I'll be going on vacation from the 14th to the 20th of this month, so there won't be another chapter before July. To compensate, this is the longest chapter I have ever produced.

Doing its best to put the vision of that ethereal being behind, Grimm Ruby went back to the endless crusade of following the torment wherever it lead. Salem never did respond to it after that moment, and it was clear that she knew she got under its skin at last. Unfortunately, it didn't do a very good job at getting back on track either, for its mind would often wander back to that moment when things were quiet for too long. No matter how much the being seemed like an illusion now, it still felt unbridled sorrow emanating from that being, or at least the area it resided in. Even if the being itself was just some vision, even if it was all a cruel trick orchestrated by Salem or even the Brother Gods, the sorrow it felt was very real. In that way, Grimm Ruby, too, was fake, but the emotions and actions left behind still lingered.

Speaking of unbridled sorrow, much of it emanated from an unassuming recess in the wilderness indicated only by an absence of trees in an otherwise extremely dense forest, followed by anguish. Like from the ethereal being before, the place appeared entirely untouched by man. Though there was a chance that it would be led into seeing something that wasn't real all over again, it followed the negativity out of an inherent unwillingness to leave things be. As it walked across the wooded ground, it reached a much smoother plain that was nearly devoid of greenery. Without so much as a stick or branch marring its path, yet being completely bordered by trees, the field was like the eye of a hurricane if viewed from above.

As unusual as this formation of land was, that paled in comparison to the large warehouse that stuck out in the center. It was too outlandish to be true, and Grimm Ruby suspected that it might just be imagining things. It blinked and rubbed its face a couple of times, half-expecting the warehouse to just vanish like the ethereal being did, but it remained as solid as ever. Furthermore, the source of the anguish was at its most potent from the warehouse itself, suggesting that it might somehow be inhabited.

Taking its previous encounter with the unexplained into account, it didn't immediately barge right in. Instead, it looked around the field for anything that might betray some kind of deception, whether that be a white rose petal or a hologram projector. It discovered neither of these, but it did discover large footprints on the field that couldn't be associated with a human or Faunus.

"Is it Grimm?" it asked itself, faintly sensing the usual Grimm negativity near the ground. Something was still off about it, though. If a Grimm was responsible for any kind of anguish, its own negativity would be equally as pervasive, not faint. And if the Grimm's negativity was meager because it had already hunted down whoever resided in that warehouse days prior, the sorrow should also be as meager by now. Otherwise, more Grimm would just be drawn to it, as Grimm Ruby itself was. Nothing about this added up.

Closer observation of the warehouse itself revealed claw marks on the metal walls that could easily have belonged to a Beowulf. They, too, had a faint negativity emanating from them. From so close to the warehouse, however, it was clear to it now that it was no illusion. There really was a single warehouse sitting in the center of a plain, surrounded by trees and far from civilization. Everything about this was all so phony, but it was so close to the source of anguish now. The huntress in Grimm Ruby couldn't just sit back and do nothing, and the Grimm in it could almost devour the tears that were just waiting inside. Either way, this unusual warehouse was like a beacon that would inevitably draw it inside.

"Can't believe I'm doing this…" Grimm Ruby muttered, then called out toward whoever was living inside. "Um…hello?"

There was no answer, but it could swear it heard the faint sound of rotating gears from the inside. Intrigued, it knocked on the door. When its claw came in contact with the door, bits of metal polish chipped off of it; just one more aspect that didn't make sense for what should be an abandoned building.

"Hellooooo?" it called again. No answer, but there was definitely a lingering negativity inside. That was it. No more waiting. It sank its claws in the door with the intent to rip it off, only to find it wasn't even locked. Raising its eyebrow, it nudged the door open. The immediate view didn't look too out of place: gears stacked up in rows of four, metal canisters, chains with hooks sticking from the ceiling. There was neither a victim or another Grimm here, though. It was too quiet.

