Boom, here it is. It's late, I know, I hope you enjoy it anyways!

Skyler was an expert in pretending people didn't exist. Briefly, Ruby wondered if it was his semblance because there was no way he could just act like the people who insulted him were nothing more than particularly uncomfortable-looking pieces of wall.

However, the same could not be said of the other three members of Team RSNC

"They're just…staring at us." Crimson kept his eyes on his pastry (A cherry turnover that he got after literally snarling at another student.). Even though, the rest of his team knew who he was talking about.

"Those three are really pushing their luck," Neo grumbled, casting a dark look to where Nikos, Schnee, and Belladonna sat with their teams. "If they keep gawking at us, I might have to go over there and if THAT happens, I'll be annoyed."

Ruby snorted, her fork idly playing in her breakfast. "Well, we can't have that. Now, can we?" Turning in her seat, she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled over to the three girls.

"If you're not going to buy us a drink, then stop ogling us!" The shout carried well over the sounds of the dining hall. If Ruby's loud demand did not capture the attention of the student body, Crimson's burst of laughter did the job very well.

"Ah, funny." He wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. Sneaking a glance at the other first-year teams, he had to stifle another laugh. "Oh, look at their faces. The blushes alone are priceless!"

"Glad to see you're so amused." Skyler rolled his eyes before turning to look at Ruby, speaking in a much quieter tone. "By the way, has there been any news from our employer? Things have been rather quiet on that front and I doubt that is a good sign."

The leader shrugged. "If she wants to leave us alone, I'm not complaining. Besides, I have plans for today that I really want-"

Ruby's Scroll chimed like iron bells and all other noise at Team RSNC's table died to nothing. Crimson and Neo warily eyed the device while Ruby rubbed her forehead, a rising glare on her face. Skyler just sighed.

"Oh, I wonder who that might be."

"Well…"

"Yeah."

"I mean…"

"The Hells is a Merlot?" Crimson peered at the assignment detailed on the Scroll. "And since when did Vale have catacombs? Are we sure Fall isn't pulling our legs?"

"In all my unfortunate time of knowing her," Ruby still had that glare on her face from breakfast. "Cinder Fall has never been one for jokes."

After breakfast was over, Team RSNC had headed straight for the nearest empty room (Which just so happened to be a men's restroom.) and read their new assignment from their murderess of the boss.

Your Beacon mission is put on hold. The new assignment is to kill a man who has been a thorn in my side for too long, his name is Merlot and I have located him somewhere underneath Vale's catacombs. Meet me at the entrance to the East Sewers after whatever classes you have are over. We are striking tonight. Do not be late.

"No to insult our unholy employer or anything, but she's awfully wordy when it comes to assignment texts." Crimson once again narrowed his eyes at the words displayed on the screen. "But back on topic, what's a Merlot?"

"First of all, it is pronounced mare-lou, not mer-lot." Skyler templed his fingers together. "And it's a name, of whom, I have no idea."

"Cinder doesn't like him," Neo observed, leaning against the sink counter. "But it's strange she's not just sending some grunt or her two minions to off this Merlot. Why does she need us?"

"We'll find out tonight." Ruby snapped her Scroll shut. "But until then, we should probably vacate this bathroom before Jaune or someone walks in and we have to avoid explaining ourselves."

"You know, it doesn't matter what we could say, right?" Crimson looked at Ruby as they walked towards the door. "Anyone who just saw would automatically assume we just got done having a-OW! WHY DO YOU KEEP STABBING ME?!"

"Just think of me as the mental filter you were so cruelly denied at birth."

"Mental filters don't stab people!"

"A violent metal filter then."

"That's not even a thing!"

Skyler covered his eyes with a hand, his voice. "Crimson, Neo, please shut up."

Crimson slapped a hand across his chest and looked offended enough for both him and Neo "Hey, this is a, like, partner bonding time for us. You and Ruby talk about weapons, me and Neo discus what a horrible person she is and-OW! FOR THE LOVE OF ME, STOP DOING THAT, YOU IRRITATING SADIST!"

As the two squabbled, Ruby sild over to Skyler who still had his hand over his eyes as if attempting to shield himself from his other two teammates. After a moment, she looked up at him.

"Sooooooo, Snowball, what made you want to weaponize a pocket watch?"

