Alright so a longer chapter today. This one I was a bit hesitant to get out until I had everything mapped out properly but I'll explain at the end.
Other than that I realise that longer chapters are more fun to write, so maybe I'll try to keep eleven or even ten thousand words as a standard or goal.
I'd ask that if you want to, point out any mistakes I make in the chapter and I'll work to fix them.
I have something Important I want to announce at the end too, so... stick around for it if you want I suppose.
Anyway, I'll talk more at the end.
Enjoy!
...
Roman considered himself a professional. A master thief capable of taking anything he wanted with the right preparation.
He'd been in the game a long time. He'd worked with common thugs, crime syndicates, even a few goody-two-shoes that were just in desperate need of money. Hell, he'd even worked with people as scary as his current employer before, even if it was for different reasons.
A certain group he'd never fallen in with however were terrorists.
And now he was beginning to see why.
"What do you mean you don't like the smell of the containers? It's a damn metal box!"
The masked idiot in front of him shrugged as if it wasn't a problem. Torchwick didn't even know his name – nor would he bother to learn it – but he already disliked the guy.
The other idiot beside him answered instead of him.
"There's some scented candles in one of the boxes. He's a canine Faunus so it hurts his nose to go near it."
The thief didn't look impressed. "And why are you telling me this huh? Why on Remnant would I care?"
He broke off with a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Yeah, he didn't like working with terrorists because they just recruited whoever they could. Looked like the ones in Vale were a particular breed of stupid.
There was a shuffle to his left and he pointed his cane threateningly in the general direction without facing them.
"Don't you start laughing at this! Give me some back-up Neo!"
The multi-coloured girl rolled her eyes and made no move to help. Roman growled and turned back to the to Faunus.
"You know what? Fine, don't go near the crates, get someone else to do it and go join the lookouts instead, use that nose of yours to smell people coming."
They didn't so much as nod as they turned to leave, but when they did he scowled. That was another thing; they had no respect. Since he was human, all of these blasted animals treated the fact that they had to work together like it was some form of oppression. Didn't they already have one to deal with without making this partnership difficult.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar, lighting it up and taking a puff to calm his nerves, or temper, whichever was closer to giving first.
"You enjoy this don't you?" he asked his partner. She was still smiling too, the little punk. Neo was always like this: laughing at his misfortune wherever they went. She could be the source of most of his problems too with her cruel sense of humour. Sometimes Roman thought about just whacking her over the head with his cane a few times to instil some kind of discipline in her.
He didn't though.
And one of the main reasons for that definitely wasn't because she would impale him on a lamp post if he did.
True to form she smirked at his displease with the White Fang. She wasn't happy with this either though, Roman could tell.
While he was frustrated, she was bored.
There were only three things Neo enjoyed: Bloody violence, ice cream, and annoying him. In that order.
Right now, she was only getting to do one of those things.
"I don't know what you want me to do," he said to her. "This whole thing was a mess right from the start with them. Just our luck that we had to get dragged into it."
The girl made a motion with her hand as if to play a tiny violin. Right, no sympathy from her then.
Thankfully he didn't need it, nor would he have time to get it as another Faunus came up to him. This one was even weirder than the last one, with a black outfit and blue veins that crawled up her body.
Ugh!
"Torchwick," she grunted ever so charismatically. "We have a problem, two in fact. Intruders."
He took another puff of his cigar and took it out with a raised eyebrow. "Really now. Well at least you came to me, looks like some of you can follow orders. Lead the way sider girl."
she sent a glare his way for that, but as stated already did what she was told, leading him (and by extension Neo) into one of the back rooms of the warehouse.
There were two people strapped into chairs. One the thief didn't recognise but the other…
"Oh boy."
…
…
Ruby groaned as her consciousness returned.
Her eyes creaked open painfully, and she was greeted with the sight of a familiar thief sitting lax across from her.
"Hey there little red," he waved "I don't think you should be here, isn't it already past your bedtime?"
She didn't reply, instead taking in her surroundings. There wasn't much she could see from where she was; tied to a wooden chair with… was this webbing?
She struggled against it, testing out its strength. It didn't so much as budge a little.
Right, well that wasn't going to help now was it?
The room itself didn't offer many answers either:
It was small, about the size of a bedroom for one but without the homey feel. Actually, after a proper look it was more like a storage closet; with shelves and crates pushed against the walls. One crate in particular to her right was the seat of another girl:
Her hair two different colours of pink and brown, and eyes the same, but inverted. Although probably the weirdest thing about her to Ruby was the way she smiled when she caught her attention.
Way too many teeth to be friendly.
Ruby flinched as a pair of fingers snapped in front of her face, bringing her back into the situation.
"Hey red, you listening to me?"
She blinked. "Uh, what? Could you repeat that?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Don't space out here kid. I asked what you're doing here."
"Oh uh, dunno, just thought I'd go for a casual stroll around Vale, nothing to it."
Roman wasn't buying it. "Really? You just happened to be here at the docks the moments the White Fang appears to rob it?"
"Yep!"
He sighed in annoyance.
"Listen kid, I can tell that you're here on some huntress stuff. Right? You want to arrest me and turn me in? well sorry but that isn't going to happen. You're a first-year, like, what, seventeen?"
"Fifteen actually."
"…what?"
"I'm fifteen," Ruby said. "I got moved ahead two years."
Off to the side, the scary-looking girl snickered.
Roman scowled "You're kidding me. You have to be kidding me. I know I called you little red but this is ridiculous! What are the Huntsman schools doing!"
"Does it matter Torchwick?"
Both Reaper and Theif turned towards the new voice. It was the girl from before, Ilia. Her face was set in a snarl as she glared at Ruby.
"Why are you talking to her?" she spat. "She's already a threat to this operation."
Despite the venom in her voice Roman didn't look fazed as he leaned back further in his chair.
"What? You worried you're White Fang boys can't handle it out there? Shouldn't you be back on lookout anyway? This isn't any of your business."
"Like hell it isn't!" the Faunus growled. "We make an exception for you Torchwick, but the White Fang doesn't entertain humans. She should already be dead, so if you don't do it, I will."
With that Ilia reached for her weapon, prepared to point it right at Ruby's face.
She never got it out of her holster however, because Roman made a motion with his hand and in the next second the terrorist felt thin blade prick the underside of her chin.
