A/N: The clown in my reviews named SniperTheNoodle is, in fact, my proofreader. This story wouldn't be half as good without his input, in my opinion, so big thanks to him!

The gathering continued well into the evening, frappes were had, burgers were eaten, and as I predicted I had to make some more of them before the day was out.

Cinder mostly stayed near me, although I did get her to talk to some people from my 'circle' as she had called it. Blake and her had a polite conversation about books, Pyrrha and her conversed about battle tactics (that conversation was surreal to watch, I wasn't going to lie), and of course Jeanne, being Jeanne, had tried to get Cinder pulled into more lively conversations with the others.

The first to leave were Nora and Ren, with Ren citing that Nora wanted to wake up early the next day for something or another. Jaune and Pyrrha left afterward, with Jaune stating that he needed to keep up his training routine, and predictably Pyrrha wanted to help him with that.

Lunus left with Ruby so they could go back home, Yang said something about catching up with a friend of hers before she left, Blake left not long after to get some rest and Weiss wasn't far behind.

The last three left were Cinder, Violet, and Jeanne. Jeanne eventually left back to the dorm, since her family home was so far from here she was still staying on campus over the summer. Violet and Cinder were the last to leave, both going to their respective homes.

Overall, I considered the party a success, everyone had a good time and everyone enjoyed the food I made. I was sure I could check my relationship levels with all of them using the system to see if the levels had gone up, but I didn't need to. I knew that they were my friends, and while I did check on Cinder's numbers every so often, at this point it was mostly out of habit rather than any necessity.

Cinder kept her promise to come by and start redecorating my apartment, and that took a couple weeks to complete. I was getting worried about how much time she was spending with me, not because I didn't want to spend that time with her, but because I feared that Salem would discover that Cinder was still galavanting around behind her back. If she did make that discovery, and Cinder wasn't willing to break off from her, I could only imagine what kind of pain Salem would put her through.

Yet, Cinder didn't seem worried. At least, not outwardly. Instead, it became a habit for her to come over and help me along with redecorating the apartment for the first couple weeks of the summer.

The old wallpaper was replaced with a new one that was a dark blue. She had me replace the couch and bed that I had with new ones that were more comfortable. I had planned on just getting another twin, but she insisted on a queen, since there was more than enough space for it.

She picked out end tables, lamps, a nightstand, and she even got a hold of a holo-television and a stand for it. I knew for a fact she didn't have the money to buy those things, the bettings odds were in favor of her having probably stolen them from some store or another, given how new it looked, but I didn't ask her about it. If it had nothing to do with her dealings with Salem, I didn't see it being worth digging into. Being a moralist with her wasn't something I was interested in doing.

By the end of it, my apartment had been transformed. Dark blue wallpaper, matching dark blue blackout curtains over the windows, a new cozy couch, which was a dark red, along with the TV and the stand for it, which wasn't very big given that holo-televisions didn't exactly take up a lot of real estate. There were also two polished wooden end tables flanking the couch, both with lamps.

The bed was placed squarely in the middle of the back wall, with a red and black comforter over a red bedspread, two nightstands flanked either side of the bed, also with lamps on them. It was a bit excessive to have that many lamps, but Cinder pointed out that it's not like I'd ever have them all on at once.

…And all of this wasn't even mentioning the fact that she'd gotten her hands on a bunch of landscape paintings of places like Forever Fall and the Emerald Forest and lined the walls of my apartment with them. Not too many, but 'just enough to make the place feel more alive' as she said.

The only place that remained untouched was my kitchen, although the dining table did not survive and was replaced with a new one that was similarly circular, but had no wood splinters on it.

I thought all of this was thoroughly unnecessary, but Cinder insisted on it. She decorated the place as if two people were living there, which I found odd, especially considering it hit my wallet twice as hard. Granted, she did pay for some of it, since it was her idea, but a lot of it was still me.

I asked her why she did it, and she just avoided the question. I started to suspect that she was making this into a two-person setup because she wanted an extra place to hide away if things went bad and she needed to lay low. There had been a few instances of that happening before, she didn't come to me, but she certainly dropped off the radar for days at a time after a big heist or operation of hers happened. Maybe she was getting the idea that rooming with me was not only far more preferable, but also less of a pain in her neck.

I just wished she hadn't made me furnish this place out of pocket for the most part, the studio was big enough for two people, there was no doubt about that, but the costs were almost too much.

Although I would find that my lack of money wouldn't be a big problem for very long.

Towards the end of the first month of summer I was going for a walk through the streets of Vale on my own in my huntsman gear, with nothing to really immediately worry about and with Cinder keeping her distance again (due to her 'business ventures' I was certain) I had found that I had a lot of time on my hands. I could have gone back to working at the coffee shop, and I was considering it, but I did want to enjoy the time I had off.

I'd spent so many months planning, scheming, weaving a web of lies, that I wanted to take a break. The stakes were going to be raised very soon, the second semester was when everything that I had been planning for would kick off. Could I get Cinder to turncoat? If not, then what would I have to do to stop the Fall from happening? I didn't like the idea that I might have to try to kill her, it hurt me a lot to even entertain such an idea, but I was certain that if she stayed true to Salem it was going to come down to kill or be killed.

If she did turn, there was still an elephant in the room that I had been neglecting thinking about, that beetle Grimm that had melded into her person. That might well have been part of how Salem was able to find out about me, and if that was the case, then she already knew who I was. We would need to get rid of it, and the only way I knew how didn't seem preferable. If I told Ruby or Violet about their silver eyes and had one of them burn it out, that would leave Cinder in a very bad state for a while. The Grimm would be gone, sure, the beetle was nowhere near as pervasive on her person as the Grimm arm she would get if she stayed with Salem was, but there was still the damage that would be done to her, and it was damage I'd rather avoid her receiving.

All of this wasn't even mentioning that I would need to explain how I knew about the power of the Silver Eyed Warriors to Ruby and or Violet along with anyone else who found out that I was the one who activated theirs. Ozpin would probably assume that I had been given that knowledge from the God of Light, but everyone else would be harder to explain to.

