This chapter is mostly just a continuation of the previous one, and though it was intended to have more of a focus on Summer and Yang, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Ruby and Taiyang kind of took over for a bit there. It makes sense that they would, though, given how the last chapter ended.

Speaking of last chapter, do you remember how last chapter I said that I wasn't going to be having scenes where characters sit down to eat? Boy did I fuck that up. Enjoy another diner scene.

Before we get into this, I do have a rather shameful announcement to make: I've decided to put Fallout: Remnant (my other story) on a semi-permanent hiatus. Yeah, yeah, I know, I was planning on rewriting it, but I just can't get motivated to do it, and I really don't want to move forward with the story while it's in such a sorry state. I want to give you guys my best, and that takes some serious effort.

In other (probably subconsciously related) news, I'm thinking about starting up a another fanfic, though I'm not sure whether I want it to be a Naruto fanfic (premise would be the graduation age for Konoha's shinobi academy would be 16 instead of 12, and therapy would be mandatory for all ninja) or a Mass Effect fanfic (in the Milky Way, not Andromeda, and primarily starring an asari who claims to be Shepherd's kid (yes, that is ambiguous)). I've got a bit of a lust for blood building up right now, and this story isn't going to help me with that for a long, long time. I haven't decided yet, but I've thought up some decent stuff for both of them, so I could go either way. Like a bisexual. Wow, that's a really lame joke. Why am I leaving it in?

That said, there's (finally!) some real action in this chapter. Thank fuck I had Summer be alive in this story. Bloodshed and carnage for me, yahoo!

Oh, and because I apparently forgot to write this in earlier: there will never be any lemons in my stories. I'm not in the business of writing porn, especially since it goes against the content guidelines for this site (granted, that hasn't stopped everyone, but I'm a coward). If you ever see something that could be considered a lemon in one of my stories, get a bucket or something ready, because it will go horribly wrong (in a way that probably also violates other rules from the content guidelines; maybe I'm just a selective coward). That might be an exaggeration, but I won't let it stay in unless it makes me gag, which is a pretty high bar.

Well, that's enough of me bitching and moaning for now. Time for the story!

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"I think it's great, Blake," Weiss said, smiling pleasantly at the Faunus over her burger and fries. The two of them were sitting at a table in the Empty Barrel, one of Yang's favorite restaurants, which Blake and Weiss had also taken a shine to over the years. Weiss handed the sheet of paper she'd been looking over back to Blake, who took it with a grimace and a shake of her head. "I'm serious, it looks really good."

"I don't know," Blake mumbled, folding the paper up and stuffing it back into her purse. "I think I'm trying too hard, sometimes. You know?"

Weiss's smile turned bittersweet, and she nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, I know," Weiss said softly. "Mom got like that a lot, the last few years."

Blake gave Weiss a brief, muted smile, then took a dainty bite of her burger as Yang came back to their table. "Took you long enough," Blake said around her bite, a sly smile on her lips.

No matter how often Weiss saw it, she never managed to believe just how good of an actress Blake was. To go from one of the most emotional topics possible to pretending that it mattered how long her best friend took to come back from the restroom in less than a second was one of the most impressive and frightening things she'd seen.

"You know how long those lines can get," Yang said as she slumped back onto the booth her friends were sitting in. She cut off a piece of her steak and stuffed it into her mouth, closing her eyes as she chewed it. "Fuck. I hate all that makeup and shit most girls wear. No offense, girls."

"None taken," Weiss said, eating a fry to help hide her smile. Blake just waved her hand magnanimously, still chewing her latest bite. "Most of us have to try to look our best, after all," Weiss mumbled quietly, blushing as she watched Yang take another bite of her steak.

Blake, who'd heard Weiss, just rolled her eyes. "So," she said, finally swallowing, "what's the plan for everything?"

"Everything? Or just the band?" Yang asked, grinning at Blake. "Because I go over my daily plans enough with my folks."

"The band, blondie," Blake said, idly flicking a fry over at Yang. It bounced off her forehead, and she caught it and ate it, making Weiss giggle. "I mean, we don't even have a name for it yet, but you want us to get a paying gig?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of that coffee shop," Weiss said. "It doesn't feel like we're doing anything when we're there, like we might as well still be in your parents' basement, Blake."

"Plus, getting paid means we can help your friend Adam sooner," Yang said around a mouthful of beef.

"We're already nearly there," Blake said, her blush only barely noticeable beneath her makeup. "We only need another five thousand dollars to afford the cybernetic eyes and the surgery, including recovery after the fact."

"So that's, what, another year or so of work?" Yang asked, making Blake grimace and nod. "Getting paid to play a show would mean shaving at least a month off of that, even split three ways. If we do a damn good job, which I know we can do, we could even wind up getting enough money for that within two months, instead of a year."

"Yeah," Weiss said, full of nervous pride at hearing Yang say that they were good enough. "Even faster if it's only a two-way split."

"Weiss?" Blake asked, blinking at the white-haired girl.

"W-well, I mean," Weiss began shakily, forcing a smile onto her lips as she blushed, "I-I don't really need... need the extra money. My father's paying for, for my education since I'll be going for a degree in medical research at college, and he's giving me and Whitley a stipend while we're here in Vale. So I mi-might as well not take a share from any shows we wi-wind up playing."

Blake felt herself smile, and ducked her head, murmuring a "Thank you," to Weiss.

"So," Yang drawled, grinning at her two friends in a way that made their blushes deepen, "we just need to decide what to do about it, huh? Where to play, what to play, what we should wear; those sorts of things, right?"

"Yeah," Blake said, nodding her head. "And we might want to consider writing a couple of songs ourselves, so that we're not just a cover band."

"Ugh, that sounds hard," Yang groaned, grimacing. "I don't know if I can do that."

Weiss giggled at her, shaking her head. "That's okay, Yang. Blake and I are the vocalists, so we should probably be the ones writing any lyrics. Right, Blake?" Blake just shrugged, taking another bite of her burger. "Exactly," Weiss said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, that's a load off my mind," Yang said, also rolling her eyes as she grinned at Weiss. "Thanks, Weiss."

Weiss blushed and ducked her head, mumbling out something that Yang didn't quite catch, then took a fairly large bite of her burger, intending to use it as an excuse to not speak for a while. Yang only chuckled at the display, while Blake let out a quiet sigh and shook her head.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Yep," Summer grunted, shrugging into the military-surplus tactical vest she'd been given. It was a couple sizes too large for her, but it managed to fit decently well when it was wedged over the thick bulletproof vest she was also wearing. "This is happening again."

She was in a DEA van, on her way to one of half a dozen sites that they'd decided to crack down on. It was part of a larger ring of drug busts that the Narcotics branch of the local police force had been all but forced to bring the DEA in on, and Summer was not happy about it.

"What's the problem, Rose?" one of the DEA agents riding with her asked. Ross Ellison was fairly short, only an inch or so taller than her, and had close-cropped black hair threaded with grey that was hidden under a helmet. Despite his small size, though, he was still a force to be reckoned with; years of gymnastics had been followed up by years of teaching martial arts, which had led into a career in law enforcement. He still bore thick slabs of muscles, visible even beneath his vest, which unlike Summer's was both bulletproof and tactical, bearing multiple pouches and loops that in turn carried everything from smoke grenades to a pair of adrenaline shots.

