Chapter 19

-[Roman Torchwick]-

In a warehouse with a decent number of shipping containers, an orange haired man in a white coat and a black bowler hat stared questioningly at a henchman in a black suit.

"What do you mean you don't know where they are?" He asked in confusion.

"They've been gone for almost a day and they haven't reported back." The goon answered, causing the orange haired man to let out a frustration groan.

"I knew those filthy animals weren't right for the job." Roman said, taking a puff from his cigar, irritation clear on his face.

He was in the middle of an alliance that he had no say in. One thing he had learnt in all his life was how to survive and if that meant bowing his head for the meantime, that was exactly what he would do.

Wait until the right moment and strike…

"Warn the rest of them to steer clear of that shop and continue with the other ones." Roman said, walking away.

'As if it were that simple…' he thought.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. The men he sent to raid a few of the dust shops in Vale either went missing or were repelled by robotic security and thrown into jail.

Fortunately, he had more than a few contacts and dealings with the police so it wasn't difficult to pull them out of custody.

Other than the failures in robbing those dust shops, the white fang were getting belligerent with how many of them were caught. Though he pulled most of them out of jail, there was only so much that he could do without exposing his connections to the public.

Just like him, the white fang were reluctant to work together. It was only the power of their leader, Adam Taurus that kept them in line…mostly.

Even Adam was getting weary with the lack of success and he knew how short tempered and impulsive the bull faunus was.

There were shortages of competent goons but the connections he had made in his life were more important for him to waste it on them.

Another important matter were the reports from those he managed to free. The robots that guarded the different dust shops were of identical builds and appearance.

Taking another puff, he looked to the side as the air shimmered like glass to reveal an ice cream themed young woman with an umbrella in her hand.

"Lurking around as always, Neo." He muttered, gaining a smug look from her. "I have a job for you."

He took out a paper from his coat which was a list of all the dust shops with the robot guards. "I need you to meet with a contact of mine to find out everything you can about the shops on this list."

-[Wynne]-

In the freezing tundra of solitas, Wynne held a wide grin on his face as he sat comfortably on a floating glyph.

In front of him was a small pack of Sabyr grimm fighting and struggling against a handful of similar grimm of white ethereal color.

He had finally figured out how the summoning aspect of his glyphs worked. The need for a Schnee to have faced an opponent that caused them to push past who they were was a bit misunderstood from his perspective.

Important moments or stressful moments most times cause the mind to work much harder than usual. In those kinds of situations, the image of the 'obstacle' is imprinted vividly into the mind, allowing them to be created and called forth through the glyphs.

Whether his take on it was affected by his limitless potential and adaptation ability taking effect on his semblance or not was questionable but the most important part was that it worked.

His summoned grimm were mentally connected to him, allowing him to command them manually or put them on autopilot. He smirked as the two battling herds destroyed each other, leaving only two of his own grimm left.

The howling or another herd was heard, most likely drawn by the sounds of battle to his location.

As they came into view, he smirked as he dispersed his summons. Upon seeing him, the sabyrs rushed toward him, baring their fangs.

'What better time than now to test this?' He thought as the wind picked up around him.

As the grimm got closer, the wind became visibly disturbed as it quickly swirled around Wynne, slowing their advances.

Wynne smirked as his eyes seemed to glow as he increased the amount of aura he used to generate the whirlwind around him, turning it into a full blown tornado that picked up the herd of grimm.

With some intent, the tornado was tinted with shards of ice, skewering the grimm caught within it.

Letting the tornado die down, he observed the result of his actions with a proud smile.

"I may not be some fairytale maiden but I'm not too far behind." He muttered as his scroll rang in his pocket, causing him to raise a brow.

Winter was still avoiding him after the whole dinner fiasco and Willow was busy with her rehabilitation, confusing him on who it could be.

'Probably Weiss or Ironwood.' He thought as he pulled out the device, surprised to see that it was neither of them.

Rather, it was a text from an unknown number.

Reading the text, he let out a chuckle as he dusted his clothing. Standing to his feet, a teleportation glyph appeared beneath his feet teleporting him away.

The exit glyph appeared in Vale, releasing him in the changing room of the very clothing store Weiss and the rest of team RWBY brought him to earlier.

He pulled out his black wig and glasses from a storage glyph, putting them on as well as changing to more casual clothes.

He then made his way out of the store with no one being the wiser. Opposite the store was a black haired girl with a bow over her head who was cautiously looking around.

"You're practically screaming suspicion with the way you're scouting the area." He said dryly, drawing her attention as he walked over to her.

Her reaction was as expected as she jumped a bit. "W-what are yo-" she stopped herself halfway as she saw the blue eyes behind the glasses. "Wynne?"

"In the flesh. I'll admit that I was surprised when you texted me. I didn't expect to hear from you anytime soon." He said, pushing the glasses back up to cover his eyes.

"You're the one who said I should reach out to you when I've cooled off." Blake said, causing him to smirk.

"Clearly you're still on edge. Where's the rest of your team?" Wynne asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

"They're at Beacon. Is that a problem?" She countered.

He shook his head at her wary behavior. "Not at all. I'm sure you'll only get more anxious if I postpone this talk." He said, watching confusion etch itself on her face.

His plans and goals were not limited to just Atlas but to Remnant as a whole. The white fang was a large problem that he was going to solve while expanding his reach at the same time.

He turned to face her, staring her straight in the eyes. "How would you like to help me expand Kuo Kuana?"