This is a really fun chapter, I wrote it WAY earlier than needed to be at some point, but mainly because of an alien that appears here…
Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5
Ben immediately went Four Arms and picked her up from out of the crater, making sure to be as gentle as possible. Green "blood" continued to seep out of her wounds, covering his arms. Ruby was so in shock after seeing Penny resting in the crater, that she didn't realize Ben had already started moving back into the manor. She quickly came to her senses and raced after him.
The towering Tetramand hurried through the mansion with the others following close behind, his footsteps shaking the nearby rooms and grabbing the other occupants' attention. Whitley huffed in annoyance from what was Jacques' old study in the manor, throwing open the door and about to ask what the hell was going on. He walked out, having just missed the Outcasts.
He didn't realize he stepped in a puddle of Penny's green "blood."
Willow heard the commotion as well and raced out of her room, seeing the towering alien carrying Penny in his arms. Her skills were about to be needed again it seems. Ben kicked down the door to the room he and Ruby were just talking in, before he walked in and set Penny down on the bed.
"No...no, no, no, no," Ruby muttered under her breath as she walked in after Ben. That worry that was lingering at the back of her mind ever since Penny left had now been justified. Why the HELL did it have to be justified?!
"What...happened to her?" Whitley asked.
Willow immediately pulled out her Scroll and began scanning the unconscious Winter Maiden.
"Her basic anatomy seems similar enough to that of a human. I can at least stitch up a few wounds," Willow said, "Aside from that, I don't know what else to do."
"Could...could we get in contact with Lev? Or Ari?" Blake asked.
"Even if we did, we'd need to get them up here without Ironwood knowing," Weiss pointed out, "and he's probably watching the skies even more closely now."
Willow nearly crushed her Scroll hearing his name.
"I'm her best shot for right now. Take it or leave it." the eldest Schnee said, a determined look in her eyes.
"You have experience?" Ben asked.
"I served as a nurse in the military for a short time," Willow frowned. "Did it to contribute; it's a long story."
Weiss was actually quite surprised by that, both the determined look and her mother's words.
By now, Ben had returned to his human form in a flash of green and he looked down at Penny. Seeing her like this, after he'd just woken up, he felt shaken. It felt like some cosmic trade: Penny for himself.
"Please, do what you can for her," Ben requested, not even really looking over at Willow, his gaze having shifted to his now neon-green stained hands.
Ruby walked up and held Penny's hand, grasping it tightly and staining her own hand with the blood of Mantle's protector.
"You can pull through, Penny," Ruby pleaded, "Please. Please, you have to. We can't lose you again..."
Blake looked over Penny's injuries and noticed something that made her heart sink. It was easy to miss in all the confusion but... No. She couldn't actually be seeing that could she? She walked closer to Penny, going to the left side of the bed and got a closer look, just ever so slightly glinting from the light in the room. She reached out and pulled the object free from one of Penny's sleeves.
It was a small shard of black glass.
"...guys." Blake gasped, a bit freaked out, "I think I know what did this to Penny. Or rather…who."
She held up the glass shard and the room went silent.
"...I don't follow." Whitley said, being the big outsider here.
"That's black glass," Weiss gasped, "It's what Cinder Fall uses in her weapons...and in the chess piece..."
"The next time I see that...that bitch," Ruby seethed.
Ben noticed something too and this revelation made his blood freeze, his heart practically stopping from pure panic. On the android girl's chest, there was a large scorch mark that was especially notable. Was there a chance that...maybe, just maybe...
"Penny," Ben started, "Can you hear me?"
"B-barely," Penny managed to say, a small shred of consciousness returning to her.
"We need to know...who was with Cinder?"
"H-her...E-emerald...someone...in a pig mask?...and," Penny strained to get the last name past her lips, "V-vilgax..." Unconsciousness reclaimed the Winter Maiden once she spoke the name.
That made the group freeze in terror. Ben could already see the carnage, the screams, the nightmares. That's why they could never find Vilgax after his initial return. He'd been found and recruited by Salem. A dark trinity of Salem, Vilgax, and Zs'skayr...as if the storm outside of the floating city wasn't enough of a bad omen. Ben shook his head, trying to push down that rising fear in his mind at the thought.
"Then it's settled...we'll both murder Vilgax and Cinder." Ben said, a dark determination shining in his eyes.
Whitley, despite having been with them for only a short time, was actually terrified of Ruby and Ben now. Yes, the two could get angry, he remembered mentions of the scolding they gave to his father after the debacle with Nesmith. This kind of rage made that scene look tame in comparison.
"Let's put aside the murder tactics for later." Weiss interrupted. "We need to help Penny-"
And, without any warning, the lights went out.
"Of course that happens now," the middle Schnee sibling sighed.
"The Grimm must have started attacking the city. Something must've gotten through the shield," Willow surmised.
"Anything we can do to get some power back on? Between me and Ben, we have like...7 electrical aliens." Kevin pointed out.
"We are NOT letting you handle electricity for a while." Ruby frowned.
"There's a generator at the edge of the estate," Willow said.
"So, what, you need a few of us to stay and a few of us to go and reset it?" Blake asked.
"Right. I'd say four of you would be good for the job. Mainly because...just in case something comes."
"Please don't jinx it," Weiss said.
"I'll go with the generator team," Blake volunteered.
As will I. If there's something out there, I can easily obscure us. Neo signed.
"Sounds like a plan. Ruby, you in?" Ben asked, but Ruby was staring out the window at the stormy skies, "Ruby?"
"If we lost power here...what's it like down in Mantle?" Ruby asked. That thought hadn't even crossed Ben's mind. Shit, how were things in Mantle now?
"May went back a while ago, said that she needed to defend Mantle. We haven't heard from her since..." Blake sighed. "What can we do?"
