Warning:

This chapter contains disturbing content that some may find offensive; reader's discretion is advised.

Okay, so I know I said I wouldn't do notes like this anymore, but when it comes to elements like this, I'll still be adding the warning you see above. Unfortunately, this chapter is essential for a few reasons, so skipping it will leave you in the dark a little about some things, especially in cases with Neo and Roman.

These warnings aren't perfect, however, and will be in regards to what I myself feel needs to be cautioned of beforehand. No, it's not overtly gory like last time, but it's still fairly dark… and in ways that are a little more real; Remnant can't be all insanity and over the top nonsense all the time.

Anyway, on with the chapter.

Age: 19

Sex: Female

Racial Subset: Wolf (Yet to be fully confirmed)

Identifiable Trait: Fang-like canines

It has been quite a while since I've gotten back to you, however I haven't had many opportunities as of late for proper business. Recently though, over these past few weeks I've managed to befriend a young woman, who I have provided photos of along with this message.

I was rather shocked to learn of her heritage initially, however I see it more as a blessing in disguise. The young lady recently ran into a bit of a rut, and when she bumped into me following a run in with the police, I opted to take a chance. Unsurprisingly, she took to spying on me a few days after, perhaps believing I might run to the police; perhaps this is to my previously fought for policies over the course of my time in office, but that cannot be helped.

It took a while, but by playing it easy I was able to gain her trust, and upon questioning, I learned her name: Tulip Bellows. She claimed to live with her mother, but a brief search into the name linked me to an article of a missing pair of girls who'd seemingly run away from an orphanage off in Mantle; A far way to run, eh? To put it bluntly, she's the type nobody knows about, and nobody will notice her if she were to vanish.

I've had one of my associates keep an eye on her, and have learned she lives in one of the run down parts of outer Vale. Capturing the pair by force will no doubt cause a disturbance in the local community, as these runaway types often tend to pick up some pity from the lesser populous. And as entertaining as it would be to spark a fight between the local White Fang start-ups and Police, it would no doubt draw attention to the area, and by extension me.

I've got a relationship going with her, providing her with small offers of groceries and money. While it's taken a toll on my personal funds, I believe that at this time I have her close enough to make the usual offer. I'll call you and provide the meetup point, and you can have your men ready. I don't expect them to have any trouble with the young one - whose name I've still not been trusted with - but ensure you catch Tulip immediately; she's the one most likely to cause trouble if allowed to escape.

Tulip herself would work best for buyers seeking manual labor - she isn't exactly the spitting image of a conventionally attractive young thing, and she's just as strong as her behavior would lead you to believe: a real brat. Her little sister though... I think she'll do just fine for our usual buyer. Short, petite, and from the looks of it, no older than-

Neo grimaced, flicking off the display and sighing wordlessly. It figured Onixis would be into extra shit; man always had more money then he should for someone who barely won his positions. Still though, the fact he was trafficking faunus on the side to pay for his occasional place on the Vale council was sure to earn some brownie points from the White Fang.

Without much effort, she connected her specialized scroll directly, downloading the document Jay had apparently been reading through. Ridiculously, it extended on for several more paragraphs, detailing the various troubles old Onixis was going through in gathering more 'product' to sell. Whoever his associate was had to be good friends for the idiot to blabber on this much about random trivial nonsense.

Strangely, it was marked as 'sent'. That wasn't weird, but it was dated not ten minutes ago. Neo chose to assume the guy had it set up to automatically send while he was gone, which partially explained why Mr. Onixis himself wasn't home - if the document was to be believed. Then again, why had it been left open? Usually, manual sending did so without opening the file.

In the end she ignored that fact, as it wasn't worth the time to consider it.

Once the download was complete, she turned to the real issue in the making: their chosen 'associate' for the mission. Jay wasn't exactly a mess yet, but he'd gotten into their target's liquor cabinet before she'd even arrived. Normally, Neo wouldn't care about what the other idiots working with her did, so long as they didn't get in her way. Problem was, Cinder wanted them to get some dirt on him, which mainly devolved into watching what he did and how he reacted on the job.

Roman hadn't been happy in the slightest with the order, but there was little they could do.

