Author's Note: I bloody LOVED writing this! I am looking forward to writing this and A Cursed Life all week! With maybe a short break for some Team Misfit. I would love to get some reviews with what you think about this story. Now enjoy! Oh and warning this story will contain torture and abuse.
Chapter 1: A Ghost Of Ink And A Woman Of Cinder's
A young girl with pale skin and a long blonde ponytail was looking at a display case. She looked at the large ruby necklace with her light blue eyes. She carefully broke the lock with a thin knife. She wore black finger less gloves on her hands. As she slowly picked the old gem up she grabbed her black bowler hat and placed the gem in it. She smirked as she crept to the next case in her black boots. She wore black slacks and suspenders with a white long sleeved button up shirt.
She gouged the lock of another case and carefully pulled out the jewelry placing it into a nice little bag. Another case had about 40 rings of silver with 4 different types of gems which were quickly added to her bag. She only had a couple more minutes for looting so she quickly gouged another of the big cases and removed a pair diamond rings. She slipped those into her hat with the nice necklace. Then she got another thing of rings. With her time up she quickly left via a rope to the roof.
As she got to the roof she closed the window and ran to one side and jumped over to another roof. She repeated this as the vale police came in at full speed sirens blaring. When they entered they found no sign of how the thief got in or out. The girl laughed a bit as she climbed down and tied the bag to her belt. She carefully made her way to a small building on the boarder of the industrial and agriculture districts. It was tucked in the middle of a bunch of bigger buildings. There she stashed all of the loot in various places.
She pulled out a black scroll and made a call. "Yup it went off without a hitch. I can deliver the items tomorrow at the agreed upon place." She says into her scroll. "Alright that is fine. I look forward to our meeting." A man said on the other side of the call. And the call ended as quickly as it began. The girl yawned and walked over to a cage with a chinchilla in it. She refilled the hay, water and pellets. She also cut up an apple with a slim knife and gave the chinchilla a small piece. "Let's hope this guy fulfills his end of the deal." The girl started to grin thinking about the many possible outcomes of the next night. But she was getting rather tired so she headed to bed.
The vale police had the jewelry blocked off as they looked for any evidence. It was clear to them it was done by there ghost criminal. However they over the last 4 years they have still found no real evidence on the person. It was like they did not exist. They have never caught them on camera or any eye witnesses they also cant figure out where she gets any of her equipment from. Even the bodies they find sometimes don't give them any useful info. "You know they have to make a mistake eventually." One of the detectives said to his partner. She sighed and took a sip of her coffee. "We have been saying this since shortly after we figured out they were linked together. All we have figured out is they used to work with Giovanni... And that they are not very tall." She says sounding tired both due to the time of night and because of this case.
Morning came around and the girl got up and got ready for the day. She got dressed after a nice shower and made some eggs bacon and toast. When she finished she grabbed a strange puzzle ring made of about 12 interconnected rings which she reassembled quickly and put it on under her gloves. She went over to her chinchilla and pulled it out and had it sit on her shoulder as she walked for the door. The chinchilla climbed up under her hat. She pulled her long blonde hair back into a ponytail.
She found her way to a small cafe there she saw a strange girl in a red cloak with a taller blonde girl. "I would like a honey latte and croissant." She said tossing some money onto the counter before the cashier gave her the total. They counted it out and handed her some change back. After a few minutes she collected her order and took a seat near the door. She gave just a bit of the bread to her chinchilla as she took a sip of her drink. Then she heard a what sounded like a child gushing over something cute.
When she looked over the girl in red was staring at the chinchilla with glee written all over her face. "That is so cute! What is it? It kinda looks like a mouse and a squirrel or something!" The girl in the cloak said rushing over. "It is a chinchilla, Red. They are a type of rodent." She replied with between sips of hot drink. "Whats its name?" Red asked reaching out to pet the small animal. "Princess." The moment she said that the chinchilla looked up at her. Red started to pet the animal lightly."So cute!" Red said with barely contained glee. "Come on sis I don't think that girl likes us hanging around her." The blonde said watching the only other blonde in the place.
