Ruby stepped through the door and immediately felt the gazes of those in the room swivel to her, with the exception of the Director, who hadn't moved from his place over a holographic table. The Counsellor, who stood to his left, merely raised an eyebrow at her.
"Hello Agent York. Agent Virginia, I had not expected you to be out of the hospital so soon. How may we be of service to you?" The Counsellor asked in his ever-passive voice. Ruby found his annoying calmness grated on her slightly.
"I'll be joining this mission," Ruby said quietly, but seriously.
"Will you now?" Carolina muttered icily, but Ruby ignored her. Instead, she turned to the Director, who nodded.
"Very well," He answered, causing confusion to flicker across the room, and Carolina to begin glaring at her from underneath her visor. Whatever her problem was, Ruby chose to ignore it. "I believe a brief recap may be in order. Counsellor, if you may."
"Your mission is a simple one," The Counsellor began. "As you all know, the Insurrectionist's leader continues to evade us, as does Agent Connecticut. We recently received visuals confirming that she is with the Insurrection, and is not being held by force. As such, she is to be treated as hostile."
Ruby glanced around the room, trying to gauge the reactions of those present. Only York seemed distressed. No one else seemed to care. Some teammates they turned out to be. Although as she further looked, she realised it was more weary resignation than lack of care. North and Washington even looked slightly sad, rather than the bored she had at first assumed.
"We will be dropping you into a hot zone, a known enemy base. This time, there will be no mistakes, so our goal is to hit them hard and fast. Expect opposition along the way, and do not hesitate to use lethal force. You have two primary objectives; Capture the Insurrectionist Leader, and retrieve Agent Connecticut's armour. We can't have Freelancer tech falling into the wrong hands."
"The mission will be starting as soon as you are all geared up," The Director interrupted. "Get to the armoury, and then head to the Hangar. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of success today. You had best be all on the top of your game. You are dismissed."
A chorus of 'yes, sir's' rang out through the room, with North, South, Wyoming, York, Washington and some guy wearing blue armour she hadn't seen before all immediately leaving to retrieve their weapons. Only she and Carolina remained behind, and Carolina's furtive glance made it clear Ruby wasn't wanted.
Ruby spun the knife she held in her right hand lightly, feeling a slight throb in her chest. One way or another, Pyrrha was going to give her answers. Not that she was bitter or anything for ending up in the hospital with serious injuries for second time that week. Yeah, that definitely wasn't affecting her judgement.
As soon as Ruby was alone, she resisted the urge to cackle madly. It seemed appropriate given the situation, and she always had been one for theatrics, but someone might overhear her.
TIME: 1752
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
LOCATION: Hangar
Ruby trailed behind the other Freelancers as they entered the landing bay awkwardly. She still wasn't really friends with any of them but York, and he seemed to be friends with basically everyone.
"The Director?" North said. "Damn near killed him."
"North, how many times are we gonna have to listen to this story?" York asked.
"Look, I'm telling you it happened!"
"And I'm telling you I don't dispute that. WE WERE ALL THERE! NOW STOP TELLING US THE STORY!" Washington protested loudly.
"You're just jealous because you weren't the one to do a running wall jump backflip over someone and kick the damaged, misfiring gun out of his hands," North stated cheerily.
"Or, it might, JUST MIGHT have something to do with the fact that you KICKED ME IN THE HEAD WHEN YOU FLIPPED OVER ME! My helmet is NOT a springboard!" Wash yelled back.
"Debateable," York said quietly.
"Actually, the manoeuvre didn't compromise Agent Washington's armour integrity in the slightest," Delta contributed. "Given the evidence available it is only logical to assume that such a usage of equipment, while not advisable, is perfectly acceptable and functional, should the need arise. As unorthodox as it may be."
"Oh, great, now the glowing frog is helping you."
"Hey! Don't speak to Delta like that! He has a name." York protested.
"Kermit the Frog?" North asked
"Hypnotoad?" Wash added.
"Froggy?" South asked from behind them.
"Not you, too, South," York protested. There was a brief lull in the conversation
"Freddo?"
York jokingly growled.
"No, no! This one goes here, that one goes there!" A female voice yelled out, interrupting whatever sorry excuse for a conversation that had been. Ruby looked up to see who she assumed was their pilot instructing a standard soldier, who was pushing around a huge, metal box. It looked quite heavy, and he seemed to be having trouble, grunting loudly.
