Volume I: Episode 3: Through the Looking Glass

Ruby smiled thinly as Yang walked off to the cafeteria and out of their room. She turned to the rest of her team with eyes bright. They had expressions that were decidedly more somber, but still hopeful.

"Now that the Debbie Downer is out of the way, let's get down to business," Ruby said chipperly. "What have we got?"

Weiss stiffened slightly in attention. "I've got some pull at the SDC still, and it's at least enough to get some data. I can go to the library, make a call to SDC headquarters in Atlas, and spend the rest of the day analyzing the data."

Blake spoke next. "I know some people who work with charities that help faunus in need. They're very discreet in what they do, so it's possible the escapees went there. I don't know how much I'll be able to get, but it's a start."

"Who's this contact?" Weiss asked curiously.

Ruby facepalmed. "Oh my goodness, Weiss. Seriously?"

"No, no, it's okay," Blake said disarmingly, noticing Weiss's blush of shame. "He's just a bookstore owner. Nothing special."

"Wait, bookstore owner?" Ruby said excitedly. "You're going to a bookstore?!"

"Umm, yes?" Blake admitted.

"That's fantastic! I'll go with you then!" Ruby cheered. "That sounds much more useful than what I was planning, and much more exciting than staying with Weiss."

"I'm right here, you know," Weiss reminded her leader sourly.

"Oh, I know you are, Weiss. I'm not totally blind yet," the crimson-hued teen replied with a wave of her hand before reaching out to grab Blake's hand tightly. "Come on, Backup Bestie, the gateway of reading awaits!"

With that Ruby dragged the protesting loner from the room, leaving Weiss in the position of going solo.

"Well, I suppose I dodged a bullet there," she said to herself.

Weiss walked through the library as casually as she could. She wasn't in enemy territory, there wasn't any need to go and cause a stir. She was just a perfectly normal girl making a perfectly normal call to the perfectly normal place that she'll one day inherit like any other perfectly normal person. As opposed to being fished out the water after a tragic accident.

Damn it, Yang!

To her credit, she managed to get to the edge of the computer room before someone noticed.

"Hey, Weiss," came the accented voice of one the school's wunderkinds.

Weiss gave a little jump and spun around to face Velvet Scarlatina. Realizing that this could look bad, she thought quickly and deployed countermeasures to keep cool. She stuck out an arm, leaned against the wall, crossed her legs, and cocked a smirk straight out of an old movie. Brilliant, the second year student wouldn't suspect a thing.

"Hey, how you doing?" asked the white-haired girl coolly.

Velvet's eyebrows rose ever so slightly at the display. "Are you all right, Weiss?"

Weiss scoffed. "Of course I'm all right. Why wouldn't I be all right?"

"It's just that you were walking almost painfully casually there," the rabbit-eared faunus pointed out. "People who walk that casually usually have something they want to hide."

"What?! What do you mean? I'm not hiding anything," Weiss insisted. She huffed and crossed her arms. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Velvet raised a single eyebrow, but backed off. "Oookay, if that's the way things are. Stay safe, Weiss."

The white-haired girl let out a gasp when she was sure Velvet was gone. That was insane! What was she thinking? Walking casually? It was absurd.

Her fear overridden by embarrassment, Weiss shuffled toward one of the computers and plopped down unceremoniously into a seat. By the time she was able to get a call going to SDC HQ, she had managed to get her emotions mostly under control and don a mask of propriety. Whatever else people might see, they wouldn't see her making a fool of herself… anymore.

The screen changed to show a young woman with neck-length auburn hair. Smiling and youthful, she made the perfect greeter for the Atlesian expats in the SDC calling home. More importantly, she had the security clearance to get Weiss most of the information she needed or wanted.

"Thank you for calling the Atlas- Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."

Weiss smiled pleasantly. "No, thank you! I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list."

