No special news this time around, just a regular old update to the story, so I'll keep this short and sweet. Any thoughts or questions can be fired by PM or review, otherwise I'll see you all again in a couple of weeks for the next update.

The sound of muffled voices gradually filled Frost's ears as he regained consciousness. They sounded like they were coming from all around him, but as his senses slowly returned, that was the least of his concerns. The moment he tried to move his arms and legs, he quickly realized that his body was currently pinned in an upright position as he could feel gravity trying to slide him off of the platform he was currently stuck to. Frost grunted in frustration as he tried to pull himself free of his binds, only to fail as he realized that he was currently unable to activate his Semblance.

"I wouldn't struggle too much if I were you." A deep voice echoed from around him. "You don't exactly have any Aura to spare at the moment, so trying too hard could result in some rather painful injuries. And we can't exactly have that."

Frost looked up at the sound of the voice to see a man wearing a dark suit standing in front of him. It was at that moment that Frost realized that the sounds that been coming from around him was that of people's footsteps as countless scientists and researchers walked about the room. At least, that's what Frost assumed given that they all seemed to be wearing lab coats and carried around vials and containers of odd looking substances. After processing the room's contents, he returned to looking – more like glaring – at the man on the opposite side of the glass window separating him from the rest of the room's occupants.

"And why is that?" Frost snapped with a barely restrained snarl.

"Because you are far too valuable to damage before the tests even begin."

"What tests?" Frost felt a budding sense of dread begin to fill his mind as the man continued to speak.

"Why, the tests on the Grimm inside of you. You and I both know what currently resides within you, waiting to spring forth and wreak havoc once more."

A look of confusion crossed Frost's face for a brief instant as the man's words flitted into his ears. "…Once more? The hell is that supposed to mean?" The man sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. Frost had to strain his hearing as much as possible to even catch a part of what the man mumbled under his breath.

"…just as stubborn as the damned fools that raised him…"

"Raised me?" Frost asked without a second thought, red flags flashing in his mind even more violently. "How in the hell do you know my parents?!"

The man straightened his posture with a quick clearing of his throat before returning his steely gaze to Frost's trapped form. "That would depend on how much you've managed to "remember" from your passenger. Think about it. Who else could I happen to be?"

Frost lost himself in thought as he wracked his brain for any sort of clue as to the man's identity. He knew something was off given the equal parts dread and anticipation that his body felt at that moment in time. But why was that?

And then it clicked; and as it did so, a look of pure dread found its way to Frost's face, any traces of confusion or anger lost to a sea of blood and tears.

"…You…you're the one that killed them…"

The man simply stood there in silence as a sinister grin began to form upon his face. "You're partly right, child. You see, I AM the man who first created the Grimm-human hybrid, but it wasn't I that killed your family…well, I suppose I did finish off your pitiful mother. But YOU, or I suppose a PART of you, killed the others. So I would say that both of us are responsible at this moment in time."

Frost's head hung limp as the pain of witnessing the deaths of his and Neo's parents filled his mind once more. But no tears fell. Instead, a burning hatred began to form as Frost pulled against his constraints once more, this time with a hatred he had not consciously felt in a long time. Not since the day he had nearly rushed Torchwick when Ozpin had led him off of one of General Ironwood's airships.

"…Why?" His voice was barely a whisper as the question left his lips.

The man leaned forward mockingly with a hand cupped to his ear. "What was that, boy? You'll have to speak up."

"I said…why." This time it was more of a statement than a question. His head tilted back up to glare at the man as he felt the telltale signs of the Grimm inside of him swelling up with power. His voice was cold and filled with hatred as he felt the words bubble up in his throat. "What did they ever do to you? What did that village ever do to you? None of those people deserved what happened that night."

The man shook his heading with a clicking sound before sighing deeply and looking at Frost once more. "You're only partially right again, boy. You are correct in stating that the village itself did not deserve what happened to it. But, you see, they simply happened to fall in with the wrong group of people. Namely, your parents and their teammates."

"What the fuck are you getting on about now?" Frost was rapidly losing patience as he felt his head begin to throb somewhat, his eyes slowly changing from their usual white and blue to the trademark black and red that signified the Grimm presence within him.

