"What?!" Yang asked very suddenly, causing Weiss, Blake and Colonel Faught to look back at her.
"What's the matter Yang?" Weiss asked, quite perplexed.
"We know that name, don't we Yang?" Blake answered Weiss and asked Yang at the same time.
"The Specialist that came to school a few weeks back said her name was Scarlette Summers." Yang said. "If that was her then why…?"
"Don't worry Yang I'm sure it was just a coincidence afterall she didn't look like Ruby, there was no way I could see Ruby acting that way, and she was clearly an Atlesian Specialist, a huntress partnered with the military, Ruby was banned from any huntsmen academy, there's no way she could be one."
"Actually," Faught interrupted, "that explains a few things."
"What do you mean?" Blake asked.
"Ruby was the first and only person to willfully join the redemption corps, but we could never figure out why." Faught began to answer.
"Yes you said that already." Weiss confirmed.
"At the end of a redemption corps sentence, those who survived are given a full pardon and a huntsman license." Faught said, "Ruby is a huntress I handed her license to her personally."
"But Ruby was banned from being a huntress." Blake said.
"Was she banned from being a huntress, or banned from attending an academy?" Faught asked which caused the other three huntresses in training to pause and carefully consider. "Either way, I may be retired but I still hear things from some of my old colleagues, and your probably right."
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.
"Some of my buddy's told me about an organization with Atlesian InOps, I took notice of it because of the name." Faught said, "there's a spy high up in InOps that is known as Scarlette Summers, but the rumor is that it is actually a group of people pretending to be one person."
"How reliable are those rumors?" Blake asked.
"Considering the scale of feats attributed to this Scarlette Summers," Faught answered, "I would tend to believe it took a company of spies to accomplish them but…"
"But what?" Yang asked.
"If they are a group I have little doubt that their leader is Ruby"
000000000000000000000
Ruby pushed open the large double doors of Haven academy's main hall. She noted the absence of a receptionist at the desk and the ultimately empty feeling of the building. Nevertheless she was not deterred, if Lionheart was not here then she would find him. He would give her answers today.
She worked her way towards his office, as she got close she could hear voices coming from the other side.
"I thought you said that this couldn't be traced back to me?!" Lionhearts voice called out, "so why do I have one of Ironwoods toy soldiers poking her nose in where it doesn't belong?!"
"I never promised you that," Another voice this one male, and sounding very Atlesian, "why don't you ask Cinder how she blundered her cover." Ruby tensed at the name of her target being thrown around.
"Yes, Cinder, and where is she right now so that I can do that?" Lionheart's voice demanded, putting a little bit of bite into the name. "This is the line she gave me to contact her."
"She is indisposed of at the moment, other plans, other machinations you understand." the other voice answered, "not like I can really tell you where she is anyways." Ruby had heard enough and she felt like it would be the perfect opportunity to add a little bit of the dramatic flair she tried to add to her espionage persona every now and then.
"How about me?" Ruby said as she pushed open the door to the headmasters office and strode in confidently. "Mind telling me where Cinder is?" the other voice in the room was coming from a holographic projection on Lionhearts desk. It was a dark haired man with a large bushy mustache who looked very much like a sort of dapper intellectual.
"Ah, Miss Summers, this is, ah…" Lionheart began to say.
"Stow it Professor I'll deal with you in a moment." Ruby said sternly before turning her attention to the hologram, "You. Are you a friend of Cinder Fall?"
"Friend would be a little much, we're more of… workplace associates." the man in the hologram said, "Aurther Watts at your service, and who might you be?"
"Summers, Scarlette Summers." Ruby answered.
"And why would you be seeking Cinder Miss Summers." Watts asked.
"To kill her." Ruby answered.
"Well, as much as I would love to see that" Watts said with a mischievous smile, "that incompetant still has her uses so I will have to decline your offer."
"Watts! Do something!" Lionheart shouted.
"And what could I do? Hm?" Watts turned towards Lionheart, "I'm quite possibly on the other side of the world right now, how would I be able to save you from an assassin in your own office."
"An assassin?!" Lionheart sounded incredulous.
"I can't believe you didn't notice, are all headmasters arrogant fools?" Watts said almost under his breath, "listen here, you are a tool and at the moment not even a very useful one, why would I divert resources to assist you?" he then turned to Ruby, "Miss Summers, If you are even the slightest bit more competent than this buffoon I'm sure we will meet again so until next time." The hologram disappears as the call was disconnected from the other end. Lionheart just stares at the empty space where it stood moments ago. The silence stretched on for a bit before Ruby interrupted it.
"Well I guess that solidifies what I'm here to do." Ruby said. Lionheart snapped out of his trance.
"Did Ironwood know? Is that why he sent an assassin?" Lionheart asked softly.
"Strictly speaking, I'm not an assassin, I'm more of a counter terrorist." Ruby said. "But when it comes to finding terrorist, I also fulfill the roles of Judge, Jury, and executioner."
