The driver of the armoured truck slouched in his seat. Though the window to his right was too tinted for anyone to see through, he was desperate to obscure himself from sight. He kept his hands in a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, ready to throw the truck into gear and pull away at a moment's notice. The radio was alive with panicked voices, all trying to communicate, or string profanity together in a new and interesting way.
"Half the fucking building just-."
"Unknown Aberrant has left the garage."
"Ironwood is still alive."
"Closing on enemy position- I don't know what the fuck is-"
The driver grabbed his radio.
"Repeat last," He shouted into it.
"I said we're closing on-"
"No, you shut the fuck up," The driver spat, "What is Ironwood's status?"
"Ironwood is alive," An unidentified voice called out, "He's Aberrant."
"What the fuck?!"
The passenger door was thrown open. The driver looked to the open door and saw a merc who had advanced on the building several minutes ago. Against his will, the driver watched his arm move and shoot the other merc through the head. Miltia Malachite stepped over the corpse and pulled herself into the passenger seat. The driver threw open his door and stepped out, Janus climbing in after him. The driver put the gun to his own head as Janus pulled the door closed.
Janus cranked the shift and laid on the gas. The truck began pulling away from the factory. Miltia adjusted her mirror, giving her a view of the crumbling building as they left it behind.
"Goddamn, Xiao Long," She whispered.
Melanie, crouched next to her, hands about Miltia's shoulders, grinned.
The hinges didn't break under the strain of impact, but were torn from the cheap wood they were affixed to. Yang had spun around so that her back struck the door. Ruby was in her arms, hands singed, hair sticking out in random directions, her eyes closed but flitting about beneath the lids. She'd fallen before Yang's eyes at the feet of that man. It seemed like every day of the past couple weeks, whenever they got in trouble, Yang had only needed to wait until Ruby appeared, hands in pockets, over the defeated bodies of their attackers. She had punched the door open, and seen Ruby fall, and Ironwood had demanded she surrender, and she hadn't known what to do. She'd seen her opportunity and took it. She'd punched Ironwood again, harder this time. That was the hardest punch she'd ever thrown, she thought. She'd been lucky, and she wasn't trusting that luck to keep up.
She was running through the first floor again. She could hear soldiers moving around her. Ruby hadn't exaggerated when she said she'd left traps; there were pieces of rebar and circular saw blades soaked in blood scattered about in every hallway. Yang didn't know where she was going anymore. She didn't know how to get out, or where to make her stand. She only knew that if she stopped moving, she would die, and her sister would die, or be taken. There was a staircase leading down, into the basement of the factory, and for pure lack of a better option, she took it.
She slid down the staircase, the panicked voices of the soldiers close behind her. Jesus, were they throwing numbers at this problem. Her mother wouldn't have given up. Her mother put herself through hell to keep them alive, and every thought in Yang's head was screaming at her that it would be wasted if she didn't find them a way out.
Her hands were empty. Ruby had disappeared from her hold without warning, leaving Yang's arms to clasp against her chest. The breath caught in her throat and she stared at her empty hands in shock. Her eyes darted about. Ruby was slouched against the wall further down the hallway, rubbing her hands against her face. Yang breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to Ruby's side.
"What hit me?" Ruby asked, "How did I…?"
"He tased himself," Yang said, "We gotta go, come on, get up."
A workstation had been placed halfway down the hall, between two doors on the right side. It was strewn with tools and metal parts. Yang grabbed a circular saw blade from the hook it hung from. She threw it overhead in the direction they'd come, putting her whole body into the swing. A blast of heated air went out in all directions, blowing her and Ruby's hair about. The saw blade was gone from sight the instant it left her hand, but its path could be traced by the gouge it tore through the wall, the sound of impact with flesh and bone on the other side, and the screams of pain.
Ruby vanished from where she sat, reappearing a few steps away, her hands gripping the sides of her head. She cried out in pain. Yang took her by the shoulders and pulled her along.
"Can't stay in silver," Ruby said, "It's not- it's not working."
