Silence reigned among Ruby's group during their flight in the Skyranger. Not even Penny, with her usually bubbly and talkative personality felt like saying anything as the ship bolted toward its target in England. Ruby looked around at all of the operatives accompanying her band of huntresses, and counted five extra beyond Penny. She knew that the Skyranger received modifications to allow for an extended crew capacity. She even enjoyed its benefits herself on a few missions in the past. However, she still couldn't help but feel impressed that XCOM could fit three MECs into the cargo hold without making the space feel cramped for the other seven operatives.
Yang and Blake performed admirably in their goal to train up the MEC troopers in their one-week 'advanced piloting' crash course. While only two of the six operatives could earn the right to pilot the tricked out suits that Blake and Yang used, the other four definitely finished the week as greatly improved pilots. Therefore, Bradford split the group up evenly and assigned three MECs to each mission team. Ruby's group received Yang's MEC (piloted by an Archer-spec trooper), along with Yang's two other students: a Guardian, and a Shogun. The logic stood that, while Ruby's team proved time and again that they excelled at obliterating foes, the huntresses possessed little in the way of sturdy defenses and cover destruction. While impressive evasive skills and Ember Celica's explosive rounds certainly worked to their advantage, past missions demonstrated that attrition didn't particularly suit RWBY's style. And according to Bradford, alien base assaults were the epitome of attrition. So three sturdy MECs, Zhang, and a Medic rounded out Ruby's team.
"How are you guys doing over there, Ruby? Red Team all ship-shape?" Jaune's voice, boosted by the Skyranger's equipment, called over the comm channel.
"It's pretty quiet in here." Ruby answered, "What's the situation for Blue Team?"
"I gotta say, the new Skyranger is a bit rough around the edges. I'm guessing the construction crews didn't really have time to make the seats comfortable, but oh well. Nora's trying to list all the different ways one can make a breakfast out of pancakes to pass the time, and I kinda checked out at 'pancake gumbo.' Seriously… pancake soup?"
Ruby laughed, "Well, with how much syrup she puts on her pancakes, it might as well be soup. How's everyone else?"
"Pretty normal. Pyrrha's doing her thing where she scrutinizes Miló for any nicks or other imperfections, though."
A muffled and indignant, 'No I'm not!' reached Ruby's ear, followed by the inevitable grunt from Jaune as Pyrrha punched him in the shoulder.
"But yeah… our MEC crew is itching to fight. The lucky pilot sitting in Blake's rig is really pumped for all the jetboot acrobatics the suit's capable of."
"Well, hopefully she doesn't go overboard and get herself killed by trying to be fancy. I know Gizmo is van Doorn's Pathfinder for a reason, but Blake got away with all the fancy footwork because she could project her aura to reinforce the armor and protect it from damage."
"Hopefully they went over that during the crash course. Anyway, we're about ten minutes out from our drop zone, so I should probably get back to running through the pre-combat checklist. Catch you later, Captain Rose."
Ruby smiled at the title. Her promotion came as a surprise to Ruby, but it made sense when Bradford pointed out how many operations she had under her belt since the promotion to Lieutenant. A lot of hooting and hollering ensued during the brief ceremony following Bradford's announcement, which Ruby took to mean that everyone else wholeheartedly backed the decision to give her Captaincy.
"I should probably do the same, now that you mention it. Stay safe out there, Lieutenant Arc."
After Van Doorn's stint with Jaune's team in St. Louis, he put forth the motion that the leader of JNPR also be made an officer. He argued that Ruby's promotion made the decision even easier, as the chain of command within Strike Eight would still be clear. Jaune, predictably, tried to pass off the honor to Pyrrha, but she (just as predictably) refused. Ruby knew he would make a good officer, since he already proved himself a good leader for JNPR. Hopefully, the promotion would help him believe in his own leadership the way his team already did.
Ruby checked her chronometer before standing up at the back of the cargo hold to address the rest of her team, "Alright, we've still got fifteen minutes before we reach the drop zone. Is everyone finished with their gear check?"
A murmur of assent greeted her question, and Ruby flashed a smile before continuing, "Great. I don't know if you're aware, but Central Officer Bradford will not be directly handling our operation. As there are two base assaults running simultaneously, he has delegated the duties of the intelligence officer to Major Durand."
"Happy to be of service, Captain!" Annette's voice chimed in over the Skyranger's PA, "Field Commander van Doorn will be handling Blue Team's assault on the Nigerian base while I act as Red Team's point of contact, and the two of us will relay the overall status of each operation to Bradford. How are the new mods, Actual?"
