Equal But Opposite: Yang
Interrogation Room A was pretty far from any kind of heartwarming spectacle, well done police work, or even productive conversation. Manning the procedure personally, General Ironwood sat across from the fiery stonewall that was Yang Xiao Long. Winter Schnee, his most trusted officer, stood behind him at a rest, more than prepared to intervene on his behalf if called to do so. Not that it would make much difference. Yang wouldn't have given them an inch even if she had one to spared.
"Let's go over this, again," James asserted as the subject glared at him with defiance. "Where is Ruby Rose? What is she planning to do with the Amity Coliseum? How is she avoiding detection? Tell me now and I'll do my best to be lenient against you and the rest of your team when the time comes for a trial."
"What part of 'I don't know' is so hard for you to understand?" Yang retorted tiredly as the circle of questioning which she'd sat through for the last several days began yet again. "Ruby never told me a thing about this stupid plan. She never told any of us. The last time I saw her we got in a fight when I tried to stop her from leaving."
"So you've told me, over and over," the general turned his head slightly to acknowledge his lieutenant. "Schnee, could you please tell me where Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long place in Beacon's combat rankings?"
"Of course, sir," Winter affirmed as she looked over her scroll. "In terms of human to human combat, Ruby Rose ranks number nine out of all Beacon first years. Yang Xiao Long, on the other hand, ranks number two, behind only Pyrrha Nikos."
"That's quite the gap between the two of you," Ironwood continued. "How is it that she managed to subdue you so efficiently when your win-loss ratio against her was three to one?"
"You tell me," Yang ground out, doing her damnedest to avoid answering that question. "Maybe it has something to do with how she was able to beat Cinder Fall when you couldn't even find the bitch."
Before Winter could lash out in defense of her leader, the general gestured for her to stop. "And that raises still more questions. We reevaluated the footage taken during Miss Rose's brief skirmish with Cinder Fall in the CCT and determined that there was a significant skill gap between the two of them, as well. Prodigy or not, the idea that your younger sister managed to subdue and kill such a dangerous opponent on her own is preposterous. Personally, I have a hypothesis to explain these lapses in reason."
"Well, I'm just dying to hear it," Yang slung back, derision coating every word.
"I think everything your team has told me about what happened to Cinder Fall is a lie. After Ruby Rose took control of Penny Polendina, your combined power was more than enough to end the threat. Afterwards, the three of you were sent back to Vale on the airships in the hopes of garnering sympathy and information for the next phase in Miss Rose's scheme, whatever it may be. How does that sound?"
"You're actually insane, aren't you?" Yang already had enough of Ironwood the last few days. This just cemented how completely done she was with him. "That's the stupidest plan I've ever heard, especially considering what I'm dealing with right now. If we were working with Ruby why not just go with her? It'd definitely beat risking capital punishment for whatever information you think we can get her."
"And yet, you were working with her when the four of you started a vigilante crusade against the White Fang for reasons best described as vague. Tell me, what were you planning to accomplish by waging war against them?"
"We just wanted to do the right thing. We did do the right thing. The police weren't making any progress, you weren't making any progress, and we knew Torchwick was up to something bigger than just theft. So, rather than bother Professor Ozpin with things we couldn't prove, rather than beg the grown-ups for permission, we acted on our own."
"Which leads to the next question. Where is Ozpin? I find it hard to believe that the headmaster of Beacon vanishing into thin air and your sister's theft of the stadium are purely coincidental."
"Ugh, I've already told you. I have no idea! We never even saw him during the attack! We were too busy trying to prevent the destruction of the city! Maybe you forgot, but thanks to the scam Cinder's team ran on me, I was locked up for the entire first act! The surveillance uploaded to your ship should show exactly where I was the entire time if you've been doing your jobs right!" Yang's frustration was boiling over. They both should have known there was no point to this questioning. The general would get his crucifixions and save public face. There was nothing Yang could do to defend herself anymore and she had made peace with that. So why did she have to sit through this idiotic charade that served no purpose but as a constant reminder of her failures as a huntress, and teammate, and a sister?
"Why don't you just get this over with?" she whispered bitterly as her gaze sank to the table, only to immediately regret that impulse as she remembered all the pictures of her little sister Ironwood had tossed onto the platform.
