A/N: So, yeah. Again, apologies about the gap between updates, but since RWBY Vol 5 dropped, I've been getting more and more into the swing of writing again, especially since I've (probably) figured out a good pattern to tackling life at the moment. But I also wanted to use this opportunity to state that this chapter is technically where the first arc of the MSTT story ends, and the next one (which will have a LOT more OC's, action scenes and drama) picks up.
You'll understand when you get to the end of the chapter.
Let Them Know
Present Day…
"All things considered, we got really lucky that day." Tanner commented as the projected recording suddenly froze at the twitch of T's hand, giving the three sitting across from them a moment to comprehend what they had just seen.
Eventually, it was Qrow who spoke. "You four were so close." He said with a shake of his head. "So close to ending it all before it began, but you were all too selfish to see the bigger picture past your own motives."
"We're not saying we weren't, Qrow." SK spoke up, eyes flitting between him and the recording. "We missed our marks, sure. More death could have been avoided if we acted more decisively, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's more you need to see – more you need to understand that we undid."
"On top of that, I've run the battle scenario again at least fifty times to contemplate the alternatives." T followed up. "Logically speaking; between our depleted Auras and Cinder's unstable Fall Maiden powers, the chances of us actually killing her then and there were less than ten percent, even if we had acted more united."
"Do I look like I care what your calculations say?" the red-eyed man asked rhetorically. "People are dead because of what she did – what you helped her do. The whole world has gone blind and deaf, and we're scraping by to put the Kingdom back together. You four have a lot to answer for."
"Please, Qrow," Tanner was on the verge of pleading as he laced his fingers together and put them on the table. His eyes fell on Glynda briefly before he added, "And ma'am," a cough brought his attention to Jay, who still sat between the two. "And, kid." The remark drew an annoyed glare from the blonde, but he didn't interrupt the brunette. "If you're going to judge us and decide what to do with us, at least give us the chance to tell the whole story."
A moment of tension passed between the people sitting opposite each other before Glynda spoke up. "We will hear you out and give you all of you a chance to justify yourselves, but we expect nothing but the truth of what happened, and that you do not keep any details that might give us a clue as to what Her endgame to all this is."
"As for what will happen to you," Jay began before pausing to glance at Qrow. "It really all depends on where this tale of yours takes us. To get us back on track here, what became of that Raiden fellow?"
"Yes, a man with the powers and capabilities that Raiden Alexander had would have made a powerful ally, albeit one lacking in discipline." The blonde witch added shortly after Jay had finished speaking.
All eyes fell on T as he said nothing for a few long seconds before sighing. "We don't know."
Naturally, Jay cocked an eyebrow in confusion at the statement. "What do you mean 'We don't know'? Didn't you kill him to mercifully end his suffering?"
This time, the eyes of the members of Team MSTT turned to SK, who swivelled between everyone staring at him before he responded. "Not exactly."
This earned him a leer from Qrow. "Ok, can you not? You can't just say something like that and expect us to accept him 'not exactly' dying. He's either dead or not, so which is it?"
"Alright, alright. Geez, I was getting to that." SK replied as he took off his glasses and put them on the table. "Here's what happened." Withdrawing his Scroll, he held it close to his face and squinted to see the screen as he tapped several commands on it, which caused the table around his glasses to glow as the holo-projection changed to a first-person view of SK as he stared down the injured shadowcaster in the back of the airship.
It played at the second he brought his blade down, but instead of going for the teen's neck, the blade cut through the shaft of the arrow sticking out of his back.
"Argh! Oum, dammit!" he exclaimed as he crouched down to grab the boy's shoulder with one hand before grabbing the tip of the arrow that protruded from his chest with the other. "Fine, there's another thing I can think to do that could save him, but…it's not going to be pretty."
"It rarely is." Tanner replied while moving to pick up the other half of the arrow and toss it aside. "What do you need?"
"Get the first-aid kit in the airship – get as much painkiller and sedative as you can find." He then turned to the redhead who watched on in curiosity. "Mars, I need you to help hold him steady. This needs to be precise."
"Hold him down – got it, just like Friday nights." Mason stated as SK got back up and picked him his Scorched Divide. Removing the canister from its chamber, he cracked it against the hull of the airship, allowing the red Dust in it to seep out and into his hand. When a small pile had accumulated in his palm, he threw the canister aside and started rubbing his hands together, which caused the Dust to start glowing.