Ruby closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on Yang. Within moments she saw herself, a thin psionic tether flowing out from her head to…
"Whoa, whoa! Warn me when you're gonna do that, Rubes!" Yang complained.
"Well, I can confirm that at least one works." Ruby responded to Annette, breaking the clairvoyance link she made with her sister.
"Excellent! I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty sure the new abilities we unlocked together will help deliver the best ass-whooping the aliens have ever seen. Keep me posted on your status during the operation, Captain. I'll be monitoring your progress from Mission Control. Durand out."
Almost as soon as Annette closed her channel, the Skyranger's pilot opened up his own, "Good thing you guys are always five steps ahead on your checklists, because it seems we had a tailwind on the way over here. We're about a minute out from the AO, so get ready to hustle."
"You heard the man." Ruby said to her team, "So let's gear up and get ready to bust some heads. Or perforate them. I'm not picky on how you go about it."
Jaune made sure he was the first one down the ropes when his team used their Skeleton Key to gain entry into the alien base. As Strike Eight's newly appointed Lieutenant and the squad leader for this mission, he wanted to make a good impression on his soldiers. While he readied Crocea Mors for battle, the rest of JNPR dropped in behind him, followed by the other three biological soldiers and the accompanying MECs.
The presence of Captain Beagle, while a source of derision for most operatives on account of his 'curse,' secretly provided a source of comfort for Jaune. Not only had the two worked together already, but Jaune knew that the bad mojo people seemed to associate Beagle with was entirely false. The Captain knew his stuff, no doubt about it. More than that, he believed in Jaune's abilities, telling the hunter as much on more than one occasion during the past week. He mentioned over beers in the lounge that, if Ruby ever needed a warm body to fill out Strike Eight for an op, he'd be happy to volunteer. When Bradford suggested the Captain for the Nigerian op, Jaune didn't even need to think twice about it. Of course, Jaune believed that Beagle would be the one assuming command at the time, as Bradford waited until later to inform the hunter of his appointment to Lieutenant.
MacAuley and Ortega rounded out the biologicals, also chosen because Jaune trusted their abilities from first-hand experience, especially MacAuley after the previous week's events. A Jaeger (Vulcan) and a Valkyrie (D.O.A.) accompanied the Pathfinder occupying Blake's suit. As Bradford noted, the strengths and weaknesses of Jaune's team of hunters were flipped when compared to Ruby's. Thanks to Jaune's defensive nature, Pyrrha's skirmishing style of combat, and Nora's general fortitude, a battle of attrition suited JNPR just fine (Bradford reminded Jaune that this was the reason the Central Officer always assigned him to landed/crashed UFOs with Pyrrha). If a high-priority target that needed to die immediately presented itself, Bradford expressed concern that it would inflict no small amount of damage before Jaune's team put it down. He wasn't worried about the safety of JNPR, but rather that of his non-superhuman operatives. As a result, he requested that Jaune consider squad mates that specialized in outputting high volumes of damage to complement his team.
When the last MEC landed with a thud at the rear of the squad, Jaune got to work, "Four, you're on point. Vahlen wants some field data on how well the modified Shadow Armor works, so make sure you put it through it's paces."
Ren activate the ghost protocol on his armor before reappearing a moment later, "We've already confirmed that it's able to draw upon Auric sources in the lab tests. Here's hoping the field test works just as well."
"The rest of us will follow behind with our Pathfinder on point. If Four bumps into anything, I want Eight to get fancy and find a good flanking position to support the rest of us. Ten will accompany you to help bring superior firepower."
The Pathfinder and the Valkyrie shared a brief fistbump to confirm they understood Jaune's instructions.
"The rest of us will proceed normally. With any luck, Four's stealth will be our ace that lets us get the drop on every alien squad we encounter. Do this right, and we'll be out of here in time for happy hour. Let's move."
Ren vanished once more and Jaune immediately lost track of his friend. No footfalls, no discernible visual distortion… he reminded himself that this is why Ren was the de facto Scout for his team. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Nora followed closely behind Gizmo while the rest of the team fell in line behind the hunters. As they progressed, Jaune glanced at Nora and briefly examined all the armor modifications Shen designed for her.
While the Chief Engineer did his best to keep the additional armor as light as possible for all the Remnant operatives, only Jaune and Pyrrha managed to come out with only minor modifications thanks to their usual gear already offering protection. Agile fighters like Ruby and Ren were given minimal 'upgrades' so as to avoid hampering their mobility. For Nora, Jaune recommended that Shen design a more substantial overhaul. Not only did she have the impressive strength to handle heavier armor, but Jaune felt that Nora's combat style lent itself well for a 'tankier' design philosophy. She didn't rely on speed so much as raw power, and so armor trending towards the Titan end of the XCOM spectrum could provide her with motor support as well as let her soak hits as she closed to engage with dangerous targets.
