"Ruby, just what are we doing here?" Blake asked as they trudged down yet another flight of stairs. Ruby hadn't said a word since she had collected Blake about 10 minutes ago, hood up and in full Reaper character. All she did was place a hand on Blake's shoulder and signal for her to follow. Blake almost didn't expect an answer now, not after so much silence. And coming from Ruby, that was concerning. Sighing, Blake reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, collapsed mask. It was the same as she had used in the White Fang, but it would serve its purpose for now. If Ruby was going full Reaper, she need to become Shadow once again. Later, she would need to think of a better way to conceal her identity.
They carried on in silence for a few moments before the stairs finally ended. Before them was a long hallway, with a single guard standing before a cage, barring their entrance. But he didn't even flinch at the sight of them. In fact, he opened the door for them, practically inviting them in. They swept by, no one speaking. The door clicked shut behind them as their footsteps echoed down the concrete hall, bringing some life to the otherwise empty hallway. The only proof they had that this was a holding area was the metal doors and the occasional anchor latch that adorned the walls.
When they stopped about midway down the hall, Ruby finally spoke. "We are going to collect the girl in this cell. We will then take her down the hall, and have her wait outside the cell of her partner. I will go in alone, to make sure it's safe. When I call for you, bring her in. She will need to see this. As will you." Before Blake could respond, Ruby open the metal door, revealing a sleeping Bear slumped against the wall, shackles attaching to one of her wrists to the wall. Her right arm was in a sling, and bandages still wrapped the shoulder that Ruby had shattered in their previous meeting. She wore an orange jumpsuit, sleeves tied around her waist. A white tank top kept her covered the best it could without getting in the way of the bandages.
Blake was about to protest when Ruby held her hand up and shook her head. Ruby turned on her voice disguiser and walked over next to the sleeping girl, placing a hand on her good shoulder. With an abrupt shake, she dragged the prisoner out of her slumber.
"Wake up Bear," Ruby's disguised voice ordered. "There's something you need to see."
The prisoner awoke slowly, gazing around in a cloudy haze. Slowly, she seemed to grasp where she was, and who was talking to her. Once her vision cleared, she reacted violently, striking out with her chained fist. Ruby didn't flinch as the fist flew, stopping just short of her face, yanked back by the shackles that restrained the would-be assailant. Pain flashed across Bear's face as she pulled back, grasping her wounded shoulder.
"I'm not here to hurt you," Ruby's calm voice reached through the disguiser. "You're lucky I didn't kill you when I found you. Especially after you hurt my friends. However, I can see that there is still a hope for you. Barely, but it's there. But before you can see it, you need to see where your current path will lead you."
Ruby strode over to the wall that confined the girl, and unlatched the chain from it anchor. Almost like leading a dog on a leash, Ruby walked out of the room, lightly pulling the chain to signal Bear to follow. Slowly, the brunette Faunus followed, dragging her feet as she walked. Blake just watched the pathetic sight as the girl shuffled past, not even glancing around as she was led to her destination.
Ruby walked her to the end of the hall, with Blake silently following, watching their captive for any signs of misbehaving. But defeat was evident in her posture. Her shoulders slumped and her head bowed, the once proud bear Faunus submitted to her captors, completely surrendering any hope of escape. Blake knew this girl was easily strong enough to break that chain if she so chose, but it looked like the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Perhaps it was her injury, or maybe it was the fact that it was the Reaper leading her, but for someone so obviously powerful to surrender so easily was almost depressing.
Ruby lead them all the way to the end of the hall, and stopped before the final door. It was different from the rest, but Blake couldn't put her finger on how. It matched every other heavy, metal door that they had passed, but something about it just seemed more... dangerous. A darkness seemed to cling to the cool metal, contaminating the air around it. A shiver ran through Blake as she looked at the door, and even Bear wrapped her good arm around herself, as if to ward off the chilling air. But Ruby didn't flinch, walking right up next to the door after attaching Bear's chain to the hook opposing the wall.
"You two stay here, and wait for me to knock. When I do, give me a 5 count, then come in, quietly. I should be quick, but I need to make sure it will be safe for you."
"Please, as if Lion would hurt me," Bear muttered, a sound that didn't escape Blake or Ruby's hearing.
