Ok guys longer chapters it is however the updates are going to be sporadic from now on, as I'm sure you realise some chapters are easier to write then others. Also I've been reading through the previous chapters again and I think my story is beginning to suffer from Cerberus Syndrome which might make it hard to get back to canon. Meh I find a way I guess, anyway enjoy the chapter.
I don't own RWBY if I did they would use shipping names as battle tactics... wait a second...
"And this is where you'll be sleeping," informed Adam.
Red looked around the room, if it could be called that. There was barely enough space to fit the two of them in here. The room itself contained a desk and chair as well as a light that looked ready to die any minute. It didn't even have a bed, instead there was a hammock with a stool at one end of the room. 'Well beats sleeping on the streets,' she thought sighing. Adam noticed her expression and stared at her disapprovingly.
"You should be grateful usually only the higher ups get their own room," he scolded.
Red nodded as she continued to study her new living quarters, frowning as she realized something. "Where's the bathroom?" she asked, turning to face him.
"At the end of the hall, we use communal bathrooms Red, also there is only 5 minute showers at max," he said, gesturing down the hall.
"Utility above all else huh?" she commented.
Adam merely grunted in response, "is there any place you want to check out now, if not I'm going," he asked.
Red paused for a minute thinking, reaching in to her pocket she felt the Taser present. Thinking back to the magazine incident in the Dust til Dawn she smirked, 'might as well see what else I inherited from Ruby.'
"Yeah can you show me to the armory?" she asked.
"Why?" he asked in surprise.
"My team back at Beacon wasn't entirely happy with my career change, in fact I still have the bruises on my neck to show for it. They'll come after me and I'll need a trick up my sleeve to beat them," she answered.
Adam nodded and motioned for her to follow him, he seemed to be distracted as they walked, ignoring the many salutes from his subordinates as they passed. As they arrived at the armory Adam tapped her on the shoulder.
"This may sound strange but did you know a Cat Faunus at Beacon?" he asked, almost shyly.
"Sure did, Blake Belladonna, she was one of my friends," she informed him.
"Wait what do you mean 'was'?" he interrogated with much more force.
"She was on my team that tried to kill me, attempts at my own life usually means we're not friends anymore," she shot back angrily.
Adam looked shocked at this bit of information, "That's not how Blake does things she's like you, she doesn't kill unless there is no other option."
"Look I don't know! All I do know is that my own team just tried to kill me!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in anger.
"Right sorry," he said, looking apologetic.
Red nodded and walked over to the creates of dust crystals and began pulling them apart, much to Adam's horror.
"Be careful with those they are extremely volatile!" he shouted.
Red just gave him a deadpan look, "Ya don't say."
Returning to her work she frowned and turned to face him, "where do you keep the yellow dust and crystals?" asked Red, ignoring Adam's questioning look.
He just shook his head and pointed to another pile off in the corner. Getting up Red walked over to the pile and grabbed a crystal as well as two jars of dust. Remembering her sparing session and beat down by Yang, Red frowned. 'She's the biggest threat, Yang has probably memorized all of Ruby's attacks and she's too smart to fall for the same trick again. Then there's Blake, from what Adam said she has killed before plus her semblance is annoying. Weiss shouldn't be too big of a problem if I can catch her alone, my speed make her rapier useless, but if I get trapped in one of her stasis glyphs I'm screwed.'
Walking over she placed the dust components on a table and reached into her pocket, pulling out her Taser. Placing both it and Crescent Rose on the table she frowned, she knew she should stop using Ruby's scythe. Maybe even pull it apart and cannibalize it for a new weapon, one that would give her the advantage over team RWBY. She knew all of this and yet for some reason every time she thought about leaving or destroying the scythe a feeling of disgust filled her, no one was doing that to her sweetheart! Red blinked, 'did I just call Crescent Rose my sweetheart?' she thought confused. She flinched as a spike of pain lanced through her, causing Red to grip her head in agony.
"Okay Ruby you have been going well with your training, I think it's time to step it up a notch," informed Qrow.
"You mean…" she trailed off hopefully.
Qrow smiled, "that's right, time for live weapons training," he answered.
