A/N: Bet you didn't expect an update so soon? I was gonna wait to give you guys the next chapter, but I already had it done and I was too excited about finally putting my work. Enjoy the bees.

Oh, and since I forgot to mention this last time, I do not own RWBY.

XxXxX

Chapter One

Amber eyes flitted open as morning rays peaked through the window. Blake groaned when she read the clock and knew that she would not be able to fall back asleep again. It was 6:45 and she had only just fallen asleep around four. It reminded her of her hero days; those long days of being a civilian, and then late nights as Nightshade, only to wake up early again by habit. It was one of the many things that she did not miss about having an alter ego.

After laying there for another ten minutes, she begrudgingly lifted herself out of bed and got ready for the day. She didn't have work today, but she wanted to go into to talk to her manager about possibly switching around shifts. He always put her on with Yang and while she wanted to enjoy the time with the blonde, she couldn't allow herself to get close.

After changing into her street clothes, Blake left the bedroom to perform her daily morning rituals. She brushed her teeth, ate a bowl of cereal, and read the book she was currently invested in until eight when the Vale-mart opened. Closing her book, she carefully placed it in a back-pack and unceremoniously flung it on one shoulder. Her boots clunked as she dragged herself out the door.

"Good morning, Miss. Belladonna!" She heard a bright cheerful voice ring out. She turned to see her neighbor, Mr- oh sorry, Dr. Oobleck who was fiddling with his set of keys which must have had about fifteen keys on them. It made sense, Dr. Oobleck was a well known scientist in Vale (She had actually worked with him on a few cases as Nightshade, not that he would have known it was her). All the keys were for various labs. The ironic part was that if you asked him to find a specific key for a lab that he occasionally did work for that was across town, he could pull it out in the blink of an eye. He however, could never find his apartment keys to save his life and today appeared to be no exception.

"Good morning, Dr. Oobleck," Blake returned with a small smile. "You know, maybe you should color code those keys." She teased him.

"Ah, nonsense! A scientist must have a keen eye, this is merely practice for me," Oobleck said, finally finding the right key and giving a small 'aha!' upon finding it. "Going to work are we?"

"Yes, but only to see about a schedule change. I might stop by the library too, would you like me to pick any books up for you?" The raven-haired girl offered.

"No no, that is quite alright. But do be careful, Miss. Belladonna," Oobleck advised, his tone growing more serious. "I'm sure you're aware of what happened last night." Blake's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"No, what happened?"

"Oh dear. A young girl was taken around 12:30 last night. There were even witnesses, but no one could stop the man." The green-haired man shook his head somberly "Dreadful, simply dreadful."

"Oh... That's awful. I'll be sure to be careful. I'll see you later then," Blake said hurriedly rushing down the stairs.

If she had only stuck around thirty minutes more last night, she might have- No... no that life was behind her. She was sure that the police or other heroes could find this missing girl, it wasn't her problem anymore.

That did not stop her from thinking about it the whole walk to work.

When Blake finally did arrive, she was not welcomed with a "Hiya, Blakey!" from her blonde co-worker. In fact, Yang was no where to be seen. Instead there was another worried looking blonde. Jaune Arc, president of the Hero Fan Organization, was the cashier and he... well he did not look good today. He tried to look pleasant for the customers, but it was obvious something was on his mind. As soon as there was a lull, Blake approached the tense boy.

"Hey Jaune," Blake greeted.

"H-hey Blake," Jaune stuttered out, mind clearly elsewhere.

"I... Didn't expect to see you here today. Where is Yang?"

"She asked me to cover for her," He told her. "Which is understandable. You know, with everything going on."

"Why?"

"You haven't heard?" Her turned, his whole attention grabbed now.

"Heard what?" Blake's heart pounded in her chest as she dreaded what he was going to say.

"Ruby was kidnapped," Jaune informed her "And it's all my fault..." His gaze turned downward.

"Wait, the girl that was taken was Ruby?" Blake exclaimed, face contorted in concern. "Why was it your fault?" Jaune's eyes widened, not used to seeing his co-worker show so much emotion. In fact, the only time she had seen her so much as crack a smile is when she was around Yang.

