Beta reader/editor: Wyncrer the Sage
Ozpin calmly regarded the two Bullheads as they took off towards Mount Glenn. He kept watching the departing aircraft as another Bullhead touched down on the landing pads, and Peter Port stepped out from behind the controls.
"What's the situation?" Ozpin asked, still looking towards Mount Glenn.
"Glynda has the defence of the guild grounds under control. The worst of the threat has passed and our members are now going out in groups to mop up the remaining Grimm," Port stated matter-of-factly.
"Good," Ozpin replied, finally looking at his companion. "Are we ready to depart?"
"The Bullhead is fuelled and ready to leave as soon as you are," Port answered as he gestured to the aircraft he arrived in. "But are you sure this is necessary? The signal definitely came from Mount Glenn."
"You're right." Ozpin said simply as they started walking towards the waiting Bullhead. "However, there is a chance that Merlot has since gone back to his island. Even if he hasn't, I want to see in person what he was working on and personally make sure all of it is destroyed."
"Sounds like you hold quiet the grudge against him."
"Dr Merlot is solely responsible for the fall of Mount Glenn, and despite having no magical abilities, his mix of genius and madness makes him one of the most dangerous people I know.
"The only reason he has been able to go unchecked for so long is that he was presumed dead. I informed the Vale council as soon as I heard he was alive, but after today, I have decided they are taking too long."
For the first time in Ozpin's memory, Port remained silent.
The interior of the Bullhead felt slightly cramped with seven armed wizards standing on-board. Oobleck was standing in the cockpit with the pilot, while Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha and Jaune stood in the cargo bay, holding onto handles hanging from the ceiling.
The aircraft jolted around every so often as it hit spots of turbulence and Jaune desperately hoped it was just nerves making him feel sick, and that the motion sickness pill he had taken was working.
He tried to take a few deep breaths to calm himself, before realising that his unease must have been fairly obvious when Pyrrha placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder from her position next to him. When he turned to her she just smiled and said, "Don't worry. Whatever happens, we'll be there to back you up."
Jaune felt himself calming at the words. The sharp sound of a certain heiress calling out "Arc!" had him turning to face Weiss. She fixed him with a stern look that he had come to accept as her default expression.
"Remember the last construct I had you learn?" The words came out as more of a command then a question.
"Ah, yeah. I remember it," Jaune mumbled nervously.
"Good. If this Merlot creep has set this place up anything like his lab, then you might very well need it."
"Do you mind if I ask what this new spell is?" Pyrrha politely asked.
"Something that should give this dunce a fighting chance, should he find himself in a serious battle." Weiss answered vaguely.
The rest of the flight passed in tense silence, and when the wizards stepped out of the Bullheads they could see that the entrance to the Merlot Industries building was swarming with Grimm. The assembled stared at the brimming mass of Grimm that were so fixated on the building they hadn't noticed their arrival. As they watched, they were joined by the occupants of the second Bullhead; Ren, Nora and a team of four that Yang had told Jaune went by the acronym CFVY.
"This is way more Grimm than last time," Ruby commented. "He must have done the same thing to his building that he did to the sensors."
"You are partially correct Ruby," Oobleck started. "What we see here is similar to what happened to the sensors, because those devices were based on this building. For you see, it was Merlot's attempts to lure Grimm in for study that ultimately lead to the fall of Mount Glenn. Though now he seems to be using it to put Grimm between us and him as a defensive measure."
"Is this guy mad? Trying to use Grimm to defend himself is insanity!" Coco declared in disbelief.
"If you think this is crazy, you should have seen what he did to a Death Stalker," Yang added unhelpfully.
With a shake of her head Coco stepped forward. "Let's just get this over and done with." To Jaune's surprise, as Coco walked towards the Grimm horde, her handbag transformed into a minigun.
When the bag finished transforming, the beret wearing wizard gripped it with both hands before saying "Gun Magic: Armour Piercing Rounds." She then pulled the trigger and the other twelve wizards watched as the bullets tore through the gathered monsters.
Jaune stared in shock at Coco, his brain struggling to make sense of her weapon and how easily she had cut through the mass of Grimm. He looked to the others to gauge their reactions, only to see them completely unfazed by the display.
"Seriously, is no-one else even remotely surprised by that?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.
Yang raised an eyebrow at his question "This coming from the guy who makes solid objects out of thoughts and light?"
"Touché."
