RWBY: Dual Eclipse

"Speech"
'Thoughts'

Scene Change

Chapter 11: Stepping Up

A few days had passed since the interrogation. With Torchwick locked up and all Dust thievery coming to a screeching halt, all seemed rosy for Vale.

Nelius, however, knew better. From what he had learned during the interrogation, Cinder and her associates were posing as Haven students within Beacon, letting Torchwick take most of the heat whilst she continued to drum up new schemes. There was also the Fang's seemingly random train job, which had most everyone on edge, fearing they might try it again, especially with the upcoming Vytal Festival on the horizon.

If Cinder was to be stopped, then her ultimate game plan needed to be sniffed out and quashed beforehand.

There was still about a month or so before the Vytal Festival was to be hosted in Vale, so there was some wiggle room in that regard, plenty of time to not only figure out Cinder's scheme, but also get the Dual Diver's construction and testing finished, alongside ironing out any potential bugs.

For the past four days, he had kept around his base of operations, only venturing out to either obtain funds through Grimm extermination postings, or use those funds to get some more food and drink, as the construction of the parts within his arm did take a fair bit of energy to piece together. More of those robots he had seen in the interim were beginning to show up around Vale, likely as security. People were looking a touch apprehensive of these machines, probably due to their uncanny likeness.

With the extraction of the final pieces for the machine, Nelius sealed his left arm back up, then did a quick test to ensure it was still in functioning condition... fingers flexed, wrist rotated, all's good. The Diver's assembly was coming along at a fair enough pace, the two of them taking their time to ensure the components were properly installed.

"Finally done with that." His companion gave a sigh of relief as the final test of his left arm completed. "Please let us never have to do this ever again."

"Well, if this works as intended, you'll have your wish, and then some."

With the last component installed, he walked around to the power compartment, which was on the back end. One of the parts he had picked up was a scrapped power converter generally used for higher-end machinery, one that made use of Electric Dust crystals. If this didn't work, he still had the batteries from his gauntlets as a back-up measure. He double-checked the connections to ensure that nothing was out of place.

"Everything is set..." He inserted two Electric Crystals into the power converter, closed the safety door and then flipped the switch to power the machine on, and as it hummed to life, he headed back around to the front, checking for any errors on the readout for the next minute or so, conferring with his friend. "No anomalies detected... power supply's looking stable.. I think we're ready for a test run."

"Which one should we test first?"

"I'd say the Item Diver should be up first. We'll probably be using that the most, given what it can do for our situation." Gently opening the machine's left side hatch, a juryrigged scanning unit sat behind a pane of glass, and a fair bit of the table was cordoned off for the item they would be using for this test. Now came the question of which item would be the test...

The first item up for consideration was his gauntlets. These had been with him since before his entire journey began, a gift from his father. With the extra additions fixed up, a dive could potentially enhance their abilities.

The next item was his axe. Initially made to be nothing more than decoration, his multiple adventures proved it to be surprisingly effective in his many battles.

Then there was the gun that he had obtained from his friends before the home stretch of the events that ended up leading him here. It was the least worked on, given that it was a replacement for his broken and scrapped former model, so it would benefit from a catch-up.

He ultimately decided to start simple. He grabbed his rebuilt gauntlets and placed them within the cordoned area on the table. Walking around to the readout, he hit a few switches to begin the process.

"All right, firing this up..." The process ready to go, he walked around to the right side of the machine, whereupon he gently slid a panel away, revealing circuitry within that began to light up. Within seconds a swirling green vortex-like portal flickered into view before stabilizing, stretching more than tall enough for him to walk into.

He took one last look at the readout. No errors were being shown, the power was stable and holding...

"First test, underway."

With that, he walked back around to the machine's right side and into the green vortex.

The Infinite Depths of the Item Dimension

Shatterpact Reborn, Floor 1

All that could be seen around was a dark blue vortex, multiple items ranging from swords and staves to shields and sets of armor slowly being drawn into the center. The only landmass that could be seen here looked like it had been ripped from a hydration-starved land. There were a few scant vines that broke through this ground, each one having thorns large enough to impale someone upon. Upon this landmass emerged Nelius.

"It looks like it worked."

"So far, this is good for us. Still, let's not pat ourselves on the back just yet - we need to ensure this works in its entirety." His companion chimed in.

"Of course."

