Ren crouched in the shadows of Vale's warehouse district, completely concealed from prying eyes. This was his eighteenth position in the last half-hour, and so far none of the warehouses he had scanned contained anything living.
Not making a sound, the martial artist pulled his aura back from inside the building and stood. Moving like the shadow he so resembled, Ren blurred across pools of moonlight, senses at their limits to identify any approaching threats. They needed to identify Roman's base of operations, and the sooner they could do that, the sooner they could factor that information into the plan.
Or, as Jaune liked to call it, The Plan.
Still, capitalisation wouldn't make a difference if they didn't have the information needed to take action. Hence Ren spending tonight doing what he did best – information gathering. Crouching down beside another warehouse, Ren's aura expanded around him in a cloud. That cloud passed through the wall beside him, probing for any signs of life.
Still nothing. Retracting his aura once again, the martial artist moved to his feet and made for his next target. There were almost seven hundred warehouses in this part of Vale, and he only had so much time to work with.
It all depended on how long his team could keep the boss occupied.
Roman Torchwick had long ago decided that he hated children. In fact, if he took the time to think about it, he had probably hated children ever since he was one. The tantrums, the mess, the complete lack of any meaningful intelligence...
Yes, he hated children. Which was probably why Monty had decided to punish him by putting them everywhere he went.
A few weeks back once of his heists had been wrecked by a kid in a red hood. After that, Cinder had started sending her terrible twosome around to 'check on his progress'. And now...now there was this.
Three armed kids, their heads entirely concealed by black masks, were busily wiping the street with his men. Well, technically they were Junior's men...which was going to be a whole headache in and of itself.
The heist had been going just as planned. Wee hours of the morning, all-night Dust shop...not many people around, great opportunity to gather more resources for phase 2. Then the first man into the building had exited via the window, and Roman realised it was going to be one of those nights.
Two sword and shield combos and one massive war hammer. Between the three of them, seven of his men were down and out. Four were still standing...but that was a situation quickly remedied. As he watched and considered just how many cigars he'd need to deal with this later, Roman watched one of his men sail upwards in a gentle arc...before crashing down at this feet.
The master criminal let out a long suffering sigh, looking up to confirm that he was indeed the last man standing. Green eyes eyed the three figures critically, sizing them up and adding what he'd learned from watching them fight. They're a close knit group. The two shield users especially, they've got real synergy. The smaller one less so, but it's still pretty good.
Twirling Melodic Cudgel in one hand, Vale's most fashionable thief began to stroll forward. The one with the red sword is by far the most skilled of the three. Hammer knows what she's doing, but has a long way to go in terms of technique. The guy isn't bad, but he's definitely the weakest of the three.
Roman put out his cigar, tossing it into a nearby drain. Piece of cake.
Jaune watched the red-haired man approach, Crocea Mors held tightly in his fist. The grunts had been easily dealt with, being average human combatants. Roman however...Roman was an entirely different story.
We don't have the element of surprise. We don't have any aces up our sleeve like Blake did on the train. The three of us won't be enough to take him.
His grip flexed, even as the blonde led the charge towards the criminal. But we don't need to take him...we just need to hold him.
The red-haired man's weapon came up, a Dust round taking flight toward Jaune. He angled his shield upward, redirecting the shot instead of letting it detonate on him. Mind the civilians... More shots followed, and Jaune sent each of them into the sky.
Unfortunately, that meant that his shield covered his eyes for a few seconds. That gave the criminal plenty of time to swing his weapon like a club, driving the air out of Jaune's lungs and knocking him back. Pyrrha used the opening to get right up in Torchwick's face, Miló and Akoúo̱ fending off attacks right and left.
The flurry of blows the criminal rained down on her were difficult to defend against, the onslaught coming from various trajectories and all of them powerful. The warrior held her ground though, keeping the man's attention on her.
To the side of the battling pair, Jaune made signals to Nora. The girl ran across to her leader, as if she were going to help him up...but instead, she jumped toward him, as if she intended to drop kick him. Jaune raised his shield, providing a platform for her to rest on momentarily. Then, he pushed her forward as she kicked off the shield, sending her forward like a rocket.
Torchwick saw her coming, swaying out of the way while maintaining his flow of attacks on Pyrrha. Jaune was right behind his team mate, leading with a slash at his opponent's mid section. It was knocked away casually, and the man struck out with a blow for the blonde's face. Taking the hit on his shield, Jaune continued trying to attack in order to take pressure off his partner.
