"Just a few more screws and…finished!" a man in a blue jumpsuit said as he completed installing a new thermostat into one of Beacon's walls. "Pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Xiao Long".
"The pleasure is all mine" Yang replied, shaking the man's hand.
After the man had left, Yang set the thermostat to a comfortably cool temperature and sat herself down over a nearby vent as it started spraying cold air. The Saints had been enjoying their newfound peace over the last few weeks, and had all the money they had stolen from Roman's bank used to start renovating their hideout. New carpet was installed, the floors were shined, the roof was patched up, but none of those were as appreciated as the instillation their new air conditioning system, which would help alleviate the sizzling summer heat that they'd been putting up with since they arrived at Beacon.
"Yang!" a de-casted Weiss yelled as she entered the room. "Get your sweaty ass off that vent! This place smells enough like you already without you farting into the ventilation shafts".
"Oh yeah? Make me" Yang taunted.
"Knock it off, you two" interrupted Blake, who was brushing her hair on Ruby's couch nearby. "We're meeting up with CRDL to negotiate an alliance today, and it wouldn't look good if one of you showed up with a black eye".
"You mean you're meeting up with CRDL" corrected Weiss. "I refuse to have anything to do with those Neanderthals".
"Oh, lighten up, Weiss" Ruby said, entering the room. She was busy tying an expensive new tie around her neck, though it looked almost the same as her old black one. "They did help us take down the White Fang, after all. Plus, if we join forces, The Embers won't stand a chance against us".
"I still say you're making a big mistake" Weiss reiterated. "You should just pump Cardin and his cronies full of Dust as soon as you see them. It'll save us a lot of time and energy".
"Well, as much as I know Ruby loves shooting things, that won't be an option" said Blake. "We're going to be meeting in the Vale History Museum in the central commercial district. If security so much as smells a gun, we'll probably be spending the rest of our lives mining Dust at Patch Prison".
"Wait, are you telling me that you're going in there unarmed?!" Weiss shouted in disbelief. "You've got to be joking".
"I know, right? It sucks!" said Ruby. "I practically feel naked without little Betsy here, but there's no getting past their smancy security. But, that means they won't be armed as well, so it's not like we'll be outgunned if things go sour".
"Yeah, and besides, you know I'm hardly defenseless without a gun" Yang said, cracking her knuckles. "If Cardin so much as a looks at me funny I'll be all like 'wa-pow'! And 'hiya'! And 'oh, you want some of this?'"
"If you say so" said Weiss. "I'll be a few blocks away in a getaway car. Give me a call when things go inevitably wrong".
"Oh please" said Ruby. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Wow, look at this place" Ruby said she entered the museum. "I can't believe I skipped out on a field trip here when I was younger! This place is amazing!"
The inside of the museum was very large, and had several displays that caught the young crime lord's eye. There were cases full of old flags of nations that no longer existed, racks full of guns that were almost as big as Ruby, suits of battle scarred armor, and taxidermy replicas of the Grimm that once roamed wild across Remnant.
"Look at the size of this one!" Ruby gasped, pointing towards a rifle over six feet long. "You could take off someone's head with a gun that big! I want one!"
"Are you sure?" asked Blake. "You know guns back then could only fire one shot before needing to be reloaded".
Ruby gasped in horror at that revelation.
"No way!" Ruby shouted. "How could people live like that?! If you can't murder ten people per second, then what's the point of murdering at all?"
"Sometimes it's the quality of the kills, not the quantity" Yang interjected.
"Says Miss 'Sixteen Kills Behind'" teased Ruby.
"What?!" Yang gasped. "It was only fourteen and you know it! I was the one who killed Roman!"
"Nope; you just dropped him off the building. I was the one who smacked him into the ground, so technically it was my kill. So there". Ruby said, sticking her tongue out towards her older sister.
"You kill stealing bitch! Maybe next time I won't save you from the giant, rampaging robot" Yang said, playfully punching Ruby in the shoulder.
"Ow!" Ruby cried out.
"Oh shit, are you okay?" Yang asked, her tone changing drastically.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Ruby replied. "It's just a little sore still. Now come on! Let's see a few more exhibits before Cardy shows up!"
A few feet away, at the reception desk, a young woman with blonde hair sat quietly, listening to the Saints' entire conversation. But, even if she hadn't heard what they were talking about, it was hard for her not to recognize the woman whose picture had been on the front of every newspaper only a few weeks ago.
Carefully, the receptionist reached under her desk and hit a little red button attached to the underside. She made a mental note to change her pants as soon as she got home.
