006: Red Flames And Red Cherries
"Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it."
-Gilbert K. Chesterton
"FUCK!"
"Jaune-"
"FUCK!"
"Jaune, calm down."
"FUCK, FUCK, FUCKITY, FUCK!
"Once more with feeling."
"FUUUUUUCK!" Jaune shouted one last time, his voice echoing throughout the warehouse before he collapsed face down onto the couch.
"You done?" Noir asked from his place in the leather recliner, relaxing in ripped jeans, a black V-neck and a knit gray long sleeve underneath with the sleeves pushed up, revealing the scattered tattoos on his arms.
"Three weeks!"
"I know."
"We plan for three fucking week and then they suddenly move the Royal Emerald!" Jaune shouted into the couch, referencing the gem they had been planning to sell for three weeks. Three weeks of casing the museum, three weeks of planning, three weeks of hard work; wasted.
"Calm down bro." Noir said in a ordering tone as he stood and sat on his brother's back, smiling as Jaune let out a small groan.
"Three weeks…"
"I know."
"Wasted…"
"I know."
"Can I get drunk please?"
"Not if you plan on helping me plan a new job."
"New job?" Jaune asked, raising his head and cranking it around to look at his brother.
"I've been doing this a lot longer than you, Jaune. So I, your talented and amazing brother, have a contingency plan." Noir said she he pulled his scroll out of his pocket and unlocked the device before flicking through files.
"Whatcha got?" Jaune asked curiously before shoving Noir off of him, causing the dark haired Arc to fall and hit the floor.
"The Black Diamond." Noir said before he tossed his scroll up from his position on the floor and Jaune promptly caught it, reading an article about a rare black diamond that was just moved to Vale from Mistral after it was cut and refined.
"Mhm."
"Whatcha think?"
It was a solid target, would definitely bring in some major cash for the brothers and at the moment their income wasn't exactly indispensable; mostly due to them deciding to finally begin building Jaune apartment next to Noir's, which involved them installing motion activated turrets around the build site to prevent thieves from breaking into the warehouse, "Let's do it, got an entrance plan?"
"Come on," Noir muttered, sounding slightly offended by his brother's question, "Who do you think I am? Also, I have a cherry on top."
"Cherry on top?" Jaune asked as he straighten and and sat with his legs crossed and his cobalt eyes filled with confusion, which was a rare occasion for Jaune when it came to Noir.
"A big fucking cherry on top."
Beacon Academy
Ruby groaned as she collapsed onto Weiss' bed, having just spent her past hour and a half studying for Port's test on Nevermore weaknesses which might have been helpful during initiation when she, Weiss and Yang had to fight a Nevermore by themselves while Pyrrha, Ren and Nora fought a Deathstalker.
"Why are you on my bed?" Weiss hissed, hands on her waist as she jutted out her hip. Why couldn't Weiss just let her sleep? Her brain hurty and she needed a nap or something...or maybe she needed to slip into a coma. Weiss couldn't nag her there.
"Tired." Ruby muttered into Weiss' overly expensive, feather stuffed comforter.
"You can be as tired as you want, just not on my bed." Weiss snapped as she began pushing Ruby off the bed, causing the redhead to flail uncontrollably as she fell off the bed.
"Why are you so mean?" Ruby groaned into the floor as Yang laughed uncontrollably from her own bed, already having changed into her pajamas while her teammates were still in uniform.
"Why are you so lazy?" Weiss asked the unmoving, Ruby shaped, blob on the floor beside her bed.
"Because tired." The blob muttered into the carpet.
Weiss simply groaned in an unheiress like way and rolled her eyes before giving up and retrieving her nightgown before stomping off to the bathroom, no doubt taking a shower before bed. Yang giggled as the blob resembling her sister crawled up on her own bed and buried her face into the pillows.
Yang stared into the ceiling fan as her smile slowly faded and she couldn't help but mutter what Corbeau Rouge had said about himself three weeks ago, "I'm the man who can walk into a tornado and come out the other side like it was gentle breeze."
