To: Atlas Initiative Director
From: Dr. Arthur Watts
Based on what we now know about the mechanisms by which Post Human Neural Fields alter local laws of physics, we can conclude that all Post Human Abilities should be treated as highly dangerous. Many Post Humans are able to weaponize their Abilities, because these alterations to physical laws are inherently hostile to life. While Ability use can certainly blindly maim those around the user, a Post Human experienced with their Ability may be highly efficient in applying it lethally. We can use this to declare Post Humans an inherent threat to public safety, which should satisfy the legal concerns with detaining these individuals without trial. They will be housed in a secure facility for their own safe keeping and the safety of citizens, as far as the UN is concerned. It'll be roughly the same loopholes we used in the private sector.
A reporter was standing in the street, the police vehicles behind her slightly out of focus. Cops and forensics personnel were running in all directions. There were personnel dressed in strange uniforms, bearing no insignia, who didn't seem to be part of the local police force.
"The Aberrant Incident happened here, just hours ago. We're told that although multiple Aberrants may have been on the scene, only one was the cause of violence. But this is one of the most brutal displays of Aberrant Ability this nation has ever seen."
Yang and Ruby stared at the TV screen in the motel room. They were each lounged on one bed, having driven the last few hours.
"Despite their high levels of training, 17 officers were outmaneuvered by this one, heavily combat experienced veteran, who had turned to using his Ability against civilians around him, and eventually the law."
Ruby made a noise at the TV almost like a hiss of disgust. She was clutching her newly-gifted hoodie tightly.
"He got seventeen of you," She whispered.
Here they were, going on 4 years later, across the country, but in the exact same place. Hiding out in a dingy motel room watching a news cycle of a mess they'd left behind. Ruby was curled up in the fetal position, her back to Yang. Yang was staring forward at the screen, flipping through channels. Occasionally, Ruby would blink into a new position, though never turning to face her sister. Most of the news channels were showing b-roll of police trucks rolling through the streets, clearing homeless dens with tear gas, and making arrests.
Yang switched the channel again. Eventually, she found one station breaking up the monotony, not with another ad break, but with an interview with some government expert on Abilities. They'd brought him on to fill time, most likely expecting him to spend most of his time plugging his book. The handlebar moustache was enough to grab Yang's attention.
"So when we pursue a Post Human Target," The man said, in his corner of the screen, "We're tasked with reconstructing their Abilities from scenes like this. This scene bares all the hallmarks of a subject I've been involved in tracking: a girl named Ruby Rose."
Another blink of movement from Ruby. Yang considered changing the channel again, but, maybe this was what Ruby needed to hear.
"Yes, information now circulating says she possesses… essentially superhuman speed?" The newscaster asked.
"Of a sort," The scientist nodded, a drawl tone like he wasn't fully invested in the conversation, "She seems to dilate time around her. She can use this to massively increase the speed of her own actions, relative to others. She may even see the world in a sort of 'frozen' state. This would be how she so easily handled even large numbers of opponents."
"My god," The reporter said, with unconvincing shock, "how would police forces be able to stop somebody so dangerous, Dr. Watts?"
"Well, that's the second part of my job. Once we understand how an Ability works, we can begin designing countermeasures."
Yang clicked off the TV. Ruby remained still. Yang crossed her arms and waited. Even if she found some way to amuse herself in her little silver world, she still couldn't bare the silence longer than Yang could. Eventually, she blinked again, but this time, she was on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Yang spotted what had been in her hand. The flask she'd stolen from the police chief's office.
"I'm thinking of getting some food," Yang said, "Are you hungry?"
Ruby gave her head a quick shake. That response, at the very least, was progress. Yang felt like pushing her luck.
"You sure?" Yang asked, "I only want to risk the one trip, so I can get you something in case you change your mind."
Ruby turned away from Yang again. Yang thought she caught another blink, but she couldn't be certain.
Yang stepped outside, closed the door to the cheap motel room on the south side of Detroit, and immediately lit up a cigarette. She was smoking again, but she didn't feel that bad about it, given the circumstances. She pulled her phone from her pocket and unlocked it. She didn't know what she was hoping to find, perhaps some miracle waiting in her inbox. She had a single text message. She rubbed her eyes. She'd given Xiong's people the phone numbers to a couple of her burners. Doubtless, this was him telling her that she and Ruby were on their own. She opened the message and read:
Hey, this is Miltia. You met me and my sister Melanie at Jr's (Melanie is the weirdo) You want to meet and talk sometime? Sorry to hear about your troubles and want to connect.
