The door to the precinct opened, letting in the afternoon light as Neptune walked in. After the fiasco that was the night before, he had come back to the precinct so that they could pick up their cars and go home. Neptune had insisted on making sure Weiss got home okay because of how shaken up she seemed, but she'd firmly denied his requests. Then he got home, collapsed on bed, and woke up 7 hours later at 1, and got ready for work.

Weiss was known for her odd work hours lately, and that had been a habit passed onto him. Normally being this late would be grounds for him being fired, but everyone knew that at this point, if he tried to get in on time every day he'd be so sleep deprived that he couldn't get anything done.

As Neptune walked in, feeling refreshed, he noticed his partner talking to Pyrhha, her partner before him. Pyrhha was taller than Weiss (Not that that was hard, Weiss was pretty short), with long red hair tied into a pony tail. She had green eyes, and was obviously physically fit. As Neptune got closer, he could hear what they were talking about. "Wait, her name's Ruby?"

Weiss nodded. "That's what she said."

"She might've been lying."

"I know. That's why I'm asking you."

Pyrhha nodded at that, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I can't figure her out on what you gave me."

Weiss sighed, but waved away her apology. "No, don't worry about it. It wasn't much to work on after all. Thanks for trying."

Neptune couldn't help but notice that Weiss was not looking at Pyrhha during the entire conversation. She was looking near her, but never directly at her. Pyrhha gave a nod and a friendly smile, which Weiss returned, though it was strained a bit.

The blue haired cop never could understand why Weiss had requested a change in partners. He had his guesses (Everyone had their guesses), but he didn't know. The two worked well together, and together were responsible for a noticeable decrease in the crime around Vale. But then, two months ago she requested a change in partners. Pyrrha, nice as she was, let it go unchallenged, and ended up with the rookie Jaune Arc as her new partner, which was definitely a step down. Meanwhile Weiss got him, and while they worked pretty well together, his partner would often go to Pyrrha to discuss theories.

As Pyrrha walked away, towards the blonde haired mess wrestling with the coffee machine at the other end of the room that was her partner, Weiss caught sight of him. "Oh, Neptune, good to see you. How are you feeling?"

Neptune normally would've grinned and flirted, but after last night, he was still worried. "I'm fine. How're you?"

Weiss paused for a moment, not expecting his response. "I'm fine, why?"

He shrugged. "Well, it's just, last night you were rather shaken up. I've never seen you like that before."

Weiss shook her head. "I'm fine. I was just tired."

Neptune knew he should've kept pushing the issue, but he didn't get the chance. Instead, she brushed past him, walking towards their office. Neptune quickly followed after her as she started speaking. "Alright, so, we might have a name: Ruby. Unfortunately, I checked with City Hall, and there are more than a thousand people in Vale with that name, and we don't even know if it's her real name or not."

"Wait, when did we learn her name?"

"Oh, right, we didn't have time to discuss that. She said her name and age when I caught her."

Neptune stopped walking for a second, before catching up.

"She blurted them out." Weiss walked into the office, holding the door open for Neptune before closing it behind him.

"Wait, she just said them?" Neptune took a seat on one side of the large desk in the room.

Weiss took a seat at the other before speaking. "Well, she just said her age, when I asked her."

Neptune frowned. "Wait, then how did we get the name Ruby?"

"She said it after she kissed me."

Neptune's eyes shot open, and he stammered, "W-what? She kissed you?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Don't know why. I think she was trying to seduce me into letting her go."

He coughed. "And you let her? Didn't know you were the kind to fraternize with criminals, Weiss." He paused for a moment, watching her reaction, before adding, "You shouldn't roll your eyes so much. They'll pop straight out of your head."

His partner snorted before responding, "I didn't let her. She took me by surprise, and then ran off."

Neptune nodded, but looked at the file Weiss had opened on her desk. Inside was the map that she had drawn on the day before, along with several other pieces of paper. Weiss then looked directly into Neptune's eyes as she circled the house that was hit last night, and then connected it with a line to the others.

A smirk was on her face.

"Okay, okay, you may have been right."

"No, I was right. I said she'd be there, and she was."

Neptune sighed as she closed the file, same smirk on her face. "Alright, alright, you were right."

Weiss leaned back in her chair, looking smug as can be as she said, "I'm glad that you remembered that fact."

It was Neptune's turn to roll his eyes, but he smiled, glad to see her back to normal. "Yeah, yeah. So, what now?"

Weiss pulled out a scrap of paper, scribbling down an address before handing it over to him. "I'm betting she'll hit here next."

