A/N: WARNING! PLEASE READ THIS NOTE WOULD YOU KINDLY?
EDIT: Ha! Is that all the flames/trolls in the comments can muster! I've seen puppies with more bite than their death threats! Bah!
NOTE: An Untraveled Road is coming along nicely, nearly at the 10,000 word mark for the next chapter with no sign of slowing down yet. I intend to have that chapter out before Halloween at the latest. But before I let run away with my muse, I needed to update Partners in Crime (this!) and New Gods of Remnant. Nevermind real life interference, two jobs, a bum leg, and the holiday season coming. In short? Busy, busy, busy!
Next, this be a work of fiction here. Lets just sit back and enjoy it, eh? Threatening me just hurts my creativity and pisses me team off.
That said, this particular chapter ain't for the faint of heart. Now I've explored sensitive subjects before, but this? Steel your heart. That's all I'm going to say on the matter. Anymore than this would ruin the arc we've prepared.
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Still here? Lovely!
Now that we've gotten that obligatory disclaimer out of the way, let the raid commence. The story arc is finally here~!
As ever, I own no references, quotes, themes or memes found within. Nope! Not a thing.
Cinder's just on the horizon, but Roman and Neo don't know it yet.
Pray she doesn't discover Naruto. Just...pray.
"Man, that's messed up. I mean, we're crooks an' all, but at least we're honest about it. Winchester, though...
...hoo boy. Media's gonna eat him alive for this. He's screwed."
"Did you hear a voice just now?"
"Bah. Ignore it."
"No."
~Roman and Naruto.
Partners in Destruction
The Winchester estate wasn't much to look at.
For a family who espoused themselves as the pride of Vale, their home wasn't really all that large or worthwhile to look at. In reality it was an ugly, squat brown building on the edge of the city; one that looked like little more than a townhouse or the distant cousin of a mansion. Almost sad really, Naruto thought. All that pomp and arrogance for this? It all seemed so foolish. Petty, even. This family made their livelihood on the backs of those less fortunate, picking on the powerless and helpless.
Sasuke would've burned them down on the spot. Even now, his stolen eye ached behind the bandages, longing to set fire to this wretched place.
Naruto wasn't much looking forward to meeting Winchester in person. It promised to be...explosive.
Roman had advised striking under the cover of darkness, and he'd happily ceded to the gentleman thief's suggestion. Slip in, strike hard, strike fast, and get out. At the end of the day Roman wanted to be noticed; needed his crime to be seen, if not heard, while avoiding capture. With a little luck they'd be out and away before anyone was the wiser.
"This Winchester guy...he has a family, right?"
"Yup." Roman smacked his lips. "Supposedly they're on "vacation" or something," a liberal use of air quotes followed. "But in truth he's a known womanizer and estranged from his wife and child. Bastard's also responsible for a good fourth of Beacon's funding, meaning he's swimming in cash. Used to be a council member, too."
Naruto felt his jaw click open. "Beacon...as in the hunter school? That Beacon?"
"One and the same." Roman twirled his cane. "What about it?"
"Should we really be messing with this?" he asked. "He might have guards. I'm not keen on fighting anyone tonight."
Neo's bumped her hip against his to get his attention. Her expression was positively giddy.
"Neo, no." Naruto booped her nose for it. "No killing. I mean it." Naturally, she tilted her head and pretended not to hear him. "Roman, a little help here?"
"C'mon, boss. This is your plan. Not mine. See the cameras?" the thief flicked his cane toward the north and south ends of the manor. "Place is locked up tight. This is the only way we're getting in."
"Its your bloody heist!"
Naruto took another look at the townhouse and steeled himself when Roman whistled innocently. He willed his heart to harden, shutting out the tiny voice of protest in the back of his head. Winchester would be easy to deal with. he knew the type. One job. A quick in and out. He didn't have to like this; feelings were irrelevant in the matter. He'd pay Roman's favor back and be on his way. Where that was, he'd no idea, but it was a start. Anywhere was better than here. No more of this "Boss" business, and no need to wrestle with his guilt anymore. Just get it done.
"There's your game face." Roman clapped him on the back. "You sure this plan of yours is gonna work?"
"Oh, it will." Naruto groaned into a palm. "That's...that's gonna be the problem."
Neo looked fit to cackle at the both of them for his so-called "plan".
"We good to go?"
