"Now would you look at that, the prodigal daughter returns."
"Watts. How... nice to see you again." The man merely scoffed, and Cinder stayed her ground.
"We can cut the niceties here, we both know there's no sense in pretending."
"Very well." She crossed her arms, waiting for whatever the man had to say. It couldn't just be coincidence that he'd found her in this particular old shack. Just on the cuffs of Mantle, several run-down and abandoned homes lie amongst the area in an almost total disarray. Some however retained a sense of functionality, and so she'd taken the opportunity to rest, which was what lead to the man waking her almost the exact moment he stepped through the bit of rubble acting as an entrance, crunching the shattered glass beneath his shoes.
"You, of course, remember what you have to do?" He then took on a sly demeanor. "Or have the many days taken their toll?"
Cinder responded with an eye roll.
"I've already secured the strengths of one maiden, have I not?"
"Barely, and at this point, I'm beginning to suspect luck had more to do with it than any actual capability."
"Your suspicions are unwarranted, but I'd have a hard time changing your mind on that little theory, wouldn't I?"
"Yes, well, I suppose you'll have your chance to prove it soon enough." Watts reached for something in his coat. To her mild confusion, it was a small sealed document; curious that he'd hand it to her here, in a place susceptible to decay at every turn. Nevertheless, Cinder took it from him, her arm stretching out into a pitch black tendril of boney malice. The claws graced the sealed folder delicately, and soon enough it sat before her eyes. As her arm returned to its regular human state, she noticed how there wasn't a label anywhere to be seen.
"I see you're not a fan of using your legs." Watts sighed with a mild shake of his head. "But I suppose it is a good sign. You seem to be growing used to your abilities."
"I have many natural talents, and have mastered all of them long ago; the more unnatural abilities only take a few hours to adjust to. However, unlike you, I've had the unfortunate displeasure of having to travel everywhere on foot; I do believe this is apt justification for a mild rest."
"Yes, well, don't let yourself fall into the same pits as the Atlesian dogs up in their kennel."
"Oh, don't fret, I won't. You're here after all." She allowed a content smile to cross her face, holding with it her casual display of ego. "How much longer then, before we move on to the next stage?"
"The mistress wishes for us to sow the seeds of doubt beforehand; to send Atlas and Mantle into a frenzy from within. Naturally, this means I have my work cut out for me, however, this also means I'll need you as well."
"Hmm~ Poor little Watts needs me?" His scowl was invigorating; she did so love to push the cocky scientist's buttons.
"Chaos has always been the perfect torch to any structure, however outward chaos will only allow Atlas a chance to rush forth in defense; quelling the doubts and tensions between both halves of their power. In basic terms, this means we need to keep public tensions high, and ensure Atlas has no opportunity to raise their reputation from the dirt."
"I see, so essentially-" Cinder let the swell of amusement in her gut rise to cover her face in a wicked grin. "Half our work is already done."
"Yes." Watts retained his professional stature, but she could see the flickers of joy hidden beneath the timber. "With the election on the horizon, the people are already bickering between themselves, and with Atlas deviating most of their resources away from Mantle, the city below is beginning to feel abandoned; they're not happy with the treatment."
"But if something were to happen to Mantle." Cinder started, her smile falling into a plain focus. "And Atlas were forced to act in defence, it would destroy that distrust. They'll realize they haven't been completely forgotten."
"Precisely, hence why we can't cause too much collateral damage. Atlas believes Mantle is safe, and are willing to deafen their ears to the cries of its people over what are perceived superficial issues. With this attitude retained, and even strengthened, the dread and hatred will be multiplied to critical levels the very moment I enact my own ploy." Watts let his smirk show, not bothering to hide his self-assured pride. "And with Atlas's reputation among the minds of the people-"
"The blame will fall to them."
"Yes. Once again, it will be seen as another moment where Atlas steals from them."
"And the riots will draw in the Grimm." Cinder, despite hating the man for his arrogance, couldn't help but smirk along with him. "But the tundra has killed off all but the sturdy, and with such a routine and predictable lot, they'll believe their usual defences sufficient."
