A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for reading and please leave reviews. I know this is a niche story, but I'm hoping that it'll somehow worm its way into your hearts.
1/15/18 I'd like to inform you guys that I'm open for commission. If you're interested, check out .com for more details
Harsh, neon lights cut through the darkness, alternating between the image of a bear and a bat. The loud, blaring bass of the club's dance music reverberated within the building and spilled outside onto the sidewalk, where men and women of questionable virtue staggered around, drunk on life and just possibly drunk.
The first and last time that Ruby had been to a club in Vale was during a raid that her father, Taiyang - otherwise known as Sun Dragon, had helped the police to orchestrate. From the shadows of course.
Ugh. Just being here makes me want to take a shower. I can't believe that Yang has pretty much lived in these places for the past couple of years.
Although in the back of her mind, Ruby knew that Yang's present situation was, at least in some part, her fault. If she had just stayed in Vale after her father had died, maybe Yang wouldn't be the way she was right now.
Ruby and Yang crouched on the top of a building, still wearing their costumes. They had been watching from the outside for the rush that came with the club opening for the night. So far there was no sign of that woman in black. Although, if she were about to assassinate a gang leader, Ruby would scan the outside building first for any unfriendly eyes first. There was a good chance that they had already been made.
"Ravager, I don't think we're going to spot her from out here," she looked around at the surrounding rooftops. "It's too exposed. If she was here, she's definitely seen us"
Yang nodded. "You're right. I guess we'll have to do this from the inside."
"And how do you expect we do that? There are armed guards out there and I doubt they'd let us in."
"Why do you think that?" Yang asked with a quizzical smile on her face.
"Uh, sis, we're superheroes. Remember?" Ruby fired back snarkily, lifting her cape up to further her point.
"You've obviously never been to a club, baby sis. What did you even do in Mistral?"
"Ugh! I saved people! Without using organized - you know what? Let's just get inside," Ruby exhaled, trying not to say anything that she would regret later.
Yang giggled. "Lighten up, and follow my lead. We'll get in without a problem. Trust me."
And so the duo of heroes climbed down from the roof, and got on line like the civilians around them. That wasn't without consequences as some began to notice the oddly dressed women, and some others even recognized their outfits. However, most ignored them, absorbed in their own worlds. Then, finally, they got to the front of the line where they were finally met by the two bouncers, both clad in black suits. One had a scruffy beard that looked like it hadn't been shorn since before he hit puberty, and the other had a very well - kept handlebar moustache.
"Hey, Jack, get a load of these two," he laughed hard, so hard that his companion began to laugh as well.
"Who are you supposed to be?" The one named Jack asked, his voice deep and menacing.
"Just your average clubbers. Don't you know anything about fashion?" Yang replied, sticking her chin out defiantly.
"Right, because clubbers come in all the time wearing stupid capes, right Geoff?" Jack said, scoffing derisively.
Stupid? My cape's awesome. His beard's stupid, Ruby crossed her arms, frowning, but kept her mouth shut at the behest of her sister.
"Wait - wait, Jack. I think - no way! Are you Ravager and Erythra?" The other, named Geoff asked, frantically patting the inside of his suit.
"Whoa! Whoa! There's no need for that," Yang said, readying Ember Celica. "You don't want to fight us."
"Fight you? I'm - I mean my daughter's your biggest fan! Could I have your autographs? My daughter'll be thrilled," he pushed a scrap of paper towards them.
Ruby blinked at Yang. Of all the things that could've happened here, this was one of the last things she had expected.
"Uh, sure," Yang smiled awkwardly, taking the paper and scrawling her name over it. "You know, Erythra, since I became Ravager, this kinda stuff's stopped happening. Most people don't understand why I did what I had to," she said aside, handing her sister the piece of paper.
To tell the truth, it had also never happened Ruby any more, but that was because she had kept to herself in Mistral. It was a solitary life, but she had grown used to it. Sure she missed her sister, but, honestly, she hadn't had many friends in Vale to begin with. Although there was someone that she had been meaning to visit if she ever came back.
"Well most people are idiots," Geoff said, his brows set in a hard line. "You're such a badass. Not only did you singlehandedly make the city a safer place for all us little people after Sun Dragon died, you've also inspired so many, like my daughter, to always stick to their beliefs, even through hardship. So thank you."
"Wow, Geoff. That was the sappiest thing that I have ever heard you say," Jack said, shoving a random drunk woman, who stumbled into him.
