Note: Just a fair warning: this arc is going to be nothing but cliffhangers. LOL.

Pyrrha didn't have the ability to ask questions, and Nora didn't have the time. Within seconds, the redhead sprinted off toward the advanced technology of the Vault's kitchen, searching for something to plug into.

"Nora!"

Nora did not answer. She leaped to higher ground, standing atop the twisting metalwork, hammer in hand as her eyes roamed for an opening.

"Nora!"

Pyrrha left Yatsu stranded as she chased after her teammate. Ren was deeply concerned as well, but he did not have the luxury to stop. He kept the rhythm of his hands steady as Pyrrha tried to call reason into Nora.

"Come on, come on," Nora said to herself. The tech only barely resembled the equipment she was used to. The metal warped and twisted in on itself over smooth obsidian counters, fading seamlessly into the wall. Somewhere here, there had to be electricity. A wire. A switch. Those stoves didn't run on nothing. After only a few seconds of searching, Nora grew impatient and struck the wall with her sledgehammer. She aimed at the bits where the metal frame met the chamber's edge, and age and time were kind to her. Her hammer broke through after only a few strikes, and she saw gold.

Wires. Lots of them. She had no idea what they were made of. Most wires would have decayed after a century, but these looked brand new, coated in something resembling rubber. She grabbed at the wire but felt nothing. The metal inside was what she was looking for.

"Nora, what are you doing?"

Nora was halted only slightly as Pyrrha bounded up the kitchen appliance, joining her on the black countertop. Her face was stricken with grief, though Nora paid her little mind as she continued her frantic pace.

"Saving Yang. Now help me hook up to this."

"Nora, electrocuting her isn't going to help," Pyrrha pleaded. She was certain Nora had lost her mind, or at the very least, she was displaying her complete lack of medical knowledge. However, Nora just brushed off her concerns.

"It's not for her," she stated. "It's for me."

Pyrrha was stunned. "W-What?"

"I'm not gonna defibrillate her," Nora explained. She spoke with so much confidence that the pure insanity of what she said next almost didn't register. "I'm going to hit with my sledgehammer really fucking hard."

Pyrrha went slack-jawed. Her eyes bugged out of her skull. She tugged on her hair and screamed.

"You're doing what?"

Nora rolled her eyes, ignoring Pyrrha's cries. She knelt down grasping the strands of rubber with her fingertips. She quickly worked to remove the protective coating, though she was stopped when Pyrrha grabbed onto her shoulders and spun her around.

"Hey, I'm trying to—"

"Are you crazy?" Pyrrha cried. "You're going to kill her!"

"No, I'm going to save her life!" Nora said, pushing Pyrrha away. The prodigy almost instantly retaliated, ready to strike some desperate sense into her teammate, but Nora quickly waved her hammer around and explained her reasoning. "Yang needs a massive infusion of Aura to heal her wounds, right? Well, that's what her Semblance does! All it does is make Aura! So, if I hit her with my sledgehammer, her body will take all of that trauma and transform it into the stuff that's going to heal her. If I hit her really, really, really hard, her body will get a ton of force, and tada! A ton of Aura!"

Nora wasn't describing it well at all, a side effect of her flimsy understanding, the immense stress she was under, and, well, being Nora. But Pyrrha understood the basic premise, and it was enough for her to put the plan together. Yang had a history of growing stronger from vicious attacks. She was more than happy to regale the others with tales of her plunging off a cliff and using its strength to fight off a Grimm, or cracking her own skull against the floor to unleash hidden powers. Her cells stored Aura and released it all in tremendous explosions of pure power, but technically, she could use it for other purposes. If she was able to harness enough Aura, her body could direct it to her injuries. With enough, she could fix almost all the damage, or at least, enough to keep her alive and get her to safety. That was…

"Only if she survives!" Pyrrha said bluntly.

"And she will! Probably!" Nora countered.

