Atlas was cold, something that Ruby had known all her life but was only just starting to truly appreciate since she was stuck on a rickety old train heading out into the middle of nowhere.

Two weeks after finally gaining her Huntress licence, she'd been sent out to investigate reports of Grimm at a far flung outpost, Ironfield. General Ironwood was worried the Grimm might be operating specifically on Salem's orders, as Ironfield was a key producer of Bauxite, a key metal used to make Aluminium, which was needed for the Amity Project.

Since all her friends were busy on other missions, or looking after kids in Jaune's case, she'd been sent out on her first solo mission. It was nerve wracking, but she was determined to prove herself and make Team RWBY proud.

Despite being its leader, the fact she was younger and hadn't always made the best decisions bore down on her. Sure, it was wise to keep things about Ozpin, or was it Ozma? Either way, until it was certain Ironwood could be trusted it was a good decision to keep the information given to them by the Relic of Knowledge secret, but every passing day the decision became harder to justify. Ironwood was a good man, just one put in a hard decision.

So why wouldn't she step up and tell him?

Ruby frowned and bit her lip. Once she got back to Atlas she'd get everyone back together and put it to a vote. It was a cop out sure, but they'd backed the decision and seemingly supported it for this long. Might as well get their permission down when, not if, any repercussions came down on them.

With her mind made she banished her worries and focused on the mission ahead of her, pulling out her snazzy new Scroll and reading her mission briefing word for word. She'd done it three times already, but she wanted it embedded in her brain because of the patchy connection to Atlas' CCT meaning she wouldn't be able to look it up on her Scroll when she actually got to Ironfield. Well she could, but it might not work.

And that was not good. No siree. Ruby was a Huntress, and she was determined to be a damn good one. Crappy CCT connection wasn't going to stop her, so she had to remember the mission details.

Grimm reports. Investigate. Report or deal with it. Easy peasy my name is squeezy.

Except it might not be. Ironwood was right to be worried. Ruby had been doing a lot of reading about Ironfield since it was going to be the place of her first solo mission, and its importance to the Amity Project couldn't be understated. Bauxite was rare in Atlas on account of its weather, most of its production taking place in the tropics of Menagerie. The few deposits it had were interesting, as it implied Atlas was once tropical, but at the same time vital, because Ironwood's embargo meant imports had been affected too in retaliation.

Ruby didn't like the embargo but understood why it had been, and still was, in place. But that only meant places like Ironfield were even more vital as they were the only place minerals like Bauxite, which were in turn crucial to Amity and global communications, could be acquired.

So the fact Grimm were suddenly taking an interest in it was definitely a cause for concern.

Ruby tucked away her Scroll, noticing it was getting low on charge, when she realised the train was slowing. She peaked out of the window and saw the dull metal and concrete of Ironfield's train station, and the train rattle before grating to a stop.

There was a ring and flashing green light above them before the doors swooshed open, filling the chilly compartment with gusts of icy air. Ruby shivered and wrapped her cloak tighter around her before grabbing her luggage (which contained her poor, suffocating baby) and trudging out of the train and into the coldness outside with the few other passengers aboard.

Outside, Ruby looked around before she saw a woman in a fur coat holding a sign that said her name in neat cursive. Feeling a feeling of nervous excitement burn away the cold numbing her fingers, Ruby hurried over to the woman with a smile.

"Are you Ruby Rose?" The woman asked, raising a pencil thin eyebrow. Ruby nodded, and offered her hand to shake.

"Yup. Nice to meet you!"

The woman eyed her hand for a moment before taking it awkwardly and giving it one firm shake before quickly retracting it.

'Oh my god it's like Weiss back in Beacon all over again!' Ruby thought, before blinking. 'Never thought I'd be excited about that. Huh.'

"I am Mayor Aurelion's assistant. Please follow me Miss Rose, I will take you to his office where he will give you additional information before you begin your investigation into the Grimm sightings."

"So there have been Grimm sightings?" Ruby inquired, feeling an odd feeling of professionalism and seriousness wash over her. "It's not just a case of an old man mistake a dog for Sabyr in the middle of the night?"

"Unfortunately not, Miss Rose." The as of yet unnamed assistant responded. "The mayor can give you more information during your meeting. I apologise for not being more helpful, however I do not have the same clearance as the mayor so I don't know as much as he does. I merely pass messages along."