"All in due time. First we need to start at the beginning for you to properly understand why I despise Huntsmen and Huntresses and their foolish ideal to defeat the Grimm." The man took a deep breath before he began.

You see, a number of years ago, before the current generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses were born, I was a professor at Vacuo. As you might also know, Vacuo is one of the most underpopulated kingdoms in Remnant due to the amount of uninhabitable desert that resides on its continent. Mistral has a high quantity of Grimm as well, but the land itself is still mainly hospitable, much like the kingdom of Vale. And Atlas has its own territory acting as a buffer from the Grimm despite how much of the continent is unpopulated as well. But Vacuo was in a bad way at the time. The Grimm were a constant threat, with civilians, students, and teachers alike dying to the Grimm if they weren't careful enough.

So it was decided that a group of teachers focused their attention on an alternative to stopping the Grimm. Something different from simply using Semblances or Dust to try and combat the creatures to give ourselves the space to breath. I was a member of that very team, and for the first while, we were unable to produce any sort of useful results. That was…until someone managed to trap a Grimm right within the Academy walls. Any other attempts to capture or detain a Grimm was met with either the deaths of numerous combatants, or the death of the creature itself due to their continued ferocity. What was even more peculiar was the type of Grimm that it was. Never before had we witnessed something like it, and judging from its general shape we assumed it was more of a scout that had happened to delve too closely rather than be meant as a fighter like the Grimm we had all come to know.

The very notion of the Grimm having scouts baffled all of us, as we believed the creatures to be mindless and random in their attacks. But after seeing this creature and the calmness it seemed to possess when viewing things, we realized that this changed everything. And so we spent days studying it, never sleeping, and barely taking breaks to keep ourselves sustained so as to avoid hunger delaying our research. One of the researchers having a Semblance that allowed for an area of selective insomnia was quite useful in that regard as the lure of sleep was also kept off of us. Those days showed us how useful some Semblances could be when used off of the battlefield.

And then, one night, everything changed for those of us in that centre. For as we worked on our tools and instruments to try and understand the creature better, we heard a voice. At first, we wondered if it was simply a joke being played by the researcher that was keeping us all awake, like some sort of long-term effect of their Semblance or a simple prank by one of the other scientists. But then we heard it again. And again. And it was at that moment that we realized that the voice was coming from the Grimm itself. We soon realized that these beings were far more unique than we had ever believed when the voice introduced itself as the master of the Grimm, as the creature we had captured was simply a means for them to communicate with those long distances away from it. Immediately, one of the other researchers asked what the beings name was. And to our continued surprise, it answered.

And in reply, it said its name was…

"Salem." Ozpin finished as he stood calmly in front of all of the rooms residents. At present, the room was also occupied by Neo, Emerald, Penny, Team RWBY, Qrow, Jaune, Nora, and Ren as well as the headmaster himself.

"So…hang on a second." Emerald stated as she put her hands up for a moment. "You're telling us that not only are the Grimm actually puppets, but that their leader has been around for thousands of years trying to kill of humans and Faunus alike?"

"Were you even paying attention to what the man said, kid?" Qrow asked as he took a quick swig from his flask.

"Yeah, I was." Emerald snapped back. "It just doesn't make sense."

"And most people would say the same thing. Why do you think so few people are even aware of her? If she were common knowledge, she would be one of the first things you kids would learn about when you go to school."

"But at the same time, her presence being known only gives her more power." Ozpin spoke up so as to continue his earlier conversation. "If the general population were aware of her existence, then it would create a widespread panic that would only fuel the Grimm more. And so her identity and presence were kept a secret from the day she was first discovered. But things have changed within the last few years. Originally her goal was the destruction of all life on Remnant. Now, as you've all seen or heard about, people are going missing, only to return with Grimm planted within them. Countless villages have fallen to this very tactic, and it is greatly in part responsible for why humanity has been slowly sheltering themselves more and more within the kingdoms. We are very quickly running out of room for everyone to live together, and if we don't find a way to stop her plans soon, none of us are likely to survive."

