Interlude 2-3: Island
After some time, the train broke though into the sunlight. All around them were brilliant shades of yellow and red under a cloudless blue sky. Such was the brightness and uplifting nature of the change in lighting that every member of the sub-team of Team RRANBBWW leapt for joy and to the windows to see what new land they had found themselves in, and what they saw took them by surprise.
"The Forever Fall Forest?!" Jaune gasped as he looked all around at the perpetually red and shedding trees.
"But how?" asked Pyrrha. "We're clear on the other side of Vale."
"We must have driven under the entire city before we got here," reasoned Ren. "The question is… why?"
"A lot of those tunnels we were passing through didn't exactly look up to code," pointed out Nora. "It's possible the whole thing was built off the books. I mean, why not? If Merlot had enough influence with the city to mess with the defenses, who's to say he didn't have enough influence to get his own private tunnel built and off the record?"
There was a comment that could be made there about Valish arrogance in relation to the reputation that Mistral had in regards to crime, but Pyrrha refrained from making that comment because she thought it might be too uncharitable to all parties involved.
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," said Jaune placatingly, and then he paused, as if his wonderful mind had suddenly concocted the solution to all their problems. "Ren, Nora, we're aboveground, right? Let's bring this train to a stop and then follow the tracks the rest of the way to its destination. That way, we don't have to let them know we're coming."
"Oooh, good thinking, fearless leader," complimented Nora as she and Ren went about bringing the train to a stop at a suitable location on the tracks.
As it came to a complete halt, there was a rumbling in the back, and the four members of Team RRANNBWW moved as quickly as possible outside. There, they found one of the cargo cars open and Cliffjumper stepping out onto the ground. He paused to look at them, and they in turn looked at him.
"This is where we part way, hunters," growled Cliffjumper.
"Huntsmen," corrected Jaune with particular accuracy.
"Whatever," replied the Autobot with a roll of his eyes. "The point is we're not going to be seeing each other again, and if we do, it will be as enemies. We won't soon forget what you've done."
With that, and without waiting for a response, Cliffjumper transformed and roared off through the forest at dangerous speeds. It sounded like he transformed two more times, and then everything was quiet.
"What we've done?" paraphrased Nora, turning around to her teammates and gesticulating wildly. "What we've done?! We haven't done anything. He's the one causing all the issues!"
"Maybe," said Jaune with a notable pause afterward. "Do you think the first team to encounter him might have lied about what Cliffjumper did?"
"Why would they?" countered Ren. "Even if one team had reason to do so, there were two teams there, one from Beacon, one from Atlas. It seems... improbable that they would all go along with it."
"But they just left it be," pointed out Pyrrha. "They're Huntsmen. Why aren't they doing anything about it?"
"They could be biding their time," Ren argued, "making sure they aren't being watched before they initiate anything. This isn't like with the Decepticons. They don't know people are suffering and dying at the hands of these transformers."
"Something for later then," summed up Jaune as he pointed down the railroad. "Right now, we should get back in contact with Beacon and follow the path."
The four scrambled into the brush and began to plot out a route that would both keep them in cover and following parallel to the railroad while Jaune fished out his scroll. Pyrrha was standing close enough that she could hear everything. That wasn't too weird, right? She was his girlfriend, after all; some closeness was to be expected, but she didn't want to seem clingy…
There was a slight delay, and then a click as the call connected, bringing Ozpin's voice over the line. "Mister Arc, is that you?"
"Yes, sir," replied Jaune calmly. "We're in the Forever Fall Forest right now."
"Forever Fall?" replied Ozpin, politely confused. "That's... a long way from Mountain Glenn, Mister Arc."
"We've, ah, run into some complications, sir. Compartmentalized complications. Sir."
"I see, Mister Arc," was Ozpin's reply, his tone making it clear he caught the underlying meaning.
"Yes, sir," Jaune confirmed. "And it seems the White Fang may have been preparing a major operation before being delayed for unknown reasons."
"And how are you in Forever Fall?" asked Ozpin.
"An underground train, didn't exactly look up to code, if you catch my meaning."
"I do indeed, Mister Arc. It would appear best if you continued on your current path then to find the source of this... discrepancy."
"Already on it," confirmed Jaune with pep that died a quick death in sacrifice to the gravity of his next words. "Professor, have you heard from General Ironwood?"
"I have," Ozpin answered. "He's currently leading a rather intimidating Grimm Wyvern away from the city."
That brought a slight bit of relief for them... slight. Pyrrha was glad to hear that the General was still alive, but for how much longer could that be kept up? Cliffjumper seemed to have thrown him into the middle of an unwinnable situation with his blundering incompetence. For the Autobot's sake, she prayed that General Ironwood would return safely to Beacon.
Ozpin continued. "Based on his rather brief report, NEST has sent a team to perform a follow up investigation of Merlot Tower. They're also sending units to try and assist Headmaster Ironwood. Do you require assistance at your location?"
Jaune thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "No, we're good here. If we need backup, we'll ask for it, but we're good for now. Just… what do you know about Doctor Merlot? Personally, I mean."
There was a sigh on the other end, almost too soft for Pyrrha to hear. "Enough to regret a great many failures in my relationship with him. Perhaps chiefmost among those was hiring him to teach at Beacon Academy. We were classmates before, and perhaps that colored my view of him. At first, I thought his obsession with capturing live Grimm was more... demonstrative, like with Professor Port. I was wrong. A student was almost killed during one of his experiments, and when I confronted him about it, he called me short-sighted, said I was too focused on killing Grimm instead of learning from them. He expressed regret over what happened and resigned the following day."
"Don't beat yourself up about it, Professor," comforted Jaune with sound reasoning. "You couldn't have known what kind of wackjob he was."
There was a slight pause, and then a chuckle. "No, I suppose not. When I received his resignation, I thought he'd learned his lesson."
"I'm thinking he didn't, and that his remorse was more over losing a specimen," Jaune replied. "Professor, we got evidence that Merlot continued his experiments with Grimm at his company. He… he was sabotaging the defenses to have an easier time collecting specimens."
There was another pause, and then when Ozpin spoke again, his voice was as cold as the grave. "Juniper, if you see Merlot, you are to arrest him and bring him back to Vale for trial. If you cannot take him alive, then I don't expect you to. Is that clear?"
His reply was a series of confirmations from the team, and with that, the call ended soon after, leaving the four alone with each other once more.
"Let's get going," ordered Jaune with a wave of his hand.
Then with that, they were off. They moved swiftly, but there were likely still miles and miles of ground to cover. It gave them a lot of time to think.
In due time, they came across a chasm, and the only way to cross it was over the rail bridge, so they did so, carefully. As they did so, they were treated to the spectacular view of the Forever Fall Forest and so much of what lay within it, a sight which took Pyrrha's breath away with all the colors and the clear lighting from the sun. It was a mood ruined when she looked to the northeast and saw the Emerald Forest still ablaze with towering clouds of smoke coming off of it to be carried to the mountains by the winds.
It made Pyrrha think about the past, back when they had first heard about the Maidens, about the original plan and all its implications. Because they hadn't taken that route, and because they had failed to find and kill Cinder after months of searching, so many innocent people now had gone to the eternal halls of their fathers, and the world was a darker place. It wasn't the first time her thoughts had been troubled by those events, and it wouldn't be the last. Another in a long list of failures to add to their resumes.
A thought struck her just then. What if she was to let Jaune in on this? She had heard before that men liked feeling like protectors, and she was well aware of the motivation that drove him to take such a daring risk as to fake his way into Beacon, so perhaps if she told Jaune about her problem, then he would like trying to find a way to solve it. Oh, but she had also heard that men appreciated stoicism, so maybe she should keep quiet to avoid troubling him? Why did this have to be so contradictory?
