"Who?" Weiss said. The name sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

Ruby gaped at her. "Roman Torchwick!"

"Saying the name twice doesn't help me understand who he is."

"Don't you watch the news?"

"Occasionally."

Ruby continued to stare as if Weiss was an alien, then pulled her scroll back toward herself and began typing. After half a minute, she found what she was looking for and stood next to Weiss so that they could both see the screen. She hit play on a video of security footage from a bank.

"What am I looking at?" Weiss said. All she could see were ordinary people using ATMs and speaking to the tellers.

"Give it a second," said Ruby.

Soon, a man sauntered into the center of the room and turned to look directly at the camera. He wore crisply pressed pants and a fine pair of shoes polished so meticulously that the video managed to capture their shine. His white suit looked tailor-made with a collar popped up to reach higher than his jawline. A bowler hat, a relic from a bygone era, was right at home sitting on his bright orange hair. Bangs hid his right eye while the other, pine green, was accented by dark eyeliner. To tie it all together, one hand dexterously twirled a zippo lighter as the other held a hooked cane on his shoulder. The man was mischief personified, complemented by a strange hint of elegance.

He shut the lighter, tipped his hat, and then the video ended.

"What was that?" Weiss asked.

"That was Roman Torchwick!" Ruby said impatiently. "A few weeks ago, when he robbed that bank down Chestnut Street."

Weiss finally placed the memory. "Right, I heard about that. I'm still not sure what I just saw, though. Why was the video so short?"

"That's his MO. He walks in, makes sure he's seen by the cameras, and then cuts them off. After that, he's in and out with the money before the police ever get there. This is about the tenth one he's hit so far."

"How is that possible?"

"No one knows. That's why he's such a big deal. How do you not know about him? He's been at large since, like, the start of the year."

"Well, I've only lived in Vale since June," Weiss defended. "How's he not been caught yet?"

Ruby shrugged. "He could be an unregistered paragon. I'm not sure. But he's not afraid of being caught—he wants everyone to know what he's doing."

Though the video had gone black, Weiss could still vividly picture Torchwick's face. Was it confidence she saw in his expression, or arrogance? Most likely both.

"What did Jaune's notes say exactly?" said Weiss. "Let me read them."

Ruby navigated to the picture again and handed the scroll to Weiss, then glanced at Jaune's door. "Come on. Let's not talk about this here."

Weiss scanned the page as they descended the staircase. It took some effort to decipher Jaune's handwriting. Maze was arrested for harassing a woman he met at a bar and tried for sexual assault, but the prosecutor had brought another allegation to the courtroom. There were two proven instances of contact between him and Roman Torchwick, as well as other evidence to suggest Maze had a link to some of Torchwick's crimes. But there wasn't enough to charge him, though Jaune did take note of how the prosecuting attorney seemed absolutely certain of his guilt in that regard. The trouble Weiss and Ruby had gone through to learn this pretty much cemented it as fact.

As the two women reached the ground level and left the building, Weiss once again took a quick look across the street—no one was there, so she returned her eyes to the scroll. She was still so engrossed in it when they reached her car that she would've walked right past it had Ruby not tapped her arm. They slid into the front seats, but Weiss didn't even bother taking out her keys yet.

"You realize what this means?" Ruby said after Weiss handed her back her scroll.

"It means we have more to speculate about," said Weiss, "and just as little evidence to work off of."

"What are you talking about? This proves Torchwick had something to do with what happened to my mom."

"This doesn't prove anything, other than that Maze was a creep. All we know is that he worked for or with Torchwick, but not when or to what extent."

"But this is a new lead! We're making progress!"

"I never said we weren't. But you're jumping to baseless conclusions, which won't get us anywhere. Maze could have been working for the killer, who was working for Torchwick. Or he and Torchwick could have both been working for the killer. Or he could have been working for the killer before leaving her to work for Torchwick. We don't know."

Ruby's shoulders slumped. "Oh."

"With luck, finding out how Maze is connected to Torchwick will help us understand his link to this woman."

