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It didn't take long before Albedo found the smell, making him recoil in disgust. He let out a quick roar, letting the two get near him before the canine alien began following the scent.
"Oh, we're just- ok. Following the Vulpimancer then," Fours said.
Neo nodded- it was hard to communicate like this. She rubbed her neck wistfully. She looked over at Fours and motioned for him to follow.
"Uh, right," Fours said, sticking close to the former villains. Albedo led the group through the winding foggy streets. The citizens were still active, even with the fight and explosions. For them, it was actually weirder if a fight didn't break out at least once every few days. The Vulpimancer tracked the scent, stopping just before he got to the source.
"W-what's wrong?" the Sonorosian asked.
Neo furrowed her brow. I dunno...did he pick something else up? She looked around- Wildmutt's acuity was better than most...
In a flash of red, Albedo reverted to his human form and sighed. "Fours?" he called out, not even turning to the Sonorosian.
"Y-yeah?"
"How hospitable are the Otrovians?"
The engineer looked confused. "Um...well they're not the most polite bunch but they're ok. Why?"
"...how much do you know about their factories?"
"Absolutely nothing. No one's allowed inside unless you work for them. Even deliveries are handled by couriers."
"Then we have a problem. Whatever chemical made those Grimm into bombs came from in there." Albedo pointed to the largest factory, its smokestacks belching out the telltale smog of chemical production.
"How can you tell?" Fours asked, a bit confused. There was no prior evidence to this, right? That corrodium stuff, that could have a part here, right?
"It's a bit hard to sift through the chemical smells, but whatever made those Grimm into walking bombs came from there. Vulpimancer noses are hard to fool," Albedo explained.
"I...I guess that makes sense..." Fours said slowly.
"Now, this next part is going to be a bit dangerous for you. Or, more specifically, the clone you're gonna send in," Albedo stated.
"Huh!?"
"We need to get a good idea of what's going on-"
"So you're sending me?!"
I mean...those clones don't hurt you, right? Neo asked.
"I don't even know what you said but I'm going to guess and say 'no, they don't but it's the principle!'"
Albedo got down on one knee to properly look Fours in the eye. "Listen, kid. It would be really helpful if you can send in a clone. But if you're that uncomfortable with the idea, I can send in my own instead."
Fours gulped. "I...I'd prefer not to. The Otrovians...if you piss them off, that's like angering a walking gas-bomb. You HAVE heard of them right?" The panic in his voice was understandable, really. Otrovians were walking chemical factories, able to make any gaseous compound within their bodies. Everything from hydrogen chloride to nitrous oxide.
"Very well." Albedo activated his Ultimatrix. "I'll handle this, then."
"T-thanks," Fours sighed in relief.
Albedo scrolled through his forms before he found his Sonorosian one and slammed down the dial. In a flash of red, Albedo turned into his own version of Echo Echo and split himself into four copies.
"Just in case," the four duplicates said in unison. With that, the group of clones made their way towards the Otrovian factory, scouting around for any entrance they could use, any security they needed to be wary of.
One remained behind, however. Fours eyed it carefully. "Uh, hey- aren't you gonna go with them?"
"No. I need to broadcast."
"...broadcast?" he repeated, just as the modified Sonorosian opened its mouth- inside was something more akin to a human speaker.
"What?" Fours deadpanned. He was familiar enough with Sonorosian biology to understand that was weird.
Yeah...his aliens aren't normal, Neo tried to explain. Fours just gave her a confused look before the girl just facepalmed. Why do so few people know sign language?!
"What my partner is trying to say is that my alien forms are not like your own normal biology," Albedo explained. "I've spliced them a bit."
"O-oh...and the speaker does...what exactly?" Four asked, still concerned about that.
"It will link with my other clones, and allow us to hear what they hear."
"Oh, that's...actually a feature we have," the engineer admitted.
"Well, you had a limited range. Mine is far longer," Albedo explained, shrugging his shoulders.
"...well, I wish we had that."
The sounds of metal clanging came over the broadcasting speaker, probably the three duplicates finding different ways in. An unguarded vent, a pipe that led up to the roof of the building, and...oh, a guarded loading dock. Several bulky Otrovians, each armed with a rifle of some sort, oversaw a shipment of chemical containers being loaded up onto an anti-grav cart. It was probably something for the settlement. The duplicate that took that route had to be extra careful not to get caught.
"Shame we can't see what they're seeing..." Fours sighed. "That'd be really handy and less nail biting."
A few tense moments passed, the only other sounds coming from Albedo's speaker being metallic clangs and the sounds of workers loading the shipment. But then the voices started coming through.
"I take it the recent excitement was our new friend?" the first voice asked.
"Yeah, explosions courtesy of our little side project," a second answered with an obvious Boston accent.
"Do you have men examining the site? I need the data on the explosive yield. Was it too much, too little?"
"Yeah, yeah, got a crew goin' out now."
"Okay, so one is obviously an Otrovian. I know that weird accent anywhere," Fours said.
The other though... Neo thought it over. It sounded too...normal? Could she even use that word here? Yes, it was a mad scientist from what she could infer, but there wasn't anything particularly weird about this voice.
"Good," the other voice said. "And with Subject 44 ready for the next phase...well...let's just say if he likes it, we're in for the biggest payday since my Atlas days."
"Subject 44?" Fours repeated. "Uh...I, uh. Don't like that name...cuz...I'm Fours..."
Neo's eyes were wide in shock. Did she hear that right ? ...the other voice...he's human... she signed.
"What did she-"
"He's human," Albedo repeated. "He's a human from Atlas."
Fours' eyes widened. "A human? Here? I mean...I guess the Otrovians' boss was always a mystery so someone else being in charge wasn't...entirely impossible? But for them to actually listen to this guy?" he wondered out loud. "He'd have to be as smart as they are."
"It does make sense; they do pride themselves on their intelligence..." Albedo hummed. But who exactly was it? It couldn't be Watts, the voice was different. Still as haughty and arrogant as the man but less...subdued.
Suddenly, a new voice entered the conversation, though it was off thanks to what sounded like static overlaid on the words.
"You need data for explosions? Only someone like you would actually care about that and not just enjoy the show," Crüjo sneered.
"Crap, and the Wolf's with them!?" Fours yelled.
"Not physically," Albedo quickly pointed out. "Hologram projector."
"Yes, I need data. The ones I provided you with may prove to not be the final iteration. I could increase the yield or the blast radius," the human voice explained.
"Leave it to the great Doctor Merlot to suck the enjoyment out of something as simple as that," the wolf Faunus sighed.
The doctor scoffed. "I know you were raised by literal wolves and that fire must be an exciting new development, but could you please be just a bit more sophisticated? I'm just glad you're not actually here to break anything. The Goliath herds have been getting closer to my old tower each time we got out there."
Crüjo made a noise of annoyance, but Albedo wasn't focused on that.