"Her ribs are shattered! If you strike something that's already damaged—"

"So, I'll aim carefully! I just need to absorb all the electricity I can, charge it up, jump off something really high, and wail her with everything I got."

"And crush her to death. I mean, you'll… Nora, really, think about this… I…"

Pyrrha was speechless. Nora had lost it. Well and truly lost it. In what sensible universe would a person ever think that the way to heal someone dying was to assault them violently? She knew that Nora only thought in terms of smashing things with a hammer, but even this seemed a bridge too far. Yang was on death's door, and Nora's childish fantasy was merely wasting the time they could have used to help her.

But that was what Nora was anticipating. Pyrrha couldn't even get the argument out before Nora was screaming right back at her. "She is literally dying right now! Ren can't perform CPR forever. We have maybe a few minutes before she goes, and I am not going to sit around and do nothing while my friend suffers."

"It is not doing nothing to recognize that you don't have a good idea!"

"It is a good idea! I know what this sounds like. I'm not stupid. If we were talking about literally anyone else, you would have a point. But Yang is different. She's special."

"She is barely functioning. She might not even have the strength to use her Semblance."

"Her Aura absorption is automatic. Am I the only one who pays attention to my friends' Semblances on this team?"

"She won't survive."

"She's survived worse."

"That's completely different!"

"It really ain't!"

"You want to hit her with your sledgehammer! When she has who knows how many broken bones and organ damage—"

"It's a last resort, yeah! We need a drastic measure!"

"It isn't drastic! It's immature. It's cruel! It's—"

"Stupid," Nora said suddenly, her words dripping with a forceful contempt that even she didn't know she was capable of. "It's stupid and childish and chaotic. and totally fucking useless, just like every other idea I've ever had, right? You have never trusted me with anything! Not once! All you ever do is push me out of the important stuff because I'm not able to handle it! You think I'm just some dumbass who's only good for breaking everything she touches! And you know what—maybe I am! Maybe I do just make everything worse, and maybe I am only good at smashing things. But for god's sake, Pyrrha, at least I am trying to contribute something positive to our team! Yang needs our help. I can help her. I know I can. It's absolutely insane, but can you please, at least once in your life, give me the benefit of the doubt, and actually fucking trust me?"

Pyrrha had no response. Nora hadn't realized she started crying until she felt her tears dripping off of her chin. She was trembling with rage, and she had to stop herself before she did or said anything else she would regret.

Nora and Pyrrha never got along. For the past few weeks, with nothing on the line, they were able to turn the corner. Nora got Pyrrha on her first date, and once she was proven right about Ozpin, Pyrrha was more willing to place her faith in her. But there were always limits, weren't there? The pain of being ignored for months, of not being trusted with their mission into Atlas—Nora didn't forget any of that. They could smile and laugh and hug through the good times, but that kind of pain didn't just vanish. The good times had long passed, and now everything that seared Nora inside was forced back, regurgitated into something ugly between the two teammates.

Pyrrha bowed her head. Why did she always hurt people she didn't mean to?

Ren was growing frantic in his compressions. Yang wasn't moving. Her lips turned purple. They were out of options. Nora was right about one thing. Yang was special. Her Semblance was extraordinary, maybe even greater than hers. If there was even a small chance this plan could succeed…

Pyrrha sighed. She couldn't believe they were really doing this…

"How hard do you need to hit her?"

Nora didn't say anything. She silently wiped away her tears and gave a clueless smile.

"I have no idea."

Pyrrha nodded. "Then give it everything you have."

Nora tightened her grip on her sledgehammer. "Don't I ever."

She rushed back to the exposed circuitry and continued pulling away at the protective coating. Pyrrha turned around and shouted down at Ren and Yatsu, attempting to warn them of what was to come. How she was going to explain it to them… she didn't really have time to think about.

"Boys, Nora is going to try something!" she said quickly. "When I give the signal, move."

"Move?" Yatsu asked, confused. "Where are we taking her?"

