F3: Welcome to chapter 8 of my RWBY story. The rest of Ruby and company have been arrested by Cordovin but now Harriet is on her way to Argus and she might not be happy. RWBY currently has no owner. With that said Let's Dive In.
Volume 6-8: Reflecting on the Past.
Hours had passed by as Melanie and Miltia were waiting for Winter to come home but it's been hours and she had yet to return.
"What's taking her so long? It almost dinner time." Melanie said concern in her voice.
"I know. It shouldn't take her that long to handle something like this." Miltia added as she walked nervously around the room.
"Think we should call her see if things are going okay." Melanie said as her sister brought out her scroll and dialed Winters number. It rang and rang for about half a minute before it went to her voicemail.
"Sorry if I can't answer right now. I'm either on a case or handling other obligations. Leave a number and I'll get back to you." Winters voice message said before leaving a beeping sound.
Miltia hung up "Nothing. Went straight to her voicemail." She added.
"Okay that's just weird. She normally picks up. Something must have gone wrong." Miltia said.
"Or maybe she's on her way back." Melanie said her ears flattened to her head.
"I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right." Miltia said.
"Why not try your semblance? You can see from their point of view right." Melanie stated.
"Right, I could try that." Miltia said as she formed a circle with her index finger and thumb before guiding it over her right eye.
"Winter Schnee." She declared as her right eye suddenly turned blue as she closed her left eye. Her vision suddenly changed from the living room they were at to what looked like a prison cell. She saw Weiss on the other side of the cell seemingly talking to someone.
"What the? A prison cell? What the heck is going on?" Miltia questioned.
"A prison cell. You don't think that Cordovin has something to do with this." Melanie added.
"Hold on I see Weiss their too and… Ruby? Were they all captured." Miltia said.
Melanie huffed "Probably some stunt Cordovin did. Wouldn't be the first time." Melanie said as Miltia disabled her semblance.
"So that could only one of two things that happened. One, Winter stretched her authority and Cordovin planned some kind of trick to trap them all on the base. Two, someone got really pissy and tried to pick a fight only to get a lockdown treatment." Miltia said.
"Great so now what are we supposed to do now. Just wait till something happens." Melanie said.
"I'm afraid so. Besides that, Cordovin is old Atlas military so which means she wouldn't listen to the two of us because we're faunus." Miltia said.
Melanie sighed knowing her sister was right so for now the best thing they could do right now was wait and see what happens.
Then Miltia has an idea "Wait a minute… what if I used my semblance on Cordovin. You know spy on her and see what she's up to." Miltia said.
"I don't know. Do you know if that'll work?" Melanie asked.
"Only one way to find out." Miltia said as she repeated the same process but this time, she knew who she was going to spy on.
"Caroline Cordovin." She declared as her eye changed color to match Cordovin's as her vision took her to what looked like another room on the base and across from her was Blake and she was in bad shape especially from the electrical burns and her one eye wasn't any better.
"Now I will ask you again and I expect the right answer. What is your plans for Atlas?" Cordovin questioned.
Blake looked tired as she wheezed out an answer. "There… is… no plan." Blake wheezed but Cordovin growled as she snapped her fingers as the soldiers next to her zapped Blake with shock stick with Blake letting out a horrid scream of pain.
"Do not lie to me girl. It's very uncharacteristic and unbecoming. So, you better tell me something right now or things will just end up being worse for you." Cordovin said but Blake could barely keep herself up from all the electric shocks.
"Fine. Put this animal back in her cell." She ordered as the soldiers took Blake away, having to drag her out.
"Ma'am I looked up both those two huntresses. Raven Branwen and Summer Rose. Their ID's are legit." One of the soldiers stated.
"Hm… we cannot let the general find out or who knows what could happen that we are holding two legal huntresses' captive. Do not let the general find out." Cordovin ordered.
"Yes ma'am." The soldier said as he walked away as Miltia ended her semblance as her vision returned to normal.
"Well… what did you see?" Melanie asked.
"I… saw Blake… and they were torturing her with electric shocks." Miltia said, which surprised her sister.
