Mercury and Emerald headed for their dorm, Emerald looking at the beaten cans of Emerald Splash in annoyance. "Merc, this better be some good soda…" she said, Mercury chuckling. "It's kiwi-lime. It can't be that bad." he said, opening the door to see that their teammates hadn't come back from their Renewal festivities. The dorm window was slightly open, a cold wind shooting out into the hall. "Damn teammates, leaving the window open..." Mercury grumbled, heading for his bed. "How's your arm?" he asked, Emerald gently rubbing it as she stepped into the darkened dorm room. "Stings a bit, but I think the bleedi-" she said as she turned on the room light, pausing slightly as she saw that something had found its way onto her bed.
It was a small white cat covered in chocolate colored splotches with ice blue eyes sitting on the bed, swinging its tail playfully. "The hell? Where did this cat come from?" Emerald asked, feeling the breeze from the open window. She turned and saw the window, which was open just enough for a cat to slide through. "You think someone let the cat in to mess with us?" Mercury asked, Emerald shrugging as the cat circled around its tail for a bit before sitting back down on its hindlegs. "Well, however it got it. It's getting out now! Go on, cat! Get out! Shoo! Shoo!" Emerald ordered the cat, only to get a soft, low purr in response. "No! I said out, cat! This isn't your house! Get off my bad! Get-" Emerald said, advancing on the cat when Mercury put a hand on her shoulder and pointed to the cat's neck, where a small pink light glistened from under the chin.
"It's got a collar." he said, the two walking over and bending down to read it. Written in rough carvings was the word "Chloe" the Hunters recoiling from the cat quickly. The cat was soon bathed in a white light, turning into a shapeless orb of light that rapidly took shape. The light burst away and what remained where the cat was replaced by a short woman with chocolate brown eyes and matching hair with pink streaks sporting a cat-like smile on her face. She was dressed in a pink jacket, brown pants and white high-heeled boots with one leg crossed over the other, hand on her knee. "Oh good, it's Torchwick's weird mime. What do you want, Chloe?" Emerald asked, visibly annoyed. Chloe held her grin and reached into her pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper.
Emerald unfolded the paper, seeing a few sentences written in cursive. "Roman knows what you did and wants a word with you. I'm here to escort you to his manor. - Chloe. =3" Emerald looked up at Chloe as she passed the note to her partner, Chloe grinning at them before changing back into a cat and climbing off to the window and jumping out. "We seriously gonna follow her?" Emerald asked. Mercury rolled his eyes. "Why are you acting like he's gonna take us out back and shoot us? If we die, we're registered to the school so Torchwick would be found immediately unless he skipped town, we'll be fine." he said, Emerald returning the eyeroll. "I was more thinking how we're following a cat. Besides, I'm not worried about Torchwick. Cinder's our insurance policy, he couldn't if he tried.. Let's just humor the jackass and then we can go to sleep." Emerald said, Mercury shrugging and jumping down first, landing perfectly on his feet, bending his knees slightly before standing upright.
"Alright! Now you!" he said, Emerald taking a careful step out of the window and jumping, Mercury quickly catching her as landed, both hitting a mound of snow. The two got up, following after the cat Chloe. The cat snuck her way under the gate, shaking off the snow and turning to her escorts. Emerald grabbed her sickle from her side, throwing it over the fence and hitting a tree. The two climbed the chain, getting over the fence and following Chloe into the cold, white night. The walk took them from Beacon's grounds to Vale's Market Quarter, heading down the street until Chloe came to a stop, Emerald and Mercury paling at the sight of a building resembling a log cabin with a neon sign reading "GOLDEN APPLE: Bar & Grill" with a bite-marked golden apple. "Oh crap… no, no. Cinder's out of town. She's got business in… I dunno, Vacuo or something. She's not... " Emerald said, shaking her head as Chloe took on her human form again.
