Disclaimer: I hereby declare that Roosterteeth studios RWBY production crew may freely use any ideas, characters, or events written in this story free of charge and without any threat of lawsuit for any production, though it would be preferable to inform me of the use of the idea if used.
Mansion of Frozen Blood ch4
After having fed the fluffy round creature 10 energy bars and all of his blue peach rehydrating jelly pouches, Lan listened to the creature's explanations. The creature was apparently one of the missing Faunus workers, a miner by the name of Havarti, and had the appearance of a round fluffy orange cheeseball with 4 little nubs where his arms and legs were supposed to be.
"Me no understand how me got like this" said Havarti as he somehow held a chocolate energy bar with his stumpy little hand. "One minute, getting in truck to go to worksite, next wake up floating in big glass tube!"
"Uh huh" said Lan as he cleaned up the leftover packaging. "And why are you talking like that?"
"Uh…when Havarti listening to researcher, they say frontal lobe damaged by experiment" said Havarti "but only to extent that Havarti grammar bad now. But apparently Havarti also very tough now, not surprising since Havarti always tough tough man!"
He slapped his chest with a motion that could only be described as adorable in his puffball like form.
"Well, in any case this works out nicely" said Lan "You can show me where the lab is—"
"No no no no no!" interrupted Havarti who began jumping up and down, but was stopped as Lan grabbed him and went "Shhhhhh!"
"Ah, yes" whispered Havarti who looked down and reconfirmed that any sound they made could easily travel through the vents. "Anyway, Havarti not going back there! Too hard to escape in first place! Need get out and find family! Been weeks since see me, must be so worried about Havarti!"
Looking at the defensive stance the little puffball had taken, Lan let out a sigh.
"Did you have any friends who were also hired with you?" asked Lan.
"Oh, uhh…yes, Havarti very friendly person so has lots and lots of friends" he said as he began fidgeting nervously.
"And are you sure you'll be able to go home looking like that?" asked Lan "Could be difficult securing transportation and living a normal life in that state…Buuuuut there's a chance we could find out how to get you back to normal from the data in the lab…which I am currently after, and I plan on freeing all the other prisoners as well, including all of your friends."
"Hmmm…boy has point" said Havarti, who looked down and tapped the area Lan believed to be his chin before looking back up and nodding "Okay, Havarti will lead way."
He turned around and was about to trot deeper into the ventilation system when he suddenly stopped.
"Wait, why is boy so calm about seeing Havarti? Me is a weird floof ball never before been seen on Remnant."
"Oh, well, I guess I've just gotten used to the unusual and surprising" said Lan, as he thought about the monstrous stew his grandpa made that literally tried to attack him, waking up screaming in a nest of giant carnivorous spiders as part of training, and being invited to astral projection tea parties with Uncle Meng in the dreamscape…only to be attacked by monstrous nightmares that Byakko rounded up to liven things up.
"…how has he not killed me yet?" mumbled Lan as he pressed his hand against his forehead.
"Huh?" said Havarti, who tilted his head.
"Oh, uh, nothing" said Lan as he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Let's get moving."
The two of them then begin moving through the ventilation system as per Havarti' directions, with Lan placing bugs, hacking devices, and signal relays as per Sammy's instructions whenever they found any wiring or electrical systems they could exploit.
"How the heck did you make so many" asked Lan over the comms as he placed his 15th signal relay.
"…Let's just say I get overexcited easily and leave it at that." mumbled Sammy.
Eventually the two made their way to a small vent overlooking Celsus's office. The hatch was hanging open, likely from Havarti's first escape.
"Uh, now that we here Havarti not so sure that—" started Havarti.
"Yeet" mumbled Lan as he quickly shoved Havarti out causing the little cheeseball to yelp, fall 10 feet, and land on his face.
Lan tried to follow right after, but quickly found that the vent was too small to fit through.
"Okay, it looks like I need to find you another—" started Sammy.
'Snap' He was interrupted as Lan began dislocated his joints and then, having now streamlined body, fall through the grate.
"Nevermind" finished Sammy as Havarti grunted in pain as Lan fell on top of him.
"Any surveillance or security in here?" asked Lan as he began popping his joints back into place.
"Nothing you haven't taken care of already," said Sammy as he monitored the dozens of devices Lan had placed throughout the building whiling deactivating any sensors and setting any cameras that Lan passed on loop. "But you're running low on my devices now, so be more frugal."
"Got it" said Lan, who straightened up in a way that looked like a puddle like abomination morphing into a human. The room was your standard big business office with lots of orange and blue. There was a large wooden desk with a big chair behind it and computer and documents on top. There was also a large bookshelf in the back.
