The fires were still crackling by the time Cinder Fall arrived at Mercury's casino, and the firefighters there were trying in vain to keep it under control. In spite of all their hoses spraying water and white dust everywhere, the blaze was anything but receding and threatened to engulf the whole upper half of the skyscraper at any moment. From the outside, the orange flames lit up the night sky, practically making it a giant candle in the night.

"Shit!" the firefighter captain swore as she adjusted her gas mask. "Someone get more hoses up here! This isn't enough!"

It was then that she finally noticed the elegantly dressed woman next to her who seemed to be walking through the flames like they weren't even there.

"Huh? Aero, I thought I told you to evacuate the build-" the captain shouted before she was abruptly cut off.

"That won't be necessary, my dear" Cinder replied cooly. "I have everything under control…"

"Wait, stop, you'll get-" the firefighter begged only for Cinder to walk right into the inferno. She remained perfectly calm, however, and before any of the flames could even so much as touch her skin, she summoned a circle of orange glyphs around her and the fire began to be pulled towards them instead. Soon, all the flames in the room began streaming towards the glyphs like a river, leaving behind whatever they were burning. By the time Cinder was done, the room had turned from bright orange to grey ash - still ruined, but much preferable to losing the whole skyscraper.

"You can go now" Cinder told the stunned firefighters behind her.

"But… we haven't-" their captain began before Cinder promptly shut her down.

"That wasn't a suggestion" she glared.

"Uh… yes ma'am!" the captain said with a hurried salute. "We'll get right out of your hair!"

They then quickly gathered up their equipment and went back down the stairwell, past where Mercury had been leaning against the wall in wait. Seeing that the situation was finally under control, he finally reentered his casino.

"About time you got here" he told Cinder as he surveyed the wreckage. "For a second there I thought this place was about to take our namesake a little too literally".

"You'll forgive me if I'm not in a joking mood, Mercury" Cinder replied. "Where are The Saints?"

"They took off a few minutes ago. I've got a few boys chasing them down as we speak, but I wouldn't put money on them succeeding" Mercury explained. "Not that placing bets is an option anymore".

"Hey, what's going on?" Junior asked as he reentered the room too. "Are things finally under control?"

"Yeah, they are" Mercury said sardonically. "Oh, and thanks for helping with that, by the way. Couldn't have done it without you".

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, not everyone in this gang has fire powers like her" Junior argued back.

"That's enough, you two" Cinder interrupted.. "I'm very disappointed in you, Mercury. This kind of thing I expect from Junior, but you I expected much better than this.

"Wait, what?" Junior asked in confusion, but Cinder just ignored him.

"This is exactly the kind of unnecessary damage I'd hoped we'd avoid, and regardless of Junior's failure to protect the casino, it was still under your protection and management, which means that you will have to suffer the consequences" Cinder continued. "That will be a million Lien off your pay for the next month".

"Darn!" Mercury cursed as he snapped his fingers. "So much for that getting that new fleet of cars I saw in the store window the other day".

"A million Lien!?" Junior exclaimed. "That's almost as much as I make in a whole year! Why don't you pay me that much?"

"Well, let's see…" Mercury began. "I've been in the gang longer, my operations make more money than you, I have a higher kill count than you and, oh, let's not forget that I'm not just a shitty bartender".

"Well, he's not wrong" added Cinder.

"Screw this…" Junior sighed in frustration as he went back out the door he came. "I'm going back to Taijitu night back at my place. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll see another trust fund baby try and drink a barstool".

"You do that" dismissed Mercury. "So, what's the plan now, Cindy?"

"Well, I'm relatively certain I just eliminated half of The Saint's leadership, so all we really need to do is track down the final half and snuff them out as well" she replied.

"Sounds like a plan" smiled Mercury. "Now, if you don't mind me, I've got some logs to saw".

"Be my guest" said Cinder. "I'm sure they'll perfect for lighting The Saint's pyre in the morning…"


"Woohoo!" Ruby shouted as she hung out the window of Weiss's car, tossing Lien cards everywhere as they sped down the road towards Beacon. "That was awesome!"

"Ruby, stop that!" Weiss groaned. "I went through a lot of trouble stealing all those, you know!"

"I'm sorry, it's just… I'm so hyped right now!" Ruby giggled as she sat back down. "That was our first big casino heist, after all! And it was soooo much simpler than they make it look in the movies! No distracting guards, deliberately getting caught, or last minute betrayals! Just good, old-fashioned gunplay!"

"Yeah, well, this might seem like fun and games to you, but you're not the one who has to launder the money to make sure we can't be tracked" Weiss grumbled.

"Launder Lien?" Ruby asked. "Is that to get all the blood off it or something? If so, then maybe I can help! No one's faster at washing things than me!"

