A/N: What's this? I didn't give up on this story? I'm back with another chapter? That's right, I am! Jokes aside, I would like to apologize for falling off the radar. Real life got really hard, and I just couldn't find the motivation or inspiration to keep doing any of the things I enjoyed. That being said, I'm the first to admit this chapter could probably have been better, but there comes a time where you just have to post it. I am slowly editing each chapter though and posting them on Wattpad as an original story by the same name but that'll take a lot of time.
Lastly, I'd like to once again thank everyone who stuck by me as this fun little thing I was writing evolved into something that, while I admit I lost track of and let get away from me a bit, has been educational, therapeutic, and personally fulfilling. It feels great knowing that something you made was enjoyed by so many people, and feels even better when you hear back from them.
Now, without further ado, the story...
Blake tapped her foot impatiently against the floor of the small stealth copter. The gentle thud of the propellers cutting through the light sheet of rain, and the crinkling of her suit were the only other noises to be heard as they approached the facility.
"We're getting close," Ricardo announced over the radio in her helmet. Antonio had come through and managed to convince the retired pilot to help them out. "You should get ready."
Blake nodded, stood up and threw open the door. She looked down at the treetops streaking by just beneath them and wondered idly if she could reach down and touch the foliage. She looked up, watching as the illuminated grounds of the facility got closer and closer, and took a deep breath. It had been just shy of a month since Weiss and Yang had taken their respective positions undercover at the facility and, save for the occasional update delivered via one of the other workers, they received no contact from them.
She didn't know how Ruby managed to stay calm with two of the people closest to her hiding right under their enemies' noses –but, then again, Ruby had been pretty much all business for the last several weeks.
Ricardo gave Blake the all-clear, shaking her from her thoughts. She took one last deep breath, bracing herself while the helicopter steadily gained altitude as it approached the facility. Moments before it broke the treeline, Ricardo wrenched the controls harshly to the right. Blake waited until the second her door was lined up with her target and launched herself out of the chopper. The wind ripped at her face as she reached down and tore open the buttons on her wingsuit. She tightened her core and forced herself to stay calm as the jerk of deceleration mixed with the gusting winds threatened to knock her off course. Squinting, she zeroed in on her target, just barely making it out through the rain and darkness, and adjusted her flight path.
She sped across the grounds, a dark blur on a darker sky, and smirked as the guard she was aiming or turned just in time to see her crash into his chest. She winced at the sound of his head crashing against the gravelly roof, and immediately took off in a quiet sprint towards the guard at the adjacent corner off the building.
She reached down and pulled out the small plastic gun strapped to her thigh just as the second guard turned around. She pointed the weapon and squeezed the trigger three times. The hiss of the rapidly decompressing air propelling the darts was drowned out by the rain. The first two sank into the guard's vest, and he grunted as the third struck him in the neck, delivering a powerful dose of tranquilizer, knocking him out.
Blake reached the guard just as he was collapsing and caught him before he could hit the ground. She gently laid him down and turned to face the remaining two guards who were just noticing the commotion made from her landing when they both jolted from the impact of dual unseen projectiles and collapsed, almost simultaneously, unconscious. Blake shed the wingsuit and returned the tranquilizer gun to its place at her waist, thankful Red was out there somewhere, looking out for her. She made her way across the rooftop towards one of the large vents sticking up from it, removed the grill and quickly checked her watch before vaulting down into the building.
*(OoO)*
Weiss casually checked her watch as she pushed the janitor's cart down the fluorescent-lit hallway of the facility. It had been nearly a month, but the time had finally come for her to break into the office of one Jeremy Gallagher. The older man had developed some sort of strange feelings of kinship for her as one of the few English-speaking Americans working at the compound. He was a little too touchy-feely for her liking, but his apparent fondness for her had allowed her the privilege of cleaning his office while he sat there complaining about how someone of his brilliance was stuck managing a bunch of barely literate technicians who spoke little to no English, as well as memorize every detail about the surrounding areas of the facility.
She had just run into one of the technicians, who had made it his mission to drunkenly escort her to whatever Olympic event was playing that night. The man had been persistent, to say the least, but she covered her discomfort well as he inched ever closer to her; it wasn't until she told him she was expected in Gallagher's office that he backed off, muttering some less-than-endearing things about Gallagher under his breath. She allowed herself a quiet smirk of triumph as she examined the ID badge she had snagged off his waist, before glancing at her watch and cursing as she hurried toward the elevators.