Whitley cleared his throat, "I may have an idea."
"Go on." Weiss said, a bit interested.
"The people down in Mantle, where are they?"
"The Crater, I believe that's what May said," Blake answered.
"Well, they need a way out, right? There are rows and rows of cargo ships just sitting in the hangars because of the embargo." Whitley said.
"And our own automated drones. Like the ones at Snow Shoe Shipping!" Weiss realized, seeing all the pieces fall into place, "Whitley, that's perfect!"
Ben blinked. "Wow. And here I thought you were some rich Sumo Slammers snob with a shitty dad."
"...nice restraint," Whitley deadpanned, "Wait, how do you know about-?"
"Honestly, same. What's that saying? Something something...bedfellows?" Kevin interjected.
"I'm just going to ignore that," Whitley huffed. "I'll just go back to the old study and send the order when the power's back."
"Which we've got. Come on then!" Ben and the others ran off, leaving Kevin and Weiss with Penny.
Ruby took a last look at Penny before racing off with the others.
The power shed in the back was easy to access. No Grimm had managed to break through nearby so that was great. The quartet managed to slip in and reset the power with ease, but it'd take a minute or two to get everything in order.
"Come on, come on..." Ruby murmured, crossing her fingers.
"Don't worry. It'll work," Blake reassured her.
"Nothing else has, lately," Ruby sighed.
" I know you don't always know what to do, but that's never stopped you from doing something," Blake added, hoping to boost Ruby's spirits, "I've always looked up to you, you know. That optimism, that determination."
"R-really?" Ruby asked.
"Ruby. You're like a living beacon of hope." Ben chimed in, "Remember how you got me out of that funk after Grandpa Max's funeral? Or the dozens of times you've helped others like me?"
"W-well...I mean," Ruby was floundering for what to say, honestly touched by those words, before letting out a sigh and smiling, "Thanks. Both of you."
If they're gonna be sincere...then, fine. I'll be sincere too. I hate you the least, besides Albedo and Min, Neo signed.
Ruby chuckled at that. It was around then that the generator finished starting up. Inside the manor, the lights turn back on. Whitley was already working on getting the order sent out to the Snow Shoe Shipping drones to crew the Schnee Cargo drones.
With that, Blake turned to leave with the rest, but she froze, looking in Ruby's direction. Her cat ears drooped and her eyes shrank in fear.
"What?" Ruby asked. In a flash of light, behind Ruby, there was a brief glimpse of something truly nightmarish. A towering, inhuman, silhouette with glowing red markings on what was presumably its head.
"...Ruby," Ben whispered, "Don't. Move."
"Whyyyyy?" Ruby asked, concern creeping into her voice. Without warning, the window behind her shattered as a massive Grimm leapt through the hole with a snarl, pouncing on top of Ruby.
"RUBY!" Ben yelled, slapping down the Omnitrix's dial. In a flash of green, the interior of the shed was lit up by the intense flames of Heatblast.
Not one to wait, Neo rushed in immediately, drawing Hush's sword. She jabbed the blade into the monster's shoulder and it roared out in pain. It turned its head to Neo and, in an instant a third arm erupted out of the creature's back in a small splatter of black sludge and swatted Neo into one of the walls of the shack.
Blake gasped. "W-what the hell is this thing?"
"I'll tell you what. Grimm well-done!" Ben yelled, sending out a fireball aimed right for the creature's head. With agility uncharacteristic of its size, it leapt out of the way, one of its clawed hands still firmly gripping Ruby by the shoulder.
Blake shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and fired a few shots. Black sludge splattered from each hit, but that just seemed to annoy the monster more than anything. It grabbed a hold of Ruby by the head and threw her at Blake, hard enough to knock them both through the stone wall and back out to the manor grounds.
Without hesitation, Ben unleashed a stream of scorching flames towards the Grimm Hound. The creature screamed in agony as it swatted the heat away, absorbing the attack into his body.
"No way..." Ben frowned.
Neo recovered quickly from the blow and charged at the Grimm with even more determination. With a graceful flip, she jumped into the air to dodge the creature's swiping claws. She swiftly and precisely struck the monster's side with Hush's blade, but it had no effect...other than enraging it more. The creature started to rampage towards Neo, who quickly began blocking the attacks with her parasol.
While the distraction lasted, Blake and Ruby quickly got up and gathered themselves. Blake's ears perked up as she carefully evaluated the situation, her eyes focused on this new opponent with renewed determination.
"Outside of Cinder, this must be what Salem considers her trump card," the Faunus ninja correctly guessed.
"But it's just another Grimm, right?" Ben asked, looking back to Ruby. The red hooded Huntress nodded and closed her eyes, focusing herself. Neo didn't fully understand the plan behind that, but considering the other two were making sure to keep this eyeless monster's focus on them, she just assumed it meant to cover Ruby. She rushed in from behind the monster, slashing at its heel to throw it off balance. It roared as, just like in the shed, another appendage erupted from the Grimm's back in a splattering of black sludge. The familiar glowing sting of a Deathstalker lashed out at Neo, shattering her illusion while, at the same time, letting her cut the stinger clean off.
The Hound growled and moved back to strike her with an overhead claw strike, only for Gambol Shroud to wrap around its wrist. The Grimm's canine-like ears twitched and swiveled, hearing Blake struggle to keep its massive arm aloft. With a snarl, the creature overpowered her and threw her into Neo like a make-shift flail, only to watch the black and pink duo shatter like glass. Salem's bloodhound tilted its head like a confused dog before a stream of fire harmlessly smashed into it from the side. It ignored the burning flames as it caught a whiff of something in the air.
A reptilian tail, like that of a King Taijitu grew from where a tail usually would be on a giant canine like creature like this and slammed into Ben, knocking him into the iron fence around the shed. The beast spun around with the momentum and zeroed in on Ruby.
