Thank you for all the 10-year anniversary messages xD

Now I feel so old. Ten years. Daaaamn. That's a whole decade of writing fanfiction, which is kind of nuts. I'm happy I've been able to write and have people find some joy in my works. There's enough misery and such in the world right now that it feels pure to be able to sit down and just post things online without causing drama or pain for people.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 123

Ruby looked adorably frumpy in her new suit.

It took a lot for Blake to resist pointing it out and keep a straight face as her new colleague shifted her body and looked at herself in the mirror of the private tailor the company used. The man serving them was doing a far better job at acting like suiting up a fifteen-year-old in clothing worth more than the average annual salary was normal. Maybe it was for him, because with the prices he charged he was almost certainly catering to fabulously rich people.

The suit was no different to any other they wore, the black jacket and pants, black gloves, white shirt and so on. Ruby didn't have, and might not receive, one of their dark blue greatcoats to wear over the top. Those were kept for proper members, those serving in the field, and Ruby was officially admin staff. In an ideal world, she shouldn't be dealing directly with anomalies. Not that this was an ideal world.

"I feel silly," Ruby complained.

"You look great," Blake lied. Ruby was too short to make the suit work. More than that, she was quite soft and round in appearance, especially in the face, still having some baby fat. The result was that, instead of making her look older, the suit only served to highlight how young she was and make her look like someone trying to dress older. And it wasn't really a lie. Ruby didn't look bad at all.

She just looked cute, which Blake knew the young girl wouldn't appreciate.

"That'll be three hundred thousand lien for the suit and the extras you ordered," said the man with the tape measure. Ruby choked at the figure, which could have bought her home in Patch ten times over. "Will you be paying immediately or in instalments?"

"Immediately." Blake handed over her card. "Thank you for your swift service."

"No. Thank you for your continued custom. Do you have an address for me to deliver the spare suits to, or will you prefer to collect?"

"Ruby has yet to decide on her living situation so we'll let you know." The man nodded in response, ringing up the amount and taking the credit off her card. It was a business card, not her own. Ruby was yet to receive one and would need to go through the banks first. "Thank you. Come on, Ruby. Keep that suit on. You'd best get used to it."

"C—Coming. Thank you, mister!"

The tailor waved awkwardly back at her as she followed Blake out. Her gait was a little stumbling due to the tight-fitting black shoes. Ruby had wanted to keep wearing her boots but Blake had refused. There was no telling if someone from ARC Corp wouldn't come check up on Ruby to see how she was doing, and the last thing they wanted was for people to think they were going easy on her. Ruby would get used to the shoes and outfit soon enough.

"What did you mean about my living situation? I live at home with dad."

"And that's fine if it's what you want to keep doing," Blake said. "But I didn't want to assume. Your duties will drag you between the office in Vale and the facility on Patch, so you're welcome to choose whichever. You might even want to have both. Rent an apartment in Vale for nights when you need to stay over there working."

"Have two homes? Blake, I'm fifteen! And prices in Vale are insane!"

"Your income is also insane. Keep that in mind. You're one of the most well-paid people in the kingdom right now."

"Hngh. Yeah. Hey, so, hypothetically speaking, if I had a second place here then could I have my bank balances delivered there instead of home?"

Blake eyed her. "You haven't told your family about this. Have you?"

"W—W—What makes you think that? Pshaw. I totally have. Totally did. Told mom this morning!"

"Your mom is dead."

"D—Dad, I mean."

Blake let out a long sigh. "It's your choice on whether you do or don't, Ruby. Just make sure they don't come storming our office thinking we kidnapped you. And I really don't need Yang coming around and causing trouble either. Or Qrow, or Ozpin—"

"I get it! I get it! Sheesh. It's not my fault apparently everyone wants me to become a huntress like it's my destiny or something."

"Then you'll tell them?"

