Hello and welcome to the third chapter of Bloodbound! Enjoy!
When Ruby found out that most Hunters died before they turned thirty, she was less than pleased.
If it were just another ordinary day committing crimes and threatening people, she would have just probably laughed and wondered how incredibly stupid a person had to be to actually want to become a Hunter of Remnant.
But not this day. Today, Ruby just wondered if anyone would care if she drove Crescent Rose's blade into Cinder Fall's smug, annoying face. Because the haughty nuisance had just given the most suicidal, most idiotic, most horrible order in the history of suicidal, idiotic, horrible orders!
"I want you two to infiltrate Beacon."
If it wasn't common knowledge that Cinder Fall had a sense of humor the size of a peanut, Ruby and Neo probably would have howled with laughter. But they didn't, because Cinder Fall had a sense of humor the size of a peanut and would sooner get struck by lightning than crack a joke.
Gods, I wish she would get struck by lightning, her and her little lackeys. Instead of saying this to Cinder's face, Ruby just settled with a horrified expression on her face and one very loud word.
"WHAT?!" She thought that summed up her inner turmoil quite well.
"You heard me, Rose." Cinder replied coldly, her icy voice a stark contrast to the eldritch fire that always seemed to dance behind her golden eyes. "I want you and Neopolitan to infiltrate Beacon Academy, Roman will handle the nuances, but I expect you there at the start of this term."
"Why the Hells do we need to do THAT for?" Neo was less visibly horrified and more blindingly furious about her new orders. "It doesn't even make sense! What? Are you worried about our education now? Are you trying to get your minions replaced? Are you trying to get us killed? Is that it?!"
"Control your tone with me, girl." Cinder snapped. A brief spell of silence fell over the small, bare room in which Neo looked at their boss with such an enraged expression on her face, Ruby was worried she might actually have to restrain the shorter girl from leaping out of her seat and messily murdering the person across from them. Gritting her teeth, Cinder moved on.
"It is not a suicide mission, I'm going to be infiltrating it as well, but not until next semester." Cinder locked eyes with the two people sitting across from her and Ruby was reminded exactly why Roman had agreed to work with this woman even if she threatened to kill him several times a day.
Cinder Fall was not a fun person to be around. In fact, she was downright terrifying.
"What I want you to do is integrate yourselves with the staff and other students, act like any other aspiring Hunter, and be ready to carry out any assignments I might give to you. I want spies in place before I arrive and I want a Plan B in case things go wrong for us, you will be both. Understand?"
Both Ruby and Neo nodded silently, they understood and still hated this entire plan.
I'm a hitman, not a student! I know how to kill a man, not algebra! Ruby resisted the urge to bury her head in her hands in despair. Neo looked like she wanted to kill someone slowly and painfully. Cinder, however, looked way too pleased for Ruby's liking.
"Good." A short pause, and then Cinder smirked. "Oh, before I forget, the age requirement to attend Beacon is seventeen. So Ruby? I advise you obtain strong transcripts."
Ruby stared at the person she grudgingly referred to as boss and for the second time that day, let all her conflict come pouring out in a single word.
"WHAT?!"
xXx
When Neo and Ruby emerged from the private room where they were ordered about by Cinder and stormed up the stars into the nightclub above them, Ruby still looked shell-shock and Neo had a snarl on her face that rivaled a Beowolf's.
It was so brutal looking in fact, that all of the thugs that patrolled the nightclub were ducking out of the enforcer's path. The sight of a man literally throwing his friend back behind him and sprinting away as fast as his feet could carry him did wonders for Ruby's mood.
"On the bright side, we know a lot of people who are reeeeally good at forging fake documents. We won't even have to pay for them!" Ruby offered a smile at Neo and just got a glower in return.
"We're not doing this, Ruby." Neo turned her head back forwards, her eyes hard as splinters of stone. "No way in all of the Hells are we doing this."
"Uh…" Ruby moved closer to her. "I don't think we have much of a choice. It's either this or a fiery death, that's how Cinder does things. It's all commands and death threats."
"I KNOW!" Neo threw her arms up into the air, nearly smacking Ruby in the face as she did so. "We are marching into Beacon like morons because if we don't, Cindy will flambé us all! Is that about it?!"
"Yep."
Neo visibly deflated. "Wonderful. First, the White Fang, now this. Our life has really jumped the rails in the past year."
"And crashed and burned." Ruby nodded sagely, her eyes flickered to look at something behind Neo and she grimaced. "We should go and see what Ro thinks of this entire nightmare, Junior is giving us the stink-eye."
Neo glanced behind her to see the owner of the nightclub and fellow criminal, Hei "Junior" Xiong, glaring at them from the safety of his bar. She replied with a vulgar gesture and a sneer. She never liked the man or his unimaginative use of aliases.
"Neo, be nice before we have to beat dozens of Junior's thugs." Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to push the still glaring girl out the door and into the late afternoon light beyond. "Would you please move? It will be embarrassing if I have to push you all the way home."
Neo snorted but started walking away from the now-fuming Junior. Ruby followed with a wave towards the thugs before the club's doors shut. They had a lot to do.
"YOU KNEW THAT CINDER HAD LOST HER MIND?!"
Roman sighed and lifted his head from the stack of papers, probably documents to help them get into Beacon. They had returned to the Loft and found Roman pouring over paperwork, his hat discarded beside him. When they told him what Cinder wanted, he merely nodded resignedly.
