Author's Note: SO...
Hi?
First of all, I'm going to apologise for not updating in forever despite me predicting I would be able to earlier, like I said I have some issues and I spent some time trying to get things under wraps so I didn't do anything stupid. I did try to write some more, but over the course of time, I lost a lot of the urge I had to write the story and my ideas and writing just didn't seem up to par. Now, when I say I lost the urge to write, I don't mean that I don't want to write the story any more, I mean I didn't get the feeling to sit down for a few hours and write non-stop. So, hopefully you all can forgive this, like I have said I don't want to half-ass anything for the sake of getting it done. I don't want to sound like I'm bullshiting, but that's all there is to it.
Well then, on with the show, cliffhangers need to be solved.
Or do they... Eh maybe?
Also, I went back and retconned Weiss' mother's name, because at the time of writing, I totally forgot Kali was a character
Edit: I had someone tell me that it's not coming up as updated and still saying when I removed the notice.
Some time Later...
Ruby wasn't sure why Qrow had asked her to bring Yang next training session.
She had gotten a message on her scroll from Qrow asking for her to bring Yang, but the grizzled huntsman hadn't given her much of a reason. Perhaps it was a family issue, though Yang hadn't been acting abnormal from usual. So it left it to Qrow wanted to tell them something as a team, or something had happened to someone in their family.
But then again, it could be something else...
But the chances of THAT happening would be absurd, also why waste time bringing Yang to see them arrest Ruby or something like that?
Ruby was contemplating this while Teams RWBY and JNPR were having breakfast. Yang was bugging Blake, who closed a book Ruby hadn't seen before. The faunus seemed to be a little more protective of this book in particular. Perhaps it was a momento from her time in the White Fang or something sentimental like that, not that Ruby particularly cared. She may be a thief, but Blake was a good enough friend for Ruby to respect her privacy for now.
Actually, it was quite strange, Ruby now considered people such as Yang, Blake, Weiss and JNPR as her friends...she was supposed to be a criminal yet here she was; sitting in a school for huntsmen and making friends that might turn on her if the truth got out. It was pretty surreal when she thought about it. Would these people still be her friends if or when they found out her relation to Torchwick? Would they demand explanations or expect her to atone for her crimes, or would they support her and seek to understand?
Ruby's thoughts trailed back to her mentor's request. It was quite confusing why Qrow wanted Yang to come with her, even though she had another three days before their next session. Looking down at her scroll, Ruby re-read the message, examining it.
'Bring Yang next lesson, I need to talk to the two of you' Short, Simple, to the point with not much for Ruby to contemplate. Even if she had another three days until her next training session, the questions built up as Ruby's curiosity continued to strive.
Ruby sighed and went to put her scroll away when it was suddenly snatched out of her hands. Ruby looked up with an scowl, letting Weiss understand she didn't appreciate having her device taken.
"We all agreed as a team not to text other people during meals." Weiss said sternly, to which Ruby sighed.
"Alright fine..." Ruby muttered before Weiss gave back her scroll.
The heiress then looked over at the other members of the team. "Now that you are all not distracted, I believe we need to talk about what we are going to in our free time. After all, exchange students are arriving for the Vytal Festival, and I believe we should spend our time perfecting our skills and examining our competition." Weiss says.
As Weiss went on about the benefits of studying their competition and practising, Ruby watched as Nora flung food at Yang, who was widely opening her mouth and eating it mid-flight. Ruby watched in mild amusement as Nora started looking around for something bigger, however she soon looked away from the bomber and made to get up, food finished off.
"Hey Weiss, I'm just going to hand my tray in." Ruby said to Weiss, who looked around at that exact moment, only to make sudden contact with a cream-covered pie. As the delicious pastry fell from the heiress's face, all that could be seen was a glare so intense, it was literal causing the air around the girl to freeze slightly. Yang looked on in amused shock, as did Blake. Looking over at JNPR, it was clear who threw it, what with Pyrrha being be Pyrrha, Jaune looking in confusion mixed with that lovely shock that was going around, Nora pointing over at Ren with guilt written over her face and said ninja was having a nice discussion with his palm against his face.
Ruby looked over the teams, and wisely moved back a few steps as Weiss's glyphs appeared and began launching projectiles of all kinds at JNPR, though mostly at Nora. Ruby let loose a small giggle as the time honored shout went out.
