A/N: So life happened again. But new chapter, and 1k longer than normal as I promised.
So a lot happens this chapter. I'm doing some final prep before I get to the rally infiltration and the fight on the bridge.
Also, I made two pairing choices in this chapter and I ask that you guys trust me. If you can't, I understand and wish you well.
Alright, on to the chapter!
I don't own RT or RWBY.
Guilty Rose Chapter 38
"The operative you requested from the Menagerie branch has arrived"
Adam smirked, finally he had some good news. When Sienna said she was stepping down, Adam thought it would be his moment. But then, the Bitch had to call the recent acts off the White Fang despicable. She pointed out that the Vale branch specifically were acting like the rabid animals, acting anyone that was not themselves.
After that announcement, Adam had to immediately step up as leader of the White Fang and denounce Sienna as a coward. Unfortunately, it did not go the same way as when Sienna took over the organization. Namely because a rumor spread that Adam now targeted faunus. This destroyed his reputation and the reputation of the White Fang even more.
Then to make matters worse. The Belladonnas stepped back into the spotlight, and began preaching their bullshit belief in peace and coexistence with humans again. Even going so far as asking those who believe in the same ideals to gather with them, faunus and human alike.
The White Fang was officially on it's last legs. Adam was forced to make a decision.
"Good, and the rest of the support I requested?"
His decision was to commit to the original plan proposed by Cinder. He would commit everything he could to an all out attack on the Vytal festival and tournament. He'd find a way to make Amity Arena crash and burn to show the world the might of the faunus.
"Unfortunately, only Corsac and Fennec, and what supplies they could gather, came with the operative."
"WHAT! WE HAD LEGIONS OF FOLLOWERS IN THAT BRANCH!"
Adam's fist fell with enough force to break his desk. The grunt before him attempted to shrink.
"They managed to bring a considerable amount of supplies, but none besides Ilia Amitola would follow them here."
Adam's rage got the best of him when he heard that. He grabbed the edge of his desk and he threw it.
"COWARDS! THE LOT OF THEM!"
The grunt thanked Oum that Adam's blind rage wasn't directed in his direction, and the fact that his next few report were good ones, very good ones.
"The, uh, entire Atlas branch has pledge complete support to you, under the condition that you turn your full attention to The Schnee Dust Company next."
Adam stopped seething for a moment to look at the grunt.
"I see that there are still those who remember our cause. Tell them that there condition is happily accepted and embraced."
The grunt nodded shakily. That feral grin of Adam's unnerved him more than anything. Though he'd rather this than the raging.
"Also, I've received a report from Mount Glenn. Even with Torchwick no longer ensuring a steady supply of dust, they will be ready, several weeks ahead of schedule no less."
Adam's grin grew more. Finally, news was getting better.
"Outstanding! Anything else?"
The grunt grit his teeth for a few moment. This last report was the most concerning. There was no way to actually know if it was good news or bad, or even what it spelled for the White Fang at all.
"Another report from Mount Glenn is that they came in contact with a faunus named Tyrian Callows. He claims to work for the same person as Cinder."
Adam cocked an eyebrow at this. He hadn't heard from Cinder in weeks. Part of him assumed she had been found out at Beacon, another thought she just decided to go back to her own kind. All of that made this a very interesting report to say the least.
"Did he say anything else?"
The grunt swallowed thickly.
"Yes sir. He stated that his employer still wished to support the efforts of the White Fang, but that now it will be at a cost. A cost that he will only discuss with you in person."
That had Adam on edge, but he was once again in no position to turn away help for the cause. At least he would get to deal with a fellow faunus this time.
"Inform them that I will meet with him at his earliest convenience. Now, unless there is anything else, I wish to see my operative. I have an important mission for them."
The grunt silently cheered that he had no more reports.
"I'll go get her now."
Adam waved him out as he turned to stare at the board that was behind him.
A few minutes later the chameleon faunus entered the room.
"I was told you had a mission for me Adam?"
Adam didn't even turn around.
"Two actually. One is a smash and grab. I need the full schematics of Amity Arena, if possible, leave no trace that you were there."
Ilia stiffened, that was a nearly impossible task, but then again, one uniquely suited for her. But what made matters worse was that he had a second mission. She prayed to Oum it would be easier.
"And the other?"
"I need you to kill the Guilty Rose."
….
"Neo, I know you insisted, but you should know that me and this place have some bad history."
