AN: Here we are at the end of Grimm Eclipse Arc. Special thanks to my Beta reader Chocobolover69 for the chapter name.
More Questions Than Answers
Now that the team of Drivers and Blades had Ozpin as full-on support, they knew what they had to do.
"Team, according to the schematics you should be entering a facility which supplies power to most of the robot manufacturing equipment. If you destroy them, Merlot will have fewer robots at his disposal." Ozpin explained as the team just entered a room that had multiple power nodes across the floor.
"You're not authorized to be in here!" Merlot's voice echoed as more robots came out from the opposite doorway.
"And we don't care, do we everyone?" Roze said, directing an evil smile which made him look more menacing than he probably intended. Having an evil smile combined with empty white eyes tends to have that kind of effect.
Still that didn't make the team any less enthusiastic about this. "DESTROY EVERYTHING!" Ruby cheered loudly as she moved in to break one of the power nodes.
"With pleasure," Weiss complied with unusually sadistic grin on her face.
"On it," Blake said simply.
"Whoever breaks least is a creeper!" Yang exclaimed.
"You're on!" Dragunov took the challenge.
But that didn't stop the team from going after the nodes, with their Blades following their lead. Yang opened up by firing another explosive round from Ember Celica, which one robot actually dodged. Unfortunately, this meant that it hit the power node behind it instead, causing the following explosion to destroy it. "Nailed it!" Yang called out with a grin as she deflected a strike from the same robot before delivering a shotgun enhanced punch on its torso, blowing a gaping hole into it.
"Eat your heart out, Dahlia!" Dragunov shouted as he threw the power node he had torn off at two gunner robots which tried to fire an ether net on him. Keyword being tried, because the nets got tangled with the nod before it landed on the two shoulder to shoulder standing robots, taking down the two with an explosion.
This of course, drew Dahlia's attention. The ice bunny Blade frowned at the boastful shout before having a smile and throwing her bitball with all her might at a power node. The bitball hitting the node, caused it to explode and launch the thrown weapon straight at three naginata wielding robots that were trying to approach them. One of them tried to block it but the projectile snapped the pole and smash all three of them into a wall sawing through all of them in the process. Before the ball retracted its blades and harmlessly bounced to a smug looking Dahlia, "You were saying?"
Dragunov could only grumbled at being one-upped like that. In hindsight, he should have known what would happen when you challenge a bitball user in their own game.
As this happened, Blake and Nox each slashed through a power node, before Blake opened fire on a gunner bot which still managed to fire an ether net. Thankfully, Blake was able to dash out of the way while Nox backflipped on top of a lonely crate. Then the dark Ninja jumped higher before doing something that he hadn't done before, he swung both of his Dual Scythes, which were wrapped up in his bandages, at two gunner robots, lodging the weapons into their necks, before yanking on the weapons. Which resulted in him landing on the two one foot on each of them, before the dark Blade ripped the Scythes out of them.
"That was awesome!" Ruby exclaimed, having already destroyed one node along with Roze having done so too.
Weiss of course rolled her eyes a little at Ruby being so easily excited, although she had to wonder, "Why didn't you ever use that maneuver before?" The only reason she had time to ask was because there were no more robots or power nodes to destroy.
"I only came up with it just now." Nox showed on his scroll.
Which made Weiss have a blanched look, "You used a maneuver that you had never tried before and executed it perfectly without practice?"
"Yes." Nox showed on his scroll with a dead-pan look in his eye.
This earned a sigh from Weiss, "Fair enough."
With that the team moved forward towards an odd-looking hallway. "There's another door!" Ruby exclaimed, ready to sprint towards it. Until Nox moved in front to bar entry. "Hey! We need to move," Ruby complained as she moved to get past the ninja who kept blocking her way no matter where she moved.
"Guys, doesn't the floor look odd to you?" Roze then asked, spotting some minor differences on multiple spots on the floor thanks to his Keen Eye.
"I don't see anything," Dragunov said, trying to see it for himself.
As this happened, Nox took out a pebble from…somewhere before throwing it across the room. And spikes appeared off the floor where it landed to, before retracting down.
"...Where did you get that pebble from?" Roze asked out of curiosity.
"That's seriously your first question!?" Weiss exclaimed in disbelief.