"Isn't that what Corbeau said before the whipped our butts like it was nothing?" Ruby asked, she knew it was what he had said but she had a feeling the meeting with the mercenary had impacted her sister more than she'd like to admit and Ruby didn't want to hurt her sister in anyway and wanted to create the illusion that the meeting hadn't affected her. And people said she could be dense. That was silly.
"Like it was nothing…yeah, right." Yang muttered as she rolled over, her back now to her sister as she flicked through her scroll causing Ruby to groan as she realized that she had dug herself into a hole.
"Yang," Ruby whined before she flung herself across the room and onto Yang, "Yang~."
"What?" Yang asked as she rolled over, attempting to get the smaller girl off of her but only served to move the girl from her side to her stomach where Ruby confined to thrash.
"Don't be mad!" Ruby demanded before Yang huffed and rubbed Ruby's head.
"I could never be mad at you, Rubes." Yang said as she rubbed the smaller girl's head before a mocking, sinister laughter filled the room.
Chills traveled down Yang's spine as she had a sinking suspicion about the laugh, the blonde lunged away from her sister and retrieved her scroll from the ground to see the same screen they had all seen three weeks ago. Black with the red crow and lettering that said the same thing as before, "Please Stand By."
The image fizzled out to a beautiful shot of Vale's skyline, the CCT visible in the distance. It was beautiful really, lights painted the night sky all manners of colors but not enough to outshine the beautiful stars. A beautiful sight to the sisters indeed, until Corbeau Rouge stepped into frame. Trademark smirk present as the camera panned back to reveal his trademark red and black clothing.
Ruby stare at him for a few seconds too long before blushing softly and shaking her head rapidly, possibly in an attempt to be rid of the red coloring her pale cheeks. It wasn't her fault, after that dream three weeks ago, anytime she even thought about the mercenary she became a blushing mess.
Corbeau cleared his throat before beginning, "Ladies, gentlemen, guy who runs the noodle cart on first and twenty-second; love your work my man. Anyway, you may be wondering why i've taken over your scroll, TV or radio; well, it's simple really, you see that building right there?" Corbeau pointed to a large "U" shaped building over his shoulder which Ruby and Yang knew as the Crimisi Gallery, a famous private art gallery where the wealthy could show off their art to other people of wealthy, "Well if you don't, that is the Crimisi Gallery and it was where the Black Diamond will be held for the next three weeks but I will be stealing it by ten thirty tonight."
Ruby's head snapped to the digital clock on her night stand, it was just a light past eight, Ruby buzzed with excitement from her most recent idea; she would sneak out after Yang and Weiss fell asleep and attempt to stop Corbeau Rouge...from stealing or hurting anyone of course. Duh.
"Transmission over." Corbeau said before the image fizzled out and happy music streamed out of Yang's scroll as a cartoon of Corbeau Rouge ran across Yang's screen, fire in his little hands, before the screen went black.
Yang sighed tiredly before she tossed her scroll onto the floor and rolled over, turning her back to Ruby, "I'm gonna get some sleep, Ruby. Night."
Ruby climbed off Yang's bed and marched to her own before flinging herself onto the soft mattress, Yang's attitude made her feel guilty for liking the mercenary. It wasn't her fault right? He was just so… Ruby groaned, she had no real idea why she liked him so much. Maybe her field trip tonight would answer that question.
Vale: A Few Blocks Away From The Crimisi Gallery
Jaune Arc sat with his legs dangling over the edge of of the brick building he had chosen as his hype up building. A hype up building was a building that Jaune always waited at before a job, a place where he'd hype himself up and get his adrenaline pumping before the job. Jaune's cobalt eyes flicked to the right to see his black and red mask on the ledge next to to him, the hollow red screen that usually covered his eyes stared at him.
Jaune always compared looking at the mask to looking into a mirror. Even after he stops putting it on forever, it will always be a part of him; the wild and crazy part that everyone else suppressed, the part he released. Like a cunning animal, an animal who had no opposition. Jaune wrapped his hand around the mask and simply held it in his lap as he childishly swung his legs, his boots thumping against the brick like a heartbeat.
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum-
"Jaune, you ready on your end?" Noir asked over the radio which Jaune heard through the clear earpiece in his ear. Jaune stood up on the ledge and secured the mask to his face before sighing, he couldn't bring Wilt and Blush onto the mission due to his specific entry strategy.
