RWBY: The Redeemer
Merry belated Christmas!
Beta-read by SkyRig
Chapter 34: D.D.D. (IV)
In an undisclosed location within Vale, Cinder was sitting in her private quarters, facing a video call on her computer, where Brunesteid Shamir could be seen from the other end of the connection.
The woman clad in red stared at the screen, "Are you saying that this man." Cinder showed a picture of Claude Rose on her Scroll - taken from a third person point of view, "...Is the very same man that had been missing for the last 20 years, yet he appeared without aging a single day?"
[The manner or circumstances leading to his appearance doesn't matter, but this person is real and will be a threat to our agendas in the long run.]
Brune's voice was heard from the screen in return. Cinder then regarded the man on her Scroll. She recognised him and talked to him, even; then soon after the problem with Tukson, she received another information about his real identity from her current conversation partner. Why did he use a fake name during their first encounter?
However, Cinder had more pressing questions.
"...And you said that Roman Torchwick used to be his partner in the past?" Cinder asked.
[Yes.]
Cinder lightly tapped on her chin before replying, "Do you have any idea how close they were?"
[...I did not spend enough time with them to provide a good answer. However, I heard that, not long after Rose's disappearance, Torchwick cut his ties off with Beacon and became a fugitive as we know at present time. Before Rose's return, I can't say if Torchwick ever made any contact with his old team.]
Cinder gave a soft hum as she digested the information she had received so far. Her mind trailed back to the past developments.
The fiasco at the docks - Roman and a handful of White Fang members were captured, but the former managed to escape soon enough. Not that it was impossible for Torchwick to escape authorities, but Cinder had a nagging feeling that the time frame between his capture and escape was a tad too short. Was he truly as good as he claimed when it came to eluding huntsmen?
There was also the fact that Cinder never really paid attention to the details on how Roman did things. She had been expecting the crook would follow her instructions to the letter after she had shown him what would happen if he were to cross her. He had been doing that so far, but what was the guarantee that he was not planning to back-stab her?
Both of them knew that Cinder held the power, even if he were to cooperate with his 'right-hand' should push comes to shove, but Cinder could never be too careful, especially after she had learned that someone had stolen Emerald's Scroll.
It was too out of the blue, as if someone had caught the wind of their presence, what they intended to do in Vale.
Then added Shamir's latest intel - Cinder began to believe that things might not be as smooth as they predicted.
"...I will look into this information you gave me, Shamir. We'll talk again later." Cinder did not wait for the other woman to reply as she ended the transmission.
She leaned back on her lavish chair, her eyes idly glancing up at the dark ceiling above her, before she spun around to face the two underlings who had been waiting on stand-by.
Mercury Black scoffed, "What that woman said just now sounds like we're dealing with a time-traveler. Do you really believe that?"
Emerald was sending a subtle glare from his side, while Cinder could understand Mercury's skepticism. "It does sound outlandish, but Shamir knows better than making a fool out of herself. Besides, with the strings of development we have encountered so far, we cannot be too careful."
Cinder then turned to Emerald, "Have we received anything new from Torchwick?"
"Not yet, ma'am. Last time he was monitoring the transport of our equipment to Phase 2, before he said that he wanted to spend any little time he has left in town." Emerald provided.
Cinder hummed again as she narrowed her eyes - she had a bad feeling about this.
"...Cinder? Do you think Torchwick is turning on us?"
Emerald finally voiced the one-million lien question. Cinder thought she had a full reign over the thief, but now, she could not ignore the idea anymore. She then met Emerald and Mercury's eyes with her own.
"Call Roman."
Claude and Coco walked around the large cavern, their flashlight-scroll scanning around the structure in front of them.
"What in the world is a small abandoned factory doing in a place like this…?" Coco muttered as she spotted a few pipes on the building.
Claude did not reply, as he was just as clueless as everyone else. However, he spotted one particular picture painted on the walls - an asymmetrical pattern with something similar to the alphabet 'M' in the middle. He took a picture with his Scroll and made a mental note to talk with Barty and Ozpin later on.
However, Claude paused on his tracs as he heard a faint noise. Coco, who was walking behind him, noticing his sudden pause.
"What's wrong?"
"Shh."
Coco was about to approach the older man when he suddenly held up a finger, pausing her on her tracks as well.
"Do you hear that?" Claude quietly asked, while keeping his finger up. "...Listen."
Coco furrowed her eyebrows slightly as she tried to listen to whatever noise Claude was implying. A few seconds later, she blinked - it was faint, but Coco started to hear the sound of dropping water.
Recognizing the look on Coco's face, Claude turned to a direction, "...This way, I think."
It took nearly another minute of walking, but at the edge of the cavern walls, they saw a small stream of water steadily dropping from the cracks from the higher wall.
"This might be water from within the mountain spring…" Claude remarked as he closed in.
"Do you think it's drinkable?" Coco asked as she could use some refreshment for her throat.
Claude inched his face closer, "It's too dark to make it out properly, but at least the water doesn't smell…" He then scooped the water on his palm and quickly took a sip.
Both of them then waited for a few minutes after Claude had swallowed the water.
"It should be okay to drink it for the time being, but don't take too much." Claude then gestured to the girl to take her share of water.
Coco used her both hands to take a big scoop of water and downed the whole liquid. She sighed in relief as her posture relaxed.
"Feel better now?" Claude asked with a small smile, which Coco returned with a nod. "Then let's look around the entrance. If we can get in, we probably can find something useful." Claude suggested.
Coco shrugged, "Fine by me, but how are we getting in?" She gestured at the set of double doors as they returned to the factory.
Claude gave a brief scan around the doors before shrugging, "Knock, knock."
He then proceeded to simply kick the door open, knocking the doors inside with a resounding 'bang'.
"Who's there?" Coco followed up with a small smile, which Claude returned with a small chuckle.