"At which point the mistress makes her move." Watts finished, and Cinder offered a light hum.
"Credit where it's due, you've thought this through." She paused a minute, challenging him next with a question. "But what if, on the off chance, Atlas were to change their attitude? You said they're diverting resources, but to what?"
"I've yet to discern that little detail, which while unfortunate, doesn't appear to be an issue as of yet. From what I've gathered so far during the election drama, whatever Atlas is planning, has next to nothing to do with the debates themselves." His eyes grew lazy, almost amusingly so. "James is fighting to keep both his seats, Jacques is trying to steal one for the sake of bending the embargo and allow the S.D.C. the opportunity to continue outward shipments of Dust to other kingdoms, and Robyn is trying to steal that same seat, not only to fight against the embargo and restore focus to Mantle, but also to keep Jacques from obtaining any more power."
"I take it Robyn has a bone to pick with our dear Mr. Schnee."
"She was one of the few Humans who grew up with the SDC, and from what I assume, she may be disgusted by what Jacques did to it when he took control. The woman is, much to the jealousy of many, older than she appears."
"A three-way battle, interesting."
"Don't get too excited yet." Watts warned, with his tone taking on a darker twist. "Atlas has been in a bit of a rough patch for the past day, and I just so happened to come across why only a few hours ago. Their security is still top notch, but seeing as I wrote the base code for said systems, it was expectedly simple to crack."
"As you tend to re-iterate time and time again." Cinder raised a brow. "Just spit it out already."
"Still no appreciation for the finer things. No matter, what's important is their newest 'import' has recently failed to arrive at his scheduled destination. An individual dubbed 'Black-Heart' according to their internal records."
Cinder only knew one person infamous enough that he'd have a codename tied to him like that.
"V..."
"It seems you're familiar with Mr. Rose."
"And so are you; why is that?" Cinder didn't recall giving away any information, and the sudden interest in the man was... concerning.
"I suppose you wouldn't know, so I'll inform you. Proceeding your unfortunate failure at Haven, Salem saw fit to speak of the man. It wasn't much, but she seems certain he'll find his way to her soon enough. She talked of how he needs to go somewhere, to do... something, and how nothing will prevent him from doing so."
"Has she given any specifics regarding him?" Vermillion was dangerous, she knew that now, but with Salem's veiled warnings before, Cinder had believed them a little over-reaching. Clearly, that misconception was dashed with not only the man's resurrection, but his apparent evolution.
He was not the same man she remembered executing atop the CCT, both in body, and mind.
"No, however I have noticed something interesting. You recall the sealed room back at the castle, yes?"
"The large black door... the one with the orbs around it, holding the fires?"
"Yes." His expression grew inquisitive. "Recently, the dull flames seem to have been bolstered. I'm not quite sure why, but I've noticed how every now and them over the months starting back before your escapades in the late Beacon, one of the fires would be burning stronger than the others, and as if by random chance, others would spark to life with seemingly no rhyme or reason. At this point, only one remains weak. Now, this may simply be speculation, but if we were to assume this had some correlation with our mistress' newest interest, would that then mean she knows he is responsible somehow, and is using him to cause this effect?"
Cinder shivered internally; that door was... something else. Never once had she felt so disturbed as when walking past that thing. It was so bad that sometimes, on the rare occasion Tyrian managed to upset her enough, Salem would use it as a punishment. She'd order the maniac to sit by the door for however long she deemed. Tyrian was a psycho, and there hadn't been anything outside of the castle which had ever scared him, so to see him quivering next to the door had been enough to prove their fears reasonable. Salem herself was the only one not horrified by the thing, and sometimes, she'd take a moment to admire it longingly, for reasons none of them ever knew.
And now it was changing.
"The obvious assumption." Cinder began again, putting her mind back on track. "Would be that once all the fires are boosted, the room will be open."
"Perhaps." Watts said cautiously. "But what lies beyond that retched thing? What secrets are so important that the mistress would use a new pawn to open it?"
