Cinder walked back into the ware house with Mercury and Emerald in tow. The three had managed to become enrolled into Beacon Academy to begin her overarching plan. She was not sure why she had not got a report from Torchwick regarding the elimination of Winter and that freak of a person. She exited her car noticing Eliza sitting a cargo box still smiling eerily toward her. The warehouse was unusually quiet putting the three at unease seeing how she was just calmly sitting waiting for them.
She looked at Cinder cheerfully. "Well Cinder I believe you have held up your end of the agreement." She said standing up and walking toward her. "I must say, for a short while I thought you would try to stab me in the back. But you stayed true to your word and now I must do the same." She continued walking toward her causing the three to shiver in slight fear. Eliza lifted her arm as blood spouted out a glass vile with blue fire emanating inside it. "Here is a taste of the power you have a chance of gaining." She leaned into Cinder's ear as she put it into her hand. "Best you inject it rather than ingest." She whispered.
Cinder took a step back keeping her guard up to ensure that she could protect herself. She then looked at the red liquid that was emanating a blue flame. She looked up silently toward Eliza then Mercury and Emerald.
Emerald began to look around in concern at the lack of noise. "Hey where are all the workers?" She asked suddenly making Eliza look at her with slight glee.
"Oh, I called it closer." She said tapping a crate to have a dead White Fang grunt come out of a crate. The three of them took a step back glaring at her very being. "Well Obviously, I wanted her to use what I promised her heavens forbid she tried using it on a male." She threw her a syringe landing in Cinder's hand.
Emerald looked at Cinder concerned about their predicament. "Do you want me to?" She asked Cinder fully aware that it could be a trap. Cinder reluctantly nodded to the three's dismay. Emerald grabbed the vial and inserted the needle into it. The eerie blue flames touched her skin a few times but instead of burning her it felt as if her skin on her wrist was drying up and being reborn as it passed through it. Not an experience she ever wanted to feel again. She eventually inserted the needle into Cinder's arm as the red liquid entered her bloodstream. She took a step back as it finished being injected.
For a short while Cinder seemed unchanged except for the fact that her insides were burning like she ingested some form of acid. She looked at Eliza as the pain got worse in her veins. She felt as if she was dying. She glared at her poisoner angrily only to see her smiling at her.
"Come now, would you really believe me to be willing to poison the one who made my return possible?" She scoffed at Cinder as she fell to the ground. "True what is happening to you is slightly killing you but it will wear off." Her careless response as well as sadistic nature was of no comfort to her.
"You freak what did you give her?" Mercury demanded an answer as he pointed his weapon at her.
Cinder meanwhile was losing focus. Her insides where crawling She kept asking what did was in that vile? She managed to regain eyesight only to see the skin on her hands melt to nothing but bone then reform. She began to stand up in confusion as she began to sense several unusual feelings in the room. She looked up noticing that something was off, far off. Eliza smiled yet again as Cinder looked at her in horror. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" She demanded her answer in a loud voice, in her rage blue and orange flames exited from her skin. While the orange flames were that of traditional fire the blue flames where cold. Mercury and Emerald felt their skin cells on their shoulders die when the blue embers touched them. Eliza being of pure blood seemed to be unaffected.
"If you must know." Eliza spoke up. "I infected you with a temporary parasite." She left her eyes closed waiting to see what her reaction was.
Cinder who originally had no way to ready the deceitful diva looked at her in confusion. Somehow her sixth sense was telling her this was more than a parasite as she described it. "This is not a parasite." Cinder spoke an undead echo in her voice amplified her rage. She shot formed a lance that came out of a forge of blue and red and threw it at Eliza missing her by mere centimeters. "The truth. NOW!"
Eliza rather than act scared began to applaud her. "It seems you are accepting it quite well actually." Despite everything in front of her, her voice was calm and without fear. "You are right this is beyond the likes of a parasite. I infected you with the blood of Queen Nancy." Cinder just stood there glaring, Mercury and Emerald couldn't stand the blue flames she was emitting in her anger and when to hide behind cover.
"Who?" Cinder looked at her in confusion. Which pleased Eliza greatly.
"Queen Nancy." Eliza repeated her answer from earlier. "To you however that does not mean much. To me, she was the strongest monsters to ever live." Her lesson fell on deaf ears since Cinder clearly had intention to kill her now. "Before you kill me however, try giving your abilities a try on the law enforcement that is coming from outside." She lifted a finger to the front gate where the windows where lighting up with red and blue.
