Disclaimer

I don't own anything. RWBY is not owned by me. It is owned by talented people. I'm a nobody. Please don't sue me.

Fourth Case:

Clubbing

Weiss stood in front of the mirror, carefully smoothing her outfit, making sure that it laid just right over her figure. She was wearing a long dress that started as a dark blue near the top, and slowly faded to a light, shimmery blue at the bottom, with an angled slit running all the way to her thigh, to reveal a second, white skirt underneath, which was slit up her leg in the opposite direction, revealing the white silk stocking on one leg from the knee down.

The dress would've revealed her arms and shoulders, but on top of it she wore a dark gray shrug with a a high collar that closed at the neck. Below the shrug but above her cleavage was a large silver necklace with an enormous sapphire, which matched the ones in the dangling earrings she wore. Her hair was carefully arranged in its usual style, with a spiky silver tiara around the base of her high pony tail.

After taking a few more moments to make sure that everything looked perfect, she grabbed a pair of white gloves and carefully pulled them on, making sure that the only skin she revealed was the top of her chest between her dress' sweetheart neckline and the collar of her shrug, as well as her pale face. She posed for a moment longer, making sure that the gloves didn't detract from her appearance, before walking across the room to grab a pair of dark gray stiletto heels. Normally she preferred her heels to have platforms for better stability, but the point was to be beautiful, and fashion dictated the skinnier heel with her current outfit.

A moment later there was a knock at the door, and she smiled briefly at the perfect timing, before strolling over to answer it. Standing outside were Ruby, Coco and Velvet. Coco and Velvet were dressed fashionably as always, but had made few changes to their appearance. Ruby, on the other hand, looked like a whole new person.

She was wearing a short, red sleeveless dress, with the top vertically slit and closed with black lacings. Underneath that material was a translucent black gauzy fabric which joined with a black choker collar. Around her waist was a wide black sash, and her legs were covered by black stockings. While obviously loose and flowing enough to be comfortable, the only practical part of the entire outfit were her flat black calf boots.

For just a moment after seeing her Weiss' jaw dropped in shock, and she couldn't stop herself from pausing to drink Ruby in, looking at her from the bottom of her shoes to her red highlighted hair and back again several times. Fortunately Ruby appeared to be equally distracted by her appearance, which just made her feel warm and tingly in an excited way.

The moment was broken when Coco chuckled loudly. "Okay, lovebirds, I get that you haven't seen each other dressed up before, but we're on the clock tonight."

Ruby and Weiss both blushed, looking away from everyone, and Weiss distracted herself by crossing the room to grab her small gray clutch, checking to make sure that it held her essentials, including her badge. Closing it, she also grabbed Myrtenaster before strolling out the door, head held high in spite of Coco's continued amusement.

When they reached the street she carefully climbed into the back of their car, watching with a soft smile as Ruby awkwardly did the same, obviously not used to wearing such a short dress. Once she was properly arranged Coco cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention. "Are you ready to go in? You won't be able to have your weapons on you, and this could get very dangerous if anything goes wrong.

"Of course," Weiss said with a disdainful sniff. "Our most dangerous weapons can't be taken away from us, anyway."

"Alright," Coco said. "Remember, we'll be blending into the crowd, but if things look like they're going wrong I'll have our weapons in my purse."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that, but at Coco's urging she handed Myrtenaster and her gun to the other detective. Coco opened her small purse and simply placed the sword inside, followed by her's and Ruby's guns. Ruby gasped in shock, while Weiss raised an eyebrow at the display, studying the magic briefly. It appeared to be some form of dimensional magic, folding space to make a much larger bag internally than externally.

As Ruby excitedly asked questions about it Weiss thought back over the last twenty four hours. After watching a few movies with Ruby, her partner had made awkward small talk at her door before finally going home, leaving Weiss feeling more alone than ever before in her empty apartment. If it had been a movie that was the moment where Weiss would've kissed Ruby and asked her to stay, but she pushed that thought aside.