"Yeah. I'm ready."
Crimisi Gallery
Corbeau Rouge silently ran across the rooftops, looking at the massive crowd that had gathered outside the gallery. He could see news channels from every corner of Remnant along with a shocking amount of civilians, way too many civilians. After examining the massive crowd closer, Corbeau found something odd. They were fans. Shirts with cut outs of his head plastered onto them, giant cut outs of him on signposts and all.
Corbeau was confused, wondering if they actually realized he was a killer and a thief and not a celebrity. The mercenary could have swore he actually saw a guy selling T-shirts with his own face on them out of the back of his van. Corbeau shook his head as he continued running, and Noir wondered why he only had a single friend outside of The Life. Because people were fucking crazy.
He could also see a massive amount of blue uniforms, police. Corbeau could help but smile, there had to be every cop in the city in the gallery and outside. Just as planned.
Corbeau smoked across the street, his boots scraping across roof as he ran even even faster. He would need to gain a lot of speed for this to work. It was in his sights, the vent into The Crimisi Gallery. Noir had done the calculations thankfully, there was a twenty foot gap between the roof he was currently on and the vent directly into the air ducts of the gallery.
The vent was twenty-five feet high of the ground, which was roughly over a foot above the roof. Which meant he'd have to jump half the way then smoke the rest of it, just to avoid the fan just inside the vent that could possibly blow him in every direction and mess up the entire plan and possibly him.
Corbeau quickly approached the ledge, this entrance would require precision, cunning, skill beyond his years. An due to Corbeau only having one of those things, he over jumped it height wise and smashed his face into the stone wall of the gallery, before grabbing onto the vent as he pressed his hand against his face. He couldn't get a nosebleed, he couldn't leave blood behind, he'd be screwed if he did.
Corbeau quickly smoked inside the vent, not wanting to be spotted, and passed the fan unscathed before reforming and tearing off his mask to press his hand against his nose.
"Shit," Corbeau swore as he felt his Aura begin to clot the blood, "Smooth move jackass."
Corbeau rested a moment before replacing his mask and Noir's voice filled his ear, "How are things going on your end?"
"They're going," Corbeau muttered as he began crawling through the vents on his elbows and knees, "How bout you?"
"Smooth as silk little brother."
Corbeau smiled as he smoked forward, his feet slamming into the wall of the vent that formed a "T" shape. Knowing he had to go right, Corbeau lunged forward and smoked skidding to a stop on his hand and feet. He was almost there. Corbeau found himself moving through the vents like a running cat, nimbly on his hands and feet. He smiled to himself, another weird talent, one that might come in handy.
After multiple turns, Corbeau finally reached the vent cover he was looking for; the vent cover that acted as the air outtake for the Black Diamond's display room that was, strangely enough, filled with civilians and guards alike. His prize was in the very center of the room, in an almost stereotypical large glass display case and was beautiful to Corbeau. The diamond was almost as large as his fist and black as the night sky.
Corbeau reached onto his belt and pulled out three of one of his favorite tools, flashbang grenades. Corbeau laid on his back in the vent and pressed his feet against vent cover, lacing his fingers through the three pins on the grenades, "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready."
Corbeau kicked out sending the vent cover into the room as he pulled the flashbang pins and tossed them into the crowded room, "Four to go."
"Get down! Get down!" Corbeau heard before he pressed his hands against his ears, where an ear piercing screech of a sound was barely heard as he saw a bright flashing light reflect off the gray walls of the vents.
Shouts and groans reached Corbeau's ears after the light died down and sound stopped and the mercenary took that as his cue to enter the room. The crimson clad criminal slid out of the vent and landed on the marble floors with a dull thump, most likely a nonexistent sound to the occupants of the room; all of which were either wandering around and attempting to feel out in front of them with swinging arms or on the ground, clutching at their ears.
Corbeau calmly walked across the marble floor and leaned forward, his breath fogging up the glass of the display case. The red eyes of his Grimm mask shined against the pitch black gem, it was a beautiful gem really and it was his now. Corbeau heard the sound of his lighter flick open and watched out of his peripheral vision as orange flames danced from the lighter to his right hand.