Cinder glared at her but reluctantly looked at the front gate waiting for the breach.
The law enforcement barged into the warehouse confronting Cinder head on. "Freeze." An officer shouted to get her to surrender. Cinder however, had other ideas.
Her first action was sending a massive blue ring of fire that turned all the law enforcement into nothing but skeletons in armor. Several officers came in for the second wave in their tactics caught off guard from the first wave being already dead. "Someone alert Atlas!" an officer yelled in fear as they began to open fire at her.
Cinder saw the bullets fly at her in rapid succession. To her surprise the bullets barely phased her. She looked at them in anger as she pointed her hand yet again at them to her shock something behind her returned fire at the police she was in a war with. She turned around in confusion to see the dead White Fang members firing back at the enemy with decent accuracy. She turned her focus back to the police seeing them running in fear of the reanimated skeletons. "Get back up NOW!" an officer yelled as the prepared a defensive strike.
Cinder looked at Eliza a different look was in her eyes. "Eliza, I believe there was more to what you owed me." She spoke calmly as she began to grin. Eliza responded by walking toward her machine.
The flight back.
Winter looked at Filia and Carol with slight curiosity. "So, let me reiterate what the two of you just told me. You two claim to be from a world without Grimm." She spoke the first part which Filia nodded to confirm her summary. "However, there are a select number that are have accepted creatures called parasites that have unique abilities." Carol nodded on the second branch. "But all of you live in fear of a monster called the skullgirl."
Samson grinned a little as he spoke "Yeah that sounds about the gist of it." Then He yelped in slight pain. "Wow easy kid." Samson spoke sternly toward his host.
"You're the one who got tangled up in the fight And I don't have a brush." She spoke calmly as she moved her hand through him again like a comb. Winter dug into one of her bags and pulled one out to hand her. "Oh, Thank you." Filia nodded as she grabbed the comb to try to straighten out Samson.
Winter sat there watching Filia brush her hair with curiosity. She then looked at Carol. "You infected to?' She asked as Carol had a strange look on her face.
"Huh?" She asked looking confused as if she had not heard her. "Um, yeah dual infected." She quickly responded half focused as she began to look out toward Vale as they closed in. She seemed way to interested in the city she just caused havoc a few weeks ago.
Winter glanced at her coldly "Is there a problem?" Winter asked making sure Carol was not about to do something in destructive.
Carol stayed quiet looking at the town they were approaching on. "Why?" she mumbled just loud enough for Filia and Samson to hear her. She closed her eyes as she slowly strapped her mask on. She reached down and opened her case that all her blades where strapped into them. Filia watched curious as to what was going on.
Winter watched more concerned she was reaching for the remote that controlled the explosive brace on her neck. Her eyes as cold as when they first meant.
"Winter" Carol spoke up catching her off guard. She eyed her as she noticed them pass a gate tower that would be used in massive Grimm extermination if needed though the towers had laid dormant for centuries. Carol had tears coming out of her mask "I'm sorry. But I can't ignore it."
Winter raised an eyebrow as she went to ask however Carol slashed through the side of the ship and jumped out landing on a building below. She went to push the detonator to find Samson's lochs wrapped around her arm. "What is the meaning of this?" She angrily demanded looking at the two of them.
"I don't know what got into her but it is out of character for her to do this." She spoke quickly trying to fight the fear in her voice. Suddenly her scroll rang, she lifted one of her arms into her pocket and pulled it out curious as to who it was. "Hello?"
"Filia!" Ruby's voice came from the device almost frantic. "You won't believe this but Peacock and her team has gone nuts." Her concern made Filia raise an eyebrow. "Okay start from the beginning."
The beginning.
We were in Professor Peach's class I was not sure where Filia went. I guess she was trying to save her friend from Atlas' trial. His class was again just another one of his adventures. My sister Yang short while ago seemed to get a message from Filia though it looked like she was trying to message me over her.
I went back to my journal to notice a rustling to my left the other New Meridian students were here. Peacock seemed to be bored from the teachers lecture. Same could be said for Cerebella a dark-skinned circus performer that was reading her textbook to some degree. I could not see what Nadia was doing.
The rustling was coming from Peacock as her friend and parasite Avery was on the desk with a weird meter in his hand whispering to his boss. I tried to listen in but it seemed to be hard to hear anyway.