He sighed, lowered his hand, and looked to his partner. "Boredom, mostly."

"…then the monster of the underworld swiped at me with claws the size of swords! But excursing great flexibility, I managed to dodge with a mere flesh wound!"

"And in doing so, doomed the rest of us to listen to you," Crimson muttered as he carved his name into the desk with a slender dagger, where he got it, no one on his team really wanted to ask. Neo snored in agreement, passed out cold on her open textbook.

"Oh, it's not that bad," Skyler said, his hands behind his head. "Think of all the conversation we could not have if not for our dear portly professor's complete disregard for his students' education."

"And of course, that strapping young man was me all along!"

"I feel like there has to be some hidden message in his words." Ruby had her chin in her hand and was studying the professor intently. "He can't just be randomly rambling on about his backstory, there had to be something he's trying to teach us."

"The townsfolk decided to repay me in vast amounts of alcohol!"

"How to Kill your Students with Words Alone 101?" Crimson suggested as he dotted the 'I' in his name with a heart, hundreds of wood shavings littered his lap. "Seriously, why are we even here?"

"To learn about the creatures you'll be slaying? That's the normal reason, anyways."

The new voice caused Team RSNC (Sans the still sleeping Neo) to lean over and look down at the upturned face of Ebon Winters, leader of Team EWBY and one of two of their members who still had yet to insult an RSNC member. Crimson propped his head up with his arm and grinned as his teammates fell back to their seats.

"Ah, but what's the point? What's so special about killing Grimm that we need a class for it? Cut away enough flesh and they'll die like everything else, it is as simple as that."

Ebon twisted her chair so that she was facing him, her dark eyes fixed on his gleaming red ones.

"That was dark. Not the best childhood?" She suddenly held up her hands and scrunched her eyes closed. "No. Wait, let me guess, Blake and Skyler are not the only ones with a shadowy past and you used to be a morally-grey mercenary?

Crimson lifted a streak-of-blood eyebrow. "Why a mercenary?"

"With all the other dramatic reveals going on, I feel like a mercenary is next on the list." Ebon tilted her chin up thoughtfully. "That, or some sort of edgy assassin."

The undercover (And definitely not edgy!) assassin cocked his head to the side, his grin still in place. "Oh, come on, that last one was just ridiculous!"

Ebon shrugged. "Hey, I'm not counting anything out at this point. What about a pirate?"

"Sadly, no. Though, between you and me, my pirate name would totally be Captain Bloodbeard."

"Are you a...Were-Grimm?"

"A what Grimm? Are you making up man-eating monsters and then accusing me of being said man-eating monster?"

"You're avoiding the question! That's pretty suspicious!"

"I am not a Grimm and I'll prove it to you, give me a gun."

And the two students talked the class away, Port none the wiser. Thankfully, Ebon had the sense to not give Crimson a gun.

That evening, in the Kingdom of Vale…

"Are we there yet? I'm bored." Crimson complained loudly as the team walked in-between Vale's sewage treatment facilities, their stench fouling the air. "My assassinations don't involve this much walking! Nor do they take place in sewers. Is this normal for the Torchwick Syndicate or are you people just freaks?"

"Zombie Boy…" Neo's voice was low and dangerous, the voice of a predator. "I'll give you one more chance to shut the Hells up before I stab you in the groin again."

"That's probably sexual on some sort of level. Speaking of weirdly sexual things, is it just me or is Fall most definitely a sadist? And not the fun kind, but like the kind you rather not interact with in any way, shape, or form."

"Did someone give him caffeine?" Skyler was baffled and annoyed. "Because he has been talking non-stop ever since we left Beacon."

"Well, Ebon give me an energy drink at lunch, several actually! Does that count? Heeeey, I just called her by her actual name and not a nickname! I need to fix that. Any ideas? I'm thinking Grimm Rider! No, that's stupid. Anyone else thinks she's nice? We did have some nice conversations."

"We can't bring this chatterbox to Cinder, the embarrassment alone will kill us," Ruby muttered as she rubbed her forehead. "Do we have any duct tape?"

"Ooh, kinky!" Crimson grinned wildly at Ruby. "Sorry, not into it. But worry not! I have made a list of people who are into stuff like that, don't ask me how I found out. It involved trespassing!"

