Disclaimer, I do not ow RWBY
AN/ I'm back, and ready to write. I'm excited to get through this chapter, and not because I don't care about it, but because I get to show off Ruby and just how powerful her abilities are. And a show of power from a certain someone, but that's for just before the tournament. Anyways, let's go!
As Ruby ascended the tower towards Cinder, her mind raced as she tried to piece together everything she just witnessed. 'Cinder attacked the guards, but didn't kill them, so what is it she's after? Is it information?'
Ruby watched as Cinder ducked away from the terminal she was at as the elevator came to a halt. Stepping out of the elevator, Ruby prepared herself.
"Whoever you are, I know you're there, show yourself." Ruby demanded. Cursing to herself, Cinder silently stood up.
"I don't know who you are, or what you're doing, but it ends now." Ruby spoke, brandishing Crescent Rose. Cinders silent response brought forth dust, sending it flying at the younger girl. Spinning her scythe, Ruby managed to block the attack before Cinder was on top of her, brandishing her own swords. Ruby knew she was outmatched, there was no question. Cinder gave her no room to attack, and her defense only stood because of her semblance. As Cinder rolled away, Ruby noticed two people approaching the tower. With a goal now in mind, Ruby charged forward, dodging the volley of arrows meant for herself.
Taking a swipe at Cinder, Ruby was unsurprised to see her attack be blocked. Firing a shot from the rifle, she was surprised when Cinder blocked it with her hand. Firing another three shots, they were all met with the same gesture. 'Then that means Cinder is working with Roman.' Ruby thought, remembering her first encounter with the thief.
Before Cinder could press the attack, the elevator chimed. Faster than Ruby could react, a foot planted itself in her gut, knocking her down as Cinder used the opportunity to escape out a window.
"Ruby!" Arslan shouted as she shot forward, helping Ruby up.
"Miss Rose, are you alright?" Ironwood asked as Ruby stood.
"I'm fine, she just kicked me, is all." Ruby explained, holding onto Arslan.
"Go rest, I'll report what happened to Ozpin. We'll call for you tomorrow." Ironwood ordered as he surveyed the room.
"Of course, sir." Ruby responded, letting go of Arslan to stand on her own.
"And miss Rose, miss Altan, if you could please keep what happened to yourselves for the time being. You may tell your teams if need be, but we need to do a proper investigation before releasing what happened." Ironwood spoke, leaving no room to argue.
"We understand. Come on, let's get you to your room." Arslan said as Ruby followed her. With their privacy ensured in the elevator, Ruby spoke up.
"Sorry, you probably thought I ditched you." Ruby apologized.
"Not at all, I saw your locker in the yard, I figured something happened." Arslan assured.
"Sorry for also ending the dance early too." Ruby added, a small blush gracing her face, not that Arslan noticed.
"It's fine Ruby. But it is a shame that I won't get another dance from you again tonight." Arslan admitted.
"Then next year, I promise." Ruby said, turning to face Arslan.
"Sure, but next time, no running off to do hero things without me. Don't think I didn't hear about your little trip into Vale." Arslan joked.
"I'm gonna kill Sun." Was all Ruby responded with.
"If I didn't know better, I would say it's like a kitten threatening a full-grown lion, absolutely adorable." Arslan joked. Receiving what she could only guess was a glare, Arslan chuckled as she put her hands up.
"You're lucky I was just kicked in the gut." Ruby grumbled as they stepped out of the CCT. With Arslan leading her by the hand, Ruby's thoughts warred with each other. The severity of the situation was one that she would have to bring up to her team, yet she couldn't disclose too much, because then Cinder would catch wind that she knew. On the other hand, her mind kept trying to flood itself with thoughts of the friendly transfer student who she had just dance with.
"Do you need anything before we get to your room?" Arslan asked, breaking her from her thoughts.
