A/N: Hey guys, Deviljho's Hatred here. Sorry this chapter took so long, but this chapter was mostly written by me. With a new semester at college, TheSib was too busy to do much writing for this. But don't worry, he's all finished adjusting. The next chapter should be out within a much more reasonable time. But I'm sure the wait will be worth it since this chapter is dedicated to your favorite mad scientist.

Ever since leaving Vale with Inori, Torchwick had gotten used to things getting… weird. A dead body here. A couple more dead bodies over there. Frankly, there was a lot of death around him. But being a long time criminal, such things didn't bother him too much. But Inori had taken it to another level.

As Torchwick walked up to the door of their latest hideout after getting some alcohol, he found the door giving him a lot of resistance as he tried to push it open. When the criminal finally squeezed himself in, he found the reason for the door giving him problems.

"Oh my bad Roman." Inori said. "I meant to get rid of that body before you got back, but science had my attention."

"The milkman this time?"

"Hey, it's his fault. He said the milk was 1% but when I drank it, it was clearly 2% based on the taste."

If this had happened a year or two ago, Torchwick would have been grossed out beyond belief and probably vomit from the disgusting state the body was in. But nowadays, this was just another Tuesday to him. Quite literally. It was always Tuesday when Inori committed her random murder of whatever village or city they were staying near.

"Look, as much as I just utterly enjoy the sight, smell and uh… texture of a dead body every Tuesday. Can we get to meeting this person you said we were gonna meet?"

Inori looked up from her current victim, er, experiment and gave the criminal a confused look before she snapped her fingers in realization. "That's right! I did say that didn't I?"

"You forgot!?"

"Hey, don't you dare get snippy with me unless you wanna be sharing a cloud with the milkman and the paperboy!" Inori snapped back.

"Since when did we have a newspaper subscription!?"

"Ever since I decided I needed more bodies." Inori laughed while looking at the pile of bodies. "Seriously! Those idiots just keep sending more and more paperboys! It's like they don't even care."

Torchwick pinched his brow and gave a deep sigh while counting to ten. Once he reached the magic number he looked back to the scientist and fixed her a serious look. "We can't hide out here forever Inori. We need to keep it moving because Cinder will find out we're still alive sooner or later. And when she does, it'll turn into a shitstorm."

The crazed woman sighed at his points and removed her oily gloves. "Fiiiiiiine! Get the girls, it's time for a family road trip!"

"Don't say it like that."

"Oh come on. Neo needs a mother in her life just like Isuka needs a father. I mean she used to have a brother but we don't talk about that." Taking a shot from a nearby flask, the scientist waved away the criminal to the hall. "Now go, go! We need those girls at the ready. I'm gonna introduce you to one of my favorite people growing up."

"You know, when you say that I only can feel both fear and disgust at the type of person you might admire."

"Hey. There's that sass again. Don't do it." Inori deadpanned. "You wanna live or not?"

Roman just walked away from the woman. He knew better than to try and answer that question if he wanted to sleep soundly. Lucky for him, he didn't have to search long for the girls since they were in the makeshift 'living room' relaxing. Seeing Neo inhale the amount ice cream she was currently eating made the criminal think about her diet habits. But then again that would probably end with a knife in his thigh so that would be a bad idea.

'Why are all the women in my life crazy?' Was the solitary thought brewing through Roman's head before he called out for the girl's attentions.

"Inori, are you actually insane?"

"Oh what are you going on about now Roman?"

"Well the fact that you are walking out in the damned open with not even an attempt to disguise yourself!?"

True to Roman's shout, the mad scientist was wearing her trademarked slacks, baggy shirt and bloody labcoat. Her face with not even a mask covering the mad look that always held true. "Okay Roman, use your brain here. Will ANYONE here actually try to mess with me KNOWING that I'm a kingdom class 'terrorist'?" The air quotes around the word terrorist were thick and sarcastic. "They might as well just donate their body to me right now."

The sheer metaphorical balls that this woman had was honestly astonishing. But true to her words, no one dared to even approach them either out of fear or just being smart. Even the local police of the town of Wellspring dared not to come near. Hell, some of them even just bowed to them and moved. Inori clearly had a history with this town so there was some story behind the behavior.