Carolina walked up to her. "We ready?"
"Just about. Running final checks now," The Pilot replied.
"Alright, you heard her! Everyone on-board!" Carolina ordered, the rest of the Freelancers quickly obliging.
"Great," Washington declared, causing Ruby to roll her eyes.
"Alright!" North added with equal confusing enthusiasm.
"C'mon D. Let's go," York said to Delta.
"It's about time. Let's get this mission going," North continued. The five broke their impromptu circle and headed towards the Pelican.
"Woah, woah, woah," The pilot interrupted, gesturing to Delta. "Hang on a minute, what is that thing?"
"Flipper Frog," Washington stated knowingly, only for York to look at him sternly, pushing him aside.
"This is Delta," York replied patiently. "Our new addition.
"Your new addition is pretty small."
"I said the same thing," Washington chimed in.
Ruby could practically hear York roll his eyes. "Delta is a computer program. He helps us figure stuff out. He's an A.I."
"Yeah," Ruby added quietly, Tau flickering to life on her shoulder. "Like this guy."
"Woah, you have one too?" Wash asked.
"Oh, A.I, huh? What's the A stand for?" The pilot asked with sarcasm so heavy you could feel it seeping into you.
"Artificial." York replied, slightly condescendingly.
"I know what it fucking stands for, what's it doing here? Isn't it like one of those robots who takes people's jobs and puts them out of work?"
"Umm…. I don't… think so?" York replied uncertainly.
The pilot turned away. "What are you looking at?! I said put it over there, pay attention!" She commanded the soldier pushing the crate, who had just finished putting it where she had instructed him. He grunted in annoyance and began moving it to the knew location.
"Hey guys, get a move on," Carolina interrupted impatiently.
"Hang on a minute," The pilot said, holding up a hand and bending down to Delta. "You. Green guy. Do you know how to fly a plane?"
"No I do not," Delta replied after a brief hesitation.
"Huh. Right. We're cool then, everybody on board!" The pilot said enthusiastically, before turning back to the soldier pushing the crate.
"Not over there, over the- just quit screwing around and put that thing back where you found it!"
The trooper groaned and collapsed onto the crate, the pilot joining the Freelancers as they entered the Pelican, although she walked to the cockpit while the others sat down. Ruby hesitantly joined them, sitting some distance away as the pilot started talking, presumably over radio.
"This is Four Seven Niner. We are wheels up and engines hot. Leave a light on for us, command."
A replied sounded, but Ruby couldn't quite make it out.
"Thanks, command. Four Seven Niner out," the pilot replied. "Man, I would hate to have that guys job," She added quietly as she powered up the engines.
Just before she was about to take off, a standard soldier ran in front of the Pelican, waving his hands above his head in a clear sign to wait. The Pilot flicked on her communication channel.
"What do you want? We're about to take off," She said, annoyance clear in her voice. There was a muffled reply in response.
"Right, I got it," The Pilot said with none of the animosity she'd shown before. "West, you're needed on the ground for a sec, apparently the big wigs want to test some new kind of transport."
"Um… okay," Ruby replied, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. She stood up and exited the Pelican, the ramp sliding up almost as soon as she had, and taking off a moment later. Ruby was nearly knocked to the ground by the force, but managed to regain her footing at the last second and merely staggered forward a few steps.
The soldier in white walked over to her, past another soldier in white who was still laboriously moving the huge metal container, quickly making their way to her. Ruby could never tell the other soldier's genders by sight.
As soon as they were close enough, the soldier saluted her and silently handed a piece of paper with a serious of directions on it. Ruby nodded and spun around to follow them, breaking into a light jog as wherever she was supposed to be going was on the other side of the ship.
Oh well, she figured it couldn't be too bad.
TIME: 1807
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
LOCATION: Storage
"That sounds like a TERRIBLE idea!" Ruby said to the soldier who had just finished explaining her new… she struggled to call it 'transport'.
"Well, too bad 'cause it's time to go," The soldier replied. They shoved her lightly, causing her to step back once. But one step was all they needed, and the door of the pod slammed closed. Ruby closed her eyes as she felt herself being practically flung upwards, and tried her best not to get motion sick.
TIME: 1822
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
LOCATION: Insurrectionist Base, Orbit
After what felt like an hour of struggling not to throw up, the small shuttle Ruby was in finally came to a halt, and the radio pinged.
"Agent West Virginia, have you arrived at the location?" F.I.L.I.S asked.
