Beta read by: Crescent Sunrise
recommended story: "Ruby, Mother of Wolves" by SecretlySilentEvil
Quick note: Yes the story title has changed. more on that in the Authors Note
~RR~
Ruby sits on her truck frowning at her Scroll. After clearing the Grimm nest they spent a small amount of time resting while Ruby changed her clothes and settled back into their guard positions. It was then her Scroll went off, displaying a call from May.
The results were disappointing. After answering, Ruby was greeted to a flood of static before the line was cut dead leaving her to fret and worry about her girlfriend.
'Can't say I'm really surprised. Away from Vale, the signals are notoriously weak. Even Patch needed to have a smaller boosting tower of its own so the whole island would be covered.' Ruby rationalizes before shaking her head and focusing back on the road behind them, eyes peering through the faint dust kicked up by the convoy.
'Still, she said she would be out of contact until tonight. Maybe when we get to the next town they'll have a boosting tower and I can try to call her back, or ask Jaune to look in on her? But she's scouting. It's a stealth job and by then JNPR will be on their own mission. Oh please be okay May.' The red hooded girl prays before noticing a small group of Beowolves moving out of the forest behind them. Racing to try and catch the convoy, all blood lust, no self-preservation.
With a sigh she lays down on her stomach and lines up Crescent Rose before blowing her whistle and pulling the trigger. Yang leaping past her even as the trucks start coming to a stop. As the rest of the team hurries to catch up.
The small group doesn't last long, really, Ruby could have just picked them off as they road along and avoided stopping all together but Atonia had established the rule and she's the Huntress. Best to just follow the order and do it by the book.
'I'll try and call May when we get to the next town.'
~MZ~
May carefully sets loaded magazines down next to her. All filled and lined up in a neat row as she tries to ignore the wall of black filled with red eyes, white bony plates, and in a few cases golden stingers. The terror inducing screams of the Grimm as they run towards the group, setting her teeth on edge as she takes aim. Her wounded leg lying flat while the right is drawn up, letting her brace her arm against her knee as she aims down the scope firing into the mass of Grimm. Focusing at the moment on blinding the Death Stalkers and trying to put holes in the ranks of the encroaching monsters.
As shots ring out, her team preps themselves. Last second looks over their equipment while Brawnz wraps her leg more securely. Nolan recharging the Dust powering his weapon before turning the voltage higher. It can kill a Grimm in time but here it will be better served stunning them for one of his kicks or a more lethal strike from a teammate.
Her first magazine depleted she drops it and grabs the first replacement in her row before starting over. Gun barrel smoking with spent Dust as she fires down the tunnel into the approaching mass. She has to pause however when the train car shakes. As Oobleck pilots one of the remaining Paladins off the train and to the front of their formation. His voice gaining a mechanical edge coming from the large mech.
"Focus your attentions on the smaller Grimm. Leave the Death Stalkers and that King Taijitu to me!"
Orders given the fighters braced themselves as shot after shot echoes from behind them. May gritting her teeth as she blinds another Death Stalker, making it writhe in pain. It's massive pincers crushing a number of its fellow Grimm in its display of agony.
There are four shots left in her magazine when the Grimm fall upon them with terrible howls, gnashing jaws, rending claws and sharp spikes aimed to not only kill the people before them, but drive fear right into their hearts.
Thankfully these people are Hunters, and Hunters don't bow to the fear of monsters. Shouting their defiance her three boys cross the last bit of distance themselves, fists raised and weapons bared as the wave of Grimm breaks against them.
They would be overwhelmed of course if not for Doctor Oobleck and the massive weapon created by Atlas for the sole purpose of destroying these creatures. With the larger Grimm mostly blinded and now under attack from the mechanized suit, the smaller ones are far easier to handle.
It's during her next reload their guest wakes up. He groans and shifts before hearing the telltale sound of Grimm and noting his own precarious position tied up and face down.
"Roman Torchwick, welcome back to the land of the living. I am May Zedong of Team BRNZ and it is my wonderful duty to inform you that you are under arrest and in our custody until you can be remanded into the hands of the proper authorities." May explains between shots. Finding her own small amusement to distract herself from the pain in her leg and the dire situation.
