Book 2, Chapter 4

What Lies Below

Ten days had passed since the raid on Vale, ten days since Ozpin had broken their unspoken rule, since he tested her commitment to neutrality. Though, as much as she wished she could say that she was ready to lay siege to Vale for what he'd done, she knew there was ample reason behind why New Saunders rarely ever went on the offensive, and why such operations were always so short. Besides, she supposed it would only be fair to call it even, given how her forces had absolutely decimated Vale's defenders in the short time they were there.

At the end of the day, however, she was ultimately more interested in putting what they'd pulled off of that data vault to good use. There were many important things that could be learned from it, and many important things they've already learned. To say it was a gold mine might've even been the understatement of the century, if one were to ask her. And the cream of the crop was none other than the security key needed to crack the encryption on those files, which Alison, ten days later, was still sifting through.

"So, Alison..." She stared, taking her usual spot at the Council Table. "What exactly have you been able to learn from the files? Any dirty secrets?"

"Plenty... there's a lot here, mentions of powerful surgically implanted prototype augments that clash with aura, Black Ops Hunter listings, hidden bases for them... but I think you'll be most interested in what he's had on us. More specifically, the island." Alison answered while not lifting her vision from the screen of her laptop. "It mentions knowledge of what gives us our Grimm Immunity, and that knowledge is apparently linked with Mount Vulcan."

"Oh really now?" Damnatio leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "This ought to be interesting... why not regale us with this information?"

"Apparently, millions of years ago, there was a sort of ancient academy here that practiced dark arts. According to the document as well, they were the ancient ancestors of the Pariahs from around the time of the Age of Magic."

"Hm... well, we know that Ozpin is from that time... what else is there about this... academy?" She spoke, weaving her fingers through each other.

"Apparently, this was from way back when Mount Vulcan was just a fissure volcano that ran around the Campus. The ancients used powerful magics to create some sort of barrier that expelled all Grimm... and they created some sort of crystal that rested at the center of the academy that emitted this field." Alicia informed, before visibly scrolling down more. "According to Ozpin, if the Grimm Immunity field is still active, it means the crystal must still be intact, and as it also apparently provided a sort of energy shield to the academy, it too must still be intact, including two things he dubbed simply as "The Dark Reliquary" and "The Dark Foundry..." but unfortunately, there is no further elaboration on what this Reliquary contained, nor is there any information on what exactly this Foundry is capable of."

"Hmm... interesting..." Alicia mused, scratching her chin in idle contemplation. "What did he want with this place?"

"If the files are to be believed, he's spent many of his thousands of years simply looking for where the Academy was buried, but we found it first without realizing it. His plan was to use it as an impregnable bastion against the Grimm, and to hide the four Relics here..."

"I see..." Alecdora muttered, lounging back in his own chair as he idly watched her go about her work. It was obviously very important to him, which finally gave them a better understanding on why he so wanted to be rid of New Saunders.

"So that's why he wants us out of the equation..." Kamina made his voice heard, for once setting down his gun so he could listen better without any distractions. "Do the documents have any mention of how to actually get in there? If he wants in so badly, he must've had a way in mind."

"Unfortunately, if there is mention on how to gain access to this Academy, it hasn't said anything in the files I have sift through." She sighed with visible disappointment. "Although, our prisoner may have the information we seek. To our knowledge, he shared just about all of his knowledge with Goodwitch, so it would only make sense if she knows."

"Good thinking Alison..." Alicia nodded to the girl typing away, before yawning loudly and observing the rest of the room. It was no shock to see that everyone looked absolutely exhausted, given they'd maybe gotten four or five hours of sleep at best over the last ten days. She herself was no exception, and she felt the desire for a break as much as anyone else did... but at the same time, there was much work to be done, and they didn't imagine that Ozpin had been sitting idly.

That being said of course, Vale was still reeling from their attack so it wasn't like they didn't have time. She was still amazed at just what their Veteran Mercenaries could do when all restrictions were off and they stood united. In the thirty minutes they were in Vale they probably did enough damage to last through a few months of reconstruction. Buildings leveled, scores of students killed, military outposts razed to the ground, hunters killed in the dozens, the list just went on and on. It would be some time before Ozpin would recover enough to strike at them again...

"Alright everyone." She began, placing both palms on the table. "We've been hard at work for the last ten days, so I'd say we've earned some rest. I'm issuing an order for all Student Council members to take a mandatory week long vacation, so go get some rest, everyone, you've all earned it."

"What about you, Alicia?" Alison questioned, looking up from her screen with bloodshot eyes.