Thankfully, she made it to the elevators without any more interruptions. She wheeled her cart into the elevator and sighed to herself as she pushed the button for the lowest floor of the compound. The doors were almost closed when a gloved hand shot between them, forcing them to open back up. A momentary shiver of fear bolted down her spine before she intruder was revealed to be Yang.
"You're late," Yang mumbled through her teeth. Her hair was still damp from her work outside hauling crates full of everything from priceless art and jewels to drugs and counterfeit bills off of shipping containers and into several different storage lockers around the facility.
"I got held up," Weiss grunted back, keeping the little red light of the security camera in the corner of the elevator in mind.
They both stood silently, waiting while the elevator dinged with every floor they passed. Three floors away from their destination, Weiss noticed the light flicker once, twice, three times in her periphery before returning to normal. Satisfied that they were no longer being watched, Weiss relaxed her stance just as the elevator stuttered to a halt, causing her to stumble slightly. Above them, one of the panels in the ceiling opened noisily, in stark contrast to the silent figure that dropped between them.
The new addition reached up and removed the dark wrappings around her head, revealing Blake's face. Weiss turned away, allowing her and Yang a moment of privacy after the last four weeks apart.
"How did it go?" Yang asked, alerting Weiss that she could turn back.
"No problems," Blake replied. "I did waste a couple tranqs on one of the guards, but Red had my back."
"And the security?" Weiss inquired.
"No issues so far. There's the occasional infrared in the vents, but they're hardly a challenge."
"I wouldn't worry, regardless," Yang pointed out. "This place is old and they've only recently started upgrading their security. There've been several rodent-related false alarms already."
"I guess they thought a heavily guarded secret base on a secret island would be enough," Blake observed.
"We should get going," Weiss said, cutting Yang off.
Blake and Yang nodded in agreement. The elevator dinged and, like a ghost, Blake vanished. The doors opened and Weiss kept her eyes forward as she walked the now familiar route down to Gallagher's office while Yang followed at a discreet distance.
The hallways were practically deserted, most of the staff having shirked their responsibilities in favour of watching the Olympics. Weiss found herself wondering if Ruby had somehow planned that too.
Thoughts of Ruby inevitably led to memories of their last night together and she smiled. She had spent much of her time reminiscing about that night over the past four weeks. Every time she found the back-breaking work and dangerous conditions pushing her to new levels of exhaustion, or her patience for the many, many inappropriate actions of those she was forced to live with –particularly those of the guards and the men she had deduced to work for some cartel or another –she thought about softly spoken promises of a future together made in the dark of night amongst the sound of waves rolling on the shore, and her resolve strengthened.
Weiss schooled her features as they snuck by the occasional guard and paused in front of the door while Yang got in position next to it.
"Ready?" Yang asked, pulling her gun out from its holster.
"Let's do this." Weiss took a deep breath and swiped the ID card through the electronic lock. The lock beeped and the door opened with a swish.
A quick check confirmed that the office was indeed empty and Weiss allowed some of the tension to drop from her shoulders.
"Gotta say, not what I was expecting the office of the head researcher at a secret hideout to look like," Yang remarked as she closed the door.
The office was filled with all sorts of lavish decorations that clashed horribly with the sterile white floor-tiles and walls. On the walls were several works of art, all from different places and periods, no two were the same style. Those, along with the ornate, hand-carved desk and chair (both made from different types of wood), and the plush, Persian rug in the center of the floor, made it abundantly clear that this was the office of someone who solely concerned with flaunting his treasures for the sake of showing off the perks of his position.
When Weiss had first seen the office she couldn't help but compare it to the warehouse Ruby was living in when they met. Both were demonstrations of pride in your work, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Gallagher's office was filled with gifts and perks, Ruby's warehouse displayed trophies. Each item had a story behind it, with Ruby as the main character, and spoke of her skills.
"He certainly wasn't hired for his taste," Weiss quipped, making her way around the desk to look at the sophisticated computer on top of it. She reached into the cart she had been pushing around and took out a pair of latex glove, handing them to Yang before pulling on her own and giving the mouse a shake.
She smirked at the locked screen and started typing.
"And just like that," her smirk turned into a smug grin as she hit the enter key, gaining access to Gallagher's computer, and by extension, the entire compound, "all those incessant rants about how much smarter he is than everyone here and instances of sexual harassment are almost worth it."
"If letting you use his computer is all it takes for a guy to get you to like him, I think my sister's gonna have some serious competition," Yang teased as she started pulling paintings off the wall.
"Please," Weiss scoffed good-naturedly, "I don't think anyone's ever going to come close to replacing her." She reached back into the cart and pulled out a hard drive, plugging it into the computer before opening the file directory and continuing in a lower tone. "Plus, I'm way too gay for any guy to even make me think about considering them."
