Back with a whole new chapter. Everyone stay safe out there.

This chapter takes place sometime after chapter 2 of Remnant of an Iron Rose (Adopted from Ptabs0101)

In the Wilds of Anima

In the southern parts of Anima, a Nuckelavee Grimm was wandering through the forest. A Grimm with an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature that is fused with it. Its forelegs are shaped like claws and it has hooved hind legs that leave hoofprints in its wake. The humanoid body has long curved horns on its head, a mouth that looks almost sewn shut, and two long elastic arms each with two clawed fingers.

This one however is not as old as another of its kind that has claimed the mid and south-eastern part as its hunting ground, but old enough to know when to attack outlier villages of the continent and when to leave well enough alone. It was once part of a group of Grimm that followed a bronze construct towards one of the villages and participated in fighting more of the constructs and the settlers of the town. But then human-like beings came and fought both the Grimm and the constructs. It saw one create a bow and arrow from nothing and tether numerous Beowolves and completely atomize them. A King Taijitsu catch on fire from a gun wilding human and a Beringel electrocuted by another. Seeing its kind die in this way brought a newfound feeling to it…fear.

So, it fled from the carnage and into the wilderness.

That was over two months ago and it has wandered the wilds. When it encounters a small town, it observes before attacking. If it sees any of those human-like beings, it leaves the village or town alone and move on. But if not, its open season for slaughter. In the event that those weird humans come in their flying constructs, it flees for survival.

However lately, those humans have been appearing in the outlier villages and towns more and more. It was at one village that it went toe-to-toe with one of them. And it barely survived the fight. While the armored human was reloading its weapon, it used its horse hindquarters to kick it in the neck and if fell dead. It then saw the bright construct that accompanied these new humans hover over the dead armored one. It saw in the past that when one of these new human beings died, this construct came out and brought them back from the dead, with renewed vigor. In its anger, it galloped towards the construct and reared back on its hind legs and brought its front legs down on the bright construct again and again. After the seventh time, a bright light enveloped the area, burning it. When the light subsided, it saw the construct in pieces and the dead armored human, still dead. These new humans weren't completely invincible, they can die! It also knew that sooner or later, what survivors of this village will bring more of these new humans and while it survived against this one, it won't survive against a group of them.

And so, it now wanders the wilds, destroying any homesteads in its way and surviving.

It soon came upon a clearing in the middle of the woods. Its lower half stopped, signaling its upper half to be alert. It twisted itself a full 360 degree looking all around itself, looking for potential threats. Seeing none, the top half slouched forward and its lower half proceeded to walk.

A third of the way though, one of its back legs brushed against a small device hidden in the dirt and a chain of Arc energy snapped around it. It screamed in pain as the energies coursed through its body. It made to run to the other side, but the chain pulled taunt after four feet. The Nuckelavee turned and its front legs brushed against two more devices, unleashing two more chains that wrapped around the ankles. It screamed in pain again, scaring a flock of birds roosting in the treetops that took flight. It heard laughter and turned its head in its direction.

From behind a tree came a rough looking human with a headband around its head wearing a dark green shirt with dark blue robes and spiked furred palderons. This human goes by many names. His most common one was The Drifter. He took a good look at its catch and smiled.

"So, you're the one who killed a Guardian. Impressive." Drifter circled his captured prey. "I can count on one hand how many of you Grimm have been able to permanently kill a Guardian. And I am not afraid of cutting off thumbs. Granted, I can simple kill myself and resurrect myself with all my digits intact, but you get the idea."

A Ghost with a flashing red eye materialized right by the Drifters head. "Ghost, prep this one for cryo and transport onto the derelict."

The Grimm, now realizing that it was now in the hands of these new human beings screamed in rage and flung its arms toward the stationary human. Its arms elongated and reached to slash at his face, but two more devices activated in proximity to the arms and encased them in Void Stasis fields. The claws stopped six inches away from the Drifters face. The Grim pulled back as hard as hard as it could, feeling the arms strain, but not moving from its stasis. The Drifter laughed.

"Even captured, you got some fight in ya." He laughed some more as he turned away from his captive. What he didn't expect was the barrel of a familiar gun pointed right at his face. He knew the owner of the gun and internally shivered. But externally, he simply smiled. "Well, if it ain't the man with the golden gun himself, Shin Malphor. What can I do for you brother?"

The now named Shin Malphor in his armor kept his eyes on Drifter and motioned his head towards the Grimm getting cryo-frozen.

"What's with the Grimm?"

"Just a bounty some poor folks put out. Thought I could do my part for the community."

