"Come in!"

Weiss let herself into the apartment, looked around, and said, "Ruby?

Ruby poked her head out from around a corner and waved her over. "In here!"

Weiss followed her through the hallway into what could only be Ruby's room. "Is there a reason I had to come all the way up here?

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

The decor was wholly unsurprising. The walls were painted black. A bookshelf stood off in one corner that held more comic books than actual books. On top of it was also the same photo of Ruby's mother that had once leaned against her grave. A red curtain blocked the window with a diagonal seam running from edge to edge showing where it had been torn and sewn back together. In lieu of a bed, a plump couch faced a television stand with a laptop resting on one of the cushions. Posters were tacked up all over the walls for bands, movies, video games, and fictional superheroes, but the most prime wall space was reserved for a poster of the Protector of Vale.

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

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

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

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

"This is ridiculous," said Weiss.

"What?" Ruby defended.

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

"No," Ruby said unconvincingly.

Weiss cocked her brow.

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

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

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

Whatever Weiss had seen in Ruby yesterday to make her think there was even a chance they could achieve something with this endeavor, Weiss wasn't seeing it now. She continued to wonder what had possessed her to volunteer for this.

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

Ruby frowned. "Bole Maze."

"No, it isn't."

"It's not?"

"No. Where did you get this?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Whatever. It's your free time you're wasting, and I suppose you're not exactly lacking that."

Ruby had the smallest reaction to that, too brief to read into.

"Are you ready, then?" Weiss asked.

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

Ruby grabbed a red zip-up hoodie on the way out and followed Weiss outside to where her car was parked by a meter. The pair entered the vehicle and fastened their seatbelts.

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

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

"Oh, really? Nothing else?"

"Why? What's wrong with classical?"

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

"Dull?"

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

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

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

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

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

Ruby scratched her head. "Well, yeah."

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

"That's a lot less fun."

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

"Yeah, yeah."

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

"I'm not a child."

"You could have fooled me."

Ruby made an offended noise that Weiss ignored as she focused on finding an open parking space. Ruby unbuckled and had her hand on the door handle before they'd even come to a full stop.

"Had to have passed the place hundreds of times," Ruby said, her hands crossed behind her neck as they approached the building. "Never been inside."

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

"Born and raised."

They entered into a long hallway with signs hanging from the ceiling. The one that read, "County Clerk" was near the far end next to the DMV.

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

"Yeah. Why?" said Ruby.

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

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Well, I can tell you haven't lived her long. It's so much cheaper to just use the subway, or let my sister pick me up when we're off at the same time."

Weiss recalled how much more expensive her last insurance bill was compared to when she lived in Atlas. She'd already sold her old luxury car and downgraded to a cheaper compact. She'd known, of course, how unkind big cities were to drivers, but the idea of using a subway system several times a day was abhorrent to her. That was a low that even she hadn't sunk to yet. But the fact that Ruby, who could somehow afford to live in such a nice apartment, didn't think it was worth it to own a car spoke volumes.

They reached their destination, which wasn't all that busy. The interior resembled a hospital waiting room, with a long counter lining the farthest wall and chairs and end tables taking up most of the remaining floor space.

"Good evening," a male employee greeted them from behind the counter. "How can I assist you today?"

"Bole Maze!" Ruby said.

"Sorry?"

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

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

"We don't."

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

"Thank you."

The two found a couple of empty chairs and waited. A dull drone came from the fluorescent lights as the minutes dragged on. Ruby hummed to herself, looking around the room at nothing in particular. Weiss soon grew irritated by this and Ruby stopped when she asked her to. A minute later, Ruby started drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair.

Weiss did her best to ignore her and watched the man behind the counter out of the corner of her. He wasn't having an easy time with their request. He fiddled with his computer, spoke with colleagues, talked shortly on a landline, and disappeared into the backroom for a while. When he finally called them back over, his face was apologetic.

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

"Excuse me?" Weiss said.

"How's that possible?" Ruby asked.

"We did have them at one point," he explained. "One of my colleagues remembers receiving and processing them about a month ago. But, last week, there was an intrusion that resulted in a great number of documents being destroyed, including those you requested."