Weiss drew her scroll out of her pocket and placed it into a data retrieval slot on the keyboard in front of her. There was a beeping noise, and the woman on the other end looked down at her screen. There was a beat, and the heiress could feel a bead of sweat forming on the back of her neck.

"I see," she said, clearly suspicious. "If you don't mind... what may I ask is this for?"

Weiss's reply was calm and level, but she could feel her heart pounding inside her ears. "School project."

The woman's voice was nervous, as if there was someone looking over her shoulder. "Um... there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am."

"Well, then, I'll be sure to treat them with care."

"Ma'am, you don't understand," the woman explained seriously. "There's been some recent updates in SDC data security policy. I can't send you those files. Not to an unsecured terminal."

Now Weiss could definitely feel her jacket clinging to her sweaty back. "What?"

"I'm sorry!" she apologized. "But this is out of my hands. You should be able to access these files at the regional office in Vale, however."

"That's good to know," said Weiss appreciatively, even if on the inside, she was screaming at having to keep up this act in person. There was a reason she'd chosen to make the call all the way to Atlas instead of visiting the Vale headquarters.

"I can at least send the unclassified files you requested to your scroll, though," the woman offered in compensation.

There was a series of beeps, and she made good on her word.

"Wonderful! That will be all, then."

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to patch you through to your father before you go?" the woman offered, clearly trying to be helpful.

Weiss felt the mask slip for a moment, but recovered. "Yes, I'm sure."

The woman was all smiles after that. "Well, then, have a nice day!"

The call ended, and Weiss felt the sweat finally break out on her face. She took the scroll from the uplink station and accessed her contacts. She heard the dial tone go, and she was already striding up and out of the door.

There was a click on the other end, and the call came through.

"Weiss?"

"Ruby, we've got a complication."

"What kind of complication, Weiss?" asked Ruby as she walked next to Blake down the stone sidewalks of Vale.

"They've gone and tightened data security at the SDC. I'll have to go to the regional office here in Vale to access some of the files we need," Weiss explained desperately.

"Whoa, wait a second, Weiss. Do we really need those files?" Ruby asked, glancing over at Blake who was looking back at her in concern.

"Yes, Ruby. I just said that," the heiress repeated. "I'm en route to your location now."

"Weiss, wait…"

"We'll talk later, Ruby. It's not safe here."

There was a click, and Ruby looked at her scroll in confusion and concern. She looked up and saw the expression mirrored on Blake's face. The raven-haired girl offered a comforting smile to her leader.

"I'm sure she has a good reason. In the meantime…" she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the shop they were standing outside of, "do you want to stand guard out here or go inside?"

Ruby looked around the street and rooftops before replying. "Inside. It's better if we stick together."

Blake nodded, and the two entered Tukson's Book Trade together.

The burly, dark-haired man behind the counter greeted them with an easy smile. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite customer. I haven't seen you here in a while, Blake."

"Hello, Tukson," Blake returned the greeting with a small wave.

"Hi!" Ruby gave a big wave.

Blake rubbed her forehead and sighed. "This is my teammate, Ruby. Ruby, Tukson."

"Please to-"

A breeze passed over the both of them as Ruby dashed past.

"OMIGOSH! You have The Grimm's Tooth! I've been looking forever for a copy!" Her head whipped around. "Ooh! Is that-? It is!"

"She'll… probably be like this for a while," Blake warned. She tilted her head. "Can we talk?"

"What about, Blake?" he asked. "Somehow I doubt you're here to talk about the breakup."

Blake rolled her eyes. "I am so over him, so no, I'm not here to talk about that. And I really don't want to rehash office politics."

Tukson chuckled nervously. "Hey, no argument here."

Blake smiled. "Good. What I am here for is to do a little follow up for a friend. She helped out a group of faunus from out of town the other night, and I was wondering if the charity had helped them afterwards."

He inclined his head. "I heard about that. Yeah, rough business."

"What can you tell me about it?"

