Chapter 2-

The Heist II

Ruby Rose stepped out of the store with a bit of a pep in her step.

She didn't visit Vale too often, maybe once every couple of weeks with her sister at the most. It was a pretty long trip from Patch after all, so she tried to make her occasional visits scarce. Ruby loved the little town that she was born in, truly she did, but Patch just couldn't measure up to Vale when it came to its selection of Dust and materials for her weapons.

It was why she often found herself shopping in the big city rather than back at home when it came to buying parts for Crescent Rose. She would only settle for the best for her baby after all, even if it meant a long trip into the city. Not only was the selection better, but the prices were a bit cheaper as well, so it made the trip worth it in her eyes.

She'd also be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy passing the time by checking out the new issues of her favorite weapons magazine that only printed out in Vale.

Although, she didn't linger around the magazine rack too long this time around because of how late it was. The last thing that Ruby needed right now was another lecture from Dad about staying out too late. She just hoped that Yang didn't cause too much trouble with her little 'errand' that she had to take care of at the city's local nightclub for some odd reason…

Ruby had decided right then and there to just not dwell on it too much. Yang would always do Yang things after all.

As Ruby made her way down the street, a poster hanging from a dimly lit brick wall caught her eye. With her curiosity getting the better of her, she took a closer look at the poster and checked out its contents. It seemed to be a wanted poster with a detailed photo of a man in a white mask grinning into the camera.

Even over in Patch, Ruby had heard about the Phantom Thief of Vale.

He was all over the news on every single T.V. station as of late. There were even entire websites and message boards dedicated towards finding out his real identity. With his flair for the dramatics and an apparent grudge with the Schnee Dust Company, the Phantom Thief was all everybody was talking about lately. Rather than just being another common criminal, it seemed like the Phantom Thief had almost become Vale's newest celebrity overnight.

There was a substantial reward for his capture and a smaller reward for any information pertaining to the man. The number of zeros on the poster actually made Ruby's eyes go wide for a moment when she imagined how many high quality Dust rounds she could buy with that kind of money. The reward money made a lot more sense when she saw the Schnee Dust Company logo printed on the bottom of the poster.

When you were as rich as the Schnee Dust Company, you could probably afford to throw that kind of money around.

Ruby found her hand reaching out for the poster before she gently pried it off the wall and stuffed it into her bag, along with all of her newly purchased bottles of Dust. Ruby Rose was a future huntress and hero in the making after all. What better way would there be to embark on her journey towards heroism than to capture the infamous Phantom Thief of Vale?

Of course, she'd be lying if she said that all the upgrades for Crescent Rose that she could buy with the reward money didn't play a tiny part in influencing her decision. Since she was still on summer vacation from Signal, she definitely had the time for a small part-time job like this. With the amount of zeros that was being offered, she could probably convince Yang to help out as well, without letting their dad find out of course. Dad could get pretty overprotective at times.

It seemed like an easy enough job for a huntress-in-training. After all, compared to fighting against the Grimm like she had back in Patch, how hard could it be to just capture a simple thief?

Akira Kurusu sneezed.

He zipped up his jacket all the way in response. While it was still summer, the nights in Vale could still get quite chilly and tonight was no exception. Vale was a bustling city and people scurried about even in the after hours of the day. The traffic was even worse, with everybody trying to get home all at the same time.

Akira was glad that he lived nearby, within walking distance of Vale University.

The campus wasn't that big since it was located within the center of the city, but it had everything that a student needed. He stopped by the store and picked up a can of soda before he made his way over towards the library. Once inside the building's heated interior, he took off his jacket and searched around for a familiar pair of dark aviator sunglasses.

The person in question apparently spotted him at the same time and waved.

"It's rare for you to be late Akira." Coco Adel pointed out with an easy-going grin, "What's the special occasion?"

Akira sat down on the seat across from her with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry about that, I got held up at work."

"Ah, don't even worry about it." Coco chuckled, "I can't even remember how many times I've made you wait for me, so it's only fair."

