Ravensdagger_Princess

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ruby always imagined that the first time she went to jail it would be with a pocketful of lien to pay for Yang’s bond. Or maybe to pick up Uncle Qrow after he had a bit too much to drink.But no, Ruby Rose, fifteen, student of Signal Academy, totally badass huntress in training, was cooling her heels in an interrogation room, face squished against the lone table, arms sprawled out across it and eyes half-lidded as if closing them would hide her from the crippling boredom.Then the door opened and she peeked up, expecting the stern, mean, no-good lady in the tight skirt and ugly cape, (It wasn’t even a proper cloak. What a plebian) but instead it was an older man, white hair combed back, round glasses sitting on the end of his nose and a tray covered in cookies held in one hand.She sat up, eyed the cookies for a moment longer, then the mug in his other hand before finally deining to look him in the eye. “You must be Miss Rose, I’m Ozpin and... you have silver eyes.”“And you have cookies. Gimme.”He let out a laugh that sounded grandfatherly (not that she had much experience there beyond things she saw on TV) and dropped the plate before her. “Dig in,” he said before pulling the chair across from her back and sliding into it. “Once you’re done I— and you’re done.”She looked up at him, a sudden wash of guilt filling her tummy, but it was buried under a thick layer of chocolate chips. “Mmm sorry?” she said, a few crumbs escaping.“It’s not a problem,” he said, eyes pinching in the corners in a genial smile. “Now, as I was going to say, I had a few questions I was hoping you could answer.”“And then I get more cookies?” she asked. “Wait, were those Beacon cookies?”Ozpin’s eyebrows rose. “They were, I’m afraid, perfectly ordinary cookies. I was thinking that we would then let you go after a few questions, but if you would rather stay the night...”“No, no,” she said, arms waving in denial. Staying in jail for a few hours was going to be hard enough to explain to dad, staying overnight would be... pretty bad. Even if she got more cookies it wouldn’t be worth it, unless it was a lot of them. “I can get my fix somewhere else.”“I’m sure,” he said. “Now, if you don’t mind, could you explain what happened tonight in your own words? We have the report and the camera footage to help, and of course the two professors as eyewitnesses, but you are the only one who was there the entire time.”“Oh, yeah, I can do that,” she said. Thinking for a moment, she ran the events of the morning through her mind again and tried to place everything in order before she began. “So, I was at the Dust store because I was bored and Crescent Rose needed more high explosive rounds.”“That’s your weapon?”Ruby nodded. “She’s the best weapon on Remnant.”His smile twitched a little. “I see. That’s good to know. I have Professor Port a few rooms down interrogating her, but don’t worr-”“Without me present?” Ruby asked, her feet smashing into the ground as she stood up to her full height. “She’s a minor, you can’t do that. Doesn’t she need a parent in the room? Or a lawyer? I’m her mommy. I should be there.”“Um,” the man said. “Technically she’s not alive.”Ruby gasped. “That’s... that’s so rude.”He blinked and took a sip from his mug. “As I was going to say, don’t worry. Port will be polite, I’m sure. He may be loud but he wouldn’t hurt a fly. I guarantee it.”Ruby narrowed her eyes at him, but sat back down with a huff. “Fine. So, to continue my story. I was in the Dust store, you know, the one with the candy rack at the back and the magazines near the windows?”“I know the one, yes.”“Right. Just minding my own business when this guy told me I was being robbed. So I asked myself, ‘What would Yang do?’ then I punched him.” She made the gesture of punching someone, even adding a ‘wuff’ noise for emphasis.“I see,” he said.“Yup. Then that Roman Torchwick guy sassed me. So I showed him Crescent Rose. She sassed him back.”Ozpin seemed suitably impressed. “And then what happened?”“He sent his goons at me then ran away.” She huffed, arms crossing over her chest. “The jerk probably thought he could get away.”“To be fair to Mister Torchwick’s abilities, he did in fact get away,” Ozpin pointed out.Ruby felt blood rising to her cheeks. “Well... yeah, okay. Anyway, I chased him onto the street, he said this thing about blowing up the city with the Dust he had on him. He tried to shoot me but missed because, I’m, like, super fast. And then he ran up the ladder to the top of a building.”“And you followed him?” Ozpin asked.“Pfft, no. I’m wearing a skirt. Skirts are super cute. Yang said so. But they’re kinda bad for climbing. So I shot Crescent Rose and used the recoil to get to the roof.”He nodded. “That would explain the crater.”