Chapter 10

"Remind me again why we're here?" Raven asked, pulling a box of cereal off the shelf.

Ruby rubbed her nose and flipped her list over.

"What was the alternative."

"Uh, going to class, obviously. It's Tuesday."

"Yeah, I know. What class are you missing?"

Raven put the box back and grabbed another, flipping it to look at the nutritional information.

"Philosophy."

"So you're not missing anything. Filler course. Why are you reading those so carefully?"

Raven frowned in her direction.

"I'm watching my cholesterol. And we left my brother and Tai back in class. Where we should be too."

"Nah, it's fine. Why don't you think about it, if you're so suddenly into thinking about stuff."

"Excuse me?"

"That's what philosophy is. Thinking about stuff and getting marked for it."

She crossed her arms and dropped the box of Frosted Bran into the shopping cart.

"Sounds stupid."

"It's pretty stupid. But it's 'required' for our diploma at the end so you gotta suffer it now."

"So why aren't we back in class, then. If it's so important."

"Because I don't wanna do it. And we haven't had any girl time to hang out."

Raven gave her The LookTM and shook her hair out.

"Why the hell would you want to have girl time with me? You don't even like me."

"On the contrary, my dear." Ruby chuckled, pulling a box of granola bars down and into her cart. "I like you just fine. I don't know why you'd think that."

"Uh, a week of situational evidence? And you attacked me with an axe?"

"Look, I'm still sorry about that, I thought you were drawing on me and I panicked. Do we need cheese?"

"Qrow's lactose intolerant. Sure, buy lots of cheese. And I feel like you don't actually like me. I don't know what I did to you that made you this way."

Ruby sighed, rubbing her eyes. She didn't want to run through this malarkey of an explanation again. Raven was going to leave her daughter. Someone who wasn't even conceived yet, so why did it bother her so much? Maybe Raven was right. She was antagonizing her and it was unfair to her and made for an unpleasant working relationship.

"It's nothing, I'm sorry." She waved her hand to dismiss the thoughts. "I don't hate you, Rae. I want us to be able to like one another. I want to like you. You haven't done anything to me personally to make me dislike you. I'm being presumptuous and I shouldn't. It's... cruel."

The tall woman pondered this for a moment, frowning and picking a bag of sliced bread off the shelf.

"Oh. It's okay, I guess."

Ruby reached over and tentatively put her hand on Raven's shoulder. She didn't flinch away immediately, so Ruby felt confident she was getting at least somewhere with the bandit-woman.

"I want us to be friends, Rae."

"I know. I'll try to be less angry, Mere."

Ruby chuckled. "Don't try and be someone you're not. And don't call me 'Mere'."

"Wha- why not?! Qrow calls you that! Why can't I?"

"Taste preference. Pick something else. Something unique." Ruby added two cartons of milk to the basket.

"What do you mean unique?"

"I dunno, that's for you to decide. Qrow calls me Mere, Tai calls me Kiddo, you have to pick something else. Think of it as our first step in this relationship."

"The hell you mean 'relationship'? Are we a thing now? Because I didn't agree to that."

Ruby's hand smacked loudly against her nose. Raven crossed her arms and seemed to close up into herself.

"You know what I mean."

"Oh I do, do I."

"Just pick a goddamn nickname, Rae."

"How about 'idiot' since you won't shut up?"

Ruby threw a box of soup broth at her. Raven laughed and easily caught the box of soup, tossing it back and landing it right in the basket, knocking over the collection of spices that lined the bottom of the red plastic basket.

"Hey, good shot."

"I am a Huntress, Sunshine."

"Oh, hell nah."

"C'mon, you said to come up with one, I was strapped for time!"

Ruby fluttered her hand in Raven's face as she brushed past, aiming for the next aisle. "You can do better than that. Do we want ice cream?"

"I just told you my brother's lactose intolerant. Yes, we want lots of ice cream."

They raided the freezer at the back of the store, grabbing five full tubs of the chocolatiest, fudgiest carameliest ice cream they had on hand. It was so much that Ruby had forced her associate to carry all the vegetables and bread by hand so they had room for all the tubs. Some of the other patrons in the frozen foods aisle gave them some funny looks as they stacked up with ice cream. What did they know. Ice cream was the shit.

"How are we paying for this?"

"My credit card's in my back pocket." she said, swinging her hips and trying to look down at said pocket without dropping any of the tubs.

