Richard was fuming. He had recently found out that Junior had not heeded his warning about keeping any Grimmified men away from the public eye. Granted, he did at first, but when a Huntress-In-Training started trashing his bar, he revealed the three Grimm he had gotten from Richard in an attempt to kill her. He clearly underestimated her, because now two of the three are in custody, Junior is being hunted by the authorities, and there is an official investigation into how the Grimm had been tamed. None of this was public knowledge, but that didn't stop him from finding out. He had just finished one of the V-2 trials, and it was a complete failure. He didn't know how the minor change caused this, but when the subject inhaled the chemical, she completely exploded, so he was already in a foul mood when he learned of Junior's incompetence. He sat down in his office, pulled out his Scroll, and dialed Junior.

"Who is this?" He heard on the other end.

"You know damn well who this is, Mr Xiong. I am extremely disappointed in you. I told you to keep the Grimm out of sight, and yet you ignored my advice. Now there is an official investigation into them, with Headmaster Ozpin's support, even!"

"Yeah, I know. Look, I'm really stressed out. The cops ain't taking bribes, and I'm being forced to hide, so get off my ass about it."

"If they find you, you will go to prison for a few years, but if they locate me, they will lock me up for the rest of my life, and may even execute me, so do not talk to me about "stress" you imbecile! You are on very thin ice with me. I have been forced to cut off Grimm supply to the other crime-lords until this dies down. Fortunately for me, they do not blame me, and are surprisingly understanding of my delicate situation. Unfortunately for you, they blame you for all this, so if you mess up again, I will reveal to them where you are hiding."

Junior was silent for a few moments before responding. "You don't-"

"Warehouse 3, Sector 1 of the Docks. I implore you to not underestimate me like you did that Huntress." He hung up. Junior didn't know of the tracking device in his Scroll yet. That was good. And if recent events revealed anything, it was that he wouldn't be smart enough to replace it any time soon.

As he was about to get up from his seat and resume his research, his Scroll started buzzing. This irritated him, but he forced it down. He looked at the number, and was surprised to see it was Roman Torchwick. He decided to answer, in case it was important.

"Mr. Torchwick, this is a surprise. Given your line of work I didn't think you would be interested in purchasing Grimm."

"Hey Dr. Murdoch, I need to meet you for something." He said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"You know I don't meet my clients in person, Roman."

"This isn't about the Grimm, doctor. There's someone who wants to meet you."

"And who would that be?" There was muffled talking before Roman came back on.

"She says it's a surprise and that if you don't show up, she'll reveal the location of your lab." Oh karma's a bitch. He didn't believe that this mystery woman actually knew where his lab was, he'd had people claim to know where it was since he first started operating in Vale, but that didn't mean he was going to ignore this claim.

"Does she now? Well, since she seems to be so persistent, I will send someone in my stead, and if she so desperately wishes to meet me, she can come to my lab and I will gladly talk." He never intended to actually send anyone, and if she never showed up to his lab, that would prove that she wouldn't be worth his time anyway.

"Alright, I'll send you the location of where the meeting is." He hung up, not bothering to check the message that came after. Richard changed his mind about the research. He was too stressed out to effectively continue his work. He would simply relax in his office with his mask off and possibly sleep. Caffeine can only do so much.

3 Hours Later

Richard awoke to banging on his office door. He groggily grabbed his mask, secured it to his head, then activated the fans to ventilate his room of all the gas. He opened the door and saw one of the men working under him standing there, and looking quite a bit nervous.

"Dr. Murdoch, there's someone at the entrance demanding we let her in." This surprised him. He hadn't actually expected her to show up.

"Well then, let her into the lobby." He said. The grunt nodded before running off. Richard put on his lab coat before strolling down to the lobby to meet these unexpected guests. He was glad he constructed a lobby, he had a feeling someone would discover the location of his lab eventually, and the lobby was meant to provide a nice room to talk in should they be less than hostile. He got to the door, and before entering, checked the cameras on his Scroll. There were three people, two females and a male, all seated at one of the tables. The male seemed to be impatient, the green-haired female looked nervous, and the black haired female seemed calm, even a little smug. He assumed she was the leader. He opened the door and entered, not saying anything before sitting down opposite them.

"I am assuming you are the woman Mr. Torchwick spoke of?" He spoke first.

"Yes, I am Cinder Fall. And I'm assuming you're Dr. Murdoch?" She replied.

"Indeed I am, Ms. Fall. Now, please explain to me why you were interested in meeting with me in person?" He guessed she was more effective at negotiations in person, though his mask hiding his face seemed to annoy her.

"I'm very fascinated in your research, doctor. It's very...interesting." She spoke in a seductive tone. Now he knew why she wanted to meet in person. She hoped to use her physical attributes to soften him up. Well, it wouldn't work on him.

"Get to the point, I have much work to be done and I would rather not be delayed by word-play."

"Very well. I have a proposition for you, Dr. Murdoch."

"And what would that be?"

"Well, I understand that you are having issues with attempting to get your hands on test subjects with Aura, am I correct?" She gave a smirk. Richard leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the table.

"Are you implying what I think you are?"

"I can provide you with these test subjects, but in exchange, you will provide me with these tamed Grimm whenever I wish."

Richard thought for a moment. He could do so much with Aura users. He could test his theory and confirm or deny it. And, quite frankly, he didn't care how Ms. Fall acquired the subjects. They could be children for all he cared, previous tests had shown that they had the same results as adults. But free Grimm whenever she requested? It was a large request. The ingredients to make Chemical V were not cheap, nor were they easy to come by. Not to mention the subject would have to already be loyal to the person they were going to, hence why the Grimm sent to clients were people who had been loyal to them before their evolution. But it was still a tempting trade.

"What you ask of me is no small thing, Ms. Fall."

"You are in no place to deny it, doctor." She let a small flame dance in her hand, revealing her intentions.

"Where do you think my gas goes?" He asked. She gave him a confused look.

"You know what my semblance is, so you must also know what the vents in the ceiling are for. When they are activated, they suck up any gas in the room, and store it in an on-site storage area, sort of like a septic tank." He leans back. "And should you show hostility, my assistants will activate the protective measures in this room, flooding it with flesh-eating gas. And even if you kill me, none of you will escape either." He let the counter-threat hang in the air, and the silver-haired boy started looking warily at the, otherwise unsuspecting, vents.

"However, it will not need to come to that. I accept your offer, but know that the process of creating the chemical is complicated, time consuming, and expensive, and you will need to provide me with your own men, as turned Grimm are still people, with human minds."

"I'm glad we came to an agreement. I will send an Aura user alongside one of the people working for me within the week." With that, her and her posse stood up and left. Richard waited until they were gone before holding his breath and quickly swapping his nearly full filter and putting in an empty one, then leaving. As he left, he checked the Gas Storage capacity on his Scroll. 93% full. Excellent. He realized that exposing his defence system was a foolish move, and it was one made out of emotion. But now he has a supply of Aura users to do as he wishes with. He will probably have to get tougher glass for the observation room, though. Some were known for being quite powerful.

Don't really have anything to say, so let's just go right to the reviews.

KHARAKI TAKAN: That's an interesting concept. And no, once someone turns into a Grimm, there's no going back. Dr. Murdoch believes the Grimm to be the next step in evolution for Humans and Faunus, so why would he want there to be a way to "devolve"?

Guest: Well now you know which one it was, though not on the level you thought it would be.

nomorechocolatehere: Yes, the Gas Dispersal System. Should that first guy have not complied, Dr. Murdoch would have released a small amount of gas, not enough to kill him, but enough to show he means business.

Thanks for reading, and have a glorious day.