"I got to admit, this place is very nice," Cinder says looking out from the window after spending a week in NLA.
"Quiet, but good," Emerald says.
"Think we can make this a base of ours?" Mercury asks.
"If he allows us or those turrets will shred us," Cinder explains.
"I would like just a robot housekeeper. I mean look at this place. Not a spec of dust," Emerald says.
"True. Saves us a label," Mercury says before humming. "Why would leave all this anyways…I mean those beasts are one thing but with all this technology, we would have been far better off," Mercury says wondering about their medical technology.
"Maybe…maybe they all had to move for a reason," Cinder says.
"So where are the grimm anyways right now?" Emerald asks.
"That's a good question," Cinder says looking outside the window.
"So what next Cinder?" Emerald asks.
Cinder sighs. "Play along. See what we can get from this. Maybe figure out this grimm mystery with them."
"You know, now that I think about it, the water purification problem must have been an issue with all those creatures around," Emerald says.
"Well, we are on a lake somewhat. Wonder what's the water like now?" Mercury wondered to himself.
"Well it has to be so…" Cinder was cut off by the sounds of cannon fire coming from one of the gates.
"I'm guessing the outside isn't a problem," Emerald says raising an eyebrow.
"Where do they get the ammo from?" Cinder asks.
"Ammo fabricator?" Mercury suggested.
"And all of that was automated for how long?" Cinder asks wondering.
"Hey," Ruby call knocking on their door.
"Yes?" Cinder calls back.
"We are going out all day to look around," Ruby says.
"Alright. Be out in a second," Cinder says looking to her team with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, this should be interesting," Mercury says.
"Yeah. Wonder what he got planned," Emerald says wondering about what to do here.
"Ok, this door is really being a pain," Alex says as he tries to get the door to the barracks open as Konata had gone to get the rest of the group.
'Can't believe we just asked every single girl out,' fiery says.
'You still going on about that. It has been a week,' calm says.
'Still…we kinda did it to calm Konata the fuck down,' fiery says.
'Amongst other reasons. Speaking of which, you think we will get someone in bed soon?' excited asks.
'Now with our four main girls…but those other two. Maybe. Perky breasts and fine ass will be much easier to handle,' stoic says.
'How about Konata or Alice?' excited asks.
'Konata is fixing things up. Alice…no idea. What is she doing?' calm asks.
'Konata is getting the others right now while we get this door,' cautious reminds as they were about ready to tear open the security door.
"And a damn nothing else until," Alex says groaning before reeling in and then pushes the door open wide and slams it into the door slot. "Finally."
"I knew I should have had you go get them instead of talking me into it," Konata says walking up in her regular body covering hoodie.
Alex smirks to her. "I was going to give you the freeze dried chips left behind. But I guess those will have to go and…" he starts grinning.
"You're lucky I like my chips," Konata grumbled, knowing she would have to fix this as well.
Alex smiles and gives a kiss to her. "Cutie. Don't worry. I won't deprive you of some of your chips."
"So why are you so adamant in getting in the barracks?" Konata asks, waiting for the others to get there.
Alex smiles. "Weapons and armor. Will need it for these lands."
"Oh, you want our stuff. Not just what we scavenged in the kingdoms, huh?" Konata asks.
"Bingo," Alex informs as they start coming into view.
"So what's this about?" Ruby asks as they walk up to them.
"Alex here wanted into the barracks and I think you are all ready for another bombshell," Konata informs.
"Another? What could be bigger?" Weiss asks raising an eyebrow.
"It's something about us," Alex says before entering.
Konata just smiles to them as she leads them inside to find everything dust covered. From the computers overlooking the big areas outside the window, mainly a view of the main tower. A large flat black table in the middle of the room with a red grid on it. And some cases that Alex was trying to open by prying open the latches on them. "So…welcome to the security office."
"Konata, summon the cleaners and maintenance robots," Alex requests.
"You got it," Konata says getting out a tablet from her hoodie pocket and starts fiddling with it.
"Where is that stupid light switch?" Alex asks searching for it.