"If it opens." Cinder corrected with a huff. "We don't even know if that's what will happen. For all we know, the fires might have some different purpose."
"Yes, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see."
Cinder nodded, and the man straightened himself once more.
"Well then, I've taken care of my chore, so I must be off."
Cinder said nothing as he walked away, instead her eyes trailed to the sealed document in her hands. She broke it open, and started to sift through what appeared to be a series of Atlas military reports. On their own they wouldn't have been all that interesting, but at the bottom her eyes caught sight of something swell, and most likely the reason Watts gave it to her in the first place.
A status update on the Winter Maiden.
.
.
"I love you guys, I really do." Roman held up his cuffed hands, with nothing but the smoking remnants of the storage warehouse of Curt's Commodities simmering just below the airship as it took off. "Always showing up at the best of times."
"I wouldn't say anything, Torchwick." Clover, probably the only person Roman could tolerate amongst the less than inconspicuous crew. The other Ace Ops were a little too rambunctious for his tastes, but with their leader willing to ask first and shoot later, the master thief wasn't so on edge. "Both the general and specialist won't like this."
"Since when has old iron-britches had the time to complain about my antics." Roman plopped his back against the side of the ship again as he made himself comfortable in his seat on the bench. "Doesn't he have an election to rig?"
"The general won't be 'rigging' anything." Clover clarified with a reserved breath. "He's more focused on other things. Now then, would you like to explain why we have a charred pile of ash where a not too popular grocery store kept its stock?"
"Right on the money, eh?" Roman chuckled, spitting up a smirk as he rolled his eyes. "Well then, let's just say I had a bit more trouble commencing my business than usual..."
.
.
Roman wasn't so sure what he was expecting, but seeing that sleazy coot Curt have them 'escorted' from his office wasn't on the list.
"You heard the man, try anything again and it's the authorities next time." Roman stared carelessly as the bodyguard slammed the door shut in their face, with the kid next to him being just as docile as before. Really, Roman expected the confrontation with Curt to at least stir some sort of reaction from V, but like before he merely watched without a care in the world. It didn't matter really, as that meeting had been a mystery in and of itself.
Oh sure, the gentleman thief employed his usual bag of tricks against their attempted victim, including a brief teasing that he had evidence of the man's more... shall it be said 'concerning' deals and business practices. Strangely enough, the usually cowardly guy was impressively stark in a sense, with his expression showing nothing but cold apathy to all the demands thrown at him; said demands being a steady payment plan which would reward Roman himself with a hefty sum on a regular basis. The shop owner had, much to Roman's 'in the moment' surprise, essentially told them to scram, and had one of the bodyguards outside his office lead them out, which left them now just out back, behind the slightly larger than normal grocery market.
Now ain't that a kicker.
This was interesting for several reasons, one of said reasons being that Curt wasn't as much of a bumbling moron than most other business owners in Mantle. Maybe Atlas itself had better quality, but in Roman's own humble opinion - as well as being based on his career in Vale - the dregs of the generally less tolerant kingdom were some of the easiest pushovers he'd had the pleasure of strapping for cash. Many seemed to barely be able to keep their businesses afloat even before Roman arrived to collect his fair due - this information was earned mostly from rumor though, so it had to be taken with a pinch of salt.
"Now I'll be. Say, did you grab anything useful while he was busy pretending to be a big boy?"
The space next to him appeared to shift, and if it were being looked at by anyone outside of the know, it would seem as if the man summoned a little sister from thin air, at least based on her state of dress anyway. The woman, miss Neo as it were, smiled innocently as she handed the gray folder up to the man, all the while offering a look to the dreadful guy positioned at Roman's other side. She seemed worried, but who would know really, as her expression seemed to shift between relaxed at best, and curious at worst.
Ignoring Neo's observation of the boy, Roman began to read through the papers hidden within the folder, feeling a small understanding bloat his mind.
