Jurassic Park/World (c) Michael Crichton, Amblin Entertainment, Universal Pictures

RWBY (c) Monty Oum, Rooster Teeth

RWBY

Jurassic Kingdom

Prologue

Night had fallen onto the jungle like a veiled blanket that concealed the verdant colors of the leaves. The serenity of the nocturnal chorus of chirps and croaks gave the jungle its deceptive calm until it was shattered by the sharp cracking of branches.

Something big was moving through the jungle underbrush with the leaves shaking and the trees groaning like pained, wailing giants.

A man in his working uniform that was drenched in sweat either from the humidity or from the stressful anticipation of what was coming. His dark verdant helmet had the logo of a T. rex skeleton in front of an orange background resembling a sunrise of sorts. He wasn't alone as they were others like him, waiting and nervous with the only thing that made the man stood out was him smoking a cigarette. His peers around him didn't seem to be affected by the smoke blown onto their faces, or if they did, they had done a damned well job of not showing it.

A little off to the side of the workers was two men of notable appearance. One wore a hunter outfit that wouldn't look like too out of place in this place or out on a hunting safari in Vacuo's arid savannahs. He had the look to match with it, bearing a hardened disposition on his scarred face backed up by years of experience hunting beasts of every shape, size, and temperament; whether it be Grimm or otherwise. He was wielding his prized possession, which was his tried-and-true 'Old Bertha' shotgun with the polymer bearing some scars not unlike its wielder.

The second man next to him was similarly colored with wariness of their current situation but his appearance was sharply in contrast to that of Muldoon and the workers. His outfit consisted of a black and gray buttoned dress shirt with his pants and shoes being black along with donning a red tattered cloak. The man had black, spiky hair that was graying at the edges with his eyes being crimson in color, but dulled somewhat by both the darkness of the night in spite of the shining floodlights and his less tactful drunken dullness. Unlike Muldoon's cleanly shaven chin, the man's jawline had a slight stubble lining. Also unlike Muldoon's relatively 'simple' shotgun, the older Huntsman possessed a more sophisticated, bladed weapon that was now folded and placed behind him.

Muldoon's nose wrinkled at the distinctive pungent smell of alcohol coming from the man, who was taking a sip from his alcoholic flask that he carried by his hip every time. He glared at him as the man seemed too caught up in his drinking to notice.

"By Oum's sake, Qrow…give me that!" Muldoon hissed, not pleased with the old crow as he abruptly grabbed the flask away from him, much to Qrow's displeasure. "The last thing my boss should hear is you getting drunk on the job as critical as this."

"Hey, we're dealing with something that shouldn't be possible and a lot could go wrong regardless if I'm sober or otherwise. Can you really blame for trying to drink my nerves down here?" Qrow shrugged his shoulders as he was totally not drunk.

"Damn it, Qrow. How your team was able to handle you with your drinking is beyond me." The hat-wearing huntsman pressed onto his hat as if the thing was the only safeguard from losing his sanity.

Qrow chuckled humorlessly, but quietly enough as to not make a scene, "You wouldn't be drinking the weak-ass beer piss if you went through half the stuff I had to endure."

"Hmph…no thanks. I'd rather stay sane and sober. I had already enough on my plate to deal without my wife being ballistic towards drunks."

"To each his own…" Qrow couldn't say any further when he saw the bamboo leaves parting and the stems folding with the arrival of a huge metallic crate protruding outward from the jungle. The crate was suspended on a steel platform connected by a heavy duty loader.

"Everybody, heads up! Heads up! Keep it going! Make way!" A captain barked instructions at the workers to keep clear of the loader.

Men spoke in Vacuoan dialect. The floodlights shone onto the crate as it was brought to the railing that led to a heavily guarded gate entrance of a fortified enclosure complete with platforms occupied by guards. The captain gestured to the driver of the loader to carefully lower the crate as to not startle what was inside it.

Workers, armed with tasers and rifles, cautiously approached the lowering of the crate.

Peering through the small holes of the crate, a beast from within snorted in low, rasping croaks, eyeing Muldoon and Qrow when they both appeared in its limited line of sight.

"Pushing teams, move in there!" Muldoon barked to the other team responsible for moving the crate into the entrance of the enclosure once it landed onto the rail track completely.

"Yes, sir. Let's do it!" The pushing men complied when they moved in onto the crate at all sides almost simultaneously.

"I want tasers on full charge!"

The creature from within the confines of the crate shrieked angrily in a harsh, acrid volume that spooked the crap out of a Caucasian man that happened to be too close to where it was.

"Okay, go on! Get back in!" Muldoon pushed on with the order, not visibly startled by the abrupt shaking of the cage and the horrific screech emitted from its captive. He looked to Qrow whose eyebrows creased with a certain smidge of worry and his arms were crossed.

"Look, I understand that you have heebie-jeebies about this, Qrow. I do, but we have to pull it off this time." Muldoon said irritably even when he internally agreed with his fellow Huntsman that this was an accident waiting to happen.

"It's not just the hassle of transporting that damned beast that worries me, Robert." Qrow narrowed his red pupils at the animal that glared back through the cage's holes.

The men continued to push the crate onto the docking mechanisms of the gate. The sound of something snapped in place resounded when the crate's cuffs connected with the gate's connectors. The other workers kept their rifles trained on the crate.

"Ralof! Have the loading teams step away!" Muldoon barked his next orders.

Ralof relayed the order to his subordinates in his Vacuoan dialect as he and the others stepped away from the crate.

"Gatekeeper!"

One uniform worker climbed up the ladder that led to the balcony to open the gate. Qrow sensed something was not right as the animal in the cage became suddenly quiet in contrast to when it was shrieking bloody murder moments ago.

"Wait a minute…" Qrow peered hard into the cage, and when he saw the gleam in the creature's sallow eye, the realization dawned onto him and his throat suddenly felt dry. "…oh shit."

