Disclaimer

I don't own RWBY, or any company related to it.

Chapter 3

"I have contacted the buyer. We will meet them in the village south east of Mantle called Geldgrad. They reside in a local dust mine office. Bring her there and they will pay her worth" Duke words resounded from inside of the pilot compartment. It was the first loud speech since the end of talking one hour ago. She didn't need to focus herself to hear what was happening in another room, as the rest of the crew were performing maintenance of their weaponry in the cargo hold and left the doors open for ease of communication.

"How long until we reach the destination?" Jake's words ended with a jawn, as he was sleepy from the last day's actions and it was the next day early morning.

"Luckily we are close, so it should be about fifteen minutes. Enough for you to drink a cup of coffee"

"You are right. If they see me half awake, they will try to cheat us. It is in atlesian blood after all. Wanna too?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Finished mine half a hour ago"

"Your choice then" with these words Jake left the pilot section and stopped next to the bench, where he reached under it and pulled out a cup with heating feature, coffee powder and a five liter water canister.

Her sore throat reminded painfully of the lack of water and stomach grumbled softly with hunger, as the last time she ate was with mother. The moment that thought entered her mind she wanted to cry and to squeeze herself even more into the corner. Tiredness, hunger and thirst would make her escape even harder, or perhaps impossible. Maybe she would be able to eat and drink something. Next thing would be getting a transport by either stowaway, or paying. Realising that planning now her actions don't make much sense, as she did not know what will await her after landing. Ruby dropped her thoughts and decided to wait for landing as now it was only about ten minutes until landing.

After a while Jake finished his cup and Duke worlds resounded across the craft "Prepare for landing, buyer send a representative with cash and some pmc. I want it to be short and smooth, as they are armed like a typical Atlesian army".

"Finally" Max said as he sat down on the bench next to the now awake Adrien, who also prepared himself.

Then she felt a sharp pull, as the bulkhead stopped on the ground. Max and Adrien stood up, then lifted her cage and started carrying her to the ramp that Jake opened, pressing a combination of keys on the panel next to it.

A bright light hit her and she squirmed her eyes, but after a moment she felt being carried and getting used to light. When her eye vision was back to normal, she decided to take a quick look around before escaping, but she was on a small landing platform on an open field with a couple of heavy armed guards visible. She could escape the cage, but the people would kill her immediately, as there was no cover for her to stop and re-enter her semblance.

Ruby had given up on her escape for now and decided to wait for a chance to do it.

"Here one animal for Bauxer Mine, a subject of Schnee Dust Company"

"Shut up and let me check her. I don't have much time" Answered a young woman in charge of the other party.

She was wearing a typical high class atlesian citizen black and white clothes with long black hair.

"Fine, fine… Boys place the cage and step back for our lady to examine"

With these words both of them placed her cage on the ground and moved a couple of steps back away from her. At this moment an atlesian woman came closer and started moving around her cage while checking her body.

"Looks good. I can offer 550 credits for her" she stated her offer and looked at her capturers leader.

"She is healthy, despite appearance. Also quite strong with aura unlocked. Her mother was a huntress, so she was most likely trained a little too. I want 1200 credits for her" Jake replied to the offer.

She then fell a hand grabbing her left upper arm and strong squeeze with a foreign aura attacking her. Her power automatically fought back, but it only served as confirmation for Jake's words, as the Bauxer representative took her hand and wiped it with a handkerchief.

"Well you are right. She does have an aura. What about semblance?"

"She can move very fast at will, while leaving red petal trail behind her"

"It should not cause problems for us then. I will pay 900 credits. No more, no less. Take it or leave, no negotiations"

Ruby got scared after hearing that part of her semblance would 'not cause a problem' for them, as that means her buyer had some kind of escape prevention system that could be used against her.

