Got a brand new, custom gaming PC last week and I already love it! Just got Game Pass for PC too. Unfortunately for this, that means less writing time while I take full use of the service. Just have to find time to play after work. Also, getting the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. I was looking forward to it before... but the J & J laid my sister out... hoping that doesn't happen to me. It did not look like fun at all.

Anyway, to the story.

Ruby opened her eyes and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling. There was also an unfamiliar feeling in the bed next to her. She flicked her eyes to whatever it was, ready to attack. Instead of a threat next to her, Viki snuggled up to her side with a small smile on her still sleeping face. Part of Ruby wanted to be happy with that, but Viki came into the bed without waking Ruby up. That wasn't good. She was slipping. Not to mention it was a bit of a shock seeing her husband's sister asleep in bed next to her.

Taking care not to wake the sleeping woman, Ruby sat up and slid out of bed. Of course, she thought Viki might loan her a room in her own house, but not the master. Ruby put on the only clothes she brought with her and walked to the kitchen. At least part of the camp had electricity, including Viki's house. The fridge and freezer ran but there was hardly anything in there. Then again, that was expected since they didn't have easy access to a supermarket. For a split second, she wanted to search the area for seeds to grow her own food, but then reality hit her. Old habits die hard. Instead, Ruby grabbed a bowl of strawberries and snacked on those while she looked over the list of materials she made the day before.

About a half hour later, Viki walked into the kitchen. She yawned and smiled at Ruby. "Good morning, sister." She walked over and gave Ruby a sideways hug. Even though it was stronger than the ones the Rider was used to from her sister-in-law, it still felt soft and warm, like a mini Yang hug.

"Morning." Ruby leaned into it until Viki pulled away. "When'd you come in last night?"

"About three in the morning." Viki sat next to Ruby and began eating strawberries herself.

"You forget you gave your bed to me for the night? That thing's a king. You didn't need to be so close."

Viki sighed and looked at Ruby with big, sad eyes. "I was in the next room over. I heard you moaning in your sleep, so I decided to check on you. You were having a nightmare, twisting and turning with eyes clenched. I put a hand on your forehead and it lessened. I have heard from you, Yang, and the rest of our family that when you were troubled after the Nevermores and other things. With Yang, Cerise, and Aaron not around, I thought I could take their place."

Ruby stared at the table in front of her. That was so like her little sister. "You didn't have to do that."

"You didn't need to spend so much time convincing me I was no longer a slave."

"That was different."

"And I agree. I owe you so much. I have not done nearly enough to repay my debt to you."

Ruby shook her head. "You Alagaësians and your debts." She gave Viki a small smile. "Thanks sis."

"Anytime." Viki grabbed the notepad on the table and looked it over. "Is this everything you need for the tank?"

"From what I can tell." Ruby nodded. "It's actually not in too bad of a shape. It took only small arms fire and maybe a few plasma grenades. It needs new plates and drive wheels, some new wires and pipes that have worn through old age, and a power pack. Well, that's all the repairs. I'm sure you understand the ammunition problems."

"We have more than enough fifty caliber rounds. Much of the former military of this country fought in this area before they were forced to surrender. This camp has gathered their scraps since years before I arrived."

"But that still leaves the shells. The thing's got ten shots left. After that, the main gun's useless. Unless I'm missing something, you don't have the facilities to forge new ones here. Believe it or not, I think it would be easier to reline the inside of the barrel and build a charging station and charge laser rounds for it."

Viki blinked. "Aren't those much more powerful?"

"For precision, yes. For AOE, not a bit. It's a tradeoff." Ruby paused. "The forge for the solid shells is easier to build but the metal needed for it is harder to come by. You just can't melt down a car and use that metal, especially for the rounds I saw in there." She jerked a thumb in the rough direction of the tank. "I don't know what that stuff is, but I think it's what caused the reactor in Mistral to meltdown years ago."

Viki nodded as her eyes scanned the list. "I can talk with my person in the warehouse about some of these things. Others, I'd suggest Detroit. It's about an hour's drive east of here and used to be one of the major vehicle production centers in this country. It used to be nicknamed 'Motor City.'"

"I take it you've searched, what'd they call it, Ann Arbor?"

"Yes. We, along with others, have scavenged that city nearly clean. Detroit was once a Lost controlled city. ADVENT cleared it and has repeatedly said that they will repopulate the city, but they never have. Our scouts have seen a few MEC patrols on the streets but never in great numbers."

