Professor Arc

Chapter 32

Misenwood was in uproar. Jaune watched it with a nauseous feeling from his position crouched on the edge of a rooftop. Neo stood nearby, looking into the distance as though late night romps across buildings in her pyjamas was common place. Maybe it was for her, he didn't want to know.

Down below he could see people running to and fro, some with weapons – others more clearly running in a panic. Some just watched from the edges of the narrow paths, whispering among themselves. Every single one of them after him and his students... this was not how Ozpin had advertised the mission.

Go on an easy mission, fix Team RVNN's interpersonal problems, it'll be easy. Seriously, fuck Ozpin...

"I guess the movies were right. People rarely ever look up," he whispered to Neo, getting a silent snort from her. Maybe it was because they were atop one of the rare two-storey buildings in the town, somewhere that should never have been accessible. Whatever the case, it gave them some time to recover and plan their next move.

Now wouldn't that be a lovely thing, an actual plan.

Where was Roman when you needed him? Jaune dragged his scroll out and considered it for a second. Ren and Nora would be hidden. Pyrrha and Velvet would be at the mortician's. That left only one person who could help him. Fortunately it was also the only person with any real experience.

"Not the best time to call," Bran's voice came through the scroll, but so did the voices of a few other people, most of them shouting in anger or pain. There was a yelp and a loud oomph, before the ragged man appeared on the screen, wiping some dust off his cheek. "Okay, sorted. Problem?"

Problem? Was the man insane, yes there was a problem – the entire town was a problem!

"Bran, we need to try and figure out what's going on here," Jaune said. "I know we're stronger than just about anyone here but we can't keep this up forever. We'll run out of steam eventually." Their best bet would be to flee into the forest if that happened, but then they'd be just as exhausted and dealing with Grimm.

"I won't lie. I was hoping you'd have a plan."

"Me?" Jaune gasped, momentarily forgetting that he was an esteemed Professor of Beacon. "Why would I know what to do in a situation like this?"

"Why would I?" Bran raised one brow. "You must have a pretty low opinion of me if you think my missions regularly go like this. I might be older than you kid, but that doesn't prepare one for the absolutely bat-shit crazy. Seriously, am I cursed or something?"

No, that would be me. Bran probably just got dragged into Jaune's horror by proxy. But if Bran didn't know what to do, then how were they going to get out of this one? What would Roman do in a situation like this? If Roman were being hunted across a town – and wasn't he always – then how would he get out of it?

He'd probably use contacts or stay hidden, neither of which was possible for them here.

But if Roman didn't have the option to run, then he wouldn't roll over and take it either. He was vicious like that... perhaps that was the answer. Stop reacting and start acting, eh Roman?

"We're going on the offensive," Jaune said.

"Eh?" Bran looked like he wasn't sure if he had heard correctly.

"We can't just keep reacting to everything that's going on. If we spend all our time on the run then we'll wear ourselves out. We need to get rid of this problem at the source."

"You want to kill the mayor?"

"Not quite that aggressively," Jaune winced. "But if he's the one setting the militia and townsfolk on us then yes, we need to deal with him."