Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 122

Ruby felt stuffy.

The suit clung to her a little too tightly... well, everywhere. Blake assured her that just meant it was fitted, but Ruby was used to more freeing clothing. Her combat skirt was designed to allow for long strides, which was useful in combat and with her Semblance. When you were flipping, cartwheeling, lunging and diving, pants didn't really cut it. They always ripped at the crotch. Better to wear a skirt and, if you were worried about anything being seen, some tight shorts under it.

But that was for combat, not job interviews. There probably wouldn't be any backflips in an office with Jaune's father, so she let Blake force her into a charcoal grey suit with trousers and a jacket.

"Shouldn't I wear black like you?"

"No. We want it to look like this is a normal outfit you had in your wardrobe. If we dress you up like us, it'll be obvious we're cheating to try and get you the job. That's why this is a cheap suit. Anything too expensive would stand out."

Cheap. Ruby had long since given up on explaining to Blake that her standards of cheap vs expensive had become warped since working at ARC Corp. This was a woman who had weekly spa treatments and massage, and who saw that as something all women did. This was someone who spent more on her work outfit than Ruby's mom and dad had on their first home on Patch. That kind of salary would be exciting if Ruby were in it for the money.

"Is trousers okay?" she asked. "Won't it make me look childish? There are business skirts."

"I thought about that. The problem is you're fifteen, and any suit skirt on you is either going to make you look weird, highlighting your age, or look creepy for the same reason. A lot of them are designed to hug curves and look sexy."

Ruby pouted. "Wow. Thanks."

"I'm not saying you're without curves, Ruby. I just mean you're fifteen, so giving off that image to a man Nicholas' age is going to make him uncomfortable. If the man can even feel that kind of emotion. My point is that pants fits better with the idea of you knowing your age and owning it. Don't be embarrassed if he comments on your age. Just fire back confidently."

Confidence. Right. Easy. No problem. She had loads of it, right? Haaa...

"Or, failing that, think about how Timothy will be killed if you fail."

Pressure and guilt.

Yay...

"Couldn't you motivate me another way?" Ruby sighed. "With, I don't know, actual motivation...?"

"I'm not good at that." Blake sounded a little miserable as she said it. "If you want someone who can do everything perfectly, you should live in their world."

Ruby looked back over her shoulder. "What?"

"Never mind." Blake broke eye contact and went back to adjusting Ruby's new jacket. "I'm just not good at this thing. I'm an ex-terrorist turned monster hunter. Neither of those jobs required much in the way of people management."

"I'd have thought terrorism would, ironically."

Blake snorted. "If you're a leader, yes. I was never that. I just slept with one."

Sheesh. Ruby wouldn't claim to be the most perceptive of people but Blake was just radiating misery, to the point that she was beginning to wonder if she should do something about it. Ruby wasn't sure what that would be, and she kind of had a lot on her plate already. She made a note to ask Jaune about it, hopefully after she won herself her first job.

And it'll be a much cooler job than delivering newspapers or working in a corner shop.

There would be the small problem of telling her family about it. Uncle Qrow wouldn't approve, Yang definitely wouldn't approve, and dad would... well, he'd be supportive but also curious, and he'd want to know more. He'd probably also be suspicious once he found out how much she was making and would get it in his head she was being taken advantage of for so much money – as opposed to her just being well compensated for the danger.

Not that he'd find out about said danger because then he'd freak out about her dying like her mom had which, from what Blake had told her, wasn't all that likely, because she would only be hired to do boring admin work.

Boring admin work in a super-secret facility with loads of supernatural beings.

Squeeeee!

Ruby worked hard to keep her face calm and relaxed. Blake and Jaune wouldn't approve of her excitement either. This was a job, a duty, and she knew it wasn't all fun and games. It was just that, compared to what boring lives most people had, she couldn't help but be excited.

"The interview is this afternoon," Blake said. "Are you ready for it?"

