RWBY 1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Characters from RWBY are owned by Roosterteeth. I own no characters except the OCs. Please enjoy the story.**

* * *

_**Forgotten Legacy**_

_**By Deteriorated**_

* * *

_The moon's light glistens through the fragments of clouds, illuminating the grimly lighted forest. Filled with wildlife, and vile nightstalkers searching the land for prey and shelter. In this land, there were no boundaries. The monsters were free to roam as much as they want, no humans to get in their way. The land was populated with them, a number of monsters averaging over thousands and thousands._

_That is until the hunters came, and built a facility. Scientific research to study and understand the monsters' way of living, to give knowledge and advantages to the hunters to ensure men's victory over the beasts. But the facility now lays abandoned, after a long forgotten accident. The funding to the research facility was closed, all the papers and work biologists have worked so hard for were left behind, and the area was sealed off from trespassers. To be forgotten by history._

_However, a recent discovery shows that the facility holds mass amount of Dust behind. So much that it is now looked upon as a goldmine, an opportunity that is far more valuable to leave behind._

_The Beacon Academy has launched an excavation to retrieve the Dust, but due to the area being filled with monsters they have also released a team of students to help further advance their training and education. Team RWBY must help clear the facility of monsters to allow the excavators to retrieve the Dust._

_But what more will they find in the facility of forgotten research?_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"The area is within sight, we are landing in the approximate of 10 minutes. Please remain seated at all times before arriving at our destination." ordered the pilot of the airship.

"Try telling that to Yang and Ruby..." Blake commented as she watches the girls warming up and goofing around. Weiss looks away from the window to see them and sighs, the two siblings were more than energetic. It has been a while since their last mission, the school felt it was more appropriate for the girls to take breaks from missions and get to learning.

Yang and Ruby obviously didn't like the idea.

"Oh man I can't wait! How many monsters do you think there'll be!? Do you think they're going to let us keep some of the Dust as souvenirs?" Ruby squealed to her big sister, Yang, "My heart is racing by just thinking about it!"

"I know right! An abandoned facility probably filled with legendary creatures that'll make us the Academy's heroes!" Yang grinned.

"You do know the Academy would never let us anywhere near it if it does contain such." Weiss scowled.

Yang sighs, "Of course I know that! It would just be great if once they forgot about some big tough guy to let us take down and get extra credit for it!"

"I'm more concern about returning 'alive' than to be a monster's lunch."

Yang stomped her foot and pouted at Blake as Ruby quietly giggles at her sister's frustration. The airshop suddenly stopped in midair, causing the two girls to fall over and hit their heads against the wall. Blake and Weiss tries not to smile or laugh as the sisters groans in pain. "Looks like we're here..." said Ruby as she rubs her head.

The airship carefully descends to the landing point with several guards surveying the area to prevent any unwelcome trespassers. The door opens up to allow the girls to exit the ship. Ruby stares in awe at the surrounding forest trying to engulf the facility with it's vines and greens.

"Looks like Mother Nature wants this land back." Blake noticed the untamed plants growing around the walls. "Well she can have it once we're done here," Yang grinned, "Alright, first things first! The Headmaster said that we need to talk to the big guy?"

"You don't have to look far." said a man approaching the girls. "I'm the head of security, so you're the ones we're suppose to wait for?" the man questioned as he scratches his chin at them.

"That's right! Team RWBY at your service!" Ruby saluted.

The Head of Security chuckled, "No offense, but I was expecting an older group..."

"Hey! We're more than capable of handling ourselves!" Yang pounded her chest at him.

"Heh, well you girls ARE students of the Beacon Academy, so I guess I shouldn't be too quick to judge. We cleared a few monsters in the front entrance, but we don't know how many there are inside." the man informed.

"Can you tell us what we're facing?" Blake asked the man politely.

"Well just arachnes. The queen seems to be either missing or dead, considering the way they act. So you'll just be handling rogues."

Yang groans disappointingly, "We don't even get to fight the Queen? Man, this mission is now becoming more of a drag."

"Oh c'mon sis, at least we're still able to fight some creatures." Ruby tried to reassure Yang but the easily-excited student crossed her arms in response. The head of security scratches his head with an awkward smile. "Oh, here's something for you girls." the man offered each of them an earphone, "The place is bigger than it looks on the outside, so use these to get in touch while you're cleaning out the place-"

"Cleaning out? Are you treating us like exterminators?" Weiss frowned.

"N-no, I didn't mean..."

"Don't mind her, she usually gets like this when someone doesn't get her beauty sleep." Blake joked, now receiving the attention from the cold princess. Ruby and Yang laughs as Weiss physically restrain herself from trying to attack her teammate. The man shook his head with a smile and walked away from the group, "These students get weirder and weirder by the year..."

The team prepares themselves to enter, but Ruby stood out as the other three begin to enter the building. "Hey, Ruby! You're coming?" Yang called out. The girl nodded in response, "Just a sec..." she replies and looks at the dark sky. _"This mission seems simple enough, but why am I having doubts?" _Ruby thought to herself then runs ahead to catch up with her teammates.

The girls made it inside the entrance area, looking like what anything would if left abandoned and untreated for years. The plants grew through the broken windows allowing it to spread to other areas, tiles were knocked down and shattered to pieces, and three dead arachnes lays on the ground in front of the team. Ruby groans in disgust at the sight of the blighted creatures. "Giant spiders are so gross! If this place was packed with wolves it would be no problem..."

Blake kneels down to observe the creatures carefully, "If it's true what they said about these creatures not having a queen then it shouldn't be hard to take them down."

Yang looks around the area and spotted a double door with a keypad. Ruby follows her as Yang approaches the doorway, observing it carefully. Her younger sister taps the nonfunctional keypad, "I guess we need a password." she suggested.

"Password, eh?" Yang cast a malicious grin. She moves back her right arm as her bracelet expanded and covers her hand and forearm into a gauntlet. "How about open sesame!?" the girl shouts as she punches the door with a full shotgun blast. Ruby covers her ears as the doors fly off and crashes against the floor followed by a long scraping noise. She looks up and smiles at her amazing sister, "Nice one."