Everyone was silent for a time, before Neo spoke up with a question of her own.

"So…the village where Frost and I grew up…it was one of the last villages to be directly attacked by these hybrids then?"

Ozpin nodded. "As far as we can tell, yes. The man that orchestrated the attack overextended and was caught red-handed in the act. Thanks to that, we were able to dismantle a large portion of Salem's plan and force her to be more careful as to how she would convert humans and Faunus to her own side. There are others out there loyal to her, and likely as we speak many of them continue to try and convert more hybrids to bolster their forces."

With that admittance, everyone grew silent for a time as they all let it sink in just what they were up against.

"So…what do we even do next if there's no real lead?" Ruby asked the question on everyone's mind.

"When did Oz ever say that we didn't have a lead?" Qrow snorted under his breath as he caught everyone's attention. At that all eyes returned to Ozpin, who simply sighed and gave Qrow a pointed look before beginning to speak. The drunk gave no cares in the world as he simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"There is a single individual that may be able to lead us in the right direction. But to get them to answer we will need to be especially careful not to arouse suspicion. As a matter of fact, I believe some of you have already met them." Ozpin's gaze turned slowly to Neo and Emerald, who both tilted their heads in confusion.

"Us?" Emerald wondered aloud. "When the hell did we get a chance to meet someone like that?"

"I believe the two of you as well as Mister Frost encountered a village that was under attack by a previously unseen breed of Grimm, correct?" Ozpin stated with a knowing look.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"There is a woman there. Someone that has been under constant supervision for some time now after she helped us in stalling Salem's plan when she admitted to it having gone too far. She likely goes by an alias, but her actual name is Denise Amala." A worried look crossed Neo's face, something that did not go unnoticed by the others in the room. "I assume you have a hunch as to who this person might be, Miss Neo?"

"It…wouldn't happen to be Amalie, would it?"

Qrow scoffed loudly. "Of course. So blatantly obvious and yet no one bats an eyes at it until the truth comes out."

Ozpin ignored Qrow's outburst as he calmly nodded his head. "Rather simple to decipher unfortunately, and that is precisely why she is likely our best lead. There is a good chance that despite her original actions, she still works for Salem and the individuals that spearheaded her plans to meld humans and Faunus with Grimm rather than blatantly destroy them."

"But there's a good chance that she likely ran once we left to go to Atlas!" Neo retorted loudly. "How are we supposed to trust that she'll even still be in Atlas at this point?"

"Because, kiddo…" Qrow stated as he pushed himself away from the wall and the leaning stand he had been in. "If Winter did what she was supposed to when I paid her a little visit, our little rebel ought to be in Atlas' custody as we speak rather than on the run to wherever her boss happens to be. And that's where we're going next."

"Does that about sum it up?" The man asked calmly as he regarded Frost's seething form strapped within the sealed chamber. "Is your curiosity sated?"

"Enough that I know exactly what I'm going to do to you and this Salem the moment I get out of here." Frost's rage was plainly visible as a vein pulsed on his forehead; his arms straining against the straps holding him in place as well.

The man laughed coldly. "You honestly believe you could pose a remote threat to someone as powerful as Salem? You're as much a fool as your parents when they first got me kicked out of Vacuo for experimenting on their fellow classmates at the time. They were lucky I didn't kill them that night, though I did get my chance for revenge years later."

"I don't care if I don't pose a threat to her. All I care is that people like you ad her aren't able to fuck up more lives than you already have."

"That's going to be rather difficult when you're fighting on the same side." The man regarded Frost with curiosity. "Though I suppose it will be interesting to see just how intense your resolve is as we begin our tests. By the time we're done, there shouldn't be anything left of the original you – only the Grimm that resides within you with a new host body that is ripe for combat."

"I'd like to see you TRY and break me."

"Ooooh…with pleasure."

The man regarded Frost with a cold look as he flipped a switch on the side of the chamber as a gas began to filter in from a vent above Frost's head. The last thing Frost remembered as the darkness set in once more was how much he was going to enjoy frying this entire facility and its inhabitants, no matter what it did to him in the process.