Blake's white Buffalo pulled up to the curb before her house, her custom tail lights flashing before the car fell silent. The faunus exited her car, heading to her home to rest after a night out on the town with Sun. Her path to peace was interrupted as the door to her home swung open, Glynda and a pair of her feminist colleagues high-stepping out as they cheered in unison, "We are women and we are free. We're bringing an end to the patriarchy. We are women, hear our pain. We are women, hear our shout. We are women, we have no doubt. We are women and we are free."

They continued their chant as Blake walked past them, hiding her face in humiliation as they continued onto the streets. Their chanting was ended abruptly as Yang walked up to them, ordering, "Shut the fuck up!"

The women instantly fell silent, bowing their heads and walking down the street in defeat, Yang calling out, "Thank you!"

Yang turned to find Blake staring back her with a grin, Yang throwing her arms out to the side as she cried, "Oh, my pussy! If I had a nickel for every time..."

Yang attempted to hop her fence, her back foot catching the rail as she toppled onto her chest, her hands catching her enough to absorb some of the blow. Blake instantly burst out in uncontrollable laughter, Yang getting to her feet with red eyes, growling, "What? Is that how you act, huh? When a friend makes a mistake, huh? Really?"

Blake continued to laugh, managing to muster, "No, Yang, no."

Yang got in Blake's face, continuing her tyrade, "Oh, so what, it's me getting hurt? Is that funny?"

"No, Yang..." Blake responded, no longer laughing.

"Well, fuck you! I'm gonna put you in the fuckin' ground if you laugh at me again!"

"Yang, calm down."

"I have met a lot of assholes in my life but you...oh, you're not long for this world if this is the way you fuckin' act. You little jumped-up motherfucker!"

Yang glared angrily at a visibly shaken Blake, the brawler heaving with anger as Blake proposed, "Look, Yang, it's not like that. Calm down. It was funny at first, Yang. I made a mistake. Unfortunately, you fell, and that was funny, alright? I apologize."

Yang snapped out of her trance, pacing about and moving her arms spasmodically, pointing at Blake as she uttered, "I accept your apology. Okay? Alright, so...let's hug it out?"

Yang spread her arms out wide, waving a weary Blake to come forward. As the faunus stepped in and opened her arms, Yang stepped in with a shout, fists readied before her and taking a mock jab at Blake. Yang pointed at Blake and mockingly laughed at her, "Right?! I fucking got ya! Funny, huh?"

"Yeah, you're so funny." Blake replied, taking a step back from the pacing mad woman.

Yang stopped her pacing and thrashed her head up and down, breaking down, "Fuck no, I'm not funny. I'm a fuckin' asshole," Yang grabbed her head, doubled over and put her hands on her knees, continuing, "Ow, fuck...I...I had a difficult childhood."

"Damn, Yang, are you alright?"

"No, I am not fucking alright! Nothing is alright, and Ruby won't be if we keep chit-chatting!"

"Whoa, Ruby? Yang, what's going on?"

"Look, I came here for a reason, we're wasting precious time."

"Well, what is it, Yang?"

"My friend Junior met these Chinese assholes. There were some problems, along the way, namely them backing out of a contract with me and me slamming the CEO's son's head against a post until his skull cracked. I went to Atlas to...to confirm some suspicions I was having, and they must have followed her, and kidnapped her."

"Why the change of heart? How do you even know she's in the city?"

"Those fuckers wanted to drive a bargain with me to keep her alive in exchange for something from me. I've already had enough run-ins with those creepy Oriental bastards to know those demands are often of a sexual orientation..."

"Wait, what?!"

"Nevermind that, Blake, we'll explain when you're older. But they have to have her somewhere in this goddamn city if they wanted to pull some shit. We just gotta find out where."

"Well, let's go, I'll call Weiss and figure this out on the way."

"Alright, finally, another woman of action who doesn't chant like a dipshit and demean our gender. Well, what are you waiting for, let's go!" Yang cried, sliding across the hood of the car and slipping into the passenger seat.

