Chapter Seven
Five weeks later.
'Trouble on highway. Can't do anything.'
That was the warning she got; she was near the highway already on her way to the White Fang meeting when the message came through. That meant that something had gone wrong, what exactly she found out when she heard the screams and cars crashing.
Sprinting up onto the highway she saw the large Paladin tearing along the highway but as she saw who it was chasing, she couldn't help the anger that coursed through her veins.
Using her semblance, she easily caught up and flew past Yang on her bike, heading straight for the Paladin that she just knew Roman was piloting.
She slammed into the side of the paladin, hitting it with enough force to knock it over the side of the highway and onto the ground below.
"With me!" Ruby yelled out to her team as she chased Roman down.
"Why hello Red, I haven't seen you for a while." Roman called out through the speakers.
Ruby didn't bother to answer as Roman fired a flurry of missiles their way, which were destroyed by everyone before they could come close.
"Weiss make an ice sheet! Yang melt it!" Ruby ordered out quickly, both women reacting immediately to the order as steam rose up.
"Take out those cameras, any means." Ruby ordered next, now they could see the directions of the cameras and where they were it was easy enough to find and destroy them.
Everyone attacked and destroyed the cameras rendering Roman blind except for his main visor and now he sent barrages of attacks at them all.
"Yang! Hit it! Blake, help her!" Ruby ordered next, Yang taking Blake's ribbon as they built up momentum for Yang to destroy the paladin.
"Nowhere left to run Roman. Surrender peacefully." Ruby said as she drew her sword, her scythe folded up now.
"I'm sorry Red, I can't do that. Neo!" Roman said, calling out for the woman who appeared in front of them.
The woman, Neo in all her Neapolitan glory looked at Ruby for a second and with a subtle nod the woman bowed to everyone as Ruby pulled her pistol, firing a single shot that shattered the illusion.
"Goodbye Red!" Roman called over the roar of his escaping Bullhead, Neo standing next to them with a wave to them.
"Is that the same Neo?" Yang asked as she saw the woman who seemed to have the same semblance as the one Ruby was dating.
"What the hell were you thinking!?" Ruby shouted at them, turning to face her team.
"We wanted to find Roman, stop him from doing whatever he's planning. We went looking today for him and found him at that White Fang rally, what was he even doing there? What was Neo doing working with Roman?!" Blake answered, but asking more questions as she was lost.
"He's working with the White Fang, that's what he's doing. I've no idea whose hired him but I was close to finding out, then you came along and fucking ruined everything! Five weeks, five weeks of work just gone!" Ruby growled angrily, annoyed that everything she was going for had been lost, the only saving grace was the fact that Neo was in with Roman.
A bullhead landed just behind Ruby, it's engines powering down to idle slightly as the door opened. "I'm sorry, I lost him…Ruby?" Winter said as she came out of the ship.
"Hello Winter, you're in on it as well. I guess that's me done. Come on, let's go back to the school." Ruby said, tired now and went to sit inside the ship.
"What's she doing here?" Winter asked, they hadn't seen Ruby since she left five weeks ago, on a long contract according to Ozpin when they asked.
"Apparently she's been following Roman…and uh…Neo's with Roman." Weiss informed her sister, though she was hesitant to tell her as much.
"I knew she was bad!" Winter exclaimed and she was intent to go after Ruby and tell her as much but surprisingly it was Blake that stopped her.
"No, don't. Remember what we talked about?" Blake said, referring to when she had pulled Winter to one side after Ruby had told them everything just before she left.
She couldn't let this happen, not when she could do something at least subtly to perhaps change their minds or at least Winter's.
"Winter, could I talk to you a minute please?" Blake asked, speaking up and receiving a nod from Winter she pulled her to one side away from the others.
"What did you want to talk about?" Winter asked kindly.
"I spent some time with Ruby, a few months ago now after I uh…I got out of a bad situation with Ruby's help. In that time, I learnt a few things, though I never knew she was a Schnee she still revealed a few things." Blake explained.
"She was always private about that, she wanted to be her own person for so long. At Atlas she managed to do that a little but now, seeing her after she's been on her own for a few years. She's really her own person now." Winter said almost wistfully.
"Ruby made it clear that her family was a sore subject all she ever did tell me was how she wished her family had supported her, allowed her the freedom that mine did but she feels like that will never happen, that they…you will never accept her for who she wants to be." Blake explained coldly, she tried to be kind with it, but it was just easier to be blunt and quick.
"We'll always accept her!" Winter exclaimed loudly, sounding hurt and angry at Ruby for thinking that they wouldn't accept her.
"Look, it's just how she feels. She doesn't think you care, or accept her. And seeing you now and earlier, it's uh…it's clear to see now why Ruby feels that way." Blake replied gently.
"What do you mean?" Winter asked ignorant of what Blake meant.
