If you counted the roles and positions Ruby had in her past life, it made for quite an impressive resume of sorts. Aside from her existing position working at a cafe, she could technically also list being a secretary, race queen, fleet commander, maid cafe waitress, rock band singer and much more. Though of course, the biggest issue in listing them in her resume was that she never experienced it in this world.
How were you going to explain that in an interview? That you experienced all those in your previous life? Aside from the most religious of people who may or may not believe her, that was an easy way to get asked to leave. It was easier to just keep her mouth shut, and besides, working in the illicit transport of goods didn't exactly require interviews most of the time. Junior didn't give her one, she just showed up one day loitering around the docks, she ran into him and his crew, and the rest was history. Of course, he didn't know how she transported goods, no one other than Valéan herself knew.
Regardless, something she didn't want to acknowledge was that however her rigging was summoned or acquired in this world, it was somewhat of a botched job. Say for example, a ship was getting ready to leave port for exercises or sorties. Under normal circumstances where there was a well-stocked naval base, supplies and repairs were not an issue. However, Ruby's issue was that she was missing a fair number of gear and systems found in most Kansen.
Aside from her missing floatplane, she was also missing specific subsystems such as specialised AP shells or radar sets beyond the absolute basic bare minimum. Normally this would be rectified simply by going to the supply depot and taking what you needed from gear boxes, though memories of them did not reveal anything pleasant. She got the need to make sure the boxes didn't fall into Siren hands and whatnot, but did they really have to mix up all of the gear? The number of times she opened a T4 box only to find a T3 piece of gear…
Maybe it was that war profiteering that was such an issue in the Eagle Union, but that wasn't relevant now. In a world without any Kansen-friendly support facilities, she had to make do with local technologies instead. Getting her hands on an Atlesian airship radar set was impossible for someone like her, but getting a simple floating bullhead? That was possible. Hence, why she was currently walking through the dilapidated docks of Vale once more, keeping to the shadows despite the company she kept.
"This place looks sketch as hell, you sure we're going to the right place?"
"Hey, it looks the part at least. Can't say Torchwick would have set up anywhere else."
She promised Melanie and Militia a free ride after essentially 'ditching' them on the day when Junior's club got wrecked. Supposedly they got wrecked by some 'blonde bimbo bitch' who trashed the club after Junior refused to help her find someone. From their description, the person who managed to beat Junior, his goons and the twins seemed to be a lot like Yang. Though that was just a coincidence, there was no shortage of blondes in Vale after all, probably some strung-out mercenary that tried her luck.
However that wasn't all that occurred since her visit to Junior's club back then. Apparently, she had gotten some unfortunate attention from those high above, namely a certain Beacon headmaster. Junior had passed on the message to her through the Malachite twins, in which he added that it was obviously a trap of some sort. What did he think she was, stupid? Even if there was the promise of seeing Friedrich or someone from Ironblood again she still wouldn't have taken it without doing her own reconnaissance. Still, the fact that they managed to trace her back to Junior's meant that laying low was the right decision to make, perhaps she should bring a gift to the old battleship the next time they met.
"Movement up ahead." Ruby said quietly. Just a few dozen metres in front of them was the section where Roman had told them he would be at. Again, all she really knew of what he wa doing nowadays was that he ran a Dust-smuggling operation of some kind, sort of like what she did but on a larger scale and only for one particular item. Smuggling operations were never easy and simple, the only reason she managed to gain such a reputation as one was due to her rigging, everyone else did not have that same luxury. Just like any other large-scale operation, whether legitimate or illegitimate, more bodies will inevitably be needed to ensure its smooth sailing. That was the reason why Ruby only took one-time jobs, too much of a hassle for a fifteen-year-old to handle.
"Plain clothes…all Faunus of some kind…" Ruby crouched behind a corner while looking at the 'guards' that were posted at the entrance to a walled-off section. They wore civilian clothing, indistinguishable from your average Valean citizen. Normally them being here was enough to arouse suspicion, but it was the fact that they were all Faunus that clued her into who they really were. The last time Roman only had Junior's goons with him, this time he seemed to have an entirely new organization to work with, one that she wasn't expecting at all.