Yang snorted in laughter, making Weiss blush profusely. "Amen to that sister!" She pulled another painting off the wall and stopped. "I think I found whatever it is I was looking for."
Weiss looked up and saw a large, complicated looking safe imbedded in the wall. She turned her attention back to the computer while Yang began examining the safe.
"This is way passed what I can do," Yang observed. "At the least, we're gonna need B to come and take a look at it."
"Let me just do what I have to, then we'll try to figure something out."
"How much longer?" Yang asked.
"A few minutes," Weiss replied, typing frantically. "We should be right on time."
*(OoO)*
Meanwhile, outside the compound, Ruby crouched next to the wall facing the small port where people were loading and unloading crates which, based on what they knew went on in here and how long it had supposedly been in use, probably contained anything from jewels, money, and priceless art, to chemicals, research materials, and various technologies, to tons of illegal drugs and even people being prepped to be shipped elsewhere. She blinked the rain from her eyes and hugged herself closer to one of the few patches of shadows in the well-lit grounds before looking down at her watch. She raised her head and focused on the vent further down the wall that was distorting the air in front of it, even in the tropical warmth of their location. If everything was going according to plan, then any minute now…
Jackpot.
The small green light sitting atop the vent flickered briefly before going out, and, while the distortions of the air didn't vanish, they no longer reached as far due to the fans blowing it out having stopped. Checking to see where everyone's attention was, Ruby peeled herself off the wall and made a mad dash for the vent just as the camera above it was turning away. Quick as a thought, she reached into the bag strapped to her back, pulled out a small screwdriver, unscrewed the grate, slipped inside and replaced it.
Checking her watch as she started making her way further into the vents, she could already feel the temperature rising despite being covered head to toe in dark insulating material. She hissed as she didn't readjust her sleeve properly and an exposed part of her wrist brushed against the burning hot metal. She had twelve minutes before the primary alarm would go off no foreknowledge of the layout of the vents.
No big deal, right?
She cursed as she ran into yet another dead-end and turned back. A minute and twenty-five seconds had passed and the vents were already becoming unbearable. They were almost all on a steep incline and she had already slipped and burned herself multiple times to keep from tumbling loudly. On the bright side, she already knew from the picture she and Weiss had taken during their flyover that the server room wasn't far from where the vent was, and having just ran into one of the emergency cooling hatches, she knew she was close. She cheered internally as she turned another corner and finally saw the soft, blue light of the server room farther down from her. She checked her watch and any good feelings were stamped out. She had taken too long and the primary alarm was going to go off in another two or three minutes.
Luckily, the fact that she had even made it this far meant that Weiss and Yang had made it to Gallagher's office and she had faith they would take care of the alarm.
Unfortunately, that also meant that she had next to no time to find the correct servers, open them up, replace the correct memory units, and upload her program before the secondary alarm went off alerting everyone and flooding the room.
At least that means the door will be locked and everything here is waterproof so I can work in peace. Ruby thought as she climbed down into the scorching hot server room and tapped her ear. Assuming I don't drown, that is.
"I'm in the server room, but I don't have a lot of time. How are you all holding up?" She jogged between the walls of servers towards the central console and reopened her bag while Weiss answered.
"We're in Gallagher's office. I'm in the process of copying as many files as I can, but of the ones I can, almost all of them are encrypted. My guess is heavily."
Ruby wiped the sweat from her brow and glance at the thermometer on the wall as she plugged her own computer into the console and began typing. She at least had to get this part done before the flooding started. "That doesn't matter, take them anyway. Anything else?"
"Y and I also found his safe, but it's far too sophisticated for either of us. We need B to come take a look at it."
"That might be difficult," Blake replied quietly.
"What's going on?" Ruby asked.
"I patched into the security system like you said," Blake explained. "I've been trying to keep track of Gallagher, and it seems he's been giving Torchwick his own private tour."
"Shit!" Yang exclaimed. "If he finds out what's going on now, let alone who's behind it, this will all be for nothing."
"Blake," Ruby panted. "Where are they now?"
"They just stepped outside, I think he's seeing Torchwick off."
Well, at least it could be worse. Ruby thought as she looked up at the thermometer again. She took a deep thought as her thoughts raced and put her computer back into its water proof case in her bag.
"Alright, I have a plan."
*(OoO)*
"I don't like this," Yang mumbled as she watched Weiss work furiously on Gallagher's computer.
