Chapter 5: Enemy Without

Weiss's fingers were drumming apprehensively against her leg. She was riding in the passenger seat of a luxury sedan. Ruby was at the wheel, and they were driving—aimlessly Weiss feared—down the streets of one of the poorer parts of Atlas. The sedan they were in didn't exactly look like it belonged in this area of town, but it was the least ostentatious vehicle that Weiss owned. She could only hope the dark of the night would make it harder for whoever might spot them to tell that the sedan was out of place.

Ruby's eyes were sweeping back and forth as she drove past rows of identical-looking warehouses. She was wearing what she'd taken to calling her "off-duty uniform". It consisted of a white blouse with puffy sleeves tucked into black wristbands, a black and red-trimmed corset, and a combat skirt. The outfit had been a gift from Weiss. It had also been a gift for Weiss given how good Ruby looked in it.

Weiss herself was wearing what at first glance appeared to be a lilac-colored ballgown with a full-length skirt, bolero jacket, and a belt intricately decorated with silver. However, every last inch of the dress had Dust stitched into it. It was just as much a weapon as Ruby's scythe.

Ruby nervously asked, "Have you heard anything from Yang yet?"

Weiss had Ruby's scroll in her left hand. She glanced at the screen. There were no new messages, although Weiss did note the time. Night had officially given way to morning.

Weiss said, "No. Nothing."

Ruby didn't reply. She just turned the car down another random street.

Weiss resisted the urge to let out an exasperated sigh. She said, "Ruby, I'm not sure how you hope to find Yang like this."

"I'm hoping we don't find her," Ruby said.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"If Yang's in trouble…she'll put up a fight," Ruby said. "And if Yang puts up a fight…"

"…everyone for kilometers around will know," Weiss finished for Ruby. Of all the words she'd use to describe Ruby's sister "subtle" and "low-key" were not on the list.

Weiss shifted in her seat.

Ruby must have taken Weiss's small change in posture as a statement because she hit the brakes. The sedan suddenly jerked to a stop.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"You don't think we should be out here," Ruby said, not looking at Weiss.

"No," Weiss answered honestly. "But this isn't about me."

"I'm sorry, Weiss," Ruby said, finally turning toward her. "I know this is stupid. But I just have this feeling."

"You don't need to apologize," Weiss said. "I have a sister too you know."

"I'm not sure that's really the same thing," Ruby said.

"And why not?" Weiss asked.

Ruby didn't answer right away.

Weiss suddenly had to squint for a moment as another car's headlights flashed across the sedan's mirrors. The car pulled up behind where Weiss and Ruby were loitering in the middle of the street and patiently waited for them to move. Weiss, however, wasn't concerned about that at the moment.

Ruby finally said, "Let's just go home. You're right. This is pointless."

Weiss didn't like how dejected Ruby sounded. She thought about it for a moment. Then she said, "There's another warehouse district."

"Huh?" Ruby said.

"Down by where the old docks used to be," Weiss explained. "There are older more dilapidated warehouses. I suspect Blake's 'thing' involves the White Fang. And if the White Fang is having some kind of gathering, those warehouses seem like a more likely location."

Ruby looked mystified at first, but then she smiled. She said, "Isn't that a bit of a cliché? The criminal gang hanging out in an abandoned warehouse."

"From the police reports I've read over the years, that particular trope is shockingly realistic," Weiss said.

Ruby said, "Thanks, Weiss. We'll look there. Then when we don't find anything because Yang is perfectly safe, we'll go home."

"At the very least, we should get out of the way," Weiss said, glancing out the rear window of the sedan. The car that had pulled up behind them was still waiting there. Weiss was surprised it hadn't gone around them already. There was plenty of space. She hoped the driver wasn't drunk.

"Right," Ruby said. She let up off the brake, and the sedan started moving again.

Weiss's thoughts began to wander as the sedan trundled on. A frown crossed her face. She was starting to wonder what this so-called "thing" that Blake had going on actually was. She did legitimately consider Blake to be a friend, but some days it was hard to look past the fact that Blake had once been at the top of the White Fang's hierarchy, second only to Sienna Khan herself. Blake had also masterminded a plot to kidnap Weiss that had come frighteningly close to succeeding. It was difficult for Weiss to reconcile the gentle, sensitive soul she knew Blake to be with the hardened criminal she was. It was all the more reason Weiss was motivated to stop the Schnee Dust Company's part in oppressing the faunus. People like Blake should never feel like they had to resort to terrorism.