In a way, she kind of pitied him, not because she cared about him personally, but because he'd stumbled into something even Roman and her didn't approve of. Trafficking was one of the most difficult, and potentially highest paying businesses of Remnant's underground almost worldwide, and it was, ironically, banned by most of the big crime syndicates as well. Setting up prostitution rings and running protection rackets was one thing, but those both had people who could be reasonably handled, whereas the slave trade always carried the huge risk of exposure.

It was too much of a risk with Remnant's habitable land mass shrinking by the day.

Personally, Roman and her never really liked the idea; there were much easier ways to make bank, and both of them knew personally how messed up these rings could be; what did you expect when only the worst of the worst ran it, and outside of the major families' noses too. But that was the White Fang's problem now, so the only important thing she needed to do was get the kid out of the building with his sanity intact; Cinder couldn't use a broken tool, and she'd probably take it out on them.

Neo's combination of unworried concern went unknown to Jay, however, as he was too busy hoping the tingly feeling of what tasted of whiskey would take over.

It was never supposed to be like this: this was Remnant for fucks sake! Remnant was a world already built upon the strife of a barely surviving population who fought against literal armies of darkness. The monsters were supposed to bring people together. But no, people were still people. He really shouldn't have given them the benefit of the doubt, but he had anyway. You'd think he'd learn after what happened with Miltia on his first job, but the extremity of the scenario was so intense he'd assumed it a fluke; specialized serial killers like that weren't exactly common, and while they existed, they weren't a staple to describe the world as a whole.

This was different though: this was an evil no different from his own realm. Earth had its fair share of issues, and to nobody's shock and horror - least of all his own - it was constantly riddled with crimes of all natures. He'd not majored in it, but during some of his studies at the college he attended, Jay gained a bit of interest in conflict... or to be more specific...

The various war stories reported throughout history.

Thinking he'd find some uplifting tales, as he'd been having a particularly bad day, Jay'd just come out of a history lesson where the professor had recited a single battle from the second world war. Seeing as most movies and stories involving war had a patriotic undertone of heroism, he decided to seek out how true that was, thinking he'd get a muddied, but still somewhat noble, outlook.

Jay couldn't have been more wrong.

He used to think soldiers were on average just ordinary people, and while that had been the case for most times of peace, war itself and conflict often twisted these once kind hearted men into deranged versions of themselves; to the point of parody during some instances. One of the first things he'd learned was that, while only reported about scarcely in the media: all those tragedies which told of the ways people wrought suffering and pain on the enemy, as well as innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, were not rare in the slightest. Crimes against humanity were not the crazy exception of some unsung rule, used to slander any particular side at convenient times: they were the rule itself.

From sewing up the near dying with explosives in an attempt to take advantage of the enemy's own sense of pity, to making use of whoever was nearby for any sort of stress relief whatsoever be it violent or other, or even the classic human shields of all ages during massive gunfights: Jay had wrought upon himself the truth of war, and he wasn't even close to mentally prepared enough to take on that weight - especially during the times he was learning of it all, and at the pace of which he kept digging. While he wasn't sure of it, he often thought this had been one of the choices which started his deeper depression, as combining that morbid curiosity with his self-doubts and life choices to date had concocted a mix of poison that he'd struggled to swallow; it only got worse when he left the war aspect behind and burrowed into a rabbit hole of general disgusting tragedy.

All his buddy Rex had been able to do from that point was steer his interest away and onto other things, but that didn't erase what he'd learned. The guy even tried explaining that, while those things were dishearteningly normal during larger wars, on the grand scheme of things most soldiers weren't even close to that bad. That may have been true for the modern day, but that didn't erase what he'd seen documented in both papers and photos of the past, as well as all the personal accounts from the few survivors of most battles.

And here he was again, drawn back into the stark reality that, no matter the time or place, people as a whole would throw away all sense of kindness and empathy if it meant a quick buck. Throw a generalized hatred over something so simple as race into the mix, prop it up with vast amounts of power which construct a strong superiority complex, and you have the perfect kind of person willing to justify the most heinous crimes against others, all under the belief it's right just because of that simple lie. It was a wonderful show of how easy it was to dehumanize others, or in this case degrade.