'Hits like those from a Sectopod.' Jaune thought to himself. He had to admit, Shen had quite an impressive artistic flair. While the armor worn by most operatives favored function over form, Shen went above and beyond in an effort to preserve the styles and themes present in the outfits worn by each of his friends. Nora's protection, while certainly bulkier than her usual corset and skirt combo, still managed maintained a sense of minimalism in non-critical areas of the body. It wouldn't surprise Jaune if his friends decided to adopt Shen's gifts as permanent additions to their equipment even after they returned to Remnant.
Jaune's comm clicked, pulling him out of his thoughts and back to the mission at hand, "What's your status, Ren?"
"First patrol is up ahead, and it's a big one. Mix of Mechtoids, Mutons, and even a pair of Cyberdiscs."
"Well, I guess we knew this wouldn't be easy. I think everyone knows the drill: Dust rounds for the Mutons and plasma ammunition for the armored targets. Gizmo, go find a good vantage point so that D.O.A. can join you. Marksmen should focus down the Mutons first. Hammertime, prep the mechanicals with Chem while our Engineer throws out some smoke to keep us covered."
Jaune closed his eyes and tapped into the nervous feeling in his gut. Rather than try and suppress the butterflies, he let the fear and anxiety flow through him and make his neck hairs stand on end. He opened his eyes, saw the silvery web of his soul's armor flow across his sword, shield, and chest, and felt the surge of energy that came with it.
"Let's go kill us some aliens."
With a crack, Ruby fired her rifle and the stealthed Seeker dropped to the floor amid a shower of sparks. The little bugger and its friends tried to use the chaos of the firefight to fade into obscurity and pick off exposed members of Ruby's team. Unfortunately for them, another one of the little perks Annette unlocked for Ruby gave her the ability to see more than the basic visible spectrum of color. The heat emissions from their Elerium generators made it all too easy for Ruby to find and snipe them one by one.
The rest of the team's first engagement seemed to progress just as smoothly. The slow and ponderous Berserkers, while extremely deadly in melee, continually failed to land a single blow on the agile shadow of Blake. A little slice here, a deft cut there, and Yang would jump in to land the killing blow before backing off to let Blake continue wearing down the others. Zhang and the squad's Guardian, 'Freya,' rushed the Muton Elites attempting to provide fire support for their Berserker allies, forcing the aliens' attention on the more immediate threat and away from Blake and Yang.
Weiss worked in tandem with the Shogun, 'Clank,' to take down the Heavy Floaters trying to flank the squad while Penny laid down a withering rain of suppressive fire to keep them from advancing. Ruby silently admitted that fighting four different pods simultaneously was less than ideal, but she reasoned that things could have gone worse. She turned her attentions to the Heavies, switching her ammo to the modified gauss rounds Shen developed for the mission. She targeted the faceplate of one alien and pulled the trigger. Ruby felt Crescent Rose buck as the coils in the barrel ejected the bullet, and she saw the small hole erupt on the Heavy Floater's armor as the round buried itself within the alien's flesh. Ruby had aimed for the Floater's head, and sighed when she saw that the slightly different dynamics of the bullet caused it to strike the target's grotesque torso instead. Nevertheless, a muted flash and explosion marked the Elerium Dust's detonation seconds later, and the alien roared as the left half of its chest liquefied from the ensuing explosion.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zhang get knocked back by one of the Elites. While the Colonel displayed impressive degree of strength, the raw biological muscle mass of the Muton race still had an advantage even against his Titan power armor.
"Five! Help Chilong take down those Elites!"
"I'm on it!" The airborne Penny shifted her Superheavy Plasma cannon into its lance form before diving at breakneck speed towards the Muton group. Her lance spun up and glowed white hot before skewering the foremost Muton. The extreme heat and friction induced by the lance literally tore the alien apart from the inside, and it screamed with pain before finally succumbing to the wounds. Zhang seized the opportunity to launch himself forward, hammer in hand at a second Elite who watched in shock as Penny butchered its brother. The Colonel threw his whole weight into the swing, and cleanly knocked the alien off its feet. The pilot of Yang's MEC moved in to assist with the Muton scuffle and readied his Kinetic Strike Module. The elerium boosters flared into life, and the pilot brought the KSM crashing down on the stunned Muton as a blast from the welded Reflex Cannon punctuated the kill.
