ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The Phantom Grimm-ace

Forty minutes passed since we'd been trapped in the container, being stowed to Gods know where. We've been trying to contact the others, but all we got was static due to the signal being almost nonexistent. Occasionally, if we're very lucky, we would sometimes receive a brief transmission and even hear them albeit they were inaudible due to them being obscured by the loud and rampant static.

The container has been dark, damp, and hot, with the only light source coming from a small vent where light was glaring from the outside. And if it wasn't for the vent, I would have suffocated as I had a hard time breathing inside the container. I'm instantly reminded of the time Cardin and his goons locked me up in my locker last semester, so this wasn't the first time I've been trapped inside a steel cage with limited ventilation. Hopefully, this would be the last—and not for the fatally wrong reason.

I was staring at my scroll's clock, Weiss was still in the other corner, sitting and looking down. We've been silent to each other ever since this ship started to sail. The only time we made contact was an occasional stare until one of us decided to look away. I wiped away my sweat, breathing heavily out of dehydration. I was becoming desperate enough that I considered biting off one of the ice dusts for water—but even I knew that ice dusts didn't work that way. I even thought about casting some ice dust and suck the water from it, but I decided not to risk it. [1]

Suddenly, Weiss stood and went toward me. She offered me a half-empty water canteen that had her family's emblem on it. While I could feel that she was still pissed at me, she doesn't seem to be in the mood for more bickering, "Here. It's not much but it'll last you longer."

I was in a state of shock, denial, and disbelief, but I was happy that she decided to put aside her vexation with me and do this for my sake. "That's awfully generous of you. Thanks." I took the canteen and drank until I found myself to be refreshed.

"Don't mention it. I only did what I thought was the right thing to do, even if it's for an unbearable dunce like you," she said, sitting down next to me as I handed back her canteen.

I smirked at her over that remark. "I see that being with someone like Ruby has helped you endure dumb idiots like me."

She gave me a somewhat dirty look. "And I'm starting to suspect that you're not actually an idiot at all. You're probably just a wide-mouthed jerk who likes to pretend that he's one."

Well, crap. I pretty much lost all my patience with her at that point that I blurted out and blew a part of my cover. Shouldn't have been much of a smartass. I still wasn't in the mood for playing nice and dumb, so I might as well keep being myself then, "Maybe I am. Are you implying that I'm smarter than I look?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I know you made yourself a leader and a decent tactician, but that doesn't stop you from being a dimwit—even if you just happen to be some caustic buffoon all along."

"Aren't I already ridiculous?" I replied in an attempt to look coy.

She growled, "You said it yourself then," she remarked before pausing for a moment and then speaking in a cordial tone in contrast to the cold nature of hers that I was used to. "You know, I haven't properly thanked you yet."

"For what?" I asked, feeling a little confused.

"For getting Neptune to dance with me during that night. I was surprised he suddenly asked me out after he shot me down. He said I have you to thank since you were the one who convinced him to have the courage to partake in a dance with me."

"Oh, that was nothing. He just needed a little encouragement, that's all." I don't think I deserved that much praise. I only did what any decent human being would have done at the time, and even then, I believe her other friends would have done a better job than I did. [2]

"Don't be too modest. I wouldn't have danced with anybody that night if it wasn't for you," she said, pausing for a moment before noticeably blushing. "You know, you could've danced with me if you wanted to."

I chuckled in disbelief, finding the concept of Weiss accepting an idiot like me to be ridiculous. I have never done anything that truly makes me worthy of her, while Neptune can be somewhat over his head sometimes, at least he had the good looks to make up for it. "Somehow, I doubt it."

"I think you're doubting yourself too much. I mean, how bad can it be?"

It won't be that bad, I thought, but it'll be worse than what she's thinking. "Would you still be okay with me if I wasn't some sort of Huntsman superstar?"

She gave me a confused stare. "What made you say that?" she asked as she continued to think about it. "Maybe. I don't know, it all depends, I guess."

"Figured as much" I stated before moving on. "By the way, how are you and Neptune doing so far?"

"We're getting along. You could say we're dating, but we haven't made much progress."

Better than nothing, I suppose. I'm just going to leave it at that. I only helped Neptune out that night because I only felt bad for Weiss, but now she's his responsibility, and he should be aware of that. So whatever happens to this relationship is none of my concern. "I'm just glad you two have settled."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it," she smiled at me warmly "I still haven't forgiven you for abandoning me with the records the other day though."

"Yeah, sorry. I had some questions and I wanted some answers from Penny. If it weren't for that, I would have stayed and helped you out." In hindsight, I wish I did, because the decision to follow Penny eventually roped me into the White Fang's bank robbery. If I just stayed with Weiss and examined boring records, I would have accompanied her to Torchwick's highway rampage with the Paladin or I probably would have gone straight back to my dorm. Either way, it would have meant that I wouldn't need to steal a bike and go the wrong way, eventually making my ignominious reputation worse.

"At least you stopped a White Fang robbery because of it," she replied.

"My thoughts exactly." I puffed, concealing my frustration with that turn of events, that was the same misfortune that brought both of us here. Thinking about it, her company was actually enjoyable when she was not being a grumpy ice queen, it made me compelled to learn more about her so we could learn to get along better. "Tell you what, when we get out of this, maybe I could invite you for cake and tea when we get home to make up for our rocky relationship."

"Are you being serious?" She asked. I shrugged and left the answer ambiguous, which earned me a slight glare from her. "Whatever. I'll consider it then. You're not a bad guy, Jaune, you're just really strange. I think it would be a good idea to know you better; that way, maybe I'll understand why people even like you so much."

I flashed her a smile, "I look forward to it, then."

