Thanks for all the comments and support, it honestly lets me know if what I'm writing is in any way acceptable. I've been doing a personal project of mine so expect most of my fan-fics to be delayed or not updated for a while.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this! C:
"And… there… we… go!" Ruby let down the turret carried by an extensive crane and stepped back to admire her efforts. Her red-tipped hair was thoroughly stained with the smell of lubricant and hard work.
No not that kind of lubricant, calm yourselves.
Tiger swiveled his turret left and right as he apologized. "Sorry again for making you do this, Ruby. I didn't expect the damage to force you to try and replace the entire turret ring."
It was late in the night, she tried as hard as she could even after school hours. Three cups of spent coffee were scattered on the workshop's table. It was reserved for weapon maintenance and Ruby had gone out of her way in moving the room's furniture around to make space to work on the tanks properly.
Thankfully, Beacon had all sorts of tools and equipment, even a crane capable of lifting tons of steel which surprised Ruby.
"At least we got to properly fixing it now. So, can you shrink with it?" Ruby had her hands firmly grasping her tools. "I hope I don't have to re-do it again. How this resize thing works is so confusing."
Tiger shrinks himself halfway up to Ruby's knees. "It performs well now. You shouldn't question something like this anymore, I mean we are foreign tanks. Suspension of belief would've started the moment you dreamt of another world."
"I guess so. Now, let's hope we haven't woke anyone up this late-"
"Hello, Miss Rose." Just in time, Ozpin appears out of nowhere just in front of the entrance to the workshop. His mug is filled with coffee as he smiles at Ruby slowly turning around.
"-Gah! Oh, it's just you, headmaster." Ruby does a double take. "Headmaster?!"
"The one and only. Don't start panicking, Miss Rose. I've already seen you from the surveillance, you need to work on your stealth if you trip while sneaking out. Your friends might be helpful in that regard."
"Oh."
"I told you we'd be noticed." Iosif sighed. "We should've asked for permission in the first place."
Sherman responded, "And risk the wrath of the disciplinarian? Iosif, we may be allies somewhat... but we both know that Goodwitch is a force to be reckoned with."
Ozpin's mind went through PTSD in a single second before he starts coughing. "Ahem, I agree with your friends. Glynda can be... harsh."
""Agreed."" the group all confirmed. Glynda was scary.
"So, uh..." Ruby awkwardly looked around. "Why are you here, headmaster?"
"Miss Rose, this would've been easier to talk about in my office but seeing as your repairs are important, I decided to let you finish. Don't be surprised if I say this but I know you plan on confronting the criminal Torchwick."
Her mouth slacked in disbelief. "What?"
"As I said, don't be surprised. Don't worry, contrary to what you think I decided to let you proceed with this plan of yours."
"...Really?"
"Certain... conditions will likely be in place. But first, I'd like to talk about your friends. From what I understand, they can fade in and out of existence and resize themselves. The general has given much interest in these tanks and I would like to put forward a proposal."
"The general?" Ruby pondered. "Ironwood? I understand wanting to comprehend more about them, believe me, but they're my friends too. Even if they're tanks, I won't let you take them away from me."
Ozpin hummed in agreement. "You misunderstand, Miss Rose. Ironwood decided to help you in this matter. You will have your own workshop courtesy of Atlas, funding for whatever materials you need, and finally, authority within the Atlesian military."
Ruby's mind went blank. "Huh?" was all she could respond with.
"I know, he's being generous for a young lady like you. You'll be treated relatively like an operative so everything falls under Atlas. So every damage you cause, arrests you make, and other feats you do will be in Atlas' name. This will allow you to move more freely and untraditionally without direct command from a higher-up."
"That's... I don't understand." Ruby's mind was fried from the number of things she had to take in.
"Basically, you can do things without being treated as a student and everything you do will be credited to yourself and Atlas. They will also now be responsible for damages and any other costs you might incur."
"Ruby," Tiger whispered to her. Ruby lifts him as he shrinks and places Tiger close to her ear. "This seems too good, I don't know what Ozpin and Ironwood wants to gain from this. We trust your judgment, Ruby. We'll follow you if you go through this decision. You can consult your teammates on what they think if you aren't sure."
