"Wait, Jaune?" Ruby exclaimed. "The Protector's a boy?" She said both things as if they were equally shocking.

"Man." Jaune scowled as he tucked the helmet beneath his arm. "And Pyrrha was the only Protector of Vale."

Ruby's eyes widened even further. "Did you know her?"

A shadow passed over his face, and he gave a slight nod, as if any stronger affirmation would be too painful.

"Wow," Ruby sighed in complete and utter admiration.

"Now hold on a second," said Weiss, having finally been able to gather her thoughts enough to speak. "You're the one who's saved my life three times?"

"Yes," said Jaune.

"You?"

"A simple 'thank you' would've been fine," he said.

"But you're . . ." Weiss trailed off, unable to think of a way to end that sentence that wasn't rude. "Why have you been following me?"

"I've been following Ruby."

The girl blinked. "Me?"

"I put a tracker/listening device on your hoodie," he said. "You never go anywhere without it."

"You did?" Ruby immediately began searching herself for the bug. "When?"

"When you came by for my notes. I was worried you were getting in over your heads, so I stuck it in your hood on your way out the door."

Instead of simply taking off the jacket, the girl awkwardly tugged her hood over her shoulder so she could search it. Even knowing the bug was there, she struggled to find it.

"So that first time you rescued me," said Weiss.

"It was right after our appointment," Jaune said. "I saw those men cornering you from my window, and I jumped in to help."

"And since we borrowed your notes, you've just been following her everywhere?"

"No. I'd been listening in whenever I got a chance in order to see what you two were up to. I heard Ruby talking to her sister about Junior, and then she immediately called you to make plans to visit a club. I had to miss a class so I could be there. After that, I started watching her whenever I could—to keep her safe."

"Why didn't you just tell me—? Ooh! I found it!" Ruby began picking at something stuck to her hood.

"Don't pull on it. It's latched onto the threads," Jaune told her. "You'll ruin your jacket."

Ruby stopped. "It's so tiny. What kind of battery is in this thing? How much did it cost? Was it always red, or does it blend in to whatever it's connected to?"

"It blends in, and I don't know. We shouldn't be talking out in the open like this."

"You first saved me two months ago," Weiss said. "If you've been a vigilante all this time, then why have you only appeared in the news twice—both instances being when Ruby and I were in danger?"

"Because I'm not a vigilante. I told you—Pyrrha was the only Protector of Vale."

"But," said Ruby, "I thought you were her successor."

He shifted his gaze. "I was supposed to be. But I gave that up almost as soon as I started it. I'm only wearing this because you won't stop trying to get yourself killed."

"Thank you!" Weiss said with an exasperated hand gesture.

"The point is, I'm no hero," said Jaune.

"But you saved us," Ruby said. "That's pretty heroic to me."

"I'm nothing special. Most of it's the armor. Look—" he glanced over his shoulder "—like I said, we shouldn't talk here. We need to get somewhere safe."

"Do you know of somewhere safe?" Weiss said.

"Yes," said Jaune.

"Ooh!" said Ruby. "Are you going to take us to your secret lair? The Protector Cave? The . . . Shield Den? Or, uh . . . Oh, the Sheath!"

He stared at her. "What?"

"You know, where you hang up your sword."

"That's . . . actually kind of cool," he admitted. "But there's no lair. It's just a safe house."

"How are we supposed to get there?" said Weiss. "If Torchwick is to be believed, you're not the only one who's been following Ruby. And we won't exactly look all that inconspicuous walking down the street beside you wearing that."

"We'll just have to travel where no one can see us." He brought the back of his arm up to eye level and tapped on it with his other hand, causing a screen to light up.

"Ooh, is that a wrist communicator?" Ruby tried to get behind him to see it, but he shooed her away. "Are you going to call in a self-driving Protector-mobile or something?"

Jaune didn't respond. He continued tapping away at the screen for half a minute, then said, "Oh, there's one right here."

"There's what here?" Ruby said, looking around for something impressive. Weiss couldn't help doing the same, though she reeled in her own curiosity.

