The town had already started to fray when they were able to land the plane.

People were panicking in the streets.

The Grimm were everywhere, phasing through walls and screeching. But very few people seem to really see them.

"We made them mad now," Mercury noted.

Cinder decided against trying to go home once she saw the state of the streets--she didn't think she'd get there without being attacked.

"Nevermind, let's just deal with this quickly," she said.

"Claw, come with me," Emerald said. "I'll ask Fay about the mill. The rest of you...kill those things I guess. Zapato, can you shoot them down?"

"I'd hit the town too," Royal said. "Using the plane anyway, but I can fight on the ground if you want."

"You might want to stand by..." Emerald wasn't sure. "Merc?"

"I really don't care which he does." Mercury was watching the Grimm. "We'd better go."

"But...you..." Emerald began and then sighed. "Just do whatever you need to do. No time."

She took off.

"This is a terrible plan," Piper complained.

One of the Irasci landed in front of them and gnashed its teeth.

Mercury shot it and then kicked it down and stomped on it. It disintegrated.

"Well, help or something," he yelled at them.

Piper took out his alternative weapon, which was an Atlas standard issue military gun, and started to fire.

He only hit about 1/4 of his targets. They kept phasing in and out.

Royal managed to hit a few more.

Cinder didn't intend to help at all. She had no intention of exposing herself where anyone in town could see her.

She did regret not carrying any weapon that wasn't glass; it was too much of a dead giveaway. But then, she hadn't had to fight Grimm in a year. Maybe more.

She just backed up to one wall and watched.

Piper saw and assumed she just didn't care. This confirmed what he thought about her already.

This incident needed to be reported to the higher ups.

[Since those higher ups are Winter and Raven, I don't know how much he thinks their going to do about one of their own allies.]

Meanwhile, Emerald called Raven while she was racing back to the city manager's office.

"They're Irasci, but they're different," she described them. "Something really strange has gone on. We think there could be some curse on this place outside of town that drew them here."

"I suppose that's plausible," Raven said. "Do you need backup? It sounds like it's not going well."

"I'm not sure.... Do we have any available?" Emerald said.

"Right now? Not that many. The nearest huntsmen are...Qrow and Ruby. They're supposed to be on their way back by now...but your pilot isn't ready to pick them up."

"I can send him to get them, as long as it only takes, like, 20 minutes..." Emerald said.

"I might just send them to you, my way," Raven said.

"Wow...really? Are we that close?" Emerald said.

"Don't sass me, Sustrai. We've worked together a lot. It's usually a little easier then.... I can let them know...but it might take a few minutes."

"Great, I have to get more information anyway.... Raven..." Emerald lowered her voice. "...if I told you something off the record, would you not put it on file?"

"Depends on what it was. Did you kill someone?"

"No, nothing like that. We just found someone."

"Fall?"

Emerald was silent.

"Did she cause this?" Raven asked.

"No, it doesn't look like it. Looks like she called in help actually."

"Then I don't care," Raven said.

"Good, because I told her I wouldn't sell her out, and I don't want to go back on that," Emerald said. "But at the same time, if something goes wrong here...you know...might be important that someone knew."

"So she's in that town, not just...on the way?"

"Do I have to specify that part?"

"No." Raven brushed it off. "Whatever she's doing, as long as it's legal, I do not want to know. If someone asks about it, I'll not be able to say much.... Did anyone else recognize her."

"I'm pretty sure Claw did," Emerald said. "That's partly why I'm telling you. They'll probably report it, and...well, she hasn't done anything, but they're.... You know how they were with us. I don't think they're going to believe that."

"Fine, I'll know. Focus on the problem." Raven hung up.

Emerald banged on Fay's door.

Fay opened it, holding a long pole that looked like it had been a gardening tool at one point. "Pumpkins and pineapples! Sustrai, you scared me. I thought you were one of those fiends."

"Yeah, no," Emerald said. "We found something. Let me in."

Fay let them in.

Claw was inside, but she just shut the door and stood by it like she was guarding it.

"The abandoned mill." Emerald wasted no time. "They were hiding in it. Someone told us it was haunted. What's weird about that place?"

