It took longer than Ruby would like to admit to find the pool area of the hotel. She didn't spend an hour searching for it, but it's also not like she wouldn't be a teensy bit late to the meeting with this mystery informant. At least she thought it was an informant. It was always an informant in the Noir films she had to endure watching with Dad.

What mattered was that she was in the bathhouse. AAAAAAAAAnd everyone was looking at her. So what if she was there with no bathing clothes? That was completely normal! You're getting sidetracked.

Right!

She walked past the collection of stairs and made her way to the sauna area. The circular room was empty, with a couple of glass bottles of various drinks lying about, and another door sat at the opposite end of where she stood. Hmm, it's probably if I were a secret informant, I'd probably have my secret meeting in the private sauna.

Sure enough, opening the door, she saw a man sitting on a bench. "Wha-Who are you?"

"I'm looking for someone who went missing."

"So was the gentleman who I was supposed to meet. Speaking of, where is he?"

"I found this matchbook in a hotel room a bit ago." She handed him the matchbook. "The man was…he didn't make it."

The man sighed and punched the wall. "GODDAMMIT! They must've known he was talking to someone on the inside. They'll be watching everyone closer now. I knew this was a mistake." The man tried to get up, but Ruby stood in front of him.

"Please, I need your help to find out what happened."

The man bit his lip and reluctantly sat back down, with her also sitting next to him. "The girl, the one that went missing a couple of days ago. I know what happened to her. I was the one that distracted her fiancé while the others took her." Ruby nudged herself away from him. "Well, I'm not proud of it! I had to do it. They saw I was having second thoughts. A while ago, some of the White Gloves started meeting privately, talking about how we'd lost our identity. I thought it was just about changing our politics, but then they started talking about going back to the old ways and there was no way out. They'd kill me for the things I've heard them say."

Ruby's eyes widened in realization. No, he couldn't possibly mean that, right? "Who exactly are you so afraid of?"

"Mortimer of course! He'd have me killed if he found out I was meeting with the investigator. The White Glove Society forbids the consumption of human flesh, but we weren't always like this. Mortimer and some of the others have…regressed back into the old ways." Oh, Brothers. It is. "They've taken many people over the last few months. But always from Freeside or secluded places where no one would miss them. But it wasn't enough. Lately, they've gone for tourists on the Strip, and even in the hotel. I guess that's the hazard of a cannibal becoming a gourmet -it's hard to satisfy a refined palate."

Ruby felt sick. Like, on the verge of throwing up sick. Why would anyone eat another person?! That was disgusting and vile and just wrong! Even people out here in the Wasteland had some morals. But eating people?! "What about Ted Gunderson?"

"As far as I know, he's alive. They're trying to keep him fresh, Mortimer has some special plans for him. The White Glove Society has a banquet every day at seven. It's in our private section. Mortimer wants to reintroduce humans into our cuisine. Since eating people is a crime we punish by death, he's going to do it in secret. After everyone has eaten it, he'll tell them. With no real way to punish everyone, in Mortimer's mind, anyway, their minds will be open to the idea of eating people as a delicacy."

"Brothers, that's disgusting! But Ted's father is a wealthy man. It should be easy to stop it with his backing."

"Maybe, but Heck Gunderson's reputation isn't one based on calmness and impartiality. They don't call him "Hurricane Heck" for nothing. He's built his empire by hiring mercenaries to drive off the competition. Lately, he's been attacking our Brahmin suppliers so he can take over their business. He's the sort to pound in a nail with a wrecking ball. If you gave him the whole story on this, he'd be liable to raze the entire hotel, and God knows what he'd do to the rest of the Strip."

Ruby leaned back on the wall and sighed. Mr Phebus was right, Heck really was just a scumbag. But that wasn't something she should worry about now. She needed to find out where Ted was and get him back to his father, without telling him this was orchestrated by some members of the White Gloves. Way to make this harder. "Where are they keeping Ted?"

"I don't know, I wasn't in on it. They probably stopped trusting me. But you can bet they're keeping him near the Gourmand. Our chef, Philippe, has an obsession with fresh ingredients. It'd be back in the members-only section, so you'll have to be careful. Don't be seen, and more importantly, don't let them see Ted in the open."

"How do I get in?"

