All right! Sorry about the weeks of delay, but the updates are back to normal. Thank you very much for your patience and continued support. Now, onto the story. This chapter goes to the end of episode 16, right before the Highway fight (Spiral).

(-o-)

TIME: 1143

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: Armoury

Ruby sighed and stood up, leaving the hospital area where York had been for the last few mind-numbingly uneventful days after he had his eye blown out by the grenade. She had been almost constantly been thinking about Texas since then, heavily confused by the sparking. In the end, she had come to the conclusion that Texas was probably an A.I, like Penny, and mentally slapped herself for not thinking of it sooner as it made a lot of sense.

But as to York's condition, the doctors said he would likely be out of commission for at least another week… and while she liked York, Ruby was getting sick of sitting beside him with no one but Carolina for company. Apparently others had been visiting, but she had the misfortune of not knowing when they were, and being stuck in a room with a distressed Carolina wasn't very pleasant.

It was nearly midday, so she wandered back to the cafeteria. She had started to get a strong idea of the routes to take to navigate, and now only got lost very occasionally, which she was grateful for. Over the last few days, she hadn't really bonded with any of the other Freelancers except Carolina, and even then the 'bonding' just meant they no longer seemed to be on bad terms. She always felt awkward trying to bring up conversation in a hospital.

The only other Freelancer she had liked was North, but he was usually busy and she rarely saw him around. So for the last few days she had been feeling more and more lonely, and had spent most of the time not spent visiting York in the armoury, studying the weapons held there. She had made two discoveries. The weapons definitely used gunpowder to fire, despite how inefficient the chemical was, and had dozens of design flaws that limited efficiency.

Today, she decided, she would mess around with some spare parts to try and remove said flaws, taking one of the dozens of sniper rifles to a nearby bench, where she had disassembled a few guns to use as parts. She lay the sniper out and quickly disassembled it, and began the long process of studying it for flaws to fix. Annoyingly, they varied from gun to gun, despite having been made on a production line. How the makers had managed that, Ruby had no idea.

"Attention." F.I.L.I.S's voice came from the radio. "May Agents North Dakota, Florida, Wyoming, Maine, Carolina, Connecticut and Washington please report to the Interview Room immediately for debriefing. That will be all."

(-o-)

TIME: 1029

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: ?

"What the hell do you mean we can't implant yet!" The Director asked angrily.

"Sir, without the Sarcophagus we will be unable to produce any more fragments. If we implant now, several of our best Agents will be out of commission for the retrieval of the Sarcophagus." The counsellor replied calmly.

"Why would we not be able to make more?"

"We were incredibly lucky to have produced three as it is, and any further attempts would likely damage the Alpha, or at the very least subject it to torment. As you know, one has already been deployed, but to increase efficiency the other two will have to wait."

The Director sighed. "Very well. Let's arrange a briefing for our best. What do you have so far about the Sarcophagus?"

(-o-)

TIME: 1544

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: Armoury

"I thought I might find you here." A voice from behind her said, startling Ruby, who dropped the piece she had been working on. Luckily it remained unharmed. She had been nearly finished her project, so all of her attention had been on that last piece, which had taken at least half of her time to create and was only half done. She spun around, to reveal it was the Director and the Counsellor. She quickly came to attention.

"At ease," The Director said. "As you may have deduced, a very important mission for the Project is going to be underway very shortly, in fact our team leaves tomorrow. That is why I am here, to let you know that you will be joining them."

"Then why didn't you just call me to the briefing, sir?" Ruby asked.

"Because you will not be joining with the main team. We have a very special mission for you, due to your unique skillset, of which your former teacher has already informed us. You will be as a sniper for the main team," the Counsellor said. He handed her a small folder. "Inside is all the information you will need of the mission, as well as a map to the Hangar, where you are expected to report at 0600 tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir." She replied.

"Good luck Agent, I hope you do not disappoint," The Director said as he left.

Ruby quickly skimmed the folder, which explained her mission was to aid team B in securing the briefcase, without letting them know she was there. What did that even mean? What briefcase? Although she guessed team B wouldn't be too hard to identify, as the briefing said there were only two teams.

Apparently though, if she deemed it necessary she was to step in and let them know she was there to capture it, and after the briefcase was secured she was to aid team A should they need it. Ruby shook her head, placing the map of the building on top and shutting the folder, turning back to her project. It said to bring a sniper rifle as well as any one sidearm, so she should probably finish hers. A standard pistol would do for the sidearm, she guessed. They didn't have any scythes.

(-o-)

TIME: 0600

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: Mother of Invention, Hangar C

Ruby walked up to the helicopter-esque thingy that rested in front of her, boarding by the ramp that was currently outstretched. The inside was empty, although as soon as she stepped in the ramp slid shut, indicating she was the only one this helicopter was transporting, which made sense if her presence was meant to be a secret.

