4-2: Escalation

A mechanical roar echoed through the halls. A third clockwork bear stepped out of Nox's assembly room, joining the growing numbers outside.

There was an annoyed grumble as Nox turned his attention away from his workbench, an irritated sigh clearly signifying his displeasure. Despite his new creation, the Xelor was less than pleased with his progress, having wasted a fair amount of resources in an attempt to finalize his first proper project. Unlike the clockwork gators, which were hastily cobbled together for the sole purpose of provoking an experiment, these mechanical grizzlies were Nox's first step in recreating his power base. And in order to ensure that they are suitable for their role, these artificial beasts required far more materials to build and simple crocodiles.

And unfortunately for Nox, those crocodiles had already consumed a fair amount of resources.

The Xelor sighed, knowing that this was the result of his own priorities and choices. It wasn't like he regretted his decisions, as Nox had accepted the cost of research; in fact, if it wasn't for his trials and the controlled combat environment, he would've never gained the fundamental understanding needed to create his latest line of clockwork actuators. As much as the Eliacube had gifted Nox with knowledge, it had scant advice for anything not directly related to the siphoning of Wakfu. Coupled with the fact that his own research endeavors dealt little with the humanoid constructs, the Xelor had little presence when it came to non-Wakfu combat constructions.

Well, non-Wakfu and non-Stasis.

And until he managed to uncover the secrets behind this world's mysterious energies, he was forced to keep using powder fuel as the basis for his constructions. This reliance on a single resource wouldn't necessarily be a problem, if it weren't for the fact that his stocks were starting to dwindle. Sure, he still had a modest supply, as well as three more of those pure crystals, but the lack of a visible source for these items was starting to wear Nox's patience; this scarcity had forced him to cut back on his bear minions' more advanced armaments, after all.

And, as a result, he could do little else until he acquired more resources.

The red lens of his mask flickered as his awareness shifted to one of the clockwork bears, gazing at the world through its eyes as the construction made its way out of his fortified home, its pace leading it to the ruins outside. Certainly, it was disappointing to use his new creations for simple menial labour, but he was forced to relegate them to such tasks; the resources immediately surrounding his structure had been depleted, and while the rest of the ruins still held plenty of salvage, he didn't have enough Wakfu to directly gather them for extended periods of time.

The addition of his latest minions certainly helped, however, and coupled with his Noxines' scouting ability, the Xelor was able to identify plenty of concentrated scrap piles to salvage. It was a shame that the blast from before had destroyed most of the workable machinery; while Nox was fully capable of recycling them down to their base elements, he would've appreciated the chance to properly learn and observe the constructions of this world. Unlike the World of Twelve, it seemed that this world had been unhindered when it came to technological advancement, and Nox knew that such creations would only augment his growing power.

What he did find were a bunch of those masks that belonged to the organization that had once inhabited this ruin. The bodies themselves had long since been consumed by the shadow beasts, so all that remained were those decorative fragments that... honestly, were eyesores. On a whim, he sent off a few of his remaining crocodiles to gather them, swallowing the masks whole as the Xelor half-wondered whether those items had some actual purpose. Then again, if they were simply identifiers, he may be able to replicate the design for infiltration... but that still required him to understand this world's language, so Nox discarded that train of thought.

Perhaps he'd just throw them at the test subjects to see if they give a visible reaction.

Speaking of visible reaction, the Xelor had noticed that many of the shadow bears had ignored his own mechanical bears. At best, the creatures threw a single cursory glance at the constructs, but most of the beasts chose to ignore their presence entirely. As useful as it was to see that the local wildlife had acclimated to his presence, he still would've appreciated the chance to test out his new minion against its natural equivalent. Instead, the shadow monsters remained completely idle, content to watch as his meagre construction group began salvaging the ruins.

It was a shame he couldn't yell at them the same way he could yell at Grambos; if his old minions were this useless, he would've rectified their laziness painfully. Yet, he had no choice but to leave the wildlife be, as they couldn't be... domesticated. Hmm.

Well, he did technically have the leashes and manacles locks built. All he needed beyond that was some time to invest, and some of the wind-elemental powder to invoke electricity; If these beasts were like other beasts, Nox was certain he'd be able to train them to some degree.