"So what do we do now?"

Weiss started the car. "We find out what we can about Torchwick while we wait for Neptune and Sun to get back to us. They still might learn something we haven't."

"Ugh. Two days," Ruby grumbled. "Fine. Can you take me home now?"

Weiss stalked the depths of the Emerald Forest, her silver rapier clasped in her left hand. The sun was out, the clouds were sparse, and the wind was still. She'd been searching for about fifteen minutes now, or at least that's what it felt like. Only two windows had appeared so far. Finally, a muffled rustling sounded from her right. She paused, and her grip tightened.

A moment later, something large burst from the trees and came shooting toward her. Weiss expertly rolled out of the way and found herself face-to-face with a giant snake, whose head was almost as long as her body. It tensed back, showing off its many fangs. Then the other one came, which she easily evaded; she'd been expecting it.

The King Taijitu was a monstrous snake with two heads, one on either end. One half of it was white and the other black. Both sets of beady red eyes glared at her. The white head lunged while the black one coiled around in a circle, trying to trap her. Weiss jumped at the last second and landed on the white head. She ran the length of its body, repeatedly slashing at it as she did so, until she reached the ground outside of the ring it had created. It hissed from both ends, wisps of black smoke emanating from its wounds.

She feinted running toward the left until the black head snapped at her. She abruptly stopped and jumped back as it smacked into the ground where she would've been standing, then drove her sword through its left eye, immediately withdrawing it. That head recoiled as the other came to take revenge. Weiss stood her ground and thrust her sword upward, straight through the roof of its mouth. She wrenched the rapier free and took a step back as the white head went limp and fell to the ground. Her arm stung from where a fang had scratched her.

A forked tongue flapped from between the remaining head's jaws as it hissed as loudly as it could. Enraged, it no longer cared about biting her. With reckless abandon, it swung forward to smack her off her feet, and succeeded. Weiss flew back and collided with a tree, crumpling to the ground as her head spun. Her sword slipped out of her grip and landed ten feet away. The Grimm reared to attack once more as she struggled to a single knee. It lunged, and she was too slow to dodge, but, incredibly, it missed. She dove forward and retrieved her weapon. When she stood, she noticed how thick the smoke pouring from its punctured eye was.

Weiss ran diagonally toward it, staying on its left side. When it tried to get at her again, it misjudged her position and missed once more. She used this opportunity to land several more hits along its body and hastened away from its reach. One last time, the beast attempted to bite at her. She jumped back, and its fangs dug into the earth before her. She brought her sword down and stabbed it where its brain would be if Grimm had organs. The King Taijitu stilled, then disintegrated into a cloud of dark vapor.

Weiss sheathed her rapier and sat down on her knees. She felt snowflakes touching her exposed skin as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she was back in her client's living room, feeling fatigued. She removed her hand from the girl's forehead and ran the back of it across her own brow.

The client, in her late teens, appeared disoriented.

"How do you feel?" Weiss asked.

"I'm not sure," said May. "I think . . . lighter?"

"Is that a good thing?"

She paused. "Yeah. Lighter's good. So it really worked?"

Weiss nodded. "You no longer have bipolar disorder."

A broad smile slowly spread across her face. "That's awesome."

"You are going to have to take measures from here on out, though, in order to maintain your mental health," Weiss said. "Your disorder was a large part of you. Without it, your mind is opened up to vulnerabilities, so it'll take some time for you to feel whole again."

May's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? I feel great."

"And that's normal. But it's possible that stressful situations might have a larger effect on you than others for a time, so I suggest avoiding them when possible. Meditation is advisable, as it can help hone your new mental state and prevent new afflictions from setting in. Some people have found keeping journals helpful, so they can record their thoughts and moods to definitively see a lack of symptoms—or more easily spot new ones."

"Wow," the girl said, sounded a bit dejected. "Do people relapse often?"

Weiss felt her scroll vibrate, but she ignored it. "No. Rarely, thanks in large part to taking these precautions."

"Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, I can do all that. Um, here." She pulled a check out of her pocket and handed it to Weiss. "Thank you. So much."

Weiss examined it before placing it in her purse, giving a grateful smile. She always felt weird when accepting payment. Though Weiss's rate was perfectly reasonable, her mother used to do this for free. But her mother had not only a successful father, but an honorable one, too. Weiss didn't get that luxury—she had no choice but to charge for her services. But the gratification of alleviating a person's long-term struggles was worth almost as much as the lien.

Before Weiss could state her thanks, the front door opened and an older woman stepped inside. She placed her keys on a hook and started toward the kitchen, but then noticed the two sitting in the living room.

"May? Who is this?" the woman demanded.

"This is Weiss, mom. She's a psychotherapist."

"And what's she doing here? You already have a therapist, and you didn't ask my permission to have anyone over."

"I'm not a regular psychotherapist, ma'am," Weiss explained. "I specialize in curing mental disorders."

"May's condition can't be cured."

"Under normal circumstances, it can't. But thanks to my semblance, I can—"

"Semblance?" the woman repeated, horror-struck. She stared at May. "You brought one of them into our home?"

Weiss's face fell. So it was going to be one of those days. She briefly closed her eyes and sighed, resigning herself to what was about to ensue.

"Mom, you don't under—" May started.

"I'll deal with you later." May's mother turned her attention to Weiss, glaring and pointing at the door. "Get out!"

Weiss stood her ground, doing her best to keep calm. "Ma'am—"

"I said get the hell out, lusus!"

"Mom!" May exclaimed.

The word punctured Weiss like a red-hot dagger. "How dare you?"

"I dare to say whatever I damn well please in my own house!" said May's mother, her hand hovering by a kitchen drawer. "Now leave before I call the cops!"

Weiss bit her tongue and balled her fists, struggling to not shout back. Instead of lambasting the woman, she grabbed her purse and marched out the front door without another word. She fumed all the way to her car, then gripped the steering wheel so tightly it hurt.

She'd moved to Vale to get away from this. But bigots existed everywhere, regardless if you were in a city notorious for its discrimination or one more famously diverse. It didn't matter to these people that her semblance couldn't harm someone if she tried. She'd always be dangerous in their eyes—an animal with freakish powers, nothing more.

After a few minutes of trying to steady her breathing, she calmed down enough to remember to check her scroll. It was a text from Ruby.

U busy today?

Her schedule was free, but Weiss was tempted to say yes and drive straight home. She decided against it.

No, why? And it's spelled, "You".

She didn't have to wait long for Ruby's reply, which began with an emoji of a face sticking its tongue out.

Sun said we can go over today if u have nothing else going on. Meet u there now?

Weiss sighed, then sent back, Alright.

Weiss arrived first and took the opportunity to talk to Neptune while Sun was poring over files for another case. She found Neptune to be very charming and—though it wasn't very sophisticated—agreed with Ruby that he's "just cool". He was very easy to talk to, and the fact that he seemed to harbor no judgments about her being a paragon made him all the more interesting right now.

"So you haven't been in Vale long?" he said. "Must not have seen a whole lot of it, then."

"Not yet," said Weiss. "I've been exploring it a little bit at a time. It is a truly remarkable city, from my limited experience."

"How does it match up to life in Atlas?"

"It's better, somewhat. It's warmer. There isn't nearly as much prejudice here, though it's not entirely absent."

"Yeah. People suck sometimes. So. How about this? Since you're a newbie to this city and I've lived here for a few years, I could take you out tomorrow. We could see the sights, have a little tour, I could show you some of the best hotspots, maybe wrap it up with a nice dinner. What do you say?"

"Oh!" Weiss suppressed a smile. "Well, I—"

"I'm here!" Ruby announced on her sudden arrival, catching everyone's attention and cutting Weiss short.

"Hey, Ruby." Neptune waved.

"Alright!" Sun clapped once and stood up. "Now that you're both here, you might want to sit down. We have good news and bad news."

