Sorry for no update last week. Things have not been great on the health front of late, mostly due to stress and things wrapping up.

Cover Art: Aristeo Storm

Chapter 70

The team didn't fly out by Bullhead but took the train to Mountain Glenn and left via one of its own gatehouses. It almost surprised Qrow how easy that was, but he was used to the whole area being accessible only by air. The gates were small things, only about as large as the lorries that occasionally passed through them. Roller-shutter gates that came up and down vertically, with an airlock and docking system inside. They had to walk in with a number of vehicles moving out, wait for the doors behind them to close, and only then would the gates ahead roll up.

There were weapons systems mounted in the walls and along the ceiling to deal with any Grimm that got caught in the airlock. While memories of Atlas' AI soldiers out of control flitted through his mind, Qrow reminded himself this was a good twenty years before that. The technology wasn't there. These were probably controlled by individual operators.

Ozpin was quiet as they marched outside the walls. He was rather obviously in a foul mood but just as obviously wasn't upset at them. He'd been content to let them talk, even to talk smack about the headmaster of Beacon. Qrow suspected the man was running through plans in his head; probably deciding the best way to remove the obstructionist prick and take his place.

"Do you think we're in actual danger?" asked Peter. "Could this be the headmaster getting rid of us?"

"Nahhh." Nessa laughed it off. "This has pettiness written all over it. Besides, Mr Ozpin is here. He could probably complete this mission on his own."

They weren't even sure what the mission was. Maria had suggested it was something about scouting out or potentially culling Grimm, but the details on where exactly had been scant. Ozpin wasn't in the mood to be forthcoming but seemed to be taking them somewhere, suggesting there was a set location they were meant to do this at. They just hadn't been told what they'd be doing at said place.

I can't see there being much risk, Qrow thought. The bounty hunters collecting Grimm shouldn't feel any reason to interfere with us. It's all-risk and no reward. They might be frustrated to see a team here culling Grimm they'd rather capture, but most of the bounty hunters wouldn't actually be criminals. Not officially, anyway. They'd be mercenaries looking to make some quick lien, and accruing a criminal record for attacking acting huntsmen wouldn't be a wise move.

"Hey teach!" Nessa shouted. "Where are we going?"

"To the land of patience," Ozpin replied distractedly. "So that we might petition the king of patience to share some of it with you."

Gretchen snickered. Qrow smiled, too. Ozpin had a sharp sense of humour when he was in a mood. He'd have to remember that. Nessa flipped the bird at his back, of course, but otherwise remained silent as they trekked further away from Mountain Glenn's walls.

"Bit of a wasteland, isn't it?" Gretchen said. "Where's all the grass?"

"Crushed under construction machinery building the city," Peter answered. "And the trees were cut back so they could see Grimm coming. It was explained in a pamphlet my parents got when they were thinking of moving in," he explained. "The views outside the walls are awful but they were necessary to build it. There are plans to reseed it and make it green again."

"That explains how lumpy it all is. I guess they had massive diggers and cranes here."

"And huntsmen to protect them while they worked," Qrow added. "It would have been a logistical nightmare."

"But we managed it." Ozpin chipped in, surprising them given how silent he'd been. He sounded proud. "Everyone worked together despite the difficulty and they created something incredible. Hopefully, it will stand the test of time."

Hopefully.

/-/

"This is the area."

The place in question was pretty much identical to the last few they'd been in; it was just another stretch of forest, beyond the wasteland caused by Mountain Glenn's construction. They'd passed by fields of chopped trees and more of planted saplings that would eventually repair the damage, entering the forest proper at last.

Here, wilderness still held dominion, but there was still the odd village or frontier settlement trying to survive. The cities never had enough room and the prices were astronomical, forcing a lot of unskilled people, or the elderly, to make do with faraway villages. Those in the cities called it a meritocracy, as if they were somehow more deserving of the safety of the walls by virtue of having earned it.

Cowards, more like.

"What's so special about this area?" asked Peter.

"There have been reports of unusual lights and sounds coming from here." Ozpin crossed his arms and leaned back against a tree, making it clear it was their job now, and his to watch. "Not aliens, I'm afraid. It's more likely to be combat. Gunfire. The sentries on Mountain Glenn's walls have to report everything and we cross-reference against huntsman dispatch statistics. Officially, there were no huntsmen out here at the time of the incident."

"Could it be locals?" Nessa asked. "If so, the fact they didn't make it to Mountain Glenn is bad news."

"It could be. It could also be huntsmen off on their own adventure without anyone knowing, or some rogue machinery malfunctioning. We don't know for sure." Ozpin sighed. "Which is why we have been dispatched here."

"Really?" Qrow laughed. "I thought the reason we were dispatched here was because our headmaster is a pussy who'd rather punish us all than stand up to Atlas."