"Geoffrey! Open the gate!"

The creature eyed the man standing above on the roof of the crate. The timing had to be right.

Geoffrey grunted as the task required some strain of his muscles as the gate weighed more than about 50 pounds.

"Stop what you're doing!" Qrow surprised the people around him as he tried to warn the gatekeeper, but it came too late as the glimpse of the beast's feathery coat flashed through the crate when it banged against the crate. A shriek was the only sound that signaled what was about to happen. The rest was almost like a blur.

The momentum shifted the crate away from the gate's connectors and sent the unsuspecting Geoffrey tumbling down from the roof with the gate slammed shut. The crate knocked over the workers that tried to push it back. Everyone was scrambling about with the alarms blaring chaotically.

Geoffrey, stunned and disoriented, was unable to comprehend and only seconds later did he register that he was being dragged in by a powerful force. He screamed with his hands desperately clamping onto the crate's edge.

"Make her drop Geoffrey! Taser her!" Muldoon hollered, dashing to Geoffrey to lock his arms onto his shoulders and back. The Hispanic Vacuoan gripped onto the crate's ladder bars for dear life, but it proved futile when the beast pulled him further with only his head and arms visible.

"Work her back!"

"Damnit!" Qrow pushed through the crowd and when he got to the entrance of the crate, he had already had his Harbinger unfurled into its shotgun mode. The crate was bombarded with electric sparks coming about from the workers tasering the animal inside to force it to let go of Geoffrey while some were trying to aim their tranquilizer rifles.

The beast crowed and screeched with sounds not unlike that of a demonic bird of prey as it resisted the shocks inflicted upon its feathery coat and scales. Qrow, never having seen much of the animal prior to his briefing of the assignment, had the unfortunate moment of horror when he had finally seen the monster. His mouth dropped almost unhinged when his red eyes met its evil-looking, yellowish-green slit eyes that seemed to glow more menacingly with a sick green illuminating hue because of its Aura and the sparks that bounced off it.

The beast snarled, hissing about, slowly pulling in the poor man against Muldoon's grip with its jaws with minimal trouble.

Geoffrey screamed in agony and fear.

"Shoot her!" Muldoon yelled with his throat close to becoming sore. Geoffrey's hand was slowly slipping through his arm.

"Goddamnit! Qrow! Shoot the bloody bitch!" Qrow was still paralyzed by the evil and cunning intelligence that the beast was projecting onto him.

"Shoot her! NOW!"

Qrow had to pull himself, but by the time he fired his Harbinger, it proved too late as Geoffrey's hand slipped underneath from Muldoon. The beast proceeded to maul Geoffrey and it took many bullets to deplete the beast's aura before it finally succumbed to exhaustion from the tranq bullets.

Back to the present in Crow Bar…

Qrow reminisced that fateful night with his hand holding the cup of an iced alcoholic beverage in his hand and while his other hand rubbed his forehead. When he had to report his partial failure of the job to InGen's CEO responsible for bringing the highly secretive job quest to Ozpin's attention, he had expected the man to kick him out and outright not pay him for the damage he had to inflict on his asset to prevent it from killing more of the handlers. Much to his surprise, however, that didn't happen. Regardless, after the short conversation between him and the CEO, Qrow no longer viewed the latter, who was a close friend of Ozpin, the same way prior to accepting the job.

Upon returning to Vale and Beacon Academy, the old crow went through the usual protocol of reporting to Ozpin and Glynda. When he told them about what happened during the job the CEO had requested, Ozpin was understandably shocked and Glynda was no better. Whatever "small" details Ozpin's longtime friend had decided to let out didn't include something that wasn't meant to walk the planet…since millennia.

Qrow thought that might prompt further investigation into what InGen had been really doing clandestinely, and he even voiced it out. Much to his puzzlement and rare frustration with Ozpin since their days working together, the headmaster barely acknowledged it with the response he gave in the form of, "I need to look further into this." That was all Qrow got before he was dismissed.

Qrow, who was normally okay with most of Ozpin's decisions, was left troubled and uneasy. Not by Ozpin's reaction per say as it was understandable that Ozpin and InGen's elderly CEO, John Hammond, had not talked to each other for quite some time. More accurately, it was Hammond that had stopped staying in contact for a while when he started to expand InGen's role from pharmaceutical genetics into something far grander. It's no surprise that John Hammond manage to get the funding from Atlas's government for the company's projects into genetically modifying plant species to make more potent medicines and treatments among other research projects into animal husbandry as commercial interest in biogenetics was resurrected to a greater extent than it had before the Faunus Civil War, even though investment in companies harvesting Dust like the Schnee Dust Company still took top priority.

It was InGen's acquisition of a 99-year lease over the islands of the Five Deaths Archipelago, which was situated off the coast of Southwestern Vale, from Vale's government that things started to take an interesting turn. At first, no one thought about it as Ozpin had many discussions with Hammond about his business proposal of cloning extinct animals into the modern era. By his honest judgment, it would ultimately not come to pass as no place in the world was uninfected by creatures of Grimm. And even if Hammond managed to find a set of islands not inhabited by the soulless monsters, the stress and extreme difficulty of the endeavor would certainly attract marine Grimm to their shores. Also, Ozpin and his inner circle were caught up in more urgent matters of running the Huntsmen academies and all to pay attention to whatever John Hammond was up to. But that slowly changed when word passed around that InGen was funding paleontological digging expeditions in the northern parts of Mistral and Atlas. And most of it had to do with digging up amber, fossilized resin that preserved the deceased bodies of mosquitoes inside.

Again, at the time, amber had less value, both financially and scientifically than fossilized bones, which by comparison, were more sought out by Huntsman Academies, museums, private collectors, and black markets. Even fossilized coprolites have relatively more value than amber as they wield valuable information on what the animal ate in eons past. Huntsmen were paid considerably to protect and sometimes, help transport the fossils to the universities where they could be studied. Little was thought of the amber as it was nothing more than a fossilized tree sap with some insect few cared about.

