Roman was having, all in all, a pretty good day. He'd managed to get his hands on one and a half tonnes of Dust, completely unprecedented. He'd managed to secure a deal with the White Fang, Cinder hadn't berated or put him down at him at all and he'd just been gifted a box of the extremely rare, hand rolled Mystralite speciality cigars. All he needed now was a bottle of scotch and the night off, and it would officially be the best day of his life.
Cinder and the White Fang division leader in vale, a Lizard named Leon (10 points for originality to the parents) were currently engaged in deep conversation. The kids, Emerald and Mercury, were off in the corner, probably making fun of the Faunus. Considering they were laughing and the only time they ever got along that well in public was when they were hating on something that wasn't their partner.
Roman was considering the possible backlash over lighting a cigar inside the container, their meeting place, when he heard gunshots. The lizard turned towards a cat, possibly a tiger, and nodded, then resumed his conversation, assuring them that there was probably an intruder and that it would be dealt with.
Seconds later, the second, larger volley reported from outside the container. After it stopped, the tiger pulled out his own gun, waiting for the all clear. It never came, and in its place was more gunfire and, more disturbingly, screaming. The guards all readied their weapons as Cinder signalled for the kids to join her. Roman gripped Melodic Cudgel tightly, the screams and the now sporadic gunfire frightening him. Not only was the White fang out there, but Junior's thugs. Despite the flak they receive, Junior's boys are actually pretty good. Or they were. Suddenly, there was an unearthly roar, a grenade detonating and more gunfire. And more screaming.
The White Fang burst out of the container, weapons ready. They were followed immediately by Cinder and the kids. He followed immediately afterwards.
The sight before them was enough to make him weak at the knees. Emerald hunched over, heaving, but resisting throwing up, with Mercury staring bug eyed and open mouthed. Sure they were used to death, but this wasn't just death. Scattered around them lying in a venerable ocean of blood were the remains of soldiers from both factions. The lucky ones had been stabbed, cut in half or decapitated. The unlucky, and unidentifiable, ones had been eviscerated, their respective body parts scattered all over the dockyard.
Though that wasn't what got Roman the most. He'd seen plenty of gore from his days as a Hunter. No, what got him the most was the teenage Faunus kneeling in the centre of the macabre scene, covered in blood and laughing psychotically. The Faunus was a wolf wearing a torn hoodie that ended at the elbow, with a ripped t-shirt underneath, tattered Jeans that stopped at the knee and went bare-foot. He was wielding a black jagged sword with multiple flesh hooks along its dark edge. It was obviously made for ripping, not slicing.
"HAHAHA! Oh, I haven't had that much fun in months! Thanks for the hunt, buck!" the monster laughed, patting the head of the White fang security sergeant, which had been impaled on one of Junior's thugs' swords. The Faunus then noticed his audience and went over to greet them, smiling.
"Oh hi there, this is quite convenient, I was about to go find you, but it appears you found me!"
"Who is it you seek?" Cinder asked, seemingly unfazed by the psychotic Wolf.
"Why, you of course! You're the leader of this little shindig, aren't you?" Cinder nodded in reply. "Awesome! So, I need to ask you a question."
Cinder nodded once more, the White Fang stared at her, horrified that she would entertain such company.
"Can I join you?"
Cinder considered for a bit, then looked around. "You are most certainly powerful, so why not? But I must ask, why got to the trouble of killing all these people if you only wanted to join us?"
The wolf smiled. "Oh, this? This is my resume!"
Leon seemed to snap out of his shock, and glared angrily at Cinder. "If you're seriously going to take on this... this, Monster! Then you can consider the White Fang your enemy!"
Cinder shrugged, and turned back to her new subordinate.
"Deal with these animals, will you?" she asked, pointing at the White Fang soldiers.
The Faunus seemed to teleport into Leon, his sword driving straight through his stomach. The wolf then twisted the sword and tore it back out, dragging both flesh and internal organs with the cruel blade.
"With Pleasure."
What was left of Junior's men quickly ran out, congregating behind Roman, attempting to identify themselves as friendly. In the meantime, the wolf went on a rampage, slaughtering his brethren, cutting them down left and right. He left one man standing, the Tiger.
The Faunus Commander wasn't scared at all. If anything, he was infuriated with his kinsman's actions. He drew a massive chainsaw great-sword, the weapon of a White Fang shock trooper. The Wolf smiled, and rushed the commander, jumping out of the way at the last second.
