I don't own anything from RWBY, that honor belongs to the fine people at Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 1: Greetings
Rushing forward to the crashed ship, Ruby and Yang immediately activated their aura shields as they noticed the ship had Grimm pods on it. Jumping off Bumblebee, Ruby quickly shot out at two dazed ravagers who were still getting up, destroying their heads. Yang meanwhile jumped off her bike, after making it run over another ravager that had managed to get up, slamming the ground with her fists forming a circle of fire around her as she made two other ravagers catch fire. After clearing out the Grimm using their respective weapons, Ruby and Yang chose to venture deeper into the destroyed ship, looking for survivors.
As they entered the main deck of the ship, they moved over pieces of metal and cut through wires hoping to free any trapped crew. Soon they came up to what appeared to be the cockpit of the ship and after looking through the destroyed navigation system, found that it originated from the Atlesian quadrant. The ship appeared to be hastily made but well put together in terms of shielding and maneuverability to Ruby. She hoped that at the very least they could find an emergency beacon or a signal flare in order to call for more immediate assistance.
Browsing through the cracked navigator, Ruby managed to find something related to a beacon when she heard her sister exclaim "Ruby!"
"What is it Yang?" Ruby said as she turned her head to find the voice of her sister which had gone to the wall behind the navigator. The ship's navigation deck was strangely placed to the side of a corridor and to it's back was a room that seemed to be used for storage.
"It looks like we have a survivor, although her combat rig seems to be glowing red in some places." Yang replied, as she checked to see if the survivor was still breathing.
"Wait red? Yang, get away from her!" Ruby warned, a split second too late as the survivor grabbed Yang by the throat, suddenly coming to life, despite her eyes being closed.
Immediately, hooking her attacker with her robotic arm, she managed to get her attacker to forgo her grip on her and then followed with a left hook. Her attacker was fast however, and after ducking under the punch she kicked Yang in the gut and then struck her right knee with her left leg, sending Yang to one knee. Elbowing Yang in the chest and then rising up to knee her in the face, her attacker picked up her shortsword and was about to impale Yang in the chest.
But as she stood over Yang, Ruby had armed her sniper and with a carefully aimed shot, struck out at the attacker's chest managing to disable her suit long enough for the young tinkerer to attempt a strike with her scythe. Only to find the girl's amber eyes looking at her as her blade met empty air and in the blink of an eye, she felt the wind knocked out of her lungs before receiving a boot up her face, which sent her rolling to the floor.
As she got up, she found herself about to meet a hardlight blade to her neck and so she ducked and swept her legs across the floor, downing her attacker with a thud to the ground. Taking the opportunity to reposition Ruby immediately escaped from the close quarters environment her attacker had forced her into and repositioned as such to her sister with a red blur.
Upon checking Yang's rig on her omni scroll, she found Yang's aura was still active, but the concussive force had left Yang down on the floor. After swiftly moving Yang to a safer area, Ruby took aim at her attacker only to find her missing. Stepping into the daylight navigation area, Ruby nervously walked around, completely unaware of the Grimm infected attacker stalking her movements from behind.
As Weiss's eyes fluttered open, she immediately took note of her surroundings. She was haphazardly lying on some dust crates which hadn't gone volatile. Getting off the crate, which happened to be a burn dust crate, Weiss looked around the floor to find her dust blade's hilt close by and her revolver laying on another crate. Recovering her weapons, she tried to check her aura systems but quickly found her scroll interface was scrambled and was only showing gibberish.
Hearing another sound from outside made Weiss immediately activate her dust blade as she prepared herself to fight off the people who had come to hunt her down. She may have been through a crash, but it would take a lot more to put her down for good.
Activating her dust blade, she cut a hole through the door and debris blocking her path. With a quick boot to the door, she broke it down to find her earlier companion being grappled by a blonde-haired girl who was trying to keep her companion off a redhead who was being pinned to the floor. Her companion immediately straightened herself and threw herself against the wall which allowed her to escape the blonde's grip.
