Chapter Twelve: Dark Movements

"Damn, how did it all fail?"

Flame burst from her palms in aggravation as Cinder paced around the abandoned warehouse that was their meeting place. Their plan for destroying the communications network in Remnant was a success. Beacon Academy had fallen and, with it, the mysterious Ozpin had vanished from the fight – fled with his tail between his legs and dark blood dripping down his face. She had to admit, some of the moves he had used against her had been rather unorthodox but she supposed he had to contend with the mass of fireballs she was flinging towards him. The way he had shielded himself had come as a rude shock as well. It had only been mere moments after that power had been unlocked in her mental catalogue…and he was using it as though the power had been with him his entire life. Their fight had turned inexplicably comical after that as they sat in their spheres of light and bounced off each other like billiard balls. She knew she messed up by dropping her shield first, though. Her body still ached from the places he had jabbed his stick into her – a stick that, for once at least, wasn't a euphemism for another part of the male body.

"It shouldn't have failed." She seethed as fire licked at her heels. "Everything was going according to plan. The Academy was in chaos at seeing the monsters, the White Fang was dropping in for a few words and I finally managed to snuff the life of that brat. You, don't say anything about this."

"I wouldn't dare dream of it, darling." Auric chuckled from his seat. "Everything went about as perfect as it could go without those Riders poking their heads into the mix. Who could have guessed they would pop up now?"

He shook his head, mulling over the events of the past few hours. The attack on the Vytal Festival had been pulled off without a hitch and, as a bonus he hadn't even seen coming, one of the combatants had revealed herself to be a massively high-tech robot. Not even the most sophisticated androids of China could come close to the fluidity and speed in which she had moved. He would have given his right leg to see it up close and to get a feel for how Atlas had created something that was almost perfect. A former engineering technician in Smart Brain, he had been unceremoniously fired after he had told his superiors how one of the old bosses kept talking to him in his sleep. That had started his descent into depression, murder and, time travel…though he hadn't been expecting the last one to be added to the mix. However, he had been right about the old boss talking to him. He had done some catching up on the world events that had happened after his freezing and had laughed for quite some time at the 'Third Faiz Event' and had also felt a faint stirring of pride at the result of the Photon Blaster Belt being finally realised.

"What do we have now?" Cinder continued somewhat sarcastically. "Beacon is under our control but without the calming influence of an awakened Dragon Grimm, there's little to no chance of securing it as our base of operations. Adam and the White Fang are off our radar and books; we have no way to track their whereabouts. I destroyed Atlas' little doll but that painted a huge target on my back and made Ruby stronger. We're almost back to square one with this and I can't parade around the streets as I used to due to this power."

"Hey, don't you go forgetting about us." Emerald pointed to herself and Mercury. "Since we weren't really seen by the major players, we're still considered more or less neutral in their eyes. We can even claim plausible deniability to your turn to evil."

Roman shook his head at their naivety. As endearing as it was to watch, Emerald had an innocence in her eyes about the world; something that her upbringing as a 'master' thief hadn't knocked out of her. Mercury also had the same sort of innocence, though it was tempered with the knowledge of how ugly the world was and the operation that had given him his metallic legs. If anything, he envied that they could look upon the world in wonder and imagine that anything could be possible if they believed it would happen. Well, he had believed that once…and then his operation had been thwarted by a young kid in a black and red cloak. He thought he had seen everything when he had stolen that Altesian Paladin and had it literally fall apart around him but fighting the same red cloaked girl on top of an airship wasn't something he would forget in a hurry. Being saved by the new kid on the block wasn't one of his greatest moments ever but, he supposed, it wasn't the worst way it could have ended. Being eaten alive by a Griffon would have sucked big time.

"Yeah, that's a good idea and all but you're forgetting something rather glaring." He stated, hissing in annoyance as Neo applied rubbing alcohol to a scrape on his back. "The three of you were practically sharing a bed so if Cinder revealed herself as evil all along, there's a greater chance that the both of you are pretty much like her."

"So, we're back at square one then." Cinder's voice was flat. "We can't hide out here for much longer but we need a new plan of attack. Torchwick, I need you to do something for me."

He blinked at that but narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Why do I have the feeling you're going to ask me to do something either incredibly risky or incredibly stupid?"

"Hardly," she chuckled, "though it may be more of the former than the latter if it pans out."