Blake hurried to the car and pulled her scroll out, calling the dethroned heiress, who answered after one ring, "What is it, Blake?"

"Weiss, we need your help. Ruby got kidnapped by some Chinese gangsters because of Yang..." Blake began.

"Hey, fuck you, accidents happen!" Yang roared.

"What?! Yang, I thought you left those days behind! I thought that thing about taking on the varsity team was a joke." Weiss chastised.

"Keep your shit up, Ice Queen, and I might just get back into contact with those weird fucks from the old days and give them your address!"

"Alright, that's enough! Weiss, we need you to help us track down Ruby anyway you can."

"Already on it, her scroll's gone back online. It's still fairly weak, though, I can't give an exact location of where she is. Here, I'm putting on app on your scroll for you, it'll track the strength of the signal as you get closer to where she is."

"Thanks, Weiss."

"Don't thank me yet, Blake, you guys still have to get Ruby out of there. I hope to God, for all of our sakes, she's alright."

With that, the call ended and Blake handed the scroll to Yang, who opened up the app that presented a map of the city's streets. In the top-left corner of the screen, a red dot blinked idly, the car zipping off in its direction. In their absence, the area was reduced the hum of distant vehicles, bleating of horns, and occasional siren. One of the engines grew louder, a metallic purple RH8 pulling up to the curb before Blake's home. The woman in Roman armor exited the car once more, checking the area for any annoying onlookers, and found none. She closed her door and hefted a gym bag over her shoulder, jogging into the house and looking for something as she did. She found the living room just beyond the entrance, setting the heavy pack on the couch before exiting the home. The woman got into her car and sped off, looking in her rearview to find two men, one in musketeer garb and the other in pirate attire, bound and gagged in her back seat. She smiled coldly as she said, "Don't worry, you boys only have one stop left before I drop you off. Then I have to go pay Ozpin a visit."

Ruby hang upside down from a pair of chains, her forehead split in two wide spots, blood spotting her shirt, and arms dangling limply at her head as the rest of her as she pleaded, "Look, I told you, she ain't my lover!"

A shockingly sober Ren stood before her, scoffing, "Don't try to persuade me you're not lovers."

"She's laughing at you, you fucking idiot! You're making a mistake!"

"It cost a lot of money to track you down. I had to call in every favor I could in Atlas. And then you kill several good men. Good day, huh?" Ren waved her off, heading for the exit.

"Good day? Good fucking day to you!"

"Kill her. Yang Xiao Long is not coming." Ren ordered to one of his thugs, the man flipping a switch that turned on the meat grinder Ruby was slowly dragged towards.

Yang and Blake turned out of the latter's neighborhood and pealed down the streets, zipping by traffic all around within mere inches of collisions. Yang was sprawled all over her side of the car, bracing for an accident at any moment as she cried, "You mind slowing the fuck down! I wanna get there but I wanna get there alive!"

"Relax, I have it under control. It's my semblance, when something's going fast enough, it's like slow motion for me."

"Yeah, well let's see you dodge that train up ahead. Also, please don't!"

Blake only gripped the steering wheel tighter, Yang clearing up, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, that was a joke, not a challenge!"

The faunus ignored her, only speeding up as the lights ahead flashed, traffic stopped, and the railroad crossing gate slowly descended. Blake swerved to the right out of a line of parked cars, none in her right turn lane, and gunned it for the opening, the train bearing down on it. Her car zipped right under the first arm, cleared the train's path with a second to spare, and crashed through the second arm, splintering it to oblivion. Yang had ripped off the overhead handle above her, Blake stating, "You're paying to fix that."

"Well, maybe if you weren't driving like you had a death wish, I wouldn't be shitting my pants and ripping shit!"

"How about we settle this after we find Ruby, keep an eye on that app."

Yang turned her attention back to the app, her anger subsiding as she called out, take a lright here, the thing's blinking like crazy now."