"Hmmm, guess I found the main computer" Said Lan, who pulled out Marrone's hacking device (along with several candy bars which he handed to Havarti as an apology for falling on him) and stuck it into one of the ports.
"Here!" said Havarti, who jumped up and down in front of the central bookcase. "Entrance here, secret door switch somewhere!"
After belting Havarti in the face with a paperweight to remind him to stay quiet. Lan walked up and inspected the bookcase.
"How did you get out the first time?" asked Lan.
"Researcher not know about how smooshable my body is." Said Havarti "Squeezed out of cage and followed man up when came to this room, bookcase slide open and let him out. Havarti hid under desk until he left, then climbed up bookcase and threw myself at vent until it opened."
"Okay, must be some way to open it…You finding anything in the electrical systems Sammy?" asked Lan.
"Checking, you may wanna give me a bit though, it's hard to navigate these systems without setting off any security." Said Sammy, who clacked away on the laptop on his end. "My computer's built with top of the line components, but I'm pretty sure what Celsus has beats any civilian specs out of the water."
"Okay, we'll check around then" said Lan, who began checking the room. He didn't get far, however, when something on Celsus's desk caught his eye. There was a photo of the Schnee family portrait on Celsus's desk, but there was something strange about it, the picture only depicted 4 members of the family: Willow, Winter, Whitley, and Weiss. Lan reached out his hand to pick it up, but stopped as he noticed a few cables coming out of the frame and leading into the desk.
"Hey uh Sammy, something weird about this picture here. Do you think the mechanism might be related to this?" asked Lan
"Let me check" said Sammy.
"What mechavism?" said Havarti who leapt onto the desk, "You mean this picture here?"
"Wait!" shouted Lan, but too late.
Havarti's fluffy little stump touched the picture frame, which quickly flashed as a scanner read what was on the surface. After a moment a small red light flashed followed by a voice from one of the speakers.
"Biometric scan rejected; security has been alerted."
"Oh…crap" said Lan with a deadpan voice as Havarti began jumping around the room screaming.
"Okay, Good news is that we now know where the mechanism is. Bad news is that it looks like Celsus and a retinue of security guards are heading your way now." Said Sammy. "And I really don't think I can crack whatever encryption is used on that in 5 minutes, you got anything in your weird toolbox?"
"I dunno, some of Uncle Meng's esoteric arts?" said Lan.
"The heck are those?" asked Sammy.
"Just think of it as weird magic for right now!" said Lan as he dropped to the ground and searched around until he found a piece of Celsus's hair. He began to concentrate his spiritual energy into some techniques that might assist with bypassing the biometric scanner, however the moment he was about to manifest any effects, something in the atmosphere completed dispersed the technique before it could form. After trying and failing a few times, he finally remembered what his grandma had mentioned about planetary wards.
"Why did it work in Amygdala then?" he mumbled.
"The heck are you doing squatting on the floor?" asked Sammy, who was monitoring the situation from the hacked surveillance system.
"Oh, uh…just thinking of plan B." said Lan who leapt back to his feet "Back in the vents now!"
"This had better be good" muttered Celsus as he walked down the hallway, holding his scroll while being accompanied by 5 of his personal bodyguards. "Ugh, I must have reminded them all of that selfish, self-centered bastard when I had to leave in the middle of the performance for 'work related issues'". Celsus made little quotes in the air as he said this last phrase.
"Tell me honestly man" he said turning to one of the guards at his side "Do you think this will hurt my chances with them?"
"Uh" started the guard next to him.
"And Weiss was just starting to warm up to me too" continued Celsus, who ignored the guard "You know she called me uncle Celsus…it was wonderful, but I think with enough time we can really start to see each other as family. Oh and Willow" Celsus took a deep refreshing breath as an enormous smile spread across his face "She was as beautiful as I remember."
"Uh, sir?"
"No, even more beautiful, she has truly has come to possess that charm only a mature woman can possess" continued Celsus "Filled out in all the right places even more than before too."
"Sir?"
"Oh, now I really understand that phrase those kids use, she truly is a MIL—"
"SIR!" shouted the guard.
"Oh, what is it man?" said Celsus, who exasperatingly turned to the guard.
"We have arrived at your office" said the guard with a relieved sigh "If you could please unlock it so we could begin a perimeter sweep."
"Oh, yes of course" said Celsus who quickly produced the necessary keycards and biometric scans. The door slid open with a loud beep and Celsus men dove into the room, holding out firearms.
"Do you see the perpetrator?" said Celsus as he calmly walked in.
