3-3: Complications

Once again, Subject #4 completed her trial, quickly ending the life of another shadow boar.

Unfortunately for Nox, he had been unable to glean any useful information from the subsequent tests. Much to his irritation, Subject #4 had quickly adapted to her testing environment, and had reduced the frequency of her mysterious power's usage. And Nox had no idea whether it was his subject was growing more fatigued, or if she was simply trying to be defiant. After all, this was the eight combat trial he had exposed her to.

Then again, the last few trials were fairly lackluster, nothing like the bear that had forced her to invoke her powers. He didn't expect there to be such discrepancies between the shadow beasts, and honestly, the Xelor had no way to account for that. After all, no two creatures were created equally.

... Created, huh? That was certainly an idea.

To be sure, the Xelor would eventually require disposable minions if he were to extend his influence. As useless as they were, his minions from the World of Twelve still had a rudimentary capacity of following orders. And while they were not artisans, they were still independent enough to use tools for construction of his... larger constructions.

Of course, this world was devoid of Wakfu, so the Grambos' ability to construct his portal arrays were completely useless, but that didn't mean that Nox ignored the benefits of intelligent minions altogether. Sure, the shadow beasts were more proficient than the average beast, and they seemed to follow him without question, but at the end of the day, they were nothing more than beasts.

So what if he has something more than simple beasts?

He had plenty of the shadow creatures around to act as reference, and his own abilities of craftsmanship were far above anything else he had seen. Perhaps he would construct some clockwork mock-ups of the monsters. Of course, he'd have to change their aesthetics from the usual brass to something more suitable for this world's fauna. Though he wasn't a fan of the black, white, and red motif, he didn't want to draw any undue attention to himself either. Why have them look conspicuous when they could look like wildlife instead?

And with that, he gave the command, his distant workbenches coming to life as they began creating something new. Forges ignited, and armatures began collecting more scrap from the building, picking apart old stockpiles of useless weapons as they set to work. Everything acted in tandem, his creations running like clockwork as they began turning those raw materials into something far more useful.

Nox's only question was what that something would be.

The first of his creations would have to be something simplistic... The Xelor looked through his Noxines as he began taking note of the creatures within his home. The first thing he noticed were the numerous shadow wolves, each clustered in distinct packs as they roamed the halls. Certainly, they were useful forms, but replicating their lithe bodies would be far too complex for his simplistic workbenches. The bears and boars were more promising, but they would require some personal refinement before he'd be convinced of their construction. Something for later, perhaps.

So that left those two-legged lizard things. Even now, Nox wasn't quite sure what they were, as there was not a single identifiable animal that he could equate them too. Not that that mattered, however, as there were plenty of them to take reference of. Even more promising, their structures were simplistic, as the shadow creatures seemed to consist of nothing more than fangs and legs, all powered by muscle with a tail to balance it out. Though... perhaps he should add an additional set of legs, for stability's sake. Nox chuckled at the thought, the image of a clockwork crocodile coming to mind instantly.

Yes. That would do nicely.

The distant rumble of gears signified his new orders, the machines deep within his new home quickly going to work, leaving the Xelor to more tasks. He turned away from his musings, his gaze settling back on Subject #4 as she finally finished off her opponent. Just as before, she made no use of her hidden power, nor did she choose to break her blade apart.

Such a shame. It seems he would have to wait until his new creations were ready before he'd learn anything else. However, he was already satisfied with his findings, as his captive had already provided Nox with plenty of insight for how to use their mysterious power. Which, in turn, meant he could do something similar so long as he twisted his own powers with the unknown crystals of this world.

Still, as useful as this session was, the Xelor had other tasks that needed tending. He summoned the clock once more, giving the test subject a generous 10 minutes of respite as he made his way out of the room. That would be plenty of time for his new Clockwork Gators to finish up, and perhaps he'd even come up with a better name for them by then.

"Any suggestions, Igole?" Nox threw a glance to a passing shadow bear, one that was merely walking beside him him by chance, only to receive a confused growl in return. "No, I suppose not."

The Xelor ignored the look that the creature gave him, his attention already focused on the Noxine he had left inside the testing room. He held back a chuckle, truly appreciating the sight of Subject #4's attempted escapes. It seems that the woman had decided to use her rest period as a chance to break out of the enclosure. Of course, her blade was ill-equipped to deal with the hardened metallic walls, and her strange power fared no better; A flaming fist struck the metallic entrance with a crack, the noise ringing out into the air, only to be drowned out by a frustrated cry of pain from the test subject.

It was certainly an entertaining sight, and one that kept him amused as he made his way back to the rest of his prisoners.

"... Do you think she's okay?"

