Yesterdaborday was Labor Day

Now that I'm back in school, I can finally sit down and do more writing. This semester is just me parroting a bunch of stuff back so I can relax.

Rewatched RWBY / JL yesterday. I don't really know if I'll ever tackle it in Gems, maybe as a movie or something. Speaking of which…

I'm happy to announce our "second" movie will start pre-production soon. I dunno when it'll properly release, but it WILL come soon. Maybe late 2024.

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


When the group got back to Atlas, they were immediately called into a meeting with Ironwood. "Finally. I was wondering when he'd reach out." Ben said.

"We need to tell him everything," Ruby said. "This whole conspiracy is gonna get out of control soon, I can just feel it."

The group made their way up to Ironwood's office for the meeting. When the door to the Atlesian headmaster's slid open, they saw Harper giving Ironwood a debrief about the Glass situation. On Ironwood's left, looking out of the window with his hands behind his back, was, surprisingly enough, Bram Thornmane himself. From what Outcasts could hear as they approached, the Lieutenant Colonel was talking about the tech that Atlesian authorities had managed to confiscate from the Glass Unicorn and other businesses that were known to associate with the mobster.

"Most of the guns we found were shoddily modified. They were standard issue Atlesian make underneath what might as well be described as 'do it yourself' weapon-smithing. Our techs say that-" Harper continued.

"General Ironwood," Ruby interjected, catching the attention of both Atlesian officers.

"Should've guessed you'd all be responsible for the downfall of one Atlas' most notorious crime bosses," Ironwood smiled, "Thank you for coming. Lieutenant Colonel Harper was filling me in about the Glass situation...including your suspicion of Fistrick's involvement."

"I'm gonna level with you. You're gonna actually hate this guy." Ben said. "Everything about him sucks- his fashion, his attitude- you're gonna ESPECIALLY hate him if he calls you bro."

"...right then," Ironwood nodded, quickly changing topics before looking to Bram, "I was told you've met Bram."

"Of course," Weiss answered, "We met in Essen. It's where we found the second Arrowfell orb."

"A pleasure to see you all again, though I wish it was under better circumstances," Bram said, turning around, "Thanks to the efforts of Doctor Weller and Doctor Polendina, we know that the orbs themselves came from Arrowfell, after the former dug through countless restricted archive files, or so I'm told. Do you know how they work?"

"Well, Dr. Polendina said they were containers, same with Dr. Weller, but we could never figure out what was inside them," Yang answered.

"We know now. It's emotion. Pure, raw negative emotions like fear and hatred."

"But...that's not possible, is it?" Blake asked.

"For one man, it is," Ironwood corrected."

"And I have the feeling it's not Amoncio Glass," Ben guessed.

"And you'd be right. Cammie was quick to download the photo that Glass took of the woman that showed him the orb," Ironwood pressed a few buttons and brought up the hologram table that often displayed the most useful intel. Once the table was up, an image was projected that depicted a young dark-skinned rabbit Faunus girl, clad in workers clothes and overalls, handing over the orb to one of Amoncio's bodyguards. Blake took notice of the girl's expression, just how nervous she was in that photo. It was obvious to her, whoever this girl was, she hated being there.

Did she have a choice in the matter?

"We've managed to identify the woman in the photo...as one of the workers associated with Hanlon Fiefstone," Ironwood explained, "Mantle's most celebrated Union leader."

"Wait, a union worker?" Ruby repeated. "I know there's a pretty strong union in Mantle, but I never expected them to resort to...this."

"That's a disappointing thing we all have to face," Ceres said. "A labor union is meant to improve salaries, benefits, scheduling, and other working terms and conditions. And that should be a given- but some rich assholes refuse to even budge on it. While some are resilient...others feel like they have no choice but to resort to violence. And then all unions get discredited because of that one person's actions."

"A terrible situation." Ironwood said, shaking his head, but it didn't sound sincere.

