29

Chapter 29

For the first time Yang asked them to do something. They expected it to be something weird or maybe even borderline illegal.

Instead she asked them to make sure Ruby wouldn't leave the room in the morning before she came back. Initially Weiss had called it a waste of her time only for her to start waking up Ruby and have her work on her history assignment under the threat of freezing her down to the desk. Pyrrha wasn't sure if she was helping Yang or just decided that Ruby was falling behind because of working on her new weapons all the time. But to make sure that Weiss had everything handled she skipped her morning routine and stayed in the dorm, just to make sure Ruby didn't leave. She hoped that Yang would have some good explanation afterwards. She did seem very serious when she asked them to do it.

Still, it was the first time Yang was gone even before she woke up and none of them knew where she went. They expected Ruby to start worrying, she raised hell when Yang had once stayed the night in Vale without mentioning it to anyone. Yang defended herself by mentioning Ruby's habit of sleeping in the lab. Neither Pyrrha or Weiss knew she even had a lab but could easily picture it, especially with how often one of them had to go retrieve Ruby from Beacon's smithy. Surprisingly, Ruby wasn't even looking for her sister, instead she seemed even more excited and jittery than usual.

"Happy birthday, Rubes!" Yang barged into the room. With her she brought a large chocolate cake with sliced strawberries and whipped cream on top.

The doors closed and before anybody could react the red blur flew through the room. Some may have been worried about giving a tackle-hug to a person carrying something but Ruby knew that her big sister could handle it. So she gave her the most crushing hug she could muster. It wasn't much but it's the thought that counted.

Pyrrha shared an uncomfortable glance with Weiss. Maybe they should leave or try to get a present fast.

"Um… congratulations!.." Weiss awkwardly cheered. Pyrrha decided to stay silent, gave Ruby a nice smile and polite clapping.

"Thanks guys!" Ruby continued to blur around the room and now both of them were also part of the hug.

"Calm down now." Yang spoke up. "Let me put the cake down. Maybe you can even get a piece before classes." The maybe changed into certainly when Ruby blitzed to kitchen and back for plates and utensils.

"I'm not sure I want that…" Weiss spoke up, when Ruby forced a plate into her hands. She was sure that eating something like that was a death sentence for her figure and even a whole day under Goodwitch's guidance wouldn't make up for it. Alas she couldn't just say it and most likely offend both Ruby and Yang.

"Why not?" Ruby asked as she gave a plate to Pyrrha.

"Well… we didn't get you any presents." Come on! Buy it! I want to grow up, not to the sides.

"Then let me take it."

We share one body! I won't let you ruin it!

"You hogged all the ice cream last time, now is my turn!"

"It's okay." Ruby cheerfully replied. "I didn't tell you about my birthday anyway so it's kinda on me."

"Speaking of presents" Yang moved closer to her sister with one hand hidden behind her back. "Ta-dah!" Ruby excitedly grabbed the small box and tore the red and pink paper into shreds. When she got her hand on the thing inside, the excitement changed into confusion.

"That's… my book?" Ruby took the present and looked it over. It was definitely her old book. She would recognise her scribbles anywhere.

"Go to the dedication page." Yang added with a smirk.

Ruby opened the book, her eyes going wide as she read the page.

"I didn't want to give your name to some weirdo but I think it turned out nice enou-ghk!" Yang spoke until once again a red cloud assaulted her and her sister was now trying to either nuzzle or crush her neck. "Wait a sec! I have more." Yang rasped out. Ruby let her go and was now fidgeting right in front of her. Yang took out a flash drive out of her pocket. "I dunno what's on it but apparently he wanted to share something with you."

Ruby grabbed her second present and bolted for her scroll. She was about to take a look if not for a loud crash and groaning noises coming from the hallway. They all shared a look. Yang, being the closest to the door, carefully approached and opened.

In front of her was drooling Nora, Ilia and Blake were trying to stop her by clinging to her legs while Ren was holding her arms.

"Caaaaakeeee."

"Help!" Blake called out.

"This is why I asked you to keep Ruby indoors. If she smelled the cake she would have eaten all the dough!" Yang spoke to her teammates.

"That's not true!" Came Ruby's reply.