"Well…" He scratched the back of his shaven head. "I could sponsor you as an honorary member…No, that wouldn't work, children aren't allowed in. Besides, you don't exactly have the status or fame that would justify bringing in a kid such as yourself."

Ruby slumped in her seat. Okay, so she couldn't get sponsored, and she'd need to find another way into the members only section. Maybe she could sneak around? That'd be way harder but not impossible, right? Then, like lighting, an idea suddenly popped into her head. It was so genius, so incredibly creative, one that no one, in the history of ever, would ever think of, and that totally wasn't stolen from a movie. "Does the hotel have a laundry chute?"

The informant raised an eyebrow and stared at the teen for a solid couple of seconds. "I…Well, yeah? There's a couple on each floor of the hotel. The cleaners usually dump all rooms' dirty laundry there. Why do you ask?"

"Does the room that the chute connects to, happen to be in the member only area?"

The informant gave Ruby the blankest stare a human possibly could. "You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting."

"C'moooon, it'll work! I just find one of those chutes, get inside, and slide down to the laundry room. And then sneak my way to the kitchen." She declared with a sparkle in her eyes. "It's gonna be great." The blank stare did not leave the informant, even after Ruby's display of confidence. "I swear it'll work! But uhh…" She averted his eyes, as a single drop of sweat went down her face. "How do I, y'know, get him out of there?"

The man sighed. "Well, they'll all be sampling Pre-War wines before the meal. Maybe it's just as simple as drugging them. Although…that wouldn't stop any future kidnappings." Not to mention, that's super unethical! I think. "You'd have to expose Mortimer. But he's going to confess anyway…" He brought a hand to his chin, looking at the humid ceiling as he thought for a couple seconds. "What if…what if his revelation was a lie?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if no one had eaten human flesh but him?" He readjusted himself, shifting his body to fully face Ruby. "If you could replace Philippe in the kitchen and serve a convincing substitute instead, you could walk Ted right through the middle of that room after Mortimer speaks. And then he'd have some explaining to do. Philippe has been trying to approximate the taste of human flesh for years. He must have a recipe somewhere."

The smile on Ruby's face grew wider. "Oh heck yeah! That's genius man!" She stood up and moved to open the door. "Right, off to look for a laundry chute!"

The informant intercepted her though, putting his hand on the door handle before her. "Please, I may be part of a cannibal cult, but I'm still a gentleman." He opened the door, being the all so chivalrous and educated person any White Glove wanted to be seen as. Yet, he'd find nothing more than an unexpected end in the other side of that door.

Three shots punctured his chest, lodging themselves deep in his ribcage. Ruby's eyes shot wide open, not a second had gone by, as the man that had risked his life to tell Ruby critical information, slumped back on the floor. She didn't scream or call out in anger because in all honesty, she didn't have the time. The assassin that stood on the other end of the door was only momentarily taken aback that his other target was a mere child, and he once again took aim.

Ruby's incredible natural speed allowed her to dodge another series of shots by the assassin, but the tight space she was in didn't allow her to properly use her speed or sembla–NO! You can't use your semblance, remember? Six told you not to. Using the momentum from her speed and all the strength she could muster from her legs, she charged at the assassin, slamming onto him and sending both crashing onto the humid floor tiles of the larger steam room. The assassin dropped his pistol on impact and Ruby was able to slap it away before he kicked her off on top of him. The assassin looked like just another guest at the hotel, dressed in a fancy suit and tie and a fedora that was now lying on the ground. Both got up roughly at the same time and assumed a stance.

At least we're both unarmed.

The assassin then reached for his suit's inner pocket and retrieved a switchblade, grinning at the silver-eyed girl as he did so.

I just HAD to think that.

The assassin lunged at her, bringing his blade down with a downwards swing he tried stabbing the girl right in the chest. Unlucky for him, Ruby, even without her semblance, was extremely fast and successfully dodged it. The assassin didn't let up though, as he continued pressuring the huntress-in-training with his attacks.

Ruby's speed and training allowed her to dodge and block most of the assassin's attacks, but that's pretty much as far as her advantage went. As her assailant could easily overpower her in raw strength and technique. Hand to hand combat was Ruby's major weakness, even at her age she was used to swinging around with Crescent Rose and speeding around using her semblance.

It was only a matter of time until she created a large enough opening for the assassin to exploit.

