Professor Sin stood at the landing pad, scroll in hand as the rain beat against him from the side. The frequent lightning strikes kept the sky lit even through the full shroud of clouds, the rapid heating and expansion of air causing shockwaves of thunder powerful enough to vibrate the ground.
He pushed his earbuds deeper into his ears, unable to hear as the storm assaulted him from every angle, thank whoever invented waterproof clothing.
"MARK!" he shouted at his scroll, "Dammit answer your phone!"
The rain heavy enough to obstruct his view of his scroll mere inches from his face and the thunder loud enough to deafen him through high end earbuds ruined his chances at communicating with his friend and colleague. Lowering his scroll the virologist looked up using one hand to shield his face as he scanned the darkened sky for the bullhead he was waiting on. This storm canceled all local flights, but a call to Atlas got him one used by the Atlas military, a ship that would hold up against the merciless storm. Another research facility went silent and his friend Mark Shore has been MIA for two weeks, it wasn't like him. Shore never went more than two days without reporting in, what's worse is researchers, doctors and hunters that specialized in capturing specimens alive have been going missing as of late and search and rescue teams have either turned up remains or nothing at all.
Sin wasn't going to wait for updates anymore, he was going to find his friend, he wasn't going to lose another one and he'd be damned before he let something as trivial as a supercell stop him.
The sky boomed again causing him to flinch, "Shut up!" he shouted at the storm as if the storm would obey him.
He scanned the sky again spotting a searchlight rapidly approaching his location. Standing clear for the airship to land he jumped on the moment the doors opened without waiting for the boarding ramp. Moving to the cockpit he greeted the two pilots and asked if Ironwood briefed them on the flight. Both pilots confirmed their destination and assignment before telling him the ETA and Sin stepped back into the passenger section to try and relax. He knew he wasn't going to sleep so he decided to check his equipment, his weapons, his ammo, his rations and other supplies. He swore over and over as he checked through everything, he knew Mark could handle himself, but for him to go completely silent something had to have happened. There had recently been suspicions of sabotage going through the staff at the dozens of research and containment facilities, maybe Mark found some truth to it.
"Could have left me a message you stripped tailed asshole" he growled again as he closed his bag.
The ship shook frequently as it traversed through the violent storm making Sin even more agitated with each bout of turbulence, he knew the hull would withstand it and the engines were powerful enough to keep them on course, but the shaking was only adding to his frustration. Hearing his scroll ring he quickly dived his hand into his pocket to retrieve it, answering without seeing who was calling.
"Mark?" he asked, thinking his friend was finally calling him back.
"No" he heard a familiar voice reply, "It's Yang."
Sin released a slow exhale away from the scroll, "Is everything okay?" he asked, trying to calm himself to not upset or worry her.
"Yeah" Yang answered, "Or, well. It's about what you said yesterday, when you were telling us about your days as a student."
Sin recalled the previous day, he was speaking to Yang and her team, telling them the story of their uncle Qrow being tricked into wearing a skirt to class. Of course Ruby and Yang had heard that story before, but what they didn't know was that on that same day Sin's teammate Ivy had worn one of his uniforms because she forgot to do her laundry and didn't have a clean uniform of her own and ever since she wore a boy's uniform every day.
Sin laughed as he told them that both Qrow and their father Taiyang complained about how the uniform looked better on Ivy than it did on most boys. The sisters laughed while Weiss and Blake merely smiled. Sin showed them a picture of their professor when she was younger wearing a boy's uniform, then they saw a picture of Sin, his old teammate Alfred Norne, their uncle Qrow and their father all wearing the skirts of Beacon's uniform.
He told them, "We were making fun of Qrow about the skirt thing that day and he told us that we didn't have the guts to wear one so we all wore one to prove him wrong…" he trailed off as he stared at the picture, "I remember Raven yelled at me, she said I wasn't allowed to look better in a skirt than her and threw a pair of my pants at me demanding I change."
