(A/N) God, you know what? I was rewatching the first season after so long and I hate that I was reminded that Roman doesn't have a whole lot of appearances in the show. I'd love to just have an entire episode exploring what he was doing during the first three volumes of the show. Because right now I have to come up with everything in between the parts of the show we see and the parts we don't. If I just stuck with only Roman's scenes and tried to build from there then this arc of the story is over and done within like barely three chapters of content, not including the final two chapters I have planned.
Gotta stretch this a bit and explore things a little more I suppose, even if it's not too exciting. Not everything is guns and explosions... unfortunately.
Cover art by DownSmashJon.
Playing Our Roles
Chapter 38
It's been a week since I met Ruby in the store and Beacon's spring term has already started. By now she should be with her team, leading them through the school year. I was still stuck moving between the various safe houses Cinder and the White Fang have managed to snag for their purposes.
Speaking of the flea-bitten mutts, while enough of them have arrived to start to help me with stealing Dust most of them still haven't arrived in Vale just yet. It won't be too long until they are all here, or so says Adam. I could now finally stop hiring goons out of my own pocket and using my own men for this kind of attention-seeking stuff and instead let the White Fang take all of the damage. Unlike my money and goons, they were the expendable resource and while I will never say that they are a dependable source of muscle, at least I am now able to say that I can just throw people at a problem until it disappears.
Right now I was in one of the safe houses scattered inside the industrial district with a nice view of the ocean and docks not too far away, sitting in a chair with my feet up on a table that had my cane laying over its top and waiting for some of the White Fang I sent out to return. I lit a cigar and took a deep drag out of it as I kept an eye on the other White Fang members doing grunt work by moving boxes and various supplies around, enjoying the life of being the top of the food chain.
[Weekly Luck Spin is now available!]
Ah yes, the Luck Spin. It came as one of the rewards for reaching max luck alongside a skill called Good Luck Charm that gives an extra ten percent chance to succeed in whatever I do, a greater chance that good things happen to me (like finding some spare Lien lying around), and immunity to its apparent opposite skill called Bad Luck Charm. The spin is basically like one of those freemium things you see in mobile games that are there to entice people into buying more spins, except I only get one a week and can't get any more until the next. And they don't carry over either.
And if I don't use it then it just sticks in my peripheral until I give up and spin the damn thing.
I can't say that I was thrilled that my Gamer ability gave me this, but I wasn't really complaining either. The spin hasn't given me anything super amazing over the years, only the occasional S-Tier Dust crystal. There is this one item that is apparently super rare but the chance that I'm going to get it is so low that it would take an eternity to get. Even with my maxed out luck stat.
I poked the button that said "Free Spin!" and watched as the little wheel spun around until it landed on a little pile of Dust crystals.
"Yup," I muttered unenthusiastically. "B-Tier Dust again."
Sure, it's useful and the more the better, but I could get Dust anytime I like.
The door to the safe house opened up and one of the squads of White Fang I sent out to rob a store came back with several containers of Dust, more was coming in as the other grunts helped move more inside. I took my feet off the table and wordlessly pointed a finger at the table's surface. The grunts set the smaller boxes and cases on the table and began opening them up.
The inside of the containers shined a small amount of light when they opened, signaling to me that the Dust inside was indeed of good quality and was at least A-Tiered. I took a wad of Lien out of my suit and handed it over to the closest grunt, still a little miffed that I had to actually pay these people but glad that I had the foresight to just steal it from the White Fang itself. Hey, if they want to leave it unsecured beyond some simple, locked containers around the greatest criminal in Vale then they can't complain when I take advantage of them.
"Here's your cut, put the Dust with the rest of the good stuff," I said to the grunt I handed the Lien over to. He nodded to me and the others gathered up the Dust and went off to a part of the warehouse set aside for the quality Dust. That stuff isn't cheap and using it makes things more powerful, like bombs. I always make sure to skim some of that Dust off the top just for me. Sadly, I can only have one area set aside for a specific tier of Dust instead of keeping every tier in its own little area and further separated by type, crystal, and powder.