"Huh. Maybe it was used for developing defenses against the Grimm once upon a time," Grimm Ruby walked around the interior, looking for the source of the negativity. "Or maybe it was to extend Kingdom bord—"

When the pain it sensed lured it to the middle of the floor, it felt everything underneath it give way under its weight. Before it had time to react, it found itself falling through the floor. Its surroundings went darker the further it fell, like a descent into a world of shadows itself, with only its own dark flames dimly illuminating its immediate surroundings. It could barely make out a pair of red eyes on a long reflective surface across from it; some kind of metal, like the interior above.

Having fell through the ground for what felt like fifteen whole seconds, Grimm Ruby abruptly landed on a hard metal floor. Its flaming body left an impact like a meteor would leave a crater on the earth were it strikes. Though it was caught off guard by the sudden impact, it pulled itself up from the indent it left behind after a couple of seconds to collect itself, no worse for wear. When it did, it hastily looked around the place it was in. Like before, its only source of illumination was its own flames. The chamber, for lack of a better word, was quite large, as it could not see the walls surrounding it. It was definitely larger than the warehouse. It looked up, trying to make sense of what just happened. Instead, it saw the faint light above it grow slimmer until it faded entirely, followed by what sounded like a locking mechanism.

"A trap floor," it muttered in frustration, lightly tapping its skull and hearing pieces of metal fall from its hair. "A warehouse in the middle of nowhere…I was so stupid!"

At the very least, some of the contradictions from earlier were now answered. The Grimm negativity it sensed had to have come from the ones that were there…right before they, too, fell for the trap. The metal polish was probably to make the warehouse look new, as Grimm as driven to destroy mankind's creations as well as mankind itself. That doesn't explain the human anguish it can still sense, even now. The question now is…why?

With no way to climb back up, it considered using its scythe to propel itself upward, no matter how many times it hit a ceiling. Any impact couldn't be any harder than the one it felt when it struck the floor, and it suffered no real damage. Before it could try, however, it felt the Grimm presence from earlier. Only now, it was much more vivid. The darkness made it difficult to see, even for its eyes, but it could feel their intent. Something was off about them. They felt cheated, like they've been deprived of a victim. This supports the theory that they were also tricked into falling for the trap.

"So I'm not the first," Grimm Ruby whispered, uncoiling its scythe. It didn't particularly care what its fellow Grimm had to say about their predicament. Judging from the lingering sense of hunger in the room, they weren't interested in idle chat, either. In fact, there was something unusual about this negativity: it felt bolstered in some way. It couldn't quite understand how or why, but there was something artificial about it, like it wasn't always that way. That negativity came from underneath the floor, suggesting one of two things: there's at least one Grimm underneath the floor strong enough to penetrate metal, or there are multiple sublevels below where it was standing.

Considering that it could sense it getting closer, it was likely the former. Anticipating that it would attack from underneath it, Grimm Ruby dashed across the chamber, leaving a trail of flames to illuminate the path it took. As expected, a giant stinger burst from the burning part of the floor that it just dashed from. Judging from its size, it clearly belonged to a Deathstalker, but it glowed a luminescent green. In fact, the stinger alone illuminated the room more than the dark flames could; enough that Grimm Ruby could perceive the outline of its surroundings. Once it got a good look at the stinger, something about it felt familiar.

"Where did I see..?" it began to ask itself. It knew it didn't recognize its negativity, but it was difficult to get a mental picture of why it was so familiar. Furthermore, the presence of any Deathstalker raised more questions than answers. From the bare glimpse Grimm Ruby had of the trap floor before it fell through it, it couldn't have been bigger than ten feet, both wide and across. That's far too small for a Deathstalker to fit through, which begs the question: how did it get there? Were there other traps, or did it just dig its way there, and if the answer is the latter, where is the sense of "being cheated out of a victim" coming from? On top of those questions, it saw green markings on its claw that immediately gave away what it was up against. "That's…a mutant."

Before Grimm Ruby had a chance to ponder when it could swear it remembered such a Grimm from, a large row of spikes fell toward it in three horizontal lines. The attack was both very quick, and caught it off guard, striking its chest and shoulder, while propelling it backward toward the line of spikes behind it. As it pried itself up from the spikes digging in its back, it noticed the same luminescent green substance leaking from the puncture wound on its shoulder. The spikes didn't penetrate its skin very much, as it was likely more threatening to human flesh than its much denser skin. However, the substance inflicted a burning sensation within its shoulder; one that differed from the dark flames that didn't bother it.