The two watched in anticipation as Jaune put the helmet back on and walked fifteen feet up the alley, stopping by a dumpster. He pushed it aside, revealing the manhole cover that had been hidden beneath it.

Weiss stared at it for two seconds, then she said, "Oh you have got to be joking."

"There's a shower at the safe house," Jaune told her with a distorted voice. He drew his sword and used it as a lever to pop the lid off.

"We're nearly there," Jaune announced through his voice modulator.

"Oh thank god." Weiss sounded as if she had a cold, for she'd been covering her face and pinching her nose for the entirety of the hour-long journey. When they reached the surface, she'd be throwing away her shoes and completely repressing this entire experience from her memory. So much vile gunk had gotten on her legs and feet that she'd need at least a dozen showers to be able to feel clean again.

Jaune finally stopped at a set of iron rungs leading upward. Weiss was tempted to insist that she climb first so that she could leave this abhorrent place as soon as possible, but she was wearing a skirt. Jaune led the way up the ladder—he was probably the only one able to lift the manhole cover, anyway. Next went Ruby—who wore pants—and Weiss went last.

They emerged near the Vale Canal, behind a row of industrial buildings guarded by fences. Weiss inhaled as much fresh air as her lungs could take, then let out a massive sigh of relief. She'd been looking forward to basking in the sunlight, but night had fallen while they were down there. City lights were welcome too, she supposed—anything but dank darkness was.

"Hey, we're not far from Beacon," Ruby said after taking in their surroundings. Though she hadn't complained about trekking through the sewers, she had a renewed excitement now that they were out of them—or perhaps that was because their destination was so close, now.

"Pyrrha needed somewhere central for a base," Jaune said. "Beacon's pretty central, too, but she never enrolled."

"Did she go to school somewhere else?" Ruby said.

"No, she . . ." He was silent for a moment, then shook his head and set off. "We'll talk inside."

Weiss tried and failed to guess where this safe house could be as she followed. There were no actual houses anywhere in sight—only apartment complexes across the water. She doubted it could be any of these industrial buildings, as there was no way Jaune could afford one. But, then again, he did own a high-tech suit of armor probably worth an absurd amount of lien.

He stopped at the second to last building—a small warehouse. He punched a code into the fence gate and held it open for Weiss and Ruby, then closed it behind them. They approached from the back, passing a few shipping containers on the way to an emergency exit. The door had no handles, so he opened it remotely with his arm device.

"How do you afford all this?" Weiss couldn't help asking.

"I don't," said Jaune as he waited for the two women to enter ahead of him. "Pyrrha had a friend who designed and paid for everything, including this suit."

The interior wasn't that impressive. There were a few piles of boxes next to empty racks, some wooden pallets littered across the floor, and a single forklift, but there were no wares. A layer of dust covered everything. The building didn't look like it had been used for its intended purpose in a while. If it weren't for the functioning lights and ventilation, Weiss might have assumed it'd been abandoned.

"I'm not seeing a shower," Weiss said.

Jaune walked over to the rightmost wall and tapped on a seemingly random portion of it, which revealed a secret panel. He took off his helmet and right gauntlet so he could scan his palm and retina. It also required a passcode for extra measure. Once he'd done all that, a rectangular stretch of floor raised up and split apart, uncovering a hidden staircase.

"Cool," Ruby sighed. Weiss suspected that she was having the best day of her life, despite their near abduction and potential deaths an hour past.

Weiss heard the floor panel slide shut behind her as she descended after Jaune and Ruby. The stairs went down about the depth of two basements before leveling out. At the bottom was a single blast-door with another electronic lock keeping it shut. This one only asked for a code before admitting them entrance—Jaune had to enter it twice, as he messed up the first time.

"Okay, this is definitely a lair," Weiss said as she stepped through the doorway.

"Right?" said Ruby, who immediately began to run up to and gawk at everything.

