Three Weeks After Cinder's Coupe
Neo yawned and sat up, her hair sticking out in several directions, much like feathers on an angry owl. She yawned again, stretched like a cat, and then swung her legs over the side of the king-sized bed. Ignoring the messy white sheets and mattress, she made her way to the bathroom, stopped, then turned and stalked towards the kitchen.
A few swift presses of buttons and dark, frothy liquid poured from the black machine in front of her. She grabbed the pink mug once it was full and slowly dragged her feet over to the refrigerator, grabbing some milk and strawberry creamer.
Once the concoction was complete, she took one gulp of the steaming liquid and walked to the living room. She sat in front of the large flat-screen monitor, flicking the device on and settling on the news channel VNN where Lisa Lavender was reporting on the rebuilding effort.
Neo set her mug in front of her, and then lay down on her stomach. Slowly, she lifted her legs in the air and held them for a few moments before letting them down again. She repeated the motion several times, her legs lifting higher and higher with each rep. By the thirteenth rep, she was supported only by her elbows, keeping the pressure off of her breasts. Her feet pointed straight at the ceiling and she sipped her coffee while balancing on alternating elbows.
As she let her legs fall into a split position, the boring news program took a sudden turn into interesting territory and Neo's chocolate brown eyes focused on the image of the redheaded master criminal that had stolen Neo's heart.
"In other news, master criminal Roman Torchwick, who has been detained for his part in the attempted coup by the sorceress Cinder Fall, is being extradited to Atlas, where he will face the Atlesian High Court for war crimes."
Neo narrowed her eyes and flipped up into the air, landing in perfect splits, her mug between her legs. She leaned forward and touched the smug mugshot that hovered in the corner of the screen.
If he was being extradited, she needed to find out when and soon.
Time to pay a visit to Junior.
When Hei Xiong saw the brown, white, and pink hair flow into his club like a gentle brook, he knew that the wake of destruction she would leave behind would be anything but. He tossed back the rest of his scotch and straightened his tie. "Neopolitan! Good to see you again…" He tried; he really did, to uphold a convincing façade of confidence but Neo saw right through it.
She smiled silently at him and he chuckled nervously, his smile slipping. "Listen, Neo, I'm sorry about Roman, truly, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Atlas just doesn't bow to the criminal underworld like Vale does, even to nice guys like me."
Neo simply shook her head and twirled her parasol, tsk-ing with each twirl. She walked over to the bar counter and casually set down a small datapad next to where the Malachite twins were sitting. They both eyed Junior and he shook his head and shrugged. Melanie picked up the device and thumbed through its contents.
"She wants…" her voice trailed off and she turned to Neo. "You can't be serious. The Boss would never agree to this."
Miltia plucked the datapad from her sister's grip and after a few seconds, hurled it at Junior. "Way to go, asshole."
The twins folded their arms and glared at their employer. Junior caught the device and stared at the image that burned on the screen. A single playing card illuminated the device: the Jack of Spades.
Junior dropped the device and fell to his knees. He knew what the card meant and he knew that his only hope was a blonde girl who really didn't like him that much.
"Tell Roman…" Junior began, "tell him, when you see him, tell him that he'll pay for this."
The tall man scratched his trimmed, black beard then turned to the Malachites. "Girls, I'm sorry. Just…come back safe. Please."
He then turned back to Neo, who smirked as she unsheathed her hidden blade from the handle of her parasol. Junior held an arm out and Neo slashed across the limb, slicing the man's white shirt and staining it red. She then reached out and coated her hand in the boss' blood before shaking his hand, sealing the deal.
Junior put on his red sunglasses and made his way to the door, the heavy beat behind him suddenly silent. All of his men watched him leave, and then turned their eyes to their new boss. Neo's eyes flashed pink and she bowed low to her recently acquired army.
The Malachites stood and faced the short woman, shoulder to shoulder. "What would you have us do…Boss…?"
Through the Malachites and Junior's underground networks, Neo learned that Roman would be extradited via a Spearhead corvette airship waiting at the docks. He would be delivered by an armored caravan of Valean XR-Vav military trucks, one of which contained a Meta-class mechsuit.
This would pose only a small problem. Neo matched the Atlesian escort man-for-man, and should any hunters or huntresses appear, she or the Malachites could deal with them easily enough.
