Winter sighs as she looks at the sleeping girls. Night has fallen, and Ruby was still on her mission. The Death Parasites were proving to be very dangerous. She has done the best she could to keep Ruby away from the secret, but she knew she couldn't do it forever. Ruby was going to find out and she will not be happy about it.
She turns to Wiess, who was sleeping. She covered her a bit more with the blanket before smiling. She looks over at Yang and Blake and sighs. She knew of Blake's past and the crimes done against her family. However, she could see that Blake felt bad for the things that happen and chose to become a huntress to help change people's thoughts on her kind. She already working with a few Fauuns herself, so Winter knew Blake was serious about turning over a new leaf.
She turned to Yang, who tried to stay awake, but lost the battle. As tough as she was, she could win every battle. Winter can relate to how Yang feels about Ruby. If it was Wiess that was on the death bed, she would drop everything and make sure she was alright. Winter loves her siblings, even if her little brother is a bit more like her father. From the short time she knew Ruby, she could understand why Yang was so protective of her.
Winter only knew Ruby from the letters that Weiss sent. Young, bash, and annoying at times. But, does prove to be an excellent leader when she needs to be. Weiss finds herself enjoying being around Ruby, even if she is too much at times. Winter could see that. When she heard about Ruby dying, she wanted to be there to comfort Wiess. But when she heard that Ruby survive, she was shocked. After learning that it was Grimm DNA that save her, Winter began to wonder how the Grimm DNA didn't kill her after what happened the last time someone was injected with Grimm DNA. However, there was one thing that stuck out that surprised a lot of people. Ruby had silver eyes. That eye color was rare. The last person to have them was Summer Rose, Ruby's mother. Did those eyes have something to do with the Grimm DNA not attacking her?
From what Winter was told, Ruby had no idea what her eyes were. She thought they were something she got from her mother. To this day, no one knows what those with silver eyes mean. It was rumored that the last person that had them could easily destroy Grimm with nothing more than a glare. They started calling the person the Grimm Reaper because of that.
She was snapped from her thoughts when she heard a beep coming from her computer. She turned the volume beforehand so it won't wake the three up. She stood up and saw Ruby was calling.
Ruby sighs after a really close mission. It was bad enough that the Parasite tried to kill her on the first meeting, but blowing up the entire Factily?! They were mad! Ruby took a breath as she recalls something else. She has been keeping it to herself because she wasn't sure if she was dreaming.
There were a few times she black out, only to awaken after the danger had passed. And just a few minutes ago, she stopped a count down and it felt like someone was helping her. It just seems too weird!
Ruby sighs before trying to reach Beacon. Winter soon appears.
"Miss Rose, your report?" She asked.
"I stop the boiler and learn that a Death Parasite was the one that started it. It took up the form of a human that wasn't the Death Rose." Ruby said.
"The Death Parasites can mimic a crew member. It all makes sense now. The Parasite can absorb the memories and knowledge of their prey. A very surprising find." Winter said, sounding surprised.
"I guess that's one way to look at it if you're not being hunted by these things." Ruby whispers.
"But don't you find it strange? This could have destroyed the station with the Death Parasites in it, not to mention the Death Rose. Unusual for a self-preserving species like the Parasites. Unless…" Winter started before thinking.
"Unless?" Ruby asked.
Ruby wasn't sure, she was starting to think that Winter was hiding something from her.
"Your presence is an even greater threat, a threat to the existence of Death Parasites elsewhere," Winter said, suspiring Ruby.
"WHAT?!" Ruby shouted.
They were trying to blow the building up because she was a threat to the Death Soul Parasites?! She was the greatest threat in the factory?!
"This is only a hypothesis. Perhaps. Their survival instinct is in conflict with their newly borrowed intelligence. Don't let your guard down yet. The Parasites are still a threat." Winter said, thinking.
Ruby was about to say something when they both heard a beep. Winter quickly went to work and was surprised at the find.