"Wha- how do you have a credit card?" Raven asked, giving her a confused look. "You're only seventeen!"

"Yeah, and you can get one if a parent or legal guardian signs the forms, and since Ozpin's technically my legal guardian, I have one."

"Oh. Who's Ozpin?"

"Headmaster Pine. His name is Oscar Pine, and I've... taken to shortening it to Ozpin."

"His first name is Oscar?"

"Yeah, pretty lame, right?"

"God, so lame. Do you want me to grab your wallet?"

"If you can do it without copping a feel." Ruby said with a wink. Raven may have rolled her eyes, but there was a strong hint of a smile on her face.

The woman's muscular hands went in for the kill, it seemed, as they went right for the roundest part of her posterior and dove into her pocket. Almost immediately, she his a snag.

"Holy hell, these are tight."

"Uh, yeah."

"How did you even get this in here?"

"I have slender fingers."

"Clearly."

The fancy new skinny jeans, while stylish as hell and a drastic difference from the collection of dresses and skirts she normally kept, were also incredibly tight and not at all user friendly. Ruby was slowly starting to learn that women's clothing may not have been designed for actual normal-sized girls. Her wider-set hips and muscular one-hundred-squats-a-day legs didn't fit in a normal size of pants, so pretty much everything was skinny jeans to her. But actual skinny jeans...

"There we go." she said, finally pulling the wallet free. "What's wrong with carrying a purse, Sunshine?"

"You don't carry one. And call me that again and I'm shoving my boot where the sun don't shine."

"Alright, jeez. Here's your stupid wallet. I ain't doing that again."

"What, calling me Sunshine or touching my butt?"

"Yes."

"You come up with a better nickname yet?"

Raven flipped the credit card over and read the front of it.

"Your middle name is Eloise?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"How about Lou?"

Ruby glared at her.

"How about Sunshine."

They both shared a good-hearted chuckle as they made it over to the checkout counter. The young-looking girl behind the register seemed nonplussed by the huge purchase of candy and snacks, making a cheeky comment about a party later that Ruby played along with. After racking up a rather substantial seventy-lien bill and her card going through with no issues, they managed to squeeze all of the perishables into the slightly-undersized cooler she'd brought along. And back to shopping they went.

/.../

"What else do we need today?"

Ruby sniffled, checking her scribbled list. Raven was enjoying the sundae she'd been given for lunch. Ruby'd been feeling generous back at that bakery after trying the world's greatest sourdough bread. She couldn't believe she'd gone this long without going to this one little bakery in downtown. It was on the main drag and everything, and they sold ice cream! She remembered it existing back in the future, but always just bypassing it for the From Soup 'Till Soup on the corner.

"Uh, few drugstore items, but I figure we can go there last. Gotta stop at the bank, first."

Raven fidgeted in her seat. They were almost sitting close enough together that their thighs rubbed. Almost.

"Uh, do we have to go the bank?"

"Why, what's the matter?" Ruby asked, guiding the tiny green pickup that Ozpin had loaned her into the next parking lot.

"Well, the last time I went to one wasn't under the nicest of circumstances."

"What are you talking about?"

"I used to be a part of a bandit tribe, remember?"

"And how does that- oh." She said, the thought coming together in her head.

"Yeah. We wore disguises, so I don't think I'll be recognized, but still."

Ruby pulled up in front of the red brick facade in front of the bank. The giant gold letters spelling out Vale Regional Depository shone down at them.

"When was this?"

"Ten, eleven years ago?"

"When you were six."

"Yeah?"

Ruby shut the engine off and sent a glance over to her companion. "You robbed a bank when you were six."

"I was there, I didn't point a gun at anyone or anything. But I was there and I was part of it."

"Your tribe brought a six-year-old to rob a bank?!"

Ruby realized this was not something to be yelling about in front of a bank. Raven seemed embarrassed. Mortified, really.

"We were used as bait. Qrow and I went in 'looking for stamps' for our 'parents' so that we could distract the tellers so the tribe could get in position."

Ruby's mouth fell open.

"I can't believe this."

"I told you, I left that life behind. I'm not proud of what we did. We did what was necessary to survive. No one was hurt."

"That is evil."

"Yeah."

They sat for a moment. Ruby realized she never really had taken the time to understand what it meant to be a bandit. And how, very possibly, it was a bad thing. How her very own uncle Qrow could have possibly been considered a 'bad guy'. An antagonist to some of the people in Vale and the surrounding countries. She knew obviously that Raven might have done these things, but not Qrow. Never the booze hound that loved to play video games and laze around. But he had to have come from somewhere. She sniffled.

