"Oh… that's the worst".
After leaving the movie theater, Ruby and her friends all piled into Weiss's car and started to head home - only to find the road back to Beacon through the eastern commercial district had become a warzone, with fires and gunfights raging everywhere as The Embers tried their best to push out The Saints.
"Shit!" Yang swore as she watched the building next to her blew up. "Was that the Crow Bar? Damn it, they always served the best beer!"
"Yeah, now it's going to get all warm!" Ruby lamented. "And no one likes their drinks warm! Unless it's hot coco, I guess".
"Or tea" Weiss interjected.
"T?" Ruby asked in confusion. "Why would anyone want to drink a letter?"
Weiss's left eyebrow twitched furiously for a few moments before she suddenly turned back and shouted "Yang!"
"On it!" Yang replied as she reached over to the seat in front of her and slapped Weiss in the face so she wouldn't have to take her hands off the wheel.
"Thanks, I needed that" Weiss sighed, calming down.
"Uh, guys" Blake interrupted as she looked up from her phone. "I'm getting about a thousand messages per minute that are all some variation of cries for help and last wills. I guess Cinder's gang isn't as 'little' as we thought".
Before Weiss could reply, a dead Saint suddenly fell onto the roof of the car and caused Weiss to swerve, courtesy of a man in black and orange clothing wielding a shotgun.
"Augh, this isn't good" Weiss groaned, taking out her pistol and shooting the man responsible as she drove past. "We're going to be wiped out if this keeps up! Do you know where we're being hit the hardest?"
"Well, it looks like most of these are coming from Cardin's old chop shop, that gate on the south side of town we smuggle Ursa weed through, and the western residential district, so I'm going to guess there" Blake replied. "Though, I wouldn't be surprised if all of that is a distraction to lure us away from our headquarters at Beacon to make it easier to take down".
"Of course she'd try something like that…" Weiss grumbled to herself. "Alright, if we're going to have any hope of surviving this with the gang in one piece, we're going to have to split up. Yang, you handle the chop shop while Blake handles the gate, Ruby deals with the residential district, and I hold down Beacon. Any questions?"
"Yeah!" Yang replied. "How come I'm the one who has to drive to the other side of fucking town?!"
"So I can be as far away from your dumb ass as possible!" Weiss shouted in response. "Any, less idiotic questions?"
"Yeah, how are we gonna get there if you're the one with the car?" Ruby inquired.
"Seriously?" Weiss asked back. "You're a gangster, Ruby! Just steal a ride!"
"Oh, that's right!" Ruby said as her face lit up. "I'm on it!"
The young crime lord then jumped out of the passenger seat of the car and dashed over to the ruins of a nearby toy store, where she found a frilly, pink tricycle designed for girls half her age sitting among the rubble.
"Ooooh, love the colors!" Ruby said as she dusted off her ill-gotten gains. "Catch you later, girls!"
She then promptly hopped onto the tricycle, activated her semblance, and sped off into the distance, leaving her stunned friends behind.
"Well… I can say for certain that they won't see that coming" Blake said before getting out herself.
Spotting an Ember driving towards her on a motorcycle, Blake summoned a shadow clone and used it to jump kick the man off his bike, which sent the bike skidding violently in her direction. Blake didn't miss a beat, however, and hopped onto it as soon as it reached her and sped off in the opposite direction Ruby had.
Yang jumped out of Weiss's car a few seconds later and sighted a mostly-intact white pickup truck crashed into a lamp post on the side of the road, with its deceased driver still inside.
"Hey there, pal, mind giving a stranded young lady a ride?" Yang asked the bearded corpse as she showed off one of her legs. Naturally, he didn't reply. "My, such a gentleman!"
She then pushed the dead man into the passenger seat and shifted the car into reverse.
"I hope the Embers like breakfast, because they are about to be toast!" Yang called out as she backed up.
