A.N. (7/2/21) - Note that I might be changing my posting schedule, see more at the bottom.
Argus (25) - Grimm Note
Staring at the monitors in front of him, Merlot watched as a group consisting of several huntresses and a huntsman entered one of the entrances leading to his base.
One of his screens lit up as a call came in, and Merlot pressed a button to accept it. The face of the man who took over the Argus Base greeted him.
"We still haven't found her yet."
"You should not have underestimated her in the first place."
"She's just one person. A young girl at that."
"Never underestimate the power of one person," Merlot said. "The power of one man or woman can accomplish feats beyond any group under certain circumstances. And I don't doubt that this girl is far more capable than the entirety of your organization."
The other man scowled. "Need I remind you that you aren't the boss of me."
"No, I'm not." Even as he said that, Merlot sneered at the other man. "But I am working with your boss, and even now I still wonder what in the world made him decide to make you a leader of this operation. I only asked for someone to take the reins while I worked in the shadows, I certainly wasn't expecting a brute such as yourself to come my way."
"You got what you wanted," the other man said with a shrug. "A number of test subjects and a distraction to draw attention away from you. And in return, we get a healthy supply of people for our needs as well."
"A better person wouldn't have gotten caught."
"Fuck you. You said we needed more people. I got more people!"
"I also said we needed to stay under the radar," Merlot said with a glare. "That is our strongest defense against others. You think either of us will survive with the authorities, huntsmen, and army after us? Why, your occupation of the local base isn't exactly helping matters either."
"Shut up," the man growled. "What about you? Aren't they closing in on all your little pet projects right now? I think they'll be pretty mad once they find out what's going on down there."
"That is for me to worry about, not you."
Before the other man could complain, Merlot ended the call and dismissed the holographic screen. Rubbing his forehead and soothing the headache he got from talking to the idiot just now, he didn't notice the sound of footsteps coming from behind him.
The sound of somebody clearing his throat broke the silence. "You look annoyed. Trouble in paradise?"
Merlot sighed, a long-suffering sound, and turned around. "What is it now?"
"Nothing," the man who appeared was a colorful one, white hair, and clothes with predominantly red colors. "Just figured you'd want to know that I'm heading out to the city. I figure that those idiots working for you aren't exactly at my level of skill in terms of locating targets. If you want, I'll deliver the girl to you personally by the end of tomorrow."
He quirked an eyebrow at that. "That's… mighty generous of you. Should I be worried?"
"Not really." The other man gave a bloodthirsty grin. "It's just that it's so boring here, there's not much to do.
"Aren't you normally training with your son at this time?"
"Eh, the brat's taken a beating or two a bit hard and now he's sleeping it off. I figure I could go and see if this girl you're interested in is really worth the hype."
Thinking about it, Merlot realized that this was something that he could pass onto the other man to handle. While not exactly his specialty, Merlot did know that the other man specialized in dealing with human targets like this. Certainly, he would be more useful than the group of blubbering idiots from the Allies.
"Alright then, I'll allow it. And I'll assume that you'll want a bonus for the extra work, so how's this. Once you deliver her to me, you'll receive a quarter of a million lien in exchange."
"Alright, that's what I'm talking about!"
"Provided that you leave her Semblance intact and that she is not overtly harmed."
"Aw, boss. You're killing me, that's a lot more difficult than you're asking."
Even as he said that Merlot knew that the other man was just playing up the act. After all, he had witnessed in the past how easily the other man could drop the pretense, the mask of civility in exchange for the practical killer personality. How the man's eyes could go from laughing and joking to cold and heartless.
Still, he asked anyway. "Can you do it?"
"Will do, boss." The other man saluted. "Even if it's not a hit, I think I'll manage in capturing her."
"Hm, very well then."
Merlot gave out a sigh of relief. Sure, it was expensive to hire his help, especially when it wasn't for his usual services. But once he heard rumors of someone with the ability to steal and transfer Semblances, well… it was necessary to use his services in the past.
Not as much anymore, not with most of his experimental subjects already near perfection. But if he could somehow capture Miss Tohsaka as well, then finally Merlot would secure everything he's ever wanted.
"Well, if that's all for now, I'll see myself out and scout out her place to see if she's hiding there."
Merlot nodded. "Thank you for your time, Mister Black."
The other man grinned. "Oh, it's my pleasure."
