Yang hit the punching bag, her blows hard and fast. Yang moved with incredible speed, ducking and jiving as if facing a real opponent. In her head she always ended up facing someone she had known, usually someone from her long list of ex partners. It wasn't that she hated them, but she certainly didn't like them. Especially Junior after the whole shooting incident, her anger causing her blows to become more ferocious. That's all she needed, a spark of aggression and in a second she was a blinding fury of punches. She would play out these imaginary fights in her head, always winning and beating back the bad guy.

She spent the better part of an hour this way. By the end of it she was panting, her hands sore and knuckles red. She grabbed her towel and wiped away the sweat that formed on her brow before heading towards the shower. "Hold up!" A voice called out from behind her, Yang turned to see Weiss running down the stairs into the cargo bay where she had set up her gym equipment. "What's up princess?"

"I will have none of that despicable nickname," Weiss said as she crossed her arms in defiance. Yang smirked,

"But you are kind of a princess, super prissy upper class heir to a fortune. Sounds like a princess to me."

"Prissy! The nerve of you, I will have you know that I am no such thing."

"Well you constantly wear a suit, that alone is pretty 'proper' of you. Don't even get me started on your attitude." Yang's grin growing wider as Weiss became more flustered and frustrated,

"I don't have any other clothes! Only this stupid suit I wore when I got on! And what about your attitude!" Weiss now leaning menacingly towards Yang, standing on her the tips of her toes in order to get closer to Yang's height. "Stop shouting, some of us are trying to read!" Yang and Weiss turning to see Blake's head drop down from an open panel in the roof of the cargo bay. As quickly as she had appeared, Blake ducked back into the crawlspace. Weiss raised an eyebrow quizzically, Yang just laughed, "She likes to read, and can really hates distractions so she hides up there to get away from all the ruckus."

"How odd,"

"Hey that's my Lady you're talking about!" Yang said jokingly, another voice chiming I yet again from above,

"No I'm not." Yang chuckled,

"Funny how she wants privacy, and yet she picks the perfect place where she can eavesdrop on everyone. So what were you after anyway?"

"Well I'm wondering if you could help me with something. I have decided that I will be staying on the ship for a while. Since you all have a predisposition for getting into trouble I might be more helpful if I could properly operate a firearm," Weiss standing resolute with her hands behind her back, like she was making a proposal to a committee. Yang looked confused, "You want me to teach you how to shoot?"

"Yes."

"Hahaha, next time how about you just ask," Yang patted Weiss on the shoulder as she left to go have her shower.

"I thought I did?" Weiss asked as Yang left.

"Extend your arm more, and calm your breathing," Yang paced around Weiss as she held the gun. The revolver was well designed, an ivory grip and a glinting silver barrel, nothing but the best for a member of the Schnee family. The gun had been acquisitioned by Ruby off of one the men that had pursued Weiss back on Atlas. "Good, you're a pretty quick learner. Now things are never so nice and easy when people are shooting at you, but if you can remain calm you should be alright."

"Well, thank you very much, you make a fairly good teacher, surprisingly."

"Surprisingly? I taught most people on this boat the finer points of hitting, shooting and stabbing things."

"Oh wow a true intellectual," Weiss pretending to swoon. Yang had her arms on her hips a stern look on her face. Ruby walked past the two of them, carrying her rifle, freshly polished. "Yeah that's Yang for you, gentlewoman and a scholar."

"Your God damn right!" Yang said as she flicked her hair dramatically. Weiss rolled her eyes, Ruby just laughed. "I think it might be time for you to get some new clothes as well Weiss. I don't think that you can keep waring that suit forever. No matter how much you wash it, it's really starting to smell." Yang beamed as Weiss glared at her.

"Oh well Vale should have everything you need. There are plenty of stores, we can pick some stuff up when we land." Ruby chiming in as she stored her rifle back in the weapons locker. Weiss pinched her brow, an exasperated look on her face, "Yes I suppose I will need some clothes. However I don't want to use any of my accounts, they might be traced."

