Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kim Possible or RWBY.
Cider
By: Imyoshi
Slam!
The door to an abandoned warehouse slammed open and three individuals walked in. The inside of the building had peeling paint and lights that either did or did not work. Boxes littered the floor and furniture that was beyond old and dusty surrounded them. At least none of the tinted windows were damaged, but they did block out some of the light from shining in and brightening up the place. Luckily, there wasn't an overpowering odor that reeked. So there was that to look forward to. Nothing else could be said about the broken down warehouse, devoid of any possible features worthy of description.
Roman took pride in it all. "And this is the inside of our hideout. Gawk and be amazed. I'll wait."
Ron casually walked into the hideout after feasting on the promised meal Roman offered—delicious fast-food—chocolate eyes scanning every nook and cranny he could, looking over the interior with a critical eye. When he finished inspecting, he simply shrugged his shoulders in a lack of emotion remotely resembling being impressed. "Eh, I've seen better."
Glaring hard at his new subordinate's refusal to admit the obvious truth, Roman leaned casually on his cane with an air of nastiness. "I'm going to pretend you make sense and are simply too astounded by the layout of such an intricate base of operations."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Getting a snappy comeback ready on the edge of his tongue, he stopped after noticing Neo silently laughing at him from his side, looking positively amused at Ron's disinterest in a Master Criminal's lair. Her silent giggles grated on Roman's nerves and she knew it. Oh, she knew it. She also knew he wouldn't do anything, which really made the situation all the more infuriating.
"Would you stop that?" Neo shook her head. "Tch, fine, whatever! Forget the base! We've got bigger things to worry about. Follow me to the table. It's time that I filled you in our targets and what you'll be doing here."
Walking up to a lone, wooden table lacking in any added features, except for the four wooden chairs who've seen better days, Ron and Neo grab a seat on the odd sounding chairs while Roman rummaged through some damaged dresser, eventually pulling out a file hidden away in a secret compartment only Neo and him knew about. He opened the folder, reaching for a picture to slap down on the table.
Slam!
"Alright, Ron, listen up. To point fingers, this firecracker right here is Cinder Fall." Roman poked the photo he slammed down which featured an extravagant and malicious looking lady with pitch-black hair and amber eyes that melted ice. Her smirk reminded Ron of another sidekick he used to know. "The woman we need your help taking down. Now, don't let the looks fool ya, she's dangerous. Real bad for people like us. Not someone you want hiding under your bed."
Yup! Cinder Fall definitely sounded similar to Shego. Hot and dangerous was a dangerous combination for a supervillain. He nearly smiled at the comparison. For a moment, just a moment, it felt like going over mission specs with Kim and Wade all over again. The emotion was fleeting, but the sidekick gripped it for as long as he could.
Next, Roman pulled out a pair of photos with people he previously saw before, sliding them across to the sidekick as he pulled out more papers. "Hey? It's that broccoli girl from before? She's the one who tried to rob me." Ron frowned, picking up the paper as Roman continued to rummage through the drawer. "Why do all the hot girls turn out to be evil?" Peering at the paper, his previous statement only solidified as Neo unkindly ripped the paper from his hand, smirking tauntingly at the nonchalant sidekick. "Case and point."
Neo poked him on the nose before returning to her seat, throwing the sidekick a causal smirk that reminded Ron more of the other sidekick. Darn it, Shego! He found it odd he sort of missed her classic humor and fiery personality. To top it off, she knew the pains of being a sidekick. Not many people understood that level of underappreciation, but Ron could honestly say she understood his pain deep down. Yeah, okay, he did sort of miss her. However awkward that really was and he knew it was awkward.
Ha! The sidekick held back an empty laugh. The day he'd missed Shego of all people. A nightmare came true. Someone put him out of his misery.
Looking over to his boss, as much he wanted to deny it, he couldn't. Ron saw some of his best friend in him. Didn't hurt he had the same eye color, hair color, and unbreakable personality as her. Helped he dressed snazzy as well. Don't even get him started on the way his hair curved over one of his eyes. Everything attributed to him holding back another insincere laugh.
Slowly, Roman's stack of papers became a total mess. It began to grate on his nerves since the small table proved inadequate at holding everything together. "Ugh! This would be so much easier if we had a board. Neo! Next time remind me to steal a—?!" The Lotus Blade flew out of Ron's back and transformed into a nice looking board that floated for Roman to use. A few seconds passed before the criminal shook his head, not even bothering to hide his villainous smirk. "I can grow to like this."
Grabbing his papers, he stuck all his notes down in a complicated fashion onto the magical board, quite pleased with his work. Every one of the subtle notes he'd taken over the months was all laid out for his new subordinate to see. Each tiny flaw he'd spotted and any other possible weakness were bare and unguarded, ready to be taught. Ready to be used to their fullest, and ready to be exploited for their own personal gain.
A true backstabber's plan!
Grabbing the picture out of Ron's hand, he snipped the picture of Emerald onto the board, next to Mercury's. He did a quick double check before beginning the lesson on everything Ron Stoppable needed to know.
Using his cane as a pointer, his first target was Emerald's picture. "Let's get down to business. Neo, if you would mind coming up here." The ice-cream lover did a mock salute and moved beside Roman. Then, right before Ron's eyes, she transformed into that girl on the picture who tried to rob him. "Let's start with needy-greedy. If you're going to help me bring Cinder down a peg, you're gonna have to know about her two lackeys first. This precious head of broccoli goes by Emerald Sustrai. Watch out! She proclaims to be a Master Thief."
