The sunlight came in through the window and blasted Ruby's face. She groaned, but before it could wake her up any further, she turned to the side and covered her head with her pillow. That let her hit the right balance between awake to asleep, where she was just barely aware enough to enjoy the feeling of her soft, comfy bed.

A little later, she got up with a yawn. After stretching her arms, she checked her scroll for the time. 12:06 p.m., perfect for the weekend. Normally, that would be because she'd spent the night playing video games, but this time it had been different. She'd done something important, she'd helped Clark with crimefighting in the city.

Ruby had the room to herself for now, but she needed to leave it. Morning breath tasted gross in her mouth and her hair was standing up, she needed to take care of that before Yang saw and laughed. She went to the bathroom on the floor and got herself ready. Brushing her teeth, showering, and coming back to the room to replace her pajamas with her usual outfit.

Once she reached the stairs, Clark was already down below. He waved up to her. "Good afternoon, sleepyhead. You sure it isn't too early for you to get up?"

She giggled. "Hey, I was up late because I was helping you."

"True." He grinned. "Jaune and Pyrrha also got up only a bit earlier. You want something to eat?"

"Yep." Ruby was starving. A big lunch on weekends was the best, since she tended to miss breakfast.

"Sit down then and I'll bring some food over. They're eating too, and if you're not busy, there's something I want to discuss with you guys."

"Oh, I'm free, but what do we need to discuss?" she asked as she went down the steps. "Is something wrong with our crimefighting?"

"No, but it's related to that. Something really weird."

Ruby looked at him curiously, but she guessed it could wait until she ate. She sat down at the table in the dining room with Jaune and Pyrrha. "Hey guys."

"Hey Ruby," Jaune answered. Pyrrha giving her own polite hello. They were eating from bowls filled with noodles. From what Ruby could see, it had vegetables, eggs, and what she guessed was chicken. In smaller plates around the table were side dishes like beans and steamed buns. It looked like they'd made a good dent into the food already.

Clark had laid chopsticks for her already along with a glass of water. He filled a new bowl with noodles and placed it in front of her.

"Thanks," Ruby said. Once she dug in, her eyes lit up. "Wow! This is good. Did you make this, Clark?"

"I helped, but it was Ren who did most of the work."

"Actually, Ren wanted to make some food for himself, Nora, and Clark as thanks for sparring with her, but he ended up doubling everything to feed all of us," Jaune told her.

"Clark sparred Nora today?" Ruby asked.

"Yep," Jaune chuckled. "From the way she looked earlier, I think she's still sleeping it off."

Pyrrha nodded. "She was exhausted."

Ruby giggled. Ren usually didn't seem to mind Nora's excitable antics. Actually, he seemed to like watching her have fun, even at times when Ruby would have found her hard to handle. Ren was definitely a guy who enjoyed peace and quiet though, and a tired Nora was a rare opportunity.

Seriously, before Ruby had met Clark, she never thought she'd see it happen. Outside of classes, Nora was almost always bouncing around. Now, with the way Clark sparred, even she got drained. He drew out sparring sessions as long as he could, careful not to take too much aura so he could improve as much as possible from each fight.

"Was it too much?" Clark asked.

"No, not at all," Pyrrha answered. "Training with you will do wonders for increasing everyone's stamina, and Nora can decide to stop when she wants."

Stamina. Ruby made a face when she heard that. She was the weakest person in the dorm in that category, although Ren wasn't much better. It was embarrassing that her spars against Clark were the shortest, and that time when Uncle Qrow had told him to disarm her first was the worst. Even though it absolutely, definitely, one hundred percent didn't count as actually beating her. Taking away her weapon was cheating.

It wasn't like having more stamina when sparring Clark was great either. None of them could come close to matching him anyway. Jaune had the most aura out of all of them and often kept going until it ran out. Which meant he'd be soaked in sweat at the end of a session.

Getting Clark to sweat, even a drop, had been a sort of competition between the students at first. Yang, Nora, and even Pyrrha had tried, and they'd given up. It had changed into a contest of who could last the longest against Clark. Technique was key rather than aura capacity, and Uncle Qrow approved of the contest since it made them more conscious of their limits.