"I'm a Detective, Ellison," Summer griped at him, rolling her shoulders until she got her tactical vest to settle on them. She started putting her own gear into its various pouches, though she had much less than the agent. "Going on a big sting operation with the DEA isn't in my job description."

"The biggest sting in decades," the other agent said, this one a woman half Summer's age. She was also rather short, and had a soft, heart-shaped face and baby-blue eyes that gave her a rather innocent appearance. Despite her looks, though, Summer knew that Claire Butler could be as focused and deadly as a hawk; this wasn't the first time she'd been on an operation with her. "There hasn't been a bust like this around here since Novak was in charge."

"Shame no one ever found out what happened to him," Ellison said offhandedly, making Summer's eye twitch as she put on the mostly-bulletproof metal helmet she'd been issued. "My money's still on him getting offed by a civilian, then got replaced by a subordinate."

"What makes you say that?" Butler asked, raising a golden-blonde eyebrow.

"He's a conspiracy theorist," the van's driver said. Carlos Santiago was the tallest person in the van at a height of six feet, but he was so quiet and soft-spoken that the two agents didn't pay much attention to him. He was like Summer, a police officer who'd been roped into a DEA operation as extra muscle; she'd protested at his inclusion, since he'd only been on the force for a year, but she'd been overruled since he hadn't been willing to protest.

Of course, Summer also knew quite a bit more about him than she would any other beat cop; her husband had helped him learn how to control his telekinesis, and had actually pushed him towards a career in law enforcement after learning about some of his history, which Summer had not been privy to.

"There weren't any other crime syndicates muscling in on his territory at the time," Ellison pointed out. "None that we know about, anyway. And there wouldn't have been that many low-tier criminals getting killed along the way if it was just an internal thing."

"Unless the person who started it was also a low-tier criminal, as you put it," Summer said.

"Yeah, but that's not exactly common," Ellison said. "Street dealers don't typically wind up drug lords."

"And civilians don't typically kill off a quarter of a drug empire," Butler said. "I think its more likely that a street dealer would do it than a civilian, and even that's a hell of a lot lower than one of his rivals."

"Maybe you're just not looking at it in the same way," Ellison said, sending an annoyed glance at her.

Summer sighed as the van started to rumble as Carlos pulled off the highway, turning onto a street that led into a section of town a bit too low-priority to have much in the way of road maintenance. "Agents tend to get like this before a stakeout," Summer murmured, her voice so quiet that only Carlos could hear her. "Don't think it'll be like this when you make detective."

"Okay," Carlos said after a moment, quirking a somewhat shy smile at her before he turned his attention back to the road.

As Ellison and Butler continued to bicker, Carlos drew the car into a multi-story parking garage that was adjacent to one of any city's most heavy populated areas in the early-to-mid-afternoon: the factory district. As the term implies, there were more than two dozen factories of various sizes within walking distance of the parking garage, as well as a myriad of warehouses to store everything that got produced but wasn't getting shipped out quite yet, and each and every building was filled with its employees. But only three of them were relevant to the DEA, at the moment.

It took Carlos quite some time to find an empty spot large enough to park the van, and, to Summer's annoyance, it was both on the top level of the building and fairly close to the edge. Though being up higher would provide a much easier line of sight to their target building, the lack of coverage meant that anyone looking in their direction would have a much easier time of spotting them, and it would be harder to look mundane and blend in when viewed in profile against the sky.

Ellison flipped a switch next to him, then turned to one of the bulky monitors that had been bolted into the side of the van. It flickered to life, showing a view through the minuscule ball-camera that had been embedded into the side of the van. With a movement of a single joystick, he then pointed it straight at the warehouse they had been tasked with. With a click of a button and another motion of the stick, he zoomed in, filling the screen with a nearly-flawless image of the front door and the large bay door beside it.

Summer blinked at the display, surprised. "This is normal for you?" she asked, turning to Butler as the agents chuckled.

"For us, yeah," she said with a nod and a lazy gesture. "We get one hell of a budget, and Ellison and I like to make damn good use of it. The cameras were his idea; the leather seats were mine," she continued, giving Summer a broad grin. "Probably why you got stuck with us on this run, Rose. I hear the higher-ups have been trying to steal you away from your city for a while now."

"Why didn't I see anything like this the last time I got 'borrowed' by you two?" Summer asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That job was street level," Butler said. "We need to keep discreet, when we can, and the cameras are pretty obvious if you get close enough and you're paranoid because you're heading to your illegal drug warehouse. Up here, they're the next best thing to invisible, which lets us scout and spy to our heart's content."

"Uh-huh. And how exactly are we going to get down to the ground quickly enough to actually participate in the mission?" Summer asked, drawing another chuckle from the agent.

"Drug deals on this level don't exactly operate on the level you're used to. Dead-drops aren't reliable enough for deals this large, and there's no hiding meth in a bucket of chicken when you've got literal tons of it to move. At this warehouse, the workers take an average of eighteen minutes to load the cab of a truck, so we've got more than enough time to respond and get to ground level when we spot one of the markers."

"Markers?" Carlos asked, glancing away from the monitor he'd been watching.

"'Markers' are what we call the vans and trucks we flag to watch," Butler explained. "'Cause they're marked, y'see?"

"Oh," Carlos said, grimacing. "I should've realized that."

"Yeah, you should've, but you didn't and now you know," Butler said, giving him a grin and a thumbs-up. "You're lucky you're still a rookie, kid. People always give me funny looks when I ask them about things they think are obvious."

"Speaking of the obvious," Summer said, "mind filling me in on when we're supposed to make our move? It wasn't in our briefing."

Butler blinked at her, then grinned and nodded. "Well, the marker we're looking for typically comes in towards the end of the work day. So we're probably going to be inside the warehouse at about 5:30 or so, right, Ross?"

"Give or take a few minutes," Ellison said, tapping a keyboard attached to another display, which opened up the view from another camera.

Butler grinned at him, then sat a little straighter and frowned. "Oh, we might not be able to strike at the same time as the rest of the squads, since a lot of workers will be heading to their cars at that point."

"Stairwell on the eastern side of the building will let us hit the pavement in only a couple of minutes," Ellison said. "Potentially add in another few minutes thanks to rush hour traffic and we can be in the building with no issues."

"So around then. Thanks, Ross!" Butler exclaimed cheerfully, to which Ellison's only answer was a grunt.

Summer felt her eye twitch as she glanced at her watch. 'Only ten after two,' she thought, letting out a quiet sigh. 'Wonderful.'

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

The clash of steel on steel rang through his ears as he swept his sword at her, the reddened metal of his blade looking like nothing so much as a streak of blood cutting through the air. She was grimacing, only barely managing to fend off his rapid series of strikes with her own black blade. Sparks of crimson and amethyst showered from between their blades with every instant of contact.

And then she stumbled, losing her footing over one of the others he'd killed so easily. A gasp escaped her lips as she hit the floor, nearly drowned out by the roar of burning buildings and the screams of the dead and damned. He hefted his sword to deliver the final blow, only to hear a voice come from behind him.