Yes... That's an interesting idea.

Of course, he'd have to gather the more feral beasts that lived in the woods to get an accurate estimation for the required time investment, but that was simply one more reason to send his mechanical bears to the woods. Having reached an adequate conclusion, Nox queued up two more clockwork grizzlies for construction, intent on sending these two creations to gather specimens from the northern woods.

And with all that out of the way, the Xelor had one last concern to tend to: his test subjects.

This included the newest test subject that was making its way over to Nox's base, of course. It was certainly important, but the Xelor decided to consider her presence later, as he needed to examine his current batch of subjects first. All it took was a pair of Noxines to inform the Xelor of their status, and the first thing he noticed was that they... were relatively wasteful. Of all the things they could've done to do, they chose to ignore the meal he had provided for them? Didn't they understand that appropriating the local wildlife was an unnecessary expenditure of Wakfu on his part, and that the effort put into something like that was far from trivial?

Yet, he had done it anyways, simply because he vaguely recalled something about morale among his minions, and assumed that that property transferred over. However, instead of accepting his efforts, the test subjects chose to explore the little residential chambers he had prepared for them, somehow finding rudimentary bedding more interesting than physical sustenance.

He was honestly glad that he no longer required such trivialities; their bumbling actions just underlined the inefficiencies of these traits. Still, in spite of their general waste of time, they had succeeded in simply staying alive without causing much of a ruckus, so Nox soon turned his attention away from his test subjects.

At least, the ones not currently approaching his base. Well, the one currently approaching his base... He still didn't know what to make of that. The local's attire certainly didn't match those of his current subjects', which implies the existence of a completely separate organization, especially since this white woman's outfit seemed far too uniform to be a casual garb.

Once more, Nox found himself cursing his inability to speak the local language.

Well then... Time for an aggressive diplomatic approach, instead.

"...Do you hear that?"

The ferret-faunus's voice was low as she turned back to her group, trying to keep quiet as she listened to the air. After a few moments, Iris heard the sound again, a distant roar that was so unfamiliar to her, she couldn't even place it on a kind of animal. Her brow furrowed as she turned back to her peers, eager to hear their own thoughts on the matter.

"Yeah... I do." The Captain was the first to respond, his own eyes narrowing as he stared into the distance. There was a contemplative look on his face, but the grimace he wore told Iris that he had as much knowledge on the matter as she did. A shake of his head confirmed this thought, and he settled his eyes back to the group. "I've never heard anything like that before. It's probably another monster that the... mummy has built."

That statement sent a chill down Iris's back as her thoughts turned to the creations they had fought mere moments ago. She had never seen anything like those constructs before, which was saying a lot as she was often the infiltrator of their little group. The ferret-faunus had plenty of experience sneaking into secure places, whether they were the isolated corporation-owned encampments that dotted the wilderness, or the security checkpoints that led back into the Kingdoms. As a result, she had seen plenty of constructed security, from automated turrets to the countless robots that was growing more prolific by the year.

Yet, those machines matched nothing she had seen before, following no rhyme or reason as they seemed to be far more organic than anything else; rather than march or trundle, those crocodiles had moved with a surprising amount of dexterity, and even she had been surprised by their transition from rigid marching to agile flanking. And just as they were more nimble than anything she had encountered, her experiences told her that they were on par with the latest Atlesian Knight models, if not a bit more durable.

By themselves, those mechanical lizards were already a threat, and the suggestion of a completely new kind of monster only worried Iris further.

"Hey, no need to be so worried!" Her fellow lieutenant chose this moment to speak up, the grizzly-faunus flashing the entire group a grin as she rested her hands behind her head. "We took care of his last things, didn't we? What's a few more? We've had worse!"

Well, Sienna was nothing if not optimistic, and Iris found herself forming a small smile as she listened to her friend's words. Of course, optimism by itself wasn't enough to guarantee their safety, but it was certainly a start, and the entire group found themselves nodding along with the grizzly-faunus's declaration.

"Before we worry about that, shouldn't we worry about finding our equipment?" The Sentry was the next to speak up, her voice dragging the rest of the group back on track as her eyes flitted back to their surroundings. Lyra wore a visible frown as she continued searching the hallway, trying to find something noteworthy in the corridor as they continued their trek. Iris wasn't quite sure what she was looking for, but really, none of them had any clue where to go besides these coloured lines on the floor.