"Are you going to eat, Clark?" Ruby asked.

He shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine."

After they ate, all four of them worked to clear the table. It seemed that Ren had already cleaned up his tools after cooking, so the dishes could be left in a neat stack in the sink. Clark offered to clean them later, but it wasn't fair to him since he'd set up the food for them. It should be one of the three of them, and Jaune volunteered.

They moved over to the living room. Clark took a seat on one side with the three of them on the couch across from him.

Pyrrha asked the question that Ruby and Jaune also seemed to share. "You said you wanted to talk about our efforts in the city, has a problem appeared?"

"No, not a problem. Just something strange that's come up."

Ruby relaxed at that. Clark didn't look worried or disappointed, he was confused.

"This happened last night," he began, and told them about the weird encounter he'd had with two police officers named Andrea Mache and Phil Helios. When Clark had been following an officer who'd planned to give details of a protected witness to a gang, the two of them had been trailing him. They'd posted signs on their backs supporting Clark and saying that they wanted to join him. He wrote their message down on a sheet of paper and set it in front of them on the coffee table for them to read.

"The Interference?" Jaune asked when they came to the strange term in the note.

"That's what we're being called," Clark explained.

After Ruby finished reading it, she looked up with bright, excited eyes. "This means that your plan's working, doesn't it? People are starting to notice and change things!"

Clark smiled, but he wasn't as thrilled as she thought he'd be. "Yeah, but this isn't what I wanted. They should be working on their own to change things, not asking to join and support us. At least, if they're telling the truth."

"Then you think it could be a trap?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not really. The police haven't made any serious efforts to stop us yet, and it seems too early for them or the crime families to try something so intricate. I'm not ruling it out completely though."

Jaune raised a hand. "Um, can't you just ask them some questions and use your super senses to tell if they're lying?"

"Yes, but it's not a hundred percent reliable," Clark said. "If they're frightened, surprised, or nervous, then it's harder to tell whether a twitch or change in breath or heartbeat is a sign of that or an actual lie."

Pyrrha brought up another idea. "Then do you plan to monitor them? If they're lying, catching a single instance of them meeting with a superior or discussing their infiltration should be enough to prove it."

"No." Clark's tone was firm. "I only watch people if I already know they're criminals, and only enough to find what I need. I'm not going to pry into the lives of innocent people."

Ruby nodded. Before Clark had become her friend, she hadn't thought much about whether it was good or bad to spy on people. Obviously, spying on people was wrong, but it was more complicated than that. Clark helped people by using his X-ray vision and super-hearing to spy on people, but only on criminals.

Normally, it would be scary that someone could watch or listen in on you whenever he wanted, but Ruby trusted Clark's judgment. Not just because he was her friend, but because of the respect and care he showed for their secrets. He never pried. He made the effort to shy away from talking about parts of their pasts that people found uncomfortable.

It had taken her a while to realize it, but the first time she'd seen it had been during the trip to Mistral. When Jaune's training before Beacon had come up. Clark still probably didn't know that Jaune had forged his transcripts to get in, but he'd definitely noticed how Jaune wasn't as skilled as everyone else. He didn't ask about it, just like how he was careful to avoid mentioning Yang's mom. He knew that she and Ruby had different moms, but he'd only learned about the specifics after Ruby had told him.

"What are we going to do if they're telling the truth?" Ruby asked. Their eyes fell on her. "Are they going to work with us?"

"No," Clark said. "Even if they could be useful, they're at too much risk."

Ruby tilted her head curiously. "They are?"

He nodded. "I don't have proof, but there are signs that their police chief has friends in the government. In the past couple of decades, a lot of officers who could have been troublesome for him have disappeared."

Pyrrha faced Clark with a serious expression. "Even so, I don't think we should dismiss them so soon. As you said, there are a number of advantages to having police officers on our side. The assistance that they provided at Zheng Loh's arrest is a great example, and they must have access to information that is otherwise difficult for you to find."

