AUTHOR'S NOTES: The quickly delivered second chapter tonight! This is a talky one, setting up the Amoncio Glass story arc, finally getting Ruby Flight to put some pieces of the puzzle together, and Ruby getting some advice from...Raven?

Caesars' Palace

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of Canada (Provisional)

23 April 2002

"Like hell it is," Raven snarled back to Amoncio Glass.

Glass only smiled wider. "Oh, come on, Raven. I think you could be a little nicer to the man who set all this up for you." He motioned around the huge suite.

Raven's hand involuntarily went to the hilt of her sword—if she had been wearing it. "Come on yourself, Glass. You gave me the Emperor's Package because I saved your dumbass son."

"True, true…but I could've just shook your hand and told you never to return." Glass peered at her over his glasses. "Though that's not particularly conducive to long life and happiness. I think we all remember when the so-called Dark Lord of Fresno threatened you."

"What happened?" Ruby blurted.

"I flattened Fresno," Raven answered.

"Exactly." Glass waved them into the suite. "Look, at the very least we can sit down and have a conversation. There's no reason for all this threatening and nastiness." He moved over to the recliner and sat down, snapping his fingers at one of his men. "Dennis! Fix our heroines a drink. What would you like, eh?"

Raven reluctantly sat on the sofa, and was joined by Ruby Flight; Riana ended up on a chair one of the mafiosos helpfully brought in from the workout room. "Beers for them, whiskey for me. Neat," Raven said. None of Ruby Flight contradicted her: they were suddenly way over their heads, and knew it. Glass might be a fat caricature of a man, but he was also one of the most, if not the most, powerful men in Las Vegas. People died at Glass' whim, and they were in his territory. If someone made the wrong move, Ruby Flight would ignominiously end their days shot to death in a palatial living room.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Raven opened the conversation.

Glass put his hands behind his head. "What, doesn't anyone else have anything to say? Six lovely ladies, and only one speaks?"

"We don't know you," Yang said, though she kept her voice even and the contempt out of it.

"Of course, of course…" Glass leaned forward and accepted a martini from one of his men, who handed out drinks to the others. Raven waited until after Glass had drank from his, and sipped hers. Ruby Flight and Riana didn't touch their beers—for Yang, Blake and Weiss, they remembered all too well the last rich person who had offered them drinks. "As I said earlier, I'm Amoncio Glass. I run the local group of the Cosa Nostra—the Mafia." He grinned expansively. "No reason to beat about the bush as to what I am. Yes, I am a legitimate businessman…but you're not so naïve to think that this hotel and my other businesses are all that I do."

"We can guess," Raven said acidly. "Drugs, prostitution, human and Faunus trafficking, money laundering, contract murder, extortion—did I miss anything?"

Glass only chuckled. "That about covers it, except for one thing: I don't involve my organization in human or Faunus trafficking. Not only is it an ugly practice, it leaves you open to certain groups wanting to kill you." He looked at Blake when he said it. "Drugs? Of course. People use drugs; it's no different than this." He raised his martini. "Might as well let someone sensible control it. Prostitution? Humanity's oldest profession. Etcetera, etcetera." He waved it aside. "But we're not here to trade backgrounds—especially as I know all of yours pretty well." He pointed to each in turn. "Ruby Rose, heroine of Poland—that court-martial was a farce. Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee fortune who doesn't want it. Blake Belladonna, former White Fang terrorist turned genuine freedom fighter. Yang Xiao Long, who was here last year at the Just-Rite—another one of my holdings—and tore the Branwen Tribe apart. Surprised Mommy dearest forgave you for that one." He pointed at Riana with a laugh. "You, Riana Uragano, I don't know, but you smell like government. My guess is you're DEA or FBI. Well, you'll find my books nice and legal, young miss."

"Of course," Riana said.

"And Raven—well, she hardly needs an introduction—"

"You're right; she doesn't." Raven tossed back the whiskey. "Let's cut the mutual appreciation society horseshit, Glass. You want something from us, not just me."