}-{
Qrow's least favorite thing about his latest job so far was the fact that he was dealing with so many different groups of people. Most of his previous jobs were usually done by himself and rarely did he have to work with others. Not that he couldn't, since working with others was a basic requirement of being a huntsman. But it wasn't something that he preferred, not since the disbandment of his team.
Of all the things that Qrow found annoying about this job, number one was the fact that he was now forced to work with the same group of huntresses that he fought with yesterday. Even now, with everyone forced to work together, they traveled in silence as they descended the underground lair.
Sure, they apologized and properly introduced themselves to each other. But Qrow was still nursing a couple of blows from the fight. Also, he was still a bit bitter from losing his new drinking spot.
Qrow definitely didn't like Argus. He was supposed to meet up with his nieces after his last job in Patch— nice, peaceful, fun Patch. Not stuck scouting some underground lair of a human supremacist group with a group of huntresses who didn't like him. The only highlight so far was that they had more important things to worry about other than bickering with him.
Still, he knew that the others were skilled fighters. And while that didn't mean that Qrow would trust them to watch his back, at least he didn't doubt that they would be useful.
"It's dark," one of them said. "That's concerning, since we're expecting people to be around."
"Fi, can you still see?"
"Yeah," the sheep faunus answered. "But unless you have night vision, I doubt anyone's expecting to walk down here without a light."
"Only robots and faunus," Qrow guessed. "If any humans come down here, they'll probably bring a light source with them. But for confining prisoners, dim lighting should be enough."
Fiona scowled at that. "It's not like all faunus have night vision. Even some faunus won't be able to navigate in a place like this."
"They're being controlled by human supremacists." Robyn shrugged after saying that. "I seriously doubt that their captors have their best interests in mind."
The passage they were walking through led downward, and as they descended chatter began to die out as everyone prepared to face trouble. Robyn and Fiona took the lead, while Joanna and May took the rear with Qrow slightly in front of them. They walked in a close pack as they traveled together.
"Hold up," Robyn stopped and made a gesture for everyone to do so as well. "Four paths, all in cardinal directions, us coming in from the west side. So that means three paths to pick."
Qrow snorted. "And I'm guessing you're not going to propose we split up?"
"Obviously, we're sticking together. Question is which way do we go?"
"I'd say head to where the faunus most likely are," Joanna said. "But since I don't hear any voices or anything…"
"I think this tunnel leads north," May said while pointing in one direction. "This might be a path leading to the city."
"A direct path?"
"Maybe," May said uncertainly. "It's still pretty far from Argus, but they did have more than a few months to work on this..."
"It could be that this is just a crossroads where several entrances meet," Robyn concluded. "After all, we did come from one such entrance in the middle of the woods. Since the Allies probably have multiple bases, they might all converge here and lead to their main headquarters."
"Didn't Atlas troops find that base out east," Fiona asked. "One of these tunnels might connect to there."
"If north leads to the city and one of the tunnels leads to the base out east, that crosses off two options. And since we came in from what looks to be west," Robyn turned to the last tunnel. "The south tunnel might be our best option."
Crouching down to the ground, Qrow was barely able to make out the footprints headed in the direction Robyn pointed out.
"Sounds great, should we be expecting anyone?"
Robyn answered first. "If so, then we'll quickly take out any Allies and save anyone we find."
"Woah," Qrow quickly stood up. "Hey, I'm not gonna argue that any faunus we find won't need any rescuing. But I'm pretty sure we're just supposed to scout the place."
"So what, you're just gonna wait for the soldiers to get their asses together?"
Qrow glared at Robyn. "I'm saying that we don't need to rush this. We can either risk it and save a few faunus by ourselves or wait for the rest of the soldiers to join us and have the numbers on our side before rescuing anyone."
The others glared at him, but their expressions calmed when they took in what he said.
"Look, let's just find out what's going on and head back. We can charge in later, and we can figure out something when all of us are informed and prepared."
Robyn sighed. "Fine, but let's finish our scouting mission first."
"Right behind ya."
Slowly, they made their way down the path and the rest were forced to pull out their Scrolls or other small flashlights once it became clear that it was only going to get darker. They figured that it was less of a risk to have visibility than to progress relying only on Fiona as their guide.
It was Qrow who heard it first.
"Wait," he quickly flipped his Scroll so the light was facing down. "I think I hear something."
