Author's Note:

Hello readers, I wanted to clarify what I meant by saying no outside influence. I feel that if I take outside influence for content the story will derail from my own ideas. So sorry if I don't take into consideration what you guys want to read.

Anyway, in other news, if you don't know already the opening for RWBY Volume 2 is out. So I'm pretty hyped about that.

Chapter 3: Ball and Steel

The next day was rather quiet and little Ruby was back to her old bubbly little self. She even shook me awake with a smile on her face saying that today was the day. She had bounced around the house before I settled her down and took her to art class. I dropped her off and went back to the amazing coffee store I went to yesterday. I ordered my usual coffee with two creams when I got the magical brew back and it smelt wonderful. I drank up the coffee in anticipation and enjoyed every minute of it. I sighed and leaned back putting my black fedora on the table and looking over the daily newspaper, on the front line it blazed the title SCHNEE BALL TODAY.

I sighed and thought about the assignment, I needed to identify a disguised master thief who would most likely attend the ball. And, since this ball has been televised and advertised so much maybe even have to deal with the White Fang, a whole bunch of damned hooligans crashing a party and attempting murder the guests. I stared outside at a building for a while before one of the waiters came. It was the same waiter that took my order the first day I was here, "Sir, would you like a refill?" She asked.

I turned over a bit surprised, regaining composure. "Yeah, sure thanks." I replied handing over the cup.

She handed me the cup and I immediately took a sip. "So what's on your mind?"

"Nothing, just thinking about the ball," I replied.

"Oh yeah," She replied avoiding eye contact as if she was nervous.

I noticed this and asked, "So why are you so avoiding me?"

"No reason at all." She replied avoiding the situation.

"Nah, that can't be. Sit, I've got a while before I have to leave." I said inviting her.

She sat down awkwardly leaving the coffee pot on the table. She seemed to want to leave but she sighed and calmed down. "So what's bothering you?" I asked.

"Nothing really, I just have a bit of a problem," She replied sighing.

"Oh really? Tell me, what's wrong?"

"Well," She paused sighing. "I have debt problems.

I continued to pay attention as she continued on with her story. I took a sip of coffee questioning her curiously, "Okay, what do you mean?"

"Let's just say I'm in debt to the wrong people." She continued.

At that moment I felt an immediate buzz from my pocket, so I pulled out my phone and noticed that it was already noon. "Oh, man. Sorry miss but I need to pick up my daughter. I'll see if I can chat with you later." I said picking up my hat and rushing out the door.

"Bye." She said before I left.

I'd left to pick up Ruby from her art class. She came up and had a new drawing with her, this time it was a beautiful sketch of a bird singing on a branch. She was humming to herself and being happy. "Are you excited for the party?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can't wait to meet Weiss." Ruby said giving me a big grin.

"That's great, but first we need to get food." I stated.

"How about Chinese food?" She asked.

"Sure, there's a new place opening."

"Sounds great Dad!"

We ate in a small restaurant and Ruby was humming and smiling in her chair. Anticipating what would be happening tonight. "We need to get you changed after this." I stated.

"For sure Dad, I want to dress nice for tonight especially for Weiss." She said smiling.

The food arrived and Ruby smelt the air, taking in the sweet smell of freshly cooked meat and rice. "Mmm, smells good!"

"Alright, let's eat." I said grabbing my bowl to scoop up rice before noticing Ruby had a piece of pork in her mouth.

"Mmh." She nodded enjoying the food.

I smiled and slowly ate as the little seven year-old ate quickly savouring every moment of it. Ruby finished her food as she exclaimed, "So good!" Her face was smeared in sauce and rice, I bent over to wipe her face and she giggled. Desert came and Ruby was delighted to see a plate of cookies in a Chinese restaurant.

I took her small hand and we walked out the door, arriving home Ruby stormed up into her bedroom to change slamming the door. I headed into my room calmly and looked into my wardrobe, this wasn't exactly a party for me but I need to dress the part. I picked out a thin fitting tux and wore it with a black tie. I grabbed one of my nicer black fedoras for party occasions and began to dress myself. I also loaded up a revolver in case the situation got dire and put on a light bullet proof vest. I walked out the door as I tightened the tie. Ruby was wearing a small full black dress with red trimming. I take her small hand and kneel down. I try to humour her a bit "Will the princess see the other princess?" I say with a smile.