The mocking of her title didn't fly over Ron's head and the blond had to fight back a teasing grin. Neo then did a little twirl for Ron to see every inch of Emerald's body, making sure he had her appearance down to the mark. Though to be fair, she doubted he forgot about the person who tried to rob him, but she twirled anyway to be on the safe side. That was a week ago. A lot could happen since then.
Roman glared. "Get a good look at her, Stoppable. If she sees you, there will be trouble. Remember, we're trying to avoid trouble. So... try to elude her." Slapping his cane down onto a different pair of notes, he frowned. "Beside her need to proclaim her status as a Master Thief, Emerald's dangerous edge does not only come from her high level of close-hand combat skill but her unique Semblance. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I do know it had something to do with illusions. That's what makes her dangerous. So if you see two of her, be careful. Now, onto the next person." He pointed at Mercury Black and his smug grin. "This is Mercury Black. Hate him, love him, I don't care, but just like the last one, avoid him."
Neo transformed into Mercury, acting all cocky with a superior lean and crossing of the hands to finish the image. Ron mentally filed away the guy's appearance. Still, he couldn't stop his mouth from asking. "Does everyone here have such weird hair colors?"
Roman ignored him. "He's all about using his robotic legs to fight. If I was you, I would want to avoid getting kicked." Peering down at his blank notes, his frown deepened. "And then there's his Semblance... I don't know it. So try to focus on staying away from his kicks and you should be fine." Sighing, he put his cane down, glaring at Cinder's photo. "Now onto the big fish, Cinder Fall. The bane of my existence and our target."
Neo did one final transformation, turning into an exact replica of Cinder, throwing her hair back with a smirk that burned just by being in the same room as it. Ron definitely felt an air of power and superiority from just sitting across from her. The glow of her eyes burned his soul. Her smirk could drown a man. And if left unchecked, she could probably rob a person dry until it was too late. Ron knew her type. She was a supervillain. Ahead of the curve essentially, and he was going to be dealing with her with Roman and Neo.
The sitch made him feel both old and young. A tribute to his past life and a calling to return to it.
Taking a seat across from Ron, the Lotus Blade transformed back into a sword and all the papers fell carelessly to the floor. Roman made no point in being angry. He just fixed Ron a powerful glare that lacked all of his playful arrogance, entirely one-hundred percent serious. Neo joined him and transformed back into herself, losing her smirk as well. Their joint seriousness kind of reminded Ron of his serious face. A feature that also any goofiness. How oddly amusing for him that they all have that.
"To put it simply." Roman began, placing power behind his words. "Cinder's strength is terrifying. I will even admit downright frightening. She's got this power over fire and Dust that's second to none. At least, that's as far as I know." Getting up, he turned around to pick up Cinder's photo. "She's no slouch, either. I wasn't kidding about her being fast and powerful. Her two lackeys follow her both out of respect and fear."
Crushing up the photo in his hands, his anger got the better of him and he threw the paper in the air before incinerating the scrap with a blast of his cane. A thick silence fell over in the hideout and he had to calm himself from destroying any more of his stuff. Best not to let even the photo get the upper hand over him. Not in his hideout. Not while he was introducing young Stoppable to the ropes of their little operation.
Gripping his cane, he breathed silently and turned around. "Questions?"
Thinking it over, Ron scratched his head until something sprouted. "Uh, yeah, what's Dust?"
Blinking once at the sidekick, Roman smirked and extended his hands out. "Well look at that, your idiotic question actually brings up another important point I've been meaning to clue you in on. What our line of business specializes in! And that's Dust!" Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a red crystal and tossed the sucker over to Ron. "What we do is steal this from the stores and sell them for half the market value on the streets. Then we wait until the demand for them goes up and we sell them just below what the stores are charging."
Playing with the shard in his hand, Ron was lost at what was so special about the gem. He rubbed it against his gloved-fingers, unable to feel the texture, then he zeroed in on Roman's goals, comparing them to past supervillains. "That's all you do? Steal Dust? This stuff? Sounds kinda... weak?"
Roman waved his hand nonchalantly. "I deal with all kinds of shady businesses, kid. Dust just happens to be our biggest source of income. And to pop your bubble, I have a client coming in today to buy some forgery documents to enter some fancy school. He should be here around one. Neo? What time is it?" Neo did a series of complicated hand gestures. "What?! It's almost one already? Hn, time sure flies when you got this in your hands."
"Hey!" Ron cried, tossing the Dust shard on the table without a care. "I resent that."
Grabbing a second Fire Dust shard from his pocket, Roman grinned. "Good to know. Now shut up and watch. There's two ways to using Dust. First, you could add Aura and voila!" The shard glowed in his hand and Roman threw it at the piles of papers on the floor, watching the crystal light up and spark a fire in the center of the room. He then reached into his pocket to pull out a Water Dust shard. "Or you could use it as ammunition." He placed the shard into his cane and fired it at the fire, snuffing it out of existence with a torrent of water. "This is what we steal. Got it?"
Amazed at the power those tiny little gems held, Ron shook his head, still awing at the magical fire that happened in front of him. "That's so cool!"
Crossing his arms, Roman felt a little ticked off that his subordinate got excited over Dust's dull properties, but the idea of being inside a Master Criminal's lair didn't even warrant so much as a slight reaction from the crime fighter.