He looked at the address, nodding before setting it down. "So when do we leave?"

The white haired cop looked up at the clock, noting the time. "Around 7 P.M. I wanna be there early."

Neptune leaned forward on the desk, putting on his best smile. "Soooo. That leaves about five hours for free time. Wanna do something? Maybe go out for a cup of coffee?"

Weiss rolled her eyes. "No. I've got reports to fill out, and so-" she pulled out a stack of papers, letting them slam in front of him to accentuate her point, "do you."

Neptune sighed, and began working.

Ruby walked down the street, sans hoodie, enjoying the feeling of the sun shining on her. Turning down Mountain Glenn street, she looked down at her destination, two story building, a bit damaged but overall looking well, and began walking towards it.

A quick glance to her left and right assured her that she wasn't being watched, and she walked down towards the building. Climbing the steps to the worn door, looking around one more time, she pressed the doorbell.

A few seconds later, she heard footsteps on the other side stop in front of the door. Soon, the door creaked open, and a woman with green eyes and blonde hair looked out at her, a smile on her face. "Ah, Ms. Rose. Good to see you again. Would you like to come in?"

Ruby could hear the children on the other side, possibly playing a game, and shook her head. "Nah, sorry, Glynda, I can't stay long. I came by to drop off a donation."

Glynda's smile faded a bit at hearing that she couldn't stay, but was obviously grateful for the donation none the less. "Of course, Ms. Rose. Thank you for continued support of 'The Yellow Brick Road Orphanage'."

Ruby smiled, taking the money out of her pocket and handing it to the caretaker.

Glynda's eyes widened at the amount, smile faltering, and after a few seconds, asked, "Stocks being kind recently, Ms. Rose?"

Ruby gave a nervous giggle, hand going behind her head as she said, "Yep! Got lucky! We sold all our stock in a company right before it folded!"

Glynda nodded, smile firmly affixed again, taking the money and putting it in her pocket. "Are you sure you can't stay? I'm sure the kids would love to see you again."

Ruby shook her head. "Sorry, busy day."

"Very well, Ms. Rose. I wish you a pleasant evening."

"You too, Glynda."

And with that, Glynda shut the door.

Ruby sighed, walking away. Glynda knew, of course, that she was lying about the investments, but was always nice enough not to question it.

Glynda was the only thing resembling a social worker in the city. She ran the only orphanage, the soup kitchens, and everything else resembling basic human kindness. Of course, in this city, she was swamped. There was no way for her to help everyone, but she'd always try.

And Ruby figured she could lend a helping hand. The money would last her a while, but it would take more than just money to fix this city.

Ruby glanced at the screen of her phone, taking the time. Huh. Earlier than I thought. Guess I can grab a quick coffee before I go to the meeting.

Taking off down the street, she started heading towards the closest coffee shop she knew of.

Weiss rubbed her temples, headache forming from the dull monotony of the reports before her. Her hand reached for her cup, bringing it to her lips, and tasting. . . nothing.

Glaring down at her cup, she found it empty. Giving a sigh, she moved to stand up, "I'm going to go get more coffee."

Neptune put up his hand. "No, I'll do it! It's fine!" He shot up, grabbed her cup, and ran out the door.

Weiss chuckled, amused by his efforts to get away from the reports. Then she turned her attentions back to the reports on her desk and cursed herself for not thinking of it first.

A few seconds later, Neptune opened the door to the office, and leaned his head in, a look of fear on his face. "Uh, Weiss?"

Looking up at her partner, annoyed by the lack of coffee, asked, "Yes, Neptune?"

"The uh," Neptune started stammering, "Uh, okay, so, it's like this, uh-"

Weiss would usually have more patience, but the lack of coffee currently being inhaled by her was getting on her nerves, and she snapped, "What is it, Neptune?"

Neptune flinched, before quickly stammering out, "Arc broke the coffee machine."

Neptune gave another flinch as he heard the pencil in Weiss's hand snap.

"Okay, Weiss, just because you're a cop doesn't mean you can kill him, he's just a newbie, he doesn't know how to use it-"

"Trust me, Neptune," Weiss said, voice dangerously low and cold, "when I kill him, there won't be any evidence it was me."

Neptune stepped into the office now, hands raised to placate her. "Okay, Weiss, let's just calm down here, there's no reason to kill him over a coffee machine-"

"Exactly. They won't be able to pin me for a motive like that." Weiss was on her feet now, looking around the room for something to use as a weapon.