His dream-self grinned as he looked over his shoulder, eyeing the blonde with violet eyes, but his conscious mind shuddered in horror, the memory of his experience sparking a tiny bit of control over the dream. He reached up with his other hand and grasped his sword arm, gritting his teeth with the effort.

He couldn't stop it. Not this time, nor any before.

His sword found its way into the cat-eared girl's abdomen.

Only a moment later, the blonde was trailing by him, his blade having sheared off one of her arms.

Before his revulsion and horror could wrench him into consciousness, however, he saw something he'd never before seen in this dream. It was large, larger than even the beasts that he'd seen on the way to this eventuality, and it's many tentacles draped from behind its head like massive locks of hair. Its face was like a rotten apple, holes going all the way through to the back of its head in a vague facsimile of a face.

But worst of all were its claws. They were longer than they had any right to be, even longer than the blade his dream-self bore, and were caked in blood and gore that had long since dried, yet was somehow still wet and fresh.

Just looking at the creature hurt his mind and sped his assent into consciousness, but somehow, for some reason, he felt a sense of comfort in its stare. Like it was going to change things for the better, take away the pain and misery of his dreams.

Adam woke up gasping for breath, sitting bolt-upright against a tree. It took him only a few seconds to get his breathing under control, something he'd always be thankful to one of his former comrades-in-arms for, but it took him most of a minute to remember where he was.

'The park,' he thought to himself, moving a hand to his face to wipe away his sweat and make sure the ribbon Blake had given him was still covering his eyes. 'Right. Today's Saturday.'

Adam was near the entrance to a small, forested park that he still hadn't learned the name of. He'd been sitting in the shade of a tree when he'd dozed off, but the heat pressing against his chest and arms told him that at least an hour or two had passed.

Then he remembered what his dream had been. His hands started shaking, his mouth went dry, and his breaths started coming in quick little gasps. He felt around, searching for the one thing that he knew he'd always have with him. Once he found it, he drew his guitar up into his lap and started playing.

Though his hands had been shaking, the melody that he played was strong and steady, decades of practice making it as easy as breathing for him. For as long as Adam could remember, he'd driven away his chronic nightmares with music; before he'd learned how to play it himself, he'd turn on the radio or put a CD into a player, driven by pure instinct and need to lose himself in something other than bloodlust and fear. A small smile tugged at his lips as he remembered how often he'd annoyed his parents for playing music at two in the morning.

"That's the spirit," said a voice that was very familiar to Adam. It was rough and raspy from years of smoking, but still held a firmness and strength to it that made him think of nothing so much as a mountain.

"Greg," Adam said, facing his fellow homeless man as he continued to play. "Where'd you go?"

A quiet, huffing sort of laugh came from Greg as he sat down beside Adam, the faint rustling of his worn polyester coat and jeans nearly overpowered by the crinkling of the paper bag he held. "When I realized you were asleep, I went to get us a bite to eat. Hope you don't mind me pilfering a bit from your cup, there."

Adam stopped playing and reached out, toward the copper cup he'd placed in front of him when he'd sat down. It was still there, though not the exact spot Adam remembered putting it, and it only bore a few of the bills he'd heard people put into it. Most of the change was still there, though. "Hope you didn't short me this time," he said jokingly, settling back down as he started playing again.

Greg snorted softly. "Relax, kid, I'm not in the business of robbing the blind. 'Specially not when you're so close to getting your new eyes."

Adam's mouth twitched when Greg referred to him as "kid". Since he was well into his forties, Adam could only imagine how old Greg had to be. Assuming he wasn't just taking advantage of Adam's lack of eyesight, that is.

"Still can't believe you found some girl who's willing to help you with that," Greg continued. "Cute little thing, too."

"So I've heard."

"Plus, those two friends of hers, hoo boy. One's got this huge rack, and the other's got an ass you wouldn't believe. I mean, damn, I don't believe it. It's too good."

"I'm pretty sure you're a pedophile for saying that stuff, Greg."

"Please. They're nearly eighteen, so it's not a huge deal. 'Sides, ain't the term different for when it's a girl? Like, ephebiphile or something?"

"That sounds vaguely reptilian, so I'm guessing no."

"Depends on the girl, I guess."

"That supposed to be racist?"

"Not racist when I'm part of the race, is it?"

Adam just chuckled, slowly shaking his head until he heard something echoing out from the forested park behind him. He started playing again and said, "Hush, old man. Footsteps."

He felt Greg slump down against the tree behind them, a faint wheeze coming from his lips and nose. It was an old play that they'd decided on long ago: the blind guitarist and his elderly helper, both homeless. It being true didn't mean they didn't feel the need to play it up a bit to get more sympathy from people passing by, though.

Sure enough, the footsteps came to a stop within a few feet of them. The rustling of cloth preceded the tearing sound that Adam associated with Velcro, and a few coins and bills found their way into his cup.

"Bless you," he heard Greg say softly, his voice croaky, wavering, and full of genuine gratitude.

The people who'd stopped murmured something that Adam didn't quite catch, then started walking off again.

"Good ears on you, kid," Greg mumbled once they were gone; Adam didn't need his eyes to know that his friend wore a wide grin. "Could've lost that lot without them."

"Sure," Adam said, continuing to play. He closed his eyes behind the ribbon, relaxing as he felt the music start to seep into him, soothing his body and easing his weariness the way he'd used to think only a long shower could. His music took a turn, became a song he'd never heard before, one full of hope and worry that vaguely reminded him of a dream he'd had. He tried to keep his subconscious mind guiding his fingers while tracking them with his conscious mind, trying to learn the new song as he played it.

Needless to say, it was extremely difficult.

"You know, I got that for you to eat," Greg said, nudging the paper bag resting against Adam's leg.

"In a bit," Adam said, his voice soft and quiet as a blood-red moon filled his mind's eye. "I want to see where this goes."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Stop poking her, Nora. You'll wake her up."

"Don't we want her to wake up?"

"Yes, but on her own. She'll be more receptive to what we're saying if she has some control over the situation."

"Uh, Dad? She's waking up."

"Ren?"

"Already on it."

Penny Polendina woke up slowly, despite the press of voices around her and the occasional touch of a finger to her shoulder or cheek. Her eyes fluttered open, and a yawn escaped her throat before she remembered what she'd seen.

Electricity arching from one girl's fingers towards a soda can, only for it to jump towards another that was very faintly glowing black, which another girl was focusing on intently. Once they noticed her, their focus wavered, and the can seemed to pulse with a faint light that made her feel sick to her stomach.

And then nothing. Penny blinked up at the ceiling, then frowned. 'Why don't I remember what happened next? And why am I not freaking out right now? I feel like I should be,' she thought to herself. 'Wait, ceiling?'

"Excuse me?"

Penny tilted her head to the side, only to see an unfamiliar blonde man, as well as a black-haired girl standing next to him. He let out a sigh when she met his blue eyes, and he said, "Ren, could you dial it back a bit?"

"Sorry," came another undeniably male voice from her other side. As she turned to look at the black-haired boy, and one of the redheads she'd seen earlier, she realized that she was laying on a couch. "I'm used to toning down Nora's emotions. She takes a firm touch, most days."

"Yep!" the redhead next to him cheerfully exclaimed, wrapping one of his arms in a tight hug.