She giggled a bit and said excitedly "Yea Dad, let's go!" I take her small hand and lead her to the car.

We arrived at the mansion and Ruby stared out in wonder, her big wide eyes surveyed the scene. The lights from the ground highlights blinked in the air moving around. The white mansion illuminated pillars at the corners and a brick wall. The top was covered in small statues decorating the outside with a triangular roof. Many people were coming from the side parking lot into the front door. The place was writhing with life and Ruby was stunned by the air. "Wow …" She said.

I parked in the parking lot and lead her into the front, the servant at the door took our names and looked down the list. He was dressed in a dark immaculate suit. He immediately recognized my name and said smiling "Welcome detective, enjoy the party." He said handing me two masks, one red and one blue. I promptly gave Ruby the red mask and she wore it smiling. I smiled back and I led her inside. The dinner was about to start as we hurried into our seats. Adam invited us to sit right next to him and his daughter Weiss. I promptly took my seat next to Adam and he addressed the guests.

"Tonight we celebrate another year of peace and prosperity at my company. But I will not be blathering on about just my company, for we should all enjoy our own prosperities. That is why I have called you all tonight. We honour not only our prosperity but our prosperous future." He said picking up his glass of wine "To another year of prosperity."

I grabbed my glass and everyone did the same. Ruby was bit weirded out by how formal the occasion was. Her hands were shaking a bit trying to support the large glass. I held her hand to support it and she smiled at me. Everyone then said, "To another year of prosperity."

"Now enjoy the feast friends." Adam said sitting down.

The food came by and Ruby smelt the air. "Ah," she said enjoying the savoury smell. A small selection of appetizers lined in front of us. Ruby began to scoop salads bread and other appetizers until she had a full plate. She did all of this very quickly before I'd even begun to reach for a piece of bread.

"Hey sweetie? You know that there is more food than this." I said whispering to her.

She blushed embarrassed, "Oh sorry Dad, haha." She replied looking at her filled plate.

"Here let me help you." I said scooping half of the enormous plate onto my own.

"Thanks Dad," Ruby said giggling a bit blushing.

"You want to look good in front of Weiss right?" I replied chuckling.

"Yeah, thanks for the help Dad." Ruby thanked.

"No problem," I answered.

I dived in fork first into the plate and began to eat it slowly. After I finished the meat was served and Adam thanked the waiter. He then turned to me his elbows on the table crossed. "So have you identified the thief yet?" He asked.

I scanned the room and all of the guests had their masks on so it was almost impossible to tell what each person looked like underneath. Also everyone was quite far away so I couldn't make out the details. I expect this thief; Blake is hiding her Faunus features somehow. I scanned the room but I still couldn't make out any features. I knew that she had light toned skin, cat ears and amber eyes. But besides that I couldn't easily identify it because of the massive size of the room and the masks.

"Sorry Adam, but it's hard to identify people with the massive size of this room. I'll try to float around when people are beginning to dance. Chances are that I'll find her." I said tilted into his ear as he leaned in.

"Very well, I trust you." He looked over at his daughter. "I hope the evening is great for our daughters."

"I'm sure it will be."

We ate in silence with chatter about around us. Guests would leave their seats to talk to other guests around the table politely of course. Adam didn't seem to mind, his guests were enjoying themselves so he was content. When the dinner finished we were excused outside into the front as the servants cleared out the room. Chatter was abundant and I lost sight of Ruby, she probably went off to talk to Weiss.

I needed to find this thief. I know that she would hide her Faunus features, mainly her Cat ears. So I needed to find suspicious individuals with headgear of some sort and question them. I waded through the crowd asking individuals with head gear to show me what was underneath. I almost got through all of them when we were let back inside for the dance. I waded through the crowd to not be suspicious and the floor was empty except for a large center carpet and a few chairs along the walls. Everyone got a partner and began to dance to slow classical music. I was forcibly paired with a lady in white. Her hair was white as snow and was tied in an elegant tail. She had cold blue eyes and a pale toned face underneath a white sequined mask. "Hello detective Andrew. I trust that my husband's party is going well." She said.

"Oh, hey Carole, it's been a long time hasn't it?" I said taking her hand.

She lightly grabbed my hand returning the favour. "Yes indeed Andrew."

Classical music was playing and everyone was doing a slow waltz like dance so I followed suit. "Just like old times huh?" I said smiling.