"Huh? Why would they do that!? That's just cruel. Did you see anything else?" Her sister asked.
"Yeah… it looked like she had electrical burns and her left eye looked like it's been damaged. I think she's gone blind in that eye." Miltia replied.
"Is there anything we can do?" Melanie asked.
"Not really. I honestly wish we could but for now we can only wait for the time being." Miltia said, which was rather unfortunate for them as they waited to hear news about them.
=RWBY=
Cordovin growled angrily as she was getting nowhere with the faunus about their plan. She needed to get a leg up on her or she'll have nothing to tell this new general when she gets to the base.
"Maybe I could get one of the others to talk. They must know something but who to start with." Cordovin said.
"Having difficulty their Cordovin?" A female's voice questioned. She turned to find that it was that cloaked woman again.
"You? How did you get inside!?" Cordovin asked surprised that she got inside.
"You guys really need to work on your security. If I can slip in undetected then anyone can get in." The woman said.
"What is it that you want? Clearly you want something." Cordovin asked.
"Oh, I don't want anything. I just want to make sure that Blake is suffering for her acts against humanity. Afterall someone like her shouldn't be set free." The female stated.
"I'm trying to get her to confess to her crimes. However, she's being awfully stubborn out it." Cordovin growled.
"Don't you know. If you want someone to talk to then you go for what they care about most or in this case who she cares about the most. Target who she cares about and she'll sing like a canary for you." The female said.
"And you know who to target don't you. Just out of curiosity of course." Cordovin said as the female smiled at her.
"Ruby Rose. Apparently, Blake has a thing for her. Target her and she'll tell you everything." The female said.
"Hm… very well." Cordovin said as she headed back inside the base.
All Ilia can do is grin and watch as things play out. She was going to love watching Blakes love interest get what she deserved.
=RWBY=
In their detention cells no one spoke as they are all trying to figure out how to get out their predicament. Summer though let out a small chuckle at this.
"You know this reminds me of something quite a while ago actually." Summer spoke.
"Hm… and what's that?" Oscar questioned.
"It was during our Beacon years at the academy. I believe it was our third year at the academy and we decided to go out and celebrate after a successful mission. However, things sort of… got out of hand so to speak." Summer replied.
"How so?" Yang asked.
"Let's just say we got drunk and someone decided to entice a brawl in the bar." Raven said remembering the event vividly.
"Hey, that guy had it coming for touching me like that. I didn't know it would entice a brawl." Summer added.
"Oh, sure and you being drunk off your ass has nothing to do with it." Raven said sarcastically which made Summer blush.
"After that our headmaster surprisingly came to bail us out but we were put on a whole month of detention. Even after all of that… we became closer as a team of sorts… more like family at that point." Summer replied.
"That was quite the day… although the hangover was just as worse. Felt like getting hit with several jackhammers at one time." Raven laughed.
"Yeah… that was not a very good way to start a morning." Summer said laughing with her.
"Wow sounds like you two had a good time." Yang commented.
"It was a good time but that was a long time ago." Raven replied.
"So… if we're telling stories. I have something rather interesting. Want to take a guess of how me and Neo met?" Star asked as Neo perked up as she had an embarrass look on her face.
"Really how'd you two meet?" Pepper asked.
"Well… it's kind of funny really. It started before I went to Beacon. I was in Vacuo in Corquina and I was heading to the dust shop there with a few friends. Then I noticed the shop was closed which normally they aren't so we went around back and I saw these White Fang goons stealing dust from the back along with this small girl sitting on a crate." Star started.
"And then what?" Jaune asked.
"Well… after getting rid of the goons me and Neo tangled a little but I found out she's afraid of fire on accident and I sort of let her go. Not until she gave me a kiss on the cheek which surprised me. That's when I met Neo. Then well the rest is history." Star replied as Neo nodded.
"As much as we all like to talk about stuff from the past we're still kind of trapped here because of that Cordovin. So, hate to say everyone… we might as well get used to this for a while." Pepper said as she sat on her cot.
