I'll fully admit it...I hit a massive slump with this story.

Between constantly getting stuck for what exactly to write, as well as work and War Dog taking up all my time, this and all my other stuff got thrown o nthe backburner to be chipped away at.

Well, I can't say it's great, but, well hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter 18

"I swear, this brothers-damned paperwork grows every moment I look away."

Giggling lightly, Ruby couldn't help but jab at the esteemed headmaster as she burst into his office. "Oh, chin up Oz, at least you have Glynda to help give you more." The man eyed her over his thermos carefully, his eyes flickering to the door where Glynda would enter from. "Oh, she waits until you turn around to pensively look over Vale, then BOOM!" Her sudden voice-jump managed to make him raise an eyebrow. "She levitates in whole folders of papers to sign off on! I should know, I caught her doing it to me!"

Ozpin shook his head. "Miss Rose, might you have a reason to interrupt my...valuable time?" Ruby shrugged, waving a hand about as she spoke.

"Eh, maybe? I mean, you heard how I blew up that laboratory right?" Ozpin grimaced, his eyes flicking to a certain folder of insurance drivel and damages. "Well, I realized that crystal couldn't have reacted like that unless it was recharged, so I paid the guy I bought it from a visit. Lo and behold, his whole stock was recharged without him knowing. So now I maybe kinda sorta need your permission to go out and find out what happened?" She asked more than said by the end. "I should have just gone anyway, shouldn't I?"

Ozpin smirked. "Quite. I shall inform Qrow of this development, and you are to-" He didn't get a chance to order Ruby not to do anything, as she zipped away using her semblance, a faint 'la la, can't hear you' audible as she fled. Sighing, he sipped his drink, turning to look over the City with old, weary eyes.

"Just like her father, always leaping into things."

"I already told you, Torchwick's been clean ever since you stopped him."

Ruby rolled her eyes, her hand wrapped around her drink as she stared at Junior. "And I'm telling you that someone's been messing around with the dust shipments coming into Vale. I know that the VNN already did a report on several Hunters who got blown up by their own dust. That kinda thing is a catalyst for fear if people can't even trust their own dust. People are going to be afraid to even turn on their damn microwave for fear the dust inside will detonate. The guards will stop trusting the dust they use for the defences along the City walls. And I don't have to tell you what fear will bring."

Junior shook his head at Ruby, absently wiping down a glass. "No, you don't. Look, I've already got my ear down to the ground, and I've heard nothing. You really think I wouldn't give you that information? I know you, 'Bloody Rose'. I know you'd pay well to find out what the hell is going on so you could stop it. And I'm telling you that I have no damn idea who is doing it. Besides, it's more likely this stuff happens over in Atlas, so when they ship it over, it's already screwed." Ruby growled, downing the last of her drink, then sliding a lien card across the counter into Junior's waiting hand, just enough to cover her drink.

As she got up, she jabbed a finger at him. "If you hear anything of who is causing this, or where I can find them, you get that message to me first, or I'll break your balls. Got that?" She clenched a fist for emphasis. Credit to him, Junior just sighed and waved her away. He wasn't an easy man to intimidate for sure, but he definitely didn't look as comfortable as he did when she came in, glancing down at least once.

Throwing her cloak around her shoulders, she tipped the hood up over her hair and left the building, her hands visibly away from her weapons. Of course, that didn't matter, since her Semblance would let her snatch them in the blink of an eye, but it was the thought that counted. She just wished she wasn't so...forward with her Semblance in the past, since it meant pretty much anyone with a scroll could find her tournament matches and learn what her Semblance was, then plan around it.

Until she buried her knife in their skull anyway, since no amount of planning would win if she could still get to them and break their aura.

Ruby stretched her arms out with a yawn, absent-mindedly swinging her legs from side to side as she stared at the train tracks below her.

Junior had come through, sending her a map of this area and a timestamp, along with the message of 'This is us even now, don't come back without more lien.', which was his way of saying 'Stay the fuck away, got that?' It wasn't her fault she scared away practically all of his more...unsavoury patrons.

She quickly checked her weaponry for the fifth time. She'd left Crescent Rose behind this time, since she wasn't expecting any Grimm to slash down, only human-sized targets, which meant she was left with Crimson Harvest, the collective name for her sword and dagger combo.

