"Medic!" Weiss yelled as she helped an unconscious Ruby off of the Bullhead. "I need a medic over here!"
A group of Beacon company medics ran across the tarmac to the where Weiss was with a stretcher. Weiss unwrapped Ruby's arm from her shoulder and gently handed her to the medics. They carefully lay her on the stretcher and started to wheel her away as Weiss ran behind them.
"How bad?" One of the medics asked her.
"Armor-piercing round to her side," Weiss replied, trying to keep calm. "Went right through the front plate and got stopped by the back one."
"Caliber?"
Weiss thought back to the battle they had not even an hour ago. "5.56. And, as I said, armor piercing."
"We'll get her taken care of, don't worry, Lieutenant," The medic replied, noticing the growing concern in Weiss' eyes.
"Thank you," Weiss replied nodding.
Weiss turned around to look at the other wounded embers of the people that had been deployed with her being helped off of the transport by a combination of medics and soldiers. Well, we knew from the beginning that this would be risky, she thought with a sight. Still. I hope she'll be okay. Suddenly, Weiss felt her scroll vibrate in her pocket. She pulled the small electronic device out and opened it, revealing a message that said REPORT TO COMMANDER OZPIN FOR DEBRIEF. Weiss sighed before turning away from the transport and walking to the base headquarters.
Weiss walked through the halls of the headquarters until she arrived at a door with Cmdr. Ozpin printed on a nameplate. Weiss gently knocked on the door.
"Come in," Ozpin's muffled voice came from the other side.
Weiss pulled on the latch and opened the door, revealing a surprisingly spartan office. Aside from a single, elegant grandfather clock that sat in on corner of the room, the office was completely undecorated. In the center of the dimly-lit room sat Commander Ozpin staring at a display that was built into his desk. He tapped a few commands into the display and it closed. He then turned to face Weiss.
"Please, have a seat," he said, gesturing to a chair. Weiss slowly made her way across the room and sat down across from the commander. "So, I hope you can tell me what happened out there."
Weiss took a deep breath. "It pretty much went south as soon as the transport took off, sir," she stated.
"How so?"
"Once the transport was off the ground, we came under fire from all sides," Weiss said, thinking back to the battle. "It was as if they were waiting for us. Lots of heavy weapons. Machine guns, snipers, among other small arms. Three people went down almost immediately. Ruby directed us to take cover and engage the other hostiles. Almost as soon as she gave out her orders, she was hit as well. I took over after she went down and we managed to defeat the hostiles, though not before we had three more people go down. After that, I ordered the mission aborted and we recalled the transport."
"Total casualties?" Ozpin asked.
"Two KIA and five wounded, three of which are critical," Weiss replied. "Ruby was among the latter group."
"I see," Ozpin said. "Was there anything else?"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Weiss asked.
"Of course."
"Who hired us for this operation, sir?" Weiss asked. "We've had a recent surge in operations that end in our forces having to pull out due to casualties, and I'm not sure if we can keep it up for too much longer."
"We were requested by the Atlesian military," Ozpin replied. "And, before you ask, yes, a disproportionate number of the operations that we have had to scrub have been given to us by the Atlesian military."
"Do you have any way to stop this from happening?" Weiss asked.
"I have an idea or two," Ozpin replied, with a nod and a small smile. "Though I can't say that Ironwood will be happy with the increase in price the Atlesians are going to be dealing with."
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Well, the easiest method to counter what's going on would be for us to send more forces than we state we intend to deploy," Ozpin explained. "For example, if we state we're going to be sending a single team of Hunters to deal with a mission, we instead send a team of Hunters and a full squad of other mercenaries. This way, if our calls are being monitored by some outside party, they would be unprepared for the numbers and strength we would be deploying against them."
Weiss nodded silently, before looking down at her lap.
"Worried about Captain Rose?" he asked.
"Yeah," Weiss replied quietly.
Ozpin nodded. "Well, before you got here, I received word from the medics that she was about to start surgery. According to them, she should make a full recovery once she's out."
"Thank you, sir," Weiss replied, giving him a smile.