"Take...the girl," the Hound rasped, breaking Ruby's concentration as she opened her eyes to look at the Grimm that had just spoken.
Ben barely reacted to the talking Grimm- knowing its intentions was all he needed. His eyes narrowed. "Not on my watch." He cursed through grit teeth. Heatblast wasn't enough- maybe Atomix could just end this right now.
Ben slapped down the watch- when the green light died, he found himself...in a newer body. He was a large purple humanoid figure with large, sharp shield-like plates for arms. He had four eyes that were placed all over his head. He had areas on his legs, sides, neck, and arms that glowed green. The Omnitrix rested on his chest.
"So not the time for a new guy, Omnitrix!" Ben frowned; his voice sounded gruff, very pissed and almost like his own. He held up his arms and looked over the natural blades they now sported.
"Like the blade arms, though," the Omnitrix-wielder had to admit.
"Not the time!" Blake called out, coolly parkouring off the side of the building to attack the beast. Ben started to focus, but his vision was way, way off. He could see everything going on around him. This panoramic view was...weird.
Weird but handy.
Ben immediately spun around, and slashed the tail right off the Hound, causing the abomination to wail in pain.
...
It felt...
Good.
Ben's eyes lit up, with an expression on his face that might even make Cinder uneasy. "Oh, fuck yes." he grinned, showing off the new alien's fangs, "TIME TO CARVE YOU UP!"
The Hound turned to this new enemy and huffed. It actually ignored Ben and turned back to Ruby, lunging at her like a wolf. The red speedster of the Outcasts dodged out of the way with her Semblance, letting the beast dive headlong into the fence bars itself. The creature yelped as it dented the bars, letting its prey move right next to Ben.
"It...it talked," Ruby said, still in shock. Blake had taken the chance to call Weiss for back-up as the Hound picked itself back up. The werewolf-like beast growled as it got back to its feet, baring its fangs at the alien and what it assumed was its prey, if the scent was anything to go by.
"Take. The girl," the Grimm repeated.
"I'll take your goddamn HEAD before you lay a finger on her!" Ben growled.
Ben didn't waste any time and he slammed into the Hound at full speed, knocking it into the shed. The Hound stretched out its arm to grab Ben by the chest and throw him around like a ragdoll. Before it could grab hold though, Ben dodged to the side and rushed it. The Grimm huffed and simply swung the outstretched arm to the side, knocking it into Ben and sending him back outside.
Neo shook her head, getting back to her feet as she saw the monster walk out of the shed towards Ben. A barrage of shots rang out, hitting the beast all over. Ruby and Blake just kept shooting, despite how little the bullets seemed to do. The beast then arced its head back and howled as the bullets still continued splattering against its slime-like body. Ben raised his arms up, releasing card-like projectiles from his arms.
"I don't know what the hell these do, but I'm sure they're gonna tear you to SHREDS!" Ben yelled.
The strange darts launched from Ben's arms with tremendous force, tearing through the air and slicing into the Grimm terror's body. The creature let out a guttural roar of pain as the "cards" embedded themselves in its flesh. Black sludge oozed from the wounds, but the Hound continued its relentless advance.
This new alien- his screws are kinda loose. I've seen Ben fight so brutally! Ruby thought.
The Hound grabbed one of the alien darts, ripping it out of its flesh with a growl. Ben grinned as he commanded the projectiles to burrown right through the Grimm's sludge-like form, exiting out the beast's back like a barrage of bullets. The array of plates circled back and cut into the Hound's body again, splattering its tar-like blood all over the grass around the shed. It howled, the call echoing up to the manor, reaching every single one of the rooms. Willow froze in fear when she heard it; Whitley was too focused on getting the order sent; even Elm began to stir from the primal sound.
Weiss raced outside, Myrtenaster already out of its sheath and in her hand. She gasped upon seeing the Hound and skidded to a stop, quickly taking a knee and stabbing her blade into the ground. She was gonna give Ben some back-up. A large summoning Glyph appeared below her as a pair of large, gargoyle-like wings emerged from behind her, the wings of a Gaunt. The glowing wings were soon quickly shattered by a pair of emerging Centinels, drilling up from the ground and tearing through the wings, much to the heiress' horror.
"How did they-?!" Weiss gasped, not seeing that these creatures had erupted from the puddles of the Hound's sludge-like blood.
Weiss gritted her teeth, not letting the shock of her summoning being disrupted hinder her focus. She quickly formed a time dilation glyph behind her, boosting her speed and allowing her to dodge away from an incoming bite from one of the Centinels. With distance put herself and the newcomers, her attention went back to the Hound. The clock-face glyph swapped to two of her usual fare, allowing spears of ice to form in the air around her, ready to be launched at the monstrous tracker.
Ben and Weiss coordinated their attack, both determined to bring down the Grimm Hound. Ben charged at the creature with incredible speed, his claws ready to strike. He delivered a flurry of powerful slices, each one accompanied by a devastating burst of UV light. The Hound staggered back, its body visibly weakened by the relentless assault. When Ben was finished, Weiss unleashed the barrage of ice spears towards the living nightmare. The sharp projectiles sliced through the air, aiming to impale the beast and immobilize it. The spears struck true, piercing the creature's body and causing it to let out a pained howl.
The Centinels hissed, called to action by the anguished howl, and tried to snap at the heiress with their sharp mandibles, but she easily used a pair of glyphs to block their attacks. She quickly turned the glowing white circles to a dark purple and fired off a gravity pulse at the insectoid Grimm. The Centinels were flung away from the youngest Schnee sister, freeing her up to join in on the fight properly. Weiss' eyes widened now that she could truly take in the sight of the beast that was now pinned to the wall of the power shed.