"Yes. I'll get the job."

"I hope so. If you don't, we're really going to struggle to hide things from whatever obvious spy ARC Corp plants in our office. Worse yet, they'll be someone Nicholas has vetted to be of the proper attitude toward anomalies."

"Kill first, ask questions later?"

"If they ask questions at all."

/-/

It was a little past three in the afternoon and Ruby knew she was receiving her fair share of strange looks from the other jobseekers. Men and women were seated in the hotel lobby, all well-dressed, but most looking far more natural in their suits than her. They were also all older than her, with the youngest of them being in his late-twenties and most being early-thirties.

The job advert had been suitably vague for obvious reasons, but it had mentioned a government agency, secrecy, and administrative and managerial work. The pay packet had been big, because even when ARC Corp wanted to stay secret, they still needed to draw the best candidates. Quality over quantity.

Nicholas Arc was doing the interviews inside an office but, outside of it, a man and a woman in impeccable black suits stood on either side of the door, their eyes covered with thick shades and their hands crossed over their chests. Each wore a long black and gold cloak-like thing that reached down behind them to their ankles, lined with fur. Where it hung around the fronts of their shoulders, golden pins in the shape of swords linked to a chain reaching across their breastbones to hold it together.

Blades Office. Ruby knew of them but it was her first time seeing them. They weren't even Arc family, just incredibly skilled and experienced employees of the man in charge – Jaune's dad. They radiated an air of badassery, and Ruby could tell they had huntsman training. It was obvious from how relaxed they were.

To everyone else in the lobby, the professionalism and expensive suits were a sign that this was a serious job. Quite a few people were nervous, either checking their scrolls or keeping their eyes closed and drawing deep breaths.

The door opened. A woman strode out, nervous but relieved to have finished her interview. They'd all been told that no decision would be made today, and that everyone would be seen to, so there was no way of knowing if the woman had got the job or not. One of the men by the door checked his scroll and spoke out. "Ruby Rose."

Welp.

Now or never.

Ruby stood and marched to the door, drawing curious, even amused, looks from the others there. No one said anything dismissive because it'd reflect poorly on them, but she could tell they were doubting her. Of course they were. She was fifteen, and she looked it. Not like some of those young girls who could doll up and look older. Everything about Ruby screamed "cute child" even when she was in a suit.

But she had an edge over them.

Ruby strode into the room and let the doors close behind her. There, behind a desk, sat an older, wiser, and emotionless version of the man she had a secret crush on. Secret from no one, apparently, but secret all the same. Ruby had once heard it said that if you liked a boy, you should look to their father to get an idea of what they might grow up to look like.

She hoped Jaune didn't grow up to look so tired of life as this man did.

"Ruby Rose, is it?" Nicholas raised an eyebrow at her. "You're awfully young."

"Only physically," she said, after a deep breath. It was time to kill this job interview. "I'm older than everyone out there where it counts."

The man looked surprised, and amused. One of those was not as good as the other. "In what way?"

"Experience." Ruby took the seat opposite him. The worst part was how her feet didn't touch the floor because it was set too high. "How safe is it to talk in this office, sir? Are the walls reinforced? Is this recorded?"

"It's recorded for internal purposes but no one else will know of what is said here."

"Good. Then I know of the anomalous. I know of what ARC Corp does." Ruby knew it was a risk, but it was the biggest and only real edge she had. "When Mountain Glenn threatened to overrun this city, it was my sister and I who caught a murderous anomalous child who had made it here and was looking to kill people. That child carved her own throat open in front of us."

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's better than what the child – or children – did to the innocent people they found before us," Ruby said. "And what she'd have done to others had we not intercepted her. If she killed more people, there's a risk any of those could have become anomalous and infected Vale with the same anomaly that turned Mountain Glenn into a hellscape."

"That is true. You're unusually knowledgeable."

