"Someone just arrived." Blake said as she got back from scouting the area.
It was a cold winter moonless night, thirty minutes after the clock struck midnight and crime was taking place. A crowd of people shuffled their way into a warehouse, the darkness made it difficult to tell how large the mob was. The lack of lights near the old building along with the darkness of a new moon made it the perfect place for any shady dealings to go down, so it didn't take much to put on and two together.
''So, you think it's them?'' Yang whispered from behind the rusty old shipping container. The excitement in her voice was barely concealed, she was clearly looking forward to what they were about to do. Couldn't blame her, this was a big moment for all of them.
Ruby rummaged through the camping bag her dad had sent for her to take on missions. The bag was filled by all the necessary equipment they were going to need for the task ahead, much to Weiss's surprise. She must have thought she was going to forget something or bring more than needed.
''Probably,'' Blake replied as she scouted the area with the cheap binoculars, they had purchased those earlier that day, the perks of seeing in the dark meant they didn't have to spend extra on the ones with night vision. Not like they could afford them anyway, not since Weiss got caught off. ''If they aren't, we just caught a large gathering violating the curfew.''
''Either way, we win,'' Yang said with a cheeky grin. ''Nice.'' she said as she pumped her fist.
''Do you think we might run into him?'' Ruby asked. She had been feeling uneasy ever since the first report appeared on the news.
''Ruby you're a huntress, what are you afraid of?'' Weiss said to her partner as she was shivering. A cold breeze blew making her regret wearing a skirt, she did tell her to wear pants. ''Besides there are four of us, more than enough for one simple thug.''
''Who me, afraid? I'm not scared of anything'' she said with a confident smile. Deep down she prayed they bought her lie. She was terrified of failing more than anything. ''I'm just worried the shadow might hurt you, we all know how frail you are.''
''Are we seriously calling him that?'' Weiss asked as she folded her arms as her knees began to buckle as breeze blew in. The shadow was the name that the news gave the serial killer, a lot of people (mostly Weiss) had made it known how ridiculous they found the name. ''And what was that about me being frail?'' she said with chattering teeth.
''Guys quiet,'' Blake sharply hissed. ''Someone just arrived.'' She then pointed at the warehouse revealing a dim light glowing from inside. ''It might be a human.''
''You think it's Roman?'' Ruby asked.
''Who else could it be.''
The four girls stared at the structure briefly before splitting into pairs and approaching the structure from either side, avoiding any guards who might see them. Blake claimed that there was a good hiding spot where the can watch whatever was happening. They then regrouped at the top of the structure, where a glass skylight was placed above the center of the building. The plan was simple, take a couple of pictures and if they're the White Fang they'll just show them to Ozpin. He does his magic and boom; the bad guys go to jail and they become a shoe in for they're for they're licences.
''Can you hear anything?'' Weiss asked Blake as the Faunus stared down the skylight.
Blake briefly glared at her before responding. ''Not with you talking.''
''It looks like most of them are gathered in the middle of the building.'' Ruby noted. She saw a man in white push his way through the congested crowd. The man put on a black bowler hat as he reached a raised platform. ''Roman, so it is the White Fang.''
'''Guess we should start taking pictures.'' Weiss said. Ruby reached into her bag, where she kept everyone's scrolls after charging them earlier. Weiss began taking pictures with her scroll, the others following suit shortly afterwards. They moved around trying to get as many angles of the scene as possible, they began recording the exchange between Roman and a smaller Faunus man. Except for Blake who had her ear held close to the glass. ''What are you doing?''
The Faunus was silent for moment before she whispered, ''I thought I heard something shaking the roof.'' She hung her head squinting as if she was meet by a familiar scent which was not able to assign a name to.
''Yeah, that was us.'' Yang said as she rolled your eyes before pointing at the trembling metal sheets. They paused for a moment till the wobbling roof came to a rest, Blake faltered a bit before raising her head. ''See, to ears like yours that must be deafening.''
''I could have swor-'' before she could have finished something burst through the glass like a bat out of hell knocking Weiss and Yang back while Ruby covered her face with her cape to shield her eyes from the flying shards of glass. She brought down the red cloth in time to see one of the White fang wrap his arms around Blake tightly before falling back into the building. She sat there trying to soak in what just happened. The others were startled, causing them to drop their scrolls and shattering them on the ground below losing the evidence they had collected.
