Book 1, Chapter 11

Brawl in the Family

The warehouse was relatively quiet, which Ruby did appreciate. It gave her room to think in peace, clean her gear, make sure everything was in order in peace. All around her, large crates of dust were stacked up to the roof, and White Fang personnel quietly busied themselves with accountability... or something like that. She didn't know, and didn't particularly care, as at the end of the day, her job was just to make sure Cinder's associate wasn't harmed.

"Hey, uh... Mercenary? Could you like... help us or something?" A mouse faunas asked up to her from the floor below, to which she merely shook her head.

"Not being paid to stack boxes, pally." She replied, kicking back and placing her hands behind her head while the faunas below grumbled angrily. She was well aware that they disliked her, mostly on account of being a Pariah, but this time also on account of her being human.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite Pariah!" A new, yet familiar voice called from behind her. Turning her head to look back, she watched Roman enter from the rooftop door and saunter towards her, throwing an arm around as he came up beside her. "Keeping these animals in line?"

"Eh." She shrugged, gesturing down at the fauna's below. "They do their job well enough without me lording over them, so I just let them do them. Should be ahead of schedule."

"Good to hear... now, is everything ready for our little heist tonight?"

"Bullheads are loaded with all the necessary equipment and fueled up, ready to go whenever you are." Ruby affirmed, standing upright and stretching a few times to wake herself up. "Personnel for the job are getting some shut eye before the op. Don't want em falling asleep on the job, after all."

"Good thinking, I suppose..." Roman admit, twirling his cane in his hand a few times before setting it down and priming himself up on it. "And yourself? Ready to kill a few more people?"

"I'm always ready to spill hunter blood, so don't worry about that." A twirl of one of her blasters accompanied the declaration as if to give additional credence to her claim. With a simply nod from her employer, he walked by, casting his gaze left and right as if they quickly check over everything one last time. Finally, he nodded in what she assumed was only tolerable acceptance, before looking to his watch.

"Best start rousing everyone, Devil. We move out in an hour..."

They'd arrived at the destination not a minute behind schedule, hovering over the docks where all the freshly unloaded shipping crates sat, their contents like a treasure trove for any criminal worth the name. She didn't need to be told how to do her job, hopping out ahead of everyone else and using her jetpack to slow her descent. She scanned over the immediate area, making certain the landing zone was in fact clear of any hostiles.

After about a minute, Ruby holstered her left blaster and gave the signal for the bullheads you land. Within the next minute, they'd all touched down, unloaded their cargo and passengers, and awaited for them all to be finished with actually setting up all the gear. They were hardly quiet with their work, though being any quieter would've been impossible without the whole crew being professionals who'd done the dance dozens of times.

"Devil, what do you think the odds are that we'll find trouble?" The master criminal raised the question, not noticing a presence getting closer and closer, not that the mercenary knew either...

"With the noise we've made? Guaranteed." She answered, though it was as if she'd jinxed it, as not a second later, a blade was held to his throat from behind. "Oh you gotta be-"

"Nobody move!" The assailant yelled, revealing herself to be a girl dressed in black and white with amber eyes and a black bow. Of course, her order fell on deaf ears, as all guns were immediately trained on her. Ruby thought initially just to shoot her, but with her VIP in the way, she couldn't get a shot off safely, instead opting to start inching around for a better angle.

The girl reached up, pulling the bow off and letting it float away in the wind, revealing a pair of cat ears. The revelation didn't mean a thing to herself, but it seemed to make her White Fang allies lose their will to point weapons at her.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?!" She cried, only getting a small laugh out of the criminal mastermind at her mercy.

"Tsk tsk tsk... kid, you really aren't getting the memo here, are you?" He inquired, only getting the blade pressed up against his chin.

"What are you talking about?"

"Y'see, the White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together!"

"Tell me what it is, or I'll put an end to your little operation!" She threatened, though being distracted only a moment later by the arrival of two more bullheads soaring in.