"You planning on standing around chatting all day like a bunch of old ladies, or are we actually going to go get this guy?" Coco called out.
Coco's question got the whole group moving. Knowing more Grimm would already be on their way, they all ran through the tower's doors and into a small pack of Beowolves that had survived Coco's onslaught. A quick burst of gunfire and dust bombardment made short work of those not smart enough to flee further into the building.
Jaune looked at the building around him. Despite the years of neglect, it was clear that in its day, the tower would have been magnificent. A now broken water feature made of marble occupied the centre of the lobby, with a reception desk further back. A café took up the entire right side, while the left gave access to a row of elevators, with the side facing towards the centre of the lobby made of glass, and a staircase.
But easily the most impressive and eye catching part of the tower was the atrium in the centre, in the shape of a twenty-meter-wide circle that reached all the way up to the top most floors. This allowed those standing in the lobby to see all the way up to the top few floors.
It made Jaune realise that this tower was even taller than the one at Beacon, and how pathetically small he was compared to it.
Before Jaune could take in more of the building, a voice came crackling through loudspeakers spread throughout the lobby.
Pyrrha heard the voice of Dr Merlot come through the speakers and immediately and her head immediately snapped towards Jaune. The voice was distorted by static, unsurprising considering their years without use, but none of those who had been to the island could have mistaken it.
"I knew when I activated my lures around Beacon that I should expect company, but I must say you got here much faster than anticipated."
Jaune stood still, seemingly frozen in place by the voice of his tormentor.
Yang on the other hand was another story. "You underestimated us last time as well. Remember how that ended? Because I do! I warned you not to mess with my guild and you didn't listen! Now it's time for you to pay!"
"Actually, in your warning you mentioned that if I 'messed' with anyone from your guild, you would be returning to my island. You never said anything about coming after me," Merlot corrected.
"Shut up and show yourself!" Yang roared back.
"You want me to come all the way down to you? It was hard enough getting all the way to the top for someone of my age. Have you honestly no respect for your elders?" Pyrrha could see the waves of heat emanating from Yang as her frustration and anger built. "That aside, I must thank you for bringing my test subject back. I was only just getting started when we were so rudely interrupted."
The words seemed to trigger something in Jaune as he snapped out of his trance like state, and his normally kind and happy face became filled with rage.
"You're dead Merlot!" Jaune shouted as loud as he could. Moving with surprising speed, he ran to the centre of the lobby, just below the atrium. He then pressed his hands to the ground, before shooting up on a rapidly growing cylinder of light.
Caught off guard by Jaune's sudden movement, Pyrrha was unable to reach Jaune before his rapid ascent. Yang, however, was closer than she was and was able to grab the edge of the cylinder as it grew, holding on with both hands as Jaune's construct carried the fellow blondes skyward.
"Wait you two!" Oobleck called out uselessly. Obviously realizing it was too late to stop them, Oobleck changed tactics. "Ruby, Pyrrha, Blake. Go after them." All three nodded in unison.
Ruby took off into a red blur, speeding up the stairs at a dizzying pace. Blake disappeared into her own shadow and sped up the walls. As for Pyrrha, she headed for the elevators. As she moved she heard Oobleck giving out instructions to the rest.
"Coco, take your team and secure the building entrance."
"On it. Yatsu, get us a moat." Coco's command was soon followed by the sound of rumbling earth as Oobleck turned to the three remaining wizards.
"You three are with me. This building has its own generator, if we can find that and shut it down, we won't have to worry about the Grimm lure."
It was a testament to how fast Oobleck spoke that he was able to issue commands before Pyrrha made it to the elevator.
To Pyrrha's surprise, when she pressed the call elevator button as a test, one of the elevators actually opened. Once inside she reached out to grab the elevator with her magic. The door was one thing, but there was no way she was trusting the cables in this thing.
Without further delay, she had the elevator rocketing up the shaft. As the elevator accelerated, she channelled some of her magical energy through her body, to strengthen it in order to deal with the increasing G-forces. Ruby and Blake had a strong lead on her so she pushed the elevator faster, completely unaware of a piece of rubble jutting out into the elevator shaft from one of the higher floors.
Pyrrha never saw the impact coming.
Blake didn't see the crash, but it was impossible for her not to hear it. The sound of metal rending, concrete smashing and glass shattering violated her ears and shook her being, causing her to stop her ascent and lean out of her shadow form to see what had happened.