A nudge from his silent companion got Roman out of his thoughts to see they had finally made it to their destination. It was a modest house in the outskirts of the town with a satellite dish and an armored car in the parkway. Though the amount of torture gear that was open in plain view at the open garage sent shivers down everyone's spine. Well, everyone minus Inori who just smiled nostalgically.

"Oh that little rascal. Still up to her old games." No one moved to follow Inori as she moved to the front door and rang the doorbell. "Wake up bitch! It's time to get up and get those needles in you for old time sake."

The air fell silent. A heavy layer of fear falling over the group of criminals over what would come next. The sounds of the door unlocking made a ball of dread fall down everyone's throats. The slow opening made the fear leave in exchange of confusion.

Standing in front of them was a woman looking to be around Inori's age with messy dark red hair. She was dressed in a black tank top and brown shorts but what really caught everyone's eyes was the amount of bruises, welts and sore spots on her visible skin. She looked confused at the amount of people at her front doorstep but that visage changed once her eyes were set on the scientist who knocked.

"Inori! You daughter of a bastard!" She exclaimed while pulling the woman into a hug. "Why are you here?"

"What? An old partner can't just swing by and visit with her crew?"

The woman rolled her eyes and gave her old friend a poking finger to her cheek. "Don't be coy with me, you cheeky bitch. You don't think I didn't listen in on that shit storm called the Vytal Festival? Even as a mother, you're still every bit as crazy from back in the day."

Inori smiled and gave a hearty laugh at the woman's poking which made the others just stare blankly. This woman who was known to kill people just for looking at her funny was just laughing at this blatant crap talk. She moved out of the hug and nuzzled the woman a bit before turning back to her crew. "Everyone, allow me to introduce Crimson Ootue. She was my old partner back in the day and my favorite test subject!"

"... I'm sorry can you repeat that last part?" Isuka asked to break the silence. "Because from my entire history of knowing you, not one person has ever survived."

Neo nodded in agreement which caused Roman to add in as well to the conversation. "Yeah… Those bodies in the base don't lie, Inori."

"Yeah, normally a person doesn't survive my special scientific endeavours. But Crimson is special, you see. Her Semblance allows her to repair injuries inflicted to her body as well as replace any amount of blood lost." She gave a dreamy sigh while she brushed up against her old partner. "Truly, the perfect specimen for my growing interests."

Neo scrunched up her face in disgust while Roman scoffed at Inori's glee. "And what about her? There's no way in hell that she's okay with this."

Crimson chuckled hard, as if Roman told some hilarious quip. "Ha, jokes on you! I'm a supreme masochist!"

"Okay! Not jumping into THAT territory!" Seeing the man back away while holding his hands up in surrender made the two grown woman laugh like schoolgirls. "So she's the person you wanted to meet up with?"

"Yup. Her talents will come in handy for our next job for my next experiment."

"And what exactly is this experiment?"

"Why, it's simple my dear Isuka! We are gonna find one of the Maidens, and turn her into one of my beloved creations!" The silence that she was receiving told the scientist that not everyone was totally enthused about this plan. "... What?"

Crimson placed an arm around Inori's neck and gave a deep shake. "Inori, come on now. I thought you didn't believe in fairy tales. Really now, Maidens?"

"Roman, care to back me up here?" The man would've refused but that dangerous gleam in the scientist's eyes promised a world of suffering if he did. So he walked back up to the woman and nodded his head. "Good boy."

The visitors entered Crimson's house under her watchful gaze, sitting down in her living room where she was told the full story. Of Cinder, her journal covering details about the Maidens and her boss named Salem. Also the fact that the scarlet woman was one of the Maidens herself if the powers Inori observed were anything to go off of.

All this information was a lot to take in for the pain loving woman. Ever since the whole Atlas incident, she had hardly seen Inori. Let alone know what she was doing. Mantle went missing as well after that event and his partner went into hiding. Now a part of her old life comes into the fray again but with new people and a crazy plan. It brought back a nostalgic feeling in her heart, making her remember the good old days when they were back in school. Taking the abuse from other students who tried to hurt her partner, the pranks and fun times she had with her team. Especially those long and memorable nights that she and Inori had during her experimenting moods.

