Warehouses. He always had these meetings at warehouses.

There was a certain thematic value of it—row after row after row of anonymous crates, all their values hidden behind opaque wood and steel, prizing impersonal efficiency over all things, but with many of them concealing their true inner cargo. Put Roman in the mood to be little more than a cog in an operation he didn't truly understand.

At least, he wasn't alone. Neo, he knew, was here, somewhere. In the rafters, behind a crate, somewhere—she wasn't about to let him face this alone, and even if he ordered her to stay back, she'd still have been here. She had his back, no matter what idiot thing he did to get him this deep in the shit. It was a comforting thought, but with Pyrrha now back in his life… Roman shook his head. Pyrrha was Pyrrha and Neo was Neo.

He really wished he'd had Neo for the docks operation. Exactly what went wrong that brought a sackful of teenagers down on his head, he had no idea, but the cat girl seemed to be the instigator. An unpredictable sort, the kind he didn't anticipate to account for when making sure no police or security was on the scene, even though he'd made the same mistake with the Dust store heist. If he'd been able to deter the kitty cat, he could have…

No sense in cursing the past. Things were the way they were and he just had to face-

Footsteps.

Roman had to wince at Cinder's entrance, turning to face them in what he hoped looked like a controlled and disciplined move. And fuck him sideways, she'd brought the kids. Things were bad. Things had gone tits up and Cinder was not forgiving. Even with Neo here...

"Cinder!" he said, feigning warmth and a lack of fear, "I wasn't expecting to hear from you so… soon."

Cinder's face was an unreadable mask beyond the look of "You fucked up." He could feel her disappointment in him, but he knew that there was much, much more turning in the wheels of his mind, information that, if he could discern it, could save his life. Not that she was making that easy.

The kids, yet more teenagers in his life, of course, weren't hard to read at all. The little jackals smelled blood and were eager to see it spilled. The smug one, the prettyboy with the silver hair, he was trying—and failing—to hide his amusement at Roman's predicament. The green haired bitch was doing even less to hide her glee, already picking over his body for what she could loot off his corpse. Gods, he might hate her more than he hated Cinder.

He hoped Neo would avenge him on the girl, at least. Even if he was about to die right in this moment, knowing that she wouldn't live much longer gave him some comfort.

"I'm disappointed Roman," she said, slow and purposeful.

Like an idiot, he tried to go aggressive. "Hey, listen," he snapped, "I told you, you were the one who wanted the mutts to-"

She raised her hand and silenced him, his pitiful bravado draining away in an instant. Just as he knew it, it had been a damn stupid move, and the green haired chick was living for it.

"The situation at the docks, and the White Fang, are no longer relevant to this operation. Moving forward, I believe we won't require any Dust at all."

Even Roman's self control gave way as he gaped to hear it. What had- what the hell? What was the point of- But he was smart enough not to ask, to let her spin the story as she wanted to. She gave him a look, one of those looks that said a hell of a lot more than could be said with words, testing his reserves, to see if she could bait him into speaking, and when he didn't... an ambiguous note, either she was pleased to see him submit to her or applauded his reserve. Hell if Roman could tell.

But with no questions asked, she simply continued. "I've examined our operation at Beacon and discovered we have… another avenue open to us. One that wouldn't require stolen Dust because it wouldn't require any spectacular acts of terror to serve as a distraction. This would be… quieter. In and out, just the extraction of our prize without anyone needing to get hurt."

Now he was being pushed to speak, to give his opinion on this option. Was it what he wanted? Obviously. Roman was a thief, he wanted to do things without great gouts of blood flowing down the street.

But he couldn't tell Cinder that. Couldn't give her ammunition that he hated her plan.

"Alright..." he said, nodding attentively and knowing not to say anything that might end with him dead. "I've been clear from the start that I was on board with the plan, but a quieter strategy… works for me."

"Very well then," she said, giving her own nod in response, "Then it's time you learned what I am truly after at Beacon."