"I know he wouldn't," Ruby replied, "but there's nothing saying that's still Lion in there."
Bear shot her cloaked captor a confused look, but before she could say anything, Ruby had pushed into the cell, leaving Blake and Bear alone. Bear leaned against the wall, making every attempt not to look at Blake. But no matter what she did, it was obvious she was very aware of the masked Faunus that stood with her back to her, staring at the door that her friend had just disappeared through.
"So, you're Shadow?" Bear's voice was weak from disuse, but the words still managed to crack out. Blake almost jumped, but managed to contain her surprise and glance over her shoulder to the girl in chains.
"I was. Not anymore," Blake replied. She didn't want to get into this, not with this killer.
But Bear wasn't done. "You were a hero in the White Fang. A member basically since birth and the greatest black ops operative that we have ever seen. You were a hero. Why would you throw that away for this life? Living subservient to that heartless monster."
Blake lost it. She didn't even know what came over her, but a fire leapt into her eyes as she turned on the girl, her fist smashing into the concrete next to Bear's head. The impact stung, but she ignored the pain. She was face to face with the girl, amber eyes glowing through her mask. Bear didn't eve flinch as she stared into the burning amber, matching it with her own cool brown. Blake had to fight every instinct she had to kill this person on the spot. She had just insulted Ruby, her friend. Her leader. Her alpha. Not only that, this girl had tried to kill her team. She had dared to lay a finger on her Yang.
That last thought surprised her, once again bringing reason to the forefront. She pushed away from Bear, who leaned against the wall, never blinking. "Never. Talk that way. About her. Again," Blake said between breaths, blood pounding in her head. But even as she defended Ruby, she realized her mistake. And Bear noticed it too.
"So, Reaper's a she, huh?" Bear smirked at her newly acquired information, satisfaction across her face. "Anything else you want to share? A name perhaps? Not like I'm going anywhere."
"You'll get that if you earn it," Blake said levelly, staring Bear in the eye. The chained girl fidgeted uneasily, not liking the harshness of the gaze. "And if you keep calling her a monster, you will regret it. Compared to the White Fang, she's a saint."
"How could you say that, when you've seen the good the White Fang has done? Before us, Faunus were nothing more than second class citizens, looked down on by the worthless humans. Now, we at least get the basic respect we deserve. We still have a long way to go, but we wouldn't be anywhere if it wasn't for the White Fang."
"That's where you're wrong," Blake was getting frustrated, but she kept her voice calm and level. "The White Fang hasn't earned us respect. Its earned fear. Contempt. Hatred. If we had stuck to our peaceful ways, we could have earned true respect."
"This, coming from the greatest black ops agent in White Fang history. The one who laid the groundwork for half our operations. The one who half our initiates inspired to be."
"The one who saw the White Fang for the racists they were, holding back true progress while they killed for their own benefit."
"How can we be racist, when it's those damn humans that are holding us back?!"
"Racism works both ways. Both sides must overcome their hate for the other before the blood will finally stop flowing."
"And how is the Reaper going to make it any better?!" Bear was getting angry, and she wasn't afraid to show it. "They attack us! Cage us up like animals! They hold the Faunus back! They let the humans do as they please!"
Now Blake was angry too, shouting right back. "The Reaper cares more for the Faunus cause than the White Fang! If you ever actually followed what they did, you would know that! They have actually freed Faunus from slave camps! They distracted Faunus hunters so those living on the streets could at least have a night of peace! They protect the innocents, be it Faunus or human!"
"Like a human could be innocent! They look down on us! Enslave us! Belittle the Faunus!"
"And how are you any better, grouping all humans together like that?! Not all of them hate Faunus! Not all of them work against us!"
"Tell me one human that hasn't looked down on you while you were here! Name one of them that hasn't thought worse of you for being a Faunus!"
Blake realized that they were only fueling the others fire, and brought herself back under control with a deep breath. Calmly, she replied, "Try the two people you yourself tried to kill. Try the entire team across the hall. Try the headmaster. Try all the people that you tried to hurt by attacking here."
"Bullshit," Bear spat. "One of those was a Schnee. The worst of the worst. Her company enslaves us. Her family thrives off our tears. Her uncle is even on the watch-list for Faunus hunting!"
