This is… I don't know really. The story got away from me. The original concept was a mirroring companion piece to Information is Power. You'll want to read that story before this one for maximum gigglies, trust me.
Two years after Beacon…
There was a particular bounce to the young woman's steps as she walked up towards the door of the nightclub in downtown Vale – step step skip, step step skip – and she stuck the landing on the final step of the small three-step staircase with both feet with a slight bend to her knees, her arms swinging forward slightly for balance. She brushed her hand gently over the glass door as she pushed it inwards, stepping into the foyer. A guard, clad in the familiar black suit and hat with red shades sprung up from his post and stepped in her way.
"I'm sorry miss Xiao Long, Junior's busy right now. I can't let you in." Yang just smiled innocently as she fixed the guards eyes behind his shades.
"Kenneth, how many times have I broken your nose?" Kenneth took a cautious step backwards, then straightened up and hung his head in shame.
"Three times. The same nose. Three times." She reached out and patted his shoulder comradely.
"I don't really want to make it four, so could you be a good sport and alert him for me?"
"… Yes ma'am." Kenneth mumbled back as he walked over to his desk and got on the coms.
"Thanks, K. Sorry for the nose. I really am."
The heel of her boots clinked against the marble floor as the midnight-haired woman walked through the main hall of the SDC headquarters towards the empty front desk. As she approached, the hologram of a statuesque woman with a braided crown haircut flickered into existence, smiling politely.
"Greetings, I am Gwendolen. What is your business?" The woman held up her scroll displaying her ID and appointment schedule.
"Blake Belladonna. I had an appointment with Chairwoman Schnee today?" Gwendolen adjusted her hologram's face down to her screens, as if looking over today's appointments.
"Hmm… Belladonna… Ah yes, here we are." The hologram pointed off towards her left back.
"Down that corridor for 20 metres, then take the lift to the thirtieth floor. As you exit, take to the left and the Chairwoman will be receiving you at the end of the corridor." As Blake stepped into the lift she was met b a tune she felt oddly familiar, yet she couldn't quite place where she could've heard it before. Eh, most lifts seem to have similar ambience music these days, it's not unlikely I've heard this tune before somewhere…
She was roused from her thoughts by a loud chime as she reached the thirtieth floor. Stepping out, she turned to the left and walked up to the office door of her former Beacon classmate and current SDC CEO Weiss Schnee. She lifted her hand to the oak door, and knocked.
As Yang strode onto the dance floor, she could feel at least two dozen sets of eyes following her every move. The air was thick with the droning bass of the speakers and fog from the fog machines were covering her boots almost up to her ankles. She moved with purpose and determination towards the bar where Hei "Junior" Xiong was currently in a heated debate with a thin, short Faunus woman. Yang leaned against the bar desk on her right elbow as she gave a silent wave to Junior to announce her presence.
"Dammit Blondie, not you again. I'll deal with you as soon as I get it into this poor schmuck's head that I don't know any 'Blake Belladonna' nor where she is!" Yang blinked and looked at the silver-haired woman with the angrily swishing cat tail poking up over her shoulder. She laughed and motioned to the agitated Faunus.
"You're looking for Blake Belladonna?"
"Aye. I used to rin wi' 'er in th' White Fang some years ago. Th' name's Ciara."
"What do you want with Belladonna anyways?"
"Ah jist wanted tae teel 'er 'at since Adam disappeared th' white fang is in disarray. Mony ay us jumped ship."
"You're in luck then." Yang extended her hand for the shorter woman to shake.
"Yang Xiao Long. The fiancée." She held up her scroll with Blake's contact info for Ciara to copy down as she turned to the speechless Junior with a cheeky grin.
"Now that that business is taken care of, I've got a proposition for you…"
Blake pushed the door open and stepped into the spacious office. Weiss stood over by the large, wall-covering window to the right overlooking the capitol of Atlas.
"Beautiful view, isn't it?" Blake crossed her arms as she stepped up beside Weiss.
"It's not very likely you brought me up here for just the view." She turned her head towards the other woman.
"What am I really here for, Weiss?"
"Straight to the point. Good. Please have a seat." Weiss indicated a chair in front of the large office desk as she sat down behind it.
"The thing is, Blake… I want to hire you as my chief security officer."
"… Me? Why?"
