Day 26/30

During her design of the volatile A.I that came to call itself… whatever long title the thing had called itself, Salem had ensured to make it as independent as possible. Hundreds upon hundreds of gigabytes of information was coded into its semi-artificial mind, with a touch of the dark arts infused with it to warp its one-track mind even further than it already was. So when the witch received a message early in the morning from her creation, she felt a mixture of surprise and disappointment when she heard its single question:

"Why?!"

"I will need more clarification that that," Salem yawned, still in the middle of her morning cup. Whereas Ozpin had coffee, she had her chardonnay.

"You know exactly what, you insolent sludge whore!" Virulet growled into the communicator, not using Penny's voice for the first time in a while. He hadn't left the vicinity of his lair underground since last night, and for good reason. Though he had only passed by it for the briefest of moments, the fire he had encountered last night had shaken him terribly. "What would make you want to program a sense of fear into my otherwise perfect form?! You're an idiot! A stupid one at that!"

Salem pinched her brow: she really should have scrapped this plan the first time he had gotten snippy with her. "Do not call me an idiot."

"I did not call you an idiot. I called you a stupid idiot."

"It's like you think I care about a simple adjective."

"Silence, you fool!" Virulet barked, "I demand an explanation! Present me with one, or I shall rip out your toenails and make you wear them as earrings!"

Downing her entire drink in preparation, Salem sat down on her throne. "Do you know why I agreed to this bet with Ozpin?"

"To win, of course."

"In a way, yes. But when it comes down to it, this whole thing has been a simple farming exercise for me, gathering all my livestock in one place. Ozpin thinks I wanted Fall and her associates to assassinate his pawns. He couldn't have been more wrong. In the end all of humanity will cease to be, even those who foolish enough to pledge their unwavering loyalty to me. And to gather some of those who are most dangerous to myself in one place, defenseless, ripe for the slaughter… I could never pass that opportunity up."

"This seems like quite a stupidly convoluted way of going about it then. Unless you feel no confidence in your previous lackeys."

"Oh, do not misunderstand me. Cinder Fall is quite a powerful tool. Too powerful, if left unsupervised."

Virulet knew exactly what she was inferring. He grinned as he realized he wasn't the only one with fear. "…The Maiden powers. You're worried that svelte slut will become a threat to you! Mwah-ha-ha, the irony! You promise her power that not even you yourself can control! And the only way you can deal with her is if you seal them away! How cowardly of you!"

"Says the one afraid of a minuscule flame," Salem happily retorted, to which Virulet fell quiet, "Don't forget just why she is designated as one of the Latent Four. Your fear is her specialty. Even with only half of the Fall Maiden's powers, she could still melt you to the core."

"Then why give me fear at all?! If I had none, then I would be unstoppable!"

"It is simple, actually. Do you remember how much fear you felt last night in that brief moment? Immense, wasn't it? And I presume you know just what is attracted to fear, now don't you?"

"…Grimm."

"Exactly. You are more than an A.I., my creation: you are a lure. If something was to go wrong, if Cinder Fall or anything around you erupted into an inferno, your emotions would send Grimm right towards you. And since they would never attack something as inhuman as yourself, they would be more like reinforcements than a threat."

"Such a twisted way to secure my well-being, you hag… But I love it! Mwah-ha-ha! I could set myself ablaze, and give myself an armada of monsters! It sounds terrifying as all hell, yet extremely efficient!"

"I wouldn't recommend it," Salem crossed her legs, flipping on her computer monitor for her daily camera watching session, "You are still my ace in the hole, after all. You are not immortal. Enough of those flames will literally burn up your data and evaporate you entirely."

"Oh, don't worry. If I was going to off myself I would have done it by now. These humans are so unbearable! Don't you agree? Hello?"

In his ramblings, Salem had just went and hung up on him. Virulet threw his communicator onto the cold cement floor, angrily stomping it into pieces.

"That cocky bitch! She'll pay for that! I will call her once more and..."

He looked down at his only form of communication between him and his creator, now in hundreds of tiny fragments.