-BBW-

"Pay attention!" Weiss whispered to Ruby. She might think she knows everything about grimm but that didn't mean she could ignore the class by reading something on her own. And of course Blake was doing the same.

What the hell is wrong with the people here?! Why can nobody be responsible?!

"Why no-"

Shush! I'm trying to concentrate on the lesson!

"Ruby!" Weiss spoke up again, seeing that Ruby had ignored her the first time.

"Hmm, did you say something?" She looked up from her scroll.

"I said!" Weiss took a glance at Port to make sure she wasn't too loud. "That you should be paying attention."

Ruby took a look at the board. "Griffons are usually found in mountain ranges or canyons, younger ones can be also found in tall forests because they can't handle the wind. Their hunting hab-" Ruby started talking with a deadpan.

Weiss stared at Ruby with wide eyes. Some of their classmates were also starring.

Should I be taking notes?

The blonde sitting above them was definitely writing it down.

"It's just so boring…" Ruby finished her impromptu lesson. "And this is so much more interesting!"

"What's it even about?" Weiss asked, slightly exhausted after writing down the whole speech.

"Oh, it's about some scientist who wanted to put a grimm on a leash and use it against other grimm. Or something like that." Ruby nonchalantly replied.

"And did he?" Weiss asked carefully. She didn't hear of anything like that but something like that would most likely be a secret project.

"Well , I'm yet to finish reading but from what I understood, he was partially successful." Ruby replied. The look Weiss gave her was clearly asking for elaboration. "He was able to modify a grimm to be so rabid that it was attacking other grimm. It was still aggressive towards people but it was something." She finished.

"Please tell me you are not planning to start working on something like that." Weiss deadpanned. Pyrrha, Yang and Blake who overheard it were also nodding.

"Nah, not my thing. Besides, even if I managed to do it, it would just make everything a bigger headache. You know, because the survivors would be the strongest and harder to get rid off."

That was surprisingly…logical reasoning.

"Eh, I wonder who would win. My army of summons or her army of grimm? Do you think she would make them red with black lines?"

Don't you dare encourage her!

"Why are you still reading then?" Pyrrha chimed in. Ruby had already made the lesson redundant so she might as well enjoy her time with friends.

"He also tried to infuse grimm with dust to make it stronger. The science behind it is solid and I may have some ideas about it myself." Ruby took a breath. "Also, Weiss, you can summon grimm and…" Ruby started with a gleam in her eyes.

-BBW-

"Miss Rose, Miss Belladonna" Professor Goodwitch addressed the two students inside her office. "Can either of you explain to me, what exactly were you doing in the arena yesterday?" She gave them both a very stern glare.

Ruby was almost completely hidden under her cloak so it was up to Blake to answer.

"Training..?"

That only got her a flat stare. "What about Miss Valkyrie being encased in a rock?"

"Ilia was trying out earth dust with her whip." Blake answered. Ilia was always using lightning dust but after discovering her affinity Blake convinced to load up her whip with earth dust and challenge Nora to a spar. Which ended with Nora being fully covered in rock with only her face poking out. But she was still able to freak them all out by still chasing Ilia even with a car-sized rock on her back.

"And the ceiling being covered in a three feet thick ice sheet?"

"Weiss had a spar with Yang." Ruby mumbled out. In hindsight, using miniature nevermores loaded up with ice dust as 'guided' missiles in enclosed space was a bad idea. So was charging up boarbatusks with fire dust. And she still didn't give her her book back!

"And the holes in the wall?" Glynda had to admit, that was an achievement. The walls in the training rooms were thick and reinforced to keep all the missing attacks in. Imagine her surprise when two metal rods flew through the wall during her class and embedded themselves in the arena during a third year's match.

"I showed Pyrrha how to use gravity dust for a makeshift railgun." Ruby admitted, with traces of pride evident for the other two people present. She had no regrets about that one, although she would propose to go outside next time. Or aim at the floor.

Ten minutes later they were in an empty classroom, each given a sheet of paper and an order to write an essay about training safety, which parts of it they didn't follow and so on. They could go after they were done and the essay would be graded and counted in both combat and leadership classes.

Surprisingly Cardin was also in the room. There was a bit of tension after the incident in the cafeteria but things had calmed down significantly, mostly thanks to their shared leadership classes where they all were drilled on professionalism and even if you didn't like someone for any reason, the duty came first.

