"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that the final one" Yang cried out punching a large spikey beowolf in the face several times with an echoing explosion of her shotgun blasting. It had been a week since classes had started and now in an attempt to try and build some teamwork among her new team, Ruby had suggested to go out to the Emerald Forest after class but several hours wandering around forest found nothing until they had finally stumbled on what had seemed to be a small pack of Beowolves.

With an uppercut the already dead beowolf flew up into the sky, slowly disintegrating to nothingness. "Well that was easy" Yang chuckled happily.

A sudden rustling of the foliage behind her caused her to spin around to see a larger beowolf flying towards her, claws extended and eyes glinting of madness. Before she could react there was a slight flash and the airborne Grimm was severed at the waist, the separate pieces falling to the ground.

"You should keep an eye on your back" Blake said in an even tone as she sheathed her weapon.

Over to the left Ruby had just collapsed her scythe back to its more smaller form as Weiss pulled her sword out of the eye socket of another one and sheathed it at her waist with a click.

Things between the two girls had improved her the last few days though they had started of tense. Ruby didn't know how to react to Weiss's accusation that she had done nothing to earn her position at Beacon and to be team leader. To be honest when she had been selected as the leader she had panicked.

Why had he made her leader? Was it honestly because he thought she had the potential to become a great leader, or did he see something in her?

If it wasn't for the fact that he seemed unaware of her hidden life when they had talked on the second day she would have still been worrying. Weiss on the other hand had mellowed out over the last few days, offering to help Ruby catch up on the subjects she was behind in.

Ruby hadn't realised in all the excitement of coming to Beacon (and due to her busy nightlife) that while she was able to keep up with her new classmates in combat and weapon crafting, she was two years behind in several of the more theoretical studies.

Due to this she hadn't had the chance to sneak off to check to see how things were going in the city since Weiss had taken it upon herself to catch Ruby up over several late night cramming sessions.

The result, while not knowing everything she needed to know, was that she was able to keep up slightly better even if she had to ask Weiss or Yang for help.

Blake had helped her sometimes but she often felt a bit distant compared to the others, reading her book curled up on her bunk while occasionally chipping in with some useful information one of the others hadn't covered.

"Why would I do that when I know I have you watching it for me Blakey?" Yang said happily smiling as she walked back over to Ruby.

With a shake of her head, Blake followed on behind her. "What would happen if we were outnumbered and I was in combat when something tried to get a lucky bite in?" Blake question dryly.

"I'd punch it in the FACE!" Yang said with an exuberant fist pump as her gauntlets folded back down to her wrist.

"You're such a brute" Weiss told Yang with a sigh as she turned around to face Ruby.

"We have been out here for hours and only encountered this small pack, think it's time to head back?"

Ruby looked at the older girl before nodding, "Sound's good. It's starting to get late and this way we can have a rest before we head down to dinner"

"Alright let's go!" Yang said turning and walking off into the woods.

"Wrong way" Blake commented as Yang seamlessly turned around and started heading in the opposite direction.

Blake sighed and followed her off into the woods. Shaking her head Weiss turned to her younger partner.

"You did an adequate job today" she commented briefly before she turned around and marched after the other two girls into the woods, leaving Ruby awkwardly shuffling her feet due to the sudden praise.

Things all in all didn't seem to bead for Ruby at the moment. Blinking she looked around and saw that everyone was gone

"Wait for mee!" she cried and dashed after them into the woods.


Ruby let out an exhausted puff of air as she flopped back on her armchair. Since it was the weekend she had managed to convince her teammates that she was going to spend a night with a friend from Signal to catch up, it was an excuse she had used on Yang a lot, letting her go and focus on her other job.

While she enjoyed the company of her new friends she found the sounds of the sewers strangely comforting after spending so much time there. She had made plans and plots here, managed several dozen operations over the years, but more importantly this was where she had designed and built several prototypes of Crescent Rose and many other weapons.

She found it relaxing to build weapons, some part of her really enjoyed putting them together and trying to make each one bigger and better and nowhere was better than her secret sewer lair with a fully functional workshop meaning she could go wild.

She had made an hatchet that turned into a machine gun, a spear that double as a flame thrower (though it was possible to change the element with dust) even a massive mace that turned into a cannon that shot dust infused cannonballs.

