It's a Job Chapter 7: Mask of Lies
"Keep the change." Ruby handed the taxi driver twenty lien as she climbed out of the vehicle. She joined Blake on the sidewalk as the taxi pulled away into the busy afternoon traffic of downtown Vale.
"Thanks for bringing me," Blake said as the they started down the street.
"It's good to have the company," Ruby replied. "Besides, we have to get you officially registered as my servant as quickly as possible. I looked up the rules this morning while Yang was having you clean bathrooms. Right now, if somebody caught you without proper ID, you would be arrested, and I would have to prove you belonged to me."
"How are you going to register me without some proper chain of ownership?" Blake asked nervously. "Won't we get the same reaction here as we got at the slave market in North Bend?"
Ruby nodded. "We would. In all probability, you would be sent back to Rockbrook and hanged, and I'd have my huntress credentials revoked for slave-napping and fraud."
Blake looked sick. "Please, just kill me now. I'm assuming you have some kind of plan to get us out of this dilemma?"
Ruby nodded smugly. "I do. You been to Vale before?"
"I spent a couple of years here with a previous owner. I can't say I enjoyed it."
"That's too bad. Vale's a nice place. Hopefully this time around you'll like it better." Ruby pointed to a 4-story building half a block away. "That's where we're headed. The Vale Bounty Board HQ, or the VBB for short. Practically every official hunter on the continent gets their jobs through them. Keeps things orderly and legal. I have a friend or two there. With a little bit of creative paperwork, we can make you legitimate by the end of the afternoon."
"Orderly and legal, huh?" Blake sounded unconvinced.
"Ok, ok. In this case, I'm going to have to settle for orderly. We are a little bit outside of legal territory by now. Just stay close, and let me do the talking."
Ruby stopped in front of a heavy steel and glass door, and pulled it open. Blake followed her inside. They entered a large vestibule with stone walls, and were confronted by a giant armored door, engraved with images of huntsmen and huntresses and a huge VBB logo. Ruby walked up to it, and keyed an intercom.
"Huntress Ruby Rose, ID 3-7-3-R. I am accompanied by my domestic servant."
"Identification please," female voice responded as a small drawer slid open under the speaker.
Ruby dropped her ID card inside, and the drawer closed. A few seconds passed. "Wecome back, Miss Rose." With a metallic click, the massive door split in the middle and opened outwards.
Blake couldn't help but stare as she followed Ruby into the lobby of the VBB. Everything was polished marble, gleaming brass, and beautiful woodwork. Men and women in crisp dark green uniforms hurried back and forth. The guards Ruby had spoken to over the intercom nodded as they passed. Clearly, her new owner was well known here.
Ruby stopped in front of a carved elevator door and pressed the 'up' arrow. A few seconds passed, then the doors opened with a soft ding. Two huntsmen stood inside.
"Well, if it isnt Ruby Rose." The older of the two, a grizzled veteran with an eyepatch, clapped Ruby on the shoulder. "Still bustin' heads with that sister of yours?"
"Every chance I get," Ruby replied as the two men stepped out of the elevator.
"Glad to hear it. She's a good one, and no mistake. Only woman that's ever drunk me under the table!" The huntsman laughed uproariously. "Dom, this here's Ruby Rose. I ran across her and her sister when they were just pups fresh out of Beacon. Showed them a thing or two about staying alive in the field."
The second man nodded. He was young, Blake guessed he couldn't be much older than Ruby herself. "Ruby. It's been a while."
The older man paused. "Wait, you know her?"
"I started Beacon during her last year. We sparred once in Goodwitch's combat class."
"Ha! Bet that was over quick!"
Ruby shuffled awkwardly. "Actually, it was. I lost."
"An impurity in my dust," the younger man explained quickly. "She had a severe allergic reaction."
"All's fair in love and war," his companion joked.
Blake felt the air temperature drop noticeably. Ruby took a few awkward shuffles toward the elevator. The younger man who had been addressed as 'Dom' suddenly took an interest in a painting of Beacon Tower.