The bottle was empty now, and scowling at it, Jay threw it violently behind him.

Fuck!

Drinking again surely wasn't the right call, but dammit all, he needed something to calm him down: they were on a mission, so he couldn't just drown away in self pity. All the stress of knowing this Remnant was capable of the same real problems as earth - more than the show ever had the skill to pull off effectively - had outright pissed him off. And worst of all, the fucker they'd been tasked with kidnapping hadn't even been here in his own home. Right now that prick was out there somewhere, and if that document was to act as proof, then there was a chance Onixis was actively putting his plan into motion right now.

And they couldn't do a single thing about it.

Taking another bottle, he smashed the handle into the wall. He didn't care if bits of glass got into the drink, he just wanted an out. Laying his mouth along the least sharp edge he could see, he began heaving down the mix, with his mind only wondering how he'd ended up in this vile predicament to begin with.

That was an easy one to recall as it all started only one hour ago, with Neo leading him into the small warehouse just along the edge of the city docks. Remnant still used regular ships alongside their usual air travel, mainly due to the world going through a dust crisis. Like oil back on earth, this world was experiencing a shortage of their main energy source for transportation. But unlike Earth, dust was used for more than just that: everything that functioned, from computers to fireplaces, was powered on dust in some way.

"Well well, look who's arrived!" Roman came prancing over... Well, prancing was a bit of a hard word; he just walked over with a bit of a skip in his step. "Good work getting him here quickly."

Neo smirked, tilting her head a little and waiting. Roman sighed playfully, reaching over and patting her head, at which point the woman bounced on her heels a little. Jay, despite watching the show, still wasn't sure what their relationship really was, but the fandom had long since decided Neo was unreadable, so he chose to believe in that until it was proven otherwise. Pulling back, Roman then set a hand on Jay's shoulder, which startled the guy a little.

"And you must be the sparkly little weirdo with a patent for dressing up as little girls."

"W-what?"

"Bah!" Roman offered a little pat on the back, pulling him along into a brisk walk, taking them deeper into the warehouse. "Don't worry about it; I don't care what you do, so long as you can follow instructions." Roman leaned down a little closer, now wearing a tense look. "You can follow instructions, right?"

"Y-yes." To be truthful, Jay actually thought Roman and Neo were pretty neat as characters, but seeing them as real people - and by extension real criminals working for the villains - kind of put a knot into that belief.

"Good!" And the smile was back.

Roman rose back up, merely leading him along the stone flooring over to a metallic staircase, which took them up to the second level overlooking the main floor. After walking along the grates a little they then stopped, twisted to the first door on the left, and made their way inside. Stepping in, Jay heard Neo shut the door behind them, and they were in a fairly plain looking hallway. Bright beige, with a white checkered tile floor and illuminated by lamps embedded in the ceiling: it looked similar to one of the college dorm's halls, only without the carpeted floor. The trek didn't end there as Roman immediately directed them right and passed by two doors before pulling into the third. What greeted them was a plain looking office, with three individuals present.

"Hello boys." Roman let him go, walking ahead as he talked on his way to the one desk at the end. "Sorry if we're late; had to pick up our last participant for the job on the way."

"Doesn't look like much." A somewhat boyish voice came from one of the three; the one leaning against the left wall. With how they all looked almost identical in their uniforms, Jay couldn't reasonably tell any of them apart. He supposed it didn't matter though; he was just here to be here, not fight... or so he thought at least.

"So says you." It came from another one, although more womanly this time. The lady, who looked no different than the others, was sitting before the desk rather curtly; he'd dare call it professional. "Although I'm curious about his inclusion." She turned to Roman, who looked to have gotten comfy in the seat behind the large steel desk. "You never told us why a human is joining in on our job."

"Orders from up top." Roman shrugged, leaning forward and setting his elbow on the workspace, propping his head atop the outstretched hand as he lazily spoke. "We're told to babysit him, nothing more."

"So he's useless?" This one came from the man sitting next to the woman. He sounded calm, but the way he fidgeted when speaking set off some flags in Jay's head.