"You'll be alright," Yang said, "Just-"
The next words were knocked from her lungs. She was thrown forward by a flying knee striking her in the back. She tumbled, and before she hit the ground, she was tackled from behind. She felt a thin, but muscled arm wrap around her throat. Belladonna's weight landed on top of her, and the headlock clamped down tight on her windpipe, blocking her efforts to draw another breath. Ruby moved to react but was sent stumbling to the side by a blast of frigid cold that Yang could feel from the floor. Schnee advanced on Ruby, hands extended, stripping the heat from her and dispersing it around herself, igniting the crumbling drywall and strewn debris on the floor.
Yang pushed off the ground, Blake's weight doing nothing to keep her down. Blake planted her right foot, and kicked the inside of Yang's knee with the other. Yang stumbled, but didn't fall. Blake looked at the wall to her right in alarm, her grip slacking just a little. Yang twisted, swung to the left, then pushed backwards. Blake was slammed into the wall hard enough to dent the drywall in, and she lost her hold on Yang. Yang spun and went for a stomp that would crush the girl, but her boot hit the floor. Blake had twisted her body as she fell so the stomp would miss, putting her between Yang's legs. She lifted Yang's left leg from the ground as she rose up behind her, then kicked out the other knee with greater success. Yang tumbled to the ground.
Ice was forming over Ruby's clothes. Her arms were drawn in, desperately clinging to her waning body heat. Schnee pinned her and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
"Just stay down," she said, "I promise we won't hurt you if-"
Ruby appeared on Blake's back, arms tight around her neck. Schnee was launched straight upwards, slamming into the ceiling. Blake threw elbow strikes behind her, striking the same ribs repeatedly. Yang was trying to stand up again. Blake jumped and planted both feet in her side, knocking her back down and pushing Ruby off balance. Blake was already twisting from her grasp as they fell, pulling at the girl's arms at just the right angle to free herself from the hold. Weiss slammed into the floor.
Yang grabbed Blake by the ankle and dragged her closer. She clapped her hand over the girl's forehead. Blake's response caught her off guard; she simply held up her hands and froze.
"Don't m- move," Yang stammered, raising an eyebrow.
Ruby appeared over Weiss and fell on top of her. Weiss groaned in protest, and grabbed for her combat knife.
"Weiss, stop, they have us," Blake said, in chilling calm.
"What?" Yang asked, "Just like that?"
"She sees what she saw when I hit her," Ruby said, "She sees she has no options."
Blake's view of the girl was almost completely obscured by Xiao Long's hand. She could only peek out with one eye. Ruby was pinning Weiss, with Weiss's revolver in her hand. The action was open, and the cartridges were scattered on the floor.
"Why did you give us that name?" Ruby demanded.
"Just a shot in the dark," Blake said, "Hoping you wouldn't kill me."
"I'm going to set her on fire, Blake," Weiss grunted.
"Do not," Blake said, voice wavering for the first time, "Do not."
"Blake," Ruby said, "Pleased to meet you, Blake."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Blake was inching her fingers, as slowly as wouldn't kill her, towards her combat knife.
"What you do is amazing," Ruby said, "Can you actually see the future?"
"Ruby, not the time," Yang said.
"She's right," Blake said, "If you want to get away, go now."
Yang shifted her grip on Blake's head, ensuring she never got a window where she could squirm free. She met eyes Blake's eyes.
"What is it with you?" Yang asked.
"We haven't had options in a while," Weiss said, "Bomb implants. Both of us."
Blake's eyes widened slightly as her pupils darted to Weiss.
"Jesus," Yang whispered.
Ruby blinked in place. She winced in pain, and her eyes were rolling. The tip of the knife was wavering about Weiss's neck.
"Yang, there's a giant grate or something I need you to rip out," Ruby said, "I think it leads to the sewers, but we have to go now. Ironwood is coming."
Ironwood advanced down the hall, grenade launcher raised and aimed forward. Three mercs were keeping pace with him, all holding rifles. They reached the basement and came face to face with two mercs in retreat. One was supporting the other, who's arm ended halfway down the bicep, a hastily applied tourniquet failing to hold his blood in. Ironwood passed them without a word. One of the mercs behind him helped support his injured comrade and lead them back towards the stairs.
Around the next corner was the mess they'd retreated from. The soldier's mangled, severed arm lay on the ground in a puddle of viscera. There was the blade of a buzzsaw embedded in the wall, with half of another mercenary's head on either side, split down the middle. There was a horrid electronic screeching coming from everyone's radios, and with this many radios in one place, it was threatening another feedback loop.