The assassin threw his right fist at her. Ruby brought up her arms to block the punch since she'd run out of room to dodge. However, the hit from the fist never came and instead the assassin's left foot collided with her side, knocking her out of balance and making her lower her guard. The assassin didn't waste a millisecond and brought down his switchblade on Ruby. Her aura flared up as the assassin tried in vain to stab her body.

She crashed on the floor, knocking her head on the bench behind her and making the wine bottle on it get knocked down on the floor. The assassin looked incredulous at his knife. "What the hell?" He mumbled.

He grabbed Ruby by the neck and brought his knife down again, and again, and again and again. Each time his switchblade hit her, her aura flared and got weaker and weaker. Seeing as his blade wasn't doing anything in his eyes, he ditched the knife and put both his hands around her neck and started squeezing it.

Ruby could feel her aura draining as the pressure the assassin was putting on her neck was starting to block out air. She tried to resist and push him away, but to no avail. He was just bigger and stronger and she…she was too weak.

She started panicking and her eyes quickly scanned her surroundings hoping to find something, anything to get her out of this situation. Her eyes fell on the bottle on the floor. She reached out to it, stretching her arm as much as she humanly could. Her vision started getting blurrier as the tips of her fingers brushed against the bottle.

Then she finally managed to grab it and in one swift motion, she smashed the bottle against the assassin's head. His lands released her neck as his entire body collapsed to the side.

Ruby panted as she held the broken wine bottle in her hand. She slowly got back up, letting the bottle slide off her hands and hit the ground. She moved towards the assassin laying on the floor. He wasn't moving. Ruby clenched her jaw and reached for his arm to check for a pulse.

…

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

Ruby let out a heavy breath she didn't even notice she was holding. The assassin was alive, she didn't kill anyone. No one died. No one…The informant! She rushed back to the private steam room, hoping it was not too late. But there was nothing she could do. The informant's suit was soaked in a pool of his own blood. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Ruby needed to end this, Mortimer needed to be brought to justice, so no more people would get hurt.

Ruby looked back to the unconscious assassin in the steam room, and the weapons beside him. She crouched down and held the silenced .22 pistol in her hand, as she did so, her fight in the highway patrol station flashes in her head. The blood. So much blood. She closed her eyes and took slow, heavy breaths.

Once she opened her eyes again, a bodiless pale head was at her feet.

Ruby immediately dropped the pistol and brought both hands to her head. "It isn't real. It isn't real. It isn't real." She whispered multiple times. It was all in her head, it wasn't real. She reached out for the pistol again, her hand stopped right above it for a second before moving past it and grabbing the switchblade instead.

Looking back at the assassin, she didn't feel 100% okay with just leaving him there without any restraints, but she didn't have any rope, or time for that matter. She looked at the exit then at the body and bit her lip. Please be here after I'm done. Please please pleeeeeeeeeeease. She begged the heavens before leaving the steam room all together.

Finding a laundry chute didn't prove all that challenging in the grand scheme of things. Just a few minutes of wandering the first floor of the hotel next to the guest rooms. What did end up being challenging, was the realization that Ruby was throwing herself into a tight dark tube that led her into the unknown. Well, not the unknown exactly, she knew the chute would in fact lead her to the lower levels. The tightness of the chute was really not appealing.

"Focus Ruby! You gotta do this." She told herself out loud. It still took her a bit of passing back and forth for another two minutes before she garnered the strength to throw herself in the chute. To put it lightly, it was a bumpy ride.

First she hit her head on the initial fall, then she pretty much got hit everywhere bar her face as she tumbled down the series of ramps that connected all chutes together, before finally having one last free fall and diving face first in a mountain of dirty laundry. To top it all off, she stumbled out of the mountain of dirty sheets, landing with her back on the hard cold floor.

"Never doing that again." She whispered to herself.

However much she wanted to lay there on the floor, there was a task at hand, so she got back up and walked to the door at the end of the laundry room and poked her head out into a dimly lit hallway which she was right in the middle of.

The sudden sound of footsteps clamping on the ground made her quickly close the door and nervously waited until the sound of the footsteps became ever quieter and more distant. That guy wasn't kidding when he said this place was constantly watched. She peeked out to the corridor again, and sure enough, the pair White Glove guards were with their backs turned to her and walking in the opposite direction.

Being as quiet as she physically could, Ruby opened the door and walked to the other end of the corridor and slipped into another room.

