Sitting in a small room in the police department, Ren and Nora were both handcuffed to the table in front of them. As they did not resist their arrest, both were allowed to have a free hand. It had been quite some time after they were brought in that the man that arrested them came in again and told them they had the chance to use their phone call to call their lawyer if they had one.

"We don't have a lawyer." Ren told the man as polite as possible.

"Yeah, we don't need this phone call!" Nora added, clearly annoying the officer.

"Your choice." the silver haired man replied with a shrug as he left again "An appointed lawyer it is, then!"

After a few minutes of silence, Nora decided to break it and let out a sigh "I always thought I'd need that phone call to call you, Ren..."

Surprised, the black haired man looked at his partner and raised an eyebrow.

"You know, to bail me out for something... Impulsive that I've done."

A chuckle escaped the man's lips before smiling at the redhead "You know that that's not what best friends are for, right Nora?"

"Uhm..." confused, Nora furrowed her brow "What?"

"I actually always figured we would end up here together..." Ren told her with a shrug "But I somehow never expected that it was because of me..."

"Well, I always knew we would land in jail because of you!" his partner replied jokingly, before sticking out her tongue.

"Funny..."

A grin crept on the woman's face "I'm hilarious, I know."

"Oh cut-"

Before he was able to finish his sentence, Ren was interrupted by the sudden opening of the door to the room they were in. Walking in was the female officer that arrested them, together with a second woman.

The woman wore a bright green knee length dress and a tan blazer over it. Her hair almost matched Nora's in color and length, but were kept in check by a pink bow.

With a big smile, the woman strode over to the two private investigators and put her small leather backpack on the chair that was already there for her, while the police officer left the room again.

"Salutations!" she greeted them both, smile still persisting "You two cannot believe how lucky you are to be my first clients!"

Slightly taken off-guard, Ren shifted uncomfortably in his chair "Uhm... Well..."

"Wait! What?" Nora suddenly burst out, earning a curious look from their appointed attorney "How long have you been a lawyer, exactly?"

Pulling back her sleeve, the woman revealed a slightly too small, bright red, children's watch with the image of a popular cartoon character on it "For two hours, forty one minutes and ten seconds."

"Great..." the redhead, that was cuffed to the table, groaned and let her head fall on the table, creating a loud thud.

"Excuse her, please. It is nice to meet you, Ms. ...?" Ren immediately stepped in and tried to cover up Nora's reaction.

Looking at him for a moment, it appeared that it took a few seconds for their lawyer to realize what Ren was asking "Polendina. But just call me Penny!"

"We're so done..." Nora whispered desperate, her head still on the table.

Apparently ignoring her fellow redhead's reaction completely, the lawyer pulled out a small notepad and a pen from her bag "Now, I have a few questions for you, first off: Why did you break into Ms. Beltza's home?"

Snapping back up and squeezing Ren's knee to signal him to be quiet, Nora quickly gave an answer "She is our friend and... Well, she's taking diamorphine... And we hadn't heard from her in weeks and became worried... So Ren and I went to her place to check on her. But after not reacting to our knocking and calling, we decided to open the door on our own. Ren happened to have a lock pick with him and was able to open the door after a while, but as we came in and searched for her..."

"She wasn't there... We looked around to see if we could find a clue on where she is, but then the police officers showed up and arrested us..." Ren finished the story, impressed by what Nora made up on the spot.

"Ms. Beltza is your friend?" the lawyer asked somewhat hesitant.

"Yes..."

"Oh..." the woman muttered, a hint of sadness in her voice, while writing down something, before suddenly completely changing her mood "Sen-sational! With this you might be protected by the Good Samaritan law!

Jumping back up from her chair and grabbing her back bag in one fluid motion, Ms. Polendina seemed to be finished with them "As far as I know, the trial will be tomorrow morning. And don't worry you two will be a-okay!"

"And what about us? Can we go home?" Nora asked as her fellow redhead knocked on the door to be let out "Ms. Polendina? Penny?"

With a sigh her head slumped back down as the door closed behind their lawyer. Not speaking a word, Ren simply reached over to her with his free hand and gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Is it just me or is she really strange?"