Teams RWBY, CMEN, and JNPR stood outside Junior's Club. Neo had invited Yang and Ruby to come with her there. But one thing led to another and now all twelve teens stood there.
Neo shrugged before creating a sign with her semblance.
'And I told you that they still wanted me to bring you here.'
"Huh, I didn't know you could do that. Why don't you use those more often?"
Neo shrugged and changed the sign.
'It's not as easy as it looks, plus uses a fair amount of aura.'
Neo let the sign shatter and pulled out her scroll. She typed out a message and showed it to her.
'Anyway, like I said, it was their idea. Now let's get in there!'
"Fine."
Blake stared at her partner. This was not the normal blonde she had been accustomed to.
"Yang, what's wrong? I know you, and you would have walked into there without a worry, even if they shoved a dozen guns in your face."
Yang grimaced and rubbed the back of her head.
"Winter found out about my last trip here...and to say she wasn't happy is an understatement."
Weiss winced, she knew how harsh her sister could be.
"She didn't slap you, did she?"
Yang blushed fiercely.
"Not on the face, at least."
Everyone developed a similar blush, except for Rose, who actually looked angry.
"Yang, did she hurt you!"
Yang was shaken out of her memory at that.
"What? No...well not exactly….wait, did Glynda not cover that with you when she gave you The Talk? And I had her pegged as a dominatrix… And now I feel really weird about some fantasies during the first semester."
Everyone balked at that, but only Weiss deemed it necessary to comment.
"Real classy Yang."
Yang just shrugged them off.
"A girl needs to know what she likes. Anyway, that wasn't what made me scared of her."
"What does have you scared of her?"
Yang stared off into the distance.
"I'd rather not say. Or remember. Can we just go in now?"
Neo turned to Weiss, who shrugged. Neo just shook her head and motioned for them all to make their way to the club.
When the group entered, they were strangely met with a pretty much empty club. In fact the only ones in there were the staff. This confused all of them. By all accounts, the club should have been packed and a line out the door.
"Neo! Blondie! You're here! Don't break anything!"
"Nice to see you too, and don't worry, I'm on my best behavior!"
Junior shook his head fondly and waved them over.
"If I remember, I owe you a drink, now seeing as there is a group of you, first round's free."
Yang and Nora fist pumped and high fived each other.
"This night is already gonna be great. Though that reminds me, why's this place empty, don't tell me you did all this for little old me."
Junior shrugged noncommittally.
"Considering that the guest of honor tonight wouldn't go over well with my normal clientele, I had to shut down for the night."
Yang actually looked offended at that.
"I'm not that bad."
Junior gave her a sideways look.
"My insurance begs to differ. Besides, your not the guest of honor. Now where is she, I want to see the reason why you put a dozen people in the hospital."
Realization dawned on the blonde, and suddenly she felt the need to thank Junior for his forethought.
"Yeah. Thanks for doing that then. Anyway, without further adieu, my little sister, Ruby Rose-Branwen, but everyone calls her Rose."
Resisting the urge to sigh as her sister gave her a grandiose introduction, Rose stepped forward. However, before she could say anything, a shout came from behind the bartender.
"Oh. My. Oum. She's fucking adorable."
Everyone turned to see two identical girls, though one was dressed in red while the other is dressed in white.
"Mil, don't be crass, we want her to stay."
"Right, sorry."
Junior scoffed at his daughters.
"Melanie. Militia. I told you to be on your best behavior. Blondie's already on hers so you can do it too."
Both girls turned to the blonde in question.
"Really?"
Yang shrugged.
"The missus told me no more bar brawls."
Militia chuckled as she pointed at Yang.
"You're whipped already."
Weiss facepalmed at that.
"We just had a whole conversation that proves that is not metaphorical...and she likes it."
The twins balked at the blonde this time.
"Well...I didn't need to know that."
"Yeah, let's just get the party started. Now pass Rose over, we're going to show her how to have a good time."
"Oh dear, this was a mistake."
….
Ilia had lasted thirty seconds after she left Adam's office before panic overtook her and she ran. She ran wherever her feet would take her.
She couldn't breathe no matter how much she tried. Her heart was thundering in her chest. Everything was closing in on her. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't care either.
"Adam is sending me to my death, and just to kill another faunus."
She just kept moving. All she could think of was that distance would make her safe.