Glass sighed. "That's what is wrong with people today—no time for witty repartee." He shrugged, finished his martini, and set down the glass. "All right. How would all of you like to make $50,000—each? And you, Raven-$75,000 for you."

Ruby's eyes widened; that was nearly a year's pay for a first lieutenant in the USAF. Yang let out her breath in a long whoosh; Blake blinked. Only Weiss looked unimpressed. Even Raven looked mildly interested. "Go on," she said.

"All right. Roughly 500 miles northwest of here is Reno, Nevada—or it used to be. Between the refugee traffic and fallout from the California nuke strikes, and the GRIMM, it was abandoned in 1970. Nobody lives there now but squatters and scavengers. Most of it is ruins: it's overgrown and the old hotels and such are just burned out shells. Pretty boring, really…" Glass grinned under his mustache. "Aside from the millions of dollars worth of gold there."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Glass. I've heard those rumors too, just like that there's supposedly a couple of million worth of gold in the old LA reserve banks and that Alcatraz has a secret research facility underneath it—I think it's called Area X or something. It's all bullshit. Reno was picked clean decades ago."

His grin did not fade. "Oh? You know this for certain?"

"I'd say it's a pretty educated guess."

"It would also be a wrong pretty educated guess," Glass told her. "In fact it's a—"

He was interrupted by Yang, who suddenly laughed and exclaimed, "Son of a bitch!" All eyes went to her. "Er…I just remembered something," she said lamely. "Um…about my poor old F-23, still sitting in the bottom of that lake in Poland." Yang grabbed her beer and drank half to cover herself. "Sorry, Mr. Glass."

He stared at her strangely, then shrugged. "In any case, Raven, we just had a group of our explorers get back from Reno. It's a hard run up the old US Highway 95—hundreds of miles of barren desert, almost no water, very few people, with hard radiation pockets on both sides. The locals call it Damnation Alley, but it's Salvation Alley for us, because my team found gold. Too much for them to haul away in a few trucks, but nothing that two transports couldn't hold. The plan was to fly out there, land at the old Reno airport, use a few trucks to haul out the gold under escort, load up the gold and abandon the trucks, then fly back here. Even if we don't get all of it, we'd get more than half, and we can always go back to get the rest."

"Sounds good," Weiss said. "So what kept you from doing it? The GRIMM?"

"Not just the GRIMM," Glass told them. "These damn stealth GRIMM. Regular Beowolves and the occasional Beringal or Ursa? We can handle that. GRIMM we can't even detect until they're all over us? That's suicide. We'd never make it."

"We call them Kobolds," Riana put in. Her cellphone suddenly buzzed. "Will you excuse me for a moment? I need to take this." Glass hesitated, so she added. "You were right about me, Mr. Glass—I'm government. Not a pilot. I'm afraid I'm no help to you…yet."

"Very well." He made a gesture of dismissal, and Riana went into the workout room, pulling out her cellphone. "These bureaucrats, going to go tattletale to Big Daddy Gubmint. She's probably getting permission to form a committee to work out a synthesis to study the idea of flying to Reno," Glass scoffed. "Luckily, by the time the US government decides to go after the gold itself, it'll be long gone."

"But wait a minute," Blake said. "We heard a rumor you have your own air wing, Mr. Glass."

Raven caught the quick look from Blake to play her part. "What, his museum?" She snorted. "Yeah, taking up an old Corsair or a damn armed T-33 against a Beowulf would get your ass killed, let alone a Kobold. Especially with your shit pilots, Glass."

Glass' grin was gone. "Miss Branwen, I'd ask that you keep a civil tongue in your mouth. You're not back in Los Angeles; you're on my turf." Then he put his hands up defensively. "But…you're partially right. It's true; my pilots are not the caliber of the Air Force, perhaps, or of you, Branwen. They are enthusiastic, but not experienced. They have been training to take on the lesser GRIMM, but not newer threats." He snapped his fingers for another drink. "As for my 'museum,' I've recently upgraded a bit, my dear Raven. F-16s. Brand new, direct from Lockheed Martin…well, through a few shell companies and so on, of course. The US government would hardly sell brand new Fighting Falcons to the Mafia, would they?"

