I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth
Prologue (Ember and Crescent)
As Ruby adjusted the scope on her sniper rifle, she waited for her target to come right into her crosshairs. Of course, calling it a rifle would be an understatement, given how it was actually a high impact energy sniper rifle that had adjustable capabilities with Dust and could use that very same energy to power a scythe but that wouldn't really be easy to roll off the tongue, would it?
Her watching eyes met her expectant target, an Alpha Beowolf guarding a pathfinder module located on its head which interfaced with its eyes to give it better tracking. Under different circumstances, such a threat would be truly terrifying.
However, with Ruby comfortably out of sight on an hill and with her tracking dead sight on the Alpha Beowolf's head, it was fair to say that the only thing terrifying, was the silence in the night. These badlands which she and Yang had to get through were filled with ruins of colonies, settlements, and the odd ship or 2. But they were also filled with Grimm, whose fusion of the technological and biological made them a little harder to hunt down.
Luckily for the young hunter, it was not like she was ill-prepared for such a threat and if all else failed, her semblance did provide the perfect escape option.
Quickly, Ruby scanned around her surrounding to make sure she wasn't being snuck up on. After doing so she again scanned the area using her scope's threat finder for the Alpha which had chosen to enter a hexagonal building with 2 floors and a skylight. The windows to the place… didn't exactly provide Ruby with the easiest shot. Luckily for Ruby, she already had a pretty good distraction.
That is assuming that distraction didn't end up dozing off in which case this was about to get much more complicated.
Sleep was extremely important for someone like Yang. Already her Aura systems within her Rig required her to have an extremely careful usage of the suit and the utilization of aura for some components of her prosthetic arm certainly tired out the bounty hunter, as did nonstop working on Bumblebee, which was the main thing Yang and Ruby were dependent on for getting across the badlands of Vale.
That combined with the lack of sleep the 2 of them had been getting due to some rather surprising Grimm Attacks meant that Yang had to deal with sleep loss while protecting Ruby. Of course, she would do it without a second thought, in fact if anything even tried to hurt Ruby, she was sure to leave it broken beyond repair but she was still human and was as such tied to its limits.
For some reason, her adorable redheaded sister didn't seem to have so many of those problems which Yang had believed was because of how many cookies they had packed for this journey. Like seriously, her little sister had packed 7 packets of cookies! How on earth she kept managing to go through them though, was something that Yang fully believed was incapable of being explained by science.
Exhausted, Yang was dozing off when Ruby had given her the signal to draw out the Grimm. But then the buzzing in her right arm woke her up. She had been just recently dreaming of getting a spaceship converter for Bumblebee before she was rudely interrupted from her pleasant dream by her sister's buzzing over her reading.
"Yang! Yang! Ember, this is Crescent, do you read me?" said a voice from the intercom as Yang entered into a voice call with Ruby using the scroll tech in their rigs.
"I read ya loud and clear Crescent! What's the situation?" Yang said as she sleepily awoke from Bumblebee and entered the abandoned colony to find her sister perched on a sand dune, overlooking a hexagonal building.
"Well… there's this Alpha Beowolf which contains the pathfinding module we need to find the way to Beacon. Aaaand… it's in the bar with 4 more Beowolfs." Ruby reported over to Yang who had already begun to climb up to the roof of the bar with her awesome prosthetic arm, which had hooks to get into some of the Nooks and crannies of the walls to climb atop them.
"Lemme guess, you want me to push them out of the place?" Yang said as she used her other hand, which had a glove that allowed Yang to properly climb up the building and found a skylight which gave her many… impractically cool ideas for how to approach the situation. One of which was particularly lucrative to the thrill-seeking adventurer.
"Ruby, standby for Firefall." Yang exclaimed before punching out the skylight and falling down, with her gauntlets turning into short-range energy blasters. Taking aim at the Beowolfs inside the bar, she fired electric rounds into them, stunning them and holding their electronics and used her excess Kinetic Energy to slam the ground in front of her with fire causing the Alpha Bewolf to be pushed back by the force and thrown out of the bar, into her sister's crosshairs.
