Please note: This chapter is currently non-beta'd, as my beta-reader Time96 is unavailable at the moment. Once he is free, he will beta-read this chapter, and I'll fix all mistakes I missed while reading myself then. You will find a note on my profile as soon as he has found the time to do so. In this case, it applies both to this part, and the one to follow during the next 36 hours.


What is up, restless spirits that you've found your way here, it is SorrowfulReincarnation.

Quite a few things have happened since the last chapter, huh? Sorry that it took so long, I was kind of occupied with the updates for my League of Legends-Series, which was in dire need of those and had an installment planned for a certain day. I've also tried to start the secret non-fanfiction project that I've mentioned on my profile, but complications arose and I fear I will need at least another week to start it.

Also, as you may have read if you kept checking my profile, I had a bit of streak of bad luck lately, first falling sick and then having an accident with hot oil that burnt my left hand and left me unable to write for a bit more than a week.

Still, I did try to write the update, but with all that happening and limited time, and the fact that this chapter turned out way longer than expected, I had to keep postponing it to this point that we are now. The point, at which I release the chapter – which has easily reached the length of two – in two parts. Below, you find the first part of chapter 8 "Corvus Redit", and some time during the next 36 hours, the second and way bigger part will be added as the next chapter – the part that gives the chapter its name, and that will be very important for the future plot.

That's not to say that this part isn't. Especially those who kept demanding to see more Ruby – which, honestly, I had every intention of since the very beginning – will be very pleased with this chapter, both parts of it, and will be happy to hear that she'll leading the next three chapters along with Yang. So, definitely more of her.

This part here? Entirely about her. The other part? About half of it is entirely about her.

A last important thing to note – as you see right below, I've added a warning. From now on, Dreams Crushed will incorporate elements from the third volume of RWBY, some of which are from the end of it. So, in order to avoid spoilers, I highly recommend watching Volume 3 in its entirety before you continue.

Now, let's no longer keep this from you. I believe there are more things to be said, like how excited I am for RWBY Chibi and the upcoming release of the Volume 3 Soundtrack, but we keep that for another time. So have fun reading this first part of chapter 8, and I'll see you tomorrow for the other half.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or its characters. They belong to Rooster Teeth.


IMPORTANT! - Please be aware that, from this point on, this story will include massive spoilers for Volume 3 of RWBY. Please only continue if you have watched up to the very end of RWBY Volume 3, or you might risk spoilers. You've been warned.


Chapter 8: Corvus redit, Part 1

Her steps were fast as hurried across the square in front of the train station, nervous. The large building and its clock tower were tinted in the orange of the day's last rays of sunlight, twilight having fallen over the city of Vale. The clock had struck 19 not too long ago, and with every passing minute, Ruby felt the nervousness increase.

And she had every reason to. The mission for Cinder was drawing closer and closer, her first official mission as a mercenary. Sure, she had worked with Roman and Neo before, and that had been a job for Cinder as well, but that one could be hardly considered official. After all, Cinder had not known about the cooperation of the youngest member of MMRY until the end of the mission. Now, however, Cinder had made it a point to visit the club just for her and hire Ruby herself. And considering who the villainess was, it certainly was out of the ordinary for her to go as far as to do that.

Still, even though the youngest mercenary of Junior's club was nervous, she managed to stay somewhat calm. At least – and that was kinda ironic considering the gap in gravity between the two instances – compared to the night before, when she had been nervous about her second performance as a DJ. Especially during the last hour, she had been fidgety and filled with doubts. Had felt like she was going to faint as she climbed the stairs up to the booth.

Now, however, she simply felt a little excited. In a way, dealing with her fear of performing the night before surely was helping, the positive reaction of the crowd assuring her that what she was doing was great. And with this job, this mission for Cinder, it wouldn't be any different – she'd have to concentrate and focus on the job ahead, not let insecurities eat her up from within, and do her very best.

Then again, she still wasn't at the location she was told to rendezvous with one of Cinder's associates at the airship station. A train ride away, to be exact. No more than a few minutes. And even then, it was more than clear that the mission wouldn't begin there. Instead, she was going to take an airship to wherever the mission would take place – of that, she was assured.

But, seeing as that basically meant that the mission could take place anywhere in Vale, the remaining time until the mission would start was quite relative. It literally could be anything from minutes to hours of an airship ride before they'd reach their location.

But that also left her with the other questions she had – where and what would her mission? Cinder had kept quiet about the exact details when she had discussed the terms of the mission – payment, conditions such as the customized prototype weapon, the time it would begin and the estimated duration – with the girl, simply saying that 'she would be briefed right before the mission would start'.

Of course, that meant that Ruby had accepted a blind bargain. Cinder knew exactly what she was going to get out of hiring her, but Ruby didn't know what to expect. Like everything connected to the villainess, it essentially only reflected that the fire-wielding woman had absolute control, and everyone else had not.

But what else had she been to do? Reject an offer from Cinder, and risk getting on her bad side? And that when Cinder had made the effort of visiting the club on a busy night just for her? No. No, that had not been an option. Especially not considering that the villainess knew perfectly well what effects she had on others, that she could get under their skin, seduce and sweet-talk them into things for her. An effect that even Ruby, considered innocent by others, was not immune to.

Yet, even though nervous, she still didn't lose touch with reality. Even with these important questions and doubts on her mind, she still managed to keep the little things in memory – such as tactfulness. Which was why she slowed down upon reaching the automatic sliding doors to the entrance hall of the train station, and turned to wait for the rest of her team.

In a sense, it was like a reverse deja-vué – if there was such a thing – as only roughly a week before, they had left the train station after waiting for Yang's return from Summer's grave. Now, they were headed towards it, and the situation really didn't feel any different.

Yang was leading the trio headed for Ruby's position. The blonde brawler looked tired and out of it, just barely enough energy in her body to smile and look her happy usual self. Considering that the blonde had spent most of her night in the storage room of a book trade, as Ruby had learned earlier that day when Yang had finally told the real story, it was hardly a surprise. Despite the fact that Yang had slept a lot during the last few days leading up to then, the blonde had never really got any real rest over it.

Something was bothering Yang again, Ruby could tell. Even though it seemed that Yang couldn't.

She wasn't the only one bothered by that behavior. Initially upon learning the reason for Yang's absence the night before, adding to her anger from the other day, Melanie had been furious – ironically enough more about Yang having forgotten her scroll and not having been able to call backup. Though mad at Yang for getting into trouble, it was that they hadn't been able to help her out of it that had Melanie angry.

Ruby had given up trying to understand it. All she knew was that Melanie cared a lot about Yang, and that she was only that angry because she was worried. According to Melanie's twin, the older twin being angry meant she cared a lot and didn't want any harm to come to you.

That was one way to show it. Better than if she hadn't cared at all, at least.

Now, Melanie looked surprisingly peaceful as she and a stoic Miltiades followed Yang. After her anger had calmed down, the twin in white had made sure to check on Yang's state and to ensure that the blonde was doing fine. The ruined afternoon of the day before was forgotten already, partially in light of the fact that Melanie actually seemed to be looking forward to her mission with her sister and the brawler.

And well, Yang had promised to make up for the time Melanie had wanted to spend with her, which certainly had seemed to help. Quite so, given that Yang never broke a promise on purpose. If it would be a movie wasn't clear yet, but at least something akin to it, according to the blonde.

It was too bad that it would be just the two of them, at least in Ruby's eyes, but she was assured that they'd manage to do something as a team soon. Something not necessarily a mission, though she really wouldn't mind one.

After all, they had not been going on a mission as a full team yet. Sure, there had been trials and hardships already that had both bound them together and shown them that they had potential, but at the same time had also shown them that they had to work on themselves, their flaws both alone and as a team. The Paladin had been a good example for that – Yang's hotheadedness that had gotten them into the situation to begin with, Ruby's limited perception and carelessness in that fight that had got Miltia hurt, and their overall lack of coordination.

Sure, given the situation they had been in – lacking knowledge of each other's abilities, no idea of how they could work together, caught off guard as the situation arose – the latter was hardly surprising. It still was something they had to work on.

And that was where Ruby came in. While the other three had noticed that they fight had gone way less than desirable, none of them had been fully able to point out what had gone wrong. Ruby could. She didn't know why she was so perceptive of the course of the fight and the mistakes that had been made. Didn't know why she had no problem offering solutions and helping the others to work on it.

Yang had called it 'Summer's legacy'. Maybe she was right. Summer, Ruby's mother, had been a well-known huntress, and had been known for her perception and skill. And, just like Ruby, she had been something like her team's adviser, working in the background. That she had passed it on to Ruby wasn't out of question.

In the end, Ruby did the very same like her mother before her. Like Summer had not been leader of QRTS, but definitely had the potential to be leader, Ruby was not the leader of MMRY. Not that it had an official one – heck, it wasn't even an official team! They were more like a union of four girls with the same background and dreams, seeking to be themselves and being able to do so when together – but if they were to declare a leader, they'd say Yang.

Not that the blonde agreed, saying she wasn't made to be a leader, but the twins and Ruby thought different. Junior did, too, as did Tucker.

Speaking of Tucker – poor guy. Had been fine the night before, had gone home still full of energy – and then hadn't shown up around midday as he would do usually. Instead had called a little later from the hospital to announce that he wouldn't return for a few days. Apparently had an accident at home, had fallen down a long flight of stairs, and broken a leg.

The details on that were surprisingly vague, considering how simple of an event it was and how outspoken Tucker usually was. He had hesitated twice to tell what exactly had happened and had messed up the tale at least once – saying he had missed a step at the beginning, only to later say he had stepped on something – during the call, which had confused the members of the club. Still, he had been honest about having fallen down the stairs, as it had turned out when they had paid him a short visit at the hospital.

He had refused to talk about how the accident had happened in detail, had acted nervous and unusually distant. In the end, Melanie had come to the conclusion that, however the accident had actually happened, was too embarrassing for him to want to talk about it, and the others had agreed.

Still, Ruby couldn't help but being unable to shake off the weird feeling that there was more to it. And she had her suspicion that, whatever had really happened, was connected to something else that Tucker had refused to talk about – on his nightstand at the hospital, placed in a glass vase, was a single black rose that he hadn't wanted to talk about, not wanting to reveal who it was from.

It wasn't from his pregnant girlfriend, who had been there to visit him with them, that for sure.

A black rose, though – what a peculiar choice. It oddly reminded Ruby of her mother, who was often associated with roses of a pale white shade. And just like her mother, black roses originated – known to be growing only there – from Patch.

What a peculiar choice indeed.

Summer Rose. In a different life, she surely would've made a great leader for her team – Qrow, QRTS's official leader, had often told the younger Ruby how he, when uncertain, had gone to Summer Rose for help. Jokingly had called her the team's unofficial leader.

That was long ago. She hadn't seen or heard of her uncle – actually, by blood only Yang's uncle – since some time before the fire. The same fire that her parents, Taiyang and Summer, had died in.