"I hear it too," Robyn said. "The sound of something humming, like a machine."
"Let's go."
They exited into a large cavern, all of their lights illuminating the area as they looked around the place. Several large machines were placed along the rock walls, but it was what those machines were attached to that drew their attention. Qrow heard one of the others gasp as they took in what they saw.
Rows of beds filled with sleeping faunus lined up in a circle. All of them were attached to the machines in some way, with stands of what looked like an IV bag next to each bed.
Everyone moved over to the beds and checked to see what was going on. Closer and now illuminated by their Scrolls, Qrow's eyes widened as he took in the details.
"What's wrong with them?" he asked.
Most faunus only exhibited one animal trait on them, but all of the faunus sleeping here had similar bone platings covering parts of their body. Their skin was completely white against the light coming from their devices, and visible red veins pulsed across their skin.
"I think they're being experimented on," Robyn said with horror. "T-This is unforgivable. There are dozens of people here, how can someone do something like this to so many people?"
"Wait… I recognize some of them," Fiona said. She gently placed a hand on one of the individuals. "This woman here, she's from Mantle… from my neighborhood even. I think her name was Sandy."
"I thought it was just children disappearing," May said.
Fiona frowned. "I vaguely remember Sandy disappearing about a year ago. She wasn't exactly well off, but I figured she just found a better place to stay instead of the crater. I never thought that she was taken too."
"It might just be that we've only noticed kids going missing since people care about them more." Joanna sighed. "Sad to say, but nobody would blink if another homeless adult goes missing after a while. Easier to think that the winter cold took care of them."
Qrow gently traced a finger down one of the bone plates of a faunus and grimaced. "Anyone noticed that these look a little like Grimm parts?"
May gulped. "I was trying not to make the connection."
"I-Is someone trying to turn faunus into Grimm?" Fiona asked. "B-But that's impossible, right?"
Finally, someone said it. But now that it was out there, Qrow's face grimaced as the thought that someone could be turning people into Grimm wormed into his mind. If this was another one of Salem's tricks, then Ozpin had to know as soon as possible.
But this was definitely new. As far as either of them knew, neither Ozpin nor Qrow figured that Salem was capable of something like this in the past. So what changed?
Looking at all the people asleep on the beds, Qrow couldn't help but shiver. Their white skins and red veins reminded him so much of Salem that it wouldn't be a stretch to say that these faunus weren't the same anymore. Was Salem trying to create more like her?
May lifted one of the tubes leading to one of the arms of a faunus. "Is this what's turning them into Grimm? Shouldn't we pull it out before they become completely transformed?"
Robyn frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"I don't even think there's anything we can do." Fiona made a complicated face as she stared at a nearby monitor. "They're not just sleeping. According to these readings, these people are basically in some kind of coma. They're practically braindead."
That certainly brought a somber mood to the room.
"How about this," Qrow said. "Let's head on back and tell the rest of the guys about what's down here. We're going to need a lot of people to scour the place if others are being experimented on as well."
"We can't just leave them here!"
"We're not—," Qrow cut himself off and closed his eyes. "We're just getting back up. Who knows how many others are trapped down here. We're going to need all the help we can get."
Everyone reluctantly nodded and all of them left the cavern. It was a tense journey back, with everyone's minds going over what they just saw. All of them had questions, and all they knew was that something extremely wrong was going on. They needed to get the others down here as soon as possible to scour the entire place.
}-{
"Done."
Rin stared at the mystic code she made, a new combat outfit that still had the same design as her previous winter coat and casual clothes.
It was impossible to repair the previous one, so Rin decided to scrap it and start all over on the Dust weaving. There was just something about lining her outfit with new spells and protections that made the entire experience meditative. It was delicate work, one that took several hours to finish.
Undressing, she quickly changed and felt the clothes heat up as magic power ran through them. Useful during winter weather, but a weakness if somebody wanted to seek out her position using thermal scopes. Thankfully, she had a way to regulate her temperature for such scenarios.
The Aura shielding that came from the mystic code was also working again. Controlling her vital energy - her Od - to cycle through her outfit, her body began to glow as her Aura shield became visible for several seconds.
Passive shielding was tricky to figure out, but one of the improvements Rin made was that the outfit would now cast a pseudo automatic version of Reinforcement whenever she was in combat. The difference between her casting it herself was that the mystic code's reinforcement magecraft wouldn't show any visible signs anymore.
