Chapter Four: Shake N Bake

Wesley was pinned behind his police car by a shower of bullets. He was struggling to catch up to his new partner, Tess. She was across the street, taking pot shots at their assailants with her pistol from behind the cover of a mailbox. The two got separated when a horde of White Fang members ambushed them. Wesley tried to make a move for the squad car's radio, but the incoming bullets made that impossible.

"Shit!" He shouted as he ducked back behind the car. They had no way to call for reinforcements, so they had to handle the situation here and now.

"Are you okay over there?!" Tess shouted across the street as she reloaded her weapon.

"I'M BEING SHOT AT!" He replied.

She grinned. "And you're so great at it!" Tess focused her aim and shot another assailant.

"You know we can't take all of these guys on, right?!" He shouted.

"I don't appreciate that kind of negativity!" She pulled the trigger in rapid succession, unleashing a small storm of bullets toward the members of the White Fang.

"Get back! She's a good shot!" A member yelled.

The assailants scattered over the streets and behind cover. The lackeys could not take on Wesley and Tess alone, so they informed a skilled echelon.

Wesley was amazed at her accuracy. "How do you keep hitting them like that?"

Tess kept shooting her rounds, attempting to hit the members in hiding. "It's like whack-a-mole, but with a gun!" She gave him a wide grin. "My semblance helps. Part of it involves enhancing my senses."

Wesley watched in awe as White Fang members dropped one by one. He squinted his eyes as he could barely perceive a black blob stalking behind Tess.

"TESS!"

Wesley jolted awake and quickly glanced around the room. He was in his kitchen. He'd been face down on the table with a bowl of cold soup sitting in front of him. He'd fallen asleep before he could even finish it.

"That happened a long time ago…" He thought to himself. Wesley rubbed his eyes and stood up from the table. He grabbed the bowl of soup and poured it down the garbage disposal. The moonlight was shining on his face through the window in front of the sink. His gaze wandered to the moonlit alley below. From behind the shadow of a trash can, a black cat dashed across the pavement.

His scroll interrupted his serene evening. He checked the caller ID, "What the...?"

He answered, "Yeah, Tess?"

"Hey," She quickly replied. "Are you awake?"

Wesley glanced at the clock on his wall: 2:45 am. "I am now. What's up?"

"I can't take my mind off the robberies," She replied. "I'm worried that they're going to strike again and we're gonna be left in the dust with nothing to go on."

"Tess, it's almost three in the morning," Wesley said. "How are you even still awake?"

She slightly laughed. "I'm a night owl, Wes. You should know that by now."

"Can't this wait until the sun comes up?" He asked groggily.

"But the next heist could happen any minute." She sighed, "Do you think the hair we found could have come from one of the masks that guard saw them wearing?"

"Probably," He yawned. "It was synthetic. It makes sense that the hair came from a wig or a mask."

"They must be into all kinds of kinky stuff…" She muttered. "Do you have any ideas when they might make another hit?"

"I'm not sure," He said. "They're probably lay low for a few weeks. Hell, if they were smart, they'd leave the city while they have us scrambling for evidence."

"True, that reminds me, we should have a name for these guys." She grinned. "We have been trying to catch them for a while now after all."

"Hasn't the paper already come up with one?" He asked. "They're 'The Dusty Bandits,' right?"

"Eh, I like 'Shake 'N Bake' a bit better." She said. "Hey! It could be our codename for the case!"

"What?" He asked. "You want to name the case after your poor cats?"

"Hey! Shake and Bake are good names for my wittle kitty witties." She cooed.

"Fine," He sighed. "You can call the case whatever you want."

"Thanks mom." She teased.

"Hey listen," Wesley scratched the back of his head. "I uh...I had a dream about you tonight."

"Oh god, Wes," She said. "Did I have my clothes on?"

"Yes! Jeez…" He took a deep breath, "The dream was about when you were kidnapped."

She sighed. "Well everything is okay now…. Thanks to you." She smiled, "I still owe ya for saving me."