Maybe there was some magical way I could separate the Grimm from her? I had been improving my sorcery over the past several months, and while it was still nowhere near as good as I would want it to be, just very basic spells that cost very small amounts of mana, it was something. Trying to use magic to separate a Grimm from someone like that was leaps and bounds ahead of where I was now. Out of everything that I learned and practiced, magic was the thing that remained stubbornly slow. I supposed I couldn't expect to just become extremely adept at something that foreign so quickly. The System only did so much…

As I continued down the street, I sighed as I realized that I had inadvertently started planning things again on what was supposed to be one of my days off. Could I really be blamed? Did the concept of a 'day off' even apply to me? This was a round the clock thing I needed to worry about, if I didn't then people would get hurt.

…It was all so tiresome.

I wondered if that was how Ozpin felt sometimes. He might have gotten used to it, but I couldn't fathom the idea of someone making all of these plans and thinking about all these maneuvers and not getting tired from it all. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally.

I pondered which one of us had it worse. Did I have the short stick because I actually knew what was going to happen, and my every action was in a desperate effort to prevent those things? Or did he have it worse, because he didn't know what to expect, and yet he had to plan several steps ahead all the same. Was ignorance bliss, or was it a curse?

Maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle.

It was times like this that made me wish I had something to get rid of my stress, yet a problem with knowing so much is that my mind inevitably started working for ways to turn even simple visits to friends into ways to make further preparations and plans. Maybe I could go to a bar, I'd never been before, but I knew it was legal for me, given my status. Alcohol wasn't exactly a constructive way to blow off steam, but everyone had a vice. I just hadn't found mine yet.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts and looked around, the skyscrapers and busy streets that I had ended up surrounded by were familiar, some of the first sights I had seen when I came to Remnant. I had meandered into downtown Vale, some distance from my apartment. I was so deep in thought that my body just sort of autopiloted me into a random direction, which just so happened to be near where this whole thing started.

'Dust till Dawn' wasn't far away, just a short walk forward. It was nostalgic looking at it now and recalling how lost I was. How I desperately just wanted to avoid all of this, and how I had gotten my wallet stolen by Torchwick.

That particular memory reminded me of somewhere else I could go to try to clear my head, so I pushed on.

Sure enough, the park I had met Torchwick at wasn't too far ahead. I separated from the ever flowing stream of people and walked into the park. I saw the bench where I had been sitting and decided to take a seat and think surrounded by the trees and birds. Maybe I could clear my head that way?

I took a deep breath of the fresh air and exhaled, leaning back into the bench as I did so. For once, I tried to not think about planning anything, or lying, anything like that. I instead thought about what I'd have for dinner, I didn't have a lot of money so maybe I'd just stay in and cook something up.

My peace lasted for all of five minutes until, in the corner of my eye, I saw someone approaching me, and it was the last person I wanted to see. Brown and pink hair with matching eyes, the suit and corset get up, the sensual swaying of her hips as she kept her eyes locked on me. Who else would it be but Neopolitan, formerly known as Trivia Vanille.

I played it cool, my arms had been spread out on either side of the top of the bench, and while I could have moved them, I didn't exactly expect her to sit next to me. Of course, I should have, because that's exactly what she did, sitting down, batting her eyelashes, and leaning towards me with a knowing look.

I played the fool, furrowing my brow at her, "Do I know you?" Neo was an anomaly I had yet to account for, because ultimately I had hoped to never need to, and then that day at Cinder's place happened, and while I was worried, I had assumed Neo had forgotten.

I assumed wrong.

Neo typed quickly and gracefully on her scroll and then showed me, "I know you. Roman told me about you, and I saw you at the docks. Then, I saw your scarf at Cinder's place. You get around don't you, naughty boy? ;)"

My face heated up but I prevented any shock from registering on my face. Some part of me expected this, and I really didn't need Neopolitan getting some sort of leverage on me because she thought I was 'playing both sides' or something like that. I hummed, "She's a friend of mine, I don't see what that has to do with Torchwick." I figured that playing dumb to what Cinder did would work better than just pretending like there was some mistake.

Neo seemed intrigued at the idea that I knew Cinder but not what she did for a living. She texted yet another message, "You don't? Well, you should know that Roman wants to speak with you."

I raised an eyebrow, "Yeah? What if I don't want to talk with him?" That was a rhetorical question, I knew that if Roman wanted to talk to me and Neo had found me here, that meant I was going to end up talking to him one way or the other, unless I wanted to try to beat her, which I didn't think I could do.

Neo seemed more amused at what I said than anything else. Once again she texted, "If we're gonna dance, I'd prefer it being the kind we do in private ;)."

She was messing with me, trying to trip me up. It was something I knew about all too well, given how she behaved, and how it bled into her fighting style as well. Still, I smiled, "Well, alright." I moved to stand up, "Lead the way."

I got a notification once I stood.

New Substory!

Dirty Deeds

A consequence of your rampant vigilantism and fight with Torchwick seems to have been garnering his attention. Does he want to befriend you, or to bump you off? There's only one way to find out! Discover what Torchwick wants with you, and from there decide your course of action.

Rewards

100 Lien, opinion increase: Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan, Notoriety gain OR loss with the Valean underworld, further rewards depending on method of completion.

Well, this one was vague. I guess I'd learn more once I got to where Torchwick was…

She seemed satisfied with my response as she stood up and started sauntering towards the sidewalk. The way she was exaggerating how she walked had to be intentional, I just tried my best to ignore it. Whatever she was trying to do, I didn't want any part of it. So instead I started to follow her, unsure of where we were going.

We headed through the commercial district and towards the seedier part of Vale, that was around the time I started to get an idea of where we were going. Little Mistral, named as such for being a 'little piece of Mistral in Vale', I remembered places like this existing in the old world, and I supposed it made sense as to how these kinds of places might crop up here too.

If I recalled correctly, its creation had something to do with the fall of Mountain Glenn, but I couldn't remember the specifics. I was sure Oobleck would get onto me for that, but hey, I'm not a historian.