"I've seen anomalies," Ruby said, shrugging. "I've dealt with them. I've seen worms infesting wheat threaten to overtake Vale's food supply and eat people from the inside. I've seen children murder people for fun. I've seen people burst into trees and die." The latter, she had not seen, but it was more to drive the point home. "Everyone out there is ignorant of those things. They don't know about the anomalous." Ruby leaned forward. "And you don't know how they'll react to it. You don't know which of them will buckle under the pressure or – worse – decide that maybe everyone should know about this secret world."

Nicholas was smiling still, but he looked a little less amused and a little more impressed. He went from leaning back to placing an elbow on the table and his chin upon his hand.

"You're suggesting that you're more qualified for the position because you've proven yourself able to deal with the anomalous?"

"Not just that, sir. I'm less of a risk to you."

"Oh?"

"Any one of them could prove untrustworthy with the knowledge. Any one of them could break the first time they see an anomaly. I won't. I've proven I won't three times. That's more times dealing with anomalies than most people experience in their life."

"True. We could skip having to worry about your reaction to finding out the truth." Begrudgingly, he reached for his notes, taking her that much more seriously. "Tell me a little about yourself and why you think you would fit the job."

"My name is Ruby Rose and although I'm young, I have huntress training – and aura. I know the job is admin and managerial, but you never know what disasters can happen when dealing with anomalies. Aside from everything I've said before, another big benefit of me over them—" Ruby jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "—is that I have aura. I'm already infected by that anomaly, so I cannot be infected or controlled by any other."

"You can still die."

"Yes sir, but isn't it better if I die than be controlled by an anomaly with unknown aims? I can't unleash all the others in containment if I'm dead. I can't be manipulated into exposing anomalies to the world if it has to kill me."

"Hmmm."

"Furthermore!" Ruby stood. "I would like to show you my Semblance. Is that okay?"

He waved a hand. "Go ahead."

Ruby whirled around the room, vanishing in a storm of petals and punching her way around the small office faster than she ever had before. Her Semblance wasn't made for small spaces, but she did her best anyway, bouncing off the walls before flashing back to her chair and sitting down. Nicholas Arc didn't look too impressed by it.

But that was fine. Ruby's point wasn't to look strong.

"My Semblance involves super speed and reactions – and ask yourself this, sir. If an anomaly was threatening to breach out or attack the person you hired, and they had mere seconds to get out the way and put the whole area into lockdown, would you rather have a thirty-something man with good management experience, or a fifteen year old girl with a Semblance that makes her move faster than the eye can see?"

The man chuckled. "You make a fine point. Though running from anomalies isn't our usual method."

"I can fight too. But if I'm being paid to look after anomalies locked up, it's better I run and lockdown the facility first, right? Fighting can come after – and only when I'm authorised to do so by my superior."

Was she hamming it up? Maybe. But she was a child competing for a job with adults. Her only chance was to bombard this man with all the best bits about her so she'd stick in his mind. That, and to distract him from the bad bits like age, inexperience, and a lack of any job history in administration or managerial roles at all.

"I'm concerned about your job experience." Crud. Not enough distractions. "Do you see yourself being able to manage a facility on your own?"

"I can learn. I'm a student in Signal – though I'm happy to quit that for this job. That means I'm used to picking things up quickly. Also, it's probably easier to train someone to be good at admin than it is to train them to survive anomalies. Cheaper, too."

"Is it?"

"Yep. Because you just have to train me once, but, if you hire any of them, then you'll have to keep re-recruiting and re-hiring because they'll die one by one."

Nicholas raised his eyebrows.

"I know how dangerous this job is, sir. I know the life expectancy. They don't. And they don't have aura or a Semblance designed for escaping danger. Even if they're careful, things can go wrong. And if they die, you'll have to do all this song and dance over again. A new job ad, new interviews, new training, new job introduction. And so on and so on. I may not be as good at them as running an office, but I bet I'm a hundred times better than them at not dying. That means any investment into training me up will last longer!"