Weiss didn't reply and simply let out a long sigh before staring off towards the former school in front of ther.

"Say, do you think this car would sink if I drove it into the bay?" asked Weiss.

"Er, yeah, probably" answered Ruby. "Why?"

"Just something I think about a lot when I'm driving with you." Weiss replied as she finally parked the car in front of Beacon's front door.

"Let's go see how badly they screwed up this time" Weiss told Ruby as they entered the cafeteria.

"Hey, I resent that!" Yang shouted from a couch inside, still covered in soot and ash. "We held her off just like we were supposed to!"

"Did they burn down The Cat House again?" Weiss immediately asked.

"N-no!" Yang stuttered. "They blew it up! Completely different!"

"Of course…" Weiss sighed as she sat down next to Yang.

"Hey, don't act so grumpy, girls!" Ruby insisted chipperly. "Our plan worked, after all!"

"Well, technically it did, but I wouldn't rush to call this a victory" interjected Blake from another chair. "We might have dealt The Embers a massive blow, but they hit us almost as hard - and we don't' have nearly the kind of buffer cash they do".

"Hmph! I guess Vale didn't need Captain Pyrrha's help after all - the gangs are just going to wipe themselves out!" whined Weiss.

"Okay, I'll admit that maybe that last plan wasn't the best thought out, but I'm sure that things will go better next time!"

"Oh? And what's your next big plan, 'Boss'?" Weiss asked sarcastically. "Stand out in the middle of an open field with targets painted on our backs in the hope that we can somehow reflect their bullets back if they hit our skulls at the right angles?!"

"Actually… acting as bait might not be such a bad idea" said Blake.

"Oh no, not you too, Blake!" Weiss gasped. "You're supposed to be the smart one! You can't leave me alone with these morons!"

"Calm down, calm down. Just hear me out, okay?" Blake replied. "Thanks to that last escapade, Cinder now believes that Yang and I are dead. That means that they'll be gunning extra hard for you two. So, if we were to place you two somewhere public - but unimportant to us - then that would give us the chance to hit them and draw their fire away from our gang at the same time. Kinda like Ruby's earlier plan, but with the kinks worked out".

"Yay!" Ruby cheered. "I always knew I was secretly a kinky genius!"

"Woah there!" Weiss interrupted. "So, I'm just supposed to go along with all this? Just because I work with one doesn't mean I'm a suicidal nut too!"

"What's the matter, Weiss?" Yang asked with a cough. "Can't handle the heat?"

"As if! I just don't want to put my neck on the line for no reason…" Weiss replied.

"Well, if you can't handle it…" Yang said snidely.

"Fine!" snapped Weiss. "I'm a professional, after all; this should be nothing I can't handle".

"Yay for professionalism!" Ruby said as she jumped up and down excitedly.

"So, where do you plan on hitting The Embers while we distract Cinder?" Weiss asked, ignoring Ruby completely.

"I was thinking we could try capturing Junior's Club first" Blake replied. "It's on the edge of their territory, it'll only be partly defended, and it will give us a decent boost in Lien if we can-"

"Ha!" Yang suddenly laughed. "We don't need a reason to rain on that asshole's parade! Let's just bust in and ruin his day… permanently".

"Wait, wouldn't that mean you'd be ruining the rest of his life?" Ruby pointed out. "Or do you just plan on ruining his time during the day, like he was a vampire, or a ninja, or a ninja vampire".

"Augh, it's a figure of speech!" Yang explained. "It means that I am going to murder the shit out of him! Figuratively. Well, and also literally too, I guess, considering how hard I plan on punching him".

"Woohoo! Now that's a plan I can get behind figuratively, literally, and literarily!" Ruby cheered.

"And that's when I killed them, your honor" Weiss thought to herself.

"Now then" Ruby said, placing a friendly arm around Weiss's shoulder, "it might take a while for The Embers to finally launch their attack, but don't worry, Weiss! I know just the place we can hang out until they do!"


"You know… I'm not even surprised" Weiss said to herself, surrounded by the sound of arcade noises, cheesy music, and the smell of even cheesier pizza. After spending the night and most of the next day recovering, Ruby finally put her plan into action, sending Blake and Yang over to Junior's club while she and Weiss found themselves in a small building stacked wall to wall with children and faulty animatronics.

"Aw, what's the matter, Weiss?" Ruby said next to her. "Grimm E. Cheese's supposed to to be a place of fun and enjoyment! Lighten up a little!"

"You'll have to forgive me if the thought of processed cheese doesn't exactly sit well with me" Weiss deadpanned. "Besides, isn't this place for little kids? Are you sure they'll even let us inside?"

"Oh, don't worry, they know me here" Ruby replied.

