Chapter 5: Open Wounds
"Ow! That hurts, that hurts!" a certain red headed girl yelped, as a needle pressed through her skin.
"Oh, come on. You show up a bloody mess, standing on top of an exploding building, and the whole time you hardly say a thing. Now you get a couple little stitches, and you're gonna cry the entire time?" Ruby was scolded by her silver haired pilot, as she sat behind Ruby pushing a needle and thread through her skin.
"Yea, but you're so rough Annette," Ruby continued to whine.
Annette finished up her work, wiping the last bit of blood from the final stitches. The pilot pulled her hand back and finished by delivering a loud, smack, to the wound. The action eliciting another cry from Ruby, "Keep whining, and I'll really start being rough."
Ruby sat and pouted for a moment, trying to garner sympathy from the other woman. Quickly realizing that she wasn't getting anywhere, she ceased her actions, "You're really good with this stuff, huh?"
"Yea, I suppose. Just lots of practice is all," Annette mumbled, as she began stuffing her medical supplies into a black duffel bag at her feet.
The two women sat in dim room, lit by a single dust lamp. After Annette had retrieved Ruby, she brought the girl back to her own safe house. The structure was hidden on the upper level of an abandoned building, only one town over from the one Ruby had been in earlier. Most of the building was of a metal construction, the exception being the wooden furniture inside. There was no heat or air conditioning, however the place had electricity and running water. Most importantly, it was well hidden and out of sight, something important for two people in Annette and Ruby's line of work.
"Hmmm, practice, huh? Were you a medic or nurse before you started the whole pilot gig?" Ruby questioned, brimming with curiosity.
The faunus turned and shot Ruby a suspicious glance, clearly indicating that her questioning wasn't welcome. In all honesty, Ruby herself knew better than to ask, however she couldn't help but be perplexed by the other woman, "Sorry, sorry. I get it, the whole, don't ask don't tell, thing that we do. I just thought that it might help us work together, if we knew a bit about each other's backgrounds."
Annette remained resolute momentarily, before letting out a deep sigh, "Fine, but nothing specific, and to answer your question, no. When I was a kid, my guardian had a tendency to come home pretty banged up. As a result I was usually the one fixing him up."
"Guardian?" Ruby questioned absentmindedly.
"No specifics, right?" Annette answered with another question, "Besides it's my turn. How much longer will we be in Mistral? I'm not fond of this cesspool."
Ruby frowned at the pilot's response, "Aren't you interested in me?" In reply to Ruby's response, Annette simply shot back an annoyed look.
"Fine, fine. I don't really know. I have two targets left, one's here in Mistral. I have a feeling that the other may end up coming to me though," Ruby answered, her voice full of disappointment. Ruby leaned back in her chair, and put her feet up on the table in front of her, "My turn. How old are you?"
Annette sighed, realizing that she'd gotten herself caught up in the the other girl's game, "I'm twenty four. How much longer are we going to be working together?"
Ruby stared at the other woman, becoming increasingly frustrated at her vocal displeasure with her, "Until I've completed my mission. What color are your underwear?"
The silver haired faunus, looked back at Ruby, clearly unamused, "Is that a joke?"
"Well, I just figured since we were asking stupid questions," Ruby quipped, trying to lighten the mood.
"Alright then, I'll play. My bra and panties are yellow. Now, why are you such a fucking nutjob?" Annette questioned sternly.
Ruby's face instantly dropped, realizing that she was getting nowhere, "Fine then, games over. Sorry for trying to lighten the mood."
"Oh, you don't have more questions?" Annette asked sarcastically.
Ruby stood from her chair, grabbing up her things and heading to the door. Annette stared up at Ruby as she stood, realizing that this was the first time she'd gotten a good look at the younger girl. Prior to this, every time she had seen Ruby, it was over her shoulder as Ruby was hunched over in the airship. Staring at her figure as she pushed herself out of her chair, Annette noticed that not only was Ruby actually quite attractive, but her stature itself was incredibly intimidating. Though the faunus couldn't articulate why, when she looked at Ruby she thought of a wound up spring. As she was lost in her thoughts, Annette didn't notice Ruby approach her.
Bending down, Ruby grabbed Annnette by the chin, tilting the faunus' head up she stared down into Annette's green eyes. Annette felt electricity shoot down her spine, Ruby's sharp gaze felt like a hot iron pressed against her soul, "You have really pretty eyes."
Ruby let go of the older girl, and walked towards the door, "Thanks for patching me up," Ruby spoke coldly before disappearing out the door.
Two nights later, Ruby found her back pressed against a wall, cornered and bleeding. Deciding to immediately get on the trail of her next target, Ruby had made tracking him down her first priority. After some investigative work, Ruby had found out that Qrow had managed to survive their fight. Although his injuries had left him in a coma, when the man would come out was up in the air. Ruby breathed a small sigh of relief knowing that she hadn't ended his life, and if anything, things had turned out perfectly for her. Knowing that Taiyang would certainly make an appearance at the hospital, Ruby had decided that she would stake it out until he did so.