"... Yeah. Still can't believe that blue line led to a bathroom of all things." Sienna grumbled at the question, her pace brisk as she led the group onward.

This time, they were following a green line, after the aforementioned washroom discovery. And while her fellow lieutenant complained about it, Iris was actually glad that they ran into such a place, as it gave them all a chance to freshen and wash up. She still wasn't quite sure why the facility had running water, especially considering how damaged the rest of the fort was, but magical utilities were the least of Iris's concerns.

"Why do you think there were working toilets?" Apparently, Lyra's priority list didn't agree with her own. Sure, the sentry had been worried about their destination mere moments ago, and she was still concentrated on searching their path, but the deer-faunus was still apparently intrigued enough by their situation to ask.

Not that Iris wasn't equally curious; however, the lieutenant was certain that, whatever reason they received, it would make absolutely no sense to her, which was why she simply chose to ignore it. And why she informed her friend to do the same.

"I don't think we need to worry about that for now, Lyra." Iris's voice was soft as she followed behind the Sentry, both of them scanning the walls on either side of the hallway, finding nothing in their attempts. "We should probably just be thankful that we've still got hot water."

"Yeah, but, I just don't want us to stumble into a trap or something just because we weren't on guard." The Sentry's words quickly captured everyone's attention, as three pairs of faunus eyes fell on Lyra. "... 'Cause, if it's here and everything's broken, it's probably due to our kidnapper rebuilding them. I'm not going to question how he did it, but we should probably be distrustful of stuff he's giving to us."

"Even the boar?" The Captain gave a playful chuckle at that statement, a playful grin on his face as he turned behind him, sending a glance to where they came from, back where the arena-turned-dinner-room was. "C'mon, you have to admit, it smelt good."

"Captain, do we really need to inform you about the dangers about potential poisoning attempts?" Iris felt it prudent to speak up at the moment, even if a part of her wanted to have some of that boar. "Besides, we have no guarantee th-"

"Oh c'mon Iris. If this guy wanted to kill us, he would've done it already!" The Captain waved off the statement, a smirk on his face for a few moments longer before the finally shifting to an expression more somber. "... Besides. I think we've seen enough to understand that he's testing us for whatever reason. We're no closer to figuring out what that reason is, but it's still something to keep in min-"

"Hey! Found the door!" Sienna spoke up at that moment, drowning out the Captain's words of wisdom as they stumbled onto the dead end of the corridor chain, ending off in a single door that seemed to be made of the same metallic foundation that the rest of the place was. "Think we found the equipment hall this time?"

"Hope so, but chances are we-" Iris was about to make another remark at her fellow lieutenant's statement. However, the moment she opened the door, she froze.

At least there was no argument anymore on whether or not their captor was testing them; she was fairly certain this was a test of sanity, as she opened the door to find four large beds, multiple room-dividing partitions, and even a few dressers.

She officially had no idea what was going on. She could only hope that the rest of her organization was more... composed than the four of them.

The man's face was neutral as he stared back at the Veteran, the little holodisplay barely able to hide the subtle frown that was forming on his mouth.

But that didn't mean Jared missed it; he had dealt with Ozpin long enough to recognize when the green-suited man was annoyed, and he was certainly annoyed by the latest news. Unfortunately, the Veteran of Rhinestone Industries could do little to alleviate this problem, simply offering the man a shrug as he continued talking.

"Look, I know you don't like it—hell, I think it's a stupid idea, and I'm the one in charge of this op—but this is bigger than Vale. It isn't just SDC or Rhinestone pushing this campaign anymore; the entire industry's funding it now." The security Veteran grumbled a bit at that statement, this escalation going well beyond what he had expected when he initially took the meteor survey job. What started off as checking out a stupid space rock quickly snowballed out of control, and now he was forced to deal with the largest military operation Vale had seen since the Great War.

And it spoke volumes about the sheer manpower of Jared wasn't sure whether he was exaggerating or not.