Weiss looked back to Neptune to see him mouth the word, "Later," before walking over to stand by Sun. She sat next to Ruby on the couch, a bit disgruntled, and waited to hear what they had to say.

"Good news first," Ruby said eagerly.

"Well, it's not particularly good news, per se," Sun said, "but we learned things. I spoke to Blake—I didn't tell her anything, of course—and she asked the judge about Maze's trial. The only charge they got on him was sexual assault, which doesn't seem to help us at all."

"I managed to track down the victim," Neptune said. "Asked her a few questions, but she never met the guy until the night of the incident. And she didn't match the killer's description, if you were wondering—brunette, short."

"They weren't wondering that," said Sun.

Neither woman disagreed.

"You never know!" Neptune said defensively. "She's a dead-end, is what I'm saying."

"Anyway," Sun continued. "There was nothing too concrete other than that at the trial, but it does seem pretty clear that—"

"Maze was working for Torchwick," Ruby finished for him.

Sun blinked. "Maze had ties to Torchwick—how strong or weak or of what nature, it's unclear. How did you know?"

"We chose not to 'sit tight'. I found out I had a friend who was in the gallery, so we talked to him."

"And you didn't think to tell us, save us a bit of time?" said Neptune.

"Our source could have easily missed something yours didn't," said Weiss. "We wanted to be safe."

"Yeah!" said Ruby.

Sun glanced at Neptune, then shrugged. "Fair point."

"So what's the bad news?" Weiss said.

The two men exchanged a look. Neptune shifted guiltily as Sun scratched the back of his head. Both seemed reluctant to say anything.

"Well?" Ruby said.

"We're out," Neptune blurted without meeting either of their eyes.

"What?" Ruby said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry. We're out," Neptune repeated.

"But we're just getting started!"

"Roman Torchwick is ruthless," said Sun. "There are at least a dozen murders that can be traced back to his organization, and it hasn't even existed for that long."

Despite how Ruby had initially made it seem, Torchwick was not just a serial bank robber. According to Weiss's internet sleuthing, he ran a small mafia. They operated in racketeering, arms trafficking, drug dealing, contract killing, and more. They were also very good at covering their tracks, as the justice system had failed to prove that any of the few alleged members that had been arrested were associated with him. Of those, Bole Maze was the only one of them that had been killed. They'd proven themselves several steps above an ordinary street gang.

"You need to tell your sister," Neptune said to Ruby.

"Hold on," said Weiss. "We don't even know for sure that Maze's death is linked to Torchwick or if Torchwick had any involvement with the death of Ruby's mother. He wasn't even active in Vale when it happened."

"But both of those things are possible, which is way too risky," said Sun. "Roman Torchwick has been quite open about his feats and never shied away from taking credit. If we assume that Maze was one of Torchwick's goons, it probably also means Torchwick's the one who killed him and covered up his past. He's never done that before, as far as we can tell. Snooping around the one guy he doesn't want traced back to him is the most sure-fire way to put yourself in his line of sight."

"Why does this change anything?" said Ruby. "We already knew we were tracking a dangerous killer. Now that we know the name of a dangerous killer that might be involved, you don't want to help anymore?"

"You're right," said Sun. "This doesn't change anything. We shouldn't have encouraged you from the start, and we're not going to encourage you now. This needs to be a police matter, and Yang has to know."

"No! If word about this spreads, then—"

"Nothing is worth your life, Ruby!" Sun interrupted. "You're afraid to tell Yang because you know she'll say the same exact thing. You're getting in way over your head. One minor slip-up is all it'll take for them to know what you're up to, and then they'll kill you. Is that what your mom would want?"

Ruby shot to her feet. "Don't talk like you knew her!"

"I know that no mother would want their daughter to waste her life in vain. You need to grow up."

Ruby opened her mouth, but couldn't seem to think of what else to say. Instead, she balled her fists and marched out the door. Weiss stood, her instincts telling her to go after her, but she didn't move. An air of awkwardness hung over the three of them.