Tukson glanced around, confirming that the three of them were the only ones in the shop, then leaned on the counter, his voice low. "Word is, they were escapees from some SDC dust refinery up north, outside the city walls. The whole thing's hitting Adam pretty hard; no telling what he's going to do."

Blake looked away. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Neither do I," Tukson agreed. "With the new management after you left, he's been getting pretty short-tempered. Shorter-tempered, I mean."

Blake's gaze snapped back to meet Tukson's eyes. "'New management'?" she asked. "What new management?"

"You hadn't heard?" he asked, surprised. "Some lady came in just before you left and made an offer. Adam declined. A while later, she came back and… cleaned house. A lot of folks got retired. After that, well, he couldn't exactly say no. None of us could."

"I… I'm sorry. I should have been there," Blake said, lowering her eyes.

"Don't blame yourself, Blake," he said. "You did the smart thing and got out when you could. Besides, I don't think it would have mattered much. She's… terrifying."

"'Terrifying'?" Blake asked.

"Terrifying," Tukson repeated.

"She sounds like that one professor at Signal my dad used to complain about," Ruby put in as her eyes darted between two books in her hands. "I think she got fired after him and my Uncle Qrow concocted an elaborate scheme."

A sad smile graced Blake's lips. "I don't think that would work here, Ruby."

"Yeah, you're right," Ruby admitted. "The last thing we need is the police coming after us for attempted murder."

Blake and Tukson's eyes widened at that, and they silently agreed not to press her on it.

"So, the escapees. Anything else you can tell us?" Blake repeated.

Tukson shook his head. "No. To be frank, I wouldn't trust any of the stuff they're saying right now. They've clearly been through a lot, got the scars to show for it, and they're talking a little crazy. I'm only hearing it secondhand, but some of this stuff is just insane."

Any further discussion was interrupted by the door chime ringing as the front door burst open to allow Weiss in. The snowcapped heiress stalled at the front of the store and bent over, hands on her knees, breathing hard.

"Weiss!" Ruby rushed up in concern. "Are you-?"

Weiss silenced her with a raised hand, then lifted a single index finger as she caught her breath.

Blake blinked. "Did you… run here all the way from Beacon?"

Straightening up, Weiss scoffed primly. "Don't be ridiculous, Blake. I took an airship. And then I ran."

"Weiss!" Ruby gushed. "This place is so amazing! They have so many books! They have Violet's Garden! In hardcover, even! And I never thought I'd ever see a real copy of The Grimm's Tooth! There are books here I've never even heard of! They've even got a lot of those nerdy science books you like!"

"Some... interesting company you keep these days, Blake," Tukson murmured, his voice a little strained.

"You have no idea," Blake whispered back.

"Well," Weiss said thoughtfully as she took a moment to scan the selection available. "I'm impressed, Blake. You really do know the best people in town."

"Yeah," Blake deadpanned. "The best."

Weiss gave Tukson a beaming smile. "I'll have to come back some time and browse your selection more thoroughly later."

"Anytime," Tukson said, his face locked into a rictus grin.

"Unfortunately," Weiss continued, "we have urgent business elsewhere."

"Of course," he said as the heiress led the other two girls out the door. Just as Blake was about to step outside, he called out, "By the way, Blake?"

Blake paused in the doorway and looked back. "Yes?"

"Tell your friend she did good."

She gave a small smile. "I'll do that."

"Are you sure?" asked Bumblebee. "I mean, I can help."

"Not in a way that leaves you hidden," reasoned Yang as she double-checked Ember Celica's ammunition while sitting in the driver's seat.

"Oh, come on, who would believe a bunch of criminals saying they got their club wrecked by a Cybertronian?"

"Okay. One, they wouldn't call you that. Two, the Decepticons would, and they're the very people we're trying to avoid. And three, have you seen some of the stuff they make up in Atlas these days?" the blonde pointed out, flashing back to those many occasions where she had to talk Ruby down from one of her insane ideas.

"And how do we know the 'Cons haven't already laid a trap for anyone who comes snooping around?" pointed out Bumblebee.