Ruby lulled, further considerations needed to be put forth. But she got an answer, and her determination overflowed. "I-"
"I accept!" Ozpin smiled at the response.
"Very well."
The day for RWBY had gone on wondrously, aside from Jaune who was having trouble focusing on the class when he always felt an intense stare behind his back, somewhat guessing it was Pyrrha after the incident in their dorms.
After everyone finished the long and boring lecture by Professor Port, Ruby gathered her team to assemble what they had planned next.
"So!" Ruby proclaims. "Weiss, Tiger, and I will head over to the CCT to find out SDC records for any inconsisusissuty-"
"-Inconsistencies." Weiss corrected.
"Blake and Sherman will head to the meet-ups and stuff-"
"-Faction meetings where they regularly hand out orders and recruit new members." Blake clarified.
"Finally, Yang and Iosif will go to the shady part of town to get something out of this person who knows everything in Vale. Any concerns?"
They all non-verbally showed no. Team RWBY had their strategy settled and finalized. Ruby pumps her hand as a smile spawns from her mouth. "Alright, we can go over to Yang at the end and talk about what we know. Let's do this team!"
"Yeah!" A voice calls out from the window beside them.
""Sun?!"" They all recoil from the interruption.
"How'd you even get up here?" Yang asks.
"Monkey." Everyone looked at Tiger in his smaller form. "What?" He blurts out. "He is a monkey, isn't he? I'm not wrong am I?"
Sun shrugs, "Well, I do climb trees all the time." He leaps to the inside as he casually spoke. "So, we finally gonna do something about that orange dude with makeup?"
"We are investigating the issue, as a team," Blake emphasizes the word team as she gestures to the rest of the group, including the 3 tanks.
"Hold on, Blake." Tiger interrupts. "More manpower- er… faunuspower is always welcome, if Sun really wants to volunteer for this, why should we deny him? I know you all want this as a team but remember that allies are always welcome."
"Woah. A German accepting a Faunus? I'll be damned." Iosif jokes. "Would've fooled me too, aren't you like mega-racist?"
"A friend of Ruby's is an honorary friend of mine."
"Okay!" Ruby announces. "If Tiger says so, then we can always accept one more person joining the team. You can join Blake and Sherman. Only Yang and Iosif don't have another person."
"Actually-" Sun yanks a frightened Neptune inside who was previously standing over the edge of the dorms. "-I also have Neptune over if you don't mind. I always bring my friends over to do everything."
"Sup." The other boy calls out.
"Ahem." Weiss coughed. "I guess we can always fit it two more…" she glances over to Neptune who waggles his eyebrows. "Wait, Ruby shouldn't you go with Yang? Since you're sisters and all…"
Ruby stared at Weiss as if she was crazy. "Why would I do that? Who would join you then, other than Tiger?"
"…Neptune can?"
"…Ha! No."
Weiss was then unceremoniously dragged by the back and left along with Tiger within Ruby's pockets. "But- but-" Weiss repeated in clear disappointment.
A towering mass and evidence of human ingenuity, walls that reached high above the city, and a result of impressive construction. The CCT was about as recognizable as the concept of dust itself by now.
The walk held no significant importance, when Ruby reached the bottom of the CCT she immediately squealed in awe. "Wow! I forgot how big the Transmit System is up close!"
"Heh, you should see the Eiffel tower," Tiger remarked after being let out and carried by Ruby's palms.
"Ooohhhh? What does it do?"
"Nothing really. It's a glorified trophy for us to capture." Tiger pauses. "Just kidding, it was a testament to the French who could build such a massive structure. At the time, no one had built something that tested the limits of engineering."
"So kind of like a monument?" Tiger nodded in response, as Ruby shrugged. "Monuments are cool too. This is such an amazing thing to see! I have to get a picture- Woah!" As Ruby got her scroll out, she butterfingered the device and it started bouncing on the floor.
A girl with short curly hair stopped and picked up the loose scroll. A sight of recognition washes over Ruby's expression as the group recovers her dropped scroll. "You dropped this." The girl exclaims.
"Penny? Is that you? Where have you been these few weeks?! You disappeared on us ever since the docks!"
"Oh… umm…" her bright green eyes move over to the tank. "Can we discuss this somewhere else?"
