Chapter 1 - - -
Ruby giggled as she peeked over the rooftop to the sidewalk below, her black cargo pants accented with red pockets scrapping against the wood.
Any moment now and… - There she is!
The teen duck her head lower once she heard the sound of glass clicking on the sidewalk get louder and louder. Sure enough, the person wearing them rounded around the corner.
Ruby couldn't help but let out another small snicker as she slowly unfolded her hook swords. Quickly, she jumped to the dark, side balcony below, hooking onto the balcony floor, stopping momentum with her feet to the wall, her heavy black boots causing a small thud to sound. Wincing at the sudden sound, she tilted her head towards the target to make sure she hadn't aroused any suspicion.
The woman hadn't noticed.
Good.
Ruby grinned, now she would just have to wait until her target reached the door… aaaaaannnddd….
NOW!
Quickly unhooking her swords from the balcony, Ruby propelled herself to the balcony over the door and grabbed hold of the railings there with her hooks. The other woman was digging through her purse, so she wouldn't noticed the girl dangling over her
If there was any time to move, it was now.
Silently, Ruby swung her feet over her head and hooked them onto the handles of her sword, and slowly lowered the upper half of her body. The tail of her red coat that reached her knees and hood being brought toward the ground due to gravity. Her black button up and red vest staying locked in place due to the utility slash tightly clinging across her body that held numerous pockets for vials.
Once a little behind, but above the target, the black haired girl silently gathered air through her mouth and-
"Good evening little monkey." Her target said without looking up, amusement lacing her voice.
The girl hanging spat her tongue out and allowed all her breath go, her face showing nothing but disappointment as her target chuckled. "Cinder~!" Ruby whined, flipping down and unhooking her swords by kicking them off. "How did you know?"
"I saw your shadow," the other laughed as she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. "Nice try, though next time. Make sure you're not blocking one of the sources of light." She suggested while pointing to the streetlight.
The brunette pouted, allowing her swords to fold up once more and clipped them on her lower back as she followed the black haired woman into the house.
After hanging her purse and bag on the coat hanger, Cinder turned around with a mischievous grin on her face.
"Oh no!" Ruby warned, but before she could make a dash for it, the amber-eyed woman threw her arms around the younger girl and dropped her weight. "Ack! Ci~nder!" the brunette whined as she struggled to move forward. "Get off me! Cinder!"
"Oh no, whatever should I do?" the woman asked, "It seems as though my legs are no longer capable of holding me up." and with that she allowed more of her weight to drop onto the girl.
"Cinder!" Ruby whined as she struggled to keep them up. But alas, she could not hold both of their weights like that any longer, and so she dropped to the ground.
"Oh my, it looks like my dearest sister is down. I guess I have no choice but to eat all those cookies I brought home." Cinder stated, propping her arms up on the younger girl's back to hold up her upper body.
The teen gasped, attempting to push herself up only to fail in vain. "You wouldn't!"
"I would." Cinder grinned, not that Ruby could see it.
"NOOO!" the brunette wailed, flailing her arms about in an attempt to pull herself from under the black haired woman
"And where do you think you're going little mouse?"
"To eat all of the cookies before you!" Ruby said, still struggling to get away.
"And what makes you think you deserve cookies?" Cinder asked
A pause. "Because I~" The younger sister drawled out, trying to think of something, "I tried really really hard to scare you?"
The older sister tsk-ed at her naïve sibling, "But you failed. So I think you deserve a punishment instead." She stated as she propped herself up to sit on top of the brunette
Ruby paled. "No! Cinder! Don't!" She cried, attempting to crawl away again. Instead, wiggling fingers attacked her sides and she let out a squeal and a loud burst of laughter. "HAHAHA! STOP! CINDER! SIS! HAHAHA! STOP IT!"
Neither one of the girls heard the clanking of boots come up over the younger girl's pleas and laughter.
"I'm still so amazed every time I see Cinder act so…" a pause "Immature."
Letting up on her attack towards the younger girl, the older woman shot a glare at the silver haired boy.
Quickly, he shot his hands out in front of him in the universal sign of peace. "I'm just saying."
Ruby was still catching her breath, but still shot a smile at him. "Mercury!" She cheered
The boy grinned, "What happened squirt?" He asked, "I thought that our plan was foolproof!"
