Ryujin Industries corporate colors were red and black, something he picked up from his time around Zeffre, as well as having a brain and basic observational skills. This was reflected in the lobby of Ryujin Tower, where the walls were painted a vibrant, but not too vibrant, red, the floor a polished black.

Above the main pathway leading to the elevator was a stone sculpture of a dragon hanging from the ceiling; Ryujin's corporate logo proudly displayed above the elevator.

To his right was a reception area, and to his left was a small display area for white plastic rifles he had never seen before.

This was a lobby designed to take in foot traffic from the public, and yet, beyond the two guards at the entrance, it was devoid of life.

'Where is everybody?' Roman thought as he looked around the lobby.

There was a flash of white light directly underneath the dragon sculpture.

The moment Zeffre and Roman made eye contact she began laughing.

With calm, measured, steps, Roman walked over to her with Neo and Saffre.

"Do you want to share what is so funny with the rest of us?" he asked.

"I… god damn…," she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand to suppress her laughter, "I left you three alone for, like, three hours, and you come back covered in blood and she," she pointed at Neo.

Neo waved back.

"is wearing a Strikers hoodie."

She laughed a bit more. "Roman, you haven't even been in this universe for a full 24 hours and you already have a body count. Honestly, I'm impressed."

Roman gave her a sly smirk, resting his still bloody cane against his shoulder. "I felt it was important for me to introduce myself to the people of this fine city."

Zeffre looked at Saffre, "I like him."

"Anyway, take this," she said, tossing him a black card. "That'll tell the elevator where to go. I'll go and let Genie know you three are here," she said, giving him a two fingered salute before vanishing in a flash of white light.

Yawning, Roman led them over towards the elevator as he inspected the card. It was metallic, fitting comfortably in the palm of his hand, devoid of any features. It had a matte black finish with a red trim around its border.

"Interesting how she didn't just give us a floor number," he muttered, taking another look around.

Saffre was also looking around, her rifle drawn and at rest as she took in their surroundings.

Neo was fiddling with her Solstace, a casual smile on her face as she aimlessly inspected its features, occasionally taking glances around the lobby.

The two of them had also caught onto how something was off.

Without a word Roman led the trio into the elevator.

Hitting the button to close the door, Roman wasn't ready to go up just yet. "Saffre, what do you make of this?" He asked, handing over the card to her.

Saffre held the card between two fingers, flipped it once, and then handed it back to him. "Ryujin Tower has a few 'unofficial' floors that can't be accessed normally… Imogene is being extremely cautious."

Roman tapped a finger against his cane. 'What's with all the cloak and dagger?'

The two security guards hadn't glanced at their group, even though Saffre was clearly armed.

Yawning again Roman scowled at himself. He hadn't slept since he got here, and he needed to be sharp fo—

White motes of light filled the elevator and Roman felt immediately better. Blinking, he gave himself a shake. He felt as if he had just woken up from an amazing night's rest.

Looking back, he found Neo was looking curiously at Saffre, who was looking down at the ground blushing. "You… you two looked tired and I… um…" she gripped her lightly stained coat tightly, "…sorry."

"Okay, you know what? Let's do this here," Roman said. He needed to fix this now. "Saffre stand across from me and go on one knee," he ordered as he moved to stand on the opposite side of the cramped elevator.

He probably could've chosen a better location for this, but whatever.

Roman rested Melodic Cudgel against Saffre's left shoulder. "I, Roman Torchwick, by the powers invested in me by myself, do hereby declare that you, Saffre, are able to make some independent decisions, and furthermore, do not need to constantly apologize to me for everything." He declared in the cramped elevator.

"As long as what you do isn't against my interest," he added, pulling his cane back as the specks of starlight began to fade away.

Blue eyes wide in shock, Saffre slowly stood, staring at him.

'She probably doesn't know what to do now,' he thought, tapping the card against the elevator's controls.

Roman shrugged. 'She'll figure it out.'

They had left her alone in the elevator.

Eyes wide, Saffre stood perfectly still. She didn't know what to do. Her left hand was glowing white; she was slowing time down to give herself more time to think.

Did he want her to follow him? Was she meant to stay in the elevator? Normally she would just follow him, but after his announcement she wasn't sure anymore.