Curt you sneaky little rascal. Who do you think you are to make a deal like this? Knowing the general ignorance worn by the other shop keepers of Mantle, Roman had a pretty good suspicion that Curt had no idea what this type of deal truly meant in the criminal world. Wonderful, now I have to protect you, and after you were just so rude to me as well.
Despite the minor setback of Curt's sudden development of a spleen, Roman wasn't going to just let the man die, not when he had profits to offer his 'soon-to-be' savior. Flipping out his signature cigar and lighting it, the often infamous master crook sighed, tossing his attention to both Neo and the kid, the former of which bore a slightly determined need to provoke some sort of response from V; she wasn't getting much of anything though, just leading his eyes around with what looked to be an eraser, which she possibly stole from Curt as well.
"Alright, playtime's over." With that he drew their eyes, with one pair hiding excitement, and the other a steady nothing; V's moodiness was beginning to grow irritating honestly. Neo, in turn, slipped the eraser into one of the pockets in her blazer, seemingly now ready for action. "Now then, it seems Curt has been making some promises to a few grown-ups in exchange for what they call 'protection'. As you know, this is fruitless for him, as we are simply here to get what we're rightfully owed as business partners. Raise of hand if you've heard of the Merry Few Men."
Not a single hand shot up, but seeing as there were only two, Roman wasn't all that disappointed. He never really expected Neo to know either, considering they were an Atlas exclusive. He himself only heard about the group a few days after joining Robyn's crew. Unlike other major criminal organizations, these lot were fairly new, but seeing as Atlas had been tight with its security before now, there was never really a good chance to open up such a business here; not if you weren't already of the upper class anyway.
According to Robyn, the group liked to claim they stood up for the little guys, when in fact they were just a simpleton group of like, six or so thugs with some stolen firepower. Roman then, as many reasonable people would have done in his situation, asked the woman why she hadn't done anything about them yet. Her excuse was shockingly sound, and that wasn't something he expected from a woman who acted entirely on her gut rather than her brain.
Their group was weak, and pitiful, and downright cowardly, but the weapon they'd stolen was a dangerous one. An aura enhancer: prototyped right here in Atlas. It was supposedly lost when one of the many military's transport ships had an engine malfunction somewhere off the edge of Mantle, and somehow, those goons got a hold of a huge portion of the goods and fled. The pilots and crew were incapacitated in a sense, if you count being buried in both snow and flaming metal as incapacitation, and were unable to even get a glance at the thieves. The details were all in the report Robyn's crew 'borrowed' from the Atlas drives of a few stolen transport trucks; something the general would no doubt ask about at some point.
But the aura enhancer, that was something never mentioned in the briefing.
In a sense, Roman had a bargaining chip, even if it was only a small one. He'd get the chance to protect Curt, and perhaps even charge double to 'forget' the details he borrowed from the man, in exchange for an extra increase in the regular payments; making deals with criminals was illegal after all, and Curt could lose everything if word got out. The general would for certain order him and several others to track down the Merry Few, so there wasn't any real rush just yet.
Roman decided to place his bets there, and spoke again.
"Well, to put it bluntly, they're a group of peons who think they have what it takes to play with the big leagues just because they got their hands on a polished bat. Unfortunately for them, as you know, we don't exactly play fair, and so we'll be dealing with them soon enough." Roman let a cocky smirk cover his face, elevating his voice just a bit to make sure that Robyn's hidden plant could hear it all clearly; without once breaking his usual mannerisms. The woman definitely had a spy listening in on them. Neo confirmed this earlier with some hidden signals, and so he needed to get rid of this little voyeur, as well as draw in Atlas's finest to make their move; albeit not in the way they requested. "However we have another task at hand. Our buddy Curt has made the dreadfully poor decision to deny us what we're owed, and now, we need to rectify that decision. Come now my little pale friend, we've got a storage shack to burn."
.
.
"So wait." It wasn't Clover who asked this, but the quickster woman at the guy's side; the one next to V, who of which continued bobbing with the movements of the ship. still no better than a doll. "You thought burning down a storage warehouse full of produce was a good message to draw us in?"