Neo grinned up at her menacingly.
"Look girly, you need to remember that right now I'm your boss," the master thief drawled. "So when I say that you should leave this talk to the humans, it means you should go. Capiche?
She didn't move for a second, glaring at Torchwick with hatred in her eyes.
Eventually however, she did cave in, and with a final snarl turned and left. Neo waved cheerily to her as she left, as if she hadn't just threatened the Faunus' life.
"Yikes," Ruby said. "I know I'm supposed to be the prisoner and everything but uh… what's that all about?"
Roman shrugged. "Eh, just the White Fang Zealots being their usual selves. You have no idea how bitchy they are about working with me."
"Why are they working with you?"
"Ah, ah, ah," she wagged a finger in chastisement. "This isn't like some movie where you get the villain to reveal their plans."
"Eh, it was worth a shot."
The thief laughed at that. It died down a second later and he sighed. "What am I going to do with you red?"
Ruby blinked. "You're… not going to kill me?"
He rolled his eyes, casually lighting another cigar as he leaned back into his chair again, looking up at the ceiling.
"Course not kid. These idiots might think killing you is a good idea but I'm not a part of their little group. Killing you would just bring me unwanted heat. Not to mention that I have standards. Killing children isn't my style."
There was a motion from the multicoloured girl.
"Yeah it's not Neo's style either. Don't get me wrong she loves violence but uh… you just in her below the bar of people she's fine with killing by… how many years?"
Neo thought for a second, before raising two fingers.
"Two years? Well, there you go. You're too young for us to kill, and I'm sure as hell not stupid enough to hand you over to the White Fang." She might have imagined it, but Ruby was sure she saw Roman shiver. "Killing you would probably be the kindest thing they do."
Yeah, she could imagine. If the White Fang despised humans as much as they claimed in Vale then torture might be the first thing they tried.
Ruby's eyes widened.
"Wait! I came here with someone else, is Penny alright?"
"You mean the ginger? Yeah she's fine. She woke up before you and started prattling on about how we should turn ourselves in. I mean, I put her in a cell for her own safety as well as ours but you know."
Roman hesitated, actually looking like he was considering whether he should say it or not. While he did, Neo moved to sit on a chair, probably to move to where this little girl could see her. Say what you wanted about the murderous psychopath she had a soft spot for kids.
Or was that just short people in general.
"You know… that kid's pretty weird."
Ruby's gave an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah… well, I only met her today but Penny's a bit… forward."
"More like socially dead. I'm tellin' ya, I talked to her for five minutes and I could tell there's something off about her."
He took another drag of his cigar. Honestly it Ruby didn't think it was a bad smell. Strong, but not bad. When he'd finished he went on.
"Anyway, getting rid of her when she's so… whatever she is, leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so the kid's in the same boat as you red."
"Okay," she said, nodding slowly. "I think I get it now… I know what you two are."
Roman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what's that?" he already knew what was coming. It always did eventually; people always accused him of being a monster, lowlife-scum or any other insult they could come up with for his life's work. Shame, he'd actually started to enjoy talking to the kid. Ah well, at least he could-
"You're both good people."
"…"
Eh?
"Eh?"
Neo fell out of her chair.
…
…
Back at Beacon, the remainder of team RWBY sat in their dorm room.
Weiss tapped her foot impatiently. She checked the time on her scroll. She looked out the window to see the moon high in the sky.
The heiress scowled. She marched to the door, opening it to stick her head out and looking both ways. The hallway was empty.
Her scowl grew. She slammed the door behind her as she turned to Blake and a pacing Yang.
"Well?" she hissed.
The Faunus girl shook her head.
"Nothing, she's not answering her scroll. I don't know what's going on." She glanced at it again. "She might have turned it off but…"
Weiss huffed. This was less than ideal to say the least. It had been hours now, way past the time Ruby was expected to return at and they'd heard nothing from her. Considering they'd last seen her with that odd girl they had… a few ideas on what happened, none of them good.
What was worse, was the longer they waited, the angrier Yang got, and Weiss could feel the heat radiating from the blonde, so much so that she'd had to open a window.
To be honest, she was worried Yang might cook them alive if things didn't resolve themselves soon.
"Alright," she tried. "We know that Ruby's strong, we shouldn't worry about her wellbeing for now and instead focus on where she could be. Have team JNPR heard from her?"
Blake shook her head. "No, I asked Ren and he said Ruby hadn't called them. He let me know that they'd keep an eye out and let us know if things changed but right now we have nothing."
The Faunus sighed. "Right now Ruby could be anywhere. I wouldn't be worried, but she did tell us that she'd catch up… and I don't think she's the kind to let people worry about her."
At this point, Yang had had enough, a growl forming in the back of her throat as she turned to them with red eyes.
"Then why are we waitin' around? We're wasting time when we should be looking for her." She made to move towards the door, but glared at Weiss as she blocked the raging brawler.
"What are you doing Weiss? Hurry up and get outta my way."
"Just calm down for a minute Xiao-Long," The heiress tried, holding up her hands in a placating manner. "We don't even know where to start. If you start tearing Vale to pieces looking for Ruby that might cause more problems than it would solve."
Yang wasn't as impressed with Weiss' argument as she probably would have hoped for.
"What do you want me to do then Ice-Queen? Just wait around for something to happen? Or do you think we should just forget about it altogether?"
It was the Weiss' turn to scowl again. "Of course not, all I'm suggesting is that we wait until we have some idea as to where to look. What if Ruby tries to get in touch with us somehow and can't because we're not here?"
"She's right Yang," Blake said, coming to her snow-haired teammate's aid and resting a hand on her partner's shoulder. (They could tell how uncomfortable it made her, whether from the heat or just the fact that she wasn't a very touchy person). "Why don't we wait just a little longer? If we don't hear anything in another, say ten minutes, then we go looking for your sister. Okay?"
Yang held her gaze for a while longer, red boring into gold to see who would give first. Eventually red looked away.
"Fine," she spat out. "just a little longer though, then you can't stop me."
"Thank you." Blake said gently.
There was a lull where the three of them looked between each other, all in at least somewhat reluctant agreement and yet unsure of what to do. So, it was almost comical when a fourth voice joined in from the open window.
"Hey I could help!"
