With a bit of help from some of his new associates in the White Fang, Wayne made a passable soldier now. The scrappy, half-shaved beard that had clung to his face for most of his time in the Commonwealth was gone, now only ruddy brown stubble, and his hair had gone from an unmanageable mop to a long, sweeping undercut. He had to admit, looking at his reflection in the rear-view mirror of the truck that delivered him to the camp, he looked pretty slick.

Unfortunately, his 'something nice' was simply 'what he was wearing when he showed up'. All of his spare clothes and gear were in the house, and he hadn't been there in a while. Come to think of it, he probably needed to go back there and get all of his shit moved around. Not that he trusted the White Fang or Roman not to nick any of it, but he didn't want anyone to stumble in on a hike and decide to do the same. If he wasn't expecting Cinder to be done with her planning any minute now, he would have hitched a ride out there first. No matter. He could worry about it tomorrow. It would definitely be a safe place to stay now that the heat was on him.

As if summoned by his thought, someone patted him on the shoulder, and a quick glance to the side of the mirror revealed Cinder behind Wayne.

"I hope you're ready." she 'asked'.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Let's go get your man."

That damned half-smirk again. That was the kind of look that could make a Super Mutant pause. She motioned for him to follow, and turned to do so, but not before making sure his business was in order.

"Weapons?" he asked.

"Something concealable," she replied. "I have a vehicle that will take us into town- my associate that I mentioned earlier will be meeting us there. Then, we go and get the codes. Ideally, we can do this quietly. You've already drawn enough attention to yourself."

Wayne shrugged. "Not my fault."

"I wasn't suggesting it was, Wayne. Merely a statement."

Wayne had expected that he'd want to pack a gun anyhow. Considering he'd apparently shot members of Remnant's equivalent of the Klan, he was expecting someone to eventually attempt to retaliate, even if the reasonable, non-chem addled part of his brain reasoned that no one would be able to tell who he was without his armor.

He'd really been shirking his chems. The time without had started to grate on him. Thank God he actually brought his pack with him, and that he had a chance to use it. It hadn't felt right to shoot up in Clair's apartment, but here, it didn't really matter. As far as the White Fang seemed to be concerned, he was either sibling or scum, and a quick high wouldn't change that. Besides, he needed to calm his nerves.

Wayne dug into his pack, pulling out his old faithful for the second time today. Med-X was his vice even before the bombs dropped. Nora never found the little box stashed behind the laundry machine, and considering that someone had picked it clean during his 200 year ice bath, he'd been fiending for a fix by the time he got to Diamond City. As soon as he'd found Solomon, his demons came crawling back, and they brought friends. Not that Wayne much cared. He went to his usual vein, rolling up his jacket sleeve and shooting up without a care for the looks he might be getting. If anyone had noticed, they didn't comment. The effect was instant; all of Wayne's worries and distrust for the woman in front of him faded into dull, distant white noise. All that mattered was getting this guy and his codes, and getting out.

"So," Wayne started, his tone cold and flat, "how are we gonna get the codes? I'm not much of a smooth talker."

"You don't have to be," Cinder stated, turning back to look at him. "I'll be more than capable of acting for both of us. You just need to be ready to take advantage. If the plan goes south, then I'll need you to improvise."

Wayne pulled the Deliverer from his concealed holster, having pulled it from the emergency storage hatch on the X-01 when he left the armor to clean up, and showed it to Cinder, who nodded approvingly. Wayne gave it a little twirl before returning it to its place. "Sounds alright to me," he said. "Let's hope I don't have to."

"I doubt you will. You'll find Emerald to be quite competent."

'Yeah, we'll see if she's any more competent than Roman or Adam. Both of those guys seem to have a screw loose,' Wayne thought to himself. By now, they'd reached a slim, futuristic-looking black car, the driver already waiting for them inside and the engine running. The two of them took a seat, and the driver turned to look back at Wayne with a sly grin, his eyes changing from a dull green to pink and brown. Wayne just about had a stroke, even with the Med-X working its magic on his response time, jolting in his seat and banging his head against the car's low roof.

"Shit!"

"Neo, please," Cinder chided her, looking unimpressed. "Just drive."

Wayne looked at Cinder, then back at… Neo, apparently… then back to Cinder. "How is she someone else?"

"Her Semblance allows her to disguise herself, among other illusionary effects. She's a competent infiltrator. If Roman didn't need her for other plans tonight, I'd have had her take care of this for me. Don't worry. She has her own role to play in this, should we need her."

Neo nodded, and turned back to the front, the car taking off down a dirt road out of camp and through the woods. It wasn't a long drive back into town from the camp, maybe twenty minutes.

