The city of Vale, a cesspit of crime and corruption the likes of which the world has never seen before. The law of the street comes from the lips of the heads of the various Mafia families, and anyone that crosses them ends up at the bottom of a ditch. Corruption of all kinds can be found around any corner, sex, drugs, guns, explosives, terrorism, and any crime that is looked down upon thrives in the city like well-kept plants.
Ruling the dark city are three powerful organizations, each of which is locked in a stalemate with and against each other, dividing up the city for their own gains.
The Rose Family: one of the first true Mafia families to rise to power in Vale back when the city was first being raised from the ground. They fiercely protect their territory like wolves, tearing apart any who cause trouble. They are controlled by a group of four women, each dangerous in their own right.
The Juniper Collective: a collection of weaker families who came together in order to survive the city, and rose to power quickly by combining their strengths into one. One leader is elected by familiar relations and answers to the other heads of the families while still maintaining de facto control over the Collective.
And finally, the Ash Corporation: one of the most dangerous entities within the city. No one really knows why the massive corporation has a stake in the city with their more international markets, but hired goons flock under the Corporations banner to topple control of the city away from the Mafia families until it is the only being left standing.
Although it is a time of relative peace for the city, there is gunpowder waiting to go off; each group is simply waiting for the spark that will set off a war.
The bell rang signaling the end of the school day and the freedom for each of the students inside of the class. The teacher tried to bring order long enough to remind the students of their assignments, but the teenagers were more interested in returning to their homes or enjoying their free time to listen.
A smallish girl with black hair and grey eyes walked over to a small group of girls and gave them a grin. "Man I thought today would never end, it was all like," she brought up her hands in imitation of mouths. "Blah blah blah need for your future, blah blah blah college." She made a pained face and shook her head.
"Yeah," one of the other girls sighed and checked her phone. "Oh man, I just got a message, there is going to be a rave tonight at the abandoned car factory, you girls in?"
A few of the collected girls muttered their agreements in excited tones, but the raven haired girl shook her head. "Can't, I have work tonight."
The girls groaned and one spoke up. "Come on Ruby, you need to stop being such a goody goody and live a little. Can't you get the night off?"
"Ha, yeah that will happen about the same time pigs fly and you get a date with an actual boy," Ruby gave a wink at the girl and the group laughed a bit at her joke. A sudden ringing sound from Ruby's pockets made her quickly moved toward her cell phone, taking it and seeing the call wasn't coming from it. Which meant it was her other phone. She sighed and gave a wave to the girls. "See you guys later!" she made a quick exit from the classroom and pulled out her second cellphone, a gunmetal grey flip phone with an insignia of two scythes on its front. She flipped it open and her lively voice grew dull. "This is Rose, what's going on?"
"You're meeting with the Beowolves today, or did you forget?" the voice on the other end was old and full of patience with a bit of a joking tinge to it.
Ruby gave a grunt before walking out of the front doors of the school, walking toward a limo that was waiting for her out front. She opened the door for herself and slid in, closing the door. "Other things on my mind."
The driver turned off his own cell and smiled back toward her. His hair was grey and his features implied that he was advanced in age. "Some special guy or girl?"
Ruby blushed and waved her hands in front of her. "N-nothing like that, don't be creepy Ozpin!"
Ozpin laughed and started up the limo, taking it onto the road. "It does my heart well to know that you can still be a normal person despite our lifestyle, or maybe that is just how your generation does things."
She gave a grunt as a reply. "Did you bring me a change of clothes?"
"Under your seat, along with a little present from our friends in the Juniper Collective." Ozpin rolled up the window between the front and back of the limo so Ruby could change in peace.
Ruby's face lit up like a bulb as she moved off her seat and pulled it up, revealing her usual outfit with a rather beautiful gun laying atop it. "And people say Jaune doesn't know how to get a ladies attention." She picked up the weapon and tested its weight in her hand, ejecting the clip and going over it. Once it was given a look over she changed into her usual clothing, a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings, which felt a lot more natural than the uniform. "Stupid private schools." She knocked on the side of the wall to let Ozpin know she was dressed.
"So will you need me to join you for this little meeting?" Ozpin asked as he turned the corner. "I have heard these gentlemen aren't exactly upstanding members of society, even in our business."
"I have been able to handle myself since I was a little girl, a few overgrown dogs don't scare me." She picked up the gun and noticed an inscription along the side of it. "'Crescent Rose', hm?" she stored the gun in a hidden holster under her skirt.
The limo finally stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse in one of the shadier neighborhoods. Despite all the work by the city council to try and beautify the city there were some places the dirt was just stuck too. The southern parts of the city happened to be one of those places. Buildings far past their primes somehow stood defiant against the tests of time, housing the lowest of the low within society.
Ozpin got out of the car and opened the door for her, allowing Ruby to step out onto the dusty streets. "Be careful."
"Stop worrying so much, you are going to hurt yourself," Ruby gave the older man a salute before walking into the warehouse.
