Hey guys, JCtheWriterr here, with chapter four of RWBY: MUTATION!
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... Thank you so much, guys. Seriously, from the bottom of my heart. Monty's passing took a toll on my motivation to write, and i've been struggling with writer's block for a while, so despite all of my promises to 'update soon', I kept finding myself at dead ends, and here I am, posting this chapter several months overdue.
Now, DON'T get me wrong! I absolutely LOVE writing this story, it is one of my most treasured creations, and I am sorry if I sound like writing it is a chore, it isn't. And it never ever will be, as long as you guys are still enjoying my work!:)
Please note that I have made some changes to certain details in the previous chapters, and fixed several spelling and grammatical errors that I spotted while revisiting my work. Therefore, if some details in this chapter do not make sense to you, please do revisit the previous chapters, and hopefully it will assuage any doubts you may have. Don't worry, the story-line and major plot points have not been modified, and you will not have missed out anything very important! I apologise for the inconvenience, and if you still have any queries or feedback, do not hesitate to let me know via private message.
Also, at the end of chapter 3, I mentioned that I would be putting up my OC bios for reference. I apologise once again as that endeavor of mine is going on the back-burner for now, as it has been the source of the massive delay between updates! I will post them as soon as I get a proper idea of how I want the back stories and certain details about the characters to be.
That aside, I believe the classic pre-chapter formalities are in order: I do not own any part of RWBY, or any part of Monty Oum's legacy. I only own my original characters, and the laptop I am typing this story with.
I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and if you do, a favourite, follow, or review would brighten my day so, so much. Sit back, relax with a beverage of your preference, and enjoy the story!
Until the next author's note, I will see you guys around!:D
Chapter 4: The Belly of the Beast
The two teams went their separate ways at the emergency stairwell, Team Alpha ascending to the next level, Team Bravo descending into the basement.
Team Alpha
The two members of Fire Team Gamma in Team Alpha, Griff and Simmons, cautiously looked around the corner of the stairwell door on the second floor. Upon seeing nothing aside from the usual scenes of death and destruction, they gave the rest of their team the 'all-clear' and proceeded into the corridor.
"Level 2, Cafeteria and Wards 16 through 25... Who's feeling hungry?" York chuckled as he read the words on a sign beside the emergency stairwell exit.
Simmons turned to Ruby, and asked, "Any orders, ma'am?"
Ruby, who was sweeping the group's immediate surroundings for any signs of danger, blinked at the mention of her name.
"W-wait, you're talking to me?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'm… pretty sure I wasn't talking to the wall."
"Oh! B-but I assumed that we were supposed to be escorting you, and you would be the one giving instructions…?" the red reaper stuttered, unsure of herself.
"Are you kidding me? After the amount of ass you guys kicked on the first floor?" Simmons laughed. "Church can say whatever he wants, but I'd very much prefer putting my life in the hands of you people , rather than risking your lives in ours." Beside him, Griff nodded in agreement, flashing the red reaper a thumb-up.
"O-okay," Ruby smiled in appreciation of the compliment. "Eh… Alright, everyone. Let's split up into pairs with your partners, so that we can cover more ground."
"Let's clear out the wards first. After that, we can take on the cafeteria as a group." As she finished, she jabbed a thumb over to a pair of rather heavy doors
The others nodded in agreement, and began separating into their respective pairs.
Ruby's white-themed partner acknowledged her with a small smile and nod as they paired up, to which the red reaper responded with a goofy grin.
"You see? Exactly as i'd promised you." Weiss said, patting her partner's back reassuringly. "Already we've won the respect of Church's men. That means we're one step closer to proving him wrong about us!"
"Yeah, that's definitely a start!" Ruby replied happily.
The duo readied their weapons and took up position outside one of the many doors that lined the corridor.
"On the count of of 3, open the door, and i'll sweep the room with Crescent Rose." Ruby whispered, "If there's more than one, i'll take out the first one I see, and you can back me up with Myrtenaster and your glyphs."
