The next morning was a little less happy as it served as a reminder of what had happened. Velvet awoke to the sound of her scroll buzzing, the message displayed was just a quick update informing her of when Yatsu's funeral was scheduled to be. Upon reading it she felt her strength leave her body and she curled up against Coco.
"Morning Vel…" Coco said groggily.
When she didn't respond Coco turned to face her, "What's wrong?"
"They just told me the date for Yatsu's funeral…" Velvet told her. It reminded her of his passing knocking her back into depression.
Coco pulled her closer and held her, "So you're going to stay home today then?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay… I still have to go to work though, just try to make yourself feel better." Coco told her.
It really sounded simple, but to Velvet that task sounded insurmountable. "I'll try…"
Coco laid there with her petting her head for a while until she finally had to get up to get ready for work. When she got there the fall designs were waiting on her desk, so she looked them over while she thought about everything. Her mind was first focused about how Velvet was doing lately, it slowly turned to Yatsu's funeral, and it finally went to where they'd move to and all the details that came along with that. She wasn't even sure they were financially able to make a move, but if it meant keeping Velvet safe she would find a way to come up with the cash.
After a while, her co-worker Ruby spoke up, "Hey Coco are you okay?"
"Yeah… I'm just a little preoccupied…" She responded.
"What's on your mind?"
"Well something happened recently that showed me this city isn't safe enough for me and Vel, but I don't know how I'm going to get enough money to move…"
"Well I might have a way to help with that." Ruby told her ominously.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Meet me down by the docks tonight in warehouse 37 and I'll give you the details." Ruby said before she left.
Coco just stayed silent for a bit unsure as to whether or not this was a good idea, but if it actually could get her enough money without too many strings attached she'd do it for Velvet. Afterwards she pulled out her scroll and called Velvet, who picked up after letting it ring for a good amount of time, "Hey Vel how're you doing?"
"I'm still not doing the best…" She responded solemnly
"That's too bad… I'll see if I can cheer you up a bit when I get home, which is going to be a bit later than normal, I was asked to stay late…" Coco told her lying.
"Oh… Okay… I'll see you then…" Velvet replied just before she hung up.
Coco sighed when she hung up, she felt so bad for leaving Velvet to do who knows what, but it was necessary to protect her. There was only a couple more hours of work left, so Coco made sure to have a look at the fall designs and alter them to her liking before she went off to the docks.
Since Coco finished late, the docks were practically deserted, but that didn't mean they were quiet, the seagulls and the occasional boat horn made sure of that. She slowly walked by the large tankers and made it to the warehouses, paying attention to the large number on the front of each one. "40, 39, 38, 37." She thought to herself.
Coco looked around the outside of warehouse for Ruby, but she didn't see her, so she decided to take a step inside. The place was surprisingly well lit, showing off the colossal walls of boxes, and the splotch of red standing in the center of the room.
"Coco I'm glad you came!"
"Well, it's for Velvet, so I had to. But, why did we have to meet in a warehouse in a city known for its stupidly high crime rates?"
"Well it's easier if I show you." Ruby said while she walked up to one of the walls of crates. She pushed in a knot on one of the crates which caused it to slide open revealing a small control panel, which had a large handprint scanner, and an eye scanner. Ruby silently placed her hand on one scanner and stared into the other, after a couple of seconds the crate next to them, which was the size of an industrial-sized fridge, opened up and Ruby stepped inside.
"Come in." She told Coco who quickly followed the order.
Once she was in the crate closed again and they felt it slowly descend like an elevator. Coco had a million questions, but she just couldn't voice any of them from shock.
After a little while the elevator reached the bottom floor and opened up again revealing a large room filled with electronics, the centerpiece being a large six screened super computer with a white-haired girl sitting in front of it.
"Hey Ruby, how are Blake's replacements coming along?" The girls asked without turning around or noticing Coco's arrival.
"Well Weiss, I'm still working on them, but I came here for a different reason."
Weiss turned around in her chair and saw that Coco was there, "Oh! I didn't know you were bringing a guest!" She exclaimed before getting up to talk to them.
"Weiss… What the hell is all this?" Coco asked still shocked.
"Well, you know how screwed up our city is, and it wasn't until I started dating Blake that I figured it out. She had a good look at how awful this city could be, and couldn't do a thing about it since it seemed like every judge was in one person's pocket or another. I, on the other hand had the resources to actually help, so I made this command center and hired Ruby here. She makes the weapons and I monitor and pay the heroes."
"So you make super heroes?"
"Well not super heroes, more just heroes. I help them get the equipment to actually be able to fight back."
"And why am I here? Don't tell me you want me to design suits."
"Well, I was thinking you would more wear them than design them," Ruby spoke up.
"And why do you think that I'd be up for this?"
"Well you said you wanted to move somewhere safer but didn't have the money, so this would get you the money and you'll be making a difference."
Coco sighed, "Making a difference is more Velvet's thing." She pointed out.
"Well, why don't you go out on patrol with Blake tomorrow night and see how things go," Weiss suggested.
Coco paused for a moment thinking the offer over, "Fine, I'll go, but you have to make sure you never get Velvet involved in this."
"Okay. We'll keep Velvet out of this." Weiss told her, giving her, her word, "But before you go come with Ruby so you can get fitted for your uniform for tomorrow."
After Weiss finished Ruby gestured to Coco and walked towards a large set of display cases each containing a different suit. Coco quickly looked through all of the suits and eventually settled upon A black one that had dark brown highlights on the waist, shoulders, and shins. It wasn't anything flashy, but it looked a lot better than the others.
"So you guys just have a bunch of extra suits laying around?" Coco asked while she looked over her choice.
"Well… Those would be the ones belonging to… retired heroes…" Ruby said reluctantly.
"So I'm getting a dead man's clothes…" Coco said with a sigh.
"Well, not a man's." Ruby said.
"Anyways what kind of armour do these things have?"
"Well, basically they're made of a military grade fiber from Atlas that will stop a knife, on top of that there are some Kevlar panels that'll stop a bullet, but not anything bigger than a pistol. You'll also have to remember that the panels don't completely cover you, they restrict movement, so we had to limit them to vital areas," Ruby explained.
"And I assume I'm not going to go on patrol empty handed."
"Of course not, you'll get a grappling hook, and a weapon of your choice from the armoury." Ruby told her.
"And you think I have the upper body strength to shimmy up a rope?"
"Honestly, I thought you did, but we were giving you a small motor that you can attach to the rope that'll hoist you up it assuming you've planted the hook correctly. In fact you'll be getting two of them, one for you to hold and the other will clip to your belt so that you'll ascend a bit more quickly."
Coco quickly wondered if that was the reason the previous owner of her suit had 'retired'. "So am I supposed to meet Blake here tomorrow night?"
"Of course, just head right over after work"
"Okay, I'll meet you guys then. Am I good to head home now?"
Ruby gave her a nod and Coco started to walk away, but before she reached the door Weiss called out to her, "You'll be able to open up the elevator, the computer has your scans on file."
"How did you… Never mind, it's better if I don't ask." Coco said before she went back up the elevator.
Coco eventually made her way back home to a sleeping Velvet on the couch. It looked like she had tried to wait for Coco, but ended up falling asleep before she came home. In response Coco gave her a little kiss on the forehead and carried her over to the bed.