"I still have some business to attend to, but I will be along for the holiday shortly." Her declaration of the break brought a collective sigh of relief from the rest of the council, followed by a very short exodus from the Council Chambers to what she assumed was their respective beds. She couldn't blame them, after all, she wanted nothing more than to curl up under her covers herself... but she still had business to attend to, business she couldn't wait a week for...

Obtaining access to the hospital room Ruby was in was no difficult task, after all, being the President of the Student Council had its benefits. She'd made the journey to check up on her recovery at least once every other day by now, and while the girl was still comatose, she was at the very least stable.

Looking down at the poor, broken Pariah, she took in her bandaged-up form, being covered from head to toe in it. The healing dust was slowly but surely repairing the bones which had practically been shattered, and would ensure she made a full recovery. Though at the end of the day, Ruby was just lucky her spine only took minor damage and would actually heal. If it had been much worse, she would've risked permanently damage.

"I put in the request for your gear to be replaced with upgraded versions of what you already had, y'know." She muttered, taking the unconscious bandage wrapped girl's hand in her own. "The total value is about five million lien now... or five hundred thousand SC, if we're converting to the new currency the President wants to fully implement. That's about five times more valuable than your kit used to be, right?"

Ruby didn't answer, not that she expected her to. No, just like the previous four times, she just lay there, her chest gently rising in falling with the beat of her breathing yet beside said breathing being totally silent.

"Sorry again about all this happening... part of our duty is to ensure the safety of the Nation's people, and in that regard we have failed you." She rested her forehead lightly against Ruby's own for a moment, before releasing her hand and stepping away. "You just keep sleeping for now, okay? With the breakneck pace you've been managing ever since you arrived here, I'd say that a proper break is well earned... I just wish it wasn't restricted to a hospital bed..." she only barely muttered the last part, before turning around, and walking out the door before the guilt she felt over this incident could grow any larger. She still had two more stops before she was done with the day, and she had to be well-collected for both of them...

"I must say that I did not expect my stay in a prison cell to be this comfortable." Came the vocal stab at her from the Blonde Professor as she stood within the woman's view behind the plexiglass security door. Her cell was fairly simple, being a simple cement grey with a bed, table and two chairs, as well as a hanging TV that she could only turn on or off, and there was a bathroom in the back.

"Glad you're enjoying your stay. So tell me, how's it feel to be on equal footing with the people you've done so much to oppress?" She shot back, pointing to the device around her ankle that inhibited Aura and Semblance usage. Her glare she gave and the ire in her eyes told her all she needed, and she allowed herself to adopt a smug grin as the officer opened the cell for her to enter.

"You have some nerve, young lady." The malice was obvious in her tone as she venomously spat out those words, though she did not bother with trying to rise from her seat.

"Here's the deal. I already have hold on you with my Semblance. You cannot lie, deflect, evade, or deny my inquiries while under its hold. You're going to tell me what I want to know." She sat in the chair in front of the witch. "Comply, and this will be a swift, painless process. Resist? Well, let's just say I have plenty of time to make you bend or break. You should know that I'm not particularly picky in that regard."

"Do you really think I'm going to humor you?" She tested her, bringing a furrowed brow alongside the smug grin.

"The Academy under Saunders Academy, under Mount Vulcan. Tell me what you know about it." She questioned, with the older lady simply scoffing at her.

"I have no idea what you're- AAAAAAAAAAHH!" Her scream was near deafening as she clutched at her head and crumpled over, falling to the floor out of her chair with a loud thud! Alicia chuckled at this, shaking her head in mild sadistic amusement.

"So you do know what I'm talking about then... you should know, there's no bar to just what level of pain my semblance can inflict upon someone, nor is there any restriction on where and what kind of pain it is. If you were smart, you'd tell me exactly what I want to know." She explained, crossing her arms and kicking her legs over each other.

"I'm... I'm not giving out so easily!" The busty professor yelled back defiantly, slowly picking herself up off the floor and rising up on shaky knees.

"Hmm... no, I suppose you won't." She sighed, shaking her head before nodding to one of the interrogators she'd brought with her, who promptly walked in to join her alongside two guards who placed Glynda in the chair and bound her to it. "This'll be so tedious... tch."

"I already know this Interrogator. You should know that no mere illusion can phase me." Glynda said with a confident smirk, one that quickly faded as his own only widened.

"If you think a mere illusion is all he can do, then he hasn't shown you a single thing. And, paired with my own semblance, you should know that what his illusions do to you will feel very real." Alicia warned her, which made her brow visibly sweat. "Last chance to be honest. I'll have no idea what his illusions do to you in your eyes, but my semblance will do its job nonetheless. The synergy is quite effective, you'll find, and this Interrogator is certainly one of the sickest bastards I think I've ever met."