"She is not her family," Blake hissed. "She is her own person. And from what I've seen, she's a better person than you. When I told her that I used to be part of the White Fang, you know what she did? She shrugged and asked me why that mattered. She didn't care that I was Faunus. She didn't care that I used to be White Fang. All she cared about was that I was me."
"Then she lies," Bear said, venom on her tongue. "I've seen what happens in the Schnee slave camps. She obviously has no love for the Faunus."
"Tell that to her Faunus girlfriend." And with that, Blake turned her back to Bear once again. The hallway fell into silence once again, and Blake thought she heard a small amount of shuffling behind the door. Barely a minute had passed when the silence was broken once again.
"I wouldn't have touched the rest."
The voice was barely over a whisper, and Blake wasn't sure it hadn't just been her imagination. She looked over her shoulder once more. "What?" She asked.
"My job was to eliminate team RWBY. I could care less about the rest of this school so long as they stayed out of my way. Even if they're scum, even if they're worthless humans, there's no point it attacking them without reason."
Blake said nothing to this, and looked back at the door, waiting for the knock that Ruby had promised.
The wait wasn't long as, shortly after, the knock finally came, letting Blake know Ruby was ready. Quickly, Blake unhooked Bear from the wall, slowly counting in her head. When she reached 5, as quietly as she could, she undid the bolt, slowly sliding the door out of the way. Pulling a reluctant Bear in behind her, Blake slipped into the room. The chilling darkness she had felt outside was even worse inside the room, almost smothering her where she stood. Quickly, she latched Bear's shackle to one of the many anchor hooks that adorned the wall before quietly sliding the door shut, leaving it open a crack for some relief to the suffocating feeling of despair. Before them, Ruby stood facing the wall. The only think that pierced the room's shadows was the light that streamed through a single caged window on the wall, which now placed Ruby in a spotlight. Chained to a chair behind Ruby, with their back to the new visitors, sat a blond Faunus who was missing an arm. Bear seemed to lighten up at seeing the figure, but stopped herself before she called out. It was obvious that something was off. The person before her was Lion, her partner, yet at the same time, it wasn't. Even Blake, who had only met him once, could tell this wasn't the same person that had walked out of the forest. Something was darker about him, more sinister. He hadn't seemed to notice Blake or Bear come in, and stared at Ruby's back with a crooked grin and a black eye darkening.
"That was far more difficult that it needed to be. All you had to do was sit in the damn chair," Ruby's voice was filled with annoyance. Her voice disguiser was still on, giving her voice an electronic quality that seemed eerie in the already unsettling room.
"Sorry Reaper," Lions voice drifted through the air as his tail flicked with amusement. "Thought I would have some fun while I can."
Relief filled Bear's eyes. That was the Lion she knew. Making things more difficult just because he could. Disrupting the system on all fronts. And that was definitely his voice. Bear opened her mouth to call out to her friend, but was stopped when Ruby spun around and faced the three. Placing her head in her hand, she shook her head and sighed in exasperation. "Drop the act. I know that's not Lion in there."
A multitude of emotions flashed across Bear's face. First anger at the thought of her partner being mistreated in any way. Then confusion as she processed just what Ruby had said. Then, shock, as the darkness surrounding Lion intensified, and the room cooled significantly. Bear shivered, but never took her eyes off Lion. Until he started to laugh. A deep, demonic laugh, echoing before it even left his throat.
"Really now, what gave the game away, dear Reaper?" The voice came from Lion, but it was not his. Again, it seemed to echo before the words left his lips, as if it was two people speaking from one mouth. And the worst part was, the second voice was one she recognized.
"The fact that you didn't hear me come in, or how clumsy you were while struggling. You don't have full control yet, and it shows."
"Ah well, it was worth an effort. Bravo on figuring me out. But you must have already known before you even came to visit. So to what do I owe the pleasure of your hidden face?"
"I was hoping I wasn't too late, that you hadn't noticed Leon's absence just yet, and that I could still save him."
"Leon? Ohhh, you mean Lion. See, he abandoned the name Leon when he join our order. Not that it matters now. Mr. Lion can't hear you. He is no longer in control." An evil cackle erupted from Lion's mouth once more. "You're too late, Reaper."