"There are plenty of ways they can help. I know that, but I'm not letting them in if it puts them in danger."

"Clark, I'm sorry, but that's not your decision to make."

His eyebrows drew together. "Excuse me?"

"They're police officers, they've already made the choice to risk their lives," Pyrrha said. "I very much admire your compassion, but it's misplaced here. I won't argue if you have valid reasons for denying them, but it would be wrong to refuse their help because you want to protect them. They're adults just like you. Older than you, in fact."

"But they might not know what danger they're in, I went through a lot of articles to find only hints of what their chief has done."

"Then you can inform them. Is that not an option?"

Clark looked down at the table, his expression showed him deep in thought.

After a few moment, Jaune spoke up. "I agree with Pyrrha. I think it'd be a good idea to work with them."

"Yeah, me too," Ruby said. "I think this is like the argument we had earlier about the three of us helping you. If we're old enough to help, then so are they."

Clark's gaze travelled across the three of them, and after a few seconds, he spoke. "It's not exactly like that. You have aura and Semblances while they don't, but that doesn't really matter since I'm not going to ask them to fight people." He gave them a relaxed smile and leaned forward. "Okay, they can join us if they're telling the truth. Before that though, we need to know whether they're honest. I have a few ideas already, feel free to add your own."

They talked about what they, or more exactly Clark since he'd be the only one meeting them face to face, should ask and say to make sure these two police officers were sincere. After half an hour, they had a plan.

\\\\\

The door opened and Diomed lifted his eyes from the papers on his desk to his brother coming in. He also got a glimpse of one of the guards outside.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

It used to be that guards were kept at the perimeter of the house, because only family and friends of the family were allowed in anyway. Now that the Interference bastards had gotten in his house, things had changed. Diomed wasn't going to run no matter what some pansies in the family said. He'd double down on security and find the next Interference scum who tried to get in.

"How'd it go with that forensics guy?" Diomed asked. A family friend had vouched for an investigator who could keep his mouth shut for the right price, so he'd been hired to find any clues in their room of wrecked guns.

"Bad," Iscon said. "He checked for prints, looked over the footage from our cameras, went over the room for hair and everything, but it was pointless. The Interference has someone with aura and some ability to destroy stuff without even being in the room, that's the only way this could be possible."

"Then all this got us was some ruined guns."

"Other than confirming some information we already suspected, yes. I'm sorry, I really thought we'd learn something from this."

Diomed scowled and turned to the window. It was nighttime now, and the city was covered in white and orange lights.

"Other groups are having trouble dealing with the Interference too, do you want to hear about them?"

"Sure." Diomed snorted. "Might as well hear about how everybody else is being screwed. What have they done?"

"There have been other families who've tried trapping the Interference, but I haven't heard of any of them working, and there still doesn't seem to be anything new about who they are or what they're doing. Something interesting's come up though, some families are being blamed for a few of the Interference's attacks. The Mennons actually lost some men when they had to crush a gang of nobodies from the south that attacked them."

"Really? Anybody with a brain would know that no gang or family could do what the Interference does."

"Yeah, but the small fish don't know much about the Interference. The rest probably can't handle their own men and needed to do something. It's complicated though, a few families have even tried to pretend to be the Interference to act on old grudges. Although they're so sloppy that everybody knows it's not really them. There's been some violence."

"Anybody important involved?" Diomed asked.

"The Axiotis hit one of the Crepolos' stash of green powder and they've both lost a few members from fights. Things are still hot between them, but I think it'd be a good idea to show some friendliness to the Crepolos. Stealing from other families is lousy and dumb, staying completely silent on this makes us look like we don't car-"

Knocking on the door interrupted him.

"What is it?" Diomed called out.

The deep voice of a guard answered. "Boss, Underboss, we got a delivery from some friends. They said you'd want to see this quick."

From friends, another family had sent them something. "Bring it in," Diomed said. One of his nephews came in and placed a briefcase and a long rectangular box with a square bottom on the desk. The white box could be carried in one hand and had a red bow on top. There was also a blank card attached with a message.

Diomed took off the card.

