Chapter 14: -And secure our bases

~Sid’s POV~

It would be a terrible understatement to say that I was nervous about what I had planned to accomplish today with the expected visit of a certain sibling.

But my worries started way before the beginning of this day, specifically two days ago when I found myself dealing with my newest problem at the workplace.

The frequent visiting of a certain pink-and-brown-haired ‘ghost’ that had started to be present around the bar ever since Blake had gone for Beacon had left me particularly guarded and incredibly careful of making my trips back home with haste and attention over any stalkers.

Her mere presence leaving me in a strange state of nervousness around this young woman, the kind of psychological warfare that one either disliked and outright hated to face against on a daily basis and… it wasn’t all.

Despite the odd presence of such a colorful individual, I had yet to see her do anything even so remotely dangerous for me or anyone here at the Morning Sip, and I wasn’t certainly going to risk sparking some troublesome predicament without proper evidence to back me up with such a complex situation.

It didn’t certainly help that she would be keeping silent all the time while observing me while I went through my work, merely replying to queries and comments with gestures or by tapping if it was about treats she wanted to buy for that very day.

I wouldn’t go as far as to call her innocuous with her mannerism, but I was still unsure how to tread with such a fascinating client that seemed to have established a fixation over my person; her giddy smile always directed at my tight composure while I addressed her directly, giving me nothing but displeasure over the matter.

To make things a little easier for myself, I merely decided to switch her nickname from ‘Ghostie’ to ‘Neopolitan’, the little nickname born from her surprisingly-obsessive attachment to the specific flavor of ice cream.

It was just… unhealthy how she would just consume so many scoops of the sweet treat on a daily basis, making me wonder if she had some kind of diabetic immunity after consuming so much ice cream in just a few days.

After experiencing two full days of having this individual around doing nothing but creepily watching me doing the tasks required by my job, my mind was given some minor relief when I finally received a message from someone I had tried to get hold onto after the warehouse debacle.

Cinder had been keeping quiet at the few messages I had sent her, asking, if not pleading, for her to spare some of her free time for a personal confrontation over what I had learned from this close encounter with the White Fang.

I hadn’t forgotten how one of the two faux grunts had used some illusion-based Semblance to make me think that I was talking with my own sister, something that was as worrying as infuriating.

Someone was aware of Cinder and those same people were surely going to try and capture the young woman for whatever purpose they might have about me and Blake.

Thinking back about the Cat Faunus, I was presented once more to the simple fact that I was now left alone to enjoy my flat without any disturbance, but the lack of those disturbances were indeed leaving a certain coldness over my time spent there.

Am I really missing her after just two days? Am I that much- Nah.

Instead of lingering over my own pseudo-nostalgia over the lack of a certain black-haired annoyance, I found myself directing my thoughts back at the serious topic regarding both Blake and I.

We were the prime targets of some dangerous group, but our family members were seemingly fair game for this unnamed organization, my perception of the entire predicament painting these unknown individuals as threatening with their knowledge they had over our lives.

It was irritating to be aware of someone trying to do funny business with us all, enraging even that they might even be daring enough to try anything in broad daylight, but I was quite careful to not lose myself in that anger of mine as I knew that cold rationality was what I needed to survive this tight predicament.

With so little clue of what I was supposed do against these hostile fellows, I wasn’t certainly going to leave myself exposed to more issues until I had properly made sure that Cindy had been warned over the matter.

It was another slow day at the Morning Sip and I had been quite busy with a handful of clients when the doorbell rang again.

The noise now long accustomed to my ears and thus I gave it little attention, almost missing the familiar woman with dark-hair, light-amber eyes and a pretty red dress entering the building and taking a seat by one of the unoccupied table.

My eyes fixed on her smile just for a few moments, before I scurried over to Marcus by the counter, the man having just concluded confirming the payout of some clients, and I proceeded to ask him if I could get some moments to spare with my sister.

He was surprised by the request, but ultimately he decided to allow me a few minutes to wrap up any sort of discussion I had planned to have with her.

I was quick to pick the seat in front of Cinder’s, her smile widening as I returned it with one of my own.

“Good morning, Cindy,” I greeted with a happy voice, getting a little amused twitch from the young woman’s lips.

I could remember how the nickname had been one born from teasing in our early years back in Mistral, yet with the passing of time it gained quite the friendly connotation.

Cindy was Cindy.

“Sid, it’s good to see you so soon,” She replied kindly. “But I reckon that I was fairly surprised when you decided to ask so insistently about having a meeting here at your workplace.”

