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What say we wrap up Grimm Eclipse?
Chapter 57
What happened next was all a blur for Ruby. One second she was furious at what Merlot had done, the next she was watching as a Heartless dissolved under the power of her Keyblade. She looked around the room, panting hard, but all the creatures were dead.
At least the people they used to be could rest easy. It was the least they deserved.
Merlot was going to pay.
"Hey, it's okay," Yang's voice snapped her out of her anger as her sister pulled her into a hug. "They're gone now."
"We-we couldn't save them," Ruby said, burying her face into Yang's shoulder.
"No, we couldn't" Yang said sadly. She pulled back from Ruby, holding both of her shoulders so she could look her in the eyes. "But you saved her." Ruby looked behind Yang at the little girl, who was looking at her in awe. Ruby nodded, separating from her sister and walking towards the girl. She kneeled down so she was at eye level with the girl.
"Hi," Ruby said. "I'm Ruby. What's your name?"
"Marlene," the girl said.
"Marlene," Ruby confirmed. "A pretty name for a pretty little girl," she said, ruffling the girl's hair, making Marlene giggle.
"Um," Marlene said. "What happened to Mommy and Daddy?" Ruby's face fell and she slowly stood back up to her full height.
"Were they in those pods?" she asked. Marlene nodded. Ruby shook her head sadly. "I'm so sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" the girl asked in confusion. Cinder put a hand on Marlene's shoulder.
"They're gone," she said.
"Where did they go?" Marlene asked, still too young to understand what they meant.
Was this what I was like when Mommy died? Ruby thought. Her fists clenched and she looked around the room again. She saw an observation room in a closed-off, elevated room, separated by glass. She could see several computer terminals inside the room.
"Professor Ozpin," she said into the scroll, "Will any computer terminal work?"
"It should," the headmaster confirmed.
"I just found one. It's in the control room."
"Good luck getting to it," Merlot taunted. "That room is sealed up tight, and even your weapons can't blow through the door."
Ruby said nothing, just picking up Marlene, handing her to Mom, and marching towards the door. She summoned Crescent Rose, pointed it at the door, and a beam of light fired out of the tip of her weapon, unlocking the door.
"How did you-?!" Merlot asked, dumbfounded.
"Mynt, can you get us in?" she asked. The black-haired girl nodded in determination, walking into the control room and taking a seat at one of the computers.
"Miss, Noir, can you proxy the signal over to me with your scroll?" Professor Ozpin asked. Mynt nodded, and got to right to work, typing away at the keyboard. After a few minutes, Professor Ozpin spoke up. "That ought to do it," the headmaster said. "I have everything I need. You all need to head down to the lower levels, to the Manufacturing Wing. Thanks to this terminal, I can override Merlot's control over the elevators and send you straight there."
"I'll be waiting…" Merlot said.
"I have some good news for you," Professor Ozpin said. The group was standing together in an elevator, Ruby holding Marlene protectively. "The coordinates of Merlot's secret lab were contained within the data retrieved from the terminal. An airship has been deployed and will rendezvous with you shortly."
"Good," Ruby said. "Let's wrap this up and leave."
"You should be entering a power facility," the headmaster informed them. "Destroy everything you see that may be vital to Merlot's operation."
"With pleasure," Mercury said, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet as the elevator door opened. The door opened to a large room filled with indecipherable machinery, and a large number of Merlot's robots.
"You're not authorized to be in here!" Merlot's voice shouted at them.
"I'll show you where you can shove your 'authorization'!" Yang shouted, punching her fists into each other.
"Break everything!" Ruby said, keeping hold of Marlene and staying away from the fight, as much as she wanted to break stuff. Thankfully, seven students and a teacher were more than enough to pick up her slack, and the machinery and robots were reduced to sparking heaps, and the lights in the facility were flickering.
"You did it!" Professor Ozpin said. "That will deliver a shock to Merlot's system."
"Fine then," Merlot said, any hint of playfulness gone from his voice. "If that's how you want to play…"
"According to my map of the lab, this room contains processing equipment for his serum," Professor Ozpin said. "You need to take it out. All of it." The room was filled with large tubes containing various fluids.
"Stop them!" Merlot shouted, and more robots appeared to fight them.
"Yeah, because robots worked the last six times he tried it," Emerald said sarcastically, drawing her weapons. "Why not try it a seventh?"
The robots were easily gunned down, and when they were destroyed, Weiss used some Burn Dust to break the tubes and combust the fluids.
