Author's Headnote: Well... I don't have much to say, so here's the chapter. Other than this is the part people would be waiting for...
The Ruby of Cerberus: An Opportunity Taken
Ruby Rose:
Health: Physically fine, mentally bored
Aura: 100%
Semblance: Petal Burst
Weapons: None
Party Relations:
- Weiss Schnee: There's still hope to make her less cold, but Ruby prioritizes bringing back her scythe.
- Blake Belladonna: Well, still as distant as she was back home
- Yang Xiao Long: Damnit, Yang!
End of Main character status report
Cerberus Facility, Unknown Date and Time, Communal Containment Cell
Well... it's been around a month since that Cerberus woman had interrogated team RWBY. Ruby is considered sixteen years old now, but it doesn't matter when she's trapped on another world and defenseless. She's currently throwing an orange around like a ball, out of boredom. It was her turn with the orange...
Context: when breakfast came this morning, there was an entire whole orange. Instead of eating it, they elected to use it as a tool of entertainment, with all of them taking turns... they're doing it be age order... so Yang had fun with it first, then Weiss, then Blake, now finally Ruby. Because being pent up in a cell is just boring, and 21 questions is not as fun as it used to be after the tenth round. After that, they decided to eavesdrop on the guards to listen on casual conversations, but they suspected that the guards were giving out actual information instead of talking about hair dye so they soundproofed the barrier. And that leads to the orange.
So... here's Ruby, bouncing an entire orange against the wall as it bounces back, why the orange doesn't splatter to bits is beyond Ruby... or her team who is watching Ruby doing it, also out of boredom. Even if the orange is around four days old it still is quite bouncy.
Sure, Ruby is concerned about her scythe, but she's in no position to stop them. She's just waiting on figuring out what these guys are going to do with them, no tests, no leaving the cell... nothing. So... what are they planning to do with them? And their smell? Given that they've been taking weekly sponge baths in the small bathroom stall, at least they don't smell as bad as they would without it... still, Ruby longs for an actual shower. An actual bath, even.
"So..." Yang said... thinking of a conversation topic.
"If this is about the time you saw Jaune ate from the trash again, I swear." Blake said with an annoyed tone.
"No no... it's something different."
"Is it about the time you saw Nora wear a different outfit?" Weiss asked.
"We've had that conversation only once!" Yang defended herself.
"Seven times, after people got bored with the Jaune story." Blake corrected.
"Hey remember the time Pyrrha showed up to class drunk?" Yang asked, to change the conversation.
"Yes, because you keep reminding us!" Ruby retorted. "Honestly, can you tell a different story."
Yang was about to open her mouth.
"And no! Not about the time we caught Ren watching that children's show about horses!" Ruby interrupted.
"Well... if you say so... before we were at Beacon, I was walking around the streets at 3 PM aaaand...
Ruby sighed as she retells the tale about the time that she had her first big adventure outside the walls of Vale. Long-story short, she got outside the walls, entered the wilderness and was escorted back to the city after she almost got her head bitten off by an ursa. She was fifteen at the time... she would still have killed the ursa either-way, problem is that she didn't bring Ember Celicia with her that time and didn't realize it, so she had to fight it unarmed. She almost got herself killed, too. Ruby was very worried about her sister then. She sighed not out of boredom, but out of the concern she felt two years ago.
"Well... at least it's new." Blake commented. "But I still wish I had a book right now."
"Same." Weiss added.
And just like that a guard showed up and unlocked the barrier.
"So... what now? It's been a month." Ruby stated at the guard, continuing to throw the orange.
"You four are needed at comms." the guard stated, grabbing Ruby. She screamed as a reflex.
"What for?" Ruby asked.
"That is classified. If you're lucky, you won't be a test subject."
"Why do I get the feeling we'll become exactly that?" Yang asked.
"You three are also needed." the guard ordered. "I don't want to force our biotics to drag over, so if you come quietly, we'll give you cupcakes with your next meal."
"Well, that's enough to convince me." Yang said, getting up. "I feel malnourished."
"Very well, lead the way. Come on, Blake." Weiss stated.
The four girls were escorted by the guard. Although they were restrained just in case either of them went and tried something funny. But what Ruby is concerned about is why her team is suddenly needed at comms... prisoners, of all people. Clearly, it's not from remnant, so who would need to see them?
Cerberus Facility, Unknown Date and Time, Comm Room
The guards threw the girls into the comm room, and locked the door. From the looks of it... it's a small room, with only a small table-like structure on it. Not sure what's needed here...
And then projection of a man, sitting on a chair had appeared... the chair, of course was facing away from them, so they couldn't get a good image of this man. But he appears to be smoking.
"Hello?" Ruby asked.
"It appears as if Miranda's report was accurate after all." the man said, although not turning around...