The place was a vigilante's lair, no doubt about it. An advanced computer with six mounted monitors sat against the middle of the far wall. Off to the side of that was what almost looked like a metal dresser—a rectangular stand with many drawers along its face. Four metal mannequins were lined up to the left near a weapon rack. The entire front-left corner was left bare, except for a single humanoid robot. There were several cabinets and shelves off to the right, interspersed between three doors. And all of the walls were reinforced, well enough to probably survive a significant explosion.

"Supervillains have lairs," Jaune said. "Superheroes have hideouts."

"What's this?" Ruby examined the currently inactive robot first. It was featureless and all black, its inner mechanisms visible through cracks and joints.

"It's a training bot." Jaune was over by the mannequins, hanging up his sword and shield on a rack. There were two more items on it—a bo staff and a smaller shield, more like a buckler than the kite he'd been using. "You can spar with it and run a bunch of different programs. It's almost as good as a real mentor."

"It knows martial arts?"

"Whatever you can name. It's useless outside of here, though, because it needs several camera angles to work properly, and familiar surroundings."

The pieces of Jaune's armor began mechanically shifting so he could take them off and apply them to a dummy, revealing the regular clothes he had on underneath. Ruby joined him over there, looking at the one mannequin that wasn't naked. It had on a suit of armor similar to his, but was colored white with bronze accents instead of black and silver. And unlike the suit Jaune currently wore, which was androgynous in appearance, this one was clearly shaped for a man.

"What's this one for?" Ruby asked.

"That was my suit," said Jaune. "I only wore it once, and it's just an empty shell now. We moved the exoskeleton from it to this one after . . . the assault."

"We?" said Weiss. She'd been standing back, taking everything in from a distance.

Jaune was quiet.

"There are four mannequins here," said Weiss.

He sighed, then stepped out of his boots, kneeling down to fit them to the model. "At first, it was just Pyrrha. Then there was Re—" he stopped himself and cleared his throat "—two others. And she had one made for me, too. I never wanted to be a vigilante, though. I only asked her to train me so I could defend myself if I ever needed to, but she saw something in me I didn't."

"I always thought she worked alone," said Ruby.

"There were a lot of copycats running around, then," said Jaune. "Not that there aren't now. Everyone thought they were just two more. They only joined her a few months before Salem came, so they never became famous like her."

"What happened to them?"

"They moved to Mistral, chasing the guy who exposed Pyrrha's identity. I'm not sure if they caught him. We're not on the best of terms right now."

"Exposed her? But I thought she turned herself in."

"Wait," said Weiss. "She was arrested?"

Ruby frowned at her. "Well, yeah, duh. You didn't know?"

"I used to live in Atlas, remember? I didn't keep up with the goings-on of this city before Salem attacked."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Well, it was like a week before the assault. She revealed herself on live TV and turned herself in to the police. She broke out not long after so she could face Salem's forces."

"You never wondered why she did it?" said Jaune.

"Of course I have!" said Ruby. "Everyone has."

"There was a bomb," he said. "Beneath the city plaza. This guy—or woman, I still don't know—hacked her scroll and showed her live footage of it. If she turned herself in and revealed her secret to the world, he'd deactivate it. If anyone tried to defuse it or evacuate the area, he'd set it off early. There was no choice to make."

"Oh," Ruby said quietly. She went over to the weapon rack to examine his sword. "Wait, this is dull."

"Well, yeah," said Jaune. "You don't think Pyrrha was out there cutting people in half, do you?"

"Well, no. But swords are supposed to be sharp!"

"It's got other features. It's blunt and heavy, so it's good for knocking people off their feet. You can shock people with it, if you need to. The tip is kind of like a magnetic grappling hook, too—it can shoot out and stick to guns . . . or knives." He glanced at Weiss. "So, it's good for disarming."

Weiss had an internal, "Ohhh," moment. Even after all this time, she'd still never been able to make complete sense of what her savior had done that day. Everything had happened so quickly, and her head hadn't exactly been in its clearest state.

"Awesome," said Ruby. She next went to admire the suit now that he'd fully transferred it from himself to a mannequin. "How does this work? You said it had an exoskeleton. Is this actually the armor that she wore?"