Saffre had been standing in the elevator for only twenty seconds, but with her powers it was more like twenty minutes. She couldn't hold this for much longer.

The realization that she had almost exhausted herself thinking about what to do next made her want to throw up. What if they were attacked later? She wouldn't be as effective… What if one of them died because of her? They would have died because of her.

She could feel her heart be faster at the thought.

Biting the bottom of her lip, Saffre tasted blood. She really wished Neo had told her what to do. Instead, Neo had just walked out of the elevator. She hadn't even looked at her!

Saffre scowled at the thought. Neo knew, Knew!, that Saffre didn't like making decisions! And now, in a moment when she needs her the most, Neo just left her!

If they were going to insist she make decisions then fine. Why should she care about what happens to them anyway? There are infinite variations of Neo out there; so what if—

Saffre quickly grabbed her left arm and burned herself.

Letting out a quiet gasp, Saffre took a step back at her thoughts. 'Please don't think like that…'

She knew where those thoughts would inevitably lead. 'I am not her,' Saffre told herself, her internal voice meek.

Saffre wished she could believe the lie. If only for just a moment.

Removing her hand, Saffre saw that she had burned directly through her coat's sleeve and blouse, the skin underneath still a faded red from the burn. She had burnt through her gift from Roman…

At that moment, all Saffre wanted was to not be alone.

She didn't know what to do. She—

The elevator began moving.

With a yelp Saffre teleported off the elevator, time began flowing normally again.

Saffre closed her eyes tightly, heart racing in her chest.

Had she made the right decision? What if she made the wrong decision? What if she was supposed to wait?

Saffre's breathing became faster.

She needed more time. She—

Somebody was hugging her?

Blinking, Saffre refocused on her surroundings. More importantly, she focused on the girl with brown and pink eyes that was currently grinning at her.

Neo had been waiting for her?

Saffre desperately hugged Neo back tightly, her own breath steadying at the embrace.

'I made the right decision.'

Looking around, Neo took in the minimalistic room. The walls were a deep auburn, furniture, a long table with accompanying chairs, ashy black, the tiled floor a polished onyx.

The room was surprisingly cozy.

No windows though…

There was a second elevator at the other end of the long room.

It was interesting how the elevators led out right into this room…

Shrugging, Neo turned and gave Saffre a grin, who readily returned with a small smile of her own. Grabbing Saffre hand Neo led the two of them over to the table, taking a seat next to each other.

Saffre scooted her chair over and rested her head on Neo's shoulder.

Neo gave her an amused look. 'Is she tired?'

Roman took a seat next to Neo, resting his cane on the table. "Could the two of you at least try to look a little threatening?" he asked.

'He's probably grouchy because he ran out of cigars,' Neo thought, giving him a smirk.

Saffre simply looked past Neo and blinked at him, placing her black, boxy, machine gun on the table.

Sighing, Roman rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Right. Dumb question."

The other elevator dinged.

Slumping in his seat Roman let out an exaggerated yawn, being conscious of not making it too exaggerated. Just… enough to hopefully sell that he was tired.

Resting his elbow on the table, Roman quietly waited for the woman to take a seat. He had made it a point to place his cane on the table, the now dried blood flaking off onto the polished ashen gray table.

Her outfit was strange to him. It was a sort of meld between a robe and a suit, predominantly black with red sleeves and a white undershirt. The cloth over the chest was folded over, revealing that the interior of the suit was white.

Eyes half-lidded, steps lethargic, the woman had short black hair and an attractive face.

She looked bored.

It was almost convincing enough for Roman to overlook the sharpness in her eyes.

Almost.

It was a good B+ effort though.

The woman took the seat directly across from Roman, Zeffre taking the seat on her right.

Zeffre gave Roman a grin and a wave.

"My name is Roman Torchwick," Roman said, yawning before he gave her a tired but charming smile. "A pleasure to meet you miss…"

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Imogene Salzo," she said before giving him a smirk back. "Roman, you do know you don't need to fake being tired right?"

'Welp. There goes that plan.'

Sitting up straight in his chair Roman smirked. "Was I that obvious?"

"Not really, you wouldn't make a half-decent operator. It's just that I had a detailed psychological evaluation done on you before you got here," she said. "By the way, thanks for taking your little stroll through Ebbside. Gave our analyst some more data to work with."

