The attack came out of nowhere.
One moment everything was fine and dandy. Ruby was busily constructing the third wing of her sand castle and the next, her face was slammed down into the moat she'd dug in the frozen sand.
She whimpered and rolled onto her back, blinking sand out of her eyes to get a better look at who had pushed her.
"Aww… Didja trip?"
"Gonna cry?"
The twins had moved to Patch with their parents a year or so earlier, as far as Ruby knew, and they had been mean to her ever since. Sky, the girl, was the oldest (by sixteen minutes) and she liked to whisper horrible things in a sugary sweet voice. There were no adults around and Sky was probably the one who had told her friends to talk to the teachers so they'd be too busy to see what was going on.
She was clever like that.
Lapis was the one who had pushed her. He had three of his friends with him. He always did when he was pushing other people around.
"No," Ruby said as she scrabbled up to her feet. "I'm not."
She spoke with a light lisp from a couple of teeth that hadn't filled in yet and despite her denial, she was crying. She'd scuffed her knees on the frozen ground and it stung.
"Yes, you are," Sky sing-songed. "You're gonna cry like a little baby. Like a little baby-boy."
She gave Ruby's short hair a flick. There'd been a cookie-baking-related incident the earlier week and a large chunk of it had burnt off. Before it had been almost as long as Yang's but now it hung several inches above her shoulders.
Her dad had let her dye the tips as a compromise for going to the hairdresser, though, and at the time she'd thought the red color had been really pretty and cool.
Ruby felt her lower lip tremble. Why did they have to do this? What had she done?
Lapis came up to his sister's side with a wide smirk.
"Dad always says you're not supposed to hit girls… But I don't think you're a girl."
Ruby was told that she was quick on her feet, but Sky's fists proved to be faster. Ruby sobbed through her wheezing breaths as she fell back down to the ground.
Lapis absentmindedly kicked some sand at her, looking sideways at his sister for instruction.
"Maybe we should-"
The fox ears poking out of her hat flicked and her eyes widened. A second later, a voice called out.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Yang asked, her voice touched with worry.
Both Sky and Lapis darted back, splitting off into either direction as Ruby's big sister pushed past Lapis' friends.
Her lilac eyes locked on Ruby, who was trying desperately to wipe the tears and snot off her face before Yang could see she'd been crying.
No such luck.
Lilac eyes turned to scarlet and Yang rounded on the bullies, hands clenching into fists. She was tall for her age and towered over them all.
"Which one of you shits pushed my little sister?" She asked, her voice low and dangerous.
Cold air hissed against Yang's skin, almost shrouding her in steam. Lapis and Sky stubbornly held their ground but their friends began to edge back
"Who?" Yang asked again, her voice trembling with barely restrained fury. "I'm gonna kick the ass of all of ya until you tell me who did it."
Slowly, the smallest of Lapis' friends raised his hand and pointed at the boy's turned back.
Yang's eyes narrowed and she didn't hesitate for a moment, slugging him right in his smug face. Lapis went down to the ground, clutching at a broken nose and crying while his friends helped him out of there.
Yang's embrace warmed Ruby and warded off the cold and she squeezed as hard as she could, burying her tear-streaked cheek against her sister's jacket.
"Don't listen to him," Yang said, her voice gentle now that the bad guys were gone. "He's just a dumb bully. Your hair looks awesome and he's just jealous."
Ruby swallowed.
"Really?"
"Totally." Her hold tightened. "Don't worry, Rubes. I'll take care of you. I'll always take care of you."
The teachers arrived a few seconds later and Yang spent the next week grounded. Ruby had kept her hair short ever since.
The elevator 'dinged' once more but Ruby didn't notice until Weiss cleared her throat. She still felt numb all over, except where she clung to Yang.
They parted and the sensation, or lack thereof, returned. She couldn't afford to let it show, though. It was getting tough to stay chipper, each problem like a rock put into a rucksack, the weight of their task piling on as it grew more and more daunting.
They walked out of the building in silence and headed for the closest store they could find, filling a bag up with food, fruit and some water. Ruby had a feeling they wouldn't have time for sleeping or proper meals in the foreseeable future.
"When we've fixed this whole mess," Yang said, forced cheer in her voice. "I think we should all go on a double date."
"If that's your attempt to ask me out," Weiss said crisply. "You may end up disappointed."
"So that's you saying yes?"
Weiss' eyes narrowed.
"It is not. That's me saying that if you want to ask me out for a date you will have to try harder."
Yang pouted.
"Aren't you kinda doing things in the wrong order?" Ruby asked, smiling slightly.
"That's not- I am not-"
"What? You're not that kinda girl?" Yang scoffed. "The teeth marks on my left thigh say otherwise."
