AUTHOR'S NOTES: I don't think I've been as enthusiastic to write a story like this since I first started writing the first "On RWBY Wings" back in 2019. So yeah, enjoy chapter three! I honestly don't think I'll quite be able to keep up such a quick update schedule for too long, so enjoy it while it lasts.

A little warning here: there's some pretty rough scenes in this chapter, and some squicky things involving bodily functions. One half of Ruby Flight spends this chapter naked, which is odd in a fic that's not smut.

Wioska Myszy, Poland

8 September 2001

Yang slowly woke up. She didn't want to. She felt toasty warm. The bed felt good, too. Slowly, she began to feel other sensations—a slight pain in her left arm, someone in the bed next to her. Yang gave that some thought for awhile. Being in bed was a little weird; last she remembered, she was hiding in a cave somewhere in Poland, trying not to freeze or die of radiation exposure. She was also pretty sure that she hadn't been sleeping with anyone recently. Then she felt something else, something that was a bit more urgent, and that made Yang open her eyes.

It was dark, but slowly her eyes adjusted to the dim light. There was some kind of curtain over the door, and a faint outline of light. Holy shit, Yang thought, am I dead? Then she noticed the IV bottle, and the line snaking down to her arm. Welp, guess not. She wiggled her toes, then moved her fingers. Everything worked. Okay…better try and find a bathroom here, otherwise I'm going to be even warmer. She tried to say something, but her voice came out as a raspy croak. She wetted her lips, but there was almost no saliva. "Help," she finally managed to rasp. She looked to her left, and saw someone lying on a cot next to the bed. "Help."

The figure stirred, rolled over, and Yang found herself staring into the silver eyes of her sister. Ruby blinked, still half asleep herself, and then her eyes flew wide. "Yang?" She was out of the cot in a hurry. "Yang!"

"Hey," Yang whispered. "Water…"

"Yeah, sure!" Ruby looked around frantically and saw a bottle of water. She grabbed it and gently helped Yang to drink. "Better?"

"Yeah." Yang felt like she had been gargling with bleach, but that was a secondary issue. "Ruby," she rasped, "I have to pee."

"Um, okay. Er…wait a second, huh?" Ruby left the water by the bed and dashed out the curtain. Yang tried to think dry thoughts. To distract herself, she looked to the right to see who she was in bed with. "Blake?" There was no response. The Faunus looked more pale than usual, but her face was placid, her breathing even and steady.

The curtain flew back again and Ruby came in with a middle-aged man in an apron. "Yang, this is Dr. Strazinski!"

"Great," Yang groaned. "Doc, I really need to—"

"Your sister told me. Do you think you can stand?"

"Yeah…think so…" Yang wanted to say that she'd run a marathon if a bathroom was at the other end of it, but right now she prayed she could just get out of bed. With help from Ruby and Strazinski, Yang managed to get to her feet. She then realized that she was very naked, but that was also secondary. Ruby, her face red with embarrassment, pointed to a bucket in the corner. Yang stumbled in that direction, held up by her sister, and managed to make it in time. Ruby turned away to give her sister at least a little privacy.

"That's better," Yang said after she was finished. "Sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay." Ruby led her back to the bed and helped her lay down.

"How are you feeling?" Strazinski asked.

Yang had to give that some thought too. "Not great. Feel really tired. Throat's sore. Just want to sleep." She smiled a little. "Kinda hungry, though."

"That's a good sign." Strazinski checked her vitals. "Good. No fever, and your blood pressure is all right. I think you'll live, Miss Xiao Long." He didn't want to tell her that her white blood cell count was undoubtedly low as a result of the radiation, and if she caught an infection—all too easy in a confined space like the bunker—it could still carry her off.

Yang inclined her head towards Blake. "She gonna be okay?"

"We'll know in a few hours," Strazinski said guardedly. "Get some sleep, Captain. I'll bring some warm soup in a little while, if you feel up to it."

"Yeah, sounds great." Yang had a ton of questions—such as where they were and why Ruby was there—but exhaustion took her. Ruby held her left hand, her eyes filled with tears. Yang winked at her and closed her eyes, but not before her metal fingers, under the covers, found Blake's and grabbed them. She tried to squeeze her friend's hand before conscious thought faded again.

Ruby waited until her sister was asleep, then let go of her hand and kissed Yang on the forehead. She got up and smoothed some of Blake's hair. "Please wake up, Blake," Ruby asked. There was no response, but she hadn't really expected one. With one last look, she went outside into the bunker.