In the morning they had met back up with Coco and Velvet, who had spent the previous day following up every lead they could find about Red Sap. For the most part they had only located more street level dealers, but the drug appeared to be taking off, appearing all over the city in the past few weeks. If they didn't put a stop to it soon it would become an epidemic.

Fortunately Major Crime's Organized Crime Control Task Force kept a close eye on anyone interacting with the established crime bosses in the city, and Emerald's visits to all of them over the past three months had certainly attracted plenty of attention. While they knew nothing about the new crime lord calling himself 'The Prince', they did know where he kept his base of operations.

It was a new, very upscale nightclub in the wealthy part of town called The Court, and even Weiss, despite loathing those sort of places had heard of it. Unfortunately little was known about The Prince, and if they wanted to put a stop to his burgeoning drug empire they would need to find out more. Eventually they decided to use Weiss' status to try to gain access to the upper echelons of the club, which is what led to their current circumstances.

Weiss had originally planned to simply dress well, but after getting home early her eyes had landed on the latest dress that had been added to her wardrobe, and after only a little hesitation she had decided to go all out. She knew that her choice to do so had been driven by the hopes of provoking the exact reaction that she had from her partner, but thinking about that led to a sudden surge of guilt. She wasn't being fair to Ruby, not when she knew that they could never actually be together.

Weiss looked down for a moment, feeling guilty at leading her partner on. Or was it all in her head? She had little actual experience with other people, and Ruby had always been a very friendly and open person with her. Maybe she was reading her own feelings into Ruby's actions.

She looked back at her partner again, only to find Ruby nervously fiddling with the hem of her dress. "I'm not used to wearing dresses like this. And I tried to borrow some of Yang's lady stilts, but… how do you even walk in those things? And fight in them?"

Weiss smiled. "Long practice."

"Well, I don't have any practice, and if we're going into danger I don't want to walk like a baby deer."

"Understandable," Weiss said. She hesitated, and then said what she really wanted to. "It's okay. You still look very beautiful."

Ruby turned bright red, fiddling with her dress again. "Y-you look beautiful, too."

Weiss blushed as well, looking out the window to try to hide it. "Thank you."

"You two are adorable," Coco drawled, drawing a glare from Weiss.

"Coco!" Velvet objected, smacking her partner's arm. "Don't tease."

"Hey, don't beat up the driver," Coco laughed. "Besides, I'm not the tease."

A few awkward minutes later they arrived at their destination. The Court was the hottest, most lavish nightclub in the city, and even early in the evening the line outside was incredibly long. After Coco parked she turned to look at Weiss and Ruby in the back. "Okay, this place isn't going to be easy to get into, but we're all hot young women, so we've got a chance."

"I'm going in as myself, so Ruby and I should be able to talk our way past the bouncer," Weiss said. "Do you think you'll be able to get in without me?"

Coco smirked, lowering her ever present shades for a moment. "Do not underestimate the power of this much fashionable hotness. We'll get in."

"Alright," Ruby said cheerfully. "We'll take a look around while we wait for you, then!"

"Right," Coco said. "Remember, try to blend in and act natural. Tonight's about collecting enough intel to start building a case. We need a lot more to bring to a judge to get a warrant, but if we can show they're moving Red Sap out of here the moment it gets criminalized we'll be good to go."

"When do you think they will make it illegal?" Weiss asked.

Coco shrugged. "Sometime this week I think. Inspector Ozpin is sending someone to the next city council meeting, and he's supposed to meet with the governor about it today."

"Alright, are you ready Weiss?" Ruby asked. The question seemed casual, but Weiss could see the real concern in her partner's eyes.

"I am," Weiss said, taking a deep breath to steel herself. "Let's go."

