A/N:I'm back and boy do I have things to talk about. So let me preface this chapter by saying that it is probably really short. I kind of lost track of time and by the time I realized it was wednesday it was already too late; but that means there will be a longer chapter next weekend so yay:D Now to the next order of business let's talk about RWBY volume 4…( face deadpans)
So as of this morning (July 2, 2016) I have not seen the new trailer, but I have seen the new outfits. Now some of you may not know this, but every single character in the RWBY: Darkfall series I have drawn at some point or the other and I will tell you that intricate clothing is very hard to draw so great job to the artists over at Rooster Teeth. Now I only wish RWBY was 2D animated like traditional anime are, so that we don't lose as much quality when it comes to the concept art.
Well guys that's all I have to say about that so please don't forget to favorite, follow, and review. I'll see you all next week.
The next day came and brought new anxieties with it. After the "blackout" text message they received from Liz, and getting no further response from her until this morning. This left both Ruby, and Saffeara feeling queasy as they walked through the halls of the Sequoia Tree HQ. Kanji and Alex were behind them, and kept exchanging glances at each other as their leaders barreled down the hallway.
"Hey, about the new person. Do you think they'll be any good?" Kanji asked.
Ruby and Saffeara slowed up a bit, their minds being distracted for a moment.
"Ruby, mentioned that he was hand picked for Hunter Recon so we have hope." Saffeara replied.
"It's good that we're getting someone who's already been trained, but you guys know how I feel about Greens." Ruby said, turning the corner.
"Of course, Ruby, I'm just curious is all." Kanji explained as they made it to Liz's office.
Ruby turned towards Kanji and Alex, "Okay, you two stay by the door and do not let anyone in. I'll knock when you can come in, understood?"
Both of them nodded and took their places on either side of the door as Ruby knocked, the sound echoing through the hallway. It took about a minute for a response to be given, but it did put their minds at ease.
They opened the door and were greeted by Liz; who was standing behind her desk with only a bra covering her upper half.
"Shut the door." she commanded, grabbing a white button down shirt off her chair.
Saffeara grabbed the doorknob and shut the door. Ruby and Saffeara started walking towards Liz's desk, and when they got close enough they saw that her hair was a tad wet.
"What happened Liz, it's not like you to take a shower here." Saffeara asked.
"Heh, my baby girl decided it would be fun to put whipped cream in her mommy's hair while she was sleeping; which is interesting because I've never even let her eat whipped cream before." Liz replied; putting the shirt on, but not buttoning it.
Ruby started break out in a cold sweat as she remembered the time she showed Fuschia the miracles of whipped cream, "Huh, that's funny I wonder where she found out about it."
"Yes, it is funny." Liz hit a few keys on her computer. "I take it you're here because of the Blackout message correct?"
Ruby and Saffeara looked at each other, "That's right. What was it?"
Liz brushed her red and black bangs out of her face, "Blackout is a codeword for when a Primal is in trouble. It encompasses his whole property and was used last night because of this."
She withdrew a picture of the decapitated body of Dr. Oppenheimer.
This caused Saffeara and Ruby to take a step back as they realized who it was. His body was extremely thin and he had strange blew markings all over his body; he looked to have been dead for sometime.
"Liz I'm sorry." Ruby said, her hand forming a fist.
Liz's eyes steeled, "Let's be sorry later. Right now I need to know if you're mission ready."
Saffeara and Ruby stiffened, the latter's boots smacking together, "Yes, ma'am."
"Good." Liz stood up and buttoned her shirt. "I assume the other two are outside, have them come in."
Ruby moved to the door without a word and knocked once. On que the door opened with Kanji and Alex entering with their arms behind their backs. However, as Ruby was about to shut the door she heard a pair of footsteps rapidly approaching. Two gloved hands grabbed the door and a girl, with black hair and green eyes, appeared in front of Ruby; her breathing ragged.
"Is this Regional Commander Glass' office?" she asked.
Ruby just looked at her with an astonished expression, "Uh, who's asking?"
"Ruby, that's the initiate let her in." Liz said.
Ruby backed away and when the girl came into full view they noticed that she was dressed in fatigues.
Ruby looked to Saffeara and muttered, "Could have fooled me."
Saffeara just shrugged and waited to see what the girl would do. She stepped forward and saluted Liz, her heels clicking as she did.
"Private First Class, Samantha Arlington reporting for duty ma'am." She announced, her hands shaking like leaves.
"At ease. You may take a seat with your instructive team." Liz said; pointing towards Ruby's team.
Samantha nervously shuffled over to them and stood awkwardly between Saffeara and Ruby. Liz cleared her throat and pulled a picture of Elise out of her pocket.
"As of right now we have no idea where Elize could be; and starting the moment you leave my office your mission is to search the home she shared with Oppenheimer. I'm not trying to be a pessimist here, but I would expect the worse." Liz said; sitting back in her seat. "Are there any questions?"
Alex raised his hand, "How do you want us going about this mission? Are we to be discreet or forward?"
"For right now treat it like a police investigation, and don't let the media get wind of what you're doing." Liz instructed.