"Are you... the boss of these guys?"
"Calling me a boss would be an understatement. I am the head of this organization, the one you broke into, and damaged my property and workers." he said, angered.
"Do you have a name or anything?" Yang asked.
"My name is not something I would tell to anyone. But the people call me: 'The Illusive Man', and I recommend you refer to me as that." The Illusive man answered.
"Alright, why exactly did you call us here? We just want to get home." Weiss stated.
"If you wanted to stay home, you wouldn't have trespassed onto my property now, would you? No less, if the rumors of your combat prowess and abilities are true, you can earn your ticket home."
"So... you want us to work for you?" Blake asked.
"That is what I am proposing? And you are in no position to decline." The Illusive Man stated. "You have no credentials here; you do not officially exist. Which means you have nowhere to go."
"We can go home."
"Your home is through that Prothean Gateway, which is guarded to the teeth by my soldiers. And here you are, wearing my shock collars, clothes, and eat my food. Your ticket home is entirely dependent on me."
"So... what if we accept?" Yang asked.
"You will be issued standard equipment, and your personal belongings will be returned to you. Credits, living space, and food you'll have to fend for yourself on." The Illusive man answered.
"And if we refuse?"
"I'll make it clear that I can't keep you here. You will be removed from the premises, and left to fend for yourselves. All of your personal belongings that you brought here would now belong to me."
"So... either we work for you or get stranded in the middle of nowhere?"
"That is correct."
"Well... if it means we get our stuff back... we don't have a choice but to accept." Ruby said, reluctantly.
"You four are wise to co-operate. You four are to report to the facility deck, from there you are to enter a transport ship. Miranda will report from there. She will be your supervisor." The Illusive Man stated.
Ruby nodded, and the hologram faded away, and the door opened.
Two guardsmen came through the door and seems to wave their hands toward the door instead of dragging them like they usually do.
"No dragging or anything?" Blake asked.
"Do you want us to?" the guard jokingly asked.
"Nah nah, I think we can find the... where are we supposed to go?" Yang asked.
"Just follow me." the guard stated, moving away from the door.
"Can we take these collars off?"
"They'll come off when you get there."
No less, the the four girls were escorted to a room where their equipment would be. The guards had stopped the four before they went in, to remove their shock collars. They used some sort of keypad to unlock them, except for Yangs, which was broken, so they just ripped it off of her. The procedure wasn't considered fatal, don't worry. After the collars were removed, team RWBY went and walked into the room.
Cerberus Facility, Unknown Date and Time, Locker Room
It looks like a locker room. It has the lockers, benches, and bathroom stalls, showers and all. Not quite indifferent from the one back at Beacon Academy... except the colors are all white, black, and yellow. And the infamous Cerberus logo was on the floor of the room.
From one of the benches, the girl's weapons, clothes, scrolls, and lien wallets were all presented on the benches. Ruby used her semblance to blitz and grab her Scythe, and unfolded it into it's iconic scythe form. She then hugged the scythe and noticed... it felt a bit lighter.
"Oh no... what did they do to... oh, no magazine." Ruby said in worry, and then relief. "Still, I feel like they did some very awful things to you, but it's okay... mommy's here now."
With the re-unification of her scythe, Ruby went back to her cheerful old-self. She was hugging her scythe, Crescent Rose for a bit and went to see if anything else is amiss. "Oh my... I'm going to have to tune you up." She stated, looking at the loosely attached point at the tip of her scythe.
"Well, no more gloomy Ruby?" Yang asked.
"YANG! Let me have my moment." Ruby demanded.
"We have to get changed out of these jumpsuits and into our combat outfits." Weiss reminded her.
"I don't think that's true." Blake said, pointing at the equipment she found in the opened lockers.
Four suits of armor, although less bulky and looks lighter than the ones the guards and soldiers were outfitted with. Likely meant for more agile fighters instead of foot soldiers. Along with an assault rifle and a handgun.
"They look like energy weapons. Which is not my thing." Ruby stated. Energy weapons do exist on remnant, although their use is quite limited to a small number of huntsmen and huntresses, along with Atlassian soldiers. They were more effective than standard gunpowder, but less effective than dust when it comes to fighting grimm. The apparent trade-off is that Remnantian energy weapons have no recoil and have a faster firing rate. And Ruby uses bolt-action rifles, which focuses on punch, not fire-rate. If she wanted an automatic weapon, she would have made Crescent Rose an LMG. Which is something she can do at any time.
However, she doubts these weapons would function the same as the ones back at her world.
However, Ruby doesn't have any ammo in Crescent Rose so she has to take them. Albeit reluctantly, she also takes the armor from the locker, the rest of team RWBY followed. Although she does take her combat outfit with her. No need to leave her old clothes behind.