This new plan was crazy sure, but it wasn't like she could judge it all that hard knowing that it was her old friend that was coming up with it. "So what do you need me for?"

Inori smiled widely whilst pulling in the redhead into a loving hug. "Ooh Crimson! I knew you'd come around!" She let go of the woman but still remained in her face with that starry eyes look of excitement. "We need a base of operations here in Vacuo. Since this place is a bed of lowlifes and criminals, it'll be easy to hide in plain sight from the Huntsmen. We also have need of your pain absorbing skills to make capturing the Maidens an easier task."

"Why Inori, are you saying that you're gonna have trouble with something getting in the way of science? I'm shocked, truly I am!"

"Hey, none of that sarcasm alright? Otherwise I'll actually treat you lovingly tonight." The way Crimson's smile disappeared made the others roll their eyes. "Anyways, you up for the ride of your life?"

"As if you even need to ask me!" Crimson brought in the old friend into a deep hug and rubbed at her head. "I would do anything for my sweet Inori, especially if it means more experiments. Mmmmm…."

Inori moved out of the rather close hug and patted her labcoat of the wrinkles from the embrace. "Well that's just capital! Now we can get to work on tracking those ladies down and sticking needles in them!"

"Well that's all fine and dandy but there's quite a few problems that you're ignoring here, Inori." All eyes turned to Roman who was in the middle of lighting a cigar. He took a quick puff before looking back at the scientist. "First off, what's gonna happen if we bump into Cinder while going after these broads? Numbers aren't gonna do much against what's supposed to be a demi god. Second, what about the Huntsmen who are after our asses? Didn't you say something about that bastard Ironwood being on the watch for them? And third, suppose we do capture and kill one of these Maidens. What happens when people notice their disappearance and start to connect dots?"

Inori got up from her seat and sat on the armrest next to her compatriot. "Now, you see Roman, this is why you aren't the brains of the group. Sure, you've got those street smarts and that rep of yours but you aren't seeing the bigger picture. What I got planned is foolproof and guaranteed to piss off so many people. What's even better is that no one other than Cindy will even know what's going on and by that time, I'll be ready to kill her. You just leave the big planning up to me and I promise you'll be rewarded out the ass when it comes time to operate."

"Cinder promised me the same thing and look where that ended." Roman argued dryly.

The scientist rolled her eyes and grabbed the thief's bowler hat. "Roman, we've been through this. I see a lot of value in keeping you alive whereas Cindy didn't. So don't screw with me and you'll be living like a king by the end of it."

The thief started the scientist in the eyes, looking if she was telling the truth or not. It was that same, unreadable gaze that vexed anyone who looked at it. Cinder was certainly right about one thing, not being able to read her is much too dangerous to ignore. But he was in no position to challenge the woman in any form, so he resorted to nodding his head. "I'm holding you to this Inori. Don't let me down."

"So serious! Come on Roman, with my power and skills it'll be no problem. For now, let's just get set to build up our base!" She turned to Crimson and gave a thumbs-up to her. "Break out the white shirts and sweatpants, it's cleanup time!"

"'Go hammer the fence' she said. 'We need our security up' she said." Isuka growled, pounding the fence into the dirt. "Damned slave driver making me do something in this damned burning sun!"

"Is that complaining I'm hearing?"

"It's nothing! You're just hearing things!"

"I'm aware of the voices in my head, Isuka. None of them sound as whiny as you do!"

As unfortunate as it was, Isuka was stuck with a double whammy of terrible luck. Having to be under the supervision of Inori herself while having to install the security fence for their new base at Crimson's home. Now, this wouldn't be all much of a problem if it wasn't for the fact that her boss kept going on with heat related science facts that made the girl uncomfortable.

She really didn't want to know just how hot things needed to be in order for human skin to start roasting.

"Ugh, there! The fence is installed, Inori!" Isuka called up to the rooftop while backing away from the fence. "Let 'er rip!"

