Nanosuit and Soul Magic: A Crysis/RWBY crossover

chapter 16

After that busy day, I finally make it back to Beacon. Now, I can finally take the time to process today’s events, come up with my next move, and actually stick a handle onto my new Ceph-blade.

The workshop building is fairly separated from the others, having roughly twice usual distance in between it and its nearest neighbor. Given the kind of shit that probably goes on in there, I wholeheartedly approve of this design decision.

Almost nobody inside. It’s around time for dinner, though, so that isn’t surprising. I’m happy to see the one person who is in there, though, since taking time to tinker with weapons means that she’s getting back to normal.

“Hey Ruby.”

She looks up from the table she’s sitting at. It’s strewn with parts and tools, and there’s a computer tablet lying next to her.

“Oh, hey Alcatraz. Where were you all day?”

So she hasn’t checked the news lately. ...I’ll wait until everyone’s together before telling them, no need to repeat myself.

“I’ve been out doing some...errands. Ironwood stopped by, he wanted my help for some of his science programs. I got to meet Penny and her ‘dad’, who is a hell of a guy, and I gave them some pointers for better armor and artificial muscles. Oh, and I got this.” I detach the Ceph-blade from its holster and show it to her.

Ruby reaches towards it, only for me to yank it back. “Okay, quick warning: Do not touch the edge. I’m fairly certain it’s monomolecular.”

She quirks an eyebrow. “You’re ‘fairly certain?’ You didn’t make sure?”

Out of sheer habit, I rubbed the back of my head. “I’ve been...busy.”

Ruby shrugged. “Alright, let’s test it.” She holds out her hand again, and I carefully place the short blunt bit into her palm. She examines it for a second, and then with a single light, slow swing chops off the corner of the three-inch-thick steel table. “Yup, looks like it.” She hands it back.

“By the way, why doesn’t it have a hilt?”

“I had to take it out of its original mounting. I was hoping to attach one here.”

“Oh, makes sense. Sorta. I’ll come help you once I’m done with this.”

I peered over Ruby’s shoulder. “What are you working on?” 

Sitting on the table in front of her, amidst all of the spare parts and empty magazines, were some bullets. They were completely unmarked, which gave me the impression that they’d just been finished, but I noticed a couple of things about them. The first one was that there was an almost imperceptible seam running down the center, and the second one was that there were faint traces of unidentifiable chemicals on the metal.

“Tranquilizer bullets.” Her expression grew somber again. “Last time...I was careless. The only way I had to fight without killing was to knock people around with the blunt end of Crescent Rose. If I’d had better weapons in the train tunnel...”

Ah. Well, I guess it’s better than most of the other things that guilt could drive her to. At least she’s being constructive, and moving forward.

“Alright, how do they work? Some kind of sabot?”

She brightens up again as she starts to explain her latest creation. “Right. I can’t make tranquilizer darts the same size as my regular ammunition, getting hit by a needle that size would be dangerous by itself. The dart is concealed inside the bullet, which can be fired out of any .50 caliber weapon. I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to work out a reliable system to deliver the payload, and I’ve only just managed to figure it out. The content of the dart is a high-grade general anesthetic, which normally isn’t available outside of hospitals, but being friends with Weiss has a lot of perks.”