"Well, we'd best be going, Blake. Good seeing you again, Adrian. Watch your back out there!" Ruby pressed the 'up' arrow inside the elevator, forcing Blake to step in quickly before the door closed.
"What was that all about?" Blake asked once they were safely on their way up.
"Oh, that was Adrian Segura and Dominic Muller. Yang and I hunted with Adrian a few times when we were fresh out of Beacon."
Blake fixed Ruby with a severe look. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. What was that weirdness at the end?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Blake stood quietly, letting the silence get awkward.
"Ok, fine. Dominic and I dated for a short time. Didn't end well. Romance between hunters rarely does."
The elevator dinged as it reached the third floor.
"How... serious... did you get with him?" Blake pried, testing Ruby's reaction.
Ruby sighed, and exited the elevator. "Doesn't matter. You don't need to know that, and I don't need to revisit it. Please just leave it alone, Blake."
"Hmm. Definitely not any poorly healed scar tissue there," Blake thought to herself as she followed Ruby toward a wide office door marked "Collections". Ruby went inside without hesitation and walked up to a long wooden counter. Blake stopped just inside the door, awkwardly conscious of how out of place a faunus slave was in a hunter bounty office. She surveyed the scene before her. The collections office was very similar to a bank. Uniformed attendants manned four stations at the front, and paperwork was processed in small cubicles just behind them. Ruby was signing a form for a dark-skinned middle-aged man, who took her paperwork and disappeared into an office. She returned to where Blake stood with an exasperated wave of her arm.
"Paperwork. They didn't warn me about the paperwork in Beacon. You're lucky you don't have to care about forms and signatures and protocol and whatnot."
"If you wish, I would gladly trade the whips and chain gangs and uncertain future for your paperwork," Blake rejoined with a completely serious expression.
"Well, when you put it that way..."
"Miss Rose?" The attendant returned with a thick envelope. "Your allotted payment for the Gallas District field assignment. Additionally, I can confirm that you have a bounty from the Rockbrook Sheriff's Office, on hold pending the expiration of a 30-day verification period."
"Thanks, Carlos. I'll be seeing you then." She took the envelope and motioned to Blake. "Come on, we've got more work to do."
Ruby fanned the stack of bills through her hand as she walked out of the office. "Ah, payday. It's good money for helping Yang and a team of forest rangers run down a deathstalker brood. As long as our old friend Sheriff Martin comes through, we'll be looking at a fairly profitable month."
"Where to now?" Blake wondered as Ruby passed the elevator without stopping and headed deeper into the third floor.
"Now, we're going to visit an old friend of mine. Let's just say he made it a lot further up the ladder a lot faster than I did."
"I'm sorry, but Vice Director Ren is in an important meeting and positively cannot take visitors this afternoon." The secretary fixed Ruby with a stern glare, which Ruby completely ignored.
"Look, I know he told you that, but this is an emergency. Beyond high priority. If you only tell him what we want..."
"I won't, because I don't know what you want. All I know is that some huntress and a faunus slave are demanding to see the Vice Director of the VBB. That's not even close to a good enough reason for me to interrupt his meeting with the CEO of Borman's Imports. Do you have any idea how much business they would send our way by contracting hunters to escort shipments?"
"Fine. I'll just text him." Ruby pulled out her Scroll .
"Wait. You have the personal number of the Vice Director?"
"Yes, of course. I've known him for years. So unless you want me to tell him you wouldn't let us in..." Ruby held her Scroll out, dramatically entering the password.
"I guess I could see what he says." The secretary picked up her phone with distaste. "Who should I say is waiting?"
"Just tell him that RYBO wants a rematch on the food fight."
The secretary blinked. "Are you for real?"
"It's code." Ruby leaned across the desk, lowering her voice and doing her best superspy impersonation. "He'll know what it means."