Naruto exhaled in a long suffering sigh as he checked over his concealed equipment for what felt like the umpteenth time. Everything was just as he'd left it. A lone kunai secured up his right sleeve, a number of sleeping darts that Roman had procured from who-knew-where, a pair of lockpicks generously "liberated" from someone he didn't know...
...
...
...
And a gun.
That was Neo's contribution in this madness; a simple dust pistol with something called a silencer attached to its barrel. Supposedly it was simple to use. Point, aim, and pull the trigger. So uncivilized. Death, just a single discreet trigger pull away. Naruto pulled it from its hidden holster, scowled at the damn thing, then awkwardly jammed it back into its resting place before he gave himself one last once over.
"Right," he sighed and stepped back into the shadows. "Not point in putting it off any longer."
He slapped his hand together and his body pulsed with chakra.
Funny thing about the transformation jutsu, folks. Its absurdly useful, nearly undetectable to anyone lacking chakra, and above all? Pragmatic. Naruto could've worn anyone's face on this heist, but that would've felt like besmirching their memory. Instead he'd settled for a tried and true favorite, one guaranteed to get them in the door.
"Damn, kid." Roman whistled as he emerged from cover of darkness. "You clean up niiiice!"
Neo nodded silently and poked his chest.
Naruto twitched. "I will end you."
Her coy expression said it all as she gave him another poke. Adding insult to injury, she mouthed the words:
"Worth it."
Naruto swiped at her and she ducked under his limb, shoulders shaking with mirth.
He was never going to live this down. He just knew it.
"Right. Let's get this over with...
(.0.0.0.)
So very worth it, indeed.
Neo watched intently as her boss strode up to the Winchester manor, hips swaying.
It was a rather odd thought for her, all things considered. For the longest time, she'd thought it would be only her and Roman. Just the two of them. Nice and simple. Then blondie here fell from the sky and quite suddenly, Roman wasn't in charge anymore. Not after the lashing Naruto had given him. Neo didn't mind, of course. After all, he was broken. She liked broken things.
That said, blondie didn't look half bad as a woman.
Upon reaching the door, the disguised blond knocked twice, knuckles bristly rapping against the worn wood. That transformation trick of his proved its worth tenfold; not only did it get someone to open the door, but said someone immediately brought their target right to them. Exactly as planned. Was he a wizard, she wondered? Normal people couldn't do that. Maybe he really was from another world.
She and Roman held back in the shadows, watching, waiting
Winchester turned out to be a fat old lech with thinning hair and gut fit to rival an Ursa. Yuck. Lots of yuck. All the yuck. Neo's lip curled at the sight of him, yet within moments Naruto had him drooling and fawning like a fool. Maybe he'd used some kind of trick? It had to be. No one else could stand to be in the presence of that...thing and not vomit.
Without warning, the blond stepped forward and gave the lech a shove, knocking him back through the door with a startled squawk.
Roman shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, raced across the yard, leaped over the blond's shoulders when he ducked aaaand-
"FORE!"
Heh. Nailed it.
Melodic Cudgel cracked upside Winchester's head and laid him out flat before he could even think to recover, much less lever his impressive girth off the floor. Naruto's boot cracked out when he tried to rise, and that fat fool dropped into blissful slumber with nary a sound. By the time Neo cleared the door, the blond had already reverted to normal. Only the faintest plume of smoke showed that he'd ever been anything other than himself as he sealed the door behind them.
"Ugh." he convulsed in a full body shudder. "I hate using that jutsu on guys. I need a shower after that."
"Sure you won't wanna tie him up?" Roman offered. "Or maybe you'd like him to tie you up."
Naruto's face turned a bright, sputtering red. "Roman, what the hell?!"
Roman cackled all the way to the basement.
Neo laughed soundlessly with him.
"Traitors!"
Poor, poor blondie. He was already stuck with them. He just didn't realize it yet.
(.0.0.0.)
Naruto didn't understand computers.
A rather fair assessment, given that Remnant's technology was already leagues above and beyond his own to begin with. Mouse? Keyboard? What in the blue hell were those? Data? Files? Hardware? Were those things you ate? He wouldn't know what to do with a computer if someone smacked him over the head with it. Maybe not even then.
Roman was another matter entirely.
Much to Naruto's chagrin, his accomplice had taken one look at the computer in Winchester's office and pounced. Now his fingers flew across the keyboard, gliding through screens and text that Naruto couldn't even begin to understand, much less process. He'd inserted something called a USB drive into this "computer" and was currently downloading file after into it. He'd only caught the barest meaning of it all.