"I'll inform you when she's finished," Ozpin said. "If there's nothing else, you're dismissed, Lieutenant."
Weiss stood from the chair saluted. "Thank you, sir."
Weiss walked through the halls of the Beacon Company medical facility. The stark, white halls were lit brightly by the brilliant fluorescent lights. She passed doors, some with covered windows, though the lighting behind them was obvious. Others remained uncovered, despite their occupied status, and on the other side, mercenaries carried on conversations with their doctors and comrades. Still others were completely dark, and obviously unoccupied.
Nearly every person she passed was either in a long, white coat, or wearing garments typical of a hospital patient. Some, like Weiss, wore more everyday, clothes, but they were the exception, and were all clearly either visiting their wounded comrades or just leaving after being discharged. Weiss made her way through the halls until she found her way to a certain door. She peered through the window and saw Ruby laying in the bed, talking with her mother. Weiss gently knocked on the door, and Ruby waved her in.
"Well, I suppose, I should leave you to your girlfriend," Summer said, chuckling slightly.
"Thanks, mom," Ruby replied, smiling. "Love you!"
"Love you too, pup," Summer said, rubbing her daughter between her wolf ears. Summer then stood from the chair and walked over to Weiss. "Thanks for getting her back here safely," She said with a smile.
"Of course, ma'am," Weiss replied, smiling as she looked past the older Faunus to Ruby. "She's the reason I'm here."
"All the same, thank you, Weiss," Summer said. "I'm glad that you care so much about her. I'll go ahead and leave you two."
With that, Summer stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her.
"You okay, Ruby?" Weiss asked. "You looked like you were in a lot of pain when we got back yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Only hurts when I laugh now," Ruby said, chuckling a little before she winced. "Ow."
"Ruby," Weiss said with a sigh as she sat in the chair next to the bed.
"I told you, Weiss," Ruby replied, giving the White-haired Lieutenant a smile, "I'm fine. We all knew that this could happen when we joined up. We've got a dangerous job."
"I know," Weiss replied as she looked down at her feet. "It's just... I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. You're the entire reason I'm here. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Ruby reached out and placed a hand on Weiss' shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile as she did so. "Relax, Weiss. It's no use worrying about what didn't happen. I here, and I'm alive."
Weiss sighed. "I know, I know," she said. "Look, please, just promise me that you'll be careful, okay?"
Ruby sighed. "Okay, fine," she said. "I promise I'll try to stay safe."
Weiss smiled. "Thanks, Ruby. I love you."
"I love you too Weiss," she replied.
The two women sat for a moment before Weiss stood from her chair.
"I need to get going," she said, starting to move towards the door. "Patrol is in about an hour, and I don't really want to be late."
"Okay," Ruby replied, laying back and closing her eyes. "Hey Weiss?" Ruby asked as she sat up, causing Weiss to turn around. "I know, given the fact that I'm here right now, I don't really get to ask this, but you stay safe too, okay?"
Weiss gave Ruby a reassuring smile. "Of course, Ruby," she replied, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I promise that I'll be safe."
"Ready to go?" Weiss asked as Ruby stood from the hospital bed.
"Oh, you have no idea how ready I am," Ruby groaned, shechting.
"Easy, Ruby," Weiss said, helping Ruby as she almost fell. "The doctor said that you really shouldn't do anything strenuous for the next few weeks, just in case there still any lingering damage."
"I know, it's just-"
Ruby was swiftly interrupted by her scroll buzzing in her pocket. She pulled the device out of her pocket and opened it, revealing a brief message that said ALL PERSONEL REPORT TO AUDITORIUM ONE FOR CRITICAL INTEL BRIEFING. Ruby glanced up at Weiss.
"I got one too," she answered, reading the expression on Ruby's face. "I wonder what this is about."
"Well, should we go see?" Ruby asked.
Weiss answered with a nod. The two girls left the hospital room and followed through the stark, white halls until they finally made it to the entrance. Weiss held the door open for Ruby, who squinted at the bright sunlight that came streaming through the doorway.
"I don't suppose you could turn the sun off?" Ruby said, shielding her eyes.
"Sorry," Weiss said with a snicker. "There's a lot of things I can do, but that's not one of them."
