A/N: And we're back to Team RWBY. This took me a little while to put together, since I hadn't lined up some of the history of the AU. Feel free to leave a review if you're reading along. Enjoy!
"Why the hell did you recruit some random criminal without telling me?" Yang demands.
"You also recruited a random criminal, so it's the frying pan calling the coffeepot black, or something," Ruby responds.
"Ruby, I love you, but I've been in the field much longer than you have, and I know not to immediately trust people just because they might be sorry for causing a blizzard!"
"Well, I'm the team leader, not you, so technically I'm your senior officer." Ruby folds her arms.
"Do not pull rank with me, Ruby. Need I mention that my recruit helped me out in a fight and didn't try to demolish the city?"
"It was an accident, and Weiss apologized."
"Did she? Or did she just look down her nose, like she's been doing this whole time, and say that it was an accident?"
"Yang, calm down. We still haven't fixed the wall from last time you set it on fire."
Yang takes a few deep breaths to calm herself, then launches back into her tirade.
"Ruby, I realize that my decisions aren't perfect, but you can't just let a known criminal with basically uncontrolled powers into the team!"
"Why is Blake so much better?" Ruby grumbles. "She might not be as powerful as Weiss, but we still don't know anything about her."
"Blake helped me defeat some guy and his robot minions."
"Who's 'some guy'?"
Yang shrugs.
"Red hair, wears too much eyeliner, kind of a dick, robot minions."
Ruby's anger instantly switches targets.
"Roman Torchwick," she growls. "He's back."
Upon seeing Yang's nonplussed expression, she jogs over to the bank of monitors in one corner and begins searching through mission logs.
"Two weeks ago, he was robbing a Dust shop. I chased him off, but I couldn't catch him. He's good at running away, if nothing else."
"Great. One more gang," Yang says. "What's the problem?"
"I think he knows who I am," Ruby says quietly. "He called me 'red' and said I hadn't seen the last of him, or some other cliché villain thing. And he's good, even if he's theatrical."
"He is skilled," Blake says from a foot behind Ruby's ear, making her turn with a yelp of shock.
"Ahh! Stealthy!"
Blake backs up again, into a corner between two equipment lockers. She only seems comfortable with her back to a wall. Probably smart, for someone among armed and superpowered strangers.
Weiss has no such qualms about safety, and is seated in a folding chair like it's a throne, somehow managing to look down her nose at Yang even though she's shorter. Bitch. But Yang has to admit that she might be useful in a fight. Probably a natural.
"All right, new team!" Ruby calls, turning toward the team. Blake winces. "Time to tell you the mystic and ancient history of the Rose-Branwen-Xiao Long family!"
"Is this really necessary?" Weiss asks.
"I'll make her stay on topic," Yang says, sitting down in another folding chair. Might as well let Ruby give them a little background on former superheroes.
"Once, generations ago, Remnant was plunged into chaos by the sudden onset of supernatural powers in seemingly random members of the population," Ruby begins.
"Do you think we don't know this?" Weiss complains.
"Ruby's trying to tell you a story, not just a list of facts, Ice Queen," Yang responds, laughing to show that there aren't too many hard feelings.
"That's not funny!" Weiss says indignantly. "Ruby, you can't allow this sort of unprofessional behavior from your team!"
"We're not just a team. Here, we're all family, and family are allowed to tease each other," Ruby responds. "Now, back to the story.
"Most people had almost no control over their superpowers, and destroyed whole towns in their rampages. Of course, they were better than the ones who could control their power, and used it for evil." Ruby pauses and glances around the room. "Within this chaos, only a few people decided to fight, to use their military training, engineering genius, and will to change the world in order to preserve humanity. And so, the heroes were born."
"How long have you been preparing this speech?" Yang asks. Ruby grins at her.