While she was nervous about being in a packed nightclub run by criminals for the second night in a row, Weiss knew better than to show it, and she had years of experience putting the face her father wanted to see forward. When she approached the club she walked like the ground knew she already owned it before every step of her intimidatingly high heels. No one said a word as she strolled down the entire length of the line, many even snapping pictures of her with their cellphones as she passed them.

The bouncer was a tall, heavyset man with sharp eyes and an earpiece in. He looked them both over professionally as Weiss stopped right in front of him, one hand on her hip. When he didn't say anything for a moment she raised an imperious eyebrow and waited.

The bouncer caved first. "Can I help you, ma'am?"

"That is your job," Weiss agreed. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Weiss Schnee," he said.

"Then why haven't you opened the door for me and my friend?"

The man shifted his gaze from her to Ruby, who had been trying to imitate Weiss' poise, but ended up squirming a little under his searching gaze. She all but wilted in relief when he returned his attention to Weiss. "Of course, ma'am. Have a good evening."

Weiss finally gave him a plastic smile. "Of course."

While Junior's had been entirely about the large dance floor, The Court's dance floor was recessed, with a ring of tables and booths all around the outside of the room. Against the far wall was a long, curved bar, with several bartenders serving drinks. The right side of the room was at the same level as the entrance and the bar, but the left side was five feet higher, with another large bouncer standing guard over the stairs up.

Weiss was relieved to not be dumped into another dense crowd, and immediately led Ruby over to the staircase. The bouncer took one look at her and gave her a nod, letting them both walk up the stairs and pick out their own spot in the VIP area. Weiss quickly settled on a small booth that offered a great view of the entire club, including the front door and the bar, along with the door to what she assumed were the private VIP rooms.

The booth's seating wrapped around the small alcove it was carved from, and it was made from butter soft black leather. At the center of the area was a low glass table for setting down drinks, and the ceiling was actually mirrored, although it wasn't easy to see anything with the dim lighting.

Weiss was impressed at how clean the booth was, and by the time they had settled into their seats a young woman wearing a short black skirt and white button up shirt, open enough to reveal impressive cleavage, approached the them. "Can I get you ladies anything from the bar?"

"Um, I'll have a virgin strawberry daiquiri," Ruby said.

"I'll have a cosmopolitan," Weiss said. Once the waitress had left she looked over at her partner. "You really like virgin daiquiri's don't you?"

"Yeah," Ruby said with a blush. "I'm not a big drinker, and alcohol tastes gross. But I love strawberries."

Weiss smiled slightly. "You can be such a child sometimes."

"Well… well you can be such an… um… old person sometimes," Ruby countered.

Weiss just raised an unimpressed eyebrow, causing Ruby to wilt slightly. Before she could think of anything else to say their waiter returned. "Here you go, one virgin strawberry daiquiri, and one cosmopolitan. Anything else?"

"No thank you," Weiss said, lightly sipping her drink. It was very well made, and she smiled at Ruby, who was happily slurping her sugary mixture. "Well, this is pleasant."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, looking around the room again. "My sister dragged me to a few clubs over the years, but we never got to go somewhere like this."

Weiss nodded. "From time to time my father expected me to make appearances socially. They were almost entirely more staid occasions, but my sister dragged me to a fancy bar when I turned twenty-one to celebrate, and then again on each of my birthdays since. I usually sit in a booth like this and people watch."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah, I'm really awkward at dancing, so I usually just kinda… sway back and forth while my sister laughs at me. She's tried teaching me, but I'm just kinda awkward at that stuff."

"To older sisters," Weiss said. "They may be evil, but they love us."

"Cheers!" Ruby agreed, clinking her glass against Weiss'.

"Excuse me ladies," the waitress said upon returning. "The owner of the club would like to speak with you, if you'd like."

Weiss glanced at Ruby before answering. "Of course. We'd be honored to see him."

Weiss let her gaze sweep towards the entrance and pan across the crowd quickly while they stood, but she didn't see Coco or Velvet anywhere, and there weren't enough rabbit faunus in the room to make her difficult to spot. Unfortunately, despite the danger of going alone they couldn't pass up the opportunity to get more intel.