"What block are they?" Ruby asked.

"Beg pardon?"

"What type of F-16Cs?"

Glass gave her a look like Ruby had just asked what color the President's underwear was. "I don't know, Miss Rose, but they're top of the line F-16Cs." The way he spoke the aircraft's designation clearly showed that he had heard his fighters referred to that; he had already given away that he was a layman by calling them Fighting Falcons rather than Falcons or Vipers. "Good enough against normal GRIMM, as I said, but not the new ones."

"I get it," Weiss said. "You want to hire us. We escort your transports up to Reno, fend off any and all GRIMM attacks, then orbit over Reno while your people recover the gold, then fly back to Las Vegas."

"That's it, exactly," Glass smiled.

"We wouldn't have the fuel," Ruby said. "I mean, Yang and Blake might, and Raven probably, but not me and Weiss. We'd need to be refueled. And we can't land at Reno—the runways are probably all torn up. You could land a C-130 there no problem, but not a fighter."

Glass paused; he hadn't thought of that. "Could you arrange an aerial tanker?"

"Not unless you want to pay them too," Ruby told him.

"And that's another thing," Blake added. "I mean, let's say we do this. The Navy's going to wonder where the hell I got fifty thousand in my account all of a sudden. We're already under suspicion because of the court-martial."

Glass spread his hands. "That's the easy part, Miss Belladonna. We can work out the pay. You could get it in increments so our 'friends' in the IRS wouldn't know, or in cash so you can stick it under the mattress." He laughed at his own joke. "Or a Swiss bank account. I should think a former White Fang would know that one." Blake's ears went back; the White Fang had used Swiss bank accounts to store their funds.

"Actually," Raven said, "I can bring in a tanker from my own people. Say, $20,000 for that. We'd also need to be compensated for fuel and ammunition."

"That's easily covered," Glass said smoothly.

"But with this new GRIMM…" Raven let out a long sigh. "I don't think the girls there could possibly do this job for less than $75,000 each. Me, you don't have to pay me…just give me a cut of the gold."

Glass nodded. "That can be arranged, all of it."

The door to the workout room opened, and Riana reentered the room. "I just got off the phone with my superiors, Mr. Glass," she informed him. "They are more than happy to stay out of your way…if you scratch our back a little." His pudgy face was instantly suspicious. "Oh, it's fine," Riana reassured him. "Throw us some information about your rivals, and they'll drop all claims to the gold."

"Who do you work for?" Glass asked instead.

Riana shrugged. "A certain government organization that would prefer that the flow of drugs into Las Vegas stay controlled by certain people—certain American people. I know you're Mafia, but I'm guessing you were born and raised here, not Sicily. We'd much rather work with you than the triads or the yakuza." Glass, to his credit, did not show any emotion on his face; Ruby did, unsure if Riana was spinning a story or telling the truth. She knew from what Arashikaze herself had said that the CIA had worked with plenty of unsavory types in recent memory, such as the Malachite Gang; the Mafia would be no different. The CIA woman then turned to the pilots. "My superiors say, take the job. They think it's worth it to cultivate some ties with Mr. Glass' organization and to find out what's left of Reno."

"That's an order?" Yang asked.

"That's an order," Riana confirmed. "And my superiors say, take the money." She smiled. "Or, as my grandmother used to say…lick up the honey, stranger, and ask no questions." Holy shit, Ruby thought, Riana is giving Glass a legit offer! Man, they can keep this spy stuff. No wonder Uncle Qrow used to drink.

"Then it's settled," Raven said. "Any objections, ladies?"

"Fuck it, Mom, let's do it," Yang grinned. Raven's eyes widened at the use of the word mom.