"I'm sorry. It's unfair that I said that."

"No, you're right. I don't like what I was. I'm here at this school because I want to change that."

"You do?"

"I'm here for Qrow, and I'm here for me."

"Okay. That's a good state of mind I think." Ruby clapped her on the shoulder. Raven jumped at the touch, but softened soon after.

"I don't want to be bad anymore."

Ruby mused, smiling and rubbing the woman's brawny shoulder. "That's not what this sweet leather jacket says."

A smile crept onto her face. "Hey, I like this jacket."

"Bad to the bone."

"Oh, shut up."

"You're not at risk of robbing any banks in the near future, right?"

"No, Summer. I'm not going to be robbing any banks."

"Good. Then let's go inside."

Bank robbery, train robbery, stagecoach robbery, what hadn't this woman been a part of. Ruby have her a wary look as they got out of the truck and approached the building. She seemed to have a certain air of remorse about her, so perhaps she was being presumptuous. Raven, although in her mind was still the bad guy, seemed to really not want to be the bad guy anymore. This was certainly good for her sister, for one thing, as it increased the chances of her conception, but it was also good for the general well being of the people of Vale.

Raven was a strong Huntress, and an even stronger bandit. The longer she could be kept on the good-guy leash, the better. This idea still felt a little cruel on her part, though. Ruby didn't want to have to feel like her handler all the time, nor did she want to prove that she needed one. Raven certainly seemed to be responding positively to her, and they were making decent headway into their friendship. If the tall, dark and mysterious woman could be turned, it would be her best option to do so.

Ruby pushed the large glass door open, being hit with a wave of cool, air-conditioned wind as she did so, messing her already poorly-brushed hair even more. She spun on the spot, clicking the little key fob to lock the truck, before finding herself at the back of a very long lineup of people.

"Oh, damn. We might be here a while."

Raven tutted, tucking in behind her. "Oh, really? Ah, I wish we had brought snacks."

"There's ice cream in the truck."

"Don't have a spoon, and I was hoping for more like, chips or something."

"Oh, wait," Ruby dug into the inside pocket of her sweater. "Want some gum? It's minty."

"Yeah, sure." Ruby squeezed out a piece into her hand. "Thanks."

Ruby popped one out for herself as well, shifting from side to side in her new sneakers. They weren't quite worn in yet and were still a little uncomfortable. They'd be good after today's training. After a little bit of hard running. Probably after Raven.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Ruby jumped at the sudden question, kinda lost in her own world. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

"Why did the headmaster give you his truck?"

She blinked a few times, trying to process the question. "Oh, sorry, uh it's not his truck, it's the school's. Groundskeeper's vehicle. Headmaster Pine and I have an agreement of sorts."

"What kind of dirt do you have on him, then?"

She laughed, sighing. "Uh, nothing important. We're actually here so I can get a blank check so he can start paying me."

"What the hell for?"

"He offered to hire me."

There was The LookTM again. "To do what? Be a groundskeeper?"

Ruby brushed off the question again. "No, no. I work in the research lab. It's minimum wage, but I said I'd take it anyways."

"Can I get a job?"

"How much do you know about, uh, particle physics?"

Raven shrunk a little. "Not very much."

"Well, you can still get a job at the school, and I suggest you do. Easy income."

"Doing what, though?"

"I dunno. Library, kitchens, astronomy lab. What are you good at?"

"Uh, fighting Grimm."

Ruby poked her in the shoulder, but only hard enough to make a point. "Well, there you go. I'm sure the sports facility needs some hired hands. Go work the Rec room or something. Become a TA for the combat classes."

"And they'd pay me for this?"

"Yeah, of course. There's no volunteer work here on campus. They're good like that."

"Well, how would I get paid, then? Cash?"

Ruby sniffled, moving up a step in the line. Something had caught her eye, but had gone away just as quickly. She ignored it.

"No, direct deposit. Who do you bank with, we can go there and pick up a blank check for you after this."

Raven rubbed her arm. "Uh, no one."

"What do you mean 'no one'?"

"I don't have a bank account. Or a debit card."

Ruby turned, trying out The LookTM for herself.

"But you do have money, right?"

"Yeah, all in cash, though. Back in the room."