"That's it, I'm killing him. We can tell Cinder he fell out of the Bullhead." Neo pulled her parasol blade out of its lacy sheath and advanced on her still-smiling partner. She was stopped by Ruby placing her hand on her arm.

"Not yet, we still need him." Ruby looked over to Crimson who was making a strong attempt to talk Skyler's ear off. It looked to Ruby that her partner was making an even stronger effort not to throttle the hyper assassin. "Maybe. Depends of if he stops talking or not."

He didn't, and the rest of the trip to the entrance to the East Sewers were spent with Crimson chattering about everything under the sun. By the end of it, when they had entered the compound where the sewer access hunkered down like a squat toad, their nerves were running high and Ruby had a sneaking impression that Crimson was doing it all on purpose. Either way, they were never letting him have caffeine before a mission ever again.

xXx

"I can't tell which is worse." Ruby mused to herself as her team stood (Crimson was collapsed against the wall, napping away his crash) in the underground room, the sounds of other people all around them. "The fact that I'm surrounded by White Fang grunts or the fact that I'm forced to be in the same room as the lackeys."

"Love you too, Rose!" Mercury Black's snide voice issued from where he and his green-haired partner stood on either side of the door to the room (Emerald was standing; Mercury was leaning against the wall.). Neo took the liberty to flip him off on Ruby's behalf.

"Don't you have a boss you need to suck up to? Why are you even here?"

"Cinder wanted all hands on deck for killing this guy." Mercury shrugged. "And even if you hate our guts, me and Emerald are assets you don't want to lose."

Ruby scoffed. "I bet that's what Cinder tells you every night when she tucks you into bed."

Silent up till then, Emerald turned her head to look at the younger girl and let her lip curl upwards. "Would you shut up already, runt? We're here, so deal with it and act like the professional you keep pretending to be."

"Acting?! Are you-"

"Silence! Now is not the time to be acting like children." A voice full of embers snapped from the darkness behind the doorway and the golden outline of Cinder Fall glowed out to the gathered criminals. "We have a mission and I will not see it ruined by petty squabbling!"

Silence reigned in the room as even the White Fang stopped their mutterings and turned to look as the woman all of Vale's underworld stepped out into the light, flanked on either side by her two underlings. Harsh, burning eyes swept the group and Cinder's face settled into a professional mask as she spoke.

"The assignment is simple; somewhere below Vale's catacombs is a man known as Doctor Merlot, we are here to kill him. Keep quiet and be prepared to meet strong opposition, are there any questions?"

One of the White Fang grunts raised their hand. Cinder nodded.

"Then we'll move out."

The sewers were bad, all reek and rats, but the catacombs were worse. Much worse. Everyone she looked, Ruby could only see bones, green water, and really big rats.

Those things are large enough to eat the Grimm! Ruby's hand clenched on the handle of Crescent Rose as one of the rodents shuffled past, its tail rasping against stone and bone. Gritting her teeth, she resisted the urge to shoot it; that would only anger its numerous relatives.

One of the few (Very few) bright sides of this endeavor was that Crimson had finally stopped talking. With his cleavers in hand and eyes watchful, the assassin seemed have gone full professional, his short rest apparently doing wonders for him.

Gotta enjoy the small favors, I guess. Ruby glanced around at the hit team, a heavily armed mix of terrorists and criminals all moving through the murky darkness in tense silence. Even Cinder's presence wasn't all raging inferno, but a smoldering spark, waiting to be unleashed.

As the group went deeper into the bones and shadows of the catacombs, the air grew more stale and thick, cloying itself in Ruby's lungs. Briefly, she wondered if the ancient air would kill them before whatever 'strong opposition' had the chance.

Then with the screech of claws and the rumble of snarls, the monsters came out of the dead darkness and Ruby had better things to do than ponder idle thoughts.

They used to be Grimm, Ruby noticed as she fired at the swarm, her rounds joining those of the White Fang and every other gunslinger in the tunnel. They used to be Beowolves but were now creatures of abomination.

Gnarled and mangled, their lupine face masks were broken and pulsated with what looked like glowing fungi, casting toxic green light on deformed faces. Similarly colored crystals erupted out of their forearms, like infernal Dust, they twisted the limbs into clubs of razor-sharp shards. Other spikes of crystals pierced through the midnight flesh all over their bodies like horrific pustules.