"I gathered some while we were outside." Nox showed on his scroll.
This only further made Weiss question things, "And you knew there would be traps here to use them on?"
"No. I simply assumed there would be." Nox showed again. Though this was added with a look that the frosty heiress didn't like. It was like the dark Blade was either questioning or mocking her intelligence.
"Anyway," Roze cut in sensing Weiss' growing ire, "Dahlia, do you think you could freeze a pathway for us?"
The ice bunny looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, "If you can pinpoint where exactly, then yes."
"Great, then just freeze a pathway around... here," Roze spoke up as he pointed to a spot that hugged the wall.
"Alright then," Dahlia said as cold started to swirl in her beastly hands. Before she released it, creating an frozen pathway towards the end of the hallway. "Now if everyone could move through in a single file," the ice wielding Blade then said. And the group did just that. Although they did have to watch their steps, seeing as the ice was slippery. That, and Dragunov had to come in last, because his body heat might weaken the ice enough for the spikes to break through.
"That was easy," Blake mused as they could swear they heard a certain someone grumbling through the speakers.
"Anything to make Merlot regret messing with us," Dragunov added in while showing a security camera the finger, "You hear that ya crazy old goat!?"
"Uhh…Drag? I don't think we should be antagonizing him any more than we need to," Yang said, not wanting this to bite their butts later.
"You should listen to people smarter than you." The team heard Merlot say angrily
"You're telling me to listen to blonde joke?" Dragunov asked dryly, which caused Yang's eyes to turn red with anger.
"And just what's that supposed to mean!? You're partly blond too, you know," Yang retorted while pointing at Dragunov's hair that keeps shifting between red, orange and gold.
"That means I'm two thirds smarter than you," Dragunov said with a grin.
"That's debatable," Roze commented as he shattered a nearby vent, due to the door not opening. "Come on, we don't have time to argue," the reaper Blade added before going in.
"Roze's right, let's go," Ruby said as she followed suit.
"This isn't over," Yang hissed through her teeth at her jerk of a Blade before also moving on. With the said jerk following with a smug look at winning this round.
Ozpin's voice soon ran out as they came across more of those vats, "You're entering a room that contains more processing equipment for his serum. Destroy it. All of it."
"Oh, yeah! Let's break stuff," Ruby said, eager at the prospect of making a villain's life harder.
"I think Dahlia and I should provide ranged back up again," Roze spoke up as he glanced at the ice Blade.
"I won't argue with that, I don't want to get anywhere near that substance any more than you do," Dahlia replied as she prepared her bitball.
"Then I guess I'll sit this one out with Nox again," Dragunov spoke up as he leaned against a wall casually. With the dark ninja reluctantly joining him.
"Let's do this," Blake said as the team moved out to destroy the vats.
"Stop them!" Merlot's voice sounded out as more robots came in from a walkway not far away.
As Team RWBY started breaking stuff, Roze and Dahlia unloaded their ranged attacks on the bots. When the melee bots did get within striking distance of the two Blades, Nox and Dragunov intercepted them. And the ones that weren't after them, were taken down by the Drivers whenever they found the time to take a break from breaking more things.
The fun didn't last long as both the vats and the robots were completely wrecked.
"My serum!" Merlot cried out as nearby screens showed him look in shock, before shaking his head with an angry look. "No matter. Thankfully I have already synthesized the perfect combination. It's still in the test phase but…so far the data is looking very promising." Merlot sounded calmer the further in his explanation went.
As the team of Drivers and Blades moved through the walkway where the robots came from earlier, Ozpin spoke up once again.
"Students, there is a path to the testing ground which you should be walking on right now. That leads to an opening large enough for an airship to get in. An airship is currently on its way there, but you must hurry, General Ironwood will give the order to bomb the island any moment now." Ozpin explained, earning wide eyes from the students.
"Wait, the general wants to blow up the island while we're still in it!?" Weiss exclaimed in disbelief.
"Say, what!?" Three Blades shouted in unison, while the fourth one's eye widened.
"The airship should pick you all up before that happens, but I would still suggest hurrying," Ozpin explained calmly, with an underlying tone of worry, "And I tried to talk the general into waiting until you were out, but he felt confident that you would get out before the airstrike happens."
"Understood professor, we'll be out soon," Ruby said with a determined look.
