conversation with the meek girl.

"Definitely not, although… Well frankly, the Grimm breach felt like more of an annoying inconvenience than a staggering shock. It was seeing JoJo covered in burns and on the verge of death that left me blindsided…"

"Yeah, you and me both, girl." Yang tsked, and once again, a calm silence pervaded the room. After another moment, a question made its way into the blonde's thoughts "Hey, so… you mind if I ask you something? At first glance, I… honestly wouldn't picture you and JoJo being so buddy-buddy, but here we are. I mean… I get he stuck up for you when Cardin was being an asshole, but uh… there something else you like about him?"

In response to this question, Velvet brought her thumb and index finger to her mouth as she once again looked down at her legs, clearly taking a moment to think Yang's question over before she provided an answer. As she did so, Yang looked at her expectantly, anticipating her answer, whatever it may be. Her question was formed partly because of curiosity and partly because… well, no one could blame a girl for wanting to scope out her competition a bit, now could they?

After another moment of thinking on her part, Velvet finally looked up from her legs and at Yang, her dark brown eyes conveying a clear calm and thoughtfulness. "Well… beyond sticking up for me that day we met… I… suppose I just appreciate his kindness. He's always been so consistently friendly and kind to me, and it's always felt so genuine to boot." As she explained, her cheeks slowly took up a more rosy hue as she closed her eyes, a clearly embarrassed smile on her face as she continued. "Plus… well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that jerky and boisterous demeanor of his oddly charming. I-I mean, I adore every single one of my teammates, don't get me wrong, but well… nonetheless, they're all… sort of..."

"They all like to act like nothing ever fazes them? Like if they stared down a Grimm the size of a skyscraper, they'd be more likely to scoff at it than anything else?" Yang asked coyly, a knowing smile on her face. The abruptness and bluntness of the claim had Velvet bursting out into laughter, and Yang could only smile in a victorious satisfaction at being the cause of a real gut-buster.

"You certainly worded it better than I possibly could've!" Velvet managed after her laughter eased off a bit, her smile coming off as a lot more light-hearted now.

"Well, we're on the same boat there, Velvet. Well… kinda. Blake likes to pretend she's Ms. 'badass, unflappable ninja girl,' but she's probably one of the more hot-headed members of my team, and you can take this from a fellow hot-head and her teammate."

"I certainly will." Velvet agreed, smile still present on her face. "But yes, it's more than a little overwhelming at times dealing with so many reserved individuals on my team -I mean, in all the years I've known him, I've only heard Fox speak a grand total of one time!- and with that in mind, it's quite refreshing enjoying the company of someone who's more than happy with wearing his emotions on his sleeve."

"Yeah, I can see what you mean. Definitely glad I don't gotta deal with that on my team."

"Please don't take it the wrong way. They all act like nothing fazes them, but that's really not an issue or complaint or anything. I consider the rest of my team to be like family at this point, and I'm happy I ended up with them during our initiations. Coco especially. She was always so amazing to see back in Pharos." Velvet admitted, thinking back to the days she spent admiring just how untouchable and cool her team leader seemed back when they were mere acquaintances at Pharos academy. "But… what about you though? I'm certainly not blind to just how close you are with him as well."

Yang merely shrugged in response before giving an answer. "Eh, not much to go into, to be perfectly real. We've known each-other since our first day at Beacon and since then, we've been through thick and thin together." Yang decided she would keep silent about Joseph teaching her about hamon as well as the moment of vulnerability he shared with her regarding his whole 'displaced' situation to herself. Stuff like that Yang wanted to keep close to her chest.

"I see…" Whether Velvet caught on to the fact that Yang was holding certain things back, and whether or not she even cared, was unclear. Instead, she merely accepted her answer before letting out a small breath and looking back down at Joseph's unconscious form, relief beginning to show on her features. "It's quite the relief knowing he's gonna be okay."