"Sure, I guess," Blake said guardedly.

"I'll do it if Ruby does," Weiss said, with a wink at her friend.

"Uh, yeah. I could use an extra seventy-five thou." Ruby tried to sound mercenary.

Glass laughed, got up, and put out a beefy hand, shaking hands with all of them in turn, even Riana. "Then it's settled, like Miss Branwen said. I'd prefer to leave tomorrow morning—the sooner the better. I'll leave the mission planning to you." He pointed to a sandy-haired man, who wore the inevitable suit and mirrored sunglasses. "Dennis will wait downstairs—just call the front desk and ask for him, then give him the details. I'd prefer if nothing was written down, but do what you must. My pilots will conform to your plans." He nodded to Riana. "I'll strongly consider your offer, Miss Uragano." He waved his men to follow him, and left the suite.

Raven held up a hand for silence. "Well, girls, I just got into the gold business," she announced loudly. "Let's celebrate over some sushi. My treat."

The sushi shop was named Matsuoka's, and it was about three blocks from Caesars' Palace. All of them had changed to casual wear, and kept their conversation light and meaningless until they left the hotel, knowing the room was almost certainly bugged. In regular clothes, out of their flight suits, the six women blended into the crowd; even Raven's red hankerchief in her hair and Weiss' white locks barely stood out. If the tourists who walked up and down the Strip were aware of that morning's GRIMM attack, they didn't seem to show it. Even in the spring sunshine, the Las Vegas Strip was a garish mass of neon. Just as Mikado had mentioned, all of them had to avoid being handed flyers with "escorts" of all genders, promising a good time for the right price—and flyers for work opportunities. Blake took two of the ones promising a six-week job outside the city, with good pay and working conditions. She was thinking of a plan, one for her and Yang to infiltrate the flights, but it would have to wait now.

Matsuoka's offered a wide variety of Japanese foods, and Blake had to consciously try not to drool at all the fish plates. They found a table away from the crowd, but not too far away. "We should be good here," Raven said. "Yeah, they could have parabolic mikes, but I doubt Glass is going to that much trouble. Besides, we're no longer in his territory."

"Yakuza?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah. This is Arisaka territory. They might recognize me, but I doubt any of them know you." Raven poured a cup of sake; her curry steamed in front of her. "Okay, let's talk."

Yang spoke first. "It's a fucking trap."

Raven laughed. "Oh, hell yes it is. When I upped the price for all of you girls to $75,000 and demanded a cut of the gold, Glass agreed way too quickly. If he had tried to negotiate, I'd say this might be legit, but no, he agreed. We're being set up."

Weiss speared at her rice with her chopsticks; much to Yang's chagrin, the former heiress was deft with them. "You don't think this offer's legitimate? I admit that Glass sounded convincing."

Raven paused. "It could be," she admitted, "and he just expected me to ask more than his opening bid. There's been rumors of lost gold in Reno for decades, and a lot of people have gotten killed looking for it. It could be legit that his bunch actually did find the gold vaults."

"Like the Federal Reserve bank in Los Angeles?" Weiss smiled.

Raven didn't smile. "Oh, that one is legitimate, Weiss. I knocked that over 15 years ago. We had to fight our way through about twenty scavenger gangs that were going to rape us, kill us and eat us—hopefully in that order—but we got that gold. It's been bankrolling me ever since. Don't know about the Alcatraz story, though." She looked at Yang. "Why did you scream like that?"

Yang put a copious amount of hot sauce on her chicken. "Because I just put together our missing piece, and I feel like a dumbass in not figuring it out earlier." She raised the bottle of Yebisu Super Dry. "A51. Area 51. It's out here in Nevada someplace. I remember reading about it. Supposedly it's where the government sticks all their alien shit."

She looked at Riana when she said it, to see if there would be a reaction. Riana only snickered. "Yang, if there were aliens around, believe me, Grandmother would not tell me about them."