It was about half empty. The upper floors were sealed off as best they could be, so many of the villagers had gone upstairs for a little fresh air and sunlight. The air outside was not showing much radiation, but everyone knew the ground was saturated from the black rain; that would be the real killer.

Reluctant to leave her sister and friend, Ruby walked up the stairs to the upper floor, and found Jan. The big Pole was sitting and eating with someone she didn't recognize, and Ruby was surprised to see it was a raccoon Faunus; his tail gave him away. Ruby walked over. "Jan, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course." He motioned to the Faunus. "Miss Rose, this is Jinxy Peddler. He's American as well."

Peddler smiled, set aside his meal, got to his feet, and shook hands. "Hi there. Good to meet you. Where're you from?"

"America," Ruby answered.

"Well, no duh!" Peddler laughed. "What part?"

"Oh. North Carolina."

"Nice! Thought I detected a bit of an accent there. I'm from Maine. Bangor." He noticed her taking in how he was dressed, in US Army battle dress uniform. "Nah, I'm not with the Army, Miss Rose. I bought this off a guy who was being evaced back home, seeing as he didn't need it no more. People ask less questions."

"What do you do?" Ruby asked.

"Trader. I collect stuff and give it to people—for a price, of course." He grinned; Ruby noticed that Jan didn't. "That's how these fine folk here in Woiska Myszy got those AKs. Not money in this case—food, and some gas for my Hummer."

"You have a car?"

Peddler nodded. "Yeah, a Hummer like I said. Gas mileage stinks, but it's pretty solid against rads as long as you wash it down afterwards."

"Let me hire you!"

Peddler was surprised. "Uh, sure. What're you hiring me for?"

"I have a friend out there. Another pilot. She was shot down yesterday." Ruby turned to Jan. "Unless Casimir wants to go out! Please, I've got to find her." Even if it's just her body, she added to herself. Just the thought of Weiss lying dead somewhere filled her with dread.

"How far?"

Ruby realized that she had no idea. If Neo had been telling the truth, Weiss could have gone down relatively close to where Ruby herself had. It depended on if one, Neo had been telling the truth, and two, the rate of fuel loss and gliding ability of the Typhoon. Ruby fought down a feeling of panic. Weiss could actually have already been rescued, if she glided far enough west. Or she was dead. "South of here, about 30 miles or so." That was a guess, but she had to give Peddler something.

He did some calculating as well. "Ayuh, I should have enough gas to make it there and back. What're you paying me with?"

"One second!" Ruby ran back down to the basement, found her survival vest, and pulled out five of the gold coins. She went back upstairs and dropped them into Peddler's hand. "Here. That enough?"

"Hmm…yeah, should be. Gold's always good."

Jan glanced from Peddler to Ruby. "This is the Schnee girl?"

"Yeah, Weiss Schnee," Ruby confirmed.

Peddler's eyebrows rose. "Excuse me, but Weiss Schnee? The heiress to the Schnee Company?"

"Former, yeah."

Peddler immediately got to his feet. "Well, Miss Rose, let's hit the road. I've got a gas mask and chemical suit in the car you can borrow. You got a gun?" She nodded. "Okay, ready when you are."

"I'll meet you out there. Let me grab my sidearm." Ruby once more returned downstairs, this time almost running down Little. "Can't talk, got to go find Weiss," Ruby said quickly.

"Oh, your friend?" Little grinned. "I don't have anything to do yet—the doctor says I'm a bad nurse, so he got my mom instead. I can be your trusty guide!"

Ruby nodded, hoping Little's parents would agree. She could always use another pair of eyes, and something told Ruby that Little knew this area a lot better than Peddler did. As the mouse Faunus dashed off to ask her parents, Ruby retrieved her survival vest and pistol, and went back upstairs. She was heading out the front door when Jan stopped her. He held out his AK-47. "You know how to use this?"

"Sure." Her father Taiyang actually owned one; where he'd gotten it he'd refused to say, even to his daughters. He had trained Ruby and Yang to shoot with it when they were teenagers.

"Take it." He motioned to Peddler, who was starting up the Hummer—actually, a military-issue HMMWV. "Jinxy helped us here last few weeks, but I do not trust him. He likes money too much. He wants to rescue the Schnee girl because he thinks it will get him reward. Watch him."

"I will." Ruby took the AK, handed the Beretta to Little, who had run up behind her, and went outside into a pleasant, radioactive September day to climb into the HMMWV.