"Yeah, just like old times." She said making a small smile. "So, how has your work for tonight going?"

"Did your husband send you here?" I asked a bit appalled.

"No, but I would like to know as it is my husband." She replied.

I sighed, "Well, it's hard identifying everyone here. But I'm working on it."

"Thank you for your service." She said thanking me.

"No problem, it's good to see you again." I said.

"Yeah, we're doing great over here. I'm sorry I couldn't come to Summer's funeral. Everything was just so busy."

"Don't worry about it," I said assuring her. "I know you two were close friends, it must've hit you hard too."

"Oh, my husband is calling me. It's great to see you again Andrew. Take care!" She said moving through the crowd.

I smiled enjoying seeing an old friend. Carole used to come by the station whenever her husband needed work done. I took the liberty to chat and get to know one of my most frequent clients. We soon became quick friends and she was the one that introduced me to Summer outside of work. The three of us were close friends but recently she's had to stay closer to home because of business work.

I was paired up with a different lady, she had a black and purple sequined mask, wearing a dark dress with white trimming and matching high heels. She took my hand and I obliged, I looked up at her face and saw glowing amber eyes. I then scanned the top of her head and she was wearing a dark bow on top of her flowing black hair. I returned to work and began to pull out my badge, as I was about to do it she leaned into my ear.

"You know it's me." She said whispering in my ear.

I didn't want to alert the crew just yet as I wanted to learn more information for myself.

"Why'd you have that look in your eyes when we met?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, it's personal."

"You're in the hands of the law, there is no personal." I stated attempting to grab her arm.

"I'm sorry but I can't be caught just yet." She said freeing her arm and escaping into the crowd.

I began to wade after her cursing under my mouth. "Damn it, I let her go again." The party around me was vibrant and as I reached the end of the crowd she was nowhere in sight. I cursed again and began to re-join the crowd when I heard a loud window crash.

People began to panic and several guards showed up to check the situation. All of them were armed with a standard police pistol and a baton. I body was thrown in from the side windows from the roofs. People panicked as they started to move out the back. Several White Fang members came crashing through the window with SMGs loaded and surveying the scene. They had silver masks with black eye slights to hide their faces. The police grabbed tables and flipped them over to create cover, engaging the White Fang members.

I looked over at the members and cursed, "The White Fang here, now? Of all the rotten places," I then remembered Ruby. She was beginning to run out the door when a shot almost hit her to her right.

I was ducking for cover when she screamed "Ah!"

"Ruby! Get out of here!" I yelled.

She hastily tried to open up the door and more narrowly miss her. "Dad!" She cried.

"Ruby! Come here! Stay close to me!"

She ran for the cover and ducked next to me underneath the stone top tables. Her face was wet. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah Dad," She whimpered.

"Stay here. I need to help the others." I said loading my revolver.

The revolver was silver and sleek with a straight handle. The design was for slick chamber switching when I fired. I flicked the clip back in as I raised from the cover shooting one of the White Fang members in the chest and immediately ducking down as rounds were sent my way. "Stay here." I ordered Ruby running to join the other force members.

One by one White Fang soldiers were shot down but soon our own numbers began to fade. We went slowly trickling from ten to eight to five as more and more White Fang soldiers advanced in. I quickly gunned down a lot of them while the rest of the guards repelled the attack stopping almost all of the White Fang soldiers from the front. That was when I heard a scream. It was Ruby's and one of the White Fang members was advancing with their sword drawn.

"No, never again!" I yelled remembering my promise to Summer.

I recklessly got up and unloaded my clip into the advancing White Fang soldiers running over to where Ruby was. I began to run hurriedly to make sure she was okay. In my reckless decision I felt a sharp pain in my back. I was shot with five or so bullets from one stray soldier. I fell over and could feel myself losing consciousness. I fell face first beside Ruby, her little seven year-old silver eyes began to cry. "Dad?"

"Are you okay?" I said coughing a bit of blood from being shot.

Ruby tried to pull me over and her face was wet from crying. "Dad! P-Please don't leave me." She whimpered.

"It's going to be okay sweetie be strong." I said hugging her. "I love you sweetie …" I said before losing consciousness and closing my eyes.

"NO! DAD!" She cried holding onto me tightly. "Don't leave me alone, please. I don't want to lose you too." That was all I remembered as I blacked out.