Now he was intrigued. Everything she had asked of him so far had been incredibly stupid in theory but to do something incredibly risky…well, it was also incredibly idiotic to answer 'yes' to everything without having his head checked but, hey, it was late and he hadn't killed anything in a few hours. Waving Neo away, he wound a bandage around a scrape on his arm. Funny, he hadn't recalled getting scratched on that arm…

"I'm mostly all ready," he said, wincing as he pulled one of the bandages too tight. "Just tell me what you need."

"I need you to check your contacts and get more Dust." Flames burst from her fingers in response to her heightening emotions. "We need much more of it for the future and those trains earlier used up most of it."

Yes, more Dust would be useful in the long-term plans for Remnant. The Mistress would be pleased with them and would grant them a special place in her new world. Although…why did Roman look co amused?

"Uh, what?" He shook his head in amusement. "No it didn't. Those bombs only used a small fraction of the goods. The rest is still in storage underneath Mountain Glenn. Hopefully, it's still intact after that Dragon ripped through there."

Cinder blinked, not expecting that information. Glowing embers fell from her hair as she nervously ran a hand over her head and a thin whisper of smoke escaped from her nostrils. Thinking back to the details she had received on the train operation, she recalled that Roman hadn't told her how much of the stored Dust would be used for the bombs needed. She had thought that a lot was needed to crack the stone roof over the tracks but it seemed that a little went a very long way. So, if they didn't have to scour Remnant for more Dust…

"This changes things then," she chuckled, "for what happened in Beacon was only the beginning. We will need more of Auric's Grimm Monsters to throw at them one at a time until they are exhausted."

Auric rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Maybe it was his experiences under various knives and surgical tools that had left him in a bed for days on end with nothing more stimulating to watch than old recordings of Rider battles, but he didn't think falling into the old clichés was going to accomplish anything. Plus, he had yet to tell them of the issue he would have in a few weeks if she pressed him into that plan. Well, that and he wanted some breathing room to dig out that cache of information he knew the so-called professionals had implanted into his brain. Thanks to the cocktail of dangerous DNA strands floating around his body, he knew he would survive the rigorous poking and prodding he would need to do with the top of his head unscrewed. It wouldn't be pretty but, well, that was life. He also hoped none of the meals in the next few weeks would involve minced meat or bone marrow.

"That's not going to work." He stated flatly. "It's something that hasn't worked in the past and it sure as hell won't work now; not when there's fucking five Riders waltzing around."

Aware of everyone's eyes on him, he lay back on the boxes and shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun streaming down from the cracks in the roof. Here he was, several thousand years in the future, and they still used corrugated iron for warehouse rooves. It was amusing that some things literally never changed. He had seen the way the five Riders fought against the wave of Grimm in their ultimately futile struggle. Bonds like those didn't come around so often and the last time he had seen anything that strong were those damn School Idol groups from the early 21st century. Interestingly, those had died out around the year 2500 but their memory had continued strong enough in the general public for Muse Day to become the hit it had become. He should thank their memory because they had whispered such things to him of how his life would be filled with light. Wait, didn't he say that they had never spoken to him? The experiments had cured him of his insanity but he still couldn't be too sure what was real anymore. Lightly beating the back of his head against the wood, he spoke.

"That said; there is some merit to that idea." He ran his tongue over his teeth as he thought. "Kenzaki will be with them and that old granddad won't want to leave them unless his life is totally in danger. Good thing there's a Grimm Monster waiting in the wings that will scare him away from those brats sooner or later. There is a bit of a catch though."

"Really?" Mercury was intrigued. "I can't imagine someone as strong as you having a handicap."

"Yes, well," He rubbed the ragged edge of his scar uncomfortably, "it's not something I like to say but I'm running on limited resources. There are five Grimm Monsters still remaining of the first generation. I'm sure she's briefed you all on this but the first generation are strong fuckers and are only matched when up against an equally strong foe. Technically, I can create more Grimm Monsters after the five are used up but the bigwigs didn't really give me a set of instructions during my big sleep."

Technically, that was wrong but explaining to these people what he needed to do in order to retrieve that information would be a long and messy process. Stomachs would be violently emptied and their contents would splatter on the ground to add to the mustiness and damp smells of this long-abandoned structure. He wondered if there was any way he could find a screwdriver in this mystical world. A crowbar would be easier but regenerating his skullcap was so much easier if he had all the pieces and didn't lose one to the concealed drain in the corner of his cell! Bringing his aggravated breathing under control in, for him, record time, he ran his tongue over his teeth yet again.