Exactly as she had predicted, that same day Taiyang had showed up at the hospital. Unfortunately, as Ruby would soon find out, her target was already one step ahead of her. In hindsight, she had lost the advantage of surprise, thinking that she would be able to blindside an expectant hunter, would turn out to be a dangerous mistake.
Ruby had followed Taiyang from the hospital, and continued to tail him the following day. It was late the next night, when Ruby followed her target out of the same Tavern. Heading deep into town, past countless twists and turns, Ruby was led into what she'd almost describe as a slum. Broken, cracked, and crumbling buildings lined the street, the few people in the area seemed just as unsavory. Ruby found herself wondering what Taiyang was after, coming to such a place.
Just as Ruby began to let her mind wander, she noticed Taiyang slip down an alleyway. Speeding up to keep from losing him, Ruby turned down the same alley, only to be met with an empty dead end. As Ruby looked around, she could find no sign of the man. Cautiously, Ruby began walking towards the end of the alleyway. A sudden explosion rocked the world, brick and mortar blasted Ruby, slamming her against the opposite alley wall. Ruby immediately tried to to reorient herself, forcing her eyes open to see Taiyang blasting his way through the wall that had just exploded. Ruby could see the anger burning in his eyes, pulling back his gauntlet covered fist once again. Moving to block, Ruby realized that her reflexes were still dulled by the explosion, her arms moving far slower than they should.
Before she could get her hands up, a fist barreled into her gut, another explosion being created by the gauntlet. The force of the blow sent Ruby crashing through the wall behind her, covered in a cloud of brick and dust. Ruby felt her body slam through multiple thin walls, before falling to the ground and rolling to a stop. Instinctively knowing that she can't stay on the ground, Ruby quickly pushed herself to her feet. Attempting to gain the offensive, Ruby reached behind her back only to grasp emptiness.
"Fuck," Ruby mumbled, through the blood filling her mouth. Looking up, Ruby could see Taiyang storming his way through the hole that her body had created. As his figure became clearer she could see a familiar, shape in his hand, recognizing it as her weapon.
"Looking for this?" he mocked, holding up her weapon before chucking it back out the hole they had come through, "I can only assume that the reason you're following me, is because you're the bitch that laid up Qrow. So, depending on your answer, I might let you live. Are you the one that hurt Qrow, and what are you after?"
Ruby knew that the odds were completely against her, she was cornered, unarmed, and already hurt. Regardless of the odds, Ruby couldn't help but let a smile form on her face, "You know, I actually thought that I'd feel bad about this. That's right, I'm the one that broke the old man. As for your second question, I just want to see you bleed," as the words left Ruby's mouth, she flared her aura, launching herself at Taiyang Ruby stopped just short of him. Bringing her hands up, Taiyang doing the same, Ruby quickly lept above his head, flipping herself to face down towards him. Reaching into her jacket, Ruby pulled out one of the throwing knives that she kept on herself, whipping it at Taiyang. Bringing his arm up to block, the knife lodged itself in Taiyang's forearm. Reaching up with his opposite hand, he grabbed Ruby's outstretched arm, yanking her towards the ground. Realizing his intention, Ruby reoriented herself to land on her feet, keeping a hold of Taiyang hand. Twisting as she landed, Ruby activated her aura and threw Taiyang into the same piece of wall she'd had her back to.
Taking advantage of the opening she'd created, Ruby made haste to get to her weapon, only to hear a great rumble behind her. Thrown from her feet, Ruby found herself once again, tumbling across the ground. Jumping to her feet, Ruby once again received an unpleasant reminder of her father's semblance. As she looked back, Ruby could see her father charging in again, steam floating off his fists.
Taiyang carried grey steel gauntlets similar to Yang's, however instead of a built in shotgun, his were designed to help him aim, and amplify his semblance. His semblance, was simply the ability to create massive pressure explosions from his punches. Using his gauntlets, he could use his semblance more accurately, increase the distance of the explosions, and add the power of different types of dust to each blast. Ruby herself had never spent much time training with her father, training mainly with Qrow. As a result, Ruby wasn't sure what to expect out of this fight, however things were not looking too good.
Deciding that she needed to stay on the offensive, Ruby closed the distance between herself and Taiyang. Taiyang moved in and started throwing rapid fire jabs at Ruby, the girl dodging each one. Ruby watched Taiyang's weight shift, preparing to throw another semblance powered blow. Channeling her aura into her fists, Ruby slammed her own fist into Taiyang's gauntlet just before he could activate his semblance. The shock of Ruby's punch throwing Taiyang off balance, she lowered her hips and swept his legs out from underneath him. Falling back,
Taiyang put his hands back and activated his semblance, blasting himself feet first towards Ruby.
