14

A woman in a torn white cloak stood in front of her, bloodied and beaten. For the upteenth time she had frozen her into a statue using the blessings of gods. She could break out at any time and both of them knew it. What a mere fraction of divine power could do against someone who challenged the gods in their prime. And yet she stood still as the tired warrior stumbled her way back into her lands. Why didn't she strike the foolish girl down? It would be so easy to deprive Ozma of one of his pawns but… in one moment she saw a different woman take her place. One that also fought against insurmountable odds fueled by violent yet pure emotions.

The woman opened her eyes. Red irises surrounded by black sclera slowly scanned the empty throne room. She didn't sleep often, much less dreamt. What her existence allowed was only a plethora of memories to relive once more. In the distant corners of her mind she felt that one of her more… interesting pets had perished. It was a curious thing, made by a less than sane man. An immortal grimm he called it. How foolish. It took a god to make her immortal and yet. For him it took over a decade but she thought it was an afternoon. One grimm didn't have enough strength to bear the strain of an endless existence, but what about a merger of almost fifty? Only one downside existed that made it unusable for almost all of her plans. Grimm instinctually followed orders of their queen but having so many individual minds turned the poor thing utterly mad. And so it was beaten back and imprisoned in the same place it was born. She reached out to a nevermore that was nearby its crypt. Its eyes became hers and the bird took a high flight over the area. She saw the scar upon the world and the flying vehicles humans invented circle around it. At the edge of the burned ground she saw His current body. She knew he also noticed her presence. Oh how she regretted that grimm didn't have the bodily functions of its animal counterparts. She didn't like being petty, lest she became like the gods that cursed her into her current state but Ozma would always deserve her ire.

-BBW-

It was but a black spec far in the sky but he knew that She was watching. It put him slightly at ease. If She didn't know what happened, then it definitely wasn't her people who did this. As the Vale's commander of the hunter corps it was his responsibility to deal with the situation at hand. That's exactly why he was dealing with annoyed politicians, panicking soldiers and noisy reporters since some two powerful idiots declared a genocide zone within the kingdom. Of course nobody called it that, but he was the one who came up with the idea and wrote it down to the huntsman laws. It was a way to ward off people away from combat zones and make sure the battle eager maiden wasn't held accountable for all the damages.

"Oz, we found something." Glynda Goodwitch called out to him and dropped two car-sized rocks next to him. One was almost pitch black while the other was a somewhat familiar light gray.

"Leave it here, we are still waiting for James' envoy." As he finished answering a bullhead landed a small distance away. From inside a young woman in a military uniform and a saber strapped to her waist walked out.

"Specialist Schnee." Ozpin greeted neutrally.

"Headmaster, Huntress Goodwitch." She saluted back. The two had to refrain from rolling their eyes at the behavior. Neither of them were part of the military proper, so why did she salute?

"Did you bring the photage?" Oz asked immediately.

"Yes, although I doubt it will be of any use." Winter Schnee handed him a disk drive. "The drone was destroyed so we don't know what exactly caused… this." she vaguely gestured to the surrounding area that was littered with craters, scorch marks and deep trenches.

"We already have an idea of who, the question is how."

"You know who did this?" Winter exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Yes. Right now it is not your concern. We have to deal with the clean up before chasing ghosts." He gestured towards the two rocks Glynda brought. He slowly circled around it. Poked with a finger. After he called for a professional a man with a drill ran up to take a sample for lab study. As soon as he started drilling an angry screech reverberated from the inside of the rock. It started rapidly cracking and the small hole was spilling black biomass. Glynda immediately flung the man away with her semblance, Oz and Winter drew their weapons ang got ready for combat. After the black formless slime covered several square yards it emitted a sound akin to choking and started slowly dissolving. After the black mass disappeared Ozpin reached into the broken boulder and pulled out a cracked egg-like object.

"So that's where it was." He commented.

"Ozpin" Glynda started with anger in her voice. If Oz knew what was here then why did they have to deal with all the headaches. "You know what it is?"

"To an extent. One of Raven's last missions brought quite a bit of data on Merlot's projects. This is, or was, An Eternal companion. He tried to create an immortal grimm but as we can all see, it wasn't a successful endeavor." He looked over the scarred land and signed. "I think we already spend enough time in the middle of nowhere. I have some people to meet and I have a feeling that Beacon will soon be on fire again. Glynda, deal with the other 'egg'." The second boulder was compressed to the size of a coconut and the three of them went to their respective bullheads.

-BBW-

Sore as hell. Check. Tired. Check. Ruby, taking a nap near the bed. Check. And I'm naked. Check. At least I don't have burns this time around.

Yang woke up in her bedroom. That was quite strange considering she clearly remembered passing out very far away from it. She felt terrible but not unbearably so, she needed some questions answered before resting. Seeing that Ruby was using her arm as a pillow she shook her awake.

"Wuza? Yang! Are you okay?!" It took her some time to wake up properly and then even more to calm down.

"I was. Now my ears hurt." Yang joked. "Really, I'm fine, just tired. What time is it anyway?" She asked. The sun was shining right into her windows meaning it was already evening.

