Ruby lay awake on her bed, waiting for everyone to fall asleep so she could meet up with Cinder. Weiss was sleeping and Yang was out as well. That just left the raven haired faunus who was content reading in her bed.
Should I risk it? Ruby asked herself. She finally steeled herself and let herself slide down silently from the bed and onto the floor. Looking at Blake, Ruby mentally cringed at the pair of gold eyes that bore into her.
She put a gloved finger up to her mouth, but Blake closed her book before moving to get out of bed.
":No!:" Ruby hissed as quietly as possible. Blake stopped for a second, but continued until she was out of bed. Ruby sighed in defeat and led the way out of the dorm. "Blake. What the hell are you doing?" She growled at the faunus.
"You're not in a position to be asking that." Blake stated. Ruby growled and put a hand to her face.
"I'm your team leader. My business is not yours." Ruby tried weakly to get Blake to stop. Instead she looked away when she saw Blake's irritation.
"What have you been doing, Ruby? Yang will kill you when she finds out." She asked. Ruby shrunk down a bit.
"Are you planning on... telling her?" It sounded snappy and like an accusation in her head, yet came out as a pleading question.
"Ruby. I know we both have our secrets. Just tell me what your doing and I'll let you go." Blake stated.
Ruby sighed, weighing the consequences mentally. "I've been seeing Cinder. She's just like me, Blake. And she's been training me as well." She admitted after a long silence.
Blake blinked, shock crossing her face and Ruby looked away.
"Who has been training you?" She asked.
"Cinder Fall, one of the exchange students. She... she's another demiGrimm. And she's taught me so much about Authority and Grimm and a ton of other things." Ruby said and fidgeted while refusing to look at Blake's face.
"I know I can't stop you. And Yang would probably kill me seven times over for not doing anything. But I trust you, Ruby. You've gotten so far despite what you are. I'll... leave you be." Blake said at last. Ruby felt emotions overcome her.
"Thank you, Blake. It means a ton to me!" She whispered and quickly hugged the faunus after a moment's hesitation on how to show her gratitude.
"Let's never speak of this." Blake said, and Ruby nodded her agreement before they parted ways.
Upon arriving at the usual meeting spot for Cinder, Ruby bowed her head. ":Alpha.:" she greeted. In the last few meetings Cinder insisted upon the title, and Ruby was in no position to object.
"You're late, again." Cinder noted. Ruby raised her head again to look at the woman.
"I apologize for that." Ruby said. Cinder's burning eyes narrowed and the Grimm girl swallowed.
"And why were you late? You are normally so punctual." Her mentor asked.
"I was stopped by my teammate asking where I was going. I told her a lie." Ruby said the half-truth. Suddenly she felt a weight crush her. Cinder was pressing pure Authority onto Ruby, forcing her to double over as her legs trembled in an effort to keep from collapsing.
"You told her a lie like you told me a lie?" Cinder demanded, words cracking like a whip, "I expect you to be honest when you speak to your alpha!" Cinder snapped. Ruby only could let out a whimper, her voice ceasing to obey her will. "You told her about me, didn't you? Who was it? The Schnee, your sister?" The pressure on Ruby grew until her legs gave out and she hit the ground.
"N...no... It was... Bl...Bl...Bla...ke!" Ruby finally got out. The Authority eased slowly, like a blood pressure cuff around her whole body. Ruby could smell Cinder's anger waning. She gasped for breath. "Blake is loyal. She won't tell Yang or Weiss, or anybody! She promised it!" Ruby panted desperately.
"Get up." Cinder commanded. Ruby scrambled as fast as she could onto two feet and bowed her head again in submission.
"I apologize, Alpha. Punish me as you see fit for my lie." She said.
"No need, for now. Continued disobedience will result in harsh punishment." Cinder waved a hand and Ruby straightened again. "Let's continue our training than."