"That hardly sounds like a very sound plan..." Weiss replied in a critical tone, making Ruby turn to her, pouting.
"But when has a single one of our plans ever been sound? Ready when you are." she finished with a smirk, satisfied that she had successfully led her young team leader on. Ruby responded with a sound somewhere between a snort and a groan as she realised her partner was only pulling her leg, and not actually criticising her plan.
"Alright... 3, 2, 1... go!" On her team leader's cue, Weiss promptly pushed the door, allowing Ruby to cautiously scan the interior with the barrel of her sniper scythe. The now familiar sight of an abandoned hospital ward greeted her, with nary a single Grimm in sight.
Breathing a small sigh of relief, Ruby entered the room to make a full sweep of the interior, ensuring that she did not overlook any potential hiding places.
Just then, the loud report of an assault rifle firing an extended burst echoed through the corridor, startling the red reaper. She rushed out of the room she was in, looking around for the source of the noise.
"The gunfire came from that direction, we should check it out!" said the heiress, pointing to an area further down the corridor. Replying with a nod, Ruby waved her forward, before following suit herself.
In the doorway of another hospital ward further down the corridor stood Simmons, his assault rifle pointed at the interior of the ward, weapon smoking.
Ruby keyed her headset, and asked, "What's the situation, Simmons?"
"Nightcrawler, ma'am. It was eating some poor guy behind a privacy curtain, so I didn't see it at first. When it heard me opening the door, it tried to get the jump on me. Thankfully I noticed it in time and emptied half my clip into its face before it did."
Ruby peered into the ward in question, and sure enough, the slowly disintegrating corpse of a Nightcrawler lay sprawled face down on the hospital flooring.
"Good work, Simmons," said Ruby, giving the man a thumbs-up. "And, n-no need for formalities. Just call me Ruby." "If you say so, ma'—Ruby." Simmons quickly corrected himself.
Their brief conversation was interrupted by a burst of static from their headsets. "Heads-up, muchachos… I would praise you for killing one of them, Simmons, but you pretty much just brought the rest of the party to us with all of that noise! INCOMING!" York barked over the team frequency.
"Brace yourselves, guys. I was about to report it in, too, but York beat me to it," Blake's voice came not a few moments later, sounding unusually urgent. "I hear about 20 hostiles, coming from the direction of the cafeteria. They'll be all over us in about 2 minutes!"
"Roger that," Ruby stepped out into the corridor. "Good ear, York! Thanks for the heads-up."
"T-thanks," York replied, laughing nervously. "I… I got lucky, I guess..."
"Right…" Ruby replied, somewhat suspicious. Besides Blake, no one else heard them coming, and that's only because Blake's hearing is enhanced as a Faunus… York's hearing is good, but maybe a little too good?
Ruby shook her head to clear her thoughts. Now was not the time to be doubting her friends. She would simply ask him about it later.
"Guys! We need to assemble into two rows at my position, short-ranged weapons in front, long-ranged weapons in the back! And make sure you have a clear shot at the cafeteria doors!"
The other members of Team Alpha quickly regrouped into the new defensive formation around Ruby, Weiss and Simmons, replying with various affirmatives.
"It's a big group we're dealing with here, so try to conserve your ammunition," Ruby advised her teammates. "Only open fire when you're sure that you have a shot!"
"Brace yourselves, guys! Here they come!" Blake shouted from her position. Ten pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at the blood-splattered cafeteria doors, tensing up as the now familiar guttural screams began to echo down the corridor, slowly increasing in intensity.
Without warning, a lone Nightcrawler burst through the double doors. It skittered to a halt as its glowing eyes found the members of Team Alpha, and it screamed once again to alert its comrades to its discovery. An unholy chorus of screams echoed from the cafeteria in reply.
