Prologue:

The light flickered as they stalked the corridor, as if desperately hanging onto its existence that was now endangered due to deplorable conditions, overloaded and damaged circuitry and who knew how long of much neglected servicing. The air was musty and rank, a sickly thick odour that seemed to constrict one's windpipe with every breath. The cleanliness of the place seemed to compliment that well, with dirt and grime and puddles of supposedly sewage water covering certain sections of the tiled floor.

However, some things could not really be seen, touched or smelled. It was just a gut feeling that one would have inside, something gnawing away within the darkest recess of one's mind. It wasn't the God-awful stench that made this place unbecoming. It wasn't the poorly maintained lighting or equipment and neither was it the place's low overall rating in personal hygiene.

What made it unbecoming was the cold sensation of death that hung over every inch of the place like a damned cloak. To say it reeked of it was an understatement. The place was practically swimming in it. It felt deeper than an ocean and thicker than oil. She swore that she could hear screaming from somewhere. Was it her imagination or was it real screaming? That, she didn't really know.

Neither did she care.

Emerald took a step right over a small puddle of water, not bothering to take in the shabby surroundings. She had a job to do right now and she was going to do it. Cinder had explicitly said that they could not allow such compromise. Her mind recalled the small conversation they had just a day before.

"Won't we arouse some suspicions?" Emerald asked Cinder. "Even if we managed to hide our affiliations with the White Fang and that self-indulgent numbskull it doesn't mean we can't be found ushering in trouble every once in a while."

"You can relax." Cinder responded. "Right now, the Vale council is doing damage control since that latest mishap and their resources are strained. Almost every student in the halls of Beacon is dedicating whatever time they have to the relief efforts and they barely have enough to do routine security over the nearby villages. Your assignment just so happens to fall within such, dire necessities."

Emerald raised an eyebrow, her lips forming a small smile. "Meaning we can do whatever and no one will be asking?"

"Rest assured, our current positions won't be exposed." Cinder turned, a devilish smile crossing her features.

Mercury folded his arms as he lay on the floor. "Hmm, you seem awfully chipper about this."

Cinder smirked. "Why not? It's not very often you get wind of something this interesting. It'd be a good test to see how well others react toward this, particularly those children we seem to have so many issues with."

And so now here she was, skulking down the corridors that seemed to have ascended out of some demented horror novel. However, what really complicated things was…

"Ugh. This place smells." Mercury complained from behind. "Why do we always get stuck with jobs like this?" This was the eighth complaint that he had uttered since they got here. If he was trying to get her to crack, Emerald would show him he still needed much practice.

"Mercury." Emerald said, slowly turning around. "Shut up. I have enough problems to think about without you being added to the mix."

"Aww come on." Mercury whined, catching up to her. "I'd bet it'd be a shame to get that lovely outfit dirty. I just splashed some gunk on myself just now."

"Then you have yourself to blame for that." Emerald huffed as she continued walking. Mercury's eyes narrowed before his lips broke into a smile.

"So, scared?" He taunted her. At this, Emerald turned, a glare crossing her face.

"What?" She growled, hands folding across her chest.

"Gives you the creeps doesn't it, this place?" Mercury said, still teasing her. "After all, who isn't scared of a place that just crawls with the stench of the dead?" As if to emphasize his point, his eyes darted to a wall just to his right. Emerald's eyes followed them to end up on a small splatter of red upon the concrete surface. Emerald merely shot him an uninterested look, turning on her heel and walking away.

Mercury's face fell as his smugness was overcome with disappointment. "Why are you always so hard to get?" Shaking his head, he trudged forward, falling in line with her. Their current path now led them to an elevator at the end of the hallway. Emerald took out a small note with Cinder's handwriting on it as she stepped in, typing down the numeric code. At once the elevator descended, bringing them to the lower levels.

As the elevator reached the end of its journey, the dilapidated hallways gave way to even more dilapidated laboratories. Surgical trays were turned over and smeared with grime or blood. Equipment such as needles and scalpels were strewn all over and the wall itself was cracked and falling apart. Water (presumably sewage water) leaked from the ceilings. Emerald looked into a room on the left, deciding that was where they needed to go.

The room was dark and it smelled even worse than anything else in this place. She stepped through the doorway, her silhouette being dwarfed by Mercury's as he followed behind. Turning to the right, he fumbled against the wall, finally finding the light switches. He turned them on…

…to reveal a very nasty looking Ursa glaring at them, its mouth wide open.

Instinctively, Emerald drew her guns, blasting off two rounds. Just as she was about to squeeze the third shot, she noticed something. The Ursa didn't respond. Additionally, it appeared to have been hung on some chains to keep it upright. The Grimm was already dead.

"Hmm…" Emerald studied the situation for a moment before putting her weapons away. "It seems I overreacted."

"I'll say." Mercury replied as he came over to study the beast. "Wonder how they kept it from evaporating…"

"Whatever it was, they were very careful not to let it slip." Emerald said, showing him a small card attached to the device that held the dead Grimm. Mercury came over, taking the card in his fingers. Subject injected with forty kilograms of compound X to halt disintegration.

"My my…" Mercury pursed his lips, taking one last look at the dead bear-like Grimm. "What in Remnant do you reckon these people were doing here?"

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out. Start looking through these files." Emerald said as she hefted a few folders onto the table. "I'll sort out the others back here."

"Ugh. More homework." Mercury groaned. "This is so dull."

"Just hurry up." Emerald stated as she flipped one open. Mercury shrugged and proceeded to examine the files, tossing aside anything that didn't look interesting.

After a while, (minutes or hours, they couldn't really tell) Emerald had finally found a small paragraph that pointed out what they needed. She turned to a small locker that was, of course, locked.

"Easy…" Emerald grinned as she took out a lockpick and worked her way through while Mercury stood watch. He truly wondered what Cinder was intending to do with whatever they were supposed to look for and even more so how it is she knew about this place. He didn't dwell on it for long. Cinder didn't want to say anything and that was that. If and when she felt they needed to know, then they would. That was what he liked about Cinder. Keeping it really close to the vest was something she excelled at.

A guttural snarl echoed through the halls, causing Mercury's alertness to heighten. "It seems we will soon have company…"

"Should I be worried?" Emerald said over her work.

"That depends." Mercury teased. "Are you as good as you say you are?"

"Oh shut it." Emerald growled as she opened the locker. A quick scan of it and she finally had what they needed. "We've got our little package. We're done here."

"Finally." Mercury sighed as he cracked the tendons in his neck. Whether or not he was thrilled that they were finished or because he was itching for the fight with the Beowolf that now came charging right at him, no one could really tell.

"We should probably leave ASAP." Emerald stared blankly as he blasted the Grimm down the hallway it came from with a roundhouse kick. "Completing this mission takes priority."

"Yes ma'am." He jokingly replied.


Author's Note:

Finally got around to posting the first part of this new fic. Just to let you know, the story won't make much sense unless you've seen my prequel, titled: The Grimm Tide. So if you haven't read that yet, get to it or it will be a really confusing ride.

On a side note, upcoming parts of this story is credited to Outlast, which in my view is the most terrifying game since Dead Space. Without seeing that game, II never would have hammered out this story

Jdbl00d