Last Huntress - Chapter 7
-Bad Blood-
The roar of Bumblebee generated a rather pleasant sense of power as Ruby weaved around another car, catching a good look of the angry expression dominating the driver's face as she moved in front of him. Once the road ahead was free, she opened up on the throttle and increased her already reckless speed. Already more rain was beginning to fall, stinging her face and arms as the drops whipped against her skin as she cruised through the streets leading into the depths of the Human side of the Residential District.
Rows and rows of apartment buildings, painted a variety of colors and towering over the size she was used to, were of much higher quality than anything she had seen closer to the Line. It was rare she came this far into the upper class areas of Vale; most of her targets resided in the filth near her own home. It seemed alien after all this time, the idea that someone was living in luxury. That not everyone was looking up from the gutter.
Ruby eased on the brakes as she approached a red light, coming to a full stop at the intersection and letting a boot down to hold the bike upright. She flicked her wolfish ears in an attempt to shake off some of the rain that was trickling through her fur, causing an itchy sensation. The sunlight that had lit up so many of the streets on her journey here was slowly beginning to dwindle away as the storm clouds rolled overhead, finally having arrived.
But the temperature did not drop with their arrival, maintaining the warmth that would slowly be drained away over the next few hours. A thought that she should have worn a jacket was brushed aside almost instantly, Ruby knew that she would not need long to get the information she wanted.
Re-balancing the motorcycle towards the middle, she pulled back on the throttle and resumed her way to the Crimson Quarter, a growing knot gnawing on her stomach as she grew closer to her destination. She hated the Crimson Quarter. It was officially part of the Entertainment District, a small sliver of real estate that lay between the Residential and Industrial Districts, but it was so different from the other Quarters.
Where the southern stretch of Entertainment encompassed an area of upscale bars and classy joints like Junior's club, the Crimson Quarter was a place of unbridled debauchery and untamed passions. An endless swath of clubs and outdoor raves, where one party would blend into another and whole blocks were nothing but a mess of music and flesh. Drugs were used openly, clothing was optional as often as not, and even Ruby had avoided the place unless at the lowest of her lows.
It was a symbol of everything the city had become since the Barricade was erected, a monument drenched in shit to the fact the Grimm could no longer reach them here. Without the threat of monsters who were drawn by powerful emotions, a society that had repressed themselves for decades had suddenly unleashed all its desires. Ruby had once jokingly referred to the Quarter as an unending orgy, but now she was the one who would be careful where she stepped on the streets.
An involuntary shudder traveled through her spine as she pulled Bumblebee into a parking garage and headed up the ramp to the second floor, because she knew the sex and drugs were far from the worst things about the Quarter. At the northernmost tip lay an area of four blocks that had been demolished a few years ago and remade into a club named 'Jack o' Hearts', the base of The Gentlemen, a gang so violent that their only remaining rivals were the militant White Fang.
It was in the 'Jack o' Hearts' that the Crimson Quarter earned its namesake, as well. The center of the club was a colosseum that had been dug into the earth. A vicious pit filled with traps and captured animals where those who crossed The Gentlemen were indentured as gladiators and sacrificed to the amusement of a crowd. Not officially, of course. But it was one of those secrets that everyone knew, and no good natured person could do anything about it without incurring great harm to themselves.
As the good Captain Nikos would say, 'A battle for another time, when we are better prepared and backed by a less corrupt city.' It was always a charming thought that the faction of the police force that remained incorruptible would ever be powerful enough to tackle this Quarter.
Ruby twirled the keys of the motorcycle around her index finger once before slipping them into her front pocket, patting it once before making her way to the exit of the garage. The roads of the Quarter from this point on would be too packed to traverse safely on anything other than her feet. A sigh escaped her lips at that thought, but she stepped forward into the street nonetheless.
Immediately her senses were assaulted. The dull thud of electronic music became a blaring siren that caused her wolf ears to fold back over her hair, the smell of sweat and the musky scent of sex caused her sensitive nose to wrinkle, and she was greeted by the hundreds of neon signs that signaled places of business as if calling out to some god of neon. Ruby was glad that she was only a few blocks from her destination at this point.