Guys in suits started to become as common as regular people, and the people themselves looked anywhere from destitute to well off, an eclectic bunch to be sure. Some of the guys in suits looked my way, sizing me up from how it seemed, but the presence of Neo was enough for them to not let their gazes linger long.

Eventually we reached the place I figured we were going, Junior's nightclub. It was the middle of the day, so I wasn't surprised to see it was closed, and yet we walked right through the front doors anyway.

Predictably, the club was abandoned. There were stairs that led up to the VIP area, and a bar on the ground floor against the wall. The center of the giant room was mostly occupied by the dance floor, with a platform for the DJ setup, although it seemed that the night's DJ had yet to arrive.

I had never been in a place like this before, it was… new. Eerie as well, you expect these places to be filled with people, so having them be empty just felt odd. There was only one other person in the building it seemed, he was sitting at the bar. Who else would it be but Roman Torchwick, he heard us approaching and stood up out of his bar stool, "Neo! I didn't expect you to find him this quickly." Torchwick's smile seemed amicable, which was somewhat disconcerting coming from the criminal mastermind.

Neo just smirked at him, while I kept my expression neutral. If I had a choice to be anywhere but here, I would be, but I didn't. I crossed my arms and stopped walking a few feet from them, "Well, you were looking for me, and you found me. What exactly do you want?"

Roman walked over to me, "Kid, I'll admit, you've got me at a loss." He patted my back and started to walk me towards the barstools, "You were a homeless loser nobody not even a year ago and now you're a Beacon student." He had said something similar before, granted he was right, it was extraordinary, "I know a rising star when I see one, I didn't get to be the premier syndicate leader in this city by ignoring talent." He saw the look of skepticism in my face and as we got to the stools, he sat down and gestured for me to do the same, so I did.

He leaned on the counter with one arm, the other hand holding his cane, "I know what you're thinking. 'Why would I want anything to do with the Valean underworld?' Well let me promise you this, kid. I didn't bring you here because I want you in the crime business, I brought you here because you're outside of the crime business."

I hummed and leaned on the counter while I looked at him, "Oh?" He nodded, and I looked away in contemplation before I looked back. I shouldn't have been entertaining anything to do with Torchwick, he was my enemy, he worked with the White Fang, and yet if this was a chance to get some info out of him by getting into his good graces, I was obligated to at least think about it.

I nodded for him to continue, and he smirked, "I've got your attention? Good. Neo, be a doll and bring me the folder." She nodded and left, coming back just a few seconds later with a manila folder filled with documents of some kind. She set it down in front of Torchwick, who nodded, "Perfect."

Neo stepped back, walked over to my left, and sat down, smiling in a way that I could only call something between cute and sensual. Was there a word for that? I had no idea, I just tried to ignore it as Torchwick opened the folder. Inside were a bunch of written documents, along with several physical photographs.

The photographs were of a building, a run down warehouse with a bar next to it, 'The Last Stop' was its name. Torchwick explained, "This place is run by a gang operating outside of my jurisdiction and Junior's jurisdiction. They've got the protection of some Vacuan cartel, they're a dangerous foothold for a group like that to have." I raised an eyebrow and he explained, "The Vacuan cartels are known for two things: drug smuggling and slave trading. The Desert Warriors Gang is dealing in both."

Slave trading? The very idea made my blood boil. Yet still, I had a question, "Why come to me about this? Why not drop the police an anonymous tip?"

Torchwick clicked his tongue and shook his head, "You already know why, kid, I've been telling you from the start. You're a rising star who can go mano y mano with me and nearly win. Not just that, but you're not afraid to fight dirty. As for the badges, those bastards are in the Vacuans' pockets and have been for months now. They'd only act if it was all blasted wide open. If I or my affiliates attacked, it'd be a declaration of war. The Vacuan cartels might not have their whole body in the door yet, but if they were provoked, they'd come in guns blazing."

Unfortunately that all made too much sense. The cops were corrupt and I was the only person Torchwick could get ahold of that wasn't affiliated to him and was morally questionable enough to consider working with him, even if it was for an objectively good cause like freeing slaves.

I wondered if the others would have taken a job like this. They'd want to free slaves, but would they have even listened to what Torchwick had to say? Or would they have just tried to throw down with him? I decided to not dwell on it, "Alright, fine. Tell me everything."

Torchwick smirked, "I knew I had you figured out, kid." He didn't, not even close, but I just nodded, "Okay, now listen…"

He explained everything, how he knew they were keeping their 'future slaves' in that warehouse, how the bar was their main hangout, and the fact that almost none of them had aura, which meant if I wanted to avoid killing them I was going to need to use something more blunt, or rely on lightning and gravity dust to subdue them.

Then he explained that the leader of the gang was a girl named Thana Syntoma, a Shade academy dropout who came to Vale after cozying up to the cartels. He showed me what she looked like, tan skin, dark red hair, green eyes, and a fairly muscular build. She wore a red T-shirt, black combat pants, and black boots. He had pictures of her holding her preferred weapon, a mechashift cannon of all things that could transform into a massive two-handed sword.

Needless to say, she was going to be the biggest headache of this operation.

Torchwick said he was going to pay me, and while I would have gladly done this for free and probably should have rejected his money, I didn't. Given that my savings were what they were, I was going to take anything I could get.

He suggested that I wait to strike until nightfall, and then when I was done he asked that I come back to the club for payment and some free drinks. He said that Junior would be happy to hear that the gang was gone, and would gladly give me a spot in the VIP lounge if I did this for him.

Well, I had been thinking about needing a vice…

After giving me the rest of the important details, I left to prepare for what was no doubt going to be an eventful night. This was the first time I was really operating entirely on my own, nobody was going to help me, so I was going to have to put some serious thought into how I handled this.

Once I left the building, I got a new notification.

Substory Updated!

Dirty Deeds

Your rampant vigilantism and questionable morals have resulted in Torchwick hiring you! Luckily, it's for a good cause. The Desert Warriors Gang are the lowest of the low, slavers and drug dealers, they prey upon the weakest and most vulnerable people they can find to turn a profit. Blow the lid on their whole operation!

