Dream Theory - Chapter 14 (Patreon)

“Ruby…”  After sparing one last glance in the mirror, Yang turned towards her sister.  “Do you know why Weiss has a real wig?”

With holomasks being all the rage these days, wigs were relics from a lost era.  Yet Weiss just so happened to own one - one made of long, wavy, brunette hair that fell to the middle of Yang’s back.

“We thought it’d be neat to see the real deal,” Ruby replied, leaning almost too far back in her chair before leaning forward again.  “Aren’t they cool?  Can’t hack that!”

“I mean...technically you can…”  Lifting up the individual strands of the wig, Yang gave them a good inspection before tossing them over her shoulder.  “Just need some scissors.”

Hearing a short chuckle, she beamed at Blake.

“What do you think?” she asked while striking a pose.  “How do I look with brunette hair?”

The question invited Blake to check her out, but Yang hadn’t expected the intensity behind that gaze.  Amber eyes, which spoke volumes more than Blake said aloud, started at Yang’s new hairstyle before moving downward at a slow, deliberate pace that made Yang’s skin tingle.  Eventually reaching the floor, Blake’s eyes snapped back to Yang’s while a smile appeared.

“You look amazing, but that’s not surprising - you always look amazing.”

Feeling a blush at the uninhibited compliment, Yang turned back to the mirror only to meet Blake’s eyes in the glass. 

“I’m glad you think so,” she muttered before removing the wig and running a hand through her real hair.  “You’re sure he won’t notice?”

“Please - I can hardly tell the difference and you’re my sister.”  Ruby waved off Yang’s concern with a grin.  “Just don’t get it caught in any doors or anything.”

“Because I planned on doing that,” Yang replied with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, and here.  Gotta add these.”

When Ruby handed over a pair of eyeglasses, Yang slipped them on without question.

“There’s a built-in camera,” Ruby explained while Yang looked around to see if they impaired her vision.  “And they’ll work in super low light, so you don’t need to turn on the lights when you’re sneaking around this guy’s room.”

“Really?”  Glancing at Ruby, who nodded, Yang smiled and checked out her new glasses in the mirror.  “That’s useful - you just built these?”

“Yup!  Repurposed a pair of Weiss’ reading glasses.”

“Reading glasses and a wig,” Yang said with an amused scoff.  “Weiss is so old school sometimes.”

“How are reading glasses old school?”

Cringing at the question, Yang shot Ruby a look before turning to Blake.  “With all the vision correction options these days, who wears glasses for anything but fashion?  I mean, except for you, of course.  But I love your reading glasses - they’re adorable.”

Yang threw on a smile that she hoped absolved her of her transgression and, fortunately, Blake rolled her eyes while letting the conversation drop.  Yang forgot that Blake also wore reading glasses from time-to-time, but it was an honest slip-up.  Definitely wouldn’t happen again!

“Can you see the bruise though?” she asked while returning her attention to the mirror.  To her, evidence of the cover-up was clear as day, but she knew to look for it.

“It’s not noticeable.”  Standing by Yang’s shoulder, Blake looked into the mirror with her.  “Most people will assume you hit your head on something, if they even notice.”

“Good.”  Breathing a sigh of relief, Yang next turned her attention to the myriad of cuts she’d somehow collected.  “And these won’t show under long sleeves.”  Just looking at the cuts made her itchy.  She tried her best not to scratch them, but they were at the stage of healing that itched like hell all the time.

“Don’t scratch,” Blake reminded her as soon as her arm inched upward.  Laying a hand on top of hers, Blake smiled while pushing it back down.  “Let them heal, or they’ll scar.”

Doing as instructed, Yang couldn’t help but smile while her heart did several extra-loud ba-dumps in her chest.  Moments like these reminded her of the best parts of their relationship - the caring and never-ending support that came with being there for each other through thick and thin.  Somewhere along the way, she’d grown accustomed to leaning on Ruby and Weiss for that feeling, but this...this was different than anything she could ever find with someone else.

Hearing a soft chime preceding the front door opening, she broke away from Blake’s gaze as Weiss walked into the room.