So, Neo pored over the route and chose the best spot to attack. Thirteen miles out from the docks, the road wound through a small outcropping of trees and tall mountain rocks. The tall redwoords would prevent any substantial air support, and the tall rocks provided cover from the convoy's mounted turrets.
The only downside would be that the Atlesians would expect an incursion to occur there and would be prepared.
It was no matter to Neo, however. Her forces were entirely disposable and all she had to do was free Roman of his shackles and deliver his weapon, and he could handle the rest.
With the plan formulated and the location chosen, Neo chose a secluded spot behind a large boulder and began her stretching.
"All I'm saying is that the Atlesians have the biggest firepower."
"Firepower is good, but what matters is heart."
"Dude, you sound so gay when you say that."
"Dude, I AM gay."
"Most of the time."
Sun and Neptune laughed and Roman rolled his eyes, groaning.
"What's the matter, sourpuss?" Sun leaned in from his seat and looked into Roman's eyes.
"Look, I'm well and happy for you lovebirds, but could you keep it down. I'm trying to get my beauty sleep here."
Neptune lifted an eyebrow and eyed Sun. "Oh, I am SO sorry, your worshipfulness. I didn't mean to interrupt your nap. Shall I let you sleep? Would you like a pillow? Maybe a blankie?"
"Now that you mention it, sweetheart, yes. Yes I would."
"Well too bad," Sun chimed in again, his tail flitting around his head. "Where you're going, there won't be any blankets, pillows, nothing. You deserve to rot for your part in Cinder's little uprising."
"Fellas, fellas," Roman leaned back against his chair, and if his hands weren't chained to the floor, he would've thrown them into the air in a gesture of innocence. "I'm innocent."
"Right. And my mother is the Courtesan Queen of Vacuo," Sun retorted.
Before Roman could talk back, the truck's intercom buzzed and the lead vehicle reported in. "Coming up on a bend in the road. Be advised, low visibility and zero air support. Watch for mike tangos. Over."
"Heads on swivels, gunners. They're out there."
The back of the truck fell silent and Sun reached over, squeezing Neptune's hand lightly. Neptune smiled reassuringly at Sun.
A few minutes passed and every small bump or jolt sent shivers up Sun's spine. Finally, he let out a pent up breath. "Hey, Nep, I think we made it!"
Suddenly, the world became fire and explosions.
Neo's face bore a wide grin as salvo after salvo of missiles turned the convoy into scrap metal. The vehicles in the far front and rear that escaped the initial blasts were immediately vacated and the blue-armored Atlesians dove behind rocks and trees, desperately seeking cover. A few brave soldiers held their positions in the turrets and opened fire on the hill to their left, tracer rounds lighting up the dusky sky.
One stray rocket hit the center vehicle, the one containing Roman, and sent it flying against a tree, where it ricocheted back to the road, landing upside down. Neo turned to the one responsible for the stray rocket and looped her left foot around his neck, snapping it.
When the mobsters ran out of rockets, they drew their swords and charged in. The two forces collided, the Atlesians countering the red energy weapons with their own arc-prods.
With Melanie and Miltia on either side of her, Neo calmly skipped towards the battlefield. Sun and Neptune staggered from the center vehicle, coughing from the smoke. Neo rushed past them and dove into the large, burning wreck.
Sun reached out and found Neptune's shoulder, and the pair checked each other over until they were satisfied there were no wounds.
"What the actual fuck is going on?" Sun shouted over the deafening roar of battle.
"Must be here for Roman!" Neptune shouted back.
"No shit," was Sun's muttered reply.
"What?"
"I said, 'We need to secure the VIP!'" The pair turned to the wreck of their ride and saw the driver's upper torso impaled by a shard of glass six feet away from where his lower half still twitched, coated in flame.
In the light of the fire, the pair saw the Malachite twins step in front of the car. Neptune's eyebrows raised and he reached out. "Mel, Miltia! What are you doing here?"
"None of your business," Miltia said.
Melanie, on the other hand, seemed almost saddened by the turn of events. "I'm sorry, Neptune. We work for Roman now."
Sun leaned in, "Dude, what is it with you and girls in white?"
