Chapter 16: Encounter
Roman drove the paladin through a wall, pursuing Blake.
Of fucking course Yang's team decides to come and fuck shit up! He thought, chasing the cat faunus onto a highway and knocking cars out of the way as Blake leapt from car roof to car roof.
Suddenly a blur of white jumped down, slamming her rapier into the ground and a sheet of ice erupting around Roman. "FUCK!" He yelled as the paladin lost traction and slid through one of the hard Dust barriers. He flipped through the air and rightened himself to see the color changing girl. The rest of her team landed near her. "Go!" Blake yelled. Roman sighed. This would fucking suck.
Neo watched in interest from the shadows as Roman tried fending off the team of girls. The Schnee and Yang produced basically a smoke screen before the Schnee girl and Blake started striking the paladin rapidly. They switched out to Blake and the color changing girl and they were landing strong strikes. Suddenly Roman got a good hit on Yang and she internally cheered. She didn't have to look down to know Drei was watching intently as well. But to her horror Yang got up with blazing hair as she de-limbed the paladin. Drei whined and put a paw over his muzzle as if to shield his eyes.
Well this is probably our cue. She thought and waved a hand towards a White Fang grunt who was waiting with them. He nodded and ran to the airship and started it up. Neo snapped her fingers and signaled to Drei to run ahead. The doberman did so, sprinting towards where Roman was.
Yang watched Torchwick climb out of the paladin.
"We really need to stop meeting like this, ladies. Red isn't here tonight!" He called. Suddenly a doberman sprinted towards Roman and threw itself at Yang. Yang braced an arm and felt Drei knock her down with his razor teeth biting into her arm that Yang coated in her Aura.
"Yang!" Blake yelled.
"I got this." Yang grunted. "Down boy!" She yelled, kicking Drei back. The doberman twisted in the air with surprising grace and charged at Yang again. She leapt out of the way and only had a split second as the dog skidded to a momentary halt before changing course. Yang saw in horror that her teammates were attempting to prepare to attack Drei "Don't!" Yang yelled in desperation "Don't attack him!" They froze in place as Yang ducked under another attempted flying take down and grabbed one of his hind legs before lifting him above her head and throwing him towards Torchwick. "Bad dog!" She chided.
Suddenly Torchwick slammed his cane down. "Stand down." He muttered to Drei as a multicolored woman appeared before the two. "Good timing." He noted. Yang saw multicolored eyes meet her own and a realization hit her — this must be Neo. Neo gave Drei a few head pats and he gave a doggy grin with a lolling tongue before he became serious again and a growl rumbled. "Ladies, Ice Queen." Roman gave a small salute "Yang. Red asked me to pass along a message: Fuck you." His salute turned swiftly to him flipping off Yang. "Neo, if you would."
Neo bowed and Yang launched herself the woman's way. The moment her fist made contact, the image of all three shattered and a bullhead pulled away with the trio inside it.
"Well she made our plan... fall apart?" Weiss offered.
"Not now, Weiss." Yang said, eyes tracking the airship before it vanished from sight. "So that was Neo." She murmured.
"Neo?" Blake echoed.
"I'll explain later. Let's just go home." Yang said.
Ruby perked up to the sound of the door opening and shot through the air, knocking herself into Roman and Neo. "You're back!" She yelled. Roman patted her head.
"Of course we are." He agreed.
"You're late. Why?" She asked with a frown. She had grown anxious when Roman and Neo had taken over a half hour later to come home.
"Your damn sister's teammates were there. The cat faunus. She watched the rally and shot out the power. I tracked her down but her teammates were there..." Roman glanced at Neo. "Neo and Drei got me out in the nick of time." He said.
"Yang was there, wasn't she?" Ruby asked.
Roman sighed "Yep." He popped the 'p'. Ruby's eyes narrowed.
"Of course she was. She didn't listen to my warning, than." She said. "I'm gonna need to get Dark Glory back. I..." she sighed "I have no choice. I'm a girl of my word."
Neo's gaze softened in sympathy for a moment, placing a hand on her shoulder. Ruby shrugged it off. "Its fine. It would've happened anyway." She told the mute."
The next night, Ruby and Neo watched the police station. "We're gonna have to go in blind, I guess." She sighed. "No way we could figure it out."
"Figure what out, exactly?" Both girl jumped, Ruby letting out a shriek as she and Neo leapt into defensive stances. "Oh calm down." Amber eyes were warm as Sora's tail swished the air. "Its just me, Sora." She smiled.
Neo and Ruby relaxed "How did you find us?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, my Semblance is a tracking semblance." Sora said as if it was the most obvious thing on Remnant.
'More importantly,' Neo signed 'Why are YOU of all people here?' Before Ruby could translate, Sora's smile brightened.
'I'm here to help you guys get Dark Glory back!' The fox faunus signed.
