A Common Criminal or Something
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. It belongs to RoosterTeeth, and the memory of the master of computer animation. May your brainchild keep moving forward, Monty.
"When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."
-Nelson Mandela
He was on guard duty at the docks for the simple reason of racism- because some people in this day in age would still prefer to not hire faunus at all rather than hire animals even at half-ages- or at least that a human guard standing lookout was less suspicious than a grimm-masked and heavily armed member of the White Fang. It had been a quiet night so far. No sign of anyone, nothing more suspicious than a carelessly tossed banana peel he hadn't noticed earlier in the night. Everything seemed to suggest that this heist would be quiet, painless, and bloodless as the best of them were.
Obviously that thought was when the explosion occurred, and the sound of gunshots soon echoed. He did not rush in to investigate the disturbance- a dutiful soldier might have claimed to not abandon his post, but in truth he cravenly wished to avoid trouble. Let Roman and the White Fang handle whoever was inside- he'd claim to be keeping an eye out for the cops (who should have been bought off) or anyone else (who should be smart enough not to run towards the sound of gunfire).
Just as obviously, that was about when a familiar girl in red turned the corner from down the street.
Ruby Rose, it seemed, was not nearly smart enough. Somehow that didn't surprise him- though he was surprised she had managed to rope anyone else in with her apparent lack of common sense, as an auburn haired girl in green followed her towards the still rising plume of smoke. An expression of concern was apparent on Ruby's face, which was echoed by a frown on Jaune's.
He hadn't wanted to get involved in whatever trouble was happening. But that didn't mean he wanted well-meaning innocents to walk right into it either- he'd have to try to stop them. Even if, especially if, they were Huntresses-in-training.
Well, it was for the best. It was even the right thing to do, kinda, something he rarely got to attempt these days. The last time he'd done that was that burglary, when he'd chosen not to bring the vengeful wrath of the mob down on her head by abandoning his job in the middle of a heist. He stepped out from the shadows to greet them, pleased when they slowed to a halt. Behind the red glasses, though, the smile didn't seem to reach his eyes for the concern and touch of fear he was trying to hide.
"Evening Ruby," he called out kindly enough as the girl finally stopped. "Remember me?" he asked, raising his glasses briefly to look less intimidating. (Or, at the very least, less goonish.)
"Jaune?" Ruby asked. Wondering turned to excitement as she recognized him. "Jaune! It is you! I was worried!"
"Huh? Worried?" Jaune asked, taken aback. He hadn't been expecting that- had learned not to expect concern from anyone since he entered this dust-forsaken city. He wasn't sure how to take it, honestly.
Ruby nodded. "Yeah! I went by the Club, to see if you wanted to make that weapon at Signal with me, but no one seemed to know you! I talked to the club owner and eventually he told me you quit your job all of a sudden and he hadn't seen you since!"
Jaune let out a nervous laugh. "Right. Quit. Ahaha." Slugged and beaten and kicked out like a pathetic mutt, more like it. "It, ah, wasn't working out for me, so I took another job offer and here I am. Been real busy. Sorry for not being around," he said, and tempered his half-truths with a sincere smile.
Ruby seemed like a nice girl, really, to have gone out of her way to follow up on her offer. In those long weeks of boredom, he'd fantasized about taking her up on it a few times, even if it would never have worked out. He'd probably have been arrested the moment he stepped into Signal, let alone if he'd done so asking to see a little girl while dressed in the goon suit, the only clothes he owned. Teacher or not, her Uncle probably would have thrown a fit.
"Ruby, who is this?" the red haired girl beside her finally spoke up. She was… odd, but was polite enough.
"Oh! This is Jaune," Ruby introduced. "I met him helping people out of a club during a fight, and later again in a store. He's a good guy," Ruby asserted, and Jaune Arc had to hide a guilt-induced squirm behind his unyielding glasses.
"Is he your friend?" the ginger girl asked.
Ruby paused, unsure and uncertain, but Jaune knew the answer he wanted. Something to give him common cause with the second girl to get them all out of trouble.
"I am," he claimed, surprising Ruby momentarily before she smiled in relief that her hopes weren't one-sided. "And you, Miss?"
"Yes! I am Penny and Ruby is my First Friend!" the girl said in an odd fashion. She shook his hand with a vice grip, but an enthusiastic smile lit her face as she made the claim.
Ruby looked sheepish, but smiled as well. "We, ah, just met for the first time earlier today," she said.
"Nothing wrong with that. Before my family passed, Mom used to say that strangers were just friends you hadn't met yet," Jaune shared.
Penny really seemed to like that even as Ruby quieted in sympathy. "Truly?" she asked, hopeful.
Jaune smiled- partly sincere, but partly satisfied that his plan seemed to be working. "Sure," he said. "And we were strangers until we just met right now, so we can do the same, right?" he asked.
Penny actually danced. "What a fortuitous day!" she practically sang. "I have made a Second Friend!"
Ruby smiled, but wasn't so easily distracted and diverted. "What are you doing here, Jaune?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm a security guard now," Jaune claimed. It wasn't quite a lie, from a certain point of view- he never claimed what he was securing for who. "What are you girls doing out so late at night?"
"I am helping my friend as a friend help her sister help her friend, friend!" Penny answered cheerfully, really digging her favorite word. It was up to Ruby to actually explain things.