"Nice one, Talos!" Yang called out, pleased to see her protege living up to the honor of the Devastator suit.
The latest kills put XCOM at a clear advantage in the skirmish, and it took Ruby's team less than a minute to completely eradicate the opposition. After the last alien fell, Ruby ordered her squadmates to regroup, catch their breath, and run an equipment check before moving out. While Ruby examined Crescent Rose for any out-of-place components, Penny floated over to keep her company.
"We did a good job with those guys." The hovering robot chirped.
"We certainly did." Ruby agreed, "How are you holding up? Shen's latest upgrades working okay?"
"Yes!" Penny answered, "The doctor's idea to deploy a blast shield when I shift to my lance mode is very helpful in keeping my hardware safe. I look forward to testing the new venom rounds when we encounter the Grimm!"
"If we encounter the Grimm." Ruby corrected, "But that's good to hear. Now, how are you holding up?"
Penny paused, confused by the question, "I'm not quite sure what you mean, Ruby."
The Captain sighed, "When Blake lost her limbs and found herself forced to fight inside a MEC, she had trouble adapting to the change on an emotional level. I know you volunteered to come and help us, but it can't be easy leaving your old body behind and finding yourself forced to fight inside a SHIV."
"Oh." Penny said, trying to find an answer for her friend, "Well, I do miss my Aura, but I understand my father's need to keep the real Penny safe. There's no safer body for her than the one he designed with mister Ironwood. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the luxury of making a second one for me."
Ruby's eyes jerked up at Penny's answer, "Wait… what do you mean the 'real' Penny? You're one and the same, aren't you?"
"Well, I'm a copy." Penny explained, "I have all of her data files, yes, but she was the one that did everything I have stored in my memory. I'm simply a proxy, a means to an end that Ironwood used to satisfy a favor called in by your headmaster. When we get back, my experiences here will be re-integrated with the real one, and I will cease to exist."
"Penny, stop." Ruby said, mild irritation slowly building in her voice, "You are just as much Penny as the one on Remnant. What's more, you are here, ready and willing to help your friends in their time of need. There is no 'real' or 'fake' Penny here. You simply used your unique nature to find a way to help your friends by splitting yourself and keeping a part of you safe with your father. I'm sure that the other Penny, if given the choice, would be right here instead of you. You are both interchangeable, Penny: neither is superior to the other."
Penny remained silent for a few seconds before answering, "I… didn't think of it that way. I don't know if I agree with you, but I will devote some time to thinking about what you've said." Penny propelled herself into the air and performed a flip, a small trick she used as a means to wordlessly convey happiness, "You are a good friend, Ruby. Thank you."
Ruby heard Blake on her commlink, "Actual, this is Three. We have… a situation that you might want to investigate."
"Just a sec, Three." Ruby said, concentrating on her friend. In a moment, she could see everything Blake could through the eyes of her teammate. And what she saw definitely took her by surprise.
"Is… that a Cyberdisc?"
"It is."
Ruby 'stared' at the sparking-yet-intact machine sitting in its compact form before Blake, "I don't remember any 'discs during our firefight."
"That's because there weren't any. I moved up ahead a bit, and I think I came across their repair bay or something. All the equipment here looks automated, but it probably had its power diverted as soon as we made first contact."
"Understood, Three. I'm on my way. Everyone else, as you were, but be ready to move at a moment's notice." Ruby said, taking off with Penny towards Blake and the squad's latest problem.
The duo arrived to see Blake still standing over the Cyberdisc resting in its mechanical cradle. Sure enough, the room looked like a mechanical repair bay to Ruby. Multiple cradles similar to the one occupied by the Cyberdisc lined one wall of the room, each equipped with an array of mechanical arms and attachments used to make repairs, upgrades, and other modifications to the alien's cadre of robotic soldiers. This one appeared to suffer from the classic problem of someone not paying attention to the 'please do not turn off the power during system upgrades' warning message.
Blake turned to Ruby, "I can just destroy it if you want."
"I know, but what if we could bring it back to the base? All Vahlen's ever had to work with are wrecks, and I'm sure she could learn a thing or two from an intact specimen." Ruby pointed out.
"… Unless it comes back online in the lab and kills Vahlen before security can take it down. Or it has some hidden sensing equipment that can relay information back to the aliens about our base before we're able to remove it. Or-"
"Or I can try talking to it."
Ruby and Blake stared at Penny before Ruby asked the obvious question, "Umm… how?"
