Chapter 5
The hallway creaks and groans as it seems to be breathing its last breath. The natural inhabitants could tell that this place will soon be swallowed by the forest from plain view and will become a perfect home. Regular size spiders crawls through the cracks and holes from the floors in a hurry to move away as they can sense the strange, alienated arachnids trying to claw their way through the caved entrance.
One little spider quickly separated from its group to the higher floor in hopes to get away from the horrifying monsters. But as soon as it crawl out of the tiny passageway it was crushed with one simple step of Vossler's foot and left there only to be recognized by the grimaced snow princess and the smirking Goldilocks.
"Eww..." Weiss sighs and slapped her own head. They're on their way to fight big creepy-crawlies and possibly the QUEEN and she's still flinches at the sight of a little one with its guts staining the floor?
If only she hadn't thought about that, she wouldn't suddenly have a visual of giant spider guts. The poor girl nearly chafed as Yang rolled her eyes and stares at the back of Vossler's head. She took a quick glance over her shoulder at Ruby who is purposely lagging behind with both of her eyes focusing on the ground and didn't even blink at the squished spider that caught her attention.
"So~" Yang began whispering to Weiss, "What's the deal between these two? Also, who the heck is this guy?!"
"It's the hunter, you dolt! And not just any regular hunter; they call him Count Vossler. And he use to adopt a nickname, Dracula, because of the rumors speculating about him drinking monsters' blood."
"Cool..." Yang replied, obviously receiving a disagreement from Weiss Schnee. "So, uh, like how much is he into blood drinking?"
"They say that I kept wine bottles with labels of each and every type of species." Vossler chimed in without taking his eyes off the map, "Beowolves, Ursa, Nevermores, and, heh my favorite, King Taijitu; it's kinda has a tangy aftertaste but it's goes down smoothly." Vossler grinned, whether he's just joining in the fun or is possibly serious. Either way, Weiss was not entertained but Yang let out a slight giggle then immediately frowned when analyzed by Weiss. Vossler looks past them hoping to see a reaction from Ruby but the young girl did not even made eye contact with him.
Saddened, Vossler looks back ahead. So much for team RV...
"But hey, seriously! Do you really drink their blood?" Yang asked.
Vossler shook his head, "Well... I was a young and arrogant fool with a few months after graduation. I wanted to be recognized so when I took part in major events, I began rumors just so I can get some attention."
Yang became severely disappointed and hunched over. "Wait, you lied? Ugh, so you were just another attention seeker..." Yang frowned.
"I don't care what he is! All that matters is to get the job done and kill these giant, dust-eating spider!" Weiss snaps, "Are we there yet or not!?"
Vossler pulls up the map again. They're about a couple floors away from reaching the Dust storage.
And Gerald's office.
"There's only one way to get down there and it's by going through the restricted-zone. Ha, in other words, where they kept the children at." Vossler answered as he began to remember the very hallway where he had a strange hallucination.
Ruby looks at him as she also learn that's where Vossler had found her scythe then rescued her. Hopefully entrance to the strange caverns blocked out all the spiders, saved the Dust-Eater.
Both Weiss and Yang obviously isn't aware of the two's traumatic experiences and continues forward. "C'mon, let's get going!" Yang shouted back at them.
Vossler reached out to say something but hesitated with fear. I can't... I don't want to face whatever is in there, I don't know if I could-
The Hunter suddenly felt fingers wrapping around his palm. He looks down at Ruby who smiles at him. "When I was really young, my sister use to hold my hand to help me get through the toughest situations. Feeling better?"
He smiles at her and rubs the top of her head, "Thank you." he said then enters the area with Ruby still holding onto him.
Yang waited for the both of them and frowns at their hands with a suspicious expression, but before she could even say a word Weiss immediately shrieks in disgust. "Is that human blood!?" she pointed at the wall.
Yang and the others rushed in and stares at the ugly stain. Ruby shies away as Vossler steps forward to observe it. As he entered, he spotted various things that all other rooms have. A bed, a camera, and a strange mirror.
He kneels down to observe the blood stains, it was obvious that it was dried up for a long time but what happened? There wasn't any signs of struggles and any bullet holes considering the size of this room. His eyes traced down the trail leading to the ground with a large dried puddle then back at the circular stain. He looks into it real close as he discovers the several cracks into the wall, all centering around a bloodied, chipped depression.
He wasn't killed. This was suicide.
BANG!
"GAAH!" Vossler screeched as he held both ends of his forehead as the haunting sounds began to replay within his mind.
