A/N: Wheee. Thank you so much to anyone and everyone who left a review last chapter. I adore and get so excited about every single one. So thank you. Please, please keep them coming. So sorry about the wait; for some reason, this chapter was super hard for me to write.

Again, my gratitude towards Masterpick never fades.

…

The man that stands in Ozpin's office is a far cry from any of Yang Xiao Long's expectations. His chestnut brown hair helps takes the paleness out of his skin, but the sharpness of his blue eyes briefly catches the detective off guard. Blake Belladonna's warning—This new guy replacing your chief. Don't trust him.—still echoes in the back of her head, but there's an ease about the man in front of her that helps the tension in Yang's stomach loosen just a little bit.

"Miss Xiao Long," he greets, his voice an animated baritone, somehow both exciting and placating. "So good to finally meet you." He puts the cigar in his mouth into the ash tray, then extends a slender hand towards her.

Yang shakes it. "Uh, likewise, sir."

"I was impressed with what you managed to do regarding the Black case. Out-of-the-box thinking like that is just what we need more of in this precinct." He steps around the desk to lean against it. Yang takes a reflexive step back, unable to help but feel a little wary. He arches an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" he asks.

Yang crosses her arms over her chest, shifting her weight slightly. "No, sir. I just wasn't expecting a change in the chain of command."

He shrugs a shoulder. "I know the change is sudden for you, but let me assure you, detective, that your old chief has left the precinct in trustworthy hands. I doubt he would've left otherwise."

So Ozpin left willingly? Something in Yang's gut feels off, the puzzle pieces not quite aligning. "If I may ask, sir, why did Ozpin leave?" Yang glances at the name plate that is set on the desk. Nick W. Mortroach. It's not a name that Yang recognizes.

Mortroach chuckles, flashing the young detective a good-natured smirk. "I'm afraid that answer is above even my paygrade." This new guy replacing your chief. Don't trust him. Yang can't shake Blake's voice out of her head no matter how hard she tries. Mortroach tilts his head, his blue eyes regarding Yang quietly. "Black seems to be uncooperative in the interrogations," he says suddenly.

Yang shakes her head quickly, trying to clear it. "Yes, sir."

"But she seems most willing to talk to you."

Yang hesitates briefly. "She is."

"Hm." Mortroach studies the detective for a brief moment before pushing off the front of the desk and crossing over to Yang. "Be careful, detective. Black has been eluding us from the beginning, and the fact that she's taken a particular interest in you is worrisome to say the least. She'll say anything to make you doubt yourself. She's a criminal. It's what she does…" He caps a hand on Yang's shoulder, making the blonde detective's lilac eyes look up to meet his piercing blue ones. "You're a smart girl. Don't let her worm her way into your thoughts. You've got the whole precinct to back you up. Myself included."

Yang nods, the tension easing out of her shoulders and her resolve hardening. "Thank you, sir."

He nods once, stepping back and walking behind his desk again. "However, I must insist that you continue to talk to her. I hear that she told you she doesn't have that money?" At Yang's nod, he shakes his head. "She has to have it. We need that information. That's your top priority."

There's a soft knock on the door, and both Yang and Mortroach turn towards the door. A girl that Yang doesn't recognize—short, thin, with hazel eyes and wearing a black pantsuit—is holding a clipboard and looking expectantly at the two of them.

"Ah, Yang, this is my assistant. Nancy." The girl offers a small smile, and Yang offers a friendly wave. Mortroach continues. "And I'm afraid her knock is my cue that I have some business to attend to. Thank you for stopping in, detective. Remember: we have to get Black to tell us where the money is."

…

"Ha! Trap card!"

The victorious shout cuts through the ambient noise of the café where Yang had decided to meet her sister, Ruby. As reassuring and helpful as her discussion with the new chief had been, the detective knew that she needed to get away from the precinct. It had been too long, and her sister was only visiting her for a few more weeks. She'd called Ruby a little before noon, and was all too happy to oblige when her sister suggested they meet at the casual café known for also providing board games to its patrons.

The game that Ruby had grabbed some the shelf was both of the girls' favorite: Remnant: The Game.

"You don't scare me!" Ruby shoots back, her eyes nevertheless widening as Yang's shout is accompanied by her reveal of the Giant Nevermore card. "If you roll a 6 or lower, your own nefarious plan will completely fall apart!"

"You've left me no choice! It's a chance I have to take." Yang smirks, scooping the dice up into her hands shaking them, and then letting them roll across the table. One stops at 4.

The other…. At 2.

Both girls stare at the dice for a long moment, Yang's smirk falling into a teasingly devastated jaw-drop as a slow grin spreads across her sister's face.

"Yes!" Ruby shouts at the same time her sister wails, "Nooooo!" With a surge of confidence, Ruby tosses another card between them. "I'm pulling the Atlesian Air Fleet!"

"You wouldn't!"