"Fiefstone has always been an outspoken opponent of the division between Mantle and Atlas, making him something of a symbol. But that's also made him a target," Harper continued, "There have been one or two attempts on his life in the past, making him notoriously difficult to find."

"If this turns out to be an attack on the Amity project, then we need him stopped," Ironwood stressed.

"But...wait, if he's a union leader, how does he-?" Blake asked.

"Fill the orbs?" Bram cut her off, "It's his Semblance. He's able to extract raw emotion, removing that feeling entirely from a person's emotional spectrum for a time. At least, if they're willing. I've never seen what happens when someone isn't willing."

"That…but emotions' are a part of what makes human. And he's just ripping out certain emotions to use as nothing more than fuel?! That's messed up," Rex said.

"Psychotic, more like." Bramstone said. "Taking the very soul of a person and weaponizing it- disgusting."

"As elusive as he is, that's your mission, you lot," Harper said, "Find Fiefstone and detain him."

"We'll split up and survey Mantle for him. We'll have to be casual so not to put people off," Ruby said. "I don't think the public knows about the real Fiefstone."

"If they did, I doubt they'd idolize him. Try and find the woman if you can," the lieutenant colonel suggested, "Her name is Cedar Lapine."

"I don't think she even knows what she delivered." Ben said. "Poor girl..."

"Either way, she's our best lead. If not her, then maybe the workers themselves will know. Miners, technicians, anyone who'd fall under Fiefstone's 'protection,'" Bram said.

"Then we're gonna have to ask around. A lot." Ceres frowned.

"We'll...we'll look into it, general," Ruby nodded, "Count on us."

"Thank you," Bram said, bowing his head in respect. "It's nice to see James working with an agreeable company. Much better than his typical allies."

Ironwood gave Bram a look, but shook it off. "I can't take credit for their abilities, but...thank you."


Taking a bit of a different approach, Team RWBY, Ceres, and Kylie ended up going on their part of the investigation, letting Ben and Rex take the other part on their own. Right now, they just needed information on either Fiefstone or Cedar. According to her records, because of course Ironwood had access to those since she was connected to a security threat, Cedar was a miner who worked for an SDC subsidiary that handled mining operations in the Crater.

Instead of the massive crater that marked where the floating island of Atlas once rested being mined exclusively by the Schnees, the company assigned various parts of the Crater's tunnel network to mining subsidiaries. Tunnel 3, for instance, was being handled by Zaffre Mining Solutions, the very same company that Cedar was employed by.

"I've never been in an actual working mineshaft before," Ben noted as he and Rex walked through. "I always forget these are a thing."

"Well, it's the only way these people make money." Rex frowned. "The only real 'lucrative' job."

There were countless miners at work, some using excavation drills while others used old fashioned pick-axes to chip away at the rock. The two even passed by a Faunus wearing a similar mining outfit to Cedar's who was pushing a minecart full of unrefined yellow Dust crystals.

"Not the safest way to move that I'm guessing," Ben sighed.

"Yeah. OSHA's gonna have a riot." Rex sighed. "If only Atlas could spare some of their wealth, maybe this place could be less of a...downer."

Ben made a face. "I'm not sure if that's the word you wanna use, Rex."

"Yeah, sorry...just," Rex didn't get to finish his sentence. In a few more steps, the duo found themselves in the main portion of the mine. It was a lot more open, thankfully, in contrast with the claustrophobic confines of the mineshaft. More Faunus and human workers toiled away collecting the raw Dust that the Crater was well known for.

"Woah..." the Ace-Op gasped.

"Have you never been down here before?" Ben asked.

"Not really, no. Kinda thought the more open mines would be out in the tundra though."

"What even caused this to form?" Ben asked. "And not detonate? This stuff looks sensitive- Lord knows how they manage without some better gear."

"Well, all the gear is from the SDC. And...accidents still happen. They always have rescue teams on stand-by for when a Dust crystal comes loose without warning," Rex explained.