"Pfft don't worry about it, I can cover that," Ruby waving her hand with indifference. Yang stood behind Weiss and gave Ruby a subtle wink before walking away. "Ruby I think you have given me enough charity, I really do hate imposing."

"Weiss, I'm not going to just buy you clothes, you're just gonna have to pay me back."

"I suppose I can deal with that," Weiss said indignantly. Ruby smirked as she patted Weiss on the shoulder,

"Not really giving you a choice, that suit is really starting to get old." Ruby walked off giggling as Weiss just gasped in frustration.

Blake leant against the wall of the cockpit, looking out over the bright cityscape. Neon signs blared advertisements on the giant skyscrapers. Small personal crafts ducked in between the huge steel towers. This was the closest thing the border planets had to anything resembling the metropolises of the core planets. While the core planets were pristine and well controlled, Vale was a vicious, near lawless city of sin. It was the closest thing Blake had ever had to a home, before Beacon that is. She remembered her days spent down in the under levels, a dark underground covered by the build-up of infrastructure. Days could be spent without seeing the sun, dodging gangs and hustlers and trying to find your next meal. The perfect place to recruit desperate Faunus and give them something to believe in.

She buried the memories quickly, taking her eyes away from the familiar sight. "Hey Jaune, where are we landing?"

"I was instructed to land in the northeast Hangar bay in the Eastern sector." Blake just nodded thoughtfully, trying to remember if she had any enemies that frequented the Eastern sector. She sighed deeply, Jaune noticing spoke up, "So this Torchwick guy, you say he has a job for us?"

"Yes, he sent out a message requesting me personally."

"So you know him then?"

"Yeah, sadly I do," Blake's voice growing deeper, filled with malice. Jaune winced, hearing the harsh changed in her voice.

"So he's not a nice guy then, I imagine the job will be interesting."

"I'm sure it will be, let's just hope the son of a bitch doesn't screw us over." Blake clenched her hands into fists, Torchwick was truly a despicable human being. He had used the White Fang, Blake's old gang, to perform countless jobs. At the time it all seemed harmless, it seemed like justice. Then everyone started changing, everything became more about violence and profit instead of equality and retribution. They were young, they were weak, and Torchwick had taken advantage of that. Yet here she was, bringing her new friends to see him. They needed the work, it would either leave them wealthy or very likely dead.

Ren heard the soft knocks coming from the door, the sound waking him from his idle daydreaming. "Come in," Ren spoke softly as to not wake the small figure who slept in the bed beside his chair. "Hey there, not interrupting anything am I," Ruby said as she cautiously entered the room, sliding the door shut behind her. Ren looked perplexed, "What would you be interrupting?"

"Well, uh, you know. Take a strange girl on board, hide her away from everyone… People are suspicious that our resident preacher is breaking one vow or another." Ruby cringed as she spoke, clearly uncomfortable talking about it. Ren just shook his head, a soft smile appearing as he did so, "No Ruby, I am not sleeping with this poor girl. Also my particular faith does let me marry so it's only a sin to commit… 'That' act out of wedlock."

"Soooo, your married to her?" Ruby asked sheepishly, Ren face palming in irritation.

"No, I'm not married to this girl; I am just trying to help her. I'm sorry for not telling you about it, it was hard to contact you from Sanders, and this is a newer development."

""Well then, at least you can still lord your moral superiority over all us-"

"Crooks, criminals, thieves, mercenary's. I could go on," Ren smiling slyly as he interrupted the captain. Ruby huffed and pouted,

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Back to the important question though, what's her deal?"

"She needs a place to hide, hopefully not for too long."

"What did she do?" Ruby glancing hesitantly over to the sleeping girl, "I don't like to house psychopaths,"

"No, no, she is innocent of any crimes. No, her problem is that there are certain powerful people after her; she has lived a hard life at their hands. A while ago she managed to escape a Confederate base; somehow she found her way to Sanders. They did things to her, changed her, I'm not sure how or why all I know is what they did to her was wrong. Her memories and thoughts are all muddled, she has the understanding and demeanour of a child, yet the strength of a bodybuilder and the skill of a highly trained soldier." Ren looked concerned as he explained, his eyes landing on the sleeping girls back. Ruby too ended up watching the sleeping girl, her curiosity only growing.