As the pain forced it to focus on what was happening now, its mind no longer wandered toward the many questions in its mind. Its body, however, still slowly regenerated from some lingering negativity before it even had a chance to strike the Mutant Deathstalker. There was someone, or something, in terrible agony nearby. That much was certain. As sad as it was for any Huntress, copied or not, to be able to exploit something like this, it did have an advantage in terms of fortitude. However, the dark flames that now bathed the Mutant Deathstalker's torso after it tried to attack it from below was only doing chip damage at best. Flames alone wouldn't stop its attacks.

Ignoring the burning sensation in its shoulder, it dashed toward the Deathstalker's side legs, avoiding the incoming stinger as it struck the ground hard enough to get stuck in it. Considering that everything about a glowing stinger suggested "weak spot," it used this chance to dash toward it…only to be intercepted by another row of spikes that came out of nowhere. Having kept its eyes on its enemy the entire time, it knew that the Deathstalker didn't conjure the spikes, which begged the question: what did? That question would immediately be answered when it heard a loud shriek come from behind it, followed by a glowing stinger that vaguely revealed the approaching threat.

"Two of them?" Grimm Ruby exclaimed. The darkness made it difficult to completely make it out, but its silhouette was obviously that of another Mutant Deathstalker. Had it not been preoccupied with the other one, it might have sensed the one behind it, but now it had two to keep track of. Watching the other one burrow, it took a moment to strike at the one whose stinger was still stuck in the ground. As it burrowed, it kicked up some of the earth below the floor toward Grimm Ruby like debris, which it had to dodge. As such, it only managed to get a single strike with its scythe in before it pulled its stinger out of the ground. As expected, it sensed a jolt of anguish come from its enemy.

Luminescent green venom squirted from the creature's stinger where it was struck, coating the ground beneath it. Knowing that the substance could scald its flesh, it dashed to the Deathstalker's side legs, leaving another trail of flames that could burn either of them, albeit minimally. It became clear that both flames and acid would be used as a form of area denial that could punish the opposing side. Moreover, either substance could dissolve the other. With that in mind, Grimm Ruby focused on dashing across the entire chamber, going in a circle around both Deathstalker. The intent was to "claim" as much of the chamber as possible to give it room to maneuver and dodge its enemies' attacks. These Grimm were clearly resilient, as other species would quickly falter by the flames, so this would take longer than other Grimm. The Deathstalker that it attacked caught on quickly, as it sprayed its acid over some of the flames left behind, instead of leading its shots where Grimm Ruby might be.

By now, the other Deathstalker also emerged from the ground. It, too, would catch on to this strategy, as it emerged from a spot covered in acid. From here on out, Grimm Ruby's ability to regenerate was matched against the fact that the acid of two Grimm could coat the floor more quickly than the flames of one. Simply using their comparatively slow speed against them and waiting for opportunities to inflict damage wouldn't work here. Furthermore, if the fight dragged on too long, the floor itself would wither and corrode, making it harder to dash across it with its two legs, while leaving both Deathstalkers' sets of insect-like legs unimpeded. With a quiet bestial growl, it glared at both Grimm in front of it. They, like many of its fellow Grimm, were far more intelligent than they appeared. Whatever effect their mutations had on their bodies, they clearly did nothing to hinder their minds.

"Okay," it said in a tranquil fury. It dashed directly toward one of the Deathstalkers, disregarding all caution in favor of a hyper-offensive strategy. Even the acid scalding its feet and the incoming claws weren't enough to deter it now. Though Grimm Ruby took a direct hit from one of the claws, it struck its enemy's face with its scythe a couple of times in the process. Furthermore, the Deathstalker's claw and face were now immolated due to coming in contact with the speeding Grimm Ruby. It went on to do the same to the other one: dashing straight toward it and striking it, taking a stinger swipe in the process, and leaving its enemy burned.

