When Cinder Met Neo
By Kraven Ergeist
Cinder made no effort to disguise the contempt on her face as she stared down the impossibly small and bizarrely colorful girl standing before her.
Roman Torchwick had long since been under her thumb, and Cinder had contented herself in the knowledge that he could be controlled, at least within a certain degree. While he was the very definition of a wild card, his errant nature was ultimately what made him so predictable, and that gave Cinder all she needed to steer him towards her ultimate objective. But what she saw before her was a level of deviation she honestly had not thought he would have the gall to pull off.
"And who exactly is this?" Cinder demanded without courtesy or preamble.
The hideout, like many others like it, was small, secluded, out of the way, and very easily disposable – a closed down shop on the edge of town that no one cared about. The windows were boarded up, empty shelves lined the floor space, and the counter at the back of the store, where the cash register would have gone, lay unadorned. Though it was midday, very little sunlight made it through the boarded windows, and a makeshift lantern was sitting atop the rear countertop to provide enough illumination for the room's occupants. The perfect place for the sporadic yet crucial meetings to ensure all the pieces were in motion in order to further advance her goals.
She had assembled her army with the utmost of care. The White Fang would be a crucial component, and their de factor leader had been one of her primary targets from the get-go. Adam Taurus had not been the easiest to manipulate; she had been forced to make many promises that she never intended to keep. That would complicate things down the line. As for the two street rats, she had acquired their services a few years back, having rescued them from receiving their just comeuppance for their petty thievery, for which they owed her their freedom and their loyalty. Cinder had kept the two of them in her back pocket, so to speak, ready to call upon them for just the right opportunity, and they would be joining their cause soon enough.
Torchwick himself had been a criminal mastermind in his own right, or so he would claim, and all she had needed to do to incite his help was promise him power. The rest had been child's play, and he had actually been doing fine work (not that she would ever allow him to know that). However, this did not change the fact that she was still in the process of gathering the key components. Hei Xiong and his minions had long since outlived their usefulness, the street rats were busy elsewhere, and she had not yet fully secured the White Fang. Which meant that this meeting was supposed to be between only Roman and herself.
This…girl…was an unforeseen variable. And Cinder did not like unforeseen variables.
"Aww, what's the matter, boss lady?" Torchwick smirked, as brazen as ever. "I thought you said we were looking for help. Well, I brought help."
Cinder eyed the girl before her. She was scarcely five feet tall, dressed in a coquettish Victorian outfit, and had long brown hair that had been completely colored on one side in pink (or perhaps it was pink hair colored on one side in brown, she could not say for certain). Mirroring her hair, she also bore a set of dichromatic eyes, one pink and one brown, as if her hair and her outfit were not distracting enough.
The child had not taken her self-righteous gaze off of Cinder for some time, nor had she spoken a word. She had simply stood there, hand on her hip, her petite little umbrella hooked under her elbow, her posture utterly poised. It was not enough to put Cinder ill at ease, but it did raise a few alarm bells in her head. Anyone so willing to stare down a woman like Cinder Fall, and to do so while barely clearing her shoulder height, must either have an ego on par with or exceeding Torchwick himself, or worse yet, actually have the stones to back it up.
Either possibility could potentially throw a wrench in Cinder's plans.
She spared the girl another moment's gaze, before returning her focus to Torchwick, resting a single manicured hand on her hip in a manner that broached no rebuke.
"Get rid of her."
The girl did not react to the dismissal, although Torchwick looked legitimately disappointed.
"Just like that?" he asked, practically bristling at the rashness of the decision. "You haven't even seen what can do yet."
Cinder's brow narrowed as she focused her deadly gaze back at the girl. It was a look that was designed to make people wither where they stood, and the girl was thus far refusing to so much as lower her eyes. The girl clearly had spunk, no doubt about that. Someone of such resolve could be useful, it was true, but only if they could be controlled.
"Do you have a name, little one?" Cinder asked, taking a step forward and reaching out to idly take hold of a lock of her brown hair. Such curious hair the girl had, to say nothing of her eyes. The color did appear to be the work of dye in either case. Perhaps dust was involved? Whatever the case, Cinder continued to impose herself, a gesture designed once again to test of the girl's resolve, and she had not so much as flinched at the contact Cinder was making.
