“Nice place,” Roman said.

Neo looked at the house with narrowed eyes, then shrugged one shoulder.

Her reaction aside, Roman really did think the house was nice. It was a sprawling two storey building with two towers on either end and a massive stone archway above its front door. The entire thing was made of a dull grey stone stacked together with the kind of care and precision that modern buildings just didn’t have.

And it was big.

A building that big would be prohibitively expensive in Vale where everything was squished together like sardines in a can. A house like this one with such a large lawn and garden could only have been afforded by a Schnee that won the lottery.

But then, this wasn’t Vale. There was plenty of room on the outskirts of the city, and as long as you could defend it from the Grimm the price for a large lot was rather low. He could see a few other homes of equal size here and there through manicured forests, probably the summer estates of council members or businessmen.

He saw a Bullhead coming in for a landing in the backyard, manicured grass billowing out as the vessel’s thrusters shifted into position and its landing gear deployed with a pneumatic hiss.

“Well, well, looks like the lady of the hour is here at last. Come along, Neo,” he said as he tossed his cane in the air and caught it midshaft with a snap. “It’s time to meet our new boss.”

He walked to the edge of the Bullhead landing area and waited, Neo half a step behind with her parasol opened and leaning on one shoulder. It took him a whole ten seconds before the strength of the sun above started cooking his head and he started to regret his heavy jacket.

Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a cigar and a lighter, eyeing the opening hatch of the Bullhead while he lit up and took his first calming puff.

The first two out of the Bullhead looked like goons. Oh, they weren’t wearing sharp uniforms like his own boys, but they had that distinctive look about them, the sort that said that they had a job to do and would do the bare minimum to accomplish it.

He was going to keep an eye on them, but not too much of one. Kinda like paying attention to a wasp when it entered a room. It might be an annoyance but it wasn’t worth panicking over.

The next two to step out of the Bullhead were far more interesting. One was a tall woman, her face masked by the shadows of a white hood. Her cloak whipped around her body, only revealing little glimpses. He might have been impressed at the display if the glimpses were worth anything, but she looked about as flat as a pancake under there and with none of the curves.

The other was a bombshell. Legs that went on for days, a dress so tight in all the right places it was a miracle it didn’t tear itself apart, and long, flowing hair that whipped back in the wind like something out of a shampoo commercial. Sharp, perilously intelligent yellow eyes locked onto Roman and didn’t let go for a moment as she descended from the Bullhead with the careless grace of someone very, very dangerous.

“Mister Torchwick,” the woman said in a voice that could have sold albums while reading a phone book. “And your lovely assistant.” Her attention wandered to Neo then snapped back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, I’m sure,” he said. “And Neo’s, of course.” Neo rolled her parasol in her hand, the tines spinning above her in a whirl of pink lace. She gave them a smug little grin.

When she extended a hand he tucked his cane under one arm and shook.

She was hot. Not the sort of hot that tightened his britches, but literally fever-warm and with a grip that had him holding back a wince as she met his gaze. She let go of his hand and started walking towards the building. “Come, let’s get out of the sun. We wouldn’t want you to get burned,” she purred.

He shared a glance with Neo and saw that same undertone of worry in her eyes that he was feeling. It was only ever the strong or insane or insanely strong ones that had time to play word games like that.

“So, hot stuff, from what I understood you need something... reacquired, lots of something.”

She stopped mid-step, turned around and placed a hand on his chest, the motion so fast and casual that he didn’t have time to step out of the way before she had him by the lapel of his jacket. “I would like to think that our arrangement will be one of mutual respect,” she said. “So please, call me Cinder.”

He swallowed and tried to hide the gesture by giving her his smarmiest grin. “Sure thing, Cinder.” He saw Neo tensing out of the corner of his eye, but she hadn’t moved to defend him yet.

Cinder let go of his jacket and when he inspected it he found a row of four brownish smudges where her fingers had burned into the fabric. He made a mental note to kill the woman from afar if they ever got into a fight. And to do it with ice dust.

They were led to a nice little gazebo set in the middle of a garden, a few stone-paved pathways leading up to the shady area where a pair of wicker couches waited with a table between them. The area was filled with bird song and he caught the movement of honey bees buzzing from one colorful flower to the next with their usual lack of grace.

Cinder’s companion, the girl in the white cloak, moved ahead of them a ways and bent over the flowers. She even touched one of them and allowed a bee to latch onto her pointer finger. Maybe she was a younger sibling to his maybe-future boss?

When they reached the gazebo, Cinder gestured to one seat then sat down across from it, one leg crossing over the other with the slow, languid motions of someone daring those around them to stare.

He sat and felt Neo moving to one of the pillars holding up the little glass-walled building. She folded her parasol and placed it between her feet. Cinder’s companion seemed perfectly willing to sit next to her friend and pet the bee she’d picked up.

“So,” he said once everyone was in their place. “What’s this job that you need doing, and why did you need the best thief in Remnant to do it?”

Cinder placed both hands on her knee and inspected him for a while. “I need Dust, Mister Torchwick. I need a lot of Dust.”

“I know a few stores. If you have a scroll I can give you their address. If you’re buying lots they might even give you a complimentary cup of coffee and foot massage,” he said before waving his hand flippantly. “The Schnee do know how to treat their clients right.”

“Oh, Mister Torchwick, I don’t think you understand just how much Dust I want.” Cinder gestured with one hand towards the house, and when he turned it was to find the little grass-haired goon walking over with a tray in both hands, a large jug of yellowish juice on top. The goon placed it in the middle of the gazebo on a table, then picked a scroll from next to a stack of crystalline cups and handed it to Cinder. She backed up with a bow and spun on one heel to walk back towards the house.