"It is, isn't it?" Yang grinned as she reflects back at her joke. Weiss and Blake seems to be a bit annoyed by the lack of caution the girls are taking, "Might as well give the creatures a ten second head-start before we storm into their nest." Blake muttered.

The gang walks through the hallways with their weapons in hand, ready to take on any surprise attacks, ambushes, or any lost-wondering spiders aggravated but determined to kill on sight.

After 20 minutes of wandering around, they found nothing.

"Okay, this BITES!" Yang shouted into the hallways, hoping her voice would echo through the building to at least stir something.

Weiss isn't as happy as she is by staring against the walls, "All this for nothing..." she groaned. Blake remain perfectly patient, as for Ruby who forcefully swings her scythe and slams it to the ground out of frustration. "We haven't even find a trace of Dust, let alone a storage." Weiss reminded the girls of their primary objective, yet they were still oblivious to her saying.

The gang's earphones projected a low static as a signal then the head of security's voice called out, "How's it looking there, girls? Place cleared yet?"

"Yeah, only if there were ANYTHING lurking in these halls!" Yang shouted into her mic, as the man at the other end pulls it away from his ear.

"That's strange... maybe they went to a lower ground after sensing a disturbance. Do any of you may know the reason of that?" the man asked.

The three students cast their glare at Ms. Yellow-Doorbuster, leaving her to reply, "Ahh... Maybe it was the airship?" Yang avoided the blame. There was a short awkward silence from the man until he sighs, continuing the conversation. One of the guardsman came to him with a digital pad with the radar of the building's layout.

"Whoa, this definitely looks way bigger than the outside... Anyway, we're detecting movement from below. Looks like a basement floor." the man informed.

"Thanks, we'll take it from here." Blake replied, "Now all we need is to find a way to get down there."

"We did pass by a couple of elevators." Ruby noted as she points down the hallway.

"Yeah, but what are the chances of the electricity still-"

_Ding!_

Blake, Yang, and Ruby paused and slowly turn their heads to Weiss, standing near the elevator doorway opened with her finger still on the panel. She looks back at them with a confused expression on her face, "What?"

"Did you actually think... there was still energy in this building?" Yang pointed out, "That you casually just press the button without any other thought?"

"Well I-"

"Works for me!" Ruby gleefully walks past the girls and stands in the center of elevator. Yang and Blake looks at each other and shrugs as they enter it with Weiss behind them. As the door closes, a thought suddenly came to Yang as she says "Wait a minute! Isn't going inside a rusted elevator a hazard-"

The sounds of steel and cords snapping violently interrupted her as the elevator starts sliding down the shaft with sparks flying everywhere. The elevator doors are still opened, showing multiple floors passing by as it descends with greater speed.

"WHAT DO WE DO!?" Ruby yelled over the harsh sound of scraping metal.

"Calm down!" Blake ordered, "We'll get out of this! Yang, blast the emergency ceiling door out with your gauntlets!"

Yang confirmed with a nod, not feeling like this would be a good time to argue back at her for ordering her around. She pulls back her right arm aiming directly at the trapdoor and fires a projectile blasting it off it's hinges. Blake aims her Gambol Shroud with her black ribbon attached and launches the chain scythe through the exit. She quickly pulls back at the right time, pressing the trigger on the pistol to increase it's velocity by the recoil to soar further in the air until it loops down around a loose piece of metal sticking out of the wall.

"Grab on!" Blake yelled as her body zooms out of the elevator with the girls grabbing each other's feet one by one. The four girls made it out safely as the elevator finally crashes with an explosion.

"Why does it always have to have explosions?" Yang mutters as held onto Blake's left leg with both of her arms. Below her, Weiss holds onto her right leg with one arm while embarrassingly trying to use the other one to pull up her skirt as it's being dragged down by the little red girl hugging around her waist, refusing to open her eyes.

"Phew... didn't that would work."

"WHAT?!"

{}Meanwhile{}

"We lost track of the girls, sir." one of the guardsman acknowledged the head of security.

"What?! How could we lose them? They should still be in the building's radius!"

"Actually sir, it doesn't look like they wondered away... more like that they just... fell."

"Fell?!" the man baffled. He knows the the building has a few basement floors but there can't be more than what the Academy had diagrammed for them. It could be possible that the girls have found an old cave dug out by the arachnes. This would not end well for the man's career and the girls' lives. "Contact the Academy for a rescue team, I'm not gonna risk their lives just for a large pile of Dust."

"Roger, sir. Sending alert to the-"

"Unidentified aircraft spotted!" a guard shouted, pointing at a unmarked airship flying to their direction. The Head of Security cursed under his breath and yelled orders at his men, "Positions, men! Do not fire upon unless the enemy is hostile!"

The security divided into squads and takes battle positions as the airship hovers above them. A guardsman ran to the Captain and gave him a megaphone, "Attention, trespassers! You are interfering with the Academy's business! Please leave or we'll be force to arrest and prosecuted!"

The airship stays there making no response to the man's word. The Captain lowers the megaphone as he is about to order fire but the ship suddenly opens up the cargo hold, revealing two men walking along the ramp with one of them holding onto the pole and the other jumps down and landed carefully. All weapons draws on the mysterious stranger kneeling down from the fall then rises up to meet them. The man looks younger than the Captain had thought he'd be. The stranger wears a short sleeve white/gray coat with matching long pants at the bottom. The coat is zipped open revealing an undershirt with sleeves longer than the coat's. He has a short combed white hair, complimenting his blue eyes but his smile shows a strange ominous feeling. The Captain recognizes these kind of people, the person in front of him is a mercenary.

"What's up?" the young man greeted them.

"Citizen you are trespassing in this facility, I will not repeat myself for the third time. Please leave." the Captain demanded.

The mercenary crossed his arms with a cocky grin, "Trespassing? Last I check: This building was abandoned. All the funding went away and the ownership to it is long gone. You guys are as much of a trespasser to it as I am."

