Glynda Goodwitch sat, nervously, in a hotel room.

She'd been waiting for fifteen minutes, and though she'd shown up ten minutes early, so it was somewhat her own fault, she did not like that her guest was late. Normally, lateness made her cross. But for this meeting, it made her worried.

She reached for her scroll, idly fumbling it out of her pocket to check the time and to see if she'd received any messages. Obviously, she hadn't. Or at least, none she cared about. She didn't know why she'd even bothered, looking at the screen showed her yet another message from Port asking about filing expense reports and another message from Ozpin, where he'd just forwarded paperwork he needed to sign to her, which she'd just have to forward back to him with a reminder to read these-

She heard the sound of a keycard in the lock, and her breath caught in her throat. The door opened, and a woman in a familiar red dress slipped into the room.

"Cinder," she said, curtly, hoping the severity, the slight hint of acid in her voice got across that she'd better have a good explanation.

"Am I late?" she said, though in a way that made it clear she knew she was, "My apologies. Had to shake a tail on my way here."

Glynda's eyes went wide, "Wait, who was it, ours? Hers? Do we-"

"Relax," she waved her off, "It was Roman's little sidekick. She's more bored and impulsive than anything we need to concern ourselves with."

"If you say so…" she let her disapproval radiate, though something felt off about it. She didn't have her usual distemper and- and then it clicked. She was happy. She was, deep down, actually happy, and didn't really know how to suppress the happiness inside her, even when she needed to look annoyed. "Is everything in hand at your end?"

"The Queen's attention remains distracted by the hints I've left her that Ozpin wants to try and rekindle their relationship." Discovering that this whole conspiracy, on both sides, was just the fallout of a bad divorce, played out over thousands of years, had given them all they needed to manipulate both sides and ensure global stability. "She's… unsubtle, but the rest of her circle's been fairly neutralized. Hazel's on a wild goose chase in Atlas, while Tyrian and Watts have been sent to Mistral together, where I anticipate they'll drive each other crazy and sabotage their own efforts out of spite for the other."

"Good," she nodded, "Little to report on my end. Amber reports that she has a lead on the identity of our Spring Maiden, and she's looking into it right now. Our woman in Menagerie says the White Fang is currently paralyzed by the leadership crisis. In terms of distraction, Amber is currently managing Qrow, and I don't think we have much to worry about with the rest. I encouraged Ozpin's dream of being in a band," really, she'd just told him that the demo tape she hadn't listened to "didn't sound terrible" and he'd taken it as full approval, "and so now he's found something to give all his attention to."

"What about Ironwood? He's more focused than the rest of the faction."

She chuckled at that. "He recently showed me the designs for his new flagship, and I mentioned it was a little… smaller than I had expected. He's increased the budget on that project, and I believe he'll be more concerned with impressing me than anything in the near future."

Cinder had a rueful laugh at that. "Why are the men in our lives so consistently and universally stupid?"

Well, she thought, there are some exceptions to that. Or really, one exception to that. One very-

"Hold on… I know what's going on here," Cinder cut in, an insufferably smug grin on her face, "You've been different recently, and now I've finally put it together: you're getting some!"

Glynda paled—and realized that meant she had already lost. There was no denying it. Cinder was infuriatingly good at sniffing out secrets—it was why they were in this partnership, after all. Denial would only underscore the intrigue of it all. "Fine," she replied in a huff, "Yes, I am. "

"Hmm," she started counting off her fingers, "Well, Jimmy's clearly not getting what he's been after, Port's a definite no, you're too smart to do that with Ozpin, so that leaves-"

"I have a life outside my coworkers!" Technically true…

"Do you?" She asked, dryly. "Because I'm pretty sure you don't. But I wish you and Bart the-"

"It's not Bart!" she shrieked, then quickly added, "And I'm not telling you who it really is, okay?"

"Of course not…" she laughed, "But that gives me a reason to tell you all about a very, very interesting encounter I had with some of your students…" Glynda groaned to hear that. Team RWBY's tendency to stick their nose into whatever seemed like a place they shouldn't caused her more headaches than they would ever realize. "No, not like that," she answered, playfully, "I met a few of your students at a bar, who made me a very interesting offer, and if you'd be willing to sign a pair of overnight visit passes for me, well, it's not fair if you're the only one getting lucky."

Her breath caught in her throat. It couldn't be- but then, who else at Beacon would be making a move on a girl as unapproachably attractive at Cinder Fall? And of that group, who could actually win her interest? But… while Cinder had been an extremely useful ally, she was dangerous. Glynda knew that better than she liked. Could she help arrange this tryst? Could she lead her students into this lioness's den?