Her eyes spared a quick look around the place, fascination and intrigue rising right in her orbs as she took in all the details of the place.

“A pretty good job, I can assure you that,” I pointed out with a quiet hum. “I assume your workplace is as good, if not more than here.”

“It could be better, but… I’m happy with what I’ve got now that I’m here in Vale,” Cinder commented with a careful voice. “But I think you didn’t certainly call me here to have some pleasant conversation, nor the owner allowed you to slack off without a serious reason.”

I felt a little embarrassed at being called out so suddenly, but I gave a slow nod. “It’s complicated and… nerve-wracking.”

“Then please, don’t restrain yourself from telling me about this,” Her tone shifted away from her previous kind one, to something sporting some genuine concern over the topic. “As your sister, I wish to know what kind of trouble might have gotten you this worried.”

There was a pause, her lips forming a thin line on her face as she pondered over the predicament while I tried to come up with some proper means to explain the matter without making her panic.

A difficult task considering how complicatedly easy to panic Cinder was over important topics as the one I had to bring up.

Just as I prepared to speak once more, her voice ruptured the silence and preceded my intervention.

“Is it perhaps that Cat Faunus, the one that you have had been living in your house?” She inquired with a tightening tone. “Did she do something to you or-”

“Blake did nothing… except be subjected to a quite the crime I’ve resolved,” I interjected swiftly, unwilling to have misunderstandings going with my only sister and… I sighed. “Did you read about the warehouse’s explosion?”

“The one that woke all the citizens in the Kingdom?” She asked sarcastically, drawing a huff out of me, then she continued. “I did hear of such a curious development and I guess you are somehow implicated to the conception of the loud explosion.”

I flinched a little at the sudden assumption, remembering way too well how perceptive my sister was.

The fact that I had addressed the ordeal that had me ‘solving’ a crime committed against Blake and the infamous discovery of mere days ago back to back had to have been enough for Cindy to build up some solid understanding of what I was going to tell her.

At least the general outline of it all since there was still so much left to be described.

“Something like that, yes-”

“Was your friend implied to the warehouse? Maybe she was kidnapped?” Cinder pressed on with growing irritation. “You used to be this kind of a troublemaker, but I thought that habit had gone suppressed after you started to study under father’s-”

“I-It’s not the real subject here-”

“Forgive me, but I found the fact that my little brother has singlehandedly destroyed one of the strongholds the White Fang had in this region of Remnant only to save a friend that I’m not even sure of her trustfulness over your friendship, to be quite important for me to understand a bit more about.”

Her calm chiding got me tense a little, my eyes a little wide open at the annoyed expression on her face.

“I-”

“If you thought of trying to keep me from getting worried about the circumstances that you were subjected to, I can assure you that the attempt has failed horribly,” She continued with a little scowl. “And Gods know what else you aren’t telling me about as this doesn’t seem to be worthy enough to be fully brought up to me.”

I sighed. “Before the whole situation happened… one of the grunts that tried to kidnap Blake used her semblance on me,” I mentioned quietly, gaining an intrigued look from her as she gestured me to continue. “She… she had an illusion semblance and she turned herself into… you.”

A few seconds passed, the young woman tensing just for a while at such revelation as her eyes seemed to show quite the surprise at such development.

“Was there any difference over my appearance or was it the one I’ve right now?” She questioned with some doubts.

“It was how you look like now, she got all details correct too and-”

“This means that whoever these attackers are, they know about who I am to you and thus they used my figure to distract you,” Cinder elaborated with a serious voice, her expression hardening. “Did they hurt you or your friend? If you want, I will make a thorough search of whom might have done this, people that I’ve seen or met in the last few days-”

“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” I blurted out with a quiet voice. “I don’t think that right now it’s best to expose ourselves to search for them.”

She blinked. “And by ‘them’, I can feel that you aren’t referring to just those aggressors.”

“Correct,” I answered quickly. “I’m fairly sure that they were too well-organized to be working without some mastermind or organization behind them. I think they are resourceful enough to know how to pair their men against us and… that is why I want you to know this.”

She frowned and glanced at me with some irritation. “You think that I can’t defend myself, brother? I thought that you were aware that I’m not someone to underestimate when-”

“I want you to not have to deal with any unexpected ambushes,” I replied with a stronger voice, catching her off-guard just in that very instance. “I know perfectly that you can kick anyone’s ass, but I wish that you were prepared if someone decided to plan an attack on you.”

