And I'm back! Currently, I just turned 18. I have a 90k translation, several commissions, babysitting and on top of that, finding a job, to worry about, so this chapter was pushed back a lot.

By the way, guys, I've been meaning to address one thing. Cauchemar, aka Jaune's new weapon. Not many have commented on this, but I'm guessing you did wonder why I gave him that weapon, or a new weapon at all. Well, the reason is because his basic ones are too good.

Hear me out. A lot of fanfictions portray Jaune as not good at fighting, at least at first (some keep this up for longer). However, sword and shield is a fighting style so basic that in the Middle Ages, the Italian fencing masters (those who invented fencing) didn't even bother adding it as a fighting style in their records and manuals. Fiore de Liberi, perhaps the first one to record his teachings (to the Lord of Ferrara, if I'm not wrong), does not add it in his manual.

This is because sword and shield is just using your natural survival instincts. An arming sword cannot be used in complicated ways when wielding a shield, so that too requires little to no training. Of course, an experienced fighter still manages to make it look complex, but it actually isn't.

So, Jaune could not possibly be as awful at it as he is in canon. So, if I wanted to make him look worse than his peers, I had to give him some kind of stupidly complex weapon he'd have no idea how to use, and perhaps have him accidentally switch it into something while he's fighting. I noticed you guys (as in, readers) enjoy this trope, so…

I hope this clears up why I felt the need to give him a new weapon and go through the pain of inventing something like that to the point of drawing it myself.

Also, for Deery's and Banesaw's names. Cailín Álainn, in Irish means 'pretty girl'. So original, I know, but it's better than 'deery'. Bernard Hein is a reference to Bernhard Heine, the supposed inventor of the chainsaw.

Hope you enjoy. The title, D-Day, stands for both Dance Day and Doomsday/Death Day. NOT for Ninjas of Love XLVII: Dick Day. Absolutely NOT for that! This story is kid-friendly! Mostly... Blake's really pushing it though.

Adam Taurus was a prideful man, and he knew it.

He'd never admit it, but personally he was aware of it, even though he'd skin anyone saying it to his face.

Or behind his back.

Or anywhere at all. But he was getting sidetracked.

He was a prideful man, and he also kinda knew he could err on the reckless side.

Which made his current apprehension even more surprising and unwelcome at the same time.

He tried to adjust his tie, only achieving it to loosen slightly, much to his rising anger. The damn thing just couldn't seem to be able to decide whether it wanted to hang loose like a coiled snake, or strangle him like that very same animal.

Beside him, Neo just covered her mouth to hide her already silent giggles before she reached over and fixed the blasted thing for him. He swallowed his spite for humans for just a fraction of a second and gave her a nod of thanks. He may have hated all humans indiscriminately, but even his hatred for humans paled in comparison to his newfound hatred for ties.

He refrained from adjusting it again as he glanced himself over.

He didn't look very good, he decided. He was wearing black slacks and brown dress shoes, both of which he hated with a passion. They hampered his movements and would not be very good in a fight. Thankfully those clothes were just the top layer and he had a black bodysuit underneath. He also wore a white shirt and black suit jacket over it, paired with the demonic red tie. All of which seemed to be trying to do their best to anger him even more than he already was.

It was a perfect copy of Beacon's uniform, and thus what male students were supposed to wear during the Beacon Dance. Or, well, supposed was a strong word. It was just that they didn't see a point in buying or renting new clothes just for one night, when they could just use their normal uniform, with some minor changes. Girls had it much worse, in his opinion. They were still allowed to use their uniform, but most of them didn't want the plain-looking clothes to be even remotely close to them during the Dance.

Taurus growled softly under his breath. Wild and Blush were, as usual, on his hip, but he knew he would need to hide them very soon. As soon as they were ready, actually.

He gave himself a once over in the mirror on the wall and grimaced, bringing a hand to his face. He had large sunglasses on to hide his horrid left eye, and Neo had applied enough make-up on his scar to not only cover it, but make him wonder if he could even raise his eyebrow any longer. But he knew the scar was there, and he gritted his teeth at the memories and hatred it brought back, together with the desire to watch all humans burn and-

A nudge interrupted him before he could go on a mental personal rant against humanity.

