A shorter chapter, but what the hell.

A flying tomato: indeed. In such a situation, the leader will always be wondering if it was a life spent or a life wasted. Also, I see your need for answers and I raise you more questions ;)

SuspiciousCook: well, that was the idea, initially. But then I realized that A: that would be nowhere near original enough and B: nowhere near what I have planned. So science marches on!

Cliffdiver: He is most certainly not in his happiest place right now. But you know what they say: in fiction, things have to get worse before they can get better.

RWBYbomb21: I see. And the daughter, if that is the case?

Tuutje07: Yay! Unpredictable points for me!

Yeah, I think you are right. I will rectify that later on. Also, curious how you would mention Blackwood and the Juggernaut and their…uncanny resemblance. And yes, Azure was killed by Blackwood a few chapters earlier. But why? :p

"No, Doctor Azure. You misunderstood. It is not the symbiotic relations in the nature that enables life to survive. It is not a cheap imitation of natural processes that will allow our soldiers to clear the North on their own. The suit needs to obey; it needs to augment the wearer, not inhibit them. General Eventide promised you the resources and you shall receive them…but you will work together with Professor Greene. Her Project Catalyst is vital to all our efforts and your suit will fall in line with her thoughts."

"Y-yes sir…"

Team RWBY was gone. Team JNPR was gone. Team LACG was gone. Greystone was gone. Everyone who might be capable of opposing her was gone and now, nobody could oppose her. A guard walked past the window, glanced at the office and continued walking.

And Operative Mantis slipped inside. The owner of the office had just left with the students who had bought his excuses and she had all the time she needed to make the transfer. His office was quiet, dark and seemingly innocent for a doctor without a past. His computer was on the other side, in front of a tinted window. So simple.

The young Operative snuck up to the console, glanced out of the window and spotted a few men marching to the building. If she was lucky, she had a few minutes.

She slipped the disk into the universal port and booted the computer up. There should not be any chance that the scientist still had his old files stored on the old thing, but she had read his files. He was arrogant enough to risk it. To risk a lot of things, actually. Even she had never dared to defy the Themeluesi; until that incident with Blackwood, she had quietly and simply done as he had ordered her every single time. She had committed atrocity after atrocity and mistake after mistake without every speaking her mind. And she had always been more important than any scientist, with the possible exception of Elizabeth Greene.

The screen turned a shade darker and she knew that the hacking module had worked. The things were expensive and extremely easy to break, but they worked every single time. The files were hers.

She typed a few commands and watched the files appear. The first thing that caught her attention was a communication list with the bitch herself; Chief Scientist Greene.

Mantis hated her. The woman was, at least in part, responsible for ruining the cohesion that had kept the three of them together for so long. With her joined ACE operation…Azure had just been a pawn in her manipulative, destructive scheme. And it had ruined Operative Blackwood in so many ways. Whatever was left in his feverish mind was crying out for justice and now, she was so much closer than before.

But what she saw didn't have to do with the ACE's. There was mentioning of Project Midnight, in preparation for some Catalyst Operation, but nothing she could use.

Mantis cursed and flicked the file aside. There was something else, on the usage of a rare type of White Dust to infuse with certain organs, but that was nowhere near related to what she was looking for. The next file contained a reference to some recent war and she felt an invisible hand clenching her stomach. The wars…the never-ending wars that always required so much death and misery. She had never been meant as a soldier, unlike the other two, and still she had been sent on a dozen different fronts during her life.

The conflict described brought back memories. Memories of young men and women, screaming and dying. Memories of ambushes in the night, where the bodies of the enemy consisted out of children. Memories of her slaughtering dozens of fresh conscripts, who had barely gotten out of the phase where teenagers thought themselves invulnerable.

She grunted in disgust and flicked to the next file. Cyan Romero was involved in shallow projects and research that were all meant to bolster the Catalyst Operation, with Project Midnight being the only exception. He had forgotten his place and disobeyed Eventide…which meant disobeying the Themeluesi himself.

And that created a question that was more important than Romero's possible connection to Blackwood; why was he still alive?

Engrossed as she was in her research, that only heard the door opening when it was too late to hide. She heard a surprised voice and her body moved in an instant, years and years of training taking over complete control. It was an ambush, an attack in the middle of the night. Her body lowered itself to avoid enemy fire and, without even bothering to activate her Semblance, proceeded to fire off one of the ballistic knifes mounted on her left forearm.

The metal projectile flew straight and true and embedded itself into the throat of the enemy, who was not the enemy but in fact just a maintenance-man, checking a door that had been left unlocked.

She snapped out of her trance as the man choked a cry and fell to the ground, blood welling from his wound.

"No," she whispered. "No no no no no no!"

That wasn't her. It wasn't what she had wanted –it had been a reflex. He had snuck up on her and she had acted. She ran towards the man as he fell, too late to catch him. And looking at his old, bearded face, she watched as blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. Untrained in Aura, the knife had slashed straight through his jugular vein, as she knew it would. It had been trained into her.

