Author's Notes: Hey Guys! Sorry about the really long wait...been busy with graduation, and job searches and car searches and a lot of stuff like that. Anyway I'm back! I should have chapter 24 done fairly soon (and I mean that this time) as well as chapters 25 and 26. Those two will end the "Volume 2" arc of this story and I'll be back after a short break with "Volume 3" arc. Anyway that's the plan right now, Enjoy!
What It Takes
Chapter 23: Starlight
Cole leaned on the second floor railing, looking over the factory workers as they went about the experiments.
"How long until they are ready?" Cole spoke in a gruff voice.
He turned. The man next to him was older looking with thinning hair and a great white beard. The man was dressed in a white lab coat and black khakis. He adjusted his spectacles over his bright blue eyes.
"The experiments are progressing thoroughly," He spoke in a thick accent, "as we continue our research we should be able to stabilize and control them in a matter of weeks."
Cole glared at the shorter man.
"We don't have weeks; I need them ready sooner than that."
"I can't rush science," the man stared back just as intensely, "the results are too unpredictable unless we take extreme caution. Besides, your informant said that no one at Beacon knows. So what are you worried about?"
"I don't worry," Cole replied darkly, "I merely have a feeling that my informant may have been wrong."
"Oh really?"
The two men turned to see Coralia standing behind them in a silk pink shirt and black skirt.
"Then would you care to explain something to me?" she asked angrily.
Cole turned to the doctor.
"We'll discuss this later," he said coldly as he faced Coralia, "Let's talk in my office."
Cole and Coralia moved away from the rail and walked down the hall. Cole opened the door to his office and walked in. The office was pretty bland, with white walls, a mahogany desk and a black leather chair behind it. Besides a few pieces of paper, the desk was uncluttered. Cole sat down in the chair.
"You clearly have something on your mind."
"I do," Coralia spat, "how do we know we can trust your informant? You just said that the informant could have been wrong, so why would you trust him to go on our next mission?"
Cole sat back in his chair.
"I don't think it's his fault, I think that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows. The way he is getting information is unreliable, but it's the only way he can get it."
"Then why didn't we just dispose of him when he came to us?" Coralia inquired, "Why even give him a chance?"
Cole smiled coldly.
"Let's just say I opened his eyes to the truth. After that, I knew I could trust him."
"And what if you are wrong?" Coralia asked angrily, "What if he's lying to you just so he can learn more about you and expose us all?"
Cole laughed.
"He doesn't even know the full plan. Even if he tried to expose us, which there is no way he would, he wouldn't have enough knowledge for us to worry. He doesn't even know about this factory."
Coralia slammed her hands on the desk.
"Even still, he only joined us recently and you're acting as if he's been loyal to us for years. You did the same thing when you recruited Roano. You let him lead his own mission with me even though we didn't know if we could trust him. You can't just blindly trust-"
"Enough!" Cole yelled, standing up.
Coralia fell silent; she had never seen Cole this angry.
"I thought we had settled this after the mission with Roano, but apparently I have to explain myself again. The best way to get someone to trust you is to show them that you trust them. By giving my informant a trivial task that seems important, I can see if they are trustworthy without risking any progress on my part."
Cole paced over to Coralia.
"For my informant, it is also a test of resolve. If he can betray the person closest to him, then he can easily do what I need him to do."
He then walked over to the door and opened it.
"Now if you don't mind, I have more important matters to attend to."
Coralia faced him, bowed her head, and walked out of the room, the door closing behind her.
Cole sighed.
Hopefully she understands now, Cole thought to himself, we need to be a cohesive unit now that we've reached this stage of our plan.
He pulled out his scroll and looked at a few of the charts from the experiments today.
Interesting, Cole pondered, that would explain why he is the only one who has full control. Perhaps he is the key to perfecting the experiment after all.
Cole smiled.
And once that's finished, no one will be able to stand up to us.
Porphyrios and his team sat in the airship, waiting to reach their destination. Professor Vert was chatting up a storm with the rest of the team while Porphyrios began loading his weapon, ready for the mission at hand.
"So after that dance you two became a couple?" Professor Vert asked.
Celestia and Basil both blushed slightly.
"Yea," Basil answered, "I still can't believe it happened."
"I still can't believe it took so long," Aurelia chimed in.
"Didn't you bet that it would take a year for us to get together?" Celestia inquired.
"Yea, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't frustrated that you guys were so oblivious to each other."
"How obvious was it that they liked each other?" Professor Vert probed.