"So… what did you do to get here?"

Blake signed, it was a good quality to be forgiving but Ruby was just too nice.

Surprisingly, Cardin was feeling chatty. "Me and the boys had a dead-lifting competition. The thing snapped in the end and Goodwitch said it was my fault for letting it get out of control." He scoffed at the end and threw a glare at the closed door. "What about you?"

"Trashed training room." Ruby and Blake answered simultaneously and hoped that he would leave at that. Partially out of embarrassment and not wanting to give him an advantage by telling him about their teammates' skills.

Thankfully he only nodded and grumbled something about unreasonable rules.

-BBW-

"I'm not sure we should be reading this…" Weiss commented after yet another very questionable entry detailing the effects of a dust infusion on the human body. She was fairly certain that the results weren't acquired from willing subjects.

You are worrying too much. Besides, even if people get killed for this, they are already dead. And I'm pretty sure the author is dead as well. So let's put their sacrifice of lives and morality to good use. I'm sure we can make karma even at some point. Ivory drawled out as she continued to read. Anyway, we all got banned from the arena for a week and I doubt reading through this thing will help much without practice. Any ideas? Ruby is in detention and Pyrrha is too ashamed and hides in the gym. Wanna go hang out with Yang? Ivory looked up from the book and glanced towards Yang, who was sitting behind one of the desks and reading whatever updated manual Ruby had given her.

"Actually, did you notice that we pretty much switched partners? Pyrrha is always around Ruby and Yang is either with me."

Like you aren't happy for getting the attention of another big sister. With Winter so far away it's only natural that you'd find a replacement. And quite a good one at that.

"What are you even tal-"

You are stuck in the closet and Yang's your awakening.

"Burn in hell."

Oh I'm sure Yang would be quite a fire.

"Oh brothers, you have a crush on her!

Probably.

"Is that why you are dragging me into this?"

Well, we do share a body. If it wasn't for that I would have already done something about it.

"I… think we need to redo our body-sharing agreement. I want to have a say in where and with whom my body will end up!"

Eh, just take a nap or something. I'll return it in perfect condition. Maybe a bit sore but that will pass.

"No. Just, no. What if… father finds out?" Weiss asked, terrified of the prospect.

Then he can go fuck himself! Ivory had to hold herself back from shouting it out loud.

"Hey, either make me part of the conversation or calm down." Yang spoke up after realizing that the two of them were having another internal argument.

"Sorry, Weiss brought up an… uncomfortable subject." Ivory replied with a sly smile.

"Wanna talk about it?" Yang put away the whatever rendition of the Ember Celica manual. Ruby had mabe another bunch of 'optimizations' but that didn't mean that the weapon was now completely different. Besides, it wasn't like she would be doing the maintenance, her sister was making check ups at least once a week.

"Well, how much do you know about my family?" Ivory started from a wide angle. "I don't mean the SDC but my actual family.

"Do you really want to drag Yang into our mess?"

There is a chance she will set the bastard on fire… so yes, definitely.

Yang took a deep breath to buy herself some time to collect her thoughts. "Your sister is in the military. You also have a younger brother and… I may have heard some things about your fat-"

"Either they were true or were an actual understatement." She scoffed.

"Oh, so him being a complete jackass is true?"

"Hah, that's only the tip of the iceberg."

"And Weiss' opinion on him?" Yang asked and saw Ivory grow uncomfortable. Moments later she saw her posture change and the look in her eyes to switch from angry to anxious.

"He is… very controlling. Me going to Beacon was supposed to be a chance to prove myself but…" Weiss cast her gaze to the floor. "I didn't become a leader, I'm the weakest on the team and I have to deal with Ivory making a mess in my head half of the time. And I still can't use my semblance properly! And-" She was so engrossed in her rant that she didn't notice as Yang sat down next to her, dropped an arm over her shoulder and gave her a side hug.

"I haven't given the pep talk to anyone but Ruby before but I think you can use a hug." She said to her with a warm smile and gave her an extra squeeze. "And hey, it's not like you are the only one whose family is a bloody mess."

Wow, she is really warm!

"Told you, and now-"

Don't ruin it!

