Week 2: A Familiar Path

Roman Torchwick might not have been the most physically capable criminal of Vale—that title probably went to Neo, if he was perfectly honest—but he was no slouch, either. There were plenty of times where the criminal had been forced to get his gloves dirty, mostly when his idiotic hired help failed to do their job, and as unsavoury as those times had been, it was one of the many reasons why he was no stranger to conflict. And whether it was with foolish henchmen, overeager security, or even the occasional low-ranking huntsman, the rogue had no shortage of experience when it came to combat.

With that said, his experience in fighting semi-intelligent humanoids were completely useless in this situation. Not in the sense of being unusable, but rather, in the sense being completely unneeded. And unusable.

Roman couldn't help but roll his eyes at his opponents. At least people were a challenge. These things? Well...

He paused for just a moment, his attention directed upwards at the one of the living masses of fluid, watching with mild boredom as the thing sailed through the air, before the crook casually hopped out of the way. Seconds later, the mass of irritated jelly descended from the sky, unleashing a terrible shockwave that tore apart the ground, knocking up grass and soil as the Slime King attempted to crush him.

Failed, of course, but... Good effort? Still, no one ever accomplished anything through effort alone. And to prove that point, the criminal moved again, another short motion as he avoided the descent of the second Crowned Slime, the creature's efforts completely wasted as the impact knocked away some of its viscous blue form.

For the criminal, stalling these things were hardly a difficult task, and Torchwick had quickly found that the only threat these monsters brought with them were their ludicrous size and irritating squelching noise. Their motions themselves were simplistic at best, laughably predictable as the slimes compressed themselves in an almost-comical manner, before releasing a huge display of force that launched them skyward.

Still, that force was nothing to scoff at, and he did not doubt the strength behind their attacks. After all, the past ten minutes had consisted of nothing but those stupid jumps and stomps, haphazard attacks that left their mark in the dungeon, the slimes' devastating strikes having more in common with an angry Ursa Major than a puddle of jam. At the same time, if your only redeeming quality is strength, then you'll only make a fool of yourself when you fight someone smarter and more talented than you.

And, if it wasn't obvious already, Roman Torchwick was both of those things. The past ten minutes had consisted of nothing more than those two slimes making fools of themselves, a mess of noise that accomplished almost nothing. The only thing they had managed to hit with their attacks was the ground itself, as the grassy knoll and dirt path had long since been reduced to slime-soaked craters of uprooted soil, and the criminal was having a very hard time understanding why the magical kid had been so worried in the first place.

Between his stalling, the Beacon Brats' admittedly decent combat skills, and Caillou's fireballs, the conflict was being handled at a reasonable pace. Sure, their actual attacks weren't really doing much, since the Slimes didn't seem too concerned by spears or canes, but those strikes were still enough to stagger the monsters, and that allowed the little wizard kid to follow up with his magic. And even if those fireballs weren't enough to outright burn the things, they were still strong enough to draw out a reaction, with each powerful strike smoldering more and more of the living gel's volume away. All things considered, they weren't having too much trouble.

Of course, he wasn't about to voice his concerns now. Despite their efforts, they still hadn't exactly killed the stupid slimes yet, and the last thing he needed was to get overconfident. His run-ins with Red have taught him that mu-

"Ha! These things aren't too tough! I guess you were just silly for worrying about them!"

... Damnit Red.

Almost immediately, Roman shot a glare towards the girl, wondering why she had decided to do that of all things. And of course, the moment his attention actually fell on her, he was greeted with the absurd sight of the hooded idiot as she stuck her tongue out at Caillou, acting all the part of a brat. Seriously, did she not think about her actions at all? Or was she just a reckless moron who enjoyed tempting fate for no real reason?

Oh, right. Huntress.

Unsurprisingly, fate answered the call. That, or these slimes were smarter than they looked, as one of the monsters had chosen that exact moment to act. While the huntress-wanna-be acted the part of a short-sighted child, a murderous Slime King took action, reeling back for a few seconds before snapping forward in a deadly blur of blue, physics be damned.