Turning around, he appraised his companion for this mission. Neo had gone for something fairly simple for her standards, knowing she'd have to take it off anyway to avoid being recognized on the way back. Knowing her, and Huntresses in general, Taurus wondered how the actual fuck they could fight in those stupid, uncomfortable, tight, movement-restricting dresses of theirs.

He would never know the answer.

The petite assassin had decided to wear a green camisole so thin it was a miracle it even existed. Over it, she kept some kind of short, open jacket -seriously, that thing didn't even have buttons, why make a jacket without buttons or zippers?!- of some kind of blueish green or something, whose sleeves arrived up to her wrists. Probably to hide the ends of her hidden skin-coloured bodysuit's sleeves. How could she not die of embarrassment while wearing something that made her look a hundred percent naked, again it was something he would never, nor would ever want to, know.

She was also wearing a dark green skirt, and a very short one at that too, with stockings that were a few shades lighter, and dancing shoes.

Taurus knew he was repeating himself by then, but damn how the hell could she fight in those. Or even just breathe, actually – he was pretty sure all dresses were one or two sizes smaller than the one they indicated, some kind of sick joke from the designers or something. Why would anyone ever wear something that suffocated them all the time? Especially at parties, where they were supposed to have fun?

Shaking his head, he just filed it away as yet another thing he'd have to make humans pay for. After all, Faunus didn't do elegant or high-class or anything even remotely like that. Everyone just wore whatever they wanted.

Another nudge told him he'd gotten lost in thought. Again.

Neo grinned up at him and held up her phone. "Ready to kick some fire bitch ass?"

Taurus snorted, but a ghost of a smirk still crept up to his face, pulling at his lips. "Yes."

/-/

The Beacon Dance was a big thing. Definitely. Ruby was sure that if just about anyone else had been asked about it, they would've said it was very important and… yes perhaps even kinda fun. But not her. She was very different from the others.

For once, she was very socially awkward.

For twice, she didn't even know how to actually dance. Or walk in stilts at all. Also, she was pretty sure one wasn't supposed to use 'for twice', even if 'for once' was okay.

Yes, she sometimes invented words too.

Fortunately, she had her equally-awkward date with her!

Jaune too wasn't exactly someone who did well in social environments. Oh, not that he wasn't a social person, it was more that he didn't really know how to approach people without making a fool out of himself. So she was shy-awkward, and he was dolt-awkward.

"So… any ideas on what to do?" she asked vaguely as the two of them just stood by the punch bowl, each with a full glass in their right hands.

"Well, we could go on the dancefloor and-"

She cut him off before he could even finish. "Jaaaune! I told you I'm not good at dancing! And my feet hurt! At least here nobody can see I took off my shoes…"

"Well, then why don't you just dance without your shoes on?" Jaune offered. "I can help you. Besides, it's not like we have to do a highly-synchronized team dance within a moment's notice, no?"

For some very strange reason, the image of Jaune, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha dancing in sync came to her mind. Even more weird, Jaune was wearing a white dress of all things, which he rocked in her opinion since he didn't even look embarrassed by it, but which did not fit him at all. Size included.

She shook her head to get rid of the odd picture before looking back at him, realizing he must've taken her head shake as a refusal… and being perfectly okay with that. "Sorry Jaune, I'm really not one for dancing."

Jaune sighed and shrugged. "I know. You just told me seven times already."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not sorry every time I tell you I'm not gonna take Weapon Maintenance class with you," Jaune replied. "Besides, I can just ask Pyrrha, or Weiss, or Yang. They all look like they wouldn't mind dancing a bit."

"No!" Ruby exclaimed, a little too loudly. Blushing, she cleared her throat at his questioning glance. "I-I mean, Yang is with S-Sky and W-Weiss looks like she'd want to be left alone, so…"

"Well, I guess I can ask Pyrrha, right?"

"B-But wouldn't it b-be rude to leave your d-date alone?" Ruby tried again, only slightly desperate.