"Around five, it took me some time to get us home." Ruby slightly cringed at the memories of putting Yang into the sidecar and then trying to drive them back to the shore. She may have built the damn thing but it didn't mean she knew how to ride it properly.

"So I woke up just in time for dinner, nice." She started getting up. "Rubes, why did you strip me this time?"

"Your suit is combat gear not a pajama." She answered with a huff.

Yang just rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What about that thing, did I kill it or not?"

"Yep! You blew it into pieces! It was so awesome!" Ruby jumped in front of her with stars in her eyes.

"Hmm, what about the bounty?"

"Oh it already dropped on the account but… they were a bit angry. Apparently we've got a lot of people asking what we were doing…"

Yang frowned at that bit of information. She really didn't want soldiers or mad scientists hounding Ruby. "I think we should take a break now. At least until the heat dies down."

"Yeah, I have so many ideas, I can't keep running around Vale!"

-BBW-

As it turned out they have pissed off quite a lot of people. For the entire following week Yang's secondary scroll wouldn't stop vibrating. Work offers that were obvious ups, meeting requests from some of the biggest people in Vale and a few clearly made up names, recruitment messages from some groups she didn't know and an anonymous message telling her to watch her back. The last one was really nice of them. The bounty hunters, assassins and who not, sticking together… Should pay Junior a visit and get a new one.

While Yang was contemplating whether or not she wanted to go to Vale, Ruby was spending her money like crazy. Every day she would disappear to her lab to receive a new package of materials. For the first time in years she started throwing things out because she started to run out of space. Yang's dustsuit was now permanently in her closet as mission ready equipment. A new reinforced seven feet tall storage unit kept inside all of their active weaponry, which now consisted of a rocket launcher, minigun and 25mm automatic grenade launcher. Crescent Rose mk3 was almost ready and her railgun project was waiting for a few parts that would help isolate the current. It was kinda cool that it doubled as an EMP but having to factory reset her scroll after each test was extremely annoying.

-BBW-

"Yang. What is that?" Ruby asked.

"My boat." Her sister nonchalantly answered.

"Why?"

"So you could take a break from flying."

"... is my semblance really that bad?" Her shoulders slumped and she stared into the ground.

"Nah, just thought about adding another vehicle. Already have a bike, might have a boat.

Said 'boat' was actually a medium sized yacht that was used by drug traffickers. They were busted some time ago and rivaling gangs sold out their property for dirt cheap prices.

"Are you going to get a bullhead next?"

"I looked them up but those things are in high demand and quite expensive so… maybe someday? How did you spend your cut?"

Ruby's mood did a one-eighty and with a grin she started pulling out weapons. Handguns, a hunting pistol, hardlight dust blades.

"And finally, I present you Crescent Rose mk3!" She finished, very proud of herself. The monstrous scythe gleamed in sunlight.

"Looks like the old one, only bigger." Yang commented. Indeed, while the mk2 was 6'2", this one was definitely above 7'. The blade grew in length by almost two feet and was angled to create a wider arc and the gun part was now longer and slightly bulkier. The spike on the end also became twice its former size.

Ruby just smirked back, put the weapon back into its 'compact' form, which still was almost as big as Ruby herself, and pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves with purple lines on them.

She activated her aura and gravity dust in the gloves lit up. Slowly, the giant blade rose in the air, connected to the rest of the weapon by a thin spiked chain. Through it, the same dust lines controlled the blade's movements.

"What do you think?" Ruby asked her sister with a confident smirk.

"One question. Can you even use it anywhere else except grimm hunts?"

And Ruby's mood plummeted again.

-BBW-

"Hello James. I know you have your hands full with White Fang but this is an important matter. Ozpin was sitting in his office. Almost a month has passed since the 'unexpected meteor landed in Vale'. At least that's what he said to the journalist. Gods knew he didn't need the public running around fearing mad scientists or overpowered mercs.

"It's not a problem, only some mop up is left anyway. Onto the important matters, did you find anything?"

"Rumors and some bits and pieces. They were seen in a village near the site as they sped down the road. Apparently one of them was injured during battle and was haphazardly thrown into the sidecar for evac. I've found their mission log, they mostly operated along the coast west of Vale."

"So you couldn't find them… I can send one of my Aces, he specializes in tracking and should have no problems subduing them."

"That will be unnecessary. Amber will be in Beacon by the end of the summer, as soon as she is here I will send Qrow to track them down."

-BBW-

Somehow, Ruby once again ran out of suppliers. Yang didn't even bother to question it. She would be graduating from Signal soon and then go to Beacon. She really didn't want to leave her sister but she would still be able to pay her a visit on weekends. Besides, maybe Ruby would pull out the same stunt she did when applying to Signal and get there early. Regardless, she wanted to make her a present she would definitely remember. After receiving a list of things Ruby wanted, she was on her way to Vale. She had to watch her back while going through the shadier parts of the city, not because of the advice but because a week ago a weirdo who called himself a knight of grimm queen sent her an anonymous message promising vengeance. She hoped it would stay at promises, she already had a gun crazy sister, she didn't need a grimm crazy stalker.