Ruby brought her arms up to brace herself as both of Taiyang's feet slammed into her. Ruby was thrown backwards by the force of the blast, this time managing to recover before contacting the ground. As she brought her hands to the ground, Ruby was elated when she felt her hand run across a cool metal object. The fight was now back in the alleyway they had started in, Ruby landing directly atop her lost weapon.
As Ruby brought her eyes back to her opponent, she saw him reeling his fist back for another blast, a faint red glow at the end of his gauntlet. Ruby remained still, waiting for the blast to come, recognizing her chance at victory. Ruby decided she would run the risk, watching his fist, Ruby activated her semblance. Taiyang's fist came to a crawl, the shockwave radiating out of his gauntlet completely visible, flame filling the massive cloud of pressure. Ruby continued to wait, watching the torrent of flames crawl ever closer. When it seemed that the blast was practically touching her, the flames licking at her face, Ruby launched herself off the ground and vanishing in a cloud of flames.
When the smoke cleared, Taiyang could only see the flame filled hole on the opposite side of the alley. Assuming his opponent had been blasted through the hole, Taiyang charged towards the opposite end of the alley. As he stepped out of the hole Ruby had been blasted through, out into the alley, his opponent made her move. Letting go of the roof of the building, Ruby kicked her feet off the wall using her aura to it's limits, her movement sending her into a wild spin with her staff extended. Taiyang heard the sound of Ruby's boots scuffing on brick the brick above his head, looking up just in time to hold his arms over his head. Ruby's staff impacted his arms, a sickening, crack, audible to both parties. Taiyang immediately retreated back, towards the end of the alley.
He brought his arms up again to fight, only to find he was unable to clench his fists, "Underhanded bitch."
Ignoring his displeasure, Ruby pulled the bolt on her weapon back and slowly pushed it back forward, pointing the muzzle of her weapon at Taiyang, "Don't be a sore loser. In fact I'm willing to let you go, that is if you can give me some information."
"Fuck yourself, I'd rather you shoot me now," he spat, clearly giving little care to Ruby's offer.
"I get it, you're upset. So I'll sweeten the deal. I can tell you where Ruby Rose is, in exchange you have to tell me how I can find Raven Branwen," Ruby answered sadistically.
Taiyang's eyes instantly went wide, his jaw hanging open, "What the hell are you talking about! Who are you?" Ruby remained quiet, ignoring her father's demands, her weapon still aimed at him.
"Even if you were telling the truth, I haven't heard from Raven since she left. What the hell do you want with Raven, and what do you know about Ruby?" Taiyang answered, his voice full of authority.
"I see," Ruby spoke quietly, her finger squeezing the trigger a little harder, "Forgive me," Ruby squeezed the trigger on Crescent Rose, putting a round in the center of her father's chest, a small flash of aura as he fell. Ruby pulled back the bolt on her weapon chambering another round, firing again, and again, until finally she saw the bright flash on his body as his aura broke. Putting her weapon away, Ruby turned and left the scene to the distant chorus of sirens.
As Ruby lost herself in the streets of Mistral, she felt her heart continue to pound in her chest . Ruby knew that she'd had no other choice, she knew that her father would survive his injuries, she knew she shouldn't let herself be upset over this. She stopped as she felt the contents of her stomach force it's way up her throat. Ruby swallowed hard, breathing deeply, refusing to allow herself to go weak over this now. As she calmed down, she now noticed that her body felt far too wet for the cause to just be sweat. Looking down and examining herself, Ruby found numerous gouges in her flesh, as well a small chunk wood sticking out of her gut.
"Shit," Ruby whispered, realizing that she hadn't even taken notice of her own injuries. Going to the hospital wasn't an option, she could do a bit herself, but it would be difficult with how much blood she had lost. Looking around, she recognized the area as not being far from Annette's safehouse. As much as she didn't want to stir that pot of worms, Ruby decided that she didn't have many other options.
Forcing herself along, Ruby's main concern shifted from her injuries to how she would keep from pisssing off Annette. She had found herself caring less and less for the minor romantic feelings she had for the other woman, now just hoping that at the very least that she could have some sort of amicable relationship with her. After what seemed like an hour of walking, Ruby had finally stumbled upon the tucked away building that housed Annette's safehouse.
Ruby stumbled her way to the upper level and up to the door, verging on unconsciousness. Deciding that the tactful approach was a little beyond her ability, Ruby settled for pounding on the door until it opened. Although Ruby wasn't expecting a warm welcome, she hadn't been expecting for Annette to open the door pointing a gun at her, "Well I know pissed you off, but don't you think that's a little much?"
"Fuck's sake, you couldn't say something or call " Annnette's rambling stopped as she looked over Ruby's bloodied state.
"Didn't really cross my mind, but would you mind helping with all….uhhh this?" Ruby forced out between short breaths.