It seemed the exploration proved to be a good distraction, as Coco had regained at least some of her usual attitude. The two then walked inside, traversing through the dark corridor, noticing the worn out schematics and maps on the walls, old and dusty doors, as well as a few machineries they saw along the way.
"So, Coco." Claude decided to start a talk, since the atmosphere gradually turned gloomier. "How's your life before Beacon?"
Coco regarded Claude for a second before she decided to humor him, if only to liven up the mood. "Nothing special; normal family - my dad, mom and three brothers."
Claude would have retorted at the three brothers' mentioning, but then again, Jaune had seven sisters.
"...My dad is a huntsman, though he's no longer as active as before, while my mom owned a clothing shop. You see this? This is her design, my birthday present when I was accepted to Beacon." She gestured her attire with a proud grin. "...Been told about my dad's days as an active huntsman every night before bed. Guess that made me want to be one too."
Claude hummed while nodding before asking again, "So you lived in the city? I take that you went to Pharos, then?"
"Yep, though I'm kind of curious about Signal. Word that some of the best huntsmen graduates used to study there."
"Pharos has their own share of good huntsmen too, y'know?" Claude gave Coco a knowing look.
"True, but my curiosity is thanks to my partner." Coco shrugged.
"Fox? What do you mean?" Claude quirked an eyebrow.
The two had arrived to be an old lobby, complete with a dusty reception desk. Feeling they could catch a little break for their legs, Claude took a seat on a nearby guest chair while Coco hopped on to sit on the desk.
"Fox was originally from Vacuo, but for some reason chose to go to Beacon." Coco began as she made herself comfortable on the old, worn out furniture, making sure that the desk would not collapse under her weight.
"During our team formation in the first year, Fox once mentioned that many people from his old home idolized this… figure, who's some kind of hot-shot who won the 30th Vytal Festival, who was said to be the most competitive than others in history."
Claude scrunched his eyebrows, "30th Vytal Festival… That's over 20 years ago, wasn't it? And you're saying that people at Vacuo are still talking about it?"
Coco quietly giggled, "Yeah, I'm with you there, but according to Fox, the Vacuans who watched the festival was…. Amazed at the whole spectacle. I honestly don't understand what he's exactly talking about…. Oh, I do wonder why there was so little record about the event. Nobody recalled the name of that champion anymore…. But I recall that Shamir Lady from Mistral was one of the top three."
"That sounds kind of crazy if you ask me." Claude replied with a brief chuckle of his own. For some reason, Coco sensed the man was sounding a bit nervous.
"Anyway, what about you? What's your story before Beacon?" Coco asked.
Feeling he should have returned the favour, Claude relaxed himself on his seat. "Born and grew outside the Kingdom's walls with my old man and a younger sister. Never knew much about my mom since she died not long after my sister was born."
Coco felt a pang of sympathy at the mention of the mother, "Sorry to hear that."
Claude merely snorted while waving his hand in return, "It's an old common story you hear everywhere, don't worry about it. Anyway, my dad was in charge of looking after my sister and I, teaching us everything he knew to live, survive, defend ourselves and all that jazz, before he also passed away when us siblings were accepted into Signal Academy."
"Wow… You really had it hard, didn't you?" Coco replied after listening to the brief story.
"Well, the old man was a good hunter, but he's kind of a crappy father. Still, it's not all that bad, you know." Claude retorted with a smile, "My sister was there, I got to lead a team when we entered Beacon, found friends, fell in love, went to many missions and adventures…. Those were fun times." He finished with a sigh.
Coco noticed a small detail and felt uncomfortable again, "You said 'was' when you mentioned your sister…"
Claude's expression dimmed slightly - even Coco could see that despite the lack of lighting in the room they were in. "...Another common story when you became a full-fledged huntress, Coco. Some huntsman went to a dangerous mission either solo or with the whole team, but ended up biting more than they could chew."
The implication itself caused Coco to feel bad.
"I'm…. Shit, I'm so sorry…" Coco apologized while running her hand on her face, as well as inwardly berating herself for leading the topic into a depressing route.
"Hey, you couldn't have known, and I told you my story myself. No need to feel bad." Claude said in a placating tone. "But consider this a lesson; you are a huntress - trainee or not, you will eventually have to deal with dead people on mission, ally or enemy. All I can ask you is not to lose yourself on the way."
Coco regarded Claude's words for a few moments, before she nodded.
Claude then clapped his hands and stood up, "Welp, I guess that's enough breaks. We can continue talking while walking."
"Sure. Say, mind telling me your story with other teachers?" Coco asked as she started to walk next to him.
"What do you mean?" Claude asked.
"It's been kind of a topic among the students. You're like, what? 20? 21? While the youngest teacher at Beacon is in her late 20s, but you seem to get along well with them - Oobleck, Port, even Goodwitch."
Claude thought for a moment, "What can I say? People actually like me."
"I can actually see why." Coco smiled and sent him a quick wink. "But seriously, the way you talked to them, it's as if you lot had history together. In fact, there's even a rumor that you're secretly dating Goodwitch."
Claude snorted, "Seriously? Me with Glynda?"
"There, you even addressed her by her first name. What's up with that?"
"Come on, Coco. Is it so weird for me to get along with my colleagues?" Claude asked with a slightly exasperated tone.
Coco wanted to retort, but eventually shrugged instead, "...You're right when I think about it again, even when your colleagues are nearly twice your age. Yeah, sorry about that."
Claude hummed before speaking again, "Let's go back to you. About your phobia, have you talked to the pros?"
Coco stilled for a second before she sighed, "Well… I actually tried to approach Professor Peach and Doctor Oobleck in my first year, but they were not available so… I was directed to Dr. Apelsin."
Claude winced ever so slightly, before he turned to regard Coco with a worried look. "...How did that go?"