Before she could start thinking about that, the lazy, almost dream-like quality to her thoughts softened, and she felt her fear and worry come raging back up through her. "Wha–... where am I?" Penny squeaked out, looking between the two groups so quickly that her hair whipped against her ears.

"Don't worry, it's okay," the blonde man said soothingly, holding up both hands and showing her his empty palms; a soothing gesture, meant to appeal to a person's instincts more than their rational mind. "My name's Taiyang Xiao Long. Do you know who I am?"

Penny blinked at him for a moment, her growing panic preventing her from remembering why his name seemed familiar to her.

And then fire sparked beneath her hands, catching on to the couch beneath her and swiftly spreading.

"Shit!" Taiyang yelled, thrusting his hands at the couch. For a moment, Penny found it hard to breathe, but the feeling was gone as swiftly as it came.

As were the flames.

"Maybe a touch more, Ren," the girl next to Taiyang said, giving the black-haired boy an awkward, somewhat goofy smile. A bare second after she spoke, Penny felt her fear start to dim down again, though not to the same point it'd been at right as she'd woken up.

"What's happening?" Penny asked, looking over at Ren. She sat up slowly, warily eyeing him. "What are you doing to me?"

"Dampening your emotions," Ren said, giving her a sheepish grimace. "It's what I can do. Like how Nora here can make electricity, or how you can apparently make fire."

"Miss Polendina? Did you recognize my name?" Taiyang repeated, drawing the girl's attention back to him.

"I... I think so," Penny said after a moment of thought. "I think my father mentioned you a couple times before he sent me here."

"Do you know why he sent you?" Taiyang asked.

"To, um..." Penny trailed off for a moment, her eyes narrowed in thought before they widened suddenly and she blushed. "To learn how to control my power. He wanted me to go to you since, uh, that's what you do?"

"Sort of," Taiyang said, smiling at her. "Ren, I think you can let off on her emotions now."

"You sure?" Ren asked.

"Yeah. I don't think she's a flight risk anymore."

"Alright," Ren said, letting out a sigh as he relaxed his grip over Penny's emotions. She swallowed nervously and glanced over at the black-haired teenager, but other than that showed no changes.

"So, Penny," Taiyang said, grabbing her attention again, "I can't actually teach you how to use your pyrokinesis."

"What? Then why-" Penny began, only for Taiyang to cut her off.

"What I can do is provide a safe, wide open space for you to practice in, as well as an aerokinetic to make sure the risk of environmental damage is kept to a minimum," he said, placing a hand on the shoulder of the girl next to him. "This is my daughter, Ruby. Your dad and I pulled some strings to put you in her class at Beacon High."

"Hi," Ruby said brightly, smiling at the bewildered redhead. "I might not be as good at moving air around as my dad or my sister, but I can still put out a few fires if I need to. Don't worry; I'll help you out when I can."

"I'd make a more thorough introduction, but you'll have plenty of time for that later," Taiyang said. "For now, I think we need to go over some of the basics."

"Huh?" Penny asked.

"Control," Taiyang said simply. "Specifically, emotional control. Your powers reacted to your panic, and I bet they'll react to just about any strong emotions. Ren's not in your year, and he's already got his hands full with that one," Taiyang continued, gesturing at Nora, who merely stuck out her tongue at him in response, "so he's not gonna be able to help you out all the time. Plus, since Ruby, and by extension me, can only react to what you've already done, we can't actually stop you from starting fires."

"Oh," Penny said, her shoulders slumping as she slowly began to realize that she hadn't found a quick and easy fix for her problem.

"Now, since a mostly wooden building isn't a good place to start playing with fire," Taiyang said, "how about we go to a place I know? Plenty of abandoned buildings, mostly concrete, to keep people from looking in, and there's almost nothing flammable around."

"Okay," Penny said after a moment, slowly nodding her head.

"Great. You willing to come with us, Ren?" he asked. "I'd appreciate having you around for the first couple sessions."

"Sure," Ren said, shrugging.

"Then I'm coming too!" Nora announced cheerily, bearing a grin so wide that it nearly forced her eyes closed.

"Yeah, that's fine," Taiyang said, rolling his eyes. "You want to come too, Ruby?" he asked, turning his attention to his daughter.

"Uh, well," Ruby began, blushing and grimacing apologetically at Penny, "I kind of already have plans for today, Dad."

"I know. I just wanted to know if you wanted an out," Taiyang said.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine," she said, giving him a smile. "Sorry, Penny," Ruby added, glancing back towards the sitting redhead. "I know we'll probably wind up spending a lot of time together, but, uh, well, um... sorry."

"It's... okay?" Penny said, her voice turning it into a question.

"You need a ride back to the mall?" Taiyang asked Ruby, making her shake her head.

"Nah, I've still got my bus pass," Ruby said, heading to the office door. "I'll introduce you to our class on Monday, Penny, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks."

"Great. Okay, bye everyone!"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Hey Neo! I'll be back at the mall in a few minutes, okay?

Neo couldn't help but smile at the text message Ruby had sent her. It came as something of a relief, really, since she, Whitley, and Solon had been dragged into the middle of a discussion between Izzy and Lilith about which of their powers was stronger; she did her best not to sigh as she wrote a quick reply to Ruby, telling her where they were hanging out while they waited.

"I'm telling you, it depends on the context!" Lilith said, rolling her eyes. Her cheeks were still flushed from the last demonstration of her power, which she seemed to refuse in a way that wasn't overly sexual and provocative. "I can trip just about anyone wearing clothes, I can push their weapons aside if their shirts have sleeves, and I can distract just about anyone I want really easily, especially with a body like mine."

Izzy snorted off a laugh, shaking her head. "I can do all of that, too, and without acting like a street whore. One quake and I've probably done all three."

Neo sighed quietly as the two of them continued to argue, her only amusement coming from Solon shaking his head tiredly. She wrote a quick message on her notepad, tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and showed him what she'd written.

Are they like this a lot?

Solon snorted softly as he nodded his head. "Don't know Izzy that well, but Lilith, yeah," he whispered to her. "She's always trying to brag about something."

"Really?" Whitley asked, also in a whisper, though he kept an eye on the two arguing girls. "About what?"

"Anything, really," Solon said with a shrug. "Grades, looks, how 'powerful' her ability is, how many people asked her out in the last week, anything. She's got a really big ego. I bet you've met a few people like that, Whitley."

"Yeah," Whitley said, letting out a sigh. "Too many."

"Speaking of big egos," Solon said, his beard twitching as he smiled, "any word on when Ruby's getting back?"

"What, you missing her already?" Whitley asked, smirking as Solon blushed.

"No, it's just that the movie's supposed to start in like half an hour," Solon said, scowling at the Schnee. "I'm worried she'll miss it. She's the one who got us all out here in the first place; it'd be pretty messed up if she missed out on one of the main reasons we're all here."

Neo snapped her fingers, drawing the boys' attention, then showed them her phone, which was still open to the text that Ruby had sent her.

"Okay, good to know," Solon said, nodding his head.

"Good to know what?"

Neo smirked as Solon and Whitley jumped, nearly falling out of their seats, as Ruby announced herself to them. Judging from the grin Ruby was wearing, she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Yep, it's me," Ruby said, chuckling as she pulled out a chair and plopped herself down on it. "So, why'd you guys choose a café?"