Blake wasn't sure who was more surprised by what happened next, the secretary at the desk or the CEO that was politely ushered out of the office. The fat, expensively dressed businessman looked first at Ruby, then at the secretary.
"Vice Director Ren told me to send the visitors in immediately. Said it was a matter of national security. I know he's a busy man, and I will be happy to wait while you conduct your business, Huntress."
"Thank you." Ruby nodded politely. "I won't be long."
Blake could feel two sets of eyes boring into her back as she followed Ruby into the office. She couldn't blame them. It wasn't every day that a faunus slave found herself standing in front of the huge mahogany desk and the gold name plate of "Lie Ren, Vice Director, Vale Bounty Board"
The Vice Director stood stiffly and shook Ruby's hand. "Ruby. It's been too long. How's life out in the real world?"
"Oh, more of the same, only different. Grimm to kill, bandits to chase, bills to pay. How's the chair fitting these days?"
"It's a job," Ren shrugged. "Not my first choice of employment, but it's important work that keeps me busy. Nora's over on the east coast helping burn out lancer nests before winter. I'd rather be there, but that is no longer possible. Now sit, and tell me what's on your mind."
Blake studied the vice director as the three of them took their seats. He was a younger man, maybe a few years older than Ruby. It was hard to tell though, because half his face was a twisted mass of scars and burns. One eye was glass, and his left ear was obviously reconstructed. His movements were slow, and had the jerky effort of one who had been badly injured and was still healing.
Ruby launched into a recounting of the last four days, starting with the taijitu hunt and ending with the train ride home to Vale. Blake noticed that, once again, Ruby 'forgot' to mention the knife fight on the road. Ren listened carefully, waiting until the whole story was done before speaking.
"Ok... I understand your problem. You have no legal chain of ownership for your faunus. I suspect you need me to help you square that away?"
"Please, Ren, you've got to help us. As things stand now, Blake could be arrested and sent back to Rockbrook."
Ren rubbed his forehead. "What do you want me to do?"
"Create a contract to hunt down runaway slave Blake... we'll need to make up a last name I guess. Anyway, make a contract to catch a runaway slave. Make the reward for the contract possesion of the slave. I'll pick up the contract, immediately cash it in, and take legal ownership of Blake."
The vice director gave her a skeptical look. "You realize how many laws this violates? First of all, whether you and I agree with the penalty or not, she was legally sentenced to death for actual crimes."
"Which was commuted by the sheriff to a sentence of being bait for grimm, which she fulfilled."
"But that did not void the property right claim of her previous owner."
"A claim he relinquished by insisting she be killed. He wasn't getting her back anyway."
"And you have no problem bringing a convicted violent criminal faunus under your roof? How do know she won't try to stab you and your sister in your sleep? You're letting your feelings get in the way of logic, Ruby. Keep it professional."
"You know what? You're right." Ruby leaned forward, speaking with uncharacteristic intensity. "I am I putting feelings ahead of logic. There. I admit it. But all I've done for the last five years is carry precise destruction back and forth across Vale, remorselessly hunting down whatever my job told me to hunt down. I'm trying something new here. I'm trying to build something up, not cut it off at the knees."
Ren and Blake both looked at Ruby in surprise, caught off guard by her sudden admission. In the silence that followed, guilt knawed at Blake as she remembered her attempt on Ruby's life. This huntress had been trying to make something right, give her a second chance, and she had repaid it with a knife in the dark. Maybe she really was a monster.
Ren nodded slowly. "I understand, Ruby. I'll help you." He turned to his computer, and began keying in information. "I need a last name." He looked at Blake. "Do you have one?"
Blake hesitated. "Belladonna, I guess. That was my parents last name, but I haven't used it in years."
"Works for me." A few seconds later, a printer beside the desk spit out a document on official VBB stationary. Ren handed it to Ruby. "Here. This is an official custodial bounty form for escaped cat faunus slave Blake Belladonna. As long as you keep this form, she's yours. Take it by the Bureau of Faunus Indenturement and they'll give you official ownership tags."
