AN: Whelp, that took a while. Mostly to figure out how I wanted to do this.
Titan Problems and New Mission
Currently, Ironwood was going over the report he had received from Mistral in his flagship. The Grimm attack had been repelled, even though an Ancient Goliath joined the attack. Which begged the question, how were they able to fend it off? The answer was simple…they didn't.
In the footage one of his men managed to capture, the Ancient Goliath was about to deal the final blow to the gates that led to the city, alongside a horde of lesser Grimm. But then the Titan swooped upon the massive Grimm, knocking it to its side before clamping its stony jaws around the monster's throat. The Ancient Goliath struggled against the flying landmass, but soon enough, the titan was able to partially rip its head off.
But that part was not what had the General's attention. Sure, it was a relief that a monster that was almost immune to their weaponry was defeated, but what the titan did next made the soldiers and the people of Mistral to scratch their heads. The titan flew to the air before various spots on its head began to glow. Then it opened fire upon the remaining Grimm. All the while in the background someone was yelling to not engage the creature. According to the text part of the report, the people were staring in awe, not fear, at the titan mowing down the Grimm. But back to the footage, the titan seemed to glance around the defenders of the city, before flying south, leaving the Mistralian capital for good this time.
The general let out a sigh. After reviewing this report with Ozpin, Ironwood was inclined to agree with the Beacon Headmaster's opinion. It only attacks Grimm but will respond to attacks against it. "But why is it moving around the world so aimlessly?" Ironwood wondered in his head. According to Adenine, the Titans are supposed to circle the World Tree, but with the tree gone the Titan is just wandering around aimlessly with nothing to guide it. But that left a question to both him and Ozpin, why did it return to Mistral just to destroy the Grimm? Adenine theorized that the titan might be attracted to a sufficient concentration of Grimm.
But the biggest problem for now is how they're going to explain the titan to the general populace.
Elsewhere in the academy, specifically Ozpin's office, the Headmaster had noticed an anomaly. The security system that monitors Grimm activity around Emerald Forest had gone dark. "Could she be making her move?" Ozpin wondered in his head. Or perhaps it could just some kind of malfunction. Although the Headmaster wasn't sure which one was preferable. Deciding that he should send a team there, he ran the list of available students. Many students were still out on their missions. However, Team RWBY was available right now. According to Oobleck's report, the girls performed admirably, all things considered. Perhaps they could be sent to check on the security nodes. With that thought in mind, Ozpin made his decision.
A few minutes later, team RWBY, along with their Blades had arrived into Ozpin's office.
"I'm sure you girls are wondering why you're all here right now," Ozpin spoke up in his usual friendly tone.
"That is something we are wondering, yes." Nox showed on his scroll, speaking for everyone.
"So, what's up?" Yang asked wondering what they were here for as much as the rest of the girls.
"Are you aware of the security network in Emerald Forest?" Ozpin asked the students.
It was Ruby who replied first, "You mean the one used to monitor the Grimm?"
"That's correct Miss Rose," Ozpin said with a small smile before taking a more serious expression, "However, right now, that system has gone dark."
That earned various concerned looks out of the students and their Blades.
"How? I thought it was designed to blend into the environment so that the Grimm wouldn't even think of attacking it," Weiss asked as she crossed her arms.
The headmaster shifted in his seat as he took out a known map of Emerald Forest, "The cause is unknown, which is why I want to send the four of you to determine it." This statement earned surprised looks from the girls.
"Why us," Blake asked, out of curiosity, "Aren't there any professional huntsmen or other students?"
"Most of the other students are still out on their missions," Ozpin replied as he took a sip from his mug, "Besides, you four have shown yourself very capable, all things considered."
"Not good enough," Ruby said with a slightly depressed tone. Which prompted Roze to wrap his arm around her.
"Ruby, we can't let ourselves be discouraged by our inability to save everyone," Blake said with a heavy sigh. It wasn't like she didn't understand what Ruby felt but moping about it wasn't going to help anyone. "All we can really do is keep moving forward," the hidden faunus added with the tiniest of smiles.
