AN: If any of my readers live in the Texas area and can still see this, I hope you all are safe from the severe winter storm.

Chapter 52

"I didn't think we'd be going back to Mountain Glenn so soon," Yang said as her team, plus Mom and Team FMBS, sat in the Bullhead approaching their target. Yang was of course sitting next to Mercury, and Ruby sat next to Cinder. The other members of the superteam were sitting amongst themselves, except for Mynt, who was sitting off by herself.

"Let's just hope things go better than last time," Weiss commented.

"Oh yeah, you guys went to Mountain Glenn for your mission a few days ago, right?" Mercury asked, drawing the attention of the rest of his team. "What happened?"

"Well, we found an underground base where Roman Torchwick and the White Fang were loading bombs onto a train," Ruby said. "We couldn't stop it in time, though, and the train broke through to Vale." There was a stomp, and everyone looked up to see that Mynt had stood up and was glaring at Ruby.

"Mynt?" Mom asked. "What's wrong?" The girl, being unable to talk, said nothing and continued glaring at the young Keybearer.

"She lost someone in the Breach," Cinder said, sending a pointed look at her diminutive teammate. "It's still fresh."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mynt," Ruby said, standing up to try to put a hand on her shoulder. The black-haired girl brushed her off, sitting back down and crossing her arms, refusing to look at anyone.

"I'm sure she'll have to opportunity to take it out on the Grimm when we get there," Emerald said.

"We're approaching the landing zone," the pilot said over the intercom. "You'll have to walk a little bit to get into the city itself. The ground is too unstable for me to land any closer."

"Got it," Mom said, and the Bullhead began its descent. A few seconds later, the team hopped out, standing in a forested area near the entrance to the ruined city. What was once an entrance sign had been spray-painted over, and now served as a warning.

KEEP OUT

"Well that's depressing," Emerald said.

"What's the matter?" Mercury asked in a mocking tone. "Scared?"

"As if," Emerald said. She looked like she was waiting for something, and then looked to Yang. "You know, I'm actually grateful you're with him now."

"Huh?" Yang asked.

"Before he would've said some dumbass comment about giving me a shoulder to cry on, but now he can't. Thanks."

"You're welcome?" Yang asked, not sure whether or not to be angry about that.

Should she be happy that he wasn't going to flirt with another girl, even if it was playfully? Or should she be angry that he apparently flirted with Emerald on a regular basis before she started dating him?

"Wait, you two are dating now?" Mom asked. "When did that happen?"

"She kissed him right after the Breach," Ruby tattled. Mom looked at Mercury.

"You and I are going to have a long chat when this is over," she said before pulling out her scroll. "Bart, what are we looking for?" she asked.

"Given the old Merlot Industries technology that was popping up in the Emerald Forest, you should investigate their headquarters in Mountain Glenn," the hyperactive professor said. "If my old maps are still accurate, it should be located somewhere near the center of town. Just do your best not to end up like the brilliant men and women who worked there…"

"Will do," Mom said. "Thanks, Bart." She put her scroll away. "Well, shall we?"

Neo couldn't believe she had been roped into going on a mission with these…these…

Ugh!

These people were the ones that put her dad away, and Flames expected her to just pretend that she didn't hate them?! She should have just killed Jugs and Red when she had the chance!

…As if she could. She wasn't going to be responsible for taking someone's family away right in front of them. After all, she had lost the only family she had ever known, so she knew how much it hurt.

She did have to admit, Midriff had a point. This place was depressing as hell. Neo had only ever gotten to see the underground portion, so she hadn't seen the desolation that had been right above their heads during their operation until now. The broken-down buildings, the weeds growing through the concrete, the smashed-up stores. It was all really sad.

"Hold up," Leg Day said. "Grimm up ahead." Sure enough, there was a small group of Creeps in a small plaza straight ahead of them. Neo smirked.

"Alright," Red said. "Here's the plan—"

Yeah, screw that. She needed to kill something.

She charged ahead.

Ruby was surprised at just how efficient Mynt was at killing Grimm, even unarmed. She was just a blur of flips and kicks. A smashed Grimm face here, a broken neck there, all without ever having both feet on the ground at the same time.

Finally, after a few minutes of this brutality, Mynt had killed the last one, stopped to dust off her skirt, and looked back at the group with a smirk.

"Well, that was a thing," Yang said, otherwise speechless for once.

"She's…really upset, isn't she?" Ruby asked.

"As long as she keeps killing Grimm, I'm not complaining," Mercury said. "Let's get a move on."

"According to the city schematics, there should be a bridge nearby that will lead you towards Main Street," Doctor Oobleck said through the scroll. "Follow that to get to the Merlot Industries building."

"You mean the one that has crap in the way?" Emerald asked, pointing at the path ahead of them. They could see a bridge was indeed ahead of them, and like Emerald said it was blocked by fallen debris.