"And Cinder is your current target?"
"Yes."
"What would you do with me?" Lionheart asks.
"Normally? Questioning, possibly trying to turn you to my side but…" Ruby answered while she fingered the release for the blade up her sleeve.
"'But' what?" Lionheart asked.
"You've killed a lot of huntsmen haven't you?" Ruby said. There was an almost inaudible click as she pulled the wire like release lever and the small blade jetted into her hand. As she did so however, It was only her finely tuned battle instincts that allowed her to avoid a fiery surprise attack from the exposed traitor.
"You didn't think it would be so easy did you?" Lionheart said, "I am a headmaster after all!" he shouted as he launched another fireball at Ruby. Ruby in turn pulled the release on her other wrist ejecting the compact pistol into her hand as she dodged the fireball. She brought it to bear on the Lion Faunus and began firing. Lionheat quickly used his weapon, some form of dust infused buckler to deflect the incoming rounds before he unleashed a chilling elemental attack at Ruby. Ruby quickly realised that Lionheart held the advantage with his dust based attacks in the tight spaces of his office. Thinking quickly Ruby summoned her full semblance and launched her shoulder into his chest, taking both of them out of the window of his office in one swift movement. They then fell three stories to the courtyard down below, Ruby used Lionhearts body to cushion the blow to her own aura before leaping off of him and out of the way of another elemental blast fired at close range, she was close enough to feel the heat of the blast as she jumped out of the way. She brought tossed her pistol into her other hand, so she was holding both blade and gun in the same hand before turing and emptying yet another magazine into the headmasters shield. With her free hand Ruby pulled out her scroll and selected one of the two contacts in her list.
"Hey Summers, what's…?" Annette didn't get the chance to finish as Ruby interrupted.
"Ordinance package alpha to my location, Now!" Ruby said before tossing the scroll to the side and dodged yet another meteoric fireball attack. Though it felt like an eternity later a rocket pod, similar to the rocket propelled lockers Ruby had used in her first year, landed nearby. Ruby used a timed execution of her semblance to reach the pod, slide over it, and grab her favorite weapon out of it just as the pod opened. On the other side of the pod Ruby retracted her hidden weapons and charged the bolt on Crescent Rose. She felt her battle senses tingle again as she jumped out from behind the pod as another elemental attack blew it apart. She then brought her much heavier rifle to bear on the Faunus's shield. The unexpected change in force behind the bullets caused Lionhearts buckler to be knocked out of position of half of a second. A half of a second that Ruby was more than happy to take advantage of as she dashed into Lionhearts guard and delivered a strike directly to his chest, or she would have if his aura had been weeker. Instead Ruby used another shot from her weapon, this time directly to the Aura surrounding his chest, to propel herself backwards and out of reach of his hands. Ruby then followed up with several more rounds, striking at wherever his shield was in the least capable position to block. Ruby felt like she was close to ending this particular fight when Lionheart called out.
"I will not be beaten by you!" He shouted as he unleashed a wide area dust strike, knocking Ruby back and breaking her Aura. Now Ruby was mad. She used her semblance to dodge the next few elemental attacks while she pulled a dark gravity dust crystal out of her pocket. She jammed the crystal into Crescent Rose's dust chamber, the one she had added during her Redemption Corps days. She then used her semblance at full power to jet directly at Lionheart. Lionheart in turn moved to block her with his shield, exactly what Ruby wanted. Planting her feet on Lionhearts shield, Ruby brought the barrel of Crescent Rose flush with the shield, right next to her foot, and fired. The shot broke the mechanism holding Lionhearts shield together causing the various components of the mechashift weapon to fly in different directions, it then impacted with Lionhearts arm and shoulder, breaking his aura. Ruby used the recoil to launch herself into a spin bringing around the blunt end of Crescent Rose around to smack Lionheart to the ground. Then she spun the hefty scythe in one hand to bring it around and deliver one finial strike to the soon to be former headmaster.
"W-wait!" Lionheart cried, "HE'S LYING TO YOU!" Ruby's blade stopped just short of beheading the man, the blade having caused a small nick that was drawing blood.
"Talk." Ruby said.
"I asked the Relic," Lionheart began, "Ozpin doesn't have a plan, he's just faking it, there's no hope of winning this war." Ruby was really confused as to why Lionheart was bringing up Ozpin.
"The heck are you talking about?" Ruby said.
"Y-you don't know?!" Lionheart said. "Listen you don't know what your getting into, there are things out there worse than Cinder, things so terrifying they're like having your worst nightmares become reality."
"I already know that." Ruby said.
"Y-you do?" Lionheart said.
"Yes, I know my worst nightmare is real." Ruby said, leveling a glare at Lionheart, "You're looking at her." then Ruby pulled the trigger.