"HOW SHOULD I KNOW?" Ruby demanded. "THERE ARE NO WINDOWS!"
"Scanning satellite location," F.I.L.I.S continued. "Scan complete. Team A will be arriving in… scanning team A's tracker… thirty nine minutes. Please stand by for deployment."
Ruby swore. Forty minutes of waiting for the others to arrive? Then what had been the point of sending her on a different transport? Fucking techs wanting to test their fucking toys.
"Administering Cryosleep." F.I.L.I.S's voice came once more.
Wait, Cryo? Wasn't that when people would be fro-
Ruby's thoughts were interrupted as she felt her entire body become numb, and quickly fell asleep.
TIME: 1900
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
LOCATION: Insurrectionist Base, Orbit
"-ing Cryosleep," said a voice quietly as Ruby was brought back into the realm on consciousness. "Welcome back, Agent West Virginia."
It was F.I.L.I.S. Ruby growled. "WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?"
"Studies indicate you would've gotten bored, which in turn would've subversively effected your performance on the field."
"So you put every muscle in my body to SLEEP? That's WORSE!"
"Deploying in; sixteen seconds. Please prepare yourself," F.I.L.I.S replied, seemingly oblivious.
"Wait… deploying? Deploying how?" Ruby asked. There was a brief pause.
"Deploying in five seconds."
"Um… F.I.L.I.S?" Ruby asked nervously.
"Deploying," At this, Ruby felt herself begin to hurtle downwards, and fingered her weapons for comfort. "Thank you for assisting in the test run of the mark VIII H2096C Emergency Shuttle. Tests indicate Shuttle is fully functional and perfectly safe for deployment. Have a nice day."
Ruby's radio clicked off, and Ruby felt herself continue to hurtle downwards, only for the shuttle to… stop. She didn't feel any impact or anything. Ruby grabbed the red handle to the door in front of her and tried to disengage it, but the handle refused to budge. Growling in annoyance, Ruby punched the door, only for it to come flying off it's hinged.
Ruby's first thought was that a door being weaker than its handle was a serious design flaw. Naturally, however, that only lasted for a brief second, as a bright light blinded her, only for her visor to quickly compensate for the glare.
Ahead of her was the sea, past a short drop. There was a concrete floor between her and the body of water. Clearly she was at some kind of dock.
However, what caught her eye most was the Warthog chasing Wash around in a big circle, it's machine gun blazing. She saw a bluish greenish flash, and the person operating the turret was flung off by a kick from Carolina, who leapt after them. Slightly to her right, York was making a break for his shotgun which lay guarded on the floor behind a familiar soldier with no sleeved armour.
But of course, none of that kept her attention for more than a second, because to her left, seemingly frozen in place, was Pyrrha.
Ruby stepped out of the shuttle and turned to face her… Ally? Enemy? Allenemy? Shouldering her rifle. She spun the knife in her hand, before throwing it to Pyrrha's feet.
"I thought you might be wanting that back," Ruby said calmly.
Naturally, Pyrrha wasn't an idiot, and thus didn't bend down to pick it up, which would leave it exposed. Instead, she held her DMR left handed, and held her right hand above the knife. The knife sailed into her grip. Ruby smirked underneath her helmet. So Pyrrha did still have her semblance, interesting.
"You continue to surprise me with your… generosity," Pyrrha said quietly. Even if the tone she used was a lot more like the old Pyrrha, her voice was noticeably deeper… older.
Ruby took a second to study the way Pyrrha was standing. "You leg's better," Pyrrha stood slightly straighter in surprise, even as Ruby took a closer look. "But your rib isn't quite healed yet."
"You… have sharp eyes," Pyrrha muttered. "But yes, I'm still not fully recovered."
"You still healed quickly," Ruby stated.
"So did you," Pyrrha replied coldly, nodding to Ruby's stomach. Ruby merely shrugged, lifting her rifle to point at the girl.
"I suppose we have to at least play a bit, though, can't let our allies do all the work."
Ruby pulled the trigger, and Pyrrha's knife flashed in front of her, cutting down the bullet. Ruby smirked, that type of speed was impressive even fore a Huntress.
"You know this gun can fire accurately from kilometres away. I'm surprised you reacted in time."
"You don't seem that surp-" Pyrrha cut herself off, freezing in place entirely as her head swivelled to the rifle, studying it. Her grip on her knife and gun started to shake a bit.
