Hello there! This is my newest story, a Superhero AU based on artwork down by the incredible Lycanheiress and colored by Akiruo! I'd link to it, but she hasn't posted it yet due to her wanting to finish all of the girls first, but the cover art is what inspired this! Make sure to check out Lycan's art on her tumblr! You can also find me at lupos-corvidae!

With a grunt, Ruby shoved the box the final inch it needed to go to fit into the space on the wall. Leaning up against the wall for a moment to catch her breath, she wiped at the sweat dripping from her forehead. She knew she just spread a large streak of grease across her head, but she couldn't find it within herself to care as she reached for her water bottle. Twisting the cap off, she drained half of it in one go. Setting her bottle down, she turned around and dropped into the chair next to the workbench, resting her tired legs.

Ruby let out a jaw-cracking yawn, finally able to relax for a brief moment. Her latest project completed, she could have Yang call the customer up and tell them it was ready for delivery. It would be nice to see the payout for this job, with how much the client was offering for her to restore his vehicle to a pristine condition.

She rubbed her hands off on a scrap piece of clothing hanging on her belt to get the worst of it off, casually heading out of her workshop. Was about time to get home and maybe take a nap before dinner. Ruby's thoughts about her night were paused as she heard the telltale sounds of sirens in the distance. She turned to the television in the corner, having had it on for background noise as a breaking alert crossed the screen, the somber face of a news anchor filling the screen.

'We're here, live, at the First Federal Bank of Atlas, where a tense standoff is in progress between the police and an unknown number of assailants. The suspects appear to have taken the bank staff hostage and are resisting any attempts at communication. Any attempts to enter the building so far have been met with violence, and-' the anchor's voice was cut off by a massive explosion right from the side of the building, glass flying everywhere and causing everyone, including the gathered police officers, to duck behind cover.

'The suspects have set off some kind of bomb! The building is listing to the side, but they still haven't come out! Wait...alright, I'm just now hearing that the suspects have said if the police do not move back, they will detonate more explosives. The hostages seem in a very dangerous position, as the suspects seem clearly deranged and are not open to reason.'

Ruby flicked the tv off. Narrowing her eyes, she glanced about the empty workshop. Craning her neck to check the lobby, she noted no one else was around. Tossing her keys on the counter, she strode over to a small box she kept locked next to her bench. Inputting the combination, she reached down. Grasping a small piece of clothing, she lifted it up. Placing it on her face, she glanced up to see her reflection in the mirror. Bright silver eyes now covered by white goggles cleverly sewn into cloth as she swirled on her cloak. With a smirk, Red Rose tossed the hood up over her head.

"Don't just stand there you dumbass, get over there and cover the left window!" Roman growled out. The man hurried to do as he was told, Roman sighing as he ran off. Taking his hat off of his bright orange-red hair, he placed it against his chest and looked up as though praying. "Good help is so hard to find," he lamented. He glanced about, taking note of the tied up hostages, the numerous henchmen he'd hired on, and especially, the vault that was in the process of being emptied.

A tap on his arm made him glance down at his rather short companion, her dichromatic eyes meeting his. "Yeah, I know, Neo, I know. Stick close to you, you have the exit strategy. I just need these useless wastes," Roman shouted out at the assorted henchmen around him, "To pick up the pace! Who knows how long we have until the police show up!"

"It's okay boss, we got it all bagged up for you," one of the men said as he approached, dropping a series of bags at Roman's feet. Roman smiled, flipping his hat back on.

"Well, fina-fucking-ly! There's hope for you yet!" Roman went to pick up the bag but paused as a small red object floated down to land on the bag. Picking it up, he squinted at it. "Rose petals?"

"I think you might have overdrawn your account," a voice called out from above, amusement coloring the tone. Roman, Neo, the assembled henchmen, and the hostages all looked up, seeing a tall, muscular woman dressed in a red cloak standing on one of the support beams. Her eyes were hidden behind red silk cloth stretching over them with white one-way glass covering where the eyes should be. Black pants and a black vest over a red shirt covered most of the rest of her body, with a pair of black boots completing the ensemble. Red bracers covered her forearms with black gloves keeping her hands safe, a belt with a number of slots in it attached at her waist finished it off.

Roman just arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You lost? You look like you just came from a geek convention."

The figure smirked. "You must be new here. I'd happily show you around, buddy, but you're gonna have to let the hostages go first. And return the money. Oh, and you get shown around in some nice bracelets that those lovely policemen outside have."