A good girl would do it, she thought, feeling something squirm inside her as she thought those words. A good girl would help her Master claim another tawdry slut for his enjoyment. He'd take Cinder, the arrogant girl assuming he'd be an easy, weak man for her to break to her will, but then he'd show her what he really was. She grew hot thinking about it, Master breaking the little whore's will on his dick, yes, he'd put her in her place—and she would be rewarded for it, for being a good girl. Master would use the special-

"I don't believe it!" Glynda was jolted back to reality by Cinder's amused surprise. "You've been sleeping with a student!"

This time, reflex saved her as she gave Cinder an aggrieved look and vociferously denied it. "I- How dare you! I could lose my job over an accusation-"

"The only person who knows how to fire a Beacon staffer is you. The only person paying enough attention to catch you is you. You're not in any danger. Besides, it's obviously none of your coworkers, and it's not me, so, who else could it-"

"I- I have a life outside my work!" she echoed her earlier claim, as hollow now as it was then.

"No. You do not," she deadpanned, "But that's what makes this so good, Glynda! You've been needing a release for months, and judging from your change in attitude, they're evidently very good to you."

She blushed at that. That had certainly been true.

"Which means I'm pretty sure I also know exactly who you've been sleeping with." She held up her scroll with a picture of Pyrrha on it. Glynda paled. "Yes, I think your face has all the proof I need. Excellent taste, Glyn. She and her boyfriend are going to need an overnight pass, though—I'd like to learn how I match up against you."

Well, Glynda swallowed, nervously, she'd been caught. There were no options she had other than to secure those passes. Master would… enjoy Cinder, she was certainly a… desirable woman. And he was much stronger than he seemed, especially in this field. And at the same time, she couldn't help but worry for the inevitable clash between the two.

But she couldn't deny, the thought really excited her.


Until recently, Velvet had never liked visiting the city. She was clearly marked by her dress as a Huntress-in-Training, which kept the worst of the creeps off of her, but she never felt like she was ever entirely welcome. Humans were wary around her, and where she wasn't praised for being "one of the good ones," she heard the derogatory comments under their breath. The Faunus community wasn't for her, either. She was clearly a country girl, someone from a majority-Faunus town, even. She wasn't part of their struggles, and, as a Huntsman, a privileged elite, likely one who'd learned how to appeal to human interests. A Faunus, but not one who could be really trusted.

So visiting Vale was usually a lonely experience, even as she was surrounded by people

But with Jaune… nobody else mattered. She rested her head against his shoulder. She knew the rule: publicly, they were all single, and for good reason—it was, after all, how they'd snared Weiss—but in Vale, Velvet allowed herself to relax a little on that.

Cuddling her boyfriend on the bus, she listened as he talked about their plans for the day. "Sometimes, I just get the feeling that Pyrrha would rather make sure that everyone else was happy before she even started to think about herself, and that means, I mean, we're her…" he searched for the words.

"Partners?" she volunteered.

"But, you know, we're more than that. You, me, and Pyrrha..." He still seemed at a loss.

"We're a thrupple!" she giggled as Jaune rolled his eyes, "I just find all the words for us are so cute!"

"Well, if we're going to make this thrupple work, then we have to realize that we're going to have to look out for each other."

Velvet laughed. He could be so sweet. And he liked that, even with Blake, Professor Goodwitch, and even Weiss now in the mix, Jaune still had a special place in his heart for them. "So that's why you're cooking a fancy dinner for her—what are you making, again?"

"Well, that was…" he looked embarrassed, "I, um, asked my mom if she knew any Mistralian recipes and her response was…" he gave her an embarrassed glance. Velvet knew that there was long bad blood between the two nations, and an old Valean family like the Arcs probably had some strong opinions, especially when it came to food. "I really hope she just didn't know that Pyrrha was Mistralian."

Velvet was pretty sure there were very, very few people who didn't know that about Pyrrha. But this was Jaune's mother, so maybe it was a family thing? She tried to lighten the mood. "Wow. I can't believe I'm the girl you can bring home to mother."

It was a strange thought. Velvet was in love with Jaune and Pyrrha, but she was also in love with Jaune-and-Pyrrha. Though both of them insisted that they loved her as much as they loved each other, Velvet didn't want that. She didn't fantasize about being Jaune's bride, though she did dream that one day, she would be his wife. No, she had elaborate fantasies of being Pyrrha's Maid of Honor. Of seeing her, blushing and radiant, in an incredible dress, walking down the aisle to her destined one, her soulmate. The thought of being part of their story made her deliriously happy, and she desired nothing more than to be the second wife.