Ruby shakes her head at how clueless Alex was being before flipping on the switch lighting up the room, showing five red letters on the wall. 'G. R. I. M. M.'
"Wait…grimm? Grimm is a security division?" Cinder asks frowning slightly.
"G. R. I. M. M. Ground Recon Independent Major Movement," Alex informs.
"I think it is time for some backstory. You see, Grimm are, or more appropriately, were a experimental unit of people that underwent a process that you weren't guaranteed to survive and for those that failed…well, you see the results from what you fought in the kingdoms. None of them are the original people who couldn't handle the process and those that did succeed, they also paid a price for their power. That is how the original me became all of us in here," Alex informs tapping his head.
"So…this whole time…?" Ruby starts.
"Moving on. They originally only took volunteers for the project, but then they started to use penal soldiers for it," Alex informs darkly.
"And I'm one of them," Konata says walking by still working on her tablet before hopping up onto the table as robots came in and started to clean as the table lit up. "Got this thing working."
"Yes. You were a volunteer. You meet one of penal soldiers who withstood the treatment. When not on duty, they were forced to wear the prison uniform instead of their armor," Alex explains.
"So that guy you killed…?" Yang asks curiously.
"Was a rampaging penal one. We have had to dispose of people like that in the past so it wasn't new to me," Alex says.
"How many of these were there?" Cinder asks.
"I don't know the exact numbers and before you ask, I will not share with you how one can become a grimm like me or Konata and the original process was wiped from the system long ago," Alex informs.
"Of course it is," Cinder says blandly as Emerald and Mercury frowns behind her.
"This was done deliberately as a bunch of idiots broke into a facility with what was needed and tried to do the process on themselves without knowing what they were doing. So they either died or became failures and then the real grimm was sent in to deal with them," Alex informs.
"I'm guessing everyone wasn't happy with that?" Weiss asks.
"No and greater restrictions were put on it and steps were taken so no one else could try that," Alex informs heading further into the barracks.
They all start to follow as Konata jumps onto his back again. "So…when did you become one?" Ruby asks.
"Well, that is not too important, but was before humanity left NLA for the protected zone," Alex says as they look around as the robots enter and start working.
"You really think there will be anything? I mean, they most likely took everything with them to the protected zone," Konata says.
"No matter how through the job, something always gets left behind, even if it is just a pistol," Alex says.
"Still…it could be in bad condition," Konata points out, trying to be lazy as she rests against him.
"Good thing I have a engineer," Alex says smirking.
Konata shakes her head. "Nope. Flattery will get you nowhere."
"But chips will get me everywhere," Alex quips.
Konata knocks his head with the tablet. "I hate you," she says bitterly.
"Take a look behind us," Alex instructs, knowing at least Ruby was giddy at the idea for find new weapons.
Everyone turns and Konata cheers and flies off of Alex and hugs a big gun that was boxy on one end and rounded on the many barrels that is hanging from a wall lined with weapons. "I'm in love!" she cheers as she nuzzles it.
"Oh, we are lucky. That is a Raygun there," Alex says.
Konata cheers more and love hearts start to pour out of her. "I want my first target!"
"Easy their Konata. Remember, maintance," Alex reminds, starting to open containers and rummage around,
"First target!" Konata yells as the love hearts fire at him and bounce off of him harmlessly.
"See, after you maintain it, we can find a good target for you to test it on." Alex says as it didn't even really heat up his skin.
Konata pouts cutely before suddenly ripping opening the box and performs a fast maintenance on it. "Die!" she yells firing again.
"Konata, we could have found something in there!" Alex yells looking at the destroyed trunk.
Konata sticks her tongue out at him and walks off with the overly large minigun.
"She always like that?" Ruby asks.
"Yes," Alice says as everyone started rummaging.