Ben made a face. I think that the SDC cut a lot of money from the tech budget. Ben began to look around the mineshaft to see if he could find the girl...

And his eyes widened when he saw...

"Rex," Ben said, getting the Ace-Op's attention. Before Rex could even answer, Ben turned Rex's towards one of the shafts that branched off from the main mine. Neither of them could mistake seeing that spikey orange mohawk disappear into the tunnel.

"He's here?" Rex asked in disbelief.

"He never was one for subtlety!" Ben said, racing after Fistrick. Looks like they could have this whole thing sorted out soon!

"He's gonna be stupid enough to have a weapon," Ben yelled. "So, we need to restrain him immediately. We gotta be delicate!"

"I dunno if I can really do delicate, dude." Rex replied.

"Then try to!"

Fistrick was making his way through the mineshaft, completely unaware that one of his worst enemies was behind him. Some of the miners stopped working to stare at him after he passed. After all, how often does one see someone like Fistrick in a mine, let alone in Atlas at all. When some of the workers noticed the pistol he didn't even try to hide, they just went right back to work. He kept walking through the snaking corridors until he found who he was looking for.

The pick-ax struck the stone again with a loud and echoing clang. The rabbit Faunus stopped to wipe some sweat from her brow, having been at this for god knows how many hours. Her rabbit ear perked up when she heard someone walking over to her, so she turned to face them, thinking it was maybe a foreman or her actual boss. When she saw that skull-painted, her ears drooped.

"Yo, Cedar," Fistrick greeted.

"W-why...why are you here?" Cedar whisper-yelled, "I-i'm not supposed to be seen with you during work!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the deal. But here's the thing, deals can change. And it has."

"...what do you mean?"

"Fiefstone. He wants to see you. Now. Like, now, now."

"W-wait are...are you kidnapping me?" Cedar asked, eyes widening in shock.

"Kinda, yeah," Fistrick shrugged, "Sorry about that."

Cedar took a few steps back, as Fistrick approached her. "Nowhere to run, bro. Better come with me quietly, or else I'll-"

Fistrick was quickly bound in thorny vines, and pulled back. Fistrick slammed into the ground and screamed as thorns dug into his back.

"Oh, whoops." Wildvine insincerely apologized.

"Wait wha-" Cedar gasped when she saw Rex show up right behind Wildvine.

"Don't worry! We got him!" Rex reassured.

"N-no...no, stay away!" Cedar yelled, throwing her pick-ax at the vines holding Fistrick before making a run for it. Her thought process was simple: if these people wanted to fight each other, let them.

"Heya, bro." Ben mocked. "Whatcha doing here? I don't think they'll let juggalos anywhere nowadays."

"Ah, damn it. Forgot YOU were here..." Fistrick said, as Ben cocooned him up.

"You really don't do well against Wildvine do you?" Ben chuckled. Fistrick rolled his eyes and activated one of the many new bits of tech he'd recently acquired. A buzz-saw appeared from his gauntlet and sliced through the vines around him. The punk criminal jumped back and drew his pistol, aiming right at Ben and Rex.

"Oh. No. A buzzsaw." Ben rolled his eye. "Rex. Show him YOUR buzzsaw."

Rex formed his BFS and carefully morphed it into its buzzsaw form. Fistrick's eyes widened as he saw that thing tower over him.

"And I'm NOT compensating." Rex smirked.

"Nice tech, but uh, for once, I'm not actually here to fight you, bro. I got a proper contract now and you're not messin' with it," Fistrick smirked, "Oh and, I'm not the idiot you seem to think I am."

"Oh yeah, why's that?" Rex asked, clearly not taking Fistrick seriously. The punk tech-dealer looked between the two heroes and, without even looking at them, he fired off three successive shots at the roof above them. At first, the only thing that fell on them was a bunch of pebbles.

"Oh no, what a horrible landslide you've trapped us under," the Ace-Op smirked.

