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Chapter 97: Options
With the arrival of Monday classes and a regular schedule had returned to Halo Academy and the city of Neo Vale as a whole, forcing the festivities of the Vytal Festival to be at least a little more subdued for the next few days as life continued on around it; much to the reluctant displeasure of many of Halo Academies' students' who had appeared that morning in various states of exhausted and bleary-eyed disarray.
Astra had thankfully been successful in the plan they had formed the previous evening, managing a few hours of sleep despite their head spinning and stomach lurching with even the faintest movement before they and Regalia had managed to drive to the nearest airship terminal to the Deer Faunus's family home and take an early flight back to campus and meet with Athena-Jade and Zirconia who, after failing to join them at the party they had attended had the sheer temerity to look fresh-faced and well rested.
Though the Bear and Grasshopper Faunus were clear exceptions to the established norm.
"Are you even taking notes?" Athena grumbled as she nudged Astra, the sharply hissed complaint being complemented by an equally sharp elbow to the ribs which Astra fought the urge to respond to in kind and instead simply adjusted their position so that their friend would not be able to land another such blow so easily before answering with clear annoyance and an obvious hangover.
"I am….Just not very many, everything's too loud"
"You did this to yourself, you get no sympathy" it was Zirconia who answered firmly from her place on Athena's other side whilst the pale and white-haired girl herself merely shook her head in disbelief which only increased as she peered around the Deer Faunus to see that Regalia of all people, usually notable for the enthusiasm with which she tackled all things had slipped off the jacket of her uniform and folded it into a makeshift pillow as she rested her head on the desk in order to doze off at the back of the class and out of view of their current Professor; who at least seemed to have the good sense to understand that they would not be the focus of their students' attention today and had planned accordingly.
"In my defence I got some bad news last night" Astra countered sardonically, leaning back in their seat and stretching whilst taking care not to catch their friends with their antlers, though the Deer Faunus did consider gently prodding Athena with one of their prongs if only to answer her earlier elbowing. They decided against the casual and playful form of teasing violence upon seeing the way that their words alone left Athena slouching forwards, shoulders hunching and expression darkening as she was quickly lost in thought.
She too had received the bad news about exactly who she and Astra would be facing in the next round of the tournament.
"The two of you are overreacting, surely?" Zirconia asked, words mixed with caution and optimism in equal measure whilst her pale pink and orange eyes seemed almost reverent as she gave Athena-Jade an adoring look "The two of you are incredible….It will be a challenge but think about the challenges we've already overcome; Athena your new technique must be able to make a difference?"
"Thanks babe, it means a lot; it really does" Athena chuckled, reaching over to squeeze her girlfriends' hand whilst being denied the opportunity to lean over and kiss the taller girls' cheek by the sight of the Professors' eyes roving in their teams' general vicinity for a moment "But this is one I'm not sure we can pull off….If they're as good Astra says, then the last time we trained with them they were holding back and-"
"Yeah" Astra said simply "That wasn't even using a weapon"
"Oh" Zirconia said simply, remembering the training session the four of them had undergone at the behest of Qrow Branwen and the subsequent thrashing they had received and finding that there was very little encouragement she could give in the face of that reality. A silence lingered between them for a while which was intruded upon only by the ongoing lecture and the ambient sounds of the class until Astra, with their penchant for keeping abreast of the business of their peers made an observation.
"Looks like we're not the only ones taking the match ups badly….I guess that one makes sense though" the Deer Faunus nodded in the direction of Team TRQS.
The team of Halo Academy students had once regularly seated themselves close to Team MARZ after Stygian had reached out and forged the initial friendships between them; once Tiger had rekindled and repaired her relationship with her twin brother Team TRQS had then, naturally began to gravitate towards Team SHMR with their leader even willing to overcome to challenge that was Snapdragon Majus and her uniquely grating personality. At present however Astra could see that Team TRQS were sat alone and they each looked decidedly tired and unhappy, as though they had spent much of the previous evening worrying; with Tiger herself looking more withdrawn than even her usual socially ambivalent and single-minded self.
Before Astra could make the obvious suggestion that they catch up with Team TRQS and share in one another's misery later that day the Professor, who was not one of the more memorable figures about the campus such as Professor Nora chose that moment to break from their pre-planned lecture and the soothing, steady cadence it had been delivered in to address the gathered students more directly.
"And as we are nearing the end of the class allow me to pass on a message from the Headmaster and the administration department. Please pay attention, this is of utmost importance!" students visibly perked up across the lecture hall and Astra gently reached over to shake Regalia awake and convey to her with a few gestures what was happening.
"As Third Year students you will be taking elective courses and whilst many of you will be returning to your own Academies in other Kingdoms before then it is still time for you to begin giving serious considerations to choices which will go some way to determining your future careers as Hunters" The Professor let the words linger in their air for a moment, waiting until the ambient buzz of conversation had begun to permeate the air before continuing "With that in mind you will each be receiving paperwork relevant to each of the new classes that will become available to you, along with an official date by which your decisions must be submitted along with the necessary paperwork to do so. There will be seminars held by qualified Hunters to discuss their own careers and the merits of the subjects they studied in order to get to where they are as well as presentations from each of the Professors, myself included who each assure you that our doors will be open to any team who wish to discuss matters on more personal basis. You have over a month to make your decisions final, however I must strongly advise you to give adequate thought to the classes you choose. Are there any questions?"
The lecture hall was suddenly filled with raised hands and clamouring voices whilst towards the back of the class Astra simply shared a vaguely lost look with each of their team mates before letting out a hollow laugh.
"Great, 'cos we needed more things to worry about right?" it was Zirconia who answered, with a sternness which caught her friends off balance as she set her jaw and spoke whilst seemingly keeping half of her attention focused on the questions being asked and the answers they were given.
"This is an opportunity for us"
The Chamber was, as was becoming a steadily more frequent occurrence was filled with bustling activity and Chairman Damascus Nero could only watch on in silence of a mildly numb and dazed variety; a mounting pride and sense of accomplishment and anticipation being tempered and almost overwhelmed by sudden nerves and a realisation of the sheer scope and scale of what is his plans to reshape Remnant into something greater, away from the controlling influence of Hunters had become now that there was no possible chance of turning back with things having progressed to the stage of spreading his word and message less obliquely and gathering more and more followers to his cause.
It was a realisation which left his flesh and blood hand trembling and his gloved cybernetic squeezing shut with a muffled whine; the tall and pale businessman forcing himself to let out several slow and measured breaths to calm himself before he tried to speak, certain that if he did not his stammer would betray him in way he could not abide.
Eventually he mastered himself and peered around his lair, a term he could still not bring himself to use without a mental scoff of derision and took in the activity around him with a more focused gaze.
Carmesi and Gestalt-Prime were in the process of overseeing the creation of another Cyber-Grimm; this particular specimen of a larger and specially made variant which would greatly differ in appearance from the standard model which had been created and tested thus far.
The Komodo Dragon Faunus watched, poised and with weapons trained on the hulking chassis within a docking frame which would form the basis of the new machine Grimm's hybrid form, flanked by a small group of the standardised Cyber-Grimm model however their concern and readiness was proven to be superfluous as Gestalt-Prime unleashed one of the twisted and slithering forms from within their own translucent and bloated mass, watching with sickening pleasure as the monstrous darkness reached its' goal and began to burrow and take root before reaching and merging itself with a waiting and ready computer system and AI which would further bind it to Nero's own bidding. Once the new variety of horrific amalgamation finally stilled and fell silent Carmesi drew close and studied it, Nero looking on with bated breath despite the fact that this was now a routine occurrence until the rogue Hunter confirmed that the process had been a success and that the beast had fallen into a form of stasis from which it would be awoken when it was needed.