If Pyrrha can get on the offensive, we can turn the tide. Of course, that would require that they presented more firepower than the man could handle. This was apparently not the case, as Melodic Cudgel seemed to interpose itself wherever a strike was intended to land. The man was a whirlwind, every attempt to hurt him being blown away.
Jaune tried to go for a shield-bash, but the momentary hole in his defences allowed Roman to point the business end of Melodic Cudgel right in his face. There was an explosion and a flash of light, and the blonde was lifted off his feet and bounced away across the street. Damn, that hurt.
Getting to his feet, Jaune could feel the excess aura he was drawing accelerating the healing process. It had taken the brunt of the hit too, and he was back in the fight after barely ten seconds.
This was the first time the red-haired man had seemed truly surprised, and Jaune knew that he wouldn't be underestimated again. Still, the blonde returned to his attempts to breach Roman's defences, while Pyrrha still deflected blow after blow, trying to identify an opening.
I don't like this...where's Hammer? That was a dangerous unknown, and the master criminal wasn't fond of unknowns. His answer came moments later when a whistling sound from above met his ears, and he fired Melodic Cudgel straight up after parrying another blow from the swordsman.
There was a detonation from above him as the approaching warrior collided with the Dust round, her trajectory ruined. The strike intended for Roman never landed as Nora was forced to use Magnhild's detonation to lessen the impact of her crash landing.
She wasn't going to be in great shape after that, but she could probably get back in the fight if she was given a chance to rest. But Jaune had been watching Roman throughout the fight, had studied him from news broadcasts and the Beacon newspaper archives.
Torchwick was a criminal – a damn good one at that. He got where he was by never leaving loose ends or unknowns, by being ruthless and methodical. So when Melodic Cudgel was raised to point directly at Nora's slumped form, the blonde had known it was coming.
Before the Dust round could discharge, Jaune interposed himself between his team mate and Roman, shield pressed right against the weapon's muzzle. Normally, that would have resulted in the full force being expelled into Jaune's shield, which would undoubtedly have hurt and carried him off his feet.
However, in that split second Roman's attention was off Pyrrha. She had the time she needed to pull hard on Jaune's shield, her Semblance letting him stand his ground when the trigger was pulled. As a result, the blast intended for Nora was contained to Roman's weapon...and Jaune wasn't moving.
The resulting explosion lifted the criminal off his feet, throwing him several feet back. He landed on his feet, but that had been a palpable hit. Looking up, the immaculately dressed crime lord narrowed his eyes at the approaching swordspeople. These kids...
When the two reached him, the criminal immediately launched into a massive offensive on the male. He held for a couple of seconds, but he couldn't keep up with the seasoned warrior and was soon disarmed. The female sword user froze as Roman pressed Melodic Cudgel to the kid's temple, using him as a shield.
"Alright kiddies, this has been fun. But playtime's over. You've made a real mess of an otherwise beautiful evening, and so I'm going to be real clear about how this goes. I'm going to walk away with your boyfriend here. If I see you even twitch, he's done. You understand me?" The warrior standing in front of him didn't move for a few moments, but then nodded its head.
Roman started moving backwards, having already planned his evac from this heist. As he approached a plaza, the Bullhead which had been signalled as soon as the heist went south descended from above. The door opened, the twelfth member of the group Roman had taken into the store acting as pilot. "Come on boss, we gotta go!"
The crime lord pushed his hostage forward hard, putting him off balance. "Sorry kid, but I've had it up to here with you people. Maybe now they'll get the message." Before the kid could even turn around, Roman levelled Melodic Cudgel at him.
He emptied all his remaining Dust rounds into the black-masked figure, leaving it crumpled against the wall of a building across the plaza. Then he turned around and leaped into the Bullhead, the door immediately closing behind him.
"Get us out of here. I'm gonna need a serious drink before I tell Cinder we fluffed another heist." The pilot nodded, the ship taking to the skies and out of sight.
Pyrrha grabbed Crocea Mors and sprinted forward as soon as she heard the detonations, Nora following behind more slowly. She arrived at the plaza in time to see the Bullhead flying away, and her eyes scanned for her leader.
He was fetched up against a house, the bricks around him cracked from his impact. His nondescript clothing was in bad shape, and he wasn't moving. Dropping Jaune's weapons at his side, the red-haired warrior pulled off her mask and pressed two fingers to the blonde's neck. Laying her head on his chest, she closed her eyes and listened.