"Oh, goddamn it all."

"Goddamn this heat!"

Pouring a bottle of water over his head as he sat by the edge of the pool, Roman beckoned to Neo for another one. The small woman floated in her inner tube towards him, instead opting to kick her feet and drench him instead.

"Not even gonna complain," the crook sighed, spitting out a mouthful of water. He flipped off his hat as Ruby and Weiss walked up by him. The two weren't dressed for swimming, but they were already soaked in sweat.

"It's soooo hot!" Ruby cried, dunking her head into the pool. Her friend rolled her eyes, dabbing her forehead with a handkerchief.

"We were hoping it would be less hot out here," Weiss said, tucking her cloth into her tank top, "The house is basically a sauna right now, with the air conditioning busted. If only I could use my Glyphs…"

"I came out here to relax," Roman answered, closing his eyes, "Not to hear you ladies tell me the obvious. Why do you think I'm out here if not trying to stay cool?"

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other, then at Torchwick. If he wanted to cool down, then he was going to cool down all right. The girls rushed his lounging chair, tilting it up high and into the pool before the screaming crook could even react. His head bobbed to the surface as Neo floated over, giggling as she patted him on the head.

"Like I said," Roman said as Ruby and Weiss pointed and laughed, "Still not complaining."

"You scream like a baby!" Ruby cackled, clutching her gut.

"Even more so than Jaune!" Weiss added, her insult stinging just a bit more than Ruby's.

As Roman opened his mouth to retort, he was cut off by one of the loudest shrieks he had ever heard. All four heads turned from the pool towards the front lawn where the screamer was at.

"That's not good," Weiss said, Ruby zipping past her, "Hey! Don't run by the pool! Do you not remember what happened to Glynda?"

"Eee! You do care, Weiss!"

"That's not… whatever."

Following her friend, Schnee caught up with her just as they approached the circle of tents. Two of them were tipped over and torn, with something rustling around in the one left standing. Clothes and blankets were scattered all around it, whatever that was inside having tossed them out. Weiss picked up a roasting stick as if it were Myrtenaster in case she needed to defend herself.

"Ruby! Weiss!"

"Wha- Blake?" Weiss looked around for her teammate, and saw her hiding behind some hedges, "Are you okay?

"We're fine," Blake said, blushing as she pointed to a white garment, "Can you… toss me that shirt?"

Ruby bent down, recognizing it instantly. "Isn't this Sun's? Where's he at?"

"Up here!" Wukong poked his head out a nearby tree, and only his head, "Mind tossing me those pants?"

Picking up on context clues faster (blushing, hiding behind bushes and leaves, asking for clothes), Weiss's jaw dropped as her face turned an intense shade of red. "D-did you two…?! And outside, of all places!"

Ruby narrowed her eyes, scratching her head. "Whaddya mean by that?" Weiss whispered the steamy truth into her ear, and Rose pointed at both Faunus accusingly. "You're both filth! FILTH!"

"Can that wait?!" Sun gestured back to the tent, "The problem is that thing in there!"

"What is it, then?"

"I'm not sure, Weiss," Blake said, "We didn't get a good look at it when we rushed out of the tent. All I know is its black and small."

"Blake, I told you Zwei is a nice doggy!"

"It isn't Zwei, Ruby! I think it's a-

The side of the tent burst open as the mystery creature stumbled around blindly, its glowing eyes covered by Sun's boxers. After some thrashing, the little monster fell flat on its rump and looked at the four people all staring at it in shock. The mini elephant trumpeted once, wiggling its deep black ears and blinking twice.

"A tiny Goliath?!" Weiss gawked, passing over the blatant contradiction in her words.

"How'd it even get here?!" Sun asked, exposing his entire upper body as he nearly fell from the tree. Thankfully he had a prehensile tail, or else he'd be exposing his nether regions to the girls for a second time.

"I don't know…" Ruby tapped her chin, before suddenly zooming over to the down-scaled Goliath and giving it a giant squeeze, "But its soooo cute!"