"Ruby, I see bio-signs on the Habitation Deck. Survivors? The infected crewman you saw must have survived until recently. Maybe there's a chance. The signs emanate from here." Winter said, surprised.
Survivors?! Ruby was starting to think that there were no survivors! She knew there was no time to waste. She needs to get to them before the Parasites do. She looked at the map and saw it was from the Main Deck.
"I have just restored power to the Main Elevator. Use it to return and look for any survivors. Good Luck, Ruby." Winter said before the connection turn off.
Ruby was cheering on the inside. One of the mission's objections was to find and save any survivors, and now there were some! She ran towards the Main Elevator and soon travel to the main deck. Once she reached the top, she notices a giant hole to her right.
"Wow, I guess that explains the shaking I heard earlier. The Death Rose must have blasted it open." Ruby said.
She quickly explores inside the hole a found a data pack. She then turns and started to run through the Main Deck, trying to find the survivors. She destroys and absorbs some Parasites before reaching the Habitation Deck. Her suit pick up some bio-signs and saw they were on the floor above her.
"Hey! If you hear me, Hang on! I'm coming to save you! I'm not a Death Soul Parasite!" Ruby shouted, climbing up a ladder. Once she reached the floor, she notices something running past the window. She couldn't make it out but didn't bother to think about it. She ran to the control unit and type in the code to open the door. Ruby turns to meet the one behind the door, hoping to explain or defend herself but was surprised to see that it wasn't people that step out.
Ruby watched as three odd monkeys jumped out, along with a wingless bird with a smaller one. The smaller bird hid behind the big one as it stare at Ruby. It could tell that there was something different about this human, almost as if it was here to help and dangerous at the same time. However, it senses that she wasn't here to hurt them, and bows its head. It soon ran off, with the three monkeys following after it as the young one tried to catch up.
Ruby blinks before sighing. They weren't people. But she did find survivors, that was a win in her book. After a bit, she ran back to the Navigation Room, contacting Beacon once more.
"Miss Rose? Your report?" Winter asked.
"I found the survivors, but they were some odd Monkeys and two flightless birds. They had run off. Best guess, they're trying to find someplace safer to hide." Ruby said.
"So the survivors were not humans, then I'm afraid we can now confirm the deaths of all crew members. I imagined this was the case, but I had hoped it wasn't so." Winter said, sighing sadly.
Ruby felt sad about it too. But she knew that she was doing them a favor by stopping the Parasites that used their bodies.
"I think the Death Parasites are evolving, growing stronger. Some are now appearing that resist your current weapons. We anticipated this and sent Power Bomb data as soon as he finished it. Download it immediately. Our choice of Data Rooms is limited to this one in Sector 5 (ARC). Go. Now." Winter said.
Ruby nodded. After all, some of the Parasites were growing stronger like she was. She needs to hurry. She turns from the Navigation room and ran back towards the Main Elevator.
Beacon,
Winter leans back in her chair, making a small prayer for the people that lost their lives. She has already sent her report to Ironwood and was surprised about one thing. She has no idea that those things were still in the facility. However, they weren't infected by the parasites. Making them harmless. They must have hidden themselves when the Parasites broke free.
She sighs and turns to the still sleepy girls. She was glad they weren't awake for this. After everything they had been through, they needed the sleep. She only hopes that Ruby doesn't get added to the list of fallen people in the facility.
Well, it's been over three months since the update, and it appears that not everyone could think of what to replace the Etecoons and Dachoras. So I just went with whatever popped in my head. No bosses or Power-ups this time. But Ruby will get one of the strongest power-ups from the Metroid Series in the next chapter. I don't recall getting anything else about the Power Bombs other than from sundew112604, so I'll be using his/her idea for the Power Bombs.
And I finally got Metroid Dread! I haven't beaten it yet, but I'm still getting used to the game. I kept getting lost a few times. First-time player, happens to everyone.