A/N: Apologies for my extremely slow and unpredictable writing pace. Also, I still haven't given up on Call of Honor, don't worry.

As a reminder, I sometimes use italics to indicate a character's thoughts.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.


Chapter 2: The First Step

"I know you just got here, but we need you. Now."

Ruby had a million questions for the man who had overseen her training for the past three years, but his expression was all business. She knew from experience that asking questions irrelevant to the situation at hand would only serve to annoy Ozpin, and an annoyed Ozpin was scary given how calm he usually was. Forcefully pushing other thoughts to the back of her overactive mind, Ruby stood at attention. "What can do we for you, sir?"

The gray-haired man on the screen nodded approvingly. "Some of you have encountered Mustelicorvi before, correct?"

Yang, Blake, and Weiss nodded. Ruby asked, "Who's Moose Tele-Curve Eye?", causing Yang to facepalm and Weiss to grind her teeth.

"A Mustelicorvus is a type of Grimm," explained Ozpin. "Unlike most Grimm, it primarily targets human property rather than humans themselves. However it will not hesitate to cut down humans in its path. Small but extremely agile, Mustelicorvi will ransack houses and stores, destroying and looting whatever it can. And right now, an entire gang of them are running loose in the streets of Vale."

Ruby grimaced. "Not good."

"No. There are so many that Team JNPR is tied down dealing with the ones in West Vale. We need you to confront and destroy the Mustelicorvi on this side of the bay. Again, I regret having to call on you when you've only just met each other, but I have no other options and the population is beginning to panic. Can I count on you girls?"

Ruby nodded enthusiastically before remembering that she had three others with her. Thankfully, they looked just as confident as she felt.

"Excellent," continued Ozpin. "The Mustelicorvi seem to be crossing the bay from the West. If you move quickly, you will only have a dozen or so to deal with." As he spoke, several locations along the Emerald Bay lit up on the map. Ozpin gave the four girls a final nod. "Good luck. I have confidence in your abilities." And with that, he disconnected, leaving the map of the city flashing on the red-tinged windows.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang glanced at each other, waiting for one of the others to do something. It really hadn't helped that Ozpin hadn't appointed a team leader yet. After a few seconds of awkwardness, they took a collective step for the stairs, heading for their rooms. Ruby realized that she still didn't know which room was hers, but at the moment respecting her teammates' privacy came second to obtaining Crescent Rose. She chose one of the doors at random and took a quick look inside. Several large and fancy-looking suitcases, none of which were hers. Next room – aha! There you are, my sweetheart! Ignoring the bags piled at the end of the clean bed, Ruby grabbed her High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe and bolted back downstairs. Within seconds, she was joined by her teammates. She took a moment to admire their weapons: Blake had some sort of short black blade, Weiss carried an elegant rapier, and Yang wore golden gauntlets. Despite the situation, Ruby couldn't help but grin as she imagined the awe and jealousy on her team's faces when they saw that Crescent Rose was not simply a bad-ass scythe… but also a gun! A customized, high-impact sniper rifle, to be precise.

Yang tapped her boots impatiently. "Alright, we ready to kick some Grimm ass, ladies?"

Weiss frowned, or rather, she frowned deeper than she had already been frowning. "Perhaps, but… please don't tell me we're supposed to leave this place the same way we came in."

Somehow, emerging from a crappy apartment building after a rickety ride on a quirky elevator-tram-thingy didn't exactly match up to the heroic debut Ruby had imagined for herself. "Did Ozpin mention any other exists?" she asked.

Yang pointed upward. "How about we just jump off the roof?"

Ruby sighed. "Sis, that's a horrible…" A pause. "… actually, that's a great idea! We're Huntresses, we can do that, right?"

Blake raised an eyebrow but nodded. "Sure."

Weiss looked reluctant. "Well… if we must."

On that enthusiastic note, the four girls tore back up the stairs, through the hallway, and up to the roof. Yang jumped first, howling "Cowabunga!" as she sailed over the rails. For a heart-stopping moment, Ruby thought she might have lost her sister after their brief reunion, but with a bang the blonde rocketed back into view, using some sort of explosive force from her gauntlets to propel herself through the air. Oh, wow, thought Ruby. Yang's weapon is also also a gun.

Weiss went next, jumping over the railing with surprising height for such a dainty figure. Ruby gasped as she watched her ill-tempered teammate leap after Yang, using what looked like… magic snowflakes. She honestly couldn't find a better phrase to describe them.

Blake took a quick survey of the view below before backing up for a full-speed jump. She didn't even seem to need any sort of explosive power or magic – she landed on the nearest skyscraper with ease and continued. Ooooooooh, a ninja. Cool.

Watching her new teammates make their way towards Emerald Bay, Ruby took a good ten seconds before she realized that she should be following them. "W-wait! Wait for me!"

