5 First target

Neo and Blake were lead into Roman's secret hideout. It was an abandoned studio converted to an apartment. It was meant to be a place to lie low after Heists, so windows were limited.

They quickly settled in and Neopolitan even showed Neo her closet full of white, pink and black outfits. Though she just kept piling clothes after clothes on her counterpart and ended up playing dress up with some outfits until it reached One in the morning. Neopolitan reluctantly left with Roman after he complained about how tired he was for the fourty-seventh time.

Now, Neo was getting ready to take a shower. Though she found the odd couple of glances cast by Blake on her somewhat irritating.

"What is it, Blake..? Did you want to say something? Perhaps peek on me in the shower? I have no issue as long as I don't actually catch you doing it" Neo kicked off her pants outside the bathroom and sent them flying into Blake's lap.

"NO! I was just thinking it'd be weird for you since you were a guy before but.." Blake stopped and looked at Neo's nonchalant expression.

"Oh you think I was a virgin? Or that I haven't seen naked women? I've seen it all, Blake. I can appreciate it all right... I definitely do. But I don't 'lose myself' in it. How would you appreciate it then? I'm also a bit older than you. I was like twenty-four in my last life" Neo started to explain as she got in the shower. Blake was too intrigued by this topic to let her shower in peace though.

"Right. That whole 'reincarnator' stuff. I still seldom believe it.. Can you prove it?" Blake got close to the door to hear her response.

"Pretty sure I can right now. I got stuff in my inventory I got from the system. I was gonna use it soon anyway, might as well be now. Come on in" Neo invited her as Blake gulped and slowly walked in. Burning the image of her new friend washing herself with a scrubber and taking out a pill and a grey bottle of liquid from nowhere.

"Huh-Oh, a pill? Sorry, I was thinking about something. What are they for?" Blake composed herself pretty quickly.

"One is an aura enhancer. It enhances all of the effects relating to aura. Control, size, healing.. That kind of stuff. The interesting pill is the other one. This is a body purification elixr. It's a thing some people do to expel all of the impurities within your body. I want you to pay attention to this, okay"

Neo then popped the pill in her mouth and washed it down with the elixr. She felt a warm and gentle sensation before it felt as if all her muscles were clenched in pain. A black, oily substance started to leak from her pores. It just as quickly was washed away, down into the drain. To Blake it looked as if she was covered in thick ink for half a minute before it washed away, revealing a changed Neo.

There was a qualitive change in her skin complexion. It was spotless and her hair, though wet, was shiny and slightly longer. The length now reached her thighs, when it was previously lower back level. Her eyes looked brighter. On top of this though, was an increase in her aura. It now looked brighter as it flickered against the warm water, making her slightly glow.

"See? Believe me now? That was kind of uncomfortable though. Felt like my body was being squeezed like a wet rag.." Neo scrubbed herself down more and started to think.

~I think I became a 'jade beauty' with that elixr. If this were some Xianxia novel I'd be hearing a lot of 'city toppling beauty' comments. Is Blake still..~ She turned to Blake again as she started on her hair.

Blake seemed to be in a trance. She was hyper focused now and it creeped Neo out.

"Blake? Demonstration is over now" Neo cleared her throat to get her attention.

[Host has taken Body Purification Elixr! Charm has been boosted by 2x. Muscle development has been altered. Host will no longer develop muscle in the traditional sense and will now develop in density, rather than volume. Dexterity has been boosted by 1.5x. Aura has been boosted by 2x] The system informed her, taking her attention away from Blake.

~That's pretty good! Oh, it's the damn Charm boost.. That's why she's staring~ Neo nodded her head and finished showering. Excusing Blake due to the unforseen Charm boost effect.

"Okay Blake, time to go to bed" Putting a towel on seemed to snap Blake out of it now.

"I-What? That was... actually kind of cool. Can you get more of those?" Blake followed her as she put on one of Neopolitan's one piece undergarments she wears under her outfit.

"There's a shop but I need points for that. So I gotta off some reincarnators first. I'll use the system to help me look tomorrow. For now, I'm tired. Grab any bed you want, I'm going to dreamland" Neo then crawled into the nearest bed and buried her head in a pillow.

~What is my life becoming? Okay, baby steps Blake.. Just go to sleep and wait until the Beacon entrance exams~ Blake sighed at the thought then promptly went to bed before she had any more weird thoughts about her new partner.

-The next morning, Vale city streets-

Neo and Blake were out roaming the docks, which Neo recognized as the place where the original cast met Sun. They had come here on Neo's insistence to eat breakfast and have a look around. Blake was happy just to eat the delicious tuna breakfast meal. As they were looking at all the shops, Neo heard a notification from the system.

[Ding! Reincarnator target located. Target 245m North]

"Blake the system just picked someone up. Straight ahead. Come on!" Neo picked up the pace and walked ahead of her.

"Another person from the Omniverse? Can I talk to them before you.. You know? I'm interested to see what they're like" Blake picked up her pace and bumped into Neo's back suddenly.