Not with InGen…

InGen, through the Hammond Foundation that was funding extensive dinosaur research, was harvesting them in amounts like there was no tomorrow. They paid Huntsmen quite the exorbitant amount to ensure the harvested amber wasn't stolen or destroyed in the process. So much so that one could only speculate why they put so much funding into expeditions for dig sites that contained primarily deposits of amber along with more delicate fossilized material such as fossilized eggs and rare pieces of skin impressions of feathers.

That caught Ozpin's eye and he wasn't the only member of his inner circle whose intrigue was aroused. General Ironwood had his own suspicions from time to time about the Hammond Foundation and InGen. He was less intrigued about their focus on certain fossil dig sites, though he admitted that caught his curiosity to an extent. The general was more perplexed that InGen was transferring their state-of-the-art technologies to a group of tropical islands where there wasn't any strategic significance to using them in such off-the-map locations. However, his duties in the military and Atlas Academy prevented him from looking further into the matter. He had other priorities to tend to like showcasing Atlas' military strength to the other three kingdoms to enforce the public's perception that Atlas' security blanket was infallible and unbreachable.

Just when Ozpin had his curiosity about InGen piqued, the company coincidentally emailed the peculiar job request to Ozpin. The job details specifically requested for the best of Beacon's alumni to help contain a particular asset of theirs. The only problem was that the details of the asset were vague at most as there wasn't much description to it other than being extremely dangerous and tenacious, which could be easily applied to Alpha Grimm. Normally, Ozpin would not give such a vague job request any attention at all and simply dump it for being bogus and such. However, this was coming directly from InGen and what made it more legitimate, yet perplexing was that the email was signed by John Hammond himself. Ozpin knew his old friend would only do that when faced with a matter of a serious nature. Also, the reward for completion of the task was 10 million lien; too big to simply pass up on it, even for financially well-off Huntsmen. Qrow happened to be summoned to take on the job and report the findings of the asset InGen needed help containing. The rest was history.

Or so it would normally have. For Qrow, the incident was something he tried to come to terms with but failed to do so as it was so damned unbelievable and surreal. Something much, much bigger and potentially earth-shattering as it was the impossible made possible. He had seen a lot of insane shit in his line of work, but that night on the island proved to be the frosting on the cake compared to the rest of them. It continued to bother him at the back of his mind because of its massive implications that could turn the already dangerous world of Remnant upside down…for better or for worse.

The thought of it alone was enough to give Qrow a headache. One that would require another glass of whisky to drown the pain out.

He sipped hard onto the remaining beverage. Within seconds, the glass cup was deprived of his favorite drink and he needed more of it.

"Hey…bartender…I need a refill." Qrow requested with his voice breaking up in a weak croak that rival that of a frog's own.

The bartender took the cup from Qrow's hand and went to the shelf for a specific alcoholic drink in one of the bottles. Qrow rubbed his nose bridge when the bar's holo screen sounded off on VNN's current hot news story.

"Just last night, a Huntress recently graduated from Atlas Academy was found dead in a bungalow situated in the small village of Dang Nan located in Mistral. The rest of her teammates were obviously horrified by the sudden, violent death and the entire village was shaken as a result. The original mission of locating and destroying a local Grimm infestation had to be cancelled in light of the tragic incident as the perpetrator has yet to be found. It is among the latest of mysterious murders happening throughout Mistral that seem to point to an animal mauling of sorts, though it has yet to be determined if the cause of these tragedies is either the Grimm or the work of a rogue predator of sorts. Similar cases are also being reported in Vacuo as the victims are either babies or young children…"

The Branwen Hunstman had been keeping track of the news that had been reporting a disturbing increasing trend of murder cases that had at first started in Mistral, but since then, the problem had spread to Vacuo, especially in the villages. However, there were now cases of children and elderly people being attacked even in the capital cities by what witnesses had described to be some sort of unknown reptile with descriptions of the animal being wildly inconsistent from region to region; whether it be in Mistral or Vacuo. The sad part was that the attacks happened so fast that by the time the proper authorities had arrived onto the scene, the victims were already dead or suffering from severe maladies that traumatized them after they survived the harrowing ordeal, physically and mentally.

"Here's your second cup, sir." The bartender slid the refilled cup of whiskey to Qrow, whose mood lightened a little upon seeing his favorite whiskey.

"Thanks." And Qrow proceeded to drink.

In Atlas…

General Ironwood bore a solemn grimace with his eyes reddened and already having bags underneath as he was restless, unable to sleep because of the tragic revelation and that he was in no shape looking forward to seeing his now dead daughter. It was frankly too much for him to swallow, but he had to put up a strong face at least when walking through his personnel and fellow generals. He needed time to grieve, but he needed to have some answers right now.

The dead Huntress with her eyes widened open in terror was lying on a black tarp on the cold steel table in the military hospital, laid out for all to see. She looked no older than about 20 years old with her features making her basically the female version of James Ironwood, her father, except her eyes being marine green and her dark brown hair being wavy long. The clipboard on the table beside them read out: Jen Copper Ironwood. Daughter of James Ironwood. Age: 20; Weight: 128 lbs; Height: 5'9" Affiliation: Atlesian military, Atlas Academy, Leader of Team INRT ('Inertia'); Cause of death: Severe laceration down from her shoulder to the right leg and a bite to her head.

Jen had been sliced across the torso and the edge of the ugly gash was flesh that had been shredded. At the center, the shoulder had been dislocated with the pale bones exposed. A second slash cut through the heavy muscles of her thigh, deep enough to reveal the femoral artery below. Her head had been bloodied and marred by bite marks that cover the front and back of her skull. Some of the teeth were even still embedded deep in parts of her skull's parietal bone and frontal and temporal regions that were enough to ensure she probably suffered a painful horrific demise.