Yang stared down at the message. She puzzled at the plan behind it. Was this a trap? A double-cross? A way to quietly kill them in hopes of settling the city down again? What choice would she have? If there was a chance this shitshow hadn't burned the one bridge they had…
Yang began typing a return message.
A few minutes later, she was seated at a bus stop a short run from the motel. There was a grocery store across the street. One of the few businesses not locked down by the near state of martial law imposed on the city in the last 12 hours. The customers coming in and out of the store were racing, and fighting each other for essentials. Everyone looking to stock up and hide out in their homes for a while, expecting some Aberrant to tear a path through the city at any moment. Schnee News was already wildly speculating on how many days it would take to bring the fugitive Aberrant down; what kind of damage she could inflict. There were rumours of betting pools on the dark web, setting odds on how high Ruby Rose's kill count would get.
You have to protect her.
There was no way they could leave the city alive. The drones were flying lower now, giving them greater visibility, and ensuring the people on the ground noticed them overhead. ICE was rushing out their heaviest and their most specialized gear. In the years they spent in Cleveland, Yang had, under the safety of a VPN, kept an eye on the latest in so-called Anti-Aberration Technology. The latest trick for speedsters was a specialized shotgun shell that cast out a cloud of lightweight, razor-sharp filaments. They would hang in the air in front of the user for several seconds, depending on wind conditions. Yang leaned forward and rubbed her eyes.
"Fucking shit. Fuck."
She sensed somebody sitting down next to her, a rather small frame. She straightened up, and saw Miltia Malachite. She was dressed in a red blouse with black jeans, a pair of aviators over her eyes. She reclined on the bench, one knee crossed over the other, an iced coffee in her hand. The girl in white, Melanie, was a short distance away, peering intently at the group of pedestrians waiting at the crosswalk. She was still wearing that tattered white dress. Yang noticed that her feet were bare. Miltia seemed amused by Yang's bewilderment.
"You know, you swear a lot."
"It's a stress management technique."
"Oh, well in that case, you should do it more."
"There's no way the deal with Junior is still on," Yang said, "There's way too much heat. So, don't lie to me."
"I wasn't going to," Miltia said, "The deal is going to need some adjustment. But you're not on your own yet. He's a better man than you think. And he listens to me, because I'm sleeping with him."
Melanie looked around, a bothered look on her face.
"Uh huh," Yang said.
"So, I could convince him that everybody wins if he just smuggles you out of the city."
"How?"
"Junior has people on the border to Indiana," Miltia said, "For just such an emergency. From where you're standing, south is a hell of a lot easier than north. We stash you in the back of a truck to get you to the border, you cross into Indiana. From there, you'll be on your own, but the forgeries should get you across on the south end."
"And we're moving before they realize we've escaped their grid."
Miltia nodded.
"Why help us?" Yang asked.
"The pure kindness of our hearts," Miltia said, "And because your sister will probably level half the city if we don't get her the fuck out."
Yang took a long, deep breath.
"We could have gotten your money before this," Yang said, "But I don't know if we can now. We have a little over three grand."
"That sucks," Miltia said, "I hadn't even gotten to the part where the price goes up."
An APC rolled by the street. There was a mounted weapons platform on top, where a Kevlar-clad cop held both hands on a what looked like a large loudspeaker. It was a sonic cannon that could blow out somebody's eardrums at 20 meters. Or crush their blood-brain barrier at 10. Yang looked down at the asphalt. As she'd hoped, the gunner's attention was on the line-up outside the grocery store. There was some sort of argument going on; somebody refusing to stand in line. It seemed like she evaded their attention yet again, but the only indication she was likely to ever get was if she were instantly obliterated by a drone strike. So far, so good, though.
"You do jobs?" Miltia asked.
"You mean like-"
"No, I mean Ability work."
Jesus Christ," Yang groaned, "Work for you guys? Put Ruby to work for you guys? You pay me when somebody needs their legs broke, you pay Ruby when you need a dozen people dead at once, is that it? I'm not giving her that life."
Miltia put her hands up in defense.
"It wouldn't all be enforcement," Miltia said, "I mean, you guys could do break-ins, information gathering. Junior's never had Mel kill anybody. If Junior wants somebody dead, he pays a dumbass with a gun to do it. Your sis might need to learn some subtlety, but… you need to stay alive, this is how to do it."