He was breathing, and there was a pulse. Sighing to herself, the warrior leaned back a bit. "Well, that was an eye-opening experience." A low groan was Jaune's reply, as he tried separate himself from the wall. Some dust trickled away from demolished bricks as he managed to sit up, his partner immediately lying him down with his head in her lap.
"...more like an eye-closing experience..." he breathed, wincing as Pyrrha gently ran her hands down his arms and across his chest.
"I'm not feeling any broken bones...you know I'm still not happy with you using such an untested technique?" The blonde tried to nod an affirmative, but decided it wasn't worth the pain.
"I know partner, I know. But it worked, I'm alive. No matter how how much I might regret it right now..." He groaned again as he made an attempt to sit up, but his red-haired partner kept her hands gently on his shoulders.
"Jaune, you know better than to try and move in your state. Nora, signal Ren will you? Tell him where we are." Nora fired off a salute, wincing as she did so, and returned to the Dust store.
The owner stiffened as she walked in, black mask in place. Giving him a smile, the blue-eyed warrior collected the three backpacks belonging to her team. "Sorry about the mess~ Don't forget to call the police!"
With her parting advice, the hammer-wielding girl skipped off into the early morning darkness of Vale, reuniting with her team just as the store's owner picked up the phone. Setting the backpacks down by her team mates, Nora retrieved her scroll. Powering it on, she sent their current position as a message to Ren, then settled down next to her leader to wait.
Ren felt his scroll vibrate silently in his pocket, and immediately retracted his aura from the building next to him. He'd managed to discover that Roman wasn't based in the sector of the district furthest from where they had previously stayed...and that the district had patrols.
They wore Grimm masks and simple armoured uniforms, a familiar emblem painted across the breastplates.
The White Fang.
That told Ren that his leader's assumption that the Warehouse District was where Roman had his base had merit. The crime lord was working with the organisation, according to the blonde. Still, it made getting around more difficult.
But he'd received the message to get out of there, meaning Roman had left the scene of the heist. He wouldn't come straight here – assuming he had used a Bullhead to escape, at least. He would land it somewhere out of the way, then get back to his base using several vehicles. It was a highly effective means of shaking trackers, and Ren would bet good money that a criminal as adept as Torchwick would have been doing it for years.
So, Ren started moving again. Flowing like liquid from one pool of shadow to the next, he slipped around every White Fang member like a ghost. It took him ten minutes to exit the Warehouse District, and he immediately lowered his hood. Looking around, the martial artist simply walked along the street as if he'd been there for hours.
Drawing his scroll and fixing a bored look on his face as he read Nora's message, he was just another teenager on a late-night stroll to get away from his parents. Iridescent Plaza, across from Dust to Dust. Jaune down. Sighing to himself, the martial artist closed the device and pocketed it.
He accelerated from walking pace to a casual jog, moving to meet up with his team.
Twenty minutes after he received the message, Ren jogged into Iridescent Plaza. His three team mates were near a semi-demolished wall, the blonde leader lying down as his partner let her fingers rest lightly on his hand. Nora was seated beside them, eyes bright as she talked about how they'd so nearly had him.
Coming to a halt beside the trio, Ren squatted down to their level. "I'm here. So, how'd the information gathering go on this end?" Jaune turned his head to look at the martial artist, only wincing slightly as he did so.
"About as well as could be expected. He's just as good as RWBY said, it's gonna take more than us to stop him." Shooting a look back over his shoulder to his partner, the blonde began to sit up. The red-haired warrior supported him as he did so, until he was in a sitting position.
"If we factor in his partner, the White Fang, Emerald and Mercury...even if we can separate them, we need a massive increase in firepower." Ren nodded – that had been the belief going in.
"Alright, so not much has changed then. On my end, I managed to check a lot of the warehouses on the far side of the district. No signs of a base, but the White Fang are patrolling it. Good odds that he's in there, somewhere." It was the blonde's turn to nod, even as he began to gather his legs under him.
"Well, all in all this has been a pretty successful Friday night. Good work team – now, let's get back to the hotel. I think we've all earned a shower and some sleep." Leaning somewhat on his partner, Jaune and Pyrrha began moving away in the direction of the hotel JNPR was using this time.