The Captain clenched his teeth against the mercenary. This one's the same as the rest, a stubborn smart alack that doesn't know the meaning of the word, no. "Our business here is official with the Beacon Academy. This is your last chance, leave now or face the consequences." the Captain threatened.

"Well, that's a pity." the mercenary replied, stroking his chin as he acts disappointed. The young man looks up at the platform where the taller man is hanging by the airship. The mercenary's eyes must have send an inaudible message to the other stranger as their faces seem to come to an understanding. The mercenary suddenly then let out a loud whistle, signaling the airship.

A strange package was launched out of the ship and landed perfectly still next to the mercenary, drawing more attention from the guards than ever before.

"It seems that I haven't introduced myself," the young man spoke as he rest his hand on top of package's valve, "I go by many names, some would stick for a while as others just wilts away." The valve let out a low creaking noise as the mercenary spins it to loosen the lid, "I used to have a family name, but I was too young to remember. It's what the orphanage does to you." He pointed at his own head with his left hand as the right one tosses the valve lid away. He then plunges his whole arm inside laughing to himself, "Instead, I gave myself a name. Something I was better known for."

The mercenary pulls out his right arm revealing a large armored gauntlet, a Cestus. The weapon is detailed with silver and grey styles of a lion's mane, at the end of it where it sticks out from the elbow area is what looks like thrusters of a rocket launcher.

"The name's Dante, the Inferno!" the mercenary cries out as the thrusters fires and launches him at the guardsmen with incredible velocity. The men barely had time to act as Dante appears in front of them and slams the cestus to the ground, creating an impact knocking all the men off their feet. The Captain landed to the ground with a hard thud but immediately jumps back to his feet, "Fire!" he yelled out.

The mercenary was caught off guard as two men, each holding a RPG, positioned in the trees of the surrounding revealed themselves. One of them fired at Dante from left side as what seem to be a successful preemptive strike but the cocky child grins and fires the cestus's thruster and catches the rocket as the two forces clashed but no sign of collision.

The other guard fires a rocket directly behind the mercenary, but was somehow separated in two and flies by Dante as a shadow jumps in behind him.

"Figures you would jump in!" Dante grunted with displeasure.

"I'm done watching, finish it already." the shadowed man snapped.

"Fine!" Dante smirked as he jerks the cestus and redirects the rocket towards the man positioned behind him. The shadowed stranger pulls out a bow and pulls back a dark, red glowing arrow and fires at the man in front of them. The Captain's eardrum ruptured as both the arrow and the rocket exploded together at opposite ends of the landing point entrance.

Dante turns his attention to him and starts in a slow walk, "Now that wasn't very nice, IS IT?!" he growled as the thrusters kicks in again delivering a crushing impact to the Captain's stomach, crashing against the wall with a sickening sound of his bones cracking. The guardsman spat out blood and fell to the ground like a ragdoll as Dante pulls the massive gauntlet away from him.

He kneels down and checks his pulse with his other free arm. "Still alive... tough little bastard..." Dante commented with new found respect for the old man. He stood up and signals the airship to land. The doors opened to let out the mercenaries to gather the unconscious men and restrain them.

Dante looks at the old facility, not as wealthy looking for a gold digger like him to salvage but he's not the type of guy to judge a book by it's cover. He turns around as the shadowed stranger arrives carrying two men over his shoulders, singed but still breathing from the attacks.

"What exactly was the purpose of that performance?" the man scowled as he carefully laid the two guardsman down.

"Hey give me a break. You said this place would be only inhabited by monsters. Last I check, they don't carry automatic weapons and rocket launchers." Dante shrugged, "And it's not everyday I get a Hunter hiring me as a bodyguard-"

"Ex-hunter." the man corrected with a heavy emphasis, "And I'm not here to be impressed."

"Heh, I guess not. It's not really professional for me to question my employers but you promised full share to the valuable loot inside plus the payment you already gave us, nothing profitable in return for you... you knew there would be guards..." Dante frowned.

"There was a rumor of an academy planning to excavate the facility shortly after I found it's coordinates. I was expecting other Hunters to be here, but I guess they either haven't arrived yet." the man confessed calmly.

"Devious... I like that! You may be retired, but you hunters and huntresses are as fearful in the stories they tell to the fauna orphans." Dante grinned.

The man turns away from his attention feeling needless to continue talking. He looks down at the unconscious squad then at his own hired men, "Check them for any fatal injuries or wounds, make sure they are still breathing." he ordered. This took them by surprise, a few of them looks at Dante with confused expressions. The white hair mercenary just shrugs.

"Eh, what?" one of the lackeys spoke.

The Ex-Hunter pulls out his Bow as both point ends folds over and closes into a blade, a black hilt pops out for him to hold on to and press the sword against the fool's throat.

"Did I stutter?" he growled.

The lackey disappears then reappears holding a large medical kit in arm while saluting in a military fashion with the other. "No sir!" he cried with his voice high pitched with fear.

Dante amusingly chuckles to himself as the Ex-Hunter walks away and enters the building. "Do what you want, Dante. But be sure to stay clear of me, it's best for me to be alone." the man said as he disappears from view of the darkness in the building.

"Interesting fellow." Dante noted, "Not many of them left..."

{}Ruby{}

"Man, this place is giving me the creeps..." Ruby mutters as she walks through the dark hallways, clinging Crescent Rose to her chest like a child holding a teddy bear.

After the elevator event, the team thought it would be a good idea to split up to cover more ground. Ruby, at first, was fearless and willing to finally slay some monsters but now without her friends to explore the strange building alone, she didn't know what to really expect.

"I-I'll be fine... I just need to take things nice and-waa!" the girl screeched as she fell over a piece of metal and bumped her head to the ground. "Ow..." she moaned in pain, the girl looks at her feet and notice the metal appears to be a door. She looks behind her and spotted a double doorway, with the other half of the door still in positioned but heavily damaged. The curious red riding hood got up and peeked inside.

