busts in, yells that ONE line from SK8 the Infinity's dub, episode 8, time stamp 17:20

I moved into a new apartment for college recently- this place is sort of a let down. Haven't been promised any of the stuff I signed up for. And the AC is broken.

Fun.

Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5


Returning to Atlas, the group decided to first head to Ironwood to report what was going on. He was sure to find their escapades concerning, especially since they dealt with a multitude of Grimm and the Omnitrix was still acting up.

"And just when you got the new upgrade, too. Guess the firmware isn't up to date." Ruby frowned. "Or it's just broken."

"I'm hoping it's just the weird orb," Ben sighed, "If it isn't...well, I doubt I can just call up Azmuth and ask for tech support."

"I'm hurt that you forgot I could try and fix it," Ceres scoffed.

Ben paused. "Oh, yeah. I almost forgot."

Ceres sighed. "We'll take a look after our meeting is over. For now, let's just be brief."

The group made their way to Ironwood's office, only to find the general wasn't there. Instead, standing in front of his desk, looking over reports on a Scroll was the woman who had originally sent Team RWBY out on the mission that led them to the orb in the mountains, Lieutenant Colonel Olivia Harper.

She looked up from her Scroll when she heard the door to Ironwood's office hiss open.

"Ah, you're back. Good," Olivia nodded, closing her Scroll and stowing it in a jacket pocket for now.

"Where's the general?" Rex asked.

"Overseeing business at the communication tower at the moment. Did you need something?" Olivia asked.

"We have something the general's gonna need to see ASAP." Ben said, holding up the piece of metal.

"And that is?" Olivia asked with a raised brow.

"Part of a device that lured in Grimm," Ruby explained.

"I...see. Hmm...this wouldn't happen to be related to Dr. Polendina's current project would it?"

"We gave him the pieces to reassemble, figure out how it works," Yang said, "but this piece is from a second orb at Essen."

"A second?" Olivia's hummed in thought.

"Might be military grade...but if it is, then how'd it get out into the wilderness and outside a fringe settlement?" Weiss asked.

"An excellent question. I'll inform the general as soon as possible about this. Maybe I can find out something else that'll lead us towards their origin as well."

"Please do- I'm worried it's messing with the Omnitrix." Ben said. "It hasn't been functioning right since."

"Worrisome." Olivia nodded. "I'll contact him ASAP then."

"Thanks," Ben nodded.

"In the meantime," the lieutenant-colonel checked her Scroll again, "Right on schedule. I believe the Ace-Ops' next briefing is up soon. If you were free, Clover wanted you to attend as well."

Rex groaned. "Oh, God. Not another one of them..."

"Why, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"They're boring, long and take forever. They could just be emails."

"Would you rather I assign you to Gehen Station guard duty, Operative Salazar?" the lieutenant-colonel asked, "Just as long, but that can't be an email."

"Aaaaand shutting up now!"

"You guys attend the meeting." Ben said. "Ceres- I think it's time we figured out what's up with the Omnitrix."


Ceres examined the piece of metal on a specialized 'scanning' table. She hummed as she looked at the piece. "Okay, so it IS man made metal, native to Earth, so we can rule out alien interference with this tech." She swiped through some screens. "But here's the weird thing."

Ben perked up. He was fiddling with the watch to arrange his available aliens into an accessible playlist. "Talk to me."

"Apparently this metal resonated with something so strong that when it released, it sent out a signal that counteracted the Omnitrix's own frequencies, scrambling it." Ceres explained. "But we can't identify WHAT it was."

"So the problem isn't really the tech itself, but what it was containing?" Ben asked, just to make sure he had that right.

Ceres nodded. "Yep. The energy did a huge number on the watch- how many aliens do you have now?"

"Not a lot. Arctiguana, Bloxx, Cannonbolt, Jetray, Diamondhead, Eye Guy, Feedback, Four Arms, Nanomech, Heatblast, Shocksquatch, Woodworker, Wildmutt, Wildvine annnnnnnnd XLR8. Some classics, but I got a lot of my new guys." Ben said.

"Strange mix. Wonder why those are the ones that were spared the lockout," Ceres hummed.

