Roman's Desertion

In a dark room, lit only by a singular bulb overhead were 4 figures standing opposite to each other. A woman clad in red and another with neapolitan styled clothing stood across each other.

A young man and woman flank each side of the woman in red as she opens her mouth in frustration.

"What?!"

Words laced with poison left her mouth, and disbelief engrains itself over her features before being replaced with fury. Her palms started sparking and a flurry of flame conjured itself at her hands. The scroll under her hold begins to flash its display before crumbling under her grasp and falling to the concrete floor.

"Why. Did. He. Leave?"

She spoke slowly, calm to others who do not frequent her presence but to many under her command, her words were filled with scorn.

The person she questioned nods. Her heterochromatic eyes blinked in disregard for the rage of the woman standing opposite to her. Twirling her open umbrella and twisted it under the gentle caress of her fingers. Almost to signify her nonchalant attitude that the threat Cinder presented.

"You!"

The sound of glass shattering enters the ears of those present in the room. The dimly lit building offers a stark contrast to the wave of heat brought forth by Cinder. The table that sat in the middle was now crackling as embers left its top before splitting from the intense heat that had been introduced to it by Cinder.

"Ma'am"

Cinder snaps her head back to the subordinate that spoke. The green-haired woman wavers at the brightly burning background that Cinder stood in front of. The flames gently remind her that what she says could be her last.

"We could always coerce the other crime families to pick up where Roman left off?"

Emerald grit her teeth in fear, would Cinder think it was a foolish plan? Was she going to die for her incompetence? These thoughts ran in the mind of the subservient green-haired woman.

"Hmm, who would you propose could fit in our plans, dear Emerald?"

Emerald let her stiff body slacken from relief, she could still help Cinder. Her answer came at a perfect time. Emerald had seen the criminal networks in Vale before and she was confident one man could take the now missing top dog of the underworld's place as the new henchmen of Cinder.

"Hei Xiong, ma'am."

Cinder recognizes the name, one of the old bosses that ruled in the city before being eclipsed by the more popular and skilled Roman Torchwick. Cinder extinguishes the flames on her hands. Emerald relaxes as she now sees that her boss acknowledges her recommendation as something worthwhile to consider.

"I'll pay him a visit at Junior's, you two will stay low. I do not need any more setbacks, understand?"

"Yes!"

Cinder walks away, the clack of her glass heels only being the reminder of her presence in the room. As the door shut with an audible click, the young man settled on the wall behind him and released a breath he was unaware of holding.

"Didn't realize you had it in you Em."

The gray-haired young man jokingly states with a carefree attitude. Emerald lowered her head before responding to her partner.

"Mercury can you not?"

Mercury smirks before straightening himself and closing his fist and bringing it up towards his chin. Looking straight at the table that once stood before burning in Cinder's rage.

"What made Torchwick run? I thought he was supposed to be scared of Cinder."

The questioning tone had set a mood for the pair. Cinder was strong, and that was a given since she had received half the maiden's power. Cinder had Torchwick under her thumb yet for only a short time his fear of her waned and eventually died out.

"Don't ask me, I would like to know too." Emerald agreed, begrudgingly so.

Mercury releases his hand from his chin and walks in towards Emerald before swinging his hands outwards seemingly gesturing at the plan of action he had in mind.

"Well the answers are not going to come out of nowhere, now is it? I say we find out for ourselves."

Emerald crossed her brown arms in a questioning manner at the ridiculous idea Mercury had.

"Are you crazy?! Cinder just asked us to stay low."

Mercury held his hand up in the air to show surrender at Emerald's response. He slowly took steps around the room before elaborating further.

"Relax, we're not going to do anything too eye-catching. Just a few questions and who knows maybe Cinder would appreciate our thoughtfulness."

Mercury's plan was brilliant, he might as well be awarded with a certificate saying how much genius he radiated. Emerald could only say one thing as a response to the totally remarkable suggestion Mercury had.

"You are an idiot."

Mercury put his hand on his chest in a feint being sincere at her words.

"Thanks for the compliment Em. I knew that you appreciated my company all this time.

Emerald only rolled her dark red eyes in annoyance at the obvious sarcasm that Mercury always did whenever they conversed without Cinder being around.

"Shut it."

Though his suggestion did have some merit despite being an obviously bad idea. If they could keep their identities low they could possibly piece together who scared Torchwick away or at least what motivation he suddenly gained to do so.

Cinder knew that Torchwick ran since he did send his psychopathic little assassin instead of showing up personally, which they often did at meetings. The person that had Torchwick spooked could also go against Cinder, knowing who this person was could greatly benefit their plans.

"Alright but nothing too drastic."

Mercury mocks a salute at Emerald after her acceptance of his plan of action.

"You got it, boss"

"So where do we start?"