Everyone still alive shot as many as possible. Crimson's cleavers splitting down the middle to form small canons that released a thundering barrage of Fire Dust at the swarm as Neo and Skyler turned to blurs of color and blades. Ruby was too preoccupied with blowing off demon limbs to check on anyone else.

But there so many. Too many. The black tide moved in and they did not stop. The White Fang was overtaken, disappearing from view. Ruby lost sight of Skyler and Crimson amidst the snarling sea, she saw Mercury and Emerald get swept away in a wave of claws and teeth. Drowning in Grimm stench, Ruby found herself staring into Neo's terrified face…

…just as one of the monsters snatched her away into the shifting darkness. Ruby felt terror seal her throat shut. They killed her, they killed Neo…

They killed Neo.

They. Killed. Neo.

And as Cinder's flames still flared bright and burning, the young killer felt something powerful and angry shift inside her and her eyes bloom in searing heat as the world turned to brilliant silver. The last thing Ruby heard before she fell out of the waking world was the sound of a woman's agonizing screams.

Everything hurt and tasted like ash.

Peeling open eyelids that like they were crusted with stone, Ruby pressed a hand to her throbbing forehead, the pain making it hard even to think properly. But two things remained clear and stark, Neo was gone and Cinder Fall was glaring down at her, the woman's once fair skin now blackened and burnt.

Ruby could not care less.

Pushing herself off the ground, head still spinning, Ruby stumbled forward across the ash-packed floor, ignoring Crescent Rose discarded on the ground. The skulls of the catacomb grinned down at her from the wall as she searched desperately for any sign of Neo, any splash of color that might tell her that she was still alive.

"You're not going to find her." Cinder's pained voice issued from behind. "The Lusus Naturae took Neo and everyone else. Thanks to your little episode, you managed to wipe out the ones charged with snatching us."

Only two words of Cinder's stood out to Ruby, 'The Lusus Naturae'. The things that attacked them, the twisted Grimm, Cinder knew what they were. She knew what they were and that the monsters were down here and still sent them into this hell, she sent Neo down into this hell.

With a cry of rage, Ruby whirled around and tackled Cinder to the ground, their impact sending clouds of black ash into the air. Stunned by the unexpected attack and with her aura doing all it can to heal her scorched skin, Cinder was thoroughly unprepared for Ruby straddling her chest and raining blow after blow down upon her face, a snarl of fury twisting the young girl's face.

However, she was not shocked for long and in a deft movement of limbs, Ruby found herself being hurled into a bone-adorn wall, her impact causing a spider's web of cracks to mark where she landed. The dazed girl felt a hand grip her throat and slam her against the wall once again. Cinder spoke, her voice trembling with rage.

"Do that again and I'll rip you from your stomach to your throat and burn whatever falls out!" The grip around Ruby's windpipe tightened. "Now, stop acting like one those White Fang thugs and listen to me, I did not say your precious girlfriend was dead, I said she was taken. Those creatures were not sent here to kill us; they were merely here to take us to Merlot. Trust me, if that madman wanted us dead, he would have sent something much larger."

Ruby stop struggling against Cinder's strength and locked eyes with her, confiding to her that if what she said turned out to be and wrong and Neo was just taken, then Ruby would do everything in her ability to tear Cinder limb from limb.

The woman just scoffed and let go of Ruby. "If you are done, there is a chance everyone is still alive. Given that our assignment is still not done, there are more than enough reasons to go and rescue them."

As the pair followed the gorges and scuffs in the stone floor that marked the path of the Lusus Naturae, the anger, hate, and pain that had clouded Ruby's mind started to fade away, replaced by a burning curiosity. Whatever that light was, she had caused it and it wiped out the mutated Grimm and, unless she had burned herself, it had wounded Cinder. Could the light hurt humans too? Faunus? Actually, scratch that question, here's a better one.

How could Ruby emit a blinding light that could obliterate the darkest monsters known to the world?

What demented fairy tale have I stumbled into?

Deep below the surface, in a place infested with madness, Neo woke up to the squelches of splitting flesh and the sounds of her own screams.

Well, that was fun. See you all in the next chapter!

Next Update (Yes, I'm still doing this, shut up.): 4/1/2019