Ozpin smirked. "You shouldn't speak ill of the headmaster."

"Are you asking me not to, or just saying I shouldn't?"

He didn't answer, but he did smile. "You should all spread out and look for any evidence of what we're dealing with. There shouldn't be much real risk out here but stay cautious all the same. Other than that, this is your exam. I'm not offering more."

Peter called them in for a team huddle. He wasn't confident enough to order them around but at least he was smart enough to ask them to share ideas. In the end they decided to split up but stay within shouting distance of one another. The area might have Grimm, but they should have been independently able to handle them – even Qrow now that his arm was mostly healed. Ozpin watched them split up without comment. The man was lost in his own thoughts, no doubt planning his ascension to headmaster.

I wonder if these lights could be related to the bounty hunters the spies think are feeding Grimm to the research lab.

Qrow pondered the question as he roamed into the brushes looking for footsteps, bodies, or spent shell casings. Even dust burns on trees would be evidence something had gone down here.

But it could just as easily have been normal people being ambushed by Grimm. Out in the wilds, even children learnt to shoot a gun – and everyone had a firearm. They had to not only for Grimm but for hunting. Qrow scanned the ground for spent rounds. Normal folk wouldn't bother to pick them up, survive or die. Huntsmen might. It depended on the weapon and how likely it was to have survived. Most huntsman-grade rounds were hollow and filled with dust, and dust was – or would become – a lot more expensive in the coming years.

Come to think of it, dust is so affordable right now that my methods are outdated. Even huntsmen wouldn't bother picking up unexploded rounds if they were in a hurry.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!" Gretchen screamed. "Fuuuuuuuuuuck!"

Qrow bolted for the sound. Peter and Nessa did as well, along with Ozpin. Qrow got there first, being closer, and came barrelling through bushes to see Gretchen on one knee, dealing with something stuck to her left foot.

"Gretchen, what is—"

"Careful!" she yelped! "Watch your—"

Click.

Ka-Chunk!

Qrow howled as something snapped onto his foot with a horrific crack. He fell, spilling onto the grass and trying to roll, only to be yanked short by a chain driven into a stake on the ground. "FUCK!" he roared, the curse slipping out the same as it had for Gretchen.

There was a bear trap on his foot.

"Traps!" he shouted. "Traps on the floor!"

The others arrived with much more care, Ozpin sending Nessa and Peter to help Gretchen while he knelt by Qrow. The blasted thing was clamped shut on his leg, above his ankle. Luckily, he'd had his aura up so the jagged teeth hadn't punctured through flesh, muscle and bone, but he could sure as hell feel the bruises.

As Ozpin peeled it open, Qrow hissed at the blue lines on his skin where the teeth had wanted to cut through. He yanked his foot out.

"You're not having much luck of late, Mr Branwen. Are you?"

None at all. Wait, luck? Fuck. Not his fucking Semblance again. He'd almost forgotten that was in play. His Semblance obviously hadn't placed the traps, but it was no accident he just so happened to step in one when responding to Gretchen's cries.

"Let me see that. Hm. You kept your aura up. Should be fine." Ozpin moved his foot around but Qrow only hissed. "Not broken. Good. I hear they can shatter the bone as well as cause incredible bleeding. Curious, though. These ones are very large. See how they bit into you halfway up your shin?"

"I can feel how they bit into me, thank you!"

Ozpin chuckled. "My point is these are larger than you'd need for hunting animals. If this caught an actual bear, it'd likely bite into thicker flesh and not cripple. You'd have a very angry and very dangerous bear on your hands." He raised his voice to the others. "How is Miss Rainart?"

"She's fine, sir. Had her aura up. Just startled."

"And angry!" Gretchen yelled. "Fucking ow! Who leaves bear traps in a place like this?"

"A very good question, Miss Rainart. This is extremely dangerous and irresponsible. Understandable if there was a dead hunter to go with it, but there's no blood and no body. That means someone placed these and left them."

"Isn't that how they're meant to be used?" Qrow asked, limping a little.

"Yes and no. They're meant to trap animals but you can quite easily leave a sign up for humans to read so they don't step on one. It's not like a deer is going to stop and read it. And there's not much point catching and killing an animal and then leaving its body to be eaten by scavengers or rot. You need to be close enough to respond to it. Otherwise, they might be used to keep animals out of a certain area, but out here? That wouldn't make sense."

"Could someone have made a homestead out here?" Peter asked. "A cabin?"

"No. Mountain Glenn is regularly patrolled and anything like that would be seen. Also, if you were living alone in Grimm territory then you'd want your traps closer to your house to serve as a warning system. Not out here."

"Then if this isn't for self-defence and it isn't to hunt animals… then what? People?"

"Or Grimm," Qrow said.

"How? You can't think a metal trap and a length of chain would keep an Ursa in one place." Nessa laughed. "It'd break free in an instant."