This looked to be the wine cellar, evident by the several racks on the walls filled with bottles and the large circular table on the center with an arrangement of bottles. Judging by what the informant had said, this was probably the wines the White Glove Society was going to have for their wine tasting before the diner.

The room connected to another on the left, a larger room, much larger and louder. It looked like a kitchen, evident by the stoves, pans hanging from racks, a myriad of cutlery and fresh produce waiting to be prepared. On the other end of this U-shaped kitchen, was a bald man in chef's garbs rambling to himself as he prepared a dish.

It did confuse the teen as to why there was a single cook in the kitchen when there was an entire restaurant filled with people above, but then again, this was supposed to be a secret dinner. Now, what looked to be the freezer was locked behind a terminal on the end of her side of the kitchen, so she could break Ted out now. But that would not only draw attention to the two, but as Chauncy said, it wouldn't fix anything. She had to bring Mortimer to justice. Si after a deep breath, she stood up and walked up to him.

"Hum, excuse me?"

As the chef turned around, Ruby immediately regretted her decision, as the fiery rageful eyes of Phillipe bore down on her. "Why are you standing still?! Do you think the world waits for you while you drool all over my kitchen floor? Get OUT of here and GO BACK TO WORK!" He yelled, handing her a plate of food.

"I-I think you're confusing me with someone else." She meekly responded.

"Oh reeeealy? So despite your filthy face, vacant expression, your atroutious sense of fashion and complete and utter lack of human dignity, you're telling ME you're not a server?"

"I-"

"YOU, WHAT?"

Ruby was starting to panic, and really, really regretting her decision. This dude was so mean for no reason! She had to think of something really fast. "I…am here to talk business…" She quietly answered, not looking the chef in the face.

"Huh?" He seemed to back down. This got his attention, this was her chance!

"Y-Yeah! I came here to ask you if you wanted toooo…put out a cookbook." Ruby said as confidently as she could and with the friendliest smile she ever smiled.

"What, me? The supreme ruler of the Nevada dining scene? Teach lowlife half-wits to make food that doesn't smell like burning excrement? Do you think it would sell?" He was clearly interested in Ruby's 'offer', so much so he'd completely dropped the aggressive attitude.

Brothers, this guy is sooooooo full of himself! "Y-Yes!" She exaggerated the enthusiasm in her tone. "We're from a major publisher. But...I'll need your recipes. A-As a sign of good faith."

Phillipe grunted, and leaned on the counter as he thought of the offer. "You're pushing your luck. Here. I have a few copies on me. This better be good enough. We're going to have a real problem if this thing isn't a hit." He handed her a notebook small enough to fit in a pocket.

"Thank you, sir! These will be more than enough." She answered with a big fake smile.

"Yeah whatever. Though it's beyond me why a publisher would send someone like you to present me with this offer." He scanned her up and down. "Though, I must ask, which publisher are you a representative of?"

Crap! Crap crap crap crap crap! Think Ruby,think! What places do you know? "I-uh-Redding." Cass mentioned a Redding right?

"Redding?" She nodded. "As in the NCR city in northern California hundreds of miles from here?" Ruby felt a single drop of sweat run down her face as Phillipe narrowed his eyes. She could even see him reaching for something from the corner of her vision.

This was taking a really bad turn for Ruby. Why did she try to come up with that stupid publisher thing? She was never good at lying to begin with! Her eyes scanned the room, hoping to find something to distract the Phillipe or get him to leave.

She could just kill him. She had a switchblade after all…

No! She couldn't do that. Why did she even think that? Just think. She just had to calm down and think of a way out of this.

Ruby scanned the kitchen again. There, at the end of the kitchen, a pantry room.

"I, you see-Oh no! Is that a radroach entering the pantry?" Brothers please work!

Phillipe's eyes went wide as his head snapped back to the look at the pantry. "No! My ingredients!" She darted into a sprint with a knife in hand to kill the non-existent roach. Ruby did not waste the opportunity, as soon as he entered the pantry, Ruby used her semblance to speed to the terminal that controlled the pantry door to lock it shut. "HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Phillipe banged on the door

"Sorry not sorry." Ruby answered, walking back to the meal Phillipe was preparing.

"You will regret this you bitch! Just wait until I get out of here!"