"My serum," Merlot said forlornly. "No matter. Thankfully, I may have already synthesized the perfect combination. It's still in a test phase, but so far the data is looking very impressive."
"Fantastic work," Professor Ozpin said. "I must admit, you've really handled this well. The team back at Beacon is cheering for you."
"We still need to take Merlot down," Ruby said.
The group ran into a large, seemingly empty room. They looked around warily, knowing that something was going to attack them. They slowly walked to the center of the room, when Merlot finally decided to speak to them.
"Welcome to the training grounds, students," the mad doctor said. "Why don't you go ahead and get acquainted with my test subjects? They could use the exercise."
"Bring it!" Yang said. "We've stopped everything you threw at us!"
"Yes, but you were all together," Merlot said. "Let's even the playing field a little bit." They could hear a rumbling noise above them, and they looked up to see a large sheet of metal falling towards them.
"Move!" Mercury shouted, and everyone dove away. When the sheet of metal fell, a wall was dividing the room perfectly. Mom, Team RWBY, and Merlene were on one side, and Team FMBS was trapped on the other side.
"Cinder!" Ruby called out.
"Merc!" Yang yelled.
"Get ready," Mom said, summoning her Keyblade. A hatch in the ceiling opened, and what looked like hunks of metal fell out, colored purple.
"What is that?" Weiss asked. The hunks of metal started twitching, making the girls jump.
The pieces started floating, taking positions around a cylindrical piece with the Heartless's symbol emblazoned on the front. Before long, the pieces took the form of an armored knight, with large gauntlets floating next to it, the cylindrical body floating above a pair of large greaves, and a helmet floating above all of it.
"What in the world?" Blake asked, drawing her sword.
"What kind of Heartless is that?" Yang asked.
"I don't know," Ruby said, putting Marlene down. "But we have to stop it." Mom raised a hand, and a barrier appeared around Marlene.
"Sit tight, sweetie," Mom said. "That barrier will keep you safe."
"Okay!" the little girl said. Ruby summoned Crescent Rose, and faced the Heartless.
"Let's take this bucket of bolts down!" She shouted.
"Looks like he wants us separated," Mercury said, kicking the meta wall.
"Step aside," Cinder said. "I'll melt through it." She walked up to the wall, using her Semblance to heat up the air. Before she could touch the wall, however, a hatch opened up in the ceiling, dropping a large Grimm into the chamber with them. It clearly used to be a Deathstalker, except this one was even bigger than they usually were, with green spikes sticking out all over its body. Emerald drew her pistol, Neo dispelled her Semblance around her usual weapon, holding her umbrella instead of using her stolen glaive. Cinder created a bow using her Semblance and stared down the mutant Deathstalker.
"Of course he mutated a Deathstalker," Emerald said in frustration.
"Take out the cameras," she said. "I'm going to use my power. I don't want any witnesses.:
"Got it," Emerald said, scanning the room for any mounted cameras.
"Mercury, Neo, keep it busy."
"You're the boss," Mercury said with a shrug, running towards the giant Grimm. Green spiks burst up from the floor, and Mercury and Neo easily dodged out of the way. The Deathstalker swung its claws at them, but they ducked underneath the attacks, striking the Grimm in the face. Emerald began firing at the cameras, and Cinder fired arrows at the Deathstalker's face while her Tea Leaf was doing that.
"Camera's are taken care of," Emerald said.
"Good," Cinder said. She drew upon her stolen power, and flames erupted out of her eyes. "Get away from it!" she shouted, throwing a large fireball at the Mutant Deathstalker, cracking the carapace of its armor. "How dare you?" she said to it. "I am a servant of your Mistress! How dare you attack me?!" She froze water vapor in the air, forming into large ice spears, which she sent flying at the Grimm. "You were a proud creature once! But you let that madman pervert you!" Bolts of lightning rained down. "Now I have to put you out of your misery!" She fired another large fireball, this one breaking through its armor, making the Deathstalker slump downwards. She could see its body start to swell, and created an ice wall to protect her team. The Mutant Deathstalker exploded, painting the entire room with green goop that was blocked by the ice wall.
"Disgusting," Cinder said.
The girls dove out of the way as all of the pieces making up the Heatless slammed into the ground to try and crush them.
"Thorn!" Ruby shouted, firing roses stem-first at the Heartless. However, they just bounced off its armor.
The creature stood back up, its limbs floating back into place.
"It's armor it tough!" Ruby warned the others.