“Ohh,” Cinder’s companion said before reaching over and pouring herself a cup of lemonade. She then stuck her finger in her cup and shook it above the arm of her seat. A few drops splattered onto the wicker arm and she pushed the bee she’d been playing with towards the juice.

Cinder watched her for a moment, then focused on her scroll.

Roman’s own shook in his pocket. “I just sent you the transit information for every Dust shipment into Vale for the next half year. There is enough Dust there to feed the entire city’s infrastructure for months, not including what Dust will be purchased by Hunters or refined for household use. I want you to steal it.”

“All of it?”

“Every last granule, Mister Torchwick,” she said.

“That’s a tall order,” he said.

She shrugged one shoulder. “It is. But I am a generous woman and I have always rewarded hard work. And just think of the good it would do for your reputation as... how did you put it? Remnant's greatest thief?”

He was about to start digging into the offer to see what Cinder actually wanted when the girl in the cloak suddenly focused on him. “Mister Torchwick, you’re a criminal, right?” she asked. He had expected a childish voice from her actions alone but the girl’s tone was sharp and articulate.

“I’m not, as they say, on the right side of the law,” he said with a winning smile.

“Then maybe you could help me,” she said. Her hood moved back just enough for him to see the upwards curve of her lips.

“Are you certain that’s a good id--” Cinder began. She stopped mid-word when the hood turned her way.

“It’s okay Cinder. I’ve done this kind of thing before, I think. Roman here can just act as a foot in the door for me. Right, Mister Torchwick?” Hood turned his way again.

He resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. A moment ago he had the image of Cinder as the kind of woman most of the mob bosses in Vale wished they could be. Self assured, confident, hot enough to turn most men to putty and with the brains to back that up. And she had resources that he could only guess at. That she folded to Hood here had to mean something, but he wasn’t sure what. “I know my way around, if that’s what you mean.”

Hood reached up and tapped her lip. “Cinder’s mistress gave us each a task. She needs you for hers, so there’s no need to worry about me interfering too much,” she said. He had the impression that the last part was aimed at Cinder more than him.

“Yeah, and what task did she give a big girl like you?” he asked.

She tilted her head back, enough that he caught the faint glowing of two slanted eyes. A shiver ran down his back. “Oh, nothing I couldn’t do,” Hood said. “She just wants me to take over Vale’s underworld.”

***

Neo watched as Roman stared at the girl in the hood and the girl in the hood stared back. Then he laughed and she joined in a moment later with a giggle that set her teeth on edge.

Maybe Roman couldn’t see it, but she sure as hell could. The girl was a few lien short of a card.

Roman diverted the topic to payments and the Cinder woman was adding her own two lien to the conversation. The girl in the hood paid attention for a while, then slowly shifted her gaze up to Neo.

Neo found herself staring into eyes beneath the hood. Much of the girl's face was hidden in shadow, but those faintly glowing red-on-black eyes were easy to see. The way they studied her like bloody scalpels, peeling her back, like she wanted to take Neo apart and find out how she worked....

It sent a shiver down her spine and brought a little smile to her lips. Her own gaze was much the same, she knew from looking in the mirror and how people tended to go pale before she stabbed them. Seeing it returned was... exciting.

Feeling a little frisky, Neo blinked at Hood, switching her eye colours, then with the next blink turned them the same blood red as the girl’s own. It earned her a small amused noise in response that only made her grin all the wider.

Raising one hand palm up she gestured in the direction of Roman and Cinder, still deep in discussion, and rolled her eyes to convey her boredom. Hood seemed to get it, which was also really nice, and held her hands up, one holding the bee and the other empty.

Or it was, because some kind of praying mantis slightly bigger than Hood's whole hand crawled out from under her cloak and down to her arm to perch, carefully, on her smaller palm. Then with a quiet snap it was in her other hand, two halves of the bee tumbling away pathetically to the ground.

Neo's heart was thudding in her chest. That was a Grimm in her hand. Not to mention the sheer lack of reaction. Hood hadn't even blinked when the bee she'd been playing with had been brutally dismembered in her hand.

Be still my beating heart.

She watched with eager eyes as the Grimm mantis scuttled up Hood’s arm until it was hidden in the folds of her shirt. Neo had heard of people hiding an ace up their sleeve, but that was a whole new level of dangerous. And interesting.

Making a decision, the diminutive killer called up her semblance and threw an illusion between the two of them and Roman and Cinder.

Then she strutted up to Hood, crossing the short distance slowly... and slid into her lap. Her small size made it a perfect fit as she swung her legs to the side, putting Hood's now empty hand at her back. She leaned in close, close enough that her head was almost under the hood and she could see how the other girl's cheeks weren’t so pale anymore.

When Hood's gaze flickered down to her cleavage instead of murdering her, she knew she had made the right choice.

Pressing herself right up to the taller girl, she got close enough that Hood could feel Neo's breath on her lips... then she grinned widely and turned to look across the field, raising a hand to eye level and pointing in the direction she was looking, drawing Hood's bloody gaze along to the equally fancy house on the next lot over.

Neo's other hand reached out, curling in the air as if picking up a ball and holding it up to the light, before squeezing it into a fist, announcing exactly what she wanted to do, before hopping off Hood's lap and dragging her along, the illusion she created remaining behind.