Unfortunately, Ilia's legs gave out. She slammed into a brick wall and slowly lid to the ground. A few seconds later she saw a black and red blur.
"Yeah Junior, a girl just collapsed outside. She's every color besides one she should be. What do you want us to do?"
Inside the club, Junior was at the back of the bar with his scroll pressed to his ear. One of his boys had called him as soon as the girl came near the club. This was not the first time a girl came stumbling up to his door.
He still had two of the girls that had stumbled up around.
"Bring her in, put her in one of the private rooms and give her whatever she wants."
The bouncer outside sighed. His boss' heart got to him, again.
"Yes sir."
The bouncer reached down and helped the girl up.
"Come on, you'll be safe inside."
That's all Ilia needed to hear before she let herself be guided in.
….
Rose sat at the bar with a glass of water clutched in her hand and was desperately trying not to look behind her.
The scene behind her was pure, unadulterated chaos. Nora was trying to show everyone her 'neat trick', and Ren was desperately wrestling her away from every fork and power socket. Jaune was showing off his considerable skill at dancing to pop music. Pyrrha was trying to keep up with Jaune, but lost balance every time she hiccuped. Emerald kept swaying to the music and talking about how beautiful Cinder and Rose were. Mercury was just sipping on his drink and dutifully ignoring everything. Cinder and Weiss were arguing about which analogy was best to describe their love for Rose. Blake had passed out, and whatever she was dreaming about had her purring loudly. Yang was stacking various items on Blake while cackling quietly.
During all of this, Neo was taking pictures and showing Melanie and Militia an app on her scroll. An app which they downloaded immediately and, for some reason, vowed to spread it to all the continents.
Rose groaned and shook her head before she took another sip of water through her straw.
"You sure you don't want a drink? I feel like even I need one after all the crap your friends do."
Rose shrugged her shoulders a bit.
"I promised my mom and my uncle Qrow I wouldn't drink alcohol again."
"Wait, your Qrow Branwen's niece? Damn, so you're the one that got him to quit. Gonna be honest, you took away a noticeable amount of my business."
Rose's head dipped at that.
"Sorry."
Junior winced, his joke had the wrong effect.
"Hey, it's fine, I've been trying to get him cleaned up for years now. Now he just needs to find himself a proper woman."
Rose's head raised back up, only just realizing she was being joked with. She smiled and decided to joke back.
"We can only hope one turns up."
….
In Mistral, a lone Branwen tribe brunette woke up to let lose a small sneeze.
"Is someone talking about me? I hope it's Qrow."
The woman shook her head softly.
"I'll call Raven tomorrow and ask."
….
Junior chuckled and picked a glass to clean. They continued on in a comfortable silence, only broken when Rose wanted more water.
After a while of this, Rose heard two sets of approaching footsteps.
"Is she still drinking water?"
"I mean, I can understand hesitance, but come on, have something besides water."
Rose stiffened, the twins kept trying to get her to have 'a good time', and she didn't want any part of it. Not with the scene going on behind her.
"Yang, put me down this instant! And stop stacking stuff on Blake!"
Rose felt even more valid in her insistence to not join this 'fun'. She looked back at the twins with a small pout.
"I am not drinking alcohol."
Both girls rolled their eyes in unison.
"Fine, just drink something that isn't water at least. When we heard who you were we thought you would be a load of fun, like your sis."
Rose just shook her head and then wracked her brain for something to get these two off of her back. Sighing, she turned to Junior again.
"Do you have anything with strawberries?"
Junior quirked an eyebrow.
"Will a strawberry daiquiri do, I can make a virgin one for you?"
Rose's face scrunched in confusion.
"Virgin?"
Militia scoffed at that.
"It means 'boring'."
Melanie jabbed her sister with her elbow.
"It actually means it has no alcohol."
Rose actually perked up at that. She didn't think she could order something besides water that didn't have alcohol in it at a bar.
"Oh. Then I'll have a virgin strawberry daiquiri, please."
Junior chuckled his head and immediately set off to make the drink. The twins both sighed.
"At least it isn't water."
"I guess, but seriously, why don't you at least try to have some fun with the rest of us?"
Rose's shoulders sagged a bit and she turned back to her water.
"I don't really know how, if I'm being honest."
"Oh come on, everyone knows how to have fun!"
"Yeah, there has to be something you enjoy doing?"
While Rose gave it some thought on how she was going to answer, Junior delivered a delightful red and white drink. She took a sip and immediately shivered with joy. Unbeknownst to her, her tail developed a tentative wag.