The younger girl pouted, "Apparently she saw my shadow."
Cinder arched a brow; "You mean you collaborated with him on this?" No wonder it failed, Mercury always forgot to consider the more obvious things.
"Yup! We planned and drew on the white board and everything!" Ruby smiled
Cinder rolled her eyes
"I told them it wouldn't work." Another voice sang, stepping up next to Mercury.
"But Emerald~!" Ruby whined, " You always tell us our plans would never work." She groaned, face planting to the floor and allowing her fists to lightly bang on it.
"And I'm always right stupid head." The green haired girl stated, sticking her tongue out.
Ruby returned the gesture in kind.
Cinder rolled her eyes again, "What else did you do today petal?" she asked as she got off of the brunette and stood.
Her younger sister looked up in thought, staying on the floor but now kicking her legs in the air. After a while, it seemed as though she remembered something as her face contorted into a mischievous smirk. She then began snickering as she stared at the green haired girl, whom narrowed her eyes as if saying "Don't you dare." But of course, Ruby ignored the red eyed girl. "I stole from Emerald." She snickered
"Wha-!" Said girl stuttered, "I told you! That one doesn't count!" she growled
"Does so! I stole it fair and square!" Ruby stated.
"You 'stole' a bite of my sandwich! That hardly qualifies as stealing!" the green haired girl huffed.
"Aha! So you agree! I 'stole' something from you! So it counts!" the brunette pointed out, emphasizing her point by pushing herself up off the floor and landing on her feet while pointing at the older teen.
"I think the squirt just made her point loud and clear." Mercury said, causing Emerald to growl.
"Ruby… I believe you deserve several cookies for that successful theft." Cinder stated, proud that her sister was able to steal something from Emerald and be snarky about it.
The brunette cheered while Emerald protested.
"But after you finished eating them, you need to go prepare for your mission tonight?"
"Okay!" Ruby saluted, "Now hand over the cookies woman!" she demanded
Her older sister rolled her eyes, but fished through the bag that she hung earlier. Extracting out a bag of cookies, she handed them over to the youngest teen.
"YESH!" the brunette cheered as she quickly pressed a kiss on Cinder's cheek as thanks and proceeded to tear open the bag and shoveling the cookies into her mouth.
"Now you remember what we all taught you right?" the scarlet dressed woman asked, garnering the other two's attention.
"Mhm…" Ruby nodded while munching on her cooking.
The three suddenly began firing tips off one by one for the girl.
"Remember, if what you're doing requires sneaking past someone, you need to distract your target." Mercury said, "Keep their guard down, and then when it's time, it'll be as easy as…" He snapped his fingers
"And one way to do that is to show them you pickpocketed them!" Emerald uncharacteristically chipped in, causing Ruby to pause in her cookie eating. The green haired girl is usually not one to offer her help, the younger teen more than often times had to plead, bribe, or continuously annoy the other girl for help. She decided that it wasn't worth stopping to eat her cookie for though, so she quickly resumed. "But it really only works if you can get close to them and distract them long enough to steal from them. So I suppose Mercury has a point."
"Of course I do."
"And remember what Neo taught you," Cinder added "If you run into trouble and must engage in a fight, the best thing to do is to drop or disable them from the fight."
"Uh huh…" Ruby muttered distractingly, still eating her cookies.
"And as much as I don't want to admit this, but Roman has a point when he taught you how to get away when it gets to be too much." Mercury sighed, nearly having to force the words out of his mouth.
"Which you won't have to," Cinder smiled "Because I know you'll execute whatever plan you have perfectly, without getting caught. Just remember to have fun alright my little monkey?"
Ruby swallowed the last of her cookies, and gave a bright grin while cookie crumbs littered around her mouth. "Don't worry guys! I got this! Before you know it, I'll be back home and treating myself with a bunch of cookies for a job well don!" she exclaimed as she dashed away to another room, leaving red rose petals at her tail.
Cinder sighed after the brunette left to get ready. This was the young teen's first heist, how could the older sibling not worry?
… Especially when said teen still leaves cookie crumbs on her face after finishing a batch.
All of a sudden, a thud sounded throughout the house.
"I-I'm all right!" Ruby called out
The older sibling let out a long drawled out sigh as Mercury let out a chuckle and Emerald grumbled something that sounded a lot like "What a stupid head".