Fortunately, Jaune nodded. "Yeah, you're right." He sighed. "Pity. I was looking forward to dancing."

'Not the involuntary guilt-tripping, please!' Ruby screamed in her mind.

Elsewhere, in the hall…

Weiss was torn between sad and upset. On one hand, she'd just been turned down. Rejected. Thrown away like yesterday's trash- okay that was going too far. But still, Neptune had quite simply said he was embarrassed. Embarrassed of all things to say. By what, she didn't know. He hadn't really been able to explain a lot in the three seconds she'd still been in earshot.

On the other hand, she had been turned down. Rejected. Thrown away like yesterday's trash. She was worth so much more than that, and yet Neptune had dared to turn her down. It wasn't even because she was a Schnee – with Pyrrha on her team, Weiss had learned, slowly but surely, to look past people's fame and titles, including her own. But as a Huntress and as a person, Weiss believed she was well above Neptune's standards, if the girls she'd seen him chatting with were any indication.

And yet he had rejected her. And it wasn't that he already had a date or simply didn't want to go, because he was right there, joking around with Sun and Blake, making some stupid 'crying' imitations that really irked her, as if he was mocking her.

He was there alone, and that meant he had seen a problem in her, not in the dance itself. He didn't even have the decency of finding another date, for Dust's sake! He decided that going to the dance alone would've been better than going with her!

Elsewhere still…

Yang hadn't taken in consideration one thing when planning this dance.

She had grabbed just about anything she could need and sneaked it in when she thought no one was looking. True, the fog machines disappeared mysteriously two hours before the start of the dance, but the new selection of music by Tree Williams was much better than the deadbeat music they had before she changed it up a little. And there she thought Coco of Team CFVY had good taste.

She had even gone through the nuisance of making sure all her friends had a date. Ren and Nora were a given, even though they apparently went as 'friends'. No one bought it anyway, no one but them that is. Blake and Sun had eventually gone together, though if she had to be honest they went as each other's date, but there was more of a 'friendzoned' aura around Sun than there was around Nora. Ruby and Jaune were with each other, just standing awkwardly to the side, which was just about how she thought their date would go, and Pyrrha was… well, maybe she and Weiss could comfort each other?

What she did not plan for, though, was for Sky to be such an awful dancer.

Or rather, for him to not even be trying to dance. He just made sure not to step on her feet, and otherwise remained as stiff as a board while they danced. Okay, slow dancing wasn't her type of music either, but at least he could've tried to put some effort in it. Where did all his 'bad boy' attitude went?

…

Alright, Sky was never really much of a bad boy, more like the eighth wheel everyone always forgot about. He was about as much of a bad boy as she was of the studious type. In fact, he was a some kind of wallflower in terms of being cool. He had his moments, sure, but then again even Jaune had his cool moments… probably.

After all it was statistically impossible for someone to never have a single cool moment.

Still, she should've asked Sky if he could dance, instead of waiting obliviously until the moment the music began, only to see him stiffen up and start imitating a robot, minus the comedic gestures.

'This is the last time I forego planning my own date just to ensure the others have fun,' she grumbled to herself, not caring if Sky saw her displeasure.

Meanwhile, in Sky's head…

'Down, boy, down!' he thought desperately, trying not to let his discomfort -and quite frankly, abject fear- show as he awkwardly tried to match Yang's steps while moving as little as possible. 'Dammit Yang, why did you have to dress like that?! You do know I can see right down your- don't think about it! And you, down! Down, and stay down!'

And finally, somewhere else entirely…

"It appears all the dancers have partners," Emerald said as she and Mercury watched the crowd from the ballroom's gallery.

"How long do I have?" Cinder's voice asked through their earpieces.

"You should probably be here by midnight," Mercury replied, guessing the people wouldn't start going to bed until then.

"I'll keep my eyes on the clock."

And with that, the line cut. Mercury and Emerald removed their earpieces to avoid suspicions and pocketed them before slowly moving down to the ballroom's floor.