"I hope none of it is... pilfered. I don't want that in my dorm, thanks."

"No, I had a job before Beacon. Paid cash, though."

"What, as a mercenary?"

"Uh, yeah."

She nearly choked on her gum. She coughed. "Sorry, wasn't expecting that direct of an answer."

"Not proud of it. We did good stuff, sometimes. Helped supply caravans and thinned out Grimm."

"That's definitely good. Don't tell me about any of the bad, I'm liking the good picture you're painting."

"Sorry."

They moved up a little further. There was a faint ringing in the air, and Ruby was trying her best to ignore it. It sounded like the Tinnitus she would get at the firing range, but much quieter and further away. She scratched her ear to try and silence it, to no avail.

"Nah, it's fine." she said, checking her watch. "Actually, can I ask you something? I promise it has nothing to do with your past."

"Alright, shoot."

"Do you find anyone at the school attractive?"

The brawny woman coughed, nearly choking on her gum.

"W-why do you feel the need to keep asking me that?!"

Ruby turned, dramatically laying her back against Rae's chest and placing the back of her hand to her forehead. She sighed, pushing her weight into the more than comfortable chest and letting her knees knock together for effect.

"Because the fate of the world demands I know!"

Raven pushed her off, but not without a snide grin. "I doubt it does."

"More than you know."

"Well I'm not exactly at the farmer's market of choice, here. You've backed me into a corner every time you've asked me that question."

"Well, let's review your options, shall we?"

"Rather we didn't."

"Theeeeere's me, to start with, but I'm not certain you swing that way." she said, garnering a punch in the arm.

"I don't think so."

"Alcohol and a good set of lingerie might change that."

A smack on the back of the head came next.

"Summer, we're in public."

"I'm just sayin'. Maybe you need to loosen up."

"We'll say soft pass on you."

As bad as Raven still was in her mind, the idea of blatantly flirting with her to try and gain some kind of even footing between them was grating on her conscience. Not that her lesser instincts were telling her to stop, of course. Raven was still a very attractive woman. And Ruby was still young and impressionable.

"Okay, barring me, and Qrow for obvious, gross reasons..."

The both shivered.

"...Who else might you find appealing?"

"Well, I don't really see a lot of choice."

"There's... Bart, across the hall from us."

"The stoner?"

"Okay, he's not-" actually caffeine technically is a drug. "Alright, scratch that, not him. Uh, Keiv Talbot from mechanisms class?"

"I wasn't even aware he existed."

"Raven, Keiv sits across from you. He has antlers. How could you possibly not."

"Look, I'm not really looking for possible mates, now am I?"

"What was that about 'in public'?"

"Shut up."

Ruby turned her head, suddenly catching something in her peripheral vision. She couldn't describe it. It felt like she could see the air for a brief moment. Raven peered around her shoulder.

"See something, boy?"

"No, no. I just..." she tried to focus. "Did.. you see something off there?"

"Where?"

Ruby shook out her hair. It was nothing. Must have been. She found her cheery smile again.

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Anyway, tell me about your type, then. If you're so picky."

"I don't think I have one."

"What about someone... tall?"

"I mean, probably more so."

"A little rough and tumble?"

"Yeah, I guess." she said, blowing a bubble with her gum.

"Authoritative but friendly?"

"Uh..."

"Blonde as the sun?"

Raven's cheeks darkened. "So, what if I do?"

"Honey, that's called having a type. And I think I have just the one for you."

She received a glare. "And who would that be?"

"Glynda."

"Ha!" she laughed, her mouth falling open. Not the response she was expecting, having tensed up in anticipation of another smacking. Of course she didn't want to be disciplined by the tough woman. No, not at all.

"Not a fan?"

"No, I just didn't realize that I'd have to remind you that I'm not gay? And I thought you were into her."

Ruby waved the accusation off. "Nah, that was just a phase." she lied. "Alright, alternatively, how about Taiyang?"

Rae's shoulder's fell dramatically, her eyes rolling so far back they might have disconnected if not for the nerves that attached them to her brain.

"Why do you always go back to him?"

"Because he's the right choice, Rae. You will end up with him, and you will enjoy it."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Don't tell me you haven't considered it."

"Of course I have, but that's not my problem."

"What could possibly be the problem? You're both gorgeous, athletic, tough as nails, he's got an unbelievably soft side, something you need in your life-"

She was silenced by a hand raised. "Look, that's all fine, and yes, he is someone I'm... attracted to, but-"

"But what?"