"Once again, I feel you there, girl." Yang smiled, and once again, silence pervaded the room. This time, however, the silence was considerably more comfortable and relaxed, and on Yang's part, she felt their conversation had something to do with that. After hearing all that, she felt all the instinctive apprehension she harbored after hearing about Velvet's little crush melt away, to the point that she felt stupid for even worrying about it in the first place. Regardless of whether they shared an interest in the same guy, Velvet was a sweet and kindly girl all around. She couldn't bring herself to feel any sort of obligatory animosity or apprehension towards her that this kind of situation usually entailed.

Whatever happened between any of them in the future would just happen, as it is now, though? Both Yang and Velvet simply opted to sit back and make sure no other cosmic anvils fell on Joseph while he recovered.

"...Wanna listen to some music to pass the time?" Yang offered after an unclear amount of time, looking towards Velvet as she pulled both her scroll out of her jacket and a pair of earbuds to go with it.

"Sure, that sounds like it'd be nice." Velvet smiled, clearly appreciating the offer to liven up their quiet stay in this room. Picking up her chair, the rabbit faunus set it down next to Yang before taking the offered earbud and sliding it into one of her human ears. Upon seeing this, Yang was quick to search up a playlist of relaxing songs to listen to before setting it to auto-play.

"Well… here's to our mutual friend making a quick and speedy recovery, cause I think he owes us some serious praise after we saved his butt." Yang sighed in a flippant tone, closing her eyes, placing her hands behind her head, and leaning back into her seat as she enjoyed the music.

"Well… praise or not, it's a very nice butt, so I can't complain…" Velvet muttered under her breath, thinking her out loud thought was too quiet for Yang to hear.

"Hm? You say something Velv?" However, judging by how the boisterous brawler opened a single eye and addressed her without moving from her position, this was clearly not the case.

"SaywhatIsaidnothing." Velvet responded all too quickly, making sure to avoid meeting the curious blonde's gaze so she wouldn't see the thick blush that had now taken up a majority of her face.

"Uh… okay." Was all Yang had to say on the matter, giving the meek bunny faunus a raised eyebrow before once again getting comfortable in her seat.

And from there, the two girls merely sat in comfortable silence, with only the sounds of relaxing music to break up the quiet, as they waited for the mutual friend to recover.

***O***

"What's the matter, General? I thought you wanted to talk!" Roman Torchwick jeered, still as loud-mouthed and smug as ever despite being placed exactly where he belonged. The general didn't bother turning around as he stepped out of the cell that was to contain Torchwick, keeping his posture as composed as ever.

"The council's given me custody over you for as long as I see fit. So you can make yourself comfortable. I can be sure that you'll have plenty of time to talk." Ironwood explained in a cold tone of voice, making sure his irritation with the career criminal didn't show.

"Oh, well isn't that wonderful? Heheh… yuuup, I'll make sure to do that, Jimmy!" Torchwick laughed as the cell to his door closed, clearly undaunted by the implications of his statement. Letting out an irritated sigh at the sound of the man's mocking laughter, the general walked out of his airship's holding cell area at a brisk pace, reflecting on recent events all the while.

A part of Ironwood felt like his recent decision burnt some bridges, or at the very least, left them much more rickety and unstable, but he could steel himself and accept that. In his own belief, he was doing what was best. He knew that Ozpin had been involved in this war for much longer than he'd been -afterall, he was the one who brought him into the fold- but regardless of this fact, and the guilt that gnawed silently at his gut in wake of his choice, the headmaster of Beacon's recent decisions left him severely doubting his decision-making abilities.

It was one thing to do nothing about the problem that was literally right under their noses, that being that an agent of that witch had infiltrated Beacon and was likely plotting at this very moment to steal away what lied beneath that Academy's surface, but the aftermath of what happened regarding the Mountain Glenn situation was another thing entirely. While the General had seen and was impressed by Team RWBY's talents and credentials, sending the lot of them with only Oobleck as guidance to scout out the White Fang hiding away in that city's ruins made him realize he couldn't sit back and do nothing any longer. It didn't feel good, convincing the Vale council to essentially put Ozpin on a shorter leash, but it was for the best in the long-term. With him heading security for the Vytal festival, he could ensure that no other incidents would happen and that those fiends wouldn't get their hands on Amber or the relic.