"Don't apologise." Ruby reassured with a smile, the woman's face remaining stoic and still. "I was just wondering. No point meeting the mayor and wasting his time just to be told nothing's wrong."

The woman gave her a weird look and said nothing else as she guided her through the virtually empty train station. It wasn't all too surprising really. Her own train had nearly been cancelled because of the weather if not for Ironwood intervening so she could get going to Ironfield, the weather being too severe for a Bullhead this far up north. Not to mention it was unlikely that Ironfield had much of a tourism industry bringing in travellers.

After a brief conversation with an overweight security guard, they were let out of the train station and Ruby was guided to a sleek, black car.

"This will take you to the town hall. Once there, go to the reception and give your details to the receptionist. Mayor Aurelion has nothing planned for the afternoon, so he should see you immediately. I must run some errands, so please excuse me Miss Rose."

With that the woman turned around and sauntered away, and Ruby waved awkwardly to her.

"See ya! It's been nice to meet you!"

The woman didn't even turn around or acknowledge her as she called someone. Well that was awkward.

But not as awkward as the silent car journey through the empty, snow-swept streets of Ironfield that followed, her driver hidden behind a dark partition they either couldn't or didn't want to lower. Leaving her by herself, trying to get comfy on ridiculously luxurious seats.

She missed her team, missed Jaune and Nora and Ren and Oscar and Qrow. It was weird being alone after so long on the road with other people.

The town hall was an ancient building in comparison to the sleek, modern buildings that surrounded it in Ironfield's city centre. It stood out in contrast to the rest of the buildings she'd seen as well, from the gritty, stocky apartment complexes or the homely brick houses in the urban and suburban areas. The only thing she'd seen that looked even close was the big bank not too far away.

The town hall itself was a building that looked like it was cut out of marble, not a stone out of touch and everything neat, organised and tidy. There was a wide plaza leading to wide steps that led to ancient looking wooden double doors, and at the base of the stairs were statues of golden lions on either side, gazing out over the empty plaza with a prideful, distant look to them. In the centre of the plaza was another statue, though it was different to the lions. It looked like it was made out of iron, or some other grey metal, and it depicted a knight in full plate armour atop a horse rearing backwards with a sword raised in one arm as if it was leading an army.

'Jaune would like that.' Ruby wondered idly, quietly thanking the driver and steeling herself before stepping out of the car and into the freezing cold. She grabbed her cloak, which was fluttering frenziedly in the ice cold wind, kept a tight grip on her luggage and ran towards the door, practically jumping up the steps to reach it. The doors opened easily and she shuddered as she re-entered warmth, glad that even if the building was old at least it had modern heating.

A popping sound made her blink as she shook snow off of her cloak, and she turned to see a bored looking receptionist chewing gum at her desk, which somehow managed to look older than Uncle Qrow.

"Er…Hi!" Ruby smiled, giving the girl a wave. "I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. I'm supposed to see the mayor?"

"Up the stairs, down the corridor to your right." The receptionist replied, pointing to the staircase to her right. There was another to her left, presumably leading to another part of the building. "It's the office right at the end of it, you can't miss it."

"Thanks." Ruby said, and she quickly made her way upstairs, catching the receptionist rolling her eyes as she did so.

The stairs creaked and she tried not to wince at the sound, worrying she might have broken it somehow. She pushed on however and practically ran down the corridor, eager to meet the mayor so she could get on with her mission and so she could go home to Atlas quicker. She didn't want to be mean, but the people she'd met her so far were absolute jerks.

Even though she knew the mayor was expecting her, she fell to a stop outside the door and nervously raised her hand, hovering for a few moments before summoning her nerve and knocking on the door.

"Come in."

Ruby did so, stepping inside and closing the door behind her in a way she hoped was confident but not obnoxious. Inside, a man with greying yellow hair, kind eyes with crows feet smiled at her warmly, looking up from a piece of paper. He wore a simple black suit but had an ornate, golden, chain-like necklace over it.

"Ah, Miss Rose I imagine? I cannot say how thankful I am for you arriving here, let alone in such a speedy manner. Things have become rather…complicated around here." The man, who she presumed was Mayor Aurelian, said. She smiled back at him, immediately put at ease by the grandfatherly smile and demeanour.

"I haven't done anything yet so you don't need to thank me for anything sir." Ruby replied. "Do you mind if I ask if we get straight into the details?"

