"W-what's going on!?"

From the sight of two unconscious people, the officer was clearly alarmed.

Like the team owned the police station, they sauntered inside. Splotches of dirt and smeared blood were on their clothes. Ruby was holding her girlfriend bridal style, making sure she was comfortable. It looked like they'd taken a tour of Hell.

This caused the officer to hastily stand and inspect the new arrivals.

"Do you all need a doctor? This is a police station, not a hospital."

Confidently, Yang dropped the unconscious scientist on the desk. In response, the officer with a black mustache jumped back a bit from the sudden events.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, trying to piece it together.

All Yang did was gesture to Dr. Merlot. "I believe someone ordered a sack of shit."

From his appearance, the officer quirked an eyebrow. "Is that…"

There was no mistaking it. The ruffled white hair, the white beard, the look of disdain on the mad scientist's face...

Ruby filled the startled officer in. "His name's Dr. Merlot. Do you know him?"

Suddenly, the officer's eyes widened as realization kicked in. To make sure, he examined the unconscious man's face.

"This is the Dr. Merlot?"

"Ugh, yeah?" Yang said, wondering why he was in such disbelief.

The officer shouted to the back room. "Lila! Get in here!"

Confused, the team shared glances as they waited for the other officer to join them. The officer was about to ask them a boatload of questions, but then Weiss stirred in Ruby's arms.

A tiny moan worked its way out the back of Weiss' throat. Azure orbs slowly fluttered opened to meet Ruby's smiling face.

"Hey, Weiss," Ruby softly greeted.

"Ruby…" Weiss mumbled.

Before she could say anything else, Yang chirped. "Welcome back, princess!"

Blake smiled, glad to know her teammate was okay. "Are you feeling alright?"

Rather than answering her question, Weiss glanced around the room. "Where are we?" she asked, utterly baffled from the foreign surroundings.

"The police station," the leader informed as she gazed down at her like she was her world. "We got out of there, and now we're turning in Dr. Merlot."

The way Ruby looked at her caused Weiss to blush. Noticing the embarrassing position, Weiss requested.

"Put me down."

"Okie dokie."

Carefully, Ruby set her down. Luckily, Weiss was able to stand without support as she dusted herself off.

Right after, the other officer darted around the corner. She adorned light blonde hair and was almost shorter than Weiss.

"Lila, look at this," the officer said as he pointed to the man on his desk. "Guess who it is!"

"Oh my god!" Lila yelped, knowing his features were unmistakable. "Grun, this is-"

"Amazing!" Grun finished for her. "You four captured Dr. Merlot?!"

Blake simply crossed her arms, tired of their enthusiasm. "Yes."

Yang nodded. "It wasn't easy."

Ruby stepped forward as she looked down at the unconscious man. "Why are you so surprised?"

"The weasel avoided us for decades," Grun said bitterly. "The last thing we expected was four girls-"

"Huntresses," Ruby corrected.

Grun pointed in an epiphany. "That explains it."

Lila let out a heavy sigh like a weight was off her shoulders. "He's been wanted for so long. Hang on. I'll get the reward money."

The team shared baffled gazes.

Blake was the first to speak in exasperation. "We get reward money?"

"Of course!" Grun exclaimed. "He's been avoiding us for decades. We could never track him down. Eventually, we gave up. The trails ran cold."

Ruby voiced her concerns. "That's nice and all, but we don't need money. We captured him to save innocent lives."

"Spare me the hero talk," Grun replied, but not sternly. "Take it. Your team deserves it. Use it to buy that video game you've been wanting, go see a movie, or buy some clothes. I don't care. Do Vytal a favor and accept it. It wouldn't feel right if I let you all go without anything to show our gratitude."

Yang beamed a wide smile. "Ya know sis, we could upgrade our weapons."

The mention of her weapon caused Ruby to take a 180. "If you insist, sir!"

"Glad to hear it," Grun said.

Weiss had to point out. "We should split it with Win."

"Of course!" Ruby beamed.

Blake smirked from the mention of the sly specialist. "She's the one who tracked him down, after all."

After sharing smiles, Lila rounded a corner with a large bag of money in hand. She held presented it to the team.

"I believe you deserve this," Lila said.

Ruby's eyes twinkled from the sight. "Are- are you sure?"

"Just take it, kid," Lila smirked.

Hesitantly, Ruby held out her arms and retrieved the bag. The cash inside crinkled a bit as the team eyeballed the reward like eager puppies.

A groan.

Everyone looked down at the desk to see Dr. Merlot was stirring. The scientist blearily pushed himself up in a daze.

"What the…"

To say he was confused was an understatement.

Grun had a smug grin. "Dr. Merlot. So nice of you to turn yourself in!"

"What's the meaning of this?!" Dr. Merlot screeched as he glanced around the room, only to meet the team's gazes. "You!"

When the scientist hopped off the desk, he made a beeline toward the door. He stopped dead in his tracks when Yang confronted him head-on.

She raised a fist-

"Agh!"

Before she connected it with his face, Yang stopped and then crossed her arms.

"Love to break it to ya, but it's over. You're done."

"No!" Dr. Merlot yelped. "That's impossible!"

Each officer grabbed his arms to detain him. Grun then pulled out the handcuffs.

"You're under arrest," Grun said solemnly. "You're not going outside ever again."

Like a desperate child, the madman threw a temper tantrum.

"Agh! No!"