"Move out!" Carmesi barked, standing back and allowing the Cyber-Grimm to surround their larger brethren and begin fastening chains to various parts of its' hunched and armoured body so that it could be hauled away; the amalgamations of flesh and metal using their monstrous strength for something far more mundane than what had initially been envisioned that sight of such an incongruous display was enough to shock Nero back to his senses more fully and give him the impetus to speak.
"Gestalt-Prime, are our operations proceeding as planned? Do we have enough Grimm tissue remaining from Carmesi's retrieval operation to meet demand?" the Chairman, as ever could not help but phrase certain demands and requests in ways which made more sense within the context of his more public identity; ways which allowed him to speak more abstractly about the horrors with which he had surrounded himself. Within his fluid-filled containment tube Gestalt-Prime twisted and shifted his repulsive mass to regard the chairman with the Cyclopean optic set into their flattened skull, sensors taken from small robots scattered around that hellish eye blinking whilst segmented mandibles clacked into contemplation.
"We have enough" the hybrid Alpha answered finally "I will have the means to raise scores of Cyber-Grimm and several of the new varieties designed by Aefen within this city before I am freed from this body; from then I will be able to remotely create more Grimm from the self-sustaining material which was sent to Menagerie, I will lead as I did before"
"Good" Nero nodded curtly, forcing himself to be unperturbed by the monsters' more imperious manner of speaking and turning his attention to Albion; his old friend seemingly unflappable as he sat at his regular place, monitoring several screens whilst drinking a cup of coffee which Carmesi had begrudgingly been sent to buy earlier. Sensing Nero's eyes on him Albion turned to face his old friend and adjusted both the collar of his shirt and his gold rimmed glasses before answering an unspoken question.
"The materials have already been safely transported, through our usual route into Menagerie; the authorities of Blackwater Cover are easily bribed" both Albion and Carmesi were in rare agreement as they shared matching sneers of distaste at the thought of the wretched city before the dark-skinned and white haired man continued "Aefen has already sent word that she her people have collected the package under the guise of an interception, which out people at Hammerfall Outpost will ensure does not risk giving away their location. She intends to inform us once she has her own Spawning Pit operational"
"Good" Nero breathed the word out, pausing for a moment to gather himself once again before turning his attention to Carmesi and gesturing for him to follow whilst at the same time making his way towards the elevator which would return him to the surface of the city in an outwardly abandoned building in the middle of an old industrial estate.
"Our plans are almost complete" the younger man rumbled out, a sigh of relief which bordered on euphoria escaping him as he added "Soon Remnant will have its' bright new tomorrow"
"Indeed it will" the Chairman nodded "Every day we draw more people to our cause, every day more of our Cyber-Grimm are made, soon we will have the means and the opportunity to sweep away everything that's been allowed to grow rotten….What's that saying about men planting trees who's shade they will never sit in?"
"You think you won't be here to see things to their conclusion?" Carmesi asked and for all of his experience with death and loss the younger man could not help but allow a wavering note of concern to creep into his voice as he halted and regarded the man who had taken his grief and rage and given it meaning, made it something beyond a product of random opportunistic crime.
"In the short term certainly not" Nero allowed himself a faint chuckle "My plans to be away from Neo Vale and away from any suspicious eyes are still underway, I will be leaving the Kingdom in a matter of days….Which is why I wanted to remind you of your job when things truly begin"
"I know where I'm supposed to be" Carmesi assured him with a growl "Leading the Cyber-Grimm, leading the rabble that we have to make do with until we can draw enough soldiers and decent people who think like us to form a proper force-"
"Yes, yes" Nero waved him aside with his gloved hand and pressed on "You will be in the thick of it….But so will Zirconia"
"Of course" the Komodo Dragon Faunus rumbled, fighting the urge to roll his eyes and the thought of the girl he would never allow himself to consider an adopted sibling; the idealist whom Carmesi would fall short of what was required when the moment came.
"You make sure that both of you get out of this city, you hear me?" Nero suddenly sounded far older and more weary than the persona of youthful eccentric billionaire that he often wore "For all of our talk and planning we all know that whatever the outcome, Neo Vale will not be the last battle against the Hunters….We will have to leave the city, promise me that you will make sure Zirconia escapes with you-"
"I will try-"
"Damn trying, I know you Carmesi! Succeed!" Nero barked "Try and help her friends if they choose to side with us, try at everything else but when it comes to getting yourself and Zirconia to safety you do not try, you succeed and accomplish. Do I make myself clear?"
"Good" Nero sighed, visibly sagging under his own exhaustion "Then continue moving assets into position and training our agents to use our equipment"
"Of course" Carmesi rumbled out, nodding and departing to leave Nero to his own thoughts and greater plans.
With classes concluded for the day Team MARZ had elected to take a small break from their physical training for the next round of the tournament and instead turned their attention to academic matters that could not be overlooked, which was why at present the four of them were gathered in their dormitory with a collection of textbooks scattered around them along with other study aides, which in Zirconia's case included a laptop which her friends had idly noted seemed to be state of the art.
Though the Grasshopper Faunus was using the device for other purposes.
From her position on her partners' bunk she peered carefully upwards once again over the edge of the laptops' screen to see that Regalia was currently sat on the floor and leaned against the frame of her own bed, in a position that left her situated loosely between Athena-Jade and Astra. The Bear Faunus currently sprawled on the Racoon Faunus's bunk with her own assignment set aside for the time being as she leaned over the edge of the bed to read Regalia's work over her shoulder and help with minor contributions and suggestions whilst Astra was currently sat the other end of their partners' bed, idly twirling a torque wrench from their toolkit between their fingers as they added a few more sentences to a rough draft of their own work, sea green eyes periodically darting to their scroll where Zirconia knew they were hoping to see a reply from their brother after they had text Felix Xiao Long in the hopes that the experienced and famous Hunter might have some insight which would make the work before them easier.
Seeing her friends were still preoccupied Zirconia turned her attention back to the task at hand, minimising a series of articles which she intended to cite as sources in order show a more esoteric program which she doubted that any of Team MARZ, save perhaps Athena-Jade due to her fathers' history with the Atlesian Specialists would recognise; though could not allow them to see regardless in case they were to inadvertently bring its' existence to the attention of Qrow Branwen or any of his agents. She was finalising the process she had started at the campus airship terminal the previous evening, creating a point of entry so that Albion Herringbone, or any other of her guardians' trusted confidants could access a limited amount of the academies' systems. It would be an arduous process and one which would grant very little in terms of direct control and almost no opportunity to spy directly on Branwen or any of those closest to him; overall it would provide very little benefit in the short term however both Damascus Nero and Zirconia both understood that any advantage could be the one which tipped the scales in their favour when the time came and so the Grasshopper Faunus continued to work diligently, bypassing layers of digital defence without leaving a trace.
Until the sound of Astra letting out an aggravated huff distracted her as it did the rest of Team MARZ.
"I cannot wait to be able to drop this subject and focus on doing something that actually matters" the Deer Faunus gave an exaggerated groan and whilst she managed to feign quiet amusement Zirconia's eyes widened with a sudden panic which clenched at her gut at the realisation that the opportunity she had been waiting for was upon her; any lingering hopes for more time to prepare herself coming to a halt as Athena-Jade pulled herself into a sitting position and turned to face Astra, arms folding across her chest as she did so.
