A reminder that this story updates once every month. It is now up to date with other ptforms that I post in. I will be posting the rest of my stories here soon.

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  Editors/Beta: Lonestar, SurvivorSam, Reiter.

  Earlier

  Over the skies of Vale

  The muffled humming of the engines was the only sound in the bullhead as a group of men cautiously watched their leader, a tall orange-haired man in a white suit and his shorter companion, a young woman whose features seemed to change with every movement, silently examined a video.

  “What do you think, boss?” One of the men asked hesitantly.

  Roman Torchwick hummed as he held the scroll and watched the leaked footage of the battle at the Wayward Mermaid Inn, chewing thoughtfully on his lit cigar. The footage came from different surveilnce cameras than the ones provided to the media — those ones were smartly fixed to only show that old relic beating Green’s thugs to highlight how cool the police force was.

  The footage pying on his scroll, however, showed an entirely different story.

  “What do we know about this blonde menace, Billy?” Roman turned to one of his smarter agents, the source of the footage that Neo just took from him to watch for herself — it did not really mean much as most of his minions were dumb brutes. “And how in the hell did we miss Weiss fucking Schnee sneaking into Vale without our knowledge for more than a week?!”

  No way anyone could miss that massive gcier and that white hair. Roman’s information network might not stretch to the stuffy halls of O’Mighty, Pompous Ats, but he had a few contacts in Mantle that kept an eye on the corporate bigwigs of the world. They were barely worth the trouble, but they did at least identify the owners of the rgest corps and their heirs or heiresses. Weiss Schnee had been especially difficult to discover, considering how protective her father was of her, with only her features described but no picture of her existed except in Ats’ and the SDC’s records.

  If Roman could access those records, then with his smarts and charm, he would have been king of the world by now!

  And yet, he received an interesting tidbit st month when that same elusive heiress was sighted and identified in Mantle; it could not be a coincidence that several weeks ter she would be seen in Vale, most likely preparing to enroll in Beacon. Oh, the amount of dough he could earn if he could capture her, but the girl was far too high maintenance to deal with, and he would rather not have the full might of the SDC on his ass, at least not without some backing of his own.

  However, he wondered if Jacques Schnee knew his daughter was gallivanting in Vale, and if he would pay good Lien for such information.

  “I, uh, don't know about Schnee, I mean, we do have men in port authorities and the airports but we heard nothing about it.”

  Roman took a deep drag from his cigar before blowing the noxious fumes above him with a sigh. What he would do to have some decent henchmen.

  “And Blondie?”

  “Jaune Arc, seventeen years old, C-Rank Adventurer.” Billy replied promptly, “Sadly, we don't know any more than this, aside from a rumor from one of the newer bloods.”

  “Rumor?”

  Billy looked hesitant, “I wouldn't put too much credence to it, the new kid is a junkie, way more hardcore than normal junkies. Not to mention, he’s one of those savages that plied their trade in the mountains before sneaking in with the refugees.”

  Well, that just sparked Roman's interest even further. “Just tell me what you heard.”

  “So the kid was a subordinate of that savage from the Southnds–”

  Roman raised his eyebrow before interrupting with a smirk, “That hardly narrows it down, my dear Billy. All the Southnders are savages.”

  His minions chuckled hesitantly but went quiet when he leaned forward and gazed at his informant — it was prudent to remind his grunts their pce and never get too comfortable around him. Without needing to speak, Billy understood and hurried to expin.

  “The big fat one. Ravena the Cannibal. Boar faunus, eight feet tall and–”

  “Ah, yes. Now I remember her. The one who lost her entire gang to Qrow Branwen and the Butcher of Celdic. Continue.”

  “Well, turns out Jaune Arc is the Butcher of Celdic.”

  Roman's eyes widened in shock, “You just said he was seventeen!”

  “Yes boss, we have several witness accounts from Celdic. He almost single-handedly protected the town from the Grimm, and the junkie swore he saw Blondie cut a mountain top in half with a swing of his sword.”

  “And where is that Junkie now?”

  “Died from an overdose after he saw that footage.”

  The bullhead fell silent except for the muffled humming of the engines. Neo comically poked his chin with her finger before snapping his jaw shut. Roman finally awoke from his stupor and snickered, before erupting into a full belly ughter. His henchmen chuckled uneasily until he abruptly stopped and smacked one of them with his cane. “And that monster was hiding right under our noses for weeks and none of you noticed?!”

  “B-But boss, how could we have known–”

  “Silence! It’s incompetence like this that had us walking right into Xiao Long’s fucking ambush!” Roman seethed as all the control he had over his emotions threatened to blow as he recalled that farce. “I pay you clowns to keep your ears to the ground yet all I get is failure after failure. For fuck’s sake, this is the first I’ve seen this footage, and it’s a week old!”

  If they were not flying and strapped to their seats, Roman would have started pacing like some caged beast. He should never have taken that assassination contract; fucking Hartmann and his ilk could go fuck themselves for getting him in such a mess. They must have known that old hag Nancy Green would squeak, but Roman should have known it would not be so simple. It seemed like such a good idea at the time, ten million Lien to kill one old hag? Roman simply could NOT refuse such an offer, especially as he was paid half up front and the other half was transferred shortly after he successfully killed the hag.