"FOOD FIGHT!"
It had been a long time since Ruby had been involved with harmless fun like a food fight. Well, as harmless as a bunch of super-powered teens could be.
Before any fond memories could be reminiscent upon, Yang came flying in through the roof, breaking a hole that Professor Goodwitch had fixed temporarily. With all the destruction that the two teams had made, Ruby could tell that the cafeteria was going to need a professional to fix all the damages. Still, she could tell the Goodwitch has surprisingly adept for someone whose profession was killing Grimm. Maybe she did a side course on architecture?
Actually, Ruby wouldn't have been surprised if this wasn't the first time she had to fix something with her abilities, so it would make sense.
A round of laughter soon began throughout the two teams, looking around and realising the mess they had made because Weiss had gotten a pie to the face. Ruby, who had a delighted smile on her face, noticed Ozpin talking to Miss Goodwitch, who seemed to be annoyed. Watching from the corner of her eye, she watched as the two of them walked out the cafeteria. Curious, were the teachers letting them off even though they destroyed the cafeteria?
As the two teachers walked away, Ruby drew her attention to her team and friends, who were casually talking and laughing like nothing had happened just a few minutes prior. Shaking her head, a smile still on her face, she turned and addressed the teams. "We should probably head back to our dorms and get cleaned up," Ruby said, before looking over at the multicoloured appearance of Team JNPR with a mischievous grin. "Well, you guys more than us." Both teams laughed as Nora gave Ruby a fake pout while Pyrrha ignored the comment seemed to just enjoy herself while looking over at Jaune.
Ruby looked over at the two and shook her head once more before leading the teams out, waving at a manically grinning Sun and the frowning guy with was supposed to be blue hair turned purple.
"Listen you little punk. If it were up to me, I would take you and your little street rat friend here and I would..."
"Do what exactly Roman?"
Cinder's words echoed throughout the facility as she appeared on a lift behind those two little morons of hers. As the lift descended, Roman let out a slightly forced laugh.
"I'd uh...not kill them for almost making a problem?" Roman said carefully, hoping it wasn't going to be one of those days. While Roman may not have liked the White Fang, he really had to sympathise with those that tried argue with Cinder. He liked not being a toasted steak on the sidewalk.
"Cinder!" Annoyance 1 said as she turned and walked to her boss. Employer? Friend? One sided Lover? Roman had no clue why that girl was obsessed with Cinder.
Cinder strode forward and past Emerald, much to the girl's disappointment. "I thought I asked you to take care of the would be runner?" The pyromatic said, her eyes glowing along with the markings on her dress.
"I had a plan that would have been a lot less conspicuous than two teens walking into a shop and killing the owner." Roman said politely while Annoyance 2 walked over to Annoyance 1.
"Two packed bags and a ticket to Vacuo say he was about to leave before you could. Mercury and I took it upon ourselves to kill the little rat!" The green haired rat said, trying to discredit him to Cinder. Honestly, while Cinder was a pain and constant death threat, those two really got on Roman's nerves. When Mercury and Emerald started discussing how he was actually a Puma, Cinder cut them off./
"Did I not specifically order you to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder asked the two, her annoyance clear in her voice. Roman pointed at the two as he remembered that talk with a shit-eating grin on his face. Oh how he loved it when Cinder turned on her little kids.
"I just...I thought..." Emerald muttered trying to justify her and Mercury's actions. Cinder looked at the two before cutting her off once more.
"Don't think. Obey." Cinder's hard tone bleeding through to enforce her words while Roman mimed a neck slit behind her for his own amusement. With Emerald's confirmation, Cinder than turned to Roman, that expression on her face that screams "You should really not be here" clean once more.
"And you. Why wasn't this done sooner?" Cinder questioned. To which Roman looked at her, before looking around and gesturing wildly at the containers of dust around them.
"I'm so sorry that I've been too busy stealing every speck of Dust in Vale, it happened to be what you wanted me to do." Roman said, he's own annoyance starting to show. Honestly, did they expect a thief like him to not be doing much? Such disregard for his abilities.
"I'm sure you're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and ski mask." Mercury deadpanned while Emerald tried to stifle her laughter.