/-/

Cinder smiled as she cut the call with her servants. After so many failures on Roman's part, it was nice and refreshing to finally be able to do something by herself, so that she could show that clown and his sadistic whore of a sidekick how a real professional got things done. True she was a superior being, something they would never come even close to be able to compare themselves to, but if she could effortlessly infiltrate Beacon and hack into the CCT Tower, then they could do their job and steal some Dust from some poorly-guarded shipment.

What she asked them couldn't be that far out of their pitiful reaches, right?

Apparently it was, given how Torchwick had failed, against a bunch of kids of all things. Which made it twice as bad, because not only he and the White Fang she provided him were easily defeated and sent running with their tails between their legs, pun not intended, but he had actually been so stupid those kids had known he would be there. He was so obvious a bunch of little kids playing heroes had discovered him and kicked his butt. How he managed to remain Vale's greatest criminal for so long, she'd never know.

Perhaps everyone else was just so much pathetic he'd gotten the title by default.

That honestly sounded like the most probable option. She couldn't see him actually climbing the ladder to the top with the level of skill he displayed. Nor with his abysmal level of intelligence – she'd seen Beowolves smarter than him. At least they knew to cower when they were in her presence.

She jumped off the roof of the building she was on and landed on the courtyard, currently clad in just about the most suspicious-looking sexy spy outfit she could find. It wasn't her fault anyway, she had to be stealthy and for stealth she was willing to make exceptions.

That's what she told herself as she barrelled through the surveillance, taking out the guards with extreme prejudice and knocking the others out. She didn't bothering checking if they were alive – but she did drag those outside behind some bushes to prevent random passer-byes from spotting them and getting suspicious.

Not like some random little kid would just up and leave the dance and, after having spotted her running across the rooftops, decided to investigate armed with some kind of oversized gardener's tool. That would just plain be impossible and so unlucky.

In Vale, in some random bar, Qrow Branwen sneezed and sighed when said sneeze caused him to drop his glass, still full of whiskey. "Stupid Semblance…"

Cinder Fall smirked as she entered the tower, unaware that someone, not some random little kid with an oversized farming tool, was watching her very carefully.

Cinder moved swiftly as she entered the tower. There were no secondary entrances, so she simply disabled the cameras using Watts's EMP device. Not that she actually needed any help from the man, but Salem had figured Ozpin shouldn't get to see her magnificent appearance before the Fall of Beacon, where she would burn it forever in his memory… before burning him to ashes as well.

"Hey, you! You're not allowed to be in here at this hour!"

The sudden shout brought her attention to the three guards by the door, and she smiled as she continued to walk towards them, ignoring their hostile expressions.

"Halt! You are under-"

She didn't let him finish as she dashed forth, using her Semblance to create both her weapons and sinking them blade first into the man's chest. Auraless soldiers. So pathetic. Common thugs could have their Auras unlocked, yet the almighty Atlas military didn't unlock the Aura of their infantry soldiers. They thought so highly of themselves yet they were nothing more than morons playing heroes against her.

The irony of her thoughts was lost to her.

With a scoff, she ignored the other two's shocked gasps as she flicked both her swords outwards, striking both of their necks at the same time. Their gasps turned into bloody gurgles as the two fell to the ground with their throats slitted.

With another smile, Cinder calmly opened the door. There was nothing in the world that could stop her, a few more soldiers would do nothing but make her laugh.

The next room was large, and she to admit, at least they tripled the security. Shouts of alarm rose from the ten or so Atlasian soldiers, but they wouldn't stand a chance.

Summoning her bow by fusing together her sword using using her Dust Manipulation to weld them together, she created three arrows and shot the closest two to death before moving ever so slightly out of the way of a couple of shots.

Truly pathetic. She readied her bow again before a soldier charged at her with an energy sword. Without missing a second, she jumped over him, leaving an explosive charge behind as the ground glowed red. While still in the air, she fired her arrows before redirecting them to hit three different soldiers in the necks, killing them. Five down, four more to go.

The explosion left behind tore through the soldier's legs as he fell down to the ground, unconscious.

Correction, six down, three to go.