"I think some of them were because they're the newest batch." Ben theorized. "And besides, I did need an excuse to use them more."

"Well yeah, those make sense. Shocksquatch, Woodworker, and Eye Guy were all unlocked when we were saving the multiverse...but Arctiguana and Wildmutt you used for the first time today. Four Arms and the others...maybe it's because they're some of your most used forms?" Ceres offered, a bit unsure of the theory herself.

"Works for Diamondhead and Nanomech, Bloxx's kinda more situational though. Don't use him as much as, say, Heatblast or Four Arms," Ben said.

"He's still pretty useful. Lego bricks flying at 80 MPH sounds pretty painful." Ceres said.

"Doesn't plastic get messed up in the cold?" Ben asked.

"Well it does become harder...but more brittle," Ceres mused.

"So in other words, I shoot a Lego brick that slams into someone's face and then shatters." Ben said.

"Could be painful. Plus, fragments of legos. Equally painful." Doctor Weller said, walking over. "Sorry, eavesdropped. You said something about 'unidentifiable energy'?"

"Yeah. Turns out, we just discovered what are basically technological Grimm lures," Ben said.

"Grimm lures? Impossible. The only confirmed things that can lure in the Grimm are-" Weller began.

"Negative emotions, we know," Ceres said.

"And strong Auras. It was a recent study from Vacuo, but apparently the Grimm prioritize targets with stronger Auras. The negative emotions are more of a general warning bell to draw in hordes. But in the middle of a hunt, it's Aura strength they look for, regardless of the emotions."

"So, let's say...between me and Clover, the Grimm would probably go for Clover because he's got a larger supply of Aura." Ben hummed. "Where'd they get the stuff to replicate the Aura?"

"Don't know- Aura isn't an 'artificial' thing." Doctor Weller said.

"So then, we're back at square one," Ceres said, "The only two things that Grimm can be lured by can't be replicated, but we saw that it worked. This right here," Ceres picked up the metal scrap to show to Weller, "was part of an orb that brought a Megoliath down on Essen."

"Hmmm...do you have anyone else working on this?" Weller wondered.

"Dr. Polendina's working on reconstructing the orb Ruby found," Ben answered.

"Ooh, perfect!"

"Do you think you can maybe collab with him?" Ben asked. "This kinda looks like a two person job, especially with how urgently we need to figure out the energy." Ben looked down at the watch. "I wanna repair this thing ASAP."

"That is precisely why I asked! He in his lab still?" Weller asked.

"Last I checked, yeah," Ceres answered.

"Excellent! If you don't mind, I'll take that," the eccentric doctor said as he took hold of the tech scrap.

"Well, good to know we have Atlas's finest minds involved in our case." Ben said. "And that Bram guy, too."

"We're building a good fellowship here." Ceres said. "Now, come on. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll catch the tail end of the Ace Ops debriefing."

"Bram? Hmm, that name sounds familiar...why can I not place it," Weller wondered as he walked off, "Caliban, meet me at Doctor Polendina's on-site lab! We have a mystery to solve!"


Ben and Ceres were very lucky to have joined the end of the Ace Ops meeting, mostly because they walked. Lord knows how boring the meeting was.

"Sorry, sorry. Omnitrix issues. Valid excuse!" Ben said as they joined the group.

"When was the last time you actually had issues with that thing?" Elm asked, turning around in her seat.

"Well-" Ben started.

"That wasn't caused by some crazy alien arms dealer," the Ace-Op finished.

"Ahem," Clover cleared his throat, "If we're done?"

"Sorry, sorry. Continue." Ben said, taking his seat. "Just start from wherever I walked in."

"Then in that case," Clover pressed a button on a small remote that changed the holo-screen behind him to show a series of ruins located somewhere out in the tundra. There was a large, almost colosseum-like structure that seemed to serve as the centerpiece of the ruins, with smaller stone markers littering the snow fields around it, like pieces of Stonehenge.

"Vine. As of late, some artifacts have been taken from the Tumak Ruins Heritage Site. We think it may have been the archeologists themselves or crewmembers trying to pawn them off on the black market. Those relics are ancient, pre-dating the Great War and the Atlas Historical Society wants them back," the lead Ace-Op continues.