If I tried to make these incompetent fools follow my perfectly organized system I imagine that something would go wrong eventually. Plus, disorganization makes things slower and doesn't help Cinder and besides, all this Dust is just going to be likely made into bombs for the train anyway. Dust is basically energy given form and a Dust bomb is just releasing all that energy at once in a focused manner, the type doesn't matter. To put it in simple terms it's like shooting a Dust crystal with your gun but with more oomph.
I sat back down in my chair, pulled my hat a bit down over my eyes, and continued my break, I already met my quota for the week and I want to take a moment to relax until the quota resets and I need to actually get off my ass.
"Typical human," a voice scoffed out of sight. I pulled my hat back up and glared at Adam while he and his second in command, Banesaw I think, walked up to my table with clear disdain for my general presence. "Sitting down on your ass while the Faunus are the ones doing all of the work."
I smirked and goaded Adam, "Well, we humans did domesticate animals to do our manual labor for us. What makes this any different?" I shrugged, "Besides, I'm the brains of this operation. You don't expect the head to do the lifting when the arms and legs are better made for the job, right?"
Adam's lips curled up in a sneer, "You don't expect me to believe you have a brain under that greasy hair and makeup of yours, do you?"
I was offended at that greasy hair remark, I'll have you know that I take great care of my hair.
"And you don't expect me to believe you have a personality under all that edge and angst of yours, do you?" I shot back at him with his own phrase. I was getting a bit tired of Adam orbiting around me like a lost little lamb, begging for attention from his betters.
"Watch your mouth, human," Banesaw growled as he raised his chainsaw up threateningly. "Or else I'll-"
He didn't get to say anything else when a blade was pressed against his neck, Neo shattering into existence with a smirk on her face. She licked her lips as she dug the point into his neck, his Aura already taking a bit of damage. When Adam saw her with her blade at his second's neck he grabbed his sword by the handle and looked ready to slash at Neo any moment. I wasn't about to let that happen and grabbed my cane from its resting place on the table, pointing it at Adam.
The White Fang grunts saw all of this happening and some started reaching for their own weapons.
Then a new voice broke the tense standoff, "Enough!"
Everyone in the warehouse looked over and saw Cinder and her two minions enter the building, a small scowl on her face. She stalked forward and cast her smoldering gaze over the crowd of Faunus and two humans, daring anyone to challenge her. No one did and she let herself be the center of attention as she came to a stop in front of myself, Adam, and Neo.
"Why is it that I can not let you be together for even a tiny amount of time before I need to break up another argument?" Cinder asked, rhetorically, eyeing us all.
"Heh, well he started it," I said, pointing at Adam as I referenced my previous encounter with Mercury. Cinder didn't seem amused by that, a shame.
Cinder turned to Adam, "Is the arrival of the rest of your forces on schedule?"
Adam returned to a more relaxed stance and let go of his sword as he looked back at Cinder, the rest of us follow suite and relaxed from our respective combat stances. After a small pause Adam replied, "My men are on their way, I don't expect any delays in their arrival."
"And recruitment?" Cinder asked.
"Already being worked on, we have several locations that we will scout out for mass recruitment before acquiring them for our own use," Adam replied, keeping his tone professional and distant from the woman in front of him. "Right now we are doing more word of mouth recruitment in order to spread the word. Mass recruitment should be ready by Beacon's second semester."
"Good," Cinder simply said, clearly pleased. "Continue your work, Adam. And may I suggest staying clear of Roman unless you absolutely need to be together?"
Suggestion my ass, that was an order clear as day and Adam knew it.
Adam gripped his sword's gun sheath tightly and bit out, "Fine, but I won't hold back if he continues to annoy me."
I scoffed, "You were the one that came up to me and started this."
