Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its' characters. I just like to play around with them a bit.
Partially adapted with permission from a good friend.
A/N: And here we are with another dive into RWBY fanfiction. I promised myself that if I started another multi chapter story, I would write the entire thing first, or at least one arc of said story before posting it. That being said, the current arc is finished (a short novella with 4 chapters) and wraps itself up pretty well, considering. If enough readers are interested, I will be continuing this through the next arc to the finale. Until then, I think this works pretty well as its' own story with enough action, adventure, villainous baddies and a dabble of romance to keep people entertained through its relatively short duration.
This will be a slight AU from the RWBY-verse in that, among other things, Weiss never went to Beacon Academy. She instead went down a different path, following her sister Winter to the Atlesian military. Not everything is canon -obviously- and any and all questions will be addressed further down the road.
Enjoy.
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The Quicksilver Initiative
Arc 1, Episode 1: An Explosive Rendezvous
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Weiss
Weiss Schnee had seen many things go from bad to worse during her stint in the Atlesian military. From a minor flub of a rehearsed line while undercover, to compromising an entire team of fellow soldiers - pretty much every goof-up under the sun - she knew quite well that it didn't take all that much to have months of careful and meticulous planning go up in smoke.
Glancing at her wristwatch - thin and missable if one wasn't paying attention - she desperately hoped that this was not one of those times. Things were going well so far, but she was starting to wonder where her fire support had gone off to.
At the moment she was standing in the middle of one of the largest museums in Vale, rubbing shoulders with people from all over Remnant and watching out for a rather slippery terrorist that the her superiors had sent her team all the way to Vale to apprehend. Really, such an issue wasn't very outlandish for the specialists of Black Ops to tackle.
Consisting of a small assortment of soldiers with various skillsets, the Atlesian Special Operations and Tactics Squad - known around through word of mouth as the more ominous-sounding Spec Ops team - was sent to do all the tasks that the other branches weren't able to do. Reconnaissance, search and rescue, industrial sabotage, target identification and suppression and in some cases even assassination, though Weiss herself had yet to be given that particularly unsavory duty, Spec Ops handled it all. And even though Weiss only had a couple of years under her belt, as opposed to some of the older members of her squad - more so her very own sister - she was ambitious, and had the skills to back up her ambition.
And so far, she had not seen anyone that looked overly suspicious, but that was certainly no reason to drop her guard, Weiss decided, nor was it a particularly good reason for her support to be late.
"Tundra Six, anything yet?" a tinny voice crackled in Weiss' ear.
"Nothing confirmed," she replied, moving her lips as little as possible to avoid any undue attention. "So far the closest people to the statue indicated in the report are an old man with a cane, a pair of young women on a bench, and a little boy. Maybe six or seven years. Can you confirm?
The other member of her team, Sergeant Lucca Keade - Tundra Three, snorted through their communicator. "Nope. I'm on the other side of the cafeteria," she muttered. "I'm having issues with my equipment- the calibrations all fucked up! All I can do is tell people are around there, but I can't confirm anyone in particular."
"Understood," Weiss murmured from her seat on a nearby bench. "I'm moving in for a closer look. It's almost time."
Lucca sounded almost amused as her voice filtered into her earpiece, "What, you think it's the geezer with a cane? Or the little boy?"
Weiss frowned, but chose not to reply. In her experience, no one could not be ruled out as a suspect unless she knew them personally - and even then, there could be exceptions. The whole debacle with the theft of all that dust from her family's company a few months ago was a prime example. She was not ready to say that there was no one that would turn their back on her, but that list had dropped significantly since facing a slew of traitors from her own military stealing from her own family.
As she began to casually stroll towards the statue on the other side of the room, Lucca spoke again. "There are other groups watching this one, Weiss," she reminded her, her voice losing it's flippant quality. "Don't jump the gun this time."
Since Weiss was not a student or a trainee, she was a professional, she simply replied with a succinct, "Yes, Ma'am," rather than scoff or take offense.