"Yes sir" said one of the guardsmen. "And I think he needs our help."
"Ack! Too many candies" said Havarti, who was currently stuck in the ventilation shaft, his little stumpy legs flailing up above as he tried to force himself through.
Celsus covered his eyes and let out a sigh.
"Get him down" he said. "You don't need to be gentle, if he's who I think he is then he's designed to be extremely sturdy."
Two of the guards reached upwards and grabbed both of his stubby little legs and pulled him out of the vent with a 'pop' and an 'OW!'.
They then held the little creature dangling upside down to face Celsus.
"Hello experiment 4060" said Celsus with a playful smile "How did you get out of your cage? Wait! Don't tell me." He said holding up one hand and using the other to push up his glasses such that the reflection of the light obscured his eyes. "Your mass is extremely variable, depending on how well fed you are. I had been so busy with the party preparations these past few days, I must have forgotten to feed you enough. As a result of that as well as your extremely malleable body, you were able to squeeze yourself out of your cage after you had fasted enough, am I right?"
"Huh?" said Havarti, who tilted his head to the side, confused.
"Well, let's forget about that for now." Said Celsus, who waved his right hand dismissively "You mentioned candies so I assume you've gorged yourself on the mint chocolate bars I keep in one of my drawers. But you don't have to worry about starving anymore, I will make sure to stuff your brand new heavily fortified cage with tons of leftovers from the party."
"No, no no no" shouted Havarti who began flailing "Havarti need to go to family! Need tell them he is safe!"
"Oh, all in good time my friend" said Celsus "Perhaps after you've undergone the proper memory alteration procedures and have been fitted with an appropriate control apparatus. But there are many other procedures you must go through beforehand! Now let's get that minty fresh mouth of yours back to…to"
Celsus paused as he realized something. He leaned in closer and sniffed Havarti's open mouth.
"No mint…but a hint of peaches?" said Celsus, who squinted half his face as he tilted his head, confused. "There shouldn't be anything like that in my office…unless—"
He stopped as he heard the sound of something rolling across the ground. Looking down, he noticed two spheres had rolled into the center of the circle he and his men had made around Havarti. Before any of them could react, one of them exploded in a cloud of gas which almost immediately filled the room. Celsus and the guards attempted to hold their breath, but this act was foiled as the 2nd sphere released an electric current which was conducted into the gas in the air. Although their Auras protected them from the electric current, the pain forced them to gasp and inhale a large amount of the gas that was surrounding them. One of the guard's aura broke and they collapsed to the ground.
"Out!" yelled the lead bodyguard, who began to barrel towards the door. "Everyone ou—"
Before he could finish, he found himself stumbling backwards as a hard object, likely someone's knee, slammed into his face. He reached into his suit to grab his gun, but due to being slowed by both the damage and the gas, he was unable to bring it out before three lights exploded in front of his face on his nose, chin, and philtrum, piercing and shattering his aura before dropping him to his knees. A faint shadow then began to dart through the smoke, taking out the rest of the guards in a similar manner. A minute later the gas was cleared out of the room by the ventilation system revealing Lan who was standing over 7 unconscious bodies, his features covered by a pair of goggles and a small breathing mask.
"Sorry about that little buddy." Muttered Lan as he picked up Havarti, who had passed out from the gas and whose fur was slightly singed from the electricity, and closed and locked the door to the room. He then pulled out a length of cord and several pieces of cloth and proceeded to bind and gag the bodyguards. Surprisingly, Havarti seemed to have some level of resistance to chemical anesthesia as he returned to consciousness around a minute after the gas had cleared the rooms. After apologizing to the little fluffball about the electrocution, Lan cracked open the desk of mint chocolate that Celsus had mentioned and left Havarti with it while he went to inspect Celsus. The man had passed out from the gas shortly after Lan had entered the room, and was currently sedated.
It was likely that there would be more sealed doors and traps in the secret Lab, so Lan decided to bring the man with him, binding his hands in front of his body then dragging him to the desk where he pressed one of the man's thumbs onto the picture frame. With a soft hiss, one of the bookshelves extended outwards and slid to the side, revealing a long dimly illuminated hallway leading to a set of stairs in the distance.
"Good thing grandpa raised me tough" said Lan as he hoisted Celsus over his shoulder "Come on Havarti we got people to save."
Lan then turned on his communicator again. "Heading in now, guards may be suspicious since they won't be receiving any contact from Celsus's bodyguards. Does Grandpa and Grandma Suzanna have the guards preoccupied?"
"I dunno, I'll patch you through." Said Sammy.