Yang slumped her shoulders. She looked down at the sidewalk. What had really given them away in Cleveland? How were they tracked to Detroit so quickly? Why did Atlas pick them of all Aberrants to capture? Even if they got out of Detroit, how long could they stay alive, running like this?
"Yang," Miltia said, "I know what it's like, having a sister who scares people when you know she's the sweetest thing in the world. If you want to keep her safe from all the people she makes afraid…"
"Alright," Yang said, "Alright. Give me a time and a place, and get us the fuck out of Detroit."
With the bag drawn down over her head, she only had muffled sounds, and the shifting air around her to guess at where she was being taken. First, the hallway from the cells. An elevator- it felt like it went up. A cool breeze, then blowing wind. A helicopter a short distance away, then closer, then all around. She was strapped into a seat, and sensed somebody strapped in nearby.
"Weiss, is that you?" Blake asked.
"Yeah."
"On the plus side, we're actually in the chopper this time." Blake noted.
"Yeah," Weiss said, "Really starting to feel like part of the Atlas family."
The bag was ripped from Blake's head, sending her hair wild. Blake glared up at the soldier in front of her through the messy locks. The soldier gave her a crude smirk before forcing a pair of headphones over her head. He turned, removed the bag from Weiss's head, and replaced it with her own headphones.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking," The pilot said, "Beautiful night for flying. You'll get a lovely view of the city before we chuck you out the back of this helicopter."
"I take it we've got a fix on Xiao Long and Rose?" Blake asked into the mic.
Ironwood's voice came through, much to Blake's surprise. Her eyes scanned the helicopter. There was a row of seats on either side of the cabin. Weiss and Blake were across from each other, nearest the rear door. A half dozen soldiers were strapped in, with several seats of clearance between themselves and the two girls. Ironwood wasn't aboard.
"Got a tip from an informant inside a local crime ring," Ironwood said, "Apparently, they're trying to work out some sort of deal to get smuggled."
"It's an urban environment," Blake said, "What's ROE?"
"Under no circumstances use Aberrant Abilities in view of civilians, or local law," Ironwood said, "We aren't working with ICE or Detroit Police directly, so don't count them as friendlies. We're only going to deploy you two when we're good and damn sure we have the targets boxed in, so all you'll have to do is stay inside our perimeter. Inside that perimeter, if they're not Atlas or the targets, kill 'em. If It's Rose, best of luck. If it's Xiao Long, subdue nonlethally if possible, but don't let her escape alive. These goddam kids have given us enough trouble."
Ozpin sat in his office, the only light in the room coming from his computer monitor. He took a sip from his tumbler. The images from Detroit were unbelievable. Every inbox he had was filling. Reporters, and online sleuths were piecing together the history of Ruby Rose. They'd traced her steps back to Cleveland. Back to this building. Now the world wanted to know how a ruthless killing machine was allowed to escape custody. Why the police had failed to inform the public of the threat. What was being done to stop the Aberrant threat.
There was no stopping the truth getting out now. Message boards and chats had discovered cell phone footage taken from the highway south of Lake Erie; A dual-rotor helicopter dropping a shipping container into the valley. It had been compared to the timeline of Ruby Rose's known movements, and it fit. Soon, people would be asking about what methods they were using in order to capture these fugitives.
Atlas would escape the fallout, of course. If any information were to get out about the ambiguous involvement of some mysterious agency, They'd be in the wind. They'd continue their experiments, perhaps under a new name, and Ozpin would be the public face for the world to blame. Ozpin added a bit more scotch to his glass.
A ringtone. Not the tone he was familiar with. It came not from his cellphone but from a well-hidden interior pocket in his coat. He looked over at the worn green leather, hanging on the hook in the corner. He stood, crossed the room to the coatrack, and fished the burner out of the coat. The number was private. He answered.
"Hey there, pig," A cocky female voice, "How's taking down Ironwood by the book going? Well?"
Ozpin's eyes darted to the door. It was locked tight. He'd searched this entire room twice over for more bugs, and found nothing.
"You've no reason to gloat," Ozpin said, "These events will only do harm to our cause in the long run. It doesn't matter which organization kills Rose now. This will still be used to justify more police, more militarization."
"Well then, it's a shame you didn't use what we gave you. All of this could have been avoided, I'm sure."
Her voice had a soft echo. Ozpin was on speaker phone.
"Had the candidates successfully apprehended them-" He began.
"There it is, Oz. Ozzy. There it is. If only they had been apprehended. If only they hadn't resisted. If only they had complied with the law. You say you want to aid the cause; you say the only way we can succeed is if we work together with the police. All of your plans are predicated on you being in control, because it's the one thing you care about. It's the one thing you won't accept is changing. You're just like the rest of them."