"I nearly knocked Basil unconscious during a sparring match because he was admiring Celestia's beauty," Aurelia stated, "and Celestia kept drawing Basil in her notebook."
The two girls laughed as Basil and Celestia became beat red.
"You guys realize we are on a mission here right?" Porphyrios interjected.
"Oh come on," Aurelia replied, "We're just having a bit of fun before we land."
"You should be preparing to land right now instead of making small talk. We're not here to have fun; we're here to do a job."
"Is he always so surly?" The professor asked.
"Pretty much," Aurelia answered as she loaded her rocket launcher, "You get used to it."
The rest of the team began to load weapons at Porphyrios' prompting.
"So what's your story?" Professor Vert addressed Porphyrios.
"Not your concern."
"Well surely there's got to be more to you than the strong silent type."
"No there doesn't."
"Oh come on," Professor Vert continued, "I just want to know more about you."
"How about you be a professional huntress instead?" Porphyrios snapped, "As hard as that may be for you."
The professor looked surprised, but before she could retort the airship shook violently, sending the passengers into the walls.
They all got up and grabbed onto the handles on the ceiling, bracing themselves as the airship shook again.
"What's going on," Professor Vert yelled to the pilot.
"There are several Nevermores attacking the ship!" the pilot yelled back in a panic, "We can't-"
His voice was cut off as feathers imbedded themselves into the ceiling as the aircraft began a nose dive. Professor Vert ran up to the cockpit as quickly as she could. As she pushed the pilot out of the chair to take the controls, Basil could have sworn he saw a black feather sticking out of the pilot's chest.
"I'll fly the ship!" Professor Vert called to the students, "I'm gonna open the doors so you can take care of the Grimm, so prepare yourselves!"
Everyone drew their weapons, as the professor tried to stabilize the ship.
"Everyone ready?!"
"Yes!" the students called back.
"Opening the doors…now!"
It was immediate chaos. At least six or seven Nevermores, with white plates on their back, surrounded the airship, their cries echoing amongst each other. Bullets fired from Basil's pistols while Celestia and Porphyrios followed suit with their submachine gun and rifle respectively. Aurelia fired a rocket at the nearest Grimm, but the impact seemed to merely anger it and it charged its body into the ship, tilting it in the opposite direction. As the students struggled to keep their balance, another Nevermore charged head first into the open door of the ship. The resulting crash caused the Nevermore to get its head stuck in the door and for the ship to plummet to the ground from the momentum.
The students clung onto anything they could for dear life as the vehicle plunged to towards the earth. Porphyrios fired at the Nevermore's head until the creature broke free of the door, but the ship continued to fall.
"I can't pull it back up!" Professor vert yelled.
"Professor!" Celestia called, "Close the doors!"
"Why?!"
"Just do it!"
The doors closed and Celestia let go of her handle and landed on the left side door that now served as the ceiling.
"What are you doing?" demanded Basil.
"Just trust me!"
Celestia spread her arms and closed her eyes. Her dark pink hair began to turn into an aqua blue as the ship became covered in a blue aura. As her face screwed up in concentration, Celestia straightened out the ship and landed it softy down on the ground. Opening her eyes, Celestia collapsed onto her hands and knees, her hair turning back to its normal dark pink. Professor Vert stepped out of the cockpit, exhausted but uninjured.
"Everyone alright?"
Celestia gave her a thumbs up as everyone else confirmed that they were okay. The cries of the Nevermore could be heard coming from outside the ship.
"It's not over yet," Porphyrios determined.
He and Professor Vert pulled the left door open and were greeted by the site of the Nevermores flying towards the ship.
"My turn," Professor Vert declared as she stepped out.
She slipped on a black glove with a mesh pattern on its palm side, onto her left hand. She reached up and grabbed the rounded end of the staff on her back, and stopped walking. The Nevermores cried out as Professor Vert pressed a button on her staff. The rounded end of the staff popped up and tilted itself toward her as the bottom of the staff expanded to form a tripod, turning the whole thing into a standing microphone. As the Grimm charged closer, she raised her left hand and put the microphone up to her lips. She inhaled and then let out a loud yell. The resulting cry caused fire to burst from her gloved hand. The Nevermore were engulfed in flames and cried out in pain. A few of them flew off to recover while the others circled back for another assault. She yelled again and the glove released more fire, disintegrating two of the remaining three. The last one continued to charge, but she sidestepped it and pointed the base of her microphone at the Nevermore. She pulled the trigger on the stand, shooting the Grimm straight in the head.