"Hence why you have people here to bring it down." It was a risk, but Ozpin was already here and Qrow decided to take the chance. "I know Atlas' official story but we all know they sent Grimm to Mountain Glenn before we intercepted it. Could the Atlas soldiers already in the city have come out here to try and catch Grimm another way?"

"Possibly." Ozpin frowned and picked up the bear trap, turning it over in search of markings. It'd be convenient if it had MADE IN ATLAS stamped on it, but it apparently did not. "It would be extremely reckless for them to do so, being simple soldiers, but people have done less intelligent things when ordered by a superior."

It was probably unwise for Qrow to be giving him so many hints, leading him to the correct conclusion like this, but at least Ozpin wouldn't suspect him for it.

"I'll need you all to keep quiet about this if it's true. To any teachers or the public, anyway. I know you'll be itching to tell your sister and her team." Ozpin rolled his eyes. "But we have no proof for now that it's Atlas, and sharing blind accusations will land Beacon in hot water. Collect the traps. Be careful with them. We'll have them checked for fingerprints later, though I doubt we'll be able to match them."

The team managed to find six more bear traps in the span of an hour, and to not set any of them off as well. Whomever it had been – bounty hunters or Atlas – they'd been reckless with their equipment and left far too much behind.

Nessa had found tracks from a vehicle as well, wide tracks with diagonal marks through it showing the tyres were heavy duty. Though, at the same time, they didn't look like the kind Atlas military would use, if they'd even use wheeled vehicles out here at all. The tracks also gave a good indication of direction, and it wasn't toward Mountain Glenn. Though they followed them for a while, the tracks eventually reached a hard-packed dirt road where the tyres didn't leave good enough imprints and faded.

Given how deep the tracks were in the mud, Ozpin said it must have had a heavy load onboard and left them all to fill in the blanks of that load being a Grimm. It couldn't be more than one, however. A single Ursa would be enough to weigh down any non-military vehicle, and at that point they'd need to have treads just so the tyres didn't explode under the Ursa's weight.

"Is it even legal to capture Grimm?" Peter asked.

"It's a grey area." Ozpin sighed. "You'd learn this in your third year, but the basic gist of it is that we can't enforce laws outside the city walls half the time. Child marriages, vigilante justice, superstitious human sacrifices. You'll find places across Vale that follow all three if you go far enough away from civilisation. There are always people who feel they're being oppressed by the government and want somewhere they can go to keep the old traditions alive. Or whatever excuse they give themselves."

Qrow grimaced, but he knew it was true. The tribe was an obvious example, but they were by no means the worst. He'd seen villages where families considered faunus traits a mutation and would kill travellers and even their own children if they were born with such. It was hard to enforce laws when the distance between the government and some random village was a thousand miles of Grimm-infested territory.

"While the kingdom strongly discourages the attempted capture of Grimm, there's no law against it – though there obviously are laws about bringing captured Grimm to the city. Not to Beacon, however. We have an exemption for obvious reasons."

"How hard is it to capture one? I know the teachers sometimes manage it."

"The answer is that it depends. The easiest way is to place yourself in a cage with two exits and lure the Grimm in, then let yourself out once it's trapped. That's only viable for huntsmen however, as anyone else would die attempting that. This is the way we typically do it. Some use nets and ropes, and these people use traps and I would assume either a large cage or a lot of steel cable."

"Must be taking their lives into their own hands to put it on a truck, though." Nessa said. "And you'd need a freaking crane to manage it."

"She makes a point, sir," Peter said. "There's no way even a group of strong people could lift a struggling Ursa onto the back of a transport."

"Good point. I'll look up machinery rental in Mountain Glenn and Vale, though I expect this will be a second vehicle with a crane on the back." Ozpin turned them toward Mountain Glenn. "Let's head on back. I'll consider this a mission success for your grades. We did what we came to do."

"What will you tell the headmaster?" Qrow asked. "If you can't tell him the truth."

"The official story will be that we found evidence of huntsmen fighting Grimm. Nothing more."

/-/

Obviously, Qrow related the story to his sister and her team but, after that, he met with Oobleck and gave it to him as well. The older student, who Qrow still couldn't believe was a spy, listened intently, and hummed at the end.

"It wasn't me. I wouldn't have left tools behind. I did meet with several other hunters, though. We were met by a man who offered us twenty-five thousand lien per Grimm over a certain size and weight. They want Beowolves and Ursae specifically. No money for Nevermore."

"Atlas?"

"Hard to say. They came in plain clothes, of course, and wouldn't shake hands with any of us so I couldn't tag him. I was able to tag several other bounty hunters, though. Enough to confirm they are making frequent trips to and from Mountain Glenn. They could live there, though. It's not enough to be sure of anything. But it is enough for the organisation to be worried. They want you in sooner than later."