"Vossler!?" Ruby called out as Yang and Weiss tries to subdue the Hunter.
"Vossler!"
The Hunter gasped for air and looks up. There he is again, his child self, sitting against the wall. "Failure... they all couldn't exceed their expectations..." the child spoke.
"What do you mean?" Vossler choked out the words as it feels like the air itself is becoming thicker and thicker.
BANG!
Both of them winced in pain, the child kept screaming at whatever is making the sound to stop but it just wouldn't.
BANG!
Vossler felt like his mind was going to split itself in half. He looks at the child who kept both of his ears locked as the sound kept getting louder. Suddenly, just as Vossler thought the kid couldn't t take much more of it, the child instead reaches out and began banging his fist in a strange rhythmic pattern. It took him too long to recognize the patterns as morse code, but whatever the child tried to tell the person in the other room failed to reach out. Vossler once again flinches with great pain and agony.
"I'm here..."
BANG!
"Stop it! Just listen-!"
BANG-CRAACK!
Was it the wall that made the sickening sound? He had wished it so, but he cannot be so naive about it. Vossler looks around and noticed the kid is gone, behind him the door is unlocked allowing him to enter the hallways.
He stepped outside into the familiar corridors and can hear his name being called.
"Vossler!"
"Ruby?!" Vossler can hear the sounds coming from the next room and rushes in. He stopped as he spotted himself lying on the ground with the three girls huddling around him, trying to wake him up.
"But this is where the sounds were coming from..." Vossler's eyes automatically laid upon the old bloodstain on the wall, connecting to the room he just left. He shamelessly looked away as new, yet familiar memories came to him.
Vossler suddenly find himself awake, gasping for air with Ruby kneeling next to him. "Are you alright?" she asked.
"I remember," Vossler said in a cold tone, "This was my neighbor's cell, I was... friends with him. Until it happened..."
Weiss stared into the same direction Vossler's eyes wondered to. The bloodstain on the wall, but how would he know?
"What do you remember?" Yang asked.
"In order to prepare us for the Welding, they used enhanced drugs, Xi89, to breakdown our minds to turn us into vegetables! I was the longest, and possibly the only, survivor of their experiments thus giving me resistance against their updated drugs." The Hunter stares at his own arm where he remember where the bandages would be at. "The person who lived in this cell would often speak to me in morse code, as it was the only sound that could really get through. By my own memory, he was my first friend... but one day we both were taken into another harsh testing. The effects had taken a toll on my mind but I wasn't as broken as my friend. He was desperate to speak to me... but I wouldn't answer..."
Tears formed in his eyes as he can still hear the banging in his ears. "I believed he kept pounding against the wall with both his hands so much that they were dislocated and then forced himself to use his head... oh god, the sounds it makes! I kept screaming at him to stop but he couldn't hear it! I should have replied to him sooner! I should have done something-!"
Vossler stops as he can feel Ruby embracing him. She squeezed around his neck but not tight enough to choke him. Vossler patted the back of her head and silently closed his eyes, picturing what the child had looked like before the incident.
Weiss looks at Yang who smiles warmly at the two, but got her gauntlets prepped up just in case something gets too far.
"Okay, so I guess I'm the only one who still knows that there's a Dust-Eater wondering the facility!" announced Weiss.
"Hey don't ruin the moment! Well I would've but that's besides the point!" Yang snaps at her but Vossler got up to interrupt the feud, "It's alright! I shouldn't have kept us waiting, I'm ready when you are."
Weiss gave Vossler one last look then walks off to the opposite end of the corridor. Yang shook her head and spoke to the Hunter, "Don't mind her, she's quite charming when you get to know her."
Vossler chuckles and looks back at Ruby Rose-Cheeks. He rubs the top of her head, "You been really kind to me, you know that?"
"Heh, yeah..." she said giving a sheepish grin, "It's just that I look up to Hunters and I haven't really met with someone who I can connect with."
Vossler wanted to know what she meant by that but a little girl's old wounds should never be reopened. He walks out the hallway and points the exit with his thumb, "So why don't we show this creepy crawler who's the boss?"
Ruby giggles then right away dashes through him like a speed demon shouting, "NOT-BEFORE-I-GET-TO-HIM-FIRST!"
"Hey wait up!" Vossler called out but the red headed girl vanished from view. His smile soon faded as he took out his digital pad and once again spotted Gerald's main office, now even closer and yet farther away from the storage.
"It's now or never..."