He just grunted and turned around and left us without so much as another word. I was almost disappointed. When he was out of sight Cinder turned and addressed me with a smile that was as dangerous as it was fake, "Now, Roman, we need to talk about your recent failure."
I mentally rolled my eyes, "Oh boy, here we go…"
"And what failure is that, Cinder?" I asked as I put my now unlit and forgotten cigar into the table's ashtray.
"The failure that I'm referring to is when the so-called greatest criminal in Vale is foiled by a single teenage girl that was not even in a huntsman academy yet," Cinder cooly replied while taking a seat at the table, not as amused by the situation as Mercury and Emerald were. Those two were making faces at me the whole time while standing behind Cinder's back.
"Things happen during a heist," I said. "Sometimes things outside your control just happen and you have to roll with the punches. She was better than the goons I had hired and I didn't want to waste time fighting her, needing to lose the police on top of being delayed by a huntress in training is too annoying to handle for a little bit of Dust."
"Hmm," was Cinder's noncommital reply.
"Sounds to me like you just couldn't beat her," Emerald said, grinning like a fool while snickering behind her hand.
"The greatest criminal in Vale, defeated by a little girl!" Mercury mocked in an overly dramatic tone with a hand over his forehead. "How can he possibly call himself the biggest crime lord in Vale now if he can't kill a single girl?"
I growled and jabbed my cane into his chest, "This is why you two will never amount to anything as criminals beyond being the hired help. How about you leave the decision making to your betters?"
"I think I'd do just fine as a thief," Emerald said, a cocky smirk on her face.
"So says the little street rat sniffing the floor for scraps," I shot back, making her drop her smirk and glare at me. "If you can't understand why killing a huntress in training, or anybody during a heist, is a bad idea then let Uncle Roman give you two a life lesson!"
"Oh here we go," Mercury said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
I ignored him and continued my rant, "Killing people raises heat, makes police and people be warier, feeds paranoia, makes us lose a source of income, and just makes my job harder in general!" I was slowly pacing back and forth as I preached to these two brats, "And that is just by killing random people on the street or in stores! Imagine the shitstorm that will happen if one of Ozpin's brats ends up dead by a criminal in Vale. There would be a kingdom-wide manhunt for the killer!"
I leaned forward on my cane and stared the two kids down, "If you want to be a good criminal then you need to think with your damn head and consider the consequences of your actions. Killing is a bad idea when you're stealing and trying to keep the police from getting too involved, like what I am doing. We don't need them sniffing around and letting the hunters know where we are, now do we?"
Mercury and Emerald looked to want to continue our argument but Cinder cut them off.
"Roman is right," Cinder said, shocking me as well as her two subordinates.
"Ma'am?" Emerald asked.
"We don't need to be attracting any attention to ourselves right now, discretion is best in order to move our plans forward," Cinder's reply was firm and left no room for argument.
"Of course, ma'am," Emerald said, immediately deferential to her boss. She scowled at me as I made a whipping motion and sarcastic kissy faces at her.
"You got it," Mercury said, not really sounding like he did but not willing to argue with Cinder.
"However," Cinder started, looking back at me. I stopped making fun of Emerald to glance over to Cinder, who continued, "I expect these kinds of failures to not be something repeated often. I don't pay you for failure, Roman. And my mistress isn't as kind as I am towards it."
"She's not kind at all," I thought to myself. I just gave her a cocky smirk and swung my arms out to the side, "I don't aim for failure, Cinder. I wouldn't be where I am if I did!"
"Hmm," Cinder hummed and crossed her legs. "The three of us will be going back to an associate of ours to prepare to acquire some special goods to… entice the easily swayed to join our cause. Expect us to return before the end of Beacon's spring term."
"Will you need help moving these… goods?" I asked, attempting to give a little bit of a prod into how Cinder gets her hands on the paladins. I may or may not want to sabotage that.
She gave a little smirk and ran a finger over the table's surface, "No, we won't need any help. Just keep doing what you're best at Roman and let us handle this."