“How was your meeting?” Ruby immediately asked, spinning around in her chair with a bright smile on her face.

“Exhausting.”  After giving Ruby a kiss, Weiss dropped a small bag on the table.  “But I got what you asked for.”

“Because you’re the absolute best.”  While Weiss had no response for the glowing compliment, Ruby grabbed the bag and pulled out a package containing what looked like two tiny sections of wire.  Removing the wires, she carefully plugged them into the contraptions she’d spent the afternoon working on.

“And I got you a suit,” Weiss added while handing a clothing bag to Yang.  “Because those aren’t fitting into anything I own.”

When Weiss nodded towards Yang’s chest, she laughed and accepted the new clothes.

“I hope it’s not super ugly.”

“I wouldn’t know.  I just told one of the assistants to buy something.”

Curious (and a little concerned) about her outfit for the evening, she opened the garment bag and found a reasonably-fashionable outfit inside.

“I can wear this,” she determined while pulling out the black blazer, skirt, and white-collared shirt.  After holding the pieces up to check the size, she nodded to herself.

For an instant, she considered changing right there in the kitchen - because why not?  Then she remembered Blake was there.  Not that Blake’s presence normally prevented her from shedding clothing - the opposite, usually - but she suddenly felt a little...modest.

“I’ll be right back...” she mumbled before hurrying into the other room to change.  She felt Blake’s gaze follow her out, but shook off the feeling as she ducked into the living room and slipped into her new outfit.  Once done, she straightened the sleeves, pulled the jacket tight, and headed back to the kitchen.  Blake returned to her side as if nothing about that sequence of events was abnormal, but remained at the close-but-not-too-close distance they’d kept since this morning.

“Looks good.  Fits you perfectly.”

“It’ll do,” Yang replied with a small smile.  Her heart still didn’t know what to do in Blake’s presence, and instead found itself caught somewhere between hammering with love and stuttering with uncertainty.  All this time, she thought their reunitement would be the easiest part of this.  Turns out, Blake coming home was only the beginning of moving on - especially with the new wrinkle added to their lives.

“Annnnnd done.”

Tearing her eyes away from Blake, Yang watched Ruby set down her tools and dust off her hands.

“What are they?” Weiss asked, leaning over Ruby’s shoulder to look at the small items on the table.

“Our communication for today.”  Picking up the tiny devices, Ruby hid them in the palm of her hand and grinned.  “What’s something women can always wear and get away with?” 

“Jewelry?” Weiss guessed before Yang even grasped the question.

“Jewelry!” Ruby repeated while unfolding her hand and displaying two sets of diamond earrings.  “Sorry, Weiss.  I’ll get you new ones later.”

“That’s ok.  I’m sure I’ll like these better.”  

Beaming at the response, Ruby picked up one set of earrings and handed them to Weiss.  “Targeted sound is all the craze these days,” she explained while Weiss removed her current pair and put on the new earrings instead.  “You use dampeners to channel a direction and eliminate dispersion.  The end result?”

Walking over to the computer, Ruby whispered something into the microphone.  Weiss smiled at whatever it was, but the rest of them hadn’t heard anything at all.

“See?  Plus, they’re really small microphones.  Even if you whisper, we’ll hear you.”

“Hear that, Weiss?” Yang added while gently nudging Weiss in the side.  “Keep your insults to a minimum.”

When Weiss rolled her eyes, Yang chuckled and slipped on the second set of earrings Ruby handed over.  Diamonds weren’t quite her style, but they worked with her outfit.

“I made these because he has this cool thing that picks up hidden tech.  It’s awesome, but it can’t pick up something it’s never seen before!”

After staring at the second earring in her hand for a long time, Weiss turned to Ruby.

“You literally just invented these from scratch?”

“Not from scratch.”  Leaning forward, Ruby kissed Weiss’ cheek.  “You got me the wires!”

“Yes, but...you’re incredible.”

“Save it for when Yang’s not around,” Ruby replied with a playful wink and adorable squeal when Yang tried to smack her shoulder.  “Oh!  I want to make one more adjustment.”  Taking the earring from Weiss and setting it on the computer scanner, Ruby pulled up the programming to tweak one last thing.