Wesley laughed nervously. "Yeah, they would have brought you back anyway. You and your bad puns would drive anyone nuts."

"I would take offense to that, but it's true." She laughed.

"Hah, even you know it." He smiled and glanced at the clock again, "I'm going back to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow at the station."

"Nighty night."

"G'night, Tess." He said before hanging up the scroll.

Weiss locked the door behind her. Weiss and Ruby were leaving their penthouse to go secretly pick up who Ruby had in mind. They were the only person the four could accept. The three just hoped Ruby's hours of persuading was correct and worth it. They had started down the hall toward the elevator when suddenly, two people stepped off the elevator. Weiss instantly recognized them as their neighbors, Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Hello there Weiss and Ruby!" Pyrrah smiled. "Jaune and I have not seen you two for a couple of days. How are things?"

"Things are going well Pyrrah." Weiss almost smiled.

Ruby chimed in, "HOW ARE YOU TWO LOVE BIRDS?!"

Jaune and Pyrrha began to blush. "W-what are you talking about?" Jaune sheepishly asked.

"We-we're not together…" Pyrrha said in a seemingly disappointed tone. Pyrrha scanned their penthouse. "That reminds me, I have been wondering, how do you make a living? Your apartment looks incredible!"

"It's courtesy of the Schnee Dust Company." Weiss said haughtily.

Ruby laughed nervously. "Weiss has a lot of money."

"So I see!" Pyrrha smiled.

"Well it certainly looks nice. We should all hang out some time." Jaune offered.

"Yeah, definitely!" Ruby replied.

"We should be going, Ruby! We have a schedule to keep!" Weiss nervously laughed before she grabbed Ruby's hand. "Talk to you guys later!"

The two walked into the elevator and didn't say a word until it closed. "Why were you acting so sketchy?" Ruby asked.

"We both know the only reason we have that penthouse is because of our heists." Weiss huffed. "Just try to keep money off the radar."

"Yeah, okay," Ruby replied. "Good idea. We don't want anyone to get suspicious."

Weiss nodded. "Right. Nobody knows and we need to keep it that way."

Ruby giggled. "'Oh, we're just three twenty-one year old girls and one nineteen year old. We're TOTALLY not pulling off the greatest heisting spree of the century. Nothing to see over here!'"

"You are such a dunce." Weiss couldn't help but smile, "I hope you are right about this person..."

Weiss and Ruby walked down a dark and dirty alley. Even in broad daylight, the buildings around them created shadows so intimidating that even Blake would think twice before entering.

"Ruby, are you sure this contact of yours is...trustworthy?" Weiss asked nervously.

Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! He can be a bit...shady sometimes, but he's always come through!"

"I just hope he has the correct resources…" Weiss commented.

A shady figure appeared in the distance and a young man's voice spoke. "Hello, ladies! How are you on this lovely afternoon?"

"We're fine, thanks," Weiss replied. A cool breeze blew through the alley and the scent of rotting trash came over them like a wave, causing Weiss to grimace in disgust. "Did you have to choose this alley in particular? This place is disgusting."

"Yeah Sun! Weiss is always picky about cliches." Ruby commented, "This is something you would see straight out of a bad guy movie when they make a sketchy exchange!" Ruby flailed her arms.

"Hey, it's the only place that was available on such short notice!" Sun Wukong stepped into the light. "All the other alleys were booked today!"

"Just making sure, you got the blueprints right?" Ruby asked.

"What? do you think i'm an idiot?" His husky voice replied.

"Cut the crap, Sun." Weiss put her hands on her hips.

Sun put his hands up in surrender, "Fine jeez." He turned to Ruby, "Is she always like this?"

Ruby shrugged, "You get used to it."

"Hey!" Weiss yelled.

Sun pulled out the blueprints, "So are we exchanging this or not?"

Weiss grabbed the blueprints and scanned them, "It seems legitimate enough." She raised an eyebrow, "How do you get this information anyways?"

Sun smirked, "That is confidential, Ice Queen."