There was a circular platform over on one end of the landmass. The orange glow signified that it was the gate which lead to the next floor. A few pedestals with crystalline blue fists were scattered about the landmass as well. However, in-between Nelius and that gate were several fascimilies of beings that he had grown up knowing of.

Within an item dwelled the Notorious, malicious-hearted creations that had only one goal... to kill those whom would enter their domain. The forms that these Notorious would take often depended on what item was being explored, so an item primarily from the Netherworld would have Notorious that resembled its myriad denizens.

The more Notorious that were defeated within an item, the greater its strength would become. In a way, it could be considered like the removal of impurities within metal, or for more complicated measures, the disassembly, cleaning and reassembly of one's gear, though the empowering process was a permanent one.

Warriors of both sexes, Dragons of varying forms, Wood Golems... after having to face so many trials and enemies that he had to learn about on the fly, it was something of a relief to see beings that he knew of. Down here, he could release his wings and fight with his full strength once again, having no need to restrict himself.

"Man, I have missed this~" With something of a genuine grin, he unsheathed his axe and prepared to fight as those Notorious took notice of him and prepared to attack.

Friday, September 16

Beacon Academy, 9:32 A.M.

Ozpin noticed that there was some interference coming from the Emerald Forest relay towers, which housed security software that kept tabs on any activity out that way - which was usually the Grimm moving about. Normally he'd send out a repair team shadowed by some Hunters in order to figure out what was the issue, but something about this interference felt less like a blackout and more like an attempted possession, what with several bits of information and video feed randomly tracing to elsewhere.

If someone was trying to hijack the network, then this would lead to issues down the road. Immediately he brought up his list of available Hunters to see whom would be available to undertake a quick overview of the situation. After a few minutes, he quickly learned that most of the Hunters that he would normally ask were busy doing the shadowing missives for the students that were in their second year onward in the curriculum.

He'd have to dip into asking some of the first-year teams to investigate... and almost immediately his thoughts turned to Team RWBY, whom had somehow ended up at the docks when the crossfire between the Axe Gang and the White Fang had happened, not to mention their foray into Mountain Glenn had caused the Fang's breach attempt to happen potentially ahead of schedule. Much as he was figuring not to inform them, he had a sneaking suspicion that they'd end up out there anyway...

Well, perhaps this could be a good learning experience for them. However, he wasn't going to allow them to go into this blind... he reached over and brought up his screen.

"Peter, are you busy right now?" Appearing on the screen was an elderly man with grey hair and a moustache.

"Headmaster! I was finishing grading a few papers. How might I help?"

"There's been some odd interference with our network in the Emerald Forest..."

Item Dimension Depths, 10:11 A.M.

Shatterpact Reborn, Floor 99

Nelius brought his axe down on another Notorious, this one in the shape of a native Netherworld beast known as an Imp, splitting its head in twain alongside the rest of its body. It disappeared in into a pink mist. With that, there were no more enemies on this floor, which was tiled with images of what looked like old 8-bit gaming graphics.

He used the orange gate to enter the 100th Floor, which had its terrain raised up like an immense ziggurat. At the top of this structure was another Notorious, but one that was much stronger than its kin.

Every ten floors within an item would bring travelers to a floor such as this, where a strong Notorious, the Item General, would await a battle against them. Defeating the Item General would bestow a bonus in growth to the item in question. However, on floors 30, 60 and 90, they would instead do battle against an Item King, whom was much stronger than an Item General, and as such, gave a larger bonus.

But here... here, every 100 Floors, one would do battle against the Item God, the most powerful among the Notorious. Defeating one of these granted an immense boon to the item in question, and if those empowering the weapon had achieved a certain task, the Item God would be in possession of unique items to pilfer.

As the Notorious came after him, Nelius brought his axe to bear as he carved through these foes during his ascent, occasionally taking a moment to potshot any that tried hanging back for ranged combat. The Item God had taken notice of the fighting, and so decided to drop down to engage.

In comparison to the other Notorious, even the Item Generals and Kings, the Item God looked to be pitch black in color, only the whites of their eyes sticking out. A quick look told him that the Item God had opted to not take the form of one of the Netherworld denizens, but instead took the appearance of some kind of machine, one that he recognized right away.

Those machines had been running amok during his earliest days stuck in that other world, each one looking to have some kind of Mayan or Incan-centric appearance to them, and able to transform themselves into a variety of forms to attack and defend. It had been those machines from which Nelius had taken several of their parts to integrate into his gauntlets... the Huitzil.

