It was dark… oh so very dark, dark and cold. There it was…
Tap
Tap
Tap
"No… not again… please no!" She tried running, but her body wouldn't obey. All she could do was wait as the sound got closer. Each step filling her with nothing but cold dread.
Tap
Tap
Tap
'He's here!' She internally panicked.
"It's so dark in here, don't you think we could use some light?" He asked from behind her.
"No…" She started as the fire formed around her. "No please No!" She screamed kneeling down and putting her head to the ground. "Make it stop! Get rid of it! Don't let it near me!" She sobbed closing her eyes and clutching her hands to her head.
"What's the matter? I thought you were proud of your fire. This 'power' you wholeheartedly believed in." The man said in a calm tone.
Her eyes snapped open and she saw the flames in front of her. Lashing out at her just barely out of reach. "No more! I can't take it! Those flames are abhorrent!" She yelled clutching her head and forcing her eyes closed again.
Tap
Tap
Tap
He stopped right behind her trembling form. Silently he knelt next to her.
"So, you've finally accepted it? These flames… they give you no power. They do not make you strong. Your reliance on them makes you weak. Pathetic. You aren't strong enough to reach your goals, you're not even strong enough to defeat me… and you know something? You never will be." He whispered into her ear sending freezing chills through her body while the fire's flames burned hotter around them. "Your fire may have its uses, but it will do nothing more than consume you." He finished before she felt him leave.
Her eyes shot open. "No please!" She begged as the fire closed in on her. Closer and closer until she was once more engulfed in flames.
"NO!" She screamed sitting up covered in sweat. 'Where am I? Where is he?!' She mentally screamed as she started to hyperventilate folding in on herself.
"Cinder!" The abrupt noise caused her to jump and back away. "I'm so glad you're awake… Cinder?" A green-haired girl asked with a worried look.
In front of her was the woman she owed her life to. The strong and cunning woman who would do anything to reach her goals. Or at least it was supposed to be. In front of her was a trembling woman drenched in sweat hiding away from everything else in the room.
"The flames… the accursed flames… they're coming for me they'll devour me!" She sat mumbling to herself as she looked for any flames.
"Cinder are you alright?" Emerald asked stepping closer.
"No stay away!" She screamed crawling back away from the girl ending up in a corner of the room.
Emerald looked hurt, but more than that worried. "Mercury go find Salem or Watts or someone!" She called to him.
With a nod he took off out of the room only to bump into someone and fall back on his rear. Looking up he saw dark red eyes that stared straight into his soul. Nothing in his life was able to make him feel smaller and more insignificant than that glare.
"C-cinder's awake." He said to which she simply moved past him and into the room.
Walking into the room Salem saw something that was slightly concerning to her. Cinder the half-maiden was trembling in a corner while the girl's… pet? Stood by looking helpless.
"Cinder you've awoken." She said as she took slow steps forward.
Cinder paused in her incoherent mumbling and looked up for a second before it started again.
"… can't, I can't… no more… never more…"
"She's been like this ever since-"
"Girl go fetch Watts and send him here." Salem interrupted not looking away from the trembling brunette.
"But-"
Salem broke her gaze away from Cinder and sent a glare to the greenette, who quickly shut her mouth and ran out the room.
'Children of today, they know nothing of respect.' She thought with a shake of her head before returning her gaze to her youngest subordinate.
"Cinder." She said in a quieter tone stepping forward once more.
Said girl flinched back but fell silent. Terrified amber eyes met calm red ones.
"Calm down you're safe now child." She soothed as she knelt to the girl. She may be an immortal witch, but every once in a while, long-thought dead maternal instincts would appear if only for a moment. Cinder seemed to bring out that side of her more than any of her other subordinates, and right now… there was little to no trace of the proud girl trying to play the role of an adult. Now all that sat before her was a scared child.
After a few moments of silence Cinder seemed to calm slightly.
"With the acknowledgement of it I'd imagine you still know your name, but do you know who I am? Where you are?" The witch asked probing.
"Y-yes mam. If you're here, then we're in the Grimmlands." She answered quietly. After calming down a bit she was trying to process everything.