Thirty minutes went by wen suddenly she stood up with the rest of her team. "Sorry fellas but I gotta go punch in." She gave a slightly disturbing grin to show off her bear trapped teeth. "I gotta fight with evil." With that she jumped over her desk and dashed to the window the other three in hot pursuit.
I looked at Yang, Wiess, and Blake in confusion. "Did we miss something?" My sister asked. To which no one got a good idea for her sudden run out of the room.
"You know we could ask Filia she may know." Blake calmly suggested as she looked at the teacher's almost confused look on her face.
"We need to follow them." Wiess spoke up "We don't know what they will do if we are not watching them." All of us seemed to agree with that idea.
The ship
"Thanks Ruby chase after them I think I know what is going on." Filia spoke as she hung up. She looked back at Winter who was stilled looking at her while wrapped up in Samson. "Look I'm sorry about doing what I did but I need to save her from what she is going up against." Winter was still glaring at her angrily. She couldn't say anything though because Samson had gagged her. Filia looked at Samson with a look of annoyance before looking back at her. "I need to go. We'll return to Beacon, mark my words." She stated that in a promising tone as she grabbed Carols detonator switch and fed it to Samson. She then jumped as Samson let go of Winter.
Winter stood up and looked at where the Filia fell to see she landed on a rooftop in hot pursuit of Carol. She grabbed the radio close by to contact the battalion at Beacon. "This is Winter. Carol has gone rouge last seen heading for the warehouse district." She watched the two run as she left toward Beacon.
The Warehouse
The police have had a hard time dealing with their fallen comrades to a point drones had to be called in. The warehouse had been put into a warzone like state. The mysterious woman that had showed up seemed to have a terrifying Semblance that had never been seen before, Literal reanimation of the dead. Many of the corpse where just bullet sponges not even affective zombie ratification techniques like aiming for the head was working.
One officer had been position over ran causing him to panic. A skeleton was about to finish him off when a giant metal blade slashed through its hand followed by a fist strong enough to shatter the helmet's face guard. The officer looked at his savior in horror realizing it was the woman from the few weeks ago.
She seemed uninterested in him as he saw the barricade. "Did this all originate from the warehouse?" Her voice was graveled almost like she had a sore throat. The officer nodded trying not to provoke her. She looked forward toward the horde. She jumped into the small army as she made short work of the zombie creatures. She entered within minutes of stopping the small horde on her own. A small army consisting of eight students in Beacon uniforms came dashing past into the warehouse after the woman in her mask.
He stood there confused looking at the warehouse go silent. He heard a thud on his police car. He turned around a new female had landed on his car. She was looking at the trail of bodies before her red eyes caught him in her gaze. "Oh" She spoke in shock as she looked down at the car. "Sorry." She dropped down and began to run into the ware house.
The officer stood there in a confused state of mind observing the mysterious people that passed him. He pulled his radio from his car. "Uh, Dispatch. You are not going to believe this."
The ware house
Team Rwby had chased down the other members of the Avery unit to guarantee the three did nothing stupid. Wiess snuck in from the left to get a good view of the area. Yang came from the right. Blake took the ceilings as Ruby crept from behind. The four snuck around the ware house for a few minutes until they heard a peculiar cry.
Ruby looked through a crevasse between crates. A woman in a red dress was floating in midair, blue fire emanating from her back. Behind her next to a weird machine was a woman in a black dress and gold linings. "(That must be Eliza.)" She concluded silently as she watched the next few events unfold.
The woman in Red looked at them grinning menacingly. "So, you are who they send to challenge my power?" She scoffed as she looked at them.
Peacock tilted her top hat downward looking at her. "This ain't good fellas, she is definitely corrupted. Though she ain't the real one." She was reaching for her revolver incase things get dicey.
"Wait there's a way to tell?" Cerebella asked curiously. Her massive arms were cracking their knuckles getting ready to fight the mystery woman.
Carol never turned to face her but she did answer. "Yeah not an easy one. Her power is dropping fast, I'm guessing it was just a blood injection." Carol shot several spikes out of her body to build up her own anger. Peacock on the other and looked at her in confusion.
Ms. Fortune sighed with relief "At least it is not the real deal."
"Enough of this get'em girls." Peacock yelled as she signaled for a tiny bomb to come out of nowhere.