Weiss stayed silently on my side for a few more minutes, only this time, there was barely any antipathy between us, which was comforting since I kind of missed the amiable demeanor she displayed during the night after our first day of class and I kinda like seeing her being nice.

We suddenly felt the ship go to a halt as we heard the engine stop. Alerted, we stood and readied our weapons. We both kept still and quiet to listen for any sudden movements since we can't be sure if whoever is going to open this container is hostile or a friendly unarmed civilian but seeing as we were essentially being kidnapped, the former was to be expected.

Those robots made the mistake of letting us keep our weapons, surrounded by loads of dust on the floor.

We later heard stomping approaching the cargo. Listening to it carefully, we confirmed that the sound was metallic, telling us that it is one of those robots. If they weren't going to try to disarm us and take us prisoner, then they would obviously try to kill us.

"They're coming, get ready," Weiss said as she went to her combat stance.

Pointing my pistol at the exit, preparing for one of the robots to open up and show up, I looked at the dust crates and felt the coin drop. "Grab a few dusts, I have an idea. You might not like it though."

She turned to me and looked skeptical but quickly complied. I had a feeling that being Ruby's teammate meant that she's no stranger to plans that sound dumb, but this one would surely remind her of when they first met. "Well, whatever it is, I'm trusting you with this."

We were about to conduct an experiment that Professor Peach told us to avoid. We took some dust vials, mixing them together as we spilled their contents into a small pile next to the door. Now, I know that I'm not the brightest guy when it comes to dust use, but even I knew that we should only use a small amount because having one too many would have been lethal to us while having too few won't make much of an impact. Once we're done we rush back to the other side.

"Stay behind me, wait until I say go," I instructed. She nodded and went behind my back with her weapon drawn as she waited for my signal.

I raised my shield with my right hand—keeping my sword sheathed in it, and pointed my gun at the door. The footsteps were becoming more audible before we heard the container's door about to be open. I readied my trigger finger as I focused on the door and the pile of dust placed on the floor near it.

"Ready?" I asked Weiss, I did not turn to see what her answer was, but I was sure that she was ready. The door finally opened and the robot showed itself with its eyes glowing red. [3] "Now!"

We wasted no time firing our respective weapons toward the small litter of dust crystals near the entrance. As I planned, it created an explosion, slightly pushing back the container and the both of us while I blocked incoming projectiles on my shield—and to some extent—the impact of the explosion. While I fell above Weiss, she didn't appear injured, and neither was I thanks to our auras, she does look a bit irritated but it was the least of her problems at the moment.

It seemed to have done the trick. The first thing I saw after getting up was seeing pieces of the robots scattered on the ground. They still have most of their parts attached to each other since the explosion wasn't that big since we've only planted only a handful of dust or less—otherwise, it would have killed both of us. Just like before, there weren't any craters. That figures.

I collapsed my shield and placed it back on my belt before picking up my sword from the ground. We ran out, embracing the fresh air with my breath as I vowed never to take oxygen for granted ever again.

We saw that we were at a platform on a ship, which was docked ashore in an unknown location. The place can be described as a deserted island with some traces of industry. I assumed that the structures here belonged to Merlot Industries. The island wasn't a tropical paradise, if anything it looked more like a desert wasteland in the middle of the sea. There were no palm trees and the weather was almost dull. Not a place you'd want to go on vacation.

There were four more robots on the ships. They carried double-bladed polearms as their weapons. While Weiss handled the other side of the killer robots, I charged toward the other two, rolling from one of their swings before I fired my laspistol on its back. The other robot attempted to swing its weapon vertically toward me, but I managed to block it with my sword. While doing so, I blasted its chest with my laser pistol before slicing its head off. Once I was done with the first tin can, the other turned around. I shot its head and then shot its torso twice. The robot fell headless with a chest full of holes like Helvetican cheese.

Apparently, energy weaponry is effective not only against organics but against machines as well. Further proof that taking this pistol from some White Fang rando was the best decision I've ever made.

I turned to Weiss, who was surrounded by dismantled robot parts after pulling her rapier from a metal body. We looked around our surroundings and saw that there were no more robots on the ship approaching, so it was safe to say that it was clear for now.

"Where are we?" she asked after glancing around the area for any clue of our location.

"I don't know, but we're about to find out," I answered.

Weiss pulled out her scroll to check her communications, we were still only getting static. "Unbelievable. Still nothing."

"I see a radio tower just up ahead," I said, pointing toward it on the island. "Maybe we could use it to transmit Beacon's signal. Let's be careful, I don't like the look of this place."

"Well, let's go with that then! I don't have any better ideas at the moment." Weiss responded. "Since we're in a desperate situation—I'm letting you take some of the dust. We're going to need everything at our disposal."

I grinned at her for accepting me to take the same dust she tried to take away from me, it really had to take getting kidnapped for her to finally allow me to have them. "Now you're talking." But sadly, if I were to be realistic with this, most of the dust I took would have been used on the way to escaping the island, so it was still for nothing, I would have rather not touched them if I knew that would lead me to this.

"Don't get too comfortable with my generosity, Arc," Weiss warned. "I still find your 'scavenging' to be objectionable."

"Whatever, Schnee. Let's focus on getting out of this." I replied. She rolled her eyes at my remark but she complied and chose to continue our verbal sparring for later.

Before getting off board, we roamed around the ship to check if it was clear. We went to the bridge, armed to the teeth and ready to engage with anyone, only to find out that it was empty. We discovered that no one was piloting the ship and it was being controlled remotely.

There were a few file drawers nearby so I went to check to see if there was something I should know, however, I found nothing that intrigued me aside from a sticky note that is written as 'Lusus Naturae', [4] I found it odd why a note with a particular set of words was left here so I took it as I thought it might help me somehow.