Her attempt at retaliation with a back kick, however, was caught by the blonde, who grabbed her leg and elbowed it, making her companion cry out an inhumane scream of pain. After elbowing the blonde in the face and stomach, her companion front kicked off her. Sizing up the blonde, Weiss shot her with her revolver, firing two shots.
The first shot connected with her stomach, making her double over in a gasp of pain. The second however was blocked by the brawler's metallic arm. As she saw the girl charging a shot from her metallic arm, Weiss immediately rolled to the left and blocked a yellow wave of energy that sent the metallic panels of the ship outside into the badlands, letting some more light into the crashed ship, allowing Weiss to properly make out her opponent.
Crimson eyes, red hot gauntlets and an aura of rage looked down at Weiss's slender frame. Luckily it seemed that her companion was still on her side as she managed to strike Yang's knees with her metallic sword and then kneed her in the stomach before attempting to kick her across the face.
However, the brawler was faster than she looked and after again grabbing her attacker's leg and this time threw her against the wall before landing two punches to her attacker's chest which had now lost their aura and were completely vulnerable. Taking careful aim, Weiss aimed a shot at the blonde's spine hoping to strike a critical point of her combat rig, in order to disable her aura.
As she took the shot, she felt a tug against her left leg and her shot only struck the blonde's back, which still was enough to make the blonde's aura flicker once.
The person on the ground who stopped her was a redheaded girl, also wearing a combat rig. After feeling a swift kick to her legs, she was knocked to her knees as the girl pleaded with her.
"Stop! We don't want to harm you!" said the girl in an unbelievably high-pitched voice.
"Sure, let me trust the two bandits who have come to loot my ship over the person who helped me survive a Grimm attack. That seems like a great idea!" Weiss replied, sarcasm dripping into her voice.
"WHAT?! We came to help you! The person on your ship attacked us when we checked up on her!" The girl exclaimed in horror as she desperately tried to get the gun out of Weiss's hands.
"Lies! You bandits will do anything to get an advantage!" Weiss snapped back, unconvinced by the redhead's answer.
"I swear! We don't want to do anything other than help!" replied the girl who was seriously not making a good case, given how she was struggling to disarm Weiss.
Looking over to the side, she found that her companion had beaten the blonde to the floor thanks to Weiss's intervention and was now approaching towards both Weiss and the redhead who was still struggling with Weiss for her revolver.
'Good. At least she'll be able to help me deal with these savages.' Weiss thought as she kneed the redhead in the stomach and waited for her companion to finish the fight. To her horror however, her companion pounced on Weiss instead and forced her against the navigation deck.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! You were on my side against the Grimm!" Weiss replied, not realizing what the flashing red light meant on her exosuit.
As she felt the hardlight blade activate from her now foe, Weiss watched in horror as her attacker prepared to plunge it into her neck. But before the strike could even land, she noticed a hardlight scythe blade came up to her attacker's neck and pulled her away from Weiss and towards the back of the ship.
Upon looking to find her savior, Weiss found the redheaded girl from before, who had now pulled out a massive scythe far bigger than her, extending a hand to her. Accepting her hand, Weiss collected her revolver and questioned the redhead "Why did you help me?"
"I told you before, we aren't bandits! We saw the ship crash and came over to help out!" the redhead frantically said.
"Why would you do that?"
"Because that's what a huntress would do. Now come on we need to knock out your friend!" the redhead replied, earning a look of confusion.
"She's not my friend!" Weiss snapped.
"Is companion better?!" asked the redhead as she jumped and turned to strike.
"Do you need to talk in the middle of a fight?!" Weiss snapped as she aimed another shot at their attacker who ducked to avoid the redhead's swing.
The shot landed on her companion's leg but instead of her crying out in pain, her entire body melted into the shadows and reappeared in front of her, landing a kick on her stomach. The ribbon on her metallic blade had managed to catch the redhead's leg and sent her to the ground with a thud.