"We will make sure of that," Dahlia said with the same resolve. Which was shared by the other three Blades.
With that, the team picked up the pace, before soon enough entering what had to be the testing ground.
"Welcome to the testing grounds students." Merlot said with a sinister tone as the nearby screens showed him with a menacing look. "Now that you are all here, I suppose it's time to see what my new test subjects can do. Who knows, I might even let you all out if you survive." That last part was added with a chuckle.
"I don't trust him," Blake said as she prepared Gambol Shroud.
"Neither do I, but what choice do we have," Weiss said as she saw multiple mutated Grimm appearing out of a doorway that must lead to where ever they were held.
"Let's finish this quickly team!" Ruby said cheerfully.
The rest of the team shared the sentiment and started shooting the mutated Creeps, which also took down most of the mutated Beowolves. And those that weren't were quickly dealt with the combined efforts of the huntresses and their trusty Blades.
"A little more effort maybe?" Merlot's voice sounded out in a curious tone, "I thought this was my most potent batch of serum?"
This phrase was followed by four mutated Ursi coming out and roaring at them. Also a few more robots.
Dragunov had a contemplative look, before he reached for his pouch, "Guys, I'm using my last vial now!" With that shout, Dragunov downed the final vial to regain his full power. The draconic Blade knew he couldn't afford to get hit now, but he also couldn't afford holding back.
"Just don't get hit!" Roze called out as he opened fire upon one of the mutated monsters alongside Ruby.
But then Dragunov turned towards his Driver, "Yang, use my talons!" With those words he threw his weapons to Yang who caught them.
"You planning to stand back while I do the heavy lifting," Yang asked teasingly.
The dragon Blade wasn't impressed, "Yang, don't be a smartass now." But he linked himself with his blonde bombshell of a Driver anyway. With that, Yang moved in to give one of the mutated Ursi a taste of Fever Rush.
With Blake, she had followed the fiery duo's example and switched her weapons with Nox's. Moving alongside her Blade, she closed in on the Ursa that was covering itself from Ruby's and Roze's shots. For a moment the mutated Grimm seemed to look at Blake, until it seemed confused for some reason. Nox had activated Shadow Eye. Which allowed Blake to close in without the beast being able to perceive the incoming threat. Which in turn allowed her to deal devastating damage with Shadow Spin, combined with Nox activating Black Predator for increased power.
Which in turn allowed the Ursa to finally perceive the threat that was hitting it and turn to deal with it. Or it would have if Ruby hadn't switched to Roze's Scythe and moved in to use a new Art she had come up with, "Crescent Guillotine!" Ruby called out as she brought the scythe as high as she could before bringing it down on the Ursa's turned head like a hammer. This pierced the beast's bone plate and by extension it's head.
"I'm beginning to think I've made a huge mistake." Merlot's voice sounded out from the speakers while the screens showed his increasingly angry look. Not that the team had any time to look. Especially when Blake's and Ruby's Blade weapons had become to corrode due to the substance that comes out of the Grimm.
"Now he realizes it." Weiss couldn't help being smug at this madman being so slow to realize what he was dealing with. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep it up for long due to having to get away from an Ursa swipe. Thankfully the other one that wasn't occupied by Yang was too busy trying to break free from the ice Weiss had encased it in.
"How about this," Dahlia spoke up as she threw her bitball into the monster's abdomen. This caused it to stagger enough for Weiss to infuse Myrtenaster with fire Dust before stabbing it into the head, and unloading it all.
"Is that really the best you can do?" Yang boasted as she delivered a shotgun enhanced Rising Dragon under the beast's jaw, actually destroying it's head.
"And so it has come to this," Merlot said angrily before the gate opened one more time to allow a giant mutated Death Stalker inside. "I wonder how you will do against this enhanced specimen. You see, nature couldn't possibly make a beast this deadly, so I did." Merlot had an insane glint in his eyes on the screens as he finished that explanation. This mutated Death Stalker had the same characteristics as all the other mutated Grimm. Parts that were red normally were green, glowing spikes coming out of its body. Even its stinger, which is normally gold in color was now glowing green.
"We killed a sauros, this is nothing," Ruby retorted as she didn't feel as worried about this thing as she did the giant dinosaur like monster.