'When he looks back on this after the festival, he'll understand my decision…' Ironwood repeated to himself once more, hoping that this truly would be the case. For now though, he kept his thoughts and grievances regarding Ozpin's decisions on the backburner, he had a more pressing and present matter to attend to.

"James! James! I came as quickly as I could when I got your message!" Speaking of which…

"Good. Given that you're likely the world's leading expert on this matter, I thought you'd want to be informed of this ASAP, especially given who it concerns." Ironwood greeted, maintaining his composed air as he watched Speedwagon hurriedly stride towards him, urgency written all over his features. Given that Speedwagon really was the expert on this entire matter, and how Ozpin specifically entrusted him to find more information regarding the circumstances that brought Joseph to Remnant, he knew that his first priority in wake of everything that happened today was to bring him up to speed on this entire matter and discuss what to do next.

"Well, if the man who assaulted Mr. Joestar really was a stand user, then I'm glad you did." Speedwagon sighed, giving Ironwood and expectant look. "Now, you said you had some video evidence verifying this?"

"Yes, it's right here." James nodded, pulling out his scroll and holding it out so both he and Speedwagon could get a good look at the security recording displayed on it. To better clarify, this was a security recording showing off a maintenance tunnel in the airship Joseph was assigned to. There was nothing of note on it at the moment, but that would be subject to change very soon. "The airship Mr. Joestar was assigned to was found later on in the day crashed on the outskirts of Vale due to the Grimm breach that occurred earlier today. Thankfully, the vessel was found mostly intact and there were no serious injuries among the crew or Beacon students assigned to it. However… recovery of the ship revealed several concerning things, which make much more sense when you take what happened to Joseph into account."

The moment Ironwood finished this explanation was when the recording showed something of note. Gradually, the steel floor of the maintenance tunnel began to light up with a white-hot and bright-orange coloration, with the floor beginning to steadily bubble up more and more before bursting like a bubble. A moment after this occured, the two men were greeted with the sight of a being that had the body of a man but the head of a bird. The entity levitated up from the tunnel with an ethereal grace to him, merely brushing off his robes slightly before walking down the tunnel at a leisurely pace. This was all topped off by the man-bird hybrid fading into his body, officially confirming things for Speedwagon.

"Yes… there really is no doubt about it now… that man is a stand user!" Speedwagon breathed, gaze fixated on the paused sight of the man's guardian entity. Just from a simple glance at this recording and what he heard regarding Joseph's injuries, he could only assume it had some pyrokinetic abilities.

"Upon having the repair team look through where that hole leads to, we discovered that this man used that stand of his to melt a hole into the ship. As far as we can tell, he seemed to have snuck into the airfield that had this airship on standby and melted a way inside, all while making sure to avoid melting down any machinery that was vital in keeping things working. From there, he proceeded to make his way over to the airship's cargo bay, where… this occurred." With that said, Ironwood tapped on his scroll, showing a recording of Avdol's attempt to get the jump on Joseph, with the recording coming to an end just after the fortune teller leaped out of the now-open cargo bay door after him.

"...Why Mr. Joestar was lounging around in the airship's cargo bay eating confections with a dog is beyond me, but at this point, I suppose that question is irrelevant. The point is that this man's target was very clearly our mutual friend." Ironwood concluded, pocketing his scroll and looking at Speedwagon before continuing. "Right now, I currently have him in the medical bay and heavily sedated. Considering just how powerful those flames of his were to melt through reinforced steel, I thought it was prudent to do so." That was another big part of why James called Speedwagon here. Beyond keeping him sedated, James had no other way to keep Avdol under lock and key, and this method certainly wouldn't allow them to get any answers on what was going on here.