"That was pretty harsh, dude," said Neptune.

Sun had the decency to look guilty. "Yeah, well . . . It was the truth. And it needed to be said."

After a few seconds' silence, both men looked at Weiss, likely wondering why she was still there. She bit her lip. On the one hand, she agreed with every single thing Sun had said. On the other . . .

"Are you going to tell Ruby's sister?" she asked.

"Of course not," said Sun. "It's gotta come from her."

"And if Ruby doesn't?"

Sun sighed. "Then, that's her choice."

"And what are you going to do?" Neptune asked Weiss. "You're not gonna keep enabling this, are you?"

"I said I'd help her. I, at the very least, am not one to renege on a promise."

"Come on," said Sun. "Ruby I understand. But you? You seemed smart to me."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm smart enough to comprehend that she's made up her mind, and she's continuing with or without us. Someone actually concerned for her safety needs to be there to keep her recklessness in check."

"You know the further her investigation progresses, the more dangerous it's going to get," said Neptune. "It fizzling out could be the best-case scenario, and that's not going to happen if you're helping her."

Weiss met his eyes. "I'm busy this weekend," she said coldly, then turned and left.

Perhaps they were right. Maybe Weiss just needed to admit to herself that this was what she was waiting for—a point where the risk became too high, and she'd have to find a way to talk Ruby into giving up; a point where she had to realize she was only here to make sure her semblance's evolution remained secret for as long as possible, and that being forced to report it to the CAB was unavoidable. But, regardless of whether that had been true at the start, it wasn't true now. She was here for Ruby, and she wasn't going to turn her back on her now.

Weiss found Ruby leaning against a wall outside with her arms crossed.

"What are you doing?" Weiss said.

"Waiting for you. Could I have a ride?"

"Don't you ever get tired of having to rely on other people?"

"No. Why would I? That's what friends are for." She smiled, not quite as widely as usual.

Weiss stared at her, then jerked her head in the direction of her car. "Fine. Let's go."

A few moments after they set off together, Ruby said, "So . . . Did Neptune ask you out?"

Weiss glanced at her, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Figured it was inevitable. He's never been too slow to ask out pretty girls."

"Oh." She felt reassured in her decision. "Well, I said no."

"Really?" Ruby said.

"Yes. Why?"

"You seemed kind of smitten."

"I did not!"

Ruby just chuckled as Weiss's cheeks grew warm.

Right now, tracing Bole Maze back to the woman who fired the gun was still their priority, but the available information on him was minimal. The most significant thing they'd learned was that he had some form of association with Roman Torchwick, but how helpful that was to know remained to be seen. Summer Rose had been murdered more than a year before Torchwick started making a name for himself in Vale, which made it doubtful that he had a hand in it. But it was another lead, so they'd follow it and hope for the best.

Ruby had dedicated the other side of her cork board to displaying information on Torchwick. It was filling up a lot faster than the original side, which had only one new addition to it—Roman Torchwick's mugshot, linked with yarn to Maze's picture. The difference between the availability of information on the two was as clear as night and day.

Torchwick had grown up in Vacuo and dropped out of high school at sixteen. Afterward, he'd gone to juvenile detention several times for shoplifting and underage smoking. His early adult life was rather hazy, though, as he'd managed to stay out of trouble for years. Then in 2006, he almost got away with robbing a jewelry store, but was arrested trying to fence the goods because one of his men betrayed him. He spent half a decade in prison, then went silent for a while. There was some word about him here and there, but nothing definitive—the mark of a good thief.

Someone robbed Vacuo's largest bank in 2015, and no suspects had ever been named. After that, Torchwick disappeared off the map. There was recent speculation that he had been behind it and had yet to develop his current modus operandi, but it couldn't be proven. Now, five years later, he's shown up in Vale and begun a crime spree, his infamy rapidly growing.

There were a fair amount of gaps, but it was a gold mine of information compared to Bole Maze. And there was almost certainly a lot more to be dug up with more thorough research. The only issue was that none of what they'd found brought them any closer to the killer.

