"My Queen."
"Cinder."
She'd have known instantly who had all the power in the room -to the extent this mass of black Grimm flesh could be called a room- even before Cinder dropped to kneel.
"When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you," the pale-skinned woman observed, rising from her throne: apparently carved rock (possibly bone?) dotted with patches of black ichor. "So I trust you would not possibly return to me empty-handed..."
Cinder held up the lamp in her right hand. "The Relic of Knowledge- I took it right out from under Ironwood's nose."
She took-?
Kind of takes all the credit for herself, doesn't she?
Neo ruefully crossed her arms, indignant. Not that she was at all surprised that Cinder would be so callous, but given their... tenuous alliance, she really did want to have her host's favor... more than she cared for Cinder sharing the credit. The woman who styled herself a queen was the one she'd need to impress.
You're not alone here.
She'd heard him before he spoke up. Her hand instinctively moved to her parasol, until she noticed his attention was not on her. "Outsmarting the general speaks less to your intellect... and more to his. After all, you were outsmarted by those children first..."
So... that man has a robot tail...
Indeed he did. Was it Atlesian tech, like the new arm on the Xiao Long...?
"And according to radio chatter, that same general and his forces outsmarted you," Cinder shot back, even though she remained kneeling; prostrate before her queen. "A shame Watts never made it back..."
Ooh, feisty.
Another tense working relationship. It seemed the others aboard this... vessel were just as fond of Cinder as Neo was.
"I'm afraid the doctor was a necessary sacrifice," the thin man with the robot tail lamented, before gesturing with the same robot appendage at Neo. "I do hope this little one doesn't become another."
Neo turned her attention to him, glaring and clenching her fist.
He's trying to bait you. Don't make a scene when you have an audience.
Wise words. The pragmatic warning of her mentor.
Though he didn't sound quite the same... maybe something about the ambience of the vessel... or the presence of-
"Who is she...?"
Salem had finally noticed her. And while she sounded curious, Neo didn't miss she also sounded suspicious.
Easy, kid. Keep her guessing.
Cinder's tone was neutral. "Neopolitan has some very useful abilities and has proven to be a valuable asset."
Another reminder from Cinder how she was perceived. Another sign of her contempt for her supposed ally... whom she merely saw as an underling.
Neo could take some satisfaction in noting Cinder had been forced to kneel. So whatever power Cinder thought she held over Neo, it was not power enough to be in control of her own destiny...
"Hm, you certainly do enjoy collecting assets..." Salem mused.
Eyes on this one, kid. Don't let her sense fear. But don't be too brave either...
Neo dropped her glare while Salem's attention was on her. She didn't pretend to be meek... but she made a point to be less openly defiant.
Her partner had once taught her that she was at her strongest when she went unnoticed. He had a way of making backhanded compliments... oddly charming.
Some other cavity in this Grimm creature opened behind the cybernetic Faunus man. Neo noticed a few familiar faces... she'd hoped not to be bothered by them again...
Chick in green, two dudes with attitude... friends of yours'?
Friends?
Neo made a mental note of it before turning her attention to Cinder, ranting about the Maiden she was supposed to kill -and had botched her opportunity while Neo accomplished her mission- and ranting some more about how that power would be hers'...
Salem eventually interceded, weary of the prattle. "I've given no such command."
Cinder was given momentary pause, but could not quite manage to stifle her ambitions: her lust for the Maiden's power was too great to ignore. "Ma'am, now is the time to-"
Salem drew her fingernails over her throne. The room pulsed with baneful red energy, immediately cowing Cinder to silence. "This game is not yours' to win, Cinder - it's mine. Just because you're more valuable to me than a pawn does not make you a player..."
I like this lady.
Neo noted this too. Another curiosity.
"Everything is already in motion," Salem assured Cinder. "All you need concern yourself with is your ability to act when I tell you to."
"...of course," Cinder conceded, submissively bowing her head. "Without you, I am nothing."
Some people need to learn the hard way.
Not the lesson Roman would've imparted. Not his voice after all.
Not memory, not extrapolation. Thoughts not her own.
Neo turned her gaze towards Salem, the obvious choice. No, if it had been her, why would she offer advice on how not to draw her ire?
Emerald? Her Semblance cast illusions... but Neo thought she'd heard the voice before Emerald entered the room...
She turned her gaze to the lamp still floating above Salem's hand. Was it something about that curious relic...?
Looks like you've made me. I guess it's time to talk.
Neo watched Salem relax in her throne while her cabal of allies gathered around her. There was no better time to fade into the background and go unnoticed.
And it seemed she had someone to talk to...
Neo did not go far, simply out the same tunnel or pathway Cinder had led her through to this chamber. Just far enough away to avoid the queen's eye.
I know you don't talk, kid, but I talk enough for both of us. So let's get to it, huh?
Neo could agree to that. Though she wanted to start with the obvious. Why was she hearing a voice that wasn't her own?
So, here's the deal... I'm currently... without a body. It took me a while to get our thoughts synched up like this, but I've actually been here in your head for a while.
And how long -exactly- was a while?
I popped in here after you fought that woman in the white mask -she opened a portal into another dimension with her sword, and then you very narrowly avoided that same sword cutting your head off. The energy intersected between her blade and your... uh, what was it again?
Neo wasn't sure what the voice was referring to. When she dodged Raven Branwen's sword, she'd used her Semblance to retreat...
Semblance, that's it. And you used it again a few weeks after that when you fought a girl with her own ability, and she dashed at you with some fancy speed... speed that supercharged you when the two of you clashed and sent that energy back around...
When she and Ruby Rose fought aboard Blue Two over Beacon?
When Roman died...?
Anyway, I was dormant here for a loooooong time after that, until you found that lamp doohickey and connected to another interdimensional signature and finally gave me enough points of intersection to put my thoughts together again...
Neo didn't care for this diatribe. Though at least she had some understanding of how it came about... what did the voice mean the lamp had been in another dimension? Was that where that broken door in the vault under Haven led? To another dimension?
I'll spare you the details, but the long and short of it is: my world was destroyed by a wave of antimatter, but I preserved myself by moving my consciousness into a... well, another dimension, like I was saying. But I couldn't get back out because my world was reset by some other event that I can't really get into the specifics of... and I tried to find a host there and it didn't quite work out...
A world destroyed? Yet another alternate dimension? And there was an anti- matter now...?
Neo had heard the most important word all too clearly: host. This voice was little more than a parasite looking to take up residence...
Hey, I can sense your hostility, kid, but trust me: I'm not your enemy. You might say I'm the reverse...
Neo was listening. Not that there seemed to be much choice.
I found this place because in another timeline, in an entirely different Earth five hundred years in the future... uh, my future that is, my people discovered your planet. I figured if Earth was recreated after the initial antimatter wave, maybe this place, this... "remnant" would be too.
Neo was growing weary of this unfamiliar voice. She was once again thinking of ways to purge herself of it.
Whoa, hey, easy there. Don't be too hasty... turns out that this is your lucky day. See, I'm the answer man. I'm the answer to all your prayers...
Her partner taught her to be skeptical: never to believe, never to trust...
Like maybe you want something to change, huh? Like you want someone who knows how to rewrite the past...?
Never to... hope...
That witch -Salem, was it?- may be powerful, but she can't rewrite time. I can. I'm the only one who knows how... and that girl in red that you've been after is the key to me doing just that.
Neo couldn't deny her curiosity. Surrounded by enemies on a living Grimm vessel... it was a strange place to dare to hope.
But first, the obvious question. Who -exactly- was this voice in her head...?
My name... is Eobard Thawne.