The the two redheads slowly made their way through the labyrinth of hallways and stairwells that comprised the hospital, as they tried to reach the central pharmacy nestled somewhere deep in the heart of the facility. there was an almost tangible sense of dread, as the hallways lost what few windows had been present gradually petered off. Thereafter, the hallways became dark formless realms, where only darkness could be seen beyond the small halo of light produced by their flashlights. There were no bodies, but in a way that was a worse sign, as there should have been bodies. The hospitals had been ground zero for the disease, bodies had piled up all around the morgue and in the hospital in general after the morgues had been filled to capacity. Towards the end the hospitals began burning the bodies to ash in massive holes rather than leave them to rot, as there weren't enough hospital staff to deal with all of the bodies any longer. In retrospect, the hospitals probably served as breeding grounds for the sickness and helped spread it more then anything else.

As the two delved deeper they began to come across Scorch marks and sometimes whole sections seemed torched black, with one line running through between several hallways where everything would suddenly just abruptly turn from fine to a charred black and back like some freakish form of postmodern art. Looking at the damage, Ruby noticed several shell casings littering the floor behind a desk as they passed by. She bent down and examined it. It was a rather common low caliber dust round, nothing except it's location made it stick out as particularly noteworthy.

"There was someone fighting here." Ruby said holding up a shell for Roman to take a look at.

"It probably happened during the riots, seemed almost like everything was a battlefield then." Roman said shining his flashlight continuing to not see the one thing that most certainly should be here.

"Then where are the bodies?" Ruby asked, hitting the nail square on the head. If this had been some sort of impromptu battlefield, where were the dead bodies of the losers? Back then, it was every man for himself, there was no way someone would bother with the dignity of a corpse while they were cutting each other apart for a loaf of stale bread.

"I was thinking that as well." Down the hallway something stealthily made its way towards them, accidentally stepping on a section of burned carpeting. The crunching was nearly inaudible, but with both of them on edge, it might as well have been like lighting a firecracker.

"Roman did you hear that?" Ruby asked, her eyes trained on the particular dark hallway that the noise emanated from.

"No, Red… I didn't hear anything at all…" Roman said as he primed Melodic Cudgel and focused intensely on the dark void in front of him. WIth the slightest bit of movement Roman jerked his hand upwards and unleashed a torrent of rounds into the shadows. A lone figure dove out of the shadows, barely avoiding the explosive barrage. They ran with inhuman speed and appeared almost like a mummy. Swathed in bandages obscuring every part of their facial features, barring their angry golden irises. They proceeded to try and swing their blade to decapitate Roman. He managed to step back in time and avoid the strike entirely. Roman began to duel this new assailant, sword to cane and was struck by a sense of deja vu. The fight was chaotic, the attacker was obviously skilled, but there was clearly something physically wrong with them. Their strikes were stiff and oddly unstable, it was as if her mind knew how to fight, but their body wouldn't obey them. She would bend and strike at odd angles, contorting their body in bizarre ways. Their duel was brought to a halt when his attacker was suddenly thrown back and slammed heavily against one of the concrete hospital walls by a well placed blast from Crescent Rose.

"Thanks, it would have been nice had you done that a little earlier Red."

"It's hard sighting in Crescent Rose in with just one eye, besides you looked like you had it handled." to which Roman puffed his chest slightly indignant.

"Well of course I did, It's not like I needed the help, it was just nice to have it is all."

"Sure, Roman you keep telling yourself that." Before they could get further into their little ribbing they heard the attacker speaking, it was a quiet mantra, but it was gaining volume and veracity. "You're not real, you're not real, you're not real!" they said clutching their tangled mess of hair.

"Hey, we're real." Ruby said, reluctantly trying to reassure the person she'd just shot into a wall.

