The sun blistered over the kingdom of Vale once again, the heat driving many to hide in their homes from the cruel outdoors. Among those hiding from the heat was Roman Torchwick, heels crossed and kicked up on his glass, bean-shaped desk, reclining back in his chair as he gloated in his scroll, "So, yeah, filming is still taking place as we speak. The crew decided to film tonight since it's too hot out and we have a sting planned for tonight right in the slums for some ghetto faunus crystal scheme."
"Incredible, sir! We are truly not only graced to have you here in the Bureau but also the televisions of homes across every kingdom, seeing how you heroically and decisively put crime down!" an eager, quick-speaking man congratulated.
"You're too kind, Port. But, for now, I'm just stuck inside with nothing but boredom and an immense level of anticipation for tonight. So, yeah, that's why I called you."
"Well, do you want to hang out? I'm just across the room. Hell, I can see you." Port replied, Roman looking to his right from his office plastered with windows to see Port standing up in his cubicle, waving at him.
Conveniently, Roman's scroll began to buzz in his hand, an unfamiliar number appearing across the screen, "Hang on, Port, I've got another call coming in."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, wait," Peter managed to get out, Roman switching calls as he asked, "Talk to me."
"Congratulations on your upcoming show. Tell me, is it about how you've come out as a woman or because they think you will?" a woman mocked on the other line.
"Hey, what the...who is this," Roman stammered, recoiling slightly as his mind racing before he hissed, "Ruby Rose."
"Damn straight. Did you miss me?"
"I doubt it, my aim isn't that bad, Miss Rose."
"Your mascara says otherwise."
"I do not wear mascara, shut up!"
"If you say so, Roman. When's your show premiere? Hopefully we can watch it in the same cell block together. That is, you know, if the courts will accept your preferred gender in court."
"First of all, I am not nor have I ever considered being a woman," Roman fumed, quickly falling to laughter as he jibed, "And you think that you're going to get a jail sentence out of all this? With everything you know? Ruby, come on, Ozzy's office is wide open and I've read your file. With everything on you, even with the lack of the death penalty in this shithole kingdom, you'd still get a half a dozen or so agencies lined up to kill you before you reach trial."
"Well, Roman, you've already hit what I wanted to talk about you to about right on the head."
Roman paused, looking down at his phone incredulously, putting it back to his ear as he retorted, "Again, Miss Rose, you won't even need to worry yourself about a trial. You'll be dead before my show even premieres."
"How long is that, Roman?"
Roman scoffed at her question, condescending, "Do you honestly expect me to answer that question? How stupid do you think I am?"
"Stupid enough to tell me exactly what I want to know. Your first episode doesn't come out for another two weeks, you fucking moron. I know everything I need to know about the time I've got left. Let me ask, does 1619 Plymouth Boulevard mean anything to you?"
Roman's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, the breath leaving his chest as Ruby continued, "I know everything I need to know about you, Roman. If I wanted you dead I would have done it already. But I don't want you to die, Roman, that's too easy. I'm taking you down with me. Not unless you meet me."
Roman again scoffed at her request, "Do you think I'm insane enough to fall for such an obvious trap, Miss Rose?"
"You don't have a choice in the matter, asshole. I told you, Roman, you fucked with the wrong people. And if I didn't, I'll restate that now. You fucked with the wrong people. Just call Cardin up and ask how his dinner was last night."
Roman cocked his eyebrow at the statement, unaware of what she was talking about. "So, Roman, you're meeting me today whether you like it or not. Because, if you ghost me, let's say, hypothetically, I go to where you're filming tonight..."
"How do you know all of this?!" Roman interjected, sitting up and slamming his fist into his desk, shattering the glass from the blow and spilling his papers, writing utensils, and computer about the floor.