"Yeah," Jaune said. "When she used it, it was mostly just protective, with a few extra features. The exoskeleton is meant for me, so it's like I have her semblance, but even stronger. Pyrrha called it enhanced body strength. She could run faster than anyone else, jump higher, lift more, and hit harder. But I can only do that with the suit."

"So you're not a paragon, then?" said Weiss.

He shook his head.

She couldn't help being impressed. Despite him giving all the credit to the technology, she knew there was more to it than that. Not just anyone could simply put on the suit and do the things he'd done—Weiss knew she couldn't.

Weiss's attention was fully on Jaune as he approached the computer, until Ruby distracted her.

"Hey, Weiss!" The girl had detached the helmet from the rest of the suit and put it on herself. "What do you think? Good look for me?"

"You look like a dunce," Weiss said bluntly.

Ruby's shoulders slumped. "You're no fun."

"I ice skate!" Weiss objected.

Ruby tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Never mind. Just take that thing off."

"Fine." Ruby removed the helmet and tried to return it to the model, accidentally dropping it in the process. It fell to the ground with a loud clatter, followed by a sharp intake from Jaune's direction. Weiss looked over to see he'd whirled around with a frantic look in his eyes.

"Sorry, sorry!" Ruby hastily picked up the dropped object, nervously inspecting it for damage. "It slipped! I don't think I broke it, I hope."

Jaune shut his eyes and took a shaky breath, his fists clenched and slightly quivering. As he released it, out too went the tension in his body. "It's fine. It'd be useless if something like that could break it."

"Oh, right," Ruby said, relieved. She returned the helmet to its place, more carefully this time.

Jaune turned back to the computer and resumed typing something into the keyboard. Weiss watched him, but she wasn't paying attention to the screens. She was connecting the pieces together in her mind.

"You have PTSD," she said.

Jaune froze.

"He does?" said Ruby.

"You said you only wore that armor the one time." Weiss pointed at the suit he'd described as an empty shell. "And you said that you removed the exoskeleton from it after the assault."

Still, Jaune said nothing. He was as rigid as a board. Ruby seemed to be slowly comprehending what Weiss was getting at. Then her eyes grew wide.

"You were there," Weiss said, awed.

"You fought Salem?" said Ruby.

"Yes, I was there, and no, I didn't fight Salem," Jaune said without turning around, his hands clenching the desk. "Pyrrha did that alone. I was down on the ground with Re— the other two."

"What was it like?" Ruby asked. "Did you see her machine up close?"

Jaune didn't answer, then he raised a hand and pointed off to his right, first at the middle door, then the farthest, and finally the nearest, saying, "Bathroom's there, bunk beds are in there, and kitchen is there. There's only one shower, so you'll have to take turns."

"But—" Ruby started to say.

"Just . . . Leave me alone. Please. We'll talk more in the morning."

"Oh." Ruby deflated. There was an awkward silence until she looked over at Weiss and said, "You can have the bathroom first. I need to call Yang—tell her I won't be home tonight."

Weiss continued to stare sympathetically at Jaune's back for a few more seconds, then gave Ruby a nod. The girl pulled out her scroll while Weiss walked to the bathroom, pushing the door open and closing herself inside.

The living quarters had four bunk beds and twice as many trunks, enough for eight people. Room dividers were placed between each bed. When Weiss woke up, she found Jaune still asleep—or pretending to still be asleep—and Ruby was out in the main room, having figured out how to operate the training bot. At the moment, she was just mimicking moves it showed her and practicing her form. The thing spoke in a mechanical voice, giving out simple instructions and feedback, but moved with eerily realistic motions—if she couldn't see through to its inner workings, Weiss might've been convinced it was a real person wearing a costume.

Weiss let her friend be and went to the bathroom, taking another shower—she still felt gross, no matter how thoroughly she washed herself. There was a cabinet in there filled with still-packaged supplies for every need, so she could brush her teeth and shave without fear of using someone's used items. It also had a closet with basic clothes in various sizes, which is where she got what she currently wore—a t-shirt and sweatpants, leaving her feet bare except for a pair of socks. Whoever set this place up had thought of everything.