"What…is this?" Weiss managed to mutter.
Kevin could hear the sounds of the fight all the way in the bedroom Penny was sharing with Elm. Willow's hands were stained with the neon green blood of Mantle's protector, but she looked up from her patient and heard the fight as well.
"I should...get down there," Kevin said.
"Wait what? Wooooah, woah, woah, I backed you up when you were walking, but you are not recovered enough for a fight!" Doppler cautioned, "We don't even know what made that howl! The Centinels are-"
"Centinels?" Willow asked.
"Yeah...there's a few of 'em out there. Doppler can hear their hissing," Kevin said, "Why?"
"I need to check on Whitley. If there are Centinels, then they could burrow their way in. He still has some…choice feelings that the Grimm could lock onto."
Before Kevin could respond, maybe offer to go with her, Penny's eyes opened, but they were off. Instead of her usual and friendly green, her eyes were now a more ominous and robotic red. She jerkingly sat up in bed, the metal components moving her upright could practically be heard by everyone in the room.
"Penny? You shouldn't be-" Willow began, before Penny reached out and shoved the Schnee mother aside so hard she was practically thrown into a nearby chair. As if what she'd just done was totally normal, Penny bolted to her feet and began making her way to the door.
"Penny, what the hell?!" Kevin asked, going over to confront her. The mechanical girl reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, forcing him to the side and threatening to break his wrist.
Kevin broke free of her grasp, as Penny began to walk off.
"H-hey!" Willow called out, getting up from the chair she was practically thrown into, "Where are YOU going!?"
"To open the vault." Penny said, almost emotionlessly.
"Open the vau-? Penny, what the hell are you!?" Willow put a hand on Penny's shoulder to try and stop her. She did, but only so she could grab the woman by the wrist and toss her over her shoulder.
"Mrs. Schnee!" Kevin yelled, as he frowned. Doppler immediately formed some vines around his arm, as he extended them and entangled Penny. "Talk, damn it! You're not making sense!"
"I must open the vault," Penny droned again. Despite the damage to her systems, she was able to summon up two swords of Floating Array and used them to slice away at the vines.
"Do not interfere. I must complete my mission," the Maiden warned.
"The hell's gotten into you…?" Kevin asked.
"Worst case scenario is that it's the general. We need to restrain her." Willow said.
"Must be trying to take the staff and run. Guess he's desperate."
Penny was just trying to calmly walk out of the room, Floating Array's blades floating at her sides and ready to attack should anyone get in her way.
And then she stopped suddenly.
Her hands went to the sides of her head and the blades dropped, clattering on the floor.
"N-no!" Penny shouted, her eyes opening again and flashing between green and red, "I-I must o-open…the vault-n-no! I must not!"
Kevin produced some plant tendrils, courtesy of Smashing Pumpkins, to hold Penny in place. "Come on, Penny! Fight back!" He encouraged.
"I-! I am...try-!" Penny yelled as a jolt of mental pain struck her, "E-eunice! Eunice, please! T-talk to me!"
There was no response.
"E-eunice please!" the Winter Maiden pleaded, panic creeping into her voice. When there was still nothing, the dam practically burst. All sorts of negative emotions came to the forefront and her Maiden flames ignited at the corners of her eyes. A tornado of bright green flames surrounded Penny as she let out a cry of sadness and anguish, the sounds and lights filling the room. The energy's glow even shone through the windows, down onto the yard where the others were.
The Hound's ears twitched as it looked up to the windows where the green shine was coming from. It sniffed the air before struggling and freeing itself from the icicles impaling it. It didn't even seem to register the pain of ice tearing its flesh. Ruby followed the Hound's gaze up and it all clicked.
"It's not here for me! It's here for Penny!" Ruby yelled.
"Take. The girl," the monster growled. The Hound slammed Ben into the bars of the fence one last time before charging towards the manor. A pair of red, translucent wings suddenly erupted from the beast's back in a slimy splatter and then they started to beat, lifting the Hound skyward.
"You're not taking ANYONE!" Ben yelled as he dashed at the Hound, spinning like a drill through the air. The Hound turned back to look at Ben over its shoulder. It used its new wings and flew to the side, letting Ben simply fly right past him.
Ruby, while stunned by the growth of wings on the beast, couldn't stare in disbelief for too long. The ground shook beneath her and Blake before suddenly exploding upward, dirt and rock raining down from above. A new hole had been punched in the ground and two bone-white blades jutted out of it, pulling the rest of the blades' owner up to the surface.
It was a disgusting creature to behold, born from the largest puddle of the Hound's blood. It sported a long, segmented body with white insectoid legs and a protective carapace, much like the Centinels from before. Further to the top of the monster was an almost humanoid torso, "almost" because of the spindly thin arms that ended in large bone blades like the arms of a praying mantis. A tube jutted out from its throat and snaked down to a large, bulbous sac on its underbelly. It hissed as it reared back, allowing everyone to see something truly horrifying, a green fluid surging up the tube in its throat.
"What the hell is that!?" Ruby yelled.
"Hell if I know! Get back!" Blake yelled, as she and Ruby jumped back before the Grimm began spewing caustic liquid from its mouth.
Ruby used a Crescent Rose shot to launch herself out of the way of the green stream the Cenitaur was spewing. Ben spun around and hissed in anger. The big guy would have to wait until he dealt with this thing. Ben raced back down, rejoining Ruby, Blake and Neo.
"Get behind me." Ben frowned as his arms began to roll back and the vents on his arms began to widen.
With the heat taken off of it, the Hound took the opportunity to fly off, heading for the heaviest concentration of the scent it was tracking.