Her Captain only nodded in return, slowly shifting his gaze away from the cog-shaped walls, no longer watching the distant workbenches as he turned his attention back towards the ferret faunus. Not that he did anything else but stare... But it wasn't like she blamed him for his silence; this was the third time Iris had asked her question. Or, perhaps it was just because he was as worried as the rest of them.

It had been over an hour since that thing took away her companion, and the Lieutenant feared the worst.

Their Captain was initially optimistic about the sudden abduction, probably because he had survived a similar incident. However, that optimism eventually faded to doubt and worry when he realized that she hadn't returned after twenty minutes. Now, all three of the White Fang soldiers were filled with dread, their eyes staring firmly at the center of their cell floor.

"Don't worry!" Her fellow lieutenant, Sienna, tried to break away some of their worries. And even though her voice sounded a bit more forced than usual, it was still loud enough to remind herself of her companion's usual exuberance. "I'm sure she's fine! Lyra's a tough girl, you know?"

Iris couldn't help but smile at her friend. If nothing else, she certainly tried, and the ferret-faunus was glad that Sienna had managed to survive the entire incident. Even if it meant being at the hands of some unknown mummy monster that they had mistaken as grimm, trapped and corralled all because it... No. Perhaps she should change her line of thought to something else.

"... Yeah. She is." Rather than worry about things, she should try to keep a positive outlook... Which was far easier to say than to do. After all, she had spent the past hour trying to look optimistic. Still... She knew that, if anyone could survive whatever it was that mummy had planned, her friend could. "After all, she managed to pull me out of the fire."

"Exactly! That's why you shouldn't worry about it! Instead, we shou-"

Whatever idea Sienna had immediately faded, her words were quickly cut short by someone clearing their throat. Under normal circumstances, that simply would've been considered rude. However, this was not a normal circumstance, and the owner of the cough held a metallic echo in his voice, one that sounded more taunting than anything else.
The three White Fang members turned to the source, only to find their jailer staring back at them from outside their cell, the crimson lights of his mask flickering ominously.

The worrying thing was that he stood alone, with the White Fang Sentry nowhere in sight.

But before they could voice their concerns, the mummy acted first, gesturing towards the group as it said... something. Immediately after its unintelligible statement, it began pointing to each of the three, stating some some unknown word in its tongue. None of them understood, of course, but it seemed that their captor didn't care, as he had done the process on all of them, barking a foreign sound each time it pointed at someone.

Each word was different from the rest, but all of them meant little to the three White Fang members. Perhaps it could see this, as the mummy repeated the process once more, saying a different word each time it pointed at them. Not that that was any more helpful than before, but that wasn't her problem.

At least, it wasn't her problem until the Mummy spoke out the word it had used when it pointed to her. She had no idea what that meant, but when Iris cast a curious look towards their captor, the metallic mummy responded with a simple nod... As if that was what it expected. A part of her flinched, vaguely recalling a similar event from her past as she grit her teeth.

Again, it spoke out a word, this time the one associated with their Captain. Another curious glance was cast, and another nod was received in return. The way the mummy was treating them seemed almost like...

Her word again. This time accompanied with a completely new word as he motioned for her to approach. The mummy's voice held a dismissive tone, one that seemed to not care for her position one way or another as it-

That's what this was. Iris finally recognized what the mummy was doing—They all did. Everything from the strange words and pointing, to the body language and gesture that their captor had made with every action. Those words were supposed to be names, and the gestures were supposed to be commands.

This thing was treating them like animals.

She had no choice but to play along. None of them did; What else could they do but sit inside their little cage? For now they had to bear with it. The ferret-faunus bit back a growl, ignoring the slight taste of blood in her mouth as her fangs drew blood from her lower lip. Then, after taking a moment to finally clear her head, she stepped forward.

This too earned a condescending nod from the mummy.

Just as she was thinking of how to throttle her jailer, the masked figure gestured towards the empty air. Iris had no idea what that meant, but her answer quickly came; The sound of moving gears instantly filled the room, and the entrance to their cell rolled open. This time, it spoke out the words it had assigned to the Captain and her fellow Lieutenant, motioning for all three of them to follow.

She didn't even need to reconsider her actions as she sprang forward, her arms outstretched, intent on strangling the person in front of her.

And then she suddenly stopped, a force hitting her, as though she collided with a wall. The sudden impact knocked her off balance, and the lieutenant staggered backwards as she tried to steady herself. The armoured mummy gave out a laugh, clicking its... tongue? as it tsk'd at her, chiding her the same way one would a pet. This only served to anger her further, and the lieutenant charged once again. There was no way she'd let this thing make a fool out of her, after what it had put everyone through.