  As with every mission he took, he spent countless hours pnning every contingency for the hit, and only moved when he was confident without a shadow of a doubt that Nancy Green was inside that nondescript truck. It was a smart ruse, as the cops had made a big show of having a massive armed convoy going on a completely different route, then sent their prisoner in an unmarked van. Truly, it was far too lucky how Neo discovered the ruse and Roman pnned the attack.

  But how could he have known that the police would so easily squander their only witness and use her as bait to draw him out?

  It was no wonder Roman managed to kill her so easily; the whole thing was remotely operated, with not a single human in that truck. The driver itself was an old and obsolete Atlesian Knight dressed in police garb that did not even have legs!

  It was ughingly easy for Roman to sneak into the back of the van and put a bullet in Green’s ugly head. He had truly thought he had outpyed the cops, only to receive urgent calls from his minions; all his hideouts were being raided and Neo had to flee from a huntsman team. Three days ago, he was one of Vale’s most powerful men with a private army in the thousands and endless connections. Now? He barely had two hundred men to his name, all of them the scattered remnants of his gang, rallied to meet at Junior’s in order to find a new hideout to lie low. Worse, all those connections? Most of them saw his weakness and were already targeting what survived of his businesses!

  It took him some time to learn who was the mastermind behind his downfall and why target him in particur. At first, he suspected it was the Top Bitch herself coming from Beacon to smite him for shits and giggles, but no. It was her new right-hand man, Taiyang Xiao Long, who decided poor Roman Torchwick needed to go for whatever fucked up vision they had of Vale. It was not like Roman’s gang was even that dangerous, he only traded in bckmail, racketeering, prostitution, theft, arson, assassination, and the occasional act of terrorism, or as he liked to call it; party time.

  Of course, the coppers would target the poor and downtrodden gangsters while leaving the likes of Anthony Hartmann, a council member with a lot of influence in the Kingdom’s high society, to do whatever they want. Like bckmail, racketeering, prostitution, theft, arson, assassination, kidnapping and raping of adults and children and even animals, blood sports, sex rings…truly, Roman was innocent of all that and more.

  His scroll shook, and Roman opened it to see a text from Neo: “Don’t beat yourself too much. We will recover!” Followed by XOXOXO, hearts, and kissing faces.

  Roman grinned at his partner as she gave him a V-Sign with a toothy grin. True, they could still recover, he still got the ten million, and there was this offer he got from that hot bird and her band of animals. Still, Roman Torchwick would not let such an insult go unanswered, and the first step to his revenge was to give that Sunny Dragon a bloody nose and remind him never to cross with the Vale underworld.

  “We’re here, boss.” The pilot called from the front. “Junior’s looks busier than usual.”

  “Hmm, lower us down enough to drop, then hang around.”

  Roman unstrapped from his seat as the pilot carefully lowered the bullhead as close to the parking lot across the nightclub as possible, before he and his men jumped down. They were all aura users, and could survive a twenty-foot drop easily enough. Once on the ground, the pilot lifted back in the air while Roman brushed some dust from his suit as two of his minions approached; they were his contacts with the street gang elements of his organization.

  One of them was even more fmboyant than him; a tall and nky man dressed in a purple suit and heavy clown make-up, while the other was short, almost as short as Neo, yet hardly as charming with his squat yet muscur build, and his most obvious feature, a bushy beard with iron pins, bullets, and filigrees.

  “We have the building surrounded, boss.” The tall clown giggled in his creepy way before twirling in pce. “All two hundred of us are waiting for your call.”

  Roman Torchwick nodded as he pulled on his cigar before exhaling a smoke of nicotine. “Any trouble?”

  “Nothing serious.” The clown assuaged with a creepy smile, causing Roman to click his tongue impatiently and gre at him.

  “Stop fucking around, Earl. What is it?”

  “One of our newest group was beaten by two girls as they were robbing a dust store.” The dwarf grumbled, before throwing a thumb inside. “The cops have our men while both girls are inside.”

  Roman sighed once more, “What kind of fucking retards are we recruiting to be beaten by two girls?!”

  “Huntresses in training.” Earl corrected, causing Roman to raise an eyebrow at the clown as he showed them his scroll; two girls walking into the club, one of them instantly had Roman raise both eyebrows. “Got that pic right as they entered but I think those are their rides.”

  Roman followed the clown’s finger to where two colorful bikes were parked on the road, then chuckled. He had originally just wanted to purchase information from Junior about a new pce to hide, as well as the whereabouts of one of Taiyang Xiao Long’s daughters, even if there was a high chance they would shoot him on sight; he was that desperate. Roman knew the meddling Huntsman was too strong to take head on, but kidnapping one or even both of his daughters would send a message to that try-hard not to underestimate them.

  But if both of them were already here, “Change of pn, boys! Fortune is finally on our side! Have some men keep an eye on the bikes, the rest of you, follow me inside. Prepare for a fight, Junior will not let one of his clients go easily.”

  “Yes boss!”

  Roman led the way towards the entrance to the club. As he walked, his group of ten steadily swelled into twenty as the rest of his gang joined him from alleys, parked cars, and a couple of buses. Twenty turned into fifty, and by the time Roman was in front of the bouncer, Neo had already disappeared while the rest of his men, all two hundred of them, shooed away any party goers still outside.

  “Mr Torchwick! You could have called ahead to set an appointment with the boss.” The bouncer warily gnced at the veritable army of armed men and women, faunus and humans, nearly all of them aura users, his hand straying towards his gun. “Bringing such a rge escort makes people worried.”