"Oh god, it's her again!" someone shouted from inside the restaurant. "We've got a code red!"

"Evacuate all the children and nonessential employees!" someone else shouted over the sound of screaming. "Shut down the ovens! Buy new fire extinguishers! Make sure we're still insured!"

"See, no problem!" Ruby smiled. "Now all we have to do is pass the time until Cinder shows up!"

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about any kids getting in the way" Weiss grumbled as frightened parents streamed past her.

Ruby seemed to be completely oblivious to the chaos breaking out around her and simply skipped over to the dining area and sat down at a table with a large birthday cake on it, it's candles still lit.

"Oooh, free cake!" Ruby cooed right before grabbing a fistfull of it.

Weiss rolled her eyes a little but nonetheless took a seat across from Ruby as a terrified teenager in a monochrome uniform walked up to them.

"C-can I take your order?" the waiter asked nervously over the sound of Ruby crunching a candle in half.

""I'll haff the biggesh cheesh pisha you haf!" Ruby mumbled through her food.

"Coming right up, ma'am!" she hastily replied before rushing off to the kitchen. She returned a few seconds later with an enormous pizza and placed it between the two gangsters. "Here you are, ma'am!"

"Thank you!" Ruby said as she tossed a fistful of Lien in the girl's direction. "Now this, Weiss, is service! Better than even a five-star restaurant!"

"Well, I'll give you that at least…" Weiss said before grabbing a slice and taking a bite.


"Alright everyone, here's the plan" Cinder said as she addressed the Embers gathered in her boardroom around a large replica of Beacon.

"I know that Ms. Rose and her lieutenants - excuse me, lieutenant - sleep and spend most of their time in this area of the complex" she said, pointing towards the dormitories with a long, extendable pointer. "I'm going to infiltrate the building and silently subdue any guards I encounter along the way. Once I've finally located The Saints' leaders, my tactics will start to grow a lot less subtle. If for some reason I do not call someone myself to commence the main attack, you can take the distant sound of screaming and the rising smoke as your signal. Focus on eliminating their lower level members and cutting off all avenues of escape, and I'll take care of the Huntresses myself".

"No you won't" interrupted Mercury as he stared at his phone.

"Doubting my abilities, are we?" Cinder replied, starting to grow annoyed. "Perhaps you would like a refresher of what exactly I can do?"

"That won't be necessary - and neither will this little toy set of yours" Mercury said, turning his phone around. "Take a look".

Onscreen was news footage of SWAT cars surrounding a Grimm E. Cheese's while a female reporter spoke into the camera. Cinder couldn't hear what the woman was saying at first, but Mercury quickly turned up the volume to fix that.

"... according to reports, the infamous Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee are both inside this building as we speak" Jane Valderamo explained.

The camera then zoomed into the restaurant to show a smiling Ruby next to a frowning Weiss as they both rode mechanical forces with their guns set off to the side.

"There has been no word yet on whether or not they've stolen anything, taken any hostages, or made any demands, but the Vale PD has been monitoring the situation closely for any developments".

"So, as much as I'd love to see you sneak in with that catsuit, what do you say we just sit back, relax, and let the cops do our job for us?" Mercury asked as he turned off his phone's screen.

"Well, I must admit that this does make things a bit simpler for us, but I'd hardly call this a reason to slack off" Cinder replied. "All this does is change our destination".

"Oh, come on!" Mercury whined. "We finally get a lucky break, and we don't take advantage of it!?"

"You know as well as I do that luck doesn't exist" Cinder replied. "Besides, I think the Vale PD has shown exactly how capable they are at handling The Saints. 'Lucky' for them, however, that's about to change. Call the mayor and let her know that the force just got two new captains…"

"Of course Emerald just had to be out whacking some senator the day I have to talk to the biggest bitch in town…" Mercury grumbled as he typed in the mayor's number. "Hello, beautiful! How's it going? 'Kay, listen, we need a little favor…"


"Oh no, Weiss! Look out!" Ruby warned as she ducked behind cover and began blind firing over it. "They're coming right for you!"

"You do realize that ducking doesn't actually do anything, right?" Weiss said dully as she kept firing her toy gun towards the computer screen in front of her. "And even if it did, Grimm don't really use projectiles, so what are you even hiding from?"

"Ssh!" Ruby shushed. "Not now, Weiss! I'm in the zone!"

Ruby then popped up from behind the stand that held the light guns between games and pulled the trigger before the screen suddenly shattered from a very real bullet.

"Shit!" Weiss swore as the entire arcade was suddenly peppered with bullets from the outside. "Get down!"

Ruby quickly ducked back down behind her stand.

"On the other side, you moron!" Weiss shouted.

