"are you sure this is part of the armor?"

Church sighed, "yes Red, it's part of the armor," he said, appearing on the desk, looking at Ruby who was looking at the skin-tight bodysuit with uncertainty.

"doesn't look like it would protect much…" she muttered.

"of course it doesn't, it goes under the armor so it doesn't chafe, it's also like a hard shell, protecting from minor injuries."

Ruby whined, "I just…it doesn't look like me…"

"it's not like I'm asking you to wear this and this alone," Church said, "I'm pretty sure ice queen would have a nosebleed if she saw you in just that."

Ruby blushed, "knew I shouldn't of told you about my crush." She muttered.

"yeah, that was a bad call on your part, so go ahead and put the suit on, and then we'll get the actual armor on."

Ruby groaned but went into the bathroom while Church kept looking at the schematics.

"I still say I should keep my skirt!" Ruby called out.

"and I say we need practicality." Church said, looking at the table where the armor they had purchased sat, "don't worry, I'm sure you'll like how it looks in the end."

Ruby groaned and walked out, shifting uncomfortably in the suit, "it's tight." She muttered.

"It's supposed to be, now, start getting the rest of the armor on, I'm sure you know how."

Ruby sighed and started putting the pieces on, "are you going to be doing this for the rest of my team too?"

"well I tried to talk the Ice Queen and Yang into getting armor, but Ice Queen said she was fine and for me to shove it, and Yang said she already tried to get armor and couldn't find anything to fit."

"what about Blake?" Ruby asked, fastening a leather gauntlet on her hand.

'Blake outright refused when I asked, said something about 'trained to fight without it' whatever that means."

Ruby stepped out in her new armor, it was simplistic, with a skirt made of leather with chainmail covering her front and back, it was fastened over her midriff by silver buttons and held up by two belts, a steel chest piece protected her chest and was attached to a leather gorget by straps, steel pouldrons sat on her shoulders "It's heavy." She muttered.

"it's the lightest I could get without making the pieces brittle, other then that, how do you like it."

Ruby looked at herself, "i like it." She said with a small smile, "you even incorporated my skirt!"

"well, I know you wanted to keep your skirt, so I just made one out of chainmail."

Ruby twirled, looking down at her skirt and watching it flare slightly.

"Now all that's missing is your cape." He said, motioning to the red fabric lying on Weiss' bed.

Ruby picked it up and put it on, looking at her reflection in the mirror. "I love it." She said.

"good, now let your team in, they're getting impatient."

Ruby walked over to the door and opened it up, showing her sister and Blake waiting outside.

"Wow Rubes!" Yang exclaimed, "that looks amazing!"

"you look like a serious huntress now." Blake said with a smile.

"thanks guys." Ruby said with a small blush, "um…where's Weiss?"

"she decided to go to the library before class." Yang said, her smile falling a little, "Something about, 'a new set of armor isn't important enough to distract me from class',"

"typical ice queen." Church said, appearing on Ruby's shoulder, "but hey ,two out of three ain't bad."

Ruby just sighed, "so um…when is combat class again?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"fifteen minutes," Yang said, "if you want we can go now and talk with team JNPR before class starts.'

Ruby smiled a little, 'yeah, that'll be good," she said as the three started walking down the hall.

"So Rubes, how much did that armor cost?" Yang asked.

"Thinking of getting some for your self Yang?" Ruby asked with a smile.

"huh, no, no armor they have can contain these puppies." Yang said, gesturing to her chest.

"not true, but then again if I had boobs that big I'd hate to have a gigantic plate of armor squashing them down."

"exactly." Yang said with a grin, "I'm just wondering how much she paid."

"technically she's not paying anything," Church said, "but for the sake of knowledge, 43,000 lien."

"holy-" Yang started but stopped when Blake elbowed her.

"she doesn't have to pay for it because Atlas provides a uniform budget for all it's operatives, and since Ruby is technically an operative, she gets the uniform bonus, and basic pay."

