If you thought about it a certain way, ice cream was just frozen cereal. You had dry ingredients usually consisting of chocolate, grain, or something sweet(toppings) mixed into dairy(ice cream) that you ate with a spoon. It was just a difference of ratios and temperature.

…no, I couldn't make myself actually believe that, I was just coping with my lack of breakfast cereal. It wasn't like the ice cream shop that Neo had dragged me to served cereal, but I was hungry, so I had little choice but to give up on my normal choice of breakfast and settle for ice cream.

Though, if I was being honest, it was a pretty decent substitute. A bit less crunch to help me wake up, but the sweet creaminess of it was nice.

The shop itself was full, as it was the grand opening, but Neo and I sat across from each other at a small two person table. It would have been almost intimate if it weren't for the pile of ice cream bowls between us, a hallmark to how much she had already eaten. I had no idea how she could pack away so much ice cream in such a small body, but I was impressed.

I would have been upset, since I was paying for it all, but honestly the cost wasn't that much. Sure, for a normal middle class person it might have been something to balk at. But what was a couple hundred bucks, or rather the Lien equivalent, to me? I'd just do a smash and grab at a convenience store or something to make up for the loss if I really needed to.

Which I probably wouldn't. I had plenty of money for the little things, and any of the big things I wanted would need a lot more money than I had. Anything in between I could just steal. Money was nice, but Lien was kind of boring. I'd prefer gold, or something more interesting than colorful bits of plastic.

So I was mostly just amused as I watched her eat. Amused, but also planning. Like Yang, Neo was on my list to pick up eventually. Her and Roman, honestly. They were good thieves that worked well together, and I could use skills like that on my crew. Not to mention, Neo was sexy as hell, and I wanted to see if she would moan if I fucked her hard enough.

But it was too early to make a move on either of them. I didn't have the cash to hire them, the powerbase to really even partner with them, or anything that would give me an advantage over them. Maybe I could slap an armlet on Neo. Or maybe I'd try only to find myself trying to capture an illusion as Neo stabbed me in the back. It wasn't really worth the risk, especially when there were better, albeit slower, ways.

"I don't mind buying your ice cream, I did promise after all," I said, catching her attention. "But I know for a fact that you could illusion up some fake money to cover the costs if you wanted to. Why don't you do that?"

She raised an eyebrow at me before pointing her spoon at the stack of bowls and then using it to trace a downward spiral.

"You'd run them out of business?" I guessed. She nodded, which caused me to chuckle. "You know what? That's valid. Hard to get more ice cream if every ice cream shop goes under."

She nodded sagely and continued eating her current bowl of the stuff. So far I had seen her sample a bunch of different flavors, though she had gotten her namesake, Neapolitan, a few times. No other flavors had been repeated.

After a few moments, I continued, wanting more of a conversation with her. "So, as much as I appreciate you agreeing to the deal I made back there, I'm curious about why you did." She looked up at me, gaze curious. "I know you and Roman are tight, and I did fuck up one of your jobs the other night."

She shrugged before holding her fingers up, almost pinching them but leaving a gap between her forefinger and her thumb.

"It was too small to care about?" I asked. She nodded. "That explains why neither of you were there." She nodded again and raised two fingers. "You were stealing from another place at the same time?" Another nod. I leaned back in my chair, placing my mostly empty bowl of icecream down on the table. "Guess we got pretty lucky."

She smirked, obviously agreeing with me. She wagged her finger at me, as if chastising me, but it was in a joking manner. I smiled in amusement. "Don't worry, I won't do it again. I meant it when I said that I didn't want to antagonize you two. I'm hoping we can work together, as partners, in the future. Not at all like what you have with Cinder."

Neo actually froze at that, surprised by the knowledge that I shouldn't have. Her eyes darted up to mine, and in her eyes I could see the part of her she usually kept hidden. The cold and sharp steel that wouldn't hesitate to end your life if she deemed it beneficial to her.

It was a massive turn on for me.