Both gangsters scrambled to the other side of the arcade cabinet as the police outside kept on firing into the restaurant.

"Well, so much for the cops holding back for the employees…" Weiss grumbled angrily.

"Yeah, in retrospect, maybe I chose a place a little bit too public to act as bait" Ruby said awkwardly.

"Next time, I choose the plan, got it?" Weiss said as she prepped her real handguns. "

"Fair enough" Ruby conceded as tear gas canisters were launched into the room.

The first SWAT Teams entered the building through the shattered windows a few seconds later, fanning out over the sound of verbally thankful employees. The group that entered on the right didn't make it far before Ruby finally burst out from hiding and opened fire with her twin guns.

"10 points!" she exclaimed as she gunned down the officer in front. "20 points! 40 points!"

The last officer in the group managed to get close enough that Ruby just tried smacking her away, only to find the woman miraculously still standing.

"Combo breaker~" the cop said confidently as she held Ruby's guns firmly in place.

"That voice…" Ruby whispered before jumping backwards away from the 'cop'.

"Surprised to see me, darling?" Cinder asked from under her gas mask and body armor as she stepped over the dead bodies around her. "I'll admit that I usually wear more… expensive attire, but at least this comes close to the power my clothes usually convey".

"Oh my gosh!" Ruby squealed as her eyes lit up. "You're actually here! Uh, could you continue being right here for a few moments? I need to, uh… go to the little girl's room!"

Ruby then turned to run in the opposite direction, only to find herself suddenly strangled by her cape as Cinder grabbed onto her hood.

"Sorry, but you're not going any-" Cinder began to say only to be cut off as Ruby's cape became unbuttoned and Cinder accidentally smacked herself in the face.

Ruby quickly took this as her chance to escape and began running throughout the restaurant, including past Weiss as she battled her own SWAT teams.

"What the- hey!" Weiss shouted as she watched a red streak fly by her position. "Where are you going? The guys who need killing are the other way!"

"Sorry, Weiss, I just need to make a quick text!" Ruby replied. "Cinder's here!"

"Wait, she is? Where?!" Weiss said as she stopped firing for a moment. "Hey, don't just leave me there with these-"

Weiss was cut off as the tear gas finally reached her, and she had to take a moment to stop herself from coughing too hard.


Back on the ritzier, less child-friendly part of the commercial district, both Yang and Blake waited patiently at the end of a very long line that led into Junior's club. Yang was dressed in an expensive white coat with black sleeves, short black tights, black combat boots, and thigh high black stockings. Blake, meanwhile, was just dressed in her normal clothing and busy playing games on her phone.

"Seriously?" Yang asked, looking her friend up and down. "We're having ourselves a night on the town, and you're wearing the same shit you did yesterday?"

"Well, we are technically still at work, you know" Blake pointed out.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you can't take the chance to live a little!" Yang replied. "We're at the club, after all, and I for one plan on having as much fun as I can".

Just then Yang's own phone began buzzing and she took it out of one of her pockets to read the text she just received.

"It's play time!" the message from Ruby read.

"Now we're talking!" Yang smirked before reaching into her coat and pulling out two machine pistols. She then pointed one into the air and began firing, sending the college kids around her running in fear and clearing the line in the process.

"Heh, I always wanted to do that" Yang said as she tossed her empty gun to the side. The Ember bouncer guarding the door quickly pulled his own gun, a revolver, but he was unable to react in time before Yang gunned him down as well.

"Come on!" Yang said excitedly as she tossed Blake the fallen man's gun. "Let's dance!"

The two then opened the front door and stepped inside, revealing a polished, black room with a grey dance floor, a few glass pillars, overhanging spotlights, and a large bar off to the side being manned by none other than Junior himself. It was clear that from the way they were acting that the loud, thumping disco music had managed to drown out the chaos that had just happened outside. So they were still just going about their business dancing, getting drunk, and not-so-subtly exchanging money with men in black and orange suits for blue and green syringes. But, after only a few steps inside, one of the guards finally spotted them.

"Hey, I know you!" one of them shouted as he approached Yang. "I thought we kicked you out of here for go-"

"Kick this!" Yang interrupted right before she punted the man right into an overhead speaker, shorting it out and catching everyone's attention.

"Sorry everyone, but the party is over" Blake announced, spinning the chamber of her gun. "Try not to trample anyone's legs on your way out, though - we still need you all coming back next week, after all".

"Somehow, I knew she wouldn't go down that easily" Junior sighed before taking out his Batzooka and firing a shot towards Yang.

The blonde saw this coming, however, and managed to punch the grenade towards the side and causing it to explode harmlessly on a nearby wall. This sent the dancers into a full-blown panic, however, and they began running towards the front door en masse in a desperate attempt to escape.

