The Umbra Agency
Onyx opens a portal.
"This should take us where we need to go." Onyx states.
"Should?" Weiss repeats.
"Never traveled this far of a distance with my portals. Actually, I've only traveled a significant distance once before." Onyx explains.
"Shouldn't we use a more reliable means for transportation?" Weiss asks.
"We're short on time. now get in the portal." Onyx orders.
Team RWBY enters the portal and Onyx follows behind them.
The group exit in a forest.
"Did we make it?" Ruby asks.
"Yes." Onyx states.
"How can you tell? We're just in a forest." Weiss asks.
Onyx ignores her and walks on a beaten path. He recognizes the place but has no memory of ever being there before.
"Do you know where you're going?" Weiss asks.
"No, but my guide does." Onyx states.
"You're guide?" Weiss asks.
Onyx walks up to a tree stump and starts to meditate on it.
"What are you doing?" Weiss asks.
"Contacting my guide." Onyx answers.
Onyx opens his eyes, he is once again floating in pure darkness, with the only light coming from Shadow.
"You return, Rider." Shadow states.
"Why did you send me here, and where do I have to go?" Onyx asks.
"That is something you will discover." Shadow responds.
Shadow fades and Onyx closes his eyes.
Onyx opens his eyes and he is seated on the stump. It has gone from night to dawn in the time he was meditating. Onyx gets up.
"You're back." Ruby states.
"What did your guide tell you?" Weiss asks.
Onyx continues to walk on the path with Team RWBY following.
"Well...?" Weiss asks.
"Nothing helpful. And stop questioning me!" Onyx says.
The group approaches a metal door. To the doors right is a console. Onyx stops and stares at the door. It seem familiar. He knows he has been inside but has no memory of when and what he did while inside. Onyx remembers Shadows words.
"Your memory has faded over the years, Rider."
Ruby walks up to the console and examines it. A camera on the top of the console sends a beam of yellow light into Ruby's left eye. The camera lights up red and the speaker on the console projects a robotic female voice.
"Access denied. Activating safety protocols. Codename: Sword. Objective: Termination." The console says.
"What did you do?!" Weiss shouts.
"It just scanned my eye and..." Ruby begins.
"Look!" Yang yells.
Androids begin to arise from the ground. They were old and rusted. Their design made them appear like human skeletons. All their wiring and circuitry was visible as the androids had no outer shell. The androids eyes lit up with a red glow. Onyx stares at them and remembers sparing with them as a young child.
"We're in the Chaos Zone, they shouldn't be able to see us." Weiss states.
"If that were true the computer wouldn't have been able to see Ruby." Onyx says, "We should assume these androids have similar capabilities."
The androids' right hands collapse into arm cannons. They start looking around.
"Activating alternative vision mode, codename: Chaos." The console states.
The androids locate Onyx and team Ruby and begin to fire on them. Onyx opens a portal.
"Leave, it'll be safer for you outside the Chaos Zone." Onyx says.
Team RWBY runs through the portal and begin attacking the androids. As they are destroyed, more take their place. Onyx runs to the console. The console scans Onyx's right eye.
"Access granted. Username: Rider. Identification code: 353839. Deactivating safety protocols." The console says.
The androids disengage just as they were about to overwhelm Team RWBY.
"What did you do?" Weiss asks.
"Apparently, I'm authorized." Onyx states.
The group walks inside. The door shuts behind them, sealing them in complete darkness. Onyx opens a portal in front of them and they all walk inside. Once inside, Onyx creates a crimson flame in the palm of his right hand. The flame lights up the hallway as the group explores.
The group enters a room with a console connected to a large, Dust powered, reactor. Onyx walks up to the console and let's it scan his eye.
"Access granted. Username: Rider. Identification code: 353838." The console says.
The console screen shows a list of folders. Onyx selects one called Project: Chaos. Inside Onyx sees more folders and files. Three of which are named Rider, Shadow, and Night. Onyx stares at those three files wondering which one to view first. Onyx selects Rider and the screen blacks out.