Blake was in trouble; she didn't have time to check if her remaining teammates were okay. She braced herself up before leaping into the building.
''These are tough times we're living in.'' Roman said as he lit his cigar before taking a puff of the rolled tobacco. He didn't like smoking, the possibility of aging quickly wasn't an appealing one, he's even tried quitting, lots of times but every time some random series of events would bring him back to his stogie. First his new boss, then a bunch of noisy kids and now this. ''A criminal can't even walk down a dark alley and mug some poor schmucks in peace.'' He said as he swaggered to the center of the raised platform he stood on. He didn't need anyone noticing that he was on edge.
''The Police have tightened their nooses-'' Roman then wrapped his hand around his neck. ''and our necks could snap at any moment.''. He then paused for dramatic effect, the white fang on the other hand didn't seem to think much of it. Tough crowd, he did community theatre as a kid and everyone there and everyone there ate it all up. ''And now, the curfew is going to be a massive hindrance to our plans.''
''So now we need to change our tactics.'' Roman said as he walked away from the podium and of the stage, ''No more robbing stores, that's just calling for trouble.'' he added. "And the last thing we need is a bunch huntsmen on our tails. Your tails anyway, all you could barely handle a bunch of snot nosed brats.''
''You're one to talk.'' he heard a Faunus from the back shout.
''What was that?'', the faunus parted allowing him to see the one who raised his voice. Didn't have that much going for him, he looked like he could be brought down by the gentlest of breezes.
''I said that's a lot of talk coming from someone who was beaten by a bunch of kids.'' the man confidently said as if he had dropped some great truth bomb on them. Roman walked of the stage and through the crowd till he was face to face with the talkative White Fang.
Well face to chest. Along with being scrawny he wasn't that tall either. Roman than noticed the pointy dog ears on his head. ''You must be new here?''
''Yeah, what about it?'' It was obvious he wasn't well acquainted with his
''Boy, we're just accepting any rando who walks in here aren't we?'' he asked the White Fang Lieutenant. ''I don't like fighting kids, not because I'm scared of them, quite the opposite in fact. I find them amusing. No, killing them would damage my reputation. I'm a thief not a child killer.'' he then tapped his cane on the faunus' chest. ''You're a terrorist, killing kids comes naturally to you guys. Besides, you don't have a reputation to protect.''
The chihuahua in front of him folded his arms, did the little man think he was menacing? Makes sense, he probably hasn't been in an actual scuffle so him thinking that he held any intimidating qualities must be easy quite easy for him to believe.
As he was about to walk back to his spot, he felt some dust land on his shoulder. What was that rust? He followed the trail of the the red dust to the ceiling, spotting a brownish red patch on the metal. Must have been some vermin, but on top of the building? It would have to be heavy to get that much shaking.
''Hey big guy,'' he called to the lieutenant. ''I think we might have a couple of visitors." he whispered once the man was by his side. ''I think we should get ready to welcome our guests.''
The lieutenant called a group of White Fang members arming each of them. He knew someone was coming, didn't have any hints but he had a few suspects. The recent series of events have left him weary whenever he went out. The dragon lady could be anywhere and that little tag along off hers could give anyone a wilder trip then any mushroom, best to be ready for anything. Then there was that Shadow person or whatever the media was calling, he's seen the aftermath of his... escapades for a lack of a better word and it was gruesome. His last suspect was little Red and her friends. He was looking forward to seeing them for better or for worse.
Watching them act like adults was kind of entertaining, they ran around with their chests puffed out, pretending to be heroes and he found it adorable. They reminded him of Neo when she was younger, back when she was still any fun. Now she's grown up and doing her own thing.
When he looked at the ceiling, he noticed a bat faunus climbing up the towards the sky light. A nature documentary he saw a while claimed Vampire bats were stealthy, able to sneak in and out unheard. Kind of made him wish he was a bat faunus as well, heists would be so much easier. In and out before anyone even realised, he was there.