Especially if they invited her to join them on the honeymoon.

But Jaune was unaware of her thoughts. "Oh, Mom would love you," he said with a hint of a smile, then started counting off on his fingers, "Proper South Valean girl? Huntress-in-Training? Big family? Speaks Old Valean? Loves my cooking? You're not going to have any problems with Mom. She is going to talk your ear off about grandkids, though."

That phrase certainly stopped her heart. She hadn't- she couldn't- she needed to change the subject! "Um, where are we going?" She realized they were getting away from the parts of Vale she knew, the main shops and arcades that Huntsmen usually stuck to while in town.

He smiled, sheepishly, as he realized he forgot to fill her in on his plans. "Oh, we're meeting a friend of mine! I met her during the Vytal Tournament, and she's the best at finding anything you need in Vale. I messaged her before we headed over that we were looking for octopus, and she wants me to meet her in the warehouse districts—she said there was actually a delivery that a restaurant is saying they didn't order, so we can get it really cheap!"

"Oh," she answered, lacking any other words other than is she hot? And then deciding that she'd just leave it at "Oh" as they finished their trip to a warehouse that seemed as unremarkable and uniform as any other. Though she couldn't shake the feeling that, well… didn't this "shipping company needs to unload overstock cheap" sound like something from one of those mobster movies Coco loved?

"Oh! And before I forget, her name's Neo and she doesn't talk. I can sign with her, and she's, um… good at getting across her meaning," he didn't clarify what that meant, and Velvet felt a little uneasy at the way he was saying it, "Just wanted to give you a heads up. She's really cool, and she was really helpful to us when Blake was investigating Roman."

Before he had even finished speaking, a pink blur was suddenly upon them, tackling Jaune at a speed that almost triggered Velvet's combat reflexes. But she caught herself, realizing that it was just a very passionate hug. Very passionate, from the way the girl was burying her face in Jaune's chest and gripping him enough that it was probably draining some of his Aura.

"Velvet," he gasped, "this is Neo..." but the girl kept hugging him. Velvet had to admit, it was really cute. Like a little kid sister who hadn't seen her big brother since he went to left for Beacon. Jaune ruffled her pink and brown hair affectionately as the girl released him from her crushing grip. "And Neo, this is Velvet." Velvet waved and the girl waved back. Hard to believe this was some kind of information broker, but she definitely looked like the kind of person Jaune would befriend.

Neo excitedly thrust her scroll under Jaune's face. "Oh, okay," he said, evidently reading the text on it, "It's in the back? And it's high up? No problem, I can go grab it."

With that, Jaune headed off, evidently familiar with the layout of this warehouse. Velvet moved to follow, except she felt a tug on her sleeve. Turning back, she saw Neo, looking up to her with an unsettlingly cute smile. As she took out her scroll, she really looked like she had something Velvet already got the feeling she wasn't going to like.

She held up her scroll, showing a familiar picture: the Lady in Red. The exact picture from their group chat. That was… surprising. And then she swiped, revealing another picture from the group chat—Velvet and Pyrrha showing off their new bikinis. A little more unsettling to say the least—one thing to have your private photos hacked, another thing to know that she could hack the Beacon network. And then she swiped again, and it wasn't a photo from their group chat.

It wasn't a photo she would ever take, much less post! No matter how hot it was!

Pyrrha's face was frozen in orgasmic bliss as Jaune, mid-thrust, took her from behind. Swipe again, and it was now her turn, her and Blake lustfully tearing Jaune's clothes off from a particularly enjoyable game they'd played together. Another swipe! Her with Jaune and Pyrrha, cuddling after sex! And then she swiped and revealed a photo of Glynda drooling through her ball gag, in the throes of passion, as Jaune punishing her with her own riding crop.

This was… this was incredible blackmail. She had their text logs, had their photos, had clearly managed to infiltrate Beacon and, without any of their knowledge, deftly record their most intimate moments. She, and everyone else, were totally at this silent girl's mercy.

And the she swiped to a picture that was only text—"So," it read, "How good is he?" And she looked from the scroll to the cocky smirk on the tiny girl's face.

Her breath caught. What would Pyrrha do in this situation? Obviously, she would seduce this threat, conquer her in the bedroom, and then effortlessly neutralize this danger to their relationship, but while Velvet might be able to mime Pyrrha's haughty superiority externally, she was shaking like a leaf as she stammered through what sounded like words.