“Ah, I mean, I totally climbed the ladder.”“Of course,” he said, a bit of a smile returning. “And once you reached the rooftop?”“Right, right. Um, Roman threw some dust at me, a Bullhead showed up, then those two professors showed up, the mean one and the faunus.” She explained with appropriate gestures.“The... faunus. Are you talking about the woman who controlled the insects?” he asked.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.“What? No, she’s not a faunus. She’s... uh, nevermind. I’m talking about the guy in the red... thing, with the mustache.” Ruby helpfully outlined the man’s mustache with her free hand.“You’re talking about Professor Peter Port? I’m afraid that he’s not a faunus.”Ruby blinked, mind going back to what the man had looked like. “Are you sure?” she asked.“Pretty sure, yes.”“But he’s so,” she began, gesturing around herself as if to encompass something larger than life. “Walrus-y.”Ozpin took a sip from his mug.“Anyway. Ake-uh, the Grimm girl jumped out of the Bullhead and then that mean lady fired some Dust spells at it, which was kind of cool, and then they talked. That’s it.”“That’s it?” he repeated.“Pretty much,” Ruby said with a perfectly nonchalant shrug of one shoulder.Ozpin leaned back into his seat and brought his mug up to hover under his nose. “Do you know who I am, Miss Rose?” he asked.“You’re Ozpin the headmaster of Beacon Academy.”He chuckled. “My reputation precedes me, I see. Did you ever consider attending my school, Miss Rose?”Ruby’s breath caught in her throat. Quick as a flash, she ran through everything she had said, her cookie-scarfing episode and how uncool she was being. “Eep.”“Now, my school could really use more intrepid and... resourceful young woman such as yourself, Miss Rose,” he said and Ruby felt her chest tightening and her eyes growing wider. “Did you know that I can allow students to begin their studies at Beacon early? Miss Rose, if you tell me everything you know about this Grimm girl, I’m certain there would be a place for you at Beacon Academy, where you’ll not only be safe, but will also be in a position to learn amongst the best.”Ruby gulped.

* * *

Akelarre took three steps into the room, spun around, and flopped backwards into the couch with all the thundering force of a feather trying to knock down a mountain. Her arms went limp by her sides and she let her head fall back into the soft embrace of the couch.“You too?” Roman asked from where he was slumped on a cushioned chair next to the room’s poker table. “I didn’t think you would have trouble dealing with little Red.”“Oh no,” Akelarre said airily with a weak wave of her arm. “Ruby didn’t give me any trouble. You’re the only one that had a hard time dealing with a single fifteen year old, Roman.”“Hey!” he barked.Neo made a breathy noise that might have been a laugh as she slipped into the room and walked around the couch. She patted Roman on the head until he growled at her and swatted her hand away. Her grin as she took a seat next to Akelarre and leaned out to place her head on the older girl’s lap was positively shit eating.“What do you guys know about the professors of Beacon? Are they strong, important?” she asked while bringing up one arm to run her fingers through Neo’s bicolour hair. “I know they work for Ozma.”“It’s Ozpin, actually, and not really. They’re strong, sure. All retired huntsmen and good ones besides, but they don’t exactly have political positions. Still, you know how kids collect cards of famous hunters?”“They have cards?”Roman sighed. “Right, sometimes I forget you’re basically the demon Princess of some deserted island. Some folks have hunter cards. Kids like them. They have little battles with dice and stuff. It’s adorable.”Neo raised both hands and made some complicated gestures in the air.“I’m not just mentioning them because I have one!” Roman said. “Anyway. They’re well connected, but they’re small fry. And if they’re giving you trouble, you only need to wait for school hours to do what you want. Why’re you asking?”“So they’re just connected to the headmaster then?” she asked.“They’re professors. He runs the school. Do I have to... I have to explain school to you, don’t I? Do you even know how to read?”Akelarre rolled her eyes. “I know how schools work.” She sighed and patted Neo’s head. “I think we’re going to have to step up our plans. By a lot.”“What’s that mean?” he asked.“It means that I need you to talk to Junior. Tell him that the Knights are probably going to fold or fall within the week and that he’s going to need to get ready to fill the hole they leave behind. Unless the professors show up again.”