"Thanks Ren!" Ruby exclaimed. "I knew I could count on you."
"Just be careful, I know you mean well, but not every story has a happy ending." For emphasis, Ren slowly closed the scarred lid of his glass eye.
There was a spring in Blake's step as she followed Ruby down the sidewalk outside the VBB. She was officially a slave again, but her old identity and the death sentence it carried was buried forever, and her new life looked far more promising than her old one ever had. Eager to show her new master she was ready to make the most of this second chance, Blake stepped alongside Ruby.
"Thanks again for everything you've done for me. I promise I'll do my best for you."
"I know you will," Ruby replied. "I meant what I said to Ren in his office. There's enough death and violence in this world already. Things will never get better if we don't at least try to give each other a fresh start. But I do have one question, and I want you to give me a truthful answer."
"Ok."
"The story about your child. Was it real? Or were you just saying whatever you thought you needed to say to keep me from slitting your throat?"
Blake hesitated, unsure what to tell her master. "The truth would probably be a good start," her conscience prodded. "But if they know the truth, they'll never trust you," survival instinct and its amoral practicality would not go quietly. Blake's silence drug on a few seconds longer, before Ruby nodded her head in understanding.
"It's ok, Blake. You were scared, alone, and you thought I was your enemy. But future, you have to be truthful with me. Ok?"
"Ok," Blake replied quietly, suddenly too ashamed to meet Ruby's eye. Lying had been a way of life for her. When you were a slave, you did and you said whatever was necessary to get you through another day. But now it felt... different. Dirty. Lying to Ruby felt like violating something pure and wholesome, like cutting down a flower in full bloom. Oh well, she couldn't dwell on it. It wasn't the first line she'd crossed. It wouldn't be the last.
"How do you know the vice president of the VBB?" Blake asked. Maybe a change of subject would help clear her mind.
"Oh, Ren and I go way back. He was on a team at Beacon that we spent a lot of time with. Same class as us and all that. He was badly injured when the White Fang attacked Beacon at the end of our first year. He was helping get wounded students and soldiers onto bullheads for evacuation, and a squad of terrorists shot him down with shoulder-launched rockets. He barely survived, and his injuries were severe enough he could never hunt again. Most of the wounded, they weren't so lucky. But you know what the amazing part is? Ren never held a grudge about it, never let blind hatred of all faunus cloud his judgment like some people did. He just took a job at the VBB and..."
Ruby rattled on, but Blake didn't hear a word of it. She was going to throw up. This wasn't possible. There was no way fate would play this cruel of a joke on her.
"Black One, status!"
"All Stinger elements are in overwatch position. Awaiting your go to engage bullheads." From her perch atop one of the dormitories, Blake surveyed the unfolding battle below her. Things were going well. Adam and his elite forces were driving across the grounds of Beacon Academy. Vengeance and justice were coming down on the worst of the faunus's oppressors, and Blake was honored to be a part of it.
"Bullhead spotted!" A dog faunus beside her reported.
Blake didn't hesitate. "Fire!" She commanded. A pair of dust rockets flashed out from her team. One flew wild, skimming over the ground before crashing into the wall of the cafeteria. The second locked on to the heat of the engines, and exploded with a brilliant flash.
Blake cheered as the bullhead spun out of control, but her exultation quickly turned to a cry of alarm.
"It's headed right for us! Run!" The stricken aircraft careened into their building, tearing across the roof, throwing shingles and masonry in all directions. The White Fang scattered in all directions, trying to get out of the way. Blake dove for a window, but a piece of flying lumber caught her in the gut. She remembered falling, stunned and spinning out of control. The ground rushed to meet her, there was an almighty crack... then nothing.
When she awoke, the battle was over. They had lost, and she had been captured. The chains that bound her arms and legs hurt, but not as much as the knowledge that life as she knew it had ended. She knew all too well what was coming next. Interrogation, torture, the forcible locking of her aura, and finally, slavery. Death would have been a mercy, and there was no mercy for a faunus terrorist in this world.