Merlot...that name sounded familiar. Where had he heard it before? In a document, a book? Something of the sorts… Albedo's train of thought was suddenly interrupted when he heard footsteps outside the room the two were conversing in, a loud clanging noise echoing out.
"Must you have him deliver them here?" Merlot complained.
"I thought you'd appreciate having something to defend yourself with," Crüjo chuckled. "Or are you just gonna hang them on your wall?"
"Why would I need blades…" Merlot deadpanned. "You know what? I'm not starting that argument. I'm going to leave you to your…'you-time' I suppose. I have an experiment to run."
Albedo shut his mouth as he reverted back to human. "Merlot..." He repeated while pacing around, trying to jog his memory again.
"Well good news is, he's not there. So that's a plus, right?" Fours asked nervously.
Albedo closed his eyes. "I have to get a closer look," he said, dialing up another alien.
"Wait what? Are you insane?!"
No, but an ex-co-worker of ours was. If you could even call him that, Neo signed.
"I will simply pick a form more suited for stealth." Albedo's dial twisted once more, revealing a keypad-like projection. He tapped some areas, and the hologram of what looked to be an even more ghastly Ectonurite appeared.
"Simple as that." Albedo smirked as he slapped down the Ultimatrix.
In a flash of red, Albedo's form became more ghostly and horrifying. Much like Zs'Skayr himself, Albedo's skull was now upside-down and covered by a reaper-like cloak.
(Somewhere in Atlas, Ruby had the oddest feeling someone was stealing her reaper look but had no idea why.)
The cloak actually covered the entirety of the new form, ending in several tattered shreds that followed him. The form, from what was visible under the cloak, was actually much thinner than a normal Ectonurite, downright skeletal in fact. The cloak had that black vein snaking across it like the 'skin' of normal Ectonurites as well.
"Yes..." Albedo rasped, his voice quiet and soft. "This form will be able to phase right through his violent attacks and spy without being noticed."
"...oh...oh ok. Ghost vs wolf. Ohhhh, Great Hum preserve me," Fours sighed. This was so much more than he had ever bargained for.
"It'll be effective." Albedo nodded. "No way I can get hurt."
"Don't doubt that but...today's just been a massive sandstorm of events. I'd ask for overtime pay but…" Fours tried to make light of the situation. Jokes were something of a coping mechanism for him.
"I'll be off...be on guard." Albedo said as he faded away.
Fours shivered. "Oh that's spooky."
Neo grimaced. Got that right.
The other duplicates had vanished, but Crüjo was on guard. He walked out of the 'good doctor's' lab and met with his fungus-like subordinate.
"So, I take it he's not ready to deliver the goods?" the Shiitakan asked his boss.
"No. Especially not when things are about to get busy here," the wolf Faunus huffed. "We're leaving."
"We're not gonna help?"
"No. I still have my trump card. Besides, 'Atlas' so-called 'best' is still out of it and I want to have fun with that," the mad Faunus chuckled. "How bad can you make the hallucinations?"
The Shiitakan thought for a moment. "Well, I've been told if you have a particularly bad reaction you can see bugs under your skin."
Crüjo smirked nastily. "Perfect. When we get back, dose her again. I want to bend her just enough...and then I'll take it from her."
"...you're cold, boss."
"Thank you."
"That's...not a-I mean that's ENTIRELY a compliment."
"Well, I'll take it as one," Crüjo snarled as he stormed off. The good doctor knew that the wolf Faunus was a force to be reckoned with, so he never bothered to correct him in fear of being torn to shreds.
"Well, I guess we'll leave the good doctor to his experiments," the mushroom alien sighed, following his boss out of the factory. They had a specialist to break. At least he could look forward to that.
Merlot was still going over the formula in his lab. Yes the base worked, but it was better to test the different strains. The Creeps had proven to be a success, especially given the data he already had. He clicked a button in his lab and spoke over an intercom.
"Have Subject 44 moved to the injection room. Let's give our client a good test run before he goes, hm?" the doctor said to his subordinates.
"Got it, doc," responded another Otrovian.
The Otrovian walked over to a room in the back and opened up the garage door. He stepped to the side to avoid the Deathstalker's tail, and dosed it with another non-lethal gas that quickly knocked it out. The Grimm hissed, thrashing around in its cage, even as its eyes became heavy. Soon, the hisses faded and the ten massive eyes of the scorpion closed. It thudded to the ground, fast asleep. The Otrovian smirked under his gas mask and whistled to some of his co-workers.
"Aight guys. Injection Room for this big guy! And remember, we don't want another Beowolf incident," he called out.
"One time! One time I forget ta lock the door behind us and ya never let me fuggedaboutit!" another chemist alien shouted.
"Yeah, cause it almost broke out and slaughtered us!"
Crüjo snarled as he picked up a bone he'd been gnawing at for God knows how long- Tetramands weren't easy to kill, but at least their bones were good for something.
His fungus-like subordinate was looking over the twin swords that Winter favored as her weapons. Shame he wouldn't be able to wield them properly, they seemed like good swords. The blades' owner was chained to a chair, arms bound behind her and legs bound to those of the chair. She groaned, opening her eyes as she slowly regained consciousness...and she immediately regretted it. Whatever had hit her...it was making her see things.
"Just a few more minutes," The fungus alien said. "And she'll be doped up enough for your game."
"Excellent." Crüjo grinned. "They never make it far, but it's fun when they think they can."
"You think...it'll be that easy?" Winter spat, her voice a little shaky. "There is...no...no way...that I will EVER sign that fucking document."
"...well she's definitely hallucinating but I was expecting something more...erm..." the mushroom alien moved his hand around, trying to think of the word.
"Fear inducing?" Crüjo suggested.
"Yeah. And it turns out she just sees paperwork. Kinda underwhelming!"
"You're her next of kin," the voice said monotonously. "Sign the document."
"N-no...please, don't make me," Winter said, on the verge of tears. "I want this to end..."
"Sign the document, and it'll all be a bad memory."
"N-no...this...this is all just...this is all just something in my head, it has to be. Let...let me GO!" Winter struggled against her bonds, actually surprising her two captors. Crüjo smiled at the sight.
"Still got some life in you. I'd save that if I were you," he said with relish.
"Shall I dose her again?" The freaky fungus grinned.
"If you want," Crüjo said with a shrug, going back to gnawing at the massive bone.
"And I do." The alien lowered his head and fired out a smaller stream of spores right into Winter's face. It wasn't as much as the last two doses, but it was enough to make the hallucinations more...vivid.
After breathing them in, Winter's eyes zeroed in on the hallucinatory document.
"Cause of Death: Impalement."
"She's dead. And you can't change that. Fate dealt her a bad hand." The voice inched the paper closer. "Why can't you sign this? You're usually so obedient."
"You...you want me...to...to accept..."
"...would it help if it came from someone more familiar?" the voice shifted and Winter's eyes widened in shock.