Phillipe's banging on the door and screaming continued for a while as Ruby tried her best to follow the recipes of the cannibal chef. Much to her delight, he did in fact shut up. Either he realized no one could hear his muffled voice, or he just accepted his fate to be at the mercy of a child's whims. Either worked for Ruby, really.

The dinner, well, it was food. Certainly one of the dishes of all time. She wasn't the best at cooking, she'd much rather bake. Cakes, cookies, brownies, pies; you wanted sweets? Ruby was your gal. Cooking? She usually was a disaster. At least it looked edible. She just hoped it would be enough. "I wish Cass was here. She's such a better cook." She whimpered. She looked at the clock that hung on the wall right above the intercom next to the door leading to the hallway. Roughly 30 minutes until 7.

Now she could only wait and pray this food was good enough. She looked at the clock again, not even a minute having passed and groaned. This was going to feel a lot longer than thirty minutes.

Cass and Veronica walked out of the Ultra-Luxe to see Walter Phebus and -what Cass supposed to be- his wife sitting on one of the benches outside the hotel.

"Ah you're back." Walter deposited his pocket watch back in his suit's inner pocket, noticing the two approaching him. It didn't take a genius for Cass to figure out the rancher had been counting the seconds for them to come back. "Where's the little lady? I don't see her with you two."

"That's why we're here. Gunderson's kid went missing. We agreed to help find him. Which is what Ruby is doing right now." Cass answered.

Walter's eyes widened as his face contorted into a grin. "Well, I'll be damned. Do you mean the young Gunderson? That's a shave tail if I ever saw one -he's got less sense than a Brahmin at a crossroads. I'd not be one to complain if he'd got lost for good, if you know what I mean. If it makes Heck suffer, I'm all for it."

"You want us to kill his son?" Veronica wasn't exactly surprised by this, she'd seen many vengeful people in the Brotherhood want to do more for less, especially when it came to the NCR, but that didn't mean she was okay with it. "Why not just ransom him for your ranch?"

"A ransom? That snake doesn't have enough of a soul to care that much for his own youngin. Besides, what's stopping him after his son's returned? Nah. Heck only knows pain and greed, miss. It's high time he got paid back in kind. His son's life, or his own. Either way, I win."

Veronica and Cass looked at each other. "Ruby's not gonna like that."

"That's an understatement." Cass took a pack of cigarettes, putting one between her lips and lighting it. "We ain't doing it, Phebus."

"W-What?" He shot to his feet at lightning speeds. "What do you mean you aren't doing it? You promised to help me!"

"No, Ruby promised to help you. And Ruby would not want to kill Gunderson's kid." Cass shrugged. "That's just how it is."

"W-Well, but the kid doesn't need to know. I-I can pay you two to do that! I–"

"Just cut it out, Mr. Phebus. We're not going behind our friend's back." Veronica gave the man an empathetic smile. "You should go back to your home. It's just not worth it."

"Dear, maybe she's right." His wife grabbed his hand. "This city and everything in it is evil. Let's go home." She smiled warmly at her husband.

Walter hung his head low, looking at the ground as he gritted his teeth. "No." He turned his gaze to Cass. "How much?"

"Huh?"

"How much did it take for that snake to buy you and that brat?" He seethed.

"Walter that's enough–"

"'Ruby would not want to kill'- what a load of Brahmin shit! There's no pacifists in this God forsaken land! Even the Followers hire guards that kill people. " He stuck out his finger to point at Cass. "So I want to know how much that snake promised to pay that brat to–"

Walter suddenly felt like a Sleipnir kicked his head, as his entire left side of his face burned with pain and he found himself on the ground looking up to the woman that had just sucker punched him.

Veronica reached out and grabbed the rancher by the collar, pulling him closer to her. Her eyebrows furrowed as Phebus' scared eyes met her angered ones. "We told you we aren't killing the kid. Just accept that and fuck off." She released her grip on the man and began walking back to the hotel with Cass closely following behind.

"Y'know, usually it's me who punches people who throw out insults like that." She looked over her shoulder to see Phebus' wife help him get up and slowly walk away from the Ultra Luxe.

"Well, sometimes people need to get punched." Veronica huffed.

"Well that they do." Cass took a long drag from her cigarette before throwing it out and entering the hotel again with Veronica.