There was some silence, surprise reigning over Cinder’s face as she let my words sink in their mind, understanding the reasoning and the mindful approach I had given in that quick speech.

If there was something that I knew so much about my sister was that she tended to be fairly easy to annoy when someone called her ‘weak’, taking it as a grand insult to be subjected to.

And the consequences behind such a ‘crime’ were far too graphic to describe without some major explanation over each cases about it all.

Albeit a calm and sweet girl, Cindy did always have her own berserk button.

Peace and quiet concluded as she finally conceded a smile.

“I guess you are only concerned about my well-being,” The young woman concluded. “Just like I’m worried about yours, little brother.”

I returned the smile with one of mine and I chuckled. “I guess I was a little stern with my warning-”

“But very careful to not make me appear as if I was weak before your eyes, you know that I’m-”

“A strong, resourceful lady that know how to kick ass while chewing gums.”

A pout appeared on her face. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t have let you watch that movie back when you asked me.”

I chuckled again. “Maybe you shouldn’t have,” I commented giddily and… then I blinked. “Also, this was all I wanted to tell you and… I would like to offer you something.”

“I’ve plenty of money to pay for any of those delicious-looking treats,” She hummed back with a certain opposition at my proposal. “But please, can you bring me a cappuccino with some… of the chocolate cookies here?”

I glanced at the menu she was holding on her hands and I nodded. “I will see for your order to be swiftly delivered.”

She giggled at that promise and I returned back to the corner to resume my tasks as the waiter of the place, wandering around to confirm other orders before rushing to get those all prepared and given to the various waiting clients.

Cinder nodded and gave a soft thank you as I gave her the cookies and the beverage she had requested, but instead of quietly enjoying the meal, she looked distracted.

The young woman’s eyes were carefully glancing away from her cup and her snacks, and right onto the now paler ‘Neopolitan’.

It was a blank stare, no emotions leaving from her face as to give any clues as to why my sister had decided to direct her glance at the curious-looking client.

Maybe it had been because she had noticed the attention I was receiving from the pink-and-brown-haired girl, concern erupting from the fixation the girl had over me and… yep, the creepy staring was now gone.

Instead, I had to deal with the fact that my lovely and normally-calm sister seemed ready to jump on the table and maul the ice cream ‘addict’ I had been having some issues with in the last few days.

I guess insanity never truly went away despite Blake having left his life for just a while.

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~Cinder’s POV~

“Gah!”

Roman yelped as he was sent flying to the nearest wall, his body graciously impacting upon the concrete texture and producing some cracks as his aura did create some extra sturdiness to his entire self.

It had taken her a while to appear calm when she first reached his hideout, to ignore any need to react accordingly at the stupid comments advanced by Torchwick about the loss they were suffering in the form of lacking manpower.

Recruitment was an issue, but it wasn’t as terribly ill-controlled as the crime boss wanted it to appear before his boss’ eyes.

Sadly, this little visit hadn’t been one of business and her spares about those of courtesy had drained right as she concluded the one she had with her brother.

He got himself a job, he is a functional part of society. He has a stable life.

Groaning in pain while slowly getting up from the floor, the man stopped when he saw that Cinder was already crouching right in front of him.

“I gave you a simple order, Roman,” The woman muttered with a disdainful tone. “I asked to have a simple thug from Junior’s group to keep an eye on the target, to not have him subjected to any sort of unnerving situation.”

He squirmed as her heel drove right onto his gloved right hand, almost piercing the flesh.

“And you decided to send Neo after him, you incompetent worm!”

To think that he would have sent his henchgirl, the young woman that had so eagerly tortured some ‘misguided’ White Fang grunts back when they had tried to steal some of the loot recovered from the battle at the docks.

“I-I thought I was just doing you a big f-favor by having him guarded properly,” He wheezed, some of the smoke from his now-forgotten cigar almost choking him up. “This guy, you told m-me he was someone worth of keeping an eye onto.”

Sid was more than worth of Roman’s guarding effort and the maniacal short girl that had been sent to keep a watch over him had been both a horrible decision but a good one in terms of quality.

It had been an attempt to muster some compassion out of the dark-haired woman, yet Cinder had already dealt with the kind of person that Roman was.

Manipulative and ratty, his main objective was survival until it was allowed with what he had around himself.

The coward-like nature of his submission being as legitimate as aggravating in multiple occasions.