"Maybe your grandma is an alien," Yang countered. "Ever think about that?" Riana only rolled her eyes.

"Girls…let's get back on track here," Ruby said. She wolfed down two bites of curry. It was hot, but Ruby's stomach was iron-plated anyway. "Okay. So Glass offers us a bunch of moolah to cover this gold heist—it sounds cool when you put it like that—but he's lying. He's setting us up. Why?"

Raven's eyebrows raised. "That's a good question, Ruby. I don't think Summer would've asked that."

"I'm not her," Ruby snapped, which brought a concerned glance from Yang.

"Right." Raven put aside her chopsticks. "Someone paid him."

"Salem?" Blake paused from demolishing her heaped pile of sushi and takoyaki.

"No…he's too small time for her. Unless Cinder Fall's waiting out there with a horde of Kobolds…" Raven's voice trailed off. "No…Cinder's operated in the Pacific Northwest before, but Salem's too smart to trust a piece of shit like Amoncio Glass. If this was Neo Politan, I'd totally say he was working with her, but not Salem."

"So if not Salem, who?" Blake asked.

"Beats me. Hell, he might be after me, and you're just a pleasant bonus."

"I still think it's legitimate," Weiss said. "I agree that he's too small time for Salem. But he's got to know that his air wing isn't tough enough to take us down—and certainly not you, Raven. I think he actually wants us to work for him."

"Yeah," Raven admitted, "that is the fly in the ointment. His weekend warriors won't stand a chance against us, and Glass knows it—new Vipers or not. And he knows that he betrays me, and I'll turn the Palace into a smoking fucking crater." She tapped her fingers against the table. "You're right, Yang; Area 51 is out here somewhere. It's where they tested the SR-71 and the U-2." She looked to Ruby for confirmation, who nodded. "The government would've abandoned it along with the rest of Nevada in the late 60s, but…I don't know where it is." Raven sighed. "If I had a way to talk to my people back in California, I might could find out. We captured a lot of old Skunk Works stuff after the war." She picked up her chopsticks and moved the rice around on her plate. "I don't think Oz ever used it. He would've told Strike Flight about it."

"We should be able to find it," Ruby pointed out. "If they used it to test SR-71s, it's got to have a long runway. Even if it's abandoned, we'd see it."

"Good thing we took the job." All of them looked at Blake, who was smiling like the Cheshire Cat—the storybook one, not Charles Tabey, Jr. "Because if we're flying northwest to Reno, and we're at a high enough altitude…we might just see the place."

"Leave it to the recon specialist," Yang mumbled around her food. "But if all these flights have that A51 notation, maybe they're stopping at Area 51, dropping off the workers there."

"For what?" Weiss asked.

"Whatever they're working on. Whoever they is. I bet Glass knows something about that." Yang cracked her real knuckles. "Wouldn't mind beating it out of the fat bastard."

"One mission at a time," Ruby said. "Okay, so after we get back to the hotel, we pretend this thing is legit. We plan the mission, then we let Colonel Wilkinson know, and then we fly it. If they jump us, we kill them, and Mr. Glass has made a pretty big mistake. If he's legit, then we fly the mission, get back, and go from there." She looked at Riana, a wry smile on her face. "Can't believe your grandma agreed to that. Is she going to help us hide the money?"

Riana did not answer at first, just drank her miso soup—slurping it loudly, in approved Japanese tradition, Ruby noticed; it was something Ruby knew about from their weekend at Hakone Hot Springs. She set down the bowl and wiped her mouth. "She didn't. I didn't actually call her, just pretended to. I figured if I gave Glass all that bullshit, he'd think I was DEA and we'd sweeten the deal."

They all stared at her. "Holy shit, girl!" Yang laughed. "You really are a spy! You got me with that one!"

"Me too," Ruby said. "But why get us to take the job?"