I just kept smiling at her though, not backing down for an instant. "Oh yes, I know about her. I probably know more about her than the two of you do. I know who she works for, I know who works for her, and I know what she wants."

Neo didn't react beyond narrowing her eyes at me, but I could read the unspoken question in her gaze. 'What are you going to do with that information?'

My smile widened. "I also know that she's not exactly the most popular of people. I can't imagine you and Roman enjoy being her pawns. Because that's how she views you. You're disposable pieces she can use to further her goals while she stays in the shadows. There's no way you trust her, right?"

Neo considered me for a moment longer before slowly shaking her head. I could tell she was still a little wary of me, but she was interested in hearing me out.

Normally I wouldn't spill the beans on everything I knew so easily. After all, information was one of the most valuable things you could trade. But I was spending it wisely here. I could have probably spun some story or tried some angle to sway Neo to my side with lies, but all of that was unnecessary. It was much simpler to just give her what she wanted, and that was exactly what I intended to do.

I leaned forward, placing my elbows on the table. "What if I said I could take care of her for you?" I continued, voice almost a whisper. "I could free you, let you go back to your old days of just pulling whatever job you and Roman feel like doing. And all I would need from you would be a little cooperation at the right moment."

Her eyes flickered to my armlet. As a Contractor I was immune to all of the downsides of the armlet, but still had access to all of the positives. There weren't a lot of them, not when I had barely purchased any of the upgrades for it, but that would change in time, so I wore one anyway.

But the fact that she instantly looked at it confirmed something that I had suspected.

"So you do know," I said, causing her eyes to snap back to mine. I tapped the armlet on my upper arm. "You know what these do, at least roughly. You either heard, or you stuck around long enough to see us use it."

She nodded, still tense. I wondered if I was looking at her, or if she had already created an illusion and was hiding nearby, ready to strike if I tried something.

I leaned back, giving her some space. "Just to be clear, I'm not being controlled by anyone." I reached up and undid the clasp on the armlet, taking it off. She watched it warily. Now that it was off, it was a threat to her. So I put it back on as I continued explaining. "Instead, anyone who wears one is under my control, and they can't take theirs off. That's what I did to Junior and his girls, and it's what I want to do to Cinder, but I mean it when I say I don't plan on putting one on you or Roman." Not yet, at least.

She gave me a look of clear disbelief, and I shrugged, chuckling. "Of course, you're right, I have no way to prove that or to make you believe me. But I did tell you about it, and that's got to count for something, right?"

Her continued dirty look said otherwise. "Okay, okay, I guess there's no way for you to know I'm telling the truth either. But… you came here anyway, didn't you? You willingly approached me despite suspecting that was the case."

Her glare withered, and I thought that I almost saw a hint of a smile tug at her lips before she just shrugged, not committing to a response.

I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but I felt like I could continue our negotiations at least. "Let's make a deal. I need Cinder for my own purposes. Unfortunately, she doesn't like to come out to play. I'll need a way to get close to her, and a way to overpower her. I'm working on the latter, but I could use some help with the former. Help that would be low risk, high reward. Doesn't that sound like a good deal?"

Neo considered me for a moment, her spoon tapping on her empty ice cream bowl as our eyes locked. I waited patiently, not blinking as she tried to judge if I was trustworthy or not. I couldn't tell what she was thinking- I had a good grasp of her character but that didn't mean I could read her mind, especially when she was purposefully masking her body language and expression.

After several tense moments, she finally smiled and put down her ice cream and reached into a coat pocket to pull out her scroll, which she shook with a raised eyebrow.

"You want my scroll number?" I asked. I recited it for her and she tapped at her screen. A second later, my phone buzzed, and I checked it.

I'll have to talk with Roman, but I think we can work something out ;)

I grinned. "Now that's what I like to hear. I look forward to working with you." I held out my hand. She reached out and grabbed it, shaking my hand. I was pretty sure at that point that I was shaking hands with an illusion, considering the lack of hesitation, but I didn't begrudge her paranoia. Hell, I would have judged her if she hadn't taken precautions. It was nice to work with smart people.