Chloe opened the door, leading them into the bar where Torchwick was sat at a table in the center of the, cutting into his salmon fillet with a smug smile on his face. "Happy Renewal, brats. Pull up a chair, I'll get you some cider and we'll have a little chat." he said jovially, tipping a glass of cider to them. Chloe headed off towards the kitchen, the sound of clinking glasses echoing through the empty bar. "What are you playing at, Torchwick? We're not in the mood for games." Emerald said defensively, Torchwick chuckling and taking a sip of cider. "Dear Emerald, is it too much to ask the two of you to give a lonely man like me a little company?" he asked, turning to Chloe as she came back with a tray with two glasses of cider. "No offense, Chloe. But you're not much of one for conversation, ya know?" Roman said with a grin, Chloe smiling back and setting down the glasses.
"Come on, put your feet up. Grab a menu. Better to be here than out in the cold, right?" Torchwick offered again, the warmth of the room making his offer feel more tempting by the second. The two slowly walked up to the table, sitting down and taking the menu. "Order whatever you want. It's on me." he said with a wink, Mercury looking askew at the head of the Red Lantern Family and taking a careful sip of cider. "It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking. You're both a pain in my ass, sure, but you're good kids. You're clearly talented and you gotta get by. If Cinder hadn't got to you first, you two would've been great recruits for the Red Lantern Family." Torchwick said, the young criminals blinking in surprise at Torchwick's praise. "Uh… thanks, Torchwick." Emerald said, putting her eyes back to the menu.
"Think nothing of it. Try the ribs. People like the ribs." he said, taking another bite of fillet. The two shrugged and ordered a plate of ribs, Chloe quickly writing down their order on a pad of paper and heading for the kitchen. Within minutes, Chloe had a plate of ribs and cider refills for the table, the three eating and chatting casually. Chloe sat down, drinking from the cider bottle as Roman told the two stories of heists gone by. "-and since I had about twenty armed security guards on me, I knew an easy exit was out of the question. I broke one's finger just as he was going to pull the trigger, I pretended to surrender, then I shot out the lights before anyone else could draw a bead on me. And then it went to chaos and I gotta say, it is not easy to get around twenty shots going off at once, but it helps when they hit other guards while trying to shoot me. Long story short, I made my way out and got away with a nice copy of blueprints for a new Dust pistol." he said, the two drawn into the story.
"But enough about me, perhaps you guys would tell me a story." Torchwick said, taking another long sip of cider. "Sure thing, Torchwick. What do you wanna know about?" he said, Torchwick circling his thumb around the cider glass. "Hm… how about what you two were doing at Tukson's tonight." he said, Emerald nearly choking on her ribs as her eyes went wide. "Should've known this fun wouldn't last," Mercury said, patting Emerald lightly on the back. "We were doing your job for you. We heard Cinder give the job to put him down and you kept dragging your feet on it. Thanks to us, we took care of that before Cinder gets back." Mercury said, Roman tapping his finger on his cane. "Look, you little punks, let's make something clear. I had the Tukson situation under control and I don't need two street rats doing my work for me." Torchwick said, Emerald finding her voice.
"Oh yeah? So why was on he getting a ship to Vacuo? Why didn't you kill him when you were told? Why not have your little pink psycho do the job? Why-" Emerald said before being left with her jaw wide open as the familiar click of heels hit the wood floor. Out from the kitchen stepped their boss, Cinder, in her usual red suit dress and black heels, amber eyes glowing and illuminating the room slightly as she glared at her subordinates. "Why did you two feel the need to take it upon yourself to do Roman's work? Why did you disobey my specific instructions to keep low and focus on surveillance within Beacon? Why did you think I wouldn't have Roman make sure you stayed the course?" Cinder asked as she stepped to the table, Mercury and Emerald turning their eyes away from her. "...Answer me!" she snapped, startling the two.
"W-well, Cinder… we had thought that since Torchwick wasn't doing his job and y-y-you said you didn't like insubordination, so we wanted to make sure Tukson and Torchwick got the message." Emerald stammered out as Chloe poured Cinder a glass of cider, the glow in their boss' eyes turning brighter. "So… to prove a point about insubordination, you chose to be insubordinate yourselves, kill a man on one of the busiest nights of the year and set an entire building on fire…" Cinder responded, turning to Mercury and nodding to him. "We sent a message!" he said in response to the silent order to speak. "You drew attention. The police have been on edge for a good few months with the recent robberies, the attacks by the Black Fang and further gang activity with the Red Lantern Family." she began, finger circling the rim of her glass of cider. "All of which has resulted in increased Grimm activity outside Vale's walls, meaning tighter security measures. My recent sabbatical to Mistral wasn't simply for a meeting with the executives of White Mouse Shipping. I was keeping a low profile and expected the both of you to do the same." she said coldly, taking a sip of cider before turning to Roman, who was enjoying the chewing out too much for her liking.
