"Another long day…" Miltiades groaned. The club had just closed, kicking out the last of the stragglers. "Somehow I thought working in a club would be more exciting."
"I thought Ruby would be here one of these nights," Melanie mentioned off-hand, "We haven't seen here in a few days."
"Her classes picked back up, she's needed at school," Miltiades reminded her twin.
"I know, but…" Melanie cut herself off.
Miltiades smirked. "The customers are gone Mil. You don't have to keep up the tough face."
"I miss her," Melanie admitted to her twin.
"I know," Miltiades hugged her sister, "I do too. Maybe we can surprise her at Beacon?"
"I would have done that ages ago," Melanie confessed, "But she's still afraid it will cause issues with the Schnee girl, her partner."
"Oh… yeah…" Miltiades sighed. She looked to the door the moment Yang walked in with a blue-haired boy neither of them recognized. "What is she doing here?"
"Hm?" Melanie turned around to see what her sister had seen. "Yang?"
The twins approached the bar at the same time Junior called off his gunmen and invited Yang in to talk.
"I don't know!" Junior argued with the blonde.
"How can you not know!?" Yang argued back.
"I haven't talked to him! I haven't even seen him since the night you first came in here," Junior pointed his finger in Yang's face. "He paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them ever. Came. Back."
"So where did they go?" The blue-haired boy interrupted.
Junior stared at him for a moment. "What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back. Who is this guy?"
"Don't worry about him!" Yang pushed the boy aside, "Worry about me if I don't find out what I want!"
Junior sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I already told you everything. Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them. Which is something I can relate to!"
The twins reached the bar, settling themselves on the other side of Yang from the blue-haired boy.
"Hello, Yang," The twins spoke in unison.
Yang jumped slightly at the vocal harmony. "Oh, hey girls."
"What are you doing here?" Miltiades asked.
"And does your leader know where you are?" Melanie half-teased, half-genuinely-asked about Ruby.
"Well, Yang, you didn't tell me you know twins," The blue-haired boy smirked.
"Neptune, don't," Yang spoke to him with the same voice one would use to talk down a dog.
"Don't be like that, Yang," The boy, Neptune it seemed, playfully scolded. "What are you two doing later?"
"We're already committed to someone," The twins answered together.
"Who's that?" Neptune never lost his cocky grin.
"Someone else," The twins were getting increasingly annoyed.
"Come on! I'm sure you two, me, and your other can have fun together," Neptune carried on unfazed, with finger-guns no less.
The image of Ruby and the twins compromised by Neptune was the last straw for Yang. She grabbed Neptune's arm tightly, guiding him away from the bar. "Why don't you go guard Bumblebee? We wouldn't want anyone to steal her!" She strongly suggested.
"Ow! Ow! I get it, I'm sorry okay!?" Neptune took back him arm, rubbing where Yang's vice-grip was. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I just get the better of myself…"
"We're sure," The twins deadpanned together.
Neptune looked between Yang and he twins. "I'll, um… I'll be outside."
"Please tell me he is not your friend," Melanie begged Yang.
"He's not so bad, when he's not hitting on you and your friends…" Yang defended. "Hey, you two wouldn't happen to know anything about Roman Torchwick or the White Fang, would you?"
The names were definitely familiar to the twins. "No, sorry…" Miltiades answered.
"We know Junior sometimes gets up to shady stuff," Melanie started to clarify.
"But we try to stay out of it," Miltiades finished.
Yang rested her hands on her hips. "Well, as your girlfriend's sister, I'm glad to hear that at least."
"So… does Ruby know you're here?" Melanie asked, trying to be subtle.
"Oh, yeah," Yang nodded, "Team RWBY is kind of doing an… extracurricular investigation."
"Into the White Fang?" Melanie was doubtful.
"Yeah, that's not weird, right?" Yang waved it off. "We are huntresses!"
"In training." Melanie deadpanned.
"Ruby told us about the docks," Miltiades informed Yang.
"We know team RWBY sometimes takes things into their own hands," Melanie picked up.
"That's not fair, we were only looking for Blake!" Yang defended, "She was the one looking for the White Fang!"
The twins stared at Yang until the blonde realized what she said.
"Crap."
"So where's Ruby?" Melanie asked.
"We all split up to cover more ground. I came here because of my history with Junior," Yang explained. "Ruby went with Weiss, mostly because with Neptune and his much nicer friend Sun, that made two people to a team." Yang shifted in place like there was more to tell. "And kinda… because she was geeking out over the CCT tower."
Miltiades sighed, Melanie agreeing with the sigh with a small smile and a short, "Of course."
"Look, if you're worried about Ruby hanging out with you, don't be," Yang assured, "She's totally working on getting you into-" Yang suddenly cut herself off with a shocked look on her face.
"Into what?" The twins asked together.
"IS THAT THE TIME!?" Yang shouted, "Igottagoseeyoulatergirls!" The blonde turned to dash out of the club.
"Yang, wait!" The twins chased the brawler outside.
"I shouldn't have said that…" Yang cursed herself for almost spoiling the surprise Ruby was planning, "I should not have said that…"
The twins followed Yang out into the street, "Yang!"
"Oh, hey girls!" Yang tried to play it off, "F-fancy seeing you here?"
"What is Ruby trying to get us into?" Melanie cut straight to the point.
"W-well… I mean y'see… That is to say…" Yang stalled, and luckily her scroll rang at just that moment. "Oh I have to get this!" She whipped out the scroll and pressed 'accept' before the twins could speak. "What's up!?"
A female voice came over the line. "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"
"HEEEELLLLP!" The female voice was cut off by a male voice."Big robot! And it's big! Really big!"