Was it unimaginative? Sure. Did it matter? No. People who watched her tournament fights would be expecting her to be using a scythe, something that a skilled fighter could counter. So, when she suddenly drew out her dagger and sword, they'd be on the back-foot even further than expected.

Ruby shook her head, slapping at her cheeks to stay focused on the train-tracks, having heard the faint but unmistakable sound of an oncoming train a few moments ago. She did her final checks, tightened her cloak, then, just as the train slipped into the tunnel, dropped off the platform she was sat on, free-falling onto the train. She rolled to ease herself into the momentum of the train, taking a swift glance around as she drew her weapons.

She was on one of the forward carriages. According to Junior's intel, the shipment the saboteurs planned to switch was on a carriage near the front of the train, only a few carriages back from her current location.

Since the tunnel was too shallow to allow her to safely walk along the roof of the train, she settled for simply heading straight through the carriages. But, as soon as she opened the door, she blinked in surprise. The person on the other side of the door looked back at her in equal surprise. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Of course no plan of hers could go right, considering the man she'd run into.

"Making sure you don't get your ass kicked squirt." Qrow shot back, raising Harbinger to his shoulder. "I see you didn't bring your grass-cutter along this time." Growling, Ruby pointed a finger at Qrow's face.

"I'll have you know that Crescent Rose is not just a grass-cutter...she can also cut trees down." Ruby didn't even bother trying to test Qrow, the man had an absurd amount of patience, and he'd always find a way to keep going if she tried to argue, so it was best to just go with it. "So, Junior?" The Branwen nodded, waltzing back into the carriage he'd just vacated.

"Yeah, he told me right after he told you, squaring off two of his debts with me for it." Though it was annoying, it was technically not violating what Ruby had demanded. She'd been told first, but Qrow had been told straight after. Despite herself, Ruby smirked. In his own way Junior was looking out for her.

Sure, he was just protecting his own interests, since Ruby was very handy if he ever needed to take care of something involving another criminal, but it was still nice. "Well, let's get moving then, I want to catch these fucks and make 'em pay for ruining my hair. Don't even fucking say it." She stopped Qrow from saying anything about her hair. Sure, it looked fine, but the point was that at the time, it was frazzled.

According to Junior, what was suspected of happening was that during transit, the legitimate dust crystals were being swapped out with cases of 'fake' crystals. The only opportunity for the swap to occur was during transit, and the most likely point of transit for a theft was during this stretch of railway, as it had several rarely-patrolled forest trails to drive in and out of the area, which meant swapping out boxes would be a cinch.

They just had to stop them. "So, did Oz send you?" The dark-haired man just gave her a look. "What, it's not like he's got a great track record for trusting me to do crap on my own." Folding his arms, Qrow turned to look at Ruby with a cocked eyebrow. "Okay, so maybe I let Cinder get away, and okay, so I got gutted by a shard of metal, but hey, I'm fine!" Ruby flexed her arms for emphasis.

Qrow gave her a once over, turning away with a snort. "You know, Winter was actually in Vale last week on a...'mission'. She still plans to drag you back to that bar for a round two." Slumping over, Ruby followed after Qrow with a frown, perking up at the mention of Weiss's sister.

"Wait, seriously? She still holding a grudge about that, that was ages ago! I mean, I might have rubbed that win in a little too much, but still!" Qrow just shook his head, wrenching open the door to the next car along and raising his arm to let her through first. "Oh, such a gentleman, letting the lady check for traps or ambushes first." She traipsed past him, drawing Crimson Harvest as her eyes flicked from side to side, quickly declaring the room as empty, aside from maybe an invisible assailant.

Neo was still around after all, not that she'd do anything to make Torchwick's sentence longer than the two years he'd been slapped with. But it did mean there were always those who could have a similar semblance. The pair made their way quickly down the train, until a few cars later they heard the tell-tale sounds of people moving around. Since the train was only supposed to have a driver and then a bunch of mechanical guards, that was a dead give-away. "Get those fucking crates shifted, now!"

Qrow's eyes widened, leaning against the door to listen as the voice commanded their minions around. "Wait a minute, that's one of...what the hell is he doing swapping dust out like this?" Narrowing her eyes at Qrow, Ruby silently demanded he explain. "When you took down the Red Fangs, of course, you couldn't get them all, so Oz sent me to clean up any who slipped past you. That one is one of those who slipped past me. I dunno why the hell they'd be-no, Ruby, don't!"

