We were all back at the dorm, the four other girls of team RWBY facing me.
" We're listening." said Blake.
" Well, technically, reading. But yes, you have our attention." said Weiss.
I pulled my scroll.
Long story short, Roman has been my guardian since I was five.
Weiss pinched her nose and sighed.
" So you're saying you've been raised by a criminal. " said Yang.
" Well, he has only started doing heists since the last few months right ? " asked Ruby.
" He has only been known for being behind heists since the last few months. For all we know he could have started years ago and never been seen." said Weiss.
" Have you seen the guy ? I'm pretty sure showing off is his middle name." countered Yang.
Blake, who was silent since the beginning, suddenly shouted.
" I can't believe you knew that racist jerk and didn't even bother telling us ! We could have been done with this by now if you had only told us what you knew."
I glared at her before showing her my scroll.
One, last time I talked to Roman he wasn't a well known thief. Two, even if I had, you don't betray family.
That seemed to strike a nerve, as Blake backed down as suddenly as she had started.
" Wait, you haven't even talked to him for the last few months ? " asked Yang.
I shrugged.
" That's so sad ! " said Ruby, " How can you be ok with not talking with your family for months, Yang and I talk to our father every few weeks."
Weiss looked away at that statement. I just wrote on my scroll again.
We all have our own way of doing things. Roman and I can go for months without even knowing if the other is alive, but if we need each other we'll always know how to find them.
" Great, you can lead us to him and we'll capture him." said Blake.
I was about to retort when Ruby beat me to the punch.
" We can't ask her to betray family Blake. That's just wrong."
That was unexpected. But not unwelcome.
" So let me get this straight." said Yang, " our team has one heiress to a corrupt company..."
" Hey ! " interrupted Weiss.
" One former cult member." continued Yang as Blake growled, " One naive leader."
" Yang ! " interrupted Ruby, embarassed.
" One renowned criminal's daughter." went on Yang.
I prefer niece. We're not that close.
" And one badass club breaker." finished Yang. " That's one hell of a team."
" Go team RWBY ! " shouted Ruby.
" Wait. Did you say niece, as in you view Roman as your uncle ? " asked me Weiss.
I nodded.
" And you told me your uncle bought you gymnastic lessons and got you into a Vale tournament... where my father lost something very important..." she went on.
" Was it stolen by Torchwick ? " she asked, already knowing the answer.
I made a sign in answer, a wicked grin on my face.
You have no proof.
" Arghh ! Do you have any idea how valuable that item was ? " asked Weiss.
I look away innocently.
" Of course you do." she says, deadpanning.
" I can't believe Ozpin would have allowed you into Beacon if he knew all this." said Blake.
I gave her a big smile.
" Don't tell me he knew." said Weiss.
" Um..." started Ruby, " I'm pretty sure you need to name a guardian when you apply to combat school."
" And Ozpin did say she had applied to every combat school in Vale." continued Yang.
And you can blame a poor daughter for what her father did, right Weiss. I finished.
" And Ozpin said he'd prefer you here than out in Vale." countered Weiss.
Oh, yeah, I forgot. Maybe he did know a lot more than he let on. Sneaky Headmaster.
" Ok. Now that this is sorted, lets go over what we found." said Ruby.
" I've nothing." said Yang.
" I've found that a ridiculous amount of Dust has been stolen." said Weiss.
" We've figured out the White Fang has an operation in the South-East." said Blake.
And I've figured out that we're way over our heads. I wrote.
" What do you mean ? " asked Ruby.
I took a long sigh and wrote on my scroll.
For as long as I have known Roman, he never had an employer. Only clients. He loves the liberty and wouldn't give it away for anything. We don't have the capabilities to deal with someone capable of threatening the life of a thief that has been stealing unbothered for the last twenty years.
" So what ? You want us to just stay here and wait while everyone's lives might be in danger ? " shouted Blake. " I'm sure you just want any reason for us to leave him alone."
I rolled my eyes, and opened a website on my scroll. I found the company I was looking for, its logo being a candlestick with light-bulbs instead of flames. Next to it's name, it showed mine as the head of the company since a few months ago.
" Lightsticks ? Is that your cover company ? " asked Blake.
At the mention of the name, Weiss went pale and started muttering.
" No. no, no, no..."
" What's wrong Weiss ? " asked Yang.
I answered for Weiss by showing Ruby the company's website, which she read.
" Lightsticks is a company specialised in economic intelligence and trading. What's economic intelligence ? And why is there a snowflake on the notorious clients list ? "
" That snowflake is the Schnee Dust Company's logo. " said Weiss dispirited.
Blake almost seemed to perk up at that.
" Are you telling me that the SDC is giving Torchwick the money he needs to steal their own cargo ? " she asked.
" It's probably worse. Economic intelligence means the gathering of information that has economic value, like prospective clients, partners, how the market will behave, or new technologies." Weiss answered, her head between her hands.
I nod. You could earn a lot by gathering and selling that kind of information, and nobody will care how you got it.
Weiss picked my scroll and looked through the company's private app. I didn't know what she was looking for, but nothing damning would be in it, and I could stop her if she tried to do anything.
Suddenly, she stopped, and looked at me.
" Neo, who can make operations on this app ? " she asked.
I cocked my head on the side, puzzled, and made a sign to answer.
Only Roman and I, why ?
She gave me the scroll back as an answer and I froze, seeing the wave of operations that had just been scheduled a few hours ago.
I looked at her and nodded, understanding what needed to be done.
" We need to see Ozpin now." said Weiss.