Roman stared at the trio, before bursting into speech. "I've got the city running like crazy. Cops more paranoid than the General of Atlas, I've all but crashed the Dust Economy and, we have enough Dust crystals, vials and rounds that there's nothing we can't do!" Roman finished his tirade with a flourish at the containers behind him to illustrate his point. Flicking Melodic Cudgel behind his back and turning to face his 'employer', Roman continued with a mask of fake politeness. "And speaking of such; if you guys wouldn't mind letting me in on the grand master plan, it COULD make my next selection of scores a little smoother." Roman annoyingly finishes while gesturing at Cinder with a clenched hand.
"Now Now Roman, all I need from you is to have a little faith." Cinder says as she walks towards the master criminal, her tone in mock pity. "You'll know what you need when you need to know." she continued, placing her uncomfortably warm hand on his chin while her eyes began glowing brighter. Roman offered a quick grunt before looking away. Perhaps he had pushed her a little too much. As Cinder removed her hand and turned to walk away, she continued, "Besides...we're done with Dust." Now this was a surprise...
"Huh? Okaaaay, then what now?" Roman inquired, curious to learn what she wanted from him. She looked back at him, before continuing to walk away.
"We are moving. Have the White Fang clear out the warehouse. Details and coordinates will be sent to you tonight." Cinder said in an authoritarian voice. Roman can tell that it seems like something big was coming up soon...hang on a second...
"Wait coordinates?" Roman asked, confused to as what the women in red meant. Why would he need coordinates?
Cinder paused, then turned to face him. "We are proceeding to Phase 2." She said ominously, before finishing her walk away as her two henchmen took the hint and started to leave. Phase 2? What was Phase 2? Roman scowled as he check his pockets for a cigar. He was going to need the stress relief.
As he patted himself down looking for his custom lighter, he looked up and saw that little sneak thief had stolen it. She poked her tongue at him, before chucking it back at him. Roman scowled deeper as the trio left. As he smoked his cigar, he opened his scroll and signalled for Neo to come by. The little girl appeared next to him shortly, looking at him with a confused look. Letting off a deep sigh, he turned to his partner.
"Well, you heard her. It seems things are about to get serious. Work out when you can get Ruby. We need to have her conversation since she got kept at school and now to tell her this." Roman says to Neo. The dimulitive girl nodded at him, before disappearing off. Roman sighed, hiss eyes feeling tired and mind knowing the next few days were going to be so damn painful trying to get those dumb idiots to move this Dust without blowing it all up. Moving his free hand to massage his eyes, he noticed his cigar was missing.
"Damn it Neo..." The thief extraordinaire muttered before moving over to the grunts from the White Fang. "Ok you lot, change of plans, straight from the top. We are moving this stuff out!"
The Next Day
Today was a free day for the first year students. As such, many spent their time socialising, practising their skills or studying. People could be seen all over the school doing so.
Team RWBY was in the library as they planned and thought about what to do next.
"So, I send in the Atlesian Air Fleet, however I'll leave them along your cities borders and out of range to slowly drain you of resources, taking advantage of the fact your also surrounded by Ursai to completely cut off your capital from support. Assuming that your trap card is direct combat, you can't do anything to stop me and will be forced to surrender in three turns! Mwahahaha! Victory for Atlas!" Ruby exclaims, much to her friend and current enemy's terror.
"You absolute fiend!" Yang says dramatically.
Yes. Team RWBY decided the best thing to do in their free time was to play a tabletop game. While the two more excitable members of RWBY were playing with gusto, Weiss merely looked confused while Blake seemed like she didn't want to be there and had something much more important to do. As Yang tried to tutor Weiss in the amazing ways of tabletop games. Ruby looked over at Blake, who seemed be quiet and moody.
Or quieter and moodier than normal.
Ruby could tell what happened at the docks had probably shaken her a bit. It wasn't until recently that she started to seem out of place. Perhaps she just needed someone to talk to about it...
As Yang managed to convince Weiss to invade Ruby's own kingdom (much to the criminal's horror), Sun and his blue hair friend appeared and began walking over to them.
"Sup losers" Sun said jokingly to them as they and JNPR, who were near them, look at the two newcomers.
"Hi Sun." Ruby said
"Ruby, Blake,Yang... Ice Queen." Sun addressed the four while Weiss muttered to herself about that nickname. "I never got to introduce you to my friend and teammate. This is Neptune."