As the group approached the Heartless, it started spinning its arms around it's body turning them into a whirlwind. The arms smacked Yang, knocking her back. Yang growled and activated her Semblance, her eyes turning red and her hair catching fire. She charged forward and punched one of the Heartless's legs, making the limb disappear in a puff of smoke.
"Huh," she said. "That wasn't what I was expecting."
"Go for the limbs!" Mom shouted, and the team charged at the Heartless again. Except its limbs separated from its body, flying to different parts of the room.
"Oh, come on!" Yang yelled. "Stay still so we can kill you!"
Ruby growled in frustration, and locked-on to the limbs. She unleashed her Shotlock, tearing through the creature's limbs, leaving just the torso behind.
"It should be helpless now!" Blake yelled. And then the torso started spinning rapidly, knocking the Faunus girl back.
"I think you spoke too soon," Weiss said.
"Just die already!" Yang yelled, firing several shots at the Heartless. Mom charged at it, jumping up and slashing at the Heartless's torso. Ruby transformed her Keyblade into its sniper mode, and fired at it. The torso suddenly stopped moving. The helmet shuddered, and rolled off the top of the torso. A pink Heart floated up from the monster's fading body, and the Heartless disappeared.
"Finally!" Yang said. They heard a blast from next to them, and saw that Cinder had blown the metal wall open, allowing her team to rejoin them.
"Looks like we missed the fun," Cinder said.
"No!" Merlot shouted. "My creation! This is inconceivable!"
"Take that, you monster!" Ruby yelled.
"It's over, Merlot," Professor Ozpin said. "You've got nothing left."
"There's something I can do," Merlot said ominously before a loud rumble sounded out throughout the facility.
"Merlot is going to blow up the whole lab!" Professor Ozpin yelled. "You've got to escape!"
"Let's end this with a bang!" Merlot yelled.
"Time to go!" Ruby said, scooping up Marlene while the group bolted through a nearby open door.
"There's the ship!" Yang yelled as the group ran out of an escape hatch. The ship in question was waiting for them, it's doors open. With a final burst of speed, they dove into the cabin of the ship.
"Go!" Mom yelled to the pilot. The ship rapidly rose in response, and Ruby quickly strapped Marlene into one of the seats. They took off not a moment too soon, as the research facility was engulfed in a large inferno. Ruby slumped down in the seat next to Marlene, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Fantastic work, everyone," Professor Ozpin said. "I'll see you as soon as you land safely back at Beacon."
"But Dr. Merlot is still out there," Blake said.
"We'll discuss that when you get back. Until then, rest up."
Dr. Merlot opened his back door to the lab, hastily trying to get to his escape craft before the lab detonated. He couldn't believe those children had ruined years of research! It would take him years to collect that many specimens again! He stepped through the door, only to jump slightly at seeing a person standing there.
"Oh, it's you," he said in relief. The man before him was of average height, and wore a long, black coat with the hood up, obscuring his face.
"Yup, it's me," the man said. "I see you managed to perfect the new Heartless."
"Oh, please," Merlot said. "That was far from perfect. I still can't control them."
"You were never supposed to," the hooded man said.
"I'm sorry?" Merlot asked in confusion.
"You weren't supposed to control them, just create them."
"But why?" Merlot asked. "What's the point of creating these creatures if I wasn't meant to control them?"
"This was all to prepare them for what lies ahead."
"Prepare who?"
"Never you mind," the hooded man said. "You're job here is done. All that's left is to test them."
"I won't just leave my research behind!" Merlot insisted.
"I know you won't," the man said, snapping his fingers. Merlot suddenly felt unimaginable pain as his body combusted.
His screams echoed through the air.
Ruby sat peacefully next to Marlene, letting the little girl just chat away about whatever came to mind.
Suddenly, she was overcome by a wave of dizziness. She clutched her head, trying her best to stay awake.
"What the-?" she asked.
"What's happening?" Weiss asked, clutching her head as well.
Blake suddenly fell over.
"Blake!" Mom said, before she started swaying on her feet as well.
The last thing Ruby saw before losing consciousness was Yang collapsing.
AN: Marlene is a Final Fantasy 7 cameo, specifically the version from the remake.
So, we had both the Mutant Deathstalker and a Guard Armor fight. And Dr. Merlot met the end he deserved at the hands of a mysterious black-coated man. But what happened there at the end with Aqua and Team RWBY? Find out next time!
As always, thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!