This turned out to be a mistake however, as the noises that came from Byakko's end of the comms were completely unsuitable for description for any of our younger readers, and listening to it would be even worse. Sammy quickly shut off the comms after the first 5 seconds of it.
"Uh, what was that?" asked Sammy, who was audibly shaken.
"Just assume that the situation is taken care of and forget you ever heard that." Said Lan, a deadpan expression smeared all over his face. He then headed deeper into the passageway and after walking down the stairs, he found another door, this time with a keypad attachment. At this point Lan dropped Celsus one the ground, uncapped a syringe, and injected its contents into Celsus's neck. He then began hitting pressure points while using an esoteric technique to increase the rate of circulation in Celsus's body while also enhancing his aura to prevent any arterial or venous damage. 30 seconds later, Celsus's eyes shot open and the man began writhing on the ground in pain for a while before vomiting all over the stairs they had just come down.
"Ugghh, whuh 'swallow' 'retch', what did you do to me?" said Celsus, who was visibly shaken.
"Oh, I injected you with stimulants and analeptics to counteract the sedatives and tranquilizers in the gas I used to knock you out." Said Lan as he watched Celsus vomit again.
"Ugh, D-do you have any idea how much damage the mixed chemical signaling does?" said Celsus, whose face was currently covered in the contents of his own stomach.
"Yep." Said Lan, who grabbed Celsus by the back of his coat and pulled him onto his feet. "And now that your awake, please enter in the passcode for this door."
"Wha—why would I" started Celsus, he then stopped as he felt something sharp press into his rear.
"You will do so because if you do not, this knife will be shanking your crotch" said Lan nonchalantly.
Celsus stood for a moment, trying to get control of his breathing, before letting out a sigh. "Alright, just…give me a moment to catch my breath" he said.
"You have thirty seconds" responded Lan "after that I will grab the back of your head and slam your face into the door once every 10 seconds until that door is open."
25 seconds later, the two of them were through the door and walking through another long hallway.
"Okay, this is just stupid" said Lan as they came upon another door after a few minutes "Why is the path to your lab so long? Couldn't you have installed a lift or something?"
"Havarti wonder about that too" said Havarti, who was sitting on Lan's head as they moved.
"Oh well, I designed that pathway from my office to my lab for my morning cardio." Said Celsus, who had started to regain his composure as his heart rate began to stabilize. "A man has to stay fit if he wants his mind functioning properly."
Lan grunted in response as they headed through the door.
"But with that aside, who are you boy?" said Celsus, as he flashed a charming smile, which was made significantly less charming by the dried vomit on his face. "Can't say I've had the opportunity to meet many child soldiers…assassin?...whatever it is you call yourself."
Lan didn't answer him as they continued down another set of stairs.
"Now, seeing as we've got a good 15-20 minutes of walking ahead of us, what do you say we have a bit of light conversation" said Celsus, as he stopped to perform a retinal scan at another door. "Might I know the reason you've come here? And if possible, who sent you? Ooooh! And maybe a few quick blurbs about how you got in so far as well?"
Lan remained silent as he poked Celsus in the back with the knife.
"Hmmm, well I guess I'll just have to muse on my own" said Celsus as he punched in the code for another door. "Let me know if I get anything right. Hmmm, I don't really have much information on your reasons or who sent you, too many possibilities for both those questions with all the different parties interested in me. But based on your height and build, I'd guess you snuck in by impersonating one of the guests, and seeing as you have a masculine physique, I'd say you are a boy and that you very much enjoy crossdressing as you were able to perfectly blend in with the crowd of young heiresses…unless of course you're gender fluid, in which case I apologize for any offense my words my have given you. So hard to know what's what these days at first glance. And moving on, the person you impersonated had to be someone who we didn't have a detailed profile on so we wouldn't be able to ID you based on differences in physical characteristics or character. Hmmm, based on the guest list that narrows it down to Stella Papillon, Bernadetta Dunkelheit, Gentianna Wald, and SooHa Park"
Celsus turned his head slightly to get a better look at Lan, but the boy poked him in the back again to get him to face forwards and move faster.
"Stella and Soo Ha have different builds than you do, especially in the arm areas where you seem to have put on a significant amount of muscle for your age" said Celsus, as he continued forwards "So that leaves only Bernadetta and Gentianna. Hmmm, the mask and goggles you are wearing make it hard to make out your features, you wouldn't mind taking them off, would you?"
"Just shut up and keep moving." Said Lan, who poked Celsus in the rear hard enough that he would have drawn blood had the man not been protected by Aura.
The man nodded and continued in silence for a few moments before saying: "Looks like its Gentianna isn't it?"
