It was so blisteringly hot on the weekend and is slated to get worse this week. Luckily, I have an air-conditioned office on Monday – Friday, so I can write here without being torn to pieces and left a puddle of melted flesh and sweat.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 14

Blake wouldn't say she was happy for Torchwick, the next job and their current work, but it did provide a convenient excuse for her to put off calling her parents for just a little longer. She'd tentatively agreed to do it after her and Jaune's heart-to-heart, and it wasn't like she was changing her mind or anything. There was work to do – a Schnee auction to foil. It was completely understandable why something like her family issues would have to take a backseat to all that. Totally understandable.

That wasn't to say she was really all that busy at all right now. It was morning and Jaune was writing up a report on the Wheat Valley – the news had briefly covered it, but only as an afterthought. No one cared that a farming family had poisoned some fields when there was celebrity gossip and the Vytal Festival set for a few months away. Honestly, the news had focused more on the creepy aspect of the Rigsby family keeping their clearly dead mother for however long. It was the most attention-grabbing part of the headlines for the average person.

And just like that, the masquerade was maintained. Blake didn't know if she was pleased or annoyed at how easy it was. She'd fallen for this same nonsense as well and it was frustrating to think how many news reports she'd overlooked as dull when they might have been about eldritch abominations or near-magical artifacts. Blake turned the page in her newspaper, sighed and set it down. Looking for their next job felt pointless when they all knew what it would be. Jaune and Ruby were too distracted to care, however.

"The Brain Slug!"

"It had nothing to do with brains." Jaune said. "Wheat Harvester."

"Laaame." Ruby dragged the word out. "That sounds like a farm machine. Corn Zombies."

"Absolutely not. Zombies is a word that sets people off. We use that and if it ever appears again, no one will be able to figure it out. They'll expect shambling undead."

"Which there were."

"Yes, but they were more meat puppets." Jaune tapped his chin. "Wheat Puppets."

"No! No puns. I get enough of them at home. Nightmare Farm."

"The farm wasn't the anomaly."

"Neither was the wheat but you keep wanting to use it." Ruby pointed out.

"Cropworm?" Blake offered.

"Blake, no!" Ruby almost cried. "That's so boring!"

She rolled her eyes and gave up on it. Ruby was fast wearing out her free pass for having saved their lives. Well, that was a little unfair but it was hard to feel bad for it when she was in a bad mood. It wasn't so much the idea of posing as Torchwick's fake girlfriend that bothered her, more the idea of going alone with him to a Schnee auction and being surrounded by all sorts of untrustworthy people with naught but her wits and her aura to rely on.

"A Hive of Worms." Jaune said. "It sounds just a little weird because worms don't normally live in hives, and instantly tells you what the problem is. It's worms and they're a hive mind."

"Can it be a Hive of Undead Worms?" Ruby asked.

"No."

"Awww…"

Jaune went to writing up the report while Ruby slid over to rub her hands over the Guardian Weaver's face. Its circular mouth rotated happily, creating a horrific sound like tumbling and grinding human molars in a cement mixer. That was what it looked like as well, all those teeth spinning around and around as its many faintly glowing eyes fixed on the child. Ruby crooned and hugged its face to her chest, giggling when its long, evil, spindly legs rubbed against her sides.

"Ugh." Blake shuddered not for the first or last time. "S-So, any news of what the Schnee anomaly might be?"

"None yet." Jaune spoke without stopping his work. "It seems they're keeping it under wraps until the last second. They must want it to be a surprise."

"You'd think they'd want to offer a hint to attract more bidders and money." Blake said. "There'll be a lot of people who won't show up because they don't think it's worth their time."

"We're not sure it's about money anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The Schnee family are already fabulously rich and they could probably make as much, if not more, just selling the anomalies for us to contain or destroy. We hate them, but we'd buy anomalies off them if it meant keeping people safe."

That made some sense. Kind of like amnesty days for weapons and drugs from the police, except it'd be more like buying drugs so there were less to go around. That probably wouldn't worry when the crooks could create more, but you couldn't generate anomalies.

"If it's not for the money then what is it for? Spite?"