Even the kids seemed a little wary about hearing this said out loud. Made Roman think that this wasn't bullshit, and he wasn't sure he liked that. Roman knew how bad the truth could hurt when it came at you with a vengeance.

"A comrade of mine, Amber, was captured by Ozpin," she explained, "She was injured in the struggle and, as I understand it, is currently in a coma and being held at Beacon. They are holding her to steal something of unspeakable value from her, and I cannot allow them to defile my frien- to defile her body like that. She is what I hired you to steal from Beacon in the first place."

Roman didn't scoff, but: yeah-fucking-right. Cinder was doing a good job presenting herself as the innocent victim here, but Roman knew her too well—a woman like her didn't get this cold being on the side of the angels. Roman didn't put any stock in the Kingdoms or the Huntsman Academies to have everyone's best interests at heart, but Roman wasn't some starry-eyed Robin Hood taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However bad the law and order might be, Roman knew that the people in his circles were like him—not good news for anyone but themselves. Whatever cause Cinder and this Amber were confederates in, Roman had no doubt it wasn't as saintly as she was trying to make it sound.

"Well, stealing a person, stealing some treasure… it's the same difference to me," he shrugged, "But I'm all ears for something that doesn't involve a massive loss of life. What's the plan?"

Cinder nodded. Fortunately, she wasn't like her little minions and knew how to get to business once they were past the sniping.

"I now have an avenue to recover Amber and find her location through the assistance of a student. Amber… carries a power, something rare and tremendous," Roman didn't miss how her voice took on an uncharacteristic and accidental note of awe—enough to make him take notice that Cinder sure as hell believed in it, no matter how far-fetched supernatural powers sounded to Roman. But he was in the underworld—he'd heard stranger. Cinder continued, "But also transferable. None in Ozpin's conspiracy would be able to take the power for themselves, but they will likely find a student as a candidate. That student would give us-"

"Kidnapping a student?" he interrupted with a raised an eyebrow, "Cinder, I swear we only just talked about what kind of heat we do and don't want to take—the shitshow at the docks is gonna put the real squeeze on us, and not because we went big. Kids got involved, kids who almost got hurt got involved, and that means the press is gonna turn the heat up on us."

Cinder nodded, slow and deliberate. That she was taking an interruption well told him things were about to get so much worse for him than if she was just pissed off.

"We don't need a kidnapping. We don't even need to use force. We just have to identify which student the Headmaster might select and then make her a confederate of ours. If she's on our side… she can lead us right to where they're keeping Amber. And we can retrieve her without needing to direct the Headmaster and his allies away from the school."

Even with the promise of an easier, more peaceful job, Roman didn't like the sound of that. It was all too easy to picture Pyrrha as that student, and Roman didn't like that. Not at all. Realistically, she wasn't in the running for some… top secret supernatural whatsit that his employer was engaged in, but she was talented. And responsible. But right now, journalists in Vale were typing up breathtaking scoops that The Invincible Girl had thwarted the dastardly Roman Torchwick! And that kind of profile… didn't work well with the underground world. Something he knew a little too well.

Still. He didn't like it. So Roman gave his criminal colleague a dramatic roll of his eyes and leaned back. "Well, I wish you and the kids all the luck in your charm offensive, but I'm in my thirties and men like me hanging out with teenage girls," he made a point to ignore the green haired girl's vomiting pantomime, "ends poorly. So if you don't need me, Neo and I-"

"But your niece is a student at Beacon."

He paled. There was- there wasn't any way she could have known! His mother had been damn thorough in making sure there was no record of him as an Igni—there was one photograph in the entire world of Roman with Pyrrha, and Cinder had not seen it.

But was it truly any surprise that she could dig up things nobody should know? Count on the devil to know your sins… there was no point in denial, nothing to do but face it all, head on. So Roman folded his arms and narrowed his gaze, the unreadable face of sin incarnate staring back at him.

"What're you planning, Cinder?"