"Okay then," Ruby said, but she didn't sound too convinced, "I'll try."
"So, when are we leaving?" Weiss asked, hoping to get everyone's mind off of the Breach.
"The day after tomorrow," Ozpin responded, "However, due to the unrest the Breach has caused, our Huntsmen, including your professors will be busy patrolling the streets for the next few days. Which is why one of you will need to learn how the security nodes work and how to fix them if needed."
"I'll do it," Roze said without hesitation.
"Roze?" Ruby sounded out.
"If one of us has to learn it, it might as well be me," Roze said, before glancing at Ozpin, "Besides, if the problem is mechanical, I think I am most qualified for this, aside from Ruby."
"You do know that weapons are different from security nodes, right?" Weiss questioned, remembering all the times Roze had been helping Ruby with her crazy weapon designs.
"Of course, but I have all day tomorrow to learn them," Roze said with confidence.
"Very well," Ozpin said, before making a call to Professor Port, one of the huntsmen that knew how to fix the security nodes if needed. "Peter, I need you to teach Miss Rose's Blade about the security nodes tomorrow," Ozpin spoke as soon as the call connected.
"Of course Ozpin. But may I ask why?" It was odd for the usually jolly professor to sound so serious with the latter sentence.
"The security network in Emerald Forest has gone dark. We need to send someone to check what's wrong. But only team RWBY is available right now," Ozpin explained.
"Very well then, I'll teach Miss Rose's Blade all he needs to know." Was the jolly response, "He can meet me at my office tomorrow at...say 10:30."
"Thank you Peter," Ozpin thanked before turning back to the girls and their Blades, "Well then ladies and gentlemen, I suggest you use today to rest, and tomorrow to prepare."
"Yes sir," Ruby said with a salute, "Let's go team!" With that, Ruby moved out while practically dragging Roze. The rest of the team following.
It was now the day the team started their mission. And as Ozpin suggested, the huntresses had spent the previous day preparing for the mission. Checking their weapons, ensuring they had extra ammo for the said weapons and other supplies they might need. But the four huntresses kept strictly to the rule of "pack light". Something that Nox and Dragunov made sure of. After all, too much stuff on a mission might weigh you down. And most importantly, Roze had spent the whole day being taught by Port about the security nodes. Apparently, the rose reaper absorbed the information like a sponge.
Which leads our Drivers and their Blades to now being in Emerald Forest. The eight had been dropped off by a bullhead not too far away from the security node. The only reason they hadn't been flown all the way was because there were too many trees in the area for that.
Which leads everyone to this moment, the girls had just finished a relatively small pack of creeps.
"You know, I'm almost offended at how easy this is," Dragunov complained, seeing as the creeps were little more than punching bags to him. Then again, to the draconic Blade most Grimm were just fodder.
"We still got a way to go," Yang retorted as she slammed the last creep's head into a nearby rock.
"Besides, this mission is supposed to be easy anyway," Roze added in as he checked the map from Ruby's Scroll. "According to the map, we should move that way for now," the rose themed Blade said as he pointed towards a pathway that once had cobblestones from a long-lost civilization.
"I wonder how old this stuff is?" Yang wondered as they passed through some of the ruined structures from who knows what era.
"As I recall," Dahlia said with a thoughtful look, "Emerald Forest is known for housing ruins of ancient kingdoms."
"That's right," Weiss said, happy that she had Dahlia study with her occasionally. "I'm sure Doctor Oobleck would've loved to be here," the white-haired girl added as she had a mental image of him going…crazy about these ruins.
"Which is precisely why he gave us the optional objective of recovering any artifacts we might discover along the way." Nox showed on his scroll.
"Yeah, but nothing we can't carry," Blake reminded them. Although at the last part, Blake glanced at Dragunov who was carrying a large fire-proof knapsack.