"It's too dark! Where's the lights when you need them..." Ruby blindly rubbing her hands against the wall until it waves over a lever, pulling it down. The area flashes up one by one by the light panels, illuminating the room. Ruby's eyes widened in surprise to see herself in front of her. She jumps back in and notice she's standing in front of what appears to be a mirror.

"What the...?" the girl looks around and spotted many more mirrors symmetric to each other on both left and right side of the large hallway. Next to the mirrors are doorways leading to small rooms, each with a bed, a small desk, and an obvious security camera positioned to look at the entire room area. Each of them are also labeled with the name: Subject and a number. This doesn't look like a holding area for monsters or a resting place for scientists.

Ruby walks through the doorways of each of the holding rooms until her eye caught a dark stain on one of the walls and stopped. She leaned through the doorway to get a better look of it, she can tell it use to be some sort of liquid caked on the wall. She then realized, the details of the dried liquid staining from the wall to the ground is blood...

Human blood...

"What kind of a place is this?!" she shouted.

_Bang!_

The girl jumps back as she hears a loud noise, followed by what appears to be tapping noises. "Y-Yang? Weiss? Blake?" she called out, hoping it was either of them trying to scare her so she can punch them in the face.

Instead, a large spider drops down in front of her screeching with it's venom dripping fangs and lunges at her. Ruby retaliates by taking out her Crescent Rose just in time and slices the creature in half. More arachnes emerged from the other holding rooms and charges at Ruby one by one, however the student easily spins around slicing the monsters as they come. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Get away!" she screams at the monsters.

One of them jumps back turn around as another lunges at Ruby only to get sliced in half, the arachne then fires a web hitting her directly in the face and covered her eyes. The monsters then swarms on her until she fell against the ground then pulls her away to their direction. "Let go of me!" she cries as Ruby tries to swat them away with her scythe but providing no effect. In desperation, Ruby pinned her blade against the ground to stop the spiders from pulling her but their grip was much stronger than her's as her hand finally let go of the scythe.

"YANG!" the girl screamed as she was pulled into the darkness with the monsters.

_**To be continued...**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Apologies for the waiting. A delay happened when a majority of the chapter I typed was lost during a blackout. Please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The Ex-Hunter roams through the hallways in search of something that can help him here. He scavenge through offices and small labs, ripping filing cabinets off and skim through useless papers. "This place must know something... it can't just be a Monster Research Facility!" the man growls as he sweeps all the papers to the ground with frustration.

He stares down at them as natural dust floats around the papers, he let out a sigh and rubbed his temples. "Even if I got something I came here for, there isn't a spec of loot to make even an average pay for the mercenaries. It won't be hard for me to take them out, but this Dante kid..." the Hunter's thought trails off as something interrupted the silence.

_Bang_

_Bang_

The warrior unsheathes his Bowsword and walks off looking for the source of the noise. He thought the possibility of Dante and his lackeys scavenging for scraps, but they were made sure to stay clear from him. The sound was also alluring in a way, it was faint but it pulled the Ex-Hunter to a strange certain direction. As he kept walking ahead, strange whispers began to stir throughout his ear. He turns around and still walks forward thinking somebody is their behind him.

"What's going on... ah!" the Hunter bumps into a closed elevator door. He raised an eyebrow and looks around, still able to hear the ominous noise. He pressed his ear against the doors and can hear the bangs through it. "Looks like I'm going down." he said as he thrust his blade between the doors and pries it open, surprised to see a cable sparking with electricity being dangerously close to the hunter.

The man carefully enters and climbs his way down the shaft as the noise progressively gets louder. After a long descent, the Ex-Hunter spotted an elevator doorway that looked like it was forced open. Way below him, he can see a fallen elevator with nearly half of its hull blown off.

_"Must be the Hunters or whatever 'thing' was here..." _he thought but dismisses the mystery as he can hear the bangs within the floor area. He jumps down and enters another hallway now hearing the whispers louder, only to make them out piece by piece:

_**The child... great endurance...**_ **_but will... survive...?_**_  
_

**_Subjects... orphans... the results... be ready..._**

"Gaah!" the man clutches both ends of his head as the whispers faded, leaving pain in its place. He fell to one of his knees as the gravity seems to increased the weight of the air itself. He looks up at the ceiling lights, somehow blaring down at him with reddish light. The man suddenly felt weightless and loss control of all his limbs as the ceiling lights fly by him with the sound of wheels rolling against the ground.

He looks down and noticed both his arms and legs are tied with leather straps on a rolling table. To the corner of his eye, he can see a hand with a green glove pushing one of the ends of the cart. He tried to scream but only a muffle came out, the owner of the hand noticed and made a shush.

"The drugs are slowly wearing off, it's best that you relax as we take you to your room."

The man looks ahead at the endless hallway as the banging noise gets louder and louder with the walls blurring by the sudden increase of speed. The cart then seem to hit a bump, causing it to flip frontward but the Ex-Hunter caught himself by landing with his hands first onto the ground. He panted heavily as his heart beats nervously faster. He looks at his hand noticing the leather straps are gone then pauses as he hear crying.

He looks up and realized he's trapped in a room with a mirror reflecting his image. He rose up, staring at his own reflection as he can still hear the sobbing. In the bottom left corner, he spotted a child sitting in fetal position with his head buried in his arms. What is a child doing here? The Ex-Hunter turns and pauses as he spotted a camera pointed directly at him with a red light on.

_"Why is it active... who else could be down here?"_

"Hey, are you alright?" the man asked the child, without taking his eyes off of the camera.

The child didn't respond but nudges his head to acknowledge the man's presence.

"Listen, it's too dangerous for you to be here... wait, how did you get here?" he asked the mysterious child.

The child didn't reply.

The Ex-Hunter shook his head, "Look, you need to get out of here-"

"You mean 'we'" the child muttered.

"What?!"

"They don't like it when the kids try to leave here... they do bad things... painful things..." the kid said without lifting his head, "They said even if we do somehow leave, there'll be nothing for us... we'll be torn apart in the vast forest filled with monsters... that's why they said they're trying to make us stronger... better..."