"Got it." Ruby paused. "You said drive. What do you have for me?"

"A large U-Haul truck with an ADVENT power pack." Viki gave Ruby a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I must ask you to pick up some other things as well. It is too dangerous to keep sending my people into the city in a truck, especially after you leave. I'll get you a list when I deliver yours to the quartermaster."

"It's no problem. I've still got a few mags of laser ammo. They should take care of the MECs I've seen wreckage of." Ruby grabbed another strawberry and ate it whole. She thought back to the emblem on Viki's belt the day before. "Broken chain and Chain-Break. You going to make me guess where that inspiration came from?"

Viki smiled. "I'm sure you would be partially right. I was wondering what I would use for a while when a particular Frying Pan song played on my playlist. I'm sure you know the one."

Ruby returned the smile. "Rebellion?"

"Of course." Viki nodded. "'Used to live in chains, but now I live to break them.'"

"And I had tickets to their reunion tour..." Ruby sighed. "Need anything else from me?"

"Not for now." Viki's smile returned. "Tell me, what's it like with XCOM?"

Ruby had no problem telling her sister-in-law what she had been through the past few months. Besides the missions she'd been on, not much happened on the Avenger. Just eat, train, sleep, repeat. They typically didn't have enough supplies for Ruby to build anything impressive and Shen only wanted a select few people digging out the deeper parts of the ship. There weren't many more things to talk to Invidia and Orchid about. She and Nalia talked all the time, but there were things neither talked or asked about. They still loved each other and slept side by side, things were just hard.

After both women finished with their meager breakfast, they put on their respective gear and left the house. Viki led the way back toward the garage the tank was parked in. She directed Ruby toward another stall while she headed to the warehouse behind the building. Inside the garage, a large white and orange box truck rested. The box itself had a lot of bullet holes and scorch marks and the engine had numerous metal patches and a half roll of duct tape on it.

Ruby sighed and shook her head. "This thing better run." As she walked toward the cab, the patches over the engine started looking… off. On closer inspection, most of them were just armor plates made to look like patches. Same with the duct tape. The mechanic nodded to herself. The people here knew what they were doing.

"Ruby? You in there?" a familiar voice called.

"By the cab, Dahlia." Ruby walked to the back of the truck. The camp's doctor stood in the entrance to the garage. "Figure anything out yet?"

Dahlia shook her head. "I heard there would be a mission to Detroit. Figured you'd be a part of it." She handed over a notebook. "I hope you don't mind, but I made a list of equipment I'd like from the hospitals there. I can make just about everything I need, but I'm sure you can appreciate the need for things that are built of the highest quality materials. We don't exactly have that here."

Ruby nodded and took the notebook. "No guarantees, but I'll see what I can do."

"That's all I ask." Dahlia blinked and narrowed her eyes. She took a step forward and stuck her head out to stare at Ruby's face. "Did you break your nose recently?"

"Yang elbowed me in the face yesterday. She healed it on the ride here, but she was tired from shielding us from ADVENT."

Dahlia straightened and put her hands on her hips. "Your own sister did that?" She shook her head and held an open hand toward Ruby's face. Wisps of red Aura burst to life around her hand before launching into the Rider's face. Ruby jumped back but she only felt a tingling around her nose before that too disappeared. "It was a little crooked."

"Oh. Thanks. Haven't seen a mirror since the Avenger." Ruby ran her fingers along her nose. It certainly felt straight now.

A door opened elsewhere in the garage. "Ruby, I have your updated list."

"Got it," Ruby called back. She nodded at Dahlia. "I'll try to get you your stuff."

"Thanks." Dahlia backed away. "I've got to get ready for a surgery. Stay safe out there." She waved and turned around.

"You too." Ruby turned and walked toward the front of the truck. Viki stood there with two other people. "I take it they're going with me?"

Viki nodded. "Your driver and navigator. They've made the run to Detroit several times."

"Keep the xenos off us," the brute of a man on the right started, "we'll get you where you need to go."

Ruby nodded. "When do you want the kids back?"

Viki smiled, but since she was behind her people, neither of them saw it. "As far as we can tell, the patrols don't increase at night. Still, I'd prefer to have you back no later than tomorrow night. Even you can't repair the tank in a day."

"Got it." Ruby looked between the two soldiers. "Whenever you two are ready."

The other guard gestured at the cab. "Take shotgun," she said. "I'm center, Malik's driving."