It'd be easier for him to polish her into a diamond than it would be to keep replacing the broken diamonds he hired from the rest. Ruby kept her innocent smile as the man regarded her, very little of the amused man putting up with a child's whims left in him. Now, he was looking at her shrewdly, eyes narrowed.

It should have concerned her that he'd look at her like she was a tool to be used.

But it was what she wanted.

"Any other skills I should know of?"

"I'm an engineer. I even have a weapons and mechanical license. I've built my own weapon, and my sister's. I can also do repairs on most machinery."

"Alternatively, we could hire a repairman to do that."

"And bring them down into a secret facility, sir? I sure hope they don't feel tempted to tell their friends about that, and all the crazy things they saw, over a few drinks. And I hope those critical repairs aren't in an area where it might be dangerous and you'd need someone with aura to pull off those repairs and prevent a security breach."

Innocent smile. Tilted head.

Narrowed eyes.

"..." Nicholas Arc sighed. "Good point."

"My age is also an advantage. I'm a new model. You can get so many years of work out of me. Maybe even thirty or forty years. Those out there will retire before that, and then it's job adverts and interviews again."

"Yes, but I'm unlikely to be the one in charge and dealing with it at that point."

"Then... Isn't that all the more reason to do it now? Replacing you will be a lot of hard work, and it'd be best if that person didn't have to worry about a recruitment crisis in Vale when they're learning to run the family business..."

Ruby let the idea trail off.

"You're quite the stubborn child, aren't you?"

"Yep. But stubbornness is a virtue when it comes to keeping secrets. And I won't be a child forever. You get me as I'm entering my prime. They're leaving theirs."

The man pinched his scarred face with one hand. "And now I'm feeling old. I'll be in touch, Miss Rose. Unless there's anything extra you'd like to add?"

"Hmm. Only that I already know the truth of what ARC Corp does, what anomalies are, and how much of the world's known fact are fake." Ruby averted her eyes and said, in her most innocent voice, "And there's this anomaly called Ozma – or Ozpin – who's really persistent about getting me into Beacon where he can have me within reach for some reason. If I can't get a job here, I probably won't have any choice but to become a huntress like my mom did and join Beacon. But, I mean, it's not like the open anomaly running Beacon could possibly have any nefarious plans in store for me." Ruby smiled brightly. "Is it?"

"..." Jaune's father groaned into the palm of his hand.

It was an agonised sound.

"I'll wait for your call!" Ruby chirped, jumping to her feet. "Thanks for the interview, sir. I look forward to working with you."

Skipping out the meeting room, Ruby ignored the sceptical faces and smirked as she entered the elevator.

Nailed it.

/-/

"Jaune."

"Father." Jaune Arc looked his father up and down. "You look tired."

"The interviews were long and gruelling."

I could have handled them, thought Jaune, but he knew the reason why Nicholas had come was because he'd not been trusted to. And they're right not to trust me. I've done so much that's against ARC Corp rules that it's hypocritical to even complain about it.

"How did they go?" he asked, instead. "Anyone stand out?"

Nicholas shot him a dark look. "You sent that girl. Didn't you?"

"Ruby?" There was no point hiding it. "Blake suggested her, but she has done some part-time work for us before. Little stuff. Unfortunately, she found out about anomalies on her own after seeing me deal with one. That was before I hired Blake. Or before Blake hired herself, I mean."

"Is it true Ozpin is after her?"

"He does seem interested in her. I'm not sure if I'd say he's actively hunting her, but he does have Ruby's uncle as one of his assets. To the point that her uncle is listed as anomalous-adjacent. He's been granted anomalous power. Like Raven Branwen had been."

Raven had been more cooperative with ARC Corp, of course. Almost eager to screw Ozpin over and tell them anything they wanted to know. It was why she was allowed to roam free and unbothered by them. It helped that her "power" was self-inflicted and couldn't spread. There was little risk of danger when she could explain her bird form away as a unique Semblance specific to her clan.

