A figure carefully looked around on the rooftops while keeping to the shadows, extending her senses and doing her best to ignore the crowds below.

She was being followed - that much she was aware of. Unfortunately, she wasn't aware of who was doing the following, nor even what they looked like. She didn't get the sense of danger from them though, which was odd. If anything, there was a sense of... playfulness? A sense of eagerness, which wasn't something that she had felt before while being chased. And that confused her quite a bit.

In truth, the only reason she was aware that she was being followed was due to her instincts. The person following was good, and it was only through years of experience that she was able to confirm that she was being followed.

She quickly ducked into an alley, moving swiftly through it as she sensed the presence passing over her.

Though she was tempted to try following the presence herself, to turn the tables on them, she had a feeling that that would be a mistake against this type of hunter. She was used to hiding in the shadow or the crowd, waiting for the moment to strike. Or she would draw prey in close before killing them.

Carefully sliding through a burned down warehouse, she felt the presence return. With a quiet sigh of exasperation, she slipped into one of the ruined rooms and waited in the shadows until the presence left. After waiting a few minutes to make sure the coast was clear, she quickly shapeshifted into the form of an old lady and walked out into the streets. Sticking to the edges of the crowd, being very careful not to touch anybody, she slowly walked and watched.

The presence returned, and she was able to get a quick glimpse of pink through the crowds, but it soon vanished.

Eyes narrowed, she continued to wander.

As interesting as this was, she was very confused as to why somebody would be following her. She hadn't done anything to garner attention these last few days, so what was going on?

On top of the rooftop, Neopolitan looked for her quarry, gleefully smiling at the fun game of hide and seek they were having.

It had been years since she had found somebody that could play as well as this person. Roman had stopped playing a while ago, she remembered with a pout.

True, he wasnt very good at the game, but he was so much fun to mess with she thought with a snicker.

Usually she could only play with people that Roman asked her to help with these days, but they were usually more interested in the "running" aspect of the game, and less the "hiding", which made it boring. Honestly, it sometimes upset her enough that she couldn't even enjoy the "stabbing" portion of the game. Some people were so rude...

Of course, ever since... SHE... and her stooges came, she had a lot less time to play. She couldn't even play with "Tin Toes" or "Sticky Fingers" without getting into trouble she thought with a scowl, her anger almost pushing away the enjoyment she had been having from the current game.

Work was less fun when she was being forced to do it she decided.

She pushed those thoughts away as she turned her attention back to the game. She had actually nearly missed this person when she was walking through the streets that morning. She had been walking through an alley, and she had seen this person change their face! Sure, it wasn't like what she did, but it still piqued her interest. After that, she started following them, only for them to start to actually start to play the game correctly!

Whoever they are, they are really good at hiding, she mused. Glancing carefully through the crowd, she spotted an old lady that felt off to her senses, and she gleefully jumped towards them.

A brief thought went through her mind, Was I supposed to do something else today? Eh, probably not important. Roman would have told me otherwise.

Junior's Bar was unusually silent. People had not started coming in for dinner yet, and the DJ was casually preparing his music. Junior could be seen at one of the booths, interviewing a blue haired man for a bouncer position, with his two nieces listening in and smirking at the man. Numerous gang members could be seen around the area as well, some lounging, others cleaning the area behind the bar and the kitchen.

As for customers, only two could be seen in one of the booths. To the eyes of most, it appeared to be a pleasant conversation. Two people getting to know each other.

One was a younger man in his 20's. White suit, orange hair covered by a bowler hat, and expensive cigar in hand. With a cane at his side and a smile on his face, he appeared to be the perfect gentleman.

The other was an older man in his 50's. An old fashioned vest, white slicked back hair and a mustache, and a beautiful black cloak with rich blue lining. His own cane at his side, he gave the impression of being a kindly professor.

Junior glanced their way occasionally while conducting the interview a couple tables away. From his perspective? Underneath the façade, each one was a predator, testing the waters and getting the measure of each other.

"So, how long do you intend to be in town for?" Roman asked, a barely detected glint in his eye. "Is this a social call? Or for business? A few friends of mine told me that they had bumped into you and had a nice conversation."

The older man chuckled, "Oh, you must mean Fang and his boys! A rowdy bunch to be sure, but pleasant enough company. And it was purely social - I'd hate to do anything to bother their lives."

"Ha! Yeah, those rascals can get a little rowdy, but they're nice boys to know when you need stuff cleaned up." Roman said, his hard smile remaining in place. "I also heard that you ran into Big Daddy Bronson, right? How'd that go for you?"

The man shook his head in mock sadness. "Oh please, when you get to my age, you don't call anybody 'Big Daddy'" he stated, "Mr. Bronson and I had a perfectly pleasant conversation though. He's quite the author you see" his eyes glittered with mirth, "He's gotten quite a few books written up, and we chatted about one for a while."