"Maybe." He paused, sighed, then began typing again. "Or it might be for the spectacle. There's that old saying about fabulously rich people craving more and more extreme hobbies."

Desensitisation. Blake had heard it mostly in relation to pornography of all things. It was the idea that you could experience something so many times that your brain got used to it, then you needed more and more to set off the happy chemicals. That could lead to a spiralling excess until people moved to forbidden and illegal topics just to scratch that itch. It didn't normally happen for everyday things, but maybe that was because most people had to work, balance their time and didn't have the money to pursue any and every curiosity.

Someone who was rich beyond the need to ever work a day in their life might become bored quickly by all the free time, and traditional hobbies would lose their interest sooner or later. There might also have been a bit of family pride mixed into it, but what Jaune was suggesting painted a picture of the Schnee family – or the mother and daughters, anyway – selling anomalies to people not just for profit but for fun.

"Isn't that a little too cynical?" she asked. "Are you sure you're not just hating on them too much?"

"I might be," he admitted. "But some of the things they do don't add up. The Blank Slate for instance. Are you really telling me the richest person who could afford to buy it was a student…?"

Surprise, shock and then a contemplative frown. It wasn't impossible that a student had come from a wealthy family or had big money to throw around, but Jaune had a point. She doubted the Schnee family had warned them of the consequences of using it or they wouldn't have gone as far as they did, so if the buyers had no idea of the downsides, why hadn't it been snatched up by some wealthy crime lords? They'd sell their own arm to have something that made you completely undetectable. Instead, it went to a pervert panty thief.

That just didn't make sense. It wasn't even a "cause the most chaos" kind of situation, because while it definitely had the potential to escalate to sexual assault or just murder, the Schnee could have given it to a serial killer straight out and let them loose on Vale.

"Do you think it was a distraction?" she asked. "Maybe a trap for you?"

"They'd have to be idiots to think any ARC Corp member would touch it, and certainly not long enough for it to erase their identity. A new recruit like you, maybe, but it wouldn't hurt any family member. And a distraction for what? They wouldn't have needed the Rusted Queen if they had that."

"What, then?"

"I think he was selected. Offered it as a boon. Maybe he paid as well – he must have been a buyer – but it might have been a private purchase rather than an auction. I don't know if there's a way to reach out to the SDC for anomalies, but maybe he found out about them. Maybe the Blank Slate was as much a way of them dealing with a leak as making a quick profit."

"Maybe." It was entirely possible the SDC also didn't like their nature being spread around, though that didn't track with the auctions. Perhaps the victim had been so foolish as to threaten to expose them however, and so they sent him an anomaly that would eventually destroy the evidence. Or maybe they just wanted to strike at Beacon for some reason. There really was no knowing. "I guess we can ask them when we capture Winter."

"That's the spirit." Jaune finished his report and stood. "Now, let's go get you a dress. Ruby, can you look after the office while we're gone?"

From the other couch, Ruby looked up from stroking Timothy's head, the hideous monsters hunched up beside her on its back with its head on her lap and its eight legs clicking horribly in the air above him. "Sure thing!" she said with a cute smile. "Have fun!"

That girl was an anomaly. Blake was sure of it.

/-/

It was a red dress.

"Why is it a red dress?" Blake snarked. "I was going to wear purple or black."

"It's red because you want people to focus on the dress and not you." Jaune said all too reasonably. "We don't think the Schnee know you're working for ARC Corp but we can't ignore the possibility. You're lucky I don't have you bleach your hair blonde."

"I would stab you if you tried."

Blonde was fine, it wasn't bad or anything, but Blake knew she had a certain image and personality, and the thought of herself with blonde hair – dyed ears, no less – was so out of the usual that she hissed like an angry cat. Never. Black or brown, and the latter only at a push.

"You'll need to do something with your hair."

"I can tie it up."

"That'll do. Not much we can do about your ears but hopefully they'll be too focused on the dress."

"And my tits. How plunging is this neckline?"

"Plunging enough to be distracting."