The Item God wasted no time in going on the attack, activating the gauntlets' features as it closed the distance. Nelius brought his axe to bear as he deflected the bullets from the gauntlets, and as he got close enough, he brought his gun out and fired at the Item God, whom responded by using the shield units in the palms to deflect the gunfire. The laser blades in the gauntlet's index fingers were activated, and were brought to bear against the original owner, whom swiftly dodged around the attack.

Emerald Forest Security Terminal, 10:12 A.M.

Ruby Rose, one of Beacon Academy's younger students, sighed as her team finished up checking on the second terminal... and exterminating multiple Grimm that had decided to attack in the interim. Just like the previous terminal they had defended, this one had a device attached to it, the only clue being that mysterious M sigil that adorned it, alongside the few cages that were seen in the area. The Grimm were usually keen to attack any technology they came across.

Beacon's Grimm Studies Teacher, Peter Port, had been assigned to act as a guide for them as they investigated this mysterious security attack, but during the restoration he had mentioned doing a little research on this sigil, leaving the team a moment to rest up from the battle.

A couple of minutes later, their Scrolls buzzed, as Port sent them some information on his findings.

The sigil found belonged to Merlot Industries, an old Research and Development corporation that had been based in Mountain Glenn, and was believed to have also collapsed when the expansion project met its untimely end. Could someone have uncovered some of their assets and turned them towards harming Vale? If this was the case, they needed to be stopped before anything worse could happen.

Inwardly, Team RWBY was apprehensive about a revisit to Mountain Glenn. Doctor Oobleck, Beacon's History Professor, had made it very clear about how the town met its end at the hands of countless numbers of Grimm constantly assailing the place. They'd already encountered plenty of Grimm there whilst sniffing out where any of the White Fang had holed up within the desolate former town.

At the very least, Team JNPR was on stand-by to approach and help if they ended up getting in over their heads, since their own mission to another town had concluded two days prior and they were back at Beacon. However, Port broke their train of thought by assigning another of Beacon's Teachers in overseeing this investigation, someone whom knew the area far better than he.

"Hello again, Team RWBY!" A familiar voice greeted them over their Scrolls.

Shatterpact Reborn, Floor 100

10:14 A.M.

Sliding beneath a swing of the gauntlet's laser blade function, Nelius brought himself into a circular swing, his axe's head aimed squarely at the kneecaps of the Item God. Said enemy tried to use one of the gauntlets' barriers, but it had acted a second too late, and soon found its legs chopped off at the knees. As the Item God toppled over from the sudden loss of support, Nelius brought his axe back up, and in one fluid motion split the Item-dwelling God's head in twain, followed by the rest of its torso, sparks and circuitry flying as he sliced the robot in half.

The enemy soon faded away, its existence now turned towards empowering his gauntlets. With nothing left to do upon this floor, Nelius hopped down and headed over towards the orange gate. Here, a small, door-like item had formed upon the floor's clearance - a Mr. Gency's Exit, which was guaranteed to form whenever a floor containing one of the Item Bosses was cleared. It could be used to quickly leave the Item Dimension should one get in too far over their heads, or if an emergency situation meant they needed to leave, pronto.

Collecting the hand-sized door to add to his pile of acquired items, he stepped into the gate.

Whenever an Item Boss Floor was either cleared or skipped, Item Dimension travelers would get one of three options: to continue onwards immediately, return to the real world, or to head into the Innocents' Rest.

The Innocents' Rest, also known as the Innocents' Town / Island, is a small, safe haven in the merciless gauntlet that was the Item Dimension. Here, the benevolent denizens, the Innocents, had a place where travelers could rest up before assailing the next several floors. Depending on which iteration of Item Diving was used, there would be various characters here and there that one could encounter.

At minimum, there was a healer of some kind that would patch up any wounded... for a standard fee, of course. On occasion you'd also find a RosenQueen Vendor, selling items that often weren't available elsewhere.

Older iterations had an Assembly Guide, whom would let the travelers propose an upgrade for the item that usually wasn't available, such as making a weapon's reach longer by default. Back when the iteration gave the Item Dimension the appearance of a vast, endless ocean, there would've been a shop where you could switch what vessel you used as a base. You needed stronger vessels to get through the deeper floors, so acquisition of new ships through defeated roving Pirates was a must.