"Good." Salem said standing from her kneeling position. "Arthur will be here shortly to check up on you. After that I need you to brief me on what happened to you, and you'll need to be caught up on what's happened while you were comatose." She said turning away.
"You called for me mam?" Arthur Watts' voice came from the hall.
"Yes, come in and check the health of our fall maiden." Salem ordered, missing the immediate stiffening at the mention of those words.
"Right away mam." He replied looking down the huddled mess that was Cinder. 'How delightful…'
With her orders given Salem left the two alone to focus on other things. Specifically, Tyrian.
To say she was displeased with his actions in Ardent were an understatement, and she knew by watching his actions that he knew it too. Since his return she had left him to his own devices as a sort of probationary thing, but it had been a few days since he'd shown his face around the castle at all. 'The Grimm shouldn't pose a threat to him, so where could he have wandered off to?' She thought with a small sigh. 'I must work with that which I have.' She finished her thought process.
With Cinder and Watts
It took longer than he would've liked, but eventually the examination was complete, though the results weren't exactly conclusive.
"Well I suppose that is finished." He said aloud before looking to Cinder. "Is there anything else you feel I should know for my report to our lady?"
Cinder was silent a moment before shaking her head. She couldn't do it. "N-no nothing…"
"Hmm." Was his only response before standing and turning towards the door. "Remember Mistress Salem wished to see you after the examination." He said glancing over his shoulder. "I will be reporting to her now, so it would benefit you to hurry along." He finished leaving the room.
Cinder sat where she was looking to her lap. Her mind was all over the place at the moment, and she couldn't stick on any one thought.
She was broken from her mindscape by a meek voice, though at this point who was she to talk?
"Cinder?" Came the soft voice of Emerald whose head was poking out from the doorway. "Are you alright mam?"
Slowly Cinder met the green girl's gaze. "Yes… I'm fine…" She lied, but slowly stood up regardless. "I have a meeting with Salem. I'll be back soon." She said walking past the worried thief and concerned assassin.
Quite honestly, she felt horrible, but she had an appearance to maintain, or so she thought.
Break
The Docks
Boom
There not a hundred feet from where he had been standing were the smoldering remains of a Schnee dust crate.
Turning furiously to one of the Faunus that brought a rocket launcher of all things with them to a dust robbery Adam seethed. "Are you insane?!" He yelled making the Faunus who fired tremble.
At the time it had seemed like a good idea. He just wanted to help remove a perceived obstacle from their path in the form of their former leader but judging by the glare he was receiving from the Lieutenant behind him, it wasn't the right choice to make.
"What would have happened if that detonation caused the other crates to explode?!" Adam continued. 'What the actual fuck!?'
"Hans I'm going to have to ask you to return to the ships and stay out of the rest of this operation." The Lieutenant said as evenly as he could.
The "Hans" in question merely looked down and walked to the nearest Bullhead and climbed in.
"Now then!" Called the Lieutenant. "Adam you've come to the raid. Have you finally realized the mistakes you made?"
Adam gazed at the Faunus around him. All once his subordinates even if he didn't know them all too well. Shifting his hand to the hilt of his sword he took his regular combat stance. "I have come to realize my mistakes. All of our mistakes." He said quietly, but with the silence of the dock area everyone heard his statement. Even the two shinobi perched at the top of the nearest warehouse. "I originally didn't wish to raise my blade against my own kin, but your actions here prove that you don't act with the best interests of the Faunus people. So, I will have to stop this raid. Alone should I have to." He aimed that last part to the ninja he knew were around, but not in sight.
"I wish it hadn't come to this, but it has. Everyone here has stood witness to our former leader's betrayal of our cause!" The Lieutenant called rallying the troops as it were. Despite the thunderous roars of anger there were still plenty of people having second thoughts about this whole thing. If not for the ideology difference, then at the thought of fighting their former leader. "We will split up! Airship crews find your squads and prepare the dust for evacuation! As for the rest of us, we will handle any and all obstacles." He yelled revving his chainsaw.
Despite most of the men being newer recruits they followed orders rather well. Adam mused as a group started encircling him.
Taking a deep breath, he released a small amount of killing intent, setting off some of the inexperienced members' fight or flight instinct. "If this is the path you walk then show me your conviction!" He shouted to the group, baiting them to attack.