"I knew about this…plan about five hours before you did." He shook his head, anger beginning to contort his features. "Cinder made it clear that her mind was made up. She was going through with this plan of hers and told me I'd best find a way to get you two into Beacon without arousing any suspicion.
Neo studied him for a minute. "You want to murder Cinder too, don't you?"
"With putting you two in extreme danger? Yes, definitely, preferably with a shovel."
Neo chuckled darkly, albeit hoarsely, and returned to staring out the window as the Kingdom of Vale fall under the cover of dusk. Ruby poked her head out from the kitchen and looked suspiciously at Roman.
"Okay, wait a minute, the students at Beacon are divided into teams of four, right?" When Roman nodded, Ruby frowned and continued.
"That means, assuming we get accepted in the first place, we would have two idiotic do-gooders-in-training on our team, a team that is supposed to be back-up and spies for an insane criminal." Ruby fully emerged from the kitchen and placed her hands on her hips. "I have issues with this."
"So, do I," Roman said, looking back down at his paperwork. "Which is why I took the matter of your team into my own hands. A Syndicate member and someone who owes me a huge favor will be waiting for you on the ferry to Beacon. Even with my help, do your best to make sure that they are on your team, just to be safe."
Neo tilted her head back and squinted. "I don't like the fact that we're meeting them at the same time that we're going to one of the most dangerous places for criminals in the world."
"Well, when you put it like that, no wonder you don't like the sound of it." Roman tapped a document in front of him. "But my hands are tied trying to set up a meeting sooner. The Syndicate member is working a job in Mistral and needs time to finish up and get back to Vale, as for the other person…" Roman frowned. "You know; I don't actually know where he is or what he's doing there. Probably nothing good."
"Then why use him at all?" Ruby lifted her eyebrows. "He isn't even a member of the Syndicate and seems to be a bit unreliable." Neo nodded her agreement.
Roman grimaced. "Because I don't have any other options. The age requirement for any Hunter academy is seventeen and, unlike the government, I'm not swimming in child soldiers. Three Syndicate members, including you two, are the only ones who are even close to the right age. The person who owes me the favor is the only other person I could think that is around seventeen."
"Okay, that makes sense. But speaking of the age requirement, I'm only fifteen! How on Remnant am I going to get into Beacon?" Ruby cast out her hands in front of her and looked between her family, searching for answers.
"I have no idea." Roman glanced back down at the documents spread out in front of him on the coffee table. "But I'll find out and we have time to put something into action. Rubbing his face, Roman stood up and placed his hat back on his head. "Tonight, however, I have to finish up a job for our dear boss, I'll be back soon."
Neo lifted an eyebrow at the thought of Roman still listening to Cinder during all of this before dismissing it for something far more important. "We could just go with the Lying Through Our Teeth route with Ruby's age. I mean, with some good forged transcripts, how hard can it be?"
Roman shook his head negatively. "Cinder explicitly stated she wanted no room for error and anyone with half a brain can tell Ruby isn't seventeen, good forged transcripts or no."
Ruby's eyebrows scrunched together. "I feel kinda offended by that."
"I can't tell you if you should or not." Roman shrugged, picking his cane up from where it leaned against the coffee table. Neo just waved away Ruby's offense without turning away from her view of the light-filled skyline of Vale.
"Well, since I can't do anything here except raise concerns and get sorta-offended-" Ruby paused and looked thoughtful. "I'm pretty sure that's a thing…mm, anyways! Ro, can I help you with the job? I need to blow off some steam before the stress drives me up the wall."
To Ruby's great surprise and even greater disappointment, Roman shook his head, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, Red, with this new assignment of ours coming up, I can't risk you on a public job like this one. Beacon may be fooled by fake transcripts but even they pay attention when one of their applicants appears on the nightly news."
"What if I wear a mask?" She tried to bargain but to no success. Roman was steadfast in his insistence that she not be seen aiding the crime lord of Vale.
"We need you to make friends at Beacon, not in prison." Was the general, and rather truthful, statement he kept coming back to. Ruby still had a frown on her face by the end of it though.
"Okay, I see where you are coming from." She said slowly. "But I think it's stupid and I still want to rob someone."
"You're a hitman, not a mugger! You don't even need to rob people in the first place, you have a salary!" Neo called from the windowsill, looking as if Ruby's kleptomaniacal tendencies had personally offended her honor.
"I don't like limiting my horizons, you do that and you'll never have any spending money to buy more weapons." The resident kleptomaniac pointed a finger at Neo dramatically. "Always push those horizons till they cough up their last lien. This is my advice to you, heed it well."
Roman chuckled softly before shaking his head, suddenly somber. "Seriously though, act like normal huntresses-in-training unless told otherwise, this applies to the both of you. This assignment means that things are finally beginning to move towards the climax of whatever Cinder has planned. Because of such, no crimes until further notice. Okay?"
From the way Neo dropped Deadly Elegance to the ground and let out a harsh sound that might have been a scream of horror, things were definitely not okay. But Ruby just looked at Roman blankly.
"Well, can I go for a walk at least?"
"Of course, but no mugging people. Now, I should probably get going, I need to pick up some grunts from Junior's for tonight's job. I don't want to waste Syndicate manpower on another run-of-the-mill robbery." Roman waved goodbye to Ruby and the still-recovering Neo and walked down the staircase that led to the warehouse below. A moment later, the grating sounds of heavy doors opening and closing indicated Roman was gone.