Alice watched as the noncombatant civilian died, choking to death on his own blood. He didn't make that much noise. She watched him and he watched nothing at all.

She clenched her fists. She didn't want to kill him. She had never meant to kill him. It was an accident –it just happened. It was a reflex.

It was unpractical to leave him here. His body would be found. She didn't have much time.

Hauling the man away from the door-opening, she placed his body against the wall and folded his hands over his chest. Then she closed his eyes, with gloved hands.

This –exactly this- was why the Themeluesi needed to pay. For what he caused. This was his fault.

And she couldn't allow herself to dwell on this man's death. She already had so much blood on her hands…that this one might as well be another statistic. She had grown used to killing people in intimate, frantic close-quarters combat long ago. This one…couldn't be different.

Time estimation prior to incident: five minutes –unidentified city.

While the Major slammed the door shut behind him and Blake walked up the stairs without making a sound, Yang looked at the only remaining person in the room and wondered why it was that a single remark could change the way one looked at a person so utterly. She had to be very careful now, not only because she was so close to something here, but because he was so close to something here.

Still glancing at the pistol in Will's hand, she said, "you two met before."

The boy refused to meet her eyes. He was staring at the ground, his shoulders sagged and his helmet lying on the ground. "I lied to you," he softly said.

"With what?"

"I said I never saw the North before. That was a lie."

Yang couldn't remember when he had said that, but she didn't think that was very important now. His sudden bout of anger was telling of some very bottled up feelings and he had almost never shown any sign of that. She knew from experience how very dangerous such feelings could be and how much grief they could cause…and then there was his remark at the end, just before she had intervened. "That's alright," she softly said. She wished that he would just put that weapon away. "Can you tell me where you met the Major before? Why he angered you so much?"

He turned to face her. He had a vague, hollow expression in his eyes, as if he was looking at things that weren't here. "A long time ago. I was here with Fireteam Sable, he with a group of militia. It's…not really important."

"It got you riled up, so it had to have been important."

Will slowly picked up his helmet from the ground and stared at the visor, sighing. Not for the first time, Yang wondered how it must feel to wear something akin to a motorcycle helmet for hours at an end, let alone days. "Back then, Yellowknife was staging a coup to gain control over the city. He was unimportant, his coup was unimportant. I'm…confused. This place makes me feel confused." He leant back against the wall and sighed.

She didn't know how to deal with this. Any normal person would have received a hug long ago, but Will wasn't a normal person. She didn't know if he would appreciate or even understand it if she showed too much sympathy for him. Ruby always knew just what to say in these situations…though she supposed compassion could never be wrong.

Even so, Yang had never seen him like this –so completely lost. From the things she had learned, such emotional outbursts would only become more frequent if you didn't deal with the source. But she had not seen him display such things before…had she? The soldier had been severely distressed when people found out about him and the White Fang and he had slowly been growing more…unstable…ever since they had started this expedition, really. "I take it you were sent to stop him?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"Not initially. I was looking for…something." He visibly hesitated there, which was a clear sign to Yang that he was still keeping secrets. That wasn't a problem; everyone was allowed to have secrets. She just hoped that he hadn't been overdoing it. "Sable wiped out most of their guys and I…I went to kill Yellowknife and his boss. I killed the latter…was unable to kill the former…and then I left."

"And you scarred him, but spared him?" Yang had heard the exchange between the Major and the Operative and some things were starting to make sense now. Like why Yellowknife hated him, for one. But she had very clearly heard him shouting about how a 'she' had spared the Major's life. "So why did you get so pissed?"

His eyes lost that hollow expression as he looked at her. "I did not find what we…what I was looking for. And it hurt. Seeing him again brought all that back."

She reached out and gently placed a hand on his shoulder, which felt cold and smooth due to the armour placed on top of it. "You mentioned that a 'she' stopped you from killing him."

"I did?"

"Yes." It wasn't actually the most important thing that needed to be addressed now. But Yang didn't know how Will would react if she told him that he had just begged Blake to shoot him, which would mean that he was suicidal. And…she had to be honest with herself. She did not want to know if he truly was. Words couldn't be un-said and her chest hurt when she thought about what had just been allowed to take place. The sheer animosity between Blake and Will…and that aggressive begging for her to open fire.

The soldier shrugged. "I had a partner…for that mission."

But…that didn't make any sense. Back when they had first met, he had told her that he worked alone. Always alone. That he suddenly had a partner to work with…a female one, nonetheless…was very hard to believe. Blake's words popped into her mind; how he was supposed to be growing delusional and paranoid. She hadn't believed it at first, but she wasn't as skeptical now.

"A partner?" she asked, just as she was hearing footsteps coming from the stairs. She wanted to go through with that line of thinking, but she just had something more urgent to talk about. "Look, whatever you think will happen, we're there for you. I'm there for you."

"You should have been more careful with Blackwood," Will then said, taking her with surprise. His voice wasn't as much accusing as it was worried and she could see that his eyes were warmer than before. "If Jaune hadn't told me how to save you, you could have died."

"Wait, Jaune told you how to save me?" she asked with shock.