Roman sighed as he got out of the back of a truck, Neo beside him. "Y'know, Neo. I'll never get used to this place." He said to his companion, waving Melodic Cudgel in the direction of the building that stood before them. Neo nodded vehemently but both froze like deer in headlights when a rabbit-eared faunus in the Grimm Containment Branch uniform spun around and both humans could practically feel the anger in the gaze of the faunus before he turned back around to lead them inside.
When they reached the doors, the same faunus talked into his earpiece. "Captain Berra. Torchwick and his companion are here." There was silence for a moment before he spoke an "affirmative" and let them in.
Even though Roman was somewhat sure on where to go, the faunus still escorted them to the loading bay. The black tailed wolf faunus was waiting for them.
"Thank you, Flint. I'll handle this from here." Captain Berra said, smiling at the rabbit faunus. Flint nodded and scurried off. "Welcome back, Mr. Torchwick. As per requested, you can pick one Grimm of your choosing for your rally — as long as you are supervised by a handler." She stated before leading them into a cell block.
Roman and Neo gawked at the sheer amount of cells that must have been packed there, but looked at each ones inhabitants. Creeps, Beowolves, Ursai, the works.
'How about this one?' Neo signed and pointed at a Ursa minor that was big for its species, almost a Major's size actually. Roman glanced again at the Griffon he had been looking at. The Grimm had its face pressed against the glass and an exhale fogged up its face.
"Yeesh, scary aren't we." Roman muttered and was met with a muffled screech from the Griffon. He turned back to Neo and nodded. "Sure. Better than this thing that wants to chomp me." He waved a hand at the Griffon's cell.
Neo smiled and shook her head in obvious amusement. Berra glanced up at the number on the cell door and made a note on her tablet before talking into her earpiece. There was a few minutes to wait where Roman tried to avoid looking at the Griffon that wouldn't stop staring at him as if he were beef tenderloin. Finally a lightly armored faunus with impala horns entered, with four other faunus behind her.
"Roman, this is Sierra. She'll be handling your choice, and what she says goes no matter what." Berra introduced. Sierra smiled and turned to face the cell before speaking in the Grimm language to the Ursa. He had no idea what the hell she was saying, but Berra understood and nodded before opening the cell.
The Ursa was compliant and let Sierra open the case Roman didn't notice she was carrying in order to retrieve a muzzle with loops on it. The other faunus moved around the Ursa and put what seemed like the poles used by animal control but thick metal instead of wire to clamp around the Grimm's neck and torso. Sierra took a chain and looped it into the muzzle in order to hold the Grimm and they started walking.
A red eye looked Roman dead in the face, and he tried not to show his terror as the Ursa walked past him and towards the loading bay. When they arrived, the other restraints were taken off as Sierra snarled at the Ursa before it entered a thick metal cage and the door slammed shut. Roman watched heavy bolts and chains get fastened onto the cage before Sierra gave the order for it to be moved out. Roman stayed put as more faunus arrived to move the crate onto a machine that lifted the metal crate into the air and started moving towards another area of the facility.
"The rally is planned for one week's time, so the Ursa will sit in its crate until transport begins. I expect you to be present for the loading and the rally. Remember that Sierra and her team have full authority over what happens to the Grimm." Berra said to Roman, who nodded.
"Yes ma'am." He told her. Berra nodded.
"Good." With that, the faunus turned away and walked back deeper into the facility. Roman looked to Neo, and before they took their leave another faunus stepped forward.
"I'll see you both to your transport." He said. Roman sighed and rolled his eyes mentally.
"Alrighty!" He agreed with false enthusiasm. In reality he wished all of Red's underlings would get the damn Goliath sized sticks out of their asses and loosen up for once instead of "security this! Security that! Meh meh meh meh! We have to escort you every step you take and every move you make because protocol demands it." Every single second!
They followed the faunus back to the transport and both humans relaxed once the buildings were out of sight.
Roman really was never going to get used to working with Grimm. But Cinder demanded that he do so for God knows what reason.