Leaving Bumblebee in front of Junior's club she went inside. One of the bouncers tried to stop her but was quickly pulled back by the other one.

"Hey there blondie, are you here for drinks or business?" Junior greeted her. He was in a good mood. Some mercs poked a hornet's nest and everyone was scrambling for every snippet of information about them. Even the big guy Ozpin himself dropped by a few days ago.

"Junior." Yang greeted back and put a stack of lien on the bar. "I need a person who can provide required goods in a timely manner."

He briefly looked at the money, this time the initial stack was almost twice his rate. Satisfied he answered. "Depends on the stuff you need, really. Weapons, drugs, people, services? Do you have a list or some-"

"You are babbling again." Red slitted eyes gave him a soul clenching glare as the air grew hotter. "The specifics are not your concern."

Taking a deep breath to calm down and signing at the failed information fishing he decided that it would be better for his health to skip to the end. "Fine, sorry. I may know a guy but he will want to meet personally. We are not on good enough terms for me to accept a deal in his stead."

Yang took out her scroll and let Junior copy her number. "He has a week to schedule a meeting." She put a bonus on the bar and was getting ready to leave.

"I'll tell him that." Seeing the amount of lien he decided to add. "Be careful, his partner is a weirdo and a bit stab-happy." The girl may not be a regular but when she came, she paid well. It would be a shame if she got shanked in some alley.

"Oh, I won't be coming personally." She smirked at Junior and her now lavender eyes danced with mirth at some unknown joke. "I am but a messenger."

-BBW-

It was a good time to be a crime boss. Competitors were kicked out, police bribed, and the hunters couldn't care less about a 'little' thief. He lit up his cigar and continued to wait for his latest customer to show up. Junior told him it was probably his type of business and that the person in question had money to spare. His partner in crime was somewhere around 'patrolling'. Hopefully the deal would go fine and there would be no reason for violence. As if the world heard his thoughts and decided to spite him, a great pressure descended on the dark empty docks and an imposing figure walked into his line of sight. He of course knew the latest news and quickly identified the person. Black cloak covering the entire body and a black helmet with an opaque visor. To make matters even worse, she was carrying his short companion, who was deathly pale, but tried to look apologetic, by the scruff of her neck. He was probably the first person to know the gender of one of the infamous Scorchers, simply because some things were too large to hide.

"You should teach your girlfriend better manners, Torchwick." A slightly metallic voice echoed.

/

/

/

Infodump

Ruby's arsenal

Crescent Rose mk3: A scythe-sniper rifle hybrid incorporating the technology from Queenslayer project. The barrel is lined with gravity and wind dust to increase the speed (gravity dust) and decrease the air resistance (wind dust) of the bullet. While Crescent Rose mk2 started out with .308 rounds and then was upgraded to .50 when Ruby grew up, mk3 fires custom made 28.3mm bullets. The variants are standart, incendiary, freezing, stun(lightning dust) or rubber. The recoil system has an inbuilt gravity dust counter, because otherwise it was too unwieldy. The blade is now larger, double-edged and unfoldable.

Stinger mode: The blade can be used as a stinger via gravity dust control interface. The chain's range is 20 meters/65 feet. The blade can be detached completely and used as a curved greatsword.

Due to the blade being unfoldable and the new rifle being too powerful and requiring it to be homogenous the compact form is around 5 feet with only the spike and part of the shaft being retractable.

Dust blades: Thorns were mentioned in an earlier chapter. Now they were upgraded to use a hard light dust to form the blade. Handles and guards were reduced in size and made from a mix of carbon fiber and aluminum. Right now they are literally cards up Ruby's sleeves.

'Small' arms: A .44 revolver, .50 cartridge handgun and custom made hunting pistol. It was a testing ground for a dust lined barrel idea that was later used in CR mk3. Fires .45-70 bullets, single-shot, no score. Carried around on the small of her back under the straps for the main weapon.

Dustsuit: A pinnacle of aura-dust interface. While Maria had her gravity rings and Ruby has gravity gloves, the suit provides an unparalleled control and versatility in dust application. In Yang's case, instead of allowing her to cast dust attacks from any part of her body, it's cyclic, meaning the energy provided from dust doesn't go into an attack but goes back to the user. The ice dust was built in only for the purposes of cooling so the fire dust doesn't combust on its own.

/

/

Replies

To kyunin9: they were watching, kinda. James is far away and he respects that Vale is Ozpin's kingdom. Ozpin is complacent so while he has some interest and would prefer to recruit them but he also knows that there are always some freaks of nature who are powerful beyond any reason and more often than not will just cause him headaches.

In due time.

The entire infodump above was done just for you :D I left some things out because they weren't that important in my opinion.

/

To Vault166

Ruby's:

O fable come to life

Let the wolves howl, let the petals dance

To save the men, to slay the beast

Be virtuous

Be righteous

Bloomed to shine in the darkest night

…

…

Yang's

I who shall awaken

Golden dragon who devoured the flames of the sun

Soar to the edge of the world

Banish the darkness

Usher the inferno

Silver star to show the path

…

…