"I wouldn't exactly call it "little," my dear!" He declared, nodding to the Mercenary. She retrained her eyes on Ruby, just enough of a distraction, as not even a fraction of a second later, he fired off his weapon, blowing the cat back in a fiery explosion.

She recovered quickly, dodging the next few shots he took at her, and darting off behind the piles of crates. Growling with frustration evident, Roman looked back to the Mercenary and nodded. He didn't need any words to convey his orders to her, and within seconds, Devil had taken to high ground in pursuit of her target...

*BOW!*

She only narrowly used her semblance in time, the head of her shadow being blown to bits by the high powered plasma bolt. Casting her gaze upwards, she beheld the warrior of silver and blue that her leader and Yang had warned her about as she slowly descended before her, blackening the concrete below as she managed an easy descent and leveled her blasters on the faunas.

Widening her stance and readying her weapon, the cat cautiously eyed the Mercenary, a pariah as she could now see for herself. She knew that this one was dangerous, incredibly so, and that one wrong move would mean certain death.

However, before she could even make her first move, the Silver mercenary opened up with a barrage of plasma fire. As best as she could from reflexes alone, she began to dodge or block every attack she could, letting the aura she'd risen manually yank whatever damage it could while she closed the distance, sprinting towards the pariah as quickly as she could. Finally, she'd closed the distance to just two meters, lunging forward and aiming for the warrior's neck, though missing as they blasted off backwards with their jetpack, avoiding the hit entirely and continuing to riddle her position with a storm of blaster bolts.

She used another shadow to take another blow for her, using the momentary distraction to throw herself behind cover. Her aura had taken a serious pounding in her advance, and it didn't get her anywhere! The cat swore under her breath, backing up slightly as if to get better cover...

Devil laughed inaudibly as she hammered away at the girl's aura, her internal laughter only intensifying as she launched back and rendered the girl's hard work useless. She always loved making her prey struggle to get to her, and easily making distance once again as soon as they were in striking range.

Flying back over where her target was, Ruby grumbled in disappointment as her quarry was nowhere to be found. Soaring higher, Ruby continued to scan the terrain, trying to find the cat, only to notice some monkey giving Roman a difficult time. She drew a bead on him and fired, striking the back of his shoulder and throwing him forward, breaking his guard.

Roman grinned at this, and made the most of the opportunity, smacking him across the side of his head with his cane before striking his face with a backhand. Head butting the monkey's nose and forcing him to recoil before pushing him back with an open palm, he shot him point-blank in the chest, sending the monkey-boy reeling backwards.

The cat attempted to jump in to make use of the momentary break in his defense, though found her mistake as Ruby shot down like a bullet and shoulder bashed her out of midair. She was sent skidding painfully across the cement with the collision throwing her to the floor roughly, drawing forth a long, low groan from her as she slowly picked herself up. She was rubbing her head, suggesting that the blow had perhaps even left her concussed...

"Excellent work, Devil." Roman complimented, twirling his cane in one hand and looking down on the two rather easily defeated students who still held defiance in their eyes. "Hmph... nothing but mere students... oh well!" He said, pointing his cane at the downed monkey, before a new voice cut through, calling him out just as he was about to squeeze the trigger.

"HEY!" The voice screamed out from the rooftop, successfully pulling his attention. Ruby groaned as she recognized this one, Roxanne... one she had no qualms killing without a heads-up.

"Oh hello, Red! Isn't it past your-"

*BOWBOW BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW BOW!*

A sudden flurry of bolts raced past him, interrupting his taunt and hammering into her. She barely reacted in time to block or dodge as many as she could, but ultimately was struck in the stomach and right shoulder anyways, throwing her to the ground as she failed to manually raise her aura in time to protect herself from either attack.

"Wow, what did she do to you, Devil?" Roman inquired with a shocked expression. It didn't last long, as a ginger girl leapt off the roof, an array of swords seemingly floating in the air around her.