Yang was absolutely right – Ruby was Summer's legacy. In every way.

Much like Yang was her own mother's legacy. Though not as eager to be, and Ruby could understand why. Couldn't really sympathize with it, as she had been raised by her mother until the very last second, not been abandoned – even the younger of the half-sisters didn't know a better word for what Yang's mother had done.

Even though Summer had raised Yang like her very own daughter and had given her all the love she could, the abandonment was deep-seated within the brawler. Hurt like a phantom pain even to this very day, a constant weight on her shoulders.

And Ruby did not envy Yang in the slightest for that.

"Geez!" murmured Melanie as the trio finally caught up to their team-mate, "Are you eager for that mission, or what? You've been ahead of us for the last five minutes!"

A warmth rose to the girl's cheeks in realization, a blush spreading across her face. She hadn't realized just how long it had been since she had left the others behind, too absorbed in her own thoughts. In fact, she realized only now that she must've sped up, nervousness triggering her semblance, as she had believed that the others had merely slowed down a bit to talk among themselves until that moment.

"S-Sorry."

"No need to be." sighed Melanie with a good-natured smile, crossing her arms underneath her chest as they stopped in front of the younger girl, "But just because we have different missions today doesn't mean we have to stay separated."

"Melanie is right." added Miltia and let the smallest of smiles cross her neutral expression, "Until your train leaves, you can stay with us. We have some time to spare."

"Yeah." came the groan from Yang, "You're kinda lucky, Rubes, your train is about to arrive. We have to wait another thirty minutes after your train left until our train arrives. And even then, the train ride to that lil' town our mission takes place in is gonna take almost two hours, and it's in the complete opposite direction of where you are headed."

"You forgot the name of the town again, didn't you?" accused Miltia. And though Yang turned quickly and pointed a finger at her, the blonde actually hesitated.

"It was..." Yang trailed off again, frowned, "Star-something-place-town... valley."

"You forgot."

"So I did." huffed the older half-sister and crossed her arms in irritation, only leading to both Melanie and Miltiades rolling their eyes in perfect synchronization, "Seriously, just why again is that mission requiring us to be there at night?"

"Because the Grimm we were hired to hunt down are nocturnal and hide deep in the mines during the day, making it impossible to find them." explained Melanie with a shrug, "That aside, I believe it will do you good. Help you adjust to your new sleep pattern of working at night and sleeping throughout most of the day."

Yang only groaned in response, unable to argue with that logic. And knowing that, both of the twins smirked in amusement and satisfaction, and Ruby only chuckled uneasily. Such a situation wasn't uncommon lately, and surprisingly not unwelcome. Even Yang didn't hate it, even if at her expense.

"Yeah, whatever, let's change the topic." sighed the brawler eventually and shrugged, then gave a nod into Ruby's direction, "I'm not feeling too well about you going alone on that mission for Cinder, Ruby. Be careful and watch out, and if anything goes wrong, contact Junior so he can send help. And as soon as you're done, contact me, you heard me?"

"Yeah." replied Ruby uneasily, "I mean, I was going to do that anyway. Contact you, I mean, and being careful. And you don't have to worry, Cinder wouldn't send me on too hard of a mission. Not that early, at least. She said something about this 'being my official trial'..."

Yang's eyebrow rose higher at that, and both twins reacted similar.

"I don't like the sound of that." admitted Yang, though she kept it at that.

"Me neither." added Melanie only a second later upon realizing that Yang wasn't going to follow up on that, "What did you say again was your mission, and who would you be working with?"

"Uh... Well, actually..."

"Not to be the killjoy or anything, but we should go inside." interrupted Miltiades before Ruby got the chance to explain, "Ruby's train will arrive soon, and she shouldn't miss it." Miltia's eyes narrowed, "For her own good, considering it is Cinder she is working for."

She didn't wait for an answer. Striding past Yang and then Ruby, the younger twin entered the building and took the lead, with Melanie following her right away. That left the other pair of sisters, staying there in the doorway for another second to exchange a glance, to turn and follow. In the end, they were the ones learning from the more experienced twins.

Catching up to Melanie and Miltiades halfway through the entrance hall – not too much of a problem, as they weren't in a hurry yet – Ruby and Yang slowed their steps to walk alongside them. Miltia was still the one leading the group at that point, heading straight for the platform they knew Ruby's train would depart from.

"Actually..." began Ruby anew, nervous but determined to tell them sooner rather than too late, "Actually, I don't even know where this mission leads me, she only told me to meet up with someone at the airship station. And I also don't know who I will be working with."

Incredulous frowns were sent into her direction, the young girl walking in the middle of the group feeling even more uncomfortable. Still, she figured that it was best to tell them the entire truth, even if it meant that she would get berated for being so careless. "In fact, I kinda don't even know what she wants me to do..."

"You accepted it without knowing any details?! Are you out of your...?" bellowed Yang, but was interrupted by Melanie slapping a hand over her mouth. They had come to a stop in the middle of a corridor, the three older members of MMRY turned towards the youngest girl that had now shrunk away in fear, with Yang's sudden roar having attracted curious glances.

Despite not doing anything against the hand on her mouth, the fury was radiating from Yang's eyes – and not only because they had turned a shade of red just then. And, in a way, Ruby could understand her older sister's anger. Knew it was careless herself, but it was her own decision. One she had made and wasn't going to back out of.

But despite her determination, the stares she got from her team members hit where it hurt most – her doubts. Yang's eyes full of fury, Melanie's serious stare and Miltia's questioning frown – all directed at her, their reactions clearly showing they judged her decision.

And it was justified that they thought so, and she knew that.

"I believe we don't have to tell you how stupid that was." spoke the twin in white sternly, "Do you even realize what you got yourself into? You made a contract, not knowing what the mission is, but you are obligated to fulfill it! You know nothing about the mission!"

"Well..." Ruby stopped, not sure how counter that, Melanie's logic was sound, "We spoke about payment!"

"Payment!" groaned the older twin, not taking her hand off Yang's mouth, "Payment is the last thing to agree on, after everything else is settled! Seriously, Ruby, what you just did..." she snarled, let out a grunt of frustration, "You know your payment, but don't know what for! Not if it is enough for whatever Cinder will have you do! For all we know, it could be an assassination! A suicide mission! Anything! And if you back out, Cinder will hunt you down and force you into some sort of compensation, cause that is what you agreed on in the contract!"

A cold chill went down Ruby's spine, the realization slowly seeping in. The weight of her decision. Melanie was right, and that was what scared her. The implications, the horrible reality, the doubts.

Had Cinder planned this? Was this the reason she had been so nice to her, to coax her into this stupid move? Or were they just too worried?

"The train to the Vale Airship Station is now approaching platform 3! I repeat, the train to the Vale Airship Station is now approaching platform 3! Please stay behind the yellow line. When entering or leaving the train, mind the gap, please!"

The bored female voice echoing through the hallways, originating from the speakers, had all members of MMRY flinch. That was the train Ruby had to take, though she no longer was so sure about whether or not she should.

It wasn't like she could back out now from the bargain with the devil that she had made, Melanie was right about that too. It was way too late to have doubts and second thoughts, too late to run and hope Cinder would be merciful.

Cinder knew no such thing as mercy, and Ruby had witnessed that herself – after all, Roman had just narrowly escaped the villainess' scorn the other night. That had demonstrated it, and that quite well – if you were of no use to Cinder, you may as well be dead.

The young girl swallowed. Tried to push these thoughts away. Clutched at the straw that Cinder would not be like that, the thing she had believed until then. This was not the Cinder she had seen, and hoped she would never get to see.

With a heavy sigh, Melanie withdrew her hand from Yang's mouth. By then, the eyes of the tallest of the four girl had reverted to violet, though she didn't look any happier than before.

"Ruby." spoke Miltia quietly, calmly, not like Yang or Melanie, "We're only worried about you, please understand that. I'm sure that what Melanie just said will not be the case, but it is the worst scenario. That is why we don't just agree to jobs, we always try to ensure that there's no loophole. The one you agreed to is basically a giant loophole, and a truly bad person would exploit it to no end."

"That is why we also let Junior handle most of the requests and let him decide what jobs seem trustworthy and safe. He has the most experience when it comes to that, and his skill in linguistics have not only saved us from these loopholes, but have also turned them on the requester before in our favor." agreed her twin and crossed her arms. Behind her, Yang gave a snort of agreement.

"We're not saying you shouldn't decide on missions yourself or make contracts. If you want, you can do that, we just want you to be more careful next time and think things through." sighed the claw-wielding twin, "Even Cinder can't get away with that, unless you let her. I doubt she did this to take advantage of you. In fact, I'm assured she did this to teach you this lesson the hard way, she works like that." Another sigh. "Either way, be more careful next time, alright?"

The young girl nodded, could only agree. Hoped Miltiades was right with what she said. That this was just a mission not unlike the Dust Shop Robbery she had been involved in with Roman and Neo. Not Cinder using her like a weapon, pointed at one of her enemies so she could claim a victory.

"Even if it isn't some ploy of Cinder..." began Yang and crossed her arms in irritation, "...still doesn't mean we have to like this mission, right?" She waited until both twins nodded before she turned to address Ruby again, "I won't stop you from going, but promise me to be extra careful, alright?"

With that, the group set into motion again, hurried steps carrying them through the hallway to the platform in question. Now, they were in a hurry, the train didn't wait for long before starting to move again, and certainly wouldn't wait for a single young girl that could've been on time.

"Like Yang said before, call Junior if anything goes wrong, or if you feel like things are getting out of hand and turning on you. I don't think he'll like the idea of confronting and opposing Cinder, but I'm sure he'll be ready to take the risk for you."

"Got it." confirmed Ruby, still somewhat meek after being berated.

Still, she was the first one to reach the platform 3, the train already waiting there. People were still leaving the train when she got there, meaning she still had some time, which she was thankful for. After all, she had one last thing to do before she could leave.

She waited in front of the train until her team caught up again, close to the door so she could rush inside if necessary. Yang must've felt what was coming up, or maybe she just had the same idea, as she walked straight up to her younger sibling and embraced her.

And feeling Yang's worry, Ruby slowly patted her back.

"So this is it, huh?" sighed the tall blonde into her sibling's ear, "I can't believe my baby sister is going on her first mission, and that without me. This is the worst day ever..."

"Well, technically..." hummed Miltia, but quickly earned a death glare from Yang, "It is her second mission. To phrase it right, it would have to be 'her first official mission'."

Yang's glare intensified, being mostly based on the fact that 'technically' was the favorite word of 'Drunk Miltia', who liked to be a smartass about everything. In the aftermath of having experienced Miltia drunk for the first time, she had learned that 'Drunk Miltia' was an unpredictable force to be reckoned with, in a way that even Miltia herself feared getting drunk.