"Hey, but aren't libraries for reading?" Blue-hair Neptune asked.
"THANK YOU" Ren said in the background while Nora suddenly shouted out pancakes. While Ruby loved things like pancakes, Nora's love for the food was just plain obsessive.
Sun briefly told off his nerd..er..'intellectual' friend, who then properly introduced himself. Ruby sat back as two conversations started as Neptune seemed to take interest in Weiss while Sun commented on Blake playing a card game.
"Well..."Blake said before getting up, "I'm about finished for today. I'll see you guys later." she finished and walked away. While everyone looked at this in confusion, Nora looked up and only had one comment.
"Women"
Ruby looked at Nora with a raised eyebrow. The pink bomber only shrugged before going back to sleep. Ruby shrugged in return before looking at her remaining teammates. "We better go see what's up with her." Ruby then turned to her friends before addressing them, "We'll see you guys tomorrow." Sun nodded while JPR waved goodbye. The three women got up and walked after their fellow teammate, curious to know what her problems are.
"Is anyone going to take the board?"
"Eh, don't worry, me and Ren can make sure no one takes it. Yang or Ruby will come back later and get it."
"...Whether we're ready or not!" Blake concluded her little rant. Ruby looked at her and sighed. She probably should have taken charge instead of Weiss.
"Well, if I've learned anything over the course of my life, then do something yourself if you know everyone else won't do it right. If your worried that the police and huntsmen won't be able to handle the situation, then do something about it to help them actually get it done." Ruby says to Blake, who looks at her with a thoughtful expression. A moment passed before anyone raised their voice.
"Well if that's the case, why don't you guys help me find out what they are planning and stop them?"
Well...it seems the situation might turn against Ruby.
"Hell yeah! I love it when your feisty."
Oh...this isn't looking good...hopefully Weiss will-
"Eh, it does sound pretty fun."
Well then...
"He eh, of course I'm in. I'd be a hypocrite otherwise." Ruby finished with a smile, while on the inside she was smashing her head on a brick wall. How could this turn on her so abruptly?
"Well now that we are all in agreement, I'll be heading back to the library to get my board game. Byyye!" Ruby said as she ran out to get what see legitimately forgot and to also make a call. As the red haired girl ran out of her dorm, she was met face first into someone's chest. Ruby bounced off with an annoyed groan at her accident. "Ohh sorry about that." She apologised to who she ran into...
"It's ok, just watch where you're going next time."
Oh damn it...
"Yeah, I know..." Ruby said putting on a facade at the expense of Cinder's minions. "So... I'm Ruby. You're from Mistral right?" Ruby continued as she noticed someone behind them.
"From Haven to be precise." Cinder said as she moved past Emerald to address Ruby herself.
Ruby nodded while making sure she didn't she seem like she recognised them. "Oh ok, here for the Vytal Festival correct?" Cinder nodded before Ruby continued. "You know exchange students have their own dormitory right? It's east of here." Ruby continued.
"Yeah, we just got a little lost is all." Mercury explained before he and Emerald continued on their way. Cinder turned to face Ruby.
"Thanks, maybe we will see you around?" the pyromatic girl said before continuing.
"Maybe. Welcome to Beacon!" Ruby said courteously, before continuing to ran down to the library. As she ran, Ruby couldn't help but groan at how many problems rose up in a single day.
Her dad was going to be so annoyed.
"Well this is actually pretty good news Red, good work on giving us a hint on Cindy's plan and an excuse for things to go wrong." Roman said with an affectionate smirk at his daughter's apparent success.
Huh.
That wasn't expected.
"Uh, wait...what? You're not mad?" Ruby asked, confused to why her dad was as happy as he was.
"Well Red, Cindy is changing things up, so I want us to be able to get a step up before we have a problem. This just makes that step a bit easier us to get what we need. I'll explain more when you come by. Honestly, I would say you should show up more or at least take the time to call more often, it's like you have no appreciation for your family anymore." Roman joked to his daughter, who just giggled in response.
