AN: Here we are, at Chapter 51. Before we start, I want to answer Dyna-Man 21's questions about a story idea. In regards to the first one you suggested, I've never watch the Miraculous Ladybug show, so I wouldn't be able to do a story about that series any justice. In regards to the second one, Female Jaune stories can be interesting, so I'll think about it. No promises, though.
With that said, onwards!
Chapter 51
"Wait, really?" Ruby asked General Ironwood, still projected on her scroll. "I thought you said speaking to him would be impossible."
"I've looked into the things you told me about, and I would like to give you the opportunity to try your approach," the General said. "If it can get us the information we need, I'm willing to give it a try."
"Oh, thank you, sir!" she said. "I'll be right up!"
"We'll get a room ready for him," General Ironwood said. "Thank you, Miss Rose." The screen went blank as the general hung up. Ruby looked to see her teammates looking at her with varying levels of confusion.
"…What?" she asked.
"Why did you want to talk to Torchwick?" Yang asked.
"What could you possibly hope to gain from something like that?" Weiss asked.
"Well, I got the chance to talk to Torchwick when the General arrested us," Ruby said. "I really don't think that he wants to do all the stuff he's been doing, and I think he deserves the chance to try and make things right."
Her answer seemed to surprise the others, and Yang smiled and nodded approvingly.
"Good luck," Yang said. "We'll see you when you get back."
Roman sighed in his chair. He was still strapped into his straitjacket, but they had moved him from his cell into a dimly-lit interrogation room. There was a table with a chair on either side, and Roman was currently sitting in one of them, with his legs strapped to the chair's legs. He expected the interrogation to start any minute now, but no one had shown up. Were they hoping that boredom would get him to spill his guts?
Honestly, it just might. This was awful!
The door opened.
"Finally!" he said. "It's about damn ti—"
That wasn't General Ironwood. Instead, it was an annoyingly familiar little girl in a skirt and red cape.
"Well, if it isn't Little Red—sorry—Ruby," he said with a smirk as the girl sat down in the seat across from him. "So, you getting into police work now? Not sure it would suit you very well. A pipsqueak like you just isn't intimidating enough for interrogations." She glared at him, but it looked more like a pout. "See what I mean? How could I be scared of something that adorable?"
"I want to talk to you," she said.
"Clearly," Roman said sarcastically. "I doubt Ironwood would just ask you to interrogate me if you if you hadn't volunteered. Again, not very intimidating." Her continued gaze only made him chuckle. "Alright, give me your best shot."
"Neo," she said.
Okay, he wasn't expecting that. His smirk fell.
"What about her?" he asked.
"I know you care about her a lot," Ruby said. "I'm here to offer you a deal. We know you're working for someone else. If you tell us who it is and what they're planning, Atlas can guarantee Neo's safety." Roman stared at the girl for a few seconds.
"You're more devious than I gave you credit for, Red," he finally said. "Using her against me like that." He shook his head. "No dice."
"Why not?"
"Do you really think I'd trust those tin cans to keep her safe? Hell no. Besides, I know how the 'good' General operates by now. He promises that she'd be kept safe, and the second I tell him what he wants, he throws both of us in a prison cell and we never see the light of day again. No thanks."
"The general promised me—" Ruby started to say.
"People promise a lot of things when they want something from you," he interrupted her. "In my experience, they tend not to keep them once they get it."
"So, that's it, then?" she asked. "You're going to risk her freedom like that? Don't you care about her?!"
"Of course I care about her!" he yelled. He would have stood up if he was able to. "But there's something coming, little girl. Something that you can't stop. Not you, not the general, not his little army of toy soldiers, and definitely not the rest of you wannabe-Huntsmen. So do the smart thing for once. Back out while you can."
"Roman, I'm only trying to help you," she said.
"Then let me help you," he said. "Go home. You'll regret it if you don't." The door opened again, allowing the general to enter.
"That's enough, Miss Rose," Ironwood said. "It's clear he won't cooperate."
"But I can—" she said.
"Ruby," he interrupted, walking into the room to stand behind Roman. "Please. You tried." She sighed.
"Fine," she said, standing up from the chair and sulking out of the room. "But do you promise that you'll give him the chance to make things right?"
"Of course," Ironwood said, and Roman rolled his eyes.
"Thank you," Ruby said, before opening the door and leaving the room.
The second the door closed, a hand grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the table.
"Yup, there's the Atlas I know and love," Roman said after his head bounced back up. "So what, you using Little Red to 'good cop, bad cop' me? Gotta say, Totally saw it coming."
"Miss Rose offered you an out," the general said, his voice completely devoid of emotion. "You should have taken it. Now we do things my way."
"What about 'giving me the chance to make things right'?" Roman asked. "You promised the kid."
"Miss Rose means well, but she's naïve," Ironwood said. "She doesn't know what really goes into dealing with people like you." The general threw a packet of papers down onto the table.
"What's that?" Roman asked.
"I spoke to a certain information broker in the city. As soon as I mentioned your name, he was all too eager to give us everything he knew about you."
"Junior…" Roman said with a growl.
"The most interesting parts were about your little partner," Ironwood said, picking up the packet and looking through some of the files. "Neo Politan. 16 years old. According to Mister Xiong, you first met her twelve years ago. You were purchasing weapons from a black market dealer, when you discovered a cage with a little girl in it among his other merchandize. You killed him, freed the girl, and raised her yourself."
"You going anywhere with this?" Roman asked, doing his best to mask his anger.
