Rargh. It's the horny monster!

Chapter 2

Vale was a… well, it was a city.

Jaune wasn't sure what he expected when coming to it with Cinder. His mind had conjured up excitement at the thought of seeing a new country but, aside from a few differences in clothing and building style, it was pretty much the same as Mistral. Same airports, same people, same check-in process.

Being boring didn't mean it deserved to be destroyed, though! Jaune held onto that thought as the airport security asked him his purpose for visiting. Don't say destruction of Vale. Don't say destruction of Vale.

"Holiday," said Cinder.

"And are you terrorists?" the man asked, clearly not expecting any real answer to that stupid question.

"Yes," said Jaune, a little hysterically. "But we're not here for work."

The man eyed him strangely over his clipboard. Cinder laughed, elbowed Jaune in the gut and told him off for thinking he was funny. "Sorry, sir. He thinks he's hilarious and doesn't understand when it's time for jokes and when it's not."

"Hmm. You wouldn't mind if we checked your luggage, then?"

Half an hour later, Jaune and Cinder stepped out the airport with their small cases. They obviously hadn't brought anything they weren't allowed to, mostly because the whole "destroy Vale" thing wasn't meant to happen for a while yet, but also because when it did happen, they obviously wouldn't have brought terrifying weapons in through an airport.

"I'm sorry, sis," he said, a little shamefaced.

"Don't worry about it; you're just nervous." Cinder made the excuses for him as usual. She couldn't abide mistakes, but his mistakes were always down to nerves, or so she would argue. "I've told you there's no need to worry."

"I just don't think I'm keen on destroy—"

Cinder covered his lips with one finger. "Ick-snay on the estroy-day ale-vay."

"R—Right. Well, I'm just not keen on the plan."

"The plan isn't happening for a while yet." Both of them emphasised the word, which Jaune suspected was going to become their little code for Cinder's current drive to destroy an entire kingdom for no other reason than to better herself. "Like I said, that's not why we're here."

"And why are we here? You said something about picking up a… um... employee."

"A minion. Not an employee."

"What's the difference?"

"Employees are paid. Minions are expendable."

Jaune groaned. Would it kill his sister to be a little less evil? Or at least to not be so open about it? Obviously, she wasn't going to tell their prospective new minion that she was expandable so, in a way, it was a sign of how much trust she had in him that she didn't try and hide it. But, still, he sometimes wished she would hide some things from him, if only so he didn't have to worry so much about her.

And he knew there was goodness in her. It showed at least once a year when she would fumble out some horrific excuse of food poisoning shaped like a birthday cake, and then for the following few days as he lay in bed sick as a dog. Of course, he could have not eaten the weapon of mass destruction she baked, but it was homemade food from his sister. He couldn't let that go to waste.

Cinder hailed a taxi and had them taken to their hotel, where they booked into the single room and stashed away their clothes in the wardrobe. There was a double bed, and that wasn't anything unusual for them. He'd cuddled up to her through nightmares as a child and though they had separate rooms now, they hadn't always. The matron at the Glass Unicorn hadn't thought them worth losing two rooms and two beds over.

"So," said Jaune, enjoying the view from the window many floors up. "Who is this new friend of ours?" He ignored Cinder's instant correction of the term. He wasn't going to call someone a minion for crying out loud. "And how do you know about someone in Vale of all places who would be good to recruit? It seems a little weird you'd just know."

"It's because I'm a genius."

"I know you are, but genius doesn't mean omniscient." As per usual, he couched his disbelief as a compliment and she reacted well to it. "Did your new… ugh… employer put you in the right direction?"

"In a manner of speaking. I told them I needed to find two people to form a team in Haven and asked her if she had any suggestions. I didn't expect anything," she said, rolling her eyes, "But it turns out that the others working for her are a little better connected than us. For now," she stressed, eyes darkening. "I'll show that arrogant asshole who's boss soon enough."

"Who?"

"Arthur Watts. He's one of our new employer's people."

"Our employer?" Jaune asked. "I don't remember signing up."

"That's because I did it for you," she said, missing his point. "As for Arthur, he's a fool with a chip on his shoulder. Arrogant to a fault and the type to put others down if it makes him feel better about himself. Pathetic."