"So you've said," Weiss replied. They both kept an eye on the security footage as Gallagher and Torchwick stood in front of a boat talking. Gallagher seemed to shrink at whatever Torchwick was saying to him and kept nodding even as Torchwick turned and boarded the boat before it sped off. Gallagher watched for a minute before skulking back to the compound, scowling. They watched for another minute before Yang heard a dull ringing far away, and saw him jump in surprise and turn towards the building that according to the records they were now privy to, held everything that was associated with the more blatantly criminal people who worked for whoever ran this creepy shadow organization.
Yang allowed a small grin at the sheer amount of guards rushing towards the building. Blake had chosen that section of the compound's alarms to set off as she and Yang both knew from experience that they would not just be going to secure drugs and such, but also make sure none of the people being held against their will got any ideas before they were shipped off to god knows where and any hope of returning home and seeing their loved ones again would be stamped out.
She might not have always approved of the risks Ruby took concerning her vigilante altruism –as she called it –and the amount of money she spent on it was enough to make Yang tear up at the thought of it. She didn't think it made a lot of sense as there would always be more bad people to exploit the less fortunate, but she also knew that without her sister's actions, these people, who even some of the most hardened, ruthless criminals saw as despicable, would be doing far better than they already were.
A beep on the computer brought Yang's attention back to the present. She watched Weiss intercept the alarm from the server room and had to once again shove aside all the bad feelings that came with the idea of her little sister being stuck in a burning hot room as it flooded. She tapped her earpiece as Weiss notified her that she was done copying the files and unplugged the hard drive before stashing it.
"How are you doing, B?" She asked, looking for a distraction.
"On my way right now."
"Alright, in that case, we're gonna get started." Yang nodded to Weiss and they went about hiding any evidence of what they were doing before Weiss relocked the computer and entered the password incorrectly. The computer chimed a message saying the password was incorrect and Weiss quickly entered it correctly, logging in just in time to see Gallagher on the screen look down at his phone and turn furiously to two passing guards who were on their way to help root out whatever intruders there were and order them to come with him.
"Alright, B, Gallagher's on his way."
"Good thing I'm already here to greet him, then," Blake replied as she quietly slid in the door.
"You have a four minutes, five tops," Weiss informed them. "Also Gallagher picked up another guard on his way here."
Yang and Blake both nodded as Yang took up position near the door while Blake turned to the safe.
"That's enough time for a cursory inspection," Blake mumbled to herself.
Yang watched as Blake inspected the safe until Weiss notified them Gallagher's elevator had stopped on their floor and turned her attention to the door. She took a deep breath as the door opened and leapt into action the moment the first guard's gun passed the door, training on Weiss instead of checking his corners. In no time, she dispatched the guard and moved on to his partners, taking them out of commission just as fast while making sure they couldn't get a clear shot on her.
She turned to grab Gallagher only to wind up staring down the wrong end of a barrel.
"Not so fast, miss," Gallagher commanded. His tone reminded her of those entitled frat boys she used to party with when she was younger. "Now, what am I to do with you three?" He asked as he motioned for the three of them to move by the wall opposite his safe. "Maybe I'll call some more guards and have them escort you to join the many other ladies who are guests here, hmm?"
He smirked to himself and Yang fumed. Not only was she being taunted and threatened at gunpoint by some obnoxious nerd who had been given more power than even his massive superiority complex knew what to do with, but every second they wasted here was another second Ruby came closer to drowning. She was seconds away from rushing this guy, gun to the head be damned, but she was beaten to the punch.
"Well, at least we know that you're just as predictable as I told them you were, Mister Gallagher," Weiss said condescendingly in a passable French accent. Her face was set into the cold visage Yang used to be convinced was her natural disposition. She and Blake watched as the persona of the cold, cutthroat heiress made its return while Weiss lifted her head and looked down her nose at Gallagher, even as he turned his gun on her.
"Ahh, Cynthia. I knew you were too beautiful to just be a simple cleaning lady." Gallagher trailed his eyes up and down her figure in a way that made Yang both uncomfortable just seeing it applied to someone else and thankful Ruby wasn't here to see it. Knowing Ruby, she'd have made him disappear and ruined the lives of anyone he had ever associated with just for thinking of looking at Weiss like that. "Maybe if you behave, I'll keep you to myself while I send these two away."
"Oh, that's not going to happen," Weiss stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And why not?" Gallagher asked haughtily. "I've got you right where I want you."
"Oh, you silly man," Weiss shook her head smiling as if she found his threats cute. "I'll think you'll find it is in fact the other way around."
