Okay, here's the story, as always

'Thinking'

"Talking"

Now, on with the Show

She was panting, her arms were quivering and her legs were shaking, but her opponent was in a similar condition. The man was currently with his weight shifted towards his cane, his breath coming in and out notoriously. On the outside, the sound of the still raging battle between the rest of her team and the man's subordinates echoed through the wind. She was certain that she had just loaded the last round of bullets she was carrying and, by the actions of the man (who wasn't shooting at her anymore), he was out of bullets too. She knew that her semblance could give her the advantage in a fair battle, but this was far from being fair. He was far more experienced on fighting against a human being than her, and she knew that she wasn't going anywhere with just standing there. Every second that passed brought closer the possibility of his allies rescuing him. After all, if the great Roman Torchwick was known, it was for his ability to always find a way out of capture.

On his side, Roman knew that he only needed to stall a little more until Neo and The White Fang came to collect him, but he felt compelled to mock the girl. He had to admit that he enjoyed every time she was annoyed or irritated by his comments, especially when she was feeling like a full-grown huntress. Still, if he took any of the hits from that oversized gardening tool the wrong way ,he could end up flying towards the end of the warehouse. To be honest, that thing could really pack a punch, and without his aura he would probably end up with more than a few broken bones. Normally, he would flee right when his aura was about to be depleted, but this time the 'little vermin' had anticipated that and blocked the escape route with debris from a dust-shot.

He couldn't help but to grin, not every day someone got him in a tough spot after all. The only part of the situation that did not amused him was the fact that it was "little red" the one who had him cornered. 'no no no… maybe worried, she would never be able to corner me. Soo… she probably will try propelling herself with the gun to hit me, besides, she's not that stupid, she knows that I can block the bullets, and she doesn't want to kill me, that's not like her. Besides, she has to save bullets if she wants to block my escape, and her semblance won't be enough to catch me if Neo's the one coming for me'. While trying to clear his thoughts and catch his breath, Roman noticed that the girl was almost recovered; she could stand right and she wasn't breathing heavily now 'well, gotta give the kid some credit, she can maintain a fight for an extended period of time' but his mind urged him that, if she could recover that fast, his chances of winning were growing slim by the minute that the fight continued.

"I'll have to admit, Red, for the first time it seems that you plan capturing me", Mocked the ginger, trying to infuriate the girl. "I could go ahead and say that this was clearly made by Ice Queen, she seems far more logical…" his grin was growing wider; each word seemed to get on her nerves as easy as ever. The silver eyed girl was glaring daggers at him, her mind rambling at his words 'I can plan by myself. Dork, ugly, meanie… idiot, I'll show him, I'll punch his stupid- no, no… this is what he wants, I have to remain calm, if I win, I'll prove that he was wrong, plus, he will be in jail. Remember Ruby, he wasn't expecting this, you have the upper hand' As the thoughts cleared on her head, her expression went from a glare to a neutral face and then to a confident smile, irritating Roman. After all, if she was calm, she would commit less mistakes and that meant less opportunities for him to escape.

Their eyes were fixed on each other. Roman tightened his grip on the cane, waiting for the moment she sprinted towards him; he would need all of his strength to repel the hit. Meanwhile, Ruby kept her gaze on him in case he had a dust crystal at hand, which could really turn the table to his favor.

After few seconds of staring at each other, Ruby Rose pointed her rifle towards him and opened fire, only to have the bullet deflected by the ginger criminal. She couldn't help but to grin at the reaction of the man. She kept firing towards him, with the same conclusion as the first shot, deflected by the cane. He was so focused on the shots that he didn't notice that the last shot he heard was on the opposite direction, launching the small girl and her trusty weapon towards him.

He could barely lift Melodic Cudgel to block the hit, but the momentum from the insane speed the girl could reach was too much. The impact sent him towards the side of the warehouse, colliding with the wall, while Melodic cudgel ended up at the wall at the end of the room, straight ahead from the door and in a perfect diagonal from him. He tried to stand quickly but a sharp pain on his side kept him down for a while 'And now I have broken ribs… just great… well looks like I can't play around anymore…I mean…If she puts this much effort on catching me, I might as well try to get away with everything I have too'.

"Last warning, Red. Run while you still can" he threatened, standing slowly while dusting off his white jacket. She was confident that she could win but, for once, she wanted to try and mock the green-eyed criminal.

"You know, Torchwick. If I remember correctly it's always you the one who's running" 'with a few broken ribs he can't escape easily, but I still have to win. If he's unconscious I can take him to the authorities, so… it's just one more hit' the young huntress was to focused on her thought to notice that the criminal hadn't reacted at all to her provocations. When she lifted her head, there he was, still standing in the same place, with a hand on his right side and the other one down. As she got into position, she could feel that something was not right. Roman tried to always be on his guard, or at least kept that grin on his face, knowing that he was on top of things. Ignoring the feeling, the silver-eyed huntress used the last shot on her weapon to propel herself towards the criminal, turning her weapon to hit him with the blunt side. If she was lucky, the hit would throw him towards the corner and knock him unconscious. She just needed to turn her weapon the right way to avoid hitting him in a fatal way.

