RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and Monty Oum.
Chapter 10:
SHIFTING WINDS
~ SDC Facility, Unknown Location ~
Weiss Schnee stepped off her private VTOL and scanned the immediate surroundings. It would not be the first time someone tried to kill her just as she got down from her ride. An attack though, was highly unlikely. The research facility she was in now was known only to a few and was equipped with state of the art security and surveillance, plus the landing pad was built in such a way as to prevent snipers from finding any suitable nests. Still, the habit she had acquired since childhood was now impossible to get rid of.
A soft thud and several whines behind Weiss signaled that her two guards had already deployed. From what appeared to be two rectangles, various shapes rearranged themselves until two vaguely humanoid machines formed. Completing their transformation, the droids each hefted auto-cannons that could fire both regular and explosive Dust rounds capable neutralizing all but the most armored Grimm or fanatical assassins. A pair of optical sensors flashed bright red and they assumed a ready stance. Not for the first time, Weiss rolled her eyes internally. The two droids were actually a "gift" from Ruby a few years ago after Weiss had made the mistake of leaving her alone near some leftover components from the AK-400 series. While her friend's sentiment was not lost to Weiss, the Schnee CEO made a mental note never to leave Ruby unattended in her compound again.
Weiss approached the lone person on the landing pad who awaited her arrival, Durandal, the Director of operations of the research facility. The man was past his fifties, with his hair greying at the edges and dressed smartly as befitting his position in the company. He greeted the blue eyed CEO with a small bow and Weiss gestured for him to lead the way.
"I trust your flight went well miss Schnee?" Durandal inquired as they walked the hallways.
There were several glass windows showcasing the interior of several laboratories where scientists, engineers and technicians worked on the next products to be released by the Schnee Dust Company. Ordinarily, the windows would be polarized to prevent casual observation but for the night they were left clear for the inspection conducted by Weiss. The two droids lumbered behind the pair, continually swiveling their heads as they searched for threats to their owner.
"That depends on what I will find here tonight Director," Weiss replied coolly, "A trip can become unpleasant towards the end if one were to learn that investments were not productive."
"You will not be disappointed then," Durandal said confidently, "What would you like to see first?"
"The one in the itinerary, of course." came the reply.
The small group walked for several minutes until they reached an elevator. Durandal opened the access panel with a keycard and the protective outer layers opened. Next he entered his biometric data and soon they were on their way once again to the more exotic experiments the facility housed.
"Here we are miss," Durandal said, "Laboratory E-67. Dr. Hilbert has told me that the device is already complete. He's even performed a few successful tries, though I must admit to not being present in any of them."
As they entered a small group of researchers turned to acknowledge them though, except for one, none left their stations. The man who approached them looked slightly younger than Durandal by a few years. He wore a pair of thin rimmed glasses, and a laboratory coat over his suit which looked like it was used more as a portable stationery storage rather than the first line of defense against accidental spills.
"This is Dr. Joachin Hilbert, the head researcher of this laboratory." Durandal introduced the man, "And this is obviously our CEO, Joachin." Durandal smiled.
"Of course, there's no missing it." Dr. Hilbert said cordially, "Good evening miss."
"Good evening," Weiss greeted back, "Durandal tells me this project is complete, which I suppose is true?"
"Well...the things is," Dr. Hilbert suddenly fidgeted, "Its a failure miss."
"Excuse me?" Weiss' tone was frosty as she raised a questioning eyebrow. The two droids' optic lens grew bright red as if sensing their owner's displeasure.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Durandal said, clearly alarmed, "You said it was finished Joachin! You even mentioned that you conducted tests!"
"Oh, yes. Perhaps I should clarify," Dr. Hilbert said, close to withering under Weiss' glare, "The device itself is complete, but the effects are dangerous to all living things. Except Grimm."
"As you know miss every living thing has Aura, no matter how small even in plants," Dr. Hilbert began to explain, "Whenever used, the being will naturally replenish that at a fixed rate depending on their type. The device we invented can drain the Aura from a creature and convert it into usable stored energy, even greater than the Energy type Dust the company discovered years ago!"
Dr. Hilbert seemed to be more confident now after explaining. It was known within the company that Weiss Schnee was a hard but fair individual. After advocating the research and application of Energy type Dust, even actively helping with input from experiences she gained as a Hunter, he was sure she would see the danger of the point he was going to make.
"Unfortunately, the process of extraction as of now is a one way trip," he continued, "Almost every creature we've tested it on died a short while after their Aura was extracted. The process is extremely difficult to stop, and even then the subjects remained unconscious for a while. I theorize even humans with their Aura unlocked will only last for an hour at most."