"It seems that Miss Politan's safety wasn't enough of a motivation for you, then maybe the sight of your daughter in chains will help loosen your tongue. It's your choice."
"How about I take the option where I tell you to go fuck yourself and you take me back to my cell?" The general sighed.
"This all could have been avoided if you'd just cooperated."
"I've never been one for cooperation," Roman replied.
"So, how'd it go with Torchwick?" Yang asked once Ruby had come back, the rest of the team having already changed into their pajamas. Weiss was cuddling with Zwei on her bed, and Blake and Yang had swapped bunks so the cat Faunus could be as far away from the adorable little puppy as possible.
"Not great," Ruby answered, picking up her pajamas so she could get ready for bed. "So, you know that girl you fought on the train? The pink-haired one?"
"What about her?" Yang asked, still angry at being defeated by the petite girl.
"Well, Torchwick really seemed to care a lot about her, so I thought that we could maybe convince him to talk to the general if we could guarantee that she'd be protected, but he wouldn't go for it."
"Maybe he doesn't care about her as much as you thought ," Weiss said. "He is a criminal that conspired with terrorists to unleash Grimm into the city. Yes, he is, yes he is." She got distracted from talking by playing with Zwei. Yang rolled her eyes.
"Did you never have a dog before, Weiss Cream?"
"Stop that," she said. "And no. Father never let me get one."
"But you always wanted one?" Ruby asked.
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Because Zwei is our dog, and we've barely seen him without you hogging him," Yang said.
"Well, it's not my fault I'm the best girl," Weiss said, turning her body so Zwei was farther away from them.
"What was that?!" Yang asked.
"Anyway," Blake said, "Don't let this whole thing with Torchwick get you down. I'm sure the general will find out what he needs to know eventually."
"Okay," Ruby said with a sigh, ignoring how ironic it was that Blake of all people was telling her not to worry about Torchwick.
"Bark!" they heard, and Blake shrieked and jumped across the room after realizing that Zwei had somehow made in onto the top bunk.
"What? Zwei, come back!" Weiss said, trying to get the dog back into her arms, but he zoomed back over to Blake, barking happily at the black-haired girl, who looked absolutely mortified.
"Huh, I guess Zwei thinks Blake is the best girl," Ruby said.
"Do we really have to?" Weiss asked, holding tightly onto Zwei while Team RWBY stood outside Team JNPR's dorm. They had been told first thing in the morning that they needed to head back out to Mountain Glenn, this time to investigate Merlot Industries. Professor Port had consulted Doctor Oobleck, and they had decided that the best way to get to the bottom of the situation was to investigate the company's headquarters directly. However, since Mountain Glenn was still considered to be infested with Grimm, they weren't allowed to go alone this time. Mom would be coming with them, and they were told to ask another team to go with them.
That wasn't why they were outside Team JNPR's dorm, though. Pyrrha was still not allowed back out in the field.
"Yes, Weiss, we really have to," Ruby said. "We can't take Zwei with us this time, so we need someone to watch him while we're gone."
"Well, why can't I watch him?" Weiss asked. "Just take Ren with you." The other three glared at her. "Ugh, fine." Ruby knocked on the door, and after a few seconds, Pyrrha opened it up, a bright smile on her face.
"Oh, hello girls!" she greeted happily.
"Hey, Pyrrha!" Ruby said. "We need to ask you guys a favor."
"Oh? What is it?"
"So, we need to head off on a mission in a few minutes, but we kind of have our dog staying at out dorm."
"Are we allowed to have pets here?" Pyrrha asked.
"Dunno," Ruby said. "Anyway, we need someone to watch him while we're gone. Can you keep an eye on him?" She pointed to Weiss, who was still holding Zwei tightly.
"Aw, he's so cute!" Pyrrha said. "I'd love to watch him!"
"Isn't he?!" Ruby said. "His name is Zwei."
Weiss walked up to Pyrrha, holding the corgi out for her. Pyrrha took her in her arms, but Weiss refused to let go.
"Uh, Weiss?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yes?" Weiss asked, not seeing anything wrong.
"You're still holding the dog."
"Yes, I am." She continued holding Zwei.
"…Are you…going to let go?"
"Of course," Weiss said. It looked like it took an intense amount of effort, but she finally relinquished her hold on the little puppy.
"Uh, anyway, good luck on the mission," Pyrrha said, with Zwei happily cradled in her arms.
"Thanks again, Pyrrha!" Yang said, Team JNPR's door closing. "Now we just need our other team."
Cinder sat next to Emerald on a bunk bed, planning out a trip to Vale for the coming weekend. They had been fully immersed in their plan since they arrived in this Kingdom, and she wanted to have a day to just spend time with her Tea Leaf. Mercury was reading a comic book, and Neo sat by herself, still refusing to interact with her "team". A knock on the door took them out of their individual activities. She looked at Mercury to tell him to answer it, and the boy rolled his eyes and got up.
"Hey, babe," Yang's voice said on the other side of the door, a quick smooching sound resounding around the dorm room. Emerald made a face like she was going to be sick, and Cinder chuckled at seeing her reaction. She stood up to greet Team RWBY.
"What can we do for you girls?" she asked. Ruby stepped up.
"We need your help for a mission."
AN: So, we have a little bit more about Roman and Neo's relationship, and Ruby's attempt to get him to come clean. The way Roman sees it, if Neo's safety is the issue, then he's better off not talking, since Cinder would probably kill her in retaliation.
Next time we have the return to Mountain Glenn.
As always, thank you very much for reading, and I'll see you all next time!