Gallagher narrowed his eyes and pressed his gun against her temple as he got in her face. Yang had to hand it to her, even now Weiss was glaring unflinchingly at him like he was something she had stepped in.
"What are you talking about?" He growled, his gun hand shaking.
"I just mean that if you shoot us, there will be no one around to save Rebbekah."
Gallagher's eyes widened while Weiss quickly locked eyes with Yang before looking at the gun against her head. Understanding what she was communicating, Yang nodded almost imperceptibly.
"You're bluffing." Gallagher snarled.
"Are you really willing to take that chance?" Weiss asked. "Now, you can do one of two things: you could shoot us, but then my gunman won't get a call from me. He will then go through with the job he was already payed for, which is open fire on that small student house on Aberdeen Street in Kingston, Canada. Or, you can open that safe of yours for us and let us go, while Rebekkah lives to study Health Sciences at Queen's University for another day."
They watched Gallagher start to shake violently as he processed what Weiss had said. Yang didn't know where she had pulled all this information from, but she could see that it was getting to him and would only need one more push.
"No."
"Pardon?" Weiss asked while Yang fingered the holster of her gun. This was taking too long.
"I said no," Gallagher replied. "Even on the off chance you aren't lying, I have friends who take care of these things for me. So, I think I'll just shoot you now and make a simple phone call the police will be on your man in force."
Weiss smirked before raising her hand to cover her mouth as she laughed at him.
"And what is so funny?" Gallagher demanded. At this point his face was red with rage and he was breathing heavily. Yang watched carefully, looking for the smallest opening. Weiss was surprisingly good at this, but she wasn't Ruby. It was clear she was going to lose control of the situation soon.
"You are," Weiss said once she stopped laughing. "You think these people are your friends?" She scoffed. "Please, at best they are your taskmasters. Your daughter was a hostage long before my man got there, and once they hear you allowed such a serious security breach to happen, do you honestly think they will rush to do you any favours?"
Gallagher's face paled as quickly as it had reddened and he took a step back in shock. Yang took that as an opportunity to strike and whipped out her own gun, shooting him in each leg while simultaneously yanking his arm away from Weiss.
Gallagher collapsed with a shriek and Yang holstered her gun. "Oh, walk it off you big baby." She walked over and grabbed one of the fallen guard's rifles before turning to Blake and Weiss. "There you go, B, one retina and fingerprint as ordered."
Blake smiled as she heaved Gallagher onto her shoulder. "You always did know how to spoil me."
Yang smirked and turned towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go rescue our fearless leader."
*(OoO)*
Ruby's lungs burned and her vision was starting to darken as she worked. She wasn't sure how long she had been swimming around the flooded server room, replacing chip after chip, but she knew that it was a coin toss on whether she plugged in the last few or wound up drowning.
She replaced another chip as yet another bubble of air was forced from her lungs. She prayed that Yang would be quick. She had already almost drowned once, doing it again was not exactly high on her to do list.
Someone must have heard her though, as she heard two thumps reverberate through the water before it started rushing out of the room, bringing her with it. She tumbled around in the churning water, fighting desperately to stay conscious as she was smashed into a wall, and coughed as fresh air filled her lungs.
"Hiya, sis!" She looked up blearily and saw Yang smiling at down at her near the doo, rifle resting against her shoulder. "Enjoy your swim?"
Ruby was about to reply, but was cut off by the sounds of multiple combat boots stomping against the linoleum floors.
"I need two minutes and your earpiece," She said. Yang nodded and handed it to her as she rushed back to work. The sounds of gunfire and crunching glass filled the air as Ruby sprinted to the last of the servers, almost falling as she slid to a halt in front of it. She popped it open, pulled out one of the many chips therein, and replaced it with the one she was already holding. She slammed it closed and ran back to the central console. She took the time to tap her earpiece before typing frenetically.
"W, B, how are things going?"
"Safe's almost packed up," Blake replied.
"Good be ready to make a dash for the elevator when I give the signal."
"The hail of gunfire wasn't your signal?" Weiss sassed.
"That was Y, actually. But don't worry, mine will be just as flashy."
Her work done, Ruby grabbed her bag and ran over to join Yang on the other side of the doorway.
"Ready to go?" Yang asked. Ruby nodded as Yang popped out behind cover to fire a few shots. "See? This is why you should have a gun."
"Nah," Ruby shook her head, "they're a little too loud for me." She reached into her bag once more while Yang grunted as a bullet glanced off the doorframe where she was standing a second ago.
"What's the point of having an Olympic-level sharpshooter for a sister if you won't even take part in one measly shootout."
