章節 24: Ruby Spills the Beans
The periodic clanging of tools could be heard inside a room. Dust containers were lined up on a secure shelf where each had tight restraints in order to avoid accidents. Ruby took a glance at each of them and carefully mixed some together.
Scattered remnants of other failed experiments laid across the table Ruby was working on. Dozens filled with equations that were different ratios of dust yet there was something Ruby was missing, she was sure she was close.
She had repeatedly tried to replicate the substance called gunpowder by Hanns from the time Blake handed over a tank shell that she didn't know the origins of. If she could recreate its properties then maybe she could upgrade every single ammunition she has for her sniper rifle scythe hybrid, Crescent Rose.
She grabs the small lever present on the machine where she had placed the casing in. She slowly lowers a regular bullet on top of the casing. Satisfied, she took it out of the machine and used a different one to place the primer in as well.
She takes in one last look at the newly created experimental round and places it inside an empty magazine. Picking up Crescent Rose she rushes outside the door only for her face to collide with her sister's assets outside the door.
"Owwie."
Ruby picks herself up while rubbing her sore nose from the collision. Yang wraps her arms around Ruby's shoulders.
"Heya Lil sis! Have you been doing bad stuff with Blake by any chance?"
Once the question fully gets comprehended Ruby, she immediately denies it by shaking her head rapidly. Not convincing both Yang and Weiss with her suspicious behavior.
"What? No! We aren't doing anything bad!"
Yang raises a brow and a smug grin shows itself on her face before booking Ruby on the nose.
"So you are doing something with Blake. Just not bad. Good to know Ruby."
'Oh.' Ruby realized she messed up.
Weiss walks inside to continue the interrogation that they were holding inside the workshop. Yang was ready to restrain her sister who was getting more erratic.
"We have a few questions regarding our teammate and you've been with her all this time." Weiss locks her gaze on the frightened Ruby. Ice-cold glares weren't rare for Weiss but this had been different.
There were previous times when she held unending disgust toward the person. This was different since she had a genuine concern over the well-being of her teammate. Blake was unwilling to share what bothered her so Weiss decided to take drastic measures.
"Now that you have confirmed that you are up to something, why not tell us what that thing actually is."
"Never!" Ruby declares.
She goes for the exit only for her shoulder to get yanked back. Ruby gets engulfed in a massive bear hug that she couldn't get out of. Ruby had the ability to lift up a massive scythe but whenever her sister is involved she could only try to resist.
"Ugh, let me go, Yang!"
Ruby flailed around her arms and legs in a desperate attempt to escape her sister for a good few seconds before tiring herself out and slumping in defeat.
"Nope. Not before you tell us whatever is going on with Blake." Yang tries to make it easier for Ruby to just tell her what's going on.
"It's top secret! I'll never talk, not even when you give me cookies!"
Yang knew how much she valued cookies. Ruby would never give up her favorite food unless it was something very important. Yang recognizes this and has to go the hard way to get the answer out of Ruby.
"That bad huh? You know the drill, Weiss."
Both Yang and Weiss had to make the hard choice to torture her for information. Weiss seized Crescent Rose from her and prepared to do something horrible.
"What are you–"
Weiss whipped out a can of beans. She wasn't actually going to throw it in there but if Ruby was ever going to tell Blake what she has been up to then a little push from Weiss would do the job.
"Spill it." She threatens.
"You wouldn't dare!" Ruby stared in horror at what was going to happen to her beloved Crescent Rose.
Weiss began to open up the receiver of her hybrid gun-scythe and slowly tilted the opened can of beans. She wasn't going to pour the beans in but since it was Ruby who they were interrogating then she would immediately surrender the information.
"No, my precious! I'll talk, I'll talk!" Ruby couldn't stomach her Crescent Rose being filled with that accursed food product. Imagining how much work she had to do and the damage it would cause, she had to save her sweetheart from mechanical failure.
"Now can you tell us what's been going on?" Yang asks calmly.
"Blake…Blake is a vigilante and I'm helping her out by making uhh… high yield explosives." Ruby was a bit shaky at her confession but it was clear to those in the room.
"Wait, she's been doing this since the beginning of school?" Weiss asks, slowly moving away the beans from the receiver of Ruby's weapon.
"Yep."
Weiss knew how much danger Blake was in. Being a vigilante and doing school work at the same time was a recipe for a lot of problems.
Weiss was acquainted with the "work hard" line of thinking so she would know how much stress that induces on a regular person, let alone someone who had to go out at night to use up more energy on fighting every time.
"Yang, we need to make her stop. She's going to make a mistake sooner or later if she keeps tiring herself out." She advises.
"How do we do that?" Yang loosens her grip on the still present Ruby.
"I have no doubt she'd return, make her think we dropped the subject but don't make it too obvious. Let her deny everything we ask and let her think we gave up."
Everyone would need to make Blake stop what she was doing, it was a bit too early in the school semester to be constantly being tired out.
"Hey, Ruby? How late does she arrive anyways?" Yang questions. Ruby takes a moment to get a rough estimate of the time Blake arrives and sleeps. Ruby doesn't know for sure but she'd been seeing her opening and leaving the window so she could take a guess.