"The fuck is with the comms today?" One of the mercs asked.
"It's interference," Another replied, "Magnetic interference."
Ironwood put up a hand, silencing them. He approached the corner, and he could hear a conversation down the next hall. He adjusted his grip on his weapon, and took a deep breath.
"I think it leads to the sewers, but we have to go now," A soft voice, "Ironwood is coming."
Ironwood stepped around the corner, and took in the sight of the four of them. Belladonna and Schnee had lost again it seemed, yet in doing so, they'd given him an opening to finish this. He levelled the grenade launcher at all four of them. The girl in the red hoodie seemed to teleport forward just a couple steps, then fall to her knees, gripping her head in agony. Ironwood smirked.
The wall on his right exploded. A mass of metal slammed into Ironwood, ripping him off his feet as easily as it had punched through the wall. The engine block sent him crashing through the left wall and out of sight, continuing after him, crushing him against one of the support beams of the building. The mercs took aim at the hole in the wall the engine block had come. With a magnetic hum, the saw blade stuck in the wall behind them tore itself free. It came to a stop in mid-air in front of them, and its excessive new coating of blood poured off the side.
From the hole the engine block had appeared from, a figure leapt across the hall, continuing straight into the room Ironwood had been sent into. The four girls down the hall got the briefest glimpse. She had a powerful and unmistakably feminine frame, dressed in brown motorcycle leathers. Though her face was hidden by a motorcycle helmet, a long ponytail of dyed red hair hung down her back. She skidded to a halt in front of Ironwood. He was trying to lift the engine block off himself. The girl thrust her hand in the air, and in response, the engine block leapt up to the ceiling as if weightless, smashing right through. She brought her hand down as fast as she could, and the engine block came back down onto Ironwood, sending cracks through the stone floor and up the side of the support pillar.
"Who the fuck was that?" Yang asked.
The red-haired girl pulled her hands back, and the engine block was sent careening past her. She thrust at Ironwood again, and this time the engine block smashed him clean through the pillar. If the building would have survived its previous damage, destroying the pillar sealed its fate. A groan of protest seemed to emanate through the entire structure, and the ceiling above them cracked and sagged. Ironwood put a hand on the engine block to steady himself as he pulled himself off the ground. With a roar of fury, he charged the girl.
She slid a hand into her pocket and brought it back out wearing a pair of steel knuckledusters. They'd had to be made of steel; brass wasn't ferro-magnetic. A haymaker threw Ironwood to the side, slamming into the wall and crumpling down to the floor. The girl extended a hand towards a pile of chains in the corner. They whipped across the room and wrapped around Ironwood, pulling tight. A length of chain wrapped about his head and pulled tight enough to break the skin. Ironwood screamed.
Through the hole in the wall, a boy wearing a green longcoat appeared. Unlike the girl, his face was uncovered. He was distinctly Chinese in appearance, his black hair ending in highlighted tips of electric blue and green. He was lazily carrying an SMG he'd taken off a dead body. He spotted that one of the maimed soldiers in the hall was still moving, and put a few rounds into him.
"Pyrrha, the whole building's coming down, we gotta go!" He shouted.
"Not until I kill this piece of shit!" She shouted back.
The chains wrapped around Ironwood's head were nearly tearing themselves apart. One loop of the chain had wrapped around his mouth. It suddenly snapped tighter as several of his teeth gave way, sending the shattered chunks down his throat. His left eye was bloodshot, and seemed unsure of whether it should stay in the socket. He was still screaming, though it was muffled by the chain that now ran through his mouth. A voice came from the radio in the boy's pocket.
"Ren, Atlas is pulling out of the building!" A male voice, "You and Pyrrha have to move!"
"Oh shit," Ren said, "Pyrrha, Hellfire's going to be coming in!"
"Goddamn it," Pyrrha hissed.
The chains around Ironwood fell slack. He was trying to stand even as his near-crushed skull pushed its way back into shape. Pyrrha raised her hand and brought it down. The ceiling above Ironwood collapsed, bringing a piece of the ventilation system and most of a truck frame down on top of him. Pyrrha turned away from him, and they ran from the room.