They yelped and span towards the window, and when they saw who it was Weiss gasped.
"You! You're that ruffian from the docks! What on earth are you doing here and- why are you upside down?"
The newcomer waved his hands in front of him in a sudden panic as they looked like they might attack.
"Woah, woah, woah, hang on a second will ya? I'll explain if you let me."
"Then do it already," Weiss hissed. "And get in here if you're going to speak."
The Faunus boy did as he was told, righting himself the proper way and sitting perched on the window frame.
"Okay, look, the names Sun. I'm from Haven, came here for the tournament. I got a boat but it turns out they didn't like Faunus so I had to hide in case they threw me off, so, when I got to the port they found me and I had to run and you know, the cops chased me and I was all like, jumping and climbing until I got away and-"
He didn't get any further in his ramblings as Yang went up and grabbed his open first.
"Hey monkey boy, stop wastin' our time and get to the point. What do you want?"
He grimaced before nodding rapidly. "Right, well, while I was in Vale I say the other girl from your team, the one with the red cape heading for the docks with this other girl, you know, the docks where they deliver shipments and cargo?"
Weiss frowned. "But why on Remnant would Ruby go there? And even if she did why isn't she back yet?"
"Cause I heard that – when I was hiding on the ship - that there's a huge shipment of dust being delivered, and I same some guys in masks dropping out of bullheads and-"
"Wait, wait go back," Yang growled. "What do you mean you saw people in masks? How? Where you following my sister?"
Sun seemed to suddenly realise he needed to choose his words carefully.
"Well, yes? I mean, not in a bad way, but she looked like she knew where she was going and I was gonna ask her for directions since I already sorta met her when I was running but then she goes to the docks and I follow behind her a way back and then she's waiting there for ages and I think there's no point since she's not going anywhere when suddenly these guys in white masks show up."
From Sun's word vomit they managed to get a few key things. None of them good.
"The White Fang," Blake hissed. "They're at the docks? Here in Vale? Are you sure?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I lost sight of the girl, Ruby, for a sec and then there's a commotion and she's gone and the White Fang are going crazy."
"They captured her?" Weiss asked, Yang flaming up at the thought.
"I think so, there weren't any gunshots so I think they brought her into one of the warehouses. There were too many for me by my self so I came here to tell you."
Weiss ran a hand over her face. "Fine, if we forget the question of how you knew where to find us we suddenly have a situation where Ruby's been captured by the White Fang."
"Well what are we waiting for then?" Yang asked, making her way to the door again. "Get your weapons and let's go already. You, monkey boy, I don't how you found us but you're coming too."
"A-alright sure."
"Let's go people!"
…
…
"I still don't know how you get 'good person' outta all of what I just said red." Roman said. He'd been arguing with his 'prisoner' for the last ten minutes and he still hadn't gotten through to the little weirdo. "There are several valid long-term reasons I gave you and you just say we're good people. I mean, you must be crazy if you call Neo a good person."
Rather than be offended the murderous ice cream girl nodded her head.
"No, listen," Ruby tried again. "I'm just saying that yeah you might have reasons not to kill me but you have plenty to aswell. I mean, I am a huntress-in-training. I know I'm not at your level but I could still be a problem later down the line if you don't get rid of me now."
Roman looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you trying to do Red? Convince me to off you?"
"Nope, because now that I know you're a good person I don't have to worry."
He raised an eyebrow. "I think you're missing the whole robbery and murder respectively from my partner and I."
"Well yeah, okay that's bad," she allowed. "but that's not what I mean by a good person. To me it means that you have a chance to make things easier for yourself, or that you might even enjoy doing something horrible – in this case killing me – and you decide not to. I think that sort of choice makes you a good person no matter what the reason."
Roman and Neo shared another look, and whatever was spoken silently between them must have been strange, since the thieves face morphed into one of shock before he started to chuckle.
It was short-lived when his scroll let off a buzz and when he looked down at it he scowled. When he did look back at Ruby it was actually with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry kiddo, I've got to take this. Neo will keep you company while I deal with the adults."
"Hey wait a minute," Ruby cried. "What's going to happen to me anyway?"
"Oh… I don't know, we might just leave you here overnight. The ship workers will find you tomorrow and you can tell them the embarrassing story of how you were captured."
He waved. "See ya kid!"
Ruby out of a childish urge stuck out her tongue in response. She heard him laugh aloud before the door shut behind him.
And then there were only two people in the room.
Right, well, for Ruby at least this was a problem. Yes, they were her captors so technically she shouldn't feel awkward about not talking to them, but her being the socially inept person she was it was a difficult situation.
Especially since the other girl was giving her a look that was part ways amused and part ways horrifically terrifying.
Or… not a girl. Ruby had to correct herself when she saw Neo's chest.
It was an accident of course, she didn't MEAN to stare at her chest. Honest!
Anyway, as she – ahem – observed her captor it was easy to see that despite her height Neo was filled in in all the right ways. With her outfit being a black corset it showed off a generous amount of skin regarding her hips, and the white jacket dipping low enough to expose her cleavage.
Dangerous.
That was how Ruby would describe this Neo person in one word.
Not to mention how she-
"Eep!"
Ruby paled. Neo had caught her looking, and was giving her a very scary smile. She stood up.
Uh-oh. Ruby hadn't been able to get much from the woman, other than the fact that she'd outright claimed that both criminals were good people she didn't know how they would react when pushed. Judging by the teeth Neo was showing it wasn't going to be good.
What she wasn't ready for was Neo shattering into shards of glass. Her first realisation was that Neo had just used her semblance. The second was that it was some kind of teleportation, which in itself was incredible!
The third realisation Ruby had wasn't as nice because…
Neo had reappeared.
On her lap.
With a bowl of ice cream.
But on her lap.
Ruby made a valiant effort in trying to speak, but all that came out was an airy squeak.
She probably should have realised that was a sign of weakness, because when she did the criminal's grin grew even wider. Purposefully Neo made a show of taking a scoop of ice cream. The younger girls made noting hysterically that it was strawberry flavoured.
Before she was fed the treat.
Ruby's brain suffered a complete shutdown. She actually froze completely as her mind tried to process what had just happened. It wasn't very successful, because she didn't – or couldn't – react as Neo took the spoon, scooped more ice cream up and, instead of feeding it to Ruby again, ate it herself.