Alongside him was Winter Schnee, the older sister of Weiss Schnee and Ironwood's trusted right-hand woman. To say she was shocked of what had transpired was an understatement. On the outside, she looked composed and stoic as if nothing bad happened to her, but even then, her façade already showed cracks that betray the misery and cold, blistering fury that had immediately rushed inside her being. One that threatened to freeze everyone in her path and hunt down the monster responsible for mauling her closest friend to death.

James tried, but failed to fight back the emotions as a single tear fell from his eye when he silently leaned over the corpse of his daughter. He gently hovered his gloved hand over her terror-stricken eyes that stared blankly into the bright lights and ceiling with no gleam of life left in her pupils. He then gently pressed on her eyelids, slowly closing them. The normally professional general was absent for the moment. In his place was James Ironwood, the grieving and heartbroken father, whose only daughter now separated from him forever. Winter sniffled, trying to fight back her own tears. She gave her superior, her father figure, and mentor some space to mourn, no matter how long or brief he wanted it.

The nurses delicately zipped the tarp over Jen's corpse. When his daughter's face could be seen no more behind the black cover, Ironwood immediately requested for a drink of water and one of the nurses with cleaner hands filled a plastic cup with water. Snatching it hastily out of the nurse's hand, Ironwood's grip shivered. The general was fighting against his emotions, doing his best to try rein them in as he greedily drank the water as if his life depended upon it. He felt a little better and he requested that same nurse to give Winter a cup of water as well.

"*sigh* I know this might be tough for you to answer, but I need to know. What did Team (I)NRT tell you about the injury when they reported to you, general?" Dr. Leina Morrison asked as gingerly as she could given the emotional distress James was under while sounding firm to the best of her profession.

"Not much other than a Grimm Beowolf mauling her." Ironwood said calmly, albeit shakily, "They said it was most likely it was a Beowolf that somehow managed to sneak in while they were resting."

"If that were the case, then the teeth latched onto Ms. Jen should have dissolved 10 hours ago." Morrison said recalling the bite wound she probed into. Like most emergency room physicians, she could remember vividly the gory details of patients she worked on for a decade thanks to her photographic memory. She had seen three maulings. One was a Huntsman attacked by a Grizzly bear. The other was a drunken construction worker that had the unfortunate fate to be ambushed by a crocodile when he ambled too close to the riverbank it had claimed it as its territory. The third was an elderly man that got bitten by a feral Doberman. Three life-ending wounds each had something in common. There was a distinctive characteristic to animal attacks.

"Doctor, the attack happened just last night." Ironwood retorted with his lips clammed in a grim line.

"How much time has passed since then?" Morrison pressed on with a sharpness to her voice.

"About 12 hours ago."

"The Grimm teeth wouldn't even last this long when detached from the Grimm creature itself." Leina stated, shaking her head sideways. "The composition of the teeth and the fact they haven't dissolved would be out of place for any carnivorous Grimm species, even the Alphas. In fact, when I took a sample of the teeth embed in your daughter's skull and examined it, the teeth are highly unusual."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow at that and asked with renewed curiosity, "What do you mean by that, Doctor Morrison?"

"To put it in short terms, not only the tooth's characteristics are at odds with the dental characteristics of the Grimm we've known so far, but they don't match exactly with any of the dental records of many of the non-Grimm animal species. The only two living creatures from the Animal kingdom that would come close to this specimen are species of reptiles and fish, specifically, monitor lizards and sharks." Morrison stated.

"Some of my colleagues said that an abnormally large monitor lizard could be the culprit that killed my daughter. And I happen to think it is the most likely cause unless there is a land shark that we've not discovered yet." Ironwood said.

"Your colleagues might not be at fault for guessing it was a monitor lizard, since we have known cases of monitor lizards and their Grimm counterparts mauling humans. But…"

"But what exactly, Doctor Morrison?" Winter asked with tension in her voice.

The doctor cupped her chin in thought before she responded, "It's better I show you two."

She brought out the extracted tooth that was sealed in a plastic bag labeled 'Unknown reptile tooth (URK). Specimen #1' and placed it alongside two other teeth that were encased in miniature glass cases with one being labeled as 'Komodo Dragon' and the other being 'Great White Shark'.

"This is the dental specimen sample that I extracted from the scalp. I compared its features to the dental specimens of modern cold-blooded predators that bear its closest resemblance to. That was when things started to dawn on me."

"What's the catch?" Winter said, drinking her water.

"The tooth has sharp, jagged edges resembling that of the Great White and the Komodo Dragon. Even the shape and the curvature almost match the two. As we well know, both of these predators have been known to shed off teeth quite commonly throughout their days and also during times of struggle when they clamp their jaws onto their prey. However, the obvious problem of the hypothesis that the culprit's teeth belonging to a shark is that shark teeth are only found on beaches or on the ocean floor. You'd be hard pressed to deny the impossibility of finding shark teeth deep inland." Morrison explained.

"Which that brings to a monitor lizard being the most likely perpetrator. An enormous one at that." Ironwood clenched his fist as he imagined in his mind his daughter screaming and pounding her fists with all of her might without her weapon at hand against a monstrous oversized Komodo Dragon mauling her in its jaws.

"While there are more similarities to this unknown tooth specimen and the Komodo Dragon's dentary weapon, there are few physical distinctions that would likely debunk and cause issues with that theory, sir." Morrison twirled her mango-orange hair and then adjusted her glasses that hid her hazel eyes behind the gleam from the light reflecting from her glasses.

"Would you care to elaborate on those distinctions, ma'am?" Ironwood should have known there was more to the teeth than what others had thought upon their first impressions.