Already the Paladin seems to be shuddering and there's still another head to deal with on the King Taijitu. The heavy weapons on the Paladin firing shell after shell of explosive Dust rounds into the swarming mass, effectively breaking them up. Truly a marvel of defensive engineering. A few of these watching the kingdoms borders and Hunters would be able to focus more on reclaiming territory from the Grimm.
'I hope Atlas is willing to share them because with mechs like those, people could see some real hope in expanding the kingdoms. Might have even been able to hold Mountain Glenn.'
"What are you talking about what happened to... the..." Roman starts to struggle and works himself onto his side noting he's still in the tunnel, on the train, and the Grimm fighting against her team to get to them. "Hey kid, you should let me go. I could help you all before we're turned into Grimm snacks."
That offer gets all the attention it deserves. Meaning none at all as May drops a Beowolf who looked to be just a little to intelligent while fighting Nolan. Reducing its head to black mist solved that problem.
"Don't ignore me, I'm talking to you!" The criminal shouts, clearly furious at the predicament he's found himself in. Wiggling and struggling against his bindings.
"If I set you free and let you have that cane back the first thing you'll do is blast me and throw me at the Grimm hoping I'll distract them long enough for you to get away." May comments dryly downing an Ursa that was getting much too close to a distracted Nolan for her comfort.
Her comment is met with silence for a moment before he grudgingly comments. "Not right away. I would at least wait until the battle was over or the fight looked hopeless before stabbing you in the back." He comments before twitching his eyes towards Melodic Cudgel and then the Grimm, then back to the sniper before grumbling darkly.
It couldn't last, the stalemate between them and the Grimm. The first sign of the tide turning against them was the Paladin falling to a mechanical knee after a Death Stalker put a stinger through it. Its ammo having been expended already, leaving it to just its powerful hydraulic fists for weapons.
The second was a Borbatusk getting an attack past Roy's guard. His Aura having taken a beating against the White Fang lieutenant, buckling now as the Grimm's tusks scored along his side gouging a hole under his ribs before a bullet enters its eye, exploding it's skull out the back.
The Doctor uses the Paladin to pin the King Taijitu before abandoning the mech, leaving the massive monster to hiss and struggle as it drags the heavy mech across the ground.
He arrives in Roy's place with a spinning, whirling torrent of fire, slamming the flaming cudgel weapon down on a Creep. "Mr. Stallion! Get to the last Paladin! You're in no condition to fight on the front lines right now." He orders while May covered her teammates' retreat. His movements more of a hurried limp. Pausing only long enough to remove his vest and wrap it around his waist holding the bloody wound closed.
May grimaces as she hears his pained sounds as he climbs up and into the large machine. Her attention already sliding back to the rest of the team, making back lost ground with the now somewhat refreshed Doctor taking the lead in combat. The difference between themselves and him becoming painfully clear as he sweeps aside Grimm in waves with his odd weapon, spewing thick columns of fire, leaving Nolan and Brawnz to pick off whatever gets through.
"You know, I have piloted one of those Paladins before, if you let me free I can take over for the friend you have in there bleeding out." Roman offers only to flinch away as May glares at him her rifle lifting with the temptation to hit him with the butt of it. "Okay, okay, jeez. Just trying to offer a little assistance." He grumbles darkly before the mech in question powers up and starts moving forward. One arm cannon lifting to aim down the tunnel.
"Really handy that the controls in here are labeled!" Roy's voice comes through the mech before a shot fires off, slamming into the remaining head of the massive snake Grimm before turning to the rest. The Doctor did a good job dealing with the Death Stalkers, leaving only a few of the large Grimm left.
Hope blossoms among the fighters, rekindling determination even as adrenaline began to run dry. The trainees feeling the fatigue of the day acutely by this point as they rally to repel the last of the horde.
Nolan's Aura drops next. A few superficial scratches to his arm as he tried to spin away from the Beowolf. Now acutely aware of the danger he's in and giving ground when pressed rather than letting the Grimm get a solid hit on him as May gives his area more attention.
Eventually the sounds of the mechs cannon come to a stop. May shoots down one last Creep and the front line fighters pant softly looking around the disintegrating cloud of Grimm smoke for any more attackers. Roy leads the Paladin forward slowly, the red scanning beams whirring around the black fog looking for any kind of movement before reporting back negative.
"The robot says scans are negative, can we pack up and go back to Vale now before anything else can go wrong?" Roy shouts out through the tunnel as everyone lets themselves relax just a little bit the Sniper leaning back and letting her visible eye close.