"Her name's Neopolitan," Torchwick said, almost sounding proud.
Cinder threw a piercing look back at the ruffian. "Is she not capable of speaking for herself?"
Torchwick offered a helpless shrug. "What can I say? She's not much of a talker."
Cinder resisted the urge to scoff. Her first thoughts were that Torchwick was jesting, but thus far, the girl had not said so much as a word. She supposed everyone had their eccentricities, but then, as much as Torchwick ran his mouth, it might just be a refreshing change of pace to have a subordinate who didn't talk back quite so much.
That was, if she could be obedient.
"Very well…Neopolitan…" Cinder said, withdrawing a slip of paper from the neckline of her dress. "Roman seems to vouch for you, so let's see just how good you really are. This was to be his target tonight. Now it's yours."
The girl's aggravating smile did not abate as she tilted her head to the side. She opened her hand to receive the slip of paper, and closed it again without looking at it.
"Return to me when it is done," Cinder instructed simply. "I will be here."
The girl blinked once, and Cinder could swear her eyes were suddenly a different color pattern than they were before. Then, before Cinder could begin to ponder the implications of such a shift, the girl was gone.
An interesting ability, Cinder thought to herself.
"You've never stuck your neck out this far before, Roman," Cinder mused as she studied the floor where Neopolitan had been just moments before. "Not without good cause. Who is she exactly? A sister?"
Torchwick held her arms out, shrugging nonchalantly. "Does it matter? She'll get the job done."
"That remains to be seen," Cinder frowned, before waving him off. "Now go. You'll be hearing from me soon enough."
Torchwick tipped his hat, still sounding slightly annoyed. "Whatever you say…"
He stepped out of the boarded up shop, swiveling a scrap of wood out of the way in a makeshift egress. After he left, Cinder gracefully leaned her body against the back countertop.
And she waited.
Much, much later, when Neopolitan arrived back at the hideout, the light had been extinguished. Cinder had set up a scroll on a small kick stand on the counter, and the newsfeed streaming from the device cast the back of the room in a cool, dim glow. Cinder was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, as she watched the feed, monitoring several different channels at once.
When Neopolitan entered her field of view, the corner of Cinder's lips rose just enough to be menacing.
"You work fast..." Cinder practically purred. "I was just admiring your handiwork."
She gestured to the newsfeed coming from her scroll. Across its surface, reports were coming in of a chemical fire that had levelled a civilian home in the nobles' quarter. Police were referring to it as an accident, however the district judge who resided at the house was currently missing.
Neo stepped up to the counter, a blood-spattered duffel back slung across her shoulder, and deposited the bag onto the countertop. She then unzipped the duffel, revealing several bound stacks of money, some important looking legal documents marked "classified," as well as several bottles of prescription pills and a flask of what appeared to be bourbon.
This time, Cinder's smile was genuine as she stepped up to the bag to review its contents. The girl had followed her instructions to a tee.
"It seems His Honor Judge DuFresne was mixed up in some pretty nasty business…" Cinder smiled, thumbing through some of the documents she found. There was enough material in this folder to blackmail half of Vale's nobility if she played her cards right.
Satisfied, she closed the folder and resealed it inside the duffel bag, returning her immediate attention to Neo as the news reports continue to flash in the background. She had proven herself capable, that much was certain. Still, there was something off about the girl that Cinder just didn't like. By her very nature, Cinder was a distrusting being. Nothing was ever left to chance, and she never put her faith in anything she could not utterly dominate.
This girl, however, was proving quite unflappable. Cinder was determined to find some flaw, some chink in her armor, which would allow her to exploit her. Everyone had their breaking point, and this girl would be no exception. Truthfully, she was surprised Torchwick was acquainted with an individual such as her, much less that he could convince her to join herself with Cinder's cause. She could have grilled Torchwick for the information, but truthfully, Cinder preferred finding out on her own.
She fixed her gaze on the girl, slowly making her way over to her to run her fingers through the longer, pinker side of her hair.
