Hey guys here's a new chapter, the next chapter will take awhile to write since I'm not on break anymore and it'll be longer than the usual ones (I'm aiming for a minimum of 8000 words). So yeah sorry for that I put a sneak peek at what you can expect in the next chapter though so I'll leave you all to figure out what's going to happen. Who's knows you might get it exactly write...or maybe not.
I don't own RWBY otherwise I wouldn't have such a problem with editing.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was grim as an oppressive silence descended on the council members as they stared at the news program with frowns on their faces. Once the program ended one of them switched off the large TV screen and turned to face his fellow councilors with a resigned sigh.
"Well I believe the term used to describe this situation is an unmitigated disaster," he said before falling into his chair.
"They not only proved that Rose was innocent but that we aren't competent enough to defend our own citizens. To make matters worse she was clearly shown to be the one that hunted down this 'Feral' and kill it, to think Ironwood would go this far," sighed one of the Atlas councilmen.
"What do we do now? If we try anything against Rose, Ironwood or Ozpin, then our jobs are forfeit. Even now we are barely able to maintain our positions with half of Remnant calling for our removal from office," reminded another.
"We formally apologize to Rose and reward her for catching the Feral before coming clean on all we know about Earth to the media. Preferably before Rose come clean herself to the news programs, that's the only way we're keeping our jobs. The public needs to know that we aren't hiding anything else from them," informed the first one.
"So we just let them go! After what they did to us! How she insulted us! You can't be serious Shirou!" shouted one of the other councilors.
"Swallow your God damn pride Noire! It's what put us in this position in the first place! They've outmanoeuvred us at every corner, if we do anything to them it'll be our heads on the bloody chopping block next," growled Shirou.
"I see and what about the rest of my fellow councilors? Do you all agree with this worthless coward?" snarled Noire, only to see none of her kin meet her gaze other than Shirou.
"My fellow councilors I recommend we have our colleague from Atlas' council, Noire, temporary removed from office before she gets us into even more problems," stated Shirou as he turned to their silent observers.
"You wouldn't dare!" shouted Noire as she stood up from her chair only to have guards to rush into the room and restrain her.
"Get your hands off me!" she growled and pushed out of their grip before giving her fellow councilors a glare that would freeze hell over as she was escorted out of the room.
Once Noire was in her chamber she got out her scroll and dialed a familiar number, "no one insults the Councils and gets away with it Rose."
She smiled as her call was answered, "get me in touch with Aurum, I have a job he'll enjoy."
"Ruby not that we don't appreciate this but…why are we here? And more importantly why are you paying for everything? Where did you even get the money for this?" asked Yang as she gestured to the five star restaurant around them.
The reaper flushed in embarrassment as she gave Qrow a quick glance before turning back to Yang, "I promised next time I saw someone I'd buy them the biggest dinner imaginable and I had the money to spare so I thought we could turn it into a family thing."
"That still doesn't explain where you got the money to pay for all this?" replied Taiyang with raised eyebrows.
Red just smiled, "well as a thank you and apology the Councils gave me a fairly large reward for killing that Feral. I've never even seen that many zeros before so feel free to order as much as you want, it's on the Council's expense."
"In that case…" grinned Yang as she picked up the menu. "Oh waiter, what is your most expensive meal?" she asked in a pompous voice.
"That would be the Crab ma'am," replied the personal waiter.
Red had to hold in the laughter as she joined in the fun, "oh how delightful, we'll take four of those and the most expensive wine for those two over there."
"Ah a wonderful choice ma'am, it should be ready shortly," he replied before walking off to the kitchens.
Once their waiter left the two sister's couldn't hold their sniggers back anymore and burst into laughter, "oh what a wonderful choice ma'am. Would you like to her the news on the stock market, I've heard the Jow Dones has gone down again," joked Yang.
"Indeed my dear sister, my private butlers tell me they can no longer afford to pay for their second mansions. What is this world coming to?" sighed Red in an equally pompous voice.