"Man, this is some messed up stuff." Torchwick whistled aloud. "I mean, we're crooks and all, but at least we're honest about it. Winchester, though...hoo boy." Another file, another click, another image. "So many secrets, so little time." He chuckled softly to himself, rubbing his hands together. "Media's gonna eat him alive for this."
"Will it be enough?"
"Probably?" Torchwick shrugged. "Politics in Vale are...irritating at best." something dark flashed across his face, but he suppressed it quickly. "When you fling shit at someone, you gotta make sure it sticks. This might be enough to bury him. It might not. Hard to say. Definitely enough to tank public opinion of him, though. Might even affect Beacon, given his ties."
Naruto risked a glance over his shoulder.
"Where did Neo run off to?" he asked. "She was here a second ago."
"Eh," Roman shrugged anew. "She's probably off raiding one of the upper rooms or something."
"And if she gets herself caught...?"
An orange brow rose.
"Fair point."
Neo was Neo, after all. They both knew she could handle herself if it came to a fight; from what little he could sense in the floors above, there were few if any staff to worry about. Anyone she encountered would wake up with a headache coming morning, little more. Winchester, though? Scum. Through and through. Any lingering doubts he might've felt vanished the moment he met that...creature. Little more than a ball of fear and hate and lust, that one. To think, he'd actually laid hands on that foolish fop while tying him up. Blech!
Still, with Roman hard at work, that left him with little to do.
Winchester's office was small; downright cramped even, with Roman behind the desk he barely had enough room to peer over his shoulder, much less sit. As the moments passed into minutes and Roman continued to pry through the computer, Naruto found himself growing increasingly restless.
For lack of anything better to do, the blond stretched out his senses again.
He heard a whimper and they snapped back with a start.
"What was that?"
"Ignore it." the thief muttered. "We're here for info and cash, nothing more. Don't go wandering off."
"No," Naruto shot him a black look as he stepped out of the office, searching for the sound. "I know I heard something."
"Don't get lost!" Roman hissed after him. "I'm almost done here!"
His words went ignored.
The Winchester manor might look large from the outside, but as far as the lower floors were concerned, it was surprisingly confined. They'd blundered onto this office by chance near the stairs, and beyond that, there were only two routes leading forward. One hastened back to the stairs they'd come down; while the other led around the corner to another chamber. There was little in the way of light down that way; only faint flickering gloom illuminated by the light from Winchester's office. The shadows called to him, beckoning sweetly.
On a whim, Naruto stretched out his senses yet again.
This time he felt a presence. There was something, or rather someone, lurking nearby. Had they made that noise earlier?
Steeling himself, the wayward shinobi marched into the dark, resolved to seek whatever secrets lurked here.
Imagine his surprise then, when he came to a dead end almost immediately and ran headlong into a wall. Surprise warred with suspicion and the latter stomped the former down with ease as he stepped back. This didn't make any sense. Why build a corridor here only for it to lead nowhere? He stepped forward again, intent to see if it was a trick, only to stumble as the floor turned uneven underfoot. His booted foot caught something in the low lighting and blind, he grabbed at a wall.
He fell with a yelp.
His flailing hand closed around an empty torch sconce and it yielded beneath his grasp, flaring to life and light. A portion of the wall slid back with a ponderous groan and he found himself facing a metal door replete with a heavy padlock latched into the handle.
"Well," he muttered. "That's not ominous at all." On a whim, he pressed his ear against it. "Hello? Anybody in there?"
Someone whimpered behind the door. "Mmph!"
Instinct took over and he reared back to kicked the door..
Metal buckled beneath his boot, squealing loudly. Naruto scowled and kicked it again, causing the frame to warp beneath the blow. A third and final kick sent the door crashing down like a mighty elm altogether. Some small part of him winced. There was no way that would go unnoticed, even down here. Swift strides carried him forward into the dark, but his keen vision held. He reached for a light switch on the wall and found a cord instead. He yanked it, squinting as hazy light flooded the room.
And so he saw.
"What...the hell is this?"
There was a young faunus woman hanging before him, bound to the wall and gagged, her arms and legs shackled by heavy chains. Countless cuts and lacerations wreathed her body beneath the threadbare gray rags she wore, only the vaguest of thread to preserve her modesty. Naruto wrenched his eyes up and beheld a pair of long rabbit-like ears jutting from her head, framed by messy brown hair. One was crooked. Almost...bent. Like someone had broken it.