Ruby bit her lip but wasn't fast enough to contain a snicker. Weiss glared at them in equal measure.
"You're incorrigible," she said to Yang. "And you shouldn't encourage her, Ruby Rose."
Ruby grinned and wrapped an arm around Weiss' waist. The heiress didn't protest. Maybe Yang was right. They could do this. They'd done lots of crazy stuff before and this wasn't all that different. Team RWBY hadn't lost yet and they weren't about to start now.
The old harbor district was close enough from downtown to walk and it only took them half an hour to get there. The buildings were squatter and closer together here and all the stores had iron grills that could be pulled down over windows and doors at night.
It was interesting, Ruby thought, to see the shift in both Weiss and Blake. The area around the Schnee corporation's Vale Office had kept Blake as taut as a drawn bowstring. Now it was Weiss' turn to get tense.
"You know your way around here," Yang commented with a sideways glance to Blake. "I thought you might when we headed back to Beacon after the mess with Torchwick at the docks but I forgot to ask."
"I do," Blake said, gaze flitting back and forth between them. "I lived here for a few months before term started at Beacon."
"Oh?" Ruby sidled up next to her. "Where? What was it like?"
"A couple of blocks away," Blake said, hesitating only briefly before letting Ruby slip under her arm. "It was… Difficult, at first. Things weren't good for me back then."
"At least you met us in the end, huh?" Yang said. "That's gotta make up for at least some of it."
"Some of it," Blake agreed, smiling wryly.
"Aww yeah. We're awesome." Yang gave Blake's shoulder a light tap of her fist, the kind she usually reserved for guys she liked. "So… Rough side of town, huh? Do you know any cool underground clubs?"
"I stayed in and read," Blake said. "I didn't want to draw any attention to myself."
"But you do know some people here, do you not?" Weiss cut in. "Otherwise, this endeavor is about to fail spectacularly."
"Oh don't be so glum, Ice Queen," Yang said. "Blake knows these streets. She's down with the crowd here."
Blake rolled her eyes at Yang.
"I know some people," she confirmed. "They should know enough to get us started."
Blake led the group through trash-clogged alleys and parking lots, through holes in chain link fences, empty buildings, and rooftops. They finally made their way into a run-down but reasonably well-kept neighborhood nestled into an area bordering on one of the many shipping lots in the harbor.
Blake smiled a little as they all crossed a pockmarked basketball court and steered her steps straight for a little bookshop.
It was one of the few buildings that used glass in the shop windows and said windows were still intact. If a bit grimy.
Ruby stayed close on Blake's metaphorical tail and entered the store just a moment afterward. Inside, it was warm and cozy, heavy bookshelves groaning with old books of every description.
The floors were wood, covered in a bunch of carpets forming walkways between the shelves. Ruby carefully stomped the snow off her boots on the welcome mat.
Blake walked on, fingers tracing the spines of the books.
"Thea?" She called out, ears perked. "Are you here?"
There was a shuffling noise from the back of the shop and a moment later an old lady came walking around the corner.
She was old. Very old. Like, someone's grandma, possibly great grandma old, with a wild nest of downy white hair and a pair of notched cat's ears on top.
Though she moved ponderously, her eyes were bright and her smile warmed Ruby as surely as a cup of hot chocolate.
Blake walked up to the old woman and they hugged, standing there and speaking in subdued voices while most a minute ticked by.
When they parted they both had tears in their eyes but they were smiling, too.
"Guys," Blake said, her voice a little croaky. "This is Thea. She took care of me when I first came to Vale after… After leaving the White Fang. Thea, this is my team from Beacon. Ruby, Yang and Weiss."
She pointed them each out in turn. Thea smiled at them.
"I'm pleased to finally meet you. Blake has spoken fondly of you in her letters."
Blake's cheeks tinted red.
"Cool to meetcha, too", Yang said, reaching out a hand and shaking Thea's with a warm grin.
"It's an honor to meet you," Weiss said, inclining her head respectfully.
Ruby waved and said "Hi!"
Thea looked them each up and down, one hand casually resting on top of Blake's head, gently scratching at her ears.
"Are you here on business?" Thea asked.
She may have been old but she hadn't missed any of the weapons they carried.
"Yes," Blake said. "I'll try to come by sometime later for a cup of tea but-"
"Shush," Thea said. "Don't apologize. You're young. You have more important things to be getting on with than babying an old lady."
"No," Blake said firmly. "I'll come by. I promise. I haven't forgotten all you did for me."
Thea's warm smile drained some of the chill out of Ruby's bones.
"You are always welcome, Blake," Thea said. "As are your friends. Now… What business?"
Blake opened her mouth to speak but Yang cut across her.
"Uh, guys," she said, pointing out towards the street. "I think we've run into the welcoming committee."