The bat faunus burst through the glass and grabbed someone before gliding down with them landing in front of him. A long-haired cat faunus girl. Guess it wasn't any of his suspect. ''Hi kitty.'' he said as he blew a cloud of smoke. "Didn't you hear about what curiosity did to the cat."
She struggled to say his name through the bat faunus' choke hold. ''Can you shut up,'' the bat faunus hissed. For a moment he expected the bat to bite into her neck and suck her dry. '''Nobody cared about what you had to say last time?'' Last time? So, they've encountered each other before. Did he meet a cat faunus recently?
A blur of petals fell through the sky light and pelted the bat faunus knocking him of the cat. Once free she ran up to him and held her blade up to his neck. The rose then reformed as a familiar face. ''Red, good to see you again.''
''Are you going to ignore me?'' the cat asked in angry tone. Wait, she's the crazy girl from last time. He should have realised she was one of Red's friends.
''I'd love to play with you again kitty, but maybe some other time.'' He said before kicking her in the shin. As she reeled over, he struck her chin with the handle of his cane knocking her back. He then ran over to cape wearing girl who was in the middle of fighting of some White Fang.
His every instinct told him to run, years of experience kept telling him he was making a mistake by staying. He ignored them all as he launched the handle of his cane at little Red's scythe hooking the weapon, with a tug he pulled it out of her grip. He had some pent-up aggression he felt like getting out. Hopefully it wasn't enough for him to accidentally kill someone again
''I should say I'm surprised you're here but I'd lying. You brats have been in my hair for far too long, don't you have anything better to do.''
The girl scowled as she balled her fist and stared at him with the angriest face she could manage, needless to it wasn't doing much. The fact her eyes kept darting to where her weapon landed practically announced her uncertainty. She pounced before turning into a storm of petals he leapt for her weapon arriving as she reconstituted herself. Her scythe was planted into the floor, and she spun around the snath and delivered a kick at his face. He leaned back in time to dodge her boots but not doon enough to save his cigar.
He brought down his cane like a club striking her before she could react. It was obvious she'd go for her weapon like before, from what he'd seen she is practically useless without it. He rapped Melodic Cudgel across his open left palm while pacing as he waited for her to stand. His eyes wondered to Little Red's friends who seemed have their hands full with the beasties, this was the perfect time to make a clean getaway and yet despite all his talk about not fighting kids, part of him wanted to see her in pain.
He started this, so he had to finish his fight. After all, mama Torchwick didn't raise any half-assers.
He hadn't felt like since his huntsman-in-training days when he was still on team ORNG messing with the other students. As he finished reminiscing little Red had just stood up, she eyed her weapon once more. She bolted at it, and he let her pass because she clearly needed the handicap.
"Isn't it passed your bedtime?" The girl remained silent as she stared frozen daggers at him.
"Today is the day we take you down." she finally spoke.
"Is it? You seem to be doing a piss poor job. Or is getting your collective asses handed to you also part of your plan?"
"Eh, it's a work in progress." So, she flew by the seat of her pants, he could respect that. "But just so you know, you're going straight to jail after this."
"What?"
Red's lips curled upwards into a smile. "You didn't think we'd come along after last time."
He slammed his cane down causing her to flinch. Well, that was a wrench in his plan, he should have just escaped earlier. Sure, they'd lose a lot of the new recruits, but it's not his fault they didn't have a teleporting sidekick to bail them out of trouble. Looks like it was time to give the signal to Neo, his hand reached into his blazer's inner pocket pressing his scroll and speed dialling his underling. As he pulled out his hand, he grabbed a cigar to cover up his action. ''I always knew the pigs were useless, but I didn't think they'd let children do their jobs.''
''Save it for your cellmates, I bet they'll love to hear you rant.'' Red said as she charged at him. He took a wide step meeting her before she could build momentum for her swing, then he drove his knee into her gut knocking the wind out of her. While Red held her stomach, he lit his cigar just as Neo appeared right next to him.
''Took you long enough,'' The girl shrugged before skipping over to the downed little huntress, he remained were he stood, curious to see what her next action will be. Neo stood over her and drew the blade from her parasol.