Briefly, Ruby considered going out and mugging someone despite everything she just heard. However, while a criminal, she wasn't stupid and shoved her destructive desires deep, deep, down. Making sure Crescent Rose was in the sling on her back and her cloak was snugly in place, Ruby notified Neo of her evening plans.
"I'm going for a walk; I'll be back in a few hours" She called over her shoulder as she descended the spiral staircase. Glancing back behind her, Ruby saw Neo give a vague wave of confirmation, the shorter girl looking as if she was struggling with some unanswerable philosophical questions.
Wow, okay, note to self, don't keep Neo away from committing criminal activities if I don't want to traumatize her. Ruby's feet hit the cement floor of the warehouse with a soft echo of sound, the Loft's lights wavering down from the top of the staircase, a much larger and weathered version of the one in the Loft.
Stepping out of the warehouse, the outside world greeted Ruby with the smell of chemicals and the faint wisps of seawater. A smell that had become much less noticeable as she grew up.
Probably because it has killed my nose. Ruby thought idly as she made her way to the main districts of Vale, not having any clear destination in mind, but just content with walking as the air shifted from foul vapors to the sweeter tang of the autumn night.
What to do? Can't rob people, can't collect on any hits, can't even threaten the people who owe us money! Ruby stroke her chin thoughtfully, possibilities running through her mind at a rapid pace and being shot down even faster. Okay, screw it, screw it! I'm going to a Dust shop! But somewhere familiar and peaceful…mhm
Her eyes suddenly lit up as the perfect place dropped into her mind. With a smile on her face, Ruby flashed down city blocks, a trail of rose petals marking her way.
All the way to a small shop proudly proclaimed to be "From Dust Till Dawn".
"Where is the new issue of Weapon Merchant?!" Ruby glowered at the magazine stand in the back of From Dust Till Dawn, one of her favorite Dust shops. Though for how much longer, she did not know.
"I've waited for an entire month and they don't even have the common decency to do their job?"
As Ruby was ranting, the bell over the door rang merrily, and a tall, brunette girl with a huge, curved sword strapped slantwise onto her back and arrows quivered at her waist came barreling inside the warm confines of the store, mumbling under her breath. The shopkeeper just shook his head; it was going to be one of those nights, apparently.
The newcomer made an immediate beeline for the magazine stand and scanned the labels rapidly. Her face fell when she saw a certain, so-called monthly missing from its fellows. The girl slapped a hand over her face and groaned aloud.
"Oh, come on! First, the rising Dust prices and now Weapon Merchant isn't publishing?! At this rate, the Grimm will be popping out of the ground within the year!"
"I know!" Ruby turned to her livid companion. "And they were supposed to run an article on the new Crystal Scythe series this month!"
"Right?!" The girl lowered her hand to reveal enraged ebony eyes. "And they were going to reveal the Berserker Longsword! This is what we get for trusting in an inept corporation!"
The two weapon enthusiasts simmered in a loathful silence for a moment before the newcomer offered her hand to Ruby.
"HI, I'm Ebon Winters. Thanks for enabling my rant." Ebon tossed her black bangs out of her eyes. "It helped a lot."
Ruby shook her hand. "Ruby Rose, and it was no problem at all. Everyone needs to rant once and while."
When Ruby said her name, a strange look passed over Ebon's face, but It was gone as soon as it came and Ruby thought she must have imagined it.
"So, are you a huntress?" She gestured to Ebon's sword. Looks like a nodachi, but the question is what are the arrows for? the sword maiden shrugged in response to Ruby's inquire about her profession.
"Only in training, I actually haven't even started at Beacon yet. Are you from Signal?"
"Uh…" Crap, now what? "No, no, I'm not." Ruby shifted a little which only made her cloak flutter aside to reveal Crescent Rose on the small of her back. Ebon's eyes widened.
"Wait, hold everything, is that an HCSS?"
Ruby blinked, before today very few people had recognized a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe in compact form, meaning very few people had recognized Crescent Rose in its compact form. Until this girl know as Ebon Winters came raging into her life.
Ruby very briefly considered proposing.
Nah, Roman would kill me if I did that this young, then Neo would kill Ebon…for encroaching on her territory or something. She's weird like that. Shaking her head to clear of the unimportant thoughts, Ruby prepared to leap into a weapons-filled discussion with Ebon when…
"Please, just take my lien and leave!"
The shopkeeper's plea was accompanied by the hum of a Dust-powered pistol; Ruby knew the sound well. Crap.
"What the-" Ebon started to murmur before she as cut off by a well-cultured voice shushed the poor man soothingly.
"We're not after your lien. Take the Dust." Roman Torchwick, crime lord and most wanted man in the kingdom of Vale, ordered curtly.
Oh, CRAP! Ruby began breathing rapidly, on the cusp of hyperventilating, before she felt hands on either side of her face and Ebon whispering soothingly.
"Hey, it's alright. Just breath, but you have to try and stay quiet, okay?" She offered a small smile as Ruby stared back, eyes wide with panic.
You FOOL! That's not why I'm panicking! I'm panicking because my basically father is robbing the store while a huntress-in-freaking-training is inside and I can't help him because I have to infiltrate Beacon and they might NOTICE if one of their hopefuls killed another one of their hopefuls to try and hid the BLINDINGLY obvious fact that the homicidal hopeful works for ROMAN TORCHWICK!
