Last Huntress – Chapter 3

-Catch the Scent-

Walking into the Secondary Precinct always seemed strange for Ruby. She had been through numerous police stations throughout her time at Beacon, dropping off the random henchmen she picked up from chasing down the real criminals. But now, as a civilian, she felt out of place. She had no real reason to be here, and she commanded no real respect. In the mostly human eyes that watched her, that lingered on the wolf ears poking through tresses of hair, she was only in it for the money. A freelancer, someone who couldn't handle wearing the uniform.

They weren't very far off, she hated the whole outfit.

But one officer in particular never tossed a judgmental look her way. No, this was one of them she was always happy to see, because he was one of her oldest friends. "I was told I should expect you storming in here in a huff." Sky blue eyes were narrowed in a playful gaze as she neared his desk, and a hand moved up to sweep thick locks of blond hair back from the young man's face. Jaune Arc had been one of the worst fighters of their class when they had arrived at Beacon, but he had been her first friend there. He had been the first one to know, aside from her sister, of the pinned down wolf ears that she had revealed after their first year of school. His support had got her through the roughest of times when their teams were nearly inseparable.

Not that it had been a one sided friendship, she had helped him as well. She coached him on what it meant to be a good leader - even when she had utterly failed at being one, and one of her teammates left the school for good - pushing him to try harder, to be better, and to find himself worthy of the affection his now wife had thrown his way. With pride, she had watched Jaune grow from a socially awkward boy into one of the most talented Hunters she knew. She'd even stood beside him as his 'Best Woman' at his wedding.

"Jaune." She greeted warily, stepping in as he rose from his seat. She pulled him into a tight embrace, still finding it odd after all these years to hug him and not have her hands resting on the back of a chestplate. "It's good to see you."

There came a sniff and a mocking groan as the blond man pulled away, fixing a brilliant grin on her as he berated her. "Well it's better than smelling like you drank a brewery, I suppose."

"Well, we can't all have the touch of an Arc when it comes to washing." Wrinkling her nose as she discreetly sniffed the shoulder of her shirt, Ruby shook her head. She didn't think she smelled that bad, but being more awake now revealed she really could have chosen clothes that had been more recently washed. Nevertheless, she brushed it off her shoulder, glancing towards the back of the precinct. "Pyrrha in? I need to beg for my livelihood again."

"You know, you wouldn't have to beg if you made sure to do a good job when we need you to. These are the jobs we need someone with more specialized skills for, you know that." Like always, there was no malice in the advice he gave her, no ill intent to imply that she was in fact the mess that she actually was. Jaune was one of the few left who still cared to give advice in a friendly way. Everyone else expected her to just be over it, to move on with her life without a glance back. They didn't know, they didn't understand, even the blond man leading her towards the back of the office didn't fully understand. "You're in luck though, we just got a fun one. Someone who broke out of the med-bay a couple of nights ago."

Jaune led her back towards the largest room in the office, the one with a closed door that clearly read 'Captain Nikos' across the top half of it. A brief knock was all the notice he gave before opening the door, swinging it inward and grinning at the woman who sat behind the desk within. The surface of the desk was a glowing screen, ready to be utilized at the slightest of touches. The edges and base of the structure were made of a thick mahogany, polished to a perfect shine. "Pyrrha, guess who showed up?"

Ruby stepped past her friend to study the woman with a long ponytail of the most striking red, as a sharp gaze emanating from distinct emeralds regarded her beneath a furrowed brow. "Surprise."

Her dry tone caused that neutral gaze to switch into a glare for the span of a few seconds as Jaune retreated, and she stepped a bit closer to the desk. Honestly, she could stand to treat the older woman with a bit more respect, but today she was sober. She was sober, and she was ticked off by the refusal she had received earlier. "Ruby, I guess I should thank you for coming."

That wasn't something she had expected. She rocked back on her heels as she tilted her head. She and Pyrrha had been on frosty terms the last couple of months, and it was obvious who was to blame in the slow demolition of their friendship. Ruby grimaced slightly at that thought, taking a moment to really examine the position she had put the redheaded woman in by being vetted and then failing to follow through on multiple accounts. It was strange that her arrival would be something to be thankful for at all. "Jaune said you had a.. 'fun one'?"