Coco bit her lip and took a deep breath, "Didn't go well. She proceeded to lock me inside a trunk, saying, I quote, 'the best way to conquer your fears is to face them directly', and left me for over half an hour. She did leave me some carton milk and a diaper for me, but the diaper was baby-sized."
The girl ended with a shiver.
Claude sighed this time around, "Look, I'm sorry about her. Jersey might be…. Too creative with her approach, but she takes her doctor's oath seriously at heart. She's reliable when the situation calls."
"...That's another one when you sound like you got history with her. Mind sharing anything?" Coco spoke in return.
"Err…." Claude rolled his eyes around as his mind came up with the very first thing when the word, 'Jersey' and 'past' were mentioned.
Unfortunately, the image of bright lights, dark room, leather straps and buzzsaw, along with the sound of Jersey's demented laugh suddenly invaded his mind, caused him to shiver as well.
"...Y'know, it's nothing interesting, really." Claude ended up saying.
Thankfully, before the conversation could have gone on, the two arrived at the door with a label 'ADMINISTRATION' written.
"Let's see if we can find something worthwhile here…." Claude said as he wrenched the door open.
They entered into a room filled with chairs, long desks, along with several old computers. They looked around, and Coco found some dusty papers in folders.
"Ah, now I remember."
Claude blinked and turned to look at Coco who just finished skimming through the old paperwork.
"I thought I'd seen the logos on the walls earlier. It's Merlot Industries, this building is probably one of its old facilities." Coco finished as she looked around some more.
"Merlot Industries?" Claude asked as his mind recalled the logo he took the picture of.
"Yeah, y'know, that Merlot Industries." Coco asked with a quirked eyebrow, as if she expected Claude to know what she was talking about. "That company used to be a controversial topic years ago, believed to play a major role in the fall of the Mountain Glenn settlement."
Claude knew about Mountain Glenn from his catch-up research with his old team - Vale Kingdom's attempt to expand their territory but failed when the newly built settlement was overrun by Creatures of Grimm. So there was someone who caused the tragedy to happen in the first place?
"...Right." Claude then returned to his exploring as he began opening drawers. "Huh, there's actually still the building's map here." He held out a dusty, laminated map.
"Neat. Where do you want to go?" Coco responded and joined Claude reading the map.
"We're going to see if we can still power up this whole place, I think we can use some extra lights around here." Claude replied as he fingered the map. "If the building lights up then we might have a better visual on the cavern, see if there's another passage for exits. And if we're lucky, we might even be able to get some communications working too."
"I guess I can get behind that." Coco nodded as she leaned forward to get a better look, "Okay, so there's the fuse-box on the upper floor maintenance room, but you need to check on the generator in the basement…. Damn, there's still a basement in this kind of place?"
"Apparently. I'll go to the generator; looking at how old this place is, it's safe to assume that generator needs some wake-up call. You go to the upper-floor, stay in contact."
Coco nodded and the two walked out from the administrator office.
"Coco." Claude called, just before he and the girl were about to part ways. The latter turned and saw Claude chucking something to her. She caught it between her hands, and found she was holding Claude's gun.
"Take it with you, just in case. Do you know how to use it?" Claude asked.
"Sure do." Coco nodded, and she caught an extra ammo pouch. "But are you sure about this?"
Claude simply drew his sword out slightly to show Coco its gleaming blade. "Sure, I am."
"What does that woman want now…?"
Roman muttered under his breath as he entered his dark hideout, crushing his burning cigar in the process.
He and Neo were enjoying themselves in the private room of Junior's club when his 'employer' suddenly called him, asking for an emergency meeting.
Different scenarios played in his mind as the meeting was only a few minutes away. Does she want another update on the progress of the so-called phase 2? Possibly, but she should have known that a new update should only come for another week.
Sudden change of plans? Also possible, but Roman still needed to hear what kind of change he was facing. He really hoped the change, if there was any, did not involve any form of his 'resignation'. In any case, he had asked Neo to secretly come along, she could sneak into the meeting undetected with her Semblance.
He sat himself on a chair before a table in the usual dimly lit room where he and Cinder would discuss their agendas.
It took another few minutes, but Roman did not hear to look who came in when he heard the door opened behind him. The amount of steps heard cued that Cinder also came with her two lackeys, nothing unusual.
"Cindy." Roman greeted with his practiced fake smile, intentionally using an affectionate tone in addressing her name, to gauge a reaction.
"Roman." Unfortunately, the said woman greeted with a collected grace, that made it harder for Roman to get a read on her current mood.
Cinder then suddenly produced a picture on a Scroll and slid the device on the desk, before Roman could have asked anything. When the thief looked at the picture, he blinked and could not hold down the smallest wince of his body.
Whether Cinder missed the wince or simply ignoring it, she did not show. She simply leaned back on her seat while crossing her legs. "One of our own informed us about the existence of this person, and what really caught our attention… is the fact that you and this man had a history together. He was one of the people who stopped the operation at the docks, no?"
Roman kept a calm appearance, but inwardly his mind was wrecking itself for a solution. What a fucking timing - how should he approach this?
Minutes in Roman's mind was actually barely five seconds in the real world, as Roman took out a fresh cigarette and lit it up, taking a drag and blew it to the air above him.
"Yeah, he was the one who messed things up at the docks." Roman replied with a collected facade, "I don't know what he was capable of, but he somehow had enough firepower to take out a couple of bullheads on his own. As for history? Well…."
The thief gave a lop-sided smile and a tilt of his head - a gesture to mask his panic, "I guess we did run into each other before, but nothing worth a note. We're practically strangers."
He really hoped he was selling his story well - mixing some truths and lies together into a believable story. However, he had to ask his own question.
"By the way, who told you about this guy in the first place?"
"Shamir, surprisingly enough." Cinder replied, "...Who also happened to have a small history with you as well."