Neo perched in the rafters, keeping an eye particularly on Legs and Greenie, but… well, she might know that they were the part she had to pay attention to, anticipating Fire Bitch's role as misdirection, but her attention was really locked on Roman, and Roman was only looking at one person, only acknowledging one person at all, as the two of them engaged in a tense duel of wits.

They were good at it, she'd give them that. Roman and Fire Bitch didn't give up much for her to read, but Neo was watching them like a hawk to see what secrets she could divine. Fire Bitch was, Neo would give her some credit, a cool customer—even beyond the pun potential—and she knew she was pushing Roman's buttons. Not smug, but deliberate. She wanted him to know she knew she was trespassing, hinting that she knew the Champion, even as her goggle-eyed minions were giving away that they were way out of the loop. Roman was… harder to read, in that he was easier to read, but Neo couldn't figure out what, exactly, was going on in his head.

"I have reason to believe," Fire Bitch began, her style all professorial and understanding because she knew she was going to get what she wanted, "that Headmaster Ozpin's little group will approach a student of superior talent. And that would mean..."

"Idiotic," he snapped back, "Pyrrha's too high profile for any-"

"Pyrrha?" Legs gasped, before remembering that he was liable to get himself killed for chiming in. Neo enjoyed seeing the color he turned, like some people enjoyed driving up into the country to watch the leaves change.

Greenie, though, seemed to take that the ice had been broken on the matter, even if her partner was now drowning for it. "I… Are you sure that Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos, is related to… him?""

Roman stiffened at that, which Neo was disappointed to see as an obvious tell that her jab had hit home. "On her mother's side," he grunted, then took off his bowler hat and gestured to his head. "Can't you see the resemblance?"

"So she's a natural redhead..." Legs said, a faint smirk coming to his lips before the intensity of Roman's glare clear wiped it right off. Nearly knocked Neo off her perch, too. She'd never seen Roman like this before, and it felt… strange to see him so… protective of someone. Neo had never had anyone who'd protected her, not like that, and she'd long since learned she didn't need it, but seeing Roman like this… it was hard not to wonder if he might ever snap at a subordinate who was so disrespectful about her.

But Fire Bitch wasn't going to give Neo time to ponder things. Her minions had crudely thrown Roman off his game and now she was pressing the attack. Neo gripped Hush tighter as she saw the suppressed, almost imperceptible grin cross Fire Bitch's face as she spoke.

"Pyrrha is exactly what the Headmaster will be looking for. Her profile is… inconvenient for them," she explained, "but the criteria they're looking for… she meets them. Better than anyone else at the school. She will be approached by them."

Neo had seen a lot of the Mistralian recently. She had been making fairly regular trips to Beacon, frequently enough to have shoplifted enough Beacon merch from the bookstore that she felt she had to pull for them in the Vytal now, so it had been a lot of trips. Mostly to watch the Champion. Sometimes to watch Blue Eyes do pushups… shirtless pushups… but mostly to watch the Champion. Figure her out, what her deal was, why Roman was in such a state over her. And Neo had seen a girl who, at seventeen, made Neo a little nervous to see what she could do with a sword. She'd put a big bet on Nikos with Junior's bookmaker, because she knew the odds were about to go way in her favor once people got sight of what she could do outside the ring on the morning news.

So if someone was getting some kind of weird magic powers… she was already a monster of a combatant, put that in the hands of the secretive Headmaster… Neo didn't like what this was adding up to.

More so, she didn't like what she was seeing on Roman's face. She could read his thoughts well enough right now, imagining what Neo was imagining and… no, no, that wasn't what he was thinking. He wasn't worried about Papa Beacon getting his hooks in her…

"So the question is," Fire Bitch continued, "When the Headmaster and his cronies approach her with an offer of great and terrible power, where does she turn for advice? To her uncle, who can-"

"No."

The whole warehouse went silent. And when a silence settles over thirty thousand square feet of nothing more than boxes… it was a quiet that pulled the air from the room.

"No?" she asked. There wasn't a trace of anger in her voice, just… curiosity. Neo wasn't sure if this was because she was damn good at hiding it, or if she was… honestly surprised to be contradicted. Neo figured this was the sort of moment where if she was angry, things would be on fire—a sentiment Greenie and Legs seemed to expect as the unconsciously pulled back from the seemingly imminent bonfire—so Neo was having a hell of a time figuring out what it meant, other than to have a good handle on Hush and to be ready for action.

"No, Cinder," Roman replied, his voice cool and determined, "She doesn't get involved with you. Whatever your goals are, whatever crazy bullshit powers your friend has, that's none of my business and I don't care. A job's a job. But when it comes to her… she's not a part of this. And if you try to use me..."

He stepped forward, a sudden menace to him that Neo had thought Roman would never be dumb enough to use on a pyromaniac, but instead…

Fire Bitch just raised her hands in a disarming gesture and said, "Your point is noted, Roman. We won't approach her."

Nobody said a damn word. Nobody knew if they could say a word, not any better than Neo could. Roman, Greenie, and Legs, none of them knew if she was setting him up to kick the legs out from under him or if she actually meant it, but as the silence stretched on

"So we're square?" Roman asked, trying to sound like he was still in some semblance of control with the situation. Not that he really could when everyone here knew there wasn't "square" when it came to telling this lunatic "no."

But Fire Bitch just nodded. "We'll pursue other options. For now… take some time off, allow me to reassess the situation, and..." she gave him a very unsettling smile, "if the situation changes, do let me know."

With that, the whole warehouse seemed to exhale as she turned and left, the kids trailing behind her, leaving Neo and Roman—shaken, but still alive—to make sense of whether this was good fortune or bad.

Well… what degree of bad they were facing. Neo knew that staying just enough ahead of the curve to survive was a crucial victory, the best you could hope for some days, but recently, things had been slipping, things that couldn't afford to slip, and tonight confirmed that twice over.

Seriously, bringing Fire Bitch into things in the first place was a problem, and one they were still dealing with, but it wasn't what was causing Roman to slip up, not really. The problem with Red and her scythe was bad luck and bad henchmen—now, Roman was getting sloppy. And that had made Neo nervous. The Roman who'd exploded onto the Valean scene five years ago wasn't sloppy. He was meticulous, driven, and filled with a mad daring that had enchanted Neo and captured her loyalty when he only needed to take a single look at her and realize that she was more than just a sneak thief. She'd blossomed under that man, but now… now there was a new Roman. A Roman who wasn't sure of who he was. And that worried Neo.

And Neo knew the cause. Same cause as the bruised skull Roman came back with.

In Neo's opinion, she should have been along for the mission tonight. It was a mistake to not have her as a lookout or ready to deflect intruders like the kitty girl or the Champion. Or the girl with the laser beam Semblance—mostly cause Neo wanted to see that in person. Oh! Also, Blue Eyes had been there, and if he got… led away from the fight by a bewitchingly mute girl with a parasol, it could have averted this whole mess!

But… now wasn't the time for jokes. Roman slumped, heavily, against the wall, half-relieved to be alive, half-lamenting how his life was about to get worse. Neo leapt down from her vantage to quietly alert him to her presence. He looked up with a weak grin.

"Well… on the plus side, I don't think I've ever had a meeting with her go that well… I just wish saying that didn't terrify me out of my mind!"

He laughed, but Neo gave him a concerned look. She could see through the forced cheer here, even if she hadn't known him better than anyone else in Neo's life. He picked up her meaning in an instant, the smile dropping away from his face as he read Neo's uncertainty on hers.

"I… don't like this," he admitted. Not that he needed to say it to her, Neo could read Roman like a book, but he needed to say it to hear himself say it. To put it out in the world. And also… Roman had been harder to read, recently. Neo appreciated the reminder that she was… still in the loop. Still his confidant.