Thea smiled placidly.
"Don't fret, child. They won't come in."
Ruby turned around to find a group of young people, most of them around Yang's age. A few younger, a few older. They were all armed and stood lined up across the street from the store, waiting.
"We should probably go over and say hi, huh?" Yang said.
"Friends of yours?" Weiss asked.
Blake made a face.
"I wouldn't exactly call them that."
"So what're we calling them?" Ruby asked.
"The next people on the list we need to see," Blake replied. "We should head out there. I'll see you soon, Thea. Stay safe."
"Nine lives, Blake," Thea said with a grin. "I've still got two left."
Blake and Yang both stepped forward but after an exchange of glances, Yang let her partner take the lead and the three of them fanned out just behind her.
Upon closer inspection, Ruby realized that they were all faunus and that though they outnumbered team RWBY three to one, many of them still looked nervous.
A young man stepped forward, a lion's tail poking out from the back of his pants.
Blake gave him a nod, her body language relaxed. The faunus' body all but screamed of tension, even as he swaggered up to them. He probably didn't want to look bad in front of friends but Ruby had a feeling he didn't want to take on four trained huntresses, either.
"Flax," Blake said, a little smile touching her lips. "It's been a long time."
Ruby knew that smile, dark amusement and schadenfreude. It made the young faunus stop in his tracks at a safe distance.
"Yeah," Flax said. "The - uh - The boss wants to see you. Right now, he said."
"Right now," Blake repeated slowly.
Flax seemed to want to make it clear that he was just the messenger. Probably hoping to not get shot or something. Ruby kinda felt sorry for him.
"Or else," a young woman piped up from the left flank.
Flax's face fell as Blake's gaze drifted from his to another lion faunus who was openly sneering at them, her hatchet-ended pistol confidently raised and pointed at Weiss.
Blake's teeth showed in a wolfish smile and one of her dark eyebrows twitched up under her bangs.
"Or else?"
Panic flitted across Flax's features and he raised both hands, palms up.
"He just wants a chat," he said quickly, then turned his head and snapped. "Shut the fuck up, Carmine."
"It just so happens that we need to talk to him, too," Blake said, ignoring the outburst. "Lead the way."
Sometimes, Ruby thought, her girlfriend was really, really hot.
They soon found themselves surrounded by the gang and lead down along the street. People they met on the way carefully avoided their gazes and steered their steps in another direction, if possible.
None of them turned and ran but only a few kept walking towards them.
They were taken to a run-down apartment complex. The windows had mostly been replaced with wooden boards and litter was scattered everywhere. Yang had moved within an arm's length, wary eyes steadily tracking the people they encountered. Weiss' face was set somewhere between disgust and horror.
People were buying and selling drugs right out in the open and Ruby stared as a girl at least one year younger than her traded a handful of crumpled bills for a small plastic bag with a white powdery substance.
This… This was wrong. She needed to do something about it.
Weiss' hand caught her wrist in a steely grip just before Ruby could get a hold of Crescent Rose.
"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed under her breath.
"He's hurting people," Ruby said, looking over to the young faunus doing a brisk trade from out of the back of a van.
"They are hurting themselves," Weiss said.
"They need help. We could help them!"
"If we beat him up they'll find another dealer within half an hour. We don't have time."
Ruby wiped at her eyes with her free arm, cursing the stupid tears brimming there.
"But-"
"But what?" Weiss said, her voice harsh and cold, cutting into Ruby far more painfully than Myrtenaster could ever hope to. "While we waste our time on a fool's errand the grimm will overrun us all."
"Weiss!" Yang's voice was loud and Weiss' fingers vanished from around Ruby's wrist. "Back down. Now."
"You know I'm right," Weiss said.
The menace in Yang's tone clearly scared her but she stood her ground.
"You are. You're also being a complete bitch so I'll tell you for the last time to back down."
Weiss lengthened her stride until she caught up with Blake, her face stony, her posture rigid. Her pretty lacquered nails dug into her palms and her hands shook.
"You think she's right?" Ruby asked, softly.
She couldn't keep the hurt out of the words and Yang winced.
"If we don't pull this off we won't ever get a chance to help them." Yang sighed and added. "If you want to come back here and bust some heads when we're done you know I'll help you but right now we need to stay focused on the mission."
Ruby wiped at her eyes again.
"Promise?"
Yang smiled.
"I promise."
They were led into the building and up flights of stairs until they were on the top floor. The corridor was run-down but kept clean. Ruby spotted a young faunus boy sticking his head out of one of the doors to peer curiously at them before a woman - probably his mom - yanked him back inside and shut the door.