Afterward, Ruby joined her in the kitchen for a mediocre breakfast. The room contained many shelves of canned and dry foods, a large chest freezer, and a dining table. Needless to say, the food was meant to last rather than taste good. They ate beans and peas while Weiss finally took the chance to fill Ruby in on what she'd seen inside Torchwick's mind.

"The largest bank in Vacuo," Ruby said thoughtfully as soon as she'd finished describing the first memory. "But that heist was five years ago. If he said he was going to retire after, then why is he robbing banks here now?"

Weiss shrugged. "He said that some things are worth making sacrifices for. Perhaps he lost whatever—or whomever—he was referring to."

"Could be . . . What else did you see?"

Weiss recounted the second memory for her, of the tongueless girl in the cell. It made more sense to her in hindsight. Powerful semblances have been at the heart of some of history's most significant conflicts. Salem herself could control metal, according to the CAB—it was postulated that she even had the ability to detect it within the ground, which she'd used to gather gold and other precious metals for funds and the resources she needed to construct her colossal weapon. So it was understandable why a girl with super-speed would be locked away. But who was she to Torchwick, and why wasn't he keeping her imprisoned now?

"It sounds like he's turned her into a human weapon," Ruby said.

"I don't know," Weiss said. "That seems like a bit of a leap."

"Think about it. She was kept in a semblance blocker with only the necessities and exercise equipment, like all he needed from her was to stay alive and stay fit. You said she was basically dressed in rags, right? And he cut out her tongue! He took away her ability to speak so she wouldn't argue against orders or talk back at all.

"The fact is, Torchwick's done all these perfect robberies where he gets away long before the police ever arrive, and so many so quickly. This woman has to be the reason. He acts like he's invincible, letting everyone know who he is and what he's doing, because he has a bodyguard who can protect him from anyone who tries to take him down."

Weiss still wasn't convinced. The girl's theory had merits, but also holes. If this woman was nothing more than a slave soldier, why give her appearance so much personality? The dyed hair, fancy clothes, parasol—it all helped her stand out in a crowd. That seemed counterintuitive.

"There was a girl," said Jaune, catching both women by surprise; he'd entered the room without either of them noticing. "Seven years old when her parents were murdered and she was kidnapped. Rumors had gotten out that she had a speed semblance, so someone took her. The police never found her."

"Where did you learn that?" Ruby asked.

"I found it online last night, with some digging."

"And you think this girl is the woman we saw yesterday?"

"That girl would be around twenty-four right now, which fits. And it's the same semblance. And she was born in Vacuo, the same city Torchwick grew up in."

"See, Weiss?" said Ruby. "She was taken as a child because of her semblance and raised to be a weapon."

Weiss had to concede that the evidence was damning, but something still didn't feel right.

"The timeline doesn't fit," she said.

"What?" said Jaune.

"Torchwick couldn't have been that old when that girl was taken—barely an adult. And he also spent five years in prison, way after her abduction. It doesn't line up."

"Hmm," said Ruby. "Well, someone else must've trained and brainwashed her, then Torchwick bought her . . . or stole her."

"Could be," Weiss admitted.

Ruby looked to Jaune. "That girl—she have a name?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Neo Politan."

Ruby frowned. "Like the ice cream?"

"Two words. Neo, Politan."

"Oh. Well, if my last name was Politan I'd name my kid Neo, too."

"Neo," Weiss repeated, having just remembered. "Torchwick said that name."

Both of them looked at her.

"When?" said Ruby.

"In the first memory. He asked someone named Neo for their gun—well, he demanded it, really. But he never looked at them."

"That proves it, then," said Jaune.

There was a short lull, eventually broken by Ruby. "So . . . what do we do now?"

"We take this to the police, obviously," said Weiss. "There's no other option."

"No," Jaune said.

Weiss stared at him. "Pardon me?"

"No," he repeated. "This is too big for the cops. Torchwick acts like he's invincible because he basically is. They'll never be able to arrest him with this Neo girl at large. A lot of people could die in the attempt."