With Itachi and Kisame
"This should be interesting." Kisame noted from his seated position.
"It may become more interesting soon." Itachi replied getting a grin from the shark.
"I'm dying to see how this plays out." He answered with that grin of his. "Red and black jumping in the middle of this mess how fun. Almost makes me want to jump in too." He finished eyeing his partner.
"We can't do anything like that. If we want to assess this man as well as the organization he used to lead then we need to observe, not run in and kill them." The Uchiha said calmly with his eyes closed. "Besides I also wish to see how Ruby and her teammate handle this. Our presence will merely cause a distraction."
"Fine… you're no fun Itachi." Kisame said with a huff.
"We have very different views on that word." He said finally opening his eyes to stare at his partner who just smirked right back.
"Given time I think we could come to an agreement."
"Perhaps, but probably not in this life. Try your hand at the next one, will you?" Itachi joked.
The shark-man just chuckled. "Fine let's sit back and enjoy the show."
With Ruby and Blake
"Come on Ruby!" Blake shouted as they ran.
"I'm coming I was just sending a message to Yang." Ruby said from close behind. "I don't know what's going on, but we may need backup."
"Well get ready we're almost there." Blake said slowing down slightly.
'Hopefully this was just an accident but judging by the gunfire that's not the case.' Ruby thought with a sigh. "Who would start a fight at the docks? Or more specifically the shipment area, or whatever it's called?' "Hey Blake, do you have any idea who might be over here?" Ruby asked quietly as they scaled the top of some of the shipping crates to get a better view of what was happening.
Blake didn't answer but instead froze when she reached the top.
"Blake what's-" She started before Blake covered her mouth with her hand.
"Ruby we need to leave!" The cat Faunus said nervously.
"Why?" Ruby asked before looking out.
The dock area was a warzone. Smoke was billowing from the charred husk of what could only have been a shipping crate. Bodies littered the area, most of which seemed alive from what she could tell. What she did notice was that everyone present was wearing Grimm masks and… "White Fang…" Ruby mumbled before looking around. Who were they fighting?
She was about to voice her question when she saw a man in a black coat with a rose insignia on it surrounded by other White Fang members. He was backed against one of the shipping containers, and from what she could tell he seemed to be holding himself carefully. 'He might be injured.' She thought.
"Blake… the guy in black has a mask on, but it looks like he's the one they're targeting. Why would they target one of their own?" The reaper asked turning to her resident expert on the subject.
Blake however didn't respond. When Ruby looked back at her she saw her friend's face had paled to a ghostly white, and she was slowly backpedaling. "Adam…" She muttered as if in a trance.
Before she could ask what the problem was, she heard a booming voice from the semicircle of Faunus.
"It's over Adam! You've injured many of our brothers and sisters here today, but in the end even you can't fight off an army alone." A bigger man with a chainsaw? Yelled. 'Really?' She thought to herself.
"The White Fang doesn't tolerate traitors, so for that I must end you here." He declared stepping towards the black-themed man.
That little speech was enough for Ruby. She quickly drew Crescent Rose and stuck the tip of the scythe's blade into the ground.
Finally finding her voice Blake looked at Ruby confused. "Ruby what're you doing?" She asked without stepping any closer.
"Helping." She said lining the crosshairs on her target before pulling the trigger.
With Adam
The fight up till this point had been going about as well as to be expected with his current situation, but even so Adam knew he had probably taken a few too many hits along the way. While not individually dangerous they had numbers that, were he in another position, he'd be proud of.
While the Lieutenant was making another grand speech, he thought about his remaining options. 'I need to figure a way out of this… sparing all their lives may've been too nice of me all things considered.'
It was true, he hadn't killed a single Faunus in the short time he'd been fighting. Most were merely unconscious from aura depletion, and a few had minor injuries, a few broken bones here and there, but they weren't attempting to give him the same courtesy.
'I can't count on those two bailing me out of here, so I need to play this correctly.' He thought getting ready to make a move as the Lieutenant stepped forward. Before he could start his plan, a loud gunshot rang throughout the docks. 'What…?'
With Itachi and Kisame
Bang
Itachi's eyes widened and Kisame's grin grew.
