Author's Headnote: Did I scare ya? Well, for one... this is CERBERUS, Mass Effect Fans would know this for sure. And to any RWBY fans who have never played any of the Mass Effect games: Cerberus is a very bad organization, very bad, they are an evil and terrible organization who are by no means good. Did I mention they are very bad? Because they are! So, do not trust them. Hey, the warning is out there JUST in case. But ya, no doubt the Illusive Man is going to be happy about a bunch of teenage girls breaking into one his facilities. So, here's the chapter.
The Ruby of Cerberus: Trapped in Another World
Ruby Rose:
Health: Beat up, Tired (Knock out gas would do that to you...)
Aura: 56% (Recovering to 100%)
Semblance: Petal Burst
Weapons: None
Party Relations:
- Weiss Schnee: This will definitely affect how Weiss would warm up.
- Blake Belladonna: At least she'll be less distant... Ruby hopes.
- Yang Xiao Long: God Damnit, Yang!
End of Main character status report
Unknow Location, Unknown Date and Time, Communal Containment Cell
Ruby... had woken up... on the floor, although she was not wearing her normal clothes, rather a black and white jumpsuit, with various symbols on it. And instead of shoes, it was a pair of socks. She also had a metal collar on her neck. Outside of the room appears to be more orange than the room... along with a bench, the floor, walls, and ceiling are made of metal, although it's not painted. There's also a large bench here, and a small bathroom stall, at least they respect privacy. As Ruby got up and looked around... she also sees Weiss in the same room as she is, wearing the same clothes as Ruby. As she was looking around, she started to notice something was off... something felt... very wrong...
And then it hit her... Crescent Rose. She has no idea where she is. That scythe is like a daughter to her, and she has lost it! Of course, at this realization, she started breaking down... hyperventilating and panicking... losing her weapon is one thing, but Crescent Rose more than her weapon. She's suffering through the same feelings a mother would if her child went missing, and the comparison is very accurate in Ruby's case, since she considers the Scythe to be her daughter.
"Ruby! Calm down!" Weiss yelled.
"Don't tell me to calm down! Crescent Rose! It's gone!" Ruby said with panic in her voice.
"It's just a weapon, you could build a new one."
And then Ruby punched Weiss in the face and starting to get angry!
"Build a new one!? Crescent Rose isn't just a weapon, she is my baby! And she is not somewhere I can just access her, not in my locker, not on my person! She is somewhere in this facility!" Ruby ranted. "I'm going to find her!" She added, running toward the orange outside. Only for her to be stopped.
Ruby started punching the barrier and screaming. And then she started to get shocked, and stepped away from the barrier. From there, she started to be less angry...
"I should have told you that we're trapped here. Also, how they got us in these jumpsuits... I don't want to know." Weiss stated.
"Where's Crescent Rose!? Where's Yang!?" Ruby yelled.
"I don't know where they put our weapons. But a bunch of men came and dragged off Blake and Yang."
"WHERE!?"
"I don't know..."
"I... doubt that Yang would let herself be taken this easily... even with these collars."
"Oh ya... the collars ended up triggering her semblance to activate, and she ended up killing a couple of them. After that... they decided to drug her."
"Oh..."
"Ya... Yang's currently high as a kite."
"Wait, how did they get her to be on the stuff in the first place?"
"One of the soldiers put her in some weird, glowing field. it was purple."
"Semblance?"
"That's my guess."
"What about Blake?"
"Did I mention we have these collars?"
"So... what? We're just prisoners to these guys now?"
"And their property, I don't want to picture what they are doing with Blake and Yang, but chances are the same would be done to us..."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"We need to get our weapons back, and get home!"
"I tried pushing all the buttons, turns out I don't know how to turn the gate back on. And we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't turned it off!"
"It was an accident!"
"Still..."
And just like that... two armored men have Yang, with a mellow appearance. She was restrained as the armed men walking toward the cell proceeded to pressing their fingers on the wall, likely a number pad on that end... and the barrier dropped, in which Ruby used her semblance to try and make for a break for it, leaving behind a trail of rose petals as she tries to wander around the facility for her weapon only for...
ZAAAAAP!
Ruby screamed in pain, sure her aura manages to take away the lethal effects of the shock collar, but she can feel her aura running low. And then two more men grab Ruby by the wrists and started to drag her off somewhere.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Ruby screamed.