Ruby squealed in excitement as Qrow walked over to a nearby chest and took out what looked like a block of metal. Ruby was confused, how could that block of metal be a weapon? Was it a type of gun? No uncle Qrow mainly focused on close quarters combat not gunfights.
"Ruby do you know what I'm famous for?" he asked.
She shook her head, "only that you're a really strong hunter," she replied.
Qrow gave a chuckle, "If you think I'm strong you should see my old teammates, no Ruby I'm famous for being one of the best scythe wielders in Remnant," he answered.
Ruby gasped as the block of metal in his hand began to shift into the recognizable shape of a red and black scythe. Smirking at her expression Qrow walked over to her.
"This is the basic form that all scythes share, individual wielders often design and customize them to have numerous functions, and some even put a different second form in theirs," he explained. "And this one is yours, congratulations Ruby."
"Oh this is so cool, I could make it split into two sickles, no that would leave me at a disadvantage at ranged combat. Oh I know I could make it shoot elemental powers, no I wouldn't have enough money for the dust required to make it. I got it! A sniper rifle embedded into the scythe, the recoil could help me in close quarters and I could use the scythe blade to stabilize it when I need to fire accurately," listed Ruby animatedly.
Qrow looked overwhelmed at her constant stream of plans and just shook his head. Ruby looked up to him with an embarrassed expression.
"I read your weapons magazines when you're late to training, they're really interesting," she explained.
He just sighed, "Putting aside the fact that you read and enjoy weapon magazines that even I struggle to understand, you need to realize that this is a weapon not a toy Ruby," he said seriously.
"I know uncle Qrow, don't worry I'll be careful," she assured him.
Handing the scythe to her Ruby nearly dropped it, it was a lot heavier than the skinny thing looked. Struggling to lift the scythe up she attempted a basic overhead slash, only to fall on her backside dropping the scythe.
"Heavy isn't it?" asked Qrow helping her up. Not breaking eye contact he continued, "That is the weight of a weapon that can take a person's life. That is the weight of the responsibility that you now hold in your hands Ruby. Never forget it."
Qrow gave a sad smile, "Now do you have a name for your monstrosity in the making," he joked.
"I'll call it Crescent Rose," she said, eyeing the scythe fondly.
His face showed a confused expression, "Why Crescent Rose?"
Ruby's gaze dropped to the floor, "the blade reminds me of the moon," she said.
"Well that explains Crescent but why Rose?" mused Qrow.
"To remind me of what I'm fighting for," whispered Ruby.
"You okay?" asked Adam who had been watching her with mild interest.
"Yeah just a headache, I've grown used to it by now," she replied.
Bringing her attention back to the weapon in front of her she frowned. In her mind were the blue prints of the scythe down to exact detail, she could take it apart and put it back together again blindfolded. Looking at her collection on the table a plan began to form in her mind, packing everything up she walked back to Adam. 'What you're fighting for huh, so what am I fighting for? Ruby sorry but I'm going to mess with your sweetheart a little bit,' she thought with remorse.
"Hey Adam do you guys have a workshop I have some improvements to make also do you have any spare gloves I can have, the thicker the better," she said her voice neutral.
"I'll see what we've got," motioning her to follow they headed out of the armoury.
Taking one last look behind her Red gasped, stunned. With the lights off the armoury was being illuminated by the different dusts crystals, it was beautiful array of colours and Red felt like she could stare at it all day and not get bored.
"Oi Red hurry up," called Adam.
Running after him neither of them noticed the dust crystals dim as they left the armoury, nor the crystal in Red's hand continuing to glow brighter.
"Alright you all know why you're here, we have a traitor in our midst and if anyone knows who's feeding the information it will be the Schnee Company," informed the Bull Faunus.
Red along with the seven grunts from before were all looking at Adam, listening to his mission briefing while the Bullhead approached their destination.
"Our internal investigations have shown that over two days ago an unauthorized communication was sent to the police. While we can't break into the station ourselves we can be sure that the Schnee Company intercepted this call and are looking into it as well," he explained.