No more glowy circuit-like lines running down her limbs. Rin knew that it sometimes drew eyes to her in the past, even if it was something Rin could have played off as part of her Semblance.
"Hmm, it looks quite good." Rin gave a twirl in front of the mirror as she observed herself. "A lot warmer too, and the extra skills in it should help out in the future."
Other than the Reinforcement skill, Rin took inspiration from the Chaldea Uniform mystic codes and added two other skills as well. Emergency Evasion, a skill that was basically a burst version of reinforcement to increase agility quickly for avoiding an attack. And the other skill First Aid, temporarily stimulating the body's natural healing ability and replenishing vital energy through that process.
It was something she thought about implementing in the past, but Rin never really saw the need until recent events changed her mind. Apparently, running into a number of skilled individuals seemed to have sparked something inside of her. Maybe it was her getting ready for the possibility of getting into combat situations. Lord knows that she already ran into her fair share of trouble this week.
Speaking of which, there were other things she needed to prepare in case she needed to fight.
Opening up a drawer, Rin's face lit up as the numerous Dust crystals reflected the light to her face. Grabbing several handfuls, Rin began filling the pouches on her belt until the drawer was empty.
She paused as she recalled something.
"I guess it can't hurt to have it for emergencies." She sighed and opened another drawer. "Guess I'm carrying this too."
Inside that drawer was a single red pendant.
The advantage of being Rin Tohsaka transported to the world of Remnant was the powerful synergy between Jewel Magecraft and Dust. Normally, a user of Jewel Magecraft would have to imbue a gem with stored magic power to use it for thaumaturgical purposes. The main spellwork the magus had to do was mostly adjusting each individual gem to fit the spell's purposes.
With Dust already a source of magical energy, Rin didn't need to spend most of her reserves filling up gems with her power to use them for later. Instead, she could focus on a few select gems and concentrate the entirety of her magic energy into solely one gem.
Or in this case, a pendant.
Picking up the metal chain, she raised it until it wrapped around her head and gently settled on her neck. Tucking the pendant into her clothes, she made a vow to herself to only use it in case something went wrong.
"If I ever need to use three years' worth of magic energy, then I know for sure I'm in trouble."
The pendant wasn't something that Rin had when she first came to Remnant. But it was something she's poured her magical energy into ever since she first got it all those years ago. And unlike the original Rin Tohsaka, she didn't need to split her magic power between multiple gems. So even though she's only charged it for three years, Rin estimated that her pendant was almost equal in energy compared to the original pendant with ten years worth of magical energy.
Leaving her workshop, Rin looked up and realized that it was already dusk. Turning towards the direction where her apartment was, she began making her way home.
Passing by all the other pedestrians on the way back, Rin couldn't help but note that all of them seemed calmed or bored or excited. A variety of emotions, but none showed that they were panicking in any way.
They don't know, she realized with a start. They still don't know that the local military base has been taken over.
Obviously, that was a good thing. Panic amongst the civilians of a city would only draw Grimm to them all. But it was still jarring to know that something bad happened and that nobody might even know that something was wrong.
Maybe that was just how things ran on Remnant. People probably saw keeping the calm as more important than having everyone informed about relevant events. Even if social media was as prevalent as it was on Earth, information would still probably be controlled so that there wouldn't be panic on the streets.
"Rin!"
The familiar voice made Rin pause and turn around. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of Pietro Polendina running towards her. A few passersby moved out of the way as the large man stepped in front of her, and Rin waited for him to catch his breath.
Idly, she noted that this Pietro didn't need a specialized chair to move around yet. Maybe that was something that would change in the next few years.
Wait, that's not what she should be focusing on right now.
"You're okay? How come you're not at the base?"
"I went to visit a friend earlier today," he explained. "And thank goodness for that. I heard from a couple of huntsmen that the base has been captured. To think I might have been stuck there if I hadn't decided to leave."
"I'm glad that you're okay," Rin said.
He scoffed. "Bah, I'm just worried that they might mess around with my stuff. All my important inventions are still there, like the prototype Aura battery. Or the P.E.N.N.Y. Project."
"What?!"