It was not, after all, as if she had never jumped to the wrong conclusion, or stormed off on her own to take care of things, or taken down someone she had assumed was a terrorist on the street. That had been embarrassing, and Weiss was determined not to make that mistake again.
No, Weiss decided, her teammate's warning was not uncalled for in the slightest.
"The little boy is moving away," she reported, coming to a stop in front of a large piece of artwork and pretending to examine it. "I don't think he got close enough to drop anything by the statute. The old man," she paused, taking another quick look before turning away and pretending to watch a group of tourists moving from a bust of a famous artist to a wall with an assortment of paintings. "The old man appears to be blind."
"And the girls?" Tundra Three prompted, the innocence all-too fake in her tone.
Weiss stepped away from the artwork and continued to make her way towards the statue. "Eating lunch together," she replied, lowering her voice to a whisper as she stilled, breathing, "They've spotted me."
For a moment, Weiss' eyes met those of the shorter of the two girls, her shoulder-length dark hair shining with highlights of red, and her hand twitched slightly, longing for the comfort of Myrtenaster… or at least her sidearm. This girl was trained, she realized immediately, forcing herself not to look away from the girl's steel-like gaze too quickly. A soldier, or at the very least, trained to fight - definitely not a casual day out with a friend.
The term 'Huntress' never even crossed her mind.
"Hey there," the girl called from her seat by the statue, her tone friendly and conversational. The blonde-haired girl she was sitting next to looked up from her sandwich, lavender eyes sharpening almost unnoticeably. "Enjoying the museum?"
"Yes," Weiss answered, "It's very… lovely."
"You're blown," Lucca's voice hissed in her ear. "She's a Huntress - I can fucking hear it from here!"
Having no way to reply her, Weiss ignored the commentary. "Are you two from around here?" she asked, her heart pounding in her ears. "I haven't met many people from here willing to talk to foreigners. At least, not since I got here a couple days ago. Maybe you two could show me around...?"
The girl blinked, looking Weiss up and down, arching a dark eyebrow at her outfit. As it was, Weiss was fairly confident in her ability to dress 'civilian'; a red-blouse with white jacket - large enough to conceal her sidearm but still look fashionable - and white capris. Her canvas shoes were sensible and study - good for walking as well as running - and perfect for playing the 'eager tourist' if she needed to.
"Are you traveling alone?" the girl wondered casually. "Or with a tour group, or something? I mean, I'd be more than happy to show you some sights -" she grunted when the blonde girl jabbed her in the ribs with an elbow. "I mean, we'd be more than happy to show you the sights…. But I wouldn't want anyone you're with to worry…"
"I'm on my own today," Weiss replied with a shake of her head, "So it's not a problem."
Weiss was so focused on the speaker that she almost missed the fact that the taller of the two was staring at the two of them with an almost impatient frown. Weiss glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, surprised to see that both of the girls looked to be about as old as she herself was. At a guess, she placed both of them at twenty-three or twenty-four years old, though their eyes painted them as much older, reflecting none of the cheeriness that a typical girl in her early twenties would have.
Much like Weiss herself was, now that she thought about it.
Somewhere deep down, Weiss knew that things were definitely not what they seemed.
"Well then, maybe we should start with -"
"Ruby!"
The old man, Weiss suddenly thought, feeling strangely detached as the blonde girl threw herself off of the bench and tackled the shorter girl to the ground. Shit! I shouldn't have forgotten about the old man!
She tensed, instinctively raising her arm to shield her face as a dull 'whump' sounded right in front of her - and then she was flying, spinning through the air by the force of the blast she had failed to stop. Hot wind tore across at her body and chunks of debris rained down, small pieces peppering her with searing pricks of pain while the pleasant but crowded din of a day at the museum suddenly morphed to the screams of a frightened mob of people.
"S-status," she wheezed once she rolled to her hands and knees, fumbling around for her earpiece and shaking her head to clear the ringing in her ears. "Tundra Three? Tundra Four? Lucca? Chet?"