"Pft, amateurs" Yang scoffed. "A little explosion never stopped me from rocking before!"

A few of Junior's guards quickly moved in to try and eliminate the Saints, but quickly lost sight of them as they waded into the panicking crowd. One of them almost managed to line up a decent shot on Blake before suddenly receiving a strong punch to the jaw, knocking him out.

"Hope you don't mind if I cut in!" Yang joked as the man's blood ran down her fingers.

Seeing this, Blake took Yang's lead and waded into the crowd before sneaking up on another Ember, tripping him off of his legs, and breaking one with a violent twist.

As the girls kept making their way through the crowd, two Embers armed with sniper rifles appeared on the balcony above the bar and took aim at the Saints right as they reached their next victims. Blake reacted quickly enough to use her Ember as a human shield to block the shot, but Yang took her bullet straight to the aura. This activated her semblance and caused her hair to start glowing with flaming rage, filling her with more than enough strength to lift up the guard next to her and hurl him straight into the sniper that shot her.

The other sniper was taken aback at this, but quickly tried to refocus and get a few more shots off on Blake. By then though, the crowd had finally managed to clear the building, allowing the rest of the Embers the chance to open fire with their sub-machine guns. Yang managed to get a running head start and slid under the first barrage of bullets, spraying her own gun wildly as she did so and managing to shoot two of the goons in front of her before tripping the third with a swipe to the legs.

Blake, meanwhile, went straight for the bar and filled the Ember next to Junior full of holes before he could even get a shot off. Junior tried swinging his Batzooka down at her only for Blake to jump onto his face and use his extreme height to reach the balcony above him. She then used the last rounds in her revolver to finish off the Ember Yang had knocked down before picking up his rifle and taking out the other one.

Standing back up, Blake quickly took aim across the dance floor opened fire at the guards running towards the bar. Yang, meanwhile, took a moment to shoot the guy she had tripped with his own gun before dashing towards the side of the bar. Everyone with a clear shot at her opened fire as she dashed in, shattering rows upon rows of alcohol bottles behind her. Junior quickly saw her coming and braced for one of her powerful punches, only to for her to duck right past him. Surprised, Junior turned around and saw her smiling at the end of the bar with a lit lighter in her hand.

"Anyone up for cocktails?" she asked right before she dropped her lighter and the alcohol-drenched bar caught fire.

Junior let out a pained scream as the flames overtook his body, but his aura managed to take most of the damage and he managed to escape the blaze quickly by jumping out over the bar.

"I always knew I was too hot for this club" Yang smirk as she dashed out onto the dance floor.

Furious, Junior tried firing another grenade at Yang as she ran, only for it to hit one of the dance floor's glass pillars instead, knocking it over onto one of his men in the process and crushing off both his legs.

"Now that's what I call to left feet!" Yang quipped as she reloaded her gun and jumped back into the fray.

While Yang kept fighting on the ground, Blake kept sniping whoever she could, whittling down The Ember's numbers one by one. Unfortunately, due to the the combined cacophony of music and gunfire, she didn't hear the man that was running up behind her until he was two steps away. She tried turning around to try and hit him with the butt of her gun but just ended up being tackled over the balcony to the floor below. She managed to land past the flames emanating from the bar, but was still pinned down by the Ember above and started fighting over the gun.

"I've got you now!" the guard growled as he tightened his grip on the gun.

But, right before Blake lost her grip, the guard saw another Blake run up to him from the side and move to kick him right in the head. He naturally flinched at the sight and moved to protect his face, only for the shadow clone's foot to pass lightly through his body. This gave Blake more than enough opportunity to take the gun and switch their positions, shooting two more Embers as they charged at her before finally knocking the guard out with the butt of gun.


"And… send!" Ruby said proudly to herself as she stood alone in a broom closet. "Alright, now to get back to work!"

She then ran back outside and found herself instantly tripped by a hard, metallic leg, causing her to end up sliding on her face across the floor into a completely different room.

"Ow…" Ruby moaned in pain as she pried herself off the ground.

When she finally looked up she saw herself in the restaurant's bumper car coom with Mercury in a police uniform following in closely behind her.

"You sure about that, Ms. Rose?" Mercury asked as he put his foot on top of a nearby bumper car. "You know what they say… all work and no play…"

He then kicked the bumper car forward with immense force, sending it hurtling towards Ruby so fast that she just barely had enough time to roll out of the way. She quickly got back onto her feet and tried dashing her way out of the ring only to find her escape blocked by a clear, plastic wall.

"Oh… right…" she groaned with her face pressed up against the window.

Just then, more cops rounded a corner and noticed Ruby standing there, to which she gave them a nervous smile. The two wasted no time opening fire on her with their assault rifles, punching holes in the plastic barrier and forcing Ruby to dodge out of the way.