She launched herself off the building, adding what she hoped was a ferocious battle cry for good luck. Like Yang, Ruby used the explosive power of her weapon's barrel discharge to propel herself through the air, parkouring off buildings in her path. The familiar feeling of wind rushing through her hair and around her lithe body was especially liberating after a day of emotional ups and downs. The young girl cheered to herself as she soared through the city, ignoring the nervous muscle twinges in her abdomen as she approached her debut as a Huntress. This would be her first time fighting alongside her new team members. People who she would be working and living with, who would be trusting her with their lives, for the foreseeable future, perhaps for the rest of her life…

Ruby gulped.

An incoming skyscraper precluded any chance of a mid-air anxiety attack. Realizing she had spaced out, Ruby fired several shots towards the ground in a desperate effort to gain altitude. With the building ahead rapidly nearing, she angled her body horizontally, grunting in exertion. She just barely cleared the roof, coming within inches of tapping the steel frame with the toes of her boots at close to thirty miles per hour. Her momentum gave no opportunity for a deep breath of relief; now Ruby found herself sprinting wildly across the roof, trying not to trip or lose her balance. The roof ended not a moment later, meaning Ruby was essentially somersaulting through the air in a free-falling trajectory. Instincts honed into her body and mind by several years of intense training took over. With the world cycling dizzily around her, Ruby gripped Crescent Rose and waited, firing only when the sniper-scythe's barrel pointed towards the ground. As she gained altitude again, her spin slowed, allowing her to spot a nearby building with a wide, flat roof. Ruby then spun her weapon so that the barrel faced behind her and fired several more shots, propelling her towards the targeted roof. Having successfully manipulated her trajectory, she spun Crescent Rose again, this time firing downward to slow herself down. Finally she slammed boots-first onto the roof and rolled forward until finally coming to a stop.

Ruby allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. Definitely not her smoothest landing, but with her training and her Aura, she had come out with just a few scratches. And a slightly dented roof, thought Ruby with a bit of a cringe as she glanced back at her landing point. She had to be more careful – not simply for her own sake, but also for the sake of the civilians that were her responsibility to protect. Thank goodness I'm using blank cartridges instead of live ammo, she thought with a smirk. A smirk that quickly changed to a gasp of horror. Wait! I did remember to load the blanks, didn't I? Ohgodohgodohgod…

After assuring herself that she had indeed loaded the right type of ammo, Ruby came to the much-belated realization that she had lost sight of her teammates. The building she had landed on wasn't as tall as the others surrounding it, meaning she had no view of the city ahead. And now that she thought about it, which direction was "ahead"? Have I really gotten myself lost? Again?! And at a time like this?!

Self-doubt rose within the poor girl like a flooding river, but before she could be overwhelmed by a panic attack, Ruby closed her eyes and forced air slowly and steadily into her lungs. She hadn't passed years of grueling physical and mental training, hadn't survived alone in the woods for weeks at a time, to fall victim to her darker side so easily. All she needed to do was get to a higher vantage point and search for the bay. Even if she somehow failed to see the river or recognize where she was, she could simply use the sun's position in the sky to reestablish her sense of direction and head west to the bay. Ruby smiled to herself as she twirled Crescent Rose in preparation for a quick ascent.

Unbeknownst to Ruby, the building's roof access door had opened, emitting a deliriously happy young boy. "SSSSSANTAAA! Oh my GOD I HEARD you LANDING on the CEILING and I RUNNED up here so- so FAST and I know you're really EARLY this year but-"

"I. AM. NOT. LOST! AHHHHHH!" And with another battle cry, Ruby Rose charged off the roof, firing several shots from her scythe-sniper rifle to boost herself up to the next building, and from there, sailing off into the afternoon sun… leaving behind a very confused and emotionally conflicted kindergartner.


Not too long after that, Ruby landed in the middle of a large street, having spotted her team engaged in battle. Roughly a dozen shadowy shapes were darting madly about the street. The Grimm – Mustelicorvi, Ozpin had called them – were roughly the size of a large wolverine. They had four limbs and seemed adept at both two- and four-legged travel. Their hooked, glinting claws and bulky stomachs belied their ape-like dexterity and alarming speed. One bounded out of a shop, clutching something shiny in its muzzle. As Ruby watched, it leapt up, grabbed a lightpole, swung out of the way of Yang's gauntleted fists, and swiped a free claw at her side as she sailed past. Yang screamed in frustration, flipping around in mid-air and digging her heels into the pavement. "These things are the worst!" her older sister cried as she charged after her prey, which had already scampered across the street in search of more loot.