Eliza watched the fight with amusement until a presence caught her sixth sense. She dodged as a series of black tentacles slammed down next to her. She recognized it immediately to be from Filia. "Well Samson you ready to accept me as your true host?" It was hard to tell if she was taunting or being sincere.
Samson's eyes glared at her as did his host's. "Like hell." He growled angrily as he began to extend his hair around Filia to boost protection on her joints. "You'll pay for what you've done." He stated in a tone of rage.
Filia nodded in agreement. "I cannot forgive a monster. Especially the ones like you." She took a fighting position to prepare for a fight.
Eliza smiled a little. "Oh, you poor thing." She spoke almost cynical of what has happened. "How bout I crush your skull in and take Samson by force."
Eliza fired the first shot by launching a series of blood bass right at Filia. She dodged her attack because Samson launched her and himself into the air. Samson taking a more defensive stance formed a hard insect like shell on her back. Like clockwork on Samson's memory of her tactics, the red balls came back at him slashing onto him and Filia. He quickly dried himself and his host off as the two ran straight toward her.
The two's momentum caused Filia to trip which Samson took advantage of by forming a hair ball and rolled at Eliza. The two were knocked of course because of a crate Cerebella threw at the woman in red and missed. The two crashed into a wall and where dazed from the hit. Eliza walked toward them slowly getting ready to drain Filia's blood when a sniper rifle round nearly blew her hand off. She backed off in shock as She saw a little kid with a powerful looking sniper rifle aimed close to her.
"Stay away from my friend!" She yelled as Filia shook the confusion off. She turned and Saw the kid and smiled in gratitude.
"Thanks Ruby." She yelled as Samson Grabbed Eliza in rage. His tentacles were trying to crush her. In an attempt to escape, Eliza formed into a liquid puddle and went through his grasp. Her skeleton reappeared and began to slash out at Filia Samson was her only goal it seemed since she ignored two other sniper rounds this time around. Filia ducked under one of the skeletons strike then kicked it into the blood puddle it came from. Eliza's skin reformed quickly as she tried a different approach by forming tow blood sculptures that jabbed at Filia sending her into the sky. She was about to lay another strike when the woman in red rammed into her crashing the two at the foot of the machine.
Eliza stood up and looked down at her accomplice. She could tell she used to much of the energy she gave her. "Well Cinder, what did you think of your sample?" She asked certain she already knew the answer.
Cinder's eyes opened, her pupil returned to the yellow glow they originally where. "Need more." She urged as she got back up. Eliza just grinned as she gestured toward the gateway device.
"SOMEONE STOP'EM!" Peacock yelled as she fired at the escaping enemies. With no luck.
Carol began dashing at them trying to catch up but was easily falling short on the attempt. Ms. Fortune could already tell that none of them would reach her in time Cerebella lifted another crate with Vice-Versa's hands and threw it barely missing Carol. And came crashing next to Filia.
The two went through the device before blowing up leaving no way of chasing them. Filia walked up to it as well as the others in the warehouse. "That can't be good." Yang stated as she looked back at the front gate where an army of Atlas drones had surrounded the ware house.
Ozpin's office
Ozpin, Winter and Ironwood were looking at the five New Meridian transfers waiting for an answer. From what they could read Carol was ashamed she ran, since it affects her fate.
Ozpin looked at them before speaking. "First off I need to commend you for your bold actions today." This got some of their attention. "But now I must ask, what is it exactly that happened?"
The five girls looked at each other deciding who would explain it. Ms. Fortune looked back at them during their discussion before continuing it. From the mumbling, it seemed the two candidates where Fortune and Filia. Ms. Fortune approached the three heads as the others went back into a different position. "The woman that was flying around with the blue fire was only a sample of the threat the people in our world live in fear of."
"You mean the Skullgirl?" Ironwood asked for confirmation. Which was confirmed very quick. Winter looked at them with concern. Ozpin handed her a file report of information with the Skullgirl page marked. "What do you mean it was just a sample?" was his second question.
Peacock walked toward the desk as Avery prepared a slide show in a projector. "Exactly, It's simple. There is no way n hell that was a skullgirl from our world." She confirmed as Avery placed a green check mark on the overhead. "Fer starters, she was too powerful to be one." Ironwood and Winter looked at her confused. "Current projections say she'd have the power this one presented sometime next summer."
Winter still reading Oobleck's research notes looked up. "Then why was she stronger than the one today?" Peacock shrugged as she walked off hands in her pocket. Carol's face however lite up in realization.