It was then we decided that there was nothing for us here and set foot on the island's shore, we proceeded to head toward the visible tower not far from where we were at.

=o=

1. It's actually possible to manipulate a dust crystal by using a bare minimum of its element, with some precision and steadiness required, but due to Jaune's limited knowledge of dust use, he was not aware of that.

2. I doubt it since Neptune wasn't exactly the greatest communicator with the opposite sex outside of flirting, especially if Yang was the one that attempted to persuade him; who would have likely threatened him, making Neptune's decision to change his mind to be forced and ingenuine.

3. Jaune is misremembering details here, the red androids' eyes lights were actually blue. To be fair, the hostile nature of the machines makes it easy to mistake them for more alarming colors. The gunner androids do have red lights, however.

4. Translates to 'Freak of Nature' in Old Imperial.

It wasn't even five minutes into the island yet, but it was already made clear that I was right about it being a dreary, solitary dryland with some buildings that indicated that the place used to have some sort of establishment. Also since it was around five in the afternoon, the sky was getting darker, which ended up making the island's atmosphere a whole lot worse. Notably, this made both of us extra vigilant, as the people who established a base here may possibly be the ones responsible for all the chaos that led to us here.

However, we never found a single soul while heading to the communications tower. The first place we stumbled upon after exiting the shore was a warehouse. The place looks abandoned, with nothing but tumbleweeds passing by. There were symbols of the Merlot Industries logo placed almost everywhere, more or less suggesting that this place used to belong to them and that our target(s) may have ties to the company prior, otherwise there was nothing else that could explain why they have access to this company's resources and use it against us.

I was tempted to raid the warehouse stashes for supplies, but Weiss kept giving me suspicious looks that I decided not to do it to prevent more annoying time-wasting arguments from Beacon's resident Ice Queen.

The island wasn't free from Grimm. Shortly after we visited the warehouse, a few Creeps and Scavers and a couple of Boarbatusks popped out. I wasn't surprised—in fact, I was wondering when they would show up considering that our target was experimenting with them. Not to mention any abandoned establishment far away from the kingdoms is guaranteed to have Grimm at one point or another.

Despite only being the two of us with little cohesion, we didn't have much trouble dealing with them since we trained hard enough for the past months that we were sure to handle an entire pack alone. While Huntsmen work better on teams, they are still expected to have the ability to take care of themselves individually and take on a number of Grimm without backup.

This was why I thought I was screwed if I didn't have a magical regal-looking, dust-savvy, ice skating, fencer of an Atlesian heiress with me. Aside from that, I stabbed one of the Boarbatusks on its ass before I could confirm its kill, I've only managed to kill a handful of the other weaker Grimm, which is nothing impressive, as it's just Huntsman standard. Weiss meanwhile managed to slay several of them at the same time, thanks to her Glyphs and the effectiveness of the dusts she uses.

It's a good thing we brought a lot of dust. After we were done with the Grimm, she said that was allowing me to scavenge as long as we are taking necessary supplies such as dusts and ammo, she'll be fine with it, which I was actually pretty happy to hear about.

We went straight to the communications tower after we were done checking the warehouse. Thankfully, there weren't any further obstacles when we were going up the tower, unfortunately, we discovered yet another obstacle that hinders us from escaping the island.

"Oh, great." Weiss muttered after attempting to access the tower's terminal, "It's password protected."

I thought we were both doomed as there was barely an alternative and neither two of us had any experience in hacking, that was before I felt the coin drop and remembered the piece of paper I picked up back at the ship. "Hold on,"

Weiss stepped aside as I took over the terminal and typed in 'Lusus Naturae'. I was skeptical at first since I thought that a random note wasn't going to be convenient enough to provide me with a password that I would need, but it worked, much to my joy and surprise. While my looting tendency arguably put both of us in this mess, it was also going to help us get out too. Brothers bless whoever left that convenient note there.

I've wasted no more time connecting the tower's signal to our scroll's channel, the only thing we had to do was wait a few minutes for it to reach Beacon's signal, hopefully, quick enough before the opposing force discovers us. If I was desperate and had gone crazy enough, I would have gone as far as to add holy machine oils and then sing hymns to its machine spirit just so it could reach our transmission sooner.

"Bada bing, bada boom. Now we wait." I faced Weiss and turned away from the screen which says 'Transmitting Signal' with a progress bar under it.

"Finally some progress," she said with audible relief despite her lack of enthusiasm, her face was still as flat as her breasts [1], which was still preferable to her nagging at me as if she was the less patient version of my mom.

The process took a little while. Both of us went on the lookout in the meantime, but all we got was ambient silence, even when I briefly scouted the area with some caution, there weren't any Grimm or robots, so I guessed it was a good time to relax for a bit that we ended up sitting it out, but this only made me more worried as it felt too peaceful and empty that it was suspicious. Something surely was lurking around the area waiting to strike. A place like this can't be fully peaceful.

After five minutes passed, I checked the screen and saw the progress bar was half-finished, meaning all we had to do was wait for five more minutes. I gritted my teeth and trembled as I continued to wait while my Huntsman senses kept telling me that something sinister was afoot which was why I was holding my pistol for the whole duration.

"So, how's Pyrrha?" Weiss's sudden question startled me for a bit while I was on the lookout for something potentially dangerous, but I was able to settle down and respond.

"Why ask that all of a sudden?"

"I'm just curious how she's holding up in your team."

I was still hesitant to give her an answer. Even if we're starting to get along, I'm still not sure to trust her that much. For all I know, she might be just looking for a topic to gossip about. "There must be a reason for your curiosity."

She rolled her eyes, "Just answer the question. Do you really want to make this harder for the both of us?"