"My sister, she's in Beacon now and has her own team now, but her friends had a fight and one of them ran off. She asked if I had seen or heard anything around town, said she might be looking for trouble with the White Fang. I wanted to help so I started looking around on my own, ran into Penny, and…" she pointed at the still rising dust plume.
"Oh, we just had a mishap," Jaune claimed with a (nervous) laugh. "We have people handling it, don't worry."
"Is anyone hurt?" Ruby asked immediately with concern.
"Do you require assistance?" Penny offered.
"No, nothing, you two should go home now," Jaune refused, making shooing gestures. "It's probably resolved now anyway." He hadn't heard any further sounds of fighting, at least- which made his voice cracking all the more obvious.
Ruby frowned. She didn't believe him. "Jaune… is everything alright?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Alright? Fine! Everything's fine!" Jaune said, trying to hide his growing concern. "Will be as soon as you two are tucked in bed back home!" Damn it, he didn't want two nice girls getting caught up in this-
"He seems very upset and stressed," Penny analyzed. "I believe he is very worried."
Ruby's frowned, and Jaune prepared to deny, and then there was the sound of a gunshot.
"Get down!" Jaune demanded, all but jumping on Ruby on his own way to the relative safety of the ground as several more gunshots rang out in close succession.
"Jaune, there's trouble!" Ruby protested, squirming in an attempt to escape. Jaune was heavier, though, and not exactly complying.
"I know!" he exclaimed. "That's why you need to get out of here!" Because a huntress-in-training could ruin the heist. Because messing up and letting someone someone who could tip the scales through while he was on guard would shatter his reputation and fragile working relationship with the White Fang. But mostly because they were the White Fang, they weren't good people, and letting Ruby through could get her hurt.
"I am prepared to assist! I am combat ready!" Penny proudly claimed.
"Jaune! Trust me! I can fight too, I can help you!" Ruby said.
"I don't want you combat ready or your help, I want you safe!" he shouted at them.
"But what about you?" demanded Ruby. "What are you going to do if we leave you here?"
"I'll be fine alone," Jaune claimed.
"Don't be so stubborn!" Ruby said. "Let us help!"
"Friends do not abandon friends in need of assistance," Penny added helpfully.
Jaune's brain scrambled for a solution, and came up with an idea. Fight fire with fire, friendship with friendship.
"Friends don't let friends go into unnecessary danger," he invented on the spot, looking at Penny. "Help me get her somewhere safe."
Penny looked uncertain. Ruby was alarmed.
"Penny, don't!" she said. "He's not trained! He's not prepared for what he's getting into!"
But it was Jaune who held Penny's eye. "Penny, as a friend, please," he begged. "This is my responsibility," and it was, criminal culprit that he was, "not hers. Help me get Ruby somewhere safe."
"Penny, no! Get Jaune out of here first!" Ruby begged.
Penny came to her conclusion and nodded. "Very well, friend," she said, and bent down to assist him.
(Thank Oum, or the spirits, or whatever Creator she believed in that she chose to listen to him. He didn't want them hurt, and not just because the Bombshell would be certain to go on the warpath and avenge Ruby if she was.)
Jaune had expected for her to help keep Ruby under control as he frog-marched her down the street, but instead the auburn-haired girl lifted Ruby from beneath him with ease and a iron-firm grip. Ruby squirmed and kicked, trying to escape, but to no avail. She twisted and grabbed for anything that might provide leverage- Penny, the ground, Jaune himself. If she grabbed, he was certain she wouldn't let go.
Jaune stepped away, just out of her reach, never giving her the chance.
Penny stood, and gave him a nod. "I will return for you, friend," she promised, before something crazy happened. Her back split open, floating daggers with wires flying down the street whence they came. Metal blades pierced concrete as if it had the resistance of warm jello, before anchoring and pulling wires taught. No sooner than they tightened than they began to reel her backwards, sending both girls flying down the street with superhuman speed. Penny had a firm grip on Ruby- Ruby had fearful grey eyes and disappeared with a hand still stretched towards Jaune.
Jaune watched the machine-girl carry little red riding hood away, his own jaw dropped. He wondered what sort of being she was, amazed at how ignorant he was to think she needed protection by the likes of him.
"Yeah, you do that," he said to the retreating girls. He hadn't heard anymore gunshots in awhile- with any luck, it was over and he'd be long gone before they could return and get into trouble or the cops show up and get him into trouble or anything else could happen. At least everything important was over.
As was par for the course for the night, he was wrong once again. There was another gunshot- a single, final shot from Roman's cane that finished the night's climax. Jaune turned and left the empty street behind, and returned to his life of crime to check on his boss.
Author notes:
And we finally break the thousand word barrier by a thousand. Didn't feel right to break this one in half, and more will start to be similarly long going forward.
A number of you correctly deduced the implications for the first divergence point of the Burglary: Ruby isn't at Beacon. Some things don't necessarily change- Ruby and Jaune weren't responsible for the other partners forming, Blake's preoccupation with the White Fang isn't Ruby's fault, and so on. And some things don't change as much as they could, if only because my approach to AU's like this is that broad strokes should be the same when possible in order to appreciate the differences. The more things change, the more they stay the same- so as long as Ruby has the opportunity and the reason, things like meeting Penny can still be justified.
But things are changing, and this night is another one of those where things begin to to get very different indeed, even if it's not explicit yet. Points to whoever can correctly guess what the second major divergence is before it's made explicit tomorrow.