"What is going on?" Dr. Polendina asked out of alarm. Xal couldn't blame him, the Doctor may not have been able to understand huragok sign language, but Xal was speaking English, or Vytalian, and all the questions pertaining to who where not spoken in a calm manner.
"It would seem there is a matter that requires my immediate attention." Xal had calmed himself down and went into professional mode. "I will be taking a few of these antigravity pods and this vehicle." He gestured towards a ghost. "I will send you schematics pertaining to everything here upon my return to Beacon."
"You can't just-" Xal gently placed his hand on the Doctor's shoulder, he would have picked the man up by his neck, but there would most definitely be severe reprimands if he fought his way out.
"I do not have time for negotiations human." Xal growled out. "I will be taking these items, and in exchange, you will receive schematics that will hasten your progress."
Xal looked around, there were multiple weapons aimed at him. All was still, all was silent. "I will need your answer now human."
Dr. Polendina was appropriately terrified. Having a giant alien warrior that close would do that to a person. "I-I don't have the authority do make that kind of deal."
Xal clacked his mandibles together and shook his head. "Then who does?"
"That would be me!" Xal turned his head to the loud, authoritative voice. The source of the voice was a reasonable tall man with graying hair dressed in a white uniform.
"General Ironwood! Sir!" Winter, along with ever other human in the room, gave a salute.
"As you were!" Everyone pointed their weapons back at Xal. "Now if you would be so kind as to stop scaring my staff." Xal took his hand off the Doctor's shoulder.
The General walked over to where all the action was taking place. "You must be Prof. Kalek." The man held out his hand for a shake, which Xal returned. "Headmaster Ozpin told me you could be aggressive, I guess I can see what he meant by that."
"So you can." Xal knew he was the one who was wasting time, and he hated it. But he would rather have what he wanted now rather than later, and he would probably have to negotiate the release of the lifeworker anyway. "Are you aware of the deal I am attempting to make, or must I repeat it?"
"I didn't catch it, so yes, please repeat." This General was about as formal as everyone else he had met. But that was good, less likely to lead to frustration.
"In exchange for the antigravity pods, the ghost, and the new huragok, I will give you all the schematics in his memory." Xal pointed back to his huragok.
"Why are you in such a hurry? We could have talked about all of this without anyone being put in danger."
Xal used his head to gesture towards Floats Aimlessly. "He knows more about this particular issue than I do."
The larger of the two engineers drifted over to General Ironwood. He set his translator to text mode and showed Ironwood the cause of their haste.
The General nodded. "Deal. Now go and do what you need to do."
(Line break)
Xal chased the two huragok to the elevator. He had to jump a few times in order to avoid knocking into anyone. He forced himself into the elevator alongside the engineers. Floats Aimlessly pressed the buttons in a specific pattern and the elevator shot downwards at speed he didn't think it was capable of.
When next the elevator door opened, Xal was met with a huge, cavernous room. It was not very well lit, and the size only made it seem even more gloomy. At the center of it all was a set of pods of some sort.
Xal moved closer to them, his hooves clacking on the floor. One pod was empty, but the other? It contained a girl. She had severe scarring on her face, she was actually one of the few people he had seen that didn't have unnaturally pale skin though. He was sure she would have been pretty by human standards.
He reached out to touch the glass on the pod's door. "Professor Kalek, I see you've found one of our campus's more... out of the way facilities."
Xal turned to face the Headmaster, the man had that warm, far off smile he always had when talking to others. Only it seemed more melancholy now. "What is this place?" Xal asked, unsure of how to feel about this room.
"This is Beacon's stasis facility, something of a secret hospital." Ozpin walked up to the girl's pod and gently placed his hand over it.
"And who is this woman?" Xal asked. "Who is important enough to warrant this much space?" After The Great Schism, Xal learned to question those he worked for.
Ozpin sighed. "I suppose there is no point attempting to hide any of this from you anymore, I think you are someone who prefers transparency after all." The man moved away to a more open spot.
"This is Amber, the current Fall Maiden." He said that like it meant something big.
