Vinicius Henrique : Trust me, you probably remember more about this story than I do, and that's quite the feat considering I'm an intuition-type writer. Also, Ruby isn't really the type to confront someone about something they did, but she did snap at Yang in an earlier chapter saying that they had betrayed Ironwood's trust first, or something similar. In brief, they did have a short snap about it, but admittedly nothing else.
In a tent within the refugee camp, Yang, Blake and Weiss were talking with Jaune, Nora and Ren.
"So, Ruby was working with Neo and you didn't know it?" asked Nora.
"Pretty much yeah," said Yang.
"And she refused to kill Cinder on purpose?" noted Jaune.
"She can't bring herself to kill someone, even as bad as Cinder," tried to defend Blake.
"So she's fine with letting thousands die instead," growled Jaune.
"She's not," argued Weiss, "But she is still incapable of killing in cold blood."
"That's really naïve," pointed out Ren.
"She became a Huntress to protect people," explained Yang, "She always trained to fight the grimm, not humans."
"Well she'll have to change if we want to actually have a chance at stopping Salem," said Jaune, "Humans are most of what we're actually fighting against."
"You should tell her when she comes back," said Weiss, "We shouldn't be speaking of her behind her back like this in the first place."
"Well maybe we wouldn't if she had came back with you instead of staying behind with Neo," spat Jaune.
"Speaking of Neo," interrupted Nora, worried about Jaune's anger, "Is she really going to work with headmaster Theodore now?"
"She's always been working for him apparently," said Yang, "They pretty much let her go with a slap on the wrist and a warning not to go off the rails again."
"What the hell?" shouted Jaune, "She killed so many people, she helped destroy both Vale and Atlas, and she doesn't get any consequences?"
"You didn't seem to have a problem with that when Emerald switched sides," pointed out Blake.
"It's different, Emerald actually regrets it and genuinely wants to work with us," argued Jaune, "Neo…"
"Was apparently working undercover and allowed Theodore to know what was needed to prevent the fall of Beacon, if Ozpin had listened," interrupted Weiss.
"Plus she did keep the Relic of Knowledge, even if she let Cinder use it," added Yang.
"You're the one that almost died because of her," said Jaune, "I thought you'd be more against it."
"Well, I was but…" started Yang.
"If she actually was undercover and not really working for Cinder back then, maybe we should accept that she's working with us now," offered Blake.
"As much as it might pain me to admit it, or how awkward it might be because of how much we fought against each other," said Weiss, "We should probably get used to the fact that she's on our side."
Jaune kicked the ground while Ren and Nora gave him a worried look. At the same time, Ruby, Penny and Oscar walked in.
"Hey guys!" said Ruby, "What did I miss?"
"Just a talk about you needing to be ready to kill people who try to kill us," said Ren.
"Ren!" objected Nora.
"What?" he asked, "I thought we should be saying it to her face."
"Well yeah, but…"
"It's fine Nora, thanks," said Ruby, "I actually have a solution for that. When I was with Neo back in Forever Fall she told me that if I wanted to fight without needing to kill anyone, then I just needed to be strong enough to make it work."
"She might has well have told you to give up," said Weiss.
"Hey! I'm far better than before," objected Ruby, "I mean I still can't win against Neo, but I'm getting pretty close!"
"Didn't she make Cinder attack us so we could all be there at the same time to take her down?" asked Blake.
"Well, actually, she didn't need that to win against Cinder," explained Ruby, "She only needed my eyes to make sure Cinder couldn't run before she gets killed."
"Wait what?"
"Neo was always confident she could take on Cinder, even on her own," continued Ruby, "She just was certain that Cinder would run as soon as the situation became unfavorable to her, so she wanted to make sure to set up a trap Cinder wouldn't be able to escape from first. That's why she was by her side, because it was the best spot to get Cinder to do what she wanted."
"So you're saying you could fight Cinder right now?" asked Ren.
"Maybe?" said Ruby, "I should probably train more just to be sure, it won't hurt."
"Don't we need to, you know, help people?" sarcastically said Jaune.
"I… yes, but Rumpole and Neo are already trying to find where Mercury and Tyrian are at," said Ruby, "and, well…"
"There's a whole city filled with crime in there," said Jaune, "People that need our help right now."
"I know, I want to help too," started Ruby, "but…"
"Then we have to go in there and tackle the problem!" argued Jaune.
"But!" interrupted Ruby, "The Vacuan authorities don't want us to help, and, well, Neo did warn us that her job was to deal with threats to the status quo, and it would include us if we try to step in."
Jaune stopped and looked at Ruby like she had just eaten an entire plate of cookies through her nose. Which to be fair she had done before, but that wasn't the point.
"Not you too…"
"I want to help, I really do," said Ruby, "But if we're going against what people want to do what we think will help them, then are we really making things better for them?"
"They're literal criminals!" shouted Jaune, "How is stopping them not making things better?"
"I don't know!" shouted back Ruby, "But just because I don't understand why doesn't mean it's not better as it is. You know, it's kind of weird. Neo once told me that I should do what I want, and that others will then decided whether I'm good or evil, and I followed that advice when we were in Atlas and fought against Ironwood, but… are we really going to fight against Theodore too, when we should be fighting Salem?"