"What do you mean make you better... ?" the man's eyes traveled down to one of the kid's arms with a bandage wrapped around it. Somehow the kid knew what he was looking at without showing his face and explained, "They gave us shots... injected us with needles in different colors... some kids I knew were never seen again... I remained longer than all of them..."

The Ex-Hunter couldn't believe his own ears, what hope could they gain from torturing children? He grabs the child by the arm and pulls him up, "I'll get you out of here, come with me!" the man promised. However, the child resisted and tries to pull away from his grip with fear. "No! They'll hurt me if I try to leave!" the kid cried.

Both of them struggles to pull each other away but the man was obviously stronger than him, he used his other free hand to grab both of the child's arm and got a close good look at him. The man let go and steps back in horror staring at the child's face, "Who... are you?"

"Don't you remember?" the child asked, now with a emotionless tone, "The pain and agony this place has brought us... your birthplace... try to remember, Vossler. Remember the time before you were given another name."

The Ex-Hunter shook his head, the child in front of him... the child, wearing his own face... this must be a trick!

"No!" he shouted, "My real name is Vossler, I was raised in a village! This isn't real! This facility is a research center! You're not real! YOU'RE NOT ME!"

_BANG!_

Both the man and the child flinched in pain as haunting sound came back, but louder than ever, and somehow painful.

_BANG!_

The second one send a huge skull-splitting headache to Vossler, he clutches his head fearing that it might explode. He looks at the child who too is doing the same as him, obviously feeling the same pain he's feeling. "What's going on!?" he shouted as another painful noise erupted, causing him to growl.

"He won't stop! No matter how many times I scream at him! He won't listen!" the child explained, but only confusing the man even more.

"What are you-GAAAAH!" Vossler drops to the ground with one knee as another bang erupted. He turns to the direction where the sound is coming from, a wall possibly separating this room from the other one.

_BANG!_

"My name is..."

_BANG!_

"I was raised in..."

_BANG!_

"S-stop..."

_BANG!_

"Why can't I... ?"

_BANG!_

"STOP IT!" both Vossler and the child screamed together as the last final bang echoed with a shattering sound.

The Ex-Hunter open his eyes and jumps back from the falling glass shards raining down in front of him. He panted heavily taking his time to register what happened. He suddenly hissed as both of his hands are burning by the glass shard wounds. Well that explains the broken mirror, he guessed.

"What... was that?" he asked himself, "Maybe I was hallucinating... where am I?" Vossler looks around the strange hallway with doors next to mirrors. He looks down at the shattered pieces reflecting his image piece by piece. He picks one of them up to observe then flips it over, nearly surprised that he was able to see his hand through it.

"Two-way mirrors?" he guessed by his observation, his hand then stings forcing him to let go of the object as the wounds still bleeds. Luckily, Vossler brought a bandage with him. He stood up and patches the cuts as he walks down the hallway, unsure of what he should do now.

"I don't have any disinfectant, but hopefully I'll be gone before it turns bad. In the meantime, I need to find something that can explain the things I seen... wait, what is that?" the man stopped dead in his tracks and stares at what lays before him, a giant red scythe pinned to the ground by the blade. From the looks of it and the floor scarring, it seemed it was either dragged by someone or abandoned in an odd position.

Vossler then spotted a trigger on the blade and carefully lowers his hand to it. As he squeezed his index finger around it, the scythe recoils by the unexpected blast firing from the top of the scythe. The Ex-Hunter jumps back in surprise as the bullet shell drops to the ground.

"Is this... also a sniper rifle?" He grabbed the scythe, this time not touching the trigger again, and pulls it out of the ground. It was heavier than he expected and the design details are amazing. It was no question to him that this is a Hunter's weapon, and it seems it's owner have met an unfortunate end.

Or maybe there's still time...

"Fate has a funny way of getting me back to work," he sighed, "although... after what just happened to me, I can't just let it go. I need to find answers, but..."

Vossler spins the blade and takes a swing at the air, the scythe suddenly folds itself into it's sniper rifle form surprising the hunter again. He had heard that Hunters and Huntresses usually make their own weapons in academies, but something so unique and potentially dangerous like this couldn't been made by students.

"I'll be damned anyway if I let Dante get his sticky fingers on this scythe and sell it off as a ornament, I guess the polite thing to do is return it to its owner." Vossler smiled.

The Ex-Hunter kneels down to observe the floor scarring to see which direction was the person dragged from. As he traced his fingers along the ground, a spider stealthily emerges from one of the rooms behind him and crawls up to the ceiling for a preemptive strike. The creature's red eyes burns through the darkness above Vossler and lunges at him with its fangs dripping with venom.

The Ex-Hunter suddenly scoffed and unsheathes his bowsword and slices the spider in half, splattering its vile colored blood on the ground. Vossler shook his head disappointingly at the vile creature's pitiful assault. "Not really surprising to expect an attack after seeing this..." he turned at the pile of dead spiders, each dismembered by what he can already guessed by the scythe wielder. By the looks of it, the battle was recent. The Hunter/Huntress could still be alive...

"No time to lose then." he said as he put both of the scythe and his weapon away and ran deeper into the unknown hallways.

{}Meanwhile{}

"God, it's so dark in here..." Weiss groaned, with her Myrtenaster wielded in an unusual battle position she has it in by the nervousness she's showing. She covers her nose and mouth as she passes by mold seen growing along the walls, almost looking to faint on the very spot by the unsanitary conditions.

"If this building was owned by my family's company we would burn it to the ground," Weiss unintentionally joked but couldn't bear herself to crack a grin, "That is, of course, after we confiscate the Dust." she noted.

The Princess finally gives up searching aimlessly after she recognize the same funny shaped fungi attached to the wall and ceiling for the fourth time. "There's gotta be a office or at least a filing cabinet room that can explain what part of this facility is!" the girl wondered as she now searches through the rooms until she hears something strange... like screaming?