"I know it's pathetic isn't it? We are the 1%, we deserve better. How dare those plebeians complain about us, I mean because of those dolts I've gone from being a billionaire to merely a millionaire," stated Yang with a serious expression.
Red couldn't take it anymore and once again burst into laughter with Yang doing the same after attempting and failing to maintain her serious expression. Qrow and Taiyang just looked between the two with confused and yet amused expressions on their faces.
"You know I'm kind of worried at how well you two pull that off," commented Taiyang.
The two sister's merely smirked as Yang responded, "we've had a lot of practice. Weiss just provides us with way too much material for us to use, the best part is she doesn't even know she's doing it."
"Yang don't be mean, after all Weiss is the one who helped me pick this place," reminded Red.
"My point exactly," replied the blonde brawler, only to quieten as four steaming crabs were brought out before them.
Right before the blonde was about to dig in Red slapped her hand away with a grin, "my dear Yang, you're meant to use the outside cutlery first. Nor do we use our hands like those uncultured barbarians."
Yang blinked before she grinned, "of course how could I forget. It would be terribly improper to eat like this…"
As the brawler she grabbed her meal with her bare hands before pulling it apart, much to the disgust of the nearby tables. They quickly averted their gazes however as Yang turned to face them before giving them a wide food filled grin and a thumbs up.
Seeing them turning away Yang swallowed and loudly spoke up with her voice echoing across the restaurant, "why the harsh reception there's no need for you all to be so crabby. Eh eh?"
Her three family members just groaned at the pun before Taiyang turned to face her, "Yang please stop causing a scene before we are thrown out. I'd rather enjoy this meal then have to deal with bouncers and staff harassing us."
"You guys are no fun at all," pouted Yang as she placed her meal back on the plate before using her cutlery instead of hands to eat it.
Once they'd finished their meals Red cleared her throat as she stood up, drawing the attention of everyone at her table. Receiving an encouraging nod from Qrow she swallowed fearfully before bowing in front of them, causing Yang and Taiyang to give her a confused expression.
"I want to apologize for keeping what happened a secret from all of you. Even though I knew you were being kept in the dark I didn't trust you enough to tell you, I was scared of what would happen if you knew. That was a horrible mistake, you deserved to know about it, Ruby's your family after all. If you never want to see me again then I'll understand, I'll discard the name Ruby Rose and everything she owned. You won't see me ever again," she started while everyone stared at her with a neutral expression on their faces.
Qrow and Yang turned to Taiyang as he cleared his throat, "Ruby sit down," he ordered sternly.
Blinking in surprise Red sat down with a confused frown as her father continued, "I'm not going to lie and say I'm not angry about that, you're right you both should have told us everything."
His frown dropped as a smile spread across his face, "however no force, heaven or hell, could ever get me to cast you out of the family. You better start getting used to us Ruby Rose, you're here to stay."
The reaper felt tears of joy stream down her face as they all left the restaurant, much to the staff's relief, and headed back to Beacon. As they were driving the four of them were shocked as they heard one of the radio advertisements.
"…remember to tune in to VNN tomorrow night for our exclusive interview with the current expert on Earth, Ruby Rose…"
Red felt all the eyes come to rest on her and quickly shock her head, "don't look at me this is the first I've heard of this unless…oh that's what Weiss was talking about."
"Your teammate? What has she got to do with this?" questioned Qrow.
"Well since the Councils acknowledged the existence of Earth, I apparently became a celebrity and so Weiss offered to be my agent. She was telling me earlier about something she was planning but I wasn't really listening and just told her to go ahead with it," she replied, sheepishly.
"Just be careful Ruby, Taiyang needs to return to Patch and I've got to head back to Signal. We won't be able to protect you from now on," warned Qrow.
"Relax I'll keep her safe," assured Yang as she and Red gave a friendly fist bump.
"Besides it's just an interview, what's the worst that could happen?" scoffed Red.