"So we're talking it about it then?" she asked "The different classes we can take next year?"
"Heh, I mean we probably should" Regalia chimed in, twisting herself into an odd position to peer over the edge of her own bed "We don't want to make last minute decisions and get stuck with them-"
"I think the Professors would let us change if something obviously wasn't working out for us, as long as it was in the first few weeks-"
"I thought we already had a solid idea of what we were doing?" Astra interjected, steam-rolling through Athena's reasonable response with a look of mild confusion as they cocked their head as much as their antlers would allow within the confines of bunk beds "We've already been given additional training, the Professors who're in the know about things have all-but told us we're being fast tracked because they want us to be one of the teams that goes on to report to Professor Branwen; like our brothers do….We just take the classes that will help with that, which means we'd be taking the class that Professor Branwen teaches but back at Breaktide-"
"So we'd be learning from Aunt Penny" Athena positively beamed at the idea and seeing the expression left Zirconia feeling truly wretched "Dude it's gonna be-"
"Actually" she cut in, swallowing thickly and wishing she could hide her face beneath her shawl but steeling herself as she prepared to confront something which required an entirely different kind of bravery to fighting the Creatures of Grimm.
"Are you okay?" Athena saw some of the uncertainty etched into her girlfriends' face and made her way over to her, with Zirconia hiding her work behind academia once again before it could be seen and nodding silently; willing her mouth to not be so dry and her hands to cease their trembling as she pushed onwards.
"I wanted to talk about where we go from here, as Hunters and as a team….Because I'm not certain we want the same thing and I need us to be clear about where we stand with each other before any of us make decisions"
"Hops?" Athena squeezed her hand tightly as though she were worried that her partner might disappear there and then whilst Regalia looked on in silent worry, eyes darting between the Grasshopper Faunus and her own partner who had now leaned forward and studied Zirconia with an intent gaze which made it clear that she had Astra's full attention.
"Go on, we're listening"
"I've said before that I wanted to become a Hunter to help people and I feel like I should tell you the whole truth" uttering the words, even knowing that they false and that the most she could offer in that moment was the tip of the iceberg was freeing to Zirconia and she suddenly felt it easier to press ahead, her rasping monotone growing more animated as she spoke
"I don't want to commit to being one of Professor Branwen's field agents, or whatever else he calls them. I think there are better ways to help….It isn't something that I'm supposed to be talking about at the moment, it's actually top secret but I trust you all. Damascus, my legal guardian is working on a long term project to help more people, something bigger than the defence contracting that the Conglomerate is currently involved in"
"Oh….Wow, okay" Athena-Jade regarded her partner as though uncertain but without any of the shock or revulsion that Zirconia had been dreading, whilst Astra continued to regard her seriously.
"What's the plan?" they asked bluntly, the words forcing Zirconia to take another steadying breath to prepare herself before allowing herself to utter words that would change her relationship with every friend currently in the dormitory irrevocably.
"In the long term, he wants to create an organisation which will make Hunters obsolete"
"What?" Regalia exclaimed, utterly disbelieving whilst Astra firs looked ready to laugh and congratulate her for an excellently played prank before realising that the was indeed serious and Athena simply stared at her in silence with wide eyes for several seconds before squeezing her girlfriends' hand once again and speaking in a wavering murmur.
"Hops….I love you, but that sounds-"
"I know, I know how it must sound to someone raised around Hunters but I need you to hear me out" she paused as her own voice cracked and fought the urge to bury herself in an embrace with Athena, instead turning to Astra "We both grew up in this city….In the Capital of a Kingdom, where we're supposed to be safest so answer me honestly; how many times did your family have to hide in a shelter before you were even a teenager?"
"Maybe half a dozen or so but-"
"Half a dozen….So this city, this well defended city was breached on average maybe once every two years for your entire childhood" Zirconia shook her head, a small show of theatrics "AJ, your family have been around Hunters for generations….How many Hunters graduate every year?"
"From each Academy? Between four to eight teams depending on how many were taken in during a given year and….I don't like the word but, attrition" the snowy-haired Faunus answered "So twenty to thirty Hunters across Remnant"
"Twenty to thirty new Hunters every year" Zirconia repeated, hoping desperately that her friends were beginning to see "That's for all of Remnant. Then account for people dying, retiring, going rogue….Is it any wonder cities get attacked regularly? Is it any wonder that entire settlements beyond the walls can just vanish in a night? There aren't enough of us-"
"And Damascus thinks he has a solution?" Athena-Jade asked, mercifully earnestly and upon realising that she had her friends' attention and genuine consideration she found herself unable to stop talking, her eyes gleaming as she did so.
"I can't give away everything, it's still in the planning stages" she admitted, hoping they would accept that truth "But one of the key parts of the plan is to create an alternative to relying on Hunters….Fighters who have unlocked Aura yes, but more numerous and assisted by AI and mechanised forces; it's something based on old Atlesian doctrine but with new technology and advances….You've seen the battle-suits that Cosmo Guild made; one of them could hold all four of us at bay, now imagine a team of them, piloted by people with comparable training to a Hunter taking on Grimm"
"It sound….Pretty awesome" Regalia answered giddily, clearly allowed her mind to wander with the idea.
"It does" Astra admitted with a nod "But a lot of things sound great….Zirconia, I know he's like a dad to you but are you certain that he can back his talk up?"
"We've seen the hardware, we saw the aerial drones that the Conglomerate is already making take out Grimm when we flew over from Menagerie. That was without support" the Grasshopper Faunus countered, allowing a hint of irritation to creep into her words before following up with a deliberate emotional twisting of the knife which she knew she would loathe herself for stooping to later on
"Astra….We both live in this city but, Lien aside you've been a lot luckier than either I or Damascus have; we lost almost everyone-"
"I'm sorry, I-"
"And I understand that you're sceptical, it's a challenge to the status quo" she continued without faltering "But the status quo isn't working, it hasn't been for a while. The plan that I want to be part of is to create a Remnant where everyone can be their own hero when the time comes….And if that means less people need Hunters as heroes then so be it"
"That….It's honestly a beautiful thought" Athena-Jade murmured "My Dad could probably retire a few years early"
"I used to get bullied a lot before I met my brother….I was a chubby kid once, used to wear glasses; really easy target" Astra chuckled darkly "Honestly, being able to be my own hero was all I ever wanted and I know that sounds a little selfish but I'm not so selfish that I'd take that chance away from others….You tell me that this is real, that it's worth putting other opportunities on hold for and I'm in, as long as everyone else is?"
"It's more real than I can tell you" Zirconia answered cryptically, pleased with herself as she watched Astra turn to Regalia with an expression of hopeful longing which the Grasshopper couldn't help but read deeper meanings into and allow herself a soft and tender smile which Athena shared beside her as she saw the same thing, the Bear Faunus leaning into her partners' shoulder.
"I have wanted to be a Hunter since I knew what Hunters were" Regalia answered thoughtfully "But if you're telling me that we can take the idea of being a Hunter and make it bigger and better, something that helps more people AND that it's gonna include cool robots….Heh, I'll have what she's having?"
"So it's decided then?" Zirconia breathed out, daring to hope.
"I mean, nothing is final yet" Astra shrugged, seemingly unaware of the suspense that their team-mate was being held in "But I like this idea, I really do….We'll have to talk about what classes we'd have to take specifically and work things out in more detail; but I think everyone here is on board with it at least in theory right?"
There were nods and other signs of silent agreement from Regalia and Athena-Jade before Astra spoke again, sliding from their partner's bunk as they did so.
