Hello again and welcome to the third chapter of Street Rose! And to all those reviewing and following this story, thank you!
Billowing smoke rose from the smoke stacks of the dust factory as Roman Torchwick and young Ruby Rose skirted the fence, avoiding the cameras and patrolling guards hired by the Schnee Dust Company in response to the rise of White Fang attacks. It was the job of the two enterprising criminals below to blow it all into the Exosphere. Though, technically, the job called for three criminal masterminds. Neo was late.
"Where is she?! I'm getting annoyed!" Ruby said irritability, tapping her foot impatiently on the concrete. "She does know we have a job tonight, right?!"
Roman just smoked his cigar. "She'll be here, she always is." A sideways glance at the red-clad street rat. "Ruby, stop with the foot tapping. Schnee guards are stupid, but they can still hear thing like the unceasing tapping of a small murderer's foot."
"Of a small murderer's foot. Oh, look at me, I'm Roman Torchwick and I'm sooo calm!" Ruby said in a high-pitched voice. Glaring at the ground and her now still foot. "All I'm saying is Neo better hurry up or-"
SMACK!
A pink parasol hit Ruby upside the head, causing her to lurch forward. She caught herself before she hit the ground and spun to be face to face with a tiny girl dressed in pink,white and brown. A smirk on her lips as she gazed at Ruby.
"Hey, Neo." Ruby said ruefully, rubbing the back of her head. She walked back over to the two others and stood between them. "Oops?"
Roman laughed and Neo patted Ruby's shoulder with her parasol. Roman turned to the two girls. "So, shall we get started?" A small slip of a smile on his lips as he raised Melodic Cudgel.
Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and Neo twirled her parasol in the air, they smiled back.
"So, why are we blowing up a dust factory? Are we supposed to be stealing dust?" Ruby asked as they laid out the bundles of powered fire dust in the main area of the complex. So far they had only met two patrols, if Ruby listened she could hear their walkie-talkies crinkle as blood seeped into the circuits. "Rome'?"
"That is something only me and our oh-so-charming partner need's to know."
"You mean that psychotic, low-voice, nut-job we are forced to work with so she doesn't kill us all?"
"That's the one."
"Fantastic."
Neo rolled her eyes and tapped her wrist impatiently, then pointed at the bundles. Ruby waved her hand at the short, multi-colored girl.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're on it." They moved on through the factory, laying out the dust at the support beams and furnaces.
They made it to the large control room with little problem. "This is going well." Ruby said, swinging her arms as she strolled into the room, not noticing the thin red line stretched across the doorway. Ruby's legs broke it and a screeching alarm sounded throughout the entire complex, soon hundreds of thundering feet could be heard, headed straight for the control room.
"Oh, crap." Ruby said, her hand over her mouth, mortified that she just did that.
"Happens to the worst of us, little red." Roman said as he pushed Ruby into the room with Neo following, who kicked the door shut behind them. She turned to Roman and gazed at him with steady eyes as if to say. "What's the plan?"
Roman turned in a circle taking in the entire room, large, filled with computers and panels and...no other exits, why are there always no other exits? He turned back to the other two. "OK, we might have a small problem." His scroll rang, looking at the caller ID, he let out a small sigh. "And guess who this is?"
He tapped the transparent screen and brought it to his ear. "Hello, Cinder." Ruby and Neo leaned in to listen.
-Roman, did you complete the assignment.-
"Having a bit of a hiccup at the moment."
A irritated sigh sounded from the other end of the line. -When you are finally done, I have a new assignment-
"No rest for the wicked, is there?"
-The assignment isn't for you, it is for the Rose girl.-
"WHAT?!" Both Roman and Ruby shouted, not that she didn't think she wasn't ready for whatever came her way, Ruby just wasn't thrilled at having to complete a assignment for Cinder Fall.
-Lower your voice, Roman! And listen! I want Rose to act as a informant, I need her to go undercover and feed me back the things I require.-
"Where do you need her to go?" Roman said stiffly, also not thrilled at having Ruby involved with Cinder. A small chuckle sounded from the other end. -Beacon academy- Then she hung up. Leaving Roman, Neo, and especially Ruby staring in shock at the small scroll.