"Yes," Will replied as Ruby came walking down the stairs. "I had to perform artificial respiration."

It took her a while to process what he meant, but when she did, she could feel her cheeks flushing with heat. "You did what? You went mouth to mouth with me?"

Before Will could reply, Ruby interrupted them all with an exclamation of her own. "We're leaving for the hospital, guys. Did the Major leave?"

"Yeah," Yang replied, still keeping an eye on the Operative. The thought of him performing such a technique on her was…oddly welcome, really. It was weird, new and totally unexpected and it was Will who had done it…but not a bad thing, neccesarily. "He did…where's Blake?"

"With Weiss. The…ehm…Doctor is ready to go. How are things here?"

Yang shot a careful look at the young Operative and saw clear doubt in his eyes. He probably knew that he had gone too far, and perhaps he was wondering what was going to happen now. It wasn't the first time that he his deeds to others had caused some very bad reactions with them. But this time, nobody could blame him. Not even Blake. None of them really knew Yellowknife and they did know Will. It was time that they'd consider that, for all their ethical differences, their companion was just a teen soldier with war-traumas. They should be giving him examples of how to act, instead of yelling at him for things he considered normal. She was with him on this one. "All things considered, we're fine! Right?"

She patted Will on the shoulder and, apart from a small flinch one might see in a scared child, he reacted normally. "Yes?"

Ruby was skeptical at first, but she didn't speak her mind. People came down after her and the first thing that the Operative did was reach for his helmet and put it on. Yang shook her head. Security blankets. Apparently, even battle-hardened soldiers had them. Ruby was exactly the same with her weapon; it brought her comfort and confidence, but see her break down if it was taken away.

…actually, they had taken Will's helmet away on more than one occasion. Perhaps they had been going about things the wrong way.

By the time the rest of team RWBY and the creepy Doctor were down, everybody was suited up and ready to go. They had all taken new winter-coats, colour-coded for their convenience. Ruby took the lead and Yang stayed in the back, making sure to keep a close eye on her Operative. There were other things she wanted to address. Things that just needed to be resolved, no matter how painful it might be to talk about.

"So we won't be missed if we leave now, right?" she heard Blake asking. "We are taking this city's doctor, after all."

"Actually, he is taking us," replied Weiss.

"Meaning we won't be causing trouble?"

"No," said Ruby, "meaning we can't be blamed."

"Exactly."

"And then people wonder why you two are partners…"

Team LACG was waiting for them outside the city. The storm had died down somewhat and it was safe to travel again. Nevertheless, Yang did not want to make the same mistake again and she kept a close eye on everyone, most of all on the little soldier trekking behind her. She had a feeling that, should he disappear again, they might not find him intact again.

"Can I ask you something?" said Yang.

"Sure."

"What happened to Blackwood? Was he always such a psychopath?"

Will picked up the pace until he was walking beside her. "Why do you want to know?"

"I was just thinking…about the fight, you know? How could anyone become something like that…?"

"He is two years older than us, if that helps."

She threw him a sceptic look. "It doesn't."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't sweat it. So, Blackwood?"

"Right. As far as I know, he had mental problems for a long time. He learned extremely fast, but he was unstable. That changed one day. No idea why. He quickly became the top Operative…and he functioned properly on our joined operations. When I last saw him…eighteen months ago, I believe, he was acting a bit funny…but he was still himself."

"You don't know what made him…him?"

Will shrugged. "No. It must have happened past year."

A year ago…for some reason, that rang an alarm in Yang's head. She had heard someone talking about things happening a year ago as well…and it had to do with Onyx. What was it again…? "Could it have been that weird woman?"

"Who?"

What was she named again? Target Primary? Cas-something? "You know, Miss Fetish."

"No. She nailed me and Mantis when we were young and vulnerable and nailed Whitefire using a low blow-"

"Hold on," snapped Yang. "Whitefire? Who's that?"

"An Operative from a different division. Don't worry; she was never involved with Vale. It happened almost eight years ago, too. "

That sounded awfully ominous. "So there are more of you?"

"Not that many. Whitefire was fighting a war against a radical group of Faunus-haters, who had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people."

"Faunus-haters? You mean that those people were killing Faunus for fun? That's sickening."

"Onyx agreed. They sent Whitefire and two Fireteams in to clear out a cell in Mistral. Hundreds of radical terrorists that laughed at the torture and death of living beings versus eight troopers and one Operative."

"And she followed this Operative?"

"Yes. Whitefire fought for two days at an end, nonstop. As the second day was about to end, Cassandra struck."

That was her name, Cassandra. Yang liked Miss Fetish better though. "What did she do?"

Will shook his head. "She gassed her."

Yang nearly tripped over her own feet and she stumbled. Blake turned around to look at her, but she ignored that. "What the hell? How?"

"Onyx puzzled it together from records of surviving terrorists. Her helmet was cracked due to a grenade impact approximately six hours before Cassandra stacked." He tapped his visor. "It's airtight, normally. Normally, she wouldn't have been able to ambush any Operative. But Whitefire was exhausted and wounded. She never saw it coming."