Corbeau's next task required a small amount focus, something he had in spades at the moment as he focused his aura and watched as the flames slowly changed from a soft orange to an icy blue. Most people assume blue flames are actually colder than red or orange simply based on color, a common misunderstanding, but one that couldn't be farther from the truth. Blue flames were hotter and for the moment, Corbeau needed the heat.
Corbeau smirked as he pressed his gloved hand against the glass where the glass began to crack and liquefy. Drips of molten glass slid down the glass case and onto the cool floor, the glass was thick; he'd need to hurry if he was gonna make it out on time. Corbeau pressed his flamed hand into the glass, causing it to bubble as more molten glass slid down the display.
After a moment, he managed to break through and snag the Black Diamond off it's display stand. Corbeau quickly pocketed the gem and turned to see guards running at him from the painting filled hallway outside of the display room. The mercenary flicked away his icy blue flames before quickly pushing through the temporarily blind and deaf occupants of the display room and presenting himself to the guards, "Gez, you guys took your time. Is this really all Vale's finest could muster up to take me down?"
Corbeau lunged forward and smashed his fist into the first guards face, sending him head over heels as a second guard swung his baton at the crimson clad man in a wide arc. Corbeau ducked under the baton and quickly pulled a knife out from behind his coat that was thrown into a third guards leg before smashing his fist into the throat of the second guard, taking his baton. Corbeau jumped through the air, smashing his foot down on the screaming third guard before whipping what was now his baton across a fourth guard's face. Withdrawing his knife from the now unconscious guard's leg, he threw it into the last guards shoulder, causing the man to lurch back in pain before he was kicked in the face where his head was sent back into the wall.
"It's like they don't want to catch me or something," Corbeau muttered as he pulled his knife from the unconscious guard's shoulder and sheathed it before closing his baton, tossing it up and catching it, "Souvenir."
The sounds of groans and reached his ears as he walked away, his boots clicking softly against the marble. Most people would see his mercy on the guards as a weakness, but in all honesty, he didn't have a reason to kill them. Sure, they were in his way but that was no reason to kill them; they were just a bunch of guys doing their jobs. Hell, during the fight he'd seen three wedding rings. He couldn't widow three woman and possibly take away the father of a bunch of kids for no reason. It was just cruel and Corbeau wasn't into being cruel, he was into money so as long as none of them had a contract on them; they'd live. No one would die unnecessarily, those guards during his last job where a calculated misfortune.
"How are you doing?" Noir asked, breathing heavily.
"I'm doing. How are you? You sound tired."
"There's so much lifting to do ya know?" Noir asked with a laugh.
"Better pick up the pace, this show is about to hit it's climax." Corbeau said with a smirk as he came to a stop in the gallery's spacious and extravagant entrance hall.
"I don't wanna go to school, I just wanna break the rules." Corbeau sang as he skipped through the entrance way, finding a semblance of humor in the song seeing as how a previous dream of his was to attend Beacon and here he was, breaking rules.
The double doors of the gallery slid open and all eyes turned to see Corbeau Rouge skipping out, humming happily to himself before a large number of assault rifles were shoved in his face and a large amount of civilians began screaming his name in what could only be described as admiration, "Woah! I just wanted to have a chat with whoever is in charge."
"Out of the way! Out of the way, psycho!" Corbeau heard a man shout as he pushed through the crowd, Corbeau could see a man in a white shirt and tac vest push through the line of adoring fans and the uniformed officers who held the crowd back from Corbeau and all the officers who currently had him under the gun.
Corbeau rose his arms and was able to examine the man in further detail as he stood in between to of the armed officers who had him at gunpoint, he was a jackal faunus with mess black hair arranged around his jackal ears and green eyes and was wearing a white collared shirt and black tie under a black tac vet with "VPD" across the chest and slacks that had a detective's badge on the waist, along with a handgun holstered under his left arm, "And who might you be detective?"
"Detective Kidia, i'm the one in charge of the task force tasked to put you behind bars." Kidia explained, drawing a soft chuckle from Corbeau as the noise of the crowd surrounding him began to blur as his chuckle rose to a loud laugh that echoed throughout the garden in front of the gallery.