"Why? Is this something you can't tell us in public?" Ruby steps closer as Penny holds up her hands in denial.
"No…" *hic*
Her response didn't convince the worried leader. "We're your friends, you can tell us here. We've been bothered since you just went poof on us."
Penny looks around, contemplating whether this was the right choice. "Ruby, there's nothing wrong with me." *hic*
"Look, there's been so much happening since that night. We think there are some dangerous forces at work. What happened to you, why haven't you contacted us?"
"I know… please, I really can't talk about this. Just… come with me!" She grabs Ruby by the hips and slings her over her shoulder before running at an inhuman speed away from Weiss.
"Wait-" Ruby couldn't utter another word as she gets yanked away from a dumbfounded Weiss.
The heiress had her mouth open before giving up on trying to understand and stared at the entrance. "Haa… I guess I'll do it all by myself."
Penny looked around, an alleyway with no one else in sight as she dropped Ruby gently to the ground. "Here should be okay, Ruby."
"If I were anyone else I'd be letting out my lunch and dinner into a trash can." Ruby stands up after her sudden Ruby-napping. "What's gotten you so spooked? What's going on?"
Penny's eyes jitter and dart all over the area. "Ruby, I have to tell you something. You are my friend, right?"
"Yes, I always will be," she answers with pure intentions.
"Your small friends are not human are they?" her question gets a raised eyebrow as a response. Ruby looks at Tiger and her face scrunches up in deep thought.
"Yes, they're... tanks."
"You like them too right?" her hurried question makes Ruby grab Penny by the wrists to calm her down. Ruby softly looks at her friend and near Penny's face.
"Penny... what are you saying?" she firmly told her. "Tell me what you need to ask, please."
She looked away. "Ruby, my father is very protective of me for a reason. When I ventured out and helped you that night, he and someone else told me to keep away from you. Until today."
"Believe me I know the feeling of overprotectiveness," Ruby admitted.
Penny has a small smile, she grips her hands tight before suddenly raising her voice. "Ruby! I umm... will you accept me?"
"Huh?" the wording made it seem a bit off. "...what do you mean?"
Her emotions came and an overloaded feeling of guilt, sadness, and fear arrived. Penny wanted to hold back on telling. "Sorry, I mean I am- I am-"
Penny stutters, feeling a restriction in her chest - but in her troubling thoughts, she wanted to overcome the burden. "I am not a... real... girl."
She closed her eyes, anticipating the worst.
Rejection.
Horror.
Loneliness.
Hate.
What Penny hadn't expected was a cheery smile.
"Is that all, Penny?"
Warmth was her next feeling, Ruby tightly wrapped her arms around Penny. The beat of Ruby's heart, the rhythmic pounds reverberating through Penny's metallic frame.
"You're not afraid? Anything? At all?"
She chuckled more. "Penny, that doesn't matter. I'm just glad you returned to me, to us."
"Oh, friend!" she returns the favor, doing the same action and embracing her friend, perhaps too much since Ruby started choking on the affection the android gave.
"Penny... can't... breathe..."
"Sorry!" she releases Ruby who wheezed and started getting lightheaded. "I'm just so happy, you're my dearest friend!"
"What made you want to ask this? It doesn't matter, does it? I consider you my friend as much as I consider Tiger, Iosif, Sherman, and Crescent Rose my friends. Though, Crescent Rose will always be my darling. No offense to you tanks."
"None taken," Tiger responds. "Penny, even if you are an android, being non-human doesn't rob you of the opportunity to act like one. I mean, it is Ruby we're talking about."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Penny, back to my question. Why now? You said it changed up until today."
"Father hasn't been informed yet but when you accepted that offer, the other individual I was talking about insisted that I return to you all. I didn't know how I would approach you so I was wandering around. I was scared, Ruby. Then, I knew you had some other friends similar to my situation."
"Other person?" Ruby abruptly widened her eyes. "It's Iron-mmph!"
Penny shushes her with a grasp on her mouth. "Classified, Ruby. I can't assist you for now but he has determined that my friendship with you will be beneficial. I want you to introduce me to your other friends."
"You mean my other tanks? I can let them introduce themselves after our mission." Ruby claps as a realization finally hits. "It all makes so much more sense, that's why those people took you in."