"I already did!" Ruby starts moving the necessary pieces around the board in a flurry of excitement at her impending victory. "I surpass your ground forces and attack your wall directly. With your forces diminished by half, and by playing this card—" Ruby lays another one down—"You wall comes tumbling down. Take that, Yang Xiao Long!"

Yang's eyes water with fake tears, bringing a hand up to her chest. "I thought we were sisters." She points a dramatic finger in Ruby's face. "I will not soon forget this betrayal, Ruby Rose."

"All is fair in love, war, and Remnant."

The two sisters stare at each other for a long moment before they both fall into fits of laughter. In the back of her mind, Yang realizes it's the first time she's laughed that hard since before she was assigned Black's case. As both girls calm down, Yang tries not to think much about work. She came here to hang out with her sister and forget about the case for a little while anyway.

Ruby, however, keeps glancing up at her as the two of them start putting the pieces back in the box and folding the board up. "That's the first time I've beaten you at Remnant in, like, two years. You okay, Yang?"

Yang flashes her a smile. "Of course." She adds, teasingly, "I'm not convinced you didn't cheat." It's a deflection; flimsy, at best, and Yang can tell that Ruby sees right through it. But regardless, her younger sister lets it drop. Ruby always had been good at reading people, and Yang can't help but think that her little sister would make a great cop someday.

…

"Yang! We didn't know you were coming." Jaune offers a friendly smile as he swings the door open to let the police detective into the dingy motel room. They hadn't moved locations from the last time that Yang had been there, but the six cardboard boxes that sat on one of the two beds in the room was an indication that they were working on moving.

"You guys changing location again?"

"We have to," Nora explains matter-of-factly in her perpetually bubbly voice. "At least, in our line of work. We'll stay in Vale and get you our address, though."

Yang smiles. "I appreciate that."

"How's that Black case going? Any luck?" Jaune asks, taking a seat in the arm chair closest to where Pyrrha was sitting on the couch, with Ren sitting on the other side of Pyrrha. It suddenly occurred to Yang that she hadn't updated them from when they'd likely seen both Blake and her run out of the room. That chase felt like ages ago. Was it really only a couple of days?

Yang takes a seat on the edge of the bed and leans her elbows on her knees. "She's in custody, but… I don't know. It's weird."

"Weird in what way?" Pyrrha asks, closing the heavy, red leather-bound book in her lap and giving Yang her full attention.

The blonde runs a hand down her face and sighs. "Black's real name is Blake Belladonna. But that's been about the only viable, helpful information we've been able to get out of her. We've…kept her longer than we probably should," Yang admits, "I'm not sure how the feds aren't breathing down our backs. Anyway, she says she'll only talk to me, but when I'm in there… She just gives me excuses." She looks up at the four of them. "That's why I'm here."

"Never just a social visit, huh?" Jaune replies, his tone full of good-natured teasing.

Yang huffs a laugh. "One of these days. But I really need some information right now. It's important."

Without further prompting, Ren grabs his laptop off the small coffee table in the corner of the room and opens it. "What information do you need?"

"I have to know where all this money went. From the cash, art, jewels, and everything else she's stolen, she had to be keeping that money in some sort of account somewhere." Ren starts typing.

"And this…Blake wouldn't tell you anything?" Nora frowns, then shrugs. "I guess that can't be too surprising. But if there's any paper trail, Ren'll be able to track it down."

Without stopping his typing or looking up from the screen, the corner of Ren's mouth tugs up in an almost-smile. "Your faith in me never falters, does it?"

Nora taps her finger once on the tip of his nose. "Boop. No it doesn't."

Yang smiles at the two, but Jaune's comment quickly draws her attention. "I've gotta say, I know Blake has been a pain for you, Yang, but her semblance isn't like anything I've ever seen."

"What do you mean?" Yang asks.

Jaune grabs his own laptop and pulls it open. "I've been going over the security footage we got from Knight's own cameras as well as the complex's, and… well, do you remember when you thought Black was standing in front of you, but then suddenly she was running out the door at the same time?"

Yang nods as Jaune turns the computer around so the screen faced her. She remembered that. She also remembered the way Blake had completely vanished in her grip on the roof. Was that part of her semblance? Yang watches the video that Jaune pulled up of that moment in the apartment. Blake stands in front of her, but then suddenly seems to separate from herself and suddenly there are two Blakes in the room, one of which immediately bolts for the door.

"You think that's her semblance?" Yang asks, but even as the question leaves her mouth, she realizes that that's really the only explanation.

"We do," Pyrrha answers with certainty.

Several moments go by, filled mostly with idle conversation. Yang can't help but occasionally check her watch, distracted with how long she's been away from the precinct and wondering—perhaps fruitlessly—if any of the other officers had gotten any information out of Blake yet. In the back of her mind, Yang also wonders if they remembered to give the girl lunch.

The blonde's thoughts, however, are interrupted when Ren clears his throat. "There's nothing here."

Yang blinks, certain for a moment that she must've heard him wrong. "What?"

