RWBY A Day in the Life of Crime

Chapter Fourteen: Weiss Doesn't have a Sweet Day

Weiss had expected to be laughed at by her family when she declared that she wanted to expand the business into the sugar and flour industry's. After all, they had descended from royalty, had been royalty for a long portion of the family's lineage, so owning such companies that specialized in flour and sugar were laughable and way below a Schnee's level of interest. Yet, Weiss wanted to do it. Because she wanted to strike out on her own, separate from her father's businesses. For her father pretended to be a simple dust merchant but under that facade he was actually involved in all sorts of illicit activities with all the wrong people. Weiss' father knew how she truly felt about his involvement for she had made it abundantly clear to his face whenever she could. She didn't want to be associated with white collar crime, she didn't want to fall into the stereotype of a typical Schnee: power hungry, greedy, blood thirsty and out to get the throne back. He had tried to convert her to his side countless times but failed and finally relented, letting her go to pursue her silly dreams in a country as far away from him as she could get. Her father still had some dust shops open in Vale, as he was going for complete domination of the dust markets, but other than that he didn't express much interest in Vale and so she would be safe from his meddlesome interference there.

After laughing at her and telling her she was degrading herself by becoming involved in such industries, he let her go with only a couple thousand dollars to her name to help her with her business ventures. Weiss had picked the flour and sugar industry because she figured it would be free from corruption, and that it would be fairly easy to run, as well was as far away as possible from the dust market. She was certain she never would have to deal with her father's products at all while running her companies. But she couldn't know how wrong she was. She couldn't have foreseen what would happen. For it was not her father and his pestering presence she should be worried about, but someone else entirely.

She expected there to be troubles with procuring the businesses and getting into the rhythm of life in Vale. For there to be trouble with finances and distributions, and shipping and packing. What she hadn't expected was that she was going to be robbed by some midget in a ridiculous cloak, holding an oversized knife.

And apparently this girl was some big deal. Not that Weiss would know. She was still new to Vale, recently having moved from Atlas. The girl in the cloak had arrived in a black van and strode up to the door of Weiss's factory, flanked by a black haired woman, a gray haired man and another woman with green hair.

"Who are they?" Weiss asked as she looked out the window that overlooked the newcomers, arching a brow in confusion as the men guarding her door suddenly ran away.

"That's...that's the Grimm," the man who was her adviser had paled and dropped his clipboard before declaring he was quitting as he rushed away. The Grimm? Weiss had heard of them before, but only in passing. They weren't a threat to Atlas anymore, the army having given up on taming them, so she hadn't concerned herself with them, figuring the Grimm must have fallen out of power or something. Additionally, none of her informants had brought them up when she had declared she would go into the sugar and flour industry in Vale.

She decided she would check out these people for herself, see what they wanted. She was halfway down the stairs when the group strode into the warehouse, standing in the middle of the empty space, space that was waiting to be filled with sweet goods.

"Hello there!" the small girl cheered and waved her hand in greeting. Her entourage remained silent behind her, faces stern.

"Hello," Weiss said, with a touch of caution. She reached the last step of the stairs and hesitated, contemplating if she should come any closer. She had Mytremaster with her. She was trained to use it well, as it was an age old custom of her family line to learn the art of fighting. Feeling that she would be fine, as they didn't seem to be here for a fight, she approached them, keeping a distance of ten feet. Enough to hear them but far enough to be able to jump back in case.

"I'm Ruby Rose, leader of the Grimm gang. And these here are my members. Cinder Fall, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai." The girl pointed to each member in succession. "You must be Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee family from Atlas," Ruby said, a small smile on the girl's face.

Again Weiss was cautious as she answered. "Yes."

"Long way from home?" Ruby asked. Weiss didn't know if the girl was testing her, or simply interested in making small talk. Weiss wasn't interested in small talk so she decided to speed things up. "Let's get right to it. I know you aren't here for idle chatter. You're the Grimm gang, I'm sure, so you've come to me for something. Is it something to do with my family? Because I'll have you know that I'm not here to make any deals for my father on his behalf. If you want dust, or weapons, or anything illegal, I'm not going to pass on the word."

This seemed to catch Ruby off guard, if her wide open eyes were any indication. She took a second to recover. "No, I'm not here for that. I'm here to talk to you about your industry."

Weiss arched a brow at this. "And what about it? Have I broken some sort of rules of conduct by acquiring it? If so, I had no such idea that I did. But I'm sure a hefty amount of cash could fix that blunder and it could all be swept under the rug."

Again Ruby was having a hard time following what Weiss was suggesting. It took her another moment to respond.

"Uh, I was kind of hoping to buy your factories from you."

Now it was Weiss's turn to be shocked. "What?" she blurted out before she realized that that could be taken as a rude response. She was talking to a mobster after all. They took offense to the weirdest things.

"You see, I'm in the possession of a lot of bakeries and I want the best ingredients for my goods, so I was hoping to buy all the sugar and flour industries in Vale. But before I could, it seemed someone had beat me to it. That someone was you."

"If you think I will hand it over to you, you are sorely mistaken. I didn't leave Atlas to make my own money and business only for it to be taken from me just weeks after I acquire it." Weiss's voice was rough. She wasn't going to give up what she had just gained. She could imagine her father's and sister's amusement at Weiss's failure, getting bought out by someone else so quickly. Weiss had left home so she could prove to them that her dreams were valid, that she didn't need her family legacy, and that she was a competent woman, damn it!

"I was going to buy it out," Ruby pouted. "And give you a lot of money for it."

Weiss wasn't swayed. "The answer is no."

Ruby let out a sigh, bending over in half before straightening out. "Man, and here I was hoping we could get along. Be friend's."

"I don't make friend's," Weiss interjected coldly, hoping this message would get it through Ruby's head that she wasn't in business with her.

"Whelp, I guess this means we gotta take you out."

At Ruby's words, Weiss's hand flew to the hilt of her blade, causing a chain reaction. Cinder's hands flared up in fire, Mercury got into a fighting stance and Emerald reached into her pockets. Only Ruby stood at ease.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you now. I'll come by later. I'd advise you to hire some goons to work for you because I'll be bringing my gang over and I hate when it's not a fair fight."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. Why was this girl trying to offer her a fair fight? How odd. Certainly not what one would expect from a gang leader.

"All your businesses will be mine," Ruby said ominously before she clicked her tongue. Immediately her people relaxed. "Let's go back home. We need to plan how to take over all these factories in a most successful manner." They made their way to the door. "I had really hoped we could have been friends," Ruby called over her shoulder as she left.

Only when she was gone did Weiss relax her grip on her weapon. Then turning on her heel, she went upstairs, ready to dial the number for henchmen for hire.

A/N: So this is Weiss's role in the story, as suggested to me by STRQ. All that is left for me to cover is Blake from team RWBY. As for Jaune and Pyhrra, I'm still thinking about them, but I think I have the perfect role for the duo.