Annette immediately grabbed Ruby, pulling her inside and looking her up and down. The faunus woman ran over to the other side of the room, coming back a minute later with a pair of scissors. She went straight to work, cutting Ruby's clothes off of her.
"Calm down there, don't you think you should buy me dinner before you start tearing my clothes off?" Ruby murmured with a weak voice.
"Shut up before you kill yourself," Annette ordered.
"I've survived worse," Ruby replied, her voice hardly above a whisper.
"I said, shut the hell up!" the faunus commanded again, as she laid Ruby down, going to work on her wounds. Ruby decided to quit trying to argue, not that she had the strength to keep doing so. Ruby looked up to see Annette slaving away over her, just before her vision went black.
Ruby once again opened her eyes to a vast frozen wasteland. It was a sight that had become almost comforting. It had just turned to night a couple months prior, the lack of light tending to complicate her mornings.
"Old man, get everyone up!" Ruby shouted through the darkness, receiving no reply, "Stevens! Evans!" Once again, Ruby received no answer. She reached over and grabbed a dust lamp, powering it on, Ruby looked around to see that she was entirely alone.
"Of course, my great memory," Ruby grumbled, remembering that she had left her men to a separate mission. To be more exact, she had left them to complete the mission they were assigned, meanwhile she went off to chase grimm.
They'd been tasked to patrol a western area in the mantle region. While doing so, they had spotted unusual movement of grimm formations. They had followed the grimm until they left the area they were assigned to patrol. They had been unable to contact headquarters to request reinforcements, so Ruby had her men finish the patrol of their area, while Ruby satiated her curiosity. Packing up her things, Ruby was soon ready to go.
She had decided to make camp and get some rest, once she was certain that she had a solid trail to follow. PIcking up on the trail now, Ruby didn't have much trouble following the same trail. After a couple of hours, Ruby had caught up with her grimm again. She realized that they had turned and headed further north. Doing her best to follow her location on the map, Ruby realized that she was now further north than the Redemption Corps' area of responsibility.
Thinking about that fact, she realized that this may be the furthest north any human had ever been. The fact put a small smile on her face, as she followed the grimm. Thinking further about the fact, Ruby realized that it was even stranger that the grimm seemed to be going in the exact opposite direction of any human civilization.
As she continued after the grimm, they came to a rather large ridge. Ruby watched the beasts disappear over the top of the ridge. Following slowly, she came to the top of the ridge. As she looked over she didn't see the pack she had been following, they had become indistinguishable amongst an endless sea of grimm. As if in response to her very presence, countless grimm stormed over the ridge, almost completely ignoring Ruby. At the same time Ruby heard a quiet beeping from her watch. Looking down at it, Ruby took notice of the date. She had twenty four hours left in the redemption Corps.
She could hear the grimm snarling and growling around her, taunting her with their numbers, "You think you can scare me because I'm alone?"
In defiance to the darkness around her, Ruby reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a flare gun, "Let's see about that," Ruby pointed the gun into the air, letting off a single flare, illuminating the sea of grimm. In response a second flare rose to the sky in the distance, a dazzling white beacon, behind it more flares could be seen illuminating the sky on the horizon.
An abundance of light pierced Ruby's eyelids, forcing her to slowly open them. Looking around, Ruby took stock of her surroundings, remembering where she had ended up after her last battle. She was laying in the only bed in Annette's safehouse, while Annette dozed across from her on a dilapidated couch. Ruby sat up in the bed, feeling a sharp pain in her gut as she did so. As she inspected the source of the pain, she found that all her previous injuries had been bandaged.
Ruby found herself both surprised and grateful, that for once she hadn't woken up in a pool of sweat. Knowing that she didn't have the luxury to be laying in bed, she stumbled her way off of the stiff mattress. It was only when she pulled the covers off of herself, she realized that she had been completely stripped.
"You do look great right now, but don't you think it's rather indecent to be running around nude?" Ruby jumped, hearing Annette's voice, quickly scrambling to cover herself with the previously discarded blanket.
"Y….you...you're awake?" Ruby stuttered, her face a deep red.
"Well, you certainly aren't making it easy to sleep," the faunus replied stretching her limbs, and pushing her chest out. Ruby found herself entranced at the site, until she realized that she was biting her lip, "It's rude to stare, you know."
Ruby felt her face heat up once again at the pilot's comment, "Where's my clothes?" Ruby asked, unable to locate her garments. Annette reached down and grabbed a bag from in front of the couch, tossing it to Ruby. Catching it, Ruby inspected the contents to find that her clothes were not, in fact inside, "What the hell is this?"
"The only thing that I didn't throw out was your jacket, even then, mending it was a bitch. So while you were out, I went and bought you some new clothes. You're welcome," the faunus explained with a grin.
"I see...you had time to go shopping! How long was I out?" Ruby questioned, her tone quickly shifting.
