As Jaune walked into the cells he saw that the young woman tossed a one hundred lien card over to Roman. He decided that it did not matter whether it had been a real bet or a pre-arranged wind-up. Besides which the lien card must be an illusion as they had removed her belongings other than her clothes.

He checked with Fox, "She is still where she is meant to be?"

"Yes, Jaune. Glynda has explained to her that we know that her illusion is good enough to protect her privacy so she can use the chemical toilet in the cell."

He also checked who was listening in to the interrogation and who was connected to Fox's semblance. Ruby had gone to bed – using the silver eyes exhausted her and she had a trip to Argus later today. Oobleck was listening in as was Velvet.

He entered Roman's cell accompanied by Pyrrha Nikos. Roman was handcuffed to the table. While they were not expecting him to make a break for it, with an illusionist in the next cell there was no point in taking chances.

Jaune tossed the card with the black queen on the table. Roman looked at it and said "I knew she was going to leave it behind. I was told it represents her boss in the Nefarious Crimes Squad."

Roman then looked him in the eyes, "I presume that you have heard from Atlas and that a similar card was found in the vault. The heists were linked and happened simultaneously to avoid increased security. Unless you show me pictures of five people dead or in jail I and Neo can identify then do not bother pretending that you hold all the aces and that all you want out of me is confirmatory information."

Jaune said, "Don't you mean four? Besides which the third and fourth never set foot in Atlas and so we may just have two unidentifiable corpses." He did not expect the bluff to work, but as Roman had short-circuited Jaune's first play, he felt it best to quickly counteract Roman's.

"Ok, let's just both accept that the other person is not a fool. In which case, will you acknowledge that not only will you not be putting Neo on trial for murder, but that you actually owe us a debt of gratitude for killing the sociopath for you."

"We only have your say so that she would have suicided." Jaune felt that this was weak, but he had to go through the motions.

"She knew that if captured you would have put her in the pod and tried to transfer power back to the girl. Are you happy that the process would not have killed her? Anyway, she had got addicted to the power. Without it she would have felt that there was no point in living."

Jaune said, "You should not judge us by your standards." Inwardly he admitted to some relief that Roman's henchwoman had meant that they had not had to make the call or try out the Atlas provided equipment on Amber, Pyrrha or Cinder.

"I know that Atlas has not used the transfer equipment yet because they wanted Beacon to take the first shot. It was the same reason why Cinder agreed to my plan rather than the original one. She knew the Grimm glove worked, if we had used the original plan there was a risk that you would have killed the comatose girl, she could not guarantee that the remaining powers would go to her."

He paused and said, "She did not trust me or Neo and warned us that if things went wrong, she would assume that we had betrayed her and that she would make certain that we did not survive. We will plead that she was saving lives."

Jaune decided that this was an argument worth pursing at this stage and he tossed a photograph showing Mercury Black onto the table. It had been doctored to suggest a bullet wound in the head.

Roman smiled, "The punk wannabe, Mercury Black. He boasts that he killed his father. Still all that photo proves is that he got into Atlas. I bet you identified him in minutes. Aren't you asking yourself why Atlas did not recognise him? Nice mock-up but I do not believe that he is dead. My bet is that he would have surrendered if his aura had broken. Besides which even if Atlas got him, it does not mean that the job failed."

Jaune nodded. In the end Roman Torchwick could simply be kicked out of Vale, and no one would care that much. Apart from this morning's attempt nothing he was known to be involved with concerned Kingdom security. The man was also right in hinting that Ozpin would not want a public trial at which the events of this morning were discussed. While if necessary Jaune would bluff it out, even the threat of a secret trial was weak as such a trial would involve telling more people than they wanted about maidens and relics.

Jaune showed Roman another photograph. Roman blew a raspberry. "Never seen him in my life. Fair enough, you are testing me. If he was involved, then he was not mentioned to me and as the other four were, I would bet that he was unimportant."

Jaune produced the next photograph showing a young dark-skinned woman with green hair.

Roman nodded, "I will tell you she is and what I know of the other participants in the Atlas caper and the initial escape plan in return for you agreeing a pardon for me and Neo for any crimes we have committed in Vale. I will throw in the instructions you need to arrange for the release of Peach's sister for free. I do hope that the Professor is still alive. By the way Cinder did not notice the substitution and she was an intelligent, if psychotic, woman."

"Any pardon will not extend to murder or manslaughter other than the death of Cinder Fall which will be covered. We will also not charge you with conspiracy to murder in relation to the girl in the pod. You will both surrender your assets in Vale and will be deported. This offer is conditional of course on her safe release and the information being satisfactory. Professor Peach is fine if that helps encourage you to cooperate."

"Terms of the pardon are fine. We can reopen the question of deportation and surrender of assets later. If we are deported it is to Mistral or Vacuo and not Atlas. Send the Professor my regards, it was only business. While I do not expect you to believe me, me and Neo are independent contractors and we have done our best not to get ourselves on your hit list in the four years we have been here. You know the reputation the NCS has, and you know the power Cinder had. She made us an offer we could not refuse,"

"Spare me the violin music. We can proceed on the basis you have proposed."

"No doubt Benjy Bunny has my scroll in front of her and has broken the first tier of encryption. Send a text to Big Bear saying safe trip in lower case and two words and you should be receiving a call from her within five minutes."

Jaune was a little taken aback by the fact that Roman knew Velvet's middle name or indeed about Velvet at all.