From her perch on the building, Inori threw the switch on from her end which caused a large spark of electricity to leap out into the sky until it connected in a dome shape around the house. The mad woman laughed with glee while spinning around in joy. "It's alive! I've created a new child!"

The younger woman gave an exasperated sigh after a hard few hours of work. The sun was beginning to set which caused a beautiful glow to collide with the electrical barrier Inori just crafted. 'I didn't sign up for this life to do a bunch of manual labor.' Her sight to the sky above became darker with the shadow of Crimson standing over her with a glass of water. She sat up from her position and took the offered beverage. "Thanks."

"Not used to Inori's workload expectations, huh?" Crimson guessed just by looking at how much the younger girl was sweating. "It gets easier with time."

"Look, not for nothing but your idea of workload and mine are vastly different." She rolled her eyes, looking away from the old friend of the scientist. "Plus you're the type of person who gets off on being worked like a dog."

"While true, it really does get easier. She's much easier to get along with than people realize." She looked to the roof seeing that the orange haired woman was still feeling herself at her success. A smile crept up on her lips before ushering the guitarist inside the house. The two of them fell on the couch before the conversation picked back up. "There was so many people that just never bothered to understand Inori when we were kids. So many wrote her off as crazy for her ideas, but i just thought she was ahead of her time. Mantle, Blu and I were the only ones who saw what she could do."

"Who are those other two people? Inori's never mentioned them before."

Crimson sighed, that seemed like the woman she knew alright. "If she hasn't told you anything about them, then I'm not going to. It's her stories to tell and not mine."

The front door was soon kicked open by the talked about scientist as she strolled on into the living room with a smile on her face. "Hey there ladies, what are we talking about? Something juicy I hope."

Crimson got out of her seat and threw her arm around her old friend. "Oh it's nothing. Just a little pow wow was all. Come on, let's go to the kitchen and do some of your experiments for old times sake."

"Not even here a day and you're practically wanting me to jump your bones." Inori chuckled while leading them into the kitchen. "You asked for it."

"And I never regret it."

Isuka just had to shudder at the happy tone both women had at the prospect of torturing. Both of them were sick in the head no doubt but there seemed to be some level of understanding between them. The musician couldn't make heads or tails of it since for as long as she has known the scientist, she's always been off her rocker. It was clear that whatever was going to happen in the next room was going to be loud so she did what she always did to distract her from the outside world. She picked up her Lorand and began to strum a rhythm.

She plucked at the strings slowly to make sure everything was in tune and the connection to the Dust reserves were not active as to not blow a hole in their base. Once she was satisfied with the sound, she began playing a melody that was somber yet had heart in it.

A song that someone very close to her taught her when she was just a little girl.

Her mind fell back to those times when her brother was still alive and well. The days that both she and him would spend under the tree in their backyard. Him playing his music while she listened intently and clapped whenever he would finish. Her brother Lorand Cobalt was her hero and she wanted to be just like him.

But fate took that away from her in the most heinous of ways.

One day after arriving home from a friend's house, she was scared when the police were surrounding her house with crime tape plastered all over the place. Her heart fell deep into the pit of her stomach as she rushed past the barricade and the police, hoping that her parents and Lorand was okay. But seeing their lifeless, dead bodies on the floors. Seeing the blood splattered everywhere that she could see.

Crying was the only thing she knew how to do at that point. The police, the neighbors, nor her friends could console her sorrow at her family's demise. None of them could even approach as the girl only cried harder at anyone approaching. As such, the police couldn't conduct their investigation of the bodies for any evidence at the risk of Isuka jumping on their bodies to keep them from moving them. Soon enough however, a friend managed to get the crying girl away from the crime scene after being promised that they wouldn't do anything to the bodies.

She had no idea how long she cried for at her friend's home. She didn't know how she found herself back at her destroyed house. She couldn't even figure out how she found herself in her brother's room. Nothing but her sadness permeated her heart and there was nothing that could shake that from her heart. That was until a hand on her shoulder broke her sorrow, if only for a second to be replaced with shock and fear.

