RWBY A Day in the Life of Crime
Chapter 24: The Gathering of the Allies
"We're going to need to get additional man power if we want to take our gang back," Cinder announced steely, marking the start of her crusade to seek out her allies, friends and comrades, or just anyone that could help her win back her gang.
"Cinder..." Ruby had merely looked on at concern at her girlfriend. The black haired woman was acting differently; cold and unyielding. Ruby had never seen her this angry in a while, so intent on ruining someone as she did now. Was Salem such a threat that it warranted Cinder to behave this way? What exactly was her and Salem's past? It couldn't be good given her reaction and further action. "Can't you talk to me about this? I wanna help you." Ruby stuck out her bottom lip at Cinder but the woman ignored this look. She was so angry that even Ruby's heart melting pout wasn't working. That was worrisome.
"Ruby, I don't want you to worry your head over this. I'm going to take care of everything. You just stay at home and regain your strength." Cinder traced a finger down Ruby's cheek. Her words were warm but her eyes were elsewhere, lost to the dark thoughts in her own mind. "I'll be back in a weeks time."
Ruby didn't like this. Cinder was hurting. But she wouldn't open up, wouldn't let Ruby in. And all Ruby could do was stand by helplessly as it happened. "I'll be back soon. And I promise everything will be back to normal." Cinder placed a gentle kiss on Ruby's forehead.
"Cinder...I don't care about being leader of the gang again. As long as I have you, that's all that matters." Cinder was overjoyed to hear that; it meant her and Ruby's feelings were mutual. But her joy was cut short by her anger.
"I know, Ruby. I know. But this isn't only about the gang. It's more than that. And if I don't get this under control then it will only continue to grow until one of us is gone." With those grim words, Cinder turned away, marching away, her heels stabbing down angrily onto the floor.
Ruby watched the girl go, concern on her face. She clutched the front of her shirt. "Stay safe Cinder." She knew there was no talking Cinder out of something if she thought it was the right thing to do. That didn't mean Ruby couldn't help her do it. She wasn't just going to sit at home and let Cinder do all the work.
That meant she was going to have to train. She had a week to do it. She hurried over to find some weights to start with.
Cinder knew that Salem held the full force of the gang in her hand. That she could unleash the monster the gang had become onto Cinder. But Cinder also knew that the gang was only listening to Salem's commands due to Cinder's request. And if Cinder came back and wanted to fight for her seat of power once more, then the gang would readily and happily disregard Salem's rulings. Not that Cinder would let anything like a full scale war wage. No, this was between her and Salem and whatever henchmen she had on her side.
And because it was going to be a small scale fight, Cinder needed to bring some friends to help her; skilled fighters that were well versed in killing strikes, strategy, and blood. And she knew just who they were. Sadly, Cinder couldn't count on Mercury, Emerald's, Neo's or Roman's help. Contact with Cinder's informant revealed that they were currently imprisoned and being tortured for information on Cinder. Cinder hated that her personal henchmen were being subjugated to such treatment. It only made her want to kick Salem out of power even more. To see her blood spill as her severed head split from her shoulders.
She would need to free them before she took on Salem.
The car she was driving took her to a ruined museum. This place was the hiding spot of Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang and Cinder's occasional ally when it came to things such as dust and weaponry. Other than that he despised her for being human and she despised him because he was faunus. Theirs was a relationship built on mutual hatred and respect.
The place was under surveillance and she felt eyes on her as she parked her car on the street across and got out. There were no guards or cameras to be seen in the vicinity but that was because Adam didn't need such fancy equipment when he had faunus with eagle vision and super sensitive senses. And just as she climbed up the marble steps to the hideout, she felt the presence of two people behind her. She turned around to see that two White Fang members, wearing their white robes customary of the gang, had dropped down behind her from their shadowed perches in the alcove over the stairs.
"Cinder Fall, what is your business?" barked out one who had a hooked nose and some feathers among his downy head hair. An eagle.
"I'm here to see Adam," she answered smoothly, not going to allow such small fry ruffle her feathers.
"You didn't schedule a meeting with him," growled out the other, a lion faunus, given how there was a natural growl to the words, and a tufted tail lashed behind his back. It was more a statement than a question.
"No. But the matter I have to tell him about is of too much importance to wait on."
"No appointment, no meeting. Turn back now." The lion faunus reminded, the eagle faunus nodding his head in agreement.
"I don't think you heard me," Cinder said slowly and in a low voice as she angled her body towards them. "This is an emergency. I need to speak with him now."