He then picked up his falchion again and began running his hands along the length of the blade, causing the weapon to catch fire. "Hurry, Vermilion! If we wait too long, he'll bleed out!"
"I know, it's just-there's not a lot of painkiller here."
"It'll have to do." With that said, SK knelt beside the prone form of the boy and pulled out the rest of the arrow in one swift motion, drawing another sound of pain from the teen. "Mason, hold him down!" he ordered as the redhead moved up to straddle Raiden's legs while pinning his arms to the floor. Hesitantly, the rogue lifted up the black-haired teen's shirt, counted to three, then put the heated blade of his falchion to the wound in his chest left by the arrow.
A scream of pain filled the airship as Raiden thrashed about in pain, but SK did not relent and pressed the burning blade harder onto the boy's skin as his Aura flared dramatically.
"The hell are you doing?" Tanner shouted as he dove to his knees next to Raiden's straining body with the first-aid kit in his hands.
"Cauterizing the wound; it'll stop the bleeding entirely!" SK replied as he finally lifted his sword off the boy and forced him onto his front. "Painkiller!" he demanded with an outstretched hand. Tanner complied, putting a pair of full syringes in his palm, which he stabbed into Raiden's back before bringing the burning sword down on the wound in his back. "Hold him steady!"
"You'll kill him!" Tanner shouted in warning, but did nothing to stop the rogue as he pressed the flat of the blade down onto Raiden's squirming form with both hands, causing his Aura to flare as it strained to protect him from the flames as they licked over his skin.
This went on for a few more seconds as Raiden's screams of pain slowly became quieter and he slowly came down from his thrashing, eventually passing out as the rogue inspected both wounds. "It's over." He breathed out in relief, running a hand along the length of his blade to extinguish the fire as he toppled backwards on his rear. "The wounds won't bleed anymore – all that's left to do is fight through the pain."
Tanner's eyes met his as he looked back and forth between the rogue and the shadowcaster before making up his mind and moving to apply some light bandaging on the obsidian-haired teen. "Do you think he'll live?"
"Only if he wants to badly enough." He watched on for a couple more seconds as Raiden's unconscious form took in a deep, unsteady breath of air while his body subconsciously found a comfortable position to rest in. After holding his breath for a couple of seconds, he let it out in a more steady stream as the painkillers kicked in and he relaxed against the floor of the airship. "Cauterising drains a person's Aura to almost nothing, but it sure as hell heals them faster than their sliver of Aura after a battle."
"Not sure if I'd consider leaving a huge second-degree burn on a person 'healing'." Tanner snorted as he helped the unconscious shadowcaster into a comfortable sitting position in the airship.
"Despite how much it sounds like it hurts and how much it actually hurts, it gives the body a chance to heal any internal damage, assuming it's not too extensive. The worst thing you'll get from it is some scarred skin." As his eyes wandered for something to focus on, the rogue's gaze landed on Raiden's discarded weapon. "Better hold on to this for safe-keeping, who knows how he's gonna react when he wake up." He thought out loud while moving over to grab the longsword, dropping it in his lap before sitting back down.
11 minutes later…
It became Tanner's unspoken duty to watch over Raiden's unconscious body as they made their way back to T's Compound.
I did bring him on board, guess it's only fair.
No one else spoke a word on the way back. Despite how much he wanted to, Tanner held himself back from going up to the cockpit and facing T head-on, knowing that the hacker would have to come back through the passenger compartment on his way out eventually.
The entire time after they had stabilised the shadowcaster, Tanner had been going over the battles in his mind; thinking about the way that his enemies had acted and what had been said. More than anything, he thought about Cinder's powers to control the Grimm that had attacked him. After everything he had seen in his time in the mafia, he had never seen a Semblance like that at work – and it scared him.
What other powers does she have that we don't know about?
The only indication to Tanner that they had finally landed back at the Compound was the sound of the airship's engines cycling down to a halt. Shortly after, the hatches slid open automatically and Mason was the first one out. "Freedom!" he shouted on his way out.
SK and Tanner remained where they were, both using the opportunity to catch their breaths and wait for T to show himself.
Eventually, the sound of footsteps announced T's entry into the passenger compartment of the airship, where he stopped to first address SK and Tanner. "Keep him restrained and out cold for now – I don't want him to see the compound until he says he's willing to join us."
Tanner was the first to rise as T disembarked the airship. "So now we're recruiting him?"
In the distance, the hacker's shepherd dog came running up to him with something in its mouth, stopping just in front of T as the cyborg kneeled to pet it and remove the object in its mouth. "Only if he wants to."
