Case Red

Torchwick debriefed them shortly after they arrived. Each of them was going to participate which included Torchwick himself.

There were three targets that they would hit, based on Torchwicks information it should be where their enemies were most likely going to rob.

Three locations were named, the central train terminal in the commercial district, the docks, and finally, dust dealers disguised as a normal auction house in the upper-class district.

Pairs were formed to tackle each place separately.

Ruby and Torchwick were responsible for the train terminal with SDC trains coming in. The upper-class district would be managed by Weiss and Neo. Yang and Blake went to the docks.

After they received newly wiped scrolls for communication since they ditched their Beacon-issued ones back at their dorms. They started moving out after they were done.

Two figures; a girl clad in red and another elaborately dressed man walked into the isolated streets in the city of Vale. It was in the middle of the night and most people were sleeping.

They moved to the rooftops, using their tools and abilities to get up to a high point.

Both of them hopped and leaped, free running towards the train terminal busied by an SDC train coming in to resupply the dust stores nearby. The hiss of the train stopping meant that they were getting closer.

Ruby looked toward her reluctant partner while they traveled the urban landscape of Vale.

"What is it Little Red? Don't be scared I'm not the big bad wolf you know." Torchwick spoke, surprising Ruby at how Roman knew she was looking.

"Why did you become a bad guy, Torchwick?"

"Bad guy? If I'm the bad guy then my mother would be worse." Torchwick casually replied.

'Worse…?' Ruby thought, she caught a specific word being said as a passing remark.

"How, exactly? I can't imagine someone living without one." She remembers something similar happening to Yang but since her own mother took care of her anyways, they were still raised properly.

Torchwick laughed at the question, enough that he had to stop running. "Red, I may not know your mother but I know mine. I know she abandoned me and that's it. Life is cruel, Red. You should maybe learn that."

Ruby was surprised, she didn't know Torchwick didn't have a mother like hers. She frowned at the thought before feeling a cane stop her movements.

"Red, don't get distracted. We're here."

Ruby snapped out from her stupor and looked in front to see the train terminal surrounded by various buildings.

Torchwick goes first, silently landing on the floor while quickly making his way to one of the buildings. He goes between small gaps and makes his way closer to the train while Ruby followed close by.

Spotting an open window on an upper floor, he lifted his cane with the hook in front and fires the hook. It lands with great precision and snatches the ledge of where the window was.

He looked at Ruby who was standing around behind him while she eyed him curiously.

"Brat, get over here."

Ruby walks toward Torchwick and raised her eyebrows before getting lifted with one arm like she weighed nothing.

"Stop flailing around, you're going to snap the wire," Torchwick ordered.

They reach the window and Torchwick tosses Ruby inside while Torchwick unhooks his cane and walks towards the opposite side. Ruby met the ground and stood up to dust herself off.

"What was that for?"

"Shush, let the babysitter do what's best, Red."

Torchwick motioned his hand for her to follow him. Ruby silently heeded his command and they got to the closest building that was in view of the train terminal itself.

Torchwick took out a cigar and lighter and took in a breath, blowing it out seconds later while they waited and watched.

The wait will take long for them to know if Torchwick was right in assessing if Cinder's goons would attack this place like Torchwick predicted so Ruby decided to talk to the gentleman thief while they idled around.

"So… about your mothe-"

Torchwick interrupts ."She abandoned me and that's all, it's not like I needed her anyways. Why are you so nosy, Red?"

Ruby deflated from the comment "Is that why you make other people miserable?"

"That's on them, I could not care less about other people. If I did, then I'd be dead in the streets of Mistral starving." Torchwick scoffs.

"But you coul-"

Torchwick was getting frustrated. "But could what, Red? Not do anything to try and live? Do I let others decide if I die today or the next day? Pah! You're naive, Red."

"That doesn't mean you could just drag others down…" Ruby countered.

"They got dragged down because they didn't try hard enough. Me? I clawed my way up from dying in a ditch. You can keep your fantasies and hopes to your own, Red. For me, I'll do what I do best, lie, cheat, steal and survive." Torchwick aggressively puts out his cigar and squashes it underfoot.

The sound of vehicles arriving caught their attention, they laid low and observed the vehicles.

Shouts were heard by men in black suits while white fang members rounded up the employees and started breaking into the train full of dust that was parked in the terminal.

A man came out of another car, he barked orders while a pair of twins overlooked the others seizing dust.

Torchwick smiled.

'So Senior Hei Xiong's child was taken in as a replacement for me? Funny, it's starting to look like old times.'

He looked toward the two twins and relaxed his smile.

'Those two eh?' He mused.

"Hey, I know them, we saw them before along with that tall man with a club." Ruby pointed at the twins and the man before continuing. "He said something in the lines of you leaving when we fought."

Torchwick nodded at the information.

'Then it's likely Cinder would make him the replacement since he is the leader of his own family.'

Torchwick looked behind him to see Ruby looking toward the robbery of the train and preparing her weapon. Torchwick immediately tried to stop whatever she was doing.