In the otherwise ordinary mall, the Four Suits Café was an oddity, a combination of a coffee shop and occult merchandise store; an odd contrast to the other two coffee shops in the mall, which had merged with bookstores when they'd needed something to attract customers. It held the typical tourist-trap souvenirs, such as rabbits' feet (which weren't even from real rabbits), but it also held some more... specialized goods, like candles that burn different colors in the presence of different kinds of abilities. What's more, the store's owner liked to tell people's fortunes, whenever she got the chance.

"Whitley here was getting curious about how... well, about how things work around here," Solon said, jerking a thumb at the Schnee. "Lilith had the idea to get him an audience with the owner, here, but she doesn't seem to be in right now."

"Yeah, Jess doesn't get much time to do that sort of thing these days," Ruby said, letting out a sigh. "Her brother and his wife tend to be real busy with their work, so she typically has to babysit their kids during the day since they can't afford to pay an actual sitter."

"You know the owner?" Whitley asked, blinking at her, prompting a shrug from her. "Why?"

"It's what my dad does," Ruby said, shrugging again. "He and his partner find people with powers and bring them into the community. They've taken my sister and me with them a bunch of times, mostly when they're dealing with people with kids. Or orphans."

Neo couldn't help but wince at the word "orphan", and tried to hide her discomfort by taking a drink from her cup of coffee, an unholy amalgamation that combined cinnamon, extra cream, and a shot of raspberry. The concoction had its usual effect on her, immediately calming her down with its sweet flavor.

"This was before Dad started taking me along, but back when Jess was new to town, she had a hard time controlling her foresight," Ruby continued, failing to notice Neo's wince. "It made her extremely nervous and unwilling to talk to people. Dad found out about her through a few people and put some effort into finding her. They talked, and he found her a job where she wouldn't be around any individual person for too long: barista. That helped her learn to control her power, and she wound up liking the smell of coffee enough that she decided to open her own shop after she'd saved up enough money. This," Ruby said, gesturing around them, "is what she decided to do with it. Cool, huh?"

Neo nodded as Whitley and Solon murmured their agreement; Lilith and Izzy were still too busy arguing to have even noticed Ruby's appearance, which prompted her to raise an eyebrow at the pair.

"Did I miss something?" Ruby asked, looking between the two of them.

"Nah, they're just arguing about which of them has the better power," Whitley said, letting out a sigh. "They've been at it since you left with your dad earlier."

"Huh," Ruby said, turning to look at him. "So, how're you taking it? It must seem pretty strange to be around so many people like us, right?"

"Yeah," Whitley said, turning his gaze to his coffee. "It's... kind of surreal, really. Like I'm dreaming, almost."

"You'll get used to it," Ruby said, smiling at him. "Just remember: most of us might have powers, but not everyone here does, so it's better to practice in private when you can. A bunch of the non-powered people here know about us, but most out-of-towners have no clue, and we'd like to keep it that way."

"So, while we're on the subject, where's a good place to practice?" Whitley asked.

"Well, you already saw where Nora and Pyrrha like to go," Ruby said. "That part of town has been rundown for a long time. I'm actually pretty sure it's purposely kept like that so that people like us can go there to practice. Other than that, well... for you I'd recommend your own home. Your powers aren't very destructive, so you can practice without much trouble in a confined space. Plus, you've got both your sisters there; they've got your powers, too, so they could give you better advice than anyone else, most likely."

"Huh. Thanks, Ruby."

"No problem."

"So, should we start heading over to the theater?" Solon asked, drawing a nod of agreement from Neo. "Our movie's set to start in like twenty minutes, so..."

"Good call," Whitley said.

"Hey, Lil, Izzy," Solon said, nudging his cousin with his elbow. "Time to go."

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Sol!" Lilith said, turning her attention away from Izzy for a brief moment. "Wait, when'd you get here, Ruby?"

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Summer sighed in relief as she got out of the van. The call had come in (to every team, not just her's) to make their final preparations for the operation; for Summer's team, that meant getting ready to run down a staircase, across a street, and into a warehouse.

"Stretch out your legs before we get the call to move out, Carlos," Summer advised her younger colleague, already moving her legs in a few stretches that she'd learned from her time practicing Capoeira with her daughter. "Getting a cramp could botch the operation."

Carlos gave her a somewhat nervous smile before following her advice, doing a few slow lunges as he said, "I ran track in high school, Detective. I know how important stretching is."

"Good to know."

"Alright, should we go over the plan again?" Ellison asked, drawing an annoyed groan from Butler.

"I think we're good," Summer said, suppressing the urge to chuckle. She checked her pistol as she continued stretching, making sure there was a round in the chamber and that the safety was on, then did the same for the shotgun she'd been issued.

"Would you stop dancing?" Butler asked, giving Summer a halfhearted glare. "You're weirding me out."

"You've never seen a student of Capoeira get ready for a fight before, have you?" Summer asked, grinning at her. It was a wicked sort of grin, more teeth than lip, and it set Carlos on edge.

"You studied Capoeira?" Ellison asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I've learned all sorts of martial arts, Agent," Summer said, turning her grin to him. "More than enough to put together something that works for me."

"Good to know," Ellison grunted, putting an end to the discussion. "Everyone ready?" A series of nods was his answer. "Good. All that's left is the final word."

It took one minute exactly for them to get the go ahead; Summer knew that because she was counting the seconds, psyching herself up for the fight to come. Blood and death had never been something she'd enjoyed; they'd always been the stuff of nightmares to her. Literally, though her dreams had stopped being so ominous once she'd started sharing a bed with her husband. But, she'd learned to deal with it over the years, after a number of fights with gangsters and street level drug dealers, as well as the number of dead bodies she'd seen in her twenty years on the force.

As the radio Ellison wore on his hip barked out the words, the four of them raced down the staircase as swiftly as they could, planting their feet at ground level after only thirty seconds. The street was clear of traffic, which meant they only took a few more seconds to cross it. Then, they were outside the warehouse, thoroughly startling the workers loading up a truck with assorted boxes.

"On the ground, now!" Ellison barked out, his voice harsh and commanding. The workers froze for a second, then started dropping to their knees and pressing themselves to the pavement.

Except for one.

A brown-haired young man, with a pair of elk-like horns and a mesh of tattoos coming up from beneath his brown work shirt, snarled at the mix of agents and cops and moved a hand behind his back as he dove to one side, putting the truck he and the others had been loading between him and them in a blur of speed.

"Shit," Summer hissed out, her voice nearly inaudible as Ellison called out an order to get to cover. Summer followed the order almost instinctively, though she mumbled one more word, just loudly enough for Carlos to hear: "Assassin."

The younger police officer winced, stretching out his arms and flexing his hands around his rifle.

"Assassin" was the term the occult community used to identify people with supernaturally enhanced speed. Most of them could move just as fast as an Olympic sprinter, and there were a few that could actually outclass them. The term came from the fact that their speed also tended to come with generally improved leg strength, letting them jump ten feet high from a stand or kick holes in concrete; give one of them some training with a rifle and they can pick off a target and get out of there before anyone knows what's going on.