"Ironwood wanted to leave all of Mantle and Remnant to die!" objected Yang.
"I know, and it's wrong, and we fought him for it," said Ruby, "But here, people have been living this way for generations. Do we really need to go against Theodore now instead of after we deal with Salem?"
"I agree with Ruby," said Weiss, "As she said, the people here have lived this way for generations. If we try to meddle, we might just cause bigger problems, while we should be focusing on stopping Salem instead."
"I disagree," said Blake, "If we thought like this, the faunus would have never gotten equal rights. If we keep on prioritizing things then change will never happen. We need to do both at the same time."
"We can't do both at the same time!" objected Weiss, "That's the whole reason why we prioritize things in the first place. If we go against Theodore now, it will only create a weakness for Salem to get in."
"She never needed some new weakness to get in," argued Blake, "Beacon was destroyed without anyone being able to do anything about it, Haven was taken down from within and Atlas fell despite everything we did to try and save it."
"Just because there was a weakness for her to exploit before doesn't mean there is one now," said Weiss, "We can't just create a new one betting it won't change a thing!"
"We're not creating a new weakness, we would be solving one!" said Blake, "Don't you think having a huge underground crime network in the city is exactly the kind of weakness Salem would go for?"
Weiss didn't know what to answer, but Oscar chimed in.
"Actually," he said, "That huge underground crime network is not a weakness, it's one of Vacuo's strengths."
"What do you mean?" asked Nora.
"Well, you see, Rumpole actually control the underworld here," explained Oscar, "Well, not control control, but more that she know everything that happens. She has contacts everywhere. If there's a new criminal element in town, she'll know immediately, and that's also why the police knows exactly who to arrest in order to maintain the status quo. Vacuans are none the wiser, but Theodore and Rumpole actually run quite the tight ship."
"We still can't let the crime keep going on," argued Yang, "Even if they are in control. People are suffering!"
"We'll have too," sadly said Ruby, "And not just because it means it'll be harder for Salem to get in while it's up and running, but also because Neo will try to kill anyone that tries to interfere, and I don't think anyone here can survive if she really wants them dead unless Raven decides to come by again to save the day."
"You're kidding right?" asked the group.
"I wish I was," was all she could answer.
Neo laid down on her bed, letting her arms and legs sprawled around it. It was good to be home, the fresh air conditioner saving her from the scorching heat outside, a nice cup of ice-cream in hand…
Wait, ice-cream! That's what she needed! Storming outside, Neo ran towards the nearest ice-cream parlor to finally get some treat after such a long time. Damn she couldn't believe she actually didn't get any for more than a year by now.
It was when she was eating her neapolitan ice-cream that she received a call from Rumpole.
"I found them," said the teacher, "According to the reports I'm getting they should be hiding within a tribe that is currently around for trading with the city, a few kilometers away from here. They are pretty reclusive but some saw people that might resemble our two individuals."
Neo nodded, and Rumpole kept going.
"Be careful, the tribe is very wary of strangers," she explained, "I'm not sure why they're hosting those two, but you should expect some fierce resistance. If it comes to it, don't take any unnecessary risks, and make sure to make it so they can never reach the city."
A small grin formed on Neo's lips, which caused Rumpole to sigh.
"I've talked with Glynda," she said, "She'll give you your weapon as soon as you come by the refugee camp to grab it, she just wants to meet with you in person. I know Winter doesn't want you anywhere near, so I made sure to ask her to wait for you outside, she'll probably be with the other kids you were with, and you might probably want to bring them with you just in case, but make sure to keep a low profile, we shouldn't alarm them unnecessarily."
Neo nodded again in understanding and went back to licking her ice-cream. Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day.
"Good luck."
Ruby has learned about sovereignty. It feels weird.
RWBY has learned about politics. It feels weirder.
To be continued on February 19th
Name : Neo Politan
Age : 18
Level : 21 (37%)
Class : Illusionist [You add both your Intelligence and Dexterity modifiers to your AC and to Dexterity or Intelligence based attacks as long as you can still cast illusions]
Path : Me, myself and I [You live for yourself first and foremost, no matter what pain you might cause others]
Destiny : All for one [Everyone can die, if it means you get to survive]
Title : The Gamer
HP : 11/11
AP : 76/110
STR : 12
CON : 11
DEX : 20
INT : 23
WIS : 13
CHA : 17
Semblance : The Gamer
Status effects :
Gamer's body [Your body follows game-like mechanics. You can restore 1/4th of your total HP (rounded down) by resting 15 minutes. You can only die if your HP reach 0 and you fail your last breath]
Child of Remnant [You are from Remnant and follow different rules than other worlds. Your HP is always equal to your constitution and any bonuses that would normally improve it are transferred to your aura]
Words that shouldn't be said [Your last words almost caused you to lose your life. You cannot talk until you overcome your trauma]
Defenses:
AC : 29(34)
For : 22
Ref : 28
Will : 25