T returned to the airship a second after dismissing the brown dog, holding what was clearly a medical syringe in his hand as he moved over to Raiden and injected the fluid in it into his neck. "How long will it last?" SK asked next.
"An hour – maybe two." The hacker's response was curt as he turned away once the task was done and began walking back towards the house on the cliff.
This time, Tanner wasn't about to let him just walk away. "T, stop!" at his words, the hacker stopped walking, but did not turn to face the swordsman. "If it weren't for Esinti and Raiden back there, we'd both be six-feet under right now."
T slowly turned around to face the brunette. "And I'm glad for their help, which is why I am giving Raiden a choice and sparing his life."
"That's not the point I'm trying to make and you know it," Tanner countered without hesitation. "You know things about Cinder and the others that you're holding back from us. You knew about Raiden the moment you saw him, yet withheld information about his style and powers, and I'm willing to bet you know about the extent of Cinder's influence in Mistral."
"I didn't know about her power over the Grimm." T said in his defence.
"That doesn't change the fact that you had plans you weren't going to fill us in on." Tanner spat back. "T, I want to help you take Cinder down, especially after everything I've seen, but I can't do that if you don't trust us and I can't trust you – so either you start telling us what your bigger game is, or I'm out."
"The same goes double for me." SK added. "You might be my one shot at actually killing Cinder, but I won't take it if it means I'm going to get killed along the way."
There was a brief moment when the look in T's eyes hardened and Tanner swore he saw the man's cybernetic arm tighten up, as if it were getting ready to pummel rock into powder. The moment passed, however, and T let out a resigned sigh. "Cinder rules through fear and ignorance of her master plan. She has amassed a small army all across Mistral because of it, with reach that extends to nearly every Kingdom in the world." T explained. "I thought…to do the same would be to use her tactics against her, and destroy her in the process."
It took a moment to understand where the hacker was coming from, but when he did, Tanner's response was resolute. "Do you want to be Cinder?"
T's attention snapped to the swordsman. "What?"
Taking a moment to think over his words, Tanner's gaze was hard when he spoke again. "Cinder's style is to rule with fear, so if you want to be like Cinder then by all means, think just like her. But if you want to be better than Cinder, you can't go around copying her strategy."
The words seemed to get the hacker thinking as he clenched and unclenched his fists several times, then let out a grunt of annoyance as he turned to stare at the eastern sky, which was slowly getting brighter with the rising sun. "I will tell you three what I know about Cinder and the others, and what I plan to do to put a stop to her. I…was wrong to think that I could control you three the same way Cinder does her goons, and I won't be her." His tone was soft, but the words carried their meaning as he began walking back towards the airship. "I've transferred Gamma access codes to your Scrolls, which will give you limited access to the terminals, stations and supply boxes in the Compound."
"…Why can't you do it yourself?" SK asked.
"I'm going back for the airship we left in Kuroyuri, then I'm going to take Raiden somewhere we can…talk." He explained while climbing into the airship's cockpit room to begin pre-flight adjustments.
Somewhat annoyed at the fact that T was still dodging things, Tanner made his way into the cockpit and stared at the hacker as he performed the checks. "What happened to telling us what you know about Cinder?"
T's hands suddenly froze when Tanner spoke, and he took a moment before responding. "I will tell you what I know. I just…need a while to figure out what to say."
"Say the truth," Tanner countered. "-can't go wrong there."
Turning in his chair, the hacker faced the brunette with a new resolve. "You can ask Overwatch questions if you'd like, but she won't be able to answer all of them. The more…sensitive ones I'll tell you myself."
Holding his gaze for a second longer, the brunette scoffed in annoyance before exiting the airship. "C'mon," he said to SK. "-let's go see what we can find in T's house."
14 Minutes Later…
"Approaching last-known location of the Bullhead." Overwatch's soothing voice spoke in the cockpit of the airship as T brought it into a slow descent. After making sure that the airship was still in flying order and refuelled, he loaded up the parts necessary to make repairs on the damaged Bullhead and refuel it. For the return journey, he was entrusting Overwatch's autopilot software to be able to return it to the Compound and make a safe landing while he took the airship they had arrived on, as it was the less modified of the two and would not give the synthetic intelligence the controls she needed.
"Bring us down – as close as you can to it." He commanded as the ruined village finally came into view in the mid-morning sunlight. It felt like such much longer than a day since they'd last been here, but everything was still as it had been the day before, including the damaged Bullhead that T had to land here before it crashed.