"Hey," Yang replied with a cocky grin, "this is me we're talking about. I can handle anything this club can throw at me. After all, I've done it before."

She got out, and as she was walking away, she could just barely hear the Autobot mumbling something about her being a cocky hothead. She thought that was a little unfair, though. After all, they hadn't known each other for that long, and in this instance, she was just being a flat out hypocrite, not that she needed Bumblebee to know that.

She could already see the black-suited men of the Xiong family fleeing before her. They cowered and hid behind their dwelling's doors, no doubt trying to mount some kind of defense. She would not falter in the face of such paltry resistance, and neither would her fists.

The doors exploded open, and she sashayed into the room. "Hello, boys!" she called out in a mirthful voice. "Guess who's back!"

The only reply she recieved was a very large collection of guns thrust in her face. Her expression became very cold and hard at the sight of them. In the background, the music that had been playing stopped.

She could see the form of Hei "Junior" Xiong, the owner of the nightclub and its attached criminal element, towering over his men. Clearly seeking to avoid a conflict, he walked up to the small crowd that was forming. Whether or not he would be successful in that request depended a great deal on what he would tell her in the next few minutes.

"Stop, stop!" he said, shouldering his way through his men. "Nobody shoot." He paused to straighten his tie. "Blondie, you're here! Why?

"You still owe me a drink," Yang replied, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to the bar.

He sighed and waved the bartender over. "Fine."

Yang stared at the drink in her hands.

"So, why are you really here, Blondie?" Junior asked, finally. "You've been staring at that drink for five minutes and haven't even taken a sip."

"Dust robberies," she said, looking up. "Tell me about them."

"That's what this is about?" he asked, surprised. "Guy you're looking for is Torchwick, Roman Torchwick. In fact, he borrowed a few of my guys the night you first dropped by, paid up front, and I haven't seen him - or them - since." He snorted. "I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" he added, pitching his voice up meaningfully.

Everyone studiously ignored the pointed complaint.

"Hmm," she hmmed. "All right. And let's say someone might be interested in getting into that particular business…?"

Junior raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Dust theft isn't dust science, Blondie, and besides, I somehow didn't figure you for the thieving type."

"Wouldn't want to step on any toes," she said, "and maybe I want to broaden my horizons." She cocked her head. "See if you can put the word out. I'd like to at least meet the man. See what his game plan is that it involves leaving all the lien behind."

Junior cocked a smirk at that. "Okay then. Got to admit, I'm a little curious what the deal is with that too."

Yang smile got that much wider even as she brought out a piece of paper with a series of numbers scrawled across it. "Pleasure doing business with you. Call me on this number when someone starts biting."

She handed the paper off to Junior, who took it in good cheer. Yang then took a hearty pull from her drink until it was gone, then slapped some lien cards on the table before walking away.

"Thanks for the drink, by the way. It was good."

"No, this is bad. This is very bad," Weiss said emphatically to the rest of her team as they huddled together in the obscure and dirty back alley.

"What Yang said has got you really freaked out, hasn't it?" observed Blake.

"Yes!" hissed Weiss. "It has because she's right! I couldn't stop thinking about what she said, but I thought it was just nerves. Then I found out about the new security procedures, and then you confirmed what Yang said, and…" She took a deep breath and looked at their team leader. "We are through the looking glass, Ruby."

The crimson-cloaked girl put her hands on Weiss's shoulders. "Relax, you're not the first princess to have an evil father."

"Please don't call me that," the heiress said through vision narrowed like an icy crevasse. "I'm the granddaughter of a miner."

"Irregardless," Ruby continued with closed eyes, ignoring the others blanching at her butchery of the language. "They might not hand over what we need, or might just hand over some fakes, but I've been thinking about this and I may have us a plan to get a look at the documents we need."

"Well, let's hear it," said Blake.

"First, Blake, how are you at dealing with security systems?" Ruby asked. "Like, locks and stuff?"