"Well, she's from Mistral, which I also used to operate at, before I moved to Vale. Is all of this so surprising?" Roman spread his arms out briefly.
"Considering the chains of development as of late, I can't say it's not." Cinder retorted with her eyes narrowed a fraction. "However, perhaps there is something else that truly garnered our attention…"
Roman had a bad sense of foreboding when Cinder leaned forward. "You used to be partners with this man."
Roman managed to snort lightly as a display of denial, "...Whatever do you mean?"
Cinder giggled, the melodic tone escaping her mouth sent shivers up to Roman's spine, "Perhaps I phrased this wrongly."
She then stood up, sauntering around the table until she was standing behind Roman. "It is the most interesting story I've ever heard to date…. You, of all people, were once a student of huntsmen academy, Beacon no less, and was partnered with the man we are talking about. And now, around the time when this man made his presence known, we have been hit by a series of events that delayed our plans in Vale…. Even forced me to skip to phase two."
She trailed her finger on Roman's back, and the latter did not dare to move.
"My point is….. Are you keeping something from us, Roman?" Cinder asked as she clasped her hand on the base between Roman's neck and shoulder.
The crook subconsciously tightened his grip on his Melodic Cudgel, and from the corner of his eyes, he could make out a minor distortion at the dark corner of the room. He glared at the spot, silently conveying a message to Neo not to pull anything yet.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, come on, Cinder. You can't possibly buy everything Shamir said, can you?" Roman managed to keep a moderately flippant tone. "I mean, run by me again; Shamir said we used to be 'partners'? Let me tell you this, Cindy. My partner in this ride has been only Neo and nobody else. Sure, I might have more acquaintances and associates out there, but they are ultimately expendable in the long run. Why would I, an international most-wanted, partner with an honest-to-god huntsman?"
Cinder simply kept her gaze and held firmly on Roman, who inwardly prayed that the woman was actually considering his words.
"Seriously, Cinder. Think about it." The smile on Roman's face had finally vanished, as he met Cinder's gaze with his own. "I don't really know what you're aiming here, but all of us here know that this plan of yours has gone too far on the road to handle any more shitshow. You'll have what you want in time, just like the way you told me to."
Cinder maintained her gaze for another few agonizing moments for Roman, and she finally let go and proceeded to leave the room, "Do be mindful of what you are doing, Roman. For your sake, if not for both ours."
Roman noticed her final glare before Cinder nodded towards her two subordinates - the girl nodded while the guy simply sighed and got off the wall where he leaned on previously.
"I expect more good news from you in future, Roman."
Neo finally revealed her presence after a few seconds Cinder had disappeared by the door. She walked to Roman who was leaning back on his chair, giving a long exhale of relief. She was about to check if he was okay when Roman had already held up a finger and sent her a brief nod.
She nodded back with a small relief on her expression, before the said expression went sour as she turned to give a stink-eye at another pair in the room.
Roman seemed to be aware that Cinder did not take both of her minions with her. "...What the hell are you two still doing here?"
Mercury did not seem offended whatsoever by Roman's hostile tone, while Emerald replied with a frown. In fact, the former was smiling, "Wow, someone's rattled for sure."
Neo held down the urge to brandish her blade from her umbrella and tore him a new one, but she knew better when Emerald was also in the room.
"Gee, what gives you the idea?" Roman sarcastically rolled his eyes before standing up and straightened himself. "Now answer my question, what the fuck are you doing here?"
"Not like we want to get stuck here either." Emerald cryptically bit back.
"You probably have known, but we never planned to let you off the hook completely, so I'm stuck with you until the boss-lady says otherwise." Mercury then flashed a smirk, "Let's just get along, yeah? My old man actually talked a bit more about you."
Roman fixed his bowler - hat and lit up a new cigarette, walking out with Neo by his side, while Mercury and Emerald followed behind him a few seconds later.
Great - just what he needed; things just began to look up when his old partner showed up, and fate just suddenly threw a curved ball at him. Now that he had two pairs of eyes watching his move; forget about working with Claude, Roman needed to figure out to contact him without raising suspicion.
Even Neo, with her Semblance, would have difficulty in moving around if the two kids were watching, especially the minty-haired girl.
oXo
Back in her quarters, Cinder was musing, thinking about her earlier conversation with Roman.
Her conclusion would not change - Torchwick could no longer be trusted, but removing him without concrete evidence could make things more difficult in the long run. Besides, the thief was the only insurance for Cinder to have the means to use Neo's abilities; mute and unpredictable as she was, her set of skills were not easy to find anywhere.
Speaking of, Cinder also could tell that Neo had been eavesdropping their conversation in that room earlier; that simply confirmed that Roman was still necessary to keep Neo in line.
Her thoughts then reeled back to the new player - Claude Rose.
She remembered him just fine; it was short, but the man who previously introduced himself with a fake name actually put an impression on her.
Not to mention, the way Shamir spoke about him however, was intriguing, as far as Cinder recalled her earlier conversation; the wolf faunus was not a reckless type, but for someone of her calibre to be wary of one man? The fact that the man also possessed the silver eyes that her master had warned Cinder about, only cemented the man's potential to jeopardize everything she had worked hard for.
She needed to learn more. Torchwick could be her best lead, however, Cinder suddenly found another idea that put a smile on her face.
The idea was a risky one, but if she were to play her cards right, at the very least she would have nothing to lose.
Claude was traversing through the dinky dark basement, exploring the entire room to learn where every machinery had been placed.
"Alright, Coco. I see the generator now. How's your end?" Claude spoke to his transmitter.
A small static later, Coco's voice could be heard in Claude's ear.
[Dark, dusty, and these hardwares are kind of old. I don't know if the fuse box is still working.]
Claude nodded as he stood in front of what he believed as the power generator, "One way to find out. I'll see if I can jumpstart this generator."