"Alright then dad, I see what I can do." Ruby promised before finishing her call. Putting her scroll away, she looked into the window of an exchange team's dorm. When everyone's backs were turned, Ruby popped her hand in, putting tiny, round adhesive object on the windowsill. Quickly disappearing before anyone noticed her there, Ruby landed on the side of a walkway into her dormitory block. Opening up her scroll, she looked through the camera, but found it was glitching out with an ERROR displayed on it. 'Likely something blew something inside it..' Ruby figured as she walked past one of Beacon's many gardens outside the dorms.
The Next Day...
It had been a dull and boring day.
Weiss frowned slightly at her thoughts. Had it really? Or was she just growing complacent? No. It had been boring as can be. The heiress simply shook her head and looked down at the time.
3:59
One minute, then they can actually get to what they actually wanted to do that would be significantly more productive than listening to Port's speeches or Jaune's terrible attempts to ask her out.
Honestly, how plebeian would it be to watch a movie for a date?
As the alarm for the end of class went off. Weiss got up and began walking away. As she did, she answered him at last.
"No, No, No, Yes." Weiss said without looking back, much to Jaune's dismay. As the rest of RWBY walked past the unfortunate Jaune, Yang pat him on the head to comfort his failure.
Ruby on the other hand, was busy thinking and thinking hard. The others wanted to go out tonight and work out what they could to figure out what Roman was doing with the White Fang. Reflecting on his comment yesterday, Ruby was in the midst of deciding whether to see how things went or intervene and stop her team without making her seem suspicious.
Perhaps her dad had a point. Ruby justified as they arrived at their dorm. 15 minutes later, everyone had changed and were ready to move out.
"Huh, wearing that outfit again are we Ruby?" Yang said with a grin. "Remember how we kick the hell out of those twins?" Ruby looked at the blond with a dead expression.
"Wait, you knew Ruby before Beacon?" Weiss asked, to which Yang became her dramatic recount of how they met. Except for Ruby occasionally cutting in to amend the truth to Yang's extravagance, Weiss and Blake looked completely unsurprised.
"Well, now the Yang has finished, we can get done to business. Everyone go over their roles." Ruby instructs her Team, before her attention is drawn to Sun casually hanging outside their window, and somehow only Ruby notices this. Sun waves at her while Blake goes over her infiltrating a recruitment ring. Ruby raises an eyebrow at him, but says nothing.
You'd think they would learn from the first time.
As soon as Yang finished explaining her role, Ruby addressed the Monkey in the Room. "So, now we are ready to begin, can I ask you, Sun, why are you hanging from that tree again?" Ruby requests from Sun, who grins at RWBY, much to WBY's surprise.
"I was hoping to join you girls in getting back at that Torchwick guy." Sun nonchalantly explained, much to Blake's apparent annoyance.
"WE are going to investigate the situation. As a team." Blake deadpans to the monkey, who continues to look nonplussed about.
"They don't want to get friends involved in this Sun. Personally, I don't mind having some backup." Ruby offered to Sun, who nodded at her explanation.
"I reckon you should always get friends involved. Heck, that's why I brought Neptune with me." Sun said, much to everyone's confusion. Sun pointed out the window. Team RWBY looked out past Sun, to see Neptune on the side of the building barely standing on a small ledge.
"How?" Weiss asked
"I have my ways. But seriously, can I come in? It's really high up here you know." Neptune asked with a brief look down.
After letting him in, Ruby looked at the pair of misfits, then looked at her team before making a decision.
"All right, Sun? You go with Blake, two faunus will give you more credidance and better chances of getting in. Neptune? You're going with Yang since she hasn't got a partner and might want the backup." Ruby declared, much to Blake's light annoyance and Weiss' disappointment in partners.
"Uh, well maybe I can take Neptune and you go with Yang since you might run into someone you know from your time...as...you know..." Weiss weakly tried to ask. When Ruby looked at her, then at Neptune, Weiss averted her gaze. Ruby laughed before walking back to Weiss.
"Only people I know sell things, and information is not one of them. Plus if I know who Yang's talking to, I know he would like seeing both of us." Ruby said as she dragged Weiss out, who comically slide along the floor. "Come on Weiss, you can flirt with blue hair boy later."
The two of them were walking towards the CCT tower when Weiss sigh in annoyance. "Remind me again, why are we going here instead of making the necessary call at the library?" Weiss asked Ruby, who was looking at the tower.