"Yes.. Something you are uniquely suited for, provided you are in a reasonable state of mind." A narrowed glance in her direction was met with a slow nod - an attempt to assure her old friend. It stung to behold the distrust where once there would have been absolute faith, but a mental note that she deserved it kept her quiet. A tap on the desk brought up the display across the smooth surface, and another activated the holoscreen that revealed just what it was Jaune and Pyrrha had been hinting at. "Russel Thrush, ring a bell?"

"Yeah.." Walking closer to the desk, Ruby kept her hands stuffed in her pocket. The last time she had touched the desk, she had accidentally closed the file they had been discussing. The image that slowly spun in the center of the display showed a young man with several facial scars and a wicked-looking mohawk that left bangs falling over and angling to the left side of his forehead. He looked a great deal more savage than the last time she had seen him, which - if memory served - was just hours before the Breach.

His new style really cemented the fact that no one in that battle walked away without losing something.

A shake of her head kept any memories from gaining a foothold to surface, and she rapidly blinked her eyes a few times to ensure she stayed focused on the task at hand. "Yeah, he was in our year. I'm confused though, I thought he was one of Torchwick's now?" Leveling a cautious look at the redhead across the desk, she shrugged her shoulders. "Could be a sensitive one, are you sure you want me to take this?"

"I don't want you to take it, but I don't want my risk my officers against someone who knows how to use Aura for more than just basic shielding."

Ruby let out a soft laugh at that, shaking her head. "Cut the shit, Pyrrha. You or Jaune could take this. Why toss it my way like a lifeline?"

Green eyes narrowed in the face of Ruby's victorious grin, and annoyance flashed through the older woman's expression like lightning. "To put it simply.." Each word was overtly enunciated, she must have really hit a nerve. "We can't find him." There it was, as she had expected. "I was hoping that with your contacts.. You might have more luck. He is obviously getting help from the criminal forces of Vale."

Bouncing on the balls of her feet for a moment, Ruby chewed at her lip in thought as she watched the holographic Russel spin around and around in front of her. Her mind raced through possibilities before narrowing it down. "I have an idea of where to start, at least. Transfer the file to me." Drawing her right hand from her pocket, she flexed the fingers to bring up the bright green interface of Spring.

Despite the attitude she had given the good Captain, Pyrrha tapped a few buttons and the interface surrounding Ruby's wrist flashed for a moment to indicate that the data was received. "This is your last chance, Ruby." The words were not spoken as a threat, but instead in a quiet volume. In a tone of worry, of someone who was reaching out to bring back a wayward friend. "I can't stick my neck out for you anymore."

Ruby blinked as green eyes flitted up to reach her own gaze in an uncharacteristically timid way, Ruby gulped down the knot that was growing in her throat and gave a slow nod. For a moment, she felt a rush of who she used to be, a brief window brought on by the trust someone else had placed in her. "I won't let you down."

The bar closest to the Precinct was of a significantly higher standard than the ones she normally frequented, Yang's dive in particular. Being so close to the police station meant fewer Faunus, who had a tendency to get arrested when they started visiting an area where the majority of patrons were human. That meant she kept her hood up, kept her ears covered. Normally she would have gone back to her sister's place, had a drink while she looked over the dossier on her target. But with the temporary ban on her tab at Ember Heights, she resorted to this for a very good reason.

Even as she sat at a table in the darkest corner of the commons, a glass of an amber-colored liquid was placed on the edge of the wooden surface and slid across to her waiting hand. "Good to see your sister cut you off again."

A grin came to her lips at the sound of his voice as she glanced up from the screen of her scroll, her gaze finding the bright red eyes of her uncle quite easily. "Nice to see you too, Qrow."

"Likewise, kiddo." A boot pressed against the edge of the table as the man sat down and pushed himself back so that he was only on two legs of his chair, seeming to not have a care in the world. She wasn't exactly sure what it was that Qrow did for a job since the law against Hunters was passed, but it always did leave a fair amount of mud on the bottom of his boots and gave him enough free time to lounge around in this bar for far too long. And pay for her drinks. Ruby scooped up the glass that had been passed to her, tipping it back and downing the entire thing in one go. The sensation that would have once burned was little more than a passing thought now, as used to the taste as she was.

When she set it back down, she found red eyes wide and waiting for her across the table. "What?"

"Starting to think your sister might have a point about this cutting off thing.." Qrow's lips broke into a grin to let her know he was joking as he leaned back down to snatch up his own glass, knowing full well he was not going to be the one to judge her. "Though you keep drinking like that, people are gonna start thinking you're my kid."