"No, not… don't move Yang!" Pyrrha said worriedly. "Just, when I tell you, get as far away from Yang as you can."

Ren grunted. He could hear the fear in Pyrrha's voice. "Nora!" he called out. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me on this, Ren!" Nora shouted back. "I totally know what I'm doing!"

Ren's stomach dropped. He loved Nora, but she never knew what she was doing. That didn't stop her, but now, he was left to wonder exactly what terrible idea she had. He didn't have to wonder long. Only a few seconds later, Nora exposed the golden wiring from within the wall, and without a care in the world, grabbed onto it.

It hit her hard.

For thousands of years, the Vault had stood, mostly untouched. It had withered. It decayed. But the Fables built it to last, and there was still plenty of power coursing through its walls. What they used to conduct that power; Nora had no clue. The metal wasn't anything she recognized, and she lacked the experience or care to understand it. All she knew was that where there was metal and power, there was electricity, and when she grabbed a fist full of exposed wires, she felt all of it. It locked her muscles in place and caused her to spasm. Her hair stood up straight, and the tears that had stained her cheeks vibrated and dissolved into vapor. Her eyes rolled back into her head as everything forced its way through her, filtering through every nerve ending, overflowing her sensations. It was more power than she knew what to do with. It took every ounce of willpower to pull herself away from the wires, allowing herself to only feel its touch for a single second.

In that single second, she felt like God.

Nora staggered backward, her body coming to grips with the strength it now possessed. She tensed her knuckles, testing out her power. She gripped her sledgehammer tightly, nearly crushing it between her fingers.

"Yeah," she muttered. "This'll do."

She didn't waste a single moment before she started running to the edge of the platform. She couldn't afford to hesitate or second guess herself. It was time.

Pyrrha, panicked, shouted as Nora ran by her. "Everyone, move now!"

Ren and Yatsu were left breathless as Nora jumped off the balcony, her sledgehammer extended high above her head as she screamed like a banshee. They were barely able to step away as Nora descended onto Yang's lifeless body. She swung down her hammer as hard as she could.

There was a violent crash—and then, an eruption.

Blake only took a few steps into the Kindergarten before she realized she would not be able to leave. There were no other corridors connected to the chamber; unlike seemingly every other room within this nightmarish maze, it stood alone. It only took a simple look around for her to start to understand why.

She didn't know what the sign outside said, but she suspected it translated to: Prison.

The chamber was constructed in a spiral, with a long pathway traveling high into the ceiling. Built into the walls were smaller rooms with large glass windows, each the size of one of their classrooms back at Beacon Academy. The interiors were darkened and even with her enhanced vision, Blake could not see inside. On the ground floor, there were tables and chairs, laid out in neat rows as if inside a cafeteria. However, their build was different than that which was in the kitchen they passed before. Their material was cheaper, a dull plastic that was coarse and chipped at its edges. All of its corners had been rounded off to stop those sitting within them from hurting themselves. Surrounding the cafeteria was a black chain link fence, whose primary door had been blown wide open long ago, allowing the students to enter unobstructed. But that was not the most peculiar detail.

The chairs, the table, the door… it all looked to be made for something Human.

"What… is this place?" Velvet wondered aloud. She, Fox, and Jaune passed by Blake, standing at the edge of the chain fence. They stepped into the broader cafeteria, looking around with horrified curiosity. The spaces between the desks were wide enough for a Fable to effortlessly pass through, and they roamed freely in the open.

"A dining hall, maybe?" Jaune wondered. He pushed one of the plastic chairs, and it squeaked as it scraped along the floor.

"We already passed the dining hall," Velvet reminded him. She examined the tables closely. Spots where food stains once rested had eaten away at the material, leaving small holes through the dense substance. She knelt down and looked at the floor, noticing something strange. Next to each chair was a metal ring, built into the floor and held in place with rusted nails. She examined the floor nearby when she noticed something that made her heart stop. Some of the metal rings had thick chains wrapped around them.