"Just a day, surprisingly enough. Why?" Annette informed Ruby, sitting up on the couch, looking confused.
"Shit, shit, motherfucker. How could I stay out that long?" Ruby cursed, rushing to the bathroom, absentmindedly dropping the blanket on the way. As soon as Ruby had closed the door, her faunus counterpart couldn't help but laugh. Ruby barged out a couple minutes later wearing the clothes Annette had bought her, clearly not impressed with her new attire, "You! Is this supposed to be funny?"
Annette stared at Ruby, eyeing her up and down, "Funny? I was going for cute, I think I did a pretty good job," Ruby was now wearing a grey skirt with red trim sitting a few inches above her knees, and a black blouse which exposed far more of her chest than she cared to show. Although, a great deal of her exposed skin was covered in bandages, Ruby couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
Ruby stormed over to one of her own bags, "I'm changing, I don't do cute," Ruby pouted as she rummaged through her bag, only to suddenly stop, "Where are all my clothes?"
"Seriously? When was the last time you did laundry? Your whole bag smelled like death, so I tossed your things in the wash." Annette answered, a disgusted look on her face.
"What the hell am I supposed to wear!? Ruby exclaimed.
"I actually bought you a couple more outfits, if you want to take a look at them." the faunus replied, clearly amused.
Ruby remained silent for a moment, realizing that she'd been left with no other option, "Where's my jacket?" in response, Annette pointed towards the end of the bed. Ruby walked over and tossed her jacket on, quickly realizing that the faunus woman had spared her no mercy, "Why?" Ruby whined, looking down at herself. The jacket which had once covered her entire torso, now sat at her navel, the sleeves at first looked to be rolled up, turned out to have been cut off at the elbow with the cuff sewn back on.
"Why? Your clothes were practically in pieces, and soaked with blood. Do you have any idea how long it took me, just to fix the fucking jacket? Then I went out of my way to buy you new
clothes, and do your laundry. We won't mention that this was after spending all night, putting you back together!" Annette scolded Ruby, standing up and raising her voice.
Ruby suddenly felt all of six inches tall, realizing just how far out of her way, Annette had gone for Ruby, "I'm sorry, I just let myself get a little flustered. Thank you for all your help," Ruby changed her tone, now trying not to smile, when she realized how kind the faunus had been.
Now it was Annette's turn to blush, finding herself thinking about how cute Ruby looked at the moment, "Are you planning on going back out already?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm running way behind, I have to hurry up," Ruby quickly sputtered, rushing around and grabbing the last of her things. She quickly grabbed her pistol belt, stuffing ammo and dust into the pouches on it and her jacket. Ruby grabbed her weapon, quickly extending it and checking for any damage. Once she was sure she had everything, she turned for the door, "Scarlette, are you planning on going barefoot?"
Ruby stopped and looked down at her feet, realizing that she had forgotten to put her boots on, "Oh, shit. Where are my boots?"
"You need to get more rest, your injuries haven't healed yet," Annette replied, trying not to answer Ruby's question.
"Aww, are you worried about me?" Ruby teased the faunus, elated that Annette was showing so much concern for her.
"I'm worried that you're gonna go out and get the shit kicked out of you again. In your state, any more injuries like that are liable to get you killed," Annette explained sternly, not giving in to Ruby's teasing, "I'd rather not have to be the one to report your death to Ironwood."
"It really wasn't as bad as it seemed. I've just been a little careless lately. I promise I won't let myself get so banged up again. Now, my boots?" Ruby talked a mile a minute, embarrassed that the faunus would think so little of her abilities.
Annette sighed before finally relenting, "They were soaked in blood, so I cleaned them up and left them outside to dry."
"Thank you, Annette!" Ruby exclaimed, as she headed out the door, not seeing the blush on Annette's face.
An hour later, Ruby had arrived at the hospital in the next town over. It was the same hospital that housed her uncle, so it stood to reason that Taiyang would be there as well. Ruby wanted to ensure that he was in fact there, so she pulled her hood up and headed inside. The hospital itself, stood as the very antithesis to the rest of Mistral. The size of the hospital was nothing
impressive, however it was well kept, and seemed extremely sanitary. Gone was the stereotype of neglect, and dilapidation. Ruby actually felt rather impressed at the state of the hospital.
Once inside, Ruby headed for the reception desk, greeted by a rather chipper middle aged nurse, "Hello, how can I help you, sweety?" Ruby cringed a little at her overly polite attitude, but kept her comments to herself.
"Hi, I'm here to visit someone. His name is Taiyang Xaio Long?" Ruby asked awkwardly.
"Is that a question, or a statement?" the nurse asked, confused by Ruby's tone.
"His name is Taiyang Xaio Long, I just don't know if I have the right hospital," Ruby replied, now completely flustered.