He could see why that would infuriate Cinder. Though she was desperate for power and willing to pay almost any price for it, she wouldn't be content with false power earned by making those around her weaker. It had to be personal power, growth of some kind. And it was never for so petty a reason as to show off.

"I'll keep in mind to avoid him."

"Do so," she said, nodding his way. "I wouldn't put it past him to think he could harm me through you."

"Could he?"

"Of course not," she scoffed. "I'd murder him before he got anywhere near you."

Jaune smiled awkwardly. While it was nice to know she cared about him so much as to court being killed by their new boss – the apparent queen of all evil on Remnant – should he be put in danger, he really didn't want her to. Forcing her to kill this guy to protect him would put a sizable crimp in his plans to make his sister a kind and law-abiding member of society.

"I'll stay away from him then. Anyone else I should be aware of."

"Tyrian Callows. Faunus, scorpion tail, chronic aversion to wearing a shirt. He's a maniac – absolutely bonkers. Thinks Salem is a deity or something. He'll go nuts if he catches you saying anything bad about her."

"Uh. I'll only say good things, then."

"No!" Cinder rounded on him; her eyes were wide with panic. "I don't want him thinking you're a kindred spirit either. He'll drag you into his nutty religion and corrupt your mind. Stay away from him at all times!"

"O… Okay. Anyone else?"

"Hazel Rainart. Huge man, at least seven feet tall and built like a brick. He's…" Cinder trailed off. "He's weird…"

"Weird?"

"Doesn't seem to fit as far as I can tell. No interest in the cause, doesn't like hurting people, is mostly sane from what I've seen."

"Then he's safe to hang around with?"

"Yes." Cinder's eyes narrowed. "But don't take anything he gives you! The man injects himself with dust to make himself stronger, and I won't have my brother getting hooked on substances. Am I understood?"

"Yes Cinder." Jaune laughed. "I'm not going to get hooked on drugs."

"Good. Good. I know you're smarter than that. You're one of the few people on Remnant I can stand to deal with. Make no mistake, Jaune, we are not their equals. They are fools. One is an egocentric moron, the other a fanatical loon and the last a revenge-addled idiot. They'll all throw themselves to their deaths to achieve their petty aims. We," she said, pointing at him, "—are different. We are better. There is no victory for us that doesn't involve the two of us being alive at the end."

Now that was an idea he could get behind. Jaune held out his hand. "Together until the end."

Cinder smiled and took it. "Yes. Together."

/-/

They spent the night in the hotel to sleep off the jetlag from the flight over. Jaune woke up when Cinder slipped out from his clingy grasp and padded as silently as she could for an early shower. She was always quiet when she moved, habits born from having to tiptoe around the Glass Unicorn so as not to upset the matron.

Jaune's own habit was to pretend to be asleep until she left, and that mostly came from how he'd not wanted to upset her when he was younger by catching her. It had been a game to his childish mind, one in which she tried to not wake him and he tried not to be noticed as awake. Even if it was no longer necessary, they still played it.

Besides, Cinder was an early riser, and he liked to sleep in.

The child psychologists they'd been saddled with after the death of their adoptive mother wouldn't have approved, but then they had never really had the full story. Attending therapy was a compromise that had been forced upon them for the price of them living alone. Cinder hated it, and Jaune, having just aided and abetted in the murder of the matron and her daughters if only by remaining silent when Cinder told him about it, obviously hadn't been exactly open with them either.

Cinder had coached him on what to say and he'd been loyal enough to her not to deviate. In the end, the therapists had decided they were as healthy as could be expected of teenagers who had lost their mother. The occasional checks on their living conditions to make sure they weren't living in squalor had ended once Cinder hit seventeen, after finding them more than capable of looking after themselves.

There were times when Jaune wondered if he shouldn't have been more honest with them; not about the murders, of course – he'd die before letting Cinder be taken away from him. More about their problems, Cinder's lust for control. In hindsight, it was obvious her horrible childhood played a part in that, and he hadn't done much to help her fix it. If anything, he'd fed it by serving as living proof that control and power secured her a loving little brother.

