Chapter 2: Queens/Heading Out

The starry night sky was beautiful and bright along with the shattered moon above the pair walking through the Badlands. The sign that said it would only take 45 minutes to get to Queens was right. They arrived at the massive walls that surrounded the city. Ruby walked up towards one of the many guards by the gate.

"Why hello there." She said happily.

The guards just looked at each other.

"Uh…anyone home?" She asked.

A guard with a blue patch on his arm walked up to them. "What do you want?"

"Entry into Queens." Ratchet spoke up from behind Ruby.

The guard looked at them and shook his head. "No. I can tell you're both trouble. Especially you White Rose."

Ruby smiled. "Ah so you've heard of me?"

"Unfortunately…" He sighed.

Ratchet stepped up to him and the other guards lifted their rifles. "Listen all we want is to get inside. If you won't let us in then I have no problem forcing my way in. You know what she can do but you have no idea what I'm capable of."

The guards took a few steps forward but the one Ratchet was staring down held out his arm. "Fine. This can be The Widow's problem."

The guard headed towards an intercom and told the others to open the gates. Soon enough, the massive gates opened slowly and Ratchet and Ruby started walking towards the opening.

"Watch your back." One of the guards said to the pair.

Ruby stuck her tongue out and Ratchet ignored the comment. As they entered the city gates, the first thing they noticed was how huge the buildings were. All of them were close together and made of scrap metal. Clearly, this was the slums of Queens.

"So where do we go now?" Ruby asked curiously.

Ratchet looked around and sighed. "I don't know to be honest…"

Ivin's tower

Ivin Kekovich was sitting at his desk and making paper balls out of some rather important files and tossing them into his trash bin. Lately he's been bored to the point that he doesn't even bother to do his work. Plus they were mostly bills and he had plenty of money so it didn't matter how much they were.

Ivin threw a paper ball towards his trash bin but over shot it. It hit the door and bounced off of it right as it opened and his secretary walked in. She wore glasses, black heels, pants and a vest with her blonde hair up in a ponytail.

"Mister Kekovich if you could please stop throwing your work around." She asked him as she picked up the ball and threw it in the bin and walked towards him.

Ivin rolled his eyes. "Well what else am I supposed to do? I'm so bored these days."

The secretary nodded and placed some more files on his desk. "I'm well aware. Ever since Miss Kekovich left to Atlas for a business meeting in your place, you have been rather moody."

"First of all, Neo insisted on going since she wanted to know what I do at those meetings so it's not like I just didn't want to go. And second, I'm not moody."

"Of course sir." She responded. "Anything I can do for you before I leave for home?"

Ivin spun in his chair so he faced the window and looked at the streets of Vale below him. "You ever wish you could go back in time?"

The secretary was taken aback by his sudden question. "Sir?"

Ivin sighed. "Sometimes I wish we could just go back. I wanna enjoy the good old days again. Back at Beacon. Back with my team."

The secretary noticed how sad Ivin sounded and she saw the two photos on his desk. The one on the left was team RAIN a month or two after Ivin joined up. The second was them and their friends graduating, except for a few people.

"You miss them don't you?" She said softly.

Ivin took out his pocket watch and opened it. Inside of it besides clockwork was a picture of him, Nick and Ratchet. The three of them went out for a guy night. And by that, Ivin was paying for everything. "Yeah…I do. I just want to see them all again. Ruby's adorable smile. Yang and her bad jokes. And Ratchet…just because he's a special kind of fool."

Ivin spun around in his chair and put his watch back in his pocket. "Anyway I'm sorry to keep you so late Lisa. You can head home now."

Lisa gave him a worried look. "Are you sure Mr Kekovich? I can still stay and talk if you'd like."

"Plenty of time for that any day of the week. Go home." Ivin said with a smile.

Lisa bowed her head and headed out of his office. Ivin was left alone and he sighed to himself. After a few minutes of just sitting at his desk, he opened one of the drawers and pulled out his scroll. Opening up his contacts he clicked on an old friend.

Ivin waited for the call to go through. "Hey Nick. You busy?"

Queens

Ratchet saw all of the poor and starving citizens that were on the streets of the slums. He had always thought Queens was a decent place but he never visited it before for reasons. Ruby wasn't enjoying the sight, or smell, of the slums either.

"Ugh when are we gonna get outta here?" She whined.

"Not sure." Ratchet responded, clearly lost in thought.

Ruby hopped in front of him and he didn't notice. He walked into her and almost jumped at the sudden contact.

Ruby frowned. "What's going on?"

"Nothing kid." Ratchet smiled and patted her head. "Just wondering if I could persuade a girl for a quickie."

"Ew." She shook his hand away. "Good luck buddy. You'll catch something just for a few minutes of pleasure?"

Ratchet shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I will."

The two laughed at their conversation and continued heading north. After a few blocks they saw a sign leading to another section of Queens called Widows Grave.

"Well it's a start." Ruby said sighing. "Just wish we had more info then just a sign."

Ratchet nodded and the two headed towards the sewers.

Ivin's tower

Ivin was on top of his tower leaning against his jet and checking his pocket watch every few seconds. He started to tap his foot on the concrete rather impatiently and groaned.

"How does it take him so long to get here?"

Ivin walked around the jet so he could pass the time. Before long, he saw a light blue light coming towards the tower. His face lit up as he waited for it to come over and land. The light grew closer and Ivin saw his friend and teammate Nick flying with the jet boots he made for him some time ago.

Nick landed smoothly on the roof and waved at Ivin. "Long time no see!"

Ivin walked over to him. "About a year huh?" The two did a small bro hug and parted. "Well how you doing man?"

Nick looked at his arm and leg. "Well what remains human is still there and what is machine is not broken so I'd say I'm doing just fine."

"I see you've actually gotten a sense of humor." Ivin teased.

"Hey I've always been funny."

Ivin rolled his eyes. "Riiight. Anyway I'm sorry for calling at…1:30 AM."

Nick rose an eyebrow. "Yeah…why did you call me out of the blue? Don't get me wrong I'll always come if you need me but it's kinda late dude."

"Actually it's morning but I will ignore your bad sense of time." Ivin commented. "I wanted to see if you wanted to go on a glorious adventure with me and my fancy ride." Ivin gestured towards the jet behind him.

Nick whistled. "Damn that's fancy. Well I'm not busy so why not? Where we headed?"

"The Badlands." Ivin said casually.

Nick laughed and punched him on the shoulder. "Good one man. Seriously, where we going?"

Ivin headed for the jet. "I was being serious. After all, we can't go on a journey if we don't invite her."

Nick sighed and slowly walked towards the jet. "Come on man do we have to invite her? And why is she in the Badlands? Wait how do you know that?"

"You sure ask a lot more questions than I remember."