Red held the safety harness in a death grip, deathly pale, as the Bullhead encountered turbulence. She was never a fan of flying, she preferred her feet to be on the ground where they belonged. It might sound weird considering what she does in her parkour but say what you will she felt safer doing that then she did flying and considering the accident that started all this that was saying something.
"We're being deployed with Majestic for this mission, their job is to sabotage the facilities security. It's our job to break in get any data they have on the traitor and get out, simple as that. Any questions?" concluded Adam.
Red had heaps, the problem was the minute she opened her mouth she'd lose all her lunch. The others began preparing themselves as they began to approach the Schnee data storage facility.
"What are our ROE?" asked one of the grunts readying his weapon.
Adam gave a quick glance to Red before turning to face him, "Don't fire until fired upon after that shoot to kill," he said.
Red frowned but said nothing as the Bullhead landed on one of the rooftops, undoing her safety harness she ran outside and collapsed on the ground. The group laughed at this and even Adam had a smile on his face as they began moving on to the compound.
"Big Sky, this is Strike One, we're moving on the compound now," reported Adam into his radio.
"Understood Strike One, you've got the green light to engage," came the pilot's reply.
"Alright Red you go on ahead and scout, get as close as you can without risking yourself. The rest of you spread out we don't want to draw attention to ourselves and for God's sake hide those weapons and uniforms," he ordered.
Red nodded and began to walk down the streets of Vale when she stopped, frowning.
"What is it?" questioned Adam.
Red shook her head, "nothing… just a bad feeling."
Everyone turned to look at each other remembering the last time she had a bad feeling, suddenly very worried.
Adam frowned before activating the radio, "Majestic come in."
As feared there was nothing but an ominous silence in reply. "Big Sky we've lost contact with Majestic, can you get through?" asked Adam.
"Negative Strike One, I'll keep trying to raise them though," came the reply.
Adam turned to face them, "alright for now we stick to the plan but make sure to keep in constant radio contact."
Red nodded and headed down the streets, still aglow with lights celebrating the upcoming Vytal festival. Heading down the streets she noticed movement in the corner of her eyes, turning she immediately grabbed Crescent Rose and got into a battle stance, her heart pounding. There standing in front of one of the stores was Yang Xiao Long.
"If you think I'm going down like last time, you're sadly mistaken," she growled, fingering her neck.
Yang didn't respond and instead turned to the store tapping her foot, looking very impatient. Confused Red began to prepare for a surprise attack when the shop door opened, glancing at the door Red's heart stopped, Crescent Rose falling from numb hands. Cheerfully skipping over to her sister was none other than Ruby Rose.
"Sorry for taking so long sis," apologized Ruby.
"Ruby this is the fourth bakery we've been to, you really need to start showing some restraint and that's coming from me," complained the blonde.
"But Yang they're half price during the Vytal Festival," pouted Ruby.
Yang sighed, "Ruby keep up this sugar diet and soon you won't be able to fit through the door anymore."
Grinning the blonde walked over to her sister and grabbed her bag, "so we better start burning off that sugar now."
Yanking the bag from her Yang ran down the streets calling, "catch me if you can."
Ruby blinked before running after her sister, "get back here Yang Xiao Long."
Red watched as the two sisters ran down the street before jumping as her radio went off, looking around she found the two sisters were gone, vanished without a trace. Standing stock still Red slowly picked up her scythe, 'What… What was that?' she thought hesitantly.
"Red here, what's wrong?" she spoke into the headset.
"What's wrong! We've been trying to contact you for five bloody minutes! What happened?" came Adam's angry response.
"Sorry about that, thought I saw an old teammate and panicked, thankfully I was mistaken" she answered.
Adam sighed, "Alright we've found a place to act as a fall back point meet us there," he ordered.
Giving an affirmative Red walked down the streets to the meeting point, not noticing a security camera following her every move.
Red looked down from her vantage point on to the compound across the street, she had to say calling it a compound was a bit misleading. It was a two story building surrounded by barb wire fences as well as guard towers at regular intervals and one check point at the gate. However it was surrounded on all sides by security cameras leaving no real blind spot past the fence line to exploit. What caught both her and Adam's attention however was the line of Faunus being loaded into a truck.