Roman rolled his eyes in response. "Ah, here we go. Some wannabe vigilante trying to be the hero. Truly, Atlas' finest example. Now let's see, what's next on the script...probably should banter more...ah fuck it. Just shoot her!" Roman's voice lifted up in a shout as he pointed, all of the henchmen immediately bringing their guns up to and pulling the triggers.

A hail of bullets sped across the air towards the woman up above, but in the blink of an eye, she disappeared, rose petals floating down softly. Everyone stopped firing for a brief moment, confusion spread across their faces, the room going silent. A brief second later, a smug chuckle sounded throughout the room, echoing in the cavernous foyer of the bank, as rose petals began to stream about. Roman narrowed his eyes, glancing about, but he had little time to react before a fist slammed into his face, sending him flying back across the floor.

As Roman sat up, dizzy, Neo rushing to his side, he was treated to what felt like a slideshow. The red-cloaked figure kept appearing and disappearing, petals falling about her like snow. Every time she appeared it was like she was already mid-motion, some punch, or kick, or even a throw landing on a different hapless goon. Raising up his cane, he flicked on the sight. He loved this little gun-cane, no one ever expected it. Taking careful aim at one of his few remaining standing henchmen, he sighted the shot out and…*there!*

With a flick of his finger, his shot rang out, slamming into the air just as the red figure arrived. She let out a cry of pain as it hit her shoulder, the force of the shot coming from his cane knocking her out of the air. She skidded for a moment before disappearing in a cloud of petals, reappearing standing right next to Roman. With narrowed eyes she kicked out at the cane to try to knock it out of his hands, one hand still holding her shoulder, blood dripping between her fingertips.

Her eyes went wide in shock as Neo blocked her strike with superhuman speed, the shorter woman glaring up at the red-cloaked one. Tilting her head to the side, the red woman blinked around her, attempting to strike the shorter one from a number of different angles, but the shorter one deflected every single attack without fail. With a twist of her wrist, the shorter one shoved the red-cloaked one away.

"Nice moves, short stack," the cloaked woman called out. Neo merely tossed her hair, smirking at the red one, twirling her parasol and standing protectively over Roman.

Roman grunted, clambering to his feet and dusting off his clothing. Glancing up, he casually laid the cane on his shoulder, grinning at the cloaked woman. "So is it too late for introductions?"

"Red Rose. I'd say at your service, but the only service I'll be providing today is taking you to prison," the red-cloaked woman said with a sweeping bow.

"Roman Torchwick, Creative Criminal Conman Extraordinaire!" Roman proclaimed, arms wide. An elbow in his side made him give out an oof, glancing down at Neo. Rolling his eyes, he pointed at her. "And this is Neo. Don't worry about her running her mouth about this." Roman ignored the second elbow in his side as Neo jabbed at him again.

"So...are you two going to come along quietly, or do I need to take this up a notch?" Red Rose asked. Roman noted how she had her hands resting on top of her belt, one finger waiting to unlatch one of the pockets.

"Sorry, but we're going to have to take a rain check on the whole 'prison' thing. It's awful for my hair, you see. Ta-ta, Red Rose, I hope we never meet again," Roman replied with a smug grin. Too late, Red Rose noted the detonator in his hands and the way Neo had gripped his arm, a tiny sparkle appearing around the short woman as Roman flipped the switch.

In the split second before the bombs went off, Ruby was treated to the sight of Neo and Roman blinking out of existence. She cursed herself as she realized Neo was some kind of Metahuman too, but she had no time to complain...the bombs, set in the foundation of the building, rocked the entire thing with devastating force. The soundwave along hurt her ears, not to mention losing her balance as the building's floor cracked from the force. The shockwave from the explosions was far enough away it didn't harm her or the hostages, but it took one glance up to see that the ceiling, already cracked from the prior explosion...was about to come down.

"For the final time, you need to go to the hospital!" Yang growled as she pressed another cloth to Ruby's shoulder, dropping the soaked one onto the floor.

"It's a bullet wound! They'll ask questions that I can't answer!" Ruby hissed back, eyes narrowed.

"And what do you expect me to do about it?!" Yang shot back.

"...sew it up."

"What?"

"Sew it up!" Ruby repeated in a stern tone.

Yang blinked, before baring her teeth at Ruby. "Are you fucking stupid? Not only would that hurt like hell, I've no idea how!"

"I'm sure the internet has guides or something!" Ruby responded.

"I'm not about to just stab my baby sister!" Yang protested.

"It's for my own good!"

Yang struggled for a moment, her face twitching as emotions played across it. She bit her lip, hard, drawing a small amount of blood before she replied with an angry snarl. "Fine! I'll try to sew it up, I guess…"

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, before hissing in pain as she moved her arm. Yang gave Ruby a sidelong glance, sighing as she pulled out her phone to begin looking up suture techniques.