Wait, no, that was it! She could just gradually ease into talking about her issues and gauge his reactions. If she noticed a negative reaction, then things would be going slowly enough that she could just change subjects. It was brilliant!
"Jaune?" began the redhead.
"Yes, Pyrrha?" acknowledged Jaune.
"Do you ever think about the old plan?" she asked as she kept her head on a swivel. "The one Ozpin had for dealing with Fall before we were brought in?"
"Sometimes," admitted Jaune. "A lot of those times have been in the last few days. I just… how could we have missed her, Pyrrha? How could everyone in the world searching for her miss her? How did Cinder slip through the net?"
"I don't know," said Pyrrha softly. "I just… I don't know if this is cruel or not, but I can't help but wonder what we could have done instead. Would it not have been proper for trustworthy Ruby to take on the mantle of the Fall Maiden just as her mother was the Spring Maiden? Would not Nora's strength have been enough to weather any storm? Even Weiss at her lowest would have risen to the occasion and kept those powers safe."
"You didn't mention yourself," pointed out Jaune, looking at her with sapphire irises that she felt she could get lost in. "I think Ozpin was looking at you when I asked him who he had in mind."
Pyrrha almost tripped over one of the railroad ties. Almost. "W-what?!" she sputtered. "Me?! Oh, Jaune, you must be mistaken. There's no way that I, a mere tournament fighter, could ever be worthy of such an honor."
Jaune smiled and shook his head. "And that's why you would have been the right choice, Pyr. Because it isn't an honor. It's a burden. You understand that; it's why you cited the others' strengths when talking about why they were good choices."
Pyrrha hid her face from him as it turned as red as her hair; a fool's errand, she knew, as her shoulders were blushing as well, and she had to sweep her eyes across the terrain in any case. "I don't… no. It's… I mean, I don't know if I would be strong enough. Some of the possible side effects of that machine seem quite terrifying. An untested experimental procedure to graft one person's damaged aura onto another person's healthy aura? There wouldn't even be the guarantee that… I should apologize to Nora and Ruby and Weiss, and Blake. I thought I was heaping praise upon them, but in reality, I was only selfishly throwing risks to them."
Jaune blinked. "Why would you need to apologize to Blake?"
"If you apologize to Weiss, you also have to apologize to Blake, and vice versa. That's just the way it goes," explained Pyrrha with a shrug. There wasn't much else to say about that. After all, since Blake had come back, she and Weiss had gone right back to practically being joined at the hip, and that included being rather defensive of each other. Since Pyrrha was friends with both of them, of course, she had gotten a front row seat on that in action before.
It was almost strange. Almost. It seemed rather like a more nascent version of how Yang and Ruby behaved with each other. And, of course, even with school driving them apart, the little dragon sisters would always latch onto each other at the earliest opportunity.
"So, now that you're thinking about how much it could mess you up, you're still willing to take the plunge?" asked Jaune, snapping her thoughts back on topic. "You might not have woken up as the same person... or at all."
"I... I realize that, Jaune," she said quietly. "But... would it be worth it, Jaune? My life, my identity, to save all those people on the Furchtlos?"
"My gut says no," was his instantaneous reply, and a selfish part of Pyrrha cheered at that. "But... but that wouldn't be fair, not just to them, but to you. Because I have no right to make that choice, Pyr. Only you do. Do you think it would have been worth it? If you could go back, would you make that trade?"
Pyrrha stumbled a bit as he turned the question around on her. She'd been so concerned about what had happened that she hadn't really taken the time to think it through. Would she consider it worth it? Would she make that trade if she could?
"Yes," she said, the answer forcing itself reluctantly out of her mouth. "Give up my life to save all those people? Yes, I would." She gave him a wan smile, thinking of all the precious moments they had shared and had yet to share, what she'd just declared was worth less than the lives of hundreds of strangers. "It's what I signed up for," she added lamely.
"Then..." he began haltingly, clenching his hands into fists, "...then I'd stand by your decision. I'd stand by you, 'til the end of the line. If I survived, I'd probably hate myself for it, but..." - he turned to look her in the eyes - "...but could I do less?"
Pyrrha blinked, her eyes misting up, and she yanked him into a comforting hug, which he returned after only a moment of confused hesitation.
"Thank you, Jaune," she mumbled into his shoulder. It was as if he had lifted a great weight from her shoulders with his words, though with her thoughts in a confused but grateful jumble, she couldn't clearly articulate exactly what she was thanking him for.
"You're welcome, Pyrrha," mumbled Jaune.
But then, maybe she didn't need to. He seemed to understand.
Jaune then began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" asked Pyrrha, pulling away a bit.
"Oh, it's just… we're being so dramatic about this when none of it matters," he said with a joyous smile. "I might think you're worth a thousand lives, Pyr, with a face to launch a thousand ships," - he grinned cheekily - "or at least a thousand endorsement deals, but I don't think the world quite agrees, and even if it did, what are the chances we'll actually have a say in it? This was entirely out of our hands."
"But if we'd known-"
"If we'd known, we would have poisoned Cinder's food and been done with it."
Pyrrha began to laugh herself. "Well, when you lay it out like that, it really does seem kind of silly."
"Hey!" Nora yelled back at them. "Emotional moment off the bridge!"
Their eyes went wide at that, and they glanced around in a brief panic, but despite their highly visible position, it seemed there were no witnesses to their tender moment. Suppressing all the very nasty and uncouth things that briefly flittered to the bottom of her subconscious - like "heck" or "dang" - Pyrrha crouch ran across the rest of the structure. Jaune followed close behind, of course, keeping pace the whole way.
They really could have planned all that better.
Once they crossed the bridge, they caught up with their two teammates, who were waiting for them at a small building where the rail line terminated. The prefab was disguised, with camouflage netting and local foliage draped over it, but it appeared to be abandoned.
"Well," Jaune noted, "end of the line and no ambush. I guess that's one plus."
"There are two foot paths," Ren observed. "One uphill, one downhill. Which one do we take?"
"We'll have to check them both," their noble leader declared. "Start with the uphill one, since it might give us a view as to where the other one leads."
The uphill path quickly got steeper and steeper as it scaled its way up and toward the east.
"I think it's fair to say today's been a bit of an… uphill battle?" Ren commented wryly a few minutes into the climb.
Nora let out a laugh at the pun.
"Let's keep going," Jaune said. "I want to see what's at the top before we turn back, if nothing else."
Eventually, they reached the top, the path ending in a clearing at the top of a cliff overlooking the northern sea. Contrary to Jaune's hopes, however, the vantage point did not provide any clues as to the other path's destination. A brief search revealed nothing of interest.
He sighed. "All right. Back down to check the other path, then."
Taking the downhill path, they found it turning sharply westward, then looping around and running along the edge of a much lower cliff.
"I see a ship with the same symbol as the cargo containers," observed Ren, pointing.
The other three squinted, shading their eyes from the afternoon sun, and Pyrrha could see the ship he spoke of steaming toward some unseen location on the coastline down below and still further west, loaded with shipping containers emblazoned with both Vale's crossed axes and the Merlot Industries logo.
"I think we're on the right track," Jaune asserted. "Let's keep going."
The path continued downhill and eventually led them to an overgrown stone building, its massive door closed to entry.
"More ruins," Pyrrha noted. "It looks like it might have been some sort of temple."
"I'm thinkin' we should search for a key," said Jaune.