Unfortunately, the streets surrounding the 'Jack o' Hearts' were home to the greatest parties, and as such were also packed to the point of bursting. She dodged a drunkard who stumbled past, and slipped through the middle of a group of older men who smelled of drink and a scent that she had come to associate with strip clubs. Equal parts sweat, pent up desperation, and glitter.
A more creative sidestep was required to get out of the way of two police officers who almost walked right over her, never once glancing in her direction as they passed. For a Quarter so often patrolled by dedicated officers, Crimson never lacked for open and brazen crimes. In truth, anything short of drawing blood wouldn't get someone arrested here, not with all the cops in Quarter on the payroll of The Gentlemen.
The police kept the streets from getting too violent or drawing too much attention. Then, if they looked the other way when faced with the various lesser crimes that dominated the Quarter, they got paid. Officers who didn't fall in line quickly found themselves cut out of the force entirely, and it wasn't difficult to see what the true status quo was.
On the flip side of that, it was also the only place in the city that Faunus could make a decent wage as servers, or.. Ruby paused her thought as she was winked at by a fox-girl who was pressed up against a nearby pillar, a human slobbering on her neck as her legs were hoisted up. A smirk slid over Ruby's lips as she noticed the hungry look that came her way. Escort or not, it was good to have someone look at her and approve.
But those were the two options for Faunus who sought after better work than most got in the factories of the Industrial District; join the legion of waitresses, valets, and busboys within the Crimson Quarter, or peddle in flesh and let yourself be used by the fetishists that came seeking an animal to tame. Of course, some humans even encroached upon that territory, with the advancement in cybernetics in recent years. While it wasn't common, because of the stigma attached to being a Faunus, some spent exorbitant amounts in order to swing a tail or twitch an ear of their own. But the truly devoted, the ones that really got off on sleeping with a Faunus, they wanted ears and tails you could feel a pulse through.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a pair of dainty hands that took her own and pulled her to the side of the road. For a brief moment, Ruby was concerned she was either under attack or being distracted for a quick pick pocketing, but her assailant's goals were not so nefarious. The shorter wolf-girl instead pulled her close until their bodies were flush to one another.
Ruby's hand brushed a warm ear as she leaned into the embrace, lips meeting the other woman's in a strange sort of passion. It was a kiss that tasted of hunger, of desire, as the other Faunus' tongue grazed her own. Ruby was more than happy to oblige, at least until her wits returned and she pulled back from the stranger. Though it wasn't disgust that had prompted the retreat - in truth it was rather enjoyable, but curiosity caused clarity to wash over her mind.
The shorter wolf-girl peered up at her with light blue eyes, eyelashes fluttering and bottom lip caught between teeth. A warm blush had flooded through both their cheeks, but the shuddering gasp that escaped the other Faunus was one of pleasure. "Damn, I might just let you have it for free." It wasn't hard for her to guess what the younger girl's profession was, even before the strange compliment.
Gently wrapping her fingers around the other wolf's wrists, Ruby pulled the hands that were settled on her chest away from her body. A low growl of frustration sounded as she looked the shorter Faunus over. Sky blue eyes, gray fur. It worked well in the most agonizing way.
"Maybe some other time." Ruby stopped the woman from slipping away immediately, instead reaching down and drawing a business card from her back pocket. It wasn't anything fancy, just a name and scroll number. She carried a few of these around, just in case she ever came across a prospective client. They weren't used often, and the corners were frayed from the time they had spent alongside her wallet. She held it up between two fingers, and sly smirk playing across her lips. "Call me?"
A brief nod was her only answer as the card was snatched away, but a dainty hand snaked its way around the back of her neck to pull her down into a more chaste kiss. This one lasted mere moments, leaving her a bit off balance by the sudden feel of another's lips on hers that disappeared as quickly as they had arrived as the other wolf slipped out from under her and continued on her way.
Ruby took a moment to collect herself as she stared at the crowds that now obscured the woman, her hands dipping down to her belt and pockets to make sure that everything was accounted for before she turned to resume her journey. One could never be too careful in a place like this.
It wasn't often she was in the Crimson Quarter, only a handful of times in the last four years, but each trip had opened Ruby's eyes to the habits of her own species, and pillow talk with a working girl had revealed it was her ears that led to such incidents like the one she had just experienced. Recent years of unleashed libido had generated a number of theories, and large, healthy ears supposedly meant a good lay. Not that she had ever bragged as being such, but it certainly didn't hurt her chances when she was the one carrying the torch.