The soldiers do not understand them and just shocks her. Likewise, she sees Weiss in a similar situation. Yang was back in the cell on the floor, with the barrier up. Her eyes are dilated and she was waving as Ruby and Weiss were being dragged away.
Character Change: Ruby Rose - Blake Belladonna
Unknow Location, Unknown Date and Time, Surgical Center
Blake was waking up... opening up her eyes... suddenly, the room looked different... she was what appeared to be a room designated for surgery, with her on the bed. Which means whatever they did with her it's already done. The room was white and yellow like the portal room... but the floor and ceiling more resemble a hospital. As she was looking around, there were four medical officials here. Likely they were responsible to whatever they did to Blake.
"Oh, good. You're awake." one of the medical officials said.
Blake screamed in reflex. "You can... understand me?" Blake asked out of surprise.
"The fact that you can understand me means the surgery was a success."
"What did you... do?"
"Installed a neural translator. The people did the same to your blonde friend back in the next room."
"So... what does it do?"
"Much unlike the conventional universal translator, it's a cybernetic implant attached to the brain."
"You did... brain surgery on me?" Blake asked, touching her head finding a bald spot.
"Yes, the surgery was quite quick. Don't worry, we haven't affected your intelligence or gave you any bald spots."
"I don't feel any dumber, so... how does this implant work?"
"Basically, it translates any vocal patterns to your native language and allows you to speak to communicate to everyone like you're speaking in that language."
"So... you all sound like speaking Vytalean... even though you're not."
"To me, you're speaking English."
"Riiiight... so can I go back home?"
"That's not in my authority. However, you may have noticed you have four ears. So, we're moving you to another room to do some more testing."
"What kind of testing?"
"Biological exams, DNA tests, etcetera. Basically, we want to know why a human has cat ears."
"I'm not a human, actually."
"You're close enough. We actually want to know what makes you not human. So, if you come with us, it would be less painful for you."
"I don't have much of a choice here, don't I?"
"Nope!"
"Well, fine. Can you escort me?"
"Well, just for safe measures you need to be restrained."
"I see... let's just get this over with..." Blake said, as she was being grabbed, however... instead of being dragged, she just decided to walk along with the soldiers holding onto her.
Unknow Location, Unknown Date and Time, Medical Laboratory
Well, this looks like a larger variation of a doctor's office, although it had a bunch of laboratory stuff in there along with it, not sure what they'd expect. Blake's not much of technology or medical expert, so she hasn't got the slightest clue what any of that is supposed to do. The room was large though, with what appears to be five men and three women staffing it.
Blake was placed in the room, and the soldiers have closed the door. Blake has no idea what to do, so she sat down on what seems to be the patient bed.
"Well, it appears our little cat-eared friend has arrived." one of the doctors announced.
Blake was more than aware that her clothes were replaced with this black and white jumpsuit, so that would mean her cat ears would be known.
"Just hold still, we're just going to take a blood sample." the doctor stated.
"Do my friends have to go through this, too?" Blake asked.
"Yes yes, but given your... unique attributes, the team wants to analyze you first."
"The team?"
"The science team! Specifically, biology."
"You look like you've never seen a faunas before."
"Is that the name of your sub-species?"
Blake paused for a bit... this is not the reaction she would never expect from people seeing her faunas trait. The doctors around her are... fascinated by her, treating her like she's some latest biological discovery. This raises questions in Blake's head... how come humans exist in this world, but faunas do not? Perhaps it's also why the dust doesn't work here... maybe these humans have developed differently. Neural cybernetics, energy weapons, all of this stuff is quite stuff one would expect Atlas to have, but even then...
However, lost in her thought, she did not notice her arm being restrained and blood being extracted from her vein... well, until the pain kicked in.
"Ow." Blake uttered.
"Ya, needles tend to hurt, I guess this is the first time you've gotten needles inside you?" the doctor asked.
"Never really visited the doctor before in my life." Blake stated.
"I see... still... next we're going to have you to put on this." the doctor stated, putting on what seems to be a modified set of headphones. One with four slots, this was likely designed specifically for Blake and testing her ears. "Engineering team designed this as a request."
"What's it for?" Blake asked.