"So, what's the topic today?" Akira replied, keeping the smile on his face. "You have been studying the notes that I gave you last time, right?"

Coco's grin faltered a bit.

"Er…"

"You haven't even looked at them, have you Coco?"

"Hey! In my defense, my team and I just came back from a mission a few days ago!" The brown-haired woman countered, "I just kind of… Forgot about it."

Akira only kept his scrutinizing gaze on her in response.

"Look, I promise I'll go over them tonight alright? Get off my back already Akira." Coco replied in a huff, "You know how I am with this school stuff. I'm more of an action first type of gal."

Akira just sighed.

"At this rate, you're going to fail the class Coco."

Her shoulders slumped.

"Ugh… Don't remind me." Coco groaned, "It's already annoying enough that I had to take summer classes. I don't even want to think about failing them, Goodwitch would kill me."

Akira chuckled in response.

"Well, I suppose that's why I'm here. Let's continue reviewing where we left off last week."

"Oh Akira, my hero~" Coco all but swooned.

Akira just rolled his eyes at the girl's antics before he flipped open her textbook.

It wasn't as if Coco didn't understand the material, she just didn't care for it at all. Their tutoring sessions weren't so much him teaching her, but more like babysitting her. He had noticed that she had a bad tendency to procrastinate as much as possible whenever he wasn't paying attention. Akira didn't particularly mind helping her out, since the material wasn't too difficult for him and she was a friend after all. Their little study group reminded him of the study sessions he and the Phantom Thieves used to have anyway. It brought back a sense of familiarity, even in a strange new world like this one.

It was always good to have someone owe you a favor as well, especially when they were a huntsman-in-training from the famed Beacon Academy.

"Hey Akira, did you see the news recently?" Coco asked as she stretched out her arms, "That Phantom Thief guy sure got the Schnees real good last night."

He just nodded in response as he kept his eyes focused on the textbook.

"Yeah, it was hard to miss, with the story being all over the news stations."

"I actually feel kind of bad for Vale P.D. for once." Coco snickered, "The Phantom Thief's making them look like total amateurs."

"Coco, shouldn't you be focusing?" Akira asked with a frown.

"Aww, come on Akira. I've been at it for at least an hour." The girl groaned, "I deserve a little break."

"It's been twenty minutes at the most." He deadpanned.

"Ah close enough." Coco waved off, "Anyway, have you seen the new reward Jacques Schnee announced for the capture of the Phantom Thief?" Her eyes lit up, "With that many zeros I could buy out the whole mall if I wanted to!"

Akira couldn't help but give a small smile at that.

"Are you planning on trying to capture him yourself then?"

Coco simply shrugged.

"I don't know, it's a lot of money, but Jacques and the Schnee Dust Company are some grade-A pricks for how they treat the Faunus. I kind of like seeing them squirm like this."

The girl leaned back into her chair, her face scrunched up in thought.

"I'm sure a bunch of huntsmen are going to jump at the opportunity with a cash reward as big as Jacques is offering though. It's too bad for the Phantom Thief I guess."

Akira raised an eyebrow.

"You think some huntsmen are going to have more success than the Vale P.D.?"

Coco gave him a look.

"Come on Akira, really? Of course they are! Huntsmen have to deal with way more difficult jobs on the reg. I wouldn't be surprised if someone caught him by the end of the month to be honest with you. Hell, if I had the time I'd catch him within the week!"

Akira couldn't help but roll his eyes at that.

"Well, that's fine and all, but don't you think that's enough of a break for now? Let's get back to studying Coco."

The girl seemed to almost slump into her chair.

"Ugh… Let's just get this over with then. I hope you take responsibility for my funeral."

This time, Akira resisted the urge to roll his eyes again before he started going over the next chapter with his brown-haired companion. She had shown him some of her marks from Beacon, and when it wasn't related to huntsmen work in the field, they had been less than stellar to say the least. He supposed that it was hard to care much about classroom work when you were out there fighting against the Grimm half the time, so he'd give her some slack.

"Akiiiraaaa, let's take a break now."

Coco sure knew how to push it though...

