Okay, so most people seem to be happy with me using diffferent perspectives for this chapter, so that's good at least!

Now, this does not mean this story is constantly going to start using other perspectives, my stories always focus on one character, so there won't be any "And at Evil Menace Base Number 52, watch the villains discuss their evil schemes and exactly what they plan to do!" stuff going on here. It's going to be the events going on whilst Ruby in unconscious, and then next chapter, back to Ruby!

Hope you enjoy ^.^

Chapter 4

"What's the prognosis...Doctor...Doctor Vahlen?"

Tilting her head up, Vahlen met the eyes of Central before sighing and lowering her gaze to her tablet again. "I...do not know. Scans of her body indicate zat physically, she has suffered no more trauma zan a few scratches and scuffs. Mentally, however...-" The doctor pinched her nose, letting out a sigh. "-ve just don't know vhy zat attack had such an effect on ze subj-" She stopped herself. "-on Corporal Rose. Apologies, I 'ave...had a trying day. Having to deal vith ze autopsy of Captain Hadshaw, ze current research project blowing up and injuring several of my team, and zen on top of zat Corporal Rose being so afflicted by vhat appeared to be a simple Mind Fray. Certainly, not an attack to be taken lightly, but not something vhich vould cause...zis!"

She waved her hand towards the screen, where information on the still-unconscious Corporal was listed. "Ze current running theories are zat either her transportation through dimensional barriers has veakened her defence to mental intrusions, or zat zis...aura, as she described it, is some kind of internal defence turned external, something all humans inherently contain vithin themselves, a 'soul' if you will. By having 'unlocked' her aura, zis defence ve rely on for protection from psionics is unable to protect her from ze full effect of ze attack. If zat's the case...-" Vahlen closed her eyes, opening them again to gaze straight at Bradford. "-zen ve are lucky zat Sectoid Commander did not attempt a mind control, I fear she vould have been turned on us...permanently."

Closing his eyes, Bradford allowed himself a moment to imagine what kind of hell a mind-controlled Ruby Rose would wreak, grateful that, while smarter than normal Sectoids, the Sectoid Commander wasn't smart enough to control her, especially with her 'Aura' making freak appearances every so often, activating at random and then de-activating just as erratically.

The Council was also breathing down the Commander's neck in regards to Ruby. Certainly, she was unique, and not for her skills, which while impressive for a girl of her age weren't something the Council would ever truly care about. Her ears were clearly visible for the world to see, and it seemed like the Council didn't like the fact that they kept someone like her out of their knowledge for so long, excuses about tests and training be damned. Fortunately enough, considering every member of the team had cameras as well as the drone which allowed the commander his view, they could clearly see that Corporal Rose was certainly not fit for duty currently, so they weren't demanding she speak with them right that very moment.

Didn't stop them from outright demanding that as soon as she was fit to do so, she was to be taken to the Commander's private comms room and put on a line so they could speak with her. Usually, the Commander wouldn't discuss the words of the Council, but since they involved someone who was pretty well-loved around the base considering she was basically right behind Shen on making new things for the soldiers to use against the aliens.

But, what really worried Bradford was something Shen brought up.

"Bradford, we need to talk."

That tone of voice, coming from the Chief Engineer, was never a happy sound to hear. His tone was far too serious for his taste from a man who was regarded as the creator of cool stuff by most of the men, and adopted a friendly persona to accommodate that. "If this is about Corporal Ruby's situation, I can assure-" Shen put his hand up to stop Bradford, a frown on his lips. "What's this about then?"

Exhaling slowly, Shen waved Central towards his personal workshop. "I'll explain once we get to my room. You...are not going to like what I discovered." He left his words vague, but Bradford knew that Shen wouldn't say something like that just for suspense sake. Keeping his mouth shut no matter how much he wanted to just demand that Shen explain exactly what was going on, the pair made their way quickly through the base, passing only a few engineers before they arrived.