Weiss frowned, "Why does everyone keep calling me that?"

"Alright! We got what we came here for! Let's get going, thanks a bunch Sun!" Ruby yelled.

"Anything for you ladies," He winked.

Ruby grabbed Weiss' hand. "Oh no please not agai-" Weiss almost pleaded.

Ruby sped off with Weiss in tow, courtesy of her semblance and left a flurry of rose petals in her wake.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were looking over the blueprints for the vents carefully.

"I don't see why this would be inaccurate." Yang commented as she was scanning the pages.

Blake's ears perked up, "It seems efficient."

"I guess we could use this…" Weiss mumbled, "But I feel like something is...off."

"Sun has helped us before, and we never messed it up." Ruby exclaimed, "Why doubt him now?"

"I just can't get rid of this gut feeling in my stomach." Weiss revealed. "I don't think I want to crawl through the vents."

"But, it's the only way inside!" Ruby said.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "But I'm sure we could come up with a better plan if we…"

Yang suddenly grabbed Weiss by the shoulders. "Weiss, You are gonna crawl through those vents AND YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT!"

Weiss pouted. "Alright, fine! I'll do it!"

"So when do we leave?" Blake asked.

Yang smiled as she released Weiss, "When the sun goes down, Tex." Yang was getting into character.

"Already?" Blake asked. "I thought the plan was to lay low for a couple of days!"

"That's just it." Weiss smirked, "The police would expect us to lay low."

"I think we are getting a little arrogant." Blake thought aloud.

Yang put her arm around Blake, "It's okay, Kitten. If something goes wrong just blame Weiss!"

"Hey!" Weiss yelped.

"Still...It would be smart to wait a few days." Blake said with uncertainty.

"As long as we're together, team RWBY will never go down!" Ruby cheered.

Blake half-smiled at Ruby's cheerfulness. "I guess that's fine...But in the future we should be more careful."

"And we will, this will just be unexpected for the police. It might be the smart move." Weiss crossed her arms.

Yang perked up, "That reminds me, the paper named us! What was it again Rubes?"

Ruby frantically searched her brain for an answer, "Uh….'The Dusty Bandits.'" She dropped her head.

Weiss scowled, "THAT….we pull off the greatest heist spree of the century and they come up...with THAT?"

Yang shrugged, "Eh, it's better than 'Greedy Thieves' or something like that."

Weiss yelled, "THAT'S BESIDES THE POIN-"

Ruby interrupted Weiss, "Iceland! I want my cookies!"

Weiss sighed, "Do you need them now Ruby?"

Ruby patted her stomach, "Yes pwease," she pouted.

Weiss couldn't resist Ruby's pout, "I'll go get them then. Just be careful later," She turned to face Blake, "You can play tonight if you want."

Blake's face scrunched up in confusion, "Why is Weiss in charge of Ruby's cookies?"

"Weiss can't stand Ruby's munching all day." Yang grinned, "So she hides them from her."

Ruby pouted, "It's not THAT bad…"

Blake and Yang shared a look, Yang grinned, "Good one Rubes."

The both of them bursted into laughter.

"What's so funny?!" Ruby asked, almost offended. "I'm not a little kid, I can have my cookies when I want them!"

"Obviously, you can't." Blake saw Weiss enter the living room with a small bag of cookies.

Ruby pouted, "Aw! This bag is so small!"

Weiss gave Ruby a glare, "Get used to it. If you keep eating cookies like you do, then you won't even be able to fit into the vents!"

Yang started to giggle at the thought of her little sister getting stuck inside of a ventilation shaft. However, she took a quick glance at the clock and realized that the time was coming nearer. "Alright guys, stop messing around. It's time to suit up…"

MAK: Weiss is the Master of Cookies.

Toto: We had such a blast writing this chapter. A lot of unexpected difficulties appeared, BUT WE MADE IT THROUGH! MAK even came up with a new sub-plot! Get ready for the next chapter for more hilarity. BANZAI! Sorry for the delay, exams happened.