_Clang!_

Every inch of her skin nearly jumps out forcing Weiss to point her rapier at one of the doors behind her. "W-Who's there?!" she called out nervously as she approaches the door and slowly push it open.

"Boo!"

"AAAAHH!" Weiss screams as she swings her blade at what's in front of her but got unexpectedly blocked by Gambol Shroud. "Whoa, calm down there Snow Angel." said a familiar voice.

"BLAKE!? What are you doing here?!" Weiss shouted as she pulls back her Myrtenaster away with a cold glare.

"Nice to see you too," Blake commented with a sly grin, "I was on a search after I stumbled across an archive, remember the name of this facility?"

Weiss nodded a bit, "Varren, a facility dedicated for research of monsters. What about it?"

Blake reveals a yellow folder and drops it onto a desk in front of Weiss, "I found this lying around in one of the labs, I couldn't help but be curious about what they're working on... You should see it for yourself."

Weiss picks up the folder and shrugs as she opens it thinking she'll probably be seeing information about how monsters adapt to natural habitats or something like that, but her eyes stopped after seeing one of the pages is an x-ray image of human's brain. Beneath the image is a set of papers providing information of the brain.

"Xi87 has proven to be effective in our project. The subject's nerves has been narrowly numbed allowing us to have an easier influence, however after much testing the substance seemed mentally fatal to the mind. One of the subjects has passed away by... a suicide act?!" Weiss read with a shocking look on her face.

Blake nodded grimly, "This doesn't sound like they're experimenting on monsters."

Weiss looks back down to continue, "We have requested an update to the drug to reduce the chance of that happening again. Although it has proven useful to go beyond the subconscious barrier that protects the human mind. We are closer to our goal and might even begin the Welding process in less than a month. We owe our success to Prof. Gerald..."

Blake watches as Weiss gently drops the folder back onto the desk. Her face shows an obvious sign of horror and confusion, Blake would've smiled if the mood wasn't so grim.

"What do they mean by Welding?" she asked.

"That's what I want to find out," Blake shrugged, "The last name was the only lead I could use to search inside this building. After a little more digging it turns out that the several floors, including this one, were constructed with a separate budget. It seems that they didn't want anyone outside to know. It was all paid and covered by the same name, Fischer Gerald. The same name of the man who brought this facility to life."

"So is this his office?" Weiss looked around the dark, dusty room.

Blake sighed, "One of them... this man doesn't seem to like the idea of having one stationed room. And this one was only filled with books and chessboards." she revealed a folded board nearly withered by age and drops a few wooden chess pieces to the ground. "More like a personal chamber to me." she concluded.

"Well, we should find Yang and Ruby so we can contact the Security about-"

"BOO!" Yang shouted as her head pokes out of the doorway behind Weiss. The Snow Angel screams as Blake giggled, "Speak of the devil." she said.

"YANG! Don't do that!" Weiss growled.

"Whoa, okay now that's a bit angrier than I expected." Yang grinned.

Weiss turns her stare back at Blake, "Gee, I wonder why..."

The black hair lady avoided eye contact and seem to be now interested in the ceiling.

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked the yellow hair.

Yang let out an exhausted sigh in response. "This mission is really turning into a bummer. We know well enough that this place is free of giant spiders or any animals from the outside. It's getting really late so I think it's time for us to call in with the guys."

"Is Ruby not with you?" Blake noticed the other missing member.

"I thought I could find her with you guys, we'll just find her after I talk to the guys." Yang said as she reaches for her earphone to use the communicator.

"Wait, Yang there's something you should see-"

"Yo, Big Boss, you there? This place looks clear to me, I guess your radar was wrong!" Yang interrupted.

Weiss and Blake stood by each other as they hear nothing but static through Yang's earpiece. Confused, the girl tries again. "Hey! Are you there or not!? Speak to me!" Yang shouted.

"Only if you say 'over'" replied a unfamiliar voice.

Yang frowned as she was not expecting a different person to reply. "Is the Captain there? Who is this?" she asked.

"Captain... ? Oh! You mean that old man I just crushed! Let me tell ya, his boys did not put up a FIGHT. I mean I expected the Academy's security would provide better trained men to defend an old building but I guess beggars can't be choosers. Still though it would be nice to see one of the Academy's finest weaponry to be used against me so I can beat the crap of it's user and auction it off for a good price-say, you wouldn't happen to be a Huntress, would ya?" the voice responded over the phone.

The three girls froze and went dead silent, leaving to the person to believe he's talking to himself.

"Hello? Is this thing still on?"

Yang pulls the earpiece out and press the Speaker button, "Who the hell are you?"

"Funny you should mention that," said the voice, "The name's Dante, but to others I am known as what they call me 'Dante Inferno'... or Dante THE Inferno... I don't know which it is, they should make their minds up about it."

Blake let out a silent curse under her breath, "I heard about him, a 'Jack of All Trades' mercenary. His job ranges from being a bodyguard to a hitman."

"Well well well, another lady on the phone? I see you had heard of me, could you possibly be one of my groupies?" the mercenary joked.

"You may have also forgotten to mention a 'womanizer'" Yang noted.

"Just what we need, another Jaune." said Weiss.

Somewhere in the Beacon Academy, a certain blonde boy sneezed.

"Listen,'Inferno', we're sent here by one of the greatest academies that trains us to become full-fledged huntresses! So unless you want to mess with the professionally trained, I suggest you take your sorry ass and go back from where you came." Yang growled but did not expect the mercenary to respond with a hearty laugh.

"Professionally trained? Okay, I'll bite. But it sounds like to me that you and the others there are not real huntresses, more like students." Dante replied.

"Yeah, so?" Weiss snapped.

"Kinda tells me that you're at a disadvantage, because I'm not here on my own business. A person has hired me and my men to put this place in lock down, and this person happens to be a Hunter himself."

"What?!" the girls shouted.

"That's right! He wants to find something in this facility alone but gave us the privilege to ransack it of all the goodies that were left behind-"

"If you think that we're going to let you take the Dust storage then you better think again!" Yang warned him.