Her fingers found nothing but naked flesh as she fished around for her communications device - flesh and a hot, wet gash just above her ear. She cursed and reached for her hand-held communicator, blinking dust and debris from her eyes, and was able to get partway to her feet when something dark and hard hit her, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her back down to the ground.
"You," a chillingly calm voice hissed from above her, "You did this!"
Looking up, Weiss met the gaze of the very same dark haired girl she had been talking to moment's before, paired with the gunmetal grey of an automatic pistol inches from her nose. The barrel trembled slightly as the young woman glared down at her, unmitigated fury in her silvery eyes.
Her cheerful smile was nowhere to be seen.
Swallowing against a suddenly very dry throat, Weiss chose her words carefully. "I'm afraid you misunderstood, I was only -"
Suddenly, the young woman tensed, and before Weiss could blink she seemed to flicker where she stood, reappearing a few inches to the left - her pistol still trained on her nose - and barely avoided the bullet that whistled through the space she had just been a moment before.
Fuck! Tundra Four - Chet! Weiss tried to roll to her feet, but the girl was on her again in a flash, stepping around her back and snaking an arm around neck, squeezing her forearm against her throat.
"Call off your sniper," the girl demanded, putting more pressure on Weiss' neck, using her as a shield against further shots as she trained her glare towards the gaping hole in the side of the museum Weiss was sure her teammate had taken his shot in from.
"I, I can't," she muttered shortly, wincing as the girl's grip on her throat tightened.
"Do it!"
"I can't - you're standing on my earpiece."
The girl looked down, and that was when Weiss made her move. Or attempted to, anyway. With the girl distracted she pushed back, intending to slam the back of her head against the girl's face - and immediately fell back on the ground, the wind knocked out of her as she hit the floor.
The light was blocked by the girl's dark silhouette. "Nice try… but don't try shit like that aga-"
As she was speaking, another shot rang out, and Weiss both felt and heard the slug slam into the woman's leg. She didn't seem to flicker out of existence that time, but neither did she fall to the ground.
"S-shit!" she cursed, pulling up Weiss with her left arm and gripping her neck with the other. "You bitch… you killed Yang!"
Weiss struggled, trying to pull the girl's arm away from her throat, but it was no good. Her grip was far stronger than her own. Weiss was a trained soldier - but this girl clearly had the capabilities of a Huntress. She just wished she realized that a few seconds earlier than she had.
She felt her muscles in her neck constrict as the girl picked her up and squeezed her throat. Her heart pounded in her chest, as if hoping to keep her alive by sheer will. For a moment, Weiss considered throwing away her dignity and begging for her life, her duty and family flitting through her mind as she wished she could go back and say goodbye to her loved ones… but she knew it would ultimately be a waste.
"Ruby, let her go."
In an instant, the hand on her throat was gone and Weiss fell forward to her knees, gasping and choking for breath as her lungs burned and her limbs tingled.
"Yang!" the girl - Ruby - cried, leaping from Weiss' kneeling form to her friend's, reaching around her neck to pull her upright against the broken wall. "You're alive!"
"The target," the blonde girl - Yang - muttered, wincing as she weakly lifted a hand and pressed it against her side. "Pursue the target, Ruby. Take this girl and go."
Ruby blinked. "What? B-but-"
"We have a mission, Ruby." Yang interrupted. "This girl," she nodded slowly towards Weiss, who had just managed to catch her breath and look up at her mention. "She's on our side. If she was with the mark, then she wouldn't have been caught in the blast with us. You should know that."
Ruby glanced regretfully towards Weiss, looking suddenly like a little girl called out for not doing her homework. Oddly enough, it was a lot like Weiss being scolded by her own older sister for doing something wrong.
"But you're hurt," Ruby argued. "I should stay and-"
"You have to go and catch the target," Yang persisted. "If we lose them, we might never get another chance at this." She turned her attention to Weiss - her lavender eyes suddenly looking less like the girl she seemed and more like someone much older - someone much more experienced. "Our backup will be here soon," she said. "But there's no time to lose, right?' After Weiss nodded, she swallowed, wincing. "I don't really know who you're with, but I honestly don't give a shit. Take Ruby and go hunt those fuckers down."