To restrain him, the officers pulled him back to an isolated room.

Happily, Yang cupped her hands over her mouth.

"Have fun in jail!"

Fatigued, Yang plopped on the fluffy couch and let out a long sigh. To relax, she put her hands behind her head and looked up at the wooden ceiling.

"Today was a thing."

Blake sat down next to her, feeling equally drained. "It was an exhausting thing."

From their phrasing, Weiss only sighed. Those two picked up each other's mannerisms. Instead of teasing them for it, she leaned back on the couch, utterly exhausted.

Fortunately, the team was able to find an inn at the very last minute. They left for Vytal today and spent the entire day tracking down Merlot. There was no time to rest.

They planned to stay for a day before heading back to Beacon. The entire day had been exhausting, so now it was finally time to relax.

From the small kitchen, Ruby chirped. "The mac n' cheese'll be done in a few!"

Boiling on the stove was a bowl of noodles. The pasta was so close to being done they could almost taste it. By this point, they'd be happy to eat anything and weren't very picky.

"Ugh, I'm starving," Yang quietly whined. "Last time we ate was on the airship this morning."

One glance out the window said it was evening. The moonlight trickled inside the humble, warm room.

Not wanting to hear her complain, Weiss said. "Eat some of your granola bars. We didn't pack all that food for nothing."

"True," Yang admitted. "But I don't want to spoil the dinner Rubes so lovingly made for us."

Weiss just glared at her, not amused by her reasoning. "If you're starving and have the option to eat something, don't complain."

"Ugh…" Yang grumbled as her head tilted back on the cushions. She was in no mood to argue with her teammate when she was this tired. "Such a stickler…"

"What was that?" Weiss quipped.

"Nothin'," Yang quickly said, dowsing any chance of an argument. "Aren't you hungry?"

Weiss folded her hands in her lap, struggling to keep her eyes open. "I'm patiently waiting."

It was then that a wrapper sound rang out. Weiss and Yang leaned over to see it was Blake munching on some fruit snacks.

"I'm not," the faunus said.

Like a bird, Yang opened her mouth for food. From the childish sight, Blake playfully rolled her eyes and popped one into her mouth.

"It's delish," the blonde grinned.

"Wait no longer!" Ruby announced. "It's ready!"

Before her team could get a word in, the leader dashed over to the couch with four bowls of steaming mac and cheese in hand. Briefly, they wondered how she still had so much energy. Those thoughts were pushed aside when they smelled the delectable noodles.

Eager, the three reached for the delicious meal.

"Thank you, Ruby," Weiss said genuinely.

"No problem, my sweet girlfriend."

Yang swallowed her first forkful and almost sighed in content. "My Rubes is the best cook ever."

Flustered, Ruby dryly laughed. "It's just mac and cheese, Yang."

"And it's the best meal ever."

Blake nodded after chewing on the warm, cheesy noodles. "It's pretty good."

"Glad you like it," Ruby said.

At last, Ruby tried the food. The pasta practically melted in her mouth and she almost let out a moan from how yummy it tasted.

"Sit next to me, dolt," Weiss pat the cushion next to her.

"If you insist."

Grinning widely, Ruby grabbed the remote as she sat next to her girlfriend on the couch. While they ate, Ruby mindlessly flipped through the channels on T.V. the inn had to offer.

"Do we want to watch anything specific?" the leader asked.

Yang only shrugged. "How about a movie?"

Weiss spoke after swallowing a forkful of noodles. "Can we not pick another horrible one?"

"I don't think it matters," Yang was quick to reply. "You look like you'll fall asleep any minute. I bet you won't even make it ten minutes in."

"And you have bags under your eyes," Weiss replied softly.

"I'm just sayin' there's no point in being picky."

From that, Weiss leaned onto her girlfriend. Ruby blushed from the affection and nuzzled into her. Now that Ruby was sitting down, she was starting to feel the full effects of the day as well.

"Oh," Blake pointed to the screen. "That one. It's a murder mystery. It's pretty good."

Yang gazed knowingly at her. "It was the husband, wasn't it?"

"Shut up," Blake said like her partner guessed correctly.

Widely, the blonde grinned.

"Creepy movie coming up," Ruby said in amusement.

When she switched channels, Ruby went back to eating. When she finished the food, she noticed her girlfriend's bowl was half full. Concerned, she looked down at her to check on her.

Since Weiss had been leaning on her this whole time, Ruby failed to notice she'd already fallen asleep.

"Aw…" Ruby mumbled.

Yang looked over at her sister. "She's already asleep, isn't she?"

A nod.

"I take it back. She didn't last a minute."

Suddenly, Ruby's eyes were feeling heavy. She let out a yawn. Glad she was next to her sister, Ruby leaned onto Yang, resting her head on her shoulder.

"I'm kinda tired, too…"

Yang kissed her on the forehead and softly smiled. "You did good today. I'm so proud of you. Rest up."

Blearily, Yang glanced at the screen. Two detectives were conversing and the dialogue was a little bland. The colors on the screen were dull.

Eventually, Yang couldn't keep her head up and leaned back on the couch with her eyes closed.

There was another pool of warmth from her right side.

Hazily, the blonde noticed it was Blake. She was resting her head on her shoulder with her eyes closed. Her cat ears were droopy.

From the adorable sight, Yang cracked a tiny smile and finally fell asleep.

Next chappy is the finale!

Stay dandy,

~Toto