"Oh, Dr. Vahlen gave me this really neat coupling device." A small plate on Penny's SHIV slid open and a fine connector arm extended through the aperture, "I just need to get an exposed section of the wiring, and I can start sending and receiving signals from the Cyberdisc's logic unit."
"This is really weird…" Ruby muttered before keying her mic, "Major? Can you confirm this?"
"I just did. Bradford says he was made aware of Vahlen's side project for Penny about three days ago."
Ruby sighed, "Alright, alright. Let's see if we can crack this thing open-"
"All done!" Penny declared. Ruby whipped her head around to see a small hole cut into the Cyberdisc's shell, still red-hot from the plasma torch that Vahlen apparently gave to Penny along with the coupling device.
"Beginning signal transfer."
Ruby turned to Blake, "Hey, I have no idea how long this will take. Do you want to scout ahead while I watch Penny do her thing?"
Blake nodded before literally vanishing into thin air and moving ahead. Ruby turned back to Penny, "If something goes wrong, what do you need me to do?"
"Oh, I think breaking the connection should be sufficient. The arm isn't particularly sturdy, so you can probably do it with your hands. But I'm already getting through! My initial diagnostic is about 80 percent complete. The cradle's power failure seemed to put the Cyberdisc in a sort of stasis. I'm carefully booting up its core systems while keeping the hardware bridges offline."
"Alright…" Ruby said, sighing once more, "Listen up, team. Penny's working on a little gift for Vahlen. I need the rest of you to move up to my position while Three checks ahead for more contacts."
"I have made contact with the Cyberdisc's logic functions!" Penny announced, "I am asking what his name is."
"His? Penny, what-?"
"He says we can call him Gidjit, and is asking for us to state our purpose in reviving him."
"Uhh… why don't you handle that, Penny? You seem to know what you're doing."
"Very well! I will continue to persuade Gidjit that we have good intentions."
Blake's voice crackled into Ruby's ear, "Actual, I've got eyes on another group of contacts. No sign of Grimm, but there's more heavy alien activity. Oddly enough, a lot of the contacts are Sectoids. Not Commanders… just your run-of-the-mill little gray men. They've got armor, though, which is a little cute."
"Just a sec, Three." Ruby said, concentrating on her friend. In moment, she could see everything Blake did through the eyes of her stealthy teammate. Indeed, Ruby counted many sectoids in the scene before her. She also saw several Thin Men operating strange consoles and several Mutons standing guard. The Sectoids didn't seem to be doing anything other than standing around and looking… scared?
"Strange. Any idea what those consoles are? I've never seen any aliens at the computers during our missions, so I wonder what's so special about these."
"No idea." Blake answered, slowly panning her eyes around for Ruby's benefit, "But there's a lot of hardware and holding that seems to be hooked up to those consoles."
"Gidjit has decided that he believes us to be friendly! He is glad I woke him up."
"Hardware that we've never seen before, either." Ruby noted, "I watched a couple of vids on the previous base assaults, and I don't recognize this tech. Tanks look empty, too. I wonder what they're supposed to be filled with?"
"Well, there's all that lovely biomass flowing in pipes beneath the base's layout, no?" the Medic, Fonseca, suggested.
Yang made a slight gagging noise, "Yeah, I was happier before you reminded me about the existence of those tubes."
"The power failure has severely damaged several of Gidjits critical functions. I am able to communicate with his processor unit, but he is incapable of operating his own hardware without external assistance."
Ruby turned to Penny, "I'm guessing you can offer the relevant external assistance?"
"I believe so! But it will take time for me to secure and calibrate my communications bridge and get our friend functioning normally."
"Hopefully by 'normally' you mean 'still not shooting at us.' " Ruby said before keying her mic once more, "Three, keep watching the x-rays while the rest of us get into position. MECs, hang back until the fighting starts. It's nothing personal, but giant robots are a bit noisy." Ruby ordered
"Understood, Actual." Talos affirmed.
"Everybody good? Let's get rolling. With any luck, we'll be able to jump these guys and clear them out before Penny's even done booting up our newest robot buddy."
Vahlen growled in mild frustration. The results finished compiling for her latest tests on the Grimm material, or what was left of it anyway: even with her attempts to environmentally seal the specimen chamber, the matter still seemed to evaporate into thin air. More frustrating, however, was the fact that the biomass still refused to react with any of the stimuli she presented it with. She inserted samples of carbon, iron, chlorine, helium… even more complex materials like annealed steel and Elerium elicited no response from the corpse sample before the damn thing evaporated into oblivion. She also tried a few small tissue samples from various aliens in the back of her "Refrigerator" (as the operatives enjoyed calling it), again to no effect.
