Chapter 10
"Remind me again why did we agree to spend our weekend doing missions?" Yang groans.
"Uh...because Ozpin said so?" Ruby reply, shrugged. "But why he's coming with us?" Yang points at the red haired man next to Ruby. Alex mostly ignore the girls conversation despite his name was mentioned.
"Ozpin wants to know where did the Grimm came from. So he suggested to bring Alex along to get an immediate result," Blake answered. The blonde brawler give him a deadly glare. Ruby notice her sister's glare to the man next to her. "Yang, what did I told you before?" She said. Yang rolled her eyes and mumbled.
For moments they've been walking around the Forever Fall forest, there's no sign of Grimm anywhere. The forest is awfully quiet without the chirps of birds to fill the atmosphere. Alex sensed something's unusual around them. "It's...quiet.." Weiss muttered.
"Too quiet. Something's not right..." Ruby said. She went ahead but not too far from her friends. She attempted to capture any unusual scent or stench lingering in the air but her ears caught something that brings sudden fear in her. A scream. "Did you guys hear that?" She ask.
"Hear what?" Yang and Weiss ask in unison. "I hear it," Blake confirms and so does Alex. "It's this way. Follow me," the man ordered. The girls follow his lead. They went deeper into the forest and the screams grew louder and louder. Finally, they stumbled upon a strange building shaped of a dome.
"Wait, isn't this Alex's old building?" Yang said.
"That's stupid. Alex's lab is far to the north. This is Forever Fall. How is that possible?" Weiss protested. Ruby place her ear to the door but she caught nothing. The screams have vanished, replaced by absolute silence. "Deja vu, don't you think?" Blake muttered.
"Let's go inside..." Ruby answered. She slowly push the door open, allowing the light from the outside enters. The girls activated their weapons and proceed with caution. So far, only the echoes of their footsteps greet them.
Suddenly, the door slam shut with a loud bang and darkness takes over. A low chuckle finally makes it's appearance. The lights turns on, revealing a horde of Grimm surrounding them. A low voice is heard, "Welcome home, Ruby Rose..." The horde growls and grunts while Ruby look around to find the source of the voice. Everyone is in position to fight.
"Thank you for bring her back home, Alex. We appreciate your help..." Alex is shocked. Yang's eyes turns from lilac to bright red. She glare at the red haired man and shouted, "YOU! I KNEW WE SHOULDN'T TRUST YOU!"
"No! I don't have anything to do with this!" Alex protested. The voice chuckle, slightly entertained. "Show yourself!" Ruby shouted. The voice laughs. "Oh, my little sweetheart! Why did you have to live with those pests?"
"They are my friends! And if you try to hurt them, I'll tear you apart!" Ruby growls. She felt a sudden aggression inside her. An anger which she never felt for a long time.
"Such aggression! That's what I expected from you, little one! Unfortunately, you don't belong with them..."
Ruby clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. The horde didn't move a single step. Only grunts and growl are heard from them. "BEO A27. Your status; unstable. And I wondered how did you survive out there with your molecules are not fully charge..."
"I don't care if you don't wanted to show your face! But nobody messes with my sister!" Yang shouted. The voice chuckle once again. But he didn't make his appearance. Crimson stepped in between the horde with a smirk on her face. "We can stabilize you, Ruby. Once we did, you can live freely like everyone else. You don't have to worry about killing humans again..."
Ruby finally calms down. The offer is quite tempting and the white girl was thinking on letting them to stabilize her. However, Alex steps in, "No more lies, Kane! I know what would happen once you stabilize her molecules! She is my responsibility!"
"She was meant to be created for destruction! Not protection! She's the destructor, not a protector! A mutt like her was supposed to learn to kill her own kind!" The man named Kane shouted. Ruby was taken aback by his words. Kane chuckles. "Bring her to her special cell. Make sure she's chained up!" He said.
"What about the other four?" Crimson ask. "Throw them to the disposal chamber! We'll deal with them later..." Crimson nod and proceed to capture Ruby. The horde begin to move and separate the white girl from her team mates. Half of the horde brings her to her cell while the other half bring her friends to their cell.
"I knew you planned something terrible for us! Now look what you did! Who knows what that freak would do to Ruby!?" Yang pinned the blame onto the red haired man ever since they're locked up in the cell. Weiss sits at a corner with her head buried in her knees as Blake tries to comfort the heiress.
"I didn't expect things would be like this! I didn't know he was behind of all the assaults!" The man protest. Their argument went on for few moments until Blake decided to break them up, "That's enough, both of you! If we want to find Ruby, we have to find a way out of here!" Both of them stopped and look at the Faunus. Alex look at the metal door and thought of something. He walk towards the door and inspect it. He tensed up his muscle and punched the door open. Weiss quickly look up to the open exit.
Yang and Blake watch in awe and disbelief, "But how...?" Yang's jaw drops. "I'm still part Grimm. That's all you have to know," he said. He approaches the heiress and offered his hand. "Let's find your girlfriend..." Weiss accepted his hand and stands. Without wasting any time, they leave their cell before the alarm went off.
They slowly walk through the cells filled with Grimm and humans as well. Weiss gasp when they stumbled upon a hybrid child in a cell. "What are these...?" Weiss ask. Alex hesitated to answer, however, he reply, "This is what we called failures. If the experiment went wrong, they will be locked up here until the day they will be dispose. Either they will be killed or fed to the other successful experiments"
"But...is Ruby a failure? I mean, Kane mentioned she's unstable and was meant to be the destructor... What does he meant by that?" Yang ask despite the trust issue between him. Alex look down, unable to look at the 'failures' in their cells.