'Looks like I'm going to beat you back to Beacon Little Red.'
~RR~
As the convoy reaches the first town, Ruby pulls her team together to express her worry over the interrupted call from May.
"JNPR is out on their own mission now Rubes, they've likely already arrived and I doubt they'll be able to get their Bullhead to turn back around and pick them up again." Yang comments with a frown as Ruby tries to call the older sniper and gets the same disconnected signal.
"Ruby, calm down. I'm sure everything is fine. She's a second year and they have an experienced Huntsman with them. Besides, they're only scouting. She'll be back just fine, you'll see." Blake tries to reassure her. Unfortunately it's having little effect.
"Look, why don't you ask Velvet and her team to have a quick look? I doubt they'll mind if you promise to pay them back for it. It's not like we have classes with most of the professors leading mission teams." Weiss offers.
No one is the least bit surprised when Ruby then hugs Weiss and opens her Scroll, already going through her contacts for the Rabbit Faunus. The red caped girl shifts uneasily from foot to foot until the call is answered. And after a little negotiating with Coco, they agree to have a look.
"Don't worry Rubes, CFVY will check things out. Might even manage to make some kind of contact with them. I'm sure they'll be fine." Yang offers drawing her little sister into a strong hug.
"Yeah, I hope so. Let's just get some food and get ready to go. I'm ready to finish this mission already." Ruby replies heading back towards the trucks.
~MZ~
May and her team eventually situate themselves as they head back down the tunnel looking for another maintenance access or emergency exit back to the surface, not keen on walking all the way back. The wounded Roy having gotten out of the Paladin so Nolan could re-wrap his wound. Afterwards, letting the Doctor pilot the mech, carrying Roy in one hand and May in the other.
The ride is uncomfortable to say the least for the two as Nolan and Brawnz force march the grumbling Torchwick. None of them were particularly happy when they finally made it to the last exploded train car. The tunnel blocked by the Dust bombs, leaving walls of ice melting and reforming next to torrents of flame and arcing lightning. The only way out looking to be the hole in the roof above them through which the sky can be seen. The tunnel on this end being just under the surface as opposed to the deep cave it connects to in Mountain Glenn.
Oobleck brings the arms of the Paladin together. "Mr. Stallion, please get in the other hand." He orders waiting for Roy to obey before shifting the Paladin to lift the now empty hand up towards the gap, leaving the mech, he jump onto the lifted hand and up towards the opening in the roof. His hand gripping the edge and he starts to pull himself up before abruptly letting go as the head of a giant Nevermore enters the hole he just abandoned, snapping at the air with a loud cawing sound as it pecks. Trying to get deeper before it's pushed out of the way by another where the two large birds proceed to try and push each other out of the way to get in.
"May, you have any of the really big rounds?" Brawnz asks and she groans looking through her ammo before pulling out a magazine with one bullet left in it.
"I got one. Is it just the two of them up there Doctor?" May asks already clearing the chamber on her rifle before slotting the bullet in, aiming upwards with a sigh. It's a struggle to even lift her rifle at this point. Fighting just to keep herself from closing her eyes. Unable to tell if the cold feeling in her body is just her usual issues or the blood loss itself. Either way, the Grimm above her are currently between herself and better medical attention than basic field triage. So with a long breath she takes aim, and fires the bullet, punching through the open mouth of the Nevermore smashing through its head as it slumps down and starts to die as May lets her rifle drop.
Her eyes are heavy, and keeping them open is a herculean effort as she sighs, grumbling as Roy bumps her shoulder. "Eyes open May, you know you can't sleep here." He comments, his eyes on the dissolving Grimm the other pushes out of the way before trying to get at them itself.
Oobleck fires his weapon up forcing the Grimm to pull its head away to avoid the fireball before cawing its irritation, trying to push its head deeper still, until it gives a pained sound and lifts its head from the hole to scream its challenge at something on the surface as the sound of a Bullhead faintly breaks through, along with the sound of bullets being fired rapidly from a single source.
Silence falls for a time before a pair of heads peak over the edge of the hole. One with a familiar pair of ears twitching at the top.
"Anyone down there?" Comes an unknown voice from above. Only to move back as Oobleck once more jumps for the hole pulling himself up. His voice speaks hurriedly and soon he's dropping down again with a length of rope. Wrapping it around May's shoulders first as she's hauled upwards.