Ruby walked around the front of the truck and pulled herself into the cab. To her minor amusement, there was an actual shotgun in the door. She wouldn't need it. She couldn't quite no scope with her new rifle, but she could hit at close range. Her two teammates in this mission climbed in through the driver's side door. Malik started the engine and backed out of the garage. Viki waved at those leaving and Ruby returned the gesture. The truck then drove away from the garage and out of the camp.

After a few minutes on the road, Ruby faced the driver. "Weren't you the one who drove the truck yesterday?"

"Yes, ma'am," Malik nodded. "I volunteered as soon as I heard you'd be heading up this mission."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Malik snorted. "Viki's told all these stories about you. Then the posters came in and even more stories. Not very many people believed them. But when your sister threw you fifty feet in the air and you shot down that transport." He smirked evilly. "We've got freaking She Hulk and Domino on our side. That is something I can get behind."

"O… kay. I'm going to take that as a compliment." Ruby glanced at the woman between her and the driver. "I never got your name."

"Katie Mills," she said flatly.

"We call her Spook," Malik said. "She says something different each time. She probably worked for the CIA or something."

"KGB, actually, you filthy American."

"Spook, you sound like a cheese head. No one would mistake you for a Russian."

Ruby looked between the two. They'd obviously worked together before, quite well too if their tones meant anything. She looked down at the map and notebook in Spook's lap. The map was marked up with several locations circled and a few routes, some marked ADVENT, some with a big W. "Sorry to mess up your map, but Dahlia gave me a list of things she needs from the city." Ruby handed over her own notebook.

Spook sighed. "That's okay. Happens all the time with her. As long as she keeps patching us up, I won't complain." She opened the notebook and gave Ruby a look. "You know what any of this stuff is?" She turned the paper toward Ruby.

"Uh…" Ruby scanned the list. "That's a solid maybe. I hope things are labeled."

For most of the drive, Malik and Spook filled Ruby in on what to expect in the city. They stressed the amount of dead bodies from the Lost for a while until Ruby waved them off. She'd seen the aftermath of more than a few Grimm attacks. She was much more interested in the MEC patrols. There weren't many, but they appeared to be circling around what Malik called Ford Field in the south and a massive car factory in the north. That was in addition to other seemingly random patrols. Those were the dangerous ones. If she could figure out how to avoid those, this could be a simple in and out recovery mission. Then again, when was anything as easy as it looked?

Once they rewrote the route they'd try to take and their individual assignments, Ruby looked out of the truck and scanned the surrounding area. Plenty of cars littered the road. The closer they got to the skyscrapers in the distance, the more corpses lay. Malik didn't even try avoiding them. There was no point. On the plus side, the only movement out there came from birds and other small animals. No ADVENT anywhere in sight.

When the truck reached the outer patrol ring, they passed through without issue. Ruby saw the tracks but no contacts. Malik and Spook tensed and their banter stopped. Spook checked her weapon repeatedly as she scanned the road in front of them. Malik slowed the truck down and it even sounded like it ran quieter. At least they were ready for combat.

They reached their first stop and the squad piled out. Ruby perched herself on top of the truck. Spook tossed up an old-fashioned handheld radio for the sniper to use. She and Malik then entered the industrial building. Ruby kept glancing toward the nearest known patrol route, but her main focus was on the random patrols. Those would be what would catch them. Fortunately, she never saw any movement at the stop.

In fact, she saw no other movement until their third stop, a hospital. Ruby caught sight of a group of three MECs, one white, one red, one black, about five blocks away. "Hostiles sighted," she whispered into the radio as she flattened herself even more against the roof of the truck. "Moving north to south. We haven't been spotted." Even so, Ruby kept her crosshair focused on the white MEC's head.

"Copy, call when we're clear," Spook responded. "We think we've found one of the machines Medibear wanted. It could take us a minute to get it out of here."

Ruby focused her attention down the road she saw those MECs on in case they came back. At the same time, she kept throwing glances down side streets and directly behind her in case they had friends. Still, that was it. Spook and Malik rolled out what looked like a mini MRI machine but was probably something else entirely. Ruby helped them load it into the truck then climbed back onto the roof.

Just as Ruby felt the truck rumble to life, she saw the MECs again, this time walking in the opposite direction. "Hostiles," Ruby said through her grit teeth into the mic. The truck didn't move but it didn't shut down either. The trio slowly walked out of view and down another street. "Clear. Move slow. Be ready to floor it."

Like before, Ruby stayed on top of the truck, looking for hostiles. She grit her teeth. Why would a patrol double back on itself unless it or another patrol spotted something? She didn't see anything on the drive to the hardware store but that didn't mean there wasn't anything to see.

