Leaping to the side in the last moment, Ren managed to dodge the hail of bullets that was thrown at him. With one swift motion, his hands went beneath his coat and out came his pistols. Without hesitation, he opened fire on the two women that were attacking the private investigators, forcing them to dodge his attack.

"Nora!" he called out, having lost sight of the redhead after they were attacked.

"Watch out!" the familiar voice called out, as he was pulled to the ground, only moments before another salve cut through the air.

Lying on top of him, Nora gave Ren a dirty grin.

"Really bad timing..."

"I know..." Nora replied with a sigh as she quickly rolled off of him and reached for her bag "Ready to get your assess kicked?"

The woman with the sunglasses glanced at them and laughed "Do you really think you stand a chance against us?"

"Do you think you stand a chance?" the redhead replied with a smirk, reaching into her bag.

The content of the bag quickly unfolded, turning into a massive warhammer. With one powerful swing, Nora brought it down on the muddy ground, creating a wave of dirt that rushed at the woman with the rifle.

In the same instant, Ren noticed the faunus woman running up to them from the side, a pistol in her hand and aiming for Nora. With a quick spin, he managed to get between them and fire a shot at her himself. Luckily for them, his aim was true and he hit her in the knee, causing her to cry out in pain and dropping to the ground, as part of her leg was shattered by the bullet.

Shocked, the second woman called out to her partner, lowering her weapon in the process, before being hit by the wave of mud Nora had created.

"Nora, let's go!" Ren told her as he started to run past the now dirt covered woman, leaving the faunus woman screaming in pain.

"Just as it was getting fun!" Nora replied upset as she began to follow the black haired man.

"Nora..."

"Right behind you..."

To their surprise, a car was parked not too far away at the old street that once led to Signal Point. Without hesitation, both got into the unlocked car, which probably belonged to their assailants, and Ren quickly started the engine, as the key was still in the ignition.

"You know, I should probably feel bad for taking their car..." Nora said as she flung her bag with her hammer on the backseat, before pulling a cigarette and a familiar lighter out of her pocket "But you know what? They had it coming!"

Ren didn't give her a reply but instead looked in the rear mirror to check if one of the women were following them to the car. After a second, he drove off, away from the cliffside and into the forest that surrounded it.

Dark creatures lurked in the shadows, but almost never dared to leave them. Ren was worried that the sound of the car might lure them out, but after a while realized his worries were unwarranted. While he was driving, Nora constantly switched between positons she sat in, trying to be comfortable while reading some of the news articles.

"Hey, how about this:" she said suddenly, before reading a snippet of an article out loud "Even though given the chance to reduce her sentence to live in prison, like her former partner in crime Raven Branwen, Summer Rose declined this offer, as it would have required her to give up the location of her partners' hideout. Her final words, shortly before her execution last Monday, were reportedly as follows: 'I gladly die for those I love'. You know, that almost sounds romantic."

"If your kind of romance involves dying, I don't want a part in it, any longer." Ren replied emotionless, before chuckling.

"Very funny..." Nora replied, glaring at him "But seriously, maybe this woman is Ruby's mother? I mean they got the same looks and last name! And if so, then it would only strengthen my suspicion that Yang and her sister are the Rose Petal thieves!"

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions..." her partner told her with a sigh "But you know that, anyway..."

Nora nodded, before letting out a big yawn.

"You should get some sleep, the sun rises in a few hours and then we can take the first airship back to Vale."

"Okay..." the redhead nodded, before using her coat as a blanket and turning to the side to get some sleep "Hey Ren?"

"Yes Nora?"

"Thanks for always looking after me..."

"No problem..."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Nora."

Ren felt terrible as they boarded the airship, but not because of the lack of sleep, he had gone longer times without it and was fine, but because of the picture in his pocket that seemed to weight a ton.

They had ditched the car at a nearby parking lot, leaving it unlocked and with the key in the ignition, much like they found it a few hours earlier. Maybe the owners would even find it and take it back.

With a sigh, he sat down in his seat and looked over to where Nora sat down, on the opposite side of a table that was between them. It was a more luxurious airship than the one they came with, offering a lounge to its passengers in which drinks were served, at a horrendous price of course.

Calmly lighting her cigarette, Nora leaned back in the chair she was in and looked through the room, eyeing the people around her, like she sometimes did when bored.

Ren was always bothered by how nonchalantly people smoked in these airships, as they were held in the air by massive hydrogen tanks that were always at danger of turning into massive fireballs. But he didn't tell that to Nora, as he had long learned to live with her quirks and addictions.