Its fellow Grimm now alerted, the Nightcrawler snarled angrily and launched itself at the group. Ceph opened fire on the beast, but to insufficient effect, even though the magnum-caliber bullets easily penetrated the Grimm's flesh and slowed its advance due to their stopping power. The beast shrugged off the damage it had received without much difficulty, and resumed its advance. Seeing that Ceph's attack was not very effective on the creature, Colin opened fire as well, spraying accelerated shards of burn crystal from the barrel of his SAW towards the Nightcrawler. The crystal shards detonated in miniature fireballs as they impaled the Grimm, causing a massive amount of damage. The beast howled in pain, crashing to the ground and skidding harmlessly a few metres away, missing most of its mid-section and its right arm. "Hellyeah, you nailed it!" York crowed, pumping his fist in the air.
His eyes widened in horror as the bullet-riddled Grimm quickly staggered back on its feet, its wounds closing up rapidly and a new arm sprouting from the stump on its right, as though it had never been injured.
But as it opened its mouth to scream a challenge at Team Alpha, a crossbow bolt impaled its eye-socket, and it keeled over, this time dead for good.
"I guess I spoke too soon…" said York, sighing in relief as he lowered his crossbow.
"Damn, no wonder the first Nightcrawler we encountered survived the grenade thrown by Church! These things have regeneration!" Ceph cursed. "That makes them harder to kill than we thought…"
"That means we'll really have to aim for the head... Not really my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot." Yang shrugged, her attention still fixed on the doors.
"Wait… I thought you guys said you heard like, 20 of these things. Where are the others?" Griff asked, scratching his head in confusion.
Before anyone could say another word, the rest of the Nightcrawlers in the cafeteria burst forth from the double doors, screaming vengefully over the loss of their fellow Grimm, followed closely by not 1, but 4 Adjutants.
'You just HAD to open your mouth, didn't you?" Yang growled as she raised Ember Celica.
"My bad…" Griff groaned, as the seething mass of Grimm lunged at Team Alpha, claws carving deadly arcs through the air. He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for his impending doom.
Team Bravo
Meanwhile, down in the basement, Team Bravo was faring no better than Team Alpha, having been ambushed by a slightly smaller group of Nightcrawlers the moment they had emerged from the stairwell.
"Dust, just how many of them ARE there?" Jaune yelled as he decapitated a Nightcrawler that was attempting to swipe at Pyrrha, as she wrestled with the Adjutant of the group, which had grabbed hold of her shield.
Pyrrha let out a battle cry, severing the Adjutant's fingers with the sharp edge of Akoúo̱ and shooting the beast in the head at point-blank range with Miló. "I think," she panted, "That was the last of them."
"Thanks for the save, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled gratefully at Jaune.
"Don't mention it. Partners look out for each other." Jaune beamed in return.
Church gazed at the corridor full of dissolving Nightcrawler corpses, and sighed heavily, slapping a fresh magazine into his assault rifle.
Another one of his men, Lopez, had fallen to a Nightcrawler in the heat of the battle, stabbed in the chest by the beast's claws. However, instead of simply dropping dead, Lopez's body had started convulsing, rapidly transforming into another Nightcrawler, which instantly attacked and came close to hurting Church.
However, Ren had quickly impaled it in the cranium with the blades of Stormflower, and used his semblance in the nick of time to make the Nightcrawler's head explode, saving Church's life.
While Church was grateful, he couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated. He had barely started his mission, and already he was two men down. How are we going to pull through this? We have five more floors to go! He thought miserably. He took a deep breath, and looked at the others.
"Okay, Team Bravo. Split up and sweep the rooms, we'll deal with the morgue as a team."
The others responded affirmatively, and split up to search individual rooms.
Jaune was about to open the door of the room he had chosen to sweep, when he heard the faint but distinct sound of weeping inside the room.
He keyed his headset, whispering, "Guys? I think there's someone in this room…"
"Okay, I'll back you up, don't open the door yet." Pyrrha made her way quietly to Jaune's side.
Pyrrha initiated a countdown. "3, 2, 1… Go!" Jaune opened the door and peered in, Crocea Mors at the ready. The source of the weeping turned out to be a young woman in a blood-stained nurse's uniform, huddled in a corner of the room rocking slowly back and forth, whimpering to herself.