Yang was aghast. "So Fetish killed her?"

Greystone nodded. "IX nerve gas. An outdated chemical agent used by the Atlas military in an attempt to gas the Grimm. It didn't work so well…not on the Grimm, at least."

She couldn't believe that anyone would ever gas someone to death. "That's atrocious." Everything she heard about the woman only intensified her hatred for her. Will and Mantis's torture…her blatant psychological bullying and her attempt at driving team RWBY apart…she would pay for that. But Ruby, in an act that still caused warm feelings of pride in her chest everytime she thought about it, had been stronger. Ruby had destroyed the woman's feeble attempt at ruining RWBY's friendship and as a result, they had only gotten stronger for it.

"Moral of the story? Be able to fight three days of war instead of two. Hence the new training."

That didn't seem right. She had heard that three-days thing before and back then she had already thought it insane. "Seems like fighting with a team was a better moral."

Will lowered his head. "I guess you are right. You and Ruby are…alike."

"I know," she replied with a smile. She was proud of that. "Team RWBY has done so much more than any one of us could have done on our own."

"The thing is… Cassandra has a thing for preying on the weak." He laughed quietly. "I'd like to see her try it now."

She placed an arm over his shoulders and pulled him closer. He was taller than she was in his armour, though the difference wasn't that noticeable. "If she does, I will rip her spine out. "

"You would?" Will said with disbelief.

Why did he even sound surprised about that? "Yes? Nobody gets to hurt you."

"I…" at a loss for words for some reason, the boy resorted to resting his head on her shoulder in a clear affectionate manner. "Thanks…"

A small blush crept on her cheeks. This was one of the times where she wished that he wasn't hiding his face every second of the day. Had he not been wearing his helmet, she might have been able to deal with it in a different manner. For now, the only thing she could do was affectionately pat his head.

Eventually, the doctor stopped walking and looked at the GPM that they had given him. "This is the place. A hundred meters ahead, you will find the village. Now, the other team must bring me to the laboratory. There are important things there."

Again with the talk about the important things. How did he know that? The only thing he had known about the place was that Major Yellowknife had found it once.

"A deal is a deal," Lisa said as she crossed her arms, staring at the doctor with a skeptical expression. "But are you sure you want to do it? It was locked down pretty tight last time we were there."

"I do not believe that will be a problem," said the doctor. He sounded eager. "Just get me there. This is where we split ways."

Yang thought that should have been Ruby's line, but she didn't complain. There was just something wrong about that doctor-person, but she couldn't do anything about it. He had led them to the hospital and now, team LACG had to lead him to the lab. But it just didn't sit right with her.

"Alright then. Ruby? Give JNPR our regards if you find them. We'll let mister research inside his lab and then we'll come join you."

"That's alright Lisa. Just be careful," replied the redhead. "There could be some pretty nasty stuff there."

The Adamant smiled. "You too, Rubes. Get JNPR out there safely."

"Got it."

"Hey Will," Yang softly said. "Could you…follow LACG? There's something about that guy I don't trust." She knew that she couldn't ask something like that of him, especially not now that he needed someone around him, but-

"Sure," he replied immediately. "I'll keep in contact."

She didn't know what else to say. Despite the fact that she had her moments of doubt concerning his true motives, he seemed to be unwaveringly loyal to her and her sister. "Thank you."

The soldier nodded and turned away, probably getting ready to sneak off behind team LACG.

As Ruby led the team through the thick layer of snow, now unhindered due to the new clothing, Yang wondered why everybody they met had some sort of secret agenda, or hidden motivation. Yellowknife had staged a coup to gain control over the city, the doctor had an unhealthy obsession with the laboratory he wasn't supposed to know anything about and Will was growing increasingly yearning for death.

But on the other hand, the Major had also spent years risking his life protecting the city he had wanted to gain control over, the doctor had actually led them to the hospital where they might find their comrades and Will was showing redeeming signs of affection and emotion. People could change.

It was times like these that made her wonder how Ruby saw the world.

"Alright doc," Lisa later said as she marched through the snow, closely followed the rest of the team, "you should know that we stumbled upon the place in a snowstorm. Alessa was the first to find it. It might take a while to get there."

"That won't be a problem," said the doctor again. Grace noticed how he had the tendency to repeat sentences in reaction to others. Perhaps it was a verbal tick?

She turned around and watched Alessa trailing behind them. She had seen the girl as an enigma before, but that had changed when she had gotten to know her. Cho and even Lisa had accepted her. But now? In this freezing place of snow and ice? Ruby was born here, granting her an impressive immunity to the cold. Alessa…had to have been born here as well, seeing as she was as cold-resistant as the little redhead. But on the contrary to Ruby, who had silver eyes as a part of her heritage, Alessa had…other eyes. It was strange, but Grace had the feeling that there was something that her partner wasn't telling her something that she really should.

Perhaps it was obvious that she was staring, as Alessa picked up the pace and joined Grace. The demolitions expert was about to apologize, when Alessa said, "we're being followed."