Gesturing towards the chairs beside his desk, Shen pushed the door shut and walked over, settling down in his chair and closing his eyes a moment. "When I stopped you, that wasn't because this has no relation to Ruby. However, it doesn't relate to her current...situation." He rolled the words carefully, mild anger in his tone despite how he tried to stop himself.

"Ruby is...unique, and so helpful. Her mind works overtime on projects she enjoys working on, and she gives things her all, I'm sure you're aware. But...this is difficult to say, but Ruby isn't...regarded as human." Bradford felt his eyes go wide as he processed that. "And, she isn't a human, not entirely. She has the ears and hearing of a feline, and whilst Vahlen has proven that she is definitely 'based off a human', that is not the same as being actually human, she is thus a different species. And...that means she has nothing protecting her in regards to human rights, or the Geneva Conventions. Certainly, ethically, she is protected, but that's as an animal, not as a human. Some may even see her ears and regard her as an alien, which technically is true and also would mean she'd be treated as one, who have absolutely nothing defending them, for obvious reasons."

As Bradford opened his mouth to say something, Shen shook his head. "I looked into this. Human rights are just that...human. Not alien, not 'other species which is derived from Human' rights, just humans. Ruby has no protection in this regard. And...look, Central, I spoke to the Commander. She has the same worries I do. If...-" He closed his eyes. "-if the Council gets ahold of her...she'll never see the light of day again." He opened his eyes, sharp and focused as they peered at Central. "They'll throw her in a hole and let anything happen to learn everything they can about her. Her ears make her stand out, while her heightened perception, skills and talents pull that nail out further."

"The Commander wouldn't let it happen. Even detaching herself from the fact that she seems to like Ruby, the Commander knows that Ruby is too valuable as a direct asset, not as a plaything for the Council to experiment with." Shen shook his head, a frown pulling at his lips, drawing Central to frown at the same time as he ran his mind over what Shen had already said.

"Even so, ultimately, the Council can push for this. They hold all our funding, every cent, and she would be forced to choose. Acquiesce to their demands, give up Ruby, an extremely talented and valuable but still singular soldier, and keep the funding. Or, refuse, and XCOM lose their funding. As I said, she likes Ruby, but if they play that card, her hands are tied. One girl can't stand in the face of XCOM being shut down. She'll hate everything about it, and losing Ruby will hit morale, especially amongst the engineers...but she'll do it."

Bradford chuckled, a humorless laugh. "So that's what it comes to? She saves E-DIE and Nixer, fends off aliens and gets mentally...fucked with, but when she's vulnerable...this is how we repay her? By chaining her up and shipping her off to god-knows-where for them to pick her apart, find out how she ticks? ...Oh god." Shen grimaced at the face Bradford made, both men having come to the same conclusion. "They'd do it...wouldn't they?"

"Almost definitely. If other methods wouldn't work...simply producing more of her though those means...would provide more subjects to work with." Bradford...didn't know what to feel right now. Anger, definitely plenty of anger. Sadness for the comatose girl who saved the lives of XCOM's best. And...loss. He was at a loss for what they could do. "Bradford."

Shen's stern voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked from the desk to see Shen's face, firm and unyielding. "I don't plan to let them do anything of the sort. I-...You know I have a daughter. She would have turned nine about a month ago. Imagining her in Ruby's place...I won't let it happen. I don't care what consequences there are, they won't lay a hand on her."

"And how are we going to do that?" Shen grinned, the first smile on his lips since Ruby was brought back to HQ.

"And then, she whips the damn thing around, faster than I could even say a word she'd already fired."

Gulping down another mouthful, Casey grinned. "Shot that grenade before it went even a few feet. I swear, the other sharpshooters are nashing their teeth trying to figure out how the hell she even hit the damn thing. Size of Dakka's fist, and she shot it from where we were set up. Definitely stopped any claims that she can't pull her own weight and then some." A jeer went through those at his table. E-DIE was absent, alcohol wasn't something he liked to consume. Besides, with his bulk, the bar would be a mite bit cramped, but the rest of Strike-1 was around the table drinking.