"She told you about Neo, immediately you told her she should have stopped seeing her. To her, you were trying to control who she could and couldn't date, you didn't accept her choice." Blake explained to Winter, attempting to get her to understand.
"She thinks we want to control who she dates, arrange who she has to be with. What she had to do in life." Winter said quietly, realising what Blake was talking about.
"Exactly…Look, I don't want to tell you or your family what to do it's up to you but just…Ruby…I don't think she cares if she has a family or not…just be careful." Blake said, gently warning Winter as she took her leave.
"Blake…thank you." Winter called out to Blake as she thought over what she had been told.
For the following weeks Blake and Winter had spent time together in the library but also around the school as well as Winter wanted to talk to Blake more about Ruby, now she was the only source for what Ruby was like after she left Atlas.
But also, they trained together in their spare time as well as talking but not all their talking was about Ruby as much of it went onto more personal things about each other.
"Alright, I'll ask her about it all later. Once we're all calmer." Winter said as she headed for the bullhead, "Let's all head back." Winter said as everyone climbed inside the aircraft while Winter got into the pilot's chair and headed back to Beacon.
Upon arriving back at Beacon Ruby was the first one off as she announced, "I'm going to see Ozpin. I'll catch you all later." Ruby stated, she needed to tell Ozpin what she had discovered. There wasn't much but it was enough to prove that something big was going on.
She informed Ozpin what she had found that Roman was working with the White Fang but also in turn that he was working for someone else higher as well, and that he was planning something, but she wasn't able to get a location for that something.
By the time she finished with Ozpin it was well into the night with Ozpin making a promise to find out Roman's location and inform Ruby of it.
Returning to her dorm room she wondered how exactly she was going to get to sleep, most nights over the last five weeks she had spent with Neo. Sharing a bed with her girlfriend but now going back to sleeping alone it would be a hard transition.
Entering her room, she found her team were all wide awake and clearly waiting for her, sighing she knew she'd have to talk to them and explain to them what she had done.
"Could I just get changed first? Before we talk, I stink of bars and fighting." Ruby said to them all, heading for her wardrobe that had her clothes.
Changing into some pyjamas she sat down on her bed opposite the others, "I left to investigate Roman there's only so much that can be done at Beacon. I don't have the network Ozpin has, I work pretty much alone so I had to look into it myself." Ruby began, deciding to start at the beginning or near the beginning.
"You told us not to go after Roman, but you're doing it yourself. Why?" Blake challenged Ruby over this, still annoyed that she was told not to seek him out.
"I'm a huntress, for better or for worse. I can see what's building, and what has been building for a while now and I won't stand by and let it happen, so I've been looking into all of this and Roman has come up most recently. I was hoping to discover his base of operations tonight, or within the next few days but because of your interference it's set me back." Ruby continued explaining it all.
"I thought you weren't a full huntress though. You never finished school." Yang pointed out immediately.
"I am. As you said I never finished but I've been recognised as a huntress since I started taking contracts." Ruby answered, revealing her huntress ID to them all. It was a simple card, in a wallet similar to those you see in crime series of different law enforcement agencies, that gave her access to everything she would need from the hunter's database and into the lodges.
"Then why are you here?" Weiss asked.
"It's…it's a complicated situation." Ruby said as she was unwilling to go any further on this topic.
"Neo. She's with Roman, working for him. Correct?" Winter asked, albeit a little coldly.
"She is. She's managed to embed herself with Roman. She's giving me information whenever she can." Ruby answered, she knew that she was likely going into another fight.
"How long have you been seeing her?" Winter asked next, she wanted to know just how long this was going on.
"When I left, we were heading into our third year, in that time we'd been together almost a year and I continued to see her after that as well. Though it was long distance, we meet up a few times a year whenever we can." Ruby replied as she settled to look at Winter only.
"Wait, you've been seeing her for four years?" Weiss asked, she didn't know how long the relationship had been going on when they were first introduced as that was at Christmas time so about six months after they'd been dating.
"I have. Fortunately, we could stay together for a while on and off after she graduated but because of where our work took us we couldn't stay together though these last few weeks we've been able to be together. Albeit secretly." Ruby continued explaining.
"So, her working with Roman, she's your inside woman?" Blake asked, questioning Ruby on that. Not trusting her completely.
"Her idea, I'm known to Roman, but she isn't, and she has had…shady dealings in the past. This was her in, she's giving me information on Roman as best she can while I consider a few other bits." Ruby informed them all.
"What other bits?" Yang asked next.
"It's complicated." Ruby answered vaguely as she didn't want to give away too much information, especially since it wasn't really hers to give.
"Right. So, what are you going to do now? Wait?" Winter asked next.
"Yeah, Ozpin's looking into a few things as well but it's just a waiting game for the moment." Ruby replied, stretching out her tired limbs.
"So, do you know about the dance?" Yang asked after a few minutes of awkward silence as no one seemed to know what to say.
"Dance?" Ruby asked confusedly.