In this iteration, however, there was a Route Guide, someone whom would change what sort of path the deeper floors would take. One could decide to encounter more Innocents, and thus add even greater versitility towards their gear, or they could want to encounter more Mystery Rooms, where various boons and battles could be obtained.

The possibilities were nigh-endless, and all at the command of the travelers.

For the moment being, Nelius first looked over to the Healer, a blonde demon woman in a fur-trimmed robe. With her closed eyes and relaxed stance, she carried the air of someone you could trust to help patch up your wounds... of course, hailing from the Netherworld, some used that to their advantage to dole out extra pain to anyone that dropped their guard. Needless to say, some applicants to the Netherworld Hospital had to be "let go" due to many a circumstance involving some patients losing limbs and other extremities.

One particular case had one patient wake up with their entire skeleton missing, and their doctor nowhere to be seen. That's how you lose a license, folks.

Thanks to the Usatako Unit embedded in his left arm, courtesy of Epsilon's last-ditch effort to exist, her services wouldn't be needed for this excursion. He instead stopped over to talk with the RosenQueen vendor, whom was taking the form of one of the Badre Archers, young demon women with massive curly twintailed hair.

Much like the other world's Item Dive excursion, in place of actual HL he had obtained I.O.U. notes that would end up sufficing as currency for the dive. Wouldn't do very well to suddenly have another world's currency spontaneously forming elsewhere, now would it?

His forays through the prior floors had given him plenty of weapons and armor with which to sell. Her wares this time weren't going to be of too much use, so in exchange for the items he had on-hand, he nabbed a few Stealing Hands and some Somas to cap off the trip.

"Think this is a fair enough place to stop the test for today?"

"Overall, I'd count this as a successful run."

Finding the Dimensional Gatekeeper, taking the form one of the Iviore Sabercats, Nelius opted to exit. He could've visited the Route Guide, whom took the appearance of one of Toto Bunny's Rabbit Soldiers, but he'd have another chance to do so later, once everything was thoroughly tested further.

The exit formed, Nelius wasted no time in leaving.

The Base, 10:21 A.M.

The green-colored gate flickered into view, solidifying as Nelius stepped out of it. A few seconds later, it disappeared from view.

"And we're back." Wasting no time, Nelius strolled around to the left side of the Diver Machine and picked up the Shatterpact Gauntlets. They had a much cleaner and complete look to them overall, as if the wear and tear of time had been reversed, and as he donned them, he could feel that they were much stronger than before. "Excellent."

"OK, we know the Item Diver works. Up for trying the Soul Diver next?"

Nelius walked over to his personal Scroll and opened it up, seeing that it was now 10:22 in the morning. After adding in a few personal notes detailing the test, he stepped around to check on the Dust Crystals that were powering the machine. They looked fairly thinner than before, but were still in enough condition to continue onward. He added another note to put his gauntlets' batteries as the main power source if a long-enough dive were in the works.

"Should be more than enough time for a test. Let's fire it up." Saving his notes and closing his Scroll down, he headed over to the main control unit, and began running the configuration to close the Item Diver down and open the Soul Diver in its place.

Now mind you, Soul Diver wasn't the original name of this mechanic. Around the time of the Evil Academy Incident and the Hades' Dispute, this was originally known as the Chara World, the ability to dive within oneself and improve your own aspects. Given the connections this had to Evil Academy's Heart Vault, where one could store their own memories and secrets alongside valuables and such, a number of names had been considered for this - Aspect Enhancement, Developers' Descent... eventually Soul Diver stuck.

However, regardless of whether you were inside of a Heart Vault or the Soul Diver, one needed to be very careful in interacting with anything present, as even the most barren of hearts would react to the slighest of stimuli, and in many cases, leaving certain facets unsolved would cause an immense mental calamity...

With the machine set to go, Nelius headed back over to the machine's right side, where this time an orange colored gate swirled into existence. After waiting a moment to ensure the gate was stable, he walked through.

About thirty seconds later, a message pinged on his Scroll... the sender: James Ironwood.

Nelius Raoul's Netherheart, 10:24 A.M.

In the original iterations of the Soul Diver, one would immediately go into battle against various foes, including a perfect copy of the person whose soul you were delving into at the time of entry. Managing to defeat this copy would give an increase in that person's capabilities. Its second iteration adding in a rising floor that could be chipped away at, to reveal hidden bonuses. The third iteration played out something like a board game, with certain spaces leading to varying bonuses or penalties.