Weiss's eyes lazily drifted over to the side-view mirror outside her window. That was when she noticed that the car that had pulled up behind them was still there. It had fallen several car lengths back, but it seemed to be keeping pace now.

Suspicion filled Weiss as she stared at the car in the mirror. It seemed Ruby wasn't the only one getting funny feelings tonight. Fortunately, unlike Ruby, Weiss could easily prove hers to be unfounded.

"Ruby," Weiss said. "Make a few random turns up ahead."

Ruby glanced at Weiss in confusion. But when she saw Weiss's eyes glued to the side-view mirror, she looked over her shoulder. She obviously caught on from there.

Ruby took the next left which turned off onto a block of rundown commercial buildings. No doubt some of them were still in use, but there was no reason for anyone to be driving by them this early in the morning. Then again, there was precious little reason for anyone to be driving by warehouses this early either.

The trailing car disappeared from sight as Ruby finished rounding the curve. But it reappeared a moment later as it took the same turn.

Ruby turned down another road, and once again the mysterious car followed.

"Weiss…" Ruby said.

"I know," Weiss said.

Weiss tucked Ruby's scroll into a compartment on the console in between her and Ruby's seats. It seemed Yang and Blake were no longer on tonight's agenda.

Ruby took one last turn. This time the car following them didn't immediately reappear. Weiss kept her gaze laser-focused on the intersection behind them as it receded into the distance. The seconds crawled by, and the mysterious car still did not reappear.

Weiss started to hope that she had simply been needlessly paranoid and it had been nothing more than a coincidence that the car had been following them. But then the car finally rounded the corner behind them. Weiss almost missed it this time because now its headlights were off. She knew that could only mean one thing.

"Father," Weiss angrily muttered. "What have you done."

"Weiss? Do you have car insurance?" Ruby asked.

"Ruby. Whatever you're thinking…" Weiss started to say.

Ruby glanced at Weiss just long enough for Weiss to see the deadly serious look in her eyes.

"Of course I have insurance," Weiss said indignantly.

"Good!" Ruby said. Her foot slammed onto the accelerator.

The sedan shot forward like a racehorse at the starting gate, and its tires squealed as they bit into the road. Weiss grabbed onto anything her hands could find as her heart jumped into her throat. The roads in this part of the city were not well maintained, and the sedan bucked like a bronco as it bounded over potholes and divots. It was only a small comfort to Weiss that both she and Ruby had their seat belts on.

Weiss glanced back out the rear of the sedan. The car behind them had finally dropped all pretense. Its headlights were on again, and it was barreling down the road after them.

"They're gaining on us!" Weiss shouted.

"Hold on!" Ruby shouted back as if Weiss wasn't already.

The sedan swerved around the next corner, somehow managing to not flip over. The engine roared, but only long enough for Ruby to send the sedan screeching around another corner.

Weiss gave up trying to focus on the road as her body was thrown against her straining seat belt. This whole experience was making her long for something calmer, like severe turbulence on an airship.

The sedan finally emerged onto a long, straight stretch of road, and Ruby really gunned the engine this time. The needle on the speedometer shot up, proving that the bigger numbers on it weren't just for show.

Weiss shouted, "I didn't know they taught advanced driving at Atlas Academy!"

"They don't!" Ruby shouted back.

"What?!" Weiss shouted.

"I said, they—!" Ruby started to shout.

"Look out!" Weiss exclaimed, pointing forward.

It was hard to see in the dim light of the early morning hours, but it looked like someone was standing in the middle of the road ahead of the sedan. Weiss caught a glimpse of something green in the headlights before Ruby slammed on the brakes. That was when Ruby finally lost control. The sedan swerved sideways faster than Ruby could compensate. A second later it spun out completely, and the sedan came to a lurching stop, facing back the way it had come.