"White Fang? I'm guessing we'll see more of them inside…" Militia came to the same conclusion as well
"Torchwick working with the Fang of all people? Not really his style, what's he really up to?" Melanie also said what Ruby was thinking. Torchwick was known as a small-time crook, petty robberies, fraud and other crimes that were small-scale operations. Evidently, however, he seemed to have switched. Based on their earlier…meeting at the Dust store he was robbing, he was actually conducting large-scale smuggling operations, and probably not too enthusiastic about it if she remembered correctly.
'Hm? Oh yea, believe me, because robbing Dust is sooooo profitable and definitely not without major drawbacks.'
Roman's words from back then echoed in her mind, making her wonder what exactly his plan was, or if it was even his plan. Conjectures aside, she did not care too much about his operations. He smuggled things in a completely different ballgame than she did, and besides, she was supposed to be laying low right now.
Getting up, Ruby turned to the two Malachite twins with a calm expression. "Come on, Roman knows we're coming anyway. We'll approach the gate, slowly."
The Malachite twins shot her a weird look, clearly apprehensive about that plan. Ruby didn't blame them, the White Fang, at least based on what she heard through underworld rumours, did not work with criminal elements with any degree of regularity. Their so-called 'relationship' was one of necessity. None of the kingdoms aside from Vacuo probably, were willing to deal with them legitimately. In places like Mantle, where the charity was constantly on the verge of being labelled as a terrorist organisation and banned, there was no chance for the organisation as a whole to survive without underworld connections. Though whether because of pride or a sense of 'justice', any dealings with the underworld were, to put it mildly, extremely tense and infrequent.
That did not stop them from leaving their corner and approach the gate, however. In these scenarios, it was better to establish their relationship up front, and show no weakness lest they decide to turn them away. The guards noticed them, and Ruby could feel the Malachite twins lock their gazes on the number of plainclothes White Fang guards coming from the gate. By the time the three of them got there, their path into the warehouse was being blocked by around a dozen or so Faunus, clearly not expecting visitors at this time of the day.
"HALT! Who goes there!?" A burly middle-aged man, Ruby assuming him to be their squad leader, called out. A submachine gun was held in his hands, though it wasn't being aimed at them, at least not yet.
Stopping at a fair distance away, far enough to barely make out their faces, while close enough to hear them well enough, Ruby slowly raised both of her hands up.
"Fuckin' really?" Militia whispered next to Ruby, while half-heartedly raising her own hands up.
"We're here to get my bullhead, not fight. I like our odds, but do you want to cause more trouble for Junior?" Ruby whispered back, shutting up the glares she received from the twins. Turning instead to the squad leader, who looked more incensed as the seconds ticked by, she told them who they were looking for.
"We're here to see Torchwick." Whatever hopes Ruby had that it would calm them down were dashed as his submachine gun was now cocked and aiming directly at them. The other White Fang grunts beside him pulling out their own firearms and swords, ready to act on his orders as well.
"Torchwick didn't say any damn thing about the three of you, who the hell are you really?! I'm gonna count to three-"
"Fucking hell Gibson lower your bloody gun! That's the same one who met with Taurus that day!"
A shout from behind the gate made Ruby hesitate on summoning Schwarz out. Though she couldn't get a full picture, the voice that shouted out the order to halt came from a somewhat short woman, a full head and a half shorter than the burly man. She wore what was recognized to be a White Fang uniform, with the distinction of a more ornate mask than their usual depictions on television. Ruby could tell a pair of rabbit, or maybe hare ears protruding from the hoodie that she wore as well. All of the guards at the gate immediately lowered or stowed their weapons at her arrival, clearing a large path for her to directly look at Ruby.
"Lieutenant? Are you-"
"Don't be a daft cunt, look at her, no one else has had the balls to stand up to Taurus like that. You remember how pissed the arse was don't you?"
Murmurs then came from the assembled White Fang, much to Ruby's suspicion. What was that about Taurus?
"They sure as hell know who you are, Rubes." Melanie leaned in to whisper with a hint of smugness, resulting in her being elbowed by the somewhat confused Kansen. Seeing as how the situation changed from immediate combat to confused recognition, Ruby decided to take her chances and move closer, this time no guns were raised at them.
Upon reaching the gate, she was greeted by the Lieutenant, she didn't even know the White Fang used military ranks. "Sorry for that spot of trouble, around these parts we're all a bit too paranoid, you get me?"