Little turned out to be less than a trusty guide, because she fell asleep in the backseat less than a mile from the village. Ruby had no trouble staying awake, her eyes quartering the road and the horizon like she would from her F-16, looking for wreckage or anything that might indicate where Weiss had gone down. Jinxy was quiet.

It was smooth enough for the first five miles, then they reached the blowdown zone. "Ayuh," Jinxy nodded. "We're going to have to go around this. No prob. This thing is great offroad." Ruby held on as the HMMWV bounced off the blocked road and began moving through the fields. "Make sure we're buttoned up. That rain has had a chance to dry, so any dust we kick up is going to be radioactive." He looked out over the fields of wheat. "Gad, I don't envy those farmers. This crop is probably dead. I dunno; maybe it's okay to eat, but you won't see me doing it."

They ended up having to go around the worst of the blowdown zone, though they managed to find a railroad crossing-the same railroad that Ruby had taken cover from when Neo had tried to kill her. Ruby reached down and switched the safety off the AK. Jinxy noticed the move. "Chupta?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?" Jinxy enunciated. "I hit a bump, that thing's liable to go off."

Ruby hesitated, then she put the safety back on. "There's someone else out here. I don't want to find her, unless it's her body." She decided to chance it. "Her name is Neo Politan. She kills people."

"Neo Politan? Ayuh, I think I've heard of her. Can't say as I've made her acquaintance. Hey, I think we're getting out of the blowdown zone here—"

"Stop!" Ruby shouted suddenly, jolting Little awake. Jinxy slammed on the brakes, and the HMMWV slid on the still-wet ground.

"What? What?" Jinxy wanted to know.

"I see something."

"Okay. Don't stay out there long. There's a jerry can of water on the back—use that to wash off the dust before you come in here, or we're gonna be glowing in the dark."

Ruby nodded, put on the gas mask and some gloves, and ran out of the HMMWV, slamming the door behind her. She spotted the object she had seen, and thanked her silver eyes for allowing her to see it. Then she reached it and stopped, staring.

It was a Desert Eagle.

Ruby reached down and picked it up. The grip was distorted, bent by force, and the muzzle was plugged with mud. She went back to the HMMWV, washed it off and herself, then got back into the vehicle. Jinxy looked over and whistled. "A Deagle! That's some find!" Ruby wrapped it in a towel, put it on the floorboards, cleared the mask, and put it back into its box. It was only then that she started crying, uncontrollably. Little leaned forward and put her hands reassuringly on Ruby's shoulders. Jinxy stared at her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Ruby took in a shuddering breath. "It's…I think…I think it was my friend's." She shook her head at his unanswered question. "Not Weiss…my friend Penny's."

Jinxy was silent for a moment. "We'll look. As long as we don't stay out for more than ten minutes at a time, we should be okay."

"No," Ruby said. She leaned back in the seat, pulled off her gloves, and wiped her eyes. "No. Penny's dead. There's no point in looking."

"You don't know that, Ruby," Little said.

"No," Ruby repeated. "I know. Please, let's just…I know."

"Ayuh." Jinxy put the HMMWV into gear and pulled out. "We'll go down apiece and there's a road. You need to cry, you do it. You don't need to bottle that up."

Ruby set her face in a mask of determination. "I'm fine."

They came to the road; the damage was less here, though there were still blown down trees and fences that Jinxy had to maneuver around. "You see that?" He pointed forward.

Ruby had been silent for the half hour it had taken them to reach the road, staring out the windows, once or twice wiping her eyes. Now she perked up, as hope bloomed once more. "I sure do!"

Moments later, they were at the wreckage of Weiss' Typhoon. To her surprise, it was relatively intact. The landing gear was strewn across the road and one wingtip was bent upwards, and the canopy was well away from the aircraft. Jinxy and Ruby scrambled to put on their protective gear; Ruby ordered a disappointed Little to stay with the HMMWV. Then she and the raccoon Faunus got out and inspected the Typhoon. "Hell," Jinxy said, his voice muffled by the gas mask, "I don't know much about airplanes, but I'd say this baby is repairable."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, checking the intakes. She was surprised that someone hadn't bombed the aircraft to keep it from falling into Salem's hands. She chinned herself on the canopy, noting with fear that there was blood on the fuselage, below where the canopy rail would have been. It wasn't much, but Ruby had a renewed sense of urgency. "The seat hasn't been fired. Weiss landed…" Ruby pointed down the road, to where skidmarks were burned into the pavement. "And then she got blown over here by the blast, went through that fence…" She looked at Jinxy. "She's alive. She blew the canopy and got out." She moved out into the pasture.