"I always thought 'we' insinuated more than one but, eh, shows what I know," Dragunov complained through thinly veiled sarcasm, despite them having yet to find anything that would qualify. Aside from the knapsack, Dragunov also had a fireproof belt pack for refined fire Dust. In fact, it was Yang who suggested that all of their Blades carry a supply of Dust of their respective elements on them in case they were separated from each other.
So Roze had a belt pack with wind Dust, Dahlia had ice, Nox had gravity and, of course, fire for Dragunov. Any other supplies were in the lightly packed bags the girls were carrying.
"So, Roze," Weiss piped up next, "Remind me again what makes you so sure that you can fix the security nodes with one day of studying?" As much as Weiss was assured that Roze knew all there was to know about the nodes, she still found it hard to believe that such amazing technology could be mastered in one day.
"The nodes themselves are designed to be sturdy, stealthy and easy to repair. So that any proper huntsman with even slightest bit of technological know-how can repair them," The rose reaper replied easily.
"Wouldn't that make them easy to sabotage too?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.
Roze shook his head, "Like I said, the nodes are sturdy. And therefore, difficult to destroy. Not to mention, they're camouflaged enough so that the Grimm can't really tell where they're at."
"I was talking about people," Blake said with a mild glare.
"Oh," Roze exclaimed in slight embarrassment of his mistake, "In that case, the maintenance hatch is heavily encrypted. It would trigger a silent alarm if you so much as got the password wrong, much less try to tamper with it."
"Did it do that this time?" Dahlia asked, getting curious herself.
"Strangely, no," Roze replied as he hopped across a small ledge followed by everyone else, "According to Ozpin, they wouldn't have even noticed it if he hadn't decided to check on recent data, which wasn't there."
"And now we're here to fix it," Ruby said, her usual enthusiasm having returned. Or at least, that's how it seemed.
"Let's do this quickly then," Yang said as she pumped her fist, "How long until we reach the first node?"
"It's in that cave, actually," Roze piped up as he pointed towards a cave at the end of a down-leading cliffside road.
"Let's get to it then," Ruby said as she advanced to the cave, though she still kept a look out in case there would be Grimm in the cave. As did everyone else.
And then they reached a large cave illuminated by natural Dust Crystals where the node was supposed to be at. Sadly, it looked like there was nothing in there.
"Where is it?" Weiss asked, not seeing the node.
At that moment, Roze pulled out a pocket book with detailed instructions about the nodes themselves. "According to the booklet," Roze spoke as he approached what looked like a large random rock before knocking on it. "Here." the reaper Blade said as he searched for where the hatch would be at. And then he found it. It was at the bottom of the rock with, which opened, revealing a num-pad for the code. "Now I just need to put in the password and..." Roze stopped himself as the hatch opened, revealing to him the inner workings of the machine. "That's strange." Roze spoke up after a moment of rummaging inside it.
"What's strange?" Ruby asked as she watched Roze's body halfway inside the security node that was disguised as a huge rock.
"There's an object here that isn't mentioned in the designs," Roze spoke up while rummaging inside.
"What kind of object?" Weiss asked, wondering how it got there. Whatever it is.
"Just give me a moment and I'll get it out of here," Roze said as he reached for his second belt pouch that had various tools he would need to do the necessary repairs.
As soon as Roze started doing his thing, Blake's ears twitched under her bow. "Guys. Something's coming here," the hidden faunus said as she looked towards the cave entrance.
Everyone took a battle stance as they waited with baited breath for what would be arriving. Sure enough, it was a rather large pack of Grimm.
"Keep them off of Roze," Ruby ordered with a determined look as she prepared Crescent Rose.
With that, Team RWBY and the rest of the Blades started killing the attacking Grimm. Of course, they made sure to stay between Roze and the monsters. That way, Roze was able work inside the node without any interference.
After few minutes, the Grimm stopped coming.
"Roze, how are you doing in there?" Ruby asked, seeing as they got a breather.