The flames still didn't appear to damage them very much, but they still hurt them. As always, with pain comes rejuvenation for the sentient Grimm. With that in mind, it tried even more reckless maneuvers, like dashing along the wall to attack from an elevated position and striking a claw directly. No matter what, its priority was to stay proactive and control the flow of the fight. Once more, the Deathstalkers seemed to understand its intent, as they both fired streams of spikes in front of its path wherever it moved. Grimm Ruby even mentally noted that they were firing alternating bursts with one another, so that one would attack when the other just finished, and vice-versa. This display of impromptu teamwork kept its attacks at a minimum, and even gave one a chance to burrow underground. Like before, it kicked up pieces of the earth as it burrowed.

Anticipating that the one above the floor might launch more acidic spikes at it if it pursued its partner down the hole, Grimm Ruby focused on the former. Using one of the pieces of earth as a platform to propel itself in the air quickly, it dodged the incoming claw and sank its claws into the stinger. It ripped into the Deathstalker's glowing appendage for a good second before the latter spun its body and shook it off. Grimm Ruby landed in a pool of acid where, thanks to its ability to sense the presence of other Grimm, it knew the other one was directly below it. Feeling the one under the floor getting closer, it dashed out of the way, only to find the other one slammed its claws on the earth. This was followed by four Creeps—smaller Grimm with hind limbs, but no forelimbs or claws—that came from the ground.

Like the Deathstalker, they glowed with a luminescent green across the spikes on their back; an indication that they were also Mutants. Judging from their lack of discomfort, the acid probably didn't harm them either. Speaking of which, the acid was taking its toll on Grimm Ruby's body and the distress from whoever was nearby could only do so much, even with the damage it inflicted upon one of the Deathstalkers. The newly summoned Creeps were much easier targets, however. It only took a single swing of the scythe to decapitate one and replenish its body.

Upon its death, the Mutant Creep exploded in a ball of blistering acid with enough sheer force to not only knock Grimm Ruby off its feet, but bathe its entire body with a sickly burning sensation. It wailed in a manner that evoked both the roar of a beast and the scream of a young girl. The only things that ever felt more painful across its outer skin was the light of the silver eyes, but this comes at a close second. The remaining Mutant Creeps seized their chance to attack the heretic of their own kind while it was down, with both Deathstalkers raining down more layers of spikes from a distance. Forced to endure the incoming spikes, it could only react when it felt the horn of the closest Creep impale its skin. In response, it jammed its thumb claw into one of the beast's eyes to cease the latter's assault.

Its body still dripping with corrosive acid and needing to recover fast, Grimm Ruby used this moment to break the Creep's left leg inward with a single kick. The Creep roared in pain, but that wasn't enough. The next move was to rip the Creep's left leg off by the knee entirely and grab the rest of it by the throat. It sank its claws down its windpipe and crushed it as efficiently as possible. Before this one could explode, it followed up its attack by slamming the dying Creep by its feet, pinning the spikes on its spine to the floor. Once properly rooted in place, Grimm Ruby punted what was left of the volatile beast toward the very Deathstalker that summoned it like a kickball. Upon impact, the Creep exploded in an blazing amalgamation of flames and acid. Once again, the sheer force was enough to knock even a Grimm that large off its feet and on top of its own stinger.

A fetid sense of terror and astonishment reverberated in the air; not from any human, but the remaining Grimm themselves. With so much fear and pain now present, Grimm Ruby's body rejuvenated quickly enough to dash again. The single glance that Grimm Ruby gave them before it took advantage of their Deathstalker's now revealed underbelly betrayed mortified roars and shaking legs. The instant its claws burned and dug into the giant Grimm's flesh, it felt its utter desperation all around it. The Deathstalker writhed across the floor, kicking up massive amounts of debris in the process. Like a bloodsucking tick that couldn't be extracted without the use of a pair of tweezers, Grimm Ruby would only dig itself deeper into the Deathstalker's black underbelly, immolating it from the inside out.