Jinxy did as well, then stopped and knelt. "Tire tracks. Looks like an APC. Not one of ours, though." He checked his watch. "Let's get back in the Hummer." They washed off and climbed back in. "We'll follow the tire tracks and see if that takes us anywhere."

They drove into the woods, and had barely entered it when Ruby told Jinxy to stop again: she had seen the shelter. Ruby ducked underneath it. It was dry. "This is a reflective blanket. She built a shelter here."

"Miss Rose, over here." Jinxy motioned with the AK. "The tire tracks circle around, but there's a ton of boot prints over here." He bent down, and so did Ruby, who traced one of them with a finger. One set of prints led back to the shelter, and were different than the others. She stepped down hard next to one, leaving the imprint of her own boot. "Those are pilot boots—but too big for Weiss."

"Someone else?" Jinxy asked.

"Maybe." Ruby looked around, then spotted more tracks heading deeper into the forest. She set her foot next to one. "Here! Mr. Peddler, here!" She didn't wait for him, but ran into the forest. Jinxy shook his head and ran after her, leaving a confused Little with the HMMWV.

Ruby was an experienced hunter, also thanks to Taiyang, though she wasn't a superb tracker, but her eyesight was once more coming in handy, even through the gas mask. The woods were dark, even in the afternoon, and she stumbled a few times, trying to find Weiss' tracks—if it was Weiss. No, it is, Ruby reassured herself. It has to be.

"Miss Rose, ahead of you!" Ruby glanced up, raising the AK-47, but there was no one there. There was a small shack. Jinxy caught up to her. "Looks like a hunter's shack or something. There's a few of those around here for the winter." She motioned him forward, and they quickly walked to the front door. They went to either side of it, and Ruby knocked on the door. "Hello? Hello in the shack? We're Americans! Americans!" Ruby braced for a hail of gunfire; it had occurred to her that Salem's forces might be using the wreckage of Myrtenaster for a flak trap for any rescue forces.

"How do I know you're Americans?" someone asked. Ruby could barely hear them through the gas mask and the door.

Ruby took a chance. "Weiss, it's Ruby! Ruby!"

"Ruby?" A pause. "If you're Ruby, when was the first time you got drunk?"

Ruby grinned under the mask. "Beacon! When we did carrier landings!"

"Come in! Hands in the air!"

She nodded to Jinxy. "That's her."

"Let's hope," the Faunus said. "I'll cover you."

Ruby reached for the door handle, stopped, and pulled off her gas mask. Then she opened the door and walked in, hands raised, the AK dangling from its strap. She found herself looking down the barrel of a PPK, but behind the pistol was Weiss Schnee. "Weiss!" Ruby shouted in joy. She ran forward to embrace her friend, but stopped as Weiss put her hands up.

"Don't hug me!" Weiss was laying in a cot, two horse blankets across her. "I'm probably radioactive." She holstered the PPK, and got up shakily, then bent over and started coughing. "Do you have any water? Mine ran out."

"Back at the Hum-Vee. Can you walk?"

"I'll walk out of here. Mind your step." Ruby moved her feet, seconds from when she wouldn't stepped into a pile of vomit. "Started throwing up last night." Ruby noticed Weiss' hands were shaking. "I think I have radiation poisoning." She looked up at Ruby and smiled. Her eyes were bright with exhaustion and sunken with lack of sleep, she looked sick, and her lips were chapped and split, but she was one of the most wonderful things Ruby Rose had ever seen. She saw Jinxy come in. "Who's that?"

"Jinxy. He's an American."

"Rescue forces?"

"No. I'll explain later. Where's your radio?"

"On the bed." Ruby thumbed towards it. Jinxy understood and gathered up the radio and a few other items Weiss had gotten out—her first aid kit, spare pistol magazine, and compass. He grabbed the blankets as well. He left the chocolate bar wrappers, which had been all Weiss had to eat. When they reached the door, Ruby took her gas mask completely off and put it on Weiss. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"I haven't been exposed to rads! You have! I can take a few!" Ruby began half-carrying Weiss out of the cabin; the exhausted girl was about to collapse. Jinxy followed them, stuffed Weiss' things into the pockets of his jacket, then took her other arm. Between them, they half-carried, half-dragged Weiss out of the cabin, across the woods, and to the HMMWV. Little helped them put Weiss in the back seat. "We've got to get those clothes off," Jinxy explained. "They're contaminated."