Deciding she had seen enough, Ruby checked her surroundings. No civilians in sight. With practiced ease, she detached the magazine filled with blank rounds and replaced it with one carrying special less-than-lethal rounds designed for urban combat. Out of the corner of her eye she caught one of the Grimm sneaking into a car whose windows had been broken. Activating her semblance, Ruby dashed into action, swinging her scythe – and just barely missed the Mustelicorvus. The beast squeaked in surprise, peering out the broken car window at its unexpected predator. Ruby waited for the Grimm to make the first move, but it just sat there, chattering at her agitatedly. She made a move to open the door, but the Mustelicorvus reached out and swiped a razor-sharp claw at her fingers. Jumping back, Ruby took aim with her rifle, prompting the Mustelicorvus to take cover below the window. She could fire through the door, but she wasn't sure her less-than-lethal rounds would penetrate. Even if they could, she didn't feel like trashing the already-damaged car to kill one Grimm. Again, Ruby waited, and after a moment, the beast's chattering resumed. This time Ruby swore it was making a chuckling noise. Grimm can't chuckle, can they? Shaking her head, she circled the car, thinking of ways to get at the furry little devil without causing too much property damage. Unfortunately, she was coming up dry.

Hearing another shout of frustration from Yang somewhere down the street, Ruby tried going for a different door. No hooked claw stopped her, and she swung the door open, ready to shoot the Grimm and be done with it. But it was nowhere to be found. Ruby figured it was hiding under a seat, waiting for another opportunity to swipe at her. She gripped the blade end of her scythe, preparing to stab downwards, and leaned cautiously into the vehicle. A metallic pop sound startled her. Looking out the back windshield, Ruby saw the car's trunk pop open, ejecting a gleefully-squealing Mustelicorvus with a variety of valuables in its mouth and claws. "H-how did you –? Why you little –!"

But it was already well on its way to its next destination.

Snarling, Ruby slammed the car door and looked around for another Mustelicorvus to confront. It seemed that the fight had moved on to another street; she spotted Blake dueling with two Grimm at an intersection further down, she could hear Yang from somewhere around the block, and Weiss… Well, she had no idea where Weiss was.

Ruby rushed forward to help Blake. This was not good. The Mustelicorvi were causing substantial damage, and while she hadn't seen any signs of wounded civilians, she couldn't be sure there weren't any casualties. To make things worse, the Mustelicorvi were relatively small for Grimm and couldn't be tracked as easily as, say, an Ursa or a Beowolf. They could be all over the city by now! thought Ruby as she approached her black-haired teammate.

Despite the situation, Ruby couldn't help but admire Blake's fighting style. She swung her katana around with one hand, holding her sheath in the other and using it to block jabs from the Grimm. The hardened look on her face never wavered even as she backed away under the onslaught of the two beasts. Ruby swung out with her scythe, separating the Mustelicorvi and giving Blake a brief reprieve. If her new teammate felt thankful for her help, she didn't show it; without a word the girls took on a Grimm each. Ruby had to admit, the Mustelicorvi were a resilient foe. The specimen before her dodged each of her swings and even occasionally managed a swing of its own. But as the battle wore on, it became clear that the agile Grimm was badly outmatched by the trained Huntress. The Grimm seemed to realize this, jumping farther and farther out of reach until Ruby was practically chasing it down the street. Just as Ruby was considering using her semblance to catch up, the Mustelicorvus leapt onto a brick wall and climbed it with ease. Ruby tried pre-empting the beast by reaching the roof first, using a mailbox as a jumping platform. She landed on the building as the Mustelicorvus was a foot or two away from the roof and swung her scythe savagely, but the beast simply threw itself to the ground and scampered back the way they had come, chattering away in what was surely a mocking tone.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby took aim with her rifle, but her target was already nearing Blake and the other Mustelicorvus. Less-than-lethal ammunition or not, Ruby did not like the idea of shooting one of her new teammates on their first day together. She sighed before launching off the roof, hitting the pavement and activating her semblance to close to the distance between her and her prey. As she came out of the rose petal-laced twirl, Ruby noted with alarm that Blake had her back turned to the incoming Grimm. Engrossed in her own fight, the silent katana user didn't seem to notice as the Mustelicorvus behind her raised a vicious claw, preparing to swipe at her unprotected back. "Blake!" she called desperately.

The other girl glanced around as she parried a strike from the Grimm she was battling. Seeing the danger, Blake then did something that would have left Ruby gaping in full fangirl mode if they hadn't been in the middle of a fight. She lifted one leg, leaned forward, and struck out behind her with her high heeled boot. The Mustelicorvus gurgled in surprise as the heel caught it in its upper chest area and sent it shooting backward. Further gurgling was cut short by Crescent Rose's blade.