"Observant aren't you Goldilocks?" She asked looking over with disinterest. Goldilocks looked down at the girls hand as she notice a faint glowing from under her glove. Goldilocks grabbed her sister's shoulder and pulled her out of the cafe. "Finally they are gone." She says taking a bite of the croissant. After a little bit she has finished her drink and snack. The chinchilla Princess climbs up to her shoulder as she gets up to leave.
She walked into a small dust shop late at night. There she walked about browsing till she saw a man in one corner who seemed to be waiting. She discreetly made her way over to him. "Do you prefer parrots of chinchilla's?" She asked getting his attention. "Chinchilla's." He said holding out a brief case. The girl nodded and took it handing over the nice bag with all the loot in it. They both briefly checked what they were just handed.
Then the blonde girl smiled and grabbed her hat pulling out the really nice jewels. The man placed them into the bag and nodded slowly leaving the place. The girl stayed looking around when she heard the door bell again. "Do you know how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" A man said to the shop keep. The girl recognized him as Roman Torchwick a rather notorious criminal. "Grab the dust." He said after the shop keeper said something quietly.
The thugs in black behind him all spread out grabbing dust. One of them saw the girl watching them and started walking towards her. "Hand over that case." He said pointing a gun at her. The girl sighed before dashing forward under his gun grabbing his arm and then striking him in the elbow with enough force to break it and twist it up. The man started to yell out in pain as she twisted his fucked up elbow. "If you knew who I was you would have bowed your head and allowed me to leave." She said before pulling a knife from thin air and stabbing him in the back of the head. At this point the rest of the thugs were looking at her weapons out with Roman behind them.
"Do I know you?" Roman asked looking suspiciously at the girl. "Oh yeah! You are Leria that girl I worked with a few times. So you still haven't been caught?" He asks sounding slightly impressed. "Indeed Roman and they don't even know who I am. Now if you would kindly tell these useless low life shits to get the hell out of my way I wont kill them." Leria snarled at them. The knife disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. That was when everyone started looking behind her.
Leria turned around and saw 'Red' behind her looking at everything. "These guys are robbing the place! I had to defend myself against this thug! He accidentally took a shot from one of them as we fought." Leria said looking scared as she pointed. Red looked between them all for a moment then pulled out a big scythe. She charged forward and knocked all the thugs back. Roman grabbed a case of crystals and ran out the door. Red continued to beat the thugs senseless.
Leria watched smirking as the cloaked girl dubbed Red makes short work of the thugs. "Useless indeed." Leria mumbles to herself as she walks over to the shop keeper. He looked at her afraid having heard her earlier conversation. "Sorry but you have to die." She said grinning as she jumped over the counter. She pulled out a knife and cut his throat before jabbing it into the back of one of his eyes. There he knife stabbed a nerve cluster causing him to try and scream in excruciating pain for his last moments.
"A cut of the throat to silence them and a stab to the eye to inflict pain." Leria said to herself still grinning. She quickly vanished the knife and left with her case. As she was leaving she saw an explosion on the roof of a building. Shrugging Leria walked away into the night.
Leria walked into her small home with her arms full of bags of food. She quickly put it all away and then went to refill Princess' stuff. That was when a knock came at her door. She slowly went to answer it. As she peered out the peephole she saw Roman. She opened the door and immediately a couple of white fang forced there way into the doorway. One of them found there weapon knocked from there hands as they were spun and an arm wrapped tightly around there neck with a knife pointed at her eye.
"Back off if you like this comrade at all." Leria said slowly backing away. "Easy now Leria dear we simply wish to discuss an employment opportunity." Roman said as he walked in past the gun toting white fang. "Then you should have called instead of finding the place I live." Leria said glaring. Then she noticed a woman in a fancy red dress behind Roman. The woman seemed incredibly dangerous to her and caused a shiver to run down her spine. "Who the hell are you?" Leria said as she came up to the front.
"I am your soon to be leader." She said in a seductive voice. "I am not looking for an employer of that kind I don't do long term." Leria said glaring at the woman. "I think you will want to hear her out." Roman said from behind the woman. "Fine make your offer quickly." Leria said getting angrier. "For now all I can tell you is I am gonna be amassing dust. You will be paid well for your services." The woman said. Leria scoffed and brought the knife closer to the sweating and terrified faunas girl.