The grainy computer monitor was showing an aerial view of the destruction. A pillar of smoke climbed into the sky over the devastated building. Several places within the landscape of destruction were on fire, though their spread over the stone and metal debris was slow. The camera view was drifting over the building in a circular pattern, the unmanned vehicle it was mounted on carefully avoiding the rising plumes of heated air.
Vehicles and soldiers were visible on the ground, glowing in the thermal imaging. Many soldiers lay still in the parking lots around the garage, the warmth fading from their prone shapes. Those who still lived were sprinting from the building under the cover of suppressive fire, towards what remained of the perimeter.
A young man sat at the desk, a cheap piece of balsa wood scattered with loose paperwork, burger wrappers, and coffee stains. The room's function was belied by its staunch, office feel. The only place the mess on the desk was remotely clear was around the keyboard, and the control stick on its right. The boy's hand shoved candy wrappers about the mousepad as he navigated a slightly clumsy UI.
"We are… good to go," He said, "Attention all units, this is Eye in the Sky. We are preparing Hellfire strike. Drop what you're doing and evac now."
The response from the radio was garbled, and barely audible from interference.
"Another- basement, just killed-" Somebody was shouting, "on site, we- another Aber-"
The boy picked up the Big Gulp cup from the edge of the desk and took a noisy sip through the straw.
"Another one," He noted, "Jesus, busy day today."
He felt a presence leaning in over his shoulder and glanced upwards. Doctor Watts' eyes darted back and forth across the monitor. He tapped the drone operator's shoulder and pointed.
"Zoom in there," He said, "What's that?"
The camera selected a region of the collapsing building and didn't zoom, but abruptly punched in. A giant air conditioning unit from the roof had found itself resting on a pile of brick in one spot on the now exposed first floor. It was shaking about in odd fashion, with greater energy than the debris around it, though it had been a minute or so since it had fallen into the decaying corpse of the structure. Seemingly of their own volition, metal tools scattered about the mess suddenly leapt towards it, clinging to the deformed metal sides. The whole conditioner shifted about, this time throwing itself against a wall, sending the tools flying in different directions.
"Hmm."
"Waiting on your call, sir," Eye in the Sky said.
The interference in the radio dropped from a constantly modulating racket to an irritating buzz.
"Hold the strike," Ironwood's voice growled, sounding unusually drained of energy, "Hold the strike, I'm still inside."
The operator glanced over his shoulder at Watts. Watts rubbed his chin.
"All operatives we know to be human are clear," Eye in the Sky offered.
"Fire."
Eye in the Sky hit the middle button on the control stick with a lazily extended middle finger, for no reason other than it had the furthest reach from where he was slouched. The camera's view seemed to drop in mid-air, then accelerated.
"Watts, hold the strike," Ironwood roared, "Hold the strike, goddamn it!"
The steel bars of the grate shrieked as they were torn apart by Yang's body. Ruby dashed through after her, too afraid to attempt going into the silver again. They'd heard the word Hellfire, and it was time to leave. Yang was smashing pipework and barriers out of their way, continuing down the grimy tunnel, slanted to take them deeper and deeper beneath Detroit. Ruby was keeping step, but Yang was picking up speed.
"Underground, Yang! Don't run into a wall!"
"No shit!" Yang yelled, "Can you block the blast somehow? Block the tunnel with these broken pipes?"
"Don't add more debris!" Blake shouted after them. Their voices were echoing back and forth down the tunnel.
"Oh good, you're behind us!" Yang spat back over her shoulder.
A blast of heated air hit Yang in the back. For a split second, she realized they were doomed. The blast wave had caught them, and they'd be nothing but charred remains in this tunnel. A second passed, and she found herself still alive. The heat, though sweltering, was a shadow of the temperature the name of the missile implied. The running sluice of wastewater suddenly reversed direction. Swirls of condensing carbon dioxide spread over the surface of the water as it rushed back up the tunnel. It was so unexpected a sight that it drew Yang to slow and glance back. She saw that Ruby had stopped several seconds prior, and Yang had gained considerable distance. Ruby was staring back in awe.