Standing behind her was a woman who looked to be in her mid thirties with long orange hair and pink eyes. She wore a buttoned up lab coat along with black high heels. She stared down at the young girl with a knowing expression.

"The police said that a little girl might return after they left. Lo and behold, here you are crying your poor little heart out." She began, starting to pat her head in a soothing manner. "Such a shame at the waste of life. They could've been so happy with their future, but some psycho took that away from them."

"G-Get out! Get out of my house!"

The woman continued her patting as if she didn't hear the outburst from the girl. "Now honey. I know you're angry and rightly so. Someone took your family away from you and that isn't fair. Life doesn't tend to be fair with no matter who it is." Her patting stopped suddenly as she reached under Isuka's chin and made her look her in the eyes. "But you can do something about it."

"Wh-What? What a-are you talking a-about?" She managed to ask through her tears.

The woman gave a smile that had no clear emotion behind it. One that was unreliable in every way. "I know who killed your family." That got Isuka's attention in spades. "And I know you want to get even with the bastard who did it. Come with me, and you'll get your chance to avenge your family. To avenge your dear brother."

That memory was burned into her mind in numerous ways. The encounter that changed the scope of her life and her life's goal from there on. The avenging of her family, of her brother became her only focus from there on out. She even took her brother's guitar and modified it into her weapon for just this cause. This bastard would meet their end by her keepsake, that she swore. Imagine her surprise and shock when she learned that it was Inori's own son who killed her family.

Apparently Ovan had lost control when using his Blackhawk, and went on a crazy rage. It was just Isuka's luck that her family had been on the receiving end of that brutality. But whether or not Ovan was in his right state of mind when he killed her family, Isuka didn't care. All she cared about was getting revenge on him and making him suffer for all of the pain he had caused her and her family.

If that meant teaming up with a psycho like Inori, then so be it.

"Oh Isuka dear!" Inori called out. "Come along now. Time for a strategy meeting. Roman and Neo just returned."

Isuka sighed as she got up and walked over to the kitchen, where everyone was gathered. She took a seat at the table with the others.

"So Roman, what were you able to find out?" Inori asked. "I hope it's good news."

"Well Neo and I scoured the city." Roman explained. "We managed to get word of this one guy who apparently knows a lot of stuff around these parts. We asked him about anyone matching a maiden's description, and apparently he knows something. For a price at least."

"Perfect. That information will be worth whatever price we have to pay." Inori smirked as she leaned forward with a sadistic look on her face. "Alright, now here's how this is gonna go down."

"Hold on, where's Virtue?" Isuka asked. "Don't we need her here?"

Inori rolled her eyes. "Roman insisted on keeping her with him for "insurance". Honestly, we need to work on those trust issues, Roman."

The orange haired criminal shrugged. "Hey, after what happened with Cinder, can you blame me? Just need to make sure I know I can trust you not to throw us under the bus."

"Anyways…" Inori continued. "I managed to get her away from him for a bit. She's setting up that equipment we brought along with us down in the lab."

"You mean that case she's been carrying along ever since we left Vale?" Isuka questioned with a raised brow. "What's in there anyway?"

"Oh, just some spare parts I grabbed before we left Vale." Inori said with a dark giggle. "I just need to tweak a few things before it's… combat ready."

The ship moved across the ocean waves as the salty sea breeze blew through the air. Leon and Naomi stood on the side of the boat, seeing their destination along the horizon.

"There it is." Naomi said. "Menagerie."

"Have you ever been there before?" Leon asked.

Naomi shook her head. "No, the dark side of the White Fang hadn't influenced this part of Remnant yet. It's one of the few areas where the White Fang has managed to continue its peaceful side."

"That's good." Leon said.

Naomi nodded. "Right now, our objective needs to be to speak with Ghira Belladonna, the ex-leader of the White Fang. After that, we'll see what support we can get in tracking the White Fang's recent movements and possibly bringing the fight to them."

Leon and Naomi looked on towards the island country. It had been a long journey to reach this point. But now they could start their mission.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter, and the introduction of Crimson. The next few chapters will focus around Leon and Naomi. Look forward to it, and hope you're all anticipating the premiere of Volume 5 as much as us.