Chapter 16:

Do what we do best

Trifa groaned slowly and opened her eyes. Where… where am I? She appeared to be in a metal cage of some sort, surrounded by bars. That's when she realised.

She was in a dungeon of some sort. What? I don't ever remember the White Fang having a dungeon.

"Finally, you are awake." She stood up and peered through the bars, and was met with the White Fang Lieutenant.

"Where am I? What's happening?"

"You are in a cell. Adam ordered us to design it just for you."

"What's… what's he going to do to me?"

"The same thing he did to Yuma, of course. He's going to kill you. But it would appear that you have gotten lucky. Adam is out at the moment, and he will not be returning for a few days. He would like to kill you personally, so you have a few days to live." No emotion behind those words, nothing at all. Without another word, the Lieutenant stood up and left.

Trifa was in a state of shock. This was really it. This was the end. And she was going to spend the last few days of her life rotting away in this small, cramped cell. Maybe if she just slept a lot, that would make the time go by faster.

Roman…

Would he be able to find her in time? Would he come to the rescue? Did he… did he-

Does he even care?

His main motivation was survival. That's all he seemed to care about. Saving his own skin. Friends came second.

But he did save you on the boat…

Maybe so, but that was different. He could take on a few random guys at a boat. But this was the White Fang he was going up against. A much tougher challenge. He was clever, but he wasn't that clever. No, he wouldn't come. He would lose his life. He was a human, they wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

Guess I should just make the time go by.

Sleeping was the only way to do that in this small, cramped cell. Falling back down to the ground, she closed her eyes, and tried her best to drift away. But there was no way that was happening on the hard, cold ground, as stones dug into her back. Wincing, she sat up, and hugged her knees to her chest.

I can't believe it…

Once, she might have thought her death would be to save one of her allies, and perhaps they would have made her a martyr for the cause. She would be glorified, maybe even Lionised.

I was such a self centred person back then…

But it simply wasn't happening. Instead, she got to die slowly in this cell, until dying for good at the hands of Adam Taurus. Trifa buried her face in her hands, and began to sob softly.

Do what we do best

If I were a ex White Fang member, hiding out somewhere, where would I be? A tricky question for Roman to answer. If this was Vale, all he would have to do is knock over to Junior's bar, pay the man some money, and get all the information he needed. Easy as that.

But unfortunately, this wasn't Vale. This was Mistral. Roman began to rack his mind to see if he could remember any potential ring leaders, any potential gang leaders, anyone who might know some information about the White Fang and their whereabouts.

There was a name that came to him. Lil' Miss Malachite.

Isn't she the mum of the two girls that Junior had as his bouncers? Melanie and Miltia? He remembered Junior telling him about there mum once, about how she was a gang leader in Mistral. Okay, so he had a name. Now he had to remember a symbol of some sort, some way to identify them… Nothing came to him.

Come on! What could it be? He tried to think back to the few conversations he had shared with Melanie and Miltia, tried to think of anything that could possibly help him find her. All he remembered was him insulting them because they had been beaten up by some blonde girl.

That was before he had then fought said blonde girl in the Paladin, and realised just how absurdly powerful she was. He had never apologised to them though. Then, he remembered something.

I still have Junior's scroll number, don't I? He's probably not in Vale anymore, but I might be able to get a hold of him. Checking his scroll, he saw that he indeed still had his scroll number. He pressed the call button.

There was no guarantee that this would work, but it was worth a try. He waited several seconds before it went to voicemail. Inwardly groaning, Roman then left a voicemail.

"Hey Junior, call me back as soon as possible. This is important."

Until he got back to him, Roman saw no other way he could figure out where the White Fang headquarters were. He was just going to have to hope Junior got back as quick as possible.

Maybe this is all pointless…

Maybe she was already dead. Maybe Adam had already killed her. Maybe-

You have to at least try.

Resigning himself to that, he continued to think. Think about something that would maybe lead him to the White Fang, maybe lead him to Lil Miss. But still nothing. It was so frustrating he wanted to scream. But screaming wouldn't get him anywhere.

Roman continued to grumble to himself as he paced backwards and forwards. He found himself thinking about Trifa, not Neo surprisingly.

I used to really hate Faunus, yet here I am, worrying about one, thinking about one. How that sudden change in character had happened was a complete mystery to him. Or was it even a change in character? Did he really hate Faunus? Or was it only the White Fang he hated? He really did not know at this point.

