Chapter 2

Elvira was now sitting in the office of Ozpin as team NIBL waited in a nearby room. "So are you ready to tell us everything or not?" Glynda asked as Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "Ellie is what we call a humunculus. Her soul was... torn from her still living body before she was then placed into a conversion chamber. Inside there a special substance is poured in till the chamber is full. The subject and the liquid slowly merge into a single being. A part grimm and in her case part faunas. Which is why she has those scales all over and the large tail and claws." Elvira says her sorrow evident as she speaks.

"The only thing left from the soul is a vague impression. But eventually that impression is replaced by the monster that took up residence in it's place. This is a very ancient process. The substance used is some kinda spawning pool for grimm. Which we discovered a very long time ago. But Ellie has lasted much longer then any other humunculus. As when the impression of who they were is gone they go berserk and are promptly put down using a highly dangerous toxin." She says as she pulls out a remote.

"This releases the toxin held in a slim metal collar. But I removed it and disabled this remote." Elvira said as she tossed the remote onto the desk. "They are the perfect killing machine as they don't tire barely eat and are far stronger then any human could hope to be. I took this assignment so I could hopefully find some way to ease her suffering. My kingdom has no interest in reversing the process. So I was hoping this one might be able to. Or at the very least that Ellie could live out the last of her life in relative piece..." Elvira said as she stared at the floor tears in her eyes.

"If there is anything we can do to help we will try." Ozpin said giving her a sympathetic look. "There is more I was sent here to ascertain the state of the maiden we believe to be hiding here..." She says staring straight at Ozpin. "I have not reported my finding's as of yet however. I fear they may send someone to check in on me." She says as she looks at Glynda who seems to have questions. "Alright we will figure out how to deal with that later." Ozpin said looking over to Glynda.

"Alright so if she has no soul how does she use aura?" Glynda asked looking at her skeptically. "Her soul was fused into her blade. It contains her soul and aura along with everything else. Or it should but there is something left deep inside her. And it seems to be holding her together for now. But it wont last much longer. She is starting to become unstable." Before she could say anything more Willow burst in with the rest of her team behind her.

"I don't think she is becoming unstable." She says with conviction as she stands there looking to the three. "What?" Elvira asks looking at her clearly unconvinced. " I admittedly find myself watching her expression very closely. Because I noticed something. When something happens her expression changer's ever so slightly. And it changes in different ways depending on how she feel's about it. Like when she drinks tea she enjoys versus a terrible cup of tea. Or when someone is mean or rude to her." Willow says as she pulls the once again properly dressed Ellie in front of her.

She then patted Ellie's head. Everyone was watching very closely at this point. It almost looks like Ellie's lips shifted slightly, among other things. "Only reason I noticed is that my semblance gives me heightened perception. There is clearly more of her left then you think." Willow says as Ellie looks up at her. "Like right now she is puzzled. Sadly I can only guess what is confusing her." Willow says as everyone looks deep in thought. "Also not a single word of this can leave this room to anyone. If that happen's it will put all of vale in danger. Grave danger." Elvira said allowing the warning to hang in the room.

Some time after the incident at the docks as a school dance fast approaches. A ship bearing the emblem of KEL fly's over beacon. As people rush out to look at the airship Ellie is seated in the cafeteria. She was sipping some tea when Willow directed her to her feet and out to look at the dangerous looking ship. When a hatch opens up a pair of cloaked figures plummet from the ship. They crash into the ground near Ellie making small crater's.

Willow steps in front of Ellie when she notices they are armed and looking in there direction. Suddenly they charged pulling there weapon's smoothly. One had a pair of axes while the other had a round shield with a clearly sharp edge. Ellie pushed Willow to the side moments before they got into range. She dodged the axes by jumping over them. As she came down her feet met with the shield. She promptly kicked off of it launching herself straight up. As she came down the shield one threw there shield which Ellie easily caught. Moments later she came down spinning with the shield. She cut an arm off of the ax wielder.

The ax wielder howled as it backed off. Ellie grabbed the dropped ax and promptly embedded it in the chest of the shield bearer. They promptly collapsed to the ground as the ax wielder came back swinging. Ellie blocked each heavy blow with the shield till suddenly her opponent slammed full body into her sending her sprawled onto her back. But before her opponent could move in a knife came flying between them embedding itself in the ground.