Rewards

100 Lien + 2000 from your employer. Opinion increase: Roman Torchwick, Junior, and Neopolitan. Notoriety gain with the Valean underworld.

I dismissed the notification and started back to my apartment. I was going to need to make sure I had everything I was going to need, and a way to not kill these people. As much as they deserved it, I didn't want blood on my hands.

I decided that the best way to avoid killing them was going to be lightning and gravity dust, those types of arrows could bring them down but wouldn't kill them immediately. Lightning, if overused, would stop their hearts, but if I was careful I figured I could avoid that.

While I was sitting in my apartment on my still relatively new and incredibly comfy couch, I realized that I hadn't been using magic as much as I should have been. I decided that I would check on what spells I had on offer. I was getting an idea for my first new spell, but first I needed to see what I had access to.

Spellbook

Current MP: 35/35

Prestidigitation

Cost: 1 MP

Can be used to clean or dirty small objects. Can also be used to lift small objects a few feet off the ground. Finally, it can be used to cook, flavor, or burn food.

Mage Hand

Cost: 1 MP

Create an aetherial hand to do what you wish. It can interact with objects but will pass through people. The hand has a range of fifteen feet.

Ghost Sound

Cost: 5 MP

Can create a sound at maximum equivalent to four humans shouting. This noise can originate up to 30 feet away from you.

Bullhorn

Cost: 5 MP

Your voice is projected up to 500 feet away, this increase does not make your voice incredibly loud or distorted. Walls or other natural barriers will obstruct your voice as normal.

Daze

Cost: 10 MP

Can be used to daze and confuse a target. This spell can also be used to make a target forget what they were doing and leaves them stunned for five minutes. Can only be used on a target whose aura is broken or not activated.

Dancing Lights

Cost: 10 MP

Create up to four orbs of light that will move based on your commands. Is bright enough to light an entire room without adjustment. Brightness can be adjusted by willing it to dim to candlelight levels or to brighten further to flood light levels.

Fleet Foot

Cost: 10 MP.

Gain +1 Dexterity for one hour.

Some of my spells had been upgraded due to my increasing skill with sorcery, although as far as blatantly offensive spells went, I had none. That wasn't to say the spells I had couldn't be used offensively, most of them could, but none of them had a stated purpose of hurting people.

As for making sure I didn't kill anyone, well, I had a few hours until the evening, so I decided to get to work. I had never tried making a new spell, and while I knew I wouldn't be able to create anything crazy, I could still try to make something.

It took a lot of trial and error, several hours of thinking about exactly what the spell needed to do and what was within my current means for it to do. It was almost time for me to get going when I finally figured it out.

Dulled Blade

Cost: 5 MP

Can be used to make even the sharpest blades blunt. Can only be used on weapons you are holding. The bluntness will last until you will the weapon(s) back to being sharp.

The first spell I had ever made was ready to go, and just in time too. I felt kind of proud of myself for managing it. The rest of the spells I knew were all taught to me by Ozpin, but this one was mine.

I had about 20 MP left, having spent some of it trying and failing to make the spell the first few times, and then another five to apply the spell to Dawn. Luckily I didn't use too much, I would still have more options if I needed them.

By the time I left my apartment the sun was already sinking, the streets were much quieter than they were when I was going on my walk earlier today. I hadn't exactly expected for today to head in this direction, but I supposed it could have ended up much worse. If Neo had the mind to, and Torchwick hadn't taken a shine to me, she could have prodded further into how I knew Cinder, and just how close we really were. I didn't need anyone knowing about that, not now.

As I walked, I wrapped my scarf around me a few more times, allowing it to hide my lower face as I drew closer to my destination. To my surprise, though, before I got there I received a text.

It was from Violet of all people.

Violet: "Hey! I'm bored, wanna come over tomorrow and play some games?"

Well, that would be one way to relax after tonight…

Me: "Sure, what time? And what's your address?"

She gave me that information while I kept walking. Violet had continued to, somehow, be the least transparent of all my teammates. Lunus was an open book, Jeanne had some things she refused to talk about but much more that she would, Violet talked about… basically nothing regarding her past, or even what life was like in her apartment. She mentioned having a grandfather who passed away, but that was it.

I didn't think on it for too long though, since not long after that 'The Last Stop' and the warehouse holding the people they wanted to make into slaves came into view. The bar was a roadside affair, on the outskirts of the city. I had to walk quite a ways to get there, and that meant I'd need to walk quite a ways back with the civilians, but that was unavoidable. Unless, of course, the police got drawn to this place by all the noise I was going to be making.

There were several cars and motorcycles in the front and in the parking lot to the right of the bar, the wooden building really screamed "Hey! This is where all the gangers hang out!" There were four windows, two on either side of the door, and I moved to stand across the street from the bar so I could look in without being immediately spotted. It was a good thing there weren't very many buildings around, and absolutely no civilians, because I anticipated things could get messy.

From what I could see through the windows, the bar was bustling with activity. Roman told me that the only people who came to this place were members of the gang, so I didn't need to worry about accidentally hurting someone innocent. I believed him, not because he didn't lie a lot, but because no regular person would see a bar like this and want to go inside.

The people wore either leather vests and jeans or T-shirts and jeans, honestly you couldn't have asked for a more generic example of a gang, at least Roman and Junior's groups wore suits…

Then again, that was just another kind of generic, so maybe I was just biased because these guys were slavers.

I drew closer to the building, careful to stay out of the street lights as I drew Dawn and joined the two swords into its bow form. This time I drew two arrows, one tipped with gravity dust and the other tipped with lightning dust. I reached the side of the bar and nocked the two arrows, staying away from the windows until I was ready.

Then, I moved into view of the windows, aiming high and drawing back the arrows. Once I loosed them, they shattered through the window, sending glass flying inside. The arrows struck true, hitting the ceiling of the bar like I had intended them to. I heard shouts and curses of shock, pain, and anger as the lights inside flickered. I knocked yet another gravity arrow and scanned the inside.