"Well, Ozpin doesn't want us getting involved remember? So if he was to learn we made a call about something like this, he would get suspicious and he'd get on our case about it. This way, we don't have to worry about Beacon getting concerned." Ruby explained. It made perfect sense plus was a good excuse to get out of worrying about Cinder catching on easily. Weiss on the other hand sighed and admitted defeat. When she looked up, she noticed a ginger haired girl they hadn't seen in awhile.
"Hang on, isn't that Penny?" Weiss said to Ruby, who looked over to where she pointed at, and sure enough, the ginger was standing there looking at the CCT. Ruby looked at Penny, who didn't seem to notice them.
"Ok then, Weiss, you go and make the call while I see why Penny disappeared back at the docks." Ruby said to Weiss before walking off before the heiress could get a word in. Weiss sigh again before walking over to the CCT.
When Ruby reached Penny, she gave the girl a tap on the shoulder. The ginger turned her head and saw Ruby, who smiled at her. "Hey Penny. It's me, Ruby. How have you been since the docks?" Ruby asked politely. For some reason, Penny looked really spooked.
"Uh, I think you...are confused." Penny said in a careful, almost robotic way, before hiccuping. She looked at Ruby, who was merely confused, before turning and walking away, "I have to go."
Ruby looked at the girl confusingly before following her.
"Penny, you know who I am, you reaction is true enough so tell me what's up. I haven't seen you in weeks since those men from Atlas escorted you away." Ruby said stopping in front of Penny, who looked at her with a concerned expression.
"I think you are mistaken." Penny said, her tone still careful and almost scared in nature. She tried to walk past Ruby, but Ruby put an arm out in front of her and move in front of her again.
"No, I am not. Penny, tell me what happened. Me and my Team are looking into it, and you may have information that can help us. So please, tell me as your friend." Ruby asked, to which Penny visibly flinched after being called her friend. Penny looked around briefly, as if scared someone would notice her, before leaning closer to Ruby, who looked at her with a happy expression.
"It's not safe here for me to talk about it. Do you know where somewhere less open we can talk?" Penny asks Ruby quietly. Ruby nods, pulling out her scroll and opening a directory to a small cafe, before giving it to Penny to see. "Ok, I'll meet you there in a few minutes." Penny said, before walking away, this time Ruby not stopping her.
A few minutes later, Ruby is waiting outside the same cafe she pointed out to Penny when she notices the awkward girl approach the building. Finishing the small coffee she bought, Ruby gets up and heads over to Penny. "So Penny, let's take a walk and then we can start talking about what happened ok?" Ruby says to which Penny nods silently. The pair begin walking along the street in silence, before Penny spoke up.
"I know you want information on Torchwick and such, but unfortunately, I can't help you as I don't know anything about them outside common knowledge." Penny says at least, much to Ruby's indifference. That isn't what she wanted, but she at least had an excuse to Weiss now.
"Sure Penny, that's ok. I was wondering, what exactly happened when you got taken away. Who were those men? Family of yours or associates?" Ruby asked, to which Penny looked away briefly as if contemplating her words.
"They...work with my father. They were asked to look after me, since I've never been to another kingdom before. My father is a very worrying man, but he does love me very much. He asked me not to venture too far, and he just got worried I might be hurt." Penny explained in a fair enough reasoning. Ruby however, couldn't help but notice her pause. Penny might have her reasons, but they do seem strange to the young thief.
"Well, don't worry, that is apparently very common from what I hear." Ruby says, sticking to her cover story for Penny. The ginger looks at the red-haired girl confused.
"Do you not have a father?" Penny asked curiously. Ruby just shrugged and left it how it was.
To be fair, while Roman was her dad, he wasn't her biological dad, and sometimes, she did wonder just who her actual father was. With the strange images in her mind from that night Ozpin asked about a one Summer Rose, someone that might have been related to her by family name. While school had kept her from asking Roman about that, she knew she would have a decent time soon.
"So anyway, why didn't you contact me sooner? You have my scroll number after all." Ruby said. She briefly thought about how much security had been on that second device, and all she knew about Penny is that she has links to Ironwood.
Penny paused for a second, before continuing. "I..was asked not to talk to you, or Weiss, or Blake or Yang, or anyone really."
"Why did you dad ask you that?" Ruby asked, though Ruby had a suspicion that it wasn't her father's doing.