Alex sighs and shakes his head as he looks through another chest to try to find something before finding a handle that seems to be in a shape of an axe with a knife point at the end. "Huh. This might be something," he says before holding it out and flicks it, Lightning it up to a purplish glow while two light blade resonates with one large blade going around the axe side and then curves toward the top before pushing out to a tip with a straight edge in the middle and a bladed edge on the other side. While a smaller version of the light blade glowed brightly on the other side of the axe and followed the main blade to make a mirror image of it. "Konata, I found a photon saber!" Alex calls as the blade flickers a bit.
Konata's yells were heard as she rushes back crazily and grabs the saber and runs off in the other direction, yelling happily.
"I think that is all we will find in the armory here. Anyone have any questions?" Alex asks.
"How about the medical ward?" Mercury asks.
"Why are you…oh right. You have prosthetics for legs," Alex says.
"He has what?" Yang asks raising an eyebrow to him.
"His legs are made of metal, at least from the knee down," Alex repeats.
Cinder and Emerald frowns at him as the others stare at Mercury.
"If you recall, one of us stomped on one and broke it," Alex reminds.
"You still owe me for the maintenance charge," Mercury brings up.
"Seeing as you aimed to kill us we owe you nothing, but for a favor," Alex says looking to Cinder and Emerald.
Mercury frowns heavily at that. "What is that?"
"We haven't decided yet, but not from you. From those two," Alex informs.
"Excuse me?" Emerald asks angrily.
"You heard us. Will you owe us a favor in exchange for seeing what we can do?" Alex asks.
Emerald stayed angry at that. "What do you want exactly?" Cinder asks, trying to be calm.
"We haven't decided yet," Alex informs.
"Of course you haven't," Cinder says frowning again.
"We will tell you what. If it fails, you owe us nothing," Alex says.
Cinder raises an eyebrow. "Done."
"Konata, can you come here?" Alex calls.
"Yo!" Konata calls, leaning around a doorway.
"Let's head to the medical ward. The best one would probably be the blade barracks one seeing as the robots would have had a chance to do maintenance on it until ours," Alex says.
"Let's go. I'm bored," Konata says dead.
"So these pods they have the ability to regenerate someone's whole body?" Cinder asks looking over a few white cylinders.
"In theory. Mostly they were used to replace lost limbs in the line of duty. They take up a lot of power so were kept secret from the public because we couldn't power that many," Konata says pressing some buttons.
"They also have never been tested with that degree of injury. Basically, they take a sample of your DNA and scan you then use the information to regenerate your body," Alex adds.
"After this we will most likely have to refurbish the generator for these barracks. We will be running on auxiliary power in here till then," Konata informs as they looked to Mercury.
"I will say it again. We don't know if it can give you back your legs based on estimates since we will be installing your information on it now. Knowing that, do you still want to take the risk of using it, knowing something can go wrong?" Alex asks.
Mercury nods as he stares at the cylinder.
"Alright, I will get things ready," Konata says before gesturing him to a changing area. "In there should be some medical gowns. Change into that as for this we need the bare minimum clothing," Konata informs, reading the instructions.
Alex leans over as he watches and Mercury goes to get changed. "You sure we got enough power?" he whispers.
"Yes. Power is forty percent. More than needed," Konata informs as she works and one of the cylinder slides out of the wall and opens, releasing cool air from it.
Alex sighs as Mercury comes back in a hospital gown, showing his metal legs to Cinder and Emerald as the girls watches from a room above, overlooking the room full of cylinders on the far wall. "Alright. Get in, relax, and let's hope we can get you your legs back. This will basically be like getting a medical scan," Alex says as a little slot opened up. "Put your finger in there so it can get your blood sample," Alex says.
Mercury raises an eyebrow and puts a finger in and winces as it pricks him and he pulls it out to show a bloody finger. "Man. Anything else?"
"Just get in now and lay down," Konata instructs.
Mercury sighs as he gets into the cylinder and it closes as it slides into the wall again. "ETA?" Alex asks watching it a bit.
"Starting the scan. Take a seat up there. This could take some time," Konata says in the microphone of the console she was at.
Alex sighs and pats her back. "Good luck," he says before walking away.
"Stay right here," Konata instructs.
