- 1PM City of Vale -

A groan, "No, I know they screwed me. Yes I'm angry. No, I don't-" He paused, annoyance growing in his eyes as the person on the other end of the scroll call spoke -- loudly. "Olivia..." he said in an impatient sing-song voice, "you're not listening."

She got louder, and he had to hold it away from his ear to save his hearing.

"Why are you mad at me? I'm not the bad guy. I don't deserve-" He scowled. "OK fine, maybe I 'deserve it,' but they didn't know that! And if I'm such a bad person, why do you want me to work for you anyway? I don't need your charity!" His face fell into his palm. "No, I'm not starving and homeless... yet. They said alive or dead! Dead is easier to transport! I didn't know they were gonna cut the reward that much!"

He grumbled silently under his breath as his sister's rant went on. "Look, just admit it, you just want to enslave me. You'll give me just enough to get by and nothing more because you hate me- And yes, I know you secretly hate me! Nice talking to you, too. Love you, bye." And he hung up.

Jett Chevron, veteran huntsman and freelancer was just about destitute. Work was becoming more and more scarce and he was probably going to have to move to cheaper dwellings soon. He sighed and just started walking through the streets of Vale. Soon he came upon the sight of police tape and shattered glass. There'd been, another, dust robbery the night before it seemed.

A teenage boy was standing off to the side. It was too long after the robbery for onlookers to still care, so Jett figured maybe the kid knew something. In fact, as he got closer, he could tell that the kid was a huntsman. Probably a student wandering around before the next semester started. The bandolier and weapon gave it away.

"Hey, kid!" Jett got his attention. The kid jumped like he'd been electrocuted.

"Uh, um, y-yeah?" he asked.

"Whoa, relax, what's your name?"

"Feli-, uh, I mean P-Pine. Evergreen. Why?"

Jett nearly did a spit take upon hearing the name, but managed to keep his cool. "What happened here? They get the guys this time?"

"Some of them." Pine nodded. He was notably keeping a safe distance from Jett. "The leader got away." Oh, that was good. That was a potential bounty.

"Really? Already got some of them?"

"Yeah. Something about a girl in a red cloak? Sounds like a huntress in training," Pine explained. "Um, a bit too soon for the details to really be all together."

"Ah, I see. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I-I just... kinda take an interest in crime. Err, st-stopping it that is. I had some free time... so..."

"No, no, I get it. Keep up the good work. And thanks." Jett nodded before quickly leaving the scene. "Well... that wasn't awkward at all..."

Putting that right out of his mind, he decided to head to the nearest bounty office to see if there was any work for him. An official one, this time. Not a secondary. Normally the government didn't pay quite as well... but at least they were less likely to shaft him out of his money.

(The reason he's freaking out about the kid is a detail for later.)

1PM Vale Police Department

---

Something fishy but oddly interesting was currently going on in Vale and Fern Flora, being the curious vixen she was, wanted to be right in the middle of whatever mess was about to go down. Though she had just taken an assignment outside the city, the newest Dust shop robbery had spiked her interest enough to travel to the Vale Police Department and volunteer her services. After having waited some time to be seen, the head of the VPD gave her a once over and rejected her before a word could get out of her mouth.

"This is not a job for the Huntsmen, us officers can take care of this ourselves."

Fern didn't know what they were doing but "taking care of it" was certainly not it. Placing a hand on her hip, she bit her tongue and decided she'd be respectful to the man. He probably had a lot of shit on his plate.

"With respect, sir, Huntsman can help within the city as well. The reason this place has turned into a fucking zoo is because we keep getting sent out. There's not enough cops here to protect everyone, not with the White Fang popping up at every corner. I can help but I need access to your files and get some information first."

The man sighed and waved Fern inside. After giving a wink to a cute deputy, she sauntered after the man as he walked to his office.

"Close the door." he told her, which she responded by kicking the door closed with the heel of her foot. After gesturing to the seat across from his desk, the man waited for Fern to sit down before he leaned in and started to speak.

"I'm only telling you this because I trust you... I can't give you my files but I can give you information."

"Go on." Fern said, crossing one leg over the other and shifting to a comfortable position in the otherwise uncomfortable chair.

"Well I have a hunch. I think whoever's been attacking these dust shops might not actually be held up in the city. Many reports coming in are saying civilians are seeing airships flying off in the middle of the night and it's getting me thinking... If they had their base of operations in the city, why would they need airships to transfer their materials?"

"Well I imagine it makes transporting large amounts of dust pretty quick and efficient. I can't imagine why anyone would need that much dust though." Fern said, thinking on it.

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us. Look, I know that's not much to go on, but I think maybe the work you do outside the city might be better for us than you think."

Fern was silent for a moment, thinking again about something. "Perhaps."

Standing, she would turn and start to leave the office. "Thanks chief, I'll get back to you if I find anything."

Wheels turning in her head, Fern had an idea... but she was going to need a partner.

- Vale PD -

"Oh Dust, not you again..." The bounty officer groaned as Jett walked over to him.

"Come now, what have I ever done to earn that kind of greeting?" Jett grinned. The man just stared at him tiredly. OK, so maybe Jett had lost his temper once or twice when they hadn't had anything good to give him. "Look, I just heard that you got a big string of robberies going on, thought maybe I could help out."

"Right. Help. You're a very generous man. I'm sure money never entered the equation." The man shook his head. "Doesn't matter anyway. It's still considered an internal matter at the moment."

"Of course it is." Jett's grin slipped from his face. "Really? Nothing for me? I mean, as a Huntsman, I'm practically one of you-"

The man just laughed. "No. You're a freelancer. Your status gives you some leeway, but you chose not to sign on with the military or police force. Look, it's gonna be on the news soon anyway, so I'll just tell you. If you see a guy named Roman Torchwick, bring him in. We'll give you a pat on the back. Otherwise, stay out of it. Besides, you're late. Some other woman beat you here."

"Eh?" Jett raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. She's talking to the Chief right now." The man leaned over to look past Jett. "Oh, looks like they're done."

Immediately forgetting about the officer who had been just about useless to him, he turned around to indeed see a woman walking through the building. It seemed he had competition. Attractive competition, but competition none-the-less. Leaving the bounty window behind, he began making his way over to her.

He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but if he didn't do something soon he was going to be completely out of work. If nothing else, catching the ringleader behind the dust heists might at least make the Police like him more. Then maybe they'd find something more for him to do. Something more that paid.

"Well, it looks like I'm not the only Huntsman here today." He could tell just by looking at her, even if the Officer hadn't implied what she was. "Those thieves really are stirring up a lot of trouble to get so much attention. You are here for that, right?"