"Well, it wasn't him who asked me..." Penny said as a small demonstration occuring in a nearby park. Ruby and Penny looked over to see a small presentation on the Atlesian Knights series, being orchestrated by the popular General himself via hologram. Ruby eagerly watched as the General showed off the new 200 series, before watching the hologram of the 'Paladin' appear. The weapon geek in Ruby exploded into action, looking over the non-existent mech with eager eyes. Penny on the other hand, started to get concerned and look frightened.
"Uh...Ruby?" Penny asked concerningly, gazing at two soldiers nearby.
Ruby looked at who Penny was looking at, and as she did, the two noticed them, and one started to talk over a radio. Penny turn and broke into a sprint, while Ruby quickly following in turn as the two men went after them. Running down an alleyway, Ruby, with a touch of her semblance, boost forward and caught up to her. As the two ran, they went out onto a street and as they went into another alley, a car almost hit one of the soldiers. Ruby could notice Penny cringe in fear when she heard. The two went past a small stand with crates on the top, letting Penny get some distance, Ruby sliced the leg out and dodged out of the way to block the path. Penny, however, seemed to have made more distance than expected, so Ruby pushed herself forward with her semblance and caught Penny, before launching them down a different alley. However, Ruby felt her semblance drop and she accidentally dropped Penny, before sliding onto the street. Dazed, Ruby looked up at the upcoming truck, which didn't have time to break. Trying to move before she got hit Ruby almost lost a leg, however Penny suddenly appeared and stopped the truck with her bare hands.
Wait, how?
Ruby looked on as her friend saved her. But saw Penny look at her hands, which seemed randomly shiny. Penny looked at Ruby, before started to run away as people started to notice what had happened. Ruby quickly chased after the strange girl as those two soldiers arrived on the scene. Ruby followed Penny who had stopped in an alley behind a store. Penny looked around, panic clear in her body and looking around.
"Penny! How did you do that? What's going on?" Ruby asked, confused and worried for her friend.
"I...you don't have to worry-hiccup!" Penny said, her hiccup sound random and forced.
"No, I do Penny, you just saved my life. Please, tell me why were they chasing after you." Ruby pushed, noticing the shining on Penny's heads.
"I don't want to talk about it!" Penny said before hiccuping once more. Ruby, while somewhat still rattled, noticed a trend with the hiccups.
"Penny, calm down and relax. I'm your friend, you can trust me to understand ok?" Ruby asked quietly and calmly, which in turn cause Penny to relax slightly. The ginger walked right up to Ruby, and looked her deep in the eyes.
"Your my friend right? You promise that you are my friend?" Penny asked, still looking panicked but calming down. Ruby nodded in confirmation. Penny looked down at her hands, then slowly opened them up.
Inside her palms, where what should have been bleeding and crushed hands. Were bright shiny steel.
"Penny..." Ruby was without words as it all connected together. The second device and it's security, why she had Ironwood's contact, why she hiccuped everytime she lied.
"Ruby? I'm not a real girl. Most girls are born, while I was made in a facility. I am the first synthetic human to be capable of generating an Aura..."
Penny looked down at her hands as they showed her true form. She closed them and closed her eyes. Or what they were supposed to be.
"I'm not real."
Penny felt her hands open, then felt them touched by another. Then Ruby took her hands and held them in a comforting grip. Penny looked up sadly at her first friend.
"Penny. You are real. You make your own choices and you have your own thoughts. You are as real as you can be. You have a heart and soul, if not you wouldn't have Aura and you wouldn't be you. That is what matters. Not how or what you are, but who. Even if you are made from metal and steel instead of skin and bone, your still a real person." Ruby says wholeheartedly.
"You...are taking this extraordinarily well." Penny noted, to which Ruby shrugged. "Aw...you're the best friend anyone could ask for!" Penny said before grabbing Ruby in a hug, however due to size, Ruby ended up with her face being smothered and muffled.
"I can see why your father would want to look after such a delicate flower..." Ruby said to herself mostly, but Penny let her out of the hug smiling and nodding.
"Yes, he's very kind. He's the one that made me." Penny said in such a lighthearted tone, "I'm sure you'd just love to meet him."
"I'm sure he is. Did he build you by himself?" Ruby inquired, curious to learn more about the human that was a android. Penny shook her head however.