Instead of answering, Roze came out of the hatch with a small box like object with a strange symbol on it. "Apparently, this thing was responsible for disabling the system," the rose reaper said as he held the box for all to see, "It started running the moment I pulled it out of there."
"Wonder what it is," Yang asked as she stared at the thing.
Before anyone could ask further, Ruby's scroll rang. The red reaper quickly fumbled the scroll out, Roze having returned it earlier, she quickly answered the call of Professor Port.
"Great work students," The jolly professor's voice sounded out of the Scroll, "The security node is once again transmitting data."
This confirmed Roze's claim about the node working properly again.
"That's great," Ruby said before moving the scroll towards the box that Roze was still holding. "And we found out what the problem was." With those words, Ruby switched the call to video feed.
Understanding what Ruby was doing, Roze brought the box into the Scroll's view, "I found it inside the node."
"Hmmm…I think I have seen that symbol before…," Port mumbled at the sight of the box, "And you said this was inside the node itself?"
"Yes," Roze replied simply, "Which means that whoever put it there knew the access code."
"That is worrisome…you kids move on to the next node. I'll see if I can find out anything about that mysterious symbol on my end," Port then said.
"Understood," Weiss spoke for everyone. But the others gave their own confirmations anyway.
With that, the call was cut off, which Nox took as an opportunity to speak his mind. "If whoever sabotaged this was able to enter the node, why not simply destroy it?"
"Good question," Dragunov said unable to comprehend it themselves, "If their purpose was to get the security system out of the way, why not wreck it completely?"
"Maybe they were stupid?" Yang joked.
"I know that you're joking, but that honestly makes a bit of sense," Weiss said with a sigh.
"If that is true, then hopefully they are stupid enough for us to catch them easily," Dahlia added her lien into the mix.
Despite the many questions for what was going on right now, the Drivers and Blades alike found themselves laughing…well, those that spoke at least.
"Ruby, can I check the Scroll?" Roze then asked, and Ruby did. After few more moments Roze had checked where they need to go next.
Few hours later the team of Drivers were walking through a cliffy part of Emerald forest with old ruins and breath-taking sights.
"HELLOOOO, ECHO!" Ruby called out, and sure enough the echo responded.
"Really, Ruby?" Weiss asked in exasperation, questioning if her previous assessments of Ruby being a good leader were unfounded.
"Come on Weiss, this is so cool," Ruby said happily, while motioning towards the view.
"It's beautiful yeah," Blake agreed, taking in the view.
"Very," Dahlia said as she looked very happy to see a beautiful sight like this, "I wonder…if we were to take pictures of this, would we be able to do it justice."
"Probably not," Dragunov muttered. Between occasional Grimm attack and trekking, this was a nice change of pace.
"Didn't take you for sightseeing," Yang said teasingly.
"Can't a guy appreciate beauty when he sees it?" Dragunov retorted, before smirking, "Other than you, that is."
"D'aww you called me beautiful," Yang replied playfully, not falling for the bait.
"Keep telling yourself that." Dragunov's words were betrayed by a proud look he had at Yang's response.
As the rest of the girls shook their heads at the exchange. They heard clanging of weapons not far away. Turning to the source, the gang saw that Nox had used his scythes to draw everyone's attention. The dark ninja motioned everyone to come.
With that, the gang moved behind a large tower-like structure where Nox led them. Then the dark one pointed at a metallic chest.
"Oooh! Is that a treasure chest?" Ruby asked eagerly.
Weiss sighed at Ruby's childishness, "Ruby, that chest has been here for who knows how long. If there's anything valuable in it, it's probably been taken already."
At that moment Yang chose to open it, and with a huge grin, took out one of the contents. "You were saying Weiss cream?" the blonde said as she showed what looked like a huge ruby of some kind.
"You've got to be kidding me," Weiss said with her mouth open, "This thing isn't even hidden, so how the heck is that still here?"