Seeing no threats in the room, Jaune lowered his weapon and slowly approached the nurse. "Ma'am? Are you alright?"
The woman looked up quickly and a hopeful smile appeared on her features.
"A-are you here to get me out of this place?" she rasped, sounding very dehydrated.
"Yes, ma'am, we are here to evacuate you out of the hospital building and to safety." Jaune smiled.
The woman got unsteadily to her feet, and started limping towards Jaune. "T-thank you…" The corners of her parched lips lifted in a weak smile, "I thought I was never going to be saved…"
Pyrrha, who stood just behind Jaune, noticed something off about the woman. Did she just… flicker? I could swear by Dust that she just flickered like a hologram for a split second…
"Jaune… I think you should step away from the lady…" Pyrrha cautioned in a low, warning tone, raising Miló in its javelin form.
"P-Pyrrha? What are you talking about? This woman's clearly been through living hell, she needs our help!"
"How could she possibly be a danger to us? She's barely even able to walk!" He waved his hands towards the woman, trying to emphasise his point.
"Jaune, I can explain later, right now, I need you t-" Jaune rounded on his partner and stared at her in a mixture of disbelief and anger.
The blonde knight closed the distance between himself and his partner, growing increasingly agitated. "She might die if she doesn't get medical attention, do want that on your conscience? I thought you were better than this, Pyrrha!"
A hurt expression appeared on Pyrrha's features, but she maintained her cautious pose, still wary of the woman. She beckoned to him pleadingly. "Jaune, please..."
"I-it's... alright... Don't be mad at her..." The woman's voice suddenly took on a sinister tone, as her image began to flicker even more erratically, her form flickering in and out of existence, before she finally disappeared, and a Grimm materialised seemingly from thin air in her place. It was significantly smaller and stockier than a Nightcrawler, and its head was swollen in size, giving an uncanny resemblance to an over-sized baby. At the centre of its forehead, a single, bulging, reddish-green eye glowed.
It possessed a set of razor sharp claws, much like the Nightcrawler, albeit shorter in length. It had a huge, circular mouth full of multiple rows of razor sharp teeth, like a grotesque, biological meat grinder.
"BECAUSE SHE'S RIGHT!" The Grimm screeched, as its features contorted into an poor mimicry of a grin, before it let out an ear-splitting, metallic scream and lunged at Jaune from behind, its teeth spinning to life within its mouth like an angry buzz saw.
"JAUNE! GET DOWN!" Pyrrha yelled in a panic, tackling the blonde knight to the ground. Due to Pyrrha's quick reflexes, the Grimm missed its intended target completely and ran into a wall instead.
From her position on the ground, she hurled Miló at the Grimm's head before it could recover, and impaled it squarely in the back of the beast's skull. The beast's greenish-red eye dimmed, and it slumped to the ground, dissolving slowly into ashes.
Jaune stared at the corpse of the Grimm on the ground in mute shock for several seconds.
When he finally managed to open his mouth, he spluttered, "W-what the hell was that?!"
"A new form of Grimm, it seems." Pyrrha replied curtly, the hurt from Jaune's earlier words evident in her voice.
She hesitated for a moment, before grudgingly extending a hand to Jaune.
Jaune accepted her hand gratefully and she pulled him to his feet, before releasing her grip on his hand. She crossed her arms, and fixed him with a hard stare that screamed 'I TOLD YOU!'.
"I-I'm sorry, Pyrrha… I should have listened to you earlier…" Jaune stuttered nervously, too ashamed to meet Pyrrha's eyes.
Upon seeing that her team leader was truly contrite for his actions earlier, Pyrrha's expression finally softened, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"...No worries, Jaune," Pyrrha finally replied, allowing a small smile to appear on her features. "To be perfectly honest, I was almost fooled by that Grimm myself, until I saw its disguise start to flicker…"
She gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Well, now we're even. You saved me earlier, and now I've just saved you."
"Yeah… now we're even…" Jaune smiled, glad that Pyrrha had forgiven him so readily.