"Everything is so small," Jaune noted. "Is this a place for… people?"

"It can't be. This place predates Humans by thousands of years," Velvet stated.

"But Fables can't use any of this stuff…"

"Hey, you really want to waste time here?" Blake asked sharply.

"I mean, we might as well look around," Velvet suggested. "There might be something useful in here."

Velvet planned on not listening to her anyway, and Blake didn't see any point in arguing. She had already lost everything. She was in no rush to face the others again. Velvet huffed something to herself and continued testing out the plastic chairs, paying attention to the crudeness of their build. Everything the Fables did had been aesthetically interesting, but this looked almost like it was built in a factory. She noticed more scraps lying around: silverware on the floor, bad mockups of what would be forks and knives, discarded without care. A few plastic trays lay scattered on the ground beneath the tables. Something really was eating here, but she didn't know what.

One of the glass rooms in the back had been opened, and Jaune wandered inside. The dull lights from the main chamber gave him sight, though there wasn't much to look at. Metal trays one wheels lined one wall, and something that used to be a firepit remained in its center. Black ash stained its walls. All other contents of the room had been stripped clean long ago.

Fox began wandering up the long slope, his curiosity getting the better of him. His ADA unit was functional once more, and it gave him insight into the glass chambers as he walked by. He tapped the small earpiece, testing it for bugs. He couldn't actually be sensing that properly.

The first room he passed was something like a classroom: more neat rows of chairs all facing the same way, holographic walls streaming off a constant array of lessons. Some were still functional, flickering within the darkness, and he could hear a robotic, static voice drone within.

"Bbsst lkqw pplsr xytyt… kjkjj kjkjj wrtgggh…"

He passed another of the same kind, and then the next was something like an exercise room. He sensed familiar structures within: a running slope to serve as a treadmill, metal bars built into the walls and on stilts, and larger, heavier objects weighted with massive orbs on either side for lifting. Some equipment within he didn't recognize, but the silhouettes that he sensed were enough to remind him of training within the gyms at Beacon.

The next room was almost entirely empty, save for two metal pipes on either side of its elongated shape and a simple, leather ball in its center. If he could look within, he would have seen colorful markings on the walls and sketches on the floor delineating artificial boundaries. He passed the room skeptically and went to the next.

Blake stood outside the fence, running her fingertips down the flimsy metal. She hooked in her fingers and gave it a rough shake, grimacing. Menagerie had the same types of fences around the Faunus neighborhoods. She remembered staring through the holes out at the ocean, seeing ships sail in and out of the harbor. It took restraint to not slice the fence to pieces.

"Guys!" Fox suddenly called from above. "There's a lot of stuff up here!"

"Recognize anything?" Velvet called back.

"Yeah! Kinda?" Fox said, confused. He passed by another chamber. Inside, he sensed a room similar to the sleeping chamber they passed before, though considerably shrunken. Dozens of bunks were built into the walls. Pillows. Blankets. "There was definitely something living here?"

"I mean… this has to be a place young Fables. Like, kids?" Jaune suggested.

"Why would you ever treat your own children like this?" Velvet asked.

Blake muttered under her breath. "I think you know the answer to that."

Suddenly, Fox screamed.

"Guys! You need to come up here!"

Velvet and Jaune heard the unmistakable fear in Fox's voice. They hurried through the maze of chairs and up the slow, winding ramp, running up to his position. When they reached his side, they saw him staring blankly into the glass room, his arms hung by his side, unable to move.

"Fox?" Velvet asked worriedly. He pointed in front of him.

"There's something in that room."

Velvet and Fox stared at the glass, but could only see the faintest hints of their own reflection. They narrowed their gazes, unable to make out any details. Fox was too stunned to speak. It was a problem that was resolved quickly. Velvet noticed a small blue circle next to the glass; like everything else on the ground floor, it was built to her proportions, and she could easily press it with her finger without stretching. There was a gentle hum, the button glowed, and suddenly, a light turned on within the glass room. They looked inside.