Weiss Schnee was standing in the tunnel with her hands outstretched, facing the way they'd came. Her hair was whipping about in the wind. An odd sensation- though the heat was emanating from the strange formation in front of her, wind was blowing towards it. The sluice water was freezing in place in front of her, and growing as it did. Carbon dioxide was ever so briefly condensing into liquid and freezing solid as it dripped down the surface of the filthy ice. The growing mass was becoming a wall, blocking the tunnel off. Yet the heat coming in Ruby, Yang and Blake's direction was so intense they had to shield their faces with their arms.
Weiss had started sweating before she'd thought to hold her own temperature in place. Now she was cool again, but so was her sweat. It was threatening to drip into her eyes, but she wouldn't allow it to distract her. The ice would have to be thick to stop all the heat. It would have to grow into the walls, crushing into the brickwork to anchor itself. As the view up the tunnel was closing off, there was a sudden flash of intense light. It seared Weiss's eyes worse than the sweat. She saw, silhouetted among the bars of the warped grate, a large, muscular frame, limping forward. Then the ice barrier closed the tunnel off, and continued to grow as the burning light penetrated the formation.
The ground shook and the ice strained, and the brickwork around them cracked and crumbled. Dirt fell from the ceiling. The sound wasn't simply heard by the ear, but it seemed, shook through the entire skeleton. Yang put herself over Ruby, shielding her body. All four of them had hands over their ears and their mouths held open. A massive crack split across the ice, and a few branching cracks found their own way to the edge, but after a number of seconds, the light burning through the ice faded, and the barrier held. There was several seconds of silence.
"That was amazing!" Ruby shouted.
"What?" Weiss called.
"I said that was amazing!"
"Ruby," Yang shouted, "I can't fucking hear what you're saying."
"Blake, I did it!" Weiss said, jumping up and down and laughing, "Look at that, I fucking did it!"
"What?" Ruby called.
"Jesus Christ," Blake said, and with an exaggerated point of the arm down the tunnel, "Move!"
The manhole cover burst upwards, pinging off the fire escape of the building beside it, and careening across the parking lot. It had travelled a couple meters upwards before Ruby appeared next to the hole.
"It's clear, come on up," She called down.
Yang pulled herself up out of the manhole. She took a gasp of fresh air, kicked some of the muck water from her boot, then turned around. She reached out her hand and Blake Belladonna took it. She was pulled up from the manhole, and without pausing, stepped past Yang, levelling her handgun at various sightlines. Yang helped Weiss Schnee out of the hole, then stood.
"My sister's going to see threats coming long before you," Yang said, "If she says it's clear, it's clear."
After a moment, Blake lowered the handgun. She turned around. She wasn't foreseeing any of their heads getting blown off, so apparently, they were safe, if only for the moment.
"Who was that back there?" Blake asked, "We didn't think you had more Post Humans helping you."
"We don't," Yang said, "I have no idea who that was."
"She looked fucking badass, though," Ruby said, "Holy shit. And killed Ironwood."
"I've seen the result of every possible attack on that creep," Blake said, "How do we know he's dead for sure?"
"Nothing survives a Hellfire," Ruby said, "That ice wall was clutch, but if he was hit directly…"
"He was," Weiss nodded.
"Okay then," Ruby said, "Next step is getting those bomb implants out."
Blake sighed and shook her head.
"it's not," She said, "My partner and I are going back."
Weiss seemed to find this as surprising as Ruby and Yang did.
"They'll find that ice in the tunnel, or the point where the scorched earth abruptly stops," Blake said, "If the four of us are alive and loose, they keep this lockdown going, and we aren't getting out of the city. Then they start rooting out other Post Humans in hiding, and those people fight to survive. This place will go past the point of no return, just like Ottawa did."
"Wait…" Yang said.
"I was there," Blake said, "I watched them burn it down to stay in control. I don't want it happening here. We're going to radio for pick up. We just barely made it out after killing the two fugitives. My partner's quick thinking and use of her Ability saved our lives."
"Hey, that part's true," Ruby noted, "But, wait, how do you… how do you get free?"
"Mission success looks great for us," Blake said, "We'll be deployed again soon."
"Oh great," Weiss scoffed, "More of this."
"Alright, great plan," Yang said, "Been fun, glad I didn't kill you, I guess. Ruby, let's move."
She turned and marched in the direction of the rest of the city, away from the rising column of smoke on the horizon. Ruby followed her a few steps. Then, she suddenly blinked closer to where the other two were still waiting.