The sniper winces, her eyes squinting in the harsh light of the sun after so long underground. Her hand lifting to shield her eye as it adjusts before focusing on Velvet. "Well hello there cutie. Come all the way out here just to rescue little ole' me? I'm sorry to tell you I'm taken. You'll have to ask Ruby if you want me to give you a reward." She flirts weakly with a wink before wincing as the large man on her team picks her up. He's trying to be gentle but there is still a nasty wound in her leg and the lightest jostling sends rough spikes of pain through the limb.
Velvet chuckles, shaking her head as Roy is lifted next. "If you're capable of flirting I'm sure you'll be fine May." The bunny girl replies, rolling her eyes as May shoots her a cheeky grin. Yatsuhashi gently sets her into the Bullhead. It will be a bit cramped inside but nowhere near enough weight to keep it from moving effectively. In short order her team is brought on board and Roman is secured.
"So Velvet, why were you even out this way? Didn't your team just get off a mission?" May asks trying to focus her attention elsewhere.
"Well yeah, But Ruby got a call from you that was all static and was really worried. She would have asked JNPR but they were off on a mission themselves. So she called me next. She's probably still worried." Velvet replies frowning at the bloody bandage wrapped around May's thigh.
"Well, do me a favor? Don't tell her how bad it is alright? I'll give her the story when she gets back from her mission. There's no point in her stressing out while on the job. Just let her know that you gave us a lift back." May asks, blinking her eyes rapidly as the Bullhead starts back towards Vale proper. Thankfully, the hole they got out through wasn't too far from the city itself.
May manages to keep awake right up until she's loaded into a stretcher, shortly after arriving at Beacon.
~RR~
The little team leader sighs as she climbs back on the truck. The trip between the third and fourth town hadn't been a quiet one, much to her growing irritation. Grimm getting in their way often. Leaping from the forest on the sides of the road, or chasing from behind. She had a message on her Scroll a short time ago but with the frequency of Grimm attacks, she hasn't been able to let her guard down in order to check it.
It's three more stops before they make it to the fourth and last village on their mission when she finally pulls out her Scroll to check the messages. She spots one from Velvet.
~VS to RR - Ruby, we found them just after they finished their mission. They captured that criminal Roman Torchwick! We gave them all a lift back to Vale. There were some other things that happened but May asked me to let her tell you about it when you get back. From what I've heard, your girlfriend and her team are heroes Ruby. See you when you get back.
Ruby lets out a sigh of relief before grinning widely and shooting off towards her team. "Guys! You'll never guess what team BRNZ managed to do!" She offers as she pulls herself to a stop in front of them.
"Took down an entire criminal organization?" Yang guesses with a wide grin. Before Ruby visibly deflates.
"You weren't supposed to guess right..." Ruby pouts kicking at the dirt under foot.
"Wait, are you serious?" Blake asks her eyes intense as she looks at Ruby.
"Well, I don't have a lot of the details. Just what the message from Velvet mentioned. They captured Torchwick, and he's in custody now back at Vale. I assume there's more too because Velvet mentioned they did something heroic but May wanted to tell me about it herself. Her team caught up to them after they finished their mission and gave them a ride back." Ruby explains as her team grins in response.
"Well, hopefully that puts an end to all the trouble we've been dealing with lately. Now we can focus on our classwork and the tournament coming up at the end of the year." Weiss adds, clearly pleased with the outcome.
As they head into the village to find their beds for the night Ruby sends off a message to Velvet, thanking her for letting her know and asking the Rabbit Faunus to pass along her thanks to the rest of team CFVY
~?~
'Back from her mission and injured. That should keep the two of them apart long enough for me to catch her alone and make my move. After all, Beacon students will have classes starting up again soon. Can't spend every last moment in the infirmary, can she?'
AN:
Right as many of you have no doubt noticed. I have changed the title. if you looked at my profile you will have noticed that I was planning on doing so. As I have taken to updating it every few days. I find it's easier than just putting information in my author notes. Still not everyone wants to look at my profile (for shame!) so I'll explain here. "Must Kill: May Zedong" while a neat title I still like, gives the wrong impression. It was going to be a little running joke but that fell flat as it was made a handful of times and fell flat. Since then I've just been lazy about changing the title. so this is now "Huntress of a Different Caliber" Tell me what you think.