They walked all the way down the hall and to a door that was considerably sturdier than the other ones. Flax knocked three times and stepped back, waiting. There were shuffling steps and after a few moments, the door opened.
A pair of eyes scanned them all for a moment and then the figure, a mouse-faunus, stepped aside.
Flax went in first, his gang following just behind Ruby and her team. The apartment was… Rather nice, actually. Dark red walls, plush couches, and it was… Kinda clean. Mostly. It looked like they might have had a party the night before and there were still bottles and people scattered here and there. All in all, it didn't look that different from Yang's room.
A young faunus with a rat's tail and sharp, angular features sat in the corner of the room on one of the sofas, paying equal attention to a girl with her head resting on his lap and one of the newest model of Gamestations.
He settled the control on a coffee table and whispered something to the girl, who sauntered off. Though not before their host took the chance to give her behind a smack.
Ruby frowned. Why wasn't the girl upset? She was supposed to be, right? But she just giggled and swayed her hips as she headed off into what looked to be a bedroom.
She supposed she could try it out on Blake and see what happened… But that was probably a really bad idea.
"Cordovan," Blake said. "You've expanded."
The young faunus man turned enough to be facing them but remained seated, slouching a little. He kept both feet on the floor and his hand close to the weapon she could see on a little table next to the sofa.
"A little," he responded, his carrying a soft Vacuoan accent. "Wouldn't want Vale's finest catching on just because we've overreached."
Ruby glared at him and his careless attitude. Vale's finest or no, she'd shut his stupid face down.
"That would be terrible," Blake agreed. "What do you want?"
Cordovan shook his head.
"You're as pleasant as ever, I see. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"
"No."
He shrugged, seemingly unbothered by her dismissal.
"You might want to reconsider," he said. "You know you're always welcome around here… Much as you know she isn't."
He raised his hand and almost lazily pointed out Weiss.
"She's with me," Blake said, her voice growing cold for the first time. "She doesn't concern you."
"Wrong," Cordovan said, straightening in his seat. "She does concern me. She actually concerns me a lot."
He rose and Ruby became aware of the gathering tension in all his cronies, most of whom were still spread out around them along the walls.
"We're here to talk," Blake said, voice tight. "But if you want to fight…"
"I want to know why you've brought a fucking Schnee into my turf."
"Because she's with me," Blake repeated, enunciating the words. "I'll vouch for her."
"What if I don't care?"
"Then we might feel less inclined to play nice," Weiss cut in. "Blake. Is there any reason why we entertain this scoundrel and his illusions of having any say in this?"
Annoyance flashed across Blake's features.
"I had this under control, Weiss."
There was a subtle undertone of hurt to her words. Weiss caught it and her voice softened.
"I don't doubt that but we're running short on time. There's too much at stake. We need that information."
Blake nodded and turned back to Cordovan.
"We have a couple of questions. Once you've answered them we'll leave."
The young man's eyes flicked nervously to the goons he still had spread out in the room.
"If you want charity head down to the soup kitchen," he spat. "Get the fuck out of here."
Yang sighed and there was a click-clack of gears as she activated Ember Celica.
"Listen, tough guy," she said. "You can either tell us with all your teeth intact or not."
Blake cast Yang a stern look over her shoulder. Crap.
Ruby could see what was happening. Blake was trying to get him to tell them what they needed to know without hurting his pride and it might have worked. Now that Weiss and Yang had threatened him, though, he'd have to refuse or he'd look weak in front of his gang. They needed to offer him a way out.
"How about we trade?" Ruby cut in, her raised voice coming off a little shrill. "You ask us a question, we ask you a question."
That seemed to amuse Cordovan who turned his full attention to Ruby for the first time.
"Interesting," he murmured. "Fuck it. Why not? Let's start with your names."
They all exchanged glances.
"Weiss Schnee, though you seemed to know that already."
"Yang. Sup?"
Blake simply rolled her eyes at him.
"Uhm. Ruby Rose. Hi."
"Our turn," Blake cut in. "There's been a lot of violence around here and the surrounding areas. We want to know everything you know of it."
Cordovan's dark brows furrowed.
"Thought you were training to be a huntress. Not a cop."
"Thinking clearly isn't your strong suit," Weiss said. "You'd best stop before you hurt yourself and answer the question."
Cordovan shrugged. He didn't look put off by Weiss' acidic tone or the insult. He was actually smirking at her.
"It's what's always happening. The government stops giving a shit about the people who live here and the people get fed up and rise up."
There was a light in his eyes when he spoke that made Ruby uneasy. Weiss rolled her eyes at him.
"Spare us your conspiracies."
Anger flickered across Cordovan's features.
"Conspiracies? The water hasn't worked properly here for a month and that we can put up with but when kids start going missing people will notice and they will react. It doesn't matter how hard people like you and your father try to cover it up."