Such a pain.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Grabbing his scroll, he checked the message he received and hummed in thought. Eyes skimmed over the scroll before peering over to Ron and Neo. "That client I was waiting for is here. He's a little early, but money's money. C'mon, Stoppable, time for you to take a step into my world and see what the criminal life is all about. Do take notes. You are learning from the best."
Walking up beside him to meet his client, Ron left the Lotus Blade for Neo to mess around with, which she secretly hated as the blade hovered over her head and silently teased the mute girl on her height. Didn't stop her from trying every tactic to grab the sword, even going so far as to using an umbrella sort of weapon to attempt and stab the sidekick's weapon. All good attempts. All failed attempts. All funny to the magical sword.
Remembering Roman's client's item, he ran up to Roman before matching his pace. "So... these forgery papers... you said they were for some school?"
Reaching into a hidden pocket within his coat, Roman pulled out a few papers that looked very authentic and reliable to the untrained eye. A tiny frown marred his features at the mention of the word school, but it quickly died as it appeared, but Ron understood the sentiment. He hated school, too.
"They're for a kid who wants to get into a school for wannabe Huntsmen..." he said in a light, amusing tone. "You know, a place to make friends and train and all that boring junk and yadda-yadda. Turns out he didn't make the cut on his own and had hired me to persuade the officials to let him in."
Confused, Ron looked away, not exactly sure what to say, but he did know one thing if the guy wasn't cut out to survive in a school that required a certain degree of skill to get into. He'd know from personal experience.
"It's his funeral."
"Now you're learning."
"I was once a super villain called Zorpox."
Standing by the door, Roman fixed Ron a stare that spoke volumes. He lightly poked Ron on the chest with his cane. "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just I don't believe you." Opening the door, both the thieves come face-to-face with a tall blond with ocean eyes and equally unkempt hair as Ron, just much longer. Roman didn't think much of him and pressed the papers into the teen's nervous hands. "Here! Like promised. Now scram."
Slam!
Ron shook his head at Roman's blatant attitude. "That was mean. Not even a hello or howdy do? How are going to keep customers coming back with that attitude? Poor business strategy, Roman."
Ignoring him, Roman went to check on Neo and found her trying to catch the Lotus Blade while it flew perfect circles around her. The magical sword even poked her a few times on the cheek with its hilt, clearly fueling itself off its own personal vendetta toward the mute girl. What it was remained lost to the guys. For all he knew, the sword was under Ron's command and he was pushing Neo's buttons on purpose—which the Master Criminal was perfectly fine with—or it was teasing her for her inability to steal it.
Hard to tell.
When she finally did manage to catch it, Ron moved forward and extended his hand, de-materializing the blade in Neo's grasp and then materializing back it into his hand a second later, leaving her with nothing to show for all her pointless efforts. What Ron Stoppable didn't know was that Neo hated being made to look like a fool and the Lotus Blade had spent the last minute making her look like a total fool. That was a minute far too long in her stolen books.
He barely dodged her lunge kick aimed directly for his chest.
"Hey! What was that for?" She didn't answer him—mute and all—and attempted to bash his head with her umbrella. Ron barely dodged her, rolling just out of the way in the nick of time. He quickly stood up and threw his hands out. "Wait! We're supposed to be on the same side! Ah! Timeout! Timeout! Roman! Do something! Sidekick in trouble!"
Watching Ron dodge a kick obviously aimed for his head, Roman looked around the abandoned warehouse and then the Lotus Blade, which hovered both over Ron and Neo as they did their little dance of hurt and be hurt. Not bad. Could use some more choreography and less screaming, and Roman could do with someone actually getting hit, but it was a nice dance to distract him for a few minutes. Neo seemed to be having fun and Ron was breaking a good sweat. In all, a dance he enjoyed watching, then Ron quickly power-slid under Neo's roundhouse kick before making a mad dash toward a more secluded area of the hideout with her hot on his tail. The entire display spun a few cogs in Roman's mind, shuffling around others while he absorbed the displays of obvious athletic conditioning coming from his new hand.
No one just knew how to run and dodge like that.
Feeling an idea coming along as Ron barely blocked another kick meant for his shoulder, Roman just remembered something his new subordinate told him. Along the lines of fighting and spying to be clear. Some of which may have been fabricated, but he promised himself he'd give Ron the benefit of the doubt. So as far as he was concerned, Ron wasn't lying and all those impressive dodges came from a life of crime-fighting.
What a perplexing conundrum Roman was given.
"You know, all this talk about Huntsmen schools, learning, and seeing you run away screaming from Neo has made me remember another point I've been meaning to bring up." Ron narrowly blocked a mid-kick delivered by Neo with the aid of his Lotus Blade turning into a shield, and fear held onto him as Roman pointed his cane at him. "You said you could fight. Let's test that out, shall we? It'll give us a chance to find out what your Semblance might be."
Like he had a choice in the matter.
...
Jaune Arc remained behind for a bit, lost after seeing that blond dude who seemed to be around his age. In an odd stroke of luck, the Arc considered himself fortunate not to be in the same boat as that guy. Jaune didn't even want to consider what happened to that blond's life to dictate to working for such a criminal, because he knew he didn't see that guy last time he talked to the guy in white.