"Jaune…"

"You hate me. I know. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I'd go in myself if I didn't think for a second I'd be jumped by Schnee goons. We can't send Ruby because of the risks. Not to mention she's fifteen and looks it. Torchwick might draw a bit too much attention if he walks in there with a child on his arm."

Blake snorted at the thought. Even the other criminals would probably give him a hard time for that and might even beat him up and hand him over to the police. At seventeen, she was of age, and she could easily pass for older if she applied a little make-up and dressed maturely. Ugh. The more she thought of it, the more she accepted he was right. There really was no one else who could do this and they sure as hell couldn't trust Roman going in alone or with someone he knew.

"What will you be doing while I'm in there?"

"I'll be nearby looking through a camera you'll be wearing. We'll figure out where later. You'll have me on call if you need me."

"Okay. So, what's our goal in all this?"

"I'd love to say it's busting Winter Schnee and having her locked away in a deep hole but that's unrealistic. Our goal is just going to be to get a hold of that anomaly. And we'll purchase it if needs be."

Blake was surprised. "We'll be bidding?"

"You expected a fight?"

"I expected… well, yeah. I did."

Jaune looked more amused than disappointed. "Honestly, if this were the Fist or Blades Office then you'd get one for sure. I'm… well…" He spread his arms out so she could see him. "You know I'm not best suited for fighting without aura, and you are, but you're kind of an exception given your past. We're the kind of office that does things peacefully where we can."

Fair enough. She hadn't liked the idea of trusting Roman to cover her back in a fight anyway, and she was sure he'd be happier with this as well. Go in, bid, get out and the job was done. Put like that, it really did make sense she blend in. They had to be seen as perfectly legitimate customers.

"How much money will I have?"

"Three million."

Blake gaped. "Three million!?"

"I know. I know." Jaune sighed. "It's all I could get out in a hurry. Even if we have more in the bank, it's hard to just walk in and withdraw twenty. They only have so much on hand, not to mention the security. They near freaked out when I went and took three out."

Trust Jaunt to get the wrong end of things. She'd never seen three million lien in one place, let alone been entrusted with it, and now she was being told to splurge it away like spare change. Worse, they'd be handing it to the Schnee family. She hated them even before finding out about what they were doing here.

Jaune paid for the dress and the cashier shot Blake an envious glare that she promptly blanked. She was probably more attracted to the fact Jaune would throw so much at an expensive dress and heels than his looks. Given the suits they were both wearing, she wondered what people thought of them. They looked twenty-one to twenty-four dressed like this, and obviously had a lot of money, so maybe people thought they were young lawyers or entrepreneurs. It wasn't the first time people looked at them askance, either for their age or their easily shown-off wealth. Ironically, fewer and fewer people were glaring at her ears. They almost didn't seem to notice them over their more casual animosity and jealousy for money.

Money makes the world go round, she thought. The sentiment had never been truer than in a busy capital city like this. Kuo Kuana was much less commercial by comparison. There were shops of course, and money made things easier, but you didn't face so many advertisements, expensive brands of need to sign your first-born child away to afford a mortgage. The people living in Vale really struggled to get by, and those that couldn't were practically forced out the city to live in remote villages at constant risk of Grimm attack.

"So," Jaune said as they walked out the mall with him carrying the bags. If she had to wear it, she sure as hell wasn't carrying it. "What did your parents say?"

"What?"

"Your mom and dad. Did they take you getting in touch well or was it bad…?"

"Uhhh…"

Jaune turned his head to look at her while he kept walking. "You did call them, right?" Her cringe said it all. "I thought you decided you were going to go for it."

"I am!" she insisted. "Just… I've not had the chance. We got back from Wheat Valley and ran straight into Roman, and now it's this auction thing. There hasn't been a good chance to reach out, you know? I'll call them after this is all over."

There. Nice and easy. All she needed was for Jaune to take it-

"Why not call them now?"

Her breath caught. "W-We're busy."

It was a weak excuse, especially to her boss of all people. He ought to know better than she.

"No, we're not. The auction isn't until tomorrow evening and Roman isn't meeting us until then." He turned and began walking left, and Blake whined unhappily after him. "Let's go now and you can call them."