"And I don't think you heard me," spat the eagle faunus. "I said, no appointment, no meeting-" He was cut off when Cinder grabbed him by the throat and began to squeeze. The lion faunus growled and looked ready to spring forward in attack but Cinder held up her free hand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'll snap his neck faster than you can move, before I gut you." When she saw that the lion faunus listened she smiled tightly. It was good to know she was still feared.
"Good. Now, as I said, this is an emergency and you will take me to Adam. Immediately." Her eyes blazed with the hidden threat of fire.
Cinder strode into the giant gallery, the main hall of where Adam was. Above her a giant whale hung, swinging gently on it's wires in the breeze that came in through the high windows. The museum was dilapidated, rubble and trash littering the worn carpet and the dirty stone cobbles. Broken cases adorned the walls, and stands were scattered throughout the place, some of the animal exhibits still intact whereas other cases were filled with the corpses of dead enemies that opposed the faunus. Cinder had to cover her nose as she walked past them. She didn't know how the faunus, whose sense of smell was ten times what hers was, could stand to smell the rotting leftovers. But she guessed they wouldn't dare to say anything to their leader. Adam had specifically chosen the museum as his headquarters because it was to remind him of the pain humans liked to inflict on animals. He wanted his workers to be surrounded by glass cases of stuffed animals that had been poached by humans and put up as a form of entertainment as a constant reminder. And he wanted to fill the cases with human counterparts as a sick form of justice.
"Cinder, what brings you here? And no less not announced." Adam didn't look happy to see her here. He was sitting on this throne in the middle of the giant gallery, on a raised dais. While the room was empty save for the two of them, Cinder knew someone was watching from the shadows.
He was clad in black with red swirls on his outfit, and a white half mask adorned his face. He was tapping his fingers on the seat of his chair, lips in a frown. "Why did you let her in?" he inquired of his two faunus guards.
"She said it was an emergency," the eagle faunus answered.
"And she was going to kill us," announced the lion faunus with a twinge of shame. They knew enough of Cinder's legacy that she wasn't joking around that she would have killed them.
Adam tched angrily. But it wasn't at his employees. He dismissed them with a flick of his finger. He was angry at Cinder. "You expect me to listen to you after you barge in here unannounced and threaten my guards with death? I should have you thrown out."
"But you won't," Cinder said cockily. "Because what I have to say you will be interested in, because it not only affects me but you and the future of all gangs in Vale."
Adam quirked a brow, intrigued. "And what has happened now? I already know you're not in any position of power any longer. Salem has replaced you and Ruby as leader of the Grimm."
"Yes, and I cannot allow her to hold that position."
"But you gave it up to her yourself."
"Not willingly. She twisted my arm into doing it, and I went along with it or else I risked suffering worse loses." Cinder was trying to be vague because she didn't want Adam to know what exactly had gone down.
"And how is this any of my business?" he waved a hand around.
"It's in your interest because with her as head of the Grimm she will reek havoc on the careful balance we hold over this city. She's power hungry and she won't stop at just my gang. She will be coming after yours next."
"Do you have any proof of this?" When Adam saw Cinder pause for too long before answering, he knew she didn't. He raised a hand to stop her attempts to come up with some lie. "I can handle her. I'm not going to just let her onto my territory like that. And I'm certainly not going to just hand over the leadership to her." A smirk at this as he teased her for her slip up. "This is your problem for having shoddy leadership, not mine. You're losing your touch."
Cinder was not losing her touch! She felt tempted to burn his hair off just to show him how not losing her touch she was right now, but she swallowed down her anger. She needed to think evenly right now. Cinder knew Adam was rejecting her, but she couldn't leave it to end this way. "Adam, I could take Salem down by myself. I really could."
"Good, then go do it and stop wasting my time," he shooed her off, rudely interrupting her.
She ignored that and continued on. " But she's not alone. I have reason to believe she has a group of strong fighters supporting her and I know one of them could of interest to you if you can capture him. Salem currently has in her possession a faunus who specializes in poisons."
"Uh huh, and?" His tone of voice was very dismissive and Cinder tried to not let it irritate her.
"If you help me, his poison is yours to harvest. Think about it. The poison is very strong. Unlike anything I have seen before. It's no doubt been cultivated by that faunus and tailored to bring the most harm around. And if it so happens to fall into your hands..." Cinder spread out her hands, letting Adam catch up with her words.
He was silent as he rubbed his chin. "How do I know this faunus is real?"