What manner of monster did this to a person?!
Fury burned his shock to cinders and tore a snarl from him. It was enough to wake her.
...mmph?"
One of her ears flicked weakly as she raised her gaze.
When she did he saw her face; a mess of bruises with one eye near-swollen shut by abuse. She took one look at him and shrank back, flattening herself against the wall and the filthy mattress beneath it. Doe brown eyes widened with fear as she tried to push herself through the wall, to no avail. It held fast.
Naruto's emotions, however, did not.
His legs betrayed him and carried him forward, even as the poor girl continued to panic. She shook her head frantically as he reached her, hair whipping from side, any words muffled behind the gag. No surprise there. He must have looked quite a sight, armed as he was, one eye burning balefully behind the bandages.
"You're alright." he raised his hands to show himself unharmed. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a friend. See...?"
She made a noise that he couldn't understand.
"Just...just hold still." he cautioned. "I'll have you out in a second."
His visible blue eye pulsed gold as he seized the chains binding her wrists. With the strength of senjutsu, they broke easily. First came the chains from the wall, then the manacles binding her wrists. The shackles binding her legs came next, leaving her to slump against him. That left the leather gag wrapped around her mouth until he broke that too, ripping it free from her face and the leather cord with it.
"Please don't hurt me," she whined, her voice thin and reedy from lack of use. "No more...haven't you done enough to us?"
Naruto blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"What?" Glassy brown eyes focused on him. Narrowed. A sliver of sanity flickered within. "You're...you're not him, are you?" she tried to push herself upright and failed horribly, forcing him to support her once more. "My head...I don't...I can't...who are you?"
"Naruto." he had nothing to gain by lying, after all. "You...?"
"S-Satin." She coughed out the word. "My name is Satin Scarlatina. I remember that much...
"How long have you been down here?"
"I don't know." her good ear drooped. "Its been so long...my sister...have you seen her?"
"No. You're the only one I've seen down here."
Satin slumped at his feet with a sob.
She was the only one he'd sensed, too. If there had been someone else down here once, they'd been moved elsewhere. With that thought, reality snapped back, bringing with it a fresh rush of emotion. A girl chained to a wall, beaten and broken, left to languish in the dark. It didn't paint a pretty picture. Much less whose house he'd found her in.
Naruto stood slowly, and the sight of him moving reactivated Satin.
"Please, sir!" She all but flung herself after him, afraid he'd abandon her. "Don't leave me down here! He'll kill me! I have a daughter! She'll be all alone!"
"Who's he? Who did this to you?" The words were a growl. "Tell me!"
"Winchester, sir." her reply was swift. Immediate. No hesitation.
His bound eye didn't take kindly to the rage that followed. Naruto clutched at it with a hiss. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something snapped. He shook his head against it, but the pain didn't abate. He'd suspected, of course. How could he not? But knowing? Knowing made it worse. So much worse. Knowledge burned in the back of his brain, knowledge that hadn't been there before.
Numbly, he stooped down and pulled the quivering girl into his arms, holding her against his chest.
"Please," she sniffled. "Don't leave me here. I...I just want to go home."
Satin might've said something else. Naruto didn't hear her.
His world had gone red.
(.0.0.0.)
"Roman."
The voice was colder than ice, yet somehow more intense than a raging volcano.
Torchwick's fingers went still against the keyboard as Naruto called out to him. Every instinct shrieked at him to be still. Don't move, you fool. Don't look up. Don't even breathe if you know what's good for you. He'll go away if you ignore him. Against his better judgement, the master thief defied his instincts; if only because he knew what would happen to him if he didn't respond. There was murder in the air behind him, and he had no intention of risking his life if he didn't have to.
He looked up, away from the screen.
"What's...shit."
There was a naked woman cradled in the boss's in his arms. A faunus woman at that. Her battered and broken body lay curled up tentatively against the blond's chest, wrapped in his coat as she wept. It wasn't enough to hide the scars or the tortured state of her ears. Bile boiled up the back of his throat.
"Where," he choked on the word, "Where did you find her?"
"Here." the blond all but spat. "Winchester had more secrets than you thought."
"Shit, shit, shit."
