A Long Way Home
Chapter 2
Day One: Morning
"Ruby!" Weiss' voice called, barely audible over the sound of the shower, "You forgot your gear!" Ruby heard the clink of a hanger as her outfit was placed on the inside of the door.
"Have I ever mentioned that you're the best?" Ruby said, lathering her hair with shampoo.
"Too many times to count," came the amused reply, "now hurry up, We don't want to keep Ironwood waiting. He's been even moodier than usual the past few days." Ruby didn't need to see Weiss to know that she had rolled her eyes.
After quickly dressing, the two girls left the dorm, making their way towards the main elevator. As they waited for it to arrive, Weiss silently slipped her hand into Ruby's, giving it an affectionate squeeze.
Ruby returned the squeeze and gave Weiss a soft smile. The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside, still holding hands.
The elevator ride all the way up to Ironwood's office was long, but the two of them enjoyed the comfortable silence before their inevitably busy day got started.
They dropped each other's hand as they neared the office; while their friends all knew that they were together, the two of them weren't quite ready to take their relationship public yet, mostly because Weiss wasn't sure how her family would react to their relationship. Even on their date last night they tried their best to just behave as partners out for a night of fun, not as a couple out on a date, so word wouldn't get back to her father.
"Honestly," Weiss had said when the topic had come up, "The fact that I'm dating a girl will be a problem," she said matter-of-factly, "but, I think the bigger problem...", her mouth turned up in a wry smirk, "will be when they find out you're a dirty, dirty peasant." They had both burst out laughing. "I'm being mostly serious," Weiss had said after the laughing haddied down, "status is very important to the so-called nobility around here."
Ruby had tilted her head, a small frown on her face, "Is it important to you?"
Weiss had looked at her incredulously, "Really Ruby? You doubt me after all this time? It would have bothered old Weiss, yes; but you know I'm way different than when we first met."
One of Ruby's heart-melting giant grins spread across her face, "I'm just messing with ya," she had replied, "I just like that little nose crinkle you get when you think I'm a dolt." She said booping Weiss' nose.
Weiss had smiled and given her a playful shove.
The click of the door guard's heels as he saluted drew Weiss back to the present. He quickly admitted them and they stepped into the opulent office. Weiss noted that the headmasters of the combat schools all seemed to have very eccentric and slightly egotistical choices of offices. Ozpin with his ridiculous clock tower and oversized gears, Lionheart and his expensively crafted wood furniture and truly excessive amounts of books and now the General with his dome of an office perched at the top of the tallest tower in the academy, carpeted by stars and planets. It honestly all struck her as rather tacky for a man that held as much power as James Ironwood did.
"Hey, General!" Ruby said with a friendly smile and a wave as they spied Ironwood behind his desk, "You called for us?"
"Yes," he said, continuing to shuffle through his papers, not acknowledging her greeting, "I have a last second mission for the two of you." he stood up, pressing a button on the desktop. The shutters in the room began to close and a holographic table rose up from the floor; They joined the general at the table.
"We received some intel late last night," the general began, "Due to its content, we thought it best to act on it as soon as possible." he hit a key on the table and a holographic map of Atlas, Mantle, and a large swath of the surrounding areas sprang to life.
As the map rotated idly, Ruby could see the holographic representation of Amity Arena hidden from view of the public behind the distant mountains.
"Yesterday afternoon," Ironwood said, "A small five-man surveillance outpost located in the foothills of the mountains near Amity reported a much larger than usual concentration of Grimm in their area." He tapped a few keys, and the map zoomed in, a red box indicating the exact position of the outpost, along with some graphical representations of Grimm.
"Normal communication with the base continued until around four AM when we abruptly lost contact." Ruby and Weiss both peered at the base, small frowns crossing both their faces. "Now we don't have a reason to assume the worst," Ironwood said with a small placating gesture, noticing the looks on their faces, "My intel people seem to think that it's fairly likely that the Grimm just managed to knock out their comms array, and we don't believe they have the supplies to repair it. One way or the other, we can't have large amounts of Grimm near the tower and we can't afford to have any gaps in our surveillance network."
The two girls nodded, their fears somewhat eased. "As it turns out," the General continued, walking closer to the two of them, "The outpost was scheduled for a resupply mission early next week, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak." he tapped a button on his Scroll.