As the corpse began to fade, Professor Vert began to move back to the students.
"Well," she began as she put her microphone onto her back, "at least the plane landed near where we're supposed to go."
"The airship is completely busted," Porphyrios declared, "controls are completely fried despite Celestia's attempt to save it."
"Is there any way we can get back?" Aurelia inquired.
"Of course," Professor Vert answered, attempting to smile, despite the grave situation, "I still have my scroll to call an airship when we finish our mission."
"Are we really going to continue the mission after this?" Basil questioned, concern in his voice, "Those Nevermores tore through our ship! Who knows what else we could encounter!"
"That's being a hunter," Professor Vert stated, matter-of-factly, "If we were deterred by every bad thing that went wrong, we wouldn't be very well respected now would we?"
Basil was about to protest when Celestia put a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll be fine," she said with a smile, "Once we clear the Grimm out we'll get out of here."
Basil sighed.
"Fine," He conceded.
"Alright," Porphyrios concluded, "Let's get going."
"There you are."
Team Sunrise had just arrived at the airship that was to take them to their mission. To Sylvia's surprise, the huntsman chaperoning her team was none other than:
"Professor Caerul," Sylvia greeted with a smile.
"Good to see you," he replied.
He wore his usual semi-formal shirt, tie and khakis, but now he was sporting a brown trench coat with a satchel over his shoulder and a textbook under his arm.
"You aren't gonna be teaching us Valerian Literature while we are on this trip are you?" Inquired Re concernedly pointing at the book.
Professor Caerul frowned disapprovingly at Re, "No I am not. But I could prepare a lecture once we return, if you are so interested in it."
Re shrugged and put his hands into the pockets of his red hoodie, conceding the point.
"Besides, this is a textbook on Aura and Semblance," The huntsman pointed out, "After all, I teach more than just Valerian Literature."
"You teach the advanced Aura Techniques class at Beacon?" Namra asked.
"Yes I do," He replied, proudly, "I was the one who introduced those classes to the school."
"Really?" Wai queried, "Do you think I could ask you some questions then?"
The professor beamed.
"Of course, but let's talk once we get on the ship, we're running a bit late."
They all gathered onto the airship and took off to their destination.
The trip there was uneventful. Namra and Wai sat next to the professor and discussed the science of Aura and Semblance while Sylvia slumped against the wall, watching Re pace up and down the aircraft.
"Look I know you're nervous about the mission," Sylvia addressed Re, "but you need to stop pacing like you're waiting for news about a comatose patient."
Re looked at Sylvia, "I'm not nervous about the mission."
He moved and sat down next to Sylvia, looking at her very seriously.
"I'm angry about what Dad said."
Sylvia looked at him quizzically, "You're honestly mad about that?"
"Of course I am," Re retorted, "This entire time he kept us in the dark about what happened to Mom, and to top it all off, he didn't care about either of us."
Sylvia grabbed his shoulder, "This is not the time to be angry; we have to stay focused."
"Easy for you to say," Re commented coldly, "At least he was trying to protect you."
"By restricting my every movement and oppressing me at every turn?" Sylvia argued back, "He gave you the freedom to do anything."
"Yea, because he didn't care if I became a huntsman and got myself killed."
Sylvia withdrew her hand, "I can't believe you're trying to argue that your life was worse than mine."
The anger quickly evaporated from Re's eyes as Professor Caerul came over to them.
"We're here," He stated, "Time to go."
The five of them got off of the ship, and looked around. The city was vast and pretty modern looking with a lot of tall buildings across the skyline and cars driving along the roads. From up on the landing pad they could see a majority of the city, as well as the large wall surrounding it.
"Welcome to Starlight City!" Professor Caerul announced.
"Impressive," Wai stated plainly.
Namra grimaced slightly as she felt the energy of everything within the city. Every person, every light, every car, it was overwhelming. She moved a bit closer to Sylvia, hoping to focus on her energy to guide her through the city.
"What's the wall for?" Inquired Sylvia.
"This city is known for quite a lot of Grimm attacks over the years," The Professor explained as they began to walk, "So they built this wall with anti-air sentries at every corner of it. There is no way in or out, except by airship and special access doors."
"Security is pretty tight here then," Wai observed nonchalantly.
"Yes it is," Professor Caerul continued, "Which is why we have been called in to check out Albin Dustworks in secret. If they are corrupt, like we suspect, then the whole city could be in danger."
"Plus with the Grimm so close," Sylvia realized, "The city could be overtaken, depending on what the company is doing."