Ah, now the Huntress was able to find the suitable reaction.
Mainly her face heating up like a thousand suns.
"W-w-what are you doing?"
Neo stopped, looking up at her with an innocent expression.
Lies!
Ruby realised. All of it deceit and lies. The ice cream girl seemed to understand that Ruby wasn't falling for it but instead of looking guilty she smirked and-
Spooned another mouthful into Ruby… with the same spoon she'd just used.
Ruby suffered a second aneurysm.
A few minutes later, a few lascivious, impure and painfully suggestive minutes later Roman could be heard opening the door.
"Okay kiddo I'm ba- what is this?!" he stopped. The master thief was met with the sight of his partner straddling their captive, a bowl of half-eaten ice cream between them and a devious smile on the law-breakers face.
Then there was the kid, who face was as red as her hood, a far of look in her eyes. Haunting. Broken. She looked like she was boiling, and she was panting heavily.
"Help me!" she rasped. "She's been like this for the last ten minutes. She won't even tell me why."
Roman's head fell into one hand as he sighed.
"She's torturing you kid. Just because Neo won't kill you doesn't mean she wouldn't find some way to get a laugh. I just didn't think it would happen so fast."
"What do you mean? I don't even know how this count's as torture!"
He rolled his eyes and took his seat. He didn't bother telling Neo to get off the poor girl. He knew she'd just do something even worse.
"You can't tell? Apart from the fact that you look like you're being boiled from the inside, you're a teenager. The problem with teenagers, especially one like you coming into yourself is that you're all just roaming balls of hormones."
The truth dawned on Ruby the moment he said it. she looked at Neo on her lap. Her neck turned the same colour as her cheeks. She looked back at him.
"I changed my mind." She said. "She's bad. She's a very, very bad person."
Far from being angered by the statement Neo snickered, and sent her victim a wink as she finally got up.
The thief shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that was the point she was trying to make."
The noise Ruby made said all it needed about what she thought of it.
"Relax, will you? She wasn't serious about it."
She glowered, clearly not pleased with the whole series of events made to embarrass her. "Well I might believe you if she actually said something."
He scoffed. "Well then sorry Red but you'll just have to stay in disbelief. Neo doesn't talk."
She blinked.
"Eh?"
"Neo," Roman said again, pointing to his partner, who had pulled up a proper chair of her own now. "She doesn't talk… hasn't ever said a word to me or anyone else. Completely mute."
Now, the master thief had been In a few situations like this before, where he and Neo had to interact with hostages and the like when a heist went bad. (Not very often mind you, else he would be considered a master). Anyway, most of the time it went in the direction where they found out Neo was a mute and had a few different reactions.
One; they would quieten down, embarrassed that they didn't realise Neo's little disability sooner. Normally that was good since it gave him some peace and quiet. Two; they would get aggressive, thinking that it would be a good idea to insult the murderous girl. That was always fun to watch, although Roman didn't peg little Red as being that sort of person. The third was probably the stupidest: the hostage would try to bargain with them, thinking that just because Neo was mute that she had some kind of bleeding heart. He didn't know where the hell they drew the connection but he'd seen it more than once, which was annoying in itself.
So of course Red had to do none of the above and instead do something that confused them both into just staring at her.
"I'm so sorry!" she cried, bowing her head as low as she could with the bondings. "I didn't even realise. Oh my gosh I'm such an idiot." She was groaning now. "Ugh! I can't even talk to strangers without messing up!".
He couldn't help it, Roman had to laugh.
This kid. She was either the most innocent girl he'd ever met, or the most socially awkward. Oh he hoped it was the latter, that would make it so much funnier.
After his laughter died down a few minutes later and he'd had his fill of Ruby chastising herself he sighed mirthfully.
"Don't worry about it kid, you're not the first one to make that mistake. Hell there are so many stories I could go on all day."
Ruby gazed up at him with what looked like a form of desperate hope, the kind where a child was caught doing something they shouldn't but then realised their sibling had done something worse. Damn she was good at that.
"Really?" she asked. "How much worse than me can you get?"
Torchwick grinned, pushing his bowler cap higher onto his head.
"Well why don't I tell you about the time Neo and I hit uptown Vale during the holidays?"
…
…
"This is the place." Sun told them as they crouched low. They were using shipping containers on the outer region as cover. Sun had warned them that the bullheads might spot them if they moved in from above. It meant they hadn't been spotted yet, which was a plus in Blakes book.
The problem was that it worked both ways. She couldn't see anything from where she was and that was a problem. Her being a feline Faunus she was the only one out of the four of them with night-vision. If that couldn't be utilised then they could be at a disadvantage.
"I didn't get to count them before I left." Sun went on. "I don't know what we're up against."
Blake watched the blond boy carefully from behind. She didn't know what to think of him… whether he was trustworthy or not was something she wasn't willing to test.
She was a Faunus, like him and she'd been a part of the White Fang. Who's to say he isn't either? He could be leading them right into a trap.
She reached behind her back and griped Gambol Shroud for comfort.
If he was a part of the White Fang… then she wouldn't let him hurt her team.
She clenched her eyes shut and shook those thoughts free. Now was no time to panic about things like that, they needed to stay calm, find Ruby and get out.
Her partner did seem to have the same idea.
"Why the hell are we waiting around so long?" she growled dangerously from beside Weiss. Her voice was low and dangerous only emphasises by the red taking over her eyes. "We should be going already!"
"Just hang on a minute Xiao-Long," The Heiress scowled. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Yang's anger. They'd gone into Vale still in their casual outfits from earlier, and for Weiss in particular that meant she was in a pretty uncomfortable position. That also meant that with the added stress of her own partner in danger meant she was less than tolerable.
"If you go in now blundering like you always do you'll get us killed. Use your head for once."
Yang snarled. "My sister is being held hostage and you want me to wait around? They could be doing anything to her."
"Don't be an idiot," Weiss snapped back. "I'm just as worried as you but if we rush in we could be in even bigger trouble."
The only male nodded. "Right, yeah, that sounds like a smart idea. We could sneak in and out without being them all down on us. I don't know about you three but I don't feel like taking on that many terrorists."
The brawler didn't like impressed by Sun's opinion.
"We can take them. They're just grunts."