What she saw was that the elevator Pyrrha had used had been reduced to a mangled heap. Pyrrha had managed to get just a few stories below her before the collision and so Blake had a clear view of the carnage.
The roof of the elevator was now slanted, as the side that hit the rubble crumbled and stopped while the side closest to the atrium had tried to keep moving up. Unable to deal with the tops' change in shape, the elevator walls had bent and snapped, while the glass wall facing the atrium had shattered, exploding into thousands of pieces.
And then there was Pyrrha. It wasn't hard to work out what had happened.
Unsecured to anything in the elevator, when it had all come to a sudden halt, Pyrrha's momentum had thrown her onto the now slanted elevator roof, which she had bounced off and out through the glass, and into the atrium where she now fell.
She was about to take off to catch Pyrrha, when a red blur shot out from the staircase next to the elevator. Blake watched as the blur that was Ruby caught Pyrrha out of the air, before carrying on across the gap to the far wall, where she barely let her feet touch before she pushed off back towards the staircase. Knowing Ruby would make sure Pyrrha was cared for, Blake resumed her climb.
Yang watched Ruby save Pyrrha from her spot holding onto the edge of Jaune's construct, having looked down at the dizzying height as soon as she heard the crash. She knew Pyrrha was tough and Ruby would do all she could to help her but no matter how many times she told herself that, it wouldn't erase the feeling of gut wrenching fear as she saw one of the strongest wizards she knew falling limply from what was easily a fatal height.
This feeling was only worsened as she glanced at Jaune and realised that he hadn't even noticed Pyrrha fall, his face a mixture of anger and determination as he focussed on reaching the top of the tower.
Seeing the typically happy and care-free Jaune looking like this worried her, enough to make her think back to her previous encounter with Merlot. Was this what Ruby felt when she watching me stand over him?
Ruby's landing was fast and far from gentle, but she hadn't had time to do any better. As it was, she made sure she hit the staircase landing first, using herself to cushion Pyrrha as the two slid deeper into the building, carried forward by the remnants of Ruby's speed.
As soon as they came to stop she quickly, but gently, lifted Pyrrha off her and lowered to the ground. She placed her fingers on Pyrrha's neck, and released a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding when she felt a pulse. Another quick check revealed she was still breathing.
"You really enjoying living up to the title 'Invincible Girl' don't you?" Ruby joked to no one.
Ruby went to check for injuries, noting the blood running down Pyrrha's face and the dozens of small cuts from the glass, when a snort nearby had her head snapping around to the passageway that led off from the landing they were on.
Standing less than ten meters away was a Beowolf, and so Ruby tapped into her speed and decapitated the monster with Crescent Rose faster than most could blink. Two things clicked in Ruby's mind at that moment; the first, Beowolves rarely travelled alone. Second, like sharks, Grimm could smell blood from a great distance away.
This was a problem for Ruby. The narrow passages and tight corners of the tower made use of both her speed and her weapon difficult, especially if she was trying to defend someone.
Thinking quickly, she switched to her ice dust ammo and fired enough shots to seal off the passageway. She then pulled out her scroll and called up Oobleck.
"Oobleck! I need help! Pyrrha's unconscious and I have Grimm incoming!" Ruby had barely finished rattling off her words when she winced back as she received a nothing but loud static as a reply.
"Oh come on! Not now. Work you stupid thing!" Ruby pleaded, shaking the device as the 'no signal' symbol remained unflinching.
Down in the tower basement, Weiss starred at the structure before her in confusion. While many others may have just seen a dust reactor, Weiss was not 'many others'.She knew dust like few others did and as a result knew dust reactors well, and there was something wrong with this one. Wires where they weren't supposed to be and cables linked in irregular places were just a few of the problems she could see at a cursory glance of the Bullhead sized object.
"Oobleck, sir. There seems to be something wrong here," Weiss said, voicing her concerns to the more experienced wizard who was inspecting the reactor.
"You are right Weiss. In fact, it is my belief that this reactor has been rigged to explode," Oobleck explained impassively as he moved around the reactor using his magic, seeming to appear in one place, only to disappear and reappear somewhere else.
"You mean this is-" Weiss started.
"A trap. That would be correct," Oobleck finished.
"But that makes no sense," argued Ren. "Why would Merlot set the building to explode if he was still in it?"
"You are right. He wouldn't, unless he was already gone. Looking at things now, adding in the fact that Merlot has access to advanced robotics, it is entirely possible that he was never here to begin with."
