Chapter 5: Under The Sea
Hidden Inquisitor Laboratory, Kronos Shipyards
Noon
After being knocked unconscious by the shock device, Donnic started to wake up alongside his teammates with his hands bound, and Kaia and Firefly walking around them as they started to wake up. Kaia was a jackal-Faunus with dark skin, shortcut jet black hair, and brown, fluffy ears. She wore a white, short-sleeved top underneath a bulletproof vest that was completely black, while Firefly stood much taller than her and looked like he was wearing high-tech power armor when he was cybernetically upgraded to look like that...
" Oh, good morning." Donnic said.
" Really? I'm surprised you didn't comment on the fact you got your hands tied." Kaia remarked.
" Are you trying to give me pun advice? Because that's kind of my field of expertise." Donnic said.
" Look at him, he's more of a smartass than a freelance huntsman." Firefly said.
" Was I talking to you, rust bucket?" Donnic said, before Kaia smacked him.
" Don't talk to my partner like that!" Kaia said.
" He's your partner? I thought he was your toaster oven." Donnic remarked.
" Call me a toaster oven again; and I'll toast you with this." Firefly said, with his hand turning into a large cannon and pointing it in Donnic's face.
" Message received." Donnic said in a shocked tone.
" Now, how did you and your little posse find this place?" Kaia asked.
" Didn't you know? All criminals talk about this place."
" Kaia, can I please turn this idiot into a crimson smear on the wall please?" Firefly asked.
Desmond looked up after waking up and saw his team captain being interrogated by the two assailants, one of them being a Faunus, in which he got aggressive...
" Looks like another one's up" Firefly pointed out.
" Well, well, little Desmond Prior." Kaia said.
" More like big Desmond Prior." Firefly said.
" Get the hell away from him!" Desmond exclaimed.
" You've got to specify who you're talking to, big man." Kaia said.
" This coming from the most psychotic bitch in Remnant." Desmond said.
" I'm not crazy, I'm just better minded than you." Kaia said with a snicker.
" Des, you know this chick?" Donnic asked.
" She's the one who put my mom in a wheelchair." Desmond explained.
" Hey, you're lucky that you are going toe-to-toe with me and Firefly, and not Malachi." Kaia said.
" Well, I'll send you back to him in pieces." Desmond said as he exploded out of his cuffs.
Desmond attacked Kaia while Donnic was struggling to get free of his cuffs, until they were hacked open by Evan, who was now conscious. The siblings took on Firefly after he transferred Nina's cell to something that awaited in the harbor, while Donnic joined up with Desmond in fighting Kaia with his weapon, Valhalla's Bane. He transformed it into a longsword, and then used it's longstaff form...
" What is your weapon? Bigger on the inside?" Kaia asked.
" No, it's more like a multi-sided pyramid." Donnic responded.
" Well, it's a pain in the ass." Kaia said.
" No, this is a pain in the ass." Donnic said, hitting Kaia in the butt.
Kaia only got more annoyed until the arrival of an unknown assailant, who managed to drive the troublesome duo off. The figure was wearing a blackened suit with a red tie, but he had a white hat and blue sunglasses, which meant he was once a hired thug in a nightclub...
" Who the heck are you?" Evan asked.
" Someone trying to find their sister." The man said as he helped Andrea up.
" What's your name?" Desmond asked.
" Terrance, Terrance Colvin." He responded.
Andrea looked to her brother with a look of surprise; this was the older brother of the very same girl that they had found who was a human-Grimm hybrid and a mother to a hybridized infant...
" What, what's wrong?" Terrance asked.
" Was your sister a member of the Aletian Security Federation?" Evan asked.
" Yes, we both were before I quit to become a nightclub bouncer." Terrance explained.
" Well, we found her but..." Andrea said.
" But? What happened?" Terrance asked.
" She's a human-Grimm hybrid now, as a result of being experimented on by Inquisitor." Andrea explained.
Terrance had survived many things, but a few words that had been told to him by the 19-yr-old standing right beside him had visibly shaken him to his very core. His own flesh and blood, his sister, wasn't human anymore thanks to the work carried out by Inquisitor.
" Andrea? What the hell did you just say?" Donnic asked.
" That's how he prevented the human hosts from dying, they transform into hybrids overtime during pregnancy." Evan explained.
" That's...unholy." Desmond said.
" Well, where is she now?" Donnic asked.
" Probably on her way to Sanctuary like all the rest." Terrance said.
" You know about Sanctuary?" Donnic said in a shocked tone.
" Yeah, I even know what it is." Terrance responded.
" Well don't leave us in suspense, what is it?" Donnic said.