But she didn't have a choice. This time, rather than tolerate her actions, it chose to ignore her utterly, making use of its odd ability to manipulate metal as it yanked at her handcuffs. The lieutenant was pulled out of her charge, nearly falling over her feet as their jailer pushed her aside, before motioning once again for her companions to follow it. Yet, neither attempted to move, staring cautiously back at the mummy instead, ready to fight or flee at a moment's notice.

It was something as plain as day for Iris. And if she could see their heistations, then there was no doubt that their captor could as well. This was pretty much confirmed a few moments later, judging by the fact that the mummy had chosen to let out an annoyed scoff as it glared at them.

She almost smirked at the person's irritation, if it weren't for the fact that it decided to make use of its power once again, as her captain and fellow lieutenant were both pulled out of the cage with the same intensity that she was. Still, at least they managed to stall the monster. Iris was absolutely certain that, If Lyra truly was in trouble, this little distraction might've helped out in some way.

Which was why she remained defiant, staring up at the armoured mummy as it dragged them through the halls.

Unlike his subordinate, the Captain was far less defiant, his gaze fixed on the floor as he slowly walked with the group. He had been forced through this hallway once before, a mere day ago in fact, and things were different. First of all, he knew that there was no escape, since he had tried and failed that last time. More importantly, however, was that he had just passed a room.

Not a specific room, but just a room in general.

There were no rooms in this part of the Armoury; In fact, the room they had just passed used to be one of the locker areas that they had used to store equipment. Another room was supposed to be a loading dock, and that area over there used to be empty space that they had planned to add to the blacksmith's forges. Yet, in a single day, all of that disappeared, replaced with these odd metallic rooms. What was he supposed to feel, besides panic and confusion?

And that was to say nothing of the countless grimm that wandered these halls. Were more somehow sneaking in? Or did their captor honestly choose to house all these murderous beasts? Each creature glared at him and his companions, but the presence of the metallic mummy was more than enough to stay their claws.

Those thoughts were only in his mind for a few moments, however, before they came to a stop. As usual, none of the Faunus knew where they were, in spite of the fact that they had lived in this fort for years. But now, there was no recognizable marker, with only a sea of grimm and countless metallic robot-ceiling-arms to act as landmarks.

The Captain had absolutely no idea where they were. So, rather than try to guess, he merely waited for their jailer to explain things.

And explain it did, as the mummy opened the door, causing the solid metallic cog to roll aside. The sudden motion elected a sharp yelp from someone inside the room, turning the attention of the entire group to that familiar yelp—A familiar yelp that belonged to a familiar voice. Iris was the first to speak up.

"Lyra! You're okay! What happened?"

"Wait, Iris? Sienna? Captain? What are you all doing-..." That's when her eyes fell on the mummy. That in itself was more than enough to answer the Sentry's question, so she trailed off, her voice hanging as she turned back to the group. "... I see. Then I should warn you all."

"Warn us? What do you mean?" Sienna spoke out, the Grizzly faunus mixed between worry and confusion as she turned from the Sentry to the armoured mummy. Surprisingly enough, the mummy was content to stand there, ignoring their conversation entirely. "Do you know what he's planning...?"

"Well... He's had me locked up in here for the past hour. Maybe more."

"What!? Why? What did he do to you?"

This question brought the Sentry to a halt. The Captain was just as worried as the rest of his subordinates, their eyes all staring at the deer-faunus, concern plastered on their faces. In return, she gave them a soft smiling, taking just a moment to throw a pointed glare at their jailer before turning her attention back to her friends. Lyra leaned in closer to the group, trying to keep her voice low as she explained her theory.

"... I think he's studying us. He left me in this room with my weapon and some grimm..."

As the Sentry repeated her experiences, the Captain found his gaze wandering. This room was truly massive, and the reinforcements to the walls and floor certainly lent credence to the Sentry's answers. Not that he doubted her, but even if he did, those thoughts would've been swept away the moment he noticed something this absurd. This arena was unreasonably massive, and the Captain had no doubt that it would've been able to fit in entire vehicles.

Was this where the loading dock used to be? Or was this something he created by himself? Not that the Captain would be able to find an answer to that question. And even if it did, it wouldn't matter in the slightest, as he could not understand how this thing had built... everything. The sheer size and magnitude of everything he had seen so far was-

A sudden clatter. This drew the attention of the four White Fang Members as they stared at the source. There stood their jailer, surrounded by three robotic armatures that extended down from the ceiling above. Each of the limbs' carried a single weapon in their motorized graspers, all of which belonged to the White Fang soldiers. His Bardiche, Iris's Cestuses, and Sienna's Saber... all of them were here. Before they could question this, the arms handed them their respective weapons.

Just why was he arming them? And why had he gone through all the trouble to resharpen and restock their weapons' dust chambers?