"Are you guys alright? What's going on over there?!" Church's worried voice crackled over the team frequency.
"We encountered another form of Grimm." Pyrrha quickly replied. "It used an interactive illusion of a woman to fool Jaune into approaching it, and almost managed to kill him. Luckily, I noticed a flaw in its deception: The projection flickers from time to time, so if you look closely enough, you can see through its illusion. However it becomes invisible while it is creating the illusion, so we were unable to see it until it was almost too late…"
"Dust, that sounds dangerous… What does the Grimm look like?" Church shuddered involuntarily.
"It's humanoid, like the Nightcrawler, but much smaller, about the size of an oversized infant. It has one central eye instead of two, though. Oh, and if you encounter one, you might want to avoid the jaws. It has a circular mouth with rows of teeth that can rotate within it like a meat grinder…" Pyrrha finished, reacquiring Miló from the floor where the Grimm had laid a few moments ago, the Grimm having now fully disintegrated.
"Well, if that isn't the stuff nightmares are made of... I don't know what is. Roger that, Pyrrha, we'll keep an eye out if there's any more of those Grimm." Church stepped out of the room that he had been sweeping. "Alright team, you heard Miss Nikos, keep your eyes peeled for the new Grimm. If you encounter any 'survivors' who exhibit the traits she has just described, do not hesitate to shoot on sight!"
"Let's give that thing a name. Jaune, do you have any suggestions?" Pyrrha asked.
"I-I can't really think of anything at the moment, sorry..." Jaune shrugged.
"... Actually, I have a suggestion." Ren murmured, getting the attention of his peers.
"Let's hear it!" Pyrrha replied, giving the usually quiet member of Team JNPR a thumbs up.
"Well... it's small in size, and it loves to trick people to their untimely deaths. I say we call it the Imp."
"Imp, huh? Well, okay then. That's short and sweet, we can definitely work with that." Church agreed.
"ENOUGH TALK! LET'S FIND ONE AND BREAK ITS LEGS!" Nora's voice exploded over the team frequency, leaving her teammates' ears ringing.
"Nora…" Ren sighed exasperatedly, "There's no need to yell… We can hear you just fine."
"Sooorrrryyy Reeennnn!" Nora chirped in reply.
Church rolled his eyes in mild amusement, and interrupted, "Get a move on, people. We'll give Team Alpha a heads up about the new Grimm as soon as we're done sweeping the rest of the rooms."
Team Alpha
Is this what death feels like? Griff wondered, his eyes squeezed shut. Around him, there were no sounds of conflict, no screams, all was quiet.
Huh, it didn't hurt at all! Maybe it ain't as bad as I though it out to be… Doesn't feel all that different from being alive… Griff chuckled internally.
Suddenly, the Private was snapped out of his thoughts as a loud 'THUD' sounded somewhere towards his right.
Griff's eyes flew open, and his mouth fell open in wonder.
No, dead he was not. He was in the same corridor, with the rest of Team Alpha, staring down the same large group of Grimm.
However, now, a translucent, white bubble enveloped Team Alpha, and the loud sound he had heard was the sound of a Nightcrawler trying, and failing miserably, to batter its way through the see-through barrier.
The private looked around, searching for the source of this new, life-saving shield.
His eyes fell upon Nat, her face a mask of concentration, as white tendrils of aura snaked from her outreached hands, giving form to the barrier. Beside him, Ruby was in a similar state of incredulity.
"Wow… How is she doing that…?" Ruby gaped as she took in the spectacle before her. The rest of Team Alpha, save Team CYCN, had similarly been surprised by the appearance of the shield, and had stopped firing at the horde of Grimm, leaving the Nightcrawlers to launch themselves at the barrier futilely.
"The aura barrier… only deflects Grimm attacks… aura attacks and dust projectiles can still pass through…" Nat grunted through gritted teeth as she struggled to maintain the protective barrier. "Keep firing... I can't... keep this up for much longer!"