"Good enough," was the reply. "It wouldn't be the first time I've bypassed Atlas security."

Weiss squinted at her, then smirked. "You rebel you."

"Yeah, sure," Blake replied. Let's go with that.

Half an hour later. Weiss was walking up to the towering headquarters to the Vale branch of the SDC with a powerful stride and a confident smile. She didn't just make an impression on the door guards, she owned them. Which, they knew, would someday be accurate in all but name.

"First, Weiss is our point woman on this. She'll act like everything is normal and put in the data request. They already know you want it, after all, but remember, you're the heiress; act like it."

"Miss Schnee," the receptionist greeted as she walked up to the front desk "How may I assist you today?"

"I need to access some data," Weiss said, oozing haughty annoyance. "Someone told me I couldn't simply have it transferred to me at Beacon, so here I am, taking time out of my day to get it. In person."

"And that's when I take the shot!"

"Excuse me! Are you sure this isn't just an excuse for you to shoot at me?"

"Trust me!"

Crack! Crack!

Crack!

Two lightning dust rounds slammed into the AK-130s flanking the front door, causing them to collapse. The third round spider-webbed the bullet-resistant glass that formed the lobby's outer wall.

To their credit, the SDC security personnel reacted almost immediately.

"SNIPER!" someone called; Weiss wasn't sure who.

Eyes wide, the receptionist in front of Weiss ducked, her hand darting forward to the underside of her desk, triggering the silent alarm. Two guards flanking the elevator behind her rushed forward, weapons drawn, scanning for threats. Another guard dashed forward and tackled Weiss herself to the floor - and nearly got an elbow to the face for his trouble, but Weiss was able to restrain herself at the last second - out of direct line of fire from the front door.

Instead, she shrieked, making her voice as shrill as possible. "What is the meaning of this?! Unhand me, you buffoon!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Schnee," the guard apologized, "but your safety must come first. He activated a short-range radio attached to his lapel. "All points, VIP taking sniper fire in the lobby! All units converge!"

Well, at least that was going according to plan.

"And when the security scrambles to protect the heiress, that should leave the upper levels clear for Blake to get in!"

Why am I the one stuck climbing through ventilation ducts? Blake wondered as she slipped through the building's ventilation system. The rooftop lock had been simple enough to bypass, even with the lockdown.

She had more experience with SDC security when it was under lockdown than not, after all.

Navigating through the network of air ducts was a little tricky, and she'd had to take time to reorient herself twice already. While she could, theoretically, just drop down wherever and navigate normally, that would leave more evidence of her presence.

Bad idea, that.

It would have been much easier if she was looking for the regional vice president's office. He would obviously have whatever they were looking for, and he had an open air balcony connected to his office, but he was also too obvious a target, and the security would be all but impenetrable without leaving traces. But the regional operations executive should have the info they needed too, under much less security.

Peering through the vent at what she hoped was the right door, she frowned. The security might be less, but apparently, it still warranted a live guard, one who was currently arguing with someone over the radio; from this far away, even Blake's sensitive ears could barely catch what the other person was saying.

"But we have orders to never leave his office unguarded, even in an emergency!"

"I don't care what your orders are!" the voice on the other hand snarled. "It's the heiress under fire here. The only person in this company who outranks her is Jacques Schnee himself! So get your ass down here now!"

"Yes, sir!"

Blake let out a small sigh of relief and prepared to move. It looked like Ruby's plan was working.

Outside, Ruby was wondering if, perhaps, her plan was working a little too well. It wasn't that hard to stay ahead of the pursuit, not with her semblance and Crescent Rose providing her with a mobility and verticality the SDC guards couldn't match.

The Gong MV-27 Bullhead air transport that pulled up in front of her from between the building she was on and the building she was just about to leap to, however…

Oh, and it had a heavy machine gun.