"Oh, uh, no thanks, I'm good." Ruby responded. With her thoughts interrupted, the flood gates opened and thoughts of Arslan poured through. As they entered her building, Ruby noticed something above them, recognizing two people.
"Hey, be quiet on the stairs, we're gonna have some fun." Ruby said mischievously. Confused, Arslan followed along as Ruby snuck up the stairs. As the pair approached the door to Ruby's dorm, Arslan watched as Ruby slowly unlocked the door. Pushing it open slowly, Ruby waited for the mechanism to be clear of the frame before throwing the door open.
"Surprise!" Ruby shouted, scaring Weiss and Jaune.
"Ruby! Knock next time!" Weiss screamed at her partner as she fell to the floor.
"Oh please, it's not like you two were actually doing anything. Or did you forget that I can see most of the campus on a daily basis?" Ruby asked jokingly before clutching her stomach in pain.
"Easy now, easy." Arslan said soothingly as she put an arm around Ruby.
"What happened?" Jaune asked.
"Got into a fight and received a kick to the gut for it. I'll explain more tomorrow, I promise, but right now I just want to sleep." Ruby explained before turning to Arslan.
"Rest up, missions start Monday." Arslan spoke, her voice drawing the younger girl in.
"I will, thanks for helping me to my room. See you in the tournament?" Ruby asked as Jaune stood from Weiss's bed.
"We'll see, I expect you to fight your hardest." Arslan responded.
"You know it." Ruby replied as Arslan stepped out the door, with Jaune following soon after.
"I assume you had a fun evening, aside from your fight?" Weiss asked.
"It was, but I'm still mad at you for switching my dress." Ruby shot as she gathered her pajamas.
"I don't know what you mean." Weiss responded innocently.
"One of these days I'm going to give you a matching scar on your other eye." Ruby threatened.
"I'd like to see you try." Weiss challenged. Ruby changed quickly, making sure her dress was properly put away before turning towards her bed.
"If you're still up when Yang and Blake get back, tell them what happened. I have to meet with Ozpin and Ironwood tomorrow." Ruby said before climbing under the blanket.
"I doubt I will be, but I'll try. Night Ruby." Weiss responded. Removing her shata, Ruby closed her eyes, Arslan filling her dreams.
*Ozpin's Office*
"Ruby, how are you today?" Ozpin asked as Ruby stepped out of the elevator.
"I'm doing fine, no lasting damage done." Ruby responded.
"What you did last night was a fine example of what a huntress should do. You identified a situation, analyzed your surroundings, and acted appropriately. Ozpin was right to move you ahead." Ironwood praised.
"Despite your actions though, some things are not entirely clear. Do you have an identity for who the assailant was?" Glynda asked.
"Yes, it was Cinder. While I was in the elevator, she was doing something at one of the terminals. She kept mostly silent though, so I don't think she knew that I recognized her." Ruby explained, a plan hatching in her mind.
"We'll have a team inspect the terminals, what did she say, if you can recall?" Ozpin asked.
"I'm not sure what it was exactly, but she had mentioned something about a hideout, and the southeast." Ruby offered.
"Hm, in that case, you are free to go Ruby. We'll look into what Cinder tried to access and make a decision from there. Please, until we have come to a conclusion, I must ask you keep this to yourself for now. If she is up to something less than legal, it would be better for her to think she's in the clear." Ozpin said, with no room to argue.
"Of course, professor. One more thing, Cinder is the same woman miss Goodwitch and I fought. I thought I recognized her from somewhere." Ruby added.
"Then we know her intentions are not pure. If you learn anything more, don't hesitate to inform one of us." Ironwood spoke.
"I would use today to prepare for your mission tomorrow. I would hate to hear that you received a bad score because of a preventable mishap. You're dismissed miss Rose." Ozpin spoke. As Ruby disappeared into the elevator, Ozpin sighed.
"We know where they are and who is leading them. I say we march in there and take them by surprise." Ironwood suggested.
"Why is everything always a contest of measuring-" Glynda responded angrily, before getting cut off by Ozpin.