"Testing your hearing."
"My ears work fine..."
"It's better to be safe than sorry."
Character Change: Blake Belladonna - Weiss Schnee
Unknown Location, Unknown Date and Time, Interrogation Room
Weiss on the other-hand... after receiving to what was apparently a translator implant, in which shouldn't make sense... she was dragged on into a small room, likely for interrogations. Giving that it looks like the typical interrogation rooms. Small. One table, two chairs. And she was sitting in one of them, with cuffed hands. The story for the cuffed hands is that the men apparently didn't like Weiss using her glyphs to launch the soldiers away from her, so... they restrained her hands, believing it was the source for her to use her semblance... and they guessed right. Although they were dumbfounded by Weiss' ability.
And across from her is one of those soldiers, although this one did not have a helmet on, so he can see his face well. He looks human alright. Brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin.
"So... care to tell me why you and your friends were trespassing on private property?" The man asked.
"Last I checked, you didn't own the warehouse, as far as I was considered you guys were alien invaders trying to conquer our world!" Weiss retorted.
"Doesn't explain why you decided to break into our facility!"
"Hey, I was only here because Yang decided to jump in to have an adventure here!"
"Yang?"
"She's the blonde member of this group."
"Riiiight. And this... 'Yang'... she just... decided to go through the gateway?"
"Is that what it's called?"
"I'm asking the questions here, not you."
"Well, if you excuse me for being curious about the world that I am being held prisoner in."
"Don't you smart-mouth me, princess. You know I can set that collar to shock you."
"How about you just let me and my friends go, and just forget this ever happened?"
"Well, you should have thought of that before interfering with our business. Eighteen soldiers, a scientist, and an engineer is trapped in your world. You know how much of an investment that has gone to waste? My boss is already upset about the North American President, but you four are the icing on the cakes. Twenty men, gone! And to four superhuman girls, one of which killed an additional four men! Oh no, you are staying here. I'm not letting you four cost me another credit from my paycheck."
"I'm sorry, credits?"
"Galactic Currency."
"Galactic?"
The man had placed his palm at his face... and then groaned out of anger and annoyance.
"Wait, why did you decide to interrogate me and not the leader?" Weiss asked.
"Which one is the leader?" The man asked.
"The one with the black and red hair, Ruby."
"The thing is, we need to keep shocking that one because she keeps running off, where do you think she'll go?"
"She's likely going to find her weapon."
"Well, she's not going to find it."
"Why not?"
"None of your concern. We're not letting any of you near a weapon. Especially the blonde one. So, it's pointless for her to go and find it."
"Don't tell her that. She's clingy to that scythe."
"I see... I think we're done here. I'll escort you back to the holding cell."
"Can you do it without restraining me?"
"I don't want you to try any funny businesses, hence the cuffs."
Character Change: Weiss Schnee - Ruby Rose
Unknown Location, Unknown Date and Time, Communal Containment Cell
Ruby was pacing around the cell in the circle, waiting for the barrier to open. So, she can try and find her weapon again. Impatient, worried, panicking, if she can hypothesize anything about what those people are doing to Crescent Rose, it's not good. Breaking her down... melting her... Ruby doesn't want to think about what may happen if she's too late, her poor baby.
No matter, she needs to get Crescent Rose, open the portal, and get out of here.
What's clear is that she does not trust these people, they put a translator in her brain not because to get her to understand them, but it's clearly so that they understand her. First, they come to her world, to do who knows what. Second... well, ya... that was Ruby and Yang's fault. But thirdly, they lock up Ruby and her team, put them in these prisoner jumpsuits, took their weapons. And these shock collars. And putting Yang in this state of... mellow... is well... uncomfortable to look at.
Looking at her sister, she's still lying on the floor in the place where she was thrown at when she came back. Weiss or Blake still hasn't come back yet though... which means the only company she has is Yang, who is in no shape for a constructive conversation. She even tried... but her train of thought gets often lost and then she talks about the ceiling.
So... there Ruby is... pacing... waiting for the next chance of escape, like mentioned.
Speaking of... three soldiers show up, with Weiss in hand restraints. As they proceed to open the door, Ruby decides to make a burst for it well... until she's not on the ground. Apparently being lifted up by a purple field.
"Great work, she keeps trying to escape." the soldier commented.