"Ooohhh…so pretty," Ruby said with stars in her eyes, more because the gem was a beautiful shade of red rather than it being possibly valuable.
But then Dragunov snatched the gem, much to Yang's and Ruby's combined annoyance, before looking it over with a critical eye.
"Hey! That's mine, I saw it first," Yang complained, but it looked like Dragunov wasn't listening from inspecting the thing.
"Dragunov?" Dahlia called out, seeing that the draconic Blade was frowning for some reason.
"...We're keeping this," Dragunov said before putting the gem into his huge knapsack.
"Hey! I want that back!" Yang complained like a kid whose candy had been stolen.
"I want to see it too," Ruby complained as well as they attempted to get their grubby hands into the fireproof knapsack. Only for Dragunov to keep them away from him by their faces.
As this was happening, Nox had rolled out his scroll in front of Weiss and Blake. "This chest looks almost brand new. In fact, if I did not know better, I would claim that it was placed here recently."
"Why would anyone bring a chest with a precious jewel all the way out here?" Weiss asked, thinking that the ninja was insane.
"Did the Kingdoms ever use gold coins?" Roze asked as he fished out said coins from the chest. As it turned out, this chest also had some coins and other valuables inside. The huge ruby was just at the top of the pile.
"Yes, but they fell out of practice when Lien cards were invented about 200 years ago," Blake mentioned, having read about it once.
"Did the coins look like this?" Dahlia asked before giving one a critical eye," Besides, this looks to be recently polished." The questioning tone couldn't be clearer to anyone.
Blake walked over to glance at one coin in Dahlia's hand. "You're right. It looks as though it was made fairly recently," the cat faunus said as she frowned a little, "But I'm not sure about the currency's design. The book I read about them didn't have any picture."
"That is a shame," Dahlia said, before adopting a thoughtful look, "Should we inform Doctor Oobleck, because I don't think we should take all of this."
At that moment a loud thud was heard, which made everyone to turn and see, that Yang and Ruby had somehow managed to wrestle Dragunov to the ground. Still fighting for that large ruby.
"...Should we stop them?" Roze said, not sure if he found the scene funny or sad. Sad because Dragunov was toppled by two girls less than half of his size. Yang, he could see doing that, but not Ruby. Then again, it was in all likelihood mostly Yang who was responsible for the three now wrestling on the ground for the control of that shiny red gem.
"Just let them get it out of their system," Weiss sighed in exasperation.
It took some time, but with a grumble, Ruby and Yang conceded to Dragunov holding onto the gem until the end of this mission. More importantly, they took a handful of gold coins to show Doctor Oobleck and see if he could figure out the civilization that used them. And of course, they sent the coordinates to the chest itself. Assuming it would be here by the time they're done. Granted they were pretty deep in the Emerald Forest now, but you never know who else might stumble upon it.
"So, any idea how to get across?" Blake commented about a large ravine that they needed to cross.
"Well, it's too far for even me to jump," Ruby said, thinking about the possibility of using Crescent Rose to propel herself. The distance was just too great for any of them.
"And I'm not sure if I can maintain enough glyphs for all of us," Weiss added her own observation.
"Yo!" Dragunov called out, having turned towards large stone gears near the opening where there was probably supposed to be a bridge, "Think this would give us a bridge or something?"
Turning towards Dragunov, they saw him pointing towards an ancient lever.
"That is one possibility…another is the activation of a trap." Nox showed on his scroll while giving the lever a suspicious look.
"...Pull it," Ruby said after a moment of thought.
"Nox just said it could be a trap," Weiss said with an annoyed look.
"Do you see another way?" Ruby retorted just short of 'meekly'.
"I guess not," Weiss conceded with a sigh, "Let's just be prepared in case it is a trap.
With that, Yang moved in to pull the lever. Unfortunately, it looked as though Yang couldn't pull it no matter how much she tried. "Come OOON!" Yang roared, just before losing her grip and falling onto her butt.