"That's insane!" said Weiss. "Police have equipment designed specifically for combating criminal paragons."

"Yeah, but they're not prepared for anything like this," said Ruby. "All those tools are useless if she can just run up and kill the cops before they can even try to use them."

"Then there's no hope at all."

"That's not true." Jaune fished something out of his pocket and placed it on the table—a small metal disc with a glass container in the center holding a red liquid. Several needles stuck out along the rim, propping it up a few centimeters like legs.

"What is it?" Ruby picked it up faster than Jaune could try to swat her hand away.

"Be careful!" he warned. "That's a semblance inhibitor."

Ruby rolled her eyes, looking closely at the object she held between two fingers. "Very funny. What is it actually?"

"I just told you," Jaune said without a trace of humor. "Put it down—you might break it."

Ruby obeyed, but still didn't believe him. "That's impossible. Semblance inhibitors are huge—like whole rooms. And they drain a ton of electricity. That's why there are only a handful of prisons in Remnant that have them."

"I'm telling you, this is real. The effect wears off after a few hours, but if a paragon is stuck with this, it completely stops them from using their semblance. I'd let you test it on yourself, but I only have a few—and I've heard it's not exactly comfortable."

"But no one's ever been able to make a small-scale semblance inhibitor before. The closest prototypes are bigger than a person and never got safe enough for human testing."

Weiss noted how knowledgeable Ruby was on the subject. She almost asked why, but then she remembered how desperately Ruby had wanted a cure for her supposed insomnia. When she still believed her semblance to simply be the lack of a need for sleep, the idea of an inhibitor in the shape of a necklace or bracelet had probably been very appealing.

"If this kind of thing exists," said Ruby, "then why doesn't everyone know about it? Why don't all police officers have them?"

"Pyrrha told me the tech is dangerous," Jaune said. "I don't know how it works. I just know that it does. The guy who invented this—the guy who set this whole place up—he doesn't want anyone else to know how to make it, because the wrong kind of people can figure out how to make a lot scarier things from it."

"Like what?" Weiss said.

"I don't know," said Jaune. "Nothing good."

"Like . . . weapons that only work on paragons—mass weapons?" said Ruby.

"Maybe," said Jaune. "I don't know."

"What's to stop people you use these on from reverse-engineering?" said Weiss. "Do you somehow get them back after their powers have been inhibited?"

"No," said Jaune. "It's useless after it's been used—that's what Pyrrha said. I think it's mostly in the chemical. Again, don't ask me how it works. The guy who made it had to have known what he was doing."

"Who is this person?" Weiss asked.

Jaune shrugged. "Pyrrha just said she met him while she was traveling abroad. I don't think he lives in Remnant. I didn't ask too much about him."

"What?" Ruby gaped at him. "How could you not ask about what has to be one of the most brilliant engineers alive?"

"I don't know. I guess I never got around to it. There were cooler things to ask about."

Ruby continued to stare at him as if she couldn't comprehend how he could have said the words he had. Meanwhile, Weiss picked up the small inhibitor, careful not to touch the tips of the needles.

"Be careful!" Jaune said.

"I know!" Weiss said. "I just had another question—why did you call this our 'only hope'?"

"It can disable Neo's speed, which is the main thing stopping Torchwick from being arrested," he said.

"Yes, but how do you expect to be able to get this thing on her? The same issue Ruby brought up earlier still applies. Unless your suit can make you as fast as this woman, you'll never be able to touch her, let alone prick her with this."

"I'll have to try to catch her by surprise. And if that fails . . . The armor's tough enough. Maybe I can tire her out."

"And if she kills you?"

He hesitated. "Then I'll die."

There was a strange look in his eyes as he said it, one that Weiss didn't immediately understand. It made her suspicious, but before she got a chance to question it, Ruby spoke up.

"I'll do it," she said.

"What?" Weiss and Jaune said simultaneously, staring at her.

"I said I'll do it," Ruby repeated. She stood, then—whoosh. She was suddenly on the other side of the room. "You can't outrun instant."