The quartet split up and began looking around, but as they searched, the massive stone door began to grind open on its own.
"Get ready!" Jaune ordered.
As the door finally ground open, they saw a quartet of androids - unarmed, painted yellow and black - carrying a Merlot-branded cage between them. The cage rattled as its occupant snarled and tried to break free.
"Is that a Beowolf?" Ren asked. "What happened to it?"
It did indeed resemble a Beowolf, but it was huge, larger even than an Alpha, with a small forest of glowing green crystals sprouting out from its shoulders and similarly-colored lines spreading across its body like veins. Even its eyes glowed the same sickly green instead of the usual menacing red.
"But what are they doing with it?" Pyrrha wondered as the androids set the cage down. She had her answer a moment later when one of the androids reached over and unlatched the cage door, releasing the mutated Grimm.
"Great!" Jaune complained. "As if the regular Grimm weren't bad enough! Team Juniper, let's kill that thing!"
In an explosion of movement, the four Beacon students burst toward the mutated Beowolf, and Pyrrha let herself fall into the rhythmic patterns of battle as not only the mutant Grimm but also the androids turned to attack. This Beowolf appeared to be stronger and tougher than an Alpha, and it possessed an ability to propel those same green crystals out in a line attack. She made a few mental adjustments to compensate.
"Arkos!" Jaune called as he bashed one of the androids in the face, stunning it briefly.
Pyrrha nodded, hurling Miló in its javelin form to impale the android before propelling herself toward it with her semblance and pulling her weapon free as she kicked off the sparking android before turning her attention back to the mutant Beowolf as Nora brought Magnhild down on it.
With the androids out of the way, the team made short work of the mutant Beowolf and pressed on into the ancient temple. Inside, they found numerous cages, some empty, some with Grimm inside them.
"This is no ordinary temple..." breathed Pyrrha.
"Someone's been busy collecting Grimm," noted Ren as he peered into a cage containing a Creep.
"Ohhhh, a creep inside a cage," Nora gushed, moving up next to him. "How cuuuute!"
Jaune looked up from his scroll. "I've sent Ozpin a report with the coordinates. Let's find that ship."
The door on the opposite side of the temple warehouse was already open, and as they emerged, they followed a short path to a small, well-hidden docking facility. Off to the side, they could see a larger trail, but their interest was on the ship.
"What's in here?" Jaune asked rhetorically as they approached an open shipping container, ducking inside.
The shipping container door slammed shut, and the container around them shook and began to move. Pyrrha raised her hand to use her semblance to reopen the door, but paused as Jaune placed a hand on her wrist.
"And just like that, we're in like Flynn," he declared victoriously.
The other three stared at him in confusion, and his cheeks colored.
"It's, uh, just a turn of phrase I picked up," he said awkwardly, refusing to meet Pyrrha's gaze.
Oh, she thought, remembering. Ruby.
An awkward silence settled in the shipping container. No matter how far they were going, it was sure to be a looong trip.
"Anyone know where this place is?" asked Nora as the ship began pulling in toward another port, this one on an unfamiliar island.
Jaune fiddled with his scroll, and he shook his head. "Not a clue. It's not on the map."
"We've entered uncharted territories," Ren observed, nodding slightly. That was... honestly expected. A madman like Merlot would have difficulty hiding for so long among civilized people.
Jaune grimaced. "Getting back is going to be fun."
Ren wasn't worried. In the worst case scenario, they would hijack the boat they were on and sail it back. Probably with Nora joking about trying their hand at piracy. Still, the fact remained that they were very likely about to sail into the mouth of the enemy with no place to retreat to.
It meant the only way forward would be through. And that was just fine with him.
He dropped one hand to one of StormFlower's grips and shaded his eyes with the other as he peered at the docks. As he suspected. "There are androids waiting at the docks," he reported. "Eight worker androids and what look like four combat androids, two with rotary machineguns, two with polearms,."
"Get to cover," Jaune ordered. "Let's take 'em by surprise. Two by Two Rush: Ladies First."
The team broke apart, finding whatever cover or concealment they could. Ren crouched behind a cage that had held a Beowolf before they'd killed it during the trip over. None of Team JNPR had been keen on sailing with a bunch of caged Grimm growling and trying to attack them, so they'd exterminated all the captured Grimm abovedeck, though they hadn't been inclined to venture belowdecks, as a fight there would risk damage to the ship.
At this point in this attack pattern, he and Jaune had perhaps the hardest task: waiting. The girls would be in charge of timing.
As the ship moved into the port, Nora and Pyrrha moved, bursting from cover and firing their weapons. A thunderous "boom" on the left signaled Nora's contribution, almost muffling out the sharper "crack" from Miló's rifle configuration as they focused on the white gunner androids..
On that signal, Ren and Jaune rushed forward. Ren brought StormFlower up, aiming at the red polearm android on the left and letting loose with both barrels, the twin submachine guns blazing and stitching armor-piercing rounds through its chestplate. In his peripheral vision, he saw Jaune charge with his shield up, deflecting the right-hand android's glaive before impaling it through the dust core with Crocea Mors.
Perfection. Just liked they'd practiced.
Then the worker androids charged. The two lead androids were wielding crowbars like clubs, while the others took up boxing stances.
With an eager battle cry, Nora charged past him, right into the thick of it, swinging Magnhild - now in hammer form - with wild abandon. Ren shifted his attention back to the androids, circling around and putting short, well-aimed bursts into the heads or dust cores of the androids.
Soon, none of the androids were left standing.
"Aww," Nora pouted. "Is that all?"
"Maybe not," Ren said. He felt his instincts screaming at him that the area was not yet safe. He looked around. Then up. Hovering above, almost like it was watching them, was what looked like a Lancer, except it was a bit larger than most... and green.
"Another green one," Jaune murmured. "Like that exploding Creep we saw underground and the Beowolf at the temple. Pyrrha?"
"Done," she replied, bringing Miló up to her shoulder.
Crack!
The Lancer seemed to scream and tumbled to the ground, twisting and folding as it fell.
"Whyyy?!" it whined as it stood up, now on two legs and in a much more humanoid shape, slightly taller than Pyrrha. "Why shoot Wazzzpinator?"
"DECEPTICON!" Cliffjumper's voice bellowed from behind them. The word was followed quickly by the sound of tearing sheet metal. They turned to see the top half of the Autobot sticking out of the hole torn in the ship's deck, a massive pistol in hand. He fired, the ensuing energy blast striking - Wazzzpinator? - in the chest, blowing him apart.
"You killed him!" Pyrrha shrieked in surprise.
"It's Waspinator," Cliffjumper said dismissively as he clambered off the ship and onto the dock. "His spark's indestructible. He'll be fine."
"Well, it's about time you showed up," chided Nora. "A day late and a dollar short."
Ren didn't actually know what a dollar was, and he doubted Nora did either.
"Ah, shut up," Cliffjumper grumbled.
"What are you even doing here, Cliffjumper?" Jaune asked. "And what happened to 'next we meet, we'll be enemies'?"
"I told you, I'm investigating whoever's messing with dark energon," the Autobot said. "Waspinator's presence means they're working with the Decepticons." He shook his head. "Primus, I didn't think even Megatron was stupid enough to mess with dark energon, but if he is, then we've got bigger problems. Compared to that, you guys are small fry."
"Did you just make a short joke?!" demanded Nora, incensed.
"What? No!" Cliffjumper said, holding out his hands wardingly as she stomped toward him.
Ren, however, had his thoughts on something else. "Spark" was the Cybertronian word for soul, and Cliffjumper clearly had no doubts about Waspinator's recovery.