"That's what I was afraid of," Ruby sighed. She leaned back against the wall, still facing the trio. Lion, or whoever was controlling Lion's body, was still blissfully unaware of the pair that stood behind him, and continued to cackle at Ruby's exasperation.
"Always playing the hero, Reaper. Well, you can't save them all. You may have stopped me from controlling Badger, Shrew, and Tiger, but failed this time. Not that it mattered then anyways."
Ruby could see Bear react to the names. They were names she knew well. They had been three of the last full-fledged members of the Red Fang, before Lion. Three of the people that had trained her. She had been told that the Reaper had killed them, but now…
"Don't tell me… You didn't!" Ruby was getting angry, and it showed even through the disguiser.
"Oh yes. I hunted all three traitors down. Killed them like the weakling they had become. I had to do this myself, of course. Couldn't let young Bear see that just yet."
"They had nothing to you anymore! You couldn't just let them live normal lives, away from you and your madness?!"
"Oh no, of course not! They knew far too much. Or they did, before you wiped their memories."
"To protect them from you! Damn it Eztli! They were finally free!"
"They knew the risks when they signed on. No one may leave the order. No one."
Bear was frozen in place. She knew she recognized the voice, but having it confirmed by the Reaper made it all the more terrifying. Eztli Kepi. Known to some as the Black Death. His name literally meant Blood Tempest. Former member of the White Fang, and skilled assassin. Anywhere he went, it ended in a blood bath. He was the strongest person Bear had ever known. And he was the leader of the Red Fang.
Ruby drew in a deep breath and regained her composure. With a sigh, she asked "So why kill Lion? He never once mentioned abandoning you. In fact, I believe he's the last one of your kind, besides Luna."
"Too much temptation. I know how you work Reaper. Once they fight you, if they lose, they're dead to me."
"Then what about Bear? Are you going to kill her too?"
"Oh yes. I can't control her because she hasn't completed the final ritual, but she'll get her due soon enough. Besides, she was always weak willed. Only killing the targets. Refusing to remove obstacles in her path. Not that that matters now. Looking at the time, I believe you should have more pressing matters on your hands. Tell Ozpin hi for me. If you still can."
Suddenly, Lion's head jerked around, and a sickening snap could be heard around the room. Pain seemed to crease Lions face, but it quickly disappeared as his head slumped forward, and his breathing stopped. The room was in silence as they looked at the body of the young Faunus. Without saying a word, Ruby walk across the room, stopping before Bear. Silently, she reached down and grabbed Bear's shackle. A crack was heard, and the shackle fell to the floor, its lock shattered. Bear looked up at the hooded figure, who only gestured towards Lion with their head. Slowly, as if afraid to confirm what she already knew was true, she walked up the body in the chair. But when she came face to face with the proof, all she could do was wrap her good arm around the body of her friend. And then, she cried. Even as Ruby lead Blake out of the room, the wails could be heard down the hall, as Bear begged Lion to come back to her.
The silence between Ruby and Blake as they stood outside the cell was made even more uncomfortable by the wailing that emitted from the room. So much had just happened, and Blake wasn't even sure how to processes it. So instead, she chose to think about the things she could. "So you can wipe memory?"
"Not quite. I use my aura to establish a block between the memory and the conscious. It works because aura and the conscious are essentially the same, but if they try hard enough, its easy to overcome."
Silence fell once more as they listened to Bear lament her lost friend. Eventually, the cried died down, and Ruby opened the door once again. Bear was standing now, facing away from them, with her hand on the shoulder of her dead companion. When she turned to face them, she wore a face of pure determination. Yet the tears remained. She refused to wipe them away, as if giving her proof of her own resolve.
Ruby's question was simple. "Now you see what the man you were following thinks of you. What will you do now?"
"What do you want me to do?" Bear asked in her smooth tone. That one simply line was all Ruby needed.
"All I need you to do is work with me. I want to save you. Help you. Make you stronger."
"They promised to make me stronger. All they made me was a killer. How will you be different?"
"I'm different in that you're still alive. I'm different in that I won't make you embrace anger and hate. I'll have you use your skills. I'll help you hone them, and control them. You will command yourself, but before you can do that, you have to let me help."
"How?"
"I'm going to drive the darkness from your body. It might hurt, but it will let you start over. It will give you a second chance."
