Thousands of tiny pieces of debris spewed into the snow. Glass was the ground. So many shards stuck up like this place was a death trap. Mysterious green and black patches of goo stained any glass and coated most of the snow.
From the smell, Blake cringed. "This is disgusting."
The foreign scents invading her nostrils. Her sense of smell was much more heightened than her teammates', so they didn't get a huge whiff of the various chemicals. They tasted the lingering smoke. Their noses weren't keen enough for the compounds.
"It looks gross," Yang said in disgust.
"What on Remnant happened?" Weiss asked, utterly astonished.
"Spread out," Ruby said, intending to find the answer. "We can cover more ground this way. Remember to be careful, don't touch anything sketchy. Especially that black substance. It could be Black Attraction. We don't want a repeat of that."
"Amen," the blonde said.
Outside, the wind howled. The sun was beginning to rise for a new day. The light barely touched the mountains on the horizon. It could be a nature painting.
It was more efficient if the team searched this mysterious facility first thing in the morning. They only had one more whole day- tomorrow- to get back to Beacon before classes started. They had to make progress today.
The white rose couple decided to search the perimeter of the broken dome. The haunting dome was about seven-thousand square feet in total, so they had a bunch of ground to cover and no time to waste.
For Ruby, it was hard not to touch everything she saw. She was naturally curious like her sister. She wanted to properly examine the mysterious green splotches in the snow. It looked gooey like slime. Instead, she refrained herself, telling it could be a dangerous substance, instead searched the random debris.
A few feet away, Weiss found several large footprints that clearly belonged to beasts. From the discovery, she called Ruby over.
"Grimm," Weiss pointed at the prints. "They're goliath footprints."
"Woah…" Ruby knew that kind of grimm could be that big, but seeing a footprint this close unsettled her. It was larger than a full-grown ursa. "You don't think it could be something else?"
Weiss knelt to get a better view. "No, this is definitely a goliath footprint."
"There have to be others."
"No doubt."
"Good job, my smart girlfriend," the leader praised, which elicited a blush. "Grimm probably caused this mess."
The facility was totally annihilated. It wasn't the work of one person or beast. Rather, several.
Weiss nodded in agreement. "I bet they were inside the facility and escaped."
Silver orbs widened when Ruby reached a daunting conclusion. "And then… the village…"
"Yeah…" Weiss breathed, saddened by the thought.
After the grimm escaped, they must've destroyed the nearest village. After being cooped up inside, they must've been hungry for blood.
"The poisonous griffon could've come from here," Ruby deduced.
"Possibly," Weiss admitted. "Maybe it was some sort of experiment?"
"Maybe," the leader reluctantly replied. "But who would want to experiment on grimm?"
"A scientist," Weiss said knowingly. "There are quite a few who do. However, I'm wondering what kind of experiments the grimm were subjected to and what the results were."
A calm breeze whizzed by.
"Maybe Black Attraction was just one of the results," the leader concluded, which earned a skeptical expression. "There could have been so many more."
For once, things were starting to make sense. "You're probably right."
Ruby hoped there were answers to all these questions. Answers her team would uncover. She turned around to stare at the dome. "Let's hope no grimm are in the building."
If something was in the building, Weiss bet they would've heard their teammates by now.
"They're fine."
The black and yellow partners ventured inside slowly. Gauntlets and katana were poised as they tiptoed onto the dark marble floor. Broken lights hung from the ceiling and dangled uselessly. A few sparks flew, any electricity struggling to surge.
Overall, the facility was dark but was illuminated by a strange green liquid inside dozens of glass huge cylinder containers. A few of these containers were broken, but some were spared in the wreckage.
"This is creepy," the blonde observed.
Blake had seen many creepy things in her life. This building was definitely one of them. None of the White Fang hideouts even compared to this place. The smell of chemicals is what haunted her the most.
"Yeah," Blake agreed with no doubt. "Want to take the left side while I take the right?"
"Sure."
With that, the partners separated. Yang was extra cautious since it was harder to see in this darkness. Her hands were up defensively like she was waiting for a jump scare. The only light that aided her was the mysterious green glow in those containers. They were lined up neatly and practically untouched.
If only it wasn't so dark, Yang thought. I bet Blakey's having no trouble seeing at all.
With that reassurance in mind, Yang continued her meticulous search and disappeared into the darkness.
Like a ninja, Blake scaled a container. To her surprise, the tops were exposed. The containers almost overflowed with green slime. She quickly let go and dropped to the floor. If she accidentally tipped that over- she didn't want to think about it.
"Find anything?" Blake asked the room.
Part of her wasn't expecting a reply since this place was so big. Luckily, the blonde heard her and called back.
