Chapter 121 - A Grimm Discovery (1)

Ozpin called them on their communicators. They had set their communicators to group calls automatically answer so they wouldn't have to answer individually

Ozpin: [Comms] "Students, have you found something?"

Ruby: "There are a whole bunch of machines as far as I can see. And green goo! Lots of green goo."

Weiss: "There appears to be equipment extracting a green substance and pumping it elsewhere. We will most likely find what we are looking for further in."

Coco: "Bubbling toxic pools and a bunch of pipes… We're on to something."

Shallot: "I don't know how no one has been able to find something like this. IF you had Ironwood search for spikes within radiation in a certain diameter while traveling by airship you should have been able to find this."

Ozpin hearing this thought that it was a plausible way of finding him, but they didn't know that he was alive until the attack was staged by him. The attack could have been staged and they didn't know if he survived or not.

Ozpin: [Comms]"If we knew about this then we could have possibly searched for it using the method you said. We also didn't think about searching for a spike in chemicals since we don't use that type of technology."

Weiss: "Most of the equipment and technology made is used for keeping the Grimm at bay and also for transportation. We don't have a lot of technology that's used for investigation."

Shallot: "That makes sense on why theft crimes are so easy to get away with even though most of the city looked more advanced than the rest of the world. However, there are still settlements in the world that have set up defenses in the wilderness."

Everyone continued forward with Shallot looking around for ways that could be an entrance to a facility. While they were walking around Ozpin commented again since he was still on the line.

Ozpin: [Comms] "I suspect Merlot is on this island for a reason. He's harvesting this substance, and whatever he's using it for can't be good."

They could see a steaming gas of the green liquid blocking their path.

Jaune: "I think the valve to the gas is over there."

Pyrrha: "Good eye, Jaune."

Yang: "Time to get crankin'... on that crank... right there."

Shallot looked at the valve and walked towards it about to turn it when a mutated Creep came charging at him from behind the steam. Shallot sent his scythe out cutting it in half.

Shallot: 'Don't really know the makeup of the chemicals that are spraying and I rather not get cancer from a mission that shouldn't be so tedious.'

Shallot turned the valve shutting off the chemical steam so they could continue walking to wherever they need to go. They're just winging it currently since they don't know where anything is. They just know that this place has the main walkway and they're going to follow it.

Team JNPR was walking and talking on the side about what they are going to do about the tournament and what's the best way to come out on top even if they know they can't physically match Team RWBYS.

Team CFVY was talking about Velvet and how she used ki hoping that they can also learn it so that they can get any help they can. Shallot never told Velvet that she can't teach her teammates how to use ki and Shallot didn't mind. Shallot knew that using ki had a lethal effect on the Grimm and that it could make it where Grimm isn't a large threat if more people knew how to use ki.

Blake was eating some snacks while walking through the place and Yang turned to her.

Yang: "How can you eat in a time like this? The smell alone is already bad."

Blake: "I have been hungry more than usual so I want to make sure that I'm not getting a smaller amount of calories due to so much training."

Weiss: "Besides the mood swings she showed last week is also concerning. Are you sure you're doing ok? Even if I don't stay in the room with you all at night time I think you should visit the school nurse if this keeps up. It could affect your studies and performance in the tournament after all."

While Yang, Ruby, and Weiss were talking about Blake and they were walking past where they turned the valve off everyone except Shallot could hear Dr. Merlot on the comms again.

Merlot: [Comms] "Heyyyyy now. I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The path they were walking was between a row of large pipes that are carrying the green material that was spewing from the crack in the pipe and also came towards a large open area.

Ozpin: [Comms] "Good. That definitely got his attention. I want you to follow the pipeline. With any luck, it will lead us right to Dr. Merlot."

Shallot: "I may not be able to hear Dr. Merlot but I know that he is good enough to high jack your communications. Can't he hear everything you're saying Ozpin?"

Merlot: [Comms] "He right you know, I can hear everything you're saying, you know!"

Some Creep Grimm came crawling out of the ground and two red droids came from around the corner. Shallot blasted the Grimm and Pyrrha used her semblance to crush the droids into iron balls.

Shallot: "I would imagine Merlot would stop sending things that we can easily get rid of seeing that it doesn't work. He comes up with so many plans but his way of using force isn't that great."

Shallot saw another valve on the pipe a little further from where they were traveling.

Shallot: 'I wonder if I turn a bunch of these I can cause a pressure build-up where I can blow this place to blow sky high without using any ki. If that doesn't work I'll just blow it up myself.'

They could hear Ozpin saying something away from the mic about getting the cat out of the room. Everyone could hear Ozpin as he got closer to the mic.

Ozpin: [Comms] "It's amazing that you survived the disaster in Mountain Glenn, Merlot. Was it sheer luck or part of your master plan?"

All of them were running across a path of pipes seeing that the area ahead was blocked and Shallot wasn't about to blast some pipes possibly releasing chemicals into the air.

Merlot: [Comms] "Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my fault?"

Ozpin: [Comms] "I believe that you wouldn't take accountability for your actions."

Some Grimm came crawling out from one of the green puddles. It was mostly green but still resembled a creep the only difference was that it had all four legs instead of the tail. Shallot blasted it not even giving it a chance to do anything.

Merlot: [Comms] "Admittedly, Mountain Glenn is a bit of a sore spot for me. Decades of hard work, countless research projects, not to mention all of the specimen I'd collected over the years - all lost without a trace."

They continued walking and came across a metal walkway leading away from the pipes they were walking on.

Ozpin: [Comms] "Let me get this straight... you're upset that you lost your research?"

Shallot could only hear the side from Ozpin and he was interested in what was going on with their conversation. He walked next to Velvet and was trying to listen through her comms what was going on. He had made sure that no one could hijack his device but didn't do something for anyone else for this mission.

Merlot: [Comms] "The work done at Merlot Industries was critical in the advancement of artificial intelligence and genetics. Without it, Remnant would still be in the dark ages."

Ozpin: [Comms] "You've missed the point. An entire city was laid to waste. Countless lives were lost. My only question is how much of the damage were you personally responsible for?!"

Merlot: [Comms] "Well how else was I supposed to conduct my research? Our supply of test subjects was running thin."

Ozpin: [Comms] "And when the Grimm came back, the city's population was driven underground where it was safe. No thanks to Merlot Industries. I suppose that your son was just collateral for your experimentation."

Everyone could hear as if another line had cut into the communications with this one louder than the previous voice.

Merlot: [Comms] "MY SON WASN'T APART OF THAT AND YOU KNOW IT OZ!!! IF YOU WOULD HAVE JUST GIVEN ME WHAT I WANTED THEN KNOWN OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED."

Everyone could hear Merlot breathe and calm himself down.

Merlot: [Comms] "Everything I did was for the advancement and sometimes things don't always go according to plan. You didn't make that process any easier since you believed me using the criminals as test subjects were wrong.

I believe in what I'm doing as the right thing and your thoughts on keeping secrets from all and acting all holier than others will leave you with no one by your side as no one will trust you.

I'm true to myself and never lied about what I tried to achieve. You were the only one that thought of me as mad. I also believe that things always happen for a reason."

~~~

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