Regardless, at the moment, Speedwagon seemed more occupied with going over all that he had learned in his head, his features steadily growing more guilty and frustrated with each passing moment. "I should've known this was going to happen. I should've better prepared for it!"

"Robert, come on now. You can't go beating yourself up over something like this. How could you have possibly known this was going to happen?" Ironwood pointed out, trying to get his friend out of the funk that is blaming oneself for something that's beyond their control. However, Speedwagon seemed to have differing opinions on the matter, and for reasons beyond simple, circumstantial self-loathing.

"No… you don't understand. It was an inevitability that this was going to happen, James. For whatever reasons, stand users are naturally drawn to other stand users." Speedwagon admitted, with Ironwood merely looking on in wide-eyed surprise. "You might think I'm being ridiculous when I say this, but I've seen enough first-hand to know it's no coincidence. There's no true explanation behind this phenomena, it's like a… natural law of the world, like gravity. It's as though fate deliberately wills it so that their paths cross, no matter what."

"Well… there's nothing that can be done about it now. What matters is that neither Joseph or the man who assaulted him are in critical condition, and once they both wake up, we'll finally be able to get some answers regarding Remnant's… I suppose you could say uninvited guest." Ironwood decided, and Speedwagon could only nod in agreement while still looking off with his thoughts muddled up. They both quickly came to the conclusion that, regardless of the natural draw stand users had towards one another, this man clearly knew who Joseph was and specifically sought him out, meaning that he clearly knew something about whatever it was that spirited him over to Remnant.

They were both just about to go see their mysterious stand user when Ironwood's scroll began to vibrate. Without even thinking about it, he accepted the call and brought the tablet up to his ear. "Yes, what is it?"

*G-General Ironwood…! There's… something you need to see regarding that man you had taken to the medical bay…!* A strained female voice explained, and James was quick to recognize it as the nurse he assigned to look over the unconscious stand user. The first thing the general noticed was how she sounded absolutely sick. Like she was struggling to keep herself from throwing up on the spot.

"Is everything alright…!? Why do you sound so disgusted?" Ironwood asked immediately, alarm and concern clear in his tone.

*We…! Oh god… we found something while we were looking him over and it's… it's-!* Whatever the nurse had to say was cut off by the abrupt sound of retching, which only furthered Ironwood's concern. *I-I'm sorry sir, but… you just have to see this for yourself… it's… on his forehead…* And that was all the nurse could force out before retching took up the other end of the line. Baffled by this, Ironwood could only end the call with a tap of his finger before turning towards Speedwagon, and he was surprised to see the grim look of horror on his friend's face. He must've overheard the call, what exactly was it about that conversation that warranted such an expression?

"Robert…?" James began, hoping to rouse some sort of response from Speedwagon.

"James… I need you to take me to the man who assault Mr. Joestar right now." Speedwagon said in a tone that suggested utmost urgency.

Briefly taken aback by this sudden shift in demeanor, James was quick to recompose himself "I… of course, he's right this way." The General explained, leading Speedwagon towards the airship's medical bay.

It wasn't long before the two men made it to the room where Avdol was being kept under heavy sedation, and Ironwood was quick to address the nearest doctor available for an explanation. "You there, doctor. I received a call that has me under the impression that you discovered something peculiar about our man. Would you mind explaining to us what exactly it was you found?"

Once again, Ironwood's concern was only worsened when he saw how the doctor looked very uncomfortable and was clearly struggling to find the right words to say. After another tension-filled moment, he finally began to speak. "Yes… he's… while we were looking him over… we… I'm sorry, General, I'm just having difficulties finding the right words to describe what exactly it was we found. As a man of medicine especially, it's quite in equal levels baffling and disturbing," The doctor sighed before gesturing to Avdol's bed, which was currently obscured by blue sheets you'd normally find in an ICU. "might I recommend you see him for yourself before I explain any further?"