It looked to be in the condition that they left it, but just to be sure T brought spare tools and parts to perform any necessary repairs. From an initial scan of the surroundings, it also seemed like the Grimm population in the area was minimal, with nothing but a couple Beowulves that would keep to themselves if T kept his distance.
"Captain, if I may speak freely..." Overwatch asked politely as the hacker began plotting a course to circle around the landing site to slow the airship's approach.
"…You may." He said after switching over control to her.
The synthetic stayed silent for a second before speaking. "The others…The Vendetta Initiative…though I can understand your hesitance to trust them, I think it would be wise to put more trust in them. So far, your strategy to only tell them what is necessary has not produced the results you have expected, nor the calculated optimal results."
"You are suggesting I change my approach to get a more efficient outcome of working with them." T reiterated, while also thinking on the words themselves.
"Going over the past sixty hours, we both know that you can't continue with your current courses of action. I've already predicted a ninety-four percent probability that Mr. Esinti will continue to act out of turn if you do not uphold your agreement to inform them of the next phase of operations, and that probability is even higher for Mr. Vermillion."
"I've already considered what might happen if I remain silent about this for much longer." T stated as he absentmindedly tilted his head back to look at the source of Overwatch's voice. "I've already conceded to telling them what the endgame with Cinder is."
"What about the situation with Miss Neopolitan, then?" Overwatch's tone was touched with concern and curiosity. "I…can't imagine they will react well when they find out that you want her alive."
"That is why neither of us will tell them about my plans for Neo." The words came out more like an order than he intended them to be. He knew he didn't have to be indirect with Overwatch or doubt her loyalty, but sometimes old habits do die hard.
"Sir?"
"If they found out that I don't intend to kill Neo, it could jeopardise everything I've planned thus far. Tanner already suspects something as it is, but I will deal with the consequences when the time comes. I need you to promise me that you won't breathe a word of it to any of them." T also knew that he didn't have to ask the synthetic intelligence to make promises, as she didn't have choice but to comply. Still, she was the last person he could really trust – someone who would not betray him under any circumstance. "Please."
A moment of silence passed before the bodiless voice spoke again. "Of course, Captain. I do hope you know what you are doing."
"I hope so too." T muttered to himself before addressing Overwatch again. "How are they?"
"They seem…restless, sir. Mr Esinti has already asked me several questions about our inventory and about my capabilities, though he shows no interest in questioning what your plans are with regard to Cinder Fall." Overwatch explained in a neutral tone.
"They probably know that they're not going to get much out of interrogating you." T stated as the airship finally touched the ground, landing softly as T unbuckled the safety belts in the pilot's seat.
"I will alert you if they attempt to tamper with my systems, though I cannot promise that I won't take action beforehand to prevent damage." Overwatch said, now through T's earpiece as he exited the cockpit and moved to grab the toolkit he brought on-board from the back of the airship.
"Don't worry, I won't reprimand you for doing so." He said while casting a glance to Raiden, who still laid slump and unconscious in the back of the airship.
T briefly considered giving him another dose of the tranquilizer he had administered earlier, but for some reason thought against it and exited the airship to start on the path towards his modified Bullhead.
I don't want him out for much longer, just another half-hour should work. It was the logic he went with as he pulled out his Scroll and hit the master unlock to disarm the Bullhead, which had gone into lockdown after the night of inactivity.
The process of checking over the Bullhead's systems and external integrity took a total of twelve minutes – made quicker with Overwatch's aid and scans. Though it was relatively early in the morning, the mid-Spring sun was already in the sky and shining down on the ruined Mistrali village. T was in the process in of recalibrating the airship's flight instruments when Overwatch's voice broke the silence.
"Captain, Raiden Alexander is awake and has broken free from his restraints!" the panic in her voice was clear and set the hacker on edge immediately.
"What?" It can't be – he should still be out for another half-hour! Stopping what he was doing immediately, T broke into a sprint out the Bullhead and made a beeline straight to the airship a few metres away, determined to intercept the shadowcaster before he could get away.
"He's attempting to make a break for the forest, keep to your current trajectory and you should-" T spotted the teen as he stumbled over some loose floor tiles, barely catching himself by throwing his hands out in front of him to stop his fall. He had his weapon stuck to his back, but T also noticed that he looked paler and weaker than normal.