"Yes…first of all, the size was off. The tooth belonging to the largest Komodo Dragon specimen would be up to 3 cm in length, but this dental specimen is much bigger at around 6.3 cm long and the diameter is thicker. The second was the placement of the tooth where the bite wounds on Jen are located. Most predatory lizards would bite at the flanks or the legs to take off chunks of flesh and wait for the prey to die from the shock and blood loss. While it is possible for a Komodo Dragon to leap up and get lucky to nip at the head, it is not most used killing method for large monitor lizards as a human could still be well out of range for the Komodo Dragon to lunge at the head even if it were to stand up on its legs and tail sometimes. The only other way would be a human to trip face first onto the ground and the lizard going at the head as soon as that happened, but the high placement of the bite on your daughter's head would still be a difficult one to execute as Komodos are quadrupeds and they rather aim at the flanks or neck."

"What does that even mean? I'd rather that you get to the point, doctor." Ironwood was growing impatient.

"Don't get your horses started soon and let me finish, James!" Dr. Morrison raised her voice up to a degree that would have made Glynda Goodwitch proud. Winter was about to give the female doctor an earful but was stopped when Ironwood held out his arm in front of her. She knew the message behind the intense serious gleam of his eyes and she forced herself to back down, or otherwise face the consequences of speaking out of turn.

Morrison straightened out her lab coat collar, pinching her nose bridge, tired and agitated from a very long day as she swore,

"Gods…how my predecessor put up with you and your lot's overprotective tendencies to the fault of impatience when it comes to matters outside of the military is sometimes beyond me the way you want the information like the world's about to be engulfed in the Grimm apocalypse the next day."

She breathed long and heavy through her nose before she could look Ironwood in the eye once more. "Anyways, before you decided to interrupt me…do you know why I think that a Komodo Dragon, even an oversized one, would be a poor candidate for the likely murder of your daughter based on the facts that I have provided, general?"

"I am afraid that I have no still clue as to what you're getting at here, Ms. Morrison."

"Because a Komodo Dragon would break its back and tail trying to bite the way this predator bit this poor girl by her forehead while both would be halfway or nearly standing up for a long period of time if the reports are anything to go by."

"Doctor, we need facts. May I remind you that facts are needed, not conjecture."

"And I am telling you based on the evidence I have so far from what I have studied of animal maulings, this predator is no Komodo Dragon. In order for it to kill Jen from what I saw examining the wounds, I suspect that this animal had to be FULLY upright or close to being upright as it destroyed your daughter while she was still alive. And that is not mentioning the deep gashes going from her shoulder to torso. No monitor lizard is capable of inflicting that kind of extensive damage that could only come from a tall bipedal creature that was not only intelligent but knew clearly what it was doing."

The infirmary went eerily silent with the air suddenly dropping in temperature with the mood now gloomier than it already had been before.

"Ms. Morrison, I really find that hard to swallow. If you're trying to besmirch the seriousness of what had happened to my daughter, then this meeting is over."

Ironwood slowly walked away from the desk office where Leina sat with the subtle shaking of his fist as he could barely keep a lid on his urge to punch the very desk. The exhausted doctor closed her eyes, breathing a sigh through her nose and Winter had to let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding out for a while after Ironwood was no longer visible beyond the infirmary door.

"That went obviously well." Leina said sarcastically and tiredly with her eyes drooping.

"I apologize for my superior's behavior." Winter bowed her head.

"You don't have to, Specialist Schnee. I understand how hard this is on him. If anything, I wasn't expecting him to show up so soon, but I'd be the same way if I learned that it was my son who's on the stretcher."

Winter held out a cup as Leina's desk happened to have her own water pitcher to fill out her water bottle. Leina poured the water for both Winter's cup and her own water bottle.

Both drank slowly to calm their nerves down.

Afterwards, Leina felt refreshed enough to say more, "Nevertheless, I have to stand with the evidence we've been given until more can be found out."

"I understand that…yet…" Winter looked down onto her cup with her reflection from the water looking back at her with her eyes squeezed shut emotionally.

"I know you and Jen have been close for quite a long time, but I can only give you the information that I have been able to collate from rather incomplete pieces of the puzzle. After that, you can't press me further on to give both you and the general the closure you needed." Leina pushed up her glasses to their proper alignment, "I am just a forensic doctor, not a therapist."

Winter nodded quietly before she softly muttered, "I know. You're just doing your job."

"If it's going to be any consolation for you, I am going to call a more qualified biologist to come and help with the investigation me and my team will be starting soon." Dr. Morrison reassured the troubled elder Schnee sister.

"Thanks, Doc." Winter sniffed with a sad smile, preventing her nose from leaking any further as she quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe her nose. She threw it into the trash bin before she regained her stoic composition. "Now if you excuse me, I must get back to Ironwood and return to my post."

Before Winter went any further from Leina's desk, the doctor asked her, "Before you leave, what else did Jen's teammates say what really attacked her? Or to reword it, did the villagers from Dang Nan have a local name for what it was that attacked her?"

Winter thought, trying to remember what it was that one of her friend's teammates said about the villagers' folklore name for the mysterious creature until it clicked in her head. "Raptor Tengu."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The villagers screamed that it was a Raptor Tengu that killed my friend." Winter grimly said.

"But that's a name pertaining to a bird, not a reptile." Leina frowned, scratching her head even though she was keenly aware what the Tengu were according to Mistralian folklore. Mistralians were known to be superstitious people, and she had heard Tengu mentioned from some Mistralians and her Atlesian colleagues around the facility before. The Tengu were said to be mountain and forest bird-like spirits akin to goblins but with avian characteristics like feathery bodies, wings, beaks, and raptorial talons for their hands and feet, making them resemble either crows or birds of prey. Thus, there were also mainly two variations of the Tengu; one being Crow Tengu, the other as Raptor Tengu. These monstrous birds would kidnap children, often young boys. As mischievous troublemakers, they would carry off monks and drop them in remote places, possess women in an attempt to seduce holy men, rob temples, and endow those who worship them with unholy power. All of their victims would come back in a state of near death, or madness. According to folklore, the Tengu were once widespread throughout Mistral, but now only inhabit the mountains and isolated islands.