"Oi, Red! You might wanna move!" Roman's voice echoed out the moment the monster took to the air, throwing out an uncharacteristic warning towards the girl as he turned his head away from the spectacle. Part of him had wanted to stay quiet, just so he could see the hilarious results of using a boulder-sized slime monster to shut up that hooded annoyance. However, that would've been... wasteful.

Yeah, that's it. As it stood, Red was more useful to him unharmed, especially since her friend from Beacon was sensible enough to mistrust the criminal.

Really, the easiest way for him to keep that Mistrali maniac at bay was to play into Red's delusions of his nonexistent altruism. Sure, it made his skin crawl every time he pretended to smile, but mild discomfort was always better than a huntress's spear to the gut. And it wasn't like he wasn't used to working in terrible conditions—Heck, he worked under Cinder, didn't he? A small blow to his pride, as well as a bit of mild nausea, was a small price to pay if it meant he could keep self-righteous idiots off of his back.

"Ack!"

The voice of the hooded brat rang out, snapping the criminal from his thoughts. And, shortly after, came the sound of Slime meeting earth, a thundering quake that rippled the ground as the giant monster landed once more.

...Okay, he might've gone through that whole mental justification thing for his actions, but was it too much to hope that he had been too late? That, despite his half-hearted and completely insincere warnings, Red was now a casualty?

"Thanks Roman!"

Yes. Yes it was.

The rogue held back an irritated sigh, forcing his attention away from the brats, his eyes falling instead to the closest Crowned Slime. Fortunately, unlike the inexperienced brats that seemed to surround him, the classy criminal was far more aware of his surroundings, and without missing a beat, leapt out of the way of yet another slam. However, because he was mentally superior to these kids, and because he carried a great deal more insight than their mindless fumbling, he had noticed something... odd about that last attack.

Shooting a quick look around him to make sure all opponents were accounted for, the criminal turned his gaze back to the first Crowned Slime, watching with some apprehension as the monster remained inside its self-made crater, making no effort to move from its spot and leap again. The reason for this change in behaviour quickly became clear as the mass of jelly began to quiver, its outer layer losing some cohesion as it actively spewed out a geyser of disgusting blue slime, the torrent of sentient gel aimed directly at him.

Unfortunately for the classy crook, a hose of slime was far harder to avoid than the cumbersome movements of a single gelatinous entity, and though the criminal had reacted quickly, it was not enough to avoid the entire blast. As soon as he landed, the slime on his shoes tensed, latching onto the ground as it tried to root him into place.

... Though, with that said, it was still just a glob of sentient slime. The removal of said slime was as simple as always, and the criminal's cane quickly turned the mass of colour into a pile of useless sludge. Still... Were these things adapting to them or something?

Roman's eyes narrowed, his attention momentarily turning back to the three kids. If the slimes were learning, then dealing with them would be that much more tedious, especially if the brats didn't pick up on the change. And if they didn't... well, he didn't have quite enough tricks up his sleeve to pick up the slack, due to his complete lack of Melodic Cudgel or Dust.

Really, From what he could tell, this world had absolutely nothing that could work as a substitute for either of them. This replacement stick he had made helped a bit, sure, but it certainly didn't provide him with the same wealth of options that his previous weapon had. At best, it only allowed him to channel aura into the thing, which... thinking on it, was weird in its own right. Aura wasn't a thing in this world, right? Why were there materials around that could still conduct it?

Whatever the reason was, Roman didn't have time to think on it. Instead, he turned his gaze back to the Slime monster that had embedded itself into the ground, watching as it began to ripple once more. The monster made another attack, but unlike before, Roman was ready this time, and the criminal immediately focused aura into his steps. A quick lunge brought him away from the monster's attack, and gravity swiftly deposited him beside the Slime, allowing Roman to make his move next.

