Chapter 13: A Devil You Know
"So we're just going to clean?" Ruby asked, Yang and her were head to the Spartans Warehouse.
"Yeah, it's some easy money" Yang answered "Just cleaning though! No touching anything."
"Touching a little?"
"No touch" Yang pressed her finger on Ruby's nose. The two opened the door to the warehouse and leaned in, seeing if anyone was in
"Damian told me the someone would be here…" Yang looked around the Warehouse, it was empty of life, save for Ruby and Herself. "Maybe they just went to the bathroom."
"Rubes go get the brooms, they're by that big container we were by last time" Yang ordered, Ruby nodded and zoomed toward the brooms
"I got the brooms!" Ruby called, she sped to her sister and tossed her a broom.
"Alright, let's get to cleaning." Yang spun her broom and started cleaning, making sure to keep Ruby in her sights. She would definitely try and touch the Spartan's weapons.
Ruby was going to touch the Spartan's weapons, she just needed Yang to not look at her for a while. She looked around at what she wanted to hold. There were many weapons, but there was one that looked to be mid-reparation.
The rose teen looked over to Yang who was struggling to brush a line of dust onto the trash can, it was her moment to slip away and touch weaponry. "huehuehuehue!"
Ruby skiddled across the floor and right up to, what seemed a cannon of sorts. It had red lights and some of the pieces seemed to be floating, with what looked like hardlights keeping them together.
"Where's the ammo?" Ruby asked herself, she softly placed her hand on the weapon. It wasn't made of metal, but some other material but she couldn't tell what.
"Are you supposed to be cleaning?" Ruby suddenly heard behind her, she turned around and saw the taller Spartan looming over her.
"Uh um, I-I'm just making sure there's no dust bunnies here! Hehe, wouldn't want your cool guns to be dirty!" Ruby expertly spoke
"Yeah, go and help out your sister over there. She looks like she could appreciate some help. " The Spartan spoke
"Oh, right. Well-uh I'm Ruby! Damian might've uh…talked about me?"
"You're Yang's half-sister, about as much as I want or need to know. I'm Magnus." Magnus sat down next to the Incineration Cannon
"You've got some cool guns here!" Ruby slowly waddled out of Magnus's sight "Also your armor!"
"Go and help out your sister Ruby" Magnus ordered in a monotonous fashion
Yang moved a crate to broom the dust underneath, she saw Ruby walking towards her. "You met Magnus?"
"Yeah, he's so cool looking!" Ruby awed "I wonder where he got his armor because it's not from Atlas, nor like Mistral or anywhere. It's just so cool!"
"You got that right…wonder what he's tinkering?" Yang stared at Magnus, he looked to be removing pieces of the weapon, which in turn floated as he let them go.
Magnus slowly removed what looked like a small sphere of some kind, albeit it had felt like something else when he touched it, it had Forerunner glyphs circling it. He wasn't sure what it exactly was, but he made sure to take note of it. Could this component be in all Promethean weapons? Or just the Incineration cannon?
"Shiny." Magnus spoke, he placed down the sphere and started to tinker more with the Promethean weapon see if he could find components to mix with their UNSC weaponry.
-Classroom-
"Ensure that you don't harm yourselves with your homework!" Glynda spoke. Her Dust manipulation class had just ended and Damian was sitting just beside her desk.
"So, is Dust Remnant's only source of energy?" The Spartan asked
"Not exactly, while there are more cost effective alternatives and various other methods of generating power, Dust is the more powerful and sustainable source. Which is why the SDC holds most of the Dust production in it's grip"
"SDC stands for Schnee Dust Company right?"
"Yes, owned by the Schnee Family, of which Weiss Schnee is the next heiress to" Glynda answered
"Huh. So what happened with Winter? Why ain't she the current heiress?"
Glynda sighed "She joined with The Atlas Academy, located in Atlas go figure. Rumor has it that she just didn't want to be in a business position her whole life, so she joined in spite of her father's wishes."
"I wouldn't want to file paperwork all my life either to be honest" Damian looked at the single Dust crystal on Glynda's desk "Hey, so how come, since you have all this Dust and Magic, how come Remnant haven't gone to space?"
"Well, for reasons unknown, Dust ceases to work in Space." Glynda answered "secondly, Magic is considered different to Semblance"
"Oh so, you have magic aside from Semblance?" Damian sat up from his chair
"No, Magic is widely considered a myth and isn't talked about very much"
"If you showed a Semblance to any of the colonies back where we're from, it'd be called Magic" Damian smiled "But, do you think magic is real?"
Damian looked at Glynda as she thought of the question, she looked like she had thought of the question before. There were many things that he was going to learn from Remnant, but how many of those he is supposed to know was the real question
"Yes, I do believe it may be real" Glynda smiled
"Same here, given all the stuff I've seen."
-Atlas-
-Unspecified Location-
"We don't need him." Ironwood firmly spoke
"We do need him." Myra answered
Ironwood crossed his arms "So you're fine with letting a cold, unfeeling criminal lead a very delicate and serious project?"
"I'm not saying he should lead it, I'm saying we should give him so Information so he can give his insight, lead us in the right direction" Myra waved a document
"You know the last time he had full reigns of a project" Ironwood mentioned
"Yes, it lead to some vicious grimm being let loose but those students were able to put an end to it." Myra set he document down "But we were able to discover new things about the grimm that we would've never found our ourselves! And plus how to more effectively fight the Grimm and treat Grimm related illnesses!"