"Are you sure... Are you ABSOLUTELY sure, Blake?" Neo turned to her with dead-fish eyes.

"Y..Yeah? What? What's that look for?" Blake shivered a bit before Neo pointed ahead to what Blake would consider as some guy playing dress up.

He had worn a giant overcoat consisting of only black and red. A hood whose shadow covered his upper face in shadow. His weapon was a black katana strapped to his waist. His hair was black and his eyes were red. Overall, his appearance screamed just one thing to Neo.

Edgelord.

Then they heard his voice. To Neo it sounded like an unholy mix of Shadow the Hedgehog and Solid Snake.

Neo almost died from cringe once she saw the inscription on his blade, too. It just read "Malevolence". Blake was suddenly alarmed at Neo's sudden reaction as she fell to her knees and held her head in one hand.

"N..Neo? Are you okay? He looks strong.. Maybe you should consider holding back and-" She couldn't even finish before Blake felt a hand run through her black hair.

"Oh, Blake.. It's you. It's been a long time" The Edgelord spoke as she shivered and turned to face him.

"What..? Who are you?" Blake tried to signal Neo to get up.

"Me? I am Ebony. Ebony Darkness Ravenway. We met back when we were kids. But my parents died.. You see, I was an orphan after we parted. Then I was adopted by the Rose family.. They.. Those bastards abused me. I starved for three months until I could get enough money to move off Patch and come to Vale. You see, I learned of-" He started going over more details about his life while Blake's eyes died a little more as he went on.

She now understood why the light in Neo's eyes died. She knew what would happen. Blake looked at her partner, just to see her stand up with a calm 'smile'. She interrupted the man whose name she already forgot and gestured Blake to get up too.

"Ah.. the criminal, Neopolitan. I almost didn't see you there. Are you prepared to die? Blake, you be my backup. We'll take her together!" He drew his katana and pointed it at Neo.

The people around had been alerted as soon as he drew his weapon. Neo had on her most innocent expression as she held her hands up, smirking at him.

"No.. you WANT to be captured. Time to die, you scum.." He swung a dark-looking aura filled sword at her but a blue, telekinetic aura stopped him before it hit.

"What is the meaning of this attack!?" A mature, blonde woman with a riding crop in her hand stormed over.

"Hmph... It's obvious! She's a dust thief and plans to bring down the City of Vale, Woman" The man snorted and responded rudely, drawing the Blonde's ire.

"Um.. Ma'am? He started attacking me and said some weird things I don't really get.. I think he's crazy or something? I just said I was going to be a Huntress and he started monologuing and mentioned something about 'Salem'. I think he's trying to kill me for some weird cult" Neo put on her 'thinking' expression.

"WHAT!? She's-" But before he could finish, the Blonde covered his mouth in her aura and fully bound him in a tight telekinetic hold.

"Thank you very much for the information, Young Lady.. I'm a Huntress. Glynda Goodwitch of Beacon Academy. I'd like you to come to the Academy tomorrow and speak to the Headmaster about this incident. For now, I need to take him to a holding cell in Vale prison until I can secure a prisoner transport Bullhead to Beacon. Good day" She telekinetically dragged the Young Man away to Vale Police Department.

"Wow... that was.." Blake couldn't find the words but Neo quickly took her by the arm and dragged her into an alley.

"Shh.. Don't wanna talk about it in public. He's gotta die in prison and I have a plan.." She pulls out her new scroll and calls Roman.

"Well if it isn't Copy and Cat. What do you need?" Roman chuckled at his wordplay.

"That's slightly clever but I have a target. He's in Vale's prison right now, about to be taken to Beacon. He needs to die before he gets there. I need you to contact Cinder and play it off like something 'caught your eye'. Tell her you found out some ex-Huntsman is being taken to see Ozpin about a possible plot to 'bring Vale down'. There's a bunch of witnesses that already heard that line from him so it shouldn't be hard to get her to mobilize and kill any possible leak. Got it?" Neo was watching the crowded streets slowly dissipate as she heard snickering from Roman on the other line.

"You are one devious SOB.. I'll let her know as innocently as I can. Even if she doesn't take the bait, my partner and I can stroll in and assassinate him easy. Oh she'll love your little plot.. Haha! I'll see you two tomorrow. I'll be busy 'procuring' more dust. Ciao" Roman hung up and Neo put her scroll away.

"Remind me not to piss you off.." Blake muttered.

"Oh don't be scared.. That plan has a few holes in it but either way, he'll be locked up and I can access him later on if Cinder doesn't kill him with fire. God I hope she does... That was so cringey.." Neo held her face.

"Right.. Why did he pretend he knew me?" Blake shuddered.

"Probably thought this was a really lucid dream, maybe? I dunno. Wanna keep exploring the City? Maybe get in some pre-school training?" Neo offered.

"Gladly" Blake smiled and walked alongside her partner.

-Cinder's hideout-

"Someone knows..? How!? Vale PD..? I'll know if you're lying.. Fine" Cinder hung up and almost threw her scroll across the room.

"Emerald, Mercury. I need you to kill someone.." Cinder's eyes burned with anger.