Roman apparently didn't care, and added, "yep, but what can we do, right? Boss thinks he might be useful for something later... or that's what I assume is going on. Right now though, he's just some kid we've got to bring along, like when your parents hoist your little sibling on you when they can't be bothered to deal with their bullshit anymore. Don't worry too much about him though: Neo's his big sister for this job, so you three only need to focus on grabbing the target. Got it?"

The three grumbled, but otherwise never said anything against it. Jay hadn't been sure if that was good or not, but Neo's nudging of his side redirected his attention, and following her lead he stepped over and away from the entrance. The grunts of the Fang stood, and left, only casting at best a few grimaces as they went out the door to who knew where. Roman clapped ahead, and at his beckoning, Jay went up and took a seat.

"Rest of 'em know the plan, so I'll catch you up quick. Gist of this little operation goes as follows: there's a slimy politician known as Raed Onixis who's been pushing for more and more anti-faunus legislation during the few years he actually wins a seat with Vale's council; usually it tends to be around times where the White Fang causes some big commotion or whatever - as if they'll ever catch on to that pattern." Roman rolled his eyes, but carried on. "So one of their higher ups has asked our collective boss if they can do something about the guy. Seeing a chance to create some... let's say 'unique' opportunities, she agreed, and now we get to walk you through the ropes."

Jay swallowed, but found the courage to ask, "do I get a say in anything."

Roman proceeded to laugh. "Not at all." relaxing a little, he then added, "oh don't worry too much about it, sport. We're just gonna pull up, crack open the lock, and rummage around the house a bit until we find and bop the guy. We'll take him back home, and the deed is done."

And that's exactly how it went... for the most part. Pulling up had been no big deal, and hopping out of the van left them shrouded in the shadows of the space they'd chosen. Roman was their getaway driver, and as he explained on the way, Neo would be leading him around and helping him learn how to tie up a man - she even brought rope. Onixis' home wasn't exactly located in the main city, but in a sort of suburban area nearing the northern edge - Jay found he could even see the tip of Beacon from the treeline in the distance.

Hopping the little fence was no issue, and as they drew closer to the front door of the gray two-story building, he noticed how... unsuspecting it all looked; the house he meant, not them. They themselves should have raised an alarm, especially with their escape vehicle parked along the sidewalk before the place. Sure, the darkness made it seem subtle, but it still looked suspicious.

One of the grunts got working on the lock, and in no time the door was breached. No sirens, and no signs of alarm presented themselves. This appeared to clear them for entry, and as the others went inside, Neo sent him a small smirk before tugging him alone. Jay ended up figuring that since their target was a politician, then he was likely not the most popular guy in town. For every person who agreed with his claims, there was sure to be one who didn't, and if one of those people saw some thugs breaking into the guys house, then they were more often than not just going to smirk and giggle, letting the robbery commence as a form of indirect insult towards the man they didn't like.

This was all just speculation on Jay's part, and for all he knew Roman could have timed their operation perfectly to avoid detection; maybe he was just overthinking things. Said overthinking didn't stop him from worrying though, and as they started up the steps, one of the goons came out of a room to the left.

"Hey." He whispered quietly. "Have you spotted any signs of the guy?"

"No." Jay replied at a similar volume, and seeing the man's lip twitch, quickly decided to ask "B-by the way, how long do we have before the police arrive?"

"What?" He didn't understand for a bit, but then made an 'oh' with his lips. Twisting up a smirk, the man elaborated. "Don't worry, the cops aren't coming."

"But isn't there alarms or something?" While he hadn't heard anything, Jay had assumed there was a silent security system in place; with this guy being a pseudo-successful politician he would have both the money and common sense to set up one… right?

"Yeah, but they don't matter." The man crossed his arms and his grin sharpened. "Guessing Roman didn't tell you, but he's got friends with almost all the home security providers in Vale. All it took was one quick call according to him, and we're in the clear for tonight." He let his arms drop, and rose one back up to point down the opposite hall. "Now with that out of the way, go check those doors over there, and I'll finish up here. If you find him, come get us. If he spots you: tackle him and yell."