“While you do that, I’ll get dressed,” Weiss replied.  Before she walked away, however, Ruby grabbed ahold of her arm.  

“But you’re already dressed!”

“You think I can show up at Taven’s wearing this?” Weiss asked, gesturing towards her work clothes - a nice blazer and skirt.

“Uh...yeah?  You look fantastic.”

For a second, Weiss just smiled at Ruby.  Then she leaned forward and kissed Ruby on the lips.

“You’re very sweet,” she murmured before pulling away.  “But no.  I can’t wear this.”

While Weiss headed upstairs to change, Ruby shrugged at Yang and Blake.

“She looks nice,” she repeated, as if convincing them that she wasn’t crazy for thinking so.  She then turned back to the computer and opened the codebase.  After making a few swirling changes that Yang couldn’t even track, she closed everything and gave them a thumbs up.  “Even better.”

“Awesome.”  

Yang expected Blake to add a response of her own, but instead she gave nothing but a small smile before looking towards the floor.  She seemed nervous or...something…

“What’s wrong?” Yang asked and, as soon as Blake glanced towards Ruby, knew she wasn’t getting an honest answer.  

“Nothing’s wrong,” Blake replied with a tiny smile.  “Just thinking about...everything we’re trying to do.”

The response created more questions than answers, but Yang didn’t have time to ask them.  Instead, she turned towards the door when she heard footsteps headed their way.

“Ok.”  Walking into the room, Weiss drew everyone’s attention as she picked up her bag from the table and searched through its contents.  Satisfied with what she found, she nodded and held the clutch by her side.  “I’m ready now.”

From her demeanor, she thought nothing of the outfit she wore, which was...professional...but in a...flashy and revealing way.

“You’re wearing that?” Ruby asked, motioning towards the low-cut top, slim-fitting blazer, and ultra-short pencil skirt.  Combined with a pair of heels that made her nearly the tallest in the room, she was dressed to draw some serious attention.

“Yes.  Is there something wrong with it?”

After giving Blake a look, Yang huffed in amusement and shook her head.  Weiss had to know the reason behind Ruby’s consternation yet asked the question anyway, either to force Ruby to admit her reservations or because arguing just came naturally to her.

“Uh...it’s like...super revealing,” Ruby replied.  “I don’t like the idea of him...you know...leering at you.”

Yang didn’t know if that was the answer Weiss wanted or expected, but she took Ruby’s hands and gave her a tender, loving smile.

“It will help - believe me,” Weiss replied before glancing towards Blake.  “I’m sure Blake agrees with me.”

When Blake shuffled her feet, Yang straightened her posture and felt a tug of displeasure in her chest.

“Uh...what?”  She directed the question to Blake, who suddenly refused to meet her gaze.  

“It will help,” Blake agreed, speaking only to Weiss while Ruby and Yang exchanged dumbstruck expressions.  Without a word spoken between them, Yang knew that her sister felt the same mixture of emotions she did - indignation, anger, and a lot of desire to punch a rich sleazeball in the face.

“Ok.”  Clapping her hands together, Ruby flashed a smile.  “New plan - we hack his bank accounts and take all his money.”

Brow raised, Weiss gave Ruby a curious look.

“You can do that?”

“It’s not exactly legal, but yeah.  And I think he deserves it - don’t you, Yang?”

Yang nodded her approval of this plan, but Weiss gave her only a half-second glance before narrowing her eyes at Ruby.

“Does that mean you can look into anyone’s bank account?”

“Uh…”

Weiss folded her arms across her chest at the non-answer.  

“Does that mean you looked into my bank accounts?”

“No!” Ruby replied before immediately backing away from the answer.  “I mean, yeah kinda - but that was before we started dating!  When I met you in the hall, I was super curious and wanted to know more about you.  So I pulled up everything I could find, and your bank accounts just happened to be part of it.  And then I realized, ‘Holy crap why am I looking around Weiss Schnee’s bank accounts?’  But I couldn’t help myself!  Because you’re so pretty and smart and I was just like, hooked, you know?”