"Aw, what's the matter?" Mercury asked as he joined in, opening fire with the guns in his feet. "Don't want to play with us?"

"Sorry… but when it comes to bumper cars, I'd rather be the one bumping people off!" Ruby said panickedly as she kept dodging.

"Or really? Well, that's too bad" Mercury said with faux-sympathy. "I'm afraid survival's against the rules today".

"Say, since when did we start getting equipment that could do all that?" a police officer asked as he entered the room behind Mercury, causing him to pause.

"We just ordered them, but we only have a few since they cost an arm and a leg" he explained, turning around. "Well, mostly just legs".

"Hiya!" Ruby shouted as she suddenly plowed into Mercury from the side in a bumper car going at top speed. "Eat. My. Bumper!"

Mercury quickly regained his composure and held on tightly to the hood of the car, unholstering his pistol and taking aim right for Ruby's face.

"Why you little…" he said right before Ruby rammed him into a wall, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to drop his gun.

"Hang on, I've got you!" the cop Mercury was talking to shouted as he rushed over to try and help.

"And I've got you!" Ruby said as she grabbed the man by the throat and rammed his skull straight into the pole of another car, breaking it and causing sparks to fly as he was electrocuted.

"Heh… just like old times…" Ruby giggled quietly to herself as the man's eyes exploded.

Still pinned, Mercury took this opportunity to punch Ruby in the face, forcing her out of the car and giving him the chance to get loose. At the same time, even more police officers ran into the room and opened fire, shooting Ruby in the shoulder and forcing her to cry out in pain. In response, she quickly activated her semblance, picked her two sub-machine guns back up, and dashed out the broken safety wall while Mercury and the cops fired on her the whole way.

Back at the other side of the restaurant, Weiss was still dealing with SWAT teams of her own, dashing from cover to cover as they all failed to get a clear bead on her. That was, until she charged towards a pair of officers in plain view of an entire squad nearby.

"There she is! Take her down!" their leader ordered right before Weiss summoned a glyph near a gas canister and used it to blow white tear gas right into their faces. "What the- I can't see!"

She and her entire squad fired blindly into the area in front of them, unaffected by the tear gas thanks to their masks but completely unable to see as they heard their friends murdered only a few feet away. By the time the gas cleared a few moments later they saw two dead police officers and exactly zero dead Saints.

They could hear the sound of gunfire in the distance but they knew that it was likely just the other suspect fighting back - they knew Weiss was still around there somewhere, and they weren't leaving until they found her.

The squad leader silently motioned her squad to start moving forward and they began silently sweeping the arcade with their weapons ready, careful to spot even the tiniest movement or sound that was out of place.

"Well, hello there boys and girl-" something suddenly said behind them, causing the entire squad to turn around and empty their entire magazines into the source of the noise. By the time the Dust cleared, however, they found that all they had shot was the Grimm animatronic band, leaving them nothing but sparking wrecks.

"Thank goodness" Said Weiss, who was suddenly standing next to the cops. "I swear, if I had to hear that stupid song one more time, I would have done that myself".

The SWAT team quickly turned around and pulled their triggers, but none of their guns seemed to fire.

"No bullet counting? Seriously?" Weiss asked before opening fire herself, killing them all. "Amateurs".

"Yes… nothing like you, of course" Cinder said as she walked onto the scene behind Weiss. "I see that all those math lessons I gave you really paid off in the end… as well as the ones about resisting riot control".

"If you're expecting me to thank you for locking me in a room with tear gas for three hours a day, you've got another thing coming" Weiss replied as she reloaded and turned around.

"Hmph… I stand corrected then" Cinder said as she summoned some orange glyphs. "In spite of my best efforts, you're still as much of a cry baby as the day we met".

Weiss sneered but didn't let her emotions get the better of her this time. Instead, she summoned a glyph of her own by another tear gas canister and sprayed even more white gas into the area, giving her ample opportunity to slip off before Cinder could do anything.

"Well, at least you took my most important advice to heart" Cinder said casually as she dropped her glyphs and began walking. "Never let your opponent know what you're going to do next".

She then took out her pistol from her holster, pointed it behind her, and fired one blind shot.

"Ah!" Weiss cried out in pain as the bullet went straight through the cardboard cutout she was hiding behind.

"But I taught you everything you know" Cinder pointed out as she turned back around. "So you're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want to surprise me.

Weiss silently winced through the pain she was feeling and unloaded her pistol through the cutout towards Cinder before dashing out towards the main dining area. Cinder was quick to summon more glyphs and began firing sever fireballs at Weiss as as she ran. Weiss, in turn, slid onto her knees and ended up hidden underneath the tablecloth of one of the diner's many tables, causing Cinder's fireballs to collide with some tables at the far end of the room and spraying cheese and tomato sauce everywhere.