"No, Ruby's dead! I saw you die in the crash…"

"Admittedly, had she not landed in my swimming pool, she most likely would have ended up dead." Roman said, looking more closely at the now clearly female figure, she was strangely familiar, something about her face, it wasn't until he noticed something twitching on her head that seemed to resembled an exceedingly familiar ribbon. "Red, I think you might want to get a better look at her, I'm pretty sure that's our little kitten." Ruby's eye widened in shock before turning back, and getting on her knees she got to eye-level with Blake. Carefully, Ruby brought her hand up and brushed a few strands of filthy hair and looked at Blake face to face.

"Blake? Is it really you?" her voice wavered slightly, the barest embers of hope enkindled

"Ruby, You're real, y-you're not some delusion?" Blake's whole body went rigid at the realization. Suddenly Blake threw her arms around her former team leader and pulled her into a crushing hug. Blake smelled positively repugnant, dried motor oil and various antiseptics mixed in with a good dose of burned corpse and dirt, but at this moment just like the prodigal son none of it truly mattered. She who was lost was once more found. Roman felt profoundly out of place, as touchy feely stuff had never been his thing, but he elected to simply deal with it and await their return to reality. He had managed to count the number of ceiling tiles twice over before Ruby realized Roman was still there. Slowly, reluctantly, separating Ruby helped Blake to her feet, and Blake began leading them to the 'others' inside the pharmacy they discovered a harrowing sight. Emaciated barely aware, though still very much alive, and slumped against various walls, were the remaining members of teams RWBY and JNPR.

"How, how did this happen?" Ruby said shocked at the state of her friends. Roman checked several of the discarded syringes and pill bottles. They were things ranging from Amobarbital, a sedative, to a half empty container of Zydone tablets, an opiate and pain reliever, to a large number of Methaqualone tablets, a sedative and mild hallucinogenic, strewn around haphazardly. None the people present were awake, instead all residing within, to varying degrees, a drug fueled wonderland.

"We ended up here a few weeks ago, I think, it's so hard to keep track of things anymore. We got here when our Bu-. Bull-. our ship was hit by a stray round on it's wing. From there we ended up staying in the central building because it was warmest and we just sort of stumbled along…" Blake stopped mid-sentence and seemed to look off into the distance, seeing into a world only she could see.

"Red, Bring our little kitten over here." Roman said, bringing together a set of chairs for them all to sit on from the front lobby of the Pharmacy. Roman had found a drug handbook which described the various drugs found here and he was leafing through them trying to determine what the effects the drugs they'd taken would have on the brats was going to be in the longer term. As Ruby led Blake over and sat her down, Blake remained unfocused and non responsive.

"Red, gather up the pill bottles, and be careful with the dirty needles, let's see if we can't figure out what's running through kitty cat's system." Ruby complied and after a few minutes there was a sizable mound of various tablets, syringes and bottles of various vigors and tonics. Slowly they began sorting through the various drugs and settled upon a drug called Dextroamphetamine, most likely mixed with duloxetine which amplified the effects. The drug was supposed to cure narcolepsy, so useful for someone on the night watch who was afraid of nodding off. Blake suddenly spasmed and began shaking violently. Roman and Ruby grabbed her and did their best to ease the severity of her seizures, while they were restraining her, Roman felt her pulse and it was running at a breakneck pace.

"Roman, what's going on?"

"Kitten's probably having a seizure, turn her head so she doesn't choke on her own vomit." to which Ruby complied. Soon enough a orange noxious fluid poured out of Blake and splattered on to the carpet between the chairs.

"Hold her down, or I don't know, shit!" with a particularly vicious jerk, Blake's shoulder was dislocated. With an equally hard jerk, the sound of bone breaking was audible and her leg bent itself at an unnatural angle. This proved to be the high point, however, as the spasms tapered off soon afterwards. After a few more minutes the spasms ceased altogether. Roman took her pulse, it was incredible quick, but it was slowing down back to a normal pace. Roman took out a handkerchief and cleaned Blake's face, before throwing it into a nearby waste receptacle "Stay here, I'm going to go get a cast for kitten." Roman said, leaving Ruby with Blake alone with the other living corpses. She sat there clutching her friend's head in her arms, wishing desperately to awaken from this nightmare she'd found herself in. She'd wake up back at Beacon, and Yang would be there to comfort her after her bad dream. Then Weiss would call her an idiot or something, and then they'd get ready for school and eventually far in the future they'd be the greatest huntresses ever. But no matter how much Ruby wished, reality simply refused to comply and she remained in this pharmacy room, cradling her friend. The only person who seemed to inhabit the same reality as her was her old archenemy.