"Actually, that's the most peculiar part. The patrols outside the city have reported barely any Grimm activity at all," The professor detailed, clutching his textbook tightly.
"So Grimm activity has diminished around the area?" Wai remarked.
"More like it's stopped completely," Professor Caerul corrected.
"And you think Albin Dustworks is behind it?" Re interjected.
Professor Caerul nodded, "Or at the very least they are involved. We've been monitoring their dust production and a lot of it is going to something labeled Project Indigo, which is listed under an unknown client of their company."
"Might as well build a giant neon sign labeled 'Shady' on the top of their building," Re chuckled.
"Well, we did have to do some digging throughout the city to find that information, but yes it did ring some alarms in our heads."
"So where is this company?" Re questioned as they continued to walk through the city.
"A few blocks further, but first we have to head in here," Professor Caerul answered.
They had stopped in front of a small house along the street, it was painted a dark blue with white trim. It was only a single story and had very few lights on inside.
"Here?" Re asked, skeptically.
"Well yea," The professor replied, "We need a place to make a plan once we learn what's going on. Plus we can't just go in armed to the teeth; we need to put our weapons somewhere."
Professor Caerul knocked on the door three times and waited.
"Enter," A man answered, his voice quiet.
The professor opened the door and the five of them entered.
The inside of the house was plain, with grey walls and a white ceiling. Namra wrapped her cloak tightly around her as the room was colder than a house should be and also much darker. They were standing in the hallway between the living room on the left and the kitchen on the right. Professor Caerul moved to the living room and the students followed. The living room was fairly small had a brown couch and armchair as well as a TV, which was currently showing the news. A man was currently sitting on the couch, watching the TV as if he hadn't heard them come in. The man was wearing a black T-shirt and grey khakis, as if he wasn't aware how cold it was. He was a very muscular man with short, wavy black hair and ice blue eyes.
"Good afternoon Enero," Professor Caerul addressed the man.
Turning off the TV, Enero turned to the group, his eyes seemed to pierce right through them all.
"Good afternoon," He spoke in a tired voice.
"Thank you for letting us use your house for the night."
Enero shrugged, as if the thanks meant nothing to him, which seemed a bit rude to Namra.
"You can put you weapons against the back wall," Enero declared indifferently, pointing at the wall behind him.
The students moved and placed their weapons where indicated.
"We'll be heading out then," Professor Caerul said, smiling, "You can still join us if you want."
"Pass," Enero yawned, "Not enough of a challenge."
"Suit yourself," Professor Caerul declared, and they all left the house.
"Well he was a bit rude," Sylvia remarked.
"He comes and goes," Professor Caerul shrugged, "I don't know him too well, but that's what other hunters have told me."
As they headed towards their destination, the sidewalks became more crowded. Her vision becoming overwhelmed by all of the energy signatures, Namra began to panic and quickly grabbed the nearest person in their group.
"What's wrong?" Sylvia asked turning around to face Namra.
"Can't see," Namra responded quietly.
"Just keep hold of my arm," Sylvia requested calmly, "I'll guide you."
They soon arrived at the Albin Dustworks. The building looked older than the others, with rusted metal visible on the outside and a faded steel sign which was the only way to tell that they were in the right place.
They entered the building and were greeted by the secretary.
"Good afternoon," the woman greeted with a smile, "How can I help you?"
"I have an appointment with Doctor Albin," the professor replied smiling back, "Should be under Bennet Caerul."
The secretary began searching for the name within the database.
"You're all set," she declared with a smile, "He'll be with you shortly."
After about fifteen minutes, two men came down to greet them. The first man was short and had thinning hair and a great white beard. His blue eyes hid behind small spectacles and he wore a white lab coat with black khakis. The other man was much taller with close cropped bronze hair and eyes of the same color. He wore an open white long coat, which revealed his muscular chest, brown cargo pants and boots. He also had a weapon strapped to his back that looked like a tomahawk but was much bigger and had a longer blade. The old man smiled.
"Hello Bennet," the old man greeted the professor in a thick accent, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"Well Doctor Albin," Bennet replied, "I was hoping you could give me and these young students a tour of your facility."
"Unfortunately, touring hours are over for today," Doctor Albin stated, "But it's so rare for a professor at Beacon to be here, so I'll make an exception. Follow me."
The doctor walked towards an elevator, which they all entered. They stopped on several floors of the building, learning about how they mine and purify the dust. Soon they arrived on the fifth floor.
"And here," The doctor declared proudly, "Is where all of our experimental research is performed."