I groaned and decided to spit it out. It was a harmless question and I didn't want to vex her again, it was best for her to keep her composure and I didn't need any more of her whining especially if I'm going to be stuck with her for a while.

"She's doing fine. She's comfortable enough and she's glad she's with us. She wouldn't have it any other way." I answered. It was straight to the point and it didn't provide any specific information while it satisfied Weiss's curiosity, so it was rather a win-win.

"There, that's all I wanted to hear. Simple is it?" she dryly said.

"Yeah, she deserved some company outside her fans and the press while still trying to be the perfect warrior or something," I added. I couldn't imagine the pressure she goes through and I'm a rising hero who is increasing with increasing enemies and responsibilities.

She stares at me for a bit before commenting, "I can relate."

Story of our lives, I thought. I took my turn to ask my questions, "What about you? How are you holding up with your team?"

"They're…okay," she away for a second.

I raised my brow. "How so?"

"They can be very troublesome sometimes, but they're my teammates, and we have to look out for each other even if they do like to test my patience. Over time, I began to appreciate them for what they are despite our problems together."

Sounds like me and my sisters, no wonder I was able to handle everyone's antics. It's a good thing they have someone like me to balance things out. "I see."

"You know you people aren't actually bad. It just takes getting used to being in a rather crazy circle of friends," she remarked.

"Glad you're getting along with us then," I chuckled, "You know, you're pretty likable when you're being nice. Why can't you act more like it? Did Vale's warm weather increase your temper or something?"

"It's because all of you like to get on my nerves. If you people would only make yourselves more bearable, I would have been nicer." She defensively replied and crossed her arms, "And please tell me Jaune. Are you really like this? Because I don't get you, it's like you're a different person from whom I met the first day."

I sighed to myself. This better not be the last day where I'll be recognized as a friendly dork who happens to be one of the most popular students in the academy. It was going well ever since my attempt to pretend to be some wimp who was somehow qualified for Beacon failed miserably. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Her eyes glared at me. "Oh, and now you're playing dumb. This is exactly what I'm trying to point out!"

I groaned. Unless she miraculously forgets all of this, I've really screwed up. I sincerely hoped that she was assuming that I was just in a bad mood and that she won't find out that my public personality was all just a façade because I was careless enough to lose control of myself and acted too out of character. "Look. It's not as simple as it sounds. Why don't you just go with the notion that people aren't as one-dimensional as they look?"

Weiss just groaned and continued to stare at me with her piercing glares of those ice-cold blue eyes. I just stared at her back because I had nothing else on my mind that wouldn't 'explain that my behavior when someone was around was bullshit and have it end up becoming Beacon's number one gossip and ruin my rep.'

Despite that, it's a good thing we had this conversation, it at least made the time go quicker than it should almost be done by now so I could get out of the staring contest that followed.

While we were at it, I suddenly noticed something odd on the landscape on her back. I squinted my eyes and scrutinized the object and immediately recognized it as another one of those hostile robots. I did not hesitate to aim my pistol and shoot it down in front of her face, startling Weiss into turning back and seeing the wave of robots approaching us.

"Couldn't you have warned me?!" she pulled out her rapier and went to her combat stance as she rotated her dust chamber.

"We'll argue later!" I said, aiming at one of those robots and then firing at its chest, filling it with blast holes.

As much as I hate it every time something's trying to kill me and ruin the peace, this pretty much saved me from getting Weiss from fully cracking the code, at that point they were less threatening than something that would ruin my reputation that I despise yet still ensure to avoid a fate worse than death.

"How much longer?!" Weiss asked, casting ice dust on two of those walking tin cans that were a foot from each other, causing them to be frozen and break in the process.

Blasting another robot's head clean off, I ran to the terminal and checked the screen, "Almost there, just hold on for a couple of minutes!"

The two of us held the ground and continued to clear the area of the robots whilst preventing them from ruining the transmission. Thanks to the laser pistol and the amount of dusts we were carrying, we had little trouble getting rid of them since these robots were apparently vulnerable to energy weapons and the right use of dust. The only thing I had to worry about was managing our ammunition and supplies.

One of the last of the robots tried sweeping the floor, only for me to jump from it and I thrust the Crocea Mors to its head, impaling its face. Weiss meanwhile finished hers by crushing it with her glyphs, squashing them into pulverized pieces of flattened scraps. By this point, the signal was successfully transmitted and the area was clear making it safe for us to contact Beacon.

I wasted no more time reconnecting ourselves back to Doctor Oobleck's channel and notifying him of our status and location. "Hello? Come in. Mister Arc? Miss Schnee? Is that you?" The doc asked, the transmission was initially full of static but quickly became clearer. It was almost nice hearing his rapid voice again.

"It's us, Doctor," I responded. "Look, we don't have much time to explain all I could say is we were shipped into an unknown island and there's plenty of Grimm and those robot things here. Luckily we managed to find a communications tower and used it to receive your signal. Please send help as soon as possible."

"Well, it's good to hear from you again, it would be a huge blow for us if we lose both of you. Worry not, we'll do our very best to track your location as quickly and efficiently as possible," he said, which was very reassuring. Suddenly a mysterious transmission was suddenly heard from the channel and it wasn't from anyone we're familiar with. "Hold on, I'm receiving feedback from an unknown frequency! Who is this? Identify yourself!"

An unfamiliar voice responded on the frequency. "Ah, that's better. Sorry, but the reception is always so bad all the way out here. I hope you're enjoying your stay on the island. You're the first visitors I've had in, well, you are the first."

"That…voice." Doctor Oobleck muttered, apparently familiar with the mysterious caller.

"Doctor Oobleck, who is this?" Weiss inquired concernedly on her scroll. I was no less puzzled or disturbed.

"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."