What's worse, Summer realized, was the fact that she'd have to deal with him before he got a chance to run wild, so to speak; the DEA agents weren't privy to the occult side of things, as far as she knew, so keeping things believable to their relatively narrow perspective was something she'd need to do to keep her city safe from the government-level scrutiny that would shatter it.

Summer glanced out from behind her cover, quickly scanning the environment. The delivery truck was pretty typical, a single long container attached to the truck itself; while there was plenty of room beneath the container, Summer didn't think that an Assassin would resort to crawling, since it reduced their advantage in mobility. Other than the truck, a palette of plastic containers, and a pair of dumpsters, there was no other cover in the environment. Summer also noted that the more cooperative workers had picked themselves up and started running into the warehouse, which could compromise their operation.

"Butler, Rookie, get your asses inside!" Ellison called out to them. "We need to get this bust started, not work over this guy!"

"Roger that!" Butler replied, ducking out from behind the palette of boxes, only to scramble back into it as a bullet bounced off the concrete a few feet in front of her. "Never mind, looks like I need some cover!"

Summer rose up from behind her position behind a dumpster, braced her shotgun against it, turned off the safety, and aimed beneath the truck's attached container. The sun was slowly drifting down into her vision, but for the moment it was a blessing: the sunlight let her see the Faunus's shadow beneath the truck.

Summer fired, the shotgun pressing painfully into her shoulder even through her vests as the blast rattled her ears. A high-pitched shout came from behind the truck a moment later, the pain taking a moment to catch up to the young man's conscious mind.

"I'll keep him company, sir! You go on ahead" Summer said, darting out from behind the dumpster and keeping herself low to the ground as she ran to the front of the truck. From her new cover, she glanced out to see her allies running into the warehouse after the fleeing workers, leaving her to deal with her opponent.

Who was nowhere to be seen. All that she saw was a small splatter of blood.

"Crap," Summer mumbled, glancing around her. She stood up, racking the shotgun. "Should've expected as much."

Still, though, her target was bleeding. That would start to slow him down, in a minute. For now, though, she still had to fight him, assuming he hadn't legged it the moment he'd been hit.

The truck's headlight shattering as a bullet smacked into it answered Summer's unspoken question: the Assassin had decided to stay and fight.

Summer raised her shotgun at the flash of reflected light she'd seen, only for a dark blur to streak across her vision. She cursed under her breath as she dove to the side, another bullet slamming into the truck making her realize that the young man was using a suppressor, and likely subsonic rounds as well; she couldn't hear the shots he was firing, and was having a much harder time finding him because of it.

Another pair of bullets tore past Summer as she sprinted to the relative safety of the dumpsters, only for a third to slam into her back and knock her off balance. She lost her footing, but managed to dive with the fall somewhat gracefully, coming up on her feet in a stuttering-stepped sprint that had her practically flopping into cover.

Summer panted, the sharp pain in her back and the knowledge that it would have been much worse if not for her bulletproof vest stealing her breath from her.

"Come on, girl, I haven't got all day," the Faunus called out to her. Stupidly, Summer noted; he must've been supplied his gun and ammo by someone else if he was moronic enough to give away his position like that when using a suppressed weapon. "Just give up, and I'll be out of your hair."

"Sure thing," Summer called back, mentally noting his position. "Just tell me what I can do, buddy."

There was a long pause, and then his voice gave him away again, from the exact same position. "Do you really think I'm that stupid, girl?"

In response, Summer stood back up, hefted her shotgun towards the voice, and fired the instant the barrel was clear of her cover.

And then she blinked in surprise as she realized she'd fired at empty air.

"What?" she asked quietly, confused, as she dropped back into cover.

Laughter came next, clearly the same voice, but each individual laugh seemed to come from a different direction. "It's not my Talent, but I've learned some ventriloquism. You like it?"

'Oh, are you kidding me?' Summer thought, gritting her teeth. "YPD!" she shouted, putting as much force as she could into her voice; it was commanding enough to make even her freeze for a brief instant, thanks to years of mothering two empowered daughters. "Put down your weapon and come out with your hands up, or I'll be forced to use lethal force!"

There was a brief pause before she heard his laughter again. "Seriously? You expect me to come out for that?"

Summer couldn't quite pin down how experienced her opponent was. In some ways, he seemed like a skilled hitman, such as by using an almost silent weapon and throwing his voice like a master; in others, he seemed more like a braggart gangbanger who only wanted to show off how "good" he was. He was bleeding, likely significantly, and he still paused to banter.

'Well,' she thought, 'at least that could be to my advantage.'

"You're looking at an obstruction of justice charge, as well as an assault charge, with a deadly weapon and against an officer of the law," Summer explained to him, raising her voice in that commanding tone again. "If you come along peacefully, I'll waive the assault charge and talk the DA into giving you the minimum sentence and fine for the other. You'd be back out in a month, and only down by a few hundred bucks."

There was another pause, and then the Assassin's voice came from another direction, though it sounded just a teensy bit more tired to Summer. "That'd be a pretty sweet deal if I didn't have a good idea of why you were here. Getting implicated in a federal-level drug bust would keep me inside for a decade, if not longer. Thanks, but no thanks!"

A bullet whizzed by Summer's head, ricocheting off the dumpster she was hiding behind, and Summer spun on her heel, firing the instant she saw the Faunus's already moving form. He staggered for a brief moment before continuing on, blood falling from his left leg in three places; Summer's second shot missed, and she cursed under her breath as she started running after him, following the trail of spilled blood as much as his blurring form.

The chase didn't last long: the Assassin was losing too much blood to keep running for long, and Summer was both lightweight and very fit, making her strides more like long jumps than actual steps. She jabbed an elbow into his back as she caught up to him, knocking him to the ground, and swept her foot at his hand as she passed him, knocking his gun from his hand.

She skidded to a stop, nearly overbalancing but managing to stop herself from falling over, and hefted her shotgun at the young man again, noting the fear in his eyes: it was the fear of the young, of someone who was just beginning to understand their own mortality.

"You are under arrest," Summer said bluntly, taking a hand off of her shotgun to pluck a set of handcuffs from her belt. "Stay on the ground and put your hands behind your head."

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"Well, that could've been better," Ruby said, glancing at the theater as she and her classmates left it.

"I never thought fake blood could look that bad," Lilith said, shaking her head. "I mean, gods above, it looked like they just used straight-up ketchup."

"It did look pretty thick," Izzy agreed.

"At least it had a better story than I thought it would," Solon said. "The whole ritual thing was actually built up beforehand, instead of being crammed in at the end, and the characters acted at least somewhat believably to the scenarios."

"Yeah, I can give it that," Lilith said. "Still, though, I wish it'd had a bigger budget. It could've been a lot better."

"Same," Ruby said, nodding her head.

"Well, I hate to end on such an awkward note, but I think it's time we left for home," Solon said, looking at Lilith.

"Oh, right, they want us home by six," Lilith sighed, pouting at her cousin. "Sorry, guys," she said, giving her other classmates a smile. "Today was a lot of fun, but Sol's right: we've gotta get going."

"I should probably head back, too," Whitley said, grimacing as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Looks like Winter expected me to be back a few minutes ago."