After a moment of silence Itachi looked to his partner. "Kisame…" He started in his calm tone. "Would you have anything to do with that?" He finished leveling a half-hearted glare at his grinning partner.
"What? I merely told her to take her fighting seriously, and seriously doesn't always mean cleanly now does it?"
"When we began training her, I hadn't really wanted her to become like us." Itachi said flatly before shaking his head. 'Oh well the damage is done, now we must move on.'
Back with Ruby and Blake
Blake just stared at her leader. "R-ruby! Why on Remnant did you do that?" Blake hissed again.
"I told you I'm going to help." She said still looking through her scope for a moment.
Most of the White Fang didn't understand what just happened. Their temporary leader had been about to try and cut down their former one when his head jerked from an unseen force throwing him to the ground. Someone had just shot their leader with no warning or provocation. Okay maybe a little provocation.
All eyes turned to where the gunshot had come from only to see a black mass disappearing behind the crate it was on, and what looked like fading rose petals.
Adam quickly noticed the rose petals seemed to be coming towards them at a rapid speed. Crouching into his stance once more he got ready for the possible enemy. 'Just what I needed.' He thought sarcastically.
The mass of petals landed in front of him in the form of a little girl wearing a red cloak with an equally red scythe in her hand.
"Please don't attack me I'm here to help you." She said glancing at the precarious position she just put herself in. 'In hindsight this may've been the wrong way to do this.' She thought to herself.
"You don't even know who I am human, so mind your own business." Adam growled out defensively.
"You're right I don't, and I don't really care." She said stopping him in his tracks. "I just saw someone who I thought could use some help, and I wasn't going to standby and let this happen." She said angling herself to where she was facing more of the surrounding White Fang who didn't seem entirely sure what to do.
"Why would a human like you get involved in a Faunus problem?" Adam asked with a glare, though it wasn't as fierce as it usually was.
"Oum damnit what is everyone's problem with this human faunus crap?!" Ruby yelled, which sounded odd coming from her. "Human, Faunus, who cares? You're a person with a soul that's good enough for me." She declared sending her own version of a glare to the man she was trying to save. "Now will you let me help you, or are you just going to keep whining like a little bitch!?" She finished before pausing as she realized what she just said. 'Oopsie.' She thought to herself.
With Kisame and Itachi
"Kisame?"
"This one isn't on me." He defended with a frown. "Probably her sister let something out at some point." He suggested.
"Hmm."
Back in the middle of things
While he might've normally taken offence at this tiny girl calling him a name like that, right now he didn't care. With the slightest upward curve of his lips he shook his head. "Alright girl. If I'm going to be saved by a human, then I hope she can at least follow through." He said getting ready and standing next to the girl. "Just don't kill any of them." He whispered to her.
Off to the side the Lieutenant was laying on the ground trying to figure out what had hit his head but wasn't able to make sense of the jumbled thoughts.
"We need to force them to retreat." Ruby said getting an odd look from the bull.
"You aren't going to try to arrest them?" He asked incredulously.
"Normally I would… but this time I'll settle for helping someone and stopping them." She said.
"Hmm." Was all she got in response to that. "I'll take the ones on the right. You take the ones on the left."
"Right. Oh, I'm Ruby by the way."
Adam stared at the odd girl for another second before relenting. "Adam. Let's go." He said rushing forwards.
'He's fast.' Ruby thought in slight awe. With her semblance she could be faster, but as a base speed it was impressive.
True to his own rules he went about nonlethally taking out the fang grunts surrounding them.
'He's strong.' She thought before starting on her own set of grunts. 'I wonder where Blake went…' She thought as she tore through their lines. Momentum carried her fluidly through the crowd knocking grunts away as she continued.
By now, the Lieutenant had sat up and saw his forces in disarray. 'No one stepped up when I fell, and now it's pure chaos.' He thought to himself as he propped himself on his chainsaw. He briefly watched two black and red blurs fighting through the remaining fang members. 'Adam and most likely whoever shot me.' He thought before trudging towards the nearest bullhead.
"Brothers and Sisters of the White Fang it is time we retreat! Retreat and live to fight another day!" He called as he climbed into the bullhead. "Gather as many wounded as you can and get back to base!" He called into the radio.