The Cenitaur hissed as it slithered towards Ben, arm blades at the ready. He began firing endless shots of the card-like projectiles, tearing the powerful Grimm to shreds within seconds. Ben huffed and puffed, as Ruby stared at the back of his head.
"Are you...okay?" Ruby asked.
"I'm fine." Ben answered, taking a deep breath. "Sorry, when this new guy gets into a battle, he's...kinda intense."
"Talk about being ultra violent." Blake said.
"...that might not be a bad name."
"What even ARE you?" Ruby asked.
"Think they call these guys 'Laceritters.' They're on edge for good reason. On their homeworld, they're hunted by predators they can't see," Ben frowned.
Ok, when we see him again, we are asking Albedo about this one! Neo signed.
"Later!" Ruby quickly brought out her Scroll and dialed Kevin's number, hoping to figure out just what was going on up there.
The Hound was racing down the halls, letting the scent of its prey guide it. With this massive head start and how expansive the manor seemed to be, Salem's bloodhound would surely find its prey before its pursuers found it. That scent of artificial blood was getting stronger and stronger. The trail it was following was small, yes, but accurate. Small drops of green blood had dripped onto the pristine tiles, the synthetic and oily scent filling its nostrils. They flared as it raced ahead, stalking down the halls of the manor.
A few terrifying minutes passed before it stopped, looking at an ajar door, the trail of blood leading inside. Said door lead to what was once Jacques' personal office and study, complete with a company laptop. Whitley was typing away at the computer, opening up the user interface for the Snow Shoe drones; he had been ever since the power turned back on. Each drone had piloting programs, all he had to do was activate them, set a destination and route and then let the bots handle the rest. Everything else was set, he just needed to hit send.
He suddenly heard the door creak open and he looked up and over the computer screen.
"Weiss?" Whitley asked.
When there was no response, Whitley sighed and got up from the desk, starting towards the door.
"I thought trying a jumpscare was beneath y-" Whitley started to mutter to himself before he saw a large black paw step into the room, followed by a bone white snout. Whiley froze on the spot in terror. When his mind had actually processed what he was seeing, he ran back and hid behind the desk as quietly as he could. There was a GRIMM in the manor?! How?!
Oh god was that what made that sound earlier?!
The Hound then shoved the door open fully, stepping into the office. It lowered its head and sniffed at a small drop of neon-green liquid, finding the next step in the trail it was following. It huffed and lumbered forward, following the scent, each step getting closer and closer.
"I know...you're here," the beast growled.
Whitley's blood ran cold. He...he was hallucinating due to stress, he had to be. There was no way that thing just talked. He could hear the monster stalk closer and closer. The beast was sniffing the air, seemingly locked onto his scent. The Grimm's bone white snout rounded the desk, coming into view. The Schnee son's fear only rose as he saw the monstrosity bear its fangs and growl.
Suddenly, the sound of hooves clanking against the office floor filled the air as a glowing white Boarbatusk slammed the Hound into the back wall.
"RUN!" Willow screamed.
He didn't need to be told twice by his mother's voice. Whitley grabbed the laptop and quickly jumped over the desk, then darted out of the room, running faster than he ever had before. The Hound roared and easily overpowered the summon, knocking it on its back and clamping its jaws down around the boar's throat. After the summon had faded, it looked up and quickly ran after the two.
The two Schnees were running as fast as they could, but the Hound was closing in quickly. Willow made some additional glyphs for them to run on, which helped them put more distance between them and their pursuer. However, the Hound was able to quickly cover even that increased gap. Once close enough, it launched itself at the duo, claws outstretched and jaws open wide. Willow gasped as she looked back, seeing the Hound about to catch them, but then a wall of ice suddenly rose from the ground, separating the monster from the Schnees. The Hound's head hit the ice wall hard, causing it to bounce back and fall to the floor, dazed.
Weiss huffed and puffed, lowering her weapon. "Come on!" She yelled, as her two family members followed behind her. The Hound marched back up to the barrier, scratching and clawing in frustration as the ice cracked.
"HEY! FIDO!"
A sharp appendage suddenly stabbed the Hound through the back and pierced out its chest.
"Guess who's back for another round!?" Ben grinned.
The Hound howled in pain as it bent its entire neck backwards, unnaturally so. There were white spikes on the back of its neck that opened up-wait, no, those weren't spikes. Those were teeth. This thing had a second mouth on the back of its neck that bit down on Ben's arm hard.
"G-GAHHHHHHHH!" Ben yelled in pain, feeling as if his arm was about to be ripped from its socket by this monstrosity, "F-fuck it! Neo, NOW!"
Neo dropped her illusion, as Ruby and Blake began firing a powerful barrage of Dust rounds at the monster.
The monster recoiled, releasing Ben's arm as one of the bullets from Crescent Rose tore through its neck. The Hound staggered back from each successive shot after that, eventually getting backed up into the ice wall. Every time a shot found its mark, the once clear wall was splattered and stained with the dark, tar-like blood of the Grimm. It yelped out like a normal dog as each bullet from the Outcasts' resident sniper and ninja just shredded it. The two stopped for a moment when it looked like the Hound was having trouble standing, before it thudded to the ground, its ears going limp atop its skull.
"Did...did we-?" Blake asked. Even if the possibility was there, she wasn't taking her eyes off the corpse. Ben and Ruby looked to each other and shared a nod, slowly approaching the monster's still form. Ruby even shifted her weapon's lower blade to its energy mode, just in case. The currently hyper-aggressive Ben looked down at the beast and narrowed his eyes at the carcass. He reared back one of his arms as Ruby raised the sharpened blade at the end of Crescent Rose's shaft. With that, the two jabbed down and stabbed the Hound, seemingly eliciting no reaction.