"Well I guess now we know what happened to Majestic?" she joked.
The Bull Faunus just glared at her as the truck drove off, "this is not good the Schnee security never take people alive unless they want to interrogate them."
"Look I'll get the data you and the team go after Majestic," she said.
Adam looked at her ready to argue, "Adam just trust me I know what I'm doing," she pleaded.
He sighed and nodded, "ok Red we'll do it your way."
Turning back to the rest of the team he lead them off the roof top and headed back to the Bullhead for pick up. Taking a deep breath she walked over to the checkpoint with her best Ruby smile.
"Excuse me Miss this is private property of the Schnee Dust Company, I'm afraid I'm going to have to get you to leave," said one of them.
"Hi my name's Ruby Rose, Headmaster Ozpin sent me to pick up some data," she said, putting as much peppiness into her voice as possible.
The two of them shared a glance, "we weren't informed of any pick ups, I'm going to need to report this to the Director," he said.
Red nodded, 'ok step one complete they didn't shoot me on sight, now I need to figure out a step two.' One of them got off his radio and walked over to her.
"The Director wants to speak to you, follow me," he told her.
"Nice to meet you Ruby Rose, my name is Leonard Church I am the Director of this facility," introduced the director.
"Now mind telling me what business Beacon has here?" he asked, taking a seat.
Red sat down on her own chair her fake smile still etched onto her face, 'no way that's his name it must be a coincidence,' she thought in disbelief.
"You have some data critical for our mission against the White Fang, the Headmaster sent me here fearing an attack to obtain it," she lied.
"I see well there was an attack but thankfully they didn't get very far, so you can tell your Headmaster that there is nothing to worry about," concluded the director.
"With all due respect Director I was told to pick up the data not deliver a message. Weiss even said you'd help me," she argued, dropping her smile.
"Yes I am aware you are teammates with Miss Schnee, in fact that is the only reason we are speaking," he said, leaning back in his chair.
"However if you were indeed sent by Miss Schnee then you must have the passcode for this facility, after all every facility has a different passcode for authorization purposes and if not you could just call her to ask," he said smirking.
"That won't be necessary," she said hastily. 'Damn it he's calling my bluff, ok think what would Weiss make as a passcode, come on aura help me out here.'
"Well Miss Rose I'm waiting," drawled the director as two guards began to approach her chair.
Looking at him Red blinked as she had a brainwave, no person not even a Schnee could think up passcodes for every single facility. 'Which means he's the one who thought it up,' she realized. It was a long shot but it was also the only chance she had and in this case no answer was just as bad as a wrong answer. 'Screw it I always raise the pot when I have a bad hand anyway,' she thought smirking.
"The passcode is Allison," Red announced.
The director's smirk dropped and his expression darkened instantly, the two guards gripped her shoulders hard. Red's body began to go into overdrive as she struggled to get free from their vice like grip.
"No stop, let her go," ordered the director, dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
Sitting back down he breathed an exasperated sigh, "My apologies Miss Rose but I had to be sure you were telling the truth."
Red's heart slowed down as she began to relax and a relieved smile crept along her face. Rubbing her shoulders she nodded to him.
"I understand Director you can never be too careful these days, especially with the White Fang running around," she replied.
The director nodded and got up from his chair, "indeed, if you would please follow me Miss Rose we will get the required data ready for you."
Red had to struggle to keep a triumphant smirk off her face, "of course Director after you."
Weiss had been having a quiet day, Yang was off on one of her venting sessions in the training room as usual and Blake had gone to check for any news about Ruby. Sighing she was about to have a nap on her bed when her scroll went off. Groaning she got off her bed and angrily opened up the scroll before frowning. It was a message from the data storage site 17-B, 'why did they send me a message? Usually dad deals with these kinds of things,' she wondered. Her curiosity getting the better of her she opened up the message her eyes growing wide.
A memo to Weiss Schnee, the daughter of Mr. Schnee and owner of the Schnee Dust Company, from the Director of Site 17-B 'Valhalla.'