Ms. Fay looked at her oddly. "Oh dear...I should have thought of that myself. I didn't even think.... Honestly, I didn't know it was still standing. Must have been knocked down."

"It's burned down too," Emerald said.

Ms. Fay went into her office--her office and her house were the same, since the town was so small.

"All right...let's see." She pulled out a filing cabinets. "Old rumors aren't usually considered official news, but around here people are superstitious a lot.... Ah, here, hauntings...and here it is." She pulled out a folder of papers. "Not much here..." She began to read.

"The person who owned the mill last before it was abandoned was actually the city treasurer also," she said after a moment. "This was a few generations ago, though.... I was a young woman at the time."

She looked only about 50-60 now.

"Yes...well, the man did cheat quite a few people," Ms. Fay went on. "Mixed stuff with their flour. He claimed no one could prove it was really less than he promised. Then some fellows from the town went to the mill and broke down the door."

So it had been like that already? Not the Grimm.

"They found a basement under it with extra wheat," Fay went on. "Apparently, he was selling it outside the town to higher bidders, didn't pay his taxes on it either. Set up a nice little sum for himself. They found that hidden there also. I suppose he thought no one would look for it in the mill. They had a falling out. They beat him half to death, and then they cursed him and said his mill would never profit him ever again after this. Then Grimm attacked it, drawn to the negativity. They escaped, but the man got eaten. His family then used the money to build a new mill and tried to cover up the incident. But Grimm kept attacking the old one. People were too afraid to go to it and tear it down--they show up as soon as anyone does.... What an unpleasant story."

She looked up. "Does this help, Miss Sustrai?"

"I think I got the picture," Emerald said. "So there's a basement? Maybe that's where those things were coming from. I didn't see any door."

"Hmm...the registry would have the blueprints of the building if you need help. I can just walk down the street and ask them," Ms. Fay offered. "Is it important?"

"Yeah, I think to stop them we'll have to go back there and get rid of what is in the basement," Emerald said. "Maybe then the Grimm will stop coming."

She hoped. She was new to this situation.

"I'll take your word for it. Everyone knows you know more about Grimm than other people," Ms. Fay said. "How long will it take?"

"I hope not long. But we should hurry."

They rushed out, Claw following them, and down the street.

The Grimm hadn't trashed the town that much in this time. They seemed to be focused more on scaring people than on doing that much physical damage.

Mercury, Piper, and Royal were distracting them effectively, but they just barely landed hits.

And the Grimm just seemed to keep increasing.

"Look." Royal finally pointed. "Out there."

At the edge of town, some Grimm that were not Irasci had started to appear.

Little ones for now, but people were freaking out anyway.

"I knew that would happen," Mercury said. "I'll handle them."

He raced that direction.

"I can stall them," Piper offered.

"Don't you rely on that too much?" Royal said.

"You're not really even on our team," Piper said. "Stop telling me what to do."

"He's done more than you have." Cinder commented at this.

"I'm not listening to that from you." Piper glanced at her. "Traitor."

Cinder blinked.

"Strong language to use just because she's not fighting." Royal meant to hint strongly at Piper to shut up.

Piper took the hint.

"Right, well, just standing there is just as bad," he said.

"Hey, I--" Cinder was going to tell them to frick off, but she was interrupted by more civilians rushing by.

"Miss Scarlet?" One of them paused to give her an odd look. "Why are you just standing out here? We need to be under cover."

"Oh, sure.... Uh, well, it's dangerous to walk all the way to my house," she covered.

"Disgusting," Piper said to Royal. "She sure plays the helpless act up well. I just don't know about this. This whole situation is her fault. It would be her M.O., Grimm just all out of nowhere."

"I really don't think that tracks," Royal said. "And you're adding more negativity to the mix. Can't you just do your job?"

"Again, you're not part of the team," Piper said.

"I'll be here dying with you if this mess doesn't get fixed soon. Doesn't that count?" Royal replied dryly.

"Miss Scarlet, I don't mean to alarm you," the townsperson went on, "but your shop was already getting attacked the last I saw of it. Some of those...phantoms were at the door."