"That's not the point," Blake argued, finally chiming in. AS much as she herself wanted to find Ruby too she knew that it was a bad idea to go in unprepared as they were.
"Listen Yang; if we just talk a second to think things through we can come up with a plan. Just have a little bit of patience and we'll find your sister. Just trust me on that."
Yang looked between them, her eyes still read but at least looking like she was considering it.
She looked back at the warehouse most of the White Fang were gathered around.
She sighed, and Blake allowed herself to relax a little bit. Weiss did too. At least now they could-
"Fuck that."
Before either of them could move to stop her, Yang had deployed her weapons and blurred forward in a blast. She went straight over the containers, and out of their line of sight.
There was a moment of disbelief as Blake stared at her remaining two companions.
Sun looked between them.
"Is she always like this?"
To be honest, Blake thought that was a fair question. She never got to answer it however because suddenly there was a cry and the sound of several people yelling… and gunfire. Plenty of gunfire.
Weiss' eye twitched as she reached for Myrtenaster.
"When this is over I'm going to kill her."
Blake didn't feel like she could defend her partner over this one.
The three of them ran to join Yang and when they turned the corner got to take in the unfolding carnage as it happened:
Yang was already surrounded by a few dozen White Fang, Ember Celica deployed and blasting through them like they were nothing. The blonde fell into a boxer stance, dodging and weaving past their blades dangerously and lashing out with shotgun-powered jabs. The few blows that the grunts managed to land glanced off her aura. It barely flickered.
Blake instantly realised that these weren't proper White Fang. They were greenhorns, barely initiated and sent on a heist. This was the second time she was faced with this truth. Who was in charge of the White Fang sector here in Vale? Adam would have never allowed his men to go out so weak.
The thought of the revolutionary force she'd fought with willfully sending out these novices made her stomach churn.
The worse part was that they were still a problem. Even as Blake ran forward she could see that the hits were piling up. They might not have been doing much, but every strike was a chip in Yangs reserves.
What was the saying? Quantity had a quality of its own?
Well that was certainly proving to be at least somewhat effective as Yang was forced to duck away from a three-pronged sword strike to the face.
They'd closed the distance however, and without hesitation Blake dashed through slashed at their legs as she moved, in and out like a shadow with Gambol Shroud. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Weiss and Sun join her; the Heiress striking with precision and grace as she danced through their clumsy attack. Her face was set in cold concentration as she blocked and parried, firing off blasts of dust when she could to create distance and segregate individual opponents.
Suns was by contrast a far more direct combatant. He ran in with a yell and his own weapon was brought out, a gold-encrusted wooden staff. It was clearly more than that Blake could tell though when he twirled it in his had and bashed one end against a grunts head. The masked enemy fell back with a yelp of pain.
He wasn't done, using his staff as a pole vault he threw himself over a crowd of grunts- being sure to step on a few as he went – and landed beside Yang. he knocked away a few that tried to sneak up on his female counterpart.
"You know, you're crazy right?" Sun laughed. It was more of a statement than a question.
Yang barked what was either a scoff or a laugh.
"Just make sure you can keep up monkey boy and we'll be sweet."
He grinned despite the situation they were in with over two dozen more White Fang moving to surround them.
"Yes ma'am!"
With that they both leapt back into the fight and Blake turned back to her own fight in time to duck a bullet.
She deflected several more that came at her in a barrage, and moved to join her partner. They would need back up and from the looks of it they weren't exactly making a dent in the White Fangs numbers just yet.
Blake's bright eyes roamed over the crowd of white-masked grunts. There might have been a hundred of them, maybe closer to two hundred.
She caught a sword and pushed it side, rewarding the attacker with a kick to the gut.
Why were there so many anyway? This didn't look like anything special. It was a simple robbery on a dock that was expected to be empty. There was no way they would need-
Blake's eyes widened as she twirled past another two, smashed the back of her blade against their heads and watching their bodies crumple.
Their mission.
It had been in a place the White Fang hadn't expected Huntsmen of any kind. They'd not only ruined their operation there but revealed that a former White Fang member had joined the Huntsman academy.
Team RWBY had seen it as a win when they ran away and that that wouldn't have to deal with them for a while.
But the White Fang hadn't run.
They'd adapted.
These numbers were to compensate for them and what they'd done.
And now it was coming back to bite them.
She finally broke through the crowd, managing to regroup with Yang and Sun the same time as Weiss landed beside her. They were surrounded, but together.
Blake readied Gambol Shroud. They were outnumbered but things didn't look impossible yet. If they were careful Blake though they could still get out of this okay.
"Traitor!"
At least that was what she had thought before a familiar voice cut through the noise, and Blake gasped at the all too recognisable light of a whip lashed out at her. She barely got the sheath of her weapon u to block the point before it hit but when she did it made her stumble back. She bumped into Yang, who turned to look.
The rest of the White Fang had stopped too, and made a path as three figures were revealed.
Blake forgot to breathe.
Ilia glared hatefully at her and through gritted teeth she snarled.
"How dare you," she hissed. "How dare you think you have the right to even show your face to hear, let alone attack us. To think the White Fang had been distracted enough to let someone like you escape."
Blake might have taken a step back if her own blonde partner hadn't taken a step forward.
"You didn't tell me you have friends here Blake," she smiled with false sweetness. Her eyes were still red, and it made her look even angrier. "Why don't you introduce yourself punk?"
Ilia sneered at Yang like she was a dirty stain and ignored her as she glared again at Blake.
"Even now you manage to disgrace the Faunus even more with these people! A human, and what's worse a Schnee! You really are the worst of scum."
"I…" Blake gasped.
Yang had seemed to have enough, pulling her fists back and allowing the sound of her gauntlets priming wretch up the tension.
"Alright, as much fun as it is hearing you bitch at my partner, I'm not in the mood for this shit. Get outta my way. Now."
Rather than look frightened the one with the blue hair smirked and levelled her dagger at them. "I'd like to see what you sound like when I put you in the ground. Why don't we find out?"
Yang made to move forward but before she could a wall of ice sprouted from the ground in front of her, as well as encircling them completely.
Yang turned back to glare at Weiss but the heiress met it with her own.
She turned to the Faunus girl.
"Blake, you know these people don't you?"
"I-I do. They were my teammates a while back when I was still working my way up in the White Fang."
