Doctor Merlot floated silently within the metal cocoon.
The construct carrying him resembled a sealed iron flower. Layered sheets of dark metal rotated around his body in overlapping sections while faint runic energy glowed between the seams.
Pyrrha Nikos walked ahead of him through the underground corridors of the Vale's LUCID facility with calm measured steps.
The deeper sections of the headquarters looked nothing like ordinary architecture.
Everything here felt cold and sterile.
The hallways were illuminated by pale white light strips embedded directly into the walls and floor. Doors lacked handles entirely and instead opened through authorization systems that scanned the signatures of nearby personnel.
The occasional armed operative passed by wearing black tactical uniforms reinforced with thin metallic plating around the chest and forearms.
Nobody spoke and nobody questioned why Pyrrha herself was escorting the prisoner. Truthfully, nobody needed to ask.
The mere fact that a Rank 2 personally handled transport told everyone exactly how dangerous Doctor Merlot was considered.
Eventually they arrived at the holding sector.
Rows of containment cells lined the chamber beneath a ceiling crisscrossed with glowing circuitry. Most of the cells were empty, though one further down contained another prisoner dressed in plain white fatigues.
The orange haired man inside lounged lazily against the wall with the expression of someone deeply bored with existence itself.
He glanced toward Merlot briefly. Then looked away again as though none of this interested him in the slightest.
Pyrrha stopped before one of the reinforced cells and raised her hand gently.
The metal cocoon unfolded immediately.
Layer by layer the shell peeled apart before dissolving into floating metallic dust that scattered through the air and vanished entirely.
Merlot dropped lightly onto the floor inside the containment room. A second later, a curtain of pale runic energy descended from the ceiling behind him.
The barrier hummed softly with power.
Two armed guards standing nearby checked glowing displays mounted into the walls before nodding.
"Containment stable and suppression active."
Merlot brushed imaginary dust from his sleeves.
"You know," he drolled casually, "all of this is rather unnecessary. I already said I would come peacefully."
Pyrrha stared at him for several seconds.
Her crimson hair drifted slightly despite the absence of wind. Those tired blue eyes remained utterly unreadable. Then she turned away.
"The commander will be visiting you later."
That was all she said before leaving.
The guards followed after her immediately, their steps echoing through the chamber until silence settled over the holding sector once more.
Merlot exhaled slowly and glanced sideways toward the orange haired prisoner again. The man had not moved from his corner.
Most prisoners tended to stare, threaten or attempt conversation. This one looked like he would rather be sleeping. Merlot eventually shrugged and sat down on the provided bed within the cell.
The mattress was surprisingly comfortable for a prison. He folded his hands over his stomach thoughtfully while staring upward at the ceiling lights.
What an unfortunate sequence of events. Really, if one looked at the situation objectively, none of this should have happened.
His research had been nearing completion. V5 had almost become viable. Years of experimentation and failures as well as refinement. And all of it was set back because of a single meddlesome blond haired brat stole his greatest supporting component.
Merlot sighed.
That damned rune.
Truthfully, losing the meta rune had damaged his work more severely than even LUCID's interference. Without it, several critical synchronization stages simply became impossible to stabilize.
It still irritated him deeply.
Especially because the boy clearly understood enough about the experiments to know how important the rune truly was.
Yet strangely, the teen had not attempted to destroy the project entirely.
No.
He had simply stolen the rune and vanished. Merlot frowned thoughtfully. Where had he even gone afterward? The kid had practically disappeared off the face of the planet. Which honestly felt more insulting than anything else.
Merlot had spent years reshaping the future of humanity and somehow his greatest obstacle had become a teenager with sticky fingers and abnormal luck.
Ridiculous.
About an hour later footsteps echoed once more through the containment wing.
Merlot opened his eyes.
Two armed guards approached alongside a blonde woman wearing fitted black combat fatigues. Unlike ordinary operatives, the pressure around her felt strange.
Dense and heavy.
A Rank 2.
She stopped before the cell.
"Doctor Merlot," she said calmly. "Come with me. The commander will see you now."
Merlot rose slowly from the bed.
So.
It was finally time. Commander Ozpin. The Rank 3 overseeing Vale's LUCID branch. Truthfully, Merlot had always been somewhat curious about the man.
The stories surrounding Ozpin were quite interesting among Awakened circles. Though, to be fair, all Rank 3's had some sort of stories like that.