For a moment, the only sound was the sedan's engine idling. Weiss brought her hand to her head in an effort to stop it from spinning. But then she saw that the car which had been chasing them had not given up. It was blazing down the road, heading directly for them, and it wasn't showing any sign of slowing down.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted. "Get us—!"

It was too late. The car plowed into Weiss's sedan at full speed. There was the horrible sound of crunching metal, and Weiss's head was violently thrown forward. The sedan's airbags exploded out, and Weiss's head slammed into them hard enough to make her aura light up.

Then there was silence.

Weiss sat there dazed, but she suddenly came to her senses again. She immediately said, "Ruby!"

Ruby didn't respond. But it wasn't because she was unconscious. To the contrary, she had already taken off her seat belt and was fumbling with the driver's side door which refused to open. She said, "This isn't over yet!"

Weiss looked past the deflating airbags and shattered windshield. She saw five men jumping out of the car that had hit them. They all looked suspiciously nondescript, and they were all armed with machine pistols. Three of them were heading for Ruby's side of the sedan, and two of them were heading for Weiss's.

Ruby tugged even harder at her door's handle, but the door was hopelessly jammed into place. Ruby gave up in frustration, but then she activated her semblance and burst through the driver's side window in a storm of glass and rose petals.

"Ruby!" Weiss said exasperatedly. She knew it was silly given the situation, but she couldn't help but be annoyed that Ruby had caused further damage to her sedan.

The three men on the driver's side of the sedan immediately opened fire. Ruby unfurled Crescent Rose, and the sounds of combat rose up in the early hours of the morning.

Weiss realized she needed to get out there too. She unbuckled her seat belt, but then she saw the two other men closing in on her door, machine pistols drawn. She heard one of them say, "There's the other one. Get her!"

The men stormed right up to Weiss's door and leveled their guns at her.

In the back of her mind Weiss wondered if the recent circumstances of her life had inflicted her with some kind of irreparable trauma. In less than a year, she'd been subjected to an attempted assassination, an attempted kidnapping, and an attempted murder. And now, confronted by yet more assassins, Weiss didn't feel fear. All she felt was anger. Surely that wasn't normal.

Weiss pointed her finger toward the men outside, deeply aware of how hypocritical what she was about to do was. But the sedan was probably already a total loss at this point anyway.

A red glyph briefly appeared inside the sedan, tightly hugging Weiss's door. Then it detonated. The door was blown clean off its hinges and smashed into the two men. They were thrown backward and to the ground, but the flash of their auras meant that while they were down, they were not out. As if to prove the point, both men jumped back to their feet, quickly raising their guns again.

Weiss scrambled out of her seat and out of the sedan. The men opened fire, but Weiss threw her hands forward and conjured up a white glyph that appeared vertically in the air between her and her assailants. The incoming hail of bullets bounced harmlessly off of the glyph, but the two men weren't letting up. Weiss sneered.

Yellow Dust stitched into Weiss's dress suddenly lit up, and a bolt of lightning flashed in the gloom. It crashed down onto the two men. Shouts of pain rose up, and the hail of bullets stopped.

With a wave of Weiss's hand, her glyph vanished. The two men were still on their feet, although the lightning bolt had left them stunned. Weiss reached for her waist. She drew a dagger from a sheath that was artfully incorporated into her belt and brandished the blade at the men.

The two men finally recovered and raised their guns yet again. But once they noticed Weiss's dagger, one of them scoffed. He said, "What are you going to do with that tiny thing, Princess?"

Weiss resisted making the obvious joke about a man fixating on size. The dagger had belonged to her great-grandmother and had been gifted to her by Klein. Ever since the kidnapping incident that Blake had orchestrated, Weiss had more or less carried it with her at all times. Ruby had insisted that if Weiss were to have a signature weapon it would need a name. Weiss had told Ruby that such sentiment was childish. She'd then named it Eiszapfen.

"I'm going to do this," Weiss said to her assailant. Eiszapfen lit up with a violet glow as the gravity Dust stored inside its hilt came to life.

The power of the Dust enveloped the two men, and with a flick of Weiss's dagger, they were picked up and tossed aside. They hit the pavement hard, but Weiss didn't believe that would be enough to stop them. Surely Father wouldn't dare hire cut-rate assassins. Especially not when his own daughter was the target.