"Basically telling me to fuck off and not look into what she's trying to do right there," I grumbled to myself in my head. I simply shrugged and said, "Well, have fun then. I think I'll get back to 'doing what I'm best at'."
Cinder stayed for a while and she and her two lackeys just relaxed in a small break area off in a side room. I spent most of the night looking over the Dust that the White Fang grunts were collecting and bringing to my attention, feeling too much like a clerk than a master criminal. The only positive thing I could say about this deal is that my experience gains have increased due to the fact that the White Fang was considered temporary guild members under my employ.
Once the last of the White Fang that I sent out had returned and had their stolen Dust sorted out I was able to take a break and sit down.
"I think I'll have the grunts stop stealing from stores for now," I muttered to myself as I smoked on a cigar. "Need to let things calm down and go back to business as usual for a bit."
Perhaps I should aim for something else now, look into shipments by train or boat. I know that there is a big Dust shipment from the SDC coming by boat sometime in the next couple of months and I will aim for that because I really want to see Penny before the whole thing going on during the festival. But, I need something more immediate. The White Fang shouldn't go crazy if they don't steal Dust for a while as there are plenty of other things they need to do until the next round of robberies occurs. But I don't think I can justify just sitting on our asses until the SDC boat comes in.
They might not be able to overpower me but that doesn't mean they won't be annoying all the same.
Looking into train schedules is my best bet then. Thanks to the White Fang I can use their Bullheads and resources to my own advantage without sacrificing my own resources and giving me good benefits in the form of experience, Lien, and Dust. I love that kind of a deal.
I heard a knock on the table and glanced over to see Neo sitting down next to me.
"I really hate her," Neo signed to me.
"Yup," I said, popping the 'p'. "She's kind of a cunt."
Neo snickered violently at my choice of words, slapping my chest. She got her giggles under control and signed, "I don't like working with her or those terrorists, but I will admit that tormenting these fools is fun."
And good gods does she torment them, it's gotten to the point that they always give her a wide berth when she walks by, even if it causes them trouble. I've had one too many people have accidents with crates of various sizes and all full of Dust than I'd care to have when I'm surrounded daily by the stuff.
I softly laughed and put an arm around her, "Yeah, these guys are too easy to mess with. I'm pretty sure a few almost had an aneurysm the first time I subjected them to all my so-called racism."
The fact that they couldn't even tell that I was just fucking with them is probably thanks to my lying and acting skills being so high. Really, the White Fang is too easy of a target sometimes.
Neo leaned against my side until it was time to call it a night.
(A/N) Well, it's the end of the decade now and I hope everyone has a bitchin' New Year. I'm going to go and switch between playing 'The Witcher 3' (I really enjoyed the Netflix show despite a few of its flaws) on my PS4 and the 'Halo Master Chief Collection' on my computer now.
Until next time.
Name: Roman Torchwick
Age: 30
Class: The Gamer
Level: 149 (Next Level: 7,257,410/11,016,000)
Title: Crime Lord(u)/Partners in Crime
Bounty: 850,000 Lien
HP: 9,718
HP Regen: 194.36/min (2%)
MP: 23,540.4 [13,078 + 653.9(5%) + 9,808.5(75%)]
MP Regen: 5,437.8/min [2,589.4(base 11%) + 2,589.4(100%) + (259(10%)]
STR: 249.2 [Base 178 + 53.4(30%) + 17.8(10%)]
VIT: 226.8 [Base 162 + 48.6(30%) + 16.2(10%)]
DEX: 625.25 [Base 305 + 45.75(15%) + 91.5(30%) + 30.5(10%) + 152.5(50%)]
INT: 562.8 [Base 402 + 120.6(30%) + 40.2(10%)]
WIS: 112 [Base 80 + 24(30%) + 8(10%)]
LUK: 100 (Max)
Elemental Affinity: Earth (40), Wind (40), Fire (40), Ice (40), Lightning (40)
Attribute Points: 0