Roman groaned for the fiftieth time this morning. Cinder dropped by earlier to tell Roman that he was slacking off the job. As much as Roman wanted to tell her that was a steaming pile of bullshit, he kept his mouth shut and got in the car with her. Roman left a note on the counter for Neo, but instead of the truth, his sloppy calligraphy read, "I went back to my own place. Thanks for the drinks."

Cinder kept quiet the whole way, even in spite of the loud complaints Roman had about waking him up at the fucking ass crack of dawn. When they arrived in the construction zone of an apartment building, Cinder started talking.

"This is our new base of operations." Cinder made a right turn, swerving into the parking lot. Roman was damn near sure that she did it intentionally because he refused to put on his seatbelt when she told him to.

"We just turned off of a public street. How is this covert?" Roman peered out the window and up at the naked, gray structure of the building. Almost every room was visible from where he was, which meant that everyone on the streets could see in if they just looked this way.

"The basement underneath is two floors deep and it spans wider than that building right there." Cinder lifted a hand off the steering wheel and pointed out the window. "They originally planned to build two."

Roman noticed her choice of words. "Originally?"

"The budget fell through. The cars over here," Cinder gestured with a lazy sweeping motion, "belong to the company that wanted to build this thing in the first place. They're on the first floor talking about what they're going to do."

"What, did you ask them?" Roman remarked sarcastically.

"Yes."

Roman's head jerked around. "What?"

Cinder scowled. "Of course I did. I'm not wanted by the Vale Police Department, and I wouldn't be allowed in the building otherwise."

"What about me?" Roman wondered if Cinder had a mask somewhere in the car. Aren't those illegal in Vale?

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it." She slowed down the car and maneuvered it backwards into a parking space, pulling as close to the fence as possible without touching it.

Roman knew this trick. "You couldn't find a marked car?"

"Not on short notice." Cinder pulled the key out of the ignition and opened the door.

"What happened?" Roman asked, wondering what new developments could have formed in a week.

As he got out of his side of the car, Cinder responded, "I need your expertise on a job." It was hardly audible, but Roman picked up on the annoyance that tinged her voice. Was Cinder relying on Roman to do something?

Roman's brows furrowed in thought. "A job with a timeframe. What is it?"

"I'll tell you inside." Cinder pivoted on her heel and strutted in the direction of the front office. Roman's eyes scanned the parking lot for anyone that was watching. He was out in broad daylight, following anxiously behind Cinder, preparing for the possibility of being recognized.

But Cinder pushed open the front door, and no one was at the receptionist's desk. Regardless of how barren and decrepit it was, no one was in the front office. Cinder marched ahead to the elevator, her chin held high, her hips swaying, and pressed the down button to the elevator. When the elevator bell chimed, Roman paced across the floor and followed Cinder into the elevator.

Chuckling under his breath, Roman glanced at the panel, which he noticed had buttons for forty floors. Cinder, assuming what he must have been thinking, growled, "Don't touch any of those." She chose the button labeled "G1."

When the doors opened, the smell funneled into the chamber and hit Roman in the face. He stepped back, spluttering and reaching to pinch his nose shut. "God, what the hell are you guys doing down here?"

"Making bombs." Not even scrunching up her face, Cinder gracefully walks through the elevator doors and turns down a hallway light through windows.

When Roman followed her, he saw what was through the windows for himself. At their own separate stations, men were combining casings of explosive cesium and powdered dust with wired contraptions. "What do we need those for?"

Cinder stopped at the end of a hall, opened the last door, and stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to enter. With what little he knows about the job, Roman wondered what exactly motivated Cinder to the point that she would seek out Roman's help. I mean, heck, she probably needed it, but is Cinder not as arrogant as Roman thought her to be? Inside the room, Emerald, Mercury, and a guy that Roman did not recognize sat at a large, wooden table facing the humongous TV.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Mercury proclaimed, his arms outstretched and his gaze cast upwards.

"We need you to advise us on an important job," Cinder explained.

"Which is…?"

Emerald leaned forward to pick up a small remote that fit in her hand. She pointed it at the TV and pressed a button, changing the slide.

Roman recognized the layout instantly. "The East Ordinance Bank. You've gotta be kidding me."

"We need money," Cinder stated.

"Why in hell would you choose the highest security bank in the most highly-populated area of Vale?" Roman exclaimed.

"We aren't looking to rob the bank," Cinder said, "Just one person in particular."

The man whose name Roman did not know finally spoke. "Sidney Moore. He's a con artist who embezzled money from the charity that funds research for a cure to letumosis."

Last year's epidemic, Roman remembered. "How much money?" Roman questioned.

"Approximately twenty million dollars," Cinder responded plainly.

Roman's head swiveled violently, garnering Cinder's unfazed attention. "They only got fifteen million in donations."

"I only showed you the official one ten months ago. In the black budget, they actually had sixty million dollars, but they only used ten million for legitimate purposes." Cinder looked back up at the screen.

"Wait a second, where's the money now?" Roman asked.

"Safety deposit box number 158," Mercury replied with a bored expression. In his fingers, Roman noticed a key dangling from a chain.

Cinder crossed her arms. "Just let us explain what needs to be done, and we can get to asking what happens next. But for now, just listen."

Roman sighed, but he nodded his head.