On the outside, Ruby continued to hyperventilate. Just quieter in hopes of not attaching any attention and letting this entire situation go down with the less amount of violence possible. However, through a combination of horrible luck and the huntress-in-training at her side, attention found them.
"Hey! You two! Hands where I can see 'em!" A thug dressed in the cheap suit that Ruby recognized as the uniform of Junior's mercenaries. Armed with a crimson blade, the thug walked towards them menacingly. "You have a death wish or something? I said hand where I can see-"
His words were lost in the whoosh of air that was pushed out of him when Ebon Winters tackled him to the ground, screaming like a drunken banshee. Ruby's eyes fluttered close in a moment of grim acceptance.
Craaaaaap.
When other thugs came rushing in to attack Ebon, they were met by a rushing blur of red who snatched one of their numbers and launched out the window, using the man's body as a shield against the broken glass. A thought passed through Ruby's head as glass shards flew all around her.
I'm going to have to fight Roman and it's going to be horrible for everybody!
xXx
Roman saw the red blur out of the corner of his eye and had to snap out of his shock state when he realized that the shop's security cameras were still running and the girl who was practically his daughter was beating the tar out of his men.
Well, technically Junior's men, but I have bigger things to worry about than who belongs to who. Rushing to see who was screaming like the damned, Roman risked a glance to see Ruby slowly rising off the ground, her scythe unfolding and the man who she attacked laying unconscious at her feet.
Right, that….
"What are you waiting for? Get her!" He snapped at his remaining thugs who piled out of the broken window in their rush to avenge their fallen comrade.
Got to appear like I don't know what's going on or who anyone is especially with the old man and-Sweet Dust, who even ARE you and why do you need a sword THAT big? Roman looked in annoyance as a girl who practically screamed huntress-in-training leaped to her feet and pulled a sword nearly the size of Roman off her back, another one of his thugs laying comatose on the floor.
"You know, hiring that guy was expensive." Roman leveled his gaze at the sword-wielding thug-stomper. "Not to mention the fact that you and your strange little friend just ruined my robbery."
The thug-stomper merely snarled (Which did not surprise Roman in the least, she looked like the person who snarled and hunted down large mammals with her teeth) and leaped at him, her sword a blur of violence as it tried to remove his hamstrings from his legs.
"Stomper, I'm-*CLANG*-going to have to ask you to-*THUD*-stop trying to maim me-*WHACK*-and leave the premises-*CLUNK*- immediately." With that Roman dodged another slash from the girl's huge sword and wrapped the curved handle of Melodic Cudgel around her neck, a smirk rising on his lips at the sight of the girl's enraged expression. "Thank you for your cooperation."
And then Roman hurled the newly-dubbed "Stomper" out of the broken window and into the brawl that had exploded outside. A very one-sided brawl…a slaughter of the highest degree, really.
Roman watched as a thug went flying off into the night sky after being intimately introduced to the blunt end of Crescent Rose. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. Well, glad to see Ruby holding back.
The shards of glass crunching under the soles of his shoes, Roman jumped into the empty street and nudged one of the thugs with his cane. "An exceptional purchase once again. Worth every penny, truly you were." He looked back up to face his opponents.
Roman locked eyes with the two girls who now stood before him. Stomper had a death-glare on her face while Ruby dipped her head in the barest indication of a nod, her eyes looking into his.
I guess we're doing this then. Well, no point in waiting.
Letting another smirk rest upon his face, Roman flourished mockingly at his two opponents. "Well, Red and, yes, you too, Stomper, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I would love to stick around…" A slight mecha-shift later and suddenly Ebon and Ruby found themselves staring down the barrel of Melodic Cudgel's canon. "This is where we part ways!" He pulled the trigger and a squealing ball of Dust was launched straight at their chests.
Using Crescent Rose, Ruby shot herself out of the way while Ebon chose the more classic approach and just threw herself to the side, however, the pair quickly lost all sense of anything as the Dust exploded in flashes of destructive color and sound.
I hope this guy is a runner instead of a fighter because I CAN'T SEE A THING!
"I swear to the GODS, if Roman hits me in the head while I'm in this mess, I'll sic Neo on him! Wait, no, Neo will just laugh at me, dang it!
Fortunately for the both of them, when the debris settled down, Roman Torchwick was gone. Ebon cursed to herself and whirled around, trying to spot the criminal. Ruby just give a sigh of relief, at least she did not have to try and beat up her father figure now!
"There he is! Let's go!"
Or not. Ruby looked as Ebon Winters sprinted after the fleeing crime lord before turning to face the shopkeeper who as crawling out of the wreckage. "You mind if I go after him?"
In for a penny, in for a pound.
The shopkeeper having no problem at all with Ruby chasing down an armed felon, she burst forward until she was running alongside the much more eager huntress-in-training. Looking to where Ebon was glaring, Ruby saw Roman escaping up a fire escape, trying to get to the roof.
He's going to get himself cornered. Ruby frowned as she used Crescent Rose's recoil to propel herself up to the roof.
"Hey! Weird man in the stupid hat!"
Roman turned around slowly and gave Ruby the stink-eye. "Well, aren't you persistent and way too into this."
