Weiss's knock was answered by a yelled, "Come in!" So, she admitted herself into the apartment, which was apparently empty. After looking around for a few seconds, she called out, "Ruby?"

Ruby's head appeared from around a corner, accompanied by a hand waving her over. "In here!" Then she disappeared again.

"What is this?" Weiss walked over to the hallway, where two of three doors had been left ajar. "Why did you have me come all the way up here?"

The first door led to the bathroom. The second could only be Ruby's bedroom, which Weiss entered apprehensively.

"I had to show you this!" Ruby said proudly.

The decor was wholly unsurprising. The walls were painted black. A bookshelf stood off in one corner, which stored more comic books than actual books, as well as the photo of Ruby's mother that had once leaned against her grave. The window was blocked by a red curtain, which had been torn and shoddily sewn back together. In lieu of a bed, a plump couch faced a television stand, a laptop resting on one of the cushions. Posters were tacked up all over the walls for bands, movies, video games, and fictional superheroes—but the most prime wall space was reserved for a poster of the Protector of Vale.

The thing Ruby wanted her to see, though, was a standing corkboard, positioned behind the door. On the floor next to it was a ball of red yarn, a stack of paper, and a container of thumbtacks.

"You can't be serious," said Weiss.

"Wait!" Ruby flipped the corkboard over to reveal that she'd already gotten started on the other side. "Tada!"

A map of Vale had been taped to the center of the board with a single pin placed toward the city's western side. Thread connected that pin to the three beneath it, which each held up a photograph. One was larger than the others and showed a female silhouette with two descriptors scribbled beneath it—tall, light hair. The other two were positioned right below it, one being another silhouette and the other a mugshot of a man Weiss didn't recognize. Taped to the corner of the board was a newspaper clipping detailing the discovery of Summer Rose's body, with another pin and line of thread connecting it to the point on the map.

"This is ridiculous," said Weiss.

"What?" Ruby said defensively.

"Don't tell me you actually went out and purchased these items just for this."

"No," Ruby said unconvincingly.

Weiss cocked her brow.

"What's it matter if I did, anyway? What's wrong with my crime board?"

"First of all, 'crime board' sounds absurd. Secondly, this is entirely unnecessary. Seeing something done on a mediocre detective show isn't a reason to emulate it."

"It was a detective movie, and it was critically acclaimed!"

Weiss massaged her forehead, trying to remember the reasons she'd agreed to aid Ruby in this endeavor. But, of course, she hadn't been able to figure them all out in the first place.

"Fine. Whatever. But . . ." Weiss pointed at the mugshot. "Who is this?"

Ruby frowned. "Bole Maze."

"No, it isn't."

"It's not?"

"No. Where did you get this?"

"The internet. It was the first result when I looked him up."

"Well that's not him. Maze is bald and . . . hefty."

Ruby flipped the picture over and then wrote the name on the back in large handwriting, accompanied by Weiss's description. "Well, I'm just going off the information you gave me. We know there were at least three people there—Maze, the murderer, and whoever she handed the gun to. We know the first—now we just need to identify the other two."

"It's very little to go off of. It hardly necessitates this cliché."

"Well, obviously, we'll be adding to it as we get more evidence."

"Whatever. It's your free time you're wasting, and I suppose you're not exactly hurting for it."

A pained look passed over Ruby's face, but it was gone in a fraction of a second.

"Are you ready, then?" Weiss asked.

"Yes."

"Then let's go." She turned around and set off toward the exit. Ruby followed alongside her, grabbing and donning a red zip-up hoodie on the way out.

Several minutes later, they'd left the building and traveled down the street to where Weiss's car was parked next to a meter. The pair entered the vehicle and fastened their seatbelts.

"What kind of music do you have?" Ruby asked.

"Classical." Weiss started the ignition and checked her mirrors.

"Oh, really? Nothing else?"

"Why? What's wrong with classical?"

"Well . . . it's a bit dull."

"Dull?"

"I mean, to each their own!" Ruby said hastily. "It's just not my thing."

"Then fiddle with the radio, if you must."

Ruby grinned and set on the knob without hesitation. She selected a rock station which, if Weiss was being honest, sounded alright.


"So how are we going to do this?" Ruby asked as they were pulling up to the county clerk's office. "You distract the receptionist while I sneak a look at the files? Or do we bribe them? Ooh! Or we—"

"No, you dunce! Have you never heard of freedom of information?"

Ruby scratched her head. "Well, yeah."

"They're going to give us the file after we request it. That's it."