Across the street from the stop rose a four-story building, the tallest in the area. Ruby dropped down from the truck and pointed at her new perch. "I'm going up top to get a better view."

Spook nodded. "Hope you don't see anything."

"Same here." Ruby found the fire escape to that building and climbed up it. She used her new perspective to search for anything out of the ordinary. In between gaps in the buildings, she saw the same MECs moving past the hospital they were just at. That was a point in the 'they know we're here' column.

She focused back on the MEC squad that she saw initially. They were still walking the exact route the truck took. Ruby ran her scope down the road itself. Plenty of corpses and skeletons littered the road, enough for even an inexperienced tracker to follow. Looked like ADVENT robots weren't completely stupid like most Atlesian Knights.

The initial squad walked across the street the truck was parked on. Ruby ticked the safety on her rifle in case one of them looked their way. Thankfully, the robots just kept walking. But they didn't walk far; they stopped in front of one of the first buildings on that street. Ruby repositioned on the roof to try to get a better look. The three MECs just stood there like statues. The sniper made a quick check of the other four squads she saw. They all kept moving, keeping the same distance away.

"What are you playing at?" Ruby searched for any obvious antennae on the MECs but saw nothing. It must have been all internal. Were they waiting for more orders from a human, or at least biological controller? Did they have someone Ruby hadn't seen in the buildings? As she watched, the MECs pulled off a synchronized about face and crossed the street again. They didn't reappear in the gaps between buildings.

The squad crossed the street once more and that settled it for Ruby. The gig was up. They were made. The MECs stopped in Ruby's line of sight. The sniper was about to key her radio when, as one, the three MECs turned their head toward her. They looked right down her scope. Ruby pulled her trigger and a laser round tore right through the white MEC's face. "This is Shadeslayer. We've been made."

Ruby ran toward and down the fire escape. She jumped down from the second floor, rolled, then ran up the front of the truck to take her perch on the top of the truck. Spook and Malik ran out from a completely different building than Ruby expected. They carried a large crate in between them. "Drop it! What's so important in there?"

"Welding tools and propane tanks!" Spook called. "We never have enough."

As far as reasons went, that one wasn't bad. Ruby focused back on the incoming MECs. The red and black ones were two blocks away now. Ruby aimed at the red one's head and pulled the trigger. Its head snapped back and it stumbled a few steps, but it kept on running. The sniper put another round where the first one landed and this time it fell for good.

Ruby reloaded her weapon as her squadmates loaded the crate into the truck. This time, she aimed at the neck of the black MEC. She pulled the trigger, and as she hoped, the head popped right off.

"Malik!" Ruby called before the driver got back in the cab. "Stop by those wrecks! I want to look at a head!"

"You got it!" Malik hopped in the cab and the truck rumbled to life. After a convoluted turn that shattered windows of nearby buildings, the truck headed back the way they came. It didn't even stop as Ruby dropped off the top, she grabbed the head, and she jumped back in.

"Keep us covered," Ruby told Spook as she yanked the guts out of the MEC head.

"What are you looking for?" Malik asked.

"The antenna. If it's anything like the robots back home, I should be able to send a fake all clear signal and keep it up after I throw it out the window. We should be able to get out completely… unscathed." Ruby narrowed her eyes at the marking on a black box deep inside the wiring. She used two fingers to hold open a gap and her eyes bulged.

A familiar rose emblem, painted in white stared back at her.

Ruby felt her jaw drop, then she pulled it back up. "Stop the truck." She yanked the box out of the head.

Malik looked at her like she just grew a second head. "Are you crazy? We've got to run!"

"If I'm right, we are completely safe. Find an alley you can drive through if it makes you feel better. Just stop the truck. Trust me, if Viki hears that you disobeyed one of my orders, you'll wish ADVENT killed you."

Malik swore and turned the truck into an alley. "I hope you know what you're doing, Rose."

"Don't worry. I do." This time, Ruby waited for the truck to stop before getting out of the vehicle. She stayed in cover behind a building while she listened. Mechanical footsteps reached her ears up the road. Ruby peeked around the corner in time to see another squad of three MECs run out in perfect ambush position. If she was right about the programmer, that was expected. They stood there, weapons aimed and heads turning.