"Red! I don't need you acting like a hero and getting yourself killed. I don't want to be turned into a bloody mist if Lunchbox caught wind that I let you die during my plans."

"But look! They are hurting the civilians!"

Torchwick looked at the white fang grunts beating one of the employees that tried to sound the alarm by running. He was caught when one of the white fang members shot them in the leg.

"Who cares? That doesn't mean we can just fight off the entirety of them with just us two."

Ruby looked at him and lost her previous awkwardness being replaced by fearlessness and determination.

'Woah, must've triggered something.' Torchwick stared at Ruby.

"That's wrong. I want to help them." Ruby replied.

"Red, I don't care if it's right or wrong, I only care if we get out of this alive. Picking a fight with that many people is suicide." Torchwick advised.

"Torchwick, if there was someone out there that saved you from being abandoned and delivered you a good life wouldn't you be grateful? I'm not going to leave them to get hurt, I'm going." Ruby started going towards the window Torchwick and opened it. A distinct slam was heard as she forcefully shut the window as she was jumping down.

Torchwick paused as he looked at the girl going after the train terminal.

"...Damn it, Red."

The statement that he heard still resounded in his mind. He looked towards the window that reflected his contorted face. He stares at it for a second before relaxing.

'..If someone took me in..."

Torchwick pulled out another cigar but stopped just as he was going to light it. His hand wavering as he remembered the statement again.

'...Me? Grateful?...'

Ruby was traveling fast towards the terminal, in a blur of red and petals, she quickly made her way towards the white fang members.

Another kick was sent to the employee who was clutching his head in futile defense against the multiple members of the white fang. The employee wheezed as he was lifted up by the arms and punched in the gut.

"Don't be surprised human, we're just here to pay things back for what you have done."

The man clenches his teeth and body, another punch was sent towards his bloodied and bruised face. The punch never connects as a young girl showed herself and knocked out the grunt with a swift swing of her scythe several times larger than her.

"What?! Call the others!" a grunt yelled out.

The grunt holding the employee up drops the man on the ground as he tries to reach for his gun before the blunt side of Ruby's side was thrust towards his face. The grunt staggered back and fell unconscious.

"Go." The young girl says.

The employee nods and limps away as fast as he could. Ruby heard the dozens of footsteps reach her. Ruby now faced multiple enemies facing her, their weapons drawn and ready to fight.

Without a single word uttered she rushed in, surprising the group. She delivers a devastating wide arc using her speed. One of the white fang shoots but a burst of roses fled while his bullets accidentally injure his comrades.

Ruby uses one of the white fang as a footstool and jumps into the air, diving down while using her semblance to knock out more goons by using the blunt side of her sniper-scythe hybrid.

Her weapon shot out blanks while using the recoil to quickly move her scythe to block an enemy swing with its handle.

She keeps her back safe from an attack by twisting the enemy's thrust outwards and shooting downwards and launching the scythe upwards, hitting the grunt on his chin and knocking him out. while using the momentum to kick another goon straight in the chest.

"You again!"

Hei Xiong has shown himself while looking at the dozens of his men laying on the ground unconscious and unmoving. The two enforcers acting as bodyguards dash forward to engage Ruby.

Ruby lets the empty magazine drop to the ground and places in a magazine filled with non-blanks. The enemies she fought had aura so she was confident they could handle bullets.

A kick is sent towards her face, while claws simultaneously swung towards her legs. She used her semblance in tandem with jumping to launch herself backward away from the attacks as they missed.

The twins look in surprise before ducking and cartwheeling away from the shots.

The twins don't relent and rapidly approach Ruby who meca-shifted her weapon to its proper sniper mode and takes fire at the twins who split up.

Ruby eyes each of them approaching before deciding to engage with the twin with the sword heels. Meca-shifting her weapon to war scythe mode.

The twin sees the attack aimed at her and raised her leg in defense. A spark was produced from the tip of Crescent Rose met the weaponed heels of Melanie.

Ruby lets the block happen before she meca-shifted her weapon to scythe mode and hooking the raised leg and shooting to both knockback and trip Melanie.

Militia sees her sister getting tripped and tries to counterattack but gets pelted by more dust rounds, she blocks the shots but they blocked her vision while she raised her arms.

She looked back up to see Ruby inches to her face with a gun barrel pointed straight at her head. She tried to knock the barrel to the side but was met with a loud bang as the round sends her head swinging back before getting pummeled by the blunt side of Crescent Rose.

The twins groan and get back up, seemingly not even making Ruby break a sweat. Ruby tried to attack again before a rocket forced her to receive a nasty blow to her aura while she skidded.

The twins seized the opportunity and attack again. Militia sends a swing at Ruby who blocks with the handle of Crescent Rose.

Melanie sees the chance and wraps her leg around the staff of Cresent Rose and wrestles control over it. Ruby tried to shoot the rifle but with the help of Militia, her weapon gets knocked to the side after Militia made Ruby weaken her grip on it by sending a swipe directly at Ruby.

The loss of her main weapon forced her to try hand-to-hand but was fruitless in her attempts as another kick joined with a punch from Melanie and Militia respectively knock her to the ground.