"What?!" Cinder exclaimed. She took off like a shot.

"Wait, Scarlet, come back!" the guy called. "It's crazy to go that way. We have to get inside one of the stone buildings--Oh...crud."

"Sounds like there's more trouble that way," Royal said. "That tracks. They came from the north."

"I'm not going toward it," Piper said.

"You might want to grow a pair if you're going to be in the elite squads, Private," Royal said, running off.

Piper shook his head. Then he got to playing his pipe, and some of the Grimm stopped moving.

Mercury came back and then used his Eyes to blast them all.

But he'd done this a couple times now, and he knew he was running out of shots.

And there were still more coming.

"Merc!" Emerald was running back up the street to them. "I've got a lead." She had some blueprints in her hand.

"Paper? Really? This town is so in the dark ages," Mercury said

"At least they had one at all," Emerald said. "We have to get back to the mill.... Where's Zapato?"

"He ran after that friend of yours," Piper said. "Someone told her her shop was getting trashed."

"She really cares about that stupid shop," Mercury said.

"Merc, didn't she leave that one assistant there?" Emerald said. "Uh oh."

They both raced that way.

Piper followed reluctantly.

* * *

In fact the assistant, Jacqueline, had been hiding in the back while the Irasci were clawing at the windows.

They hadn't been able to break them yet, but they were only hitting harder.

"Hey! Get away from my house!" Cinder yelled.

They turned to look at her.

Cinder had a bad feeling that they were only attacking said house because they could tell it was hers.... She'd left stuff in there.

"Oh..." she said tightly. "I see..."

"Scarlet?" Jacqueline looked out the window. "What are you doing? They're vicious! You have to run."

They turned to look at her.

She screamed and ducked back.

"This place might not be much, but it's all I've got," Cinder said, still mad. "So get out of here. I'm not afraid of you miserable phantoms. I've faced worse things than you."

They snarled at her some more.

Cinder looked around.... No one was here, right?

She formed glass shards in the air around her like little daggers, then she shot them out and they pierced all the Irasci in sight.

They burst into smoke.

By now Cinder was getting tired. That was a lot of Aura to use. Magic no longer boosted hers.... She was back to her lower tolerance.

Even so, she had a higher tolerance than the average person, but not enough to just keep spamming glass summonings.

Also she was out of practice. It was kind of pathetic.

She surveyed the damage...so far it looked okay, just some scratches on the outside.

Jacqueline looked back out.

"Did...did you kill them?" she asked.

"They left," Cinder sort of lied. "I guess they weren't as bold as they pretended."

She opened the door and walked in.

Then Royal ran up...but all the Grimm were gone.

"Well, that was impressive," he said. "Nice trick."

Cinder pursed her lips.

She just hoped this idiot didn't know about her Semblance.

She saw a flash...the Silver Eyes.

The sight of them still unnerved her a little even if now she wasn't affected in the least.

Jacqueline came out of the back.

"Ms. Fay will be upset..." she said shakily. "I don't know where they came from--nothing and then they were just here. They were talking. They kept saying, 'One of them.' Why do they talk?"

She was almost hysterical.

Cinder doubted explaining to her was going to do much good.

"They're just after chaos," she said. "The manager has people on this already."

"Is that what they were doing?" Jacqueline said. "Oh...and the two of them here...oh no..."

Well, it did look bad when you didn't have context.

"Hey?" Emerald opened the door. "Is everything okay in here? I thought there was more Grimm..."

"They're gone," Cinder said flatly.

Emerald knew better than to call it out. "Okay. Hey, I do have a lead. Look." She held up the prints.

Mercury was right behind her. Piper was outside.

"Ms. Fay told me about this curse that was put on the mill by these guys who were angry about the owner cheating," Emerald explained. "In the basement. Looks like we missed the entrance to it. We have to go back and look in.... I think there might be more Grimm waiting for us there. But if we get rid of them, maybe that's it."

"Didn't I set it on fire?" Cinder forgot that Jacqueline was listening to this.

"You what?" She squeaked.