Weiss's aura flickered rapidly as her attacker kneed her in the head before slashing her stomach with her hardlight blade, sparking as it struck Weiss's body. Her aura luckily managed to absorb most of the concussive force and allowed Weiss to power through the pain to quickly slash the attacker with her own hardlight blade.
The strike was dodged but the revolver was still aimed and after another shot, she managed to stun her attacker making her aura flicker twice. Weiss tried to create a glyph, not realizing her aura had been depleted completely and as such when her attempt projected nothing, she only looked in horror as she was slashed against her stomach, her clothing not providing the covering without the aura that protected it.
Blood started to trickle out as she dropped to her knees. She looked up to the face of her attacker, staring deep into those crimson-tinted eyes which had opened, giving her the appearance of a Grimm. Her metallic blade came down to slash the revolver in her left hand before she attempted to plunge her sword into Weiss's chest. But that attempt failed as in a flash of red, the redhead appeared over her and with her hardlight scythe, she slashed the metallic blade.
The metal somehow resisted the hardlight's edge but was still pulled far away from Weiss, giving her enough time to draw her own dust blade, and stab her opponent in the knees and stomach before delivering a slash to her opponent's cheek breaking her opponent's aura. Her ally followed up with a kick, by using her momentum by anchoring her scythe into the metallic floor and delivering a spinning kick that sent their attacker flying towards the blonde, whose hair now glowing with rage told Weiss all she needed to know about the fate of her attacker.
With a sudden thud of against the metallic ship their attacker finally fell to the floor, unconscious.
"You!" shouted the blonde as she glowered at Weiss, her crimson eyes seething with rage.
"Yang! Wait!" the redhead said, surprising Weiss with her concern.
"You shot me!" said the blonde, who was named Yang apparently.
"I thought you were a bandit!" Weiss snapped back.
"Really?"
"You came to MY ship, attacking the ONE person who helped me survive a Grimm attack!" she accused.
"Yeah if you didn't notice princess that same person nearly tried to kill me and my sister! In fact, she just tried to kill you too."
"Will both of you please shut up!" the redhead interjected which somehow shut them both up.
"What is it Ruby?" Yang asked, her rage turning to concern "Are you ok? Did you get hurt?"
"No, but she got slashed in the stomach. Can you please check up on her, I'll take care of the other girl's combat rig." Ruby replied, her concern strangely comforting, despite her childishness.
As Ruby said those words however, Weiss felt her vision begin to blur and she passed out from blood loss with Ruby screeching over her.
"Ruby! Get this girl on a table of some kind of elevated surface in the ship! I'm bringing the first aid kit from Bumblebee" Yang replied. After bringing the kit over to the white-haired girl, she hurriedly passed it over her unconscious and bleeding body. Quickly removing her blood-stained coat, she checked the bioscanner which revealed a cut on her chest. Luckily, it wasn't able to pierce through the stomach. "Go check on the other one Ruby! I got this one."
What was more worrying though was her aura, which had been completely drained. If she didn't get her some assistance, with restoring it then her stomach wound may escalate into something far worse. Grabbing a syringe of aura, the last one she had, she injected it into the girl's wrist. After hastily grabbing antiseptic, she cleaned up the wound and closed it using a bandage.
The white-haired girl would need another one of those syringes and that would mean another trip to one of the destroyed settlements. But she knew that Ruby wouldn't give up until she was able to make sure that the girl was safe, so she decided to move her down. A close inspection of her equipment revealed that she was also wearing a combat rig, except hers was integrated with her clothing. No doubt an Atlesian wonder.
She also had access to a dust blade and a revolver, which Yang was very painfully reminded of during her fight with Ruby. What she had no idea about was what had been going on with the raven-haired girl. Her exosuit (hot damn did she look good with that on!) seemed to have had a malfunction as Ruby put it. Apparently, the Anti Grimm hijack systems were tampered with somehow.