"Oh, don't worry, I plan on participating," Ruby said as she pulled out what she was looking for.
In Ruby's hand was a small, black plastic square about six inches in both length and width. It looked like it was made up of several interlocking parts, though it was impossible to tell what they did. On the outside was a piece that looked very much like the grip of a gun running parallel to the square. The grip fit perfectly in Ruby's hand as she held it, and she smiled as she squeezed it in her hand, pressing down on a button with her palm and releasing the locks on the springs. The square started to come apart and change shape as the pieces shifted and unfolded. The transformation took just over a second for everything to snap into place. Ruby smirked as the strange lump of plastic with no discernible purpose had now transformed into a long, matte black compound bow.
She gave the string an experimental tug, watching as the various pieces locked into place while the oblong pulleys spun. Satisfied, she stooped back down to her bag only to look up in annoyance when she heard Yang snickering, even amongst all the gunfire.
"What?" She asked with a sigh.
"What is that?" Yang practically shouted as she leaned against the wall and burst into a fit of giggles.
Ruby scowled at her sister's laughter and pulled out a handful of six-inch tubes that were a matching black to her bow. She flicked her wrist and the handful of tubes extended revealing themselves to be a handful of arrows. She knocked one, pulled it back, and popped out from cover before letting it fly. She didn't wait to hear the shout of pain from her target before another arrow was set and flying towards someone knew.
"Ridicule later," she ordered, knocking a third arrow. Unlike the previous two, this one had a thick cylinder attached just before the head. "Cover your ears and be ready to run."
Yang nodded, and Ruby let the fly before quickly turning away herself. A moment later there was a yelp of pain followed by a loud bang and a steady hissing as smoke started filling the hallway. She followed Yang out the door, taking the time to make sure Weiss and Blake were out of Gallagher's office and sprinting close to the floor. Just to be safe, she fired two more flashbangs over their heads into the crowd before turning around.
They all made it to the elevator where Yang smashed the button for the top floor. The smoke was still permeating the hallway as the doors closed and the elevator started moving. They didn't have time to relax, though, as Ruby and Blake immediately boosted Yang up so she could remove the panel on the ceiling before climbing up.
Blake followed soon after, vaulting herself up on her own, and Ruby winked at Weiss as she boosted her up into Yang's arms, who pulled her up. Finally, Yang reached down once more, and Ruby pulled out the pin on a regular flashbang, dropping after a moment as she jumped. She could feel the elevator slowing to halt, and only just made it all the way through the hole as the elevator doors opened early and the guards waiting outside to intercept them before they reached their destination were met with a stunning explosion. Taking advantage of the confusion, Yang replaced the panel while Ruby nodded Blake. Her ears rang as she watched Blake pull a tablet out of her own bag and start tapping away on it.
They listened as one guard shouted at the rest that he'd found them and issued orders for them to barricade and infiltrate the stairwells.
Finally, as the elevator started moving slowly again, Ruby allowed herself to relax slightly.
"I can't say I counted on Gallagher himself pulling a gun on us," Blake noted.
"Or Weiss pulling the whole Ice Queen act and convincing him she had his daughter hostage," Yang added. "I gotta say, Princess that was one hell of a bluff."
Weiss tipped her head in acknowledgement. "I'm just happy that the exit strategy still worked. For the most part."
"And that those guards weren't smart enough to realise Hawkeye here isn't sopping wet in the footage we fed them." Yang's grin developed a Cheshire-like quality as Ruby dropped her head with a sigh and grumbled.
"That's not going away anytime soon."
"Oh, come on Katniss," Yang exclaimed. "There's an entire genre of arrow-based jokes I can make about you now. We should celebrate."
Ruby groaned while Blake and Weiss looked at her curiously.
"Where did you even get that thing anyway?" Blake asked. "I've never seen anything like it."
"I must admit, I'm curious as well," Weiss added.
"Oh, let me guess! You were watching Arrow and thought 'cool, I want one too!'"
"If you must know," Ruby replied tersely, "I built it. I may dislike guns, but considering what we're dealing with here, it would be stupid not to have some method of defending myself." She glared at her sister, who calmed slightly knowing they were skirting the edges of a sore subject.
"Doesn't stop it from looking dumb, though," Yang quipped breaking the tension before the other two had a chance to pick up on it.
"Duly noted. Now come on, we're almost there and we're not out of the woods yet."