"The only person you're going to kill with puns like that is me, you know!" Weiss shouted from her car as Yang roared passed her. Yang just stuck her hand out her window and flipped Weiss off in reply, causing the latter to roll her eyes before flooring her accelerator and speeding off towards Beacon.
"Come on, keep shooting!" a Saint wearing a white hoodie directed her comrades as they fired out from behind a ring of circled semi trucks. They were all parked in front of the gate in the southern agricultural district where Ruby had spray painted an enormous rose on one of the old city gates, and the Saints hiding behind them were slowly being picked off one by one by the Embers closing in around them.
"Just hold out a little while longer!" the woman in the white hoodie shouted over the gunfire. "We lose this gate and we lose or fattest cash cow!"
Not everyone behind the trucks were in such a state of panic, however. One bunny-eared drug dealer in particular didn't seem to care at all, and just leaned casually on the truck next to the white-hooded Saint as she smoked a large joint.
"Hey, man, no need to shout" Velvet said as she let out a large puff of smoke. "You really need to learn to relax, go with the flow! You know what I mean?"
"Relax?" the Saint asked back incredulously. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but these people are trying to kill us!"
"Yeah, but that's no reason to spit the dummy" Velvet argued back. "Stress can be a real killer to, you know".
"Augh!" the hooded woman groaned. "Will you just shut up and-"
The woman was interrupted by a bullet to the shoulder, which sent blood splattering everywhere and staining her good hoodie.
"Urk!" she grunted as she grasped her right arm. "Fuck, that hurts! Give me that!"
Velvet didn't bother resisting as the Saint swiped the joint out of her hands and took a nice, long smoke from it.
"Ahh…" the Saint sighed as the pain melted from her face. "So good…"
"See, isn't that better?" Velvet asked.
"Yeah, it feels like a weight has been taken off my shoulders" the woman said before a red bat suddenly collided with the back of her head, hitting her skull so hard that it was sent flying away from her body over the nearby drug gate.
"Yeah, something like that" Junior Xiong said as he put his Batzooka back over his shoulder and he and his men entered the circle of trucks. The rest of the remaining Saints tried to gun him down, but his followers made short work of them, leaving behind only the brunette Faunus girl in front of them untouched.
"You Velvet?" Junior asked as he walked up to the girl in question.
"That's me, bruv" Velvet replied casually as she picked up her dead friend's blunt and took another puff from it. "What can I do you for?"
"I think you know what we want" Junior said, placing his bat onto the ground and leaning into it. "From now on, you and your dealers answer to me, got it?"
"Well, that depends on whether or not you have any sugar to sweeten the deal there, hun" Velvet replied between puffs. "What's in it for me?"
"Well, you get to live" Junior said as he picked up his bat, switched it to bazooka mode, and pointed it directly in the Faunus woman's face. "How's that for a start?"
"Hmmm, sounds nice, but live's hardly worth living without easy access to my little lovelies here" Velvet mused as she twirled her blunt. "I'm afraid you're going to have to do a bit better than that".
"Heh…" Junior laughed, admiring the girl's bravado. "You do realize who you're dealing with here, right?"
"Of course I do, love" Velvet replied as she set aside her joint and reached for the small, brown box she kept by her side. "I think the real question here is… do you?"
The two stared each other down for a few moments but, before either of them could finally blink, their attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of an incoming motorcycle. Turning, they both saw Blake riding towards them through a gap between the trucks.
"Too easy…" Junior said to himself with a smirk as he took am and effortlessly hit Blake with a high-explosive rocket. The motorcycle went up in flames in an instant, sending shrapnel flying everywhere as it skid to a flaming halt. Junior expected there to be a body lying among the wreckage but, strangely, there wasn't.
"You were right" Blake said as she walked up behind Junior, shooting his three henchmen before putting her gun to the back of Junior's head. "That was too easy".
Junior let out a long, exasperated sigh before dropping his Batzooka to the ground, putting his hands up, and slowly turning around.
"You okay, Velvet?" Blake asked her friend while keeping a close eye on Junior.