I let go of her and then finished the last few, now mostly melted, bites of my ice cream. "Say, why don't we have a bit of a trial run in working together?" I asked. She looked at me, curious. "I'd have to run home real quick to grab my gear and outfit… but what do you say to a bit of robbery?"

Her answering smile was sharp and showed plenty of teeth.

I looked at the front entrance of the store, now boarded up and shut down. The letters on the sign above the door were faded and hard to read, but I could just barely make out the words 'Dust to Dust'.

You would think that there was no point in robbing a Dust store that had clearly long been shut down. If it hadn't been emptied when it went under, then it would have been picked clean by scavengers shortly after. But it wasn't abandoned anymore, despite how it looked. According to Neo's information, it was now acting as a White Fang base where they stored some of their stolen Dust to redistribute to local members.

It was one of many places that Neo and Roman had learned about in their work stealing Dust and transferring it to the White Fang at Cinder's behest. Information Neo had shared with me. There wasn't any love between them and the White Fang, apparently.

I looked closer at the front doors. They were boarded up and solidly locked. I could bust my way in, probably. But it would take time and be loud. Instead, I casually walked around the corner of the building, heading for the back of it, my nodachi held casually by my side.

I spotted a few faces peeking out from windows. I wasn't exactly in the nicest part of town, but it was the late afternoon, and there were plenty of people who could see me. I waved at the faces I could see in the windows and they closed their curtains, causing me to chuckle. I was sure they'd look again, from a different window that would be harder for me to see into. That was fine though.

I turned into an alley and made my way to the back of the Dust store, where there was an employees only entrance. I casually knocked on it, fingers rapping against a hollow metal frame, and then took a step back.

A few seconds later a muffled voice came through the door. "Password?" it asked.

"Open sesame," I replied.

"That's not-" the voice was cut off as my foot slammed into the door, which crumbled as it was ripped off of its hinges and plowed into the man behind it.

I heard voices cry out in alarm from inside the building. I grabbed the hilt of my nodachi and drew it, the rasp of steel music to my ears.

I had used my sheathed nodachi and Yoko had used rubber bullets against Xiong's men because I didn't want to kill mooks I planned on making mine.

But I didn't have such plans for the White Fang.

I stepped into the building and I'm immediately met with a White Fang gang member who had been rushing towards the door. His gun, a cheap machine pistol of some kind, was only half raised. I didn't give him a chance to raise it entirely as my blade swung up and slice clean through his neck.

He gurgled, gun dropping from his hands as he reached up to grasp at his throat. I stepped past him as his body crumpled to the ground. I found myself in some kind of back storage room, with shelves against the walls, and there were three more White Fang members inside of it, all similarly equipped, sitting around a table. Or rather, standing up around a table that they had been sitting at, moments before.

"You bastard!" one of them shouted, raising his gun. The other two raised their guns as well.

"Guilty as charged," I quipped before rushing forward, dodging the spray of gunfire that filled the space I had just evacuated. I still didn't have my Aura unlocked, so getting into a shootout was a bit risky, but I was just as strong and fast as a Huntsman so I was confident I could make do.

I dropped my sheath so I could grip the edge of the table and I flipped it over, throwing it at one of the thugs firing at me. I heard a snarl of rage and the heavy thud of bullets hitting it, but the table was solid enough to block them and knock the man over in the process.

I couldn't stop there though, as the other two were adjusting their aims. I had to keep moving and dodging their fire. But instead of rushing straight at them like an idiot, I dodged to the side, trying to line the two of them up so one of them couldn't fire without hitting their friend.

Unfortunately, they weren't dumb enough for that to work, as they stepped to the side whenever necessary to make sure they both had clear firing lines on me. Bullets riddled the walls as I zigged and zagged around the room, abusing my speed to prevent them from getting a bead on me.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance as I saw the man I knocked over with the table start to get to his feet, but the stalemate breaker I was waiting for finally came. The hail of bullets rushing at me finally came to a stop as their guns clicked, magazines empty.