[...Do you even know anything about this kind of stuff?]
Unable to blame Coco's skepticism, Claude shrugged, "Let's hope it's not much different with jumpstarting a car."
Claude would not call himself an expert with the engine before him, but he knew enough that engines ran on electricity. Generators like the one Claude was dealing with, usually used a Lightning Dust crystal as a power source before it could generate power on its own.
However, a quick inspection obviously showed that the Dust chamber was empty, and the generator required as Claude had said - a jumpstart.
Placing his hand inside the Dust chamber, Claude willed his Semblance to come to life and do the job. He only hoped that his idea would work.
Small bursts and sparks blew and flew through the machineries across the room, causing Claude to flinch and briefly fear if he put too much power into the generator. However, a few seconds later, the generator began to glow and give a steady humming sound without any more sparks flying around.
Claude watched around for another few seconds to see if everything worked properly before he sighed in relief.
"Coco, I've started the generator. Hit it." Claude spoke to his transmitter.
[On it.]
oXo
Coco pulled down a sizable lever after she received the cue from Claude, and after a few seconds, she heard a steady hum around her and the entire room was lit up with power. She sighed in relief as the space around her felt quite wider with the lights on.
"Alright, teach. We got ourselves some power back. What now?"
[See if you can get into the security room or the one we were at earlier, whichever is closer to your position. Check on the security cameras, find out what this building has in store. I'll head back up and rendezvous with you.]
"Roger that." Coco nodded at the instruction and set out to do her next task.
The closest room happened to be the security office that Claude had mentioned. The door was opened, hanging off by only one of its two hinges. Ignoring the dilapidated door, Coco found a computer set connected to an array of screens of security cameras.
"Okay, let's see what we have here…" Coco pressed the power button of the CPU, and to her immense relief, the computer screen came to life and seemed to be in a working order. She immediately began to work - IT was not her forte, but she had seen her mother using computers for accountant and administration works for her clothing store, so she more or less knew where to look.
She inwardly cheered when she managed to find a program access to the security cameras, and the screens before her came to life in black and white colour, displaying live feeds of various places within the building.
There were quite a lot of places to cover, but Coco did not take long to spot Claude walking out of the basement entrance.
"Alright, Claude. I can see you from the cameras. I'm at the security office on the same floor as the maintenance room."
[Copy that. Stay there and see what else you can find about this place. I'll join you soon.]
"Will do. Man, things are actually looking up now."
[I hear ya.]
Coco giggled as she proceeded to look at the camera screens in leisure, only to blink when she found a peculiar feed - showcasing one of the facilities that Claude and Coco had not explored before.
The feed showed what looked like to be a large testing-lab with a massive glass tube suddenly cracked because there was something smashing against the see-through platform. Coco only heard the Merlot Industry's slogan being, 'building a better tomorrow', yet neither she nor anyone else was truly aware of what was happening behind the company's doors.
"What the...?"
She could only watch in growing horror as the glass tube shattered, releasing a dubious amount of liquid and something came out from the dust caused by the chain-reaction following its release.
At the same time, an alarm suddenly blared throughout the building. The computer inside the screen was flashing a warning red sign of 'biohazard'. Coco returned to the camera feed to see the creature that came out, suddenly let loose a loud roar.
Claude blinked when he suddenly heard a loud blaring noise throughout the hall he was walking on, followed by an echoing howl.
[Claude, we have a situation here!]
Coco's panic voice did not really help, not that he could blame her.
"Yes, Coco. I've heard it from all the way here. Can you check on what we are dealing with here?"
[It's… a Grimm, looks like an Alpha Beowulf, but… this one looks weird. I... can't make it out for sure from camera feed alone.]
Claude frowned at the information, but pushed forward nonetheless. "In any case, just keep your eye on it. I'm approaching the lobby now."
[Got it, but… Oh shit, I think it just walked through the hallway we were at earlier.]
Claude paused when he arrived at the building's lobby, when the said Grimm suddenly burst out from the door from the other end.
"Contact!" Claude screamed to his transmitter before he immediately brandished his sword to intercept the incoming creature.
He barely heard Coco's reply as he stepped forward and swung the blade, only to find the Grimm suddenly leapt over him in an evasive maneuver, avoiding his attack in the process.
Claude then found himself in a stand-off against an Alpha Beowulf. Now that he got a better look, the Grimm was indeed strange.
It stood tall on its hind legs, its posture was pretty much feral like any other Grimm. Not only it was taller than normal Beowulf Claude had encountered - as far as he knew, Creatures of Grimm were clad in bony, skeletal armor with red linings; and Claude had certainly never seen a Grimm with emerald crystal spikes jutting out from its arms, shoulders, and back.
Moreover, its behaviour was what caught Claude's attention the most; normally, a Grimm would immediately charged with reckless abandon towards anyone, but the Grimm in front of him - it chose to crouch low to the ground, its eyes never left him as if he was observing him.
Damn - intelligent Grimm was rare, but not unheard of, and running into one was one of the last things Claude needed. At least there was only one enemy there.
"Claude!"
Both Claude and the creature perked up and turned to see Coco coming from the door where the Grimm came out from. Without wasting any second, Coco aimed Claude's Mjolnir Mk. II at the monster and pulled the trigger.
Claude was about to call her to stand down when Coco had already fired several rounds at the mutated creature, who proceeded to showcase a surprising display of agility by jumping around, avoiding every bullet coming its way.
Fortunately, Coco still knew better than to waste ammo as she focused more on getting better aim while darting the gun around, her eyes trying to follow the creature's movement. The Grimm was latching itself on the wall by planting its claws deep through the surface, growling at its recent attacker.
Coco kept her gun aimed at the creature, her eyes were wide in bewilderment at the sight. However, Claude noticed that the emerald spikes on its body suddenly grew ever so slightly.