The frustration coming from all around the two would only bolster Grimm Ruby's strength; another feeling ripped straight from the remaining Creeps around them, as they had no way of even attacking the heretic that opposed them while it was deep within the belly of one of their own. It felt the murderous intent of the other Deathstalker coming closer to it very clearly. Even a Deathstalker capable of genuine teamwork with its own would murder the other in an instant if it meant extinguishing the heretic's life along with it; just one more reason to utterly despise the Creatures of Grimm. And yet, it was this murderous nature that allowed it to turn their own strategies against them.

Using one of its own Creeps as a bomb the same way another blew up in its face, burrowing inside its flesh the way they would burrow into the ground, burning its body from the inside the way their acid burned its shoulder; it was poetic justice in every sense of the word. And the moment the Deathstalker's giant stinger penetrated the flesh of the other one, Grimm Ruby tore its way out of the latter's body and left its victim's body to dissolve. With the Creeps' fear of their enemy peaked, despair fell upon them both like a plague. In their panic, they were driven to hide into one of the holes in the floor that a Deathstalker created.

This was highly unusual among Grimm, as cowardice was typically frowned upon by their own, especially against the heretic. In fact, the remaining Deathstalker responded to this cowardice by shooting them both with a layer of spikes, causing them to die and explode. Grimm Ruby glared back at the monster that slew its own; a growl of contempt escaping its lips with sick realization that they could be anything alike.

Gnarled and mangled,
Warped, deformed;

The Deathstalker now resorted to more defensive tactics; covering its skull with its claws, coiling its stinger inward, and keeping its front toward Grimm Ruby. The few times it did attack, either with another burst of spikes or one of its claws, it was careful not to expose its weak spots. For the next few minutes, the fight was nothing but Grimm Ruby dodging the now less frequent attacks and the Deathstalker sustaining little damage on its hard outer shell.

They see nightmares,
A mutant swarm.

It was increasingly obvious that the Deathstalker simply wouldn't slam its stinger down anymore. Grimm Ruby would have to force it to make itself vulnerable somehow. Though it took time to think of a new plan of attack, it remained mobile and made sure to leave as much of the chamber's floor in flames as possible. Doing so revealed a flaw in its plan, however: the floor buckled underneath its weight. The flames and acid finally took their toll on the metal beneath its feet. Each step it took ruptured the floor even further until its foot finally tore through the metal entirely and touched the earth.

I see beauty.
Underneath,
I see promise
In nature's freak.

Knowing the Deathstalker sensed its predicament, Grimm Ruby felt the earth under its feet shake as it approached. As expected, the ruptured floor didn't hinder the giant Grimm as much. In a desperate attempt to avoid the incoming stinger, which it couldn't parry without a solid foundation, it dove toward the ruptured floor…and fell through it entirely, landing in one of the burrows the Deathstalker made earlier.

A mystery of blood and bone,
Soul-less, origin unknown.

Once Grimm Ruby realized where it ended it, it smirked. The burrow was covered knee-deep in the Deathstalker's acid; a sure-fire way to ambush its enemy while using their inherent negativity as a guide. Dashing across the acid was painful, but that wouldn't deter the heretic Grimm now. It was merely following the torment once more.

Twisted devil villains lost in time,
Mindless born of bubbling ooze.

The earth rumbled as the Deathstalker walked across what was left of the floor. Exactly which Grimm was pursuing which wasn't clear, but the stinger that pierced the floor again and again kept Grimm Ruby on its scalded toes. Given that the Deathstalker would quickly retract the stinger whenever it pierced the floor, attacking that appendage would be difficult without predicting where it would strike in advance. Unfortunately for Grimm Ruby, the Deathstalker didn't know its precise location, as it could only sense its comparatively smaller body in a general area. Therefore, the stinger attacks were random and didn't telegraph its next move.

Intelligence I will infuse;
A curse upon the world but now you're mine.

Abandoning the stinger for now, Grimm Ruby decided on another vulnerable part of the Deathstalker's body. To get to that part, it would have to move deeper across the burrow; enough to feel its enemy's presence directly above it.

I will raise you up de-
sign the perfect beast.
Elevate the savage,
Use you to bring peace.