"You're her older sister," the voice continued on. "You did all you could...but it wasn't enough, Winter. Please sign it. As...as your commanding officer and...and father..."
Winter started to cry, tears running down her face both in the nightmare and the real world. The fungus snickered, while Crüjo grinned. "Excellent- she's the best kind of prey."
"Broken and desperate." The Shiitakan smirked, admiring his work. It was always fun to watch his spores do damage.
"Just make sure she's alive when I'm ready," the wolf Faunus huffed.
"Right, right. No more doses then. Any more and, well, no hunt for you."
"Oh no, I'll still have a hunt. You'll just be the one running."
"...noted," the Shiitakan said, fear creeping into his voice. He stepped back from Winter, grabbing her swords off the nearby table and hefting both of them in his arms before he made his way out of the room. There was a place he could dispose of these, probably. Maybe have one of Merlot's chemists make a rusting agent. That didn't seem like too much of a stretch for them.
The Shiitakan held up one sword- one of them seemed to lack a hilt of any kind. Where was it?
"Ah, what-fucking-ever," The Shiitakan sighed, setting it back down.
After he had inspected them and kept walking, he got the strangest feeling. He turned around to make sure he was alone in the hallway, his eye darting around looking for any sign of movement. When he was confident there was nothing, he turned back around...only to meet with the horrifying visage of a spliced Ectonurite. He tried to scream, only for the ghost's cloaked hands to cover his mouth and pull him aside. He would've dropped the weapons, giving away that something happened, if the Ectonurite didn't stop them from clanging against the floor.
"I'm going to let you talk," Albedo rasped, lifting the walking mushroom off the ground. "If you scream, call for help, say anything above a whisper? You die."
What choice did he have? His spores wouldn't even work on an Ectonurite.
"Who is Merlot?" Albedo asked.
"M-Merlot's just a dude who hired a bunch of us for his weird project!" The Shiitakan said in a hushed, panicked tone. "I just do whatever the wolf guy says!"
"Project?" he said, sharpening his claws for more 'intimidation'.
"Y-yeah! Mutating Grimm or whatever! Said he did it a decade ago!"
"...interesting."
"I-I could show you where he is! We've been around long enough to memorize this place!"
"I'm more interested in where you got those." Albedo pointed to the swords.
"What? Those? Oh, pfft, n-nothing! J-just found them out in the streets. I swear the things people would just throw-"
Claws were pressed against the alien's neck, threatening to pierce him.
"Ok! Ok! They belong to some white-haired lady! W-we took her off the streets after she tried hunting down the big guy!"
"I know, I saw you drug her." Albedo glared daggers at the diminutive creature.
"W-wait...but...that wasn't-"
"Where is she?"
"U-uh, the darkest corner of the city..." The Shiitakan mumbled. "P-please don't kill me..."
"Oh, I won't kill you...You've given me the answers I've needed," Albedo rasped.
The Shiitakan gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank-"
"But since you played a part in it..." Albedo's eye started to grow, taking up the shroom's entire field of vision.
"W-wait...wait what are you doing? Ohhhhhh no, no, no, no..."
"I know what you're capable of. Hallucinations that can break the mind. But you should really ask yourself...how strong is your own mind?"
The Shiitakan began to sink deep into a deep dark pit, trapped in his own head. Mentally, his mind would melt until nothing was left...unless he was strong enough to overcome it.
Albedo dropped the complicit chanterelle on the ground and took a deep breath. He needed to tell the others.
He took hold of Winter's swords and made his way back to Neo and Fours. Phasing through the walls of the factory, unseen by any of the workers or security. Some might have gotten the feeling they weren't alone, checking over their shoulder to see if they had company, only to find nothing there.
Before Albedo left the factory, he phased through one of the walls and found himself in an unusually large room. No lab equipment to be seen and no workers around either really. He turned to leave and then he saw it. Somehow, in the corner of this massive room, was a sedated Deathstalker. It was curled up, its tail coiled around the front and side of its body. But something was off about it. Deathstalkers have ridges along their backs thanks to their armor.
Why did this one have spikes as well? And why were they glowing?
"This is interesting," Albedo muttered, floating closer to the beast. Never had he ever seen a green Grimm before today, and those Creeps from earlier made him wonder...
What else had Merlot done?
That's when several spotlights suddenly flared to life, shining down on the testing chamber. Albedo raised a hand to shield his eye. He looked up and saw a viewing platform with several Otrovians and a lone human looking down at the chamber. When the lights reached the Deathstalker it hissed, slowly waking up. The tail moved back to its original position and its ten eyes started to open, the usual red and yellow replaced with a telltale green.
Up in the view platform, Albedo saw Merlot give out orders to some of his staff. A buzzer rang out as a door to Albedo's left rose, letting a group of three robotic drones walk in. Each one was covered in red armor, a single red optic taking up their entire head, with a white skull painted on their torso. The bots were worn, covered in scars and blast marks.
Merlot's test dummies, it seemed.
Albedo decided to watch for a moment or two- if this was Salem's phase two, he surely needed to see what would be coming next to properly combat it.
The Deathstalker zipped over to one of the robots and stabbed through it in seconds. A Deathstalker was never that nimble.
The two remaining machines moved back, extending rifle barrels from their wrists and opening fire. The bullets sparked against the scorpion's armor, serving to just annoy the monster. The spikes on its back seemed to grow before spinning in place, flinging the already skewered robot across the room. The spikes launched out like missiles as they spun, jabbing into the ground and stabbing through the machines' chests, disabling in no short order. It hissed in triumph, snapping its claws.
Merlot seemed pleased with the outcome, ordering his subordinates to take notes.
And then the Grimm turned and stared right at Albedo.
Albedo flinched- fuck, did it have some sort of special vision that negated his invisibility?
Merlot hummed as he noticed the odd behavior. "You." He pointed at one of the Otrovians. "Produce a proto-plasmic nullifying gas, if you would."
The Otrovian nodded, and the gasses inside of his body changed colors, from its natural copper to a more purple appearance. He walked down to where they would pump in the sedative gas to knock out the test subjects and placed his hand on the pipe. He let the gas stream out of his palm, quickly flooding the test chamber because of the sheer amount of produced.
Albedo gasped- fuck, if that was what he thought it was, he'd be surely caught. He needed to get out of here now. Albedo quickly phased through a nearby wall and narrowly avoided the gas.
Merlot narrowed his eyes when he saw nothing appear in the chamber.
"...pump the gas through the rest of the facility," the doctor ordered.
"Uh, ya sure boss?" one of the Otrovians asked.
"Very. Our brutal guest caught an intruder earlier and I doubt that he'd just give up. Besides..." Merlot gestured to the scorpion Grimm down in the chamber. It was still disturbed, skittering around the chamber looking for something that wasn't there.
Albedo flew through the rest of the facility- the gas would not only nullify his abilities, but act as a very strong lethal poison. While Ectonurites weren't 'dead' or 'alive', it would disrupt their particles and...
