Ruby Redfort: try not to scream

By the time Ruby made it home, it was very dark outside. Hitch's car was not in the driveway, which was curious to Ruby. As she went inside, she decided that she would make a trip into Spectrum to document where The Count was staying. As she walked down the stairs, she noticed Hitch's door standing open. Curiouser and curiouser, thought Ruby. As she made her way into The Green Room, she noticed that there were no agents anywhere. When she reached the auditorium, there was still no one. Not even Agent Graystone, Buzz's replacement, was there. What in the begeebies is going on, thought Ruby. She approached The Red Room and, yet again, the door was standing open. Ruby didn't want to go inside so she turned through the Crimson Corridor and down to LB's office. As she knocked on the door she heard the rasping gravelly voice of her boss.
"Come in,"
Ruby pushed the door open and saw Hitch, Blacker, Froghorn and Dan standing around her desk. They turned around and, when they saw her, they looked shocked. It was as if they had expected never to see Ruby again.
"Kid, where have you been?" asked Hitch. His voice was barely audible to her.
Ruby hesitated. Did they already know about her visit to The Count. She guessed that they did. Hitch's expression was unreadable. Was he angry? Or scared? She couldn't tell.
"I... I was just..." Ruby stumbled over her words. Hitch sighed and then smiled.
"You're alive," he whispered, the smile spreading across his face.
"Why wouldn't I be alive?" she asked, trying to hide where she had been.

LB stood up. She was not happy at all.
"You stood up in the middle of a lesson, told your class you had been kidnapped, then ran off raving about how you needed to find Victor and then went off to find the biggest supervillain we have ever encountered. What is going through your mind, Redfort,"
Ruby stared at the ground.
"Ok, I realise how this looks," she shifted uncomfortably.
"Do you? Do you really? You're acting like an idiot," LB yelled.
"Trust me, I knew what I was doing," Ruby said, trying not to raise her voice.
"Trust you? You want me to trust you when you go around acting like that. Redfort, I will learn to trust you when you learn to stop acting like some half-witted, naive child,"
Ruby took a step back. Was that really what LB thought of her? Suddenly she felt a fire in her stomach. All these years, she had put up with being called 'kid' and 'little girl'. No more.
"I'll stop acting like a kid when you stop treating me like one. Just because I'm young does not mean that I don't feel the same amount of stress and pressure that you do. Yeah, you may run an agency but you will never know what it's like to have to put up with all of you plus everyone else in my life. I'm the daughter of the two biggest socialites in Twinford. I have to be perfect all the time but what do you think they would say if they found out their daughter murders people for a job," Ruby paused. She tried to blink away the tears in her eyes. "And then there's the fact that every day I'm here I hear about how much better than me everyone around me is. They all tell me that I've gotta be like you but that's the last thing I want. I want colour in my life and I want to be a happy person no matter what happens. So I don't care what you think of me or my actions. I'm doing what's right,"
LB sat back in her chair and looked up at Hitch. He looked like he was trying to say something but couldn't find the right way to put it.
"So, what were you doing looking for The Count?" asked LB.
Ruby contemplated her answer, then smiled.
"I figured something out," she said slowly. LB waved for her to sit down and Ruby reluctantly did. Hitch, Blacker, Froghorn and Dan sat down with her.
"I've got a tell," she whispered. LB raised an eyebrow.
"A tell?" she asked, slightly confused.
"Well we all know when Lorelie is around because of her perfume and I know The Count is coming from the sound of his shoes. Those are their tells. But I figured out how they always know I'm around," Ruby's voice was lowered as if she didn't want anyone to overhear.
"Ok, then. What is your tell?" asked LB, intrigued almost.
"My bubblegum. Lorelie calls me Bubblegum Girl. I thought it was because of the bubblegum she got from Clancy when she kidnapped him but it's actually because she can smell it. I tested it out today when I found The Count. For a little while, I walked behind him while chewing bubblegum and, sure enough, he knew exactly where I was. But then I got rid of it and his facial expression changed completely and his body language grew distressed. I managed to slip into a room and walk right in front of him without him even knowing where I was," LB looked surprised. Maybe her trip had been productive after all. Hitch smiled.
That's my girl, he thought. Ruby popped a bubble with her gum. She meant it to say who's half-witted now LB?
"How'd you figure that out?" asked Blacker, patting her on the back.
"It came to me at a weird moment. I was having a strange flashback thing where I just heard the voices of a bunch of people and I remembered all of the nicknames I've been called,"
"How did you connect nicknames to a psychopath?" asked LB.
"Well it was actually a name you called me when I first met you,"
"Oh?" asked LB.
"Yep. The day I first entered your office you called me Plankton Girl and when I thought of that I remember how I figured out your tell,"
"My tell?" LB looked confused.
"You don't wear shoes. The sound of your feet is so different to anyone else," Ruby grinned.
"And while we're at it, Blacker's is the fact that he smells of donuts, Froghorn doesn't realise that he breathes louder than anyone ever and Hitch, ever since you moved in my mom has been making you use that lavender shampoo and you can smell it from a mile away,"
LB smiled.
"I knew I hired you for a reason," she said, laughing slightly.
"Really, 'cause two seconds ago I was 'half-witted'," commented Ruby.
LB rolled her eyes, fixing her gaze on Ruby. For a mere second she could see into the mind of this teenager. The problem she found was that, although there was intelligence and pride and happiness, there was also great agony. The horror this child had been through was similar to everything LB herself had been through at age 48. She saw Bradley Baker's death. Clancy's pain. Hitch's bruises. Her own loss. Blacker's sorrow. Froghorn's strain. But most of all, she saw great love. Love that had both hurt and healed Ruby. There were moments that, to some, would mean nothing but, to Ruby, they meant everything. LB saw Hitch, when Ruby first met him. When Ruby was a mere child playing with Clancy. When Ruby shared donuts with Blacker. Ruby's life was full of love. Nothing more, nothing less.