" It's...a city." Terrance said.
" What?" All four kids said.
They all sat down and listened to what the 20-yr-old Aletian man had to say. Sanctuary was an underwater city that Inquisitor had been building in secret over the years, with impenetrable defenses and a sea of underwater mines that could blow anything that get near its walls out of the water. If the mines didn't kill you, the fleet of submarines can actually blow anything that get past the minefield away with high-powered, dust fueled torpedoes. Inside, the city is basically designed to be a paradise for the hybrids, so they could actually live in peace while under the protection of an army of high-tech soldiers wearing power armor and carrying a variety of weapons designed by the shell companies that Inquisitor owns.
" So it's basically copying that underwater city from the tales my momma used to read to me." Donnic said.
" It's pretty smart." Evan said.
" How the hell is it smart?" Desmond said.
" If it was built on the mainland, Ironwood's people could easily find it and blow it away." Evan explained.
" If it's under the sea, there's a lot of natural elements that can also act as defenses." Desmond figured.
" Exactly, there's a lot of rare metals under that big, gorgeous blue beauty that we call the ocean that can jam any radar or communication systems." Evan said.
" Dude, save the wise-ass cracks for me to say." Donnic said.
" I don't get it, you are more of a tech expert yet you love fishing." Andrea said.
" I don't center myself around technology all the time." Evan said.
While they were talking amongst themselves, Ironwood began a little investigation into the possibility of a spy in Aletian High Command, but he may have chose the wrong person to talk to...
Constantine Bridge.
12:15 pm
Ironwood sat at his personal desk aboard his flagship, looking over a series of documents regarding the history of Robert Darnell, the ruthless Aletian Scientist who was the first to attempt to create human-Grimm hybrids, but he failed while Inquisitor had succeeded. He eventually looked up to see Brigadier General Bennett standing over his desk...
" What's with the documents pointing to Darnell?" Bennett asked.
" Hello, old friend." Ironwood said.
" Hello James, honest truth I was surprised to get your message." Bennett said.
" I think there's only a few people I could trust right now." Ironwood said.
" What's up?" Bennett asked.
" There may be a possible traitor amongst Atlas higher up." Ironwood explained.
" That's a pretty damning accusation." Bennett said.
" I know, but it all fits, how else would Inquisitor know how to hit our troops?" Ironwood said.
" James, you sure that I'll be able to help you?" Bennett asked.
" You're the head of Military Intelligence, you could have found something out about a possible traitor." Ironwood said.
" James, you need to relax and think about this." Bennett said.
" What do you mean?" Ironwood asked.
" After you left for Vale, things deteriorated here quickly." Bennett said.
" What?" Ironwood said in a shocked tone.
Bennett explained to Ironwood that while Ironwood was in Vale for the Vytal Festival, things in Atlas were rapidly deteriorating thanks to Inquisitor's terrorist attacks. The number of illegal arms sales were driven up as people were so terrified that he was one day break into their homes and abduct them so they wanted protection, no matter the cost. Panic and fear had gripped the hearts of so many people following a councilor's assassination, and factory production had dropped as so many people stayed at home with weapons in their hands. Ironwood was shocked by what had been told to him...
" My god." Ironwood said.
" I know, our kingdom, Remnant's largest military superpower, has been crippled by fear of a maniac." Bennett said.
" Well, the matter is about to get a whole lot worse." Ironwood said.
" How so?" Bennett asked.
" He's recreated Darnell's research, but he succeeded where he had failed." Ironwood explained.
" That's...horrifying." Bennett said.
" I know, but I intend to find out how he had succeeded." Ironwood said.
" Well I wish you the best of luck, while I will see if there is any spies in my division." Bennett said.
" Good luck." Ironwood said.
Bennett exited the room, leaving Ironwood to his own vices and thought to himself...
" Jimmy, Jimmy, always the gullible one." Bennett thought.
This chapter ends with Ironwood beginning his investigation into the search for Inquisitor's spy, without knowing that his closest friend and head of Atlas Military Intelligence was actually the spy Inquisitor had in the Aletian military. Team D.E.A.D had crossed paths with Kaia and Firefly, Inquisitor's top two field agents, while also crossing paths with the older brother of Nina Colvin, who has now been relocated to the safety of the underwater city Sanctuary. Sanctuary is basically an Atlantis-style city of the future, under the control of Atlas's most wanted. The next chapter will start with Team D.E.A.D being divided, and Desmond and Donnic must work together with an unlikely ally in the rescue of Team RWBY, and the siblings gain the support of an unlikely ally.
WAIT AND SEE.