This iteration, however, would soon prove to be something completely different.

As Nelius stepped into this area, he found it to look much like the Netherworld where he had been born and raised... except that it looked barren, bereft of life. The trees looked far more withered and decayed than most Netherworld trees would look, there was barely any grass upon the ground that hadn't taken on a sickly yellow shade, and in the distance was a wrecked Overlord's Castle.

"...this is what's inside your heart?" His companion seemed a bit offput by this dessicated landscape. "Makes me wonder what mine looks like..."

"Might as well take a look around. It looks and feels a lot like home, but still..." He began walking towards the wrecked castle, recognizing a few of the sights as he made his way there. Past a gated wall that had multiple sections gouged out, one could see the town that lay within. Multiple houses lined the streets, occasionally mixing with a RosenQueen outlet store.

"...so, what's the story with this place?"

"Overlord I signed up to apprentice under suddenly went sour after a trip elsewhere. Eventually it got to the point where I decided to resign." Of course, the real story was a much more complicated affair, but that was a bridge to be crossed another time.

One housing unit in particular looked very different than the others. In contrast to the ones that appeared dilapidated and run down, this one seemed pristine in appearance, unaffected by whatever had happened to this place.

"What's with that one?" His companion spoke up, taking notice of the aforementioned house. One look at the housing number - 325 - told Nelius all he needed to know.

"That one... that's my folks' place back in the Netherworld I was born in."

"Your folks' place, eh? What're they like?"

Before he had a chance to answer, several creatures appeared out of nowhere and began running towards Nelius! Immediately his hands went up as he prepared his gauntlets to fight, but these creatures instead ran past him.

"Run! Run away!" One looked like a bipedal Dragon.

"It's coming..." This one had the shape of a Wood Golem.

"I don't wanna die again!" Ironically, this one was in the shape of a Galactic Demon.

"What's got them spooked?" His question would soon be answered in the form of an immense, draconic-esque foot slamming down near him, shaking the ground and kicking up a serious draft as it made a few houses crumble. Nelius was forced to shield his eyes with an arm, and as the dust settled, he quickly took a look upwards... "The hell-?!"

"Hello, Raoul. Remember me?" A gargantuan yellow eye peered down at him, soon accompanied by several rows of unusually sharp teeth that sat above the aforementioned eye. At that same time, he swore he could see a few other eyes coming into view.

"What the shit is that!" Raoul's companion nearly shrieked in alarm.

"Who, me?" More of the beast came into view, revealing itself to be very draconic in shape, with eight immense, almost insectoid-looking wings that honestly appeared to be far too thin to be able to lift it off the ground. It almost seemd to regard Nelius with a bit of a leer as it continued speaking. "Ah, that's right... you were rendered unconscious when I revealed my glorious form to the world."

Nelius was already clicking his gauntlets into place. It had been months since the incident that birthed this thing... what was it planning?

"It would seem I overslept when that warp happened nearly a year ago. Time to claim what's mine!"

Nelius quickly flipped out of the way as the beast's immense tail came crashing down on his former position, chunks of earth jutting up as they were displaced. Impact aside, the end of the tail was decorated in spikes. Not wasting time, he withdrew his gun and fired at the beast. The bullets struck the beast very close to its eye, and in retaliation it launched a ball of wind at him from its mouth.

As Nelius got out of the way, the attack struck one of the outer walls, reducing it and whatever surrounding stonework to less than rubble.

"Fine then..." Letting his wings emerge, energy crackled off of them as he let loose several bolts at the beast. They found purchase at several parts of its body, exploding into spheres of darkness that threatened to tear at its skin and scales, which appeared to be an off-white color.

"Hm, not bad..." The beast settled back, giving Nelius a moment of pause. "But now I wonder how long you can keep this up."

"Bring it. I'm just warming up." To that, the beast... chuckled?

"Hardly what I was getting at, boy. How long will you keep repressing it... keep denying it?"

"The hell are you on about?" Was this merely a ruse to distract him from the fight?

"Oh, you know very well what I mean... perhaps I should remind you."With a glow of its eye, the very world shifted, showing a memory of a past time.