"I... had her hand out fliers for the HFO... It was my fault that she was out so late!" Jaune cried out under the brunette's stare.

"It's not your fault, Jaune... Just... I need to go," Blake sputtered out, she turned on her heels and left the Vale-mart. If it was anyone's fault, the blame was clearly on her.

XxXxX

Another night perched atop her favorite spot, Blake overlooked the city. This time was not for pleasure though. She pushed her enhanced eyesight as far as she could trying to find Ruby or any sort of clue. Unfortunately, all this earned her was a headache.

She had spent the whole day as a civilian, looking for clues. She started by finding the spot she had last seen her putting up posters. After she located that, it wasn't hard to follow the trail of posters until she hit police tape. They had estimated that that was were she had been taken last night. Staying out of sight, she let her cat ears pop up, still concealed underneath her bow. She listened in on the witnesses and the police to try and glean some information off of them. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to go on, and Blake found hardly any useful information other than "The man was big and scary" (which everyone says about kidnappers... amateurs).

She considered going to check up on Yang, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't think she could look the girl in the eye after failing to protect her baby sister (not that she would know that that had happened). But that also might be why Blake was going to such lengths after discovering it was Yang's sister. As much as she tried to detach herself from Yang, Ruby, and Weiss, she still cared for them. They had become her weakness and she wanted it to stop.

She considered just going home and forgetting all about this. Maybe packing up and leaving town. That seemed a better option than feeling the hurt of losing people again. But against her better judgment, she decided that she couldn't just give up. Otherwise this guilt would just add onto what she already harbored, and she didn't think her heart could handle anymore.

So she found herself clad in her Nightshade outfit once again, looking for crime on this night.

"So! This is the famous Nightshade!" A voice announced behind her and Blake leapt up and spun around in response. She was getting ready to attack the intruder, but then noticed who it was. A tall blonde with a wild mane that swayed slightly in the breeze. She had her signature red tinted goggles that made her eyes look crimson. The band that held them on looked like golden flames. She had a light brown long jacket that was split in two around tailbone and had the sleeves rolled up. Underneath it was a very, very tight bright yellow tank top that had a black symbol of a burning heart on it. Her collarbone was covered up by a light, orange scarf wrapped around her neck. Her neon yellow finger-less gloves rested on her belt (that looked like it was there merely for aesthetic) and black shorts that barely reached the middle of her thighs. Her boots came up to the middle of her calves, with her amethyst and sunflower colored striped socks extending barely past her knees.

She was as flashy as they said.

"What do you want?" Blake's eyes narrowed on Yellow Dragon.

"Woah, easy there kitty. I don't want a fight," She smirked putting her hands in front of her as defense.

"Then what DO you want? I'm kind of busy right now."

"Wow, is that anyway to treat a fellow hero? We're all on the same side, aren't we?" Dragon tried to rationalize, but Nightshade only glared at her "Okaaay... So, listen. I'm willing to forget the whole 'you left the city when we needed you most' thing if you can help me out, okay?"

"Listen! I am out! I've been out for a while! The only reason I am out here right now it for-"

"For Ruby?" Yellow Dragon inquired. Blake's mouth was slightly parted, not sure how to respond, so Dragon explained "Look, I may have accidentally been on the roof with you last night. And I may have accidentally heard you mention her name. Ruby Rose, the girl who was taken? You know her, don't you?" Blake then dashed up to YD in a rage, pulling her in by her scarf.

"You were SPYING on me?" She spat out in disbelief.

"No,no no! I just happened to be on the roof when you were there by ACCIDENT. And... kind of watched you for a while... But not in a creepy way! I mean.. come ON, you're Nightshade!"

Blake loosened her grip on Yellow Dragon marginally, but kept her eyes firmly on the girl in her grip. She held people in this grip many times in the past and most of them looked upon her in fear. They were always criminals though, and this was a hero, but Yellow Dragon didn't seem intimidated in the least. She simply stared right back, red eyes glinted with amusement and determination. Fearless, like a true hero... or a foolish one.