"Well it worked, didn't it?" Roman smiled with a tilt of his head, waving his cuffed hands towards them. The woman at his side answered instead; rather sporadic with her words too, as she shot up quickly.
"That's besides the point! You can't-" The tan woman was stopped by Clover, who held his arm before her
"Harriet, that's enough."
"But Clover-" She was stopped again when he sent her a look. The girl grumbled before sitting back down, wearing a small seemingly permanent scowl.
Clover looked tired, but then again that was to be expected. Roman made sure to put up a good fight, even though the pale paperweight with him chose to just stare them down. V never fought, he just watched in his recently disturbing way. Kid was practically a rock at this point. He at least followed Roman onto the airship, not once reacting to the cuffs slapped on him. Freakishly enough, Roman could have swore the air eased up once the kid was restrained, and then, as he was hauled aboard the ship in restraints, his eyes seemed a little less foggy.
"What happened next?" Clover crossed his arms, and while his face was tired, there was something more there.
"Well, that's when my little ice-cream cone discovered there was something more to her extra little find."
.
.
"Sheesh." Roman let out a whistle as he walked in with the two. Crates, more crates, shelves, and even a few trucks were lined up with their containers open to reveal more product. "And Curt's one of the poor suckers."
Poor in a sense that he didn't bring in as much profit as the other chains operating in Mantle, but that was hardly a point of concern now. Seeing so much food, preserved by the cold of Mantle alone, reminded Roman to love the thermal undergarments he purchased upon his arrival in Atlas, and he supposed the Fire Dust woven into his suit deserved some credit too, but they weren't so comfy as the previously mentioned article of clothing.
"Okay, spread out children. I want a thorough list of the most burnable materials in this warehouse." He stopped and checked his scroll. "In a half-hour or so, our buddies will be flying over, and we want a smoke trail grand enough that they can't ignore it."
Roman watched as Neo offered a wink before vanishing, and V... he just sort of idled about, wandering around somewhat to at least do something it seemed. Biting back his annoyance, Roman opted to begin his own search in the office. Realistically speaking, it was probably located on the top floor, as that seemed to be the trend with most of these Atlas lockers. His assumption was proven right, as on the top floor and tucked away in the back corner of the grate walkway was a room; the office specifically.
Stepping inside, Roman was partially startled by the sudden and quick series of loud beeps. His first instinct was to ready himself, under the belief he'd wandered into a trap, but after a solid two minutes he let himself breath again.
Now what on Remnant was that? Sudden alarms were a sign you messed up, but usually they were immediately followed up with trouble. Nothing came for Roman, and so he decided to leave and check on the other two, on the offshoot that the reaction to his entry triggered something on the ground floor.
The beeps blared out again.
This time Roman stopped, and waited, and once more he was greeted with a fat load of nothing. He turned back to the door, and stepped through. It beeped, and he walked out again, and on que it beeped. Roman reached his arm in, and nothing happened. Roman put his leg in, and nothing happened. Roman fully stepped through, and it beeped. Curiously, the man was starting to foster a hypothesis. He took off his cap, and pushed it beyond the boundary of the door, out into the hall, and as expected nothing happened. Next, he stuck his cane through, and low and behold there was that pair of beeps again.
Curt, you paranoid old nut.
What separated his cane from the rest of him you might ask, well, it consisted of a metal common in most hunter weapons; considering it was his own personal firearm, this wasn't a surprize. His own clothes had bits of metal-like bits as well, but they were actually just colored plastic; he didn't wear his good suits on field jobs. Curt appeared to have installed a sort of security system in his office; clever, if a bit poorly placed.
If such security existed back at the man's shop this wouldn't have raised any eyebrows, but the fact it existed only here showed he was hiding something; either that, or he had more faith in the danger of warehouse workers as opposed to shop employees. Roman clasped his hands together, rubbing them in a fashion similar to a Saturday morning cartoon supervillain - his personal favorite as a lad - and walked back out.