There were a lot of benefits in owning a nightclub.

People would be surprised at how much information a rambling drunk could have and how easy it was to get someone talking once they had enough to drink. Secrets were worth a lot in the criminal underworld and Hei 'Junior' Xiong was the go-to man when it came to information dealing. Then again, there were also some negatives that occasionally made Junior contemplate a career change into the straight life.

Being an information broker tended to attract the wrong kind of attention after all.

"Junior, you bastard." Roman Torchwick all but growled out, "You've known about 'Joker' all this time, haven't you?"

Junior only continued polishing his bar table in silence.

"I'm taking that silence as a yes." Roman's hand clenched into a fist. "And you didn't think it was a good idea to tell me about it before I made an ass of myself?"

Junior put down his dishrag and let out a sigh.

"You know how the game works Roman. I don't go blabbering about your secrets to my other clients now, do I?"

"... I need a drink." Roman tersely replied before he slapped a stack of lien onto the table. "I would've really appreciated a warning by the way. It would've been real nice to not get my teeth kicked in."

Junior would be lying if he said that he didn't get some form of satisfaction in hearing about Roman 'getting his teeth kicked in'. Roman was a customer that paid well, but he was also a prick and his ego had been growing so large lately that the man had been almost insufferable to deal with.

"So, you just here to complain?" Junior dryly asked as he slid a drink over towards the thief. "Or do you actually need something?"

Roman just scoffed.

"I got a big job coming up and I need some muscle."

Junior raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going after Joker again?"

"Does it look like I got a death wish?" The thief asked, an annoyed look on his face. "No, I'm not going after him again. And you know what? I don't plan on ever being within ten feet of that psychopath again. I got a big hit on a Dust shop in mind and I need some of your goons for the job."

"Fine, standard price." Junior simply replied, "I'll have them meet you at the usual place when you need them."

Junior didn't particularly like sending his men with Roman, since they didn't usually return in one piece, or sometimes, at all. Roman was a patron that paid well however, and it would be bad business to lose one of his best customers, even if he was a pain in the ass to work with. Even then though, to expect him to sell out another one of his patrons? Junior supposed that honor was a term that was completely foreign to Roman.

He wasn't going to sell out the Phantom Thief for any amount of Lien Roman had to offer. And it wasn't just because of his honor either. It was a business decision first and foremost.

It was pretty funny for most of the criminal underworld to watch, to see the lengths that Joker would go to just to piss off Jacques and his board of directors; whether it was from simply leaving behind a calling card or staying just long enough to smirk into a camera lens. The Phantom Thief had a growing reputation in the underworld and the price for information on the guy was only going to increase as the news of his heists continued to make the rounds. Junior was a businessman, and he knew that he had struck gold when the Phantom Thief had reached out to him.

"Much appreciated." Roman muttered as he finished his drink and walked away. "... First the Phantom Thief and now a goddamn pyromaniac. Why do I have the worst luck…"

Junior wasn't quite sure what to make of that last comment, but he kept the information filed away in the back of his mind just in case it proved useful in the future. He was an information broker after all, and even the most unassuming ramblings of a drunk could hold some weight in this business, in the right circumstances anyway. Roman might've been a prick, but the man had a lot of connections in the criminal underworld, so even an off-handed comment like that held some weight.

He was just about to close up the bar when a blonde girl walked in as if she owned the place. When he got a better look at her, he could tell that she shouldn't have even been allowed inside his club to begin with.

Just what the hell were his men doing outside?

Akira kept a neutral expression on his face as he followed behind the line of people in front of him. The tour guide was busy talking about some kind of fancy Dust machine, but Akira didn't bother paying attention. Rather, he saw this as an opportunity to 'get lost' from the crowd and explore the building a bit.

Quietly slipping away from the tour area, Akira made his way through the employee's only door. He made sure to stay hidden from any passing by employee as he stalked his way deeper into the Schnee Dust Company halls. This building was their main headquarters in Vale, and he had decided that it was going to be the target of his next heist a while ago.

He'd just been too busy to scout out the place lately because of Coco needing extra help with an upcoming test.