“That’s unlikely,” he said with a nonchalant wave. “School starts tomorrow.”Akelarre perked up. “Then tonight is perfect.” She wiggled her hips to get Neo to lift her head. “I’m heading out,” she declared. “I’m tired of being all mopey and bored. I said I would take over this city’s underworld and I’ll do it. If Ozma wants to escalate, then I’ll just out-escalate him.”Neo huffed but shifted and got to her feet. She pointed at herselt with a thumb, then pointed at Akelarre.“You want to come with?” she asked.Neo nodded, though she did look rather exasperated.“You know, it’s mostly just going to be me scaring a lot of bad people until they're afraid to breathe without my permission, then using that fear to ensure that they....actually, I think it’s exactly the kind of thing you’d enjoy.”Roman too, stood. “I’m getting a drink,” he said. “I think we’ll all need one by the end of the night.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

John Wickerbasket paused by the door, fixed his jacket so that his shoulders looked appropriately wide, and moved the belt of his sword so that it sat just a bit forward of his hip. Because making sure the girls saw his sword as soon as he walked in always made spending the night showing them his other equipment a whole lot easier.With a shove, he rammed the front door aside and took two quick steps into the room.Two dozen eyes turned his way and more than one gun was pulled from a holster. “Hello, boys!” he said, teeth all on display as he took in the crowd. He ran his tongue across his lips. “Guess who’s back?”A few calls of ‘hey’ and ‘Johnny!’ greeted him, warming his heart while guns were lowered and swords returned to their sheaths.He loved his squires and this was why, they might not have much, but they were the nicest bastards in the shitty end of Vale. Grinning from ear to ear, he ran his hand through his fresh bowl cut and swaggered over to the bar at the far end.Their little bar had been a factory once, but they had built a wall through the middle of it, brought in some tables from here and there, added a counter to the far end and someone found a van full of brand new couches just rolling down the street one day and donated it to the gang. It was a proper stomping ground for any knight, but especially the Caws.“What’s the shit?” he asked as he sidled up to the busiest section of the bar, sidestepped a couple of boys and hopped onto the bar, sitting with both feet dangling off the side.“Hey, Wicker,” Twitch said. He lifted a little baggy filled to the brim with some yellow power. It smelled like fart. “Got some Buzz.”“Twitch,” John said. “Who’d you buy that from?”“He got it from Blue,” one of the girls said.“Oh, Twitch, that’s not proper Buzz. Everyone knows he laces that stuff with, like, sulfur or something instead of lightning dust. It’s gonna have you shitting out your liver.”Twitch looked sheepish, but he shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, but it’ll make your world go wonky, you know?”John shook his head. If he was going to get a hit he’d wait for some of the better stuff. “Did we get the stuff for the Dagers?” he asked.Twitch’s head moved up and down like a bobble head that had just been flicked. “Oh yeah, yeah, it’s all in the back. Like, two whole crates of Fire dust grenades. Hunter grade. Good shit.”“All right,” he said with a nod. “Wait, they didn’t pick it up yet?”“Supposed to, but they’re late. Probably too fucked to drive straight, you know?” Twitch said.John shrugged one shoulder. It didn’t matter in the end, they’d get the gear to their brother gang and they’d get some raw materials in return, then those would be turned into more shit that they could sell to buy more gear that they would trade again. It was like a circle, with every pass making the Knights just a bit stronger.He was reaching backwards over the bar for a bottle when the lights clunked shut.The room filled with shouts and screams of distress, but plenty of light was pouring in from the street lights outside, enough that they could see, and a couple of the less buzzed members pulled out their scrolls and flicked on their torch function.Beams of light scoured across the room, flashing past wide-eyed faces and some of the smarter guys who were pulling out guns and knives, getting ready for a fight.“Y’all calm down!” John shouted. “Just the lights. Twitch, get in the back, check on the breakers. You,” he said while pointing to one guy that had two handguns out. “Go with him.” The man nodded and jogged after Twitch who was stumbling towards the backroom. “The rest of you idiots calm down. Ain’t gonna get anything from freaking out.”“He’s right,” said a voice, a buzzing, barely coherent things that carried a sibilant hiss that made shivers run down his spine. “Now, if you would be so kind as to drop your weapons and line up, I’m certain we can work this out painlessly.”“Fuck that.”Then the ceiling, which had turned into a living, crawling tapestry of chitin and squirming insects, dropped.