"Dust? Y-yeah, yeah! We're after that too!" Dante hesitated, "And you're going to help us get it."

Blake irked an eyebrow by the first reaction the mercenary made about the Dust and watches Weiss pulls Yang's hand that was holding the earpiece to project louder. "Didn't she said 'you better think again'?" the Snow Angel growled. It's no surprise to see her getting riled up since her family owns a Dust Company, although the admissions did made it clear that only portions of it goes to her family's company storage.

"Hear me out: As I mention before I had a run-in with your Academy's security, all alive and barely conscious of course... but that can change." Dante's tone darkens by the last sentence in an almost warning. The three girls now felt unsure about this. "What do you mean by that?" Blake asked.

"What I mean is that unless you three cooperate and do what I say, these fine men will go home perfectly well alive. But if we have any problems... I guess you girls gonna have to figure a way to fly the airship back to your little school and explain how your mission was. Do we understand?" said the mercenary.

Yang cursed under her breath as Weiss and Blake look at each other with both of their faces showing signs of mixed feelings. Finally the girls came to an agreement, "We'll do it, but those guys up there better be okay." Yang answered.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Dante teased.

The mercenary pulled back the talkie as Yang's voice comes out as loud muffling to the others. "Does this girl kiss her mother with that mouth?" Dante questioned, "Well then again, I wouldn't mind..."

He turns around to face his men and throws the talkie to one of them. "Well I guess all we have to do is sit back and relax." the man grinned.

"Uh, boss? Are we going to kill one of the guys?" one of his men spoke as they walk down the halls with him.

"Well, we would if that Hunter guy would allow it. Even if he calls himself an 'Ex-Hunter' he still have that typical personality to protect mankind. It's not like me to lie about this but that Dust Storage the girl mentioned is going to worth a fortune for us seeing how other guys like us are hunting for them, I bet they're willing to pay a good fortune for it." said Dante.

The men made eager grins and follow their leader through the dark hallways, trying to find a way to descend where the girls are.

Yang crushes the earpiece with her and threw the remains against the wall. "Now I just about had it with this stupid mission! First we don't get to fight any monsters! Second, we nearly died in an exploding elevator shaft! And now we have to take orders from some jerk-off! I rather go back to reading books and sit through detention again!" Yang screams by kicking the wall with her foot.

"You honestly think we'll go through this?" Blake asked, crossing her arms.

Weiss and Yang turn their heads to her, "You heard what they said, we can't put those men's lives at stake." Weiss protested.

"And that's why we're going to make sure they're not going to get the chance. They may be able to subdued the security team but not us. As far as I can tell, they're not familiar with this building's layout like us. We can use that to our advantage, but Yang we need you to find Ruby and make sure the mercenaries don't get her first. Weiss since you have more knowledge of Dust than the rest of us we need you to find the storage and see if we can use it against them. I'm sure the Academy won't mind a few missing pinches."

"And what will you do?" Yang questioned.

Blake reaches for the handle of her blade and unsheathes it from it's holster. "I think I'll have a little 'chat' with the Womanizer; who knows? There could be sparks flying between us..." Blake takes a large swing of her blade, unintentionally cutting the rusted desk in half in front of her. "And so will his limbs..." Weiss commented.

"Hang in there, sis. I'll find you." Yang thought to herself as she takes off without a word to her friends.

{}Ruby{}

"MMMF! MMMMFFF!" Ruby cried out with her voice heavily muffled by the webs wrapped from her mouth to her feet, hanging upside down from the cave ceiling. The poor wiggles trying to break free from the webs but it seemed the more she struggled the tighter it get. She finally gives up groans in frustration as all the blood is going to her head.

_"Well... it could be worst. I could've been eaten alive, or died in the explosion, or get a ticket to a mermaid melody..." _Ruby felt chills running down her spine by the last thought.

_"Oh who am I kidding? I'll probably die as a monsters' lunch and not like one of those hunters dying bravely in the stories! And last time I check, there were no cool stories about heroes meeting their demise by-why do I feel itchy all of the sudden?"_

Ruby looks up as she feels a strange sensation on the backside of her area. Fearfully she expected one of the spiders wrapping another layer of webs on her body. The girl was forced to see the grotesque nature of the spider producing the webs almost bringing her on a verge of tears. The spider seem to be done with wrapping and climbs up to the string holding Ruby up to test it's strength. The girl knew this was her chance._  
_

She forces her torso area up to begin rocking back and forth then uses to the velocity to swing around frantically with the creature holding onto the string with it's fangs. Ruby can imagine the screeching and hissing noises from the spider almost like it's trying to tell her to stop.

_Snap!_

The string rips and Ruby and the spider fell to the ground, unfortunately for the creature it landed one of the spiky rocks impaling it through it's body with Ruby landing on the flat ground next to it. _"Sorry buddy!" _she meant to say through the muffles. Ruby took the time to struggle through the webs but apparently that extra layer definitely made it foolproof.

The girl immediately paused as she looks to her right and spotted a little spider staring at her with six of it's red eyes. Ruby tried to send a telepathic message to the creature through her eyes saying: Please don't warn the others, please don't warn the others, please-

The creature let out a high-pitch screech, echoing throughout the dugout caves and holes, only with about a hundred cries in response like a military sound alarm.

Ruby flips over and begins rolling away as she is still trapped in her cocoon as the spiders begin to emerge from the surrounding holes and chase after the prey.

_"WEISS! YANG! BLAKE!" _Ruby tries to call out but obviously knows that no one can hear her, especially inside a cave filled with arachnes.

The road became incredibly bumpy and slanted causing Ruby's speed to go uncontrollable but further away from the creatures. _"Whoa whoa whoa whoa! It's a good thing there isn't a-DROP OFF!" _Ruby screams as the ground below her suddenly disappeared and fell into an area filled with spiky rock formations. The girl closed her eyes wishing this would end painlessly but luckily one of the spikes punctured through the web only missing her skin and clothes by an inch. The webs were torn off of her and she fell to a safer ground with her butt first.