"Oof, that sucks," Ruby said, wincing.

"Yeah," Whitley said with a sigh as he started walking away. "Bye, guys. See you on Monday," he added before breaking into a jog towards the mall's parking lot.

"Bye!" Lilith said as well, waving as she and her cousin walked to the parking lot at a much more sedate pace.

"Well, I've still got some time to kill," Izzy said after they had left. "Think I'll go through a bookstore or two before I head home."

"You want some company?" Ruby asked. "My folks aren't expecting me home 'till seven at the earliest."

Neo nodded her head, flipping to a page in her notepad where the word same had been written hours earlier.

"Sure, that's fine," Izzy said somewhat dismissively before walking off in a seemingly random direction.

Neo and Ruby followed Izzy to a bookstore called The Eldritch Tome, a bookstore which primarily carried fantasy novels, books about mythology, and various game books, as well as a handful of spooky-looking decorations that most stores would only sell around Halloween, if at all. The Tome's bookshelves were made from a dark wood that had been heavily weathered, likely artificially in an attempt to make them look older, and the few bits of furniture scattered around were of a similar make. The walls had been painted a dark green in alternating brushstrokes; the pattern filled Neo with a deep-seated anxiety, which she realized after a moment was because it made her subconsciously think of being lost in a dark forest. All in all, Neo decided, The Eldritch Tome more than lived up to its name.

Izzy split off from them almost the instant they got there, making a beeline to a specific section of the store instant of browsing through all the shelves, but Neo decided to keep somewhat close to Ruby; she tried to rationalize it as wanting to make it easier on herself if an employee tried to help her, which was at least somewhat true, but she knew that she just wanted to keep her classmate in sight for a different reason, one that Whitley had found out almost immediately.

Neo let out a soundless sigh as she looked away from her crush, instead reading the title of the books on the shelf in front of her, hoping that she'd find one that would catch her attention. Minutes passed slowly for her, glancing at Ruby occasionally as she browsed the books she could; she made sure to pay extra attention to the books that Ruby seemed interested in, too, in an attempt to find out a little more about the detectives' daughter.

Almost before she knew it, though, half an hour had gone by, and she'd picked out a few books to buy for herself. Ruby had done the same, and the two of them went to the counter to pay for them, only to bump into Izzy on their way.

The blonde was staring intently, almost aggressively, at a thick hardcover book that didn't have a title. "What's that?" Ruby asked, making Izzy jump.

"Damn it, Ruby," Izzy said, cracking her neck nervously. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Why? What's with this book?" Ruby asked, tilting her head to one side as she looked between Izzy and the book.

"It doesn't have a title," Izzy said, her cheeks reddening as she started explaining. "It got me thinking about some old stories I'd heard. Stuff about cursed books and shit like that. You know, the sorts of things that follow you around no matter how much you try to get rid of them."

"Oh," Ruby said, picking the book off the shelf and opening it to a random page. "It doesn't seem all that bad to me," she added after a moment of flipping through pages. "I think I've read this one before, actually. It might just be a misprint that got shipped out by mistake."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Izzy mumbled, her blush deepening. "I should get headed home," she added after a moment, already walking away.

Neo raised an eyebrow at the blonde. She'd thought that Izzy was the sort of person who didn't get embarrassed, but apparently she did, but only by certain things, like being caught entertaining a somewhat childish fantasy.

Ruby frowned as Izzy left, turning to Neo to timidly ask, "Did I do something wrong?"

Neo gave her a reassuring smile as she pulled out her notepad, flipped to a blank page, and started writing.

I think so, but I don't really blame you. That wasn't the sort of thing that anyone could predict, I think.

Ruby bit her lip as she looked away from Neo, in the direction that Izzy had left. "What should I do?"

Neo cocked her head to one side, thinking, then started writing again.

Maybe just give her some space? Not bringing it up again yourself might be a good idea, too.

"Okay," Ruby said quietly, still worrying about what she'd done wrong.

It gave Neo another insight into the young woman: she might be blunt and forward at times, but she was also just as anxious and self-conscious as anyone else her age. What's more, she didn't know all that much about interacting with other people, if the way she'd immediately asked Neo, who she'd only known for a week, was any indication.

Neo wrote out another message, then tapped Ruby's shoulder to get her attention.

Don't worry about it. I would've asked her too if you hadn't beaten me to it.

Ruby gave Neo a somewhat relieved smile, saying, "Thanks, Neo."

The shorter girl smiled all the way through the two of them paying for their books, walking to the parking lot, and parting ways at the bus stop.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

"You made some great progress today, Penny," Taiyang said, praising the panting young woman in front of him.

The two of them, along with Ren and Nora, had gone to an abandoned factory in the Harpy district. With high concrete walls, a narrow entrance, and only a handful of windows too far up to actually be relevant, the chances of the pyromancer's practice being discovered were slim. She'd conjured up more flame than she'd ever done before, and it left her feeling strangely empty, but in a good way.

"Wow, you lasted a lot longer than I did my first time," Nora commented, patting Penny on the back and grinning broadly at her. Penny just gave her a nervous, tired smile, too exhausted to even pull her sweat-drenched hair off of her face.

"I think... I think I went too far," Penny said between pants for breath as she looked at Taiyang. "I feel... weird."

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Nora said. "It feels good the first time, doesn't it? Like a hard workout."

"Alright, I think that's enough for the day," Taiyang said. "You'll probably want to come back here again in a week or so, though."

"I have to do this every week?" Penny asked, her shoulders slumping. "We were here for, for like three hours!"

"Relax, Penny: it won't take that long every time," Taiyang said with a chuckle. "This was to, pardon the pun, burn through all the excess power you've been building up for your entire life. Odds are you did reach an upper limit to how much your body could store at some point, which was why you were having a hard time containing it, but I sincerely doubt you'll build up that much by next week."

"Is that how it is for you?" Penny asked, her breathing under control again, which was baffling to her. Despite the sheer amount of flame she'd wound up conjuring in the warehouse, there was still plenty of oxygen around, and the air barely smelled like smoke at all.

"No, aerokinetics work a bit differently," Taiyang explained, shaking his head. "We're always surrounded by our element, so we just naturally bleed off excess power. We also build it up a lot faster, for the same reason. Oh, that reminds me: until you get better control over your pyrokinesis, you'll want to stay away from open flames when you can. A few minutes probably won't add too much to your power, so you should be fine using a stove or lighting a few candles when you take a bath, but I'd still be careful not to get too close to anything bigger than that."

"Good thing I don't have any candles," Penny mumbled to herself.

"Hey, you're still pretty lucky compared to me," Nora said, pouting at the younger redhead. "I've got to recharge my phone every day, and I need to blow off some steam almost as often because of how much electricity there just is, all around us."

"It's probably part of why she has such strong emotions," Ren said, putting his hand on Nora's shoulder. "You should be aware of that, too. You might start getting mood swings when you're around fires."

"O-okay," Penny said, shivering as she realized just how sweaty she was. It had soaked through her shirt, which was now clinging to her skin.

"Come on, let's get you guys home," Taiyang said, ushering the three teenagers out of the warehouse. "You'll want to have me or one of my daughters with you when you come back here, Penny," he continued as the four of them walked to his car, which was parked two blocks away. "Without one of us filtering the air, practicing with fire in an enclosed space could be dangerous."