A voice over the radio crackled back. "But sir we haven't finished hooking all the containers up to the bullheads."
"I'd rather save our fellow revolutionists than have a few more containers of dust. Take what we have and begin to help with the evacuation." The Lieutenant ordered.
Upon looking back out the bullhead he saw the fighting had stopped.
The conscious Fang members were carrying their unconscious or injured companions back towards the bullheads.
Behind them he saw Adam and a figure in red seemingly letting them go. 'He's made a fool of me and the rest of the Fang.' He growled. 'He will regret letting us escape.'
With Ruby and Adam
"Well that was fun." Ruby said happily.
Adam just glared at her. "Why because you had an excuse to beat up some Faunus?" He asked tensely. She may have helped him out, but if she wasn't careful, he'd kill her where she stood.
"Okay Mr. Glares-a-lot let's get something straight. "Ruby said looking into the mask of the man in front of her. "I don't care that they were Faunus. I don't care that you're a Faunus. One of my teammates is a Faunus! I had fun because I was able to act like a huntress should. I helped someone and fought off some bad guys, so yes, I had fun. Is that a problem?" She huffed. All day today it was race this, Faunus that, and Ruby was getting fed up with it.
Adam grit his teeth before letting out a sigh. "No, it isn't." He said before he thought about what else she had said. "If you have a team where are they?" He asked not noticing anyone around them.
"Well I was here with one of my teammates, but she ran off as soon as I shot the big dude." Ruby said with an almost saddened tone. "The other two should be arriving soon since I told them where I was, but they don't seem to be here yet."
"Why did your teammate leave you in the middle of a large group of White Fang alone?" Adam asked very much confused.
"Well…" Ruby said scratching the back of her head. "She kinda… seemed to recognize you since she said 'Adam…'" Ruby said doing her best impression of a terrified Blake.
"Recognize me huh? I tend to stay out of the news when possible, so how is it she knew my name?" He asked curious despite himself. He should've ditched this girl by now and moved on to planning or talking to those partners again. He had ended their discussion on a rather odd point.
"Well…" Ruby paused again. "I don't really know if I can tell you that." She admitted. Since Blake was once part of the White Fang and this guy was also from the Fang, and appeared to be a cut above the rest of the uniformed mooks it was safe to assume he was in a higher position than they were, so he might know Blake, and that could be a good or a bad thing. She wasn't sure yet.
"Was she that Faunus teammate you mentioned?" Adam said staring past Ruby into the shadows between the crates. Another quick movement and he moved his gaze back to the red-cloaked girl.
"What makes you ask that?" Ruby asked trying to not give anything away. Kisame and Itachi had taught her this, talk in circles if need be!
"Belladonna." He said making Ruby's eyes involuntarily widen. "Blake Belladonna. That's her isn't it?" He asked calmly.
"Heh heh… do you happen to know her?" She asked lamely.
"I was her mentor in the Fang." He said gauging her reaction to see just how much this girl really knew.
"And I'm guessing from her reaction earlier you both didn't leave on the best of terms?"
He snorted. Adam Taurus snorted. "You could say that." He said with a small chuckle.
"She seemed like it was bad, but here you are laughing about it…" Ruby said not really understanding.
"Perhaps if I was still leading the Fang then I would be in a poorer mood, but all I can feel towards Blake is disappointment." He said shaking his head.
"What do you mean?"
"She ran from the White Fang, which isn't too bad on its own, but based off what I've seen tonight she's still running." He said before nodding to the crates behind the girl. "She was just watching us from over between those crates, but when I looked at her, she fled. It's disappointing that she'd leave her teammate behind with someone she deems dangerous."
"Oh…" Ruby said looking back to where he nodded. "Well I'll be alright. You're dangerous, but recently I've been making a lot of dangerous friends." She said with a smile.
"Oh really? Making friends with the big scary kids on the playground?" He teased. He couldn't explain it, but he was actually enjoying himself in the presence of this little human.
Ruby pouted at that. "No! I mean like actually dangerous. More dangerous than you even!" She challenged.
"And who would these friends of yours be that are more dangerous than me? And how do you know how dangerous I am?" He goaded her.