But it made Yang a little curious "Um… hey Pep I was wondering. What Cordovin said earlier back at the entrance. What did she mean by that about being Atlas property?" Yang asked.
"Yang! You shouldn't ask something like." Summer scorned.
"No… it's okay. To answer your question Yang. Yeah… this mark on my neck means I'm Atlas property but look carefully at it and you'll see something about the mark." Pepper said pulling the collar of her shirt down to show them the mark.
"Wait… isn't that the SDC logo?" May asked curiously.
"You're right. This is the SDC logo because this mark means they own me. Maybe that's why her men didn't rough me up as they did all of you because I'm their property." Pepper said readjusting the collar of her shirt.
"It's for all faunus that come through Atlas and get put into the mines. You get marked and you become their property. A tool they could throw away at any given time." Pepper added.
"That's… all kinds of messed up." Iona said.
"Yeah… but not much can be done about it." Pepper replied as she laid down on her cot.
"Still, I wonder what Cordovin is going to do. I mean she can't lock us in here forever." May said.
"She might not have to. She more than likely called General Ironwood and convinced him that we're radicals and he's coming to pick us up." Summer added.
"Well, that's just great. I don't exactly have a great history working with that man. So this might be fun." Raven replied.
"We just need to wait it out until he comes. Then we can try and convince him otherwise that we're not criminals." Nora said.
"Guess we play the waiting game." Jaune added as he sat down on his cot as they wait it out until something good happened.
In another part of the detention cell Weiss, Ruby, and Winter were locked in their cells as all their stuff was taken from them.
"They can't do this can they? I mean we haven't done anything wrong. They can't just arrest us." Ruby said.
"That's kind of the point Ruby. I wouldn't be surprised if Cordovin came up with something to force a breach and made it look like we've committed that breach." Weiss replied.
"But why would she do that?" Ruby asked.
"Because Ruby I believe they knew that once I arrived that they think I would find out what they were doing and ordered Blake to be released which is why they decided to arrest us." Winter replied in another cell.
"Then what can we do?" Ruby questioned.
"Nothing. For now, we just wait for the time being." Winter answered.
However, they didn't have to wait for long as the door opened to their cell revealing Cordovin and a few soldiers as they approached Ruby's cell.
"Open the cell." Cordovin ordered as the soldiers opened Ruby's cell before grabbing her.
"Hey! Let go of me!" Ruby shouted while struggling in their grip.
"What are you doing!? Put her down! You're hurting her!" Weiss shouted.
Cordovin, however, glared at Weiss as she brought out a baton and banged it on her cell.
"Be quiet animal!" Cordovin shouted, making Weiss retreat yelping as her hands were hit by the baton.
"You…" Weiss growled rubbing the mark on her hands from the baton.
"To think the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company is a faunus now. Makes you worthless now doesn't. Or should I say former heiress since you've left Atlas with that wolf girl. However, we have other matters to attend to so you just relax and don't get any idea." Cordovin warned as the soldiers dragged Ruby away from the detention cells.
The soldiers also opened Blakes cell as they dragged her out too and took her away
Winter saw Blakes condition and as she winced at the sight as she spoke "What you're doing is considered torture you know that. If seen enough to have you court martialed for this." Winter said.
"Oh really… who are they going to believe. A commander who is highly regarded or a lowly attorney that should've minded her own business." Cordovin said as she left the Schnee sisters alone taking Blake and Ruby from the detention cells.
Weiss banged on the cell's bars with her metal arm but the bars remained intact "That little imp! I swear if it weren't for this cell I knock her out cold." Weiss growled.
"I'd advise against that Weiss. Right now, we don't have the upper hand. We just wait for now." Winter suggested.
"She's going to torture them. Did you see Blakes condition? She could barely stand. What if they do worse to her or to Ruby?" Weiss argued.
"I know that! But right now, we can't do anything until help comes. Believe me I know that you feel helpless but so do I and it sucks and we can't do anything about it." Winter argued.
Weiss growled in frustration as she sat on her cot as they had no other option but to wait until either help came or they were taken to Atlas.