Most of them were just Ruby as she knew her. Eyes sparkling with delight as she nibbled on a strawberry, nose scrunched up as she struggled to focus on a homework project, grin stretching across her face as she wrapped the whole team in her cloak. These were all images taken from WBY's confiscated scrolls. Obviously, Atlas didn't put much thought into respecting the privacy of potential traitors. It almost made Yang sick to consider how every personal thing she had ever put on that device had been poured over and analyzed by some random team of Atlas intelligence specialists. There were a few pictures that came from none of the girl's scrolls, though. They came from Amity's security feed before Ruby had taken her big prize off the grid. The blur of her figure as she sped past dead and injured civilians to reach her target. The single tear down her cheek as she leveled her rifle at an unsuspecting Team JNPR. The cold and calculating look in her eyes as she walked past Penny and entered her big fight with Cinder.
"It won't end until we have what we need," Ironwood responded neutrally. He eyed his suspect for a few seconds, weighing invisible numbers all around her before taking one last image from his jacket and placing it on top of all the others, face down. "It's come to my attention that your sister isn't the first of your family to turn her back on the kingdoms. I find this pattern to be very unsettling."
No. He couldn't. He wouldn't bring that up now. Yang took the corner of the print out timidly and flipped it face up. She couldn't help the small gasp that escaped her lips as she stared into the crimson eyes of the woman who gave her life. This was not the picture of Team STRQ Qrow always kept on his person. It was just Raven, dressed in white for what might have been the only time in her life, leaning against the rails of some peaceful rooftop. According to Qrow, her dad had snagged that himself on their wedding day. A fleeting moment of serenity he wouldn't realize was finite in quantity until it was too late.
"Tell me, Yang. What do you know about your mother?"
"This is personal…" Yang growled as she struggled to keep her eyes from matching those of the woman in the photo.
"Do you realize everything she has been responsible for? What she was capable of since before you were even born?"
"This has nothing to do with it." her hands had started gripping the armrests of her seat without realizing it, the sturdy metal denting under the constant pressure.
"I'm not so sure. I knew both your mothers back in their youth. Would you believe me if I told you Ruby had just as much in common with Raven as she did with Summer? I wonder how that could be, if there was never any contact or blood shared between the two of them."
"That's not true. You're lying…" the dark room became more alight as a yellow glow began radiating off her short curls.
"Maybe that's why you've been trying so hard to find her. You want to know what happened. You want to learn from her."
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" in an instant she rose from her seat and took the edge of the table in her hands. No amount of weight or fastening would have been enough to stop her as she tore that piece of furniture out of the floor and hurled it into the opaque window to her left. Winter had drawn her weapon in a flash, though Ironwood simply remained seated as though nothing unexpected had transpired. Burning pictures fell slowly to the ground all around them, like some sickening rain of damned recollections.
"I remember she had quite the temper, as well. You could learn from her about hiding grudges, though."
"You don't know ANYTHING about my family!"
"Stand down right now, Xiao Long!" Winter commanded as she leveled her saber with all the deadly authority it carried. Yang made no move to do so, however.
"I get why my uncle hates you so much. You think you're right about everything and that makes you blind. That's why you couldn't see the threat right under your nose."
"Which threat would that be? Cinder Fall, Raven Branwen, or Ruby Rose? True, maybe I didn't see any of them before it was too late, but I've certainly noticed how each of them are connected to you," a slight edge was doing its best to break through Ironwood's professional demeanor, though his posture stayed impeccably unchanged.
"And what does that change? What does this even accomplish?!" Yang was begging for the answer she already knew.
"That isn't obvious?" the general stood up slowly, as though finally addressing his subject's aggression and intending to meet it with full control. He had no worries if the girl became violent. She was unarmed, outnumbered, and trapped. Even if none of that was the case, she still had a long way to go before she was worthy of meeting a headmaster's power. "If you won't give me information on Amity or Ozpin, all that's left for you to offer is your freedom to safeguard the kingdom's security. It's not much, but it will do well to appease the people and raise morale. Better morale, less Grimm, a safer public."
"I… I…" the young student was at a loss for words. There was nothing she could do to defend herself, anymore. Nothing to aim all her strength at. How long it had been since she felt so powerless. The scarlet faded from her eyes and the lively glow dissipated from her hair. "Just get it over with."