"I just wish they let us know how she's doing." Vixen swirled her glass around, eyeing the liquid for a few moments before downing it entirely. "That girl saved E-DIE, period, and she's not even awake for us to thank her." She frowned. "And I heard Shen and Central are cooking something up, they're both spending a hell of a lot of time in his private workshop. Vahlen doesn't seem to be in on it, so I don't think they're working on something involving Red."

Frowning, Casey rubbed his eyes. "We should have put more faith in her detection skills. She knew something was coming for us. Seekers are invisible to the naked eye and nigh-silent with no scent, but she still detected something, she just didn't know what it was. Maybe if she knew what to look for she might have detected it, which would mean that Commander would ne-" Casey was stopped by Vixen chucking her half-full glass at him. "Hey what's the big idea?!"

"You're the big idea! The Commander DID put faith in her skills. Think, you monkey. What would have happened to you both if Loco wasn't pulled back to support you both? Red was in no condition to get that Seeker off you, and you yourself were immobilized. If we had to try and deal with that from our position, Red probably would have been driven insane or died, and you would have been killed by the Seeker before we could get close. Maybe we could have blasted the Commander through the wall, but that Seeker would have killed you, and then would move on to kill her."

Panting lightly, Vixen stood up from her chair, grabbing the bottle and storming off, taking a swig as she left. Casey opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut again with a growl. "Hey, you said it yourself, Red's a strong girl, she won't let this keep her down for long."

"She shouldn't have to be! Once, I asked her about her home. She's skittish about her home, she doesn't...doesn't like talking about home when she isn't sure she'd ever get to see it again...but, she told me. To her, it's normal. It's...look, putting her home simply, it's a war-world." The eyes of everyone around the table widened at his declaration. "I'm not kidding. We all know she fought in some regards, but the fact of the matter is that their world is constantly in conflict against...basically, evil. I don't even want to fucking believe it but I saw the look on her face, she believes it all, and she thinks it's totally normal for worlds like hers and ours to be in conflict all the time. They fight monsters every day from walled cities, an eternal fight that just doesn't stop, ever."

"...She doesn't even know what peace is, not true peace." Spike took another drink, matched by everyone else around the table. "So...she thinks this is all normal? Warfare, death and...everything?" Waving his hand around, Spike frowned as Casey nodded solemnly. "...Fuck." She clenched a hand around her glass. "That's fucked up. She's 17! 17 years old and...did she say when she began fighting?" Casey shook his head.

"No, I didn't ask. But...you saw her skills, and...she even told me, the weapon she uses is a sniper, but it's built into, get this, a fucking war-scythe." Casey took in the faces around him with a grimace. "Yeah, they use guns, or their own equivalent, but nearly all of their 'Huntsmen' use melee weapons to fight their enemies, it's ridiculous. But, the point is that she was apparently regarded as skilled with it. Considering how she regards her own sniping, that means she was actually damn good at it...but how long would it then, for her to learn how to use a fucking scythe as a weapon?"

"Too long..." Spike muttered.

Taking the final gulp from her stolen bottle, Vixen tossed it harshly into a bin as she passed it by, hearing the glass shatter as it slammed into the metal.

The other guys didn't get it. That entire Skyranger flight home she was right beside Red trying to find out what was wrong with her, trying anything she could think of to elicit a response or get a diagnosis of her situation and whether she was dying or not. Several hours of flight, entirely spent not knowing if the girl would even be alive by the end of it, took its toll on her. And then, when they got home, she and her squad were just...just kept in the dark about her condition. Aside from knowing she was believed to be stable, they just shoved the team off to recover from their fight.