"I will not surrender!" She roared defiantly, making Alicia sigh before turning and nodding to the interrogator. An expression of pure psychotic glee spread across his face, which momentarily made her wonder if this were really humane. Of course, she still had to question her, and this woman was responsible for her own fair share of suffering, so she decided to ignore her empathetic side for the time being and let the efficient side take the reigns...

Five hours of torture hadn't led to much progress, but they at least got the admission of the Academy's existence. She didn't know what kind of illusionary visions she was putting Glynda through, and to be quite frank, she really didn't want to know, either. She was certain that part of it was of a lewder nature, given how she was panting and moaning, but she didn't quite feel like being scarred for life by the fine details.

Deciding that for her own innocence it would be best to just not think about it, she set the whole event in the back of her mind. After all, the last order of business for the day until she could tuck in for herself still needed to be attended to. It was a rather simple matter, truth be told. This one from Beacon hadn't been guarded in the slightest, in fact she'd been nothing but wholly cooperative and helpful since she'd arrived, which had earned her the brownie points to permit her to have a little freedom of movement as long as she was accompanied by her two Mercenary escorts.

Said escorts parted way as she knocked on the door, their guard somewhat lowered as the girl under their charge didn't make herself difficult to handle. Her goal now was pretty simple, just being to have a chat with the girl. She'd still maintained hold with her semblance, but if she was still honest today, she would lift said hold.

"Oh, Miss President!" The younger blonde girl exclaimed, fully opening the door and beckoning for her to come on in. She did so, with the blonde pulling up a chair for her at the table and grabbing a drink from the fridge. "Would you like anything, ma'am?"

"Please, Yang, there's no reason to be so formal. Iced tea, if you have it will be fine." She laughed, taking the seat and smiling contently as the girl set down a glass and poured her some of the aforementioned drink. It was a stark contrast to the can of soda she'd pulled out for herself, but that was fairly irrelevant. "So, there's been a few developments, and I don't exactly expect you to know anything about this... but do you know of an academy under New Saunders, under Mount Vulcan?"

"Um... I'm really not sure I follow... I've never heard of such a thing... is there some sort of old campus that was buried or something?" She asked in response, and with her semblance not acting in any way, she had all she needed to know from the girl.

"If you don't know anything then you needn't concern yourself with it. We're not entirely clear on all the details ourselves, so we can't say anything for certain... but unlike Ozpin, we have a certain degree of transparency with information like this, you'll know as soon as we piece together what we need to." She explained, before reaching into her bag and pulling out a packet of papers.

"What's that, documents of a sort?"

"Not exactly. It's a placement exam so we'll know what year you're most suited to assimilate into, since you're older than most applicants, this is just standard procedure." Alicia explained, before pulling out another sheet with the club listings displayed, and another packet that seemed to be some sort of test as well. "Club listings and an occupational placement assessment. The latter you don't have to follow, but it's recommended you at least take the test as the results can open some doors for you career-wise."

"Oh, alright I get it. Am I taking it now, or do I get a study period?"

"Now. We want to see where you are off the top of your head. Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. Shouldn't take too long, right? Kinda caught me right out of a nap." Yang joked, scratching the back of her head with a wide grin.

"Hah... no, no it shouldn't take too long... let's get this out of the way, Eh?"

She was shocked to see the general standard for education in the Kingdoms was lower than she expected. This girl was old enough to be in her second or third year, but scored at a First Year level. Still higher scores than Ruby showed, but that really wasn't a fair comparison since the Pariah had never even been to school before. Nevertheless, she at least scored high enough for admittance into the Academy, and that's what mattered.

"Alright, after personally grading your exam, I've determined that you are at a First Year Level. Not entirely surprising since statistically New Saunders has higher education standards, but that being irrelevant, allow me to be the first to tell you Congratulations on your admittance to Saunders Academy!" Alicia beamed, getting an excited smirk across the girl's face in response. It was restrained for the girl, but she just assumed that it was for the sake of professionalism.

"And the occupational? What about my results there?" She asked, the glee in her voice was all too obvious, and if nothing else, it was indeed infectious.

"Your results state that you would be a perfect match as an Armorer." Yang's cheerful look didn't fade, but it did have a certain curiosity to it now. "Your experience in the crafting and maintaining of weaponry, namely in your weapon 'Ember Celica' shows that you have evident skill in such technical skills. Additionally, you brought up your history of Arms & Armor Development classes in Signal Academy. With your bad back, that eliminates Mercenary as a suggested career path."