"Because Blake's right, and Yang just confirmed it…and so did Trivia." Riana held up her cellphone. "She was the one who sent me the text during the meeting, saying she had found some place called Groom Lake. I just texted her back about what Yang said, and…well…" She held up the phone; they all could read the small liquid crystal display. It read GROOM LAKE IS AREA 51 LOVE TRIVIA.

After eating dinner and returning to the hotel, they hauled out their maps from their flight suits. Put together, there were just enough to show the route from Las Vegas to Reno, and with markers, hotel pens, notepads, and copious amounts of soda from the suite refrigerator, the six of them planned the mission—which Yang dubbed Operation Oddjob. The flight route coincidentally took them within easy visual sight of Groom Lake—which was marked on their flight maps only as a geographical feature.

Once they were finished with the map and notes, they called Glass' man Dennis up to the suite. He scanned the map and read the notes with professional eyes; Ruby suspected that Dennis was probably Glass' air squadron commander. The only change he made was to slightly alter the route further southwest to avoid the Nevada Test Site—"too much radiation there if someone goes down," he told them. That put them out of seeing Groom Lake easily, but any of them could climb high enough to still look; it only confirmed their suspicions that Glass was involved in the kidnappings, and didn't want them getting too close. The mission was set, with wheels up at 0800 hours. If Dennis was aware that it was a trap, and he would have been, Ruby thought, he had a very good poker face.

By the time Dennis left with the plans, it was dark and going on ten in the evening—normally the night was still young, but they had gotten very little sleep the night before, and it would be another early wake-up call the next morning. If takeoff was at 0800, they would need an hour at least to get ready, brief, and preflight. A call and a hasty explanation was given to Wilkerson, who got the ground crews moving to refuel and rearm Ruby Flight, as well as Raven's aircraft; he would also arrange tanker and AWACS support—Raven had lied about the tanker. Ruby didn't like that: the tanker crews would not get very deep inside Nevada, which meant that she and Weiss would have to give over hardpoints to external tanks—and even then it didn't leave much fuel margin.

The suite quieted, and Ruby lay on the soft bed next to Yang. Her sister was quickly asleep, and then began to snore, her arms flung out to either side of the bed like she had been shot; her T-shirt was losing the battle to keep her breasts contained. Ruby shook her head at that. And she says I'm shameless?

Between Yang's snoring and this insane mission they had just planned—covering a gold heist on behalf of the Mafia—Ruby couldn't sleep. After one particular stentorian snore by her sister, Ruby resisted the temptation to hit her with a pillow, got up, put on a robe, and left the bedroom. She planned to sit on the couch and watch a little television, but then noticed that the door to the balcony was open. Through the windows, she saw Raven standing on the balcony, her hair blown lightly in the cool desert wind; she too was wearing a robe.

Ruby decided to join her for a little. "Raven, are you okay?"

Raven jumped, startled. "What the fu-oh. Hey, Ruby. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Thinking?"

Raven shook her head. "Just remembering." She leaned against the high railing of the balcony, staring out over the Strip. It lit up the sky, even brighter than the moon; GRIMM would have no trouble finding the place, certainly. "Summer—your mom and I, and Tai and Qrow, we got on one hell of a bender one night here, back around…oh, '75, I guess it was. I don't remember much, but Summer and I got so shithammered that we were singing 'Do the Hustle' and bouncing off the walls. Some guy got mad and called us a bunch of filthy bitches, and Summer punched his fucking lights out." Raven laughed. "Your mom may have looked like strawberries and cream in her pictures, but if Sum got a few drinks under her belt, she wanted to fight the world. Total lightweight."

Ruby smiled at that, remembering the one time she had gotten drunk at Beacon. She didn't remember much about that night either. Raven talking about Strike Flight made her think about her father though, and that made her think about Oscar. She had kept her lover at mental arm's length, needing to think about the mission, and now what Glass was up to—to say nothing of the sudden second mission of finding the disappearing Faunus, and everything else that had suddenly landed on her plate. Oscar had to stay in his box for now, just as she had to stay in his mental box while he was landing aboard a carrier. He would understand, just as she did.