Blake made a sharp hushing noise that was just shy of a hiss.
"What missing kids?"
"Faunus. All of them. At least one a day, sometimes more. Sometimes a lot more. I've had my guys looking into it, but…" He shook his head and turned to Weiss. "One of them mentioned seeing you, in fact. Came to me and told me how he'd met you. How one of your friends was a faunus. The next day he was gone."
"I - I had nothing to do with that," Weiss sputtered. She must have realized just how bad that sounded because she added, with mild incredulity: "Truly, I didn't. I don't prowl the streets at night looking for faunus children to steal away like some fairytale boogeyman!"
He snorted. "Fine. Why are you going to all this trouble for a bunch of faunus kids, Schnee?"
"It's not just about them," Weiss said. "In case you haven't noticed, the city is tearing itself to shreds. The missing kids seem to be a part of that and even if they had not been I am not so callous that I would stand idly by while children are hurt, faunus or no."
Cordovan considered her, frowning.
"We need to know where those kids got taken, Cord," Blake said. "And who might have taken them. When. How. Any witnesses. Any little detail you have. If we find them you get to take credit for taking them down."
White teeth gleamed in a dangerous smile.
"I thought you'd forgotten how to play the game," Cordovan said. "I guess I was wrong."
He called out for two of his goons to fetch a map, a pad of paper and a pen. Fifteen minutes later he'd marked well over a dozen locations on the map, adding notes where necessary. They had a list of names, aliases and addresses. Everything they could possibly need.
"Thanks," Blake said. "We appreciate the help."
Cordovan raised a hand with his pointer finger extended towards the ceiling. "One more question. Is Blondie as good at giving head as she looks?"
There were varying reactions. Yang seemed surprised but not upset. Blake's mouth dropped open. Ruby just stared, wide-eyed. Weiss did not hesitate even a beat before answering.
"Yes. She's quite good." She turned her back on the gang leader. "Shall we?"
They all trooped out after her, leaving a flushed Cordovan and several snickering gang members behind.
Two hours later Ruby had concluded she probably never could have made a very good police officer. There was way too much walking and people weren't being helpful at all! Most of them were lying, according to Blake, or refused to talk at all.
Yang and Weiss had split off to take care of half of the list, leaving Ruby and Blake with the rest. Generally, Huntresses weren't supposed to split up except under the direst circumstances. This had qualified according to Yang and Ruby had agreed.
"Do you know what time it was?" Blake asked, rubbing at her temple.
"Dunno. Bout closing time but I sometimes keep the store open late."
They were in a convenience store, speaking to a spindly old man with an equally spindly mustache. He'd refused to tell them anything until they'd bought a soda each.
"Making it nine o'clock or perhaps a little later?"
The shopkeeper frowned in thought, scratching at his chin. "Sure. Sounds about right. She your friend?"
"Yes," Blake lied smoothly. "We're very worried. Is there anything else you can tell us?"
"No." Ruby's shoulders slumped. "But I think I know someone who might. Old Tom was here getting a bottle of booze. I was in the back getting his usual and I only caught the last of it. That poor girl dragged away into the van."
They both perked up in interest at that.
"Where can we find old Tom?"
"There's a pub down the next street called The Burning Cock. Don't look at me like that, I had nothing to do with it being named that. He's usually there. Best be careful, girls. The clientele isn't what anyone would call… Refined."
Ruby forced a polite smile. "Don't worry. We'll be totally fine. Thank you, sir!"
They walked off according to the directions they'd been given. Blake stayed very close to her, one arm slung around Ruby's waist. Ruby saw no problems with that.
There was no bouncer outside of the pub, though a few people stood there smoking. Ruby wrinkled her nose at the acrid stench and ignored two men old enough to be her dad trying to address her. It took some pointed words from Blake to the barkeeper but she eventually got a glass of whisky and had the man they were looking for pointed out.
Old Tom sat in a corner booth with a pint of beer in front of him. He was a skinny man whose hair was a mishmash of gray and white, with a few strands of black left in there. His clothes were worn and once they got closer, Ruby could smell sour sweat.
Blake squeezed her hand and Ruby took that to mean she wanted to lead on this one. That was fine, too. Blake was good at this sorta thing.
"Jared from the convenience store sent us over," she said, drawing a thumb along the rim of the glass. "He said you saw something the other night. We need to know what."
Tom drank deep out of his pint and settled it unsteadily on the dirty wooden table, squinting at them.
"Are you cops?"
Blake raised an eyebrow. "Do we look like cops?"
"S'pose not."
"Would you have talked to us if we were?"
"Nah. Nobody here talks to the sodding cops. We know better than that."
"Right," Blake said. "But we're not cops and we need you to tell us. It's important."