As the younger twin herself had revealed, it was so bad that, if she knew she was going to get drunk later in the night, Miltia would hide stuff from her future drunk self, like in a dish cupboard, so she wouldn't lose it. Because, apparently, 'Drunk Miltia' liked to stay drunk, and went to buy as much alcohol as she could get with the money she had on her. And once utterly smashed, she'd start working on crazy theoretical research on weapons and Dust.

"Just saying." huffed the younger twin as the blonde's glare remained on her for another few seconds, shrugged, "Whatever. Be careful, Ruby. Do your best and come back home safe and sound."

"I will." replied the youngest girl as Yang finally stepped back and allowed her to breathe, sounded more resolute than before, "Thank you. And the same goes for you."

A smirk crossed Melanie's lips as she crossed her arms again. She was an image of confidence, something that Ruby admired her for, stood tall and unwavering no matter what situation. Quite the opposite to Miltiades, who lacked this confidence while alone, forever the anchor in the world of inconsistencies for her younger twin.

Definitely the most proud and confident member of MMRY, and Ruby was glad to have her around. For a simple glance into her direction could fill one with new spirit, with strength. And even in the more dire situation, Ruby could tell, Melanie would not back down, and that in a way different from the hotheaded and powerful Yang.

In a way, they were a great team. Complimented each other. Melanie, the confident one with the experience, a tactician. Miltiades, the mechanic with extensive knowledge of Dust and weapons. Yang, the powerhouse and protector. And her, Ruby. The specialist. The one with an eye for the details. The one still looking for her actual role, but already an irreplaceable member of their team.

She could see what had led Junior to say they would make a great team. Why he had given them the name MMRY, a present she wasn't even sure of if he knew how much it meant to them. A team, a family, hope.

All that the world had taken from them. All they had not been able to get, all they lost when their shared dream of going Beacon was crushed.

The train gave a shrill shriek, reminding Ruby that she had to enter now. A final sigh escaped her – as confident as she wanted to be, she was kind of insecure, had second thoughts despite everything. Maybe because of everything.

She sent a glance over her shoulder at the train. In just a few seconds, there really was no going back once she'd enter. If there ever had been the choice of doing that to begin with.

"Alright, I gotta go." the young girl exchanged a glance and a smile with each member of her team, "Goodbye."

A smirk spread across Yang's lips, the blonde brawler giving her a thumbs-up. She appreciated the gesture, for it filled her with new determination. A good thing, because she needed as much as she could get. At least until she knew the details of the mission.

"See you tomorrow at the club, Ruby." smiled Melanie, but then added something that had all three other members of MMRY perk up, "At home."

Now, Ruby couldn't help but smile as well.

Yes. At home.


The train shook gently as it started to move. Gently rocked back and forth, and the young girl swayed with it. The door had just locked behind her, and now she stood in the middle of a corridor in one of the passenger cars.

And felt lost.

What was she supposed to do now? Stand there, and wait for the train to reach the airship station, then leave the train and hope one of Cinder's associates would find her? The least she could do was to find a compartment – an empty one, preferably – and sit down down until the train reached the station.

But without her team mates being with her, the gravity of the situation hit her once again. The doubts. What Melanie had said, and what people said about Cinder.

She balled her hands to fists, her ticket in one of them. Watched as people passed her in the search of compartments. Couldn't get her own feet to move, no matter what she tried. It wasn't cold in the train, but she still felt as if standing in the snow on a cold winter day.

Had this really been so wise to accept the mission just like that? Not knowing goal or conditions, lured into a false feeling of security by her desire to prove she could do this all. And Cinder, knowing that, taking advantage?

In the end, Ruby did not know how ruthless the fire-wielding woman was. Had a feeling she would never be able to understand, no matter how much she'd try and want to. Everyone else, even Yang, acted like they knew more about Cinder. Knew her better. A different Cinder from the one the young girl had witnessed, and it confused her to no end to see just how much her perception of the villainess seemed to differ of that of nearly everyone else.

Was she just the naive one? Blinded by Cinder's behavior, the mask the woman put on to lure her? Or was it the other way around? Had she seen the woman behind the mask?

Maybe after this mission, she'd be able to tell...

Someone bumped into her, staggered her. A gasp escaped Ruby, then she flinched as someone touched her shoulder for the briefest of moments, as if to get her attention. She turned, wondering what that was about, but found no one behind her. Still, she noticed that someone slipped past her at the same moment, so she turned again to face her original direction.

Silver eyes met green ones. A girl, almost half a head shorter than Ruby, smiled expectantly up at her, as if waiting for Ruby to notice something. Pale skin contrasted with black hair, tied in twin tails, and a black and white outfit, an innocent smile on her lips, charming green eyes never averting from her. Even as the girl shifted a bit in her stance, rose one hand to show Ruby something. A ticket.

Suddenly aware that she no longer held her own, it clicked in Ruby's head – that ticket was hers. The black-haired girl hadn't bumped into her by accident, it had been planned, a scheme to steal the ticket.

"Hey!" she gasped and reached for the ticket, but the other girl leaned out of the way and lifted a finger to tell Ruby to stop, "That's mine, give it back!"

And then, as the younger girl's expression suddenly changed, Ruby realized just who she was dealing with. As the innocent smile turned into a sadistic smirk, as green eyes lost charm in favor of mischievousness, and the finger raised at her slowly began to shake, Ruby knew that this girl was no stranger.

The girl knew that she had been recognized. Enjoyed it to the fullest, but let another few seconds pass before she blinked, only once – and then, her green eyes had changed. Been exchanged with mismatched colors – one pink, and one brown.

"Neo!" escaped the younger girl – in the end, Neo was older than her, after all – and she nearly did a double-take, "I didn't expect you to be here. Uh... For me?"

With the sadistic smirk still on her lips, but her eyes changing back to green, the mute assassin nodded once, confirming that. Giving Ruby no chance to say something else, but at the same time reassuring the girl that the entire thing had been planned by the silent woman with the next move, Neo reached inside a pocket of her sleeveless black blouse and pulled out her scroll, a message already typed out on it.

"Sorry for bullying you, couldn't resist."

Cinder's associate waited until she saw Ruby roll her eyes at the message before she held the ticket for Ruby to take back. Still, as the younger girl reached for it, she pulled it slightly out of the way so that Ruby's hand missed, and enjoyed it as Ruby scowled. And only then did she let the member of MMRY take the ticket from her.

With her other hand free, she quickly pulled up her scroll and, at a speed that impressed Ruby, deleted most of the message until there was just one word left on it.

"Sorry."

Again, Ruby rolled her eyes, and Neo moved a bit, almost as if mutely laughing at the girl's expense. Politely bowing to Ruby, even if partially to mock her, Roman's silent partner greeted the younger girl in her usual self-confident way. Rose to her full height, then typed something into her scroll again.

Ruby watched, curious, as Neo's slender fingers moved over the scroll, motions fast and precise, efficient. Trained. Of course, as Neo knew no other way to really communicate in detail other than with her hands. Though her expression and eyes could tell stories themselves, there was just not enough detail to that on occasions.

Finally, the woman turned her scroll to Ruby, a new message typed out for the girl to read.

"Follow me, we already have a compartment for ourselves. You'll be told more there."

As it should turn out, that wasn't a suggestion. Leaving Ruby not a single second to question the command, Neo walked past her once she was assured the younger girl had read the message, and took the lead.

Ruby, not knowing what else to do, quickly followed. Catching up to Neo, who strode with confident – but, somewhat to Ruby's amusement, not very big – steps through the corridor proved to be no problem, barely taking more than a leap. After that, she made sure to keep close to the woman – after all, she had no idea where the compartment was that Neo was headed to, and losing the shorter woman in the crowded corridors of the train was not unlikely.

It didn't prove to be much of a problem in the corridor of the wagon they had met in, but that changed when Neo opened the door to the next and just slipped inside. For a second, Ruby actually lost sight of the assassin when Neo pushed through a crowd of a few girls of Yang's age, but she thankfully regained sight of her just after getting past that group.

Though she had no idea how Neo had made it to the other end of the corridor so quickly.

Neo waited patiently there, smiling in her usual sassy manner as she watched Ruby walk up to her. And though Ruby expected the mute psychopath to turn around and continue leading her, the woman in disguise caught not only the younger girl off guard by suddenly yanking the door to the compartment closest to them open.

Emerald, sitting by the window inside the compartment, seemed pretty shocked by that, too. And that left the fact that she had just shrieked rather girlishly and had thrown her scroll up into the air while cringing out of the picture.

It was when her scroll landed on her lap that Emerald snapped out of her stupor, eyes, before that wide in shock, narrowing at Neo in the doorway.

"How often have I told you not to do that, Neo?!"

The tricolored woman in dark disguise gave an amused shrug to her associate and gestured Ruby to enter the compartment, following herself after that and closing the door behind her.

With the door closed and the train moving, Ruby got to witness the spectacle of Neo leaving her disguise behind. A thin wave of light rolled over the mute woman's body, starting at her heels and going up, something that looked oddly like shards – smaller versions of the shards Ruby remembered to be left behind by Neo's illusions shattering – falling off her lithe shape, revealing the attire Ruby had seen her countless times in.

Black gone in favor of Neo's tricolored outfit. Green eyes, full of mirth, once again mismatched in color. Dark twin tails, replaced by brown and pink cascading down her shoulders, two white stripes in the sea of pink.

The snake had shed its skin – for some reason, Ruby just couldn't help but mentally compare it to that. Or, as a fairy tale had once put it, the wolf had left behind the sheep's clothing.

Pulling her parasol – her weapon – from her back, which Ruby was sure she hadn't seen there during the time Neo had been disguised, the mute assassin used it to jam the door and give them the seclusion they needed from the rest of the train. After all, now that they had met up with Emerald, it was more than apparent that it was time to talk about the upcoming mission.

Ruby glanced outside the window for a moment as she sat down across from Emerald. Recognized some of the buildings they passed, and knew that the airship station was just another few minutes away.

Without a warning, Neo suddenly jumped onto the seats on Ruby's side of the compartment and, landing on her back, spread out across them with her head resting on the young girl's lap. Taken aback, Ruby could only stare down at her – until Neo reached out and, one finger placed underneath the Ruby's chin, rose the girl's gaze to look at Emerald.

"Yes, thank you, Neo." coughed the mint-haired thief, though with skepticism in her red eyes, "Now then – Hello Ruby."

"Em." she greeted back, only to realize her mistake as she saw the thief's face scrunch up at the use of the nickname, "...erald."

The girl in red felt something shift against her side and quickly realized that it was Neo, silently laughing to herself at the mercenary's expense. Casting a short glance into the direction of the assassin that had made herself comfortable, the girl frowned – Neo's head was now resting against Ruby's side and her eyes focused on her scroll, on which Ruby could see a colorful game that Neo controlled by touching the screen.

Whether or not it was ironic that Neo had muted the game was in the eye of the beholder.

"Ignore her." Emerald's voice reminded Ruby of the thief's presence, and she tore her gaze away from the mute woman that was way more comfortable with their current position than she was, met the mint-haired woman's gaze, "Neo is just bored and irritated because she has to go on a mission where she doesn't get to kill or destroy anything. She's odd like that, that little psycho."

