When Yang swerved into an alleyway, Ruby was confused. Junior's nightclub wasn't anywhere near where Yang stopped her engine and took off her helmet. Ruby pulled herself off the back of Yang's motorcycle, shaking her head to rearrange her hair the way she wants it.
Ruby awkwardly got off Yang's motorcycle, trying to keep from flashing unsuspecting strangers. She almost made it out the door of her dorm room, but Yang saw the lines of her spandex when she walked behind her and made her take it off. Ruby felt just as uncomfortable wearing her lady stilts, clumsily trying to put her heel down before her toe. That they were in an alleyway wasn't helping, but it didn't seem to make any difference to Yang.
She was wearing a similar getup, but Yang straightened her own hair in order to prevent Junior from recognizing her so easily. Yang looked effortlessly beautiful—mature, even—wearing a plum dress that went halfway down her calves. Yang knew how to walk in these better than Ruby did, even going as far to claim that she could sprint in them. Yang turned around and looked at Ruby.
"So help me god, stand up straight," Yang snapped.
As soon as Ruby did, she stumbled. Yang reached out to steady her.
"You can't do that kind of stuff in there or you'll draw attention."
"Why don't we just switch shoes?" Ruby groaned.
"Ugh, alright." Yang leaned on her bike as she stepped out of her shoes.
Yang took her hand when Ruby held it out to steady herself. She lifted her feet off the ground to dislodge them from her heels and handed them to Yang. She put them on without looking while Ruby squeezed her feet into Yang's wedges. Thankfully, Yang's feet were only a half size smaller.
"Okay," she said. "You know the plan, right?"
"Yeah, but I don't know where the door is."
"Well, I guess it won't kill us if we both walk together. Chances are, Roman Torchwick himself isn't going to drive by tonight—or anywhere for that matter."
Yang walked ahead of Ruby and out of the alley, turning right before Ruby thought to follow her. Thankfully, Ruby was able to move faster and put down her feet more confidently in Yang's shoes. Yang stepped into the street without checking for cars.
When Yang said, "This is it," Ruby walked right for the front door of a small office building.
"What are you doing?" Yang hissed. Yang gestured for her to come back to her, whispering, "You really think an illegally run nightclub is going to have a front door?"
"Illegally?" Ruby repeated.
"Junior doesn't have a business license. He has a criminal past."
"Seriously? What did he do?"
"I don't know, but don't ask about it or bring it up in there."
"I thought I wasn't supposed to say anything in there," Ruby remembered.
"You aren't." Yang stopped thirty feet away from a door on the side of the building that looked more like a service entrance than anything.
"So the deal is that it's underground, so don't walk up the stairs."
"Okay," Ruby said.
"It's camera monitored, so the bouncer won't let you in unless you do this right."
"Okay, what do I do?"
"Walk directly down the stairs and do not look for the cameras."
"Alright."
"Only one of the doors down there is real, so don't open the others. Bouncer will kick you out."
"What do you mean?"
"They look like doors, but it's just fancy wall. The door handle won't turn or anything."
"Okay. Which one is real, then?"
"Sixth floor. Don't worry about counting. The doors are labelled. I don't feel like I need to tell you this, but the correct door is marked with a six."
"Okay."
"When you see the bouncer, make eye contact and nod. He won't open the door for you, so keep moving. Don't hesitate or make him think that you're a child, and when you walk through the door, don't look up. That's a dead giveaway. No one wants tourists under the same roof as the operations that go on down there. And remember: keep your chin high and stand up straight."
"Got it."
"Okay." Yang looked back at the door. "You remember the plan?"
"Yes."
"And you have the gun I gave you?"
"Yes."
"Show me."
Ruby opened the right side of her leather jacket and pulled it out so only her grip on it was visible.
Yang nodded. "Alright. I'll see you later." Yang walked toward the door and went in.
Ruby looked down at her scroll and set a timer for five minutes. She didn't have anything to do for five minutes except shift her posture from leg to leg and twiddle her thumbs. Ruby started reviewing the plan in her head.
After Yang talks to Junior, they're going to head down to the warehouse district about a mile from here and investigate. According to Blake, the White Fang's rally was held there in one of the buildings, though it might be cleared out since Blake and Sun were found out. Yang deduced that because the rally took place so close to Junior's place of business, he was working a little more closely with Roman Torchwick than he let on.
Ruby checked her watch. Thirty more seconds, she thought. Ruby wondered what she would do if someone actually recognized her. Given that a lot of shady things happen here, having someone recognize her probably wouldn't be a very fun time, especially since every single time she's encountered a criminal, she was wielding a person-sized scythe. I'm probably hard to forget, she thought.
Ruby didn't even check her watch when she walked toward the door herself. Resisting the urge to turn around and look for the camera she knew was watching her, Ruby opened the door and walked through.
The first thing she noticed was the smell. It was dank, and it reminded her of the time Jaune was puking his guts out on the ride to Beacon all those months ago. Ruby would have never imagined herself doing undercover work in an underground criminal hotspot. Ruby took the railing of the stairs in her hand and began to descend, carefully placing her feet on the steps. Ruby was thankful that Yang let her trade shoes because she would never have been able to get down these stairs in pumps.
Ruby made it down to the sixth floor, steeling herself with a deep breath before opening the door. When she walked in, the dim light threw her off, and she barely saved herself from stumbling. She found the bouncer sitting behind a desk regardless, making eye contact with the man who looked eerily similar to the man robbing a dust shop when she first met Roman Torchwick.
Instead of dropping everything and confronting him, she nodded. He nodded back and looked back to the monitor he sat in front of. Ruby kept walking until she was past him, turning at the last second to allow herself a peek at the screen. Like Yang said, someone was watching the stairs.
Ruby turned back around and opened the door.
