Sweet, Sweet Lies- One Shot

Sneaky A/N: Uh, TSG is on Hiatus, forever… Have this special one-shot instead. Hot damn, gen:lock tho.

But hey, maybe I'll go forward with this if there is and interest(?).

SNEAKYDEVIL AND CRUELRUIN PRODUCTIONS

PRESENTS

My head felt as if a thousand Yang's had beaten on it, all I saw was white.

"-y!"

R.W.B.Y

My body swayed and shook as whatever I was sitting did.

"-ey!"

HEAVEN'S EDGE

Slowly, the world gained color again. Huh? Whu-?

"Hey!"

I opened my mouth to reply but could only cough at the sudden dryness of my mouth. I look up to the girl who had been shouting at me. What's going on? Why is she cuffed?

"Hey, human. You're finally awake? I was getting worried when they had loaded you on. Damn Atlas ambush, must have got you caught up in the gas, just like that Thief over there." She spoke, the tone too cool for someone handcuffed inside what looked to be a military-spec airship.

I looked down. I'm cuffed inside a military-spec airship.

With little else to do, I turned to regard my 'companions'. Next to the black-and-white themed Cat Faunus who had spoken, sat the only other human I could see. He was a rather gaudy-looking man, short, with a fearless face. Something about him radiated a special kind of energy. This was a man who could sell you your own blood at a premium, over and over again. I had the sudden urge to throw Lien at him.

Other than him, everyone else was a faunus. The guy sat next to me was gagged, unlike anyone else. However... there was this black-silver wolf-eared faunus sitting a bit further down with the most blasphemous color-palette in the history of color theory.

He looked like someone who'd be important to the plot if this was a cartoon. Maybe one written by a 5-year old.

Sadly, this wasn't a cartoon… or a dream, and as the short, gaudy man started to speak, I was brought back to reality by his honeyed tone. "Damn you White Fang scum. Atlas was fine until you animals came along. The soldiers were fat and lazy. Bah! If they didn't been looking for you I could have kept that loot box and been halfway to Vale." He turned to me, and looked imploringly into my eyes, "You, you were there right? You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Fang that Atlas wants."

The unmasked Cat Faunus gives a sad chuckle, "We are all brothers and sisters in these chains now, Thief."

Suddenly a crackle comes across the speakers set into the bullhead. "Hey you lot! Keep it down back there! I don't want to have to waste my time gagging another one of you!"

Our, that is my eyes and the...Thief's turned to the angry looking gagged faunus with horns. The Thief asked the question I was too afraid to ask, "So, what'd he do? Run his fat mouth?"

The Cat...Ugh, I wish I knew their names… Faunus and the rest of the White Fang glared at the man, "Watch your tongue! That's Adam Taurus! He leads the Vale White Fang!"

The gaudy-man paled rapidly, "Adam Taurus?! They captured you… oh by the Twin Brothers, where are they taking us!"

The color-disaster chuckled, our eyes drawn to him, "Silly Human, it doesn't matter where we are being taken. Sienna's Paradise awaits my comrades…." He cleared his throat, "Well, you two humans will probably just die like the vermin you are."

The gaudy fellow wailed, "No, No! This can't be happening… This isn't happening! I haven't finished porting my Magnum Opus game to refrigerators and toasters yet!"

The Cat Faunus gave him a queer look before sagging herself, "Hey… Thief. Where are you from?"

He spat at her feet, "Why do you care? It's because of you I'm in this mess!"

She gave him a pitying look, I could only watch the byplay, entranced. "Because a person's final thoughts should be of Home."

"...Bethesda. Near the Zenimax mountains."

Suddenly, we all jerked in our seats as the bullhead dropped down and began a rapid descent. The craft doors slid open, giving us an excellent view of the gun-metal grey that the Atlesian base was composed of. A grim-faced man stood near the edges of the landing zone, medals decorating his chest.

I watched as one of the Atlas pilots hopped out and, giving a brief salute, walk over to the man. "General Ironwood, Sir! The last batch of prisoners is here."

The General grunted, "Good. I want this day to be over with."

My eyes flickered over to the gaudy man, who seemed to be panicking. Why am I not panicking? Why is everything so...numb?

"Loot Boxes, DLC, Micro-transaction, Re-releases. Please help me, I'll even waive the help fee." He muttered, his face wasn't as fearless now as it was mere minutes ago.

The Cat Faunus muttered to herself as well, venom dripping from every word. "Look at him. General Ironwood." Her head turned and my eyes followed, a prim and proper lady stood ramrod straight next to the General. "And look at that, the Schnees are with him too. Damn Schnees, I bet they were behind this whole thing."