Quickly rolling and jumping, Yang gave a kick to the head of another Beowolf's thankfully unarmored head and after jumping off it delivered another shotgun blast to another Beowolf, holding off its offensive claws. Then she went after the other 2 Beowolfs remaining by giving them 2 jabs to their faces and then throwing another one out of the window of the hexagonal bar.
Unfortunately, by this time, the other Beowolf managed to use its sonic disruptor on Yang, stunning her as the shockwave passed over her electronics, causing a temporary disruption in them and giving the Beowolf enough time to punch her into the window as well before landing a nasty slash against her shoulder.
'Dammit not again!' Yang remarked as she furiously tried to beat her robotic arm into operation, which after 3 slaps, was returning to optimum capacity. However, this also gave the Beowolf plenty of time to go for a crushing blow with its jaws. Yang's reflexes, however, had something else to say about that possibility.
Acting in instinct, Yang latched on the jaw with her human hand, and after regaining full capacity with her robotic arm, made sure to create some new orifices in the Beowolf's head with some rapid punches. However, the other Beowolfs had already begun to circle her and she knew that she wasn't clearing them out. Not until, she could get some backup.
Ruby had already sniped the Alpha's head off with her charged shot and was waiting for Yang to come out of the window, before she remembered that her sister was known for never exiting a fight before it was finished and after taking the head off another unlucky Beowolf, Ruby quickly realized that she needed to get to Yang before she got swarmed by the remaining 3.
Swiftly using her semblance to enter the bar from another window, Ruby found herself to the backs of the 3 Beowolfs all of which were staring down her sister, with their mechanical and biological eyes. Quickly taking aim with her sniper, she immediately shot the one that was about to strike Yang, in it's ugly head.
Upon seeing her, Yang gave a confident smirk as she let her own semblance loose and after taking all the energy she had stored up from her wounds, promptly stopped a Beowolf's claw with her own hand before blasting its head to smithereens with her arm cannon located within her prosthetic. This however left one of the Grimm to attack Ruby, and as it ran over towards the sniper, with her missing 2 of her shots, Ruby knew it was time to get a little more… up close and personal.
Promptly turning her sniper into a scythe blade and using her own aura to increase the weapon's effectiveness, Ruby jumped up to a table and after using her semblance to gain some air, promptly landed a slash which took off the Beowolf's head, clearing the bar of all the Grimm and leaving the 2 sisters to scrap for anything they could fit into their combat rigs.
Ruby had managed to find a barrel modification for her sniper that would allow it to fire 2 blasts of energy with one trigger pull in diverging paths, while Yang managed to find a charging module that was compatible with the shotgun in her left gauntlet.
"Well, I would say that was a pretty good hunt there, sis," Yang said as she casually exited the bar, outstretching her arms as they left the bar.
"We got 2 mods for our rigs, Yang! I can't wait to apply them when we get back to Bumblebee!" Ruby said as she practically ran her way over to the… missing body of the Alpha Beowolf?
Suddenly Ruby felt a push from her side, as she was pushed out of the claws of a Beowolf.
"Yang!"
Her sister had found the Beowolf and with no time to spare, pushed Ruby to the side and threw herself into the claws of the Beowolf where she was slashed thrice and then was thrown to the ground by the Beowolf attempting to bite her neck.
Cold Rage seeping into her veins, Ruby swapped her regular energy rounds for electric ones which she aimed at the Beowolf's broken cybernetic and fired, stunning the Beowolf which allowed Yang to deliver an enhanced double thrust punch that threw the Beowolf into the air, which broke her defensive shielding due to it taking too much aura.
Recognizing her elder sister's lack of protection, Ruby immediately used her semblance and combined her aura with Yang's, allowing them to reposition closer to Bumblebee and in a much better sniping spot.
"Yang! Are you ok?!" Ruby asked frantically, hoping her sister was alright.
"Ruby, look… out… behind you." Yang said, pointing weakly to Ruby's back.