As Ruby was about to respond, the quiet, night wind lifted to a scream and the roar of engines filled the air, like some sea beast emerging from the waves, a Bullhead rose into the air above the roof on which the two were standing and shined one of its much-too bright light at Ruby.
She responded with a glare. She didn't know who was driving the small airship, but if they continued to shine that light into her eyes, she was going to find out and kick them in the head, the inconsiderate jerk.
The Bullhead's hatch opened just as Ebon came barreling over the roof's edge, her sword like a steel thorn, wicked in the light of the airship. Roman did not even look at her as he leaped into the Bullhead and turned back to face them, slipping a large Fire Dust crystal out of his jacket. "End of the line, kiddies!"
Ruby's eyes widened. He wouldn't!
As if in direct mockery to Ruby's disbelief, he hurled the crystal at them and aimed his cane as it skated across the rooftop, a smile on his face as he fired another bolt of Dust directly at the volatile crystal. Ruby resisted the urge to let everyone on the roof examine her middle finger.
When the two types of Dust collided, Ruby expected to be flung off the roof, possibly with her clothes on fire, what she was not expected was some caped woman to jump in from nowhere and make a large, gleaming glyph appear in the air. The force of the explosion deflecting off its simmering lines.
Huh?
"Huh?" Through the rapidly thinning smoke, Ruby saw Roman looking as confused as she felt. The woman, however, simply adjusted her glasses and waved what Ruby recognized, with even more confusion, as a riding crop.
Her seemingly endless amount of questions went forgotten, however, when streaks of purple aura flashed out of the women's riding crop and struck the Bullhead with the force of a cannonball. Over the dull thud of aura striking metal, Ruby heard the unmistakable sounds of Roman nearly falling over and swearing.
Ha! Serves you right, you Dust-throwing maniac! Ruby grinned smugly. But when Roman snarled at the woman and stumbled his way into the cockpit of the Bullhead, Ruby's grin dropped off her face like a rock as the woman, who Ruby assumed to be a proper Huntress, unleashed her own sphere of Dust and launched it at the sky above the Bullhead.
Dark clouds formed ominously and rained down shards of crystal upon the airship, one fragment going straight through the windshield of the Bullhead.
"No! Don't kill R-them!" Ruby took a step forward, shifted Crescent Rose to its ranged mode and leveled it at the Huntress. The woman and Ebon glanced at the younger girl in shock as a jet of fire were spat from the Bullhead's interior.
As the Huntress deflected the fire with a flash of an aura shield and then leaped aside as the piece of roof she was standing on exploded outward in a scream of power. Ruby saw a shadowy figure standing in the open hatch of the airship, a figure whose clothing burned with patterns like creeping vines and whose right eye was lit as if by an eldritch fire straight from the pits of the Hells.
Her mouth fell open and the young criminal could have sworn she saw that scorching eye flickered down to hers and drop in a lazy wink. Even through her shock, Ruby felt her teeth grind together.
What is SHE doing here?! When did Cinder decide to be helpful?!
Ruby felt her head throb with the events of the evening as the Huntress swished her riding crop and formed the debris of the destroyed roof into an aura-fueled spear which she proceeded to send straight at the Bullhead.
Cinder took out the spear with three separate blasts of what Ruby once dubbed her "Scary Death Powers".
The Huntress, not to be outdone, reformed the spear and sent it on its way again. This time, Roman, who Ruby assumed to be piloting now, simply tilted the Bullhead so that the spear broke against the thicker metal of the Bullhead's roof.
The Huntress formed the broken spear into three separate spears and was about to pincushion the Bullhead and all those inside of it when Cinder unleashed a massive wave of power, atomizing the spears.
This prompted Ebon, who had until just been watching the fight alongside Ruby, to shift her nodachi into a metallic longbow and began to loose arrows at the airship
Ah, so it's a Long-Ranged Nodachi! Pleased that she learned the identity of the minor huntress's weapon, Ruby unleashed her own volley of shots. Aiming specifically for Cinder's head. After all, how could she resist trying to take out her crazed boss when she knew could get away with it?
Cinder incinerated the arrows in a blast of bone-melting fire and blocked each of Ruby's bullets with the palm of her hand. The fact that Ruby tried to shot her at all may have poured gasoline on her already hot temper as when all projectiles stopped coming, Cinder waved her arm across her chest and the roof beneath her three attackers glowed like some demon's iris.
Oh, cra- Ruby's thought went unfinished as the Huntress swished her riding crop once again and Ebon and Ruby went flying, though thankfully not at the Bullhead. Landing with a thud, Ruby was aware of the Huntress landing lightly beside her and the hatch of the Bullhead closing with a whir of gears,
Rising to her feet, she saw the Bullhead launch away from the rooftop and leave Huntress, huntress-in-training, and hitman who was supposed to masquerade as a huntress-in-training alone together.
"You're a Huntress!" Ruby heard Ebon say slowly and in a voice full of hero-worshipping awe. "Oh my-can I have your autograph? Wait, is that weird?"
The hitman snorted and looked out at the horizon where the Bullhead had disappeared, a concerned look in her silver eyes.
Gods, I hope Ro's okay.
Gods, I hope I'll be okay!
Ruby squirmed uncomfortably in a bare room at a metal table where the only illumination came from the light directly overhead and the Scroll of the Huntress who circled her like a blonde shark.