However, she does not change in front of her team. She's quite the modest type, so she went to one of the bathroom stalls to change out of her prison jumpsuit and into the under armor. She was wearing a different jumpsuit, which is tight, but fitting. Along with some boots and gloves. The jumpsuit is mostly white. Save for the black boots and black gloves, and the Cerberus logo on the left side of her chest. There were also yellow lines on the legs of the under-armor jumpsuit going up to her hip.
She then placed on the armor plating. Knee plates, shin and thigh plates, a small chest-plate covers the chest and stomach, the chest plate also has a Cerberus logo on it. In addition to shoulder-pads and upper arm plates. She then finished by applying the fore-arm plates. Only to release she also needs to apply the back-plating, which covers the same spots, save for knees and elbows.
The plates themselves were white, with the chest plate having a Cerberus logo. They were not bulky at all, the armor is very light, and doesn't inhibit movement much. Likely designed for agility. Perfect for Ruby. There was also a helmet that goes with the outfit, but she doesn't need it, she has aura. Yet again, she doesn't need the armor in the first place, but Ruby doubts they're going to let her leave without wearing it. So, she keeps the helmet with her combat outfit. She places Crescent Rose where she normally keeps it, at her back hip.
She then notices the energy weapons. She looks at the assault rifle, it has an 'M-7' design on it. She places it on her back, and the pistol at her thigh. She'll only need these until she can find ammo for Crescent Rose. She considers placing her red cloak with the outfit, but she figures it would be wise to keep it with the rest of her outfit for now.
She walks out of the stalls with clothes stored somewhere on her person, and holding her helmet. And to see... her sister changing... in which she looks away to respect her sister's privacy. Weiss and Blake are also likely changing, she threw her prisoner jumpsuit on the locker-room floor and went to the door, waiting for the rest of her team to finish, while shielding her eyes away from Yang.
"Yang... are you done?" Ruby asked.
"You know, I'd figure you out of the four of us would like to see a girl undressing." Yang said, trying to be funny.
"Not when it's my own sister!"
"I was just yanking your chain. I change a lot faster than you think."
Ruby peeked at her eyes... and sees Yang... fully clothed. Likewise in a similar under-armor jumpsuit, and with a similar armor, although Yang's is a bit larger. Somewhere in between Ruby's light armor, and the most of soldiers heavy and bulky armor. Although instead of bracers or gauntlets, she's wearing Ember Celicia in place.
"Yang, Ember Celicia wasn't designed to be armor." Ruby retorted.
"Relax, Rubes. We've got aura." Yang rebutted.
"True, but I don't think I'd want to be in trouble for being out of uniform, I just got Cressie back."
"Well, you can make some modifications to Ember Celicia when you have the time and equipment."
"Also, true. Now we have to wait for Weiss and Blake to finish. Why did you not go somewhere private to change?"
"Because no one else was around, so it was private."
"It's better to be safe than sorry."
"Sorry, I tried to put the helmet on, but it couldn't fit." Blake stated, walking toward the rest of the group. She was wearing a suit of armor and jumpsuit, quite identical to Ruby's, although it's a different size. Gambrol shroud is holstered where it's normally, the other weapons are placed elsewhere on Blake's person.
"Now, we have to worry about Weiss..." Yang said, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Speaking of which..." Blake said, as Weiss walking down.
And then there was Weiss, wearing the helmet provided, along with the armor. The armor, has the same plating as Ruby and Blake's suit. Myrtenaster is holstered where it normally is, her other weapons are on her person in a similar position to how Blake holstered hers.
Blake was then putting her bow on to conceal her cat ears. Which is a good idea given that she's the only faunas here. She doesn't want to derive looks towards the local populace.
"Sorry, you know how hard it is to get my hair to fit in this?" Weiss complained.
"Just cut your hair short." Blake suggested.
"Blake. Never say that in front of me ever again." Yang warned.
"What, why?"
"I let you off this time since you said it to Weiss, if you said it to me, you wouldn't be in a healthy condition."
"Let's just change the topic. So... umm... err..." Ruby said, trying to change the subject.
"We'll come up with something on our way to the rooftop." Weiss stated, leaving the locker room.
The rest of team RWBY followed. In which they followed the guards and soldiers to where they were supposed to go.
Transport Ship, Daytime?, Unknown Destination
After a long walk up into the outside, where Ruby and her team can see a blue star. And two planets... one of them is a gas giant. The human home world... well, assumed human home world in this dimension is quite a strange place. On the way there, she learned that the weapons her team was provided was called an M-7 Lancer assault rifle, and an M-2 Kessler pistol.
The shuttle they were getting on is white on the outside, one hundred percent, with only a single Cerberus Logo on the door. And on the inside... the walls were white, and the seats and floors were covered in a black rubber, the passenger seats had metal bars between them to hold onto, along with a seat belt. Ruby couldn't get a good look at the cockpit.