The people outside, including Port, began to look on with worry from the commotion. "The digital age is a beautiful thing, Roman. I just look you up, find all the chronies you have around you involved with that show, and, boom, I know your film schedule, the locations, everything. But, let me finish my hypothetical, if you please. Let's say I go to your meet up tonight and tell them every single thing I know. Like how you employed criminals to steal a man for you to torture and murder. Or how we were the ones to rob your bank in the sticks and show the money and brag how you, the government agencies you work for, and police couldn't stop us and we ran through them like nothing. Or, better yet, I come out as Ruby Vasilias, reveal how the government put me in a nice mansion, let me do all of the things I did, and it all of this was on the taxpayer's dollar. Oh, and here's the best part. Maybe, just maybe, we shows the world what goes on in the private, fire-walled-off servers of the government's personal web browser. And vindicate every single claim I've said and more that I can't even begin to remember. You think, even with their heads as far up your ass as they are, that a film crew isn't going to broadcast that juicy little expose immediately? Or that the world is just going to let all of that information slide by?"
"You bitch!"
"You know it, Roman. But, go ahead, stop me. Trace my call, do it! Oh, wait, that's right. There's four of us, Roman. You can't stop us all, Roman, let alone me. Sure, I'll die before I see trial and you'll be the fall guy for the government, Roman. You're fucked. But, even if it goes nowhere, you know the age we live in. Another mysterious death from someone who was going to blow the whistle on their government? You can't keep painting them all as suicides, Roman. Especially with how long you've all let me live. So, do the right thing and meet me here."
Roman fumed in his seat, face twitching as he continued to gnash his teeth. "Good. I'll see you at the Kortz Center. Come alone or I have my associates make everything public. And good luck finding them all in time, Roman. Maybe displacing Yang, Weiss, and Blake was a bad idea."
"Fuck you."
"I appreciate your cooperation, Roman. See you soon. Oh, and if you want to keep your mascara from running from your sweat..."
Roman was fed up with her arrogance and launched his scroll across the room, shattering the screen on impact with the reinforced glass window. Roman finally took notice of the floor all watching him intently, brushing it off as he strolled for the elevator. Not turning his head or slowing his pace, Roman's finger shot out at Port, the agent demanding, "You're coming with me, Port. I have a special assignment we need to go check."
Port's worry was immediately overridden by his glee as he marched towards the elevator with an incensed Roman.
Ruby made dialed the next number, leaning against the railing of the outdoor venue as she took in the view of the city atop the hill. She was once more in her huntress attire, the hot breeze slowly flapping her cape behind her. "Alright, are you in position?" Weiss asked.
"At ease, general. I'm at the Kortz Center and Roman's on his way now. You think he'll come alone?"
"I highly doubt Roman has the courage or sense to do that. But we'll see how big his party is before I leak everything on their internal browser. Emails, posts, and everything you can think of that the government shares in private. All of that goes out to the world."
"You really like explaining the plans we already know, don't you?"
"Hey, this is my thing, Ruby. I make the plans and give you guys the orders. Yang's is unleashing her pent-up rage on the world. Blake wants to make the world better for the faunus. And you...what is it you want to do, Ruby?"
"Get out of this alive. How's Blake doing?"
"Fine, she's invited me into her home because she knows the ring leader needs a place to stay, unlike you."
"Hey, who said you were the ring leader?"
"That's what you're concerned about? Your title over the fact I'm homeless because of you and you didn't even offer me a place to stay?"
"And why was your house burnt down, Weiss? Hm? Oh, right, because of me, the ring leader."
"Oh, go to Hell, Ruby, you're still as much of a child as when we were in school."
"You mean when I was the leader then, too?"
"I hate when you back me into a corner like this."
"Anytime. But how's she handling all this? Is she taking my advice?"
Weiss sighed, confiding, "I'm not sure, Ruby. She's just been hanging out with me as we make our plans. That's obviously not going to help. It's either her here with me doing that, sometimes Sun is here..."
"Ah, God, Weiss! Come on, we don't need to pull more people into this shitshow."
"Well it's not like I want him to. We rescued him from the Herd members Blake used to work with that wanted to kill him. Ruby, gang members are in on this."
"Well tell him to fuck off then, I don't know. We don't need to get more people involved and ruining their lives, too."
"He's here and it's too late to change that now. Otherwise, when we're not doing that, those two are off doing their own thing. I'll be honest, they make a really cute couple."
"Kind of like what you always wanted, right?"
Weiss chuckled, responding, "Isn't that your thing, Ruby? At least, the family aspect of it."
"I knew you remembered."
"Would you expect any less from your friend?"
"Damn, ice queen, your heart sure doesn't seem that cold."
