32

"Player one wins!" A deep voice boomed out from the speakers, flashing lights dancing on the screen.

"Oh come on!" Ruby complained, much to the amusement of her smirking uncle.

"What's this? I thought you said you were going to kick my butt?" He asked in a teasing tone.

"You're an old man! How could I have lost to you!" She lamented, hanging her head in shame.

"Wha- I am not old!" He tried to defend himself, ignoring the fact that his hair was starting to gray. "I'm just not a pipsqueak like you! I'll have you know that I'm still young and awesome!"

"Yeah, right." Yang sarcastically agreed. "Is that your excuse for being an eternal bachelor?"

"I'm a busy guy! I just got back from a mission and this is how you treat me?"

"From the sounds of it you weren't even fighting grimm! You were just hanging around Mistral, probably getting drunk. Again," the blonde brawler deadpanned.

"First of all, I was not just hanging around Mistral getting drunk."

His nieces stared at him with obvious disbelief.

"I was doing other things too! You two should have some more faith in your amazing uncle! I was on a top secret mission, gathering information on human targets. That's way more dangerous than a bunch of grimm, you should be impressed!"

"I don't know, that sounds way more lame than killing a bunch of grimm." Ruby casually dismissed.

"See, but there's the kicker. When it comes to grimm, you can just kill them and be done with it. It's easy, I've killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands of grimm in my time. I could do it in my sleep!"

The girls rolled their eyes at his bragging.

"Humans though? They're not mindless creatures you can just hack and slash and shoot at. It's hours upon hours of recon, and then the actual confrontation comes and you have to fight someone who could be even smarter or stronger than you are… unless you're me, of course, because I'm the best."

"So you had to fight Haven's headmaster?" Yang asked.

"That is not something I can comment on at this time," Qrow dodged the question, "but I'm sure that all of your questions will be answered when Oz and good ol' Irondick finally get the councils to stop throwing paperwork at them."

"Should you really be calling General Ironwood that?" Ruby hesitantly questioned.

"What? You think he's gonna do something about it? I could take him in a fight, easy."

"Oh really?" Yang goaded him on. "Wow Uncle Qrow, you're pretty amazing. I can't believe you're strong enough to take on General Ironwood and the entire Atlas fleet which would come after you once you mopped the floor with him. I can't wait to go tell all those soldiers how you really feel, maybe they'll-"

"Woah, woah, woah there, firecracker." Qrow shoved a hand over her mouth. "There's no need for all of that."

"But Uncle Qrow," Ruby spoke up once more, "If you can't tell us about the secret mission, how are we supposed to know how awesome you are!"

Qrow was no stranger to the manipulations of his nieces though. "I can't tell you about the mission itself… but I can tell you a bit about what I got up to in Mistral. I wasn't spending every hour of the day working on that, and I got up to a bit of mischief in my free time."

"Ooohhhh! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" Ruby begged, stars in her eyes.

"I took a little trip to a tavern, and as soon as I walked in the doors I knew the place was dangerous. Gang members, common crooks, crooked huntsmen…. You name some sort of low life, they were there. One wrong move would've sent the whole place into a brawl that resulted in more than just black eyes. The floorboards were starting to rot in places, boots stuck to the floor because of all the spilled alcohol, some of the lights were flickering on and off…"

Though she wasn't as eager for "story time with Uncle Qrow" as her sister, he could tell that even Yang was being drawn in. It was good to see that he was still as good of a story teller as he'd always been.

"I had to keep my wits about me as I moved further in, trying to make my way up to the bar. You see, the types of people that hang out in a place like that have a bad tendency of spilling secrets once their lips are wet, so being right in the middle of the action is a great way to pick up on things people don't want you to know. But once I finally got my seat, I discovered something I wasn't prepared for at all. Something that I knew I couldn't hope to stand up against…" He trailed off, teasing them with suspense.

"Well? What was it?!" Yang impatiently demanded.

"It was… the length of the barmaid's skirt! You should have seen how short that thing was!"

His nieces groaned in displeasure as he laughed at their disappointment.

"Ugh! You are so lame! I wanted action, not a story about you chasing skirts!" Ruby complained, pounding on him rather weakly with her fists.

"Oh, there was action alright." He replied with a grin.

"GROSS! Go be lame somewhere else, I need to prepare for the next match…" Yang started pushing him out of their room.

"Fine! Fine…" he held up his hands in surrender. "You win, I'll get out of your hair. Be sure to kick butt out there, I can't have any of my drinking buddies thinking my niece is anything less than kickass."

She slammed the door shut on him.

"Tch. What a brat."

He took a swig from his flask, but before he could descend into thoughts about how his nieces were much nicer to be around when they were smaller and idolized him, his scroll went off.

"What do you want?"

"If you could make your way to my office, please? We've got some things to discuss." Oz's voice answered.