The remaining Mustelicorvus suddenly found itself outnumbered. Like its fellow had done earlier, it now put less effort into attacking the Huntresses and more effort into evading. With Blake's katana work still a whirling blur to her, Ruby decided to give her some space, attacking the Grimm from its side while it struggled to fight off Blake from the front. The Mustelivorcus almost immediately called it quits, turning tail and sprinting down the street, desperate to escape the Huntresses. It didn't get very far. Once it was out of range of her scythe, Ruby aimed down Crescent Rose's barrel, firing a single shot. The Grimm tumbled down, howling in fury. It pushed itself up, but before it could stagger away, Blake folded her katana's blade back and threw the device at the downed enemy. Her blade struck true. As the beast evaporated into smoke, Blake reeled her weapon back via a black ribbon connecting her right arm and the hilt.

The black-haired girl turned to Ruby, an eyebrow slightly raised, as if to ask, Shall we move on?

But there was something Ruby had to do first.

"… OH MY GOD ohmygodohmygodohmygod that was so amazing," gushed the girl in red. "First you were like hiiiiya –" She waved her arms around in random directions as fast as she could. " – swish-swish-swish-swish sching and then you were like 'you ain't goin' nowhere' and you threw the katana – I love katanas by the way, you have to teach me how to use one – and, and, the katana hit the Muh-Stupid-Corvette and it went *boosh* gone and then you pulled it back like a frisbee, well not like a frisbee more like a boomerang, except – you know what I mean – and it was so friggin' cool and you're so friggin' cool and –"

"Ruby?"

The younger girl paused. " – Yes?"

"We should probably go help the others."

"… R-right! Of course! Heh, heh. Uh… onward!"

Onward they went.


By the time Ruby and Blake found Yang, the blonde's temper had begun to reach "Yang, don't say that in public!" levels. She stood in the middle of the street, firing rounds from her gauntlets at anything that moved. Ruby could clearly see a flame-like Aura surrounding her sister, with her golden hair being especially bright. The pavement below her looked like it had been charred slightly – and charring pavement was not an easy thing to do.

"I don't see Weiss," commented Blake.

"Neither do I," replied Ruby, brows furrowed. She thought hard for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. We should try ganging up on one Grimm at a time. I'll go find Weiss. You stay here and… um… try to calm my sister down."

While Blake approached Yang, Ruby swung her scythe over a hanging stoplight pole and vaulted up to the nearest rooftop. From there, she scanned the streets, looking for signs of her frosty-mannered teammate. After a minute she spotted a projection of light in the shape of a snowflake appear briefly several streets away. What is she doing so far away from the rest of us? thought Ruby with annoyance – and perhaps a bit of worry – as she began leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Reaching the street, she prepared to call out to Weiss and ask her to regroup with the others. But the words caught in her throat as she witnessed, for the first time, Weiss Schnee in action.

To call her "elegant" would be an understatement. The air seemed to curve around her body as she skipped and twirled, parrying strikes from the Grimm with her rapier. Weiss seemed to be able to conjure ice with either her semblance or her sword; she used the ice in various ways, freezing a Grimm in mid-air here and pelting another with icicles there. The blade traced a never-ending cycle of patterns. Her ivory ponytail fluttered lightly, softly, as if she were sitting on a bench in a park on a breezy day instead of battling multiple Grimm. Her blue eyes regarded her prey with cold dismissal, like a glacier would regard a minuscule iceberg.

A Yang-related explosion knocked Ruby out of her reverie. With a shot from Crescent Rose, she launched herself in Weiss' direction, shouting out to her as she went. "Weiss!"

The girl with ivory hair turned, narrowed her eyes, and then resumed her battle with one of the Mustelicorvi.

Landing next to her, Ruby swung her scythe at an approaching Grimm. "Weiss! We've gotta regroup! Come back with me and we'll all fight them together!"

Weiss grunted as she slashed at her foe. "No thanks."

"What?! Weiss, are you kidding me? I mean, I know you're still mad at me, but –"

"I don't need you telling me what to do, moron!"

Ruby faltered. She turned so that she and Weiss were fighting back to back. "L-look, I'm sorry, but you need to listen to me! We can't handle them on our own. They're too fast and there's too many of them!"

"Speak for yourself. These mangey things shouldn't even qualify as Grimm. I," she said as she froze a Mustelicorvus' legs in ice, "have a reputation to uphold. It matters to me how I'm seen performing in our first mission. But if you're fine with disappointing whatever rat's nest of a family you crawled out of…"

There were more words after this but Ruby didn't hear them. She felt as if Weiss had punched her in the gut. Her attack rhythm was thrown completely off as the young girl reacted to her teammate's off-handed insult. The Mustelicorvi took the opening – one rammed into her side, causing her to drop Crescent Rose. A second Grimm rushed at the downed Ruby and slashed at her head. Training instincts kicked in, and with a burst of energy that Ruby didn't really feel, she rolled to the side. The beast's wicked claws grazed her cheek, penetrating her suddenly weak Aura. Ruby cried out in pain, eliciting a third and fourth Mustelicorvus to approach, sensing a weakened target. But the pain snapped Ruby out of her daze. She rose to her feet and made for her fallen weapon. Two Grimm moved to stop her, but she kicked one and somersaulted over the other. Grabbing Crescent Rose, she spun around in a flash of rose petals. One of the Mustelicorvi fell to the ground, neatly sliced in half, causing the others to back off slightly with yelps of alarm.