[Meanwhile]
Blake wipes the sweat off her forehead as she brings in the last goon her friend knocked out. The entire security team were already up and getting to work, the Academy has already been contacted and backup won't arrive until an hour.
She looks around and spotted the mercenary, Dante, with both his legs and his arms tied up. She glares at him for a while as she ties up the last hired gunman then rose up as one of the security guards approached her. "That's the last of em?"
She nodded but didn't take her eyes off the white-haired boy. The man looks at him too then spoke to her again, "That's him, huh? The bastard that killed our captain?"
"Yes"
"Do you know him?"
"Once, but it's not like we were friends before and we're certainly are not now."
The guard nodded solemnly and watched his own men savaging the wreckage of the airship for usable supplies till the rendezvous gets here. Blake didn't said a word until she saw two men respectively taking care of the captain's body and mourned for him. "Does he have any family?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah he mentioned about a wife and a daughter about your age. Gave them a decent living considering not many faunus could get-" The man stopped after noticing Blake's ears and hesitated, "Well I don't mean-"
"No, it's alright. I'm not foreign to stereotypes." Blake muttered.
"When he took the position, I didn't mind it at all whether he was a fauna or not. Some other men had different views of it, but the Captain earned their respect. I just wished that he past away in retirement..."
Blake didn't say another word and decided to confront Dante. The guard sighed, hoping he didn't offend but went off to do his own work. As Blake approaches the mercenary, he cracked a weak smile and tries to look away to avoid eye contact. "Come to curse, kick, and spit on me like the others? In that order, of course."
"You should count yourself lucky that Yang didn't crushed your lungs." snapped Blake.
Dante chuckles a bit then winced in pain as his chest aches, "Ah, it hurts to laugh..."
"How did you survive living under the White Fang's wing? They should have realized that you're not one of them." Blake crossed her arms at the mercenary.
"I didn't say they didn't caught on to my plan. They eventually figured out, but that was quite after when the new leader took control of the clan. Barely made it out of there alive..." Dante commented to much of Blake's understanding. If they had find out before the new leader, it would practically be a harsh tap on a wrist. Now they would probably think of him as a spy and do something to him that'll make him wished he was rather killed.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on a subject that she already knew about.
"What do you know about the Hunter, and what does he want?" Blake asked, kneeling down to him.
The mercenary shrugs and said, "I don't know."
"What do you mean 'I don't know'?"
"Look I'm about as confused as you are. He first came to me with enough cash to hire me and my guys for a week, and even supplied an airship for us to use! Promising something that there'll be some valuable loot inside to make worth our while." Dante answered.
"But you didn't know about the Dust Storage?" She remembered the first conversation Yang brought up to him and how surprised he sounded on his end.
"He never mentioned it. At first I thought he probably didn't know about that, but then I got to thinking. He hired us because he KNEW your Academy would have men stationed here. So he must also know the reason behind that."
Blake thought to herself about the information the Academy gave them. Because of recent Dust robberies, from stores to cargo, it wouldn't be great if this information gets to the outside. This whole mission was suppose to be classified, but how did a missing hunter suddenly appeared out of nowhere possessed this kind of knowledge?
One of the men who were taking care of Captain's body came to Blake. She immediately stood up and asked, "Is everything alright?"
"Our scanners have detected that he died of internal injuries, however it seems he was... stitched up, rather poorly I might add." The man glared at the mercenary who simply shrugs him off. "We noticed some of us were stitched up a bit for our wounds, it seems that they were trying to take care of us..."
"I can answer that, Vossler the Hunter demanded that you guys are to be taken care of to make sure you don't die on us... well, excluding your friend."
"Go to hell."
"Already there, Sunshine."
"Enough! Both of you..." Blake walks away from them trying to find something else to work on to take her mind off a few things, but it seems everything is already covered by the security group. It was almost like the first time her team came here before it all went down...
But she can't help but think about Vossler. By her knowledge, he's the only one who is aware of a possible secret inside the facility. Not even the Academy who are only interested in retrieving the Dust Storage, that Vossler also did not share with the mercenaries. Is he only after the Dust this whole time? Or did he went through such great lengths to find it?
"Hey, take a look at this!" a man shouted to the others over to him. Blake followed behind one of the men who were talking to her and stared at the monitor with the strange lines.
"Is that a seismograph?" asked Blake.
"Kinda, we used it to track the arachnids in the facility." the guard explained, "What's the problem, Geoff?"
"This thing was running during the time when the mercenaries held us hostage. Nearly a hour later there was a large disturbance of arachnids moving then suddenly a huge spike that only an explosive could make. Right now there appear to be strange vibrations all around the facility."