Roman's eyes went up in surprise, "Oh? I'm surprised he allowed that! He's usually pretty self conscious about his books you know." he looked at the older man with slightly narrowed eyes. "So how long were you planning on staying in town for? Things have been heating up around here lately, criminals and all that, you know? Vale isn't exactly the safest place around anymore."

The man waved his hand dismissively, "Oh, I'm sure that all of that is just rumor and hearsay. But to be honest, I was really only planning on staying in town for..." He thought about it for a bit before smiling again, "Probably another two weeks I imagine. Maybe sooner if I see everything I want to! Vale is a big place after all, and sometimes it's hard to find the things you need, am I right?" He asked with a sly smile.

Roman chuckled with him, the tension rising slightly, "Oh, I know what you mean. I find that the trick is to come to the city with a friend. I have somebody that's a wiz at finding everything I need whenever I go to someplace new."

"Oh really?" the man perked up "Well, I might have to borrow your friend for a day! Exploring the city is so much more interesting when you have a friend with you."

"Eh, I'll ask and see what she says. I was actually hoping to introduce the two of you today! But looks like she got hung up somewhere." He said with a frown.

The other man shrugged easily, "Oh well, perhaps later then. Sounds like you're a lucky man, for that sort of friend is always useful to have. Would you know of anybody else that could be a guide? Or," he seemed to perk up "perhaps you could give me directions yourself? You seem like a dependable chap, and I wouldn't be opposed to becoming friends"

Roman grimaced, "Unfortunately, I've been a little pressed for time as of late. I've got another friend that's been pretty demanding, and I sometimes have to babysit her kids. Additionally, I'm afraid that we don't know each other quite that well just yet"

"Hmmm" the man hummed in understanding. "Well, not friendship then, but perhaps simply keeping in touch? Consider it a trial run for our friendship?"

Roman arched an eye, "With you leaving town soon?"

The other man waved his hand dismissively. "Long distance friendships are just as important as short distance ones!" He defended. "Besides! In our work, it's always useful to have friends in all sorts of distances, wouldn't you agree?"

"Heh, and I thought you said that you weren't here for business."

"Oh trust me, our interaction has been purely social, I assure you."

About half an hour later, and they both stood up and started walking out. The older man quickly reaching behind their booth and collected a large coffin-like box, hefting it on his back, and then following Roman, who glanced at it in confusion.

"You sure you've got that old man?" He asked, to which he received a laugh in reply.

"Thank you for your consideration young man," he replied, giving Roman an easy smile, "But one actually gets used to the weight after a time, so there is no need to worry."

Roman shrugged, "If you say so - it's your back. So what's in there that you want to keep close to you?"

Another chuckle, "Oh, a bit of this, and a bit of that. You see, I have often find myself worried that I'll find myself in a situation where I won't have the right tool for the right job. My solution?" he gestures to the box. "To carry all of the tools with me!" He said with a bright smile. "Although, this particular box has a certain... Sentimental value to it as well. Trust me, it is fitting that I carry it with me."

Roman chuckled at that, "Well, like I said, it's your back." He then started looking around before saying "I'll be seeing you around. I've got to find my friend. I hope that your trip reaches a swift conclusion." And with that, he walked off, cane in hand.

The other man gave a smirk, "Oh, you and me both."

Roman looked at the back of the man as he walked away with his coffin. "Definitely not a thing I was expecting to see anytime soon." he decided.

That man was dangerous. Oh, he wasn't positive about his physical capabilities. But age in this business could mean one of two things - either they were smart enough to avoid deadly circumstances, or they were strong enough to take on those deadly circumstances. Either way, it says that they've gained a lot of experience. And that translated into dangerous.

Which is why it was so odd that he's never heard of the guy before. You didn't gain that kind of experience bossing around the yokels of a settlement - this guy carried himself like a city boy. If he didn't know better, he would've said Atlas.

Except he did know better, and this guy certainly wasn't active in Atlas while he was there.

A background check then, he decided. It's always possible that I missed something while I was there. I'll decide what to do after that.

It was clear that the guy was familiarizing himself with the local criminals. After he had heard of him visiting the third group, he reached out and asked to meet the guy himself. For the newbie to not only meet with numerous criminal groups, but to have a civilized conversation with them and leave with them liking him? Something wasn't quite adding up. And now, having met the guy, he could see what the other groups had seen. This new guy was VERY charismatic. While not necessarily a bad thing, it did mean that he would have to be more on guard than usual around him.

Roman gave a quick sigh. Whatever he decided to do, he was hopeful that the guy would leave in a few weeks like he said. A dangerous, unknown player running around town while there was already a dangerous, slightly known player was a recipe for hazardous times for Roman. At least this new guy was willing to act nice, which is something that Cinder never did. Additionally, the guy was likable, and had good fashion sense. Roman could spare a warning for the guy for that.