"You. Because of your former White Fang ties, I suspect you know a great deal more about the security systems and alarms around here than any old specialist I could ever hope to chance upon. Of course I can't be playing favourites with you if you do accept – you'll need to call me Chairwoman Schnee or 'ma'am' during working hours, just like anybody else, and I can't be very frivolous with pay…"
"How much per month?"
"… As I was saying, I can't be very frivolous with the salary, but you'll be on the upper half of the scale. Does 110.000 lien a year sound good?"
"It does." Blake tried her best to sound as neutral as possible while she was nearly choking.
"… I'll be allowed to gather my own subordinates, I hope?"
"… Sure? I see no problem with that. Anyone you've got in mind?"
"A few, actually." Suddenly Blake's scroll started to vibrate in her coat pocket.
"I'm terribly sorry, I should've shut it off before I got here."
"It's okay, you can answer that. We're old classmates after all." Weiss smiled at Blake, who returned a grateful smile.
"Thank you." Folding open her scroll, she was greeted by an unknown number.
"Hello? Ciara? I haven't seen you in ages! Actually, I was just talking about you! Oh, nothing – I'm just on a job interview at the SDC! Crazy, I know! Can I put you on speaker?" Blake pushed a control on her scroll and put it on the office desk as Weiss leaned in.
"Hello?"
"'Ello, mah nam is Ciara Llwyd, Ah am an auld frend ay Blake's. What's th' deal?"
"Hello miss Llwyd, I am Weiss Schnee, CEO of the SDC and an old Beacon classmate of Blake's. I'm looking to hire her as my chief security offer, and she wants you to be on her staff."
"Is 'at true, Blake? Is the pay onie guid?"
"It's very good pay, Ciara. Think you can get me Cole and the others too?"
"Ah will see whit Ah can dae. Guid luck wi' yer job interview! Bye!"
Closing her scroll and putting it away, Blake looked back at Weiss just as she slid forward an employment contract and a pen. Smiling at her old friend, she accepted the pen and steered it towards the dotted line.
"I won't sell the club to you, Blondie! You couldn't even afford it, could you?" Junior shouted as he slammed his open hands down on the bar desk.
"Aww, not even for old times sake?"
"NO!" Yang laughed.
"Aw, come on! It'll save you a lot of repair costs for whenever I visit?"
"I said NO!" Yang leaned in towards the furious man.
"How about we gamble for it then? One game of billiard, winner takes all?" Junior sighed as he met Yang's gaze.
"If I win, will you please leave me alone?"
"'Kay." Yang let Junior lead the way to a secluded space with an old billiard table that didn't seem to have been used for a few years. Junior reached down underneath the table on the opposite long side and tossed a cue to Yang, who fumbled a bit in mid-air with it before finally gripping it.
"Sure it was a wise move to challenge me to billiard, Blondie?"
"Beginning to wonder that myself. You shoot with the thin end, yeah?"
"Yeah. I'll start." Junior leaned over the table and lined up for the break. His shot sent the red 3-ball spiralling into a corner pocket.
"Guess I'll be halfsies then." The match continued for some thirty minutes, and at the end Junior had only the 8-ball left while Yang had half her balls left. Let's finish this.
Yang carefully lined up her shot and thrust the cue forward at an angle, sending it spiralling into the mass of striped balls, sending all but one down the pockets and the last one on a trajectory for the 8-ball. Bouncing off, the final ball dropped into its pocket half a second before the 8-ball. Yang looked at Junior, her hand stretched out towards him and beckoning him.
"Keys to the manager's office, please."
"You tricked me!"
"Nah, I merely neglected to tell you billiard has been sort of a hobby of mine for a few years." Junior threw the keys on the table and stormed out. Yang perked up as she turned towards her new club and employees with a bright smile.
"Well, that was fun! Who's for Vacuan?"
AN: "Kenneth" is very loosely related to the Celtic word "aidhu", which means "fire". Still functions with the colour rule, bruh.
"Gwendolen" is welsh and means "White Circle" – felt appropriate to give her a braided crown.
I tend to try sticking with British English in my works as we Swedes get taught both English and American in school, but Weiss' office really is on the thirtieth floor, American style. Sorry for the inconsistency.
I was trying to give Ciara a welsh accent but it sounds more like a Scottish one to me D:
"Well, that was fun! Who's for Chinese?"
I do not own RWBY, that's RoosterTeeth and Monty Oum.