Chapter 4

"Arthur."

Her cold, emotionless voice echoed through the throne room. A long, dark stone table occupied the majority of the space set before the throne. At this table sat the witch's current subordinates, none of which dared speak out of turn. A tan skinned older man stood up, he adjusted his long, grey coat before clearing his throat. He knew what it was that she wanted to know, and he had no intention of keeping her in suspense.

"In regard to that experiment that you've had me working on these past few months, I believe that I may have made a breakthrough. The Grimm liquid typically destroys most organic tissue it comes into contact with, but luckily I seem to have found an enzyme capable of bonding the liquid to the tissue. Although, for whatever reason, the liquid seems to take to those with silver eyes better than any other.

I am unsure as to whether there is a connection between the two, but still I believe that, with enough time, we will be able to implant the liquid into any desire subjects. With Your Majesty's assistance, it will assuredly work, and we may even go a step further."

The man, Arthur Watts, once more cleared his throat. "As for the procurement of further subjects… the results are within expectations. Groups in Vacuo and Mistral were rather ready to accept our proposition. Atlas has always been extremely heavy-handed with its laws and enforcing them, so the few criminal groups that do reside there decided against accepting, which is rather fortunate as if the authorities had managed to catch on, then we likely would have had a few issues. As for Vale…" he paused, "there were only a handful willing to accept, but my informants have informed me that the local criminal syndicates have hunted down everyone that was involved."

A snickering echoed through the room. A lithe man crouched in his chair held his sides as his scorpion tail dexterously wiped tears from his eyes. "Did your little scheme fall apart, hmmm? Oh! I know, all the planning you had to do… gone without a trace." The man burst into full on manic laughter.

Arthur merely scoffed. "I hardly consider myself the type that consorts with criminals, but I hardly expected the Valean group to truly flourish. The Vale underground is well-known for its closeness with the VPD and Huntsmen. There are likely several rules in place that the criminals abide by that allows them to operate in some compacity without interference. If their reaction is anything to go off of, then it is likely that the group broke those rules and were summarily wiped out. While it is unfortunate that they were not able to procure anything prior to be exterminated, their demise did bring us that useful bit of information."

He sat down once more, content that he had explained all that he needed to. The rest of the members stayed silent as the immortal witch digested the news.

"I see. Good work, Arthur."

While the words were kind, the tone added a barb to them. Praise was not rare, but it was certainly not a comforting thing to hear. The lone young woman that sat at the table squirmed as the silence carried on.

"Cinder… How is your training coming along?"

The young woman, Cinder, startled as she turned to the witch. She bowed her head, unable to look her in the eyes. "It is, um… it is coming along just fine, Your Majesty."

The Grimm queen hummed as she sat on her throne, allowing the newest member of her subordinates to squirm under her gaze. Cinder couldn't help the fear that welled within her. Time seemed to stand still for her as she hoped for the evil queen to pass her over.

"Tyrian."

"Yes, my Queen." He chuckled.

Salem let a small smile grace her lips. "I would like you to take over her training. It wouldn't do for her to not be at her best for what we have planned. "

Tyrian's cackling increased in fervor as he leapt from his chair to perform a deep bow. "With pleasure, my Queen." His laughter reaching an even higher mania.

Cinder shivered as her face paled. 'Oh, please no.'

"Hazel." The giant of a man faced the Grimm queen. "How goes the search for the Spring Maiden?"

The giant grunted. "So far, nothing aside from rumors. I've heard everything from a girl with weird powers wandering the forests of Mistral to some bandit wielding bizarre abilities to devastating effect. In any case, all signs seem to point towards her being outside of Mistral proper."

"Very good, continue on with your investigation."

Hazel grunted as he stood from his seat and left the throne room. The rest also took their leave once she dismissed them, leaving just Salem in the throne. The Grimm queen closed her eyes and let her smile fully place itself. 'Soon… Oh so soon… I'll get what I want and there is nothing that you can do to stop me, Ozma.'

Red wiped a hand across her forehead, the sweaty feeling slightly annoying. The past few days had been somewhat fun. Roman had taken her and Neo to some big, empty warehouse, then he asked her to use her power on a bunch of different things. Random clothes, weapons, and whatever else he felt worthwhile all ended up as little more than dust littered on the floor.