"I'll tell dad tonight and ask him about how to tell the others. Dad won't mind; he was fine with my work experience." Not that he knew what it entailed. "It's Uncle Qrow and Yang who will be pains in my butt. Yang still thinks you're at fault for the Mountain Glenn thing."

Technically, it could be argued that ARC Corp were. They hadn't caused it, but they had been the ones in charge of keeping it locked away and contained, and it had breached. If a prison let prisoners escape and they killed people, the prison held some culpability.

"And Qrow?"

"Uncle Qrow is... uh... I don't even know. One second he's all don't end up like your mother and the next it's you can trust Ozpin and you should become a huntress. Like, make up your mind!"

It was a shame. Qrow Branwen had worked with them against Blood that Feeds and he was a capable fighter. It was just a problem that he and Ozpin had their own motives, and that Ozpin had already shown a willingness to let them die without involving himself. "I know I'm biased, but you shouldn't trust Ozpin."

"Uh. Yeah. I don't." Ruby looked at her like she was missing a few brain cells. "Why would I trust someone I know is an anomalous brain worm, and who keeps trying to recruit me to Beacon while talking about my eyeballs? I'm not stupid, Blake."

"Stranger danger?"

"Not even that! At least stranger-danger people usually compliment your eyes in a way that makes it sound like they want them to stay in your head! I can't tell if he wants to use me as a weapon or prepare me to have my own brain worm." Ruby shuddered. "No thanks. I'm good. I'll take the crazy world of anomalies."

Blake didn't blame her. It was easy to look at Ruby and call her stupid for throwing her lot in with them simply because she had a crush on Jaune or was excited about anomalies, but there was also a perfectly rational side of it all. Ruby really only had one other career choice available to her, and that would involve her submitting to Ozpin. Knowing what she did about him, there was no way Ruby was going to accept that. Whether Ruby's choice was 50-50 on crush-vs-logic or closer to 75-25 was up in the air, but at least she wasn't being an idiot about it.

And she shouldn't face too much danger anyway. We really are using her mostly as an intern.

They arrived back at the office and met up with Jaune, who made sure to compliment Ruby's look with a straight face. Blake honestly felt bad, especially when Ruby blushed and twirled to show it off, making her look even more like an eleven-year-old princess in formal clothing. Timothy made sure to gush and croon over her, the big spider showering its favourite human with affection.

"We'll spend today bringing you into all the systems and databases," said Jaune, as Ruby played with the anomalous spider. "Your main work will start tomorrow. Whenever Blake and I are in Vale, you'll mostly be stationed at the facility in Patch using the Interdimensional Chatroom. I'll explain that later," he said, when her face lit up. "When Blake and I are on jobs, you'll instead move to the office both to look after Timothy but also to act as our liaison with Alistair and the other anomalies, and to take calls if they arrive."

"I can do that! I can do that so well! You'll be amazed!"

The last time we left you here, you turned the place into a dump filled with takeout boxes, Blake thought.

Well, whatever. Ruby could get her own place to turn into a mess, and she could afford to hire someone to come clean it, too. Maybe having somewhere else to crash would help her keep this place clean. Though, knowing Ruby, she'd go and rent somewhere nearby and keep coming around to try and spend time with Jaune.

I guess things are going to get exciting around here...

/-/

"Well, she's doing a good job," Jaune said. He and Blake were watching Ruby though a camera as she interacted with the Interdimensional Chatroom. Ruby had a bottle of soda at her side, a stack of documents she was meant to share with the alter-world, and a huge smile on her face. "At least she's happy."

"We're paying a girl ridiculous money to sit and chat with people online. This is basically a dream job for her."

Jaune chuckled. "Maybe so. At least she won't have to deal with an alter version of herself that's done everything better than you ever could."

Blake would have criticised that depressive statement if she didn't feel the exact same way.

"Yeah. To hell with that. I hate my alter-self."