"But that is possible, right?" Emerald arched an eyebrow. "You're not going to leave us high and dry because your reserves ran out and you can't make more creatures?"

"And leave this ragtag bunch of misfits?" He shook his head once. "Surely, you jest. If I cannot make more Grimm Monsters, I will just have to employ other means to gain the necessary psychological advantage over the Riders."

Running his tongue over his teeth for the third time, he twisted the muscle and finally succeeded in dislodging the popcorn kernel that was stuck between his teeth. The centuries-old morsel had rotted away considerably but what little was left was mildly tasty; though, it wasn't something he would try again in the future. Swallowing the piece of mush and plaque, he chuckled to himself as he made plans for the information retrieval.

"No offense but the way you can switch gears like that is really creepy." Torchwick barely suppressed a shudder. "Can't you, I don't know, give us a warning or something?"

He shook his head, rising from the rather uncomfortable boxes with a muted groan of exertion. Although his body had been enhanced by the kaijin DNA, he was still susceptible to all-too-human trivialities like numb arms and tired limbs. And he would experience excruciating pain upon regeneration that would make every single implantation surgery he had had seem like a light tickle in comparison. It was a wonder he was even relatively sane at all…if you could call the somewhat detached and calm demeanour he had most of the time 'sane'. Still, the voices that had compelled him to kill had subsided so that was a bonus.

"It helps keep my enemies off guard." He said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt your planning with my little bit of impotence. I do have some ideas cooking up for whenever I see this 'Dust' substance though."

Cinder nodded. Too much time had been wasted in figuring out the limitations of Auric and the strength he possessed and she would not wait for another moment longer. Things had been set into motion that needed a steady momentum, lest everything else topple like dominoes. She could feel the full power of the Fall Maiden swirling around inside her and could sometimes see flashes of things at the edges of her vision; however, they would vanish into the wind whenever she glanced at them. Whispers in the wind promised great power or great ruin and she could have sworn she could sense ghostly hands guiding her powers, somewhat quenching the unimaginable hunger she had felt before. It would be interesting to eat at a regular hour for the first time in ages but she had no appetite after seeing Ozpin vanish in a flash of light.

"Then you will just need to conserve what resources you have." Her tone was final. "The larger and more exotic Grimm will be fine for pseudo-monsters, though they will still need to be controlled to some degree. We can spread them out before the final monster awakens."

Auric nodded, his mind flashing to the strange reports that had been floating around before he had been unceremoniously stuffed into the freezer the first time. They involved a very special kind of creature that seemed to terrify everyone that looked at it for even a second. Given the expanse of time between the reports and now, he doubted they would be in the same place but he could use other means to track their descendants. Privately, he hoped there were more than three as he formulated a plan that would take out the annoying human helpers. Of course, that plan was hinging on those creatures but he supposed he could control an Alpha Death Stalker or two if they couldn't be found.

"Emerald and Mercury," they looked over to Cinder in mild surprise, "the two of you will go to Mountain Glenn and search through the underground city to find the Dust. Report to Auric via those old Scrolls when you find them. Roman, when you receive word, hoard up the supplies of Dust and meet us at these co-ordinates."

The crime lord's eyes roved over the numbers on the sheet and he mentally tried to place them on a map of Vale. No, this couldn't be where his mind was placing it. It had to be a mistake or Cinder was somehow playing for the other side…and not in the way he had first thought.

"Um," he scratched the side of his head as he looked at the slip of paper, "I know I'm not the best at geography but aren't these…"

As Cinder nodded, he felt his stomach drop to the ground. Mercury and Emerald had matching smirks of mirth and barely disguised cruelty on their faces and Auric was shaking his head slowly and muttering under his breath about 'eyeless creatures'. Neo was looking just as confused and apprehensive as he was feeling but he knew that she would be able to get him out of any tight spots they might encounter. Of course, he had half a mind to try to get into her tight spots but those were thoughts best entertained when he was in a secure situation. Well, anything was better than being locked up in a cell for the better part of several months. Nervously rubbing the back of his neck, he looked up at the woman and the flaming aura she projected behind her.

"It's the only place that has a central view of everything in Remnant and we can move around mostly undetected." She chuckled behind her hand as sparks danced in her eyes.

"After all, who would expect that we'd be in the Central Surveillance Network HQ?"

TBC…