The longer Ruby rambled, the more Weiss’ pretend-annoyance morphed into something closer to adoring-amusement.

“I don’t know whether to be upset or love you even more,” she eventually replied.  Evidently, she chose the ‘love’ side of the equation, because she leaned forward and kissed Ruby’s cheek.  

“And stealing his money will accomplish nothing,” Blake added.  “It will only make him mad, and he’ll make it all back in a couple of days.”

“Yeah, but then we’d be super rich too…”

Smiling at Ruby’s response, which was clearly meant to be a joke, Yang put on her new glasses and made sure her earrings were firmly in place.

“Ok, think I’m ready too,” she said to get them back on track.  She had her glasses.  She had her snazzy new earrings.  She had her work-appropriate outfit.  She had her wig.  “Guessing weapons are out of the question,” she said, turning to Ruby for an answer.

“Yup.  Oh...and your arm…”

When Ruby gestured towards Yang’s bionic arm, she held it up and frowned.  “What about it?”

“How many people have those, Yang?”

“I’ll cover it up -”

“A thousand different scanners will see it.”

“Then...what?  You want me to go without it?  Isn’t that equally obvious?”

Before answering, Ruby turned back to the computer and pulled up photos - lots and lots of photos of Yang.  In every one of them, she had her arm on.  Which wasn’t surprising since she went through great pains to always wear it out of the house.  Not only was it more useful than any other tool she owned, but it allowed her to blend in and pretend she was ‘normal.’

“If they remember the photos, they probably don’t remember that you’re lacking an arm.”

“Plus, it’s perfect,” Weiss added.  “No matter who a person is, they’ll avoid acknowledging your defect -”

“It’s not a defect.”

Eyes widening at Blake’s terse response, Yang turned and found her frowning at Weiss.

“Factually, it is…” Weiss replied, treading lightly with her reply before looking at Yang.  From her expression, she was concerned that she might’ve offended Yang somehow, but Yang shook her head.

“It’s ok.  It is.”  Reaching over, Yang held Blake’s hand in hopes the contact would instill some level of calmness.  She appreciated the protectiveness, but it was unnecessary with Weiss, who clearly meant no harm with the comment.  

“So I go sans arm,” she concluded.  “That’s…”

Trailing off, she tried to decide how she felt about leaving her trusty sidekick behind.  She knew how to fight with one arm.  She knew how to do a lot of things with one arm.  She was just...much better with two.

“That’s doable,” she concluded with a nod.  “If something happens, I’d still rather be there than not.”

She wouldn’t have a powerful ally if things went sideways, but she’d figure something out.  She almost always did.

The doorbell rang then - the sound so sudden and unexpected that the four of them looked at each other before doing anything else.  It was Weiss who moved towards the entryway first, but Ruby quickly caught her hand to prevent her from getting too far away.

“Let me see who it is.”  Making a few hasty swipes through the screen, Ruby pulled up a camera feed from the front of the house, and Yang immediately did a double-take.

Two uniformed officers stood on Weiss’ step, with a third leaned against a patrol car idling on the street behind them.  

“Is that Casey?” she asked, moving forward to identify the tall man standing on the step.  “And Saffold - what the hell are they doing here?”

“Oh for the love of god,” Weiss muttered, pulling her arm free of Ruby’s grasp and heading towards the door.  “I’ll deal with them.  Stay here and be quiet.”

Weiss closed the door behind her, leaving the three of them in the computer room listening to the sound of her footsteps approaching the front door.  Ruby made several more motions on the computer and suddenly they heard the sounds coming from outside - the two officers muttering to each other before the door opened.

“Officers,” Weiss said, her voice coming through the speakers clearly as she stood in the doorway of the house.  “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

Her tone oozed annoyance, which the officers definitely heard but didn’t react to.   

“Sorry to bother you, Miss Schnee,” Casey replied, although he didn’t appear the least bit apologetic about the intrusion.  “May we come in for a minute?”

“Do you have a warrant?”

Casey and Saffold looked at each other before Saffold shook her head.