"This shit doesn't make any sense to me," Wayne said, to no one in particular.

"What in particular doesn't make sense to you?" Cinder asked.

"All of it. I don't even know how I got here. Did Adam tell you?"

"I'm afraid he didn't."

"I'm from a place called the Commonwealth. A group I work for, called the Railroad, have teleportation technology, on a limited scale, at least. We used it to get me inside the base of one of our enemies, but when we destroyed that base, the teleporter didn't work anymore. I had a manual trigger for it that I planned on using to build a network of teleporters between Railroad bases, but I couldn't get it to work again. I just hit it one day, and somehow, I ended up in 'Forever Fall'," Wayne explained. "We don't have Aura where I'm from. Grimm, Aura, Dust, 'Semblances', whatever those are. Huntsmen, Huntresses, Vale, Atlas, Kingdoms, fuck, it's frustrating. If I didn't have the chems on me I'd be having a nervous fucking breakdown."

"Chems?" Cinder repeated, confused.

"Drugs."

Cinder's shock was muted, but Wayne still caught it. He'd gotten good at reading faces as a member of the Railroad.

"Yeah. You heard me right," he said. "I've been through enough shit that getting high is the easiest way to get through it. I function fine. Been functioning fine for a long time. Longer than you'd probably even believe."

"A lot of your story is frankly unbelievable, Wayne, but we live in strange times," Cinder replied.

"You're telling me. Vale reminds me a lot of my life before the War. My world had a massive war between my country and one on the other side of the war. Nuclear armageddon over resource shortages. Up to the day the bombs fell, it was almost perfect. A car in every home, white picket fence, a good paying job, a loving wife, my newborn son, hell, even a home service robot. Of course, behind the scenes, it was shit. Politicians preparing for the inevitable end of the world while trying to hide it from the people. Then, they hid in their bunkers and ate their guns instead of facing the world they brought into existence. Left it to people like me."

"It's impressive that you managed to survive such a conflict," Cinder noted. "Remnant's Great War isn't quite living memory anymore, but about eighty years ago, the four kingdoms went to war against one another over 'individuality itself', as some might say. The right to express themselves freely, to practice the arts. Posturing, all of it." Cinder rolled her eyes. "Political squabbling between Vale, Mistral and Atlas over slavery, trade, and law were the real cause of that war. The world was devastated, and still hasn't entirely recovered. But, we live in a time of 'peace' now. A peace enforced by the sons and grandsons of the same men who brought the world to its knees, flaunting their affluence and power as they always have—the only change is that they now do it as allies instead or rivals."

Cinder turned to Wayne, amber eyes piercing through his half-drugged haze and curdling his blood. "Would you like to hear a story, Wayne?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I met a woman, once," Cinder began. "Sheltered from the world and everything in it by the elite. She had… magnificent power, and they feared it. Craved it. Kept her in a gilded cage to ensure they would never lose that power. One day, she escaped her cage. I found her on the road one day, alone and lost. She'd been beaten half to death by highwaymen. I was the only person who had seen the poor girl, so I did what I could, though I'll admit that I was likely little help. No sooner had I found her, though, some carrion crow sent by the same men who locked her in a cage dragged her half-dead back to them. I can still hear her screaming, even now."

Wayne didn't immediately respond, taking in this new information. It was a hard story to hear, and all too familiar to him. It could have happened in the Wasteland, save for the 'magnificent power' part. Cinder didn't say anything else, contenting herself with staring out of her window. It seemed like she'd hit a raw spot with her story.

"My son," Wayne said, before he realized he was saying it. "When the bombs fell, my family and I went into a 'Vault'. An underground safehouse designed to save anyone that could be saved from nuclear war. They weren't actually safehouses- they were basically labs, social experiments that the government wanted to run on the survivors of the war. The one I was sent to cryogenically froze all of the residents. I was stuck in that Vault for 200 years. One day, someone thawed me out, my wife and my son, too. They came...took my son, and shot my wife when she wouldn't give him up. Then they put me back on ice. I didn't get out again for I don't even know how long."

Cinder turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "What did you do when you got out?"

Wayne scowled. "I killed the son of a bitch who killed my wife. Then I went to find my son."

"Did you ever find him?"

"No," Wayne lied. Well, it didn't really feel like a lie. 'Father' wasn't his son. He might have been his child, his progeny, but his 'son' had died in the Institute, turned into a part of their machine. At least, that's what he had to tell himself to be able to sleep at night for the past few months.