"That is enough. You have proven this ones ability. And your own ineptitude." A man said approaching the three. Once he was right next to the one with an ax in there chest he threw a knife into it's head killing it. "Such a waste but I just had to know if you were as strong as I had heard." He said glancing over to Ellie who was again standing. Elvira stomps onto the scene and does a double take when she see's the man.

"Why the hell did they send you? You make a bloody spectacle out of just about everything." She says as she storms up to him. "Oh my Elvira is that anyone to treat an old friend?" He asked theatrically as Willow got a creepy shiver running down her spine. Ellie stepped over to Willow who patted her head. "I am sure Elvira will deal with it." Willow said as she watched the man very closely. He directed his humunculus to take the dead one to the now landing ship.

Ellie stared at the shield and her blade. The two now sat together in the corner of Elvira's room. "Ellie perhaps you should keep those two weapons with you from now on." Elvira said as she rubbed oils into Ellie's scales. "The scales are spreading..." Elvira says with a slight grimace on her face. "So how do you feel about your team? They seem... nice Willow definitely seems to be a competent person. And she always looks out for you." Elvira says as she finishes up.

Willow was lounging on a couch reading as all her friends played games and hung out. Yang eventually walked over to her looking like she had something amusing to say. "So I wanted to finally settle something. You see Ruby is convinced you are not that pop star from over in Vacuo." Yang says as Willow just rolls her eyes. "I assumed none of you were fan's of mine." She says almost shrugging as everyone stares over at her. Except Ellie who was waiting on Blake to finish making some tea.

"What I genuinely just assumed non of you were fans. Also didn't you think it was weird how I would randomly have people come up to me super excitedly? I am pretty sure most people don't have to deal with people wanting there autograph." She says continuing to read her magazine. Ruby rushes over and looks like she practically has star's in her eyes. "I am not signing anything for you Ruby." She says as she comes across a particular article.

"Wow that bitch!" Willow shouts at her magazine as Ellie comes over with a cup of tea. Willow sighs and sits up letting Ellie sit next to her. She ruffles her hair and set's the magazine on the arm of the couch. "Someone I knew from the industry basically handed a secret of mine to the world." Willow says as she hands Ellie a bit of jerky.

Elvira stood before a bunch of students as she wrote 'The Isle Of Everlasting Light AKA KEL' on the board. "Today I figured I would answer questions about my homeland." She said with a smile as she looked over the classroom. "To start thing's off I will tell you all about one of our belief's. Tea is considered a sacred drink in my land. In fact it is something everyone grow's up drinking. It is supposed to bring serenity and wisdom to the one who drinks it. And it is supposed to bring focus and discipline to the one who brew's it. But the second one only apply's if the tea is brewed in our traditional manner." She says as Ellie wheels in a cart with a old fashioned tea pot and a wood stove.

She continued to talk about her homeland and answer questions as Ellie did strange a bunch of odd and specific things while preparing the tea. She was also wearing clerical clothing. But it had an emblem of 'The Eternal Sun' on it. Which was a sun surrounded by an ouroboros. "This outfit is warn by any member of the church when performing ceremony's or attending official functions." She said before someone finally raised a hand.

"Uh so I hear you have superior technology but you don't have a lot of things like microwaves and such. Is that true?" The guy asked as he stared at the 'obsolete' stove. "It is indeed true. In fact most farms are run by an entire village of people all working with there hands and basic tools to grow the food we need to survive. But at the same time we have the most advanced air ships in the world. Not even Atlas can beat us in military tech." She says like one would state the answer to a math problem.

But a white haired girl suddenly stood up. "Oh do you object to that statement? Well I have seen Atlas military tech and while it is not bad it is inferior. Purely from a specs point of view. They certainly have more of it then we do." Elvira says as Ellie hands her a perfect tea cup filled with tea. "Is it true your church is also your government?" Someone in the back asked. "Yes it is which to my understanding is not the case in these part's." She says as she sips her tea.

"What can you tell us about the trade agreement's between KEL and the rest of remnant?" One kid asks looking a bit nervous. "Well the basics is that we live on a island resulting in having less access to certain resources such as dust. As well as metals and other such materials. So we trade military might for supplies. But instead of weapon's and tech we actual send out crusader squads. They pull a lot of attention from the grimm by roving around grimm hot spots. They are among our most deadly warrior's. They kill countless grimm out in the wilds helping to keep the settlements safer. But many of them die in the field. " Elvira says lowering her head for a moment.