"Blake? Blake? You ok?" Ruby's concerned voice brought her back to reality.
"Huh? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Sorry, just thinking about something else." She wasn't fine, not by a long shot, but Ruby didn't need to know that.
"Well, were here." Ruby pointed at the sign which read "Bureau of Faunus Indenturement".
Blake shuddered. The Bureau had an evil reputation among slaves, and justifiably so. Its agents were largely responsible for the non-enforcement of the Faunus Indenture Code. In theory an organization to govern the relations between master and slave, it was mostly just another tool used by the humans to oppress the faunus. The agents of The Bureau had god-like authority over any and all slaves, and hushed whispers told stories of Bureau men executing faunus at the request of their owners. The sight of a Bureau uniform was enough to send a shiver down the spine of even the bravest faunus. And now, Ruby was taking her straight into the belly of the beast.
Sensing Blake's concern, Ruby paused, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll be in and out as quickly as possible. Nobody's going to hurt you." With that, Ruby turned and walked through the front doors.
"Come on Blake, get ahold of yourself. You've seen worse." Steeling herself, Blake followed Ruby into the headquarters of the enslavers of her people.
There were no armored doors like at the VBB, but security was heavy none the less. Guards with automatic dust carbines stood sentry inside the door, and more patrolled the halls leading out of the lobby. Blake couldn't blame them. The White Fang and militant faunus groups like them would have liked nothing better than to burn this monument of oppression to the ground.
Ruby crossed the lobby with a confident stride and stopped at a window marked "Information". Blake stood a few feet behind her, never taking her eyes off the floor. She could feel the guards watching her. This had to be what an animal felt like in a slaughterhouse. Every fiber of her being wanted to run for the door, but she stayed rooted to her spot. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only two or three minutes, Ruby left the window and motioned for Blake to follow.
"This way. With the paperwork Ren gave us, this won't take long." Blake stayed close on her master's heels as they walked through the halls of the Bureau. Unlike the VBB and its grand decorations of wood and brass and stone, the halls of the BFI were cold and sterile. Bright white lights glared off tile floors and undecorated painted walls. The men and women of the Bureau wore plain gray uniforms, and if they looked at Blake at all, it was with expressions of pure contempt. The unwelcoming atmosphere played on Blake's fears. All kinds of horrible fates flashed through her imagination.
"Huntress! Your slave has been identified as an escaped convict! We are seizing her for immediate execution!"
"Has anyone seen the missing test subject from the chem lab? Oh nevermind, she'll do."
"The dogs are getting restless! Run, slave, run!"
Blake pinched herself. "Focus, Belladonna. This isn't helping. They probably don't even do the experiments here."
"This looks like the place," Ruby announced after a short walk. She led Blake into a room marked "Registrations". A large sign just inside the door read 'No slaves beyond this point'.
Ruby shrugged. "Wait here, I guess." Leaving Blake, she approached a man at a desk. "Excuse me, I have a faunus in my possession on a custodial bounty. I need to officially register her."
The Bureau man took Ruby's paper and examined it. Satisfied all was in order, he stood. "Drake!" He called into an office. "We got a feral. Give me a hand out here?"
Blake's nose wrinkled in distaste. A feral. That's all she was here, an escaped animal being brought back into the pen. The man addressed as Drake emerged from the side room, and the two men returned with Ruby to where Blake waited.
"Ferals captured out on the frontier like this usually have no records of any kind, so we'll have to make a completely new ID for this one," the first man explained to Ruby as he scribbled on a clipboard. "I'll have you fill out the necessary papers while Drake processes the faunus."
Drake took a firm hold of Blake's elbow and pulled her towards his office. "Come on, cat. I'll make this quick and painless."
Well, that wasn't ominous at all. Blake glanced nervously at Ruby for reassurance, but her master was busy with the ownership forms. The room she was led into looked a bit like a doctor's office, if you ignored the handcuffs and leg irons.