He shrugged. "To you, maybe."
Blake sighed. "Look. Tell us what you saw and you can have this whisky."
The man's expression changed like the flip of a switch. Suddenly, he was beaming at them. Most of his teeth were gone, or ruined.
"Why didn't you say so from the beginning?" He reached out for the glass but Blake put her hand in the way.
"After," she said firmly.
He didn't seem perturbed by that in the slightest.
"I was over at Jared's store, as you said, getting me some whisky. Then, suddenly, I see these fellows in dark clothes, robes almost, come out of nowhere. Three or four of them. They grab this young girl, see, and stick a needle in her neck. Then they pull her into a van. I was going to go out there and help her but these old legs aren't what they used to be."
He sighed wistfully. "I used to be a freelance hunter, I'll have you know. In the outer villages to the north. Used to-"
Blake held up a hand for silence.
"What else was there. Did you see any of their faces? A license plate on the car? Did they drop anything?"
Tom shook his head. "It was too dark, see, and it was over in a few seconds. She was young, 'bout your age, maybe a few years older. Blonde."
Blake considered him carefully. She was trying to see if he was lying or withholding anything. She was very, very good at that except with Weiss.
"Thank you for the help," she said, pushing the glass over to him and rising.
They moved over to a booth a few rows away and Ruby sent Yang a text message telling her where they were. She hadn't even got her scroll down into her pocket again before her sister responded that she was on her way.
"What do we do now?" Ruby asked. "He didn't tell us anything new."
Blake smiled a little. She'd settled next to Ruby and took her hand. She used her other hand to tick off things on a list.
"We learned that there are several people kidnapping kids. It's not some lone predator. It's a group. A group means a different kind of motive. Most of the time.."
She went to finger number two.
"They moved in quickly and quietly. They got her, threw her in a van, and disappeared in a few seconds. That suggests they knew what they were doing. They'd probably done it before."
Finger number three.
"They had drugs to knock her out. Those aren't that difficult to get here but it's still a lead."
"Ooh, ooh!" Ruby grabbed onto Blake's fourth finger, carefully raising it, too. "Do you remember that girl they said was attacked but she died of a drug overdose?"
Blake blinked and then nodded. "Could be the same people. We'll have to check but for now, let's assume so. An early attack, maybe? One that went wrong?"
Ruby's tummy suddenly twisted around with nausea. "Or they wanted them alive. You know, to-"
"I know," Blake said quickly, cutting across her. "I know. Maybe. We'll need to see what Yang and Weiss found."
Their teammates arrived fifteen minutes later. Yang sauntered by the bar and got them all drinks before coming over. Soda for Ruby. Probably for the best, really.
"Soo... " She said, settling next to Ruby. "What did you get?"
Blake pulled the notepad she'd been sketching on all throughout their investigation out and pushed it across the table. Weiss produced a similar one.
"Lots of mentions of people in black nabbing people," Yang noted. "That's kinda creepy."
"Here's a correlation," Weiss said. "You have a blonde woman, young, being pulled into a van. We do, too, only ours is being carried away from the van. The none too bright woman who saw it simply though they were helping a drunk friend home."
Weiss pointed at the notes. "If they are the same person then we have them being taken at your location, then moved to ours. I doubt they would have wanted to be carrying her around for long. That probably means they took her somewhere in the vicinity."
"Or switched vehicle," Blake said. "They could have taken her someplace else in another vehicle once they were out of sight."
Weiss sighed. "Granted, but if they did we'd have nothing to go on and we are right back where we started. This is a clue we can pursue."
Blake sipped at her drink. "True."
"So… Do we go check it out?" Ruby asked.
"In a bit," Yang said. "I ordered some food, too. It's cold out there. You'll need to keep your strength up, sis."
She peered over the papers Weiss and Blake had already studied, lips pursed as she thought.
"They only ever jump people who are alone. I guess that's smart."
"And quite unsettling once you consider the implications," Weiss added.
"Hold that thought," Yang said.
She waved over a man with a tray of food and soon even a grudging Weiss was feasting on a none too healthy hamburger. The conversation faded out as they ate. It was a brief respite but Ruby had a feeling they'd all needed it.
They paid and headed back out and Ruby shivered as the cold washed over her once more. She pulled her cloak closer and stepped nearer to Yang. Stupid cold weather. Why couldn't the grimm hibernate like any other sensible creature?
The streets had gotten less crowded but were still plenty active. More so than the ordinary nightlife warranted. People were wandering aimlessly and there was a bit of a police presence in evidence, finally. They drew the odd look from the authorities but once they spotted their weaponry and realized they were huntresses there was no further scrutiny.