"Retrieval mission. Easy enough," the monk-like Ace-Op nodded.

"That brings us to you all," Clover said, motioning to the others in the room, "Harriet, reports are coming in about a rise in crime in Atlas. Just last week, an SDC investor was assaulted in broad daylight. While the assailants weren't caught themselves, we did manage to get visuals on their weaponry."

The lead Ace-Op pressed the remote's button again, showing a somewhat static-y street camera snapshot of four very well-dressed people. One was the SDC investor, based on the snowflake logo on his suitcase, two of them were normal people, one was a redheaded girl wielding what looked like a hi-tech Tommy gun, while the guy next to her was wielding Lightning Dust knuckles. The largest of the trio of thugs had a metallic arm that extended out to be as a bludgeon.

"No respect..." Harriet scoffed.

"We believe that an arms dealing and furnishing ring has been set up in the city. One of our informants said that a deal recently took place in a Dust mine south of Mantle. They had to clear out in a hurry when Grimm activity in the area spiked. I want you and the others to find any evidence you can of the ring, see if it leads us in the direction of their would-be kingpin."

"I didn't realize Atlas really had any organized crime. I thought all the issues were concentrated in Mantle." Ruby said.

"Yeah, this place is like a paradise. You guys have the mafia here?" Yang added.

"Something like that," Marrow said, "It's not like we have our own Scarface or anything. We're talking smaller crews that mostly deal outside the city."

"One of the biggest underworld businesses in Atlas, to this day actually, is smuggling. Atlas tech has a way of ending up on the black market because people over here just can't have one or two steady streams of income, you gotta get that extra shady third option," Elm added.

"I guess when you have the most advanced Hunter tech around, you'd wanna pass it around." Ben frowned. "So I'm guessing we're gonna tail these guys, do a stakeout, something like that?"

"Less glamorous," Clover corrected, "We believe the deal never went down in full because of the Grimm activity. And, as such, the criminals cleared out of the cave in a hurry. They were sloppy, probably left evidence behind in a panic."

Ben smirked. "Clover, it is REALLY your lucky day."

"Ben just unlocked a dog alien that can sniff out the stuff you're looking for," Kylie said. "That's really great timing."

"And you're still gonna send me with them?" Harriet asked.

"This is your mission, Harriet. You're in command," Clover answered.

Rex silently cursed to himself.

"Don't worry, Harriet. We'll be on our best behavior." Ceres joked.

"Why does that not instill me with hope?" Harriet grumbled.

"And with that, you all have your assignments," Clover said, pushing the remote's button one last time to close the holo-screen, "Dismissed."

Ben stood back up, and clapped his hands. "Alright. So, I take it we'll be heading to that mine right now."

"Hold your horses." Harriet huffed. "Gimme a few minutes, and THEN we'll go."

"Wait, what? Aren't you usually-?" Rex started.

"I gotta take care of something, ok?" Harriet said, hoping to shut down any further questions.

Harriet left the room, as the group turned to Marrow and Elm for answers.

"Don't look at us. We're just as confused as you are." Marrow said. "Do you know how hard it is to have an emotional connection to her? It's like trying to punch your way through a brick wall."

"That's hard for you?" Elm asked.

"Ok, fine. Brick wall for me, Paladin armor for you," Marrow corrected.

"Ah, better." Elm said. "But, yeah. Harriet's been more distant than usual. I don't know what's up, but I know she'll never tell us."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "I think it might have something to do with Chiffon, back at the training camp."

"Is it just me or has Harriet just been taking one blow after another lately? Chiffon, the thing with Gatlocke a while back..." Ruby listed off.

"Me going off on her because of a stupid alien death machine," Elm added with a sigh, "Think that was really the start of it."

"One hell of a domino effect." Ben frowned.

"So, how about this- we do whatever she says, and take some stress off her back." Weiss proposed. "If we don't cause any trouble, she gets to breathe for a few minutes."

"Honestly, she deserves it," Elm said, "I know I apologized for what I brought up back then but...I dunno if she ever actually accepted that."