A sudden, wild thought occurred to her, and Ruby decided to indulge it. "Um, Raven," she began hesitatingly, "can I ask you a personal question?"

"I guess." Raven was still staring out over Las Vegas.

"Did…did you love my dad?"

Raven was silent, then slowly looked at her. "Yes. I think in some ways…I still do." She smiled sadly. "No, Ruby…I stayed with him for a few months back last fall, and though I was tempted—and I think he was too—we didn't sleep together. God knows I wanted him to, but…no. He's still married to Summer. I respect that. Your mom was my best friend, and I'd be an even bigger shit than I am if I didn't honor her memory." Raven's eyes were distant, and Ruby knew she was seeing the fireball of Summer's F-16 near Mount Yamantau. "Can't remember if I told you that or not. That night at the Dew Drop Inn is kind of a blur."

"Yeah, you mentioned it. I guess it's a dumb question…I mean, you had a baby with Dad."

Raven shook her head. "Not a dumb question. God knows I've asked myself that question enough times." She turned back to Las Vegas, and was quiet for another minute. Ruby almost went back inside, thinking the conversation was over, but then the older woman spoke. "Tai is a good man, Ruby. He's a good man and a good father. His goodness is one of the things that attracted me to him so much. He was open and friendly. What you saw was what you got. After living like we did, growing up like Qrow and I did, that kind of honesty is pretty damn attractive." She smiled and winked at Ruby. "And he's smoking fucking hot. Your dad has always pumped iron. Maybe he seems like your boring old dad now, totally uncool, but all the girls wanted him because he was—hell, is—built like a brick shithouse. I saw him come out of the shower one day—well, kind of planned on it—and I told myself, 'Raven, girl, if you don't ride that you're going to wish you had.'" She saw Ruby look a bit ill at the discussion of her father's sex life, and smiled wider. "Okay, no sordid details. But I wanted to screw Taiyang more than I wanted to breathe. And after I did, I wanted more." Raven shrugged. "And next thing I know, he's proposing to me."

"And you said yes." Ruby stated the obvious.

A nod. "At first maybe I thought it was a religious thing—maybe Tai needed to get ass authorization from the Big Sky Guy. That was actually part of it, but he wanted to make it permanent. And I thought, why the hell not? He loved me, I was pretty sure I loved him, so let's go for it. Qrow was our best man; Summer was the maid of honor. I know it broke her heart, because she wanted Tai too, but Summer was always too shy. Next thing I know, I'm pregnant with Yang. We didn't plan her. Yang's always been contrary like that."

"You didn't think about…" Ruby didn't want to complete the sentence.

"Aborting her? Kiddo, never crossed my mind." Raven paused. "Well, okay, when Yang was punching my stomach from the inside and demanding sunflower seeds and pistachio ice cream, and giving me heartburn so bad I wanted to die…I considered it. But among the Tribe, you have so few kids, no one even thinks about it. The Tribe has to continue." Raven sighed. "Well, you know the rest of the story, Ruby. I did something stupid, but maybe that was fate or karma or whatever, because Summer was a far better mom and wife." She regarded Ruby with a wistful smile. "And damn if she and Tai didn't make a good-looking kid."

"Thanks. Just wanted to know," Ruby told her.

Raven shook a finger at her. "Nah, bullshit. There's something else you want to ask, Ruby."

It was Ruby's turn to stare at the city and be silent. "Oscar proposed to me a few days ago."

"Oscar…oh, Ozpin's kid. Yeah, I remember seeing him back at Patch. I never did get to talk to him, which is probably for the better." Raven looked quizzically at Ruby. "You two are an item?"

"Yeah…we're, um…"

"Fucking?"

Always wondered where Yang got that from, Ruby thought morosely. "I like saying we're lovers more than fuck buddies, Raven."