Her voice was soft like a whisper, yet devoid of doubt and hesitation. Grace knew she was telling the truth, as she always had. But that was the problem here; she always seemed to sniff out ambushes and attacks before they happened, which was impossible. Grace had suppressed her curiosity to the more intimate details of her teammate's life for weeks now, but this was getting glaring. She wanted to know what it was that Alessa could do.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I can see it."

"That's crap. You're wearing a blindfold, remember?"

Alessa sighed. "What are you playing it?"

"Excuse me?"

"You never doubted me. Why now?"

"Because I want to be certain, damnit! We've been partners for weeks now and yet I still don't know anything about you? Where you are from, your past, nothing! If you can't trust me with that…how can we function in battle?"

"You don't need to know everything."

"That's bull. Back in that warzone, you killed that man without blinking an eye. Everybody is making a fuss about not killing, because we should be better than that, and you went ahead and stabbed him to death!"

"Is this still about that soldier?" she coldly asked.

"No! It is about me, knowing I can trust you!"

"Grace, you can trust me. You shouldn't worry so much."

"That's the thing. I never worry. You were the first one to make me worry in a long time! What do you know about this place? You are from here, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yes, I am. I was born in a small village. I don't talk about that. It was not a pleasant time."

"It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. But do you know this place? The city and the lab?"

"I…had flashes of the lab when we were there. I recognize the city though."

"Uh-huh. And why didn't you say so?"

She shrugged. "Like you said, I'm from the North. I didn't think it weird."

"Do you remember anything useful then?"

"Like I said, I don't talk about that."

"That's fine, I guess. Just…did you recognize anything inside the lab? Anything at all?"

"The sound of the elevators," she awkwardly said, scratching her shoulder. "Why?"

She looked at Cho and Lisa, who were still advancing through the snow. A few scattered trees grew in the distance, but there was still no sight of the lab. Grace gestured for Alessa to keep moving, so that they wouldn't get lost again when another snowstorm hit. "I've been thinking about it…ever since that lab, something's been nagging me. Did you see the way that man looked at you?"

"Yes."

"And then there were the eyeballs in the first bio-lab…and that weird document we read, when we hacked the jeep."

"What are you getting at?"

She shook her head. "I don't know yet…they say that people can inflect amnesia to themselves to bury a traumatic experience. You recognized the lab, I saw you did. Yet you never truly acted like you recognized certain parts."

"You think something happened to me there?"

"I can't say for sure. I mean, I pray that this wasn't the case, but if it is…"

"I'll keep an eye out, if it makes you feel better."

"It would, thanks. So, this person following us?"

"Gone already. I don't know who it was."

"Great, problems already."

"Hey people," shouted Lisa from the distance, "hurry up! You're going to be left behind!"

"Coming!"

They kept walking for almost half an hour before they noticed a familiar item in the distance.

"Is that it?" asked Grace.

"I don't know. What is it?"

"There, in the distance. Is that the shack-thing we found? That led to the lab?"

Alessa shrugged. "I wouldn't know; my range doesn't go that far."

Range?

"Cho, check it out. The rest of you, cover him. Doc? Keep your head down."

"Are we expecting trouble?" asked the doctor.

"LACG is always expecting trouble. Usually that is because we always find trouble."

Slowly, in a rough half-circle formation, the team made its way towards the building, with Cho in the lead. He vaulted against the wall, prepared his weapon and rounded the corner. For several long seconds, he stayed gone. But then his serious little head popped up again and he called that it was safe.

"This is your lucky day," Lisa said to the doctor. "What exactly do you think we're going to find there?"

"Don't you worry your blonde head over that," he replied as he made his way towards the building. In the past, the impulsive Adamant would have made a snarky remark about that. But now, Lisa kept her mouth shut, which was probably for the better.

They approached the entrance, which was locked.

"Uh-oh," muttered Grace. "This wasn't supposed to be here."

A large, black door with a weird symbol on it was blocking their way. It wasn't there before; it looked like the facility had been locked down since they were there. The small pad with numbers was still present, though Grace would not know what to do. It had a black screen on top of it, but she didn't think it was for the numbers.

"Alessa," said Lisa, "can you hack this?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't think so."

The doctor sighed in frustration and walked up to the pad. "Let me have a look at this."

Lisa crossed her arms and gave the man a skeptical look. "Look, if Alessa can't hack this, nobody can. She's like, the hacker of the first-years. Whoever designed this place has-"

The doctor fumbled around with the pad, after which it produced an audible confirmation sound and opened the door.

"What the hell?"

"That's not right," muttered Cho.

Alessa shook her head. "How-?"

"Shall we keep going?" said the doctor, as if nothing was wrong at all.

Grace waited until the man had disappeared inside of the dark opening, before turning towards Lisa.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who just saw that?"

"So the doctor can hack? I'm impressed."

"That was no hack," said Alessa.

Cho nodded. "I agree. It took too little time, the movements were too simple and there wasn't enough hand-eye coordination."

"Just…let's just keep an eye on this guy, shall we?" Lisa then decided, before following Romero deeper into the facility. "Hey doc, wait up!"