As expected, the men once again scrambled to their feet. But Weiss decided she'd had quite enough of this. Her dress glowed cyan, and she stomped her foot on the ground. A wellspring of ice erupted from underneath the men and crystalized around their bodies, trapping them in place. Weiss raised an open palm. The cyan glow on her dress was replaced with red. Then a fireball suddenly leaped off her hand and flew at her assailants.

The moment the fireball hit, the ice trapping the men exploded into a fury of razor-like shards. One of the men was blown back, but the other one, the one who'd spoken, held his ground. When the smoke cleared, he lowered his arm which had been protecting his face. He grinned sadistically. Then he spun his machine pistol around in his hand, and the weapon unfolded. A long blade sprung out of it and locked into place, transforming the gun into a sword.

"Not bad, Princess," the man said. "And here I thought this was going to be boring. It's always so much more satisfying when they try to fight back."

"Don't call me 'Princess'," Weiss said as she stared the man down, but for the first time tonight a tiny bit of fear was starting to creep into her. She reflexively took a step back. This was clearly not a man to be trifled with, and his glee at the prospect of a real fight was concerning.

Silence settled over the dark and empty street. It unnerved Weiss at first, but then she realized what she wasn't hearing. There were no gunshots nor sounds of a whirring scythe. Her fear evaporated, and she smiled at the man. She said, "Unfortunately for you, this battle is over."

"Oh yeah?" the man asked, sounding amused. "How's that?"

"You've run out of time," Weiss said.

Right on cue, a veritable cyclone of rose petals whooshed past Weiss and rushed toward her assailant. The blunt end of a combat scythe materialized out of the maelstrom and smacked the man across his jaw. His head jerked painfully to the side as his aura flashed, but he hadn't even finished recoiling from the blow before the scythe twisted around and collided with his ribs.

The man staggered backward and dropped to one knee. The rest of the rose petals scattered, leaving a very angry-looking Ruby in their place.

Weiss calmly walked over to Ruby's side. She asked, "The other three?"

"They all ran off," Ruby said.

Weiss was surprised the men who Ruby had fought had given up so easily. She glanced over at the other man who had attacked her, the one who hadn't spoken. He was still on the ground, moaning in pain. Weiss's fireball had apparently been too much for him. That left the man who had spoken as the only one with any fight left in him.

Ruby folded up Crescent Rose into its rifle configuration. She pointed it at the man on his knee. He still had his sword in his hand. Ruby said, "Drop it!"

The man made a scoffing noise, but he tossed his sword aside.

Weiss pointed her dagger at the man. She said, "You're going to tell me everything. Who hired you to kill me? And why?"

The man looked confused for a moment. Then he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked. Her eyes narrowed.

"You," the man said. "The great Weiss Schnee. So self-important. But you don't know the half of what you don't know."

"Then this is your opportunity to enlighten me," Weiss said.

"I wasn't paid nearly enough for that," the man said. "But I'll tell you this much for free. It always pays to have friends in high places."

"What does—?" Weiss started to ask, but she was interrupted by the whine of jet engines roaring overhead.

A bullhead suddenly swooped down out of nowhere. The tiny airship's engines swiveled up, and it slowed until it was hovering above Weiss and Ruby. A door on the side of the craft slid open, and the barrel of a minigun swung out.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted.

Before Weiss could register what was happening, Ruby suddenly scooped her up in her arms. The world seemed to dissolve around Weiss as Ruby activated her semblance. For a moment, all light and sound disappeared. The ground beneath Weiss's feet, the street around her, even the pull of gravity became nothing. Weiss was her own universe, and there was nothing but her. It was simultaneously the most soothing and most unsettling thing she'd ever experienced.

The world suddenly snapped back into existence around Weiss, but there was no time for her to be shocked or amazed. Bullets were raining down around her accompanied by the whir of the minigun.

Weiss was suddenly thrown to the pavement behind her wrecked sedan, and Ruby threw herself on top of her. Fortunately, the cover offered by the sedan was enough, and neither of them were hit.