=RWBY=
Flying above was a large airship bearing the symbol of Atlas as inside the ship Harriet had taken a seat on the captain's seat.
"Status update." Harriet ordered.
"Ma'am we are approaching the Argus base. We are in communication range and radar. Do you want me patch through to their communications?" the soldier asked.
"Yes." Harriet replied as the soldiers on deck were working as Team PRRS were hanging about the captain's bridge.
"Alright General. You're through." He said as Harriet took the walkie and spoke into it.
"This is General Harriet Bree Arc of Atlas military calling Argus, come in." Harriet spoke but only getting static and no response as she tried again.
"I repeat this is General Harriet Bree Arc of Atlas and is requesting permission to land. Does anyone copy?" Harriet asked but this is time she got a response.
"This is corporal Lance. I'm afraid you cannot land General. We have a security breach here on base." The corporal replied.
"Corporal Lance, was it? Bring your commander so I can speak with her at once and that's an order." Harriet ordered.
"I'm sorry ma'am but our commander is currently busy at the moment." The corporal replied, which only made Harriet more suspicious.
"Did I stutter? This base is property of the Atlas military. In such you obey the highest in command. Now bring your commander to me at once!" Harriet ordered which seemed to have scared the corporal as he seemed to have not answered.
"I… think you scared him." The soldier said.
"Good. Sometimes these soldiers need a little scaring to get themselves in order." Harriet replied as they waited for Commander Cordovin to show up.
All the while inside the interrogation room Blake was once again inside sitting across from Cordovin but she had a rather calming yet knowing look on her face.
"Now then Blake. You'll tell me what you're plans are for the White Fang and do try to make this easy on yourself." Cordovin said.
"I told you. The White Fang is disbanded and I've abandoned them long ago so there is no plan. Also, the remains of the White Fang have been captured at Haven Academy so what you're doing is unlawful and discriminatory. You are just getting your kicks in because I'm a faunus aren't you. Typical human behavior." Blake spat back.
However, Cordovin was unfazed by this, in fact she smiled slightly.
"Oh, I think you might want to change your tune once you see this." She said taking out a small remote and pressed a button on it. A window next to them appeared revealing Ruby cuffed to a chair with two soldiers standing next to her.
This made Blake's eyes widen "She has nothing to do with this!" Blake shouted.
"Oh, but she was with you when you were brought in. So, in my suspicion she's just as guilty as you are. If I don't like what I hear… she'll get the same treatment." Cordovin said as the soldiers were holding their batons at the ready. Blake growled at this before glaring at Cordovin.
"Now. Answer my question." She ordered.
"And I've already told you. I'm no longer a member of the White Fang. So, I don't know about their plans at all." Blake said.
"Liar." Cordovin said as she snapped her fingers in which the soldiers activated their batons before touching Ruby's arms, shocking her as she screamed.
"STOP IT!" Blake shouted as Cordovin snapped her fingers again making them stop.
"Then tell me what I want to know and this will stop." Cordovin said glaring at Blake.
Blake, however, wasn't sure what to tell her as she knew nothing else about the White Fang after she'd left.
"I… I don't know." Blake said weakly as Cordovin snapped her fingers again getting the same result as Ruby struggled in her seat from the shocks and all Blake could do was watch.
However, another soldier came in as they were in a hurry.
"Excuse me Commander but the general is here ma'am. And she is requesting you." The soldier said.
"Thank you Corporal. Although I was enjoying myself but I guess I must meet this new general and inform her about the situation." Cordovin replied as she left the room as the soldier in the other room stopped and proceeded out to follow.
Ruby sat in the chair still bound as all she could do was stare back at Blake as did Blake staring back at Ruby.
"You, okay?" Blake mouthed as Ruby nodded but the two waited for what was going to happen.
=RWBY=
Cordovin arrived at the radio tower seeing the airship that the new general was in.
"They're asking permission to land Commander." The soldier said as she took the walkie from him and spoke into it.
"This is Commander Caroline Cordovin of Argus base. To whom I am speaking with." She asked.