"I'll ask you one last time. What do you want?" Nightshade seethed, done with the new hero's antics.

"The same as you. I want to find Ruby Rose." Dragon responded, voice growing more serious. Blake dropped her hands to her sides and inspected the girl closely. It didn't take a detective to see that Dragon genuinely wanted to find the girl, the question was why. This wasn't something she could glean off of just observation, so she hoped that the hero's blunt nature would provide her with all she needed to know.

"Why do you want to find her?" Blake questioned.

"Um... I'm a hero?" The blonde girl responded gesturing to herself as if that answer was enough reason. "You think I was just gonna sit around and let the cops handle it? And besides... I was right there last night and didn't notice it happening. What kind of hero would I be if I didn't bring the girl back after an oversight like that?" YD looked down in guilt at the last part of her explanation and Blake sympathized with her, since she was in the same situation. Not that she would let the girl see that.

"Ok, so why come to me? I'm sure there are plenty of heroes in the SHA would join you in your search."

"Oh let me guess," Dragon held up her hands with a grin as a signal to 'wait'. She then attempted to push some of her blonde hair in front of one of her eyes, popped her collar, and stuffed her hands into imaginary pockets. "'I work'" A hair flip "'Alone'" She said in a gruff voice and looking off into the distance. This only lasted for a couple seconds before she was back to her grinning self.

Part of Blake hated that, part of her loved it, but mostly she hated that she loved it. She hid her amusement by putting on a sterner face, but Dragon could clearly see through her facade. Uggh this girl! Blake thought. Not wanting to give her anymore satisfaction, she turned around.

"I'm leaving." Nightshade stated

"Nonono wait! I'm sorry!" The girl called out in protest. Blake stopped and turned to face the hero once more. "You're right, there are probably other heroes who could help me, but I came to you!"

"Why?"

"Cause they all follow the books and report to the police." the blonde expanded "We both know that the cops are not meant for this sort of situation. But all the heroes seem to think that everything we do should be reported and cataloged. It takes time that we don't have. As heroes, we get things done and know that you feel the same way."

Blake blinked at her response. She was right, of course, and the brunette had come to the same conclusion at the scene of the crime earlier today.

"Please. Just help me find her, and you'll never hear from me ever again. I'll leave you alone to... well... do whatever it is that you do with your life now." Yellow Dragon pleaded with Nightshade.

"And if I don't?"

"Well then I'll have no choice but to follow you around, making terrible jokes and pointing you out to everyone on the street." She grinned not-so-innocently and Blake's eyes narrowed upon the girl.

"Ugh, fine!" She gave in.

"Yes! Thank you!" Dragon grabbed her hands in appreciation "Okay, meet you here at eleven? We'll compile clues and stuff, It'll be great!" She said all of this walking backwards and waving goodbye. And just like that, Yellow Dragon had left.

What had Blake juts gotten herself into?

XxXxX

Yellow Dragon had spent the whole day looking for clues in her civilian form. Luckily, she was able to take off of work with no questions or issues. They understood what she was going through and assumed that she would be a nervous wreck at home, waiting for the phone to ring with any news.

Like hell she would!

Yes, she was going through a lot, but she was never the type to just sit down and do nothing, and with her powers, she didn't have to. She was INCREDIBLY lucky to spot Nightshade last night, and hoped (prayed) that she would be there again. Her hunch was right and now she had a powerful ally to help her bring Ruby back.

After the meeting with Nightshade, YD was emotionally drained. She wanted to keep a stoic facade, wanted to make it seem like this was simply another job for a hero. It was not, this was very personal. So, as soon as her meeting was over, she slipped into an alley ten minutes from the building she was just on top of, and clicked the small dragon charm on the end of her necklace. And just like that, she went from the heroic and confident Yellow Dragon to the worried and tearful Yang Xiao Long.

"We're gonna find you Rubes," She spoke aloud, gripping her necklace in a tight fist. "We're gonna bring you home."