"Hold on a sec" Velvet replied before taking another puff from her joint. "Aaah… now, I'm okay".
"Alright, you got me" Junior admitted with his hands still up. "So what happens now?"
"Now, we take you hostage", Blake replied, "and use you as leverage to get Cinder to call off her attack".
Junior couldn't help but laugh when he heard that.
"Sorry, lady, but I don't think she's going to call this thing off anytime soon" Junior explained.
"Well, I guess that's your prob-" Blake began to say before being interrupted by Junior's hands wrapping around hers. She quickly tried to fire off a shot, but by then he managed to push the gun back enough that all it did was shoot harmlessly into the air above them.
Blake kept trying to readjust her aim, but Junior was far stronger than anyone she had ever met and was easily able to overpower her.
"Augh!" Blake cried out as the pain became too much for her and she dropped her handgun to the ground. Junior refused to let go, however, and kept squeezing and bending her wrists until it felt like they were going to break.
"And, you know what?" Junior asked menacingly as she forced Blake down onto her knees. "I don't plan on backing off anytime soon, either!"
"Hey, baby bear" Velvet's interrupted as she prepared to flick away her joint. "Catch!"
Junior turned his face just in time for the makeshift cigar to hit him in the eye, causing him to flinch and drop Blake back onto the ground. Blake quickly took the opportunity to scramble for her gun and put in some distance between her and Junior.
"Thanks for that" Blake told Velvet as she checked to make sure her pistol was still in working order.
"No problem, bra, but I wouldn't be relaxing just yet" Velvet replied as she pointed towards the twelve Embers rushing past the trucks to check on Junior.
"Are you alright sir?" one of them asked as Junior wiped the ashes from his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he replied, picking up his Batzooka back up. "Just ran into a stray is all".
"Good luck there, love" Velvet said as she walked off back towards the gate. "Free Ursa weed for a year if you win!"
Realizing that there was no way she could escape, Blake instead dashed forward and ducked right under Junior's weapon, which caused the shell he fired to pass harmlessly over her head. Once Blake reached Junior, the other Embers were quick to try and rush her, but Blake was ready for them. The first man to reach her she promptly knocked to the ground with a solid punch, and took the opportunity to steal a grenade from his shirt pocket while he was on the ground.
Junior quickly switched his gun back into bat form swung it down towards Blake, but she merely sidestepped it and shot down the next Emer that managed to reach her through the leg. That man promptly fell to the ground and dropped his gun, which bounced off the pavement and shot the Ember Blake had just punched through the skull.
Junior then tried to raise his bat back up for another blow, but Blake saw this coming as well, and stepped onto the weapon so she would be flung into the air as he raised the bat with all his strength. The first thing she did in the air was use her pistol to shoot down two more Embers before splitting into a dozen shadow clones that quickly surrounded the remaining gangsters as they hit the ground. The Embers all immediately opened fire on the Blake closest to them, but Junior was smart enough to realize that the real one was probably behind them, and used his Batzooka to fire upon that one instead.
Blake was able to jump out of the way of the rocket in time, but the explosion knocked her off her feet and broke her concentration enough to cause all the remaining shadow clones to disappear.
Scrambling to her feet, Blake ducked behind the back of a nearby semi and took cover there just as even more Embers arrived on the other side of the truck and opened fire on her as well.
"Well, this isn't good…" Blake mused to herself as bullets kept ricocheting off the side of the truck,. "There's no way I'm escaping through that. Maybe I can climb up and- hm? What's that smell?"
Opening the back of the semi, Blake found a large, smoking pile of Ursa weed inside, likely set aflame by a stray yellow Dust round. The scent was so strong that she could barely stand, and she was someone who was mostly used to the smell. This made her start to wonder how what would happen if there was even more of it in the air…
"Well, she did say I'd get free weed if I won…" Blake said as she covered her mouth and tossed in her stolen grenade.