Two of them charged at her with swords, and she actually had to deflect a hit as she landed, unable to dodge both attacks properly. To punish the soldier, whose gender she didn't know, she cut his or her arm off before sinking her left sword in the other one's chest, effectively disabling both of them.

Leaving the one down an arm for later, she formed an arrow and promptly shot the last one, impaling his head against the wall. Then she turned around, formed a flame in her hand and incinerated the vermin that dared force her to cross blades with him.

She smiled as she headed towards the elevator. Before she could arrive, however, she had to jump out of the way of a large blade of crimson energy that impacted the wall and utterly destroyed the elevator's controls as well as damaging the tower's system. All lights went out as the short-circuit fried the illumination system. Cinder had no idea how long it would take for them to come back, since it wasn't just a blackout where the backup generator would kick in after a few minutes.

For all she knew, she could be left to fight in the dark. Not too much of a problem since she was the closest thing Remnant had to a Goddess of Fire, but still bothersome.

Especially because she had an idea who sent that energy blade at her.

She turned around, glaring at the quickly fading red accents in the darkness, and growled.

"Taurus…"

/-/

Phase one, cut the lights, had gone off without a hitch.

Adam Taurus could see perfectly well the shapes of the corpses left on the floor, and of course the black-clad figure of their adversary. Not too far from him, Neo gave him a thumbs-up. To be completely honest, the human woman looked creepy wearing the night vision googles she had.

Those had been hard to get. They couldn't just use thermal vision as Cinder's flames would've thrown all of that out of the window, so they just bought googles that increased the luminosity of the low-light images while keeping bright lights under a certain level of tolerance. Torchwick had actually been the one who managed to snag one of them, since they were military equipment and thus not available to civilians.

"Taurus…"

Cinder's voice brought him both worry, anger and anticipation. He knew they couldn't go back after this – he'd just declared war against Cinder. If he backed down now, Cinder would kill him before giving the leadership of the White Fang to someone wrapped around her little finger.

If Neo failed, she died alongside Torchwick. She had two lives riding on her success.

He had a lot more to lose. Not only his life, but the lives of everyone in the White Fang. Cinder would lead them in a suicide charge for her own gain, discarding them as soon as she didn't need them any longer and dumping the entire blame on them while she remained hiding, so that the Atlas military would declare war on the Faunus once again.

He couldn't let that happen. As much as he hated humans, now he had another way to fight them. One he got from a human, true, but Roman Torchwick was no ordinary human. For once, he was hated just as much as Taurus himself, and second he actually helped the Faunus. True, he still was a racist prick at times, and a prick at all times, but deep down he actually did offer help.

Now that he had another way, he had to fight to move the White Fang onto the best path to victory. And that path included killing Cinder.

He gripped Wilt tighter before he charged forwards. The plan was simple – he would distract Cinder long enough for Neo to strike her with the poisoned blade of her parasol, and then they would simply wait for the poison to take effect and kill the bitch.

In theory, it was much easier than in practice, but he was fairly confident they could win. Cinder could and would use her flames to fight back the darkness and coat herself in fire, but as much of a fighter as she was, she could still be defeated.

As soon as he made a full circle around the woman, he transformed Blush into its rifle form and shot three times at her.

Cinder simply parried all three bullets with some kind of heat shields before sending an immense wave of fire in his general direction.

He jumped on the wall and, using the vertical surface as a springboard, leapt over the flames, shooting six more times in mid-air. With his night vision, he could see Neo stealthily moving closer to Cinder.

He pondered whether he should taunt her, but quickly decided against it – Cinder would just fill the entire room in flames. He just had to continue running around and keep her annoying. He had to act as if he thought evasive fighting could grant him victory.

Or even better, make her think he was actually fighting.

He dashed forth and swung his sword towards the woman's midsection, but the strike was parried as her bow instantly turned into two swords.

'Damn, Torchwick was right. Her Semblance is annoying,' he growled mentally. He'd have to take in consideration the fact she could turn anything she wanted into… well, anything she wanted. It apparently didn't work unless she was touching it or focusing on it or… well, he knew she couldn't just disintegrate him, that much was sure, or she would've probably done so already.