The runic barrier lifted and he was escorted through multiple secured corridors deeper into the facility. Several checkpoints later they arrived before a reinforced metal door that slid open soundlessly.
Inside sat a surprisingly ordinary looking interrogation room.
And within it sat Ozpin.
The commander occupied a simple chair at the far side of the table while reviewing information on a floating holo tablet.
A steaming cup of coffee levitated calmly beside him unsupported. Merlot immediately noticed the subtlety of the control involved.
The liquid inside the cup barely even rippled.
Ozpin looked up as Merlot entered.
He looked less like one of the most powerful men in Vale and more like a mildly overworked professor who had not slept properly in years. Considering that he was also the headmaster of Beacon academy...
It somehow made him more unsettling.
Ozpin gestured gently toward the chair opposite him.
"Please. Sit."
Merlot complied.
The blonde Awakened woman remained standing silently beside the wall while the guards exited the room entirely.
Ozpin took another sip of coffee before speaking.
"You have a very interesting file, Doctor."
Merlot smiled faintly.
"I imagine that depends on perspective."
"Mm."
Ozpin scrolled through several sections of the holo tablet lazily.
"An unfortunate file as well. Unfortunate for others... and unfortunate for you."
Merlot leaned back slightly in his chair. Ozpin finally placed the floating coffee cup gently onto the table.
"I have already heard the preliminary reports regarding your activities involving Aetherion."
His fingers folded together calmly.
"But I would prefer hearing it directly from you all the same. What exactly were you planning to do with your experiments regarding the grimm?"
Merlot's smile widened slowly.
There it was. The real question. Not murder, kidnapping or human experimentation.
The Grimm.
Merlot leaned forward slightly in his chair while his eyes sharpened with genuine passion for the first time since his capture.
"What was I planning to do? What I was planning... was evolution."
Ozpin calmly folded his hands together atop the table.
Merlot slowly exhaled.
"This world," he began quietly, "has always been divided into two categories. The awakened... and the unawakened."
His eyes lifted toward Ozpin.
"The awakened hide themselves behind organizations, secrecy and control structures to maintain stability among the population. Less than one percent of humanity possesses true power... yet that tiny fraction governs the fate of the rest."
His voice sharpened slightly.
"And for what reason?"
He leaned forward.
"Because some absurd cosmic mechanism decided they were worthy?"
Ozpin listened without interruption.
Merlot continued.
"The Nightmare System chooses arbitrarily. It hands out power according to standards nobody understands. Some people awaken yet most do not. The people that do, gain abilities capable of reshaping cities while others remain helpless their entire lives, unknown even to the hidden world dancing before their very eyes."
His fingers curled slowly against the table.
"Why should the System decide who deserves strength?"
Ozpin regarded him quietly for several seconds.
"Not all awakened revel in the power they receive. Each night, awakened individuals are forced into the Dream Realm where they fight Grimm in an endless war that has persisted for centuries."
His tone remained calm and even. The floating coffee cup drifted gently back toward the table.
"I may no longer participate directly due to my rank 3 nature, but the principle remains unchanged."
Ozpin's eyes remained steady.
"Awakening was never intended to establish hierarchy."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"It is sacrifice."
Merlot immediately shook his head.
"But what if sacrifice was no longer necessary?"
There it was again. That dangerous light returning behind his eyes.
"The power of the Grimm originates from the Dream Realm itself. Their bodies contain genetic structure, yes, but simultaneously function as concentrated runic manifestations."
He gestured passionately now.
"By harnessing that power, humanity would no longer be divided between the powerful and powerless!"
His voice echoed slightly through the chamber.
"If my V5 compound had been completed successfully, ordinary humans would gain the ability to enter the Dream Realm voluntarily. They would no longer have to suffer Nightmare influence. No more uncontrolled fear and no more corruption from amalgamations!"
His breathing quickened.
"It would be peace. Unprecedented peace and... the end of all Grimm!"
He spread his hands outward.
"If humanity becomes immune to Nightmares, then Nightmare Zones cease forming. Amalgamations disappear. Grimm populations would collapse over time with awakened hunting them down every night."
A faint tremor entered his voice and his eyes gleamed intensely.
"It is evolution. Pure statistical evolution. The elevation of humanity beyond the tyranny of the Dream Realm."
Silence followed and Ozpin leaned back slightly in his chair then took another sip from his coffee.