"Well, drinking strawberry daiquiris is obviously one thing."
After a few more sips, Rose turned back to the twins.
"Sorry, this is really good. So, things I like to do?"
The twins quirked an eyebrow at the sudden shift in behavior, but didn't comment.
"Well, I like working on and driving my motorbike. Oh, and eating my mother's cookies."
Both girls cringed a bit.
"So you're a gearhead like your sis and a momma's girl. Do you at least like driving fast?"
Rose blushed a bit, before holding up her index and thumb a small distance apart from each other. This made the twins smile.
"Well, there's hope for you yet."
The trio chatted a bit more before all the water Rose had drank caught up with her. They waved her towards the 'powder room' as they called it.
On her way back to the bar, she heard a girl sobbing. Rose immediately followed it, fearing that it was one of her friends or girlfriends. It wasn't long before she found the source.
It was a VIP room with the door left ajar. Unable to resist, Rose peeked inside to find a redheaded girl crying into the table while holding an empty glass. Something pulled at Rose's heart and she walked into the room.
"Hey, are you okay?"
The girl blearily looked up, before plopping her head back down.
"I'm crying in a bar, does that sound like I'm okay?"
Rose winced.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
The redhead shook her on the table.
"No, I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"Want someone to talk to then?"
The redhead looked up again, this time her vision was clearer. She laid eyes upon the girl that was checking on her and nearly lost her composure.
"SHE'S TOO FUCKING CUTE! PLEASE BE GAY!"
Ilia swallowed thickly, she couldn't screw up this time, not like she did with Blake. She tried to speak, but the longer she looked at the girl, the worse her panic got. Finally, she put her head back down to hide both her blush and panic.
"Ilia, my name is Ilia."
Rose smiled and took her place beside the troubled girl.
"My name's Rose, pleasure to meet you."
Ilia had to resist the overwhelming urge to squeal. This was by far the cutest girl she'd ever seen.
"Sorry Blake."
"So, what's wrong Ilia? Why are you sitting in a bar crying?"
Ilia risked a glance at the girl before turning away. She thought hard, or as hard as the alcohol would let her. Finally after a few minutes, she came up with a good cover story.
"My boss wants me to get fired."
Rose was shocked and a little angry already. From how the girl said it, this was pretty serious.
"What happened?"
Ilia let out a sigh.
"My boss gave me two jobs that are borderline impossible, and if I fail either one… Well, being fired is actually the least of my worries."
Rose bit her lips at that. It was serious. She looked at the girl a moment before deciding to make an offer.
"Well, maybe my friends and I could help? There's quite a few of us and we all have our talents."
Ilia seemed to mull over the idea before shaking. There was no way in hell she was going to let this girl suffer the consequences that would befall her if she screwed up.
"Sorry, but you don't need to get involved."
Then an idea struck her.
"But, maybe you could help in a different way."
Rose quirked an eyebrow at this. She knew that tone of voice.
"If I do succeed at my jobs, would you go on a date with me?"
Rose's face faltered, not that Ilia saw.
"I'm not sure I can do that, I need to talk to my girlfriends about that."
Ilia's head snapped to Rose at that.
"Girlfriends? As in you're dating multiple girls, and they know each other?"
Rose shrugged and showed her necklace, the charms on it now included Neo and Emerald's emblem. Cinder was still working on Blake's as hers was a little more complicated than the others'.
"It was their idea, believe it or not. I still have a hard time understanding why, but I stopped arguing with them about a long time ago."
Ilia just stared at the girl, before accepting that this girl was definitely cute enough to have a harem. Ilia thought over this information before holding out her hand.
"Can I get your scroll then? I'll put my number in it and you can call me if they say yes."
Ilia didn't know where she got the confidence to do this, but internally shrugged it off when Rose gave her a soft smile.
"Sure. But no promises on a date… Though if you just want to hang out sometime, I don't think anyone will have a problem with that."
Ilia smiled back at the girl, at least she hadn't screwed anything up.
….
"You're calling early for your weekly report. Is something wrong?"
Vernal felt a bit sheepish at that, she knew this was probably a bad idea.
"No, things are actually going pretty good right now."
There was a pause.
"So you just called to ask about Qrow then."
Vernal blushed wildly.
"What! I would never call just to ask about that traitor!"