I'm admittedly sad that my Omake didn't seem to garner a response. I was rather proud of it. Oh well, I guess not everyone will get the joke. The explanation being that all the suggestions Ruby gives for the attack name, are nicknames given to various itterations of "The Flash" in DC comics. There, I spoiled my own joke ~huffs~ Anyway
This chapter we see less of Ruby than usual. it's a bit of a trend I know. but really... There's not much to say about her mission. it's an escort mission. Her job is to sit on top of a truck and look for Grimm. It's not the most rivetting thing to write about. As Atonia said, "Long periods of boredom with brief moments of excitement" I don't want to subject my readers to the long periods of boredom as it would just come out as boring filler. Interesting and fun filler I have no problem with. boring filler is not allowed. Well... interesting and fun to me. I can't assume you all find everything I write to be fantastic. that's just egotistical.
As always a special thank you to my reviewers. Yaksher, AntonSlavik020, and kevindynamite. Reviews are always appreciated.
Omake by: Crescent Sunrise
Title: Seriously, Where am I going With This?
With Zweihander in… hand, Ruby confidently roamed the campus grounds of Beacon.
'Nothing's gonna get me now! No crazy people getting in this little bundle of awesomes' pants, well, skirt, whatever.' Ruby thought to herself.
With weapon in hand, Ruby dared to enter one of the main school buildings, once again, finding that it seemed utterly deserted. Honestly, with how often people popped up to try and seduce her, you'd think that they would just be everywhere.
Ruby is brough from her thoughts though when her prized, fluffy world destroyer is yanked form her hands by an invisble force. She watched with horror as it was quickly caught by a gorgeous redhead.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha called out as she walked over to a table that was just sitting in the middle of the massive corridor.
"Why does stuff just keep popping up for no reason?! There needs to be consistency dammit!"
"Ruby, language!" Pyrrha chided gently as she sat at the table, Zweihander at her feet.
"Ugh, fine! What do you want Pyrrha? I've been having a really long day."
"Oh, nothing really. I was going to ask if you would join me for a snack."
"A snack?" Quirking her eyebrow she stared at the bare table.
Pyrrha beamed an absolutely beautiful smile as she reached under the table. Pulling out a bowl and a few other items, "Would you like some Milk and Cereal?" she asked, presenting a box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, her face presenting an almost kinky grin. In her other hand she holds a jug of milk, on its surface is an image of a Chibi Ruby, grinning almost as diabolically as the box of cereal.
Before anything could come of the strange encounter, one of the walls is blown open by a massive explosion! Jumping through the hole is May Zedong, rifle raised against her opponent who is flinging gouts of fire like it's going of style.
"May?" Ruby questions.
"Ruby?" May replies gob smacked, only to leap out of the way of more fire.
Coming through the hole is an exceptionally sultry woman in a red dress. Eyes glowing with power a fire in her hands as she FLOATS into the corridor.
'Okay, come on, what the Hell is going on here?! Why is so much stuff happening all at once?" Ruby laments.
"I don't know Ruby!" May calls out.
Cinder then looks to Ruby with a raunchy grin. "My, my, Miss. Rose. Aren't you just a delectable looking fruit? I could just eat. You. Up."
Once again, something just has to go pear-shaped as OZPIN of all people appears in a green blur, striking at Cinder with a relentless, near time-warping amount of blows.
"I thought the Boss Battle wasn't happening until the end of Volume Three?" He says accusingly at Cinder, "And what about the powers you're using? You don't have full power for at least another twelve episodes!"
"It's an Omake, Darling. I can break the rules all I want."
With another blur of motion, Ozpin throws himself and Cinder from the building, the sounds of battle ranging on biblical in proportion fading away into the background.
The three people still in the corridor are silent as they just stare at nothing and everything disbelievingly.
"Alright, if one more thing happens I'm am going to completely freak out! And what the heck is that noise?"
The noise if it were even part of the little heroine's universe would have been recognized as 'Flight of the Valkyries'.
"Nora SMASH!" screams the orange-haired girl as she tries to pummel her own teammate. Another battle shortly leaves the corridor and Ruby is now doing an impersonation of Yang's Semblance.
"ARGH! That's it I'm freak—"
The screen cuts to the color bars like it does in RWBY Chibi as the episode ends.
That's all for this time, Thank you for reading, I love you all, and I'll see you next time.