They'd simply cease to exist.
The order was sent out and the Otrovians rushed to various pipes and started pumping the gas through the factory. Albedo raced through the building, phasing through wall after wall, not caring if anyone saw him. Right now, it was just a matter of getting out alive. The purple gas started filling the hallways and was seconds from reaching him-
Albedo phased through the final wall and escaped.
"Too close," he rasped before he floated off to regroup.
Neo and Fours quickly noticed Albedo float back, Winter's swords in hand. Neo rushed over to him as he reverted back to human.
What happened? I've never seen you look so winded, she signed.
Albedo stopped to catch his breath. "Mutant Deathstalker...and proto-plasmic nullifier. Merlot started pumping the place full of it."
Guessing it's worse than it sounds.
"Very. But I know where they took her. I know where Winter is."
"Great! Um, should I let the others know? Oobleck and them?" Fours piped up.
"Unfortunately, I doubt they'd be able to make it. Considering what Crüjo said, I wouldn't be surprised if Glynda's group isn't already packing up to return to Vale," Albedo mused.
"Oh...so it's...just us three."
We've faced worse odds, Neo boasted.
Fours looked to Albedo for a translation.
"She said we've been dealt worse hands than this before," Albedo explained.
"...I'm tempted to ask, but at the same time..." Fours began.
"Maybe later."
"So, what's your plan, then?" Fours asked. Sure, Albedo was no Ben Tennyson, but he was curious to see how he'd get the job done.
"...how good of a distraction can you make?" Albedo asked.
The compound that Crüjo had made for himself and the cultists was exactly where the Shiitakan said it would be. The junk warehouse was close to the sewer tunnels of the old city. Well, 'warehouse' wouldn't have been how the cultists described it. They would've called it a 'cathedral', with the proximity to the sewer tunnels a convenient get-away route should anyone dare to attack them. As usual, the cultists weren't exactly the best armed, just with normal rifles or second-rate hatchets and daggers.
Two of them were on guard duty near the front of the 'cathedral' when they saw a small Sonorosian walk up to the entrance. They shared a look from under their hoods before one of them went out to meet the sonic alien before he got too close.
"What business do you have here, technician?" the guard boomed.
"Uh…do…you guys have a bathroom in there?" Fours asked nervously.
"...what?"
"L-look, I got called out here to fix some transceivers, it was supposed to be a quick fix, turns out it's gonna take longer than I thought and if I'm staying out there longer I need a break."
The guard paused to mull that over. "...so you...decided to ask if a cathedral-"
"Doesn't really look like a cathedral-"
"We make do, damn it! How many times have I heard someone SAY that?!"
"Well, I'm just saying! I've seen Earth cathedrals on the Extranet, shouldn't there be elegant glass windows that form some religious guy or scene or…" Fours eyes darted over behind the guard. "I dunno…"
"What was with that look?" The guard asked sharply.
"Huh? What look?" Fours said unconvincingly.
"That look you just did." The guard looked over his shoulder. The other guard on duty looked around and simply shrugged.
"I was just looking at the place. But, seriously can I just-"
"No. Piss in the streets for all I care," the guard huffed, shoving Fours away.
"Alright, alright, be a jerk," Fours huffed. "Oh, uh, by the way?"
"….yes?"
"What's that?"
"What's what?" The guard turned around again.
"Oh, sorry. Must've been wrong," Fours said. "It's right here."
Neo dropped her illusion and kicked the guard in the face.
The kick was strong enough to knock him off his feet, his rifle clattering to the ground. The other guard would've taken aim if he hadn't already been taken care of, courtesy of a quick and silent beatdown from Albedo.
Nice going, Neo smirked, turning back to Fours and quickly slamming her parasol into the downed cultist's head without even looking.
"Thanks. Surprised he actually fell for that," the engineer said, "At least...I think you said 'nice work.'"
"She did, don't worry." Albedo said, walking over. "Alright…now to extract Winter from his grasp."
And you got the alien perfect for the job. Neo grinned.
Albedo slammed down on the Ultimatrix symbol, changing from Ghostfreak to Swampfire in a flash of red.
"When we find her, I'll keep Crüjo busy. You two just need to get her out of here."
Get her out, then I'm helping you throw a muzzle on that bastard.
Albedo grinned. "It'll be an extra thorny one, I can promise you that."
Neo smirked and motioned Fours to follow her as the trio made their way deeper into the cathedral. The other cultists were on alert now, not that it really mattered much. No matter how many bullets they fired or ax swings they took, they weren't going to win this.
Neo used her illusions to either make them miss entirely or shoot their own comrades. Fours, even though he wasn't much of a fighter, was still able to take some down by using the Sonorosian's natural sonic screams. Cultists went flying from the sound waves as Neo and Albedo were forced to cover their ears.
"Sorry!" Fours said to his two new friends after every sonic scream.
Albedo launched seeds from his hands that turned into vines, snaking into the ground and erupting out, entangling any of Zs'Skayr's fanatics that rushed them or tried to take a shot.
Crüjo was about ready to knock Winter out and undo the chains that bound her to the chair. Before he could though, he heard the sounds of gunfire echo back to the makeshift holding room. He growled, annoyed that he'd have to wait longer for his hunt.
But at least he'd get to kill someone, and that's a silver lining he could take.
"Lucky you," the wolf Faunus said to a still-hallucinating Winter. "You get another day to live, at least. Depends on the kind of fight the shapeshifter gives me."
Winter looked up. "W-wuh? What's...what's going on? Is...is Weiss okay?"
Crüjo snickered. "Oh, rest easy, Schnee. It'll be over soon."
With that, the wolf Faunus turned and walked out, slamming the door to the room behind him. He smirked as he ran towards the source of the fighting.
Crüjo's body began to change, becoming more and more thrilled with the idea that he could possibly kill one of the greatest threats in the known universe. An Omnitrix user would be able to provide all sorts of delicious meat...
One more cultist hit the ground after a quick jab from Neo's blade, clearing the way forward for now. The trio raced on to find Winter, somewhat unhindered. Considering this was Crüjo's home, there were bound to be more cultists in here.
As the trio were racing down a hallway, a cultist rounded a corner and took aim at them with his rifle. Before anyone could even react, the cultist was slammed into the wall by a charging Crüjo, the hit forcing the fanatic to lose hold of his weapon, letting it clatter over and settle in front of Fours.
"I'm hungry," the beast said- his eyes were white and had a strange glow to them. It was almost nightmarish to look at the wolf Faunus- he looked ready to demolish them before cramming them into his wide maw.
"I never showed you my natural ability earlier, did I?" The beast UNHINGED his jaw as he lunged at the walking 'salad', quickly snatching his arm off.
"Oh what the hell?!" Fours yelled, jumping back.
Crüjo smirked, still holding the severed arm in his mouth before dropping it.