Lan raised an eyebrow but made no other movements that would give away his surprise.
"Quite the professional, aren't you?" said Celsus, with an amused chuckle "I'm almost certain I'm right. After hearing you speak, all I did was extrapolate your voice to a higher pitch, and voila. You know it's unlucky that you pulled my attention during the party, if we hadn't talked so much, I may not have been able to identify you."
Lan said nothing, only stuck something on the wall as they continued, which he had been doing for a while now. Placing a new device every time they went down one level.
"It really is a shame though" said Celsus, who shook his head "I was so certain you and Weiss could have become such good friends. Especially since she'll need all the emotional support she can get when she stops living with her bastard of a father."
This comment did cause Lan to move in a noticeable way, causing the boy to tilt his head slightly.
"What? You thought I was in the man's back pocket? Just another brown noser looking to get his paws into the Schnee fortune? Oh no no no." said Celsus with a dry chuckle. "I hate that bastard with every fiber of my being...but, Willow and the kids?...I love them as if they were my own…You know what?! Why don't I tell you about my connections with the Schnee family eh? Probably won't have the chance to do so with anyone else for the rest of my life."
Celsus began to march forward as he began to let out a torrent of words that Lan was sure he had bottled up for a long long time.
"I knew both of them you know, Willow and Jacquess, before they married." Said Celsus "Willow and I actually went through school together and…I'm happy to say that we were friends."
Lan allowed Celsus to continue as they continued through the winding passageways, since the man's pace didn't slow in walking or unlocking doors, he also listened intently in case this story could give any important information.
"I was a lad from an average Atlesian family, but with my academic skills I was able to gain the scholarships necessary to enter the finest learning institutions in Atlas. It seemed I was set for a happy successful life…at least until my parents died in an accident. I was understandably distraught after that, and as my grades plummeted during my depression, I gradually lost the support of everyone I thought was on my side, from teachers to the members of the scholarship committee to people who I thought were my friends…at least until Willow came into my life."
A faint smile spread across Celsus's face. "I still remember it now; I was sitting in the school courtyard with my most recent report card balled up in my fist. The snow was falling and the tears streaming down my face froze the moment they hit the ground. I truly felt that my life was only going to get worse and worse…then I heard someone call out to me…and when I looked up, she was there."
His voice was tearing up slightly at this point. "She had bent down and placed a hand on my shoulder and then asked me what was wrong and if there was anything she could do to help. You know I actually broke down at that point." Said Celsus with a chuckle "Broke down sobbing and told her about everything, about all the pain and all the pressure I was under. How I thought that my life would only continue to grow worse. How there was nothing left for me in this world. 'inhale' She listened to me calmly the whole time, just sitting there beside me with her hands folded in her lap. Sometimes I would look up and see a tear slide down her face, but she didn't say a word till I was done."
Celsus stopped at this point and took a deep breath, only to have Lan poke him in the back again with the knife.
"Alright alright, walk and talk." Said Celsus who continued forwards "Anyways, after that, I remember she reached out a hand and placed it on my shoulder. She told me that she couldn't begin to understand the kind of pain I was going through, or know how to help me with all of it. But if I would let her, she said she would like to be my friend…You know I think I just sat there in dumb silence, staring at her for a minute or two. And then I said 'Okay'…Things became truly wonderful after that." There was happy glimmer in Celsus's eyes as he talked about this "I was invited into her group of friends shortly afterwards, and that little group would spend almost all of their free time together. She would invite me to go with the group to the carnival or the movies, and I would tutor everyone in subjects they were weak in, but I'd always make sure to prioritize her over everyone else…I like to think that we became very close during this time, but I'm honestly not sure if she ever knew how I truly felt about her, how she had pulled me up when I was at my lowest and made me want to live again...How I wanted to be with her no matter what…but I felt like I simply wasn't on her level."
Celsus let out a sigh and covered his eyes.
"There she was, heiress to one the world's largest producers and exporters of dust, and then there was me, a boy with no money or influence to his name" he said "I decided that I had to make a name for myself before I could possibly pursue anything further with her…It was around that time I met Jacques."
Celsus practically spat the name out.
"One day when I was looking through the brochures for colleges, he popped up and offered to help me. We discussed things for a while and came up with the idea that I could start up a company of my own, that I could show my worth to the world and the Schnee Dust Company. I of course kept to myself the reason that I wanted to improve my social standing, but my reasons probably didn't matter a whit to him. Because after our little discussion, he asked me to introduce him to Winter's circle of friends, saying that he wanted to help them too. And me being the naïve little bastard that I was…'inhale' I accepted."