She gave him a sympathetic look. Encouraging. Right now, he needed her, and Neo needed to feel needed, so she was going to sit here and be the sounding board he needed until he could get back on his feet and figure out how they were gonna get ahead of this one.

Just like they always did.

Roman gave her a tired, appreciative smile before playfully ruffling her hair. Neo really appreciated that, though she feigned a pout that he was treating her like a kid. He grinned, and she felt a lot better, even as his smile cooled and he returned to thinking about their situation strategically.

"Well, we do know one thing," he began, "She's not a woman who can be told 'no,' she just… she's going to go after Pyrrha. No matter what and I… I don't know how to handle it. There's no threats or persuasion or distraction, she wants to free her comrade, she doesn't want Ozzy getting his hands on whatever… 'power' she has, and Pyrrha gives her an avenue for that. Unless she's wrong, and some other girl gets the nod, but… she's not someone who, I think, is gonna be wrong on something like this… and even if she was, she's a spiteful bitch who just doesn't get told 'no.' Pyrrha's in her sights, and that means… Hell if I know."

There… there was an option, of course. It came to Neo immediately, even if Roman shied from it. Own it. Accept that there was no way to keep Fire Bitch away from the Champion and do what they were doing right now—keeping themselves just ahead of the curve. Just with another redhead in tow as well. Bring her into the group, give Fire Bitch what she wanted, finish the job and then get out. Neo… she didn't like the thought of bringing the Champion into their circle like this, but… she mattered so much to Roman that she had to bring the idea to light. Roman could read it in her eyes, and Neo saw the conflict mirrored back on her.

"No, she…" he shook his head, "I'm not in her life, and I'm not going to be in her life. No matter what, we're not bringing Pyrrha in. I… I've made some mistakes before, y'see, and I don't..." his tone turned as mournful as Neo had ever heard it, "I'm not making that mistake, not again. You know… it's funny..."

Neo gave him an inquisitive look at his wistful tone, but didn't interrupt.

"When I met you, you were… well, your documents said you were 14, but I don't know how old you're actually supposed to be. But... you can't be that much older than she is, and I remember," he nodded, a weak grin coming to his face. Neo felt something in that grin, something… warm and "I felt that I didn't want anything to do with a kid, but I looked at you and you were… you were..."

Perhaps he meant to say "You were so capable," or "You were the most radiant flower of Valean womanhood," or any of the things Neo would have liked to imagine of herself back then, a dirty, impoverished street thief who saw a man with fire in his eyes and a recognition for talent that saw past her exterior, heard more than her silence, and brought her along for a rocket ride to the top of the criminal scene. But she could tell what Roman was actually saying.

You were so much like her.

But Neo… even in comparison to another woman, a woman Neo wasn't sure how she felt about, Neo felt so… so warm to hear it that she had to step forward, stretch out her arms, and pull Roman into a hug.

He was surprised, and for good reason, but after the initial shock, he, slowly, hesitantly, raised his arms up. And gave her a hug of his own.

Roman was the only person Neo cared about. The only one she would ever make sacrifices for. And if the Champion was important enough to him that he'd stand up to Fire Bitch… Neo would have his back.

Thanks to Renarde and Six02 for their feedback on this chapter!

That Roman's only been in Vale for 5 years is a necessity for this story's timeline, but I feel it makes a big change to his character. I feel canon Roman is more of an entrenched figure, but in this story, he's still got the ring of the new phenomenon from coming into the underworld out of nowhere. Part of why Cinder reached out to him, I figure. It also positions him as someone transitioning from the high profile stick-up robberies to the more profitable, lower risk criminal mastermind stuff with overseeing smuggling operations.

And also, some ambiguity on Roman and Neo's relationship! Partner? Surrogate daughter? Whatever it is, if there is a label for it, Neo's not going to let Roman get hurt, as Roman's putting himself on the line to make sure Pyrrha doesn't get hurt. How well that plan's going to work out, well, we'll see.