There was a tense standoff between them. Even though he was armed with Lucent Eclipse, Lux did not move an inch as the three Huntresses drew their weapons out and aimed at him. After a tense standoff, Weiss sheaths Myrtenaster and took out special handcuffs used for suppressing a person's Aura. She then carefully approached him while her teammates kept a close eye on him.
"Good. That's good. We are just going to put these on you. You understand," Weiss spoke slowly at Lux, gauging his reaction at the mention of being restrained. He showed no emotion as he stared at her, and, after a moment, she went closer until they were within arm's reach. Her friends relaxed as he was willing to cooperate.
All of a sudden, just she was about to handcuff him, Lux tosses his hover board on the pavement and hastily skates past Weiss and her teammates in a blink of an eye. He turns back to them and gave them a playful gesture at them. Team RWBY, peeved by his cheek, quickly recovered from their initial shock and chased after him.
Normally, in this kind of situation, Lux's strategy is to avoid them by taking several "wrong" turns and random detours around the district to lose them, like what he did to Woolworth's thugs earlier. And usually, it works; it seems that he has lost them. Unfortunately, Team RWBY is not the usual run-of-the-mill type of people like them; they are Huntresses with years of experience hunting and slaying the Creatures of Grimm for a living. Capturing bounties like him must have been part of the job description and definitely would be easier to do for people of their skill level. So consider him surprised when he sees them catching up, particularly Weiss, who seems hell-bent on capturing him. In spite of this, Lux couldn't help but smile in amusement by their persistent pursuit and his heart was beating in excitement by all this.
Ruby torpedoes her way through the streets, leaving a trail of rose petals in her wake. Lux nearly lost his balance when she went past him using her immense speed in an effort to throw him off, but he manages to regain his stability and maneuvers away from her. Though he was visibly relieved to avoid her, he sees her from a distance, firing several shots at him using Crescent Rose. Unfortunately for him, one of those shots hits his hoverboard and he falls to the ground. Lux manages to get back up and starts running when Team RWBY catches up, leaving his broken hoverboard behind.
As he continues to run away from them, he barges through the door into an abandoned warehouse. Lux looks around to see that it was spacious and large enough for an all out fight to take place. He knew that he can't outrun them without his hoverboard and he cannot head back to the shop without them chasing after him. Lux has no choice to face them head on.
Just as he was taking a moment to catch his breath, Team RWBY smashes through the glass window and surround him, their weapons readied against him. "Surrender now, Lux!" Ruby told him as she transforms Crescent Rose from a sniper rifle to a scythe.
He heaves a breathe before tilting his head, confused. "Wait. Just who are you?"
She points her finger at Lux and smiles. "We're Team RWBY!" Ruby announced. "And we're here to bring you back to your younger brother."
Lux frowns at that. "He went out of his way to hire, just to… have a reunion? With me?" he asks with a look of disbelief.
Ruby beamed, mistaking his surprise as being touched. She relaxed her stance, thinking that Lux would surrender. "Yeah!"
Lux snorted and shook his head. He side steps to a nearby crate and carefully places the bouquet of morning glories on it while they watched him closely. Putting on his headphones, music started to play as he saunters back to where he was. Before she wonders why their target was acting so carefree, Lux suddenly pulls out Lucent Eclipse and gave it a bit of a twirl before aiming it at her, causing her and her friends to jump.
"Sorry" he apologized, and the team immediately tensed as his eyes became serious. "But I can't do that."
Not one to wait for the opponent to strike first, Yang charges in with a battle cry before any of her teammates can react. She made a flurry of explosive punches at him, but was shocked when he dodges her attacks with ease, the laidback smile still on his face.
"Ladybug!" Ruby orders her tactical attack to Blake once Yang quickly backs out. They both dash forward and attack at the same time, intent on not without giving him a chance to retaliate with their combined speed.
Though surprised by their remarkable speed, Lux was undaunted by their team coordination. He made a split to dodge their attack and, once Ruby and Blake dashed at him again, sends them flying when he puts his hands on the floor and kicking the two aside, twisting his body like a tornado.
"Freezer Burn!" Weiss, upon hearing Ruby's command as she was sent flying, creates an ice glyph on the floor. She quickly backs out of Yang's way when she jumps into the air and hits the epicenter with Ember Celica, creating a wave of mist surrounding Lux. With his vision obscured, Blake, who manages to recover from his attack a while ago, takes on the offensive as she slashes at him. Lux barely dodges her attacks and shoots back at her only for his shots to hit her afterimage. Using this opportunity, Blake made another slash at him and he gets knocked back.
Once the mist clears up she and Ruby, who scurried over to be by her partner's side after being sent flying from Lux's kick, were preparing their own combination attack just for him. Perfectly in sync, Ruby sets Crescent Rose parallel with the ground while Weiss' Myrtenaster was flaring in the air. The latter then creates three white glyphs in front of the former's weapon, each smaller than the last. When Ruby pulls the trigger, the bullet passes through the glyphs, turning it into a dazzling icicle straight at Lux.
"White Rose!" Ruby calls out.