As fun as it had been to destroy all that, it was tiring and not nearly as fun as using her cool magic powers on people. No screaming really lowered her willingness to carry on with this entire thing. Just as she thought they were going to head out for something more fun, she heard the sound of heels heading their way. She turned excitedly, hoping to see Miltia, only to have that excitement to die upon seeing some old lady. Her gray hair tied into a tight bun, a formal suit and pencil skirt framing her form. Her stern glare evaluating everyone in the room. With a huff, she turned to Roman.

"I'm assuming these are the girls you want me to train?" Her clipped tone leaving the question sound more like a statement.

Roman didn't seem bothered by her though and lit a cigar, taking a short draw from it. "Yep. That's them. Hopefully it'll be worth the cost."

Somehow her glare turned even harsher. "I can assure you, Mr. Torchwick, that Madam Hemlock's School for Gift Girls employs only the best of the best when it comes to educating young women so that they are prepared for the life ahead of them. The cost of such facilities should be obvious. Not to mention that you desired … home tutoring."

She turned to the girls. "I have already prepared the itinerary for the both of you, and I expect you to put forth your utmost effort. To keep things brief, we will have the usual classes regarding mathematics, economics, science, history, but with the addition of material for those enrolled in the 'special' courses. These topics will be combat and espionage oriented. From what I understand, neither of you is capable of speech."

The girls looked at one another before turning back to her, nodding.

"Regardless," she turned to walk towards the nearby crates. "I expect both of you to not let such an impediment slow us down. To compensate for this impairment, I will be teaching all three of you Standard Rem Sign or SRS."

"Wait." Roman started, "Three?"

The older woman fixed him with an unimpressed look. "Indeed, Mr. Torchwick. All three of you. Or do you expect the girls to type or write everything down when they want to interact with you. I simply think that it is more imperative to have you engaged in their education. You are their guardian, are you not?"

Roman sighed before taking a longer drag than usual of his cigar. "Fine. So where do we start, Mrs.…"

"Goodwitch. Crane Goodwitch."

That caused Roman to come to a stop. The stupefied look on his face lasted a few seconds before he recovered. "As in the new deputy headmistress of Beacon."

The older woman's lips pulled into a small smile, pride emanating from her. "Indeed, my niece has certainly made a name for herself. I am happy to say that I played a part in making her into the woman she is today. Now… " her voice dropped the soft tone it had taken whilst she talked about her niece and her gaze sharpened. "I do believe we best begin."

Heaving his sword onto his shoulder, Qrow let out a deep sigh as the last of the Grimm carcasses began dissipating, the cold moonlight bearing down on him. This task was taking way too long for his liking. Sure, it was important that they put down the traffickers as quickly as possible, but the lack of any real details has left him chasing shadows across the desert these past few weeks.

Pulling his flask out of the inner pocket of his vest, he took a long swig. The alcohol burned as it went down his throat. Everyone told him that his drinking was inhibiting him, but he didn't care. It helped keep those feelings he had been ignoring for years at bay. Recapping his flask, he placed it back into his vest before withdrawing a photograph, one of the few he had. It showed his team, back when things were simpler, when their team was still together.

"I always said that nothing good would come from dating your team." He chuckled dryly. "Not that that stopped you guys." He shook his head as he focused on his two female teammates, his face scrunching. "Why'd you guys have to end things like this? I get that you both wanted each other, but Rae… you already had a family. Why throw it away?"

He sighed again, " And Summer… I really thought that you would have had some reservations. Not to mention, you were so excited and happy for them when Yang came around. What changed? … I guess I'll never know. You're gone and Rae… might as well be too."

He paused before his face set, determination in his eyes. "Still… even if I don't know why, I'll still look for her, for Ruby. I promise I'll find her and bring her home. No matter how long it takes."

He put the photo away just as the first rays of the new dawn breached the horizon. He shifted forms and took to the sky. He had wasted enough time chasing after these scum. Every minute he spent chasing them was one more that could have been better spent hunting down whatever soon to be corpse had taken his youngest niece. With renewed vigor, he flew as fast as he could towards the most recent location of this trafficking ring he was hunting.