Roman paused and said, "The woman is called Emerald Sustrai. I suspect that it is a self-chosen name. Recruited by Cinder Fall from the mean streets of Mistral. Street Rat desperately grateful for being given an opportunity to play in the major league and embarrassingly devoted to Cinder. That is why you need to keep the news of Cinder's death quiet. If she holds the goods when you come for it then as Cinder is not around to order her to surrender, she will do her best to destroy or make the staff irrecoverable. If the punk has the staff, you can do a cash and freedom deal. By the way, killing the comatose girl was the secondary aim of tonight's heist. Our employer was primarily after the Crown, whatever that is."

Dr. Oobleck said, "I am bringing in Ozpin. I am afraid that we are either going to have to deal on his terms or kill him."

"Her semblance?"

"Illusions. She can do all five senses but normally only for one or two persons. I suspect she could do three if she strained and more if her life were threatened. She cannot fool cameras. Not certain if that is an absolute, but she grew up in Mistral as a pickpocket, so she developed her semblance to suit her profession. No CCTV in Mistral and she normally only needed to fool the mark and one companion."

Jaune directed a thought at Dr Oobleck. "He could have drawn this out more and offered less each time. He has something up his sleeve."

"Agreed, but he knows we do not care if he plies his trade in Mistral. He may be betting we are looking for an excuse to let them go."

Jaune then showed another picture. Roman lit a cigar and started smoking. Jaune saw no useful purpose would be served by objecting and Velvet had checked the lighter for any weapons.

Roman then continued, "The technical man and lead was Herr Doctor Professor Arthur Watts late of Atlas University, the Mantle Institute of technology and Atlas Military intelligence. Rumours of his demise were much exaggerated. No love lost between Cinder and him, but he hates Ironwood more. He has grown a moustache since that photograph was taken. He knows Benjy Bunny's father and praises him and his daughter with faint damming. Apologies if I have her name wrong, but that is the name my ex-collaborators always used. They were not Faunus Justice Warriors."

"How come you know so much about the Atlas mission? My impression was that you were merely a local sub-contractor and would be given information on a need-to-know basis."

"Cinder lent the street rat and the punk to Watts. They were her sidekicks and she insisted on proof that Watts' plan gave them a good chance of survival. I suspected that me and Neo would be seen as a loose end which needed to be dealt with. My associate has a useful semblance for spying and she recorded the conversation between them on her scroll. By the way if you are using any Atlas tech you should assume that it is compromised, if you had not already gathered that."

"You said that you know of a fourth member of the gang?"

"Have not met the person concerned but she is meant to be a hotshot pilot who may be ex-military. To judge from what the punk and the street rat said, a female Pig Faunus with a medium grade telekinesis semblance. They called her Miss Piggy and the Flying Pig and joked that they did not like her when she was angry. Apparently, she was another secondee and primarily works for someone in the NCS known as the Quartermaster."

"Why ex-military and how do you know about the semblance?"

"Plan B involved firing a missile at the bottom of Atlas to allow the punk and the rat to escape if Atlas discovered the heist while it was in progress. The plan was them to free fall and for her to bring them in through the cargo hatch. Only way that works is if a telekinesis semblance is in play."

"You said that you know of the escape plan?"

"If the heist was undetected then a flight to somewhere in central Mistral. If detected, then they were to land in the sea and make their way to Argus. In any event Cinder, Neo and I were meant to meet with them in six days' time."

"Where?"

"Don't know exactly. We were to be told once we had reached Mistral. We do have prebooked rooms and some informed guesses on other matters. Details to be given on confirmation that you see no reason not to give the pardon."

Jaune thought, "Dr. Oobleck. A plan occurs to me which requires this pair. The question is how far we can trust them and whether we wish to recruit them. I think Roman was not joking about the two million lien fee although we will insist on it as a success fee. Perhaps Atlas will pay it?"

Roman coughed, "I think that I can offer you more proof of my desire to show that I realise the error of my ways. The original plan A to capture the crown was ready to be implemented at lunchtime today. In the absence of Cinder countermanding the order, I believe that the White Fang may choose to implement it anyway. I would strongly advise you evacuate Central Square at 12.30 and have all available hunters on standby."

"You need to give us more than that."

"Free pardon and access to our funds. Dependent of course on the information being reasonably accurate. Remember I heard it at second hand and her aim was to incentivize me to produce a better plan. If it is true think about what me and Neo have to offer."

Jaune checked with Dr. Oobleck using Fox's semblance and said, "Agreed, if the information is true or plausible. If this turns out to be totally unfounded then you will have made your situation worse."

"You do know the dust price has gone through the roof in the last six months. It is not only because of the robberies but because the NCS were buying up supplies. The dust has been sent out of Vale to the White Fang. They have a base in Mountain Glenn Station and have cleared the tracks to the old terminus in Central Square. I am not certain what would happen if a train load of dust exploded one hundred yards below Central Square, but I am told that it would potentially allow the Grimm free access."

Oobleck thought "If this is true then we need to be in the air in thirty minutes. Offer him 50,000 lien if the White Fang are there. 150,000 if he can get them to stand down."

Jaune cursed. He needed to put together a plan on the fly.

"Roman, you and your sidekick have just been seconded to the Impractical Missions Force. 50,000 lien signing on bonus if we find the White Fang in place. 150,000 more if you can prevent them launching the attack."

"Happy to come aboard."

Jaune used Fox's semblance to alert every member of the IMF in Vale and Beacon that an urgent mission was needed.

Even in films you must have some exposition scenes to allow movement between set pieces. I think you can all guess what the next chapter's set piece involves.