Pushing the scary thought away, he left the cargo bay and back to Vale. With the transcripts in his hand, he planned his next move. Now that he'd been accepted to Beacon Academy, Jaune didn't exactly know what his next move would be. Getting into the academy proved to be the easy part, now came the hard part, surviving four years in a Huntsmen academy with no training whatsoever. A problem with hardly any solution he saw in the far distance. The only possible choice he had was to wing it and train to make up for lost time, but even then he was severely lacking and heavily handicapped.
"I can't go back home..." Jaune frowned, stepping out of the cargo bay. "I'll just have to make the best of it."
Besides, Jaune Arc doubted he'd ever run into those guys again. Best to not look back on it and instead take two steps forward.
...
Roman Torchwick would give Ron Stoppable this, the kid could fucking dodge, he wasn't so much of an attacker per se, avoiding confrontation like nobody's business, but damn he dodged and blocked like a pro. And Roman didn't mean like the duck and roll out of the way type of dodge any poor schmuck with two cents to their name could do. No. The Master Criminal meant Ron used anything and everything to his advantage when it came to running, moving, and dodging. He even had a name for it. Damn fool called it his mad running away skills. Roman simply saw it as a skill he'd picked from a life of fighting. Again, another point the criminal had to take in consideration when he recalled Ron's out-of-place backstory.
It wasn't enough to persuade him completely, but the damn kid was giving Neo a run for her money. Neo! His second-in-command and overall deadly assassin! So the man relented a little and accepted the fact Ron had a hard life he knew nothing about. Probably even harder than his if he was betting on it. Maybe even more than Neo's.
Speaking of his mute assassin, poor Neo hadn't landed a direct hit yet! Neo! She was actually starting to look tired! Her! Of all people! And for a split-second, Roman swore there was a small trickle of sweat building on her forehead. Of course, that was just the lighting from the broken down warehouse? Right? Right! Had to be! Just had to be. Why else would she look tired? There was no other option!
Flanking to the left, Neo missed Ron and the distance between them increased. The sidekick used the free moment to catch his breath, wondering how the heck he got himself into this dangerous sitch this time? Just this morning he had been fishing for food, and now he was running from a girl who he personally thought was honestly trying to murder him. If the haunting glint in her eyes was anything to go by—and Ron had seen plenty of those in his life—then he was in for a world of hurt.
Finally feeling doom fall on him, some of his dormant Mystical Monkey Powers react when Neo actually got close to landing a cut on his chest and he moved in a way similar to a Monkey Faunus, narrowly sidestepping between Neo's thrust and grabbing her arm in the process. Then he was pressing her wrist between his arm and torso while adding much force to keep her from breaking free.
It was clearly a losing battle on his part, she'd break free first, but he was desperate enough to gamble. Even still, he managed to glare weakly at her from the close proximity. "Can you stop trying to stab me already? It wasn't funny five minutes ago. And it's not funny now!"
What type of backward world had the Master Criminal walked into?
Moving forward, Roman figured he should save Ron from Neo's onslaught, not too keen on the idea of him dying after spending so many resources trying to find him. That and he didn't want blood on his nice, murky floor. The color he wouldn't mind all too much, but the smell and stain would linger for days, especially since he knew no one would bother cleaning up the spill. He wasn't gonna do it. Not to mention there was the whole fact of having to rid of the body—and it was all too much of a hassle for the criminal today.
Clapping his hands together, Roman grabbed their attention. "Okay, kiddies. Playtime is over. We got a job to do. There will be more time for fun later." And in fun, he meant training, lots and lots of training. "Hurry up! We don't have all day."
Blinking a few times at their boss, Ron let go of Neo and she rubbed her wrist gently with a sour look for a second before surprise kicking the sidekick on the side of his body, sending him across the warehouse. A triumph, smug smirk quickly stretched across her features when she heard the telltale crash of boxes and other assortments falling onto Ron as a groan escaped the sidekick.
"Neo..." Roman warned, taking a seat at the table. "Stop playing around and get over here!"
Taking a seat at the table, Neo joined Roman soon after while they waited for the sidekick to dig himself out of the pile of boxes and wooden stuff that'd fallen over him. Eventually, the Lotus Blade helped and turned into a pair of gloves that began lifting the stuff off of Ron, finishing the task much faster.
Finally seeing Ron free, Roman clasped his fingers together as he leaned on the table. "Okay, you're free, time to get down to business. We're hitting a local Dust shop tonight and we need to make a stop before doing so."
Taking a seat, Ron fixed Neo a glare that the ice-cream flavored girl ignored, looking as innocent as a child. It was probably the first childlike innocence he'd actually steal candy or ice-cream from. "What kind of stop?"
Unclasping his fingers, Roman leaned back into his chair with a hint of indifference. "We need to pick up some muscle... if you get my drift."
Ron glared at him, wiping off some spare particles of dust from his sleeves. "Don't patronize me. I know what a henchman is. And in my line of experience..." he added. "They're useless on getting a job done. The only way to get a job done right is to do it yourself. And it saves you money."
Roman wanted to argue, he already had about two-hundred and one different snappy retorts on the tip of his tongue, just waiting to go to town on the kid, but he did have a point. Based on past experience, Roman hadn't been very too pleased with the henchmen he'd hired and their past performance. He'd even went as far to say as dissatisfied—strongly dissatisfied. That was enough to actually hear Ron's words, even more so after the whole ice-cream truck gimmick.
"So what? No henchmen?" Roman asked, giving Ron the room and some power.