"I-Is now really the time?" she stammered. "It's so out the way."

"There's a comms tower right on the path back to the office."

"But we could be focusing on work."

"You said yourself how this is stressing you out. Best to get it over with before it interferes with work."

"It's my family!" she said hotly. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Don't I get a say in who I hire for my family business? No?" He grinned at her. "Then you don't either. Chin up. It probably won't be as bad as you think, and if it is… well, nothing lost. Proper parents would love you no matter what you do."

"Would yours is you abandoned ARC Corp and went rogue?"

"Ha." Jaune laughed. "I'd be hunted down within weeks and locked away for the rest of my life. If I didn't choose to die fighting."

"That's… disturbing…"

"We're not talking about my fucked-up family. Hopefully, yours will be less insane."

"They founded the White Fang."

"I said hopefully…"

The official Vale CCT was located at Beacon. This sounded like a bad idea given its distance from the city but it made sense because Vale had a lot of tall buildings and the walls that might impact signal, whereas Beacon sat in the middle of a forest with the tower high above the trees. Any scroll within range could connect to the network and call anyone else within range, but international calls weren't possible. That was why it was called cross-continental. If you wanted to call someone on another continent, you needed the call to bounce from your CCT along the track and each of the others to the destination.

For that you needed to access a CCT Comms Centre, which were smaller towers in themselves dotted around population centres. These would send your message encoded to your CCT, which would then send them on direct channels to the others and finally to the recipient's device. It was one of those towers that Jaune took them to.

They were clean, well-maintained and staffed things given the importance of them, and were funded by the governments in most cases. Public business rather than privatised. There were three clerks behind a central desk who would give out booths to visitors for a minor fee.

"We'd like a private conference room." Jaune said.

Or you could pointlessly spend money to have a whole room to yourself. Blake glared at the back of his head but the clerks didn't look surprised at all. They were clearly businesspeople who wanted to make an important call, or so they were dressed. "Of course, sir. We have conference room six available for you. That will be twelve thousand lien per hour. A minimum one hour rental."

"One hour is more than fine." Jaune slid his card over and paid, then accepted the key to the room and a few quick directions. He then walked away, leaving her to follow after him.

"Is a room really necessary?"

"I mean, do you want just about anyone overhearing you?"

"I don't even want to do this at all!"

"If not now then when?" he challenged, and she knew there was no answer. She would have dragged this out forever if she could. "You'll thank me later. Or this goes wrong and you'll curse my guts. It'll be sorted either way."

Asshole. Son of a bitch. Pain in her ass.

All too soon was she pushed into a room with a long table and a screen on the back wall. There were four chairs and no windows, the room being empty and plain and presumably sound-proofed given the often-sensitive business information. There was a device on the table that would allow her to slot her scroll into it, or even to call remotely. The former was much easier and enabled you to save images or video to your scroll if you wanted to, so with a little prodding and more than a little hesitation on her side she slotted the device in.

"Are you seriously going to sit and watch me?" she snapped.

"If I leave, will you actually make the call or just wait in here for a few minutes before leaving?"

Blake wanted to argue. He was right, though. "Rargh," she snarled and started pushing buttons. "Let's just get this over with. I'm blaming you when this goes wrong! I'm going to punch you in the face if it does."

The device began to buzz as the call started. All of her anger, all of her fury, went flying away like smoke in the wind, leaving her cold and rooted to the spot. Don't pick up, she begged. Don't pick up. Be out shopping. Be busy. Just don't pick-

There was a click.

"Hello…?"

Mom. Kali. Her voice was so immediately familiar even with the delay that Blake could imagine her face. It stole the breath from her, the words, and her ears pulled flat against her hair, drooping down so much they were hidden in a mane of black.

"Hello…?" Kali asked again. "Is anyone there…?"

Jaune was shooting her meaningful looks. He reached over to poke her arm, then grip and shake her shoulder and finally to give her a shove toward the device. Blake wobbled on the spot but did not move, nor did she speak.