Grace felt another shiver running down her spine. She hated this place; this entire laboratory felt like a hive of corruptness. She hadn't forgotten the Grimm downstairs and she hadn't forgotten the odd biology departments. The doctor was in over his head; what did he even want with this place? Why was he so opposed to simply telling them what he wanted? The only reason why she hadn't asked Cho to interrogate him was because he had led them to the probable position of team JNPR and even that was not certain.

They skipped the biology labs this time. She didn't even want to see what other horrors they might have missed. The doors that were open the last time were open this time too, which included the elevator-room.

"Alright mister Romero," said Lisa, "as much as we love running around in dark, creepy labs, this is where it ends. We've got to go back to our friends. So why don't you say bye-bye to your awesome stuff and come with us?"

The doctor wasn't listening. He was mumbling to himself and watching some program on his scroll, occasionally looking up at the glass tube of the elevator.

"Just like the hellgrounds…" he muttered.

"Romero? Doc, we don't have time for this!"

"Did you perhaps encounter any Grimm, when you were down here?" he carefully asked.

"Alright, that's it. Cho?"

Her partner strode towards the doctor and grabbed him by his shoulders, spinning him around and bashing him against the glass tube.

"Hey, unhand me at once!"

Cho pinned his arms to his back and Lisa stepped towards him. "We've gone along with a lot of your shit, doc. But that ends now. What is this place and what are you searching for?"

Romero struggled against Cho's grip. Even though the man was easily a head taller than the student, he could not get free. In the end, he gave up and sighed. "Alright. Fine. Let me go…and I will tell you the truth."

Cho looked at his leader, who made a gesture with her head. He then carefully let the doctor go. "You better be honest."

It was times like these that Grace appreciated having a former cop in her team.

"I have been working in the city for years, occasionally traveling back to the hospital," started the doctor. His eyes were flashing back between Lisa and Cho, but always settled on Alessa. "I hear things. I…heard things. Sometimes, members of a…a secret organization would come here. You would not believe it, but I saw them. Black suits, dark helmets and always the newest tech. In time, I came to know them as-"

"Onyx, "the four of them said at once.

"Continue," Lisa said when the doctor stared at them with a dumbfounded expression.

"I…" he swallowed. "Yes. Onyx. They had research here. Research…concerning a small village, somewhere around here. The Grimm overran that place years ago, but I salvaged whatever I could in the hospital there in reopened it. The same hospital your friends are now in."

"JNPR? In the hospital where Onyx had research? Sounds damn ominous. Now where does all this fold in your little explanation?"

"I'm getting there. Now, I did not trust them. Nobody did. I followed one of their teams to this place…and I saw things. Things you wouldn't believe. It was Onyx that built this lab. They have something down here –something of immense power. If left unattended, it could potentially level this base, the city, and everything in a radius of ten miles around it."

"That…is hard to believe. Time, doc. When did you discover this and when did Onyx leave?"

"Four years ago, the village was overrun. Onyx then left this land. And two and a half years ago, a group of them came into the city and started murdering people. It was then that I followed them into this lab again…and that was when I saw it."

"And this thing will blow us all to kingdom come if we don't stop it?"

"Yes!"

Grace didn't buy it, but she supposed that Lisa couldn't risk it. The Adamant code basically demanded her to stop it if it was there.

Lisa sighed and crossed her arms. "Cho, call the elevators. Romero, on what level is this…thing…of yours?"

"Experimental research. The lowest level. Thank you for understanding-"

"Yeah yeah, but don't get any funny ideas. We find this thing and stop it. You don't pull one of those movie-stunts where you try to use it for your own needs."

"I…wouldn't dare."

"Just so we're good."

The two elevators arrived, which was odd, considering the fact that only one had been active the last time they had been here. Someone must have activated it in the meantime. "Guys, remember when we thought we were hunting someone down here?" asked Grace.

"Yeah?" Lisa said as she got onto the left elevator with Cho.

"I think that person might still be here."

"Good thing we're splitting up then. Grace, Alessa? Take Romero and get in the other elevator. We'll meet on the lower level."

The demolitions expert eyed the doctor as he pressed the button and wondered just what he was thinking. That whole talk about something inside of this lab being capable of destroying the city…she didn't believe one bit of it. But she also didn't what else to believe. Perhaps Romero was really out to help the people of the North, in his own way?

They descended deeper into the facility. She had forgotten how weird it felt to slide down in a glass tube instead of the normal, metal ones. There were so many things to think about and so little time to actually do it. And what little time they had left disappeared quickly when the five of them exited the elevators and encountered a T-split, which ended in equally thick bulkheads that were already closing equally quickly.

"Warning. Level five lockdown initiated."

"What the hell!" snapped Lisa.

"Run!" exclaimed Cho.

Grace didn't hesitate. She grabbed a hold of the doctor's wrist and pulled him to the left. She had spotted a few consoles in that room and she would much rather be with those than in an empty hallway.

But too late she noticed that Cho and Lisa weren't following them. As she and Alessa dove underneath the closing bulkhead, pulling Romero with them, she spotted the other half of team LACG doing the same on the other side of the hallway.