He reversed his strike and went for a reverse stab, before bringing up his rifle and shooting her in the face when she parried with both swords. She managed to dodge it, but a scowl formed on her face as she pushed him away and wreathed herself in flames.

Overly dramatic bitch.

"Do you really want to do this, Taurus? To throw away your life and abandon your fellow White Fang to their fates?" Cinder mocked him, just as she always did, always behaving as if everyone was nothing but a stain on her shoes and she was some kind of divine superior being they had to serve and worship.

It disgusted him, and reminded him of the Schnees, thinking themselves so perfect. Cinder was the embodiment of the humans he loathed. He'd accepted working for her only because she was giving him no choice. He had turned her away the first time – the second, she'd come bathed in the blood of the White Fang soldiers who tried to stop her.

She took everything she wanted by force.

So she would have everything taken away from her by force.

"You know, if you stop, I'll consider sparing your life." That was a fucking lie, and she knew he knew it. "After all, there is no need to waste resources, no matter how insignificant they may be."

He'd give her insignificant.

He shot her a couple of times before charging away, ignoring the blistering heat as he launched a flurry of attacks against the woman, who just laughed.

"You can't defeat me, Taurus, and you know it."

He shut her out.

She sent out a pulse of white-hot flames, forcing him back, before sending several spheres of concentrated flames at him, who absorbed them into his sword. Considering Cinder's careless use of power, he knew he already had enough charge for a Moonslice, but he wanted to wait a little before continuing.

He jumped out of the way when he saw the ground glowing underneath him, reminding him that Cinder could very well fill the room with fire without moving a single finger, and roast him where he stood.

"Mmh, that was close. I can almost smell the cooked beef from over here…"

Taurus gritted his teeth at the racist remark and launched a savage attack on the woman, ignoring the scorching hot flames that licked at his skin. She just laughed again as she continued to parry and deflect his attacks before fighting back.

With a single swing of her sword, Taurus was sent back several metres before a giant fireball impacted him and sent him crashing against a wall. Cinder lowered her flames and laughed. "Oh my, you almost made me break a sweat. Though that might be due to the fire. It heats up the air, doesn't it?"

Bang.

All combatants turned in shock as General Ironwood strode into the room, revolver in one hand and thermal vision googles on his eyes. Behind him there were Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin, both looking ready for a fight.

"What is going on here?!" Goodwitch yelled, looking beyond furious. Cinder's flames allowed her to be seen perfectly well, while the darkness shrouded Taurus and Neo, the latter of which was almost in position.

Cinder gritted her teeth as she sent Taurus a scorching glare that told him he would quite simply die if Cinder were to escape.

"Halt!" Ironwood shouted, levelling his hand cannon to Cinder and firing off a shot. Cinder simply dodged and darted away, extinguishing her flames as she moved to escape from the room.

And walked right into Neo's waiting arms.

The petite assassin struck immediately, slashing at her and pushing her back, giving Taurus enough time to sheathe Wilt and draw it again, calling upon the inner well of immense power that had been building up inside him and unleashing his Semblance in the world.

Moonslice.

All the hurt he suffered, sent back a hundredfold.

And Cinder Fall was its target.

The energy coalesced into a single slash that looked like a red fracture in the very matter of reality. It seemed to absorb all light around it, darkening the room, but Taurus's hair and sword shone more than ever as his Semblance launched the ultimate attack against the unsuspecting Cinder.

Moonslice struck the False Maiden like the blade of an angel of vengeance, and the resulting red explosion of light blinded everyone in the room.

When it died down, Taurus was shocked to see Cinder still standing.

Her Aura was gone – flickering out of existence before his eyes. But in her hands, a flame lit up, already white hot and growing. A look of pure, absolute hatred was fixed on her face, and for the first time in many years, Adam Taurus felt terrified.

Cinder's murderous eyes, as beaten up as she was, told him he would die by her hand, be it the last thing she did.

Fortunately, someone else moved before him, or her, or the three new arrivals.