Quest Failed: Pheeble Will

After what felt like an eternity, the clock finally struck 7 and Ruby wasted no time in using the intercom right by the exit to call the servers to get the dinner she'd prepared for the White Gloves. After putting on her best adult impression, she scampered behind a wall and peeked her head out for the server to come and pick the food up. Sure enough, not long after, the door to the kitchen opened and a handful of servers came pouring in to take the dishes upstairs.

"Where's Phillipe?" One of them commented.

"Who cares?" Another responded. "I'd rather not have to talk to interact with that asshole, so don't go about summoning him by saying his name."

"What is he, a demon?" The server snickered.

"He might as well be. Let's get the food upstairs. C'mon, chop chop people!" The White Glove clapped his hands and all the servers quickly walked out of the kitchen with the dinner.

Yes! Okay, now to get Ted out. She moved to the terminal-locked freezer and accessed the unlocked terminal, opening the door to the freezer and revealing a shivering young man hugging himself due to the cold.

"W-Who a-are y-y-you? M-M-My d-daddy is g-going t-to-to kill al-all those b-bastards t-that don this to-to m-me."

"Don't worry, I'm here to get you out." Ruby reassured him.

"M-My d-daddy sent y-you? G-G-Godammit I almost d-died in here! W-What the hell t-took you so-so long? It's just one d-damn hotel!"

Oh…he's one of those. "Let's get you out of the cold first okay?" Ted nodded and the two exited the freezer.

"T-Thank you…" He said in all but a whisper. "Who did this to me? They hit me on the back of the head before I got a look at 'em."

"Your dad's powerful. Someone had you kidnapped so he'd start a feud with the White Glove Society." Ruby lied as she poked her head out to the hallway.

"Huh…My daddy does have a lot of enemies. I suppose it don't make sense for the White Pants Society to kidnap me. He's here to do business with them."

"Business? What kind of business?" Ruby raised an eyebrow, trying to hide her excitement. This was exactly what Mr. Phebus wanted to know!

"I dunno, really." He scratched the back of his head. "Something about having them buy meat from us or something boring like that."

Jackpot! "Okay. Listen here Ted. We need to be really quiet for a bit 'cause we're going to sneak around the guards. So just do as I do and I'll get you back to your dad in no time. Okay?" The young man nodded.

"Great." Ruby poked her head out again, the coast was clear as the patrolling White Gloves were walking down the opposite way of where they were going. "Follow me." She gestured for him to follow as Ruby quietly made her way through the hallway and out of the lower levels of the Ultra Luxe without getting spotted, eventually getting to a door that would lead to the members-only section of the hotel.

"Remember, do as I say." Remaining crouched, Ruby passed the double door and entered the members-only section. She immediately hid behind a counter as Mortimer had begun giving a speech to the rest of the White Gloves there present.

"There was a time, not so long ago, when we were bound together not as members, but as a family. As a clan. And when Mr. House came to us with his proposal, we accepted, knowing we stood to gain much. But little did we know how much we'd lose in the process."

Ruby turned to Ted as Mortimer continued declaring his speech. "When I say, you come out okay?"

"Alright."

"And tonight, for the first time as a society, you are sampling that very dish, the meat we are forbidden to taste, the way it was meant to be eaten!" He loudly proclaimed.

"Not so fast Mortimer!" Ruby shot to her feet, revealing herself to the entire room.

Mortimers eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Huh? What the-What are you doing here?"

Ruby casually walked towards the man in the top-hat with a victorious grin plastered on her face and loudly proclaimed. "Bad news Mortimer. No one's eating the boy you kidnapped tonight."

"What are you–"

"You can come out, Ted." Ted stepped out of hiding and into view of everyone present in the room. Ruby's grin grew wider upon seeing pure terror strike Mortimer's face.

"What is he doing here?! W-Who are we eating right now?!"

"Sorry Morty, secret recipe." She winked at him. "But it's not human, I can tell you that much."

The White Gloves members sat at the table, rose from their seats and began encircling Mortimer, canes drawn and brows furrowed. "N-No! These are lies! I've never kidnapped anyone. And even if I did, there's no harm done. He's alive right?" Mortimer frantically looked around, trying to find a means of escape from his impending doom. But there was none. All the occupants of the room had encircled him, even those who had originally sided with him.

And at the head of the group, right in front of him, was Ruby, the child that had destroyed his perfect plans. "You." He growled. "It's all your fault!" He drew his cane and lunged at Ruby. Though his attempt at vengeance was quickly shut down by a barrage of cane of the other members hitting him, and dropping him to the ground.