Figures. Can't even enjoy the Vytal festival as time off… If Oz kept this up, he really needed to start paying him overtime. Or, you know, at all.

When Roman walked into the room, he was, understandably, a bit confused about the sight before him.

If his info was correct, and he knew that it was, he had just been escorted to a very high profile meeting. Ozpin, headmaster of the school they were currently in, sat behind a fancy desk with Glynda Goodwitch, his assistant and, he assumed, booty call at his side.

When he stopped walking, Ironwood continued past him, stopping next to Winter Schnee, who, if rumors were to be believed, was his assistant and booty call.

Roman himself stood next to Neo, who, if rumors were to be believed… would brutally murder him even with all of these witnesses if he continued any further down that line of thought.

But while three powerful men and the wonderful women who supported them were present… that left an odd one out. Some blonde doofus who might be a first year at best, stood next to what Roman could only assume was some sort of clone semblance. The blue color was a bit odd, but he'd seen similar semblances before. That did leave the question of why a semblance like that was active right now though…

"Are you gonna make me fight a kid or something?" he asked as Neo put a hand on her weapon in preparation for a fight.

"Well that's just rude," the blue one snarked back at him. "After all the trouble I go through to get you released, this is how you repay me?"

Interesting.

Not only did the semblance talk instead of the boy, which wasn't something he'd seen before, but the boy was claiming to be the one responsible for this little deal? He waited a moment, noticing that the adults in the room could only sigh, not bothering to refute the statement… which meant there was truth to it?

But before he could question that any further, he was distracted by the elevator doors opening once more. Turning around, he found someone who fit in a lot better than the boy.

"What, did you get started without me?" Qrow Branwen asked, taking a sip from a flask.

"It seems that you are on time, for once." The Schnee snarked at him. Must be a bit of history between the two, he could use that…

"This is going to be painful enough as it is," Goodwitch interrupted their little spat, "I will ask that you two not act like students so we can get this over with."

The Schnee flushed in embarrassment, but Qrow only laughed, leaning against a wall off to the side.

"Cute," Roman cut in. "Now, the dear General over here informed me that I'm looking at both my past crimes being forgiven, and quite a hefty paycheck if I go along with whatever little plan you've cooked up. Would someone like to inform me of the details? You obviously need me if you're being this generous, but I'm not dumb enough to blindly accept."

"That is not what was being offered!" Goodbitch complained, but she obviously wasn't sure if she should be mad at him or the General.

"Indeed it was not." Ironwood glared at him.

"Well it's what's being offered now." Roman replied with a smile. "There is no way that the people in this room would have agreed to what was already offered if you didn't think the situation dire, and if that's the case, I think you're lowballing me. Consider this my counter offer."

That sent every person in the room with a stick up their ass into a tizzy. Qrow just took another sip, the boy looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, but the semblance…

Was he imagining things? Or did that semblance have emotions of its own? Because the blue version of the kid looked incredibly amused. He had assumed it to be a puppet of some sort, but now…

The sound of a cane hitting the ground brought everyone's attention to Ozpin.

"Perhaps, Mr. Torchwick, we should discuss what it is we want from you before you start giving counter offers."

"We've already offered far too much!" Ironwood complained. "You cannot be considering-"

"Nothing has been agreed to yet, James." Ozpin tried to placate him. "I am merely suggesting that everything be laid out on the table before the specifics of the arrangement be hashed out."

Ironwood begrudgingly accepted that.

"Second Thoughts, if you would give your… sales pitch?" The old man looked towards the blue semblance.

The blonde cringed as his blue counterpart started speaking. "Now, Roman, Neo, you can call me Second Thoughts, and as you've no doubt realized by now, I am indeed a semblance, but I am also fully sapient! Amazing, I know, feel free to applaud."

Neo, the little shit, actually started clapping, but Roman simply raised a brow. "Oh really? From where I'm standing, this looks more like some fucked up puppet show."

"Trying to peek behind the curtain already? Come now, you and I both know that a good performer never reveals his secrets… it's bad for business!"

Visually, the only thing going for this little act was the fact that this supposed "Second Thoughts" was blue, but Roman would admit that he played the part quite well. "Well if you're not willing to reveal your secrets, then I'm afraid we're at a bit of an impasse, aren't we?"

"On the contrary! While I like to hold my cards close to the chest, I'm more than willing to spill secrets about you!"

Roman wasn't so sure he liked this act anymore.

"For my first trick," the semblance began, "I had you locked away!"

"You had me locked away? That's not how I remember it."

"Indeed, I was not present. I left that up to my lovely assistants!"

Qrow looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "Before you get any ideas, I am not wearing a dress as your stagehand."

"How dare you put that image into my head, Qrow." Second Thoughts deadpanned. "Anyways, moving on! While I was not actually there, I was the mastermind behind the encounter. Surely you had questions about why the group ran into you, no?"