Akira had heard from Junior that the company liked to keep a lot of their experimental products here, and he was pretty sure that those products could fetch a pretty penny or two in the black market. It wasn't as if he needed the money or anything like that, this was simply his way of extracting his own brand of 'justice' from Jacques and his company. The Faunus deserved to get back at the very least, some of the money that they worked to the bone for.

Although he'd be lying if he said that he was only doing this for altruistic reasons.

It was a rebellion against some of the injustices of the world, in his own little way. Just like how a group of kids had managed to put an end to the reign of a corrupt politician in the past. Akira couldn't help but smile at the fond memory, even if he was only one here, he just couldn't quite kick the habit. The thrill of being a Phantom Thief was almost like a drug addiction for him.

He was a thrill chaser, through and through.

To the masses, he was the infamous Phantom Thief. To the criminal underworld he was the mysterious Joker, and to his friends, he was simply Akira Kurusu, just another everyday student at Vale University. It was a hard act to juggle at times, especially now that he was working alone, but he had gotten used to living with the lies over time. He had a mask for every occasion after all, so much so that sometimes he even lost sight of his true self.

It really did cause him to miss the other Phantom Thieves, in more ways than one.

"You're not supposed to be in here." A cold voice pointed out. "Did you not see the sign or something?"

Akira turned around, towards the source of the voice and put on a plastic smile.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that. I seem to have taken a wrong turn."

The former voice in question belonged to a girl that he had seen quite a few times on various news stories in the past. She had porcelain white hair and a face that almost reminded him of a doll. For a moment, Akira couldn't help but wonder why the Schnee heiresses was in Vale, and then he remembered that Coco had told him about a rumor like that a while ago.

He could still recall the headlines that were made when it was announced that Weiss Schnee was going to be a huntress and how she wouldn't be attending a school in Atlas.

"A wrong turn." The Schnee heiress repeated with disbelief evident in her voice. "I can't help but find it hard to believe that a guard didn't stop you from entering the employees only area."

Akira simply shrugged.

"Strange, I didn't run into anyone at all."

Weiss crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yes, how strange indeed."

Akira could feel her scrutinizing gaze, but he only smiled in response. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the Schnee heiresses let out a sigh and shook her head.

"Fine then, if you would follow me…?" She paused, before looking at him expectantly.

"Akira. Akira Kurusu."

"Weiss Schnee, as I'm sure you're familiar with. Right, I'll take you back towards the tour area then, Akira." She replied in a tone that booked no room for argument. "And do try not to get 'lost' again. The next person you meet might not be as forgiving as myself."

Akira just smiled as he followed behind the heiress.

"Much appreciated, Weiss. I don't know what I would've done without you."

The girl rolled her eyes at that but kept walking nonetheless.

"So, Beacon Academy? Any specific reason for that?"

Weiss gave him a look.

"You don't look like the type that would be interested in reading gossip magazines."

"I like to stay well-informed." Akira replied with a shrug, "Information is always valuable after all."

"Even if the source is dubious at best?"

"Ah, but you are attending Beacon Academy this upcoming semester though, are you not?"

The heiress nodded her head.

"Beacon Academy is one of the most prestigious huntsmen academies on the planet. I have no reason to not attend."

"That's true." Akira agreed, "But why would someone of your status decide to become a huntsman?"

The Schnee heiress stopped walking and turned around, giving him a flat stare.

"We're here. Just go down the hallway until you see the door."

Akira just smiled again and nodded his head. If she didn't want to talk about it, that was fine. He was merely curious about her reasons and nothing more.

"Thank you, Weiss. I'll try my absolute best to not lose my way again."

The girl just rolled her eyes at him before she stepped back into the employee only zone.

Naturally, being the klutz that he was, after a good ten minutes or so, Akira just so happened to 'get lost' once again. He still had a building to scope out after all. The place wasn't going to scout itself, and a Phantom Thief always came into a job prepared if anything.

Hell if he was lucky, he'd run into Weiss Schnee and be able to annoy her again.