"Understood."
Yang was right, of course. There was no time to lose. If they waited for their so-called backup - or her own, for that matter - their terrorist would be long gone and they would miss their chance at them for who known how long.
They needed to move out.
"We'll take the side streets - keep out of sight," Weiss declared, reaching into her jacket and palming her sidearm as she looked around, trying to peer through the smoke and debris. "I hear sirens coming. We probably have a minute or two until…"
She trailed off as Ruby slid up to her side, winding her arm through hers. Weiss looked over to her, but the girl's eyes were locked onto Yang's as she said, "I'll be back soon."
Yang nodded, her smile tight. "I know, Rubes. Go!"
Ruby gave Yang one last pained look, her hesitation clearly willing her to stay, before she finally turned her head and ran, tugging Weiss along with her, towards the museum's exit.
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The Quicksilver Initiative
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Ruby
The cobbled ground made hard echoing cracks underneath Ruby's shoes as she and the silver-haired woman she found herself with dashed from the museum through the side streets of Vale's industrial district. Whoever she was, she must have been in good shape to be able to keep up with Ruby, even with a fifty caliber slug stuck in her calf.
Though, that was probably because Ruby still had a tight hold on her forearm as she ran.
"Where are we going?" the woman asked as they made a sharp turn down another alleyway.
"Yang spotted the guy with a cane down by the rail yard earlier today when we combed the area," Ruby explained, stopping for a moment at an intersection between building to get her bearings. "We thought he was blind at first, but we still had him marked since his description matched one of the terrorist's known accomplices. And when he showed up again at the museum today…"
"I was thinking the same thing," the woman admitted, following at Ruby's heel as she sprinted off towards the direction of the rail yard. "The old man, the little boy, and you and your girlfriend."
Ruby bit off her correction of, she's my sister, simply because it wasn't important. It wasn't like that particular knowledge would help them catch the mark, after all.
Still, she had to know, "How'd you know she's my girlfriend?"
The young woman looked up, and seeing that they were closing in on the station from a break in the buildings around then, she began to explain as they ran. "Simple," she said, "You seemed far too comfortable with her than a simple coworker or a fellow soldier, and she didn't look old enough to be a mentor or some kind. And finally, you two didn't look enough alike to be related."
Ruby nodded silently, digesting that.
"Therefore, I would assume that the two of you were dating, so - hey!"
The two came to a halt as Ruby nearly ran headlong into a pedestrian.
"Geez… watch it!" Ruby snarled as they dashed down yet another alleyway. When they stopped at a crumbling intersection between buildings, she looked back to see her companion eyeing her leg warily.
"You're hurt," the young woman muttered, stepping forward and making to kneel down. "Here, let me see-"
"There's no time," Ruby cut her off. "He'll get away. Yang said I can't let them get away."
Surveying the scene for a moment, she set her course and resumed her dash, her jaw set in determination as the railyard came into full view before them.
"There! There he is!"
The woman at her side peered to where Ruby pointed, a small figure with bright orange hair boarding a cargo train. "How can you tell?" she wondered aloud.
"I'm a sharpshooter," Ruby murmured, keeping her eyes trained on the man as she raced down the narrow pathways. "He has the same gait, same profile… that red hair is also a dead giveaway. We memorized the key features of everyone close enough to bomb the statue."
The girl mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, 'show-offs', but Ruby chose to ignore her. We have to stop him before the train leaves, she thought. Secure the mark, return to Yang. Secure the mark, return to HQ. Secure the mark, return to Yang. Help Yang.
"They're leaving," the woman noted. "We should jump on - they have guards posted at the loading docks, but not the far side."
Ruby nodded. Of course they had no one watching the far side, after all no one in their right mind would think about jumping on the back of a train as it left the station. That kind of thing only happened in movies… or Blake's badly written 'romance' novels.
But with a Huntress - or someone who could keep up with one, apparently - it could actually work.