His cane lashed out, wreathed in aura as it struck against the monster, splattering away parts of the sentient gel as he landed blow after blow. Yet, despite the swiftness and ferocity of his weapon's blunt attacks, it had as much effectiveness as you would've expected it to, the metallic bludgeon causing no permanent damage to the giant puddle. The corner of Roman's lips curled downwards, irritation gradually rising as he turned his attention to the brats, focusing on the green-haired brat as his voice rose up.

"Hey, kid! Could do with a bit more fire here!"

"R-right!"

Just like that, an orb of fire shot out, the embers trailing behind the burst of magic as it collided against the Slime. Well, at least Caillou was prompt, right? Honestly, that kid was more competent than most of his adult subordinates, and as Roman turned back to the gel monster, he mentally made a note to see if he couldn't hire a bunch of homeless brats or something for his next-...

Hello. What's this?

His thoughts were immediately broken by the sight of burn marks on the monster's surface, bits and pieces of charred gel lingering on the creature. Which was interesting in its own right; Unlike before, when the kid's magical attacks had merely exploded against the Slime, this particular gout of flame had somehow been enough to visibly sear the monster.

More intriguing than that, however, was how haphazard the burn marks seemed, the burnt scars looking nothing like an unfocused blast scorched charcoal. Instead, the marks were... uniform, appearing as thin bars of faded colour, scattered sporadically on the creature in seemingly random spots. Or more to the point, appearing at all the spots that Roman had struck at with his aura-fueled cane.

Huh.

"... Hey, Caillou? Toss another fireball over here, would ya? For good measure and all that."

His associate complied, launching yet another magical attack at the oversized gel. However, Roman brought his cane up this time, the metal of his weapon infused with aura as the criminal blocked the attack. And rather than fade, the flickering flames wrapped themselves around the man's weapon, fitting itself around the rod in a sheath of energy. As he registered that interesting fact, Roman Torchwick's frown faded away, the corner of his lips curling up into a smirk.

Looks like he still had a few tricks after all.

"You know, as often as this happens, I still can't say I'm used to this."

As the final power crystal rose up from the ground, the suited criminal couldn't help but frown, his eyes watching the curious item as it flew straight into his arm. Or chest. Or something. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure how those multicoloured gem things worked, but considering this was the last one, there was no point in getting worried about it now.

"No fair! How come you got most of them?"

With that said, of their ridiculous group of four, Roman was apparently the only one who was actually worried about it. Red seemed to accept their existence without much thought, and had been more hung up on the fact that they had all converged onto him. Likewise, Caillou didn't care, since this sort of thing was normal for the green-haired brat. And as for Miss CCT celebrity?

"Ruby, please stop acting so friendly with him. He's a criminal."

Well... she was more worried about Roman himself than the world around them. Which was something he had to give her credit for, all things considered. Most people would've dropped their guard after a battle like that, but little miss poster child was apparently smart enough to keep her wits about. Then again, the moment he had discovered the whole fire-plus-aura thing, Roman had been pretty overt with his slime removal. Maybe that played a part in her doubts.

"For the last time, Mr. Torchwick is not a criminal!"

Oh, for the love of...

"Yes, he-"

"Alright, all of you just shut up for a moment." Roman wasted no time in stopping this particular argument. He had grown tired of it long before the damned slimes had shown up, and just because he had relieved some stress from killing those things didn't make the argument suddenly more bearable. "Caillou, I need you to go over to those slime things and gather their bits, alright?"

"But-!"

"No buts. I need them for my research, understand?" The man gave the kid a stare, more understanding than the criminal would've liked, but pointless antagonism would just dragged the entire thing on. So, as Caillou gave the rogue a resigned nod, Roman turned back to face the red-haired, green-eyed beacon brat. "Besides... Cereal Box and I need to have a little chat."

"Stop calling me that!"

Such a short-sighted little brat. The fact that she was letting such a stupid nickname bother her like that was the main reason Roman kept it up in the first place. Really, that indignant glare was far more entertaining than it had any right to be, especially since it belonged to the Mistral's loudest snack-food mascot. Still, the criminal hid his amusement beneath a face of utter indifference, shooting the girl a single stare as he raised an eyebrow at her.