"Blood!" She yelled catching all of them off guard. Peacock looked at her as she did in the ware house.
"Whad you goin' on about?" She asked getting annoyed.
Carol looked at Peacock. "I'm saying she was injected." She stated before looking back at the others. "It's no different than the early lab zero experiments. Back then they thought creating their own monsters or super soldiers we could destroy it for good." Peacock looked into the air where Avery nodded in agreement looking down at her face. "I'm guessing it was the last one's blood she was injected with."
Ozpin looked at them. "So here comes the most important question." He paused as the others looked at him. "How did she get it?"
Filia looked at Samson who was thinking the same thing. "Eliza." Samson stated. Confident in his answer. "Problem with the theory is the Scarlet Scourge almost never gets her hands dirty if possible." He closed his eyes to think.
"What about the person we picked up at the Atlas base." Filia suggested "If I were to guess, I think the woman in the red dress was working with Eliza. Could be possible that she had him under her payroll to like you said." She concluded her thinking only to have Samson give a low-key hum that suggested he could see the idea being possible.
"Regardless" Cerebella stepped up "We all know why they went to New Meridian."
Ozpin nodded in agreement. "Indeed." He looked toward Ironwood. "I believe I will be leaving soon General." He calmly remarked.
"Then I shall accompany you." Ironwood responded. Winter looked at the two in confusion. "Ozpin has been wanting to communicate with this world for alliance purposes. According to Filia, it is likely."
Winter though hesitant looked at the two. "Do you wish for me to watch after your ship while you are away?" She asked Ironwood who nodded in agreement.
"Filia" Ozpin spoke up. "Tomorrow inform your team, JNPR, that they will be leaving on a very daring mission into unknown." Goodwitch who was listening from a distance looked at him with a glare. "With all respect Glynda, they are heading to a world with no Grimm I doubt there will be too much trouble." Unnoticed to him however all the sentient parasites did a minor gesture suggesting it was not true. Goodwitch reluctantly nodded as Oobleck dashed into the room.
"Are we heading to New Meridian?" He asked enthusiastically. Ozpin nodded "By Jove I will accompany you at once. So much to pack for I shall return in a moment." He dashed out of the room as quick as he came in.
Cerebella watched wide eyed before looking at Ms. Fortune "When isn't he like that?" She asked her to point her thumb to the door. To several peoples shock the two actually were snickering together.
"Well I believe we have a plan now yes?" Ozpin asked looking at them. "I think its best you return to you return to your chambers and get some rest."
Peacock looked at them grinning. "I'll contact ASGL and tell'em to open our gate." She said leaving. The others followed quickly as Ozpin stood up to get his own supplies ready.
The dorms.
"So, what got into the New Meridians?" Jaune asked Ruby as the eight where sitting in the extended dorm Rwby had.
"It was some kind of crazy monster they called the skullgirl." Ruby said. "They bring it up a lot but I see why after today." She was still slightly scared from the way that woman looked with that power.
The door opened as Filia entered. Everyone gathered around her. She looked slightly startled. "Um, something wrong?' She asked cautiously.
"What happened to Carol?" Pyrrha asked looking at her with concern.
"Nothing they said her task was done once they found the dead bodies in the warehouse." She responded before counting who was in the room. "We can't celebrate though Ozpin gave us a big mission." She attempted to redirect the new mission they had which worked shockingly. "Team JNPR, Avery Unit and our team are about to do a very daring mission."
Ruby's silver eyes widen in realization at what that meant. "You don't mean?" She asked about to go into a self-induced sugar free energy surge. Filia closed her eyes as she nodded. She turned around a very peculiar shine in her eye. The kind that is in the eyes of a young blooded adventurer. "PACK YOUR BAGS TEAM, WE'RE GOING TO NEW MERIDIAN!" She yelled excitedly from the top of her lungs.
"Will you keep it down?" a voce could be heard from the other side of a wall.
"Sorry" Ruby whispered as the rest of her team went to sleep.
Filia stayed up for an hour after they all fell asleep. "At least we get to go back home right Samson?" She asked looking at Remnant's shattered moon for one last time.
"Yeah kid, but admit it. Your gonna miss this dump." Samson spoke his usual brand of sarcasm which Filia giggled at. "You get some rest I feel tomorrow is going to be one hell of a trip."