"Junior just got arrested? How?" Ruby was thoroughly puzzled. His old club was just destroyed, and he only recently got a new one. Ruby knew little about him, but she figured that he was very careful about keeping any of his illegal activity under wraps. "What could they possibly have him on?"
Roman never looked up from his phone. "I don't know. He's too careful. There's no way an outsider would have figured this out."
"But if Junior just got arrested—"
Roman had the same thought as Ruby. "—Then we need to leave. Right now." Roman gathered his coat from the couch and grabbed Ruby's arm, gesturing her to follow. She stood up quickly and followed him to the back hallway, all dust and filth. Roman swung open the furthest door and flipped a light switch. Inside was a well-maintained model of a luxury vehicle. If Ruby had to guess, it was probably about as old as she was.
"Junior's baby," Roman said. "We can get out of the area right now and switch the plates when we're further out."
"Is this a stolen car?" Ruby asked. She was getting dangerously comfortable with breaking the law tonight.
"No. But if Junior just got picked up, I imagine they're going to have an APB out for this vehicle in no time." Roman opened the trunk and threw a Vacuo plate into the back of the trunk. "Get in. It won't be long before the party gets here."
Ruby opened the passenger door and jerkily stuffed her body inside, reaching for the seatbelt as Roman appeared on the other side, falling into place and sliding the keys into the ignition with practiced ease. Man, this car is old, Ruby thought. The garage door opened behind them onto a dark backroad that stretched through the length of the houses. It was poorly lit, but Ruby immediately saw value here, why someone like Junior would keep up rent on a place that had an escape route invisible from the street. "Did you leave anything behind?" Roman asked, turning to face her in earnest, his hand already pulling the gear shift into place.
"No."
"Good." Roman looked behind him as he carefully pulled out onto the dirt path and closed the garage door. They kept driving behind the entire line of houses until they reached a main road, at which point Ruby started to hear sirens in the distance, followed by lights flashing in the night air. She quickly turned to see what was happening, but Roman quickly chastised her. "Don't look. There might be more in the area. Keep your face out of anyone's line of sight."
"Did we leave too late?" Ruby asked. Panic bubbled in her throat, and she had since spent the energy to keep it hidden any longer.
"I don't know yet." Roman tightened his grip on the wheel as he turned out onto the street, taking them away from the scene as quickly as he could. "Call Neo. Tell her what's happening."
Ruby nodded, fumbling for her scroll. She pulled up the contact and dialed, frantic and delirious. Neo picked up in an instant, the line completely silent on her end.
"Roman and I went to Junior's place out of town. We just left, but the cops arrived right after."
"Put the phone on speaker." Roman kept his eyes trained on the road. All the better for them both. If he saw how much she was panicking, he might have lost his composure completely. Ruby fumbled for the speaker button, holding the scroll out between them.
"Neo, I'm driving Junior's car right now, but we still have his old plates. I don't know where we can stop and switch them. Do you have a contingency?"
The line went dead, and Ruby almost lost all her sensibilities right then and there, but Roman cut in to stop her spinning out. "Don't worry, she's going to text us a response. I just needed her to know right now."
Ruby waited in horror, slick with dread as the seconds stretched on in ominous silence. Roman was uncharacteristically quiet. Death hung low over his head, and Ruby had to imagine that the authorities would grant her no leniency if she were discovered to be with him—even if she had a pardon from Ozpin himself.
Neo's response came quickly, and Ruby read aloud. "She says, 'No, I'm almost positive that Cinder sold us out, and I don't have anything that I know for a fact that Cinder doesn't know about. I'm probably next up in her firing spree, so I have to destroy my scroll and run. I'll contact again when I can.'" Ruby felt dread spilling into her blood like lead as she finished reading Neo's message. Cinder? She was involved with this?
"Is Neo going to be alright?" Ruby asked.
"Best guess, yeah. Neo is the only one out of all of us who doesn't have any official records, so she'll make a clean break long before the authorities catch up to her. Us, on the other hand…I'm not so sure." Roman was forcing out words at this point. She could only imagine the way that panic was starting to overtake him, too.
"Do we have a plan?" Ruby asked.
"No," Roman shuddered. He was truly afraid now in a way that was agonizingly apparent to Ruby.
"I'm gonna call Yang," Ruby offered.
He was shouting now. "Are you fucking crazy? The last thing we need right now is to get more accomplices in on this."
"What else are we going to do? Besides, we're close to the ferry station between here and Patch, and one of her weird hobbies as a kid was finding weird, abandoned places to hide." Ruby had already pulled up Yang's contact information.
"Ruby, the guy who practically saved my life just got screwed over because I made a mistake. Do you really want to stake your family on this, too?" Roman was spiraling out fast. From his perspective, law enforcement just cornered him, and he was quickly running out of things to do. Ruby had one card left up her sleeve to play, and if it could save his life and stop them both from getting arrested tonight, then it was worth it to try.
Ruby dialed Yang's number.
Roman was still tense even when they turned into a quiet park, completely uninhabited. "Okay," he said when they finally stopped. "Let's switch the plates."
He was breathing through all his movements like every action was a struggle, trying so desperately to keep himself from falling apart in front of Ruby. He regretted yelling at her, but he was so terrified in that moment that he could not stop himself. He had calmed down at a remarkable rate after Ruby's sister gave them a reliable place to go—even though Ruby had to assure him several times that Yang would not give them up to the police. "To her, it's my freedom on the line," she had said.
As he was opening the trunk, Ruby opened the car door and poked her head out. Roman gave her a quick glance before he returned to what he was doing. He had no time to engage her right now. He just had to hold it all in for a little while longer, and then they would be in a place where they could hide out for the night, even if it could only be temporary.