"Hold on." He yelled as he grabbed her wrist, she turned to face him. Her left brow was raised in confusion. "What did I say about killing them." She reluctantly returned her blade while pouting, clearly upset with him. He wasn't worried, one tub of ice cream and she'll be fine.
Suddenly the warehouse's lights went out, they must have shorted out the building flinging that lightning dust around. The warehouse's doors burst open revealing a figure standing there. He didn't see enough of it before being teleported away. When he regained his bearings in their hideout, Neo was gone.
"God damn it Neo."
Roman always told her to stay away from the girls, he was probably worried that she might kill them. He wasn't wrong all things considered; she had a tendency for playing rough with others. It wasn't her fault she got easily carried away. He knew that.
So, he should have known that she couldn't just walk away from a game and miss out on the fun. Especially after a new challenger came into the fray.
When she returned to her old spot in the warehouse, she found that the fighting had come to a stop. It was too dark for her to clearly see what was happening, but she could make out silhouettes of the White Fang flunkies.
One of them screamed as he emptied his weapon at the man at the door. Each round found its target, yet the man was still standing. When the weapon stopped firing, the shape dropped down to all fours and charged at his attacker. The man was grabbed face first and was painfully slammed into the ground.
She winced at the audible crack that came from the impact.
The shape danced around, dodging weapon swings and the salvo that followed. It occasionally sticks its leg out in a kick, sending the White Fang flying in several directions. Their fight was moving towards the dim lighting.
He was tall, taller than Neo and for once that had nothing to do with her size. Its body was clearly that of a man of great stature, towering over everyone in the warehouse. His yellow eyes glowed two flickering stars behind the curtain of white hair hiding his face. His strangely smooth grey skin was covered in blood from all the heads he's been crushing. His long, slender yet muscular arms lifted and tore a man in half spilling more blood all over his body.
"Crap." She heard one of the girls, the cat eared, swear as they regrouped among themselves. The blonde one was still distracted by beating up the clearly defeated goon. "Well, this is a bust. Roman is gone."
"Hell no! I'm not leaving empty handed." The blonde one exclaimed. Blonde paused and looked in her direction, her eyes widened and then she pointed. "It's Roman's sidekick."
"This wasn't a complete waste of time after all." The Schnee said. Neo realised the girls had their weapons raised and pointed at her. "Come quietly and will make this easier for you. If you confess to the officials, they might be more lenient towards you."
"Uh, Weiss." Red nudged the rich girl. "I don't think she can talk."
The Schnee's eyes widened, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "Oh, forgive me for assuming. But the offer still stands."
Neo pretended to think about it. She already knew the police won't be so forgiving to her after all the things she had done, so there was no point in even considering.
"Make up your mind already," The Faunus of the group said. "That thing is getting close."
Satisfied that she made them squirm enough she gave them a thumbs down followed by her blowing a raspberry. "So violence it is." Blonde cracked her knuckles as she approached Neo. She swung her fist, the moment it contacted Neo her body shattered like glass.
She appeared behind Roman's favourite plaything, impaling her through the back with her parasol. Red's scream caught her friend's attention, as soon as they took a step forward, she had already teleported away.
It was a shame that she was going to have to tell Roman the girl was gone.
She collapsed to the ground, clutching her chest, and writhing in pain. The blade had entered somewhere below her and came out the other side. Her body became cold, colder than she was before. She should have had her aura up, then this wouldn't have happened to her.
"RUBY!" she heard Yang scream. She tried to raise her head but gave up halfway. The side of her face hit the hard floor. She forced her eyes opened and saw whatever that creature was had defeated most of the white fang.
"Don't worry, it's going to be okay." Yang took of her scarf and pressed down on the wound. "Don't just stand there, do something!"
"What should I do?" Blake asked, she was panicking which didn't suit her. She was always the calm, confident and mysterious one.
"You're the smart one, figure something."
Weiss reached into one of Ruby's pouches and pulled out her scroll, she rapidly typed the keys and waited for the device to respond. "Hello, my friend is hurt."