There had to be around forty gangers inside, although it looked like between the blast of lightning and the gravity sending them to the ground, twenty of them were already out. When you didn't have aura, you were left incredibly vulnerable. It didn't take much to bring down or kill someone who didn't have or didn't know how to use aura, which is part of why I was always amazed that Jaune and Jeanne adapted so quickly. Maybe it was just their massive reserves of aura?

I didn't have time to dwell on it. It seemed that at least ten of the gangsters had reacted fast enough to hide behind the bar or under their tables, I had no idea where the rest had gone. Maybe to the back, but I could worry about that later.

For the moment I drew back and fired the next arrow, this one aimed right for the ground in the middle of the bar. The gravity dust did its job, exploding out and throwing everyone in the room against the walls.

Before I could get ready to move inside to look for the rest, the warehouse to my left's garage doors started to slide open. I nocked another lightning arrow and drew it back as I backpedaled, squinting as I waited to see who opened the doors.

My vision was filled with the view of the very same woman from the photos, holding a cannon much like Coco held her minigun. My eyes widened and I just barely managed to dodge as she fired at me, the ammunition connecting with where I had been and exploding in a loud BOOM. It easily took out the wall of the bar I had been next to, and if I hadn't been fast enough moving to the street, I would have been done right then and there.

The inside of the warehouse had several shipping containers inside of it, and I didn't need to think about it very much to guess what was inside. Thana Syntoma grinned, "Well! It takes guts for a lone huntsman to come picking a fight with a whole gang! You must think you're hot shit, huh?" Climbing out of the hole in the bar wall she had made were the final ten gangsters, some had shotguns, others had tire irons. Thana continued, "You know, even if you're hiding half of your mug with that scarf, I can tell you're a looker! You'll fetch a good price, I think."

Getting sized up for something like that filled me with rage and rancor, I didn't deign her with a response, instead as the gangsters with tire irons began to charge at me, I loosed the arrow I had nocked and sent it flying back to the five with shotguns.

It struck true, most of them were sent sprawling on the ground, only two had been far enough away to avoid the blast.

I broke apart Dawn as the first of the thugs with a tire iron reached me and swung. I stepped out of the way and swiped at him with Dawn, sending him sprawling back onto the ground. The others raced towards me, and I channeled some ice dust into Dawn before striking outward in what had become a signature of mine, sending out a wave of ice that caught them by their legs and stopping them in their tracks.

While they struggled with the ice, the two with shotguns took aim and fired past the others, towards me. I managed to dodge one blast, but the other connected with my aura, causing me to swear in pain. I still needed more work with bullets!

That was when the absolute last thing I expected to happen, happened.

Thana fired her canon at me again, while I was still standing near all of the guys I had rooted down with ice. I jumped out of the way, getting caught in the explosion that followed and getting sent sprawling onto the pavement. I thanked God for my aura shielding me from the worst of the damage, but…

HP: 80/100

I could feel some blood trickling down from my forehead, with more coming from the top of my head.

Aura Reserve: 40/100

That didn't look good.

As I scrambled back to my feet, I gasped and almost lost my lunch as I saw just how little was left of the thugs I had rooted to the ground. Some of their feet were still attached to the ice, but everything else was just viscera on the road. Thana laughed, "Hired help! Can never trust them to do anything, I swear!"

The last two thugs looked like they were having second thoughts about this whole thing, they looked between the two of us dumbly while I grabbed Dawn off the ground and scrambled up again. It seemed she had some cooldown before she could shoot another one of those God forsaken cannonballs, so I opted to close the distance. I raced towards her, gritting my teeth as I did so while she looked even more excited at the prospect of a close-range engagement.

In one swift movement she pressed a button on her canon and it began to transform. It shifted into a bulky, huge two-handed sword that looked like it had the strength to chop a car in half, I doubted I would be much more difficult. I willed Dulled Blade to turn off, I was going to need to make this hurt as much as possible to wear this psycho down.

Then I activated a spell I'd never even remotely thought would be useful, Fleet Footed. It turned out, when your dexterity was high enough, having one extra point could make all the difference.

Once I was in range of that sword that had to be at least eight feet long, she swung it down, but it was slow. I managed to sidestep it and continued sprinting towards her. When I was close enough, I delivered a swing to her side, her red aura flaring up to protect her as she much too deftly moved to swing her sword in my direction. She swung high, so I ducked under her swing and stabbed Dawn against her aura again. I might not have hit as hard as she did, but I would gladly wear her down with a thousand cuts.

I was aware of the two thugs that were still standing with their shotguns out, but they didn't seem too intent on actually getting involved. I was right next to their boss, and she was a lot broader than I was, I could dodge any shot they took and she'd take it instead.

While I was still low to the ground, I rolled to her side and delivered another series of strikes against her aura. She kicked out and this time managed to catch me as I was starting to stand upright again, sending me stumbling back as I felt my aura weakening.

She took another wide swing with the slab of metal she called a sword and I once again managed to avoid, although I was pretty sure she caught some strands of my hair as I dropped down.

I saw that I only had ten MP left, if I wanted this to end anytime soon I was going to need to use it. I willed into existence four lights, shining bright as they danced around above us, shining directly into the psycho's eyes.

She swore as she raised her sword and swung it into the air, managing to catch two of the lights, but the other two remained, dancing around and blinding her. This gave me an opportunity to strike at her again, while she was facing away from me I stabbed at her back while channeling fire dust into my blades, the force of the enhanced strikes was enough to cause her to stumble forward.

However, she leveraged her sword as additional weight and twisted her body around, spinning in a circle while swinging her sword. I managed to jump over the first low swing and even got in a strike hard enough that her aura shimmered, showing that it was close to breaking. However, she sped up and whirled around once again, too fast for me to react this time.

Her sword slammed into my side and sent me sprawling to the ground as I gasped in pain, my aura evaporated as I gritted my teeth, feeling a pool of blood forming under my sweater and shirt.

In one final swing upwards, she took out the two lights I still had in the air before I could command them to move. She laughed, "You know what, pretty boy?" She rested her giant sword on her shoulder as she gave me a predatory grin, "I was going to sell you off, but now I think I'll keep you for myself!"