"Hey, you jerk," she slurred, waving her fists as she walked away crookedly.
"Sorry about that," Geoff apologized, taking the paper back from Ruby. "What are you doing here anyway? Our boss didn't do anything, did he? Because I kind of need this job."
"Well, actually, we're here to help. There may be someone trying to kill him," Ruby said, looking up at her sister, who nodded in approval.
Geoff snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! That woman in black, right? I saw you guys fighting her on the news the other night."
"Yeah, that's the one," Yang replied, grimacing at the recent memory.
"Then by all means, come on in," Geoff nodded, removing the velvet rope, which had barred the door.
"Thank you," Yang said, walking into the club.
Once inside, the light and sound become overwhelming, each thump of the bass resonating in Ruby's body. On the topic of bodies, the dance floor writhed and wormed like a single being, each person having exactly one thought on their minds, and expressing it by rubbing on one another in a completely vulgar and primitive manner. It took all the strength that Ruby had not to turn around and leave. Ironically enough, she could jump in the way of a speeding bullet, but couldn't stand a crowd.
Ouch my poor ears. I don't understand why people like this. Can't they just meet someone in a bookstore or something? She thought, cringing with every pulse of the music,
"Let's make our way to the bar!" Yang yelled, trying to compete with the sound. As it was, Ruby strained herself to hear her sister's voice.
Ruby and Yang wove their way through the sea of people, and as if she were a child again, Ruby gripped Yang's hand. Her sister glanced over her shoulder with a look of surprise, and squeezed Ruby's hand with encouraging warmth, pulling her towards the wall opposite the door.
When they got to the bar, the back of a gruff, stocky gentleman in what appeared to be his early forties greeted the duo. On a second look over, Ruby decided that a word more fitting than gentleman was bully. She had dealt with his type before; the type that decided that they were right as a rule, and used their might in place of reason.
Yes, bully was apt.
The man was busy wiping down a mug, as barkeeps do, and bobbing his head to the bass line of a song that had just begun. In fact, he looked rather happy, Ruby thought, until he saw the two of them. She saw the smile literally drop off of his face.
"Blondie," he spat, his voice muted. "You're here again? Can't you just leave me alone?" He shook his head, throwing his hands up into the air.
"Aww, come on Junior. Let bygones be bygones? Can't we just kiss and make up?" She reached over the bar and pulled his head in for a rather chaste kiss on the cheeks.
When he didn't respond, Yang crossed her arms. "Oh come on Junior. Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it," she mewled seductively. The very thought of Yang having anything to do with him romantically sent a shudder through her body. But then again, she was working for Torchwick.
"Stop. Just . . . what do you want?"
Ruby couldn't contain herself any longer, needing to say something before Yang did. She knew firsthand how bad her sister's bedside manners were.
"Um, by now you've probably heard about Torchwick, and -" She began.
"And you think his killer's going to come after me next," he said, cutting her off.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Yang replied.
"Well you don't have to worry about me; I've got boys all over the club. If she wants to get to me, she'll have to get through them."
"Junior, we need to talk about that. Your 'boys' aren't all that much if I could take all of them down during my first year on the beat," Yang sat by the bar and pulled an olive out of someone else's martini, crunching into it.
Junior narrowed his eyes at Yang. "What do you want?" He repeated.
"We want to catch Torchwick's killer," Ruby blurted out.
"Then do it. Why do you need me?" Junior asked.
Ruby didn't know why, but as realization dawned on Junior's face, he began to smile ironically.
"You need bait. I'm glad that I'm always needed when you need something, Ravager," he said sarcastically, venom dripping from his voice. "But if you really think you can catch this person, then I'll help you."
Did Yang never tell him her name? I guess that makes sense. Hell, if I jilted lovers the way she did when Dad and I were around, I wouldn't want to tell anyone my name either.
Yang smiles, although the look in her eyes says that she wasn't surprised. Obviously, she knew that no matter what, she would get her way.
That's another thing that separates the two of us. I don't really have that type of . . . swagger.
"Aww, Junior," Yang said, batting her eyelashes. "I knew we could count on you."
He sighed in resignation, nodding grimly as though he didn't expect to get out unscathed. "Yeah, yeah. Just tell me what to do."
"Nothing, Junior. Just stand there and keep looking cute," Yang said with a wink.
"Ravager, you don't think that this girl would be crazy enough to attack Junior with the two of us acting as bodyguards do you?" Ruby asked, rapidly trying to think of a plan b.