"So what are we going to do next?" the woman asked with a smile as she grabbed a newspaper that was already lying on the table "Go talk to this guy in the hospital?"

"Either that, or we could try and find out more about this Qrow character."

"And where would we do that?"

Ren shrugged "I don't know... The best bet would be the underworld, I suppose?"

"So, Junior's bar..."

"That way we can also get some more info on the Rose Petal thieves. If we're lucky we get a new lead."

A sly grin suddenly played across Nora's lips "And if not, I'll break his legs!"

"Threaten to break his legs!"

"Right..."

A pulsing hot pain, creeping through his head, suddenly woke him up.

Slowly opening his eyes, blinded by the bright light that came in through the window, he tried to make out his surrounding, but failed to recognize any familiar shape, so he was not at home most likely.

Jaune thought for a moment what the last thing he recalled was. The last clear memory he could find was of him and Pyrrha entering Junior's bar.

Letting out a sigh, his chest convulsed in pain as he drew breath. A surprised gasp escaping him, Jaune quickly sat up, hoping to stop the pain, but it didn't help and made it only worse.

As he looked down on himself now, he realized that his chest was bandaged, while there where one or two spots that were darkened from blood. His pants were also covered in bloodstains, but it didn't look or feel like his legs were hurt. Nearby, his shirt and undershirt were lying on the ground, covered in bloodstains as well.

"What the hell happened yesterday?" he quietly asked himself as he took in his surroundings.

He was in a rather simple bedroom that contained a bed, a wardrobe and a simple mirror, mounted on the wall.

Looking at his own reflection, he wasn't so surprised his head felt like bursting open any second now. His nose was swollen and bruised, a trail of dried blood still visible. However, there was still no recollection of what exactly had happened the night before. From the injuries, Jaune guessed that he got into a fight with somebody. But that still didn't explain how he got here.

Slowly getting out of the foreign bed, he walked over to the door, to see where he was exactly.

As he reached for the doorknob, the door swung open, hitting him in the face and knocking him down.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" a familiar voice called out, but the blond couldn't quite put a face to it yet.

With another groan of pain, Jaune pushed himself back on his feet, gasping for air.

"What... where am I?" he asked confused as he struggled to stay on his feet.

Grabbing him by the arm, the woman gave him an apologetic look "You.. You're in my apartment."

Slowly recognizing the auburn haired woman, Pyrrha, Jaune looked confused at her "... Why?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" the redhead asked him worried, before leading him into what he assumed was the living area.

It was as simple as the bedroom, with only a small couch, a coffee table that was littered with books and different papers, a small radio next to both and a small bookshelf that was attached to the wall in it.

"We... we're going to Junior's..." Jaune answered slowly as he sat down, a grunt of pain escaping him "I think..."

"Yes, we did..." Pyrrha replied with a hint of regret in her voice as she sat down next to him "And we might have gotten a little bit drunk..."

Jaune raised an eyebrow "I got into a bar fight? Was it at least worth it?"

"Actually, you didn't..." the redhead replied "This... This happened after we left..."

"... You didn't beat me up, did you?" the blond policeman suddenly said "If so, I'm sorry for whatever I did!"

Taken aback, Pyrrha's cheeks turned red for a moment, before she shook her head "No! Uhm... Well, two thugs attacked us and you fought them off... Uhm... But the two of them were sober, which gave them the upper hand for a while..."

"Huh... That would explain my exceptionally good looks today." Jaune replied with a laugh, before flinching in pain "And my probably cracked ribs..."

Worried, Pyrrha tried to help him, but he waved her off with a smile "Don't worry about it... But that still doesn't explain how I got-" he turned quiet before looking at

Pyrrha with a mix of surprise, shock and something she couldn't quite put an emotion to "Did-".

The redhead immediately shook her head to interrupt him, face turning even redder "No! You... Collapsed after the fight, so I brought you here and took care of you! That's why you are here!"

"Thanks then, I guess..." Jaune told her with a smile "Wait... I still woke up naked... Pyrrha, did you take off my clothes?"

"Maybe?" the woman replied with a grin, before raising her hands "To my defense, I- I did it to patch you up!"

Jaune's hand absentmindedly wandered to a spot on his chest that was bandaged up "I suppose you're right... Thanks, Pyrrha."

"We're partners after all!" she reminded him with a warm smile.

"Yeah..." the man said with a nod, before an audible rumble came from his stomach.