"Not entirely alone, he had help from Mister Ironwood." Penny helpfully informed, to which Ruby understood now why the soldiers seemed to be so vested in getting to them.
"So that's why the soldiers were following us, they wanted to look after you?" Ruby inquired once more, for Penny to confirm with a nod.
"They like to protect me too." Penny said chipingly, however the disbelief on Ruby's face seemed to think otherwise. Penny looked down for a second. "They aren't sure if I'm ready yet. One day it will be my job to save the world, so that's why my father let me come for the festival; I want to see what it is like in the rest of the world, and to test myself in the tournament."
"Alright then." Ruby said, before noting something she said. "Wait. Save the world? From what, it's a time of peace?" Ruby asked, concern ripping across her face.
Penny looked at her with a confused expression. "That's not what Mister Ironwood told me..." she said in a confused voice. Before she could continue, Ruby heard voice behind them. Likely the Atlesian soldiers. Before Ruby had a chance to scram, Penny heard them and picked her up.
"You need to hide." She said as she walked over to an empty trash bin. Ruby wiggled around as she tried to break the robot girl's grip, but was unable to.
"Wait! Why! Why do you need to go with them now?!" Ruby frantically said. She needed to know what Ironwood had said! However, Penny put her into the dumpster, then looked at her.
"Don't worry, they just want to look after me is all. They are nice people. I just want to keep you out of trouble." She said, ignorant of what Ruby had meant. "You can't tell anyone my secret ok? It's important." Penny said to Ruby, who nodded in confirmation. The two soldiers came around the corner as soon as Penny had started walking away. Ruby watched as they question her, before asking her to come with them. Penny had been right, they seemed like nice enough people.
Ruby got out the second they had left, and brushed herself off. She fully planned on keeping her promise to Penny. She'd be a hypocrite otherwise.
After all, Penny wasn't the only person that was something they didn't seem to be. Hearing her scroll go off, Ruby pulled it out only to see a missed message from her dad. She opened it and her face became concerned. Immediately after, she received another, this time from Neo, which caused her to groan.
Neo had sent her a picture of Blake and Sun running out a warehouse. An Atlesian Paladin chasing them with White Fang decor on it. On top of it, she put a name on it, while in the background White Fang prospects and grunts alike were panicking. Ruby groan again as she realised a group call from Blake came through, but alas, she entered it.
"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need backu-!' Blake was cut off by Sun screaming "HEEEEEEEEELLP!"
"They got a robot, and it's big, really big. That Torchwick Guy is in it!" Sun continued, while Ruby silently facepalmed. She was going to have to fight her dad in a mech. Ruby began running to the signal. In fact the only things that were immediately good was that she got to fight a mech and had a reason to ask if she could get one and learn to pilot it.
"..It didn't eat him or anything, he's like, controlling it or something!" Sun continued
"Where are you guys?" Yang said over the call, only for Sun to scream "HUUUURRRRRRRRRY" and a faint echo to come from Yang's scroll.
Ruby sighed. "Ok, everyone, get to Blake as fast as possible!"
This was going to be an awesome but weird fight.
Ruby watched as Blake swung Yang into the Paladin, and proceeded to use her semblance to destroy the advance technological marvel in a single punch.
Truly, Yang's semblance was unfair.
As the mech fell apart, Roman Torchwick rolled with it and rolled into standing upright. Ruby saw her dad mutter something, probably about getting his suit dirty. He dusted himself off and just then Ruby noticed he didn't have Melodic Cudgel. Her eyes widened as she watched Yang fire a shot at him, one that would likely hurt him a bit. Ruby was almost about to leap forward and stop her when the shot hit Roman and he shattered into glass. Their team looked around while Ruby discreetly blew a sigh of relief. A bullhead flew off with the real Roman in it, Neo barely able to be seen behind him.
It seemed that they were not at risk. For now.
Sighing, Ruby looked to her team. "Well, I guess we better head back to Beacon and wait for Ozpin to notice."
Before her team could agree with her, another voice came from behind them.
"Well, I'll admit, I never did fight a mech in the streets of Vale when I was a school."
And Like that I'm back
I'll try to keep up the work because I left another cliffhanger, even if it's obvious
Remember, any advice or helpful criticism is always appreciated, AD