Ruby shook herself from her reverie, and hastily shouted, "You heard her! Give those Grimm everything you got!" She raised Crescent Rose and fired, causing a nearby Nightcrawler's head to explode in a cloud of gore.
The others followed suit, firing, or in Weiss's case, casting, aura projectiles and dust attacks into the mass of Grimm that stood in their way.
The Grimm, faced with with Team Alpha's combined firepower and having no means of fighting back, were dispatched fairly quickly, reduced to nothing more than 24 broken, headless corpses slowly dissolving into black ash. Nat finally lowered her arms, breathing heavily from exertion, and the white shield flickered out of existence.
Yang wiped her brow with the back of her glove, exhaling in relief. "Whew... That was a thing…"
"We did it, guys!" Ruby cheered, punching the air in victory. "Nat, how did you do that just now? That was AMAZING!"
Nat's face cracked into a rare smile. "That… was my semblance. I can harness my aura into… various forms for offensive and defensive actions. You just witnessed… the defensive part of it."
"That's gotta be the most badass semblance I've seen all week... Scratch that. EVER!" Yang said with an impressed smirk, clapping Nat on the back gently.
"Good work, Nat. Take it easy for a bit, we'll cover you if anything else attacks us." Ceph smiled, resting a hand on Nat's back. The brunette gave her team leader a grateful nod, her exhaustion showing on her face.
"Her ability, while impressive, takes a toll on her aura. She needs a short interval to recover between the times she uses her shield. So don't count on her to provide on an invincible 'force field' to tide us through the entire mission, she can only use her defensive ability during emergencies." Colin warned the other members of Team Alpha, who nodded in understanding.
Colin took Nat's palm into his own, and a red glow emanated from his palm into hers for a few seconds. Nat's fatigued expression slowly disappeared, and she nodded in thanks to her brother.
"I can give other hunters a small boost in aura, to help speed up healing and aura recovery, as I have a very large amount of aura on my own. I double up as our team's medic when the situation calls for it." Colin explained to the others.
"He's like an oversized, less cuddly version of the Duraschnee Bunny, for lack of a better definition." York chuckled, earning a withering look from the juggernaut.
"You say that one more time York, and I'll stuff your hat up where the sun don't shine." Colin threatened, but York merely laughed in reply.
"I'd like to see you try, blockhea-"
"L-Let's carry on, shall we?" Ruby hastily cut in, gesturing towards the cafeteria doors.
The others nodded, taking a quick interval to reload their weapons, before beginning to make their way towards their next objective.
"Ruby, this is Church. Do you read, over?" Ruby's headset suddenly crackled to life, causing the young scythe wielder to jump in fright.
"I read you loud and clear, Church… what's up?" Ruby hastily replied.
"Just checking in to see how you're holding up," Church gave a mental sigh of relief upon hearing the red reaper's voice. "And to give you an important update: We have encountered a new form of Grimm. You might want to open this channel to the others so they can hear what I have to tell you."
Ruby immediately opened their private frequency up to the other members of Team Alpha, signalling to the others that they should listen.
Team Alpha listened attentively as Church gave a description of the new Grimm, going over its method of attack, abilities and appearance, and how one had almost deceived Jaune and Pyrrha with its illusion.
When Church finished his explanation, Yang was the first to speak. "Damn… As if a Grimm capable of turning us into kebabs wasn't bad enough... Now there's one you should never, ever ask to give you a blo—"
The rest of the brawler's sentence was drowned out by Blake clearing her throat loudly, and shooting her a warning glare. Yang crossed her arms, smirking mischievously, "...Just stating the obvious here."
Catching on to what Yang was implying, Ruby rolled her eyes briefly, before replying, "Copy that, Church, thanks for the update, we'll keep an eye out in case any of these 'Imps' show up. Best of luck, over and out."
"Good luck to you too, over and out." Church terminated the transmission, and turned to his waiting teammates.
"Let's go," he muttered. "The morgue isn't gonna clean up itself..."
Team Bravo
The morgue's reinforced double doors loomed before the members of Team Bravo. Church and Tucker took up positions on either side of the door.