"Are they more skilled then Paladin's?" Another asks as Elvira and Ellie drink more of there tea. "They are trained for battle where as Paladins are more specialized. They are a large sword where as Paladins are more like a knife or scalpel." She says before the creepy man walked in with his still recovering humunculus. "Oh what is this? Telling these heathen's about the amazing virtues of following the light?" He asks as he looks at Ellie with a kind of hunger in his eyes.

"This man is an inquisitor his job is to root out traitor's. They primarily just wonder around rattling random cages to see what happen's." Elvira said as she watched him closely. "Why don't you tell them about-" He begins to say as he gets closer to the two. But when he got to close his humunculus and Ellie were suddenly staring each other down. Ellie with a hand to her opponents side and her opponent with an ax ready to swing.

Elvira quickly shoves the ax wielder back as she held Ellie's wrist tightly. "I see you are still into testing boundaries. This lesson is over. Next week it will be back to hand to hand." Elvira said while Ellie backed away as the man left with a grin on his face. "The Lizard of Death certainly lives up to it's name." He says just as he reaches the door.

A raven haired woman incinerates a pile of plans before kicking the table over. "We have barely managed anything since Torchwick died..." She says with rage in her voice. But suddenly a unconscious man is tossed to her feet. When she spins around she see's a cloaked figure standing in the door way. "I have a proposal for you." The figure said almost mechanically. "Me and my associates can get you all the dust you need. And all you need to do is kidnap one person. A student of sort's at beacon. We will even provide you the means to restrain her." The figure said in a mechanical yet confident voice.

"How do I know you will hold up your end of the bargain?" She asks as the figure stepped out of the room gesturing for her to follow. She found all of the white fang unconscious in neat bunches. But even more astonishing was the storage container of dust now sitting in the warehouse. "Consider it a taste of things to come. We will continue to bring you dust so long as you work on acquiring the target." The figure said as they placed a scroll in the women's hand and calmly left.

Ellie was sipping some tea as her and her friends watched Atlas airships come in. One of the large ships dropped off the Atlas students. "So I am guessing you all have read that article?" Willow asked as she looked over her friends who avoided eye contact. "Look I came to terms with losing my arms and sister in that crash. Hmm it probably has something to do with why I look out for Ellie though. Some sort of need to repay my sister's sacrifice by helping those I can. But who knows." Willow says as she pat Ellie on the head lightly. "Oh hey Willow is it alright if we use some of your music during the dance?" Yang asked getting a shrug from Willow.

"I probably wont be going so I don't really care what you play. But if you all want we can go dress shopping. On me of course. Since I have the money to spare." Willow says as she watches the airships fly about slowly. "That could be fun." Pyrrha says nodding her head approvingly.

Elvira and Ellie stood on a ship from the isle of KEL. It was mysteriously missing both it's crew and cargo. "Ellie check the crews quarter's." Elvira said as she went to check the control room and surveillance system. Ellie wondered the ship till she found her way down into the crew quarter's. It was a room filled with cots and locker's all properly secured. As she walked around she sniffed the air.

Suddenly a cloaked figure crept out behind Ellie. Slowly the figure moved closer till it was right behind her. Then suddenly Ellie spun around elbowing the figure with the force of a jack hammer. The figure flew towards the wall till they suddenly spun around and jumped back at Ellie. She pulls the shield from her back barely in time to block the figure. But Ellie was still knocked back into the wall with enough force to cause a dent.

The figure quickly grabbed the edge of her shield and wrenched it from her grip throwing it into the far wall. Then it reached for her throat. But Ellie grabbed it's wrist and managed to stop it. Till it kicked her sending her through the metal wall with a screeching sound. "You are certainly quite sturdy." The figure said in a robotic voice. Ellie leapt to her feet and drew her blade sending out a wave. The figure just braced for impact allowing the wave to break against its body.

The cloak was rendered into scraps and fell to the ground revealing a robot. It had two fingers and a thumb on each hand. The robot had shockingly thin and long limbs but it's torso was fairly sizable. The thing seemed to finally stand up straight at a towering 8 feet. The thing looked to be barely an inch or so shy of bumping the ceiling. "Remarkable semblance you have. Now what about your mutations." It says as it suddenly lurches forward and grabs Ellie's glove tearing it off and forcefully disarming her.