Within seconds, she dispatched almost all the White Fang, who'd already mostly been taken out by the Monkey Faunas, by throwing her blades forth as if they were some sort of disc of death. She would've been killed as well, if she hadn't raised her gauntlets up to take the blow of the blades for her. The attack was just far to quick for her to reasonably react to in any manner of avoidance, so she used what she could to ensure she'd survive.

Standing upright from her slightly hunched over position, Ruby watched as the girl recalled her blades, and pointed them forward after forming them into a circle. The blades began to spin, a green glow building up from the center, growing larger and brighter with every second.

"I don't care to find out what the hell you're packing, I'm putting a stop to you here and now!" Devil declared in her head, leaning forward and firing her missile towards the redhead, a smirk playing across her features as the missile sailed true, and within a moment, the rocket-

*KABOOM!*

"What?!." She thought in bewilderment as the rocket was blown out of the sky before it could hit its target. Looking to the source, Ruby barely had time to react, leaning left to avoid being impaled before grabbing her assailant's extended forearm with her right hand and her shoulder with the left, dropping her blasters out of necessity, and slamming her helmet's dome against the girl's nose. Her face scrunched up in pain as she shot past Ruby, her nose bleeding from the unprotected blow as her momentum carried her past Ruby as she rolled across the ground. She was slow to recuperate, and Ruby took advantage, drawing up her flamethrower and aiming it down at the girl in white.

However, before she could, another challenger appeared out of nowhere, shooting forth from around a corner and pushing Ruby's wrist, forcing it aside as a stream of fire blasted forth and blackened the concrete. She barely had a second to register her new assailant, only seeing a fist before it struck her face full force and threw her in her back.

The sound of a shotgun blasting resounded through the air with the blow, blasting her helmet in the forehead and sending a massive blast of sparks shooting out in every direction with the impact. Hitting the floor hard, Ruby groaned as she forced herself to recover quickly, turning her gaze up and looking to her new assailant.

A sudden burst of rage overtook her upon seeing who it was, and she forced herself to act as her dear sister raised her fist to strike her while she was down, lashing out and striking Yang across the side of the head with her foot as she cocked her fist back. It held little actual effect, but the look of surprise across her face as she was struck was just so satisfying, and the very slight amount that it made her recoil was more than enough room for her to blast away with her jetpack.

Using the new modification she'd bought for her gloves, she locked into the magnetic signature of her blasters' handles and drew them in, making it look as though she'd telekinetically pulled them back to herself. Not a moment was wasted as she began firing away at the bimbo, being surprised as she matched the barrage easily, ducking, weaving and blocking every bolt with ease, reminding Ruby just why she could never beat Yang in the past.

"Dammit! How could I forget that she deals with attacks like this at much closer range all the time?!" Ruby berated herself mentally. Of course Yang would be able to handle a simple barrage of bolts, after all the very nature of her fighting style meant she had to be able to react to such attacks at point-blank range reliably. Reacting to attacks of the same kind with twenty plus meters for the attack to cross before they hit? For Yang, it must've been child's play to react to this.

Noticing the one in white standing upright with rapier drawn, Ruby shot directly upwards, landing on top of the crane and raining blaster fire down upon the duo of girls, just narrowly avoiding the green laser that lanced out from the ginger girl from earlier that easily bisected the Bullheads bringing their reinforcements...

"Holy crap!" She thought as the laser nearly vaporized her. Looking all around, she saw the cat and monkey starting to rise to their feet in pursuit of Torchwick, though she had other plans. Reaching into one of her pouches while sprinting down the crane, just narrowly avoiding the incoming fire from her sister and Roxanne as she pulled out a handful of grenades. She tossed them out widely, scattering them wide along the path, barring the two faunas off from her employer's man with a cacophony of explosions.

Turning back to her sister, she ducked out of the sudden realization of where she'd gone after seeing her absent from the ground, narrowly avoiding a strike across the back of her head. Using her jetpack for extra oomph, she burst into her sister's gut, throwing her back but not necessarily phasing her as a blast across her shoulder from the busty blonde nearly threw her off the beam.