"Great job you've been doing so far. Tell me, what's my kill count? Thirty-six? Thirty-seven? How many paintings have I stolen? Fourteen? Fifteen? How many pounds of Dust have I looted from SDC trains? How many gems have I taken," Corbeau asked with a smirk that he knew made the detectives blood boil, but he also knew he was about to make a fool out of the poor faunus, "Tell me, would you go so far as to say I am the Vale Police Department's top priority?"
"I would." Kidia nearly snarled, Corbeau internally mused about how much this detective must hate him.
"Would you even go so far to say that you have every available officer here tonight to make sure I end up in chains?"
"I would."
"So tell me, what do you think would happen to the meager skeleton crew you left at the station if they, oh I don't know, were to respond to a bank robbery?" Corbeau smiled, the crescendo of their plan, the real trick behind all the smoke and mirrors, the big fucking cherry.
A look of pure awe ran across Kidia's face for a split second before fury bathed his pale face and he turned a bright red and shouted into his earpiece, "He played us! Send units to every bank in Vale!"
"What about the jewelry stores? Or the closed dust shops?" Kidia looked ready to kill Corbeau, his face was every shade of red imaginable as he barked the next few words.
"Arrest him!"
"Sorry guys, not gonna happen." Corbeau said before Smoking away, past the firing squad, past the line of officers preventing the crowd to move closer, and into the crowd.
"I want that bastard in cuffs!" The jackal faunus roared as Corbeau Smoked and ran through the crowd, laughing as he zigzagged and doubled back multiple times simply to play with the officers before he burst out of the back of the crowd; still laughing.
Kidia roared as Corbeau Rouge disappeared into the dark streets of Vale, with a gem worth millions of lien and god knows what else and to make matters worse for the detective; Corbeau's "fans" were even more in love the crimson clad mercenary.
Vale National Bank
"Jaune, you ready on your end?" Noir asked into his earpieces as he and Yuma sat across from the Vale National Bank in their getaway vehicle of choice, a goddamn minivan.
"Yeah. I'm ready." Noir heard Jaune mutter into his earpiece.
"I feel like a freakin' soccer mom driving this thing." Yuma complained from the driver's seat as he tapped away on his laptop, breaking past firewalls or whatever. Noir never really understood technology like Yuma did, he could hook up a TV with enough effort but breaking past the biggest bank in Vale's security? Yeah...no.
"It's inconspicuous." Noir muttered simply as he checked his tranquilizer guns, the two pistol sat his lap as he looked out his window at the mostly empty bank. Tonight was the night they were receiving a brand new shipment of lien from the mint on the other side of town; it was the only reason the bank was still operational at this time of night.
"Inconspicuous my ass, what's a soccer mom doing outside a bank at nine thirty at night?" Yuma asked in annoyance as the tap tap tap of his keyboard filled the minivan.
"Drop the soccer mom thing, Yu," Noir said as an armored car passed them, the now empty armored car that had just dropped off all the fresh lien from the mint, "How's the security?"
"Wait and ask me again in ten seconds."
"Yeah, I'm not gonna do that." Noir said with a look of annoyance more than anything before a short roar sound rang from Yuma's laptop and Noir could see a small, black and white, cartoon tiger with a speech bubble that was confirming the state of the hack.
"Annnnnd, done," Yuma said with a taunting smile as he closed his laptop, "Was that hard?"
"Shut up." Noir mumbled as he swung the minivan door open and hopped out, closely followed by Yuma who slung a messenger bag over his shoulder as the two black clad men walked across the street.
"Make me." Yuma shot back as he pulled the black ski mask he had had in his back pocket over his face as Noir did the same.
"What are you? Five?"
"Bitch, I might be."
"Unsurprising." Noir muttered as he opened the door to the bank without resistance and walked through the short hallway and into the massive main room of the bank. The sharp sound of air bursting filled the air as Noir aimed and fired his tranquilizer gun at the security guards and bank tellers as they quickly moved through the expansive main room.
"Nice job, N." Yuma said with a hint of joking sarcasm in his voice, which wasn't exactly an odd thing when concerning Yuma Mò.