Neptune shrugged, "They're cute."
Sun nodded, "Yeah. You're not wrong."
They both readied themselves and the Malachites charged. Miltia swung her wrist blades at Sun who expertly dodged each strike, using his kung-fu training to block and counter-strike whenever possible.
Neptune was not fairing as well as his partner, and Melanie's constant kicks kept him on constant defense. Finally, he sighed and whipped out Poseidon and slammed the glaive down on Melanie's head. "Sorry!" he called out as he ran over to Sun. The Faunus cross-blocked an overhead strike and staggered Miltia, who tripped over Neptune's weapon before Sun kicked her into unconsciousness.
"Oh, bravo my little junior detectives. Bravo."
Roman faced them, Neo at his side, both brandishing their weapons.
Neo dove into the wreck, leaving the Malachites to deal with her beloved's captors. She didn't much care what happened to them. All that mattered was making sure Roman was safe.
She spotted him, dangling from his seat, still chained to the floor of the vehicle. A couple swift swipes from her blade, and he fell into her arms, groaning slightly. "N…Neo?"
"I'm here, love. I'm here." Her voice was small and soft, barely audible above the crackling fire, creaking metal, and sounds of battle.
Roman's bright green eyes stared up, unflinching, into the chocolate brown of Neo's. She drew him into a deep kiss, her ice-cream flavored lips pressing against his.
"I missed you," she breathed, her forehead to his.
"I missed you, too, my dear," was his reply. "Let's get out of here."
She nodded and handed him his cane.
"Bravo." Roman's confidence soared. Around them, Junior's men—his men, were steadily beating back the blue and white Atlesian Guard.
"No!" Neptune cried, "Team RWBY fought so hard to capture you. I will not let you leave here!"
"Neo, if you don't mind, I have a score to settle with the Faunus boy."
The short woman grinned and cartwheeled towards Neptune, her white coat tails flailing in the wind as Neptune readied his glaive. His opponent danced around him, smiling all the while, her parasol twirling, twirling…twirling, distracting! Neptune rolled out of the way as a ferocious gun blast tore from the tip of the umbrella and ripped through the air where his head was only moments ago. A quick spin followed by an uppercut was Neptune's response, but the two blows missed as Neo skipped backwards.
Neptune sprinted forward and used his glaive to pole-vault over Neo's position, landing low in the grass behind her, his weapon already in rifle form. Charged blue plasma hurled toward the petite woman and she cartwheeled out of the way. The last blast seemed to hit her however, and Neptune whooped. "Gotcha!"
Yet as the dirt settled from the force of the blast, he saw only shattered images of the woman strewn across the ground, already fading away in the moonlight. Neptune whirled around and caught the woman's hidden blade in the crook of his trident-mode.
With her blade locked in, Neptune swept her legs out from under her and slammed her on the ground. Her white eyes went wide and she gasped audibly. Neptune straddled her and hefted his trident, bringing the haft down onto…nothing.
The image of Neo dissolved and Neptune found himself straddling a boulder. He barely had time to turn around before Neo's high-heeled boot collided with the back of his neck, sending him reeling into a foggy daze.
A few meters away, Sun was ferociously wielding Ruyi-bang and Jingu-bang with lightning speed and terrifying accuracy. Despite Roman's considerable experience and expertise, he was losing ground. Fury drove each of Sun's blasts, his resolutions absolute. He would not lose again.
Roman, weak from his captivity, simply couldn't hold his own, and with a few swift swipes, his cane flew from his hand and he found himself staring down two shotgun barrels.
Neo spotted the scene from where she stood and her brown eyes went wide. No! Time almost seemed to slow as flame leapt from the barrel of each weapon. Neo gathered her aura around her, soft and pink, and focused it around the object of her affections. Her eyes blazed white and the world shattered.
Sun lowered his weapons, staring at the shattered glass slowly disintegrating around him. Roman was gone.
"Didn't think you guys were that powerful," he grunted, eyeing his gunchucks.
"Oh, they aren't." Roman's silky voice arose from behind him, and Sun turned just in time for Neo to plunge her parasol blade deep into Sun's chest.
Luckily, the Faunus shifted so the blade bypassed anything important. Still, it hurt like hell and he doubled over, coughing from pain, which only made it worse.