She ducked down and the bomb exploded a few seconds later, tearing the back of the semi apart and sending burning chunks of Ursa weed flying everywhere. Soon, the entire area was so dense with smoke that none of the Embers could see more than two feet in front of them - except for Junior, who was so tall he rose above the smoke.
"W-what's going on!?" an Ember cried out as he struggled to stay on his feet. "Why is everything spinning? And… oh god, the colors!"
"I… I think I see her!" another one shouted. "Over there!"
The figure he fired at through the smoke turned out to be one of his own friends, but he was to high and blind to tell. His other friends noticed the gunshots, however, and immediately assumed that he was Blake and started firing on him instead. The real Blake, meanwhile took careful potshots from outside the smoke to finish off whatever gangsters weren't busy killing each other.
"Augh, you morons!" Junior groaned as he watched the chaos unfold. "Can't I take you guys anywhere without you screwing everything up!?"
Junior was suddenly interrupted by a few shots striking his aura from somewhere within the smoke, which sent him even deeper into his rage. He quickly switched his gun back into bazooka mode, but when he tried to fire back all that did was blow the smoke back right up into his face.
"That's it!" he shouted, exasperated. "I'm out of here! Cinder doesn't pay me enough for this shit!"
Making his way through the smoke, Junior exited the circle of semis and made for his car, slamming the door violently behind him before speeding away from gate.
"Mmm, smells like victory…" Velvet told Blake as she walked up to the clearing smoke. "And my apartment. Good job out there, Black".
"Thanks" Blake replied, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "I never knew smoking weed could be so useful".
"Girl, you don't know the half of it".
"Come on, move those boxes!" a female Saint shouted to her friends inside an old factory as a hail of gunfire roared outside. "We just finished putting all this shit back together, and I do not want to have to do it again!"
About half of the Saints in the factory were doing as they were told, while the other half desperately fired out the windows towards the Embers outside, who had circled their cars around the building.
"Wow, don't you think this is kinda ironic?" a Faunus man said to the Saint beside him as he fired outside. "I mean, just over a week ago we were the ones out there shooting in! Pretty funny, huh?"
"Yeah, hilarious!" came the curt reply.
"It makes me wonder what ironic thing is going to happen next week…" the first Saint mused to himself. "Maybe we'll be the ones arresting the cops… or our guns will be using us to kill other guns!"
"And maybe you'll be fucking useful for once" his friend growled back as she broke the arm of an Ember who tried reaching through the window. "Now that would be a change of pace".
Meanwhile, down the street, Yang was still riding towards the scene in her stolen truck while she siped on the dead owner's coffee.
"Mm, black!" Yang said happily. "Right to the point! You, sir, have good taste! Er, had good taste, that is".
Yang was interrupted by the sudden sound of bullets bouncing off her engine block, as the Embers finally spotted her.
"Whoops! Looks like this is my stop!" Yang said as she popped open her door. "Catch you later, dude!" Have a nice trip!"
Using the momentum of the truck as a boost, Yang launched herself out of the vehicle and towards the nearest Ember, who was wielding a shotgun.
"Lights on!" Yang shouted, punching the sunglasses off the man's face before stealing his gun and shooting him with it. "Lights out!"
The other Embers kept firing at her, however, and while Yang's first instinct was to try and charge at them, a few high-powered bullets to the side followed by some sharp pain put an end to that idea. So, instead she hopped down behind the car and examined her wound - none of the bullets punctured her skin, but they did hit hard enough to draw blood, and she was now bleeding all over her clothes.
"Whoo! These guns of yours sure do pack a punch!" Yang said as she clutched her side. "But… so do I!"
She then stood back up and punched out an Ember who had been sneaking up on her car before shooting another nearby. The rest of the Embers quickly responded in kind, however, and forced her back into hiding.
"Shit!" Yang swore to herself. "Maybe being out in the open isn't the greatest idea for once…"
Glancing out over the trunk of the car, Yang eyed the gunfire coming from within the factory carefully.