Ruby ignored him, enhancing her leg with Aura then smashing her foot through the door, sending the metal projectile hurtling across the train car, crushing a box of dust as it flew through the air like a missile. Several very surprised red-masked figures all turned to look at the door, just in time to see Ruby disappear into a flash of petals, her dagger immediately finding the throat of the nearest Red Fang member. "Damn it Ruby!" Qrow yelled, though Ruby didn't pay him any mind, wrenching her dagger out of her target's throat and nearly decapitating him.

She flicked the dagger, her eyes flickering around the room, counting numbers, assessing weapons, then settling o nthe best course of action...butcher the lot of them. As she burst into petals, she spotted the only unmasked figure, a tall guy with a single sword and buckler, his eyes narrowed at her. Raising the tip of his weapon towards her cloud of petals then triggering a compartment to open, he forced her to redirect her course, re-appearing from petals to cut the head off another Red Fang too slow to avoid her attack.

Feeling the blood splatter across her cloak, she growled, lowering her stance then kicking off the ground, using her Semblance intermittently to avoid the tip of his weapon as she hurriedly closed the distance, only to wince and dart to the side when his weapon fired, a large ball of lightning being fired which managed to catch her a little, locking her body up for a few seconds.

She managed to roll enough to avoid his follow-up strike, regaining control over her nervous system and scrabbling back onto her feet, hearing Qrow engaging the other Red Fang in combat. Not giving her time to plan an attack, he began firing more lightning balls out of his weapon, then swapping the crystal in his weapon out while she was held back by a literal wall of lightning, now unleashing a stream of flames which he swept from left to right.

Deciding not to follow convention, Ruby forced herself upwards, tiring her out a little but getting her over his flames. She then became corporeal again and hurtled down towards him, plowing her sword down only to be deflected by his buckler, then being matched when his own sword was parried by her dagger, leaving him open enough for Ruby to pivot into a knee-first dropkick, slamming him backwards as she somersaulted to land on her feet while he sprawled. "Is this it? This is the strongest member of the Red Fang? To think, you guys used to be what kept me awake at night, and now? You're a joke."

Normally Ruby wouldn't taunt her opponents, but this one held a personal edge to her. Plus, from the fact his teeth were gritted, his eyes narrowing furiously, she'd really managed to piss him off. Dangerous, sure, but it could open great opportunities. She was therefore ready when, with an enraged cry, he blasted forwards, his buckler ready to slam forwards, either to hit her or to block her attack.

Ruby didn't allow either thing to happen, using her Semblance to push entirely past him, re-emerge, then slam her sword backwards, the dangerous attack taking a hefty chunk of his aura to block, as it was aimed right at his heart, scraping up his aura until it would have pierced his throat. As he rolled forwards and turned, she sprinted after him, using her dagger to guide his sword-swing, then swinging herself to the side and smashing down on the wrist holding his buckler as he tried to shield-bash her, making him drop it.

With a quick kick she sent the buckler out of reach, grinning despite herself as he flexed his hand, then took a two-handed stance. With the buckler, he stood a good chance of countering her attacks, but now? Now she could really hurt him. Unfortunately, as she prepared to bolt forwards, Qrow chose that moment to break into their fight ,his scythe hooking around her enemies neck and wrenching brutally, his neck snapping from the sheer impact. After all, it didn't matter how much aura you had if your neck was twisted 90 degrees in the blink of an eye.

Frowning, Ruby put her hands on her hips. "I had him!"

I'm sorry this took so long boos, I just totally lost my muse for this story.

War Dog is just...well, two things. Firstly, it's nearing its end, I don't want to slow down now so close to finishing. Then between that, brainstorming new Universes for Akar to go to...this and all my other stories hit the backburner in a major way.

But today I forced myself to just sit down, finish this chapter, so that way I could upload it on the 6th, as the One-Year-Anniversary! Happy Birthday to Watching Rose (This is only happening to this story because this was my first story, sorry Crimson Dovah)

And yes, this isn't a very long chapter, sorry. I just, as I said, lost my interest in this story, sawwy.