"I don't know for sure, but that's what I've been told that basically a man-sized raptor bird killed her." Winter looked at the wrapped-up body of her now-dead close friend. "Their only other proof other than the teeth were the mess of brown feathers found strewn around Jen."

"Now that you've mentioned it, the report from her teammates mentioned that they heard some kind of furious guttural crowing coming from the guest room." Leina rubbed her forehead in recalling the particular details that stood out to her from the report.

Winter hummed with an intrigued look on her face, noting it be worth mentioning to Ironwood, as Leina then brought up another question.

"What are the geographic features near Dang Nan?"

"Mountains and forested hills. Why do you ask?" Winter questioned, puzzled.

"I was just curious that's all. Anyways, I think you better go before the General gets more angsty." Leina waved her hand.

"You're right, I better take my leave. Have a better part of your evening, doctor." Winter walked towards the infirmary doors.

When it was now just Leina with her staff now retiring for the night from their work shift, she went online on her desktop computer to look up the word 'raptor'. She felt somewhat scared to be thinking of monstrous birds and kidnapped children within the dimmed lit environment of the infirmary. The search engine came up with many results with abundant articles and pictures of various raptor bird species appearing on her screen. Diving further out of curiosity, she typed up Anima's raptor species, and to her surprise, she found one specific raptor species that have been documented to prey on medium to large-sized mammals such as juvenile deer, wild boar, and monkeys native to the region, and…occasionally, small children.

Mistralian Harpy Eagle; also known as the monkey-eating eagle or great Animan eagle, is an eagle of the family Accipitridae endemic to forests surrounding the kingdom of Mistral. It has brown and white-coloured plumage, and a shaggy crest, and generally measures 86 to 102 cm (2.82 to 3.35 ft) in length and weighs 4.04 to 8.0 kg (8.9 to 17.6 lb).

Meanwhile in Beacon Academy…

"Arrgh…! Why did Oobleck had to make this history project so painfully difficult?!" Ruby Rose, the cute 15-year old leader of Team RWBY characterized by her black brunette hair with red highlights, was tearing her hair out of frustration with the papers in sprawled about messily in front of her desk.

"The only reason for where you are right now because you have been goofing off in class, not taking notes, and again making doodles that have no relevance to the lesson at hand," Weiss Schnee, the beautiful heiress of the Schnee Dust Company with a snowflake-themed battle dress to boot younger sister of Winter Schnee, said in a matter-of-fact tone; disappointed and annoyed that she had to be the one reprimanding her leader of all people again out of 4 times it has happened before.

"To be fair to Ruby, Professor Oobleck went a little too eager on explaining the details that he didn't realize that we were having trouble following him." Blake Belladonna, Team RWBY's resident cat Faunus, ninja, and book nerd, defended Ruby. She closed a book she was reading for the potential topic within the Great War timeline.

"At least, one of us should have told him to slow down. I mean, I can take some fast talking, but only so much before my brain tunes out." Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's older blonde-haired, half-sister and brawler bombshell of the team, yawned on the couch, stretching her muscular arms out.

"Maybe you could have done that earlier, Yang," Weiss suggested.

"How to when he's going, I don't know how, faster than the blink of an eye, running around the room? You tell me." Yang made a gesture with her hand that mimicked Oobleck's tendency to run around with her two fingers.

"At least, I was able to keep up with him." The heiress shrugged her shoulders.

Yang sighed, continuing, "Whatever, at least the project won't be due until the end of this semester. That's a plus for me."

"But we have to come up with a topic of what we should work on for the project by the end of this week. Don't forget that we're only three months away from the semester's end." Weiss was quick to point that out, which really put cold water on Yang's already half-baked enthusiasm. "Not to mention that we will have other work and exams to keep up us busy. That give us little excuse to be slacking off and partying our brains off like you would."

"Weiss-cream, I'm not always the party-girl, okay? I can be serious if I want to, but I mean come on. It's only Monday today and we have the whole week to get this figured out. I'd thought that we might go down to Vale watch the newest and hottest movie that just came out last Friday!" Yang tried to steer the conversation away from the rather boring topic, and it was partially successful to some degree.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Blake, much to Yang's surprise, agreed with the suggestion.

"I thought you would object to it. What's changed? Getting tired of being kitten-fevered?" That only caused everyone else to groan at the terrible pun.

"Yang…that's not even funny." Blake face-palmed before she continued, "I just needed to get my mind off of everything that we had to deal with."

"No kidding…something like that." Ruby stood up from her desk.

"I mean not right now, Rubes, but I thought it might be a good way to get some stress out of the way sometime soon like tomorrow." The blonde-haired buxom Huntress saw the clock and it was about an hour away from when curfew time will come about. A certain good witch was strict about enforcing it and the last thing anyone would want was to incur an earful from her about going out of the academy during curfew hours.

"As soon as we get part of our work done, mind you." Weiss butted in.

"We already know that. Gods, you're a slave-driver sometimes." To which Weiss ignored it. Ruby rubbed her eyes as her usually hyperactive mind was tired from having to make up for a late essay assignment on how to exploit the Grimm's weaknesses she had forgotten to turn in on time and it's not even close to bed time.

"I don't know about you, girls. But I am going to take a bit of a short walk to help clear my head a bit." Ruby needed to get away, albeit not far away, and thought a good walk just close to the dorm room and around the back of the school would do it.

"Want one of us to come with you?" Blake asked.

"Nah…I want to be a little off on my own this time." Ruby waved her off.

"You sure, little sis? I mean not that I find it wrong with having some alone time to yourself, but…" Yang tried to persist, but Ruby spoke before she could finish her sentence.