The nurse looked down, and tapped on a screen, looking back at Ruby, "You're at the right place, sweetie. He's on the third floor, room three twelve. I just need you to sign the visitor log, here. Oh, I'm sorry but we don't allow weapons in here,unless " Ruby opened her wallet and pulled out the Hunter's License Ironwood had given her, intentionally hiding the date of birth as she displayed it, "Oh, you just seem so young for a huntress."
"Thank you very much," Ruby spoke, as she signed in on the visitor log. Absentmindedly starting to write Ruby Rose, before realizing what she was doing. Ruby quickly scribbled it out, writing in, Scarlette Summers, instead, "I'll be on my way th "
"Yang, you need to calm down. We don't even know where to start," Ruby heard the door open behind her, accompanied by a stern voice. Ruby froze briefly, realizing that she needed to escape the situation. She turned, allowing herself to spare a brief glance at the trio that had just entered the building. She had been expecting them to show up, but they had arrived far sooner than Ruby had predicted. Ruby quickly walked away, not wasting a second ducking out of sight. As she was going to exit the building, Ruby stopped deciding to try and use the opportunity to her advantage.
"Screw the calm approach. I'm gonna find the fucker that put Dad, and Qrow in the hospital," Ruby watched from down the hallway as team WBY entered the hospital, "We're here to see Qrow Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, forgive my friend," Blake spoke to the receptionist, as Weiss and Yang argued.
"Oh, it appears that Mister Xiao Long is pretty popular right now. He'll be in room three twelve on the third floor. Give me just a second for the other one," the receptionist spoke politely, "While you wait can you sign the visitor log for me?"
"Wait, someone else came to visit my dad?" Yang exclaimed, her hands now planted on the desk.
"Yes, just a second ago actually. Her name should be the last one on the visitor log," the nurse, continued to explain.
"Probably someone from the Hunter's Association, they were here on a mission," Weiss commented calmly,
"Oh, that's right, she had a Hunter's license. She had some strange weapon on her back, and all kinds of bullets and things. Real pretty thing though, she had beautiful eyes," the other woman interrupted.
"Scarlette Summers? Anyone you know, Yang?" Blake asked her, looking at the visitor log.
"No, that's weird. Did she say anything else to you?" Yang continued to question the woman.
"Not really, but she seemed real confused. She didn't even know if she was at the right hospital," she answered Yang, "By the way the other fella is gonna be in the ICU, room one eighty A. If yall wanna know more about the other girl, why not go talk to her yourself? She should be visitin right now."
"Thank you very much Ma'am," Blake thanked the receptionist, the three girls heading towards the elevator.
Meanwhile, Ruby quickly headed for the stairs. Entering the stairway, Ruby found that it was a stairway with an open center. Not wanting to waste time, Ruby activated her aura, leaping to the third floor entrance. She exited, quickly locating the elevator and finding somewhere secluded to watch it from. A couple minutes later, the team emerged, sparing no time in making their way to Taiyang's room. Ruby hung back, watching them move around the corner. She wasn't about to make the same mistake she had with Taiyang. Once she was sure that they had moved far enough, Ruby followed them around the corner, spotting them as they walked into a room down the hallway.
As it was the middle of the day, the hospital was quite busy, making it easy for Ruby to blend in. Ruby watched a nurse push a cart passed her, towards Taiyang's room. Wanting to disguise her footprints against any keen faunus ears, Ruby fell into step directly behind the nurse. As they came to Taiyang's room, Ruby came to an immediate halt just next to the door. Knowing that standing there vacantly would seem suspicious, Ruby decided to do the most inconspicuous thing she could. Ruby reached into her pocket, pulling out the scroll she had been given and holding it at chest level.
"Yang, I'm fine, really. If anyone needs concern, it's your uncle. He still hasn't woken up," Ruby could hear Taiyang's voice from the other side of the door.
"You're clearly not fine, or you wouldn't be here. Whoever did this to you, is gonna get what they have coming," Yang responded.
"It's not so simple, Yang. Don't go thinking that you can just go charging in, and beat her. Not only did she get the best of Qrow, but I managed to take her by surprise and still ended up like this," her father cautioned.
"Mister Xiao Long, I don't mean to offend, but how did two of Vale's best hunters get so thoroughly trounced by one woman? There is only a few people in all of remnant that would be capable of that, and not many are women," Weiss questioned, obviously intrigued.
"Do you know why she was after you two? You two were here to investigate the White Fang, could it have to do with them?" Blake added.
"Calm down, one at a time girls. First off, I'm hesitant to call her a human. I managed at least two blows at full force, with my semblance. Most hunters would go down after one blow, but she managed to get right back to her feet, and keep coming at me " Taiyang explained before, being cut off.
"She must have been a faunus, so it was the White Fang. Did she have any distinguishing features, ears, or horns?" Blake questioned, stopping Taiyang.
"Unfortunately, she had a hood up the entire time, and her face was obscured. I'm pretty sure that this has nothing to do with the White Fang though," Taiyang finished.