"I'll answer the second first. Your fighting style is very fluid and aggressive." She said becoming more serious for a moment. "And while you fought the other White Fang earlier it was clear your style wasn't meant to be used nonlethally. You seemed to be holding back or changing attacks right before they landed." She added shocking him slightly. "That said I can see the experience you have using your weapons. Someone who's experienced with their weapons and fighting style is always going to be dangerous." She paused to take a breath.
'Damn…' Adam thought to himself. 'She read my fighting style while we were fighting. That ability in itself is dangerous.'
"The other question of yours is simple." She said looking slightly cheerier. "They're two friends of mine named Itachi and Kisame."
As soon as she said that Adam's mind froze.
"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events isn't it?" A voice from behind them spoke. Adam whipped his head around and Ruby pounced at the two.
"Kisame! Itachi!" She said happily clinging to them.
"Calm down Ruby we've only been gone for a week or so." Itachi said prying the girl off.
"I knoooooow, but I was so bored with you two gone." She pouted. "Though I guess today was interesting on the whole." She added looking back to Adam to see him completely frozen. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Don't worry about him Red some things aren't adding up in his head is all." Kisame said with a chuckle.
"This doesn't even make sense anymore, and yet everything is so much clearer." Adam mumbled to himself.
With Yang and Weiss
"Come on Weiss we're almost there." Yang said. The remaining members of RWBY were quickly heading towards the docks after receiving Ruby's rather cryptic message.
"I'm coming you oaf just keep pace." Weiss said from next to her. Running in heels is rather difficult, so the heiress had two small glyphs beneath her feet and was gliding. It was almost like she was ice skating.
As they came closer to their destination Yang noticed a familiar form huddled against a nearby building. "Hold up a sec Weiss." She said slowing down. "Blake?"
The girl in question looked up with wide eyes. "Yang?! I'm sorry, but you need to help Ruby! I can't, I can't face him." She said hysterically.
"Whoa Blake calm down what're you-" Yang started taking a step forward.
"You don't understand! She's in danger! She shouldn't be anywhere near him." The secret Faunus interrupted.
"She's in danger?! Where?" Yang asked switching gears quickly.
"The docks she shouldn't be with that man." Blake said with wide erratic eyes.
Without another word Yang rushed off to the docks. Weiss meanwhile decided she needed to stay with her clearly unstable teammate. "Blake calm down…" She said calmly. "Who is he?"
"Weiss…" Blake suddenly stilled looking to the heiress. "You may know him… Adam Taurus…" She finished looking to the ground.
"You left Ruby with the Crimson Bull?!" Weiss asked momentarily losing her cool façade. Adam Taurus was one of the few people in the world who had been and is still on her father's shit-list for longer than a few months, and in Atlas there was a kill-on-sight order for him. She'd heard what this man was capable of, and the fact that their leader had been left alone with him was very concerning.
Much like Yang had done, Weiss quickly rushed to the docks, and with the use of her glyphs quickly caught up with Yang. "Yang we need to hurry. If Blake is right, then time is of the essence" Weiss said as she passed the girl.
Meanwhile at the docks
"After all the fighting and explosions, I'm kind of surprised the police haven't shown up yet." Ruby noted more to herself than those around her.
"The police force of this kingdom is a joke." Adam said with a shake of his head. "They spend more time antagonizing the Faunus in the slums than any other useful activity. In the past the Fang has always been more concerned with huntsmen and huntresses. They're more punctual with their timing and an overall more dangerous force."
"Ah." Ruby responded not really having another response.
"Red I'm curious." Kisame said gaining her attention. "Just where'd you learn a word like the one you used earlier?"
Ruby had the decency to blush. "I- well- I mean… heh heh…" Ruby stuttered rubbing the back of her head.
"Go ahead Ruby I'm sure we're all curious." Itachi encouraged. It was small, but there was definitely an amused smile on his face.
"Well… while you guys were gone, I realized I had a bit more free time, and got bored with the usual day-to-day, and kinda found this show online that was really good." Ruby started using hand motions for some inexplicable reason. "It was called Black Lagoon, and one of the main characters is this super awesome gunslinger named Revy, and there's a lot of fighting, and cursing, and stuff!" She said waving her hands about excitedly.