"Of course not!" The Mayor laughed, gesturing to the two chairs opposite him. "Please take a seat, I'm certainly not going to complain about a Huntress who is eager to do her job."

"Thanks." Ruby smiled, sitting down and letting her luggage rest next to her foot under it. "Has any new information cropped up since you sent your last report to Atlas?"

"Unfortunately not." Mayor Aurelion replied sadly, shaking his head as he did so. "I have increased the number of patrols our local militia does and hired some Hunter's from Atlas, however they have yet to arrive and I truly hope you can resolve the situation before they do. The thought of Grimm terrorising my people is a distressing one."

"I'm going to kill any Grimm nearby sir." Ruby promised. "You can count on that. Can I speak to the witnesses?"

"Of course, though I'm afraid you'll have to arrange a meeting with them yourself. The city council has been busy harassing me over the past few days, as if I'm the one who brought the blasted Grimm here." The Mayor scoffed disdainfully. "I have half a mind to toss them all to the bloody Grimm!"

Ruby smiled politely, feeling a little awkward. She didn't mind the conversation, Mayor Aurelion seemed like a nice man, but it was still weird from a Huntress' perspective to hear someone so easily talk about the Grimm in such a way. It would be like if a zoologist heard someone talking about how they'd throw their kids to a lion. Or something.

"Can I have their contact details?"

"Of course." The Mayor replied, handing her a piece of paper. "That has the Scroll numbers of all the witnesses, though I would recommend you speak with the first one that is underlined, Mrs McBlue. She has the most convincing evidence out of all them."

"Evidence there is a Grimm presence?"

"Why of course. She managed to snap a photo of it from afar."

Ruby nodded, folding the paper and pocketing it in a small pouch sewn into the side of her corset.

"Is there anything else I should know? Possible breaches in Ironfield's walls? Sewer network that might be compromised? Signs of a Grimm nest?"

"There have been numerous rumours since the word spread, so it has been hard to discern any usable intelligence. However there are reports of signs of something big, broken fences, disturbed bushes and the like, in the North Iron area. It is not too far from the city centre, and is mostly suburban."

"I'll check it out after speaking with Mrs McBlue." Ruby nodded. "Thank you for your time and for your help sir."

"It's been no problem at all my dear. I will have a driver drop you off at the Old Beeston. I've booked you a room there for the duration of your stay."

"Thank you sir."

"It's nothing my dear, just find and deal with those Grimm will you? I admit Ironfield is rather unprepared for the blasted things. The last sighting we had was twenty years ago, do you know?"

"I did some reading before coming here sir. It was a fake wasn't it?"

"It was. A widow, Mrs Potter, had dementia and cried wolf. Unfortunate thing really, but she's under attentive care at a home for the elderly now."

Ruby nodded, not sure of what else to say or do, before picking up her luggage.

"It's been nice meeting you sir."

"Likewise Miss Rose. Take care of yourself out there."

Ruby's room in the Old Beeston could only be defined by one word-old. Everything looked old, from the four poster bed to the patterned carpet to the drapes and curtains that looked more akin to a tapestry. A fire roared in the corner, fuelled by wood and casting the room in an orange glow. A table stood in the centre of the room, a round wooden one with four chairs with plush cushions surrounding it and a bowl of fruit in the middle of it.

Ruby dumped her luggage on the table, took out Crescent Rose and several ammo magazines along with a pair of sleek,warm gloves that wouldn't impede her ability to fire Crescent Rose.

Then she left the room, locking it behind her and feeling no regret whatsoever on focusing on her mission.

A taxi that thankfully had discounted her for being a Huntress took her from the city centre and out into the suburbs where the Grimm had been rumoured to be found. She thanked the driver, let him keep the change and immediately surveyed the area around her, hoping against hope that the signs of disturbance Mayor Aurelion had brought up in their meeting would just pop up right in front of her, Mrs McBlue having not answered the Scroll.

She had no such luck. After wandering the streets aimlessly for half an hour, she finally came across an area taped off by police after receiving directions from a kindly, if not overly conversational, pensioner who had thankfully agreed to not escort her. Ruby didn't need the protection, and she feared that if a Grimm was present, then it could harm the kind old man before she could deal with it if she was distracted trying to keep up with his stories.

Regardless she had finally got there and immediately went to work, examining the ground for paw prints and trying to determine whether broken branches from nearby bushes had been caused by Grimm or exploring children. The problem was each broken branch was and looked like exactly that, a broken branch, whereas the ceaseless snow had already covered any, if there had been any, tracks that she may have used to track Grimm down.