"Ow... oh I hope that doesn't bruise..." she rubbed painfully then stands up to observe the area. "Well, at least I'm away from those freaks-"

Ruby was interrupted by the sound of the spiders falling and landing with a heavy thud. "Oh come on!" she shouted in disbelief that these creatures would be that persistent. The monsters gather together in numbers then approaches Ruby slowly in a surrounding formation. The girl hold up her hands in a karate seeing there's no other weapon she can use against them. "Stay back! I'm warning you!" she threatened, but the creatures seem to acknowledge her fear.

"How loud do I have to scream for help until somebody finally respond!" Ruby shouted.

"You could start by saying 'Please'" said a male voice. Ruby looks up and spotted red glowing arrow shot down and pierces one of the spiders to the ground. The spiders turn their direction to the red glowing arrow start to become brighter and brighter, Ruby shielded her eyes but was immediately taken back by the fiery explosion incinerating all the crawlers.

Ruby looks back at the charred remains of the monsters as a man jumps down in front of her holding a large unique bow in his right hand. The man has a long black hair hanging below his shoulders and a long dark purple coat reaching down to his feet. He turn his head over his shoulder and reveals the sharp, menacing looking yellow eyes but made a warm smile. "Are you okay?" the man asked kindly.

Ruby made a slight nod but spotted another weapon holstered on the man's back, her scythe rifle Crescent Rose. "Hey! What are you doing with my weapon!?" she pointed at the rifle. The man seem completely surprised and pulls out Crescent Rose, "Wait, this is YOUR weapon?"

The awkward meeting was cut short as the sound of the creatures crawling throughout the caverns signals their coming. A few large ones emerged from one of the many holes and began to charge at them. The man quickly presses a trigger on the hilt part of the bowsword to eject an empty capsule like releasing a shell from a bolt action rifle. He pulls out a similar capsule but this one filled with yellow dust and reinserts it into the hilt.

"Take a path over there and keep running! I'll keep these bastards at bay!"

"But what about-"

"Run!" the man ordered as he waved his hand by the hilt over a strange hole centered in the supposed grip area of the bow. As he pulls it back, the dust swirls out of the hilt and forms a yellow arrow with the end being gripped and pulled back like a real arrow on a bow string. As he releases it the arrow flies off in an arc of electricity and impales one of the larger creatures before the electricity expanded and struck the surrounding creatures.

Vossler took the opportunity to run as more of the spiders began chasing him with Ruby still within his sight, almost like she's slowing down on purpose. "What do you think you're doing?!" he caught up by her side.

"Give me my weapon!" Ruby ordered.

"What?"

"I can help! You just gotta let me try!" the girl pleaded as she came to halt.

Vossler stopped and turns back to observe a large horde making their way to them. He cursed out his own luck knowing that they won't be able to get away but noticed the area they're in seems narrowed. An idea came to his mind...

"Here!" he called out to her as he tosses the scythe rifle to her, "Keep them at bay while I'll try to figure out something!"

It may have been his imagination or not, but the look on her face when Crescent Rose landed in her hands changed from stubborn/fear to something beyond bravery and confidence. The girl whips out her weapon as it morphs into it's scythe form wielding it with ease as she spins it around and faces the horde. "I believe this may count as, Round 2" Ruby grinned as she held the scythe's blade backwards and fires the high-velocity rifle mod to propel herself into an unstoppable charge against the creatures.

Ruby spins herself around with the scythe slicing all the spiders around her path as she fires the rifle to accelerate and to redirect her pathing. Vossler watches in amazement but didn't let himself to get distracted as a small group of the spiders tries to take on the Ex-Hunter. Vossler pulls down the hilt connected to the grip area of the bow form and twists it, the two bladed wings then snaps together like a pair of scissors into a double-edge blade.

"Looks like it's my turn to-wait a minute... their appearances..." Vossler observes the creatures as they lunges at him but quickly fell to his blade. He turns back around to see the girl quickly reducing their numbers but more and more of them seem to multiply as other spiders crawls out of the holes to enter the fray. "Hey! Get back!" he ordered her.

Ruby pauses right after she slices one of the spiders in a mid-lunge in half, "Huh?" she questioned.

"We got to go, now!" he shouted as he reaches into one of his coat pulls out a clear vial containing a red crystallized dust. Ruby shrugs hesitantly and launches herself past Vossler as he tosses the vial to the ceiling and quickly draws out his blade back into a form of a bow and fires a lightning-dust arrow at it.

"Wait what are you-"

"GET BACK!" Vossler grabs Ruby and as the arrow makes contact with the red dust crystal and created a large fiery reaction damaging the integrity of caverns, causing a large landslide crushing the unfortunate part of the horde and separating them from Vossler and Ruby. The Ex-Hunter looks back at the destruction he caused as Ruby coughs away the smoke from the explosion. The sounds of the hundred spiders faded away, leaving only a calming silence.

"Wow..." Ruby panted, "Good thinking!"

Vossler smiled but he suddenly spotted one of the dead spiders half-crushed by the debris. He walks away from Ruby and kneels down to observe it. "Man, those were some really weird monsters. And here I thought the word 'rogue' would probably mean that they're clueless or something..." Ruby said.

"Rogues don't fight in packs..." Vossler commented, "And especially not these kind."

"I'm sorry?"

"The monsters you're probably are familiar with are the 'creatures of grim', but this kind... they're cave spiders." Vossler acknowledged as he traced his finger across the monster's skin to observe the detail appearance. "Cave spiders? They don't they have to be at least big as our hand?" Ruby pawed her hands like kitten.

"That's because they're not the normal creepy crawlies we know, they're mutated." Vossler muttered.

"Mutated?! By what?" Ruby asked.

The Ex-Hunter stood up and looks at her with a dark expression on his face, "The right question would be by 'who'? And the answer to that, is the very facility that is sitting above us."

_**To be continued...**_


End file.