"Disgusting…" Cinder said to herself as she wiped the cheese off her uniform and walked towards where Weiss was hiding.

Seeing an opportunity, Weiss laid down onto her back and summoned a glyph onto the bottom of the table before kicking it and sending the food on top flying onto Cinder, followed shortly by the table itself. Weiss then took her chance to dash back towards the stage with the animatronic band and ran backstage, leaving Cinder alone in the diner.

"I just can't take you anywhere without you misbehaving, can I?" Cinder sighed as she followed after her.


Back at Junior's dance club, Yang found herself quickly running out of places to hide as Junior and his men closed in around her.

"Woah there, big boys!" she said as a bullet ricocheted off the glass pillar next to her. "I know you all want me, but you don't have to grind against me this hard!"

A moment later and she had to dodge a swing from Junior's Batzooka as well, which hit the pillar with such force that it nearly caved in.

"Okay, that's it!" Yang shouted. "I'd say that we have a bit too many dicks on the dance floor, don't you agree? Well, let's shake things up a little?"

Ignoring the Embers still firing on her, Yang dashed towards the abandoned turntable at the DJ's booth and picked up one of the records there. She then tossed it towards a nearby Ember, decapitating him in the process before bouncing around the room a few times and returning right to Yang's hand. Placing a pair of headphones next to one ear, Yang placed the record right back onto the turntable and scratched it a few times, smiling the whole time.

"Heh, guess the boys were right when they called me a head turner" Yang laughed to herself before the headphones were shot right out of her hands by the approaching Embers.

Yang didn't let herself get cornered, however, and jumped back onto onto the large, mounted speakers on the wall and used that as a platform to jump up onto the the scaffolding holding up all the lights above the dancefloor. She then began kicking and shooting down as many of the spotlights as she could, making sure to time it so they would land right on top of the Embers below her while Blake kept up her own work with her sniper rifle. It was about this time that Junior realized that his number of guards had dwindled quite considerably, and that maybe it was about time to swallow his pride and call Mercury for help.

But, right as he took out his phone and moved to escape, Yang jumped over to the light above him and said "Sorry, little bear, but it's-"

"Lights out" Blake finished as she shot the base of the light with her sniper rifle, causing the light to fall onto his head and knock him out instantly.

"Hey!" Yang whined as she jumped down. "It's one thing to steal another woman's kill, but you do , not steal her puns!"

"Well, I saw the opportunity and took it" Blake replied as she casually finished off the surviving Embers. "You snooze, you lose".

"Yeah, well, I call dibs on the next one then" Yang said right before Junior let out a low moan. "Oh! Nevermind then! Looks like I've still got a second shot at this! Quick, get me a full martini glass and some Taijitu! This is going to be fun!"

"Augh, what happened?" Junior groaned as he woke back up, seeing Yang standing next to him with a needle in one hand and a glass of alcohol in the other.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Yang said happily. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know what happens when you mix these two here drugs, would you?"

"Fuck!" Junior swore as he tried crawling away, but Blake made sure to hold him in place. "Get the hell away from me, you bi-"

Junior was cut off as he had the martini glass shoved into his mouth and Yang dripped a few drops of Taijitu into it. The drink caught fire and turned blue a moment later before Yang forced the drink down his throat. He tried to scream but his throat was too boiled for that and, a few seconds later, his whole body was set alight from the inside-out.

"Heh, I guess some boys just can't hold their liquor" Yang joked triumphantly as Blake let go of Junior and he flopped onto the floor. Yang then opened up Junior's phone and struck a pose with his body in the background. "Hey, Blake, come here! Say 'cheese'!"


"I think she went this way!" a police officer shouted as he and half a dozen of his heavily armed comrades chased Ruby throughout the halls of Grimm E. Cheese.

"Oh jeez… I need somewhere to hide…" Ruby panted to herself before stopping to peer into a nearby room. "Perfect… just try and catch me now, coppers! Hahahaha!"

"Go go go!" one of the cops shouted as they followed the sound of maniacal laughter into the room, Mercury not far behind them. As soon as they were inside, however, they came to an immediate halt.

"My god…" one of the officers gasped.

All around them were colorful plastic balls, filling the entire playroom up to their knees in bright plastic.

"Well shit…" Mercury swore to himself. "Okay, she has to be in here somewhere. Two of you stay by the door - the rest, stay by me".

He and four officers then began wading into the playroom, their guns drawn as they searched for any sign of movement.

"You see anything yet, Rojo?" one of them asked.

"Nothing yet, Grun" his friend replied. "How about you, Ao?"

There was no reply.