Celsus covered his eyes, visibly ashamed of the memory.
"I went and said goodbye to Willow soon after we graduated from high school, telling her that I'd come to reconnect as soon as I was confident with who I was. After that I threw myself into my studies, quickly earning a double major in Business Management and Bioengineering at the Atlesian University of Medical Science. After that, I started up a small medical company dedicated to gene therapy and phenotype manipulation. I of course had a rough time in the beginning, but after familiarizing myself with and mastering the handling of the finer points of business management, especially the areas involving more…discrete business partners, I was able to get my company off the ground and into Atlas's Times's top 10 fastest growing businesses…but all that became pointless after I received the invitation for Willow and Jacques's wedding."
Celsus brushed his hair back and adjusted his glasses as he sighed. "I went of course, and paid the usual pleasantries, but I was so confused at the time on how it happened. I went around asking our old friends, and it seemed that while I was going off and starting my business Jacquess had spent the whole-time wooing Willow and winning her over. I was absolutely baffled the whole time on how this happened, but it was still wonderful to see Willow again, especially how beautiful she was in that snow white dress…'sigh' I don't think I have to tell you that I couldn't make it through their vows, had to take a break out in the foyer before coming back in after the kiss. But I did stay for the wedding reception. It honestly pained my heart to see Willow giving that man her love, but as her friend I wished her and Jacquess all the best…At the time, I'm ashamed to say that I was willing to support the two of them in their happiness, blaming only myself for taking too long to return to her side…But then Jacquess came stumbling out drunk onto the balcony where I was drinking by myself."
The disdain was evident in Celsus's gaze as he said these words. "Apparently, he had decided to give Willow a moment alone with the girls, and decided to come out and talk to me. The conversation started normally, I congratulated him on the wedding and he congratulated me on starting my company. And then…" Celsus took a deep breath to quell his rage. "He told me 'Too bad you didn't take the opportunity I did, could have gotten one of the richest companies in the world instead of having to build one from scratch.'"
The words had obviously been burned into Celsus's mind for years. Silence gripped the group for a moment as they continued down the hall, lasting one heavy instant before Celsus continued.
"I asked Jacquess what he meant by that." Continued Celsus "He married Willow because he loved her didn't, he? But he had managed to sober up a bit at that time and managed to catch himself. Spouting silver-tonged platitudes that 'of course he did'. But that one little crack was all I needed to see his true character. After that, I began to invest more in my personal intelligence network, getting as much information as I could on what that bastard's true motives were. I couldn't allow Willow to continue to be married to a man only interested in her name and company, I had to be completely sure. But it looks like Jacquess had his guard up constantly after that little slip up, it took years before I finally found decisive evidence that Jacquess had only married Willow for her name and that he didn't give a damn about her or their children. However, by then he had already succeeded Nicholas as CEO of the Schnee Dust Company and had begun growing the company at a breathtaking pace, with the distasteful rumors growing just as fast. I tried to warn Willow as soon as I could by bribing one of her maids to bring her a copy of the evidence I found. But when she confronted Jacques about it, he was able to pull out piles of fabricated evidence on how mine was doctored, not surprising given the resources that were at his disposal then. After that the maid was fired and ultimately disappeared under mysterious circumstances. It was clear to me at that point that I would need serious backing if I was to bring that bastard down and show Willow who he truly was…So, I had to become more valuable to the people wo could give me that kind of backing."
At that moment the group arrived at a door far more secure than all others before them, requiring multiple key cards, codes, and biometric scans to unlock. After Celsus provided them, the door slid open with a hiss, revealing a dark room. Then, one by one, lights flickered on, illuminating a path to the center of the room where a large central control panel was mounted.
"Ah, here at last" said Celsus, who extended his arms as he strode forwards, but was stopped as Lan grabbed him and poked him in the back with the knife.
"Stay close unless I say so," said Lan.
"Yes sir" said Celsus, who made a saluting motion. "And I guess I'll continue our little story later. You know it is a rare occasion where I get a conversation partner as convenient as you maybe—"
Lan stabbed him in the back.
"Agh, okay okay, to the terminal" said Celsus, who attempted to rub his backside but was unable to do so due to his bound hands "Aura doesn't block pain you know."
The small group then walked down the lighted path to the Terminal, with Lan peering warily into the darkness that surrounded them on all sides, suspicious of what could be hidden there.
"So, what can I do ya for?" asked Celsus nonchalantly.
"To start with, turn on all the lights," said Lan.
"You got it." Said Celsus who hit a few buttons on the terminal. All at once, the room was flooded with light from hundreds of bulbs up above, revealing an empty chrome room.