Crimson was a whole other world from Vale, where laws and things like personal space no longer mattered. Ruby still wasn't used to it. She wasn't sure she ever would be, she wasn't sure she ever should be.
The 'Jack o' Hearts' was a large, imposing building. A square foundation was built two stories up from the ground before revealing the rounded structure that rose into the stormy sky, standing taller than all the other buildings in the Quarter. It made her lips twist into a frown, as the structure reminded her of the sinister nature hidden within, of the Crimson Pits. Home to the violent death matches between the unfortunates of Vale; the addicted, the poor who had loaned money from the wrong person, those who no one else would come looking for. There were even rumors that wild animals were let loose into the colosseum's ring, just to keep things interesting.
Another haunting chorus of cheers rose from the building as Ruby stepped out of the alley she had been traveling through, now on the other side of the street from the club. The entrance lay straight ahead, but the road was packed full of the line that weaved from one end of the block before coming all the way back. It was the most exclusive club in the city, and there was a large appetite to whet for a population that had been starved of such entertainment their whole lives.
Bloodletting was a favorite pastime. A natural evolution from the combat tournaments and rock star fame of the now-disbanded hunters, she supposed.
Natural or not, the whole thing left a bad taste in her mouth. Sure, she had killed things before. Mostly Grimm during her time at Beacon, some stray animals that wandered the city streets at night and had to be put down when hunger drove them to insanity. A couple of bounties had ended with her target on a slab in a morgue, though those had met their ends due to running from her, not her own hands. In the end, it didn't matter where the fault lay in the eyes of the law. She still saw them, all of them, even the monstrous misshapen beasts of Grimm. Death haunted her sleep without reservation. To think that some cheered for it, watched with glee as those who had never held a sword were cut down, that is what bothered her most. After all, who would ask for such memories? She had tried her best to drown them out with all the vices that dulled the mind, and at best they had simply been temporarily muted for all her efforts.
Swallowing back the feelings that churned within her stomach, Ruby stepped out into the street. She did not move to join the end of the line, but instead pushed through the rows of humans that had come for a evening of fine liquor and bloodshed. A new chorus rose around her, building quickly from annoyed grumbling to shouts directing her to the back of the line. All fell on deaf ears as she slid around a rather large gentleman to sidle up in front of the two bouncers that flanked the door. In the center stood a third man, looking even more wiry than he normally would have, an effect caused by being placed between two meatheads with biceps larger than his head.
Behind him, the massive door to the 'Jack o' Hearts' pulsed with a stylized version of a jack-o'-lantern. It was similar to the kind that Yang and her used to carve during Salem's Hallows, but the differences were what made it disconcerting. Instead of solid edges and a badly carved smile, this lantern sported a vicious grin with jagged teeth. Where solid edges should have been, they only melted down and dripped from the electronic dance before the whole image faded away. Pitch black against the uniform stone of the structure's walls, the massive holoscreen repeated its dance once more as the man leaning against the door lazily glanced up at her over the edges of his clipboard, looking mildly interested in finding what was causing all the complaints.
Ruby stood tall under the studious gaze, quietly watching as dark red eyes traveled down her body before sliding back up. Without so much as a blink, the doorman jerked a thumb to the side of the club. "Employee entrance is in the back." His eyes returned to the clipboard.
"I want to see him." Those irises snapped back up to her, their previous lethargy gone. Instead, a dangerous fire burned within those orbs now. Anger. Ruby felt her ears flick as she took another step forward, ignoring the sweaty hand that pawed at her shoulder as one of the patrons thought to put her back in the line himself. But it seemed the poor man wouldn't leave it alone, as he fumbled at her one more time. Short, fat fingers closed about her bare shoulder.
In an instant, the atmosphere changed. A low growl came from her throat as she bared her teeth. Her hand slipped down to the grip of her revolver, pulling it free of the holster with a practiced ease as she aimed it at the fool who had suddenly quieted his protests that she was cutting the queue. All the while Ruby's eyes never left the door man, even as he glanced over her to peer at the civilian who now had both hands in the air. "He'll want to see me," Her thumb pulled back the hammer. "Right now."