To Diomed Thrace,

Hello old friend. I've heard about your family having troubles, just as you must have heard about mine. It's not just us, families and syndicates all over the city have been harassed and we're sick of it. We've all tried to hunt down this Interference on our own, but nobody has got something to show for it. So some of us have decided that we should pool our resources and work together to find these scum.

We'd like you to join us, and to show my good will, I've sent some gifts that you'll appreciate.

Nioxan Iona

"Who's it from?" Iscon asked after Diomed had set the card down.

"The Ionas," Diomed pulled the briefcase in front of him. "What's in the box?"

Iscon opened it. Then, with a whistle of appreciation, he pulled out a bottle of wine. "Your favorite. Nio must really want something, what did he say?"

Diomed told him what the message had said. He also opened the briefcase, and with a grin, he turned it around. "Guns and ammunition too. A nice start to replacing what we lost."

"How are we going to respond?"

"I don't mind working with the Ionas on this, but others I'm not as sure on," Diomed said. "I want to at least hear what he has to say though, let's call him up in the morning."

\\\\\

It had happened. The Interference had contacted them. Two days after he and Andrea had arrested Zheng Loh, Phil had found a note at the foot of his door when leaving for work.

We saw your notes and we were happy to help you arrest Zheng Loh. If you and your partner want to meet us, come to the Umbrella Rocks at 11 P.M. this Tuesday.

The words had been printed in black ink in some standard font. When Phil met up with Andrea for patrol, she showed him the very same note.

"You got it too!" He knew he was saying the obvious, but he was too excited to care.

She nodded. "Yep, the plan actually worked."

"So we're gonna go, right? Should we practice what we're going to say? Try to figure out what they're going to ask us?"

"We're going, but we don't know enough to prepare. Don't waste your time." Andrea turned the note over in her hand. "You know, I wonder if we'd find any fingerprints if we had one of the forensics guys check this out? Any besides our own anyway."

Phil's eyes widened. "You're not really going to do it, are you?"

"Come on, wouldn't it be funny if we found some that were for someone already in the database?" she said with a grin.

He looked up. "Interference, if you're watching right now, I definitely don't think it would be funny. If you think Andrea is unreliable because of this, I understand. It's too bad, she was my friend and I really wanted to work with her."

She snorted and slapped him on the arm. "Don't do that. We have no idea how they saw us before, and if they're watching us now-" she chuckled. "God, if that's the reason I don't get in . . ." she broke off into more laughter.

Phil turned his eyes back upwards. "Sorry, Interference. She was just joking."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to see on Tuesday whether I'm reliable or not!" She waved the note in the air.

The next two days seemed to stretch out to weeks. The meeting was always at the back of his mind, and during quiet shifts or off work, it came rushing to the front. There were people in this city who wanted to do what was right, people who could change things for the better, and he was about to join them. He hadn't felt this nervous since he'd first entered the police force.

Andrea teased him about it, but she had to feel the same way. She didn't show it as clearly as Phil, since apparently he wore his heart on his sleeve. Still, there were signs. She smiled more and was happy to point out that it was her plan that had gotten them this meeting.

In the hours before eleven, Phil's heart raced, and he felt breathless. It was actually happening, the waiting was almost over. He left his apartment in his police uniform and rode to the entrance of the Umbrella Rocks. There, he met Andrea.

"Hey," he greeted her. "You're wearing your uniform too?"

"Yeah, thought it would be a good idea to remind them how we'd be useful."

"Oh." Phil had worn his own because it had felt right. Even though Mistral's police didn't have a great reputation, there was some good in it. At the very least, the two of them.

Andrea checked the time with her scroll. "We're ten minutes early, want to go in and walk around?"

"Sure."

The Umbrella Rocks were a tourist attraction that was about two miles outside the city. Entry was free, since it covered such a large area that it wasn't worth it to put up fences or enforce payment, but there were still tours and shops around the area for the government to make money off it. Although they would definitely be closed now.

The rocks resembled umbrellas, narrow columns that widened to large boulders with flat bottoms. There were signs around with the names of some of them and explanations of how they were formed from uneven erosion. Phil knew that only because he'd visited before, the moon was out and gave enough light to see where he was going, but not enough to read the signs.