* * *

Akelarre sighed and shook her head. Her Grimmsects were having far too much fun swarming the gangsters inside the factory, their simplistic minds overjoyed at all the screaming and panicked flailing. But they were doing a good job all on their own, so she turned her focus elsewhere.Neo was sitting in the driver’s seat of their little car, bootless feet on the dash where her brown and pink socks wiggled like a caught worm. She was reading a magazine, the very image of bored relaxation. “What are you reading?” she asked.Neo looked up at her, then scooted to the side a little so that Akelarre could see the colourful pages filled with images of women in pretty dresses.“Oh, that one’s cute,” she said, pointing to a nice summer dress while in the back of her mind she coordinated a flight of Lancers to pin down one particularly twitchy young man.Neo nodded, then pointed to the dress and at Akelarre.“Hmm, no, I find dresses cute but they just really don’t suit me,” she said.Neo shrugged and turned the page. Her eyes lit up and she pointed at a black dress covered in fine lace. It looked like something very old, but cut in a more modern style. She jabbed a thumb at herself.“Oh yeah, that would look nice on you,” Akelarre agreed. “But black isn’t your colour.”Inside the factory one of the gangsters had snuck into the back and returned with an armful of what looked an awful lot like grenades. He started flinging them towards the ceiling with reckless abandon. She shook her head and hoped that they weren’t fragmentation grenades or else then man had just effectively killed a lot of his friends.The grenades burst into great balls of spreading, sticky fire. She lost quite a few Grimmsects.“Maybe the same thing in white? Though it would get dirty really fast. Oh, how about like a swirly brown and pink? Like your hair?”Neo tilted her head to one side as if imagining what that would look like then nodded. The image on the magazine shifted and changed colours as Akelarre had described them. It didn’t look that good.“Hrm, maybe not then.” She tapped her lips with an index. “My mom made me try on so many dresses. You wouldn’t believe it. I don’t think she has ever thrown away a single piece of clothing.”Neo looked at her, one eyebrow perked as if to say ‘so what.’“She’s like, six thousand years old. That’s a lot of dresses.”Neo blinked.Inside the factory, the screaming was dying down, though the ceiling was still on fire.The last gangster tossed her gun down and fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as she was shoved down by one leg of a mantis Grimm that had to weigh twice as much as she did.“Oh, my pretties are done now,” she said as she unbuckled herself and opened the door. “Did you want to come?”Neo folded her magazine and placed it between the two seats, then she showed off her flexibility by putting on her boots while still stuck behind the wheel.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Akelarre didn’t mind waiting a minute for Neo to get ready. She had all night. Or at least until the fire grew too big and the roof collapsed.“So I was thinking,” she began once Neo joined her. Inside the factory, her bigger Grimmsects-or those that were big, but not so big that they couldn’t sneak into the room-were herding all the bad guys into a line near the bar. “I can do this two ways. I can go in there and be all Cinder-y. Like, intimidate them and scare them until they know better than to betray me. Or, I can try and be nice to them. I don’t know why, exactly, but when you have the big stick and are nice to people it makes them act really weird.”Neo gave this some thought, then lifted two fingers.“Okay. Nice Princess it is.”One of her Grimm opened the door for her, and she stepped in with Neo right on her heels. A dozen eyes rose up to stare at her, most filled with suppressed terror, though a few were glazed and confused, the sort of look that she would associate with someone that wasn’t entirely there.“Hello everyone!” she said as she came to stand before the Knights. “My name is Akelarre, and I have something of a proposition for you.” she gave them her most winsome smile.One of the people in the ground, a young man wearing a fur coat over a tanktop and jeans fought against the silken wrappings keeping his arms bound together. “Y-you bitch! You think we’re gonna do anything for you? Huh? We’re the Knights, we don’t answer-” A large insectile claw scythed down right in front of his face, stabbing several inches into the concrete floor with a note of finality. Suddenly feeling very self preservation-ey, he looked up into the many-faceted eyes of a Praying Mantis Grimm the size of a car and did not finish his sentence.