Roman returned a while later and managed to successfully encase Blake's leg in a cast.

"Ha!, that wasn't too bad was it?" Roman said looking over their handiwork. Never before had successfully applying a cast been so satisfying a task as it was in that moment. With Ruby holding firmly onto her, Roman then proceeded to wrench the shoulder back into place. The only response was a muffled groan of pain.

"We can't leave them here." Ruby said as the others transitioned from their drugged hazes to sweet slumber.

"...Alright, I'll see what I can do. Make sure the rest of them aren't as bad off as kitty cat was, I'll try and get something that we can carry everyone in without tying someone to the roof." Ruby proceeded to check the others and after determining that they were alright, Ruby retrieved a mattress and some blankets for herself. She was awoken to the feeling of movement as several of her blankets were pulled off the mattress and onto the floor beside it. Groaning and still half asleep Ruby spoke

"Zwei, noooo. These sheets are miiiinnne"

"Don't know who Zwei is, but Red, it's cold and unless you want to share a bed, stop hogging the sheets." a voice replied. Still too tired to think she pulled as hard as she could and ended up pulling the figure that had been sleeping off to the side of the bed into it and entangling them both in a tangle of covers. Satisfied her warmth had been returned Ruby fell back to sleep. Roman said just a few words before succumbing to sleep as well. "Well okay Red, guess you went with option B. I'll bet tomorrow morning's going to be hilarious." Just like a sitcom, though in his opinion, a greek tragedy was a better format for their story.

Sunrise came, and was promptly ignored by those currently inhabiting the hospital. Eventually Ruby awoke, to the feeling of something warm being wrapped in her arms. It was a stark contrast to the frigid fall air outside the covers. Naturally she began moving closer to this wondrous source of heat. As she settled against the heat and she fell back into the clutches of slumber, She was vaguely aware of a bright orange mass of hair that was now far closer than it was previously. An indeterminate amount of time later, Ruby felt her heat source begin to toss and turn much to her annoyance. Ruby seized firmly onto her warmth, but all that resulted in was her being exposed to the frigid air when her personal heater stood up and dragged her along with him. The noise she made in protest was described later by Roman as, 'like a kitten, whose nap you'd just disturbed.'

"Red… what are you doing?"

"Mmm, I'm tired… stop moving and talking so loud, lousy talking cookie heater…"

"Red, open your eyes, please."

"Grrr fine. Oh… hi Roman." Ruby said still not awake enough to understand what's going on.

"Red, while I appreciate the gesture, why are you wrapped around me?"

"Because your warm, and it's cold, can't you turn the air conditioner up a little."

"The hospital power shut off a few weeks ago Red, so no I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Mmph, okay, then just make it warm in here then and I'll let go."

"It think It'll be simpler to just pry you off, besides we have to still get what little medical supplies are left and drag your druggie friends back to the apartment."

"Mmph, my friends aren't druggies." Ruby said slowly, unwillingly, returning to the real world. Slowly the two disentangled and Ruby sat on the bed with her feet crossed, soaking up the last remnants of heat.

"Sure Red, whatever you say."

"Roman?"

"Yeah Red?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Well, we can't spend all day in the waiting room."

"No, why did you help me back there, why are you helping me now, you don't have any real reason to."

"Well, I don't want to go boosting your ego too high, but I will admit I've come to enjoy having you around Red." Roman said after debating on wether or not to lie, and ultimately electing to tell the truth. After straightening his clothes and offering a hand to help Ruby up, the two set about gathering the medical tools and materials that had originally brought them here. As they walked amongst the hallways they would come across the occasional corpse, the bodies putrefied where they had been left.