"That's no fun."

"We're supposed to be avoiding taking risks."

"Yeah, yeah."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "There'll likely be a fee, so you can pretend you're bribing them, if you want."

"I'm not a child."

"You could've fooled me."

Ruby made an offended noise that Weiss ignored. She pulled into the parking lot and found a spot, then the two left the vehicle and made their way to the building.

"Had to have passed the place hundreds of times," said Ruby. "Never been inside."

Weiss glanced at her. "You've lived in Vale for a while, then, I take it?"

"Born and raised."

They passed through the front doors into a hallway with signs hanging from the ceiling. Weiss soon spotted the one that read, County Clerk, and took the lead. On the way, they passed the DMV, which made Weiss think.

"You said you've never been here before?" she said.

"Yeah. Why?" said Ruby.

"Don't you have a driver's license?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I live in Vale. I don't need one. It's so much cheaper to just use the subway, or let my sister pick me up when we're off at the same time."

Weiss frowned. She'd already sold her old sports car and downgraded to what she drove now. She'd known, of course, how unkind big cities were to drivers, but the idea of using a subway system several times a day was abhorrent to her. That was a low that even she hadn't sunk to yet. But the fact that Ruby, who could somehow afford to live in such a nice apartment, didn't think it was worth it to own a car spoke volumes.

They reached their destination, which wasn't all that busy. The interior resembled a hospital waiting room, with a long counter lining the farthest wall and chairs and end tables taking up most of the remaining floor space. The main difference was the color scheme, which was mostly beige rather than abundantly white and blue.

"Good evening," said one of the people behind the counter as the two approached. "How can I assist you today?"

"Bole Maze!" Ruby said.

"Er, I'm sorry?"

Weiss shot Ruby a scathing look, then smiled politely at the male worker. "What my associate meant to say is, we're looking for court transcripts of the trial or trials of a man named Bole Maze."

"Ah. This might take some time, as we're having some issues with our database. Do you know the date of the trial?"

"We don't."

"Hmm. Well, take a seat for a few minutes, and I'll see what I can do."

Weiss gave him an appreciative nod then found an empty chair to occupy; Ruby invited herself to one directly beside her. Weiss crossed her legs and waited patiently, observing the room, but found herself distracted by Ruby's humming and tapping. She asked her to stop, but thirty seconds later, Ruby was back to being irritating.

The minutes dragged on. Weiss focused on the man behind the counter, who, by the looks of it, wasn't having an easy time with their request. He fiddled with his computer, spoke with colleagues, talked shortly on a landline, and disappeared into the backroom for a while. When he finally called them back over, his expression was one of regret.

"I'm afraid we don't have the files you're seeking," he told them.

Weiss's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"How's that possible?" Ruby asked.

"We did have them at one point," he explained. "One of my coworkers received and processed them about a month ago. But, sometime over the weekend, there was an intrusion that resulted in a great number of documents being destroyed. Bole Maze's were among them."

"This weekend?" Weiss gave Ruby a meaningful look, but she didn't seem to grasp the gravity of what he'd said.

"Yes," said the man.

"Well, what do you mean by destroyed?" Ruby asked. "You should still have the digital files, at least, right?"

"Many of our physical records were found in ash, and large chunks of our electronic database were deleted."

"Then restore the backups," Weiss said impatiently.

"This was a very sophisticated attack." He was starting to look annoyed. "Whoever was behind this made a great effort to ensure that whatever they were after could not be recovered. Our security cameras were undamaged, yet had been remotely disabled. This person is clearly very skilled, but the police are doing their best to identify them."

"This is unacceptable."

"Weiss," Ruby warned.

"No," Weiss continued indignantly. "This is a government building. It should be equipped with top of the line technology. An STC system would have held against even the most competent hackers and—"

"We do have an STC system," the worker cut in.

Weiss blinked. "What?"

"We're using Schnee tech to protect our databases. This breach, as well as the STC going under, is making us consider other options."

"But that's impossible! Your data would have been encrypted and spread out across multiple servers across the country."

"I don't know what to tell you, miss." He seemed to be running out of patience. "The attackers knew what they were doing, and the files are irretrievable. I'm sorry to tell you that we cannot provide the files you're requesting. Have a nice day."

"Come on." Ruby tried to reach for Weiss's wrist, but she yanked it away and made for the exit on her own. Ruby hurried after her, speaking up once they were in the hallway. "You could've been nicer."

Weiss stopped and rounded on her, ignoring the comment. "Don't you understand what this means?"