"I hope you realized that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady!" The Huntress's tone was stern and left no room for argument. "You put yourself and others into grave danger."
Resisting the urge to stand and shout "Lady, I kill people!", Ruby went for the defense that would not end with her in handcuffs. "They started it! I was just minding my own business when, all of a sudden, there were bullets and Dust and crime lords flying everywhere! It was a nightmare!"
Her defense went ignored, however, and the Huntress continued on her criticism of Ruby's existence.
"If it was up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back and a slap on the wrist." With that, the riding crop suddenly appeared in its master's hand and was slammed down next to Ruby's fingers.
"Gah! Hey!"
"But…" The Huntress sounded as if she regretted what she had to say next. "there is someone here who wants to see you."
Ruby did not like the sound of that. Oh Gods, I hope it isn't that crooked cop! He still holds a grudge from that one time I kicked him in the groin!
Out of the shadows stepped a tall man with silver hair, bearing a coffee mug in one hand and a platter of cookies in another. Ruby narrowed her eyes. These people ARE GOOD! No! Bad Ruby! Resist!
"Good evening." The man stepped up to the table before leaning close to said girl and narrowing his eyes. "You…have silver eyes."
"And you have brown eyes." Ruby looked at the man with a curious expression. "Have trouble with starting conversations? I can relate."
The Huntress stiffened, but the man just chuckled. "I suppose that wasn't the most artful greeting, but it piqued my interest. It is a rather rare eye color, after all."
Ruby shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." Just wait till you met Neo, my eye-obsessed friend.
Smiling faintly, the man gestured to the Huntress behind him, a large Scroll in her hands. On the Scroll played a recording of her fight at "Till Dust Till Dawn".
"So, where did you learn to do this?" The man said, referring to her easy victory against the armed thugs. Ruby, who was watching her fight with rapt attention and wondering how the security cameras managed to get all the meaningful angles and close-ups, blinked several times before answering.
"Um, at home, my dad taught me." That was safe territory and her answer was true, so a win-win for everyone!
The man raised a single eyebrow. "Your father taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
Ruby felt pride warm her chest at that comment. "Yep! Well, my best friend helped a lot too." Yeah, Neo definitely isn't my sister figure. Sisters don't use each other as bait and then clean their nails while you're fighting off Atlassian mobsters. Ruby suppressed a shudder at the memory of that northern incursion. It took forever to get the smell of blood and gunpowder out of her cloak after the clash.
"I see." The man said thoughtfully before placing the platter of cookies on the table in front of Ruby. Ruby lifted on, sniffed it, then proceeded to see how many she could fit in her mouth at one time. The man continued speaking.
"It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow." The man smiled fondly, as if recalling memories. Ruby paused in her in her cookie massacre before shrugging. So, maybe there were contenders for her crown of Ultimate Scythe-Wielder Supreme. Let them come, she was ready. But until then, there were cookies in need of eating.
"Anyways, I'm afraid I do not have the pleasure of knowing your name."
"Oh," Ruby decided it might as well be her real one, it wasn't as if she would be instantly criminalized if she did. "It's Ruby. Ruby Rose."
"Ruby Rose." The man sipped his coffee and set the mug on the table. "I am curious as to why an adorable little girl such as yourself is training to become a warrior?"
I may be adorable, but I will silt your throat with a spoon given half the chance. Don't test me, old man. Ruby looked at the man for a moment, letting that thought pass out of head before deciding to go with the most obvious answer. "Well, I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to slay monsters?" The man pulled up a chair and sat across from Ruby, placing his fingertips together contemplatively. Ruby nodded.
"Yeah. In two years, I'll be old enough to attend Beacon. I honestly can't wait! You see, my best friend, the one who helped me train, is staring there this year and she is trying to become a Huntress." In a manner, but that doesn't matter. Keep talking, Ruby! "And I'm trying to become a Beacon 'cause I want to help people. My dad has always said they needed all the help they could get, so I thought I'll make a career out of it."
Ruby shrugged a little carelessly. "I mean, the police are alright, but Huntsman and Huntresses? That's where the adventure is and the romance and is just…Hunters! You know?" Please tell me you know, because I'm winging this entire thing.
The room was bathed in silence as the two adults stared blankly at her. Then the man smiled. "Do you know who I am?"
Ruby frowned and looked closely at the man. Criminal? No, stupid answer. Silver eye enthusiast? Yes, but that's probably not the answer he was looking for. Huntsman? Obviously, but w-Oh. My. Gods.
Ruby swallowed. "You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon Academy." Also, according to that file I read over Roman's shoulder, one of the most powerful Hunters on Remnant.
Ozpin chuckled. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you." Please don't kill me.
Ozpin drummed his fingers on the table. "You want to come to my school?"
Her breath hitched in her throat, surely it could not be this easy! "Y-yes! More than anything!"
At that, Ozpin smile widened and he glanced at the Huntress at his side. She harrumphed, but made no other comment. Ozpin turned back to Ruby. "Well, okay."
Ruby, for the first time since she entered this room, smiled.
I am a genius!
xXx
"Neo? HI, can you come get me? I don't really have any idea how to get home." Ruby scuffed the pavement outside the Third Precinct Police Station, as the large sign outside proudly proclaimed. The girl who was on the other end of the Scroll video call huffed dramatically.