Now, normally Roman wasn't the sort to curse, or even swear. He was too refined for such. Only thugs and precocious punks ran their mouths like that. But this? What kind of monster did this to a person? It didn't matter that she was a Faunus. This...this just wasn't done. Worse, that lone blue eye glowered at him; was it just his imagination, or was the other one glowing red behind the bandages?
Nope. All the nope. Time to nope right out of here.
"Do you have what we came for." It was a demand, not a question. Something told him failure wouldn't be tolerated.
"Y-Yeah." he adjusted himself in his seat and spun around to rip the thumb drive free a bit quicker than he should have. "Neo! We're leaving!"
His little helper appeared with the faint sound of shattering of glass, a large -and quite full!- sack slung over her slim shoulders. She took one look at the poor girl in Naruto's arms and dropped it with a thud. Mismatching orbs narrowed to thin slits of rage. Her blade slid free form the sheathe of her parasol, eyes flickering rapidly.
"He's upstairs." Naruto informed her.
Neo vanished with a soundless snarl. Roman still had the wherewithal to grab their loot as Naruto stormed up the steps after her.
Together the two of them ascended the stairs at a brisk pace.
Sure enough, they found Winchester near the entrance much as they'd left him before, bound and drooling into the carpet. Neo's expression was nigh on inscrutable as she glowered down at him. Roman saw the murder in her eyes -he knew her far too well by now!-and hastened to push himself between the petite girl and her prey before she could shed blood.
"W-Well, I guess we should call the cops...
"No." Roman nearly tripped when Naruto's hand found his shoulder and yanked him back. "We're not calling anyone."
His boot lashed out, delivering a swift kick to the fat fool's gut. When he didn't rise he kicked the poor sod in his throat again. That did the trick. Piggish eyes burst open and Winchester jerked awake with a snort, chubby arms flailing madly.
"What in the world-?!" he surged upright, only to fall on his face once more. "Who dares?!"
"Did you hurt this girl?" Naruto indicated Satin's quivering form in his arms.
"What? No!" the portly man sputtered incoherently at them. "Who the devil are you?! What evidence have you?! That's nothing! You could've planted her here-urk!" Neo's blade flicked down between the thick folds of his throat to find his jugular, and he was quick to change his story. "Alright! I confess. I kidnapped that bitch. Her and her sister. You caught me. Take me in." he held out his arms. "Go on. Arrest me.
The three shared an uneasy glance. Roman found his voice first.
"Arrest you...?"
"What're you waiting for?!" the Winchester scion brayed, spittle flecking from his lips. "You're hunters, aren't you? By all means. Take. Me. In." he offered his linked arms to them. "You have no real proof, and you broke into my home, the home of a Council Member of Vale! The police will listen to me, not you. I'll beat this in a week. You lot, on the other hand?" he granted them what might've loosely passed a sneer, but its impact was well and truly lessened by his own girth. "I'll have your careers for this None of you will ever work in Vale again! You'll rue the day you dared to trifle with me."
Satin whimpered.
"Yeah, funny thing, that." Naruto smacked his lips with a shit-eating grin. "We're not hunters."
Winchester's sweaty face turned positively pallid. "I...beg your pardon?"
"Neo." Roman snarled. "Start recording."
Neo whipped her Scroll out with startling speed, stepped back, and held it out before her face. While she did so, Naruto reached around with his free hand and ripped the bandages away from his eye. The orb pulsed, and something deep inside of Roman shrieked, telling him to look away from that unholy thing. Just as well, too. It saved his life.
"Smile for the camera, mister former council member." Naruto hummed. "And tell the truth. The whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Winchester looked at him, prepared to spout some more drive, only to find himself ensnared almost immediately. That hideous orb of his bored into his weak mind and enthralled him at once.
"Why...yes. Yes, of course." His words were distant, his expression blank. "It was me. I did it. She didn't know her place. I had to remind her of it. Teach her a lesson. Its the law of the jungle, you see." heedless of his imminent peril, he continued to speak. "Every Faunus is beneath us." he actually dared to preen a little now. "Beneath me. You understand, don't you? As a council member of Vale, this was my right."
Satin whimpered, and Naruto trembled with restraint. "Where's her sister?"
"Dead." came the immediate response. "She wasn't sturdy. I fed her to my dogs."
Roman gagged at the last word. Neo shivered. Satin all but sobbed into Naruto's shoulder and went limp in his arms.