Ruby spared the woman beside her a quick glance, just fast enough to nod her acceptance of the plan and to wonder just what organization or group she belonged to, and what she was even doing there in the first place, before dashing off towards the end of the train just as the whistle started blowing.
There's no time, she thought, and releasing her grip on the woman's arm she sprinted through the pain in her leg towards the last car. No time. The girl beside her leaped without stopping onto the car, vaulting over the railing like it was nothing. Ruby crouched low to leap, but then a spear of pain lanced through her leg - the bullet wound still fresh and throbbing - and caused her to stumble at the last second.
Damnit!
Don't think, just do. Don't think, just do.
Again she tried to jump, but again her leg failed her and she limped, unable to complete the jump or keep up with the train. Her Semblance would have made such a feat like catching the train child's play… but with the slug in her calf she couldn't gain the speed she normally would be able to match.
She was no faster than a regular Huntress.
"Just go without me!" She called, slowing to a jog as the train picked up speed. "Catch the mark!"
The woman didn't reply; she held out a hand towards Ruby and suddenly - unexpectedly - the ground beneath her feet shifted. Ruby looked down and blinked when she saw the dirt and gravel beneath her shoes shimmer and shine with a bright white symbol.
A glyph, Ruby realized with sudden clarity. She blinked and looked back up towards the train, and was barely able to make out the woman's words as she yelled them.
"Go now! Jump!"
And Ruby leapt.
The glyph under her feet seemed to lurch beneath her, acting as a springboard, and Ruby sailed through the air with ease, her short hair whipping around her ears and the wind hitting her face. She yelped as she reached the end of the train, and grabbed hold of the woman's outstretched arm.
"Hold on," she hissed urgently as Ruby pulled herself up on the railing. "I got you."
Though stunned from the sudden change in events, Ruby shook off the effects from the glyph and leapt fully onto the back of the train.
"In here!"
Quickly, the two ducked into the back door of the train, and slipped into a small alcove just beside the entrance to the car, sliding a door shut just moments before a pair of guards - faunus, from the look of them - walked by to check out the back of the train.
The woman grunted as Ruby slid along the wall of the train, partly in discomfort but mostly in surprise as they maneuvered themselves inside the narrow alcove, trying to find a comfortable spot to wait out the guards. As it was, Ruby had the other girl pinned against the wall, her somewhat larger stature against the other's more lithe, petite form, and even in the semi-darkness of the alcove, Ruby could study her face as she returned her own gaze with an equally stern expression, trying not to squirm under each other's sudden and intense scrutiny.
Ruby could almost hear the gears turning in the woman's head, forming questions like, 'Who is this girl? How did she end up here with me? What kind of girl calls herself a sharpshooter?"
She had similar questions, but knew there would be time for answers later; preferably after they were safer.
Apparently thinking along similar lines, the young woman simply glanced at Ruby, pursing her lips for a moment before whispering, "Don't make a sound."
Ruby's eyes widened as woman slid down the wall to her knees. She silently lifted the hem of her skirt with one hand, surveying the damage done to her leg. She gently poked her finger into her bullet wound made by the sniper in the museum. "It feels like it's in there pretty deep," she murmured, keeping her voice low as she reached down to tear at the hem of her own blouse. She tore off a small strip of the material and proceeded to wrap it around Ruby's leg. "I don't think I can pull it out without some tools. Can you still move well enough?"
Ruby's eyes widened at the girl's calm demeanor, and she nodded, whispering, "Yes. I can still move. Just… not as quick as usual."
"I see," she replied. "Well, as long as you can still run and fight, I think we'll be okay. I'll see if I can pull out the bullet once we find some supplies."
It took several seconds for her words to sink into Ruby's brain, but once they did, she reacted in a way she hadn't for a very long time.
She pouted.
"I'm not a kid, you know," she muttered, her voice rising slightly in indignation. "I'm a Huntress. My name is Ruby."
The young woman glanced briefly at the wound in her leg - probably double checking her makeshift bandage - and then looked back up. "Sorry… Ruby. I didn't mean to offend you." She lowered Ruby's skirt and pushed herself back up the wall, holding out her hand in offering.