"It's possible Ruby's mother was similarly an agent of Ozpin's," he continued. "And that the worm is looking for future agents. Investments, if you will. There has to be a reason he continues to run a school. He has fresh recruits all around him."

His father hummed, deep in thought. It was tempting to talk Ruby up, but he knew that would backfire. If the decision was in any way influenced, his father might choose against it just to make certain it wasn't a trick. The only thing Jaune could do was to answer questions and say nothing further. Let the mane make the choice himself.

"Has Ozpin reached out to you?" Nicholas asked.

"For jobs, once or twice. All are listed in the database as protocol demands. He hasn't made threats against recruiting Ruby, but I've heard him comment more than once to her how her mother might be disappointed if she didn't join Beacon."

"A worm relying on guilt to manipulate human children. How detestable."

"Hmm. Ruby's sister is an active student there. She's on Weiss Schnee's team of all people." Jaune noticed his father's sharp gaze. "I'm not saying that's good or bad – just potentially related. The Schnee Semblance has always been powerful. Ozpin might even have had plans for an alliance with the Schnee family before we dealt with them. Having first pick of anomalies going up for auction would have benefited him."

The suspicious look faded. "True. And he's rarely at risk of harm from whatever anomalies he'd purchase. If his host dies, he'll just find another. That's the main reason why we haven't killed him already."

"Better the devil you know. And a devil in an aging body."

"Exactly. Let's not loose him on the world." Nicholas let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "As much as I don't like it, the girl made several good points. We'd be stuck dedicating weeks to convincing a new hire that anomalies are real and need to be dealt with, and they'd be an information risk for at least the first three years. How long has Rose known?"

"Months. Over half a year."

"And she hasn't once spread the information? That's a mark in her favour. Combine that with her aura, Semblance, and now the chance to deny Ozpin whatever plans he has for her...? There's hardly a choice here."

"There's always a choice," Jaune said, just to reinforce that he wasn't influencing things. "You could always hire me two people if you really want. Get a more experienced one to mentor Ruby. It's not like we're hard up for budget."

Nicholas' eyes narrowed. Jaune had chosen his words carefully, not necessarily supporting Ruby but asking for two people. One was already a stretch, especially when his hiring of Blake had been against all the rules in the first place. His innocent words had Nicholas focusing on the perceived risk of two people, and he responded immediately.

"No. You'll have one and that's all. Rose will do. Let training her up to be an administrator be your responsibility."

Perfect.

"As you say, father." Jaune forced a heavy sigh, as if he hadn't gotten what he wanted. "Is she approved to start work on the Interdimensional Chatroom or should I wait on that? The whole point of hiring her is to free us up for active cases while not losing out on the shared information..."

"Put her through a basic training course first. Limit her access to our databases. The girl will be allowed to input data but make it clear she has to submit a request to my office to extract it. That request will be approved by one of mine, but I'll receive a list of every request she makes at the end of each month." He stared hard into Jaune's eyes. "Make sure she's aware that I will look poorly on any discrepancies."

"I'll do that, sir. Would you like to call her to let her know she has the job...?"

"No. You do it. That girl has given me a headache already." He shook his head. "Reminds me too much of your mother. She was able to talk me in circles until I ended up agreeing to whatever she wanted. That's how I ended up with eight children. I'm too old to deal with another like her."

That dour note put an end to Jaune's enthusiasm, but he forced a salute as the man up and left the office. It was good to have won on Ruby, but it hurt to have the reminder that his parents had only ever married out of commitment to the business. That their children had only ever been assets invested in the company's future.

"All the more reason not to fall for anyone," Jaune mumbled. "I can't put them through this..." He reached for his scroll and dialled the number. "Ruby. Hello. Are you able to come down to the office? I have some good news for you."

Next Chapter: 11th November

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