"Mm. I guess it's a miscall…"

There was a quiet groan from jaune as he pushed past her, planted his hands on the table and leaned toward the device. "Excuse me, ma'am," he said. "My name is Jaune Arc and I work with your daughter, Blake Belladonna. Is this her mother I am speaking to?"

"Oh. Oh yes, I – wait, did you say Blake?"

"Yes, ma'am. Your daughter is here and wanted to-"

"Blake is there?" Kali sounded hysterical now. Hysterical with worry. "Blake! Blake, are you there-?"

"I…" Blake's voice came out a croak. "I-I'm here, mom…"

"Oh Blake!" The crack was echoed in her mother's voice. Worse, she was sure she heard tears and a desperate sniffle. "Oh Blake!" she repeated, strained with emotion. "Ghira!" she screamed. "Ghira, it's Blake! Blake is calling!"

Her mother sounded so elated and tearful and relived that Blake wished a hole would open up under her. Trash – that was what she'd been. The worst trash imaginable to hold off this long and make them worry. Rather than relief, her ears pressed even flatter to her head and she let out a keening whine.

Ghira arrived soon after. "Blake!" he gasped in a voice raw with emotion. "Is that you? Are you well? Are you safe?"

"I-I'm here, dad. And I'm fine. I'm… I'm sorry I didn't call sooner…"

"Why on Remnant didn't you!?"

Blake's words clogged in her throat and she thought she might cry.

"That would be my fault, sir." Jaune interrupted suddenly and leaned in close to speak over her. "My name is Jaune Arc. I'm Blake's employer here in Vale, and I have to apologise to you. Things have been busy lately and it's been all hands on deck. I only found out today that I'd been running her so hard she hadn't had the time to reach out to you as she wanted to, and I arranged this as a way to make it up to her."

He was lying for her-? Why? Blake shot him a confused and relieved look that he ignored. Whatever his reasons, she wasn't about to argue. It was a complete lie and unfair to her parents but she ran with it all the same. "He's right." she whispered. "I'm sorry, I've just been so exhausted. A-And finding a new job and all has been hectic."

"A job." Ghira sounded hopeful. "Does that mean your time with… ah… the old crowd is done with?"

"I've left Adam and the others. Yes. I'm in Vale," she said. "I wanted to start afresh away from them and… and put my life back in order. Things happened that I didn't agree with." She paused, then sighed. "You were right. You were both right."

"You couldn't have known, sweetie." Kali said.

Blake snorted, amused that she wasn't the only one lying from between her teeth. They'd told her Adam was bad news, told her Sienna would ruin things, and they'd been right. If she listened to them from the start then none of this would have happened, so yes, she could have known but chose not to listen. Still, they didn't want to say "we told you so" any more than she wanted to admit she'd been too much of a coward to call them.

"What is it you do now?" Ghira asked. "Do you need money sending over? I've heard Vale is expensive."

"I have an apartment, dad. It's fine. I work…" Blake glanced at Jaune. "I work for a government agency,"

"Government work?" He sounded surprised. Given she'd been a terrorist before this, she couldn't blame him. "What kind of government work?"

Jaune took the chance to answer so she couldn't leak anything. "We're an agency that helps communities and groups recover from natural disasters and Grimm attacks. We're sent to areas where people are troubled or in danger, and we do our best to secure their way of life through funding or rebuilding efforts."

It wasn't the worst excuse. Better than telling her parents they were ghost hunters.

"And my daughter works for you?"

Blake's eyes widened. Dad, no. No, no, no. Don't embarrass her now.

"That's right, sir. Blake is a valued member of our team and my trusted assistant."

Wait, no – don't Jaune embarrass her either. And trusted and valuable-? Since when? Blake felt heat creep up her neck. He might have just been putting a show on for her parents, but what if he wasn't? They'd done good work together now.

"And how much does being your assistant pay?"

"Dad!" Blake interjected. "I'm paid fairly. There's none of… none of that going on."

"I just want to be sure, darling," Ghira said. "Living in the city is expensive and I've heard all too many stories of how wages for faunus are lower than their human counterparts. I'm sure your employer – Mr Arc, was it? – pays you fairly."

"I like to think I do, sir." Jaune said.