Ruby and her friends waited for CRDL to arrive at the far end of the museum, in the main Grimm exhibit. Large crowds of people walked past them every minute as Blake listened to the audio tour, Ruby 'ooh'-ed and 'aah'-ed at all the fake various Grimm on display, and Yang sat alone at a nearby bench.
After about a half an hour of waiting there, Cardin Winchester finally arrived. He wasn't wearing his sports jersey, but he was still dressed quite casually in a simple blue shirt and grey pants.
The brunette gangster was accompanied by two other men; one was the man with the green Mohawk who saved Weiss and Blake at the First Bank of Vale, and the other was a man with medium length brown hair, black pants, and a black sweatshirt with a picture of a blue bird printed on the front. The second man also looked like he was constantly squinting, even though it wasn't that bright in the room.
"Hey there, babe!" Cardin said as he approached Yang. "I'm sure you know who we are, but I'll introduce ourselves anyway. The name's Cardin Winchester, fearless leader of the toughest gang in Vale. My green friend here is none other than Russel Thrush himself, and the jokester on the right is Dove Bronzewing".
"Sup!" Russel greeted enthusiastically. Dove, however, remained silent and merely glared up at his taller friend in annoyance.
"Yang Xiao Long" Yang said, getting up and shaking Cardin's hand. "The one with the headphones is Blake Belladonna…"
"And you must be Ruby" Cardin said, addressing the girl in the red hood.
Ruby didn't respond at first because she hadn't realized that Cardin had arrived. Instead, she was busy imitating the fearsome pose of the Beowolf mannequin in front of her, snarling her teeth, growling softly, and waving her hands around like claws.
"Oh, uh, hi!" she said, finally taking notice of Cardin's presence. "It's great to finally meet you, Mr. Winchester. I read about some of your murders in the paper, and I must say, your liberal use of high explosives is really inspiring".
"Ah, a fan?" Cardin said proudly. "Something tells me the two of us are going to get along just fine".
"Yay!" Ruby said excitedly. The young woman was right about to start negotiating their two gangs working together, but Ruby was interrupted at the last second by a small metal canister suddenly bumping against her foot.
"Wha?" Ruby said, picking the can up off the floor. "Hey Blake, did you drop a soda or something?"
"Hmm?" Blake mumbled, taking out her ear buds. "Wait, that's not a soda can! It's a gas-"
Blake was cut off as the gas grenade started releasing its payload, spraying high volumes of nauseating tear gas in all their faces. Their auras helped stop them from collapsing to the ground immediately, but it still burned their noses and their eyes immensely before Ruby had the good sense to toss the grenade as far away as she could.
More tear gas grenades started to go off across the rest of the exhibit, filling the air with a thick white smoke and sending the crowd into a panic. At that moment, maintenance doors around the room suddenly burst open, and SWAT officers started filing into the room at lightning speed.
"Get down!" Yang shouted, grabbing her two friends and taking cover behind a bench.
The blonde haired woman pulled them down just in time, as the police officers started opening fire on the room with their assault rifles and pistols. The thunderous roars of their guns were deafening as they fired indiscriminately across the exhibit, gunning down several dazed civilians in the process. But, oddly enough, no one who was shot actually seemed to be hurt in any way.
"Shit, it's the cops!" Cardin yelled over the police's incoming gunfire. "They must have followed us here!"
"What do we do now?" asked Ruby.
"We fight our way out, that's what!" Russel said before dashing out of cover and attacking a nearby cop.
"I like that plan!" Yang replied, before following his example.
The rest of gangsters soon followed suit, and started defending themselves in whatever ways they could. Cardin picked up the large metal trash can he was hiding behind and tossed it towards a small group of officers, knocking them over. Blake tore off the spikes off the back of an Ursa mannequin and started using them as makeshift daggers, and Russel was getting quite creative with a potted plant he found. Dove had already managed to swipe the gun out of one officer's hands and started to return fire, while Yang simply went on fighting with only her fists and her semblance to protect her.
Ruby, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Excuse me, sir" a cheery feminine voice said behind an officer in between shots. "Is this yours?"
The officer looked up from his rifle to see Ruby Rose holding a gun that looked eerily similar to his. Glancing back down, he saw the rifle he had in his hands just a second ago wasn't there anymore, and that he was just holding onto empty air. The officer had just enough time to panic before Ruby shot him twice in the head.
"Hehe, that never gets old!" Ruby giggled. "Hey, wait a minute…his balloon didn't pop! Hey Yang, what gives?"
"They're Crack guns" Yang explained while fighting off a group of cops. "They can knock you out if you get shot too many times, but you can't kill anyone with them".
"What?!" Ruby gasped. "That's even worse than those old guns!"