"You know VSL?" Ruby asked.
"Yep! I learned it after a friend of mine went deaf." Sora told them. "Now, that aside — what's the plan?"
"Wait, wait. Why help us?" Ruby asked.
"I dunno. Mutual hatred of Vale authorities? Because I'm as Sab' puts it "Too nice for a terrorist"?" She tilted her head.
"Eh, let's just let her help." Ruby said to Neo's disapproving frown.
"Great!" Sora gave a little happy bounce. "So, our plan of action?" She asked.
"We didn't quite get there." Ruby admitted.
Sora's tail tip flicked "Oh! I can help!" She clapped her hands together before bringing her Scroll up. Tapping a few buttons showed a 3d model of the police station with labeled rooms.
"How... did you get that?" Ruby asked.
"White Fang intel. I'm actually not supposed to be able to have this, but because Sable is so high rankIng I used her clearance to get this map for myself." Sora explained and started zooming in around area. "Now most likely Dark Glory is either in weapons storage where they put confiscated weapons, or in the room where they hide evidence." She stated and placed what seemed to be red markers on two rooms. Zooming back out, Sora explained the best paths to those rooms. "Now, ready?" She asked.
"Alright." Ruby said and Neo nodded.
Neo disguised herself as a police officer and threw up an illusion that hid Ruby. She led Sora into the station.
"Hey, welcome..." Ruby ran behind the desk and knocked the police officer out with a series of jabs.
The trio moved to the stairs that led to evidence holding, and Sora walked down with a quiet salute.
Neo continued to hide Ruby as they went to the weapons storage. They were met with an electronic lock, which Neo looked at and rolled her eyes. Reaching into a bag she brought, she withdrew several tools and motioned for Ruby to take them.
Ruby did so and started to work on the lock while Neo waited in case she had to fight any officers off.
A hiss filled the air after several minutes, and they were in.
Several weapons were under lock and key, each labeled with a name.
Heading to the back, Ruby saw to her immense relief that Dark Glory was in its own container, and went to work on the lock.
It clicked open and Ruby nearly cried as she withdrew her baby and held it close. Unsheathing the blade, it seemed in perfect condition and she nodded to Neo.
A text rang in Ruby's Scroll from an unknown number.
Had to go. Sable found out I'm here. Hopefully you find Dark Glory. — Sora
Found her. Thank you! Ruby texted back and nodded to Neo.
Yang tapped her foot anxiously. The day had come where Ruby was expected to be at Juniors.
She stared at the door, and suddenly a girl in a red tank top with green eyes walked into the area. A doberman on a chain leash walked at her heel.
Green met lavender, and Ruby walked towards the bar. Junior stopped serving a patron in order to greet the criminal. Yang stood up and walked as fast as she could to her sister.
"Junior, can we have a room?" Ruby asked, but it came as a stiff growl. Junior nodded and led the two of them up to the same room Junior and Yang talked in.
"Your drinks will be here soon." He said and shut the door.
Neither teen moved to sit. Ruby unclipped Drei's leash and the doberman moved so he could watch both.
"Yang." The blonde realized her sister was armed. "Why the fuck are you here?"
"I'm here to talk, I swear." Yang moved to sit down. Ruby and Drei refused to move. "Look. I'm not going to do a thing." She looked at Ember Celica, and reluctantly took off the bracelets before sliding them on the table away from herself.
"Alright." Ruby refused to take her weapon off, and walked to the couch opposite to the table Yang was at. "What did you want to talk about?"
Yang felt relief fill her as she realized Ruby wasn't going to kill her. "Just... how have you been?"
"Good." Ruby replied.
"What you've been up to?" Yang prodded, wondering if Ruby would reveal anything.
"Like I'd tell you." Drei moved to the table and put his head on Ruby's lap with a sigh. "I know." She murmured to the doberman.
"Why not?" Yang immediately slapped her palm to her forehead "Oh, right. Illegal criminal stuff." She said.
"Yeah, Illegal criminal stuff." Ruby's eyes narrowed and Drei huffed.
"Sorry." Yang looked at her lap for a moment as their drinks arrived.
"You really do have the same taste as me." Both said in unison, reaching for their drinks. Drei made a sound and Ruby gave him the side-eye, while Yang laughed.
"Oh hush you." Ruby told Drei, which made Yang laugh harder. Ruby allowed a smile to creep through.
"You really are my little sister." She smiled, but Ruby frowned.
"I'm nothing to you, and you are nothing to me but a pest." Those words caused the humor in the air to wither and die faster than a heartbeat. Silence filled the room, and Drei yawned as Ruby took a small sip of her Strawberry Sunrise.
"Is this all you wanted? To talk with me?" Ruby asked, voice cold.
"Yeah, I haven't —" Yang brightened up but her bubble of excitement was burst when Ruby leaned forward.