"aw! My sister the working girl!" Yang gushed hugging her sister.

"Yang…can't…breathe…" Ruby gasped.

"Calm down gigantor," Church said as Yang let Ruby go.

"Ruby! Yang! Blake!" Pyrrha shouted happily, making the three girls turn towards their friend.

"Hey Pyrrha," Yang greeted, Blake just nodded politely.

"hi." Ruby said cutely, waving her hand.

"hello everyone." Pyrrha said with a smile, "and Ruby, nice armor, where'd you get it?"

"Charon Industries." Ruby said, "Church ordered it for me."

"they were the best quality of armor we'd get without going to private suppliers and I think that's a little out of our price range."

"well Charon really is good, I got my armor from them." Pyrrha said.

"so, there a reason you outside of combat class with us instead of with your little…boy toy?" Yang asked with a wiggle of her eyebrow, referring to Jaune.

Pyrrha blushed, "trust me, nothing would make me happier then to be right with him right now but…Ms. Goodwitch called me and asked me to come find you…because there's someone in the class looking for Ruby."

"who is it?" Ruby asked.

"she didn't say."

Ruby looked at the door and slowly walked towards it, her friends at her back as she pushed the doors open, she found the usual sight of the combat room, students sitting in the stand talking with each other, and down on the floor, Goodwitch was talking with two individuals in what looked like power armor.

"Ms. Rose!" Goodwitch called, seeing the young huntress walk in, "glad you finally came, can you come down here please?"

"those two are apart of project freelancer." Church whispered to Ruby as she walked down the stairs, "their armor gives it away, it's MKVII MJOLNIR armor, still looks like the old models but lighter, faster, and with a shit more cybernetics."

Ruby finally got to the floor, feeling like a small child next to the two gigantic freelancers, the shortest was easily several inches taller then ruby, and the larger of the two was over seven feet, wearing a helmet that looked like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, an orb-like blob of orange glass, the shorter one had the standard issue helmet, making him look a little more human.

"Ruby Rose?" the smaller of the two asked.

"Y-Yes sir?" Ruby asked.

The freelancer reached up and pulled the helmet off, revealing the red hair of a young woman. Piercing green eyes looking down at her, cold, calculating, "I'm agent Carolina, this is my partner Agent Maine, we were sent here to assess your physical abilities."

"um…nice to meet you." Ruby said, blushing furiously, feeling very embarrassed to have mistaken the woman for a man.

She smirked, "don't worry, you aren't the first one and you won't be the last." Carolina said, looking back to Goodwitch, "is there a way you can set up a sparring match between her and a fourth year team?"

Goodwitch narrowed her eyes, "even if I could, I wouldn't, all of our fourth year teams are way out of this teams league, despite their combat prowess, and I'd rather none of my students get hurt."

Carolina quirked an eyebrow, "what about a third year team, surely she's good enough to take on a third year team."

Goodwitch bristled slightly, "I do believe Team CFVY is available."

"then get them. and tell them to bring everything they've got, I want to make sure this girl is up to snuff."

"Team CFVY against team RWBY? I'm sure it'd be a good match up but-" Glynda started

"I think your'e mistaken," Carolina said, "I want Little Rose here to take them all, on her own."

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Weiss sat in the library, looking at her sister through the webcam on the computer, "so you're sure that there's nothing you can tell me about project Freelancer."

"I'm sorry Weiss," Winter said, "but other then letting you know that Project Freelancer is made up of agents from every kingdom, there's nothing else I know…except…"

'what?" Weiss asked, "except what?"

she sighed, "there's been rumors about the projects agents, said to be even better then Atlesian specialists, the best gear, the best weaponry, the best intel…rumor has it they've made entire White Fang Cells disappear over night," Winter shook her head, "I don't know how much truth there is in that, but I do know there's been a couple of missions recently that have been curtailed by project Freelancer, one second we're looking at a aerial view of a white fang compound, the next our feed gets disrupted and when we get it back, there's bodies all over the compound."