But Neo didn't seem to accept that. She just pointed again, more insistently, at the text on her scroll. "I-incredible," she choked, "he's incredible."

And then she swiped again. "Room for one more?"

She looked at the girl's grinning face, silently conveying exactly what the deal would be. "J-Jaune?" she called out, "Can y-you come over here?"


Neo was a criminal.

Jaune had to admit, he had not seen that one coming, but, in retrospect, it did explain why she always knew how to get everything at a discount and why she was so well informed on the comings and goings of a notorious thief.

Neo was blackmailing him.

That was harder to accept, but also, undeniably true. Though he had to admit, it was a weird act of blackmail. But, he supposed, he wasn't the professional criminal—maybe this was how it usually went? Still, he wasn't sure most blackmail was in exchange for sex. And when he'd implied that he'd have sex with her in exchange for deleting the photos, her eyes went wide and she protectively snatched her scroll away. Like she wasn't trying to extort sex with them, she just... wanted them to know she'd been watching them.

Still, Neo's terms were clear. She wanted sex. With him. And he'd handed her scroll to Velvet so that she could film it. From the way Velvet was blushing and trying to act like this was something she didn't want to do, Jaune was realizing that this just might be another fetish to add to his bunnygirl's not-inconsiderable pile.

Neo, though, seemed delighted by the whole opportunity, flitting about, fluffing pillows and otherwise getting things ready in the warehouse's backroom that Neo had, apparently already converted into a bedroom. She had a big smile on her face and her eyes simply sparkled with joy as she fussed over every little detail. It was, he had to admit, a very cute scene. That is, it would be a cute scene if it wasn't for the multiple boxes of sex toys Neo had at the ready.

And from one of those boxes, she presented a cheery red ball gag in her hands, and Jaune's eyes went wide. Well, he thought, taking the gag in his hands, for Blake and Glynda and Pyrrha and Velvet, he knew he'd be willing to do a lot. But as he moved to put on the gag, he was stopped when Neo smacked his hand in annoyance. He glanced at her, and she pointed at her own mouth.

"Wait, you... want to be gagged?" She nodded, happily, "You know it- well, if it's how you want it, I suppose." He gently slipped the gag around her head, careful not to accidentally pull her hair and slipping the ball into her mouth. He knew Glynda would be cross with him for treating a girl so gently, especially when she was blackmailing them, but...

The now gagged Neo looked at him happily. Sweetly, he thought to himself. She looked like this was a dream come true, and even if he was, strictly speaking, being forced into this, he couldn't help but feel all warm and fuzzy towards her. Before he realized what he was doing, he ruffled her hair again and was shocked to hear the low, muffled moan Neo gave him in reply. Was she into… physical signs of affection?

Well, he wasn't one to judge, so he pulled the gagged girl into his arms, into a warm hug as he kissed her on the top of her head. Nestled in her multicolored hair, he whispered, "You're beautiful, you know that? Just the loveliest girl I have the-"

And then she punched him in the stomach. Jaune staggered backwards—for someone so small, her punches hit nearly as hard as Yang's! He was terrified that he'd offended her, or that he'd crossed a line, but looking at her face, Neo seemed more panicked than angry. "Okay," he wheezed, "I won't try anything like that again."

"Damnit, Jaune, get in your light!"

He whipped around to see an annoyed Velvet filming him. "I told you," she said, though he got the feeling she was speaking to Neo, "this is not a good camera for what you're trying to do. And Jaune! I told you that the lighting in here's a nightmare, so could you not move out of the one place I told you you were good? Could you please just… work with me here, okay?"

This was easily the most confusing sexual experience he'd ever had. And he'd had sex with Nora, which, he thought, was about as weird as his life would get. Well, he'd also discovered that his teacher was a hardcore masochist and it turned out Weiss was eagerly exploring her kinky side by apparently recruiting Yang, and…

Ok, so this was actually his new normal. Oh, gods, what was Yang going to be like?

But now wasn't the time to be reflecting on his sexual past. Right now, judging from the nervous way Neo was fidgeting and how she'd reacted to his attempt at sweetness, he realized that there was a much more pressing issue. Careful not to startle her, he moved in close and whispered into her ear, "Neo, um, there's not a wrong answer to this, but… have you ever had sex before now?"