"But we heard him over the speaker system. Yang, Jaune and the others went up to face him," Nora protested.
"That could have easily been a transmission from his island, and what they are heading to is likely naught but another trap, designed to keep them at the top of the tower until the reactor detonates." The revelation had fear gripping the young wizards' hearts as they became aware of the full extent of their situation.
Weiss took a deep breath to regain her composure before addressing Oobleck. "Sir, are you able to diffuse the bomb?"
Oobleck was silent for a few moments as he pondered the question. "I do believe I should be able to stop the reactor from exploding. However there still remains the problem of disabling the reactor without destroying it and detonating the dust.
"I should be able to help on that front," Weiss assured him. "Ren, call the others and warn them about what's happening."
Ren nodded pulling out his scroll, and after a few deft taps, holding it to his ear. Only to move it away a second later and stare at the screen. "There's no signal," he explained.
"What?" Weiss exclaimed in shock. "Even if we can't connect to the CCT we should be able to handle short range calls. Unless-" Weiss said, trailing off at the end.
"Unless someone was jamming the signal," Nora said, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"What on Remnant have we gotten ourselves into?" Weiss asked no-one in particular, pinching the bridge of her nose as she mind flew a mile a minute, trying to come out with a solution to a problem that only grew more complex with every moment.
She liked organisation, patterns and being able to anticipate things. This was none of that, this was madness. They were separated, unable to communicate and caught in Merlot's trap.
"We've got no choice, we can't leave the others up there and we can't guarantee that we will be able to stop the reactors detonation. Ren, Nora, I need you to get to the upper levels as fast as you can and warn them," Weiss ordered, taking charge of the situation as Oobleck continued to inspect the reactor.
"Are you sure?" Ren asked. "Oobleck sent them because they were the fastest. In all likelihood, they will already be caught up in whatever Merlot has set up by the time we arrive."
"We have to at least try, and I am yet to see any trap that can hold Yang and Pyrrha." Ren nodded at Weiss' response and took off up the stairs leading to the ground floor with Nora close behind. Having done what she could, Weiss turned to Oobleck who had begun his work and began to aid him in whatever way she could.
Jaune slowed the growth of his construct as he neared the top of the atrium. The pillar stopped growing when it was level with the last story the atrium went through, and Jaune jumped over onto a railing bordering a passage way that went around the circumference of the atrium.
As he vaulted over the railing, he was surprised by the sight of someone next to him. He blinked in surprise at Yang as she flexed her fingers. Was I really so focused I didn't even notice she was with me? he thought to himself.
"Damn. Since when could you make something that big?" Yang asked as continued to wring her fingers.
"Uh," Jaune eloquently responded before looking over the edge to see how tall his construct had been. He immediately regretted looking down as the sight did all kinds of terrible things to his stomach. "Did I really make something that high?"
"You sure did."
As though having someone confirm it somehow made it real, a wave of exhaustion hit Jaune so hard he staggered on his feet.
"Woah easy there," Yang comforted as she grabbed and helped steady him. "Did you seriously not realise how much you were doing?"
Jaune shook his head. "I could have sworn it was only going for half-a-minute at most."
"Must have been some serious adrenaline rush," Yang concluded. "Kinda explains why you got tunnel vision and didn't even react to what happened to Pyrrha."
Jaune's exhaustion was forgotten in a heartbeat. "What are you talking about? What happened to Pyrrha?"
"You really didn't notice any of it?" Jaune could tell Yang didn't want to be the bearer of bad news but he had to know.
"What. Happened."
"Oobleck must have sent her and Ruby after us," Yang answered, although Jaune knew that she meant after him. "She was in the elevator, using her magic to move it and going really fast. Then she hit some rubble that was jutting into the elevator's tunnel, and, well…"
Jaune staggered away from Yang before slumping against the wall, his head in his hands and his eyes wide as he came to terms with the cost of his brashness. Having started telling him, Yang knew she had to tell him all she had seen.
"She was thrown clear during the impact, and was falling down the atrium before Ruby caught her."
"How could I do that to her?" Jaune asked, yet Yang felt that the question wasn't directed at her. "After all she's done for me, this, is how I repay her."
Realising Jaune was quickly losing himself in self-hatred and insecurity, Yang swallowed her own doubts and concerns and walked over to where her fellow blonde was sat.