Upon reaching him, the scythe only collided with air. The disbelief in the girl was reflected with the ungracious movement she made in order to stop herself and the scythe in a way that didn't harm her. But the intend of stopping the weapon was disturbed by a pull on her leg, destroying the balance she was trying to build. As a result, she ended up on her back, her right arm was dislocated. Her scythe was now on the roof of the warehouse and, standing up by her side was her enemy, with no harm more than the one he already had 'he ducked…he avoided the hit by kneeling… but… that means that he saw my attack…'.

"Enough games, Red." His voice was clear, sounding tired, like the fight was just a game for him. "When will you understand that you are just too young to try being a hero? If you keep like this you'll find yourself at the end of the hero's road without even going through that way" the words practically resounded through the structure, her entire body was in pain aside from the fact that her right arm was now useless, and there was no way that Roman was going to let her put it back in its place. For the time being, she needed to think in way to get out of there Roman was clearly acting different and she didn't know how to deal with it.

'For now, I need to build distance…' with that in mind, the small girl used her semblance towards the cane of the criminal, colliding with the wall, she only noticed that he had been holding her when she turned towards him, seeing the man with her red cape in his hand. The man let out a sigh and started walking towards her.

The girl's thoughts were practically scrambled, she needed to get out but she also needed to retrieve her weapon, and in a tiny corner of her mind lingered the thought of capturing the criminal mastermind. Not because he was bad, not because he harmed people, but to prove HIM that she was strong enough to take him down.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. A way to get out, beat him and retrieve Crescent Rose from the ceiling. With that on mind, she got on her feet, using her left arm to support her; Roman was getting closer by the second. Even thought he was walking towards her, probably because of his wounds, every moment could define the outcome of this battle. She kicked Melodic Cudgel back towards its master. At the same time the weapon flew towards the man, who was getting ready to catch it, she sprinted towards him at the top of her speed, and at the same time Roman caught the cane, her entire body collided with his, throwing both of them towards the wall of the warehouse.

The impact was hard, Roman took the hard of it, with Melodic Cudgel squeezed between the two, pressing Roman's wound. The huntress's bad arm was the one squeezed by the impact, and therefore between the cane and her body. She felt a sharp pain coming from her arm at the moment they hit the wall, but as they fell and hit the ground, the pain became just general and couldn't fell anything specific.

As he drifted unconscious, Roman's mind was plagued by the thought of the small girl being able to beat him. He could feel pain in his chest, product of the hit. His trusty cane was now lying on his side, right between him and the Huntress. His mind was going numb, but he was able to see the girl standing up, right arm hanging. She looked somewhat different, she had a faint trail of blood falling from her forehead to the left side of face; the absence of her cape and the blood on her face, plus the confident but almost cold look in her eyes made her look dangerously attractive, 'now that's a good look for a rose…after all...they all have thorns…'

She turned to look at the man, who was now unconscious, his white jacket was stained with blood which she was sure wasn't there before. As she kneeled to check on him, sounds at the door of the warehouse told her it was time to go. Besides, even if she wanted to fight them, she was in no condition of fighting the members of the White Fang or worse, Neo.

She used Melodic Cudgel to pull her scythe towards her. She was about to go when the words the criminal resounded though her mind 'I'll show you, and I'll make sure that you never forget that I won…' she thought, while she kneeled at his side and after leaving Melodic Cudgel on his hand, she sneaked outside the warehouse.

Making her way towards her team, she couldn't help but notice the lack of people around. No huntsman or huntresses, no unconscious members of the White Fang, no workers of the Schnee Dust Company, absolutely nothing. When she arrived at the point where her team was supposed to be, she was glad that they were there. Yang was the first one to go and hug her, then Blake and finally Weiss, all of them questioning for what happened, why did she run, or where was Torchwick; but she just shrugged all of the questions with one liners and made her way towards the ship that would take them towards Beacon. Her mind drifted towards the fight on the warehouse, the change in Roman's demeanor, her last actions during the fight and most importantly, what she had done before escaping.

And Here I am, once again. First, sorry for not being active for a time, I've been with stuff from the college..., second, thanks for reading the whole thing. Anyways, the setting of this story is kinda blurry, but is like, mid season 2, but before Roman's ordered to move to Mount Glenn.

I don't think I have to remind you this but this will be Rosewick (mildly, I'm not much into cheesy things, but it will have banter and a little competition).

So, this will be chaptered, not sure about how many, but this will be chaptered (unlike Midnight Readins which I specified was a One-shot).

So... Until next update, which I hope to have by next week.

Be safe, Inked Lotus Out.