  Normally, Roman would py nice with Junior and his organization, despite being much weaker than him in both numbers and trained combatants, their information gathering skills were among the best in the world. While Roman was a traitor to the Spider, and so most Mistralians in the criminal underworld would be hesitant to offend them by associating with him, the Bck Bear was an opportunist and still dealt with Roman occasionally. Nevertheless, he was on a tight schedule as while Junior had nearly a thousand men in his gang spread out all over the pce, he only ever kept thirty or so on the premises.

  He had to be swift, and decisive!

  “You won’t need to worry about that, buddy.”

  The bouncer’s eyes widened but too te.

  T*A*M*S

  “…I have come regarding a grave matter, Mister Hei Xiong.”

  Yang stood from her seat as the man stared at her, and only at her. She had a feeling this was going to be a tough fight. She gnced behind her, Junior suddenly had a freaking Grenade Launcher on the counter, yet he stared at the man with his arms crossed.

  “What matter could be so important for you to barge into my club with so many men and hurt one of my own, Roman Torchwick?”

  Yang’s eyes widened. Even she had heard about the elusive thief/assassin/terrorist/gang leader and many other titles the man had attained over the st decade. Heck, he was just on the news a few hours ago!

  “A very grave matter.” Roman continued to gaze at her, and Yang was seriously feeling creeped out. “As a courtesy to our past dealings, I’m giving you a chance to surrender Yang Xiao Long to me, and no more harm will come to your club, customers, or men.”

  “Ms Xiao Long is already a client of mine. You know, I can’t just surrender a client like that.”

  Yang squared her shoulders; she did not need to be a genius to guess a mobster like Junior would easily throw her under the bus rather than risk a fight in his club. At least, as long as he gets paid enough to look the other way.

  She gnced sideways, not finding Ruby, which caused Yang to grin inwardly; smart sister. Noticing Torchwick was about to reply, she quickly interrupted. “What do you want from me?”

  “Nothing from you per se, but your dear daddy has been a real pain in the ass tely, and I believe it’s time to give him a wake-up call. Meddling in the affairs of Vale’s underworld is a dangerous, risky venture when you have a family.” Torchwick flicked his hair before pcing his hat on, gripping his cane, and grinning at her. “Surrender quietly, and I promise you will not be harmed.”

  “Uh-huh, sure, and you also have a suite with my name on it, complete with a butler and high-css buffet.” Yang grinned as she popped her neck and smacked her fists together. “How about no? I got school in a week, and I’m not into older men.”

  “Such a shame,” Torchwick snapped his fingers and his men raised their guns causing the many party goers to scream. Yang had forgotten about them. “Is that your stance as well, Junior?”

  Yang risked a gnce behind her, but Junior seemed to stare sideways at the distant wall. Following his gaze she found Weiss, Becky, and the girl in white hiding behind the stage, their weapons drawn and waiting to strike. Junior sighed loudly before grabbing a mic from below the counter.

  “Attention, honored guests. Tonight’s show has been cancelled. Please make your way to the nearest emergency exit in an orderly manner before this private yet unannounced After-Party begins.”

  Junior had not even finished his warning before hordes of screaming men and women ran towards suddenly fshing doors with the words EMERGENCY EXIT written on them. Surprisingly, Torchwick did not mind, and Yang realized that as long as she was here, he did not care about the random people who might get in the crossfire.

  Junior coughed once more into his mic, “Would our guests in the restrooms please vacate the facilities?”

  Yang raised an eyebrow, that was oddly specific. Once all the customers were gone, the dance floor suddenly looked much emptier, with only about twenty of Junior’s men around. As a side effect, it was impossible for Weiss and the rest to hide, causing them to join them at the bar.

  “Well, well, well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise.” Roman blinked as he stared at Weiss holding onto her sword. “Weiss Schnee, in the flesh. My, this day keeps getting better! Tell you what, Junior. I was going to offer you half a million Lien and you let me and my boys take Little Dragon here into our custody. Why don't I double that, and you give me Schnee as well?”

  “A million Lien for Weiss Schnee? I didn’t think you would be so cheap, Roman.” The girl in white scoffed as she looked around, seemingly inspecting their enemies, yet her emerald eyes kept gncing towards Weiss who in turn seemed to be almost gring at the restrooms.

  “My, you drive a hard bargain, Menie. But I am assuming that no matter what I offer, you would still refuse?”

  Menie gnced one st time at Weiss who shook her head with a frown; Yang suddenly realized Jaune Arc had not returned from the bathroom. Was that why they were stalling? Menie finally turned back to Torchwick as she shifted her feet apart.

  “You assumed correctly, where’s your little maniac?”

  “Around.” Torchwick shrugged, though his men slowly spread out on the dance floors. Lines were being set, but they were heavily outnumbered, there must have been a hundred of them to less than twenty of Junior’s men. Roman turned to the information broker. “Are you going to let the Machites screw you over like this, Mr Xiong? Are you sure you wouldn’t sell them for even two mils? Each?”

  “They are not for sale and I doubt you have such money lying around.” Junior finally said as his hands drifted towards his grenade uncher. “It’s time to give my own offer; leave, Roman. Forget about petty vengeance and leave. You can rebuild your fallen empire, and perhaps we may even come to an agreement once you are settled.”

  Roman Torchwick scowled, “Not without my prize, I won’t!”

  Then, he raised his cane…

  …And all hell broke loose.