She rubbed her arm, shrinking a little.

"I'm not right for someone so nice."

"I disagree. Strongly."

"Why, though?"

"He has the hots for you." she lied. Well, not so much lied as made a serious presumption. She hadn't the chance to talk to Tai yet about this subject material. But he was a hot-blooded Valean male, and she was... well, a girl. And so far, Tai's interests included people who were girls. Pretty much his only criteria. Nobody was safe from that award-winning smile, not even Ruby, admitting to liking the attention.

Raven darkened. "R-really?"

"Yeah, of course. I'll help you out if you-"

A sudden shiver flashed through her, causing her to forget where she was going with that. Her attention was drawn across the room to a man standing at the ATM, his back to the crowd.

"If I what, Sunshine?"

Nothing seemed off about this man at first glance. Respectable jacket, ironed pants, fancy shoes, a relaxed stance. But at the same time, everything was off about him. A business man, visiting a bank in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, with no briefcase and not even a nice hat. And the glances he kept making over his shoulder...

Wait...

There was something wrong with the air. She couldn't describe it. There seemed to be a disturbance in the air around this man, like a dark wavy line that persisted around the man's hips. She followed this imaginary line across the far wall, where it surrounded another man. Similarly dressed, she noticed. Sitting in a chair by the finance offices, reading the newspaper. Nothing out of the ordinary, of course.

"Summer?"

"Can you see the..."

The ethereal line continued over towards them. It flowed across the floor, towards the queue of people waiting for the tellers. A third, well dressed gentleman matching the style of the first two was in line a few people ahead of the two of them. Similar build, similar clothing, similar way of body position. She shivered again. She watched the man in line. His eyes wandered over to the man sitting in the chairs. And then theirs met, holding for a second.

"Uh oh."

Rae leaned over her shoulder. "What's up?"

After a second look, that newspaper was from the previous day. And since it was the Financial Times, all of the information contained within would now be out of date. So what would be the point of even having it, let alone studying it. And following the dark, pulsating presence back over to the first man, she was now concerned that he was spending a little too much time at that machine. Most people took as little time as possible to make withdrawals from those silly green machines, with their guillotine-like cash dispensers and unnerving voice commands. Almost like he was... waiting.

"Uh, Rae?" she whispered. The overall lull of noise in the room was enough to cover up her words so only the intended recipient could hear her. "We might have a problem."

"What's that?"

She gestured towards the man in the chair. "Do you... see something wrong with that guy over there?"

"N-no, should I? You're worrying me."

"Day old newspaper, freshly ironed suit on a Tuesday... doesn't he seem kinda... staged?"

"Uh, maybe? I don't really- oh FUCK!"

Before Ruby had a second to even react to this, Raven planted her hand directly into her sternum and pulled backwards. The back scene accelerated away from her with great force. The last thing she saw before being driven behind the low welcome counter was the man in the line in front of them pulling something out of his coat and raising it into the air. The both crashed to the ground, with Raven falling on top of her.

BANG

"ALRIGHT, EVERYONE ON THE GROUND!"

Her fears were being realized. Everyone in the bank started to scream, and the sounds of thirty-odd people hitting the hard tile rang out, jewellery and coat buttons clattering to the ground.

"Nobody make any movements and you can go home to your families!"

A goddamn robbery. This was just the fucking worse. They scrambled into a sitting position, their backs to the cheap particle board counter. Not that it wouldn't do any good against any kind of small arms. They'd be swiss-cheesed in seconds.

"Fuck!" Rae shout-whispered. "The fuck do we do, Summer?"

"I don't fucking know, Raven! What do you expect me to say! I wasn't expecting to be robbed today!"

Her hand shot up to her jacket, to the comfortable spot where her sidearm normal sat under her right arm. It wasn't there. It wouldn't be there for another seventeen years.

"Goddamn it. We have no weapons and-" the man from the ATM passed above, walking to the front doors. "No means of escape. I don't even have my phone to call the cops."

"Wha- where's your goddamn phone?!"

Ruby sighed, her heart racing. The man from the ATM was packing serious heat, in the form of a twelve-gauge shotgun slung around his shoulders. From where she was sitting , she could see out the glass front doors and into the angled parking just in front of the back between the robber's legs.

"In the truck..."

"Fuck!"

"YOU" the leader yelled stomping away towards the tellers. "Bring me to the vault!"