"How can you be so sure?" Weiss chimed in.
Ruby could hear nothing in the room for a moment, Taiyang clearly not entirely comfortable with talking about everything, "Dad, what's the matter?" Yang's voice could be heard full of concern.
"She asked me how she could find Raven," Taiyang answered quietly.
"What! What the hell does she want with mom? What did you tell her?" Yang spat out rapid fire questions.
"I told her the truth, that I have no idea. I'm not sure what she wants with Raven. That's not all though," Taiyang spoke solemnly.
"There's something else?" Blake asked.
"Yang, promise me you won't do anything reckless," Taiyang ordered.
"Dad, it's me. Reckless is kinda what I do," Yang joked.
"Yang! If you can't take this seriously, then it'd be better if you just left. Besides, I'm sure she'll be after you next," Ruby could practically feel the tension in the room. She knew what he was going to disclose to them, but she it was of no consequence to her.
"Yang, listen to your father. After both him and Qrow ended up in the hospital, it only makes sense to play this one by the book," Blake's gentle voice broke the silence.
"Fine, fine, I'll be careful. God, I almost want to throw up saying that," Yang whined.
"Yang, she said that if I told her how to find Raven, then she'd tell me where Ruby is," Taiyang said, his voice full of concern.
You could hear a pin drop in the room, all parties were speechless. Ruby expected for them to be shocked, but it seemed like it was a greater matter than she first thought. She was beginning to reconsider, using herself as a bargaining piece, as it had at this point done little to help her, "Let's go! We're gonna find this bitch," Yang bellowed.
"Yang! If you kill her, then she can't talk," Taiyang stopped her.
"Oh don't worry, I'll just kill her after she talks," Yang replied, her voice full of fury.
"Hold on Yang. There's one more thing I need to ask," Weiss spoke up, halting Yang.
"What!" Yang complained.
Weiss let out a deep sigh of frustration, "Mister Xaio Long, did you have another visitor before us?"
"No, just you girls, why?" he asked.
"Do you know a huntress named, Scarlette Summers?" Blake added.
"Doesn't ring any bells. What's this about?" Taiyang's voice full of curiosity.
"You said that you think, that the person that attacked you is after Yang next?" Weiss continued to question him.
"Well, it makes sense. She came after Qrow, then me. If she's trying to get to Raven, then she'd be going after the people most likely to know her," he answered.
"So, if she was going after Yang, what would be the easiest way to find Yang when she got to Mistral?" Weiss asked out loud.
"If she was coming to Mistral, the first place she would be going, is here. We walked right up to her doorstep," Blake answered.
"Now that I think about it, I first noticed I was being followed not long after leaving the hospital," Taiyang commented.
"She's got to be somewhere nearby. If we play our cards right, we can get the jump on her," Yang concluded, "How far do you think she is?"
"She's probably not dumb enough to be nearby. She'd be somewhere where she can see us leave the hospital," Weiss responded.
Ruby had to stifle her laughter, when her own impulsiveness had actually helped her. Next, she just needed to figure out how she could follow the team from the hospital, without being outed. Already coming up with a plan, Ruby quickly left the hospital, making her way out front, Ruby quickly found what she was looking for. She walked over and got in the first taxi she found, giving him instructions to head for the tavern in town.
They had made it a few miles down the road, when Ruby decided to put her plan into action, "Sir, I'm not feeling well. I need to throw up."
The taxi driver immediately swerved to the side of the road, as he did so Ruby made gagging noises in the back. Cursing as they stopped, the taxi driver jumped out to get Ruby out of the vehicle. Once he'd done so, Ruby delivered a single blow to his face, leaving him unconscious. Ruby quickly dragged him into a nearby ditch, before getting behind the wheel of the vehicle. Now she'd reached the hard part, learning to drive.
Though she had watched her father and taxi drivers do it countless times, she still found herself slightly confused. Once Ruby had gotten the vehicle moving, she sped back to the hospital. She knew that her passengers would likely have complaints, her only care was how observant they would be. Once she arrived back at the hospital, Ruby pulled up and parked in front of the hospital.
Making sure she got the right passengers Ruby locked the doors, refusing everyone that attempted to get in. After a while of waiting, team WBY walked out the door. Ruby had no way of being sure, just what mode of transportation they were using. However she knew that the quickest way to get from the airfield to the hospital, would be to take a taxi. Sure enough, all three girls walked up to Ruby's car and crammed in the back.
"Well I didn't see anything, but she has to be watching us," Weiss chimed as she sat down last in the vehicle.
"We're heading to the Hunter's Association," Blake informed Ruby.
Ruby put the vehicle in drive, and pulled away, "Make sure to watch for anyone following us," she heard Weiss order. In her mirror, she could see all three girls watching intently out the windows. A second later, the entire car rocked as Ruby ran over the curb, "I didn't mean you, you just watch the road. I swear to god, if you crash I'll own your family."