"Well, I guess friendly fire is slightly better than unfriendly…" Yang said before shooting the car's gearshift with her shotgun and pushing the vehicle forward. Bullets kept ricocheting off the car as she pushed it, but she refused to stop until it finally collided with the outer wall of the factory. Once there, she slipped into one of the windows as fast as she could and slumped to the ground, where the bullets couldn't hit her.
"Holy shit!" a female Saint exclaimed. "Yang, are you okay?"
"Don't worry about it!" Yang replied, still clutching her side in pain. "Though… I will admit that I'm more used to making bad guys bleed instead of the other way around".
"Yeah, it's pretty ironic, huh?" the Faunus man from earlier asked before being knocked unconscious by his friend.
"So, you got a plan, boss?" another Saint asked as she resumed firing out the windows.
"Well, it used to be that I'd just bust in here and save the day, like I usually do" Yang replied. "But… how about you keep doing what you're doing while I go patch myself up?"
"Uh… I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we're kind of on our last legs here" a Saint pointed out.
"Relax, I had the front door reinforced!" Yang insisted as she forced herself to her feet. "They aren't getting in here!"
Then, as if on cue, the front gate burst open and sent the boxes used to barricade it flying everywhere.
"You were saying, Goldilocks?" Mercury asked in the doorway with his kicking foot still raised.
"Uh… guess I spoke too soon" Yang replied.
"So…" Mercury said as the Saints all raised their guns towards the entrance. "I'm guessing this would be the part where I ask you to surrender, and you refuse out of bravado, loyalty to your crew, or some other bullshit that I'll have to listen to while you bleed to death all over my new boots".
"Uh, actually, how about we just throw down our flags and call it a day?" Yang said as she raised her hands.
"Wow, seriously?" Mercury asked as the other Saints followed Yang's lead. "I guess you're not as dumb as we thought".
He then quickly snapped his fingers and pointed towards the ground.
"Face on the floor, hands behind your back" Mercury ordered. "And please, please don't do anything stupid".
"Oh, I wouldn't even think of doing that…" Yang said as she lay down on the ground.
Two Embers then began cautiously approaching her, guns both at the ready as they reached down to start tying her arms together. But, right when she knew they were over her, Yang bit down on her tongue as hard as she could and activated her semblance, causing her long blonde hair to suddenly catch fire and scorch the two men who had tried to restrain her.
Then then kicked out her legs and began to spin, sending her fire out in all directions and burning anyone who was too close - besides the Saints who were still face-down on the floor.
"Of course…" Mercury said boredly as his aura protected him from harm. "Guess I have to deal with this myself…"
He then sprinted his way towards Yang and launched himself into a flying kick, which the blonde met with a powerful punch that halted him in the air. The hidden guns within Mercury's boots fired a moment later, the bullets grazing Yang's stomach and drawing even more blood.
"Shit!" Yang cursed before moving in for another punch.
"You know, I'm actually kind of glad you decided to fight back" Mercury said as he easily dodged Yang's blows. "I mean, yeah, Cinder will chew me out for losing the chance to 'interrogate' you, but I'd much rather be yelled at for five minutes than have to listen to your screams all month".
"Aw, come on!" Yang said as she listened to the other gangsters scramble for their guns around her. "That wouldn't be so bad! After all, something tells me you don't get to hear girls moan that often~"
Mercury couldn't help but roll his eyes at that joke, giving Yang the opportunity she'd been waiting for to swing her fist down with all her might. Mercury was still able to dodge it, but the force of the punch sent out a shockwave so powerful that it actually lifted him off his feet and launched Mercury back out the front gate. The other Saints, meanwhile, finished off the remaining Embers before turning all their guns on Mercury.
"Is this the part where you refuse to be defeated and run back right into our gunfire?" Yang asked sarcastically. "I sure hope so!"
"Uh… how about we call this one a draw?" Mercury asked before activating the white Dust in his boots and taking off towards his car. "Later!"