"Summer, we have to do something."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!"

She stuck her head over the edge of the desk so she could peek around. The two men near the front were armed with compact submachine guns, with tear gas canisters tied around their waists. Damn, these guys were serious.

"I have an idea. Don't follow me until I say so."

"Summer, wai-"

She jumped the edge of the table and back into the middle of the room. She did the first thing that came to mind; attack the biggest thing in the room first. The man closest to her was carrying a SCAC rifle, a sub-compact anti-material carbine capable of ripping most kevlar body armour to pieces in moments. A weapon favoured by the Vacual special forces and street thugs in Mistral as the gun laws were fairly lax there, allowing for such powerful guns to be commercially available.

"Hey, you!" the man yelled. She ignored him and charged forward.

Even with the collapsible stock folded meaning the weapon was even more unwieldly than usual, he seemed to move pretty quickly and pretty accurately. But she was faster. A lot faster. She let her semblance tremble into her run, the red blur around her vision coming forward as her speed started to exceed human ability. She knew it was wrong. Wrong to let Ruby Rose's semblance out in public. Here she wasn't supposed to be able to do this. Just a little bit wouldn't hurt. Just enough to save the day. No breaking the sound barrier, no rose petals. She smirked as she closed the last twelve inches between them.

The difference between taking down a Grimm, like a Beowulf or a Goliath or something to that effect is vastly different to taking down a person. A Grimm moves differently, presents a much wider surface area to hit, and possesses zero knowledge of battle tactics and hand-to-hand combat skills. Even with some of the more intelligent ones she'd come across in her career, none had even showed an inkling of the ability to block a shot or have a follow-up ready. Sure, they could dodge hits if they were obvious enough, but most relied on just absorbing as much impact as possible on their armour. They weren't very smart.

Even the lowly Beowulf may have technically been a pack animal, they didn't ever communicate with one another, plan attacks, or work as a team. It was always just a free for all. So when faced with a group of humans, Ruby still wasn't prepared for intelligence. The last time she'd stopped a robbery, on the very first day of school two years ago, the perpetrators had acted like a pack of Beowulves. Blind, dumb, and unprepared. They were also robbing a store frequented by actual Huntsmen using what equated to plastic knives.

BANG

Searing, violent pain shot through her body from her back. Ruby's scream never left her mouth as she slammed dully into the man at the front of the room and crumpled to the ground, sliding across the tile and thudding into the teller's counter.

"I knew she was gonna do that. She was givin' us shifty looks, boss."

"I told you to keep casualties to a minimum."

"One is minimum enough, right? Nobody's gonna be stupid enough to try anything now, right?!"

Ruby tried to lift herself up again, but she couldn't. She couldn't do much of anything anymore. The sound in the room was fading. She looked down at the trail of blood she'd dragged across the floor. Her blood. That belonged in her body. She could see Raven at the other end of the room, still standing behind the counter they'd briefly hid behind. She was screaming something.

The sight of one of the other robbers reaching over to grab her and silence her had started to slow down. The sound of her heart slowing it's beats was prevalent in her ears now, sounding out like a solemn countdown. Her vision faded.

Her eyes closed.

Her arms gave out.

And she fell to the floor.

And died.

/.../

.

.

.

.

.

/.../

Her eyes opened almost immediately, her heart racing.

"Huah!" she said, tensing up and grabbing on to Rae's shoulder.

"Woah, geez. What happened to you?"

Ruby looked around. Everything in the bank was normal. Nothing seemed especially different.

"What happened, where am I?"

She turned to Raven, meeting the tall woman's eyes. She recoiled, mildly afraid of her.

"Summer, you just spaced out for like thirty seconds. Are you having a heart attack?"

"What were we just talking about just now?"

"Uh..." she'd flustered Raven out of words, "... You'd asked me if I was attracted to Taiyang, then you spaced out and didn't listen to my answer. Kinda rude."

She didn't listen to this answer either. She patted herself down, front and back, checking for any injuries. There was none.

"I'm alive."

"That's... accurate?"

"Holy shit, I'm alive."

"Are you having and existential crisis in a bank? Do we have time for that? We have to get back to school before fifth period at least, that's Literature class and I kinda like that."

She turned to her and grabbed her by the lapels of her leather coat. "Raven, you have to listen to me." She whispered. "This bank is about to be robbed."

"Pfft, what?" she gave her a new variation of The LookTM. "Are you planning on robbing this place? Didn't you just finish lecturing me out there on not stealing things?"

