Author's Note: Took a day off to help with Christmas preparations. And had to spend some time planning out where the story will go. Took me a bit of revision to think of a decent way to continue through this point.

|/|

Nine Years Later

"Umm, excuse me Mister?"

Looking around, the shopkeeper saw a young girl looking up at him. "Hm? What can I do for you little lady?" the kindly old man asked them, expecting her to ask for sweets or some other thing she might want. "I was wondering if you could help me find something?" The older man said, "Well of course, what are you looking for?"

Leading the shopkeeper away from the counter, Roman watches as Ruby takes the man around a corner, out of sight. Walking in the store, he watches as the girl shows the man some mechanical parts. Activating his semblance, he walks behind the counter, opens the display cases and starts taking dust vials and crystals, piling them in a black duffel bag. Looking up at the security cameras, Roman chuckles as they continue film everything but what he was doing. Stepping away from the counter and walking out the door, Torchwick presses a button on his scroll, signalling to Ruby that he has finished and for her to leave.

Looking down at her scroll, Ruby sees Roman's message. She turns to the shopkeeper who's standing on a ladder to get a box of parts for them. "Excuse me sir? I have to go now, sorry for wasting your time." As she turns to leave, the man hands Ruby the box, "It's alright, you can have this." he tells her. Smiling brightly at him, she thanks him before leaving, Neo waiting outside. Grabbing Neo's arm, they disappear in a flash of light.

|/|

Looking up from his drink, a stranger watches as the two girls disappear from outside a Dust and Weapons shop. After a moment to pay, the stranger walks off, thinking about what was just witnessed.

|/|

Teleportation was, in Ruby's opinion, a very exhilarating feeling as they appeared in mansion they had recently moved to after spending the last few years selling contraband on the black market and doing all kinds of illegal activities had left them quite rich. Moving straight to the kitchen and opening the fridge, Neo took out some of her Neapolitan ice-cream (obviously) before lying down in the lounge room and turning the TV on. She was meant to go and get Ruby's adoptive father, but felt like making him have to walk him home. Ruby knew that Neo liked messing with him and laughed as she noticed her relaxing instead, earning a cheeky smile from Neo. Entering her room and placing the parts on a small workbench she had. For a 12 year old, Ruby was very intelligent and gifted in working with weaponry, having made her own weapon, a scythe/gun hybrid she called Crescent Rose. Ruby decides to spend some time working on the Project she was close to finishing, working on the firing mechanisms and some complex internal machinery.

|/|

Roman walked inside later that afternoon, scowling as Neo looked up from her show and smiled at him innocently while he went past. "So, where's Little Red at then?" he asked Neo, saying the nickname they had for Ruby because of her red cape she still had. Neo points over at Ruby's bedroom's direction, where muffled sounds can be heard coming from. "Working on her project again?" Roman inquires, to which Neo can only shrug. A few weeks ago, he noticed his daughter had started collecting parts for something that she was working on, but despite how many time he asked what she was making, Ruby only ever said it was something she was working on. Roman had faith that she wouldn't hurt herself doing whatever she was doing, she was, despite how she acted sometimes, very smart and knew her way around tools. Walking off to his own room, Roman started working out just how much they could sell all the dust they had stolen recently.

|/|

A few days later...

Roman had just finished organising where he wanted the men he hired to look after the dust to move it to when Ruby walked in, carrying something behind her red cape. "Uh, Dad?" Turning around, he saw that she looked a little nervous, rocking her feet backwards and forwards. Roman asks "Heeey Red, what can dad do for you?" Ruby paused for a second before continuing. "Remember when I asked what you used to use as a Huntsman? That cane you had but got broken?" Staring at her confused. He remembered a few months ago, she had asked him that question and how he describe the simple metal cane he used to own before being broken by an Ursa Major. He replied, "Yeah, what about it?" Ruby took her Project out from behind her back and gave it to her father. Looking down at it, he was surprise by what was in his hands.

It was a metal cane, much like the one he used to own during his time at Beacon, except it was reinforced at the end handle and at the bottom of the shaft with a deep red colour metal and the handle was bone white. Examining it, Roman found that there were two switches on it near the handle and a small trigger. "I made it for you Dad. It's a cane like how I think you old one was like, but I made it so the handle shoots out like a hook and is also a gun." Pointing out the switch closest to the handle, she explained how it was used by pushing it on shot out the hook and pushing it back retracted the handle. Moving down the shaft, Ruby showed her dad how it snapped open like a revolver and explained how to load it and fire it, the other switch being a safety which closed the end of the stick when one and opened to reveal a sight when it was off.

Roman really didn't know what to say. His adoptive daughter, someone he cares for, had given back a piece of his own life history. Looking at Ruby's happy, smiling face, he faced her and said, "Thank you Ruby" before for hugging her. A moment passed before Roman said to her, "Can you go and get ready for me and tell Neo to get ready as well?" Ruby nods her head happily before leaving the room. As she walks out, she sees her dad load a blast crystal into his new weapon, eager to try it out.

|/|

It was already night time when Roman and co. arrived at the site where the exchange would be happening. Waiting by the warehouse's entrance, Roman pulled out his scroll and checked the time. Checking that they were not early or late, he slipped his scroll back into his jacket's pocket as some faunus sent by Roman's buyer walked up to them. "So, do you have the dust we asked for?" Roman smirks arrogantly at the man's attitude to him, these kinds of guys not realising that Roman was a criminal mastermind and was the best in Vale, and could easily make these guys disappear. Roman had proved to be quite the criminal and had made himself out as big time criminal, people paying him big money to steal things, anything from guns, dust, and even bombs.