Mercury places his hand in his front right pocket and opens his scroll as its display beams into life. He fiddles with it before placing it in Emerald's outreached hand. Emerald looks at the image shown

"We can start with this."

Emerald looks at the image and understands what Mercury was insinuating.

"Wasn't this-

"The first instance of Torchwick getting his supply stolen or destroyed by someone." Mercury cuts her question off.

"So it would seem."

The image shown was the aftermath of a dust explosion that happened more than a week ago in the industrial district. It was the scene where Blake and Hanns had sent the dust round Ruby had made for them to steal Torchwick's dust.

In an unknown hideout…

Torchwick fills his time by pacing around the room with a worried look on his face. The constant and repeated rhythm of his expensive-looking shoes stomping on the ground was silenced when a shorter woman with pink and brown hair suddenly appeared at the entrance, smirking at her boss' anxious look.

"Don't look at me like that Neo, you know how much she's capable of."

The young woman only responds by placing a finger on the edges of her smile. Roman sighs out and turns to face his companion.

"Yeah, yeah, I can't help it okay? Good to see you safe, Neo."

Neo prances around towards the kitchen where a minute later she comes back to sit on the couch Torchwick had placed in the middle of the room.

She takes out a comically large spoon and cheerfully digs into her favorite choice of a frozen treat, her namesake of Neapolitan ice cream. While she gleefully takes bite after bite of the delicious treat she retrieved from the fridge.

Roman, now free of his anxiousness, takes out his cigar from his back pocket and lights it up using his lighter before placing it in between his mouth. With a huff, he lets out a smoke before talking to Neo.

"When will you be ready to go?"

Neo pouts at the interruption of her enjoying her dessert. Her lips were lined with the various flavors that made up Neapolitan ice cream. While her comically large spoon was still digging out more of the ice cream.

"Oh come on, you can't just use that as an excuse," Torchick says while rolling his eyes.

Neo nudges her head in an accusatory way before Torchwick taps his cane in annoyance and raises his voice in acceptance.

"Fine! We can stay here for a while, it'll take that flame bitch a long time to find this place."

Torchwick had multiple bases around Vale. The majority were taken out of commission when the cops started policing the industrial district. He couldn't use them since the heat that the dust bomb incident drew too much attention.

Neo responds by lifting up her right arm, comically large spoon in hand, and twirls it around as if to make Torchwick elaborate on his drastic change in plan.

"That little kitty is making things hard for me, but it wasn't her, Neo. It's the thing that made that gigantic explosion in the middle of town."

Neo nodded in understanding, noticing the look of seriousness on Roman's face. It was a pretty large explosion, it practically sounded throughout the entirety of Vale.

"Do you realize how much time it took for me to heal the wounds that came from those bits of metal made? A whole day! Not only that, if you didn't notice...It flattened the whole block!"

Roman showed his point by flaring his arms out and making an explosion noise at the end of his explanation. Neo tilts her head and places a finger on her cheek at Roman's show.

"It's why we're moving, kitty cat has been accosting me constantly and everytime she does she leaves the place in an inferno!"

He had experience a total of three separate incidents where a bomb has blown up more of his base of operations. It was getting harder for Roman to actually do what he was being threatened for. It all started with her and that machine she brought with her.

Neo gestures with a knife cutting her throat.

"No, I don't know who she is. I can't just take her out, although the thing said its name. Blaire? Blane? Blade? Brake? Yes, Brake was it but I've dug through dozens of paperwork just to see who she is but I couldn't find her in Vale's registry."

Roman vaguely remembers the name that the machine called out, though he was too busy being awestruck and horrified at the massive gun barrel that stared at his face while the perpetrator shot at him while he desperately tried to block it in seconds.

Neo responds by pointing her finger at her head.

"Well, I've seen much weirder names out there Neo."

Neo stretched her arms out before placing her spoon and emptying bucket of ice cream on the table that was present in front of the couch. She got up with a hop and walked over to the window and gestured her hands to Roman and pointed to the outside.

"Anywhere but here Neo. We can always build up another criminal empire. For now I can't do that in the other kingdoms since I'm sure Cinder's got a vendetta against me now. Though I'd prefer facing off against her than fighting that car that nearly vaporized me."

Neo then puts her hands in a triangle before making claws with her hands and trying to menacingly growl but couldn't since she's mute.

"Are you crazy?! Well you are but do you really think we could lose heat there of all places?"

Neo simply nods at Romans questioning. Roman thought of it for a moment before sighing deeply and puffing out smoke.

"And they tell me that you're the crazy one. It's a good place to lose them for now."

Neo goes back to her seat and scoops up more ice cream before giggling at the taste. Roman looks at the nearby map and closes his eyes, thinking of the idea before snuffing out his cigar on an ashtray and fixing his clothes.

"Let's just hope I don't die to a griffon or something on the way there."