The Grimm then let out a brief roar as it leapt away from the wall and swung its arms.
"Take cover!"
Claude yelled when a small barrage of emerald spikes were launched towards them. Both him and Coco quickly jumped out of the way, scrambling until they regroup to take cover under the reception desk.
Claude was about to press against the desk's inner surface when several spikes embedded itself through the other end of the desk.
"Whoa!"
Claude nearly avoided a spike crashing into his head, while Coco's beret hat was not so fortunate as it was blown away by a stray spike. Coco automatically went to retrieve the said hat when Claude's arm immediately shot out and kept her back. A stern look from him easily told her that they had bigger problems to deal with.
"Dammit, what the hell is that thing?!" Coco hissed as she hid beneath the table.
"I don't know, never seen a Grimm like this either." Claude carefully peeked out from his cover to find the creature was back on the ground, continuing its observation while growling at them. "...And it appears to be smarter than your average Grimm."
"Yeah… I'm starting to see that. Why isn't it attacking us?" Coco asked as she also peeked from her hiding spot.
"It's… observing." Claude narrowed his eyes. "It chooses to counter rather than diving head-first to attack us. Forget about being smarter, this thing is too smart to be a normal Grimm."
"Yeah, and that's discounting the color. What's the plan now?" Coco asked.
Claude watched the Grimm for another few seconds before he nodded, "Smarter or not, that thing is still bent on killing us. We need to finish it off here." He then turned to meet Coco's gaze. "You back me up from here. I'll engage him."
Coco nodded grimly, "Got it, but we don't have too much ammo."
Claude nodded back, "Let's make it count, then."
Without another word, Coco took another breath and stood up from her position, releasing several high-calibre shots towards the mutant Grimm, who leapt away from the incoming bullets, momentarily distracted to notice Claude bolting out from his hiding spot, careening with his sword ready to fight.
The mutant had seen him coming, and responded by a swipe of its claw, aiming to his head. In return, Claude simply went low, avoiding the swipe and slid down on the floor, his blade pointing out to carve through its legs.
The Grimm growled, seemingly in pain, while Claude scowled as he felt too much resistance to his liking, as the cut was not deep enough. He stood up, ready to engage the Grimm again as he willed his Semblance to life.
Both him and Coco would still have to search for the way out to the surface, thus he planned to conserve his Aura and energy as much as possible, thus he simply coated his sword with electricity, enough to increase its cutting power - a stun-blade.
The Grimm growled menacingly as it marched towards Claude and began attacking. Despite its previous display of intelligence, the creature's combat style was nothing different than any other Grimm - packs a lot of power, yet sloppy, predictable.
In return, combined with Coco's pot-shots every now and then, Claude managed to score several gashes and cuts thanks to his electric blade. Each hit, if they did not cut, they would electrocute the creature, stunning it in the process for a couple of seconds. The tide of the battle seemed to be in Claude's favor as he would soon find an opening to deliver the killing blow.
However, just when Claude intended to drive the blade straight through the creature's ribcage, it suddenly leapt back, out of Claude's reach. Claude was about to give chase when the Grimm did not even waste a second to retreat and vanish through the door where it came out from.
"Shit!" Coco, who happened to be closer to the door where the Grimm had run off to, immediately ran to give chase.
"Coco, wait!" Claude quickly caught up and stopped the young woman before she could have made an entrance. Ignoring Coco's confused look, Claude turned his scroll-flashlight and peered through the corridor.
The Grimm did not just withdraw - while running through the hallway, before it disappeared at one corner, it had shattered the lamps illuminating the room, leaving a dark corridor in its wake to obscure its escape.
Coco could only stare at the sight in shock, "...Since when could Grimm come up with a tactic like that?"
Holding down his own grimace, Claude carefully stepped inside, "That Grimm's appearance is not normal to begin with, it didn't act based on aggression alone when it saw us for the first time. That emerald color tone on its body… might have something to do with its intelligence."
"Ain't that just great." Coco sarcastically retorted, "What do we do now?"
Claude then met Coco's gaze, "We can't let that thing roam free. Who knows what kind of damage it can cause outside. We have to hunt it down here and now."
Coco exhaled, yet she also stepped inside and stood by Claude's side, "I don't like this plan one little bit, but I can't disagree with you. Lead the way, sir."
"Stick together, and watch each other's backs." Claude instructed, and when he saw Coco swallow an anxious lump while nodding, he took a gentle hold on her shoulder, "Hey, Coco. Look at me." The young woman trailed her anxious gaze to meet his reassuring one. "We're gonna be fine, and we're getting out of here."
At Claude's tone, Coco found herself smiling as she gave a firmer nod. The two then walked side by side further into the facility's interior.
Claude and Coco walked in a sedated pace as they both scanned through the dark corridor with their scroll-flashlight. The latter was pointing her flashlight in tandem with her borrowed gun, checking any dark spot where she thought the creature might be hiding.
"Say, Coco. Where did you see this Grimm coming from again?" Claude asked as he kept vigilant on his surroundings.
"I'm not sure, but it came out from some kind of a test tube from one of the labs." Coco replied with a frown on her face, "...Why would they keep a Grimm in a place like this?"
Claude also had his own frown, "Mind telling me what kind of stuff did the Merlot Industry work on?"
"Nobody really knew. All the media said that the company was doing a project that will ensure I quote, 'better future for mankind'. Though, there were some real creepy stories that the company had been researching on Grimm, believing that they were the key for humanity's next evolution or something."
"...That's disturbing." Claude retorted with a flat tone.
"No shit, it was. Just look at that thing earlier." Coco returned. "...Not sure if I want to know what they had gone through to make a Grimm like that."
"Here, here. But there's one thing that bothers me." Claude replied, "...How did they keep that Grimm alive in captivity in the first place? As far as I recall, every Grimm that had been captured for studies in the past always died within a day."