Dear Miss Schnee,
I would like to remind you that this facility is to be used by the company only and it would be appreciated if you did not announce the data we collect to third parties. I have spoken with your father about this and he agrees with me, we both know being a huntress is important to you but please keep in mind that you are a Schnee first and huntress second. Secondly the next time something like this comes up we would appreciate it if you did not show up unannounced and do not, I repeat DO NOT give out our passcodes to your teammates again, no matter how good friends you are. If I see Miss Rose in my facility again YOU will be held responsible, the next time Ozpin asks for some of our classified data there will be consequences. I do hope I have made myself clear, I do not give second chances, no matter who the individual is Miss Schnee.
Sincerely yours, The Director of Site 17-B Dr. Leonard Church.
Weiss just sat there staring at the scroll in shock, 'what's going on I never gave out any of the passcodes to anyone!' she thought. Suddenly her eyes widened, 'wait a minute Miss Rose, Ruby was there! But why and how?' Frowning she quickly typed a message explaining the situation, asking for every single bit of detail of his encounter. So consumed was she that she didn't notice Blake walk into the dorms until the Faunus tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to scream and jump, much to Blake's amusement.
"Blake don't do that!" she yelled.
"Sorry but I did call you several times, what has you so interested anyway?" asked Blake.
"I've found something about Ruby," explained the heiress.
Blake's eyes widened as Weiss handed her the message, quickly reading it she turned to Weiss looking shocked. Noting her expression Weiss nodded and took back her scroll.
"Weiss this is big, are you sure this information is reliable? Why would Ruby break in to a Schnee data compound?" she said in disbelief.
"I don't know but the Director isn't the kind of man who would lie about this, he and my father work closely on many projects together. If he says Ruby was there then she was there," responded Weiss.
"What worries me more however is that she knew the passcode for the facility, no one but the directors of each facility and the Schnee family themselves know this," she elaborated worried.
"It could be someone else using her name," suggest Blake.
Weiss nodded, "that's why I was about to search the footage from the security cameras from last night to see if I could find her."
"Good but first, have you informed your father of this?" asked Blake concerned.
"No I was about to send a message explaining the situation to the Director, hopefully he could give us some information on what happened that night," replied Weiss.
Blake looked up in alarm, "Weiss delete that message now!" she demanded.
Weiss jumped at this, "what? Why? It could help us find Ruby," she asked in confusion.
The Faunus just sighed, rubbing her temples, "Weiss if they find out that Ruby has gone rogue and broken in to one of their facilities, they will hunt her down and lock her up or worse."
"You're exaggerating," replied her white haired teammate.
"Am I? Remember how furious they were when they thought that you had given her the passcode, now imagine what'd they'd do if they found out you didn't," argued the Faunus.
Weiss opened her mouth to keep arguing before shutting it again thinking, 'she may have a point,' she thought remembering numerous people who had simply vanished for exposing less. Bringing up the message she hovered her finger over the delete button and taking a deep breath she deleted it.
"Ok let's get to work we have a lot of footage to go over," she said placing her scroll down.
"Congratulations Miss Xiao Long that was an increase-" began the computer.
"Again," she interrupted.
"Resetting training room floor," stated the computer as more training robots spawned from the sides.
Yang growled unloading punch after punch into the robots, which had been running into short supply recently. Tell me Miss Xiao Long, what makes a person who they are? Roaring she rounded on her next target. My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that I'm weak? I'm hurt that my own sister thinks so little of me. Dodging its sloppy attempt to catch her by surprise she preceded to punch through its head in a single hit. Does it really matter if she is or isn't Ruby? Ripping her fist out of the sparking wreck she blocked a blow to her head before grabbing the offenders arm and ripping it out of its socket. Hey sis, you okay? Using the arm as a spear she threw it into another, piecing and pinning it to the wall. Don't call her that! That imposter is not my sister! Rolling to the side she grabbed the one armed drone and spun, throwing it into the remaining robots. You might need to consider that she is Ruby. Charging the still recovering drones she grabbed two of them and slammed their heads together, the force fusing them together permanently. Under the circumstances I think I'm doing rather well. Yang side stepped another poorly aimed blow and counter attacked with a sweep kick, knocking the last drone to the ground. Do you really have the right to say whether or not she is your sister? Screaming she straddled the unfortunate survivor, raining blow after blow on it even as it stopped twitching. Panting Yang got up, surrounded by smoking lumps of misshapen metal that were once her opponents.