A Past Time

Nelius Raoul: 17 years of age

This forest looked to be the place where people had been disappearing. With his gauntlets secured, Nelius started into the place. He had grown another two inches since the battle, sitting him at a height of 5'9". His hair was starting to get pretty long, covering his demon-length ears and allowing him to blend in with the humans. The human world sun had only started on giving him a tanned appearance.

It had nearly been around nine months since his eye had been gouged out, but it wasn't all bad... that strange dark power had erupted forth, saving his life in that battle. He was looking forward to experimenting with it in the coming years, inbetween his attempts to get home.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of something going "squelch" underfoot. Looking down...

"...oh shit." Looks like he found those missing humans. However, these humans looked... deflated, as if their skeletal and muscular systems had been forcibly extracted from their bodies. Yet at the same time, there were no wounds large enough to allow that to happen. Something else was rapidly becoming apparent... a stench that made his nose and stomach want to vacate the area immediately. Were they decaying already?

Looking for a trail, he found one off to the side, and so followed it... and about a minute later, some part of him wished he hadn't.

Several demons were hiding within the clearing, and they were simply unpleasant to look at, having the appearance of insects forcibly merged with draconic-looking creatures. One of them had a human in its grips, its teeth sunk clearly into the human's neck. The human in question was trying to escape, but their strength was fading fast, as they seemed to deflate...

'What the absolute hell?!' Soon the human was tossed aside, their remaining skin being the only proof of their existence. Much as he was left wondering what they did to literal drain a person's insides, this had to end.

As the first of the mutated-looking demons reached over to grab another human to consume, it soon found its arm severed off, roaring in pain and alerting the rest of its group to their interloper.

Nelius reformed his wing as he closed the distance, decking the first one he reached in its face...

Nelius Raoul's Netherheart

"Ah, weren't those good times~"

"Mr. Nelius... what were those?" She'd known of the other monsters from the other world, but these were something else.

"Those were that world's version of an Incubus demon." Nelius kept his eyes on the immense beast as the memory continued to play, showing his younger self tear through them.

Younger Nelius quickly slid beneath the outstretched reach of another of those demons, and as he got to his feet he brought his axe up, catching the monster in its chest and tearing away a fair bit of its flesh and muscle.

"Get moving!" He yelled to the clearly terrified humans that were trying to comprehend what was going on. As they were rooted to the spot in abject horror, the offworld demon pulled a gun from his back holster, and fired it at another of the people eaters, the gunshot snapping the humans from their paralysis. "Go!"

"Indeed... and ever since that day, when you remembered what those machines called you... that was when the seed of doubt was planted... the seed that allowed me to arise." At that, the voice of that Huitzil machine echoed forth...

"Subject's classification: Incubus."

"A seed of doubt that's been long since overcome." And like that the memory ended, shifting everyone back to the town surrounding the Overlord's Castle. "Just because I might share their blood doesn't mean I'll take their path."

"Ah yes, the classic demon response... but we both know this will only end one of two ways."

Nelius wasn't in the mood to hear this thing prattle on, and so fired at the beast once more.

Mountain Glenn Subterranian Tunnels, 11:15 A.M.

It was with a groan that Ruby Rose found herself coming back to some level of consciousness. Almost immediately she began to look around for her team, seeing them nowhere near her.

During the Mountain Glenn investigation, they had found the old Merlot Industries building, still surprisingly intact after all these years, only to be set upon by close to fifty Beowolves and Creepers. When they had managed to clear them out, what should arise but an Ursa Major!

The giant bear-shaped Grimm was relentless, every slam of its forepaws causing waves of rubble to fly up from the ground. Shouldn't have been any sort of surprise that one of the Grimm's attacks would've destabilized the nearby tunnels, causing them to collapse in mere seconds after they had managed to finally slay the beast.

"Students, report in!" Normally she'd never imagine to be so relieved to hear the voice of Dr. Oobleck, but considering their location and what awaited them, she'd take it. Sure, it was over her Scroll, but given that the signal had been displaying as weak during the initial foray into the abandoned settlement just days prior, this was a silver lining she wasn't complaining about. Maybe the hole the Ursa Major had made created an open window for the CCT signal?

"Uhh, I'm OK, but I think we got seperated." She looked around these underground buildings... hard to believe that just years ago, people had actually tried to live down here. Little sunlight, a near-constant risk of having the ceiling come down on you... she pushed those thoughts away, lest she end up bringing in more Grimm to say hello.