"And that means?" Xal completely disarmed himself, he ruined the perfect, tense atmosphere that going about by asking a question that disturbed the flow of the conversation.
"Right, you didn't grow up hearing the stories of our world." He walked back over to where Xal was standing. "Tell me, do you believe in magic?"
Xal didn't know how to answer that, many old stories from back home spoke of many miraculous things, and the old Covenant spoke of The Rings and the gods as if they had magical properties. But after everything, did he still believe in magic? "No." Was all that could come to mind.
"Hm, and what if I told you that it was real." Ozpin leaned on his cane, his smile becoming wry rather than sad.
Xal pondered his answer, he hadn't considered the possibility in decades. "I would not be able to your word on faith for something like that."
Ozpin chuckled. "Unfortunately I have no way of proving it to you right now." Ozpin moved his hand in sweeping gesture towards Amber. "But she is one of four Maidens, one for each season. They have been imbued with magical power that allows them to do things that a normal huntsman can't hope to replicate."
"Let's say that I do believe that what you say is true, if she had all that power, why does she need the stasis pod." Xal knew the question could be misconstrued as cruelty, but he was far too interested in all of this to stop.
The Headmaster lost his smile immediately after that. He sighed again. "She was attacked. And some of her power was ripped from her soul, she's been like this ever since."
Xal bowed his and put a reassuring hand on Ozpin's shoulder. "Fear not Headmaster, for I happen to have a solution to your problem." He beckoned for Rises Slowly to come to him. "Mend the girl."
That was all that needed to be said. The lifeworker gently floated to the stasis pod, accompanying the smaller individual was Floats Aimlessly, who opened the pod. Rises Slowly immediately went to work, his tentacles splitting into thousands of tiny cilia and dipping into Ambers skin.
Ozpin moved forward to stop the rather disturbing display, but he was stopped by four fingered hand. "Let it do what it does and all will be well, I promise." That calmed the man down a bit.
"This could potentially take a while, I do not how traumatic having something ripped from your soul is, but it may take some time." Xal led Ozpin away from the pod for now.
"Are you sure that she will be fine." Ozpin asked, uncertain, but with a tinge of hope.
"Rises Slowly is a creature that can fix any biological ailment, so long as she is alive she can be... repaired." Xal had trouble finding a suitable word, he could have said healing, but that is not a word he would ever be able to associate with a huragok.
"But speaking of her present condition, why would someone go out of their way to seek out a fairytale? Why fight someone rumored to possess immense power?"
Ozpin looked into the air. "Let me tell you a story, a story of gods, monsters, and magic."
(Line break)
Xal sat in silence, digesting the information that was just imparted to him. The grimm had a master, with human servants. Why anyone would willingly work with the creature whose sole purpose is the destruction of your species was beyond him. And these academies were designed to protect magical relics.
The only thing he could think of was the lie these academies were perpetuating. His students, his children, were not here to fight monsters, they were here to be meat shields to protect some garbage in a vault! Multiple thoughts ran through his brain, the first was that he should kill Ozpin for his transgressions, but that would serve no purpose, it wouldn't even make him feel better.
"What would you have me do Headmaster?" Xal needed to put his mind on something else, no need to give into his rage. He wound up sounding very downtrodden.
"Why do you ask? You don't need any more burdens." Ozpin did not appear to be in the best emotional either.
"I ask because I am making a vow." Xal growled. "So long as I am here, they will not die for you!" Xal's mental state was deteriorating and fortifying at the same time. "So I ask again! What would you have me do."
Ozpin smiled again, Xal never realized just how easy it was to make such an expression sad. "Your reasons are as good as any I suppose." The Headmaster looked down and shook his head. "If you could look after Amber when she wakes up, that would help you keep your promise, as long as she lives, the vault does not matter."
"It shall be done, she will be safe so long as I draw breath." The moment was ended by a sharp inhale from behind them.
The Maiden was awake.
(Line break)
Yay, plot progression and heroic speeches! Don't forget to review and I will see you in the next installment!