"I appreciate it, Yang, but I'll be fine. A short walk around Beacon won't be long. Besides, I need to get some fresh air." Afterwards, Ruby walked to towards the door, opening it. "I'll see you all later!"

"Just make sure you don't miss the time curfew starts, dolt." Weiss reminded her with a tsundere tone to her voice in contrast to her soft smile.

"Thanks, Weiss!" Ruby smiled at her best friend and partner before she walked out of the room, no longer visible.

When Ruby was no longer within earshot, Weiss' smiley façade disappeared and was replaced with a worried frown before she glared back at Yang, who put up her arms half-defensively and half-confused.

"What?" Yang tried to pretend what Weiss was going for.

"You've made it hard for us to enjoy last weekend after your disastrous stunt at the arena earned you a detention and almost caused us to lose a grade in Combat Training. Ruby didn't get a lot of sleep having to clean your mess." The heiress hissed. The incident from last Friday when Yang apparently went a bit too aggressive on Cardin after he accidentally grabbed mouthfuls of her golden mane. The resulting rampage caused Glynda Goodwitch to suspend the match and the entire class for repairs on the Cardin-shaped hole in the wall. It took a lot negotiating and pleading from Ruby to get Ms. Goodwitch to reduce the sentence. However, in return, Ruby has to make up not only her own missing work, but also take up her sister's as well throughout the next two weeks just to reduce Yang's detention sentence to one day instead of the half-week like originally panned out.

"Yeah…I sucked. I even did most of the work so that would help ease Rubes up." Yang scratched her head in admittance as Weiss could clearly see through her.

"In the end, she still ended up doing a majority of the things you forgot to do. I even had to get involved. Thank the Brothers, that we managed to finish within the weekend and you turning it all in today, but you've really made it difficult for her." The heiress shook her head still not happy that she had to repeat the work that she had already done.

"We really need to work on managing your anger." Blake stated with concern.

"Is today a pick-on me day or something? Look-," Thankfully, Yang was saved by the knock on their door and a familiar voice outside of it.

"Hello, girls." It was Jaune Arc, the blonde-haired tactician leader of Team JNPR next door to them.

Weiss turned around with a disgruntled look on her face as she went to open the door. There he was now standing out in front of her, this time with no guitar in his hands.

"What is it, Jaune?" Weiss said dismissively, not interested to hear another wooing attempt from him.

"Ah, Weiss…it's not about what you think. It's Ruby." Jaune stammered a little from her glare but calmed down when she did as well since it's not about her, but rather her team leader. "I saw her walk down the dormitory hallway. Is she okay?"

"Not exactly." Weiss's face turned long.

Outside…

Ruby walked until she could see the base of the CCT tower looming over her. She was in the park atrium centered around the CCT tower base.

The red-tipped Huntress-in-training really needed to get away from her teammates a while, not they were bad, but the last few days with them had left her exhausted and honestly, frustrated with them. She couldn't really fault them totally, but Yang had to be the one to lose her cool and simultaneously get her, and everyone into a mess that could've been avoided. On the other hand, though, Cardin had to be the one to mess with the very thing her sister treasured dearly after being warned not to do so…

How many times?

More than she could ever count, and he still didn't listen. Cardin got his head and chest bandaged for all of his troubles along with earning a black eye courtesy of Yang's knuckle sandwich. Not to mention, he also got a three days' worth of detention. At least, he deserved it after having bullied people he deemed weaker than him for so long.

Ruby already sat down on a bench, ruminating through her thoughts when she heard something crash to her right. There was no one else around close to curfew hour.

It could be an animal…or a Grimm? Ruby thought and she shuddered at the last one. However, the Grimm shouldn't be able to sneak into the Academy let alone find any reason to find any negativity here.

She heard it again and it was coming further from the darkness enshrouding an alley.

Ruby remembered she was vulnerable without her trusted Crescent Rose, but with curiosity eventually trumping over her caution, she ventured in still carefully. Then came the warbling hoot that sounded like a trill coming from a swan. She never heard a racoon or dog make that kind of sound. Ruby had to tread carefully as she did her best not to make too much noise, avoiding torn-up boxes and the occasional puddle as to not give her position away to whatever's making the weird bird-like sounds. Quietly, she crept and heard the rustling again, which led her to a huge metal dumpster bin that was open a few yards away from her and clearly rattling with something inside there. That was when she saw the source of the sound as it popped its head out. A lizard-like head with a pair of slender bony, V-shaped crests striated orange and green, lining on top of its long snout peered at her.

Ruby held her breath with her eyes widened in surprise.

What's a lizard doing out in the dumpster? And what are the weird crests on its head?

Those were the questions going through Ruby's head as she heard of stray dogs, cats, raccoons, and even the occasional fox have been documented to inhabit dark alleys like this searching through trash to scavenge for food leftovers. A lizard that was that weird looking was something else.

Then the animal raised itself up from the dump and leaped from the bin and landed about 15 feet away from Ruby. She got now got a better look of the animal as it was clearly reptilian. The reptile stood on its two powerful, lengthy hind limbs, balancing on its thick, lizard-like tail, and stared inquisitively at the young Huntress-in-training. It was at 4.5 feet tall, almost reaching Ruby's height just a foot shorter, dark green with red, yellow, and white stripes adorning its body from head to tail. It had a strange bulging hood that rested on the animal's slender neck. Its relatively shorter front limbs ended powerful, grasping fingers armed with sharp eagle-like talons. The strange bipedal reptile cocked its head as it looked at her with its throat vibrating as it emitted curious soft hoots, which sounded cute to Ruby.

"Wow...you're one big lizard. You're definitely not around here. Are you, little fella?" Ruby barely managed to find words as she was still in clear surprise. She observed the way the creature switched its head from one side to the next and kept making the chirping noises reminded her much of how a bird would look at her.

