Chapter 6
The last day of March, Ruby and Clayton had caught the Patch Island ferry to Vale. As their last year at Signal Academy ended nearly two weeks ago, the Crimson Couple, on track to enroll at Beacon Academy, had school shopping to do over the spring break.
The two stopped at what felt like the millionth merchant of the evening, a weapon store, and browsed through the selection of available ammunition. Of course there was another reason they'd gone out to Vale… However what plans they might have made for later in the night were set aside the moment the notorious Roman Torchwick and a few of Juniors Black suit wearing goons decided to make a show of robbing the establishment.
Roman pulled the cigar from his mouth and blew smoke into the face of the old man behind the counter. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a gun store open this late that stocks Rubrumium and Petatium." Roman said, before the hired muscle to his left pulled a handgun from his suit jacket, and pointed it at the old man. "Alright gents you know the drill. If it's not bolted down it's coming with us." Roman continued, as the rest of the goons took out their weapons of varying uses, and started stripping the shelves of all the boxed, bagged, canned, and bottled dust they could get their hands on.
In the back corner of the shop, Ruby read over the velocity listed on a box of steel core .50 cal rounds with her CD headphones over her ears, and just down the aisle, Clayton was comfortably down on all four limbs, browsing the selection of 12 gauge SHI brand "Dust Shot," before he overheard the one way conversation being had at the counter. Pushing his knuckles off the floor and hinging at the hips to stand upright, Clayton peeked his head up over the shelf, and saw the 5 men, 4 of which looked armed. "Shit…" He muttered to himself, before ducking down onto all fours and quietly making his way over to Ruby.
Clayton bent his knees into a squat, before he tapped Ruby on the shoulder. Ruby pulled the headphone off her left ear, and hummed, instinctively finding her boyfriend to be below eye level, a common occurrence when he was on all fours. "We've got a problem." He said, pointing towards the counter with one of his arms, (which were longer than his legs,) as he slipped King Slayer from his back.
Leaning back to look at the counter from around the shelf, Ruby saw one of the black suited men with his gun drawn, and he seemed to have noticed her, just before she ducked back behind the shelf. "Crap, I think he saw me." She said, before pulling Crescent Rose off her waist.
"Are you sure?" Clayton asked, holding his shotgun in his right hand, as he rested his upper body weight on his left fist.
"I saw you little girl! Come out!" Ruby and Clayton both heard the man shout, before Clayton shrugged.
"Better do what he says." Clayton said, before both he and Ruby smirked, before Clayton grabbed her leg with his free hand.
As the suited man came around the corner of the shelf, the girl he'd seen was thrown at him, the force she carried sending the two flying out the shop's front window, where the man rolled over twice, as Ruby flipped onto her feet, and unfolded Crescent Rose.
The three suited men and Roman Torchwick looked through the broken window to Ruby out on the street, as the man she'd knocked over started to stand up, then turned their attention to the one who'd thrown her. Clayton smiled, flashing his short fang's as he stood upright and cocked his shotgun.
Roman looked around at his men. "Well don't just stand there, you idiots, kill them." He said, as two of his goons split to deal with Clayton, as the other exited the store to help his friend who was now up on his feet. Roman turned around to the old man, knocking the revolver out of the shop keeps hands with his cane. "And don't think I forgot about you." He said, before taking the case filled with all the explosives he could carry with his free hand.
Clayton put a spread of pellet's into the chest of his nearest attacker, and though he was winded, the man's aura saved him. Rather than rerack his gun as the second man approached and swung his red machete overhead, Clayton hooked the incoming blade with the hatchet head of his shotgun, and swept it out and down away from him, before the ape-man dropped his fists to the floor, and hiked his torso into the air as he spun, donkey kicking the man in the head with both feet, sending the man tumbling into his friend.
Outside, Ruby twirled Crescent Rose, as she slammed the pole arm's haft into the head of the man who'd just gotten up, knocking him out cold, before she pulled the trigger and hit the man coming out of the store with a .50 cal round, the impact knocking him back about 5 feet, and battering him through his aura, though otherwise not breaking it.
The Crimson couple, from either side of the broken window, rechambered their weapons and turned their attention to Roman, as he shoved the old man out the door with the end of his cane. "Worth every cent, truly." Roman said, as he stepped out of the store, looking at his men, then at Ruby and Clayton. "Well then, Little Red, it's been an eventful evening, but unless you and your pet monkey want to be cleaning up this geezers guts off the sidewalk, then I'd suggest you drop your guns and refrain from following me." Roman said, only to be caught off guard by Clayton pumping off a shell into his shoulder, chipping at Roman's aura, and causing him to stumble sideways, giving the old man the chance to run away from the danger.
"I'm not a monkey…" Clayton said, slinging his shotgun, Roman now focusing on him.
"Oh no, here he goes." Ruby muttered, as Clayton stood up tall.
"I'm an APE!" He shouted, before rushing on all fours at Roman, who only had just enough time to raise his cane, and fire off an explosive round into Clayton's face, stunning him mid charge, granting Roman enough room to evade being bulldozed, as Clayton fell, rolling over his shoulder.
As the sound of rotor wash could be heard beating through the night sky, Roman chuckled to himself, while sprinting off down the street.
Ruby ran over to Clayton, and helped roll him over. "Come on, he's getting away." She said, pointing out the gangster climbing a ladder to roof level, as the sound of the aircraft grew closer. Without warning, Clayton scooped Ruby up with one hand, placed her on his back, and began climbing the nearest exterior wall of the store, his calloused fingers and toes easily gripping into the nooks, crannies, and ledges of the brick storefront. Wrapping around the building, Clayton jumped clear across the alleyway to the fire escape beside the ladder, and pulled himself and Ruby up to stand on the roof where Roman stopped at the far edge.