"Yang Xiao Long, you're under arrest for crimes against the kingdoms. You will be tried before the counsel, where a punishment suitable for your crimes will be dealt out to you. Unless you have anything else to add, Schnee will escort you to-"
Any further orders were interrupted as the door behind Yang slid open and she turned to see a pair of figures stepping into the room without so much as a request to do so. The first was an exceptionally tall man, several heads above the girl who stood next to him, clad in a gray suit with violet lining the collars and buttons. His hair of dark purple was kept neat and short in an unassuming cut and a pyramidal mustache stayed still above his neutrally set lips. The tinted spectacles on his nose shifted only slightly as his eyebrow just barely quirked at the awful mess he had walked in on. Behind this man Yang had never seen was a girl she had seen plenty of. Eyes of icy blue rolled from floor to ceiling in exasperation. Clearly, Weiss was not pleased, impressed, or surprised by the product of her teammate's temper.
"Mr. Papaver?" Winter greeted with confusion present in her voice. Looking down, she realized her saber was still drawn and hastily stowed it with embarrassment. "I was under the impression you were in Mistral at my father's request."
"Hello Winter," Mr. Papaver responded simply, no cracks visible in his demeanor as he retrieved the enlarged scroll from where it had been folded under his left arm. "Apologies for our interruption General Ironwood. I've come at the behest of Mr. Schnee to discuss a matter of importance."
Ironwood's posture made a shift as his role changed from interrogator to associate. "Lilat, it's been some time," he stepped past the now very quiet Yang as he made to face his guest. "If it were all the same to you, though, I'd prefer to finish this up before attending to a new piece of business."
Mr. Papaver straightened his spectacles before handing over his scroll. "I don't believe that will be necessary. The matter at hand is the one which Mr. Schnee has taken interest in."
The general's expression soured by the second as he read the request on the scroll. "You must be joking," he just barely kept from growling as he handed back the device. "Your employer expects me to cease all action against the remaining members of Team RWBY, in spite of overwhelming evidence against them?"
"Overwhelming?" Weiss exclaimed with sharp ridicule. "General, you should know full well the-"
"Weiss please," the taller man raised his hand to cut off the younger Schnee before she went off on a tirade. "There's no need for argument at this time."
"I beg to disagree!" Winter cut in as she strode to face her father's trusted adviser. "All three of them have substantial charges leveled against them. The people deserve to see justice served to the guilty, especially in light of recent events."
"Mr. Schnee is well aware of the situation," Papaver assured the pair calmly. "However it was also Mr. Schnee's wish that, should there be any resistance to this request, you be reminded his knowledge of certain affairs. Notably, those involving the origins and status of Miss Penny Polendina. Should these young women not be released, those secrets might find themselves leaked to the public via an anonymous source."
"Father is really going to stoop to blackmail over this?" the elder Schnee hardly felt surprise at the new lows her family had been stooping to. Weiss' criminal activity was bad enough, but had she truly gone back to their father and groveled for a bailout? So much for independence.
"Please Winter, you know I prefer the term leverage," the tall man replied as he strode over to the young woman everyone had nearly forgotten about. "Miss Xiao Long if you would come with me, please. There are a number of things we need to discuss."
Yang nodded blankly and moved to follow her unexpected savior out the door. Before they crossed the threshold, however, Ironwood thrust his arm in front of them with enough force to betray the sound of pumping hydraulics. "Do you really think this little bluff is going to be enough to make me surrender three enemies of the state? The SDC would suffer just as badly as I would should that information be leaked."
"Oh?" golden eyes glinted behind the spectacles, seemingly out of some form of petty amusement. "I believe the public would be more focused on the government official developing infiltrators for use in civilian populations than the company who was forcibly coerced into supplying the Dust for the project. Don't you agree?" Every second the arm stayed up, it seemed like more willpower was drained from it. Slowly, it dropped and Ironwood reluctantly stepped aside.
Papaver and Yang left the room swiftly, though Weiss stayed behind to match glares with her big sister. "Cheer up. This happened before you announced our trials," she assured coldly as she turned to follow her companions. "You won't lose that much face for letting us go."