Blake took a closer look and remembered reading something about seismic waves. "Wait, those look like tremors to me."
"Hey, what's that one over there?"
"That's new... oh god, it's right below us!"
Blake nearly felt her ears popped off as the entire landing pad began shaking violently. "EARTHQUAKE!" She looks behind herself and watched an entire section of the ground caved in and disappeared from view.
"This is no earthquake! Everyone! To the forest, now!" Blake commanded to the guards. They quickly obeyed and grabbed all the vital resources and the tied-up mercenaries. Blake ran over to where they put the Captain's body but then spotted Dante near an opening fissure.
"He doesn't have the strength to move..." Blake looks at the Captain's body then at the mercenary. Dante is the reason the man is dead, but she can't let him die. Not on her hands.
"Move it!" Blake gasped as three men ran over to her to take the body for her. "We're not letting our friend's burial to be under fifty tons of rubble! Get the kid, we'll handle this!"
Blake nodded and dashes off to Dante. She jumps over the opening fissures and grabs the mercenary by the collar of his shirt, "We're getting out of here!"
"No need to tell me twice!" he choked out as Blake drags him through the mess.
"AAH!" Blake screeches as she trips by another large earthquake. She looks down at her kneecap, harshly scrapped and bleeding. But before she could even retaliate, the ground below her and Dante gave way. "BLAKE!" the guards shouted for her but could do nothing for them both.
Time however seem to slow down for Blake as her body felt weightless with small pieces of rocks floating around her.
Come on, Blake. I thought you were stronger than that.
Adam?
Blake snaps to her senses and grabs Dante by his shirt then fires her blade into the edge of the cliff. The blade successfully locks into place, safely holding Blake and Dante in the air with falling debris passing by them. She let out a deep sigh, "Deja vu..." "Hey, guys! Can you hear me?!" she shouted to the guards but couldn't hear a reply with all the rubble crashing.
"Uh, Blake?" Dante called out, "I don't think that cord is doing so hot..."
"Speaking of Deja vu's..." Blake noticed the cord connected to the blade was in bad condition thanks to the elevator incident. The weapon is only use to holding her weight...
"Just let go!" Dante ordered her.
"No! I can save us both!"
"You know what I did to that old man! Why are you risking yourself to save a criminal?!"
Blake gritted her teeth as she felt the stone with the sword holding onto is slowly breaking apart, now adding more problems to the list. "That doesn't mean you deserve to die! And it's not my place to make that decision!" Blake cried out.
To her surprise, Dante let out a chuckle. Not a nervous one or a relieving one, this one sounded amused and annoyed?
"Even if you are a student, you have that 'Save Everyone' Hunter attitude. Heh, well just know that the blood on your hand isn't mine." Dante said.
"What-GAAH!" Blake screamed as Dante's teeth clenched down onto her fingers forcing them to let go. She looks back down at the white hair mercenary smiling at her as he fell helplessly to the rubble. Thankfully it was too dark for her to see him landing on the jagged rocks and too loud to hear the impact. The girl said nothing then immediately zooms up to the cliff side with a somersault and landed safely on the forest ground to be greeted by the security guards.
One of the lackeys that was there during the battle noticed the mercenary isn't with her and stared at the ground dumbfounded, "No way... the boss is gone for good?"
"... Does this mean we won't get our pay?" the other one muttered.
Blake ignores the man's comment and stared back at the entrance, now buried under it's own rubble. It's likely that the others inside aren't aware of the disturbance but soon the whole place will get crushed. And they still could not know...
"I have to get in there!" she said to the guards. She had expected for them to say "It's too dangerous!" or "You can't go in alone!" but they all knew what she is capable of and didn't doubt it for a second.
"Gavin, grab one of the launchers. We're blasting our way in!"
Blake stand clear as one of the guards first scan the rubble for a good way in then pointed at one below where the helipad was suppose to be located. "Fire!" he commanded. The rocket blasted off and cleared a bunch of obstacles out of the way, revealing a good hole for Blake to enter.
"Can you make the jump with that knee?" one of the men asked.
In response, Blake launches herself off the cliff then fires her blade right over the hole and zooms her way into it. She looks back and nodded, "I can take it from here."
"We'll find a clearing and send a flare for backup once they get here. Don't even bother grabbing the dust! Just get your friends out of here!"
Blake turns and jumps inside without another word, "As if I cared about this mission anymore..."