"Harriet's state is...difficult to explain," Vine chimed in, "In the spirit of confidentiality between teammates, I cannot share what this is really about. Just know that she and I have been...talking."

"...you have?" Elm and Marrow asked in unison.

"I may not be as vocal as you all, but I still have my own verbal strengths."

Ben looked around. "Okay, so what can you tell us now? We want to help."

"We may not get along with her, but it doesn't mean we can't be concerned." Kylie said.

"That is fair. But Harriet is...particularly closed off about this. In truth, I should not even be telling you that we've been talking. It is...an old wound. One that I doubt has ever properly healed," Vine explained.

"Ah." Ben said. "Then we shouldn't pry any further. Just leave at that. We'll just cooperate with her."

"As long as she doesn't abuse her power over us." Rex said. Weiss elbowed him in the stomach.

Outside, Harriet was off to the side and speaking softly so no one would be able to really hear her.

"Look...we're gonna have to move it back. I...don't know how long this is gonna take. New case got assigned," Harriet said into her Scroll.

"Yeah, no, I know it's important. I fu-" the speedster stopped herself, "I get it. Wasn't expecting a mission today is all. Let's be generous here, say its a short course. Couple of days. That'd still work?"

She went silent so the voice on the other end could explain.

"Perfect. And...thanks. I already told Vine so..."

Harriet took a deep breath. "Thank you. I'll give you details if anything changes. I promise I won't miss this next meeting, okay?" Pause. "Okay. Thanks. I'll talk to you soon."

Harriet hung up her scroll, and turned back around. She had her game face on now.

The doors slid open as Harriet adjusted one of her gloves.

"Ok, people. Now I'm ready," Harriet said.

The group saluted her. "Ready to go when you are." Marrow said.

Harriet raised an eyebrow. "That's more like it..."


The Mantas landed outside of a smaller Dust mine out in the southern tundras. This place was even older than the old SDC mine that was under the still-under-construction Amity. On the outside, the only structures around were some small administrative trailers and shifting and transporting machinery, all of which had been rusted and broken over time. One of the trailers' roofs had collapsed, letting snow fill up the interior. Unlike the mineshaft used to supply Amity, this one was actually entirely bereft of that familiar snowflake iconography.

"How old is this place?" Yang asked, seeing it before jumping out of the Manta's open doors.

"Old enough to where the Schnee company actually still had rivals," Harriet noted, "Marrow, Rex, Kylie, Weiss. You four start checking the trailers, see if our friends used them for storage or something. Maybe they set up computers in there. Everyone else," the Fast Knuckles unfolded and slid over Harriet's hands, "we're going down."

Ben held up the Omnitrix. "Should I whip out the new guy? I gotta warn you- he's pretty weird."

"Whatever. If it helps with the mission." Harriet said.

Without even waiting for Ben, Harriet motioned for the others to follow her down into the mineshaft. Ben dialed up the new alien and slammed down on the watch, transforming into Wildmutt. When Harriet looked over her shoulder to see what kind of "weird" Ben meant, she may have been caught off guard.

"Doesn't he have a werewolf or something in there?" Harriet muttered.

"Out of commission." Ruby said.

"Plus someone tried to shoot at him last time." Ceres said. "Confused him for a Beowolf."

"Of course," Harriet sighed, "Too much to hope he can talk like that?"

"Yeaaaah. He understands us still, though," Ruby confirmed,

Wildmutt began sniffing the ground, and began galloping down the tunnel. The group followed close behind.

"Guess our new 'bloodhound's' got the scent," Harriet said, racing down after the orange canine alien.

Ben led the group into a deep part of the cavern, and began sniffing around the area. "Alright, he got a scent. Scan the area!" Harriet said, and the group followed her orders.

Harriet was...still a bit surprised at how easily everyone was complying. Usually by now, the Outcasts would be making some sort of reckless "not-a-plan" to save the day, or she and Elm would be getting into an argument over her leadership style. What changed today?

Ben sniffed around for a few minutes, and found something. He began barking, allowing for the others to gather around him. He reverted back to human. "Got something!"