"And Grimm are just as natural as that substance you use on them," Dahlia added in while preparing herself to fight this monstrosity along with everyone else, "Not to mention, ugly." She just couldn't help adding that last one.
"Let's test that theory then," Merlot retorted as the mutated Death Stalker charged the team. The thing readied its pincers to grab both Blake and Yang. But the two moved out of the way along with their Blades. "He's looking hungry. No doubt he will savor your taste, as I will savor my victory," Merlot said menacingly.
"There is no victory for you, Merlot," Blake shouted as she moved in to hit the oversized arachnid Grimm's side with Nox's recovered scythes. As the Death Stalker tried to turn around to hit Blake, Weiss had used her glyphs to gain higher ground before using Snowfall right on the monster's back. The creature did stagger, but didn't show too much damage.
"It's tougher than the other ones," Weiss called out as she landed back on the ground.
"Then let's hit it with everything we got," Yang replied with a grin as she dashed towards the monstrosity. But the said monstrosity had other ideas, it's stinger glowed for a moment before sending what looked like green bolts of energy into the sky.
"Yang, get out of there!" Dragunov shouted as he himself moved away, but Yang wasn't as reactive. Thankfully Weiss was, as she made a launch glyph right next to Yang before launching the blonde away from the beast's line of fire. But the creature wasn't done, it sent another bolt of venom right around where Yang was about to land. Only for Dragunov to step up and make a barrier to block it. Except the bolt pierced right through it, shocking Dragunov, as it landed on his still recovering Driver.
"Yang!" Ruby cried out from further away in concern.
"I'm okay!" Yang replied, having survived thanks to her aura, "But Blade barriers can't seem to block these!" the blonde also added, snapping Dragunov out of his shock of a Blade barrier being breached so easily.
"I will tear that thing apart," Dragunov growled as his Driver got up.
"Stings a little doesn't it?" Merlot's smug voice sounded out.
"Oh, shut up you old fart!" Yang and Dragunov shouted in unison. In any other situation this would have been funny, but they needed to stay serious.
"It was just a lucky shot," Yang complained as she returned to battle eagerly.
As Ruby and Roze were taking pot shots at the monster, the whole place started shaking as they heard exploding sounds.
"What's going on here!?" Merlot's voice echoed through the speakers.
Weiss' mind was overtaken by small panic as one theory popped into her mind. "Professor! Weren't we supposed to be evacuated before Ironwood starts bombing the place!?" The heiress demanded into her earpiece.
"What!? The air strike shouldn't be even near there yet." Ozpin replied, clearly shocked by the news.
"Well someone is!" Blake spoke up as she avoided another bombardment of venom.
At that moment the team was receiving a call to their Scrolls which was being redirected to their earpieces.
Weiss who was currently the safest distance away from the Death Stalker answered the call.
"Students! Are you there!? Are you alright!?" Came the frantic voice of Oobleck.
"Doctor Oobleck? We are kind of busy right now," Weiss said, just as barely avoiding a swipe from the remaining Ursa that had finally broken free from the ice.
"This cannot wait! Listen, a titan is attacking the island." Oobleck said quickly.
"A titan?" Weiss questioned, faintly remembering Roze once upon a time mentioning that. But they never went into detail.
"A titan!?" Dahlia exclaimed in surprise even as she threw her bitball at the Ursa's face, "Here!?"
However, Weiss was too busy to even note that as Oobleck continued, "I am currently on the ship en route to your location. We will come as soon as possible, but you must finish whatever you're doing FAST!" Oobleck's final shout almost blew Weiss' and RBY's ear off. Just as the whole place shook again from more explosions that were happening on the surface. With that the call was cut off.
"Did you guys hear that?" Weiss called out to the rest of her team.
"That a titan's bombing the island? Yup!" Yang found it in herself to respond before backing away from the pincers that were trying to catch her. The Death Stalker apparently didn't like Yang trying to Fever Rush it's face. Then she had to roll away from the stinger.
"We need to take this thing down now," Ruby called as she tried to attack it again.
"Then let's unload our strongest Special attacks on it," Roze spoke up as he looked towards Ruby for approval.
The red reaper nodded at the suggestion, "Let's do that."
With that command, Roze and the rest of the Blades downed their last vials of Dust.