Clenching a fist, Vixen plotted out a route to Vahlen's medical bay, all the while grumbling to herself and swearing that, at the very least, she would find out just what the hell was wrong with her if nothing else. She might not have been as well-renowned as the esteemed Vahlen, but she still knew enough that her help would be appreciated, rather than sitting around a goddamn bar griping and doing fuck all. "-e spending valuable resources looking after a fucking infiltrator." Vixen's ears strained as she heard voices from around the corner, her training kicking in at the tone the man used as she crept towards the edge.

"Here's the real kicker, those fucking aliens didn't even know she was with them. Two fucking animal ears on her head and they couldn't tell the difference between us and one of their own." Hearing the men bellow out laughter, Vixen resisted the urge to bolt around the corner and plant her fist into the bastard's face. How fucking dare he? Red was the reason E-DIE wasn't a puddle of plasma goop on the floor from that nade. Or why Casey wasn't in the infirmary or worse from Seeker strangulation. Tipping her head to look around the corner, she watched the two men marching down the hallway, a shiver coming up her spine as she realized which way they were going, the exact same route she was just about to follow. "Now, keep your fucking voice down unless you want to tell the whole base what we're up to. Some of them still think she's fucking human."

As she made to bolt around the corner and stop them, a hand came around her mouth, silencing her and halting her motion before it could begin.

"-uby? Ruby?!"

Snapping awake, Ruby bolted upright at the sound of her sister's voice. "Yang? What's...up?" Ruby felt like there was something wrong with her situation right now. Trying to cast her mind back to yesterday was...difficult. It didn't help that Yang was in her angry sister pose; hands on hips, frown, and reddening eyes. "Okay, what did I do now?" Ruby asked dejectedly.

"You don't even know? Brothers Ruby, when are you going to work on your forgetfulness?" Weiss chirped unhelpfully from the bed beneath her. Again, Ruby had an itching feeling in the back of her head that something was very very wrong with her current situation, but everything seemed pretty normal. Looking around their dorm room, it all seemed pretty normal. Yang's Achieve Men poster was rolling off the wall again, Weiss's desk still looked like Doctor Oobleck's idea of a good time, and...

"Okay, that's not meant to be there." A poster of a distinctly not Remnant video game was hanging off the wall, something one of...the...guys from XCOM gave her. "Okay, what the hell is going on?" Turning back with questions on her lips, Ruby screamed. Yang was now a grotesque mesh of Chryssalid, Sectoid and her sister, but contorted like that weird liquid-metal robot in the foundry scene from the old movie some of the other engineers got her to watch, even making the same shrieking noise.

Closing her eyes, Ruby counted to three, trying to wake up.

"-ss Rose? Miss Rose, are you in there?"

Her eyes hesitantly came open, peering up at the far less detached, and far more worried visage of one Doctor Vahlen, once again breaking safety protocol and standing right over her. "Vahlen?" She asked hesitantly. The doctor sighed, scribbling on her clipboard and looking between it and Ruby, muttering to herself. "Doctor...how long was I out?" Vahlen didn't respond, too busy scribbling on her clipboard.

"You've been out for maybe a day Ruby, you had the team worried." Ruby smiled as she heard Shen's voice, looking over at the Head Engineer himself. "I think Casey owes you a drink or two though huh?" Smirking, Ruby made to get up off the bed, since she felt fine, but a firm hand by Vahlen put her back down, along with the worried look Shen adopted. "You should stay in bed for now Ruby." Looking over at him, she was about to respond, when she saw something that chilled her to the bone.

There, on the wall behind Shen, folding downwards in one corner but still perfectly legible...was Yang's Achieve Men poster.

Didn't really change a lot in this chapter, I liked what it set up, I just made a few adjustments, neatened up stuff, that kinda thing.

Ruby in this story is 17 I have decided, so in her third year of Beacon. If I already explicitly mentioned a year or an age, then oops, I forgot about that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, fingers crossed the new chapters go well ^.^