"While I do understand the reasoning, a show of force like that would scare the people. You're a general, so tell me this, who do you send first, the flagbearers, or the scouts?" Ozpin asked. Backing down, Ironwood sighed.
"I'll send a team to the CCT and have them inspect the system. Should we temporarily stop the network?" James asked.
"It would be wise yes. I'll have an urgent notice sent to the terminals, please have them work quickly. The people get angry when they can't communicate across the kingdoms." Ozpin agreed. 'Leo, I have some questions for you.'
*RWBY Dorm*
"So, what happened?" Yang asked, pulling Ruby into the room.
"They just asked for some added details. But I may have told them about the White Fang." Ruby admitted.
"You what?!" Weis asked, shocked.
"No, she did the right thing. The authorities know about it, so that will put pressure on them. At the very least, they'll be more likely to mess up." Blake offered.
"Besides, we'll end up down there to investigate, I wouldn't mind a little backup." Yang added.
"Right, now, where is he?" Ruby demanded, pointing a finger at Yang.
"Dad didn't use the special container again." Yang groaned before pulling out a mail tube. Opening the package, they watched as a small corgi fell out of the package into Ruby's arms.
"ZWEI!" Ruby screamed in excitement as the dog began to lick her face.
"Dear girls, I have to go away on a mission for the next few days and I need you to watch Zwei. He should have plenty of food with him to last until I get back. Good luck, dad." Yang read off from an attached note.
"Your dad sent a dog in the mail?" Blake asked, using the desks to keep herself away from Zwei.
"He does things like this all the time. He doesn't bite, you know." Yang said, watching Blake keep a considerable distance from the dog.
"Oh, he's so cute!" Weiss added, pulling Zwei out of Ruby's arms.
"I don't care, now keep him away from my things." Blake growled as she began to climb onto one of the desks.
"Well, what should we do then? We have Zwei with us, and thankfully dad remembered to send his service harness, so we can go anywhere." Yang spoke as she emptied the container of dog food and the aforementioned harness.
"Well, it's Sunday, and missions start tomorrow. We should probably prepare as best we can. Dust, food, ammo and anything else we might need." Ruby started.
"I can handle the supplies. Write down whatever it is we need, and I can acquire them." Weiss continued.
"I'll look into what kind of missions are going to be available. At least we can prepare for what we can do." Blake added.
"Sounds like a plan. Weiss, I'm coming with you, Yang, help Blake and let us know what we'll need for each mission. Now Weiss, please put Zwei down." Ruby ordered.
"Fine. We can pick up the basics while they comb through the mission lists." Weiss said as she knelt down to play with Zwei. Managing to pull Weiss away from Zwei long enough to get his harness on, Ruby checked that she had everything she needed. With Weiss leading the way, the pair left the dorm.
"You know you're not supposed to pet service dogs when they're working, right Weiss?" Ruby asked as Zwei walked in front of her.
"I can't help it that he's so cute, besides, it's not like you really need him right now." Weiss countered.
"That might be true, but the point still stands. I didn't say you could pet him right now." Ruby shot back, a wide grin staring back at the heiress.
"Fine, I'll leave him alone. For now." Weiss begrudgingly agreed. With Zwei now being left alone the pair made their way to the airships, ready to buy out multiple shops.
AN/ And that's a chapter. So, this last weekend a couple of things happened. I had to spend $700 to replace my brake rotors and fix my phone, I got so wasted I fell on my face, and I'm now hurting financially. But I did enter myself at work to get a nice bonus for working a minimum set of hours, so there's that at least. So, what'd you think of the chapter? So close to some fun stuff, and what I had originally planned. We ca only go up from here. Hopefully. Also, I got hit with a sudden inspiration for an older Ruby AU, with a more crack ship than this story, and no, it's not Rosewick. Call me weird, but I enjoy the more oddball ships, they're fun. Anyways, until next time, have a great day!