"Ok," Ruby said as she pulled the weapon out from the tarry wolf-like Grimm, "I think its dea-"
The Hound then bolted back to life, straightening up and shifting back into its bipedal form. It grabbed Ruby and Ben by the backs of their heads and slammed them down into the floor tiles, cracking them from the impact. Ruby's Aura shimmered from the sheer force behind the hit. Neo and Blake went to try and free their friends, but the Hound didn't intend to keep them for too long. It roared as it tossed Ruby at the pink and black duo, before turning around and using Ben as a battering ram, throwing him through the frozen barrier and shattering it. The nightmare made manifest then slammed Ben into the nearest wall, practically driving his head through it. It let out a triumphant roar, before it stopped and sniffed the air. It was still tracking that synthetic blood, but it locked onto a new source of the scent, one much stronger than before.
Not just stronger, the very source.
"The...girrrrrrrrl!" the Hound growled, before bolting down another corridor.
While the others had been fighting the Hound, Kevin was still trying to keep Penny bound. She was holding her head in her hands, still trying to get any answer from her sister. She couldn't be...gone, could she? The Protector of Mantle's eyes were flashing between green and red within the Maiden flame tornado, two different programs clashing in her systems.
On one hand, she was being compelled to open the Vault. She was the product of the P.E.N.N.Y Project, a loyal soldier of Atlas and her orders were now to open the Winter Maiden's Vault and self-terminate. But the other program was...well, program isn't even the right word for what was fighting off this directive. It was more so just her. Yes, she was created from a military project, but she wasn't just that.
She was so, so much more. She was DJ P3N-3, who played music for the people of Mantle to boost morale.
She was the daughter of Pietro and the sister of Eunice. The former had brought her into this world with a promise of a good life, treating her like an actual person instead of other scientists and military figures who saw her as just a weapon. The latter she hadn't known for long, three months to be specific, but the time didn't matter.
She had a sister, someone who gave her the promise of seeing not just what this world had to offer, but worlds beyond. The icy world of Kylmyys, the shining towers of the Archimedian Empire, even the strange and no doubt comedic world of Hathor. It'd have to be a little funny if it was Ditto's homeworld.
And then there were those close to her. Not just her sister and her father, but all those she called friends, so many she couldn't really name them all. It all started with one red-hooded speedster, who kept saying that she was a normal girl with normal knees. She played it back in her head, the day she revealed her true nature to Ruby.
She'd just stopped a truck with her bare hands, ripped the palms of her gloves and the synthetic skin beneath to shreds, revealing the metal chassis beneath. She'd run off after that with Ruby in hot pursuit. When the speedster had caught up to her, she told her the truth. The truth was that Penny Polendina was not real, not born, but built, and that one day it would be her job to save the world.
Save the world, that was her mission. Was...was she doing that? Was she saving the world? Or was she letting the world fall into chaos?
That doubt provided a crack in her defenses. The invasive program, the virus, pushed back against the memory, using the doubt as a hold for it to grow. The pleasant memory, the visuals of the scenic streets in Vale, the Atlesian airships above providing extra security, even the visage of Ruby taking the future Protector's hands in her own began to crack like glass.
"You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts-" the memory of Ruby said, before she started to glitch out and shatter into shards. Instead, another figure walked up behind her, that of a red and glitchy Watts. The mental visage of the once-disgraced scientist walked up to Penny's mental self and put a hand on her shoulder, turning it red and corrupted.
"You really thought you were more than your Pietro's magical science project?" the viral projection of Watts smirked, walking behind the Protector of Mantle, "You are and always will be a machine that others will use for their own ends. And today...those ends are mine. You will open the Vault...and then self-terminate. Execute."
"I...will..." Penny began before her eyes turned completely red and her monotone tone returned, "I will open the Vault...and then self-terminate. Mission parameters set and locked. All obstacles to the mission must be removed."
The android girl locked onto Kevin. Kylie's brother was straining against the Maiden tornado that surrounded Penny, too distracted with keeping her in place to notice Floating Array lift off the ground and form up.
Two circular formations began spinning before they slashed right through the vines that were restraining the now-hacked Protector. Now free, she turned her full attention on Kevin. The vortex of power around her stopped and she took aim with her weapons, firing off green beams that pelted the still-recovering Antitrix user, knocking him back into the nearest window and cracking it. Once that obstacle was out of the way, she turned and began marching off towards the manor's foyer.
Each step she took, clanging on the pristine tile of the manor floor, was accompanied by a small drop of that neon-green blood.
She had no idea what was going to find her soon.
As Penny made her way towards the manor's foyer, leaving a trail of neon-green blood in her wake, doubts that had momentarily crept into her mind were suppressed by the overriding directive of her hacked programming. She moved with an eerie determination, her mechanical limbs clicking and whirring as she advanced.
But she wasn't the only unnaturally moving thing in the foyer right now. LIke a freight train, the Hound came running out of nowhere and snagged Penny in its jaw.
"THE GIRL!" it roared.
"Obstacle detected," Penny droned, "Removing now."
The blades of Floating Array reemerged from the Protector's back, taking aim at the monstrous hound. With a quick gesture, they were all stabbed into the Hound's back and shoulders. The Hound didn't even acknowledge the pain, growling at the futile gesture. A third arm erupted from the beast's shoulder with a splatter of sludge. The bestial hand grabbed the poor girl by the head, snapping her out of her virus-induced trance as she flashed back to a handful of hours ago now. She saw Cinder's Shadow Hand grabbing her head back on Amity. Instead of draining her of power, the Hound released her from its jaws and smashed Penny's head into the floor, cracking it.