"Let... go!" Ruby demanded.
After Weiss got in the cell, and the barrier was activated, Ruby was released from the field.
"Okay, fine." the soldier who was putting Ruby in the field taunted.
"Not fair!" Ruby retorted.
"You didn't say when."
"I want my weapon!"
"Prisoners can't have weapons."
Ruby growled...
"Would you look at that, the girl is growling like the bitch she is." the soldier taunted again.
"I am not a dog." Ruby stated.
"You have a collar, you growl, you just need the training."
"I'll show you training."
"Oh? And what are you going to do? Are you going to cry? Try and approach me all you want; I can just pick you up and throw you with my biotics."
"I'm sorry, your what?"
The soldier than started laughing. "This is golden!" They screamed and laugh.
"Ruby... I suggest you don't make a bigger fool of yourself." Weiss suggested.
"I still want my scythe." Ruby retorted.
"You own the scythe?" the soldier asked.
"Yes, I made her myself."
"I'm sorry... but... 'her'?"
"She is my baby."
"My my, did mommy not love you enough?"
Well, if she wasn't on her nerves, she is now... she snapped when she heard that. Something in Ruby made her eyes twitch and her fists clench. She is... angry. And her face showed this anger. And not just regular anger or maternal worried for child anger, but full-on rage.
"YOU JUST MADE IT PERSONAL!" Ruby yelled, punching the barrier.
She doesn't have Yang's semblance so her punches don't do much damage, especially with a low aura. She hasn't given it much time to recover. But no less, an impact on the barrier can be felt. As it bounces back and forth.
"Let's get out of here before we get ourselves killed." one of the soldiers said, absconding from the situation.
"Well... let's calm you down here..." the other soldier said.
18 Hours Later
Ruby had... woken up. And her head feels like hell.
"What happened, I think I blacked out..." Ruby said, rubbing her head.
"You outright tried to attack the guy who made fun of your mother and then he put you on the same stuff Yang was on." Weiss stated.
"I wasn't on anything." Yang commented, with the drug worn off of her.
"You were high as a kite, you also liked talking about the ceiling."
"Still, I'm only counting three of us here... where's Blake?"
"She hasn't came back from the implant, I guess."
"Implant?"
"Ya, they put a little thing in our brains, and now apparently we can understand them."
"Are you sure it's not also a tracking device, or mind-altering."
"I don't feel like worshipping some god I've never heard of."
"Maybe it's because you haven't heard of them."
"Can you two just shut up!" Ruby yelled.
"Ruby, you're a bit ornery." Yang commented.
"Yang, I woke up from apparently being drugged out of my rage, I feel like a goliath is crushing my skull, and Crescent Rose is nowhere I can access. How do you think I feel?" Ruby ranted.
"Well, that would explain my headaches when I woke up this... well... hey, what time is it?" Yang asked.
"I don't know! There's not a single window here!" Weiss yelled.
Ruby groaned.
And as it appears, Blake has returned. She was restrained, and she had an embarrassed look on her face. She's also not dragging her feet on the floor, instead she's just walking along side the soldiers restraining her. The barrier is opened, Blake is thrown in the cell and, Ruby gets up and tries to make a run for it, but...
"Looks like someone's eager to get their tests done." the doctor said, grabbing onto Ruby and started to pull on her.
"Wait, what?" Ruby asked.
"I just came back from mine." Blake commented.
"How invasive are they?"
"Quite invasive."
Ruby gulped.
"Don't worry, you won't get all the same tests your cat-eared friend has gotten. I just was curious about her biological properties." the doctor stated. "Trust me, I'm a doctor."
"Saying that just makes me more worried." Ruby commented.
Unknow Location, Unknown Date and Time, Medical Laboratory
Ruby was thrown into the medical laboratory. From the looks of this, it looks like she's going to end up having a full-on scan of her biology done. There is also more doctors here.
"Have a seat." the doctor said.
"No changing into a patient gown?" Ruby asked.
"That's not necessary for you. Unless of course you have extra non-human features like your cat-eared friend."
"No, I can assure you. I am one hundred percent human." Ruby hissed.
"Well, with that attitude, I might have to restrain you on the testing."
"I just woke up and I am having a hangover from the junk injected in me."
"Oh, the mellower."