As time passed a small crowd accumulated, all watching her with hushed tones and murmurs that made her feel increasingly uncomfortable and out of depth. Normally she would send Yang, who was significantly more good at talking to people than her, or Weiss, who was incredibly good at ordering people around, to deal with the crowd, but neither her sister or her partner were here right now. So she did her best to ignore them and examine the crime scene.

"Oi! This is a crime scene!" Someone yelled, and Ruby turned to see a portly police officer striding towards her, followed by a younger, more nervous looking officer who was giving her a worried look, as if he was afraid of her. "Scram!"

"I'm a Huntress." Ruby replied calmly, hiding her fear about as well as Blake did her porn books, which was surprisingly quiet well considering they all lived together. "I've been sent by General Ironwood to investigate rumours of a Grimm sighting here."

"My arse." The police officer snorted dismissively, even when she showed him her Huntress licence. "I was a military man before joining the force, and there's nothing here at Ironfield for General Ironwood to be worried about enough to send one of his Specialists."

"That may be so but my orders are clear." Ruby retorted, meeting the police officer's hostile glare. "And as a military man and police officer I'd expect you to respect that."

The police officer said nothing in reply, but his hostile look turned into a furious glare and she practically felt the crowd lean forward like bystanders in cartoons, popcorn in hand at the coming fireworks.

"Look, this has all gone badly." The younger officer said, speaking up and pushing past his older colleague. "Did the chief give you permission to examine the crime scene?"

"The mayor did." Ruby replied, and the younger officer shrugged before turning to his presumed partner.

"Last time I checked, the mayor outranks the chief. Let's just get on with our patrol, yeah?"

"Whatever." The older officer scoffed, turning around and lumbering away. "I'll be bringing this up with the chief girl!"

Unsure of what to say to the obvious threat, Ruby lamely waved at the retreating police officer, which was just as awkwardly returned by the man's younger colleague before they disappeared around a corner and out of sight.

Ruby sighed and turned back around to investigate the crime scene further, determined to find something of use if not just to spite the police officer who'd been a colossal…colossal…

She sighed again. If she swore she'd have to contribute to the team swear jar, and since she was the only one with the honour of actually adding to it, she saw know point in funding Yang and Blake's party night's single-handedly.

"Ma'am?" Another voice said, and Ruby resisted the urge to groan, turning around to see a young boy who was about the same age as herself when she had been allowed into Beacon by Ozpin. "Can I have a word? I have some information you might be able to use?"

"Sure, and don't call me ma'am, I'm not that old. My name is Ruby, Ruby Rose." She smiled, holding out her hand for the boy to shake. His eyes widened and he took it eagerly.

"Sweet! My name is Garet, but my friend's call me Goldie because of my hair." Garet said, and Ruby nodded, feeling an odd feeling at the fact she really was a Huntress now, and someone was looking up to her the same way she had to Goodwitch all those years ago.

"You said you had something you wanted to tell me?" Ruby asked, not wanting to get lost in a tide of nostalgia. Garet nodded.

"Yeah. Basically my little sister thinks she saw a Grimm, but we're a little sceptical because she was up late and might've just seen stuff in the dark like kids do, but our gate looks a little damaged and we heard loud noises the same night. The police said it was nothing but I don't like the thought of a Grimm in our back garden." Garet paused, shifting his feet in the snow to keep them warm before continuing less confidently. "Do you mind having a look around to make sure it's safe?"

"Of course." Ruby smiled, a warm feeling of fulfilment rising at the relieved look on his face. "Lead the way."

Garet's house was across the street from the big, partly broken bushes. The crowd dispersed as Ruby followed him up the small, salted stone path of his front yard and towards the broken wooden gate that seemingly led into a back garden as well, because according to Ironfield it okay to watch a Huntress trying to do her job so long they weren't peeping on their neighbours' gardens at the same time.

Shaking her head from stupid thoughts, Ruby looked forward and blinked at the gate Garet had mentioned. It was completely off its hinges and had a massive, splintered hole in the middle of it, which sprouted inwards as if it was a hit target at a gun range. Ruby raised a brow and turned to a sheepish looking Garet.

"I thought you said the gate was a little bit damaged." Ruby said, disbelief made clear. The young boy rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.