Cinder promptly turned toward her two subordinates and pinned them with a harsh glare. "Seeing as you two will be helping her… You will ensure her safety and success. Got it?"
"If that's the case, then I don't think we should-" Emerald started
"Don't think." Cinder interrupted. "Obey."
The tanned teen grumbled, "Yes Ma'am"
"Good." With that, she walked away to check up on her sibling
"Man… she loses all sense of fun when she isn't with Ruby…" Mercury grumbled
Ruby jumped from roof to roof, making sure to stay hidden by the shadows as she got closer and closer to her targeted area while keeping one eye closed.
Soon enough, buildings turned into trees and light became scarcer, causing her to open her closed eye to allow her better sight for the darkness. After quite a while of swinging and jumping from tree to tree, she found her destination. A tunnel.
Perching herself on a branch near the entrance of the tunnel, she took out her phone and dialed her companions.
"Heya squirt, running into problems already?" Mercury asked upon picking up the phone.
Ruby rolled her eyes, "No." She harshly whispered, "I just wanted to know if you guys have the trucks and were in position."
"Of course we do! Who do you think you're talking to?"
"A narcissist." The short black haired girl deadpanned
"Squirt! I am hurt." He exaggerated, eliciting a giggle from the younger teen.
"Hehehe, that rhymed" she giggled
"Never mind that, mind telling us exactly why we need such a big van?" Emerald demanded
"You'll find out later." Ruby sang
"Ugh… You're Cinder's sister alright…" Emerald grumbled, and although she couldn't see it, but she was pretty sure her boss's little sister was sticking her tongue out at the tanned girl. "You better not be-"
Ruby saw light coming from the tunnel in the corner of her eye and promptly hung up and pocketed her phone. She reached back to pull a black bowler hat out of her hood, put it on, tugged on her black and red gloves, tensed up her legs, and got ready to jump.
After a few seconds, a truck came out of the tunnel and she only had to give a quick glance to the vehicle's side to confirm that it was the one she wanted.
A Schnee Dust Company truck
At the right moment, Ruby launched herself to the truck, effectively hooking her swords on the side of the vehicle and then pulling herself up. Once she grabbed footing, she quickly made her way to the front, and then peeked through the window from the passenger's side. The sight made her roll her eyes, the driver had rolled down his window, presumably to have the cold night air blow in his face to keep him awake, but seemed to be failing seeing as he squinted and rubbed his eyes.
Righting herself up, Ruby scooted over to the driver's side, and hooked one sword a little away from the door and dropped herself onto the side of the vehicle. She was then able to thrust her free sword through the open window and hook it around the driver's neck, causing him to jump up in his seat from fright.
She cleared her throat and lowered her voice a little, "Good Evening!" She greeted with a smile, and before he could say anything, she pressed something on her sword, causing a yellow dust vial to click in place, and then pulled the trigger, eliciting lightning to cackle from her sword and effectively electrocuting him.
After several seconds had passed, Ruby had rendered the driver unconscious. She then unhooked her sword from his neck, pulled the door open, unbuckled him, pushed him over to the passenger seat, and then took his place as the truck driver.
"Well… That was easy." The young teen giggled, pulling her hood up as she continued driving, taking the truck to where Mercury and Emerald would be waiting.
"Ugh! That insufferable little… STUPID HEAD!" Emerald yelled in frustration. "Just wait until I get my hands on her, that'll show her to hang up on me. I swear. If she weren't Cinder's sister…"
"Now now," Mercury chuckled "I'm sure there's a reason for her sudden hang up. Like, oh I don't know… someone coming in her direction?"
Emerald growled, "Whatever. She better have a good reason "
"Right right," The boy nodded. "But still, I do have to agree that it is rather odd that she wanted us to bring two small trucks..." He eyed the two vehicles parked next to each other. The location she had them wait at was a little odd too, straight off of the main road and a little outside of town. If they weren't careful, some grim could even come roaming towards them. "I can't think of anything that she could possibly steal that would require two mini trucks."
Emerald rolled her eyes, "Knowing her, she would probably try to steal a whole shipment of cookies or something..." causing the gray haired boy to chuckle
"I wouldn't put it past her," he said, amusement laced through his voice. "Hey, remember that cookie heist we had to help her with when we were like... 12?"