With that thought, he reached his and Neo's safe house and walked in.

"Hey, Neo!" he called out, walking to the kitchen. "Where've you been? I had to meet the new guy at Junior's without you!"

Walking past the living room, he glanced and saw Neo sitting on the couch sharing a carton of neopolitan ice cream with somebody. She looked up at him with wide eyes, attempting to look innocent.

Roman snorted, "Yeah, not falling for that one. So what caught your attent…" He stopped suddenly, looking at the scene again.

Now, he was used to seeing strange scenes, but every once in a while something happened that would surprise him again, and he had always found it best to take a step back and carefully evaluate all the variables.

Neo was here, eating ice cream. K, that was normal.

Neo was sitting here with another woman. In THEIR safehouse. Hmmm, ok, not so normal.

Said woman was wearing a strange White Fang mask, so most likely Faunus. Odd, but not terribly abnormal.

Neo was sharing HER ice cream with somebody else. And here's the real snag. That was EXTREMELY abnormal!

… This was Neo, right?

He glanced at her suspiciously, looking at her eyes. She still had the wide eyes of somebody that had innocently forgotten something, her hands on her chest as if in shock, and her mouth mouthing the word "Oops!". But those eyes held the infinite mischievousness that he was very much familiar with. Yep, that was Neo.

"So," he said slowly, looking at the new person who simply stared at him. "I, uh, thought that we talked about not bringing strays home Neo?"

Not that he could stop her if she really wanted to, and he did trust her... But a little heads up would have been nice!

Her hands immediately launched into a series of signs, as if she was explaining the situation, and he simply looked on and made appropriate noises here and there. Neo was a master of LOOKING like she was trying to say something, but she couldn't fool him. At least, not anymore... She could get people to understand her when she wanted, but when she wanted to mess with people (which was all the time) or if she just didn't want to explain something (Also all the time) then she would pretend to try to communicate until the other side got frustrated with her.

"Ah, well that explains it." He said in an understanding tone. Yep, it explains that you don't want to talk about it! "Well, so long as you take care of it, then I suppose you can keep it." Although she was wearing a mask, he could practically feel the killing intent from this person. Maybe that's what brought them together?

After that, he proceeded to go to the kitchen and started looking for something to eat. Dealing with a Neo was bad enough, but throw in somebody that Neo liked? Yeah, nope. That was one fight he wasn't going to try winning.

Serenity looked curiously at the odd human that had chased her for most of the afternoon. She had grown tired of the continual chase, and found a private location to confront the person chasing her. The tri-colored girl showed up soon after, clapping her hands in excitement. After a bit of trouble with communicating with each other, she had been informed by the girl that they were now "best friends", and proceeded to drag her over to her house to chat some more.

That had been... Unexpected.

Apparently Neo considered them similar enough, and that she was "fun" enough, that she warranted the title of best friend.

While she wasn't exactly sure about all of this, she was grateful for the distraction. Before this, she had been unsure of what she should do. Whatever it was that summoned her was providing her energy, so she had no need to kill people for their energy, and there was no master to insist that she kill others. Even before she died, there was always stuff that needed to be done - missions to complete, assassinations to plan out, etc.

This is why when Neo was 'hunting' her, she was willing to play along. She had nothing better to do, and Neo's presence wasn't threatening.

She would continue to watch and wait, but having somebody to be around, even if she couldn't touch them, would make the waiting easier.

Now if I can find somebody that I can touch without killing them, then this world would be perfect she thought to herself as she watched Neo explain what certain signs meant. After watching a bit, she frowned slightly as she thought of a request that Neo had asked of her. Why did Neo ask me to pretend I couldn't speak when Roman was around?

After Roman had left, the older man started walking the other direction, humming to himself as he thought about what he had learned.

He had thought that he would have to face opposition from somebody in the criminal underworld if he tried to integrate himself into it, and was surprised when he found a distinct LACK of said organization. Oh, there were groups here and there, but no over arching hierarchy. Simply a few high ranking singular players, like Roman Torchwick, or gangs, like Juniors.

He shifted the coffin on his back, grunting a little from the weight as he thought carefully.

When he had originally asked around trying to sound out who a leader might be, he had received Roman's name quite a bit, which led to him wanting to meet the man to determine how best he could manipulate him. But now, upon meeting him, his thoughts changed.

Oh, manipulation was still on the table. But though Roman Torchwick was a powerful criminal, and some might call him a criminal mastermind, it just wasn't on the same level that HE was at. A Rook comparing himself to that of a King.