This twisted game continued for a few more seconds until the Wolf ducked under the sword and jumped up on top of his shoulders, driving his blade through his neck, messily decapitating him as he dragged it back out.
"Aww, it's broken." He sighed sadly, turning back to Cinder, who nodded, impressed. This garnered the horror of almost everyone else, the only one who didn't react was Emerald, who had passed out.
"What the hell was that? Where are we going to get our White Fang support now?" Roman roared, Livid.
"I know a White Fang Special Operations group around here, who would be more than happy to step up to the challenge." Cinder replied calmly, turning towards the master thief. "Also, would you be a dear and take our new friend back to your hideout and get him cleaned up? I'm sure he's had a long night and would like nothing more than to relax." Roman cursed and looked at the teen. This night just went from great to stock standard awful. When Cinder gave an order, you didn't refuse it. Especially if you valued your life.
"Of course. I would like nothing more than to help this animal with his endeavours." Roman replied sarcastically.
"And, if you cut the attitude, you can have the rest of the night to yourself." Cinder offered.
"Well, in that case, it would be my pleasure. Come along, my new friend, let's go introduce you to the gang." Roman sincerely offered, pointing to a bullhead, which was covered in drying blood, to take them back to his hideout.
The Wolf skipped happily over to the vehicle, climbing in with Roman and a few nervous thugs. The patrolling bullhead landed to take Cinder and the kids back to wherever they went. Maybe this night wouldn't be too bad after all.
Roman was pissed. Not only had Cinder dumped the responsibility of the psycho on him, but he was a pain in the ass. On the way back, he had opened the side door, just to see where they were going, wouldn't shut up about the many things he had killed and literally scared the shit out of one of the guards, so the smell was awful.
They arrived to find Cinder already there, which was surprising as she would have had to have dropped off the kids at their own safe house and then arrived here in the time it had taken him to simply go from the docks to the hideout. But Roman knew better than to argue logic with her, as the rules of reality simply seemed to walk out of every room she entered. They were certainly wiser than he was.
When they landed, he told the Guards to escort both the wolf and themselves to go get cleaned up as he went to talk with Cinder.
"Miss Fall. As grateful as I am for the gift of such a 'valuable asset' as he, but he'll ruin my operation!" Roman shouted.
"Oh? Can't you handle him, Roman?"
"Quite frankly, no. I'm a thief, I steal. I don't mass murder."
"You certainly didn't hesitate when that police officer found you."
"Sure, I take out the occasional idiot that stumbles into one of my operations. What I don't do is go out of my way to kill innocents."
Cinder laughed slightly. Not in a good way.
"Oh Roman, you can be quite funny sometimes." I doubt that's her sense of humour laughing "But I was never planning on giving him to you. I know your M.O., and such an asset would be wasted on you. No, he will work under my command."
Roman sighed with relief.
"That said, there may be a confliction of interest if I take him aboard as we are now, so I'm transferring Neo over to you."
"What, the multi-coloured mute? Isn't she still injured?" Roman inquired.
"It's either her, or the 'valuable asset', as you so eloquently put it." Cinder offered.
He'd worked with Neo before, hell, she was with him the night she underestimated some Hunter in training and got herself damaged. She was stealthy and small, so she worked well as the extra muscle he needed sometimes. She was skilled, most certainly, but a bit bloodthirsty for Romans tastes. That said, she was preferable over the psychotic wolf.
Roman shrugged. "I'll take her. Hopefully she's learnt her lesson from the last job and actually takes her role seriously."
Cinder smiled evilly. "Trust me, she has. I'll transfer her over to your unit, effective tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll take my new warrior and head back to command. I have no doubt he'll want to rest before we send him out into the wild."
The wolf appeared beside her, startling Roman. And only Roman.
He was clean and had found himself new clothes. His style was… questionable, but at least it wasn't covered in blood. He wore white, loose fitting cotton pants and a white, undone straightjacket, complete with leather and iron buckles. He also had the horrible sword he wielded strapped to his belt, a clip keeping the black blade in place so as to prevent the hooks getting caught in a sheath as well as easy access.
Cinder put a hand on his back and guided him towards the waiting bullhead.
"I expect you to keep up the good work, Roman." Cinder shot behind her as she climbed up into the craft. "Oh, and expect company really soon."
When the Bullhead had left, Roman wandered over to his car, a white Roles Royce Phantom, eager to get back to his apartment. There is no way in hell am I working tonight after that. He thought to himself, speeding out of the warehouse and off towards central Vale.