"This isn't the best neighbourhood Ma'am-Ruby!" Garet sighed. "It's probably why the police just looked at it and said it wasn't Grimm."

Ruby frowned, looking back at the gate. Even if it wasn't Grimm, she would have thought the police would've still investigated it, especially considering the only other alternative was some sort of violent, forced entry.

She resisted the urge to sigh and rant, instead surveyed both sides of gate closely, trying to see whether there was any hint of claw marks or teeth marks or bone marks left from the bony armour Grimm had.

"What are you doing?" Garet asked, not impolitely.

"Checking for claw marks. Anything that might hint whether this was a Grimm or not." Ruby murmured, staring intently at four small gouges towards the bottom of the hole. They could've been just damaged from the act of the wood being broken in, but they were too straight and too equally aligned for Ruby to dismiss them so easily. She peered towards the right, noticing another set of four, more fainter marks. "Did you or your family check the gate too?"

"Yeah, we couldn't find anything." Garet answered, before pointing to a missing chunk at the top-middle of the hole. "My younger brother thought this could've been from the bony part on the top of Sabyr's from pictures he'd seen, but my Dad was thought it was just a hammer blow or something."

"What do you think?" Ruby asked, staring at the hole he'd pointed out and back down at the claw marks. She'd fought enough Sabyr's to gauge their general size, and what she was seeing from the marks left behind on the damaged gate fit that general size she had in her mind's eye.

"I think either way it's not good." Garet answered cautiously. "Either soom loony took a hammer to our gate or a Grimm charged through it and is hiding in the back garden."

Ruby nodded, feeling sympathetic and understanding the neutral ground he was taking. She'd done the same whenever Yang or Dad had fought when she was younger.

"Wait here for a minute, I'll be right back." Ruby promised, walking as quickly as she dared back towards the bushes, where she gave another look at the broken branches. They were all generally aligned with one another, as if whatever had caused them was one thing moving in a specific direction, and after checking the coast was clear she went to her hands and news and glanced in the direction of Garet's house.

She stood again, brushing the snow and dirt from her hands, before pausing at the metal gate that stood at the entrance to the front garden. She surveyed it for a moment, before calmly pushing it forward until it clanged against the stone wall that protected a frozen flower bed of Ice Lilies, the only flower capable of growing in Atlas.

Where the gate connected to the stone, a large chunk was clearly missing as if someone had slammed the gate open and knocked out a chunk of the wall. She peered into the flowerbed, feeling for a few moments before she found what she was looking for and plucked it out from the snow and hard dirt after a few harsh tugs.

Dotted in snow and ice, caked in mud and easily dismissible before as a clump of snow, Ruby leaned down and pressed the rock against the missing chunk in the wall.

The colour wasn't the exact same due to the dirt, but other than that it was obviously a direct match. So it wasn't an accident caused a long time ago, but something recent, otherwise the rock would've been removed from the flowerbed.

Ruby glanced back towards the broken wooden gate, and met the worried look of a teenage boy who had no aura, no training, and no hope of winning against a Grimm in a straight fight.

"Let me check out the back." Ruby said. "I wanna have a look around."

"Nice garden." Ruby commented honestly, taking in the snow covered bushes and array of small pine trees towards the back.

"Thanks." Garet replied, shifting slightly. "Though there isn't much to see right now. The snow melts for a bit during the summer. It rains then, but it's better than permanent snow and ice. Plus we get a few sunny days every blue moon."

Ruby smiled at the commentary and wandered into the garden, trying to take note of anything that might hint the Grimm was still there. Unfortunately there seemed to be nothing about, any tracks would've long been hidden under fresh snow and she couldn't see any damage that might lead her onward.

"Did you see any strange footprints in the snow the day after you and your family heard the noises and your sister said she saw a Grimm?" Ruby asked, and Garet shrugged helplessly.

"It was snowing heavily that night. If there was a Grimm and it did leave any, it was covered by the morning after."

Ruby sighed and trudged further, wishing she had a sixth sense that would just point her in the direction of the Grimm. Finally stopping, she turned to Garet and gave him a pleading look.

"Do you know anywhere here a Grimm may be able to hide?" Ruby asked. "A shed or a tree house maybe? Anything?"

Garet frowned at the ground before casting a worried glance at his house. Ruby remained silent, watching carefully, before Garet sighed and nodded.