"Why do I deserve a second chance?"
"Everyone deserves one. If you don't want it, I could simply cut you off from your beast, erase your memories, and let you go off to live a normal life."
"Cause that worked so well for Badger and Tiger. Why not just kill me? Get rid of the problem all together."
"Because then I'm no better that Eztli. If I must be a beast to stop a beast, no progress is gained."
"Fine, do what you will. But I have conditions. One, give Lion a proper burial."
"Leon will get the respects he deserves. He was manipulated by a monster. It's not his fault he became one himself."
"The second is that you train me."
Ruby paused for a second. This was not what she had expected. "Why?"
"Because that asshole is going to come after me sooner or later, and I figure that is the only way that I can protect myself."
Ruby was silent for a moment, pondering her decision. Finally she nodded. "Very well, if that's what you want. It won't be easy, but I will do what I can for you. But just remember, you attacked two very good friends of mine," she gestured to Blake, who had been standing silently behind her. "Of ours. So if you make one slip up, make one wrong step, I won't hesitate to wipe your memories and send you off to fend for yourself. I believe in second chances, not third."
"Fine, then do what you will to me. Anything to get back at the man who ruined my life."
Nodding, Ruby stepped forward, and placed two fingers on Bear's forehead. Her aura flared up around them, and a faint red glow began to shine around the room. Bear closed her eyes, and her aura began to flare up as well, reacting to Ruby's. It shined a faint black in contrast, yet there was something off about it. Something sinister. It had places where small flares seemed to jump off, hoping to spread its dark mischief.
Suddenly, Ruby yanked her hand back, and held it high overhead, her two fingers still glowing with her aura. But with it came a dark streak, pulling away from Bear's aura like a parasite being ripped from its host. Bear was silent, and her face set in stone, but her eyes flung open as a searing pain tore through her body. The blackness congealed at the end of Ruby's fingers, forming a ball roughly the size of her head. As the last of it peeled away from Bear, her aura settled, become a calming dark blue, pulsating as it shielded its host from whatever hurt her. She fell to the floor, exhausted from the trauma she had endured.
Ruby, meanwhile, walked across the room with a ball of black still attached to her fingertips. She stopped before the window, and held the dark mass before the light that streamed through. A hiss could be heard as the ball started to bubble, and it shrank away from the light. But Ruby anticipated this move, and adjusted appropriately so the entirety of the mass was stuck in the light. Slowly, the ball shrank down, the hiss fading with the size, until it stopped all together, and the ball was no more.
Blake spoke up first, as Bear was on the floor still recovering from her ordeal. "And what the hell was that?"
"I removed the darkness from her. Given her a clean slate. Now, she can either follow the first two paths or Statera, but her body will never again accept that much dark energy."
"How the hell did you do that?" Bear gasped on the floor, determined to not be overlooked.
"Precise aura control, peeling away the first layer of darkness, then unraveling the whole ball. Don't bother trying to repeat it, I can guarantee you can't do it."
"How did you know the light would destroy it?" Blake asked as she leaned back against a wall and crossed her arms.
"Simple. The darkness is what makes the Grimm. You don't just wake up one day a monster. The dark emotions builds up inside you first, then fill the gap that Eztli's so-called ritual creates. And what do Grimm hate? The light. It burns them, drives them into shadows. So, when the darkness is exposed, the best way to drive it out is with the light."
"What the fuck does any of this have to do with Grimm?" Bear demanded without losing her smooth control.
"So you had no idea." Ruby muttered before walking over to Bear, squatting next to the exhausted Faunus. "Don't worry about that right now. First, do you remember who you are?"
"What do you mean? I'm Bear, agent of the Red Fang. Well, ex-agent now."
"That's what you were. I want the real you. Not what they tried to make you. I want to know if it hasn't already been drained out of you, or if I'll have to start from scratch."
Bear was silent for a moment, thought creasing her brow. Finally, she said "My name… My name is Bellemere. People always called me Bell. I… I never had my last name. I was an orphan raised on the streets. The White Fang picked me up when I was 14, and a year ago, the Red Fang recruited me and gave me the name Bear."
"They always were creative with their code names." Ruby said dryly "Alright Bell, tell me, how old are you?"
"I'm 18, soon to be 19. Why does it matter?"
