This didn't make sense. Why would the White Fang ambush her and rob her? She was just trying to deliver the mail!

She knew there were other couriers assigned to deliver packages for this job, and yet a weird alliance of Faunus and... whoever this guy in the white coat with the cigars was... of all the people they could've hit.

She tried moving her hands, but the bindings were good and tight. All she could do was glare at the man, his back to her, some of his features illuminated by the flickering flame of his lighter.

"Sorry you got twisted up in this scene," he noted, sounding genuinely remorseful... or at least like he was trying to be sincere.

She didn't have time for such sentiments, though. Based on the guns and knives the Fang were wielding and the manacles placed on her wrists, she rather thought talk sounded cheap.

"From where you're kneeling, it must seem like an eighteen carat run of bad luck," he observed, finally turning around to meet her eye. Green eyes... they suited him.

"Truth is..."

He leveled his cane at her, flipping up a little targeting reticle from the bottom, revealing a thin barrel to fire from. Comprehension dawned quickly as her eyes went wide.

"...the game was rigged from the start."

He fired. Everything went white.

She heard something above her head; an annoying spinning fan. Someone was wealthy enough to afford a ceiling fan? And the electricity to power it? She'd heard the Vacuo Wasteland had some rare amenities most of the continent didn't, but it wasn't a luxury she was used to.

Nor was she used to the throbbing pain in her head, as she reached her hands up to clamp down on either side, groaning.

A strong hand reached out to find her shoulder. "Whoa, easy there. Easy. You've been out cold a couple of days now." She tried to fix her gaze in the direction of this new voice, making out a few blonde whiskers on the chin. "Why don't you relax a second? Get your bearings."

She took a deep breath and did her best to fall back, to land in whatever mattress she'd been lying upon for... days? What happened to the White Fang? The package? The jerk who shot her?

At least the man tending to her seemed nice... an older gentleman with blonde hair, blue eyes, a prominent tattoo on one arm... something about him seemed quite familiar.

"Let's see what the damage is," he gently suggested. "How about your name? Can you tell me your name?"

She wasn't sure she could even talk, her head was throbbing so much. But if this man was sincere -as he sounded to be- and he really had taken care of her after she'd been shot in the head, then that was a courtesy she could repay.

"Ruby Rose," she replied.

"Huh," the blonde man remarked, clicking his tongue. "Can't say that's the name I'd have picked out for you, but if that's your name, that's your name. I'm Taiyang. Welcome to Goodsprings."

After going on a circuitous and unnecessarily long journey southeast to go to a city that would otherwise be north of Goodsprings, Ruby aided a handful of strange individuals in pursuing the man who shot her. After finding his distinctive cigar near the grave he'd made out for her, received information from all manner of colorful characters with their own bizarre foibles, and finally managed to talk the Atlesian military and the White Fang out of a tense hostage situation, Ruby finally found the name of the man she owed vengeance, engraved on his lighter: Roman Torchwick.

He was at the Tops in New Meadow, the shining jewel in the Vacuo Wasteland. Whatever she'd been meant to deliver, he had it and made it back to a stronghold of luxury and debauchery to revel in his victory.

Ruby sincerely hoped he'd savor that win, because his days were numbered... and she was a fast runner. It was why she delivered mail.

And in the Vacuo Wasteland, an inhospitable radioactive desert filled with scavengers and mutated Grimm, it really wasn't wise to screw with the person who delivered your mail.

Ruby had to go through all manner of shenanigans to get into New Meadow. First she had to help a bunch of shady characters collect some debts from a bunch of excuse-making vagabonds scattered around the slums, then she had to help cater to a bunch of perverse tastes by testing out a sex robot that left her unable to feel her legs, then she had to stop the Atlesian military (again) from overstepping when they got into a tussle with the Achieve Men impersonators after parlaying with their leader, the Ray. And the less said about the weird ladies with the rolling pins the better.

But finally, finally she got the favor returned by the Ray and was given access to New Meadow, working her way past robot security guards and strange people selling her overpriced novelty meats. She saw the casino in the distance, knowing Roman Torchwick's final day had dawned.

When she stepped inside, she had to disarm herself of all her weapons, but Ruby was a sneaky one. She couldn't smuggle a giant scythe in, but she could easily claim the collapsed metal on the back of her waist wasn't what it appeared to be.

She took a moment to get her bearings, getting a feel for the location, taking in the card tables and slot machines and counting the guards...

Then she saw him descending a staircase, dressed in his white coat, smoking his cigar... with a new lighter. Clearly he didn't want for riches if he could afford a second, let alone a first.

"What in the brother damned-"

He recognized her at once. "Let's keep this in the groove, hey? Smooth moves..."

He was on the defensive, clearly not looking for a fight when he didn't have half a dozen White Fang to watch his back. And Ruby could take advantage of that.

She put on her best flirty smile. "When you shot me, you ran off so fast I never got your name."

Torchwick wasn't so taken aback that he'd lost that effortless wit of his. "You making a pass at me, sister? Because I'm out of your league."

Ruby just laid it on even thicker. "Is it wrong to want a guy who'd shoot me in the head?"

Torchwick was understandably wary of her -as most people would be upon their murder victim hitting on them- but he was also undeniably intrigued, slowly drawn in by Ruby's charm. "Did that bullet scramble your egg? Or have you always been a naughty broad...?"

Ruby drew closer, letting her voice get a little deeper, her words spoken a little slower. "Girls like bad boys. And you've been downright awful..."

"You're one sick redhead, baby," Roman noted. "...I don't even know what to call you."

Ruby was starting to enjoy making him so flummoxed, but she was a busy lady with an agenda full of revenge to attend to. "I'm saying I dig you, despite it all."

Ruby drew closer still, practically pressing her body against his', looking up to meet those green eyes. "What do you say?"

Roman wanted to make a crack about digging and shoveling -given their history- together, but something about the combination of red hair and silver eyes pulled him in something fierce. But he wasn't yet so consumed as to stop thinking about what could compel a girl he'd fully intended to kill to want to jump him a few weeks later. "This ain't forgiveness. This is something... wrong."

"I'm a courier, remember?" Ruby reminded him.

She slid her hand down from his arm to his midsection... and even lower still. "Don't you want me to handle your package?"

Roman knew he was a fool to even consider it.

But his brain wasn't doing much of the thinking now.

"All right, Red. This is all kinds of wrong, but... to my suite it is."

Ruby showed Roman the night of his life. It just happened to be the last night he'd have on this remnant.

When she emerged from the Tops, wiping the blood off her hood, however, a strange silver-haired man approached her.

"The eyes of Cinder are upon you," he explained. "She admires your accomplishments, and bestows upon you the gift of her mark.

"Any crimes committed against the Legion are hereby forgiven," the silver-haired man explained. "Cinder will not extend this mercy again."

Cinder's... Legion?

How did these people keep finding her?

Ruby had a hunch that before this was over, she'd be sorry she asked.