"This is General Harriet Bree Arc. I heard there was a security breach. What's the status?" Harriet asked.
"The situation has been handled general so you have permission to land." Cordovin stated.
"Very well. We're landing now." Harriet replied as the airship began its descent toward the landing strip. Cordovin left the radio tower and quickly headed toward the landing strip to greet this new general with three soldiers flanking her.
The airship landed and moments later a ramp extended out to them as door opened and not much longer Harriet stepped out along with Team PRRS walking behind her.
"Ah General Bree. A pleasure to see you and welcome to Argus. I hope your flight wasn't unpleasant." Cordovin greeted her with a welcoming smile but Harriet was having none of it.
"I don't need a welcome to know where I live commander so drop the formalities." Harriet said in a stern tone.
"Looks like she means business." Vixie whispered to Poppi.
"Yeah. Never seen her this intense before. But she does look mad." Marina said.
"Now there is something I would like to discuss with you commander. Most importantly about a group of civilians that you have in your cells." Harriet stated which caught the commander off guard.
"C-Civilians! What are you talking about general? The only people that I have in my detention cells are a group of radicals that claim to be huntsmen. I promise you that." Cordovin said.
"I'll be the judge of that. In the meantime, Team PRRS, I want you to run a safety check on the entire system here just to be on the safe side." Harriet ordered.
However, before they could move Cordovin intervened "I'm sorry General but they cannot do that. This is my base and what I say goes around here. So, I'm afraid they will not be doing that." Cordovin said with a grin.
Harriet though glared at Cordovin "This is not your base. This base is property of the Atlas military and while you were put in charge of it, it doesn't belong to you. And as the superior officer here I give the orders here not you." Harriet said sternly as she pushed passed Cordovin and her men as Harriet and Team PRRS followed.
Cordovin, however, was not pleased with how this was going. If the general found out that what she did was completely illegal then she'd be in bigger trouble than she already is.
"Allow me to show you around the base general. I'm certain you'll find that this base is in tip top shape." Cordovin said, catching up with her.
"Show me the detention cells. Then we'll talk about the rest of the base." Harriet replied as they walked inside as Team PRRS split up to check the systems on the base.
It didn't take long for them to reach the detention cells but Cordovin tried a stall tactic.
"Are you sure you want to go in their general. It's filled with nothing but criminals. Scoundrels that need to be put in their place. I'd advise going-." Cordovin said but Harriet stopped her.
"Open the door commander. I'll see for myself." Harriet ordered as Cordovin couldn't disobey a direct order. Cordovin took out her card and opened the doors to the detention cells.
Inside the detention cells Yang heard the door open thinking it might be Cordovin again coming over to taunt them.
"Haven't had enough of us huh you midget." Yang called out.
However, what she wasn't expecting was who would answer her.
"Yang Xiao Long Branwen. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours?" A woman's voice said as she came into view which made Yang freeze at who it was.
"H-Harriet!" Yang said getting everyone's attention as Summer and Raven peeked out.
"Well… this is surprising." Raven said.
"You're telling me." Summer added.
"That outfit. That's a general's attire. She's the general of Atlas military." Velvet said.
"Alright quiet all of you!" Cordovin shouted trying to get them quiet but Harriet glared at her before looking back to Yang.
"So… this is rather unique way of meeting up again. Care to explain what happened?" Harriet asked.
"Well… it's kind of a long story." Yang said as she started to explain the events that lead up to now as best as she could.
"And then we got hauled off here to the base with her saying we were aiding and abetting a criminal. Blake is not a criminal by any means." Yang explained.
"Alright… that's enough. Thank you for the explanation, Yang. Can anyone else here verify what Yang said is true?" Harriet asked everyone that was there.
"Yeah. She's telling the truth. Cordovin herself almost arrested Saphron too. She didn't even do anything." Star added which got Harriets attention as she glared at Cordovin again.
"Th-That's a lie! I would never arrest someone like her." Cordovin trying to defend herself.