The other members stopped hitting his body, allowing him to get rise to his knees and be confronted with Majorie. "Mortimer, for your actions of conspiring to commit the most egregious sin within our club, I hereby sentence you to capital punishment." She loudly proclaimed. "But first, we will learn who conspired with you. Take him away." Two members grabbed Mortimer who flailed his arms and tried in vain, resisting being dragged outside the members-only room and into the depths of the hotel's lower levels.

Majorie then turned to Ruby with a tired expression. "I do apologize for having to witness such an…uncivilized sight, young lady. I'm grateful you were able to stop Mortimer from making us commit such a horrible sin and make us devolve back to the Old Ways."

"All in a day's work Miss Marjorie." Ruby victoriously put a hand on her hip and gave Majorie a thumbs up with the other. "But my job isn't finished yet. I need to get Ted back to his father."

Marjorie smiled at the much younger girl. "Then I won't hold you any longer. Before you go though, be sure to come by tomorrow."

Ruby tilted her head. "Why's that?"

Majorie chuckled lightly. "Well, you have to be there to be presented as our newest honorary member."

"I-Uh-What?"

"A feat such as this requires a reward, dear. And better reward than to be welcomed as an honorary member into the most exclusive club in all the world?"

"But aren't I too young?"

"Under normal circumstances? Yes. But this is an extraordinary circumstance. Therefore, it requires an extraordinary reward, yes?"

"I-I suppose?" She shrugged.

"Splendid! Be sure to be here an hour before the dinner starts. Now, I have some situations to sort. See you at dinner tomorrow, Miss Ruby."

"I never told you my name…" Ruby was even more confused now. Marjorie however, did not alleviate her confusion with answers, as she simply smiled and walked off to order some members around.

"What just happened?" Ted asked.

"I have, no idea." Ruby answered with whole honesty.

"No I meant like, that man with the hat. What was he yappin' about? Didn't he say something about eating me?"

"Uhhh, nope." She quickly responded, popping the p. "You probably misheard." She smiled at him.

"But I'm pretty sure I–"

"Do you want to get back to your dad or not?" Ruby dead planned.

Ted nodded.

"Then let's bounce." The two exited the members-only section of the hotel, treading their way back to the casino area of the Ultra Luxe where Heck Gunderson awaited the two.

Ted ran to his dad who quickly pulled his son into a tight hug. "Oh, Ted you're okay. Thank goodness you're fine. You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine old man, let me go!"

"Oh I ain't lettin' you go from my sight for the next ten years young man. And expect a good ass wooping when we get back home. You hear me?" Heck broke off the hug with his son and wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes he turned to Ruby. "You got me my boy back, I…I got no words."

"A thank you would do." She smiled

That got a smile out of the rancher. "Thank you little lady. Now, I do hope you didn't do no harm to whoever's responsible for this. I wanna skin their hides myself."

"Sorry Mister Gunderson. I don't know who took him. I just found him. Ted says he doesn't know who took him either." Ruby 'sadly' reported to him.

"Confound it! He cursed and gritted his teeth. "How am I supposed to sleep knowing whoever done this got away?"

"Maybe leave the Mojave? The one who did may be in just the region."

"Hmm, yes. That…That might do. This whole place is cursed I tell you." He sighed and reached for his pocket, retrieving a large pouch. "I promised to make this worth your while, so here you are. Five hundred caps. Thank you again little lady."

Quest Completed: Beyond the Beef

Ruby's eyes lit up as the rancher gave her the pouch filled with caps and walked off with his son and guards. Her first job AND her first big pay! Just like all the cool Huntsmen and Huntresses back home!

Dad would take her for ice cream to commemorate.

Yang would probably crush her in a hug.

Qrow would says she's super cool!

And Mom…Mom would probably be proud. No. She is proud.

A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders "Whacha got there Ruby?"

"EEP!" She squealed and turned around to see Veronica and Cass.

"Don't sneak up on me Veronica!" She pouted.

"I'm sorry." She giggled. "But what do you have there."

"Oh! It's what Mr. Gunderson paid me. He said it was five hundred caps." She handed the pouch over.

Cass whistled, grabbing the pouch. "Nice work kid." She hucked the pouch back to her. "How's it feel to get your first ever pay?"