"Over here!" yelled Grace as the door sealed the last few inches off. The two didn't hear them. "Damnit!"

"Whoever you were tracking last time still has to be here," said the doctor as he crawled back to his feet. "This facility seems to possess an extraordinary security grid."

"Meaning?" Grace snapped as she looked around the room. This was bad, real bad. She was no leader and neither was Alessa. Cho and Lisa had better had a good reason to go to the freaking other side of the hallway.

"Meaning that everything is controlled automatically. Systems, bulkheads and security. This one person can control the entire facility like that."

"Good of you to mention this beforehand!"

"I didn't know this before."

"That's crap! How did you even know about the interior? How do you even know that this place has such a system?"

The doctor pushed his glasses higher up his nose while Alessa casually wandered over to a random terminal. "Young lady, I possess a PhD. I am proficient in multiple areas; ocular studies, biological appliances of Dust and much more."

She did not like his tone. "Well, I simply blow stuff up. So enlighten me; what was Onyx doing here."

"I would not know. How do you even know of Onyx? It took me months of research to find out the name."

"We have intimate knowledge," Alessa quietly said as she messed with the terminal.

"Beacon has an "alliance" with Onyx. We take care of our Kingdom and they supply us with mentally damaged soldiers."

"That…sounds like an unrealistic portrayal of this organization."

"They are a bit of an unreal portrayal too. Alessa? What are you doing? Will you stop tinkering with everything you see?"

"But it's different," replied her partner. "I didn't see this last time."

"We didn't stop at this level, last time. Where are we even?"

"Experimental research," said doctor Romero.

"And how did you know again?"

"As I said, I followed Onyx inside."

Grace was about to tell the man that he must have had experiences with a different Onyx if that were the case, when Alessa cracked something.

"Got it," the girl remarked.

"Got what? What were you doing?"

"-test procedure fourteen, finished. The results have improved since the last test, with the Grimm's movements slowed down by at least fifty percent of their original speed. This is…unprecedented. This white Dust truly is efficient enough to stabilize the workings indefinitely."

Ah. "That sounds ominous," said Grace. At least these people were working on finding some way to fight the Grimm. "Now, we need to find a way to contact Lisa and Cho. And…I guess we still need to find this super-lethal thing of yours."

"Yes," said the doctor, staring at the terminal that Alessa had been tinkering with. "Indeed. Let us make haste."

"Alessa, find us a way out," Grace said as she checked around the room. It looked like one of the security rooms, except that the glass around them didn't look bulletproof. A few boxes were stashed away in a corner and a set of cables ran through the wall into the hallway. The thick bulkhead behind them had sealed them off completely and she doubted if she could blow through it with the ordnance she had. On the other side of the room was a security door, which seemed to be locked. No, their safest bet would be to press on deeper into the facility and shut down whatever project Onyx had stored here.

When her partner didn't reply, the demolitions expert turned to faced her. "Hey, I asked you a question."

No reply. The blindfolded girl kept staring at the console, as if it was telling her a complete story instead of small pieces of a puzzle.

"Are you alright?"

"What?" she absentmindedly said, before turning around as well. "Yes…" she glanced at the doctor, who was examining the windows. "I guess so…"

"Good." She spotted two large, crude levers on the wall. One of them had a red light under it and one of them a green light. "See those levers over there?"

"Yes."

"Pull them and see what happens. Doc? Are we on the right track?"

"Yes, we most certainly are. If we can get out of this room, we can follow this hallway deeper into the complex."

Alessa grabbed the first lever and pulled. Nothing happened. The second lever, however, opened the security door and allowed them to leave that transit-room.

"What is this place?" asked Grace as the three of them filed into the dark hallway. There were multiple offices scattered around and the dull emergency lights bathed them all in a dull, blue light. Computer consoles and boxes of electronics were stashed away on racks against the wall and every now and then, they would come across a room with strange cylinders integrated with cooling mechanisms. "Is this all part of a research facility?"

The doctor didn't reply.

"And you followed Onyx all the way into this place?"

No reply. They followed a seemingly random path throughout the facility, crossing intersections, walking through labs and, on one occasion, walking over a bridge that was suspended above a large, glass dome.

"Romero, it takes a skilled Hunter to follow any Onyx personnel into their base," Grace then said. "I don't think you are being honest with us. What are you searching for?"

"Please," he said, "just bear with me for a few more minutes."

"Fine," said Grace. "But after that, you are talking. One way or the other." She had a very bad feeling about this, but he was just one man. She and Alessa were trained students and they could easily handle one doctor, tricks or not.

They reached the end of the hallway, where a single door blocked their way. As always, Romero easily circumvented what was supposed to be top-notch security and confirmed Grace's suspicions that he worked here. It was obvious; he knew this lab like his pockets and he had access to all their security commands. The only questions left was whether he was truly with Onyx or not and what he was doing in the North. It all added up.