"Stop right there!" Ruby said loudly as she got off of Clayton's back, pointing Crescent Rose at Roman, the sound of rotor blades whirling through the air getting louder. "You've got nowhere to run."
"Oh I wouldn't be so sure of that." Roman said while looking north, as a black and red helicopter swopped low over the roof, before rotating, as it pulled around behind Roman, presenting it's starboard side to the Crimson Couple. The door to the helicopter slid open, and Roman was pulled inside by one of the black suited men.
"He has a Huey?" Clayton asked himself, pulling his shotgun off his back, and running on three limbs toward the helicopter, as Ruby took potshots at the aircraft.
"You're a little late hot stuff." Roman said to the helicopter's pilot, as she started to pull the aircraft up, only for the cabin to jolt, as Clayton had managed to grab the landing rails. Looking over the side of the helicopter, Roman saw Clayton dangelling from the rail with one hand, before the ape-man pointed his shotgun up into the cabin, and let a shell fly, Narrowly missing Roman. "Son of a bitch!" Roman cursed, as he held his hand over his left ear. "You stupid monkey!" Roman said, as he swatted Clayton's knuckle with his cane twice, causing the boy to lose his grip. "Just die already!" Roman said, before pointing the hollow muzzle of his cane gun at Clayton's face.
The explosion rocked the helicopter, but Clayton, taking the worst of the blast, had fallen from the landing rail, the ground a dangerous several dozen meters below him. But suddenly, Clayton felt weightless, as a purple hued field of energy surrounded him, slowly lowering him back to the roof below, as the helicopter flew away to the south.
Ruby turned to see Glynda Goodwitch, professional huntress, carrying the semi-quadrupedal boy with her telekinetic semblance, before she dropped him safely to the rooftop. As Clayton stood up, he and Ruby looked to the huntress before them. Then at the destroyed property around them. Both teens sheepishly rubbed their necks.
The two, following their detainment by Glinda and her semblance, were taken to a small room at the nearest Vale police office, and given a lecture about the dangers of getting into a gunfight in the middle of the street at their age, and the legality of chasing after criminals without proper licensing. "They started it." Ruby said, as Clayton remained silent, intent on calling his father once allowed.
"And I'm not going to argue otherwise. If it were up to me you'd be sent on your way with a pat on the back, and a slap on the wrist." Glynda said, looking between Clayton and Ruby. "However, someone would like to speak to you." She said, as a green suited man came into the room, a plate of cookies and brownies in his hand. Clayton and Ruby stiffened up. They recognized their soon to be headmaster instantly. Professor Ozpin was, as always, maintaining a friendly demeanor.
"Ruby Rose…" Ozpin said, taking a moment to study her eyes, one's no doubt inherited from her mother. The color of polished silver, which reflected the light from the room. "... And Clayton Sanguis. Prospecting students of Beacon Academy, with letters of referral from four teachers at Signal Academy…" He said, setting the plate of sweets on the table. Ruby eyed the cookies on the plate and gingerly took one… One soon became five, and Clayton then gave in with a sigh. Peanut butter brownies were his weakness, and it seemed they were not going to be facing any penalties under the law if their headmaster to be was coming to visit instead of a detective. "Outside of some light property damage, the blame for which, outside of a single broken window, falls onto neither of you, you both did an excellent job attempting to stop a crime in progress." Ozpin said.
"Technically one of them got away with a case full of explosives." Clayton said.
"And yet, four men are in the station's holding cell for armed robbery. I'd say that makes your attempt at thwarting them passable." Ozpin said. "But why exactly did you intervene once the shopkeeper was safe from harm?"
"Like Clayton said, the one in the white coat was getting away with the store owner's stuff. We couldn't just sit there and do nothing." Ruby said with a shrug.
"And it is reasoning exactly like that, which I want to see among my students… I assume you know who I am?" Professor Ozpin asked, receiving head nods from the Crimson Couple. The professor hummed at that. "So why exactly would a young woman such as yourself be attending my school?" Ozpin asked.
Ruby and Clayton shared a look before she spoke. "Well… I want to help people. I've always wanted to be a huntress. It runs in the family I guess. My sister, My dad, uncle… Even My mom." Ruby said, a hint of sadness creeping in.
Ozpin hummed again. "And you Mr. Sanguis? What would motivate a man like you to become a hunter? Surely an apprenticeship under your father would lead to a more secure line of work in criminal prosecution?" He asked. Clayton wiped the brownie crumbs away from his face, and opened his mouth to speak, only to lose his words for a second.
"I… I have a great sense of gratitude for the kingdom of Vale, not many Faunus are lucky enough to be born here, much less be taken into the kingdom like I was. I wish to express that gratitude by defending it and its people, my people, from any who wish to do it harm." Clayton said.
Ozpin nodded. "A sentiment not found in many of today's youth I'm afraid… I'll be looking forward to seeing you two at initiation. Run along home now. School starts in a week, and you'll need all your energy, I assure you." Ozpin said, before turning and leaving the room.
Ozpin shut the door to the room, before slowly walking down the hallway, stepping past the three officers guarding the next door over. He paused for only a moment before entering the dimly lit room, and took a seat across from a raven haired girl looking at the one way glass to her right as if disinterested in him, though her cat ears turning towards the sound of his chair squeaking against the floor proved she was listening.
"Now then, Miss Belladonna… Why don't you tell me exactly why you turned yourself in?" Ozpin asked with a soft smile.