"All week. Anyway, they made the decision that a single superhero would take up the mantle of The Huntress, or The Huntsman for that matter, and serve as a public symbol. That let the rest of the heroes work without media attention. So, the heroes worked in peace – sort of – for generations, until a lot of stuff happened about fifteen years ago. First, Raven, The Huntress, and Yang's mom, left. We don't know why; she just sort of disappeared one day. Atlas started cracking down on crime, and on freedom in the process, which was helpful until they tried to arrest heroes. These days, we don't go there much. The only reason I found you, Weiss, is because I saw it from my patrol route and it didn't look like the police could deal with the threat. The White Fang popped up fifteen years ago, too, and they've been difficult to deal with."
"What do you mean, 'difficult'?" Blake asks. She's moved slightly farther out of her cave between equipment, which is a step in the right direction.
"Well, twelve years ago or so, they caught a few heroes in an ambush. Summer, my mom –" Ruby's voice shakes slightly – "didn't survive. Tai, my dad, survived, but he got paralyzed. Qrow wasn't seriously injured, but he blamed himself for leading them into a trap. He doesn't spend much time in Vale anymore; he's in Vacuo catching bandits right now."
Of all the information to share with the newbies, it has to be that story. Yang bites her lip, the pain shocking her out of the memories. They would have worked out that much pretty soon anyway, and it isn't like they don't know this will be dangerous.
"So, that was a big step back in terms of superheroes," Ruby continues. "We'd gotten kind of complacent, and forgotten how dangerous our lives were. After that, it was really just the kids left; most people either died young or retired when they physically couldn't fight any more. Ozpin un-retired to lead us for a while longer, but he was killed too, by the White Fang, about a year ago."
Blake visibly flinches. Huh.
"So now, we're just kind of holding things together," Ruby finishes. "There's us, Pyrrha – The Huntress – and her team on the other side of the river, and Qrow, and that's it. Just us."
"Just us?" Weiss repeats.
"Just us."
Yang realizes that it must be odd to hear that the primary force stopping Vale from being destroyed is a few teenagers, and worse to know that said teenagers can be pretty casual about it. But if you think about the magnitude of what you're doing, you feel overwhelmed, and then you stop fighting, and then everything is lost.
Weiss nods.
"Do we need any other information before we begin?" she asks.
"Well, you probably need masks, and Weiss needs a more practical outfit, and training just so she doesn't destroy everything the next time she tries to use her powers, but other than that we're good to go," Yang says.
True to form, Blake nods and tugs at the collar of her possibly-leather black coat, pulling a hood across her face.
"You're very well-prepared," Ruby comments, but she's squinting in confusion at Blake.
"Thanks," Blake says.
Yang isn't going to mention her suspicions about Blake, because she doesn't spread rumors about people. Except that one time. And those other times. But those were for a good cause.
Ruby's now rummaging through a locker of spare gear.
"This might work!" she says, tossing a suit at Weiss. It's a spare suit of Ruby's, with longer legs than the standard and without the cape, in unpainted greyish-white.
"This is lovely," Weiss says, in a tone that suggests it's anything but. "I do appreciate the color."
"Well, that's the unpainted version. I'll go find a can of black spraypaint!" Ruby says brightly.
"No," Weiss responds.
"Ice Queen, daddy's money won't save you here. You have to at least try for camouflage," Yang says, because there's no place for brats who can't follow orders here.
"If they see me coming, they'll learn to be afraid of me," Weiss says. "And this hood is decidedly ugly; I can't fit all my hair in it. I'll find a suitable domino mask for myself."
Ruby puts her hands on her hips. "Weiss, even Yang has an outfit that sort of blends in. And what the heck is a domino mask?"
"It's a mask that just covers your eyes. Like a costume mask," Blake says from her corner.
"The specifics aren't important here," Yang says. "The fact is that you're going to get shot in five seconds if you walk out wearing that."
"I can control winds to deflect bullets!" Weiss sputters. "Watch!"
She waves her hands in the air for several moments, succeeding in absolutely nothing.
Yeah, this is going to be a long day.