"Allright, hello!" Called a voice, which seemed to come from the front of the vehicle. "You ready for take off?"

"Umm… yes?" Ruby called out. The Helicopter started to lift up, and Ruby was surprised. Why would a helicopter be inside a building if it was being used? What use exactly would it be? She was snapped from her thoughts when the helicopter accelerated rapidly, knocking her over into the ramp, which had luckily closed. She saw there was a window-like gap, and upon looking out of it was amazed to see space.

She was also very confused. If she was seeing space that meant she was either burrowing into the ground, or traveling in space. Space travel didn't exist yet, although there were rumours it would soon.

So Ruby was amazed to see behind her the huge spaceship, its Hangar closing behind them. Ruby had been in space for nearly a month without noticing. She felt a spark of annoyance that Ozpin hadn't told her about this, but realised that she probably wouldn't have believed him if he had.

She sighed, making her way over to one of the seats cautiously, barely maintaining her balance.

(-o-)

TIME: 0703

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: Unknown City

The ramp slide open, despite the Helicopter still hovering in mid-air.

"Um… why are we parking?" Ruby called out.

"This is your stop. Don't worry, your armour will take the brunt of the damage. We aren't even that high." The pilot responded.

Ruby looked down and the skyscraper she was above. Several hundred metres above.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

"Not at all! Now jump or I'll knock you off!" The pilot replied. Ruby took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The Director didn't want her dead, right? If he had she would be. Meaning it must be safe. She clung onto that knowledge, running at the edge and jumping.

She didn't feel the wind at all, quickly spreading out her arms and legs to slow her fall as the roof hurtled towards her. She landed feet first on the building, feeling a jar run up her legs, but nothing else.

She hesitantly opened her eyes to make sure she wasn't dead, before shaking a bit to help the adrenalin wear off.

Suddenly there was a soft ping, and her H.U.D altered, showing a map with four green dots and three larger, rapidly approaching red dots. There was also a steadily moving blue arrow, going away from the green dots.

Ruby quickly turned to the direction the dots were in, and pulled up her sniper scope, zooming in as much as she could. She immediately understood why she had been dropped on this building, there were no other tall buildings nearby and she had a clear view and small figure. She zoomed in further, immediately glad she had improved the scope, as the figures were still tiny, although she could identify three of them as North, C.T and Wyoming. Nearby dozens of police cars were lined up, shooting at them.

Ruby cursed. What was the point in her being sent on this mission, when she had clearly arrived hours later than everyone else? Ruby turned her scope to the blue arrow, revealing it to be a seemingly civilian car, with the driver fiddling with something.

Ignoring that, Ruby turned back to the other Agents, who were pinned down and had no way of fighting back. She quickly took aim at one of the police cars, not wanting to kill a fellow human no matter the circumstance, and aimed for where she knew the engine would be situated. She adjusted the crosshairs for distance, and pulled the trigger.

Ruby was immediately amazed by the quality of the rifle she was holding, as the bullet was completely unaffected by wind, and hit EXACTLY where she wanted it too. The car blew up, with police officers scattering in surprise. She quickly fired off three more shots and three more cars, with similar results, and smirked in satisfaction as the Helicopter she had been in swooped down, all of the Freelancers boarding quickly.

"Team B is down," came a voice over her radio. It was the helicopter pilot. "Assist team A in taking the briefcase."

"Got it," Ruby replied, as her H.U.D updated to display team A. The blue arrow was heading directly towards them, and one of them moved. The blue arrow stopped completely, before moving with the green dot that was one of her allies back to the other two. "Glad they're making progress," Ruby muttered to herself.

She turned her scope towards them, and was immediately able to tell she was too far away to be of use. She looked around, seeing another skyscraper between her and them, although this one drastically lower, and she had an idea.

(-o-)

TIME: 0703

DATE: XX/XX/XXXX

Location: Unknown City

"OWW!" Ruby cried out as she made the fifth jump. She was now standing on a road, and her legs were in a LOT of pain. Apparently, jumping repeatedly from hundred meter heights was a bad idea. She groaned and gritted her teeth. At least she had made it.

She checked her H.U.D, and was grateful to see team A and the blue dot headed right towards her, although less so to see the dozens of red dots after them.

Then she remembered that was a problem. They weren't supposed to know she was here. Ruby panicked, looking around for some place to hide, before remembering something the Director had told her about her armour. She didn't remember the exact wording, but he had said it had 'active camouflage'.

She also remembered there was a button on her left forearm, decidedly out of place, that until now had confused her. She pressed the button, and a series of fairly basic mathematic equations appeared on her H.U.D, which she quickly mentally solved, without even meaning to, as it was a waste of time. When she looked down again, she was see-through.

Ruby turned to where team A was, only for them to hurtle past her in a car of some kind, causing her to leap back in fright. Three helicopters flew after, each marked as red on her H.U.D. So her enemies. Ruby sighed and started lining up the shot.