Before Ironwood could even think to respond and demand a better explanation than what he got, Speedwagon suddenly strided towards the bed and yanked the sheets out of the way. From where he was standing, Ironwood could only see the man's body, with Speedwagon obscuring what possibly could have been on his forehead. However, the way Speedwagon stood completely rigid and still didn't inspire much confidence.

"Well? What is it? What exactly did they find that's so-!?" Ironwood cut himself off when he approached and finally got a look at what was resting on Avdol's forehead. Recoiling instinctively, the Atlesian general brought a hand to his mouth as he took in the horrific sight in front of him. "What in god's name…!?"

By contrast, Speedwagon was completely silent with a grim expression while the doctor merely watched on with anxiety written all over his face.

"It's exactly as I feared, James…" Speedwagon muttered out. This entire situation regarding Joseph just became much more complicated and dangerous, for right on Mohammed Avdol's forehead sat a writhing, unnatural, and cancerous lump of flesh. One that if even poked could leave the dark-skinned stand user with permanent brain damage. A vampiric flesh bud.

***O***

(Several hours earlier, during the aftermath of the Breach)

"All in all, I call today a success." Cinder mused to herself, taking in how the serene sunrise enveloping Vale contrasted with the overall state of panic the city was in. Smirking to herself, she knew that it was only a taste of what was to come once the Vytal festival rolled around and the plan she'd been setting up from day one began to come together.

"Those stupid kids really made a mess of things." Emerald groaned, clearly annoyed that the same group of girls that outed her and Mercury also mucked up things here too.

"Maybe they did, but I can't complain. It was a breath of fresh air to finally get out and stretch my legs for a bit." Mercury drawled out, standing by Diego as he looked over the edge of the roof. Despite none of them being able to see his current expression at the moment, the tone in his voice made it all too clear he had a shit-eating smirk on his face. The reason for this was because their newfound faunus ally was providing them with some prime-time entertainment on the street below them. If one looked over the edge and at where they were both looking, then they'd see a group of black and white raptors using their razor-sharp teeth to figuratively and literally tear into the hapless Grimm on the street below. The cause of these transmogrified Grimm didn't seem nearly as interested in what he caused as Mercury was though, instead lazing on the edge of the rooftop with a bored, vacant expression on his face.

"Still, a lot of faunus didn't make it out of those tunnels. You still think the White Fang's gonna listen to us?" He pointed out, taking a moment to look away from the show below to address their group's mutual friend and supplier of their White Fang resources.

"I'm not particularly worried about that. After all, you both know just how… persuasive I can be in matters such as this…" Cinder assured her subordinate in a tone that made it very clear she wasn't worried in the slightest about the White Fang's potential unwillingness to listen to them any longer. As she said this, she slowly cast her gaze down to her right hand and watched as a small flame flickered to life between her thumb and index finger. At the sight of this, both Emerald and Mercury stiffened up at the sight and it's implications while Diego finally tore his gaze away from the raptors down below on the street -who were currently in the middle of viciously tearing one another to shreds since there weren't any more Grimm to slaughter- to look at this strange phenomena. The slightly bored expression on the raptor faunus's face didn't change, but keen observers would note that his eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the flames in Cinder's hand. While he didn't let anything show through his expression, it was clear that he kept what he was seeing in mind. " ...Still, it'd be far more convenient all around if we could get them to do as I say without having to resort to… a more physical approach, which is where you come in. Can we rely on you to do this for us, Adam?"

With that said, everyone's gazes fell upon the 4th person present on the rooftop, which was the acting head of the Vale branch of the White Fang, a bull faunus and skilled Iajutsu practitioner, Adam Taurus. Clad in a sharp, pitch-black blazer and red dress shirt that complimented the vivid red and white wilting rose symbol engraved onto the blazer, his outfit complimented his slightly spiky and slicked-back red and black hair and the ornate Grimm mask that completely obscured what his eyes could've possibly looked like.