"Roman shouldn't we be careful not to get sick?"

"Sick with what the plague? Yeah I did wonder why I out of everyone seemed immune to it, but I'm pretty sure we'll be fine. We'd be sick already if we weren't." Nevertheless, Ruby noticed Roman taking more care to keep himself a few feet further away from the rotted corpses.

"No I just thought there was plenty of other diseases… So you weren't vaccinated?"

"...Vaccine?"

"Yeah, Atlas said they were running low and that's what Ozpin said triggered the riots."

"Red, there was no vaccine."

"What? But there is, they gave us all vaccinations at Beacon when the first cases appeared." By this point Roman had stopped moving altogether instead he merely stared at her, something was wrong not just with her words but her appearance as well. As she stood up straight, she was closer to his height then she should have been. Perhaps only an inch or two shorter. She looked at least two years older then he remembered, and frankly she'd gone from cute to stunning. What was he thinking, no quit it there are more important things to focus on right now. For some unknown reason it was as if some kind of static suddenly began looping inside of his brain and his thoughts kept wandering to Red, how she looked, as if there was some key detail his formidable mind simply couldn't grasp. When his focus returned to his situation, he found himself slumped against a wall, with Ruby shaking him, looking utterly terrified.

After that Ruby had forced him to sit in a wheelchair while she pushed him around the rest of the day, mistakenly believing it was physical exhaustion that had prompted his fainting just previously. Roman felt slightly embarrassed, but humored her so long as it didn't interfere too much in the task at hand.

Soon enough they gathered up the various materials and by high noon, they'd gotten all that they needed. It turned out Roman had managed to hotwire an ambulance the previous night and that was to be their transportation back. When they returned to the others Blake was awake and far more cognizant of the surroundings then the others, who once more had loaded themselves up to the gills on prescription meds and were safely off in their drug addled dreams. The ride back along the desolate streets was uneventful, even the sky was a dull gray ceiling. When they parked at the hotel however there were several bullheads circling the Penthouse. Roman parked the ambulance in the bottom floor of the parking lot and got out.

Red, don't move, I'm off to go grab cereal girl, when I give the signal I'll need you to drive down into the sublevel, understand?"

"Uhh, yeah, sure thing Roman." Ruby of course, failing to mention her only previous driving experience involved a go-cart at her birthday last year, or how that had somehow ended up with the go-cart being stuck in a tree at the end of it. As Ruby waited she noticed movement to her side and her eye widened in horror as she realized it was several paladins, thinking quickly she dove into the back of the ambulance to hide. It was already crowded and the unwanted inclusion of one more body was not appreciated that much by those already present. The machines approached and silently examined the ambulance. It would take a miracle for her to escape, as she saw the outlines of dozens of other knights that began surrounding the ambulance. Blake and Ruby readied their weapons preparing to make their final stand together. Just before they touched the door to open the door and look inside, a massive explosion rang out above them and rocked the building.

Immediately the machines cleared out, all heading towards the sounds of the disturbance upstairs. Roman appeared moments later out of a concealed elevator with a still unconscious Pyrrha cradled in his arms, sparking a strange feeling jealousy in Ruby for reasons she couldn't explain, he motioned her to follow him. Carefully, and by some miracle, she managed to do so without incident. Roman activated several discreetly hidden buttons that opened a series of hidden passageways and lead them further and further underground until they eventually came across a massive train tunnel that seemed to stretch on for eternity. From here they drove through the tunnel and came upon a Bullhead of all things. It wasn't a light at the end but as they loaded everyone into in and Roman made the VTOL rise up higher and higher, they eventually breached the surface and emerged a few miles outside Vale's walls and got to instead see to the calm visage of a clear winter's night, with Vale's ruins illuminated by the harsh glow of the atlesian fleet still hovering above. From there, he set the autopilot to arrive at a safehouse he had in Patch, making sure to give the airspace around Vale a generous berth. As he made his way to the cabin with everyone else Roman saw the seat next to Ruby was open, and Blake was busy running her hands over her partner's now filthy golden locks. Roman sat down next to Ruby and began to speak to her.