"Come on" Yang stood up and motioned for Weiss to do the same. "Ruby would always cheer up after an overdose of sweets so let's go find ice cream or something."

"Yeah.. I think I'd like that." Weiss answered with a small smile.

-BBW-

Marrow was a bit nervous. It was his first solo assignment after being promoted to an Ace operative.

"Good morning ma'am." He saluted his fellow specialist.

"At easy Marrow." Winter gave him a salute. "You know, I'm no longer your superior."

"Yeah… Force of habit." He awkwardly made an excuse.

Winter rolled her eyes. Marrow was a professional but was just a bit too nice for the military. At least he was skilled enough not to get bullied out.

They arrived at the door to the main office and Winter softly knocked. "General?"

"Come in." Came a reply from the intercom near the doors.

"Specialists." General Ironwood eyed the two operatives that entered his office. "I have a special job for you." Behind him appeared a projection of northern Vale. "Schnee, you are already familiar with the subject to an extent."

"It was them again?" She did remember her trip to Vale and a short inconclusive investigation of an exploded mountain.

"We don't know but they are the most likely suspects." James continued explaining. "At the end of July there was a large explosion several kilometers away from the northern coast of the Island of Patch. The public was told that it was a strong storm. We first assumed it was a freak meteor-" a red dot appeared on the map "- but after months of sampling we found traces of F8 fire dust in the water near the presumed impact area."

While Winter significantly paled Marrow asked for clarification. "Sir, what exactly is F8 dust?" He knew the basics but F class was apparently something experimental.

"Fusion dust. Our science teams were-" Winter started explaining before stopping and looking at the general.

"It's alright, considering the nature of this mission he has been given clearance on this subject. In short, it's arguably the most potent energy source available to humanity right now. Our own scientists have been working on developing large scale explosives and more efficient energy sources using this type of dust. After finding the evidence of its usage it was decided to find the people responsible."

"What about Vale? Maybe they were testing a bomb or something?" Marrow tried.

"No. I asked Ozpin about it and while Vale does have a small team looking into civilian usage they do not explore the military possibilities." His jaws tightened at the next part. "A few months before the incident there was a string of robberies within our borders. Mostly SDC sites but a few military labs as well. They always took only a small amount of equipment or unrefined E1 fire and lightning dust. We weren't able to discern the motives but after I showed the equipment stolen to some of the people involved they all claimed that whoever stole this was apparently building a dust enricher in their basement."

"Don't we have a group of thieves in Mantle that have been going after dust and such?" Winter proposed.

"It wasn't them. I have already contacted Robyn Hill and she did send me a list of their resources. She also mentioned that they had met a third party at one of the SDC sites during the time period."

"So we are going to Vale to look for some crazy scientists." Marrow summarized their assignment.

"Yes. Vale is hosting the Vytal festival this year and due to the White Fang's increasing activity in the kingdom I will be there personally with a small escort of battleships. But if these terrorists lauch a fusion bomb during the celebrations the result will be catastrophic." General said, a deep frown on his face.

"How much…?" Marrow anxiously asked.

"We already did some tests in the north and our current prototype is estimated to be able to fully destroy Atlas or a majority of Mantle if detonated."

Both of the specialists swallowed. One explosion would be all it takes to essentially wipe out a kingdom.

"Anything else we need to know?" Winter grimmly asked. She needed to deal with this. Her sister was already in a kingdom besieged by terrorists, she was strong yes, but a single huntress in training meant nothing to a weapon that was initially designed to reclaim Grimmlands.

"You will receive all the available information in the following days. You will arrive to Vale along with our academy's representatives-" Winter wanted to protest the unnecessary delay "- so as to not alert anyone of your mission. Ozpin will also provide one of his veteran huntsmen, do not worry Winter it won't be him." general said with a small smirk.

She huffed but was at least a bit happy that she wouldn't have to deal with the drunk. "Code of conduct?"

The lighter atmosphere disappeared once again. "Lethal force is authorized but capture is preferable. Whoever built it is clearly a genius and would be invaluable but if left on their own they present too much of a risk."

Soon after they both left the office to start preparing for departure. It may be over a month away but they needed the time to study the landscape, history of accidents etc. And Winter really needed to check on Weiss, she was clearly distraught the last time they spoke.