"The what?"
"It's a combination of emotional suppressants, cannabis, and other drugs. It's designed to suppress negative emotions in it's effect, it's non-addictive but the hangover is told to be quite the backlash."
"Whatever, just don't try to touch me in somewhere that would be covered by a bikini." Ruby said, sitting down on the patient bed.
And just like that, one of the doctors had held down Ruby's right arm, and she felt a sting as a needle stabs her skin, extracting her blood. She would activate her aura, but she doesn't want to receive more tests to explain her aura. It's better if these guys don't know about it.
Next the doctor was testing her reflexes, by whacking her knees. So far, all of the tests are not dissimilar to a regular check-up, minus the blood extraction.
"Now... let me scan you..." the doctor said, holding a device as it appears to have a bunch of red harmless lasers go through her. The doctor moved the device up and down, although it beeped a bit when it got to her skull.
"Don't worry, that's just your translator." the doctor stated.
"Was that a metal detector?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, I was detecting if you have any other implants other than the one the surgeons installed on you."
"So, what if I did."
"Well, we would have to ask a couple of questions. But so far, nothing out of the ordinary. Other than your eye-color."
"Ya... it's a rare trait."
"Never met someone with silver eyes."
"Well... it's a very rare trait."
"Now I'm curious, sure your eyes react to light the same, but I want to give you an array of optical tests."
"Let's just get this over with..." Ruby retorted.
Ruby was escorted to the optical part of the medical laboratory. Where she sees an eye exam.
"Now I'd like you to read out the letters on this board."
"What exactly are they?"
"clearly, it's translated to your language, so I'll pick up the linguistic equivalent. Let's start at line 6"
"Why line 6?"
"If you can't read line 6, I'd be surprised you'd make it this far."
"Alright... fine..."
Ruby was reciting the letters on line 6, and then proceeded to do so on line 7, 8, and up to 9. although she couldn't do so with 10 or lower. The letters were too small to read. She was then tasked to close her left eye and read those lines again... she could read those lines again. And then she switches to closing her right eye... and again, she recites lines 6, 7, 8 and 9 like a mantra. She then opens both of her eyes.
"From the tests, you seem to have sharp vision if you can read up to line 9..." the doctor said, complimenting Ruby.
"I have good vision." Ruby said dismissively.
"Well, perception. Now to test your color-vision. Look at these dishes and see if you can read anything."
And after the doctor gave all of those tests, she was then to be escorted back to the cell.
Unknown Location, Unknown Date and Time, Communal Containment Cell
After Ruby was escorted and thrown in the cell, a soldier came in with food for the four of them.
"You four must be starving, eat up." the soldier said.
"Thanks, I guess." Weiss said, confused.
"Well, it's been a while since any of us have eaten." Blake commented.
The soldier gave them four glasses of water, and four plates. The plates all contain two slices of toast, unbuttered and plain. A single, over-easy egg, and two orange slices.
"Guessing by the choice of meal, it's breakfast time." Yang stated.
"Let's just eat." Ruby retorted.
"Cheer up."
"I'm still worried about what they're going to do with Crescent Rose."
"No matter, if we're getting out of here... we're going to need a plan."
"We can come up with one once we've eaten something."
And just like that, the four of them sat down on the floor and started eating their food. Although they did not hesitate to eat every last bit, since these guys aren't in a hurry to regularly feed team RWBY. So, anything would suffice. After eating... everyone could think clearer.
"Well, that was not very filling... but it was something." Ruby said, relieved.
"So... what's the plan?" Yang asked.
"Well... we need to find where are weapons are, for one."
"And our scrolls." Weiss added.
"And our clothes, you really think we're going back to Remnant in prisoner jumpsuits?" Blake added.
"Right, right. But even if we all breach from the cell, these collars and those purple fields are still a problem." Ruby stated.
"Even then, we'd have to sneak our way to the weapons, last I checked... the only one who can fight unarmed is Yang."
"Also, true. And last I checked, stealth isn't really the expertise of anyone here, except you."
"Hey!" Weiss retorted.
"You may not be wearing any shoes now, but those heels you wear make noise." Blake stated.
"And yours don't?"
"Mine at least have been silenced for stealth."
"From what I'm getting is... we need some sort of elaborate scheme." Yang stated.