Harriet moved aside some rocks and discovered a few hidden cases, all padlocked. With a quick strike from her fists, the locks came flying off and he quickly opened the first case. Inside was a similar, if not the same, type of Tommy gun they saw in the street camera shot.

"Jackpot," Harriet said.

"Woah, a real tommy gun. How come more people don't use these things in combat?" Ben asked. "Thought they'd be more of a shoe in."

"It's prone to jamming and very heavy to lug around." Ruby explained. "So, not all that reliable."

"Looks like it jammed here," Harriet frowned, looking at a claw mark on the side of the case.

Ruby carefully picked up the weapon and looked it over. It was made of the same materials as the standard Atlesian rifles, but then she noticed the drum magazine. It was modified a bit, almost in the same way that a weapon would be to hold Dust rounds, only there was no Dust in this.

"Okay...that's weird..." Ruby muttered, "Refurbishing might have been too light a word. Upgrade's more like it."

"Pretty shoddily too, if I might add." Ceres said. "Looks like their weapon's technician was drunk when they fixed this up."

"It must've been a bad deal, then." Harriet said.

"Looks like they wanted to have the same kind of punch a Dust weapon has...but without the Dust," Ruby said, "Improvised electric gun…huh."

"Modified for use without an Aura?" Ben said. "...tricked out by a shoddy technician- Oh, God."

"What? You know something?" Harriet asked.

"I've got a creeping suspicion I might know who tricked this thing out." Ben frowned, looking at Ceres.

"...No," the Archmedian realized.

"Yes."

"Are you goddamn serious? How'd his finger painted face get involved with high class mafia guys!?"

"Ok, enough with the pronoun game. Who the hell are you talking about?" Harriet cut in.

"Harriet, we have a situation." Ben said. "I don't know how he got here, or why he's here, but one of MY more...annoying villains is here."

Harriet raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"

"He calls himself Fistrick. Take the band 'Kiss', and make them into a bunch of incompetent criminals, and...yeah, that's Fistrick." Ceres explained.

"I already hate this guy," Harriet deadpanned, "And now, he's got mob backing. Guess they don't care about presentation from outside help if the results are good."

"Good nothing. If this guy's stuff gets out on the market, a lot more people are gonna get hurt BECAUSE he made this stuff." Ben explained.

"Better find everything they left behind then if this guy's work is that volatile," Harriet said, "Fan out. I want this whole place cleaned out!"

"On the double." Ben's 'follow the leader' act had been pretty fake so far, but right now? This was Ben in serious mode. It wasn't that Fistrick was a huge threat-

It was just that he was a HUGE idiot.

The group continued to search through the Dust mine's caves, finding more evidence of Fistrick's tinkering. Those "lightning Dust" knuckles shown in the snapshot? Nothing more than souped-up electric knuckle dusters, no Dust involved. Among the other weapons they discovered were a stiletto knife that looked to be modified with some sort of cryo-tech added into it, several pistols with all kinds of janky "elemental enhancements," including one that somehow incorporated Spheroid acid, and even a hammer that incorporated a Talpaedan Earthmover piston into the head.

"Huh, earthquake hammer," Elm muttered as she looked it over, "Not a bad concept."

Ben felt disgusted having seen that. "He's gotten more dangerous with this stuff." Ben declared, standing back up. "And I don't like the fact he has these materials. Who runs the mob in Atlas?"

"There's the problem," Harriet said, "There are a few family heads, but each one is in that legal gray zone that makes them untouchable. Without concrete proof, it could be anyone from Lloyd Gole to Madame Saff. They all have the motive..."

"Okay, then here's another question. Who's the dumbest person you think would allow a junkyard forager into the league of elites?" Ben asked.

"Intelligence isn't the driving force here," Harriet countered, "It's ambition."

"And what's a crime boss got plenty of, besides blood money, loyal thugs, and rackets?" Elm asked.

"Exactly."

"So, we're gonna need to look for...some 'gang-star'. A dude who's so desperate for all of that, so he'll scrape the bottom of the barrel." Ben said.

Rex perked up. "Was that a-" And then Blake elbowed him in the stomach.