"...ow," Albedo deadpanned before vines grew from the stump of his arm and wove together to form a new arm. Crüjo narrowed his eyes at his opponent and covered his hands in armor plates. He slashed at the ground, sending sparks flying, like he was sharpening the armored claws.
Albedo smashed his fist into the ground- a gargantuan wall of vine and bramble formed in front of the beast, giving him ample time to turn to Fours.
"Find Winter! Split up while he's distracted!" Albedo commanded.
"On it!" Fours said, splitting into copies of himself and running in different directions. Even as the original ran off, he could hear the wall of vines being torn apart by claw slashes.
The wolf's fist smashed through the wall, and he stuck his head through the hole. "Heeeere's CRÜJO!"
...he serious? Neo signed. This dude was freaking her out.
Crüjo ripped his way through the vines and grabbed Albedo's waist. He countered by superheating his hands and grabbing Crüjo's throat.
Plates suddenly covered the wolf Faunus' throat, so Albedo was only heating up metal. He growled, smashing his other fist through the wall and slashed at Albedo's arms. Crüjo smirked and lunged at the shapeshifter, finally bringing down the wall. He tackled his opponent, bringing him down to the floor...and shattering him. A flurry of quick strikes needled his back, and he growled and spun around, slashing out at Neo only for his claws to bounce off her now-open parasol.
"The fuck is that thing made of?!" Crüjo huffed.
Before he could get an answer, vines wrapped around his neck and chest before they pulled him back and threw him into another wall.
Albedo threw more seeds at Crüjo, letting the vines hold him in place. As they restrained his arms and legs, Albedo decided to get some answers.
"Talk! What's your doctor friend doing with all those Grimm? Why did you need the Corrodium?"
"Merlot? He's just finishing some old business; I'm just buying up the ones that survive," the madman smirked. "As for the Corrodium-"
The Faunus slashed at the vines, cutting himself free before rushing at his opponent. "I don't think a dead man's got much to worry about that there!"
"What makes you assume I'm the dead man, you corpse?" Albedo's eyes glowed as his hands began to light up.
Crüjo's eyes widened as the armor plates on his hands extended down his arms. He brought up his arms to shield himself from the stream of flames that shot out from Albedo's hands. The metal was heating up, glowing bright orange as he kept up his defenses. But with all his focus on the flames, the Faunus didn't catch a strike from behind. Neo slashed at the back of Crüjo's ankle while he was distracted, making the wolf cry out in pain.
"So, don't like the heat on the metal, huh?" Albedo slapped down the Ultimatrix. "Thanks for that detail."
With that momentary break in the firestream, Crüjo turned around and slashed at Neo. The strike was once again blocked by the open parasol, making Crüjo growl in anger. Before he could defend himself the fire was back, much hotter this time, and he didn't even have any of the armor to protect himself.
"I threw myself into that fire, into him, and let myself burn," Albedo declared, walking towards Crüjo as Heatblast. Being in the vicinity of a Pyronite was like a hot summer day. Being close to Hot Shot was like being in a kiln. But Albedo's Pyronite sample was comparable to being on the verge of melting.
Crüjo couldn't even get close to him in that form, so he did the only thing he could.
Run. He raced down the hall, jumping over another attack from Neo that would've tripped him up. He just made a mad dash for it. Neo and Albedo gave chase, thinking he was heading towards Fours.
He wasn't.
Fours continued to rush around the darkened town, looking out for the occasional cultist and whatever else there was-
He flung open any door he found and looked for any sign of Winter. A few storage rooms, an armory that was concerningly half-empty, but then he found it. He pushed open the door and saw Winter, still bound to the chair. The engineer quickly raced into the room and searched around for a key.
"C'mon...c'mon...please let this guy be a cliché from one of the Earth movies and just LEAVE the key here," Fours muttered to himself.
"...W-who's there?" Winter said, still a bit stupefied.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Fours said. "I'm here. Once I can find something to-"
"Weiss?" Winter sounded shocked. "You're...alive?"
Fours blinked a few times in complete confusion. "Um...I'm alive yeah, but who...who's Weiss?"
"Oh my god...dad made me sign your death certificate..." she gasped, trying to wriggle herself free.
"...I...that brings up so many questions. Uh, did the big crazy wolf guy leave a key around here or something?"
"I...I don't know..." Winter huffed. "Weiss, I don't know if I say this enough, but...I love you..."
Fours awkwardly looked around the room, not really sure what to say here.
"Uh...saaaaame?" the engineer finally answered before going back to search for a key. He was really wishing that the green-haired guy had stayed to help.
"T-thank you, Weiss," Winter sighed, as Fours suddenly heard a door open.
"There she is!" a familiar voice called out.
"Oh, thank the Great Hum!" Fours sighed in relief. "I think she's seeing things. She keeps calling me Weiss and I have no idea who that is!"
Oobleck walked in with two other people he didn't recognize and the other soldiers. Fours immediately noticed something about one of the men- a bandage was heavily wrapped around a stump, where a hand SHOULD have been.
"Wait, so he was telling the truth?" Fours muttered before stepping aside, letting the good doctor pass. "Albedo and Neo are dealing with Crüjo right now. Um...I'm not sure how well one of you can fi-" Fours stopped himself before he finished that. Probably a bad idea to bring up the hand.
"Just because one of us is down, doesn't mean we're all down," Port said, smiling through the pain.
"I'm...just gonna take your word for it," Fours said nervously.
"How long has she been like this?" Glynda asked, visibly concerned.
"Most likely ever since I came back to check on you all," Oobleck answered. "It's the only way Crüjo could've taken her, the coward."
"You said Albedo and Neo were facing Crüjo now?" Glynda demanded.
"Y-yeah."
"Glynda, before you go." Oobleck motioned to the chains binding Winter to the chair. The now-Headmistress pointed her crop, and the chains glowed purple before Glynda quickly snapped her weapon to the side. The chains exploded off and Winter immediately raced over and dragged Fours into a hug.
"Wait wait wait wait!" Fours begged. It felt like he was being crushed, "You forgot she was hallucinating didn't you?!"
"…ah." Glynda flushed prettily. "Whoops."
"I'll never let you go again, little sister!" Winter squeezed Fours even tighter.
"Oh god my lungs! My lungs!" Fours gasped. He might've been exaggerating a little, but the pain was genuine.
"Um...I'll escort Miss Schnee and her 'sister' out-" Oobleck suggested.
"Don't say that, she really believes it!"
"And I'll go locate our 'imposters'," Glynda declared, walking off. Truth be told, she really wished that the real Ben and Ruby were here.
She just wanted to know if they were okay.
Speaking of the two imposters, they were still chasing down Crüjo, Albedo hurling fireball after fireball at him. The wolf Faunus was good though; he dodged each and every shot that came his way. Considering how hot the flames were before, they'd be even more painful when slamming into his back at a decent speed.
Albedo's flaming head lit up as he sent a sweltering heat wave at the opponent- it'd be nigh impossible to avoid.