Ruby then raised her hand, "What about equipment loadout?"
"Rifled." Liz replied.
The room fell silent and Liz decided to send them on their way.
"If there are no more questions, then you should be on your way. There is a truck outside with all the necessary information, remember to get suited up first though." Liz said; getting up and looking out the window.
They started to leave, but Ruby chose to stay behind. She told Saffeara to help the initiate and that she would join them soon. She shut the door behind Saffeara and turned back to Liz, her eyes looking downcast.
"Did you need something more, Rosebud?" Liz asked; sitting back down at her desk.
"You look tired, Liz. Did Fuschia see anything?" Ruby asked.
Liz covered her face with her hands, "I am tired; and thankfully no."
"That's great news. Listen if you ever want Saffeara and I to babysit all you have to do is ask." Ruby offered.
Liz braced her head up with her hand, "But, aren't you guys too busy?"
"Liz when we don't have a mission or aren't training we're bored as fuck. Plus Fuchsia likes both of us, and it's not the first time I've babysat for you." Ruby said.
"Thank you, I'll let you know when I need you. Oh and one more thing." Liz said; grabbing her purse from under her desk.
She opened it and grabbed her wallet, where she handed Ruby her debit card. Ruby accepted it with a questioning expression.
"All the gear in the truck outside is pretty outdated even though it's still used by spec ops; but if you were to go to a gun store and purchase some better gear then I would cover the cost." Liz said; her voice getting higher at some parts.
"Will this get me access to automatics?" Ruby asked.
Liz chuckled, "In the back of every gun store in Harmony are weapon caches that most ordinary people couldn't even dream of owning. Some are even envied by governments. Just promise me you won't go crazy."
"I had no intention, Ma'am. I should be going." Ruby said; making her way over to the door.
"Good luck, Ruby." Liz said, as the door closed.
Ruby walked down the hall and eventually came to the locker rooms and when she opened the girl's side she found Saffeara and Kanji getting dressed in their tactical gear; Samantha was already changed and sitting on the bench looking at her helmet intently. Kanji already hand her black BDU shirt on and quickly took off her pants and her panties were quick to follow. Ruby thought nothing of it and went over to her locker, but Samantha was baffled by this action.
"Why are you guys taking your underwear off?" Samantha asked, her cheeks rosy.
Saffeara giggled whilst taking her bra off, "I don't expect you to understand some things that we do right off the bat so let me ask you this if you were to get wet and you started to chafe on vagina or nips how do you think it would feel?"
"N-Not good." Samantha replied.
"Precisely, so if I were you I'd want to get rid of my underwear for the time being." Kanji suggested, adjusting the knee pad inserts for her pants.
Samantha nodded and began undoing her boots. Kanji grabbed a ponytail out of her pants and turned towards Saffeara.
"Do you mind?" she asked; holding up the elastic band.
"Not at all." Saffeara said; pulling her shirt over her head.
She went over to Kanji and pulled her white and green hair back into a ponytail. Meanwhile Ruby was now nude and was beginning to pull her pants up her long legs.
"Guys I want plates inside your carriers today, I don't give shit if you think it's too heavy." Ruby commanded, snapping her tac belt.
"Roger that." Saffeara said; finishing Kanji's hair.
They continued this until they were fully kitted out and when they opened the door they found Alex waiting for them, his helmet already covering his black hair.
"You're thirty seconds late." he said; his sleeved rolled up on his muscular forearms.
Ruby chuckled and put him in a headlock, "Oh and did you forget your sleeves in the women's bathroom?"
"Oh oh clever." Alex laughed, pushing out of her grasp.
He fell behind and began to walk next to Kanji and Samantha; who would occasionally take glances at him, but when he would look at her she would look away. Alex shrugged his shoulders and dismissed it as nothing.
They made their way outside and the first thing that caught their eyes was the armored truck in front of them.
"Good lord this thing looks awesome!" Saffeara said; putting her hand on the pronged plow on its grill.
Alex laughed, "I agree with that. Who's driving?"
"Since you seem so enthused about it, Alex volunteers." Saffeara said.
Saffeara walked over to Ruby as Alex got in the driver's seat, and found the younger woman's eyes fixated on the top of the vehicle.
"Whatcha looking at?" Saffeara asked.
Ruby pointed to the machine gun mount on the top of the vehicle, "Liz gave me her card and we're going to stop at the gun store on the way to our objective. I was wondering how long it would take us to mount a fifty cal on that mount."
Saffeara grabbed onto her plate carrier, "Alex and I have put on several in the past so I don't think it would take too long, but we'll need some help lifting the fucking thing since it weighs about a hundred damn pounds."
"Don't worry about that, we'll help you." Ruby said; opening the passenger side door.
"What about ammunition for it?" Saffeara asked, opening the door behind Ruby.
Ruby looked back and saw Samantha sitting between Saffeara and Kanji, "We'll get ammo for it after we complete our objective. I think I can convince Liz to let me into the war stock and then we can get the ammo for free."
"Are we going shopping first?" Alex asked.