"Exactly. And that could be Gole. He has more money that he knows what to do with, but more often than not, he's been seen 'casually chatting' with Jacques. 'Business negotiations' for his shipping company, he always says," Harriet explained. She opened another case and found it entirely empty, but the odd part was the indent left in the foam. This wasn't a weapon's case, not unless the criminals were carrying around a very obviously round bomb.

"And what was this carrying...?" the Ace-Op muttered.

Ben grimaced. "Suddenly I wish I had Clockwork. Investigation of this place is 10x harder than usual."

"Wait..." Ruby said, going over and looking at the indent itself, "Size is right, even the little nub at the top... Yang, can you make sure I'm not just going crazy?"

The blonde walked over as well and took a look.

"Looks like it to me," Yang confirmed, "I think we got our next lead on those orbs."

"Oh, GOD." Ben frowned. "Harriet. We need to go. NOW."

Harriet made a face. "I swear, I'm getting weirded out by how urgent you're being over this."

"Yeah, I think we missed somethi-" Elm began, but was cut off by a sudden click sound, "...you guys...heard that too, right?" The Ace-Op slowly reached for her hammer, just in case that "click" was only the start of something worse. For all she knew, that was a motion-sensor being armed. When nothing happened immediately after, like a gun going off or explosives detonating, Elm quickly drew her weapon, letting it extend to its full size.

"Ok...maybe not a trap," Elm muttered.

Then came the slight beeping.

"No...no it's a trap, just not the kind you're thinking of!" Blake yelled, "Whoever was in charge must have ordered someone to leave it behind!"

"What are we looking for here?" Harriet asked.

"Orb, about the size of a basketball, middle's full of some...weird orange stuff, dunno what it is!" Yang quickly explained.

Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, and morphed into Woodworker. "And get ready to fight! We could be swarmed in just a second!"

Ben was right to ready up for battle- the sounds of howling were heard in the distance.

"Grimm," Harriet scoffed, getting into a fighting stance, "Blake, send a call up to the four topside. Things are about to get loud!"

Blake dialed up her scroll, as the first Grimm jumped out of the ground- a Centinel. Harriet was quick to uppercut the thing in the mandibles, and unleashed a flurry of blows to its body. She finished it off with one strong strike to the chest.

"Watch the ground! They're gonna be coming out!" Harriet warned.

Sure enough, several Centinels drilled up from the ground, hissing and either spraying acid at the nearest Hunters or trying to snap their mandibles at them. Elm brought her hammer down on the mandibles rushing at her, breaking the insectoid Grimm's jaws like twigs, before winding up a swing and launching the Centinel further down the mine. She didn't even know if it landed.

Before Ruby could move on, having sliced another Centinel in two, she suddenly felt something latch onto her leg. She looked down to see an insectoid Grimm with a black spiked body that resembled a silverfish, complete with six legs and an armored abdomen. Its head was like a mixture of a jackal's and some kind of feline skull, with white horns or feelers jutting out of where the eyes would be. Where the nose would, there was a single, glowing eye under what seemed to be a spider-like Grimm marking on the forehead. Three, fiery-red tails rose up from the creature's abdomen like stingers ready to strike.

"What the hell?!" Ruby yelled, spinning Crescent Rose and smacking the strange Grimm off of her and into the nearest stone. That didn't kill it though, as it simply got back up and shook the hit off.

"Sulfur Fish!" Elm yelled. "Ravenous bastards! Don't let the barbs touch you! They burn!"

Ben was berserking his way through the Sulfur Fish. "Look at these things! They're everywhere!"

"Damn things are like Swindlen," Harriet cursed, dodging another Centinel mandible-strike punching the bug Grimm to the ground, "Strength in numbers!"

"Then we need to find the orb, fast!" Blake yelled, firing at and killing a few members of the swarm.

"Someone go find it!" Harriet yelled, as her energy started to build- she was getting annoyed at these damn things!

Ruby looked over, concerned. Is she okay? I've never seen her energy do that before.