Roman let out a quiet chuckle. "Didn't know I was important enough to warrant such attention."

"You are. Besides don't forget everything Saffre can do, Zeffre can also do," Imogene said, gesturing over to a smug looking Zeffre.

Reclining back in his seat, Roman casually rested his right arm on the armrest of the chair to support his head. From this position it should only take him two seconds to draw his pistol.

Only if he needed to, of course. He was a gentleman after all.

"While I agree with you that I'm important, usually that is something others need time to learn," Roman said.

Imogene propped her head up against her arm. "While I have no doubt you are impressive in your own right, it is more because of her," she pointed at Saffre, who was currently sleeping against Neo's shoulder. "that makes you far more important than you might know."

Roman struggled to keep his confidence up at seeing Saffre and Neo resting beside him. They were being the exact opposite of intimidating right now! And he knew Neo wasn't sleeping.

Zeffre banged the table, staring at Imogene with a pleading look.

"What's wrong with Blue?"

Imogene rolled her eyes. "Zeffre here isn't normally allowed to talk in meetings anymore, because someone," she looked directly at Zeffre, "has a smart mouth."

Zeffre clasped her hand together, giving Imogene a pleading look.

"Do you promise to behave?" Imogene asked.

Zeffre vigorously nodded her head yes.

"Fine, you can talk.", Imogene said carefully.

Zeffre let out a loud, exaggerated gasp for air.

"That is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire god damn life," she declared, pointing at the sleeping duo besides Roman.

"Agreed," Imogene said solemnly, giving a nod of approval at her declaration.

At that moment Roman Torchwick did not groan out of frustration at his companions. He would never do something so revealing in a negotiation… He had a kink in his back that had suddenly released, and he involuntarily let out a small noise is all.

That is exactly what happened.

"Roman, why do you think we're having this meeting?", Imogene asked, thankfully moving the conversation along.

'That's a good question,' Roman thought, meeting her gaze.

The way Zeffre had described it, it had sounded as if they would need to do something for Ryujin before returning back to Remnant, but that didn't make sense to him now. If all they wanted was a simple transaction, then why would this meeting require this level of secrecy?

What he did know was that he was meeting with Imogene alone in a secret room inside the tower… He had never checked in with any security.

In fact, the lobby had been sparse of people when they had arrived, with the few security guards never even acknowledging their existence.

"If you would entertain me for a moment, may I ask a question myself," Roman asked.

"Go ahead."

"In this meeting are you representing Ryujin Industries, or are you representing yourself?"

Imogene gave him a nod of approval. "Clever observation. Myself."

"In that case…," Roman began, standing from his seat and placing both hands flat on the table. "We're meeting because I want us to go back to our original universe, you want something from me and," he held up a finger, "most importantly, whatever it is you want is something you don't want your employer to know about," Roman told her, finishing by dropping his raised finger to point at Imogene. 'This is fun.'

"You're smart. Good, I can work with smart." she said as she sat up straight. "As far as Ryujin is concerned the Artifacts are simply gravimetric anomalies that are being researched by our R&D division."

Standing, Imogene rested both palms flat on the table. "My offer to you is simple. I provide you with the resources to return to your universe as well as long term support in locating the Artifacts there. What I want in return is to have six of the Temples and their powers."

Roman narrowed his eyes. "That is a suspiciously generous offer."

Zeffre let out a snort. "No, it isn't."

He turned to look at her. "Oh? Care to elaborate Blue?"

Zeffre gave him a dismissive wave. "I've done this all literally hundreds of times before, and I've never seen an opportunity like this present itself before. You do realize that normally, to visit a Temple more than once requires you to pass through the Unity, right? That doing so means starting from scratch?" she said, her voice incredulous.

"Zeffre… there was a reason why I usually ask for you to be quiet during these meetings," Imogene said evenly, staring at the girl.

Zeffre shrugged. "Please. Roman here is the kind of guy too paranoid to even trust his own shadow. He probably thinks what I just said was some choreographed talking point to make the deal sound better."

"That's where you're wrong kid."

"I'm older than you," Zeffre said, giving Roman a flat look.

Roman ignored her comment.

"In my universe there is already another version of you," he began, reflecting on the past month. "For weeks she had been a constant thorn in my side. A thorn that I haven't been able to understand," he looked Zeffre dead in the eyes, "until now."