“Well, no…”

“Then no,” Weiss answered shortly.

The two officers shared another glance before deciding that they would ask their questions on the stoop instead of trying to get into the house.

“Fine.”  Straightening his shoulders, Casey met Weiss’ gaze without an ounce of intimidation.  “You may have heard that two of our own went missing recently -”  He was probably trying to garner sympathy with the words and his expression, but Weiss’ response was a heavy sigh.

“I have a lot of important work to do, Officer,” she replied, touching her temple as if the conversation hurt her in some way.  “I don’t have time to keep track of your internal issues too.”

“Detective Xiao Long went missing several days ago,” Saffold pressed on.  “Her sister, Ruby Rose, disappeared not long after.”

“It sounds like you should be looking for them.”

“We are,” Casey responded.  “That’s why we’re here.  Have you seen or heard from either of them in the past few days?”

For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence on the front stoop.  Then Weiss laughed.

“Excuse me?” she asked as her laugh subsided.  “Two members of the police force go missing, and you think I know where they went?”  After pressing her hand to her chest, she waved it through the air as if brushing the entire conversation away.  “I can’t believe you wasted your time coming here when you could be following other leads.  No, I haven’t seen or heard from either of them - not that I’d even want to.  I already see enough of the so-called ‘police’ as it is.  Now, if that will be all?”

After the two officers glanced at each other and nodded, Weiss wasted no time shutting the door in their faces.  Making a shushing noise, Ruby pointed towards the officers as they turned away.

“What a bitch,” Saffold mumbled.

“It was a long shot.”  Glancing over his shoulder, Casey gave the house one last look before turning away.  “Come on - let’s see if the others found anything.”

Watching two of her coworkers - two of her friends - hurry away, Yang clenched her jaw and shook her head.  Ultimately, she understood the advantage that being ‘dead’ afforded them, but it felt wrong to let her friends worry when she was perfectly fine.  

How had Blake done this for so long?

“Are you ok?” Blake whispered, touching Yang’s elbow to bring her back to the present - where the police car pulled out of the screen and Weiss walked back into the room.

“I’m fine,” Yang replied with a forced smile.  Blake didn’t look like she believed the response, but Yang made a point of turning away so the conversation ended.  She didn’t want to get into how wrong this felt.  Or how she couldn’t imagine doing this for months or even weeks to someone she cared about.  

“What a bother,” Weiss grumbled as she returned to Ruby’s side.  The interaction clearly perturbed her in some way, but she lost her frown when she noticed the way Ruby beamed at her.  

“What?” she asked with a smile pulling at her lips, suddenly looking nothing like the surly woman who’d forced the police away.

“You’re cute.”

Blushing at the simple statement, Weiss looked down and picked an invisible piece of lint from her sleeve.

“I don’t know how that was cute...” she mumbled before clearing her throat, erasing her Ruby-induced embarrassment, and meeting Yang’s gaze.  “At this rate, you won’t be able to stay ‘dead’ for long.  At least, not in the city.”

“Sounds like it’s time to get this show on the road then,” Yang replied, glancing around her group of co-conspirators and earning nods in return.  Ruby was anxiously ready, Weiss was coolly ready, and Blake was...unwillingly ready.

Regardless, everyone was ready.

“You know what this means.”  As soon as Yang said the words, Weiss sighed and Ruby grinned.  “To the bitchmobile!”  

When Yang pointed towards the garage, Weiss grumbled something Yang couldn’t hear, and Ruby giggled at whatever it was.  Together, the four of them left the kitchen and headed that way.  From the sudden silence, it wouldn’t be unfair to guess they were headed to a funeral.  From Weiss’ outfit, however...

“Yang,” Blake suddenly said, catching Yang’s elbow when Ruby unlocked the door to the garage.  As soon as Yang looked down at Blake’s hand, Blake let go and moved further away.  Her gaze then fell to the floor, and Weiss sent them a long, searching look before ushering Ruby along.

“What’s up?” Yang asked after several seconds passed and Blake remained silent.