"We will gladly accept yours offer miss"

"Good" She signaled to one of her pmc to bring the money and then to the second one. Ruby then felt something sharp entering her right arm. She instantly turned her head there and saw a small needle with an empty tube sticking out of her upper arm and felt a need to sleep. After a moment she fell unconscious.

She woke up in a room on a hard bed with a bandage on her right arm and a tattooed number '83' above it. The bandage was a little bloodied and as she took it off, there was a faint itchy scar. At this moment doors opened and a woman dressed as an atlesian nurse came in and said "83 get up and follow me. If you disagree, or show any kind of denial then" for an answer she took out a small remote from her breast pocket and clicked the blue button.

Ruby momentally felt a pain as the electrical shock ran through her nerves starting from the scar. She fell to the ground with a painful yell, but the pain stopped after landing. She looked up at the nurse with fear in her eyes and found out that the nurse was already placing the remote back in her pocket.

"The same will happen if you leave outside the device range, but there will be no one to stop it this time. Understood?"

"Yes" she answered weakly with a sore throat.

"Now get up and follow me" She immediately got up and followed her behind while keeping herself two steps away from her. After a moment they reached a waiting area with a couple of other faunus, some had numbers like her and the rest were bound with handcuffs. "Sit there and wait for yours number to be called"

She went to sit on a wooden chair next to a handcuffed bull faunus. As she sit he looked at her and she responded with "Ruby"

"Excuse me?" Bull faunus answered.

"My name is Ruby" she repeated herself, but this time with a full sentence.

"Mine is Adam. Let's hope we will survive and meet in the future to take revenge on these inferior humans.

She did not answer that statement. Instead she remembered her mother's words about people like him, but looking at the situation blaming him for that was not the right choice for her. Looking around she found on the other side of the room a water dispenser, disposable cups, some kind of gruel and toilets. She stood up from her chair and went slowly to take a cup and drink a lot of water. After four cups she felt hydrated enough to take something to eat. The gruel was tasting horrible, but it did the job of filling her stomach. She used another cup of water to get rid of the rest of food from her teeth and tongue. It helped a little, but not a lot. After eating she went back to her seat and waited.

After a moment a man came in the room and called "group b2 follow me". She saw her short talking partner get up and leave the room with another six people. She was left alone in her seat.

There were a couple of other calls and more people leaving the room, until she was left alone and a couple of hours passed. Finally a man came out and said with a tired voice "83 follow me".

They left the room and she followed him through a long corridor, until they reached the door with letters FMI. He then went inside and told her to sit on a chair, as he went to a phablet at the end of the room and clicked something.

The TV in front came to life with a movie called 'how to mine the fire dust'. "Watch it and we next you will get sent to a fire dust mine. Apply these rules and you will live" came from a tired man, who then sat comfortably and clicked play.

After twenty minutes the instruction movie ended and she looked up to him and he signaled to her to get up and follow. They left the room and went through the corridor to the doors at the end. They found themselves outside with a couple of bullheads waiting to start off. He led her to the third one and told her to get inside, which she did.

Inside were other faunus with numbers raging form 80 to 95 and they were sitting on the numbered seats prepared for them. Each of them was fastened and handcuffed. There was no fighting, as they all had a similar scar on their upper arms. With a sight she took her seat and let herself be fastened and handcuffed by the two guards who were standing inside the slave compartment.

After finishing her, they closed the doors and the pilot took off. They were being transferred to their last destination, the fire dust mine.

"ETA 45 minutes to the destination" That was a pilot voice that came out from the speaker. At least the engines were much quieter in bullheads. She hoped that escape would happen soon, but chances for that were astronomically small. The only thing she could hope for was some kind of rescue, but there were no organisations fighting against it and white fang fought with words against cash and guns.

At the end she could only know her fate and pray to the brothers for some kind of help or relief. Her fate was mostly outside her choice, but she would try to make her own decisions and not get broken.

AN: PMC - Private Military Contractor, or a mercenary in short.

Hope you are healthy and bye.