"You know they're gonna be pissed when they wake up and realize they're going to have to go cold turkey, right."

"Yeah, listen Roman are you going to, you know..." Ruby trailed off nervously.

"Am I going to what?" Roman said, looking at her confused.

"Are you going to leave once we arrive?" Roman looked at her for a moment, then began to laugh.

"Red, where on earth did you keep get that idea from? Do you think I'm just going to sprout wings and fly off into the sunset? I keep telling you, and my opinion hasn't changed yet, I don't plan on leaving your side anytime soon. Unless of course you're asking me to-" He was cut off by Ruby practically squeezing the life out of him with her hug.

"So, so you'll help me get everyone back to normal?" Her voice was hopeful, but still filled with uncertainty.

"If you're willing to put up with me for that long, then yes, I'll be there." This earned another squeeze that was equal parts painful and pleasant. Soon enough tiredness crept in on both of them during the long flight, and the two fell asleep in each other's arms as they sank into a long and pleasantly dreamless slumber.

In a darkened room worlds away from the dead husk that had once been Vale, a council of seven men and women was convened. The people present were members of the High Council of Remnant, the true governing body which gave orders that were executed by the various public councils. There was a placid air as all but one of the council members seemed entirely calm. It was that nervous councilor who spoke first.

"The secondary contained systems have both failed, it will be months before the opportunity for additional measures can be enacted." his voice was was that of a chain smoker with how raspy it was.

"Are we still discussing this?" A woman spoke to his left. Her voice was old, but held an unmistakable air of authority. "The problem will resolve itself soon enough." there was a general buzz of agreement when a new voice spoke

"How did the measures fail? I'm curious." another voice inquired, this one the voice of a young man. He was the youngest member on the Council, but he was held in immense regard due to his previous accomplishments

"The primary executor failed to perform as expected. They have directly assisted the targets, the secondary executor was dispatched, but you all know as well as I that when the initial plan is disrupted…"

"So it seems our measures have only managed to prolong the problem. Tell me, do you have a proper location of where we can find our little wayward wolf?"

"Negative, my suggestion to implant a tracking device was denied."

"Well of course." the young voice spoke up again. "We simply can't afford for anything to endanger the procedure, so certain steps needed to be taken. The first was isolation, the second was there was to be no sign of outside tampering, which can only be done if we leave no trace of our presence." He spoke as if explaining such matters to a child. That only made the councillor feel more and more ashamed at his failure.

The meeting moved on to other matters and the matter was eventually forgotten. As the meeting concluded all but the young man departed, it was his office after all, so there was no reason for him to see them out, they already knew the way. Pressing a few well hidden buttons around the office, the rear facing wall sunk down into the ground revealing a rather macabre laboratory. Possessing a tile floor resembling a massive shower various body parts and organs were haphazardly dispersed. In one corner stood a Beowolf, it's arms and legs amputated and forcibly kept alive only by the wires sticking out of it. Strapped to a bloodstained dentist's chair was a random redhaired woman in her mid-thirties. To the man immense pleasure, the drugs were just beginning to wear off. He dearly hoped she was a screamer, those were his favorite.

"Ahh, good you're awake." He said, in the way a doctor greets his patient. The woman's mouth was gagged and she managed a groan as she slowly woke up. The man walked over and turned on some accompanying classical music. He pressed a few buttons on the chair, and a series of metal joints extended out from the headrest and forced her eyelids open and exposed her bright blue eyes to the harsh florescent lights. "Oh my, such beautiful eyes you have." He said as he loomed over her. He turned his back to her and began rummaging through what seemed to almost be a sort of pantry. Various jars and bottles with liquids of exotic and mesmerizing colors. He took several bottles and placed them on a bench. Briefly the young man walked out of the woman's view and returned with several filthy needles, the filthy tips coated in dried blood. He began humming along with the music as he filled the needles with said various liquids.