"Well, it sucks, yeah, but this isn't the end of the road."

"Ruby, this happened just a few days ago. The files detailing the reason for Maze's conviction were destroyed on the same weekend—possibly even the same day—that he was killed."

"It's the same people, yeah."

Weiss blinked. "I didn't think you'd picked up on that."

"It was obvious, wasn't it? What I didn't pick up on is why you were so short with that guy."

"I just don't understand how those files can be permanently deleted. STC systems have all sorts of advanced fail-safes that should, at the very least, protect the integrity of data even when it can't ensure its security."

"Why does that bother you so much? Are you an STC fangirl or something?"

Weiss turned and continued walking. "It shouldn't be possible."

"That company's been dead for like a year now. The lack of continued software updates is bound to open up some vulnerabilities."

"Smart" wasn't the first impression Weiss had gotten from Ruby, but perhaps she'd underestimated her. Regardless, she was unconvinced. The STC had still been developing off of some of her grandfather's designs up until the end, and he hadn't been involved with the company since before Weiss was even born. Longevity was one of the core qualities that had made them as successful as they were. Ten months without updates wasn't enough to make something impossible suddenly possible.

"Look on the bright side," Ruby said a couple of minutes later as they buckled themselves in.

"What bright side?" said Weiss.

"Well, this wasn't a total waste of time. We learned that Maze was only imprisoned a month ago."

"It's something," Weiss agreed halfheartedly. "Why are you so optimistic? You're the one this setback actually affects."

Ruby shrugged. "We haven't hit a dead-end yet. We just need to find a new approach. And we do have new things to add to the crime board."

Weiss sighed and shook her head, then pulled out of the parking space.

"Come on up to my apartment again when we get there," said Ruby. "We can do some brainstorming and maybe look online for some more clues."

"Haven't you already done that?"

"Yeah, but you know how big the internet is. Could have easily missed something."

"I'd rather just go home. I haven't eaten yet."

"All the better! Yang's making dinner tonight; I bet I can convince her to make you a plate."

"Who's Yang?"

"My sister. We live together."

That helped explain how Ruby afforded her apartment, but Weiss thought that even half that rent had to be too expensive for anyone under thirty. Was this Yang earning enough to pay all of it?

"So?" said Ruby. "Join us for dinner?"

Weiss pretended to contemplate, but who was she to pass up a free meal? "Fine."


As they waited for Yang to come home, Ruby had the idea to see if there was a way to check someone's criminal record online. Lo and behold, there were several resources made to do exactly that. So, they'd picked one and taken half an hour to find what they believed to be the right Bole Maze; none of the others the tool had come up with were in the right age range or lived in the same area. As soon as it prompted payment, Ruby gave it her own card, and then all his records were laid bare.

"This doesn't make any sense," said Weiss.

"Are you sure it's him?" Ruby asked.

"That's definitely him," said Weiss. His photos had been locked behind the paywall, too, but were now visible.

"Then, the results have to be wrong?"

According to his record, Bole Maze had never been to prison or even spent a night in jail. He'd served some time in juvie as a teenager and had a couple misdemeanors under his belt, but never been convicted of a serious crime. Other than some shoplifting and underage drinking, he was apparently clean.

"Or they've been attacked, too," Weiss suggested.

"Let's try another site." Ruby was already typing.

"You know they're going to charge you, too, right?"

She didn't appear to hear her. They went through the whole process a second time with an alternative tool. It gave the same exact results.

"Third time's a charm?" Ruby said with little enthusiasm.

"Whoever's behind this is incredibly thorough," said Weiss. "And highly skilled."

"Or rich enough to hire someone highly skilled."

There was a knock on the bedroom door, which hadn't been fully closed. Then a woman pushed it open and stepped through. She was very beautiful, with striking violet eyes and a mane of blonde hair flowing down her back. Her face had an easygoing expression to it, which contrasted with her professional attire, consisting of belted trousers and a tucked-in dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows—her right arm was a very advanced looking prosthetic, painted yellow and black. She looked like she might've been around Weiss's age, potentially older.

"Hey, sis." The woman's—who could only be Yang—eyes started on Ruby, then came to rest curiously on Weiss. "Who's your friend?"

Weiss quickly glanced toward the corkboard, but it was hidden behind the door. She was about to open her mouth to protest against the use of "friend", but then her eyes found a badge clipped to Yang's waist. The words, "City of Vale Detective", were inscribed on it.

"This is Weiss," said Ruby. "She's helping me out with a school project."