Another Centinel lunged at her from one of the nearby stalactites, joining with a partner Grimm and spinning towards Harriet with their signature corkscrew move. The speedster dodged out of the way, grabbed hold of the to centipede monstrosities, and raced off. She slammed both of the Grimm's heads into a nearby rock wall, cracking their very skull-plates.

Ben and Ruby shared a shocked look. Ben decided he wasn't any use making weapons right now, so he decided to thin the numbers. He slapped down the Omnitrix, and morphed into Artiguana. He took a deep breath, and began freezing the Sulfur Fish over.

The ice quickly covered and encased the silverfish Grimm entirely, locking them in place. Almost immediately though, their tails began to break through. The glowing orange tips of the monsters began to sizzle with heat, forcing the ice to crack.

"Okay, gonna need some great timing on this! I wanna make sure these things shatter into pieces." Ben yelled, before freezing them over again.

The second layer proved a bit tougher than the first. The heated tails of the Sulfur Fish were taking longer to breach it, but that just gave Ben and any others the opening they needed. Elm rushed in, quickly activating the thrusters on her hammer and swinging. The head of her weapon slammed into every Sulfur Fish in reach, shattering them into a thousand tiny, frozen pieces that quickly turned to ash. Some of the Sulfur Fish were a bit smarter though, avoiding the freezing and smashing deathtrap that was Ben and Elm. A good chunk of the swarm congregated at a central point away from the fighting and began to "click" together.

The orange tails elongated, tying themselves together to imitate muscles, with clusters of Silver Fish all huddling together to present their skull plates outwards, forming one massive shield. Another cluster had their insect-like limbs "click" together, becoming wider and larger, easier to grasp things with. A single Sulfur Fish situated itself in the center of the swarm, forming a single red eye, surrounded by the fangs of the bug Grimm.

"They're schooling." Ruby frowned. "Trying to make themselves look bigger and more threatening than they already are!"

"Well, they're about to be COOLING!" Ben spat out another ice beam.

"...leave the puns to me next time, Ben." Yang frowned.

"Wait, did you say they're schooling?" Elm asked, actually concerned.

The ice beam hit the massive Sulfur Fish skull shield...and only coated it in ice. The arm that was more conventional on this swarming golem scraped away the ice before taking a lumbering step forward. The entire swarm of Sulfur Fish in that golem let out a simultaneous hissing sound that sounded more like a Beringel roar.

"Ohhh that's not good," the muscle of the Ace-Ops said, looking over at the giant Sulfur Golem.

"Maybe I need to switch it up." Ben slapped down the Omnitrix, and morphed into Shocksquatch. "Besides! I got plenty of more tricks where that came from!"

Shocksquatch yelled as he discharged some energy, shocking and freezing the Sulfur Fish Grimm harder this time.

The arms and legs of the golem glowed from within the icy prison, shattering itself free in a matter of seconds. It reared back its shield arm and threw a ramming strike at Ben, extending its arm for a bit more reach and slamming Ben back. The arm pulled back right before Blake could cut down on the tails that worked as tendons. The tails glowed brighter and hotter, visible waves of heat actually radiating off of the golem's form.

"How the hell do we take this thing?!" Ben yelled.

Ruby blinked. "...Okay, so, crazy idea here..." Ruby pointed to her eyes.

"Think that's a good idea here?" Ben asked, shocking a nearby Centinel and freezing it in the air. The bug Grimm collapsed and turned to ash shortly after.

"Keep it frozen, and we'll find out!" Ruby said, focusing her mind for the silver eye blast.

Lightning sparked off of Shocksquatch's fur as he rubbed his hands together, charging himself up. The Sulfur Golem focused on Ruby, its single eye narrowing in pure rage. It hissed in rage and charged her, readying its claws to rend her apart. But a crack of lightning roared out, striking and stunning the golem. Ice quickly formed around its feet, locking it in place.

Ruby's eyes started to glow white, as she thought of positive memories. Anything and everything would work, especially when taking down these pesky critters!

The Sulfur Golem looked down at the ice and struggled to pull itself free. It growled in frustration before slamming its shield-arm into the icy shackles. Cracks started to form rapidly.