Ruby couldn't say what impressed her more – that Emerald managed to ignore it, or that Neo actually managed to flip the thief off without looking away from her game or pausing it, continuing to play it with one hand just as well as with both hands.

The train rattled on as Emerald eventually let out a small sigh and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs. She glanced out the window, just for a few seconds, before eventually shaking her head at something.

Ruby didn't ask, met Emerald's gaze as the thief turned back to face her.

"I don't know how much Neo has already..." Emerald's eyes shifted to Neo as the psychopathic woman flipped her off anew, already knowing where the thief was going with that statement, "...'told' you, but there was a slight change of plans regarding your arrival."

Neo shifted again, though only to make herself more comfortable. Her head slowly slid down Ruby's side, causing the girl to gasp and try to choke her laughter – she was ticklish. Thankfully, Neo quickly found a new comfortable position with her head resting on Ruby's thigh, and the girl could mask it as a cough.

"Basically, Cinder sent us to retrieve you at the train station and guide you to your mark." continued Emerald, but saw the confusion on Ruby's face, "The mark you've been contracted with."

Though Ruby couldn't make sense of it, she just nodded. Feigning that she understood, fearing to irritate Emerald if she were to make it harder. Emerald wasn't the most patient woman, Ruby had heard about that, though she was yet to experience it aimed at anyone but Mercury – the only time she had really had any interaction with Emerald was directly after the Atlesian Paladin thing, when Neo had piloted the battlesuit and brought her and the defeated Miltiades back to the club.

"She also instructed me to give you some basic info on the mission." added the thief when she saw that Neo, who actually was supposed to help doing that, didn't make a move, "No details, you'll get these once we're at the target. That way, you can still decide whether or not you feel up for this..."

She leaned closer, and some dangerous entered the crimson of her eyes, something that had Ruby immediately tense up. Neo noticed and sent her a glance – a displeased one, as it apparently messed up her comfortable position – over her shoulder, still not stopping the game at all.

"...and if you decide against this mission for Cinder, after all, you won't become a safety hazard for us. We don't like these." finished Emerald in a dangerously low hiss that had Ruby shudder and stop breathing, "She has me deal with these on a regular basis, and I ensure there will never be a repeat of that."

She sat back up but kept her eyes on Ruby, the young girl frozen in her spot. Didn't move at all, full of regret. There were two things Ruby couldn't deal with – lots of attention and pressure. And this was clearly the latter. At least she managed to relax somewhat as the mint-haired woman averted her gaze and looked out the window, though Ruby couldn't tell if it was to look at the city or to figure out how much time they had left.

"This is an infiltration mission." began Emerald to explain, "A small group will be sent into the building that is our target to extract the information we require. You will be in that group, Ruby. We do have a second group stationed at the site to cause some mayhem and act as a distraction if necessary, but you won't have to worry about that."

Emerald turned away from the window to meet the girl's gaze.

"Once we arrive at the airship station, we will board one of the airships to our destination. Neo and I will guide you to your mark then, where we regroup and discuss the next steps in detail. We will scout the area and wait for the right moment to strike."

They entered a tunnel without a warning, the compartment suddenly thrown into darkness. If not for Neo's scroll, Ruby would not have seen anything, but the pale light illuminated the room just enough for her to see that Emerald had not moved at all and was still staring at her.

"Once the opportunity comes, the infiltrating group will move. I will open a path into the building for us, but will need you to keep an eye out for any uninvited guests while I do so. We do not want any contact with the enemy if we can prevent it. It will be easier if we can avoid alerting them to our presence at all."

Neo's scroll suddenly turned off, and Ruby found herself lost in the darkness. She felt Neo move, the weight on her lap suddenly gone, and her the rustling of clothes just next to her that told her that the assassin without a voice had stood up.

They were almost at the airship station just outside the city.

"Getting the data we require won't be easy." sounded Emerald's voice from the darkness, stern and intimidating, "We will need to get deep into the building for that, and hope we can avoid detection for as long as possible, if not entirely."

Light filled the compartment, blinded Ruby for the shortest of moments. The train had left the tunnel, and a female voice echoed through the corridors, announcing that they were to arrive at the airship station any moment now.

And, with the compartment illuminated again, the young girl could finally see that Emerald had still not moved from her spot, still staring at her as if she had seen her all along, and Neo had moved to lean against the wall by the still jammed door.

"Roman said you're a natural, and that is not something that this arrogant prick says just like that." Emerald's eyes shifted to meet the mismatched colors of Neo's gaze, "That aside, Neo here confirmed it. Not saying that we have incredibly high expectations, but we trust you to do your part with as little mistake as possible, and learn from us for your next job."

Neo, still by the door, rolled her eyes at the words of her associate. She rose her hands and faced Ruby, but quickly remembered that the girl wouldn't understand her. So, instead turning to Emerald, she began to make quick gestures, signing something that Ruby wished she could understand.

But, guessing from Emerald's reaction, it wasn't anything friendly.

"I know that wasn't something friendly to say, Neo!" hissed the thief at the assassin, "She may be 15, but I'm not going to treat her like a child. She decided to join us for this heist, so I might as well be honest, show her how serious this is, and treat her like the goddamn rookie she is to me – we don't have high expectations regarding her participation in this job, but we expect her to do her job right."

Neo rolled her eyes again, but decided against countering. Instead, she made a simple gesture that even Ruby understood – telling the young girl to ignore Emerald's words – and put a hand onto her parasol.

"Whatever." growled Emerald and stopped Neo from opening the door that way, "The job isn't too complicated compared to what we have done before, but nothing a rookie should be doing. The robbery you took her onto without allowance was nothing compared to this."

She turned to glare at Ruby, and the mercenary felt herself tense up, intimidated.

"It's nothing personal, Ruby, and not about your age, but I'm going to be honest here." continued the thief, narrowed her eyes, "Without question Cinder's judgment – if she thinks you are ready for this, then I will tolerate you and accept it – but personally, I think you're not ready. That you need more training. One successful mission – and no more than a simple robbery – does not make you a great mercenary, and does not mean you're ready for this."

Neo's hands slipped off the parasol, the assassin turning to face Emerald, hands ready to sign something. The mint-haired woman, however, quickly stopped her with a simple raise of her hand, and shifted her gaze to where the shortest woman in the compartment stood.

"But I guess that, if you do turn out to not be ready for this and things go wrong on this mission, we can always blame Roman for delivering false information." chuckled Emerald, and enjoyed it as Neo's expression slowly turned into a scowl that had Ruby shudder at its intensity, "Maybe then he will finally get the punishment he deserves."

Emerald had hardly finished the sentence when Neo's hands began to move in a flurry. Ruby, who at least had been able to make out the individual signs before, had no idea how Emerald understood whatever Neo was telling her with her hands. To the girl in red, it just looked like incoherent movements, no more than a blur – but it seemed to be about her, as Emerald threw a glance into her direction halfway through whatever Neo was telling her.

"Admittedly, it is kind of impressive that she managed to outsmart Goodwitch with the help of Roman. And that she managed to snatch something from Roman without either of you noticing. Even while you were prepared."

Neo, encouraged by these words, kept moving her hands, albeit a little slower than before. But whatever she meant to tell the taller woman, she was interrupted by Emerald's hand grabbing her wrist.

"Alright, I understood, no need to continue. I can see why Cinder thinks she is ready." sighed the thief, "And while I'm kind of impressed by what she managed to do, she is still a rookie, and I still don't share that notion." Emerald's eyes shifted to Ruby again, "But she can prove herself tonight, I guess, and change that."

Without another word, Emerald turned to the door and reached for Neo's parasol, which still had the door jammed. She unhooked it and passed the tool-weapon-hybrid to its owner, before opening the door and leaving the compartment. Left Ruby alone with Neo.

The train hadn't stopped yet, but it would any second now – and yet, Ruby was unsure what to do. If to follow Emerald right away. A quick glance to Neo should answer that question, as the tricolored psychopath had pulled her scroll out once more and was typing on it, before presenting the message to her.

"You'll do fine. Just stay close to us." read the message, although Neo turned the scroll around to add something, "I will ensure you'll be fine, don't worry."

For some reason, as Ruby read this message, she felt relief wash over her, expunging her worries and doubts. But maybe, maybe it wasn't the message that did that.

Maybe it was Neo's self-assured smile, and the confidence in those mismatched colors that her eyes were...


It was a strangely exciting and amazing feeling that spread through her, childish glee perhaps. But, to watch the city of Vale below, tinted in the orange of the late afternoon, was an oddly alluring sight. The twilight that spread through the streets, but failed to reach the alleys. Buildings, cars and even the people that walked through the streets, all of them in this orange light that Ruby couldn't help but think of as beautiful.

Twilight, the time of the setting sun, truly was the most beautiful time of the day.

Hearing steps coming her way, heels clicking on the metal ground of the airship's interior, Ruby slowly turned. True to her suspicion, it was Neo – once again disguised – who approached her, that same confident and mischievous smile on her lips that she was best known for. That stood in contrast to the scowl on Emerald's face, the thief sitting on a bench near the middle of the room, a safe distance away from everyone else but Ruby and Neo.

Ruby still had no idea where they were headed, quite unlike her two companions. Much like Emerald had said before, she wasn't getting any directions and could only tag along. Had boarded the airship that the two criminals had led her to.

There weren't many people n the airship aside from them, and most of them – much to Ruby's confusion – weren't that much older than the young mercenary was. As it was, the unlikely trio of mercenary, assassin and thief blended in with them quite well. Ruby seemed slightly younger, Emerald roughly their age, and Neo – well, her size did make her look younger.

Not that Ruby would ever bring that up again after Neo's reaction the night she had first met her.

The mute assassin didn't immediately address Ruby upon approaching her, however, and instead walked past her until she could look out the window as well. And as she did, something appeared in her eyes, something that had Ruby immediately uneasy.

A corner of Neo's mouth twitched, rose slightly, then she bared her teeth. A nasty, psychopathic smirk had found its way upon the assassins lips, had Ruby scared. Afraid of whatever was crossing Neo's mind.

It couldn't mean anything good.

"You should relax, Ruby." spoke Emerald so suddenly that it scared Ruby, the young girl flinching before she turned away from Neo and the window, "It won't do you any good if you stay tense and waste energy now, you'll only risk losing the strength when it counts during the job. The flight will take another few minutes."

The woman let out a huff, crossed her arms beneath her chest and crossed her legs. Impatiently moved both one foot and one hand in a steady rhythm, scowled to herself with her eyes closed.

"That aside, you moving left and right in front of that window is irritating me." she added with a growl, "So sit down already, or at least stand still for a moment! I swear, you're almost as bad as Mercury, and he's a pain in the ass to deal with!"

Ruby nervously cringed away, but was stopped by Neo putting a hand onto her shoulder. They shared a glance and Neo shook her head, reassuring her not to listen to Emerald's nagging, before nodding into the direction of the thief. And the young mercenary understood.