Both Ruby and Weiss' scrolls chimed as the files were transferred, "I'll give you a summary," he continued, "the files I sent you have more details should you need them."
"We are going to fly the two of you out on a Manta," he said, beginning to pace around the table, "The manta will be loaded with a snowmobile with an attached trailer loaded with supplies. You will be dropped off several miles out from the outpost, as there is no clear landing zone for aircraft near to the outpost; you will drive the supplies to the outpost, wiping out any grimm you encounter along the way. You will deliver the supplies and render any assistance you can to the soldiers stationed there. You will stay at the outpost overnight, and a return flight will pick you up tomorrow morning" he stopped pacing and faced them, "Any questions?"
The two girls began to scan through the mission information on their Scrolls, frowns forming on both their faces. "General," Weiss said, raising an eyebrow, "There's hardly any recon here. No aerial pictures, numbers of Grimm or any of the usual details."
"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "There really isn't a way for us to properly prepare, this really isn't much to go on…"
The General sighed, "Unfortunately, we can't spare the resources to perform a recon mission at the moment. However, the pilot of your Manta will be instructed to do a flyover of the outpost prior to dropping you off. You'll at least be able to see what you may be facing that way. I have every faith that the two of you are more than capable of getting the job done." he said, giving them an encouraging nod.
"Just the two of us?" Ruby asked, cocking an eyebrow, she had expected him to at least send some soldiers or tech guys with them, "Will we have any backup? Can we wait for Blake and Yang to come back from-"
"Unfortunately no," Ironwood said, cutting her off, his patience beginning to run low, "This mission cannot wait. And before you ask," he said, seeing the question on both their faces, "the Ace Ops are currently occupied with another mission that is critical to Amity. The construction on the tower takes utmost priority right now, I can barely spare the manta to get you out there." He folded his hands behind his back, clearly looking to get this briefing over with.
Weiss shook her head, "This is highly unusual sir." she said, frowning.
"I agree." Ruby said, nodding.
Ironwood huffed in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose, "This mission is critical; the outpost is too close to Amity to be left out of contact. You two are the only ones available who I trust to complete this mission." he clasped his hands behind his back again, "Unfortunately, this isn't a discussion, it's an order."
Ruby nodded with a reluctant "Aye, Sir."
"If that's all," Ironwood said walking back towards his desk, "go get some breakfast, then report to the quartermaster for ammo, dust, and supplies. Dismissed."
Ruby and Weiss gave courteous nods, turned and left for the elevator.
"That was...weird." Weiss said as Ruby pushed the call button.
Ruby gave a slight shrug, "Well, Atlas military forces are spread pretty thin.." she mused holding her chin as they stepped into the elevator, "With the construction on Amity and the election tonight, Ironwood's gotta be super pressed to cover everything."
"Yeah, that's fair I suppose." Weiss conceded, shrugging, "But this is a glorified repair mission, surely there's someone else that can do the job. Repair work is a little below us."
"I don't disagree," Ruby replied as the elevator started downwards, "But the outpost reported high concentrations of Grimm, so it's more up our alley than the military's." She shrugged, "Ironwood thinks we're the best for the job and I trust him." she nodded matter-of-factly.
Weiss trusted her leader's instincts, and hoped she was right, but Ironwood had been in a weird mood lately and she still wasn't quite sure what to make of it.
"Also," Ruby said, stepping off the elevator onto the main floor of the academy, "I call Dibs."
Weiss arched an eyebrow at her grinning partner, "Dibs on what?" she asked, fearing the answer she was about to receive.
"Driving the snowmobile of course!" she answered brightly.
"Oh gods." Weiss said, her shoulders drooping dramatically, "We'll be lucky to get there at all."
"Hey, Yang let me drive her bike a few times, how different could it be? Besides, you called first in the bathroom earlier, it's only fair!"
Weiss rolled her eyes goodnaturedly. They made a beeline straight for the cafeteria, their stomachs growling.
Despite her reassurances to Weiss, the lack of details on the mission still nagged at Ruby's mind. But despite her reservations, she knew that together, she and Weiss could handle anything the Grimm threw at them.
Hi again guys! Since this chapter is more of a bridge chapter and isn't particularly exciting, I'm going to post another chapter tomorrow evening as well. Thanks for reading and please leave a review telling me what you thought!