The moment he sees the shot coming at him from the corner of his eye and hears out her tactical attack, he hurriedly rolls away from it. Upon impact, it forms a beautiful structure of an ice crystal that sprung out of the ground. Fascinated now, he turns to the two and gestures them come at him like an owner to his dog, as if taunting them that he can keep up dodging and that the only way they can really do any damage to him would be in closer proximity. Although Weiss was barely keeping her cool when he made that gesture, she didn't take the bait and kept maintaining their long-distance attack.
Yang, on the other hand, took it as a challenge and charged at him, her fist raising against him. Once she was literally within arm's reach, Lux grabs her arm and throws her off at the direction where Ruby was aiming her weapon at him. Ruby accidentally triggers Crescent Rose and fires another dazzling icicle at her sister instead of Lux. As a result, it hits Yang, turning her into what appears to be an ice sculpture, with her body encased in ice except for her head, which was sticking out of it. He then looks on with genuine wonderment as Yang tries to free herself from the ice.
One down, three more to go.
"Yang!" Ruby calls out anxiously as she sees her sister struggling to free herself.
"Ruby, wait!" Weiss tries to reach out to her partner but she wasn't listening.
Enraged, Ruby recklessly rushes at Lux at full speed before Weiss could stop her. She jumps at him and spins her body with her sniper-scythe like a top but he backflips away. But he loses his balance when Ruby shoots on the ground, utilizing the recoil of her weapon and slammed him to the side. She then proceeds to attack him while he was in a stunned state before kicking him to the chest. As she rushes on him, he redirects her path to a wall as she crashes into it in an effort to have some breathing room.
It was not over yet. He quickly ducks when Blake throws Gambol Shroud at him like a boomerang. Despite dodging her attack, she jumps in front of Lux and lands a punch in the gut before following up with a beat down, multiplying each hit at him using her afterimages. When he tries to hit her back or shoots her down, he ends up hitting one of them, causing it to either explode into flames or shatter upon impact.
Lux continues to block and parry one of her attacks and made quick roundhouse kick at one. He grinned knowing that he landed a guaranteed hit on her instead of one of her afterimages. He mercilessly bludgeons her with his shotguns before kicking her away from him. When Blake backs up and wildly swings Gambol Shroud at him, he dodges her attacks until he manages to grab hold on her weapon and pulls her in like a top. Lux then bludgeons her twice and made another roundhouse kick at her, shattering her Aura before knocking her out. Once he was finished, Lux falls down to his knees as he felt every bone in his body screaming in pain, the fight beginning to takes its toll on him.
Two down, two more to go.
Not to be outmatched, Ruby burst into the scene, torpedoing her way at him. Lux instantly sees her coming towards him and redirects her path up to the ceiling. Instead of piercing through the ceiling though, Ruby unexpected curves and goes downwards towards him like a drill. As she was about to cut him down, Lux did something unexpected.
He quickly holsters his shotguns and raised both of his hands in the air. His gauntlets began to glow and, as Ruby was within his reach, a protective barrier was formed, blocking her attack. Sparks appeared as she tries to drill through the barrier. Before she could react, Lux quickly disarms Crescent Rose off her hands and pushes her away. Undeterred, Ruby torpedoes again towards him in an attempt to retrieve her weapon but she slams herself when he summons it again around him, knocking herself out in the process.
Three down, one more to go.
"Ruby!" Weiss calls out to her partner anxiously.
She ran towards her unconscious body and is visibly relieved when Ruby appears to be alright and no worse for wear, despite being defeated by Lux. Speaking of the man, when Weiss turns to him, he appears to be so winded from fighting against the three opponents he defeated as his Aura started to flicker while he's hunched over, trying to catch his breath. As her rapier glows red, Weiss intends to use this opportunity to strike him down and later cuff him while he is unaware of her presence.
Just as she was about to do that, Lux looks back up and pulls out his shotguns and quietly said, "I'm not yet finished." Weiss hastily backs off, stunned as she sees him slowly standing up despite being exhausted.
"Don't be stubborn. Why don't you just surrender already?" Weiss demanded.
Lux shrugged his shoulders and cracks his neck before cracking a smile. "I'm just getting started."
And so, the two clashed. Weiss rains him down with pierce attacks but he manages to block it with his shotguns. Both of them stare down at one another as their weapons clashed with each other, silently impressed with each other's strength. Weiss especially was shocked at his tenacity, despite having faced three of her teammates; he was still holding his ground.
"You're strong," Lux complimented as his eyes shined.
Weiss was completely surprised by his words that her face turned red, not sure whether it was from anger or embarrassment, but she continues to stare him down. "Of course I'm strong," she answered back, pushing away from her. "I have complete confidence in my skills."
He cocked his head as if to say, "Do you now?" whilst continuing to make an assault.
Her brow twitched. "I am confident! You've beaten my friends but I won't go down so easily!" She made multiple slashes at him, all so fast as she is attacking all at once.
Lux smiled, evading and blocking every attack with ease. "But you're arrogant, stubborn, loud and bossy, not to mention temperamental," he muttered quietly, but enough for only Weiss to hear.