"Sorry." she apologized to the mint-haired woman and watched as she rolled her eyes in response. Still, Emerald seemed to be content with this – as long as Ruby wouldn't move too much.

"It's fine, I usually have to deal with worse." scowled the thief and began to rub the bridge of her nose with index finger and thumb of her right hand, "At least you're not asking if we're there yet every other thirty seconds, like Mercury does. That guy has the patience of a toddler..."

"Then why do you keep working with him?"

Before Ruby knew, she had asked that question – and surprised both Emerald and Neo that way. The two associates of Cinder exchanged a surprised glance, though Neo quickly turned away to hide her mute laughter at Emerald's expression, and Ruby frowned at the reaction of the two.

"I... uh..." began Emerald, for the first time thinking about the question as well, "Well, Cinder was the one who assigned us to work with each other. She said we compliment one another, and I trust her judgment. I don't question it."

In her peripheral vision, Ruby saw how Neo started to quiver in laughter. That she had her own thoughts about this, her own little theory, was quite obvious, even to Ruby – and it served to annoy Emerald, though neither the young mercenary nor the thief addressed the assassin's amusement.

"It's what I told you before – I trust Cinder's judgment more than my own one." continued Emerald and shrugged, "Without it, who knows where I would be today. Where Mercury would be. She found us in our darkest time and guided us. Gave us what we lacked."

"So kind of like what Junior did for Yang and me?" inquired Ruby, spoke the first thing that came to her mind, too surprised at this revelation. Indeed, the story sounded similar. In the end, Junior had found them – well, Yang had found him, more or less – and had offered them a better life. Away from the gutter they had ended up in.

To her further surprise, Emerald hesitated with the answer. Completely avoided it in the end, and turned away from her, seemed uncomfortable with the idea of answering that. And little did Ruby know that Emerald didn't like comparing the cases.

The answer wasn't provided by Emerald, in the end. Only being able to frown at the change in behavior of the thief, Ruby frowned at her and turned to ask the other woman of the trio – but Neo had been prepared, and simply shook her head. Shook her head to deny that Ruby should question it. Shook her head to deny that the cases were alike, too.

Ruby understood. And, seeing that the topic shouldn't be further addressed, decided to change it. Everything was better than silence. Silence made her uncomfortable, would only bring back the doubts, the questions, the uncertainty.

It still went quiet between the three for a moment. Neo – who couldn't have said much if she wanted, but had other ways of communicating – had gone back to looking out the window, Emerald was observing a group of girls, and Ruby found herself struggling for a new topic. One that wasn't insensitive, and one that wasn't completely out of the blue.

The mission came to her mind again. And the one thing she realized she hadn't asked yet.

"Can I ask another question? Regarding the job?" asked Ruby carefully, and waited until both of the women turned back to her, "Cinder messaged me yesterday about a potential weapon for me for this job." Ruby's gaze shifted to Neo, "I think she sent you to retrieve some parts for it. You messaged me yesterday about Dust..."

To the girl's surprise, the mood brightened at this question. Neo obviously had some personal amusement regarding it, as she smirked mischievously, but Emerald relaxed at the welcome change of topic and nodded to herself, before exchanging a glance with Neo.

"Well... Neo, Mercury and I first wanted to take Roman's cane and give that to you. With force, if we had to." chuckled the thief, much to Ruby's shock, "But sadly, he will need that stupid crutch himself now."

Giggling mutely to herself, Neo shrugged and rolled her eyes. She waved it off as Ruby frowned into her direction, though she signed something to Emerald that had the thief actually bursting into laughter.

"Calm down, Ruby, I'm joking. Roman is as fine as that asshole can be." explained Emerald the moment she regained some composure. Neo quickly agreed with nods, though she had also typed a message out by then that simply read 'Cinder wouldn't allow us', leaving Ruby to shiver and hope that it was part of the joke.

"No, Cinder ensured that the weapon you'll be using tonight is custom-made. It's only a prototype and not forged with long-term use in mind, just something for you to work with tonight, and see if it fits your style. Something for you to orientate yourself by – Cinder said you're still undecided when it comes to your own weapon."

"Kinda." admitted Ruby meekly, "There's so many weapons out there that I like, but don't know what it feels like to use them. I don't want to make a wrong choice, but all I really decided on is that I want something with reach and power. And then, there's so many types of Dust..."

"That really is a wide array of possible weapons. But if you really are as efficient as Roman and Neo say, then I can see why Cinder decided to be so generous as to provide you with prototypes. It's only beneficial for both sides – You get to try weapons types and earn Lien to finance your own weapon, and Cinder gets jobs done and, once you have your own weapon, has you trained and efficient for more complicated missions." mused the mint-haired thief.

Neo silently agreed to that, nodding and confirming that she thought likewise with a simple gesture of her right hand. And Ruby found that she couldn't disagree with this logic. Didn't want to, as it meant that Cinder did want her for future jobs, something she could only hope for.

"The weapon you'll be using tonight certainly is an interesting one, a design that Neo came up with when provided with your specifications. She may not seem like it, but Neo is good with mechanics and quite creative." Emerald trailed off to nod into the direction of the tricolored assassin, who appreciated the gesture with a wide smirk and a polite bow, "Your weapon for tonight is waiting at the target. You will get it once we regroup with Cinder."

Ruby, who had turned to Neo during the thief's words, cringed at this bit of information. Twirling around to face Emerald, who seemed confused at this kind of reaction, Ruby stared with wide eyes at the older woman.

"Wait, Cinder is there? Herself? In person?"

Emerald rose an eyebrow at that question, almost as if not understanding what Ruby was so surprised about. A glance to Neo for clarification didn't help, however, as the mute psychopath had long turned away again, looking out the window down at the world below.

"Of course." she confirmed eventually, frowning at Neo's back to Ruby's left, "We'll be meeting up with her at the target. She's in charge of this mission, and will be leading the team going in. What did you expect?"

"I..." Ruby trailed off, hesitated. Emerald's question was justified – what had she expected? That Cinder would kick back and let others handle everything, manipulating them like puppets, just because she was 'the big bad'? Certainly not. After all, Cinder had so far only done the opposite – while handling the assignment of jobs, something that Junior did as well, she had shown up herself to handle recruitment, had handled all contact with Ruby herself, and she had shown up in person to save Roman and her from that huntress Goodwitch. Had even fought Goodwitch herself. So, with a sigh, Ruby admitted the truth, "...don't know. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about." replied Emerald simply, though she kept frowning questioningly. And the thief's gaze made Ruby feel uneasy, judged by those piercing red eyes that never left her.

In the end, Ruby was kind of thankful that Neo eventually broke the uncomfortable silence by – back still turned to Emerald and facing the window – reaching over and touching the young mercenary's shoulder to get her attention. Thankful for this distraction, Ruby turned and faced the assassin, but Neo never reciprocated the gaze. Kept staring out the window with such an insane gaze, the smirk upon her lips outright psychotic, that Ruby took a step away from her before she followed the mute assassin's gaze. After all, whatever was outside the window, it was the reason for Neo's insanity showing, and it was whatever Neo wanted to show her.

But nothing could've prepared Ruby for what she saw as she turned.

It was a sight to behold, especially for Ruby, who laid eyes onto it for the first time in her life. The grand building – no, the gigantic grounds – that basked in the last rays of the day at the edge of a cliffside. White walls, tinted a majestic orange, blue roofs turned black. Long shadows of several towers, spreading across roofs and gardens.

The imposing architecture of the archways that surrounded the beauty that the fountain was. Statues of a hunter and a huntress, triumphing over a Beowolf Grimm, standing tall in the middle of the clear water that the twilight had colored amber. And, in the distance, in the very middle of the large structure, a tower of immense height.

Ruby, despite never having been there, knew very well where they were. Had heard stories and seen images. Had wished for most of her life to be there.

Now, she wished she was somewhere else. The churning feeling in her stomach made her feel nauseous and uncomfortable, for the reason she was there was none she had ever hoped for. And, only choking, she could barely bring the next words over he lips.

"O-our target is...?!"

She never saw the sinister smile that crossed Emerald's lips. Never saw as the mint-haired thief slowly rose from her seat on the bench and strode up to them, enjoying the sight with a sadistic thought in mind that rivaled that of Neo. Never saw as lunacy invaded these crimson eyes of Emerald Sustrai – but she heard it, the dark chuckle that rolled in Emerald's throat. Pleased, full of sadistic pleasure.

"Yes, Ruby. Our target for tonight is Beacon."


The bad feeling that clung to Ruby's back after the realization of what their target would be didn't leave, even as they landed – it wasn't motion sickness, she was assured of that as she followed Emerald and Neo out the airship.

Quite the opposite – the churning feeling got worse as they moved towards Beacon's highest tower. And while she was in awe at the architecture, and that though she could only see so much as the darkness had begun to set in and was soon to swallow everything, she really couldn't help but wish that the circumstances for her presence on the grounds of the prestigious academy would be different.

Her two companions didn't seem to feel the same. Emerald, walking to Ruby's left, didn't show any emotion in the slightest, seemed unimpressed and uncaring about the location. For her, only the mission was of importance, something that Ruby couldn't understand at all.

Not that she understood Neo's reaction any more than that. The lunatic, leading their small group, was skipping ahead of the other two and seemed to be in the best of moods that Ruby had ever seen her in. Of course, that didn't mean that Ruby didn't notice just how well Neo seemed to know her way around the school grounds – if she recalled right, Yang had mentioned that Neo had been sent to Beacon before.

What for, the young mercenary had no idea, but she had the slight hunch that she'd learn later that night – it couldn't be a coincidence that Neo had been there before, on the very same grounds that they were now roaming.

There were no coincidences like that.

Still, it took her by surprise when Neo continued to lead them deeper and deeper into the grounds. The main avenue was long left behind in favor of wide corridors, only a few students hurrying through them on their way back to their dorms. It was late and curfew would soon be reached, something that came quite in handy for the three intruders – no one was really paying attention to them.

Not like they really stood out much to begin with. As lessons had ended quite a while ago, most of the students were dressed casually instead of wearing their uniforms, and that way the three young women – one of them too young to be at Beacon, one just a little older than most of the students, and the oldest one looking the youngest and being the smallest – blended in just fine.

As long as they wouldn't run into Glynda Goodwitch, everything would be okay – the huntress knew at least Ruby's face. Neo's not so much, as the mute assassin was disguised thanks to her semblance. Whatever her semblance was, that was. Ruby hadn't quite figured it out yet, other than that it allowed Neo the creation of illusions. Torchwick's explanation the other day had been sparse, too.

As luck had it, they didn't meet the huntress with the riding crop. For a moment, the fear of Goodwitch entering the corridor ahead of them had Ruby feel even worse, a feeling of an incredible weight upon her fragile frame that threatened to crush her.

