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Cops and Mobsters
Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Two sisters both following one legacy and one clear path. Their mother’s, Summer Rose’s road of justice. But just because they were all up for it, putting good girls to bed and bad guys to jail, doesn’t mean being detectives was all it was cracked up to be. Especially when it was the dead of the night and they were just on stakeout with absolutely nothing exciting happening.
“For some real high profile head honchos, they sure are boring to wait for,” Ruby says with a yawn, “Isn’t there something interesting they could be doing? At least torture a sap or something,”
“Ain’t it odd though, they’ve been so active the last few months, hell, years, and all of a sudden they’re just quiet?” Yang replies, taking a bite out of the cheeseburger they’d ordered a few hours ago, leaving it somewhat cold and stale, but food was food and it was vital for stakeouts this boring, “Like a calm before the storm kinda situation,”
“True, true, still…” Ruby just pouts before sighing, “Hey, pass me the fries?”
Wordlessly, the buff blonde passes the bag of fried monstrosity towards her and the younger of the siblings grab a fistful and shove it up her mouth, “Urgh… cold fries,” Ruby murmurs, obnoxiously chewing through the darn thing.
“I told you we should’ve eaten it earlier,” Yang replies, opening another burger up, “Now it’s all… stiff and shit,”
“Can’t really help it, my C.I said she saw a couple of unfamiliar faces down this area for the past few days now, if we dawdled we would've missed something,” Ruby replies, “Just last week, they saw him, so… this was the biggest lead we’ll get, I thought it’d be best if showed up earlier,”
“The White Fang… the biggest clan in the city and the most pretentious mobsters to exist, seriously,” Yang sighs, “Man, why can’t we ever deal with a normal case for once? Like… bike theft or something,”
“Pfft, you’d hate that, then you’d be complaining about cases being too boring,” Ruby snorted, “Hey Yang, you think we can get summers off like teachers do?”
“...Ruby, you’re a detective,” Yang could only deadpan.
“And? All I’m saying is, a summer where we let the city go to purge might be an interesting affair is all,” Ruby rolls her eyes before focusing on the road, then she spots something that just sent alarms pinging in her head, “Hey, heads up,” she grabs her pistol from the glove compartment, “Time to go,”
“White Fang, huh, you’re about to taste a fistful of justice,” Yang could only give a wicked grin before she jumped out the vehicle.
“Agh, my hands are covered in oil!” was the last thing her sister said as they ran out to tail the suspicious people.
—
The thing about the city, despite always being filled by so many people, there were just naturally places people avoid. In this noisy ass place, the quiet places. Dank, dark, alleys. Tight crevices. Skeevy bars on the underside were hubs of activities you wouldn’t want to get caught up in.
For a detective solving a string of violent crimes though, it was the perfect place to be. (You just gotta be a bit more wary about being shanked though). Ruby and Yang had been through enough alleys in their life to know that something was weird about this place.
“...Is it just me… or is it too quiet?” Ruby said with a whisper, hand hovering on her holster. Something was throwing her off and it was sending warning bells in her head, “Get ready for anything,”
“You don’t gotta tell me twice, little sis,” Yang grunts, gripping her pistol with her left hand. They continued walking, feeling a certain amount of dread creeping up on their necks, that’s when they spotted a door on one of the many alleys within the city’s dregs.
A door that was unguarded and slightly ajar. The pair didn’t need an advanced gut feeling to know that was where they needed to go. A step, two, three… carefully taken. The moment they got close enough though, a strong scent of iron… a reek of death.
Ruby grabs the gun on her holster, gulping before slowly opening the metal door.
The next scene they see is nothing short of horror.
“...Shit,” Yang mumbles, lowering the gun as they take in the… slaughter…? Carnage? How else would you describe this?
Two dozen lifeless bodies of— “Fuck… White Fang members…?” Ruby bent down to inspect the cadaver nearest to her. She’d known this fucker, arrested for drug trafficking, assault, multiple accounts of armed robbery, and known ties to the mob they’d been looking at.
“Holy hell, yo, this is the guy who Jaune arrested last time, B&E then killed an old couple,” Yang said.