"Okay, sir," Penny mumbled.

"Oh, so that's what was happening!" Nora exclaimed, her blue eyes wide. "I was really confused why I could breathe in there!"

That drew a giggle from Penny; despite being disheartened by having needed to move to a new country after learning that she was, in her own words, a "freak", she was happy to know that there were people who cared enough to help her. The fact that everyone she'd met so far in this city had powers as well was going a long way to soothe her as well, though that might have just been Ren's powers.

Either way, Penny was starting to look forward to her first day at Beacon High.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Dinner in the Xiao Long / Rose household that night was a happy affair. Summer had managed to get home even before her husband, claiming that what little paperwork she had left could wait for tomorrow, and Yang had proudly proclaimed that she'd only broken a single drumstick while getting back into playing her instrument of choice. The three ladies pitched in to help Taiyang make dinner once he'd gotten back, with Ruby and Summer only eating a few oven-baked fries apiece before they'd managed to load everything onto the table.

"So, how'd your day go, Taiya?" Summer asked around a bite of her burger, a simple ground turkey patty on a bun loaded high with fresh spinach, as well as slices of onion and tomato.

"Eh, it was alright," Taiyang said, stabbing his fork into a cube of watermelon in a bowl next to his plate. "I managed to drag Ruby away from her classmates a bit to help me with someone new to town, then helped her drain her reserves so she wouldn't have much chance of hurting anyone while she learns some control."

"What's her power?" Summer asked.

"Fire," Ruby said, picking up a fry from the mountain of them on her plate and devouring it in two swift bites.

"Her dad made some arrangements to get her into Ruby's class, so she'll be taking care of her," Taiyang said, grinning at his daughter.

"Following in Dad's footsteps, Rubes?" Yang asked, also grinning at Ruby. "I thought you wanted to take after Mom?"

"Shut up, Yang," Ruby grumbled, blushing as she glared at her sister. That prompted a few chuckles from the table, and the conversation continued from there, everyone telling each other about their days went. Jokes were made, most of which drew groans instead of laughs. It was the sort of family dinner conversation that isn't very interesting to an outside observer, really.

Later on, after everyone had finished eating, Yang and Ruby went to Yang's room to goof off while they killed time before going to bed. Yang had settled down at the chair at her desk, and Ruby sat down on the edge of Yang's bed, which was quite a bit taller than it needed to be, thanks to the overly large bed frame and box spring that the mattress rested on.

"So, how'd things go with you and everyone?" Yang asked pretty much the instant she sat down, making Ruby sigh.

"It went fine, Yang," Ruby said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just saying, you never really spent any time with kids your own age," Yang said, drawing another sigh from the younger girl. "You mostly hung out with me and Blake. Don't get me wrong, I like having you around, but I guess I'm just curious."

"About what?"

"Why?" Yang asked. When Ruby cocked her head to one side, Yang continued, saying, "Why now? Why them? What's different now that didn't happen before?"

"Oh," Ruby said, shifting in her seat, her brow furrowed as she thought. "I guess... I mean, I always thought most people my age weren't as mature as me," Ruby explained, blushing when Yang smirked at her. "I know how it sounds, but... back when every other girl my age was trying to figure out how to look pretty, I was trying to figure out how many scholarships I'd need to take to go to college for free. When girls my age were trying to get the guys they liked to go out with them, I was learning how to fight and think like a police officer."

"Yeah, I remember that," Yang said, smiling at the memories. "Is that the reason why you stuck to us so much? Because Blake and I didn't care as much about being pretty or looking for someone to be with quite yet?"

"I-I guess, maybe," Ruby said, blushing again. "Plus, you're my sister, and Blake's like our sister, too. I knew I could be myself around you two without feeling like a weirdo because I knew you would still be my family."

"What about Weiss?" Yang asked. "I mean, the two of you get along pretty well. Probably better than I get along with her, given how shy and weird she gets around me."

Ruby smiled faintly at that, but said, "Well, uh, I think she's part of why I could do this. I mean, hang out with my classmates. She made me realize that I could still be myself around people who weren't family and still... be fine, I guess. She doesn't think of me like that, so, uh, I-I mean..." Ruby trailed off, blushing.

"Shut up," Yang said, unable to keep herself from grinning. "You've got a crush on Weiss?"

"Yang!" Ruby whined, seeming to shrink into herself. "I don't have a crush on her!"

"Don't bother lying to me, Rubes: I know all your tells," Yang said, her grin growing wider. "So, what do you think is her best feature, huh?"

"Please stop, Yang," Ruby said quietly, turning her head away from her sister. Yang blinked at her, confused; though Ruby was still blushing, she looked small, subdued. Sad.

"Ruby?" Yang asked, standing up from her chair and moving to sit down next to her on the bed. "What's wrong?"

Ruby just shook her head, still not meeting Yang's eyes. "I..." she began, only to sigh and trail off.

"Hey, you can tell me," Yang said, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"You know," Ruby said, her voice cracking. "You know that I... and Mom..."

It took Yang a moment to understand. When she did, she tugged Ruby into a deep hug, holding her close as Ruby dipped her head to Yang's shoulder and started to cry, and remembered something that their father had told her two years ago.

"The metabolism of a bloodmaker is a double-edged sword," Taiyang had said. "On the one hand, it lets them recover from scrapes and bruises almost as fast as they can get them, and from stuff on the level of a broken bone overnight. Their immune systems are top of the line, too; they don't feel most diseases, and can recover from the rest of them in just a day or two. But, this comes at a cost. You've already seen how much your mom and sister can eat, Yang, but... Summer's doctor told us something else. He said that her cells looked like they belonged to someone seventy years old, not forty-five. He said that... he said that she's not going to make it another ten years, and he doesn't think Ruby will live to be much older."

Yang closed her eyes as she held her crying sister, keeping her own tears at bay. She had to be strong, no matter how much it hurt. Unfortunately for her, she also remembered another conversation she'd had recently.

"I have Lupus," Blake said bluntly, her voice so quiet that Yang thought she'd misheard her.

"What?" Yang asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Lupus," Blake repeated, wiping at her eyes. She flinched when her hands brushed over the half-moon shaped rashes that had grown over her cheeks, letting out a choked-off sound that could have been the beginning of a sob. "I don't... I won't live forever, Yang. If... If there isn't a cure found soon... It'll destroy my liver before I turn thirty."

She clenched her eyes shut and held her sister tighter, clinging to her for as long as she could.

Yang had to stay strong for the people she loved, until she was old and alone.

XxxXxxXxxXxxXxxX

Muahahaha! If you could only see your face right now!

But yes, I plan on sticking to my guns about this. Summer's only got like eight years left to live, more if she keeps her stress low and lives a healthy life (not likely to happen for a cop). The odds of her living to see Ruby graduate from college are... well, let's just say that I feed off of your misery and pain and leave it at that.

Mmm, delicious.

There is something else worth noting, though: I've given you all the clues you need to figure out exactly what this story is building towards. You'll get a confirmation at the end of the next chapter, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, but I won't feel the need to give any more hints.

With that said, I think we're done with this chapter! Until next time, everyone!