"Access denied. Priority clearance required." The console says.
"Great." Onyx growls.
Suddenly, a man made out of purple Aura appears at the doorway.
"Guys!" Ruby calls.
Onyx, Blake, Yang, and Weiss turn to see the man.
"Shadow." Onyx says.
"Yes, Rider." Shadow responds.
"You know him?" Ruby asks.
"He is my guide." Onyx states.
"What is it that you expected us to find here?" Weiss asks.
"What I have is not for you." Shadow says as he turns towards Onyx, "It is meant for you."
"And what is it that you have?" Yang asks.
"I think he's telling you to leave." Onyx states.
"And go where, you have the light." Weiss retorts.
"Computer, activate lights. Codename: Lighthouse. Username: Shadow. Identification code: 000000." Shadow says.
Lights originating from the gaps in the panels on the floor and ceiling light up in the entire facility.
"Wait outside." Onyx orders.
Team RWBY leaves the room and the door shuts behind them. Shadow walks up to the console and it scans his eye.
"Access granted. Username: Shadow. Identification code: 000000." The console says.
The console opens the Rider folder. Inside their are images of Onyx as a child, other folders, and videos listed as test follow by a number. The final test was number 17.
"What were they doing?" Onyx asks.
"Creating the Chaos Zone." Shadow states, "The first recorded portal to the Shadow Zone opened 38 years ago. That was when they finished the tests. I became the Chaos Zone and you were made to control it."
"What does Night have to do with this?" Onyx asks.
"He was also intended to be able to control it." Shadow explains.
"Why don't I have any memories from then?" Onyx asks.
"You were too old then to simply forget, I theorize that they replaced your memories with fake ones or erased them entirely." Shadow says.
"And who are 'they'?" Onyx asks.
"The Umbra Agency, a group of scientists whose goal was to save the world. They began by trying to create a permanent prison for the Grimm. The program was abandoned and instead they focused their efforts on creating the perfect soldiers to combat threats rather than prevent them. The Chaos Zone became a mere tool in that effort." Shadow explains.
"Who were you before the Chaos Zone?" Onyx asks.
"I was another test subject.." Shadow states.
"Why were we chosen to participate?" Onyx asks.
"Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation." Shadow states.
"That's not what I meant." Onyx states.
"You were genetically modified humans, created for the sole purpose of being used in Project: Rider. That's why your aura and semblance are tailored to the Chaos Zone despite it not being a natural thing." Shadow explains.
"Did Night maintain his memories of Project: Chaos?" Onyx asks.
"Yes." Shadow answers.
Onyx tries to remember his replaced memories but can't.
"I'm giving you priority clearance." Shadow states, "You will have to learn the rest on your own."
Shadow disolves into smoke. Onyx uses his scroll to download all the files in the entire network and then exits the room.
"What did you learn?" Ruby asks.
"Not enough." Onyx responds.
World of Riders:
The Umbra Agency
The Umbra Agency was a program created by the four Kingdoms with the intent of permanently stopping global threats, namely the Grimm and Salem. The agency itself was filled with mostly scientists and doctors who did research to discover the best solutions to Remnant's problems. The Umbra Agency learned many things, including how to create Chaos Aura, Souls, and entire organisms.
The agency had many projects, the first of these was creating super soldiers. To do this, the agency's director, Dr. Luna Artemis, kidnapped ten children at the age of six. From then, the agency trained the perfect warriors, experimenting on and modifying the children's bodies. Eventually the agency learned how to create souls and began creating organisms from both existing and manufactured DNA.
However, the Umbra Agency's director manipulated the agency for her own personal agenda. When the four Kingdoms discovered this, they cut ties with the Umbra Agency. With the lack of funding, the Umbra Agency collapsed. Dispite this, the four Kingdoms could not get their hands on the Umbra Agency's creations and they were lost to time.
-Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon