Chapter 42

Colin

He had just opened the door to the dorm and was going to set Yang down when the distress signal went off. "Ruby, emergency shield activated, shield draining!" Sheila yelled in his ear. He set Yang down and left her with Weiss and Blake, before turning and bolting down the hall. When he got to the Gym, he couldn't believe his eyes, there was Ruby, laying on the ground with scorch marks all around her. He cautiously entered and looked around, he saw the 4 members of team CRDL strewn across the floor, each about 20-30 feet away. He walked over to Ruby and checked her vitals, fine. He checked the 4 boys, each fine. He walked back and picked up Ruby when Glynda just so happened to be walking by the gym and looked inside. She stopped for a moment in shock, then started walking towards him with a death stare locked on him. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" she yelled getting her "Disciplinary baton" out and smacking him over the head with it. "Sorry, I didn't do the burning bits, I just tore the floor up!" he yelled back much quieter than she had.

"I expect this gym spotless before I get back!" she yelled and turned around just as one of the boys became dislodged from his crater in the wall and hit the ground with a thud. She stopped and swiveled around to glare at him again. "What did you do?" she asked slow and menacing. "I didn't do that, Ruby did. I don't know how but she did. Let me clean up and get Ruby back to the dorms and we can talk about it when I've taken a closer look." He said re-adjusting Ruby in his arms. "I will get these kids help, you better have a story." She said pressing some buttons on her tablet and doing a brief check on the 4 boys. He walked out and got back to the dorm as fast as he could without waking Ruby. He opened the door and was crowded as soon as he got in "Is she ok?" "Why is she asleep?" "I don't know but I'm going to find out." He responded gently laying her in her bunk.

He opened the biometric scanner in her head and did a thorough check. "Nothing seems to be wrong, I don't know why she is still out though." He said. He stood there in thought for a moment before a lightbulb went off, he but his hand over her heart and reached out with his power, slowly covering her in a dull white light. He reached into her mind but was stopped by something. He looked puzzled and tried again, nothing. He really tried a third time and Ruby sat up with a jolt and took a huge breath. She started coughing and he had to hold the others back, just in case. "Ruby, are you ok, can you hear me?" he asked slowly. She looked at him like he was being an idiot "Duh I can hear you, why wouldn't I be able to hear. Wait, why I am in my bed, why don't I hurt all over?" she asked becoming more and more frantic as she went.

"Calm down, and deep breaths. Do you remember what happened in the gym?" he asked keeping one eye on the sensors. Ruby stopped and took a deep breath "No, I was lying on the floor exhausted one moment then here the next. What happened? Why are you holding them back?" she asked almost on the verge of crying. "I think your angelic powers we gave you might have activated to save you, but I don't exactly know. Since I can't find anything to say you did or didn't, or are in a crappy condition. You're good to go." He said pulling his arms back as Yang and Weiss gave her a good look over asking all kinds of questions. She let them as she was as nervous as they were, "You seem to be fine, and I don't see anything wrong." Weiss said relieved Ruby sighed and went to take a shower, having completely forgotten about her date with Weiss.

He pulled them all close to him "Guys I need you to keep a close eye on her, if her powers are starting to manifest they might be corrupted. We were greeted with the 2nd strongest being ever, and it might be coming back or might have done something to Ruby, I don't know. Just be careful ok?" he finished looking at them one by one until he got a nod. "Good, go back to whatever you were doing and I will be fixing the gym floor if you need me." He said walking out. He took a hike back towards the gym he needed to fix. While walking Sheila put up all of the data that she had collected in her scan of Ruby, the surrounding area and the 4 unlucky participants in a major ass whooping. He walked in and his nanites went to work fixing the craters and the burn marks, all the while scanning them. He walked to the center of the broken mess of floor and closed his eyes in concentration. He slowly lifted a few inches in the air and the flooring followed, the pieces zoomed all over and set themselves back into their spots.

Weiss

Ruby got out of the shower and she stood up and looked her over, "I didn't forget." She said happily with a huge smile on her face. Her outfit was simple but nice, clean shorts and a red t-shirt. Weiss looked down at herself, a pair of nice jeans and a long sleeved white shirt. "At least I'm not overdressed." She thought to herself as Ruby came over, grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door. "Where to?" she asked smiling ear to ear. The smile was contagious and Weiss couldn't help herself, "We are going to one of my favorite restaurants, a small place downtown." She said as Ruby practically pulled her along in her excitement. Ruby eventually calmed down and they had a pleasant walk downtown through some light traffic. She was so distracted that she almost missed the restaurant, quickly pulling Ruby towards the entrance.

They got in line and Ruby looked the menu over for a few seconds before looking back to Weiss "What's good?" "I love their Chicken Kiev, but they give you a lot and I've never been able to finish one." "Want to share?" Ruby asked shyly. "I would be ok with that." Weiss replied seeing the shine return to Ruby's eyes. They ordered and got a small booth in the back of the place. They sat down opposite each other and while she was setting her place to eat Ruby just stared at her lovingly. "What?" she asked with slightly more annoyance in her voice than she anticipated. "Nothing, I was just looking at you" she started and Weiss thought she might be going somewhere "do they have cookies here?" she asked completely derailing the cute thoughts Weiss had going. "Yes, you will have to go order some when the waiter brings us our food." She said looking around for the waiter and finding none.

Her eyes scanned the restaurant thoroughly before coming back to Ruby after she was satisfied no one was a threat. What she missed was the man in a full black suit, glasses, on his scroll calling Mr. Schnee to tell him about his daughter's newest form of rebellion. She simply kept looking at Ruby as they talked. They got their food and Ruby ordered the cookie she wanted, they began eating and were starting to draw attention from the wealthier customers as Ruby ate like a pig. "Stop it, you're embarrassing me!" she hissed at Ruby who looked up in surprise. "Sorry" she said stopping and blushing a red to match her combat uniform. "I didn't say stop you dolt, here let me help." She said getting up and standing behind Ruby, reaching around her and grabbing her hands.

Mr. Schnee

He had heard enough from his informant, his daughter had burned her last bridge, she was coming back home. Where he could monitor her closely to ensure she would become the heiress she was made to be, and carry on the Schnee name. "I will handle this from here, you may go." He said putting the scroll down.