"Shoes." The command was delivered in a bored monotone.
Blake kicked off her shoes without protest, mentally preparing for what she knew was coming. She had been 'processed' before. It was invasive and degrading, but she had come to accept it as just another unpleasant reality of slave life.
"On the scale."
She stepped onto a scale against the wall, and waited. Annoyance prickled inside her when she realized that the display had been intentionally covered. "Just another domination play," she though, "Not letting us see what our own bodies weigh."
Satisfied with the results, Drake put one hand on her shoulder and pushed her back against a measuring board on the wall. Once again, she realized she had been intentionally positioned so that she could not see the numbers. "It's all part of the game, just stay focused."
Next, her examiner took photographs of her standing in front of the measuring board, recording her head and shoulders for her Indentured Faunus Identification Card.
"Alright, Stray, you're doing just fine. Now sit in the chair." Blake complied, taking a seat in front of a small table. The man thumped a large touch-pad down in front of her, and firmly took Blake's right hand. Blake let her arm go limp as her palm and fingerprints were recorded first from one hand, then the other. It crossed her mind that the fingerprints could identify her as the allegedly executed slave from Rockbrook, but it was highly unlikely anybody would take the time to cross check the information of a 'dead' faunus. At least, she hoped they wouldn't.
"Ok, slave. Just one thing left. Do you have any identifying marks on your body? Scars, birthmarks, tattoos?"
"No," Blake answered quietly.
The man shrugged. "That's what they all say. Stand up, and turn around. I'm going to check for myself."
Ruby signed her name on yet another form, and pushed the paper across the desk. "Anything else?" She asked, hoping there wasn't.
"That's all of it. As soon as Drake finishes with the physical characteristics, we'll give you the tags and you'll be on your way."
Ruby was about to reply when a scuffling noise came from the office. "Hold still, animal! You're only making this worse for yourself!"
"Get your hands off me! You can't do this to me!"
"I can do whatever I want! Stop resisting or I'll tear them off you!"
Rose petals drifted in the registration office as Ruby crossed the distance to the door in the blink of an eye. Inside, she found the Bureau man struggling with Blake, trying to pin her across the table and pull her shirt over her shoulders.
"Stop!" The shout of command brought the struggle in the examination room to an abrupt end. "What in Oum's name are you doing to my servant?" The anger in Ruby's tone made the man release Blake, and step back. Blake instantly yanked her shirt back down past her waist.
"I apologize, excessive force was not my intent. But the slave refused to-"
"We are missing the point." Ruby strode into the room until she stood toe-to-toe with the Bureau agent. "Why were you trying to forcibly undress my servant?"
"Oh, that?" He waved a hand dismissively. "We have to check her for identifying marks. Scars or tattoos. It's standard procedure."
"Not today it isn't."
"But her records are incomplete! It is protocol."
"I don't care." Ruby's patience broke, and she stabbed the man in the chest with her finger. "You're not going to strip and humiliate my servant in front of me. Fill out the tag with what information you have, and I'm leaving."
Huntress and slaver glared at each other as seconds slipped by. Finally, the man gave a chuckle. "I see how it is. Nobody can do that but you. Ok, fine. If you insist on an incomplete tag, you'll get one. But don't blame us if that comes back to bite you later."
Ruby felt blood rushing to her face at the man's implication. "I think we're more than done here. Give me the tags. Now."
Blake stood to the side as her identification was finalized, staring at her feet and taking slow, measured breaths. That had been far, far too close. She owed Mistress Rose for her timely intervention, owed her far more than the huntress realized. "I'm really on a roll today," she reflected bitterly. "Here I am with the first person in years who's been legitimately good to me, and every time I turn around I'm feeding her half-truths and omissions."