“I just wanted to say…”  Pausing with her mouth still slightly open, Blake thought about her response for quite some time before shaking her head.  “Please be careful…he won’t take kindly to someone sneaking around his home, and I wouldn’t put it past him to take the justice system into his own hands.”

“I don’t plan on getting caught,” Yang replied with a grin.  “I’m sneaky, remember?”

The question was supposed to be a joke, but Blake responded with worry.

“But you’re not…” she whispered before looking at her hands, clasped together in front of her.  “If you get caught…”

It looked like Blake had more to say but decided against it.  Yang understood the concern, however.  Sneaking around some billionaire’s home was a good way to meet his private security, but she didn’t plan on taking unnecessary risks unless Weiss needed help.

Leaning forward, she kissed Blake’s cheek before backing away with a smile.

“I’ll do my best to stay safe,” she promised before adjusting her glasses and flashing a smile.  “How do I look?”

“You look like...Yang in glasses.”

“Perfect!”  Yang smiled at the response, but, from the serious expression on Blake’s face, it looked like she wasn’t planning on smiling anytime soon.  

“Come on,” Yang prodded, extending a hand to see if Blake would accept it.  She did, which somehow made Yang feel relieved and anxious at the same time.  But together, the two of them left the house and found Weiss and Ruby waiting near the expensive silver car parked in the garage.

“Guess I’ll leave my arm here...”  After gesturing towards one of the cabinets, Yang reached up to uncuff her arm, but Blake beat her to it.  Gently working her fingers against the clasp, Blake got the arm to release through the fabric of Yang’s blazer and undershirt - an accomplishment that made Yang tilt her head and smile.

Apparently, Blake hadn’t lost her touch, even after all this time apart.

“Thank you,” Yang whispered while Blake laid the device on top of the cabinet, using a level of care that implied the piece of metal was worth far more than what it was made of.  Once that was done, Blake returned to Yang and rolled the sleeves of her shirt and blazer into a fashionable cuff - another action she’d done more than her fair share of times.  To the unfamiliar, the outfit looked natural.  At least, as natural as clothing for a person with one arm could look.

“Please be careful,” Blake whispered in return, her eyes imploring Yang to heed the plea.  

Before responding, she kissed Blake again- this time lingering for several seconds to enjoy the moment before pulling away.

“We’ll be back in no time.”  Using a small smile for additional reassurance, Yang turned to find Ruby and Weiss sharing a similar moment of their own.  “We’ll be fine,” she added when Weiss walked towards the car and Ruby sent her a worried look.  “That’s why we’ve got you looking out for us.”

Ordinarily, Ruby would agree or offer a vote of confidence, but today she simply nodded.  Her posture gave away her concern, just like Blake’s eyes gave away her worry while Weiss and Yang slipped into the waiting vehicle.  

As soon as the doors lowered and the engine started, Ruby raced back to her command station.  Blake, however, lingered a while longer, holding Yang’s gaze until the windows tinted to black.  Only then did she hang her head and slink inside.

Something about Blake’s aura filled Yang with questions, but she didn’t have time to ask them right now.  She didn’t even know if she could put her concerns into words.  All she knew was that something about Blake’s behavior sent tendrils of worry through her veins.

“You need to talk to her.”

Tearing her eyes away from the door to the house, Yang found Weiss watching her closely.

“What makes you say that?”

It looked like Weiss already had the answer on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated.  She even shook her head once, as if arguing with herself, before finally responding.

“Because...she’s been gone a long time.”

Yang wanted to ask why that, of all things, mattered, but the sound of the garage door opening cut her off.

“Hey guys,” Ruby’s voice said over the headphones in their ears.  “This is Team Lead checking in - can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Yang replied, giving Weiss one last glance before buckling herself in.

“Perfectly,” Weiss added.

“Awesome!  I’ll be listening in, obviously.  Oh - actually, I can set this to speaker so Blake can hear too.  There - say something?”

“Something.”

When the two of them said the word in unison, Yang gave Weiss a look of surprise.  The moment Ruby giggled, however, she understood how the uncanny jinx came to be.  