[V/R/Y/W]
"If we keep heading straight we'll find the storage room and possibly where the giant spider will be heading to." Vossler announced to the girls as they follow his directions. Yang marched ahead with Weiss following close behind her and Ruby walking alongside with the hunter.
Every so often, Vossler would pull out the digital pad to give at least a glimpse on the map then would put it away for another 3 minutes. Ruby obviously can't help but notice that each time he does it, his hands would slowly began to shake.
"Is the tablet cold or something?" Ruby chimed.
"Huh? Oh, uh, no it's just that I'm nervous about needing to fight that spider again..." Vossler hesitated.
To his surprise Ruby actually believed him. Must be nice to be so young and naive...
"I didn't know Hunters would get nervous" Ruby exclaimed.
"I wouldn't speak for all the hunters and huntresses, but some of us can get a little jumpy. Especially after you nearly got sliced in half by a giant insect."
"But, uh, spiders are not insects."
"Strange legs, multiple eyes, makes you flinch at the sight of them-What's the difference?" Vossler and Ruby laughed, unknowingly receiving a glare from the Ice Princess.
"Sounds like something Jaune would say..." Ruby muttered.
"Who?"
"I'll tell you about him later-..." Ruby paused after she remembered what she made Vossler promised. Once the Academy's security hand him over to the authorities, there won't be a chance he'll get a slight tap on the wrist. And she definitely doubted that they would let her visit him if she wanted to.
Vossler knew what she was thinking and didn't spoke for a while too. He once again pull out the tablet for a quick glimpse then nearly gasped out loud. They had already passed the corridors that leads to Gerald's office. It's too late to even suggest a detour or come up with an excuse. And it'll take too long for him to tell them the truth, fearing that they may reject the idea.
He has to act now.
Vossler purposely slowed his pace to let Ruby move ahead and reached into his coat to pull out an item but a single rock caught his eye as it fell from the ceiling. He looks up right away before the hallways began to start shaking and noticed the floor above them is about to break apart. Vossler charges at Ruby then pushes her away, "GET BACK!"
Yang quickly rolls away and Weiss steps back but unexpectedly was tackled by Ruby as the large debris came down with a ton of smoke and dust. Yang coughed out the inhaled destruction and cried out for her sister, "Ruby!?"
"Right here..." Ruby groaned, painfully. Weiss's face is firmly planted to the ground under the weight of Ruby's bottom and made out a lot of muffled screams.
"I think she wants you off of her..." Yang speculated.
"But she might yell at me."
"RUFFBYY!"
Ruby rolls off as the pissed-off huntress, who first formally pats and swipe the dust off, then turns around preparing to give the worst scowling ever until she noticed the large wreckage behind her. "How did this happened? Wait, where's Vossler!" Weiss noticed the missing member.
"I'm alright..." the Hunter shouted through the rubble, "Although I don't think I'll be able to get to you girls now..."
Ruby suddenly tries to search an opening for Vossler to squeeze but this hallway is completely blocked off. It seem like a miracle that they were able to hear his voice.
Yang pulled out her gauntlets and craned her neck before taking a battle pose,"Don't worry Count, I'll blast these rocks faster than you could say-"
"No don't! This junk is the only thing that's keeping a large section of the floor above us to come crashing down! You do so much as removing a pebble we'll be crushed to death." Vossler explained in time before Yang was able to connect her fist to the rocks.
"What do we do now!?" Ruby questioned anyone who could come up with an answer.
"Maybe we can find another hallway where we can regroup. Vossler, see if you can find-"
"Don't waste your breath," Vossler snapped at Weiss with a cold tone, "The digital pad is buried under all this junk, and I already have this floor memorized. The storage is isolated from all the other corridors..."
The girls didn't enjoy the sound of that at all.
"Are you saying that we're stuck in here!?" Weiss shouted at him. Vossler didn't reply and faces away from the wreckage. After a few seconds of eerie silence, the Hunter slowly began stepping away from the girls.
"Vossler, help us! PLEASE!" Ruby cried.
The Hunter stops and can feel his hands systematically tightening up until blood trickled down his fingers. He couldn't answer back, the darkness in his heart would not allow it.
"It's not far... out of all the things I have wished, why must this one come true? Why must bad things happen to others because of my selfishness?"
"VOSSLER!"
"I'll never forgive myself, neither do I expect anyone to"
The Hunter reluctantly walks away as the girls' voices are slowly muffled away by the distance between him and the rubble.
Everything went silent.
Everything will end here in the upcoming chapter...
Stay alive...