"Hmm." Jaune sipped at his mug. "Well, this was an easy solution for us. I just hope they won't decide to go and hire their Ruby to mirror us. I wonder if the Ruby on that side still has her mother with her."

"Probably. They have pretty much everything else in life going all sunshine and rainbows for them. Might as well have that." Blake scowled. "How are your family reacting? Are they okay with Ruby or...?"

"Saphron doesn't like it."

"Shocking."

"Hmmm. But, in her defence, she doesn't like it because she says we're obviously biased toward her – which is true."

"And your father?"

"He says his every instinct told him to choose against her, but that she gave so many compelling reasons in the interview that he couldn't say no. If it were anyone else, there'd be at least a month of re-educating them to even believe in anomalies, and then potentially longer to realise the danger of them. This really isn't the kind of job you can just slot into."

"I did."

"You were blooded. Same as Ruby, in a sense. We obviously have people who have survived anomalies that we recruit for the task forces, but they're almost always combat agents. It's those that tend to survive. When it comes to recruiting normally, we don't just throw people in the deep end." He smirked. "Much as you're probably imagining otherwise."

He had her there. Blake's worldview of ARC Corp was that they were such bastards that they'd hire three people, put them in a room with an anomaly, and then give the job to the only one who survived. That was ridiculous, of course. They were a business as much as any and recruitment was expensive and time-consuming. It made sense that, with all the investment put into making someone skilled enough to survive this job, they'd take their time keeping them alive and healthy.

"So, if I'd joined the normal way, how long would it have taken for me to be sent on a job like the Welcoming House?"

"It really depends on how quickly you adapted and learned but, if we assume you did so at a normal pace, it might be a full year before we sent you in there."

"A whole year?"

"For a known-dangerous anomaly like that one, yes. We'd probably have you out shadowing me to investigative ones like the Guardian Spider after three months, and then doing your own with me shadowing you as support by six months. Any of those could turn deadly, but we'd hold you back from anomalies we knew to be dangerous for a while. And if Blood that Feeds was spotted, we probably wouldn't let you near it until at least your second year on the job."

"Wow. I really skipped ahead."

"You did. But that doesn't mean we're going to skip Ruby ahead," he said, nodding to the screen. "I know she's a capable person, but she's not an ex-terrorist like you. And we're not trapped in a house trying to eat us. We can afford to do things properly with her."

"I'm sure her sister will appreciate that."

"I'm not sure her sister will appreciate any of this," he said, "but we'll see."

Thirty minutes later, Ruby came out to report to them as instructed. The introductions had gone well – though, of course, Blake had warned their alter-organisation ahead of time as to Ruby's employment so they wouldn't be surprised or suspicious. Ruby had spoken to alter-Blake by the sounds of things and had gotten on with her well enough.

"—though she did ask a lot of questions about what kind of relationship the two of you had."

Blake clicked her tongue.

Jaune sighed. "Did you tell her we didn't have one?"

"Yeah. I told them you were close colleagues and trusted one another as comrades." Ruby said. Blake nodded, pleased with the answer. "But I don't know if she believed me. They kept asking my thoughts on Jaune being an anomaly."

"And what did you say?"

"I told them that if the big boss is okay with it, I'm okay with it." Ruby's nickname for Jaune's father aside, that was probably the best answer she could give. Not that Blake expected Ruby to up and confess her feelings, but still. There were worse answers to give. "I think they took that. What's this all about?"

"My alter-self isn't infected by an anomaly. Therefore, they don't trust me and think I should be killed. Anyone who doesn't agree with that is suspect in their eyes."

Ruby's reaction was predictably angry, and that was probably why Jaune had decided to tell her. There was no way to keep it secret forever and it was best Ruby explode at them then at the anomaly. ARC Corp still wanted that stupid chatroom in use. Conversely, it was one of the few times she and Jaune had really wanted to destroy a harmless anomaly. Or at least shut it down and bury it in a hole.

"That's so unfair!" Ruby argued. "I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!"

