RWBY Through Worlds

115: Back in the Casing

Libby didn't use Torchwick's method of intel gathering. Her secret was to be basically invisible while still in plain sight.

She had a hunch that if Ruby and Weiss were taken anywhere by a street gang, it would not, in fact, be to the Mad Woman's hideout; she'd never give up her secrets like that.

And Libby's bet was the other option was the edge of the kingdom where no one came that often--in fact, not too far from where she lived herself.

She hung around the area, not doing anything in particular, for quite a while.

She'd know any unusual faces.

But she saw some familiar ones, wheeling a crate. She knew those masks.

The Lost Kids...they'd harassed her before, but not all of them were as nasty. She knew who to avoid out of the gang. Once they'd try to jump her into it--but she'd declined forcefully enough.

They couldn't fight well, but they had numbers, and that counted for more if you avoided huntsmen, which they usually did.

Where could they be going?

But before they got too far, Libby noticed something else: A mouse running along the sand, falling behind also.

"Hullo, is that that little, magical freak of nature?" she asked. "Ho there, Mini!"

The Mouse looked around and, spying her, ran up.

"The funny-talking human," it said. "Are you here to help?"

"I should say so," Libby said, scooping it up. "What luck. Do you know where Ruby and Weiss are?"

"Ruby...in...box," the mouse huffed, out of breath. "Weiss...is back there."

"In a box--back where?"

"There's this big cave," Little said, "made of dead trees, like...your other caves."

"Caves? Wait, you mean our houses?"

"House...yes," Little said. "And it has...this big, bluish marking on the front of it. It looks like a big tree root."

"Tree root?" Libby said.

She put the mouse down. "Show me."

The mouse ran in a shape.

Libby frowned at it. "Oh...that's not a root, that's the symbol for the old shipping plants, before they got moved to the upscale part of the city, to protect them from the vermin like me--Wait a moment...I say, was this by any of those big pipes that used to let waste out of the plants but now are just homes for rats and other filth?"

"Pipes?" Little said.

"Big, round thing...like... Oh...dash it all..." Libby pulled her hat off. "Like this, but without the top of it..."

"Like a hollow log, you mean?" Little said. "Yes, there were big, huge hollow logs."

"You know, it's quite an education hearing what you think our stuff looks like," Libby mused. "I know exactly where that is! Now, how many of those lowlifes were around?--I can't just charge in alone."

"I'm not very good with numbers," Little said, "but there must have been a whole rabbit's litter worth at least." 

"This many?" Libby held up all ten fingers.

"More," Little said. "But a big part of them just left, with Ruby the Rose."

"Blast it." Libby put her chin in her hand. "They'll be back, no doubt. I can't just go in there and one-woman crusade this mess--there might be more...and with better weapons than I have. On the other hand, they'll be expecting those gits, not me...and I've got to find that Rose girl also... Hmm..."