"No... You're right Nora..."

Returning to their usual work after a day "off" felt refreshing to Pyrrha. She hoped that today was a quiet one without much happening. No robberies, no shootouts and most definitely no Arc family reunions.

"Good morning!" she greeted her partner cheerful as she came into the locker room to change in her uniform.

"Morning..." Jaune muttered in reply, before putting on his undershirt, letting out a quiet groan of pain.

Bandages were still wrapped around his chest, but he apparently changed them with fresh ones, as they were still stark white. Pyrrha watched her partner for a few moments, before he apparently noticed and glanced back at her.

With a bright blush, the redhead quickly turned around to get changed as well. She wasn't quite sure why she tended to watch her partner change, while he doesn't notice. At least that was what she tried to tell herself. Pyrrha was quiet sure that Jaune had someone in his life, but she never asked him herself.

As they were finished, Jaune quietly left the locker room, with his partner following close behind.

"Oh, Jauney Boy. What happened to you?" Cardin Winchester asked amused as he saw Jaune's face, while he got coffee "Did your wife beat you up?"

"I'm not married, Cardin..." was the blond's only reply, while filling two cups with coffee.

"Oh right, you are one of these temperamental freaks, aren't you?"

Letting out a sigh before reaching for milk and pouring it into one of the two mugs "Listen Cardin, I'm not in the mood for this crap today..."

"So, your boyfriend did beat you up!" the taller man asked with a triumphant smile on his lips.

"You don't have anything better to do Cardin?" Pyrrha asked annoyed "Jaune stepped up for a homeless man while out of uniform against a couple of rowdies and got in a fight. He cares about the people around him, something you should consider, too!"

Muttering something under his breath, the police officer turned around and quickly walked away, but not before bumping into Jaune, causing him to spill hot coffee over his hand "Ah! Damn it..."

"You alright?" the redhead asked almost immediately.

"Yeah, I'm all right..." Jaune replied, teeth gritted in pain, before holding out one of the mugs to her "Here."

"Thanks..."

"I expect both of you in my office in one minute..." a familiar voice told them as the captain of the police force walked past them to fill her mug, not even looking at them.

"Uhm, yes Ma'am!" the partners said in unison, already expecting the worst.

"So... Am I right to assume this" the captain pointed at Jaune's beat up face "Was the reason you called in sick?"

"I, uhm... Yes, ma'am." Jaune replied hesitant scratching the back of his head.

"And what about you, Nikos? I don't see any bruises on you? What happened to you? Besides the "coincidence" that you got "sick" at the same time, obviously."

"We were investigating Blake Belladonna and tried to find out some more about the Rose Petal thieves." Jaune interrupted Pyrrha immediately.

"You two... Went off the book?" the captain questioned utterly surprised "Are you two insane?"

"We're sorry ma'am." the redhead told the white haired woman as calm as possible "But with Ms. Belladonna released from our custody without any questioning, we had to find information ourselves."

"And this involved getting beaten up?"

Without saying a word, Pyrrha gently put down the still sealed letter they got from Jaune's father.

"What is this?" the ice queen asked puzzled as she took the envelope and inspected it.

"We found some connections between the Red Petal thieves and the White Rose Gang. And we suspect this letter might lead us to them." the female police officer explained.

"Where did you get this from?"

"Well..." Jaune said, awkwardly rubbing his hands while trying to find a good explanation "My father is friends with a man we suspect is one of the still unknown former members of the White Rose Gang, Qrow Branwen... And this is the last letter he got from him.

"Qrow is the brother of one of the two members that were caught, Raven Branwen, so it isn't too farfetched to suspect him as a member." Pyrrha tried to explain as she noticed how the captain's expression dropped on the mention of the name Qrow.

"Qrow Branwen is a dangerous person. And you two would do best if you stayed out of his way." the ice queen told them through gritted teeth, the sound of her voice justifying her nickname once again.

"Wait, you know of Branwen?" Jaune ask surprised as he heard the warning.

"Yes... I know him." the captain told them with a sigh "He ran a crime syndicate here in Vale, before leaving over two years ago. Dismantling his syndicate is what brought me this position. He is a dangerous man and should you cross his path, he would probably not hesitate to eliminate you in an instant."