"I need to be sure you remember yourself. It will keep you in touch with your aura. It's too easy to become detached. Don't worry, so far so good. What kingdom are you from?"
"Vacuo, like Lion, or Leon, or whatever you called him."
"Good. Okay Bell, I think you're going to be alright. We're going to take you to the infirmary, and they're going to look after you tonight. A nurse that I know will make sure of it. So go rest. I'll take care of Leon."
"Don't, don't bury him without me. I still need to say goodbye." Tears began to well up in Bell's eyes once more as she looked at Ruby. Even through the tears, the eyes begged that her voice be heard.
"I wouldn't dream of it. Now let's get you out of here." With that, Ruby held out a hand to help Bell up. Slowly the girl took it. As she pulled the girl up, Ruby looked to Blake, who, without a word, opened the door and lead the pair out of the prison.
Hours past, and now Blake found herself on the roof of a building, staring down at a warehouse. Ruby had asked her to scout it out for any unusual activity while she took care of some business, and it hadn't been time wasted. It seemed like every other warehouse on the block, with one exception. Earlier, through the dimly lit window, Blake had seen a Faunus walk past, holding a box. This wouldn't have bothered her, if the man hadn't been wearing the mask of the White Fang.
"How the hell does Ruby do it?" Blake wondered aloud.
"Trade secret Blake. One day, I might let you in on it."
Blake didn't even flinch as the voice drifted from behind her. Ruby's silent entrances and exits were becoming common place. Even before telling the team she was the Reaper, she had a habit of simply disappearing. She looked at her leader, who flipped a small disk to Blake. She caught it easily, and glanced at the device. She smiled as she recognized the voice disguiser, much like the one Ruby used.
"So there's a warehouse being used by the White Fang, just like you said," Blake begin, her attitude shifting. There would be time for jokes later, but now they had work to do. "But I don't see it being much more than storage. They might keep stolen goods there, but I can't tell."
"It's a staging point. It used to be a warehouse like you said, but after I destroyed their local operations safe house, the need somewhere to prep for operations. I guess they just moved here."
"And why are we attacking it?"
"Because we need information. Information that's filed away in that building."
"And how do you know this?"
"Intuition. The people that attacked Ozpin used this place as a hideout after they put poison in his coffee beans. Eztli had no idea Ozpin had survived, even a few hours after the attack, so it seems that he doesn't have a source inside Beacon. In that case, I want to know how they got their info. It's well known that Ozpin loves his coffee. He's almost famous at the coffee shops around town. It's not well known that he only buys beans from 'Has Beans Coffee'."
"He buys his beans from a place called 'Has Beans'?"
"They sell coffee, I never said they have good naming sense. But anyways. White Fang protocol, as you know, is to destroy all hard copies after the mission is complete. However, they keep an electronic file on sight at the staging ground for 24 hours after. The reason for this is they hard wipe every computer on site at that time, and they need time to save important documents on the computers. Since the operation started today, that means we have little time. The sun just went down, so we have about 4 hours before the hard wipe begins."
"Well, besides the front door, I don't see any good ways to enter. No weak point in the structure, no windows that can be opened without shattering them. There is just no quiet entry strategy."
Silence fell between the two as they looked out over the building, trying to figure out how best to go about their work. Blake, however, had other things on her mind, and Ruby didn't fail to notice.
"Blake, what is it? If we're gonna do this without hurting anyone, we need to be on the same page."
"It just, what happened earlier. That darkness you took out of Bea… I mean Bell. Could that happen to anyone?"
Ruby sighed, and shook her head. "Of course it can. Everyone has dark times. Everyone gets angry, or gets upset. It's just how life is. It how we deal with it that matters."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Bell was taught to hold on to all the dark emotions, to let herself always be angry. Normal people move on, but the Red Fang teaches them to hold on and try to use it. And it builds up."
"But what if we can't move on? What if we can't forget?"
"No one is telling you too. Like I said, everyone has dark moments. Everyone has the things they regret. But most people have light too. Happiness that cuts through the black. The Red Fang smothers that light, making the darkness darker."
"Ruby, I…"
"Blake, just relax. I know all about your past. What happened with and before Adam, everything. And even if I didn't, I would know something was up. Every time you wake up, the room drops three degrees and I feel the need to reach for Crescent Rose. You control it well. It won't consume you. You're too strong for that."