There was silence throughout the room as they all watched the recorded news footage, no one saying a word as they saw the two Feral's fighting each other. Leah just frowned as she saw it and took note of the abnormal level of intelligence that the smaller one was showing, usurping the Feral's own pack to use them against it. 'That's not normal, Feral's shouldn't be able to plot like that,' she thought as the recording was paused and their commander spoke up.
"Doctor, do you have any idea what could have caused a Feral to retain that level of intelligence?" he asked the doctor standing next to her.
"Commander the only theories I can come up with are either; this is only an isolated incident caused by the VIP's unique condition…or Earth aura has another stage after Feral's, one far more dangerous than the others," answered the doctor as low murmuring began to echo across the room.
The commander nodded before silencing the whispers as he raised his hand and the recording began playing once again, causing Leah's eyes to widen as the fight came to an end and she saw the black aura outline get replaced by a vibrant red. She couldn't believe her eyes as she saw the Feral armour surrounding the VIP fade into nothing as Red came into view before checking to make sure her opponent was dead and walking off screen with her companions.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the doctor with an expectant expression as the commander once again spoke up, "care to explain this Doctor? After all, didn't your research say that it was impossible to control Ferals or even come back from that state in the first place? Yet we just saw someone who is capable of doing both of these and to make it worse, she's one of the only loose ends we have left in Vale."
Leah saw her companion straightened under the gaze of so many people before he sighed, "sir my tests didn't lie however remember that Remnant has been studying and using aura for centuries compared to the decades we've had. The only explanation I can think of is that they've got some method to keep it in check, perhaps using her Remnant aura in some way to protect her."
"So what you're saying is that Remnant now has an information source and a highly dangerous Feral at their command?" asked Leah fearfully.
"This is unacceptable! I was willing to have her captured alive but after this display it has become clear that she is far too dangerous a threat to let live. Her threat status is now Hyper-lethal! Signal our forces left in Vale, I want her dead! Do I make myself clear Captain?" growled the commander.
"Sir! Yes sir!" she replied with a salute.
"Good prepare a hit squad immediately, we only have a limited window of opportunity available to us," he ordered.
Leah frowned in confusion, "opportunity sir?"
The commander nodded, "we know exactly where she'll be tomorrow, it'll be extremely public but we have no choice."
"I'll inform my best troops," replied the captain as she headed out only to be halted by her superior's voice.
"Remember Captain, Dust only, no regular Earth explosives," he warned.
A cold smile spread across Leah's face, "understood sir, those White Fang really are a violent bunch of terrorists to attack a public place like that."
"My thoughts exactly Captain," replied the Commander with an equally cold smile as he took a sip from his usual coffee mug.
There were only three of them just standing in the blood stained room, the dead bodies of former White Fang grunts lying all around them in various states of dismemberment. One of the trio was a blonde spiky haired teen in an expensive suit with a face that would have caused most girls to swoon if not for the look of disgust on it. The boy looked around the room with a snort before walking over to his two companions, a grey haired Faunus girl who judging from the eyes, ears and tail looked to be of the feline subspecies in grey Samurai armour with spotted black patterns and a boy whose body occasionally gave off a soft red and black glow allowing others to see something wriggling beneath his skin.
"The White Fang are getting bolder, this is the third outpost we destroyed in as many days," commented the Faunus.
"I know, it's great isn't it? I haven't been this well feed since we were dropped into that Grimm infested forest," came the cheerful reply from the boy next to her as he eyed the bodies on the ground.
"It matters not Pardus, the White Fang is just a group of weaklings thinking they can challenge the strong by banding together. The weak will always be weak no matter how many of them band together, they are not even worthy of breathing the same air as the strong, and keep your hunger in check until the job is done Barathrum," ordered the golden one as a ringing scroll appeared in his hand with a flash of golden light.
"Yeah, yeah, you're the boss Aurum," grumbled Barathrum as he gave his blonde companion a two fingered salute.
Ignoring him the golden armoured boy answered the scroll, "Aurum here the job's nearly done, so what did you want to talk about?"
"Once you finish up with that task report back to the usual meeting point, we have a new job for you," came Noire's voice from the scroll.