Yang chuckled as she envisioned that before her mind drifted to thoughts of her mother. She disappeared one day without a word to anyone, not even her father.
"What did mom say about that?" Ruby asked, bringing Yang out of her thoughts.
Sin laughed again, "Summer said I was a pretty girl, to which I told her yes, yes I am" he stood up from his desk and acted like he was picking someone up in his arms, "That's when I swept her off her feet and said that's why we were a perfect match, two pretty girls."
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Childish" she muttered.
Yang grinned, "And what did she do after that?"
Sin told them, "Well I carried her back to our dorms and she laughed the whole time, but when we got back to their room she told me to put her down."
"Did you?" Blake asked.
"No" Sin answered, "Instead" he turned to her still acting like he was carrying Summer Rose in his arms as he locked eyes with Blake and stepped closer nearly face to face with her, "I leaned in close, looked her right in the eyes and said 'But your feet are so tired from running through my dreams all night'."
"Damn Cassonova" Yang grinned while Blake blushed and retreated a step, that line sounding like it could have come from one of her books.
Sin calmed and sat at the edge of his desk, "I, I always had a thing for Summer. I was in love with her from day one."
Weiss asked, "I guess it never panned out?"
Sin shook his head, "It did for a little while. Summer and I spent a lot of time together. I knew she was in love with Tai, but when he and Raven got married…" he trailed off again, "I, don't want to say she settled for me, but sometimes I do feel like I was a backup. I never blamed her for it, she loved Tai just like I loved her and I did everything in my power to make her happy."
Blake asked, "What happened?"
Sin paused, "Raven, she disappeared one day. Just out of the blue and…Tai was distraught, heartbroken, we all were. We tried looking for her, sent word out to all of our old friends to keep an eye out for her and after a while put out some missing person reports, but nothing ever came of it. Then after about a year Summer told me she couldn't be with me when Tai was like that. At first I was upset, but we talked about it and I realized her feelings for Tai never went away. It started off slow, but over time she was spending more and more time with him and eventually her and I had that talk."
"She cheated on you?" Yang asked in disbelief.
Ruby's gaze fell to the floor, her mother wasn't that kind of person right? She barely had any memory of her mom, but every story she was ever told about her was how amazing Summer Rose was.
"No" Sin said to Yang, stopping Ruby's thoughts from going any further, "She never cheated on me with him, she wasn't that kind of person. We talked about our relationship. It was obvious that we loved each other, but while I was in love with her, her love for your father was stronger than her love for me."
"What did you do?" Blake asked him.
He recalled, "I wanted her to be happy, even if that meant it wasn't with me."
"You let her go" Weiss finished and they watched as he nodded.
"Everything changed when Raven disappeared" he noted, "We all stayed friends and remained close so there wasn't any animosity or anything, but there were still times I wished she had chosen me, but that's just how things go sometimes. I wouldn't change it even if I could though."
"Why?" Weiss asked him, "It's pretty obvious that you're still hurting over it, why wouldn't you change it if you had the power to?"
Sin offered a warm smile as he nodded toward Ruby, "Because we wouldn't have Ruby."
Ruby's cheeks brightened as she heard that, but Weiss scoffed, "Doesn't sound like a bad thing to me."
Ruby turned to Weiss, "You're just jealous that Sin likes me more" she teased.
"As if" Weiss fired back.
"Easy you two" Sin said, "I don't want some of my favorite girls fighting now, besides it's getting late and I've got calls to make so take it back to your room."
Blake started leaving first, followed by Weiss and then Ruby who was still teasing Weiss while Yang stayed behind, "Sin" she began, "Did you ever hear anything about my mom?"
Sin hesitated and it showed, "I. I did go looking for her once, but" his scroll rang and he stood up to answer it his expression immediately replaced with that hyper focused look he has when it comes to his own research letting Yang know she wasn't going to get an answer.
Sin said, "When you asked about your mother?"
"Yeah" Yang answered quietly, "Did you ever hear anything about her?"