“...They’re all White Fang…” Ruby said, matter of factly. Standing up straighter, inspecting the wide, warehouse looking area they found themselves in. Then her eyes widened as she found a spotlight directing itself in the center of the room. Directly beneath the light, she sees one man tied and forced to sit on a bloodied, wooden chair.
Almost made her want to throw up. At least she had already developed a strong stomach over the years but just because she’d gotten better at dealing with this doesn’t mean that this was alright.
The body was sitting upright. Looking like a sophisticated corpse. Legs crossed, arms limply falling on the side. Then on the cadaver’s lap, was the body’s head.
Adam Taurus, top dog of the White Fang. Dead and decapitated.
“Ruby, we gotta call— Oh Fuck!” Yang screamed as she stumbled on her still speechless figure.
She didn’t know how long they’d been stuck there, just standing like bumbling rookies but when Ruby finally regained her senses, she spotted a… card? Placed like mail on the corpse’s stiff lips.
Her legs walked on autopilot. She hears the sound of liquid splashing by her feet but she had seen enough blood today that she didn’t even bother trying to avoid the red puddles. Slowly, she pried the card from Adam Taurus’ lips before flipping it open.
Inside was a short message, “White Fang is no more, Long Live Lux Umbra,”
“...Did we just witness the birth of a new and more dangerous mob family…?” Yang asked in disbelief
Ruby could only nod dumbfoundedly, “I need a drink,”
—
They didn’t talk on the drive back to the precinct. Letting the loud music and the engine purring overtake their already noisy thoughts. They had already called backup and told everyone to secure the area. It was a new case.
A new case they’d probably be thrown in immediately as soon as they managed to report their findings.
The moment they managed to step inside, it was just chaos.
“Shit, you guys!” a tall, somewhat gangly blonde man walked toward them and the pair could only just mutely acknowledge him, Detective Jaune Arc, their co-worker and long time friend, “The hell happened in there, you two alright?”
“Yeah,” Yang answered and Ruby was grateful she did, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to talk right now, “Just… another mob scene, a little more grizzlier than usual though,”
“Shit, I don’t know what to say…” Jaune clicked his tongue before realizing something, “Oh yeah, Captain’s looking for you two, status report,”
“Figures,” Ruby sighed, “Thanks for the heads up, Vomit boy,”
“Agh—! I’ll let you off the hook for that right now, just head in there so we can jumpstart this case,” Jaune sighed, “I’m glad you two are safe though,”
“Thanks man—”
“Detective Rose! Detective Xiao Long!” Captain Goodwitch called and the three of them shared grim nods. Time to report.
Glynda Goodwitch was a strict woman but she was more than capable. No one would dare to bat an eyelash at all her accomplishments. A decorated veteran who only wanted to do what was best for the people. She was one of their heroes, an inspiration and a close friend of their mother before she had passed away.
But right now, Glynda wasn’t a family friend. She wasn’t their godmother, she was their boss and the sisters had always kept a good, professional working relationship with the woman when it came to matters related to their job.
This was one such occasion.
“You two, report,” the platinum haired woman said curtly. Hands folder over the other.
“We have new problems, boss, that’s what,” Ruby said, pulling out her phone and showing her a picture of the card they’d found, “White Fang’s gone,”
“And a new set of vindictive clowns replaced them,” Yang continued, “We were on stakeout, waiting for any suspicious movement as per Detective Rose’s C.I, when we followed, we ended in this alley near Nevin’s, action already went down, Captain,”
“We got there and two dozen White Fang members were dead, a wide variety of weaponry used on them, oddly still, we didn’t really hear any fights going on… I can presume they were killed earlier just a couple of hours earlier before Detective Xiao Long and I got there,” Ruby explained.
“...Silent and effective, semblance users?” Captain Goodwitch asked.
“I’d say that’s a pretty good guess,” Ruby nods, “Adam Taurus’ head was cut clean off too, this ‘Lux Umbra probably had their own vendetta against these White Fang members,”
“...Tsk,” Captain Goodwitch clicked her tongue, pinching the bridge of her nose, “problems just keep piling up,” then she sighed and eased her expression, “Alright, I want you two to head home and rest, be back first thing tomorrow, we’re about to get real busy,”
“Wha—” Yang was about to protest but Ruby had already raised her hand to stop her sister.