"Is that an order Councilor?" replied Aurum in a low voice.
"No, merely a request in case you wanted to get a real challenge, and of course you'll be well rewarded for your troubles," she answered.
"Not interested, I have had enough of culling the weak. The mere fact that I have to waste my time with them offends me," scoffed Aurum arrogantly.
"Believe me when I tell you this job will be unlike any you've all done before," she assured the now intrigued trio.
The three shared a glance before Pardus spoke up, "how so Councilor? Remember we have a very extensive history and experience to draw from."
"The target has abilities that aren't found anywhere else in Remnant and she can reach the equivalent of an S-class Grimm when pushed enough. She also has the support of both Ozpin and Ironwood, underestimating her will likely lead to your deaths," informed Noire.
Instantly an eager grin grew on the blonde boy's face, "now this sounds interesting. Very well Councilor, we'll take the job."
"So who's this idiot that managed to piss off the Councils?" asked Barathrum.
"She calls herself Red but her real name is Ruby Rose," replied Noire.
Aurum blinked before his grin grew even wider, "Rose? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while, let's hope that she lives up to it."
"One more thing Aurum, if you can try to make it a quiet kill," requested the councilor.
"Very well, I'll send Barathrum after her. If she can't beat him then she wasn't worth my time anyway," sighed Aurum.
"Excellent, the details will be waiting for you all at the usual place," responded their client.
Suddenly the scroll in his hand shattered into pieces as a loud gunshot echoed across the silent room and the three companions all turned to see a small patrol of White Fang members level their shaky weapons at them. Pardus gave a low growl as her hands were covered in clawed gauntlets before the claws started rotating and a stream of dust rounds pelted the patrol.
"Isn't that considerate? They saved us the trouble of hunting them down," laughed Barathrum as his arm dissolved before reforming into a serrated whip like tentacle with red veins crisscrossing the surface.
The whip like limb extended and rapidly approached the grunts before slicing through the unfortunate Faunus, leaving only bisected corpses in its wake. Aurum just looked at his destroyed scroll before an expression of pure rage crossed his face as he was surrounded in a gold outline.
"You pathetic peasants dare to destroy my property! You will pay for that you lowly dogs!" he roared in anger.
The White Fang members looked on in shock as a large golden circle appeared in front of them before a number of projectiles ranging from dust rounds to spears to even elemental blasts rained down on them. The result from this barrage was a large explosion that caused the ceiling to cave in on itself and as the dust cleared the trio began to walk out of the outpost.
"Was that really necessary?" sighed Pardus tiredly.
"Those weaklings needed to learn their place," snarled Aurum as they all heard a soft groaning.
Looking back they saw a lone Faunus survivor crawling out from under the collapsed ceiling causing Aurum to frown before turning to Barathrum, "I'm not wasting anymore time here, I leave the rest to you. Just remember to clean up after yourself."
"You got it boss," replied Barathrum as his two companions walked away.
The injured White Fang member tried to crawl away as Barathrum approached her but only cried out in pain as he pushed her back to the ground and a predatory grin spread across his face, "itadakimasu!"
There was a loud scream that was abruptly cut off and the silent chamber was filled with loud sucking and chomping noises before an eerie silence remained. When the police arrived later they only found a destroyed outpost but despite the monumental amount of blood stains not a single body was found.
Sneak peek at the next chapter- Angering the Dragon
The three members of RWBY surrounded the boy who merely gave them a smug smirk, seemingly unaffected by the level of hostility coming from them at his declaration.
"Oh please, you're saying that you killed Ruby? I doubt an idiot like yourself could pull that off," scoffed Weiss.
"Idiot?" chuckled the boy before exploding into insane laughter as they all saw his body get wrapped in tentacles, causing Yang to freeze as the boy's body began changing to a familiar figure.
Ain't I a tease, hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. Anyway this chapter was shorter than the others since it was mainly a interlude chapter of sorts. I'm trying to make my chapters a minimum of 4000 words each now instead of the 3000 they used to be. Anyway hope this wasn't too boring for you.