"Heh, an asshole who finally knows when to back off?" Yang asked as the other Saints fired on the fleeing car. "Now that's ironic. Hehe- ow. Does anyone have any bandages?"
Back in the western residential district, the fighting was still very intense. Explosions and gunshots were happening everywhere as The Embers and The Saints battled it out on the streets, with The Embers only slightly holding the upper hand.
There, an orange-clad woman managed to corner one Saint by a park bench and knocked him to the ground before placing her gun right against his skull.
"Say 'goodnight', bitch!" she growled as she cocked her revolver.
The Saint expected things to end a moment later, but the final shot never came. Instead, a red blur suddenly came by and swept the Ember away, leaving the Saint alone and confused.
The red blur turned out to be none other than Ruby Rose, still riding her tricycle and now carrying the Ember tightly by her throat.
"Okay; nighty night!" Ruby said before slamming the woman's face down onto the pavement before taking out her pistol from her shirt and taking aim at anyone wearing orange.
"Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAAA-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!" Ruby sang happily to herself gunned down anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way.
That was, until, she noticed a pile of adorable puppies sitting in the middle of the road, which caused her to panic and try to skid to a stop. She was moving far too fast, however, so she ended up rolling her tricycle, wrecking it and leaving her with several painful bruises.
"Ow…" Ruby groaned as she lay there on the ground. "That hurt… but at least I saved those poor pooches!"
When she looked in front of her, however, the puppies were nowhere to be seen.
"W-what?" Ruby gasped. "Where did they go?"
"Wow, I can't believe that worked" Emerald said as she walked up behind Ruby. "I thought for sure you'd plow right through them".
"Of course not!" Ruby replied, offended. "I run over people in my rides all the time, but I'm no monster!"
"Yeah, I'll be sure to put that on your tombstone" Emerald replied sarcastically as she activated one of her knife wristbands.
She then stabbed them all downwards towards the young crime lord, only for all the blades to be blocked by a wheel from Ruby's destroyed tricycle.
"Sorry, but if I am going to die, it's going to involve a lot more explosions!" Ruby said as she held the tire in place in front of her.
"Oh, well, if you insist" Emerald said before snapping her fingers. Two grenades fell out of the sky a moment later and bounced on the ground right next to Ruby, sending her into a panic.
Ruby quickly activated her semblance and dashed off in a random direction, escaping their blast radiuses just in time.
"Phew!" Ruby sighed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "That was close!"
Ruby's short respite was suddenly cut off by another snapping of fingers, followed by even more grenades falling to her feet.
"Oh poo…" Ruby swore as she started running again.
This time she didn't have time to stop, as the bombs kept falling behind her and forcing her to run further and further to stay safe.
"Keep on running, Red" Emerald called out as she filed her nails from a nearby bench. "I'm sure I'll run out eventually!"
Ruby knew she couldn't keep this up forever, though, as she was already starting to pant heavily and slow down. But, then she realized as the glanced behind her that none of the grenades were leaving craters, which got her thinking.
"Hey, wait a minute…" thought Ruby. "Those bombs are like those puppies! Mean, other than how adorable and awesome they both are! Which means… there isn't anything really stopping em from doing this!"
Ruby suddenly deviated from her path and launched herself towards Emerald, intending to tackle her. Instead, she just passed straight through the dark-skinned woman's body and ended up with a face-full of wooden bench.
"Oh, so you do have a working brain cell in that head of yours" Emerald's disembodied voice said nearby. "Too bad it won't be working for long…"
Ruby quickly sat up and tried to locate the source of the voice, but her efforts were cut short by a sudden shot to the shoulder. The gunfire then just kept coming, very loud but she couldn't see any muzzle flash or gun anywhere - at least, one that was being aimed at her, that is.
Unsure of what to do, Ruby began running once again, zigging and zagging to avoid shots as she slowly felt her energy drain from her body. She started to wonder what she could do to get out of this mess, when it finally hit her.