Weiss, meanwhile, was not even looking in Ruby's direction. She had stabbed the frozen Grimm and was focusing on freezing another when she heard a gravelly voice from behind her.

"Weiss Schnee."

Turning her head, the pale girl was surprised to find that the voice belonged to her clumsier teammate. Ruby wasn't scowling or even frowning, but her eyes, brimming with unshed tears, burned with a fire darker and somehow more frightening than her sister's. "This isn't about you or me," the girl in red continued slowly. "This isn't about how we appear to the world or how we live up to our family's expectations." Her voice hitched slightly on the word "family". "This is about doing our job, which is protecting the people. Our people. So I don't care if I have to badger you into cooperating, I don't care if I have to trip and slam into your gorgeous fucking face once a day for the next five years. You will come with me and you will work with your team." And she punctuated her last words with a backwards slash to an overconfident Grimm, never once breaking eye contact with her teammate.

Weiss was slack-jawed, annoyance forgotten, completely at a loss for words. The two girls stood there for a moment as the nearby monsters growled and the sounds of battle raged from other parts of the city. Finally, the white-haired girl closed her mouth… opened it… closed it again… and nodded hesitantly.

That was enough for Ruby. Wiping away the blood on her cheek absentmindedly, she began running for the nearest intersection. Weiss followed, as did a few of the Grimm, but some others seemed more interested in getting back to looting the city. Ruby glanced behind her as she ran. "How do we get them all to follow us?"

Weiss also glanced behind, brow furrowed, before sighing and fishing into a small pouch on her waist. Emerging with a jeweled necklace, she waved it around, quickly attracting the attention of all Mustelicorvi in the area. "This ought to do the trick," she remarked in a rather resigned tone.

As the two girls sprinted towards their other two teammates, followed closely by several excited Grimm, Ruby posed another question. "That necklace looks awfully nice. Won't you be, like, wicked upset if you lose it?"

"This diamond-encrusted necklace was given to me by my father."

"…"

"… So the answer to your question is 'no'."


Yang brought her fist down on the monster, only for it to scamper safely away by a hair's length. "OH." Smash. "MY." Smash. "FUCKING." Smash. "GOD." Double-smash. "Are you kidding me right now?!"

Blake swung by in pursuit of two cabbage-toting Grimm. "You've got to calm down," she called. "Your anger is hurting your accuracy and coordination."

"I know, but…" Yang closed her eyes and growled. "These things are literally the Devil in my uncle's friggin' underwear!" Opening her eyes and firing a pair of shots at some Mustelicorvi grouped around an abandoned shopping bag, she continued: "Seriously! I've only managed to kill one of them so far, and I'm me, and that's just not –"

At that moment, Blake leapt up to avoid a slash attack from a Mustelicorvus. The beast jumped with her, readying its claws for another strike. Unfazed, the black-haired girl back-flipped, slamming her boots up under the Grimm's chin. She landed and back-flipped several more times until she was several cars' lengths from the already-dissolving Grimm.

"… cool," finished Yang quietly. Blake's acrobatics had distracted her from her frustration. In more than one way, added Yang's cheeky subconscious.

Two Mustelicorvi had stopped their looting to take the place of their fallen companion. Blake spared a glance at the blonde. "I know we haven't trained together before, but…"

Yang smirked, guessing her teammate's unvoiced question. "Two on two? Yeah, I'm up for that."


Coco was torn. On the one hand, she could stand near the door with a baseball bat, warding off any of those greedy monsters that might dare to even think of damaging her book café. On the other hand, such a tactic might also scare off potential customers, and as a small business owner in downtown Vale, Coco could never afford to forget about the customers. Liquid Literature was open for business, thieving weasel-monkeys or not.

So she ended up settling for a compromise: standing near the door with a cup of coffee and a neutral expression.

Velvet paced back and forth behind the counter. "Coco, are you sure standing up front is a good idea? What if those things come down this street?"

Coco took a menacing sip of coffee. "Then they'll regret it."

"But Coco! We're not Huntresses. Leave that to the new girls." She spared another look at an old portable TV below the counter. The Vale News Network's aerial camera was currently focused on two young women slugging it out with a pair of Grimm. "Speaking of which… they look like they're doing a pretty fine job. Just look at them go!"

The shop's owner glanced back at Velvet, tempted to have a look at the TV but reluctant to leave her spot.

Velvet whistled softly. "Wow, I wish I was that flexible."