The heat slammed into Crüjo's back, heating him up drastically. But that's when he saw what he was looking for and smirked. Crüjo rounded a corner and dashed into the last storage room in the cathedral, practically knocking the door off its hinges and stopping at a stack of locked crates. He flipped open the locks on one of them and froze when he heard the two catch up to him.
"You like what you see?"
"That's…" Albedo took a step back, shielding Neo.
"Corrodium," Crüjo chuckled, using one of his armored hands to pick up a shard. "I've seen what this shit can do to normal people. What do you think happens if someone like me uses it?"
Albedo narrowed his eyes. "I'm a bit curious, but most of all sickened. Do you know what a dose like that could do to you? No man, no matter how monstrous he acts, deserves a fate like that."
"You sound like it's something to be afraid of, but my lord explained it all to me. I'll change, yeah...but there's a reason he gave me Loboan DNA!" Crüjo shouted. With a final glare he jabbed the shard into his neck like a syringe.
Albedo and Neo flinched- they saw his veins turn purple, and that look of superiority melt away in seconds. His face twisted into a caricature of pain as he let out a horrific scream, one that would haunt Neo for the rest of her life.
The wolf Faunus doubled over in pain as his skin started to change into the familiar obsidian black of Corrodium mutants. The armor plating that covered his hands shifted, first in hue, then in substance. Where metal once was, full Corrodium claws replaced it, digging into the ground. From the wound where Crüjo injected himself, more crystals emerged, forming what looked like a collar around his neck before it spread up to his lower jaw. He howled in pain as the crystals forced his jaw to unhinge, splitting it like the Loboans his powers were taken from. The now split-jaw was lined with jagged purple fangs. His eyes darted around in panic and terror as the sclera turned black and his pupils changed to a glowing purple.
Albedo looked uncomfortable, to say the least. "He'll die from a dose that big. Given the pain he's experiencing, I don't think the doctor told him about the adverse side effects."
I didn't need sleep tonight anyway, Neo signed, taking a step back as Crüjo stood back up. His eyes locked onto his opponents, narrowing and glaring daggers at the two. Most of his mind might have been gone by now, but there was just enough left to recognize the two and connect a few remaining thoughts in his head.
He'd make sure they died today.
Albedo's flames got hotter. "Neo, please stand back- I don't think he's done with us yet!" With that, he sent a powerful burst of heat at the monster.
Only this time, Crüjo didn't even bother to shield himself. Instead, he reared his head back before howling. It seemed the corrodium infusion let him use the favored trick of the Loboans, and the soundwaves slammed into Albedo and Neo and threw them back into a wall.
So…powerful… Neo said, her ears ringing.
Albedo grimaced in thought. "Not powerful enough, more like…"
The mutated wolf didn't even give them to get up; he was already racing towards them, claws at the ready. Neo's eyes widened before she set up an image to trick the beast, making it seem like the two of them were already and running back the way they came. Given his all overwhelming rage directed at the two, Crüjo easily fell for it.
"We need to contain him! Don't let him touch you, no matter what! This entire area is going to need a VERY strict quarantine if he tries to get out!" Albedo yelled.
Neo doubted it would work but got up anyway, letting the illusion shatter. Crüjo snarled, whatever was left of his mind realizing he'd been tricked. He would've doubled back then and there, but he stopped right as he was about to turn. He sniffed at the air and tilted his head to the side.
A familiar scent... If Crüjo still had his mind, he would've laughed. He then bounded off, following that scent and ready to make sure that this time, his prey would lose more than a hand.
Albedo was already getting a volley of shots ready for Crüjo as he and Neo raced after him, flames condensing his hands. Neo looked around after rounding a corner before seeing the claw marks he left on the floor. Clear trail, but where was he going? Did he just want to get out or did-
Oh no.
Uh, Albedo, how good are Loboans at tracking smells? Neo quickly asked.
"They're fantastic at it," he said. He quickly shifted into Jetray and flew up into the air, grabbing Neo in his talons. Crüjo was sprinting on the ground on all fours, towards something…
Where's he heading? Neo asked.
"I think towards a group of VERY ill prepared people."
Glynda and Port made sure to cover Oobleck as he brought Winter out of the cathedral. Fours was still trapped in the elder Schnee's hug, though he was still trying to free himself. Some more cultists came charging at them from down the halls or tried firing at them with rifles. Fours finally got to see what Oobleck's weapon could do- a small tongue of flame ignited at the tip before he aimed the weapon down a hallway and fired off a barrage of fireballs. Glynda used her Semblance to make the floor and walls reach out and slam into the cultists.
Port was, unfortunately, suffering on the combat side of things. His aim was still as good as ever but his weapon was meant to be used with two hands.
After they cleared the latest wave of cultists, Glynda heard something. She looked down a hallway to see what could only be described as a crystal nightmare racing towards them.
"Oobleck, get her out of here!" Glynda shouted as she tore the walls and floor apart, making a makeshift barrier to block Crüjo.
A sonic howl made quick work of it though.
Glynda's eyes widened- this was the work of the corrodium that James had warned her of. Being within its vicinity added a twinge of horror to the situation, especially when considering the horrific effects it had on the human body...
Glynda always hoped she'd die peacefully. Not unrecognizable.
That might've been the case if a sudden pair of energy blasts hadn't shot into Crüjo's legs, stopping his charge and tripping him. He skidded across the floor, giving Glynda just enough time to use her Semblance to once more rip the floor up, making a small wall for the mutant to slam into. The mutant Faunus cried out in pain when he thudded into the barrier just as Albedo and Neo landed.
Crüjo shook his head and started to get back to his feet, looking back and forth between Glynda's group and Albedo and Neo.
"I assume this is the 'imposter' you told us about," Glynda said, trying to keep her previous terror out of her voice.
"Yes...that's my brother...Whitley..." Winter hummed, still buzzed. "When did he learn to fly?"
"Reaaaaally hoping the Otrovians are still willing to make a deal," Fours said. "Either that or I hope you guys have something to cure her."
"Priorities, Fours!" Oobleck shot back.
"Easy for you to say, you're not being slowly crushed to death!"
Albedo's eye lasers unleashed a full force optic blast- it blasted Crüjo right through the chest, and then through a few buildings.
"...that was easy," Glynda said, a bit shocked by the sudden display of power.
"No, it wasn't. Look." Albedo pointed at the beast- the large, new wound in their chest didn't last very long. Corrodium slowly repaired it, concealing it, until there was no wound present. Where the wound should've been, there was now just a new patch of corrodium crystals, already glowing with energy.
"Well that just seems a tad unfair," Port huffed.
Crüjo laughed, or he did as much as a mutant beast like himself could anyway. With that, the decision was made for him and he raced back towards Albedo and Neo.
"Get her out of here!" Albedo shouted over to Glynda's group. The new headmistress of Beacon looked over to Port and Oobleck and motioned for them to go. The two shared a concerned look before nodding and raced off towards the exit, the green-haired professor grabbing Winter and pulling her along.