"Around five o'clock, maybe three o'clock if she's doing well."
The statement horrifies the other members of team RWBY. Blake was doing school work and doing vigilante work with half a sleep schedule.
"No wonder she's so tired every day but I always see her paying attention to class," Yang remembers her partner staring at the professor quite intensely.
"Oh, she sleeps with her eyes open."
"Woah, cool." Yang was impressed and also jealous that she could do that.
"Ugh, Yang. Can't you see that Blake is trying to make us think she's fine when clearly she's not?" Weiss rolls her eyes at Yang's supposed infatuation with Blake's ability to sleep with her eyes open.
"So are we all agreed on this?" She continues.
"Yeah!" Yang raises her arms, letting go of her sister.
"Umm… I really want to finish this–" Ruby points to her magazine and Crescent Rose that Weiss was still holding along with a can of beans.
"I enact my older sister privilege." Yang forced Ruby to agree with her on everything once a month which prompted Ruby to groan loudly before relenting on her sister's command.
"Just don't ever do that to my precious ever again or I'll replace your shampoo with wood glue." Ruby turned around, back to her sister, in contempt.
"What monster have you become, Ruby." Yang acts out being hurt deeply.
Ruby turns her head around and squeezes her cheeks and pulls them apart at Yang.
"Bleh…"
Later at night…
Blake was currently trying to quietly return to her dorm, she creeps up hugging the wall closely as she reaches the door. Turning its door knob she peeks in with a single eye at the room.
The door cracks open slowly, letting more and more of the room into view as Blake goes in without her teammates quietly sleeping with the covers over their heads.
'Looks like they're asleep.'
Blake confirms the status of her teammates and quietly goes to retrieve the hidden bomb that she had been supplied by Ruby.
She has routinely carried one ever since the first time Hanns introduced her to becoming something else. She wasn't a terrorist anymore, ok maybe a little bit she admits. The bomb was one that was modeled after the DI-APCBC but removed the projectile and replaced the primer with an aura-activated timer.
It wasn't the same power output as what Hanns used but since every time she went to raid a warehouse, the dust that was left in there could act as more explosive mass for her to use.
She was about to take the bag she had hidden the bomb before the lights suddenly blinded her. The room was fully lit while she stood there spooked. She whirls around for her to see the entirety of team RWBY, Ruby herself included, cordoning off the entire room for all the escape paths she could use.
"Blake, Ruby told us everything."
Blake paled at the revelation, her complexion turned even more white than before. She could feel her legs twitching as they instinctively tried to urge her to run.
"Sorry Blake but they used beans to threaten my sweetheart."
Ruby kept her weapon close to her even when they pretended to sleep, her knees were rubbing each other and her weapon was held close to her chest. Ruby's nervous fidgeting showed Blake that she really was threatened so she didn't blame her. Though maybe the beans part intrigued her a bit.
"Can you really not tell us, your teammates, what you are up to?" Weiss asks. Her voice rose in intensity at Blake who was equally getting more defensive as the conversation went on.
Blake had resolved herself to redeem what the White Fang had wronged. She was part of the organization once, so she had to fix their mistakes. Maybe then she could reveal herself to the others, but until then she had to keep whatever the Fang and Torchwick had in mind.
"No, It's complicated. It's just… I need to do this." She clenched the bag that had the dust bomb in it.
"Do what? Exhaust yourself beyond what you can handle and make your teammates worry every time we see you from now on?" Weiss countered. You could feel the venom seeping out as she let out every single word. She was harsh at her delivery but was lined with good intentions.
"Yes, I won't let you stop me." Blake was filled with determination.
Blake and Weiss just stared at each other, observing the intention of the other to see an ounce of reason between the both of them. Weiss let out a big sigh and softened her expression.
"Alright, we won't stop you. Please, just remember that you have a team to rely on, not just this dolt here." Pointing her thumb behind her towards Ruby who was offended at the statement.
"Hey!" She yelled out.
Blake was surprised. Her teammates, especially Weiss, were being this concerned about what she was doing. The same Weiss who was almost as antisocial as her, albeit in a different way. Weiss of all people was letting her go after all that? Maybe she had changed after all.
"So you won't interfere?" Blake asks.
"We won't force you to do anything," Yang reassured her with a big convincing grin.
"Thank you. Really." Blake clung to her bag even more. She felt bad that she was going to leave her team in the dark but it must be done for their safety. Who knows what will happen if the White Fang or Torchwick caught wind of her teammates involving themselves? If something must be done, she must do it herself. It was her past making innocents suffer after all.
"No problem Blakey." Yang gave a thumbs up. Blake smiled at the gesture. She fixed her bag onto her back and leaped off the window after passing Weiss who was guarding it. She put one foot on the edge and jumped off into the darkness.
A few seconds later, confirming Blake's exit from the room. Weiss sighs and turns to the rest of team RWBY. Her softened expression turns into a menacing smirk as she gestures for her team to track their runaway teammate down. Blake needed help and Weiss was going to make sure she doesn't hurt herself by not asking for help.
'If Blake was going to be this apprehensive in sharing her problems with us then a little trickery won't hurt.'
"Who's ready to follow her?"
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