"An indestructible spark," he mused aloud. "You mean he can't die."
"Yeah," Cliffjumper confirmed. "If there's a way to kill a bot with an indestructible spark and make it stick, no one's figured it out in millions of megacycles. And trust me, people have tried. A lot. There's one or two out there that really need killing."
"Ah!" Pyrrha called, interrupting the conversation and holding up another Merlot audio recorder, slightly singed from Cliffjumper's blast and likely from the apparently temporarily deceased Waspinator. "I'll add this to the collection."
"Wait," Cliffjumper interjected. "Play it. I want to hear what it says."
Pyrrha glanced surreptitiously at Jaune, who gave her a slight nod. Hesitantly, the young Huntress pressed play.
"'Wazzzpinator, do thiszzz.' 'Wazzzpinator, do that.' Wazzzpinator tired of being told what to do! Wazzzpinator was chosen guardian of Emberszzztone! ...szzztill, better than working for Starszzzcream. Might szzztay with Red-eye."
"Starscream," the Autobot growled. "Of course he's involved with this. This kind of mad science stuff is right up his alley."
Just one more reason to kill Merlot, Ren decided.
"You know Starscream?" Pyrrha demanded.
"Unfortunately," Cliffjumper said. "Lemme tell ya, if anyone needs his spark snuffed out, it's him."
"Starscream's our enemy too," said Jaune, looking up at the red bot. "Maybe we don't have to be enemies."
Cliffjumper snorted derisively. "The enemy of my enemy makes for a convenient distraction and a temporary ally at best. Besides, everyone is Starscream's enemy; it doesn't mean anything. I'm pretty sure Starscream has foiled more of Starscream's plans than anyone else."
None of the Huntsmen had an argument against that. After all, they'd all witnessed him blow up his own lab on Ruby and Sun's bodycam footage. Instead, they turned back to securing the area. The pen the ship had pulled into was enclosed by walls on all three sides, with large gates in the walls to its port and starboard. A light rail line led out the starboard gate.
As they exited the docks following the rail line, Ren looked up at the darkening sky. Another concern occurred to him, and he noted, "It will be dark soon. Should we consider finding a place to make camp?"
"Somehow, I doubt that'll be an option," grunted Cliffjumper. The rail line followed the path before them down a small rocky canyon stacked with cages full of growling and snarling Grimm.
"I've got a baaad feeling about this," murmured Nora.
It was then that their scrolls came to life.
"Ahhh, hello. Welcome. I hope you enjoy your stay on the island. You're the first visitors I've had in, well, hmm, you are the first, not counting my partners."
"Uhhh, what?" Jaune sputtered in surprise. "Sorry, who was that?!"
"Oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name's Doctor Merlot. You don't know me, but I most certainly know who you are. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled you're here. You might be exactly what I need for a very important... experiment."
An experiment? Ren's eyes narrowed dangerously. "So... We finally get to meet Dr. Merlot..." And he was still persisting in his madness.
"We'll start with a control. For such terrific students as yourselves - and an Autobot as well! - this should be an easy test, right?"
"A really bad feeling!" amended Nora as they were surrounded by the clicks of locks... unlocking.
The Grimm swarmed out: Creeps, Beowolves, even some Ursai. How did Merlot even capture Ursai alive? Ren's thoughts were interrupted by his long-time partner.
"DIBS!" she cried, pointing Magnhild at an Ursa before charging at it.
Ren turned his attention to some Creeps, quick-drawing StormFlower, but given how close they were to him, he forwent firing and instead began a series of slashes and punches, quickly dismantling the Grimm. He pressed the attack, dashing at an Alpha Beowolf and striking it in the chest with a powerful palm strike before following up with a spinning slash from both halves of StormFlower that finished it off and gave him an opening to dispatch the rest of its pack.
Once the Beowolves were disposed of, he took advantage of the momentary breather to assess the situation. He saw Jaune slice an Ursa's head off with Crocea Mors; their team leader was really getting good at decapitating Ursai. Jaune was standing not quite back to back with Pyrrha, who was going full pinball blender with a pack of Beowolves.
Meanwhile, a part of his mind kept track of Nora as she charged an Ursa. That part was always keeping track of Nora and had been for years. He smiled faintly as she smashed the Ursa with an overhead stroke, blasting its paw when it parried, before swinging Magnhild around in an underhand swing as it lunged at her.
"Fore!" she cried out as the Ursa's head went flying.
He couldn't help but smile.
Never change, Nora, he thought. Never change.
As he casually disposed of another group of Creeps, he felt his eyebrows rise in surprise as Nora leaped into the air and activated a rarely-used aspect of her semblance, charging Magnhild with electricity and unleashing it as a lightning bolt at...
"Hey!" Cliffjumper protested as the pack of electrified Beowolves lost their grip on his legs and torso. "Are you trying to fry my circuits?!"
"Don't look so shocked!" she giggled as she landed, offhandedly backhanding a Creep.
"All right, that's it," Cliffjumper growled, pulling an impressively large gun from... somewhere. Leveling it at his hip, he opened fire, sending a stream of energy bolts cutting across the small canyon and shredding the Grimm.
"Get down!" Jaune ordered, though Ren was already hitting the ground before the order had left his lips.
Long, deadly seconds later, the sound of Cliffjumper's gun subsided, and the canyon fell silent once more. Slowly, warily, the four Beacon students rose to their feet.
"What the heck was that?" Jaune demanded. "You could have killed us!"
Cliffjumper snorted. "If you aren't gonna care about hitting me, why should I care about hitting you?"
Nora coughed awkwardly and shuffled her feet in embarrassment as Jaune and Pyrrha glared at her.
"Just... ugh, never mind," Jaune gave up in disgust. "Come on, let's go."
Under the last rays of light from the setting sun, the group continued down the small canyon, and as they advanced, they found heavy machinery and piping joining the railroad tracks. The pipes seemed to be drawing from pools of glowing green goop. With the darkness of nightfall, the island took on a much more ominous, menacing atmosphere.
"Whoa," Nora observed, "those puddles look nasty!"
"I think we found what we're looking for..." Jaune noted. "What is this stuff?"
"Tox-en," Cliffjumper answered. "Catchall term for any toxic energon. Like what you sometimes get when you mess with dark energon. Stay out of it if you like living."
"Yeah, wasn't exactly planning on taking a swim," Jaune snarked back.
Not all of the equipment seemed to be in top shape, though. As they advanced, they found a pair of worker androids working on a pipe leaking steam that blocked the path forward. The two androids immediately turned on them and charged, swinging their pipe wrenches at them.
Pyrrha dashed forward, stabbing one through the dust core and blocking the other's swing before reconfiguring Miló from its spear form to sword mode and decapitating it.
For his part, Ren ignored the fight. He trusted Pyrrha to handle a pair of labor androids. Instead, his eyes searched around. While they would have no real problem bypassing the steam leak - it wouldn't be hard to just leap over it - surely, finding a valve and shutting off the flow in these pipelines would hinder Merlot somehow.
There!
"We can shut the steam off from here," he announced.
"I got it!" Nora cheered as she hustled over. The valve was stiff, rusted over, but with a grunt, she got it moving.
"That did it!" announced Pyrrha.
"Heyyyyy now," Merlot's said over their scrolls. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Jaune smiled ."I think we got his attention. Follow the pipeline, and I'm betting we'll find Doctor Merlot."
Good, Ren thought. He had some frustrations to work out, and someone like Merlot would do nicely.
Course of action set, the quintet advanced, blasting their way through what little opposition they found, following the pipes and closing valves to constrict the flow of the tox-en.