Glynda made a few motions with her crop, tearing rebar out from the rubble of the first barrier and aiming it right at Crüjo. Seeing that, Albedo grabbed hold of Neo and flew over the beast, right as Glynda launched the barrage of makeshift spears at the mutant. Most of them hit, digging into his back and arms, corrodium climbing up the metal as the wounds quickly healed.
Albedo blasted him with another powerful barrage of lasers, blasting through his skull and arms, but each time, he regenerated from the wounds.
"So annoying," Albedo huffed. "How can we stop that regeneration?"
I'd say fire, but we already know that doesn't do much, Neo signed. With each regeneration, less and less of Crüjo's body actually resembled a former person. It was more like someone had made a lifelike Loboan statue from corrodium.
"...Oh, I've got a wonderful idea. But it'll need some prep time," Albedo said. "We need to really throw him off guard."
Well, he's not exactly the smartest right now...so how about... Neo focused her Semblance and, while hiding the others from Crüjo's view, multiple illusory copies of herself surrounded the mutant wolf. The once-Faunus' eyes darted from one copy to the next, not sure if what he was looking at was even real.
Keeping this up for as long as I can, Neo signed. Glynda decided to add some more distractions for the beast to worry about, ripping small chunks out of the walls with her Semblance and pelting the mutant with them. The copies struck at him in intervals, backing off whenever Glynda started letting the rubble rain down on him. The mutant could only wildly thrash around at everything, even going so far as to try and strike the rubble shards that were launched at him.
Neo added in her own touch of her versatile Semblance- she made many, many duplicates of Glynda, confusing the feral corrodium creature.
Crüjo roared, lashing out randomly at every target he could. Most shattered from his claws or howls, but no matter how many he broke, he never found the real one.
"Whatever you're planning-" Glynda said to Albedo, not taking her eyes off of Crüjo for even a second.
Albedo quickly reverted back to human and pulled up the dial on his Ultimatrix. "This is going to be a VERY complex entry- Oobleck! Could you add your own flames to the fuel?"
"I can, but are you sure this will work?!" Oobleck yelled, readying a new barrage of flame.
"It will," Albedo said as he scrolled over to the icon of a Chronosapien.
A fun fact about the Professor- Oobleck was Beacon's star batter for the Beacon Warriors back in the day. His batting average was remarkably high, a strong .304- why was this necessary?
He was about to demonstrate why he was known as "Out of the Park" Oobleck.
Albedo slammed down on the Ultimatrix. Hidden by the flash of red, bronze plates of armor began to cover his body as he grew taller than a normal Chronosapien. His hands took on a rounded appearance, mostly because a good majority of them were covered up by massive plates that served as armguards. His torso became bulkier, with a translucent, circular window on his chest that showed some of the alien's internal gears and mechanisms, all with the backdrop of dark red light. In the middle of that window was the Ultimatrix symbol. Albedo then gained the feature of a large black and bronze key that jutted out from the top of his head.
Neo took a glance over to Albedo's new form before quickly going back to keeping Crüjo busy. She'd have to think up a name for that one later.
"You just need to land a few good hits," Albedo said, now with his own German accent.
"Right!" Oobleck said as Glynda shook her head and sighed.
"Must we?" she asked her former teammate.
"Yes, we must!" Oobleck said with a grin, aiming his weapon right at Crüjo.
"Oh fine," Glynda huffed, using her telekinesis to take some of the rubble shards that were battering Crüjo and smashing them together, condensing them into solid spheres of rock and metal.
SHe flung them at Oobleck; without a moment's hesitation, the professor hit each of the balls flung at him and managed to land some critical hits on the wolfman- bones were shattered in seconds.
Each hit that slammed into Crüjo made him cry out in pain. He snarled and tried slashing at one of the projectiles, but an attack from one of Neo's illusions made him miss, letting that one slam into his shoulder. The wolfman's claw shot up to the wounded shoulder and held it in pain.
Right as the last projectile was sent flying, Albedo held out his hands as red energy pooled into his open palms.
The penultimate attack hit Crüjo hard, right in the skull- pieces of flesh and bone went flying everywhere just as Albedo made his counter attack. Crüjo roared and prepared to attack, not noticing the layer of red encasing him.
"Stand still, will you?" Albedo frowned as he snapped his fingers.
And just like that, Crüjo froze. He was mid-lunge and he just...froze. Stood there as stiff as a statue, with not even his eyes moving around. If they could, they'd be darting around in a panic.
Glynda stared, gobsmacked. "...what did you-?"
"He's frozen. Everything about him is set at zero until I decide to release him," Albedo explained, lumbering over. "Even his radiation has stopped."
How the hell...you know what, nevermind. Neo smirked before having Hush's blade jut out through the top of the parasol. She walked up to the frozen mutant and started stabbing the shit out of him, slicing and jabbing everywhere. The regeneration and radiation were his biggest advantages, and now with them gone...well, if he survived this, that'd be both impressive and terrifying.
"Perhaps this is his karma, for all the victims he's hunted," Port said, picking up his weapon.
...actually, Neo signed and stepped aside, retracting Hush's blade, I think it's better if someone else does the last hit.
"You're right. Professor, if you'd like to do the honors." Albedo motioned over to Port. "It's only fitting."
"I slew many demons with that hand...to avenge the beast that stole it..." Port grinned. "Oh, yes...this will be my finest hour."
He checked the ammo on Blowhard and nodded. He walked right up to the frozen Crüjo and leveled his weapon's barrel at the wolfman's head. With one last click of the chamber and squeeze of the trigger, Port fired a point-blank shot right into the mutant Faunus' face. Once time had caught up to the mutant, his head would be coming off entirely.
Albedo let the professor walk away before clenching his fist. Time resumed its flow.
Crüjo exploded in a mess of gore.
Neo had stepped back, opening her parasol to shield herself from the explosion. She spun it around, hoping that shook off most of the mess before she closed it.
One problem down, Neo signed.
"Yes...now, where's the other one?" Albedo said, looking around. He really wanted to give the good doctor a piece of his mind.
Ok, two more. You handle him, we'll handle the corrodium?
"I think I may have to attend to both matters. Corrodium requires some serious dirty work to destroy properly," Albedo reminded her.
Fair. Guess that means I'm checking on Winter and Fours. Hope she hasn't crushed the guy yet, Neo signed.
Albedo looked back. Winter still had a tough grip on the poor fella.
"If you guys are done dealing with the crazy wolf, I could use some help!" Fours yelled.
He took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll speed up the chemical's course." Albedo twisted his hand slightly to the right.
Winter glowed lightly, a red aura surrounding her. The chemicals' effects were quickly fading. She blinked a few times and looked down at Fours.
"Um, hi. Could you please-?" Fours started to ask, before Winter immediately dropped him out of embarrassment.