Phil and Andrea walked side-by-side in a winding path around the rocks. He wasn't going in any particular direction, and it didn't seem like she was either, just wandering around.

"Ever been here before?" he asked.

"Nope."

"I actually visited during a trip to the city, before I moved here. It was actually pretty interesting. The ocean used to reach all the way out here and waves would hit the rocks and lap up, eroding them until they became top-heavy."

She looked around. "Meh, just looks like a bunch of rocks. I'm more interested in figuring out why the Interference asked us to meet here."

"Well, we decided that it was close and had certain convenient qualities," A deep voice said from behind them.

They turned around and saw a man in dark clothing next to the rock right behind them. He was tall, definitely over six feet, and had an athletic build. He wore an open black jacket that showed an undershirt with a slightly lighter color. Black pants and shoes as well, good camouflage during nighttime. He had a mask with strangely wide eyeholes and an exposed bottom half.

Andrea was the first to speak. "Y-you're the Interference?"

The man nodded. "That's what we're being called."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" she asked.

Oh, oh yeah. There wasn't any proof. For all he and Andrea knew, this was just some random guy who'd overheard them and wanted to play a prank. Probably not at this time of night, but still possible.

"I sent you notes under your doors to meet me here at this time," the man responded. "And if you want more, I can tell you details of Zheng's arrest."

"No, no, that's fine," Andrea said. They'd both made sure to keep the notes secret.

"This meeting, does this mean we're going to be members of the Interference?" Phil asked.

"That still hasn't been decided yet," the man said. "I have some questions first."

"S-sure, ask away!"

"What gave you the idea to contact us by posting signs on your backs and trailing a corrupt officer?"

Phil faced Andrea, since it had been her plan, and she caught his look and explained. "I asked around and learned that Zheng was a dirty cop. We decided to keep following him until you, you know, the Interference, made a move against him. I also learned that none of the traps on you guys had worked so you had to have a way to detect people waiting for you. Since we didn't have any other way to contact you, I had the idea of using signs that you'd hopefully see while we followed Zheng."

"Who did you ask that told you that Zheng was affiliated with the Blood Orchids, and that no traps have worked on us?"

"There are people who give out information for the right price."

"And who specifically did you go to?"

It was only a moment, but Andrea hesitated. "Will it hurt my chances of joining if I keep it to myself?"

The man watched her closely. "As of now, no. But in a few minutes, I may ask again. If you don't answer then, I might decide that you shouldn't work with us."

She nodded, the movement wooden.

"It's your turn now, Mr. Helios," the man turned to him. "Tell me, why do you want to join us?"

"Right," Phil cleared his throat. "Um, I guess that I've seen what you've done for the city and I want to help. I've been a police officer here for six years, and Mistral's in an awful state. In the lowest levels of the city, criminals and gangs do what they want and the police look the other way for some money. Higher up, the only thing that changes is that payouts get bigger. The people with money thrive while everyone else just tries to get by.

"You, I mean, the Interference, are changing that and I want to help. To reform the police, to make the city a safer place by stopping the people who think they can avoid the consequences of their crimes."

The man nodded. "That's very admirable."

Phil couldn't help thinking that the man meant it. His tone wasn't mocking or even just calmly accepting, there had definitely been a note of approval. His eyes had shown it too, the expressions there visible through the strangely exposed mask.

The man turned to Andrea. "And you, Miss Mache? Why do you want to join us?"

"Same as him," she pointed at Phil. "This city's full of scum that need to be locked up."

"Really, that's all?"

"What else am I supposed to say? Do you want me to give a big speech like him?"

Phil flushed a bit. Maybe he had gone on for a bit too long, but he'd said what he'd felt. It was hard to say anything but the full truth to those wide eyes.

"You don't need to 'give a big speech'," the man said. "But I do need more than one or two sentences. I doubt you'd go to such lengths to get this meeting without strong motivation, I want to hear it."