"Agh!" squeaked Havarti who had been asleep on Lan's head "Why light so bright?"
"Hey" said Lan who grabbed Celsus and pulled the knife to his throat "Where is everything."
"Ah no need for that" said Celsus "My systems keep everything tucked and folded away in special compartments until I request for them from this terminal, much less clutter that way. If there's something that you're looking for specifically, then I just hit a few commands, and make what you want pop up out of the floor."
"…Alright fine, show me where you're holding the Faunus migrant workers that you abducted." Said Lan
"Ahhh, so that's what you're here for." Said Celsus as he returned to the panel. "In that case I'm guessing that you were likely hired by some individuals related them, perhaps fellow coworkers or family... Hoooh, boy, here I was thinking you were working for someone who had it out for Jacquess and was trying to get dirt on him through me. If that was the case, I was hoping we could have worked on a side deal to bring him down together…Oof, feeling a little embarrassed about pouring my soul out to you earlier, especially since that has no bearing on our current situation."
Celsus finished entering the commands into the terminal, and with a mechanical whir, metal plating on one side of the room slide backwards and a wall of prison cells sealed with hard dust walls slowly pushed themselves out into the light.
"Open them" said Lan.
Celsus nodded, and hit a series of buttons on the terminal which shut off the hard light doors on the cells.
"Here" said Lan, who handed Havarti one of his knives "I'm going to check on the prisoners, you look over Celsus and shank him repeatedly if he tries anything."
"You got it" said Havarti, who hopped onto Celsus's shoulders and held the dagger up to his neck.
Lan hopped up the platform they were on and ran over to the cells.
"Hey!" he yelled "Your free now! Come on out and we'll get you out of here!"
But there was no response, just the faint sound of air circulating through the room.
"Hey come on already!" shouted Lan who stared into the cells. Why weren't they coming out? He took a tentative step forwards, but stopped as he realized something. Celsus had said something about control apparatuses when talking to Havarti, and he had no idea how long the prisoners had been here at Celsus's mercy. Lan leapt backwards back onto the platform, and using the information he had gained from watching Celsus operate the control panel he quickly reactivated the doors on the cells.
"Why my boy, why did you do that?" asked Celsus, genuinely surprised.
Lan kicked him in the knee and forced him to drop down to Lan's eye level.
"You've installed control apparatuses into the people in those cells, haven't you?" said Lan, the anger evident in his voice.
"Oh, well, it certainly is possible" said Celsus who placed his finger on his chin as his eyes turned to the upper corner in a thinking motion. "Might not have gotten to all of the ones in the current batch but—"
He stopped as he noticed Lan had turned his back on him and was currently examining the console.
"Where's the port on this?" said Lan, who turned back to him after a moment. "I'm not getting any wireless signals from this so there must be a port."
"Oh, well not on this one" said Celsus, who got up and straightened his collar. "You want the main experimental terminal connected with the mainframe which needs to be popped up like everything else."
Lan motioned to the terminal, and Celsus, understanding the intention behind the motion, got up and entered in the appropriate commands. A moment later, panels on another wall slid open and a large structure extended out of the opening. It had a lift in the front of it leading up into a room surrounded by glass windows. Inside the room were multiple terminals where it seemed like other researchers would be stationed during an experiment, and in the back was a desk with a large computer screen on top of it.
"That's the main terminal in the back" said Celsus, who pointed to it "Shall we go?"
"How you move all this stuff down here through tiny hallway?" asked Havarti
"Oh, we don't use that. We used a special cargo elevator that leads here from a secure location far far away." Said Celsus, "Some components simply wouldn't fit down that hallway…and yes I will be showing where that is later." Said Celsus, who rolled his eyes as he noticed the look that Lan gave him.
The group then made their way to the lift and then rode their way up to the glass room. Celsus's nonchalant behavior was honestly making Lan feel quite nervous, but he couldn't tell if the man was faking it or was generally unconcerned and confident. Lan hoped that his team had made enough preparations to counter anything Celsus could throw at them. Arriving at the computer, Celsus quickly entered in his password at Lan's request and then moved over to allow the boy to stick an acorn shaped hacking device into one of the ports.
"You in Steel Squirrel?" asked Lan over his comms.
"Hey, who are you calling—" started Sammy "Oh, codename, right, wouldn't want my name getting out. But man, this is going quite smoothly, I honestly expected this last bit to be a lot harder than this."