"Oh my God..." the red eyed girl groaned, "Don't remind me, that was the stupidest thing I've ever done."
"Uh-huh, whatever. I know you had fun" He chipped "And, I know for a fact that you were proud of her. Probably just as much as Cinder was."
"W-Wha- No I didn't!" She protested "And I wasn't proud! We stole cookies! That's not something to be proud of!"
"Really?" He asked, "Cuz, if I remember correctly, you were kept yelling and grumbling about how an 8 year old could do better than all those stupid goons we were forced to work with and how they should all 'take lessons from her' or how we should have brought her instead of them, because then at least we could have accomplish something."
"Wha-What?! I-I don't know what you're talking about." She huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from him to emphasize her point.
"Uh huh" he smirked "Admit it, you like the squirt"
"I don't" She growled, "She's obnoxious, dim-witted, and... and... Well... A stupid head."
Mercury rolled his eyes, but then saw a flash of light coming from the side and pulled Emerald down while moving behind the trucks. Upon seeing that it was a Schnee Dust company truck, he let out a low whistle. "Man, having that much dust would be nice. It would probably fix our current problem of being behind." He chuckled "But what's it doing out here?"
"Who cares? We should steal it!" Emerald commented.
"As much as I would like to, we still have to wait for..."
The truck pulled to a stop just a little ahead of where they were, and before they could question it, a familiar red hooded figure jumped out from the driver's side and eagerly waved at them.
"Little Red!" Mercury nearly shouted in surprise "What is this? And… why are you wearing Roman's hat? Take that off, before you catch his stupidity."
Ruby eyed the boy with a concerned expression, "It's a Schnee truck... You know... Filled with Dust." She consented to his other demand, knocking the hat back off her head, allowing it to catch into the hood of her sleeveless coat
"You stole a truck?!" He asked
The hooded girl nodded
The two older teens gaped at her, looking back at fourth between the truck and Ruby.
The youngest teen rolled her eyes and trotted over to the back of the truck, picked the lock, and tossed it open, revealing the truck to be indeed filled with boxes and crates of dust.
"Oh my God... She stole a truck." The boy stated
"Uh... Guys... A little help here?" The hooded girl asked, gesturing to the crates around her.
The teens quickly snapped out of their stupor and quickly went to where she was as she hopped in the back. "Mercury, you fill your van up with the refined dust. Emerald, you get the Burn, Uncut crystals."
The two nodded, and with that, Ruby pried open two crates, and began handing Mercury and Emerald the respective boxes.
"How did you manage to steal a truck?" Emerald asked after they had managed to empty a few crates
Ruby smirked as she opened another crate, "I snagged a schedule of shipments from this nice man, and he ended up being in charge of shipping and packaging from a dust warehouse. So after a little snooping, I figured out some of the routes trucks take and with the process of elimination, I deemed this truck to be the safest one to steal."
"I'm impressed squirt." Mercury commented as he was handed another box. "But I'm curious, where did you get the idea to steal a whole truck?"
The brunette gave a sheepish laugh; "Actually, I kind of got the idea from Neo and Emerald."
"What? Me?" The green haired girl asked, shocked and confused.
The younger teen nodded, "Yeah... Remember that time when you joked that we should just start stealing ice cream since we were stealing cookies already? And Neo and I ended up actually thinking about it and we started drawing plans to steal an ice cream truck, but then you got frustrated for some reason and ended up helping us draw out the plan...?"
The older teens stopped what they were doing and stared at the brunette with looks of disbelief, and then slowly, they turned towards each other.
"Did she...?" Mercury started
"She did..." Emerald nodded.
They both turned their faces towards the hooded girl again, still with a look of shock and disbelief.
"She pulled Operation Ice Cream on a Dust Truck..."
"Alright guys! Chop chop! Time's running out!" Ruby stated
"What's the hurry? The night is long." Mercury commented
"Well, according to the time table, this truck is estimated to arrive at the warehouse soon. So unless we want a search party coming out…"
The boy sighed, "Then chop chop. I got it… You know, I think you're having too much fun bossing us around."
Ruby giggled, "Am I that obvious?"
Emerald rolled her eyes and made a face at the younger teen who then returned the gesture in kind.