"...Need some help?" Dragunov asked, having raised an eyebrow. The lever couldn't be that stuck, can it?
"NO!" Yang's eyes had turned red as she cracked her knuckles. Before winding up her fist to strike. Only to be stopped by Dragunov grabbing the fist by the wrist.
"Are you trying to break it?" Dragunov asked, knowing that adding too much force too fast could break the lever.
"Let go Drag! I'm gonna make that thing move!" Yang growled in fury.
"...Yang, I hate to say this, but Dragunov is the strongest one here," Blake spoke up, knowing that this was starting to become a matter of pride for the blonde.
"Are you calling me weak?" Yang asked, sounding a little hurt.
"No, she just stated a fact," Dragunov said, not improving his Driver's mood, "Now let me handle this." Thankfully Yang backed off with a grumble. And then the draconic Blade pulled on the lever lightly. But of course, it didn't budge. "Oh, you wanna play hardball huh?" Dragunov asked the lever with a savage grin, "You picked the wrong opponent." With that Dragunov put more effort into it. Soon enough it got to the point where it looked like Dragunov was straining himself.
"...Okay, I know it may be stuck, but to make Dragunov struggle that much," Dahlia spoke up in worry. If even Dragunov who possessed Superstrength couldn't budge it, then who could?
*CRRREEEEEAAAAK* Was the sound that made everyone cover their ears. Blake prioritizing her cat ears.
"...That was harder than I thought," Dragunov said as the large stone cog started turning as soon as he managed to pull the lever. Soon enough, a bridge was extending from their side of the ravine.
"The fact that this mechanism is working at all is miraculous if you ask me," Roze commented.
"No kidding," Ruby added in, having thought that the draconic Blade would've torn the whole lever off.
"Seriously, I had to actually tap into my vast strength to pull it," Dragunov said as he rolled his arm a couple times, "No wonder Yang couldn't pull it."
As Blake glared at Dragunov for the abuse her ears suffered, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "What is it?" Blake asked Nox, who answered by pointing towards the way they came from. "Guys! Grimm incoming!" Blake alarmed everyone.
Everyone took out their weapons at hearing that. "Where did those things come from?" Weiss complained as she took her stance.
"It was probably the noise coming from the lever," Dahlia said loudly, for her ears were still ringing a little.
"Less talking, more action," Dragunov said as he charged at the incoming horde.
"Dragunov, wait!" Ruby shouted out for no avail, before she grumbled, "Urgh, let's get them team." the red reaper didn't sound very enthusiastic at that part as she and the rest of the team charged. And they couldn't blame her.
There were a lot of Grimm, but it wasn't anything that four Drivers and Blades couldn't deal with.
"Aaand, done," Dragunov said as he dropped a disintegrating boarbatusk that moments ago got its belly slammed down on the draconic Blade's horns.
"Why couldn't you wait for the order?" Roze asked after blasting an alpha beowolf through its head.
"Why should I have waited for the order to take on a couple weaklings," Dragunov said with a grin as he cracked his neck.
"You were undermining our leader's authority," Weiss scolded the fire Blade.
"I don't care," Dragunov commented as he walked to the now extended bridge. All the while the girls and their Blades were glaring at him.
"Let's just go," Ruby said, feeling a little down.
After some more walking the team had made it into what looked like an ancient terrace.
"According to the map, the next node should be here," Roze spoke up after confirming from Ruby's scroll.
"So, where is it?" Yang asked, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
Instead of answering, Roze moved towards the center of stone platform, before kneeling down on a particular spot. Then he lightly knocked on one stone, before lifting it to reveal a panel. "This one is dug underground, using these ruins as a camouflage. Smart," Roze commented as he dialed the access code and several stones opened, revealing another hatch. "You guys make sure nothing gets to me while I work here," the rose reaper said before dropping down into the inner workings.