"Ruby Rose!" shouted out a familiar angry voice.
"Well, jackass is here. Give those two my blessings and use what Blake has to remind her of what she has to lose in all of this. And, if that doesn't work, remind her of what she's lost. Goodbye, Weiss."
"Good luck, Ruby. I hope you know what you're doing." Weiss ended, her line ringing dead.
Ruby pocketed her scroll as she turned to face a storming Roman and Port, whispering to herself, "Me too."
"You have an awful fucking amount of nerve to talk to me the way you are. How dare you not only threaten me and the glorious government I work for but the safety of everyone around the world? Do you want the Grimm to come back?!"
"I wouldn't mind that, I've always wanted to hunt them. That honestly was my first dream."
"She's sick in the head." Port added.
Roman leered over his shoulder to face Port, ordering, "Shut up."
"Hey, lover's quarrel, I'm over here." Ruby called out.
"You know, I was sick of your mouth from the moment we first met. I should have fucking choked you when I had the chance." Roman seethed, approaching Ruby.
In a flash, she, Roman, and Port all had their weapons aimed at one another, Ruby ordering, "Take it easy, you idiots. I'm just here to talk."
"You have so little understanding of the world, Ruby! After all of the war, destruction, and chaos of Remnant, only in your lifetime has things gotten so much better. It's because of people like us and the government we work for that you're even alive, let alone in the position you're in. And you're too dangerous for everyone around you to keep you alive. We can't afford to let you go around blathering about government this and government that. We can't risk what damage you'll do to humanity if they stop trusting us and grow afraid." Roman said.
"Oh, please, spare me the philosophical bullshit to underpin how corrupt you all are. You can't justify that and you know it. You and the government work for the people. So keep that in mind, along with the fact the world can know what you're all up to if Weiss doesn't hear from me."
"We are working for the people. It's not as simple as you think, Miss Rose." Port spoke up.
"Shut it, Port. But he's right, Ruby. There's a rabbit hole you're running straight towards that we can't afford to have you go down."
"Oh, what on Remnant are you guys hiding from us now? Let me guess, new weapons to wage war? Oh, or that you're hiding the war crimes you committed during the Faunus War or the Great Kingdom War? Wait, better yet, is it some fucked up virus that turns everyone into zombies?"
"Don't be ridiculous, that's a stupid fucking idea." Roman taunted.
"Plus, we're not here to tell you everything the government is up to or why they do the things they do. We're here because you called Roman to be here, right?" Port added.
"Then let's get into it if you boys aren't talking." Ruby agreed.
"Alright, fine, then what are we talking about?" Roman asked.
"Yeah, what are we talking about?" Port repeated.
"Then put your fucking guns down, now!" Ruby ordered again.
"Fat chance." Roman replied.
"All of you," a separate voice called out, a quartet of suited men came out aiming various firearms, "You are all under arrest for crimes against the kingdom."
"Who the fuck are you?" Roman asked.
"The Agency and I called them in for a scoop too big to ignore. Remember, Roman?" Ruby taunted.
"All of you, freeze," ordered another from a group of four men, charging in with automatic rifles and covered in body armor emblazoned with FIB on the back, "These suspects are ours."
"Who the fuck are you?" Ruby asked.
"They're with me." Port responded, earning Roman's cane aiming at his temple.
"You bastard!" Roman roared.
The chaos was only supplemented by the motor of a helicopter muting them all, a Buzzard rising up next to and over the balcony as the pilot behind it ordered, "Put the guns down, all of you."
"Who the fuck are you?" Port uttered.
"Signal." Roman and Ruby answered.
"We are under orders of Jacques Schnee to take any suspects involved into custody for his sake." the pilot continued.
"He can't do that!" Roman whined.
One of the FIB agents fired his rifle, the bullet tearing through Roman's knee. The agent fell to his uninjured knee and screamed in pain, looking up and firing at Port, the flare striking his head and blowing it to just a stump of a neck on impact. The blast threw everyone involved onto their backs, the helicopter even veering back from the force. Roman immediately began to crawl away, Ruby's ears ringing and the world wobbling around her in confusion. She had regained her rifle just as Roman had made it into an elevator, the agent seated with his back against the back of the elevator. He smirked smugly at Ruby as he flipped her off, the door closing just as he did. Ruby took aim at the door and fired, the bullet ripping through the door and striking right above Roman's head. He was only spared by the descent of the elevator, his hat now bearing the brunt with a hole.