But as they surfaced from the corridor into the park-like area that surrounded the base of the tower, the feeling of claustrophobia vanished with the walls surrounding her. Not entirely, far from so, but at least she felt that she could breath freely again.

Part of the reason for that was that, with the large open area, the chance to run into Goodwitch had decreased a lot. Furthermore, as they walked along the road that led straight to the base of the tower, Ruby couldn't help but notice the large amount of possible hiding places along the road thanks to the many trees and bushes. Not so much at the end of it, leading through a row of buildings straight onto a small square right in front of the tower, but the young mercenary doubted that they'd find the huntress anywhere near it at this time of day.

Which was probably for the better.

"The meeting point is up ahead. Cinder will be waiting there." muttered Emerald suddenly, barely loud enough for Ruby to hear it, and yet it got the young girl to flinch slightly by how sudden the transition between silence and conversation was.

Sending a glance to the thief, Ruby met the stern crimson gaze and frowned. Frowned, because the only thing ahead was the tower with the square in front of it, and she couldn't see Cinder anywhere. Of course, it could simply be that the dusk had swallowed her or that she was beyond the buildings, but that still left the tower as the only possible target – the only that seemed of importance, anyway.

And, slowly craning her neck and lifting her gaze in search for the top of the tower, Ruby felt increasingly uneasy at the thought that this was their mark. Her mark. The target she was assigned to and would have to infiltrate, as Emerald had mentioned in the train.

Neo sent her a glance over her shoulder, but Ruby couldn't make out assassin's expression for the slight moment that it was turned to her. As Neo didn't slow down either and eventually just turned back, Ruby came to the conclusion that the mute was just checking on her and that they hadn't quite reached their goal yet.

That changed as they reached the row of buildings. Ruby, who had just turned her gaze to stare into the darkness between the trees in wonder of how huge the park was, barely had time to react as both Neo and Emerald, in nearly perfect synchronization, suddenly turned right and left the path, moving fast and agile rather than slow and inconspicuous.

Despite having been at the back of the group with Ruby before, Emerald took the lead as the two associates of Cinder changed their path. It may have been due to bigger steps or Neo just letting her, but Emerald was the first one to reach the back of the closest building with a flat roof and, in an amazing spectacle of fitness and mobility, climbed it.

With a jump that made Ruby jealous, Emerald first jumped on top of a trash can – somehow not tipping it over – and right off it again towards the building. Her left foot came to rest on a windowsill for a slight second, then propelled her upwards just far enough for her hands to reach the window ledge above.

Neo followed her at the same time, ran towards a dumpster and – at full speed – pushed off the ground in a jump that appeared awkward at first, but quickly turned into a maneuver that overshadowed Emerald's performance. While awkward at first, Neo used her entire momentum to not only turn her lithe frame in midair so that she was facing away from the wall, but also backflipped onto the dumpster, landed on it in a crouched position.

She immediately made another backflip and landed on the windowsill of the window to Emerald's right, the thief pulling herself up onto her own sill just right after that. But now that all momentum was gone and the only way was up, Ruby couldn't help but wonder how the two intended to get to the roof.

The answer to this was provided by Emerald pulling one of her weapons – hybrids between revolvers and sickles – and, glancing up to the edge of the roof above her, swinging it once. To Ruby's surprise, the weapon unfolded even further, the sickle seemingly falling off the revolver part, thus revealing that the two parts were connected with a chain that Ruby could only guess the length of.

Swinging it and building up momentum, it took the thief but one throw to get the blade over the edge of the roof and have it hook into the rain gutter. Pulling on the chain twice to ensure that it was safe, the mint-haired woman attached the revolver-part of her weapon to her belt and laid both hands around the chain – and, just like that, started to scale the wall, resting her feet against it and taking step for step until she reached the roof.

Neo, at the same time, had remained perched onto the windowsill to the right of Emerald and silently watched her associate climb the last floor. At the edge of her sill, idly observing Emerald climb, Neo – at least in Ruby's point of view – kind of resembled a cat that was watching its prey, ready to pounce at the right moment.

To Ruby's surprise, Neo actually pounced only a second later. The moment that the thief reached the edge of the roof, fingers curled around it, the psychopath lacking voice pushed herself off the sill she was perched on – straight towards her associate.

"Hey, what the... Neo!" bellowed Emerald in protest as the tricolored woman suddenly latched onto her ankles and caused them to swing. But mute as she was – not that she would've explained if she hadn't been – Neo just started to climb the taller woman, moving with the grace of a child climbing a tree as she clambered her way up the thief. Somehow managed not to pull Emerald's pants down as she hooked a hand into the thief's belt and put her feet against the wall.

Fast and nimble, the small woman made her way up her associate, before long reached the edge of the roof that Emerald was still holding onto – that she was not falling off despite the additional, even if little, weight spoke volumes of her stamina and pain threshold.

Perhaps it was because Emerald barely reacted beyond the initial scream and the low growls that Neo made sure to step onto the thief's shoulder on her way up – not by accident, as the sadistic smirk on her lips revealed – onto the roof, adding another additional step onto the mint-haired woman's face with the front of her boot.

Given that the heels of Neo's boots were rather long and pointy, the step onto the shoulder got a hiss of pain out of the thief, as well as a snarl and a movement of her head so that Neo would step onto her left cheek and not into her face.

"Watch where you go with those pointy heels, dammit, you fucking midget!" roared Emerald, but remained ignored by Neo for the most part. The short woman barely cared for her associate's words, even disregarded the insult as unoriginal – she had heard that at least a thousand times in her life before. Instead, rolling her eyes, the assassin sent the third woman on the roof – lying on her stomach and glancing over her shoulder, chuckling at the odd display – a smirk and a shrug, left Emerald to pull herself up.

Finally, ignoring the dark glare of the mint-haired thief and the other woman turning back away from them, the mute woman stepped over to the edge of the roof right above the dumpster she had used before, and surprised the young mercenary that still stood at the edge of the path by falling onto all fours and extending a hand past the edge of the roof.

And, realizing what Neo intended, Ruby nodded. Decided against protesting or questioning the idea, and instead quickly focused on where she wanted to go – an important thing when it came to her semblance – and made a dash for the wall. Activated her semblance of speed for the slightest of seconds before she jumped at the dumpster so that she made the first jump onto it, but then quickly pushed off it and activated her semblance anew.

All momentum was catapulting her into one direction now, and that was upwards. Her feet came to rest against the wall and she did her best to run up on it – she knew that it would only work for so long, that she would never be able to build up enough momentum to act against gravity more than a few meters, that she only managed to make it two floors up before she started to slow down thanks to bouncing off the dumpster.

Yet, she didn't need more. As her semblance failed to make the difference and as she turned it off at the highest point of her ascent, all she had to do was take Neo's hand. And, with surprising strength for a woman of Neo's height and stature, the assassin without voice pulled the young mercenary up onto the roof.

They both managed to stay on their feet – well, Neo managed to get back up onto hers during the motion – and quickly moved away from the edge to avoid losing their balance after all and falling back down. With the way that Emerald glared at Neo, it seemed that at least the thief wouldn't mind that fate to befall the mischievous trickster, but the mint-haired woman kept it to herself and instead turned away from them right away.

Turned to where Cinder lay on the roof next to a black sports bag, facing away from them and toward the tower just a few yards away from them, just past the square.

Had Ruby not known that they were to meet up with Cinder, however, she would've hardly recognized the villainess, and that not only because of Cinder's position. Dressed in a sleeveless jacket, long gloves and stiletto heel boots, all of a black color, with an object on her back that reminded Ruby of a curved sword, she hardly resembled her own usual appearance. Not a speck of red, not her usual dress, no sultry elegance – only her ashen-black hair reminded of who she was.

That, and the vast intimidating amount of power that surrounded her.

It was only when Cinder finally turned her head to glance over her own shoulder at them – thus revealing that her bright amber eyes were framed with a black mask – that Ruby saw that the villainess was resting over something, a long staff-like object of a dark-red color that the young mercenary identified to be the barrel of a rifle thanks to the scope mounted onto it. The same scope that Cinder had been looking through.

"Glad that you could make it." commented Cinder in a low chuckle, then her gaze shifted from her associates to Ruby, "Especially you. It's good to see that everything went according to the plan so far for once. I assume you didn't have any trouble?"

Whether or not this was an actual question or a hidden threat towards the fire-wielding woman's two associates, Ruby didn't know, but there certainly was a dangerous edge to Cinder's voice that gave Ruby the creeps. And yet, both Emerald and Neo remained unfazed, no emotion betraying them – Emerald remained stoic, whereas Neo just continued her cryptic smile and shook her head to deny that any trouble had occurred.

Satisfied with this answer, Cinder gave a single nod before she turned away from them and lowered her eye to line up with the scope again. Lifting her left hand, she waved and gestured the three new arrivals to join her at the other edge of the roof and to get down to avoid being seen. Trusting the three experienced criminals, Ruby followed the command and quickly crouched down, approached the edge that way, much like Emerald and Neo did.

She laid down to Cinder's right, with Emerald on the other side of the villainess and Neo choosing a spot to the right side of the young mercenary. In contrast to Emerald, however, who quickly focused on the square down below, Ruby focused on the fire-wielding woman between them. Took in the sight of Cinder and the sniper rifle in silent awe, the image of grace and calm that the villainess was, the barrel in her hands absolutely still, not shaking in the slightest. Envied it. Not many people had a hand as calm as that.

"I believe that Emerald and Neo filled you in on the mission – safe the details, of course." spoke the villainess eventually, though she didn't even look up from the scope, "But as you are here now and clearly decided for this mission, we will change that in a moment. Can't have you going in without knowing the details, right? It would only jeopardize the success of the mission."

She reached up to the scope and, with only forefinger and thumb, twisted a small ring at the back of the scope, right before her eye. Ruby could only guess what purpose this had, as well as the small wheel on top of the scope that Cinder turned next, but had any intention to find out sooner rather than later. Given that the villainess would let her, that was.

"We attack from here." announced Cinder suddenly, yet still kept aiming at what Ruby was sure was the base of the tower. She followed the woman's line of sight to the entrance of the tower, but it lay as abandoned and vacant as most of the surroundings at this time of day, with most of the students in their dorms. This left Ruby with only one explanation as to why Cinder was observing it – she was waiting for something to happen, something particular.

A movement to her right had the young mercenary turn her head to send a glance into that direction. Finding that it was Neo waving to get her attention, Ruby frowned – first at the woman that had abandoned her disguise for her actual appearance, and then at the scroll that the woman was hold.

"Cinder sure loves her rooftops, doesn't she?" was written on the scroll, a message obviously meant to be humorous. For Neo it was, at least, as the tricolored woman offered Ruby a mischievous and playful smirk that spoke volumes of the message's intention.

Admittedly, it got Ruby to smile at the image that the implication was creating in her mind, an image of Cinder searching for a perfect rooftop before every mission. Perched atop the roof with the fire-wielding woman that seemed to be in her own happy little world, the childish thought didn't seem too far from reality.