Neo smirked and leaned in close, "You will never harm my Roman with your filthy animal paws," she hissed—and nearly received a face full of Burn Dust as Sun flipped Ruyi-bang around, already readying another shot. Yet, once again, glass shattered and the pair of villains reappeared elsewhere. Sun whipped around and fired again, shards of aura energy flying.
The gunsmoke hadn't even risen from his weapon before he was turning and firing again. And again. And again. He spun around, his weapons twirling around his fingers faster than the eye could track, and just as quickly Neo summoned her aura, the substitutions taking her place time and time again. Only moments later, the air was full of flying shards and the thick smoke of a hundred discarded Burn Dust shells.
Sun fell to his knees, Roman's cane to his neck. "See you 'round, you filthy primate," Roman sneered, and he pulled the trigger. Sun catapulted into oblivion.
Beside him, Neo heaved, her breathing was shallow, uneven, and she was coated in a thick sheen of shimmering sweat. Such rapid usage of her aura had exhausted her stores of aura and tired her considerably. Roman leaned down and scooped her into his arms, where she lay, limp.
"We're almost out, Neo. Hang on."
He started making his way through the wreckage of the battle. Bodies littered the ground.
Roman had made it to a small pass that led further up the mountain when a low creaking sound emerged from the forest behind him. The redhead whirled around and eyed the source of the noise: a seven-foot tall, white mech-suit with most of the paint and armor burned off. The EVA helmet was cracked and the pilot inside was so burned and injured that he was only able to gurgle at the pair of criminals.
Yet, despite its crippled condition, Roman knew he was too weak to take it out. That didn't stop him from readying his cane. The pilot unsheathed a hybrid grenade launcher-machete and started running towards the two white-clad figures.
Roman raised his cane to block the incoming blow—only to stumble forward as the blow never came. Two loud paps and the pilot was bleeding through two holes in his head. The suit locked up and the pilot bled to death standing up.
Turning slowly, Roman saw four black-armored troopers bearing the Atlesian crest slowly form up around a tall figure in white.
Roman growled.
"Hello, Mister Torchwick," greeted General James Ironwood. His hands were clasped behind his back, gloved in white. "I have a proposition for you."
"How about…fuck you?" Roman retorted, leaning down to check on Neo. She was still breathing, albeit shallowly.
Ironwood sighed. "Impertinent as always, Roman. Let me rephrase: You're coming with me, or you both die here and now."
Roman eyed the soldiers, who all cocked their rifles simultaneously. "Alright. You have my attention."
Ironwood cracked a smile, his grey eyebrows rising in an amused expression. "Excellent! You see, Roman, I know that you didn't work for Cinder Fall by choice. She hired you or coerced you or whatever, I get it, I do. Now," Ironwood paced back and forth, "all I want is for you to join me instead. I could use you and your…" he eyed Neo, "…many talents."
You come with me, tell me all you know about Black Taurus and Cinder Fall, and in return, you will survive the coming Devestation."
"The coming devestation?" Roman repeated.
"No, not 'devastation'," Ironwood sighed, "'Devastation.' Capital 'D'. It's a whole plan involving—you know what? How about I just show you?"
Roman looked down to where Neo was groggily waking. She looked up at Roman with complete trust, and Roman knew that he would do whatever it took to survive any devastation, but only if she lived too.
"Alright," Roman said, "deal."
Ironwood grinned.
Author's Note: Whoo! This was a LONG time in the making! I had to make it epic for you! Roman and Neo, a Harley Quinn/Joker romance (but without all the emotional and physical abuse). Got a bit of Sea Monkeys in there (and yes, my headcanon is that they are the straightest gay couple ever).
Now the question is...did this answer your questions? Or leave you with even more? Hmm? Well, you'll just have to see. Junior, Roman, Neo, the Malachites, and even Junior's Mob, they all have their parts to play. Only time will tell where these pieces will end up in the grand game of S/S!
Thank you all, so very very much, for all of your continued support. If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter or drop a like on Facebook. ( rwby_ss and "RWBY: Sunshine and Shadows", respectively). You all are awesome. The encouragement and support has really been a big help to me, especially lately. I love all of you guys!
So thank you all again and I will see you all in the next chapter!