Of course, the sidekick didn't disappoint. "I never said that. I said they're useless on getting a job done. But nothing about being scapegoats." He grinned. "Henchmen are really good at taking the fall and being a distraction."
Surprised at his sudden turn of emotions, Roman decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and grinned equally as large as the kid, only adding a sense of nastiness to his. On a side note, he was starting to like this kid more and more, and Neo had been searching for someone to play with for a while now who wouldn't break so easily under her destructive onslaught.
"I like the way you think."
...
After a stop at some place called Junior's Club, the duo left with an assortment of identical looking men with a red and black suit and tie type of getup. Didn't make much sense to Ron as they boarded some flying contraction he'd seen littering the skies time and time again. Being stuck under such a match-making system seemed pointless when trying to act all covert and stuff. If anything, unless they were ninjas, it made finding and spotting Junior's henchmen all the simpler. He knew he would've had zero trouble finding these guys, but he wasn't working for Junior, so it mattered very little to the sidekick. Distractions were distractions, no matter what style of outfit it wore, even one as ridiculous as theirs.
Checking his gloves—which were the Lotus Blade—Ron felt a sense of Déjà vu at the sense of partaking in this mission. Sure, it was a heist to rob some poor sucker of his store's supply of Dust, but the sense of adrenaline and alertness that came from taking a mission took him back to a different time of his life. A time before he got trapped here on Remnant where life no longer made any sense and monsters were as real as the powers people had.
It made him happy.
Recalling the old memories, Ron couldn't help but smile in a sad away that broke parts of his heart. He constantly wondered whatever happened after he disappeared. More times than not, the sidekick looked up at the broken moon filled sky after a long day of walking around the kingdom and just simply wondered things. Things that always made him feel terrible inside and only worse, but those terrible thoughts helped him fall asleep and forget about his current troubles. They likewise helped him accept the sitch he was stuck in and move on forward, however hard that proved to be. Other times he forced himself to sleep because the pain was too much to bear.
Feeling the aircraft jerk, Ron was pulled out from his thoughts as they landed near the top of a building with their target right across from them. No one noticed the Bullhead dropping them off and the machine made a clean getaway into the night air.
From Dust Till Dawn, a simple Dust shop—Ron had seen many of them during one of his random walks, but had never before known what Dust was—and it lacked any sort of real security. Most likely due to the shop being located in a fairer place of Vale compared to where he had normally traveled, but that just made the job easier in the long run. A false sense of security was a good thing.
He knew this and so did his boss. Too bad Neo couldn't come, but apparently, Roman's boss, Cinder, needed their third member for some other important job and Roman practically growled out his yes through his scroll when she demanded Neo's services. To patch things up, she offered her assistance in their little job, but Roman refused, eyeing Ron the entire the time. And in a way, Ron felt for the guy, almost knowing what the feelings he was going through felt like, but some other part of Ron was glad the cheater wasn't here.
It was the stepping stone of their love-hate relationship.
Following Roman's orders, they all bounced down from the aircraft and most of them landed decently on the floor with Roman and Ron being the exception. Roman, because he was used to this type of stuff and had personally trained for this. Ron, because he was used to this and had personally trained for this. Wow! Small worlds.
Thinking hard about the fact, Ron's eyes narrowed a fraction at the side-to-side comparison, allowing a tiny thought to sprout from the soil of doubt lingering in his head. In a way, when Ron Stoppable compared the notes and went over some past memories, he couldn't help but allow that idea to grow and nurture ever so slightly under the rain of doubt he plagued himself with. Really, when he truly compared the notes and made-up equations in his head, only one sane conclusion popped out.
There existed zero difference between a Hero and a Villain.
Pushing the thought away, for now, the duo strolled down and entered the shop with the henchmen following right after, making a beeline toward the old man manning the register. It started off cool, collective, and simple enough. Roman had pointed his cane at the old man and demanded all the Dust he had and whatnot. The clueless henchmen reacted and started retrieving the Dust in haste. Not a hair out of place so far, but of course Fate or Destiny or whatever the people of Remnant liked to call it, decided to intervene when one of the henchmen flew back from a surprise attack and through store's display glass.
Everything had almost gone without a hitch, too.
Seeing the man down and out for the count from outside the broken glass and inside the store, Ron groaned when the second henchman sent to take care of this little problem was thrown out the same window with their problem standing above the man in a red cloak that breezed in the wind like some cliché comic book hero. She stood up to fight them, looking determined for someone who took out the trash.
The remaining henchmen went and charged in a stumbling fashion, toward the mysterious fighter with their weapons drawn and screams of bloody murder. An impressive sight for a civilian, maybe, but not for the duo. They were left to watch as they charged in with their weapons crudely thrown up, ready to hack and slash the moment they got within arm's reach of her.
Ron knew that wouldn't end well, especially when some giant scythe-like weapon geared to life and their assailant turned out to be a girl with silvery eyes and hair that was both black and crimson, right down to the ends of her locks. The weapon momentarily caught the sidekick off-guard, spacing him out as he compared it to past gadgets he held, but his focus returned when the henchmen, running at her, stepped on some broken glass, forcing the sidekick to get a better look at her. She wore a black skirt and leggings with a corset of some sorts with bullets attached to her belt that were fashioned with a rose buckle. She appeared to be younger than him, maybe by a year, maybe less, and there was this air of heroism surrounding the way she stood up to glare heroically at her soon to be attackers.
Ron Stoppable instantly recognized that look from the countless times from seeing Kim Possible throwing out the same look.