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense. Think I've had enough of fighting, anyways. That melee during your efforts to extract me from Vale... I don't think I ever realized just how horrible all that violence really was until I was there to witness it with my own eyes..." she shivered, remembering all the blood, all the screaming and death from that day. Shaking her head vigorously as if to rid it of the thought, she looked back up to Alicia and beamed a smile. "But I did always enjoy working the forge! So... what electives would you..?"

"Arms & Armor Development, the next two are at your discretion, but I'd recommend trying to get an apprenticeship at Reaper. If you want, I'll arrange a time and a date for you to meet the Armorer on the 20th Ring so you can show him what you do know."

"Ah, yes, that would be perfect! Thank you so much!" Yang quickly stood up and bowed, drawing a laugh out of her.

"Like I said, no need for the formalities. I'm sure you'll be a valued addition to our Academy!" Alicia complimented, standing up from her seat and extending a hand for the blonde ex-brawler to shake, which she very eagerly met in kind. "Now, as much as I'd like to help you out further, I'm working on like four hours of sleep since Ozpin tried to assassinate Devil, so I'm gonna try to get some sleep."

"Alrighty then, sleep well. When will I be getting my tour of the Academy and that stuff?"

"Eh... I'll direct Kay to do all that with you tomorrow, and the school staff will sort all the business with your admittance around the same time. As soon as the Student Council Holiday vacation ends, I'll arrange your meeting with the Armorer. Sound good?" She turned back to tell her all this, giving two thumbs up in a way as if to ask if there wouldn't be any problems with that.

"Yup! Sounds good to me! Now, don't you have some sleep to catch up on? It's super obvious you're sleep deprived, you do know that, right?" Yang states with a concerned laugh, only drawing another laugh from the Student Council President...

"Don't worry too much about it. Take care, Yang." And with that, she took her leave, leaving the Blonde to celebrate her success...

Though initially the increase in security had drawn a fair amount of vocal concern from the citizens of the Nation, by this time ten days later it was as if to the islanders. It certainly didn't help with his mission, as by all means reaching his target was all but impossible now, as was reaching Glynda, never mind extracting her. Both were guarded my Mercenary Honor Guards, hand picked by Kamina himself, and while he could maybe match a Captain in a one on one, a single squad of Honor Guards were considered higher on the power hierarchy than one, meaning his chances at actually defeating all of them were practically nonexistent.

To make matters worse, all contacts on the island had seemingly gone dark, and communication link he held with Ozpin had seemingly been severed, leaving him cut off from all support AND communication. He'd had his suspicions about what happened to his fellow operatives, but he had to see for himself to confirm such. His cynicism proved justified, as so far none of those he'd located so far were alive. It wasn't a pleasant discovery, as a matter of fact he was hoping he'd be wrong, but at least he wasn't caught off guard by their statuses.

"Damn... I got no choice but to lie low for awhile. Not ideal but there's no way I'll be able to return until the flames cool a little." He spoke to himself as he kicked back in a little abandoned shack deep in the forestry of one of the less inhabited islands. It was an old thing, but was still pretty comfortable. It had been serving as his personal hideout in the nation for several years, and he'd discretely renovated it during that time with a heater, a proper bed, a quiet generator, a freezer, a fridge, all the proper kitchen and eating stuff, disguises and even a little furniture. He'd also made sure to pile a fair amount of lien there, since he couldn't risk anything that would link back to him.

It was a hideout not even Ozpin knew about, so he knew for a fact that it was secure. Of course, it never did anyone any good to try the odds, so he made sure to ensure the security of his hideout personally, and was happy to see that at least that much hadn't been compromised. So, with a slightly bored sigh, he kicked back on the couch and turned the small TV he had on, connecting his scroll and sifting through shows and movies he'd had downloaded.

Though he wasn't foolish enough to think that there wasn't people looking for him, so he also already had a bag packed that he could quickly bug out with. He was hoping it wouldn't come to that, after all, he was pretty fond of this little shack, but if it did come to that it wouldn't be an issue.

"For now I just gotta wait for things to calm down a little..." he said to himself, before sifting through pictures of his nieces, Roxanne and Yang. Fond memories played in his mind as a ghost of a smile found its way to the corners of his mouth, before settling on Yang. He still couldn't believe she'd defect just like that, nor could he believe that Ruby of all people was willing to save her, even if she was under orders to do so.

"Huh... maybe I could convince Yang to return to the fold, act as a double-agent or something. She's one of the few precious things I got left in this life, so I'd really rather not be in conflict with her." He spoke to himself, before stretching out on the couch and pulling up a bottle of whiskey for his flask. "Eh, I'll get to it tomorrow. For now, I'll just get drunk and pass out for a bit..."