Steadying herself, she held both pistols at the ready as she stood face to face with Yang, the girl's eyes a blood red and her hair in flames. Sweat began forming on her brow as she quietly and carefully assessed her target, noting the ready, almost defensive-focused form she held.

"I already got the crap beaten out of me by one of you Mercs, and that ain't happening again!" Yang roared, stomping hard on the beam and shaking it violently, making Ruby lose her footing before rushing forward to pummel her.

Sliding her left foot back, Ruby ducked and leaned right, narrowly dodging a hook from her elder sister's left fist. Grabbing the forearm with her right hand and activating the blade in her left gauntlet, she attempted to strike her sister with a narrow "miss," though her efforts fell flat as Yang easily dodged her blade, bringing her right fist around and slamming into her breastplate and firing off a round, before spinning on her forward foot and slamming her opposite heel into Ruby's face, shattering her visor sending her flying off the crane...

She hit the ground hard, her helmet bouncing away and rolling off the dock, splashing into the water audibly. A low, pained groan escaping the Mercenary's mouth as she rolled off her back onto all four, followed by a loud fit of coughs punctuated by a cloud of blood bursting out and staining the cement.

"D-damn... I... wasn't... ready for that..." Ruby thought, before looking forward and seeing one of her blaster pistols laying in the ground in front of her, just out of her magnetic pull's reach. With a grunt of pain and exertion, Ruby began to crawl forward in hopes of reaching her weapon...

"Wow... you really didn't hold back on her, huh Yang?" The one in white commented, while her sister simply dropped down and cracked her knuckles, approaching her nearly-defeated foe.

"Lost to one of these people once, I don't plan on losing again... besides, I never forget a face... or rather a mask, in this case." She answered, marching towards Ruby with a menacing glow.

"Almost... there!" Ruby thought, finally coming into range and pulling in her blaster. Keeping her hand extended, she pushed herself over to lay on her jetpack and face her sister head on. She already had her fist reared back, about to send it forward, but in that moment, their eyes connected.

It felt to both like time had grinder to a halt, as Yang's face changed from one of barely controlled rage with crimson eyes to a shocked look with her standard lavender. Ruby's however, held only malice, hatred unchecked for those around her. In that moment, as Yang froze and the blaster touched Ruby's hand, her eyes widened further, as she swung it around, leveled it on her chest, and fired...

*BOW!*

She grit her teeth in agony as the blaster bolt exploded against her chest, throwing her on her back as the supercharged shot shattered her aura in an instant, her semblance fizzling out with it. A pained groan passed both downed parties lips as they picked themselves up, looking each other in the eyes as they squared up to continue fighting. Ruby growled angrily as Yang's team came to back her up, but donned a look of confusion and surprise when her sister simply held up a hand, signaling for her teammates to leave her alone.

"Stay back!" She yelled back to her team, panting heavily as she didn't turn to them, not taking her eyes off her little sister for even a second. "She's mine... Ruby!"

The girl didn't answer her with words, instead leveling her blaster on her sister's head. The bolt missed, with the Blonde ducking out of the way and closing the distance with a lunging roll, coming out of the roll and delivering a savage uppercut to the blaster in her little sister's hands, knocking it away. The sharp shink! Of a blade drawing out crossed her ears, only a moment later she barely leaned back just enough to avoid having her eyes cut open by the blades on her little sister's forearm. Shifting her foot back, she spun around, bringing her heel around to strike at her little sister once more, only for the girl to shift right and raise her forearm, tanking the blow with her gauntlet and shoving her back.

Steadying herself, Yang ducked back to avoid a flying kick, letting Ruby overshoot her before firing off a shot from her Ember Celica, striking the ground Below her just as Ruby landed and throwing her on her front. Sprinting towards her downed sister, she tried to finish her with one hard punch, not expecting Ruby to roll under the attack, stand upright and extend her arm-

*BOW!*

Yang's eyes widened as she felt a sudden heat tear through her back, an instant later watching a red bolt of plasma burst out through her sternum. Her shock was mirrored across the whole dock, everyone except the shooter looking in with disbelief. Looking back at the shooter, she looked into those silver pools in hopes of seeing a shred of mercy, of sorrow.