At the moment, the high-ranking member of the White Fang appeared oblivious to the conversation at hand and how it shifted to him, with his focus instead being entirely on something he was watching with his scroll. His expression appeared to be completely neutral -although this was hard to say for sure given that his mask obscured his eyes- as he watched whatever was recorded intently.

"...Adam? Are you listening? I'm sure you're aware of the fact that this concerns you as well." Cinder pointed out, her icy tone making it clear she wanted a response immediately.

"...Your concerns regarding the Fang's compliance are a nonissue. If they won't listen to you, they'll still listen to me." Adam finally stated, only looking up from his scroll to address his associate to punctuate the last part of that statement. With that said, his gaze returned to his scroll as though he didn't say anything to begin with.

Regardless, Cinder seemed to take this as a satisfactory answer, humming in acknowledgement before looking towards our subordinates. "Well then, I suppose that concludes our business here. Diego and I will be returning to Beacon while the both of you are to head straight back to the safehouse, and I don't think I need to remind either of you to not deviate from my orders in the slightest, do I?"

"Yeah, yeah, I think we both know the drill at this point." Mercury shrugged while Emerald was quick to give her affirmation, shooting Mercury a dirty look at his flippant tone towards Cinder.

"Well, next time we all meet, it'll be during what's bound to be a very… eventful Vytal festival." And with that ominous statement left in the air, the four of them took their leave, with Cinder and Diego beginning their trek back to Beacon while Mercury and Emerald began their own walk back to the safehouse they were to remain in till Cinder had any new orders for them. For his part, Adam merely remained in place, his gaze still fixated on whatever was on his scroll and not even acknowledging his associates leaving. The only thing that made him tear his gaze from his scroll was to cast a curious look towards Diego and his long, reptilian tail. He was likely wondering just what exactly a fellow faunus was doing associating with an insidious woman like Cinder.

"Well… someone was definitely in a cheery mood, and I mean even moreso than usual." Was all Mercury had to say on Taurus's odd behavior, his dry remark summing up the odd interaction quite well. "Wonder what it was he was watching that got him so frosty?"

"You got me." Emerald shrugged, not really caring one way or another about what it was that caught Taurus's attention.

When he was certain that he was now alone on the rooftop, Adam briefly tore his gaze away from his scroll to look around before once again looking at the security footage his men scrounged from both the train and the Mountain Glenn outpost. While he took great care to maintain his mask and let nothing slip in front of Cinder and her pawns, it felt particularly difficult in this case when the security footage of those intruders left his blood positively boiling with anger.

If this was a simple case of some group of huntsmen catching on to the White Fang's activities and responding in kind, then the most Adam felt would've been simple irritation. Retribution would've been a given, but in that particular case, it simply would've been business. However, what he was watching seemed to have been specifically designed by fate to leave him frothing with rage.

Not only were the huntsmen that interfered with his affairs a bunch of Beacon Academy students not even out of their teens, not only was a Schnee, practically the embodiment of all the horrors and miseries he endured in his life among them, but in this footage, he caught sight of an all-too familiar black-haired cat faunus fighting his men.

'Blake…' Blake Belladonna, someone that at one point in his life, Adam was certain he could trust with his life, fighting the loyal men under his command, with the aftermath leaving them either dead, injured, or arrested by the authorities, and with a Schnee, no less.

*CRE-AACK!*

The mere thought of such a reality -such a betrayal- sent such an intense spike of anger through Adam's very being that he unconsciously gripped his scroll so hard that he sent several spider web-like fissures up the glass screen.

'Just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower, Blake.'

To be continued…

And with that, I'm finally finished. I think this chapter all around turned out pretty well, and I think it provides some good hints towards what I'm gonna be doing in future chapters. I'm especially looking forward to trying out my own take on Adam since I think how Rooster Teeth approached him in the show proper was kinda… not good.

Well, nothing else really comes to mind, so I hope you all have a lovely night and stay healthy! And hey, if anyone here is well-versed in operating TV Tropes and wants to add anything to JJHH's page, feel free to have at it!