Chapter 16: Bad news and babysitting.

Roman was having a good day. Not that many problems needed solving, no homework to grade, and no classes full of idiots either. In fact the day looked awfully too good. Those suspicions were confirmed when Neo brought a cigar with her when she returned in the evening. He gulped when she handed it to him.

Roman took a long smoke of his cigar before mustering the courage to ask what was going on. "Bad news?" Was what he finally got out of his mouth.

Neo responded with a slight nod. Roman took yet another smoke and braced himself before continuing onwards. He might be somewhat accustomed to bad news at this point. But with everything that was on stake lately he really couldn't afford anything to go wrong. Anything.

"What exactly is it that happened, Neo?" Roman was getting increasingly worried very quickly. Despite his best efforts it was very noticeable in his voice.

Neo took up a little note from her pocket, giving it to him and taking a place right behind him. This truly only served to make Roman insanely worried. Neo never felt the need to write notes to him; she could usually communicate with him completely fine without them. Nevertheless he slowly began reading the note.

"Team RWBY did what?!" He finally screamed out. Suddenly Neo's actions were completely understandable, as while he had been reading she had gotten into a position which allowed her to save him from a particularly painful collision with the stone floor.

As Roman tried to gather his few remaining senses Neo patted him lightly on the shoulder apologetically as she helped him up. It was a nice gesture, but Roman was already practically fuming.

"God damn brats! I tell them to stay low, keep their heads down and not make any trouble and they proceed to not only investigate, but also join the white fang!" Roman had a hard time believing just how stupid these kids were. "Aren't Beacon students supposed to be the best? Aren't they supposed to have at least half a Brain?"

Roman slowly calmed himself down. Sighing loudly before sitting down on the floor.

"What are we supposed to do Neo?" He finally asked.

She smashed her fists together suggestively. Jumping straight to solving the problem with beating someone up. Roman wished it would be as simple as that.

"Although I would love to, we sadly just can't go about smashing this time. It's way too risky and as much as I want to beat someone up over this I prefer staying at Beacon in the professors quarters rather than in a cell in the basement."

Still, Roman would have to find some way of dealing with team RWBY. With violence off the table and confrontation looking like a fine way to spur them even further towards the white fang, Romans hands were pretty hardly tied. He could wait and hope they'd lose interest before they got too deep, before they found too much information or even Cinder herself.

Sadly it was a fool's hope, and Roman was no fool. He was still responsible for team RWBY's survival on the headmasters orders. Should anything happen he would be in trouble. Trouble Roman would prefer avoiding.

Finally he glanced over towards Neo who looked like she was currently lost in her thoughts. Judging by her face she was most likely thinking about either ice cream, excessive amounts of violence or a certain blonde boy. It was really hard to tell which one.

She was probably his best bet if he wanted to come out of the mess alive. And no matter how much Roman hated using Neos talents for spying on little kids she was incredibly good at it.

"Hey Neo, although you're probably really busy with your little boyfriend and all, would you mind infiltrating the white fang together with some students?" Roman said while somehow keeping a very innocent smile on his face.

If looks could kill, Roman would be a very dead man. But luckily for him Neo did still need him for ice cream.

It didn't take long for Neo to get to work. However Roman had been forced to pay up a ridiculous sum of money to pay for the ice cream Neo demanded as reparations for her work.

Shattering into glass with ice cream in hand she then plotted a course towards the place where she had last spotted the team that now was the source of her increased workload. To no surprise at all she found them exactly where she expected them to be.

Peeking through a basement window she spotted the Blonde and the cat sitting on a big red couch which looked like it was far due for the garbage disposal. To the side the red haired hyperactive little girl looked to be bugging the overly serious white haired Schnee brat. All in all Neo would have been completely fine without seeing.

Suddenly a door on the opposite side of the basement flew up with a loud bang followed by the entrance of a female Faunus with a brown tail. Neo was quite certain she recognised the girl from her discovery of team idiots' little self given infiltration mission.

"Hey everyone! Great news!" The Faunus shouted out wich got the attention of everyone in the room

"What's happened Aria?" Yang asked as she and her fellow team members looked curiously at the Faunus.

"We have gotten ourselves an assignment. And it's a really important one" the girl responded with pride in her voice. In fact she was smiling like a maniac. Probably on the verge of bursting with pride.

The reactions in the room were mixed to say the least. With most of the white fang members looking very excited. All of them were very ready to finally start doing what they had signed up for. Each and every one of them shared their leader's pleased expression, with some of them even cheering out loud.

The four infiltrators all tried to at least look like they were sharing these emotions. If Neo was going to judge they all pulled it off with various levels of success. The Schnee, which Neo had thought would be the most against anything even related to the white fang actually pulled off the most convincing act. Neo could almost have believed her to be as fanatic as your average terrorist. The one with the cat ears however really could not make her true emotions more clear. Had anyone actually cared to look around the room at that moment the girl would have been caught red handed instantly.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Roman had decided to call off their whole involvement with those stupid terrorists. And while the fact that she had gotten a babysitting job for someone just as stupid was an annoyance, she could easily just paint a picture of a certain stupid, weak and very good looking blonde in her mind if things got boring. Truly Neo really looked forward to some more training sessions with him.

Sadly however, torturing him would have to wait. Right now there were four brats and some terrorists for her to spy on. And besides Neo would be lying if she said that whatever mission that the terrorists spoke of hadn't caught her curiosity. If she was lucky Roman might be willing to hand her over something extra in return for whatever information she could bring him that could keep him out of trouble. Perhaps she could tell him for free, but what would be the fun in that?

At least the cheers from the white fang had finally died down, allowing for their leader to speak.

"Brothers and sisters, before we begin diving further there is something I must make clear. I know many of you have family here and many of you would not like them to suffer. But I have been told by Adam himself that a storm is coming. Perhaps it would be best if you told those close to you to pack up and leave town for a little while."

The light feeling in the room had been replaced with something much heavier. Neo could tell that everyone within the basement now listened intently to what was being said. Especially the four girls who all looked like they were about to have panic attacks.

"Now then, we have been handed over a shipment of dust. Coincidentally enough to blow up most of the residential district in fact."

As the terrorists' interests peaked, the girl Roman had dubbed little red looked to be on the verge of tears. Her team didn't seem to be taking the news much better.

"In fact, this operation is so important, that I have the pleasure to announce to you that we will be joined by none other than our glorious leader himself" Aria continued with a look that just screamed Fanatic.

Neo tensed and readied herself. She didn't want to fight on such unfavourable terms, but if her assumptions were correct there might not be many options. And as a figure Neo knew well stepped into the room she could distinctly see what word his lips formed, despite all of the booming applauds from the two dussin fanatics in the room.

"Blake?"

AN

Ladies and gentlemen I have returned to you, with yet another chapter of this lovely story which despite what many of you might think actually isn't dead. My excuse is simply exam period followed by summer laziness. Hardly the best excuse, but when you're on vacation it can be hard to motivate oneself into sitting down and writing for long periods at a time. Updates will probably keep being somewhat irregular for a while until I both get out of my lazy streak and school stabilizes.

Zune.