Hey Frost HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So I now have a two week holiday so I want to ask would you guys rather short chapters which would be released quicker like this one or would you rather long ones like the previous one but released a bit slower. PM or review what you want and I'll try to do it for the next two weeks. Personally I'd rather do the longer chapters for the holidays as I have more time but the choice is your's so let me know.
I don't own RWBY if I did the giant mech would be called Freckles.
It was a quiet dinner at team RWBY and JNPR's table, even the normally bright energetic Nora was solemn and silent as they ate. It had been two days since 'Ruby' had gone missing and the only news they had on her whereabouts was an empty locker half buried in snow. The happy cheerful atmosphere they'd once shared had drifted away without her to act as an anchor.
"I hope Ruby's okay," said Jaune.
"Don't call her that! That imposter is not my sister," snapped Yang.
"So she just deserves to be killed by some Grimm in the wild or starve to death in the streets!" he shot back.
"Both of you quiet down, you're not helping!" shouted Blake standing up.
Both teams looked shocked at hearing the normally quiet and reserved Faunus raise her voice. Yang and Jaune both looked down on their food with guilty expressions.
"Does it really matter if she is or isn't Ruby?" asked Nora. "Do all the good times we shared as friends or the times she helped us over the past week mean nothing if she's not Ruby? If she's not Ruby then doesn't that mean she helped all of us without knowing who we are, and what do we do? Attack her and chase her out of Beacon."
Everyone turned to look at the ginger in surprise, they had never seen Nora this serious before, and to make it worse she was right. There was silence between them as the teams pondered on what she had said, Yang looked around unable to believe what she was hearing.
"She manipulated us, deceived us and you feel sorry for her!" she exclaimed.
"She also protected us from the Rapier Wasps, saved Cardin's life after he nearly got her killed and saved Sun's and Blake's too, all the while knowing it would come back to haunt her," interrupted Weiss.
"That doesn't sound like a bad kind of person," agreed Blake.
"That could all be part of her plan, are you forgetting she knew about Torchwick!" said Yang paranoid.
"And did you even ask her about that before you attacked her?" asked Jaune.
"The Headmaster did say that Earth aura is not very well understood, only that it can predict the future to some degree, perhaps that had something to do with it?" reasoned Ren.
They descended back into silence as each of them thought about what he had said. Yang frowned, gripping her fork so hard that it gave a metallic shriek as it bent. 'I don't care what they think when I find her I'll beat that imposter to the ground, with or without their help,' she thought.
"Yang you alright, you look kind of… off," asked Pyrrha.
"I'm fine," she replied, getting up from the table.
As she left the cafeteria Weiss and Blake shared a glance. While Blake got up to follow Yang back to the dorms Weiss turned to team JNPR.
"You saw her expression right?" she asked.
Getting nods from all of them she sighed, "Listen if you can, make sure Yang isn't alone at any time and for the love of God if you hear anything about Ruby tell me or Blake not Yang okay? We don't need her running off on her own personal witch hunt."
Seeing them all nod in understanding Weiss got up and followed her teammates back to the dorms, leaving a very confused and concerned team JNPR to their dinner.
Red looked down from the rooftop to the city streets below, she was supposed to scout the location and provide support when they moved in.
"Store is clear, he's directing the customers out so he can close up the shop," she said into her headset.
"Alright you know the plan get in position," ordered the voice on the other end.
"Got it, moving now," she replied.
Checking her pockets to make sure her equipment was ready she pulled her hood over her head and jumped down from the roof. She walked into the store and went over to the counter, only to be greeted by the owner.
"I'm sorry ma'am but we're closing early due to the recent dust robberies, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said.
Red began crying, "P-Please mister there are some bad men chasing me… th-they said they wanted to show me a good time… then… then…" she choked out with fake sobs.
The man's eyes widened and his expression softened as he walked over to her, "oh you poor thing did they hurt you?" he asked, giving her a hug.
Red smirked, 'hook, line and sinker.' Reaching into her pocket she quickly jabbed the man with her Taser, causing him to spasm and fall to the floor unconscious, an expression of horror etched on to his face. Red quickly checked the rest of the store for witnesses before reporting in.
"The target is down and the store is clean, you're all clear Adam," she said, trying to keep the distaste out of her voice.
"Understood we're moving in now," he replied.
Five minutes later the door bells rang and in walked Adam Taurus followed by seven White Fang grunts. Adam walked over to her as the grunts began to steal every single bit of dust they could get their hands on.
"Looks like they weren't lying when they said you were good but you know you could have made this a lot easier if you'd let us kill the target," he commented.
"You're here to observe me for the boss not question my decision making Adam, besides the plan worked didn't it?" she retorted.
Adam grunted and made his way over to help pack the dust, Red was going to help when she felt it. The familiar prickling of the skin at the back of her head, causing alarm bells to ring in her mind. Something bad was about to happen, panicking she ran over to Adam.
"We need to go! Now! Grab all the dust that we've packed so far and let's move," she ordered.