Church sized up the condition of the door. A sturdy, steel chain was coiled around the handles of the doors, holding them firmly shut. In addition to that, it seemed that someone had hastily welded the chains to the door handles.
Sloppy, but effective… Church thought to himself.
The doors had not budged a single inch, meaning whatever horrors awaited them within had not broken out of the room, and thus simplifying their clean-up operation considerably. That, however, also meant that they would need some serious firepower to get them open.
"Nora… this is your time to shine, I guess…" Jaune smiled at the ginger, hammer-wielding girl. The others backed away from the door so as to not obstruct her.
Nora's eyes widened in enthusiasm, and her usual, overzealous grin appeared on her face as she adjusted her grip on Magnhild.
However, instead of launching herself straight at the door, she turned to her magenta-eyed partner and looked at him expectantly. Ren turned to her in mild confusion, but quickly understood what she was waiting for.
Ren sighed, but a rare smile found its way onto his features. "Nora? Smash."
As Ren uttered the 'magic' words, Nora launched herself at the door with a battle cry, and swung Magnhild in a wide arc over her head. She squeezed the trigger on the war hammer's handle as the hammer head made contact with the door, launching a dust grenade into the chains holding the double doors shut.
The impact of the hammer and the grenade detonating combined completely disintegrated the chain, and the reinforced doors flew open with a loud bang.
"Alright, let's move!" Church yelled, and Team Bravo surged into the morgue, weapons at the ready.
The sickly smell of death and decay was much stronger within the morgue than it was outside. If it was unpleasant outside, then it would be something along the lines of unbearable inside. But it was to be expected: It was a morgue, after all.
What was NOT expected, however, was the presence of what appeared to be more than a few hundred creatures of Grimm. Nightcrawlers, Adjutants, Imps, and several hitherto unidentified types clung to the 4 walls and ceiling of the morgue, forming a solid, teeming mass of black and white.
The growls and screams of the Grimm, which seemed to form the basis of communication for the creatures, formed an unholy cacophony of noise that deafened the members of Team Bravo.
It also meant that Team Bravo's explosive entrance into the room had gone pretty much unnoticed, and the members were able to take a moment to observe their surroundings.
Ren squinted at the centre of the seething mass. "Guys! I think they're protecting something!" he hollered over the deafening cries of the Grimm.
"I see it!" Church hollered in return. At the centre of the morgue stood what could only be described as a small 'mountain', composed of the same midnight black flesh that made up the Grimm around it. At regular intervals, it would expand and contract, mimicking the rhythmic pulsing of a heart. Black veins, pulsing at the same rhythm as the mountain that they branched out from, snaked out in various directions, spreading further upwards into the other parts of the hospital building.
"It appears to be a nerve centre of some kind! How unpleasant…" Pyrrha remarked, squirming in mild discomfort as she watched the black mass expand and contract at a constant pace.
"Whatever it is, it seems important!" Jaune yelled. "We need to take it out!"
His teammates nodded affirmatively. "Well, we're listening as best as we can!" Church yelled in reply. "What do you have in mind?"
"All members of Fire Team Gamma, create a distraction! Your weapons will be fine for dealing with the Grimm!" Jaune ordered, thinking quickly. "Team JNPR, we will deal with whatever they're trying to protect! Nora's grenades will come in handy if that thing is heavily armoured!"
Having received their orders, Team Bravo separated into two smaller groups.
Fire Team Gamma primed a mix of flash-bang, smoke and dust fragmentation grenades, cooked the grenades until their fuses were down to roughly two seconds, and hurled them into the mass of Grimm on the walls at strategic locations.
The cocktail of grenades detonated in a devastating and disorienting mixture of shrapnel, blinding light and smoke, shrouding the Grimm and Team Bravo in a choking cloud of dense smoke.
The Grimm were not exactly the brightest creatures to have ever walked Remnant. Following the explosions, they howled in agony and rage, before immediately taking offense at their neighbouring Grimm, and lunging at each other, intent on tearing their counterparts to pieces.