"What do you want?" Ozpin demanded.
"Same as we gave you. Information. Everything you have on Ironwood."
Ozpin glanced to the bookshelf again. Cheap, store-bought electronics. This girl was putting on a stern voice; a good one, but it didn't hide that she was trying to sound older. She might be a match for the one Goodwitch described; the one who handed off the flash drive. Then he thought of the files that had disappeared from his drawer. It all fit.
"Ironwood is more complex of a problem than you realize," Ozpin said.
"That's going to include all the documentation you can steal on Atlas. If they know about his Ability, they'll have paperwork on it."
"And why would I risk my life for your benefit?"
"Because if Atlas doesn't destroy you, the media will. Your only hope is Atlas being exposed before they can pin all the blame on you. We're your best bet, and you have nothing to lose by going all in."
Ozpin sat down behind his desk. He ran a hand over his face. On the computer screen, a news report on an official statement from Senator Jacques Schnee on the tragedy at the border. If there had been any doubt about his re-election, it was gone now.
"I'll secure for you what I can," Ozpin said.
Yang and Ruby emerged from the alley they'd slipped through, onto the old road, marred by pot-holes and cracks. The industrial district looked about as expected. The skyline was cold, closed-down factories, most not bothering to board up their broken windows. The last time a Post Human had resisted arrest, and did a good enough job to get on the news, half a billion in damages had been done to this part of town. Industry all but disappeared from Detroit after that.
"There," Yang said, pointing out one of the derelict buildings, "She said the back door would be unlocked."
"Alright," Ruby said.
"How are you doing, kiddo?"
"I'm fine."
They made their way not down the street, but in the relative cover of the edges of buildings. They couldn't trust in looking inconspicuous in any part of town, least of all here. They approached what may have been an automotive factory, and slipped quickly through the open parking lot, only hoping there were no drones overhead to spot them. Once up against the edge of the building, Yang motioned along the wall, and they started making their way around the side.
"Remember the rule we made in Cleveland?" She asked.
"You mean after the first cop," Ruby said.
"You disarm, I do the rest," Yang said.
"I know. It's a good rule."
Yang stopped. Ruby almost ran into her, then looked up in confusion. Yang turned around, and went down on one knee. Ruby looked away from her.
"Ruby, I'm not angry at you," Yang said, "You know that right?"
Ruby was chewing on her lip, her eyes darting about as if looking for something important in the dirt.
"I'm not angry that you protected us," Yang said, "But killing every cop they send won't stop them from sending a hundred more."
"I know that!" Ruby said, suddenly locking eyes on Yang, "I knew what I did wouldn't stop them."
"Then why did you do it?" Yang asked, as softly as she could.
"I know that…" Ruby began, "Can we just get inside? We're exposed out here."
"No," Yang said, "Let's talk. Please. Tell me what you want to say."
Ruby rolled her eyes. She turned away from Yang, throwing up her hands. But this time, she didn't blink in place. She stayed where she stood.
"I look into their eyes, do you realize that?" Ruby asked, "Every one of them. I walk up to them, and while I figure out how I'm going to stop them from hurting us, I see the look in their eyes. I can see how much they… hate us."
Yang closed her eyes. She remembered the look Judy had given her. The day Judy had realized. She'd hurried back into her house, and Qrow had followed her. She remembered her mother screaming at Qrow to stop before he disappeared from sight.
"They hate us so much," Ruby said, "And I…"
Yang silently begged or the girl to continue.
"Can we keep moving?" Ruby asked.
"…yeah," Yang said, "Thank you for telling me that."
"Yeah."
They reached a door set into the side of the building. Yang checked the handle and found it locked. She glanced about and wrenched the door open. The latch clattered across the pavement. The chain from the deadbolt made a chime as it struck against the door.
"Thought they were leaving a door open for us," Ruby said.
"Tell me about it," Yang said, "At this rate, going anywhere without breaking in is going to feel weird eventually. Alright, scout ahead, kiddo."
Ruby seemed surprised at the instruction.
"What?" Yang asked, "Did you think you were benched? Get in there."
Ruby smiled, and blinked inside the factory. Yang glanced around a final time. There was a drone crossing through the sky some distance away. Probably too far to spot them. Yang wondered at the odds of the two of them actually getting out of here without another fight. She sighed, and slipped through the door, letting the warped metal of the lock rest against the doorframe.