"How about breakfast?" Pyrrha offered, jumping up from the couch.

"We should really get to work, don't you think?" Jaune asked, while slowly but surely getting up as well, still clutching his chest with one arm.

"Don't worry about that. I already informed the captain that we couldn't come in today, because of a lead we have." his partner countered calm, before putting her hands in her hips "So... Breakfast?"

"We should go to our office first. Better we don't keep those on us..." Ren told Nora as they entered a cab.

"To Shaw Crossing, please." the woman told the driver, acknowledging Ren's suggestion.

With a nod, the driver pulled out of the parking spot.

"I'm not quite sure what is worse..." Nora said after a while "The fact that somebody already knows we're on this case... Or that they already sent someone to kill us..."

"It's not like we haven't been threatened before, Nora..." Ren replied calm.

The streets of Vale were surprisingly empty for the time of day. Something felt off. Usually the streets were buzzing with traffic and you could barely fall over in the crowd of people that was walking the sidewalks. But today it was looking far less chaotic and rather calm. Of course, for someone from a town outside the city, this many people would still look like a massive crowd, but it was noticeably less for an inhabitant.

"Hey, what's going on today? There's so few people out..." Nora asked the driver, apparently noticing it as well.

"You haven't heard? The mayor has declared Roman and Neo public enemies today." the driver told the two "There is even a bounty on them right now. Big enough for some to skip work to get them."

Roman and Neo, Ren remembered, was a crime duo with quiet a record. A career criminal and a rich girl, going around the whole kingdom, robbing banks, stealing Dust supplies and killing policemen left and right. But apparently they did something to anger the mayor, a feat that not many achieve, especially not criminals. He felt bad for them, being hunted by the public, even though they had it coming.

The rest of the drive was uneventful and after they paid and exited the cab, the two detectives quickly made their way to the small office they had. Located above a butcher of all places, the entrance to the office was a simple black door with a metal plaque next to it.

"Flower Power Private Investigation" was imprinted on it, reminding Ren each time what a terrible name it was.

Nora absentmindedly unlocked the door and quickly walked up the stairs to the actual office, while Ren picked up the mail, that was lying behind the door.

All three letters were checks addressed to the firm. One of them drew the man's attention however.

It was directly addressed to him, written in a very girly handwriting.

As he opened it, a single rose petal fell out of it.

"For your inconveniences.

Also, as a friendly (and last) reminder of our agreement.

I will soon contact you personally again..."

Together with the letter, there was a check over 500 lien, which both him and Nora made in a month.

Ren knew immediately who wrote the letter and check and quickly let it disappear in his pocket, where the photo he found still was.

As he finally came into the office proper, Nora already sat behind her desk, feet rested on it and a cigarette between her lips. She let out a delighted sigh, while Ren pulled the blueprints, the photos and the newspaper snippets out of her bag.

"I'm putting those in the safe space and then we can head out again, okay?"

"Yeah okay..." the woman replied as she put her feet down on the floor again "Make sure it's locked before we leave!"

"Have I ever not?"

"... Yes"

"Just once..."

"Still one time more than me." Nora told him with a smirk as she stood up again.

Ren punished her with silence, while both of them left their office again.

"Soooo, when we get to Junior's bar, don't be shocked if there might be a brawl..." Nora told her partner as they went down the street, while waving for a cab.

"I'm always expecting that when we are there..." Ren replied with a grin.

"You're not funny, Ren..." Nora told him with a straight face as a cab stopped for them and she got him.

"No..." he replied as he got in as well "I'm hilarious."

Trying to remain quiet, but failing, Nora started to giggle and wrapped her arms around him "Sometimes..."

Ren wrapped one arm around her as well and told the driver where to go. As the drive went on, he absentmindedly watched the buildings pass by, while the sun peaked through the clouds. It was a nice change to the usually rather bleak city. Even though he knew that it was purely optical, he enjoyed the moment, before reality inevitably caught up to him again. Once the cab pulled into the shadier parts of the city, the hope and happiness seemed to fade from the people. More homeless were out and about, scavenging for whatever they could use or sell, some veteran who seemed to have lost an arm in battle, stumbling through the streets drunk and women who tried to sell their bodies to support themselves and their families.

Finally, the cab stopped in front of Junior's bar. After paying the driver, both detectives exited the car and walked into the establishment.

"Welcome!" the owner greeted enthusiastic, before recognizing Nora "Came back for more?"

"Why, do you want more?" the woman replied with a cocky grin.