"Oh? Have you been holding out on me?" Ruby asked, giving Weiss a grin.
"Perhaps," Weiss said, rolling her eyes innocently.
"Oh come on," Ruby moaned. "It's not as fun when you play along."
Weiss laughed. "Maybe not for you," She replied. "But it's a lot of fun for me."
Ruby rolled her eyes and continued to walk towards the main headquarters building. She tapped in several commands on the control beside the heavy steel door and then lined up to the panel.
"Ruby Rose, Captain, Hunter Team RWBY, First Special Forces Battalion," she said, and the door slowly started to swing outward.
When the door finally stopped moving, Ruby and Weiss walked into the hallways that were behind it. The followed the corridors until they finally arrived outside a room with Auditorium 1 printed on a sign next to the door. Ruby pulled the door open to reveal the already almost-full room. Ruby and Weiss wove their way through the rows upon rows of seats until they finally found two unoccupied ones next to each other. They nodded to each other and sat down.
Both young women waited there for what felt like an eternity before Commander Ozpin finally stepped out onto the stage. Almost the moment he got there, the entire room became silent.
"I will keep this as brief as I can for you," he called into the microphone, his voice coming through crisp and clear. "As many of you may already be aware, there has been a recent surge in the number of our operations that have resulted in casualties due to bad intelligence provided to us by those we are being employed by. We have begun noticing a correlation in who is providing us with operations that end with bad Intel. Of the operations that ended poorly or in failure, more than seventy percent have been offered to us by the Atlesian military."
"To that end," Ozpin continued, "I am hereby requiring that five hours a week be devoted to countering Atlesian military tactics and units. In addition, we are hereby going to be committing additional forces on each mission tasked to us by the Atlesian military, and outpost Mantle in the capital will hereby be at an elevated alert level. Any questions?"
"Why haven't we cut all ties with Atlas, sir?" A mercenary in the front row asked. "If they're putting out people at risk, we shouldn't be working with them."
"That's a fair point," Ozpin replied, nodding. "However, despite the fact that we have been burned by them recently, we cannot, due to our cost of operation, afford to turn down a paying client, particularly one such as the Atlesian military. Furthermore, if we were to cut all ties we would need to relocate Mantle base, and that is currently not feasible for us. Anything else?"
A silence fell over the room, as none of the mercenaries spoke up.
"Very well then," Ozpin replied, nodding. "You are all dismissed."
Ruby stretched her arms as she lay back onto her and Weiss' bed.
"Ugh, it's been so long since I've been able to sleep here," she said with a groan.
"Be careful, dunce," Weiss said as she sat on the bed. "You still may not be fully recovered yet."
"I'm fine, Weiss," Ruby replied as she propped herself up on her arm and gave the girl a smile.
Weiss rolled her eyes and lay beside Ruby.
"To be honest, I'm actually rather worried about what Commander Ozpin said," Ruby said as she lay back as well. "Why would Atlas deliberately feed us false information?"
"The people giving us operations may not be the reason the intel is bad," Weiss replied, thinking for a moment. "Whomever is opposing us could have someone listening in on our calls with our contacts in the Atlesian military and they could very well send a message to their leadership."
"I suppose that's possible," Ruby said. "Still, why would they be trying to kill us?"
Weiss shrugged. "Not sure, honestly," She replied. "I guess we just have to trust that Commander Ozpin knows what he's doing."
"Yeah," Ruby replied.
Both girls lay there motionless for several minutes before Ruby snuggled into Weiss and closed her eyes.
"I love you, Weiss," Ruby said quietly.
Weiss smiled and closed her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the Faunus girl. "I love you too, Ruby."
A/N: Good day folks! Hope you enjoyed that little bit of plot development here, as well as the associated White Rose moments. Also, this just goes to show that the Beacon Company, while very effective at what they do, is not perfect.
Anyway, 200 favorites! Huge shoutout to RealTerminal for being the 200th! you guys are awesome!
At any rat, I think that's all I've got for you all for right now. Up next is the epilogue to Flight of a Rose, so stay tuned for that. See you all next time!