  Yang sprung into action just as the man pulled a trigger on his cane, firing a Fire Dust round at her yet she simply covered her face with Ember Celica and tanked the explosive round with her Sembnce. The mobster’s eyes widened briefly before he smirked and suddenly, something crashed into Yang’s side, sending her flying a few feet away, just as she saw a grenade sail above her heading towards the gangbangers.

  Crashing into a table, Yang was quickly on her feet and raised an eyebrow as she found her assaint. A short woman maybe a few years older than her, seemingly appeared from nowhere, brandishing an umbrel like a bde.

  The sound of gunfire and explosions forced Yang to gnce around; Junior was firing his grenade uncher at the crowds of thugs while the red and white twins covered his back. Weiss was hidden behind a translucent ice wall and unleashed ice spears at a crowd trying to swarm her. Some of them lost their Aura and were gored by the spears, but most of them simply dodged and fired back, only to hit the deck as Becky shot anyone out of cover. The rest of the thugs were in a chaotic brawl with Junior’s men but Roman’s men were quickly gaining ground with their numbers.

  Meanwhile, Torchwick and a…clown? Yes, a clown and a muscur dwarf were trading fire with Ruby, her sister firing Lightning Dust Rounds that sounded like thunder. Ruby must have come out of her ‘Blending With The Wall Technique,’ or whatever she calls it when she used her sembnce to turn into a red bnket and stick to the wall. Honestly, her sister’s sembnce was an absolute cheat.

  Deciding that everyone had things under control, Yang turned to her opponent, finding that she too was taking stock of the surrounding fights before turning to her. The little bitch had this most annoying smirk as she brandished her umbrel and charged at her. Yang grinned, eager to wipe that smirk off her face. She cocked her guns with impact rounds, and dashed towards her, firing her gauntlets at the st second to dodge the girl’s strike and using the momentum to turn around and punch the back of her head.

  Only for the girl to shatter into a million pieces like gss. Before Yang could so much as widen her eyes, another powerful blow nded on her stomach that sent her staggering back a few steps, but not before Yang instinctively punched back, connecting with something that felt like extremely dense fabric. The girl reappeared, her smirk gone as she scrutinized her umbrel.

  It was Yang’s turn to smirk, “Interesting trick, and you can certainly pack a punch…for a midget.”

  The girl did not reply but merely dashed towards her. Yang eyed her warily, trying to figure out how she used her sembnce but the girl did not disappear, opting to attack her directly. Suddenly, a bde sprang from the umbrel’s tip and stabbed her. Yang grimaced as she tried to dodge, but the girl was fast–too fast–as her bde struck her several times in her arms and sides, each time whittling away her aura but not as much as the midget thought it was. Judging by her frown, she could probably tell she wasn’t dealing as much damage as she thought, yet it was still more than Yang.

  She had yet to nd a single hit, even as she abandoned attempts at dodging in favor of attacking. Her sembnce, Burn, gave her a rge leeway in defense and tanking hits. As long as her Aura was intact, she could absorb the energy of the strikes and return them twofold or store them for one massive blow. Yet it also had a far more nifty ability that allowed her to transform the stored energy into Aura. This essentially guaranteed that the longer she fought, the more powerful she became, yet it was completely meaningless if she could not nd A SINGLE HIT!

  Not to mention, bded weapons were far more painful than bludgeons.

  Deciding to risk it, Yang tanked another stab to her stomach, cocked her guns to load FDRs, then fired at the girl’s head. The midget sensed the danger and contorted her body at an impossible angle to dodge the fming missile that blew a hole in the ground. Yang suddenly found herself falling backwards after feeling something grab her ankle, bringing her to the ground — the umbrel’s handle. She barely struck the ground before her heart nearly stopped as she found a bde heading right for her eye, and for a second…Yang saw death in the form of the midget’s manic grin.

  Only for a Lightning Dust Round to punch through the midget’s Aura which sent her flying into the dance floor.

  “Watch yourself, Yang!” Her sister’s voice echoed before nding above her and giving her a hand. “Wanna switch? I don’t think you’re a good match against Neo.”

  “Neo?” Yang grabbed the offered hand and allowed Ruby to pull her up; a gnce found Weiss had taken Ruby’s pce fighting Roman and his two henchmen, but she was clearly struggling.

  “It’s what pumpkin dude called her.” Ruby shrugged, “Cimed she’s a perfect counter against ‘blockheaded brutes like you.’ His words, not mine.”

  “Oh yeah?” Yang was not upset about the implication her sister was stronger than her; it was a fact. She smashed her fist into her palm as she turned to the mobster. “I suppose I could go give him some clobbering before our Ice Princess turns him into an icicle. You got this handled?”

  “Yea–wait, where the fudge did she go?!” Yang turned swiftly at Ruby’s yelp, not finding Neo where she was supposed to be.

  “Careful, Rubes. She can turn invisible. Some kind of illusion, I think.”

  “Great,” The sound of fighting continued around them as both girls stood back to back for a moment, but Ruby suddenly turned Crescent Rose from scythe to sniper form and fired a round seemingly at random. A yelp in the distance and Weiss shouting ‘Thank you!’ told Yang it wasn’t so random after all.

  Yang could feel Burn slowly turning her accumuted beating into Aura, rejuvenating her from the damage she endured. She had all her senses focused, yet she still failed to block the bde that suddenly stabbed her chest, barely missing her heart as Yang flinched at the st moment. Even with her full aura, getting stabbed in the heart would be troublesome to recover from.