They followed the waitress through the door at the far end of the room. Beyond was a well lit hallway, and a short distance down it she opened a door. Weiss stepped inside before letting her gaze sweep the room.

It was one of the most conspicuously fancy places she had ever seen in her life. The floor had a lush red carpet, and everywhere she looked she could see golden objects, or gold trimmed objects made from expensive materials like mahogany. The room offended her sense of taste quite strongly, but she didn't show anything as she examined the man on the plush leather sofa.

He was tall and thin, and Weiss acknowledged, from a purely aesthetic point of view, that he was incredibly handsome. The way he slouched insouciantly on the couch implied that he knew it, too, making her want to wrinkle her nose in disgust. He was dressed in a fashionable tailored suit that probably cost more than Ruby's entire wardrobe, and a huge Rolex watch was on his wrist. Weiss couldn't help but notice that everything about his clothing, and around the room as well, was both incredibly expensive and brand new.

"We greet you, Ms. Schnee," he drawled, his accent cultured, but not one that she could exactly place. "You honor us with your presence."

"Us?" Ruby asked, as the three of them were alone in the room.

Weiss quickly continued before the man could take notice of her question. "It's an honor to meet you, Mr…?"

The man smiled. "We're not overly fond of names, Ms. Schnee. Just call us… Prince."

Weiss blinked at the boldness of that remark. "You have a lovely club, Prince. My friend and I have had a lovely evening thus far."

"Excellent," the Prince said. "We had not heard that you went to these places very often, or we would have sent you an invitation directly."

"That's not necessary," Weiss said with a plastic smile. "My friend wanted to come, and I saw no reason not to indulge her."

"Er, yeah," Ruby said. "It's um, it's great."

"Excellent. Please, let us know if there is anything that could improve your evening, ladies."

"Actually," Ruby started, hesitating slightly. "Maybe you could… c-could..."

Ruby trailed off for a moment, surprised at who suddenly came in through the door and walked over to the Prince. While they had never seen her before, Weiss suspected that the green haired woman was in fact the one that had been described to them. She gave them each a probing look before turning to her boss. "I didn't think you were seeing anyone tonight, boss."

"We were simply greeting Ms. Schnee and her companion, Emerald," the Prince said. "When we heard that one of the Schnees had made an appearance at our club, we could not help but see her."

"I see," Emerald said. "What were you going to ask for, red?"

"Oh," Ruby said, blushing. "I was just… um… hoping to enjoy my evening. You know, relax and have some real fun."

Weiss shut her eyes for a moment, suddenly suspecting that Ruby had never done any undercover work before. Weiss hadn't either, but she was used to wearing a facade and playing verbal games. Ruby sounded like something from a bad D.A.R.E. video as she baldly probed for drugs for sale.

Emerald looked bemused for a moment, before glancing at her employer who nodded to her. "If you're looking for an out of this world time, follow me."

Weiss hesitated, but she didn't want to completely blow their attempts to gather any information, and if they did more people were likely to die. She soon followed Emerald out of room and down the hallway. "This way, ladies. This seems like the kind of party plans best made in private, so I'm taking you to one of the VIP rooms."

"Thank you," Weiss said.

The room ended up being similar to the one the Prince was in, although it was smaller and had quite a bit less gold and other forms of conspicuous ornamentation. "I'll be back in a minute, ladies. Please relax until then."

Once she was gone Weiss turned to her partner, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Ruby crumbled almost immediately. "Sorry… I'm not really good at this whole undercover thing."

"Obviously," Weiss said.

"But hey, it worked, right?" Ruby said. "We're in."

The door reopened, and walking through were Emerald accompanied by three tall, imposing faunus men. One had goat horns, another had long, canine ears, and the third a fox tail. All four people had handguns out, and Weiss and Ruby both had two guns pointed at each of them.

"Or not," Ruby mumbled.