Less amused at the mute assassin's joke was Emerald, who had spied the movement and the message on the scroll past Cinder. Immediately, her glare increased and focused on Neo, but as with nearly everything, the short woman just brushed it off and took sick enjoyment in it, even the thief's quiet 'shush!'.

"Alright." Cinder's sudden sigh and movement had Ruby cringe, the villainess rising from her prone position into a crouch. She pulled the sniper rifle up onto her lap and pulled a lever back, thus ejecting a single shell that hit the ground in quiet chinking.

Seeing that the round was empty and undeformed, Ruby knew immediately that it never been filled and never been fired. A dummy that Ruby could only guess the purpose of, assuming it was to avoid an accidental shot.

Slamming a fist down on the butt of the rifle, Cinder activated a mechanism that Ruby had already expected of the long sniper rifle – with a mechanical whir, part of the long barrel folded in two atop the fire-wielding woman's right leg.

"I've been scouting the area for a while now." she informed the young girl and turned to her and Neo, "Goodwitch has already left for the main building, so we have a few minutes left. Time I intend to fill you in on the last details, Ruby – it's limited and I won't repeat myself, so you best listen closely now."

The mercenary nodded quickly in response, much to Cinder's enjoyment. A quick glance and a silent instruction made with a gesture to Emerald that told the thief to keep an eye on the tower, then the villainess turned to Ruby and Neo again and place the folded sniper rifle in between her and the young girl.

"Ozpin is the only thing between us and our target, and is currently still in the tower in his office. As luck has it, however, Beacon's headmaster tends to go for a nightly stroll every day at the same time." continued Cinder, then gave a nod into the direction of Neo, "Thankfully, we had Neo scout the area several times before and learn of that. We will be making use of his habit - we go in, get what we are here for, and then leave undetected. We want to avoid any contact with the enemy. If we run into an enemy, avoid needless kills – they only cause problems and leave trails, which we want to avoid under any circumstances. Knock them out, I don't care about the amount of violence."

Ruby really didn't like the way that Neo's face lit up at the last sentence of the villainess. Little did Ruby know about this being just a step away from Neo's all-time favorite instruction 'use of deadly force authorized', yet it didn't fail to creep her out to see the mute's psychotic side surfacing.

"If everything goes according to plan, we will have no contact with the enemy at all. It's not our focus to cause collateral damage or anything of the like." Cinder trailed off to send a glance to the tower, "Listen up now, Ruby."

The fire-wielding woman reached over her back and pulled the curved sword from it, held it in between herself and the young mercenary with one hand. A strange feeling of intimidation overcame the girl at this, to see the dangerous weapon only inches away from her, and the look of absolute fascination for the sharp blade in the eyes of her employer. Something dangerous sparkled deep within the amber of Cinder's eyes, something that almost seemed to let the eyes come alive in what looked like flames. Furnaces, these eyes, dangerous fire that seemed to flicker from the irises in the desire to consume everything in seething raging conflagration.

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. If so, then Cinder had the soul that resembled the image of a planet's core – furious, burning and inextinguishable.

To see the villainess raise her spare hand and ignite the tip of her finger, which she let run along the sharp edge, had Ruby shiver in uneasiness.

"On my command, we will move. No second earlier, and none later. I will lead the group and stay at the front of it, and no one will move out of formation unless I allow it." spoke the villainess, quiet and clear, an edge to her voice that made it clear that she did not approve of any mistakes, "Your position is at the back of the group. That way, not only is your safety ensured, but you will be able to watch our movements and learn from them."

Neo shifted to Ruby's right, but the young mercenary didn't even do as much as react. Found herself unable to tear her gaze away from Cinder and those glowing eyes that rested on the sharp curved sword between them.

"However, it also means that we trust you to have our backs. You surveil and secure, you watch our steps and make sure that nothing can sneak up on us. When the enemy reacts to our intrusion, you react to them and give us the advantage that we otherwise lose. Your weapon for tonight will support that."

Finally, Cinder put the curved sword down, placed it atop the folded rifle on the ground. A remarkable weapon, even though crude in its construction and – on first glance – simple in design. Still somewhat of a beauty, Ruby had to admit that – though she found herself surprised at Cinder's weapon of choice.

She had expected something... different.

"The mission is divided into three phases – infiltration, retrieval and escape. In phase one, the four of us will make our way into the tower. The entrance door will be sealed due to the curfew, and it takes a nine-digit combination to unlock it. Sadly, the code is changed on a daily basis and we don't know today's security code, so Neo will take care of the door by hacking into the system. It is essential that we keep an eye out for enemies during that time and keep them away from her – if Neo falls, we will be in trouble. While both Emerald and I are more than capable of hacking into that door, Neo is faster than us at it."

The psychopath shifted again, but Ruby paid her no mind. Was too focused on the mission details.

"Once in, we can just take the elevator to our target – the Cross Continental Transmit System's control room, located at the top of the CCT area. It is just below Ozpin's office, which is why we wait for him to leave."

"The CCT?" repeated Ruby in surprise, "You mean, this tower here is Vale's primary relay tower? What...?"

The young girl fell silent as the villainess rose a hand in a simple gesture that told her to be quiet. Cinder was smiling at her, enjoyed the shock and the terrible feeling that was reflected on the girl's face.

"Relax, Ruby. We're not doing anything too dramatic to it, it will continue to function quite well. For now, that is." chuckled Cinder sinisterly, had Ruby shudder in discomfort, "It's just that there's a lot of data being broadcasted that I'm really interested in. Some data that I and my superior believe should not be encrypted and kept from us. Call it a compensation for past misdeeds."

The brunette woman surprised Ruby anew by pulling out two scrolls – the small model, not able to unfold – and presenting them to her. They looked perfectly alike for the most part, but one had a blank screen and the other displayed a white image with what appeared to be a black chess piece on it.

A black Queen chess piece.

"Phase two is initiated the moment we're at our target. Inside the control room, it is up to you, Emerald and Neo to defend me while I focus on hacking into the system to first download the data I require onto the first scroll, and then upload my special little program into the system from the second scroll. Again, Neo would be faster, but she doesn't know what we're looking for." explained Cinder calmly, chuckled at Ruby's horrified expression upon immediately realizing that the special program was a virus.

"Don't you worry, lil' one. It's just to ensure that future transmissions will be downloaded onto my scroll immediately, and that I will have some control of the CCT. I won't be doing anything drastic to the system just yet – and if I do, you can be sure that you'll be warned beforehand and provided with an alternative. "

Emerald suddenly rose a hand and got Cinder's attention that way. When Cinder glanced over, the thief just pointed to the top of the Beacon Tower, and following it, Ruby found that the thing that had gotten Emerald's attention was that the light in the big office at the top had just turned off.

Ozpin was on the move.

"That aside, Ruby, the data will be important not just for me and my employer, but of use to Junior as well. See, you think that you know this world and how it works. You think the governments rule and that the schools just train future hunters and huntresses. But that's just the facade, the mask they wear – and almost twenty years ago, I saw the truth with my very own eyes. I saw beyond the mask in a moment of their weakness."

Cinder picked the folded sniper rifle up again and leaned it onto one leg, before grabbing the curved sword by the hilt.

"The truth is – it's the Dust companies that truly define this world. That truly rule. Their power is beyond what you imagine it to be, their influence is so vast that even the governments bend to their control. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, a circle that rules from the shadows, and the academies and the Dust companies are in on it."

The villainess surprised Ruby anew, and that not just with these words, by turning the curved sword in her hand and holding it by the blunt side, hilt towards the folded rifle on her lap. Without any prior warning, she slammed the hilt into an indentation in the folded sniper rifle – and, with a click, they connected.

Suddenly, the design didn't seem as simple anymore.

And what had been a curved sword and a sniper rifle before was suddenly – to the utter amazement of Ruby – a scythe. A very crude one, the hilt consisting of the folded rifle and the blade being the former curved sword, one that Ruby doubted would be easy to wield – but it was still amazing. A beauty of a weapon.

"Word has it that the Schnee Dust Company has refined their design of the Atlesian Paladin. What we thought to be the final design was no more than another prototype, but getting our hands on one still proved to be very useful and Neo has spent a lot of time repairing and reverse-engineering it, has taken quite some pleasure in it. It gave us quite a bit of understanding of how they work." continued Cinder and experimentally swung the scythe once, "The SDC is currently developing what they call an Atlesian Paladin UMG – an unmanned version that is operating on the basis of an improved AI much like that of the Atlesian Knights-200. With my little virus, we will have access to the data and see what improvements have been made – and how to counteract them."

She rested the blade against the floor and let the hilt lean onto her right leg, seemed self-pleased at having impressed the young girl with the weapon. With Emerald and Neo watching out for anything to happen, she could focus entirely on Ruby and was glad for that.

"Once we have the data, we reach the final phase of the mission – escaping. If we stayed undetected, we will go out the way we came in – if not, we might have to improvise a bit on the escape, though we do have a second group on the other side of the academy's grounds to act a distraction and ensure our escape. Either way, we will meet up with the second group at our getaway vehicle – and once we've reached that point and left, the mission was a success."

As soon as she had finished, Cinder lowered her gaze to the weapon on her lap. She rose it, turned it, gave it a last critical glance – and only upon finding that the hybrid of a sniper rifle and a curved sword was in a good state did she finally part from it.

Put it right in front of Ruby.

"This is your weapon for tonight. Please excuse its state, it is no more than a prototype that Neo has designed and crafted last night. Simple in design, but relatively complex in function and, as you will find, very effective." chuckled the villainess, ran a delicate finger along the side of the scythe's hilt, "As you've already seen, in its entirety this weapon is a scythe, but separates into a sniper rifle and a sword. A clever design, courtesy of Neo's creativity."

The gesture of Cinder was acknowledged by Neo with a nod of appreciation, the mischievous smile immediately spreading across her lips once more. Yet, the assassin kept focused on the entrance of the tower, radiated an excitement for the upcoming mission that Ruby – right to the left of the mute – could feel clear as day.

If this excitement was because of the upcoming mission or just part of it – a part that Ruby didn't even want to think about – was something that the young girl didn't know, and preferred not to know.

"This weapon features two types of ammo – and though it took me some time and several reminders to convince Neo of adding it, neither of them is lethal under normal circumstances. Forgive my assumption, but I hardly believe that you are comfortable with killing human beings... yet." continued Cinder, but didn't wait for Ruby to question her words, "The weapon is fully loaded, but Neo is carrying additional magazines of either type and will provide you with them if necessary."

As Cinder explained, Ruby finally dared to carefully reach out and take the weapon to examine it more closely. Wasn't surprised in the slightest at how heavy it was, but found that she could still hold it nicely in her hands.