Silence fell over the car, and Cinder continued to examine Wayne. Something had changed in her demeanor. The mystery, the hidden secret that it seemed so obvious she was carrying, wasn't present. Wayne saw reflected in the woman next to him a mirror image of himself when he stepped out of the Vault. Damaged. Angry. Desperate for closure that would never come. Railing against an unseen power that stole the thing most dear from her, with naught but a name and a face at which to direct her rage.

"The point is, you said that you knew how I felt, being lost. I don't get what you mean by that, and I don't have to know, but I want you to know that I get you, too. I know how it feels," Wayne continued. His mind left Shaun and went to that old familiar ground. "To fight tooth and nail to save someone, and fail. I get it. I've tread that ground more than I ever cared to over the past year."

'How many times am I gonna have to apologize before I can forgive myself, Danse?'

"The girl you mentioned. Do you know where she is?"

"Most likely at Beacon," Cinder replied. "The man who captured her is an associate of Beacon's headmaster, Ozpin. I don't know where on the grounds they'd be able to hide a girl on the edge of death, but I know she's still alive, and all signs point to her being on that campus."

"You think we could scope the place out at the ball?"

"Not enough time," Cinder replied. "Not to mention that the rest of the school will be mostly empty. We'd look suspicious straying too far from the proceedings. Don't worry, Wayne, I have a plan to find her soon enough, but we'll need more time to prepare. You'll be an integral part of those plans, especially if you perform well tonight."

Wayne nodded. "Got it."

"Good. We're almost at the meeting point."

Wayne pulled the Deliverer from the holster, and racked the slide, chambering a 10mm round, before placing it back. From what it sounded like, they were going to try and do this nonviolently, but it never hurt to be prepared.

"Let's put this boat in the water, then," Wayne said, rolling his shoulders and watching the city lights pass by. "See if it floats."

Soon, the car was stopping. With a silent wave of her hand, Neo ushered Cinder and Wayne out of the car, and the two stepped out onto the sidewalk. Night had just fallen, but the city almost seemed brighter, all neon lights and low buzz.

Cinder directed Wayne to sit next to her at a nearby bus stop. "Emerald will be here shortly."

Wayne took a seat, leaning back on the bench and running a hand through his much shorter, thinner hair.

"You think I could pass for military now?" he asked.

"You look more the part than you did earlier," Cinder replied. "Though the clothes could use some work."

"I left most of my stuff at the house. Need to head back there when we're done here, lay low until the dance."

"We'll bring you when the job is done," Cinder replied. "Shouldn't be long."

A few silent minutes passed, Wayne occasionally shooting a glance at Cinder before watching cars pass by. Their conversation in the car had obviously had some sort of effect on her, though he wasn't sure exactly what that effect was. Despite having dug up some wounds he'd not wanted to dress again, he felt… clean. Like he'd gotten something out of the exchange.

It was certainly better than any conversation he'd had with Adam so far.

His train of thought was interrupted by a figure walking in front of the bench, a young woman, not even out of her teens, with dark skin and mint-green hair in an odd, geometrical pattern. Frankly, it looked absurd. Wayne quickly covered his mouth and pretended to cough to attempt to stifle his laughter, which only earned him a weird look from the girl.

"This is it?" she asked.

"This is it," Cinder replied, standing up from the bench. "Is our target still here?"

"He's going to be making his way back to his residence shortly. He'll be passing by in just a few minutes."

"Right." Cinder then turned to Wayne. "The plan is simple, if done right. Emerald will get us inside his home by disguising us as members of the Atlesian military using her Semblance. I'll find his personal computer, and recover the codes. Should I not be able to find them, you're going to have to convince him to give them up. Then, we make sure he isn't able to tell anyone else about our visit. Don't ruin the uniform. We'll need his ID tags and other information to get you inside the CCT."

"Got it. What if the codes are in the computer?"

"Then I'll take care of him, we grab what we need, and leave. You just have to distract him until I know for sure. Can you get the codes out of him if it comes to that?"

"I dabble in a bit of 'bad cop' acting on the side," Wayne replied.

"Perfect. Let's go. His home isn't far."

With that, Emerald and Cinder began to walk, and Wayne pushed himself off the bench to follow. As the latter said, it wasn't a long walk, though without all the late night foot traffic, it would probably go faster.

"So, you're Wayne?" Emerald asked.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you."

"Huh. I expected you to be taller."

Wayne sighed, rolling his eyes. "Really?"

"I expected you to be a lot of other things, really." She looked to Cinder for confirmation. "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"I know we can," Cinder replied, giving Wayne a smile. Not her smirk. A smile. She had a pretty face when she wasn't trying to scare the piss out of him, Wayne noticed.

"If you guys are getting me home, then I'll do this every day," Wayne said, and Cinder chuckled.