Now, that certainly wasn't an insult. The impression he got was that Roman didn't have the desire to run an organization. He was a 'doer', somebody that went in by himself or with a small group and got stuff done, using his reputation to push people along the way. In that, he had no doubt that Roman was amongst the best. He was a model gentleman thief - He followed his own set of rules, which bolstered his own reputation and helped his job. If he robbed somebody, people knew that if they stayed calm and did as they were told, nobody would get hurt. People knew he followed those rules, and that kept them safe, which in turn kept Roman safe.

He was the best at what he did. That did not extend to overseeing large groups of people.

With that in mind, it would be better in the long term to become friends with him, and hire him occasionally for jobs. This would lead to a mutually beneficial relationship between the two of them.

At least, that's how it would have been. The more he met with the various criminal elements, the more he found out that there appeared to be somebody who very recently came onto the criminal scene and has been forcing the criminals to work together.

He sniffed in derision. True, he used those tactics on people before as well, but to use them on everybody? That just screamed of incompetence. Eventually you would push them too far, and once the pressure reached the right point it would blow up, and then EVERYBODY would be after you. It was much better idea to use a variety of tactics to get people to work for you. Blackmail, diplomacy, intimidation, bribery, etc. All had their place in the grand web of intrigue. For somebody to just force everybody to work together via intimidation said they were powerful, yet inexperienced.

Or they were planning on using them, only to throw them away.

He continued to walk away confidently. He would follow through with Roman's advice for now. If he were to build up his empire once more, then he wanted to get a good grasp of all of the players, and from what he's heard, the biggest players lived in Mistral. There, he was sure he would find a criminal organization, even if it only spanned over Mistral itself.

A smile adorning his lips, he thought about his current situation once more. To create his empire from scratch? What a frustrating, yet exciting prospect. This was not something that could be accomplished easily nor quickly, but he was a patient man. He did it once, and he would do it again.

Of course, if he were to do this, that Cinder girl would clearly have to go. She had her own agenda, and didn't seem to like playing ball with others. Furthermore, based on the fear that people had in her power, she might actually be a Servant. He tapped his cane thoughtfully.

He would have to think of a way to deal with her... But that would have to wait for the future. Not now, when her strength was still undetermined. He himself was still weak and not ready for combat, even with his... Adjustments. He would take the time to build his empire and increase his strength, while learning more about hers.

With that though, Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, started whistling cheerfully as he disappeared into the darkness.

Authors Notes:

And another chapter done :). I was honestly surprised - Moriarty has been requested numerous times by various people. To be honest, I wasn't planning on adding him to this story, but enough people requested him that I decided to give it a shot. Hopefully I did an alright job with portraying both him and Serenity, and please let me know your opinions one way or the other.

Ultimate Warrior of Zera: Does Atalanta have Jack the Ripper's daggers? Because that's what that sounded like.
Answer: Actually, she does not. Most Archers have another way to attack just in case somebody gets close to them. Chiron is trained in Pankration, EMIYA is trained in swords, etc... In the Percy Jackson series, the Goddess Artemis and her Huntresses use bows and long hunting knives, so I decided to give Atalanta long hunting knives as well. They aren't Noble Phantasms - they're just very well crafted knives that were gifted to her by her patron.

For those interested in guessing who the next Servant will be:
So, this next chapter will actually be the summoning surge chapter. What this means is that I will do numerous short stories on various other servants. Now, as for how many, I'm not entirely certain... More than five I believe, but not more than ten. I haven't thought up titles for all of the short stories, but I'll share the ones that I have thought of.
1. A Father's Pride
2. Are you my mother?
3. Brothers in blood, bonds of the heart
4. Girl Talk
5. Calming the regrets of the past

After the summoning surge, there will be one more chapter which will cover reactions from Ozpin and Salem and their respective groups. After that, we will be into Arc 2.

Thank you to everybody that has read this story, and I hope that you continue to enjoy it. Once more I give thanks to my amazing sister for beta reading this chapter. :)

Update: 11/20/2019
Hey there! just wanted to give out some more titles and some better clues for some of the more ambiguous ones.

1. A Father's Pride - not a summonable servant, and his story is not well know. Despite this, everybody knows his name, and he had a major impact on the lives of AT LEAST two summonable heroes.
2. Are you my mother? - I have a funny feeling that most people can figure this one out, lol. Harder though is to determine who the pairing is with.
3. Brothers in blood, bonds of the heart - They grew up in wildly different circumstances, and yet now share a definite and powerful bond.
4. Girl Talk - Two girls from Fate, two girls from RWBY.
5. Calming the regrets of the past - hard to think of a clue without giving him away completely... Well, it's a he... In life, he was a traitor, and he deeply regrets it. That's all you're getting.
6. By dog, you must be joking! - no, that is not a typo
7. A paradoxical existence- not a summonable servant. However, I would like to make the argument that if composers, artists, and inventors can make it to the throne of heroes, then this guy can as well.
8. ... And we're sure this isn't a singularity?