After that, they continued working in silence. Making sure to fill their smaller trucks with the specified dust. This continued on for about 20 minutes until finally, they were finished.
"Remind me why we couldn't just take the truck?" Emerald groaned
"Because then it would be too obvious that this was planned out and having it would make it easier to track us down!" Ruby hissed. "Now you two go back home, I need to take care of some stuff."
The two quirked an eyebrow, "What stuff?"
The younger teen gave a mischievous smirk as she pulled the hat out of her hood again and gave it a little wave.
Mercury and Emeralds eyes widened as they registered what she was going to do, both laughing to show their approval.
"Alright little red, we'll drop this off at the warehouse. See you back home." Mercury grinned.
Ruby waved the two teens off as they drove away. She then turned around and gave a small huff as she twirled a sword in one hand and plopped Roman's hat back on. She hopped back up into the truck, pried open some more crates, and scattered a bit of the dust around inside the truck (making sure to pocket a few of the yellow and green ones). Hopping back out, she trotted over to the front and peeked through the window to make sure that the driver was still unconscious, he was. She opened the door, and dragged the driver back over to his original seat, making sure to buckle him back up, turned the truck on, and had him slump over the wheel. She quickly hopped out, slammed the door shut, and began walking the other way, making sure to drop Roman's hat off near the truck.
After gaining a big of distance, she jumped back into the trees and made her way back to her home.
Cinder was attempting to patiently wait for the return of her sister, but her nerves refused to allow her to stay still. So she opted to pace, which was just… Distasteful. Stopping, she turned her head towards the clock, and scowled at it as though it were the device's fault for causing her sister to be late.
She felt it mocking her the moment the long hand ticked by.
So she set it on fire.
Right when she did that, the door opened and she quickly turned to welcome her sister.
"Hey Cin- Woah!" Emerald scurried over to the nearest fire extinguisher to spray on the wall.
Mercury walked in after, noticing the vicious, eye glowing glare that Cinder was sending their way. "That's no pleasant way to greet someone…" He grumbled
"Where's Ruby?" She demanded
"She wanted to stay behind and put some last minute touches on her plan. Which, by the way, you won't believe what she managed to pull off." Mercury grinned
"Yeah, it was." Emerald commented, "Don't tell her I said this, but I was pretty impressed."
Cinder arched an eyebrow, if Emerald was impressed then the feat her sister pulled off must have been. "Tell me more."
As she got closer to the city, Ruby felt multiple presences all around her and couldn't help but let out a groan. Dealing with a bunch of grim wasn't exactly on her list of things to do now, even if it was a little odd how close they were to the city. So, she hastened her speed, leaving a trail of rose petals behind, only to find a small pack of beowolves coming from in front of her. She tried to dash left, but they were coming from that direction as well. She turned around just in time to more pulling up.
She was surrounded by packs of 4 in each direction.
One of them, she assumed was the alpha, let out a vicious snarl.
Ruby slowly brought her hands towards her weapons and unfolded them. Still keeping an eye on the grim, she flicked a switch on each of her swords, allowing green clips to click in place, and then dropped close to the ground and made a sweeping motion, creating a small gust to cause the dust in her immediate area to temporarily blind the beowolves. She used that chance to hook onto the handle of her right sword, ensuring that it hooked at the same area of her trigger, and dashed forward to swing her extended, whip-like sword at the grim from the side, but she didn't hit them with the swords as expected.
The beowolves were suddenly falling or flying back due a sudden harsh blast of wind. Of course, the wind also pushed Ruby in the opposite direction, but she expected this and used the momentum to help give her a start to dash over to some of the grim coming up from behind her. Due to how quick she was, she slid past them and unhooked her swords, allowing both her weapons to be wielded in each hand once more. Using their confusion, she quickly made a jump spin through soulless creatures, causing a mini tornado and sending them flying in all directions.
Once more, she was sailing through the air, flipping her swords so they would point down; she stabbed them into the ground to halt her momentum just when the rest of the beowolves came up to her.
The moment one wolf was just in reach though, she propelled herself forward, keeping a hold on her swords, and gave a good double kick at it, the force causing her swords being unsheathed from the earth. Upon landing, she turned to give a nice spinning hook kick to one wolf, then hopped to her other foot and gave another one a round house kick. The remaining creatures then attempted to surround her.