"Even though you aren't technically a Guardian nor identify as any class?"

"New world, new rules. But you didn't answer my question?"

Shin Malphor looked long and hard at the Drifter and said, "Shadows of Yor."

The Drifter smile fell and a frown replaced it. "Ah…shanks!"

Unknown Village, Anima

In an inn in a small village in Anima, Shin Malphor sat across from the drifter as the latter stuffed himself with some manticore wings, Remnants version of buffalo wings from Earth. He chewed and swallowed, savoring the taste. A short skirt waitress went to the table and deposited two mugs of ale to the two Guardians and Shin paid her both in glimmer and lien.

"So, let me get this straight…" he said leaning towards Shin with a wing in one hand. "The Shadows of Yor are here on Remnant, experimenting in combining Grimm physiology with Hive. And you want me to tell you which members are here? What makes you think I know anything?" He leaned back in his chair.

"You ran with them a long time ago. Even if you left them, you probably kept tabs on their members in the event of running into them. They hate you just as much as me."

Drifter nodded his head in agreement to Shin's logic. A long time ago, he did run alongside of the Shadows of Yor. Even called himself Dredgen Hope. But after learning the lengths of what the Shadows would do to accomplish their tasks, he left to do his own thing.

He leaned back in his seat. "Let's say, hypothetically, I do keep tabs on the Shadows, both past and present. What do I get out of it?"

Shin leaned forward making his silver eyes shine through the visor of his helmet. "For starters, I don't end you right here and now. And I let you keep the Grimm. By the way, what do you plan on doing with it?"

The Drifter smiled. "Originally, I was planning on cooking it. I wonder how it tastes?" He said outloud, some of the nearby patrons looked sick and left their proximity. The Drifter laughed and spoke softly so Shin would be the only one hearing it "But I'm planning on using it for something else. A little game that pits Guardian against Guardian while walking that fine line between Light and Dark. Haven't got a name for it yet."

He then leaned forward. "As for the Shadows…I have it on good authority that there are at this time three Guardians, and they follow the Fireteam Rule of Four Threes."

Shin nodded in understanding. There are many types of protocols for Guardian fireteams. The Rule of Four Threes are three Guardians of three different races, of three different Guardian classes wielding three different subclasses. An example being a fireteam of three composed of an Exo Warlock wielding arc energy, Awoken Hunter with the void, and Human Titan with solar.

Shin had his Ghost Clint materialize and projected a small image of the Shadow that Summer fought on Patch.

"This one is a human by the name of Dredgen Vena. Recent Hunter recruit by about five years, give or take a few months. She specializes in wielding Deciever, a Darkness variant of Void."

Shin nodded and brought out an image of a few links in a chain. Engraved on the chain were hive script.

"That one is part of a larger chain wielded by a Shadow by the name of Dredgen Craneel. Warlock, been with the Shadows a long time. He's an Exo and wields a Darkness variant of Arc energy by the name of Red Lightning."

Shin said, "All that remains is the Awoken Titan."

Drifter nodded. "According to what I hear, after Vena and Summer fought and leveled a large portion of the foliage of Patch, the Shadows sent their enforcer by the name of Dredgen Tyranus. Awoken Titan that wields the Hellfire Ax. And yes, it's a Darkness variant of Solar. Before he became a Dredgen, he was working alongside the Praxic Order to apprehend criminals. But his methods of bringing in the guilty were too extreme and was banished from the Order and the City. Now he works with the Dredgens as their executioner. Any Dredgen that steps out off line, he gets rid of."

Shin nodded, filing the names in his mind and got up from the table, leaving glimmer and lien for the Drifter and his meal.

"So, we good brother?" Drifter asked taking another bite of his meal.

"I've never seen you on Remnant. Good luck with your Gambit of a game." Shin said as he walked out of the inn and onto the hunt.

Drifter swallowed and had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Gambit. Welcome to Gambit! Has a nice ring to it."

And that's it for this chapter. For those who are wondering why the drifter was so willing to sell out the other Dredgens? Two reasons. The first being that the lengths that they are willing to go for their goals make even him uncomfortable. And the second being that the targeted Dredgens are overzealous and only been with the dredgens for a short time, compared to him who was with them near the start of their formation of the Shadows of Yor.

The next chapter will be one you have all been waiting for... You are cordially Invited to a Party Hosted by Jacques Schnee. Guests will include Fireteam Nero, Team RWBY, Ironwood and Winter, Lord Shaxx, Eris Morn and Variks the Loyal. See you then!