"Scales now cover roughly 68% of your arms fascinating. Truly fascinating." It says as it calmly blocks each of her blows. Suddenly Ellie roars at the thing and kicks it into the wall. The robot slowly climbs out of its imprint in the wall and finally looks ready for a fight. Ellie rushes it claws at the ready. She bridges the distance in only a moment before body slamming it through the wall. The moment the wall was busted open water started rushing in.

Ellie was slammed into a wall as the robot seemed to move about like a torpedo. Ellie kicked it off her and kicked off the wall at it. When she reached it she struck it repeatedly with her claws. But even her strength and claws only managed to cause grooves and scratches in its outer shell. Suddenly she strikes it in the arm pit tearing into it. She starts to strain herself as she slowly tears the machine open. It stopped moving shortly after it's chest was filled with water.

However she was now running out of breath. But before she could reach the exit she was suddenly grabbed by robotic arms. It struck her in the gut hard enough to force her to breath in. And her vision started to fade as it dragged her through the water.

The robot came flying out of the water onto the dock holding Ellie under it's arm. Moment's later the inquisitor and his humunculus show up out of nowhere. "That is property of the Isle of KEL. " The man said as he suddenly charged his companion sprinted around to the side. As he closed in he tossed a few knives. But the machine just blocked them with it's palms. When the ax wilder reached it side she swung the ax at it but it just reached over and grabbed the blade with its hand.

It then stomped the humunculus in the knee before promptly flipping the ax around and embedding it in her head. "I am sorry to inform you but this will be your last day alive." The robot said as it blocked more knives. "Unlikely." He says before the dozen or so knives now scattered around the robot exploded filling the area with smoke. Then he dashes around the metal monster and jams a knife into the shoulder of the arm holding Ellie. The blade barely manages to pierce through the thinner armor at the joint.

The blade releases a powerful discharge of electricity disabling the arm. As it goes limp Ellie is dropped to the floor. The machine grabs him with it's other arm a slams him into the ground. Then it kicks the man a good 20 feet into a light poll. Before it could pick Ellie up Elvira shows up looking ready to fight. It suddenly jumps back into the water and disappears before Elvira could get close to the water. "Damn that thing hits hard..." The inquisitor said as he climbed to his feet.

"What the hell are you doing here Barton?" Elvira shouts at the man as he slowly gets up and approaches the two. "My job." Was his reply as Elvira knelled next to Ellie to check her. Immediately her face changed to worry and she started to attempt CPR. "That is pointless you can just get another one." Barton said scoffing.

Willow and Elvira were sitting in chairs as they looked at the hospital bed with Ellie in it. A doctor came in with Ozpin. "I honestly have no clue what to say. This girl makes no sense. Her biology seems to be changing into something we have never seen before." The man said as he stared at a file in complete confusion. "There is not a damn thing we can do for her." The man says as Ozpin nods and lets him leave.

Elvira glances at him for a moment before settling her gaze on Ozpin. "That was about as helpful as I expected... Tell me if her condition changes. Until then I am gonna be searching for answers." Elvira said as she got up and headed for the door. "Really your gonna run off and search for phantoms while your sister is laying in a hospital bed?" Willow says as she stands up and stares at Elvira. "Sense Ellie seems to like you I wont snap your neck for that. And I intend to follow up on something." Elvira says as she leaves slamming the door. Willow sits back next to the bed watching Ellie as she lays there occasionally twitching a bit.

"So let me get this straight. KEL is investigating the maidens and this paladin just so happens to be looking to defect? And her sister has somehow been turned into a part grimm super soldier?" James Ironwood asked as he paced around Ozpin's office. "She is genuine of that I can assure you. If you want more proof we have a file on all our info. Including a medical exam of her sister who is currently in some kind of comatose state." Ozpin said as he pulled out a physical file.

"One thing though I have been warned against any digital evidence. For the time being we keep it all in physical form." Ozpin said as James started to look through the file. The more he read the more disturbed he seemed. By the end he was sitting there his face in his hands. "It almost makes our problems seem small." Ozpin said as he took a sip from his mug. "I am sure we can meet with Elvira soon she is currently looking into an incident." Ozpin said as the three of them all sat in silence.

Elvira and Barton both stared at each other as they stood in a dark alley. "So will you agree to work with me to find out who is behind this?" She said as the man just observed her from the other side of the alley. After a while he seemed to nod in agreement. Then they both headed out donning cloaks as they left the alley.

End