"Shut up…" Weiss growled, her irritation building up as she shoots out fireballs from the glyphs she created at him but he dodges it just effortlessly.
Lux continues talking as if he wasn't fighting at all. "You didn't apologize when you crashed into me, you yell at everyone you think has done wrong, and you're whiny, I must admit," his voice was monotonous and the signs of exhaustion was nowhere to be found. He was good at that, hiding things.
Weiss was growing tired but she continues to attack Lux using quick slashes and jabs. "When things don't go your way, you get upset," Lux bashed her arm and Weiss drew back, gritting her teeth in pain as she clutches it.
"I know that…" Weiss seethed, breathing heavily. She manages to block Lux's next attack but it only made him closer to her for her to see his expressionless green eyes.
"You seem poise and quiet, yet you're anything but, and-"
"I ALREADY KNOW THAT!" Weiss cried angrily as tears threaten to fall from her eyes.
With every frustration and confusion bottling inside of her, she backs away from him. She puts everything in her power to summon a large glyph behind her. There, an Arma Gigas appears out of the glyph, ready to strike down its target. It swings its giant sword down at Lux but he jumps out of its way and fires several rounds at it. When it made a horizontal slash at him, Lux ducks underneath its giant sword and he continues to fire at the Arma Gigas. Even though the Arma Gigas was Weiss' trump card and strongest summons, it kept missing its strikes and it began to stagger after being shot at several times.
Once the Arma Gigas was weakened, Lux knew what to do. He leaps up in the air and, with one accurate shot to the head, the Arma Gigas fell with a loud thump and its body fades away into nothing.
The amount of power to summon the Arma Gigas tires Weiss more so than usual and she could feel her Aura dimming. With no other choice, Weiss used the last of her strength to create a glyph where Lux was standing, causing him to be stuck in place. He aims his shotguns to fire but, to his surprise, he has no ammo. As he struggles to free himself and having no time to reload, she then creates several more of them on the floor towards Lux and dashes at him.
"You don't have the right to insult me!" She angrily yelled. "I've heard enough people talking behind my back! I don't need you telling me all this – I know more than anyone that I – "
"But I like that about you."
Weiss stopped mid-attack; the tip of her rapier was just inches near his face.
"…W-what?" was all she could say.
Instead of attacking her while she is confused, Lux merely holsters his shotgun. Once the glyph that glued him disipates, he went on to grab the bouquet like nothing happened. While it is clear that he is completely exhausted from fighting Team RWBY, judging from his slow and tired gait, Weiss drops Myrtenaster and sank down to her knees, completely worn out and bewildered.
Seeing her on the floor, Lux softens and approaches Weiss and offers a helping hand to her. "Are you alright?" he asked, the smile on his face gone, replaced with a concerned gaze. "I hope I didn't hurt your friends too hard. You should probably do something about that blonde girl encased in a block of ice you created though."
Weiss, still in shock, begrudgingly accepts his help and, once she was up, she smacks his hand away to glare at him. "I can't believe this," she mumbled before stomping her foot. "This is humiliating!" Although she is enraged at the result of her battle, the worst thing was, she was actually happy when he mentioned that… he liked her.
She crossed her arms and looked away. "I hope you're happy. Not only did you defeat us, you made us look like idiots. Was this your purpose all along?" she glared at him, her anger increasing and her mouth becoming faster than her brain. "To make a fool out of us? To make a fool out of me? I can't believe I fell for your lie and made us lose – next time, I'll – "
Lux raised a brow. "Lie?" he responded, puzzled. "I don't remember lying to you."
Weiss fumed. "You DID! You told me you – you liked me! No one likes me! I was an idiot for even thinking that – "
"But I do like you."
She froze. Her anger slowly abated into embarrassment and confusion as she choked, not believing what she just heard. Seeing her reaction, Lux smiles gently and approaches her. Weiss backs away but he was much faster, appearing in her personal space quicker than she could blink. He leans down and she shuts her eyes, not sure what to expect. Then, she felt a hand gently tuck her white hair behind her ear. She opened her eyes in shock into his dark green eyes and she unconsciously blushed.
"Although we just only met" he whispered into her ear and smiled. "I like you. Very much so." And, once again, before she could respond, he softly caressed her cheek as if he really mattered to her. She was left dumbfounded; his words were sincere and the tone of his voice did not contain any signs of dishonesty or contempt.
"I like you enough that if you'd asked nicely instead of ganging up on me to fight, I might have complied," Lux told her, giving her a cheeky grin. "But right now, I'm delivering flowers to a client and I'm already late so…"
He jumps on several on the crates and up to the windows. Before he exits, he tosses a morning glory flower to Weiss. As she hastily caught it, he chuckled and said, "If you really want to capture me, why don't you and your team stop by at Chiaroscuro tomorrow. I would appreciate that we don't fight in front of the shop while I'm working though. Oh, and maybe skip the handcuffs and I'll actually listen to what you all say to me."
And with that, he jumps out of the window and disappears from her view.
For a moment, it seems time still around her. Weiss simply stood there, holding on to the flower he gave her and staring at the window where he left as she lightly touched her cheek.
Then it dawned on her.
She allowed her target to escape!