"Raven, shut up. And trust me." She gestured with her eyes. "See that man in front of us? In about a minute, he's going to stick up the place with his accomplices, the guy at the ATM and the guy with the paper."

"Summer, what are you talking about?"

"Jus- fucking- you know what, do you trust me?"

"I guess?" Raven shrugged. Ruby glared daggers into her. "Uh, yes, I trust you."

"This bank is about to be robbed, and we're going to be stuck in the middle of it. These guys are heavily armed with SCAC rifles, combat shotguns, and mini-SMGs. Serious military hardware. They're co-ordinated, they're efficient, and they're not afraid to kill hostages."

Raven lowered her voice all the way. "Do you know these people?" there was malice behind her words. "Are you in on it?"

"Raven, do you trust me? Do you want to stop this and save these innocent people?"

Her face bunched up, her teeth clenched. "I guess I do. But we don't have our gear, or anything."

"I know, I'm acutely aware of that fact." She checked under her arm anyways, still coming up empty. "Look, we have thirty seconds or so before shit gets real. Do you know how to disarm someone holding a SCAC rifle?"

"What? No, why would I know that?"

Ruby winced. "Most of the bandit tribes I used to know all used them. They're cheap, they're robust, and they're made in a communist manufacturing plant in the Eastern Bloc of Anima. But they have a fatal flaw that I know how to exploit."

"What's that?"

"They have a paddle-style magazine release on the left side of the case for quick changes on the same side as the bold handle." She gripped Raven's lapel. "Can you disarm someone if I give you instructions?"

"Yeah, what do I have to do?"

"First, you grab him by the left shoulder with your right hand, then you spin him around so he's facing you. Grab the top of the gun with your left hand just above the magazine well and squeeze your thumb into the steel. The mag will fall to the floor so he can't shoot anymore."

She demonstrated on the top Rae's forearm.

"Then slide your hand towards his wrist without releasing your thumb pressure and you'll snag the charging handle and eject the loaded round. Grab his wrist and twist as hard as you can to your right and he'll be forced to drop it, and then you can spin him the rest of the way around and force him to surrender."

"So spin, grab, squeeze, slide, wrist, twist?"

"That's about it. Can you do it?"

Raven nodded. She was shaking. So was Ruby, if she was honest.

"I can do it. You're sure the gun's in his right hand?"

"Positive."

"I can do it."

"Good. Get in position behind him as quietly as you can, and I'll deal with the other two."

"How do you plan on doing that."

Ruby let out a deep breath and focused on the man at the ATM.

"I'm gonna hit one motherfucker with the other motherfucker."

"Good plan."

"Go, stand behind him. Attack when I spit."

She pushed out of line, and as inconspicuously as possible, made her way across the bank to the ATM machine. Her instincts drove her, making her blend in as much as she could. A soft brush of her hair behind her ear, a light sniffle to indicate an annoyance with the moisture level in the bank. Nobody even took a second glance, not even any of the three men. She lined herself up with this one's back.

He was armed, more so than the other two. His SCAC rifle was chambered in a much more dangerous round than the standard seven-six-two cartridge for sure. Felt more like the bloody and savage and lethally fast five-five-six. And they were hollow points. It took a different kind of asshole to use hollow points on another person. They'd been outlawed for civilian use since the war, and for good reason. A hollow point round had a habit of expanding and turning into shrapnel upon entering a target. Great for taking down a Grimm, horrific otherwise. The internal hemorrhaging alone was enough to ensure a messy and fairly quick death.

With a final huff of preparation, she tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, do you have a pen so I can sign a check?"

He turned. The way his body moved she could see the very end of the SCAC's stock under his right arm.

"What?"

She spit her gum out, into his face. He was very briefly flustered, recoiling and bringing his right hand up to protect himself in case of a second piece of gum. But that wasn't his biggest worry. He shouldn't have been looking at her teeth. He should have been looking at her hands. With her right, she reached out and grabbed the man's belt buckle. And with her left, she reached up under his arm and grabbed the rifle's padded grip.

With one swift movement, she lifted her arms and turned, hoisting the man off his feet. He went to yell, but it was too late. All of his weight was now at her mercy, and she used his surprise to her advantage. She coiled her legs and tossed, flinging the man by his belt buckle over behind her and towards the man with the newspaper.