As she looked over Bumblebee, she saw her sister gingerly using her scroll on the raven-haired girl's unconscious body. How Ruby managed to pull off her techno wizardry, she had no idea but as long as it meant that her and Yang would have a better chance of making it to Vale, she was perfectly happy with letting her sister take the lead.
Heading over to her sister she noticed that the storage room of the ship contained a butt ton of Dust, and all of it had the Schnee Dust Company logo on it. Whoever their white-haired companion was, she was certainly important to the company to be carrying that much dust.
"Rubes, you okay?" she asked hoping her sister was doing a little better.
"Yeah Yang, I'm fine, just a little frazzled. Is the 'princess' okay?"
"Well her aura got depleted and I don't think she's a native to Vale since it was pretty clear that her aura wasn't used to this climate. I've given her an aura shot for now, but I think we might need to give her another one if we want to make sure she survives, since I don't want to find out what happens with recapitulation sickness. What about you Rubes? Whatcha ya doing?" Yang replied casually as she sat down next to her sister.
"Working on rewiring some of these… oof!... hijack prevention units. It seems like they had been tampered with when she got here… hence why her aura failed so quickly against the Grimm." Ruby said as she furiously grunted, trying to 'rewire the hijack prevention units.'
"Are you sure there's no more Grimm inside? I can always punch her in the gut to make up for what she did?" she offered with a humorous smile, awaiting a horrified expression on Ruby's face which she was quickly rewarded with.
"Yang! Bad role model! We're supposed to help people not hurt them more! And I'm pretty sure you destroyed every trace of the Grimm with that punch of yours. It's a miracle you didn't end up breaking her aura of doing something worse."
"Eh, I have my ways. But seriously let me know if you need me to punch this girl a new one, I can't wait to pay her back for what she did-" Yang said before she heard a sharp gasp. "Ruby?"
"That wasn't me. It was her." Ruby replied as she stopped 'doing her thing' and immediately tried to take out her sniper, only to find it still lying on the floor of the navigation deck. Instead she took out her sidearm, the B21 Silverwatch, which her sister had configured with dust knows what attachments.
Aiming the shotgun gauntlet in her right arm and drawing her Dawnbreak handcannon in her left, she took aim at their previous attacker whose amber eyes darted around the wreckage.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! I left you for good!" the girl screamed, which strangely wasn't directed at her or her sister.
"Hello?" Ruby asked, nervously which immediately attracted their captive's attention towards her.
"Stay back! I don't want to hurt you, he's going to make me try to-" replied the girl, whose exosuit finally faded to reveal that she wasn't actually wearing a bowtie but an incredibly enhanced jumpsuit with a white and black vest and collar that well accented her raven colored hair. She was a cat Faunus as was evident by the ears and her eyes but given by how sharply she was exhaling it seemed whatever was going on, it was probably due to her suit malfunctioning.
"Whoa, whoa slow down there kitty cat. Me and my sister just want to help you out."
"Yeah, we've found the problem with your suit, it's the fact that your hijack prevention modules were tampered with and luckily I can replace most of them with ones from Vale. I just need to find a fabricator and then we'll make sure you never have to deal with this again. Ok?"
"You don't understand what he'll do. He always finds a way. He'll track both of you down until he-"
"Who's he?" Yang asked, cracking her knuckles, her rage starting to simmer. She had some bad experiences with guys who tried to be too forward with her. Luckily a quick rearrangement of their egos and their bones seemed to do the trick.
"He's Adam Taurus." The girl replied, shakily.
"Sorry, the name doesn't ring a bell." Yang replied, perplexed.
"That's because he's the best operative in the White Fang."
A/N: Oh, Weiss. What are we going to do without you needed to make new friends all the time. In all seriousness, this was a fun chapter to write and getting the team dynamics change mid-fight was a lot of fun.
As always review to let me know what all I could do better and as always Keep Moving Forward!