Cinder was prepared for this. She had had her informants in the Grimm gang dig up some info for her. She pulled out her Scroll and tossed it to Adam. He caught it and looked at the open picture on it. "Tyrian..." he thumbed through the pictures and files. On it a man with a scorpion tail and brown hair plaited in a long braid was displayed. "A scorpion faunus. How rare." Adam seemed hooked now. "And you say I can harvest his poison."
"Yes. He's all yours." Cinder would have liked to personally kick Tyrian's ass for hurting Ruby so badly but she needed Adam on her side, so she figured it would be better if she left him for Adam to deal. Cinder knew she was powerful but she couldn't take on Salem and all her henchmen. It would be stupid to do so. She needed powerful allies to win.
"And what do you want me to do? Give you some of my men to infiltrate your hideouts? You know I don't want to send my men to die senselessly." Adam knew that his men were facing high casualty numbers if they faced Cinder's men. Cinder had trained her men hard, so that they could stand up to faunus. Even though she and Adam were allies most of the time, it was a good idea to have special anti-faunus units just in case he changed his mind and tried to attack her. And he was aware that she had such forces as her disposition. He had the unfortunate luck to run into them a couple of times when he had decided to end up on her bad side. He had quickly decided he liked her 'good' side better.
"No. I don't need them. I only need you to help me. You, and some powerful fighter on your team."
Adam threw the Scroll back at Cinder who caught it. He stood up from his seat, his hands behind his back. "That sounds awfully like a trap, Cinder. Drawing the leader and his most valuable fighter out," he growled.
"It's not a trap. But I cannot do more to convince you of that matter so I won't even try to. I will just remind you of what is at stake. The balance of the underworld and the ability to procure a weapon of mass destruction."
"Both of which there is shoddy proof of!" Adam began to pace in front of his chair, deep in thought. He was muttering under his breath and Cinder couldn't make out what was being said. She kept her guard up in case he decided to attack her or have her assassinated.
At last he stopped pacing. He had come to a choice. "I've decided I will accept your offer." He looked at her as he said this. "The idea of what I could with that poison...why I could kill all human kind if I wanted to." He chuckled dangerously. "And even if it is a trap, you won't be able to get us."
"Us?" Cinder asked, masking her relief at him taking her offer. She was so relieved she would have his help. He was a true menace on the field. He didn't get to be the head of a rebellion force by being kind and smart. No, it was his brute force that had helped. And his kill count.
But there was someone else that had an even higher kill count. And that was: "Blake. She's coming too." At his words a shadowy form jumped down from the top of the whales hump and back flipped silently to the floor. Blake, the most feared of all assassin's. Even Cinder had to admit that she felt a slight tinge of fear when she looked at the girl.
Blake looked slight and frail but her body was pure sinew and cunning. She was quiet when she went on her missions, so much so that some said she was even quieter than death. She always got the job done no matter what it was. As many people admired her for her tenacity and vision to see everything through no matter if she was injured or not, they also feared her for her skills and semblance. Those who were targeted by Adam could never sleep or have peace, fearing that Blake was shadowing everyone of their moves, waiting for the right moment to strike. Often times she didn't even have to actually follow them, her reputation just proceeded her like that. And when she actually did show up to finish the targets off they would already be so paranoid and scared that they often never put up much of a challenge.
In short, Cinder was happy that Blake was coming along. But also a bit worried. Blake just unnerved her. In large part it had to do with the yellow cat eyes that looked at everything and everyone as if they were just prey for her, prey that she could easily attack if she wanted to but was holding back from doing so because she was better than all of them.
The black haired girl gave Cinder a small respectful bow, her face expressionless from where she stood by Adam's side.
"Good. I'm glad this deal could be made. I will notify you with further instructions when I get the others together."
"The others? Who? I won't be working with someone that is an enemy." Adam was angry, on the defensive.
"I haven't spoken to them." Cinder didn't want to say that there was a chance it wouldn't work out, as she didn't want to appear weak. Many gang leaders wouldn't care that Cinder and Ruby had lost their positions. And she didn't have much to bribe the others with. As long as she had no proof that Salem wanted to rule all of the underworld, there wasn't much she could do. She knew Salem wanted to do this; why go after the biggest gang-the Grimm- if that wasn't her intention. But what Cinder knew wouldn't count. With Adam there had been a 50/50 chance of tempting him with Tyrian's poison working. And although she had told him she would let him have the venom, that was a lie. There was no way she could let that faunus fanatic get his hands on something so potent. He would get power hungry, hurting humans left and right, and one day going after Cinder himself.
So no, he wasn't going to get that poison. But she would let him think he could, even let him take it back home, before she got Emerald to sneak in and steal it away, replacing it with something else.