  But, it did not matter; Yang might be slow, but Ruby was the fastest fighter she knew.

  Crescent Rose suddenly sliced in front of Yang, the bde connecting with something and the illusion once more shattered, showing an annoyed looking Neo with Ruby’s weapon stuck to her umbrel, cutting a couple of inches deep.

  “Go Yang!” Ruby called as she tried to overpower Neo, a wide grin on both girls’ faces. “Help Weiss. I got this in the bag.”

  Yang nodded before dashing toward the struggling Weiss, who was fighting the fmboyant clown and the manly midget. The clown was comically slipping on the frozen floor due to his overly rge shoes, yet somehow managed to shoot his submachine gun at Weiss every time she gave him her back. Closer to Weiss, the muscur dwarf used a massive warhammer that exploded with each strike, definitely not someone the Dust Caster was suited to fighting either. Worse, she could see Torchwick sneaking behind Weiss, his left arm frozen, yet his right aiming his cane at her blindspot.

  Yang dashed towards Roman, cocking her gauntlets and aiming it at him. The mobster saw her and was about to change targets, only for Yang to grin and change her aim at the clown’s back, firing multiple shells until his Aura shattered and he dropped to the ground with his back full of slugs. She could hear Torchwick curse as she tanked his rounds and turned to him, bouncing back as quickly as she could while the mobster backed away as he pulled a glowing round she recognized as a high explosive round and loaded it in the barrel.

  Yang channeled Burn’s energy to her legs and practically flew in front of the fmboyant mobster and grabbed the front of his cane just as he opened fire, causing it to backfire and blow back in his face. Naturally, Yang’s hand felt like a grenade had gone off, yet her Aura and Sembnce protected her…to a degree. Yang’s right hand was practically useless as she could barely clench it. It did not look mangled, but it hurt like a bitch!

  But still not as bad as the mobster’s face. She quickly let go of the molten metal and kicked away the screaming Roman, blood flowing from behind the bangs covering his right eye; Some of the cane's shards must have bypassed his weakened aura. Seeing that he was done for, Yang quickly turned at the sound of an explosion, Weiss screaming, and her Aura flickering ominously; the dwarf had given her a solid strike and was moving in for the kill.

  Only to be hit by a Lightning Round from Ruby who had also turned at Weiss’ scream, yet that cost her as Neo, who looked a whole lot more battered, swung her bde at her sister’s neck. Yang could barely scream out a “RUBY!” before a grenade nded next to both girls, the explosion sending them careening away.

  Turning to her sister’s savior, she found an injured Junior losing his weapon as his Aura shattered and was piled upon by Roman’s thugs through sheer numbers — pure dumb luck had caused his shot to miss and save Ruby. The Red twin had also fallen and was quickly subdued, while the white twin fell back to cover Becky by the stage, who had more thugs trading fire with her than anywhere else in the battle; all three looked like they were on their st legs.

  As Yang checked her Aura, she realized their situation was dire; Burn took time to replenish her Aura and she could not afford to get hit too many times or else her Aura would be overwhelmed regardless of her sembnce. Without Aura, she could not activate Burn’s features, and all that accumuted damage would be lost.

  They needed to incapacitate Roman quickly before his thugs overwhelmed them all!

  But first, Yang grabbed Weiss by her shoulders, “You alright, Weiss?”

  The girl coughed, before grabbing her ribs. “I’ll live. Ugh, where the hell is he?!”

  “Who?” Yang dragged her friend towards her recovering sister, who had jumped back on her feet but could not find Neo.

  “Who else?” Weiss grumbled as she steadied herself and gripped her sword tightly before surveying the dance floor. Junior and Red Twin were already bound with a few men watching them while the rest of the thugs attacked the pinned down Menie and Becky. “We need to help them!”

  Ruby quickly joined them and Yang clicked her tongue as she could not find Roman.

  “I think it’s time for a tactical retreat.” Ruby muttered, turning her scythe into a hybrid rifle — not allowing her to use the scope but allowing her to fire and cut at the same time. “I’ll swing in and cut a path towards your friends. Weiss, can you still cast?”

  “Yes, but I can’t take any more hits.”

  “Yang will protect you. On my mark, create two ice walls to form a path for me and I will bring them over here.”

  Weiss quickly loaded Ice Dust into her weapon, and Yang could have sworn she had retrieved the vial from thin air, before nodding to Ruby. Within a glint of an eye, Ruby turned into a red blur that sliced through a dozen of the thugs, their Aura shattering and left bleeding on the ground. Weiss didn’t blink at the bloody harvest; she quickly swung her sword twice, sending two thin walls of ice that covered Ruby and the rest from gunfire. Ruby then grabbed Menie and Becky before fshing back to their position, and nearly colpsing on the ground in exhaustion.

  “Cookies and cream! Bringing people along is tiring!” Ruby held her knees as she caught her breath, and Yang stood protectively in front of them. Becky and White Twin were even more exhausted and disoriented from Ruby’s sembnce, yet Becky recovered first. The older woman did not seem to run out of ammo as she reloaded her pair of pistols with magazines that she brought from somewhere and Yang was seriously thinking she was going mad. What was it with people pulling stuff out of nowhere? Becky noticed her look and grinned before standing protectively in front of Weiss as the girl breathed heavily from the exertion.