"She was supposed to be a failure since she's unstable. But Kane insisted on finding her and charge her molecules. And if he do stabilize her, she'll become a deadly killing machine..."
"But why did you insist on turning her into one in the first place?" Weiss ask in a pathetic tone.
"Because I didn't know! Kane injected something inside her before we charge her! I found out about it once I look into her DNA! If I know what did he injected into her, I might be able to create a vaccine for her! But the only thing I know about the substance is black in color. And I don't think there are such thing exist in this world..."
Silence took over between them. No one dares to continue the conversation and immediately dropped out.
A dark figure silently crawls toward two men guarding the path to the special cell. She found a screw lying on the floor and quickly pick it up. She aim it far enough to distract one of them and throw it. One of the men went to investigate the sound of faint metal clinging with each other. Ruby took this opportunity to choke the second guard with her chain. Once she's positive the man is dead, she pull him away from the spot.
The first guard return and notice his partner has gone. His suspicion grew and he begin to patrol the cells. He stumble upon an empty cell, where Ruby was locked in. Instead, he found the dead body of his partner. "W-what the...?" He mumbled. Suddenly, he's knocked out cold and fell to the cold floor. Ruby quickly search his body and found a key to her chain in his breast pocket. She immediately unlock the chains from her wrist and her ankles.
Luckily, they are dumb enough to left her gauntlets on the table outside her cell. After she equipped Eclipse Rosé, she heard footsteps coming to her way. She quickly climb into the air vent and hide for a moment. A group of five men investigated her cell and panicked as they found two dead bodies instead the white girl. Alas, the alarm goes off. Ruby realize she has no escape as they released the Grimm hounds. She silently crawl through the vent, not knowing where it would lead her.
Meanwhile, Yang, Blake, Weiss and Alex are panicking. They hear Crimson's voice through the speakers, "Attention! BEO A27 has escaped! I repeat, BEO A27 has escaped!" Before the four of them could say anything, the Grimm hounds have found them instead of Ruby. Due to the hounds' size and number, they had no choice but to run.
"What are those things?!" Yang shouted.
"Probably the hounds they created! Their senses are a lot sensitive than normal dogs! We have to run and find a way to distract them!" Alex answered. Weiss manage to cast ice wall and bought them some time. However, the ice couldn't withstand the weight of the Grimm. They quickly ran through the hallways but the hounds somehow manage to catch up with them. They reached a two way junction and out of panic, Weiss is separated from the group.
Some of the hounds chase after the heiress. Weiss could only run and hoped for someone come to her rescue. She ended up stumble upon the empty room at the end of the hall. She decided to hide in the room but Alex said their senses are sensitive. She slightly back away from the door and suddenly, someone cover her mouth and drag her deeper into the room. The heiress panicked but as soon she saw the face of the person, she gasp.
"Ruby!" She squealed. The white girl place her finger on her lips, indicating her to keep quiet. Weiss nod. Right on time, the hounds bust open the door and search the room. Ruby quickly hid both of them in a locker. Weiss cover her mouth and nose with both her hands. The Grimm searched every corner of the room. One of them stopped before the locker. The hound stare at the locker, unaware of a pair of crimson eyes staring at it in caution. Cold sweat trails down their cheeks.
For a moment, the hound didn't make any move. But it soon grew bored and left the room with the other hounds. Once the pack left, Ruby and Weiss gets out from the locker. "That was a close call..." Ruby muttered. She look at her girlfriend with a goofy grin. Tears are formed on the corners of Weiss' eyes. The heiress pull her in a tight hug.
"You dunce..." She murmured. Ruby return the hug and caressed her white, ebony hair. Once they released each other, she ask, "Where are the others?"
"We got separated once they release the hounds. I don't know where are they right now..."
Ruby peek out of the room and found nothing in the hallway. She gestured the heiress to follow her. They quietly sneak out, avoiding the patrolling guards and lurking hounds. Both girls reached the junction. But the path was blocked by a group of men and hounds. Ruby saw an air vent not far from them. She sneak to the grate and loosen the screws. She carefully remove the grate and gestured Weiss to follow.
They quietly walk through the vent and prevent themselves from tripping. They manage to sneak passed the guards and hounds, however, they reached some sort of control room of the building. Ruby stopped dead on her tracks. Weiss whispered, "What is it?"
"I think this is the control room. Let's check out their plans..." Weiss nod. Ruby carefully open the grate below her and dropped herself out from the vent. Weiss dropped herself and landed on her arms. She blushes in embarrassment and get off of her girlfriend.
Ruby look around in the control room and found no one. Weiss called out to her, "Ruby, check this out!" The white girl walk towards the heiress who's standing in front of the giant computer. She take a seat before the giant screen and logged in, however, a password is required. "Great, we need a password..." Weiss muttered.
"We don't have to. I can hack into the system and log in without the password. We don't have to waste time finding the password..."
"Where did you learn this stuff?" Weiss ask. She receive a grin as a response. "It's a secret..." She reply. The heiress rolled her eyes and smile.
After few attempts, Ruby manage to log in to the computer. She opened a black suspicious file and pop out menus regarding the Grimm they've created appear. Hundreds of menus appear and suddenly stopped with Ruby's name on it. "Hey, that's you!" Weiss exclaims. They're quite aware of the word 'Unstable' but something else that made them gasp.
Author's Note
Happy New Year to everyone! Are you guys ready for the year 2014? Well, apparently I'm getting ready for my school day tomorrow. Anyway, here's another chapter for Downfall. Au Revoir~!