Weiss shivered slightly, "and Ruby's apart of this organization now…" she muttered.

"only by name." Winter said, "they can't make her go on any missions for them, they could request a hunter team and they might get team RWBY, but it's highly unlikely."

"but still…she has their tech in her head, what's to stop them from…brainwashing her or something."

"I doubt they have the power to do that," winter said with a chuckle, "Just watch out for her, and if any Freelancer agents show up, don't freak out, okay?"

"alright…thank you Winter."

"of course, now I have to go, have a good day." Winter turned the feed off and Weiss sighed once more before standing and walking out of the library.

"hey Weiss!" Jaune said, waving at her from his chair as she walked by.

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" she asked, giving him a judgmental glare. "Combat class starts in eight minutes.

"well me and Pyrrha were studying, but then Goodwitch called and asked her to go find your team." Jaune said, closing his book, "and I guess I should probably stop waiting for Pyrrha and head to class huh?"

"that would be ideal." She muttered, walking towards the entrance once more.

Jaune stood and quickly caught up with her, 'so, what were you doing in the library? You usually don't come to study in here unless it's with Ruby."

"I was trying to find more information on Project Freelancer, since Ruby's apart of the organization by name-" she stopped slightly as she saw the students around her start to run, "-i…thought that it would be prudent…to…" she stopped as Sky suddenly nudged past her, "Hey!"

"oh sorry!" Sky said quickly.

"what's going on?" Jaune asked.

"Ruby is about to face off against Team CFVY, we're gonna go watch!" he turned around, "hey guy's! wait up!"

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Ruby stood on the combat floor, looking at the four third year students she was going to be facing off against. "any plans Church?" Ruby muttered.

"I'm reviewing the videos on their fights…I'm starting to formulate a plan but…it's gonna be tough."

"we've done tough before." Ruby said.

"true, but Team CFVY is in a league of their own, and it won't be like fighting Cardin, they adapt, improvise…this'll take all we got."

Ruby nodded, "scan vitals."

"on it boss." Church said, winking out of existence.

"done with your team discussion?" Coco teased Ruby.

"wouldn't you like to know." Ruby sassed, grinning at her.

"nice new outfit by the way," Coco said, looking her over and giving a low whistle, "really makes you look…mature."

"No flirting with the enemy Coco." Velvet said with an eyeroll.

"would it be a real fight if I didn't?" Coco asked, grinning leerily at Ruby, making her shift slightly, blushing a bright red.

Well at least we know she's interested…not in the fight, but either way.

"Shut up Church." Ruby muttered, pulling her scythe out and deploying it, then bringing her goggles down, looking at the data that church was sending her.

"The fight ends when the other team can't continue the fight." Carolina called, "Aura levels don't save you."

"that's barbaric." Goodwitch growled, tightening her grip on her riding crop.

"that's life." Carolina said, "and I want to make sure there's no holding back."

Ruby took in a shakey breath, "alright…lets do this…" she muttered.

Go after Coco first, most usually attempt to take down Yatsuhashi or Fox, since they're more along the lines of close range fighters, but hit Coco first and you throw the rest into confusion.

Got it.

"the match begins in three…two…one…begin!"

Ruby shot forward faster then anyone could keep trace of, going straight for Coco, who let a surprised gasp out as she attempted to dodge, getting nicked by the Crescent Rose.

Her aura's down by fifteen percent, Church said, try for one more pass and-Fox incoming in three.

Ruby quickly spun around, hitting his arms to the side.

Yatsu coming up from behind!

Ruby jumped and vaulted over the large man, peppering both him and Fox with rounds.

Velvet and Coco are targeting you! you have ten seconds before you're hit by gatling gun fire.

