Well it had been a week and so far, Cinder's little infiltration seemed to be going well. At least according to Neo. Their fraudulent papers had held up, which Roman had not been counting on. Sure, he was a pretty damn good forger himself, but getting the headmaster of Haven to really sign off on their papers?
That was impressive. In a terrible sort of way.
Clearly, someone had put some actual thought into this entire scheme. Whatever the hell it was. He somehow doubted it was Cinder herself: Sure, she was brutal and had some cunning (and power to back it up), and she could be
reasonable at times, but she was too quick to fry people who disagreed with her to be the real brains of the operation.
The fact she looked like a pornstar in her school uniform may have also been a red flag. But hell, he remembered how things were when he was at Beacon. You couldn't go five steps without running into a supermodel looking woman! Or a pornstar looking woman! Or
both!
Ah, those were the days. Well, back to work.
He was secure in one of his favorite safe houses, relaxing in a bathrobe and looking over the reports from his men. Hey, even a criminal empire ran on paperwork. He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Godsdamnit this woman is gonna ruin me," he muttered, "I'm up to my eyeballs in fucking debt! What the hell am I gonna do…?"
The door alert went off. He checked the video feed from his security cameras, and sighed heavily. He groaned again.
"Really? Fucking again?" Roman hung his head low, holding it between his hands.
"Uggh…" He was expecting these guests, at least, but dammit, he
really needed some 'me time'.
Then again, since most of his 'me time' lately involved ruminating over how
fucked he was, he supposed he may as well get back to work.
"Should've just stuck to boosting cars," he muttered, getting up and rummaging around in his closet to get dressed, "Should've just stuck to boosting jewels, and romancing lonely trophy wives, but nooooo… Got too damn
greedy, didn't you Roman? You just
had to think being handsome, badass and clever meant you should go right to the top!"
Properly attired (and with his make up on-He had
standards, thank you very much!), he turned to the door where his unwanted guests had been patiently waiting.
He snapped his fingers and the door swung open. He sat back in his chair, looking relaxed as an exceptionally attractive young woman with dark skin, shimmering white hair, and a purple suit strode in with a warm, grateful smile. Behind her, following like a shadow, was a tall, thin man in a dapper blue suit and fedora, his face covered by a gas mask as he walked with a canesword.
"Thank you for having us, Mister Torchwick," the young lady gushed, dimples appearing in her cheeks as she smiled, "I'm a
huge fan! That mid-air
Queen of Aurora heist was
amazing!"
Roman allowed himself a charming smile. Well! At least this associate of Cinder's could do flattery.
"Thanks! Took some doing, but hey: Nobody had robbed a casino airship that was also hauling a billion lien worth of Dust at the same time. Somebody had to put that in the record books," he said, modestly buffing his nails against his chest. "You are?"
"Iridescent," she said cheerfully, "This is my associate, Mister Slick. We recently took control of the Sanusian Deathmatch Fighting League."
"Yes, I've seen your work,' Roman observed. "Never quite my scene."
"Oh?" Iridescent asked, tilting her head almost cutely. Roman nodded, and waved a hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I see the monetary appeal of making schlubs fight in gladiatorial death matches against Grimm and each other, but it's a little too infrastructure heavy for my tastes. Plus, human trafficking was never really my
thing. No offense."
"None taken," Iridescent said cheerfully, "I was born to it. My parents were slave fighters."
Roman nodded slowly.
"That right?"
"Yup!" She said, still
far too light in tone, "My dad used to be a landed noble, but he lost it all gambling and had to make a living somehow. Met my mom, they got together, and had me! Apparently, they were fighting for my freedom when they died."
"Uh… Yeah," Roman managed, "Sorry about that?"
Iridescent shrugged. Slick remained motionless, and expressionless, as he had from the beginning.
"I was raised to be a lure, a gofur-Anything they wanted me to do, really," she said, "I was plotting to get my revenge, take over. It was a very long, involved plan. Was going to take years."
Her smile changed tone, and became utterly dreamy. She held her fists between her large breasts.
"Then… Then, I met
him," she sighed, "And everything changed!"
"Him? Him who?" Roman asked, arching an eyebrow.
"He was just supposed to be another mark," Iridescent explained, "He was wandering just outside of Radian, a young, Hunter-in-Training. A real white knight. I pretended to be attacked by bandits, and he beat them all! I asked him to please free my village from the headman… And he accepted! He wandered right into our clutches, and we put him to work fighting in the pits!"
"Uh huh," Roman said, nodding slowly.
"He fought so heroically!" Iridescent went on, "Never giving up! Oh, it set my heart ablaze to watch him fight! He reminded me of my father, that grim determination, the
hatred in his eyes."
"Uh huh," Roman added, again nodding. It was best to just let crazy dames stay lost in their reminiscing. Much safer that way. It was one of many reasons he was grateful Neo was mute.
"Then…" Here Iridescent's grin grew, her teeth shining, "
Then, one wonderful night… He used an Aura Blade, and
killed the Boss and all of his lieutenants! All in a single blast! In one fell swoop, he had liberated me in the most
violent, destructive way possible!" She sighed happily.
"I offered myself to him, but he ran out into the night! I'd thought he'd been lost to me forever… But then… I found him."
Mister Slick held up a Scroll. Some of the media footage of the dock incident played. The vid froze on an image of a familiar blond in armor. Roman's heart sank into the pit of his stomach.
Oh no…
"Yes," Iridescent giggled like a schoolgirl. She tucked her hands behind her back and smiled shyly at him. "I was wondering… Would you help me get his attention, Mister Torchwick? I would be ever so grateful."
"I don't think Cinder would be happy," Roman managed. Yeah he was appealing to their mutual boss, but for good reason.
Iridescent snorted.
