Omake: Back Alley Gripes

Edits helpfully provided by:
TaliesinSkye

Roman Torchwick had been a career criminal for the majority of his life, and had seen enough of the world that it was only fools and heroes that decided to leave the safety of the kingdom walls. Both types tended to vanish into the wilderness and eventually the odds went bad. If they came back it was in pieces. There were monsters out there, truly deserving of the title. He couldn't bargain with them, couldn't sweet talk or threaten the Grimm, he could only fight and die or run and die.

That was why even after Roman had gone to combat school as a young kid, gotten his aura awakened and made his weapon, he hadn't gone to an academy but to the streets. There Roman would make his fame and his fortune. That's when he'd learned that while there were not monsters inside the walls the criminal element in a city was at least deserving of the title of scum. If he didn't watch his step then he would be just as dead, but he had been full of pride at the start.

Roman was better than the the layabouts and crooks. He had never doubted that fact even from the beginning. The majority of them were common thugs and toughs. They'd had their aura awakened, but maybe 1 in 30 would know what their semblance was or were able to use their aura well enough to last a couple of hits. He'd been a clever student. It was practically child's play to throw his weight around with that lot. Still no one quite took him seriously. Even with his aura and Melodic Cudgel there were quite a few times when he'd ended up getting his ass kicked for trying to stick his nose into schemes and territories that didn't want the interruption.

The gangs tended to have at least a couple of enforcers that were just as skilled, if not better than Roman, in a straight up fight. It didn't take him long to figure out that fighting fair when loss was likely was the height of stupidity. So he planned and studied his opponents and the angles so that he could win. If defeat was becoming a foregone conclusion then he could slip away when the going got tough. People began to notice that he wasn't just some idiot who'd be under someone's thumb or gone almost as quickly as he'd come. That's when he got enemies, allies, and started to really build his reputation.

After more than a decade Roman was still around, and a lot of people that had been against him weren't. (Neo had been the biggest help in that department.) He was a master thief, known and feared and free to take on whatever work he wanted. That's when he had learned that walls didn't keep out all the monsters. Cinder came along with two tagalongs. Emerald and Mercury. Cinder though, she was always the real threat.

Roman knew the tagalongs' type. They were like him when he'd just been starting out. Thinking they were smarter then everyone else when they didn't know just how dangerous things could get. Cinder though had this menace and power that scared him to the core. She had a power to her that wasn't natural. It made the hairs on his arms stand on end. Even worse, while she liked to act like she was the one in charge it wasn't hard to pick up that there was someone that she was working for.

A conspiracy that had him stealing so much dust and leading a horde of Grimm in to the city, those were people that he couldn't afford to make enemies of. No matter where he ran he'd have a target on his back from people that could get the latest in Atlas Prototype Droids and research, who could command a faction of the White Fang, and who used the Grimm as a tool to accomplish their goals. Roman knew he would be checking his back for the rest of his short life if he ran.

And then a miracle had happened. Neo had found a backer that would protect them from Cinder.

It had seemed too good to be true, but after working so long with his partner he wasn't going to doubt her. He'd backed her play against Mercury and Emerald. Even though one of the little shits escaped, when the Battle of Beacon was over Cinder and Emerald had high-tailed it to parts unknown. According to rumor Adam had gotten killed by some monster in the night. Roman enjoyed his best sleep in months after that. Neo though, she'd been going through a range of emotions. Mostly anger and frustration. Neo's new backer had also disappeared during the battle.

Roman was more than willing to admit that detail counted as a bad thing for their long term survival, since Emerald would have been sure to tell Cinder about how they had pulled the double cross. He doubted that either she or the people backing her wouldn't want to tie off a loose end. Which brought him to his current situation, leaning against a brick wall in an alley of Vale that was outside the damaged sections of the city. It was well clear of the part of the city that was infested with Grimm, although that didn't make the place safe.

Roman looked to his side to see that Neo had jumped on top of a dumpster. She was balancing herself on the edge on one foot with her parasol open and raised above her. Roman briefly looked down at his vest and wondered if he had time to pull out a cigar. "Neo, how long do you think those animals are going to be in there?"

Neo gave Roman a small frown and shrugged her shoulders before moving into a different pose.

"You know I always hated it when Cinder tried to send me on these kinds of errands. Watching the White Fang that couldn't be trusted to keep their mouths shut and convince them to be loyal or be dead."

Neo extended her leg out in front of her and held the limb extended and Roman chuckled. "Yes, I suppose this is different. And clever enough. Did White tell you to do it?"

Neo gave Roman a disdainful look and stuck out her tongue at the older man.

Roman laughed, "What else am I supposed to expect? You say the backer is gone, we're loose in the wind. The fallback plan was to take what funds and gear we could and then get on the next airship to Mistral. Yet here we are still in Vale. Hunting down the White Fang that planted those Grimm bombs to tell them to turn themselves in or leave town or we kill them. It's not that weird that I'd think you'd gotten some instructions from someone, is it?"

Neo shook her head as she lowered her leg and then hopped off the trashcan, floating down the height slower then she should to then close her parasol. Roman nodded, "Well I guess that's true. We've been keeping our distance from the girls and I imagine they'd have a hard time communicating with you without me to translate."

Neo punched Roman in the shoulder, "Yes I know that you can handle yourself, after all we've been through I'm confident you could accomplish anything you set your mind to. Still, if no one asked you then why are we doing this? It's not like the cops aren't motivated enough that they haven't gotten to a few of these meetings around town before us. It's almost," Roman said the next word in a deeply pained voice, "noble."

Neo patted Roman on the shoulder, and stared him in the eyes.

"What? If they're just going to run for their lives or go to prison they're not going to need anything valuable. It would just languish there, doing nothing. All right, I concede the point. Screwing over the White Fang at this point is therapeutic after having to deal with their deceased leader and marginally profitable to boot. Really just enough to make this worthwhile. Now is it time?"

Neo rolled her eyes.

Roman looked wounded. "Two minutes ago? Well if that was the case why didn't you say something?"

Neo put the tip of her umbrella to his chest.

"Fine, it was my fault. I guess we'll do plan C for this group."

Neo nodded and the heavy steel door to the alley cracked open as four faunus stepped out into the alley. One was a deer with the antlers coming out of her head. Two were pigs, one showing some tusk and the other with the floppy ears. And one was a kangaroo with the tail. They looked both ways to check the coast was clear and saw nothing suspicious. Neo and Roman's presence hidden by the mute girl's semblance, the deer faunus closed the door behind them and went to attach a padlock. That's when Roman and Neo decided to strike and Neo's illusionary wall came down.