00000000000000000
Ruby adjusted the grip on the cane she had just purchased to sell her current disguise. Oddly enough the whole ensemble only cost her twenty-four lien. As she walked into the main terminal of the airdocks Ruby spotted a group of men getting off of one the airships that had just arrived. Any normal person would have thought that they had no relation to each other and that they were just random tourists, businessmen and returning Mistralli natives, but Ruby wasn't a 'normal person' by any stretch of the imagination. She was clued in by how aware of their surroundings the men were, they were far to attentive for a tourist or someone who finally was home, or even a businessman who had a ride to catch. Then there was the way they moved and stood, slightly stiff, purposeful steps and a basic warrior stance accompanied their every movement. They were military, that much was obvious, the fact that they were actually managing to disguise that fact to Mistralli customs officials meant that they were rather competent at their infiltration techniques. There were three things that told Ruby exactly who these men were, first they were operating on foreign soil in large numbers, they were from Atlas. Second, they could blend so not Special Ops Command. Third they moved together and in a hidden tactical formation, so not Military Intelligence. Ruby smirked as she recognized exactly who these guys were, her supposed agency, Atlesian InOps. Looking at the group she suddenly recognized the captain that had tried to arrest her on her last operation. She knew she should just walk by them without ever making contact, that was the smart thing to do, but she always was a little more adventurous than that. She slowly walked up to the captain, making sure to tap her cane and meander a bit, keeping her disguise intact.
"Excuse me?" Ruby started before realizing she needed a story, she quickly came up with one and a way to sell it. "My boyfriend wandered off, can you tell me where flight 1530 is going to be at?" a quick look at the concourse had showed her that flight was bound for Vacuo, where she had no intention of being anytime soon.
"Gate three miss." The captain answered.
"Thank you." Ruby began and continued for the sake of selling her story, "I've been waiting for him for twenty minutes. I'm just gonna go where the seats are."
"Alright have a nice day miss." The captain called out as she walked away. Once Ruby was safely away from the crowds and on her way onto the launch deck for the airdocks, Ruby ditched her disguise and headed towards Annette's gunship.
"Hey, Annette." Ruby said as she set her bags down under one of the seats in the gunship.
"Summers," Annette nodded, "where too?" Ruby paused and considered her next step. She had always had a feeling the there were things Ironwood was holding from her, but she had decided not to press at the time. However even after telling Lionheart that she worked for Ironwood he seemed to think that she somehow reported to Ozpin, almost as though Ironwood reported to Ozpin, or at the very least worked together. It made Ruby wonder if Ozpin also ran Vale's espionage department, which would certainly explain some things about the mysterious headmaster. Either way Ozpin would know more about the situation and was probably her best lead at the moment. While she was considering this Annette spoke up again.
"Just throwing this out there but we can't keep living out of hotels and the gunship between missions." Annette said. This pulled Ruby out of her musings.
"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.
"Well, it's ok if I'm only going to be at an airdock for a few hours, but it looks suspicious if I stay here for an extended time period." Annette said, "we need a base of operations, a place where people won't ask questions if we're constantly running around and…" Annette motioned around the passenger bay which was currently filled with bedding two full duffel bags and several crates of parts, "we need a place to store our stuff." Ruby thought for a moment before getting an idea.
"We're headed to Vale." Ruby said simply, "I've got an idea for a base of operations don't worry."
Annette nodded and went into the cockpit to take the airship out.
00000000000
Junior looked again at the note he had found on his doorstep this morning, the other gangs in the area weren't taking him seriously anymore. Without Melanie and Miltia he just didn't have the same amount of fighting power, the other gangs thought that they could extort protection money from him. While he was still staring at the note, or rather the demand one of his men tapped him on the shoulder.
"What?" he asked in an exasperated tone, after looking at the guys face however he paused. The guy had been with him for a while and was certainly not squeamish but right now the man was as pale as a ghost. The guy pointed towards the front door and junior looked out over the dancing crowd to see a girl in a red cape walk into the bar. As if the day could get any worse Red was back, and making a beeline for him. Once she pushed her way through the crowd, and Juniors guards, he'd remember that, she came up to talk with him.
"Junior how's it been?" Red asked while taking a seat at the bar.
"Not good, Red, thanks to you mainly." Junior said, Red seemed to notice the note sitting in front of him, there was no way she could read it at that angle right. Then she smirked, guess she could read it
"Well Junior, maybe we can help each other." Red said with that awful smirk on her face.
000000000000000000
A/N Guess who did not die in the deserts of Atropia! (Cutos to anyone who knows where that is.) Anyways I'm back for a little while before the Army decides to send me off to only God knows where again. I hope this time Lionheart fought was a little better than in the show, I'll admit to that being a bit of a letdown. I didn't even realise how much until I watched it again to research his fighting style for this chapter specifically. Also I don't know why specifically but this story just seems to flow out of my creative juices a little easier than any of my other current ones. I am still working on the other ones however, just at a little bit of a slower rate, with quite a few more writers blocks. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this chapter and let me know what you guys think. (responses help me know if people are actually still interested in this).