Immediately turning her sniper into a scythe, Ruby blindly slashed behind her and hooked the Beowolf's side. Immediately hooking her scythe blade out of it, Ruby promptly brought her scythe blade up into the Grimm's face before pulling the trigger, destroying it as the broken electronics took care of the rest.
Sadly however, this meant that Ruby was unable to attain the pathfinder module they were looking for since in that state of mind she was more concerned with taking out the Beowolf which nearly killed her sister. But that was unimportant. All that mattered was making sure her sister would be ok.
Yang slowly opened her eyes to find herself in darkness. Was she having a nightmare? Was her sister ok?
She blinked a few times and heard the crackling of fire near her and beside it was a figure cloaked in red and white. Her eyes opened and she tried to find out who the figure was but when she blinked again, she found herself staring at a figure that was sitting by the fire, whose red cape and hood revealed her identity.
"Ru-Ruby?" Yang asked weakly, which immediately drew the redhead's attention towards her.
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed as she tightly hugged Yang who embraced the hug. "I'm so sorry, I didn't- "
"Shhhh, Ruby it's ok, we made it through, didn't we?" Yang said as she noticed her prosthetic arm was missing and as such, she cradled Ruby' head with her human one.
"But I should've known that the Beowolf was there, I should've been faster to react! You shouldn't have to suffer so much because I was too slow!" Ruby replied, her voice breaking into tears as she buried her head into Yang's shoulder.
"Ruby please, don't blame yourself for this. I'm supposed to protect you, remember. If it means taking a few bad hits every now and then, then so be it. But one thing's for sure, I'll always protect you, no matter what happens, I'll be there and I'm not giving up on you now, not ever. Now please, stop blaming yourself and rest. It's been a long day okay? I think you can use some rest." Yang replied in her softest tone, knowing that Ruby needed nothing more than comfort and reassurance.
"Please don't go." Ruby begged of her, which broke Yang, knowing what had happened when she tried to find out the truth about her mother.
"Ruby, I promise I won't go." Yang gently reassured the young huntress as she lay her head in Yang's gentle embrace, with Yang wiping away Ruby's tears, letting the exhausted girl sleep in her arms, eventually also falling asleep with her.
The next morning, Ruby woke up in the embrace of her sister who was still holding her, sleeping soundly with her. Reassured with the knowledge her sister was still with her, Ruby slowly moved out of her embrace and moved towards Bumblebee and after opening the Tinkering hatch, set out Yang's arm on the modification grid. She also took out some cookies to snack on as she worked on Yang's arm.
The component she received from the Grimm was meant to be installed near the wrist and was an added-on attachment to the wristguard. Further analysis of the charge mod, by Bumblebee's internal computing revealed that the component could alter the shotgun blast to provide it some more range, at the cost of rapid-fire capability. Ruby knew that her sister would enjoy some more options to kick Grimm butt and as such, she got to work on a schematic to give Yang the ability to choose when she wanted to with the simple flick of a button.
Taking out her tools and the spare metallic parts and electronics Ruby had with her, by her insistence, Ruby was able to craft a makeshift adapter that would serve as the main tool to allow Yang to control how her new addition would work. She would have tried to integrate this into the electronics of Yang's robotic arm but the Atlesian's always made their tech so bafflingly confusing with all the settings and components. Nothing simple like the ones used by Vale which were simple to understand and operate with much fewer moving parts.
Luckily, she wasn't completely clueless with Atlesian tech and as such she was able to create a crude version of an adapter switch which she wasn't yet sure about in terms of its reliability. Which had again gotten her worried again. What if her tinkering had ended up ruining Yang's new arm? What would happen if her modification ended up backfiring in battle?
Suddenly, she felt one strong arm wrap around her chest and heard the loud, familiar voice of her sister saying "Good morning Rubes! Did ya sleep alright?"
"Good Morning Yang and I slept perfectly fine, thanks to my big sis!" Ruby said as she turned and hugged her back, perhaps a bit much in terms of affection but for both of them, hugs were a symbol of their bond towards each other. Plus, they were just fun to give out in general.