"That obvious, huh?"
"Yeah. Don't be afraid to talk about it though. Everyone on the team has their own darkness. You, me, Weiss, even Yang. We're all here for you, whenever you need. Talking about it will make the darkness not seem so dark."
"Thanks Ruby. I think about that. So, do you have a plan?"
"Well, I've got an idea..."
"He's here! The Reaper is here!"
The shout echoed through the base as Ruby stood in the street, facing the building as the White Fang began to panic. After a short bit of scrambling, the doors burst open, and a wave of Faunus in masks streamed out, most carrying guns, some with swords, but most with only one stage weapons. 'So much for a good time,' Ruby thought, but she didn't move from her spot. A single streetlight illuminated her, and cast her opponents in varying shades of shadow.
"Why are you here, Reaper?!" A single voice called out. "And who is that beside you?!"
Ruby glanced over at the figure to her left, mostly hidden in the shadows, before shrugging and calling out "What, you don't know who Shadow is then?"
That got their attention. A ripple of concern went through the White Fang forces as the echoed the name in disbelief. Apparently, the betrayal of their top agent hadn't reached this far down yet.
"Listen, make this easy on yourselves and just give up. You know you can't touch me as it is, and with Shadow here, you have even less of a chance. So just line up, and surrender like good little criminals."
Apparently, this wasn't the right thing to say, because almost instantly, three of the White Fang members rushed forward, brandishing their swords. After quick sigh, Ruby rushed forward, using her semblance to vanish, and struck the first one under the chin. The light faded from his eyes instantly, so Ruby moved on to the next, sweeping his legs out from under him before delivering a blow to the chest, sending him crashing into the ground. For the third attacker, she kicked his legs out like the second, leaving him up to fall flat on his face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another White Fang member raise their pistol. In a flash, she dashed to their side, striking their arms three times in quick succession, forcing them to release the gun. After a quick blow to the head, she returned to her place beneath the lamp post. Quickly, she yanked off the pistol slide and threw the parts down, shaking her head.
While it had been easy for her, she had simply vanished in the eyes of the White Fang. So when she reappeared a second later and the 4 comrades that dared oppose the Reaper collapsed, panic erupted. Fearing for their own safety, they threw their guns down and raised their hands, surrendering to cloaked vigilante. She calmly walked out to the dozen or so surrendering White Fang and threw a pair of hand cuffs at each of their feet. "You will put one end of these on your right wrist. The other end will go one the left wrist of the buddy next to you. You will all do this till we have a nice little circle around this lamp post here. Do this quickly, or else you're going to end up like your friends over there." She jerked her head over to the four that still laid on the ground, rolling in pain if conscious at all.
The White Fang members worked quickly, not wanting to incur the wrath of the Reaper, or their partner. Shadow had just stood under the light across the street, arms crossed, not saying a word as the Reaper chained the 4 unconscious members together around a different lamppost. In fact, Shadow hadn't moved an inch since they had spotted her. As the last cuff was linked, the door to the warehouse opened up, and a figure clad in black walked out, freshly printed files in hand. A pure red mask covered her face, much like the White Fang mask. Their pure black outfit made them nearly impossible to see. If it wasn't for the glowing white skin just below the mask, they might have been a floating red speck.
"Damn Reaper, that was faster than I expected," Shadow said with a shake of her head, her own voice disguiser deepening her voice. Every White Fang member in the area immediately looked at the still unmoving figure that stood just outside of vision, questioning who or what they were looking at. Reaper simply walked over to the figure they had feared, and threw a punch. That went right through the head of what they thought was Shadow. The figure dissolved in black flakes as the aura dispersed, and the real Shadow took its place.
"Well, it was nice playing with you guys," Ruby said as she turned her back. "Police should be here shortly. Be good till then." She then placed an arm around Blake's waist, and used her semblance to make them both disappear.
Called it. I go to school, and suddenly I get much more motivation to write. Motivation to edit could still use some work, but that will get better. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to get another up soon enough.
One of my longer chapters, and I know not a ton happened, but I hope to change that soon. Thanks for reading, and hope to see you next time!
There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
Not really a chemistry joke, but made me laugh none the less.