"Wait…" While I already had a hint of who he was the moment he said his name, I still glanced at the company's sign at the nearest building which has his name on it just to be sure. "Doctor Merlot? As in this Merlot Industries Merlot?!"

"Of course, I am the Doctor Merlot. What else am I going to name my own company that I spent years building from the ground up?" He replied. I don't know, something more corporate-sounding name that involves enrichment, I guess?

"I thought you died with your company!" Weiss said to him.

He chuckled sinisterly. "Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated," he remarked, it appears that even formerly-renowned scientists aren't above using clichéd phrases stolen from bad action novels. Go figure. "And it was a mere speed bump on the superhighway of scientific progress. You couldn't possibly imagine the ramifications of my latest research. For such terrific students as yourselves, this should be an easy test, right?"

"So we meet again, Doctor Merlot." Another voice coming from the doctor's (well, our doctor's) comm said, except it wasn't Doctor Oobleck who spoke but Ozpin himself.

"Ozpin? Or shall I call you Oz like old times, chum?" the evil doctor responded. Weiss and I were shocked, but I wasn't that much surprised considering how Ozpin knows everyone and everyone knows Ozpin at this point. Besides, these shady old men being familiar with each other didn't sound far-fetched.

"You should have perished in the Mountain Glenn disaster, a tragedy you played no small part in. The world was a much safer place without you."

At that point, I now knew who to blame for what Mountain Glenn had become, and it made me more desperate to get out of there. Because if he was truly behind the fall of Mountain Glenn then it meant he could do the same to that island and I didn't want to get caught by it.

"You're calling me the reckless one? Sending your students out on an excursion like this?" Merlot retorted. I'd say he's spot on if he wasn't making the Great & Powerful Ozpin look sane and more likable by creating mutated Grimm and adding more problems in a world that are already dominated by monsters for whatever senile reason, not to mention, being responsible for Mountain Glenn's destruction if Ozpin is to be believed.

"They're more than a match for your mindless robots," Ozpin argued. It's nice for him to speak for us but I'll be the judge of that. "What you're doing here is wrong, Merlot."

"Trying to make the world a better place is wrong? Say what you will about me, it won't change the fact that you're powerless to stop me."

I fail to see how making a more horrifying version of the leading problem of this would make it a better place. Thousands of these Grimm die every day yet they still keep on growing and outnumbering us and you expect us to think that this will somehow improve the planet's condition?

"You'll botch this somehow. You always do." Ozpin replied.

"Well, let's agree to disagree. I tell you Oz, it has been truly a pleasure catching up, but unfortunately, it's time for me to run. Farewell, old chum."

I was so befuddled that I was prompted to ask Ozpin about the situation, but Weiss beat me to it. "What's going on professor?!"

I could hear him sigh from his side of the channel. "Mister Arc, Miss Schnee. While we're able to get your transmission, I'm afraid we still haven't got your location. Merlot is using some sort of firewall that it would take some time for us to pinpoint your location. Stay put. In the meantime, search the premises for information about Merlot's current scheme so the authorities would be able to review them before he destroys them. Rescue and backup should arrive shortly after we're able to breach Merlot's firewall."

Explore the islands and check the facility which undoubtedly contains mutated Grimm and advance security measures? I would rather torture myself with school lectures and study for the finals by now. "Please hurry," I told them while keeping a stiff upper lip and trying not to sound like I was pleading.

"We're doing everything we can, Jaune. Just hold on. You will make it through this," Ozpin responded before ending the call.

Weiss and I turned to each other. "You heard him. No point trying to stay on this spot. There's no doubt that they'll just keep sending waves of robots until they know that we're dead. Might as well uncover more of this case." I said.

"I trust that you know what you're doing. Pyrrha can't consider you to be an effective leader for nothing." she said, "So lead the way."

I really couldn't promise that though, but I had no intention of dying here so she was able to count on me on that one. She proceeded to accompany me out of the tower and into the facility.

Pursuing an evil scientist on an isolated island, the only thing missing was an active volcano. I felt like I was in a bad spy flick; I wouldn't have been surprised if Merlot also happened to have an evil pet cat he would stroke on his lap while he twirled his mustache.

And this was supposed to be nothing more than a scouting mission. Nothing is ever simple, is it?

=o=

1. This is the second time he compared something with my chest during this mission. What is it with men and their fixation with female breast sizes?

The deeper we went, the more disturbing the island was appearing as the sky was growing darker. On the path to Merlot's lab, we found pipes harvesting something from the island's surface as well as puddles which is very likely the same substance that was carried by the mutated Grimm.

Weiss and I overlooked the area on a slope. "Ugh, look at this place. What is Merlot doing here?" I asked.

"A refinery, by the looks of it. It appears they're gathering the substance that was used to create the mutated Grimm back at Forever Fall."

"So you're telling me that this island contains the stuff that mutated the Grimm. Have you by any chance, heard or studied about this stuff before?"

"No, I don't think I have," she answered, "But I suspect that it's one of the rare substances found on certain specific areas on Remnant, this island being one of them."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I muttered. I was fine with this being another indistinct, boring island that just happens to have a corporate establishment, it turned out to be rich in the same liquid that made the world's living nightmares twice as worse, guaranteeing that I will be facing quite a lot of them. I was praying that I would only encounter those one-shot exploding mutant Creeps and not much else, or maybe I should shut up because it's giving my omnipotent tormentors some ideas and making them do the opposite of what I'm begging for.

Looking back at the area, there were puddles of the green liquid on the ground while there were a few Grimm lurking around and some of them were approaching the puddles. "You think those puddles contain the mutagen?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure. For all we know, it might be just regular acid or something else. This is a research facility after all. Let's wait and see." Weiss responded, "You should be aware that Mutant Creeps are less bothersome than they look, especially within this distance."