"Don't worry, your group wanted this amount of dust, which is quite the amount. Plan of starting a war, are we?" Roman says cheekily. He knows exactly who these people are, having had Ruby, with her innocent looks and semblance that allowed her to move extremely quickly, follow them. Roman knew that they were from the White Fang and that they wanted to 'fight for their rights as Faunus'. Honest he couldn't care, they payed well and everyone got what they wanted.

As Roman worked out the details of the transaction with the one in the charge, a bull faunus with red hair, he had Neo and Ruby oversee the physical transaction. While the White Fang members didn't understand why two little girls were trusted with such a task, the local Vale thugs did. If Roman was the top dog, these girls of his were his lieutenants. The girls may not have looked like much, but they were deadly. Neo was known as Roman's personal hitman, if someone displeased him majorly or tried to undermine him as Vale's leading thief, everyone knew that no matter what, the little girl could kill better than almost any professional assassins. The younger one however not many people knew much about, other then she was very close to Torchwick and is dangerous. Of course, every criminal in Vale knew that the two girls were very close and that while you might think to try hurt the younger one, either Neo or Torchwick himself would make sure you didn't last another day.

This was the reputation that every felon in Vale knew of and knew not to mess with, for their own sake.

|/|

Once the White Fang grunts had loaded the dust onto their bullheads and left, Roman ordered his hired goons to remove any evidence before having Neo take him and Ruby back to their house. Roman watch as Ruby went off into her bedroom. Knowing her, she would spend some time working on her weapon and then go to sleep. Neo on the other hand was going to go and do her favourite thing at home, eat ice-cream and watch TV.

Watching as the only two people he cares about go to do their own thing, Roman yawns and heads off to sleep. Honestly, those mutts can be really annoying.

|/|

Three Years Later

When Roman got a tip from one of his informants that someone was looking for him, he didn't expect them to find him without him already knowing.

That's why when that woman and her posse showed up after he met with a government official to have Ruby's legal documents all sent to him with the help of a bribe. "I've been told your Roman Torchwick, am I correct?"

A woman with golden, almost glowing eyes, dark hair and a red dress that left little to the imagination appeared from out in front of him, likely from one of the alleys nearby. Flanking her were a two younger people, a boy and girl. The male had silver hair, wearing a blue and black long-sleeved shirt and jeans in the same colour scheme. On his shins and feet were greaves that were obvious some sort of weapon. The girl had a darker skin tone and emerald hair that somehow looked authentic, red eyes, some weird looking olive shallow-cut crop top and some intricate white vest thing, white shorts that were partially covered by brown chaps and overlong belt. On said belt was a pouch that held two objects that look suspiciously like guns.

"Well hello there beautiful, what ever could you want me then?" Roman shamelessly says to the older woman, before regretting it when she gives him can only be described as a threatening smile as she replies, "I have need of someone of your...Talents." Roman, seeing the look on her face, can tell that he really doesn't have much choice if he wants to get out this confrontation alive. "Yeah of course, just tell me what you need for me to do." Roman says, making sure this won't end badly for him. The woman can only smile at his reaction, "What I need for now, is dust, lots of it. I'll send you the specifics later. Don't forget now Roman." Walking away with her henchmen in tow she says back to Roman as they walk away, "We are going to be work very much so my dear Torchwick, for quite some time."

To this Roman, ever the careful man he is, tells Neo to keep Ruby away from these people. Walking after them, but stay out of sight, Roman hears to guy say, "...sure that he will do what we want?" to which he hears their boss say, "Roman will have his uses, perhaps we can use his pet assassin to act as an extra teammate for our time at Beacon." Upon hearing them mention his old school, Roman sneaks away before he can hear the rest of their conversation.

While he may not care much for the academy, Roman knows that if they are infiltrating the school, he'll want in on what they are doing there. Maybe now he has his daughter's legal information, he can do some modifications to it and get her into the school. She has the combat skills for sure and he can easily teach her any academic stuff she needs to know, but how to impress old man Ozpin into letting her in a few years early...

As Roman Torchwick walks away, he starts to scheme up a plan to get Ruby into Beacon.

Author's Note: Excuse the time-skip, just couldn't think of anything that I could have included that would have been noteworthy, so instead I decided to make so more plot development towards the actually RWBY timeline and more room to plan.

Roman's semblance, in case you haven't caught on to it, is the ability to not been seen or heard on cameras or filmed digitally, for example, security footage will not show him when played back if he had his semblance on. Also, anything he does isn't filmed unless it effects a living thing. So, he could steal money from a cashier and that would not have appeared on the camera, but if he stab someone, it would film what happened and his 'camo' would break. I got this idea for him after seeing Vigil's ability in Rainbow Six Siege and thought that for a thief, this would be a perfect tool for him. It would also explain how he manages to avoid being arrested since they can't find him other than seeing him physically.