That got Coco to move. She walked back behind the counter, joining the other girl. "Damn. They really are pretty close, aren't they? That's just a few blocks from here. I think that's Port's they just passed."

Velvet frowned. "Aren't there supposed to be four, though? Where are the other two?"

As she spoke, the blond huntress drove a Grimm into the ground with a particularly strong-looking pound. The bookshop shook with the vibrations from the impact. Fox caught a book as it fell from the shelf he was tending. Coco bit her lip worriedly and began to pace around again, leaving Velvet to continue watching. Three more Grimm appeared and made to swarm the blonde while her black-haired partner was busy, but one was shot out of the air by a bullet of some kind and another found itself frozen in ice up to its chin. The news camera zoomed out and refocused on two fast-approaching girls, one in red and one in white.

"There are the other two," remarked Velvet, though Coco was too busy peering out on the street to hear. "Wonder where they were…" Her eyes narrowed. "… Hey… That girl looks like… no, it can't be…"

Coco grunted distractedly from her post at the door. "What?"

Velvet shook her head, smiling to herself. "Nothing. For a second I thought one of the Huntresses looked like –"

Another miniature earthquake rocked the shop, sending several books tumbling from their displays.

Coco swore under her breath. "Velvet, tell me I'm being paranoid."

"Uh… Coco…"

"Yes?"

Velvet peered at the TV screen. With the four huntresses now reunited, the Grimm seemed to have lost their nerve and were making a run for it. "… I think they're coming this way."

Coco stared at her before swearing again, this time not under her breath. "Oh, well, naturally, of course they are. Staff!" She raised her voice so that Fox and Yatsuhashi could hear her. "Prepare to defend our shop!"

"I've got a knife!" called Yatsuhashi from the kitchen.

"Remember the customers, Yatsu!"

"… I've got a rolling pin!"

"Better."

As the four workers gathered at the front of the shop, the sounds of approaching battle became louder and louder… until a pack of five or six Mustelicorvi shot past, closely followed by a girl with hair that appeared to be on fire, a ninja girl with a bow on her head, a third girl who looked too pale to be healthy, and…

"… Ruby?" Velvet mouthed disbelievingly. The girl in question was wielding a scythe taller than her own height with the ease of a parasol. This had to be some sort of coincidence.

"Yang!" the red-cloaked girl called as she and her teammates sprinted by, "I don't know if you know this, but your hair is kinda burning!"

That squeaky voice eliminated all doubt. The enthusiastic Huntress was undoubtedly the same shy young girl who had wandered into Liquid Literature earlier that day.

The Grimm and their pursuers disappeared down another street, leaving the staff of the book café to stare after them in amazement.


After two minutes of chasing, Ruby began to reconsider her team's strategy. The distance between the Grimm and the huntresses wasn't changing much. Each time the girls gained on the Mustelivorci, the monsters seemed to gain an extra burst of energy. Neither Ruby's nor Yang's weapons were well suited to firing while sprinting, and stopping to aim and fire meant even more catching up to do. Blake had achieved some success with her weapon (which Ruby had been delighted to discover was also also also a gun), but the Mustelicorvi were smart enough to zigzag and duck as they ran, making collateral damage more likely than not.

Yang apparently had the same worry. "As much as I hate to admit it, we can't keep this up much longer – whoa!" As they rounded a corner the girls were alarmed to see people peeking out from shops and windows and even venturing out onto the sidewalks, cheering on the Huntresses.

Weiss growled. "They think because the Grimm are on the run it's safe to come out and watch the show?! Vale is full of idiots!"

Blake slowed to aim and shoot down a Grimm that had drawn too close to a gaggle of civilians. "This is too dangerous! We need to end this, now!"

Ruby gritted her teeth and prepared to activate her semblance once again, hoping to get ahead of the Grimm and stop the mad chase from proceeding further. At that moment, something glinting and sparkling caught her eye. In the gaps between the buildings to her right, she could catch brief glimpses of Emerald Bay, the afternoon sun reflecting off the softly rippling waters.

I remember this part of town… thought Ruby. It wasn't long before an idea occurred to her.

"Hey!" Ruby got the attention of her teammates. "You guys take this next right – looks like it leads to the bay! I'll go ahead and nudge 'em that way!" Without waiting for a reply, Ruby shot forward in a rose-colored tornado, streaking right past the Grimm and stopping at an intersection ahead of them. Acting quickly, Ruby swung her scythe in a whirling circle and positioned herself so that she could intercept Grimm attempting to go either left or continue straight. The panting Mustelicorvi swerved right, leaving the street for a small parking lot hemmed in on two sides by tall buildings. As Ruby had hoped, the Grimm continued through the parking lot and into what she recalled to be a loading dock for the city's barges. There was nothing but water before them now. Before the monsters could decide what to do, Weiss, Blake, and Yang emerged from behind one of the buildings. The Grimm were caught completely by surprise. Ruby's teammates quickly dispatched two Mustelicorvi; Ruby sniped another. By the time the four huntresses had once again reunited, only three Grimm remained. One launched itself at Yang, who simply sidestepped and brought her right gauntlet slamming against the beast, sending it flying into Ruby's blade. The second Grimm tried to make it back to the streets, but it founds its legs suddenly encased in ice. A katana twirling through the air buried itself in the poor monster's back.