Once it did, it slammed its scythe straight down, using the force of the swing to propel itself straight up through the floor and the Deathstalker's underbelly. It sank its claws on the part of its body that connected the stinger and underbelly, twisted their collective trajectory in mid-air, and slammed the Deathstalker's entire body to the floor.

They don't know!
They don't understand!
There's a goal
It's my master plan!

With its back embedded in the earth like one of the Creeps before it, the Deathstalker struggled to turn upright while Grimm Ruby ripped the flesh between stinger and underbelly. The latter felt more acid squirt from the wound; a final desperate attempt to take the heretic with it, but it wouldn't take the bait. Instead, it let itself drop to the earth below and dug its foot into the Deathstalker's stinger. It grabbed the appendage with claw and scythe, and viciously ripped it out of its body entirely.

These simple minded fools just see my plans abstruse;
I'll give the monster's life a use.

The Deathstalker shrieked with an agony that completely rejuvenated Grimm Ruby's body from any acidic injuries. With the giant stinger over its shoulder, it swung its new "weapon" across its enemy's outer shell. Just as it was once used to skewer its fellow Deathstalker, so too would it be turned against the one that betrayed its own. Treachery was a weapon that one should never rely on.

Awaken my brood,
Today you will rise.
I've given you life,
My lusus naturae.

Grimm Ruby gave the Deathstalker one last glare, not only out of pure hatred for its own species, but a special contempt for a traitor that literally stabbed its own kin in the back. As it did, it read the crippled Grimm's intent between the defiant and spiteful hisses: it was one of avoiding responsibility and deflecting blame. In other words, it was just like Salem. It blamed another for its own choices.

"So it's my fault you killed your teammates?" Grimm Ruby spoke like a human, denying this traitor the respect of spending its final moments with one of its own. "Guess that makes us both heretics. It goes without saying, but even by soulless monster standards, you really are a piece of work! I guess it's fine, though. You can blame me all you want."

With that, Grimm Ruby skewered the Deathstalker's skull with its own stinger, engulfed with dark flames. To add insult to injury, it followed up by kicking its dissolving body down one of the burrows it made.

Open your eyes!

"Maybe it's better that way," it said, watching the last Grimm dissolve in the flames below. "Salem wants to divide humanity. Maybe I should try to divide the Grimm."

Once the final Grimm's body completely faded, spotlights from all around the dark room came on. They illuminated the entire room so brightly that Grimm Ruby had to cover its eyes for a brief moment. Once it realized that it wasn't the same silver light that both singed its eyes and petrified its body, it slowly lowered its claws. Now that it finally had a moment to look around the chamber it was in, it realized that many elements of it were out of place. Aside from the spotlights, there were large metal hatches that opened like sliding doors, computer monitors, and even surveillance cameras carefully tucked away in the remaining dark corners of the chamber. The latter caught its eye the longest, and it kept its gaze on one of them as it walked, noticing that they watched its movements with each step across what was left of the floor.

"Most impressive," a deep masculine voice echoed throughout the chamber. "To think that even two of my finest creations were no match for such a diminutive specimen like yourself, even with the new and improved serum."

"That voice…" Grimm Ruby muttered. "Where did I..?"

"And the way you turned my creations' strengths against them! I knew the Grimm were savage creatures at heart, but very few could show such cunning! It goes far beyond the hunting experience of an Alpha!"

"I know that voice from somewhere…"

"Oh, but perhaps I'm being unkind. I, of all people, should know by now that true power doesn't always come from the outside. No, those merely make up the fangs, stingers, and exoskeleton that the world can see. It had always been the inside that counts; the makeup of the Grimm's biology that make them perfect vessels."

Grimm Ruby couldn't quite place where it heard this voice. At first glance, he actually sounded like Dr. Pietro Polendina, though the eccentric scientist and loving father it could recall from the original Ruby's memories is about as far away from someone enamored with the Grimm as one could possibly be. In fact, the last place he was seen was in Atlas before its fall, so it's illogical to think he would have retreated into this isolated middle of nowhere. It had to be a coincidence.