"You know, Doc," Jaune said conversationally, "I'm kinda curious. How'd you even survive Mountain Glenn? Was it luck or part of your plan?"
"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my fault?"
"We kind of found your logs admitting it was already," admitted Jaune.
Merlot gave a dramatic sigh. "Admittedly, Mountain Glenn is a bit of a sore spot for me. Decades of hard work, countless research projects, not to mention all of the specimens I'd collected over the years... all lost without a trace."
"Is that all you care about?" Ren demanded, unable to keep silent any longer. "Your research?"
"The work done at Merlot Industries was critical in the advancement of artificial intelligence and genetics," was Merlot's unconcerned reply. "Without it, Remnant would still be in the dark ages."
"So instead, you'd rather cause another one," Pyrrha accused.
"I beg your pardon?!"
"How do you think dark ages start?" she reasoned. "It starts with the end of civilizations. Civilizations like the one you ended with your recklessness and incompetence at Mountain Glenn."
"Pah!" scoffed Merlot. "What does a mere child know of history? A simple tournament fighter too stupid to make something of herself?! I don't have to justify myself to a simpleton like you!"
Pyrrha smirked with a slightly sadistic expression she usually only wore in the heat of a truly challenging fight. "For all your bluster and boasting... you're just another Ozymandias."
"Who?" was Merlot's confused reply.
"Exactly," she confirmed.
"Kid's got a point," Cliffjumper added. "You call her a child. Well, I'm older than your whole civilization. I've seen it happen. Scrap like this? This ends worlds."
"And how many worlds have you ended, Autobot? How many civilizations have died at your hands? How many trillions of lives extinguished in your never ending civil war to see who can rule over the rubble best?"
"If people like you are still around," Cliffjumper sneered, "not enough."
Ren frowned at that. The Autobot's blase disregard for the idea of killing worlds and civilizations... it was unsettling.
They lapsed into silence at that, but fortunately, they soon found themselves facing a massive reinforced door.
"Look around," Jaune ordered. "See if we can find a way in. Control panel, maintenance hatch, ventilation duct, anything."
"Roger!" the other three humans chorused.
An oddly-shaped shadow caught Ren's attention, and he reached down to pick it up. Another voice recorder. "One more for the collection," he mused aloud. He glanced at Jaune, who gave him a surreptitious nod. Ren pushed play.
"Introducing Angolmois dust to the natural springs on this island from which my serum is derived has yielded fascinating results, and my new partners are equally interested in its potential. I will need more test subjects to experiment with while I continue work on reproducing Angolmois dust."
After the recording ended, Merlot - the real one - broke in again.
"I wonder, do you believe things happen for a reason? I mean, you practically washed ashore here on my island!"
That, Ren thought, was a rather inaccurate description of what had happened.
"What are you getting at?" Jaune asked.
"Maybe you can be of some use to me after all. How serendipitous."
With that, the door slid open, revealing a large elevator.
"So, what now, fearless leader?" Nora asked.
"Do we descend into the depths?" added Pyrrha.
"Merlot must be stopped," Ren said, striding forward before Jaune could answer. "No matter the cost."
Jaune held an arm out across Ren's chest, stopping him short of the elevator. "Ren, are you going to be okay? I need you to be at a hundred percent for this."
Ren clenched his fists, briefly offended. How dare he? Jaune didn't - couldn't! - understand what it was like, to helplessly watch your home die around you. And that monster Merlot had and would cause it again.
"I am," he assured Jaune. "A hundred and ten."
"You done yakkin', or should I go on ahead?" Cliffjumper asked from within the elevator.
They all ran ahead to join him, and descended into the depths.
After the elevator stopped, the door in front of them opened to reveal a shining, sterile hallway. It was remarkably clean and techno-corporate looking and huge. Like really, really huge.
"Why is this place so big?" Nora found herself asking. She'd heard of "open plan" offices, but this was ridiculous. Who needed hallways thirty feet across and twenty feet high?
Cliffjumper walked into the massive hall and ducked down his huge horned head to avoid hitting the ceiling, even though he really didn't need to.
"This is Constructicon work," the Autobot answered gruffly. "Scrap, it's cramped in here. This is going to result in some nasty actuator to actuator combat, I can tell."
Before they could reply, a tone played over the speakers, followed by a clearly automated recording of Merlot's voice.
"Greetings, and welcome to Merlot Industries, where we're building a better tomorrow... today!"
There was a scoff from Pyrrha at that, and while she was too nice to go beyond that… Nora wasn't.
"That was the worst sloganeering I've ever heard!" she called out, hoping the mad doctor could hear her.
He didn't respond, and instead, the recording started up again. "Here at Merlot Industries, we take pride in innovation. Together, with your help - and a little of your special spark - we will build a better tomorrow!"
Cliffy's big mechanical jaw dropped. "By Primus! He's harvesting sparks to use in his experiments!"
The Autobot began to run off, and the present half of Team RRANNBWW ran after him.
"Wait, are you serious?" Jaune sputtered. "Harvesting souls?"
"That name's just silly," complained Cliffjumper before shaking his head. "Never mind. We've got to blow this place all the way to Elba, or else, he'll continue harvesting the sparks of Cybertronians for his schemes to combine the bodies of a transformer and a Grimm into one. In fact, he could have already succeeded, and we'll have to prepare ourselves to destroy this abomination before it can realize its true form and destroy us all!"
Again, Nora found herself utterly and completely flabbergasted, and this time, everyone else seemed to be joining her.
"Okay, I admittedly have been listening in this whole time," came Merlot's befuddled voice from the speakers. "I just can't figure it out though. How could you have possibly gotten all of that from an advertising slogan?"
"It was easy," replied Cliffjumper, not explaining himself at all and seemingly failing to understand that he needed to so that everyone else would know what was going on inside his head.
"'Easy,' huh?" scoffed Merlot. "Well, if you find that so easy, why don't you try it while facing off against the ultimate lifeform?"
At that, access panels opened, and Grimm came streaming out, along with some androids.
"But of course, before the main course can be served, there must first be an appetizer."
"Pair off!" Jaune called, shifting to stand back to back with Pyrrha. Nora herself moved to stand by her Renny.
The first wave of Grimm were little threat, and Nora was a little disappointed. The second wave consisted of a line of Ursai on one side and Beowolves on the other.
"Switch up!" was Jaune's response.
Nora grinned as the two couples - wait, couples?! - switched dance partners. Nora moved to counter the Ursai alongside Jaune, bringing power against power, while Pyrrha and Ren faced off against the Beowolves, where their mobility would be a greater asset.
She swung Magnhild repeatedly, whacking the Ursa in front of her with a trio of diagonal hammer strokes before cartwheeling to evade its claws, then brought Magnhild up and swung it around her, letting the momentum carry her as she battered the line of Ursai back. As the Ursa she was focused on swung at her, she backflipped - this really was an awfully big corridor - and then dashed forward, bringing Magnhild around in an overhead strike, leaving the ursine Grimm stunned.
"Nora's Arc!" she sang out, and Jaune disengaged from his opponent to dash toward the dazed Ursa, leading with his shield before repeatedly impaling it in a combo he had perfected over weeks under Pyrrha's tutelage.
"Thanks for the setup, partner!" he called out as they switched opponents.
After the fifth wave, even Nora was starting to get annoyed. The group of five looked around, waiting for a sixth wave, but nothing happened.
"Glad that's over with," Jaune finally said, voicing everyone's thoughts on the matter. "But I don't like the idea of playing his game. Pyrrha? Kill any cameras and microphones so we can figure out our next step."