Ruby stepped out of cover and three heads turned toward her. The MECs aimed their guns and opened fire. The closest shot hit ten feet away. Ruby crossed her arms as she stared at the incoming fire. She'd never been in this much of a firestorm and so calm at the same time. She started walking toward the MECs. All three shifted their fire so now they drew lines of bullets on the ground five feet in front of her. When she got within ten feet of the MECs, they stopped firing.

"Civilian," the red one said in a deep, robotic voice, "surrender. You are outnumbered and outgunned."

"Scan my face," Ruby ordered. "You'll know I'm on your side."

After a few seconds, the MECs drew their weapons to their chests. "Ruby 'Shadeslayer' Rose, identified. New orders: escort Ruby 'Shadeslayer' Rose and any allies to base."

Ruby nodded. "I have a truck and two people with me. They are not to be fired upon under any circumstances."

"Acknowledged." The three MECs started walking forward, likely toward wherever their base was.

Ruby returned to the truck and climbed in. "Change of plans. Follow those MECs on the road behind us."

Malik and Spook just stared. "You are crazy," Spook said.

"Maybe, but not about this. Back out of here and follow those MECs."

Malik sighed and threw the truck in reverse. "You're going to get us killed." He backed the truck up and took a second to gawk at all the bullet holes in the walls at the end of the alley. "They really do have terrible aim."

"Check the mirrors. You'll see lines in the ground. They hit what they wanted to."

"How the hell did you know?"

Ruby held up the box she found. "This thing is marked with my family's emblem, and there's only one person in my family that I know can do something like this." She shrugged. "I just don't know whether to be happy or sad that my daughter's been dragged into this mess."

The MECs led the truck through the streets of Detroit. At one point, the two other MEC squads Ruby spotted converged on the truck and took up escort positions. Several minutes after the escort began, a couple sports stadiums appeared between the buildings. It felt like they were approaching one of them… and the clearly ADVENT checkpoint outside.

Malik grimaced. "They're leading us into a trap," he growled through grit teeth.

"It's all manned by MECs," Ruby said. "Keep rolling." As she thought, they made it through the checkpoint without stopping. Some of the MECs inside the perimeter motioned the truck to the loading dock of Ford Field. Ruby left the truck without being prompted or stopped. The few other MECs in the area didn't pay her any attention.

A door by the loading dock opened and a person in military camo stepped out. He blinked at Ruby. "Yeah. I'd say you're her."

"And you are?" Ruby asked.

The soldier saluted Ruby. "Lieutenant Bob Davis, former US Army Cyber Security." He paused with his mouth forming words that never were said until finally, "Elder Rose, I am here to take you to my boss."

It looked like Angel had help, then. Ruby returned the salute then dropped it with Bob. She stuck a thumb over her shoulder. "Those two are with me. If anything happens to them, I won't be happy."

"Of course, ma'am." Bob gestured at the door. "This way please." He walked inside and Ruby followed close behind.

The belly of the stadium was much like the few others Ruby had seen, only instead of athletic and media equipment, it was guns, ammo, and so many mechanical things. If Ruby had more time here, she would have loved to explore and build with the things there. There were also a few posters of her hanging on the walls. Well, Angel would probably want the people with her to know knew her mom was.

Bob eventually led the way onto the field. Inside the cavernous stadium were racks and racks of MECs of all kinds, and in the center, a massive, two-legged, armored behemoth. It wasn't the tallest thing, but it looked like it might be able to take a lot from an angry Yang. The thing kind of looked like a two-legged beetle.

A pair of legs in dirty, oily jeans stuck out from behind one of the legs. Ruby's heart leaped and she smiled. She just found more family.

"Ma'am," Bob started, "the patrols found someone I think you'd like to see."

"And who's that, Bob?" the woman asked. Ruby dropped her jaw. She knew the voice, but it was from her childhood and her head. The last time she heard that voice was before Angel said her first word. The woman stepped around the tank. The lines on her face matched what Ruby saw in her head, yet the silver eyes that stared back showed none of their age.

Summer Rose' eyes widened and she smiled. "Ruby! You made it!"

Best mom makes another appearance! (If you haven't noticed it by now, I have a thing for Summer.)

So... the end of Volume 8... (if you haven't seen it, stop reading) Winter as the Winter Maiden, I like it. Heck, I gave Thorn to Angel for the joke of it. The other world, I'm kind of intrigued by. (Tenga's Tower chapter inspired by that coming soon). But... Ruby's complete non reaction to Yang's apparent death? What was that? Ruby just watched her mother figure die! Weiss had more of a reaction!*sigh* At least there is a possibility of Summer actually being alive in that place.