Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, I only own the OC I created. All other credits to RoosterTeeth.

Speech: Hello

Thoughts: Hello

Neo: 「Hello」

Cyril was definitely crazy, but Neo loved it.

Maybe it was the fact that everything about him was a facade he was putting on. Cyril was a self-proclaimed coward, yet was brave enough to break several laws. He was soft-spoken and said nothing rude, yet a single word could ruin another person and perhaps the biggest one was his identity. He was known through the city as Cyril, the antique man, but that was all a lie. Cyril didn't exist. Neo herself had done research, and he didn't pop up in any databases. He was a completely made up person.

「Killing a student? Sounds like it could be fun」

"I'm not one to kill for no reason, but it seems it's the best way to get into Beacon with absolutely no questions asked. We need a cover for you and what's better than a student." Cyril explained.

Neo thought on it for a second and raised a thumbs up. 「While it's a simple plan, I do pride myself on being a great at working at the spot.」

"It's simply because I want it to be simple. No need to have something convoluted when we can achieve it with minimum effort. I'll be with you every step of the way so don't get worried." Cyril said while picking up the knife he put down.

「I don't need babysitting. I'm a professional.」 She pouted.

"When you finally get into Beacon, you can show me just how professional you are."

While the plan was a relatively simple, Cyril really wanted to use this as an opportunity to further his project, but he didn't want to risk both Cinder's mission and Neo's safety. However, he knew how skilled Neo and she seemed to always want to prove herself to both Roman and himself, so he could use that to his advantage.

Before he could think about using Neo for his own personal goals, a flick to the head and a scroll shoved in his face brought him back to reality. 「Stop staring at me, it's creepy. And I can already tell what you're thinking about.」Cyril could already see the smug look on her face forming.

"Apologies." Cyril muttered. "Anyway, since I've explained what you have to do, what do you want in return?"

Almost instantly, Neo knew what she wanted. A favour. Her fingers went to tapping her scroll, and she triumphantly showed it to Cyril.

"A favour? That's really vague."

Neo zipped her mouth and threw away the key. 「I'm sacrificing my life for you, I have the right to be a little vague.」

Normally Cyril would decline. The complete vagueness of the request was something that he'd never stand by, but this was a different. Neo was right, she was risking her life for him. The least he could do was listen to her request.

"Fine. Anything you want, I will deliver."

Neo hummed in delight at this. Leverage was the most important thing to have when dealing with people like Cyril. Neo, in her time with Cyril, knew he entered every conversation as the man with all the cards. Cyril was a man of no mental weaknesses. Whenever anyone broke into a conversation with him, he could read them like a book. What ticks them, what signs they show when lying and everything that could be used against them and if analysis didn't work, he'd have everything about you when you buy a product from him. It made sense that none of these applied to Cyril; he was unreadable.

But now it was time for Neo to have a few cards in her hand.

"When you arrive at Beacon, don't let yourself be the centre of attention. Fade into the background and complete your work with efficiency and poise." Cyril began. "Think of it as an in and out job, that's what Roman would call it, right?"

「I understand what you expect from me, though I have one question. What exactly will you do when Beacon finds out we have killed a student?」

Beacon could never let anything like this tarnish their reputation. Neo couldn't think of a scenario where Beacon didn't get involved. If Neo succeeded and left, then there'd be a missing student and then everything would devolve from there.

"I'll handle the body and don't worry about Beacon. They won't suspect a thing."

Neo raised an eyebrow at this.

"I work at my best under pressure."

"Welcome back, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Emerald. I trust you've been helping with the storage." Cinder said as she sat down. The feeling of relief when she sat was indescribable. The chair was rough and unstable, but it was still amazing. Maybe she worked too much for her own good.

"Of course. The White Fang are less than cooperative but they're good at listening to orders." Emerald sighed. "And to add to it, Roman has been getting more dust than we expected."

"It's to be expected. Our friends in the White Fang have gone to listening to Adam Taurus to now listening to us, listening is in their nature." Cinder yawned.

"May I ask where you've been? It's not often you leave the warehouse." Emerald asked nervously.

"Your curiosity is understandable. Is Mercury close by?" Emerald's shrug forced a sigh from Cinder. "I was getting a new ally, an information broker."

"That Junior person? I thought he was more for manpower." Emerald said in a slightly shocked voice.

"No, this is a different person. He goes by the name Cyril. Roman told me about him and I realised just how useful he could be." She explained.

"I've never heard of him."

Being a former thief, Emerald was privy to all the shady figures on Remnant. She was well aware of Roman Torchwick and his exploits before they partnered with him. She'd dealt with many information brokers, but she'd never heard of this Cyril fellow.