And yet, to her shock, she found none. There was no sympathy in her little sister's eyes, not a shred of regret or sorrow... only pure hatred, a primal yearning for blood... her blood...

"By the brothers... she actually shot..." her mind raced as she collapsed to her knees, vainly clutching the hole in her chest and casting a look of regret back towards Ruby. "Gods... did I push her here? Is this my fault? Did I really create this monster?" She asked herself as she fell forward, weakly pushing herself over so she could look up at her victorious little sister...

"R-Ruby... why? Why help the bad guys..." she wheezed out weakly, her team keeping a respectful distance as she pointed Ember Celica towards them.

"The 'Bad Guys' you say?" Ruby spat, her voice dripping with venom. "Good, Bad... I don't care about either. I hate everyone on both sides of this stupid conflict... and you and everyone else are to blame."

"Oh Ruby... how I failed you..." Yang groaned, looking her little sister in the eyes. She took a moment to Think, before propping herself up on one of her elbows with a somber look over her face. She was in incredible pain, but now that she'd been brought low... now that she'd been humiliated in such a way that she used to humiliate her sister. Granted, she never dealt a blow grievous enough to possibly kill, but the sudden appearance of countless images of leaving the poor girl bloody and tattered on the sidewalk played across her mind as a cold reminder. "Ruby... I'm so sorry..."

And like that, she collapsed, a look of total shock playing over Ruby's own face as Yang collapsed to the ground...

"YANG, NO!" She heard the roar of the rest of her sister's team, and knew then that it was time to leave. As good as it felt to put that hole in her sister, she didn't stand a chance against the rest of them as she was.

So, with a burst of her jetpack, he drew back her other blaster, holstering both and landing atop a rooftop, before sprinting away. The rest of the combatants didn't bother pursuing her, rather, they were too busy trying to revive their fallen teammate...

"I must say, I wasn't expecting to see you come back so beaten up... or with your face exposed. What happened?" Cinder mused, less interested in what actually happened than just trying to figure out who they ran into.

"It was a battle on their terms... nothing we could do about it, unfortunately." Ruby admit, hissing as she applied disinfectant and antibiotics to her many open wounds, applying healing dust gel, and bandaging them. "I did ensure that Roman would not be harmed though."

"And that was our contract, so I am satisfied with your work nonetheless. Three hunters dead, payout 400,000 lien... done." She hummed while typing away on a data pad. "And I suppose that concludes our business, then?"

"Actually..." Ruby started, looking Cinder in the eyes. "I was wondering if I might continue to work in your employ."

"Oh?" She looked on with intrigue. "What's brought this on? That's a rather strange thing for a Mercenary to say, you know."

"Let's just say that recent events have given New Saunders a dog in this fight." Ruby informed her without revealing too much, drawing a very satisfied look from the sinister lady.

"I see... well, it was my mistake placing you as a bodyguard, one I don't plan on repeating. Your skills are better used... elsewhere, yes?"

"I agree complete... perhaps I'd serve your purposes better as an assassin?"

"I already have an assassin, but you're better for if I need a powerful foe quietly dealt with. Very well. Go, return to New Saunders. Rearm and recuperate, and we'll contact you when we're ready to move onto the next phase of our plan." She said with a satisfied tone, a large smirk accompanying it as she set her data pad down and observed her nails.

"And the next phase is?"

"Patience, Mercenary. In due time, you'll know... for now, however, our operation needs to... mmm... lay low, for a little while. I'm sure you understand."

"Ain't no skin off my back." Ruby affirmed with finality, before turning around and walking out the door. She had a lot she needed to do, and with how messy that fight was, it wouldn't be easy to exfiltrate the city. The Vale Defense Force was on high alert now, and nobody would be getting in or out of the city unnoticed for some time... at least, not without having to raise their body count a little more...