"Practically the daughter of Roman Torchwick and you're lost in the city we own? And in front of a multitude of cops, no less?" The enforcer shook her head as if ashamed. "That's just pitiful!"
"Hey! I just got into Beacon two years early on my awesomeness alone!" Ruby grinned broadly as Neo nearly fell over at the news, her face the perfect picture of shock.
"You did WHAT now?"
Ruby laughed. "I'll tell you everything once I get home. Speaking of which…" Ruby looked all around her and then held the Scroll closer to her face, a pleading tone entering her voice. "Neo, please, It's cold and dark and I'm covered in Dust residue."
Neo nodded, the usual sting in her eyes being replaced by a gentler, subtler emotion. "I'm on my way, don't worry."
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Neo. I'll see you soon."
"See you soon, Rubies." The call cut out and Ruby went to sit down on a street bench. Leaning back, Ruby looked up at the light-bleached sky and let the events of the day wash over her. Fighting Roman, fighting Cinder if only for a little bit, getting accepted into Beacon because of…what was the reason Ozpin let her into Beacon two years early? Because she was good with a scythe? Maybe, but doubtful. She would need to keep an eye out, just to be on the safe side.
She exhaled the worry out into the crisp air and let the full weight of what just happened settle upon her. I guess I'm going to Beacon. Oughta be fun, right?
"Okay, go over it with me again."
"Neo, we've done this five times already." Ruby sat with her head in her hands as prospering students chatted around her excitingly as the air ferry slowly filled with more hunters-in-training than Ruby has ever seen in her entire life. So many amazing weapons! And I'm stuck here doing this!
Neo, however, was either unaware of her friend's plight or deemed what she had in plan more important. "And now we're doing it again. Now, come on and tell me who you are."
Ruby sighed. There was no way out of this, apparently. "I'm from a tiny hamlet in the east of Sanus, I was raised by a single father, my mother died in a Grimm attack when I was a baby, this made me want to train as a warrior and become a Huntress. Bit of a stereotypical backstory if you ask me."
"That's why no one will put too much effort into if it's true or not, EVERYONE has a story like that. Now, who am I?"
"A gigantic pain in the neck?" Ruby did not even flinch at Neo's patented smack bounced off the side of her head. "No? Alright, you are the hamlet's official rebellious orphan, you lost both of your parents in the same attack that killed my fictional mother, my dad took you in and we have been together since then. Wait, what ages did we decide on when that happened?"
"I was six, you were four. We're trying to keep it as close as to reality as we can." Neo supplied, glancing off to the side as if tracking someone who had caught her interest. "But other than forgetting the ages, everything was spot on. Well-done, I guess this means we won't go for seven times."
Ruby sighed in relief. Roman had seen them off with good-byes and words of warning and the offer of:
"If any boys should bother you-Neo, don't roll your eyes at me-be sure to call me and I'll chuck their bodies in the harbor."
But ever since then, Neo has drilled Ruby on their fake backstory until the older girl was content that Ruby remembered everything important. Satisfied that they would not be ousted as criminals and imprisoned the moment someone asks where they're from, Neo took out her Scroll and pulled up the files Roman had on their new teammates.
"Let's see. The Syndicate member dad is sending is a professional burglar named Skyler Snow. Dad thinks that name is fake as the entirety of Snow's childhood does not exist on any documents whatsoever, all we know is that he's human and comes from the north, everything else Snow doesn't seem to talk about it in any-RUBY! STOP DROOLING! IT'S A FIRE STAFF, NOT A GIANT COOKIE!"
"But it is as nearly as good!" She couldn't help the small squeal that rang in her voice. "Just look at them all! So many awesome weapons in one place! Oh, I take it all back! This is awesome, remind me to hug Cinder when we get back."
"I rather you just hug something nice like a rotting corpse or a Grimm." Neo repressed a shudder at the mere idea of hugging Cinder Fall. Anyways, pay attention, this is important."
Ruby waved lazily as she leaned back in her seat. "I was listening. Skyler Snow, tragic backstory, doesn't like to talk about it. Him and five billion other people. What about this freelancer that Roman called in?"
Neo flicked something a file onto her screen, a long file. "Oh, wow, someone obviously doesn't care about omitting the details. Well, Ruby, our freelancing friend is an assassin by the name of Crimson Shard. A human who grew up in some dirt-poor distract in Mantle that had more plague-infested cockroaches than people, a place called the Shards." Neo blinked at that before narrowing her eyes.
"Wait, he took his last name after his place of birth? THAT'S uncreative. Sheesh, his home life was extremely abusive until he-Sweet Dust-until he gored his own father's eyes out with a fork and ran off to be one with the street rats."
Neo took her eyes off the file and looked at Ruby. "Rubies, if our criminal friends get caught, I don't feel obliged to go and rescue them. Mostly because Crimson Shard from the Shards here is a walking bucket of violent crazy and Skyler Snow of the Dark Past is probably the human personification of angst."
"Did she just call me a bucket?"
"Oh, like none of you have things that you rather not blab to the first crime lord that comes your way!"
Ruby whirled her head around to see two boys, standing in front of her, both with their arms crossed and identical offended looks on their faces. The similarity might have Ruby chuckle if not for the fact that the two people before her were like two sides of a coin of fashion. Plus, one was average height while the other was so tall that Ruby's head came up to only his sternum
The short one who was glaring at Neo was impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit whose wintry grey fabric complemented his ochre complexion to the point where Ruby could forgive the fact that he was also wearing a fedora.