"SHE WANT"S ME TO DO WHAT?!" Ruby shouted. "ATTEND BEACON ACADEMY! IS SHE INSANE?!"
Roman eyes narrowed in anger. "Yes, but I doubt that's going to help our case." All other responses were cut off as the door was yanked off it's hinges and the factory guards poured in. Their weapons drawn. "HALT! Put your hands in the air!"
Roman, Neo, and Ruby looked at each other, then at the guards. "I still think she's crazy."
"I already told you, yes! Yes, she is!"
They attacked.
"So, assuming I'm forced to go, which is very likely, how our we going to do this." Ruby said as she flipped backwards and decapitated a large guard. "How will I survive in a hunter training ground?"
Roman shot the guard he had in a choke hold and dropped the body to the floor. "The transcripts and papers will be easy enough to fake, but there is the small problem that you, little red, are two years too young to get into Beacon in the first place." He brought down his cane on the head of a unfortunate guard who crumbled to the floor. "Any ideas."
"Mmm..." Ruby mused as she shot a man in the chest at such a close range that the round tore through two other guards before burying itself in the wall.
"Maybe, I can impress the headmaster somehow? Me and Crescent Rose can be awfully impressive." She swung the scythe in a sideways arc, causing blood to splatter everywhere. "GA! Blood takes forever to wash out of my skin!"
Roman paused in shooting the factory guards and considered. "Now, that's a idea. It's going to have to be big though." He shot his last dust bullet into the head of a factory officer. Neo, who just stabbed a guard through the heart, had a idea and whipped out her scroll, sending a quick text to Roman.
"What if Ruby was a brave young girl who just stop the infamous Roman Torchwick from robbing a innocent shop?"
Roman's eyes brightened. "That might just be something, I could even borrow some of Junior's men to make it more fun." He shared Neo's idea with Ruby. A grin crossed her face as she drove the blade of Crescent Rose into the chest of a guard and flung him across the room, before dodging other one who was stabbed from behind by Neo. "Yeah, why not?" An idea came to her. "Hey, Rome', could you get fake transcripts from Signal academy?"
"Not a problem, why?"
"Young hero with a near perfect fighting record from a prestigious combat school? That has to count for something!" She spun her weapon in twirling circles, killing every person in a six-foot radius. Not bothering with keeping her clothes or skin clean anymore.
"There is the problem of the headmaster seeing it." Roman said. Deep in thought as he swung Melodic Cudgel in bone-crushing swings. "Actually, We don't need the headmaster personally to be present, we just need a teacher from Beacon can see it and report to the headmaster." Roman deflected a dust round with the Cudgel, and swung it into the throat of the gunman, causing the unfortunate to choke on his own crushed wind pipe. "Neo?"
The twirling menace smiled and nodded as bodies flew from around her. "Leave it to me." the smile said.
Roman smiled back. "I guess that's our plan then." He watched as Ruby killed the last guard before clapping his hands together. "We have a lot of work to do, lets get started." They walked around the piles of dead corpses and out of the factory, once they were about an hundred yards away, Neo detonated the fire dust. The resulting explosion lit the night up like the sun. As the three masterminds watched the flames and crumbling metal, Roman had a sudden thought.
"The students of Beacon are dividend up into teams of four, which means you'll be having company that you'll probably don't need, Ruby."
"You already have a plan around that, Rome'. I can see it in your eyes."
Roman smiled. "The only way to make it easier for you is to give you a team who will help you in your mission, people who work for me or own me some favors."
"Work for you? Not Cinder?"
"I rather keep you as far away from Cinder's eyes as I can. The people I have in mind report to me and me only. That's a tendency I like about them."
Ruby gazed up at Roman. "Sounds to me like you already have some people in mind."
Roman's smile grew wider. "One or two. Little Red...we just might be able to pull this off."
So, what did you think? Review and let me know! Oh, if you are wondering what the story is behind the fact that Ruby is still alive. Don't worry, that's coming up. See you in the next chapter!