She got that right. Thank goodness for that because I'll be able to save ammo if I were to shoot fragile, two-legged suicide bombers from afar while it satisfies our curiosity, otherwise if it was a Beowolf or a higher-tier Grimm we would be doing our best to keep them away from those.

One of the Creeps went near the puddle and drank from it. Seconds later, I witness it go through its somewhat disturbing transformation process. The Creep made a raucous cry as its eyes and mouth were filled with a green light. Its skin began slightly tearing, revealing a glowing layer. The other Creeps went in and drank from a puddle, putting them in the same process. No green spikes yet and their skulls were still the same, presumably because their mutations were still in the early stages or something along those lines. [1]

I was still rather perturbed but I immediately remained calm when I realized that it wasn't that bad and mutant Creeps were elementary compared to their cousins anyway. "I guess we have our answer," I said. It was already a minute after the Creeps started drinking from the puddle. They remained immobile during the transformation, so it was a good opportunity to get rid of them, whether they were fully transformed or not.

I fired my laser pistol at them, almost instantly erupting them into nothing but the same liquid they consumed from. I was careful enough not to hit the pipes, otherwise, they would leak the serum and it might even lure nearby Grimm while giving them free power-up drinks when there are already puddles of them all over the place.

Weiss followed suit and cast a few fireballs from her rapier, helping me clear the area out of the remaining Creeps that we're unable to retaliate against due to being in the middle of their transformation.

Once we were done, we both lowered our weapons. "We should inform Professor Ozpin about this," Weiss said to me. Without any objections, she pulled out her scroll and contacted Ozpin.

"Students, have you found something?"

"There appears to be equipment extracting the green serum that was used to create the mutated Grimm, and it's being pumped elsewhere," Weiss answered.

"This is also said to be one of the few places that have this stuff," I added.

"This confirms my suspicions. I knew Merlot was on this island for a reason. Keep searching. I want you to follow the pipeline. With any luck, it would lead us right to Doctor Merlot. Try to slow down this sinister operation if you can. By the way, after a long and arduous process, we are finally able to locate your signal. Your fellow team members are en route to the island and should arrive as soon as possible."

Finally, some relieving news—I never thought I would hear one again. "Will do, just don't take too long," I responded before putting my scroll back in my pocket.

Leaping off from the short edge. We began trailing the pipes to where it was coming from and sabotaging anything that would make progress of an evil scientist's twisted plan just so I could complete my mission, letting me pass this year while skipping all of the bullshit studying and sleep peacefully at night knowing that there would be no superpowered Grimm to worry about.

The main facility became visible and we were getting close to it the further we followed the pipeline. On our way, we received a transmission from a friendly voice. "Hellooo! Can anyone hear me? Weiss? Jaune?"

"Ruby!" Weiss happily exclaimed at the voice that would normally annoy her, and me to some extent, as if my sisters weren't able to train me into handling hyperactive girls like her. "I can't believe I'm saying this—but I'm glad to hear from you again!"

"Weiss, thank gosh you're okay! Is Jaune taking care of you?"

I felt my cheeks heat up momentarily while Weiss's also turned pink and did her best to hide it. She tried to scowl at me to sway any thoughts, but if you ask me, she ended up looking rather adorable when attempting to glare at me while embarrassed, it kind of reminds me why I even had a short crush on her when I first looked at her in the eyes—if only her looks matched her personality. "Well, he is a tolerable companion—to say the least."

"Umm, what she just said," I replied, enforcing the awkward atmosphere further.

"Are you trying to make Pyrrha jealous, Weiss-cream?" Someone said on the line, anyone who's familiar with my friends can already guess who said that with the way she speaks alone, so I didn't find it necessary for me to spell out their name.

If you somehow weren't able to recognize this person by the way they spoke because you might have presumably skipped to this entry or are just bad at determining someone through their personality, then let Pyrrha's embarrassed stuttering help you out. "Y-Yang!"

"You stay away from him, Weissy-Dicey!" Nora yelled on her end. "You're not good enough for someone as honorable and caring as Jaune!"

I wouldn't say that I'm above her in terms of morality though. At worst, she's probably in the same league as mine, and even then I still think she's more of a saint when compared to me. At least she's being honest about who she is.

"Does it look like I want to be stuck here with him?" Weiss retorted, yelling at the scroll in front of her.

Ditto, Frosty Flakes. "Don't worry about me, Nora," I told her. That wasn't really good advice, if anything, they should be worried because their leader is in a grave situation. "This is not the first time where I have had to fend for myself, remember?" And I hoped it wouldn't be the last either.

"We know, Jaune. We just couldn't imagine what must be going through right now." Pyrrha responded, and boy, was she right about that one. "Stay put, we should be there in just a few minutes!"

"Look, just hurry it up. I am getting increasingly sweaty, tired, and dirty and I refuse to die in this state, especially on this nightmare of an island!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Don't worry, we're coming! Just keep on doing what you're doing. You're doing great from what I've heard," Ruby said.

That put me in a better mood, but I almost forgot that Merlot was still on the same channel as ours. I was beginning to worry that he might be listening. And unfortunately, he was. "Might I remind you that I can hear everything that is being said on this channel?"

Ruby shrieked. "Gah! Who's this?!"

"You must be the baddie who's behind all this!" Yang said. "You better not have harmed our friends!"

He chuckled evilly. "I wish I have already done more than that. Your friends are more stubborn than I anticipated but I should have expected it from the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and a nominee of Vale's Junior Huntsman of The Year."

Oh, come on! Not this again, I thought. A mad scientist like him who has been stuck on the island and doing questionable experiments for more than a decade should have been the last person to be in touch with dumb phenomena such as my misunderstood exploits.