"And you, my latest specimen…beneath your lithe figure, you blister and burn with a fiery wrath that surpasses any Grimm I have ever seen! Just look at what you've done to my testing chambers!"

Grimm Ruby was growing more uncomfortable with this man's praises by the second. It had never been at ease with its own power, even before it discovered just how horrific it really was. Anybody that could actually admire it couldn't be mentally stable.

"Oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Dr. Merlot. You don't know me, but I certainly know who you are, or should I say…what you are. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled you're here."

As soon as he introduced himself, flashbacks of a life before torment appeared in Grimm Ruby's mind. It was of a time before Salem, gods, and the Fall of Beacon. It, or rather, the original Ruby encountered this man when she, and the rest of Team RWBY, were still students. They were sent on a mission to the Emerald Forest, where they had to defend security network control centers from hordes of Grimm, only to later discover that the network had in fact been reprogrammed by an unknown party. The one responsible was later revealed to be Dr. Merlot himself. They also discovered mysterious cages used to capture Grimm alive, which led to the team investigating Merlot Industries, and ultimately confronting him on a highly remote island, uncharted on any map and unburdened by Kingdom jurisdictions.

Though none of the team had ever seen him face-to-face, let alone fought him directly, they did have to fight through hordes of androids and mutated Grimm, including his so-called "ultimate Mutant Grimm:" a Death Stalker, just like the two Grimm Ruby had just killed. After Merlot's laboratory was destroyed, it was believed that he had perished with it. If a supposedly dead man's reappearance in a laboratory hiding underneath a simple warehouse was strange enough, the fact that his voice sounded eerily similar to Dr. Polendina's was even more bizarre. One could get the sense that either of them could imitate the other over a Scroll and go completely unnoticed. And that doesn't take into account how he, or anyone for that matter, could have even built a laboratory underground without any known resources available. No private contractor would have went this far away from civilization, yet no scientist could have built all of this alone. Even now, nothing about this added up.

Meanwhile, a passage leading toward a hallway had suddenly illuminated, catching Grimm Ruby's attention. Though the Grimm have an easier time navigating in the dark than normal people, the light was probably meant to make that passage stick out. Putting its increasingly bewildered thoughts aside for now, it cautiously approached the passage, not out of any desire to humor Dr. Merlot, but because the pain that lured it there to begin with emanated from that direction.

"Now, now…there's no need to be shy. Just follow your instincts and I assure you, we'll have plenty of time to…get acquainted."

"My instincts," it muttered. "What is he..?"

It would discover the answer to that question when it found a large assortment of those Grimm cages just across the passage. Inside one of them was a man bound by metal cuffs. From the looks of his tattered clothes and malnourished face, he must have been imprisoned for days. And of course, he reeked of desperation and a yearning for freedom.

"Oh my god…"

"Before we go any further, I'd like to offer you my most gracious hospitality," Dr. Merlot said. The door to the cage opened electronically. "Please, do as you will with this poor soul. I just want to observe…and admire."

Having already feel for one trap, Grimm Ruby didn't immediately rush inside the cage. It assumed the cage's door would close the instant it walked in. Even if it could bust itself free, the resulting flames might kill the man inside. Instead, it stared carefully at the sliding mechanism that both opened and shut the gate. It was composed of interlocking wheels arranged on a long curved hinge, like a garage door. Though any Grimm could easily break the mechanism once locked inside, doing so wouldn't unlock the door. Presumably, it could be opened from the outside, with or without the mechanism.

Grimm Ruby rolled its eyes, hardly believing that any remotely intelligent being would fall for something like this. It grabbed one of the metal hinges, twisting it inward. For once, its sharp claws were useful for something besides killing. Once the door was jammed, it wasted no more time in getting a closer look at the captive. As expected, the cage door would have shut, had it not rigged the hinge in advance. The metal screech that came from the top of the cage gave it away.

"Well, aren't you a resourceful one?" Dr. Merlot said, sounding pleased instead of annoyed. "I suppose I'll have to take my time with you."

"N-no…no…" the captive muttered. His voice was so weak he couldn't even scream.