Blake whipped onto an industrial street, Yang amazed they didn't spin out or experience any difficulties from the speed they turned at. "It's just up ahead. There, we're here, stop."

Blake's car squealed to a stop, leaving a peel mark on the road and smoke in her path. Yang and Blake looked on at an old, concrete building, now used to store semi trailers, had fancy sports vehicles and a few men standing outside. "Alright, that's where she's at, what is this place?" Yang asked.

"It's an old meat packing company. It was faunus owned and run. Well, before it got shut down because of "health code violations". That's just a polite way of saying they were faunus and the government still doesn't like us enough to own our own companies." Blake rambled.

"Duly noted. Now, do me a favor. Piss me off."

"What?"

"You heard me. Piss me off, now!"

"Uh...you're a bitch."

"Oh, what are you, my father? Come on, hit me with something a little more profound. Come on, a hood kitty like yourself should have some pent up rage she can let out. Come on, hit me with your best shot!"

Blake responded by bringing a fist back and punching Yang right in the bridge of the nose, the brawler groaning in pain as she wheezily replied, "What the fuck was that?! I meant with your words!"

"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!"

"Ugh, FUCK! This'll have to do. Just follow my lead, you fuckin' brat!" Yang ordered, exiting the car and slamming the door with authority.

Yang and Blake strolled up to the parking area, Yang's eyes crimson and her burning hair catching the attention of the idly chatting men. "Whoa, ladies, you can't be here, why don't you run along and come back to our places when we're done working." one man ordered with an extended hand, getting a laugh out of his cohorts.

Yang responded by grabbing his wrist in both hands and twisting his arm hard, his shoulder popping from the dislocation, the man screaming and falling to a knee as Blake drew her pistol, putting a round between the eyes of each man before they could draw their guns. Yang stomped onto the man's back, pressing him to the ground as she continued pulling on his arm, making him squeal in agony as the tearing of sinew, joins, and, ultimately, flesh sickened the air. Finally, the man's arm was torn from his shoulder, blood spraying all about as he rolled and writhed about in pain. "Leave him be, we got a backstabber to save." Yang ordered, sprinting ahead of a shocked Blake.

"Well, Ruby was right about her..." Blake muttered, shaking her head and snapping out of her trance before charging in after her.

Yang had barely made it in the building before she was fired upon, the rounds going through her but not slowing her dead sprint. She leaped over a bale of hay and planted both boots into the chest of a man with a light machine gun, sending him skidding across the ground as she twisted herself around, landing on her feet and throwing her fist in a man on a catwalk beside her. The blast from her gauntlet struck him in the chest, pulverizing and opening the cavity as he flopped back. Yang turned and ducked the butt of a shotgun from the man before her, rising with an uppercut that sent his head flying off his body and into the rafters. Yang continued on, taking the man she had kicked by the collar and forcing him ahead of her as she ran on, calling out, "Ruby, big sis is here! And you fucks all better be scared shitless!"

A pair of gangsters came into sight from beyond the doorway to the next room, opening fire on Yang but only putting holes in their ally that formed her human shield. Yang hurled the man ahead, his corpse taking down one of the gunmen as she charged on, bringing her fist back only to have the man aiming at her having his head flung back with a blast of blood. Yang skidded to a stop and looked back to see Blake holding the smoking gun, smirking as Blake fired off another shot without warning, Yang ducking the bullet and letting it hit the risen man in the head as well. Yang rose with an angry scowl, shouting, "You're only slowing me down, kid, just stick behind me and get Ruby out of here while momma does the hard work!"