"So she needs to hide from the Feds."

"Yes."

"Well then, I will make sure everyone keeps it quiet. With all the people I seem to be picking up we have enough trouble looming over us. What's her name?"

"Penny, she goes by Penny."

"Alright, Weiss and Jaune you guys are on shopping duty. Blake, Pyrrha and Yang, you're with me. Ren's going to stay and watch over the ship. We should all be back here by around one pm Vale time." Ruby dished out the jobs quickly, giving Jaune a list of essential items to pick up, as well as handing Weiss some money to go clothes shopping. Blake, Pyrrha and Yang left to go retrieve their weapons. Ruby's morale sunk as she realised just how little they had left. The repair costs had taken a large sum of the ships funds, they really needed this job. Blake had warned Ruby, told her what kind of a guy she would be dealing with, and as much as Ruby didn't want to take the job, without it they would likely starve.

Ruby opened the cargo bay doors, beams of sunlight streaking inside the ship. She held her hand up to block the light as she walked out onto the docks. The feeling of sunlight on her skin after days spent in the dark expanse of space was comforting. It felt good, but it didn't reassure her. "Let's get moving, don't want to keep Torchwick waiting."

Blake nodded and followed behind Ruby and Pyrrha, the two having a fairly boring conversation about finances. Yang slowed down to walk beside her, she unlike the rest of them was completely carefree. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

"I dunno, feels good to be somewhere familiar. We haven't been to Vale in months."

"Wish I could say the same," Blake said under her breath. Yang looked down at her, concern written on her face.

"Ugh, I'm sorry, always forget you hate this place," Yang said as she rested her arm comfortingly on Blake's shoulder.

"It's not that I hate it, there are just a lot of bad memories."

"Do you reckon there is gonna be trouble with this Torchwick guy?"

"I assure you there will be trouble, the question is whether it's with Torchwick, or with what he's sending us after."

"Don't worry kitten, I'm locked and loaded if anything goes down."

"Uh do you guys have any titanium capacitors?" Jaune questioned the mechanic, going through the list of parts needed for the repairs. Weiss stood next to him, bored beyond belief. For the past few hours they had gone from mechanic to junkyard and back again trying to find all the parts for a reasonable price. "Yeah we have some in, gimme a sec and I will go grab it from out back," the mechanic disappearing into the back of the workshop. Jaune nodded and took a seat, Weiss sitting down next to him.

"Well this is mind numbingly tedious," Weiss crossing her arms and frowning.

"Welcome to my life. To be honest though after the Grimm chase and all that, I'm happy to be a little bored for a while." Jaune grinned as he laid back in the old chair, Weiss letting out a single chuckle. "It can't be that bad, you are married to one of the more beautiful women I have ever seen," Weiss giving Jaune a sly look. Jaune gave Weiss a similar look, "Yeah well she does make it that much more bearable."

"How did you meet her, better yet how did you end up flying Beacon?"

"Well long story short I actually used to be a Confederate pilot. At least that's what I trained to do, never did pass the final test."

"A Confederate pilot, and Ruby hired you? I get the feeling she's not really a fan of the 'Feds' as she puts it." Jaune laughed at this, nodding his head

"Yeah, there were some misgivings about that. Pyrrha stood up for me though, said she saw potential in me." Weiss hid a grin, by her estimations that was the only thing that Pyrrha could possibly see in him. Jaune didn't take notice and continued his story, "So she just showed up one day at this bar, I was there drinking away the sorrows of not passing again,"

"You mean failing," Weiss interjected.

"Some would call it that. Anyway we got to talking, and she just offered me the job. The rest is history."

"So Ruby and Pyrrha have been together for a while?"

"Yeah, they bought Beacon together. They have known each other the longest, since both their parents were involved in the war." Weiss nodded, that explained the military uniform that Ruby's mother wore in the picture. The uniform that was completed with the same dark red leather coat that Ruby wore. The red coat, the symbol of the Alliance of Independent Systems, the government that the Confederates had overthrown. The two sat in silence for the rest of the wait, Jaune caught up in memories and Weiss mulling over the new information surrounding Ruby. It explained a lot, her apparent dislike of the Confederates; it explained Pyrrha's loyalty to Ruby but it didn't reveal everything. Weiss still had questions about the strange girl who had taken her in.