Panting, the Huntresses spun around. "Where's the third?" asked Yang.

"There!" Weiss pointed towards the bay. The last surviving Mustelicorvus was frantically jumping from barge to buoy, from buoy to floating debris, from debris to barge, using the objects as stepping stones to cross the water. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all tried to stop the Grimm using their various long-range attack capabilities, but it was darting about too quickly and was already halfway across the bay.

Ruby voiced a frustrated growl of her own before running up to the dock and jumping after the Grimm. Yang tried to dissuade her. "Ruby, wait –"

"No can do, sis!" Ruby called as she judged her next jump. "We can't let even one get away!"

"But Ruby, I think I can see –"

"Don't worry, I can do this!" She jumped again, this time using Crescent Rose's firepower to boost herself. The Mustelicorvus had almost made it to the opposite shore, but Ruby was right behind it. She jumped a final time, letting out a last war cry and swinging her scythe as far as she could reach. "HYAAAA–!"

The tip of her scythe shaved off the end of the Grimm's tail, no more.

"GOSH DARNI–!" The cold Emerald Bay waters interrupted Ruby's attempt at a curse. Surfacing, she watched helplessly as the cackling Mustelicorvus landed on the shore and dashed away towards freedom…

Only to meet its end via a giant hammer.

"HOME RUN! Yipeeeeee!"

Ruby treaded water, dumbfounded, watching the hammer-wielding girl celebrate. Her bright red hair bobbed up and down with every joyous bounce. From behind her approached another girl and two boys.

A black-haired young man in a stylized green tailcoat sighed. "Nora…"

The other young man, a blonde wearing a chestplate over his hoodie, was about to add something before he spotted Ruby bobbing in the water. "Whoa! You okay there? Need help?"

Ruby began to blush in embarrassment at her state, but then something in her mind clicked. "Y-y-y-you're team JNPR!" she exclaimed, eyes sparkling in excitement and admiration.

The other girl, who had dark red hair and stylish bronze armor, waved cheerfully. "Hello! And you must be Ruby Rose!"

Ruby gasped. "You… you know my name?! Eeeeeeeeeheeheeheeheehee…" Giggling to herself deliriously, she slipped beneath the surface, having completely forgotten how to swim.


The sun disappeared behind Vale's skyline, leaving behind a fiery glow. One final ray of sunlight reflected off of Ruby's scythe as it sat propped up against the wall. The glint caught Ruby's eye, drawing her attention to the increasingly dark sky. It was hard to believe this was only her first day on the job. It was very hard to believe that just a few hours ago she had been worrying herself into a pulp about starting off on the wrong foot. And here she was now, eating and chatting amiably with her team and their counterparts from the Western half of the city.

After the rest of Ruby's team had met Team JNPR, they had contacted Ozpin to report and make sure there weren't any more Grimm. The head of the Beacon program thanked the teams for their work and congratulated Ruby's team in particular for succeeding in their first mission without prior team training. Other than a few cuts and bruises due to broken glass, no civilian casualties had been reported. After an hour helping the police organize damage repair and manage traffic, Team JNPR had invited their new counterparts for pizza in the West Tower. The East and West Towers, both built for hunters and huntresses of the Beacon program, were very similar, the main difference being that the older West Tower had a square top instead of the circular one Ruby would be living in. Team JNPR had only been the resident heroes in West Vale for a year and a half, but already their tower seemed very homely, judging by the décor and atmosphere, as well as the hastily shoved-aside messes.

Jaune Arc, leader of JNPR, blushed as he sipped his ginger ale. "Oh, now, Pyrrha, you know that's not true."

"It certainly is!" Pyrrha Nikos had a wide grin on her face. "You're a very talented dancer, Jaune. Didn't you win that school dance competition way back then? You said you were in… what grade?..."

"Preschool," supplied Nora Valkyrie, who had a wider grin on her face.

Jaune's blush deepened, even as he chuckled along with everyone else. "Oh, that little thing…" He waved his wand in mock modesty. "That was nothing, really…"

Yang smirked devilishly. "I'd like to see video proof of that."

Pyrrha scoffed as she passed Ruby the bowl of garlic bread. "Oh, believe me sister, so would I."

While Jaune pouted, Ruby finished off her fourth slice of pizza, trying not to giggle lest she end up snorting tomato sauce. She wiped her hands on her already very messy napkin before gesturing to her sister. "Didn't you win some sort of dance-talent-thingy when you were little too, Yang?"