They moved away from the city center once more and back towards the derelict industrial areas nearer the harbor. Yang and Weiss stopped on a smaller side street branching off from the larger roads going through the district. There was still quite a lot of activity here, more so than on the main street almost, with cars stopping for their drivers to talk to the several young women lining up along the streets.
Why were they dressed so lightly? Surely they had to be getting cold. One of the women accepted a handful of lien and then hopped into one of the dark cars. Oh. Oooh.
Yang's insistence that she and Weiss take this area suddenly made a lot of sense. As did the firm grip she'd had on Ruby's hand for the last few blocks.
"This is where she was last seen," Weiss said. "But there was no indication that she actually worked here nor where they took her."
She indicated at the houses, businesses, and clubs lining the street. Hundreds. A needle in a haystack. Then again…
"She's probably not in any of the houses right here, is she?" Ruby said. "This isn't exactly the sneakiest place for that sorta stuff, right?"
"Probably not, no. Too many watching eyes," Blake said. "See those guys?"
She pointed towards two men walking down the other side of the street.
"Pimps," she said. "They're responsible for protection and keeping things in check here. We could ask them if they know something."
Yang looked uncomfortable. "Let's skip that for now. If we gotta, we'll check with them later."
She turned in a circle, eyes scanning and then locking on an alley towards the end of the street. Her golden brows furrowed and she walked off without a word, dragging Ruby along by the hand.
They stopped at the mouth of the alley. Yang hesitated, then stepped into the shadow of the buildings. The moon shone down from overhead, but clouds were forming and small flecks of snow were already falling. The alley was clogged with garbage and a burnt out van stood in its center.
"Yang-?"
Yang held up a hand and Weiss fell silent. She took a few moments, then said.
"This could be the van they took her in. They ditched it here… But why? There's nothing here."
There weren't even any doors leading into any buildings in the alley, just smooth brick and a few boarded up windows. Blade stepped up beside her, her expression a little distant as she thought, though her ears flicked at any sound.
"Someone saw the girl here, or nearby," the faunus said. "So they went down the street and ran into trouble. They came here, ditched the van, burned it and the evidence, then dragged her away… They can't have taken her very far or near too many people unless they silenced them all, meaning…"
She pointed out into the darkness beyond the alley where the industrial area resumed once more.
"It would afford them privacy. Those factories haven't been active for decades," Weiss said. "A lot of the vagrants have gone missing in this area, have they not? Perhaps they strayed too close and were, as Blake so crudely put it, silenced."
Blake scowled but nodded.
"It's probably our best bet."
"The first big break for team RWBY," Ruby said.
She jumped excitedly up in down in place, grinning until she almost slipped. She hadn't realized it until now but the streets were getting slick with melting snow and ice. That could be bad. Or...
She grabbed a fistful of slush as her team walked on, squeezed it into a snowball and tossed it at the back of her sister's head.
Yang flailed around and her eyes fixed on Ruby, a dangerous grin forming.
"You little brat!"
Ruby dodged out of the way of her sister's lunge, straight into a brick wall. Only it was in mid-air. A glyph. Weiss tried to look innocent but Ruby saw one corner of her mouth twitch for a split second before Yang caught her and bore her down to the ground.
"Noooo," Ruby wailed, wiggling as Yang grabbed a fistful of snow and pressed it down the back of Ruby's shirt. "I'm sorry, Yang. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Yang had no mercy and forced two more handfuls of snow down Ruby's jumper before she let her get up again.
"You suck, Yang," Ruby muttered, wiggling until the snow that hadn't already melted horribly against her back fell out from under her clothes. "And you're the absolute worst, Weiss. You're supposed to be my partner!"
"Guys," Blake said, her voice sharp. "We had something to do, remember?"
Ruby nodded, slipping past her sister and traitorous partner.
"Sorry, Blake. You're right. Just got a little excited about the snow."
Blake nodded and they made their way across a pockmarked parking lot, dodging slowly freezing puddles of water. Ahead, a factory loomed over the area, with two larger buildings further along.
"These were slaughterhouses, once upon a time," Weiss noted as they approached the building. "The rise of water-borne grimm must have cut off their supply and taken the business out."
The windows had been boarded up and covered in plastic. The doors and walls were rusting, as most things tended to do this near the sea. It had been the same back at Patch.
Ruby reached for the door handle and a hand caught her wrist in a warm, solid grip.
"Let me go first," Yang said. She spoke softly but her grip was unyielding.
Ruby nodded and stepped back, letting Yang take the lead. She was better for that sort of thing, in any case. It had been silly of Ruby to want to rush in first. Yang grabbed the handle and pulled. It was locked.
"Hey, Ruby?" She said. "Remember that story about the big bad wolf and the little piglets?"
"Uh, yeah?"