Ren's gaze fell to his own partner, who was giving him a look he recognised all too well. With a sigh, the martial artist offered her his hand. Taking hold of it, the hammer-wielding girl was pulled up to her feet. A moment later, she had climbed onto her partner's back, and the world-weary Ren followed his leader.
Back at the hotel, which was a similarly affordable place to what they'd used during their first stay in Vale, JNPR managed to explain away Jaune's clothing as the result of a nasty fall. To avoid further questions, they quickly retreated to their rooms. Ren and Jaune were sharing, as were Nora and Pyrrha.
Ren let his leader go and take a shower first, while he himself retrieved one of the folded sheets of paper that were in evidence on his bed. Uncapping a pen, the martial artist put lines through the various warehouses he had managed to check on the map. It had been drawn with reference to a map of Vale, and they had half-shaded the warehouses where Jaune had already been.
He didn't find anything, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything there. Still, Ren was certain that the base lay somewhere outside the area he had searched tonight. With the marking done, the martial artist re-folded the map and returned it to his bed.
He took a seat on the floor, leaning back as the sound of running water could be heard through the bathroom door. I haven't done something like this in years...feels strange. It had been a long time since the martial artist had needed this particular skill set, but he had slipped back into old habits as if he had never stopped.
I wonder if that's a good thing. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, until the bathroom door opened and Jaune walked out in his usual sleeping attire. "All yours. Unfortunately, my outfit kinda disintegrated when I tried to take it off. Those Dust rounds don't mess around."
Examining his leader closely, Ren could see the various ways he limited his own movement. It spoke to a lot of aches...but considering he should be dead, it was a pretty good trade-off. "So, you managed to draw it on command this time?"
The blonde took a seat on his bed, letting out a small sigh as he did so. "Yeah. It's getting easier with each use – I actually tanked one straight to the face during that fight." Jaune reached a hand up to his head, where there was definitely some bruising...but still a head.
"Pretty amazing, huh? Still hurts though." The martial artist nodded, silently contemplating his leader. One of those shots could probably kill a normal person. Even most of Beacon's students would be out of commission after taking half the blasts he did...
But the youth had taken what Ren felt was every shot Roman had. If what Jaune heard him say is accurate, he intended to stop further interference by providing an example of what happens when you cross him.
The dark-haired youth smirked, even as he stood up and grabbed his own sleeping clothes. He's going to be in for one hell of a surprise next month.
Pyrrha sat on her own bed, listening to the sound of Nora showering. She replayed the fight over and over in her head, recalling how her effort had been rendered useless by the crime lord. She had been utterly helpless in the face of an opponent...not just her, but Jaune and Nora as well.
Pyrrha hadn't found herself in a position like that for years. Her old competitive streak was raising its head again, as she recalled the bored look that Torchwick had worn for most of the fight. It hadn't even been important for him...
Her fists clenched, Pyrrha's green eyes narrowed. He hurt Nora, he hurt Jaune, and he made a fool of me. The list of offenses circled in her mind, and her resolve hardened. She would push herself again, find new heights.
And when she next met Roman Torchwick, she would wipe that look right off his face.
The shower room door opened, Nora exiting in her pyjamas. "Your turn Pyrrha!" she called, weaving over to her bed. As soon as she was in range, the shorter girl simply collapsed on it, falling into a deep sleep immediately.
Pyrrha watched her fellow red-head for a moment, remembering how Torchwick had been so willing to end her right then and there. Remembering how he had left Jaune, thinking that he was dead. Oh yes, Roman Torchwick would pay for what he had done.
The look on Pyrrha's face went unseen...but many miles away, a well-dressed man shivered.
Author's Note
And so, we have first contact. Kids these days...always getting in the way of organised crime. Don't they realise Roman's trying to run a business?
So yeah, I think that Roman is too much of an opponent for JNPR to handle alone – the only times he was beaten in the show were when he was faced with the unknown (like, say, Dust-empowered clones or RWBY's combo attacks), so in this situation? Not a chance in hell.
Of course, the element of surprise is now well-established. The first battle is over...who won? Who's next? I decide! :)
Also, the 5K celebration piece poll is now done - it was a 50/50 split between Comedy and Parody, so ladies and gentlemen we have our genre. I'll start work on it, but it'll probably turn out to be the 10K celebration piece as well, because hot damn a lot of people are reading this story. Thank you all for the support, and I hope I continue to earn it.
I hope you enjoyed reading this even partially as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have any comments or criticism, please leave a review and I'll be sure to get back to you. Enjoy your day!