"You haven't done anything for me," The criminal's tone was hard and full of open resentment "You would rather be with your friends to distract yourself from your drunk ass father and your sister who didn't have anyone!" The hand holding her drink moved to set the glass down. "You don't get it, Yang. People change. Grief changes people, and its changed me more than you realize! I've found a family who loves me and sees me as a person and not a reminder of someone who will always fucking overshadow me!" Her hands curled into fists and Drei whined, nudging her side with his snout. "I'm fucking not Summer, Yang. And I'm not your fucking sister. I'm a criminal and my family are too. Be the hero you aspire to be, Yang. I already know my own path." Ruby's words were colder than Mantle's winter.
"Ruby, please..." Yang pleaded while Ruby took another sip of her drink.
"No!" Ruby yelled, and stood up before hurling the glass from her hand. It went flying towards Yang's face, who ducked and the glass shattered on the wall behind them. "I'm so fucking done! If we were ANYWHERE else but Junior's club, I would kill you right here and right fucking now." Ruby stalked forward. Drei barked, trying to draw the girl's attention. "Stay out of this, Drei!" Ruby snapped before Dark Glory whirled from its sheathe and the blade tip was pointed at Yang's face. "I swear this is your last fucking warning. Get out of my life or I will kill you!" Ruby snarled and turned around.
Yang took a chance. It might end up getting her killed, but it was her only opportunity. She lunged forward and pinned Ruby's arms to her side while knocking Dark Glory from Ruby's hands.
Drei barked fiercely, but Yang activated her semblance and stared down the doberman. Using her "I'm mad at Zwei" commanding voice, she yelled "DREI, SIT!" The doberman growled, ears pinning as he sat. He was confused and moved to stand but Yang glared at him and he sat back down.
"Dr-" before Ruby could command Drei, Yang covered her sister's mouth.
"Good boy." Yang praised, her voice a growl. "Now stay or I'll have to hurt her, and neither of us want that."
"You won't be hurting anyone." The two twin girls that were apart of Junior's club stepped inside alongside the man himself.
"Yang, get out please." Junior seemed tired. "Drei, to me." Drei looked to Ruby before walking reluctantly to the man's side. "Ruby. Roman and Neo are on their way now. Yang, get out or you'll have one hell of a bad evening. They're mad enough at Ruby and they'll gladly turn it on you instead." He said.
"I'm bringing her home." Yang said firmly while Ruby struggled against her.
"Bringing her back to Patch will only cause more trouble. Vale will arrest her the moment she's spotted. Besides, what else will she do? There's no way society will give her a good hand. She's a mass murderer and criminal." Junior explained, tone surprisingly calm, as if he was explaining it to a small child.
Yang was silent, until the two twins walked out of the room and a second later Roman and Neo leapt in. In a second, a blade was between Yang's shoulder blades.
"Put her down, blondie. I thought twice in the same month was enough for us both." Roman said.
"I'm bringing Ruby home!" Yang said. The blade prodded her. "Get your stick away from me you psycho." Yang spat at Neo. The blade prodded again, a little harsher this time.
"No. You're going to release Ruby right this instant. She's terrified and if you take her away with force, she'll probably turn on you the second you leave her alone." Roman explained.
Yang didn't realize it, but her own palms were sweaty. She moved it away from Ruby's mouth, and Ruby gave the command "Drei, get her!"
Hell broke loose as Junior tried to grab Drei's collar and Neo stepped away while Drei barked up a storm and charged Yang. She had to choose between keeping Ruby close to her or defending against the furious Doberman. Yang stood her ground as he lunged at her back and tore at her jacket. Yang let her Aura take the brunt of it. Suddenly pain hit the back of her knees as Neo knocked her legs out from under her. She caught herself at the price of releasing Ruby, who vanished from her arms and stood there for a moment before vanishing from the room.
"Drei, to me!" Roman commanded. Drei tore at Yang's arm as she tried to knock him away. "I said TO ME!" He yelled. Drei barked in Yang's ears, until at last Neo had clipped his leash to his collar and with surprising strength, dragged him off her. Roman picked up Dark Glory.
Yang panted for breath, watching Neo forcefully drag Drei out of the room with Roman following. "Hopefully this time you learn your lesson." He said before exiting.
"Get out. Don't bother coming back." Junior growled as the two girls grabbed Yang under the arms to take her away.
A/N: Bet you all saw THAT coming. Yang just doesn't know when to stop, does she? They could have had a non-violent, albeit tense, sister to sister conversation — but Yang went ahead and decided attempted kidnapping was the better route. Next chapter we see the consequences for Yang, and I'll say Cinder's plan will be coming to fruition soon I think.
Thanks for reading!
P.S.
I want to say Sora is not the same as Sable. She has nothing to do with the plan, she's honestly just a nice White Fang member and saw nothing wrong with helping Ruby and Neo out.