"Oh dear," Doctor Oobleck said. "That's a problem. Ah! According to my map, there should be an entrance to the old waterway nearby. You can use that as a detour to get around the blocked bridge."

"Why can't things ever be simple?" Weiss asked.

"Well, just pretend it's a day at the waterpark," Ruby said, trying to cheer up her teammate. Cinder chuckled.

"That's one way of looking at it, I suppose," the older woman said.

"Well, water we waiting for?" Yang asked. Everyone groaned. "Get it? …Guys?"

"And you chose to date this," Emerald said to Mercury, who chuckled. The group walked over to the edge of the bridge, and Emerald looked over the side. Doctor Oobleck had called it a "waterway", but it was more like a sewer drainage outlet. "Looks like the waterway is empty."

"Oh, good," Cinder said. "I would have hated to get that stuff in my hair."

"I know, right?" Yang asked. "That would've just been the worst." The gang jumped down into the waterway, only to be met with a jagged sword embedding itself in the ground from above them. They all drew their weapons as the Invisible took shape and picked up its sword. Three Darkballs appeared around it.

"Ruby and I will take the Invisible," Mom said, Master Keeper at the ready. "The rest of you take the Darkballs. Remember what you learned in class." The team all answered in the affirmative, and Ruby pointed her Keyblade at the Invisible.

"Petal!" she shouted, launching a wave of rose petals at the Heartless. It jumped out of the way and raised its sword to attack her. Mom blocked it, and Ruby used her shoulder as a spring board to jump over the Heartless, slashing at its back when she landed behind it. Mom knocked its sword away, and the two of them slashed through it from either side, killing the creature and making it dissipate into black smoke.

"Well, that was easy," Cinder commented, dismissing the swords she had created using her Semblance.

"Hey, guys," Yang said, pointing at a door ahead of them, with a keypad on the wall next to it. "Is it normal for a drainage ditch to have a security door?"

"No, it's not," Mom commented, holding up her scroll for Doctor Oobleck to see it. "What do you think, Bart?"

"Strange," he said. "Why would there be a locked door in a sewer? Even more importantly, where is it still drawing power from?"

"What should we do about it?" Ruby asked. She held her Keyblade up to Mom, subtly asking her if she should use it to unlock it.

"If you plug your scroll into the security pad, I should be able to run an algorithm to figure out—"

A shot impacting the keypad next to the door interrupted the doctor, and the gang looked to see Mercury with his leg extended. The keypad smoked for a second, and then the door slowly opened.

"Got it," the boy said.

"…Or that could work," Doctor Oobleck said. "Good job, Mister Black." Mercury chuckled and walked through the now open door. Yang sighed lovingly.

"Isn't he just wonderful?" she asked.

"All right, this looks like Main Street, so I think we're back on track," Aqua said. "We've just gotta follow this road all the way to Merlot's, right?" she asked Bart.

"Correct," her heavily-caffeinated colleague replied. "It shouldn't be too hard to spot. Just look for a tall building with an 'M' emblazoned on the side."

"You mean that one?" Yang asked, pointing at the building straight ahead of them. In stark contrast to the devastation surrounding them all throughout Mountain Glenn, the Merlot Industries building looked like it was still being maintained. It even looked like there some still some lights on inside.

"Correct! That's the facility!"

"It almost looks pristine," Weiss said. "Now we know where the security door in the sewers was being powered from."

"Odd," Bart said. "It even appears to still be in use. Well, I suppose Dr. Merlot would've never let something like Mountain Glenn's fall hinder his work. I can only imagine what we'll find inside."

"What was he working on that was so important?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not sure, but there's only one way to find out." The group shared uneasy looks before Yang decided to lead the way forward.

She took two steps before the group heard a beeping sound.

"Uh, I didn't do it," Yang said, backing up slowly. Up ahead of them, small explosions wracked the Merlot Industries building until the whole structure started to collapse.

And fell towards them.

"RUN!" Aqua shouted, and the group turned around to bolt away from the falling building. She could hear the thunderous sounds of concrete landing on concrete, and saw cracks forming in the ground around them.

We're not gonna make it! She thought.

The ground beneath their feet gave way, and the group found themselves falling.

AN: Geez, it's hard to adapt Grimm Eclipse while keeping things even remotely interesting.

So, we got a little scene from Neo's perspective, and I decided to have her give everyone nicknames in her head, since I'm writing her as being a little childish.

So, for future reference, her nicknames are:

Ruby: Red (obviously)

Weiss: Princess

Blake: Kitty Cat

Yang: Jugs (again, obviously)

Cinder: Flames

Mercury: Leg Day

Emerald: Midriff

Aqua: Mama Blue

So, next time, we have the underground of Mountain Glenn again, and a few hints about what's going on here.

As always, thank you all very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!