"Follow me." Garet muttered, striding towards the treeline at the very back of the garden. Ruby followed, ducking under tree branches that flickered back as he guided her towards a small clearing surrounded by a small, concrete wall. Ruby gave Garet a curious look.

"What's this?"

"My dad got our house given to him by a friend." Garet explained in a hushed tone, shifting uncomfortably. "So long we let him bring stuff here we get to keep the house and he helps pay the bills."

"What sort of 'stuff'?"

"Drugs mostly. Sometimes weapons. We think he sells them to the White Fang." Garet shrugged. "Or at least before they got their asses handed to them at Haven and fell apart afterwards. He hasn't been around recently."

"Why does he bring stuff here then…" Ruby trailed off, eyes falling on an exposed metal grate. "Tunnel?"

"Tunnel." Garet nodded. "It connects to the sewers. I went down there once to see what was going on. It stank and was too dark so I went back up."

Ruby nodded and hoisted herself over the wall, taking a few steps towards the metal grate before pausing and turning back to Garet.

"Go call the police, tell them I'm tracking down a Grimm in the sewers from here and might need backup." Ruby ordered, and the boy blanched.

"So it really was a Grimm?!" He gasped, face paling quickly as Ruby nodded.

"Go back to your house, lock all the doors, cover the windows and call the police." Ruby reiterated, and she watched the boy hastily flee before turning towards the broken, chewed up metal grate.

She plucked her Scroll from her pocket, added it to the end of Crescent Rose in its rifle mode before turning on the torch function.

Then she plunged into the darkness without any hesitation.

Garet certainly hadn't been lying when he commented on the sheer stench of the sewers, a potent, utterly disgusting smell that made her wish she'd cut off her nose. But she pushed on and stuck to concrete path next to the flowing effluence, following the light gouge marks left behind by the Sabyr.

Something bugged her. The police should've found all this out already, they'd been investigating the area for days and she doubted the small clearing the tunnel's entrance was hidden in wouldn't hide it from a Bullhead. It was just…odd.

Then something whooshed towards her from the darkness and Ruby had just enough time to raise her aura before something slammed into her side, sending her flying across the sewer tunnel onto the other concrete path that ran parallel to the one she'd been walking on. Fortunately her aura absorbed much of the blow, and she whirled around, feeling her legs buckle as she landed against the wall before jumping away to the side as bullets pinged into the concrete.

Bullets?!

Ruby turned Crescent Rose in the direction of the muzzle flashes, firing a shot as soon as she caught a glimpse of an arm. A cackle echoed through the air as her assailant leaped away somewhere to the right, her Scroll's torch being too weak to penetrate the oppressive darkness of the sewer tunnel.

The cackle alone was enough to let her know who it was.

"Tyrian!" Ruby challenged. "Come out here so I can kick your ass and arrest you!"

"Such a bad girl, aren't you? I thought you were supposed to be a goody two shoes who never cussed." Tyrian taunted, voice echoing from the shadows followed by a tut. "What would your dear, old mommy think?"

"Fight me you…you bastard!" Ruby yelled, figuring there was no point in holding back swearing if she was already going to be contributing one Lien to the Team RWBY swear jar for calling him an ass.

"Dear, oh dear." Tyrian giggled. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Ruby snarled and fired a shot in the darkness, the brief flash revealing Tyrian casually leaning against the wall ahead of her. She pulled back the bolt and pushed it back forward in the blink of an eye as she turned Crescent Rose towards him, the next round clicking into place as she fired again.

"Feisty!" Tyrian called, and she heard him deflect the bullet with his stinger. "But unfortunately I have places to be and people to kill. Some old lady managed to snap a picture of my Goddess' latest creation, and I can't have her spoiling all the fun before it's ready to trash the Bauxite mines Ironwood desperately needs for…whatever it is he needs it for. Have fun getting acquainted little Rose!"

Ruby fired another bullet, and Tyrian cackled in the darkness before the sound of him sprinting away echoed through the darkness.

"Damnit." Ruby grumbled, stepping forward before realising the implications of what he'd said.

She turned around just in time to see a Beringel rise from the murky waters of human waste, and she sighed heavily as a fist the size of her head flew towards her.

Ruby's aura finally broke when the Beringel smashed her up into a sewer grate and sent her flying onto a thankfully empty street. She was covered in shit, sweat and blood from the cut on her head that occurred as she smacked back into the ground, leaving her ears ringing with tinnitus and searing pain in her temples.