With a sigh, she opened up the chamber to clean out the yellow pus and prepare it for another test. On the bright side, the rate of decay seemed to be related to the surface-area-to-volume ratio of the sample, so she still had several of the larger corpses to work with before the evaporative trait claimed them as well. Vahlen grew lost in thought, trying to determine the next approach to solving her Grimm problem while she finished cleaning out the sealed test chamber. Her thoughts ground to a halt very quickly, however, when she heard the sound of glass shattering behind her, followed by a low growl.
Slowly, very slowly, she turned around to get a look at the source of the noise and found herself staring down a Beowolf amidst the ruins of some lab eqiupment. At least, it looked like a Beowolf. The limbs weren't complete, nor was the red and white face mask wasn't fully formed yet, but she could see matter flowing in rivers up its body to finish the body's structure and musculature. The scene before her reminded Vahlen of a mammalian gestation sped up hundred or thousands of times faster than normal. It took another vicious growl from the creature for Vahlen's self-preservation instincts to once again kick into action. She slammed the bright red button on the wall next to her, and the security klaxxons began to wail throughout the base.
"This is Doctor Vahlen requesting immediate armed backup at the private laboratory." She practically shouted into the PA system, panic starting to creep into her voice as the Beowolf took its first lurching step towards her, "I have a live Grimm specimen in here that needs to be put down immediately."
She pulled a sidearm off her hip and lined it up with the monster. After the aliens attacked HQ, Bradford mandated that all staff undergo training and keep a pistol handy at all times. Vahlen appeased her friend by completing the bare minimum requirements Bradford set out, but now she wished she spent a little more time training at the range.
The Beowolf staggered forward again, and Vahlen's first bullet shattered a beaker to the creature's right. She fired twice more, one hitting absolutely nothing while the other barely grazed the Grimm's fur. It let out a bestial roar and pounced forward at the doctor, who screamed and fell backward. The Beowolf's bone structure still hadn't finished forming yet, so its leap fell a few inches short of Vahlen with a sickening crunch, and the doctor unloaded at point-blank range into the Grimm's face. It winced and howled as the bullets ricocheted off the skull mask and smashed into glassware and electronics around the lab, but remained relatively unharmed by Vahlen's assault.
She threw the gun at the creature's face and scooted around the corner of her desk moments before it snapped out at her once again. Vahlen got to her feet and sprinted off to the far opposite end of the lab. While she certainly wanted to run into the hallway and take her chances sprinting as far from the facility as possible, she told the base security that the hostile was located in her lab, and so she needed to make sure it stayed there until the big guns arrived. While the monster picked itself up off the floor, she looked around for anything she could weaponize in her bid for survival. Chemical compounds, computer banks, beakers and tongs…
Sulphuric acid.
Vahlen watched the Beowolf move closer, waiting for it to come within throwing distance before she had to pick up the small canister. Without time to put on insulating gloves, Vahlen didn't want to risk coming into contact with the caustic chemical any longer than necessary. She counted each step, hoping that her gambit would pay off. The Beowolf roared, and Vahlen leapt into action. She grabbed the canister and quickly unscrewed the loosely-secured lid before throwing the container's fluid contents at the Grimm. Almost immediately, Vahlen observed visible effects of the chemical's contact with the Grimm's body. An acrid scent filled the room as the acid set to work decomposing the proteins and lipids in the Beowolf's flesh. The monster clutched its face in pain while the acid wreaked havoc on its eyes, dehydrating them and inducing thermal burns.
The Beowolf howled in surprise, buying Vahlen a few more precious seconds to look for another way to keep the creature distracted. Fortunately, she didn't need to, as Vahlen heard five to ten pairs of boots pounding down the hallway. Moments later, the security detail stormed the lab and opened fire with an array of Gauss rifles to eliminate the Grimm threat. With a hailstorm of bullets ripping through its now-fragile skin from all directions, the Beowolf quickly became a lifeless heap on the floor.
While the team of operatives moved to secure the room, Vahlen's mind began to race. What happened to make the creature materialize? It certainly wasn't from her supply of Grimm corpses, since the storage door to their housing remained intact, so what caused it?
"Uhh… ma'am?" One of the operatives called out uncertainly, "You might want to take a look at this…"
Vahlen walked over to see the monster completely riddled with bullet holes, to the point that sizable chunks of the flesh were completely torn away. Beyond the familiar black fur and muscle, she saw a strange mass reveal itself from the creature's midst. Vahlen's jaw nearly dropped as she saw what could only be described as the half-eaten corpse of a Sectoid, slick with the familiar yellow pus usually left behind by the Grimm decomposition.