And the one Faunus he had been friends with-

Was friends with. Darn it Torchwick, she could still be alive, get a hold of yourself!

She wasn't even a awesome animal, like a tiger or a lion, man eating predators who wrecked havoc. She was a spider, a wiggly, disgusting thing which he could kill with a simple flick of his finger.

Spiders...Spiders... Spiders!

Trifa was a spider Faunus, he had known that for ages. So why was it suddenly setting off all sorts of alarm bells in his head? A very vague memory suddenly returned to him. A conversation with Junior.

Lil Miss refers to all the people who work for her as spiders. It's quite odd actually. They all have tattoos of them...

That was it! Spiders! Roman had never been the fondest of Junior, he was mainly just a contact, but in that moment, he could have never been more thankful for him. He had a symbol, a way to identify them. Now, he had to find a member of her gang, and demand that they take him to her. Once he was there, he would then have to pray she knew where the White Fang Headquarters were, or he was utterly screwed. Well, Trifa was utterly screwed.

He fingered for his wallet. He knew some gang leaders, and he also knew that they usually wanted money for information. Pulling it out, he counted through the lien. He grimaced. Not a lot left. Hopefully, that wouldn't be a big problem. He could easily pickpocket someone and get a bit extra.

Okay, time to find a gang leader.

Do what we do best

"Get up." Neo stuck her tongue out at Qrow. "Don't make me grab you by the throat and force you to."

Neo was lying on the ground, and Qrow had very reluctantly agreed to bring her along with them. Ruby had insisted that they didn't kill her. Quite ironic, considering Neo wanted to stab her in the back of her head. She was making sure to piss him off as much as humanly possible.

"Listen brat, if you don't stop sticking your tongue out at me, I'll rip it out for you!"

"Uncle Qrow!"

"What? Why is she even coming with us? We should just leave her to die."

"You know we can't do that." Jaune said. "If it helps ease your nerves, you can be the one to watch her."

"Your damn right I will be." Qrow grabbed her by the arm and roughly pulled her to her feet. "Let's go then psychopath."

Neo tried to kick him in the shin, but he raised his foot and stomped it down as hard as he could. She bit her lip hard.

"Don't test me." He hissed under his breath. "I'm only keeping you alive because Ruby told me to, got it? And she's already told me about your shattering trick on the airship, so don't you dare even try it."

Neo rolled her eyes at how unbelievably dramatic he was being. If he was a bird at this moment in time, he'd probably be flapping his wings and cawing very angrily. She still had Roman's hat, perched on her head.

They started to walk down the pathway. Neo hadn't given much thought to where they were, but it appeared to be a forest of some sort. Qrow still had her by the arm, pulling her roughly along.

She thought back to what the blonde boy, who's name she couldn't remember-

Jean? Jin? Jane?

That didn't really matter now. What did matter was that he had seen her cry. He had seen her in a moment of weakness. And if he dared even mention to any of his little friends, she would kill all of them. Because no matter how watchful Bird Man thought he was, he would have a very hard time watching her when she drove a blade into his back. She could break out of his grasp and she could kill them all. It was just a matter of time.

But for now, she would have to make do with annoying them as much as possible. She purposefully dragged her feet as Bird Man pulled her along, "tripped" on a rock, and gave anyone who dared look at her a death stare.

Ruby suddenly fell back so she was walking alongside her. Neo stared at the girls silver eyes, and wished to put the heel of her boot into one of them. Her parasol may have been lost, but she could still kill Little Red if she wanted too.

"I didn't kill him you know." Neo looked at her, not sure she had heard her right. "It was a Grimm. He began yelling about how cold and ruthless the world was, and his negativity drew a Grimm to him, and he was eaten alive."

Neo spat at her. Lies. You killed him and I know you did. And when I get the chance, I'm going to kill you too.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Neo turned her gaze away from her, and onto the road ahead. Then, a sudden thought struck her.

What will you do when you kill Ruby and Cinder? That was a problem. Because, without Roman, what did she really have to live for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

So what was she going to do? Sit on the street and be depressed? Become a assassin for hire? A criminal mastermind? What was she going to do? She didn't know. She honestly didn't know. A pant of sadness went through her, and she didn't resist anymore as Qrow pulled her along.

Do what we do best

And more Neo to make you all sad. I'm such a lovely person.

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a good day!