She turned pale. And did her eyes just change colors? Neo, clearly panicked, attempted to turn and flee, but Jaune caught her on the shoulder. "It's… it's okay if you haven't," he ventured. He'd taken Pyrrha, Velvet, and Weiss's virginities, and he'd hoped they'd been good experiences for them. But he'd learned a lot about sex from his partners and, as Neo nervously nodded, ball gag in her mouth, he could see that there was something Neo wanted from him. Even if Neo was a criminal who may or may not be blackmailing him, if this was going to be her first time, he owed her a good one.

"Velvet?" he turned to his girlfriend with a smirk, "Change of plans. Let's switch it to a photoshoot, and how about you help me get Neo here ready for her first time?" A surprised Neo seemed about to give some protest, but Jaune laid a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "Ah, ah, ah," he wagged his finger, "I think I'd rather take charge here, if you get what I mean."

Neo blushed, and Jaune reached into one of her boxes of toys, pulling out a blindfold and some ropes. Passing a long cord to Velvet, he said, "According to Pyrrha, you're quite good with knots," and now Velvet was blushing, too. But he brought the blindfold over to Neo and enjoyed the feeling as the power balance shifted. Yes, she had the photos and, yeah, she was almost certainly a better fighter than he was, but right now, she was happy to pretend to be at his mercy, and that gave him a nice little thrill to see the smaller girl trembling as he blindfolded her.

Velvet quickly was upon her, the ropes dancing into an elegant pattern that left her helpless and exposed, and, with Jaune's help, she quickly ran ropes around the bed frame, suspending Neo in the air. Why a warehouse had an impressively solid canopy bed in the backroom, Jaune chalked up to Neo's eccentricities. She hung, suspended over the bed, at a perfect height for Jaune to enjoy her.

Darting around to cover every angle, Velvet snapped photo after photo, and Jaune had to admit, he was kind of hoping they'd get to keep some of them. It was surprisingly exciting, and he stood back a moment to let Velvet get her shots. And then she beckoned him to move in, and he could see how Neo tensed with excitement.

He ran his hands over her body, enjoying the muffled whimper, as he teased her sensitive places. Her pussy glistened, and she squirmed against her bonds as he slipped a teasing finger in. "Naughty, naughty," he teased, "Mmmm, she's loving this attention, Velvet. Get some photos of how wet she is." And as Velvet complied, Jaune could see her clearly grow even more aroused. He didn't know if she liked the bondage, the attention, the photography, or what, but he felt that he was doing quite a good job getting Neo worked up.

Ah, but he supposed he couldn't keep teasing her forever. Placing himself behind her, he rubbed his cockhead against her pussy, amused to see how Neo attempted to rock backwards to capture it, and then, suddenly, he thrust it in.

Dust, she was tight! It felt incredible to push into her well-lubricated pussy and start getting some friction going. With every thrust, Velvet snapped photos, the click of the scroll giving a nice percussive rhythm as Jaune picked up the pace, Neo swinging helplessly before him. A slightly cruel instinct twisted up from inside him, and he added, "Didn't think this would happen, did you?" He gave her ass a good slap, remembering how much Glynda enjoyed being spanked as he fucked her. "I suppose I gotta teach you a lesson about trying to blackmail me?"

Neo gave a muffled moan into her gag. "You might not be able to talk," he sneered, "but your pussy sure is telling me how much you love this!" It was true—she was incredibly tight and her walls seemed to be aggressively milking his cock. She didn't need to be able to talk to tell him how good she felt.

She was utterly powerless before him, unable to do much more than twitch, jerk, and moan, as she came, but Jaune didn't let up. She'd tried to blackmail him, had violated the sanctity of his privacy, and, worse, had done so to the most important women in Jaune's life. He wouldn't let anybody mess with his friends, and as he relentlessly punished Neo's little pussy, he was making it clear that he absolutely would not let her mess with his girlfriends.

And with that thought, Jaune felt a surge within him that told him he was hitting his own climax. "Are you ready for it, huh?" he asked her, "Gods, you're fucking tight!" And he came in her, his cum quickly flooding her womb. Damn, he thought, looking at the white spunk leaking out of her, Oh, I really hope she's on birth control, or this could end badly.

But as he finished inside her, even with that troubling thought, Jaune felt a sense of peace and contentment wash over him. He slipped out, and started to untie Neo from her harness. Pyrrha had been right: Velvet was really good with knots, and he found that it was surprisingly quick and easy to get the complicated-looking truss undone. And, as he gently lowered Neo into the bed, he removed her blindfold and gag, and looked, sweetly, into the dazed, overwhelmed, and smiling face of his latest girl.