Twisting her weapon in a powerful fashion, the scythe crashed down hard on the floor, breaking the asphalt beneath her feet as the girl prepared to take care of the henchmen charging at her with a trained stance.
The henchmen didn't stand a chance. Not one little bit. It was almost painful to watch. Not the ouch kind of painful, well, maybe that too, but the sad kind of painful. The one where everyone just wanted to look away because it hurt to keep watching after the first or second minute.
Watching a random henchman fly over their heads, Roman inclined his noggin toward their current headache. "Hey, go distract her while I finish up here."
"Why do I have to distract her?" Irony heavily laced Ron's words. "Do you see what she's doing to our henchmen?! They're not exactly winning."
The glare on Roman's face lacked emotion. "Because you're the one with the Lotus Blade and you were able to keep up Neo. As far as I'm concerned, you're more than ready to deal with her. I'll admit, you're the not the best fighter, you're kinda pathetic actually, but you should be able to keep up with Red over there for now and distract her. So hurry it up! I'm almost done here."
Sighing, he left Roman and jumped out the window to spot this girl finishing off the remaining henchmen with little concern. She wasn't tired at all and her eyes were set directly on him the second he stepped out and walked on some glass. They were strong and determined, reminding the sidekick of his old best friend. Without any warning, she was on the attack, using some gun mechanic in her weapon to give her a slight boost of velocity and range, increasing her speed to near frightening heights.
For once, Ron Stoppable was on the other end of this Hero and Villain screenplay.
Looking straight ahead at the scythe closing in on him, he took a small step back, bringing his hand back. It would be so easy to simply evade all her attacks, get out of harm's way, but he wasn't exactly sure what her reaction might be. Either she maintained chasing him or she went after Roman, and that wasn't part of the plan. So he was stuck having to distract her, keeping the fight close, but not too close, his specialty at his finest. On the plus side, she wasn't as fast as Neo, lucky for him, but he'd always been more of a hands-on type of fighter, half being due to his Mystical Monkey Powers and half not liking the idea of using a weapon to hurt people, but Ron wouldn't mind having a weapon this time! Not when a giant scythe was flying toward him that was bigger than the both of them.
Hearing its master's call, the Lotus Blade transformed into its base sword form from Ron's gloves, intercepting the girl's scythe on its own with his master holding the hilt and dull part of the blade.
Clash!
A brief flash of surprise captured the girl's face, either from Ron being able to intercept her strike or his gloves turning into a sword in front of her eyes, hard to tell, but she quickly regained her composure and started to push the sidekick back with the help of the gun mechanism to add more force behind her push. It turned out to be an almost fair power struggle, but he was losing with the weight of her weapon pressing down onto him like a weight of gravity forcing his knees to buckle.
"Lotus Blade, a little help here, buddy!" Ron urged, feeling the blade act out and push his attack back with an invisible force. He held the Lotus Blade close to his chest as she was forced back this time.
His opponent stopped to blink as Ron took a defensive stance. "You talk to your weapon?"
Ron took a moment to pause, registering how young she sounded, before looking down at his sword. He flashed his eyes up and grinned at her, buying time for Roman to hurry up. "Yup! I'm that kind of guy."
Red observed him like some animal at a zoo, before charging at him with a deep frown. She swung her massive weapon, hoping to land a clean hit on his side torso, but Ron ducked underneath the blade and moved a few steps back. A trickle of sweat traveled down his neck from nearly being cut in half, scared out of his mind. When a lock of his blond hair fell in front of his face, he held out his hands in mock surrender, appearing harmless.
"Can't we talk about this?"
She swung her blade again, hoping this time to use his distraction to aim a solid hit anywhere on his body, but his blade intercepted hers in a locked stalemate. Strangely enough, he acted more confused than she did, eyeing his sword like it had a mind of its own. Then, like puzzle pieces falling into place, he gripped his blade a bit firmer and pressed her back. The game changed and he shifted gears, flicking back her precious baby with a strength she didn't think he possessed. It almost appeared as if his body was the extension of his sword—not the other way around—when she went into for a quick spin-slash, halting her strike while appearing indifferent to the move itself.
Apparently, talking was out.
Ron was on the offensive this time, doing mock slashes that had no real instinct to hurt behind them, but still ended up pushing her back if their weapons connect. So far the sidekick learned she was pretty darn fast and agile, maybe more than Neo, and it was only thanks to the Lotus Blade moving his hand to intercept her slashes, that he was able to keep fighting. Part of the thanks went this Aura stuff. He just felt faster and stronger than before. It was all so riveting and overpowering. Almost like the time he first unlocked his Mystical Monkey Powers.
For a moment in this godforsaken world, the sidekick felt alive again for the first time since getting stuck in Remnant. His eyes were bright again and his heart was beating rapidly against his chest. The blood in his body felt hot, and the playful side of his sidekick likeness for taunting people was impossible to ignore.
This all felt like a mission.
The sidekick hated to admit it, but he missed this feeling. He blamed Kim for this feeling. This feeling of being in the center of danger. Fighting, just fighting brought back good memories that made the fight all the more special. All more heart-crushingly beautiful that he was at a loss for words. Burning away the doubt, it was a reawakening of Ron Stoppable, and the planet of Remnant would never be the same again.