The three women stood impatiently, all nervously checking that their weapons were still there. Ruby moved over to Blake, moving close to whisper quietly, "You sure this isn't a set up, we have been waiting here for a while."

"I can't tell, but we should be ready if it is. There are many reasons I can think that Torchwick may want me dead." As Blake finished, the doors leading into the 'office' where they were told to meet opened. A large man gestured for them to enter, and after sharing looks of concern they did. Pyrrha went first, making sure to survey the room quickly. Next came Yang, her hands tracing the sawed off shotgun she had holstered in her jacket. Finally Ruby and Blake stepped inside, greeted with the sight of what actually appeared to be a nice office space. Furnished with classically designed wooden furniture, art displayed on the walls, it seemed like the residence of a wealthy business man. The only thing the spoke contrary to this was the 'business man' in question. Torchwick sat at the desk, feet up and lying back in his chair. He lit his cigar and tipped his bowler hat as they entered.

"Welcome ladies, it's a pleasure to meet you all. Blake so good to see you again, I feared you would let our sorted past blind you to the brilliant opportunity I have set up."

"It very nearly did," Blake trying her best to hide any obvious emotion. Torchwick stood, taking a puff of his cigar as he walked over to Ruby and extended his hand. "Roman Torchwick, you must be the famous Ruby Rose," Torchwick giving her a wide, slightly off putting smile. Ruby reluctantly took his hand,

"I think I would have noticed being famous."

"Exactly, for the moment you are just another captain of a small crew on a barely functioning ship. After this job though, your name will be known throughout the stars, that and you will be a lot better off."

"Not really looking for fame, we will stick to fortune and anonymity," Ruby glaring suspiciously at the enthusiastic criminal. Torchwick nodded slowly, staring down Ruby,

"Well then we will just have to settle for my name being known across the stars. Enough idle chatter though, you in or not?"

"You still haven't told me what you want us for,"

"Well little red, I happen to be an entrepreneur dealing in various high end artworks, antiquities and the like. Word has travelled of a certain antiquity finding its way back into the limelight."

"Let me guess, you want someone to steal it for you," Blake said as she continued to hide her feelings. Torchwick grinned,

"Always were a perceptive one kitty cat, yeah I was wondering if you could assist me in acquiring this particular item." Yang moved closer to Blake, hand's clenched and anger brazenly showing on her face. "Don't call her that," she muttered through gritted teeth. Torchwick backed off slightly, eyeing up the blonde, eyes slowly resting on her chest, a sly smile forming across his face. "It's a gem, about the size of Blondie's chest," his comment only garnering further anger from Yang. "Before I give you any more info you gotta tell me whether you're in,"

"How much is our cut?"

"Thirty precent, comes out to around four hundred thousand Lien," Torchwick scanned the four girls for a reaction. Pyrrha spoke up now, pulling Yang back slightly as she stepped in front of Torchwick. "I'm very sorry, but sadly we can't do it for thirty precent, it's sadly not enough for our expertise."

"Well then. What about you," Torchwick pointing to Blake, "Yours is the expertise I'm after, thirty precent sound good to you?" Blake shrugged,

"It's up to my captain." She looked to Ruby for approval, Ruby obviously mulling it all over in her mind.

"Forty precent and we have a deal, and as I said, you don't mention us when word gets out you have it."

Torchwick clearly disliked the idea of paying them more, a sour look replacing his cheesy smile. "Fine, forty precent and I won't mention you guys if you don't mention me."

"Deal," Ruby now extended her hand, and Torchwick shook.

"I will send you guys the finer details, it's up to you to figure how to pull it off." Torchwick returned to sit as his desk as the four of them made moves to leave. "Keep in mind, I can't stop people talking if you guys get recognised."

"We won't," Blake having the last words as the group left.