The last one was defiantly a fun weapon to use, though the sheer size of it and the added weight made it impractical even though it had blown a hole through several grimm and the trees behind it and implanted itself into the ground when it came to a stop.

She had even created the cane that Torchwick used, even though he only had his hands on the original design.

There had been several upgrades, improving the materials and the functions of it each time.

Everyone needed a hobby and while some people read or play games, she made crazy weapons to murder grimm with.

It had been a week however since she had spoken to her subordinates and while she had faith in their ability to do their jobs, she rather be kept inside the loop.

Clicking on her mask she walked over to her console and hit the buttons to activate the transmission.

With a shimmer a large screen on the wall turned on showing her the warehouse that was currently being used by her organization only to blink at the unexpected angry roar that greeted her.

"I DON'T CARE!"

"I have already told you before, Ms Thorn will be in contact when she is ready to speak with us" the calm tones of Roman replied.

"AND I SAID I DON'T CARE! FIVE OF MY MEN HAVE GONE MISSING IN THE LAST WEEK! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO JUST GET ME THAT BITCH DOWN HERE!"

The angered man, who towered over the well-dressed thief had two tusks jutting out from his mouth and a slightly piggish nose with a large metal nose ring. On his head were to floppy pig ears and a purplish colour Mohawk.

On his face was a slightly smaller version of the grimm mask worn by most white fang members, only that it covered the eyes and had single red stripes going down vertically at the centre of each eye.

He was the leader of the white fang under the employee of Roman and Ruby.

"I must politely ask you to calm down." Roman said surprisingly calmly as the warthog Faunus seemed to spit every time he spoke.

"It would not do you any good to talk about Ms Thorn that way. I can understand you are angry about your missing companions and when I have the chance to speak with her I shall pass on this information."

"ENOUGH! YOU BLOODY HUMANS THINK YOU'RE TOO IMPORTANT TO CHECK FOR MY MISSING MEN!"

The enraged man slammed his flabby hand down on the metal table next to him, sinking it in several inches.

"Enough." The calm voice freezing any both of the men in place.

"May I ask what you mean about your men going missing Varken?"

He turned, eyes still squinted in burning rage before he took a breath and spoke in a barely controlled growl.

"Over the last week several of my men have gone missing when out in the city. The first was Bruns a teenage rat Faunus that never returned after someone kicked him out of the warehouse early this week. "

Roman sighed "If he was capable of carrying a box across the room without getting tangled in his tail maybe I wouldn't have needed to."

"HE WAS JUST A BOY!" Varken roared spinning around to face the white suited thief.

"Silence" interrupted the holographic Ruby, "I will look into this. Now if you may Varken I have much to discuss with Roman."

"But.."

Focusing her gaze on him, the holographic version of Ruby followed the movement.

"I am aware you are worried about your men Varken but yelling at us will not find them any quicker. At the moment the best thing you can do is to continue with your current job and leave the situation in my hands."

For a second the larger man looked like he was going to complain before he stopped and turned away stomping off.

"Now Roman, Did you have anything to do with these missing Faunus."

"Do you really think I would risk the operation by getting rid of our work staff? These animals might not be worth much but they are all I have to get the current job done.

The outrage on his face of being accused of the actions complimented his story.

"Despite that lump of lards opinion I have already sent out men to try and find them, in case they gave away information on our current goals."

As the masked hologram in front of him nods he continues, "I also been told by Junior that Floin Flynn has started kicking up trouble downtown, trying to get his old gang back together."

Floin Flynn used to run a black market in downtown vale, while stronger than his criminal brethren due to the fact he had his aura unlocked he still had not discovered his semblance. His choice in weapon on the other hand was a large flail with four spike balls on the end of four chains.

"Keep an eye on him for the time being, let me know if he causes any more problems" Ruby addressed her subordinate calmly.

"I have asked Asia to keep an eye on him, she said she had several of our men watching his operation."

While Ruby often checked in Roman several of the others under her employ were managing the normal running of her empire and therefor didn't need constant supervision. Roman on the other hand had a specific task and often managed the day to day problems of the other districts problems.

"That's good Roman. You know how to contact me if there is an emergency."

Another click and the holographic display cut off.

Things were running smoothly.