"Don't. Don't do that." Jaune let out a sigh. "Just be professional and tell them it's none of their business. If they push, tell them that Director Nicholas Arc approved your position and that they should take it up with him. Or remind them that they have no jurisdiction in our dimension."

"What if they found a way over?" she asked. "Would they become enemies?"

It was an interesting question. Two ARC Corp working together would be a bane on anomalies, but if there was a doorway for them then there'd be a doorway for anomalies as well.

"I've no idea. Let's hope it doesn't happen. For now, we'll call it a day. You should probably go home and have a talk with your father about your new job." The casual way Jaune said it, and the way Ruby froze, made it clear she thought he hadn't known. "Tell him he can speak to me if he needs to, but make sure he thinks your work is admin."

"It is admin," Ruby mumbled.

"That's right. It is."

"No, it literally is just admin. I'm entering data from their system into your system."

"Exactly." Jaune winked in an exaggerated manner. "Admin."

"..." Ruby sighed. "Okay. Sure. Whatever."

/-/

It had been a week since Ruby started working for them and things had been going well – so well, in fact, that it was making Blake paranoid. There'd been a call from Ruby's father with questions as to what they did, why they hired Ruby, and so on. The man was suspicious of them, and probably with good reason. It wasn't everyday a girl her age was paid so much money for what she claimed was simple admin.

Jaune gave excuses about an investment in her future, the nature of the work – which he framed as highly classified clientele rather than anomalies – but it was up in the air whether Taiyang believed them. The man refused to let Ruby move out and was apparently questioning her every single night when she got back from work.

And he was the lesser problem.

Qrow and Yang hadn't got in touch yet, and neither had Ozpin, but it was only a matter of time before they did. Blake kept expecting it, day in and day out, and kept one eye on the office door at all times.

Ruby's work had continued on, and she'd managed to keep on somewhat good terms with the alter-ARC Corp, despite what she said was constant poking as to how Jaune was in control of himself, and whether they were keeping an eye on him as they should be. It had gotten so bad that Ruby kept cornering Blake in her breaks to complain about it. It turned out that Ruby didn't like alter-Blake at all, despite her dating her alter-sister.

"You're kind of a bitch."

"Excuse me...?"

"Other you is kind of a bitch."

"Thank you."

Still, Ruby managed to get the work done and was filling their systems, and the mutual sharing of case files continued. Meanwhile, Blake and Jaune continued their own research into unusual phenomenon, the constant keeping of eyes open for things that might point towards anomalies before they became public.

But Vale was calm.

The Vytal Festival was over, the people having left, and the city was in a sleepy period where there wasn't much going on. Schools got back to teaching, street parties ended weeks ago, and the city was quieter than it had been for months. That let the anomalies of Alistair's bar start coming back out, though of course they remained secretive about it. Blake had even been to the bar a few times to talk with some people on Jaune's behalf, get a scoop on any new anomalies they'd welcomed into the group and how the overall mood was.

Good, it turned out. While losing a lot of them to the White Fang was a constant source of stress, it did mean all the troublemakers had left Vale. Even before that, the more violent ones had been killed when Winter was alive and baited them into fighting Blake and Jaune at an auction. With both sets gone, the anomalous community was as peaceful as it had been in years.

It took two weeks for their door to be opened, and for Ozpin to enter without being invited.

"I must protest—" he began.

"Must you?" Blake interrupted, with a scowl over Jaune's shoulder. The two of them had been reading a report from Ruby together on his laptop. "And without even a placard to wave at me? You're obviously not protesting very hard."

"You would know about protests, I'm sure, Miss Belladonna. Yours certainly left their mark on history."

"I'll thank you not to antagonise my employee," said Jaune.

"Then I'll thank you to keep her quiet, Mr Arc. I'm here to discuss your actions against a student of mine."

"Oh? I don't think we've so much as interacted with one in at least a month."

"Miss Rose."