"A clip of either type is already loaded into the rifle, you can change them at the back. One type of ammunition will be tranquilizer rounds with a potent chemical that will sedate a human being within seconds, based on where you hit them. You can switch between the ammunition fired with this lever here, even while it isn't in rifle mode." explained the brunette and pointed at the lever in question near the muzzle, "The other type of ammunition will be electric rounds, just strong enough to avoid damage to the nervous system of the target, but strong enough to knock them out. Some of the Dust that Neo acquired last night went into that."

Experimentally, Ruby flicked the lever to switch between the types of ammunition and found herself in awe as the weapon in her hands let out a hum and vibrated softly, a small colorful light at the butt of the rifle changing from red to white – from tranquilizer round to electric round.

Amazed and excited, she turned the weapon around and scanned the folded barrel in search of a way to separate the hybrid again, and quickly spotted the slider. Realized how to operate it right away and, turning the weapon horizontally in her right hand, brushed her left hand over the folded barrel, pulling the slider with her thumb.

Immediately, the curved sword was ejected and, almost as if she had done it a thousand times before, its hilt found its way into her left hand as if guided by an invisible hand. No sooner than that was the case, the weapon emitted the same mechanical whir that it had done before and unfolded – and just like that, Ruby held the curved sword in her left hand, and the sniper rifle in her right – though later more like a staff than anything, something that immediately sparked new ideas in her head on how to use it.

Ideas that Cinder seemed to agree with, given her sinister smirk.

Letting out a sigh of content, the young mercenary lowered the two parts of her temporary weapon and rested their tips on the ground before her. This was more than she could've hoped for, albeit she had yet to see if the weapon's design truly was the right one of her in an actual battle. And yet, there was something that bugged her, something she couldn't help but worry about.

"You said the rounds wouldn't be lethal under normal circumstances." muttered Ruby quietly, didn't dare to lift her gaze from the weapon, "What do you mean with 'under normal circumstances'?"

Amused at the question, Cinder rose an eyebrow and chuckled. Her lips curled up into a smirk that resembled the more dangerous ones of Neo, sinister and foreboding, waking doubt and uneasiness in the souls of those who were to see it.

"Well, the rounds of either type are non-lethal – for the most part, that is." huffed Cinder in clear amusement, much to Ruby's discomfort, "However, there's always a slight risk, I can't deny that. The voltage released by the electrical rounds isn't lethal by itself, but could cause problems if someone affected by it would have cardiac insufficiency, and the chemical used in the tranquilizer rounds is quite potent and everyone reacts different to it. If one were to have an intolerance of the drug, well..."

The young mercenary didn't like the way that Cinder never finished that sentence, leaving it to Ruby's imagination to fill in the blank and think of all possible horrible scenarios. Felt like the weapons in her hands, though both resting on the ground on one side, suddenly felt much heavier than before.

"Well, let's just hope that we don't run into anyone with this kind of problem, hm?" finished the villainess eventually in a low chuckle after letting a few seconds of silence pass. Almost encouragingly, she placed her hands on those of the girl and slowly lifted them, turned the left around to present the blade resting within to the young Rose.

"I trust you to make the best of it and make your own decisions, but I also trust that you have our backs when we go in. We can rely on you, can we?"

Ruby slowly rose her gaze and met the burning one of the older brunette. Found, much to her surprise, honesty in them that she wasn't used to coming from the sinister woman. Honesty, and yet the same malicious glint that she had come to know Cinder for already.

"Cinder."

Emerald's hushed tone, fast and urgent, interrupted the moment. Taking her hands off those of Ruby and turning away from the girl, Cinder faced the direction of the tower again and quickly found what had Emerald so agitated – Ozpin had just left the tower, with cane and all, and looked about ready to go for a stroll.

It was the start signal of their mission, their clue to strike.

Yet, Cinder didn't give them the command to move. Stayed where she was in her crouched position, though her expression had grown more serious as she observed as Ozpin slowly moved away from their target. It was obvious she was waiting for him to be far enough away from it, that she was giving him time to consider if he had forgot something and needed to turn around and head back.

And, without even taking her eyes off Ozpin, the villainess suddenly reached into the sports bag that lay near her and pulled something out that she quickly threw onto Ruby's lap. Not that the girl had a free hand to catch the object, still holding the curved sword in one hand and the barrel of the sniper rifle in the other.

"Here, put this on." commanded Cinder in a more serious, business-like tone that had Ruby frown down at the object in question. It was a mask. Not quite unlike the one that Yang had received from the White Fang, although it resembled a Beowolf more than a Nevermore, and featured black fur instead of raven feathers. "Neo snatched this from the White Fang last night when she got the Dust. We figured it might be best if your face remained unseen for the duration of this mission – in your interest, of course."

Ruby shuddered a bit at the explanation, but couldn't disagree, and quickly put the sniper rifle down to put the mask on. Felt warm upon her face, enveloping it and casting it in shadows. At least it explained where Neo had acquired the Dust for the weapon, although Ruby didn't quite understand why Cinder had Neo steal from the White Fang – it just served to mess up the the girl's understanding of the factions and their relationships. Last time she had checked, she had been under the assumption that Cinder's associates and the White Fang were on, as Roman had called it, a joint business venture –and now, it seemed like they weren't that friendly with one another, working together for commercial gain rather than because of shared values and goals. Less ally than business partner.

If that even was what to call it.

Not that she was given much time to think about it. She had barely put the mask on and started to get used to the unfamiliar feeling and limitation of her vision when Cinder – Ozpin had vanished around a corner onto a path that led deeper into the park-like area – decided that the time had come to strike.

Without as much as a word – though she did make a gesture with her dominant hand that Ruby was sure meant something to trained individuals with a military-like background such as hunter, mercenary or assassin, as both Emerald and Neo followed without as much of surprise as the young girl felt – the villainess just slipped past the edge of the roof and dropped down from it, taking the sports bag along and swinging it over her shoulder the moment she landed.

She set into motion again before Emerald and Neo landed behind her in perfect synchronization, fell into a dash towards the tower at impressive speed for someone who did not possess a semblance that boosted it.

Seeing Neo and Emerald charge after Cinder, Ruby realized that she had to set into motion as well. Concentrating her aura into her feet to absorb the impact, Ruby quickly rose to her full height and took a step over the edge of the roof, dropped down. Hit the ground quicker than she had anticipated, yet only had to land in a crouched position to absorb the impact thanks to her aura.

Instead of rising to her full height again, the young mercenary instead pushed off the ground and activated her semblance of speed to catch up with the rest of the group halfway across the square in front of the tower, yet stayed a short distance behind them to stay in diamond formation.

And didn't fail to notice the curious and very interested glance that Cinder was sending her over her shoulder, amber eyes sparkling in excitement and satisfaction at the display of the girl's semblance. Not sure what to feel about that, Ruby decided to quickly disregard this.

To the right, Neo was undergoing another change of outfit thanks to the use of her illusion-related semblance. As the wave of light rolled across her body – this time from head downwards and absorbing shards of light from the air instead of discarding them into it – the assassin's appearance changed drastically.

Once more, her tricolored hair turned black, though she swept it over her shoulder herself with her left hand while pulling her parasol with her right. As the wave rolled past Neo's face, her eye color turned magenta and she gained green eyeliner, before finally speeding up as it reached her shoulders.

In clear contrast to her usual bright outfit, the one she was wearing after her semblance had finished its work was black as the night. Somewhat resembling Cinder's stealth outfit, it consisted of a jacket with something that could barely be considered sleeves that went just past her shoulders, long gloves that went up to her elbows and had white butterfly-like designs on the back of her hands, tight-fitting pants with white lines at the sides on the height of her hip and what looked like a black version of her boots – at least the height of her heels hadn't changed at all.

Interestingly enough, this change also affected her parasol, which changed from its usual white to an ashen color with white designs. It had Ruby question where the limit to Neo's semblance was and how it worked in detail, though she knew that it was unlikely that she'd get that answer – after all, it was highly disadvantageous if anyone but you knew how your semblance worked.

Still, it seemed that most of the illusions that Neo could create – safe for those that affected her appearance – were extremely fragile. Almost like glass, they shattered if something were to impact with it – and yet seemed sturdy enough to stop the object that hit it. At least, that was Ruby's understanding of it from what little she had experienced during the Dust shop robbery, her former mission alongside the short woman.

It wasn't that she had much time to think about the semblance of the assassin, however, and it wasn't that she'd ever come to a satisfying answer, she knew that. Upon reaching the entrance of the tower, Cinder quickly made way for Neo, pushed herself against the wall next to the corner to the right of the entrance to glance around it as the disguised madwoman began hacking into the console. Glanced over to Ruby only long enough to give her a gesture that even the young mercenary understood, the sign to stay where she was and keep an eye out.

Fire suddenly gathered in the hands of the villainess as she swung them, the Dust woven into her outfit burning ablaze as two dark charcoal-colored glass blades manifested and finally revealed the Dust-based weapon to Ruby that she had once before inquired about. Little did Ruby know that the weapons hadn't always been made out of glass and that they had seen this very school several years before, back when they were made out of metal, but Cinder had no value for past, other than to have it fuel her grudge, and would never mention it unless special circumstances were met.

Taking position up on the other side of the door and securing the other side, Emerald had pulled her own weapons and held them in their revolver-mode, pointing into the darkness as if waiting for someone to step out of it.

Knowing what was expected of her, Ruby – still standing in front of the door – turned around and faced the way they had come, attached the curved sword to her belt at her lower back to hold the sniper rifle with both hands and point it at the long path that led up to the square in front of the tower. She couldn't see particularly well due to the darkness, the path illuminated only by lamps to either side of it every few ten meters, but at least she was ready to aim and fire should anything happen.

It quickly turned out that there was no need for it, as the sound of mechanical doors sliding open behind her alerted her to Neo's success in hacking the door only a few seconds after she had turned her back to it.

Sending a glance over her shoulder, she found Cinder already facing their direction and giving further instructions of which Ruby only understood half of. The other two understood them just fine however, and both Neo and Emerald quickly pulled their respective weapons up and slipped into the building through the door that was now open to scout the area.

Meanwhile, Cinder pushed off the wall and hurried over to Ruby, telling the mercenary to follow her and stick close to her with only the movement of her head into the direction of the door.

And, pulling the curved blade and attaching it to the rifle that quickly folded up as she hit the butt of it against the ground to form the scythe, Ruby did exactly as told and followed the villainess inside to begin her very first official mission.

The first of what would become many, she hoped.


And that is the end of this part.

Now, as I mentioned, don't worry - the second part, longer and more intense, is to follow during the next 36 hours, as I'm still working hard on it. Bit shorter than usual this time, I know, but I couldn't find a better place to end this without interrupting the flow, as a different scene starts at this point that is quite a few pages long before we go back to Ruby's mission, so look forward to that.

I'm leaving the notes about this for the end of the second part of this chapter, so - I'll see ya tomorrow when this continues! Until then...

So long~

By the way, I wonder if anyone figures out why this chapter is called "Corvus Redit" before I'll upload the second part, which will reveal why. Small hint - we're not gonna see the mission of Yang and the twins, so it's not with them.