"Weiss, please, there's no need for this, we can replace the coffee machine-"

"And we'll buy the replacement from the money saved by not having to give him a paycheck." She'd settled on a sharpened pencil, now planning to stab it through his eyes.

"Okay, Weiss, how about-" Neptune quickly walked forward, taking the pencil from her, before turning back to her, "you go out to a café or something? Huh? I'll stay here and do all the reports, you can just go to a nice café and get some nice coffee for once!"

Weiss glared at him, but put down the letter opener she just picked up and nodded once. Neptune gave a sigh of relief as she walked out the door, ignoring the flaming coffee machine with the rookie frantically trying to put the fire out by smothering it in paper, with Pyrhha's face half hidden by her palm nearby. Weiss just thought about getting some nice coffee into her system to placate her growing rage.

Maybe she'd put some vodka in it.

Ruby stood in line at the small café. It wasn't her favorite café, not by a longshot, but it was relatively close to her meeting place, and she didn't want to be late. Looking around at the small interior in the café, the walls were brown, the floor green, the seats and tables all blending in well. It was a quiet place, kind of fancy, though the coffee was a bit bland.

Smiling at the barista and paying the money, Ruby took her coffee and moved out of line, standing by while considering where to sit. As she decided, she took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. They'd given it to her black when she wanted sugar. Turning around, she immediately took a step forward, and. . .

Slammed into someone.

Coffee went over both of them, splashing on Ruby's black shirt and all over the floor, and she dropped her cup (and heard another drop right after) from the sudden scalding pain on her chest as she fell down. She started muttering apologies as she tried wiping the coffee off, before she heard someone else start giving apologies, albeit with much more dignity.

Ruby stopped moving. She recognized her voice. It couldn't be? What were the odds?

Ruby looked up as a pale hand was offered to her. A woman in a blue police uniform stained with coffee, with white hair tied in an off center ponytail and a scar running through the blue eye on the left, was looking at her, waiting patiently.

Ruby's thoughts were simple:

Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap-

Without thinking, Ruby grabbed the cop's hand, and just barely resisted the instinct to flip her over. As she was pulled towards her feet, she looked closer at her face, looking for any signs that she recognized her from last night. . . and found none. Right. She never saw my whole face.

"Are you okay?" the cop asked.

Ruby gave a nervous chuckle. "I'm fine!" glad that she'd made her voice sound higher the night before. "Just. . . fine."

The cop nodded. "Alright. Just wait here, I'll get you another coffee. How do you take it?"

"Oh, no, that's fine, I need to-"

The woman shook her head. "No, I knocked you over, I insist on paying for your replacement."

Ruby just wanted to get out quickly. "I knocked you over! I turned around and wasn't paying attention." Then her mouth went on without checking with her head. "I'll pay for your coffee instead. How do you take it?"

The cop blinked, taken aback as she stammered, "Black. Wait, no, I'm paying for your coffee!" Her voice was tinged with anger now, and she spoke with authority. "How do you take your coffee?!"

Ruby instinctively took a step back and before she could stop herself said, "Cream and five sugars!" Then Ruby mentally slapped herself. "Wait, no, I'm paying for your coffee!"

The cop glared at her, before turning around and immediately slapping some money on the counter, followed a second later by Ruby, as they both shouted at the same time, "Coffee-"

"Black!"

"Cream with five sugars!"

The barista stared at them, expression blank, as they silently took the money and prepared the coffee, giving the black coffee to Ruby and the sugar-death coffee to woman in blue, before turning away and smiling at the next customer.

Ruby and the woman in blue turned towards each other, and thrust the coffees at each other. They stared at each other, rage and fury in both their eyes.

And then they burst out laughing.

"Oh, man-"

"Hahaha, oh, we're just-"

"I mean, hahaha!"

The cop laughed, wiping her eye, and said, "We're getting too worked up over this."

Ruby nodded her head, and offered the coffee. "Yeah. Here ya go!"

The cop gave her a smile, and took it with a little bow, before handing her the other coffee in her hands. "You're coffee."

Ruby took it, mimicking her bow. "Why, thank you ma'am!"

The cop gave another laugh before extending her hand. "Weiss."

Ruby took her hand, and said, "Ru-" before stopping herself, remembering that she probably shouldn't use her first name. Weiss looked at her curiously, and Ruby passed the pause off as another laugh. "Uh, Rose."

Weiss smiled again, and said, "It's nice to meet you, Rose. I'm avoiding work right now, so want to sit down while we drink?"