“Thanks, Chief, we’ll do just that,” Ruby sighed as they exit the room, “No, we’re not doing more of this tonight, Yang,”
“Tsk… I know, I know,” her sister only ran a hand through her long, blonde locks, “Fuck, I’ll go drink myself to sleep and see if Blakey would like to cuddle with me,”
“Yeah… that’s probably smart,” Ruby says with a small smile.
Her sister just raised a brow, “What about you? What’s the plan?”
“...Drink and try to pass out,” Ruby says glumly, “I hope Weiss bought take out cause I sure as hell can’t cook tonight,”
—
Ruby’s drive home was quiet. There were too many things running in her head for her to make sense of it. Typical. Just when they finally get the bad guys, they get taken down only to be replaced by something worse.
She sighs, pulling up to the driveway.
She lived in the suburbs. Farther from the hustle and bustle of the city, just the way she liked it. one storey, bungalow style house with her wife and best friend. It was a simple life she relished. Especially on days like these… It was a blessing to get away from all the noise.
She got out of the car, locking it before heading to the backyard, her preferred way of getting in. Kitchen was just right there and food always helped drown out the bad thoughts.
As soon as she got in, she could hear the faint sounds of soft jazz playing in the background and the smell of orange chicken wafting in the air.
God, she loved this woman.
“Weiss! I’m home!” Ruby called, removing her shoes and coat to be placed in the proper place, unless she wanted a long lecture about it all over again. No sooner than that, she hears the sounds of footsteps stepping out of the home office.
She felt all the tiredness washing away just from the sight of her wife, not enough to get rid of all her worries but it was a start.
Immediately, she felt arms making their way around her neck and she couldn’t help but melt in her Wife’s embrace. Just pressing their foreheads together and taking in everything that was just… Weiss. How lucky she was to marry the woman of her dreams.
“...I take it your day’s not been good?” Weiss said quietly, fingers caressing Ruby’s cheek.
“No, Not at all… but you’re doing a lot in making it better,” she replied softly before pressing their lips together. They stayed like that until breathing became a problem and as soon as they pulled apart, she couldn’t help but bury herself further into the woman’s arms.
“Is this an invitation for tonight, Mrs. Rose?” Weiss asked teasingly but when she didn’t outright answer, she felt fingers just making circles on her lower back, “Are you okay, dolt?”
“...I will be, Mrs. Schnee,” she replies, a soft whisper, “I just… I just need you to hold me tonight…”
Weiss nods, pressing a chaste kiss on her cheek, “Then let’s have some dinner, get you something to drink and sleep it off,”
—
Sometime past twelve she hears a phone ringing from their nightstand. Blue eyes landing on the warm body that lay beside her, she takes a deep breath before pressing a kiss on those dark tresses and standing up to head out of the room.
The sky was pouring, not really uncommon in Vale within these months and for that, she was thankful. The sound of rain covered up conversations that needed to be kept in the dark.
She felt the phone ringing in her head and when she was sure she was far away, she answered it, calm and collected.
“Is she asleep?” asked the voice on the other side of the phone.
“Yes, but just to be safe, I laced her whiskey with sleepers,” she said in response..
“Good, Yang’s asleep too,” then it was quiet for a moment, “Are you sure this was… wise?”
“The city’s corrupt to the core, Blake, even they had managed to get them… what then? The White Fang will just have more people in their payroll,”
“I’m not disregarding that but Weiss—”
“No, we’re going to keep doing this, we have to, the city at its center is rotten and we won’t get anywhere just by waiting around for the right course of action,”
“...Fine… just…we keep them in the dark about this…”
“We don’t have a choice, now do we?” she takes a breath before continuing, “Once Ruby leaves tomorrow, we reconvene, I hope to get more of your cooperation, Umbra,”
“...Affirmative, Lux, tomorrow… tomorrow we have a new target, the CRME Faction, be ready,”
And the call was cut.
Weiss took a deep breath before turning around in the direction of their bedroom. Where her loving and hard-working wife slept soundly, her partner, her soulmate… flashes of what she’d done erupted in her mind but she remembered why she was doing this.
This system was broken… so she’ll be the one to fix it. Weiss clenched her fists tightly, fire erupting in those cold, blue eyes..
“Even if it makes me your enemy… I’ll annihilate them one by one,”