I've got to be better for her sake, he thought, sitting up in bed. I've got to help steer her in the right direction, but without pressuring her too much. I can't lose her.

Cinder came out the shower fifteen minutes later in a painfully fluffy hotel shower gown that made her look like she was being eaten by a polar bear. Walking over to the hotel dresser, she sat down and slipped her wet hair back. "Can you dry and brush my hair for me?"

"You're so helpless…"

Cinder scowled, but it morphed into a pleased little smile when he settled down behind her. He took hold of her hair and the hairdryer that every hotel seemed to leave in their room and got to work, making sure to use a low temperature so he didn't damage her hair. Cinder wouldn't have cared, but he did.

"You always were obsessed with my hair," she teased.

"I was a child. And it wasn't your hair; I was obsessed with pleasing you and thought you'd like me more if I brushed your hair."

"Hmhmhm." Cinder chuckled. "I hated it at the time. I only let you because you were a whiny little brat and I thought it would shut you up. You kept tugging on it, too." He didn't anymore. He moved his hands softly and smoothly through her hair, and Cinder closed her eyes, relaxing into it. "Hmmm. You've gotten much better."

"Maybe I'll make a woman happy one day."

"You already have a woman you make happy."

Jaune smirked. "I meant a wife. Or a girlfriend first."

"Hmph." Cinder opened one eye to glare at the mirror, knowing it was reflected at him. "As if I'd let any old slut dig her claws into you. I had a hard enough time with that bitch in Mistral who thought she could sneak her way into your fortune."

"Cinder, she asked me to the school dance."

"Exactly! A gold-digger in high school. Imagine how much worse she'd be as an adult. Trust me, Jaune. I know what's best for you, and that bitch wasn't it. I'll find you someone worthy of your time and attention, but you shouldn't settle for anything less than perfection."

"Yes Cinder," he said, rolling his eyes and going back to brushing her hair. "Why don't you tell me about the person we're here to recruit today."

"Hm. A good idea. Apparently, there have been rumours of a homeless girl who has a hallucination-based Semblance. Numerous police records have been flagged about her, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Watts—" Cinder said his name with disdain, "—was able to intercept and hide the reports and pass them onto me."

"A hallucination Semblance?"

"Some illusionary ability to make a person see, feel and hear whatever she wants them to. An incredible ability that will help us trick anyone we want." Cinder chuckled cruelly. "And the stupid waif is wasting it on picking pockets to feed herself. No imagination!"

"Cinder, the stupid waif is a homeless orphan."

Cinder looked at him askance in the mirror. "So?"

"Cinder, we were homeless orphans as well."

"I feel like you're trying to make some saliant point here..."

Jaune wanted to throw his hands in the air. Cinder was always like this; she wasn't even being obtuse on purpose. She genuinely didn't see what he was trying to say. It was times like this that made him wonder if Cinder was evil or just ignorant. And then she came out and talked about killing everyone in Vale to please their new "master" and those questions faded.

"I just don't know if I feel comfortable with abusing someone who is in the same position as we were," he explained, softening the words by braiding her hair. Cinder liked it straight but she never complained when he braided it. "This girl could have been us, Cinder. Don't you see that? And you're going to make her your slave."

"Oh Jaune." Cinder sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not making her into my slave, Jaune."

"You're not?"

"No. I'm making her into our slave." Because, of course, that was the big thing in her mind. "And I want you to know that no matter how many minions we accrue, and no matter how much I have to favour them in order to win their undying loyalty, they will never be as important to me as you are. You are my brother. They are nothing more than pawns."

"Cinder. They'll be more loyal if we treat them with respect—"

"Brother." Her voice was sharp. Firm. "I know what you're asking and I'm telling you it isn't feasible. Loyalty is flexible, it always is. If we take this person on and give them everything they could ever want, they'll grow complacent and start seeing how far they can push us. We need loyal servants, not friends. Loyalty is most easily gained through fear, not love. You know that. Look how far love got the two of us. Abandoned by our families and picked up by an abusive mother who used us as slaves!"

"But I love you," he whispered. "And you love me. Right?"