Ruby thought for a moment, checking the time on her phone. Fear was still coursing through her, but the fight they'd just had was fun, and the cop didn't recognize her. She still had some time, and, hey, she might be able to get some information out of her. "Uh, sure!" Ruby smiled.

They moved to a table, Ruby sitting closer to the door in case she needed a quick escape. As Weiss sat down, she took a sip of her coffee and grimaced. "Oh, sorry, did they give you the wrong coffee?"

Weiss shook her head, setting her cup down as she leaned back into the seat. "No, they got it right. I'm just picky about my coffee." She sighed, taking another sip before continuing. "I haven't been able to find a decent coffee shop in months.

Ruby frowned, and decided to make a recommendation. "How about the White Rose Café? It's good! They even renamed the street it's on after it! Only reason I'm not there is-" Because I didn't want to run into you there today "because I have a meeting near here soon." Well, it's not a lie, at least.

Weiss gave a simple nod. "I'll keep it in mind."

Ruby decided to change the subject. "So, you said you're avoiding work?"

A melodic laugh came from her. "Yeah. Neptune – that's my partner, by the way – and I were working on reports. Dull, monotonous, I was getting a headache from being in there. And then the coffee machine broke, so here I am."

Ruby scrunched her brow. "Wait, so they just let you walk out?"

"It's not that simple. Everyone in the precinct knows that I need my coffee, and they all know that I'm on a bad case anyway."

Ruby was suddenly curious. "Bad case?"

Weiss chuckled. "Yeah, that Little Red case. You know, that thief stealing from the rich?"

Ruby nodded, annoyed at the Little Red name, but ignored it in favor of another question. "How's that a bad case?" she asked, more than a little hurt that she was considered a punishment.

"Because it's not important. Look outside." Weiss gestured out the window, towards the people outside.

Ruby looked at them, not noticing anything odd. "What about outside?"

Weiss stared directly into Ruby's eyes, and the thief noticed a fire in her eyes. "The people. They're scared. It's subtle, but it's there! Everyone's ready to run at the sound of a gunshot, or a fight, or a freaking car crash, they're so scared! Just look at them!"

Ruby looked at the people outside again, and saw what Weiss meant. The people outside looked fine, if you avoided looking too closely. But if you saw them, beneath the surface, you could see it. Their shoulders were tense, they were looking everywhere at once, no one was relaxing, and everyone was plotting an escape plan.

Ruby gave a slow nod, and Weiss kept talking. "That's just my point! You never noticed before today, did you?" Ruby gave another small nod, realizing that she hadn't. "See? People are living scared, and no one notices, because they don't see anything wrong! This street is beautiful, and no one notices because all they see are ways to run away! There's over a million people in this city yet not one of them is living!" Weiss leaned forward, fire burning brightly in her eyes as she spoke. "The mob bosses have everyone afraid that they'll be next. Or that they'll be shot because of a turf war. And this is normal, now. No. I don't want this city to accept this as normal. I don't want people always looking over their shoulder. I don't want the city to be torn apart by the gangs. I want this to change. ." Weiss leaned back again, and she spoke her next lines with such conviction that Ruby knew that she'd die to see it through. "This city will be free."

Ruby couldn't say anything, but didn't have to, as she watched Weiss's shoulders slump as she gave a tired sigh. "But before that, I either have to catch Little Red or wait until the people up top think I've been punished enough. And the latter would take too long."

Ruby felt a pang of empathy for her. She wasn't going to let herself get caught, of course, but maybe there was something she could do?

Weiss interrupted her thoughts. "Sorry, I got carried away there."

The cop was giving Ruby an apologetic look, and Ruby shook her head and gave her a reassuring smile. "Oh, no, don't worry about it. It's fine." She paused, then added, "It's good to know that someone out there cares." There was bit more relief in her voice when she said it, but she pressed on. "I mean, everybody just seems out for themselves now."

Weiss shrugged. "That's how people are. They get scared and run." She turned to the window, and was suddenly quiet. "But everyone deserves a chance."

Ruby took a sip of her coffee, looking out the window along with Weiss. "Yeah." Then she made a decision. "Maybe I can help."

Weiss looked back at her, eyebrow raised. "How so?"

Ruby gave an enigmatic smile, and gave a sing-song, "You'll see~."