He won't get far. "I see him." T's running speed picked up as he closed in on the teen, however, Raiden heard his approach and began shimmering with solid wisps of shadows. His sprint instantly tripled in speed and T very quickly had no hope of catching up to the shadowcaster as he disappeared into the treelines.
"He's gone!" Overwatch said with a tone of disbelief. "That was strange – his Aura suddenly spiked right before he sped away, but I can't figure out why?"
"Can you track his Scroll?"
"I can, but there's a problem; he left his Scroll in the airship." Overwatch explained while creating a top-down view of the village for T, with a marker on where Raiden's Scroll was responding from its fixed position. "He likely ditched it because he knew we could track him."
Letting out a sigh, T slowed to a halt as he stared at the treeline where Raiden had vanished into. Either way, the shadowcaster seemed to be making a point that he did not want to be found – or followed.
T understood that to pursue the matter further would be more effort than it was worth, and so conceded to pick up what he could and move forward with the plan. "Let's finish with repairs and get home."
Present Day…
"Since then, I've never been able to track down Raiden – and as of last week, the chances of finding him went from slim to hairline." T finished as Jay lifted his hand to speak.
"You said that he left his Scroll behind so that you wouldn't be able to track him. Was there anything on his Scroll of value?" the blonde asked.
"Just the usual stuff that you'd find on a Scroll; some contacts, music albums, personal files, selfies," Tanner listed off. "-And a message."
Qrow quirked an eyebrow at that. "A message?"
"He recorded it shortly before leaving his Scroll to get away. I'll admit, I'm somewhat impressed that he was able to do it while under Overwatch's surveillance." T thought out loud while absentmindedly tapping a few symbols on his Scroll.
A second later, the window for an audio recording was projected on the blank screen in the interrogation room. It began playing immediately, and the voice that spoke was hushed and breathless. "…I suppose I should thank you guys if I ever see you again…" a sigh ended the sentence before Raiden continued speaking a second later. "Don't feel like thanking you right now for the permanent burns, but I think I'll eventually come around to the fact that you did pull me out of a battlefield and stopped me from bleeding out. But, I know what's going to happen next; you're going to ask me to join your posse to help you take down Cinder, and you won't take it well when I say no." There was a pause as Raiden let out a grunt of discomfort, followed by the sound of shifting before he continued. "Believe me, I want to bring that bitch down as much as the next guy, but I'm done working with and for people for a good while. Here on out, I'll be the one calling the shots. I can see you guys have something going for you though, so I won't get in the way of it. Still…I owe you guys for saving my ass, so if you ever run into me again…I guess I can let you cash in a favour. Till then, I'll be in the shadows…no, no, I've got a better one – Till then, I'll be watching from the shadows…eh, fuck it. Works for me." The recording stopped there, and it was Glynda who spoke next.
"Do you think he will still hold to his word?" though no one really knew the answer, SK could hazard a guess at what the teen would say if they ever ran into him again.
"Likely, though if he's kept up with the news, he doesn't have much of a choice but to help us." The rogue said with a rare confidence in his own intuition.
A steady beeping suddenly filled the air in the room they were in as Qrow withdrew his Scroll from his pocket and held it to his ear. "This is Qrow." A few seconds of silence passed. "You sure?" another few seconds of silence. "Can't the Commander handle it, I'm in the middle of a-" A pause, then a sigh. "Alright, I'll be there." With that, he closed his Scroll and glanced at the four sitting across from him. "I've gotta step out for a while to take care of something." Though he held his gaze on T, his words were directed at Jay and Glynda. "You want me to send down someone else in my place, y'know, to keep the numbers even?"
"I think we'll manage." Jay said after considering the situation for a moment. "Vale still needs as many of us on the ground as possible – if this drags on, we can always call in others to fill in for us once things die down."
The black-haired man shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough."
He was almost at the door when Mason spoke up again. "Y'think you could bring us refreshments on your way back? However, I only drink the finest energy drinks and eat only the finest corn chips you got."
"I don't think you've got any place to talk about standards after that one time you chose to eat mud from a river over some baked potatoes." Tanner quipped as Qrow ignored the back-and-forth chatter and made his way to the elevator.
"You know I hate potatoes!"
"No you don't! I saw you eat a barrel full of raw potatoes once – straight from the ground!"
"That was different!"
"How is that different?"
"…This is going to be a long interrogation."
Two Days After the battle with Cinder…
It had proven more challenging than she thought it would be, but Cinder had finally let her anger die down to a single flame. It still showed on her features, but compared to the roaring inferno that had burned just two days ago, it did not physically manifest into anything immediately…destructive.