"You're arrogant despite yourself."

Zeffre gave him a shrug. "Fair."

"On Neon everything is a transaction. I am asking for your trust, but how about I throw in a little something extra to show you I'm serious," Imogene said, drawing Roman's attention away from Zeffre.

"I've got nowhere else to be," Roman said watching her.

"To solidify our partnership, I offer you one Artifact and Temple from my universe, along with everything else. Consider it a down payment to show you I'm serious."

Roman stroked his chin at her offer. 'She always planned to offer that,' he though with a smirk. She was clever, but there was just one more thing…

"I am no one's subordinate," he said firmly. This was something he would not compromise on; he was done being under someone else's control.

"Roman, you do realize that if Zeffre wasn't here Saffre could kill everyone in this building with no issue right?" Imogene asked.

She looked closer at him. "As long as you have her, you have leverage over me."

'And as long as you have Zeffre, you have leverage over me,' Roman left unsaid.

Roman glanced over at the sleeping Saffre.

It really didn't help that she looked the opposite of threatening.

"…You get three Temples, and I get to choose which ones," Roman told her.

"Four and you get to choose two. I get to choose the other two," Imogene countered.

"Four, I get to choose three, and the final Temple is mine. Deal?" Roman said, wanting to get the last offer in.

"Deal."

"Now kiss!" Zeffre said, grinning as she watched off to the side.

"Shut up Zeffre." they both said in unison.

"And here we are. Your home away from home!" Zeffre proclaimed, opening the door to the apartment with a flourish.

Stepping through the threshold, Roman made sure to not bum Saffre's head against the door frame.

It had turned out that Saffre was a heavy sleeper.

The apartment was lavish, with one wall dominated by windows overlooking a stunning vista of the open ocean, the dark waters stretching out forever into the horizon.

'Wait…'

"Those aren't windows," Roman said, Neo and Zeffre walking past him as he inspected the apartment. "We aren't by the edge of the city."

"Nope. Those are hyper-realistic screens projecting video from cameras located around Neon's exterior," Zeffre said, giving him an over the shoulder smile. "Without them the only view you'd be able to get is of other buildings. Good catch."

Clasping her hands together, Zeffre turned fully to address the two of them.

Roman tried to ignore Saffre nuzzling her cheek against his chest.

"Alright kids! So, uh, this is one of Ryujin's executive apartments and it comes stocked with practically any amenity you could want." She pointed down a hallway. "The bedrooms are down that way. There are only two of 'em, so one of you is going to have to share," she said, this time looking directly at Neo. "Never say I've never done anything for you."

Neo gave her a flat look.

Looking up, Roman noticed that this place even had a chandelier hanging from the high ceilings.

He could get used to this.

Walking past Zeffre to one of the rooms Roman noticed something. The sleeve of Saffre's left arm had a hole it in, the edges charred black. 'That wasn't there before…'

The bedroom was just as lavish as the rest of the apartment, with a massive bed covered in red and black sheets.

Placing Saffre down on the bed Roman inspected the skin under the burnt hole. Her skin looked fine, it being the same fair porcelain white as the rest of her, but there was something else. The skin directly under the hole was slightly a different color than the rest of her, with a clear border showing the freshly healed skin.

He knew that burn wasn't there when they entered Ryujin Tower.

"You're needy, you know that," he muttered to himself. Throwing the blanket over her, Roman turned to leave. He was interested in seeing what Zeffre meant by 'any amenity'.

Closing the door behind him, Roman found himself oddly comforted by her burn.

Regardless of everything else he knew about the girl, her extraordinary origins, and her powers, it was reassuring to know that she was still just as flawed as the rest of them.

He couldn't understand much about Saffre, but he could at least understand that.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait. This chapter was hard to write because I needed to make a decision on how I wanted to continue this story. I decided on having the Starfield side be more present throughout the story, where Roman and friends are able to go back and forth at will. I decided on this because I want the story to mostly center on what is happening on Remnant, but I also wanted to have more interactions in the Settled Systems.

Like, can you imagine what it's going to be like once Roman meets Bayu?

Anyway, yeah. More Starfield stuff will be introduced, but the focus will remain on Remnant. (I also leave the door open on other characters visiting the Settled Systems...)

Thanks for reading!