"No hard feelings." Ruby decided to answer for the three of them, she just wanted to get this over with and take out her bullhead for a spin.
"Right on. I don't like formal greetings n'all, and besides, we've technically seen each other before." Ruby did hear her saying something about Taurus, so maybe…
"The ruined town?"
"Exactly, I led the grunts while Adam talked to ya. Though I guess you two didn't exactly come to an agreement judging by how pissed he looked when we went back."
That was probably an understatement, but Ruby just simply nodded as she led the three of them through the gate, and further into the compound. "So, you here to smuggle our Dust out as well or…?"
"Torchwick has something I need."
"Oh, you did mention that didn't you? Shame, coulda used your semblance or whatever instead, probably done a better job than we are right now. Come on, Torchwick's unloading a shipment on the edge, I'll take you to him-fecking Oum!"
Before she could get out another word, the air in front of them seemed to phase for a second before cracks in the sight revealed someone Ruby was expecting to see tonight as well.
"Neo." Ruby nodded to her once, unphased by the sudden appearance as she had gotten used to them by now. The Malachite twins were somewhat on edge, they apparently had some encounters with her in the past that went unresolved, something that Neo blew off whenever she asked her about it. The Lieutenant, however, was not so reposed, having jumped back a few steps, brandishing a harp-like weapon at Neo before quickly breathing a sigh of relief.
"Fecking hell I hate it when you do that…"
Neo, on her part, simply shrugged with a grin. Turning to Ruby, she held up her scroll with pre-written text on it.
'Heyyyy you met Rory already! She's fun to play with, you should try it yourself.'
"Rory?" Ruby looked at the Lieutenant, who was the only one there whom she didn't know the name of.
"Shite, forgot to introduce myself didn't I? Name's Rory, Rory Moloney, I lead this merry band of fighters, at least when Adam's fucked off. Don't worry about meeting him, he's off to see Sienna or some important crap I think." At least that was one worry ticked off the proverbial box. Ruby was concerned about running into him again so quickly after their last meeting, but it seemed like that was not going to be an issue right now, it would have been awkward to say the least.
Neo held up another message on her scroll, this time thumbing behind her as well, at a very irate-looking Roman trying to unload boxes off of a floating bullhead.
'Roman's getting his panties twisted getting cargo off of the bullhead. Once it's done it'll be yours, just wait a sec. You're gonna give me a ride on that thing as well, won't you?'
With an impressive impression of puppy dog eyes, Neo looked to Ruby with an expectant gaze. What, was she giving everyone joy rides now? It was like she was a teenager who got their first car and license, with every one of their friends suddenly asking for a ride. The biggest difference here was that she wasn't exactly getting a car like Zippy, the Xiao-Long family car, but a floating bullhead. Did she mention that she didn't have a license to fly either? Well, she didn't have a license to drive either, but that didn't stop her from driving trucks during smuggling jobs before. If she could steer an entire battleship, piloting a bullhead like one of her floatplanes was not going to be difficult at all.
Sighing for her answer, Neo took it as an affirmative and vanished a second later with another smug grin. Taking another good luck at the sight of Roman trying to deal with something way over his head, Ruby turned to the Malachite twins, who appeared to be less than pleased at their current situation.
"Get comfy, he's going to take a while."
Nostalgia was something Ruby often felt. However, quantifying it in any regard that matters was an exercise in futility. Nostalgia meant different things, and at different times could mean something entirely different depending on the person. To Ruby, however, who had spent her entire life on the 'civilian' side of life, watching the White Fang working as a unit to unload, load and move boxes scratched a long-forgotten memory in her.
She could just as easily imagine that she was back in Kiel, watching as the dockworkers unloaded merchant ships and restocked Ironblood vessels, bound for mirror seas or simple patrols. In that regard, nostalgia was also similar to affection. Too much of it, and it could be just as much of a poison as affection, and she would spend her life chasing after that romanticised ideal. True, some parts of her missed those sights, but she never forgot that Ironblood, and all the major nations of her old world were stuck in a vicious war. For every peaceful day that Kiel may have had, it also had days where it had to defend itself from Siren raids or watch as ships limped back to port after narrowly escaping an attack.
That was the dual nature of nostalgia, where those who followed it often tried their damned hardest to forget the other, uglier side of things.