  The sound of gunfire stopped, repced by an angry shout. “Enough of this farce. Surrender already, or they will both get it.”

  An explosion resounded as the ice walls were shattered, and Yang found the dwarf with his warhammer raised, his face was an enraged mask as his iron beard still crackled with electricity from Ruby’s shooting. Further behind, Roman Torchwick stood over the bound Junior, his foot on his head, while the Red Twin had Neo standing over her.

  “Miltia!” White Twin, Menie, shouted in worry. Yang grimaced when Neo pced her bde on the back of Miltia’s neck. “You will pay for this, Roman! The Spider has not forgotten–”

  “To hell with you and your Spider. Useless has-beens are not entitled to make a fuss outside their little hellhole in Mistral. You’re all under my mercy now, girls.” Roman Torchwick wiped away at his cheek as what remained of his Aura healed his wound — the bang covering his right eye was half burned off showing an angry green eye. “You’re lucky Little Dragon’s stunt didn’t blind me, else I would have you all sughtered!”

  “What should we do, Yang?” Ruby whispered, she was the one who was retively unscathed so far, yet her Aura was still low. “I could try to take one of them down, but even I am not fast enough to take both.”

  Weiss shook her head as she fiddled with her scroll, “There’s still too many of them. Even if we could get both of them, I count at least fifty of the thugs surrounding us.”

  Sure enough, Roman’s thugs steadily enclosed around them, their guns locked and loaded. Roman angrily stomped on Junior’s back, “Stop chatting and drop your weapons! I still have a hundred of my men surrounding the building and they’re all fresh and eager for blood.”

  Yang felt a chill crawl up her spine. They had barely managed to fight Roman and his gang to a standstill, and he had even more men outside? She could feel Ruby and Weiss tensing beside her, Menie was favoring her left foot, meaning she was basically out of the fight. Becky, however, simply popped her neck as she fingered a grenade before grinning at her.

  “I’m good to go whenever.”

  Before they could make a decision, footsteps echoed from one of the corridors followed by a young man’s voice.

  “…Let him go? You sure about that? I could take him down right now. Person of interest? Whatever, Glynda. You keep overcomplicating things. Fine, fine, I’ll see what I can do. Club is already shot up though, might need some help for the cleanup. Cool, I’ll see you ter.”

  Jaune Arc stopped at the edge of the dance floor before turning off his scroll. Yang’s eyes were wide as she noticed how utterly rexed he was, but more importantly, he had a certain bundle of furs on his shoulder.

  “Zwei!” Ruby chirped, “What are you doing here?” The dog barked several times. “Oh yeah? Some bad guys tried to take our bikes? And you ran for help? Oh, you’re such a smart boy!”

  “Jaune! Why the hell were you not picking up your scroll?!” Weiss stomped her foot as she gred at the blonde who seemed to be inspecting Roman and his gang with the same curiosity one would have at a zoo exhibit.

  “Yeah, sorry Weiss. Was busy with another call.” Jaune Arc had his hands in his pockets as he nguidly approached Roman’s group, which, Yang noticed, had suddenly fallen silent — Zwei had jumped off and rushed to Ruby’s waiting hands. “Roman Torchwick, I presume?”

  Roman visibly gulped, and Yang felt like she was missing something important. “Who’s asking?”

  “Jaune Arc.” The moment the name was said, a wave of unease flowed through Roman’s men, and Yang could have sworn several of them whispered something about a butcher in Celdic. “I’m gonna ask you to stand down and surrender.”

  “Surrender? Me? Hah!” Roman ughed as he poked his gun at Junior’s head. “I have the advantage here, boy. I don’t care what sort of reputation you built in the boonies, but this is Vale! With one signal, I can have a swarm of my men rushing here and–”

  “No, you won’t.” The bored reply stumped the mobster. “I already dealt with your men outside. Be gd I was feeling merciful and didn’t hurt them…too much. Pretty sure a few of them will bleed out if no one provides emergency aid soon, though. It’s been a while since I used my sword in a fight, I’m afraid I might have forgotten how to properly hold back.”

  Roman’s eyes widened before he fumbled with his scroll and tried to call someone. Nobody picked up, and the mobster gritted his teeth as he tried another number, then another, all the while everyone just watched in bated breath until someone finally picked up.

  “Yes boss? Is it extraction time?”

  Roman remained silent for a moment and gnced sideways at Neo…who was not there! The dwarf was in her pce as he kept his warhammer at Miltia. An almost imperceptible blur appeared behind Arc as a bde materialized and sliced at his neck.

  Only it just…stopped.

  “Hm?” Jaune Arc turned around, his left hand shooting like a viper to grab something invisible. The illusion was broken and Neo appeared in his hand, trying relentlessly to stab or cut him, yet her bde just bounced off his Aura like it was solid steel. “My my, what a naughty little shit you are. A cute little shit, but naughty nevertheless. Is she yours, Roman?”

  Roman clenched his teeth, “Yes.”

  Jaune Arc hummed as he gripped Neo’s neck tightly causing her to choke and kick away madly to no avail. “I get the feeling she’s more to you than just an underling. Now, I was going to let you all go just to avoid more damage to this fine establishment, but after the little maniac here tried to kill me, I don’t feel so merciful anymore.”

  “What are you–”

  “Such a tainted soul,” Yang shivered as, suddenly, the entire building was flooded with an oppressive aura at the sudden change of tune. Arc brought Neo closer to his face, as if he was an appraiser inspecting a diamond closely. “Not a single hint of guilt in her bones. Soul almost as dark as tar. How many people have you murdered in cold blood? How many children have you orphaned, wives you have left widowed, and families you have destroyed?”