"Specialist Weiss Schnee. Atlesian Special Operations and Tactics."
Standing almost nose-to-nose with this woman in a dark alcove in the back of a train headed to Gods knows where, Ruby wondered if this was really the time or the place for proper protocol. She knew, however, that Yang and Blake would be upset with her if they found out that she had been rude to someone she had just met when they were being polite, and carefully took the offered hand with her right.
"Ruby Rose. Huntress. Its nice to meet you," she whispered, blushing faintly as it occurred to her how close the two of the actually were, and the fact that the woman that she just became acquainted with had seen up her skirt.
Well, this mission was off to a great start.
If Weiss shared in her discomfort, though, she didn't show it. "It looks like the train is underway," she murmured, closing her eyes and listening to the rhythm of the rails and the hydraulics under them. "We should wait until it gets dark, and then try to find another place to hide. Provisions could be an issue if this trip is long, but I think we could find something. We'll need to move around at night, and take only what we need to get by without anyone noticing… what? What is it?"
Ruby was starting at Weiss with an expression of awe on her face. She blushed lightly, shaking her head. "N-nothing."
She talks like Blake, or like Professor Goodwitch, she thought as Weiss began to mutter potential dangers and issues under her breath. Oh, Gods… they probably reached Yang by now… I hope she's alright!
"... and if we can get signal on our scrolls or something," Weiss continued, "then we could probably send out a call to my team, or yours, and then -"
"Weiss?"
"Mmm?"
"I think we should probably be a little more quiet."
Weiss blinked, and then reluctantly agreed that Ruby was probably right. As they stood there in silence, rocking slowly by the motion of the car, Ruby tried to decide what to do. She was a good Huntress - great, even - but she was more of a follower than a leader. She had joined Beacon two years earlier than most people, her skill being a very good bonus to her rapid growth through the ranks, but she never really got the hang of being a team leader. Not like Yang had.
She grimaced to herself. She was in way over her head, and now that she had the time to think, the young Huntress began to realize just how unprepared she was for a mission like this.
Cut off from her partner, wounded, nothing on her except her scroll and a sidearm - she had to leave her Crescent Rose behind to avoid detection - and a single clip of ammunition, Ruby suddenly wanted to cry. Yang would be ashamed if she saw me like this, she thought sadly. What should I do? What can I do?
"Ruby."
"What?"
Ruby watched as Weiss shrugged off her jacket, a feat made more difficult from their close proximity, "The car isn't heated," she said softly. "We should rest for about an hour or two, and then find someplace better to hide." Ruby hesitated as Weiss draped her jacket over her shoulders, and then slipped beside her to cover the both of them.
"Um, no thanks. I'm… not that cold."
"It's not even sunset," Weiss said simply, eyeing Ruby as a shiver ran through her frame uninvited. "I can deal with the cold better than most people, but it will get much colder than this. Please."
Being a Huntress, Ruby was more resistant to damage and pain… but in a skirt and a thin blouse, she was still susceptible to chill, and now that the adrenaline from the chase was over, she was starting to get a little cold. She glanced over at the woman beside her, studying her face closely for any sign of malice or duplicity. Ruby wasn't necessarily afraid of her, but she also knew if Weiss decided to attack her in a moment of weakness, then she wouldn't be able to protect herself.
And she wasn't ready to die just yet.
As Weiss started to lower her jacket over the both of them, Ruby carefully slid closer, thinking that it would do nobody any good if she were to get sick from the wound in her leg and the cold of the unheated, unpowered train car. Besides, she thought as the warm jacket covered her shoulders, Yang told me to work with her.
In spite of that thought, Ruby didn't close her eyes. Neither did Weiss. So instead of resting, the two knelt there in the alcove, side by side with their heads touching to share body heat as the movement of the train rocked their bodies from side to side.
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To be continued.
A/N: Thanks for reading - see you all on the next update in a few days.
***Will work for glomps***