They all stood as the elevator approached its destination and jumped from the elevator to the girders surrounding it to avoid being crushed in the small space between the elevator and the top of the shaft. Ruby couldn't help the small vindictive smile when she heard Yang grumble about the heights and vengeful sisters as they shimmied along the wall until reaching the nearby vent. Blake went in first and they followed her as she guided them up to the roof where she first entered the building.
Heeding the occasional warning concerning sensors they eventually made it outside and Ruby took a minute to look down and observe the chaos. Guards ran to and fro trying to find where the real threat while the rest of the workers confused as to what was going on and generally getting in the guards' way.
She smirked as she turned away and pulled a spool of cable from her bag. Doing some quick calculations, she reached down and pulled her trusty ceramic knife from her ankle and cut off a length of cable. She tied one to the shaft they had climbed out of and the other to another one of her specialty arrows before knocking the arrow and aiming at the jungle below. The arrow hit its mark and Ruby grinned and recompressed her bow as she gave the rope a good yank to make sure it was properly secured.
In and out of her bag of tricks again, she distributed among them four short, wooden rods with sturdy metal hooks attached. Blake volunteered to go first and they watched as she backed up a few steps, waiting for the attention of the guards to move elsewhere before sprinting and taking a running jump off the roof. She secured the hook as she fell past the cable and the other three watched as she zipped across the grounds before disappearing in the shadows of the jungle.
Yang and Weiss followed her lead (though not as gracefully as both simply sat on the edge of the roof before pushing off once their hooks were secured), and in a matter of seconds they too had vanished amidst the tropical flora. Ruby went last, being sure to use her knife to slice the cable the second she landed.
Progress was slow as they crept through the jungle, making sure to stay low and make no noise as the guards now started to spread out into the jungle. The flashlights they carried were the only sources of light in the jungle, and as a result they tried to avoid them as much as possible. Ruby had moved to take the lead, her heart in her throat and pounding in her ears as she slowly moved forward, her hands quietly sweeping aside any twigs and debris in front of them.
They had been crawling for what felt like hours before Ruby came to an abrupt halt, causing Blake to almost run into her from behind. She held her hands up in a fist and they all remained crouched there as the sounds of grumbling and boots stomping through underbrush approached. She looked up and saw the sweeping beam of a flashlight not thirty feet to their right.
Turning around, she indicated with a series of hand signs for Blake to continue leading the rest of them far around the guard before continuing to head towards the beach where Antonio was waiting for them just offshore with the fastest boat he could find.
Once she received the nod from Blake, she turned around, resolutely ignoring worried looks she was sure Yang and Weiss were shooting her way. She stayed low as she followed the guard, slowly making her way around him. She stopped at a tree with low-hanging branches and looked up, taking not that the guard was now about the same distance he was from her before, only on the left. Quickly and carefully she scurried up the tree in front of her. From her new vantage point, she could see three more points of light increasingly farther away from her.
She took out her bow, and extended another of the small tubes into a plain black arrow. Taking careful aim, she adjusted the pulleys at the top and bottom of the bow. Knocking the arrow, she drew the string back and kept her eyes on her target as she waited for the right shot. Ruby allowed herself a small, smug smile as she timed the release of the string with the distant crunching from the guard on her left's boots, rendering any minute sound from her bow undetectable.
Ruby sat and watched as the second farthest beam of light twisted and fell with a shout while the others all ran towards its position with cries of 'Man down!'.
She had wanted to be sure her arrow would fly true, so she had increased the draw strength on her bow. Of course, there was the added benefit that it had made the guard she shot twist around before falling, and hopefully the shock of an arrow piercing through his shoulder would keep him from telling his friends that it did not, in fact come from behind where he had landed.
Ruby waited for a few more minutes as the guard she had originally stopped for ran past her position to help in the search for her back towards the compound. Satisfied they would be occupied for a while, she climbed back down to the ground and started to crawl back towards the beach.
On her own, Ruby was able to go slightly faster than before, but she was still cursing as she noticed the sky starting to slowly brighten behind the gray of the rapidly diminishing clouds. By the time she made it to the beach, Ruby could clearly see the black silhouettes of her friends as they waited for her and the dark form of a boat speeding to pick them up.
Antonio arrived and barely came to a stop as they all practically collapsed on the deck before gunning the engine and speeding off for the open ocean.
"Well," Blake concluded, "I guess we have successfully removed ourselves from existence."
"What happens now?" Weiss asked.
"Now, you all have a choice," Ruby answered.
"What kind of choice?"
"When I was in there I didn't just erase everything on us the machine had access to. I knew they would eventually figure out what I did and who we were, so I hid our true goals by uploading a ton of viruses that should be easy fixes for them, but make us just look like a group of activists or something trying to sabotage them. Among them though, was one I wrote myself. It will make sure that the machine ignores us, even if we start attracting attention to ourselves with our new identities."
