Never Change

Chapter 12

Percy opened his eyes, rolling over quickly. His senses were off. Something had gone wrong.

Wait...

He counted five including himself... where was Ruby?

Her dog, Zwei, came back in, barking like mad.

Percy narrowed his eyes, checking her bed.

Her earpiece was still there. She'd forgotten it.

It didn't really matter if he could still call her. He pulled out his scroll, but it beeped saying there was a low signal.

Of course, there was, they were in the middle of a ruined city, for fuck's sake.

Percy nearly tore his hair out in frustration. No communication.

"Get up!" he quietly roused his team and Oobleck.

"What's going on?" Blake drearily mumbled.

"Get up and ready. Grab earpieces and weapons, Ruby's in trouble."

"Damnit," Yang grunted, "I knew this would happen. Zwei might lead us to the scene."

"Let's go then."

-----

Ruby shook her head groggily, opening her eyes.

She could feel herself being dragged by the two White Fang people. There were more of them moving crates, and there were Atlesian paladins moving them. There were things being put in trains... they looked kinda like bombs.

Why? It didn't make any sense.

"Hey boss!" one of the dudes dragging her called out, "We found something you might wanna see!"

"Is it good or bad, Perry, because lemme tell ya, I have had a day."

Wait... was that Torchwick???

No...

Ruby struggled, trying to escape from their grip, but they just ignored her.

"Uh... it's a little girl?"

The criminal himself came out from the railcar, "That would be bad... Merlot!"

A gray haired, elderly man with disheveled hair emerged from the car. His left eye was robotic, its color a mismatched red, with claw marks around it. He wore a light gray jacket, with some kind of cube symbol and the words "Merlot Industries" on it.

"Torchwick..." he sighed, "Can you never do anything right?"

"Bahh..." the thief spat on the ground, "Little Red here wasn't supposed to be here!"

"And yet here she is. Clearly we have a full team of huntsman on our hands."

"And how do you propose we deal with them?" Torchwick practically spat at the gray haired man.

The man smiled smugly, "Roman, you know that I am a scientist, first and foremost. There is no need to use your... unsavory, brutes... except those two holding the girl there. They're very useful."

The two guys holding her didn't seem to understand the sarcasm and only nodded dumbly.

Torchwick barked out a laugh, "You and I both, Merlot."

An evil smirk made its way onto the mad scientist's lips, "I believe my Grimm will be more than capable of handling these puny huntsmen."

Ruby's eyes widened. His Grimm?? Could he control them in some way??

She had to get to the others... she had to warn them.

If only she'd brought her earpiece...

Ruby began to struggle, but the two grunts held her down tightly. The man took notice, and the mad scientist approached her.