Team Bravo, who had not been expecting the Grimm to start tearing each other to pieces, saw the window of opportunity, and seized it.
"ALRIGHT, JNPR, MOVE, QUICKLY! TAKE THAT THING OUT!" Church hollered at the top of his lungs. "WE'LL COVER YOU!"
Team JNPR charged, yelling at the top of their lungs.
Ren was the first to reach the 'mountain', using his semblance to store up a large amount of kinetic energy as he was running, and leaped at it, Stormflower's blades angled to stab into the midnight black mass. As he made contact with the fleshy surface, he unleashed the stored energy, causing the 'mountain' to ripple with the sheer force of his attack. However, despite the apparently devastating attack, the 'mountain' showed no signs of damage.
Nora was the next to attack, slamming Magnhild into the pulsating mass, with similar results.
Jaune stopped in his tracks, sizing up the situation before him. Two of his teammates had unleashed attacks upon the 'mountain' that would have reduced lesser Grimm to nothing but bags of broken bones and flesh, and yet the damned thing continued to thump rhythmically as though nothing had ever happened. Okay, so brute force isn't going to work… he noted.
"JNPR! Fire your weapons at that thing! If brute force doesn't work, let's see how it fares against aura and dust attacks!"
Team JNPR retreated to a safe distance, and opened fire upon the 'mountain'. A mixture of aura-infused projectiles and dust grenades impacted the surface of the pulsing mass. Though most of the projectiles failed to make much of an impact on the 'mountain', they were dealing more damage than the melee attacks Nora and Ren had used earlier, with visible wounds appearing on the tough surface.
"We're doing it! Keep it up!" Jaune yelled as he watched his teammates continue to rain down weapons fire upon the 'mountain'.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook violently, causing Team JNPR to lose their balance and fall. Stumbling to get back his feet, Jaune looked up in the direction of Fire Team Gamma, and saw them stumbling and falling as well. Only Church and Tucker were still on their feet, firing wildly into the mass of Grimm that continued to tear into each other, and causing several bodies to fall.
A thunderous screech of pain and rage emanated from the 'mountain', followed by more tremors that threatened to make Jaune lose his balance again.
The Grimm, which up to the point in time, had been intent on tearing each other to pieces, stopped their fighting abruptly, and turned to face the direction that the screech had come from. They roared collectively in reply, almost matching the screech in its volume.
"WHAT ARE THEY DOING?!" Church yelled, barely audible over the collective roar.
With blinding speed, roughly a dozen Grimm launched themselves from the walls that they clung to, and landed on the 'mountain' in the centre of the room.
"I THINK THEY'RE TRYING TO SHIELD THAT THING!" Jaune yelled in reply, as the Grimm formed a crude barrier over the 'mountain' with their bodies.
"I don't think that's all to what they're doing… Look!" Ren got the attention of his teammates, as the collective roar of the Grimm died down.
The Grimm that had attached themselves to the 'organ' seemed to be merging into each other, their interlinked limbs and bodies melding together into a solid black mass. And even as Team Bravo looked on in horror, more and more of the creatures of darkness were launching themselves at it, joining the grotesque transformation process unfolding before them.
Soon, all the Grimm in the morgue had been assimilated into the now massive, midnight black 'mountain' that now filled most of the space in the relatively large space of the Evermore Hospital morgue. Besides a gentle pulsing and an occasional, aggressive throb, the black mass made absolutely no noise or movement.
"What the hell is that supposed to be?!" Tucker asked, lowering his shotgun and staring at the black mass in a mixture of awe and fear.
"Whatever it is… That many of those freaks combining together into a single monstrosity can't be good…" Church muttered, resting his finger on the trigger of his assault rifle, not willing to let his guard down.
As Church finished his sentence, a limb as thick as a tree trunk, and covered in bony white plates shot forth from the black mass and embedded itself into the floor beneath it with an earth-shaking crash.
"Why am I always right?!" Church groaned under his breath, as he braced himself for the fight that would soon come.
Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time, I will see you guys around!:)