Ruby stepped out of the car, and the sound made Roman jump. One wrong move, and he was absolutely finished, but right now, there was no one around to see them, so he allowed himself to look at her, peering down in the trunk. Ruby rubbed her hand along his arm and squeezed his bicep as she reached for the license plate in the back of the trunk.
"Screwdriver?" She asked.
He just nodded, grabbing a small toolkit and handing it to her. His breathing was heavy and labored. Ruby probably noticed it a while ago, and she had taken quick strides to calm herself down in the time it took to get from Junior's townhouse to here. She was essentially babying him, and as much as he would have resented the treatment, he was so out of sorts with himself that he had to accept that she could take care of the situation while he pieced together a solid escape plan. And yet, despite better intentions, Roman allowed himself to voice his precise concerns. "Ironwood is Atlas' general," he started. Ruby did not look up at him as she closed the trunk and knelt down in front of the license plate, setting the toolkit on the ground. "He has so much reach, and he wants me dead."
"Stop it," Ruby retorted flatly. She already had the first screw out, rose petals falling to dewy pavement.
"Forget having a normal life anymore. Where would I even go to hide from him? There's no place that he can't reach me from."
"It won't last forever." Ruby focused on what she was doing, but Roman knew it was just to distract herself from what he was saying.
"It's the last lap, and I'm coming in last place," he continued, starting to heave and steadying himself on the trunk. "You shouldn't put all your chips on the losing horse. You're just making it worse for yourself by sticking with me."
Ruby quickly rose and put her face up to hers, challenging him. "Shut up!" she shouted, a piercing voice cutting through the cold night air. The sudden force of her conviction took Roman back. "I've made up my mind," she said. "Ironwood can pry you out of my cold, dead arms. Come hell or high water, I am not leaving you. So don't ask me to do it again."
Roman fell silent, closing his mouth. Ruby softened very quickly and placed her hands on both sides of his face. "I'm scared, too. But get this through that thick damn skull of yours. I love you, Roman Torchwick, scars and all."
She smiled so sweetly at him then, and Roman was nothing if not stunned by the confidence in her tone. The image of the girl he had formed when he first met her was forgotten, and replaced by feelings of warmth, kindness, and an unyielding depth of compassion that never failed to make him feel better. He reached up and grabbed her hands off his face, holding them to his chest as he drew a shaky breath. "I'm sorry. I'll try to stay calm."
She nodded and drew her hands away, returning to the license plate on the floor. He knelt beside her for the few seconds it took for her to secure the new plates, trying to keep his breathing on pace with hers. She held up the one she removed. "Should we just throw this in the bushes and hope for the best?"
"Let's take it with us. It'd be better to dump it wherever we're hiding out."
Ruby nodded, once again joining her hand with his. "We're going to make it through this."
Roman said nothing, just looking into her eyes for one last moment, and with the weight of reality crashing down on him, pulling her in, and kissing her. He was not sure if it would be their last.
Yang paced back and forth in the dormitory bathroom. She could not let her teammates see her like this—Ruby's supposed to be on a date that is going so well, she's staying over at his place for the night. She's supposed to be completely safe, and even though the worrying sister would be believable in this situation, the jittery, horrible mess that she was right now would just make Blake and Weiss want to do something about it. Even wore was the fact that the place she sent her sister and Roman Torchwick to was a place that didn't get any cell reception, so Ruby wouldn't be able to call, check in, or ask for help. She was sincerely hoping that they could figure things out once the storm had passed. But with each passing hour, the search area only grows wider, and the constant stream of media on the Roman Torchwick manhunt spinning in every direction on every single news circuit available made it impossible for her not to think the worst. It was only a matter of time before they cast a net wide enough to catch Torchwick. She only hoped that Ruby would not be at his side when that happens.
"Yang? Are you okay?" Pyrrha called.
Yang shuddered out her breaths, cursing herself for giving away her anxiety. "I think so. I'm just worried about Ruby."
"What do you mean? She isn't out looking for Torchwick, is she?"
"No, not quite," Yang said. "She went on a date earlier this evening, and she texted me to let me know that she's going to be staying the night with him."
Pyrrha raised her eyebrows. "Really?"
"It's not like that—she just couldn't catch the last ferry to Beacon." Yang fiddled with her scroll. She wanted to check for updates, but the risk of having Pyrrha see something that completely gave Ruby away kept her hands at her sides.
"I see." Pyrrha paused in contemplation. Yang had noted several times prior that she always had a talent for choosing her words with care. "Has she met this person before?"
Yang nodded. "It wouldn't be the first time she's stayed over at his place, actually. I just hope she's being safe." Technically, she was not lying. But the implication of her words was bound to set Pyrrha down a different path that might have earned Ruby some strange conversation when she came back. Or if she came back.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Pyrrha asked. She cared so much about her friends, and she was always so generous with her time. This was the one instance where Yang could not find herself appreciative of it.
Yang nodded, doing her best to flash a reassuring smile. She needed to do her part in getting Ruby out of the crossfire—even if it was something as small as a classmate's suspicion about something deeper than consent.
Pyrrha paused for a moment, considering what to do next, but she nodded back to Yang, smiling, and saying, "Okay. I better get back to my team."
When Pyrrha walked out she let a big, heavy sigh gush out of her like a waterfall. Yang walked out of the bathroom herself and headed straight to the gym. She knew she would not be able to hide her distress from her teammates, and she was sure that Pyrrha found her act less than convincing.
More content! I'm trying to bang out as much as I can today because hey, if the muse calls, listen. Especially when it's on a day that you don't have to worry about all your schoolwork and everything. I have half of the next chapter written, but I need to write a research paper on dresses...I think. Have a good night! Hope to see you all again soon.