Salem had warned her that losing control of her emotions while she only had a part of the Fall Maiden's powers could result in outbursts of power that she had no hope of controlling, but the ash-haired woman had not understood the danger that it posed until two days ago, when the earth around her burnt and charred and no one could get within a metre of her without a flame lashing out of nowhere at them.
At random times as well, a surge of power would overcome her body and force her to unleash it in a destructive fireball, which left her severely drained immediately after.
Now, two days after she let the hacker slip through her fingers a second time, she had regained her composure and had summoned her other subordinates to give them her ultimatum.
Unfortunately, it seemed that she wasn't the only one with anger to vent.
Though she was on the verge of snapping, Cinder kept her composure as Adam threw yet another piece of furniture across the room of one of her safe houses in Mistral.
"If you would control yourself for just one minute I would have already explained my plan for dealing with these gnats." Cinder hissed through gritted teeth.
Her tone immediately caught the attention of Adam's fury and he turned on her again. "Do you even grasp the concept of how many brothers and sisters of the White Fang were lost because of your carelessness?" he countered with an accusatory finger pointed at her. "And that's not even considering all the resources and assets that were lost at that airbase!"
"Do not lecture me about my losses and my wasted assets, Taurus."She hissed back, knowing that the weapons, Dust and resources lost two days ago belonged to her – not Adam or his White Fang cell. "And do not pretend like I don't understand the threat they pose to all of us!"
"If you think they're such a threat, then why are we still standing here arguing about this?" Adam countered, pacing restlessly back and forth as his hands itched to kill something.
"I was getting to that before you interrupted me." Cinder had to grit her teeth together to prevent the words from coming out as a shout. Having forgotten her breathing a couple of seconds ago, sparks of embers were already beginning to fall from her hands.
"Forget it!" Adam yelled before turning around and to the door of the safe house. "Do whatever you want, I'll take care of them myself." His words trailed behind him as he opened the door and slammed it hard, causing some of the loose furniture in the apartment to shake for a second.
Roman winched at the sound and waited a couple of seconds before speaking. "You're not going after him?"
Exhausted from the verbal hostility with the Faunus, Cinder exhaled loudly before addressing Roman. "I was going to send him and his best after them anyway."
"Fair enough." The ginger stated with a shrug. "No need to get in the way of the bull while all he's seeing is red, anyways." He turned to glance out one of the dirty windows for a few seconds before speaking again. "I'm guessing you were gonna ask me to do the same?"
"Not just yet." Cinder corrected, her tone now much more calm. "First, I would like you to get into contact with as many associates as you can – dangerous associates."
When Torchwick turned to look at Cinder, the curiosity on his face was plain for everyone to see. "…Interesting. What for?"
"I'm putting a bounty on their heads, and I want you to get the word out." The half-Maiden declared "Ten million Lien."
Roman clearly wasn't expecting such a high figure, which is why Cinder found it the slightest bit amusing when his jaw dropped open. "Ten million Lien!" he half-shouted in sheer shock. "Do we even have that kind of money after the stunts they've pulled?"
"Don't you worry about the money, I have it planned out." Cinder stated with a confident smirk. "We'll charge two and a half million per head – dead or alive. I also have contacts that might be able to…help out with the bounty, so all I need is for you to get the word out." Her eyes and tone turned serious when she next spoke. "I want news of this bounty to reach across Remnant – I want mercenaries and freelancers from as far as Atlas coming here just to claim it, the more the better."
"And if I happen to ice one of them, hmm?" the ginger asked with a confident smirk of his own. "Am I entitled to cash in on this reward you're so generously putting out for everyone to see?"
"Well, I would hope so." Cinder said in a sultry tone while leaning closer to Torchwick to speak in a softer voice. "What other incentive would you have to go after them?"
Gasping, the crime lord flinched back as if the ash-haired woman had just struck him. "Cinder Fall, I am hurt." He said sarcastically. "What more would I want than your sincerest gratitude for my help? You assume the worst of me."
With an annoyed eye-roll, Cinder dismissed Roman with the wave of her hand. "Just get it done and get it done soon."
"Yes, ma'am." He replied in a half-hearted tone as he turned to exit out the door, stopping just as his hand landed on the doorknob. "And what about you? You gonna brood and scheme in a corner while we do all the work?"
In response, Cinder audibly smirked before speaking. "I'm going to see some old friends and call in a few favours. And I won't take no for an answer."