Silence descended on the previously loud street, and for a moment all that could be heard was the dull beat of club music from inside the structure they stood outside of. At least until some moron excitedly whispered if they'd get to see the show for free. Ruby remained unperturbed as she stared daggers into the doorman, who finally reacted. Maroon eyes rolled as he gave a heavy shrug and reached down to pull a scroll from his pocket.
He turned away from her to mask his conversation, and spoke quietly enough that even a Faunus like her had trouble picking up more than a couple words. She was fairly sure she had caught 'wolf' and 'silver' though. It was more than enough to get what she wanted. He hung up almost as quickly as he had dialed the call, giving a grunt and moving to the side, his hand pushing the door to 'Jack o' Hearts' open. "Go on."
Letting her thumb click the hammer back into place, Ruby smirked as she glanced back at the man she had threatened. Beady eyes watched her warily as she spun the revolver once before placing it back at her hip, and she strode through the open door, not the least bit worried how she would now become a story that would be told around the clubbing scene for weeks to come.
This wasn't a hunt, it wasn't a bounty. This was a job that did not require stealth, and this club held information that she would have to come by with force.
From the moment Ruby entered the club, she was shepherded towards her destination. A man in a finely tailored black suit with red sunglasses barred her way into the main part of the club, instead pointing towards the stairs that lay to the right. Once she had turned and begun to ascend, he and another of The Gentlemen followed her silently, flanking on either side as if she was going to try something.
As she drew closer to her goal, the roaring of the well lubricated crowd grew ever louder. Even the thick stone that separated the stairs from the levels of the club could not silence the sudden intensity that obvious marked a kill in the Pits below. These cries grew louder each time she passed one of the doors that led into the main area, guarded as they were. It seemed that paranoia at her arrival had taken root, each of these exits from the circular stairwell had gangsters posted out front of them, wearing the same uniforms as the two that were escorting her.
When she finally reached the top, seven levels above where she had entered the building, the seemingly endless stairs that circled around the strange structure finally took a sharp left into a short hallway. Two more stood guard at the open door, their red-tinted glasses angled, revealing a slight glance in her direction before resuming the straight ahead stare they had been wearing before her arrival.
It seemed as good an invitation as any, as she stepped into the penthouse at the top of the club. The walls and ceiling, even the floors were made of glass, affording a bird's eye view of the arena below. Various couches of love seats were arranged all around the enormous room, housing the VIPs and their escorts. It seemed shame was as prevalent here as the rest of the quarter, as a couple of the guests had paused in mid-thrust to stop and stare at her intrusion.
But what the room truly was, when it boiled down to it, was a throne room. The seat of an empire built on blood and cash. And it's king sat at a table, his conversation with several other important looking citizens on hold as he stared over the lip of a crystal cocktail glass at her, the black bowler hat atop his head tilted to the side.
Her view of him was interrupted when a woman slid into view in front of her. Shorter than her and sporting a hairstyle that incorporated three different colors, Neo impatiently waved a hand, beckoning her to raise her arms. Ruby did as she was asked by the mute, musing in her thoughts how little the other woman had changed in the time since she had last seen her. Small hands ran down her sides, taking their time as she was searched for weapons before fingers hooked over the edges of her belt.
Ruby glanced down at the pause, finding two mismatched eyes beaming up at her above a wicked smile as fingers deftly unbuckled the belt that held her holstered weapon. Not one to be intimidated by the little psychopath's flirtatious game, she gave a bored expression and allowed the search to resume. After a quick pat down of her legs, Neo seemed satisfied and walked back towards the table she had risen from, winding the leather belt around the holster that carried Ruby's revolver.
By then the man had risen from the table and was standing in the center of the room, a grin on his face as he spoke to her. "Little Red, Little Red.. It's good to see you again." Roman Torchwick made a show of flinging his arms out wide as if playing the part of a generous host. "Welcome to the Crimson Quarter! Where the lien never stops flowing and the party never ends!" The slight growl that his words took on at the end of his greeting made it very clear that her presence her was, at best, unwelcome.
His white suit was as impeccable as she remembered, and the styled flourish of makeup beneath his left and only visible eye fitting right into place and accentuating the bright green iris above it. "Been almost four years now, hasn't it? Four years.. You never call, you never write. Here I thought we meant something to each other, Red."