"I don't like you so I think you should leave. I wont be working for you." Leria said glaring at them all. Roman started to sweat as he back away. The woman looked angry as suddenly a pillar of fire came up from the floor beneath Leria and the faunas. Leria let go of the girl and jumped back out fo the way just in time. But the faunas was scorched and started to scream as the building caught fire. "How dare you decline my offer to join my side. You are nothing but a little brat pretending to be something." The woman said glaring as she made more fire pillars shoot up. Leria dodged them all and pulled out dual revolver's opening fire on the woman. She blocked all of the shots with her hands.
Leria groaned and whistled loudly. Suddenly her ring started glowing intensely and a owl flew in and struck the fiery woman with its talons before landing on Leria's shoulder. "What trouble have you gotten into?" The owl asked looking at Leria with its glowing eyes. "This woman came in acting all important demanding I work for her long term. Bright-Eyes you know I don't do long term so I turned her down. Now she is destroying my home. Get my stuff out while I distract her." Leria said firing rapidly at the woman.
The woman again blocked every shot as the owl flew and open the cage taking Princess out of the house quickly. Leria was losing ground quickly as she was already in the kitchen which was filled with fire. She turned the table over and shot over it hitting Roman and the other faunas a few times. They fell back but the other faunas got trapped as the front of the small house collapsed trapping her with two very pissed off criminals. Leria threw out several bombs which exploded tearing the faunas apart as nails and other things were flung at her rapidly weakening aura.
"So what is your name? I like to know the names of my enemies. It makes it more personal then just that one whore who burned down my home." Leria yelled over the roaring fire that was her home. "Cinder Falls but you wont be making it out of here alive you brat." Cinder said with malice. Leria rolled into her small living room as Bright-Eyes came back in. "Done mistress Leria all of the most important things have been secured. Would you like some help with her?" Leria shook her head and jumped out a window into a roll. The owl following her growing bigger as they got into a more open place as they fled out towards the main road.
Roman shot her a look as she went by. "You work for a stupid whore Roman. If you attempt to stop me I will not hold back." Leria yelled challenging him to fight with her. But all he did was groan as Cinder came out the window and threw a few fire balls at Leria. Bright-Eyes blocks them mid flight before giving her wings a mighty flap throwing dust and small rocks up towards Cinder. As they got onto the main street the fire spread to the buildings on either side.
Cinder was chasing after them till Roman came up behind her and said something to her. Then they got out of there. Leria heard the most likely reason why when she heard sirens blaring. Leria sighed and ran into an alley way and hid behind some stuff as cops and fire trucks drove by at full speed. "Bright-Eyes was anything they could use as evidence left in the house?" Leria asked looking to the owl. It seemed to think as it watched vehicles go by. It was a beautiful gray and black owl.
"Nothing to useful to them. But likely they will have a better understanding of you." Bright-Eyes says with its wise and feminine voice. "I would not worry to much they may not even make the connection. They are not the most competent of law enforcement." Bright-Eyes said with clear mirth in her voice. "That is certainly true." Leria said heading to the secondary hide out. It took her about half an hour to get there as she carefully avoided drawing any attention.
When she arrived she quickly checked over her stuff and found Princess sleeping on the box with her money in it. Bright-Eyes starts to laugh and make owl sounds. "Those strange changing tattoo's are back on your cheeks! And they are currently hearts!" Bright-Eyes says with mirth. Leria drops her smile and glares over at her owl. The tattoo's on her cheeks become skulls. "They do like my cheeks but they have a mind of there own." Leria said as the tattoos moved back out of sight.
Leria breathed a sigh of relief as she sorted through the items. She found her art box and opened it pulling out a art pad and a thing of old style pens. She quickly started drawing up a sword and a shield. After an hour she was satisfied and got up stretching. "Alright lets get some food." Leria said with Princess on one shoulder and Bright-Eyes on the other. She grabbed some food and headed out.