Neither Claude or Coco could come up with an answer. The mysteries they encountered had been giving them even more bizarre questions. Nevertheless, they needed to focus on their own survival first and foremost.
The first destination they looked for was the maintenance room where Coco had turned the power back on earlier. Considering the Grimm was smart enough to take out the lights in the immediate vicinity, they did not want to chance it to figure out how to take all the lights out in one fell swoop. Hence the safest bet was to see if the creature had made it to the maintenance room.
The trip did not take long; as soon as they reached the upper floor, both of them were visibly relieved. Some of the lights were broken, but they spotted a few of them were not out completely - hung by the wire to the wall and gave a weak flickering.
The power was still running throughout the building, it appeared the Grimm had yet to reach the maintenance room. Nevertheless, it would not hurt to take another look just in case.
When Claude entered the maintenance room with Coco in tow, he noted that the room was bigger than he expected. There was not just a fusebox; there were other compartments and machineries that he assumed to be the server mainframe, regulators, etc. From the perspective of someone like him with nearly zero knowledge in electrical engineering, he could only describe the room being 'ran by electricity'.
Still, at least he knew what the fuse box looked like.
"Looks like the power is still running. We are surely so screwed if the Grimm somehow made a mess in this room." Coco remarked after she gave a quick look around.
"...Yeah, you're right." Claude said as he looked around, in between the consoles, the room, and the entrance door.
Noticing Claude's behaviour, Coco cocked her head slightly, "...Claude?"
"Slight change of plans. We need to try the communications first." Claude turned to Coco. "There has to be something that allowed this building to make contact with the outside. If we can figure that out we can tell everyone else outside and warn them about what we saw here."
Coco regarded the sudden change of course of action for a moment before she nodded. They both were about to walk towards the exit when they froze at the tall black shape standing by the door - its emerald eyes glowing menacingly in the dimly lit space.
"Fuck!"
Claude barely managed to shove Coco out of the way when the mutant Grimm came barreling towards them. He was too late to intercept the incoming attack as the creature gave a powerful swing that connected, sending him crashing into one of the server mainframes.
"Claude!"
Coco shouted in worry before she growled at the Grimm and aimed her gun, but when the Grimm had already leapt out of the line of fire, she remembered that one misfire could damage something sensitive in the room. She clicked her tongue in frustration as she tried to follow the creature's movements, she ended up having to take a dive-roll to the side as the creature lunged at her.
However, as Coco dodged, the Grimm's attack ended up landing on several wires and contraptions that were connected with the fuse box. The walls burst out with unstable power with sparks flying.
"NO!" Claude shouted in alarm as the chain reactions caused a power failure.
The room became considerably darker, save for some red lights signifying that the emergency generator had been automatically set as the alternative power source. Despite the poorer visuals, Claude was not deterred as he dashed towards the Grimm with his sword ready, and the two engaged in another fight.
Claude managed to land several slashes, while dodging and parrying the creature's onslaughts, but he could not help but wonder: hasn't he already done quite a number on that thing earlier? The creature's movements were still full of vigor much to his chagrin.
When the creature threw a low swipe of its arm, Claude jumped and used the opportunity to land another slash on its back shoulder, dropping and rolling on the floor away from the creature to get a brief reprieve.
However, Claude could see it - see well enough to see that some of the wounds he had inflicted on the creature were slowly, but surely, closing. Smart, and capable of regeneration? He really had to figure something out to kill it.
Before the two could have tangoed again, however, the Grimm suddenly received several shots impacting its side. It growled and roared towards Coco who was pointing the smoking gun at it.
Claude noted that with the bullets of his revolver/hand-cannon embedded into its flesh, the regeneration seemed slower as it took time to dislodge the bullet first. Knowing that it had been caught off-guard, the Grimm sent another growl before it bolted out of the room, retreating once again.
Once the Grimm was out of sight, Coco immediately went towards her companion, "Claude! You okay?"
Claude nodded as his eyes did not leave the door where the Grimm vanished. "I'm good, what about you? How many rounds do you have left?"
Coco did a quick check on her inventory before replying, "Not much, but that scuffle earlier ended up wrecking some of the engines. Why did that thing have to get a drop on us now, of all times?"
"It… had been waiting, watching." Claude replied with a wary tone. "It was waiting for us to lower our guard down."
Coco grimaced, "Dammit, just how smart this thing can get? What's next it's capable of? Using weapons?"
"Grimm might never be the smartest compared to us, but they're never been the dumbest thing alive either. Let's hope we never find out more what it can learn." Claude then straightened himself up. "There's barely power running this place, but it's still there. We don't have the time to fix this room. Let's see if we can still figure the way out of this place before the building's completely left dry… Before that thing can get another drop on us."
Coco nodded and they both marched out.
Christmas Special
It was another party which took place every winter at Beacon Academy, where team STRQ and CBPR would gather and have fun together in their dormitory common room.
Various food, drinks and entertainment had been prepared courtesy of Tai, Roman, Peter and Barty. The latter three were relaxing at the couch while the former had to go somewhere else to grab one last prop for the party.
Everyone had prepared their gifts, even Raven, miraculously, had prepared her own present, although she had to be pestered by the teamwork of Summer, Qrow and Claude. The woman was sitting on the table next to her brother, contemplating if she was really joining the occasion, which she thought was a waste of time.
Claude and Summer, on the other hand, were looking out to see the party went smoothly without problem.
"This is going to be a great christmas celebration! No, the best!" Summer spoke giddily before she pouted, "...Unlike that year before when Raven and I had to stop two Santa Clauses duking it out in the mall while we're supposed to have fun girl-time."
oXo
It was a case that began with an argument between two part-time workers dressed as Santa Clause whose working schedule and paycheck ended up interfering with each other, and the heated verbal argument escalated into a brawl, which Raven and Summer, who happened to be nearby, had to interfere before the surrounding civilians got caught in the crossfire.