The four-time Mistral Regional Champion nodded and closed her eyes for a moment before bringing Miló up and firing several times, at cameras hanging from the ceiling and what seemed to be random locations in the walls. "Done."
"Great," Jaune said, then looked around. "So, way I see it, we need to find something important and wreck it. Anyone have any ideas?"
"I picked up a few tricks over the megacycles," Cliffjumper said, withdrawing a handheld computer the size of a hiking pack. "Just find me an interface I can patch into."
That didn't take long. The entire building seemed to be wired.
"Uh huh," Cliffjumper mused. "As I thought. This is Decepticon coding. Bringing up the plans now."
His handheld computer began projecting a holographic map.
The four Huntsmen studied the map as Jaune traced a finger across it. "Looks like we're here... and down here, this big room has a lot of piping running to it. That's probably where he's making his serum. Looks like we can- Ren?" He blinked as the martial artist suddenly stormed off.
Nora's eyes flicked over to the holographic map and the direction he was going. "I'll go with him!" she announced, even as she began moving. "You go take care of the serum!"
Nora pounded through the hallways after Ren, he was so close, and yet so far. There was a detour through an oversized ventilation shaft, easily large enough to walk through. Cliffjumper's assertion that this had been built by - what did he call them? Constructicons? - seemed to have merit.
"Ren!" she called after him. "Ren!"
He wasn't listening. She had to take drastic measures.
She slammed Magnhild against the ground and pulled the trigger. There was a terrific boom, and she was sent flying. Riding the recoil like a scooter, she shot that much closer to where her Renny was.
She fired again and again and again, each time changing her angle of attack to keep up momentum. She managed to catch up to him and switched Magnhild back into its grenade launcher form. He had only stopped to pry open the access panel of the electronic lock on the door obstructing his path.
"Renny!" she called again, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.
He whirled on her, his eyes flashing dangerously. "I have to do this, Nora," he insisted. "I can't let him get away."
"I know," she said. "I said I'd be right there with you, remember?"
His expression softened, and he nodded. "Together, then."
"Together."
As one, they turned to face the door, and Nora proceeded to jam her hand into the open access panel and kick the door down.
They dove to the side as a flurry of gunfire rippled through the door.
"Ha! Wazzzpinator winzzz! Hammer-girl and Circuit-szzzuka no come closzzzer!"
The two long-time friends and companions exchanged a look. Nora cocked an eyebrow. Ren nodded. She smiled and stuck Magnhild out into the doorway and unloaded blindly into the room.
"...why universzzze hate Wazzzpinator...?"
The two cycled around the door and entered the now partially-destroyed office - no, control center - which was, like everything else in the base, strangely huge. Likely sized for transformers. Just how deep was Merlot in with them?
On the floor was Waspinator and several androids in pieces. On the walls were monitors of the entire facility. In the far corner was an open door.
"Wazzzpinator hate bombzzz."
"Hey, pull yourself together, Waspinator," replied Nora to the disembodied head as she passed him by.
He was immortal, like genuinely unkillable. They could probably spend all year shooting at him, and somehow, he would still survive. Yet, somehow, this fantastic fact which should have been mind blowing or terrifying was instead… almost comical? Definitely blase. After all, what was one more impossible thing after month after month of them?
There were only so many times they could be wowed before they simply ran out of shock.
"There he is," growled Ren as he looked at the monitors and saw a scruffy-looking man with a robot arm running through the halls.
"Now, where is he running off to?" asked Nora as she went over to the desk, absent-mindedly pocketing the pocket recorder sitting on it as she activated another holographic map and glanced to the side to confirm that the others were still fighting their way through the facility and destroying a lot of vats of… well, Nora honestly didn't know. After so many additives, what even was it?
"Ha! Stupid girl will never find Red-eye once he reachezzz the canyon hangar," mocked Waspinator, and then the expression on his decapitated head changed. "Oh no."
"Thanks for the tip, Waspinator!" cheered Nora as she mentally plotted out the best route on the holographic map.
"Come on," ordered Ren as they both ran for the open door on the far side.
"Wazzzpinator sure to lose penszzzion over this," she could hear the transformer complaining before they left.
Again though, Ren was running out in front of her, with nothing slowing him down. Oh, things tried to slow him down, but they didn't work. Whether it was the androids he sprinted around while committing a run-by with armor-piercing ammunition or the Grimm he obliterated with aura-boostered martial arts, he was something else to behold.
She really needed to pump her tiny little legs faster to catch up with him.
Soon, they came upon another door that they were forced to get though. Luckily, jamming her arm into the exposed wires and letting her semblance take care of things worked just as well as it did last time. She kicked the doors open, and the hangar beyond appeared.
A man was running towards one of the airships. He wouldn't get that far. He wouldn't get that far because it wouldn't exist.
Nora fired off two of her really expensive grenades at the airship, and as they exploded, they destroyed the engines with directed blasts and jets of molten copper. The dust in the airship soon detonated in a chain reaction that sent shrapnel everywhere. The man somehow managed to dodge and looked back at the two of them with hate-filled eyes, one of them glowing red with obvious cybernetics.
"You insolent children!" barked Merlot angrily, opening a panel on his cybernetic arm and pressing some buttons beneath it. "Everything I had… well, everything you have has come to naught, because you're about to come face to face with the ultimate lifeform!"
A panel on the floor slid aside, and the biggest Deathstalker any of them had ever seen rose up on an elevator. It wasn't like the Deathstalker they faced in the Emerald Forest a year prior, though. No, this one was meaner, nastier, and covered in glowing green crystals.
When it finally revealed itself in full, it let out a horrifying shriek that would chill normal people but excited Nora, and then the shooting started.
The Deathstalker fired off a quintet of glowing green spikes from its tail, and Nora was forced to leap into the air to avoid being impaled. Ren, thankfully, did likewise, but he was still advancing. Just what was he thinking about doing?
"Don't be shy, students," laughed Merlot insanely. "You could learn a lot from this enhanced specimen. They won't teach you a thing about this back at Beacon."
The Deathstalker advanced on them, and Nora and Ren both opened up on it with their weapons. Magnhild ka-chunked and StormFlower st-titched, both lobbing their deadly payloads. The rounds would never land.
The grenades and bullets exploded and bounced off its skin, leaving it unharmed. But how? She knew she'd hit it in one of its unarmored areas. As Ren continued to fire and subsequent rounds landed, she felt her spine run cold as they impacted against the barest flicker of green just before they struck its hide.
She recognized that flicker. She'd seen it time and time again in training, in all the colors of the rainbow - or perhaps the RRANNBWW - and more besides, but to see it here? Aura? On a Grimm?
Now, Nora felt true fear and confusion. "No," she whispered, shaking her head with wide eyes. "No, that can't be."
"How?" asked Ren dumbly. "How is this possible?"
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" cried out Merlot from behind the Deathstalker, laughing maniacally. "Nature couldn't make a beast this deadly, so I did!"
The Grimm's claws came down in a thundering slam that sent shockwaves through the hangar's floor. Ren dashed toward it, screaming incoherently, StormFlower's barrels blazing, only to hop back as it lashed out with its pincer claws in a series of slashes that came close to gutting him.
From the new cuts in his shirt, way too close.
What was he doing?
The wall furthest into the base exploded out, and from it, emerged a red car, shedding debris as it hit the ground and kept on rolling. A few feet after it straightened out, the back doors snapped open, and Jaune and Pyrrha were sent tumbling out into the hangar. Then, the red car transformed before their eyes into the screaming form of Cliffjumper, who delivered a double axe handle that was blocked by one of the Deathstalker's claws.