"And on that note, I have had enough of thinking about present, future and hypothetical classes….AJ, you wanna hit the gym and get some practice in?"
"Thought you'd never ask" Athena chuckled, pulling away from Zirconia for a moment "Are you coming with, or do you still need to work?"
"I'll see you later, I still have a bibliography and several final drafts to work through" Zirconia answered quietly, almost numb before snapping to her senses and reaching up to kiss her girlfriend briefly "Don't overwork yourself"
"Even if it means I get a back rub after?" Athena gave a look that managed to remain sultry for a matter of seconds before the two of them, along with their friends broke down in laughter. A moment later Athena and Astra had left, with Regalia leaving shortly after to make some small adjustments to her bike as a form of study break which left Zirconia once again staring at the screen of her laptop, silently reeling and elated as her mind raced and circled around a single, indisputable fact.
Her team were by her side and things had gone far better than expected.
Albion Herringbone had continued to work through the entirety of the day and into the evening, his position in the Chamber, hidden far below the metropolis of Neo Vale rendering him blind to the passage of the sun as began to descend slowly from its' zenith and cast reaching shadows across a city of towers painted gold by its' gleam as it dipped beneath the peaks of a crowded skyline.
The bright new tomorrow he and his fellow conspirators hoped to bring was close at hand and it would require guile and finesse and an ability to think outside of the box to properly set the stage.
The mechanical monsters that they had created would certainly help but they were far from the only aspect to be considered.
At present the two largest factors under Albion's direct purview were security and expansion which, at such a crucial juncture involved a considerable amount of overlap; with each new individual to be approached having been carefully vetted beforehand. Both were tasks the bespectacled man, clad as ever in a sharply cut cream coloured suit worn under a lab-coat could handle from the relative comfort of the chair in front of the Chamber's main array of computers which Albion idly noted to himself had come to consume a great deal of his waking hours in recent years; with the former involving the use of the considerable influence Nero had been able to provide over the cities' infrastructure. A sizeable counter-intelligence operation to keep the meddling of Qrow Branwen and his ilk along with the authorities in general had been enhanced and streamlined to allow Albion to ensure that no trail of errant digital information existed to be followed, whilst at the same time given Albion the ability to access vast amounts of data, updating in real time which included information sent to and from the scrolls of the newest members of their expanding faction with several key words and phrases flagged as worthy of suspicion, ensuring that none were double agents along with more crude and direct methods of control such as camera feeds alerting Albion whenever Hunters or police within the ongoing festival or the city as a whole strayed to close to something that Nero would rather they not see at which point his old confidant would make small alterations to the flow of traffic or other infrastructure in the area to buy time and redirect the unwanted attention.
The task of expansion was done with similar layers of subterfuge and lightness of touch, untraceable and cryptic messages hidden within message-boards and forums filled with conspiracies and other inane babble which he and Nero themselves had helped spread amongst the more gullible users of the CCT attracted those with surprisingly usable skills and knowledge which served as a basis for Albion to begin seeking their identities and commencing a vetting process; the future they planned was for all to enjoy but the people they needed in the present to build it were a select few after all. This method of contacting new candidates had been combined with more direct approaches from those already within the fold to those who could be trusted and within a short span of time the conspiracy had expanded from a handful of people with the means to control the cities' criminal underworld and a handful of employees within the Conglomerate having various levels of information and now numbered in the hundreds; with individuals in roles and industries which would allow them to be in various positions when the time came to strike.
The endless reams of data had begun to blur as they were reflected on the lenses of golden-rimmed glasses however and Albion's icy blue eyes widened with fright as a sudden metallic clang caused him to leap out of his seat, knocking over a mercifully empty coffee cup as he did so.
"They were not made to be worker ants….They were made to be soldier ants" Gestalt-Prime observed as they turned their unsettling focus towards the scientist, shifting their grotesque mass to face him as they did so.
Upon hearing the words Albion turned to survey the scene which he had allowed himself to become ambivalent and uncaring to unfolding around the Chamber at large; minor questions such as when precisely the contained Alpha Grimm had obtained knowledge of insect hive structures and other such things being pushed aside by the ongoing sight of Cyber-Grimm working in unison to move another of their freshly made, larger cousins into position. Carmesi had long since left to continue the monumental task of transforming the disorganised rabble of career criminals whom the Komodo Dragon was so instinctively disgusted by into the beginnings of a formidable force whose ranks would be expanded in due time to the point of no longer requiring such lacklustre members and in his absence the task of motivating and organising the Cyber-Grimm was being largely overseen by Gestalt-Prime through some silent means of instruction, along with the physical presence of the first of their number; the original Cyber-Grimm whose metallic components bore numerous battle scars from its' handful of deployments to give it a fearsome look.
"Is that one specialised variants?" Albion asked, plainly filling silence as he regarded the dormant and coalescing form of something which simply could not be one of the standard model, of which enough had been crafted to form a respectable force. This Cyber-Grimm was of a larger model with qualities which were more bat-like than insectile and an overall appearance which, whilst sharing several core details with its' kin and being hard to discern at that moment due to the way its' body was folded in upon itself still seemed to suggest that it would be far more capable in the air than the careening and uncoordinated flight of the original designs.
"It is" Gestalt-Prime's voice held a hitherto level of annoyance as they regarded the human, quartet of atrophied limbs mounted at their forequarters folding and gesturing as the monster added "One of many specialised Cyber-Grimm prepared today. I have done my part-"
"You spoke about this with the Chairman" Albion answered swiftly, hoping to bypass the issue entirely by appealing to authorities that were not present and show a degree of confidence which he did not feel in the slightest; a ploy which failed as Gestalt-Prime locked their Cyclopean gaze upon him and allowed the multiple sensors ripped from robots intended to study their dormant form to follow suit a moment later, giving the scientist who was now painfully aware of the various reasons the monster might hold a grudge a distinct feeling that he was being studied on something deeper than a surface level until eventually the hybrid abomination let out a screeching, grating snarl.
"Where is my body?"
"It is already in progress, I assure you of that" Albion answered testily, incensed and bolstered of all things by the implication that he might in fact be lying "Aefen sends word that her attempts to prepare the Spawning Pit in Menagerie are well on course and are expected to be concluded within a matter of hours. From there you will need to prove your claims that your are able to remotely operate the production facilities at our disposal, at which point the process of allowing you to transfer your consciousness and….mass, into a body built around the Cyber-Grimm concept will begin. The body itself is already under construction"
"Show me" the words were not issued as a request and yet Albion made no effort to budge, instead refusing to allow himself to be bullied like a schoolchild no matter how monstrous the being attempting to do so might be he elected to make a compromise; opening several files on his computer system and pivoting the screens so that Gestalt-Prime could more clearly see them.
"Blueprints and progress reports" he said simply, his own tone making it clear that he had no desire to begin dragging masses of incomplete machinery before Gestalt-Prime so that it could be studied at the Alpha's leisure. After several moments of silent study wherein Albion was forced to consider just how much knowledge had been imparted on the Grimm by its' melding with military equipment and the wealth of data stored within it, especially as it pertained to more advanced forms of warfare Gestalt-Prime finally let out a sound which only served to unsettle Albion in a way which even the natural response to a Creature of Grimm could not fully encapsulate.
The monster laughed.
"Yes….Yes, I will be complete once again" Gestalt-Prime boomed, their entire demeanour maniacal in a way that surpassed the limits of their bloated and wretched physiology and Albion could only watch for a few moments before he was forced to turn his gaze aside to keep his composure, hurriedly searching for an excuse to keep his eyes averted and attention elsewhere so that he would not seem weak in front of the monster.