"And you tested this on people?" The CEO asked.
"No! No, of course not Ma'm!" Dr. Hilbert looked sick at the very idea, "The moral implications, not to mention the illegality-"
"Good." Weiss cut him off, "It won't do to have rumors of us abducting people for experiments."
Dr. Hilbert sighed with relief. He knew she would understand the dangers of the dev-
"Show me."
The doctor blinked owlishly.
"We...used up all of our test animals miss." He said shyly.
Weiss scanned the room and the other researchers who were listening in ducked their heads, as if she would choose one of them as test subject. The blue eyed woman's eyes fell on an unfortunate creature near the end of the room.
"Not all it seems," Weiss smiling dangerously, "Are you particularly attached to that hamster since you seem to have left it alone Dr. Hilbert?"
"You mean Hammy?" Dr. Hilbert asked as he looked back at the cage, "Oh, he's not a test animal miss, he's the laboratory's house pet."
"The rules didn't forbid it and I obtained permission from Director Durandal here." he added sheepishly, "After going through the usual checks of course."
"You named your pet hamster Hammy?" Weiss asked incredulously. Were she not facing the man she would have done a double take. That would have been embarrassing.
Durandal coughed.
"In addition to the security checks, I added the condition that they leave the naming of the device to us young miss." The elderly director whispered as he leaned in, "For fear of this..."
"Just as well." Weiss muttered under her breath, "Put him in doctor. We'll get you a new hamster."
Dr. Hilbert hesitated a bit but finally decided that avoiding the wrath of the CEO and the life of a rodent was worth a demonstration of the dangers of the invention. He nodded to another researcher who removed the hamster while Dr. Hilbert himself guided the officers to the control bank.
Several minutes later, the trio stood behind a viewing port that shielded the viewers from any unfortunate accidents that might occur with Dr. Hilbert explaining the workings of the device. The machine could be built to draw Aura from a wide area, though this would harm any unintended subjects. Instead, the laboratory discovered that by building a funnel of sorts, the area of effect could be limited to no more than a couple of inches.
Finally, the hamster was wheeled in and the researcher quickly left the booth. Dr. Hilbert tapped the correct sequence and the machine began to hum. A tiny robotic arm with something akin to a diamond tip lowered itself in the enclosure. The hamster immediately became agitated and began to claw on the windows of the enclosure. Other than this, however, there was no indication of anything amiss in the enclosure. After the minute the brown rodent slumped as if exhausted though it became apparent that it was all but asleep since its breathing stopped.
"Ironic isn't it?" Dr. Hilbert said as the device powered down, "A device that takes energy needs energy to start."
He turned find that the CEO's eyes were wide, perhaps finally recognizing the dangers of the device.
"Excellent. Give a copy of the plans to Durandal." She said, here eyes returning to normal, "Don't forget to give him the working prototype as well. Don't forget the manual and the specs."
The researcher was stunned. Didn't she just see what happened?!
"But Ma'm!" He protested, "We've found no way to make the device practicable! The process is-"
"Difficult to stop you said," Weiss cut him off, her voice frosty, "But not impossible. Did it ever occur to you that Hammy the hamster would have lived if such a failsafe were invented? I could think of a dozen ways this machine could be used such as Aura power packs for Hunters who could store their own energy before a mission. If not, the concept is good enough and could open the path to new areas of research. We could even tweak it to work on Grimm."
Her mechanical guards shifted threateningly behind Durandal who made sure to be out of the way of the machines should they suddenly rush forward.
Dr. Hilbert though still looked uncertain and he fidgeted in place.
"Dr. Hilbert," Weiss said in a more soothing voice, "I am not one of those businessmen in movies motivated by greed. Obviously, it would be bad if a large part of our customers suddenly died. During my years as a Hunter, I've realized that anything that can help survive another day is well worth pursuing. I'm not saying we release the device immediately to the consumers. What you have done is made a concept into a reality. The next stage will be to explore it uses. Red Dust certainly didn't seem practicable when it was first discovered."
"If you say so miss." He said hesitantly.
"Well, now that that's settled perhaps we should go see if the others have equally promising result then?" Durandal said, clearly relieved.
Throughout the evening Weiss was in a very good mood. During the demonstration she had held her breath, praying that the project would work. This division and the entire facility was built to slowly and covertly develop the machine after years of planning on their part. The other projects, while beneficial to society in general and to the company specifically, were all purposely exotic as to not raise suspicions but in the end it all came down to the concept of the device now completed.
And it paid off.