"I see," Adam said more calmly. "I expect to know as soon as possible. And don't forget, that faunus is mine."
Cinder nodded her head and then turned to leave, some faunus guards outside the gallery leading her out.
It had been three days after the deal with Adam and Cinder had been having shit luck with getting other gang's to help her. None of them wanted to risk their assets and people for something that was clearly her fault. Cinder had been the one to willingly give up her own position so it wasn't like that warranted a fight or an attempt to get it back. The handing over of power had been done fairly as far as they were concerned and thus it was none of their business.
This was pissing her off. Greatly. Right now she was snarling her disapproval at being rejected once more through her Scroll at the man who had spurned her. Ruby was peeking in on the scene, hiding behind the archway of Cinder's room. It pained her to see Cinder worked up like this, and she wanted to help the woman relax but she knew if she walked in now, she would only get that anger directed at herself.
"I just need one more, one more!" Cinder slammed the Scroll down, having harshly ended the call. That man was definitely not going to be getting any help from her ever.
"One more?" Ruby whispered to herself.
"One more person," Cinder mussed to herself as she went to go make herself a strong drink. She knew Adam and Blake were strong but she didn't want to underestimate Salem's men. That could lead to a surprise cropping up that could cause Cinder to lose. "And then I could go and attack Salem."
Ruby didn't know what Cinder's full plans were since the older woman hadn't told her anything, but so far from what Ruby had heard it seemed it involved Cinder gathering up outside forces to fight Salem and her men. And if Cinder was struggling to do that, then Ruby knew just the person to help them out. "Hold on Cinder. I've got just the solution," she whispered and then snuck out of the house.
Ruby's feet lead her confidently to a little known bar, one that this person frequented often so as to escape the hordes of women that chased after them. Ruby strode into the dingy bar. It was dark and smelly and only a handful of patrons were there. But sitting at the bar faithfully as always, a line of empty shot glasses next to them, was her uncle Qrow.
"Uncle Qrow!" she called out in exuberance. The man span around on his bar-stool, amazingly keeping his balance given how much he had had to drink.
"Ruby!" he cried out with as much exuberance as her, recognizing the petite girl in the red hood anywhere and at anytime.
"How's my little girl?" he asked as he enveloped her in a warm hug as they met halfway across the room.
"It's going great!" Then Ruby sobered up as a thought hit her. "Well, not so much now...there's some trouble."
"Oh oh. That doesn't sound promising. What can uncle Qrow help with? Who needs an ass whooping? Who needs to learn that they have a fear of heights?" Qrow sat back down at the bar and cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"It's...a bit complicated." Ruby sat down too, raising her fingers so the bar tender could slide her a glass of milk. There was no way she was going to touch alcohol. Last time that had happened she had...gone a bit crazy. Okay, a lot crazy. It wasn't fun. And Cinder still had all the videos of it. She would hold it over Ruby's head whenever she wanted to eat an extra cookie before bed as a way of blackmailing her into not eating the sugary sweet. Ruby guessed Cinder was still mad about that dentist appointment last time. "Apparently some crazy woman named Salem has taken over the gang. And Cinder wants to fight her to get control of the gang back. Right now she's trying to garner the support of other gang leaders but it's not going so well. And I'm worried for her. That's why I was hoping you could help me out. See, Cinder needs one extra person to come join, and I want you to join us Uncle."
"And what do you want to do?" Qrow asked her, surprising her with that question. It looked like he was already up for the job, with little to no debate.
"Me?" she sipped on her drink, contemplating the answer. "I don't wanna have to cause a huge fight to occur. I don't want Cinder to fight. I know she wanted to quit the gang life. I know she wants to have a normal life and I thought this would be a great chance for it, but now it seems she doesn't want that. All she's focused on is getting back at this woman. It seems like something happened between her and Salem and she won't tell me anything."
"So it seems like you want to help Cinder, even if you don't want her to fight, yet here you are asking me to help her accomplish just that."
"Yea. I do wanna help her. I just want her to be happy. I don't like seeing her like this. It's like she's...dark again, like she first was when I met her. And I just want her to smile like she did. I want to see her eyes light up."
"Then I'll help. I wanna see my niece happy, and if it means I'll have to fight some evil crazy bitch to see that, then I'll do it." Qrow ruffled up Ruby's hair affectionately.
"Thanks, uncle!" Ruby chirped, before swallowing down the rest of her drink and jumping off of the stool. "Let's head back to the mansion. We need to tell Cinder, so that we can go and get Salem throw out of power as quickly as possible."
A/N: Almost done with the battle arc. Just one more chapter I think.