Kisame and Itachi just looked at her then to each other and shrugged. Watching stuff online wasn't exactly possible in the elemental nations, and even now they had little to no experience with the many intricacies of the internet.
"It was a good show." Adam spoke up surprising the others. "I wouldn't suggest someone as young as you watch it though." He added getting a pout from Ruby. The idea of an island city full of criminals and deviants all living and fighting with one another reminded him a lot of Vacuo, and despite everything wrong with it he liked Vacuo. There was no discrimination of the Faunus over there. They just believed in strength, anything else was irrelevant.
"Right… well I believe we should clear out before someone arrives. The first arrivals should be your teammates Ruby." Itachi said turning around. "Adam…" He paused looking over his shoulder. "If you would like to contact us in the future for any reason then speak to Ruby here." He said getting odd looks from the others, even his partner.
"Why would I go through a little girl to contact the two of you?" Adam asked confused.
"You still carry prejudice and a general spite for humankind with you even if you are no longer part of the White Fang. Ruby should be able to help with that. Surely you've noticed the slight change in your own attitude from the brief time you've already spent around her." He said leaving Adam silent. "Come on Kisame let's head back." He added looking forwards once more.
With that the shinobi quickly disappeared into the night.
After another few moments of silence Ruby looked to Adam. "So… I guess we should trade numbers?" Ruby asked shyly. It was odd to Adam just how quickly she could change moods and tones.
With a small sigh he fished his scroll from inside his jacket. "Fine."
After exchanging numbers Adam turned and started walking towards another exit.
"Where are you going?" Ruby asked slightly confused.
"The police are incompetent, but they will arrive eventually. I need to make myself scarce. Besides if Itachi was correct then your team will be arriving shortly, and most people don't try the talking idea with a confirmed terrorist." He added over his shoulder. "See you around Red."
"Am I really an oddity when it comes to stuff like that?" Ruby asked herself. "Wait… I didn't try the talking thing earlier! I took that big guy down!" She argued to his retreating form.
Adam stopped for a moment and looked back to her. Then he just smirked. "And right after that what did you do?" He asked before walking out of sight.
Not more than a moment passed before she heard people yelling her name. Turning to the voices she saw Weiss and Yang running towards her looking worried.
"Hey guys what's the rush?" Ruby asked. "You guys missed the fighting by a solid five minutes."
"On our way over here we found Blake who said you were in trouble." Yang said looking around the area. "She kept going on about this 'him'… but there's nobody here."
"Oh, she was probably talking about Adam…" Ruby thought aloud. 'Wait…' She paused to look at the heiress' face.
"Ruby… do you know who the man Blake was talking about really is?" Weiss asked slowly.
"I know she called him Adam, and he said his name was Adam, so I guess Adam."
"Ruby he's one of the higherups of the White Fang. You're lucky to have survived facing him. He has a deep hatred of humans." She said with a small sigh.
"Umm… well I didn't actually fight him…" Ruby said slowly. "I actually joined the fight to save him… Oh and he was one of the higherups in the Fang."
"What?" Yang asked confused.
"He was surrounded by other Fang guys, so I decided to help him out. I didn't know who he was till I jumped into the middle of everything."
"Ruby… what exactly happened?" Weiss asked now worried for an entirely different reason.
"Well I jumped in after shooting a big guy down. Then we spoke for a moment I learned he likes to glare, and then we fought the rest of the White Fang mooks surrounding us. After they retreated, we talked a bit more, and he left." She finished not mentioning the return of her favorite ninja just yet.
"Ruby… please don't tell me you became friends with one of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet." Weiss said pinching the bridge of her nose for the oncoming headache she was no doubt to get.
"Umm alright then…" Ruby said before going quiet.
"Are you serious Rubes?" Yang asked still not quite believing what she was hearing.
Ruby answered by pulling up her phone and showing them her newest contact.
"Mr. Glares-a-lot." Yang read before laughing. "You called him glares-a-lot?" She asked in between laughs. "That's great!"
"My teammate is friends with Adam Taurus. Adam damned Taurus… what happened to my normal life?" Weiss asked tiredly.
"Normal is no fun." Ruby said throwing an arm around Weiss' shoulder. "By the way where's Blake?"