Breep! Breep! Breep! He groaned, then grabbed his secondary scroll, the one he only uses when he's not in his armor. He checked the time. Who would call me at 2 A.M.? Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he looked in his hand mirror. Eyes that were the color of black holes stared back at him. In the whites of his eyes, there were black veins that gave him the look of dead eyes. The hologram of his eyes should activate any time now. A few seconds later, his eyes changed into the sight everyone else saw. One green, and one blue. He sighed, then answered his scroll. "Hello? Talon Teknos speaking." He almost didn't recognize the man on the other end. Almost.

"Hey! Kiddo! How've you been?" the orange-haired, green-eyed man on the other end asked. Even at this hour, he was wearing a white suit and a bowler hat with a feather in it. He was smoking a cigar. Talon started.

"Roman? How did you get this number?" This was definitely something Talon didn't expect. "More importantly, why are you calling me at this hour?" Roman looked hurt.

"You hurt me, kiddo! Not even a hello?" Talon smiled in spite of himself.

"Fine. Even though we aren't related, hello Uncle Roman. Can you answer my questions now?" Roman looked off to the side.

"I'll answer your first question, then someone wants to say hi. Do you really believe that I, Roman Torchwick, the biggest criminal in Vale, wouldn't be able to get a hold of your number? I'll answer the second question in a bit. For now…" He handed his scroll to someone Talon couldn't see. When he did see her, his jaw dropped. Looking back at him was a girl with hair that was half-brown and half-pink with white streaks along the pink half. One of her eyes were brown, with the other being pale-pink. Her white jacket was open, exposing the pink interior of the jacket and brown corset that she was wearing. The girl waved at him, and broke into a huge smile.

"Neo!? Is that you?" The girl, in answer, grabbed a spoon and downed some Neopolitan ice-cream. She leaned the scroll against something- he could only assume that it was a carton of ice-cream- and put her hands in a heart shape. A second later, she pointed at him and mimed a teardrop going down her face. Talon laughed softly. "I miss you, too." Neo smiled, and pretended to hug him. Talon returned the gesture.

"Alright, Neo. I need to talk to him." Neo looked up and pouted at Torchwick. She looked back at Talon and made the heart gesture again, then waved goodbye. Torchwick picked up his scroll. "So, kiddo, you wanted to know why I called you, right? Well, I called to give you a warning. I have it on very good authority that Teknos Inc. was robbed yesterday." Talon felt a shiver run up his spine.

Oh no… "What happened? What did they take?" Roman raised his hands to silence Talon.

"One thing. Neo, why don't you come here and tell him." Roman motioned Neo over. Two seconds later, she was standing next to Torchwick. After Torchwick lowered his scroll to include Neo, she held up one finger and mouthed "word".

"One word?" She nodded, then held up 2 fingers. "Two letters?" She nodded again, then made a J with her arms. "J…" Talon groaned. "Please tell me it wasn't J3…" Neo simply nodded, then made the heart shape again. She mimed crying and looked apologetic. "It's ok, Neo. And thanks for telling me." The scroll went back up to only show Torchwick.

"Well, kiddo, that was everything I needed to say. Sleep tight." He smiled and waved goodbye. Talon threw his scroll back on his desk and turned off his eye holograms. He groaned.

Great. Just great. Archangel's loose. Wait… How did someone know where to find him? How did Roman know Archangel was still around? Only I knew about that room… Where did Roman get his info? I'll need to call him later, once I actually wake up. He looked over at his scroll. Roman, please tell me YOU aren't involved.

Roman set his scroll down calmly, then looked over at Neo. She was actually crying. "I know, Neo. I hated doing that as much as you did. Damn Cinder. What does she hope to gain by taking Archangel?" Roman, actually angry at Cinder for making him track down his only good friend and then worry him by telling him that Archangel was loose, ripped his cigar out of his mouth and stomped on it seven times. "DAMN HER!" He moved his foot off of his cigar and walked off. He heard swift stomping, and turned to see Neo stabbing her heel into Roman's cigar over and over. "Move." Neo backed off, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were white. Roman lifted his cane at the cigar, and blew it to smithereens. Unless Cinder comes here, I'm never smoking any of the cigars she gave me as a present. Talon was always like family to me. If she ever makes me harm him like that again… He turned to walk away, then noticed the cigar case that Cinder gave him. He picked it up and threw it to Neo. "Give that to the first person you see. And wipe those tears away. I know Talon is like a younger brother to you, but don't show any weakness to our men." Roman wiped a single tear away from his own face, and turned to find his old cigars. Neo wiped her face, then changed her eye color back to when she had seen Talon. Cinder, I hope you don't come to Vale anytime soon. I'm gonna need some time to cool off. In the meantime… "Neo, when you give that case away, call my boys here. We are going to pull off a heist. I need to do something to get rid of-" he turned to see Cinder standing next to Neo. "Hey! Cinder! I- uh- I didn't hear you come in…" Cinder gave him a smoldering look.

"Roman? These aren't the cigars I gave you, are they?" She didn't wait for an answer and held her hand out to Neo. Neo gave her the case and ran out, actually shaking. "What's wrong with our usual little bundle of joy?" She sounded like she was mocking Roman. Roman wasn't amused.

"Sorry, Cinder," Roman said, straining to keep his voice civil, "but we're not in the best of moods right now." Oh, how I want to kill you right now… "So, where're the kids? And your new 'asset'?" Cinder looked at him with no real expression on her face.

"You mean Archangel? He, as well as Mercury and Emerald, are on their way back to Haven. I'll call for them later. And, you were right, you ARE going to pull off a heist. We are robbing a Dust shop here in Vale called Dust to Dawn." Roman raised a questioning eyebrow.

"We?" Cinder smiled.

"Of course. You wouldn't want to bring Neo along in her current state, would you? We move tomorrow night. Be ready. Oh, here are your cigars back. Enjoy them." She handed him the case- it was all he could do to not throw them at her- and started to walk away.

I have to know. "Cinder, can you tell me something?" She stopped, and motioned him to speak. "Why did you steal Archangel?" Cinder responded without turning.

"As I've said many times before, you'll know what you need when you need to know." She started to walk away. Roman was glad she couldn't see him. He was gripping his cane so tight that he could feel his circulation in his fingers stopping.

Damn you, Cinder. I hope that Archangel is worth what you just made me put Talon through… Before he could stop himself, he shouted at Cinder. "That answer isn't enough this time! Archangel hates Talon and, through extension, anything that breathes! Why did you steal him!" Cinder stopped dead. Her voice came back hot enough to melt a glacier.

"If you EVER yell at me like that again, you will regret it!" Roman glared at the back of her head. She took a deep breath. She said, a bit calmer this time, "Roman, you are a valuable asset to me. Just like Mercury. Just like Emerald. Just like Archangel. Just like Neo. You will know what you need when you need to know. Please, for your sake, accept that answer. If not, then I will MAKE you accept it." She turned, and either didn't notice or chose to ignore his glare. "I will tell you when you need to know. Not before." She motioned him to come to her. Roman, feeling that not doing so would be a really bad idea, obeyed. She put her hand on his cheek. The usual heat of her power wasn't there this time. She patted his cheek, then walked out. Roman turned and noticed he still had his- Cinder's- cigar case in his hand.

I won't give it away, but you can bet I won't be smoking these unless I know she's coming that hour. Roman threw the case on his table, grabbed his old cigars- not as good as the one's Cinder gave him- and lit one. Damn. You. Cinder.