"Then what is your salary, Blake?"

"It's…" What was her salary? How much was she being paid? It wasn't like she'd asked in advance seeing how she forced her way into the job, and even though Jaune had paid her a month in advance, she hadn't taken the time to work it out for the year or even spend much of it. "Off the top of my head, I'm not sure-"

"Blake is paid one hundred and eighty thousand lien a year." Jaune said.

Oh.

Oh wow. That was… That was kind of a lot, wasn't it? Vale's average was sixty, the minimum twenty-five, and she was casually being paid three times the average for a job she'd gained with no credentials, no experience and no long career path.

Judging by the silence of her parents, they were shocked as well.

Jaune, naturally, took that wrong.

"I understand that's on the low end," he said nervously, "But Blake is entry-level and it's a probationary salary. It'll be upped to two hundred thousand after six months assuming no problems, and there is room for advancement within the company, not to mention annual rises in line with inflation. The package includes full medical coverage and a budget for clothing, stationary and transport."

"I-I see…" Ghira sounded strangled but was clearly trying to stay calm and not ruin it for her. "That's a good package. I'm pleased you see our daughter's value to the company. Aren't you, Kali?"

"W-What? Oh yes – that's wonderful, dear."

Blake couldn't quite hide her wry smile.

"How many holiday days does she get?" Kali asked suddenly.

The smile died.

"Two weeks paid holiday plus sick days." Jaune said.

"Then you can use some of those days to come visit us!" Kali said enthusiastically. Or she insisted. Blake was under no misconceptions there. "After all it's been years since we've seen you and we've been rightly worried all this time!"

"I know that." she said, "but this is a new job and it'll look terrible if I take time off so soon-"

"I don't mind." Jaune said.

The glare she shot him included eyebrows raised all the way up, an intimidating tilt and wide, panicky eyes. Jaune was someone used to wrestling with monsters on a weekly basis, however, and who slept with the world's most terrifying spider. Her fury didn't so much as phase him.

"See, Blake!" Kali crooned. "Oh, I can't wait to see you. I bet you've grown so much."

"Hngh." Ghira agreed. "Let us know when you are coming. It will be good to have you back even for a short while."

"And keep in touch this time!" Kali said. "I want to hear from you once a week minimum."

"Yes mom." Blake groaned. "Yes dad. And I'm sorry."

"We love you, sweetie."

Blake's eyes watered. "I… I love you both too. I have to go now," she lied. "We're on the clock."

Jaune looked at her askance. "I booked the room for an hou-ack!" he dropped when she kicked his left foot hard enough to send it skidding into his right and trip himself. He fell to the floor in a tangled heap.

"That's my cue to go," she told them. "I love you both and I'll call soon. I promise."

"And book a holiday here! I'm serious about that, Blake!"

"Yes mom. Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"Love you!" they said in unison.

Blake slammed her finger down on the end call button, breathing heavily and harshly. That… That had gone about as well as she could have hoped. Better even. That didn't mean it hadn't been an exhausting experience. She wasn't used to being so emotional, let alone having to express and feel it to such a degree. She ran her hand over her face and found it came away wet with sweat and a few shed tears.

Jaune groaned from the floor.

"You're such an asshole!" Blake accused, turning and stomping on his prone body. "Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!"

"B-But I helped!"

"A helpful asshole is still an asshole!" Blake stomped on him again before turning and muttering in the quietest voice she could muster. "But thank you…"

"I heard that!"

Her brow twitched.

Her foot swung back.

"Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!" Three more stomps and an indignant snarl that Jaune ruined by laughing and pushing himself up. She couldn't believe the bastard. Couldn't he just take his victory in silence? Asshole. "Now look!" she snapped. "I have to go home and see them. What will I say? How can I look them in the face?"

"What were you planning to do? Never see them again in person?"

"I planned to see them eventually!" she said hotly. "Just… not yet. After I figured things out."

Which judging by how long she'd taken here, would probably mean she'd become a hermit living in the mountains never seeing the light of another person's eyes for the rest of her life. Blake scowled unhappily and turned away, crossing her arms.