Cinder twisted on the seat and pulled him into her. One arm wrapped around his back and the other his head, pulling his face to her neck as she stroked his hair. "Of course I do," she whispered. "But isn't that proof enough of what I'm saying? It took us years to get this close. Love is stronger than fear, but it takes years to build. We don't have years. It's a weakness, too."

"Am I a weakness to you?"

"Yes." Cinder said it with a fond smile, rocking him in her arms. "Yes, you are – as I'm a weakness to you. But you're a strength as well. Don't forget that. You are unique and special, and I don't want another of you. You're mine and I'm yours." It came out as a possessive snarl. "I won't accept anyone thinking they can have you as I do."

His sister was a psychopath. Or a sociopath. Could you be both? Jaune sighed and let the matter drop. Maybe this was a way he could help ease her into being a better person. Cinder had seen him as a burden at first, and she was acting the same way as to their future teammate. Jaune could run interference and make sure Cinder wasn't so harsh on her, and from there Cinder could learn to see the value in treating people with dignity and respect.

"I've finished with your hair."

"Hm. Take a shower while I pick out some clothes for you."

"I can dress myself—"

"I'm well aware of that. I've the horrified memories of your taste in outfits." Cinder pulled him up and marched him toward the hotel toilet, then pushed him inside and closed the door. Her voice came through the wood. "I won't have people laughing at you behind your back. You'll wear what I pick for you, and you'll look damn good in it!"

Jaune sighed.

"Yes Cinder…"

/-/

It was currently the school holidays in Vale, the same as it was in Mistral, so there were a lot more kids their age roaming around the place. Jaune wasn't the type to go up and talk to strangers even back home, and he certainly didn't want to make friends in Vale when he knew what Cinder ultimately had in store for them.

"So, how do we find this random homeless girl? Do you have a plan?"

"We're headed to the mall right now," she explained. "Homeless people will do their begging around shopping centres. Higher foot traffic and more chances of people having loose change. Keep a hand on your own," she advised. "I wouldn't put it past them to try and pickpocket you."

Jaune let his hand fall to his pocket. "Hmhm. And do we know what she looks like?"

"Only that she's around our age. Given her Semblance, any descriptions of her could be hallucinations on the victims' parts. Our best bet is to approach each girl the right age and see if we can't bait Semblance use out of them. For that, I've made sure to bring plenty of change." Cinder heaped her own purse. "I'm going to offer money to each, and you'll watch me to see if I start acting unusually. If I do, we'll know we have the right person."

"I don't like this."

Cinder eyed him strangely. "You don't like me giving charity to random homeless children? Uncharacteristic, but I approve."

"Not that!" he groaned. "I don't like you being the bait."

"Ah." Cinder smiled coyly. "Getting protective, are we?"

"Yes."

"Well tough," she said, shrugging. "I'm not letting you be the target of this Semblance either. Besides, I'm the one with the training from Sanctum so of course I'm going to take the more dangerous job."

There was no arguing with Cinder at the best of times and certainly not when she had a good point. Jaune sighed and let it go, even if he threatened to rush in if Cinder got in any trouble. She just chuckled and patted his arm like he was a small dog barking at a bigger one. She'd be fine, though. This was Cinder, and as unambiguously evil as his sister could be, she was still an absolute badass. He'd seen her fight – really fight, and not the staged, holding-back nonsense she used to not draw attention in Sanctum.

Cinder had been able to kill Rhodes.

A homeless child wouldn't stand a chance against her.

An hour later, Jaune was standing with arms crossed as Cinder flitted from young beggar to young beggar, occasionally harassed by older ones looking to muscle in. It wasn't so unusual to see people being kind to the homeless that people stopped and stared, but it looked like there were more homeless than really made sense.

I bet some aren't truly homeless at all, he thought darkly. They're just aware this is an easy way to make money off sympathetic people. All at the expense of those who are actually homeless and need it.

Jaune knew full well the unfairness of the world.

Both he and Cinder did.

There was no unusual activity from Cinder for a while. She'd made it clear she intended to give only one hundred lien to each person, and that any deviation on that amount she could be cause for concern. If he were homeless and could make people see wrong, he'd want to use it to get more money to buy food, so it was a good idea. And he watched children cry and beg and appeal to Cinder's better nature for more.