"So I see," Bennet nodded, "Tell me, what are you working on here?"
He pointed toward one of the larger work stations where several scientists were mixing dust compounds together.
"Ah," Doctor Albin said smiling, "One of my greatest ideas if I do say so myself. That is our scientists attempting to find a way to regenerate lost limbs."
He frowned for a minute, "Unfortunately, progress is slow as most the compounds we thought would work are unstable, but I'm optimistic."
His smile returned.
"So these are all the projects you are working on then?" Bennet determined.
"Well, these are the ones that we display to the public," Doctor Albin explained, "We have some other projects under wraps though. You know, so competitors won't be able to get a leg up on us."
"I see," Bennet affirmed, "Tell me, would one of those projects be named Indigo?"
Namra felt the energy in the air shift after Professor Caerul asked that question. She felt the bronze haired man tense up as well, but Doctor Albin remained composed.
"I'm not quite sure," He answered, "I would have to check our databases, but the name is unfamiliar so I highly doubt it."
They stared at each other for a long time, and for a second, Namra thought that the man behind the doctor was going to draw his weapon.
Bennet smiled, "Must have been just a rumor then, or maybe just a different dust company."
"Perhaps," Doctor Albin replied.
The man behind the doctor relaxed as they continued their tour of the fifth floor. They passed by several rooms of dust experiments and fancy equipment for distributing samples to other parts of the facility. They then came to a steel plated door with an electronic lock to the side of it.
"Well, that's the end unfortunately," Doctor Albin concluded, "Past this door is for employees only so, I'm afraid we will have to turn around. It's getting late anyway."
The five of them turned around to head back when Namra suddenly felt it. She whipped back around. There was something behind that door, a faint energy signature, but it was unmistakable. Namra froze, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach.
That's-
"Namra?"
She was snapped out of her trance by the sound of Wai's voice.
"You okay?" he asked, "You look pale."
The rest of her teammates gathered around to look at Namra with concern, but Namra knew that now was not the time.
"It's nothing," she explained, "Nothing at all."
Concern still on all of their faces, the five of them left with Doctor Albin and headed out of the facility and back to Enero's house.
But Namra knew that it wasn't nothing.
He's here, She worried to herself. He's here.
Their tents had been set up in the clearing they had found not too far from their destination. It had become dark quickly, so Team Peacock and Professor Vert had gathered wood and made a fire, which now crackled and sparked with the group of five huddled around it for warmth.
"I still don't get it," Aurelia spoke up, "How come those Nevermores attacked us?"
It was a question that had plagued them for the entire day.
"It doesn't make sense," Professor Vert contemplated, "Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, but the only one who was being remotely negative was Porphyrios."
"And even then," Porphyrios joined in, "there's no way that energy would have attracted that many of them."
They all sat for a while, trying to think of something that would give them a better clue.
"Well," Professor Vert declared, "It's getting late, we should get some rest. Who wants first watch?"
"I'll do it," Porphyrios offered, and the rest of them went to bed.
It was later into the night when Basil stood watch. The campfire was low, but still burning brightly thanks to the fire dust they had used. He sat there watching the dark forest of Forever Fall when he heard a rustling coming from the tent. Basil turned to see Celestia come out, her hair a bit messy from sleep.
"Hey," Celestia whispered as she walked over to Basil.
"Hey," he replied as she sat next to him.
"Any issues so far?"
"Nope," Basil determined, "It's so weird that neither me nor Porphyrios heard anything tonight."
"Well, nothing we can worry about right now," She pointed out, resting her head on Basil's arm.
Basil looked down and smiled as he stroked her long pink hair. Her dog ears twitched at the touch as she smiled and looked up at the sky.
"Look at all the stars," She commented quietly.
Basil looked up and saw them. From Beacon and Vale, the stars seemed so insignificant and dim that he never considered them to be anything pretty, but out in the forest, away from all the buildings, the lights from the stars shone brighter than anything he could remember.
"They're beautiful," He decided, voicing his awe to Celestia.
"Yea," she whispered.
They sat there for a while just enjoying each other's company as they stared at the beauty of the stars.
"It's incredible," Celestia broke the silence, "Even now, despite all the danger we are in, the stars still give me comfort. Like there is someone watching over me."
"Yea," Basil agreed.
He held Celestia a bit tighter.
"Don't worry, we'll get through this," Basil determined.
Celestia smiled, "I know."
She gave Basil a quick kiss before snuggling closer to him, enjoying a few more moments of bliss.