Fear shot through my body, cold as ice water. I was in too much pain to respond, but before she could gloat further the sound of a shotgun going off hit my eardrums, she stumbled forward as her aura evaporated. She whirled around, "What the hell-"

Then, another roar as buckshot aimed squarely at her head hit its mark. Where there had once been face, hair, skin, there was now just the gorey remains of her head. She fell backwards, right onto me. I swore as I pushed her body off of me and scrambled to my feet, breathing heavily as I looked at who had just saved me from a fate worse than death.

It was the two thugs, their eyes wide and filled with fear. They lowered their guns when they saw me looking at them. One, a gruff man with a beard, shook his head, "That bitch has been fucking us over for months now… I'm done with this shit." He threw his shotgun down, turned around, and walked away towards the parking lot.

The last ganger, a faunus girl with brown hair and antlers, seemed to share much the same sentiment. She threw her shotgun down and walked away.

The rest of the gang was unconscious or dead, and I was the last one standing, but this didn't feel like much of a victory.

I wanted to vomit at all of the death around me, the stench and the sights were like nothing I had seen before. Yet I couldn't, because I still had a job to do.

I turned towards the shipping crates and limped my way over to them, finding that my legs had been bruised and injured just as much as the rest of me from the mixture of cannon shots and a sword strike.

Dawn broke the padlocks on the containers with ease, and as I opened one, what I saw filled me with anger all over again. Men, women, and children, all with tattered clothes and all with terrified expressions, looked at me. Some had fear in their eyes, some had unmitigated hope. Faunus, human, it didn't seem to matter to this gang, everyone was fair game.

I cleared my throat and managed with a weak voice, "Come on! I'm getting all of you out of here." I moved to the neck shipping container and said much the same thing to the next group.

While I was thinking about how I was going to get all of these people to safety, I heard the sound of sirens alerting me to the police's swift arrival.

I guided everyone out so the police could pick them up, while I went back to where the gang leader had fallen. Her sword was still there, far too heavy for me to use, I wondered what would happen to it. Was it going to be taken as evidence? Melted down and destroyed?

I didn't know, and frankly if I had tried to pick it up at that moment I would have probably just made all of my wounds worse. I left it there while I watched as a horde of squad cards drew closer, likely drawn to the scene by the explosions.

I was pulled out of my thoughts as I felt a tug on my sleeve. I turned around and saw a small faunus girl with orange hair, tanned skin, and a pair of ears that reminded me of a red panda looking up at me, "Mister? Am I gonna go home?" She was wearing a tattered orange dress that matched her hair. I had to wonder how long she'd been here, she looked hungry. Her eyes were vanta black, almost indistinguishable from her pupils, only standing out because they had texture compared to her pitch black pupils, but still, they almost seemed to draw in the light around them. It was apparently a not uncommon eye color on Remnant, all things considered, but it was still very intriguing to me.

I felt a tug of sadness in my heart, and more rage, at the idea that the people here were willing to take this girl from her family. I wanted to kill every one of them, sometimes I wish I did, but for now I just managed a weak smile to the girl and nodded. I reached up and patted her head, which she seemed to enjoy. I spoke with a weak, hoarse voice, "Yeah. Nobody's gonna hurt you anymore." She still looked a bit scared, so I knelt down and asked her, "Where are your parents?"

The girl thought for a minute, "They live in a house! They're there, I know it!" Well, it was a relief that she had parents, I knew a lot of kids like her didn't have any. Then, she had another question, "Mister?" I listened and she asked, "What's your name? Papa always tells me I need to know important people's names."

She was so adorable I couldn't help but smile, even as I felt increasingly weaker. I realized my scarf was still covering the lower part of my face, so I lowered it and managed a bit of a stronger smile than what I had before, "Neve. What's your name?"

The girl smiled back at me, "Shi Xia! I'm gonna tell my parents all about you! You're a hunt-uhm…hunts-man aren't you?" I nodded, and for all that she had been through she gained a determined look in her eyes, "I'm gonna be a hero like you one day! Then I'll be keeping you safe! That's a promise!"

I grinned and patted her shoulder, "I can't wait, Shi. I believe in you." I really did. The fire I saw in her eyes was the kind that would take a lot to extinguish, and it only seemed to burn brighter for all the trouble she'd been through.

I kept talking to her for a while longer, not just to get to know what her life was like but also to keep her from looking at or noticing the bodies. A child didn't need to see that sort of thing, the adults looked terrified enough as it was.

Thankfully, the cops arrived along with the paramedics. The bodies were quickly cordoned off and the small sea of victims were being questioned, if they had family or friends, they called them.

I stayed for all of it, and I stayed with Shi. I didn't want to leave her alone until her parents showed up. Thankfully, she knew their phone number by heart, saying that her mom taught her that it was super important to know.

Her parents came and were all too relieved to see their daughter safe and sound. I was getting the large wound in my side covered in gauze at that point. They were more than a little grateful to me, as was just about everyone, victim or family.

The cops had some questions for me, but it was light. I lied through most of it, saying that I discovered this whole operation totally on my own and that the gang leader had jumped me while I was walking past. They believed me, and once I had my most grievous injuries patched up I was given a lift by one of the squad cars back towards Juniors, where I told them I wanted to be let off.

I wasn't going to lie, that night was the first time I ever felt like I'd done something genuinely, unabashedly good. It might have been because I was willing to stoop to working with Torchwick, but hey, seeing everyone, Shi especially, being set free and reunited with their families, was enough of a soaring feeling to make me disregard that little detail.

Although the memories of what I saw, the bodies, especially Thana's, stayed in the back of my head. I needed a drink, and I had never even been drunk before. I didn't know how I knew I needed one, but I did.

I was dropped off, garnering some looks from patrons and bouncers alike as they saw me exit a squad car. Yet before anyone could ask who I was, Neopolitan exited the nightclub with a satisfied smile on her face. She looped her arm around mine and walked me into the club. I didn't like her being this close, but I didn't have the energy to complain.

The music was loud and thumped in my heart, people were dancing up a storm on the dance floor and the bars were filled. We walked past it and went up the stairs, towards the enclosed VIP area.