"Well, I'm sorry Ruby, but that's just the way it is" Blake added as she stabbed a man through the arm with her daggers.
"No!" Ruby announced fervently. "I refuse to believe that something so…awful could exist! If it's a gun, then it can kill people! End of story!"
Ruby then unloaded an entire clip one nearby cop, causing her to fall to the floor. But, when Ruby went to check on the woman's pulse, she found a disappointing heartbeat still pounding away. Another officer rushed forward to try and save his friend, so Ruby tried to crack his skull open with butt of the gun. This didn't work either, however, as the man's tough helmet absorbed most of the blow and he just fell to the floor, dazed.
"Has she seriously not heard of non-lethal weaponry?" Blake asked Yang as they both continued to fight. "Or had a water gun as kid?"
"Nope" Yang casually replied. "She's been using live ammo since as long as I can remember. It made birthday parties a hell of a lot more exciting, let me tell you".
"Come on, choke on it!" Ruby said as she desperately jabbed the barrel of a gun down one man's throat. "Please? I'll be your best friend! Just hurry up and die already!"
Ruby's non-murderous rampage was interrupted by the exhibit's skylights suddenly shattering, and more police officers started to repel into the room. One of them was Chief Pyrrha Nikos, who was armed with a very large and intimidating Crack shotgun.
Ruby stopped trying to choke the officer in her grip as soon as she saw Pyrrha land on the floor, and let the gasping man go. A bright red blush quickly lit up Ruby's face as she stared up towards the red haired commando standing in front of her.
"You!" Pyrrha shouted at Ruby. "You're the one who has been terrorizing this city for the last few months. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Um…uh..." Ruby mumbled, avoiding eye contact. "I, you see, it's like, I-I-I-"
Pyrrha didn't let Ruby finish her stuttering sentence, and instead fired a shot from her shotgun directly into young girl's heart. Ruby hit the ground a second later, still barely conscious, but completely unable to move.
"Ruby!" Yang cried out when she saw what happened.
Pyrrha stepped forward to deliver another blast and make sure that Ruby stayed down, but Yang managed to tackle the long haired police captain before it was too late. The two then started struggling for Pyrrha's gun, each fiercely vying for the upper hand.
Years of training had made Pyrrha's arms quite strong, but, in the end, they were no match for Yang's raw, semblance fueled power. This, along with an unexpected headbutt, forced Pyrrha to let go of the gun.
"You're history!" Yang said, pointing the gun towards Pyrrha's face.
Unfortunately for Yang, this gave Pyrrha enough time to kick Yang off of her before the gangster could pull the trigger, and the police chief quickly got back on her feet. Yang tried firing at Pyrrha, but the redhead was able dodge all of Yang's shots.
One of those missed shots struck a display case that was full of ancient, Grimm killing swords and spears. Seizing her chance, Pyrrha activated her magnetic semblance and picked up the metallic weapons with the power of her mind and started hurling them towards Yang.
Yang was able to knock most them away with her gun, but a few came dangerously close to chopping off some of the blonde's favorite limbs. Finally, Yang managed to line up a shot on Pyrrha, and she blasted the policewoman right in the middle of her chest. The force of the blast was enough to knock Pyrrha to the ground, and subsequent shots quickly ensured that she wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.
"Sorry hotcheeks, but there's not enough room for two firebrands in this city" Yang said, picking up a sword and bringing it to Pyrrha's unconscious throat. "If you see Roman Torchwick in hell, tell him you died the same way; like a bitch".
"Stop!" Ruby weakly called out at the last second. "Please…don't kill her…"
"Ugh, fine" Yang said, rolling her eyes. "But I don't want you nagging me for a low kill count ever again".
By now, Blake, Cardin, Dove, and Russel had managed to kill or incapacitate most of the remaining cops in the room, but the sounds of osprey engines overhead let them know that more were on the way.
"Come on! Let's blow this joint!" Cardin said as he and his posse started running towards the door. "We'll finish this somewhere else!"
"Coming!" Yang yelled back as she picked Ruby up over her shoulder. "Blake, tell Weiss to get her prissy princess ass down here, now!"
"Already on it" Blake said, sending a text on her phone.
The Saints' and CRDL's getaway vehicles were both waiting for them out front by the time they exited out the front of the museum, and both of them were busy fighting off incoming cop cars as Ruby and her friends arrived.
"There you are!" Weiss shouted as Yang, Ruby, and Blake all piled into the backseat of her red sports car. "What the fuck happened in there?"
"No time to explain!" Yang shouted back. "Just drive!"