For a little over a week, the two women had been separately digging up what they could, calling each other frequently and meeting up a few times, but had had little luck. It was getting to the point where Weiss was wondering when they'd have to declare a dead-end when she got an intriguing call from Ruby.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" came Ruby's voice. "Around two?"

"Two?" Weiss quickly ran over her plans for the following day. "No, why?"

"One of my classes got cancelled, and there's this club I want us to check out."

Weiss took a moment to reply. "A club? On a Monday? Wait, did you mean two AM?"

"No, PM. Can you make it?"

"First of all, are they even going to be open? Secondly, would you care to explain why?"

"Yeah, they've got a day bar. And I'll explain tomorrow. It's important, trust me."

Weiss contemplated. "Fine. Where is it?"

"I'll text you the address. And make sure to be low-key."

"What do you mean by, 'low-key'?"

"Wear something you usually wouldn't, put on some sunglasses, get some makeup hiding that scar. Oh, and let your hair down for once. The ponytail's cute and all, but you always wear it. Bit of a giveaway."

"Givea—" Weiss was suddenly suspicious. "Ruby, what are you planning?"

"Don't worry about it. I said trust me. Okay, see you tomorrow, bye." She hung up without giving Weiss a chance to argue.

As it turned out, the club was only a couple of blocks away from where Weiss lived, so Ruby agreed to meet her there.

Weiss arrived on foot right on the agreed-upon time to find Ruby already waiting outside. The girl wore her usual zip-up jacket, but she'd pulled the zipper up and had the hood on, covering her hair. Her silver eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

Ruby took a second to say anything. "Oh, Weiss! I actually didn't recognize you."

As she'd been instructed, Weiss had let her dyed hair curtain down her back and hidden her scar as best she could. She also had a pair of sunglasses on and wore a red dress that went just past her knees. It was a gift she'd had for a while, but she never wore it as the color didn't suit her unless as an accent—and she didn't get many opportunities to dress up these days.

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Weiss asked. "And why wouldn't you explain before?"

"I just wanted to be safe," said Ruby. "On the off chance someone was listening in."

"Who would be bugging your scroll?"

"I don't know, but Yang let slip something that she probably shouldn't have, and I don't want her getting in trouble. The guy who owns this place—" she nudged her head toward the club "—knows Torchwick."

"What?" Weiss said. "And you just want to prance right in and interrogate him? Are you insane?"

"No, he's a police informant! Look—I've been discreetly bringing Torchwick up around Yang here and there, to see if she knows anything, you know? But another precinct is working that case, so she's not been much of a help. Then yesterday, she mentioned that Junior, an informant she talks to every now and again, knows him. And that's probably supposed to be confidential, so don't tell anyone she told me."

"Do you even know anything about this man?"

"Not really," Ruby admitted. "I think he got arrested once and took a deal to stay out of jail. Now he gets to keep running his business but has to tell the cops anything he learns."

"What was he arrested for? There's no guarantee that he's truly reformed."

"I don't know, but it can't be too bad if they let him go, right?"

Weiss brought her palm to her forehead. "Ruby, I defended you against Neptune and Sun, but if you're going to be this dense then I might start to regret that decision. You want to talk to a literal criminal about our clandestine investigation. This is the furthest thing from avoiding risks!"

"I know what I'm doing," Ruby said, a look of determination in her eye. "I won't be obvious. And no one's going to be able to know who we are, anyway."

Weiss stared at her. "This is a bar, Ruby."

"So?"

"They are going to ask us to show them our IDs."

Ruby opened her mouth to argue, couldn't come up with a rebuttal, then closed it. "Oh. I didn't realize that."

"You think?"

"Well, we just won't order anything, then. I don't turn twenty-one until October, anyway."

Weiss had no words.

"Just follow my lead, okay?"

Weiss's eyes widened. "No, Ruby, wait!"

She was already through the door. Left with little choice, Weiss followed after her.

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