The glare intensified. This was simply too amusing. Still, he eventually dismissed the girl, his attention turning back to the clearing, pocketed by craters and the strange remains of the Slime Monsters.

"So, if it's not too much trouble Caillou, could you go gather those things? We may be able to figure out how they ended up here."

"A-alright..."

With that, the kid left, leaving the criminal free to discuss the actual important stuff. His gaze shifted back to the redheaded warrior girl, his expression turning to a more serious tone as he ignored the glare on her face. "Well, now that that's out of the way... I've got a few questions for you, Pumpkin Pete."

"And why should I answer you?" As usual, the girl made no effort to hide her suspicion. At least she didn't try to reach for her weapon this time, though the threat was still clear as she took a cautious stance. "After all, I have a few questions of my own. Namely, what are you doing here, and what are you planning?"

"P-Pyrrha..."

Red tried to protest, but that only drew her friend's attention, as Pyrrha shifted her stare from the criminal to the hooded huntress instead. "And Ruby... Why are you so friendly with him? You know who he is! What he's done!"

"B-but he's not a bad person! I'm sure of it!"

"How can you say that after what he did at the Breach?!"

The air fell quiet fell as Pyrrha's voice rang out, and the concern that Red wore quickly shifted to genuine confusion, seemingly lost on the conversation as she gave her friend a blank stare. However, Roman wasn't quite as ignorant about the girl's words, and his reaction was far different. The criminal's couldn't help but give pause as he heard the Mistrali's words, staring at the Nikos girl as his previous mask fell away, leaving only an expression of shock on his face. "Wait... What did you just say?"

"You heard me!"

Her face turned back towards the criminal, eyes staring daggers as she pointed an accusatory finger at him. "How dare you pretend to be a good person after causing so much tragedy? Do you think that warning Ruby once, or helping us fight a few monsters is enough to make up for all of that?!"

Of course he didn't. He wasn't thinking about that at all; His mind had moved onto more important things. Rather than entertain her blathering, the man stared at her, trying to read her expression as he spoke. "... Before you ended up here, what was the last thing you remembered?"

"Huh? Why should I-"

"Damnit, we don't have time to waste arguing on this!" His voice rose up, drowning out the girl's protests as he stared at her. "Look. Red and I remember completely different things, and neither of us have any clue how we got here. And now you show up out of nowhere, spouting on about something that's a distant memory for me, and completely unknown to Red!"

"W-... What?" Thankfully, that little blurb of information was enough to get the Nikos brat to calm down. What was once anger and mistrust gradually began to fade to a worried sense of concern, as the redhead slowly turned from the criminal to Red. "Is... Is that true?"

The hooded reaper nodded. And for a few short moments, the air was still as neither the Mistrali gladiator nor the scythe-wielding maniac nor Roman himself were willing to talk. Instead, all three stood quiet, staring at one another before their gaze fell to the grass.

But, eventually, those moments passed. The Nikos girl broke the silence, taking in a deep breath before releasing it in an exhausted sigh. "In that case... I'll tell you my story after you tell us yours."

The criminal stared at the redheaded warrior, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated this. "... You know what? Fine. But only if one of you two keeps Caillou back there busy. The last thing we need is for him to hear about this."

"Hear about what?"

...If he was perfectly honest, Roman Torchwick was proud of the fact that, despite the brat's sudden reappearance, the only visible reaction that he gave was a single twitch of his eye. Well, that and the logical conclusion of his palm striking against his face... but honestly, that particular gesture was more common than not at this point.

One hour.

That's how long it took for the criminal to tell his story. Everything, from his first week of incarceration at the hands of Atlas and the fruitless interrogations that Ironwood had subjected him to, to his sudden appearance inside the Terme Finance Company's private grounds, and the fruitless interrogations that the CEO had subjected him to.