"And you... why wasn't the matter with Tukson settled earlier? You would think after your failure to secure Ironwood's apprentice that you would want to make it up to me by dealing with a deserter." Cinder said, Torchwick's smile fading. "Well, let's see... What have I been up to? Well, there's keeping up relations with the Black Fang, delivering orders to the Family, buying Chloe some new clothes," he began listing off, turning and winking to his obedient apprentice. "She's grown about two inches, don't ya know? Then there's stealing enough Dust to arm a small nation! No big deal, oh yeah, and buying your Renewal present." he said with a smirk, Chloe grabbing his briefcase from the floor and setting it down on the table. Torchwick unlocked the case and flipped it open, revealing a small portable thumb drive. "Just a little something in case you need to backup some files." Roman said, looking to Mercury and Emerald and putting a cigar in his mouth. "Sorry I forgot to get the brats anything. Renewal shopping is always a nightmare." he said, pulling out his lighter and flipping it open.
As he went to light his cigar, Emerald immediately snatched the lighter from his hand, sticking out her tongue. "I think this will be a good enough gift. Could've used this earlier when we-" Emerald began before her wounded right arm was immediately grabbed. "Anh! Wh-what the?" she said, wincing as she turned to see Chloe looking at her, eyes bulging and her face twisted into a sneer, lips barely apart to show her teeth. Chloe applied more pressure onto Emerald's arm, the blonde thief dropping the lighter onto the table. Chloe let go of Emerald's arm as Emerald growled, rubbing the soreness out of her arm. "Yeah, I almost forgot," Torchwick said, laughing it off. "Don't do that." he said with a serious tone, grabbing his lighter and lighting his cigar up. Emerald turned and looked at Chloe, still staring at her with the same murderous expression before Torchwick began ruffling her hair.
Without missing a beat, Chloe's eyes shut and her snarl turned into a cheerful smile, Emerald letting out panicked gasps. "Wh-what… what are you?" she asked shakily, Chloe simply returning to Torchwick's side. "She's not bad once she learns to like you." He joked, patting her once on the head as she gave a closed eyed smile. "So, what's the plan going forward?" Torchwick asked, Cinder taking another sip before answering. "...We'll be moving on to Phase 2 within the next few months." she said, pulling out a map of Remnant, marked at various points. "Roman, you and two Black Fang generals will be taking a cadre of soldiers out into the southeast region of Vale, where operations will take place. Mountain Glenn." she said, pointing to the southeast region and then pointing to Atlas. "Our intel has made us aware that General Ironwood will be traveling to Vale in the coming time to unveil new tech. This will be your chance at redeeming yourself, Roman. Before you begin movement for the southeast, you will make one more attempt to bring me his apprentice. Alive, if possible." Cinder said, eyes glowing faintly. Torchwick nodded and took a puff. "I'll get the Family working on it. Shouldn't be too hard if we can keep the General distracted." he said in response.
"Actually, the Red Lantern Family have another job in Atlas," she said and pulled out a set of schematics, unveiling them. The schematics showed designs for a new machine, resembling a military tank with legs. "This is the prototype for the newest weapon from Atlas Arms. The Atlesian Paladin-290. While you are going to capture Penny Polendina, the Family will be pulling off their biggest job and will be acquiring models and bringing them to the southeast. Knowing the General and the brandishing of his… Ego. He'll bring a model, just to show it off like the fool he is." she said with a smirk.
