The alley intersection was far removed from the main streets of Vale, well into the dark crevasses of building where windows ceased to peek and the rain had a hard time reaching them. Torchwick knew of his situation, and it's advantages, taking this time to explain his situation up to this point before finishing, "Ruby my dear, I'm afraid to say I'm no longer your enemy in this lonely world of which we live."
"How do I know you're not lying?" Ruby said with a shake in her voice.
"Because, I've got nothing to lose and it looks like you need to much help to question me." He said with and interested raise in his eyebrows.
"What are you implying?" Ruby backed away out of fear of the idea.
"That we team up of course. I know where the kitty cat is and you have the firepower to get her back, and I know your team is a little preoccupied at the moment."
Ruby frowned at the mention of her teammates condition, "Where is she?"
"Na ah ah, let's not be hasty here, we need a plan, right?" He then put his hand out to shake.
"Yes, in order to save her." Then shook his hand, sealing her fate.
"Let us go then Ms. Ruby Rose, I believe revenge is calling to us it's name, and it's name is Cinder Fall." He then began walking past her, urging her to follow.
And so they went, traveling through the downtown of Vale, making use of every shortcut Roman knew of. They passed by slums and homeless shacks, destroyed dumpsters and deteriorated windows of years and eras forgotten. During their time the world began to seem darker, viler, cruder. The world of fairytales that Ruby knew was falling apart in front of her as Roman described the lives of the people they passed by.
"See that one there? He was a cop a couple years ago, dropped him like a rock when they found out he was leaking criminal activity within the force." Roman at this point was walking backwards through the twists and turns as to get facial recognition and response to his statements. "That one, with the eye patch and the peg leg? He's no pirate, no. In fact, he was a victim of torture, Junior had his way with him a while back when he couldn't pay off his debts."
"Junior?" Ruby spoke up amongst the tragedy.
"He's a mafia boss of sorts, the kind you don't want to find in a back alley. Without an appointment that is." Roman chuckled to himself and his morbid sense of humor. "There's a world of disappointment waiting for you in here my dear." Roman finished.
"It doesn't have to be that way you know…" Ruby tried to talk up her stance. "We can fix it you know."
"You're right too." Roman said, beginning to wish for her rose colored glasses. "The question is… How far will you go to end it?"
Eventually they reached a stop in their gruelling travels through the cold night and came across a club. Ruby looked to Roman with confusion, "Why are we here?"
"Remember the poor schmucks you kicked to the curb at the dust shop?" Roman replied.
"Yes?" Ruby wasn't quite catching where this was going.
"This is where I got them, as well as many other things." Roman said before opening the door, base feeling their ears as it lingered.
"Oooooh… That makes sense." She said as she walked through the held door. Walking through was something different though, she plugged her ears almost immediately from the blaring noise that came from inside. Roman hurried her forward, "Don't worry, the ear wrenching fades sometime after you reach the bar." Ruby made herself step forward until she reached the bar, Roman's words proving true and her beginning to listen in on him as he talked.
"Hey Junior, long time no see, huh?" Roman began.
Junior looked to Roman with a look of business on his face, "Is that always how you introduce yourself to a man after you get done wrecking six of his henchmen?"
"Of course not, but I paid for them fair and square-" Roman was interrupted.
"That's the girl who did it, isn't she?" Junior put up a pistol towards her, but as Ruby realized what was going on Roman had already replied by pulling the pistol down.
"She's not for sale." Quickly answered the thief.
Junior looked around him and then asked his henchmen to fill in, "Tie up the girl, she'll make a pretty penny."
"I said no Hei!" Roman said before belting him across the face and knocking the man to the floor. Roman didn't stop there though, he jumped on top of him and grabbed something out of his jacket before punching him one more time and then running. "Let's go Ruby!"
"Uh, yeah!" She said before following, the music screeching to halt and the club converging on them as they made their escape.
The two burst through the door and Roman closed it quickly, "Red! Throw me the chair!" he said, pointing to the chair next to the smoking area. Ruby said nothing, only throwing the chair to him and then giving him covering fire to slow down the horde of minions.
Roman grabbed it and slammed it off the asphalt, snapping the legs of the chair off, "Now! The door!" He yelled.
"Got it." She replied before using her intense speed to show up next to the doors and smash them shut, followed by Roman throwing the legs of the chair into the handles.
"Let's go, even a metal door won't last long against that many people." Roman stated very rushed before jogging to an apartment complex fire-escape and climbing up, Ruby soon following.
"Where are we-" Ruby began and was then interrupted by Roman, "Shush now, they never look up."
Much quieter now, Ruby started to speak, "Roman, did you just save me?"
Roman's eyes quickly took a look of shock, although he was turned so that Ruby wouldn't see it. He pulled out his last cigar and lit it, "Don't think too hard on it kid, I'm your partner right now aren't I?"
"I guess…" Ruby looked to the floor, wondering to herself now, wondering what was lying behind his cold eyes. "Why do you steal Roman?" She said, almost to herself.
Roman faced toward her and they both sat down, "You wanna know why I steal?"
Ruby looked up, "Yeah, why do you break the law, hurt people, run from the cops?"
"It's simple really, I do it to protect people." Roman began, wondering to himself why he was unveiling his emotions to a little girl.
"How? How was what you did to Blake protecting people?" Ruby got emotional at his response.
Roman ignored her comment and threw her the things he just took from Junior, "These are all the activities of Junior's gang in the past month. With these I can get the largest criminal underground in Vale. All evidence to what he's done."
"But why wouldn't you do that as a cop?" Ruby pleaded.
"Would a mob boss let a police officer that close to him?" Roman replied and blew his smoke in her face.
"I suppose not…" Ruby said, a look of confusion wisping across her face.
"You're beginning to understand, now let's get some rest." He put out his cigar and layed down where he was.
"Right here?" Ruby whined.
"Yep, welcome to my life." He stated before he closed his eyes.
"Goodnight… Roman." Ruby said, spending her time as she attempted to fall asleep reflecting on what she was doing, a mix of excited and scared.