Well, okay, that's not true. If he was being perfectly honest, he didn't tell them anything from those particular points in his history, at least not in any meaningful detail. The specific knowledge of Atlesian interrogation techniques, as well as how much they differed from Terme's 'hospitality', were hardly anything these brats needed to know, since it wasn't relevant to the story.

What was relevant, however, was the fact that he had spent the past two months in the custody of Terme Finance., forced into indentured servitude at blade point, and used as a glorified labourer for the first month or so he had been there. Sure, he glossed over some of the details there as well, but at the very least, Roman had been adamant in clarifying how much stronger the stupid company's hired hands were, due to this world's stupid magic thing. You think he tolerated the faunus living conditions willingly? He had no love for it in the past, and he had no love for it now.

Either way, after clarifying that detail of strength discrepancy, Roman's story had continued onward. After a few weeks, his role had been mysteriously changed by the CEO, as he was assigned to work with Tinkerbell for some debt-collection thing at some stupid town. And since the prospect of working with a floating nightlight that hated him was still better than dealing with Terme, he jumped on instantly.

Then, really, the rest of his story fell into place. He was introduced to Recette, had to help her with her debt, helped build up that run-down shack to look more respectable... Not to mention that he stumbled into those Guild things, ran into Red, apparently gained certification as an adventurer... All that trivial stuff that didn't take long to explain.

Huh. Thinking on it now, that wasn't a whole lot of information, was it? Did he seriously take an hour to explain all that? Maybe Junior was onto something when he said that he talked to much.

... Naaah.

"Does... Does that mean you've been here for over a month?"

Red was the first to speak, her voice snapping the criminal out of his thoughts as he turned to her. He wasn't quite sure why she looked so worried, nor why her voice was so quiet compared to her usual annoying shrill, but he didn't complain. Instead, Roman merely nodded at her question, trying to hide his irritation as he did so; seriously, was the time-frame that hard to understand?

"That can't be right..." Nikos was the next to speak, her eyes narrowed as she stared downwards. "I've only been here for a few weeks, myself. A-and the last thing I remember before arriving in this town was... the breach. Only, rather than the week you said you experienced, it had only been a day for me."

"I ended up in Pensee two weeks ago..."

Of course, Red added her own little snippet of information to the pile, the seemingly random time placement contributing nothing to the mystery as Roman's eyes narrowed. From where he stood, there was absolutely no method to the madness. Sure, his memories matched up more with Pumpkin Pete's than Red's, but the two Beacon Brats had arrived at this place much later than he did.

What concerned him was that they both had ended up in this town specifically. Was it coincidence? At this point, he wasn't sure at all; Technically, it was coincidence that he had ended up here in this particular town, but it was suspicious that the two huntress-wanna-be's ended up here as well. At the same time... If the rest of their little group of idiots were stuck in other towns, then it was, once again, more likely that this entire mess was coincidental to some degree.

Ugh. He had hopped that this would've given them some answers, but instead, all he got were more questi-

"So... You lied about being a Wizard?" Roman's eyes widened, as another timid voice echoed out. He had... forgotten about Caillou. Even if this story had been told for the kid's benefit as much as it had been for the two Beacon Brats, the criminal had actually forgotten about the kid's presence. Slowly, the man looked up from the dirt, turning his gaze towards the magical brat.

"Look, kid, I never once claimed to be-"

And then, Roman's words stopped. He wasn't sure why, to be honest, but... as he stared at the green-haired child, something about the kid's expression just made him stop. Maybe it was the way his eyes were widened, the colour on his face drained as the kid stared back at him, looking past the criminal rather than directly into his eye. Maybe it had something to do with how the child had let his staff fall completely, the giant stick discarded on the ground, as the young librarian slowly backed away from him.

Or maybe, just maybe... It was because the look of betrayal that had appeared on Caillou's face was more familiar to him than he would've liked to admit. In the end, it didn't matter. What mattered was that, for a single moment, Roman Torchwick had froze.

And when he did, the child ran.