"Okay. Let me." Carefully but quickly, Ruby pulled off Weiss' boots, then her flight suit; Weiss weakly helped her. "Her undies?"

"They should be okay."

"Oh, good," Weiss smiled. "At least I'm not completely naked in front of two perfect strangers and Ruby. Not sure which is worse." She began to shiver uncontrollably. "Cold…" It wasn't that cold out. Little grabbed the blankets and wrapped Weiss in them, then gave her a canteen of water.

"Let's get out of here," Jinxy said. "Got to get her back home."

Ruby was about to join him, when she suddenly heard jet engines. "Wait!" She ran out of the treeline, looked around, then up. Anyone else might have been hard pressed to see the two aircraft against the sky, since they were high up and weren't contrailing, but Ruby could not only see them, but identify them. A F-22 and a J-10? That's… "Pyrrha! Ren!" She quickly fumbled for one of her pen flares, pointed, and fired it. It made a nice red curve into the sky.

She waited, but the two aircraft didn't change course. Ruby fired a second, and her heart leapt as this time, the F-22 did break formation and curve around. She went to grab a third flare, and realized she had no more. The Raptor began to descend, and Ruby began waving her hands, then remembered her signal mirror. She fished that out, but before she could flash it, there was a louder roar, and she watched as the F-22 accelerated and climbed. "No…no, Pyrrha, come back!" Ruby looked to the east, and saw a number of Beowolves approaching. "Dammit!"

Ruby ran back to the HMMWV. "Jinxy! I need Weiss' radio!"

He had his own gas mask off. "Way ahead of you, but it's not working. Too many rads. Let's get out of here before your friend takes any more."

"Fuck," Ruby breathed, used the rest of the water to wash off her clothes, and got in.

It took them almost two hours to get back. Ruby watched for more signs of aircraft—Weiss had more flares—but there were none. It was a long ride back to the village. Weiss faded in and out of consciousness, shivering some times and still others; twice, she had rolled over and had dry heaves, but there was nothing left to come up. Little made sure she had plenty of water. She didn't speak; when she was conscious, she just stared at the ceiling.

They reached Wioska Myszy, and Weiss was brought down to the same ersatz hospital room as Yang and Blake. Ruby helped carry Weiss in, and to her pleasant surprise, Yang was awake and sitting up in bed, eating soup—and so was Blake, the covers pulled up over their breasts. They saw Weiss and started to get up, but Dr. Strazinski came running in. "Don't either of you get up!" Both women quickly nodded. Ruby stepped back as Weiss was first stripped and examined, then taken to the shower, then returned. By that time, another bed had been moved from upstairs, and Weiss was carefully placed in it. An IV was put into place.

Blake tugged on Ruby's sleeve, but Strazinski pointed at her. "Shower. Now. Your clothes may be radioactive." Ruby squeezed Blake's hand, nodded at Yang, then left and did as instructed. More of Little's clothes were given to her by Little's mother, and Ruby finally returned to the hospital room. Strazinski met her at the partition. "Your friend is going to be all right. She's just dehydrated, and I think she's got a sinus infection."

"Radiation?" Ruby asked.

"Doesn't seem to be as bad as your other two friends. Probably less than two Grays. We'll have to watch her over the next few days—even a minor infection can be very bad to someone with a reduced immune system—but barring anything going very wrong, Miss Schnee will make a full recovery." Strazinski looked back in the room. "Miss Xiao Long and Miss Belladonna are doing well, as long as they can keep that food down. As long as they don't throw it back up, the worst has past. I still want them to rest, and I'll keep them on the IV for a little while longer. Sometimes ARS victims can seem to make a complete recovery, then die two weeks later." At the look of horror on Ruby's face, Strazinski put up his hands. "But that's almost always people who took more Grays than any of your friends did, Miss Rose. We'll need to keep an eye on you as well—you were exposed today, and splashing water around is not always effective."

"Can we at least give them some clothes?" Ruby thought it was kind of weird that Yang, Blake and Weiss were all naked, pretty much next to each other.

Strazinski laughed. "I think we can do that."

That night, Ruby sat in a rocking chair on the first floor, watching the moon through a window. She heard someone coming up the stairs, and smiled when she saw Jinxy Peddler, carrying a towel. "Hi."