Ruby's eyes darted towards the female pair, both of them were holding Coco's Gatling gun, with Velvet's being made out of hardlight, Ruby positioned her scythe and fired, making her speed quickly towards the two females, she slammed her knee hard into Coco's chest, sending her flying back into the wall before she turned around and hit Velvet with the blunt end of her scythe, sending her tumbling across the ground towards Yatsu,

Nice hit kid, she's down by twenty-five now…but…you got a very pissed off team to deal with now, I suggest fucking them up.

Ruby looked at the three remaining teammates of CFVY, "lets get started."

Weiss and Jaune ran into the now crowded combat room, "Weiss!" Yang called from her seat, making Weiss shove her way over, "where have you been?"

"the library," she said, "what's all this I hear about Ruby fighting Team CFVY?"

"the Freelancers wanted to see how she's progressed," she said, motioning to the combat floor, where Ruby was currently in a dance of death with Team CFVY, spinning, jumping and dodging the attacks of all four third year huntsmen in training.

"This is crazy! She needs help!" Weiss said frantically, going to pull Myrtenaster out.

"she's got it under control," Blake said as she watched Ruby slide between Fox and Yatsu, pulling Fox's feet out from under him before jumping up and slamming the blunt end of her scythe into Yatsu's head, sending him reeling before jumping over Velvet's attempt to attack her from behind with a copy of Ember Celica, Ruby changes Crescent Rose into it's rifle form and started firing down at velvet, sending her flying into the air while making Velvet retreat, she then turned around and transformed her scythe once more, spinning it quickly to protect her from Coco's gatling gun, which the Fashionista wielded with an angry eyes.

"you broke my glasses!" she snapped.

"sorry!" Ruby shouted back, propelling herself towards the ground and slamming into Yatsu as he tried to get back up, "Not sorry!"

"man she really is doing good." Jaune said.

"her aura's in the Yellow." Weiss sniffed,"she's not doing really good."

"considering who she's fighting, and the fact that their aura's almost in the red, I say she's doing good." Pyrrha said, grinning sheepishly when Weiss glared at her.

"still, this test should've been for all of team RWBY not just our leader."

"they only want to know her combat skills," Yang said, "since you know, she's the one with church."

Weiss narrowed her eyes at the freelancers, before looking back to the fight.

Ruby slammed hard into Velvet, sending her flying into the wall and cracking it with extravagant force, making her aura completely break, knocking her out.

"Velvs!" Coco shouted, turning to glare at Ruby, who was now simultaneously deflecting attacks from both Fox and Yatsu. "Yatsu, Fox, get back!" she shouted, flipping a hatch open and dropping a Fire Dust Crystal in.

Fox vaulted back while Yatsu tried to fall back, only for Ruby to hook him around the neck and send him flying, he crashed into the barrier with a loud Crack! He fell to the ground, clutching his arm.

Coco levelled her gun once more at Ruby, the barrels rotating, "burn bitch." Coco said, sending flaming dust bullets right at Ruby.

Ruby dove to the side, watching with wide eyes as flames sprouted where she was standing, the large caliber bullets tearing up the concrete, "I think this is personal now…" Ruby muttered, using her semblance to escape the flaming bullets.

You knocked out a cute bunny and broke their tanks arm, yeah, I think it's personal now.

Ruby rolled her eyes and back-flipped over Coco, new data going through her goggles, she swung hard and slammed the side of Crescent Rose into Coco's head, sending her flying into Fox, both of their Aura's breaking upon impact with the wall.

"and that's a match." Carolina said, nodding in approval as Goodwitch pulled her scroll out.

"we need a medical team down here on the training floor." She said, watching as Ruby slowly walked over to Velvet, who was groggily sitting up, Yatsu was helping her as best he could, his right arm huddled close to his chest.

"you two alright?" Ruby asked carefully, looking at Yatsu.