He lay in the bed for a while with his… blackmailer? The way she was looking at him, though, didn't seem anything like a criminal or predator. No, her eyes only had love and affection for him, and even knowing that this whole thing had been… this whole thing, he couldn't help but feel warm as he returned her gaze. And he tried to ignore Velvet snapping photos of this moment as well.

But then she gave him a teasing smirk, and, with the sound of shattering glass, suddenly, Neo disappeared into thin air.

They were both silent for a moment as they tried to process what the hell just happened.

"Did..." Velvet searched for a word, "What just happened?"

"I… guess she… got what she wanted? And now we're done?"

Velvet gave him an incredulous glance. "Did she forget that I still have her scroll?"

"We should probably leave it for her?" Jaune suggested, weakly, "I honestly have no idea what to expect from anything, right now."


Roman counted money out on the table in front of him, grumbling that he now had two operations coming up short thanks to his less-than-successful partnership with the White Fang. He was getting squeezed on both ends—they were revolutionaries, not criminals, so they were all too quick to let "principles" get in the way of profits, and if that Taurus punk gave one more holier-than-thou talk about how he "used to be ruled by his anger," he was just about ready to jump off a bridge. And even worse, bringing them in for muscle brought in Miss Kitty's attention, and she just might be the most annoying woman he'd ever met. She didn't even take bribes!

The nerve of that kid.

He glanced over to Neo, silently giggling to herself as she swiped through photos on her scroll. Learning how to read Neo's expression had been a necessity, in that it enabled them to communicate, a blessing, in that it let the communicate secretly, and a curse, in that he could clearly read that she was looking at porn.

"You gotta do that here, Neo?" he asked, and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Would it be possible for us to have some standards of decorum? We're running a- hold on, did you here that?"

He knew the sound of footsteps and he knew that these were confident, "I'm coming to start shit" footsteps. He tensed, ready to grab Melodic Cudgel, but then he felt the chair under him lift up, toppling him out of it, and then it slammed him against the wall. The folding chair seemed to warp as it pressed down on him and he struggled against it in vain.

Neo, lovely girl that she was, just kind of sat there. Of course. An unknown assailant had him pinned to the wall, and she was only-

But then the doors were flung open, and he immediately recognized the girl who just entered.

"Hello, Roman," the Vytal Champion said coolly. What in the hell had he done to piss her off? He was running through his operations in his mind, and what ones might tread on her toes. "I'm just here to have a talk with your sidekick."

Oh no. Neo had pissed her off? Neo glanced up from her scroll, her look clearly saying, Took you long enough.

"Oh, and I wouldn't try anything—I only ever use a fraction of my Semblance's power in the ring. It wouldn't be sporting if I could start a match with…" a six pack of soda cans burst as one after another was crushed. Like she could do to his ribcage, right now. Play nice, Neo, please please please play nice.

The girl strode over to Neo, taking the scroll from her hands, a thin black halo of energy causing the screen to short out. "I'll be deleting these photos now," she said, Roman's rage spiking as he heard it. She was trying to blackmail a professional fighter, and she hadn't given him a heads- oh no, he realized, this wasn't blackmail, this was what she was- gods Neo, get some self respect. "And you'll be making sure that there are no other backups, no other copies, or…"

"Urk!" The metal tightened around his chest. He looked to his partner frantically. I'm not going out by folding chair! Neo, give her what she wants!

She and Neo exchanged a long look, and then, Neo nodded. The amazon released him from the wall, and he slumped to the floor, struggling to catch his breath. "Pleasure doing business with you," she said as she turned to leave, and then stopped herself, "The octopus was fantastic, by the way. Jaune makes an excellent stifatho. Felt I should thank you for that."

Neo waved cheerfully as she left. Gasping for air, Roman propped himself up to chew Neo out. He might not have enough breath to really give it to her, but he wasn't going to wait another moment to call her out for this insanity.

Except… before he could even say a word, he knew exactly what Neo was thinking. He knew what she was thinking, and it terrified him. "Oh no, no no no no no—Neo, please tell me-"

But her beaming face was all too easy for him to read: I think I'm in love!

Thanks to Renarde for notes and chapter feedback!

Really just wanted to write a little comic side story with Neo. Plus, more of the Conspiracy! Though mostly this chapter was just to have Jaune (and Roman) get buffeted by Neo craziness as an aside from the regular action. But we'll be back on track with more of the usual stuff in my next chapter: The Heroines.