But after getting on the shuttle, Ruby looked around and noticed that there were no other women on the ship. And when the ship took off Ruby screamed.
"Wait, what about Miranda?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, she's patching through." the pilot stated.
And right the pilot was, a small hologram of the woman who interrogated team RWBY a month ago.
"I'd never expect the Illusive Man to actually conscript you guys." the woman retorted. "Yet again, he's never one to pass up resources handed to him on a silver platter."
"That's all we are? Just numbers on a chart?" Blake objected.
"Not even that, you have no legal documentation, you don't even legally exist here."
Wait, you're Miranda?" Yang asked.
"That is correct. I am to be your supervisor. The early promotion on my end surprised me too." Miranda stated.
"We're getting off-topic. Where are we going?" Weiss asked.
"OhmygodIaminspacethisissocooooooooooooooooooooooool!" Ruby screamed in excitement as she looked out the windows and started running back and forth between the shuttle.
"RUBY! SIT DOWN!" Yang yelled.
"Sorry, just got excited."
"Anyways... you are to be sent to Batarian space right and to be sent toward one of their planets." Miranda stated.
"Can you be more specific?"
"Four years ago, Batarian slavers attacked the human colony of Mindior, they captured and killed many colonists. This planet would contain the slaves captured by them. This planet is in the Untrel system, known by the name Adek. It was an early Batarian colony, but it was filled with many viruses and pathogens lethal to Batarian physiology... so most of the populace living there are Batarian slavers, along with their militant forces and laborers."
"Slavery? That's disgusting!" Blake retorted.
"Isn't slavery illegal?" Yang asked.
"In human law? Yes. In galactic law? No. Slavery is perfectly legal in terms of galactic law." Miranda stated. "But you're not going there to free the slaves."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Ruby asked.
"A group of Batarians managed to smuggle a bunch of Prothean artifacts on the planet. You are to retrieve them by any means necessary. It's preferable you leave no witnesses." Miranda ordered.
"No witnesses as in?"
"Ruby, it means you got to kill anyone who sees us." Blake stated.
"Preferable means optional, right?" Ruby asked, with panic in her voice.
Miranda stayed silent.
"Preferable means optional... right?" Ruby asked, with more panic in her voice.
"Did she just say viruses? Are we even prepared to counter those?" Yang asked.
"We have these helmets... don't we?" Ruby asked.
Blake points at her bow.
"Oh ya... yours can't fit." Ruby said.
"I don't want to ruin my hair, thank you very much." Yang retorted.
Ruby sighs and puts her helmet on. "Well, enjoy whatever disease you're getting." Ruby scolded.
"So... do we have any way to communicate to notify when we're done?" Yang asked.
"I see that you were not provided Omnitools yet. There should be a Batarian Communications array at the mission site, tune it to this." Miranda said, showing an array of numbers.
"Anyone got a pen and paper?" Ruby asked.
The pilot threw a notebook and a pen at Ruby, and she let out a small eep afterwards.
In which Ruby went to write down the numbers and place the sheet she wrote it on somewhere safe, she then gave the notebook and pen back to the pilot. After that, team RWBY all waited for the vessel to land at the Batarian colony Adek. Ruby doesn't know what a Batarian is... neither does the rest of team RWBY. But from the context, they're an alien species. But Ruby doubts that these Batarians wouldn't be prepared to fight a bunch of trainee huntresses. Maybe they use ballistic weapons, so she could finally find some ammo for her sweetheart.
Author's Footnote: Okay... before I get bombarded.
1. The Illusive Man saw team RWBY as a valuable asset, from the reports given. Not only are they appearently powerful, they also don't have a single legal credential in this universe, meaning that they don't legally exist. You can see where this would be going.
2. No Omnitools yet, this was an oversight because I was writing the locker room part at 3 AM and forgot it, but I decided to wing it. They'll get their Omnitools later, though.
3. The Orange is GMO.
4. Why the armor? Well, I'll give some basic explanation to why. Cerberus still doesn't know about Aura and how it works. In addition, I'll outright say that Aura does not protect one against radiation or lack of oxygen. It fends off against harmful environments, but it tends to eat up aura, whether it be slowly or radically. The armors they were provided did not come with kinetic barriers. And in terms of protecting the Rubes protection will be done in this order: Kinetic Barrier, Aura, Armor. In that specific order.
5. Don't worry RWBY fans, there will be ways for team RWBY to find some ballistic ammunition in later chapters.
6. 'Unknown Date and Time' because Team RWBY would know what the date is in this timeline.
That's all I'm going to get... soo... what do you think of the chapter? We'll be covering RWBY's Mission in Adek in the next chapter. Make sure to leave some feedback and see ya next chapter.