I didn't give them a chance to regret it. As soon as I heard the click I rushed them. My sword swung in a humming arc that split the belly of the closest man. He staggered, but I ignored him as I turned my attention to the second one. I saw his gun shift, changing configuration, but it was too slow. I thrust, and my nodachi pierced his chest, right through his heart.

He cried out in pain, reaching up to grasp my sword. But I yanked it out of him before he could, and he crumpled to the ground.

The only one left was the one I had knocked over, and he had witnessed what I did to his friends. Bellowing in rage, he rushed me, his gun having shifted into a hand-ax of some kind. "I'll kill you!"

"I doubt that," I replied. I swung my sword to meet his wild and sloppy swing, my blade hitting his ax and knocking it away. Before he could bring it back up into a guard, I reversed my swing and traced a path straight through his neck.

His knees hit the floor first, followed shortly by his head, which had been separated from the rest of his body.

I paused then, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps, yells, more gunfire, or even sirens. But the building was silent, almost eerily so after all the gunfire and yelling.

I picked up my sheath and put my sword away before doing a walkthrough of the rest of the building. I didn't find anything of note save for the crates of Dust that I had been expecting in what used to be the shop floor.

I pulled out my scroll and texted Neo that it was all clear before picking up a crate and bringing it back to the storage room, ignoring the corpses in there. One by one, I carried the dozen crates to the storage room, next to a large shutter. When I heard the sound of a truck, I threw the shutter open.

Neo was there with a truck she had appropriated from somewhere, backing it into the loading dock of the store. A few minutes of hurried work later and the truck was loaded up with our haul. I ran up to the passenger seat and hopped in. "Alright, let's- are those illusionary stilts so you can reach the pedals?"

I looked at Neo's feet, which had blocks of wood tied to them that were placed against the pedals for the truck. Neo wasn't child sized, but she wasn't much taller than that and the truck was obviously made for people much larger than her.

She glared at me, and I looked away. "Nevermind, I didn't see or say anything. Let's just go."

She kept her glare up for a second longer before turning her attention forward as she shifted the truck into gear. She pulled away from the shop and a second later, and we pulled out onto the main roads, no one the wiser.

Roman Torchwick entered the hideout that he and Neo shared, their latest place to stay filled with their ill-gotten goods. He hung his hat on a coat rack near the front door before heading deeper. "Neo?" he called out. "You back yet? I've got news-" he stopped as he entered the main room, part living room, part dining room, and part planning room. Because in it he found Neo, lounging on a throne of crates.

Roman whistled as he approached. "I see you've been busy. Where did that come from?"

Neo pointed to the corkboard that had their current plans arranged on it. Specifically, she pointed at the document for the job that they had done a couple nights ago, when they had hit multiple Dust stores at once.

Roman tilted his head in confusion. "You hit one of the stores we hit that night? But-" She shook her head, cutting him off. Roman's brow furrowed, and then it clicked. "You don't mean you stole it from our mystery man, did you?"

Neo grinned smugly and nodded, and then shook her hand in a 'so-so' gesture. She sat up, pulling out her scroll and opening a text-to-speech app.

"I might have found a way out from under her thumb," she said.

"Oh?" Roman replied, a grin growing on his own face. "This I gotta hear."

Yoko stared at me and the six crates I had unloaded in the alley behind Prism's shop.

"How the hell did you go out for cereal and come back with crates of dust?!"

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AN: Negotiations with Neo went well, and Kamina finally gets some real bloodshed. After all, are you really a pirate if you don't partake in murderous pillaging? Sorry if the fight scene is a little meh, I'm still not confident in my fight scenes. I'm working on it, and this fic will hopefully help with that. Stakes help, but I couldn't realistically give this too much stakes.

I'm also kinda liking the short chapters, for this fic at least. I know I'm a little infamous for giant chapters, but the choppier and faster paced chapters have felt natural for what's happening in this one. No idea if that will hold though, I could easily shift back to long chapters once we get more into the thick of things.