Great. Qrow was eager to get started even if he was a little nervous about it.

"I'll go this weekend. Tomorrow night." The sooner the better. "What exactly am I to collect? Give me a list."

"We want proof of Grimm, knowledge of what they're doing with those Grimm, and details of who they're working with if that's obtainable. The latter isn't strictly necessary to bring these people down, but we'd rather not stamp out one problem and leave another waiting in the shadows."

"Yeah. That's your spot, right?"

Oobleck chuckled. "I suppose it is. They're crowded enough already. I'll be supporting you in the infiltration, but from outside. If necessary, I'll be able to cause a distraction and track your progress, but I'm afraid we've lost the ability to deactivate their power."

"They caught you out on that?"

"No. I still can turn their power systems off but I'm under orders not to. We don't know how many Grimm are in there and their doors might unlock when robbed of power. The place isn't built as a prison, so wherever they are keeping the Grimm already isn't as secure as we'd like. The VSS can't afford to make the situation worse by accidentally releasing the Grimm."

Fair enough. In the future, Atlas used a lot of forcefield tech in their prisons. Bars of light rather than metal. It was strong in its own right but a fatal floor was that it winked off when robbed of power. Of course, they'd have traditional bars at the entrances and zones of the prisons, but the point was that was for prisons. This lab probably wasn't built with those kinds of redundancies, because it was never meant to hold monsters like this.

"I'll have a uniform and equipment ready for you in Mountain Glenn. Meet me there and we'll get you into the facility. With any luck, we'll find the evidence we need to close this down once and for all."

/-/

Doctor Merlot did his best to hide how uncomfortable the man beside him made him feel. He was touched in the head, of that Merlot was sure. The strange manner of speech and the way he would laugh at nothing suggested a certain level of psychosis, and Merlot had always found that frightening.

Not only because mentally unstable people could be dangerous, but because it implied he too might one day fall to such instability. For a man who valued intellect over all else, the thought of becoming like that terrified him.

"Lappy wonders what the good doctor thinks as he looks at Lappy."

Merlot winced. "I'm thinking how grateful I am that you managed to find me so many subjects."

"Lappy knows the good doctor lies, but Lappy pretends otherwise." The strange man chuckled. "Lappy is happy to see your research progressing, doctor. Do you need more Grimm from Lappy? Lappy would be only too happy to provide."

"How do you capture them so easily? The other bounty hunters deliver one at a time. Two if we're lucky. You come with ten or more and work alone."

"Ah, Lappy has his secrets. Yes, Lappy does. But Lappy will not mention Lappy's Semblance."

Doctor Merlot hid a smile, pretending the fool hadn't revealed just that. A convenient Semblance for capturing Grimm, then. It didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, since he'd just been curious. The only important thing was that the man continue to deliver him Grimm.

"I could use a few more, Lappy. The only problem is the budget isn't what it used to be. It might take me a month or two pay you for any more…" Merlot tried not to show his smile. "But if you can trust me to pay, I'll gladly rack up a debt to you."

"Lappy likes the sound of that. Yes, Lappy will bring you more Grimm. Lappy needs the money."

Addled fool. Well, I'll pay him if Atlas does reestablish my funding – which they'll have to do once they see what I accomplish. But if not, then he's just a delirious little man with a useful Semblance. He won't be able to get through security.

"Tell me, Lappy. What is it you need the money for?"

"Lappy has a woman Lappy admires greatly. Lappy sends her money whenever he can so that she loves Lappy."

Ugh. Pathetic. Well, it wasn't like this "woman" was the first to take advantage of the simpleton.

"That's nice, Lappy. I'd like some more Apathy, if you please. They are so very interesting. Their ability to remove emotions in people could be useful if it could be distilled and controlled. Grimm hunt based on negativity. If I can find a way to replicate it without lasting side-effects, we could have a way to hide people from Grimm."

"Lappy thinks that is a very noble goal."

"Yes. It is noble, isn't it? That's all my research has ever been. Huntsmen and huntresses have their place but they risk their lives to buy us time – they can't solve the problem of the Grimm. They buy time so that smarter men and women can come up with a solution. History will remember me as the one who did just that."

"Lappy is sure history will remember you, good doctor. Lappy will make sure your name goes down in history."

There was an ominous note to what the man said, but Merlot dismissed it. Lappy was a simple and broken mind, and therefore he likely didn't realise what he said or how he said it. Merlot chose to look at the deeper meaning, and not the delivery.

"Thank you, Lappy. Your faith is… most appreciated. But, if I may, it'd be helpful if you could find me more Grimm now. I'm on a deadline thanks to those idiots in Atlas. There must be progress now or there will be none at all."

Lappy smiled merrily and allowed himself to be led away by the guards.

The good doctor was such an arrogant man.

Salem would be pleased.

Next Chapter: 22nd March

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