The blonde furrowed her brow. "I don't think so… at least, not from what I can remember… maybe you're thinking of that time at Club Junior when I was seven?"

Blake choked on her drink, prompting Yang to give her a few hearty slaps on the back. Coughing, the black-haired girl raised an eyebrow at her teammate. "Y-you went to Club Junior when you were seven?"

As Team JNPR turned incredulous looks on her, Yang smirked and tilted her chin up, giving her hair a slight toss. "Sure did. I was pretty mature for a kid, you know."

Ruby leaned forward to give a stage whisper: "She snuck in during a trip to the mall. They found her and kicked her out after she started dancing. Dad grounded her for a month."

That earned her a bop on the head from her older sister. Yang rolled her eyes as Ruby whined and nursed a non-existent bump. "I may not have been there very long, but trust me, those guys won't be forgetting my sweet-ass seven-year-old booty-shakin' any time soon."

"Ew, Yang, gross! I don't remember you making so many weird intendos –"

" – innuendos, Ruby –"

" – innuendos back when we were kids."

"… That's because we were kids, Rubles."

"Don't call me that! And I know that. So how do you explain sneaking into Club Junior at age seven?"

Weiss cleared her throat, earning the surprised attention of the rest of the table. "'Club Junior'? Is that some sort of taboo kiddie park, or am I missing something here?"

Lie Ren answered, another surprise for the table. "Club Junior is the name of a dance club on the south side of town."

Pyrrha winced. "A rather, shall we say, disreputable dance club. Which reminds me." She glanced at Jaune. "We should brief you all on the dangerous parts of town."

Jaune nodded, setting down his empty glass. "Right. Sounds like you guys know about some of them already, but it wouldn't hurt."

After being briefed, the four new Huntresses thanked their hosts and returned to their own tower. It was ten o'clock by the time they arrived, and Ozpin had scheduled drills for them in the morning, so the team hastily called it a night. As she bustled about settling into her room, though, Ruby found herself still full of energy. There was so much to look forward too! For one thing, Ozpin had not appointed a team leader, or given the team its official name – this would happen tomorrow, he had promised. More importantly, though, tomorrow's drills would be an excellent opportunity to show her teammates the full range of abilities she had spent years developing. Ruby also looked forward to watching her teammates fight. The heat of their first battle hadn't exactly given her the chance to stand back and appreciate the others' fighting styles. Though she had spent a minute watching Weiss…

Ruby shook her head vigorously to clear her mind before leaving her room and seeking her sister. Maybe talking to Yang before bed would help her get some sleep.

The older blonde girl was lounging on her bed in her pajamas. She grinned cheerily at her younger sister. " 'sup, Rubes?"

Ruby eyed the baggage lying on the floor. "You gonna unpack?"

"Meh. I'll do it in the morning."

The younger girl shrugged and made her way to the bed. "How do you think today went?"

Yang smirked confidently. "Pretty good. I lost my cool a bit at first, but we ended up doing fine. And I really like Team JNPR."

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, they're pretty nice." She paused. "What about Blake and Weiss?"

"Well… Blake's pretty damn talented. Pretty introverted, though. And Weiss…" Yang's face turned sour. "She's a bitch."

"Yang!" Ruby glared at her sister.

"Okay, okay… she's talented too… But still a bitch." Ruby's glare continued. Yang raised an eyebrow. "What? She is. Don't you remember how she was talking about you before we got the call from Ozpin?... Shit!" Yang swore. "I forgot to yell at Ozpin for not telling me about you! Or you about me. Ruby, remind me to chew that guy out tomorrow."

"Will do…" replied Ruby distractedly, staring at the ground.

Yang sat up. "Ruby, what's wrong?"

The younger girl sighed. "Nothing, it's just… did you notice how quiet Weiss was at dinner?"

"Huh?… I guess she was pretty quiet, I didn't really notice. Shouldn't you be more concerned about Blake though? She barely talks at all."

"Yeah, but… I don't know. She seemed more relaxed." Ruby shook her head. "Maybe I'm just overthinking things."

She received a pat on the back. "This is still only our first day, Ruby. We don't even know these girls that well yet." Her care-free smile returned. "There'll be plenty of time to worry later."

Ruby smiled back, suddenly feeling exhausted. Leaning in, she wrapped her sister in a hug. "… I really did miss you."

"D'awwwww…" Despite her teasing squeal, Yang couldn't suppress a few sniffles as she returned the hug. "Missed you too, sweetie."

There was still so much to be said between the two long-lost siblings. But that could wait a night more. After all, their time as heroes was only just beginning.


As the city laid itself down to sleep, a fiery-eyed figure gazed balefully over the skyline.

"I will claim what is ours."


A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Feedback much appreciated!