"I wouldn't joke about that, bro! Lotta people die in Dust mines as I've heard! And I just added two more to the list," Fistrick then turned and ran off. The duo were about to chase after them when the sound of what could only be described as cracking glass could be heard. Ben looked up to where Fistrick shot, only to see a now slightly glowing, cracked cluster of earth Dust crystals.

"That IDIOT!" Ben yelled, as he quickly morphed into Diamondhead. "I gotta encase those crystals before things get messy..."

"Can you handle it on your own?" Rex asked, putting away the BFS for now. Wouldn't do much good in containing a Dust explosion.

"Yeah!" Ben said, grabbing the crystals and encasing them in diamonds. "You take care of Fistrick!"

"On it!" Rex called out before he rushed after Fistrick.

Cedar was the street-tech's real target, and he was ordered to take her in alive. "Alive" didn't mean "unharmed" though. Fistrick took aim and began firing some stun rounds at the Faunus worker, hoping to stop her from escaping. Cedar either jumped out of the way of the shots or threw empty or non-volatile crates in the way, sometimes even tipping over entire empty minecarts to block her pursuer. Of course, Rex had to deal with them as well, but Fistrick still had the lead.

Rex transformed his legs into the Rex Ride and raced down the roadway at a breakneck speed. Almost instantly, he crashed into Fistrick's back and effortlessly ran him over with his build.

"WHAT THE HELL, BRO!?" Fistrick yelled.

"You're the one trying to kidnap her! That's a fair response!" Rex countered.

"That's no reason to just run someone over!" Fistrick protested.

Rex just gave him a blank look, "That is...one of a very few good reasons to run someone over."

"Yeah, well piss off!" Fistrick pulled out a device and slapped it onto the Rex Ride. It was a small disc with a black and gray coloration. The disc opened, exposing glowing purple circuitry lines that extended out and over the Rex Ride, causing it to fall apart.

"H-hey! What the hell did you just do!?" Rex yelled, looking down at the machine parts around him.

"Disrupted your ride, bro. Sucks to be you!" Fistrick smirked.

Rex ripped off the disc from his leg, and turned it over in his hands before pocketing it and chasing after Fistrick again. The punk tech-dealer fired back round after round at Rex, keeping him at bay. Cedar looked behind her and her panic doubled. They were both chasing her now, great! She needed to lose them somehow. She knew these mines better, but Fiefstone probably gave Fistrick a map or something to help him.

Come on, think Cedar, THINK! the Faunus girl chastised herself. She needed an out.

After stopping his pursuit, Rex hastily constructed the Blast Caster. He easily caught Fistrick after whipping his arm back and ensnaring him.

"RUN!" Rex yelled to Cedar. He slammed Fistrick into the ground a few times, each hit shaking the very stone of the mine.

"Oh! You! Gotta! Be! KIDDING!" Fistrick groaned in between slams. He tried to activate another one of the discs and break free of Rex's build to no avail.

Cedar rounded a corner and bumped into someone, knocking her back and sending her to the floor.

"S-sorry! Sorry! I just need to-" Cedar started, before the person she bumped into grabbed her by the collar.

"Get out of here, right?" a gruff voice asked, "Cedar...you fucked up."

"S-sir! Please! I'm sorry! I-!" Cedar panicked, before getting punched in the face and knocked out.

Rex slammed Fistrick into the wall again, this time successfully knocking him out. "Sorry, Kiss Fest. No hard feelings." Rex rushed after Cedar, hoping to find her, but nothing. She was gone.

Damn it! Where'd she run off to? Rex mentally wondered.

By now, Cedar was being dragged out of the mines by the hulking figure, handed off to two other people with outfits more fitting for steel workers.

"You know where to take her," the leader ordered.

Rex walked back to Fistrick, and picked him up with his smack hands. Looks like we'll just have to get the answers out of him. Rex thought. Damn- this dude smells like Axe.