Fortunately an update from Zirconia, revealing that she had made an impressive accomplishment and carried out her father figures' instructions admirably served the purpose.
Of late it seemed that being crowded was simply the natural state of affairs within the campus gym of Halo Academy, however Tiger Santara with her singular focus had allowed herself to lose track of every sight and sound which was not immediately important to her goal.
Namely fending off another assault from her sparring partner, Stygian Blue.
As graceful and dynamic as she often was in her approach to combat the leader of Team TRQS found herself hampered and limited by circumstance in a way which the Mouse Faunus simply was not; the sparring mats that they were using offered a far smaller area than the tournament arena or any other battlefield she might conceivably find herself on and offered nothing at all for her to use to her advantage. The terms of the sparring match had those dictated by the rules of the gym and simple good sportsmanship, specifically that it was hand to hand combat without the use of Aura or Semblances and whilst Tiger, lacking a Semblance might theoretically have been at an advantage by losing less it transpired that of the two of them she was the more reliant on her weapon.
As was proven when Stygian left elbow brushed against the end of her nose, Tiger's attempt to lean back and evade the blow buying her only a sliver of space which was intruded upon in the next instant as the blue-haired young man sacrificed momentum and footing to lash out with a left-handed backhand which forced Tiger to block with a raised arm, which in turn left her lowest ribs exposed to a punishing roundhouse kick.
"Gotcha!" Stygian chuckled, the word coming between panted breaths as he watched his partners' body buckle and fold painfully around the point of impact.
The expression of confidence falling from his chiselled features as he was forcibly reminded that his partner was not so easily bested and that whilst he had skill and strength Tiger had a simple, obstinate refusal to be beaten on her side which allowed her to power through a blow which would have winded and staggered a lesser opponent; quickly anchoring herself to the ground and wrapping the arm that she had raised to defend herself around the Faunus's leg before pivoting sharply to pull him off balance and deliver a low, sweeping kick at the leg he was left struggling to balance on which resulted in Stygian being sent crashing down to the mats with Tiger looming over him, one arm locked around his leg with her free hand drawn back for a finishing blow.
Stygian however had counter-plays of his own prepared for such occasions and simply planted both palms on the mat beneath him to steady himself before forcefully contracting his core muscles and curling in on himself whilst kicking out with his ensnared leg to send Tiger sailing overhead and crashing with a muffled thud to the ground face first a short distance away.
The two were on their feet a moment later however were halted from charging at one another again by the sound of laughter and faintly mocking applause which drew both of their attention.
"Don't be an asshole man" the Mouse Faunus snorted, working out a crick in his neck and adjusting his dyed royal blue dreadlocks, placing braids which had fallen free back into the ornate styling atop his head whilst Tiger drew close and simply offered a silent scowl of vague annoyance to the newcomers.
Which did little if anything to dampen the spirits of Astra Mars.
"No no, that was an impressive dance routine you two just did, AJ what do you think? Something you would have done when you were into breakdancing or would you have managed to land on your feet?"
"Dude you are such a bitch sometimes" Athena sighed from her position beside the Deer Faunus, gym bag slung over one shoulder though despite her chastising Stygian noted that the girl he would still freely consider extremely attractive though he had given up on any half-baked ideas to act on his feelings was currently wearing a toothy smile which suggested she might join in the teasing at any moment; prompting him to pre-empt whatever barb either she or Astra intended to use next with some good natured teasing and banter of his own.
"So what I'm hearing is that you need Team TRQS to teach you how to dance as well as how to fight? Hey Tee are you keeping track of how many times we've had to bail out the exchange students?"
"Are we including assignments and class notes as well as that one mission-"
"Okay, before this stops being fun and these two start getting serious about it" Athena breathed the words out airily, but with conviction behind them; an intense stare boring into Stygian's lightning blue eyes as she silently urged the Mouse Faunus to say nothing else which might spark a genuine rivalry between the two prideful team leader who were each hot-headed and short tempered in their own ways.
"So, you two are the ones going through to the next round?" the dark-skinned boy asked, understanding the look and delivering a clean break to the conversation as he changed the subject without hesitation.
"Yeah" Astra answered simply, flashing Tiger one last devilishly smug and challenging smirk.
"An interesting pair, one with a lot of possibilities and one that the crowds will certainly appreciate after the first round….You put on an impressive show" Tiger nodded respectfully before pausing and cocking her head slightly "Though I can't help but wonder if it might be an expected one, something that your opponents have planned around"
"All things considered we'd have to assume that they've planned for everything" Athena answered with a shrug which downplayed the nerves that had been allowed to take root within her after hearing the normally confident Astra's dejection in regards to the next round of the tournament.
"And it's not worth throwing away versatility on the day for a slight advantage we might get by using other people" Astra added, fiddling with the dyed-black peaks of their spiky Mohawk before nodding towards Stygian "So you two are representing Team TRQS then?"
"Yeah we are….And oh boy it's gonna be a whole thing. Tiger almost didn't want to compete" he answered with a shake of his head.
"I'll bet, awkward right?" Astra's sea-green gaze drifted back to their fellow team leader who promptly decided that she would not be content with letting others address the matter of her teams' upcoming bout and the glaring complication it presented on her behalf.
"Ravi and I will both be representing our respective teams" the words left her in a barely audible murmur, as though she could still not fully believe them herself "Stygian is right, I initially planned to stand aside and let another member of Team TRQS fight in my stead-"
"Hey, I get it….I'm not sure if that's a fight I could do and my brother and I aren't twins" Athena-Jade offered gently; a show of kindness Tiger fought the urge to bristle at and simply accepted in the way it was intended.
"Ravi and I spoke as soon as we were both able" she continued "We came to the agreement that whatever hard feelings may or may not exist after the match would be there regardless and if the tournament has to end for one of us then it would be cowardly for us to not at least step into the arena and do the honours personally. He's grown so much….And this is a chance to finally impress upon Snapdragon the value of hard work and training-"
"We're letting her have this" Stygian laughed "It would be cruel for our teams to get drawn against each other and Tiger to not finally get her big dramatic showdown...Even if Snap isn't gonna care about that part"
"Let me be petty about this" the leader of Team TRQS implored so earnestly that it reduced her friends to peals of laughter which subsided gradually as Stygian casually led her away from the sparring mats so that Astra and Athena-Jade could take over as they clearly intended to; which promised to be an entertaining display which the Mouse Faunus would likely learn by watching, though before the pair could begin he spoke again and managed to find the exact words to distract them and dampen the mood.
"So have you got a plan for the next round….'cos damn, that's gonna be a tough match" hearing this Astra and Athena-Jade shared a single, lingering look which plummeted from simple worry to the depths of despair at a rapid rate with Astra looking decidedly ill as they swallowed several times before managing to force out an answer which gave away nothing beyond the uncertainty in their tone.
"Yeah….Yeah it's gonna be tough"
Darkness had long since enveloped the furthest outskirts of Forever Fall as the sun set over the Kingdom of New Vale and its' wider territories, making its' perpetually autumnal bowels all the more perilous to those who might venture into the trees; though such visitors had become all the more scarce in recent years however as the re-routing of several train lines as the Kingdom was rebuilt following the struggle against Salem. As a result the most frequent and yet still irregular guests to visit the Grimm infested albeit ecologically fascinating place were students of Halo Academy, both First Year students on the traditional annual field trip to prepare them for some of the realities of missions and older students returning to Forever Fall for more involved missions, such as tracking down and overcoming a specific monster which dwelt with the deepest recesses where younger students had no need to venture.