She had also convinced that somewhat sheltered researcher that such a dangerous device could be used by Hunters on the field. Safety measures? Hah! As long as the area of effect won't reach the control room it should be good enough. After all, when it would be used on the people she and the others had in mind they'd be doing them a favor...
~ Beacon Dining Hall ~
Yin Xiao Long had a lot to process based on what she learned over the past week. At least she wasn't hearing her voice in her head anymore. While her plan to gather information was admittedly a little bit on the amateur side, at least she struck gold that night. Now she had faces, a date and a location. Of the survivors that day, two were inaccessible at the moment, being in Atlas while another was the CEO of worldwide corporation and apparently a friend of the fourth survivor whom she managed to royally piss off. Interviews were definitely not an option at the table.
Which meant that the next clue she could viably follow was the events on Patch. The problem was, the island was giant scab on the horizon now and cordoned off to - well, everyone.
"One step at a time," The blonde thought, "Maybe I can start with some history books in the city or the school library."
This path at least had some prospects with midterms approaching and whatnot. Maybe history class did have some use after all. Still, upon reflection, at least she had something to go on which was a lot better than how she began.
Putting her plans at the back of her mind, Yin spied the last caramel pudding on the food counter. She loved sweets but the chef here at Beacon was a master at making desserts. The caramel pudding at Beacon was rare due to the balance the dessert's sweetness without sacrificing the treat's consistency. It also did not help that it looked damn good.
Unfortunately, the rest of her team was ahead, having arrived late due Aria wrangling them into going to the school fair after the exams. Not wanting to seem rude, she asked them if any were getting the dessert.
Nemo and Gaelle responded by shaking their heads while Aria whined about Yin gaining more weight if she did get the sweet dessert.
"Honestly, with all our physical training is there really anyway for any of us to gain any weight?" Yin thought, "Oh well, mine!"
"Thanks guys!" She said cheerily as she moved to obtain her prize, only to find it gone. Yin was shocked, didn't she look away only for a moment? She looked over at her team's trays, and then at the counter once again when the previous search yielded nothing.
"It's gone." Yin said, bewildered.
"Oh my god," a voice behind her said, equally surprised, "What's gone?"
"The-" Yin did a double take just as she was about to explain.
Standing in front of her was the green haired teen she saw in The Axis. Only this time, his hair was neatly combed and he now wore the Beacon uniform. He also didn't look the least bit drunk.
"Why are you dressed as a student?" Yin asked, completely unprepared for a second shock in such a short amount of time.
"Because I am one?" He replied cautiously, as if Yin had asked him a trick question.
"Oh hey, Dio!" Nemo said, moving in between them, "Wait, you two know each other?"
"No, we don't." Yin said through gritted teeth when she saw the dessert on his tray.
Despite the "accident" created by Dio that night which opened up a new lead on her search; the fact that she got into not one, but two fights meant that Professor Rose would have something on her if she ever stepped on her toes again. And here was the freaking witness right in front of her...
"What?!" Aria shrilled, "You mean you really did go on a -hmpfgft!"
Gaelle, ever the reasonable one clamped her hand on Aria's mouth before she could say what Yin thought Aria was going to say and unwittingly spread more rumors about her. It was bad enough that some people now thought she had some kind of vigilante streak when Aria talked about the incident at the warehouse.
"Uh, honestly I don't remember," Dio said, a bit embarrassed, "The drinks here in Vale are pretty strong. All the bartender told me was that my nose would need a lift before it could look normal if not for a blonde girl helping me out. Apparently I spilled a drink on some ass who had a temper."
"Dude what do you mean strong?" Nemo chuckled, "You get hammered after a single glass!"
"I do not!" Dio protested.
"Yin you saved someone?!" Aria gushed, breaking out of Gaelle's hold, "Tell me about it!" In the background Nemo and Dio continued to argue and make fun of each other.
"I really don't think it classified as 'saving' someone." Yin said, attempting to dissuade Aria which was fast becoming another habit between them.
"Who saved who?" Dio interrupted, "Oh...that was you?! Thanks, but uh I wouldn't mind hearing about it too since I was apparently knocked out."
"This way!" Aria said taking hold of Yin's arm possessively, threatening to spill the contents of their trays as she led them to their table. Secretly, Yin wondered if something the universe really did enjoy watching her get caught up in these shenanigans.
Author's Note:
Well, back to these short chapters, this one reminded me of a post-credits scene. The real difficulty of this chapter was that while it is important to the story I didn't know where to place it. In the end I decided to make it separate since the previous chapter was intended to end that way.
As mentioned before I'm bumping the rating down to T.
Also, I don't think I said this before but thanks for the reviews and the follows on this!
Till next time.