"Thank you." The blond smile was brittle indeed as Neo cut the recording. "That's all I needed to hear. Now there's one last thing I want you to do for me."
"Yes?"
Roman grunted in surprise as Naruto hoisted Satin's unconscious form off on him.
With both hands now freed, the blond reached down and plucked Winchester off the floor. He held him there by the collar for a long moment, wrestling with the weight of some terrible decision. Roman watched him warily with Neo, unable -and somewhat unwilling!- to stick his neck out for someone like this. If the kid wanted to smack him around a bit more, that was fine, so long as he didn't-
Naruto's eye pulsed. "BURN."
Black flames burst across Winchester's flabby body, snapping him out of the genjutsu with a shriek.
"What are you doing?!"
"Something that should've been done a lone time ago." Naruto spun and kicked Winchester down the stairs they'd just come from, sending him skipping down the steps like a flung stone. "Killing a monster."
Winchester kept screaming, even as he fell, even as he crashed to the bottom. His shrieking went high, higher, highest; even when it finally cut off with his death, the fire did not. Instead it began to spread with alarming speed. Within seconds, tongues of hungry ebony fire licked their way up the steps towards them.
"What the hell was that?!" Roman backed away and made a blind grab at Naruto when he turned to leave. "We weren't going to kill anyone! We shoulda let the police-
"Men get arrested." Blazing mismatched irises fixed him with a black glower. "Dogs get put down."
Neo stamped a foot in agreement.
"Just like that?!"
"Just like that." Naruto took Satin back from him, puller her into his arms and walked way. "You heard him. He'd never be brought to justice. And I...am so very sick of monsters getting away with murder. I don't like the idea of crossing that line, but it was for the best."
Roman tried one last halfhearted protest. "That may be true, but still...!"
"Stop talking."
Without so much as a passing glance, the blond stormed toward the exit. Neo followed him with a rapturous expression wreathing her face. Roman grit his teeth, tucked his bowler hat down over his eyes and followed them. Of course she'd get off on something like this, Neo, the little minx. Shouts were being raised deeper within the mansion, now. Someone sounded the alarm. Hopefully the help would get out before the blaze consumed everything.
"Sure," he swallowed, trying to master himself. "The cops can put out the fire."
"No." Naruto whispered the word. "They can't."
"Eh? Whaddya mean?"
"It means I've finally figured out how to use my new eye." the blond informed him. "The fire won't stop until this building burns itself down to the foundations. I've made sure of that."
Roman risked one final reluctant glance over his shoulder as they left the burning building behind them. There could be no denying their involvement here. Well. This was what he'd wanted. He'd longed to be famous, or barring that, infamous. To be feared and respected by nearly everyone in the underworld. Mission accomplished. After this, everyone would know their names. If they didn't, they would when Neo put that video online in all its ghastly glory. And she would, make no mistake. Now that Roman finally made his mark...
...he wasn't sure liked it.
To hell with this. He needed a drink.
Scratch that. He absolutely needed several drinks!
(.0.0.0.)
"I couldn't find anything on him. Sorry."
Those weren't the words Roman was looking for. Just hearing them tightened the proverbial noose around his throat that much more. Not a lick of information on the kid beyond what he already knew. He'd hoped and prayed for something -anything!- on Junior's part, but at the end of the day, the man hadn't come through. It had been a long shot at best this time around. Junior was always good with his info. A bit surly perhaps, but he'd never let him down before. His network was always swift, always reliable, always able to help him out of a jam. Until now.
Now those words damned Roman Torchwick.
"You couldn't find anything?" he all but croaked as he slumped in his seat
"He's a ghost, Roman." the man shrugged behind the bar as he mixed him a fresh drink. "No one's seen or heard of him until that explosion and the fight he got mixed up in. Its almost like he-
"Fell outta the sky?"
Roman snatched the shot glass and knocked it back before Junior could hope to offer a retort. Liquid courage burned the back of his throat, settling his nerves and leaving him in an almost pleasant stupor. Not enough. He couldn't shake what he'd seen. It stuck with him like a ghost. Just like those words.
"Men get arrested. Dogs get put down."
"Yeah, right." Junior shook his head with a wry sigh of his own as he made another. "If you believe that bullshit."