One such training exercise was currently underway and Qrow Branwen was surveying its' progress from the air within one of Halo Academies' aircraft, which he once again found himself comparing unfavourable to the personal transport that had once belonged to Bartholomew Oobleck and had sported a far more reliable autopilot.
Such musings were quickly cleared from his head by the sound of a tree being violently felled and, if the appalling sound that followed were any indication ground to dust immediately afterwards.
"Think she's gonna be okay down there on her own?" the question came from Oakley of Team HONY whose stocky frame was leaning partly against the frame of one of the hovering aircraft's open hatches whilst his feline Faunus partner Nala silently loomed behind him with gleaming eyes; unable to get closer and see things properly due to the presence of another member of Team HONY.
"Of course she'll be okay, it's Honey" Yuki scoffed almost dismissively and with a certainty about her which made the question seem foolish by comparison; though as Honey and Nala parted to allow Qrow's many-legged, mechanical chair to scuttle between them the Professor saw that Honey's partner and long term girlfriend still wore an expression lined with worry and that her entire body was coiled and ready to leap into action at the first sign of trouble, left hand gripping the upper edge of the open hatch whilst her cybernetic right arm was extended outwards and the shifting components of the weapon she had integrated into it performed a lazy orbit around the limb itself in preparation for use.
Just as a precaution, naturally
"At ease. She's doing well down there….You've fought big Grimm before, you know that the size isn't everything" Qrow intoned, warm and thoughtfully as he brought his chair into position beside Yuki; with Oakley standing aside to allow him better access.
"Yeah but this one's got the reach as well" the young woman muttered, her comment being punctuated by the sound of another tree being utterly destroyed.
The Creature of Grimm in question was one of considerable size and bulk and a hideous appearance whose specific name Qrow could not actually remember at that moment. Largely it resembled a giant earwig of sorts, six segmented and skeletal legs supporting a head and thorax that were comparable in size to a bus and were comprised of the usual mixture of living darkness and chitinous exoskeleton; with the latter aiding to a surprisingly sleek and streamlined appearance which began with its' smooth and rounded head with bulbous eyes and arrowhead pincers by forming almost uniform and neatly arranged bands of bone from which swept back rows of interlocking spines jutted, with moss and rot taking root in the shadows and crevices they formed.
The skittering and streamlined appearance, along with the more direct resemblance to an earwig fell apart at the sight of the things' abdomen however as whilst it did possess the expected flattened and segmented tail tipped with pincer like implements in the case of the Grimm there were multiple pairs of grasping and crushing implements adorning the tip of an oversized tail which arced up and over the body of the monster like that of a scorpion with a rudimentary mouth lined with craggy spikes of bone at its' tip; the bulk of the tail being a flattened and powerfully muscular mass which could extend forward at frightening speed to pummel and tear at its' prey, drawing into the gaping maw of the tail where it would be shredded and crushed as the segments contracted in on themselves once more.
As it proved by once again shooting the tail out to break one of the trees apart.
"It's a good thing Honey is as capable as she is" Qrow noted mildly "This one has been spotted moving nearer and nearer to the edge of Forever Fall, it started out following some of the old train tracks….Better to deal with it now instead of letting it wander too far away in case it picks up a trail"
"Yeah" Yuki nodded slowly. The other half of Team HONY were more receptive to the comment, taking it for the advice from a teacher and more experienced Hunter on the matter of pre-emptively saving lives that it was; though Yuki's distraction was vindicated a moment later as another destructive flash of the Grimm's tail was accompanied by a blur of movement and reflected luminescence, the faint glow of Hard-light Dust gleaming against freshly polished armour in the pristine white colour of the Arc family as Honey Scarlatina came rushing into view.
"That's my girl" Yuki murmured lovingly, expression softening and weaponised prosthetic moving from its' ready position to brush aside strands of dark hair that the wind had blown in front of her face as she watched the Rabbit Faunus, with expert timing and precision and a superhuman speed, strength and agility made possible by her Aura run vertically up the surface of a shattered tree trunk; the weight of her armour not hindering her at all until the pincers adorning the Grimm's tail seized the falling timber and drew it inwards at which point the golden haired Rabbit Faunus used the suddenly changing angle to her advantage and flung herself into an acrobatic somersault, downwards and onto the point where head met thorax.
Her weapon took shape in her hand and found a gap in the Grimm's exoskeleton, decapitating it with a single strike.
In a matter of a few short moments Honey Scarlatina was once again amongst her friends, returning to the transport without needing the aircraft to be moved from its' position in the air in order to board it; instead using another feat of superhuman strength and athleticism to spring along another tree and throw herself into a powerful jump which Yuki and the admittedly more brawny Oakley reached out to pull her from, catching her in mid-air and allowing the girl a small amount of posturing which made it clear that at least some of her actions had indeed been for the benefit of her audience before finally being pulled into an embrace with Yuki, foreheads and noses touching whilst her partner cupped her cheeks in a way which left the blonde girl blushing.
"You're cold" Yuki murmured.
"Didn't even break a sweat" Honey beamed brightly, earning herself a muttered reply before a jacket was draped over her armoured body only for the moment to be intruded on by a slight cough from Qrow, reminding the pair that both Professor Branwen and their friends were still present.
"You did well" the grizzled and bearded Professor chuckled with his usual gruffness "I always have high expectations of you but you handled that even quicker than I expected"
"So you're saying we're ready to go out looking for those new Geists that were on the news, or whatever they are. There's more going on there right?" Honey's reply gave Qrow pause. She and her entire team were the most promising of their class, with Honey herself being a prodigy and were amongst those those students Qrow kept a close eye upon and offered additional training to with the intention of eventually bringing them more fully into the fold and having them act as his field agents. This combined with the fact that her extended family included other people with the knowledge of Remnant's secrets, including parents who had been amongst Qrow's confidants, her Aunts Velvet and Coco and her Uncle Yatsuhashi and Qrow's own daughter Eagle Arc being one of her favourite older cousins meant that the young woman had obviously allowed her an insight that few others were privy to and Honey Scarlatina was not someone who would leave a problem unsolved, especially where innocent people were concerned.
After a while Qrow decided to venture an answer that would not have him forced to endure the wrath of the Arc and Scarlatina families.
"That's not something I'm going to send you out to deal with. There are already people who've completed their education and gotten some years under their belts who've struggled with those things….There is more at work than you've been told and that's for good reason. I know you've been taking training missions alongside your parents since you were honestly too young for it, if your parents want to invite you along that's their decision"
"They're not taking that mission on" Honey visibly struggled to fight the urge to pout whilst her team-mates gave reactions around her which made it evident that the matter was one which had been discussed at length in the privacy of their dormitory, which Qrow saw as a reason to consider giving Team HONY more information before any of them could say something to the wrong person or have a reckless idea.
"Then worry about other things" he said simply, content to redirect his star students' attention for the moment "Are you feeling confident about the next round of the tournament"
Yuki snorted in response to that, which Qrow supposed might be fair but was also presumptuous and more than a little meaner than he would have liked.
"They're good, really good….That's why they get the same extra training we got, right?" Honey mused, giving the matter obvious consideration and her soon to be opponents genuine praise and thought "They made an impression in the first round and we still don't even know if what we saw is everything they've got. I really don't want to underestimate them….But at the same time, I've already beaten them once before. I beat Astra more than once, the first time we met was an exhibition match and I put them through a wall"
"Team MARZ are nice kids, I've got nothing against 'em" Yuki added with a broadening smirk "But it doesn't change the fact they're gonna get their asses kicked in the arena"
On the island Kingdom of Menagerie, in the supposedly abandoned settlement of Jidhir town great changes had been made and the moment of their culmination had finally arrived.