"Well, that's an issue. I'll see if I can lock onto the others' Scrolls and guide you all to each other." As Oobleck went silent to try and locate the rest of her team, Ruby found herself at a crossroads. Go straight towards finding her team, or search around for anything that might've left behind? The White Fang had been using this place as a base of operations when they dropped in, so maybe in their rush to leave they had left supplies by accident?

It was worth a look, at any rate. Personal weapon in-hand, she took the latter option - if there were still Grimm down here, it'd pay to have something to work with.

Beacon Academy Dorms, 11:20 A.M.

Cinder had her Scroll open as she checked on the progress of the virus she had uploaded during the dance. As expected, it had almost finished propegating throughout Vale's entire CCT tower.

'Perfect.' With this, any and all information that Ozpin had at his disposal was now at her fingertips. Add in the bonus of being able to tap into any Scrolls or other computer systems that directly interfaced with the tower, and there was no telling what she could dig up. Given that Atlas' Headmaster was put in charge of security detail for the upcoming Vytal Festival, his Scroll likely held the schematics and control for those silly security droids... perfect fodder for the upcoming plan.

Still, she couldn't help but overhear something about a Merlot Industries investigation... relegating that to a secondary concern, she'd act on checking it out if something worthwhile came of it. For now, it was time to begin collecting info on what teams would be taking part in this festival.

With Torchwick locked up, his subordinate, Neopolitan, had disguised herself as the fourth member of her team. A quick cover story of her being a late arrival due to a small family issue was all it took for Ozpin to take the bait. His overly trusting nature was all too easy to exploit.

Now that her mind was on Torchwick, she couldn't help but dwell upon that unusually tall character that managed to subdue him, if the reports were correct. Might as well do some digging, and see if there was anything worth using for her cause. If not, then he could be safely ignored.

Ozpin's Office, 11:22 A.M.

Ozpin mentally reviewed what details he had gotten from the interrogation with Nelius Raoul. He was firmly convinced now that Cinder had to have been working for a certain someone else, and that Torchwick was but a means to an end.

Now came the question of how to oust Cinder and her subordinates without tipping his hand too early, or having it trace back to him. A fair point had been made during the questioning: if Cinder caught wind that Ozpin was onto her, she'd easily ditch her current location and find somewhere else to set up camp.

Perhaps their "offworld" associates could lend some ideas? He'd solicit them for some advice once this business with Merlot Industries was finished up...

'There's a name I never thought I'd hear again.'

Right now, Port and Oobleck were assisting Team RWBY in investigating the sudden reappearance of that man's technology. If it turned out that Merlot was indeed attempting to make a return after the part he played in causing Mountain Glenn's collapse...

Nelius Raoul's Netherheart, 11:25 A.M.

"...you are indeed tenacious." The beast growled as it took another swipe at Nelius. One of its claws raked dangerously close to the ground as the air dispersed around it, causing more of the "city" to come crumbling down.

Nelius, however, had extended his wings and went skyward, firing a blast of energy at the beast's eye once more. The beast blinked, its eyelid proving strong enough to weather the blast... however, this was what Nelius had counted on, and so dove towards the creature.

At once, the beast's other eyes focused on him, and began to fire off beams, forcing the offworld demon to adjust accordingly. The beast's head suddenly lurched forward, intent on devouring the demon whole!

"Not today!" Nelius quickly altered his descent further, the monster's jaws snapping just above him... and the second his true target was revealed, he put both hands forward and fired off a blast of magic.

What was his target, might you ask? Why, it was the indentation slightly below the monster's collarbone...

The beast gave a horrified roar of pain as the magic shot hit its mark, detonating dangerously close to what would've been the beast's lungs, if not close to its heart.

"BASTARD!" It bellowed at him, smoke pouring from its mouth and nostrils due to that attack.

"Hey! My folks were legally married... well, as legally as the Netherworld allows."

"ENOUGH!" It launched another wind ball at Nelius, but the demon quickly sidestepped the blast, which gouged out another crater within the area. "Why do you persist in denying what you are?"

"Seems my words were missed the first time." Nelius stared the monstrosity down. "Sure, I might be an Incubus due to my mother's side of the family, but that in no way means I'll go down the path of those creatures."

"You seem awfully certain of yourself..."

"I've come this far, haven't I? 'Sides, if I really am responsible for your creation, only stands to reason that I put this issue to bed."