But it wasn't bullshit now, was it? Roman knew better. He'd wanted to believe that Naruto was lying; that everything he'd told him thus far was all an act. But it wasn't. The Boss -and didn't that just rankle?- had fallen out of the sky and beaten the tar out of a huntress. In a single day. He was strong enough to beat him and Neo both when he was running on fumes. He'd set an entire building on fire by looking at it! Undid a man just by looking at him! Who did that?!
"So where are they?" Junior inquired.
"Eh, they're off taking care of the bunny." Roman grunted. And wasn't that a hoot? "Bastard left her quite the mess. Lucky for her I know a good doctor that doesn't ask questions...
"I heard about the video and the aftermath." the mobster's brow turned stormy for a moment before he mastered himself. "Winchester sounded like a real piece of shit. You did good work taking him down."
But he hadn't been the one to do him in now, had he? That was all the kid -Boss!- at his most vicious and violent. Yeah, maybe Winchester deserved it. Alright, he definitely did. But murder? There were some lines Roman refused to cross, and that was one of them. He was known as the Gentlemen Thief for a reason; not a bloody marauder who went around burning bodies!
"Neo's sweet on him, right?"
And then there was that matter!
"Because she knows what the Boss is like, and trust me, she LIKES what she sees." Roman snatched up a cigar and bit down on it, hard. "He's broken. Just like her." Trembling hands fumbled for his lighter. Once. Twice. On the third try, he finally succeeded. "That kid's got a dark side, Junior. Trust me." he exhaled a plume of smoke and fought down a convulsive shudder as he relived the memory. "He might seem all sunshine and smiles, and he does a damn good job of hiding his true nature, but its there. I've seen it. Someone screwed him over once, and that left its mark on him. Don't fuck about with him. He'll kill you."
"Thanks for the warning." Junior grunted. "By the way, some broad in a red dress was asking after you earlier...
"Whoever she is, she can piss right off." Roman flicked his words away with a growl and snatched up a nearby shot glass. "I'm about to make sweet, sweet love to this glass. Now pour."
A dark brow rose to regard him. "You're buzzed."
"Nah, just means I'm still conscious."
Junior scowled at him.
"I said pour!"
Reluctantly, his old friend did just that; Roman took the time to ruminate.
He'd never admit it aloud, but it had felt...good seeing that scumbag get his just deserts.
Even if he didn't like the idea of crossing the line into murder, her hadn't been the one to pull the trigger.
Winchester was right, in a sense. Now that he wasn't emotionally caught up in the moment, he could face facts. As a former council member, no one would have taken him to task for what he'd done. He would have been back on the streets again by week's end, if not sooner. And what did that say about about the law in Vale? It was just as broken as he'd remembered; just like Mountain Glenn all those years ago. The rich prospered, while people like poor little Satin suffered. Maybe it was time someone did something about that. Maybe it was time someone took the law into their own hands. Not through murder, but...other means.
Roman's hand tightened around the glass, etching a tiny fracture into its surface.
For the beginnings of a grin had blessed his visage.
"Now there's an idea...
A/N: Well. That happened.
Watchmen references abound this time around.
Yes, that was Velvet's mother there. I'm not sure we ever get her name. Naruto crossed a line, but it was for a good cause. Roman's got a taste of justice, and whaddya know? He likes it.
Had to cut the Glynda bit until next chapter. Would've felt forced here.
Now that I've finally finished the build-up chapters, we can leap into the meat of this story. The gang and I have plans for this one, grand plans. I could wax poetic about them, hint and tease and toy with a few things, but where's the fun in that? No, I'll let the chapter -and the previews!- do the talking for me. I do hope you're prepared? No? Then be prepared~!
As ever, reviews are a mighty wind beneath my wings.
Without them...well. I just can't seem to fly.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly?
And one last thing:
SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!
PLOT DETAILS AHOY!
YE BE WARNED!
Read if you dare!
(Previews!)
"You want to colonize Mountain Glenn? Are you mad?!"
"Not colonize. Make it our base."
"What're we gonna do with the girl?"
"She said she has a kid...shouldn't be too hard to find her...eh?"
Even in her sleep, Satin hadn't let go of Naruto's arm.
"Oho!" Roman cackled. "Neo's got competition!"
Little Velvet considered the words for a moment. Then she raised her arms. "Daddy! Up!"
Naruto squinted through his fingers. "Oh gods, she's adorable...
"I knew it!" Summer crowed. "He's a criminal!"
"Hardly." Glynda disagreed. "By all accounts Winchester was corrupt."
R&R~!