Neopolitan darted forwards, uncaring if the newcomers saw her, and stabbed her blade through Cinder's neck. Taurus watched in morbid fascination as the thin blade sliced cleanly through the delicate flesh and came out of the other side, Cinder's crimson vital blood coating the steel.

It was as beautiful as it was macabre.

"Stop! Both of you, stop now!" Ironwood's voice brought him back to reality just in time to raise Wilt to intercept the General's bullet.

Neo was immediately by his side, somehow.

And then the two of them vanished.

/-/

Roman Torchwick was quite enjoying himself at the moment. Between the good food, the drinks, and the company, it was a nice party. Now, if only little Deery could learn how to relax and stop stomping his feet every time he grabbed a new glass, it would be perfect.

He could hold his alcohol well. And besides, those couldn't even be classified as alcohol anyway. They were rich people's shit drinks. Why someone with loads of money would want to buy stuff that costed as much as a house and tasted like cat piss, he would never know.

"What is the plan?" Deery, or Cailín Álainn, asked as the two of them walked around. She was dressed in a simple light blue dress that highlighted the curve of her breast and went down to her heels. In his opinion, she looked very pretty. The simple-yet-expensive dress made her look like some rich trophy wife of his, which he had immediately teased her about, finding great pleasure in watching her invent a new shade of red.

Torchwick politely nodded to an Atlasian guy who happened to look at him for more than a second. He was wearing a white suit over a light orange shirt, that paired well with his hair. He'd foregone the make-up he usually wore, as well as his beloved hat, for once. His hands were bare, his usual black gloves nowhere in sight, as was his scarf. His white pants matched his suit's colour, and his dress shoes completed the look. He missed the familiar feel of Melodic Cudgel in his hand, but he knew he had to leave it behind. "The plan? Enjoy ourselves, and let people in Atlas know that there's a new player in the game."

"That's it?" Cailín asked, surprised and a tad irritated.

"For now, yes. Atlasian people hate surprises and most of all, hate not being prepared. So if we want to get in their good graces, we must let them have time to figure us out before they tentatively approach us to get a good feel. Only then, we can start choosing our contacts." Torchwick smiled at a businessman as the two of them walked by. "After that, we'll focus on strengthening our connections until they can bring us some actual profit. While we do this, of course, we'd have to start sabotaging the SDC to let people know the top dog is going down. We can support and be supported then. Once our connections are solid, we start our new company in Mantle… and go full throttle on the SDC. After that, it's just a matter of time before the SDC falls and stabilizes."

"And you're gonna make us wait that long?" Deery frowned.

Torchwick laughed. "Not me, not you, not dear Adam or Bernard. The SDC will try to crush you in any way possible, and criminal connections -while valued in the Atlasian business world- can easily be used against you. The SDC is extremely powerful – any company it sees as a potential rival is destroyed with either legal means… or by simple assassination." He grabbed two more glasses of champagne and handed her one before gently clinking his own against hers. "We… well, you will have someone else, someone trusted but without criminal background, as the CEO of the company. I am far too well-known to stay undercover forever, same for Taurus. Not that he'd be able to manage a company."

"So, for now, it's just… waiting?" Deery asked, incredulous.

"It's letting them know we're here, and letting them draw their own conclusions." Torchwick perked up when soft music began to play. "And you know, try to act as normal as possible. Wouldn't want them to start getting suspicious, right?"

Cailín shook her head. "Well, that's pretty obvious."

Roman gave her his best charming I-just-tricked-you smile and held out a hand. "Then may I have this dance?"

Her embarrassed blush was more than worth the pain from her poor feet. As it turned out, being a terrorist didn't leave a lot for the arts, and she was a horrible slow dancer.

To him, it didn't matter.

It was just to act normal, after all.

Hope you enjoyed the very important chapter!

So, Cinder's dead. Where did the Maiden's Powers go? How will Salem react? Will Adam and Neo get together? What about Roman and Deery? So many questions, and no answers.

And poor Jaune, he was really looking forward to dancing a little.

Until next time,

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh