W/N: This is the equivalent of a post credit scene. You may skip it if you wish.

On a remote shore not far from Beacon Academy, Neapolitan descended quickly from the barge that had saved her. Her hands trembled with rage. Rage and fear. This had not been the plan. They were supposed to grab the Dust, get their money, and then leave. The two of them should have been on a boat headed to Mistral by now.

But everything had gone wrong. Roman had been captured. He would be handed over to the Atlas Military or worse, tried before the Vale Council, and she was stuck in this hellhole with no way to reach him.

Neo turned to look out over the Sea of Lost Souls. The sun was just starting to rise now, tinting the dark water with a faint red and orange glow. Bright. Just like her name implied. That damn girl.

Yang Xiao Long.

Trusting her had been a mistake. Neo had thought so from the beginning but Roman had been so sure of himself. He thought he had seen something in her. Something different. But he had been wrong. She was just like all the others. She had betrayed them.

And Neo would make her pay.

All around her, the Faunus of the White Fang were unloading the Dust they had stolen. Morale was low. She could see a few of them were crying but almost all of them looked furious. They were just like her, only they were too weak to do anything for the people they cared about.

But she wasn't like them. She was stronger than they would ever be.

And she wasn't going to stand around this deserted wasteland letting the seconds of Roman's life tick away. She needed to move. The warehouse and the entrance to the tunnels were a little far from shore, but the planes were busy moving the cargo from the boat. She had no choice but to walk and walk she did.

Without a second glance behind her, Neo turned to leave, following the trail of half-finished and dilapidated buildings leading to the center of the city.

Mount Glenn had once been a prosperous little metropolis though that had been before Neo's birth. It had started out as a brave experiment to expand the borders of Vale. It was only a few kilometers south of the Kingdom and had an abundant of Dust beneath the city. A valuable resource. The area lacked proper natural barriers and the roads around it were infested with Grimm, but no one cared about that. At least, not in the beginning.

Powerful people had invested big money into the project, and those sorts of people usually got what they wanted. In this case, it was a wall to protect their border and underground tunnels to transport them back and forth. Simple, but effective.

It was a beautiful dream. Fueled by both money and greed. But like all dreams, it came to an end. Only this one was a little more gruesome. Nearly ten thousand people slaughtered in the caves beneath the city.

The Faunus frequently talked about seeing or hearing ghosts while they worked. Vengeful spirits who blamed the Vale Council for closing off their escape, and Beacon for not sending any Huntsmen to save them.

But Neo didn't believe in ghosts. People didn't come back when they died.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. The dead left no bodies to bury and maybe that was for the better. There was nothing left of the attacks now, except for a plethora of crumbling buildings and the Grimm.

Neo kicked up a fine layer of sand as she walked. She hated it here. She hated the dirt and the rust. She hated the cries of those things. They sounded too loud to her ears, reminding her constantly of how close they were. That they could attack at any minute and she would be dead like all the others.

She didn't notice when her boots stepped onto metal instead of sand, but she could feel the air change on her skin. It was warmer inside of Merlot Labs. After all, they had repaired it so they could use it as a base. It had all the basic amenities: water, electricity, even a kitchen.

There were even more Faunus here than at the docks. Very few of them were wearing the Grimm masks if any. They didn't need them. Not here.

Most of them didn't look too busy. They were just sitting around, going over plans, or reorganizing cargo. It was clear they hadn't heard the news yet. Many of their own wouldn't be making it back, and that was a cause for mourning.

Neo bypassed the foyer as well the as the meeting rooms to head straight for what used to be the experimentation labs. There weren't any cages or tubes anymore, but the space wasn't exactly barren. The walls were covered in maps and photos. Plan. Four large tables sat in the center of the room.

Cinder Fall and Mercury Black were leaning over the nearest one. Their backs were to her, but she could see they were examining a crude map of the city of Vale. Both of them turned to look at her as entered.

"You've returned," Cinder started pleasantly, "Then I take it the mission went well."

Neo bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from attacking them. She would have her revenge on Yang Xiaolong. But these people wouldn't be far after. They were the ones to approach Roman. They were the ones that got him into this mess. She could still see him in her mind's eye. His face as he told her to run. The urgency in his voice. She should have stayed. She should have saved him.

Neo shook her head, eliciting a frown from Cinder.

"Did we lose the Dust?"

Neo shook her head again.

"Then what's the problem?" Cinder demanded.

Neo wanted to scream, and not for the first time, she cursed the Gods for taking her voice. Instead, she grabbed the marker lying beside the map and wrote out what she wanted to say on top of the metal table.

Huntsmen showed up at the docks. Students. Ozpin will know. They took some of us prisoner including Roman.

"I see…." Cinder's eyes were furrowed in thought. After a few seconds of silence, she folded her map and beckoned both Mercury and Neo to follow her.

"If they've taken some prisoners then this area and our plans are no longer safe. We will need to move immediately. Mercury. Have everyone put the Dust back onto the boat. Go get Tukson and let him know what's happened. Have him gather up the other White Fang members and tell everyone to meet up at the docks."

"I'm on it," He nodded with a grin and a wink clearly thrown in her direction. Neo didn't know much about him. She had only met him recently, but she knew right off the bat that she didn't like him. Something about his carefree expression just made her want to stab him with her parasol.