Andrea crossed her arms. "Alright, fine. Phil thinks he knows how bad the city is, but he doesn't. Most people who haven't lived in the lowest levels don't. Higher up, the police still take bribes, but only if the crime isn't that violent or dangerous. Drunk driving they'll ignore for the right amount of cash, but a robbery or assault will be handled right. Although with serious money it's another story, but that's rare enough to not be a huge problem.

"Down in the lowest levels, people fight, steal, kill, and the police don't just avoid them, most take bribes to do it. Assholes running guns or drugs, gangs that mess up the lives of anybody unlucky enough to live there without protection, families that just pass on their rackets to the next generation. And there are police even worse than the ones who just take bribes to ignore all that, the ones I really want to throw behind bars to rot."

"What makes them worse?" the man asked.

She frowned. "Isn't what I said already enough? Do I have to tell you more?"

"Do you want to?"

Surprisingly, the answer seemed to be yes. Did she also find it hard to deny the man's attentive tone and expression? It was enjoyable to rant, and even more so to someone who genuinely listened, but this man had some quality beyond that. What it was, Phil didn't know.

She continued. "The worst dirty cops are the ones who work with the gangs and families in the city or lick the shoes of the scum in the government. They're not just taking money to ignore crimes, they're making money off of doing them. Like Zheng, the bastard who was with the Blood Orchids. The Interference rooted out the bastards like him and you're also riling up the big fish. I want to help bring down the bastards who really run things."

Phil blinked at her words. No, more than that, the way she'd said them. The acid and frustration in her voice. How long had she felt this way? They'd been partners for the past five years. She'd scowl or bite her lip on occasions when convenient cases of 'improper handling of evidence' or tight-lipped witnesses allowed a big name to get off, but he'd never seen her show such strong emotion against them.

"We work to find and expose those kinds of people, but only as a means to an end," the man said. "If you want to join us just to satisfy a contempt for them, then we may not want you."

"What?!" Andrea stopped and her lips tightened. When she opened them again, her voice was quieter, but her frustration hadn't vanished. Phil didn't blame her, he was also upset at the man's answer to her heartfelt outpour. "Look, I get how it sounds, but I'm on your side. If anyone breaks the law, I want to see them put away, and I can be useful."

"She is!" Phil jumped in. Andrea jolted at the sudden interruption, but the man just calmly turned his eyes to him. Phil had considered lying to give Andrea a better chance, but at the sight of those eyes focusing on him again, he didn't even try. The truth became the only option. "The only reason we're even meeting is because of her, and she's my friend. I'm sure she feels that the police force has to be reformed."

Phil looked to her hopefully, because he honestly didn't know. The strangely intent gaze of the man left him and went back to her.

"Yeah, I do. If the police don't do their job, then there's nobody in the city who'll stop the gangs and rotten government. Nobody besides you anyway."

"Actually, the Interference is temporary. So sooner or later, it'll just have to be the police," the man said.

Temporary? The news surprised Andrea too, based on her expression.

"Can I ask why?" Phil said.

"Yes. The Interference is a small group and we can't stay here for long. Anything more I'll have to keep to myself."

More and more questions filled his head. A small group, how small? How small could they be and still accomplish so much? Why couldn't they stay? What were they aiming to do if their time was limited? How limited? Weeks? Months?

And who was the man in front of them who sounded so caring for them and apologetic for his limits?

"What's your name?" Phil asked without really thinking.

"My name?"

"I-I mean, what should we call you?" Obviously, he wouldn't tell them his name, but it was awkward to think of him as just 'the man'.

After a few moments, amusement glowed in his eyes as he answered. "You can call me Farmer."

"Okay. Farmer." Andrea said the word as if trying it out. "You're telling us an awful lot. Does that mean we're in?"

"Not yet. Your chances are looking good, but you still need to be tested. This is what you'll need to do to prove yourselves: we're planning on making a move against the chief of police in a few days and we'll need you two in position. You'll receive more details soon. Goodbye."

Farmer raised a hand and walked behind the nearest rock.

"Wait!" Andrea ran after him. Phil followed her immediately, since he had more questions, but Farmer was nowhere to be found.