Ruby nodded, "Yes, take us to the nearest gun store. Hey, you're name's Samantha right? You got a weapon of your own?"
"U-Um no ma'am. I-I assumed we would be using the ones from the truck ma'am." Samantha said; the poor girl being very much out of her element.
Ruby raised her finger, "First thing to remember is never assume anything especially when it comes to Hunter Recon. Second thing is members of Hunter Recon are expected to use their own firearms on the basis that you would know it better than any other issued gun."
"Oh, I see." Samantha trailed off.
Kanji put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder, "Don't worry they don't really tell new recruits about what's expected of them. Lucky for you Ruby's nicer than Hunter Recon's leaders."
Ruby chuckled, "You bet I am. How old are you Samantha?"
"I-I just turned eighteen." she replied.
"Wow, you sure joined young. You have a boyfriend or someone like that at home?" Ruby then asked, as Alex pulled onto the freeway.
"No, I just have my parents back home in Vacuo." Samantha replied.
"Ah so you're from Vacuo, I thought your accent sounded familiar." Alex piped up.
"Alex here is a Huntsmen whose native to Vacuo, although he hasn't been there in forever." Ruby explained.
"Why not?" Samantha asked.
Alex chuckled, "No reason to. I had to kill my brother after he framed me for the murders he committed. As you can guess the family didn't take to kindly to that; but I don't let it get to me. I have a better family now."
"Oh, well I'm sorry." Samantha said.
Ruby felt the silence creeping up on them, and remembered another question she had to ask.
"Hey Samantha, what's your middle name?"
She gave Ruby a confused expression, "It's Ash, why?"
"Because when we go on op, we call each other by our middle names. It works, because middle names are only represented by the first initial, thus if somebody wants to come after us they'll need to go to extra work trying to find us." Ruby explained.
"15 meters till destination, Ruby." Alex announced, as Samantha nodded.
"Great." Ruby replied, finally turning around.
Silence over took them until they arrived at the gun store.
On every wall there were firearms that ranged from fifty caliber sniper rifles to civilian nine millimeters. They had everything or at least Ruby hoped they had everything. Samantha looked around the room, her green eyes as wide as golf balls.
"Okay, guys here's the plan you each get one primary and pistol. Get enough mags to fill your plate carriers and have at least three in reserve. Understood?" Ruby asked; putting her hands on her hips.
"Yep, come on Kanji I'll help you." Saffeara said; taking the other woman's hand.
Alex went over to a section of the store that catered to shotguns of various types and after, showing his Sequoia Tree ID, immediately asked if he could see a piston driven automatic one.
This left Samantha standing in front of Ruby; the girl looking around awkwardly.
Ruby smirked, "A little overwhelming isn't it?"
"A little." Samantha admitted, folding her hands in front of her.
"Well, then I'll help you. Let's start general what did your drill sergeant certify you for?" Ruby asked.
"I am certified as a rifleman, but I received decent marks as a Designated Marksman." Samantha replied.
Ruby put a finger to her lips, "Hmm, Kanji and Saffeara are already riflemen so how do you feel about being a DM?"
"I am fine with either of the roles, ma'am." Samantha replied.
Ruby smiled and motioned for Samantha to follow her. She brought her over to one wall that had an assortment of semi-automatic high caliber rifles. One even had a grenade launcher, and was marked with the Sequoia Tree crest which was an indicator that only Sequoia Tree personnel with the proper security clearance could purchase this rifle.
"Do you have preferences when it comes to these rifles?" Ruby asked.
Samantha nodded, "I prefer to have the weight balanced, and I need to have a bipod at all times."
Ruby was confused about the word "need".
"Okay, so is there any like medical reason you would need that?" Ruby asked, in a concerned tone.
Samantha nodded, "I'm sorry I should have mentioned it earlier, but I was born with a minor birth defect that made my left arm slightly weaker than my right. With some hard work I got it to where their strength is almost equal, but they'll never be equal."
"I see, so you can't fire it off hand for long, but you do try your best which is all that I ask." Ruby said, in an assuring tone. "Hmm, I think this one might be the best for you."
Ruby grabbed a, bullpup, 7.62x54R special operations rifle(SOR) and handed it to Samantha.
The younger woman took a hold of the rifle and played with it in her hands, before pointing it towards the ceiling. She smirked as she found the weight wasn't compromising, and that it accepted a bipod on the front of it.
"I like it, the synthetic forestock feels nice and the weight is nice and balanced." Samantha said; pulling the aluminum magazine out of it.
"I'm glad you like it, now your side arm will be the standard issue 5.7. Hunter Recon doesn't allow custom pistols." Ruby explained, walking over to the counter were the others were waiting.
"You all ready?" Ruby.
Several approvals were sent her way, and she began paying for them.
It took them about fifteen minutes, excluding the time to mount the 50. Cal. on the top of the truck, to purchase their kits and the ammunition. Now they were driving down the highway with a black tarp covering the machine gun.
Ruby put another round of 50AE into her pistol magazine, "Get tactical guys, next stop mission objective."
The sound of weapons cocking filled the cab, the music of the Sequoia Tree's elite.