"What the-?" Cliffjumper managed to get out before the Deathstalker flung him aside.
No sooner was the Autobot flying through the air than the Deathstalker began to spin around, and Ren charged toward Merlot before it unleashed a torrent of glowing green crystal shards in almost every direction... save for the precise spot where the mad scientist stood watching eagerly.
Nora just barely managed to tackle Ren behind a solid metal crate before the spikes hit, and even then, she could see the tip of the shard they dodged punching through to the other side.
She held her breath, and Ren struggled to get out of her grip. Was he mad? Was he insane?
"Come on, Nora! Let go!" barked Ren angrily as he tried to untangle himself from her grasp.
"No!" she shot back simply. "No, I won't! Ren what's gotten into you?"
"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you?!" he shot back heatedly. "You heard what he did! Extinguished countless innocent lives, lives just like yours, and for what?! Idle curiosity?! Nora, we have to kill him before he kills anyone else!"
Nora looked into his hate-filled eyes as best she could though her own distorted vision, like she was looking through a pool of water. "Please, Lie Ren, don't let yours be one of them. We've gone through too much to just… let it end here."
She could feel him shaking then, and somehow, she knew his expression had softened. She knew for sure when he brought up one of his sleeves and began to dry her eyes. He… he was okay. If he was okay, then so was she.
"We're going to beat this thing," she told him resolutely. "We're going to beat this abomination back, and then we'll bring Merlot in."
Ren nodded. "Just like our mission orders," he confirmed with a sigh. "Just another day at the office."
"Nothing to get excited about," she replied with a smile.
They came up from behind cover after that to discover that the battle had not been idle while they were having their little heart to heart. The hangar was littered with crystal spikes, and the others were even in the process of dodging more of them at that very moment. The only place that didn't seem to have been affected was right where Merlot was standing, which was… odd. Grimm didn't care about people, right?
"Yes! Yes! Go, my beautiful creation!" cheered Merlot. "Kill them all! Kill them all!"
Ignoring him, Ren ran toward the Deathstalker, firing both guns. Nora followed along with her own barrage. This lasted until they got close enough, then with blade and hammer they, began to strike at the mutant fiend in melee.
"Plunge that stinger down and don't let up!" ordered Merlot, and incredibly, the Deathstalker obeyed.
The glowing stinger plunged down where Nora stood. Luckily, this time, Ren tackled her to the side, leaving the stinger to dig into the solid steel floor. Before any of the many thoughts she had could spring to mind, the two rolled apart and went back to the battle.
"Oh yeah! I got this!" cheered Cliffjumper as he unleashed a gigantic blast from one of his energy weapons and then followed it up with a kick to the stinger that tore the Grimm free and damaged it heavily in the process, such that its impossible aura began to flicker.
"No, no, no!" cried Merlot in a panic. "Hang in there, my precious!"
The Deathstalker flipped itself over and seemed to be ready to go for another round. In reply, Cliffjumper brought out another gun. This gun seemed to be particularly large and over the top. Even for him.
"I think it's time we wrapped this up," said Cliffy confidently.
"I agree," growled Merlot before his voice rose in a great shout. "Scorponok, transform and combine!"
"Yes, Father!" replied the Deathstalker before it did exactly as ordered.
It jumped into the air and shifted to transform into… a giant head, and then that head came down to rest in a socket in the floor that seemed to come into existence just for it.
It was at that point when literally every single part of the base began to shift and change, just as the giant head had.
"Run!" ordered Jaune as he fearlessly pointed to the hangar's entrance.
They followed that order; they all did. Even Cliffjumper followed it, shifting into vehicle mode to get as much speed as he could and launching himself out. The others didn't have wheels, but the cooler half of Team RRANNBWW flew into the canyon as fast as they could all the same.
They hit the dirt and found the canyon to be relatively small. Nevertheless, every piece of metal not named Cliffjumper was still shifting and changing with what was once Merlot's base. There was no telling how long the ground would stay solid under them.
"Up the ledge, now!" barked Jaune.
First, Jaune went with a big, aura-enhanced leap that saw him rolling onto the top. Pyrrha was next, with characteristic grace and poise. Ren and Nora bounded up together as they had been trained so long ago. Cliffjumper… barely got halfway up before slipping back down to the bottom.
"What?" Nora gaped as she watched the Autobot try and fail again to get up the cliff. "How?! Your name is Cliffjumper!"
"I'm used to jumping off of cliffs, not up them!" shot back the half-ironically-named Cybertronian.
"Hold on then!" Pyrrha declared before casting out her hand.
"Wha-"
The big red bot didn't get the chance to reply before he was yanked upwards by his gun, yelling the whole way, on magnetic winds to land close to the cliff. He seemed quite irate when he came to a stop, but he didn't say anything. None of them did when the light of the shattered moon was suddenly cut off by the biggest humanoid shape to have graced Remnant in quite some time.
"Ahahahahaha!" came the cackling laugh of Merlot over the speakers that somehow still remained. "Now you fools will taste the true might of my son of science: Scorponok, the Ultimate Lifeform!"
"Oh, by all the gods and goddesses of the celestial bureaucracy, he's huge!" exclaimed Nora in disbelief. "How are we supposed to bring that down?"
"A titan! We find its weak point and shoot it!" declared Cliffjumper dramatically.
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" insisted Jaune quickly.
Before any of them could formulate a plan, though, a familiar and deafening shriek interrupted all their thoughts.
"What?!" exclaimed Merlot's voice. "Why are you out of your-"
The voice was cut off as the Grimm Wyvern swooped out from behind Scorponok with its claws grazing the massive transforming construct.
The massive eyes of said construct wided at that, and he let out a gasp. "Father!"
It began to run with thunderous steps that toppled them all over them and into the ocean, shouting along the way, "Don't worry, Father! I'll save you!"
The five allies looked out at the titanic Grimm transformer as it waded out into the water with huge steps, following after the big, black shape flying over the ocean. Maybe they had a little shock left after all. Naturally, though, it was Cliffjumper who spoke first.
"Well, I'd say that's the end of our alliance," commented Cliffjumper as he began to walk away. "The next time we meet, it will be as enemies."
He had walked a few hundred feet before he turned around.
"I mean it this time too!" he declared. "No take backs! Someone's gotta stop you lunatic Huntsmen, after all."
With that, Cliffjumper transformed into a car and sped off.
In the relative silence that followed, it was Ren that spoke. "Did he just seriously call us us lunatics?"
"I think so, and… wait!" exclaimed Jaune suddenly, bringing out his scroll. "That was the Grimm that was chasing General Ironwood!"
Realization struck them, and they watched with great hope and worry as Jaune made the call.
"Come on. Come on," hissed Jaune before there was an audible click. "Yes! General Ironwood? Are you alive...? YES! WOOHOO!"
Nora feltl her heart soar at those words. He was alive. He was still alive! Oh, happy days!
"Can we... yes!" declared Jaune excitedly before pointing at her. "Nora, get some of your smoke grenades and pop one in an open space."
"You got it, fearless leader!" she cheered as she set about following those orders.
Within minutes, the same Bullhead that had delivered them to Mountain Glenn that morning was hovering in to a landing, still filled with all that they had left in it, and the team of Huntsmen leapt in without a second thought and closed the door behind them.
"Oooh boy!" declared Jaune with a mad laugh. "I can't believe we survived all that."
"Believe it, Mister Arc," called Ironwood from the cockpit with an audible smile. "Welcome to being a Huntsman. It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?"
"Headmaster, how did you survive?" asked Pyrrha, jumping to the chase.