As Roze started working on the node, Blake started inspecting something that looked highly out of place here. "What do you guys think these cages are for?" the hidden faunus asked, seeing that most of these things were open, with one or two of them containing Grimm.
"Looks like someone is trying to capture Grimm," Dragunov commented as he moved closer to one of the cages that currently contain a beowolf, "Though I'm surprised that these things aren't even trying to get out."
At that moment, one of the beowolves decided to howl, which prompted Dragunov to widen his eyes before burning the beast alive. Then the other one which started howling too. "Well shit," Dragunov complained with an annoyed look.
"Swear!" Ruby called out, before clamping her hands over her mouth.
"We got more important things to worry about, because those things just called for help," Dragunov said, already on high alert.
Which also prompted everyone else to get on guard. "How do you know that?" Yang asked, even as she was looking around, waiting for any kind of Grimm to pop out of nowhere.
"From the way it was howling, of course," Dragunov commented as he scanned the area.
"Incoming!" Ruby shouted out as several Grimm were pouring out from who knows where, "Make sure none of them get anywhere near Roze!"
It took some time, mostly because at a few points, the team of Drivers and Blades had to sometimes lure the monsters away from Roze's position. Other than that, the opponents were mostly creeps and beowolves. With a couple boarbatusks in the mix. But again, the girls and their Blades didn't have anything to worry about, other than keeping Roze safe.
Soon enough, an object flew out of the hatch, which was followed by Roze climbing out. "There was another jammer in there," Roze announced as he looked at the last of the disintegrating Grimm corpses, "...Sorry about this. I should've been out here." the rose reaper looked apologetic.
"You're the one who learned how to fix these, so no helping that," Dragunov said dismissively.
Meanwhile Weiss picked up the jamming box. "It looks identical to the one we acquired from the previous node," the white-haired girl commented, noting that symbol on it again.
"Think we should call Professor Port?" Blake asked as she wondered who could possibly have set this up.
Though no sooner had she asked that, did Ruby's scroll ring. Quickly fumbling with the device, Ruby was able to connect the call.
"I see you have managed to fix the second node. Good work team," congratulated the voice of Professor Port, "Did you discover what was wrong in there?"
"Yeah, this node was also sabotaged," Ruby said, "Roze pulled out another device with that odd symbol from there."
"I see. Well the symbol belongs to Merlot Industries," Port explained to the students.
"Merlot Industries?" Weiss repeated with a confused look, "I can't say I have ever heard of it."
"That isn't surprising Miss Schnee. Merlot Industries is an old research and development company far before your time. But the company was shut down after losing its primary facilities along with most of its assets with the fall of Mountain Glenn," Port then explained, losing his jolly tone at the latter part.
"But if that's the case, how are technology and Grimm cages bearing the company's symbol appearing out here?" Roze questioned.
"What Grimm cages?" Port asked from his end of the line.
It was Blake who decided to explain, "We found several cages, bearing Merlot's logo set up to capture Grimm."
"Any idea why they would do that?" Dahlia asked, looking at the remaining cages that were empty, and didn't suffer Dragunov's flames.
"I'm afraid that I'm not much for riddles and puzzles, Miss Dahlia," Port said apologetically, before perking up at the latter part, "More of a man of action, if I do say so myself. But I think I know someone who can help with this."
During the conversation, Dragunov received a slap from Yang, of all people, for lip syncing with Port's speech mockingly.
"Okay, so what should we do?" Ruby asked into the Scroll.
"I shall send you a bullhead to pick you up," Port responded easily, "After all, your current location has enough room for that."
"Understood, professor," Ruby said with a salute, not that the professor could see it right now.
"I look forward to hear of your success Miss Rose," Port said jovially, before the call was cut off.
AN: Yes I am including Grimm Eclipse into this. You guys might see this as a filler arc, but... for the most part, it is. Except there is a reason why I'm doing this.
Also, the reason why the nodes are different in here is, because I'm pretty sure that the GE versions would've been destroyed long ago by Grimm.