She spat on the ground. "I remember it wasn't so long ago when the Atlas walls made me feel safe… how things change."

Before she could say anymore a short, serious woman in a cutdown Atlesian officer uniform stepped to the front of the door. "I am Officer Cordovin. When your names are called, scum, you will disembark this fine Atlesian bullhead and meet your well-deserved JUSTICE at Atlesian hands."

Another girl in a white flared short skirt with green trim walked up beside the short officer. "Jenkins! One count of murder. Group A."

A Fang member with his mask still on silently disembarked the bullhead and meandered his way over to the indicated line.

"Randal! Four counts of murder, one count of theft. Group A."

Another disembarked and walked over.

Is this it? I thought to myself, still oddly numb and slow. "-mur-" "Nin-" No…

"Sta-"

I just…

"-assaul-"

Have to…

"Moon Moon! Ninety-four counts of petty theft. Twenty-seven counts of breaking and entering. Thirty-seven counts of jay-walking. One count of treason, and an overdue parking violation. Group A"

Say something…? Moon Moon, huh?

All was silent, the engines of the bullhead had been off for I don't know how long. The soldiers are silent but vigilant. Not a single thing making noise besides the howling wind over the tundra.

The out of place casually dressed girl tries again, "Moon Moon! Ni-"

Suddenly, a snarl came from the color-disaster, "I heard you the first time! I go by B-Train Bark! I don't care what my parents named me. I have fought long and arduously with my great Nun-Wachku at my side and done many great deeds! Your silly little outpost cannot hold me forever!" Despite ranting all this he still lined up with the others at the marked position.

Surely, someone with that color scheme, those mismatched eyes, that multicolored fur, and equally colorful backstory he would be protected by aura greater than us normal people. He might even have… the much-vaunted, legendary armor of plot.

There was no way he was dying here, or so he believed, by the looks of it. I had no reason to be skeptical, he was named Moon Moon, after all!

Which is why I'm sure in any other situation I would have been horrified as the robots that had been previously idle and unmoving, snapped up and around with their guns pointed at 'Group A'. Moon Moon opened his mouth no doubt to issue more threats and promises but that was quickly ended by the echoing gunfire of five assault rifles in close proximity surrounded by metal walls.

… well then. I guess I'm going to die here after all. Death by Atlas Firing Squad, probably at an unmarked Atlas Outpost, in the middle of the tundra. For a crime, I didn't commit.

Somehow, I feel like this is Uncle Qrow's fault.

The power of colors also seemed to be lost on the gaudy thief, who'd just been called up as a member of 'Group B'. "Hodd Toward! Scamming and False Promises!" His name became pretty pointless once he actually reacted to the grisly deaths of the Group A members.

"N-No! You can't do this to me! I won't die here!" He began to run away. "For you see, my semblance… It Just Works!"

"Soldiers, Open Fire!" Cordovin called.

And they did, except, Hodd was already bolting. His speed was magnificent, his short legs carried him as fast as they possibly could, maybe even faster, but in the end, his glorious dash to freedom was ended as his foot brushed the very edge of a small pebble.

In hindsight, a pebble that small shouldn't even have broken his stride, let alone do what it did. My mind refused to believe as suddenly, his body… stretched. It wasn't stretching in the literal, painful way either. It was sudden, abrupt. Then his body contorted in grotesque ways, some borderline non-euclidean. Finally, all his momentum and then many times as much were instantaneously added to his body, but in the span of one single instant.

His body rocketed upwards so fast that my eyes barely even caught it.

Yet, the soldiers kept on firing at nothing in particular, while everyone else stood there with expressions ranging between boredom and despair. Common expressions, considering our current predicament, but not the expression I expected.

Basically, no one was surprised that Hodd Toward had broken multiple laws of physics in the span of a scant few seconds. After a few more second everyone just turned back to what they were doing previously and pretended that hadn't witnessed that.

"Adam Taurus! Fifty-nine counts murders. One-hundred and twenty-seven counts of armed robbery. Three-hundred and nineteen counts of assault and battery. Forty-four counts of property damage exceeding but not limited to one-hundred million Lien. Group B"

My eyes were wide with shock, and it seemed even the Cat Faunus was surprised herself. Whether by the charges listed or the fact they kept track of them all.

I was suddenly glad for my inability to react to what was going on. I knew I would be a complete nervous wreck by now.

Adam strode towards the line, sure in step as if he knew he would not be dying here. It was a confidence I sorely wanted, but at the same time mass-murdering terrorist.