She’d been so focused on her search for Blake, she hadn’t noticed how much time Ruby and Weiss were spending together.  From little behaviors like this...it must be a lot.

“‘K we hear you,” Ruby answered.  “So I guess we’re ready to go.”

With that statement, the car spurred to life and rolled out of the garage.  After reaching the street, it accelerated to a comfortable pace and navigated towards the outskirts of the city.  Ruby’s computer controlled everything about their route, from their path, to their speed, to the climate control.  The lack of responsibility gave Yang and Weiss the chance to iron out the details of their plan.

“Ok, so what do I need to do?” Yang asked while the city slid by outside her window.  “Besides get to his room and look through everything.  How do your paralegals act when they’re not looking terrified of you?”

“Talk as little as possible,” Weiss replied with a slightly dismissive wave.  “Don’t stare or meet his eyes too much.  Try not to make any superfluous noise.  Basically, do your best to become invisible.”

“Gee, is that all?”

“And you’ll need this.”  Pulling a memory chip from her bag, Weiss handed it to Yang.  “It’s your excuse to slip away, so don’t give it to me the first time I ask for it.  You’ll have to ‘go back’ to the car to get it.”

“That’s it?” Yang asked, pocketing the device somewhere she would remember.

“Yes.  While you find his room, I’ll do my best to distract him.  That won’t work for an excessive amount of time though, so please be quick.”

If Weiss was nervous, it was impossible to tell.  Everything about her persona - from her slightly-bored tone to her perfect posture - suggested this was just another day, just another meeting.  

If this was just another day, Yang didn’t want to see what one of Weiss’ ‘exciting’ days looked like.

“It’s important not to raise his suspicions,” Blake added in their ears.  “If he thinks something’s wrong, he’ll move the designs.” 

“Or he might try to hurt you…” Ruby mumbled.

“Right.”  Leaning forward, Yang put her hand on her knee and caught Weiss’ gaze.  “If you feel like something’s up, or if you think you need my help, just say so, ok?  How about we use code word?”

“And what do you suggest this code word to be?”

“How about...say you’re in a ‘rush’ for something.  Like a rush to leave.”

After thinking about the suggestion, probably trying to find a way it could go wrong, Weiss nodded.

“I can do that.”

“Good.”

Ultimately, Yang didn’t know how much help she’d be if all hell broke loose, but she felt reasonably confident that between her and Ruby, they could at least get Weiss out of there.  As for herself...well, she’d take her chances, arm or not.

“Damn these houses are big,” she commented while leaning back and looking out the window.  The crammed, almost-claustrophobic feeling of the city had faded away, leaving only giant buildings sitting on massive plots of land.  In a time when the city bent over backwards stacking in as many people as possible, the egregious waste of space oozed the smell of money.  

“How the other half lives, huh,” she added while they passed expensive gates and perfectly-manicured lawns.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.”

As the car carried them onward, Weiss’ words became more correct.  The houses grew bigger, and bigger, until each sat on its own block of real estate.  And, just when Yang didn’t think the homes could get any larger, the car slowed down in front of one of the largest buildings she’d ever seen.

“Holy shit…”

“Ok, first test coming up,” Ruby said as the vehicle entered a long driveway blocked off by a guard-patrolled gate.  “If they won’t let you in, don’t force it.”

“Because we were planning on strong-arming our way in,” Yang muttered while they approached a sizeable guard station sitting near a metal gate even Weiss’ fancy car wasn’t getting through.  Two openly-armed guards stepped to the side as the car slid to a stop and the windows untinted for them to see inside.  After doing a quick scan, one of the men walked to Weiss’ side of the vehicle while the window opened.

“Good afternoon, Miss Schnee.”

“Good afternoon.  I’m here to see Mr. Bishop.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, I don’t have time for an appointment.  This is important - about his son.”

“Of course, Miss.  I’ll call him right away.”

Without complaint, the guard returned to his post to make the call while the other remained near the car.  After a few seconds in the booth, the first guard returned to Weiss.

“Mr. Bishop has a few minutes to see you.”  

“That’s all I need.”

When the gate opened and the guards stepped out of the way, the car moved onto the property.