The beast watched Penny's Aura once again shatter as she fell back into unconsciousness. The Hound lowered its mouth towards the girl, hoping to grab and steal her away just like it did with Oscar. Before its jaws clamped around the android girl, one of the side doors of the foyer burst open as Ruby's Outcasts poured out of it. Ruby, Blake, Neo, and Ben were ready for round three with this nightmare, but the beast itself wasn't. It quickly held up the usually cheery redhead by the head with one hand, while the other put a claw to the girl's neck.
The Hound's message was clear: Take one more step and I slit her throat.
Ben's eyes narrowed as he assessed the dire situation before him. The Hound held Penny captive, threatening to harm her if anyone dared to make a move. The Outcasts stood frozen for a moment. This Grimm, whatever it actually was, was somehow sentient, frighteningly intelligent compared to most of its kind. It could probably wreck Penny in an instant if it wanted to.
"You piece of shit." Ben grumbled, putting up his arms. Ben's muddled and violent mind raced, searching for a way to outmaneuver the Hound and save Penny while also getting a chance to slash that monster's face a few times. He knew that a direct attack would only result in the creature harming the hacked Protector. His instincts kicked in, and he decided to take a calculated risk, hoping to catch the beast off guard.
With a sudden burst of speed, Ben lunged forward, aiming to tackle the Hound and knock it off balance. His plan was to use his own body as a shield, taking the beast's attention away from Penny and giving the others a chance to act.
The plan seemingly worked. If the beast had eyes, they'd be wide in shock. With that lowered guard, Ben slashed off the hand that was holding Penny aloft, causing the Hound to howl in pain. Penny's limp body fell as the Grimm's claw moved away from her neck. The mechanical girl fell into UltraViolent's arms before the usually bloodthirsty alien kicked off the Hound to put distance between them. The severed hand quickly began re-growing and the Hound was about to pounce at the group again, primal anger at being denied its prey rising in its seemingly more developed brain.
But Ruby had had enough. She closed her eyes for a split second and opened them, unleashing a blinding silver flash at the Grimm. Even without eyes, the beast recoiled from the light, trying to shield its face with its hands. Its skin seemed to burn and smoke as the beams of light touched its foul hide. With an extra burst of force, the Hound was thrown through the window behind it with a loud crashing sound.
Once the Grimm was gone and only the sounds of falling shards remained, the group all turned their attention to Penny. Ben reverted to human and set the girl on the ground, looking over her with concern.
"Is she-?" Weiss asked.
"Just unconscious. I think..." Ben said, "When we get her back to her room we can ask-"
A hand reached up and dug its claws into the windowsill, scratching the stone. Another hand raised up and grabbed hold of the ledge, not even registering that it had just stabbed itself on a broken bit of window. The Hound pulled itself back up into the Schnee manor, wheezing and huffing, but the voice wasn't this guttural or animalistic tone. No, it...it sounded-
"Take...the girl," the Hound rasped. Instead of the monstrous, wolf-like face it had sported the whole time, a human face peered out at the group. A pair of fox ears peeked out above his spikey, dark red hair. His face was horribly scarred, twisted and warped as if he had been burned. White boils dotted bits of his seemingly rotting flesh, as bits of his chin had either been torn or fallen away, revealing raw muscle beneath. A disgusting growth of a veiny and white flesh-like substance covered his right eye, extending and snaking all the way up to his hairline. Black ooze, similar to the Hound's very own blood, seemed to be dripping out from his ears and remaining eye.
The Hound climbed its way back into the manor, its right arm dragging behind it as it stumbled forward. Bones crunched and twisted as it began to fix the damage the Silver Eye blast had done to it.
"Take...the girl!" he repeated as his shoulder snapped back into place and he began descending the steps. Ruby's eyes went wide when she noticed something about the Faunus that nearly made her drop Crescent Rose in pure shock.
His eyes.
They were silver.
"Take…the…girl!" the Faunus declared again, moving ever closer to the group. Blake helped Ben move Penny to the side as Neo leveled her blade at the truly horrific creature. Like some organic hood, the top half of the Hound's wolf-like head reemerged and rested atop the head of its "core."
"Take the...the girl!" the Hound continued, his voice distorting more and more, "Take! The girl!"
The bottom jaw of the creature reappeared next, but everyone could still see the Faunus head lodged in the beast's throat, like some kind of nightmarish costume.
"TAKE! THE! GIRL!" the Hound roared, finally returning to its "perfect" form.
The entire group was frozen with fear- this thing, this beast- whatever the FUCK it was- it was one of Salem's truly most vile creations. The Hound snarled, saliva dripping from its jagged teeth. Its remaining eye fixated on the group, filled with a hunger and malice that made their blood run cold.
"TAKE. THE. GIRL!" It roared, the nightmarish mantra sending chills down their spines.
Ben immediately placed himself between the Hound and Ruby. He would not hesitate to gut this guy again as Ultraviolent. Or Rath. Or Atomix. Or even Alien X. Just...ANYTHING to kill this fucking nightmare. The Hound locked onto them with an intense malice and it charged forward with a terrifying speed.
But it was suddenly brought to a halt as a collection of roots emerged from the floor beneath it and wrapped around its snout, forcing it shut. The last minute move then pulled down, pinning the Hound in place. It struggled against the bindings, growling, snarling and thrashing. Ben's gaze then quickly noticed movement nearby, the giant knight statue that flanked this side of the staircase.
Behind it, Kevin, Whitley, and Willow were pushing at the statue before the massive armored decoration came crashing down on the Grimm, burying it under tons of metal and stone. Even the sword the statue sported was stabbed into the rubble, as if to pin the demonic beast beneath it. When the dust settled, only a single arm of the Hound was visible, still reaching out towards Ben, Ruby, and Penny, claws outstretched and ready to grab them from the grave.