They filed through the open door and Grace felt her mouth opening in wonder and marvel. The room was large; easily twenty by twenty meters. Ventilation shafts hung from the ceiling, only three meters above the floor and there were dozens of large, Ursa-sized consoles scattered throughout the interior. Every console had a bundle of cables sticking out its hull, all of which led to a large, glass dome in the center of the room.

Strange spherical devices hung from the walls there were dozens of observation windows mounted underneath them.

Alessa took one glance at the room and then staggered against one of the consoles.

And Romero ignored all of that and hurried along to the opposite end of the cavernous room, where a different set of doors was already opening for him.

"Romero, what is this?" she asked as she rushed after him. She had been too busy staring around the room to notice that he had blatantly ignored everything as if he had seen all of that before. As a result, he was now on the other side of a closed set of doors while Alessa and she were stuck in the room.

"Hey, open this door!" she yelled, but the doctor merely flashed a creepy smile.

"I can't do that," he said.

Grace swore as she unslung her Dragon's Foliage. This man had officially crossed the territory into pissing her off. She fired off a burst of searing flames, expecting the glass to burst due to the extreme heat of her weapon. When that didn't happen, she changed it to its melee-form and simply bashed the door, dispensing two sticky-grenades while doing so.

She then stepped back and allowed the explosives to detonate. It didn't do squat.

"It's bulletproof glass, moron," said the doctor. His entire demeanor had changed; his voice was calm and contained and his eyes stood cold and calculating. "But feel free to waste your ammo. Won't do you any good anyway."

Oh she was so stupid! She had seen this coming for crying out loud! She had vowed to ambush him instead!

"Alessa, find us a way out!" she snapped, but her partner didn't reply. "Alessa?"

Grace turned around and saw that the girl was staring at the glass dome, unmoving.

"Alright you creep, what did you do to her?"

"Nothing as of recently," said Romero. "I suppose that meddling fool mellowed her out somewhat."

She crossed her arms. "What are you talking about?"

"She never told you where she came from, did she?" The doctor pulled out a scroll and inserted some code. A moment later, the spherical devices around the room started moving and the penny dropped.

"You have been controlling this entire base from the beginning?" she said, shocked that she had been so blind. "The elevators, the lockdowns. Everything. "You were here the first time!"

"Don't be stupid. I was in the city, remember? You must have been chasing ghosts."

"Right. So, do you think you can keep us here before we blast our way out and knock your ass off your body?"

"Probably, yes. You see, your teammates are stuck on the other side of two Onyx-graded security doors. That means they won't be reaching us."

"And the hospital?"

"Locked down tighter than a drum. As soon as someone steps inside, it becomes impossible for other people to do the same. If your friends are in there, the girls won't find them."

That was bullshit, but Grace would play along for the moment. "So what now? You sealed us in a room, great job."

"Now? I continue my work. You students did an excellent job delivering Midnight where she belongs." At that moment, Grace heard the sound of gas leaking and she whirled around to see a reddish substance leaking out of the walls. Alessa was still standing there, staring at the ground without realizing what was going on.

"Who-" she started coughing as the gas entered her lungs. She tried to think of a way to escape this situation, but she found none. "Who's midnight? Romero! G-get us out of here, you crazy bastard!"

"Don't worry," he told her, "it's not lethal. It's just a mixture I cooked up in my time here. You see, your friend here has a very important quality over her." The gas made it harder and harder for her to breathe and slowly, her knees lost the capacity to support her body. "Ever since her childhood –hell, since she was born- she was part of an experiment. Along with other subjects, of course, but she was the center." Grace slid to her knees as her muscles stopped working. She couldn't breathe in without coughing out. "All for the greater good of fighting the Grimm, of course."

She took a shuddering breath and beat with her fist against the door. Romero, vague as he was now, did not flinch.

"Unfortunately, you do not fit in my plans. Neither do your friends…or Onyx, actually. You see…I am the Chief Scientist of this facility. It was shut down years ago, but I remained in control. Now, you are wondering why I am telling you all this. I can see it. Well, dear girl, I am telling you this so that you know not to fight against me. It's futile."

Grace's vision blacked out and slowly, she felt her hands sprawling across the floor. Was she falling? Collapsing?

"But I wouldn't worry about it. After all, you're only human."

The ground rushed up to meet her face.

"Children are malleable. They learn at an astonishing rate, their bodies are ripe for adjustments and their minds are a blank slate. A child can become anything it wants. And they are easily intimidated. They do as you tell them and eventually, they grown to accept it. But even if you were to hypothetically prepare a child from birth to accept the usage of this suit, it would not work. We have the toughest materials, we have the rarest Dust, we have everything we need. The human body…doesn't. the ACE suit is impossible to wear for any living being, Aura-trained or not, for two reasons. First: the complete integration of the suits has to be on neurological level for optimal results. Second: the human mind cannot cope with both directing the suit as directing their own vital functions. Either the suit or the body works, but not both. Individuals with exceptional Aura levels had higher chances of success, but they too become casualties. It requires processing power that one soul alone cannot deliver."

Next time: a past revealed, a friendship reinforced in fire and a full scale witnessed. Reality is subjective to one's mind.