"So, what you're saying is that not only are we off the grid, we're also pretty much invisible too?" Blake surmised.
Ruby nodded. "To the machine at least. That means we can literally do whatever we want. Go wherever we want. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You can disappear, reintegrate with society, start fresh with a completely blank slate."
"Rubes, we already know where you're going with this," Yang interrupted.
"And we already gave our answers before," Blake reminded her.
"I know, but that was then. Now you have a chance to be anyone you want. Leave everything from this life behind with zero repercussions. We all have an idea of how powerful and far-reaching those people are. So, given the huge risks, the almost complete lack of monetary reward, and what we just accomplished, I need all of you to think hard before telling me you want to keep doing this."
They all sat silently for several minutes and Ruby couldn't help but selfishly hope they stuck by her. She wouldn't hold it against them if they opted out, but a part of her enjoyed working with them. As dangerous as it had been, she had never been happier since that day in a rundown café in New York. She leaned against the side of the boat and watched as Yang rose to her feet before wrapping her in a crushing hug.
"We have been there for each other ever since Mom and Dad told me that grimy little kid they found on the street was my new sister," Yang murmured in her ear before pulling back with a smile. "There is no place too far, no situation too dangerous, that I will not gladly follow you into if there's even a chance I can help you," She grinned and sat back down next to Blake. "A new life might sound nice, but there still a couple of things I like about this one."
Ruby turned her attention to Blake who smiled softly and held Yang's hand. "Ruby, I've seen you grow from a girl lusting for adventure, to one of the most intelligent and capable criminal minds I have ever seen, and most recently, you've become a thoughtful and strong leader. I still may not know very much about you, but I do think that you have more reason than most to strike back at a society that has cast you out and forced you to live on the outside. And yet despite that, you elect to use your considerable skills to help those who for whatever reason can't help themselves. Whatever these people have planned, it's easy to see that it will only benefit the entitled few while crushing everyone else. I had joined the White Fang thinking I could make a difference, but quickly found them to be nothing but contract terrorists, believing in whatever cause paid the most. Thanks to you, I have another chance to do something I know I can believe in, and I would be honoured to help you in achieving this goal. Besides," she smirked and threw a look at Yang, "not even you can keep your sister out of trouble all the time."
Ruby smiled and hugged Blake as she waited for the warmth behind her eyes to abate. "Thank you, Blake," she said quietly.
Finally she turned her attention to Weiss, who also stood before quickly crossing the deck and kissing her on the lips. Ruby's eyes widened for a moment before she smiled as warmth filled her. They separated after about a minute and rested their foreheads against each other.
"I take it that's a yes?"
Weiss smirked. "Of course, Dolt."
Ruby took a deep breath and looked into those same ice-blue eyes that had enraptured her so long ago. "Are you sure? You know that we're probably going to have to face you're father again. You have the chance to finally be free of him and never have to see him again."
Weiss smiled and kissed her again. "Ruby, before I met you, I was nothing more than my –Augustus's puppet. He took every bit of control I had from me and even pumped me full of chemicals to strip me of the safety of my own mind. That all changed when I met you. You were kind to me. You stayed by me when I had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. You freed me from him and gave me a life I love and a purpose I can believe in. Whatever it is he did to me, I doubt I was the only one. If others are suffering like I was, than that's reason enough to take him on, and with you by my side, I know we'll win."
This time tears were freely streaming down Ruby's face as she pulled Weiss close and held her tightly. She smiled when she felt Yang and Blake join them and her heart felt like it was going to burst when she looked up and locked eyes with Antonio who was watching them with an approving smile on his face.
"Thank you. All of you."
They eventually separated once Ruby had calmed down. Yang was the first to break the comfortable silence, her trademark grin on her face. "So, Robin Hood, what next?"
Ruby rolled her eyes at the joke as she thought over the question. She smirked as she came to an answer.
"Now, the real work begins."
END OF BOOK 1
A/N: So that's it. It's done. I wanna thank everyone who reviewed and commented on this. Without you I would have given this up a long time ago. Anyway, I don't wanna keep you guys for too long, like I said, I'm not too happy with how this turned out, but as far as a first draft goes, it could have been worse. Finally be on the lookout for the start of Book 2: Shattered Mirrors. I haven't decided if I'll start it in the next chapter or create a whole new fic but in the meantime I'm gonna start editing this. Once again, thank you for all your support and patience, it's been a helluva ride.
Vague