"Ao?"

The group turned to their left and saw that the fifth member was no longer there anymore.

"Shit!" Grun panicked. "Where'd he go?"

This question was met by the soft sound of giggling coming from seemingly everywhere.

"I-I think I see something!" Rojo shouted before firing wildly into the balls in front of him. A second later and he found himself suddenly tripped before being pulled deep into the ball pit behind him, screaming as loud as he could.

"Shit, Rojo!" swore Grun. "We've got to get out of here!"

"Hey! Don't break from the group!" Mercury ordered, but it was too late; he had already made a break for the door only to be tripped and disappear into the balls as well. The remaining officers began to panic as well, firing wildly around the room in the vain hope of possibly hitting her.

"Alright, I think I've seen enough" Mercury said with an eyeroll as he took out several grenades from his uniform. "Don't worry, I promise to tell your spouses you all said something cool before you died".

He then pulled the pins on the grenades dropped them to the ground, and used the guns in his boots lets to jet himself out the door before they exploded. When they finally did go off, they exploded with such force that Ruby - and what was left of the cops - were smashed right through the glass walls of the playroom, leaving her in a glass and plastic-covered heap on the floor.

"I… think I'be had enough playtime for one day…" Ruby whimpered as she shakily got up on her feet. "See you… some other time…"

"Not so fas-" Mercury began to say as Ruby ran off only to be interrupted by a text on his phone. "Oh god damn it…" he groaned as he saw what it was.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the restaurant, Cinder stepped over some spare animatronic parts as she wandered around backstage of the Grimm E. Cheese Band, still hunting Weiss.

"Oh, I get it!" Cinder said to the area around her. "This is about your birthdays, isn't it? Instead of a new book or class, you would have preferred to come someplace like here, right? I'm so sorry; I promise to treat you exactly how you deserve from now on".

An animatronic Beowolf head then started singing right next to her, but Cinder simply ignored it and instead punched straight through the backdrop next to her and nailed Weiss right in the head.

"Same trick twice?" Cinder asked in disbelief. "So disappointing…"

Weiss recovered from the hit as quickly as she could and fired on a nearby rope, causing a sandbag to drop and carry her up to the catwalks above her as she held onto another rope. Cinder followed right behind her, though, doing a few acrobatics across some stage equipment to end up right across from Weiss. She quickly used a glyph to launch another fireball, but Weiss managed to block it with one of her own. The force of the blast was still enough to knock her off her feet, however, and found herself having to roll out of the way as Cinder tried to crush her throat with her high heels. In desperation, Weiss tried shooting Cinder again with her pistol only to have it kicked right out of her hand.

"As much as I'd love to keep playing these games, I think it's finally time we ended this" Cinder said as she raised her hand to summon another glyph. "Say 'hi' to your dear old dad for me, okay?"

"Why don't you?" Weiss asked back defiantly before raising her foot behind Cinder, summoning a glyph beneath it, and slamming her foot down onto the catwalk. Cinder tumbled down to the lower level a second later while Weiss managed to stay on top, giving her time to hobble her way to the nearby fire exit and burst through.

Bullets collided with the building behind her as the cops outside opened fire but, before she could go back inside to take cover, Ruby drove up underneath her in Weisses car and opened the driver's side door.

"Hop in!" Ruby shouted up to her.

Weiss quickly jumped down to the car and immediately pushed Ruby out of the way, taking control of the wheel.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Ruby whined as Weiss shifted gear.

"Just because you saved me doesn't mean you get to drive my car!" Weiss snapped back.

"Aw, come on!" Ruby begged as Weiss floored the gas pedal. "I didn't even have time to play one of the racing games while I was there!"

"Well then, maybe next time you won't spend an hour wasting Lien on that stupid claw game!"

"But Weiss, I was soooo close to winning!" Ruby groaned over the sound of bullets hitting the windshield.


"My my, how the Cinder has fallen…" Mercury joked as he looked down at his fallen boss.

"Not in the mood, Mercury" Cinder replied dryly as she lifted herself up.

"Really now?" Mercury asked. "Well, if you're already in a bad mood, I guess there's no harm in showing you this".

He then turned his phone around and showed it to Cinder, displaying a picture of Yang and Blake smiling and giving peace signs with their fingers next to Junior's charred, dead body. The caption underneath it read "Back from the dead! Don't worry, we found the perfect volunteer to hold our graves for us!"

"Hmm… I think it's about time we finally rethought our strategy for defeating these women" Cinder scowled. "Clearly, we have been underestimating them".

"That's one way to put it" Mercury replied. "But, on the bright side, at least disco is finally dead for good".


A/N: Hope you liked the new chapter! Sorry it took so long!

Chapter beta-read by Mr. Stark357