"Depending what is in the letter, we might have to cross paths with him, though..." Pyrrha pointed out, looking at the sealed envelope that was still in the white haired woman's hands.

Glancing at the duo, the captain of the police carefully opened the black wax seal and pulled out a letter.

"Invitation to the grand opening of the Ardaigh Grand Casino." the captain began to read out loud "We would like to invite you to the opening gala event, ushering in a new age of entertainment! With the return of our founder, Qrow Branwen, to Vale, we also invite everybody to the exclusive display of the Vytal Diamond, generously lend from the Vale Royal Museum. Looking forward to your attendance, the Black Rose foundation."

After looking back at the two, she immediately shook her head "There is no way in hell I would allow this! Besides, there is nothing connecting Branwen to the case, anyway!"

"Actually there is!" Jaune exclaimed, taking the two women by surprise "If the Rose Petal thieves and the White Rose Gang really are connected, then it would make sense that they would try to succeed where the other has failed."

The captain raised an eyebrow "You mean the Vytal Diamond?"

"Yes. If Branwen really was a member of the White Rose Gang and there really is a connection between them and the Rose Petal thieves, then I wouldn't be surprised if all of this is to finally steal it!"

"This... This is a ridiculous idea! Why would that make any sense?" the captain asked, utterly confused by the blond's conclusion.

"I doesn't..." Pyrrha told her with a shrug "But please let us go there, simply for the off chance that Jaune's theory is true. We might even be able to catch them with this!"

Looking back and forth between the two officers and the invitation, the ice queen let out a sigh, before holding the piece of paper out again "Fine! The event is in one week, so you have time to prepare. But remember: I don't approve of it. And if it turns sour, I most certainly can't help you!"

"Thanks, ma'am!" both the blond and the redhead exclaimed with a smile, before saluting her and leaving her office with the invitation again.

"I swear if you get yourselves killed..." she muttered as she opened a drawer in her desk to pull out an envelope. Sealed with black wax.

"Rise for the honorable Judge Peach." the court assistant announced as the door to the courtroom opened and the judge came in.

"I'm court ready. I'm court ready!" Penny quietly whispered to herself, nervously rubbing her hands as they sat down again.

"Reeeen, she is whispering to herself!" Nora told Ren quietly, so their defender wouldn't hear her.

"I noticed..." the black haired man replied with a sigh "Just... It's going to be fine."

"Case #2411, the Kingdom of Vale v Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. Are defense and prosecution ready?" the judge asked, looking at both sides of the courtroom.

"Ready, your honor." the prosecutor said with a nod.

"I am court ready!" Penny still whispered to herself, before noticing that the judge asked a question "Oh. Ready, your honor!"

Usually Ren was the pessimistic one in their relationship, but a night in jail apparently had a big impact on Nora "That's it. We're going to prison..."

"... Declare the accused: Not guilty." with a loud noise, the judge's hammer came down on its wooden counterpart.

In a surprising turn of events, the seemingly awkward and incompetent lawyer had opened up quickly during the trial and managed to receive a verdict within an hour.

The prosecutor quickly packed up his things and stormed out of the courtroom, apparently aggravated by the fact that he lost to someone on her first case.

As soon as the judge had announced the verdict, Penny and her two defendants let out a sigh in unison.

Collecting her thoughts for a moment, the lawyer then turned to her clients, a big smile on her face "This was fun!"

"Fun?" Ren questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"That. Was. Incredible!" Nora exclaimed exited with a high pitched voice.

"Well, It was pretty amazing." the black haired male agreed with a nod "I really didn't expect you to be so... Well, gifted in court."

"Thank you!" the lawyer said with a bright smile.

"And now, we need to go and celebrate!" the shorter redhead exclaimed exited.

The smile on Penny's face quickly turned to doubt "Oh... I don't think my partner would-"

"Consider it our payment!" Nora quickly told her, grabbing her by the hand and yanking her along.

"Oh-Okay..."

"Why do I think this is going to end badly?" Ren muttered to himself, before everything turned into a haze as he followed the two women.