They all looked at her in surprise before turning to Adam, the Faunus held up a hand and just looked at Red frowning.
"Why do we need to go?" he asked.
"Something bad is coming, I can feel it," she explained.
"You're calling off this whole operation because of a 'bad feeling?'" he said, sceptically.
The others looked just as sceptical, some were even outright laughing at her, Red felt the blood rush to her face.
"Damn it Adam! The boss put me in charge of this mission and if I say abort, we abort, got it?" she demanded, glaring as best a 15 year old could.
Adam began reaching for Wilt and Blush looking ready to tear her to shreds, instead however he sighed and nodded. Looking back to the spectating grunts he yelled, "Well you heard her get moving!"
As the grunts ran out of the store Adam turned to Red, "You're going to have to explain to the boss why we called this off and I hope for your sake it's better than 'I had a bad feeling,'" he warned.
Red nodded and they both followed the grunts out of the store to the rendezvous point. As they reached R.V point the group heard sirens growing in the distance, eyes widening they looked behind them. Ten cop cars had surrounded the store and were in the process of attempting to negotiate with the now absent White Fang. Red felt all the eyes fall upon her as the group realized just how close they'd come to disaster.
Adam slowly walked up to her, "Red next time you have a bad feeling promise me you'll punch me until I listen," he said, offering a hand.
Red smiled, "I'll hold you to that Adam," she said, shaking the offered hand.
"Still how did they know we were there, we set off no alarms and I think ten cars is a bit too large to be a regular patrol," she asked him.
He nodded, "you're right, the only explanation is that they already knew we were coming and that can mean only one thing."
"No Miss Xiao Long we have not heard any news on our friend's location since the locker was discovered last night," informed Ozpin.
"There must be something! People don't just disappear off the face of Remnant!" she screamed.
"Vale is a big city Miss Xiao Long, plenty of places for someone to hide if they wanted to. In fact we don't even know if she is still alive or not at this point," he explained.
"Give my team and a break in class, we can go look for her and cover more ground," suggested Yang.
Ozpin shook his head, "no we have informed the Vale police department to be on the lookout for her as well as placed her on the missing persons list, that will do more the your team ever could."
"She should be placed on a wanted list not missing persons," she hissed.
"Miss Xiao Long, our friend is not responsible for what happened to Miss Rose. Indeed you might need to consider that she is Ruby, after all remember they did consume each other," he explained.
"That imposter is not my sister," she spat.
Ozpin just sighed, "Tell me Miss Xiao Long, what makes a person who they are? Is it their appearance, their friends and family, their drives and goals or is it a combination of all of them? What is a soul? Until you can answer these questions do you really have the right to say whether or not she is your sister?" he asked, glaring at her.
Yang didn't respond and left the room without a dismissal, slamming the door on her way out. Unable to control her temper she began walking down to the training room, where she had been spending most of her time these past few days venting.
"So we have a traitor," commented Roman.
"Yes sir there is no other explanation for what happened there, if not for your agent Red here we would've been behind bars, with no dust instead of half the amount," replied Adam.
Red was currently sitting on a dust crate doing maintenance work on Crescent Rose as Adam reported in to Roman. Upon hearing her name she looked up from her work to see if they were talking to her, realizing they weren't she returned to her maintenance. Roman gave her a quick look before turning back to Adam.
"Your new job is to find who this rat is and put a stop to it, our employer is not a fan of traitors," he ordered.
Adam nodded, "In that case I would like to request the aid of your agent. She has shown very good powers of perception that would prove invaluable to the investigation."
Both Red and Roman looked up in surprised at this, "I can't argue with that logic, so how about it Red? Feel like working with our friend here?" asked Roman.
Red just shrugged, "why not I was just planning on calibrating Crescent Rose anyway."
"Alright then get your equipment ready and get some food from the mess hall, I'll catch you afterwards and show you around," said the Bull Faunus.
As Red left Roman turned to Adam, "so how did she do?"
"She is a very creative planner, good at manipulating others and knows how to evaluate a risk vs reward scenario," he answered.
"So don't play cards with her then," joked Roman.
Adam nodded, "but she is hesitant to kill and complicates things needlessly in order to avoid it, I can safely say she will kill if given no other choice but the motivation has to be high to do so," he smirked. "She reminds me of someone I used to know," he concluded.
Roman nodded and dismissed the White Fang lieutenant, whom then walked out to get some food and rest.
"So your newest recruit has some potential after all," came a female voice from behind him.
"Indeed not only does she have two auras, one of which is an Earth aura no less but she also can also think on her feet and adapt, a rare quality nowadays," agreed Roman.
"Let us hope you can keep her loyal, it would be a problem if such an individual turned against us," she warned.
Roman turned around grinning, "don't worry I have something that will keep our Little Red in line," he said smugly.
"I hope so Roman, for your sake," threatened Cinder.
Why is Red working for Roman? What will happen when team RWBY is reunited? And who is the traitor? Who knows I guess you'll have to wait and find out. Hope you guys enjoyed it.