Jaune shouted.

Velvet clasped her hands over her mouth in horror.

The glass room was a laboratory: long slabs of metal stretched back a hundred feet. Alien, vile machines nearby, their sharp scalpels spilled out and strange fluids churning within. Remnants of stained blood splattered the walls.

On the slabs: corpses.

Human corpses.

Stretched as far as the eye could see.

Time had been cruel to them. Metal restraints bound their wrists and ankles, but the bodies had long turned to rotting bone. The airtight seal of the chamber prevented the final stages of decomposition, leaving them black but somewhat intact. The students could see their unhinged jaws stretched into their final screams, limp, and missing teeth. Some had their bones shattered by force. Others were simply pulled apart by time. Some had more equipment dangling above the slabs from the ceiling: drills, tubes, and wires, and more foreign machinery. Something was scribbled on the wall next to the glass that none of them could read.

Deviants Only.

Velvet sunk to her knees, her entire body trembling. Jaune fought the urge to hurl. Fox merely stood there, dumbfounded at what he was sensing within.

"What the fuck…" he mumbled, before screaming it louder. "What the fuck is that?"

"I don't… I…" Velvet could barely talk.

"Those are people," Fox said, finding his voice. "Those are people people. Like… like Humans, right? I'm not just seeing that wrong."

"What were they doing to them?" Jaune asked.

"It looks like… they were torturing them," Velvet stammered.

"Why? For what?" said Jaune.

Fox turned and wandered near the edge of the ramp, pacing back and forth. "Man, who the hell cares for what? They had Humans down here! How is that possible?"

"Maybe they wandered in?"

"Ozpin said no one goes down here."

"Maybe they're the other squadrons then?"

"And they just happened to stumble across Human-sized torture chambers?" Fox said incredulously. However, he suddenly cranked his head and grimaced. "Oh, no…"

He took off up the ramp, and Jaune chased after him. Velvet slowly rose to her feet. Part of her wanted to run. Those corpses, this death… it gave her a terrible omen. Something told her that if she stayed any longer, she would wind up like the people on those slabs. However, she couldn't rescue anyone from where she was, so she chased after Fox as well.

Up the ramp, they went, and Fox periodically paused in front of more glass rooms. He felt their contents, and with every space he passed, the sicker he felt. Another room: more slabs. More bodies. Strung up on walls. Buckets were everywhere to collect the guts that spilled. Another room: corpses merely discarded within, tossed in empty corners, and left to die. Some of the skeletons were smaller than the others. Children.

"This is crazy," Jaune said over and over. "This is so crazy."

Fox stumbled, stopping in front of one of the rooms at the top of the ramp. Jaune nearly collided with him, stopping himself just in time.

"What the hell is that?" Fox muttered.

"Boys! Come back!" Velvet called from the distance. She sprinted up the ramp as fast as she could. Her voice was hoarse from desperation. Why would these boys run deeper into the death room? Did they not have any self-preservation or any care? She huffed and puffed as she stopped in front of them, trying to argue some sense into them.

"Fox, Jaune, I think we should leave. We should… try to find…"

She turned toward the new room. Jaune had turned on the lights.

"… the others…"

The room was as deep as the others, but there were no bodies. No slabs. Instead, the wall was lined with pods, cylindrical and tall, thick tubs jutting out of their tops. They were ten feet tall and half as wide. How many were? A few hundred, lining every square inch of the room within? What was resting inside them? From their angle outside the room, Jaune and Velvet could not see. But Fox could sense it. He knew what strange things waited inside.

There was an inscription on the room like all the others.

Version 1.0 Storage

He looked off to the side. The glass door was slightly ajar. He didn't stop to ask the others, or even to think about the consequences. Without a word, he pushed himself through.