"This has been driving me nuts, though," She said, "Are you actually Weiss Schnee?"
The girl in white rolled her eyes, and appeared genuinely aggravated by the question.
"If I said 'yes', would-"
Ruby began to crack up, then blinked in place, suddenly more composed, though she wore a curt smile.
"Pleased to meet you, I'm Ruby."
Then, she blinked out of sight.
The car was a Honda Accord. A less ostentatious car then the driver usually stole, but there was cause for playing it safe. It wasn't often you parked down the street from a warzone. A short time ago, a police vehicle had rolled past the car, tearing away from the factory. It certainly hadn't been the cops driving, as the one sitting on the roof of the car had confirmed. One of the passengers had seen the opening, thrown her door open, and charged. The kid on the roof had hopped down and gone after her even before the driver's urgent instruction.
Now, there was nothing that remained of the factory but a crater of ash. The passenger door opened, and Pyrrha Nikos slipped in. She pulled off her motorcycle helmet and tossed it into the lap of the girl in the back seat. The driver looked at her with clear relief in his eyes. He was wearing his sweater loosely over one of his endless repertoire of band shirts. Today's was Foo Fighters. His hair was soft, blond, and hung down about his face.
"That was risky," Jaune Arc said, "Really fucking risky."
The right back door opened, and Lie Ren stepped in. He was immediately tackled with a hug from Nora Valkyrie. Her hair was a much more natural red than Pyrrha's. She was wearing a low-cut black T-shirt, a pink miniskirt, and held a joint between her lips. She puffed it, passed it to Pyrrha, then planted a kiss on Ren's cheek. Pyrrha took a drag, rolling the window down as she did.
"Did it work?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah," Pyrrha said, "I got him. He was still in there."
"Good job."
"Thank you."
"Rude of us to, ah, kill Ironwood before…" Nora mused, "Before that guy Ozpin even delivered the intel."
"Sorry," Pyrrha said.
"Don't be, just… like… he'll find that weird, right?"
"I think Ozzy will live with it somehow," Jaune said, "Actually, we don't need him anymore, and neither does Atlas, so… right under the bus, I'm guessing."
Pyrrha held the joint out to Jaune, a trail of smoke rising from the glowing cherry. He held up a hand, and she passed the joint back to Nora instead.
"I'm driving, and Nora's been hotboxing the car as it is," Jaune said.
"We still picking up Belladonna and Schnee?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune motioned to the radios on the dash, of various make. They were designed to be mounted in police vehicles; all gunmetal grey and sharp edges. They were haphazardly duct-taped into place, low chatter coming from a couple.
"They radioed for pick up," Jaune said, shrugging.
"Oh," Pyrrha said, "Why would-? So, what now?"
"We're done in Detroit, aren't we?" Ren asked.
"We'll try to guess where the two of them will be deployed next," Jaune said, "See how things change with Ironwood off the board."
"Here's an idea," Nora said, "Why not try to get Rose and Xiao Long instead? See if they want to come on a wacky adventure?"
"I don't want to bet that Atlas just trusts they got them in there," Jaune said, "Xiao Long and Rose have too much heat, at least for now. Besides, remember how they're connected to all this. It'd get messy."
Pyrrha was staring out the windshield at the rising smoke from the factory. There were more choppers in the air now, and doubtless more drones above them.
"What about the bitch?" She asked.
"Bitch is gonna have to wait," Jaune said, "Until we have Belladonna and Schnee on our side."
With that, he revved up the engine, and backed up towards a driveway where he could turn around.
The pizzeria was open, though based on the skeleton crew of employees, it was later than their typical hours of business. Most of the workforce were genuine bearers of the name on the front sign. The few additional hires were always assured to not be bothered by the occasional strange sight. The owner was an old friend of Mr. Xiong, it would be explained, and Mr. Xiong and his associates were always welcome.
Miltia Malachite was leaning against a Camaro she had swapped into, several blocks away. Janus was standing guard, along with a fresh group of muscle. A few of the men from the garage had made it out, and were heading for the medical safehouse now. Janus had just checked his watch again when a sound drew their attention to the alley nearby. Yang Xiao Long had hopped the fence, using a dumpster as a stepping stone as she came back to the pavement. Ruby Rose appeared beside her, hands in pockets, and the two approached. Miltia chose to hide her grin; Melanie didn't.