Donning the most innocent expression she could possibly pull off, Ruby glanced over at her uncle with a small smile. "Am I not?" The way he choked on the bourbon he had been halfway through drinking only caused her mouth to widen further, into a grin, at least until he shot her a look that was somewhere between shock and suspicion, as if he really were afraid she had caught on to some big secret. But his act broke just as her's did, and they shared a laugh over the teasing as Qrow waved to a nearby waiter for more drinks.

In the minute that passed as she continued scrolling down the list of known associates and frequented locations of Russel Thrush, she could tell that something truly was eating at her uncle, and glanced over once the awkwardness of the silence got too irritating to ignore.

"The nightmares still happening?" The question caught her off guard, her finger pausing an inch away from the screen of her device, the rawness of the words a stranger to their usually lighthearted conversations. But she understood that her uncle was simply trying to look out for her, and answered it quickly with a slow nod. "Times like these are when I really miss your dad, he was always better with this.. Stuff."

"Thanks, Qrow." Ruby really did mean it, it helped to know that he was concerned for her. It was something, at least. But she did want to alleviate the tension some. "For the drink, not the advice. Your advice is shitty."

He let out a laugh accompanied by a nod of agreement, and took another sip from his glass as he watched her resume looking through the files. "So, who're you looking for?"

She flipped the scroll around and held it out so he could see, displaying a two dimensional version of the spinning image Pyrrha had shown her. "Russel Thrush, used to go to school with him. He broke out of a local jail a couple nights ago. Police are having trouble tracking him down, sounds like he's gone to ground."

"Arson, burglary, and oh, attempted murder? He seems like a charming fellow, and I'm really starting to see a type for you, what with the last person you dated ending up a soulless CEO." Qrow caught on quick that the attempted jest had hurt his niece by the way her eyes suddenly glanced away, and the hood atop her head sat a little lower as her ears laid flat against her hair. It seemed that of all the things Ruby could have inherited from the time she spent with him, she picked up all the worst ones. The bitterness, the drinking, the flippant disregard for anyone caring enough to be concerned with their well-being.

The heartache that persisted for years after losing someone they were close to. "Hey kiddo, I didn't mean anything by it. Sorry.."

"It's okay." Just like that, she was back with a bright smile, the single silver eye she still had left seeming to shimmer with happiness. For a second, Qrow forgot the cybernetic glow emanating from the right socket on his niece's face. For a brief moment, he saw the girl he once trained to fight, he saw the woman that would have been a reflection of her mother. But the last four years had been far too cruel to Ruby, and he knew that what he could see was just a facade conjured to get him to shut up. "Anyway, I think I've narrowed down where to start. A club down in the Sunrise Quarter."

"Junior's club, right?" Qrow cocked his head to the side as the young woman in the red vest stood and moved around the table, setting down an empty glass after finishing it off. "Now what's a girl like you know about a place like that?"

A mocking laugh was what met him as Ruby turned back around, a fierce grin dashed across her features. "I'm not a teenager anymore, Uncle Qrow."

"Heh, fair enough.." Turning in his chair, he raised his glass towards her as she kept moving off. "Best of luck!"

"Yeah, Rose, I saw him." Ruby followed her contact up the stairs of the club, away from the booming dance music and the bouncing crowds that mostly consisted of sweaty teenagers, if she was judging by the smell. Not that she was going to arrest anyone for underage drinking. The man she followed was none other than the owner of the club, Junior Xiong, who had helped her on a few previous occasions with information on her targets or supplies of a more sensitive nature. "Something was off with him though, he was with someone I didn't recognize, too. Some guy." She was led through the open glass enclosure of an office, and the music outside was mercifully dulled. "Bought a bunch of my newest stock."

"What stock?" The question wasn't answered immediately, as Junior waved to one of the girls standing by the entrance, Miltia, who stalked over and opened a briefcase to display a set of filled needles. The club owner took one of the syringes from the encasing and held it out to her, beckoning for her to examine the glowing red fluid within. Even as she gripped it between her fingers, she could feel the warmth emanating from the small glass tube.

"Latest things from the labs in Mistral, people are calling it Huo Zai Mai."