"Ruby! Did you start working on something before you had anything to eat?!" Yang asked upon seeing her arm on the holo-workstation.
"Uhhh Yang, I don't know what you're talking about? Hehe… See I ate some cookies." Ruby said as she gestured to the open refreshment storage location inside Bumblebee, which sure enough had some cookies missing.
"Ruby! Cookies aren't meant to be breakfast! Stop working on that arm right now, I'll make something from the Ready to Eat Meals we have." Yang exclaimed as she realized Ruby was not in any means prepared for this day.
"Yannnnggg! Those are gross! They have no flavor nor any taste!" Ruby complained, as Yang took out some of the REMs and started to follow the procedure to make them edible again.
"Ruby, we need these REMs to make sure we don't end up getting to Beacon with all sorts of nasty germs and diseases. You know how dangerous things can be out here." Yang explained with a knowing smile on her face.
Of course, Yang knew about Ruby's antics when it came to food! Of course, she knew how to make Ruby understand her point was valid. But that still didn't mean Ruby was particularly happy about the situation, which was clear given from the way she pouted at Yang.
After Yang handed her REMs which were flavored in… strawberries? How did Yang not tell her about this sooner!
"There were strawberry flavored REMs?! How could you not tell me?!" Ruby said, making her sister laugh.
"I dunno really, probably because if I told you about them, then you would probably eat them all in a single go. But really, I only found out that they existed up until now." Yang said as she scrunched up her yellow-colored REM of which Ruby didn't know the flavor.
And while REMs were disgusting, it was true that the strawberry flavored one was the best. Also enhancing the taste, was the fact that Ruby was actually famished after waking up, despite the efforts of her cookies. If all REMs were like this one, then Ruby would probably have to stop complaining about eating these REMs.
"So, what did you do to my arm?" Yang said as she finished her meal and reattached her arm, only noticing the change to the back of the wrist guard which had a strange red and black switch.
"Hmnghgh! Hmnghgh!" Ruby tried to warn Yang despite the fact that she hadn't finished her REM.
"Woah! Slow down there, speedster! First, finish your meal then tell me what you did." Yang said as she put her hands up in the universal slow down sign between the 2 sisters.
Quickly eating through her REM which was sooo sticky and chewy for some reason, Ruby immediately warned Yang about the new mod she had installed.
"I tried to attach that charge mod to your arm, please be careful with it-" Ruby said as she watched in horror as Yang flipped the switch and fired into a rock, giving off a shockwave that was able to turn the rock into nothing but dust.
"Woah! Now, this is cool! Thanks, Rubes!" Yang said as she quickly tried to fan her new arm which had overheated from the effort. "Although, it may get a little difficult to maintain this arm's thermal systems if only one shot managed to create so much heat."
"Are you ok?" Ruby said as she frantically brought out her cooling spray which allowed her to maintain her tinkered things whenever they got a little… heated.
After spraying it on Yang's arm which allowed her to rest a little more easily without needing to worry about the arm breaking Yang's defensive aura with its internal heat.
"I'm fine Ruby, although I think you may want to create some more exhaust ports so that the gun doesn't end up melting in the middle of combat." Yang said with a joking smile which reassured Ruby that her sister was just fine.
"Yeah I think I'll do that right- "Ruby tried to say before her vision turned to something falling down, making her eyes go wide.
"Ruby?" Yang asked, wondering what on earth had caught her sister's eye before she turned around and found a ship going down on the surface.
"We need to go now!" Ruby shouted as she got atop of Bumblebee waiting for her sister to join her on the bike.
Both sisters quickly headed towards the spaceship, praying that they could arrive quick enough to save anyone unlucky enough to be trapped inside the spaceship.
A/N: Well this was a long time coming, but welcome to my first foray in to the world of Sci Fi! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it! Huge shout out to my beta readers TimeX13, 0neWhoWanders and Riggy_Minus for helping me with this story. I couldn't have done it without them.
Please do review as seeing the thoughts and opinions of others really helps me keep going and wanting to work on this story and as always keep moving forward!