Any hope that they would not fire on her in the middle of a city with so much civilian infrastructure around was cut off by the flash of the chin-mounted M577's .67 barrel. Ruby was moving before the pilot had pulled the trigger, and in a blur of rose petals, she was over the roof of the building. Even going off to the tiltjet's side, however, she found that she was not out of danger yet, for the passenger compartment was open with many men visible inside. One man in each side door was operating an SA-89 general purpose machine gun mounted to the craft itself and chambered for the - far more reasonable in her opinion, but still exceedingly powerful - .35 Schnee cartridge.

If she got out of this alive, she would have to compliment the SDC security guards on their commitment to the theme they had going.

Before the side gun could open up on her, Ruby used her semblance to dash deeper into the alleyways, though still far above the ground. From there, she began to leap from wallface to wallface, trying her best to utilize her semblance as little as possible. It might offer her a great deal of speed in a pinch, but she needed every tiny piece of her aura she could muster to deflect and absorb fire from her pursuers.

Staying low enough and close enough underneath the Bullhead kept her out of the side guns' field of fire, but the nose gun boasted a much more generous maximum depression, so while the VTOL turned to bring the heavier gun to bear, she took the opportunity to go round a corner and down another alley, breaking line of sight.

The timing was lucky too, as he scroll chimed. A quick glance confirmed it was the innocuous text message she'd been expecting.

Right. Time for the final phase.

Double checking to make sure the Bullhead hadn't caught up, she dropped down to ground level and pivoted on a direct course for the SDC building. Through the building that was in the way, dodging confused office workers and pedestrians as she blazed through the building.

Emerging across from the SDC building, she barreled toward the guards clustered at the entrance. She had to get close to keep the Bullhead from firing on her.

Armed with guns and stun batons, the SDC guards were well-trained, well-equipped, and hopelessly outmatched by the fifteen-year-old Huntress-in-training.

As she charged toward them, she pulled Crescent Rose out again, unfolding it into scythe mode, but with the blade still aligned with the shaft. Shifting her grip, she swung the back end of the blade, batting the first guard out of the way, twirling her beloved Crescent Rose to smash the butt of the shaft into another's face before activating her semblance to dodge the gunfire from the first three guards to react. Reappearing behind them, she swatted one across the back of the head, hooked another's leg out from under him, and rammed the butt into the third's back.

She spun Crescent Rose with a triumphant flourish to once more face the SDC building and whatever obstacle awaited her next-

"Ruby Rose! What are you doing?!"

She blinked and flushed. "Uh, hi, Weiss," she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot awkwardly. "Some pretty neat toys your boys have here."

The two guards trying to restrain the Schnee heiress from advancing blinked and stared. "M-miss Schnee, you know this girl?" one of them asked hesitantly.

"Unfortunately," Weiss growled. "She's my teammate at Beacon. I'm still waiting for an answer, Ruby."

"Well, um," Ruby hemmed and hawed, refusing to meet her snowcapped teammate's eyes, "look, once you inherit the company, it'll be these bozos' responsibility to keep you safe. I wanted to make sure they were up to snuff."

Weiss closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "What am I going to do with you, Ruby?" She opened her eyes and glared at her. "And I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" She let out a long-suffering sigh, shook her head, and glanced at the guard to her left. "Just… mark this as an unscheduled security drill."

"Um, yes, ma'am," the bewildered guard agreed.

"And I still need those documents."

"Of course, ma'am!"

The conference room aboard the Nemesis was dimly lit to conserve power. Even with their new arrangements, the supply of energon was still only a trickle. That would change, in time, but for now, they had to be frugal.

Starscream's optics flicked briefly to the door behind Soundwave. Since the crash, only Soundwave and Ambulon ventured past that door regularly; Starscream himself regretted the sequence of events that had sent him there last time.

Still, he was not on trial. Not today. His optics swept back over to one who was.

"Lugnut-" he hissed.

"Hail Megatron!" Lugnut interrupted, snapping to attention, fist over his fluid pump.

Starscream scowled at the interruption, resisting the urge to facepalm. "Lugnut, would you care to explain what happened?"