"Lien for your thoughts?"
The Malachite twins were off somewhere on their scrolls the last time Ruby saw them, leaving her alone on one of the piers watching the White Fang operation. That voice belonged to only one other person who dared approach her, Lieutenant Rory.
"They remind you of something? You've probably seen them before, some of them wearing that gear you smuggled in." Rory gestured to her boots, clearly painted over with more White Fang colours.
"That gear you brought in saved some of us during a raid some days ago, so thanks for that. Those vests caught rounds that would have gone straight through our regular uniforms."
Ruby nodded, before turning her attention back to the docks. Despite showing not a lot of interest in her, Rory simply stood next to her, silent as well. This continued for some time, hearing the calm waves swish by below them, the quiet thumps of boxes being moved into the distance and an angry bowler hat thief shouting obscenities bordering on racial pejoratives. It was a miracle that the grunts didn't shoot him, Ruby knew she would have.
"...What did you mean by Taurus being pissed?" Deciding to kill time by sating her curiosity, she directed that question to Rory. The last time they met he just seemed disappointed rather than angry, so that mood swing seemed to be entirely off-character.
"He doesn't show it, eh? Taurus is the sorta arse to be the silent, broody type than actually showing any real anger, at least towards his own. Believe me, I've been under the bastard long enough to know his tells, bloody useful his leadership has been…"
"His?" Ruby was under the impression that Adam always led the Valean White Fang judging by all the coverage he has had in the media.
"He's our latest one. I have been here since we were called the Fenians all those years ago. Vale's bloody own we were called, joined up soon after the Faunus Wars when I was still a wee lass. Before you ask, no, we did not choose him, some higher-ups decided he could fill the post after our previous leader, Old Wellers got himself locked up."
Ruby remembered something like this. The White Fang was originally a unification of various Faunus rights groups scattered across Remnant, with the original groups losing their distinction to become part of a unified movement instead. The Fenians were Vale's largest Faunus organization and were responsible for much of the fighting during the war decades ago. If she remembered correctly, that group favoured ambush tactics and car bombings in Vale, old timers remembered it as ' Le Fracases' in old Valean.
"Should I be wary of parked cars now then?"
Rory stifled a laugh, before waving off her joke. "Nah, we don't do that anymore, can't do anything these days without explicit approval from Menagerie."
If that was true, then the White Fang was a lot more centralized than she originally thought. However that begged another question, why was Rory being so forthright with spilling internal secrets?
"Why are you telling me all this?"
Rory shifted her feet as if her intentions were just exposed. "...sharper than you look, no offence. Fine, you got me, I overheard a bit of what you and Adam talked about." She pointed to her ears protruding underneath her hood.
"You don't know it, but I've been waiting for someone to say those words to him, guess it took an outside smuggler half my bloody age to say it, huh?"
Huffing in response, back then Ruby simply said what she thought about him, nothing too impressive.
"You give me too much credit."
She shrugged in response. "Aye, I don't deny it. But I do agree with him on one thing though, we really could use someone like you."
There it was, what she really approached Ruby for. Turning to Rory with a glare, Ruby's silver eyes glowed a bit brighter, perhaps under the effect of the full moon that made for an intimidating sight. Though it was probably Schwarz suddenly appearing next to her with a deep, rumbling growl that made Rory flinch.
"And I will tell you what I told Adam. I do not oppose your ideals, but neither am I friend to your methods-"
"And what if you could change those methods?" Rory interjected, making Ruby raise an eyebrow.
"You can't honestly believe the White Fang all agree with whatever shite Menagerie says we do, right? What are we, disposable soldiers? No, the old guard in Vale have had their own ideas for a while, and we aren't all happy with that bull-headed arse telling us what to do in Vale. The bastard isn't even from here, us though? We've spent our entire lives living here, Adam swoops in because Sienna says so, and suddenly we're supposed to give our lives for whatever he wants us to do? I'd be insulted if you actually thought that way, Hutten."
Ruby remained silent, giving her the signal to continue. "Supposedly he wants our people to have the freedom and equality we so deserve. Great, and some heads are inevitably going to have to roll because of that. We don't disagree on this, but there is that, and then there is going above and beyond without any plan. We got what we wanted in Vale during the revolution long before the White Fang consolidated with our own tactics, and now? We're hunted more than ever before, random stops by the green and tans, actual huntsmen raids and even our safehouses in the city are being targeted. Our headquarters are out in the woods for fuck's sake. I haven't been able to use an actual toilet instead of an outhouse for a bloody month now."