"He and father wanted to protect me, I still have so much to learn in life. Someday, I will be fighting to protect the world too. That's why I've wanted to test myself in the tournament."
"Protect the world? Aren't we in a time of peace?"
Tiger comments from the side. "Aren't we the ones looking for a fight? Ruby, we are actively battling terrorists and a legendary thief."
"Good point. So, uh... what do we do now?"
"Shall I recommend you a nice nail salon? It is 0.4 km away from here or if you'd like there is also a well-recommended clothing store about 0.7 km away."
Ruby took her scroll and looked at the time. "Eh... there's probably plenty of time."
"Shouldn't you go back to Weiss?" Tiger asked. "She's going to be mad when you get back and finds out you've been hanging with friends instead."
Ruby thought about it.
"Nah. Let's go with Penny instead."
"Sen-sational!"
Junior was having a nice day, more work had been finished to refurnish and fix what had been done to his club. It was a nightmarish month when his entire livelihood went up in flames.
Yang Xiao Long, a woman he'd always been wary of. The blonde brute had broken everything, several years of damages all chowed down on his money.
At least that was all over.
*BOOM!*
Too bad for him.
"Run away! She's back!"
"What the hell is that?!"
Junior sighed and slightly teared up after his door got maliciously blown and rammed apart by what looked like a very heavily armored vehicle.
"Put your feet up and pants down! This is an up-stick! We have a massive gun and I'm not afraid to blow a 10-inch hole through your chest!"
Neptune and Yang walk from the rubble and gawk at the damage. "Isn't it supposed to be 'put your hands up, this is a stickup?' what's with the pants?" Neptune questions.
"No, blue boy. This is the Soviet way, they either listen or go to the gulag. Yang, interrogate them after they do so."
"There's no way they're going to... aaaaannnnd they're doing it." Neptune had truly seen it all, a mass of henchmen doing the exact thing Iosif demanded.
Just as the massive tank pointed its barrel, everyone dropped their pants, threw their weapons, and did a handstand. No one dared to try and fight the IS-2 with nothing more than small guns. Who'd be stupid enough to try?
"Told you. Now that everyone's humiliated and subservient, Yang, ask away."
Junior quickly runs to the vicinity, he didn't want something like the massive weapon pointing anything where its gun was. "Blondie! Why are you here?"
Yang steps to the front, a wide smirk on her face as she drags Junior to the bartop. "We'll ask the questions here, pal. You still owe me a drink."
After a small drink and a few of the men struggling to continue their handstand, the trio finally had gotten to Junior answering.
"So, Torchwick. Know anything about what he's been doing?"
"No."
Yang shrugged. "I got nothing else. Iosif! Will you take over? I have a drink to finish."
"Wait, what? That's it?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Iosif loomed over the boss, his intimidating size kept him gulping down on air. "Now that we asked nicely, I hope you have something better to tell next."
"I really don't know anything! Torchwick went up one day, paid everything up front, and used my men that never came back."
"I don't think that's all. Normally, one wouldn't let in such a prominent person without some previous affiliations. Either you tell us 3 paragraphs worth of knowledge or you'll have a fun time trying to regenerate pulverized bones."
"That's all I know."
"Fine, Neptune grab him by the shoulders and lay him on the ground. I'll drive over his legs slowly and keep asking him questions."
""What?!""
"Fine, I'll do it myself." Iosif starts revving his engine and driving forward, and the table in front starts getting crushed as Junior raises his hands.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Okay, my crime family has been involved in some past scuffles with him! Vale wasn't just Torchwick back then but after some fights arrived, Torchwick came on top! That's how we know each other, now can you please stop crushing my bar?"
"No."
"I can tell you more! Just stop ruining more-"
*RING!*
"Hold on." Yang finished a final slurp from her drink before opening her scroll. "Hello-"
Sun's voice came as a high-pitched scream. "Big robot! Street! Aaaahhhhhh-"
The call cuts short as Yang turned heel and walked. "Welp, let's head there. Stop scaring him Iosif, I don't think he has anything on Torchwick." Yang ushered the others as she casually strolled back to her motorbike.
Iosif scoffs. "We aren't done, for now, Junior."
"Why do I have to deal with this?" Junior cried out.
