SUGAR//CRASH

Chapter 23: Free Bird!

In Port's room, Jaune, Sun, Arslan, and Coco were with the Professor discussing the theory that they had agreed upon was the most likely conclusion to what was going on in Alnwick.

"Merlot is still alive," Port said, "There's no other way to explain this,"

Arslan nodded, "All signs point to him," Arslan said "Though, I'm worried,"

Jaune looked at her with a raised brow, "Why?" Jaune asked

Arslan looked back at him, "From what the Mayor told us, only one family went missing last night, he didn't capture as much as he did the last time it was reported, which makes me wonder if he's gonna try again tonight," Arslan said

"Tsk, She's right, he might strike again tonight," Coco said

Jaune knew Arslan was right, but then he realized something, how was Merlot capturing these people, and then it hit him! He wasn't alone on this little project of his. "Damnit!" Jaune said through his teeth

"What is it?" Sun asked

Jaune let out a sigh, "I was thinking about how Merlot was capturing people, and then it hit me..." Jaune began "He's got help,"

"Maybe, but how do we not know that Merlot isn't just releasing some of his MutaGrimm and capturing people by himself?" Coco asked

"Because I don't think he'd risk being in the same place his MutaGrimm would attack," Jaune said

Coco thought about it and realized Jaune may be right, Merlot was smart, and he propablely learned from his mistakes at his own lab years ago, so there's no way he risks his own safety, but getting others to do it, sounds just like a mad scientist. "Hm, you might be right, but what do we do about them?" Coco asked

Sun turned to her with a smile, "We take care of them just like we are going to do with Merlot," Sun said

Arslan stepped forward, "But now we have another question, why does he need people now?" Arslan asked, "He didn't take people before, so why now?"

Port looked over to the Haven student, "It's possible that whatever experiments he did on the Grimm, he's finally achieved on some level, but now he wants to see how a Human would do with similar experiments?" Port said

"But what is his end goal?" Jaune asked

"Creating an army of mindless soldiers?" Sun chimed in, "I mean, that's probably what he did with the Grimm he captured already, but now he wants to move up to Humans,"

"Mr. Wukong's theory may prove to be the right one," Port said "But we won't know until we find out for ourselves," he told his students

"But how?" Coco asked "I mean, it's possible he's still working from the old lab, but what if he's not? I mean, how do we find our answers?"

Port thought about it, and Coco was right, once they were done here Port needed to report everything, and with Merlot being declared dead for years the council was going to ask for evidence and an explanation. However, the towns folk were their top priority, Port already failed the town once, and he wasn't going to fail them again, so he came up with a plan.

"The town is in danger with the east gate is down, and with Merlot attacking so much the people are in danger... So I'm asking you four to protect and defend the town while I go look for evidence, if I find enough I'll ask for an airship to pick up the town's people while we deal with Merlot," Port said "Once Merlot and his Grimm are taken care of and the east gate is rebuilt, the towns folk will be allowed to come back here," Port told them

Jaune nodded, "We'll do our best Professor," Jaune told him with a reassuring smile

"Thank you, Mr. Arc," Port said, he then looked to the other team leaders, "Thank you all," he said