The ruined laboratory trembled softly beneath the open sky.
Dust drifted downward through the massive wound torn into the mountain facility while exposed wiring sparked along shattered walls and ruptured machinery.
And slowly...
The red haired woman descended from above, floating downward with controlled grace, almost weightless. Her crimson hair drifted gently around her shoulders while fragments of twisted steel orbited faintly around her body like silent moons caught within invisible gravity.
Raye stared upward completely dumbfounded.
"…Holy shit."
Her voice came out quiet and stunned.
"What the hell am I looking at right now?"
Then, suddenly every Grimm and Hybrid surrounding them exploded.
Chunks of black fur, bone plating and flesh erupted outward as jagged iron fragments violently detonated from inside their bodies. One Beowolf burst apart mid leap while the Ursa collapsed into torn pieces of gore and metal shards.
The half transformed Hybrids met similar fates.
Their bodies convulsed once and then detonated into ruin. The entire chamber became a storm of blood and fragmented steel.
Merlot immediately tried to flee.
The awakened scientist twisted in midair while launching himself toward one of the side exits but the metal fragments littering the chamber suddenly surged upward all at once.
WHOOOM.
The debris wrapped around him instantly like a living tide.
Steel bent unnaturally around his body before compressing into a thick metallic shell that imprisoned him completely.
Only his head remained exposed.
"You scum of LUCID!" Merlot snarled furiously. "You'll pay for thi—"
CLANG.
Metal sealed directly over his mouth. The rest of his words vanished beneath muffled screaming. Raye blinked slowly at the sight.
"…Okay."
She pointed weakly at the floating metal cocoon.
"We... should we run, Shore. She... she's terrifying."
The red haired woman finally landed beside them softly. Up close, Shore could feel the pressure radiating from her presence alone. Not malicious or aggressive.
Just heavy. Like standing near some invisible gravitational field.
She reached calmly into a pouch near her waist and withdrew a small glowing LUCID tech bracelet. One that had three imbued runes on it.
Raye immediately tensed and tried to help Shore back away instinctively. Shore winced slightly from the movement.
"Relax," he muttered. "She's on our side."
Raye slowly turned toward him.
The glare she gave him carried enough betrayal that under different circumstances Shore might have laughed. Right now though, his abdomen still felt like molten metal had been poured inside it.
The woman activated the rune and soft golden light spread outward immediately.
Warmth flooded through Shore's body first.
The agony in his abdomen began fading almost instantly while shattered nerves and torn tissue reknit themselves beneath his combat gear. His broken arm crackled disturbingly as bone realigned itself.
Nearby, Raye's injured arm healed similarly while the early signs of degeneration across her fingers receded partially beneath the healing energy.
Within moments both of them could stand properly again. Shore exhaled slowly before straightening himself fully. Then he looked properly toward the Rank 2 standing before him.
Pyrrha Nikos
Who would have thought that the Rank 2 in the area had been her.
Even among LUCID personnel, her name carried enormous weight. Shore had heard the stories long before even seeing her personally.
Youngest Rank 2 in recent history.
Former MMA prodigy before awakening. A combat monster whose control over metal had become infamous throughout operational circles.
But now that she stood directly in front of him...
What struck Shore most wasn't her power.
It was the exhaustion.
Her face looked strangely distant. Almost emotionally muted beneath the beauty and composure. Like someone who had not properly rested in a very long time.
There was tiredness in her eyes.
Deep tiredness.
Shore knew fragments of her story.
Everyone inside LUCID knew about the Shadow Realm Expedition from six months ago. The incident had become practically legendary among awakened personnel.
Apparently an entire section of Mistral City's Dream Realm had been permanently altered afterward. Something previously believed impossible.
And somehow, operative Nikos had been directly involved. Shore lacked the clearance to know details beyond rumors.
Still...
Looking at her now, he could believe those rumors had cost people pieces of themselves.
Pyrrha finally spoke.
Her voice was calm and smooth.
"I received your failsafe signal. You cut things a little close there, Operative Shore."
Shore immediately straightened slightly despite lingering soreness.
"I'm alright, ma'am," he answered respectfully. "Thank you for the assistance. Another minute and we would've become Grimm chow."