"As long as the Deathmatch League is giving her fighters and money, why should she care?" Her eyes blazed.
"Besides," she went on, an unhealthy light in her blue eyes as she grinned hungrily, "I'm not about to let those
whores get their hands on
my Jaune."
Roman mentally sighed.
Seriously Kid? Another one?
Well… Hopefully the Kid had gotten some rest during the break. He was going to need it.
And maybe Cinder's non-existent standards for hiring would play to his advantage this time.
"What did you have in mind?" Roman asked, bracing himself.
- - -
Yang checked over her makeup in the RWBY dorm mirror. Like she had the last five times. It wasn't likely to have changed much in the last ten minutes, but you never knew.
She looked over her outfit: A black and yellow striped tank top held up with two black strips tied around the back of her neck, with her muscular stomach fully displayed. Over this was a short black jacket. Her wide hips were held in a tight black skirt, with yellow stripes over her thighs. All of this set off with black, calf-length boots. All in all, she thought she looked as hot as she could manage.
It was an outfit she'd put together over the semester, especially for this date. She was very good at that.
"Don't be so nervous," Blake commented from her bunk.
"I'm not nervous!" Yang insisted. She grinned.
"I'm charged up for this! Yeah! Full of anticipation!"
Ruby pouted from a desk, Crescent Rose half-assembled in front of her.
"Yang," she whined, "Don't lie, okay?"
Yang blew out a breath.
"Fine, I'm a little nervous," she said. She walked over to Ruby and smiled. "But I bet I won't be half as nervous as you will be."
"HA!" Ruby cried with a cocky grin, "I-I'll be totally calm for my date! Yeah! No nerves here!"
"Sure, Rubes, sure," Yang chuckled, ruffling her little sister's hair affectionately. Ruby scowled, and brushed her hands away.
"Ugh, stop that! I can't wait until I'm tall enough for people to not do that," Ruby grumbled.
Yang glanced over at Weiss, who was texting furiously on her Scroll. She raised an eyebrow.
"You got anything to say, Weiss-cream?" She asked.
Weiss glanced up, and shrugged.
"No, nothing," she said, "Just hope you're not
too disappointed in Arc."
Yang snorted.
"I don't think I will be," she stated. "What's with the
cold, anyway? Thought you made up with Jaune?"
"I'm fine with Arc, mostly," Weiss sniffed, "But he's such a shameless playboy! Carrying on with three women!"
"We're each just going on a date with him," Yang pointed out, "We're all aware of it." She squeezed Ruby's shoulder comfortingly. "And you're pretty forgiving of Neptune flirting with anything hot and female."
Weiss flushed.
"I-I'm not! He's just… You know, he appreciates beauty," she muttered, "And his eyes are only for me!" She brushed back her hair with a scowl. "He's only going out with me! He's just
talking! And
looking! I-I can forgive that! He did protect me in battle!"
"So did Jaune," Blake quipped. Weiss blushed heavily.
"He protected
all of us," Weiss growled, "That doesn't mean I'm just going to-to accept being second or third place in his heart!"
"Neither are we," Yang said with a smirk, patting Ruby's shoulder again, "But it's fine to just go out and have some fun."
"Then why are you so nervous?" Weiss shot back. Yang hummed, and shrugged.
"I guess you're right. Thanks Weiss!" Yang said cheerfully. "I'm going to go enjoy my date with Jaune! With or without your approval!"
"You're so motivational, Weiss," Blake observed, turning the page on her book. Ruby snickered, even as Weiss huffed.
"Ugh! Whatever! I'll just be looking forward to a proper date with a
proper man, thank you very much!"
There was a knock at the door. Yang walked over to it, and opened it up with a bright smile.
"Hey Jaune~," she said cheerfully. Her smile grew a bit as she looked him over: He had taken the blue slacks from the suit, with a partially buttoned up white button-up undershirt, and combined them with a brown leather jacket. He'd arranged his messy hair into a still messy 'do, but there was a method to the chaos that made it look more tasteful.
He smiled warmly, and presented a single flower to her-A rose.
"Hey Yang," he said. "You look amazing."
"Thanks," Yang said, taking the flower and turning it around in her hands, "Nice jacket. Where'd you get it?"
"I uh, I asked Schwartz if he had anything I could borrow," Jaune said, "He said I looked good in this."
"He was right," Yang replied. She set the rose down in a glass full of water, and took his arm. "Don't wait up, girls~!"
"Hey Jaune have a good time-!" Ruby said quickly, waving, before Yang shut the door. She pouted a bit. Blake then rose from her bed, and pulled on her own jacket. Ruby blinked.
"What are you doing?" Ruby asked.
"Well, we're going to follow them, aren't we?" Blake asked. Ruby blushed.
"I-I mean… Um… Sh-Should we?" She asked.
"You don't want to?" Blake asked, raising an eyebrow. Ruby flushed.
"I-I mean, yeah, I do, but isn't that… Weird? Wouldn't we look crazy?"
"What's this 'we' stuff?" Weiss groused. "Are you kidding? Nobody would go and spy on their date!"
There was another knock at the door. Blake opened it, and Pyrrha stepped in. She was dressed in a hoodie and wearing sunglasses.
"R-Ruby," Pyrrha said, nervously, "Um, I realize it would be a bit unfair if I went spying on Jaune and Yang's date alone, so… Would you like to join me?"
A beat. Nora stuck her head into the room too, wearing a fake mustache and a broad grin.
"Come on! It's not stalking if we're all going!" Nora said cheerfully.
Ruby looked over at Weiss triumphantly. The platinum blonde reached out, grabbed a pillow, pressed it against her face, and
screamed into it for a good ten seconds. She then dropped the pillow, sighed, and grabbed her own jacket.
"Fine. If we must," she grumbled.
- - -
Yang's outfit.