When she was close enough, she grabbed Jaune by his hoodie and dragged him to his feet, not an easy feat considering Jaune was taller than her, and slapped Jaune across the blow had the intended effect of bringing Jaune back to the here and now. Yang then clasped her hands on either side of Jaune's face and forced him to look in her eyes.
"What happened to Pyrrha was not your fault and it wasn't hers either. I'm not just saying that because her hitting that rubble was an accident no-one saw coming. I'm saying that because there is someone who deserves the blame a whole lot more. The same psycho who is responsible for what happened to you. The same asshole who is responsible for the attack on Beacon.
"So, are you gonna sit here and sulk, or are you gonna help take this fucker down?" The words had the desired affect and Yang could see the determination burning in his eyes.
"Well this truly is a heart-warming scene," a voice came from everyone and nowhere at the same time. "Though I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from calling me an 'asshole' and a 'psycho'. To be honest, I'm quite glad it's the two of you up here. After the young ladies performance back on my island, I can't wait to see what she might be able to make after a few adjustments." Hearing the voice of Dr Merlot, and knowing he was so close brought all kinds of dark thoughts to the front of Yang's mind.
"Let's put an end to this guy," Jaune declared. Yang couldn't agree more as the two set off up the stairs heading to the top most floor, with the voice of Merlot following them.
"While I'm improving your physical selves, it might be worth the effort of adjusting your minds as well. Especially you, young lady. I find your temperament particularly distasteful."
"Well fuck you!" Yang shouted back as they ran down a passageway on the highest floor.
"My point exactly," Merlot continued as the two of them arrived at a door marked as the CEO's office. "Please come inside. The door is unlocked." This time the voice came from inside the room instead of through the speakers.
With one last look exchanged between them, Yang kicked down the door and they stormed inside. The office had a higher ceiling than the rest of the floor, however not all the lights were on so most of it was shrouded in darkness. There was floor to ceiling windows on one side that had their shutters drawn and an ornate desk and chair near the windows. And there, standing casually in the centre of the room was Dr Merlot himself.
"Was that really necessary? The door really was unlocked you know."
Something about seeing Merlot in person, with his glowing red robotic eye, his white coat and his equally white and messy hair, flicked a switch in Jaune, and without another word he charged forward with a roar and his ancestral blade raised high.
"Jaune wait!" Yang called out. Her pleas fell on deaf ears as Jaune got close to his tormentor and swung down with Crocea Mors, only for the sword to pass through Merlot with no resistance as Jaune's momentum kept him going straight through Merlot. The image of Merlot flickering was the only damage he dealt as the scientist laughed.
"How is it exactly that such powerful magic ended up in the hands of such complete idiots?"
And then a solid steel door slammed shut over the shattered door behind them.
Back outside, Team CFVY was feeling the pressure of the Grimm bearing down on them.
Yatsuhashi's earth magic was playing a pivotal role in keeping back the ever-growing tide, but he was only human and he was tiring, evidenced by the way he leaned on his sword and Fox defended him as he caught his breath after his last spell. Velvet was pulling her weight as well, the box she carried allowing her to create copies of weapons, in this case Coco's minigun, and stem the tide.
However, while she could mimic weapons, she couldn't mimic spells like the gun magic that made Coco's weapon so dangerous. Seeing that they weren't going to be able to hold the position in front of the tower much longer without help, Coco got ready to call a retreat to inside the tower.
However, the words died in her throat as massive steel blast doors slammed down over the entrance, with similarly thick metal shutters closed over the windows. While their friends were now trapped inside, they were stuck between a whole lot of Grimm and a very hard place.
"Well that's just fucking brilliant," Coco spat.
"As much as it would please me to continue my experiments on you," Merlot explained to his blonde captives, "I have decided you are not worth the trouble, and have instead decided to use you as an example to others that might think of interrupting my work."
"You're insane!" Yang shouted at Merlot's holographic form.
"I believe the word you are looking for is 'inspired'," Merlot countered calmly before a look of annoyance settled over his face. "As much as I would love to enjoy watching your demise as it happens, I believe I will just have to content myself with watching the recording. It seems I have an uninvited guest on my island. I'll leave you in the hands of my capable assistant. Goodbye and good riddance."
The hologram disappeared and in its place, the darkened sections of the ceiling were illuminated, revealing the massive form of a Spider Droid. Jaune was frozen in shock as the robot, in a feat that seemed too delicate for something of its size, lowered itself from the ceiling to the floor of the office and aimed its guns directly at Jaune.