With her lips set into a decisive frown, Ruby felt no need to play into his games or distractions. "You heard about Russel, I assume?"
Sitting at his side, Neo bristled at the comment, the short woman's dark brown eyes carrying a whole new layer of crazy. Roman raised a hand to still her before calmly answering. "I did. I also heard it was you who took him down." Dragging his cane off the table he had been sitting at, the man her twirled the weapon once before setting its point down against the floor and leaning slightly forward on it. "Quite a dangerous game to be playing, walking in here after doing that. Most people would think you've come here to take your revenge, go down fighting trying to bring down an evil gang lord. 'Course you never were that bright, so would I really be surprised if that were the case?"
"Relax, Torchwick. I just came for information." Ruby raised her hands up, palms outward as she spoke. This was a long shot to begin with, and agitating the situation was going to get her nowhere very quickly. "Now I know that Russel was your guy, your muscle over in the Residential District. But I don't think you're stupid enough to order a hit on the White Fang. Not with that treaty you fought so hard to get established."
The man before her barked out a laugh as his grin grew ever wider. "That piece of paper? All it's done for me is make it much harder to put down the unruly animals that run about Vale and make a mess of things." Roman turned away from her, moving to the side towards a woman Ruby had not paid much attention to before. "Luckily, some of you beasts.."
The woman looked to be around the the same age as her, wearing a skin tight mesh leotard, it's material revealing enough skin to be enticing while hiding enough to keep things interesting. A paisley pattern of vines connected to a bright orange symbol set above her stomach that mirrored the vicious jack-o'-lantern on the club's entrance, and while a beautiful girl in lingerie could draw her gaze, what stunned Ruby was the leather collar around the slender neck, bearing a name stamped across it. Auburn.
One of Roman's fingers grazed along the collar while his other hand scratched at the fur of a fox ear that rose from the young woman's hair. "Some of you beasts know your place in the world." Auburn nuzzled into his hand while shooting Ruby a smile that whispered of sin. She glared back at the whore, an expression that brought some amusement to her adversary. "You want to punish her? I could let you, you know. Because she's mine, because she wants to make me happy."
There was no change in the expression on Auburn's face, but Ruby dropped the glare and instead let out a long sigh, signaling to Torchwick that the torment was over. That she was not going to play into his hands any further. He seemed to take the hint, releasing the fox girl and turning back to face her. "I didn't order the hit, and I wasn't the one holding Russel's leash."
The revelation caused the pressure in her chest to abate for a moment, just long enough to let her take in a breath of relief. "I don't use assassins. You know that, though." An involuntary growl escaped her, rumbling from her throat before she had a chance to rein in it. She knew it intimately, having seen the effects of his traps and explosives on her friends during the years she spent hunting him down.
A snicker came from the man in the bowler hat, a jovial sound laced with a sense of danger as he watched her. "You knew that, and still you walked in here. Because you hoped I wouldn't kill you on sight, that I wasn't the one you were looking for? Or.. Is it that you hoped I was, so that you could finally deliver that justice I so richly deserve?" This time he threw his head back and laughed, thinking he had the right answer. "And in doing so, you could end your own miserable existence trying to finish what you started all those years ago!"
Ruby took a step back from Torchwick, from his unsettling grin. She fought the urge to strike out at his words, to attack him. She forced herself to not take what he had said to a personal level. "Whatever happened back then.. It doesn't matter now." Slowly unclenching her fists, she turned to leave, only to find her way blocked by the two gangsters that had followed her up here.
"Oh I think it matters now, Red." She whirled back around to face him as the other occupants of the room, likely city officials and officers from the upper echelons of the police force, watched their conversation with a macabre interest. "I think I'm owed some back pay for.. Hm, let's call it grievances. Emotional damage? I guess it doesn't really matter so long as I get my pound of flesh."
The anger that had been stewing within her chest since she had realized just how complacent Auburn was with the situation finally boiled over. Roman had poked and prodded her too much, and her fists clenched so hard that she felt nails dig into the skin of her palms as her knuckles turned an even paler white. Ruby bared her teeth and snarled as she took a step toward her target, breaking into a run with the very next movement.