It was obvious that the armoured mummy had an ulterior motive. Unfortunately, they could not talk with one another, and he doubted the mummy would be forthcoming with this information, so there was no way for the Captain to know. And honestly, he couldn't afford to worry about that at the moment, as something else caught his attention. The sound of rolling gears echoed out from the other side of the room, and the group of four White Fang turned their attention to the source. Something opened.

And from that something, he saw countless figures pour out of the wall, funneling into the room with unnatural speed and precision. Within moments, the exodus of mysterious creatures ended, and Owen finally was able to examine them.

Grimm crocodiles? No, that can't be right... They looked a bit like the Aged Creeps that sometimes attacked their home, but these creations seem far deadlier than those lowly grimm. As if to prove his internal musing, one of the crocodiles roared, sending a sound throughout the entire room.

The rest followed suit, with nearly five dozen of these strange beasts roaring out in defiance. Then, in one jarring motion, they began their attack, all of the monsters bearing down at the group, moving as one entire unit as they charged forward.

And though the sight of such an attack unnerved all of them, the Captain still kept an eye on the mummy, watching for any sort of trick or preemptive attack. What he saw instead, however, was the mummy ignoring them entirely, choosing to stare off into empty space.

Red eyes glared at its target.

More to the point, a pair of red eyes, belonging to an annoyed huntsman of considerable skill, glared at the scrap of metal that was now impaled on his blade. Mere moments ago, this pile of junk was floating through the woods. Sure, it wasn't junk at the time, looking closer to some metallic bumblebee, as the singular red light at the center of its head darted from tree to tree. Honestly, Qrow had no idea what it was, but that didn't change the fact that his instincts told him to destroy it. So, upon seeing that random pile of metal, that's exactly what he did.

It was pure luck that Qrow had spotted the hovering mass of silver and red before it had sighted him. Really, he barely noticed it from the corner of his vision, having arrived from some copse of thick foliage. Also helped that it was glowing, which only served to draw more attention to it.

So that's how the huntsman had managed to spot the floating machine before it had noticed him. A quick application of his weapon was all it took to neutralize the device, and Qrow could quickly get to work identifying what kind of machine it was.

Which was why he was now glaring at the pile of scrap.

"You're kidding me, right? Just what the hell is going on, Ozpin?"

Glaring at the pile of scrap while talking to a certain associate of his on the Scroll. Sure, he wasn't exactly in range of the CCT anymore, but he had been assured by Ozpin that contact was still possible, even out here. So, in order to make full use of it, Qrow had chosen to christen his first wildlands report with incredulous disbelief as he contacted the Headmaster of Beacon.

"... What do you mean, Qrow? Is something amiss?"

To be fair, Ozpin couldn't actually see the pile of broken metal, as his display only showed him the angry face of his friend.

"Is something amiss? Is something amiss? Yes, Ozpin! Something is very "amiss"! Do you know what this is?!" At that word, the huntsman held up a small piece of metal to the Scroll, pushing it right up against the holodisplay of the headmaster. Qrow's eyes were fixed on his associate, trying to see if the man recognized the scrap.

Not that he needed to, of course. He knew that Ozpin could recognize this; It was a miniature version of this gears that he was always fond of.

"I... believe it may be a component of an antique watch. Quite a rare sight, to be sure. But... Why do you ask?"

"Because, Ozzie, I found it off of a fist-sized robot bug! So unless our friends in Atlas are suddenly weaponizing watches that don't run on dust, we've got a problem!"

"... It doesn't run on dust?" Ozpin stood silent, setting his mug aside as he gave the huntsman his undivided attention.

"Not from what I can see. But really, all I see is a jumble of gears, cogs, and springs. And a bunch of other stuff that I haven't seen since I've been in your office." And if it was just that, the huntsman wouldn't be too worried. Well, okay, maybe he would, but the fact that this pile of parts contained things he hadn't seen in Ozpin's clock tower worried him further. "Which is why I wanted to ask if you knew something about this."

"I assure you, Qrow, I am as confounded as you are. My source mentioned nothing about these strange constructions... But it may be related to the incident that you're currently investigating."

"Gee, you think?" The huntsman sighed, shaking the rest of the scrap metal off of his weapon. Rather than sheathe his blade, however, he chose to casually rest it against his shoulder. The man had more important things to do, as he turned his attention to the flask in his belt. Sure, weapon maintenance was importance, but given how this whole turn of events had unfolded, sudden spontaneous inebriation seemed to be a far higher priority.

Unfortunately, being drunk in the wildlands was not conducive to his health, so he stayed his hand.

"... Gah. Whatever you say, then. Guess I just have one more thing to find out."

And with that, the man closed the call. Sure, adding one more thing to his mission wasn't the worst that could happen, but he had a bad feeling about all of this. Without another word, Qrow turned his attention to the robotic husk, quickly destroying the scraps as he reduced them to unintelligible remains.