"Kids!" He called over the railing, looking down to the main floor from the overlook. Neo popped herself out from some between one of the isles, with V apparently being lead along like a pet puppy - she would be the one to try and keep a freak of nature like that. "Come on up, I've found something interesting I think you might like to see!"
Okay, so that was mostly a lie, but he needed both of them looking if Curt had any sense at all. Whatever was hidden here must have been important if it got its own personal place in the office, and Roman wasn't about to waste time when he knew where the interesting things were; this was why he always searched the office personally, because it felt nice to brag to the goons later when he found things.
Neo reacted the way he expected upon entry, merely tilting her head as if she'd seen something strange. Roman was certain the smirk he wore kind of spoiled a part of the surprise for her, but seeing any form of reaction was funny enough anyway. V made no motions, save for a glazed look around himself, and at this point Roman was convinced he was ordering around a vegetable. It didn't matter; they had work to do. Roman smirked, spinning on his heel as be began his grand order.
"Now children, remember this: what we're looking for could be hidden anywhere, so be vigilant, be ruthless, be absolutely perfect in your delving's towards discovery! Leave no paper unturned, nor any shelves unopened. Whatever he's hiding, we want it!"
Roman shot back, and was greeted with Neo poking the eraser into V's cheek again, all the while the man stared blankly at it, with no other apparent emotions, beyond 'being a bitch' anyway. The master crook was more than a little fed up by this point.
"Please, can we cut the crap already and just do our thing?" Roman whined, and Neo pouted, rolling her eyes as she faced the front, she flung the eraser in her hand behind her carelessly, having finally decided the time for games was over.
The beeps rang out again.
Everyone - including V, albeit fairly mellowed - looked out the door, where the little eraser sat innocently on the metal flooring. Neo, having noticed it first, popped out onto the platform and picked it up again. She reached it through the door, where the beeps echoed out. She held it up from outside, and smiled cheerfully as Roman slumped from inside.
Great, now she's going to double down. Roman knew his partner would now feel entitled to whatever silly antics she desired, but even so, he couldn't quite deny her this one.
"Ha ha." He spat, tapping his shoes on the floor. "You've made your point, so show me what you've got.
Neo wore a satisfied face, stepping back inside as she gripped the eraser by both ends. She pulled, and it split in half, with a single port open on one end, while the other side extruded. A storage drive; honestly, Roman wasn't sure what else he expected. It made sense, it was conspicuous, and for damn certain it was probably important.
Whatever wonderings they had towards the thing were dashed as a small beeping rang out again, and Roman pulled out his scroll.
"Drat." Roman offered a long winded sigh, and waved his hands. "Kick it into turbo everyone; five minutes and we torch the place."
.
.
"And we kept that promise." Roman spoke wisely, only for Clover to somewhat fumble his words trying to think.
"Promise? You burned down a warehouse on a whim; there was no promise."
"It was a promise to myself."
"But what about the secret in his office?" Clover questioned, only for Roman to grin.
"Neo."
The woman appeared by his side, and somewhat startled all but Clover. Nobody made any moves either way, and Clover nodded to the woman. Neo seemed to accept the nod with some form of approval, and slipped the small eraser from inside her coat; well, slip was putting it appropriately, in reality she pulled it from the small of her chest in an overly flirtatious fashion. The woman most likely did this to get a reaction, but Clover didn't seem to care; with his reaction being so non-existent that Roman assumed he'd seen this trick too many times before.
The youthful mini-assassin pouted, but continued to hold out the goods to Clover anyways, at which point Roman elaborated.
"We didn't find squat in the office. Heck, if I had to guess, old Curt was just scared of somebody getting pissed on the floor below and trying to take him out; warehouse workers are more liable to violence than the average shopper, at least, they are if you don't look at the numbers. However, that eraser is a hard-drive, and as we know, the more inconspicuous, the dirtier the secret."
"Alright then." Clover slid the hidden drive into his chest pocket, and crossed his arms. "But tell me, Roman, do you really think whatever's on here is useful for us."