"R-right." Jay's voice still shuddered, but the man took it as good enough and entered the door on the other wall ahead of where he'd come from. Looking over to Neo, he noticed she was already on the way, taking the ones on the far right. Figuring she'd make her way along, Jay chose the one closest to the stairs.

This had him stumbling into an office, with nothing but his own footsteps and a slight jerk greeting his ears. Stepping in, he'd seen the display hovering above the desk, and as he went over and spent the next few minutes reading through the message, he'd come to the realization of what Raed Onixis was up to in his spare time. This led him to holding back his shock and disgust, until he spotted the well kept liquor cabinet sporting various bottles of fine wines and hard alcohols, which is what he indulged himself on before Neo came.

He spotted her from the corner of his eye, and feeling her hand pulling at his coat, he whipped around to look at her. She was not the one he spotted first though: that honor belonged to the well groomed man partially out from under the desk, whose hands were fiddling with the window behind his desk. Both stared with wide eyes for a second, but the man was quick to recover, and his hand shot to take the gun from his side.

Jay was faster.

Really, he was too fast for what he recalled, but that was probably just the liquor dulling his other senses, and by extension his fears. Headbutting the guy, who he now presumed was Onixis due to the fact he'd crawled out from under the desk, Jay managed to wrangle the gun into his grip first. The guy, now on the floor, looked ready to raise his hands in defense, but the moment his mouth opened to gasp, the barrel of steel was shoved in it.

Glaring down with shrunken pupils, Jay noted immediately the worry on the politician's face as the weapon rested against the roof of his mouth, but it wasn't too much worry. The goal was to capture him, wasn't it? Nobody specified: they'd only told him to let them know if he found the man. He found the man, but what now? The easy answer was to shoot him; a short one and done. But was that what they wanted? Didn't they go through all this trouble to grab him and take him back? Roman said something like that, didn't he?

But did he even care? And, if he did: why?

The slimy bastard moved again, and growing irritated, Jay jammed the barrel of the handgun into his mouth harder. Problem was, the sudden jerking force had his finger slip, and unfortunately, it ended up tugging back the trigger.

*Click*

Onixis froze, and so did Jay, but for entirely different reasons. Sure, it had been accidental, but a sudden gun jam saving a corrupt politicians life seemed a little... weird. With dulled restrictions to his mental state, Jay intentionally pulled the trigger this time.

*Click*

Still locked up apparently, or maybe it wasn't loaded. That second option made little sense considering the on and off chairman went to draw it on him first, and Jay just pulled back the weapon from the guy's mouth, raising a brow as he looked down the barrel at the man who appeared to have had his heart stop - not literally, but the look was there.

"Huh... lucky you." Jay eyed the guy, and seeing him relax even a little acted as the perfect prompt. Whipping back, he tore the butt of the weapon across the criminal's face, sending bits of blood out to land on the floor, and most certainly breaking his nose. The man reached for it, but Jay didn't let him, flinging the gun back and forth across his face again and again, with each pass bloodying both hands and face moreover.

Neo watched curiously from beside, having walked over to make sure their target didn't try anything funny. So the idiot was hiding in the office all along, that sort of explained the incriminating message being left out in the open: Onixis was probably in the middle of sending it when their tag-along walked in. With nowhere to go, he must have hunkered down to hopefully wait it all out, only chancing escape when the fear of capture got too much to bear.

He was lucky his gun jammed when it did, or the new blood would have painted the floor with his first kill; sadly, she wouldn't get to see that show tonight.

Interestingly, she spotted how their resident politician's aura kept flaring lightly in an attempt to heal the wounds inflicted by Jay's apparent drunken wrath. She'd left him alone for a little over ten minutes originally, and the download took about two due to the pictures included, with Jay continuing to chug after that for another one before she chose to approach. Rather quick to fall to the booze, but for all she knew he probably hadn't eaten beforehand, and with how many bottles were littered on the floor, Neo wondered if he'd even survive.

They weren't super high in concentration though, with only two going above 6%, so she assumed he'd just get a killer hangover afterwards.