"So, what's our job for this plan?" Emerald asked anxiously, eyes lit up at the size of Phase 2's scale. "You and Mercury will lay low." Cinder said, eyes glowing and fire forming in the palm of her hand. Mercury leapt up from his seat and backing away, eyes widened and breath going in rapid gasps. "W-we killed Tukson, we've gotta get more than j-j-just sitting through Port's boring speeches at Beacon, r-right?" Emerald asked, watching the fire grow slightly and reaching for Mercury's hand. Cinder glared at her minions and balled her hand into a fist around the fire, snuffing it out with a sigh. "As much as I am loath to reward recklessness, you are correct that that you successfully kill Tukson, which was both not your job to take on and beyond my expectations of your abilities." she said, Mercury and Emerald slowly calming down and smiling. "So, I will be giving you a specific job within Beacon. Your efforts over the past year has given me a lot of information regarding Beacon's future crop, probably some of Ozpin's picks for future Hunters." she said, setting down a pair of folders onto the table. "And with Golden Apple bringing in students that are willing to take up jobs from 'Eris', we have just as much an opening to sway potential Hunters into our fold. What I want you two do is to keep a close eye on these two teams. Team RWBY and Team JNPR." Cinder said, opening the folders to show written information on both teams.
"Team JNPR is certainly an impressive little group. Five-time Mistral Regional champion Pyrrha Nikos, martial arts expert Ren Lie, Iron Woman Powerlifting champion Nora Valkyrie and the one I'm most fascinated in, Jaune Arc. A lineage of warriors dating back to Claire Delaney and with a bright future ahead of him. If we can bring him to our side, he'd make for a useful Knight in my set. If not, we can see about eliminating him like the others." she said, folding Team JNPR's folder. "And as for Team RWBY… well, there's more personal stake with them." Cinder continued, the rest of the group looking at team RWBY's file.
"There's Yang Xiao-Long, who destroyed the Bear's Den and got Arthur Julian sent to jail." Cinder began, Torchwick chuckling a bit. "Yeah, but we came out of that for the better. Julian was getting a little too big for his own good and had ideas of putting me out. Losing his bar actually knocked him down and halted a potential gang war. Hell, we owe her a thank you note more than anything." he said, taking another puff. Chloe grinned wickedly as she looked over at Yang's photograph, unsheathing a sword from her umbrella and stabbing through it, startling Emerald and Mercury slightly as she lifted the sword up, holding the photo on the blade. "Hah! That's the spirit, Chloe! I guess we know who's taking care of her!" Roman said, laughing a bit more, Cinder smiling sweetly at the silent psycho.
"Indeed. Next is Blake Belladonna. Adam has made it clear that Blake is the Black Fang's business. Much like myself, Adam is not one to tolerate defectors and has expressed desire to see revenge on our little Faunus friend. Weiss Schnee is a shared target. The Black Fang have engaged in war against the Schnee family for some time and I'm sure that there is no love between Schnee Dust and the Red Lantern Family, though they've made good money for White Mouse. If she crosses our paths any time soon, try to take her alive and if not… well, it's one less adversary." Cinder said, Chloe stabbing through Blake and Weiss' pictures.
"And finally, Ruby Rose. The thorn in our side. She's weak, but she's also persistent and very lucky. The girl has already foiled our plans before and will most likely do so again if given the chance. And I'm sure none of us are willing to give her that chance… right Roman?" Cinder said, eyes on the leader of the Red Lantern family, who simply grunted and put his cigar out on Ruby's photo. Cinder chuckled and turned to face Mercury and Emerald. "You two are going to study both teams, figure out their full strengths and weaknesses. Report back to me with your findings once a week. And remember not to step a toe out of line again. Do I make myself clear?" she asked, the quickly bowing to avoid her radiant eyes. "Yes, Cinder!" they said in unison. "Good, you are both dismissed… oh, and one more thing." she said as they turned to leave, both freezing in place. "Happy Renewal." she said softly, the two sighing in relief and walking out. Roman got up from his seat, stretching a bit. "Welp, I think we'd better get going too. Been a long day and I am beat. Happy Renewal, Cinder. It's been lovely to see you again." Torchwick said, taking her hand and kissing it gently to avoid burning himself on the heat coming from her fingers. "Happy Renewal Roman. And you as well, Ms. Quinn." Cinder said as Roman grabbed his cane and put on his hand.
Chloe turned to join her boss, stopping and looking down at the burnt picture of Ruby, smiling down at it before stabbing it with her sword, walking off with all four pictures embedded in her blade.