"Hey." He sat down on the floor next to her, leaning against the windowsill. "Whew. That bunker is a bit crowded. No privacy." He handed her the towel. Ruby unwrapped it. It was the Desert Eagle. "Forgot to give that back to you. Bad habit of mine. I washed it and cleaned it. The magazine is jammed in there, because the grip is bent. It's also empty, but I wouldn't fire it anyway. I think the feed is jammed."

Ruby ran her fingers over it. She remembered Yang kidding Penny that her Beretta was nowhere near strong enough. As usual, Penny had taken it seriously, and ended up picking the largest hand cannon available. But how did it survive? Penny had been undoubtedly carrying it when she ejected. Did Penny make it after all? "Jinxy," Ruby asked, "can you take me to the impact point of that Maiden strike?"

"The what?" Ruby quickly explained. "Oh, that. Ayuh, I saw that on CNN. No can do, Miss Rose. You saw the blowdown zone today. It's worse when you get closer, and someone saw GRIMM there the other day. Just one Centinel would ruin our whole day. I heard rumors that this Salem chick is pulling what's left of her forces back across the Vistula, but I'm not taking chances. NATO's already pulled back across the Oder."

"We're in no man's land," Ruby commented.

"Afraid so." Jinxy stretched onto the floor. "Oh yeah. General Ironwood's dead."

"What?" Ruby turned to look at him.

"Ayuh. Heard it on AFN." He paused, and for a moment he could not meet Ruby's eyes. "Pretty staticky—radiation, same thing that's messing with your friend's survival radio. I'm going to fiddle with that thing tonight to see if I can get a signal. Anyhow, Ironbutt got killed—guess it was in that big air battle you were in."

"But…he was nowhere near us!" Ruby protested.

Jinxy shrugged. "Don't ask me, miss. They just said he got shot down and he was dead. Said he was a hero, died for his country, all that shit." He snorted. "Ironwood. More like Ironass! If he was such a big hero, then how come we're sitting here in some old 19th Century school because there's rads out there soaking the ground? Hmph." He noticed it was Ruby this time that could not meet his look. "Did you know the guy?"

"No…not personally," Ruby lied. "Jinxy…my friend…Penny. I think she was near that Maiden strike. Maybe even in the middle of it. Be honest…you think she survived?"

Jinxy sighed. "Ma'am, sorry like hell to say it, but if she was anywhere near that, she's gone." He pointed to the pistol. "Maybe the shockwave picked that up and tossed it a few miles. I hear tornadoes do that back in the States. I dunno."

Ruby slowly nodded. She could see it in her mind. Penny firing the pistol until it was empty, then tossing it aside. Maybe she was hit. I didn't hear any calls; I was too busy fighting Neo and Cinder. She would've been on Guard anyway. Maybe. So she gets hit, and…called in the Maiden on herself to keep Salem from turning her into bait for a flak trap. Ruby felt the tears coming and angrily smeared them away. "Goddammit," she whispered, trying to keep control of herself. She couldn't cry. Not in front of Jinxy. Not in front of anyone.

Jinxy got up. "Well. Better head on back down." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Sorry, miss." Then he headed back down into the bunker, leaving Ruby alone.

The tears started again, and a sob escaped her lips. She bent over, holding the pistol, the only thing left of the second and last Penny Polendina. "No," she gritted out. There were people on the upper floors. There was a bathroom on this one. No one could see her cry. Ruby pounded on her legs in rage. She was an officer of the United States of Canada Air Force. She was Summer Rose's daughter. "No, no," Ruby repeated. "Stop it, you piece of shit. Stop crying. Stop being a fucking crybaby. Your flight's fucking alive, and you've got to keep them alive so we can get home."

To what? her mind taunted her. You refused a direct order from higher authority. You instigated a mutiny. You undermined Ironwood at every opportunity. They're going to court-martial you, Ruby. You're a disgrace to the uniform, to your mom. And you sucked Yang and Blake and Weiss and Penny into it. And now Penny's dead and the rest are sick with ARS and might still die. And even if you get out of here, you're going to prison. So's Yang and Weiss and Blake.

Ruby wanted to scream. Instead, she grabbed the Desert Eagle in a fit of rage, turned it upwards, and stuck the barrel under her jaw. But her finger refused to pull the trigger, and it was empty anyway. She let the pistol fall out of her hand and topple to the floor. Ruby slumped in the chair, exhaustion overtook her, and she slept.