"I may take you up on that offer," she replied.

After a few more minutes of walking, Emerald jerked her head towards a sign advertising some 'Boardwalk Apartments'. "There. Room 204, second floor. I haven't seen him on our way."

"Let's wait a moment before we proceed, then," Cinder said, leaning up against the wall of the apartment building. Wayne moved to stand on the other side of her, feeling his pant leg to ensure his pistol was still where it was supposed to be. All good.

'Okay, Wayne. You're pretending to be a soldier from a country you've never heard of. Just act natural. Be a soldier,' he assured himself, trying to remember military infosec protocol. It likely wouldn't do him much good as an 'Atlesian', given that he was probably on an entire other planet from Earth, but the basic principles would probably still apply. Log out when you're done, don't leave devices unattended in the open, sign out anything you take…

Rotate encryption codes.

'There we go.'

"There," Emerald whispered, and Wayne looked up at the passing crowd. A man approached the apartment building they were standing in front of, wearing what looked to be some sort of military fatigues, and passed them by, heading for the stairway to the second floor.

"Alright, then. Let's go," Cinder ordered, following. "Emerald."

"Yes, ma'am."

Emerald's 'Aura' was a similar shade to her hair, but unlike the guy in the alley or the lieutenant, there was no visible flicker of Aura as she went ahead of them, eventually dipping around a shadowy corner away from the lights. Indeed, Wayne didn't even notice anything different about himself or Cinder as they made their way upstairs.

"You sure you did this right?" Wayne asked as she passed.

"It's working. Trust me," Emerald replied, obviously annoyed. Wayne took it in stride, following Cinder to door 205, where she gave a quick knock before turning back to him.

"Names. I'm Terra Riese. Pick a color," she said.

"Uh, blue."

"You're Azur Marin."

"Azur Marin," he repeated, "got it."

Just as he finished talking, the door to the apartment opened to reveal the comms officer, who looked, frankly, like shit. He seemed tired, with visible bags under his bloodshot purple eyes and a scruffy five-o-clock shadow, with a full head of graying pink hair.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes, Specialist Madder. I'm Private Terra Riese, this is Corporal Azur Marin," Cinder explained. "General Ironwood sent us. Can we come in?"

The man cocked a brow, incredulous. "The hell does the General want now?"

"Security check," Wayne said. "The CCT codes need to be changed again. You know the schedule."

"Oh, come the fuck on, it hasn't been a week already, has it?"

"Look, protocol is protocol, buddy, I don't make the rules. The General's gonna bust my ass if I don't bust yours," Wayne said, proud of how easily he was slipping into the deception. "We've had a cybersecurity breach already today, so we need to inspect your devices to make sure that they haven't been tampered with, and then we're gonna need you to turn out a new set of codes."

Madder groaned, pushing the door wide and heading back into the cramped, disheveled apartment. "Come in, and let's get this over with."

Cinder and Wayne stepped inside, the latter leaving the door slightly ajar behind him, with Madder heading over to a desk in the common area of the home and grabbing some kind of thin device and tossing it at them. Cinder caught it in mid-air, before handing it to Wayne. "There's the Scroll."

Well, now Wayne knew what that thing he got filmed on was. Fancy.

"Computer's in my bedroom. Go ahead and check it out, I'll wait here," Madder said.

"Excellent. Thank you for putting up with this, Madder, we won't be here too much longer," Wayne said . "Just gotta cover my ass."

"I don't recognize you guys. You new to the station?"

"Yes, sir," Cinder replied, smoothly taking over from Wayne. "We just got brought in with the security force. With the Vytal festival coming up, the General wants all hands on deck."

"Well, shit, I'm already overstaffed as it is. You guys will probably be working the graveyard, I doubt I'll be seeing too much of you."

Small talk was a good part of selling the deception. Too brusque, and you'd end up coming off as suspicious. At least, that's what Hancock had told him, once. The mayor of Goodneighbor had described Wayne as being about as 'charming as an old bull brahmin' once, and tried to give him a few tips about the art of 'creative embellishment'. Wayne rarely used it—he preferred to get straight to the point most of the time, even if that meant he'd have to shoot his way out, because hell, he was a lot better at shooting than talking—but for once, he was glad that he'd listened to Hancock.

"Yeah, Terra's gonna be starting the late shift the day of that big get-together at the Academy," Wayne lied. "I gotta get out there bright and early tomorrow to familiarize myself with the grounds."

"Good fucking luck. Last year's dance some kids tried to sneak into the CCT for some 'alone time'. Those kids are fucking wild, Corporal."

"I can believe it. I had my wild ones when I was their age."

"You an Academy man, Corporal?"