"So, you hit something hard enough to get their attention," Miltia said.
Yang shrugged, but couldn't completely conceal the pride in her face.
Janus clicked the button on his radio.
"They're here, bring him out." He said.
Yang raised an eyebrow. Another jet-black vehicle appeared, this one a Lamborghini. Ruby's eyes widened in amazement at the elegant curvature and shimmering glass. The car came to a stop, and Junior Xiong stepped out of the passenger seat. He didn't even glance in Ruby and Yang's direction before opening his arms wide for Miltia. She wrapped him in a hug and planted her lips on his. Ruby looked away, and made eye contact with Melanie for a second longer than was comfortable.
Miltia's foot returned to the ground, and she stepped back. Now Junior looked to Yang.
"Thank you for not bailing on my people," He said.
"Thanks for not shooting me in the head in your bar," Yang replied.
"I owe you something that I learned because of this," Junior said, "And an apology. I know how these government spooks found my place."
The wave of a half-extended finger was enough for the men around him to move. They went to the back of one of the SUVs. A shape was dragged out; a man in a suit just like the ones that carried him, but he was missing his coat, and the shirt was torn open. Gouged flesh could be glimpsed beneath the shirt. His face was half pulp. He was squirming like an animal in a trap. Ruby was quickly looking between Yang and this new display.
"I have high standards when it comes to my men," Junior said, "I have employed this man for years, and I mistook him for trustworthy."
The injured man was no more than dumped on his knees before Ruby and Yang. Yang put a hand about Ruby's shoulders.
"J- Jun- Junior, sir," The man spat through a misshapen mouth, "They were going to get us all fucking killed!"
"I also have high standards when it comes delivering what was promised," Junior said, "It was him who nearly got you killed. Would you like to borrow my gun?"
There was a knot in Yang's throat. Ruby was staring at the wounded thug, and Yang couldn't imagine her thoughts.
"That's not the way we do things," Ruby whispered, "We only kill to protect ourselves."
Junior reached into his pocket, drew a silver-plated revolver with a red sandalwood grip and shot the man through the head. Yang looked away, and missed that Ruby hadn't.
"You know what? I can respect that," Junior said, "Janus, see him into a tub of lye, will you?"
He wiped his revolver with a handkerchief and slid it back into his coat. His men dragged the corpse away by the ankles.
"This… delay was my responsibility," Junior said, "I'll be giving you a substantial discount to your fee."
"I appreciate that," Yang said.
Melanie whispered in Miltia's ear. Miltia raised an eyebrow, then walked forward and relayed the whisper to Junior. His brow furrowed, and he rubbed his hair-covered chin.
"Eh, not sure about that," He said.
Ruby pulled herself from Yang's grasp. As she took a step forward, her shoe nearly touched the puddle of blood on the pavement.
"What?" She asked.
"A job offer," Miltia said.
"No reason they would want to get involved in-"
"Tell us," Yang said, "If it might keep us alive."
Junior shrugged. One of the pizzeria employees was peeking over the front counter, where he'd ducked when the gun went off. An elderly woman took him by the shoulders and ushered him to continue sweeping the floor.
"Well, there are a few players out there who pay for Ability work."
Ruby turned to Yang with an excited grin. Yang instantly regretted this conversation. Ruby turned back with an inquisitive stare.
"Be more careful about how you approach them than you were with me," Junior said, "Names of people looking for talent like yours float around. The biggest lately is just one name. Salem. She's further west, and taking all sorts, by the sound of it."
"Would we be, like, fighting to protect people like us?" Ruby asked.
Junior chuckled. He turned back towards his car.
"Maybe, kid," Junior said, "I like you. She might like you to."
He got into the passenger seat. Miltia climbed in after him, seating herself on his lap.
"Janus has you from here," He said, "Hope you enjoyed your visit to our fair city."
He pulled the door shut, and the car pulled away. Ruby and Yang were left in the parking lot, still surrounded by Junior's men. Janus waved a hand in the direction of one of the cars. Another thug popped the trunk. Ruby blinked into it, immediately in an exaggerated lounging position, causing the thug to jump back in surprise. Yang smiled, and walked towards the trunk.