There was another bar up there, where Torchwick was talking to who I recognized as Junior, patriarch of the Xiong family. When Torchwick saw me, he grinned, "Hey! Man of the hour, and looking like a million bucks on top of that!" Obviously, I looked like garbage, but he didn't seem to care, "Neo, sit him down right next to me, you've done everyone a huge favor tonight, Neve!" That was the first time I'd ever heard him use my name, I guessed that meant he felt I was worth it now.

Neo did as she was asked, leading me over to the barstool next to Torchwick where I sat down and sighed as I was able to get off my feet again, even if it was on a barstool when I would have much preferred to be back home on my couch, or in a booth at least. I nodded, "Yeah, well… they deserved it. I just didn't expect it to get so bloody… Their leader was a maniac."

Junior laughed, "Trust me, we know! She was a fucking loon!" He stood up, "You're a good one kid. Feel free to come around whenever, you'll always have a spot in the VIP lounge." Then he waved and left, likely on some business or another.

Well, I supposed that was one part of the reward. The next came when Roman slipped me a weighty envelope, "Here's your reward, kid. You earned every Lien. Ever had a drink before?" I shook my head and he grinned.

Neo followed up, texting something before showing it to me, "That's one cherry we can pop tonight ;). I can take care of the other later tonight, if you're interested."

My face heated up and I shook my head, "N-No, thank you, but…"

Roman covered for me with a laugh, "Don't mind her. I might have basically raised her, but I've got no idea where she gets that from." So Neo in this world was properly adopted by Torchwick? I wondered just how old she was, she looked basically the same as she did in the show. Maybe it was Torchwick who was older? I had no idea. He continued, "Besides, I doubt you want to have that kind of fun while you're still healing, huh?"

That was not it at all, I was genuinely not interested in fooling around like that, it just wasn't my style. Still, I nodded, "Yeah… let's go with that." I got a notification after that.

Substory Complete!

Dirty Deeds

After a messy and gruesome battle, you freed the innocent and saved them from lives of slavery at the hands of the worst scum Remnant has to offer. Thankfully, dirty deeds don't come dirt cheap! At least, not this time.

Rewards

100 Lien + 2000 from your employer. Opinion increase: Roman Torchwick, Junior, and Neopolitan. Notoriety gain with the Valean underworld.

Not this time, and never when it came to working with people like Torchwick. I would do it again, but only if it was for a good cause, because I knew there were some things that just couldn't be handled by people more morally sound than I was.

I dismissed the notification and after that, Torchwick and Neo both ordered me separate drinks. Neo's was sweet and fruity, Torchwick's was smokey and burning. The first drinks already helped with taking the edge off.

Well, when in Rome…

Cinder POV, one hour later

I sighed in frustration as I entered Junior's Nightclub. I was never a fan of places like this, the loud music, the unruly and downright feral crowds, it was just too much. Yet I didn't have much of a choice today, I was supposed to meet with Torchwick to discuss the dust robberies, but instead of our usual meeting place, he insisted that he was waiting on some important news at this nightclub.

I had no idea what was so important that he didn't want to go to his own base of operations, but it made me incredibly annoyed. As if his constant failures weren't enough, now he was changing our meeting location.

Although even I couldn't blame all of his failings entirely on him, there was a set of pesky vigilantes fighting against him at every opportunity. As I started up the steps to the VIP lounge, my thoughts turned to Neve. He snuck up on me, that stupid Coffee Boy, he went from being a simple barista to a confidant, someone who didn't and doesn't judge me and allows me to say exactly what I'm thinking, someone I… care a lot about. Even if at the time I had no idea what that meant.

I would have paid every Lien I had saved up to be at his apartment cuddled up with him watching a movie instead of being in this nightclub, but business was business, and I felt certain that Salem didn't have the same faith in me that she once had. The Grimm that had fused with me was hard to keep subdued, but I hadn't faltered yet.

Except for that one time… That might have been how Salem learned about my visits with him.

I didn't have time to entertain that idea though, as I pushed open the door to the lounge and stepped inside, "Roman, what exactly-"

My words died in my mouth as I saw Roman having a conversation with the object of my affection. He looked… terrible, for lack of a better word. His fluffy black hair was messier than normal, his skin looked pale except for around his face, which was blushing a dull red, his eyes looked unfocused, and he looked… distant. I knew immediately that he was drunk.

What made my blood boil was how Neopolitan was looking at him, leaning close to him, putting her hands on his shoulder and arm. He seemed to be ignoring her in favor of talking to Torchwick, which meant my anger was directed entirely at her.

Roman turned around, "Cinder! Glad you finally made it, I was just celebrating with the man of the hour here. Did you see the news?"

He must have been referring to the attack on that gang bar in outer Vale. Nobody knew the name of the person who saved them and bested the gang, all they knew was that he had black hair, blue eyes, and-

It hit me all at once as I walked over towards them, "Roman, Neopolitan." I tried my best to stay cordial, "What is this about?" Neopolitan had that smug smile on her face, I shot her a glare and that at least caused her to let go of Neve.

Torchwick patted Neve's back, "About this man doing the world a service and destroying a human trafficking operation! Neo told me you knew him, he's a friend of yours right? Small world."

Neopolitan sent me a text that read, "Don't worry, we didn't tell him anything about your operations. He thinks you're just an innocent beautiful girl ;)"

The idea that Neve called me beautiful was making my face heat up. I felt some relief that apparently they thought that he knew nothing about our operations, that meant I was going to need to play this carefully, he looked too drunk to remember anything from tonight at least. I pointed to the door, "We'll talk out there."

The two of them got the message and left, as annoying and infuriating as they were, they at least showed some deference to me. I was about to pace out after them and leave Neve to his drunken stupor for a few minutes when suddenly he slurred out just above a whisper, "C-cciiindeerrr…"

Hearing him call my name like that, even in his drunken state, sent my heart fluttering. I turned around and saw him standing up, "N-Nepolit-t-an w-wass tryna fl-flirt with me…" He stumbled over towards me, "B-But ee-eeeyyeee donn have eyezz foreeeeee ANYBody! Ecksept YUUU!"