"Hey, wait a second… my brain!" Ruby said to herself. "That's it!"
She then ran over behind a nearby car that she was relatively sure was safe and took out her handgun again.
"Sorry little guy, but this is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you!" Ruby apologized before pistolwhipping herself in the face. "Ow…" Ruby groaned as stars started to fill her vision.
She then glanced out from behind the car and saw Emerald approaching with her knives at the ready, but she didn't look worried to see Ruby looking at her. So, Ruby just pretended not to see Emerald until she was right up next to her, at which point Ruby fired several rounds into the other girl's chest.
"What the-" Emerald gasped as she felt her shoulder start to bleed. "How is this even possible!?"
"Sorry, but the only magic tricks I like involve bunnies and hats, and you're no lagomorph!" Ruby replied as she reloaded her gun.
"Well then, maybe you'll like this trick…" Emerald said as she took out a smoke grenade and pulled the pin.
Realizing what was about to happen, Ruby tried to tackle Emerald before she got away, but by then it was already too late. The smoke was too thick for her to see anything, and Emerald was able to slip off unnoticed. By the time the smoke had cleared, Ruby was alone again in the middle of the street.
"Darn…" Ruby cursed as she kicked a stray can. "I always hated disappearing acts… I guess that means I can help my homies now at lea-"
Ruby was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a large explosion which, judging from the flames rising from the east, originated all the way at Beacon.
"Oh no! Weiss" Ruby gasped before activating her semblance once again.
Meanwhile, Weiss's car engine roared as she sped towards Beacon as fast as she could. Peering ahead, she saw that the last of Cinder's men were still just arriving in their cars in front of a ruined front gate. It didn't take them long to notice Weiss coming, through, at which point they began peppering her engine block with as much fire as they could muster.
"Shit… so much for surprising the surprise attack" Weiss lamented before ramming into one of the Embers and pinning him painfully to his own car. Weiss then stepped out of the car and raised both of her hands, using her right to summon a glyph to block incoming shots while her left gunned down any Ember within view. Then, as soon as she was done killing everyone on her left, she switched hands and took out everyone on her right until there was no one left standing in between her and the entrance to Beacon.
Inside, she found the bodies of dead Saints and Embers strewn about all over the place, but she didn't see or hear any fighting going on at all. Then, she arrived in the cafeteria, where the ceiling was caved in from what was probably a very large explosion and Cinder herself was holding a female Saint by the throat.
"I will ask you one last time…" Cinder whispered to the woman in a calm, yet somehow still terrifying voice. "Where are your leaders?"
"Put her down, Cinder!" Weiss called out as she entered the room. "It's me you're looking for!"
"Ah, Ms. Schnee. Long time no see." Cinder greeted as she tossed the Saint to the side. "I suppose The Saints' number four will do for now".
"Hey! I'll have you know that I'm at least number three, and more than enough to take you on!" Weiss insisted pridefully.
"You always were such a petulant child" Cinder replied with a giggle. "It's about time someone finally gave you some… corporal punishment".
"I'd like to see you try!" Weiss shouted as she summoned another glyph and used it to accelerate her towards Cinder.
It looked like Weiss was coming in for a punch, so Cinder merely raised up her gloved hands and summoned some fire into them. Instead, Weiss simply tossed a grenade she'd been hiding into Cinder's scolding palms and leapt over her, leaving Cinder with a bomb that promptly exploded in her hands without the pin ever needing to be pulled.
When the dust cleared, however, she seemed to be completely fine.
"Clever…" Cinder complimented as she wiped the ashes from her dress. "I suppose I taught you a little too well, didn't I?"
Weiss almost responded but ultimately held her tongue, since she didn't want to bother playing Cinder's mind games. Instead, Weiss raised her pistol and opened fire, aiming right between the woman's eyes. Cinder didn't even try to run for cover, though, and just casually walked forward as she moved her head side to side to dodge the incoming bullets.