"A Grimm attack breached the facility's defenses, allowing a number of human workers to escape while the Grimm were fought off. They hijacked one of the smaller transport vehicles we kept on base for the little human security drones. I sent Barricade to recover them, and he failed, returning with wild stories about Autobots in the human city."

"Lugnut," Soundwave spoke, his eerie monotone sending a suppressed shiver through Starscream's circuits. "I have reviewed Barricade's report and recording of the confrontation. Presence of Autobot scout B-127 has been confirmed and verified. Additional audio cues match with existing audio files of Autobot leader Optimus Prime."

"We have no visual confirmation," Lugnut retorted. "The coward ran from a sound! I question his dedication to the cause."

"This is a disgrace!" Starscream accused. "Regardless of Barricade's failure, you allowed these humans to escape in the first place!"

"I have already upgraded the refinery's fixed defenses to prevent a repeat of this incident. Not even the really big Grimm are getting anywhere near the place now!" the big Decepticon boasted. "Let them try, and they'll be blasted to atoms!"

"The Grimm attack is irrelevant!" Starscream screeched, slicing a hand through the air. "You let witnesses escape! And this, after you managed to lose a shipment of energon, without even a clue who was responsible!"

"That shipment was out of my hands!" Lugnut growled. "I had orders to keep a low profile: no humans to avoid drawing in Grimm, no Decepticon escort to avoid alerting the humans. I told you that was a recipe for disaster!"

"Acknowledged, Lugnut," Soundwave interjected before Starscream could respond.

"Soundwave," Starscream redirected his attention, "I say this incident makes it clear that Lugnut is incapable of handling operations in Vale. He should be removed!"

Lugnut barely kept himself from lunging at the air commander.

"Confirmed," Soundwave agreed. "Lugnut. Previous analysis indicated operations in the Vale Theater were within your capabilities. The confirmed presence of one or more Autobots in the region has altered the results of that analysis. You will be reassigned."

"Excellent!" Starscream cheered exultantly. "I, of course, will be happy to-"

"Inform Onslaught of his new duties," Soundwave interrupted. "Additional reinforcement of Vale Theater operations deemed strategically optimal. Full Combaticon force will be reassigned."

"Of… course…" Starscream ground out.

Lugnut smirked. It was good to see Starscream taken down a peg. He did not know why Lord Megatron put up with the treacherous air commander, but he wasn't about the question their glorious leader's infinite wisdom.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake sat together inside their dorm in somber silence. Blake was watching the windows, Ruby was watching Weiss, and Weiss was looking at the holographic screen of a laptop computer with an expression of shameful dread. The high of victory had given way once more to the grim reality of their situation.

"How bad is it, Weiss?" asked Ruby.

The snowcapped girl's eyes widened as if she had been dunked in ice water. She refocused then on her leader and let out a sigh. She had only evil news for her teammates.

"It's bad," she admitted. "Some of the data has been expunged, but the stuff that's been left is enough to make me shake in my boots."

"Is it enough to bring to Ozpin?" prodded Blake hopefully.

Weiss shook her head. "No, not yet, but… Blake, it looks like a lot of AK-130s have been written off as losses, more than I thought the SDC ever bought; some of them were in batches that were only in operation for a month before being taken out of service. Some are listed as scrapped for the new AK-200s, which are rolling out months ahead of the original schedule, some as stolen, others as just plain 'lost' or 'inventory error.' That's a lot of firepower just dropping off the grid."

Now it was Ruby's turn to grow worried. "Why?"

"I don't know," Weiss admitted, "but if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with this word that keeps coming up in the classified materials."

"Don't leave us hanging, Weiss. What is it?" asked Ruby.

"Give me a minute," the heiress replied as she jumped to a new screen. "I'm trying to find out… oh, that explains everything."