"we're fine Ruby," Velvet slurred, trying to concentrate, "Hit me head pretty hard…"

"my arm will heal," Yatsu said, standing up and looming over Ruby.

Church reappeared on Ruby's shoulder, "can he…sit back down? You know, it was a lot better when he was only two feet taller than us."

"i'm really sorry for…you know, breaking your arm…" Ruby said, completely ignoring Church.

"It is fine, the rules were not to hold back." Yatsu said, giving her a small smile.

Ruby grinned and was about to say something when she heard a snarl, she turned around and let out a shocked gasp as Fox suddenly jumped at her, his gauntlets raised.

"Fox, no!" Coco shouted, Yatsuhashi moved to stop him, but was stopped short when Agent Maine jumped out and intercepted fox, grabbing his head and slamming him into the ground, cracking the charred concrete.

Instantly the whole room was on their feet, weapons drawn and ready, Even the injured members of team CFVY had stood, clutching their weapons as best they could.

"Let him go," Coco growled, her gatling gun leveled at Maine, blood trailing into her eyes.

"Maine," Carolina said slowly, walking towards him, her guns were still up, but she had her hand on her side-arm, "let the kid off with a warning.

Maine turned his head towards her, then back to Fox before standing up, leaving Fox groaning on the ground, 'Punk ass bitch." Maine growled throatily as he walked back to Carolina's side.

Coco quickly dropped her weapon and ran over to Fox, carefully moving his head, he let out a small cry of pain as she cradled his head in her lap, "don't worry Foxy, you'll be alright," she said soothingly, then looked up to glare at Maine, "what the hell was that."

"don't get your panties in a twist," Carolina said, "Maine saw a threat, and neutralized it, perhaps you should have better command over your men."

Coco felt her lip twitch as a medical team ran onto the floor, going straight for Fox.

Carolina looked at Ruby, who was clutching Crescent Rose tightly, "debriefing in ten," she said, walking towards the exit, "come alone."

"Man," Church muttered, watching as the two freelancers exited the room, "those guy's are dicks."

Ruby nodded slightly and walked over to Coco, "is he going to be alright?" She asked worriedly.

Coco turned towards her, her glare softening when she saw Ruby's worried face, "he'll be fine," she said, turning back to Fox as they loaded him on a stretcher, "so…you're really throwing your lot in with these Freelancer jerks."

"I'm not throwing anything in with them." she said.

Coco gave a dry chuckle, "could've fooled me," she muttered, "you have their pay, their tech, and you even have their agents coming to evaluate you."

"those are the terms," she muttered, "but that doesn't mean they have any say in where I go, what I do, or who my friends are."

Coco smiled, turning to the younger girl, "and that's why I like ya kid," she said, ruffling her hair, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get my team taken care of and then log some more time in the gym, gonna have to make the score even some day." She started walking away, with Ruby watching her the entire time.

"another crush?" Church asked, "because I like this one."

"shut up church." She muttered, turning around and looking at her teammates.

"that…was…awesome!" Yang exclaimed, "you took down all of team CFVY! and you still have over half your aura!"

"it was a good fight." Blake said carefully, 'But….the terms…those freelancers…"

"i know," Ruby said quietly. "and what Maine did to Fox…"

"he only did what most people would have done." Yang tried to reason.

"but the way he did it is what the problem is; Fox didn't have his aura, a hit like that could have severely damaged him."

"or killed." Church interjected, "hell, that hit would've killed a normal person, i'm surprised Fox got away as lightly as he did."

Ruby looked towards the exit where Carolina and Maine had disappeared. "what are the chances of them coming to find me if i just leave and head back to the dorm?"

"4,243,631 to 1." Church said, "wanna know what it is if we actually attempt to hide?"

"no…but in the likely event-"

"4,243,630 to 1"

"it only went down one point!"

"they're just that good."

Ruby sighed, "I'll see you guy's in the cafeteria." she said as she started to walk towards the exit, "don't wait up."