"No way," said Jaune.

"Are out of your mind?" Weiss said.

"And by the way, since when was that a thing?" Jaune asked, gesturing at Ruby.

"She discovered it at Junior's," Weiss said impatiently, "but don't change the subject. Ruby Rose, you are not going anywhere near that woman!"

"I'm the only one who can!" said Ruby. "I'm not going to be able to go out and do it tomorrow or the day after, obviously, but my semblance is the only thing that stands a chance at getting Neo out of the picture long enough to get to Torchwick."

"That—" Weiss began.

"Torchwick needs to be stopped!" Ruby asserted with more conviction than Weiss had ever seen from her. "He's out there robbing banks and killing people, just like he did to Bole . . ." She trailed off, getting a distant look in her eye. "Bole Maze."

"Huh?" said Jaune.

"They never found out how he died, did they?" Ruby said.

"I've not heard anything," Weiss said, not sure where she was going with this.

"It had to be Neo," Ruby said. "It had to have been her that broke in and killed him."

Weiss frowned. "That would make sense. I did wonder why he didn't just pay another prisoner to do it—it would've averted a lot of suspicion. But if he could just send her in, it'd save him the money."

"Exactly. So even if we do manage to take down Torchwick, Neo can easily just break him out."

"She'll be in prison, too," said Jaune. "If we can get that inhibitor on her. It's both of them or neither of them."

"But . . ." said Ruby. "Does she really deserve that?"

"What?" said Weiss.

"I mean, she was taken as a kid!" said Ruby. "She was conditioned and maybe tortured to be a mindless soldier. Doesn't that make her another victim?"

"Someone else turning her into what she is doesn't absolve the things she's done," Jaune said. "The fact is, she's one of the most dangerous people alive and needs to be locked away. We can't do anything to undo what was done to her."

Ruby looked troubled. She stared at the ground, thinking quietly to herself. Weiss could see the gears turning in her head, and she realized the idea Ruby was about to come up with before she even said it.

"Can't we?" Ruby looked up and locked eyes with Weiss.

"What?" said Jaune.

"How does your semblance work, exactly?" she said. "If you could get close to her, could you heal the damage that's been done?"

Weiss bit her lip. She failed to think of a way away from this subject, as she didn't want to lie. She sighed, resigned, and said, "It's possible—maybe even probable."

"Really?" Ruby said excitedly.

"My mother—I inherited my semblance from her—she once helped a boy who'd been taken in by a cult. They'd brainwashed him and ingrained various crazy ideas and beliefs into his head that he clung to even after he was rescued. My mother was able to use her semblance to clear his head of them. If Neo's condition is similar, I could theoretically heal her, as well as erase any loyalty to Torchwick that was forced upon her. But—"

"See?" Ruby said. "We're the only ones who can stop Torchwick! Jaune has the tech and the experience—"

"Not much, really," Jaune said.

"—I have a semblance that can counter Neo's, and you, Weiss, can free her mind!"

Weiss sat there for a moment, unsure of what to say. "This is insane. Jaune, tell her how insane she's being!"

But, somehow, Jaune didn't immediately jump to side with her. Instead, he said, "She's right."

"Excuse me?"

Jaune flinched. "Look, you don't have a lot of options. You're both in the crosshairs of the most dangerous criminal in Vale. It's not safe for you to leave this place until he's out of the picture. You can go back to living your life as normal, praying you're not kidnapped and murdered; you can live down here for who knows how long, hoping that someone else will do what only we stand a chance at doing; or you can take the matter into your own hands."

"Wait, we're not allowed to leave?" Weiss said.

"Um, yeah . . . I'm with her on that," Ruby said with a tone of uncertainty. "I have class in like—" she checked her scroll "—an hour."

"And I have contracts," said Weiss. "An apartment, bills to pay."

"None of that will matter if you're dead," said Jaune. "There's everything you need to survive down here until this is all over."