Lan did as well, and this lack of difficulty was making him increasingly nervous by the minute. Nothing was ever supposed to be this easy in an operation like this. But thanks to his increased agitation, Lan finally noticed that something was wrong. While looking back and forth all over the room trying to find anything that could go wrong, Lan began to notice a strange shimmering in the air now and again, and realized with horror that they were closing in on the group.
"What the—" started Lan, as he reached out to grab Celsus, but before he could finish his action alarms began blaring and all the lights in the lab turned red. Surprised, Lan froze for a moment and then realized that the shimmers in the air were already right next to them. Grabbing Havarti and using faint whistling sounds that he began hearing as a reference, Lan leapt out of the way as individual armaments of some kind crashed into the ground where he and Havarti had been standing, denting the ground where they had been standing. A moment later, small turrets began popping out of the walls, most of them planting targeting lasers on Lan and Havarti.
"I must say, you did a very good job getting here" said Celsus as a beam from one of the turrets cut through the rope binding his wrists together. "Very professional and careful work indeed. You just made 2 mistakes in the endgame. One!" He held up one finger. "You shouldn't have turned on all the lights, my system is designed to enter a higher state of security when all lights are on in the lab. And Two!" he held up two fingers "Is that you should have asked me about and hacked my main terminal before opening up the containment cells. That just gave the experimental stealth biotroops I had in there the chance to slip out and assist me…Now then I have really enjoyed out time together so far, but I really must be getting back to the party. Willow, Weiss, and Whitley will only be here a few more hours, and I believe that Winter will be here quite soon and I must greet her. So, I'm going to have to ask you to please follow my friends here into one of the cells."
At that moment 3 individuals wearing skin-tight black suits and full helmets with optical visors appeared. Each of their right arms were replaced with some kind of prosthetic close-range weapon that resembled a bladed tail.
"I'm sure that the two of us will have more than enough time to talk together at a later date." Said Celsus with a smile. "I'm sure you have much to tell me about the ones who supplied you with information on me."
In response to this Lan dropped a small explosive onto the ground, releasing a cloud of chaff and smoke.
"Tut, tut, you're only making this harder on yourself" said Celsus, he motioned to the troops who turned invisible again before dashing into the fog. No sooner had they entered the smoke however, then with 3 large flashes of light, they were knocked flying out of it and crashed into the wall behind Celsus. A second later, dozens of tiny crystal arrows blasted out of the smoke and quickly destroyed all the turrets in the room.
"I'm afraid it's going to be the other way around" said Lan, who walked out of the fog, his arms covered in a crystalline structure he had made from Veritas's Semblance. "After I subdue you, we're going to have a nice long conversation about where you are holding the people you abducted as well as any other plans you have in the works."
Celsus looked at Lan silently for a moment before reaching into his coat and pulling out his scroll.
"Hello, Barkley?" he said after quick dialing "Please start getting the petting zoo, arcade, and all you can eat buffet ready. I also authorize you to activate any of the activities in portfolios A-F in order to keep the guests entertained. Also prepared to receive Winter without me, it seems that I may be held up for a while…and please give Willow my most heartfelt apologies, let her know that I believe she and her children deserve better than this."
Celsus then tucked his scroll back into his suit and fixed Lan with an icy cold stare.
"Alright boy, you have my full attention" He clapped his hands and a moment later the walls in the small room began to fold and retract away as countless more turrets began popping up out of the walls of the lab surrounding them. "Let's hope you don't regret it."
Okay, end of the chapter.
What can I say? It's hard for me to write. Probably going to be harder to do when I begin grad school this fall.
I guess I just can't see my writing as important as I used to. Especially since it'll probably never be adopted for canon like I always dreamed. At this point I feel like the main reason I'm writing is so that I can finish the story for Lan's sake. It's been 8 years since I started writing this story, so he, his grandfather, and his apprentice(who I'm probably not going to be able to write about for at least a few years) have been living in my mind for a long time. So much so that they've almost become friends to me, as much as a ghostly mental image of someone you can only conceptualize can be a friend.
Anyways, I feel like I got at least 4-5 more arcs in Lan's story. Then maybe around 7 for his apprentice before I get down everything I've thought up over the years…Probably going to just be more of my garbage though. Can't even tell if I'm a half decent writer or not. Not like I got any friends who I can share this with. Hopefully I'm not making Lan too much of a Gary Stu (male Mary Sue).
Well, I thank my readers for sticking with my depressed self-deprecating self for all these years, and I hope you'll continue to read.
P.S. A Fanfic account owner named Dragon Sage God u/7780310/ wanted me to ask any of my readers if they'd like to do any crossover fanfics for him. I declined since crossovers are not something I conceptualize easily.