"Blake Belladonna! Three counts of armed robbery. Two counts of property destruction more than one-hundred thousand Lien but less than five-hundred thousand Lien. Group B"

I eyed the cold, but a little bit friendly Ca-Blake warily. Her rap sheet was nowhere near as bad, but still…

Finally, there was her. All she had to do was speak up. Tell them what was going on… that it was all one big mistake…

The Assistant stared blankly at her, not letting out a pep. Long enough that Cordovin glared at the assistant. "Well, what's the hold-up? Read the final criminal's charges!"

The assistant frowned, "My apologies Ma'am but it appears there is no record of the subject in Atlesian databanks."

Yes! I'm Saved!

"Balderdash! Atlas doesn't make mistakes." Suddenly she jammed her finger in my direction, "You there! Prisoner SCUM! What is your name?!"

Unfortunately, I was betrayed by my mouth and the manner Dad had managed to ingrain, "Ruby Rose."

Cordovin turned back to the assistant, "Request all pending records and charges for a one 'Ruby Rose' from the Valeians, surely they were just being their normal incompetent selves."

"Understood, one moment." The assistant paused for a brief few seconds as I smiled internally. Surely, Vale would have nothing on me and I would be let go!

"Records received." The voice had somehow taken on an even more monotonous flatness to it.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Read the charges!" Cordovin urged.

The assistant closed her eyes, but just as quickly re-opened them and began to read from the list. "Ruby Rose. Twelve counts of minor cosmetic property damage. Four-hundred and twenty-nine counts of jaywalking. One count of traffic disruption via semblance."

Oh. Opps.

Cordovin smiled, "See? Criminal through and though. Off to Group B"

She was frozen. No. This can't be-

"Uh, Ma'am?" The assistant interrupted., "We can't prosecute her for any of those crimes, actually even the total sum of fines is under five-thousand Lien."

A smile began to form on my fa-

"Bah, nonsense. Come on, off to the Line you go." She waved her hand dismissively at me. How I wanted to speak up so badly but found it impossible.

I slumped again.

General Ironwood seemed slightly perturbed by Corodvin's callousness, "Hold. Prisoner Rose, you look familiar."

My body shook with excitement, was I going to be sav-

"Do you have any relation to the Branwen bandits?"

My world turned grey and broke. Of course, my super cool Drunkle Qrow is wanted by Atlas. Is it possible his Semblance is worldwide? Because it certainly feels that way now.

General Ironwood, however, seemed at least mildly amused by my world-shattering revelations. "I'm going to take that as a 'Yes' then. Well-"

Suddenly the ground shook, making me fall over when I had tried to use my still-bound arms to balance myself. Everyone else seemed just fine though. It must be pick-on-Ruby day again, even the planet is joining in.

General Ironwood looked up at the distant mountain in surprise, "I don't remember giving clearance for explosives to be used in such quantity on the mountain."

The assistant who had come over to pull me back up turned her head towards the general, "There was not, Sir. No Atlas personnel have been in that AO for the last thirty-eight hours."

Cordovin then inserted her opinion with a 'Harumph', "It's probably just those Fang scum, failing at even basic concepts like 'rescue missions'."

I think even Adam turned to her to give her a look. Which was fair, since there was so much wrong with what she just said and I even knew that. The General spoke up, "Cordo-"

A second rumble shook the world once more. Everyone was now more significantly concerned since things rumbling more than once in movies tend to mean bad things are going to happen. "Penny, what's the geological report on the nearby mountain range?"

The report was weirdly quick. Which I guess is okay because maybe she liked geo-geo- uh land stuff as much as I liked guns but still to just know stuff about some mountains off the top of your heads is really weird, but not weird like in knowing how the Atlas standard issue Droid Rifle used overpressured 7.62mm rounds.

"Nothing is flagged in the reports, Sir. There was, however, a hollow zone detected in one of the mountains but thermal reports any magma channels have long since cooled over."

General Ironwood frowned, "Flag a team to re-evaluate the range, something tells me that was a natural-"

Once again the General was cut off by a third, louder, more terrifying rumble. More terrifying because an even louder series of cracks and pops echoed through the tundra as the top of the mountain seemed to explode into rock and dust.

I didn't know how to even process this day anymore. First I'm captured accidentally, then I'm set to be executed, and nowmountains are exploding! Why is this happening to me! I'm not special, no matter what Yang says, I'm just a normal girl who likes guns!

Which of course the world heard my cries and decided that now would be a great time to invent DRAGON GRIMM!