Then he stood and the room somehow felt smaller once he did. Without a word, he waved his hand gently.
The holo screen beside them shifted immediately.
New files appeared of old reports, historical experiment logs, grimm dissection records and various hybrid transformation cases including psychological degeneration studies.
Merlot frowned as he scanned through them.
Then he looked back up.
"Why show me this?" he asked, voice carrying mild irritation now.
"I already know these experiments ended in failure. Your own enhancement trials produced subjects consumed by homicidal instinct."
Ozpin nodded once.
"Indeed. This information, isn't new to you. After all, you were part of that original research division. Before I was even born, in fact."
Merlot narrowed his eyes and Ozpin continued.
"But do you know why every single one of those projects failed?"
Merlot immediately answered.
"They lacked proper suppression systems. Specific runes could stabilize the transformation process. If enough inhibitory layering is app—"
"No."
Ozpin's interruption was quiet but absolute. The word alone seemed to halt the room itself. Merlot stopped speaking.
Ozpin looked directly at him.
"It will never work. No matter how advanced technology becomes, how many runes you incorporate and no matter how refined your compounds grow..."
He gestured toward the files.
"It always ends the same way."
The holo display shifted again. Images of twisted Hybrid corpses appeared with deformed flesh and half transformed monstrosities.
Humans reduced into snarling creatures.
"As long as Grimm material remains part of the process," Ozpin said softly, "the subjects will eventually degenerate into killing machines."
Merlot clenched his jaw.
"I refuse to believe—"
"It does not matter whether you believe it."
Ozpin stepped closer.
"The result remains unchanged."
The room became very quiet again. Then Ozpin asked calmly:
"You know of the Sleeper, correct?"
Merlot frowned in annoyance.
"Of course I do."
"Good," Ozpin replied. "I figured you would. Every awakened group individual or otherwise should have an understanding of her by now. In any case, that simplifies matters."
He looked toward the hovering reports.
"The reason your experiments inevitably fail is because every single creature of Grimm carries something far worse than simple biological corruption."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"Within every strand of their incomprehensible genetic structure exists the subconscious Will of the Sleeper herself."
Merlot froze.
Ozpin continued.
"It threads through them like poison. Any human fused with Grimm matter becomes exposed to that Will."
His voice lowered slightly.
"And eventually... they will be consumed by it."
Merlot stared at him in disbelief but Ozpin ignored his expression and continued calmly.
"The original LUCID researchers did not understand this. At the time, humanity lacked sufficient knowledge regarding the Dream Realm."
A faint sigh escaped him.
"But knowledge grows. Sleepless might have caused immeasurable damage over the years... yet ironically, their actions have also expanded our understanding of the Dream Realm itself."
Merlot's breathing slowed. Ozpin spoke the final truth plainly.
"So long as the Sleeper exists, your experiments are doomed."
"No matter what version you create."
"V5."
"V20."
"V200."
"As long as Grimm are involved... Her Will eventually takes control. It is not a matter of if, but when."
The room seemed colder now.
"She is a god, Doctor Merlot."
The word settled heavily into the chamber.
God.
Merlot slowly leaned backward into his chair. His expression had lost its sharpness. The manic confidence, the defensive pride.
All of it began cracking apart piece by piece.
Because deep down...
He had suspected it.
Too many failures and too many inexplicable breakdowns. There were simply too many subjects who eventually devolved into creatures obsessed only with slaughter.
No matter how refined the formula became and no matter how stable the body initially appeared.
It always returned to madness.
Always.
Merlot stared blankly at the holo screen.
Years of work.
Worthless.
Ozpin quietly observed him.
Then, seeing the depression beginning to settle into the scientist's expression, he struck while the iron was hot.
"But fortunately," Ozpin said calmly, "not all hope is lost."
Merlot slowly looked upward and Ozpin waved his hand once more.
The holo display shifted again, revealing two new images. The first resembled an inverted tree. Massive roots stretching upward into darkness and branches descending below like veins.
The second image resembled a black fruit suspended in empty void.
Its surface appeared smooth yet odd somehow. Like staring at something reality itself disliked.
Merlot frowned immediately.
Ozpin folded his hands behind his back.
"Perhaps," he said quietly, "you truly could bring evolution to humanity."
His eyes settled onto the scientist.
"Just... not through the Grimm."
The room became still. Then Ozpin asked:
"What do you know about the Shadow Realm?"