Raven chuckled for a few seconds before responding.
"So, you don't want to hear about how my brother hit on Glynda Goodwitch?"
Vernal's blood froze when she heard that, then it began to boil.
"He doesn't need an old hag like her, he needs someone young, willing, and able. Like me."
At this point, Raven was doubled over laughing at the poor woman.
"I'll never understand what you see in my idiot brother, or why you're after someone nearly ten years older than you."
Vernal pouted and looked away.
"I don't have to explain myself to you. Ass."
"Fine, fine, well since you called, do you have a report?"
Vernal sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ask your wife for more tips on tact."
"Not married yet."
"You were married to that woman when she kicked your ass and dragged you into your tent."
"Can you just report already!"
"Fine. We got another job from the Mistral council. Convoys are disappearing again."
Raven pinched her chin. That wasn't good news.
"We've all but wiped out bandits in Mistral already."
"That's the thing, I don't think it's bandits. You see, the convoys are disappearing along only one route."
"Grimm then?"
"Yeah, my thoughts too."
Raven thought the information over. Something didn't sit right with her. That wasn't much information to work with. Plus, grimm require a huntsman's touch, not bandits-turned-stand-up-mercenaries.
"Don't cream your pants, but I'm going to get Qrow to help you."
"Ha. Ha."
"I'm being serious Vernal, this job stinks. Besides, though I'd never admit it to his face, Qrow is the second best huntsman I know."
Vernal was silent for a moment.
"You're really are worried about this, aren't you?"
"Yeah, so try not jump his bones until after the job is done. And use protection."
"Fuck. You."
Raven chuckled, and soon Vernal did too.
"Thanks Raven, call me when you send him this way. So we know when to hide all the booze."
"I told you he's cleaned up."
"And I told you, I'll believe it when I see it."
"Well get ready to believe."
A/N: Yeah, I did that.
I made a lot of decisions in this chapter, big ones if I'm honest with myself. And I'll go over them in the recap.
Recap time!
So, Adam's been busy. Also he is still crazy as shit. So yeah. So as said, he's planning to bring down Amity Arena and he is calling in everything to do so. Which brings me to two big decisions there. Tyrian is now working with the White Fang. Salem still has her plans, though disrupted, will still happen. So crazy will work with crazy to make bad shit happen. Next thing is Ilia is in town. Now some of you may wonder why she is sticking with Adam still. That's mostly because she doesn't know where else to go. Remember, she's an orphan and a faunus. Anyway, she has too huge missions, but will she make them happen? you'll see.
Junior's club, that was too much fun! All the from finding out Yang likes it a bit rough to Rose just being herself.
Ilia getting brought into the club for her protection was a...unique decision. I've always felt that Junior has a soft spot for girls in trouble, like as a natural father.
Back to Rose at the bar...that was originally going to be much heavier. She was supposed to be holding the glass of water so tight it would shatter at any second. She'd be shaking and doing her damnedest to not order any alcohol… But I figured she actually wouldn't be that addicted to alcohol after just one drink. So instead, I put a whole bunch of chaos in the background. Snorts The image of Ren wrestling with Nora to keep her from sticking a fork in a socket. Also Mel and Mil were fun to write. And yes the RFC will be expanding because of them. Rose will rule the world with her adorableness.
Rose stumbling onto Ilia...yeah I couldn't resist, I wanted more gay panic. A quick explanation, Ilia doesn't recognize Rose because she's piss drunk and gay panicking. Anyway, Yes I'm committing to this, but there's going to be a lot of drama going to happen because of this. So, watch out.
Last scene. Yep, Vernal is in love with Qrow. This was a big decision, and I had to take a few liberties. Vernal will be about 8 years younger than Qrow in this story. Sorry, but I had to make the call. Also, I'm confirming it. Raven turned her tribe into a mercenary band after Summer got her to help find Rose. I did this because it made the most sense. Raven couldn't be a bandit with Summer around so much. Plus they made a good name for themselves when they took out other bandit tribes in search of Rose. Also, as a quick explanation on the last part, the Branwen tribe aren't all up to par with huntsmen still. If I had to say, they're all the equivalent of huntsmen-in-training. They can deal with small amounts of basic grimm and bandits pretty well, but not much more. And that is why Raven is sending Qrow to help them with that job. Speaking of which, who can guess what the job will lead them to? Kudos to whoever guesses right.
End of recap.
Well, that's everything.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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