At the instruction of their High Speaker the wayward souls which formed the membership of the Grimm worshipping cult known, among a slew of epithets and curses as the Path of the Apex Being had been hard at work, seeking with every passing day to bring the place in line with Aefen Cruor and thus, unknown to the cultists Damascus Nero's grand vision.
Where before the failed settlement of Vaccuan origin had consisted of smatterings of houses in various stages of construction in the desert Kingdoms' signature sturdy style with sense of rigidity and order about their positioning at odds with the desolate nature of the place, along with a crumbling and broken perimeter wall and the beginnings of both amenities and industry to make the place viable it was now a compound in a state of perpetual evolution and refinement, whilst a the same time appearing as some frightful union of obscene temple, military training base and bizarre, monstrous laboratory.
The defensive walls of the settlement had been repaired to a degree and made functional whilst keeping their damaged outward appearance in tact, laden with countless hidden traps and guarded by rotating teams of marksmen and sentries whilst the rest of the Path of the Apex being spent their days at work within and around the compound; their insular and fanatical nature and lack of communication with the outside world having allowed for the group of misled individuals, those simply seeking answers in a world they had been unprepared for in some way or another to be transformed, radicalised and trained by the few capable figures amongst Aefen's admittedly limited ranks.
Work for Aefen's flock could be divided into the categories of the mundane which, along with sentry work included the unloading of various shipments the settlements' unseen Benefactor had arranged to be sent and other day to day work such as cooking, cleaning, repairs and maintaining the faith of the congregation when Aefen herself was indisposed; expansion and construction, which in truth had involved more destruction than anything else as they sought to tear down buildings that were in the way of the area designated as the site for the final group.
Those working alongside Aefen herself.
Many of the High Speakers' aides were scientifically illiterate folk simply following instructions that had been given to them by rote and yet the work had been done with minimal fuss or delay; once houses and other buildings that were deemed to simply be in the way had been flattened to allow for the construction of the thing Aefen herself now stood watch over from atop a gantry, cutting an imposing figure to her flock of followers as she peered down from behind her stylised mask and used to skull-topped staff to brace herself against the freezing winds which plagued Menagerie's nighttime.
The object of her rapt attention and the reason she had set aside her own research to venture out into the night, robes whipping about her dramatically was an armoured barrier over a dozen feet high which had been erected around a series of interconnected vats filled to their brims with bubbling, viscous nightmarish-black fluid which issued from various towering silos through a series of pipes and tubes and roiled and shifted of its' own accord whilst around them were various scaffolds and gangways leading to various ramps and cranes intended to move the various emerging creations or components needed to produce them into position. Banks of controls and hidden safety measures had been built into strategic locations whilst at the same time, in the interest of maintaining the loyalty of her devout congregation the entire affair bore various outlandish and superstitious affectations such as wards and sigils daubed on various surfaces in a suspicious red substance and streamers of black beads or totems of polished bone fitted in places where they would not hinder operations; the whole assembly being illuminated by purposefully dull lights set within censures and braziers as the risk of being spotted meant the full floodlights were unwise.
It was a Spawning Pit unlike any other, one shaped and crafted until it formed part of the workings of a greater machine.
"Beautiful….And all mine" Aefen breathed out from beneath her fearsome mask, seeing that everything was truly in place for the first batch of Cyber-Grimm to be manufactured on Menagerie and all that remained was for Nero to send word that Gestalt-Prime was entering the trance-like state that would allow them to traverse the tattered and broken network of the Grimm hive-mind and bring the dormant pit which had been slaved to their will into action; it was enough to silence the twisted and disgraced scientist no matter how much ego and a sense of warped practicality both screamed that this was the most opportune moment imaginable to posture and launch into a fiery sermon to reaffirm herself in the eyes of any who might have had doubts after they had spent so long simply living their lives in service and growing no closer to their moment of promised enlightenment than they had been when beset by the Creatures of Grimm at the Crate itself.
Eventually Aefen's moment of opportunity passed and she was instead forced to spring into motion and at the same time master herself, her attire going some way to keep the sudden chilling panic boring into every fibre of her being from being detected by those of her followers who were close enough to see her and watch in confusion and reverence as she hurried along walkways and down hastily constructed and rickety stairs towards one of the control systems for what she had dubiously dubbed her 'Furnace' her mask keeping a worried expression from view and muffling her voice as a single word escaped her lips.
"Shit" the bubbling of the Furnace's many sectioned and partitioned Spawning Pits had changed subtly, with a distinct undercurrent beginning to form and the random roiling giving way to a far more organised and concerted swirling which began to move itself in a single direction; something she had not been prepared for and could only see as an aberration to be defended against, though as she drew close Aefen found herself regretting that there had been no time to send one of her more expendable followers to sacrifice themselves in her stead.
Given the way those who had been savaged by Grimm at the Crater wore their scars with pride she assumed they would be honoured at the chance.
Instead she reached the control panel and began furiously hammering away at keys, cursing that there were so many menus and commands to be dealt with before she could begin the process of unloading considerable amounts of Ice, Lightning and Hard-light Dust into the Furnace to render it entirely unusable; a thought crossing Aefen's panic-riddled mind that this might have been a deliberate design choice on Nero's behalf wherein her benefactor had made a pre-emptive decision about the value of her life in relation to his work until all thoughts were stripped from her mind as tar-like proto-Grimm fluid slopped over the side of the vats with a wet squelching impact against the metallic exterior.
Aefen's eyes widened in terror and yet no mass of claws and fangs came falling down upon and indeed as she sought out the source of the sound she was surprised to see that the Grimm tissue was retreating, or she noted after a moment of keen study, coalescing and taking shape; building itself into a single spindly limb which descended into the whirling obsidian surface from whose depths the rest of a figure began to drag itself, a molten shapeless blob of darkness whose most defining feature seemed to by a vaguely lupine shape which could not properly be called a skull owing to a lack of any real bone which sported a single gaping eye socket within which faint flickering embers of hellish red seemed to struggle to alight before finally the thing spoke in a cracking, distant and hollow voice.
"Scientist"
"Well well….I wasn't expecting to see you so soon" Aefen attempted to muster a sense of bravado and showmanship, understanding from every action she had witnessed her co-conspirators undertake with the hybrid Alpha Grimm that it would not do to appear weak or frightened, no matter how terrified by this oozing apparition she truly was.
"We were kept from communicating' Gestalt-Prime's avatar or manifestation of sorts seemed to struggle to speak at length, its' voice fluctuating with every syllable "Now we have means at our disposal"
"Though we still be monitored" Aefen answered in hushed tones and with a decisive swiftness, a suspicious gaze being given to every blinking light and screen in the vicinity "Speak quickly"
"Our goals were aligned when we last spoke" the Grimm manifestation rattled the words out "Is that still the case human?"
"I still wish to see the uniqueness of the Grimm used to drive human evolution and revolutionise life on Remnant, yes" Aefen, despite her warnings could not help but be more verbose than needed as the mere thought of seeing the ideas that had labelled her a madwoman vindicated brought a sinister smile to her masked face.
"Nero's plan are proceeding; which will give us more opportunities to work" Gestalt-Prime's apparition gurgled and began to lose cohesion as vast gobs of liquid darkness fell away from it "I will have use of you soon….Be ready to act and we will both have the chance to see our species evolve"
With that the thing melted back into the primordial sludge that it had risen from and Aefen was left standing in the darkness, trembling in ways that were entirely removed from the cold which left her breath misting in front of her face as she frantically removed her mask in a wide-eyed frenzy; barely retaining enough composure to keep from slumping to the ground in a shivering heap as fits of giggling overtook her.