"It's not too late to come clean," her long-repressed conscience refused to be quiet. Blake ground her teeth. It was too late. It had been too late a long time ago. She hadn't asked to be born with an extra set of ears. She hadn't asked to be thrown into a life of slavery and indignity. She had to look out for herself, and if other people were inconvenienced along the way? Well, that was just acceptable casualties in an unfair world. She straightened up, resolved hardening her heart. Ruby might be a decent person, but she was one human out of millions, and the rest didn't care if Blake lived or died. She couldn't rely on the goodness of her new master to protect her, and she certainly couldn't allow herself to slip into complacent servitude.
"Remember where you came from, Blake." She smiled as she watched Ruby take the completed indenture forms and coldly bid 'Good day' to the two BFI agents. She had a new lease on life, effective immediately. Her last try for freedom had ended on death row, and by all rights she should have died on the gallows or been torn apart by grimm. That would have been a horrible waste, and Blake swore to herself as she followed Ruby out of the Bureau that she would not repeat the mistakes that had so nearly cost her life. Too much depended on it.
"Well, that was unpleasant." Ruby took a deep breath of the fresh autumn air, letting the sunlight and breeze wash away the memory of the grim interior of the Indenturement Bureau. "But at least it's done, and we can get on with life. You okay, Blake?"
"Sure," Blake agreed a little too quickly, obviously doing her best to act nonchalant. "You get used to things like that happening when you're a slave."
Ruby made a face. "Just because it's normal doesn't mean it's decent. Whatever. You're under my protection now, and nobody will lay a hand on you without my say-so."
"Thank you," Blake responded without meeting her eye.
"Well," Ruby continued, "I have one more item of business. You've been wearing the same clothes since we met. Just because you're slave doesn't mean you shouldn't have a few changes of clothing. Let's catch a taxi, and I'll take you to meet a woman I know from the Beacon days. If anybody can make you look fashionable at a reasonable cost, it's her." Ruby stepped forward to the curb, and looked up and down the street for an available cab.
"Why don't you own your own car?" Blake queried.
Ruby shrugged. "I never needed to. For as much time as I spend away from Vale, vehicle taxes would be higher than the taxi fees I pay. If I need to get around in town, I can take public transport, or walk. I try to avoid riding with Yang on her motorcycle. I've always imagined living to be at least thirty, and I don't have a semblance that allows me to shrug off high speed accidents."
"And speak of the devil..." Blake pointed up the road.
A familiar yellow motorcycle raced up the street, weaving in and out between cars, driving the wrong way against traffic, and the traveling three times the posted speed limit.
"What in the actual... Yang! YANG!" Ruby screamed her sister's name as the motorcycle shot past. Yang's head whipped sideways in a flash of recognition, and she laid the motorcycle over in a suicidally sharp turn. Blake gasped in horror and looked away as Yang crossed three lanes of traffic and raced back up the street toward Ruby. Bumblebee skidded to a halt beside the curb, and Yang jumped off, leaving the engine idling.
"Ruby! Finally! I have been looking all over for you."
"Are you insane? Do you realize how many times you almost died in just the last 30 seconds?" Ruby tried her best to sound angry, but was unable to keep the concern for her sister's safety out of her voice.
"I dunno. Lost count. Anyway, you have got to see this. And I mean right now." Yang pushed her Scroll under Ruby's nose, and displayed a bounty contract screen. Ruby could tell from the glow on her older sister's face that Yang Xiao-Long, lazy alcoholic party girl, was dead and gone, and Yang Xiao-Long , expert professional huntress, was in the house.
Ruby scanned the contract, and her eyes widened. "Oh. Oh my."
"That's right, little sister. We are about to be rich. Obscenely. Filthy. Rich."
Author's Note:
Kind of a slow chapter, I'll admit. Like I said at the beginning of the story, I wanted to take a look at day to day life of a hunter in Vale, so I guess that's what I did a little bit in this one. All that said, some very important details were alluded to in this chapter, things that will make sense and be important as the story progresses. And yes, the truth of Blake's backstory, as well as her actual motives, are intentionally unclear.
Things will pick up speed again next chapter. Ruby definitely deserved a longer vacation, but hey, duty calls. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. 'Til next time!
