Nanosuit and Soul Magic: A Crysis/RWBY crossover

chapter 27

Ruby and Yang’s dad eventually untangled himself from the affectionate body-lock that the sisters have got him in. He walked over towards us, but he’s spending more time looking down at his kids and fussing over them than actually looking at me and the other half of the team.

That, there. That’s a family. That’s a goddamned picture-perfect family.

When he reaches us, the guy tears his gaze away from his daughters to speak to me. “You must be Alcatraz. I-I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for my family. If there’s anything I can do for you-”

“Whoa, hey, no need for that. I was just helping out.” That’s what I said. Mentally, I’m flipping out because holy shit gratitude from strangers. This has actually never happened before. Seriously. Even before I put on the suit, civvies didn’t have much respect for the uniform. So this is a little...unprecedented. 

I like it. I like it a lot.

The dad exhales, before fixing me with a somber look. “You saved my daughters’ lives. If you ever need anything, I will do everything in my power to help.”

And now things are getting uncomfortably serious. We came here to forget that whole mess, not focus on it more. 

“Seriously, dude, have you met any of these girls? I’d need to be some kind of sociopath to just ignore ‘em when they’re in danger. Especially Ruby, she’s like a basket of puppies given human form.” I reach out to offer him my hand. “By the way, never got your name.”

“Taiyang Xiao Long.” We shake hands. The standard meet-and-greet actions seem to kick the discussion away from how awesome I am, which is fine by me.

Taiyang turns back to his daughters. “Ruby, do you have everything you need for the trip?”

Her eyes fly open. “That’s today,” she whispers. Without another word, she vanishes in a puff of petals. With all of my enhanced perceptions I barely catch a crimson streak making a beeline back to the dorms.

Yang smiles and shakes her head. “I’ll go make sure she gets everything.” She takes off, leaving just the four of us standing there.

I turn back to Taiyang. “Trip? What trip? Nobody told me about a trip, this is an awful idea.” Fucking hell, an unplanned trip anywhere is going to be a security nightmare. This is gonna split the team up, too, and I can only be in one place at a time. 

Taiyang shakes his head. “It needs to happen.”

This is the evening of the day after a terrorist kidnapping, for fuck’s sake. Am I the only person on this whole goddamned planet who gives a rat’s ass about security?

A new voice spoke up behind me. “There will be some danger involved, however, which is why I want you to accompany Ruby and Taiyang.”

Oh, of course Ozpin knew about this already. 

I turn around. If I had an intact face, I would be smiling the biggest, fakest smile I could manage. “I appreciate the vote of confidence Ozzie, I really do, but there’s four people I’ve got to try and look out for. Not just one.”

“I understand. Which is why I will personally assure the safety of the remaining members of Team RWBY while you are away.”

...

Based on what I know about Ozpin, I’m pretty sure that the girls would be more safe with him then they would be with me. And if this ‘trip’ is nonnegotiable, then I’ve got to make sure nobody tries anything sneaky with Ruby when she’s not at Beacon.