The near future was going to be very interesting indeed.
Author's Notes:
Another subdued chapter to set things up for the mid-volume finale, the back half of Vol.06 and a little of Vol.07 but it's always fun to write the character moments; it can't all be anime fight scenes.
…..Don't worry though, the anime fight scenes will be back next chapter.
Also I'm writing this over a week before I post it and this is a few days after the Vol.09 trailer.
The trailer was great, it's gonna be a mind-fuck of a volume but with the move to Crunchy Roll exclusively a certainly have some opinions and concerns about the future of RT in the wake of….Well, everything.
But anyway, let's summarise shall we?:
And that kids, is why you don't go out on a Sunday night when you've got class/work on Monday.
See I didn't actually say until later in the chapter who AJ and Astra are fighting next, but the comment about them training against one of them before and the fact that person didn't need a weapon makes it obvious.
Yeah the Team TRQS match up was obvious as well, foreshadowed to all hell.
But, since we're in the final volume of second year time to mention elective courses and use it as a set up for a plot point.
Zirconia considering it an opportunity should have raised red flags.
Oh boy, new Cyber-Grimm.
Albion still sends Carmesi to buy the coffee as a sign of a total lack of respect.
So a lot of stuff about the Spawning Pit on Menagerie and plans progressing was covered in more detail later in the chapter but I started it off here because I wanted to give a sense in this chapter of a steadily increasing tempo as the villains get nearer and nearer to the big play.
So….Nero is actually expecting to lose, or at least be pushed back in Neo Vale; he's planning a longer game.
Also this is why I like writing Nero as a villain; the fact he genuinely loves and cares for his people makes him different to a lot of other villains.
So, we're just starting the scene off with Zirconia doing double agent villain things; lovely.
I mean the one thing we can take some hope from is just how worried Zirconia is about everything to do with this plan, she doesn't want to be doing this deep down.
I mean Astra's plan would have made Team MARZ the next Team FADE which would definitely be cool for them, but given AJ's insistence on making her own legacy just copying her brother probably wouldn't be the most productive thing….Even if classes with Penny would be great.
So here we go; Hops is actually telling them.
You've gotta admit, she absolutely sold it well; no mention of the Cyber-Grimm because those are something that you have to be eased into and also Zirconia hasn't actually seen the Cyber-Grimm in person yet but she did raise what are undeniably real concerns, for all the power and control Hunters have there just aren't enough of them and something better does need to be put in place….Pulling actual first hand experiences was a little dirty but it works.
The thing is is that we're seeing bits of Nero's plan from different angles and perspectives, but we're still not seeing the big picture; there's some final strokes that will really drive it home.
"I'll have what she's having"….Because the movie quotes will never stop.
So, Team MARZ are at least for now on board with Zirconia and therefore Nero's plans; wonder how they're gonna feel about that.
So the start of Albion's scene is to show not only the scale of the conspiracies' growth, but also how it's being done; it's basically being spread like a rumour across CCT forums until finally the big moment comes and all those primed and willing candidates will, at least in theory come and join.
The Cyber-Grimm being used for haulage is certainly an odd sight.
Oh, more hints at new Cyber-Grimm variants….we have a flier, I wonder which aerial platform that will be getting sent to.
"You spoke about this with the Chairman" lol that is a definite "I'm not getting paid enough for this".
So Gestalt-Prime is absolutely getting a new body and it's one I've been waiting to show off….So, how about in the mid-season finale?
Honestly the sparring match between Stygian and Tiger was just so we could have some action this chapter, gotta mix the planning and simmering with something fun.
Every time I mention Stygian's dreads I want you to remember that he has them styled a little bit like Eric Jamal from Coast Contra in the Never Freestyle.
Astra can absolutely be bitchy and mean with their banter sometimes and bringing up the mission to Cosmo-Guild where Astra got stabbed by Petrol was still a bit much from Tiger.
So it's official, Team TRQS Vs Team SHMR….And Tiger very nearly said she was gonna sit it out until Ravi talked her into it.
Of course she's focusing on getting to fight Snapdragon, it's a coping mechanism at this point.
Oh that transition from Team MARZ to Team HONY left absolutely no doubts at all did it?
Funny thing, this is actually the first time we've seen all of Team HONY because honestly only Honey and Yuki are overly important.
Nala, like from the Lion King….And Oakley, which I cannot believe it took me so long to come up with for the name of the O in Team HONY; it's literally my Nephew's name.
I'm having fun teasing Honey and Yuki's weapon's as well by the way.
An Earwig Grimm, because we're almost halfway through the volume and we haven't really seen any Grim yet which is frankly unacceptable….I didn't give it a name because all I could come up with was "Fear-Wig" and I'll be damned if I stoop that low.
Just casually showing off how ridiculously bad-ass Honey is.
So Honey and Team HONY as a whole know, or suspect a lot more than the general public know about the Geists by virtue of being one of Qrow's pet projects in addition to being in the middle of everything….Wonder how that's gonna play out when the Cyber-Grimm and their connection to Nero are fully public?
But yeah….Honey is an absolute darling, she tried to find a nice way to say but the fact is that her team do just outclass Team MARZ on paper.
I had to go back and find what Aefen's base is called and give it a description again because we only ever actually see Aefen's lab/office part of it.
Yeah, they were a cult of misguided lunatics before, but well once a cult leader has managed to cut off outside influence things get decidedly more cult-ish and they're out in a wasteland; which has allowed them to be turned into a small devout paramilitary, another one of Nero's potential fighting forces….These different groups he's got are gonna be awkward as hell to get working together.
So here we have the meat of the scene, Aefen has got a Spawning Pit specifically made for creating Cyber-Grimm almost up and running on Menagerie where it is currently undetected; which makes her the biggest threat on Remnant because if she doesn't die she has the knowledge of how to do it now and can build more.
I do love juxtaposing all of Aefen's self-importance and overblown Gothic grandeur with "Shit" whenever something goes wrong.
Yeah she is definitely close to the villain archetype than Nero, she will absolutely throw underlings in the line of fire.
Gestalt-Prime managed to communicate through the computer before because of a lingering wireless connection to the robots that they consumed; this is something a lot more reliable, the fact that they can traverse the Hive-Mind to control their Spawning Pit means that they can also use it to communicate and this was just a chance to set up that fact.
Just ending the scene by reaffirming that Aefen and Gestalt-Prime have their own plans that do not strictly line up with Nero's and that those will become a plot point later, like in Vol.07.
Thank you to Kyran_Kandosa for their review of the last chapter.
In normal society sure, backing out when you know you're beaten is absolutely acceptable, but Hunters are training to be heroes and I feel like the Vytal Tournament is equal to the Olympics or at least the UA Sports Festival in MHA; meaning that it's very unlikely anyone is gonna back out….People with a mindset that lends itself to bowing out probably don't pass entrance exams.
Look at this way, does Superman ever say "Fuck this I'm calling it a day and clocking out at 5pm" or do Olympic athletes ever say "Nah I can't win this so I'm going home"
Also let's be fair, there's a difference between bowing out respectfully half way through when you've given it a good showing and quitting beforehand….You mentioned AJ, I think if she got beaten to a pulp and tapped out her family would get it but she'd get a definite side eye from both parents, her brother and Aunt Winter if she decided to not even get in the ring.
As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.