Ruby scrambled for cover in the nook of a small garden on the upper level, clutching her rifle close as the men around her began to spring to life and open fire at one another. The miniguns of the helicopter before her began to whir to life as the pilot took aim at her. In a flurry of roses, Ruby lunged behind the garden display and the helicopter opened fire on the men on top. They all dove for cover, one unfortunate Agency member taking a bullet through the side of his neck. Ruby mustered as much as she could into her shout, trying to get it to be more audible than the helicopter's gunfire, "YANG, NOW!"
With that, Yang rose from her post in the corner of a higher building on the other end of the complex, looking at her thumb against the direction the helicopter was with one eye to aim at it. She dabbed her finger against her tongue and tested the wind direction, Ruby crying out, "Any minute now would be fine!"
Yang snickered at her sister before strolling to the opposite end of the building she stood on, turning and sprinting back towards where she was. As she approached the edge, she flung her fists at the ground and blasted herself into the air, soaring over the complex and towards the helicopter. With her fist cocked back, Yang threw it into the windshield of the helicopter, the blast carrying through the glass and blowing the pilot's chest open. Yang pressed her boots to the front of the helicopter and flipped back from it, sending it careening down into the valley below. Yang righted herself perpendicular to the floor she plummeted towards and unleashed punch after punch down in the directions of the armed men in cover around her sister, firing at them with each strike. One such shot went right through the top of an FIB agent's head, blowing it open like a grenade and caking his comrades in gore. Another went into the back of the neck of an Agency member, his head plopping onto the ground and horrifying is remaining comrades.
Yang turned and hurled a fist to the sky, rocketing her towards the two remaining Agency members, one peering up at her only to be met with both of Yang's boots crashing into his face. His skull flattened under her boots and left a crimson trail in its way as Yang road it like a skateboard to a stop a few feet away. The final Agency member aimed his pistol at Yang, only for her to lunge at him and duck his first shot. She clenched his wrist and retched his arm upward, spinning around and elbowing him in the spine. Yang pivoted around and kneed the man in the gut, doubling him over. Yang released the man's arm and grasped the back of his head, driving him face-first into the ground and shattering the concrete of the impact site like glass. The man weekly attempted to push himself back up, glasses shattered and blood leaking from numerous lacerations all across his broken face. Yang merely aimed her fist down at the man and fired her gauntlet at the back of his head, pulverizing his skull.
Yang's efforts were rewarded by a hail of gunfire from the three remaining FIB agents. Yang ducked behind cover, the bullets whizzing overhead, Yang leaning on her right shoulder and pressed up to the concrete mini garden behind her. The sudden movement of something just to her right had her cock her fist back, finding Ruby plopping down beside her. "Don't do that! You scared the shit out of me!" Yang chastised.
"Easy! I have a plan but we have to act fast, there are bound to be police and more people like them on the way."
"Fuck that, Ruby! We can take them and everything else they throw at us, we just gotta kill Torchwick before he gets away."
"Yang, now is not the time. We'll get him later. Just stick to the plan and I promise, if it means that much to you, you can kill him when the time comes."
The agents all had their guns' clips run empty, all loosing and replacing their clips in-sync. Just as they readied to prime their guns, Yang took Ruby's hand in both of hers, rising, turning, and hurling her at them. Ruby rocketed at the men with her scythe ready, revolving like a tornado towards the stunned men. The blade extended straight out and she swung it at the men, blood spilling down their fronts as they collapsed forward, their heads falling off and into the garden before them.
Ruby sailed over the edge, her scythe regaining its regular form as she brought it back and slammed it into a concrete column, cleaving into it and immediately halting her descent. "Hey!" Yang called out, already waiting beneath Ruby to catch her.
Ruby sighed, muttering, "Please catch me," before pulling scythe free and plummeting to Yang.
Sure enough, Yang caught Ruby in her outstretched arms, catching her under her knees and by her shoulder blades. Ruby extended her arms and legs, cheering, "You did it!"