Yang grinned and took a step back, raising her leg.
"Well, I'm gonna huff and puff and-"
She pulled her leg back to deliver a devastating kick - and yelped in surprise as her foot slipped on the ice and landed ass-first on the hard ground. She groaned and rolled over, clumsily getting her feet under her and pushing herself to a vertical position.
"Just charging my semblance," Yang muttered. "It's all according to plan."
They all kept carefully quiet and avoided one another's gazes. Weiss sounded like she might be choking on something. Blake very helpfully brushed the snow off Yang's bottom.
"Maybe a little less of a brute approach is in order," she noted and vanished, leaving a shadowy clone behind. Before the mirage had disappeared, the door clicked and opened from the inside.
"You coulda just gone ahead and done that from the beginning," Yang said, massaging her sore behind.
"I didn't want to steal your thunder."
Ruby followed Yang inside, with Weiss bringing up the rear and wrinkled her nose at the smell. It was dark, even with Yang using the flashlight function on her scroll, but from the looks of things this area had been a lunchroom for the factory. There were tables along one wall, though some had been pushed up against the windows and nailed there.
Some of the windows had been repaired with plastic sheets haphazardly stapled over the gaping hole. A cold gust blew in through a slit where a nail had torn free, rattling the plastic in a slow sigh.
Blankets, boxes and other detritus formed little dens along the interior wall. People had lived here at some point. People who didn't have any other home had tried to make one here. As good a home as they knew how.
Ruby's foot hit something and she stumbled before catching onto Yang's arm. The object crashed into the wall and shattered. A bottle. Everyone jumped at the sudden noise.
"Watch it," Weiss hissed.
"Sorry," Ruby whispered. "Sorry. I didn't see it."
Blake plucked her scroll out of her pocket and lit it, too, pointing the light toward the floor. Ruby stepped carefully over more bottles and discarded food packages. There were needles on the ground at one of the beds. Maybe some nice doctor had come by to make sure people were okay.
There were doors leading off into a bathroom at the end of the room. The stench was coming from there and in the end it was Blake who opened up to check. She recoiled and slammed the door shut again.
"It's clean," she pronounced. "In a manner of speaking. Nobody's gone and died in there, at any rate."
They turned back, mindful of the trash littering the floor and headed through locker rooms and into a little room with a large washing basin, emptied out soap dispensers, plastic gloves and such things. There were bottles of rubbing alcohol on the floor, all empty.
The door from there opened up to the factory floor. The building had been sectioned off into areas, each presumably with its own specific purpose.
There were spaces on the floor where machines must have gone in the past and that now gaped empty. The windows were high and small, where there were any at all, letting in a few feeble rays of the light reflected off the shattered moon. Plastic strips fell from the arched doorways between sections and they clung to Ruby like clammy fingers as she pushed them aside, peering into the darkness of the narrow room ahead.
The smell was different here. It was a coppery scent, like the rust, but different. There was a shallow ditch running along the middle of the floor in a long corridor of sorts, with iron grills above it.
"Hey Weiss," Yang said. "You guys have a lot of mountains in Atlas, right?"
"Yes." Weiss' voice suggested she wasn't in the mood for games.
"So have you heard about how they're not just funny. They're actually hill-areas."
She laughed but there was something about it that crawled up Ruby's back like the slush she'd thrown down there earlier. That laugh was just… Off.
"Yang," Weiss said, enunciating the name with her last dreg of patience.
"And plateus. They're the highest form of flattery."
"Be silent," Weiss hissed.
"Oh come on, Weissicle. There's nobody-"
"Yang." Blake didn't raise her voice but Yang shut up regardless. "We're not alone here."
Her ears flicked, searching for something only she could hear, and seemingly barely that. Yang winced and nodded.
Ruby moved a little closer to her sister and noticed, in the light of her scroll, that the concrete below their feet was stained. The area under the grills in particular. She stopped, knelt, and peered down.
It was blood. Old, dried blood. Little fluffy animals had walked right here, down the narrow corridor where she was walking, and had been cut down, again and again, until there was so much blood it left a permanent stain. Had they known they were about to die? Or had they just been happily minding their own business? Ruby shuddered and looked away.
Blake took the lead. Her steps had gained a sense of purpose, now, and she took a left as the room opened up once more. The rest of them followed close behind, Weiss managing surprising stealth despite her high heels.
Blake stopped at the edge of a wall and held one hand up, fist closed, and they all filed in behind her.
"There's someone around the corner. A hundred or so feet away."
Fingers trembling, Ruby squeezed her fingers around Crescent Rose stock.
"He's human and he's out of breath. I don't think he's a fighter," Blake said softly.
"Okay," Ruby said. "Let's go. On three. One. Two…"