With that, Yang again barreled deeper into the building, men all at different points of a catwalk further down another long hallway. She charged on regardless, throwing her fists back and the resulting blast of her gauntlets sent her rocketing towards them. She vaulted the railing before a stunned man, swinging her legs around and smashing them into his cheek, sending him in a spiraled daze off the other end of the platform and into a boiling vat of grease. The man screamed as he was cooked alive, his flesh and hair sloughing off and dissolving into the superheated liquid. Yang ducked the swing of a man's crowbar and spun around with her leg extended, taking him off his feet and sending him cartwheeling around in midair. His head became perpendicular with the ground as Yang spun around to face him, fist cocked up and giving him a quick wink before she threw it down at him, smashing him through the catwalk and onto the concrete in a bloody heap. The walkway seesawed and catapulted the man at the opposite end at Yang, the brawler leaping up to face him with a reverse roundhouse kick to the jaw, his body sailing flatly on from the blow. Yang palmed the man's face as he soared past her, taking him with her on her descent and slamming the back of his head into the metal grating below, shredding the back of his head through it. "Come on, you pricks, just give me back my sister and this casualty rate will be a lot lower!"

"Yang, is that you?!" her sister called out deeper within.

"Hang on tight, sis, I'm almost there!"

Yang ran blindly around the corner, her feet sailing out from under her as a bat slammed into her face. She crashed onto the back of her head, the man responsible raising his bat to finish her off. Yang responded faster, her hand shooting up and grabbing his groin, making him freeze on the spot. With a hard squeeze, her gauntlet blasted a semicircle where his pride and joy used to be. The man fell to his knees, screaming in horror and pain before a bat to the side of the head silenced him, denting his skull in. "Yang!" Ruby called, nearing the spinning, mangled grinder.

"Ruby," Yang cried, a round whizzing past her face from a room filled with sides of beef beyond them, "Hold tight, Blake will cut you down. I'll take care of these assholes."

"Yang, no, goddammit! Get me down!" Ruby demanded in vain.

Yang charged into the room of men firing at her, her hair now one flowing mane of flames on her back. The first man she flew into was met with a haymaker to the cheek, the resulting explosion obscuring the whole room in thick smoke. "Whoa...shit..." Ruby awed.

The slice of metal drew her away from the scene as she slammed onto the ground back-first, winding her as Blake covered her mouth, whispering, "Sorry!"

"It's alright. Get me my weapon, it's over there." Ruby instructed, pointing to a red and black metal rectangle on a small set of concrete stairs.

Blake retrieved it for her as Yang cried out from the next room, "Get this fucker off me!"

Blake and Ruby looked on to see Yang pinned beneath a man sitting on her abdomen, trying to force a knife down on her with both hands, the brawler trying desperately to hold him back. Ruby's metal block expanded into a rifle and she immediately took aim down the sights, firing and blowing the top of the man's head off. Ruby and Blake ran for Yang, the brawler on her hands and knees panting, her hair and eyes returning to their normal levels of brightness and color, respectively. "Fuck...overclocked it...been a while since I've had a hell of a fight like this...huh, sis?" Yang stammered.

Blake and Ruby hoisted Yang up, draping an arm over each shoulder as they hurried back the way they came. "You alright, sis?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, yeah, like you give a fuck." Ruby snapped.

"Look, you have every right to be mad at me..."

"What the fuck's gotten into you? Shouldn't you be ripping my heart out or something right now?"

"Look, I'm still a little more than pissed at that little realization I had, alright? But, after my assumed idiot underlings gave me a talking to, I had an epiphany."

"Which was?"

"We need all of the help we can get to fight these assholes. We can sort all of that shit about Velvet out as soon as that's done. Until then, we can't be at each other's throats."

"This is the most level-headed I've ever heard you be."

"Don't get used to it." Yang assured, the gang reaching Blake's car.

Yang threw herself in the backseat, fast asleep, and Ruby and Blake took the front seats. "Take you home?" Blake asked.

"You know it." Ruby replied as they sped off.

"Look, Blake, I cant' thank you guys enough for saving my ass back there. I thought I was done."

"It's not a problem, Ruby. But was Yang talking about? Why did they take you? Why were you in Atlas?"

Ruby sighed, taking her time before answering, "It's best you know now. Back in Atlas, a former teacher of mine, Ozpin, offered me and only me a way out. I took it, he was supposed to make it look like he shot and killed me."

"Wait, that was an inside job? I thought you just got picked off?"