Thankfully, Cinder couldn't hear her treasonous thoughts. She turned in the opposite direction of Mercury and headed deeper into the labs. Neo hurried to follow her as the pair walked down several flight of stairs.

But instead of going into the tunnels Cinder turned to walk towards a blank wall. It was painted entirely white like every other surface in this godforsaken lab, but Cinder carefully placed her hand on a random part of the wall and a perfectly square portion of it started to glow.

Her semblance.

It was a simple one as far as semblances went: Heat. She could make her palms hot enough to melt someone's skin off though that was just a rumor. Likely one that Cinder had started herself.

After a few seconds, a large rectangular portion of the wall started to shift. It pulled back, revealing a plain well-lit room with several metal shelves holding a numerous amount of sleek, silver briefcases.

Cinder carefully examined several on her left before grabbing one off the shelf and handing it over to Neo.

"Here's your pay. You're free to leave. Thank you for the help." The briefcase dropped into Neo's hands like a bomb, heavy and loaded. She opened up the top before eyeing all the colorful lien stacked neatly side by side. This was what Roman had sacrificed his freedom for.

It was almost enough to make her laugh.

Neo closed and locked the briefcase again before once again addressing her employer, tapping the floor twice with her parasol.

Cinder quirked one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows into a question, "What is it? If you want more money, I'm afraid that wasn't part of the deal. You and your boss have caused quite a bit of trouble for us so don't expect a tip."

Neo rolled her eyes in exasperation. Roman was the only person in the world who could understand her without any problems. He never needed to ask her what she was thinking or what she meant. He just knew. He always knew. And that made their predicament all the worse.

She put the briefcase down before using her semblance to transform her appearance. It was merely an illusion, but Cinder would see what she wanted her to see: Roman with his bright orange hair and his immaculately pressed coat.

"What about him…?" Cinder asked slowly. The woman didn't seem annoyed or even condescending. Merely perplexed, and that somehow irritated Neo all the more.

Her semblance wasn't working. At least. Not for what she wanted to express. Neo pulled out her scroll to type out the message instead.

You're not going to rescue him?

"No."

The hatred in her belly burned even further. Roman had told her to trust this witch. He had trusted her. And look where it had gotten him. This was the biggest insult yet.

Don't you care about him? What if he gets executed?

Cinder stared at her for several minutes as if she were contemplating how to formulate an answer. All the while, Neo wanted nothing more than to beat her pretty face in with her newfound wealth.

"Roman will be fine," Cinder stated simply. Her expression was still subdued, almost blank, "They need to put him on trial and that could take months. The Council is too busy with preparations and securing their borders to worry about a criminal they've already captured. Even if by some miracle, he gets pushed up through the legal process and they give him the death penalty, they won't carry out his sentence until after the Vytal Festival. By then, all our pieces will be in place and he'll walk a free man."

Neo didn't want to wait. The Vytal Festival was six months away. Who knew what would happen in the meantime? What if he was taken to Atlas or what if Cinder was wrong and they chose to execute him immediately?

But what choice did she have? Even with all her newfound money, she didn't have any chance of saving him on her own. He was probably chained up somewhere in Vale's Capitol Building with a million checkpoints to block their escape. Not to mention his face was now plastered on every scroll in the Kingdom.

"You could stay and help me."

Cinder's sudden offering made Neo jump, immediately on her guard. Not a single cell in her body trusted this woman. Anything she offered should be taken and burned without a second thought.

"I know I said you could leave," Cinder continued softly, "But we could use someone with your talents. This partnership can be mutually beneficial to both of us. Everyone can get what they want."

Neo's mind casted back to that day not so long ago, when this woman had walked back into their lives. It had been raining. A bad sign from the start. Roman had been surprised to see her, but it was clear she had been looking for him. She was dressed immaculately, with a shimmery dress and expensive jewelry. She smelled of money and power. Everything thye had ever yearned for. And when the job was offered, she had used those exact same words.

Everyone can get what they want.

So what was it that she wanted? Cinder Fall. Neo didn't know. The woman wasn't empty. There was always, always something lurking beneath that vacant expression. It never ever reared its ugly head, but Neo thought she could see it if she tilted her head in just the right way. She thought she could see the darkness lurking deep within her soul just waiting to burn the world to the ground.

"You help us with our plan, and we help you retrieve Roman alive. Do we have a deal?" Cinder offered her hand, not like a businessman during a negotiation but like a prince asking for the favor of a love interest. Her palm was faced up, open, as if she were waiting for Neo to give her something she never asked for.

But Neo had nothing to give. She never did. Not since that day all those years ago when Roman had found her broken and dying inside of a cardboard box. No. The only thing she had to offer was her life and she had promised that paltry thing to Roman. It was about time she delivered.

Neo stared deep into the other woman's eyes. They were amber and like the rest of her, filled to the brim with emptiness. A contradiction. They burned with nothing.

Neo took her hand.

It's a deal.

W/N: By all metrics, this volume is completed. I will be going on hiatus for the next 6 months while I write volume 2 and the STRQ prequal. One of the two should drop sometime in June. Until then, I hope all of you stay safe and keep moving forward. Thank you again.