"Nora..." Ren silenced her, before turning to Junior "We're here because we wanted to ask you some questions..."

"You're welcome to ask..." Junior replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest and looking expectantly at the two.

With a sigh, Ren pulled out a bank note and slowly placed it on the counter.

A smile crept over the man's face as he put the note in his pocket "And I'll be glad to answer!"

"Ever heard the name Qrow?"

The smile on Junior's face immediately disappeared again "Who told you that name?"

"Oh, you know..." Nora told him, while lighting a cigarette "We got our sources."

"So, you know that name?" Ren asked again, glaring at the other man.

With a grunt, Junior pulled out a bottle from behind the bar and filled a glass with it. With a swift motion, he downed the beverage, before refilling the glass again.

"You know..." Nora said, playing with the glowing cigarette in her hand, while blowing smoke in the face of the bar owner "Those hurt... A lot."

"Pah..." he replied unimpressed before downing the second glass.

"But breaking your legs will hurt even more." the redhead told him with a cold glare in her eyes, before dropping her cigarette in his glass.

Junior now glared back at Nora, his head slowly turning red in anger.

"You know I wouldn't stop her, even if I could, right?" Ren told him calm, while pointing at his partner.

After another glare from Nora, Junior raised his hands in defeat "Fine! I'll tell you what I know. It's your lives..."

"So, Qrow. Name ringing any bells?" Nora asked him, clearly satisfied by her intimidation skills.

"His name is Qrow Branwen, if it is actually the guy you are looking for..." Junior told them with a deep sigh "You probably heard of him as 'The Black Crow'... He's the crime lord of large parts of Vale and Patch... Basically owns Patch to be honest..."

"Wait, Branwen?" Ren interrupted him "Like Raven Branwen?"

"Yeah, that's his sister as far as I know. She's sitting in prison for over twenty years now, though..."

"We know that already... Any chance he is connected to the Rose Petal thieves?"

"What is it with those robbers that all of you guys suddenly have?" Junior asked them confused "First Officer 'Too Stupid' and Officer 'Too Nice' show up and ask around multiple times and now you guys as well?"

"Wait, 'too Stupid' and 'too Nice'?" Nora interrupted the bar owner "A blonde and a redhead?"

"Yeah, they're here on a somewhat regular basis, but instead of trying to arrest me for ridiculous reasons, they came to ask questions... Even put one of my men in the hospital." Junior explained, while cleaning out his used glass "And yesterday they even came as civilians... Started to ask questions like you... Didn't do them much good.."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They got pretty wasted before I send them home. I allowed them to leave through the side exit, because I kind of liked them." he explained with a shrug "One of my men found blood in the ally today. I'll probably miss them..."

"What?" Nora asked him shocked, before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and almost pulling him over the counter "What did you do to them?"

"Woah! I didn't do anything! They came in and started asking questions! Someone might have heard them and decided to make them disappear!" Junior told them, panicked because of Nora's sudden outburst "Or- Or maybe it's just some other poor saps blood! Listen, I don't know!"

"What questions did they ask?" Ren simply asked, while pulling out a small notebook and clicking his pen.

"They asked about a Blake Belladonna..." the owner of Junior's bar answered "A getaway driver and faunus. Told them everything I knew about her. But that's basically nothing!"

"Thanks!" Nora told him with a smile before dropping him with a loud thud.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome..." the man replied, rubbing his neck "Now, I'd be grateful if you two left already..."

Ren nodded "He's right... Let's go..."

"Yeah, until next time, Junior..." Nora said with a smirk, before both detectives left.

"So, what now?"

"Well that depends... How worried are you about our clients, Nora?"

"Somewhere between somewhat and a lot..."

"Yeah, me too..." Ren replied while signaling for a cab "We should get back to the office and find out where they live, so we can check if they're there..."

"I've got a better idea!" Nora suddenly said and ran back in Junior's bar, while Ren only looked after her, telling the driver to wait.

After a minute, she returned, a big yellow book in her hands "Let's go." she told her partner as she entered the car.

"A phone book?" Ren asked confused as he entered the cab as well.

"Yeah, so we can get their addresses!" Nora replied while browsing through the pages "There. Arc, Jaune - Gray Street. That's pretty far away..."

"What about her?"

"Gimme a second." the redhead replied as she ran her hand down the pages until she arrived at N "Let's see... Nikos, Pyrrha - Marquis Avenue. That's not as far! Let's check there first!"

"You heard her." Ren told the driver, who gave him a nod in reply.