Weiss was about to respond when Ruby's phone rang. Fishing it out of her pocket, Ruby realized that it was warning her about her meeting. "Oh, sorry, I've got to go! Meeting's about it to happen and I can't afford to be late!" Flashing a hasty smile, she stuffed her phone away and picked up her coffee. "Bye- Oh! Uh-" Floundering a bit, the thief pulled off the sleeve from the cup, and wrote her number on it. "Here, my phone number! Call or text, you know, whenever! Oh, but I work nights, so it's probably best if you call between noon and 8 P.M. Bye!" Darting out of the coffee shop, Ruby left down the street in a hurry. As she rounded the corner and made sure that Weiss wasn't following her, Ruby let out a sigh.

The experience had been interesting, at least. And Ruby felt that if she made the effort, she could befriend the cop, and help her a little. Not to catch her, but to help out with the mob problem. It was the same goal, after all, just different methods.

Convincing Yang and Blake however. . .

Weiss looked at the number on the sleeve, memorizing it and adding it to her phone. As she leaned back, finishing her coffee and wondering if she should get another, her phone rang. Recognizing it as the tone for her partner, she answered. "Hello."

"Hey, Weiss, it's Neptune. The coffee machine's been replaced."

"Already?"

"Yeah. I maaaay have told Jaune that I had to talk you down from murdering him after he broke it."

Weiss chuckled. "I wasn't going to actually do it."

Neptune gave an unimpressed, "Uh-huh." A second later, he said, "So, whenever you're ready to come back, we've got coffee." His voice deepened, and he seductively said, "I'll make a special cup, just for you."

She snorted. "And it will taste like all the other cups: awful."

His voice filled with mock hurt. "Aww, you wound me milady!"

Rolling her eyes, she stood up. "I'm coming back to the office. Get a cup ready so I don't kill Jaune when I get there."

"Got it!"

Ruby took a deep breath as she stepped next to Yang, who muttered, "You were nearly late."

"Thing happened, tell you later."

And they walked through the door.

The warehouse was dark, but not dark enough to hide the guys with assault rifles on the cat walks above them. Ruby's eyes tracked them, noting the make of the guns, and then swept her eyes across the warehouse.

It was mostly empty, with a single light shining down towards the center of it. The pair walked forward, until they were standing on one edge of the light. Two guards came forward, patting them down for weapons, and, finding none, motioned to one of the guards on the catwalk. The one up top gave a nod, then said something into their walkie talkie.

A woman walked forward into the light and they got a good look at the most powerful mob boss in all of Vale.

Cinder Fall stood in front of them. She had amber eyes, black hair, and fair skin, with red clothing that ended right below her waist. She bespoke power in every step.

Her voice was like silk when she greeted them with a smile that conveyed every conceivable sin. "So, this is the infamous Little Red." Ruby contained a wince when she called her that. "Such a pleasure to finally meet you."

Ruby gave her sweetest smile and nodded her head towards Cinder. "And to you, Ms. Fall," she said, hoping her voice wasn't too shaky.

Cinder then turned towards Yang, smile never fading. "And Yang Xiao Long, you've done a good job of keeping yourself under the radar."

Yang gave her trade-marked grin, and chirped, "What can I say? I'm just that good!"

Cinder's smile widened a bit, and a small laugh escaped her. "Of course you are. That's what I'm counting on."

The blonde didn't miss a beat. "Got a job for us?"

"Yes." She nodded, to a person in the shadows, and Blake walked forward, face a mask as she handed an envelope to Yang. "You'll find the details in that folder."

Yang's smile faded. "Wait, if the job's in this folder, why meet with us?"

Cinder looked directly at Yang. "I wanted to personally meet you both before I hired you on for this job." Cinder turned and began walking towards the door. "Have a nice day, ladies."

Blake turned and followed Cinder out the door, and Ruby and Yang went out the opposite door.

Neither said anything until they got to their apartment, when they both finally let the tension roll off their shoulders.

Still, neither spoke, until they both got to the table and opened the folder.

Ruby read the first line on the page, and blurted, "The TREE RINGS MUSEUM?!"

A/N: So, here's the new chapter of this. Hope you enjoy it!

I enjoyed the last episodes of RWBY's second volume, though the next few days were filled with FNDM drama. So, there's that. Either way, I enjoyed them, and no one can tell me I didn't.

I'm hoping to get the next chapter of Snow Like Roses out soon. AO3 is something I probably won't be using for a while, because of how the uploading system works (Hint: Not well. At least not for me.). Of course, it's still in Beta, I'm sure it will improve.

The name of the museum is from Beady, and you can also thank him for sparking the resulting subplot that formed in my mind from it (More on that, next chapter? Maybe?). Here's Beady's tumblr: overlord-beady,tumblr,com .

Have a nice day!

Date: 11/11/14