Meanwhile, Ben had another layer of taydenite crystals surround the unstable Dust. Already there was a dark orange color glowing behind the protective layers, a foreboding explosion in the making. He had to be very careful here, as even a stray spark from this explosion could cause a chain reaction that set the whole mine up in multi-colored smoke.

"Okay. This should be enough to hold it. I wish I had Upchuck or something to dispose of it, but...eh." Ben said. "I don't need a large sodium intake."

Ben waited for someone to laugh.

"...Oh, right I'm alone."

"Hey Ben!" Rex called from further down the mine, "I lost Cedar, but I got something better!"

Ben looked over to see Rex carrying Fistrick over his shoulder. He slammed him on the ground, and brushed his hands off. "Whipped him around, and boom. Knocked out."

"Good work," Ben said, morphing into Bloxx to encase Fistrick.

It felt like a few hours had passed maybe. Hard to tell exactly when you're unconscious. Fistrick's eyes blinked open to see Rex and Ben staring up at him, both sitting in folding chairs. Ben was even enjoying a smoothie while the duo waited for the punk to wake up. The criminal tried to bolt then and there, but he was stuck to the wall thanks to a wall of Bloxx's Legos.

"...not cool, bros," Fistrick sighed.

"Don't care. You're gonna tell us about why you wanted the girl, how you got hired by both Glass and Fiefstone...and where the latter is," Ben said after a sip of the smoothie.

"Pfft. Boss-employee confidentiality, bro. Not sellin' him out to you or that Atlas lapdog over there," Fistrick motioned over to Rex.

"After everything Ben's said, you didn't come across as a revolutionary," Rex said.

"That's because I hadn't met a bro like Fiefstone yet. That man's got a way with words, ya know? Brought me to manly tears when he finished his pitch!"

"You don't seem like one to support unionizing. You'd be like a union buster or something." Ben shrugged.

"Nah bro! The labor movement did not make the country weaker; instead, it made it stronger. By making people's lives better, labor created a market for industry and helped the whole country produce more than anyone could have imagined. People who attack workers tend to forget these simple facts, but history does not. Bro." Fistrick said. "I'd be nowhere without unions!"

Ben and Rex stared at Fistrick in disbelief.

"...what?" Fistrick asked.

"Uh, n-nothing. Just...surprised on that. Ok, moving on!" Ben quickly changed topics, "What about Glass? How'd you meet him?"

"See, that guy I have no loyalty to. I got recommended to him."

"By who?" Rex asked.

"See, if I could answer that, bro, I'd be psychic! I dunno who told 'im, but one day I just get a call, met him, some negotiations later, and I'm a proper mobster in Atlas. Sorta," Fistrick summarized.

"And the alien tech you offered them? We found it in the cave." Ben frowned.

"Something to try and sweeten the pot." Fistrick frowned.

"Ok...so that's the Glass connection. Now we gotta ask about Fiefstone and Cedar. Why were you trying to kidnap Cedar?" Rex asked.

"Heh, Fiefstone runs a tight ship. He doesn't really tolerate failures that well. After all, he figured someone led the law to Glass' front door," Fistrick answered.

"No. Not really. We only found out about Fiefstone a few hours ago," Ben said.

"Right. Cause of Cedar. She got scared and squealed."

"Try Glass. Might not be that bright, but he was smart enough to take a photo of her," Rex explained.

"Ohhhhh shit," Fistrick hissed.

"You know, we can probably clear this up with him, " Ben smirked. "Heard he's pretty famous, too. We're dying to meet another hometown hero for Mantle."

"I-I ain't saying nothing." Fistrick frowned.

"Pesky Dust can make you say otherwise, y'know." Ben bluffed.

"Pesky-oh shit, the fairy," Fistrick realized.

"So, you wanna talk now?"

"S-shit! Listen, listen! I don't know too much about where Fiefstone sets up shop! We met outta town! It sounded like he was always gonna do this, though! Cedar's seen too much!"