Ben looked up to see Weiss' mother, brother, and Kevin all looking over the staircase railing down at them. It was clear they had pushed the statue but where did the roots come from? That was answered in short order as Weiss helped a now awake Elm down the stairs, supporting the much larger woman until she could support herself on the railing as well. Ben looked to Elm and, while he was still recovering from all of this, gave her a slow but very thankful nod.
"What...what was that?" Blake asked between huffs. Neo dropped Hush's blade as she was shaking from pure fear.
Ruby fell to her knees, clutching her precious weapon tightly in her hands.
"It was..." Ruby started, watching the flesh of the Grimm turn to dust and blow away on the wind, revealing the blackened bones of the Faunus at its core, "a person..."
Ben wasn't looking at the body, he was concentrating on Ruby.
He caught a glimpse of the creature's eyes. As he looked into their eyes, he noticed that familiar glimmer of silver.
He suddenly remembered that Summer Rose was still alive. That Salem was probably saving her for something like this.
Ben tightly squeezed his hands until his knuckles turned pale.
No doubt that same thought had crossed Ruby's mind. Her eyes were practically glued on this makeshift tomb for whoever that poor Faunus had once been.
He had Silver Eyes...just like her. Is this...is this why, so many years ago, Salem had sent Tyrian to take her away? So she could be turned into...into...into this?! So Salem could proudly proclaim that she had not one, not two, but three Silver Eyed warriors turned into monstrosities, as some sick mockery of a family reunion?! The red-hooded Huntress felt sick to her stomach at the mere thought of it.
Ben knelt down, and hesitantly put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby barely responded- her mind was in disarray right now. He closed his eyes, and held her close.
"Should…should we bury him?" Weiss asked, voice small.
"I...I think so," Blake said, looking over to Ruby and Ben, having seen its eyes as well. It was safe to assume that, really, everyone in their little group had.
Neo was just...silent, still shaking in fear. She was propping herself up on the nearest wall and just staring at the remains of the now-defeated nightmare. And yet, the fact it was dead did little to comfort her. A new, horrific revelation had just wormed its way into her thoughts.
The Dollhouse.
The nightmares found within Breach's own personal eldritch playpen, they lined up perfectly with the kind of fucked up this thing represented. And with all the beasts she saw in there the last time, well that just begged the question: what kind of horrors went unseen in that hellscape?
"He didn't deserve to die like this. No one should be a pawn. Or an experiment. Or a tool. Salem crossed a line, one I didn't even think she could," Ben said as he slowly stood back up.
"...I think that's our mistake," Ruby muttered, "I don't...I don't think there's a line she won't cross now."
Ben narrowed his eyes. "And we're gonna make sure she doesn't do this EVER again."
"What if she already has?" Ruby's voice broke at that last word, "What if...w-what if..."
Ben bowed his head.
"Then I bust out Alien X and go crazy."
"N-no...no, I am not watching you get lost in that while fighting-" Ruby stopped herself. She didn't want to finish that thought, but the message was clear. She didn't want to watch another of her loved ones consumed by a form solely for the sake of fighting. She couldn't handle that, not if the next Grimm had a familiar core.
Ben sighed, "I know! And I don't want to lose control either. But..."
Ben's voice trailed off. Silence filled the air as they both stood there, lost in thought and grief.
"Promise me...please," Ruby muttered, hugging him tightly, tighter than she'd ever held him before. It was almost like she was afraid that, at any moment, he'd disappear.
She hadn't shown this kind of fear...ever, really. Even the words of the Watch Collector hadn't affected her this badly...
Ben turned to hold and hug her back. "I promise. I won't be going anywhere, okay? I'm here. I'm here...I'm..."
Ben started to shake as it hit him hard.
Ruby tightened her grip on her boyfriend, just ignoring everything else going on around them. She just...she just needed this, this comfort, this reassurance, this shoulder to cry on.
And god did she cry.
A few hours had passed since the Hound had been slain, and now, the backyard of the Schnee manor sported a makeshift grave, complete with a Dust-created tombstone. His name was lost to them, so they couldn't even put anything on the stone. Not a name, not even proper last words. "Take the girl" were not his words. They were Salem's.
Once again, the Grimm queen had been the cause of another blank burial.
Back down in the tundra, Kylie had recovered enough to at least clearly watch the broadcast, including when it was cut.
"Why'd we lose signal?" Yang asked.
"Perhaps the general is no longer sitting idly," Albedo suggested.
"Or it's just…tech issues? The tower wasn't finished, right? Maybe the doc couldn't get it fixed enough in time," Rex suggested.
None of the proposed options sounded especially good to Yang though. But she didn't have long to stew in worry. A deep rumbling sound thundered in earth, grabbing all of her group's attention.
"What…was that?" Kylie asked, getting up on her feet.
The group raced through the snow, following the rumbling sounds, hoping to find their source.
"Another tremor," Rook noted after the earth shook, "It may be just ahead."
The group all dashed for the source, but they froze in their tracks when they saw it. All of them had dealt with strange and terrifying things, the most recent being the nightmare that lured them all out here.
And it may have just been topped.
In front of them, like a wound that had been cut into the very land itself, was a river of black and crimson liquid. Yang inched closer, just to get a better look at the liquid itself, but all the tremors made the land unstable. She took a single step, her foot right beside a small shrub, before another tremor sounded out. It shook the piece of earth the shrub was rooted on off the now small clifface, letting it fall into the oozing current.
Yang's Outcasts all watched in horror as the shrub, the earth, even the top layer of snow, all of it disintegrated into black ash before their very eyes. As if that wasn't enough, something emerged from the depths of the liquid.
A face.
The leftmost side of a Sabyr's face.
"It's…Grimm," Yang gasped, "A river of Grimm." She followed its winding path, like a snake slithering through the very rock. The crimson gash could be seen for miles beyond their current position…and so too could the river's final destination.
"And it's heading right for the city," Yang realized.