  With every accusation, Jaune tightened his grip and Neo’s eyes bulged as her lips turned blue and her Aura shattered, her colorful features fading away to show a dark-haired woman with brown eyes. Jaune Arc withdrew a gun from somewhere and aimed it at the young woman’s forehead.

  “Was it due to a messy childhood? Abusive parents, perhaps? It couldn’t have been that bad or else you would have become Grimm Bait, yet I don’t sense that much darkness in you. Not that kind of darkness, at least. But you see my dear, while that is a pitiful past, once you start bming the world and taking it out on innocent people, you become a parasite. And parasites must be extinguished, no matter how pitiful. It would be a mercy to finish you off now, and prevent any more atrocities that would darken your soul, but perhaps there might still be a chance for redemption in you. It will all depend on your lover, however.”

  Roman’s face was contorted in rage and fear as Jaune raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine! We will leave. Let go of Neo and I will–”

  “Nah, buddy. This little bundle of murderous intentions tried to kill me.” Jaune smirked, “I have yet to allow anyone to live after such a stunt. You’re gonna have to pay some, uh, what was it called?”

  “Weregild?” Weiss supplied helpfully.

  “I was thinking ‘compensation’, but that does sound more appropriate. Yes, as my smart friend said, weregild. The question is, how much is shortstack here worth to you?”

  Roman’s jaw dropped, “A-Are you seriously extorting me?”

  “Not at all, it’s entirely legal. I’m a noble and here we have some criminal midget who just tried to kill me. If this was a hundred years ago, I could cim her as my sve girl and put her to work to pay her own weregild. I’m sure I can make use of her sembnce in theater or cinema and make big bucks, forcing her to py a dozen characters instead of hiring a dozen actors.”

  “These ws are obsolete you–” Roman retorted furiously before Jaune chuckled deeply.

  “I heard the Cirque De La Lune back in Massalia was looking for talents. My family owns a major share in it, you see, and they used to employ a lot of sves back in the day when it was more of a gdiator arena. Today, though? Heh, they would still bend over backwards for me to have this one in their show. No questions asked.”

  “Y-You! And you call yourself a–” Roman shook in rage before taking a deep breath and adopting a confident demeanor – it tricked no one, as even Yang could tell the mobster was shaken. “Whatever, ws and regutions are made to be broken, I can respect that. Fine, Neo is precious to me, and I’m willing to pay a hundred thousand Lien for her safety.”

  “Hell no,” Weiss stomped forward until she stood next to Arc. “You were willing to pay TWO million for me and Yang EACH! A mere hundred grand is super damn cheap for your so-called precious lover.”

  “Is that true, Roman? Were you trying to dupe me?” Jaune brought Neo closer to his body, almost hugging her affectionately to his chest, and turned her around so she could see her lover – his hand moved from her neck to around her chin, forcing her to look up. “You see how cheap your lover is? He thinks you’re only worth a hundred grand. Barely enough to buy a new car. Well? Got anything to say to him?”

  He waited for the woman to say something but she just coughed and gred silently at Roman who sighed. “She’s mute. Fine, a million Lien–”

  “Five million.” Weiss stomped on Arc’s foot before he could reply and folded her arms, “Not a penny less, and Jaune will let you all go. Transfer it to my account now and quickly before the police arrive.”

  “F-Five million? I don’t have that kind of money–”

  “Don’t care. Do you think we’re joking here?” Yang gawked as she looked at Weiss in a new light, the previously well-spoken girl had a vicious grin as she patted Jaune’s arm. “Do you really think Jaune here won’t break you all under his boots? I’m sure you all heard about what he did to a certain bandit group up in the Valean mountains.”

  Several uneasy murmurs sounded out and the thugs looked at their leader in worry. Roman looked utterly unwilling, yet it seemed even a hardened criminal like him had a soft spot as he gazed at his lover. Yang would have thought it endearing if the midget had not nearly killed her.

  “Wow, this Jaune dude must be quite the character!” Ruby whispered beside her. “How strong is he really for Roman freaking Torchwick to be willing to back off just like that?”

  “You have no idea.” Becky replied, “Noticed how the girl’s bde did nothing to him? I once saw someone shoot him in the head at point-bnk, yet the bullet just got stuck in his Aura and he flicked it like it was a fly. He’s a true, bona fide monster in human flesh.”

  And that monster had saved them, yet Yang did not feel happy about it–to be saved by such a brutal man. Her injured hand twitched. She hated that feeling of helplessness, the idea that she would most likely have died fighting Neo if not for Ruby’s save. But Ruby was her sister, practically her twin, and they would always watch each other’s backs. Jaune Arc, however? He’s an unknown. Weiss seemed to know and trust him, but truthfully, Yang did not know much about Weiss herself either.

  Yang shook her head. She was feeling utterly confused.

  Roman gritted his teeth so much she could almost hear them cracking from the pressure before he growled. “Fine!”

  .

  .

  .

  “Well, this was one exciting night.” Ruby chirped as she enjoyed her milkshake.

  “Yeah, a lot more interesting than I expected.” Yang sighed as she twirled a gss of whiskey.