"Perhaps," Roman agreed, not wanting to give too much away.

"You might have thought that it was a matter of Cinder betraying you, or maybe you thought her plans had simply been moved up without her informing you. However, given recent events, which I'm sure you've heard of in some form or another, I think it's quite clear that things aren't going quite how she expected them to. It was actually me who informed them of your location."

"I see. And you expect me to believe that some sort of cloning semblance is also perfect for information gathering?"

"Why is that so hard to believe? Neo's semblance is bullshit as well! Overactive Imagination allows her to create physical illusions, but she practically teleports with it! You can't tell me that she's just making herself invisible and running away or something, there's nothing physical about that!"

He saw Neo stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and found himself doing the same. This kid knew a bit more than he should.

"But I guess I'm misleading you if I don't correct you," the blue brat continued. "It's not so much information gathering as it is having a pretty vast wealth of knowledge implanted into my head at the time of my unlocking. I know all sorts of wacky things! Did you know that your most likely future, had I not involved myself anyway, was to be eaten by a Griffon during Cinder's attack on the Vytal festival? It would have been awful! All that hard work, that talent, that potential! Wasted! And then you leave poor Neo behind to go after a pointless attempt at revenge… I mean really, you get eaten by a Griffon and she blames Ruby of all people just because she was in the area? If anything Cinder should have been blamed because it was her stupid plan…"

Looking around the room, Roman could tell that he wasn't the only one who was lost.

The blonde elbowed his semblance. "You're rambling, get to the point, Second."

"You didn't have to hit me to get my attention… Where was I? Oh! Right! Second Thought's second trick!" The semblance walked up to Neo, and Roman watched as her grip tightened on the handle of her umbrella.

"Woah, woah!" he held his blue hands up in surrender. "There's no need to threaten me! I just wanted to give you a bit more evidence, that's all, I'm not gonna touch you."

He leaned in close, whispering to the short girl, and Roman didn't know what he said, but it was obviously something pretty big based on Neo's reaction.

She didn't kill him! Didn't stab him… didn't even hit him!

Neo!

Instead, once the kid backed up, she just turned towards Roman and gave him a thumbs up and a smile.

Honestly, he was kind of impressed. Terrified, but impressed. He'd have to ask the kid for some tips. "Alright, you know some things you shouldn't. That's nice and all, but what does that have to do with our little deal?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Second replied with a smile. "You see, I like you two. I think you're interesting in all the right ways. And, with my vast wealth of knowledge and all of that, I've come to the conclusion that, at least for you, Roman, you have two possible futures. In one possibility, you die. The causes may vary, but it's pretty set in stone that you don't make it out alive. The other possibility is that you work with him!" He pointed to the blonde bozo. "And since I'm his semblance, that means working with me! Makes sense, right?"

"Right…" It didn't make sense at all. Was this a logical deduction? A future vision sort of deal? Or was he being threatened? Not what he'd expect out of "team good guy", but given his past work history he'd come to expect that sort of thing. "Work with me or die" was how he'd ended up with Cinder, after all.

"I've lost you. Okay then! Let me make this simple for you. You hate Cinder. We hate Cinder. The bitch stabbed me, you know. Not exactly a way to get in my good books. I'm proposing that you assist us in making what's left of her life quite miserable!"

"You certainly have my attention, but even with the recent developments regarding her, you do realize that we were following her orders for a reason, right? I'm not about to throw my life away trying to go after her when I could just as easily not do that, but also live. I hate to say it, but she's stronger than me and Neo combined."

"Hmm. Right. I had considered that…" He locked his focus on Neo, eyeing her up and down. That was concerning for a variety of reasons, but hey, it wasn't his funeral, so Roman didn't stop the brat. "Neo… I know this is rude to ask a lady, but how old are you?"

Roman didn't know why her age was relevant, but it seemed the important people in the room did.

"NO." Ironwood barked out. "I will not allow it! Are you insane?!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Jimmy for once. That is not happening." Qrow added on, putting away his alcohol for the first time since entering the room.

Ozpin, however…

"...why?" He waited for the initial outbursts to calm before continuing. "Knowing what you know… why are you suggesting such a thing?"

"Well, look, obviously it's not a good idea, but it's the least bad of several terrible ideas in my eyes. Who else are you thinking of?" He turned to the drunkard. "Do you want your nieces to deal with that Qrow?" And then to the Schnee, "What about your sister? Are you nominating her?" Back to Ozpin before continuing once more. "I think everyone who knows what I'm on about is aware that Pyrrha is who you're hoping for, but that's because you're lacking options. Winter is out because Ironwood wants her for something else, and everyone else is too old for it. Neo is a viable candidate!"

Roman wasn't sure if the topic they were dancing around was something that he and Neo should be avoiding like the plague, or something they should greedily be gunning for.

But one glance at Neo showed that she was interested.

It seemed his fate was sealed.