"I'm sure whoever you sent along to investigate already spotted the heavy traffic coming in. In fact, I'm sure White Fang saw about the same, and are already making preparations to evac. Probably why they're so damned set on striking sooner, now that I think about it." That last part was mumbled to himself rather than his conversation partner, and Jared found himself fishing through his uniform as he tried to pull another cigarette. After a few moments of fruitless floundering however, he gave up the search, turning back to his Scroll once more. "So yeah, it's kind of out of my control now. In fact, I was about to tell Jimmy the same thing, until you called in."

"... Is that so." The only thing Ozpin offered as a response was that stock phrase, and a sip of his cup.

Jared sighed at the response, giving his friend a tired nod as he repeated himself once more. "Yeah, Ozpin... Sorry to say, but it's out of our hands now. Out of everyone's hands."

"I understand, old friend. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything." From the holodisplay, the Veteran could see Ozpin's gaze shift to the horizon once more, as the other man's gaze fixed itself out some window, rather than his Scroll's display. After a few moments of silence, the green-suited man's gaze shifted back to Jared, this time with a single question on his mind. "There is one thing I'm curious about, however. Up until recently, the association was content to sit around and wait. What changed?"

"Eh, not too sure, really. From what I heard, a representative from another company joined in the discussion, and started pushing people into action rather than inaction. A bit short-sighted if you ask me."

"What company was this?" The intrigued expression never left Ozpin's gaze, as he kept his eye locked onto the Veteran.

"I don't recall... All I remember was that it was one from Mistral, I think? Why?"

Even with all of the grey-haired man's tricks and wordplay, Jared could clearly recognize the subtle frown that had formed on Ozpin's face. That particular expression was one that he rarely saw, but one that never brought good news. In fact, the last time he saw the man react that way wa-

Beep.

A single overriding message shattered the Veteran's concentration, and whatever perplexities he had been entertaining was quickly replaced by panic. Jared had only a few contacts that had priority over his Scroll's call settings, and only two had enough importance to send priority texts. Obviously, it wasn't Ozpin since he was talking to the Beacon man right now. That left only one caller, and that meant Jared had no choice but to answer. All it took was a quick scan of his scroll to confirm, and only a few seconds had passed before the Veteran's attention switched back to the holodisplay.

"... Sorry Ozpin, but it looks like my boss is contacting me. Mind waiting a bit?"

A brief silence passed, and that's when Jared noticed that the frown on Ozpin's face was no longer subtle. He had no clue what had taken his associate's attention, but he assumed that meant he could talk to his boss. The security officer put the call on hold, before sending out a new call to speak with his boss. On normal days, this would've taken half an hour to connect, so the fact that it took no less than five seconds meant that today was not normal.

"Jared! Damnit, took you long enough!" There she was, the overlord herself. And yet, she seemed far more flustered, and far more panicked than he had ever seen her.

The officer spared no smarmy quip this time, his attention focused purely on the holodisplay. "What's going on?"

"The White Fang! They-... I can't believe that those faunus woul-... Just turn on the damned news and see for yourself!" Jared didn't need to be told twice, and he quickly accessed the news program of his Scroll. It took only a few moments to connect with the CCT proper, and the video began playing. And this time, the Veteran clearly saw what had taken his boss's attention. What had taken Ozpin's attention.

"...as of today, we of the White Fang shall no longer tolerate the injustices that you humans have brought on our people!"

The video showed four people: three dressed in the White Fang's signature uniform, and one dressed in a frayed business suit. Two of the White Fang stood on either side of the businessman, while the final one addressed the the camera.

"For too long have we stayed silent! Forced to endure the violence and oppression that the have plagued our kind since the end of the Great War!" With each passing word, the White Fang spokesman's voice grew louder, echoing throughout the room as he raised his arm. "Well, no more! We will not stand for it any longer!"

There was no mistaking the atmosphere of the room as cheers rang out after that statement. Nor was there any mistaking what would soon happen to the lone businessman, as the two White Fang soldiers forced him down onto his knees.

"We are people! Not some problem that you humans pretend to tolerate, or worse, answer!"

Metal scraped against the air as the White Fang Spokesman drew his weapon, pointing the blade straight towards the camera while the captured businessman trembled beneath them.

"But if you humans are so obsessed with violence as an answer... Then we shall give you an answer of our own."

And so began the first protest of the new White Fang.