Weiss took a desperate moment to think, her head spinning. Her sister could protect her, if she moved back to Atlas, which she did not want to do. Winter could convince General Ironwood to bring the military down to Vale to deal with the situation. With enough force, they could likely stop Neo—though not without killing her and losing soldiers in the process. And that was if they even got the chance to face her; a show of power like that would only send Torchwick deep into hiding. There really weren't many great options.

"But what about my grades?" Ruby asked. "I can't just take time off school. I'm supposed to graduate next semester!"

"It won't—" Jaune began.

"Yeah, yeah, it won't matter if I'm dead," Ruby brushed him off. "But Torchwick doesn't know where we are right now, so he won't be able to follow me. And he won't try and do anything when there are witnesses around, right? I could just take the sewer back here afterward to minimize the risk."

Jaune thought about it. "Fine. But you're sending me your schedule so I can walk you between classes. Torchwick doesn't know about me still."

Ruby glanced at the armor. "Are you going to be able to have that with you?"

Jaune looked miffed. "What, you don't think I can protect you without it?"

"That's not what I meant, but . . . Well, it's the Protector's armor," Ruby said.

Jaune scowled, but eventually gave in. "It takes time to set it up, but it can collapse down to fit into a box for carrying around in public. It's a lot quicker to put on that way, too."

"Really? Can I see?"

"Not right now."

Ruby pouted. "Fine. It's a deal, then, so long as I don't miss my classes."

"Hello?" Weiss said, calling attention to herself. "What about me?"

"You'll stay here," said Ruby.

"What, that's it? I have a life, too!" Weiss protested. "If I don't do my contracts, I won't be able to pay my bills, I'll lose my apartment, and my credit will suffer."

"I can't be in two places at once," said Jaune. "I don't know what to tell you."

"Torchwick doesn't even know who I am. He said he only found me because I met up with Ruby."

"Do you really want to stake your life on that?" Jaune said.

She glowered, but couldn't argue. She wasn't going to outwardly admit it, but they were right. He'd seen her face, and she was a Schnee. Even with her dyed hair, it'd be easy for him to recognize her from a family portrait.

"It's just for a little while," Ruby said. "Until we can train and prepare enough to stop Torchwick."

"Now hold on. I never agreed to that!"

"Well, Jaune and I did. Right Jaune?"

It took him a second to realize she'd asked him a question. "Hm? Oh, yeah. Right." His voice betrayed a hint of uncertainty.

Ruby walked back to the center of the room to stand across the table from Weiss, making eye contact. "Look. We're not going to force you to join us. But I think our chances would be a lot better if you decided to. If we succeed without you, Neo will join Torchwick in prison with her mind still in ruins. But if we succeed with you, you might just be able to save her soul."

"What do you want from me?" Weiss asked, frustrated. "I'm not a vigilante!"

"You could be," Ruby said with all the seriousness in the world. "You chose to help people for a living, and you charge a really reasonable rate for it even though it's something that you're the only person alive who can do. And you chose to help me find my mom's killer when you barely even knew me. You can be a hero."

Weiss sank back into her chair and buried her face in her hands. Of all the crazy things she'd heard that morning, this topped them all. Weiss, a vigilante. Ridiculous. And Ruby said that without even knowing what Weiss's semblance had done to Torchwick the previous night—that it might have evolved again to have offensive capabilities.

But the girl's words had somehow resonated with her, and she almost felt . . . encouraged. She looked up, which was a mistake. She couldn't fight Ruby's pleading eyes.

"I . . ." Weiss bit her lip. "I need some time to think about it."

Ruby beamed.

"Well, you've got plenty," said Jaune, "because we still have no idea where to even find Torchwick."

"You could still help out with that, no matter what you decide," Ruby said to Weiss. "There's no risk in surfing the web."

"I suppose," Weiss conceded. "I can look through the files Neptune sent me on Torchwick while you two are off furthering your education."

Ruby frowned. "Neptune?"

"Yes."

"I didn't realize you two were in contact."

"We're not. He sent the email unprompted."

"Oh." Ruby was quiet a moment, then put on a smile and said, "Well, it's official, then—the investigation is back on!"

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