"No, it was all according to plan. That is, until our accomplice, Velvet, got shot and died. They just buried her in my place, Yang figured that out, and found out all of the stuff I've been trying to hide for ten years."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah, I'm more than a little surprised less than a day later she's saving me. I don't know what's gotten into her but I actually like it, and that's not because she saved my ass."

"So...you betrayed your crew to get out of the life?"

"I know, it's fucked, but it was the only option I had besides me and my husband dying, Blake. I took it. I wanted to start a family, start a new life, just start over. It's only been nothing but shit since I came to this fucking kingdom but, with all this going on, this is my only way out now."

"So you go from sticking up banks and dust shops to full-on war with the government? Damn, Ruby..."

"We'll get through it, now that we're all together. You, me, Yang, Weiss, Yang's cronies, and those two guys we've hired onto the group. Look what we've been able to do in the last few weeks. All of us on the same page again? There isn't anyone who can stop us."

The car pulled up beside the gate to Ruby's home, the crook saying, "Here, I'll get that. Come on in, we'll have a drink and talk about all of this."

The gate slowly opened and they pulled into the driveway, the horror obscured before now visible to them. Francois and Thatch swayed from the roof, lynched on opposite sides of the house. "What the fuck?!" Ruby yelled, stirring Yang awake.

Yang and Blake exited the car, taking in the scene as Yang sluggishly got out, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she grumbled, "Can't a lady get some beauty rest?"

She was snapped out of her haze as she saw their accomplices hung from Ruby's home, the owner shouting, "Who the fuck would do this?"

As if on cue, Ruby's scroll rang out, Weiss' name and picture taking over the screen as she answered, "Weiss, we got a fuckin' problem?"

"I'll say you do." an unfamiliar woman's voice answered.

"Who the fuck is this?"

"In due time, Ruby Rose, or should I say Vasilias, in due time."

"How do you know my name?"

"My, you're either impatient or hard of hearing," the woman went on, chuckling before continuing, "Oh, what's the use in this played-out cliché? My name is Maria Gaia. Your sister, Yang, took out my rival, Pyrrha Nikkos, and has been causing havoc on the gun and drug scene up North. Now, usually, the sentiment is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, that enemy is quite unknown, powerful, unstable, and very dangerous. Plus, she's got a horde of much more powerful enemies nipping at her heels. So, my thinking is I strike a deal with the FIB and Jacques Schnee before I take you all out and, just to sweeten the deal, put myself in power during Yang's absence to build my wealth even more."

"Yeah, if an army can't take us down, what chance do you stand, princess?"

"Well, I'm not nearly as incompetent, for one. Plus, I know how to strike right at home with all of you. I know where you live. I know your friends. I know your family. And, unlike the piss poor government you've manhandled, I'm not above civilian casualties. This is war, after all, not a game."

"Well, you've made that loud and clear by killing our friends."

"Oh, but that's only just begun, Miss Rose. You see, I'm answering the scroll now because Weiss is a bit tied up at the moment. Poor girl, she has the chills, but don't you worry, I'll turn the heat up for her."

"You bitch..."

"Oh, is that really the best you could come up with? Well, it is short notice and you're grieving, so I'll let you be."

Maria ended the call, kneeling down before Weiss, her arms tied behind her back and mouth duct taped over. "Listen, I understand it must be hard not being daddy's favorite spoiled little whore anymore. And being moments from meeting death is quite terrifying, too. But, don't worry, you won't have to suffer long. I'm sorry I have to cut our first meeting so brief. If I'd known meeting the former heir of the Schnee Dust Company only once, I would have planned accordingly. I apologize for my lack of preparedness but I have to reattend to Yang's friends. So, sit back, relax, and think happy thoughts."

With that, Maria headed for the door, striking a match at tossing it back on the gas-soaked carpet. Instantly, the entrance hallway before Weiss' room was engulfed in flames, smoke billowing everywhere as she thrashed about in panic, trying in vain to scream through the tape over her mouth.