Their timing was perfect. The hit it right after the armed guards had helped store the lien and left in their armored car and right before the tellers and security guards shut down for the night. It was perfect all except for one thing.
"Ah, the vault," Yuma said enthusiastically as he approached the large, thick, metal door in the bank's basement, "My favorite."
"Did you actually remember the charges this time?" Noir asked before Yuma rolled his eyes and opened his bag, pulling out thick doughy bricks that both of them knew were explosives.
"That is was once and you know it." Yuma remarked as he tossed two of the bricks to Noir and the two criminals began applying the thick dough to the vault door, tearing off long strips and applying them to the metal in a large circle.
The two took a few steps back and Yuma removed an almost stereotypical looking detonator from his bag, "One for the money."
His thumb pushed up on the plastic cover over the detonate button, "Two for the show."
"Three to get ready." Yuma set his thumb against the button ever so softly.
"Just fucking go!" Noir shouted before Yuma pressed down and the ground shook, Noir could feel the intense heat against his back as the explosion shook the entire bank and the Arc groaned as he pressed the heels of his hands against his ears.
"That's always the best part." Yuma said before a loud bang rang through the small basement as the huge vault door fell forward, slamming into and cracking the concrete of the floor.
"You're insane." Noir muttered as smoke and dust rolled out of the vault and began to thin out and Yuma smiled as his faunus eyes saw through the smoke like glass.
"Maybe. But we just made a lot of money." Yuma said as the smoke finally cleared and Noir's mouth dropped. He had never seen so much money. Millions, there had to be millions upon millions of dollars. It was like something out of a movie, there were floor to ceiling shelves filled with money. Awestruck, Noir spoke to his brother, "How are things going on your end?"
"They're going. How bout you?"
"Smooth as silk, little brother." Noir said, his voice filled with awe as Yuma pulled out multiple nylon duffel bags out of his messenger bag and the two began to work. It was a blur as the two worked, gloved hands flew across shelves as they shovelled lien into their duffel bags.
"I don't think I brought enough bags!" Yuma shouted with a laugh as he tossed two full bags into the ever growing pile by the destroyed vault door.
"Then we'll take shove the rest into our pockets, Jaune isn't out there risking his freedom so we can only get away with half the cash." Noir said as he tossed two of his own bags into the pile, beginning to get tired from all the movement. Noir was always winded easily, even at Beacon when he was in his peak physical condition.
"How are you doing?" Noir asked as he took a second to breathe.
"I'm doing. How are you? You sound tired."
"There's so much lifting to do ya know?" Noir asked as he threw himself back into work, redoubling his efforts as he continued lining what little duffel bags they had left with cash.
"Better pick up the pace, this show is about to hit it's climax." Jaune muttered into his mic and Noir groaned.
"Yu! Pick up the pace!" Noir shouted as he continued bagging the money, he was almost done with his half, he just needed to get the rest of one last shelve.
"Done," Yuma called as he jogged to the pile and tossed two duffels onto the pile before rushing to the other side of the vault and he began shoving lien into Noir's last bag, "Pull the van up to the front door."
Noir growled as he sprinted out of the basement and across the main room of the bank into the streets before he slid across the van's hood and jumped into the driver's seat. Noir thew the van into reverse and quickly backed the up towards the bank doors before releasing the trunk and climbing out of the van and running back down to Yuma, "Come on! We gotta go!"
"Chill the hell out, slow is smooth and smooth is fast." Yuma said as he slung a bag under each shoulder and held a bag in each hand as he began running up the steps with Noir in tow after he copied Yuma in terms of carrying duffels. The two made multiple trips, filling both back seats of the minivan as well as the truck before the two scrambled into the van and Noir stomped onto the accelerator.
The minivan screeched as it peeled away from the bank, it's back heavily weighed down by the massive load it was now hauling. Yuma shouted with joy as they rolled down Vale's unoccupied street, streetlamps raining light onto their faces from above. Noir joined his former teammates and shouted in joy before his heart jumped to his throat and panic filled every cell of his body.
There were red and blue lights in his rearview mirror…
AN: Weeeeeeeee woooooo. Weeeeeeee wooooooo. It's the sound of the police.