However Harriet wasn't having any of it but before she could speak she got a transmission from her earpiece.
"General Bree. This is Poppi checking in and might want to come to the interrogation room. It's Blake Belladonna ma'am. She has electrical burns that haven't heal yet." Poppi replied.
"How many burns?" Harriet asked.
"One on her right arm, two on her left and shoulder and… one over her left eye. I think it's beyond repair." Poppi reported.
"Anyone else there?" Harriet asked again, her hand clenched into a fist.
"Yeah. Rubys here too. A little shaken up but she's okay." Poppi added.
"Alright. Get Blake out of the interrogation room and have medical look at her along with Ruby." Harriet ordered.
"Now wait just a minute. You cannot just-." Cordovin started but once again Harriet glared at her again.
"I cannot do what commander? Go ahead. Say it." Harriet snarled completely upset as Cordovin remained silent.
"Now here's what's going to happen. You will have your men release everyone from their cells and their weapons and items returned to them. Secondly, after that is all completed you and I will have ourselves a chat about how excessive force is necessary and when it's not. Then you'll apologize to everyone understand." Harriet said sternly giving off an aura of authority… and an angry wife.
Cordovin gulped as she had no choice but to obey "Understood… general." Cordovin said as she ordered her soldiers to do just as Harriet ordered.
In a matter of minutes everyone was released from their cells and met up in the main lobby.
"Damn. She works fast." Yang replied as Harriet walked up to all of them.
"I guess it's kind of nice to have someone like you around." Cardin replied.
"I apologize under behave of my commander here and she further extends her apology." Harriet said.
Summer however walked up to her with a worried look "Is my daughter alright?" Summer questioned.
Harriet nodded "She's being looked over by my medical team and Team PRRS. Along with Blake Belladonna as well. Although she's a more different case." She spoke.
"How bad?" Raven questioned.
"Electrical burns… more likely from the interrogation she suffered. I can take you to them if you like." She said as Yang, Weiss, Raven and Summer followed her while everyone else stayed behind.
Harriet guided them out of the base and headed toward her airship. After arriving on the airship Harriet guided them to a room but they immediately saw Ruby hanging outside the room.
"Ruby!" Summer called out and rushed to her daughter immediately engulfing her in a one-armed embrace.
"Mom. I'm alright. They've checked me over and its nothing too serious." Ruby said.
"I know but… I was just worried." Summer replied.
"It's Blake that I should be worried about." Ruby said as Harriet approached her.
"Been a while Ruby." Harriet said.
Ruby looked at her confusingly "Um… I'm sorry but who are you again?" Ruby questioned.
Harriet chuckled a little as did Summer "Ruby… this is Harriet Bree. She looked after you and Yang while me and Raven were away on missions." Summer reminded her. Ruby then looked at Harriet and by looking past the eyepatch it looked just like Harriet from back then.
"Wait… you're the one that Yang calls Bunny because of your hair." Ruby said as Yang blushed at this statement as Raven ruffled her hair.
"Yeah… that's me. I'm surprised you didn't recognize me from the start." Harriet said.
"Well ten years really does to someone you know." Ruby replied.
Just then the door opened revealing a member of the medical team "General. We have an update for you." The nurse said.
"Go." Harriet ordered.
"We've managed to heal some of the electrical burns with help of aura boosters which thankfully won't leave any scars. Her left eye however… we couldn't save it." The nurse said making Ruby gasp.
"The damage was too severe to the cornea that I'm afraid she'll be permanently blind in her left eye." The nurse said.
"Thank you. Is she well enough to have visitors?" Harriet questioned.
"Yes. Just make sure to come in on her right side." The nurse instructed as Ruby, Summer, Yang, and Raven entered the room.
Meanwhile outside the base Ilia looked seeing nothing has gone to plan and that she might have to take things into her own hands as she vanished out of sight.
F3: And that's the end of chapter 8. Harriet has arrived and has laid down the law on Cordovin and Ilia is taking things in her own hands. Let me know in the comments and don't forget to follow and/or favorite. The is Fireuser3 and I'm Out.