Blocking his thrust with the metal of the blade, the hooded girl jumped back and prepared to dash at him. At the meantime, he was testing out his footwork, recalling all the henchmen he'd dodged and avoided from in his past life. Everything felt good. He felt good. He was broadcasting that feeling to her, watching her movements with eyes only a paranoid sidekick attained.
She was trained to fight. That much was obvious. She was leagues better than him. Again, obvious. That weapon was twice her size, but essentially it was two versus one and she happened to be the one, so the advantage was on their side. Numbers were his friend. They've always been, but then she suddenly appeared in front of him in a flutter of rose petals and brought up her scythe from under his arm, catching the hilt of the Lotus Blade between her scythe's steel blade.
Using the hidden gun mechanics inside her scythe to add an extra amount of force, she forcefully pressed the Lotus Blade out of his hands and they watched it slide across the street with a cling and clang. Then she was turning around to beat Ron down with a proud smile, but the sidekick held out his hand when she wasn't looking.
"Lotus Blade!" The magical blade moved out of the girl's line of vision, moving closer to Ron. "I need a shield!"
Clash!
Her eyes widened when her weapon came in contact with a floating shield that bore a Lotus flower symbol in the middle. She sadly had little time to question as Ron came out from behind to sweep kick her off her feet and throw her back. Lucky for her, she was able to balance herself and pull her weapon away from his shield, but the surprise expression never left her face.
"Where did that shield come from?"
To answer her question, he plucked the shield from the air and willed it to transform back into the Lotus Blade. It floated in the air next to him and he willed it to turn into another assortment of other weapons, even her scythe, before settling back into a sword. Somewhere in the background, unbeknownst to her, Roman had cleaned out the entire supply of Dust from the shop and was whispering for Ron to hurry it up, but the sidekick couldn't exactly fight and dash.
There was no principle or honor in that.
He grabbed the sword and pointed it at her in a pose that was strikingly familiar to past villains he'd fought over the years. "Wouldn't you like to know."
Having not answered her question verbally, but with a preview of its unbelievable power, her face lost the curiosity and was replaced with sadness. She actually lowered her weapon, seeming disappointed from the recent turn of events. "How could such an amazing weapon be in the hands of a bad guy?"
Bad guy—those words left a nasty taste in Ron's mouth and burned away most of his rare happiness, resembling somewhere along the flavors of ash. All of his previous joy turned back into the hollow feeling he'd been feeling for the past month and broke part of his fighting spirit. He even bothered to ask himself the same question but found himself slightly annoyed. Annoyed at her blatant statement and judgmental eyes. Eyes he recognized from people back in his old world. People who didn't and would never understand the sacrifices he'd made!
Different planet, same people!
How dare she make assumptions? Not everyone was a bad guy. Some people were just put in an unfavorable sitch with no real right answer. This just so happened to be one of those times. He tried going to the police. They mocked him! Called him crazy! So what choice did he have but to accept Roman's offer? Not his fault he wanted to live. To move forward! To not wither away with no one to even care about his death! So he was tempted, oh so very tempted to give her the answer she was looking for. Because for just a small moment, he wanted her to know what one of life's biggest mysteries. Show her how cruel and unfair life really could be!
Ron gave her an honest answer. An answer he'd learned the hard way time and time again and was currently living to the fullest. "Life's unfair... that's why."
Based on the way her face scrunched up, she didn't like that answer. Ironic considering the context. Ron would like nothing more than to play cat and mouse a little longer with her, but Roman was getting rather impatient, and monologues were a surefire way to get caught.
Time for a distraction!
Reaching into his pocket, his fingers ran along the smooth outlines of the Fire Dust shard in his pocket and he tried a few times to add this so-called Aura into the shard. It took a few moments before he felt a pull of some sorts react in his chest and he pulled out the shard to see it glow with the same faint outline Roman did earlier at their hideout. The real knowledge behind the mechanic escaped him.
Grinning to himself, Ron threw the shard in the air and a gunshot from Roman's cane came from behind. "Later!"
Boom!
They were gone by the time the would-be-hero removed the soot from eyes, having escaped from the alleyways, instead of the rooftop that Roman wanted to go. Ron's idea on how not to be caught. Somewhere along the heated lines, the word cliché came up more than a few times, but the real subtext got lost in the shuffle.
...
Running through a few empty alleyways, Roman and Ron ultimately stopped when they reached the building where their airship was waiting. They slowly climb up to the roof from the fire escape and made it to their airship and took off with all of the shop's Dust in a few bags. None of the henchmen made it out, but Ron and Roman shared little concern, knowing their part in their little operation was already fulfilled. Nothing to do now but skedaddle and live to fight another day.
Lifting off into the air, no one down below saw anything wrong with an airship flying through the skies of Vale. Not Red or the scary looking witch down under. By the time they reached their hideout, Neo was idly waiting with a tub of ice-cream perched on her stomach and boots kicked off. She hung her feet from the side of the dusty couch, apparently having finished whatever assignment Cinder needed her for.
A spoon dangled in her mouth when she greeted the both of them with a lazy wave, not bothering to remove her tiny butt from the old, meager couch. By now Ron didn't expect much from her in the terms of niceness or etiquette, having learned quickly Neo was neither of those things from the few hours he'd unfortunately been trapped in her company, but would it kill her to offer some of her ice-cream?
She stubbornly moved the carton away when she spotted his lingering gaze settle on the tub, close to her stomach, so the answer was mean yes.
