Ruby POV

The store was quiet that night, the shopkeeper sweeping behind the register and a lone customer browsing the shelves at the back of the building. The customer in question was looking through a weapons magazine, music faintly audible from the headphones on her ears. Her headphones were on the higher end of the quality scale, and were exceptionally good at blocking out other noises to enhance the music. They blocked out the ringing of the bell at the front of the shop as a dozen heavily armed men entered the shop. They blocked off the terrified scream of the shopkeeper as he was threatened with his life. For all their exceptional qualities, however, the headphones couldn't do anything to block out the following gunshot. The girl froze, a page half turned in her fingers. She reached up and pressed a button on the side of her headphones, silencing the music instantly. The magazine was folded up and placed in a pouch on her belt, and then she slowly moved forward and peeked around the corner of the shelf. A dozen men stood near the entrance to the shop, some grabbing dust crystals, others filling cartridges at dispensers. One stood apart from the others, however. Instead of the uniform black suit the others wore, he wore white jacket and a bowler hat, and carried a cane. Anyone else probably wouldn't have noticed, but the girl could see the faint splatter of blood on the jacket. That's when she saw the pool of blood behind the register. Something inside her jumped at this, but she shoved it back down. She needed to keep her cool… for now. One of the black-suited henchman turned and spotter her out of the corner of his eye. She moved quickly behind the shelf as he drew a sword from his waist and began to move towards her. She moved back until she was partly hidden in the shadows of the corner, and then waited ready to pounce. Then she smiled.

Roman POV

Roman had a bad feeling about tonight's heist. It had been months since the last time his henchmen had encountered it. He'd been going with the last few groups for observation to make sure no more shit went down than necessary. He really hadn't wanted to shoot the shopkeeper, but he had pulled a gun, so Roman was forced to act. He stood there, watching his men, and saw one begin moving towards the back through the maze of shelves.

Probably a customer hiding in the back, he thought. Shouldn't be too much trouble. He had just turned his eyes away to check on the others when he heard the scream. His head whipped back around. Silence. Not a single noise, and then… crack. The sound of breaking bones. A whimper, and then a gurgling noise. Needless to say, Roman was now thoroughly worried. He turned towards the others, who were now all turned towards the back of the store, some glancing toward him, clearly terrified. He gestured, and three more broke off from the group and began to make their way toward the back, one of them visibly shaking. They disappeared from view, and for a moment, there was quiet. Suddenly, all three screamed at once. There was a crash, and one reappeared from behind the shelves for a split second, only to be yanked back by a hand. Another scream, violently cut off. The rest of the men were out the door into the street before Roman could even give the order to abort. He turned as they ran out the door, and threw an explosive behind the shelves. After they were out in the street, Roman looked back with his men as the storefront exploded into flames, shard of glass flying outwards. From within the flames, there was a brief flash of red, and then one of his men screamed and was abruptly cut off behind him. Roman did a one-eighty only to see his seven remaining men fall to the ground in growing pools of their own blood, large gashes in theirs necks and holes in their chests, Rose Petals scattered around their bodies. He involuntarily took a step backwards, pulling his cane up defensively. There was a flash in the corner of his vision, and roman jumped back, falling flat on the ground. There was now a large gash on his chest where a blade had just missed its killing blow. Roman pulled up a communicator on his left wrist up to his face.

"Neo! Get your ass here now! Emergency evac, and I mean emergency!" He yelled into it through gritted teeth. He could hear the roar of engines a few blocks over, but he knew she probably wouldn't get there in time. Another flash of red, and his communicator dropped off of his arm, along with his hand. There was a split second of shock that seemed to stretch on for days. Then the pain hit. Roman had never screamed louder. He clutched his arm to his chest and curled into a ball amid the growing piles of rose petals that littered the ground. If he could have heard over his own screams, he would have heard a laugh behind him.

Ruby POV

Ruby was struggling not to burst out laughing as she ran circles around the man with the white jacket. He screamed so loud, it was pitiful. She dashed up around, so fast that no one who didn't know her exact trajectory wouldn't have been able to track her. She was about to come back around for another slice-n-dice, but it was then she heard the faint whirring of engines growing closer.

Dammit, she thought, irritated, as she grabbed one of the henchman's bodies for later and retired to the top of a nearby building where she was unlikely to be seen by anyone, especially in a flying vehicle. Guess I'll have so settle for the cold meat. She pulled down her face mask and began to tear chunks off of the man's body and stuff them into her mouth. Jeez, why are the henchmen never girls? They taste so much better. A few moments later, a small airship landed in the street next to Roman, piloted by a short woman with adorable multicolored hair. Oh, she's cute. Though Ruby, watching absentmindedly. The woman nearly fell out of the pilot's seat trying to get to Roman. She picked him up and carried him back to the ship, setting him gently inside. She jumped back in the pilot's seat and took off, narrowly avoiding at least three other buildings. She's in a hurry. After the whirring of the engines finally faded away to silence and gave way to the sirens of cop cars approaching in response to the report of explosions and gunshots, Ruby sighed. She should have gone home earlier, but that weapon magazine was just so good! Now she would probably be exhausted at her first day at Beacon. Not a great start. Not only that, but Yang would be wondering where Ruby had been for the past hour. She groaned and folded Crescent Rose back into compact form, grabbed another chunk of person meat for the road, kicked the body off of the roof into the top of a cop car that had just parked, and dashed off for home. Guess I'll have to clean the blood off discreetly later. She thought, though it wasn't the first time she'd had to do it. Not only that but now she was starting to feel a bit lively, and she didn't think she'd be able to get any relief at home. So, one more pitstop, not too bad. She thought, gently altering her course towards the residential district as she flew through the air. Never a dull moment.

If anyone had been close enough to see her face, they would have seen the red drain out of her eyes & be replaced by the usual white, her irises changing back to normal circles from the swirled rosebud pattern they had been only a few moments ago. The trail of rose petals grew behind her, fluttering to the ground.

Ozpin POV

Ozpin sat in his office watching the security footage from the shop. Not for the first time, he suppressed the urge to vomit. Glynda stood behind him on her scroll.

"Are you absolutely sure, Glynda?" He asked, not turning away from the screen.

"Yes, sir. There's no doubt about it. Ruby Rose, fifteen. She skipped two whole years at Signal and starts here tomorrow." She said, still scrolling.

"What else do we know?"

"Not nearly enough. There are several redacted files here," She said, obviously confused. She looked up. "Aren't we supposed to have access to all police and government files on the students?"

"Yes, we are." He looked back at her. "We need to figure this out tomorrow, preferably not exhausted. Delete this footage and tell them it was destroyed in the fire."

"But sir- "

"Do it." There was an edge to his voice this time. Glynda sighed and pressed a button, and the footage disappeared from the screen. She set down her scroll and began to walk away.

"Glynda," Ozpin called after her. "Tomorrow." She sighed and nodded, then turned away and walked through the door.