Still, the fact Onixis' aura was healing the wounds proved it was active, and not protecting him from Jay's assault. Seeing as his friend could see through her illusion, she wondered if Jay could do the same. Being able to seemingly bypass aura though, now that was a scary thought, and also a little exciting. The perfect semblance for a killer; too bad it wasn't hers. But she liked her illusions well enough, and instead settled on letting Roman know her findings later. Reaching down, she tapped him on the shoulder, but Jay couldn't hear.

For him, everything was a blur.

"P-please... n-no more..."

He wasn't sure how those few stuttered words broke through the haze that was his mind and vision, but once Jay finally stopped at request, he saw just how messy everything had become. The man's face was decently ripped apart, with blood and quickly growing bruises covering every patch of skin. The fingers weren't spared either, as he must have used his hands to block some of the assault, which left them in a similar state.

Jay looked at the gun, seeing its bottom - as well as his hand - coated in crimson. He wasn't sure what came over him, and he kind of hated it a little. He'd been drunk and rowdy before, but never to this extent. And he was drunk; his lack of worry at the sight of so much blood proved that much. Normally, he'd throw some fists until he or the other guy - almost always himself though - started bruising, and would pull back when things looked bad, usually at the behest of bar staff who were in the midst of kicking them both out. Here he had no suck concern, actively feeling a tug at his core to keep going. Sure, the anime aesthetic made it easier to look at, but that didn't help much when before so many things had terrified him.

Now… it almost didn't matter at all.

He was startled from his thoughts when the sounds of commotion came from below. Neo's hand met his shoulder, and turning to look, he saw her nod. Taking that as a sign, he stood off the man, and Neo picked him up like it was nothing.

Both left the office, and dropped down the stairs to search for the source of the noise. There, in the living room from the looks of it, was a woman tied on the floor. The others were around her, but nobody was armed. One of the three noticed him, and smirked, calling out.

"Good, you found him."

The woman looked up frantically, and the terror in her eyes was palpable. Neo didn't seem to mind, just tossing their target ahead onto the floor, with a whistle coming from the younger sounding grunt.

"Damn, you sure did a number on him."

"H-honey?!" The woman shot up, staring towards both Jay and Neo. "What did you animals do to him!"

She was answered with a swift punch to the jaw, sending her down to the carpet like her husband.

"Shut up." The girl of the three let out casually, and she looked over to them. "Sorry, she wasn't supposed to be back, but I guess things never go as planned huh?" Stepping around the sobbing wife, she shook her head. "Roman warned us when she pulled up though, so it wasn't hard to get her restrained."

"Your gun." Jay turned to see the deeper voiced Fang member walk up to him, holding out his hand. He hesitated for a bit, but ultimately Jay handed it over. The taller one nodded, observing the weapon. "Thank you."

And turned right around to shoot.

Seeing a woman's head rip a hole in itself and spraying the carpet behind her would have been the stuff of nightmares, but in his less sensible standing, Jay figured the liquor dulled his initial panic. And then, out of nowhere, the image of Ruby took place over the woman's corpse, sporting the hole between her eyes and lying dead. It lasted only a second before vanishing, but during that second Jay could only identify a small warmth in his chest.

Even drunk, he knew something was terribly wrong.

"What the fuck man!" It wasn't a scream, but the boyish one's complaint was obvious to all as he hissed. "This was supposed to be a quiet job!"

"No witnesses." The shooter lowered his arm, all the while his partner grumbled, with the woman of their trio sighing and shaking her head.

Neo knew they'd need to leave now, but her mind was preoccupied with what happened. The gun had just fired, which while normal to the three down here, most certainly wasn't normal to her. She'd watched it fail twice with Jay, which implied a sturdy jam. Sure, maybe there was a chance it somehow, through a miracle of chance, cleared itself up in time for buddy to do away with the wife, but Neo begged to differ. Jay showed himself capable of ignoring aura, but what if there was more to it?

Reaching into her pocket as the duo ahead of them argued, she fished out a small red crystal. Raw dust was dangerous, sure, but she always kept some on hand in case trouble occurred and she needed some boom. Tapping Jay on the arm, he looked over, and she lifted up his hand. Out of his sight, and perhaps to his confusion, she pressed the crystal into his palm just a little, and watched with a thrill as all its color faded. Pulling away quickly and still shadowing the gem, she saw then how the color returned slowly.