Dropping the case of Dust onto the wooden table, Ron grumbled and fell back into the first chair he could sit on, pushing his legs out as Roman pulled up a second chair to sit next to the sidekick. The smirk on his face was pretty damn unnerving if he did say so himself, and his boss was grabbing his shoulder before he could ask what?
"Not bad, kid. Not bad. After what I saw tonight, you definitely have something going for you. Both in here..." he pointed to Ron's head. "And here..." he then pointed to his muscles and weapon, which hung to the sidekick's back by an invisible force. "That's not to say we still have our work cut, but you definitely know what you're doing."
Ron took the compliment in a way he couldn't fathom. It felt nice to hear. On one hand, that talent was being used for villainy, which was sick and wrong on so many levels. On the other hand, it was the first time in a long time that anyone had ever recognized him for, well, anything. No one in his old world acknowledged his accomplishments. Thus the entire ordeal threw his entire world into a perplexing spin. The feeling of being of needed was a new one to him. One he could definitely get used to. And again, no one was expecting anything out of the sidekick. At least not in the hero department. Not anymore.
"Uh? Thanks."
Getting up, Roman patted Ron on the shoulder one more time, knowing now he picked up the diamond from the coal patch that was Vale's lower district. No doubt about it anymore. Sure, the kid had a sense of morality in him, which might come in the way of his plans from time to time, but Roman was willing to look the other way as long as Ron didn't actively try to get in his way. Then, by all means, the kid could keep his values in check for when he eventually left, but until then, the Master Criminal needed him to help overthrow Cinder and leave her thumb once and for all, so he'd try to stick to Ron's terms as well. Compromise was the underscore of their entire operation, after all.
Little Red earlier had just been a thorn in their side, an unfortunate mishap—nothing more, nothing less.
Looking between his two hands, Roman smirked at Neo who held the tub of ice-cream in a teasing way with the shake of the carton at an annoyed Ron. He did get up and try to pluck the carton from her hand, but she was faster than him, barely, and dodged Ron. They were like children and him the father. They sure acted like children, that was for damn sure. Still, the image was clearer than water itself.
One big happy family!
"Neo! Give me some of that ice-cream!" Crash! "Neo!"
Yup! One big happy family!
...
Across from town, after finishing a meeting with the prestigious Headmaster of Beacon Academy and the Headmistress, Ruby Rose walked out Vale's police department with a small hitch in her step. Apparently, her fight with the henchmen had been caught by the shop's security cameras which had surprisingly earned her a spot in her dream school. A stroke of dumb luck on her part, great, but still dumb. Almost nothing could sour her happy mood, but something did and it put a damper on everything. She couldn't even maintain her smile the second she stepped out the police station, cruelly haunted by her failure.
Her resolve strengthened.
The cameras hadn't caught the last parts of the fight with the guy with the blond hair. They didn't see his weapon's power or even catch a real appearance of the sword. None of it was caught on camera, having been slightly skewed from one of her bullets hitting the machine after pulling his sword free from his grasp. None of it was recorded. Even when he transformed his gloves into his sword had been centered underneath the cameras. None of it had been caught! All Ruby could bank on was her memories!
Ruby possibly thought about telling the Headmaster this, but without any actual proof and not wanting to ruin her chance to attending Beacon at the idea of sounding mentally insane, she kept her mouth tightly shut on the matter. That still didn't stop the hollowness from spreading across her happiness. Just the thought of that guy having a weapon that could transform into a flurry of different weapons ticked some part of her. Not the thought of him having an amazing weapon, but the thought of it having been used for evil purposes just ruined everything. It kind of ruined her hollow victory and turned it more into an embarrassing loss.
Kicking a lone pebble on the floor, Ruby frowned at the thought of the guy's appearance and his messy blond hair and goofy smile when he actually smiled. As long as she remained breathing, she wouldn't forget his face, but his name was another story. She didn't catch his name, not even sure if it had been announced at all throughout the whole heist, but she did catch the name of the sword.
The Lotus Blade.
Like her weapon, Crescent Rose, he, too, talked to his weapon. Both were named after a flower and had the description of the weapon's primary function in the name. Crescent meant as a curved shaped blade and Blade meant to express a sword. The only real difference, except for the obvious weapon designs, was that his weapon could float and actually appeared to understand his commands without needing to actually do anything, hence the sudden force she felt during their power struggle when he demanded help. That tiny spark of info confused the Little Reaper to no end.
There were many questions she wanted to ask him. How was it made? Who made it? Where did he get it? When was the blade forged? All sorts of questions her usual love for weapons demanded of her, but these were all questions she could only ask the next time she saw him, and who knew when that'd be? Maybe she wouldn't see him again? That was a very possible outcome. Even more so, he was on the opposite side of the law. That was just another pop to her bubble. For all she knew, he wouldn't ever tell her. That was an even more possible outcome.
Stopping her walk, Ruby Rose looked up toward the broken moon and thought heavily on the words he told her.
Life's unfair...
The message behind the meaning of those words was clear from the start, how could it not been, but she swore that he meant those words more toward himself than her. That sad smile of his just spoke volumes to her. Then again, she might just be overthinking this more than it really was. Maybe he really was just some thief with an unbelievable weapon. Maybe her duty as a Huntress-in-Training was to just stop him and put that sword into more deserving hands. More heroic hands. Hands that believed in doing the right thing and helping those in trouble. Hands that would stop at nothing to stop his criminal career. Hands of a hero.
Hands like hers.
Author Notes: Edited - 6/6/2018