"Yeah, this is why you don't commit arson on a whim," Mercury said. "But we can use dust and put it out, then just blow the basement up. Easy peasy."

"Great plan. Have fun," Cinder said.

"Oh, no, you don't," Mercury said. "You started this, and you're going to help us fix it. I'm sure you can put the fire out too, with that d--- Semblance of yours. You're the one who made our jobs harder."

"I really don't see how you can pin this on me," Cinder protested. "And I've had enough of Grimm for one day."

"Please," Emerald said, looking kind of stressed. "It's faster if we work together...and what if they just come back here?"

There was no guarantee they wouldn't do that.

Cinder hesitated.

"We might have more back up coming anyway," Emerald said. "But...uh, I'm not sure you'd want them to...ahem, see the state of this place."

Cinder raised an eyebrow

"So if you go now..." Emerald said.

She mouthed "Ruby."

Cinder balked.

"All right, fine," she gave in ungraciously.

"Well, that was easy," Mercury muttered.

"A note," Royal said, shouldering his gun. "We're going to have to refuel after all this unexpected hopping around. I hope that's not a problem."

"I guess...we'll just have to put it up to mission expenses," Emerald said. "Oh gosh...Ms. Fay is never going to help me with my project after this disaster."

"One problem at a time," Mercury said.

* * *

Emerald had to head back outside.

A red doorway opened, and Ruby and Qrow came out of it.

"I didn't realize you and Raven were so close," Qrow said.

"Go figure." Emerald shrugged. "Can you guys help clear the town out? We've gotta take care of the source of this. We can't do both at once."

"Sure," Ruby said. "I guess you saved us some flight time anyway, right?... Uh, where is Mr. Zapato?"

"He and us are going to the ship already, and I need to meet them there. Claw and Piper will stay here." Emerald didn't trust them near the Grimm. "They can help you fight."

"Are you sure about this?" Claw asked her.

"Claw, ask me that one more time, and...I swear I will think of something," Emerald said. "I've gotta hurry."

Getting the music stands set up in the middle of this mess was hard for the manager.

* * *

"Why didn't they just break into the shop?" Mercury asked Cinder as they booked it for the ship.

Cinder patted her sewing kit. "Insurance."

Mercury frowned. "Explain."

"I figured something out about that thread Alicia gave me," Cinder said. "At first I thought it was normal thread.... Maybe it was when she had it, but everything they touch seems to carry some of their...virtue or whatever you call it. I wore these clothes I stitched it into, and Grimm didn't even try to touch them. It was like armor. I tested it a few times, to be sure...then, when I worked at the shop, I had to live in the back room--that's the arrangement--and didn't want Grimm coming in, so I sewed thread into these decorations and hung them up along the walls. Nothing ever broke in."

"That Vundar woman was so overpowered," Mercury said. "Do you have any left?"

"Just a little..." Cinder said. "Why would you need it? You have the Eyes."

"They're like batteries. You have to charge them. They're not infinite," Mercury said.

Piper hadn't left them yet.

"Those things were attacking your house," he addressed to Cinder, when they paused to get in the ship. "Are you cursed too?"

Cinder frowned at him.

"Grimm are drawn to darkness," Piper said thinly. "Negativity. This doesn't seem like a coincidence."

Mercury frowned. "Look, Pipes, it's not all about darkness. Sometimes Grimm are drawn to the biggest threat. You know that."

"And why would a seamstress be the biggest threat?" Piper said.

Cinder didn't think he was really asking that out of sheer ignorance.

"Could be her, could be the city manager owning the place, or it could be one of the townspeople. It's not like we know for sure," Mercury said. "Don't make an accusation like that without proof. Go find Emerald and tell her we need to go."

"Why did she even walk away?" Piper griped, moving.

"You changed your tune," Cinder said to Mercury.

"I think we both know why I don't want to hear that from him," he said significantly. "Let's go, Scarlet."

[While I chose the name just for the color, an interesting tidbit is you could see it as an allusion to The Scarlet Letter (that book 'Easy A' was based off of). The woman in that story was also a seamstress.]

Emerald joined them a few minutes later.