"But how…?"
The doctor froze. She remembered that she had a Sectoid corpse resting in an incubator to run some low-priority analysis on its biological tissue. The corpse was fresh from Strike Four's mission yesterday, and Vahlen wondered if she could uncover some degenerative properties within the alien's physiology by observing its decaying process. She glanced at the table where the incubator should be, and realized that it was, in fact, the smashed hardware she saw when she first encountered the Grimm.
"… Oh, this is not good." She muttered, the pieces slowly coming together.
"You there!" She shouted at the nearest operative, "Take half of your squad and sweep the freezer where we keep the alien bodies stocked. Specifically, check the records and visually confirm that all recent additions are still present and accounted for. The rest of you, I need an escort to Mission Control in case more of those things is already lurking about. I have intel that the Central Officer needs to know about now."
The wind whistled in Jaune's ears as he soared over the battlefield. With sword and shield at the ready, the hunter slammed into the unfortunate Muton standing at his point of impact. The Aura surrounding his shield flared as it came into contact with the alien and absorbed the brunt of Jaune's deceleration. He stood up and plunged the shimmering Crocea Mors deep into the alien's chest before turning with his shield raised to deflect the plasma stream coming from three other Mutons. While Jaune's Aura performed valiantly, several balls of plasma bled through his shield and struck the armor protecting his body. All in all, an assault that would have toasted any normal operative instead left Jaune with a few mildly painful burns.
His little blitzkrieg served its purpose, however. With all of the alien gunners focusing on him, the marksmen on his squad had plenty of time to line up shots and easily neutralize the remaining Mutons and leave them gurgling in a pile of blood. Jaune deactivated his semblance armor and wiped the gore off of his sword on his jeans. While the rest of his squad moved to regroup with their Lieutenant, Jaune surveyed the damage they caused. Strewn about the field lay an impressive number of heavy robotics wrecks along with a staggering number of Mutons and Chryssalids. The 'Lids ambushed his squad midway through the firefight, and Jaune was pleased with how effectively the team handled the surprise development.
Still, the engagement didn't go perfectly according to plan. Jaune watched MacAuley as the Engineer performed rudimentary field repairs on two of the MECs. The pilot of Blake's Vanguard managed to use her superior agility to avoid the fusillade of plasma coming from the Muton teams, but the other two didn't enjoy the same luck. Nobody took a Chryssalid claw to the chest, thankfully, but a healthy dose of plasma burns ensured that Ren had plenty of opportunities to ply his medical trade.
The large quantity of peculiar equipment lining the walls intrigued Jaune the most, however. When he reported it to van Doorn, the Field Commander commented that Ruby's team discovered similar hardware on their op as well. Jaune was considering taking five to further examine the machines when his commlink sprang to life.
"Actual, this is Bradford, do you copy?"
"I do sir. Is everything alright?" Jaune asked, though the Central Officer's tone implied the exact opposite.
Vahlen, rather than Bradford answered, "We had a Grimm incident in the lab, Jaune, and the implications are not good."
"Wait," Beagle interrupted, "Did she just say Grimm attacked HQ?"
"I've been working for weeks trying to figure out how the Grimm essence works, but I've been going about it all wrong." Vahlen explained, ignoring the Captain's interjection.
Pyrrha came to a halt next to Jaune in front of a large, clear cylinder container, and the two exchanged glances before Jaune answered, "I don't see how this is relevant to the mission, doctor."
"Corpses, Jaune." Vahlen said, "Or more specifically, fresh biological matter. The Grimm essence agglomerates on the recently deceased. I don't know why, yet, but multiple incidents in the lab make me one hundred percent sure about this. That's why you found all those mutilated Sectoid bodies aboard the Harvester, and that's why Terror missions are the perfect breeding ground for Grimm."
Jaune felt ice creeping into his veins as he looked across the battlefield for a second time, "Well… we have a lot of bodies around here, doctor, so I appreciate the heads up, but we haven't seen any signs of the Grimm. I think we'll be okay." The look Pyrrha gave him told Jaune that she knew the only person he was trying to convince was himself.
"That's just it! The Grimm essence that formed itself into a Beowolf in my lab seemed to come out of nowhere. When a dead Grimm evaporates, that black mist doesn't just disappear: it scatters to the point where it's no longer visible. Even my specialized equipment couldn't detect it, which is why I assumed the material just annihilates itself once it disperses. But you won't see it until it begins forming on surface of a corpse and shaping it into those creatures you're all too familiar with."