"Well done indeed, little one…" she purred, straightening the lapels on her collared jacket, before circling around her, her hand resting on her shoulder. "There just might be a role for you to play here after all…"
Every step, every gesture, every touch was measured and deliberate, as she studied the girl carefully, watching closely for any sign of discomfort, unease or fear. Neo's only response was to turn her head to follow Cinder with her eyes as she strode around her, the chocolate and vanilla gaze ever fixated, ever smiling back at her.
Her disposition gave nothing away, and though Cinder found it utterly maddening, she did not withdraw from the challenge. Neo's existence was a mystery that yearned to be unraveled, and Cinder would be the one to do it.
Perhaps it was time for a different approach.
Cinder's dark red nails trailed from Neo's shoulder to her neck to gently lift her chin up, directing her to look even more firmly back at her.
"Do you not fear me?" she asked in a curious tone of voice.
Neo's only response was to widen her smile. That was all the response Cinder needed. The answer was self-evident anyway. The girl clearly did not fear for her own life. Whether it was out of confidence or foolishness, Cinder could not say. But there was an answer to be found, buried somewhere deep behind those dichromatic eyes. Even as she withheld all, there was information to be gleamed from her very nature. Why such a capable creature would be willing to work with them, or why she would trust someone like Torchwick…
Perhaps…
"You really ought to…" she smiled as the honeyed words left her lips. "Roman does."
Had Neo not been so utterly statuesque in her stature, Cinder might have missed the subtle crinkling of her brow, the vaguest twinge of anger at the name. But she did catch it. And Cinder had her answer.
"How sweet of you…" she said, tilting her to the side. "Throwing your hat into the ring to keep Roman out of harm's way?"
The smile was gone. Neo blinked, and once again, her eyes switched color, this time to a shade of strawberry and crystalline blue.
"Well…" Cinder breathed, turning on her heels, looking away as she stepped back over to the edge of the counter. "Never you worry, little one…"
She calmly collected her scroll, switched it off, and retracted it, robbing the room of its only real light source. The thin wisps of streetlight trickled in through the cracks in the boarded windows, but before long, the lines in Cinder's dress began to glow, casting the room into an eerie shade of yellow.
Cinder turned back to look at Neo. And this time, there was a fire in her gaze, as red as blood, as she poured equal parts acid and honey into her words.
"Roman is far too valuable to my plans for me to let anything happen to him…" she said sweetly, slinking her way back over to Neo.
Cinder placed her hands on her hips, shifting her weigh onto one leg.
"Besides, you've proven yourself capable," she said, pointedly. "With you here, I won't have to rely nearly so much on him. You keep up the good work…"
She waved her scroll to illustrate her point.
"And I'll make sure that Roman is well taken care of…" she said, slipping he scroll into a small pouch on her hip. "Deal?"
Neo seemed to ponder this arrangement for a moment, before finally she blinked her eyes, and they resolved back to pink and brown, and once again the smile was back.
Cinder let out a satisfied hum. "Good. I'm glad we see eye to eye on things."
Neo smirked, before reaching into a hip pouch of her own, and pulling out a small item in brightly colored wrapping, and presented it to Cinder with a contented look on her face.
Cinder raised an eyebrow as she warily reached out to accept the tiny offering, finding it cool to the touch as she inspected the illustration on the cover in the dim yellow light to determine what it was.
"An ice cream bar?" she asked out loud, for once too befuddled to bother being intimidating.
In her hand was, indeed, a vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream bar on a stick, still in its serving package and still quite frozen. Cinder had no earthly idea why Neo would be carrying around something like this in her pocket, much less how she had been keeping it chilled.
"What in the world…?" Cinder asked out loud, before looking up to find that Neo had vanished yet again.
She was stunned for a moment longer, before letting out a brief chuckle.
It seemed she and Neo had reached an accord, at least for the time being. Cinder felt like she understood her just a little bit better now. She was here to keep an eye on Roman. That was fine. Cinder could use that. As long as she kept performing to this caliber and Cinder had a way of reigning her in should she go off the rails, she was content with that.
Still, she could not get over what a strange girl she was.
"Curiouser and curiouser…" Cinder mused as she unwrapped the ice cream bar and gave it tentative nibble. She then let out a pleased sigh as she leaned back against the countertop, smiling to herself.
It had been a while since she'd enjoyed a nice bit of ice cream.