It swooped around the outpost once for good measure, scanning us from the skies as its profane wings cast gigantic shadows, even on a sunless day like today. I gasped as it landed on the comms tower behind the execution grounds and faced us. I think I smelled someone shit themselves, but I couldn't be sure about anything I heard, because the winged beast decided that now was the perfect time to roar.

Almost shred my eardrums, that blasted thing.

"By the twins." Cordovin exhaled. "Fire! Take that thing down!"

Atlas was all about that droid life, and droids - being the machines they were - didn't really understand that their bullets did as much damage to the dragon as a manicure did to Uncle Qrow's ego.

Bruised, but more irritated than damaged.

In response, the dragon raised his great maw and - almost in a disgusting manner - spat out a glob of black matter from his throat. I could swear it made the same kind of noise that Uncle Qrow made when hocking a loogie in the mornings when he had a cold. The Snot Grimm, which apparently were a thing now too, rose and formed into Beowolves and Ursa.

Well, buttercups.

Blake took her chance, she tackled Cordovin to the floor and started to wrestle her for the keys. Penny, meanwhile, went into damage control, her arms mecha-shifting into Gatling guns that peppered the side of the Grimm dragon. Cool machinery, bad target.

The Grimm Dragon roared then rose into the sky, this time, to breath down a stream of black-green fire on the soldiers.

That was my signal to get the heck outta dodge.

I ran straight through the fires, as fast as I could with my hands tied. My semblance was pretty balance-dependant, so I used it sparingly as I ran for cover, right into the tower that the Dragon had perched on seconds ago. Others seemingly had the same idea, but didn't really have my speed.

So, they died, and I kept going.

I whizzed past the lucky few who had reacted quicker than the others, climbing the stairway ten steps at a time. I came to a stop at the top of the tower, looking out at the base from the gigantic hole the dragon had blown into its side.

I hadn't quite realized the sheer amount of damage a dragon could do to a military base in under a minute.

The base was on fire. I don't know if this place didn't follow the basic laws of physics, but even the stones were on fire, and so was the metal….and the snow. It wasn't melting, oh gods no, just on fire. Just like the little barracks I now had to jump into.

Yep, fire, wood, metal. The perfect cushion for a bumpy landing.

I took the plunge, taking as much of a run as the top floor of the tower allowed. I overshot my mark, colliding instead with the roof of the house.

Then, something unexpected happened.

The roof kinda pushed back. It smoothly slid me off it into the house. What more, all the pointy bits on the edge of the roof also did the same. I landed on a pile of cushions that had miraculously not caught on fire, even though the entire barracks was burning around it.

At this point, I knew to question my luck, or my surroundings was a very stupid idea. So, I just got up, brushed myself down, and dashed out of the house.

Only to come face-to-face with the Grimm Dragon. Gragon?

Which, I probably should have kept a better eye on, really.

Fortunately for me, some of the auto-turrets seemed to still be working and the second the Dragon touched down, they locked on and unloaded. It didn't do much besides buy me enough time to figure out which way to go now, left or right.

To my right was a collapsed wall leading outside the base. As if sensing me, a Cat Fau-Blake popped out from behind the still-standing wall section. "Hey, Rose! Come on! While the Dragon has these assholes distracted, we are making a break for it!"

"Cease, Prisoner Rose!" My head snapped to the left at the call. Prisoner…

Penny stood by a concrete decline leading to an opened steel bulkhead. "Do not listen to Terrorist Belladonna! Please accompany me into the A.H.E.B, further actions outside given parameters will result in increased criminal sentencing!" ...Well, that didn't exactly inspire confidence…

"See, you heard that Atlesian puppet! They just want to put you back in chains, come with us already!"

"Prisoner Rose, I insist that you immediately evacuate inside the A.H.E.B! I assure that you will not be re-arrested and will be released back to your home country at the end of this emergency."

I wanted to believe Penny. I really did but… why was I captured in the first place? I can't remember anything from earlier today, but I wanted to trust that Atlas just made a mistake but I had been seconds away from a firing line…

I… I can't handle this! I have two options: Terrorists that killed people or a military that captured a pre-teen girl and was going to execute her for just being in the wrong place! I just want to go Home…

Then that background noise stopped. The noise of the auto-turrets stopped. I turned around to see the Dragon rearing back, not impeded or distracted, to let loose another tidal wave of Grimm Snot.

I had to choose.

And I had to choose now.

The only accompaniment I had within my dilemma was that of Adam's muffled screaming in the background.

Someone really should've taken off his gag.