"Okay Neo," started Roman, as they walked out into the alleyway. "Here's the plan. I'll stake out this bit and possibly drop the note if Red appears. I will contact you with this-", he held up his scroll, "-and you will hang around Beacon. There are some military aircraft hovering around there because of the festival coming up. I'm sure that you'll have no trouble finding your way onto one."
Neo inspected her nails, bored by the mere suggestion that there was a small probability that she may have trouble. She flicked her scroll open, surveyed the screen, and then shut it again. Then she gave Roman a toothy grin and a big thumbs up.
"I'll contact you if anything goes wrong, okay Neo?"
She nodded again, kissed him on the cheek and then strolled off down the alleyway with her parasol tucked beneath one arm.
Roman waited till she had headed out into the main part of Vale, before trying to fit himself in the space behind the crates.
"How does Neo make this look so… so… easy?" he muttered, as he finally managed to bundle himself away from sight.
"Typical," he groaned, as he slipped backwards and kicked the crate over. "Cinder Fall and her cronies get to infiltrate Beacon. Neo gets to infiltrate Beacon. What do I get? I, the hard-working Roman Torchwick, get stuck behind a crate. And what else in the long term? Arrested. That's what. Stupid Cinder plans. Why do I have to be arrested? Why not Emerald… or Pluto?"
Suddenly his scroll buzzed in his pocket, cutting off his rant. He readjusted his hiding place and then checked the message. It was from Neo.
On plane now. How r u doing? :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J :J
"Ease up on the smiley faces Neo," said Roman, rolling his eyes. Fumbling, he typed in a reply of 'Good. Don't worry. Everything going to plan' but autocorrect, having different ideas, changed it to 'Good. Won't sorry. Everything going to flan.'
"No! Don't send! Don't send!" hissed Roman, but it was too late. He groaned and banged his head against the back wall. Neo's response was almost instantaneous.
'Going to flan'? LOL. U fighting w autospell again? XD XD XD XD XD XD
Roman rolled his eyes again and slipped the scroll into his jacket pocket, before thinking better of it and carefully switching it onto video mode. No sooner had he done this, then Ruby Rose walked out of the shadows.
"A-anyone there?" she called, nervously, hands flitting to the folded up scythe that was attached to her belt. "I could've sworn that I heard something." She looked left and right. Roman held his breath as she started to walk towards his hiding place. "I could've sworn," muttered Ruby, "That I heard a crate clattering…"
Roman gritted his teeth as Ruby started to walk towards him. Just as she was about to get close enough to his hiding place to be able to actually see him, the two White Fang members appeared from the other end. Ruby turned suddenly and ran up to meet them.
"How did it go guys?" she whispered. The female faunas took off her hood and mask, revealing a dark haired girl with black cat ears.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" groaned Roman. The taller faunas took of his hood and mask as well, to reveal a boy with messy blond hair.
"Thanks for the dough Ruby!" he exclaimed, bundling the rest of his disguise into a ball.
"Yes," said the cat girl, neatly folding her own disguise. "That really helped. I can't believe what the White Fang have become. They used to be honorable, but now they even accept bribes!"
Roman scrabbled for his scroll, which had been recording for the whole encounter.
"Stupid thing," he hissed, trying to get it open. "Can't believe it. Cat girl and monkey boy the entire time. If Neo doesn't find out…"
As he fumbled with the device, Ruby waved goodbye to her friends and skipped off back into Vale. Just as she disappeared from view, the scroll buzzed suddenly.
Sup lover boy. U got the vid yet? ;D
Roman shrieked, the scroll flying out of his hand and smashing at the feet of the cat girl.
"Noooo…" he said quietly, reaching instinctively for his cane.
"Sun," said the cat girl, prodding the scroll with the tip of her boot. "Did you hear something?"
The monkey boy reached for the nun-chucks which hung from his belt and the cat girl for her own weapon, which was a bizarre cross between a sword and a kunai-with-chain.
"Yay…" said Roman under his breath. "Two against one. What a brilliant day this is turning out to be."
The cat girl and monkey boy started walking slowly towards his hiding place. Roman fumbled in his pocket for the dust which would allow him to create a smoke screen and escape. He pulled out a dust-stained piece of paper.
Sorry sweetie. Had to borrow your dust. I'll pay you back. It's not like you'll need it anytime soon…
XXX Neo ;P
Roman slowly crumpled the paper into a ball and sighed, standing up. He leaned on his cane to steady himself.
"Who'd have thunk it?" he remarked, more to himself than to his two assailants.
"Undone by my own lover. Cinder I'd expect, and Red and even Pluto. But I would never have thought…" he sighed again.
"Et tu, Neo?"