  It was an hour ter, and Roman’s gang had retreated with their tails behind their legs, dragging their dead and wounded with them. Yang was sitting with Ruby at the bar as Junior’s men repaired the damage. Surprisingly, only a few of them died, as Jaune Arc somehow healed them and practically brought a few of them back from the brink of death — he even healed the grievously wounded from Roman’s gang too. Still, a lot of them needed to be sent to the hospital, but the rest of Junior’s gang had arrived shortly after Roman left.

  Jaune and Weiss were speaking with Junior nearby, their scrolls were out and probably exchanging numbers. The big bear had his arm in a sling, but was otherwise alright; especially after Arc did something and caused all of their Auras to recover to full. Seriously, that man was a complete enigma.

  “I can’t wait to tell Uncle Qrow about it!” Ruby continued.

  “Not Dad?”

  “Nope, he will probably ground us for life and never even let us go to Beacon!”

  Yang shivered, their Dad was not too overprotective as he believed that a person must overcome adversaries in order to grow…like throwing them in a forest when they were twelve for three days and telling them to survive. It was…interesting. Of course, they ter learned that he and Uncle Qrow were watching over them every minute of the survival test, but it was still a brutal way to discover the limits of their sembnces and master them.

  Worked wonders so Yang wouldn’t hold it against their Dad.

  She turned her head to see Weiss and Jaune approaching, the white haired girl smiling at them. “I didn’t get the chance to say it, but I’m so gd to see you two again!”

  Yang grinned, “Same here, Weisscream. Never thought our heartfelt reunion would be in the middle of a gang war.”

  “Ugh, stop calling me that. And here I was about to compensate you for all the trouble you found yourself in.”

  “Oh, oh. I want a mil to myself!” Ruby bounced on her stool, her hood falling backwards as she beamed at Weiss and Jaune. Yang’s eyes narrowed when Arc’s eyes widened at the sight of her sister. “I did most of the work, and I definitely deserve a bonus. Boobies here can get a hundred grand or two.”

  “Hey! If it wasn’t for me, Torchwick wouldn’t even be here and we never would have gotten a windfall.”

  “You do realize some of my men died to protect you?” Junior’s cold voice came from above them, as the man returned behind the counter.

  “Ah…yeah. I’m so sorry about that.” Yang had instantly jumped to her feet and grabbed Ruby as they bowed in apology — it was one thing to kill someone in the heat of battle, though Yang did not think she caused any deaths, but Junior had taken a huge risk in saving their hides.

  “Nevermind, they knew what they were getting into working for me. I will take care of their families and make sure they are compensated. Yet to do that…” Junior gnced meaningfully to Weiss who nodded.

  “We already sent half the money to Junior, as he was the one who suffered the most from this disaster.” Weiss withdrew her scroll, “Yet you two still deserve a bonus of some kind, right, Jaune? Jaune?”

  Jaune Arc had continued to stare at Ruby intently, causing her sister to tilt her head sideways before giving him a sultry grin. “What’s wrong, pretty boy? Did you fall for my sexy and mature looks?”

  Yang snorted and enjoyed the show, Ruby was normally the more reserved of the two of them but could be as much of an utter tease as her when she wanted to. Strangely, though, Jaune did not react much aside from humming.

  “You have…silver eyes.”

  “Huh? Uh, yeah, I do.” Ruby looked confused for a second before smirking as she sat on the edge of the bar and batted her eyeshes, “I know they’re rare, but don’t tell me you fell for how pretty they are.”

  Yang chortled when Weiss grumbled beside her, but froze when Jaune shook his head. “I was told that people with silver eyes are incredibly rare and esteemed. What that meant, I have no idea. I only knew of one man who had them, but he is gone now.”

  “Okay? What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Nothing, most likely. I will need to check on something ter,” Jaune Arc muttered to himself before gncing at the doors, then turning to Weiss. “Let’s hurry and split the prize. We got visitors soon.”

  Visitors? Yang did not get the chance to comment before Weiss had them pull out their scrolls, exchange scroll numbers, and transfer half a million Lien to each of them. It was a significant amount of money that neither of them would have been able to earn at their age, even through Huntsmen contracts.

  “Alright, not as much as I hoped, but I’m rich!” Ruby swung her legs back and forth as she punched the air. “I knew the hero business was a lucrative one. Hey, Junior. If you have any bad guys that need beating up, let me know if you’re paying, and I’ll be there within a blink of an eye!”

  “No, you shall not, young dy!”

  Yang and Ruby froze before woodenly turning to the entrance of the club and her heart nearly dropped to her stomach. Standing there, with his arms folded and surrounded by a huntsmen team and plenty of police, was her father being led inside by Menie and Miltia. Taiyang Xiao Long did not look amused, not one bit.

  “H-Hi, Dad.”

  No rip and tear this time.

  Roman is bloodied and humbled, but Glynda still has further use for him and convinced Jaune to let him leave. Our Jaune is quite the opportunist, though, not as much as Weiss who suddenly is no longer in debt!

  Yang never learned to use her sembnce in different ways in canon, which seemed like an utter waste imo. Here, Burn has a few different abilities to it that I believe she could have developed on her own rather than it being me just giving her freebies. We already know that Burn stores the energy from any attacks she takes, but why would she waste it firing it back when Yang could simply use it differently?

  I left a hint on how she developed that power; her and Ruby dropped in the forest by Tai and Qrow. Hardcore, eh?

  I hope you liked my interpretation of an older Ruby as well as the new dynamic with Yang.