To her side, she found a piece of uneaten pizza in a pizza box. She took the pizza piece and subtly wagged it in front of the creature. The lizard-like reptile wasn't nervous of her at all. It came towards her, walking on its hind legs like an ostrich. It was slightly bigger than a Shepherd dog, but behaved more like a bird as it bobbed its head as it walked. Ruby noticed that the lizard had three-toed feet that looked exactly like that of a bird. The double-crested lizard came closer to Ruby. She kept her body still not wanting to frighten the animal. She was amazed that it would dared to come closer, let alone in an environment where it was probably far from its native habitat, wherever that was. The lizard was probably cautious, or curious of the food, maybe both. She guessed that the lizard was just as shy as she was. Maybe it didn't even expect her to give it food.

The lizard sniffed it and Ruby was nervous it would find the smell weird and off-putting. However, much to her relief, the lizard snatched the pizza out from her hands with its jaws. She got a good look at the sharp teeth that were like small knives lining the lizard's jaws as it made short work of the pizza as it munched on it greedily. Remembering that she still has her Scroll in her pocket, Ruby discreetly took it out, turned it to camera mode and took a small video of it chomping on the pizza before it gobbled it down its throat.

"Freaky." Ruby was about to dial her friends to tell what she was witnessing, but before she could even press on the phone numbers, there was a squawking from the lizard. In response, several hooting warbles and snarling hisses sounded further down from the alley, and Ruby could see several pairs of glowing emerald eyes opening in the darkness.

Glynda was going down the hallway, enforcing the curfew that was now close upon the school when she encountered the rest of Team JNPR and the three members of Team RWBY conversing with each other.

"Children, curfew's upon us. I want-wait...where's Ms. Rose?" Glynda was puzzled upon seeing Ruby Rose, their team leader was not with her respective team. The others were just as worried with some confused as to where Ruby has been gone for so long.

"I don't know. She should have been here right about now from her walk. Have you seen her?!" Weiss sounded a little mixed of worried and pissed right about now.

"No. Not since I entered through this dormitory," Glynda shook her head.

"What?!" Yang was now starting to become more anxious as she had been trying to call her sister on the Scroll and Ruby's not been answering.

"What's going on here?!" Glynda didn't like it when Team RWBY has no idea of the whereabouts of their leader while Team JNPR were just as distraught and not knowing where Ruby had gone off to since Ruby hadn't answered their calls either.

"Ruby has gone out for a walk around Beacon Academy alone!" Yang answered.

Meanwhile, Ruby was being swarmed by now more than one two-crested lizards that seemed to be of the same height and possibly same age as the one lizard Ruby interacted with. Most of them sported the same color as that individual lizard while some of the lizards sported yellow, brown, and black stripes. The creatures were mostly chittering with loud, excited hoots and harsh chirps as they started to crowd her.

"Are you guys hungry for the pizza?!" Ruby asked with her heart now racing and her mind going a hundred miles per second. "I'm sorry, I don't have anymore!"

One lizard snapped its jaws close to the Huntress, scaring her. The sounds became more menacing and aggressive as the hoots intensified along with new, less friendly sounds such as serpentine hisses and growling snarls sounding like an agitated hawk. The she noticed one of the lizards huffed and puffed up its chest until it roared out with its hood now flaring out into a multi-colored extension of skin, which was a fleshy neck frill with spiky fringes, not unlike that of a cobra as it let off a rattling sound similar to that of a rattler from a rattlesnake. The colors of the frill were beautiful, but terrifying with flashes of crimson and green. Ruby was mesmerized, but it quickly died out when she felt something smack wetly onto her skirt.

She looked down and saw dripping black glob of foam.

She touched it curiously, but it was disgusting. But the skin of her hand started to tinge and burn. It was almost like she touched acid as she hadn't put up her Aura. She felt another wet glob smack onto her chest and neck, this time it hurt as she screamed. Her Aura only activating to try heal the burns, but it only made the sensation worse. Ruby's silver eyes widened and her blood ran cold when she heard three more gasping snarls behind her. She shakily and almost robotically turned around to see three more V-crested lizards that were taller and bigger than her and the smaller lizards as they stood up to about 6.75 feet tall, taller than Yang. Their snouts were longer and crooked with more teeth sticking through their upper jaws than the smaller ones' stockier snouts, and their colors were darker with the white fading into more of bluish-greenish tinge.

The older lizards, they, too, have the same bulged hood as one of the trio stepped forward with its chest and neck puffing with its muscles showing. Ruby whimpered. Next, the bigger lizard let out a more air-rendering roar with the hooting coupled with a more ear-grating sound of a chainsaw and a foghorn played together as the hood flared into a impressive neck frill with eerie-looking 'eyespots' resembling snake eyes, which also revealed the bulging venom sacks present beneath the lizard's throat.

Ruby screamed in sheer horror.

"Yang!" Weiss was alarmed as she went out to the window when she heard Ruby's loud scream rang throughout the Academy, alarming everyone else to the disturbance.

Then Ruby's scream was at her loudest.

"RUBY!" Yang screeched, knowing something was very wrong with her little sister. She jumped down from the window while others scrambled out from the dormitory. The alarm sirens blared as Beacon Academy was now in a state of emergency.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Pyrrha hollered as she, the other students, and the staff, including Headmaster Ozpin, Glynda Goodwitch, Professor Port, and Doctor Oobleck rushed to the alley. Yang was obviously head first with her eyes now glowing crimson and her hair burning brightly as she saw the lizards mauling her younger sister.

"Get away from my sister, you bastards!" Yang roared out, infuriated as she, Blake, Team JNPR, Glynda, and Port charged at the reptiles with their weapons ready.

When Weiss saw the carnage with what happened to Ruby right before her very eyes, she let out a bloodcurdling scream with her hands clutching her head.