Ruby did as she was told and continued driving, luckily she had already been past the Hunter's Association so she had a general idea of where to go. Unfortunately for her passengers, that didn't help make up for her poor driving abilities. Ruby felt that she had probably managed to hit every curb and bump in the road.
Once they had finally arrived at the Hunter's Association, her passengers disembarked voicing countless complaints about her driving. The girls spared little time with paying their driver and being on their way. At the very least, Ruby felt that her driving had helped to distract her passengers, from paying too much attention to her. After parking the car a good distance away, Ruby abandoned the vehicle, and began looking for somewhere to watch her prey from.
The obvious problem, was that they were already looking for her. After racking her brains, Ruby remembered that she didn't need to find some far away perch to sit on. She in fact had a perfectly valid Hunter's License, even if it was risky walking into the lion's den. Team WBY might have her alias, but Ruby had her doubts that they'd expect her to walk right into their stronghold.
Deciding to take the risk, Ruby marched herself straight to the doors of the building. As she entered, Ruby found something far different from her expectations. At the door, a single woman sat at a tiny desk to check ID's. After sparing little more than a glance at Ruby's own license, she allowed her in. Beyond the desk sat a massive room, filled with terminals with scrolling text. In the center of the room sat a massive screen, that showed missions as they came out in real time. Further out, there were multiple hallways, leading to billeting and training rooms.
The irony of the situation wasn't lost on Ruby. Standing here had been Ruby's dream, now that she was here, she was the bad guy. Scanning the area, Ruby found her targets entering the area of the building labeled, billeting. Ruby found another group of hunters heading in the same direction, and fell in step close behind them. After walking through a hallway approximately ten meters in length, Ruby came to an open area that closely resembled a hotel. Though the area would likely give any interior design expert an aneurysm, it served the purpose it was intended for. Although it was convenient that Ruby knew where the team was staying, it really didn't do her much good.
Waiting for the team to disappear down another hallway, Ruby turned herself around and went back to the main lobby. This particular hunt was proving exceptionally perplexing, as catching them off guard wasn't the main challenge. Ruby was quite confident in her abilities, however
she wasn't arrogant enough to believe that her former team hadn't improved in over two years. Even as good as she was, if she wanted to maintain her cover, Ruby would have to remain handicapped. With her weapon crippled, and restricting her semblance, Ruby stood little hope against a trained team of huntresses. As such, Ruby made her goal to get Yang alone, even if that meant Yang would be fully expecting a fight. However she knew that it would be near impossible to trick team WBY into letting Yang go into a fight alone.
As Ruby stood in the lobby, she heard a series of loud dings, drawing her attention to the large board in the center of the room. Ruby watched a series of missions appear on the board, scrolling down as they came in. As she watched hunters open terminals, tapping rapidly, Ruby felt like things had begun to fall into place in her head. Grabbing the scroll from her pocket, Ruby opened it and once again calling the only contact, shocked at just how quickly the other side answered.
"Scarlette? I swear to god, if you got your shit kicked in again " the faunus answered, foul mouthed.
"Annette! Calm down, I'm fine. It's just… I need a big favor," Ruby expressed sheepishly.
"You are in charge, you can just order me to do whatever you need," Annette sighed, clearly not enthusiastic about the idea of doing her partner a favor.
"Well...I could, but I'm not going to order you to put yourself in danger. Also it'll help us get out of Mistral faster," the young huntress felt her cheeks turning red, hoping Annette would actually be willing to help.
After a loud sigh, Ruby heard her pilot's voice again, "Something tells me I'm not going to like this, favor. Fine, but with having put you back together twice, buying you new clothes, and now this, you owe me," the pilot reluctantly accepted, both annoyed and curious at whatever it was that Ruby wanted her for.
"Trust me, I'll make it up to you. I'll give you the details later. For now I have some errands to run," with that, Ruby hung up the line, a wicked grin on her face. Ruby couldn't be certain that her plan would work, and it would undoubtedly cause some collateral damage. Regardless of the risk, Ruby was convinced that if she could get to Yang, she could get to Raven. She was willing to accept the consequences, if it meant she would finally achieve something.
A/N: So I was going to end this arc this chapter originally, now it will be one or two more chapters, I think. It seems that whatever I plan out, never seems to flow as well as I think it would once I write it out. So in the end things change and shift, and I have to add more elements to the story. Although at this point I think I can end this arc in the next chapter. What do you guys think of the fights? Do I do a good job of writing them? Too much detail, too little? Too long, too short? I kinda struggle to put what's in my head in writing.
I just improvised with Taiyang's weapon and semblance since we don't know anything about them. Also this chapter was nearly 8,000 words. As far as the next chapter is concerned, the only timeline I can really give is before the end of the month. I have a lot going on in the next few weeks. The time I would normally be writing will probably be spent studying for a while. Well that's all for now, let me know what you guys think!