This guy... not only could he ignore aura, but he could deactivate dust at the touch. And, seeing as all ammunition was fueled by different dusts for various effects, it also implied he could disable it through whatever encased it. Basically, if he touched it, the dust inside would be worthless until he let go. Surely there were limits, because the van still ran easily, so maybe it needed to be a conscious effort. Actually, maybe that was what he'd done to the aura too: disabling it on the areas he touched and leaving the rest alone. It was just a theory, but it led to a pattern: a fun and useful pattern. Neo was giggling now, and Jay merely called.

"Neo?" He cast a quick glance to his palm, and then back at her.

She looked back, offering a tiny wave and perhaps too distorted a grin. That didn't matter though; this was looking fabulous for Roman and her. Yes, they'd need to report the 'ignoring aura' bit to the bitch, but this right here, the dust effect, now that was something they alone would share for as long as they could get away with it.

This guy may have just been the ticket out they'd been looking for.

"Shut it, both of you." The woman of their posse stepped in between the bickering pair. "Look, we need to scoot out of here, asap." She thumbed to the man crying quietly on the floor. "Somebody's bound to call the cops on a gunshot. We need to move."

"Fine." Said the boy. "I'll get the body."

"Leave her." Spat the man. "She won't matter anyway. And besides.." Reaching down, he picked Onixis up by his collar, nearly choking him. "Everyone will know what happened by the time we're done with him anyway."

Growling, the lad huffed. "Fine."

This had the group rushing out, leaving the body of the dead woman behind, and stuffing themselves into the van with the now restrained target. Roman most certainly wasn't happy with their arrival, but took off anyways, choosing to lambast them on the road.

"You know: when I scheduled this whole gig, I really thought you'd do so quietly. Clearly I should have known better."

"Silence was ultimately irrelevant for this mission." The gruff one spoke calmly this time, much to the ire of the shorter guy across from him. "Everyone will know it was us soon enough."

Roman sighed. "Whatever you say, buddy." Righting himself, he chirped up. "So, how was our little assistant?"

"Well..." The feminine one slyly patted the crying man's bloody mug. "He certainly did a number on our guy; I'm honestly impressed the beanstalk could muster up the strength, what with his jittering before we left." She then breathed out, relaxing as she leaned back in her place. "But you'll need to ask your partner what happened; we only saw the aftermath."

"Right, so Neo?" Roman eyed her quickly through the mirror, seeing the absolute joy in her expression. Well, if it was that good, then who was he to argue. "Whelp, guess that means the mission was a success. Okay kid, we'll drop you off back at Junior's on the way. Just lay low for a while until we get this all settled and done, got it?"

"Yeah."

His voice was noticeably deeper, and Roman was certain everyone in the van could smell the excess wafts of liquor from that one word alone. It looked like somebody got a hold of their on and off councilman's special stash. Roman merely shrugged; it didn't matter in the end, so long as the job was done.

And it was, so to the victor went the spoils, and Roman couldn't wait to learn what spoils Neo had in store for him later.

Author's note

…

Alright, so that was a thing.

Cinder has her toys gathering information on Jay, making use of her personal army while she's at it. The White Fang actually gets to do something partially sensible, and now both Roman and Neo have their sights set out - Neo does anyway; she's still gotta tell Roman about her findings.

Perhaps a bit too easy with next to no security, but some of the best places to hide for the truly devious are in the most innocent of common places.

Whereas chapter 3 served more so to show the absolute extreme of Remnant, this one shows a more down to earth depiction. Personally, I'd suggest reading these chapters even with the warnings, mostly because a lot will still be missed otherwise - I'm not going to cut story progression due to a disturbing topic from time to time, it just isn't happening.

Also, for the one of you to ask: yes, a punch to the face would still hurt Jay. Remember, Yang beat his ass at the start of this story, and a bullet did away with him once already. Despite the looks of it, he's not nearly as powerful as it seems, and as yet to be shown, not powerful at all - I'll leave what that means to your speculation.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Until next time.