"I can't believe you called her," Cinder said as soon as she was on the ship and no one could hear.

"Not much choice. They were the closest," Emerald said. "I didn't say you were here, all right? Let's just do this quickly, and they'll never have to know."

Putting the fire out was easy enough, as it turned out. It was already smoldering to ashes.

Emerald then worked to pry the trapdoor open.

Cinder and the pilot were watching from the plane to see if the Grimm would just stream out of it.

"For a seamstress you're pretty good in a fight," Royal remarked.

Cinder didn't acknowledge the remark.

"I'm really surprised no one here's figured out who you are, Cinder," Royal added.

That got her attention. She stiffened.

This was just like with Miss Malachite!

[I mean, you didn't even wear a hood this time, Cinder!]

She clenched a fist.

"So you did figure it out. Who are you going to tell?" she said more threateningly. "Because if it's Branwen or Schnee, I'm pretty sure they won't find any reason to get involved."

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

She cursed mentally.

"Oh, relax, I was just kidding," Royal said. "Why would I bring it up? Did you see something suspicious here? Nothing suspicious about an old friend helping out some other friends with a little pest control problem."

Cinder didn't buy it for a second.

"Enough jokes. What do you want?"

"I seriously doubt anything you have," Royal said. "Just curious about why you're hiding your identity, that's all. Aren't you a famous hero too? You got the medal."

Cinder realized he'd heard the entire conversation of before.

"So you knew from the shop," she said. "Did you tell the other two?"

"No. Why? Are you going to kill me if I did?"

Cinder frowned. "The bigger question is what will they do."

"They can't really do much. I think you're overestimating how much power we demoted Atlesians have. Your connections with the higher ups are better than theirs."

"If that's the case why did you bring it up?"

"Curiosity."

Silence.

"You seem oddly okay with working for ex criminals." Cinder could think of no better lead in to figure this out.

"Yeah, you know, all of you keep saying that." Royal adjusted his dashboard slightly. "Like it's that surprising that anyone would just think that people who saved the world were probably better working with than b----ing about. No offense to their teammates...but some people just don't get it. The past is dead, as they say."

"The past doesn't entirely die," Cinder said. "It comes back to haunt you.... This entire situation is proof of that. Someone's evil actions lead to more evil. It's all the same."

"Maybe.... What would have happened if this guy had changed his mind though? Maybe called off his whole scam and gave people what he owed them? Maybe it would have worked out."

"And your point is...?"

"I think you know." Royal shrugged. "Same as Sustai and Black. You decide what you want to be. Don't let other people decide it for you. But hey, if you want to be Scarlet Scon and live out a quiet life the rest of your days, that's entirely up to you. I can't say I blame you. Seems like a nice set up. If you're into that boring, calm life. But it is a shame to waste that much fighting talent out of fear."

"Fear?" Cinder said. "Hey, listen, Mister--whatever it was, I literally can't fight anyone unless it was on the witness of at least two people that it was self defense. Fighting Grimm is a one step up from fighting humans if other people see what happens and catch on. Anonymity is the way I make sure no one starts a fight with me and then says that I started it with them. My security hangs by a thread, almost literally, and you want to talk about wasting talent?! You should walk a day in my shoes!"

"Which, by the way, don't fit you."

"What?"

"Your heels are off," Royal said. "Couldn't help but notice. Semblance."

Why was he looking at her shoes?

Cinder realized that he was right about that though.... They hadn't fit properly, and she still hadn't figured out why. 

[You know, Cinder being able to make glass heels easily but missing the sizing of them makes an odd amount of sense for her character and its weird blend of skill and cluelessness.]

"And I didn't mean to offend you," Royal acknowledged the outburst. "You and Black seem kind of alike to me, that's all. You're not like Sustrai. She's got a spring in her step, a purpose. She holds the team together, from what I've seen of them. They're all kind of blockheads. I'm guessing she held it together when you were on one too, just from the little preview I've had today. She used to work for you, right?"

Silence.