"Nothing conclusive" he told her, "Someone that loosely matches her description only to not be her. There was a time I thought I had found her, but there was nothing, I know I was close though."
"Do you think she's alive?" Yang asked with obvious hesitation in her tone.
"I know she is" Sin told her, "Don't ask me how, but I know she is and wherever she is and whatever she's doing, I know she's taking care of herself."
"Do you think she cares?" the blonde asked him, her voice trembling at the thought, "Does she even care about us? About dad? About me?"
"She does" Sin told her immediately, "Raven was different from the rest of us, I'm sure Tai and Qrow have told you, she wasn't as social as the rest of us, but I know she cares about you Yang and I know she still cares about Tai. I don't know her reasons for leaving, but I know even if it's not in the same way you or I would express it, I know she still loves you."
Trying to keep herself from shouting Yang half-yelled, "Then why did she leave?"
Hearing her frustration, her held back tears, Sin felt his own heart sink, "I wish I knew. I wish I knew a lot of things, but I promise you one day we'll see her again and she better have a damn good explanation for it."
He heard a strained chuckle from the girl, "You got that right. Where are you by the way? I went to your room to talk to you in person, but Professor Goodwitch said you left."
"Heading off to look for an old friend" he told her, "He's been MIA for a couple of weeks and with everything that's happened I'm worried."
"I guess I would be too" Yang said, "Just. Be careful okay?"
Sin nods even though she can't see him, "I will be. No matter what, I'm not going to let anything stop me until my work is complete, for Velvet, for Summer and for you and Ruby."
"Good" Yang answered, trying to regain her usual composure, "I won't forgive you if you disappear too."
Sin allowed himself to laugh, "Well that thought will definitely be the reason I come back in one piece then, don't need you tracking me down with those pretty red eyes of rage."
Yang chuckled, "Trying to flirt with me now?"
Sin laughed again, "Go to bed Yang, I'll see you all when I come back."
Ending the call, Yang lowered her scroll, the sky outside lit up with half a dozen rapid flashes as lightning streaked accompanied by the booming thunder that shook the window she sat next to. Turning sideways on the window sill she brought one of her legs up bringing her knee to her chest wrapping her arms around it as she stared past the torrential rain and to the darkened city of Vale. Lately every day felt like this, overcast and gloomy, dark and melancholy with feelings of desolate lethargy shared by nearly everyone. A full week managed to go by without any reported deaths, at least from the four academies, there were still plenty of stories of grimm victims around the rest of Remnant. Even on days that were tragedy free there was still that feeling even if no one mentioned it out loud, despair, hopelessness, bleak.
"Please come back alive" Yang said, holding the vision of her recently departed professor, "Ruby isn't the only one that needs you."
Hours ticked by and finally Sin reached his destination, the edge of the horizon shone brightly as the sun rose to usher in a new day. Entering the cockpit Sin looked out the window as the pilot flew over the facility to get an idea of what the situation was.
"No sign of any damage" the co-pilot noted, "Landing pad looks to be in good shape."
"Bring us in slow" Sin told them, "I don't like this."
Securing his bag and readying his gun, Sin waited by the door for the airship to land and when the doors opened and the ramp lowered he slowly stepped off, weapon raised and scanning his surroundings.
Once sure it was clear he motioned for the pilots to take off and wait for his call and once the ship was gone he retrieved his scroll to try calling his friend again only to receive the same response he had the last dozen times he tried. Securing his bag and weapons he began making his way toward the isolated facility that went quiet, the fourth largest in Remnant, isolated in the mountains away from the public and smaller villages for safety. As he descended the stairs of the landing pad he realized how much his footsteps echoed on the steel, everything was too quiet.
"No birds" he noted in his head, "No crickets, everything is silent."
In the jungle the surest sign that a predator is nearby is when everything goes quiet, the other animals falling silent to hide.
Sin tightly gripped the handle of his pistol, the outline of his knuckles showing as they tensed against his skin, he stopped at the halfway platform to scan his surroundings again. He couldn't see it, but it was there and it was watching him, waiting for him to come out into open ground.