"Fuck!" Was all he managed to get out before colliding with the poor unfortunate soul with the paper. His head hit the brass edge of the low table between the two chairs and his body went limp, sending his mass down to the floor through the final assailant, collapsing them both into a pile on the carpet. Thanks to his neglect to use a sling or a carrier, his body may have flown away, but his gun had stayed in her hand, albeit backwards. With a flick of her wrist, she spun the weapon around and shouldered it, advancing on the two men lying on the floor.

"Stay down!" she yelled. She kept her tone loud but controlled. Her finger rested on the trigger guard, and she desperately tried not to let it twitch downward. It was tempting. Terribly.

She looked up at where Raven had been standing behind the man in line with them. Only Raven was still standing actually, the rifle, still loaded with the magazine in one hand, and her other covered in blood. Ruby looked to the floor, to see the leader of the little group lying in a crumpled heap with two streaks of blood pouring from his nostrils. Ruby let out a single chuckle, lowering the gun.

"What happened to your instructions?!"

"I panicked and punched him in the face!"

"Well, that's good I guess. But now he's unconscious and he can't answer your questions!"

Ruby stepped over to her, her heart racing.

"Man, that was a rush!" the tall woman exclaimed with a bright smile.

Ruby let herself be taken by her adrenaline. "I know, right?! We did something good!"

"I did something good!"

"And I'm so proud of you!"

Her body reacted before she had a chance to stop it. She reached up behind Raven's neck with her hand, and pulled her face down.

And kissed her square on the lips.

They separated after a quick second, still unfortunately connected by the tiniest of strings of saliva. Ruby turned a vibrant red and licked her lips, separating them. She stepped back a few feet, rubbing the back of her head with her free hand and looking away.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Summer." Raven smiled. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. You're just excited. I am too."

"Sorry."

"Hey, you're a better kisser than I thought you'd be."

"Sorry."

"And you have my lispick on your lips now."

"Sorry!"

Raven laughed.

"Don't even worry about it. You're good. I'm not mad at you, I have more lipstick in my dresser."

There was a stirring under the pile of chair and unconscious man. Both Raven and her tensed and shouldered the rifles, aiming them down at the two men on the floor.

"Don't move!" they yelled in unison. Ruby dashed forward to the pile and put her foot on the back of the unconscious man and pushed down. The man with the paper was still awake at the bottom of the pile. She forced aside the other man's torso so she could see the man's face. He glared up at her. Before he had a chance to speak, his eyes crossed to look at the gun barrel pressed into his forehead.

"I dare you." she said, shivering. "Look, I don't care who you are, why you're doing this, and I don't even care about your name. You don't rob me."

"We don't care who they're working for?"

"No, Rae. We don't. They're just grunts and they're useless wastes of space. We'll let the cops deal with them."

Ruby pulled her gun away from his face and brought it upright, finally able to have a moment. She grabbed the charging handle and slammed her palm into the mag release, separating the gun from all its bullets as the magazine fell loudly to the floor, bouncing off the man's face.

"Oh yea, one more thing." She tossed the empty weapon aside. She grabbed one of the bullets off the floor and held it between her index finger and her thumb.

"Don't shoot me in the back."

"Fuckin' dyke."

Ruby's eyebrows went up. Her mouth hung open.

"Hey." Raven was suddenly over her shoulder. Even though he was under two-hundred pounds of unconscious associate and chair parts, she had no problem grabbing him by the collar and lifting his face to meet hers. "We don't talk like that. It's rude."

And then she knocked him all the way out.

Ruby was stunned. Rae looked over with a smile and a wink.

"I got you."

"Th-thanks."

"Don't worry about it." Raven stood up, and without even flinching, bent the gun she was holding all the way in half, spewing broken steel and wood to the floor. "Alright everybody, the situation has been dealt with. We are Huntresses, you're all safe now. If someone would be so kind as to call an ambulance for these three morons, that would be okay I guess."

Ruby stood up all the way. "Oh, and the cops, too."

The crowd of people all stood up from the floor. One person started to clap slowly. The rest started to follow along. Before long the bank was clapping and cheering loudly for them. There was whoops, there was whistles of appreciation. The smiles on their faces were more than contagious. Ruby laughed. Raven did, too.

"We did it, Rae."

"Yeah we did."

"I'm proud of you. You did something good."

"Thanks, Sunshine."

Ruby's laugh became a scoff.

"Oh, alright fine. You can call me sunshine."

"Yes!"