Roman stepped out of the shower, massaging his head with an overpriced towel. Everything Neo bought screamed, "I am a very credible owner of this apartment in the most ridiculous residential district in all of Vale."

Leaving the building was difficult for Roman, but for Neo and Junior? Nope. Their faces aren't all over the news, and people aren't talking about him on online forums or whatever he planned to do next. Not even one of the most popular theories surrounding his escape—the VPD refused to release the details—suggested that someone else could have been involved. Not that it surprised him. Roman was the only big bad in the city—no one else to fear, hide from. Roman tied his towel around his waist and stepped into his bedroom.

His apartment was absolutely quiet.

In his old building, he might have been worried that someone snuck in, but this one was so quiet, so fortified, that he didn't even need to think about that possibility. Fortunately, it just meant that Neo wasn't in the apartment.

"What are you doing this early in the morning, Neo?" Roman muttered under his breath, picking up a pair of pants off the dresser as he walked into the kitchen. He hated considering the worst: she was keeping secrets from him. Probably sharing them with Red, the strangely elusive third party. Why would Neo go to her before she went to him? Some petty thing with girls and gossiping?

Roman picked up his scroll and considered sending a text to Neo, but he realized that if he was right, she wouldn't give him an honest answer. He opted to call Junior instead, punching his number into the keypad.

The number dialed, and Roman put it on speakerphone to quickly put on his pants. After he zipped up, he picked up his scroll and held it to his ear. Instead of Junior, he got his voicemail. Roman growled and hung up.

What the hell were they doing?


Ruby jumped at the sound of someone's phone ringing.

"Sorry, that's me," said Junior. He pulled his scroll out of his pocket, frowning when he saw the caller ID. "It's Roman."

Neo dragged her thumb across her throat and shook her head.

Junior denied the call and put it back in his pocket. Reaching for the scotch on the counter behind him, he held a glass up to Ruby. "Want some?"

Timidly, Ruby shook her head.

Junior shrugged innocently. "You will."

Neo clapped her hands, attracting Junior's attention. Fluidly, she gestured artful symbols guided by expertise and control. Junior interpreted, "We need to talk about what we're going to do moving forward. Protecting you from this point on will be extremely difficult."

"What does that mean?"

Neo had nothing to say, and Junior spoke with reticence. "Well, Roman has been known to have been very sagacious in his past when this sort of thing happens, and he isn't going to be happy that we're keeping this from him."

"What?" Ruby spat.

"He will eventually figure out who you are. That is inevitable," Junior postulated.

Neo started signing again, Junior speaking for her, "We just need to figure out what's going to be done."

Ruby bit her lip. "Why am I involved, then?"

"After a very long discussion, we have decided that a mutual agreement between the three of us will be the most beneficial decision."

"Are you even going to tell me why?" Ruby asked.

Neo and Junior exchanged glances. Junior spoke, "There is absolutely no fallback on you if you choose to go to the police."

"Honestly, I have no reason not to go to the police right now."

"Actually, you do," Junior remarked, taking a swig of his drink. "If you go to the police, you'll end up putting your life in danger."

"Is that a threat?" Ruby stammered, voice wavering.

"No. Roman will probably do it himself. Finding out that you went to the police about that won't piss him off, it'll scare the living crap out of him. Roman is like an animal in the way that he gets more dangerous when he's cornered."

A lightbulb may as well have gone off above his head. "So telling the police would endanger his life! That's what you're not telling me."

Junior pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So what is it? The police didn't kill him in captivity, so why would they kill him if they knew I saved his life?" Ruby speculated, "They wouldn't. So who is he in trouble with?"

Junior cocked his head to the side and smirked. "I like your style, kid." He turned to Neo, who was shaking her head. "At this point, she'd only need to do a half hour of research to put all of the pieces together."

Neo signed expressively in response.

"Really, what's the harm in giving her what we know?"

Neo barely even moved before Junior countered, "Roman is quite capable of protecting himself. As long as we have a plan moving forward, we won't need to worry protecting anybody."

"Doesn't that mean that you have to tell Torchwick who I am if he isn't going to freak out?" Ruby wondered, thinking about the threat he still posed.

"That's going to be tricky, and we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Okay, kid, so basically, Roman got in trouble with the cartel, stealing drug money or something like that. They gave him a choice: die or take the fall for a crime."

"How does that have anything to do with me?" Ruby asked.

"Well, Roman wasn't actually at the crime scene, but whoever set it up planted evidence that he was there. Thing is, Roman was actually miles away in a subway at the exact time it took place."

"I'm his alibi," Ruby realized. "But wait, why would it be bad for Torchwick to prove that he couldn't have done it?"

"Apparently, they needed a certain narrative."

"Which means…?"

"No one would suspect that the cartel had anything to do with it. From what I remember, the original plan was for Roman to do time, but he was exceptional at evading arrest, so it never happened. Now, he's infamous for crimes he actually did commit, so everyone assumes that it was just his debut or something like that. Cartel's happy either way as long as no one turns their nose up at them."

"So, say I did go to the police and warned them about their involvement. What then?"

"That's ill-advised. There are plenty of dirty cops in the division that would probably give them a heads-up. Cartel starts a manhunt."

"Is it really still relevant now?"

Junior sighed, "Ask him."

"Wait, he didn't even tell you everything?"

"He's not proud of it."

Neo started signing with Junior's help, "He felt like he was given an opportunity to balance the scales when he saw that you needed help. It helped him cope."

"What, like some kind of hero complex?"

Neo snickered.

Junior broke out into laughter. "No, not like a hero complex."

Ruby blushed. "Oh."

When Junior finally settled down, he suggested, "Okay, so let's figure out what we're going to do about this."

"Move cautiously?" Ruby submitted.

"No," Junior thought. "I think we have to just break the news to him."

Ruby reminded him, "Isn't that a bad thing?"

"I can already tell that this is driving him crazy. He will not stop until he gets some answers, so it's better if we tell him sooner."

"So then what are we going to do?"

Neo signed. "Are you willing to do something risky?" Junior supplied.

Ruby mulled over the possibilities in her mind. Torchwick probably doesn't even trust her, so what would really stop him from tying up any loose ends on the spot?

But what if he didn't want to?

"What do you have in mind?"