"That's a good thing then. He's purposefully secretive, he only worked with Roman and now me."

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do we need an information broker for?"

"It's a good question. He's going to be our eyes and ears inside Beacon, specifically with Ozpin." She answered while stretching her arms. "He's going to feed us information about Ozpin and Beacon in general. With him, everything becomes much easier and we can strategize for everything Ozpin has planned."

"How is he going to do this? If you're putting this much faith into him to do this then he has to be skilled, right?"

"Incredibly skilled from what I've seen and heard."

Emerald knew that Cinder only trusted useful people. If you had nothing to offer to her, then you were nothing, and it made sense. Just look at the White Fang. Individually, they were completely useless to Cinder, but together they were incredibly useful so she had trust in their ability to distract.

But for Cinder to put this much trust in someone was surprising. To Emerald it either meant that Cinder was making a mistake or this person was really good.

And Cinder never made mistakes.

"And this guy, is he following you out of fear or for his own goals?"

"It's funny you ask, he's doing this for himself. He clearly saw through my lies, but he didn't call me out for them or even mention them. What do you think?"

It was certainly a hard one to think about. As a thief she'd be cautious about something like this because when you have someone working with you, they should always have the same end goal. Betrayal is made much easier when goals are different. The one thing she learnt in her days as a thief was that everyone only looked out for themselves, which was true in most cases. But Cinder was the lone exception to this. She gave her everything when she had nothing. She was her saviour.

"It's hard to tell. Is he strong?" Emerald asked.

Cinder hummed at this. "He's strong in his own way. Roman said he's not a threat physically, but I have no way of knowing. But I will say this, he's definitely one of the most dangerous people I've encountered in a while."

"So you don't know his motives and he's incredibly dangerous? I won't say you've made a mistake, but it sounds like one." Emerald nervously said.

"I understand your concern, but this is far from a mistake. Maybe Roman's personality has rubbed off on me, but this is a gamble. Lady luck will decide whether this is a bust or a gift from god."

Cinder was absolutely sure in Cyril's skills, despite what Emerald told her. She might have fallen for his unusual charm but she knew he would be a great help to her plans, but if she was wrong about it then she'd have him killed. But part of her didn't want to reach that point. Maybe it was the fact she actually found Cyril interesting. There weren't many people who Cinder could hold a genuine conversation with; Emerald and Mercury were too young, and Roman was more interested in his own robberies more than anything else.

"Trust me, when you meet him you'll understand."

"I'll take your word for it, Ma'am."

Cinder seemed to have an eye for talent. Even Adam Taurus, who Emerald didn't have any expectations for, was much better than she'd thought. So maybe she'd just have to see it to believe it.

Neo watched Cyril sweep the room.

Despite not showing it, she was surprised about how much passion he seemed to be putting into this. It was funny, he'd personally told them about his distaste for fighting and what the huntsmen really stood for.

It's odd if you think about it. The way Beacon get's students into their school is by making children believe that it'll be a life of adventure and fun but by the time they realise the true terror of their future job, they feel as if there's no way out. How can I tolerate Beacon if the very thing they stand for is against human nature?

Those words stuck with her, but she didn't really understand it when he'd said to her all those months ago. At first she thought he was criticising the way Beacon and other Huntsmen academies were making the good things about it seem like a heaven while sweeping the negatives under the rug.

But the more she thought about it, it sounded more like he was talking about the very idea of what a Huntsman is, and it made sense as to why he'd do that. Humanity is currently at war with Grimm and everyday he hears about how students are "pumped up!" or "excited" to fight the very thing that we are supposed to dread and all it did was leave a sour taste in his mouth.

Neo believed that you had to gain a sense of fear to truly want to defeat what you want dead.

That's why Beacon stood against Human nature; in a time of war, they seemed to be actively encouraging it. Neo of course didn't see it the way he did, not that she thought about much in the first place. No one is going to join your cause if you don't glorify it so she never noticed it.

So with all this, why would Cyril join Cinder. For someone who hated fighting and everything that came with it, he was joining something that was the opposite of what he stood for.

All it did was fill her with excitement.

END

Authors note:

This chapter felt weird to write. Probably because of the breaks I took in between writing or the fact I had an entire can of pringles while writing it. I'm telling you those Sour cream and onions are plain addictive.

I don't really know how I feel about this chapter but this is what I'll be uploading for now.

To the review which was asking whether Cyril is a bad guy: Yes he is.

Any questions or critiques are welcome.