Weiss nodded. "What can you tell me about them? Are they dangerous? What are their abilities?"
Blake searched through her head for useful information she could share.
"They're strong. Easily on par with me. Yuma is the one with the wings. He specialises in aerial combat. Trifa deals with ranged enemies with her webs. Ilia has near-perfect camouflage. They were the ones you sent in to get things done. They… by military standards they'd be black ops."
Weiss let out a hiss at that, and the ice wall began to crack as the sound of dust rounds crashing into it could be heard. She looked around at the three of them and steeled herself.
"As Ruby's partner I'm second in command." She turned to the brawler. "I expect you to listen to me Xiao-Long."
The blonde scoffed but apart from that didn't argue.
Weiss inhaled. "Right. Xiao Long I want you to take on the one with the wings. If he can fly then you're rapid movements might give you the edge. I'll deal with the spider. If I get in close I should be able to negate her advantage."
She turned to Blake
"Can your eyes pick out someone like this Ilia girl."
"Maybe," Blake hedged. "I'm not sure but I'd still have the best chance out of all of us."
"Then I need you to take her on. Can you do it?"
Blake took a breath and shut her eyes for a moment. When she looked back at Weiss it was with determination in her golden eyes.
The heiress took that as a yes.
"As for you," she said, turning to the male of their group. "I'm not sure of your skills, but you're in as much danger as any of us. Can you deal with the White Fang grunts?"
Sun grinned and slammed his staff down. "There's a lot of them, but I'll give it a swing."
The ice made a noise like glass about to shatter.
Yang primed her gauntlets and Weiss formed a glyph under her feet. Blake gave a nod to both of them to be careful.
And then the ice went down.
And the battle began for real.
Even as Weiss dashed past Blake was moving, leaping to the right to separate herself from a wall of bodies blocking her. She fired some shots at Ilia to catch her attention.
It worked. And as Ilia blocked them with her whip she glared at Blake.
She fired again, and the chameleon Faunus snarled as she charged at her.
Blake's eyes widened when Ilia threw her arms forward. She flipped over Blakes' head and launched a kick at her side.
The ex-Fang managed to bring her forearm up to block the blow but it still pushed her back. Gambol Shroud was raised to stop Ilia's whip from slamming down on her head, and the lightning infused weapon made sparks as it slid off.
Blake winced at the hit. Even if it didn't damage her aura Ilia's weapon wasn't conventional: yes, it was a whip, which was odd enough by itself, but when it retracted into its more solid form it was she wielded it like a club, bringing down heavy hits that Blake either had to dodge or feel her body shake from the hits.
"Ilia stop this!" she tried. "You don't need to do this."
The chameleon Faunus didn't even acknowledge her, ducking down to slip under Blakes guard and the huntress-in-training let out a cry of pain as Ilia smashed her boot into Blake's shin.
She let out a cat-like hiss.
It was happening again; like when she fought Weiss she was on the defensive because of uncertainty.
Her eyes fell on the people behind her, Weiss and Yang who were fighting their own opponents.
The heiress was being matched in her speed, Trifa keeping her at bay and off-balance with both her dagger and webbing.
While Yang shot through the air like a meteor, burning bright as she propelled herself through the air and threw curses as she chased Yuma.
She looked back at her own fight.
Now wasn't the time to be uncertain.
Blake slashed forward with her katana, forcing Ilia to block while at the same time bitting into the girl's side with the cleaver.
Ilia growled in pain as her aura flared and she stumbled back. Blake followed. left, right, left, right.
Again and again she slashed and cut with the dual blades of Gambol Shroud, forcing her old friend on the defensive and without a second to recover.
Ilia's eyes turned red with anger and she pulled the trigger on her whip. It lit up and Blake cursed as she felt the shock run up her sword and shake her arm.
It was her turn to move back but the White Fang operative didn't follow. Instead she leapt back to the shipping containers.
Blake grit her teeth past the stinging and followed again. She couldn't give Ilia the range or she'd be in trouble.
She ran in to swing and nearly stumbled when Ilia practically disappeared.
When she looked again she was alone and surrounded by a dozen different coloured metal crates.
Oh, she saw it now. The colours against the night would mess up her night vision. Gambol Shroud shifted into is ranged form, and she held it close to her chest, eyes scanning the walls for any movement.
Her Faunus ears twitched as Ilia's voice cut through, marred by anger.
"Is this what you are now Blake," Ilia spat from her unknown location. "A coward who spits on everything the Faunas have suffered through by fighting with a Schnee? I didn't think you would do it. I didn't think every Belladonna was too weak to change things."
"You don't know what you're doing Ilia," Blacks voice echoed back, still on the lookout for the girl. "The White Fang are killing people. We didn't sign up for that. We wanted peace."
There was a pause.
"Like the Faunus you killed to get out of the White Fang?"
Blake had no response but to grip Gambol Shroud tighter. Ilia scoffed.
"You're right about one thing, but wrong about the other… the White Fang is killing people. And that is what I signed up for… because that's the only way for true peace for the Faunas."
Blake shook her head. "You're wrong Ilia. Please, give me a chance to let you see it."
There was the feeling of a person's warm breath on her neck.
"No."
Blake whipped around just in time to knock away a strike to her head, and hop over a sweeping kick. She made to counter-attack but chocked on air when something crashed into her gut.
She stumbled, and another hit she couldn't see bruised her neck and she felt her awn aura flare. When it hit the third time she managed to see what was happening.
Ilia was rapidly changing the colour of her forearms so that they blended into the background, becoming practically invisible right before she hit Blake.
When did she get this good?
When did Ilia learn to do something like that with her body.
Straining her eyes Blake managed to block the firth punch and catch the fifth. She shoved the girl back and prepared for the six. Ilia wasn't about to fall into a pattern. When she moved next Blake struck high and Ilia went low. The huntress braced for a hit to her legs but instead was met with the chameleon girl right in her face.
A solid punch right to her face. Blake fell. Or at least would have if an uppercut didn't lift her off her feet. She landed back on them only to feel an elbow crack at the side of her head. Blindly, Blake tried a desperate counter and missed. The chameleon stepped into her guard again and raised her fist.
Ilia opened her the palm of her fist and Blake only had a second to realise the containers surrounding them had the logo of the Schnee Dust company before she was blasted point blank with fire dust.