"It'll be fine," he said. "And you can take a week off when there's a quiet period. I can handle things on my own for a week."

"Like you did before I joined?"

"Okay, low blow. It's not like you're going to work every day of the year for the next forty years though, is it? You're bound to want time off sooner or later. Maybe to go on holiday, hang out with friends of get married someday. I know we're all duty, duty, duty here but we're still registered employers. You have statutory time off."

"Let's talk about it after the Schnee business." Blake said. It was more delaying from her but she felt she'd made more than enough progress today to be allowed it. "Today has been too emotional already. I've filled up my quota."

"Fair enough. Let's go work out how we'll hide a camera and microphone on you."

/-/

They tried to get a camera working for about an hour before giving up. Blake tried hiding it in her dress, under her armpit, in her hair – everything. Ruby even suggested putting it in her cleavage for all the good that did. In the end and after much trying, they decided it would have to be microphone and earpiece only. Those were easier to hide by tying her hair up and then pulling enough strands down to bounce on the left and right of her head and conceal them. The earpiece, she could even clip onto her left faunus ear, low down enough to be hidden in her hair and leave her human ears bare and clear.

Ruby proved surprisingly adept at working with hair – something she'd been forced to help her sister with apparently. She expertly wielded some curling irons to turn Blake's straight black hair into bouncy ringlets that fell on her left and right while the rest was tied up and held in place with two plastic sticks that looked like needles. The result left the back of her neck bare which she'd have to get used to, and the way her hair bounced against her cheeks was unfamiliar as well. It was necessary to conceal the tiny microphone they'd woven into one of the locks, however. Black on black had its advantages and was just yet another reason not to dye her hair blonde.

When Ruby was done, she let Blake look at herself in the mirror, and she had to admit it was a strange thing. She looked so posh and proper, so unlike the simplistic look she'd always gone for. They hadn't applied makeup yet and wouldn't until tomorrow evening, but she could imagine how it would make her look a little older.

"You're so pretty!" Ruby said.

"Thank you." Blake brushed at the curly ringlets falling against her cheeks, trying to get used to them. The hidden microphone made one of them just a little heavier and caused it to keep bouncing against her jaw. "Can you hear me?" she asked, looking over to Jaune at the desk. He was wearing a set of headphones. "Testing. Testing."

He held his thumb up. There was a tiny sound in her ear. "Can you hear this?"

"Barely. It might get loud in there."

"I'll turn it up," he said in an already clearer voice. "We'll need some kind of code word for you to use if you need me to be louder on the day. Maybe something like expensive and cheap. If you want me to be louder then say something to Roman about things being expensive. Cheap for the opposite."i

Blake nodded. "Roger that."

"What about me?" Ruby asked. "What do I do?"

Jaune set the headphones and microphone down and walked over. "You do nothing."

"What!?" she squawked predictably. "But I'm ARC Corp too – and I was useful in the valley! I saved your lives!"

"You're also part-time work experience and your dad picks you up at five." Jaune said. "This auction is later than that."

"Grk…" Ruby cringed at being defeated by simple logic. "I-I can tell dad I want to stay out-"

"He'll know something is up. It's fine, Ruby. You won't miss anything. Blake is just going in, she'll bid with Roman and they'll come out with the anomaly. You can help the day after with testing it out and figuring what it does. I doubt the SDC will tell everyone the full story, and they definitely won't mention any downsides that'd stop someone buying it."

"That's all?"

"That's all," he confirmed. "Really, it's going to be a boring job."

Blake let her face fall into her hands. "Why would you say that? Why would you jinx it so hard?"

"Jinxing is not an anomaly, Blake. We've checked. There's no such thing as jinxing a job."

Ruby rocked back on her heels and said, "Hundred lien says otherwise."

Blake didn't take the bet.

I'll end this one here since the next chapter will be the auction and I didn't want to begin and end it in this chapter. Blake finally reaches out to her family, and we even foreshadow a little in the future of a trip to Kuo Kuana. How nice. I'm sure nothing will go wrong. Just like nothing will go wrong at the Schnee auction.

Next Chapter: 25th July

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