"I do hope you'll forgive me, this is far from an exact science. But we're getting quite close to a successful operation, I assure you."

"Mmph, Mmph!" The woman began to panic and thrash about wildly against her restraints. He knew they would hold though, they always had.

"Now, now. Don't worry, this is all for the greater good, I assure you. Soon enough you will be lucky enough to be one with the cosmos, or so I like to believe anyway." the nameless woman looked at him and as she looked into his eyes, their mismatched colors especially stuck out. Her terror only intensified as he smiled similar to how an elder smiled at seeing the rambunctious energy of a child. Without warning, he seized her throat and he held her neck in place. He then injected the first needle into her carotid and moved closely to get the best view on her eyes. As he watched her eyes slowly seemed to lose their color and become a brilliant silver. It lasted only for a moment however, and her eyes flashed back to their natural blue. Enraged the man slapped her face hard, shattering her jaw with the force of the blow. Walking behind the woman, he produced a cigarette and began smoking it. Taking a surgeon's glove off, he ran a well manicured hand through his head of short yellow hair.

He was a pharmacist, not even a surgeon, not like his father had been. He had inherited the position from that colossus of a man, and even now he battled with the doubts he felt the other council men and women must also have regarding him. As he looked up at the body suspended above him, he once again felt his purpose, so clearly laid out. There she was in all her glory, the first Maiden. Even now, a powerful ichor still flowed from her veins. Soon, he would unravel it's secrets and with that, they would finally be able to turn the tide, it would be a revolution greater than even the discovery of dust. Of course such couldn't be accomplished without sacrifice and as he finished his cigarette, he was seized with a new found vigor for his craft and set about testing his latest concoction and observing the results. This particular specimen lasted for almost three hours before expiring. It was then that he took a break while the paladins disposed of the body to grab a sandwich and drink at the local deli. While he was there he did some harmless flirting with the cashier, Mary was her name, as he always did every time he stopped by for his lunch break.

As he took his sandwich and drink back to his office and started to eat, he began to ruminate on his most recent major decision, and it's implications. Had unleashing the plague really been worth it? Of course it was, he came to determine. Those people had probably contributed far more to the survival of the human race than any other group in Remnant's history. Besides the immense service they'd done, there was simply no way they could allow for loose ends to go running about. Not to mention the data they were receiving was positively marvelous in comparison to the paltry scraps of data he had received previously. He'd have to thank his fellow councilmen for stepping up to the plate in that regard, allowing him access to so much valuable information was truly a godsend.

With his meal complete, he made his way back to his laboratory and examined his schedule. He frowned, displeased by what was next on the agenda, before sighing in resignation and going back to the chair to examining the subject. A huntress from Vacuo, a Gwen Darcy if the information on his scroll was accurate. She hardly seemed fit to be chosen to become one of his masterworks. Nothing to be done about it though, the council wanted their weapons and if he couldn't provide them, then they'd find someone who could.

As he determined an outline for the procedure, the thought of his lost wolf for some reason came to his mind. He'd made him to serve as a guard dog, viciously attacking anyone who investigated the city, looking for the dirty secrets it held. If his dog was acting up, well how about instead of fixing him up, they simply got a new guard dog? Yes, he could make her the new doggy, a bigger, stronger, better guardian that they wouldn't lose track of. With the plans now finalized in his head, he moved the unconscious huntress to an operating table. He plugged both of his hand into the machine and he felt, to his satisfaction the machines surrounding the table respond to his every will and thought.

Without further ado he began the procedure, choosing, as always, to forgo using any anesthesia. Ms. Darcy woke up quickly but found herself unable to prevent what was happening to her. He would go on to spend several hours fine tuning her every facet before she was performing within what he considered acceptable parameters. He had been right, she would make an excellent guard dog. By this time next month she'd be fully finished and he'd ship her off to Vale to better protect their secrets.