And just when it was about to break free, Ruby's eyes lit up the entire room. The group covered their eyes, as the Sulfur Fish screamed in agony.

Because of how many there were, the Sulfur Golem wasn't entirely vaporized in one go. Instead, it was more like a slow disintegration, with pieces of the golem's body turning to ash in rapid succession. The collection of Grimm screamed until the central "eye" Sulfur Fish was blown away and scattered to the winds. After that, a loud thunk echoed in the cave. Where the golem once stood, the still-active orb was now set on the ground. The golem must have formed around it!

Ruby stumbled around, before Ben rushed over and caught her. "You good?"

"Y-yeah. I don't think I've ever used my powers on that many targets before..." Ruby mumbled. "Ugh. Feel like I have a cluster headache?"

Harriet punched aside one last Sulfur Fish as it tried to cling to her, her fist tearing through its carapace like paper. When her eyes locked onto the still beeping orb, she raced over to it, leaving a trail of lightning behind her. She scooped up the orb in her hands and slammed her fist down on the top of it, denting the orb and forcing it to shut off. One last beep sounded off before the light flickered off.

"Thank God that's over with." Yang said, cracking her neck. The group walked over to Harriet, who was holding the device curiously.

She was looking over the orb, her concern about the implications rising with each second.

"...you guys said you found another of these?" Harriet asked.

"Two, actually. One in the mountains, one in Essen," Yang answered.

"Fuck," Harriet sighed, "Elm, we need to calm this in. This isn't just some alien tech that a bunch of scoundrels managed to get a hold of. This is Atlas tech."

"Wait, so this is OUR stuff?" Ben asked.

"Looks too outdated for Atlas military tech," Harriet frowned. "But still plenty advanced."

"So now we have three orbs, all of which attracted the Grimm," Ruby began, "and now Fistrick's involved."

"And we still don't know the energy this thing uses either." Elm added. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Get the evidence for the deal. I'm going topside, see if Weiss and the others found something," Harriet ordered, turning and racing back to the surface in a trail of sparks.

Ben took a deep breath. "Okay, I know we're trying to act professional, but now we're gonna NEED to be professional. Fistrick's pretty dangerous."

"How bad is he?" Elm asked.

"Last time we saw him, he was involved in a plan to attack Ben's parents." Ruby said, "And during our first encounter, he was using living aliens to power his suit."

"Ok so...he's insane," Elm hefted her hammer over her shoulder.

"I mean he'd have to be, given his whole aesthetic and the way he talks," Yang shrugged.

"He looks like a mosh pit's bastard child." Ben frowned. "And he IS a bastard!"

"...O...kay, take your word for it," Elm said, before she collapsed and sheathed her weapon and, instead, carried two of the still-full weapon crates in her arms.


While half of the Outcasts were dealing with the mystery of the orbs, the other members were off on their own mission. It felt like it was halfway across the world, but really it was just on the other end of the continent. A few days ago, Atlas had seen a daring jailbreak that resulted in the escape of two prisoners. One of them, Vulkanus, had seemingly disappeared for now, but the other had gone right back to his criminal ways. Gatlocke had re-established his bandit operations away from the usual areas because of how much heat he drew in last time. He'd hoped the electricity Dust deposits in the area would help hide him from Atlesian detection but Hunters were often attracted to trouble, no matter how far away or how hard to find it really was. Some of the self-proclaimed pirate's men opened fire on their pursuers with rifles and submachine guns.

Their target, Albedo, ducked behind a wall of purple crystals, thanks to Kevin, letting the bullets bounce off the barricade instead.

"So, what have we learned about black ops missions, Levin?" Albedo asked, dialing up an alien on the Ultimatrix.

"Hey, stealth isn't his go-to, leave him alone," Doppler quipped.

"He's quite right, you know! No offense to you, either!" Gatlocke shouted over the gunfire.

"Oh, fuck off, all of you," Kevin hissed as he sharpened his arm into a purple blade.

"Neo!" Albedo called out, signaling for the multi-colored mute to swoop in and land a drop-kick on two of the shooters.

"Ooh, I like her!" Gatlock smirked as he aimed his newly repaired arm.