She arrived at a restaurant she rarely eats at. It is a fairly popular place that served basic things. She always found there food inadequate and greasy. But it was close by and cheap and she was gonna need most of her money. She walked up to the lady who looked at her and then the owl with her. "I am sorry miss but you cant bring your bird in here." The lady said. "Bright-Eyes." Leria said as the owl turned into a taller version of Leria in plain pants and a big T-shirt. "Oh my! I am sorry miss! Truly sorry I had no idea." The lady said weirdly to Bright-Eyes. "Yeah yeah it is fine. A table for two. " Bright-Eyes said to the lady.
She nodded and grabbed silverware and menus leading them to a table right next to Red and Goldilocks. Leria groaned as she sat down and realized she smelled slightly of a house fire. "Why did you not tell me I smell like a house fire?" Leria asked looking at Bright-Eyes with a slight glare. "You did not ask." Was Bright-Eyes answer. Leria looked over the items and immediately settled on what she wanted. When there waitress came back they both ordered. Leria ordered a burger and fries and Bright-Eyes ordered fish N' chips.
As they waited two milk shakes were brought out. Leria's was strawberry and Bright-Eyes was vanilla. "At least the shakes are tasty." Leria said as Princess came up out of her shirt and up under her hat. "Oh hey your the chinchilla girl! I am glad you are okay!" Red said looking over. Bright-Eyes looked over smiling. "Hello who are you? How did you meet such a nice looking girl? I thought you were not into relationships." Bright-Eyes said teasing. The roaming tattoo's on Leria came up to her cheeks as twisted angry heads.
"Oh those are weird tattoos how do they move?" Goldilocks asked as Red just blushed about Bright-Eyes joke. Leria glared across her table. "For your information I ran into her while at a cafe then again at a dust shop mid robbery. I have barely said a few words to her. And no I am not interested in a relationship with her. And my tattoo's move because they are actually linked to my aura and essentially have a mind of there own." Leria said glaring at each person as needed.
Then before anyone could say anything everyone's food came out and was placed in front of them. Leria started to eat clearly annoyed as Bright-Eyes giggle a bit. Ruby just looked around awkwardly as Goldilocks chuckled a bit as well. "So could she not see those weird tattoo's on your face? Because I think most people would react to those glaring monster heads." She said chuckling some more. "Only those with unlocked aura can see them." Leria said before eating some more fries.
"Oh by the way I am Ruby and this is Yang." Ruby said to the occupants of the table next to her. "Oh how delightful to meet you two. My grumpy sister here is Leria and I am Bright-Eyes." She said with a smile. "Nice to meet the two of you." Ruby said smiling back. Leria just rolled her eyes and kept eating. After a few tense minutes of everyone just eating Bright-Eyes speaks up. "So are you two here for Beacon?" Bright-Eyes asked looking them over. "Yup my sister got in and was here with her. But then after that robbery I got accepted two years early!" Ruby said excitedly. Leria rolled her eyes and took a big bite of her burger.
"This food is as poorly cooked and greasy as I remember. Bright-Eyes remind me later to pick up some food before we go home. We cant eat out for a while. Also we are gonna be tight on money for a while. So no more of that soap you love for a while." Leria said before another big bite of burger. Bright-Eyes eyes go wide and owl like and start to glow. "You cant be serious Leria! It is not that expensive! And what about your damn special inks? And that drink you make? Are those cut off as well?" Bright-Eyes asked almost glaring. "It depends how much I have to spend before my next job. Now finish your food." Leria said glaring back.
Leria stood in juniors club waiting for him to take note of her. When he finally did he quickly walked over. "Hey what can I do for you? Are you here inquiring about work or info?" He asked as he fixed her a center of attention as fast as he could. When he finished he poured it out into a glass and handed it to her. She took a sip before looking back up to him. "Both I want to know everything you know about Roman and the white fang. Also anything you know about a woman named Cinder Falls. And I am gonna need more jobs then normal. I have a whore to crush." Leria said downing her drink. "You know it is illegal to serve alcohol to a minor..." Leria said following him to his office.
Once there he quickly set out on finding all the requested info. "Alright Roman seems to have been quiet till the other day. But it sounds like he is hold up in a warehouse. And white fang have been coming into vale in surprising number's in the last few weeks. And no clue who Cinder Falls is. Someone is looking to acquire a famous painting here in vale. Some lady is looking for a criminal guide for a deal in the city. Some bandits want dust and are willing to pay. Oh and someone wants an illegal brothel owner to be put down. But that one is very suspicious." He finally looks back up to see Leria feeding a cracker to Princess.