That image was not a pretty one, but probably par for the course for an insurgent group. She had heard of insurgencies being fought in far-off corners in her old world, primarily involving the Royals and their dominions. Though Ironblood also had ventures in foreign lands as well, with reports painting a similar amount of bloodshed committed by their own.
"Look, I'm saying that for a movement like ours to succeed? We need to have a plan beyond making Vale hurt. Right now, we seem like a pack of angry Grimm, clawing at anyone we deem to be 'enemies'. Give them an alternative, more moderate or even bring back the charity or whatever, what we need is an actual strategy beyond raids and acting like some boogeyman. Hell, Faunus children are being looked at by police like they're about to commit a bombing or raid at any time, I don't need to tell you how that affects the wider population, right?"
'Random' searches by police, stopping you in your car just because you had deer antlers or cat ears sticking out of your head and even being barred from establishments for an arbitrary reason were all things Ruby had noticed just by walking around in Vale's less desired neighbourhoods. They were things that the established media seldom discussed or talked about, doing so went against the narrative, that Faunus discrimination had ended in Vale. The only bright spark was that they weren't worse than Atlas, though not many places on Remnant were worse than Atlas in that regard.
Patting Schwarz on the head gently, she considered Rory's words and came to another conclusion. "You are…not entirely wrong. But again, what use will I have? I am simply one person, even a smuggler by your own admission and belonging to the underworld."
Underneath Rory's mask, Ruby could see that her uncovered lips tugged upwards. "But you are one of us, those horns do not lie. I don't know if you hide them in your everyday life like some of us do, but that means you do have a stake in this. It might not be a very big one, but just like the Fenians before, the Fang does fight for every Faunus no matter their background."
Again with those horns, being mistaken for a Faunus. It was probably why Rory felt comfortable enough to share and approach her, misguided as it may have been. Like her ancestry, family, and mystery of her own mother, it all came back to why she was given a rigging, merged with the life of one Ulrich von Hutten, Battleship of Ironblood.
"Hey, we didn't get to where we were originally by making, big, grand claims of freedom until we were ready to do so. We started small, just talking to others, letting them know there was an alternative. Might seem insignificant and even dumb, but it worked before, and it'll work again here. Give it a thought, yeah?" The 'truth' of the matter that Ruby could agree on, was probably that. The White Fang started just like that, but eventually grew into something bigger, perhaps beyond its control.
"You make a much more interesting case than Taurus did."
"Hah! What did he say? Just because you're a Faunus you should join him or something like that?"
"Roughly." It was accompanied by a 'so-so' gesture from Ruby.
"Feckin knew it. Honestly surprised you walked away from that unscathed, Oum knows he would done something to-"
*LIEUTENANT! THE GREEN AND TANS ARE APPROACHING!*
A loud voice on the radio, stuck to Rory's chest blared to life, giving out a warning that made both of them freeze. Whipping her head around, she saw that the bridge above them connecting the docks area to the other districts were filled with blaring sirens and flashing police cruiser lights. Unless there was another smuggling operation in the area they were planning to hit, they were coming directly straight at them.
"They're coming for us."
"You don't bloody say now?!" In between frantic orders given through the radio, Rory was running with Ruby back to the main area of their operations, only to find equally frantic movement.
"I need to find the twins and get out, this is where we're parting ways, no offence."
Rory just waved her off, probably expecting such an answer. "Aye, no hard feelings, don't get yourself taken in, they don't treat us too well in those jails!"
Getting on top of Schwarz, they sped ahead to find the Malachite twins. In hindsight, she didn't have to look too far, for they stood out like a sore thumb even more than usual in the dimly lit warehouse area. Approaching them, they too looked as frazzled as the White Fang grunts around them.
"We're leaving, get on-" Ruby was cut off quickly by Melanie, who pointed in the direction of the gates.
"Yeah uh, a bit too late for that Rubes! They're at the gates already, and unless you want to fight through the police lines, I'd say we get out another way!" She pointed at the bullheads quickly being loaded up with whatever cargo they could carry, along with unarmed White Fang members. Suddenly remembering the main reason why they came here, she zeroed in on the one floating bullhead that was promised to her.