"I believe her, Jaune." Ruby's voice crackled over the comms, "We just killed a buttload of Sectoid's over here, and black mist started flowing out of the bullet wounds."
Slowly, Jaune and Pyrrha backed away from the clear container, and Jaune's voice became less steady as he responded, "So… these big, mysterious machines that are attached to seemingly empty cylinders could be holding little floating bits of Grimm?"
"Big, mysterious… what?" Vahlen asked in confusion. The comms went dead for a moment, and Jaune guessed that Bradford was filling Vahlen in on the new hardware. Eventually, the two finished with their brief update, and Vahlen returned, her voice shakier than ever, "This sounds a lot like the equipment the salvage crews brought back from the Harvester, only on a much larger scale. My teams so far haven't been able to discern their purpose, but if that's because we didn't know how to study the Grimm…"
"Then they could be related somehow." Jaune finished, "Well, at least there's only a few alien bodies here that we killed that they could use to make Grimm."
"Unless those pipes beneath us are filled with the remains of their human abductees. They might be employing some kind of technology to keep the material fresh." Pyrrha pointed out.
Jaune's mouth went dry as he looked down over the railing to see the sloshing, pulsating mass of… something as it flowed through the massive pipes zig-zagging along the length of the base. He swallowed hard, then stiffly backed away, "Y-yeah… that would give them more matter to work with, wouldn't it?"
A loud hissing noise interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see several of the cylinder walls pneumatically open, though he couldn't see or hear anything coming out.
"Jaune?" Ruby asked, "Did the cylinders in your base-?"
"Open up? Yeah…" He answered.
Jaune readied his sword and shield while backing up once more towards the rest of his squad, "Looks like we'll be confirming your theory in a moment, doctor, because those big empty chambers are now leaking their contents into the room."
Something made a squelching noise under his shoe, and Jaune looked down to see that he'd stepped in a small puddle of black liquid. He wanted to believe it was just some alien blood, but Jaune had never seen blood squirm and writhe before. He and Pyrrha double-timed it back to the rest of his team while they finished their last few preparations for the inevitable fight ahead of them.
"Give me a supply check, guys." Jaune said as he watched the first Muton become completely encased in black fluid.
"Got two HE's and a Shredder left for my launcher." Beagle counted, "Mac has a chem grenade and a pair of smokes left. Hammertime's got plenty of boom power, and Shrike should have enough happy juice to keep us going for a while, provided one of those fuckers doesn't take our heads off in one swipe."
"Well, put enough gauss rounds in one, and maybe it'll go down quick." Jaune replied, wincing as he heard the sound of flesh and bone splintering as the blobs continued their metamorphosis, "Everybody full on ammo?"
D.O.A. stepped forward and lined his Railgun up with the nearest target, "Affirmative, Lieutenant. We are locked and ready. Say the word, and we will open fire."
Jaune held a hand up, "Not yet, Ten. I'm sure Vahlen would be very disappointed if we failed to capture video of an uninterrupted transformation because we got a little trigger-happy. Once it becomes recognizable as a creature of Grimm, then we will engage. Gizmo? How much practice have you had with the holorifle's blade form?"
"Enough." The Pathfinder answered curtly before segmented blade sections began to extend from her weapon.
"Good. Would you care to join the hunters on the front lines?"
"Absolutely."
For the first time since Vahlen dropped her dire news on the team, a smile found its way onto Jaune's lips, "We can do this, guys. After all, we're stronger together."
Mr. Bradford,
I apologize for the delay in my response to your previous missive. I understand that a day and a half on my end is considerably more on yours, so I hope this message reaches you in time to be of any use.
Your discovery and subsequent research of Grimm on Earth is both intriguing and disturbing. The fact that the Grimm do not vanish upon death is concerning in and of itself, but the yellow fluid your operatives have encountered within the core of each Grimm is likewise disturbing. Neither of these attributes exist for Grimm on Remnant (to my knowledge), but I spent a few hours trying to research the subject to see if I could come up with anything. My efforts were disappointingly fruitless, but I did find one text that theorized on the origin of Grimm. It posits that, though the Grimm are soulless creatures, their existence is inexorably linked to the concept of the soul. Born as the natural enemies of those who possess such energy, it is their singular quest to eradicate and consume the soul's force in the world.
While much of the text is fluffy rhetoric, I believe that there may be some truth to the publication if you read between the lines. The origin of the Grimm, though nebulous, is likely tied to the very beings they seek to kill. Be cautious out there, Bradford. If your alien invaders have been able to research the secrets of these cruel, single-minded creatures, your operatives may very well be walking into a trap.
Best,
Ozpin