"Although, you always did skip shooting practice" Cinder said as she finally reached Weiss and grabbed her by the hand.
Weiss's reply came in the form of ball of spit colliding with Cinder's face, causing the crime lord flinch and start burning up.
"Hmmph!" Cinder grunted as she held out Weiss's wrist in front of her. "And it looks like you still need to learn some respect too!"
Cinder then summoned another fire in her left hand while her right held Weiss's arm in place, allowing her to deliver a painful slap to Weiss's exposed wrist.
"Augh!" Weiss cried out as she felt the skin on her arm burn.
"You know… it still isn't too late" Cinder whispered as she pulled Weiss closer. "The bridges haven't been burned yet… you can still come back to us if you really want".
"Like hell I will!" Weiss growled in reply.
"Well, if you insist" Cinder said as she began to burn Weiss's arm with her right hand.
Weiss, however, took this as an opportunity to headbutt Cinder, stunning the other woman just long enough for her to escape and pick her gun back up off the floor. Deciding that she had played with her fellet long enough, Cinder began summoning fireballs into her hands and tossing them towards Weiss, who had run as fast as she could to avoid the massive explosions that were trailing behind her with every step.
Weiss did her best to keep trying to shoot Cinder, but it didn't take her very long for her gun to run dry and leave her completely defenseless.
"Shit!" Weiss swore as she desperately searched through the rubble for another clip, but she quickly found herself interrupted by a hand clamping onto her throat.
"Weiss, you know there aren't enough bullets in the world to kill a woman like me" Cinder told her with a smile. "You, on the other hand, don't even merit one".
"Actually, I'd disagree" a voice suddenly chimed in.
Turning, Cinder saw Ruby standing above Smiley's shark tank, the glass of which was already full of holes and leaking quite heavily.
"I'd say she deserves oooooone more" Ruby right before shooting the glass one last time and flooding the cafeteria in salt water.
The wave of water was more than enough to swipe Cinder and Weiss off their feet, carrying them along in the current as Ruby rode through the waves atop her pet great white.
"Yeehaw!" Ruby shouted as she enjoyed the ride of her life.
"Ruby!" Weiss coughed as she swam over to her boss. "What the hell!?"
"Shh, don't think about it!" Ruby replied as she helped Weiss onto the shark. "Just enjoy!"
It didn't take that much longer for the water to completely dissipate, however, which left Ruby and Weiss sitting atop a beached great white while Cinder struggled to get to her feet.
"Why you little-" Cinder growled as she tried to summon more fire into her hands, only to find her gloves no longer working. "What? Damn… I suppose I will have to do this myself".
"Okay, you do that!" Ruby replied before snapping her fingers summoning a dozen waiting Saints into the room. "Buuuut as a leader, I think it's about time I delegated".
Cinder simply giggled in response.
"Well played, Ms. Rose" she complimented. "You win this round".
"Oh boy!" Ruby said excitedly. "What did I win?"
"One more day" Cinder replied before summoning a ring of orange glyphs around her and using it to blow a hole in the wall behind her. The Saints tried following behind her but found themselves quickly stopped by more explosive glyphs blocking their paths, allowing Cinder to escape outside with ease.
"Wait…" Ruby mumbled to herself as she watched all this happen. "She can explode!? Why didn't anyone tell me this!? How does she do it? Does she use her mind?! Can she blow people up from the inside?! IS SHE A GRENADE?! Does she hide explosives up her skirt?! I must know!"
"I'll tell you later, okay?" Weiss sighed as the other Saints worked to haul Smiley back to what was left of the aquarium. "Right now, I just need a good fucking salv!"
"I wonder if those grenades chafe against her-" Ruby continued before being interrupted by Weiss snapping "There are no grenades up her skirt!"
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I have been super busy and stressed out about other things, but I finally got around to another chapter! I hope you all liked it, and if you did, be sure to let me know in a review!
Story beta-read by Mr. Stark 357