"—is not and never was your student."

"I apologise." Ozpin adjusted his collar. "I meant Mrs Rose. Summer Rose. A woman I consider my student even to this day, and who dearly wished for her daughter to follow in her footsteps. A daughter you have corrupted and led astray."

"Corrupted...? I don't like that word coming from you, worm."

"Insults now?"

"You are a worm," Jaune said. "It's not an accusation. You are literally a worm inhabiting a human's body, and you've devoured the mind that once resided in it."

"We have merged—"

"Yeah, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night. Funny how no one ever survives the merging process but you, eh? Anyway, Ruby is her own person and can make her own choices. And, funnily enough, the choice she's made is not to trust the man who got her mother killed – doubly so when she knows that man isn't a man at all, but an anomaly puppeting a man's body."

"You make me sound like a zombie."

"I don't make you sound like anything to Ruby. I've done my best to convince her to not work for me. Not my fault you've done better at it than me. Good job on that one, I should ask for advice, since you managed to turn her off in half the time. What's your secret?"

Ozpin did not look pleased. "Your pettiness ill suits you, young man. I hope you realise that, despite all your insults, I have been quite peaceful with regards to you. By all accounts, we should be enemies."

"We are enemies."

"And you left him for dead once," Blake pointed out.

Ozpin shrugged. "He would have done the same for me. The point I am making is that I can take a more active stance against you. Quite happily, in fact. I'm not above exposing the truth of anomalies if I must."

Blake tensed.

Jaune did not. "Bullshit."

"Is that what you think...?"

"It is, yes." Jaune linked his hands before him and didn't budge. "Your aims won't be helped if chaos and panic take over the world, and that's what will happen if you break the barrier and unleash this. It'll be the end of everything you've built, and all for one young girl who doesn't want anything to do with you."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "What would your family think of you taking such a risk?"

"They'd be asking me why I haven't already tried to kill you."

"I demand to speak with Miss Rose."

"You can demand all you like; I can't make her talk to you."

"You have a direct line to her family," Blake said, concealing a smirk. "You have most of them eating out your hand. Go talk to her through them."

"Perhaps I shall," Ozpin said, scowling.

Good. Go for it. Blake knew exactly how Ruby would take that, and she'd know. If Taiyang suddenly started talking against this and pushing for Beacon, Ruby would immediately know who was behind that, and she wouldn't be happy. The same went for Qrow and Yang, though Blake had a plan for Yang anyway.

If the girl didn't trust the anomalous world anymore, it'd be interesting to see how she'd react if she found out Ozpin was one of them – and that both her moms had trusted the man and suffered for it. Yang wouldn't trust ARC Corp any more than she already did, but her trust in Ozpin and Beacon would plummet.

"This isn't over," Ozpin threatened, turning to leave.

"I'm sure it isn't," Jaune said, as the door slammed shut. "Well, that went about as I expected it to. I'm sure we'll be hearing from Ruby how he's trying to talk to her soon enough."

"Do you really think he'll expose us...?"

"I'm not sure." Jaune frowned. "I know he won't expose anomalies, but that won't stop him finding ways to cause trouble for us specifically. He might try and get us in trouble with my father, or he might try and get ARC Corp in trouble with the government. He won't do anything that'll start a war, but he'll be a pain in our ass in the hopes we decide it's easier to let him have Ruby than keep her."

Blake scowled. Though it wasn't the same, it was still controlling behaviour from Ozpin, and that made her think of Adam. "What will your family say?"

"I expect they'll be on our side to be honest. I'll call father now and warn him, but I've a feeling that his answer will be that, if it upsets Ozpin this much, it's a good thing we're doing. Ozpin is right that he's been peaceful towards us, but he forgets that we've been unusually peaceful towards him as well. He can cause us trouble, but we can cause just as much back if he provokes us."

Blake had a sinking feeling he'd give it a shot anyway.

Next Chapter: 18th November

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