Pyrrha nodded once, still expressionless. Then her gaze shifted toward Raye. The pressure behind those eyes alone made Raye visibly tense.
"Civilian?" Pyrrha asked.
Shore answered quickly.
"She is. But I'm planning to recommend her as either a LUCID informant or operative candidate."
Raye blinked and Shore continued calmly.
"Her infiltration skills are already strong enough to meet baseline requirements. With proper training she'd become an extremely valuable asset."
Pyrrha studied Raye silently for several seconds glancing at the degeneration on her hands.
Then nodded once.
"Understood, but she might require some extra rune treatment beforehand. In any case, that saves me the trouble of erasing her memories." Her tone remained neutral.
Raye froze completely.
"…Excuse me?"
Shore immediately patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Relax. Nobody's erasing anything."
Raye looked between the two of them.
"You people can DO that?!"
"Technically yes," Shore admitted.
"What the hell kind of government branch are you psychos running?!"
Shore almost smiled.
Almost.
"Considering Operative Nikos is here, cleanup teams will arrive shortly," he explained calmly. "We'll remain here until the rest of LUCID secures the site."
Around them, the ruined laboratory still dripped with blood and Grimm fluid.
Destroyed Hybrid corpses littered the chamber floor while Doctor Merlot floated helplessly nearby encased inside his metallic prison like some particularly dangerous canned food item.
Raye slowly put a hand over her forehead.
"…Fucking hell, man."
She looked around helplessly. "This has got to be the craziest thing I've seen in my entire life. People with superpowers and shit..."
Shore stared at her for a moment. Then unexpectedly... he grinned.
Not the small dry smirks he usually gave. An actual genuine grin. Bright enough that Raye visibly froze for half a second in surprise.
A small laugh escaped him afterward despite everything that had happened.
"Trust me," Shore said.
His eyes flicked briefly toward Pyrrha. Then toward the open sky above the ruined mountain base.
"You haven't seen anything yet, Raye."
Somewhere deeper inside the facility, distant alarms continued blaring uselessly into the afternoon air while the hidden world she never knew existed slowly unfolded piece by piece around her.
Perhaps... for the first time since escaping Eclipse Industries... Raye looked to have truly began realizing just how enormous that hidden world actually was.
.
.
The mountain roads surrounding the hidden facility had transformed into organized chaos.
Heavy transport trucks rolled through the forest paths one after another while portable floodlights illuminated the night with harsh white brilliance. DuoCopters thundered overhead, their rotating blades scattering leaves and dust through the mountainside like a storm sweeping across the trees.
Entire sections of the forest had already been cordoned off by armed LUCID personnel.
Some operatives moved through the facility entrance carrying containment cases while others hauled restrained Hybrid specimens into reinforced transports. Technicians in dark hazard suits pushed floating anti contamination crates toward mobile laboratories that had been established directly outside the mountain base.
The hidden facility that had once seemed untouchable now looked like a carcass being methodically dismantled by scavengers.
Shore sat on the hood of one of the armored vehicles while watching the cleanup operation unfold below. Raye stood beside him with folded arms. She had been quiet for almost fifteen minutes now.
Which, considering everything she had witnessed tonight, was honestly understandable.
A giant section of the mountain had been ripped open like paper by a floating red haired superhuman capable of detonating Grimm from the inside.
Then a secret government organization arrived with military precision and began confiscating literal monster laboratories. At this point Shore suspected her brain was still trying to process reality itself.
An older man eventually approached them through the organized bustle of the operation.
He wore LUCID combat fatigues beneath a long dark coat and carried himself with the calm confidence of someone experienced enough to no longer feel rushed by emergencies.
The older operative was a Rank 1 awakened. He stopped in front of Shore before giving his shoulder a firm pat.
"Good job, Shore."
"Thank you, sir."
"I was a little worried when you went dark for a bit there," the man admitted. "But good thinking on your part."
His eyes drifted briefly toward the restrained form of Doctor Merlot in the distance.
"Now that we have the ringleader, we'll finally have legal clearance to dismantle Eclipse Industries in its entirety."
Raye blinked slightly at that. An entire conglomerate.
Gone.
Just like that.
The older operative continued calmly.
"You can rest assured there's a sizeable vacation waiting for you after this. Along with a bonus."
Shore nodded respectfully.
"Thank you, sir."