"I will take all of those jobs. And mind sending me the info and where the white fang and Roman have specifically been spotted?" Leria said tossing a stack of lien to him. He caught it and counted it out. "Alright fine. Same scroll?" He asked prepping to send the info Leria just nodded. "Alright now if that is all could I get back to business?" He asked receiving another nod. He got up and left with the money and Leria right behind him. Leria left and looked over the info. "He needs some better spy's..." Leria said with a sigh.
Leria sat in a park with owl on one shoulder and chinchilla on the other. A lady was walking along when she looked at the bench and took a seat. "About time you showed up. I was getting impatient..." Leria said glancing over briefly. "Do you know the bakery called The Muffin Man? My deal is happening there. I want you to set up my security people and then sit in the shop. The deal is happening in 3 days." The woman said softly.
"Alright consider it done. Bright-Eyes go and survey things. I will be there before long." Bright-Eyes nods and fly's off. Leria got up and accepted a small package and left. She put the package in her hideout and headed for the museum. There she noted every camera security guard and the entire layout in her head. After and hour she had enough info to make a plan to get in. And she successfully convinced some of the people working there she was a nice young girl just looking to learn about art.
After that she headed to meet up with Bright-Eyes. When she did she noted down the best spots to put people to take her employer out. She looked into how to get onto the roof of the place across the street. She made note to send a guy up there after the meeting starts. As well as post a guy in the alley next to the bakery and a few guys in a car parked down the street. "Anything else Bright-Eyes?" Leria asks looking around. "The sky light." Was her reply Leria nodded and looked up at it. Then she ordered a muffin and left. As she ate the muffin she formulated plans for the heist and how to prep for it.
The day of the meeting has arrived and she has sent out the instructions via the ear piece and scroll provided with half her payment in the package. Then she took a seat as a teen girl with red hair and in a cute but silly uniform came up to her. "Hello and welcome to The Muffin Man! What would you like?" She asked super peppy. Leria could feel the tattoos form into one bigger one on her cheek. The girl did not seem to notice it though. "Three of whatever muffin you recommend and a banana shake. Also a cup of green tea." Leria said as Bright-Eyes walked in wearing black slacks and a gray long coat.
She joined Leria at her table and they both sat quietly. After a couple of minutes there employer walked in with a man. And old associate of Giovanni. They walked over to a table right next to the door. Both of them had a guard with them. One in a nice black suit and the other in a cheaper tan one that looked tacky on him. "Oh hey you know him." Bright-Eyes said. "Yeah and he is the type who rarely upholds his end unless forced to. Thus why I don't work with him." Leria said quietly as the redhead brought there order to them with an extra heart shaped personal cake. She placed the cake in front of Leria winking to her with a big smile. "Why do people find me so damn attractive?" Leria said after the girl was well out of ear shot.
Leria sighed and started eating the cake. It was actually really good. When she looked over at the menu she noticed it was by far the most expensive thing other then the bigger items like full cakes. But she could understand why it was. The cake was perfect from top to bottom. Not a single part of it had an imperfection. It was a great strawberry cake. "Damn this is good cake." She said as the tattoos on her face separated and become pink hearts as she ate the cake.
"I am guessing you have fallen in love with the cake." Bright-Eyes said with mirth and barely contained giggles. "If you had your own money you could get one and see why." Leria said as she took another bite as she watched the meeting through a few small surveillance devices. As she looked at her scroll she saw one of the black suit guys take out a sniper across the street. He then took up the sniper and surveyed the area. Another camera showed a small scuffle finishing up in the alley.
The final camera though showed a group of hired thugs on the roof standing over a couple of dead black suit guys. "Shit Bright-Eyes roof is compromised code Mercy." Leria said waving the redhead over. "I need a travel box and cup for my stuff and quick." The girl nodded and rushed getting her the requested things and handing them to her. Leria put the cake in one then the muffins in the other. Then she put her shake in the travel cup. She handed the girl money and headed for the door. As she got to the door she tipped her hat. The black suit guy with there employer stood up and grabbed the scum pulling him out with them.