Yang smirked as she dropped Ruby onto her back, Ruby grunting on impact with the ground that winded her. Yang grabbed her little sister by the back of her collar and hoisted her back up to her feet. "Come on, let's get out of here, sis." Yang said.
Yang ran ahead as Ruby glared at her for a moment, vanishing and gusting past Yang in a flurry of roses, standing with her arms crossed and leaning against the entrance to the outdoor museum with a grin on her face.
Finally, she and Ruby made it to Yang's truck and floored it down the road up to the Kortz Center. On the opposite road, nearly a dozen police, NOOSE, and unmarked black cars screamed up to the Kortz Center with their sirens blaring. After a few minutes of tense driving, turning onto streets at random at every intersection to make sure they weren't followed, Yang finally concurred, "I think they're gone."
With that, Yang took out her scroll and called up Weiss, the former heiress responding, "I take it we succeeded?"
"No," Yang conceded, "Roman got away and some agents ambushed us, just like Ruby thought they would."
"So? We weren't planning on killing him yet anyway?" Weiss reassured.
"Well then what the fuck was the point of all that? What? Was it reconnaissance or just some dumb effort to flex our might over them?"
Before she could receive an answer, Ruby wrapped her arms around Yang and made her weave all over the road, Yang shouting, "Ruby! Chill out, I'm trying to drive here!"
"Whew! Yang! We fuckin' did it! They're done!" Ruby cheered, drawing herself back and revealing her arms trembling in excitement before her.
"What the fuck are you on about? They're not done. Roman's not even dead, that little pussy got away." Yang replied, flustered.
"That doesn't matter right now. Look at what just happened. The IAA, FIB, and Signal were all there. We should be on a boat to be dumped to the bottom of the ocean right now. And, yet, we're alive. Why?"
Yang paused, unable to follow where Ruby was going. "Because they aren't working together. Yang, if you think I'm a cannibalistic motherfucker, I don't even know what term fits what's going on with them. Think about it? The FIB, IAA, and the Schnees are all competing against one another to get us. Yang, we're not fighting one big beast, but a whole bunch of little ones."
"Wait, so was this just us showing how much better we were than them?"
"Kind of. We needed to see just what we were dealing with. And I'm learning so much more than I planned a little talk could."
"Which is?"
"Roman's more focused on his stupid show than anything so the FIB are going to cater to him, especially since the little coup against him is now put down. The IAA want him more than us. Jacques wants us but he's too big of a coward to do it himself so he'll need Signal to do his dirty work. We take out the heads and we're home free."
"Perfect timing," Weiss chimed in from the phone's speaker, "Because my sister will be flying in tomorrow."
Blake and Sun sat outside a cafe at their own table, completely away from any other outdoor patrons. Sun leaned in and propped his head up with his chin on his fist, intently listening and looking at Blake as she sat up straight, hands cupped together in her lap. She continued, "So, Ruby just told me to take some time off and think about what she said. And I figured who better to spend that off time than with you."
"Ah, so these are big moves for the future we're talkin' here. And you want to talk to me about all that?"
"Well...yeah," Blake blushed, clarifying, "But it's because I trust you and, I figured, who else would give better advice. I mean, look at all of the stuff we've pulled off together. I figured it would be a great idea if we both talked it out."
Sun leaned back in his seat and wrapped his hands around the back of his head, chuckling as he teased, "Whatever you say, Blake."
"But," Blake cut in, "you did say that you'd take me on the finest date imaginable if I saved you. Was that true?"
Sun's eyes instantly were as big as saucers, the monkey faunus stammering out, "Wait, what? I mean, uh, yeah, totally. But, like, do you mean right now? Shit, I forgot how good your memory was."
Blake laughed at his discomfort and assured him, "Well, it's a little too hot today and I don't think even you could put together the greatest date ever at the last minute. How about we say tomorrow?"
"Is that a date?" Sun joked.
"Shut up." Blake giggled, playfully shoving his shoulder.
The two continued their conversation and planned for tomorrow. Across the bustling street, however, sat a purple RH8 with tinted windows. Inside, Maria snapped numerous pictures of the duo and sent several of them over her scroll. Satisfied with what she gathered, Maria started up her car and merged into the traffic around her without raising suspicion.