"We're getting what we came here for, let's go!" With all three of them on Schwarz, they sped through SDC-marked boxes and surprised White Fang grunts running to and fro. Eventually reaching the pier where the bullhead was, they found Torchwick along with Neo, loading the last crates of Dust containers by themselves onto the vehicle themselves.
"Come on Neo! Put your backs into it! Those animals just abandoned us-by Oum aren't you three a sight for sore eyes!" Noticing Ruby and the twins at the end, Roman's eyes lit up like the festival fireworks on the Eagle Union's independence day.
"Okay Red, new offer! You help me get all of this in, and we all go away without spending a decade in prison with you three getting a fifth-a third of all this Dust here, whatdya say? C'mon, better decide quickly, those coppers aren't going to stop just because we ask nicely!" Gunfire rattled behind them, signalling that the enemy was literally at the gates.
Growling in frustration, she pushed Roman aside, his bowler hat nearly falling off in the process. Turning to Schwarz, she pointed at the collection of Dust containers, around a dozen boxes all stacked up tightly. "Do it."
To outside observers, what then happened was that the desk-sized crates shrank to impossibly small sizes, enough so that it could be put into a regular pocket, which was then literally 'devoured' by Schwarz through its mechanical mouth. It proceeded to do this until the pier was entirely clear, even taking along crates that weren't close to the floating bullhead. Ruby felt her cargo holds filling up, meaning that the boxes were successfully stored and deposited.
Turning to Roman and Neo, their stunned expressions were something she did not expect to see. Was it really that impressive? The Malachite twins also had a similar, jaw-dropping expression, as if they just saw an act that violated the natural laws of this world.
"Wha-" Roman began stuttering, but couldn't get anything out beyond staring frantically for the boxes that were just there moments ago.
"You'll get them back later, can we please leave?" Ruby blew past him, who had dropped the container he was holding, leaving Neo to hold onto it by her lone short stature.
"So that's how you smuggle all of that crap…" Militia followed soon after, followed by Melanie to board the bullhead. They were sort of right, but again, the fewer people knew about her abilities, the better it was for her prospects of living a relatively quiet life-
"HALT! In the name of Atlas!"
A sleek, unconventional airship blew past the warehouse, stopping just above them for a brief moment, several brightly dressed figures jumping out of it. Landing with all the grace afforded to an athlete with the practicality of a parachutist, Ruby was surrounded on all sides. Roman, Neo and the Malachite twins quickly formed a defensive circle, instincts overriding the desire to figure out what the hell was going on around them.
Automatons, sleek white and carrying standard Atlesian pattern Dust carbines aimed their weapons at the five of them. Numbering two dozen in all were deposited around them to ensure that there was no escape. One more figure, also similarly dressed in white, but unmistakably human also jumped out of the airship, landing directly in front of Ruby. She recognized her, the snow-white hair in a ponytail and Atlesian uniform was printed on tabloid magazines depicting the gossip and lives of the super-rich on Remnant for years.
"I, Winter Schnee, hereby place you under arrest for conspiracy and treason against Vale and Atlas, submit or be forcefully taken in. Please, I would love to see scum like you try."
Her sabre was drawn, and pointed directly at Ruby, only a metre away from where she stood. Normally, any sane person, criminal or insurgent, would see that their best option was to surrender. Roman for example, was discreetly and slowly beginning to raise his hand, cane still held on it. Ruby took a deep breath through her nose and only said two words in response.
"Star shell."
BOOM
One shot came from Schwarz, and the entire area was engulfed in a bright, searing light.
AN:
I've always maintained the idea that the White Fang was always written from an America-centric view of Civil Rights movements, and one that was only pushed by pop history. I won't get into the gritty details about why I think that was one of the worst parts of it, but needless to say, I dislike how they handled them in the show heavily. So, in line with how I'm 'changing' the various parts of Remnant's lore such as adding in a Valean coast guard modelled after the Marine nationale, so too am I changing how some groups are portrayed.
First chapter of this year, yay. I've been super busy with school and my graduate applications so I just haven't found the time to actually go ahead with writing. Things have calmed down slightly, so maybe I'll find more time to continue writing.
Be civil in the comments below.