"Hm... we'll see..." At once, the beast's form began to disappear, as did the world around them. "We'll see indeed how long that determination of yours holds up."

The Base, 11:32 A.M.

Nelius landed back into the base, the portal flickering away behind him. His companion was unusually silent as she tried processing what she just witnessed.

"...did you really make that thing?" She finally spoke after a while.

"It's possible that whatever weirdness I got hit with prior to landing here birthed him." He shut the Dual Diver down, and went over to check his Scroll. "But it only means I need to put it to rest."

[One New Message]

Received at: 10:23 A.M.

"Huh."

Might as well open this up and see what's going on. It'd at least give him something else to occupy his mind.

Sender: James Ironwood

Topic: Promised Meeting

In light of the information you provided on Amber's assailants and the recent crimes committed by Torchwick, Ozpin and I have made the decision to have a meeting with our other allies in the coming days. We would like to formally request your presence to aid in the discussion.

"Other allies, huh? Who else do they have on their payroll?" His companion piped up.

"Guess the only way to find out is to drop in." To that, Nelius typed out a response.

Sender: Nelius Raoul

Re: Topic: Promised Meeting

Understood. Send me a reply when a date for this meeting has been finalized. We'll be there.

He hit send, giving the General his response.

Forever Fall, 12:02 P.M.

Weiss Schnee was more than happy to finally be out of the Mountain Glenn tunnels.

When Blake Belladonna, one of her teammates and an ex-White Fang member, had returned with solid information that the Fang was using Mountain Glenn as a staging ground for their next act, it had been her team leader, Ruby, that had come up with the idea of going there to stymie the Fang's operations.

Never would she have imagined their operation would end in a furious battle inside the train as the Fang launched a still-operational engine car towards the heart of Vale. Granted, they had struck quickly enough to disable the majority of the Fang's forces, but they didn't know what else the train had in store.

As her mind went back to that day, she remembered all too well of that large Faunus with the chainsaw.

"Finally, I get to kill a Schnee..."

She had known of many that both worshipped and cursed her family name, and certainly this was far from the first time someone had tried to use her name as a reason to attack her, yet their anger towards her family name was more than misplaced.

Ever since her father had married into the name, the Schnee Dust Company had become more and more questionable in its methods when he took over from her grandfather, methods the White Fang was more than happy to use as justification to attack her family and herself. More than ever, she needed to prove herself able to take on the company by herself, just as her grandfather had done-

"Weiss!" The voice of one of her teammates, Yang, brought her from her thoughts, just in time for the heiress to quickly use the Ice Dust within Myrtenaster to freeze a strange, green Beowolf in place... a fortunate timing, as its claws were inches away from finding purchase in her throat. She quickly took the time to get out of the way.

Come to think of it, back in Mountain Glenn's tunnels, they had seen several large Creeps with that same glow. Dr. Oobleck theorized it to be some kind of mutation, but it felt like far more than something so simple, especially when those same Creeps didn't dissolve away upon death, but detonated!

The green Beowolf broke free of the ice, and was immediately on the attack once more. Yang quickly got its attention with a few shots from her gauntlets, giving Weiss a bit more breathing room to create a Time Dilation Glyph to slow it down.

Ruby took the opportunity to line up a shot, and took it, catching the Beowolf in the side of its head.

Far Away, on another Continent...

As the report of strange Fang activity in Vale reached this person's ears, needless to say they found themselves a mix of livid and curious. A train flying up and through the city square, itself manned by many of her people...

'What else isn't Taurus telling me?' Positing this question was a Faunus woman with noticably dark skin and stripes running down her arms and legs, giving her the appearance of a tiger. The orange-trimmed ears atop her head and golden-orange eyes added to that. She was clad in an open-back black dress beneath a gold-accented open-back red cape.

Sienna Khan had her suspicions about this act. Taurus had claimed it was a radical sect, but she wasn't buying any of it for a minute - why else would Callan be there, having been one of the key Faunus in spearheading whatever operations were being handled in Vale?

'I'm going to need someone I can trust to get the truth of this... maybe...' Withdrawing her Scroll from the pouch on her right hip, she opened it up and contacted a certain number.

"High Leader?" A female's voice came through on the other end after about ten seconds.

"Ilia, if you're available, I've a task for you."

"O-of course! I'll be on my way immediately." The call ended, Sienna began to put together her plan.

Chapter 11- Complete