The older awakened then glanced toward Raye.
"I'll process her in a bit," he said. "Can I trust you'll get her up to speed regarding LUCID and our mission in the meantime?"
"Yes sir," Shore replied immediately. "I'll handle it."
"Good."
The man nodded once before walking toward the center of the operation where Pyrrha Nikos still stood quietly beside the restrained Merlot.
The older operative eventually stopped in front of her.
"Operative Nikos," he greeted calmly. "I'm Dawn."
Pyrrha nodded once.
"I'll be conducting the preliminary evaluation before his transfer to Vale City."
Another nod.
The metal gag sealing Merlot's mouth suddenly shifted and peeled away from his face. The instant it did, Merlot immediately inhaled sharply.
Then his body spasmed violently.
Bulges suddenly formed beneath his skin in horrifying patterns. Veins along his neck and arms swelled grotesquely as though something sharp was crawling through them from the inside.
Merlot let out a muffled choking sound.
The iron within his own bloodstream.
Pyrrha was controlling it.
Tiny metallic spikes pierced through sections of his veins internally with microscopic precision. Enough pain to break resistance almost immediately without causing lethal damage.
It was horrifying and disturbingly controlled. Pyrrha's voice remained perfectly calm throughout the entire process.
"Answer truthfully," she said, her eyes meeting his. "Or I'll make it more painful."
Merlot hurriedly nodded despite the tremors wracking his body. Dawn activated his holopad afterward.
"Hello, Doctor Merlot."
The scientist glared weakly at him. Dawn scrolled through several files while speaking.
"It was quite difficult finding information about you in our systems," he admitted thoughtfully. "Almost like somebody intentionally erased your records."
Merlot said nothing and Dawn continued reading. "However, we eventually found archived references dating back over twenty five years."
His eyes lifted from the screen.
"You used to be part of LUCID's early Grimm experimentation research division. How interesting," he mused. "Director Ozpin will certainly enjoy hearing about this."
At the mention of that name, Merlot visibly stiffened. Dawn calmly continued the interrogation.
"Tell me about your goals regarding Hybrid creation."
Merlot remained silent briefly. Then Pyrrha's fingers twitched slightly and Merlot screamed.
Not loudly, because Pyrrha controlled even the iron within the blood vessels around his throat, reducing the sound into a strangled gasp.
"I'll talk!" he wheezed.
Dawn nodded pleasantly.
"Good."
He resumed typing onto the holopad. "Was Sleepless involved in funding or supporting your experiments?"
Merlot hesitated. Then his eyes flicked nervously toward Pyrrha again before he answered quickly.
"I don't know if it was Sleepless specifically," he admitted shakily. "But an independent awakened group approached me years ago."
"Continue."
"They provided resources, funding and access to facilities. They connected me to Eclipse Industries and allowed my research to continue independently."
Dawn quietly recorded everything.
"What were they after?"
"The same thing I was," Merlot replied. "Human evolution."
The questioning continued for several more minutes afterward.
Shipment routes, research funding, distribution chains and even hybrid classifications.
V1 through V4 progression.
Every answer was meticulously documented. Eventually, Dawn appeared satisfied enough with the preliminary information gathered.
Then Merlot muttered bitterly beneath his breath.
"I would've completed my work already if it wasn't for that meddlesome blonde teenager."
Dawn paused mid typing and Merlot continued angrily.
"He just had to steal my specialized research rune. If it wasn't for him, V5 would've been completed by now." the scientist hissed bitterly.
His grin twisted slightly.
"The perfect specimen."
He shook his head. "Alas."
Pyrrha's eyes suddenly sharpened. The air pressure around her shifted instantly and even Shore could feel it.
Merlot however, seemed to realize too late that he had said something important.
The next moment Pyrrha moved.
CLANG.
The metal restraining Merlot suddenly tightened violently around his body while her hand enclosed around his throat with terrifying speed.
Merlot gagged instantly as Pyrrha lifted him slightly off the ground. For the first time since arriving, genuine emotion appeared on her face.
Something sharp. Something deeply unstable hiding beneath exhaustion. Her eyes locked onto his with frightening intensity.
"This teenager, who stole your rune."
The metal around his throat constricted harder and Merlot trembled.
"Tell me everything you know about him."