“I did, but I never mentioned that he had to receive this much of a noticeable minder,” She pressed the heel a little more, getting another yelp of pain out of the suffering crime boss.

“I-It wasn’t even my fucking idea to send her- She just heard about this mission set at a bar that sells ice cream and she p-pestered me to have it.”

There was some silence after this confession, her pressure over his hand lessening as the dark-haired woman turned her attention at the ceiling of the warehouse, the object of her immense irritation quietly sitting by one of the metal beams used to keep the roof stable.

“Is that true, Neo?” Her voice was calm, yet some of her annoyance seemed to influence its sternness.

Despite the clearly unimpressed look on the older woman’s face, the girl smiled and gave a solid nod before dropping down back to ground level.

“And pray tell, why did you set yourself in stalking him wherever he goes?”

The mute criminal seemed to think about it and… then proceeded to pick up a purely white sign and… words started to appear on it.

He is nice.

A perplexed look settled on Cinder’s face, a result born from the reply itself and the curious usage of the henchgirl’s semblance to provide some responses that required much more than mere gestures.

“If you think he is ‘nice’, then it shouldn’t be a difficult idea to realize that leaving him alone would do well for your lifespan,” The half-maiden pointed out with a strong voice. “Or maybe you just prefer to be put at gunpoint to get things done with you?”

Neo’s smile seemed to widen at the blatant threat, dignifying her lack of concern over any negative repercussions.

The sign reappeared, spinning in the mute’s free hand and revealing some more words on it by the opposite side.

I guess I can moderate myself a little around him.

Cinder eased her mind a little at that concession, yet tension resumed when the sign spun again and revealed some more comments.

But I wonder, why is someone nice like him stuck with someone this horrible?

Indeed, how did he get stuck with someone that is hellbent in going against the world as a whole.

The unpleasant thoughts over this sharp jab coming from the midget were quite difficult to ignore, yet the half-maiden managed through it and spoke against her ‘verbal’ opponent.

“It’s not something that you should interest about,” The woman answered with a newer scowl. “But perhaps I should ask you why the sudden ‘fascination’ for a simple waiter.”

Neo frowned at the comment, going for a quick walk around the proximity of the two bosses as to ponder over the solution to this dilemma and…

She shrugged at her.

Irritation surged even more within her chest at that blatant display of unwillingness to answer, her anger bubbling so achingly that she was half-tempted to skewer the little fool in that very moment.

“I guess that you are indeed interested by him,” The half-maiden probed with dark amusement in her voice. “To be this much defensive over it.”

The parasol-wielder merely huffed in silence at that, her eyes narrowing in a show of faux anger at that attempts.

It was so infuriating to deal with such a complicated being, far more mysterious and difficult to crack compared to the girl’s boss.

Roman was malleable as the man was perfectly aware of the destiny that awaited him at the first sign of treachery or failure.

The crime boss had experienced for several years the unfairness of the ‘big fish, little fish’ mentality of the criminal underworld and his ascension to leader did nothing to wash away for those memories.

But this ‘weak-looking’ girl was far more dangerous than any of the other ‘allies’ she had here in Vale, even more than Emerald and Mercury combined.

And that was without taking under consideration the usefulness of her perception-altering semblance.

Very flexible as an infiltrator and a close-encounter fighter, her experience and training proving to be far superior to any other criminal here in the kingdom.

A pity that this useful pawn had the worst attitude to face in this kind of circumstances.

“Considering that now you have been visiting the bar for three days now, removing you now will spark some unpleasant suspicions from the target.” Cinder had to ultimately admit in front of Neo, the cheeky-looking girl blinked with a smug smirk on her face while basking in the indirect praise. “And that is why you feel so confident that I wouldn’t try to do anything to you.”

There was a moment or two of silence, the parasol swirling around while the henchgirl gave a quick nod over the supposition.

“But there is a little flaw in this plan of yours,” The half-maiden proclaimed softly and with a hint of certainty, enough to draw a frown from the standing-still girl, her heterochromatic eyes widening as fire formed around the older woman’s left arm. “Accidents tend to happen and I would never allow one of my minions recover without my caring watch over them.

A shiver went down the mute’s spine, but she managed to keep herself from outright show panic at that development, something that pleased Cinder a little.

Both because it proved that the short woman still had some fiery spirit with her own tasks and… because the struggling just make things funnier for her.

“So how about you start telling me why do you watch Sid Tremaine so intensively?” Cinder started to probe again, this time having the advantage to back her efforts up. “Why would his actions garner your-”

Respect.