It took the two cars almost an hour, but eventually they were both able to lose the police somewhere in the eastern commercial district. When he was certain that they weren't being followed anymore, Cardin ordered the driver of his blue luxury car to turn into a nearby alleyway and The Saints followed shortly behind. He and the three other men in the car then stepped out of the vehicle and waited for Ruby and her friends to come out and speak with them.
"You okay, Ruby?" Yang asked her sister, who still looked a little stunned from the Crack-shot she took earlier.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Ruby said coolly while trying to hide her obvious dizziness. "You said it yourself; you can't kill someone with those guns even if you wanted to...sadly…"
"If you say so" Yang said. "Just try not to let that happen the next time you see Pyrrha; I might not be there to save your big, gay ass".
"I, uh, don't know what you're talking about" Ruby said, blushing.
"Suuure you don't" Yang teased playfully. "Now come on, it's time we actually started negotiating".
"I'll watch the car" Weiss said bitterly as she watched her three friends exit the vehicle.
"Excellent!" Cardin said joyously as he watched the three Saints walk up to him. "I'm glad to see you three lovely ladies all made it in one piece. Now, where were we?"
"How about we start by divvying up the pie for after we defeat The Embers" said Blake.
"Pie? What pie?" Ruby asked excitedly.
"I meant Vale, Ruby" Blake responded dryly.
"Ick, who'd want to eat a city?" Ruby said, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "It's full of concrete, and poop, and really smelly old people, and…oh, wait, you mean dividing up territory! Okay then, what's your offer?"
Cardin scratched his chin for a few moments before replying. "I was thinking about….twenty five percent".
"Deal!" Ruby said excitedly. "Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Winchester!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Yang interrupted, grabbing Ruby's hand before it could shake with Cardin's. "I assume that we get other seventy five percent".
"Ha!" Cardin laughed. "That's a good one! No, of course we're the ones getting the big cut".
"That's outrageous!" argued Blake. "The Saints already control a third of Vale, and we fought tooth and nail for every bit of it! Even if we let you have the rest of the city, there's no way we'd let you just have a third of our hoods".
"You mean WE fought tooth and nail for it" said Russel. "If it wasn't for us, you'd still be catfighting with the White Fang, and you wouldn't have guys anywhere near this part of the city! I think we've more than earned a little payback for that favor".
"Yeah, and besides, you'll still get to keep all the Faunus infested parts of town" said Cardin. "All the animal freaks you could ever want, yours for the shooting!"
"Uh, I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding…" said Ruby. "Just because we fought the White Fang doesn't mean we're an anti-Faunus gang".
"Ha, that's even better!" Cardin said, laughing uncontrollably along with his three lieutenants. "No need to be polite here; you and I both know those animals are nothing but a bunch of stupid, lazy, good for nothing bums and whores. It's up to humans like us to make sure they know their place".
Blake tried not to react to this hurtful comment, but Yang could tell just by the way she glanced downward that she didn't take what Cardin said well.
"Take that back" Yang demanded.
"What?" Cardin asked, incredibly confused.
Yang walked up to the brown haired gang leader and stared him right in his scared blue eyes.
"I said; Take. That. Back" Yang said, emphasizing each word with a crack of her knuckles.
Suddenly, CRDL's blue haired getaway driver pulled out a gun and put it up to the side of Yang's head.
"Back off, bitch!" he ordered. "No one talks to the boss that way!"
"Hold on guys" Ruby said off to the side. "There's no need for fighting. Well, actually, yes, there is, but not between us! We should be out there, killing loads of people together! As murder buddies! We can still make things work if we try hard enough…"
"Hey, what's going on out here?" Weiss said, stepping out of her care with her gun in hand. "Why does Yang have a gun pointed at her?"
"Hey, it's that skank who stood me up!" Cardin's drive shouted, aiming his gun towards Weiss. "Get her!"
"…or maybe not" Ruby finished sadly. "And I already ordered all those 'Saints + CRDL' t-shirts…"
The blue haired man started firing on Weiss and vice versa, while Yang took the opportunity to punch Cardin into a nearby brick wall. But, instead of staying around to finish the job, Yang picked up her little sister and made beeline back towards Weiss's car, Blake following shortly behind.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Ruby asked as she was stuffed back in the getaway vehicle. "They're gonna get away!"
"I'm sorry, but you're in no condition to be fighting, Ruby, especially not against four hardened Huntsmen without a weapon of your own" Yang explained over the sound of bullets hitting the windshield of the car. "Now punch it, Weiss!"
"I told you we should have brought the big guns, but did you listen to me? Nooo" Weiss said sardonically as she hit the gas and backed out of the alleyway as fast as she could. "You assholes are paying for my new car, I hope you realize this".
A/N: Thought I did something well? Thought I did something poorly? Please let me know in a review!