Blake was sent rocketing back, over the containers and landing ungracefully on the concrete. Seconds later Weiss and Yang landed beside her, with the latter growling as they tried to force themselves back up.
Sun called out to them even as he fought his way through White Fang grunts. And then…
"Well, well look who the cat dragged in."
Roman Torchwick entered the battle.
…
…
A few minutes earlier.
"And when we finally managed to get out of the plaza we had a naked police officer shooting at us as we bolted down the street." Roman finished, letting an amused grin overtake his face as he retold some of his misadventures when he'd been far less experienced.
"Ruby couldn't help it she laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.
"Seriously," she asked once she'd managed to catch a breath. "So, did you manage to steal the woman's pearls."
"Oh yeah," he replied. "That, and so much lien that our pockets were overflowing. Neo was happy too, at least in the way that she completely embarrassed the poor guy."
Red smiled back at him. "Sounds like it. You know that sounds like the plot to a Saturday morning cartoon… without the fistfight in the casino."
"Aw but that's the best part~" he chuckled. "Well, it was pretty much a miracle we managed to get out of that with as much money as we did. The media span it as some daring escapade with a dangerous shootout when really it was just the two of us with no clue how to work together." He said, jerking a thumb over to the ice cream girl, who, was busy enjoying said ice cream. She raised her spoon in acknowledgement though.
Roman shook his head with mirth. "It might have been our… fifth, maybe sixth job together. I'm telling you kid, back then Neo was a nightmare."
She made a gesture that could have been interpreted as something rude but just made him laugh again.
Little Red laughed along with him.
"Yeah but from the sounds of it your robberies got like, super crazy after that. I bet it was so cool seeing all of that!"
Neo preened a little off to the side, and he had to admit he did too, before he realised what was happening.
Damn it he was starting to like this kid.
That wasn't probably a bad idea since she was a training to be a huntress. They kinda had a record of trying to put him behind bars.
But hell if she wasn't fun to talk too.
Even Neo seemed to genuinely like her.
Neo!
This was going to be a problem later down the line, he just knew it.
He was taken out of his internal grouching however when the sound of gunshots echoed from outside, as well as the yells of the White Fang.
Red looked just as confused as he'd expected but he sighed, already knowing what was going on. When the kid asked him though he answered.
"Look's like you've got people here to collect you. That's going to be fun." He turned to his partner. "Hey Neo, how much dust have we got already?"
She made a sideways hand gesture as if to say 'eh… it's fifty-fifty'
That was good enough for the master thief.
"Right then, go get the bullhead and get ready to leave." He turned to his captive and tipped his bowler hat. "Well Red looks like I need to keep your friends busy for a while. Hopefully we don't see each other again but if I can guess I'd say you'll get in trouble again."
He waved his can and walked out the closet door.
Ruby turned to Neo, who gave her one last wink before shattering into pieces of glass.
She was alone now.
He looked down at the webs holding her again. They'd gotten weaker from her constant shifting now. Not enough to pull free of easily but…
Ruby concentrated, vibrating her body with her speed semblance carefully and pushed against the webs.
A strand gave way, then another. She pushed harder and tried to stretch her arms.
Slowly, annoyingly slow, she managed to make enough room to slip an arm up and over the bindings. With it she managed to get a good hold of the webs and pull them over her head.
She stumbled off the chair abut steadied herself before she could fall.
There wasn't much time to waste. Ruby marched over to the door and braced her legs as she slammed a boot nearly through it and it swung open.
Roman hadn't looked it, good.
Now to find Penny.
Activating her speed semblance again she sprinted through the warehouse to where she could already hear fighting. Was help already this far in?
Ruby passed the threshold of one of the rooms when a White Fang grunt was thrown against the wall beside her.
The reaper blinked at the sight of three White Fang member knocked unconscious on the floor as Penny help a four one by the neck. The cell behind her looked like Penny had torn off the bars.
The girl looked her way and smiled, dropping the now limp fourth member.
"Hello friend Ruby! Did you hear the commotion outside?"
"Uh, yeah," she answered, on the back foot a little at just how Penny could act so normal with her current surroundings. "I came to rescue you but… it looks like you've got that under control."
Penny perked up at that.
"You came to rescue me? Oh that is splendid! You must think of me as a great friend!"
What?
"Um… sure?" was her hesitant response. She shook her head. "Anyway we need to get out of here. People are here to help us but they're out there fighting the White Fang then they could need our help."
"Do not worry Ruby," Penny saluted. "I am combat ready!"
"You might be," Ruby winced. "but I don't have my scythe on me. It must be somewhere else in the are warehouse but we don't have time to look for it."
"Worry not friend. You can borrow one of mine." She said, offering Ruby a sword she was sure hadn't been there a second ago. Ruby blinked.
"Thank you." She said.
Penny nodded. "Come then, we must help the others."
With that they ran through the halls. Ruby tested the weight of Penny's spare blade as they ran. It was light but sturdy. Ruby wasn't an expert on sword fighting, but Uncle Qrow had hammered in the basics a long time ago.
She would get to test them too, because at that moment the turned the corner the came to face with half a dozen armed White Fang, who caught sight of them almost immediately.
Neither of them needed a signal to attack, and Ruby barrelled forward in a flurry of rose petals as dust rouns ricochet around her. In the enclosed space Ruby was able to guess where the bullets would be fired from and deflect or dodge them as best she could.
A second later she barreled into the first Faunus, bashing his skull with the back of her blade and leaping to the side directly in front of another.
He wielded a sword too, and Ruby struck out with a hurried stab. It was blocked, so was the second and third but it gave Ruby the moment she needed to barrel into the terrorist and knock him off his feet. They didn't need to beat these guys, just make an opening to escape.
Penny by the looks of it was doing well with both options, and Ruby marvelled as the girl danced around attacks with a whirlwind of matching blades. She wasn't holding onto any of them but they seemed to follow her every command, spinning and slashing at anyone brave or stupid enough to come near, and send them flying.
"This way friend!" she called. "I can see the exit from her."
Ruby did as she was told and followed the girl and as they stepped out she winced. The light forcing her to close her eyes for a moment.
Wait.
It was still night, there shouldn't have been enough light for something like that.
And there wasn't… not naturally anyway.