"'Fire in the veins'?" Ruby looked a bit closer at the contents of the needle, seeing the telltale flash that she had been expecting. Holding it out gingerly, she glared at the man who was sat across the small glass table on the opposite couch. "Junior, this is fire Dust."

"Look at you, acting all appalled." Junior let out a laugh, one that earned a smirk from Miltia, who stood obediently by her master's side and kept the case open. Ruby shook her head and set the syringe down on the table. "Like you've never had Dust in your blood."

He was right, she had experimented with a variety of drugs in an attempt to do anything to slow or wipe away the nightmares that came to her each night. Of course, he hadn't known the why behind her purchases, he had only been the supplier. "I was never crazy enough to try it with fire Dust."

"True, but these are manufactured for clients looking for a very specific type of buzz." The way the man leaned towards her over the table gave off a very conspiratorial vibe, and truthfully he probably shouldn't have shared any of this information with her. But Ruby was in luck, he owed her for a bit of dirty work she had done for free a couple of months back, bringing in an ex-employee who was planning on blabbing something to Junior's boss that would have landed him in hot water. Run of mill job if she had been given it from the police, but for this she was certain she had delivered the poor man to his death. At the very least, a gruesome torture and maiming. But such things were necessary to maintain the right contacts in the dark underbelly of Vale. "Makes you strong, makes you fast. Give your Aura a nice little kick in the ass. Keeps you going when you shouldn't. Makes you a bit crazy, too. Bloodthirsty even. It's going to make a killing when it hits the streets, even diluted."

"It wears off in a couple of hours though, so of course we're going to be charging a premium for it. The highest price for the highest high, right?" The grin that was shot her way caused Ruby to roll her eyes, settling her gaze on Miltia, who was glaring back at her. She couldn't blame the girl. She'd done a number on both her and her sister a few months ago during a four day bender, trashed a good portion of the club, too. Junior was all too willing to forgive her, so long as she didn't spread it around that she'd demolished his security, and never drank in his club again. Miltia, on the other hand, still hadn't got over that kiss. "The dose I sold to Thrush though, whew, he's gonna be having the time of his life for a long time."

"Where was he headed?" Ruby injected a sense of urgency into her question, and could see that her hurry brought Junior no small sense of enjoyment to toy with her, as the man leaned back into the couch cushions and straightened his tie as if he hadn't a care in the world. "Come on Junior, don't play dumb. I know you have eyes all over the quarter here, I just need a direction and I can find him."

His grin widened as she pleaded with him, his satisfaction at the situation growing enough until he was willing to help. "Last I heard, he was headed toward the Line. Apparently he had some business on the Faunus side of town.. Actually he'll be right on track for your sister's place, Ember Heights." Her attempt to scramble up off the couch and make it out the door without any further interaction with the crime boss was stopped by a hand that closed about her wrist, holding her in place. Before she could even begin to question what he was doing, she felt something warm placed into her palm. "Consider it a gift, from an old friend."

Unfurling her fingers as she was let go, Ruby stared down at the syringe full of the Dust drug with wide eyes before stuffing it into one of her vest pockets and turning to leave, suddenly eager to be anywhere but there. Junior followed her and yelled from his office as she went down the stars back into the main club area. "And tell Blondie to come in sometime!"

Pushing the club owner's strange infatuation with her sister as far from her mind as she could, she called over her shoulder as she stepped onto the dance floor. "Screw you, Junior!"

Author's Note: Shorter chapter because that finale wrecked me. Bit more of what Ruby has been up to revealed, and still no Blake.. She's coming, promise! But since Ruby and just what happened during the Breach will be the first main arc, there's gonna be a heavy focus on her. Go ahead and drop a review with your theories or if you caught some of the more subtle things that happened during her time at Beacon and after(Just want to gauge how mysterious I'm being or if you guys are reading me like an open book![Obviously some things are spelled out, like her drug use and destroying part of the club in a drunken stupor, but still]). Thank you to all followers, favorites, and you awesome people who are dropping reviews. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! -Fox

Update(2/18): Updated a section where I mistakenly pointed out that Ruby did wetwork for Junior. She never kill the guy, only tracked him down and brought him in for the bounty like she always does. However, since this was a criminal betraying another criminal, she thinks it's likely he died. Thanks to Preier for pointing this out to me!

Update(2/20): Updated many parts of the chapter after speaking with three different people and having them edit the chapter. Also will be picking up a Beta! So that's good news.