Ren lifts a shoulder, a faint surprise in his eyes that echoes the bewilderment Yang feels. "There's no paper trail that I can follow. It just doesn't exist. There's no account under Blake Belladonna's name, and I don't see any accounts that I can search with suspicious deposits that would amount to her liquidated assets." He pauses.

"So the trail just runs cold?" Nora asks him.

"What about multiple accounts?" Yang asks earnestly. "Could she be running a shell game?"

Ren sighs faintly. "I already thought of that. But the trail never begins in the first place. It's not that I lose it so much as I can't find it in the first place. Wherever Belladonna is keeping her liquidation, it isn't in a bank account."

…

"Ms. Belladonna, we know you have it somewhere. You're cornered. There's no way out, and nobody is coming to your rescue. It's just you and me, and I've got all night long. Where's the money?"

That evening, Yang sits in the interrogation room across from the Faunus for the fifth time. Blake had the beginning of dark circles under her eyes from sleepless nights spent in the interrogation room. An empty Styrofoam plate—one that had an apple core and the remnants of a ham sandwich—sits between them, along with a half-drunk glass of water. Blake's dinner.

"I've been telling you, detective," Blake says, flashing an annoyed look at the blonde. "I don't have it."

Yang feels a flash of irritation herself, but she holds it back for now. "Say I believe you. Hypothetically." She leans forward, fiercely meeting Blake's amber gaze. "That still doesn't tell us where it is, only where it isn't."

There's a brief pause before Blake adverts her gaze, downward and to Yang's right. A sign of internal dialogue being engaged, Yang remembers. She just wishes that she could hear that dialogue. Regardless, it's clear to the detective that the criminal across from her isn't going to be telling her the information she needs. Not yet, anyway. So Yang changes her tactic.

"Here's something else I don't get," Yang says, leaning back in her chair. Blake's eyes lock onto hers again as she continues. "I met a couple of your victims. Ms. Adel and Mr. Knight. And Mr. Knight could get on someone's bad side in a hurry. I get that. But why Coco? What did you have against her?"

Blake scoffs and shakes her head. "It's… not like that. You wouldn't understand."

"You aren't giving me a chance to," Yang snaps in frustration.

The words are meant with silence. Blake won't look at her, instead choosing to look down and to the left. In the back of her head, Yang recognizes the eye-movement as a sign of memory kicking in, but she's too frustrated to probe for information. The detective huffs a breath, grabbing the plate off the table as she stands.

"I'm talking to a brick wall," she mutters, but loud enough for the Faunus to hear. Then, more pointedly to Blake, "You're clearly not willing to actually talk to any of us. I can't help you, Blake."

The dark-haired Faunus stays silent as Yang leaves the room, letting the door swing behind her with a heavy thud. She tosses the plate in the trashcan at the end of the hall and is about to head for her cubicle so she can pack up and call it a night—she has the sinking feeling that she isn't going to get any real answers out of Black tonight. And as much as going home feels a little to Yang like giving up, she tells herself that it's just to get her head screwed on straight before she confronts the girl again.

Yang shoulders her bag and turns the lamp on her desk off before checking her watch. 11:23. Yang sighs, runs a hand over her face, and walks to the end of the makeshift hallway between the cubicle walls. As she passes the chief's office, she hears her name called out.

"Ah, Detective Xiao Long. Can you spare a moment?"

Yang stops in her tracks, grimacing because she really wants to go home, but turning around and forcing a pleasant smile as she steps inside the office. "What do you need, sir?"

Mortroach is typing away at the computer on his desk, but he pushes the rolling chair back as Yang steps forward. If the blonde girl is being honest with herself, she can't shake the sense of weirdness at seeing someone else sitting in Ozpin's chair.

"I take it that you were not able to get Black to tell you where the money is?"

Yang rubs the back of her neck. "Not yet. Sorry, sir."

"Don't even worry about it, Yang," he says, waving her apology off. He stands, brushing the creases of his white button down shirt. "I've decided that it's time we try a…well, a different tactic."

Yang raises her eyebrows, tilting her head in confusion. "What tactic do you have in mind?"

Mortroach looks at her for a long moment before responding. "I will be bringing in two interrogation….specialists, if you will. Just to help speed things along before Black gets shipped off to a security max. There isn't any information these two haven't been able to get for me when I need them to. You're off the hook, detective."

Yang frowns. Pulling people in from the outside to get information from a suspect isn't something she's ever seen done throughout her career. She wasn't even sure it was legal. "Interrogation specialists?"

"They are very well trained, Yang." Mortroach gives her an easy smile. "You don't need to worry. I just wanted to let you know. Catch up on some rest tonight. You've certainly earned it."

Yang takes the dismissal for what it is, and adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder. She turns to leave, but curiosity and uneasiness are still at war in her stomach. She stops at the door, turning back to the chief. "Sir? If you don't mind telling me, what are these interrogation specialists' names?"

He glances up from his computer and looks at her, the corner of his lips tugging upward in a small smile. "Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black."

…

A/N: I would love, love, love to hear any thoughts you guys are having!