Ruby looked up to see Bullheads with the White Fang insignia hovering above, shining spotlights down at them.
When the reaper looked back down she stilled, as did Penny beside her.
Her team lay defeated on the ground and surrounded by White Fang on all sides. Torchwick stood there with a frown on his face. His coat was dirted, signalling that he'd been fighting but he'd clearly come out on top. Yang, Weiss, Blake and some stranger were being restrained by the same three Faunus who had knocked Ruby out earlier.
This was bad, and it got worse when Roman noticed her, along with the rest.
He pulled his hat down further and muttered a curse even as the White Fang aimed their rifles at the two remaining girls.
Penny's blades formed in front of them and span. Ruby tensed, whether they'd be able to protect them for an entire barrage wasn't something she wanted to test out.
"This just goes from bad to worse," Roman sighed. "Look kid, how about we-"
"Enough!" one of them waved away with a snarl, which if Ruby had heard right from before was called Ilia.
The huntresses-in-training tensed. They could already tell by the tone of her voice that this wasn't going to end peacefully. This was bad, and Ruby wasn't sure they could take on so many people at once.
"You were supposed to deal with her earlier Torchwick and you failed. I don't know if it's your competence were should trust or your loyalty but stay out of our way. We'll kill them all."
Another voice chimed in.
"You can try, but I'll stop you right there."
And then the White Fang were hit by a hurricane.
Ruby nearly fell as the docks were hit by gale-force winds. Some of the grunts were thrown screaming into the sea and the Bullhead above rocked dangerously.
It stopped as suddenly as it came but the damage was done, White Fang scattered all over the grounds and groggily getting to their feet, while Ruby's team was left completely untouched, but looking around in confusion.
"What the hell is it now?" Torchwick groaned and his question was answered when the familiar figure of a scared girl dressed in hazel and gold appeared.
"Amber!" Ruby cried out.
The half-fall-maiden smiled in her direction but kept her eyes firmly on the master thief and Faunus dressed in black. When she spoke again it was with an air of confidence.
"I'll ask you once: leave now. If you do not I will be forced to fight you and I will take you out. Beacon is on its way also, so I wouldn't recommend it." She extended her left hand. "But if you still want to fight then I will oblige." She warned, her scarred left eye wreathed in flames.
Roman recoiled as if seeing something familiar before paling.
"You know what," he said. "I think I'll take you up on that deal, we have enough of what we came for anyway." He shot a warning glare at the Faunus. "Unless you think you can fight Beacon?"
Ilia growled but didn't respond and the thief took that as a concession. With some sort of willpower he managed a cocky smirk.
"Well ladies and gents I think it's time for this handsome thief to bid you all farewell." He bowed, and in a shattering of glass and a billow of some from the White Fang as the flying transport shot away, they were gone.
All of a sudden the docks were quiet and Amber lowered her hand with a relieved sigh.
She looked over at Ruby, then to her team before looking back again.
"You've got some explaining to do."
…
…
A few minutes later Beacon arrived with paramedics in tow. They checked the members of team RWBY and Sun for injuries before referring them to Professor Goodwitch.
Who wasn't all too pleased with them.
"You all put yourselves in unnecessary danger tonight," she berated them sternly. The girls looked down at their feet, even Yang, whose rage had been quelled minutes ago, now left only exhausted there was nothing they could say in their defence.
She continued. "You all disregard your own safety as well as the safety of Miss Rose. You should have warned the members of staff instead of risking your lives fighting terrorists and a thief with huntsman training. You are all fortunate that Miss Autumn showed up, else you could very well have died."
She turned and glared at Ruby.
"You Miss Rose will come with me, I have even more words for you."
Ruby swallowed and followed the scowling professors lead until they were far enough out of hearing range.
Goodwitch crossed her arms.
"You took a risk today you lady."
The younger girl looked away.
"I know. I'm sorry Miss Goodwitch, it wasn't supposed to be like that. It was meant to be a scouting mission but…" She gestured weakly to the air. "I messed up."
The older woman took a long look at the girls sorrowful look and sighed.
"We can be thankful at least that the worst didn't happen. Miss Polendina informed me of what happened as well as her own position I will bring her to the headmaster for a talk." She gave Ruby a meaningful look. "I will say it again, if it wasn't for Miss Autumn noticing your teams leaving the campus then we would not have been able to prevent a tragedy."
Another sigh.
"You will be punished for your recklessness, all of you, with detentions."
Ruby nodded as her shoulder slumped. "I understand Miss Goodwitch."
"Good." She nodded, before a small smirk formed on her face, that if a stranger saw they might mistake for a leer.
"This does however present an opportunity for you Miss Rose."
Ruby looked up. "What do you mean."
"Well it is obvious that something affected your judgment to go off on such a dangerous endeavour without necessity. It gives me all the reason I need to make sure I can rectify this by helping you with your decision making while simultaneously breaking that vice that Qrow allowed you to fall into. "
Ruby didn't like where this was going. "H-how?"
Glynda Goodwitch smiled benevolently at her student.
"By banning your use of alcohol. From now on. Permanently."
Oh.
Ruby felt something in her break.
Today had not been the fun day she'd been expecting.
…
…
And I'm done with This chapter, AND Volume 1. I'll be honest this volume in the show was my least favourite from a story standpoint. I still liked it, it was fun, the fights were great and the humour was there but it had enough inconsistencies to make me want to pull my hair out. One of the proles was Blakes character, which went from disliking Weiss, to cheering her on and being as lively as Yang and Ruby in early episodes of their team being formed to going back to disliking Weiss.
That's not even mentioning how Weiss forgave her in such a short period of time. I tried to make that timeframe more realistic by giving Weiss a reason to trust blake in the form of their first mission. It was also there to help develop more of Team JNPR...
And skip the jaundice arc, which we will not talk about.
Cardin, of course, will still be a character. in fact he'll be much more of a character than just a generic bully IN A SCHOOL FULL OF NEAR ADULT FIGHTERS TRAINING TO DEFEND THE WORLD.
Honestly the school-yard bully stuff was just ridiculous.
There's more of course, that you will see soon; more secrecy, more magic more fight and a few surprises. If you want to stick around then be sure to follow and favourite, as well as review to tell me what you thought of this chapter, and this arc. Was there things I could have done better? Something you didn't understand? Let me know.