Turning his gaze to the door into the facility he measured the distance in his head, depending on what kind of grimm was waiting for him he might be able to make it inside before it gets to him, but if it turns out to be faster then he'd be forced to fight it and the sound of a fight, let alone a gunshot would attract more attention than he wanted to deal with.
"Still can't let it roam free to infect something else" he thought.
Looking over the railing and to the ground below he checked under the landing pad supports and under the staircase to make sure nothing was waiting for him and once he confirmed it was clear he leapt over the railing, tucking his knees into his chest and rolling as he landed to absorb the impact. Quickly getting up to one knee he aimed his gun at the tree line, a large tear in the high voltage fence, the only opening in the fence other than the gate at the other side of the compound, whatever was watching him would come from there.
Slowly standing up he took a slow, deliberate sidestep toward the facility's entrance waiting for whatever was waiting to come rushing at him.
As he reached the door he saw it, the pair of red eyes hidden low in the shrubbery watching him. Sin kept his eyes on the monster as he reached for the keypad and typed in his code and the moment the door hissed he heard something heavy land on the stake of steel containers next to him. Quickly turning his head he was almost face to face with the red eyes and black body of a silent claw, a grimm mutated from a panther, growling as it prepared to pounce.
"Clever girl" he muttered before it pounced on him.
His aura took the brunt of the pounce and the following bite as Sin rolled back with the attack to use the grimm's momentum against it and throw it behind him, but as he scrambled to his feet the one that was watching him from outside began running toward him. Turning Sin sidestepped the next pounce, he knew if these things got him on the ground he was done for, they would maul at him until his aura shattered, he had to stay on his feet. With the second pounce evaded Sin brought his foot back and with his eyes locked right against the barreled chest of the monster he flung his leg forward expelling a burst of his aura at the same time to send it flying across the ground and into the high voltage fence. Watching the silent claw impact the fence without being shocked confirmed his suspicion that the fences were down, which meant if anything escaped from the facility it would be able to escape unhindered into the wild.
The one that ambushed him began circling him, just like a predator, locking eye contact with him as it waited for him to move first or to get behind him. While he was sure he could take both of them he didn't want to waste any more time than he already had and there was no telling what he would find inside, he needed to end this quickly to conserve his ammo and stamina.
Feigning a lunge, Sin rocked back on his heel as the mutant panther lunged back at him, Sin held his arm up sideways aiming a block at the throat as he leaned to the right and once the monster's neck landed against his forearm he turned, shifting the position and weight so the silent claw would fall onto its back and he could press his weight against it. Swinging its claws at him in a feral rage and snapping its jaws at him Sin drew his hand back and drove his gun into its maw, the feeling of its fangs and teeth chomping down on him arm felt even through his aura, but he gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times each gunshot barely muffled back the grimm's mouth.
The mutant panther's body fell limp and it's jaw slack as the bullets tore through the base of its skull killing it. Sin quickly pulled his arm from its mouth and turned back to the door to enter his code again to unlock it as the second monster sprinted toward him. Opening the door Sin quickly stepped inside and grabbed the joint of the door damper at the top of the door and pulled it down breaking it. Without the damper slowing the door's closing he waited for the grimm to get closer and then pounce before he slammed it shut with all his might catching the monster right as it reached him. Stunned from the door slamming into its side the silent claw slowly leaned against the wall as Sin placed his foot against the door and using the wall for support pushed with all his strength kicking the door closed and crushing the grimm's skull between the door and wall.
Watching the black ooze like blood fly and splatter along with the bits of brain Sin closed the door and waited for the body to begin dissolving into a black mist before he turned his attention to the stairs finally taking note of the dimly lit red emergency lighting that barely illuminated the corridor. Getting flashbacks to the Vrede facility incident Sin readied his pistol and flicked the switch turning on the attached flashlight as he slowly descended the staircase into the next nightmare.