Alex rolls his eyes and sighs. "Fine. What do you need me for?"
"Keep me company," Konata instructs as they waited.
Alex smiles as he places a hand on her head and pets her. "Alright cutie."
Konata smiles as she watches it before, after ten minutes, an error message started to appear.
"What's going on?" Alex asks alarmed as everyone in the room started to get worried.
"It can't compile the new entry…it is switching to the last one who used it," Konata says.
"The hell…who?" Alex asks as he gets a look at the screen.
"Looking it up now," Konata says before a profile was brought up.
Alex blinks as Konata hums. "That's…almost like him. Maybe we can pass it off on looks, but the…extra parts…yeah. He's doomed," Alex says as they look at the picture of a woman with blonde hair and silver eyes, sporting a straight neck-length bob cut hairstyle with a large, centered bang. "At least he'll look good."
"Um…we have a problem." Konata says turning on the mic.
"And that is?" Cinder calls through their mic.
"The computer can't create a new file and loaded in the last one used and I can't stop it," Konata informs.
"Then shut it down! Cut the power!" Cinder yells.
"I can't. The system completely locks you out when it starts the process in case of accidents and we can't pull the power without possibly killing him," Konata informs.
Alex shakes his head as he looks to the progress screen. "How is this change going now?"
"I can't tell. The error message is blocking everything else out," Konata informs trying to do something.
Alex places a hand on her head. "Easy. You can do this."
"I can't see what is happening," Konata says starting to panic as the others made their way down there.
Alex starts to pet her. "Easy."
"Process complete," Konata suddenly read after half a hour after the process began and the lights dimmed and the cylinder came out of the wall.
Alex shakes his head as the cylinder opens and shows the same person from the picture frowning as she sits up. "Train hit me or something?"
"What happened to the prosthetics anyways?" Alex asks.
"They were surgically removed in the pod with lasers," Konata informs as all of them got a look at the new Mercury.
Mercury groans as she rubs her head and tries to get out. "Wha…what happened…I can feel my feet. I HAVE MY LEGS BACK!" she yells as her feet hit the ground, not noticing what was also different as Alex positioned Cinder in between him and Konata and himself so Mercury would have to go through her to get to them.
"Yes…among other things," Cinder says trying to resist burning them.
Mercury laughs as she takes a few test steps. "Man. It's great to be back!"
"Well, I wouldn't say back, but I am liking the new look," Cinder says smirking.
"New…?" Mercury asks confused before hearing her own voice. "Wha…?" she asks before looking to herself and blinks heavily confused. "What is this…?" she asks seeing her own chest and then her own voice again. "What is…?! What is going on?!"
"So this means I am the only male here," Alex says thinking aloud.
Mercury glares at him. "You did this!"
Alex once more puts Cinder in between himself and Mercury, making her growl as he wasn't allowing her to get a clear shot at him.
Cinder chuckles. "Don't fret…what's her attitude now?" Cinder asks, turning to her Alex.
"I think it is the same," Konata says getting off the controls.
Cinder grins. "Good. Then she'll be easier to handle."
"All you," Alex says.
Mercury growls. "I'm going to…!"
"Come on!" Cinder says cheerfully as she grabs her collar and drags Mercury off.
"So whose file was used?" Emerald asks.
"A now deceased captain of blade," Konata informs.
"She is the last one to use this?" Emerald asks as she looks to the screen and sees the file.
"Yeah. According to this, a battle with one of the bigger creatures caused her to lose part of her hand," Alex says.
Emerald hums before frowning to him. "It failed. Which means we don't owe you anything."
"Oh, by the way, we will talk about that favor later," Cinder calls.
Emerald frowns and blushes as Alex smirks to her. "I won't," she says before walking off.
"So because of this," Konata says before putting an 'out of order' sign on the console.
Alex chuckles. "You never cease to make me laugh Konata," he says picking her up and setting her on his back as he walks off.
"You also can't call him boytoy anymore," Yang says smirking as she pulled Weiss away as she wanted to take one of the machines with them.