Although Yang turned a mildly worried look at her own Blade that already downed his earlier, "Can you unleash Burning Rage?"
"Don't worry about me," Dragunov said, not even in a teasing tone. After all, this was serious. "But we still need to get that thing near the bug," the draconic Blade added while looking at the last mutated Ursa that had been chasing them almost comically as they were mostly focused on the Death Stalker.
"Let me start!" Dahlia shouted out as she pirouetted before unloading Snowblind upon the Death Stalker that tried to block the attack by bringing it's pincers together. Big mistake, because the moment the bitball hit, the icy blizzard it brought out froze it's pincers together, effectively cuffing it.
"My turn!" Roze shouted out as he used Ravaging Rose on the impaired monster that couldn't even tell where some of the attacks were coming from.
The rose petals had just started bursting out before Blake sensed that Nox wanted to go next. "Do it." Blake said simply as she tossed the scythes to her Blade.
With that, Nox caught the weapons and brought his arms accross his chest, lifting the weapons in a way that put his face in between them. Then darkness started leaking out of his eyepatch with his head hung low. Before he lifted his head, his yellow iris glowing as it highlighted his X shaped pupil. Then Nox threw the scythes which had become wrapped around his bandages that were unraveling from his arms. But it was the next part that seemed weird. Because as the enlargened scythe blades, which leaked dark ether, were slashing wildly around the Death Stalker's body as Nox flung the weapons around like barb-ended whips. The Deathstalker tried to retort by winding up it's stinger to unleash another rain of venom. But it seemed like Nox would not have it, because he brought the scythes in one more crisscrossing arc on the mutant's tail, cutting off the stinger as the blades intersected the base where the tail ends and the stinger begins.
The monstrous Grimm cried in pain as venom started spraying out of the stub as Nox's bandages retracted to him, returning his weapons in the process.
"No! No! Hang in there my precious," Merlot cried out in panic as the whole complex shook harder than earlier.
"We need to end this now!" Yang shouted as she used a double shot to force the remaining mutant Ursa right next to the flailing Death Stalker which accidentally stomped on it.
"On it!" Dragunov responded, having gotten his talons back and already with the fireball in both hands. "Burn with my rage!" Dragunov declared as he slammed the ball into the ground, just as the mutated scorpion Grimm finally got its pincers free from the ice. But the monster didn't get to celebrate its freedom for long when Burning Rage finally burst out of the ground.
For a moment it seemed like the Death Stalker would withstand the flames. Until it disintegrated until not even a green puddle was left.
"No! My one of a kind specimen!" Merlot cried out, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. Which was soon replaced by anger, "I will destroy all of you! Even if it's the last thing I'll-" Merlot's rage was cut off by the most violent shaking by far, as well as the screens going static.
"What? Can't hear youuuu," Yang said teasingly, just before she was forcibly grabbed by Dragunov and moved. And good thing too, because a large fragment of metal fell on the spot where the blonde used to be at. "Whoa…thanks," Yang found it in herself to thank Dragunov for not letting her get squished.
"No problem, now let's get out of here before the titan blows the rest of this place up," Dragunov then said as he looked towards the only door that hadn't been used.
"How do we open it though?" Ruby then wondered aloud as there was no visible pad or anything else that it could be used to open it.
"Dragunov, would our combined elements be enough to burn through?" Roze asked the fire Blade.
The draconic Blade had a skeptical look, "I'm not sure. It would take a while, and that's if it'd work at all."
"Could you try and lift it?" Weiss asked, before looking at the bottom, "Nevermind." And then saw that there was no slit for him to fit his fingers through.
"There's nothing for it," Roze said as he gave a meaningful look to the larger Blade, "We need to try."
"I didn't say we shouldn't," Dragunov replied with a grin as he made a flame appear in his palm. With that, the two Blades got to work on trying to burn this door down.
Then the whole place shook again and more debris fell down, thankfully nowhere near the team. Which was soon followed by more explosion sounds.
"…That wasn't from the bombardment," Blake said in worry, realizing that the attack must have hit somewhere with something explosive.
On the other side of the door, there was indeed an opening large enough for an airship of which one had just arrived. The bullhead turned on it's side and opened its hatch, which revealed Adenine and Oobleck.