“Wow.”  Staring out the window, Yang felt her awe grow when she saw rolling hills of perfectly-mowed grass combined with armed patrols.  “You must be more important than I thought.”

“I heard that…”

The entrance to the property was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of extravagance.  The paved drive was smoother than any street Yang had ever felt in her life.  The sprawling lawn could support an entire city on its own.  Then the house came into view.

“Damn…”

She couldn’t think of a better word for the building laying in front of them, which dwarfed the size of most buildings she’d ever set foot in.  Three levels, at least twenty sets of windows across, superfluous columns in front - it was the picture of excess.

It was at this moment that the magnitude of their mission struck her.  They weren’t just breaking into some rich guy’s mansion - they were breaking into the rich guy’s mansion.  If this was the amount of money he threw at building something no one could reasonably live in, who knew what type of security measures he employed to keep people like them out.

“Weiss,” Yang whispered while the car glided up the drive.  “Don’t be a hero - got it?  If anything feels off, find a way to leave - preferably without drawing suspicion, but do it if you have to.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you actually cared about me,” Weiss replied before giving Yang a smile and nod.  “Thank you.”

“I agree with Yang,” Ruby added from afar.  “And in about three seconds, we’ll know if her disguise worked or not.”

Taking a deep breath, Yang let it out while silently counting to three.  When three seconds passed and no alarms went off, she smiled.

“Guess we’re good.”

“Fooling computers is easy with Ruby around,” Weiss replied, still looking like the model of poise seated across the vehicle.  “Fooling a person is more difficult - you know that.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Yang wished she had a better argument, but Weiss was right.  That, and the car stopped in front of the towering entrance of the mansion at that time, leaving no time for extra conversation.  Marble columns, each one probably weighing a ton and costing more than Yang would earn in a lifetime, crowded the front entryway.

“You weren’t kidding about him being rich…” she mumbled while two uniformed butlers hurried towards them.  In a continuation of what seemed to be a theme, the two men went to Weiss’ door first, helping her out of the vehicle before doing the same for Yang.

“Miss Schnee,” one of the men said, sticking near Weiss’ elbow while she strode towards the front door as if she owned the place.  “Do you need anything while you’re here?”

“No, thank you.  This shouldn’t take long.”

Nodding at the answer, the man merely glanced at Yang before both men hurried ahead to open the front door in unison.

Now...Yang wouldn’t say she needed to be the center of attention, or even that she needed attention at all, but the way these people treated her was just plain weird.  It felt like they were going out of their way to ignore her, but why?  To enforce Weiss’ importance over her own?

Whatever it was, she’d be glad when it was over.  For now, she zipped her lips and tried to keep her staring to a minimum.  Through work, she’d seen nice houses before - enormous mansions, sprawling estates - but the owner of Dreamscape Industries took ‘excessive’ to another level.  Every surface sparkled with what she had to believe was real gold and silver.  But the ancient metals weren’t even the most impressive feature of the massive entryway they walked into - that title belonged to the cleverly-concealed lines of technology threaded through every inch of the house.  Like living veins controlling everything from the lights to the doorways to the tile underneath their feet, the house was alive just as much as they were.

It was, in a nutshell, Ruby’s dream home.  

“They already scanned you guys,” Ruby whispered, as if feeling the same pressure that was building in Yang’s chest.  “They matched Yang with the profile I built, just like we wanted.”

The answer should have been a relief, but Yang felt less relieved by the second, especially when the butlers left them in the foyer with a kind-but-firm “Please wait here.”

This probably wasn’t the best time to realize how dangerous and impossible this was, but this was dangerous and impossible.  The opportunity to back out disappeared, however, when a tall man with immaculately-groomed hair and a perfectly-creased suit walked out of the nearest doorway.  His persona was as imposing as the house he lived in, but the smile he greeted Weiss with suggested friendliness - or, at the very least, familiarity.

He looked just like the person Yang had seen on television - the man promising to make the world a better place by making their dreams a reality.

“Showtime...” Ruby whispered in their ears as Taven Bishop approached them.