"You…" Pyrrha said with a malice Ruby wouldn't have thought she had in her. Ruby cocked her head to the side in confusion. "From the highway. I caught a glimpse of you after you killed one of my friends, after you shot me down mid-flight."
Ruby was confused for a second, until the logic clicked into place. "The jetpack soldier! Ah, I remember now."
"There aren't many I'd be willing to kill, I usually leave that to my colleagues. But in your case I can make an exception."
Right, this wasn't going so well. But Ruby wasn't fully sure how to disperse the situation. Sure, she'd been winding Pyrrha up, but she'd also come here to let Pyrrha know it was her. Now she might not get the chance.
Pyrrha lunged forward with inhuman speed, slashing at Ruby's head with her recently reacquired knife. If Ruby had been anyone else, she probably wouldn't still have her head. No matter how fast others might have been, they wouldn't have been expecting that.
But Ruby had known Pyrrha was going to be fast, and had assumed she would be using her aura. So she let herself fall under the blow, planting her hands firmly against the ground and spring boarding off, kicking at Pyrrha's head. Pyrrha, caught of guard, and slightly off balance, didn't quite manage to dodge the blow, even if it only nicked her helmet.
However, at the last millisecond before it connected, Ruby fired a shot from her sniper rifle to propel it forward just a tiny bit faster, and Pyrrha's helmet came off completely, flying backwards and out of sight.
Pyrrha flipped backwards, bringing up her DMR and sighting all in under a second, firing three quick shots at Ruby.
Pulling her own pistol out of her holster, Ruby caught all three on the metal. The pistol was mostly useless, anyway, so even though it was now inoperable she could probably still use it as a shield.
Pyrrha glared at her from behind her rifle, grimacing slightly and clearly realising further shots would be useless. She gradually lowered it to her side, then changed her mind and clipped it to her back, spinning her knife instead.
"You're quick. Are you using some kind of armour enhancement, or did you just get lucky?"
"My armour's fairly standard, bar the A.I. and Camo unit." Ruby said casually.
Pyrrha frowned. "Why do you keep telling me classified things like that? I'm trying to kill you!" Pyrrha lunged forward again, stabbing at Ruby's chest, only for Ruby to sidestep and hit Pyrrha in the head with the butt of her rifle, activating her active camouflage.
"Can you stop that? I'm trying to have a conversation here," Ruby asked. Pyrrha spun around, looking for her.
"That's not a normal response to a fight to the death! Now come back here, and show your face, you coward," Pyrrha demanded angrily.
Ruby pressed her rifle to the back of Pyrrha's head, deactivating her camo. "Fine, if you insist."
There was a brief pause, and Ruby saw Pyrrha's muscles tense, leaping backwards even as Pyrrha performed a jumping spin kick that would've put martial artists to shame, and surely would've disarmed her.
Instead, Pyrrha merely kicked the air, and found her landing interrupted as Ruby kicked her legs mid-air. Pyrrha lander painfully, sprawled on the pavement, and rested her gun against Pyrrha's chest.
"Look, I don't doubt you're fast. But I know I'm just a bit faster. Try something like that again and I'll shoot you, which I really don't want to do."
"Why do you want to talk so badly you'd put your life on the line?" Pyrrha demanded, slashing at the barrel of Ruby's rifle with her knife.
The knife dug through her armour, and deeply into her skin as Ruby caught the blade on her forearm. A steady stream of blood began to slide down the knife, and Ruby bit back a howl from the pain.
"Because I don't want to be alone anymore, Pyrrha."
"What's that su…"
Pyrrha once again stopped as she realised the implications of what Ruby had just said.
"How did you know my name?"
Ruby let her rifle clatter to the ground besides her, and used her now free hand to reach up and remove her helmet.
So, 'Tis the next instalment! In case anyone is wondering how Ruby is beating Pyrrha so easily, just keep in mind Pyrrha has a broken rib, and basically only one eye. Which is totally Ruby's fault, but still.
How will Pyrrha react? What will happen next? Who will save Princess Peach from the evil King Bradley? And most importantly, does Anyone know what happened to my last packet of bacon strips? Yes, I know I left them at your place! I was going to eat them next time I visited!
Back on topic, if you see any errors please let me know so I can correct them. If you have speculation, feel free to share it, and if you have criticism, also feel free to let me know, as long as it is constructive, and not just 'you suck' or something along those lines.
Cya next time.