"Why haven't the students come out yet?" Oobleck worried out loud.
"Maybe the door is locked," Adenine replied as she squinted her eyes, "We should go see."
"Yes, you're right," Oobleck agreed before turning towards the pilot, "Stay here, we will check and see what the holdup is."
"Aye sir. But hurry up, I don't wanna be here when this whole place starts collapsing," the pilot said in a humorous tone, which didn't fit the situation. That's what years of flying into dangerous areas does to you.
With that, Oobleck and Adenine ran towards the closed door as another rumble shook the area, nearly knocking the two off-balance.
"Do you see any kind of mechanism?" Oobleck asked as he inspected one side of the door.
"No, I don't," Adenine said, inspecting the other side.
"This is not good," Oobleck spoke before noticing something peculiar. The center of the door was starting to glow orange. "What's this?" Oobleck wondered aloud as he inspected the new hotspot which was slowly growing larger.
Adenine also noticed it and moved in to inspect it, "That, Barty, appears to be heat being directed on the door from the other side."
"Which would mean…," the doctor trailed off as his eyes widened along with Adenine's. Then the two moved out of the way just in time to avoid a torrent of flame which had burned through the metal.
"It's open!" Weiss shouted in relief from the other side.
"Weiss, wait!" Dahlia shouted out before using her ice on the edges of the new hole to cool it down, "Now we can go." With that, Team RWBY and their Blades dashed out.
"Team!" Oobleck exclaimed at the sight of the students.
"Doc?" Yang was the first to question, "What are you doing here?"
Oobleck opened his mouth to reply until another explosion sounded a little too close to them, "Never mind that, let's go!" With that, the doctor grabbed his Blade by the hand and ran to the still waiting ship.
Team RWBY decided not to question it and followed suit.
Once they had gotten inside the airship, they left the island, but not before they were allowed to see the titan circling around the island while firing another volley of ether-based energy projectiles upon Merlot's lab. Shortly after, Atlesian fighters appeared and unloaded their bombs upon the island, finishing what the titan started. With Merlot's laboratory completely destroyed, the titan circled around the island one more time before flying away.
"Why was that thing here?" Weiss wondered aloud, that thing coming to Merlot's island was a little too convenient in her mind.
"Who cares," Yang said as she leaned back in the ship. "We completed the mission with flying colors."
"That you did team," Oobleck said proudly, "Ozpin will be seeing you once we get back to Beacon. And your friends have been cheering you on when they heard what was happening."
The team visibly perked up from that information.
"Would now be a good time to talk about that extra credit?" Weiss asked carefully from their history teacher.
"Seriously?" Blake and Yang dead-panned in unison.
"What? We earned it," Weiss retorted.
But Ruby had other thoughts, "Ohh. I hope they have a plate of cookies ready for me. I think I've earned them." The red reaper had a dreamy expression at the thought.
"What about the rest of us," Roze pointed out, "We also pulled our weight."
"That's true," Dahlia added in with a small smile.
While this conversation was happening, Dragunov had taken his back pack off and was looking for two particular things he had been carrying. The red diamond, and the journal. "I didn't really ever care about my past…but now that I have something tangible linked to it right in front of me…" The draconic Blade thought as he glanced at both the book and the diamond. Especially the diamond, "Why does this damn thing make me feel so nostalgic?"
"What'cha doing?" Yang asked, causing the fire Blade to quickly return the items into the pack.
"Nothing," Dragunov said quickly.
Which earned him a skeptical look from the blonde. "Drag, seriously. You can talk to me," Yang said, getting a little suspicious of her Blade being so secretive right now.
"I'm telling you, it's nothing," Dragunov said as he glanced at Weiss and Ruby talking about something or other. "…What's your family like?" Dragunov then asked, catching Yang off guard.
"Huh?"
"I…forget it…Just…just ignore me," Dragunov then said, turning away from the blonde and now very confused Driver.
"…You're weird," Yang finally said, also turning away.
The rest of the trip back to Beacon went without a hitch, but now one of the Blades had questions he didn't think about asking before.
AN: There we go. Merlot's island was wrecked by the combined attacks of Atlas military, and the titan. And now Dragunov has some questions he hopes to find answers from the journal. But what will happen to the notes from Judicium?
A question for another day. For now, happy Halloween!