The rest of the night had turned out to be quite relaxing. Junior was kind enough to 'donate' a bottle of scotch for his friend, not bothering to hear the details of the operation. He had one of his new cigars and was tempted to have another when it was done. They were as good as he had hoped. After getting drunk and smoking the beautiful cigar, he had slept for a solid 8 hours. The longest he had in months. And now, after a quick commute back to the hideout, he was wishing the night never ended. Business was incredibly slow. He had received a company e-mail from Cinder that told his forces to take the day off, after the one and a half tonne haul from a Schnee company freighter, so hardly any of his own men had shown up, let alone Juniors. He would have taken the day off, but he had been told to come in, again by Cinder, to greet the 'New and Improved Neopolitan'.
Roman was about to call it quits when there was a call from the upper gantry, and the roof slid open. The craft that flew in surprised him the most. It was a White Fang Bullhead.
Roman ran up the stairs to the landing pad to 'meet' the Faunus, expecting the worst. He gripped Melodic Cudgel and awaited the doors opening, three of his men beside him, guns ready. He got impatient and ripped open the door, shocked to see Cinder within the craft. She exited, followed by Neo and a tall Faunus he had never met, but was obviously White Fang.
"Roman, I'd like you to meet your new business partners, the White Fang." Cinder introduced, smirking. The Faunus grunted, turning and slamming the door to the craft. Soldiers jumped out and lined up on the landing pad. Neo watched him, smirking. She scratched her neck lightly and accidentally moved her necklaces to reveal a livid scar running down her throat.
Roman looked away from the wound and back to his boss.
"Well, you certainly work fast. But I'm going to need a lot more men than this if I want to get anything done."
"Rest assured, you'll get them. Isn't that right, Adam?"
The Faunus looked at Roman, his mask not only hiding his eyes, but revealing his rank as a Special Operations Operative. "They'll be here." He replied curtly.
Roman looked between the two Ego's that stood before him. The nigh untouchable Cinder Fall, and the White Fang SpecOps Commando. He knew then that last night was probably the last night he'd have to relax.
"Any questions?" Cinder asked mockingly. "No? Good. You'll have a week to get accustomed to your new operatives, then it's back to what you do best. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Miss Fall." Roman replied.
Cinder smirked and stepped back inside the bullhead, which the Faunus, Adam, had already entered.
Roman looked around at his new soldiers as the Bullhead took off, nearly blowing off his hat.
"Alright. I want you all to go assemble your buddies and meet back here at 10:00 tomorrow. All late comers will have their pay docked and will not be participating in raids. Now, off with you, I have tasks that need completing and not enough time to do it all in." Roman roared at the Faunus. "And don't you give me that look, Neo. You have no right nor the means to say anything." He shot at his smirking subordinate. "Dismissed."
That certainly toned her down a notch. Roman thought to himself as he watched the girls' face grow incredibly dark. She stormed off to the training room, presumably to let off some steam.
Roman walked down the gantry and over to his desk. An updated map of Vale was present on its mahogany surface. His contacts within the Vale PD kept him updated as to the most secure areas, so he could plan around it. The Vale PD had almost every dust shop in town locked down and the ones that weren't had been crossed out, the words 'White Fang' above the location, marking them as taken. Roman looked at the massive shipping containers filled with dust. It wouldn't be a problem if we left it for a week or so… he thought.
He was contemplating what to do when a small oriental girl dressed in a red traditional Chinese vest that had a golden dragon curling down her back. She also wore black stockings and black slippers. She had black, pixie cut hair and emerald green eyes with a hint of blue around the inner rim to her pupils. She walked over to his desk and dumped paperwork onto it, visibly nervous. Her outfit marked her as one of his recruits, as his own personal forces didn't wear a uniform.
She was about to leave when Roman stopped her. "Hey, you. Yeah, the girl. What's your name?"
"Uh.. It's June, sir." She replied awkwardly.
"Well June, do you know what we could possibly do with fifty tonnes of Dust?"
"I didn't know we had that much, sir."
"We don't. Yet. But we will. So, your answer?"
"Uh… ammunition? We could use it in weapons?" she answered honestly.
"Hmm. Stay right there." He muttered, turning back to his map.
There were a few weapons stores out of the PDs' patrols paths, and apparently a shipment from Vacuo had recently arrived. He whipped back around, a plan forming in his head.
"Well, June. We have work to do. Round up all of my men, but leave Neo, we don't need her tonight." He ordered, smiling evilly at the girl.
"Sir?"
"We're going shopping."