"Nope! Don't jump on the containers, kitten. You almost gave me a heart attack."
The faunus resisted the urge to chuckle. "Right," she said in amusement.
With time, Blake and Yang gained more distance apart. Now that the sun was high in the sky, beams of light trickled into the dome. The part that had a large chunk provided some much-needed sunlight.
On the far wall, Yang noticed something. A doorknob. She would've missed that for sure if the sun didn't rise. The door looked like it was meant to blend with the wall and not able to be open. With urgency, she twisted the knob.
It's not locked?
That was unexpected, but she wasn't going to complain. Either way, she was going to get inside. The door creaked as she sauntered in.
It was untouched. Like someone had been cleaning and maintaining it for a while now. The green carpet was clear. The desk with glass on top was spotless. The novels on the bookshelf were stacked neatly next to each other.
What the…
Intrigued, Yang began her search. She started with the books. To her dismay, they were all about the anatomy of grimm. That screamed boredom and tediousness. After glancing through a few, she put them back in its rightful place.
Tired of reading, she approached the desk. Nothing was on it. There was an outlet close by. Someone probably had a computer hooked up before abandoning this place.
This keeps getting more bizarre, the blonde thought. Did someone take their computer and leave when it got attacked?
Determined to find answers, Yang opened the top drawer. Nothing. Only whiteness inside. The second was the same result. When she searched the third, she felt a tiny piece of paper in the very back.
With a thin gasp, Yang grabbed and unfolded it.
It's a list of names, the blonde observed. None of these are familiar…
Until her eyes landed on one name. The last one.
James Ironwood.
Huh. Why's he on this list? Is this a list of important people? But if they're so important why don't I know more of them?
Knowing this was a good clue, Yang slipped the paper into her pocket.
In total, the team searched the facility for six hours.
By the time they got back to the cabin, they were exhausted.
All four of them sat on the couch and ate their T.V. dinners. It wasn't the best meal, but it'd have to do. The meal was heated and warmed their cold, aching bodies.
To spoil her team, Yang had brought hot chocolate packets. Her partner said that was a waste of luggage space, but Yang begged to differ. She knew how cold they got and wanted them to be as comfortable as possible.
Soothingly, Ruby sipped on her hot chocolate. The mug was steaming. Her reaction made Yang think it was so worth it to bring it.
"So good…"
It looked like the leader was melting into the cushions.
"Glad to hear it, sis," the blonde grinned.
Weiss smiled from the sight. Her dolt was too cute sometimes. "That's all the sugar you get tonight."
"Okay, mom," Ruby replied with a smile.
Quirking a smile of her own, Weiss sipped on her own hot chocolate.
Blake leaned up after she chewed on some steaming green beans. "Let's recap."
"Good idea!" Ruby beamed.
The faunus simply drank her hot chocolate as she contemplated the day's events. "More than likely, grimm broke out of the building- or laboratory."
"Yeah," Ruby nodded. "Whoever was there was experimenting on grimm. At least, we're pretty sure that's the case."
Blake cringed from the mere thought of the smell. "The chemicals were overwhelming."
Yang pulled out the paper from her pocket. "What do we know about Ironwood?"
The three scratched their heads. Out of all people, Ironwood was on this list of seemingly random names. That was unexpected, to say the least.
When no one spoke, Weiss heavily sighed. Like she didn't want to chime in.
"My father is his main supplier."
"Ah, yeah!" Yang exclaimed from the epiphany. "You used to work under your dad, so I bet you know tons of stuff about the business."
"She is the heiress," Blake pointed out.
"Ex-heiress, actually," Weiss replied.
Yang leaned back as she wrote the name down on her phone. "Okie dokie. Douchebag Schnee."
Weiss simply rolled her eyes. Yang wasn't wrong.
After Ruby swallowed a few french fries, she spoke. "Ironwood is also on the council. He has two seats."
"True," the blonde replied, also writing that down. "But what about these other names? You guys sure you haven't heard of any of 'em?"
As the three ate their mashed potatoes, they examined the paper one more time.
Nothing.
"It's okay," Blake reassured them, knowing mysteries took time to solve. "We can look them up when we get back."
"Exactly," Ruby said.
Now full, Yang leaned back on the couch. "Ya know what? I think we did good."
"I think we did well, you oaf," Weiss corrected and sighed. "My father is a possible lead."
"Cheer up, Weissy!" Ruby encouraged as she hugged her arm. "He might not have anything to do with this, but he's pretty much all we have at the moment."
Fondly, Weiss hugged her.
"Yeah."
If Father really is part of this, he's continuing to bring shame to our family name…
Shadow Nightblade did the thought bubble. Yay! He can do things!
Stay dandy,
~Toto