"It feels really cool!" She beamed. "But I gotta tell Mr. Phebus what I found too."

"Don't worry about that." Cass reassured her. "Mr Phebus realized revenge was not the right thing to do and decided to leave Vegas."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Oh, that's good I think?" She shrugged.

"Weeeeellllll, I don't know about you guys. But I'm pretty beat." Veronica stretched her arms and yawned. "Whadya say we call this a night and go rub your reward money on Six's face?"

"That sounds nice."

Ruby, Veronica and Cass exited the Ultra-Luxe and made their way back to the Lucky 38 to get some well-earned rest and the joy of rubbing Ruby's reward money on Six's face.

The doors of the elevator slid open as Six stepped out to the penthouse. She ignored Jane's chirpy hellos and made her way past the veil and down a set of stairs. She produced a pack of cigarettes out of her coat -her old armor might still be beat up and actively being fixed by her and Raul, but the coat was in decent enough shape. Just with a handful of bullet holes and slashes. She brought the fag to her her lips and lit it, taking one large drag before exhaling the gray cloud of smoke.

"Must you really smoke here?" The annoyed voice of a man came from the large computer screen in front of her. The screen bore the face of a man, once one of the richest men in all of the world, a genius in robotics who being a vast business empire, a man that survived for 200 years. It was the face of Robert Edwin House, her employer.

"It's not like you're breathing it is it?"

"No, but the smoke will ruin my walls." Mr. House annoyingly remarked.

"Then get your bots to clean it. What do you want House?"

"For my employee to go back to her job, instead of running off for three weeks." If Mr. House's face on the screen could change, it'd probably be frowning.

She took the cigarette from her mouth. "And as I told you three weeks ago, you can't just sneak inside the Legion's main base in the region. It's suicide."

"Color me impressed for you of all people to be afraid of the Legion. I presumed your disposition towards them would make you more prone to such missions." Mr. House replied, slightly mockingly.

"Well, what can I say? I ain't a retard." She returned the gesture by mockingly shrugging.

"Your actions would suggest otherwise."

Six frowned. "Did you only call me up here to drill my head? Because if so, I have a set of armor I'd go back to fixing." She waved him off, turning around and taking a few steps.

"Then perhaps I'll have your inter-dimensional friend do it. She appears to be more prone to do as she's told."

Six stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"Ruby was it? I must say, having proof that Multiverse Theory is in fact reality, is most interesting. Much more so when the people of Miss Rose's world appear to have superhuman abilities."

"You stay away from her." Six quietly growled. "I'll…I'll find a way in. Just don't get her involved in this."

"I think we're a little past that point, aren't we? But I'm a man of my word, the benefits I bestow upon you will affect her as well. As long as you do your job, you won't have to worry about anything. Understood Captain?"

"Yes." Six clenched her fists.

"Good. Now go get yourself fixed and come up with a strategy to sneak inside Fortification Hill. Your future depends on it."

Without uttering another word, Six made her way back up the stairs and inside the elevator. She stood motionless as the doors slid to a close and the elevator moved down. As the ashes from her almost depleted cigarette fell on the floor, she punched the wall of the cabin in a fit of anger, leaving it with a dent.

She caught her breath and ran a hand through her hair. "Things just got a lot more complicated." She mumbled to herself.

The doors of the elevator opened, taking her back to her suite. The sounds of laughter and a certain high-pitched voice caught her attention coming from the kitchen. Sure enough, most of her companions sat around the table as Ruby told them some story. If Six had to guess, it had to do with the large open pouch filled with caps right in front of the teen.

As soon as Ruby noticed she was there, her expression lit up into an even bigger smile -something didn't know it was possible- and ushered her to the table to listen to her story.

Six couldn't help but smile.

Things did just get a lot more complicated. But, perhaps…it was worth it.

...Helldivers is really fun. :)

That totally wasn't the reason why it took me a lot longer to finish this.

But yeah, I struggled a lot with this. Mainly me doubting my own writing and ending up rewriting a lot. Not much it can be done there other than just writing more.

I really wanted to get Ruby's first solo adventure right. Even if Beyond the Beef might not be the best quest for it, I wanted to insert as much of Ruby's personality (and my own touch) into it as much as I could.

Like always shoutout to my beta readers who I'm definitely feeding. Buh-bye :D

Please, I'm begging you. He's holding me at knife-point now - Locus