The thug followed and glared. "Let go of the boss." He said as Bright-Eyes slammed him in the back performing a special aura strike. He was thrown to the ground and lost the ability to move. "Damn this guy is weak. Most people are only momentarily stunned. He is like paralyzed." Leria rolled her eyes as there car approached. The hired thugs though chose then to jump from the roof down next to them. "You are not going anywhere with him." There leader said a sword in his hands. Leria scoffed and pulled out a bomb.
"One more step and we all go." Leria said holding a button down on the bomb. "This is equipped with a dead mans switch. It is definitely strong enough to kill most of us." Leria said glaring at them and there employer. As the car arrived everyone but the hired thugs and Bright-Eyes got in. Bright-Eyes smiles and charges in delivering a palm strike to there leader's chest. He suddenly felt like he was having a heart attack. He was clutching his chest for a moment. Then he got a grip over himself and stood back up.
"She uses tricks." He said swinging his sword a few times quickly. Bright-Eyes dodged them till the last one which she blocked with her bare hand. The guy looked at her strangely. She just smiled and bent his blade with her hand. As she did this she suddenly became a sinister demon looking thing. The men looked at her in fear. "What the hell are you? Some kinda monster?" She laughed a bit as some of them fled immediately. Then she reached out and grabbed there leader by the head and squeezed it till he started screaming. Then she crushed it killing him. As she dropped the body the rest of the people ran and someone in the shop screamed looking at the dead body.
Bright-Eyes turned into an owl and flew away. Leria was in a nice car with three black suits her current employer and a scumbag. "So what are you gonna do with me?" The scum asked. "Why renegotiate our old deal. You hand over the requested items or we kill you and take the items. Either way we get what we want. So I suggest you reevaluate how much your life is worth." The lady said pulling a gun out. "Fine name a place." He said unhappily. The lady named a place and he sent the message.
After a bit of driving they came to the place. And Leria hopped out and grabbed the box barely managing to get it back to the car and load it up. She carefully checked it for any form of trap finding no sign she pulled the scum out and pointed a knife at him. "Do you really want to let this scum live?" Leria asked watching the man in front of her slowly remember her. "You were Giovanni's little play thing. What the hell is a little slut like you-" Before he could finish Leria stabbed him in the eye purposely avoiding killing him.
He started screaming clutching his eye in pain as Leria stabbed him repeatedly in every spot she knew of that hurt but would not be very deadly. After about a minute of this she slashed his throat. Then she climbed back into the vehicle as everyone stared at her. "Well that was psycho. But here is the rest of your payment." The lady handed another package over. Leria checked it over and opened it. And sure enough there was her money. They dropped her off on a random street.
Leria watched the museum from the roof. The moment the patrol passed she opened the door and zipped down on a rope. She activated a device as she crept to the case. She pulled out a knife and carefully cut the front panel out. She slowly lowered it to the ground then carefully moved the painting into a large case made specifically for it and its frame. Then she heard footsteps and turned around. There was a security guard. She replaced the knife with a revolver and shot him in the head. He fell over as the alarm sounded and the place went into lock down. Leria quickly climbed out just before the sky lights were locked down. She quickly left as police rushed onto the scene.
She met up with her employer and showed them the painting briefly. He handed over a case. She checked it over and then handed him the painting. "Nice doing business with you. Now I recommend you get out of here." Leria said turning to leave. "Already have it set up. We will likely never meet again young lady." He said leaving. Leria rolled her eyes as she left. When she got to her hideout she stashed her money away and fed Princess. She then stripped her clothes and laid down on the bed.
Bright-Eyes giggled and sat down on the edge of the bed. She started to trace one of the 6 knife tattoo's on her back as well as some of her scar's. She then moved onto the tattoo's of Leria's guns between the knives. "Still on guard since your meeting with that Cinder lady?" Bright-Eyes asked patting her back gently. The tattoo's faded as she released her aura and calmed herself. "Something about her bothered me. She is not normal." Leria said unhappily. "Yeah and neither are you." Bright-Eyes said. "Plus you do have me an ace in the hole so to speak." She said smiling before turning back into her natural form of an owl. She flew to the bed post as Princess curled up against Leria. And they all went to sleep.
End of Chapter