At least it's not a trilby. She thought with some relief.
Almost like he could hear her judgment of his hat, the boy's ice-white eyes narrowed. Hands clad in leather dress gloves twitching towards the gold watch chain that hung in a loop across the fabric of his vest. But his hands did not quite make it as the tall boy snorted and shoved him out of his way, causing the young man in the well-tailored suit to go sprawling to the ground.
Walking past Ruby, the tall boy fell into her old seat, his trench coat covering the hard plastic. The youth offered Ruby a smile, his vibrant crimson hair, molded into a flaring deathhawk, matched his vivacious eyes which gleamed out of a bone-pale face. Whether the eyes shone with mischief or madness, she wasn't sure.
"Crimson Shard, currently a huntsman-in-training and walking, talking bucket of violence and insanity as our short friend here so poetically put it." He turned his grin on Neo who greeted him with her middle finger. Crimson's grin widened, the rings of metal pierced through his lips shining in the sunlight of the ferry's windows. "Now that's not very nice."
"So, if you're Crimson Shard." Ruby turned back to the other boy who had risen back to his and was brushing off his suit, muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'And no one would ever find the bodies'. "You must be Skyler Snow."
"At your service. I take it that you two are Ms. Rose and Ms. Neopolitan?" Still looking affronted, but no longer mumbling darkly, Skyler sketched his head in a small bow. Neo and Crimson snorted at the same time before glaring at each other as if their surprised synchronization was the other one's fault.
"Yep. Your transcripts good?" With Skyler's affirmative nod, Ruby felt the weight of her assignment settle into her. It was terrifying and one wrong move could send them all to prison or the gallows, but her team was here, they were all going to Beacon, and it was too late to fake her death now. It was time to learn how to kill the Creatures of Grimm and spy on Hunters.
The ferry rumbled and the group felt it began to ascend into the sky, the faint noise of Dust-powered engines a hum in the background. Ruby exhaled. Here we go.
She looked over the team assembled before her. One tri-colored enforcer with a sadistic streak. One thief who took insult to his suit as means for justifiable homicide. One assassin who looked like he belonged in a deathmetal band instead of killing people for lien.
Oh, yeah. And one fifteen-year-old hitman. Can't forget about me. Ruby placed her fists on her hips and nodded. Yep, this was a plan of a madwoman. The worse thing about this is that if we don't succeed, Cinder will turn our lungs into charcoal.
"I think I'll call you Snowball."
"Call me that again, Shard, and I'll cut off your legs and beat you to death with them."
"Oh, aren't you just a treat!"
Neo looked at Ruby as the thief and assassin continued to exchange insults and threats of murder. "Yeah, we're screwed."
Ruby rolled her eyes, inwardly criticizing the defeatist attitude of her team. "Okay! You two, hush. Neo, lighten up. And all of you, we have a mission to find out all we can about Beacon so let's stop standing in the corner like a bunch of antisocial hermits and go make connections with the rest of the student body, got it?"
"Don't you mean friends?" Skyler looked at Ruby thoughtfully while Neo and Crimson just stared back at her, impressed at her seizing command and throttling it. The self-proclaimed leader shrugged.
"Well, I mean, if you are able to make actual friends, go for it."
"Was that a challenge? That sounded like a challenge. Snowball, we have been challenged to put our glaring social disabilities aside and to go make friends, let's go." Crimson stood up, threw his trench coat behind him dramatically, and proceeded to drag the flailing Skyler off into the crowd. Before the chatter of the ferry swallowed his voice, Ruby could hear his flustered demands that Crimson let go of him this instant or risk losing his hands.
Neo stepped up beside Ruby. "So, those are our teammates. They're…different?"
"I say we give them a chance, who knows? Maybe they're great!" Ruby did not even have to look at Neo to know that she was rolling her eyes. "Anyways, let's go make connections!"
"You have the social grace of a hungry shark; I hope you realize that."
"Every time I try to talk to a person, now, let's go." Ruby hooked her arm through Neo's and half-dragged her into the crowd. Her eyes flickering from one student to another, Ruby tried to pick the rich ones out from the poor and the middle-class, trying to find the students that could have more influence at Beacon. Plus, it's always nice to have rich friends.
As the four criminals moved among the hopefuls of Beacon Academy, none of them noticed two huntresses-in-training standing off to the side, talking amongst themselves.
"Ebon, for the last time, things are not going to be boring at Beacon. It's a Hunter Academy, we are being trained to slay literal monsters."
Ebon Winters, part of the world's next generation of heroes, stuck out her tongue. "I know that, I'm talking about the grievous amount of homework we will undoubtedly be given, Yang."
Yang Xiao Long, slightly more mature part of the world's next generation of heroes, leaned back against the ferry's walls, a slight smile on her face as she looked at her friend.
"Well, what did you expect? Shadowy plots, enigmatic villains, and long lost relatives? It's a school, Ebonbob, not an action novel."
While Ebon mumbled something about how all those, plus a few fights to the deaths, should be at Beacon. Yang let her thoughts turn to the simple joy of what was happening.
I'm going to Beacon! Finally, things are coming together and I'm not going to let anything tear it apart!
And done! What did you think? Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this story and I'll see you in the next chapter!
Next update is 1/11/2019