Only to be rebuffed one and all. His sister was uncompromising in her "generosity" and wouldn't share more of their wealth with anyone. If he didn't know there was a good reason behind it, he might have felt bad.

And then it happened.

A short girl with darker skin and green hair came up for her turn and accepted one hundred lien from Cinder, and then she left without argument, only to turn around and come right back not fifteen seconds later.

Without question, Cinder gave her another hundred lien.

Jaune instantly sent Cinder a text, causing her scroll to vibrate in her pocket. His sister tensed and then relaxed, commenting to the girl that she had to take the call before handing her just a little more money – this one most obviously meant as a bribe on Cinder's part. To make her appear a generous and kind master.

"Is it her?" Cinder asked.

"Yes. She approached you twice and you gave her money twice. Green hair. Did you see different?"

"I saw a girl with green hair one time and then a smaller one with brown. It's as convincing a Semblance as I'd hoped for! I would have had no hope of detecting it if not for you!" Cinder was excited. "Follow her, keep her in sight. We must have this Semblance. It's just what we need!"

Just what their plan needed. Jaune didn't think either of them needed a devoted and probably desperate young woman slavishly loyal to them, but the plan took precedence over his wishes. He quickly began to follow her, hands in his pockets, as Cinder shook off the Semblance and regained her wits. She would use her scroll to track his and then loop around to ambush the girl so they could make their offer.

And it was to be an offer and not a fight. Even Cinder knew beating someone into submission was a poor way of earning their loyalty. It wouldn't – or shouldn't – be hard to convince someone with nothing to do as they wished. They could offer the girl a room in their home for one, and that would solve her most pressing issue.

The girl glanced back. Jaune couldn't tell if it was luck, him making a sound, or some instincts she'd picked up on the streets, but reddish eyes met his from a distance. Then the girl turned back and kept walking, dismissing him out of hand. He followed, turning the first left and then taking the second right as she moved down a new street. Rounding the corner, he came to a sudden halt.

It was a dead-end alleyway, and the girl was nowhere to be seen.

"Shit."

"What is it?" asked Cinder, having caught up with him. "You lost her?"

He'd lost her. One girl, a homeless beggar at that, and he'd up and let her give him the slip in the five minutes Cinder needed him to be on his game. Jaune couldn't believe the degree of shame that welled up inside him. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. The girl must have caught you in her Semblance. We underestimated her."

"I let you down."

"None of that," she said, giving him a firm and uncompromising look. "If her Semblance wasn't good enough to fool us both, we wouldn't be here looking to recruit her." Cinder raised her voice. "And that's what we want – to offer this young woman a chance to join us. A chance to have a roof over her head, a place to stay, and all the food she can eat. All she has to do is listen to my offer and consider what I have to say."

It was a good effort, and Jaune could imagine the girl hanging around to try and find out why they were following her. Sadly, it seemed like her caution overrode her curiosity, because no one came out and asked about the offer. Cinder clicked her tongue unhappily, but more at the girl than at him.

"We'll find her," he promised. "How hard can it be to find her again in this place? Green hair isn't exactly subtle."

"It's not, and we shall find her. Don't you worry. Watts put me in touch with a local man who works in information. We'll go visit him and see what he can do for us. If that fails, we'll trawl the streets looking for her for the rest of the week."

"And if that fails?"

"Then we abandon her," she said, shrugging. "Her Semblance will be useful but it's not essential, and we're on a time limit. Still, there are other things we need to do here. It'll be a year at least before we come back to begin our plan but there's some groundwork we can lay here and now."

They hadn't failed. They had simply come upon a setback. Cinder could be delusional like that, though some might have called it unshakable confidence instead. Either way, she applied that same delusion to him as well as to herself. Jaune had not failed her because Jaune could not fail her, and thus anything that he did that went against her initial instructions was obviously outside his control. Jaune would not – and could not – fail her.

They departed hand in hand, heading back into the city, and a certain green-haired girl watched with her head tilted to one side.

Next Chapter: 26th November

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