Raven snorted. "Heh, fuck buddies. That's a new one. Well, good for you. It's always good to get the pipes cleaned out now and then. I imagine Yang has to fight off the boys with a stick." Ruby decided not to tell Raven that it was Blake that was having to fight Yang off with a stick lately. "Did you say yes?" She sniffed a laugh. "No, you turned the poor kid down, didn't you? I see it in your eyes. Just like Summer—lousy poker player."

"I don't want to end up like Mom did," Ruby told her. "Leaving a widowed husband? A kid without a mom? I do that, and—"

"—and you end up like me." Ruby's jaw dropped open, and Raven nodded. "Alone." She turned away, back to the city. "Ruby, I left your dad and Yang because I thought I couldn't measure up. I couldn't be a good mother, let alone a good wife. I was too much of a bitch. Too selfish. I wanted to go back to the Tribe. But I was afraid, Ruby. Yang told me I was a coward when we were at Tsushima, and she was right. Oh, I'll launch into a skyful of GRIMM buck naked with a can opener, but growing old with Tai or raising Yang scared the shit out of me in a way Salem never can. I didn't want to fail them…and I knew I would." Raven wiped her eyes. "Dammit. And look at me now, kid. Oh sure, I'm the scary Raven Branwen, Chieftess of the Branwen Tribe—tremble at me, ye mighty, and despair or some bullshit like that. But even if I didn't give a shit about Summer's memory, and I do, Tai would never take me back. Yang still hates me. She's being nice to me because of the mission, but I see that in her eyes too. So I got an ex that I still love who thinks I'm a bitch and a daughter that would probably help Salem kill me if she got the chance." She leaned against the railing, a tear making it down her cheek. "I threw it all away because I was fucking scared, Ruby. And you're about to do the same damn thing."

"But…but…you mean…you think I should marry him?" Ruby didn't know what she had expected from Yang's biological mother, but this wasn't it.

"I do. It's your choice whether or not you want to have his babies just yet—believe me, with everything going on right now with the war, I'd wait-but God, Ruby, make some happiness for yourself. Summer might have had only two or three years with Taiyang, but they were good years. She told me that herself, right after she shoulder-checked my ass as we were getting that fucking mission ready. She wouldn't have changed that, or you, for the world."

"But Raven…I'm going to die." The words sounded empty to Ruby now, like a lame excuse. She wondered if that's what they were.

"Yep," Raven agreed. "But put it in perspective: you might die tomorrow, Ruby. Engine quits on takeoff, fighter rolls over like a whore in heat and you buy the farm. I've seen it happen to good pilots. What about then? Does that mean your relationship with Oscar was for nothing? Hell no! You had a good time. You loved each other in every respect of the word. But here's the other possibility, Ruby: you grow old together. You still die, but maybe you die in bed when you're 95, old, wrinkly white-haired Ruby Rose, surrounded by your kids and grandkids and great-grandkids." She slammed a fist down on the railing, making Ruby jump. "Goddammit, Ruby! Don't you think I haven't been fucking tormented by that thought since I left Tai? I could've stayed, watched Yang grow up, bandaged her skinned knees, taken her to prom, helped Tai load the shotgun when boys came around…" Her voice was heavy with emotion and bitterness. "I could've done all that. And I fucking ran. And no matter how many men and women I fuck, I can't fill that hole in me, and I'm not talking about my pussy." She reached out and poked Ruby in the chest. "So yeah, maybe the GRIMM get you tomorrow. Or maybe you die leading the last assault on Salem's lair. But you also might just live to a ripe old age, boring the shit out of the grandkids with your war stories. Don't you think it's a chance worth taking?"

"I…I don't know," Ruby said finally, now more confused than ever. What do I do? Raven took a deep breath, and to Ruby's utter surprise, drew the younger woman into a hug. She squeezed tightly. Ruby struggled out, "What are you doing?"

"What Summer would do if she was here." Raven let go, kissed Ruby on the cheek, and went back into the room. "Think about it," she said over her shoulder, then muttered something about finding the booze.

Ruby did, for a long time.