"What did she see exactly?" Rex said, leaning in.

"I ain't scared of you, robot boy," Fistrick scoffed, some of his bravado returning.

"Oh, ok. Pesky Dust it is," Ben said, activating the watch.

"Ok wait! Look, I don't know. I wasn't at the rally and Fiefstone was pretty 'hush' on the whole thing," Fistrick caved immediately.

"You're great with threatening the bad guys with the most lame sounding aliens." Rex smirked.

"Part of my charm. But that's all you got? Nothing else? Maybe any places your boss likes to meet?" Ben asked, tilting his head. "I swear, I will make Pesky Dust send you to the dream where you don't have any muscles and the members of Kiss are laughing at you again if you don't cooperate."

"Bro, I am cooperating! He always changes it up! Never meet in the same place twice! Asked about it once and he said it was a force of habit! Fiefstone's ex-military!" Fistrick explained.

"Where's the last place you met him?" Ben frowned.


Ruby and the others were walking the streets of Mantle; Blake was checking her Scroll and going over a list of various businesses that were part of Fiefstone's union, provided to them by Harper. The ninja Faunus scratched off another name from the list, the fifth manufacturing plant they checked. Not a one had info on Fiefstone's whereabouts aside from his public backstory. Fiefstone was ex-military who abandoned his more prestigious position in order to try and ease tension between the upper and lower classes. It was, in a way, similar to the situation with Forest. He wanted change and, to the people, he was a hero.

He probably kept all this violence and criminal activity under wraps.

"No luck so far and I can't help but think that my presence may not be helping," Weiss admitted.

"Huh? What are you-" Yang began, before it all clicked, "Oh. Cause of how the SDC used to be run?"

"Jacques was notorious for union-busting when he was running things. I even heard rumors that when the AP-06 was fully developed, he bought a few to be used as strike breakers," Weiss explained.

"AP? Wait, he bought PALADINS!?" Kylie yelled.

"The 6s are industrial mechs, not military."

"Maybe we just need to talk to the right people." Ruby said. "Y'know? Maybe without you, because..." Ruby made a few vague gestures.

"Yes. I know. Schnee." Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Oh! No, you're too rich for this place." Ruby said.

"I think you just said the same thing, just stretched it out," Ceres whispered.

"You guys go ahead on the next one. We'll stay outside in case you need us," Kylie suggested.

"Yeah. I guess my 'rich person aura' is too crazy for everyone in there..." Weiss grumbled.

"Babe. It kinda is." Kylie pointed out.

"...it might be a good idea for the next one, actually," Blake said as she came to the next name on the list, "Hephaestus Ironworks."

"Ohhhh no," Weiss put her face in her hands, recognizing the name.

"Ok...based on that reaction," Yang chimed in.

"It was another subsidiary of the SDC, meant to provide raw materials that would go on to be used in the Dust transport fleet. When Jacques still ran things, this was one of the first places he used the 06s to break a union strike."

"Ohhhhh, god." Kylie said. "Hey, let's...maybe stand FAR away from this place, okay?"

"Agreed." Weiss said, taking Kylie's hand and walking off.

"Hey...no one was-" Ruby started to ask.

"I know the strike. My dad was the first person to speak out against it. No one died on the scene, miraculously, but the threat was there," Blake answered, "The thing that got the media interested was a worker being paralyzed by a punch from one of the mechs."

"Fuck..." Yang sighed, "The minute you think we've heard the worst thing Jacques' responsible for."

"How he's still in the race still amazes me." Ruby said, as they made their way inside. The mill was a pretty standard looking one, with all the usual equipment and people going about their work.

There were plenty of Faunus and human workers going about, each clad in the uniform one normally thinks of when they hear "ironworks." Some of them even sported prosthetic arms and legs stamped with the Polendina logo, but all of them were covered in soot. The minute the group walked into the place the heat hit them. Ceres wasn't really bothered by it, but the others were, even Blake.