"Right...you seem to have inspired her," Royal continued. "That charity she started, it's unheard of, but it's working. And the reason it's working is because people see Sustrai and they can tell she's got that heart of gold. A few rough edges, but gold, nonetheless. And that inspires them. Black, on the other hand, he's kind of lost. He lets her lead, but he's got no direction. And he makes sure no one expects anything of him. For a world hero, you'd expect him to be a little more confident. That's what got me thinking, these things aren't as simple as people make them out to be."

"You seem to have an interest in this. Why?" Cinder didn't trust it.

"I was in Beacon when it fell," Royal said, surprising her. "One of the Atlesians able to get out of it. Then I was reassigned to Argus. Turns out that was lucky. I saw the war from beginning to end, you could say. The end wasn't like the beginning. I remember the little tirade you made to start the Grimm going."

Cinder supposed that was how he'd  recognized her that easily.... That would be hard to forget.

"Uh huh...and your point?"

"Well, you were right," Royal said.

"Huh?" Cinder didn't see that one coming.

"Oh, not to do it--that was despicable," Royal said. "But let's just say many of us in Atlas didn't know about the sneaking in a robot girl into a tournament, and then Atlas fell, and Ironwood showed he had a dark side. One has to wonder if, in the end, your team just managed to expose just how corrupt the so-called 'good guys' really were. Then there was that whole stint about Ozpin. And then there's that witch they talk about. So no one really knew what was going on. And here I am, just another ordinary person not in the loop. Then the gods get confronted and banished, and we're left to wonder how it happened. The only people who know that are about 26 individuals or so. Now the question we all have is, was exposing the evil in the world part of the plan, or was it an accident?"

Cinder frowned. "We had no thought of saving the world when Beacon fell. That came later.... In fact, I didn't even want to be part of that. I thought it was crazy. I just wanted to stop the gods."

"I thought that was probably it." Royal didn't seem surprised. "So that entire thing was a coincidence, or, better yet, it was part of a scheme that was beyond even the people who were doing it. All that falls into place, and you don't think that almost looks like some higher power is the instigator?"

"I...I guess I didn't think of it that way." Cinder didn't like how that made it sound like she'd had no real choice about it.

No, she'd had a choice.... She'd chosen to realize what was really going on...nearly too late, but still...

"I guess I'm pretty alone in this," Royal remarked. "My fellow Atlesians seem to think Atlas falling was just because of what some crazy people said one time. Like that's all there ever is to it. Atlas fell because Ironwood lost his mind. I think that much is clear. I've heard Schnee's account of it too. And Beacon...well...if the General hadn't pushed his army into it, and they hadn't hid the truth, who knows? You can see the whole thing as one massive tragedy--and that's fair...or you can see it as a massive wake up call. Things aren't always what they seem."

"And so you think that your working for two of the reasons for it is not a big deal?"

"I don't work for them, I work with them," Royal corrected. "I work for Schnee, technically. I trust her judgment. Anyone who'd stand up to Ironwood the way she did and Vacuo's crazy headmaster has got to be pretty tough. To me, you respect people who earn it. Not ones who have a title and a certificate that says they can fight. And the three of you all have medals that say in the end you protected the world. This isn't that hard to figure out, is it?"

"Only if you think in oddly biased terms." Cinder said.

"Funny, normally I'd think you'd be glad someone would look at that way. You people are strange. It's almost like you prefer people blaming you for what you did instead of giving you a chance to move on...at least, you and Black are like that." Royal leaned on his dashboard. "Sustrai isn't as much. I'm fine with following her lead. The world needs to be new. Maybe we can do a better job with this one."

"That won't last," Cinder said pessimistically. "Evil will rise again. It always does."

"Maybe you're right about that, but putting that off as long as possible seems like the better option." Royal didn't seem bothered by it. "That's all anyone can do."

He was starting to remind Cinder of Wally in a way...kind of that easy way of looking at it that always got on her nerves.

On the other hand...if she was going to get out of this, she really should be grateful for it.

She wondered if Emerald and Mercury knew that this guy was onto them. They seemed to trust him okay, so maybe they wouldn't care. But if he knew, Claw and Piper did.... She didn't trust them not to spin this the wrong way to Schnee and Branwen.