"Last week?" Weiss looked at Ruby, whose lack of a reaction told her she hadn't connected the same dots she had.

"Yes," said the man.

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

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

"Then restore the backups," Weiss said.

"This was a very sophisticated attack. Whoever was behind this made a great effort to ensure we wouldn't be able to recover whatever it was they were after. We don't even have security footage of the incident because they remotely disabled our cameras. This person is clearly very skilled, but the police are doing their best to identify them."

"This is unacceptable."

"Weiss," Ruby warned.

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

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

Weiss faltered. "What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"It's gotta be the same people, yeah," Ruby said, her lack of hesitation taking Weiss aback.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a fair point, but Weiss was unconvinced. The STC had still been developing off of some of her grandfather's designs up until the very end, and he hadn't been involved with the company since before Weiss was even born. Longevity was one of the core qualities that had made them as successful as they were. Ten months without updates wasn't enough to make something impossible suddenly possible.

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

"And that is?" said Weiss.

"This wasn't a total waste of time. We learned that Maze's trial was a month ago."

"It's something," Weiss agreed without the same enthusiasm. "Why are you so optimistic? You're the one this setback actually affects."

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

Weiss sighed and shook her head. She backed out of the parking space and pulled out onto the road.

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

"Haven't you already done that?"

"What, search the entire internet? You know how big it is, right?"

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

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

"Who's Yang?"

"My sister. We live together."

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

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

Weiss pretended to contemplate, but she wasn't exactly in a position to pass up a free meal. "Fine."

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

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

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

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

"Then, the results have to be wrong?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Third time's a charm?" Ruby said half-heartedly.

"That city worker wasn't wrong. Whomever is behind this was thorough."

"Or rich enough to hire someone thorough."

There was a knock on the bedroom door, which was ajar. A very beautiful woman with striking violet eyes and a mane of blonde hair flowing down her back entered. Her face had an easygoing expression to it, which contrasted with her professional attire, consisting of belted trousers and a tucked-in dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. In place of her right arm was a very advanced looking prosthetic, painted yellow and black. She looked like she might've been around Weiss's age, potentially older.

"Hey, sis." The woman who could only be Yang gave Weiss a curious look. "Who's your friend?"

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

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

"Weiss," Yang repeated. She sounded like she recognized the name but couldn't place it, eventually shrugging and holding out her non-metal hand. "I'm Yang."

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

Belated enough for it to be awkward, Weiss accepted the handshake a polite smile. "A pleasure."

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

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

"Ah, about that . . ." Yang rubbed the back of her neck. "I wish you'd warned me."

"What?"

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

"Yang!" Ruby complained.

"I had a coupon!"

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

"Or pineapple?" said Yang.

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

"Kidding!" Yang chuckled. She looked at Weiss. "Just pepperoni. That cool?"

"Um, yes, of course," Weiss said. "Thank you."

"Is Blake not joining us?" Ruby asked.

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

"And you didn't go with them?"

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

She left, and Weiss gave Ruby a fierce look, who was already fiddling with her fingers, looking guilty.

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

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

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

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

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

"But why keep this from her?"

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

"She deserves to know."

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

"What?"

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

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

"No, of course not. This has nothing to do with that. I'm sure she could do a lot with this lead, but I believe that I can too—we can. And if I tell her, then she'll either have to report it, or she'll keep it secret, and I don't want her to get in trouble."

Weiss sat down and began rubbing her temple.

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

It was hard to refute that, but this still didn't feel right. Weiss imagined herself in this situation, with Winter being the one hiding information like this from her. She couldn't fathom a bigger betrayal. After their mother's episode, Winter—even though she was away with the military—became the only true family Weiss had left. She was the only person Weiss currently trusted wholeheartedly. At least in this hypothetical, with Weiss having moved hundreds of miles away from home to start anew, it would give Winter a modicum of an excuse. Ruby and Yang, on the other hand, saw each other every single day.

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

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

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

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

Weiss waited. After Ruby didn't elaborate, she said, "Well?"

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

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