"Ruby, we don't even have the right kind of thread," Yang began.

"Blah, just use...fishing line or something. It just needs to hold to heal up. You know I heal fast. And the bullet went clean through, so no fishing for it!" Ruby smiled brightly, still holding the cloth tight against her shoulder as Yang just grumbled under her breath.

"You are reckless, idiotic, and utterly insane!" Yang hissed as she started sterilizing a needle. "You need to stop doing this before you get killed!"

"Yang…" Ruby began, her voice soft.

"No! I'm not having my baby sister get murdered trying to play the goddamned hero!"

"Yang!" Ruby protested, reaching out and laying her hand on Yang's shoulder. When Yang stilled for a moment, Ruby softened her voice. "I have to, Yang. I can't just sit while people get hurt, not when I can do this. And...it...it just feels right for me, you know? Red Rose, she's...I'm...it's me. I'm me, when I'm her. I know it doesn't make much sense, but...I can't stop, Yang."

"...fine. Fine. Far be it for me to stop you. But I'm not letting you get hurt anymore. I'm not," Yang muttered, defeat in her tone.

Ruby gave a half-smile, it not quite reaching her eyes. "You can't really stop that…"

"I'll find a way," Yang spoke in a tone of finality. Ruby, recognizing that she'd get nowhere further with the conversation, kept her mouth shut as Yang picked up the needle and dried it with a cloth. "This is going to hurt, you know that, right?"

Ruby shrugged. "No worse than the bullet did." Yang grunted in agreement.

Slender pale fingers clenched in one fist as the news played out on the screen before her. Her other hand lifted the wine glass to her mouth for a sip, eyes narrowed as she watched the report of what had occurred, the news anchors going over the events of the day. She let out a quiet snarl at the story, but her companion's snort told her it wasn't as quiet as it could have been.

"Why are you so angry, Weiss?" Blake asked, not lifting her eyes up from her book as she turned another page. The scion of the prestigious Belladonna family was one of the very few people in the world Weiss trusted, and her best friend. As well as her favorite sparring partner, as she was the only other heir who seemed to understand and support Weiss' decision to practice martial arts.

"Because these...criminals nearly caused the deaths of dozens of innocent people, not to mention stealing so much from the people of the city! And with how organized they are, it must be the same group that's been attacking my families holdings!" Weiss responded heatedly.

Blake let out a contemplative sound. "But it was stopped, wasn't it? By that Red Rose person." Weiss went to reply but quieted herself as the anchor switched to the one on site.

"And we're here with the hero of the day, Red Rose herself! Red Rose, how did you get the civilians out so quickly?"

The hero stood tall, her cape fluttering behind her. An enigmatic smile crossed her face. "Well, I just had to move quickly to grab everyone and bring them out. It really wasn't that big a deal, these powers help!"

The anchor let out a laugh. "Well, fine work as always! Is there any chance you'll be revealing yourself anytime soon?"

"Sorry, Jim, but I'm afraid I can't do that. Although I might consider it for one of your lovely co-anchors like Rebecca!" Red Rose winked at the camera, before turning back to the news anchor. "Well, I'm sorry, but I have to run! Or something like that. I'm just glad everyone got home safely! Good evening to you Atlas. Oh, and as for the mastermind behind today, Roman?" Red Rose's voice dropped, the humor disappearing and a quiet intensity entering her voice as masked eyes glanced into the camera. "I will find you, Roman Torchwick. Bet on that." A moment later and the air was filled with rose petals, the masked figure disappearing.

The anchor turned back to the camera, his smile having become forced when the tone of the interview shifted. "Well, that wraps up our interview with Red Rose! Next, the police chief-" Weiss clicked off the television.

"She was hurt," Weiss commented.

Blake arched an eyebrow, glancing up from her book. "Hmm?"

"Red Rose. She was hurt. She was favoring her left side, and there was blood. I don't think they noticed because it blended in with her costume."

"Well, being a superhero is dangerous work."

Weiss cocked her head to the side. Glancing down, she realized that the hand that hadn't been holding the wine glass had been clenched so hard that her nails had scratched her palm and a tiny trickle of blood was welling up. She relaxed her hand, setting down her wine glass as she stood from the chair. "Yes. Yes, it is. Excuse me Blake, I need to head out for the day."

Blake shrugged. "Alright. See you later, Weiss." Weiss strode out of the room, her normal calm and collected veneer plastered back on her face as her mind whirled.