Chapter 4: Gathering Arms

The workshop, before team RWBY visited the market

Yang walked into the garage (or "workshop", as Ruby called it) to see Ruby at her workbench and changed into her "work clothes", which consisted of a tank top and the bottom half of an engineer jumpsuit, which exposed the strange alien tattoos she was born with that her normal attire hid. Their parents told them of stories about people with these tattoos. Sirens, they were called. Women who held such great power that one could consider it magic. Ruby had no signs of having such power, but the tattoos still put a big target on her back, forcing her and Yang to leave their home planet, and their parents. Well, parent in this case. Neither of their mothers had stayed for long.

As bad as that sounded, Ruby and Yang were mostly fine with it. Sure they missed their friends at school, and they didn't get to hug their dad anymore, but every cloud has its silver lining. For one thing, Ruby and Yang seemed to have been born to be adventurers, from Ruby's "unhealthy" (according to Weiss) obsession with tinkering with (and using) weaponry and Yang's wanderlust, vault hunting was right up their alley. Plus, the ECHO net was widespread enough that they got to call their father Taiyang even all the way on Pandora to tell them of their latest exploits. Taiyang, being a retired mercenary himself, knew his daughters were probably up to more unsavory things, but that wasn't as important to him as their safety and wellbeing. Even so, it wouldn't have been fair to take exception to such actions; he had taken his fair share of questionable contracts in his day.

While Yang was reminiscing on her and her sister's curious situation, she caught sight of what laid on Ruby's workbench. Crescent Rose, a black and red "Old Hyperion" sniper rifle, made before the rise of Handsome Jack and his obsession with what Weiss and Blake called "tawdry yellow" and "a crime against visual design" respectively. It was Ruby's pride and joy, her main weapon ever since she and Yang found it in a long dead bandit lord's armory. At this point, it had just as much of Ruby's personal touch as it did Hyperion's top notch craftsmanship. The factory standard receiver had been rechambered for what Ruby called "reaper shot", bullets that Ruby painstakingly hand loaded for power and precision. The barrel had been switched out for an aftermarket match grade barrel that Ruby had then further improved. She even splurged a little and got her rose symbol laser etched onto the receiver. Of course, Ruby being Ruby, she couldn't bear to stop there. No, she had somehow attached a collapsible blade and handle to make the already impressive vintage rifle capable of transforming into a sniper scythe.

Speaking of that armory, Yang hadn't left that little treasure trove empty handed either. She pulled out her own signature weapons to admire them for a little. Sure she had them on her all the time, but that didn't make them any less impressive to her than the day she first found them. They were a pair of Torgue brand shotguns sawn off to the point that they qualified more as pistols than as shotguns, perfect for Yang's love of close combat. The stark gunmetal and red had been painted over with a bright yellow, and their factory designations of "Bangsticks" had been replaced by the nickname Ember Celica. As nice as they were, Yang still preferred punching her way through her problems and loathed giving that up to actually shoot her new guns, until she had a stroke of genius. Why not both? And so Ember Celica became the first explosive shot-gauntlets, fitting on mounts Yang had on her wrists with remote triggers that let her shoot and punch her way through fights now. Engineering genius to Yang, safety hazards to everyone else.

Finished patting herself on the back for her self-proclaimed genius solution, Yang looked to Crescent Rose and remarked, "It's probably fine sis, none of the bandits were able to get up close to you last night"

"I know, but fine isn't good enough. Plus my sweetheart deserves all the care it can get" Ruby answered defensively, cradling the rifle like a baby.

"Uh… ignoring that. I brought breakfast, you want some stalkos?" Yang asked, presenting a paper plate of tortillas filled with an unknown sauce and what she hoped was stalker meat, hence the name.

"Oh, sure, Weiss won't let me hear the end of it if she hears my stomach growl" Ruby replied, leaving Crescent Rose on the workbench and walking over to grab one of the peculiar things. It didn't taste bad per se, but it sure tasted off, not that it mattered. Picky eaters didn't last long on Pandora, especially not when about half of the wildlife was inedible due to either not even being made of organic material, or just being poisonous.

Having scarfed down enough stalkos to get her stomach to shut up, Ruby walked into a side room to change into her normal outfit, which hid her tattoos. Weiss and Blake had seen them already, and realistically they could probably take on anyone who was brave enough (or dumb enough) to try anything on Ruby, but it was still simpler to keep them hidden. Getting heckled with questions Ruby had no answer for always put a damper on her mood.

Meanwhile Weiss and Blake were busy making themselves look like they hadn't just risen from their graves. They both knew they were the only ones that cared about their appearance, but that was reason enough for the both of them. Having mostly finished with straightening herself up, Weiss idly examined her weapon, Myrtenaster.

As much of a work of art as it was a weapon, Myrtenaster was one of the few things Weiss bought for herself with the massive allowance she had as the daughter of an Atlas board member before its destruction at the hands of Pandora. She missed the money, but she sure didn't miss Atlas, or her father. In fact, Myrtenaster was practically the only thing she could possibly need money for now, she had long since given up the heiress lifestyle when, in a move similar to her big sister Winter, she disowned herself from the family name, taking her personal savings and a ship to no place in particular, so long as it was away from her father. She took another look at Myrtenaster. Years of use still hadn't eroded the luster it seemed to give off. It was a revolver custom ordered from Maliwan equipped with a variable element cylinder allowing Weiss to cycle between elemental shots on the fly. Using a little of the weapon knowledge she picked up from eavesdropping in the R&D wing of the facility she often had to visit, she had even cooperated with the weapon's lead designer to incorporate a cryo shot chamber that was still usable on Pandora's notably methane bare environment. Seeking to have her hobby of fencing be put to use, Weiss also commissioned an attachable rapier blade and modified the pistol grip to straighten into a hilt when needed.

Last was Blake, sipping at her seemingly inexhaustible tea rations, and performing some quick maintenance on her weapon, Gambol Shroud.

Gambol Shroud had always been Blake's weapon, her eternal companion in her unsavory past occupation and her current protector of not just herself, but now her teammates. Much like the rest of her teammates had done to their weapons, she had extensively modified it. What was once an unremarkable, if high quality, Atlas pistol had become a sword and chain scythe. A collapsible blade sat attached to the top of the pistol and an especially durable ribbon had been tied to the pistol's grip, allowing Blake a myriad of alternate uses for the seemingly plain pistol sword. Even the edge of its sheath was sharpened and usable as a cleaver, a handy surprise for unsuspecting bandits who got too close for comfort. Quiet and efficient, much like its wielder.

After each team member had prepared enough for the day to satisfy themselves, they gathered in front of the town workshop to catch sight of a variety of booths and tables outside the town. The gun show, the first thing on Ruby's list stood in the distance like a city on a hill. If Ruby were honest, no gun in the galaxy could possibly take the place of her beloved Crescent Rose, but she loved seeing new weapons regardless. They also needed some basic supplies, and cookies. Ruby hoped that this market would have cookies. A small wish, but one she never forgot about.

Not two minutes after entering the market, the team realized they had no idea how to navigate the sprawl of shops, unconsciously picking up their pace until they ran into another group of four consisting of a blonde, two redheads, and a pink streaked brunette.

END OF CHAPTER 4

A/N: Yes, I went a lot into describing the weapons, but that's what both these universes have lots of; weapon porn. Most weapons of characters mainly from RWBY will be guns first and melee weapons second. Also for those asking why Ruby is a siren (BIG V3 FINALE SPOILERS), Ruby has a legendary power in canon and I made her a siren here to mirror that, but her powers here have not manifested, similar to canon (until the finale), so she's not going to be the overpowered one for the journey.