My face was burning bright now, especially as he put his hands on my shoulders and leaned on me for support, "S-Saayyyy….Y-Ya wahn a…drink?"

I shook my head, "Neve, you're much too drunk. Come on, I'm going to take you home."

He didn't complain or say anything really as I put his arm around my shoulders and started to guide him out of the room. The stairs were tricky, and took longer than they should have, but I didn't want him to fall. He already looked like he was a wreck.

I told both Torchwick and Neopolitan that I was taking Neve home, our meeting could wait until I'd taken care of him. Besides, he didn't need to be here to possibly hear our business, even if he probably wouldn't remember any of it the next day.

I couldn't just walk him home, so I hailed a cab. Once we were inside and on the move, he looked out the window for a few minutes. Even like this, he looked troubled, I saw (censored) news footage of the carnage at that bar, I knew Neve wouldn't have done that himself, the large mechashift cannon-sword the police found was enough evidence to show that he had nothing to do with the deaths.

Still, I knew that someone like him was going to take being that close to death, especially death that bloody, very hard. That was probably why he got drunk in the first place. When I had killed my 'step-mother' and her two daughters, it had made me physically sick. Moreso when, in my desire to stay free and never be a slave again, I killed Rhodes. I threw up back then, and then I started running. Running and running, and I never stopped.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when the taxi stopped, we had arrived. I helped Neve out of the car and walked him to the front of the store. I had to fish around his pocket to find his keys, but soon we were inside.

I locked the door behind us and took him upstairs and soon we were in his apartment. I flicked the lights on and shut the door before walking him over to the couch and sitting him down.

He had been practically falling asleep this whole time, but something seemed to register in his mind as he looked at me again, "Heeeyyyy Cindrrr!" He talked like this was the first time he'd seen me tonight. He stood up again, leaning on me for support. I tried to get him to sit back down, but stopped as he started to speak, he sounded playful and lighthearted, "I-Isnit kinna ffffucked up tha we're onnn opposite sides? Like… yurrr so a-amazin when urr not bein' evil an shit. I-It'd be r-rreeallyyy fuggin cool ifya were a good guy!"

Before I could say anything to try and get him to relax, he rested his head on my shoulder for a moment. Then he lifted his head and looked into my eyes, his gaze grew sad and forlorn, "Ishfucked… Idunwanna kill ya… Idun wanna die… I-Iwanna date you, a-ann…kiss you… a-annn… sn-snuggle…withya…" In spite of these words being his sad drunken ramblings, I still felt a pang of sadness in my heart contradicting the growing blush on my face and fluttering in my heart.

His next words, however, made my blood run cold. He gained a confused look on his face, "I-Imen… wwhhyyy dooo…. Y-you evennnnn like…. Serve her? Werentyou a-a slavery to your stepmom er smthin? Shinderella din't esshhcape her abuserrr and gooo… right to anotherrruunn…. Sssheee got withhh prrincee charmin, rite?"

I had no idea what 'Shinderella' was but it sounded similar to my name, and how the hell did he know about my stepmom?! I'd never told him before! I was left stunned, giving him ample time to keep talking, "A-Annn Imean…. R-Rhodes shoulda taken ya out of therrree sooner, b-but…killin' him wasn't the a-answerrr…." My eyes widened, how did he know about Rhodes too?!

Finally, he leaned close to my ear and whispered, "F-Faaallll doesn-doesn't need to steal th-the othr seashons…." Then he went limp and I had to wrap my arms around him to stop him from falling over, he'd passed out…

I was chilled right to my core, a part of me was even scared, and I never felt scared unless it involved Salem. How did he know all of that?! Where did this come from? Did somebody tell him?

I hauled him over to his bed and laid him down on his side. Then I stepped back and drew Midnight, raising the blade with my eyes still wide. I told myself that I should kill him for knowing so much, even if I really cared about him, he just knew too much.

But I couldn't.

My hand grew shaky, and instead I just put Midnight away and leaned down, kissing him on the cheek and left his keys on the nightstand before I opened his window and jumped down to the sidewalk below.

Neve POV, the next morning

I woke up to the worst headache I'd ever experienced in my life.

I made a vow to never drink that much again as I sat up in bed. My scroll told me it was about noon, and I had a bunch of texts, but they could wait a few minutes.

I got out of bed and looked around. Somebody must have taken me here, but Torchwick and Neopolitan didn't know where I lived, and I was certain I'd never tell them, so who…?

I decided I'd figure that out after I got some water and headache medicine in me, so I went about doing everything I could to tend to my headache while also trying to not strain my body too much. My wounds hadn't fully healed from last night, even aura took some time…

After I'd closed the window, pulled the curtains closed, and had medicated myself as best I could, I sat down and opened my scroll.

The texts were from Cinder.

Cinder: "Neve, we need to talk."

Cinder: "You told me some things last night that I don't remember ever telling you."

Cinder: "I'm going to come over again this afternoon, and we're going to talk."

Cinder: "Just… Please tell me the truth when I get there. The things you said last night…."

Cinder: "They scared me."

My eyes widened and I felt a chill run up my spine… What the fuck did I tell her last night? There were a million things my loose lips could have told her that could have possibly scared her…

I didn't need to guess, I blinked and suddenly Assistant was sitting next to me with their arms crossed and a smirk on their face, "You basically told her you know her life story, and hinted that you know she wants to take the Maiden Souls. I gotta say, you've gotten yourself into some deep shit."

My eyes widened and I closed my scroll, placing it on the table and burying my face in my hands. I lowered them and rubbed under my eyes before slowly lowering them, trying to get a hold of myself. When I looked to my right, The Assistant was gone. I sat there staring at the table in front of me for a second. Then all of the rage I felt towards myself came out as I stood up and flipped over the thankfully empty coffee table in one swift movement. I swore at the top of my lungs, "God! Damn it!" Then I started to pace around my apartment. Through all the anger and self-loathing, there was only one question I could repeat over and over in my head.

How the hell was I going to fix this?