She only made it a few feet before two pairs of arms closed about her and yanked her back. From her captured position, she thrashed against the gangsters that held her and screamed at the man who hadn't even bat an eye at her actions. "Lost a lot of your touch haven't you, Red? A few years ago it would have been poof! Rose petals and you were right next to me. Now look at you. So disappointing.." He reached out to grab her chin, only to retreat when she bit at him like a rabid dog. "But unsurprising for a mutt."
Ruby kicked her legs against the air in a futile attempt to find purchase on the ground or one of her captors to get a chance at the man who mocked her, all rational thought swept away in the face of fury. "Oh well, a warm body is always good for something in the arena. I'm sure I can even sell out a crowd on the chance to see a former Huntress in the ring."
"But, oh, wait.." His green eye caught her gaze as he grinned down at her, and she glared back up at him. "You never really were a Huntress. Were you, Red?"
Ruby bit at him again, crying out in an inarticulate scream as the anger tore at her and allowed the power of speech to return. The fingers wrapped about her arms tightened and large hands pushed down on her shoulders to keep her on the floor, and all her straining accomplished was a feeling of pain that lanced through her chest, across the section of ribs that she had bruised earlier. "I'll kill you, Torchwick!"
He had walked a few feet away from her at that point, and glanced back with a bored expression as she yelled, but his gaze did not settle on her. Instead, he looked to the men holding her. "Muzzle that bitch."
She tried to fight, but she could not stop the collar that was wrapped about her throat from behind and pulled back. It cut off her ability to breathe, and air became an even more precious resource as a fist was driven into her gut and forced the air from her lungs, causing her to go slack long enough for the leather band to be tightened and secured around her neck.
Forced onto her knees and panting, Ruby strained her back against the muscled arms that pressed down upon her so she could set her eyes upon Roman Torchwick, who was twirling his hat on the end of his cane. "The lien never stops flowing, Red." With a flick of his wrist, he hopped the bowler from its perch onto his head, it's position straightened by the gliding of fingers along the brim. "Not in my town!"
As her vision swam from the rolling waves of agony emanating from her battered body, Ruby caught sight of a pair of white knee-high boots that meandered over to her. Wearily, she raised her gaze to look up into a pair of violently pink eyes that sat above a sadistic smirk. Before she could do more than glare, the handle of a parasol smashed against the side of her head, and she fell limp as she was caught in the cold grasp of unconsciousness.
Author's Note: So it's been a month. Sorry about that! I hope this chapter makes up for it. As some of you have noticed, I've upped the rating to 'M'. Stuff is getting a little bit too much on the dark side for me to justify a 'T' and honestly there's gonna be a few scenes that may incorporate some smut(nothing too lemony, but enough that I wouldn't feel comfortable rating it anything less than an 'M') So there's that. Jump ship if you need to, but you've been warned. Anyway on to better things! First up, I've gotten a lot of questions about why Ruby's Aura didn't exactly work as it does in the show. If any of you follow Roses & Thorns, you know that I treat Aura a bit different than canon does, it's naturally weaker and is expended like mana when it's user attacks, defends, or uses their semblance. There's more to it, a whole doc in fact, but the reason for Ruby's inability to defend will come in the next chapter! It's not quite as intense as some of your ideas. Like Ruby wanting to get hit as if she were punishing herself? Wish I had thought of that!
Not only has Last Huntress broke the 200 follower mark, it's now my most followed story, so thank you all for that! You guys have been amazing readers and the feedback and compliments I have gotten about this story are more than I ever expected. You all rock! Thank you to every reader, follower, and reviewer, you guys are all wonderful. And a special thanks to Unjax, who continues to take time out of his day to make my writing into so much more. Seriously, give him a hand because he has made the last couple of chapters truly something special. I hope to hear from all of you! What are your thoughts on the chapter, how do you think Ruby is gonna get out of this one? Does the Crimson Quarter disgust you? Was Roman as charming as he is in canon?(That's a no, that sexy bastard can't be matched outside of the show) Let me know!
I know this note is already pretty long, but I just gotta say this next part. I hope you all are having pretty damn good days. I've been depressed since I quit my job last summer, and I'm finally comin' out of it. I've hit that stage where I'm just.. Happy to be here and creating things. I hope everyone else is feeling good too. And if you aren't, I hope you know that I'm rooting for you! -Fox