I didn't bear any ill feelings toward this guy despite being a delusional prick whose creations could screw up an already doomed world but after he mentioned that I'll be more than glad to give him an idea of what it's like having an ancestral sword on your stomach or what having a blast of laser on your face feels like.

"I can remember the other professors at Beacon saying the same thing about you, Merlot, though the word they chose was less kind," Ozpin said.

I'm almost thinking the same, except it involved a little more profanity.

"Ever since you got it in your head that experimenting on Grimm was a good idea," Ozpin once again came in to talk to a former colleague of his. "Your obsession has and will continue to be your downfall."

"The Grimm are a superior species, fascinating in their biology, their unbridled, raw aggression and lack of sentience make them the perfect vessel."

And that was when I was convinced that he was beyond insane. Even the White Fang have better justifications and this is a group where even most of their target demographic wouldn't buy their shit because of how extreme and hypocritical they are.

"That line of thought illustrates exactly why you could never be trusted, Merlot." For once, I see something eye-to-eye with the Great & Powerful Ozpin. "I still find it amazing that you survived the disaster in Mountain Glenn, Merlot. Was it sheer luck or part of your master plan?"

"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my fault?"

"I believe that you wouldn't take accountability for your actions."

I heard Merlot's faint chuckle. "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 year… all lost without a trace."

"Let me get this straight... you're upset that you lost your research?" Ozpin presumed.

"The work done at Merlot Industries was critical in the advancement of artificial intelligence and genetics. Without it, Remnant would still be in the dark ages."

And now, you're making something that would send Remnant back to the dark ages. How ironic, but then again, he was making it pretty obvious that he lacked self-awareness.

"You've missed the point. An entire city was laid to waste. Countless lives were lost. My only question is how much of the damage were you personally responsible for?!"

"Well, how else was I supposed to conduct my research? Our supply of test subjects was running thin."

"And when the Grimm came back, the city's population was driven underground where it was safe. No thanks to Merlot Industries."

"Do you believe things happen for a reason, Oz? I mean, two of your little prodigies practically washed ashore here on my island, and it appears that you are sending more of them."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at," Ozpin responded sternly before shifting back his attention to us. "Carry on, Mr. Arc and Miss Schnee. As for the others, make yourselves prepared. Merlot is not the type of individual that goes easy on us. Remember your training and expect heavy resistance."

Good thing I have been expecting the worst since the beginning then.

After trailing the pipes for a few minutes, we were able to find what was presumably the laboratory building where all of his operations are being conducted, much to our joy after everything we'd done to get this far.

There was a walkway that took us toward its entrance to the main facility. We began to move hastily, but we remained prudent, knowing that there was always a threat around every corner. Doctor Merlot liked keeping his establishments secured and he wasn't going to let us inside that easily.

Of course, there were security robots waiting for us because on this island, there has to be an obstacle to something as simple as trying to enter a freaking building, otherwise where would be the fun in that? But for anyone who has read my ramblings for long enough, it's already made crystal clear that I hate certain types of 'fun' and I'm doing my best to avoid them as humanly possible.

I grabbed my pistol and hastily fired at the robots, within less than five shots I'd already dispatched at least three of them. Weiss used her glyphs to put the other robots in close proximity and then used electric dust to overcharge all of them at once, next thing I know is that some of them simply shut down and fell while the others exploded. I sliced down the ones which were still whole so we could be sure that they're never coming back unless Merlot gets a chance to glue them back to working condition, an opportunity that we're not willing to give.

"If Merlot is going to torment us on this wretched island. He could at least give us a worthy challenge than sending the same pieces of walking scrap metal he keeps throwing at us," Weiss bragged.

Please don't give him any ideas, I irritably thought.

When we thought the area was clear and it was safe to press forward, two more robots appeared. These weren't the regular models we fought before, they were painted white and were much larger, enforced by their bulkier appearance. They appear to use Gatling guns rather than the polearms the red androids use.

You just had to say it, didn't you, Ice Queen?

Widening my eyes, I quickly expanded my shield, prompting Weiss to get behind me when we both noticed their guns rotating and firing seconds after.

I blocked the robot's barrage of bullets while moving to the nearest container for cover with Weiss hunkering down behind me. When we got to the container, we waited for them to stop firing. They presumably cannot shoot forever since they would either run out of ammo or their guns would overheat, thankfully the durability of the SDC's containers was used in our favor for once.

Once they stopped firing, I hastily tried to tear them down with my laspistol the same way I tore down the army of robots that tried to kill me previously, but to my dismay—these models apparently have reinforced armor that is able to counter laser fire. While laser pistols are pretty good against both organics and synthetics alike, shields and aura be damned, there are still some things that they cannot penetrate against.

"Dammit," I murmured, reloading my laspistol's clip after using most of it in an attempt to dispatch the Heavy Gunner Androids.

Weiss made her move and tried to use the same trick she did to overload the robots' circuits. It was just as ineffective as it had almost no effect on the robots and they kept moving slowly.

"Well, there's the 'worthy challenge' you wanted. Happy now?!" I yelled under the barrage of gunfire behind the container.

"Oh, I'll consider being careful about what I wish for next time!" She snarled back.

"Good idea, because rich snots like you need to learn how to wish better for things that money can't buy!"

"How about I wish for you to put your leadership skills to good use and make sure this won't be our last conversation!"

"Uhm," I looked at the ground and thought of a solution. While the heavy robots were so durable that even or most effective attacks against the androids didn't seem to work—it had cost them their mobility, being heavies and all, which gave me time to think while they moved too slowly.

I realized that these models were designed to dispatch enemies that were in range, the best way to deal with these things was to get close to them while they try to push us back and keep that from happening. So we just needed to find a way to temporarily suspend them from their attacks so we would be able to take them head-on in melee, which was presumably their weakness. They are supposed to be gunners after all.