"Just hang in there, okay?" Grimm Ruby whispered. Much of the man's desperation faded instantly.

"You…you're a…H-Huntress?"

It carefully picked him up, feeling his ribs sticking out of his chest in the process. He hadn't eaten in days either. On the way out, it noticed a small surveillance camera, like the ones in the other chamber, watching it from inside the cage.

"Why, I've only watched you for mere minutes, and already you grow more fascinating by the second! Tending to a victim instead of relishing in them? Restraining your urges instead of indulging them? If I didn't know better, I might mistake you for a sentient being. And yet, you possess the same unbridled, raw aggression beneath your restraint, which is remarkable in itself. The equipment I use to measure the different aspects of negativity prove as much. I've placed them all around the halls you walked, you see. You truly are a heretic among your species!"

Grimm Ruby crushed the camera under its claw. It grew tired of this mad doctor's commentary. Once it left the cage with his captive in hand, it quickly sensed more desperate anguish come from above. He must have not be the only one jailed here. Their only way out was up a nearby elevator, according to a sign on the wall. Without a complete understanding of the laboratory's layout, however, there could easily be more traps implemented up ahead. This presented a tough dilemma. Aside from the possible traps, there was surely more fighting to be done. It couldn't even try to fight back without setting this man ablaze in the process. At the same time, it might be the closest thing this man had to human contact for a while. If it left him behind, even for a moment, he might panic and draw any other Grimm to him.

Along the way, it discovered a huge pile of bloody corpses in an adjacent room to the cages. Judging from the claw marks and chewed bones, this wasn't the handiwork of any traps. The bodies didn't even have any negativity lingering with them. They've been dead for days, if not weeks. Grimm Ruby hastily covered its nose, lamenting that Salem had given it a keen sense of smell. Unable to even look at the gory mess for another second, it continued across the hallway. The elevator was in plain sight…along with one more dead body. Judging from the bloody streak across the floor and the right leg that was severed from the rest of them, they must have been very desperate to leave. Once inside, it set the captive down and looked him in the eye.

"Listen to me, okay?" it whispered. "I've got to scout ahead, so I need you to stay here."

"P-please…don't le—"

"I'll come back for you," it covered his mouth. "I promise. Just play dead while I'm gone. And don't panic, whatever you do. I know it's hard, but be as calm as you can, or you'll draw more Grimm."

Reluctantly, Grimm Ruby tore its gaze away from him. It couldn't say for sure if he could even do such a thing after the nightmare he endured, but the accident that burned Jaune's flesh was still fresh in its mind. No matter what, it couldn't relive that horrible experience. It took one last look into the empty eyes of the other man: the butchered corpse under its feet, and gently closed them with the rim of its claw. This poor man had reached the elevator button before he finally died of blood loss.

"To tell you the truth," Dr. Merlot explained, "you've caught my eye the moment I probed all I could about you. I've spent sleepless nights concocting theories, measuring emotional states, inviting…guests to lure you here. I ended up drawing hundreds of your kind to my humble abode before you finally came to me. I must admit my faith in you had wavered when the first fifty guests perished without anything to show for it…"

Grimm Ruby's limbs quivered with a silent rage when it heard just how many victims there actually were…and then slowly curled its claws over each other, like how a human would crack their knuckles.

"…but now that you're finally here, and I've bared witness to your strength and ferocity firsthand…why, it's hard to imagine that evolution hadn't already perfected you! And if you truly are perfect as you are now…what could a humble scientist like myself do to improve you? Or perhaps…I should replicate you instead. Yes! I can see it now…an entire army of superior beings with you as the template!"

It was only the presence of a man clinging to his life that kept Grimm Ruby's whole body from exuding dark flames; its thoughts turned to the agony Ruby went through for it to even exist in the first place…and the implications of what this madman might actually do to other people if he would somehow learn how to do so.

"With beings like you serving mankind, the world will have no more need of Huntsmen and Academies! The setbacks were regrettable, I admit…but it will all be worth it in the end, I assure y—"

What it couldn't hold back, however, was the angry and flaming claw that smashed the monitor he was speaking through.