"No sir."

"Damn. You sound kinda familiar." Madder suddenly seemed to be rather focused on him, but Wayne wasn't too worried about it. Their acquaintance would soon be over. Cinder had left the room while they were conversing, evidently.

"Corporal, I need the Scroll," she called out.

"I'll be right back," Wayne said, giving Madder a smile and a wave before walking over to the bedroom, where Cinder was leaning over the desk, smirking at him again.

"I thought you were a horrible liar," she said.

"I am. Evidently, this guy's stupid. You got the codes?"

"Got them. the Scroll, please. And bring him in."

Wayne handed the device over, and leaned out the doorway. "Madder, gonna need you in here to do the code reset."

"Got it, gimme just a second."

"No rush." With that done, Wayne dipped back in, leaning over towards Cinder. "That the right uniform?"

"Yes. It'll be a bit small, but no one will question it unless you act out of place. He'll have a dress uniform in his belongings, you'll need that one for the dance."

"Right, right," Wayne replied, watching as Cinder's fingers danced across the keyboard and she plugged a small device into the opposite side of the computer from the door.

"You're quite a lucky man. The codes were due to be reset today."

"Well, isn't that just a happy coincidence?"

With that, Wayne turned back to the door. "Hey, Mad-"

Wayne was greeted not only by a very tired Atlesian soldier, but a very tired Atlesian soldier holding a handgun directly in front of his face, and cocking the hammer back just as he made eye contact.

"Woah, bud, easy!"

"Ironwood isn't sending any more CCT staff until the Vytal Festival," Madder stated, sounding more irritated than anything. "You're a fucking idiot. Thanks for reminding me about the codes, though, this is just more proof we've been slacking on the job. General's gonna love this. Lady, step away from the computer with your hands up, slowly."

Cinder did as she was instructed, or at least, it sounded like she did. Wayne wasn't gonna take his eyes off of Madder. Time to improvise.

"Hands off the Scroll."

Something plastic hit the floor, causing Wayne to flinch slightly and drawing Madder's attention back to him.

"Helmets off," Madder demanded, "both of you. Now."

Wayne wasn't sure how he could take off a helmet he didn't actually have on, so he aped going through the motions of taking it off.

Wait. Emerald. The illusion.

"Emerald!" Wayne shouted, and immediately, footsteps could be heard crossing the floor of the apartment, drawing Madder's attention to the door. Wayne took advantage of the opening, pulling his pistol and aiming it at Madder's head, bracing it on his forearm and emptying the magazine, to little effect, as pink-red Aura absorbed each round, flickering and flashing with every impact. By now, Emerald had crossed the room, Aura flaring as she threw herself at the man with what appeared to be a pair of sickles, grabbing him behind the knees and yanking them back to knock him off his balance.

"Hold him down, keep him quiet." Cinder spoke from behind Wayne, and he obliged, throwing all his weight down on Madder's neck, placing one knee against his windpipe and the opposite leg on the floor to help leverage pressure, in the process digging into one of his boots and pulling out the combat knife he kept for emergencies.

"I guess I really am a bad liar," Wayne noted.

"No kidding?" Emerald deadpanned. "I thought you deserved an award."

"Shut up."

"Enough," Cinder said, stepping out from the room. "Emerald, grab his identification. Wayne, keep holding him down."

"Got it," Wayne replied, holstering his pistol and brandishing the knife. "Sorry, buddy."

"Fuck you," Madder rasped, barely able to speak under Wayne's knee.

"Keep him quiet?" she asked, and Wayne shifted slightly, clamping his free hand down over the man's mouth just in time for Cinder to do… something behind him that set his Aura alight. Wayne turned to see just what that something was, to find Cinder placing a glowing-hot hand against the man's chest, singing his clothing and starting to burn skin faster than his Aura could apparently repair it. Now, Madder was starting to cry out in pain.

"Hold him a bit longer." Cinder ordered, and Wayne complied. Apparently Cinder could just… burn people to death with her hands. Hell of a way to go. At the very least, it'd be over quick. Madder started to struggle against Wayne's weight, forcing him to turn and shift his weight back on the man's neck, causing his muffled cries to become strained, choked gasps for air.

'I'm gonna need a nightcap tonight. Maybe some Jet.'

"You might want to move, now," Cinder said, and Wayne did so, just as Madder began to quite literally disintegrate underneath Cinder's palm, until his whole body quickly burned to ashes and embers.

"...Jesus." Wayne muttered, shaking his head in a vain attempt to clear his thoughts as he looked back at the bedroom. "The codes?"

"I got them," Cinder replied. "Go grab the uniform and his Scroll, we're leaving, now."