Just as quickly as it had begun, the spray of bullets stopped. Then there was the sound of jet engines revving up to full power.

"No. No!" Weiss said. She crawled out from under Ruby and scrambled to her feet.

Weiss rushed out from behind the sedan just in time to see the door on the side of the bullhead close. She'd caught a glimpse of the man who'd had the sword and his less capable compatriot on board. With the other three men having fled, they were Weiss's only hope of getting some proper evidence against Father.

Weiss was still holding onto Eiszapfen. She thrust the dagger forward and activated every last ounce of gravity Dust that she could.

The bullhead was already a good twenty meters up in the air, and it was rising fast. But a violet haze suddenly surrounded it and arrested its progress.

Weiss gritted her teeth. She knew her dagger would use up its entire supply of Dust in mere seconds at this rate. And even with all that, the bullhead was still inching its way higher. Weiss swept her hand out, and a series of white glyphs appeared, making a ramp in the air that led directly to the small airship.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted.

Ruby didn't need any further prompting. She took off running, zipping up the glyphs. Crescent Rose unfolded in her hands.

Ruby was about to tear into the side of the bullhead like it was a tin can when, somehow, she tripped. Weiss was so caught off guard that she wasn't sure what she was looking at for a moment. She even thought she saw a hand swipe against Ruby's ankle for a split second. But an instant later, she was entirely focused on Ruby plummeting toward the ground.

Without giving it a second thought, Weiss released the bullhead. The airship immediately shot upward and violently wobbled as the pilot struggled to maintain control.

Weiss ran to intercept the falling Ruby. She pointed Eiszapfen at the ground, and the dagger glowed again. Ruby fell into an invisible mat of gravity, stopping just an inch short of the pavement.

The Dust in Weiss's dagger finally ran dry, and Ruby unceremoniously fell the final inch. She instantly sprung to her feet saying, "Weiss! I'm sorry! You didn't—!"

The bullhead above suddenly roared. Weiss and Ruby looked up and saw twin jets of fiery exhaust shoot out from the airship's engines as they kicked into full power.

Ruby folded up Crescent Rose and fired several shots at the bullhead, but it was too late. The airship zoomed off into the distance.

Ruby lowered her rifle, looking frustrated. But then one last shot rang out from very, very close by. Weiss and Ruby both jumped in alarm. They turned to their collective left and saw a dark-haired man with a long braid standing there in a green tunic and loose-fitting white pants. The man had a small pistol in his hand which he was pointing into the air. He had apparently also been shooting at the bullhead.

The man slowly lowered his weapon, and it vanished into his sleeve. He calmly said, "It seems they've managed to escape. Unfortunate."

Everyone stood perfectly still for a lengthy second. Then Ruby threw out her arms, interposing herself in between Weiss and the stranger. She rapidly fired off a series of questions. "Who are you?! What do you want?! How did you get here?! Are you trying to hurt Weiss?!"

"Quite the opposite," the stranger said in an exceedingly even tone. "I'm here to protect you. Although I arrived later than I would have liked. I've been trying to contact you for a while now, but you're a difficult woman to get in touch with."

Weiss put her hand on Ruby's shoulder, and Ruby relaxed her arms. Weiss walked out from behind Ruby. She said, "Maybe we should start at the beginning. Who are you exactly?"

"Huntsman Lie Ren-Valkyrie," the stranger said with a polite bow. "At your service."

Author's Note: It always feels a little weird to me when I put someone on Team RWBY behind the wheel of a car. We've never seen them drive in canon before, except for Yang on her motorcycle of course.

Just like Yang and Blake, Weiss and Ruby are in their Volume 4-6 outfits here. Well, I suppose Weiss is in a variant of hers. How long do you think it takes her to "reload" her dress? Eh, I'm sure she has people to do that for her.

This chapter's writing challenge was to describe someone experiencing Ruby's semblance for the first time. At least I'm pretty sure this is Weiss's first time. I've been referring to the original story to make sure I don't pull a Toriyama and blow up the moon twice, but that's the kind of thing that I easily could have missed.

Oh, and yes. During the original story many of you asked what Team JNPR was up to in this universe. Well get ready to find out!

As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.