“That was very rude,” Akelarre said with the exact same tone she used to greet them. She had one of her larger Grimmsects pull a seat over from one end of the room towards her, the chair legs scraping against the ground loud enough that it drowned out all other noise in the factory. Patting the beatle Grimm on the head, she turned around and sat before the gangsters, then had a pretty moth that was more white fluff than anything flutter down to land on her lap while the beatle stood by her side.She started petting the moth between its wiggly little antenna while looking down at all the gang members. Above, the roof cackled as the fire grew. “Now, I would like to think that I’m a very fair woman. I believe in second chances and in people redeeming themselves.” She carefully lifted the moth to show it off to all the gangsters. “Like my pretty Grimmsects. They might be able to eat people alive, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all evil. They can be nice and playful and friendly while still being effective manhunters.”A few members of her audience whimpered.“So, I decided that instead of just getting rid of the Knights I would offer all of you the opportunity to work for me.”One of the gangsters, a thin young woman with eyes that twitched from Akelarre to Neo to the Grimm and back, twisted her arm around, freed herself from the webbing holding her in place, and brought her arm out towards Akelarre. She was holding a revolver.It was a rusty little thing, held together more by tape and happy thoughts then by any sort of maintenance and care. Still, Akelarre felt her eyes widening as the girl squeezed the trigger.The beatle Grimm jumped forwards, wings deploying from out of its carapace just in time to give it the boost it needed to move in between Akelarre and the gun.The retort echoed through the room a half second before a clump of insects the size of a minivan fell onto the girl.Akelarre waited a few moments, her attention split between all the Grimmsects who wanted to bite, eat, and kill the girl and the gangsters who were backing away from their suicidal companion.She sighed and with a languid gesture of her wrist the swarm moved away from the girl, revealing a trussed up, web covered form writhing on the cement floor. Next to her, the Grimm beatle wheezed, falling to one side as thin plumes of black dust slipped out from between its carapace.Placing her moth Grimm on one shoulder to free her hands, Akelarre raised an open palm and allowed a Lancer to land on it, the revolver held tight in its six little limbs.“Thank you,” she said before dismissing the wasp. She inspected the gun with a critical eye, aware that she had the room’s attention. “Dust, the great equalizer,” she said. “It can turn even the weakest person into someone strong, at least for a moment. But there are other paths to being great, aren’t there? Or maybe you guys don’t know. My problem is that I kind of want to get rid of all the criminals in Vale. That means all of you.”One of them started crying.She stood. “But like I said, I believe in second chances, and I know that getting rid of crime is easier said than done. So if I can’t get rid of it, then I might as well control it, yeah?” She flashed them all a smile. “That’s why I want all of you to work for me. Well, me and Neo and Junior, I suppose. I have all sorts of things to take care of, after all.”Neo waved at them, her own smile less pleasant and more hungry.“See, you guys are still useful, even if you’re not as strong as my babies.” She placed a hand atop the head of the beetle that had moved to save her. It was weakening, she could feel it. For all that her Grimmsects were strong, they were also much smaller than normal Grimm, and when they took injuries it showed. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.Lowering the revolver, she placed it behind the beetle's head and fired.Everyone but her flinched as the Grimm fell forwards and started to dissolve into motes of dust. “I love my Grimm, but they are expendable in the end. I think you would all rather I didn’t think of you the same way.” She flicked open the revolver and let the empty casings and bullets clater to the floor before flinging the gun off to the far corner of the room. “I’m going to leave now,” she said. “Some time next week there’s going to be a meeting of all the local gang leaders. If you still want to live this sort of life then you’ll do it under my rule. If you don’t... well, you won’t last very long.”She made sure that her last smile was big and bright and really cheerful so that they would all have a good impression of her. Then she had her swarm buzz around her, thick enough that their sight would be entirely obscured by the moving masses.With a nod of her head, she motioned for Neo to follow her back out of the building while some of her smaller Grimm took apart and weakened the bindings on her captives.As they climbed back into the car, Akelarre made a mental tally of all the Grimmsects and normal bugs she had left and came to a rather grim realisation. She had lost nearly one in twenty. Most to fire Dust grenades, a few more died while securing the gangsters and others were lost in the swarm.“I’m going to need more bugs.”