Weiss paused and then let out a heavy, weary breath. "The SDC has some new investors - business partners - and they've helped introduce something called energon. As the name implies, it's an energy source, one with practically unlimited applications. I don't know about the unlimited part, but it doesn't matter how viable it actually is. The point is that they think this substance can change the world, and they want a monopoly on it."

"Whatever it takes, huh?" asked Blake with an acidic edge.

Weiss closed her eyes and nodded. "Whatever it takes," she admitted. "My father always did care about winning more than he did about… anything, really."

"So, that's it then?" asked Ruby. "The SDC has developed some new superfuel, and they're using off-the-books slave labor camps to manufacture and test it before doing some big worldwide rollout?"

"That about sums it up," confirmed Weiss.

Blake nodded slowly at that. "Okay then. We got something to look for. We find this energon, we find the slaves; we find the slaves, we take down the SDC."

"Whatever it takes," Ruby echoed ironically. "We'll do it."

A cold smirk graced Weiss's lips. "Vendetta."

"What was that?" Blake asked.

There was the sound of someone turning the dormroom's knob, and before it could complete a single rotation, Weiss had already closed out of all sensitive screens. Their tracks were covered.

"I'll tell you later, Blake," Weiss said as Yang walked through the door. "We're studying for math right now, not history."

"Man, is that all you guys do here? Study?" asked the blonde jovially. "And come on, you're doing it so much, Ruby's looking depressed."

Ruby felt a smile grace her lips. "It's not that, Yang. We went to a bookstore today, and we didn't buy anything."

"So?" asked her sister ironically.

"So? You don't understand! This store was run by this charity worker, and he had so many amazing titles! He had the The Grimm's Tooth!"

Yang's eyes widened at that. "Holy smokes! You finally found a physical copy?"

"I told you they existed!" replied Ruby with great cheer.

"Okay, you were right," agreed Yang. "So right, in fact, that I think you deserve a little treat. Stop studying, Rubes. We're going back to that bookstore right now."

"Before you go, I just thought you should know that the store owner told me to tell you that you did good," spoke up Blake.

Yang raised an eyebrow. "I did good?"

Blake shrugged. "His coworkers at the charity helped get the people you rescued settled and told me to pass the good news along. Maybe just take the compliment as is."

"Maybe I will," agreed Yang with a smile.

For the second time that day, the door to Tukson's Book Trade admitted the small excited form of Blake's teammate, though thankfully, this time there were other people around. He didn't think he could take yet another veiled conversation with layers of meaning interwoven into every word again. Then the girl with muscles like a dragon's and hair like the Vacuoan sun stepped through after the small one, and he reassessed his priorities again.

The blonde gave Ruby an appreciative nod as she went about collecting a small stack of books, and then walked right up to him at the counter. "Heard you were spreading compliments about me," she said conversationally.

"Only because they were true," he replied in equal tone.

The blonde snorted. "Oh boy, this definitely sounds like flirting," and at that she stuck out her hand. "I'm Yang, pleased to meet you."

Tukson took the hand firmly and shook it. "Tukson. Nice to finally meet the big hero lady."

"Nice to finally have some good news," she replied with a genuine smile as their hands separated. "Say, I hear you work with a charity that helps out people who need it, and while I have my doubts about my qualifications because of…" at this, she vaguely waved toward herself, "... and my general time problem because I'm at Beacon, I would still like to help out where I can."

Tukson put his hand to his chin. "I don't know, Yang. I don't really have the authority to do anything like that."

"Hey, I'm not asking for the moon. Just pass it along to see who bites," Yang said somberly. "I want to help."

The bookstore owner sighed. "Very well. I'll pass it along."

There was a deafening thud from the side, and Yang and Tukson both turned to see Ruby standing there with a million watt smile and a stack of books more than a foot high. She brought out her wallet and put it on the table before speaking. "I'd like to purchase all of these, and yes, I have the money, dear sister of mine. No need to worry."

Tukson smiled as he began to scan the books for purchase. What a day this had been. It made him wonder what tomorrow would bring.