Then the thick, bone-plated arm shot through the small hole like a zombie punching out of its grave, and the Beringel's large bellows were overwhelmed by the sound of groaning concrete.

Ruby stared into its now one hateful eye, the other having been taken out by a lucky shot with Crescent Rose. Unfortunately it hadn't been enough to kill it, and she scrambled across the ground towards Crescent Rose she realised she had no more ammunition to put into it.

Ruby stared back at the Beringel, which roared out in frustration as it realised it had gotten itself stuck, unable to push itself through what with its other arm having been cut off by her and its right leg maimed by a cut to the back of its knee.

She distantly registered the sounds of growing sirens, but they only filled her with dread. Police couldn't shoot down a Beringel, not least one that apparently had wings. All they would do is provoke it, maybe even give it the strength it needed to break free and wreak havoc and death.

Then Ruby realised something was pressing against her back, hidden away in one of her many pouches across her belt. Her eyes widened and her hands scrambled to open it, before she plucked out the small container within and stared at the tiny shard of red Fire Dust within.

Except it wasn't just any old Fire Dust, it was a Volcanic Dust crystal, much more potent and dangerous than normal Fire Dust.

Ruby stared at the Beringel, at the steadily cracking concrete containing it. Then she glanced at the buildings around her. All of them were office ones, and with any luck they'd all be empty now it was nighttime.

"Desperate times." Ruby said as she cracked open the container and slid the small Dust crystal into her open palm. "Desperate measures."

Then she launched the Dust at the Beringel and a wave of heat washed over her and sent her into a blissful unconsciousness.

"And you are certain it was Callows?"

"Yes sir." Ruby replied, watching Ironwood nod in acceptance. "I saw him too, even if it was just flashes."

"Very well." Ironwood sighed, glancing down at an open report before him. "The murder of Mrs McBlue fits his MO as well…"

Ruby looked away, shame washing over her. To his credit Ironwood realised what he'd done wrong and quickly stopped before he went into the likely grisly details of how exactly Mrs McBlue had met her fate.

The moment she woke up at Ironfield General Hospital, Ruby had tried to warn the police there of Tyrian's presence and to see if Mrs McBlue was okay. By the time they finished interrogating Ruby over her use of unusually powerful Fire Dust, they went to Mrs McBlue's house only to find they were too late to actually protect and serve.

"Will you look into Ironfield's police like I asked?" Ruby questioned softly, and Ironwood nodded, a stony look settling over his face.

"I already have. I sent some Specialists to see if they would corroborate with your report, and they did. It's a damn shame we don't learn about this stuff sooner, otherwise I would have already done something about this. Mayor Aurelion is being…galvanised to act and I've sent a small military detachment there to help maintain law and order."

Ruby nodded. It would have to do.

"Amity all good then?" Ruby asked, wanting to direct the topic towards something more light-hearted where she didn't have to reflect on her failures as a Huntress. She quickly realised she chose a poor topic to do that as Ironwood sighed and somehow managed to look even more tired than he usually did these days.

"There have been some difficulties recently." Ironwood admitted. "But they're myriad, complex and too much to get into right now. You've had a tough few days and even tougher first solo mission, so you'll be tired. Get some rest Miss Rose, and ask your friends when you've rested and feel up to it. Gods know I barely even want to think about it."

She saw a dismissal when she saw it.

"Will do, sir, thank you for your time."

She turned to leave, feeling the tiredness seep into her bones. She hadn't rested since leaving the hospital, her mind always taunting her with 'what ifs' where she actually did her job and saved Mrs McBlue.

"Rose."

She blinked at the door, turning to see Ironwood giving her inscrutable look from his desk.

"I know it doesn't feel like it, but you did a good job." He said, a small smile curling at his lips. "You should be proud of yourself, not many would have handled that situation as quickly and as well as you did Red Reaper."

"What?" Ruby asked, turning fully and giving Ironwood a weird look.

"Didn't you know? It's what Ironfield's local press have been calling you. I find it rather fitting." Ironwood's smile turned more sympathetic, and not for the first time she wondered what exactly he had seen and done over the course of his military career. "Get some sleep. You deserve it."

Ruby nodded and quickly fled from the room, unsure of what to make of it all. Still, she couldn't deny that the weight on her shoulders that had been dragging her down for days had lessened slightly.

"Red Reaper." Ruby murmured, testing out her apparent nickname on her tongue.

She liked it.

A/N: Next update 10/12/22!