"What-"
"We won't say a word about this," Albedo promised.
"Right." Winter frowned as she noticed Crüjo's shattered remains. "What happened here?"
"That is all that's left of a certain serial killer. If he didn't die here, the corrodium mutation would have spread across the entire settlement and...in the worst case scenario..." Albedo explained, reverting back to his human form.
"It would've reached Vale. I don't think the general will have any complaints that I couldn't bring him in alive," Winter sighed.
Yeah. After all, you've got two more 'high-value criminals' to arrest, right? Neo signed.
"Let's hope so," the specialist said, brushing herself off. "Now, where's the main base of operations?"
"This is it." Albedo motioned around him. "They took you straight here. Apparently Crüjo wasn't satisfied with his last hunt."
"Then we can make the arrest right away." Winter pulled out her handcuffs. "Let's not waste anymore time, shall we?"
Really? Not even waiting till we're above ground? Neo signed, making a face.
"It's fine, Neo," Albedo reassured her, reverting back to human. "We need to atone for the actions of yesterday."
Neo sighed and simply tossed Hush over to Oobleck. The green-haired professor retracted his weapon into its thermos form before catching the parasol with his free hand. With that, Neo held her arms out in front of her as Winter walked up and cuffed her.
Her aura slowly flickered away, and Neo sighed at the loss. Albedo tapped the Ultimatrix a few times.
"Ultimatrix, code 100100992. Deactivate until further notice." Suddenly, all features of the watch had vanished before it condensed into a small bracelet.
"There." Albedo stared right into Winter's cold blue eyes. "Because I know you don't trust me."
Winter still clamped a second pair of handcuffs onto him anyway. While turning off the Ultimatrix was a little reassuring, the fact it could be reactivated with just a simple voice command was...well, it didn't exactly put her at ease. The elder Schnee was starting to regret not bringing the heavy-issue cuffs.
Albedo didn't even flinch.
"And hold on a second!" a very annoyed elderly voice yelled. "I'm still not done with these two yet!"
...she actually followed us out here? Neo managed to sign, sharing a shocked look with her partner. Or did someone radio back to her?
"I'm guessing the first," Albedo said before walking forward. "Miss Maria, again, we apologize for deceiving you- "
Maria bonked him on the head with her cane, making him yelp in pain.
"Apology accepted, but you still deserved that!" she yelled. "Speaking of, your quiet friend's not exempt from this!"
The old woman still had her cane ready for another swing, too. Neo looked over to Winter as if to say, 'are you gonna stop her?'
Winter seemed to actually think it over...before something nudged Neo forward. She turned around just in time to see a small white Beowolf disperse.
...oh you bit-
Maria bonked Neo on the head and frowned. "And since you appeared as Ruby-" She smashed her cane into Neo's leg.
Her face contorted in pain. Son of a-! How can she hit so hard still?!
"She did say you deserved that," Oobleck countered.
Do NOT start!
"You two may be geniuses, but it doesn't excuse your sheer stupidity!" Maria scolded them.
"B-but, they helped. I know they did something wrong then, but...they did the right thing now?" Fours protested weakly.
Oobleck sighed. "Oh, if only the world worked that way. If that's how your world operates, it must be at least something akin to a-"
"Um, my world has constant lightning and sandstorms, no water or plants, and most of us live underground."
His mouth shut with an audible click. "...oh. Well then."
"Fours, please, you needn't worry about me and Neopolitan," Albedo told him gently. "I'd rather you concern yourself with your own affairs."
"But...you guys..." Fours said, disheartened.
"If...if it's any consolation, they'll be treated fairly," Winter tried to comfort Fours, even if she knew that wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.
"I mean I kinda figured that..."
"We'll be fine. I promise." Albedo said, trying to comfort the poor kid. "I just want you to know that...you did great today," he added sincerely.
"T-thanks," Fours said with a small smile. There was still a tinge of sadness there, but the shapeshifter's words seemed to help.
"Now," Albedo turned back to Maria. "I feel like you want to hit me again."
"If I said no, that would be a lie," she admitted.
"I figured."
Merlot hummed as he scribbled down the results of his latest experiments. There was plenty to note, especially to an analytical guy like him. Everything was of importance, especially when doing such crucial research.
He finished scribbling down the last bit from his latest experiments. His work here had made significant progress. After all, with all the new data and that from the Revamp, he had more than everything he needed to continue this at another lab. This one had been, unfortunately, compromised. Considering that now Vale's 'finest' knew he was here, or he assumed they did now, it'd only be a matter of time until they came for him. How could they not? He was already wanted for causing Mountain Glenn's destruction.
A shame, too. Merlot rather liked this place. And for once, he had assistants who weren't incompetent! But the saying goes that nothing lasts forever. He thought over where he would be heading next to continue his research. Aside from the heat, he'd heard good things about Vacuo around this time of year.
"I don't understand why she would ever want such an ambitious project to remain heavily underwraps, but then again, she is quite the strange one." The doctor sighed, finishing up his notes. His wrist hurt, but he ignored it. "And while I don't appreciate working for free, I just had to let it slide- the work I'm dealing with is too good to pass up."
Merlot closed the notepad, already on its last pages, and walked over to a briefcase that held all the other research journals and data he would need after his new lab was set up. Vacuo, much like Kuchinashi, was a haven for shady enterprises. Who knew, maybe he'd even find a patron to fund his work there. Get the money this sort of work should earn.
"I wonder if my other client will pay me..." Merlot sighed, tapping his fingers on his desk. "I'd ask you what you'd do with your share, but...oh, you're in such a state of disarray..."
Even if his traveling companion could answer, it might not be the most coherent response. Safely contained in a radiation-shielded case, still faintly glowing with the unmistakable purple of the corruptive crystal, were the remains of Crüjo. Merlot was...well, he wasn't sure how someone could survive in this state, but considering what he was dealing with, maybe it wasn't as impossible as it sounded.
"Oh, don't you whine. I'll fix you up,and try to put you back together again. Your immortality is such a sad, sad case. "I'm sure Little Miss 'Queen of Grimm' and you would be bedfellows." Merlot smiled.
Crüjo would be snarling or ready to tear the doctor to shreds if he had a mouth or claws with which to do so. But he didn't; he was still just a mess of gore and crystal. Merlot carefully placed the case containing Crüjo's remains into the briefcase before closing and locking the lid.
"Who knows? Maybe the Vacuan sun will help," the disgraced doctor chuckled as he walked out of his chambers.
Albedo stared out the window of the airship being used to transport him and Neo back to Atlas. Winter hadn't taken her eyes off of them the entire trip, and even if she did leave to speak with the pilot, she made sure that some of her agents were still around to watch the duo as well.
Think the welcome over there is gonna be just as cold or…? Neo signed.
"Colder, probably," Albedo sighed, leaning back in his chair.
The flight was half-over already, and he wasn't exactly looking forward to what came next.
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