She tries using her semblance but her legs was pressured by Melanie when she steps over it.

"End of the line." Militia said, she swings. Aiming for the head to break Ruby's weakening aura.

As the red blades of Militia's claw-like weapon were approaching her vision she tried one more attempt to shake off Melanie's hold over her legs. She struggled but the weight on her legs kept its hold.

She felt her heartbeat increase as the panic in her mind forced her to see in slow motion the weapon going towards her face. She felt her aura breaking slowly from the heels digging at her legs and she dreaded the thought of her aura breaking and leaving her to the fate of the enemy.

A flare suddenly sounded from the side as Torchwick announced his presence and keeps firing on the distracted twins while running forwards to send a feint to Melanie who steps backward to dodge the fake hit.

"Candlestick! You came back!"

Torchwick groaned at the code name but he technically does the same thing all the time so he didn't focus on the name so much.

He switches grip and quickly sends out the hook side of his cane and a cable wraps around Melanie's legs. Torchwick pulled backward and trips her and sending a quick hit from his cane. The quick hit breaks her already weakened aura and gets knocked unconscious.

Turning his attention to Militia who was recovering from the flare rounds he sent a while ago, he thrusts with his cane that hits her squarely in the head. She retaliates by uppercutting but Torchwick twists her arm using his cane and headbutts her as hard as he could, breaking her aura.

Ruby, who sat up and recovered, stared at Torchwick fighting and went to retrieve her weapon. Torchwick looks toward her.

"You owe me one, Red. Get out of here and deal with the small fries. We need to take in everyone here now that they saw us." Torchwick turns to the frightened Hei Xiong.

Hei Xiong was scared, the moment he saw the flare come out of nowhere, he recognized who was sending it.

"Torchwick?" Shakiness in his voice could be heard.

"Hey Junior, how's life at the top?" Torchwick taunted.

"Where have you been?" Hei replied.

"Woah now! Just because you retook your father's original position doesn't mean you could just ignore my question." He chuckled before continuing "You better listen to me Junior, you know that your father was once at the top as well."

"Don't talk about him like that."

"How about you make me, Junior?" He said, tipping his bowler hat.

Hei meca-shifted his club into a rocket launcher and sends a rocket towards Torchwick who casually leans to the side while mocking a yawn missing completely.

"Huh, did you upgrade that thing? It's a bit bigger than before…no, don't tell me… are you compensating for something?" He smirks.

"Grah!"

Meca-shifting back into a club, he uses his weapon to do a telegraphed overhead swing. Torchwick easily thrust his weapon towards Hei's throat knocking his head back.

Torchwick transitions from a thrust to a right swing, Hei still staggered from the counterattack from earlier receives its full force. He groans and tries to raise his weapon before a flare shot towards him which he frantically dodges.

"C'mon Junior! You gotta do better than that!"

Seeing the large skill gap between himself and Torchwick he decides to try and run. He pulls a pin on his new weapon before looking away.

'Huh?' Torchwick thought before blinding light flashed as he barely reacted in time to cover his eyes.

Hei was running away and was reaching the cars parked in the middle of the area inside the train terminal.

He sends more flares but hears a click when his cane is empty of ammunition.

'Damn!'

Torchwick runs after Hei who got in the car and drove a good distance. Torchwick finished his reload and tried shooting at the car. He maneuvers his car around and the shots miss.

Hei was almost free he just needed to drive through the entrance they made but a sudden blur of red impacted at the hood and Ruby who was done dispatching the lesser goons meca-shifted her weapon into a war scythe.

She sliced off the entire roof of the car before pointing her weapon toward Hei. He lifted his hands in surrender before getting knocked unconscious by a cane impacting the back of his head.

Ruby smirked triumphantly at her aid being able to stop Hei. Torchwick rolls his eyes as he puffed out more smoke from his cigar.

"Don't get ahead of yourself too much, Red. You are still an idiot."

Ruby wasn't dissuaded from holding her smirk. "Nope, we got the man himself Torchwick you got to give me that at least."

They both gathered the unconscious bodies of the white fang and goons. They plan on handing them over to the police, they would keep the twins and Hei under their custody since they plan on interrogating them all.

They hefted up their bodies, packing in their bodies like sardines inside a car they stole from Hei's men. They were about to enter the car before Ruby spoke.

"Hey, Torchwick?"

Torchwick looks up from the wheel and raises his eyebrow at Ruby.

"You were pretty cool."

"Wouldn't put it in the same word but fine, of course, I am." He responded

"You're not bad yourself, Ruby, although you are still a brat. I don't agree with you risking your life for some nobody."

"Doesn't mean I won't try, besides it all worked out well," Ruby responded.

Ruby looks at the train terminal they all fought in before realizing something "I think we forgot something, Torchwick."

"If you forget, then it wasn't important." He immediately replied.

"Yeah, you're right."

Unbeknownst to them, the employees fled during the scuffle and witnessed the entire fight of both of them. The group of employees was freed by the absence and distraction Ruby and Torchwick created and were now talking about the duo's actions.