"Weiss," Yang repeated, sounding as if the name were familiar to her. She shrugged after a few seconds, then held out her non-metal hand. "I'm Yang."

So, Ruby insisted that they don't go to the police with the lead Weiss had stumbled onto, but her own sister was a detective? And she'd just lied about what they were doing. Yang was Summer's daughter, too—surely she deserved to know what they'd learned, especially considering her qualifications.

Weiss was so distracted that it took a little too long for her to stand and accept the handshake with a polite smile. "A pleasure."

"So, what's the project?" Yang asked.

"AI theory," said Ruby. "Weiss is an expert on psychology, so I thought she could have some input. I told her she could stay for dinner."

"Ah, about that . . ." Yang said guiltily. "I wish you'd warned me."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I kind of flaked. Didn't really feel like cooking tonight, so I just stopped and grabbed pizza."

"Yang!" Ruby complained.

"I had a coupon!"

Ruby sighed. "Fine. We're having pizza, then. You don't mind pepperoni, do you, Weiss?"

"Or pineapple?" said Yang.

"What?" Ruby stared at her sister, horrified.

"I'm kidding!" Yang chuckled. She looked at Weiss. "Just pepperoni. That cool?"

"Um, yeah. Sure," said Weiss. "Thank you."

"Is Blake not joining us?" Ruby asked.

"Nah," said Yang. "Sun and Neptune invited her out for a drink."

"And you didn't go with them?"

"Of course not! I may not have felt like cooking, but I still made a commitment to feed my little sister. Speaking of, we better hurry before the food gets cold." With that, she left.

The instant she was gone, Weiss gave Ruby a fierce look, who was already fiddling with her fingers, looking guilty.

"Look, I know what you're going to say," Ruby said before Weiss could speak. "But it's not what it looks like."

"Oh, sure," Weiss said sarcastically. "I misread the badge, and your sister's actually just a health inspector, or something."

Ruby walked over and closed the door. "No, she is a cop, but—"

"She's a detective, Ruby. It's literally her job to solve crimes and track down murderers—like the one that killed her mother. Why would you lie to her? And why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Lots of reasons! And I was going to tell you, but the opportunity just hadn't come up. We've only known each other a couple days, except for our first meeting."

"But why keep this from her?"

"Because Yang's super protective. And I love her, more than anything, but she'd freak out if she knew what I was doing. I don't want her to worry or anything."

"She deserves to know what little we've learned about your mother."

"She's not her mom, though. I mean, she may as well be, but she's not actually."

"What?"

"My mom is only Yang's step-mom. We're half-sisters. But my mom raised her since she was a baby and loved her just as much, so it doesn't really change anything. But that's not the point. My original argument still stands—keeping this quiet for as long as we can is the best option."

Weiss crossed her arms. "Do you think your sister is bad at her job?"

"No, of course not. This has nothing to do with that. I'm sure she could do a lot with this lead, but I believe that I can too—we can. And if I tell her, then she'll either have to report it, or she'll keep it secret, which goes against her principles."

Weiss sat down and began rubbing her temple.

"Look how hard these people are trying to cover up Bole Maze's tracks!" Ruby reasoned. "And they don't even know that anyone's chasing them. Imagine how hard it'll be to get any valuable information if they do."

There was no argument against that, but this still didn't feel right. Weiss imagined herself in this situation, with Winter being the one hiding the information from her. She'd be hurt, more than words could describe. After their mother's episode, Winter—even though she was away with the military—became the only true family Weiss had left. She was the only person Weiss currently trusted wholeheartedly. At least in this hypothetical, with Weiss having moved hundreds of miles away from home to start anew, it would give Winter a modicum of an excuse. Ruby and Yang saw each other every single day.

"This is a bad idea, Ruby," Weiss warned. "You know keeping this from her can only go poorly."

"It doesn't matter," said Ruby. "It's my choice. And for now, I believe this is the right one. If we hit a dead-end, Yang will be the first person I talk to."

"That could be sooner rather than later, with how things have gone so far."

Ruby, strangely, smiled. "I have an idea about that. Actually, Yang just gave it to me."

Weiss waited. After a few seconds, she grew impatient and said, "Well?"

"We'll talk about it after we eat. Yang's probably getting worried." With that, she darted out of the room to avoid Weiss's inevitable objection. Left with no choice, Weiss followed after her.


A/N: Credit to my beta readers: I Write Big, 0neWhoWanders, and Bardothren. They're great writers who are a huge help with making this story as good as it can be.