Raven just finished subduing one Santa with a swift haymaker on the face, and was about to engage the other Santa when the latter brandished a pocket knife.
The woman merely sighed as she held her hand forward. "Really? Look, pal. Put that thing away before you make things worse for yourself." Her attempt to placate things down was rather half-hearted, but still an attempt, nonetheless.
However, before the knife-wielding Santa could have done or said anything in return, a boot suddenly shot up from behind him, right in between his legs as Summer delivered a solid kick square on his family jewels.
The knife-wielding Santa groaned in agonizing pain as he fell down, clutching his throbbing crotch.
Raven looked amused at the sight. Summer, however, looked excited about the whole thing.
"Boom! I just kicked Santa in the balls!"
When Summer looked up to her partner, who was nodding approvingly at her, Summer's lips grew into a proud smile until Raven's gaze then flickered to something behind. Summer followed the gaze and found that there were children, accompanied by their parents, who had been witnessing the whole debacle with befuddled looks on their faces.
In return, Summer could only smile awkwardly with guilt written across her face. "Um… Merry Christmas!"
oXo
"Uugh… Now I'm reminded on their mothers' disapproving and judging looks on me." Summer whined as she covered her face in shame.
Claude circled his arm around Summer's shoulder in a comforting manner. "Come on, now, sis. At least you managed to score something positive with Raven." He threw a quick glance at his 'girlfriend', who merely raised an eyebrow at him, before he returned to his sister.
"...Besides, I think that was far tamer than what happened to me and Rome earlier today." He then glanced at his partner, who had been listening and gave an unapologetic shrug in return.
oXo
It just happened when CBPR received a distress call from the VPD that a group of robbers was on the loose and they required the nearest huntsmen to assist.
The team had split up into teams of two, with Claude and Roman following a trail that led them to an outdoor Christmas tree shop.
Long-story-short, as soon as Roman caught a suspicious-looking individual whom quickly turned out to be the crook, a fight erupted within the shop, scaring off the other customers and visitors.
The subjugation did not take long. However, in the process, Claude and Roman accidentally knocked over a heater stationed inside the shop, causing a chain of reaction that caught the trees and other merchandise on fire.
The visitors who brought their children along eventually witnessed a couple of disheveled-looking huntsmen standing over a couple of criminals on the ground with burning trees serving as the background.
Roman, who was high in adrenaline, ended up pointing at the children, "Take a good look, kids. This is what happens when you're naughty!"
oXo
"Beacon received several written complaints meant for my team…. Roman and I probably will have to work on New Year's eve to make it up for the damages." Claude said with a sigh of resignation.
Summer could only pat her brother's arm while offering a sympathetic expression.
Then, Tai entered the room, bringing a bundled cloth which he dropped in the middle of the room.
Once the blonde had garnered everyone's attention in the room, he spoke, "Alright, folks. Thanks for waiting for me to fetch the dopest Christmas tree in history."
"...Okay, but where's the tree?" Qrow asked in retort as nobody saw anything resembling a tree when Tai walked in.
Summer's face lit up as if she found an epiphany. "It's always been inside of us all along… That's brilliant, Tai!"
Everyone gave Summer's idea quizzical looks, although Tai gave a brief smile, "No, Summer. Not a bad idea, but not everything is inside of us all along. The tree is right here!" He reached down to unravel the clothed bundle, and revealed another crumpled green bundle.
"...Cool, can we go now?" Raven decided to call it a night and stood up.
"Absolutely not." Tai refuted before he gestured at the green bundle on the floor. "Behold, the first inflatable Christmas tree, the best one the town has to offer. And now, just like the Saint Nick has always said…. Turn on the compressor." He then proceeded to power up the small compressor that was attached to the fake tree.
The machine began to work with a loud hum, and the tree began to inflate inside the room.
"It's deafening!" Summer shouted as she covered her ears.
Claude, on the other hand, watched as the tree grew bigger by seconds. "Err, Tai? It's getting really big, what size of this tree did you get?"
"It's the jumbo size!" Tai replied, as his body was pushed away by the inflating tree.
"Jumbo? But I recall jumbo is 10 meters tall!" Peter put in his two-cents.
"...Which is roughly 32.81 feet!" Barty followed with his own input before his face contorted in alarm. "It needs to be stopped! Someone unplug the power! Unplug it now!"
Tai began to force his way through the inflating tree, but the tree's growth rate overpowered him.
"He can't! The tree has swallowed its own plug!" Roman pointed as he also stood up in panic.
"Everybody, out of the room!" Claude managed to make his way towards the door and opened it for the rest to escape through.
Soon, Claude closed the door shut, which had been built to open inside the common room. "Okay, I guess the tree is now contained. Is everybody alright?" He asked around.
Raven was the first to finish the head-count, "No, we left a man behind."
Everyone turned and heard Tai's muffled scream as the man banging the door from inside the fully-stuffed common room.
Claude watched the struggle behind the door for a second before he sighed and returned to address everyone else. "Well, Tai has to stay there forever to owe up his own doing. All we can do now is move on with our lives. This is what Tai would've wanted."
Then, the door finally broke, unable to keep the tree and Tai contained any longer. The man was sprawled on the floor, along with the remains of the broken door. He got up with a terrified look on his face, as if he had barely escaped death.
Everyone stared with uncertainty at Tai in a few seconds of silence until Summer awkwardly broke it, "...God blesses everyone?"
In response, much to everyone's surprise, Tai's face broke into a grin as he pumped up his fists
"YEEAAAH!"
Everyone else also cheered with Tai and celebrated Christmas that night.
Once again, Happy Holidays! I'm looking forward to spend the upcoming 2021 with y'all!