Yang's expression hardened to concern. "Sun, Blake?"
"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him. He's, like, controlling it or something!" The male voice continued.
"Where are you guys!?" Yang cried.
"HURRYYYY!" The voice came from both the scroll and down the street. The group in front of the club caught the sight of two people running away from a giant mech.
"I think that was them…" Neptune spoke up.
"Yeah, I got it," Yang deadpanned, hopping onto her bike.
The twins shared a look to confirm that they both had the same thought, and the same worry. "Um, does this thing happen to your team often?" Melanie voiced the concern to Yang.
Yang was deaf to them, already hitting the throttle and taking off. Neptune barely made it onto the bike, and the pair were already three streets over by the time he found balance enough to speak. "So, they mentioned something about Ruby? As in your sister Ruby?"
"Not the time, horn-dog!" Yang yelled at him.
"Fair enough!" Neptune resolved to stay far away form anything that might piss off Yang. Including interfering in a relationship that may or may not include Yang's sister.
Back at the club, Miltiades continuing concern prompted her to speak up. "So, we should follow them, right?"
"Yeah," Melanie agreed. "Not that we don't think Ruby can handle herself!" She quickly clarified.
"Of course!" The red twin nodded.
"And not because we don't think the team can handle themselves!"
"Right!"
"We just… want to see them in action!"
"Yeah! That's not weird…"
"Right?"
A moment of silence passed.
"It's not like us being worried invalidates her as a fighter," Melanie pointed out.
"If anything, her being a fighter validates our worries!" Miltiades agreed.
"Right, she's putting herself at risk, of course we're worried!"
"And it's not like we're going to jump into the fight."
"Not unless she needs us."
"She doesn't even have to know we're there!"
Another beat of silence.
"We should hurry while we can still follow them," Miltiades resolved her confidence.
"It looked like they went toward the freeway," Melanie nodded, trotting back into the club.
"They're chasing a giant robot, we just follow the chaos, we'll find them," Miltiades theorized, "We need to get a car from Junior."
"Already on it!" Melanie shouted from the door to the club.
Line
The twins were afraid they were already too late by the time they got on the road. That concern was quickly assuaged by upside down cars and frightened motorists on the freeway. Which also served to elevate their other concern. Melanie, behind the steering wheel, swerved between the wreckage quickly hoping to catch up. "Oh, shit!" She had to hit the brakes hard to stop before a massive ice patch the blocked the road. "That doesn't look like a natural ice patch…"
The twins stepped out of the vehicle to examine the immediate area, and none too soon. Just a few seconds later, they heard the voice of their dear Ruby.
"Freezerburn!"
A patch of fog erupted from the ground far beneath the freeway, the direction of Ruby's voice. The twins were sure they could make out people below if it weren't for the sudden mist. There were some flashing lights, but it was hard to tell what was going on. The fog cleared in time for the twins to finally see Ruby, dashing between the robot's legs and slicing at it with Crescent Rose.
"Cheackmate!" She shouted before dashing backwards. The two team mates the twins had yet to meet in person jumped forward and attacked together, coordinated in a way that impressed even twins. Even when the white one was hit by a well-placed shot, her last action was to power up the other one with some sort of spell.
"Must be her semblance?" Melanie suggested.
"Ladybug!"
Ruby dashed back forward, while her and the other team mate from 'checkmate' attacked the machine repeatedly. Just as the mech lost track of them, they came from above and severed one of its arms.
"Wow…" Miltiades couldn't hide her amazement for the scene below, and Ruby's total command of the situation.
"Yeah…" even Melanie admitted she was impressed.
Then they both flinched when Yang was sent through a wall. Miltiades was about to jump down before she heard Ruby yell, "Don't worry!"
Melanie thought for a moment they were caught, until she heard Ruby describe her sister's semblance to her team mate. "With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back!" The twins settled and continued to watch in awe as Yang tore off the other arm by herself.
"No wonder we couldn't beat her," Melanie remarked, feeling a little better about the past.
"Bumblebee!"
Yang grabbed a long ribbon, the other end held by the black and white dressed team mate. The girl gripped the ribbon tight and literally spun the blonde in circles around her. But the mech was too fast for their pendulum and jumped out of the way.
"How will she-"
"Iceflower!"
"Nevermind."
The white one cast a spell for Ruby to shoot through, and the result was a collection of icicles jamming the mech's gears. On the next pass, Yang completely shattered the steel construct. The man controlling it form the inside stood quickly and turned to run.
The twins were temporarily distracted by an airship flying in behind them, carrying a short multi-colored stranger.
On the ground, Yang rushed forward and fired a shot at the man that ran the mech. Not a moment too late, the colorful stranger leapt down from the airship and blocked the shot with her umbrella. An umbrella that Melanie assumed was made form some kind of unknown mythical element, considering what Yang did to the machine a moment before.
Miltiades could have sworn she saw the two strangers in the airship for a short second, just as the colorful one cockily bowed in front of team RWBY on the ground. Yang attacked, and the image of their adversaries shattered. The airship flew away, now clearly having both enemies on board.
The fight was over, even though the pair of enemies got away. And watching the fight somehow made the twins even more attracted to Ruby, if that was even possible. They knew she was strong, and the leader of her team. But hearing stories was very different than seeing the action live in front of them.
Ruby's team shared a short conversation the twins couldn't make out from up high before leaving. The twins stayed there for a moment, thinking over what they witnessed. They were also more than a little glad to not have been caught following Yang to the battle.
"Is…" Miltiades finally broke the silence, "Is it weird that I found that kind of… hot?"
Melanie shook her head in answer, responded vocally with, "I think I'm in love with that girl."