His last item on the agenda was wheeled in sometime just before sunset. The last subject of the day appeared to be some random street walker from Atlas. Seeing her strapped down made his blood boil, she reminded him so much of his whore mother. Oh who was he kidding this wasn't business, as he took out a wide assortment of various weapons and bladed instruments while madness bubbled up in his eyes as they became a bright scarlet. This part of the job was in all actually simple stress relief. As the first blade broke through her skin the young man couldn't help but revel in anticipation of the approaching, and all too brief, bout of pure unadulterated pleasure. The classical music repeated once more and as the woman's blood coated the young man, he added his own accompanying beastial howls of pleasure as he allowed himself to surrender to his monstrous true nature.

Deep in the backwater of mistral's marshy bayou, a pair of young ladies stood off to side of a rather seedy bar, sitting alone at an old rotted wooden table. They were meeting someone about the potential of finally getting back to Vale after their extended absence, and had been waiting for their contact here for the past week. One was an immensely short girl, bettering resembling a child rather than her actual age, she idly twirled her parasol around in a relaxed, fluid motion. It was her, and the reputation that preceded her, that protected the two girls more then anything from the various thugs and criminals that called this disgusting hovel their home. The other was dressed in fine expensive clothes, and was the only person visible uncomfortable with the squalid surroundings. something that made her truly stand out like an obvious mark here. Just as the two were getting ready to depart after another fruitless day of waiting, the door opened to reveal a massive bear of a man. Dressed in a fine suit with a red tie, the man strode in carrying what could be mistaken for a bottle or oddly shaped bat. It didn't take long for him to spot the two and make his way over. The shorter of the two girls smiled at him and her body language shifted from relaxed to excited.

"Well, It's been awhile hasn't it Neo?" the man said as he took a seat. She smiled sadly in return and began to sign quickly to him. The other girl devoted her full attention to the the man, staring intently at his red reflective sunglasses.

"I understand you can safely transport us to Vale correct?"

"Patch actually, but yes that's right, I just need one thing first."

"Whatever amount it is, I assure you once we arrive, I can access the necessary funds to pay you." She scowled when he shook his head no.

"I don't want any money, believe me I've got plenty already. I need you to do a bit of work in a high risk area. I take it you can handle yourself, ms.?"

"Schnee, Weiss Schnee." Weiss replied. The man let out a low whistle, no doubt recognizing her family name.

"Pleasure to meet you miss, the name's Hei, but everyone calls me Junior. You were on Blondie's team right?" Weiss bristled at the mention of her friends. After a moment she nodded.

"What exactly are we doing?" Weiss said, her mood having soured being reminded of old wounds.

"I need someone to provide security for a little muscle for my club, ever since I moved locations, the girls and my men just don't seem enough when a bunch of drunk hunters blow in wanting to raise hell."

"How long would we have to work?"

"Just a month, though if you want to stay on afterwards, I think we can afford to offer a pretty decent sum." At this Weiss looked at Neo for her opinion, and recognized what the massive Cheshire grin meant. She sighed.

"Very well then Junior, we accept."

I hope this chapter didn't give too of the overarching plot away.

Review response time;

Guest: I always do

Iron-ninja: thank you I will

Ghost289: as you can see they still have Pyrrha with them, that's not to say that there isn't going to be ramifications later on, but for the moment they're all together relatively.

Matt Cyr: Thank you, that was originally an oversight on my part, but now that I've got a better idea as to what the overarching plot is, that will become a plot point later. As for this becoming a Romance… Meh, I don't see it happening, It's closer to say it's co dependence then truly romantic interest, but hey if you see it as romance I can safely say that up to this point that was not the intent of the hugs and other such touchy feely things.

Shenkovitch362: thank you

14: okay, here's some more.

Guest: 'kay

Until next time.