She figured her only shot was if Emerald and Mercury told the story correctly.

* * *

Mercury and Emerald found the trapdoor and pried it open almost too easily. Most of the Grimm seemed to have gone to the town.

A small ladder led down.

Emerald turned on her scroll light.

There was some signs of a fight a long time ago...perhaps some old bloodstains--could have been oil too.

"Doesn't look like much for all this trouble," Mercury said.

Emerald drew her knife and stuck it into the ground.

"I command the curse on this place to break," she said. "No more anger, or hatred, or resentment."

"What are you doing?" Mercury asked.

"You remember how they broke the curse on Ozpin and Salem?" Emerald looked up. "Help me."

"That's weird. I'm not doing that," Mercury said. "I say we just burn it away."

"Mercury, we have to do this the right way," Emerald said. "They won't stay gone without the rest of it."

"This is weird--" Mercury stopped as, out of the ground, shadows rose up and took the shape of the Irasci.

"Go away!" it said. "This is our land."

"Oh, s---." Emerald stood and backed up.

Mercury's eyes sparked slightly, but then it hurt.

"D---, I can't..." He covered them.

"Get down!" Emerald said as they tried to strike him first.

She jumped on him and knocked him aside.

The monster solidified and grabbed her foot.

"Get off me!" She kicked at it.

It grew bigger. It was shaking the ground.

Its jaw was much bigger than it should have been for this kind of Grimm. It looked ready to swallow her whole.

"Em?" Mercury tried to open his eyes, and they stung like crazy.

* * *

"Whoa, what just happened?" Royal sat up. "That's a huge Grimm, and it wasn't there a second ago."

Cinder looked at the mill. 

"Oh, for the love of--" She darted off the plane

Royal looked up. "Well, in for a penny."

He turned the gun on and then grabbed the speaker.

"Are they on the top floor?"

Cinder looked in the door and then shook her head.

"Duck," Royal said.

She gave him a weird look.

Royal turned the guns on and blasted what was left of the mill--which wasn't much more than smoking shards of wood--out of the way.

Then sunlight filtered down on the open trapdoor.

This startled the Grimm a little; it was used to the dark.

Emerald looked up.

"Put me down!" She slashed at it.

Mercury couldn't see very well, but he could hear. He shot below the sound of her voice, and the beast stumbled over a little.

Then an arrow shot through its neck. Cinder was at the top of the trapdoor.

"Can't you do anything?" she asked.

"Not the time for sass--" Emerald said as it started to dissolve and then dropped her.

Then it tried to reform.

"No!" Emerald held out her knife. "Get out of here. This is not your land!"

"Go," Cinder echoed, launching another arrow. "Don't even think about it."

Her Aura blazed up again.

This seemed to do the trick. The Grimm dissipated, and smoke went up from the basement.

"Wow." Royal was gaping.

Mercury finally blinked. "Ow...wow...that was really weird."

Emerald dropped her knife and started to shake. "That was new.... Oh gosh.... Hey, how did you know that would work?"

"That shows them who's boss," Cinder sniffed. "You have to bully them. They don't go nicely. Get out of there. I say we get far away from this place."

Mercury and Emerald climbed out, and Cinder shot fire dust into it and set it on fire.

"You just can't get over the arson," Mercury said.

Cinder punched him so that he fell on his back.

"What were you doing?" she demanded. "Just lying there? Why didn't you help?"

"Normally, I'd be mad at her for using violence, but yeah, what the h---?" Emerald said. "It was weird? Excuse me? What kind of reason is that? That thing almost ate me."

"I didn't think it would. Usually they're afraid." Mercury rubbed his face. "I'm sorry, okay?"

"Why did you hesitate?!" Emerald was still mad.

"I'm just...not so good with this...breaking curses thing." Mercury felt this was probably an excuse.

Because it was.

"Oh!" Cinder looked like she'd have been beating him up if he was still working for her.

But she managed to swallow her anger and turned away. "Let's just go before anything else happens."

"Thanks though," Emerald said to her. "Great timing."

"Shut up."