Glancing around, Ruby made a quick decision. Swinging her swords toward the earth, she shot a blast of air to send her flying above them. She then flicked a switch on one sword, switching the green clip with a yellow one, and then clapped her swords together, immediately causing her hooks to shift to the side and extending a little. The result of her doing so, made it look like a crossbow. She pulled the trigger on the sword with the yellow clip, causing the space in between the main body of the swords form lightning, due to it being charge back and forth so quickly, it began to take form. Pointing her crossbow down, she took aim at the closely gathered grim, and pulled the other trigger, causing a loud clap of thunder to sound as she released the lightning to the ground and effectively killing the grim.
As she safely landed, she unclipped her weapons, and sheathed them once more. She took a glance at her handiwork and gave herself a pat on the back. Then… She partook in something she does very frequently…
"You did a good job Ruby" She began
She then dashed over to stand in front of where she was, "Oh why thank you Rubes!"
"You know what you should do when get home?"
"I don't know! What should I do?"
"You… my friend, should treat yourself to a cookie!"
A gasp, "You really think so?"
"Actually no."
A pout
"I think you should treat yourself to a whole strawberry cake!"
"OH MY GOSH! YES!"
"Hm. Rewarding oneself with a treat after finishing a task. Thereby turning an otherwise frightening event into something positive should it ever occur again… Yes Yes! I like it!" A new voice said
"EEP!" Ruby jumped as she turned to face the intruder while drawing out her swords. She found herself staring at a man with green hair and large round glasses simply standing and taking a sip out of his thermos. She quirked an eyebrow up and lightly lowered her swords, "U-Um… Hello…" She greeted
He took a sip of his thermos. "Good evening"
They stayed silent, staring at each other.
"So… I'm… Just gonna go…" She awkwardly stated.
The man took another sip.
"Okay…" She said, slowly stepping away.
"Miss... Ruby, was it?" The man suddenly asked, most likely hearing her talk to herself earlier.
A pause, "Yup, that's me." She politely smiled
"Hmm… I'm Doctor Oobleck." He introduced himself while taking another sip from his thermos. "Miss Rose, Did you know that these beowolves have been roaming near Vale for the past few days? The business workers close to here were growing so uncomfortable and restless; they made a request at Beacon Academy for a huntsman or huntress to eliminate the threat. I was the huntsman that they sent." He rapidly stated
"O-oh… I… didn't know… Sorry?" Ruby asked, unsure of the point he was trying to make
"No no, it's quite alright. Although, I must say, because you have relinquished me of my mission, I have no other choice but to bring you back to Beacon with me when I relay my report concerning the mission."
"Oh… uh…Okay…" the teen said with a small smile
"Excellent! Most excellent! We'll leave now!" He stated, turning around and about to march away.
"But…" Ruby called out, causing him to pause "Can I just call my sister real quick to let her know I won't be coming home?" she asked while pointing to her phone
"Of course! But of course! Yes! Please do so!" He rapidly stated
She then proceeded to call her sister as she followed after the green haired man.
"Ruby? Where are you? Is everything all right? Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" Cinder asked
Ruby rolled her eyes affectionately, "I'm fine sis. Really. I'm just calling to tell you that I might end up coming home a bit later tonight."
"… Why?"
"I ran into this huntsman and I may or may not have accidentally done his job for him… So now, he's taking me to Beacon to give a report or something like that…" Ruby informed her sister
"Hmmm…" Cinder hummed as she processed this information. "Although unexpected, it is a rather pleasant surprise. One that will help you enroll into Beacon later. Alright, I will accept your tardiness for tonight."
Ruby grinned. "I try my best." She saw an air ship landing a little ahead of her and the Doctor. "I have to go, don't stay up too late waiting for me."
"I won't" Cinder lied.
"Liar." Ruby chided
The older sister chuckled. "I love you"
"I love you too sis." The younger sibling responded, and then hung up as she climbed into the airship.
Cinder stared down at her phone after she had ended her call with Ruby. She got up and picked up the plate of strawberry cake on the table to put it away.
All of the lights were out and her two subordinates were sleeping already as it was past midnight.
She sat down at the chair facing toward the door and stared at it, as though willing her sister to come through it.
"Come back soon…"