"Ok...you all know the movie reference I'm gonna make if I get the chance," Yang quipped.

"Yeah, we do," Ruby said, leading the group further in. Some of the workers watched them walk in, raising a brow at why what looked like Hunters were here at an ordinary metal-working mill.

Ruby walked over to one of the workers. "Uh, hi. We're...here to talk to you about...things."

The worker gave Ruby a weird look. Ruby turned around to face Blake. "Blake, help-"

"Sorry," Blake took over and the man seemed to be a bit more at ease, evidenced by his Faunus wolf ears relaxing a bit, "What my friend here means to say is, we need to ask you a few questions about Hanlon Fiefstone."

"Fiefstone?" the worker asked, "Um...ok? What do you wanna know?"

"Well, we've heard the name a few times and, by now, we know he's former military. We were hoping we could actually see him, maybe meet him at one of his rallies," the feline Faunus half-lied.

"That's...not really something I know about. I mean, I've been to a few, but I've only known when someone else has mentioned it."

"Someone you know?"

"Foreman actually. Big supporter of the guy, always knows when a rally's coming up and when," the worker explained.

"Okay! So, where's this Foreman guy?" Ruby said, rubbing her hands. "It's like. Really urgent, y'know..."

"Either up in his office or overseeing the other 'bots we have," the worker answered.

"'Other 'bots?'" Ceres repeated.

"Yeah. We got those loader Paladins and then we got the...I don't remember the technical name, but those spider bots with the treads."

"Oh, the ones with the circular saws? I read about that in some tech magazine. They look awesome. How much can they cut through?" Ruby asked.

"Just about anything, I guess. Blades don't dull fast, so..." The worker shrugged.

"Cool. So, half of us go to his office, half to the bots? Just to cover all our bases?" Yang asked.

"Sounds good! Hey, Ceres. Wanna see the bots?" Ruby grinned.

"You just want to see how we can add that Crescent Rose, don't you?" Ceres asked.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaybe?" Ruby grinned mischievously. Ceres chuckled and shook her head.

"Okay- but only because I kinda wanna see it too." Ceres and Ruby walked off.

"Guess that leaves us for the office," Blake said.

"Yuuuuup," Yang said, "Where is it?"

"Oh! Second floor, trust me, can't miss it. Now I gotta go make sure your friends don't wander somewhere else since I didn't give them directions!" the worker said, rushing after the other duo.

"They'll find the robots. Those two could sniff out tech anywhere." Yang said.

"I believe it," Blake said as she and Yang went towards the office.

"I'll...take your word for it," the worker said, before getting back to his current job.

Yang and Blake went up to the next level, and approached the office. "Well, here we are..." Blake said, as she knocked on the door.

There was no response. She tried the handle and found it unlocked. Looks like Ruby and Ceres would have better luck. She pushed opened the door into a rather small office. There was a cheap window-unit AC that kept the place as cool as possible, but in a place like this, you'd need more than one and it'd need to cost a helluva lot more than whatever that unit did.

"He'll be busy with Ruby and Ceres for a while," Blake said, "Might find something leading back to Fiefstone in here."

Yang's first inclination was to walk up to the desk and search through the documents that were either on top of or in the drawers of the desk. Yang noticed that there were some intriguing documents arranged.

"The heck are these?" Yang asked, curiosity piqued.

Most of them were schedule sheets, places and times written down on them, but a few were more than that. This might have been the most damning pieces of evidence she could find. They were sketches and instructions on how to handle a certain dangerous piece of Arrowfell tech.

"Hey, Blake...check this out." Yang said, inviting her to come closer. "Found something juicy."

The feline Faunus moved over to see what her girlfriend found and as soon as she saw those diagrams, she knew what was going on.

"So this is why Cedar was there," Blake realized as she picked up one of the diagrams, "He's using all the businesses in his union as covers."