Thinking of a way that would get them to stop shooting for long enough for us to get close to them from the knowledge I received from watching Team RWBY coordinate in combat. I eventually got a figurative lightbulb light up above my head. "Your wish is my command then. What is your and Ruby's duo combo? White Rose?" I asked her.

She looked pretty annoyed at what I just said, but then again, she always was by default. "It's 'Ice Flower', you dummkopf! Since when have we ever called our attack that?!"

By the Gods, there she goes again. It feels like no matter what I do or say, I'll still end up pushing her buttons. "What? You don't like white roses?"

"Oh, we do love flowers as much as other girls but we know not to name our attacks like that!"

Says the person whose team has a combo attack is named after one of their user's favorite tuna brand, [2] but at least they are not combining their names together. "Okay, okay, sorry. Do you remember that Ruby shoots through your glyphs to make a special dust shot?"

She looked at me with interest. "What are you getting to?"

"If we can't take them down with lasers and dust, then we'll have to use an ice beam that would freeze them long enough for us to get near them and cut them down. These are gunners, they can't take us in very close range, that's what their red cousins are for."

"That's not actually a bad idea. I recall this working against Torchwick's Paladin. It should work against these robots," she replied.

"Then let's not waste any more time."

She rotated her chamber and readied her rapier. "Say the word when you're ready, just don't call it something stupid like what you referred to it earlier or even dare to think about it."

I nodded, I already drew a line from making corny team-attack names anyway. There's just something that just irks me about it.

I noticed that the two robots halted from moving forward and remained stationary, likely because they can't afford to have hostiles get near them even for a few feet. Once their next batch of ammo was out, we rushed out of our cover and faced a few feet away from the gunners.

Weiss summoned a glyph in front of us as I crouched down and aimed my pistol with both of my hands toward one of the two droids behind Weiss's glyph. Last time I checked, lasers and dust work fine together so long as you aren't directly shooting the source, unless you needed improvised explosives as we used back at the ship.

I squeezed the trigger and fired a blast as it went through Weiss's glyph. For a split second, I could notice that the laser was colored light blue instead of red. The ice beam penetrated the first gunner's right arm before it froze. For good measure, I shot its legs twice while being careful not to shatter them. I proceeded to shoot at the second one, freezing its gun and right hand, then its torso and left leg next.

Holy crap, it worked, I joyfully said to myself. Weiss unsummoned the glyph and stormed toward them. I followed as I unsheathed my sword and then shaved off the head of one of the gunners, making it fly toward the nearby cliff. Weiss meanwhile, dealt with hers by using her glyph to shatter the other robots into pieces. The walkway towards one of the facilities' entrances was then clear.

"Well, that went better than expected," Weiss remarked, staring at the droids' pieces on the ground and turning to me. "You may not be as imbecilic as I thought you to be. I think I'm starting to see why your team and my teammates respect you as a leader and a Huntsman."

"Thanks…" I muttered. "I try, you know. You're not bad yourself either."

She made a faint blush for a second before shaking it off and going back to the classic Weiss everyone knows and loves. "Now don't get too captivated by my compliment! I still think you're a despicable dunce and you should be treated as such. I haven't forgotten about your recent insolence towards me!"

Of course, I was wondering where her icy demeanor was hiding during this. I was at a point where I think it was becoming kinda cute and less damaging the more she bad mouth me. I swear, if I ever had a lien every time I heard her call somebody an idiot or something synonymous with it since day one—I would be rivaling her family's company in terms of worth. I figured that this day alone would be enough to purchase this whole shithole of an island.

"Are you really going to keep acting like a tsundere every time I'm stuck with you?" I huffed. Her being pleasant in one second and verbally abusing me in another were really giving me the impression.

"Oh, you must have the nerve to call me tha…!" she grumbled before looking perplexed and stopping. "What's a 'tsundere'?"

I sneered at her obliviousness. "Why a tsundere is a perfect, proper, and ideal lady that is wanted by men and envied by women," I answered sarcastically. I prepared for her to be offended by that remark and insult me back. But to my surprise, she actually took that as a compliment.

"Are you trying to flatter me now, Jaune?" She answered smugly and then spoke in a proud manner. "If that's the case, then maybe I am a 'tsundere', and I will continue to act like it because it is what I am. I'm glad to know that even a blockhead like you could acknowledge that."

I did my best to hold my laughter with all the self-control I could muster. I didn't expect her to actually fall for that. It didn't even sound like she was snarking back. I hope she doesn't get too pissed when she finds out what it really means. [3] It's like the nicest thing I ever called her especially if you compare it to the other things I labeled her as. After all, The 'dere' part implies that there was still hope for her.

"Right…" I muttered, still in disbelief at her reaction. "Let's just not waste any more time and get in."

She nodded as we both went across the walkway to finally get into Doctor Merlot's lair.

=o=

1. The length of the mutated Grimm's transformation depends on the specimen's size and the complexity of their biology, which explains why most of the Mutated Grimm were Creeps as they are much easier and quicker to mutate.

2. He was referring to 'Bumblebee Tuna', since Blake and Yang's combo is named 'Bumblebee', despite it having its name because bees contain the colors black and yellow, representing Blake and Yang respectively. Coincidentally, Yang also nicknamed her motorcycle 'Bumblebee' but she made it clear that she had given it its name long before she was paired with Blake.

3. The term actually meant to describe a person—usually young females—who is considered to be pleasant and caring (dere) beneath a sour exterior (tsun). It is usually used to refer to the character archetype associated with Mistrali pop culture. When I looked up the actual definition myself, I didn't know whether to feel insulted or flattered.