"Not a chance." At least nobody could claim he wasn't honest sometimes. "But it just so happens that Curt is connected to a gang that's been bothering Mantle, and not to mention the one's responsible for stealing some of your tech. If we were to, oh I don't know, cripple them a little, wouldn't that get Robyn and her posse looking at you with a little less scorn? Not only that, but we also get the chance to steal back some stolen goods; you kids like that, right?"
"That might help us gain an edge." Clover shut his eyes, seemingly looking over the possibilities. "Not to mention we'll be recovering the aura enhancer for Penny."
"Oh?" Roman threw in, smelling a chance to tip this 'maybe' into a 'certainly'. "So the aura enhancer is for the robot girl?"
"Her name is Penny, so please refer to her as such." Clover crossed his arms, still in thought, but now a little less shut off from the world. "But yes."
"Care to tell?"
"And why should I?"
"Because we're friends?"
"No we aren't."
"Then because it'll determine how hard I should focus on finding info on this case." Roman smiled as Clover's face cracked with impatience. If Roman himself was going to be returning some stolen goods, then he needed ample reason to do so. "If it's not an important thing, then why would I put my attention on finding it?"
"Because you've been ordered to."
"My orders are to remain as a backdoor into Robyn's little gang of wannabe heroes, nothing more, and nothing less." Roman offered a shrug, which segwayed into a wide smile. "But~ I can be persuaded if I know how it'll effect me."
Clover stilled for a bit, and Roman tried one last tactic.
"After all, I have always been a survivor, and if my allies were to become the only reasonable source of power, than of course I'd need to stick around~"
"He's just pressing us for info." Harriet blared from the side. "Don't dignify him with a response. We don't have to tell him anything."
"No, we don't." Clover uncrossed his arms, with a face that stated he'd made up his mind. "But we will."
"Come now, I'm no- wait, really?" That wasn't supposed to happen. They were supposed to do a little back and forth, wearing each other down, and then he'd offer his winning card, and bring the argument to a close. Instead, Clover just nodded.
"Fortune smiles on you Roman, thanks to what's happening when we get to Atlas, we don't need to keep too many secrets anymore."
"Right... I see." Roman really didn't like what that implied, but he never got to dwell on it as Clover begun his explanation.
"The aura enhancer, as the name states, enhances someone's aura; specifically their semblance. It can enhance the power output of whatever the individual possesses, or in some cases, increase the length of time the user's semblance remains active. For Penny however, this is not only a boost to her semblance, but the enhancer itself acts as a sort of update to her systems. It was designed to work perfectly with her systems, containing the newest firmware developed by our top scientists, with each adding their unique flair; an allowed deviance approved by both the general, and Penny's father."
"So the girl gets more of a boost than anyone else, am I hearing that right?" Roman asked, despite knowing the answer already, and Clover nodded.
"That's right. What I know for sure however is that her sensors have been given an ample enhancement to take advantage of the newest hardware designed and installed manually by her father."
"Dr. Polendina, yes... I've heard stories." Roman heard the man was a little eccentric, but he hadn't met the guy, so he decided to put a pause on any presumptions for the time being.
"A little quirky and a bit too caring, depending on who you ask, but ultimately one of the brightest of Atlas. I'm sure you'll meet with him soon enough, especially after all this."
"And just what is 'all this'?"
"You'll see." Clover said with a smirk, and Roman shot a blank glare his way.
"I see you're having fun with this."
"I'm simply following orders."
"Of course you are." Roman dropped it there, deciding his time was better spent planning a route of escape should things turn sour.
Author's note
...
A little late in the day, yes, but I've been busy this week, so there's that excuse.
Cinder's back, and living in a trash heap; I'm sure somebody's happy about that. She didn't get much of a scene so far, but fortunately - or unfortunately - she'll be more active in the chapters to come, or so I say.
Roman's having his little adventure, and Neo's doing her best to power on V again, or failing to. We have a small side adventure to come, with new villains to throw away after like, three or so events; that's the pattern right, three events and a boss fight?
Whatever, I'll see you all later, but keep in mind; you might not like what comes next.