"Ok, that makes sense with this," Yang said as she read over there schedule, "but this last name definitely isn't a business name. 'Mosset Grotto.'"

"He's holding the rally outside the city?" Blake wondered aloud, "Weird..."

"Not unless he's just broadcasting from there."

"So, if these blueprints are here, then the boss might have the weapon on hand." Yang said. "Looks like these orbs require a lot of care- even the slightest mistake could set it off and attract Grimm."

"Say anything about how it can take Fifestone's energy?" Blake asked.

"Nope, nothing on that front," Yang said, "Just a lot of warning signs to not break the glass. Something about 'contamination,' but other than that..."


Yang's little quip earlier wasn't inaccurate. Without any directions or guidance, Ruby and Ceres managed to find their way to a part of the mill where the industrial bots cut through larger beams of steel. The worker was right to call them "spider bots," too. Much like Glass' mech, the robots could swap between use of four mechanical legs and a pair of motorized treads. They only sported two arms, each one armed with a circular, industrial strength saw, some of which were currently cutting through the steel. Sparks flew as their circular blades sliced cleanly through the beams they were working on, their single, yellow mechanical eyes unfazed by the flying sparks.

The foreman of the mill was looking over the cutting robots from a walkway above. He was checking the heat and fuel levels in each robot's engine so as not to overwork them. If those engines blew, it'd cost god knows how much money to get them fixed. He didn't see the two girls make their way up to him.

"Those things look SO cool." Ruby said. "I've told you about my idea for my Crescent Rose mech, right?"

"Multiple times." Ceres said. "You sound like a mad scientist explaining it."

"One day, I will have enough materials to build it. I swear." Ruby said, leaning over the railing to look at the robots. "I wanna use those things as a good basis for it..."

"Yeah, they're alright," the foreman shrugged without looking up from his Scroll, "Engines are cheap though. Too much heat and they risk exploding, run too low on fuel and they start sputtering like an old car."

"...wow, you got these things cheap, didn't you?" Ceres asked.

"Not by choice. Budget was tight back the-" he looked up from his Scroll and nearly jumped off the railing in surprise, "Who the hell are you two?! How'd you even get back here?!"

"We're...inspectors." Ruby lied. "Engineering inspectors. Just making sure everything's running alright, y'know?"

The man squinted. "Wait a minute...aren't you one of the huntresses who was involved at Haven-"

"Uh, no! No, no, no, you must be thinking of my...twin! Her name's...Saaaaaaphire?" Ruby lied, looking to Ceres for some help here.

"...I'm not helping you." Ceres sighed. "Yeah, sorry. We just wanted to see the tech."

The worker sighed. "It's fine, I guess. Just don't bring any trouble down here. These things cost a pretty penny!"

"Betrayed once again," Ruby sighed.

Ceres just rolled her eyes at that.

"Did have a question for you, though," the Archimedian said as she leaned against the railing to look down.

"About the 'bots? Nothing special about 'em, really," the foreman shrugged.

"No. About a guy called Fiefstone. We've heard the name tossed around here and there. Sounds like a good guy and we wanted to meet him."

"...Fiefstone, huh?" the foreman hesitated for a moment before pushing a few buttons on the Scroll, "Met 'im a few times. Good man. Dunno how you'd find him though."

"What is he like in person?" Ruby inquired.

"He has a lot of respect to his name, but he's pretty modest about it. He treats everyone equally, but...I don't know. Something about him throws me off every time," the foreman tried to explain.

"What exactly do you mean?" Ceres questioned.

"He's got this...look in his eye. Like there's nothing behind them. Like he'd just...throw everyone away if he could." The man said. "It's cold, but he's such a nice guy."

Down on the floor, four of the robots stopped sawing, unbeknownst to the trio up on the walkway. In a steel mill, no one would notice only a few saws stopping. From the robots' points of view, several different reticles locked onto the two Huntresses on the walkway.

Their new objectives?

Kill.