"Basically, and from the looks of it, we're being recorded." Ruby said, pointing at the speaker.
"Oh, damn."
"So, I guess we'll all have to play along for now." Blake stated.
"Weiss and Yang have yet to get their examinations." Ruby said, worried.
"I'm worried, since Blake said it's quite invasive."
"I think it's just because these guys never seen a faunas before, my tests were just like regular doctor's appointment tests." Ruby said, bluntly.
"I never had a doctor's appointment before!" Blake objected.
"Wait, there's no faunas here?" Weiss asked.
"Apparently."
"I'm still curious about where the hell we are." Yang stated.
"Apparently, we're somewhere where space travel is a regular occurrence." Weiss brought up.
"Space travel?" Ruby asked.
"Makes sense, given that dust doesn't work here. From the looks of it, this place belongs to some sort of secret organization."
"What makes you guess that?"
"I was eavesdropping. Apparently, this facility belongs to a company called: Cerberus."
"Cerberus? That's an incredibly odd name."
"I don't know why, but we don't know their intentions or what they do, but apparently one of higher-ups is upset about something called a 'President'."
"That's an incredibly odd name." Blake commented.
"Science fiction trope number 1, if it sounds weird, it's important." Yang stated.
"YANG! THIS IS REAL LIFE!" Weiss yelled.
"Come on, space travel, energy weapons, these weird barriers, not to mention the cybernetic chips they put in our brains. This is basically like a science fiction film."
"So... if this is like a science fiction movie... we just walked into another dimension, got knocked out, got trapped and thrown in a containment cell... and being tested on... what does that make us?"
"Well, if we were wearing less, we'd be the fanservice."
"YANG!" Ruby shouted.
"Oh, right... AND if we were older." Yang corrected herself.
"Not what I was upset about." Ruby retorted.
"Alright, to answer the question sincerely, chances are we'd be the source of the nightmare fuel."
"Nightmare fuel? Oh no." Weiss commented.
"Oh no." Ruby added.
Blake stayed silent.
"But this is reality and I really don't want any nightmarish things happening to me." Weiss objected.
"Thankfully, this is real life." Blake commented.
"Or is it just fantasy?" Yang added.
"Yang... no."
Ruby was getting annoyed, normally she's the cheery one. But going through all of that, she's just done right now. "Girls, girls... let's all focus on what to do." She snapped.
"Alright, I'll take the blonde-haired individual next." the doctor said, opening the barrier. "I would have taken her, but the silver eyed girl got out first."
Ruby didn't try to escape this time... instead, she watched as the soldiers go grab Yang...
"Hey! Let go!" Yang demanded.
"Get the biotic, we need to keep her sober for the tests." the doctor stated.
And seeing Yang being lifted to the medical lab just made Ruby a bit uncomfortable... however, she really hopes Yang doesn't come back doped out. But no less, she needs to get out of here, and find her weapon. And find the portal room to get back to remnant, that's all that matters.
Author's Footnote: Before a bunch of people rant in the reviews, let me say a few things:
A: The translator implant thing would make sense in this context. Although there are canonical explanations for that, but for the sake of preventing arguments, I'll say this interpretation and the canonical methods both exist in this story. Why the implant? Well, I'll just say it only translates to human languages for the sake of it, the implant ends up downloading team RWBY's language (In which is established to be called Vytlean but it sounds like English in this story for the sake of convenience) into a mainframe in which adds it into an array of human languages, all spoken by Cerberus Employees, most commonly English (the one I am writing in). And such, the implant has intake knowledge on these languages and translates them to their native one. It's the best way I can explain it, just go with it.
B: No Reaper Tech? Simple, if you get the hints, and are aware of the Mass Effect Timeline, you'll have a good idea of what year it is. But I won't reveal until the next chapter.
C: To be fair, Ruby should be worried about Crescent Rose.
D: Yes, none of Team RWBY's hair was shaven or removed. the surgical technology is that advanced, no I will not elaborate further.
Now that that's out of the way, let me say... that's the chapter. Sure, the chapter may not be what is expected, but hey... I am trying not to rush the story. I am also trying not to wantonly drag it out ludicrously. Make sure you check out RWBY: Festival of Blood, my other story. If you have any feedback, not covered by my explanations, fire away. See ya next chapter.