There were just too many factors involved for this to work. What if the woman in black attacked a different gang leader? Ruby wondered. What if she had created a pattern out of nothing?
Then, as if on cue, the lights went out, and the music followed, trailing off until it went dead. Disappointed 'awws' and 'come ons" rang through the clubs as the patrons stood around, waiting for the situation to be resolved. That not happening, they cleared out quickly to find somewhere else to practice their debauchery.
Finally, I can hear, Ruby thought, cleaning her ear out with her pinky.
"You were saying?" Yang said, leaping over the bar.
Pulling Crescent Rose out of its sheath and keeping it in its rifle form, Ruby steeled herself for a round two against the woman in black. She wasn't going to get caught off guard again.
"Junior, this might hurt, but it's for your own good."
"What do you-" he began, rudely getting cut off by Yang's right hook.
She caught him mid fall and gently lowered him onto the floor beneath the bar. "I'm not the best influence, 'rythra" she deadpanned.
I'll say. I can literally think of thirteen ways that I would've done that differently - none of which involving bodily harm to the person we're supposed to be protecting.
For what felt like forever, Ruby aimed down her sight, and swiveled her neck, trying to watch all visible vantage points. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek - oddly enough. She couldn't remember the last time she had been nervous in the line of duty.
"Ravager?" She called, pulling the sight down to wipe her sleeve across her forehead. "I can't see her- oh!" her sentence was cut off by a projectile, flying towards her quickly.
After years of combat experience, she developed an instinct to use her semblance defensively as well as offensively. She bolted to her left to avoid the attack, but felt something wrap around her ankle, tripping her up. Instead of throwing her arms out to break her fall, she twisted her body, sliding a good twenty feet onto the dance floor.
Then, as if the friction burns weren't enough, Ruby felt a tug on the end of the rope before being flung into the air. As she dangled from the ceiling, she noticed Yang having a rough time too. Her older sister danced behind the bar, her teeth gritted, shifting her weight to avoid actual bullets that were being fired at her - and admittedly doing a poor job of it. Every other bullet grazed her at the least. But oddly enough, it seemed as though the shooter wasn't trying to kill, only play with her, like a cat with its food.
As Yang took a direct hit, her aura flared up, culminating in a fiery crown above her head. She fired Ember Celica into the skylight above, which had a bunch of pinholes just the size of the rounds being fired into the room. "You bitch! I know you're here. Come fight me one on one!"
"Ravager, just get down!" Ruby yelled, not wanting her older sister to get into a fight that she wouldn't be able to win. Fighting angry led to mistakes, though Yang always fought angry. It was just that in this case, her fury seemed more personal than strategic.
That won't work. This assassin has had success all around the world, she has enough experience to know when to and when not to walk into an uneven fight.
In that moment, Ruby choked on her thoughts as the mysterious figure in black crashed through the glass of the skylight, bathing her in a cloak of moonlight, which reflected off of all the fragmented glass. Her eyes glowed ghostly amber, their pupils constricted like that of a cat's eye.
Wait, is she a faunus? That would explain how she beat us so easily at night.
"Awfully dumb of you to drop in like that miss . . ." Yang trailed, smirking.
The woman in black smiled back. "The name's Nightshade, Ravager. And I wouldn't walk into a fight unless I was confident. Needless to say, I'm very confident," the woman, Nightshade, purred.
At that, Yang grew visibly distressed, as she had never had her skill questioned. All throughout her career in vigilante justice, Yang had been given the due respect that her ability and dedication to her craft warranted.
Yang took a deep breath, finding her center. Like her younger sister, she realized that fighting angry made her strong, but fighting without a clear head made her irrational.
"Big talk. You better put up," Yang taunted, vaulting over the bar and bringing her fists up.
In the meanwhile, Ruby managed to untangle herself from the rope, dropping to the ground with a loud thump. She ran to Crescent Rose, reaching for it when a shotgun slug shattered the ground in front of her.
"Erythra, stay out of this," Yang said, sauntering towards her opponent.
Ignoring her sister, Ruby reached back for her weapon when a bolt of baby blue energy struck it, freezing it in a chunk of clear ice. "Yes, Erythra. Stay out of this," A different, distorted voice said, its sound amplified and spread throughout the club.
What the? How many of these guys are there?
"If you're here for Junior, you're going to have to get in line," Yang replied flippantly.
"I'm not here for Junior. I'm here for Nightshade!" The voice yelled, the sound of a cylinder rotating clicking echoed loudly. "And I'm not leaving until she's dead."