"Again!" she bellowed.
"Unfortunately there are no more combat drones are available, we apologize for the inconvenience," replied the computer.
Yang sat down leaning against the wall, clutching her legs as tears began rolling down her face. 'I failed, I promised her, I promised I'd keep Ruby safe for her.' Yang wiped away the tears and began walking to the dorms. 'The imposter isn't Ruby I know it, so why do I feel so bad about what I did? I was trying to fulfill my promise, wasn't I?' she questioned. Opening the door to her dorm she saw Blake and Weiss crowding around the heiress' scroll. Frowning she walked up behind them and her eye's flashed red, there on the scroll was the imposter walking down a very recognizable street of Vale.
Smiling she walked over to Ruby and grabbed her bag, "so we better start burning off that sugar now."
Yanking the bag from her sister's grasp she bolted down the street teasingly taunting her little sister. Not too long after she heard someone approaching followed by a voice calling, "get back here Yang Xiao Long!"
Shaking her head she tapped both of them on the shoulder, causing both to flinch as they slowly turned around.
"You two have some explaining to do," she threatened cracking her knuckles.
"So let me get this straight, your big plan was to walk in and just ask for the data?" said Roman, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Yep," she replied, cheerfully.
The entire warehouse was silent as everyone began staring at her in shock. Red looked around in confusion suddenly wishing she was somewhere else.
"Umm… did I do something wrong? I got the data and got out isn't that what we wanted?" she asked.
"Wait that actually worked!" exclaimed Adam.
Handing over the data chip Red smiled, "Apparently Ozpin needed that data for a 'critical mission.' So he sent me to pick up a copy to take it back to Beacon, after all you can never be too careful with those White Fang running around. Who knows what they'd do with it."
Everyone in the warehouse burst out laughing and even Roman had to smile at that. Adam just shook his head muttering, "You're mad."
Red turned to him grinning, "Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't that probably would never have worked."
Her grin dropped however as she heard bang from behind her. Frowning she spun around and saw three people trapped in cages, banging on the bars and screaming insults. She glared at Adam whom met her glare with one of his one.
"Listen Red, I know how you feel about this but these four are bad people, you saw what they we're going to do to Majestic," reasoned Adam.
"So you think that justifies this sort of treatment?" she shot back.
"Turnabout is fair play," he responded coldly.
Red began walking to her room disgusted, "it's that kind of thinking that caused Blake to leave Adam."
Adam growled and was about to run after her when he felt something grab him in a headlock. Eye's widening he attempted to break the hold when a knife appeared at his throat. 'How the hell did he get out and why didn't I notice him,' thought Adam furiously.
"Alright listen up you're going to get my three friends out of those cages or the bull gets it," threatened the prisoner.
Roman just shook his head, "you know we can't do that plus he's expendable and if you kill him you die next," he stated as casually as one might discus the weather.
"I'm being serious here! I will kill him!" he yelled, waving the knife for emphasis.
The minute the knife was away from his neck Adam sprang into action, head butting his captor whom released his hold in surprise. However he underestimated the human who recovered quickly and before anyone could react grabbed Adam by the neck and bringing his knife down for a killing blow.
BANG
And just as quickly the man's head disappeared in a shower of red as his body fell to the floor. Everyone turned to the source of the sound to see Red holding Crescent Rose in trembling hands, an expression of pure horror on her face.
There you guys go, damn this is getting pretty dark. Next chapter won't be so bad I promise, surprisingly enough I'm actually looking forward to writing Yang and Red's meeting should be fun. So originally I wanted the compound infiltration to be based off a Shadowrun mission I did, basically they'd steal a garbage truck and just go screw stealth and drive through the checkpoint and blow shit up but I decided that was too far and changed it sorry to anyone that would have rather done that. Still I'm happy how it turned out, this way I got to focus on team RWBY for a bit. Anyway as a little game I put in many different references to different series, both obvious and subtle, see how many you can find.