"Oh, no. It's okay." He hurried to reassure her when her eyes widened. "Everything is locked in my laboratory, under special restrictions so that only the Ace Ops of Atlas can open it if I can't. Not even Specialist Cordovin can get it open without my permission."
"Speaking of which," Rin interrupted. "Are we still unable to communicate with the troops outside Argus?"
"No," he sighed. "The CCT Relay Tower is barred to the public, and several huntsmen keeping watch witnessed people keeping guard around the place. It seems that the Allies have also taken control of the tower. Right now, communications only work within range for Scrolls."
Rin frowned at that. If communications were still down, it wouldn't be long before the public realized something was wrong. Luckily, long-distance communication only worked by accessing a public facility like the relay tower or the library. So hopefully, it would be a while before everyone realized that something was up.
"But you can fix it, right?" She waited for Pietro to nod. "As long as we regain access to the relay tower, you can fix communications."
"That's right," he confirmed. "Not only will we be able to contact the troops outside Argus, but I can also request some back up from General Ironwood as well. We need to let him know that the Allies are stepping up their game."
A plan began forming in Rin's mind, and she began to voice it aloud.
"Sanctum is keeping passive at the moment, too worried about agitating the Allies into doing anything reckless." Again, politics was a problem that they had to deal with. "But if you can convince them to help retake the tower, you'll be able to fix communications. Once that happens, we can contact everyone and ask for help dealing with the Allies."
"Hmm," he began to think. "Huntsmen do have a duty sometimes to deal with criminals if it is beyond the scope of local authorities. I'm not too sure about Argus law enforcement other than the military. But if the highest form of protection is compromised, then maybe there's a way to convince the local huntsmen that it's alright to meddle in this case. I'm sure there's a law or something that's there for cases like this."
"It'll be either a large force to retake the relay tower," Rin began. "Or a small infiltration team to quickly fix communications. Possibly both, with the infiltration team fixing things before the main force strikes."
Pietro nodded as he understood. "And I'll need to make something to give to the infiltration team to fix everything. Problem is, I'm not sure how long that'll take. I need some reference on what I'll be working with."
A memory of a conversation with Terra made Rin recall something, and she quickly reached into her pockets to pull something out. "What about this?"
In her grasp was a small blue USB drive.
"I haven't checked what's inside yet," Rin admitted. "But this is something that belongs to my roommate, who's a CCT communications technician. Do you think there's something on here that might be able to help?"
Pietro grabbed it from her hand and quickly pulled something out of his pocket. It was a cross between a Scroll and a laptop, with a small port for the USB to plug into. Pietro opened the drive and began accessing the files within.
"This… this is perfect," he exclaimed. "If I take this back to Sanctum, I can probably whip up something for a huntsman to use."
"Great," Rin smiled as the plan came together. "So we can finally do something about the Allies."
He removed the USB and pocketed it as well as his device. "I'll head back to Sanctum this instant. Once I finish the code, I'll send the program through email to the nearest huntsman patrolling the tower."
Rin nodded. "Then I'll head over to the relay tower to explain the plan. How long do you think it'll take?"
"Not long," he replied. "An hour at most. While I'm at it, I'll also inform the professors at Sanctum about what's going on. If the Allies figure out that we're taking back control of the relay tower, they might try to do something drastic."
"Alright," Rin nodded. "Then hopefully, the professors will come up with a plan to deal with that. Do you have my number, just in case you need to send the program to me?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "I got your contact information from your file the Ace Ops compiled."
Both of them left in different directions. As Rin began jogging towards the tower, Rin tried to ignore the uneasy feeling in her stomach. So far, this looked like their best chance to deal with the Allies problem. The only other option was to wait for the troops outside Argus to return and hope that they would solve the problem for them.
This way, there was a chance that they could ask for help before things escalated.
"I'm tired of dealing with these guys," she muttered. "Let's send them a message. Tell them that we're not going to put up with them anymore."
And hopefully, they'll take the hint that the Allies of Humanity are not wanted in this city.
Summer school is picking up for me, and I'm going to be focusing on studying for a bit. I'm thinking of switching to a weekly schedule type of thing, only with longer chapters. This way, I'll have more time to focus on the weekends on homework and stuff.
So yeah, a lot of things in this chapter. Mister Black is a new character that some of you might recognize. The fact that there are apparently Grimm hybrid people living inside Merlot's basement is also worrying. And not only that but Rin's prepping for more upcoming action.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!