Myra looked at the prisoner's file and sighed "He may be cold, but you cannot deny his intellectual capacity. Having a high honors degree in most fields of science, making the frame for the Atlasian Knights…your arm, sir."
Myra finally looked at Ironwood in the eyes "This isn't just some abandoned technology, this may be something that could change the course of Remnants history. The Spartans know the importance of the Forerunners, as they call them, they know what this technology is capable of. Do you want to be the one who leads this new course of history, or will you be set in the sidelines watching as others lead?"
Ironwood stared at Myra, she was right. The Spartans know the importance of the Forerunners, he needed to know its importance too, even if it meant resorting to drastic measures. Ironwood gave a sigh of defeat and nodded "Very well, he'll be allowed to assist."
"Thank you sir-"
"But, he'll be kept on a tight leash, and keep him away from anything that he can exploit against us" Ironwood ordered
"I understand sir"
"Good. The Ace Ops will also assist in keeping him under control." Ironwood regained his firm stance
"Very well"
"Prepare to go back to the Dragon's head, I'll get the Ace Ops to deliver and keep watch on Dr. Merlot when you arrive"
-Ace Ops Briefing Room-
"You're joking." Clover stated
Ironwood sighed "No, Clover, I'm not. We're setting Merlot free, but on a leash."
"Leash or not, he's a goddamn threat!" Harriet stood up from her seat "You know what he did!"
"That is why you'll be in charge of keeping watch on him." Ironwood explained
"So we're babysitters now?" Elm interjected
"Yes, babysitting one of the most dangerous men on the planet." Ironwood spoke, he projected a picture of the Forerunner site "You'll be headed here, along with Merlot."
Marrow recognized the site "Wait, isn't that the Dragon's head, why we going there?"
"We uncovered something that requires Merlot's…intellect"
"That was the mission where the Spartans were with the Specialist's squad? Sanith, if I recall correctly?" Vine questioned "Why were we not deployed?"
"A simple matter of experience. This was something unknown to us, but not to the Spartans" Ironwood cleared his throat "Once you arrive at Site 18, you'll be under direct orders of Dr. Myra. Questions?"
The Ace Ops softly shook their heads "Very well, start packing for some heavy cold. You'll need the warmth."
"If I may ask this general…do the Spartans know of this?" Clover asked, Ironwood de-activated the projection and shook his head
"They won't need to know…all that matters is understanding this technology, they know it's a high priority and have experience with the constructs in them."
Marrow softly raised his hand "How do they have experience? Isn't this something just recently discovered?"
Ironwood crossed his arms "I'm sure there are many things the Spartans are hiding from us, their sudden popularity is strange...but those are questions for another time, go and get Merlot set up."
-Atlasian Detainment Facility-
A Bullhead landed on the Facility's Helipad. Overseer Perry stood by with his usual posse of guards. It was mad that General Ironwood would send the Ace Ops to his facilities to not just release a prisoner, but to release Dr. Merlot of all people! Maddening!
The Ace Ops walked out of the Bullhead, headed directly to the Overseer. Clover was the first to speak "Overseer Perry!"
"Ace Operative Clover Ebi. A pleasure." The two shook hands as The Overseer lead the team inside the Prison
"Ace Ops, if I am to ask. Why does The General want to release Dr. Merlot of all people? If it's because of his, admittedly incredible, intellect. Surely there was must be brighter minds in Atlas!"
"It's not about how bright he is Overseer, it's about his…methods" Clover answered
The group entered an elevator, it was wide and quite spacious. "Take us to Merlot."
"Sub level: Merlot" The elevators robotic voice responded
Harriet raised an eyebrow "He has a whole floor to himself?"
"The Judge, Kieran Furia, would've had one for himself too. But uh…there was the problem with him being shot dead." Perry chuckled
"Yeah, i heard about that. Spartans cleaned up the train as soon as the White Fang boarded it. They'd be some good Ace Ops huh?" Marrow softly elbowed Clover
"I'm sure they'd be."
The elevator slowly stopped and opened it's doors. The floor was nothing short of massive, there were hardlight walls surrounding his cell along with another set of walls surrounding that as well, there were dozens of guards surrounding the holding cell. Two automated paladins on opposite sides alongside the guards, concentrated on Merlot.
"Overseer! I thought the check up wasn't until thirty minutes from now!" Merlot happily spoke
"Greetings Doctor. Today, check ups won't be made." The Overseer spoke
Merlot took notice of the Ace Ops following Perry "Oh my, this must be important, if the Ace Ops themselves are here too!"
"It is, Merlot." Clover answered "Today's your lucky day, you're gonna be able to do some science again"
"Oh really? Just when I wanted to execute my escape plan!" Merlot jokingly teased
"Alright Merlot, back away from the door." Perry instructed
Merlot slowly stepped away from the door as an Atlasian soldier opened it.
"Are you sure about this Overseer?" The Soldier whispered
Overseer Perry scoffed "Absolutely not, but Ironwood wants him out. So I have to follow through with him"
The Atlasian solider nodded and continued opening the door. The locks begun opening as the door slowly separated apart.
Merlot smiled one last time to the camera in his cell "I'll see you around, Monica"
Overseer Perry looked at Clover "I hope to Oum, Ironwood knows what he's doing."
"Likewise Overseer, likewise." The Ace Op answered
The doors finally opened as Merlot slowly walked out. Two Atlasian soldier aiming their Rifles at him. The Doctor shook his arms and cracked his fingers "So how may I be of service?"
A/N:
What the dog doin