"Yang…" Ruby struggled to say. "We shouldn't have done this." It was her idea to do this; if was so dead set on becoming a huntress then none of this would have happened to her. Now here she was, lying in a puddle of her blood. She started thinking about all the things she will never do: She'll never become a huntress, she won't be able to make Crescent Rose the most awesome weapon ever and she'll never be able to find out what happened to her mother.
The sound of clicking stirred her attention, it sounded like Zwei walking in their living room. Except the clicks were further apart. The shadow was approaching them
It pulled Yang away from Ruby. Blake turned Gambol Shroud into its gun form and shot the shadow in the face. He stumbled back, only to grab Blake by the wrist, and he threw her away. Weiss leapt at him, stabbing him through the right shoulder. He headbutted her, causing him to let go of her weapon.
Yang spun him around, delivering a punch to his throat. It did nothing, so Yang punched him even harder and faster. The man didn't even so much as flinch. He kicked her, flinging her to the other side of the room.
Ruby wanted to get up and help, she'd be fast enough to blitz through the creature. But she knew there was nothing she could do except watch in pain.
Her team mates attacked the monster, Blake charged forward with two of her clones. She swung Gambol Shroud, the monster blocking the swipes with his claws. Weiss saw an opening and fired icicles at him, one of them finding it's way into his back. The creature let out a grunt before leaping away, he landed on all fours letting out low rumble.
"What is that thing?" Weiss asked.
"I think that's The Shadow."
Weiss let out an agitated sigh. "This isn't the time for jokes." Ruby thought it was kind of funny. They mention The Shadow and he conveniently shows up.
The Shadow galloped on all fours towards her the two, Weiss fired shards of ice while Blake opened fire with Gambol Shroud. The salvo tore into his body but it wasn't enough to slow him down. He leapt over the two, landing behind on of Blake's dust clones. He grabbed the rock dust clone and threw it at Weiss knocking her away. Blake turned to check if her team mate was well, a mistake she kicked herself for.
When she turned to face her attacker she found him stand in front of her. His left index finger placed on her forward, the claw digging into her skin. Blood dripped down her forehead, confusing Ruby and Blake. Did he just ignore her aura? How was that even possible?
The monster stepped back while Blake stood there, paralysed in fear. He wrapped his hands around her neck, lifting her off the ground. After a some time he dropped Blake, she was still breathing which meant she was unconscious. The Shadow got down on all fours and crawled towards her unimpeded by any of her team mates.
Ruby began panicking as he got closer and closer to her, which coupled with her injury was not a very enjoyable experience. The man lifted her, his right-hand hovering over her stab wound. He bit into his right wrist, causing a thick black liquid to ooze out of it. He placed the bleeding area over her mouth, letting the viscous substance flow into her mouth. She tried to resist but she ended up swallowing it either way. It had a foul and rancid taste, the liquid forced it's self-down her throat.
This would have been the perfect time for her Uncle Qrow to step in. He always seemed to appear out of nowhere whenever she was in trouble. He'd swing Harbinger around, beat up whoever it was that was giving her trouble and strike a cool pose. He'd give an epic one-liner, ruffle her hair and run off before disappearing. She always found it strange, but that didn't mean she hated seeing him. But it looks like this time, he's wasn't coming.
"Get away from her!" Yang screamed as she charged at the man. Her head was full of clams and seaweed meaning while her body was practically dripping with sea water. Her body burst into flames, causing her clothes to instantly dry as she activated her semblance; she slammed him against the wall, causing him to drop Ruby. His knees shattered as she punched his legs, bringing him down to her eye level. She began using his face like a speedbag, his face made loud crunching noises as every blow struck him.
Yang didn't seem to have any intention to stop her assault. Her blows became drawn out as she was losing breath. She wanted him to suffer for what he did to Ruby. She finished her barrage with an uppercut.
His body made a heavy indentation in the wall. She could have gone to check on him, but he had more pressing matters to deal with. Yang ran to Ruby and cradled her now unconscious body. She didn't know what to do, she checked her wound, but it had stopped bleeding.
She sat there, tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't realise that the police and had come, the wails of their siren wear overshadowed by the thoughts racing through her mind. She didn't want to lose her sister; she couldn't bear to lose the last anyone after Summer. What was she going to tell her father and uncle?