Cinder’s eyes paused right on the sign, the sole word drawing multiple scenarios over what she was referring to.

“Respect?”

The sign spun one last time before disappearing away from her sign… yet she spotted the familiar words and she realized that it was a repetition.

He is nice.

“Are you afraid of being maimed if you give a truthful answer, Neo?” The half-maiden pressed on with some insistence. “Then I guess you are interested to him because of something else, something that-”

Angers you.

The sign made a return, again, and this time Cinder’s eyes narrowed at the impertinent girl.

“I think I will soon have to punish you.”

The girl disappeared, her figure shattering like glass before reappearing right where she had really been until now.

Right onto that damn steel beam where she had been prior to her ‘descent’.

“Do you think this is all a game for you to play and enjoy? To see how far my patience will go before I prove you that your usefulness isn’t essential?”

But the mute didn’t answer at that challenge, merely looking down at her with a bored expression.

Her heel finally moved away from Roman’s hand, the criminal leader rushing his unscathed hand onto the possibly-wounded one, nursing it close as he slowly got up from the floor with a suffering look on his face.

“I-I understand that Neo got you pissed and all,” The crime boss started to speak carefully. “But while I can’t control her wandering, I can assure you that she will not try anything funny with the brat.”

Her eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “And why are you so sure of this, Roman?”

He sighed, calmly making his way back to the table he had been sitting until a few minutes ago, trying to find some more cigars.

“If there is something I know of Neo, it’s that she doesn’t like to harm ‘nice’ people,” The man admitted with a pained smile. “If she repeats that he is nice, then he should be able to avoid any unpleasant bad end.”

Very annoying that Torchwick was the only ‘translator’ of such a dangerous element in her plans and yet there was nothing to do about it.

Neo was a thorn on her side, but one that had yet to display even for a moment something from her behavior that resembled any treacherous thoughts about her commitment to the half-maiden’s cause.

“If you are so certain of it, I suppose you can bet your life on it,” Cinder mused quietly, the man pausing for a moment in surprise at that aggressive development. “I can see it as a good exchange for even a mere scratch being caused by Neo’s own initiative upon the target.”

“Of course!” Roman exclaimed with a little grin on his face. “It isn’t like I’m already on a difficult spot with you trying to murder me for little mistakes-”

“The ‘little mistake’ did force us to let go of Adam’s support,” The dark-haired woman interjected coldly. “We lost men to use as fodders, the Fang was brainwashed enough to be used as the backbone for our operations.”

“And that is why you got us some interesting contacts from outside of Vale.”

“Contacts that now would like some of the cake that was supposed to be only yours,” Cinder shot back coldly, causing the crime boss to grimace at this very issue for his part. “I wonder if it was worth to have the information about your last major theft to be leaked to some unpleasant ears.”

Feline ones to that.

“Meh, could have been ‘my life’,” He conceded with a heavy sigh. “Still, I don’t want to snoop around but why the boy is that important to get his own escort guard?”

The question lied unanswered and Roman didn’t pester any longer as the half-maiden graced him with a strong glare.

“I hope you endeavor with Junior have sparked any good opportunities, some minor thefts that can be done to not warrant the interest of the authorities while we recover from our recent loss.”

“A few ones, I had them planned out to be completed in a week time,” The crime boss finally relaxed at the easier to understand topic. “But there could be more opportunities before the end of the time I’m giving you. Anything that could be alluring in getting some coin without getting the cops on our trails.”

She nodded. “Good, then I don’t see any other reason to be lingering about. You better return back to work.”

Roman nodded, his new cigar now lit on his lips as he alternated his stare between the retreating woman and the paperwork that still required his attention to be concluded.

Neo didn’t glance at the boss, her eyes directed up at the ceiling as she lied onto the steel beam while trying to catch some rest.

The next day was going to be a big one for her after all.

But Cinder didn’t care at all at the lack of ‘goodbyes’ from the two, her mind directing its attention right on the next step of her infiltration.

With the school uniform fitting her ‘perfectly’, her little efforts to find a wig that best conformed with her overall appearance had resulted in a shoulder-length dark-blue wig that had covered well enough her original dark-haired locks.

With the Belladonna now studying once more at Beacon, having some extra precautions was just a good way to avoid more suspicion from Ozpin and his little group.

It was a slow and steady process, one paved with carefully planned steps that were going to provide her with a complete victory over the mind of one of the most ancient souls in Remnant.