Inside of the old building twenty young men of various races and statures either sat or stood, all eyes turning to Ruby the second she walked in. "You Rose?" one of them asked, standing up and walked toward the much smaller girl. He was tall and built like a mountain, a number of tattoos clear against his skin.
"Ruby Rose, head of the Rose family. I am glad you could all make it here today." Ruby looked up to the larger man with a bored expression. She had seen his type a thousand times. Acted tough in order to look strong for the rest of the pack, but probably hadn't even done more than draw blood before.
"Well, what the fuck do you want then?" the man said with venom in his voice. "I don't like being called out by some half-pint brat who wants to play cops and robbers."
Ruby's eye twitched and she simply looked up at the man in silence. "Do you have cigarettes on you?"
The man blinked in confusion, expecting her to cower, or get angry, something other than ask him for a cig. "What?"
"Cigarettes, fags, nicotine sticks, whatever you want to call them," she scanned the room and pointed toward one of the men. "That guy must have a pack; tell him to give me one."
"Uh… Give her a cigarette," the man said, not really sure what to do in this situation. The other man stood up and handed it over to her.
Ruby looked over it and her lip curled. "Man, this is one of the cheap brands. For a gang, you don't seem to command much respect," she paused for a moment. "Are you going to give me a light or do you plan for me to sit here with an unlit cig all night?"
The leader felt rage building up in his body, but all the same pulled out a lighter and flicked it on. "Here."
Ruby looked at him dully. "I am not going to reach up to get a light. Bring it down."
The man was on the verge of just taking a swing and the demanding younger woman, but instead brought the lighter down to spark the cigarette. "There, happy?"
"Overjoyed," Ruby idly moved the cigarette between her fingers. "Now, I want to tell you a secret. Lower your head down so I can whisper in your ear."
The man looked to the other gang members, who seemed just as confused as he was. All the same he lowered his head down for her, bending his body a bit.
Ruby leaned forward and brought her mouth right next to his ear. "Don't insult me." She stabbed the lit end of the cigarette into the man's eye, causing him to scream. As a follow up she sent her foot directly into his knee, causing a loud noise to ring out as the bone broke with the impact of her boot against him.
The man fell, screaming in pain as the rest of the men began to pull out knives, bats, or chains. "You are going to wish you hadn't done that." One of them called out.
She gave them each a warm smile and put her arm out in front of her, waving for them to come forward with a confident stance.
Ten of the men charged at her with their weapons, intent on hurting the girl who had taken down their boss. Their swings didn't have any sort of grace to them; they fought using strength only and relied on their larger size to help them.
They never stood a chance.
Ruby dodged each blow aimed at her, dancing around their strikes as if they were nothing more than flies. She reached into her skirt and pulled out an extendable baton, striking joints and causing them to either drop their weapons or fall in pain as the metal struck their bodies.
She turned and saw the leader starting to get up and jumped back, landing in front of him and bringing her boot down on the back of his head, sending his face into the stone cold ground and slowly grinding her boot into his skull. "Listen up assholes, this is how things work," She tossed her baton out and pulled out the gun Jaune had gifted her. "At the very top of the food chain are the Mafia families, under us are the minor crime families, under them are the cops, and under them are you." She cocked the gun and aimed down. "You are lower than dirt to us, worms that serve no purpose other than to be used for whatever we need to use you for." She pressed down harder on the man's skull until she heard his nose break and saw the blood began to pool under her.
Needless to say the other men were scared shitless at the moment. A few minutes ago they had believed themselves to be the biggest and baddest people in the city, and they had just been laid low by a single girl who was half their size and looked like she would still need a training bra.
"If any of you worms decide that it would be a good idea to cross us again remember something for me," Ruby pulled the trigger three times, shooting the downed man in the heart and feeling the fight go out of him as death took over. "Let's not have this lesson repeat, gentlemen. If I find out you are cutting into my protection services again, I am going to send all of you on a first class trip to hell to join your buddy here."
With that done she turned her back and left the scene, pulling out her flip phone and sending a text to one of the local Cleaners to get out and take care of the body. It wouldn't do to have a body for the cops to sniff at. Cops meant bribes, and she didn't feel like wetting the pockets of any of those people today.
Ozpin waited outside for her, reading a newspaper while keeping an eye on the limo. When he saw Ruby coming he politely opened the door for her. "Where shall we go now?"
Ruby considered that for a moment. "Let's hit up an ice cream store, I have the strangest desire for cookie dough ice cream." She slid into the limo and Ozpin closed the door.
This chapter was beta'd by SanguisAnima. Thanks for all the hard work!
So this is the first of four planned chapters for this little AU thing I have going here. I might make it into a full blown story if I can get enough interest. If you want to see more favorite, follow, or review. Even if its just to say you like the story reviews mean a lot toward my interest to work on a project.
This Author does not own RWBY. Support the official release.