"Simple," answered the general. "I flew faster than it did, and I kept flying like that for hours. Then I saw the giant transformer standing up on this island, and I thought I had an opening. I should have known I'd find you all at the center of this."
"That's…" Jaune trailed off and shook his head. "We'll talk later. For right now, let's just appreciate that this is a day that turned out with an actual win."
Nora smiled too, and then she remembered something. "Oh! I found another one of those audio recordings in Merlot's lab. Want to listen to it?"
Everyone else answered in the affirmative, and so, Nora hit the play button to begin hearing Merlot's final words.
"Research into this... 'tox-en' as my new partners call it has proven quite fruitful, but truly replicating Angolmois dust continues to elude me. With great reluctance, I have parted with a small sample to allow Sideways to work on refining the process."
They were all silent after that… for all of about ten seconds before Jaune cried out.
"Oh, come on!"
Once again, Jaune Arc was giving a mission report to a headmaster and a military officer. There were more than a few differences this time, though. For one thing, this was his first time debriefing in Ozpin's rebuilt office. For another, the team was smaller than usual. For a third, he was taking the lead. After all, as Headmaster Ozpin had emphasized before, this had been a Team JNPR mission, not a Team RRANNBWW mission, regardless of the complications. The fourth was the military officer in question, because it wasn't General Ironwood. Oh, Ironwood was present, certainly, but he was there more for his role in the mission as their pilot than in his capacity as a headmaster or a general.
And Jaune just wasn't sure what to make of the new NEST captain.
"And this... Cliffjumper," Captain William Lennox said, "despite his hostility, you were able to work with him?"
"Yes, sir," Jaune confirmed. It felt a little... odd, to say the least, to be discussing the transformers with an outsider, but as he flew them back, the General had made it clear exactly how much NEST - and Captain Lennox - was briefed on: namely Teams CFVY and RRFL's encounter with Cliffjumper, but not Team RRANNBWW's activities or the Decepticons, at least not yet.
"Hmm," Lennox hmmed thoughtfully.
"Sir," Jaune said, "I'm concerned about that... thing Merlot's lab turned into. It's still out there."
"I'm sure you are, kid," the NEST officer said, "and I'm sure it'll turn up, with Merlot alongside it." Jaune stared at him incredulously, and Lennox added, "I'm serious. Bad guy gets 'killed' by a random Grimm, conveniently without leaving a body, and his superweapon disappears into the ocean? He'll be back. Trust me on that."
All of Team JNPR stared at him.
"Is that..." Jaune stuttered, "is that... normal?"
"You have no idea," Lennox said cheerfully. "Remind me to tell you about some organ thieves I ran into one break, back when I was still in the academy."
"Um, maybe later," Jaune said, silently promising to never ask Captain Lennox anything ever again.
Sensing a gap, Ozpin spoke up. "Our more immediate concern will be trying to locate any remaining pockets of Merlot's infrastructure, especially those concerned with this 'dark energon.'"
"Indeed," concurred Lennox. "NEST, and really all the armed forces of Vale, are in a bit of a transition period. We still have yet to develop our protocols for dealing with the necromantic blood of a dark god left lying around, though I think we could adapt civilian hazardous waste protocols."
Jaune struggled to think of how anyone could have protocols like that, but then again... he was right, wasn't he? This wasn't all that different from dealing with hazardous waste in the civilian world, was it? Take away the fancy names and the alien origins, and everything that had happened over the past few months really did fit into neat little boxes that already existed. Which, of course, meant that there was no reason to get excited.
It was just another day at the office.
"While I can't offer any military support, I can get in contact with my forces to see if they could transfer over some of our plans about that," offered General Ironwood.
"Don't know what my superiors will have to say about that, sir, but I'm awfully grateful," replied Captain Lennox.
There was a soft pinging noise from Ozpin's desk that drew his attention and the attention of everyone else.
"I think that's my cue to leave," said Lennox with a smile. "Professor Ozpin, I'll make sure you get a report of everything we find in Mountain Glenn as soon as we can."
"Thank you, Captain," replied Ozpin, "and I'll be sure to keep your organization apprised of any developments on our end. James? Juniper? Do stick around. I need to talk with you about something after this."
Lennox gave a salute and strode out of the office. Only six remained in the admittedly quite sterile office, lacking the same charms as the old room destroyed by Cinder. As Ozpin took the call, Jaune shuffled closer to Ironwood.
"Uh, sir, is Ozpin going to tell NEST what I think he's going to tell them?" asked the blond in a quick whisper.
"And how can I help you, Bulletproof?" Ozpin was asking.
"The truth about the Decepticons? Yes, I think he is," answered Ironwood, just as quietly. "Can't say I disagree on it. General Morshower is a good man and a fine soldier, and I don't think that's changed since I last met him."
Jaune nodded even as he turned his attention back to the conversation Ozpin was having or at least what he could hear of it.
"...Yes, I've known Lionheart for many years. He was one of the finest souls I've ever had the pleasure of knowing," said Ozpin, and then there was another pause. "Yes, we do keep Grimm on campus. They're captured by the teachers and used as targets in live fire exercises by the students. Why do you ask?"
Jaune was wondering what exactly was going on with that. Bulletproof was the codename of the founder and commander in chief of the Central Organization of Police Specialists in Mistral - he'd learned that talking to Team ABRN - but why was he asking questions that got those sorts of answers? Surely, he would know how a Huntsman Academy operated, right?
"No, I don't know why Headmaster Lionheart would have a Grimm kept in a concealed room," answered Ozpin with clear confusion written over his face. "That's strange. A new type of Grimm perhaps? Describe it to me, if you would."
After saying those words, Ozpin listened, and as he did, his expression changed. He was becoming harder, like he was maintaining a mask. "Please, keep me informed, Bulletproof, as much as you are able. New Grimm are always a concern for the Huntsman community."
With that, he hung up, then slumped into his chair, eyes unfocused.
"Oz?" asked Ironwood in worry as he, along with all of Team JNPR, rushed over. "Are you all right?"
"No, James," Ozpin said quietly. "I don't believe I am."
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
Anyone else ever noticed how flipping huge the rooms and corridors in Merlot's facility are? It's ridiculous! That was actually kind of the inspiration for this little team-up, as we wanted to justify the scale it was built to.
We also intended to put the audio logs in locations where artifacts could be found in the game, and some of that still holds, but we quickly realized we weren't actually going to be using most of the maps from the game anyway, partly for length considerations and not having a justification for Grimm and androids to appear out thin air.
I think it's an interesting thing Hasbro's been doing to try and keep the Beast Wars characters around, making them chosen guardians of artifacts of the original Thirteen Primes (Optimus Primal for the Requiem Blaster in Transformers: Power of the Primes and Cheetor for the Allspark in Transformers: Cyberverse; they even apparently had a brief mention that gives Rhinox unclear ties to the Triptych Mask in IDW). It's a cool idea and neatly sidesteps the continuity snarl that would naturally result from trying to include them in a more traditional fashion.
This might be important later. Or not.
Also, yes, we've introduced Skorponok and William Lennox in the same chapter. Believe it or not, this was completely coincidental. We didn't realize the significance of this until the chapter was almost complete. And no, we didn't forget that Ozpin just might find Waspinator's immortality of interest... but it is a bit hard for him to believe, and Lennox was in the room.
We really struggled with this chapter for some reason, and frankly, neither of us is particularly happy with the results.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
This chapter was absolutely horrible to write, but at the last moment it all seemed to come together. Reading through it actually gave me the impression that it wasn't too bad. However, if anyone has any problem with it, we're not rewriting it. . . . ever.