Criminal's Life (Patreon)

The night was cold and dark, your typical Tuesday night in the suburbs of Vale. Roman Torchwick, high end criminal leading faunus and White Fang members alike on different heists for cash, dust, fun, and even money for parties, was headed towards one of the most famous bars in Remnant. Unfortunately, he had forgotten the bar’s real name years ago and has just referred to it as Junior’s Bar ever since. Just thinking about the times he had there over the years was enough to bring a smile to his cheeks.

“The babes, the booze, the parties, the sex!~” His mind was in a frenzy of the nights he spent there. Twirling his cane, his thoughts were cut short by the sound of rustling coming from an alley to his left. The man was targeted for assassination on a daily basis, so it was no surprise that someone would try to sneak up on him. He continued to twirl his can and look down towards the alley. “Dammit. Too dark to see anything clearly.” The man reached into his pocket for his lighter that he took with him everywhere. “Well, if nothing is there, I can just pick it up and keep heading towards the bar.” He flicked his zippo lighter open and watched the flame come to life before tossing it down the passage in front of him. As it flew, he saw dumpsters and a small child. A child?! The fuck! The thought ran through his mind as if he was trying to determine why a child would be out here all alone. The lighter landed a few feet behind her, so he’d have to pass her to get to it. “Fuck it, fine.” He said, making his way towards both the child and his lighter.

As he passed the girl to grab his lighter, he saw a tiny hand reach out for his leg. On instinct to live, he spun his cane in her direction and put it right up against her forehead, the crosshair popping out as it completely swapped over into being a weapon. “Now, it’s rare, but I’m used to seeing goons try and hire children to get the drop on me and kill me. Are you going to be one of them?”

No answer.

“Fine by that way. I’m not going to kill you but stay put.” Keeping his weapon on her forehead he picked up his lighter and held it out to see her better. Brown and pink hair, multicolored eyes and a scar on her throat like something had been ripped out and it was burned closed. But alas, no weapons on her that he could see, and she was practically naked as it was. “You look to be….maybe six or seven. But...why would anyone just leave you out here like this?” Genuine curiosity was getting the better of him as he lowered his weapon and made it a cane again. With a light sigh, he took off his overcoat and tossed it to her. “It’s supposed to be cold tonight. I’ll be back here tomorrow to pick that back up.”

With that, he left the alley and was once more back on his way to Junior’s Bar. Once inside, he made his way to his favorite spot at the bar. Something was off as he set his hat down on the table though. “Yo, Junior. Where are the twins? I don’t see any dancers or anything here. Something up?”

“Nah. The twins are just sick and tonight is usually slow anyway. What about you? That look in your eye says something is bothering you.” Junior said as he poured Roman his favorite drink to have. Double shot of whiskey. “Where’s your coat anyway?”

The ginger man downed his shot in an instant and shrugged. “On my way here, I heard some rustling in one of the nearby alleys. Thought someone was after me again. Turns out it was just an abandoned child.” As he answered, he was poured another shot and left the bottle.

“Is it that child at the door?” Junior asked, pointing towards the door. “She’s got your coat.”

Hearing the question, Roman spit out his whiskey, getting all of it on Junior’s face. “What?!” He turned in his seat to see the same child from the alley right there at the front door. “She followed me here?!”

Junior just gave Roman a blank stare as he grabbed a nearby towel. “Yeah. That girl follows anyone who gives her something.” The bartender answered, wiping his face clean of the mixture of spit and alcohol.

“Wait. You know her?” Ignoring the child once more, Roman turned his head back to Junior.

“Yeah. The twins ran into her about a month ago and have been sneaking her our daily leftovers or any stale food we have. Don’t know why they took a liking to her tho--”

“You still got that spare room upstairs? The one you let me crash in sometimes?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“I’ll pay you to let her sleep here. It’s supposed to rain tonight and I’d rather not have a ruined coat in the morning.” He answered in a cold tone, heading towards the door.

“You sure that’s the only reason.”

“For now, yeah.” He answered honestly, opening the door and watching the small child run towards Junior with a broken smile on her face. Roman let out a soft chuckle and smiled. “Seems she really likes you, man.”

“Every time she sees me, I’m with the twins. So, she always hugs me when she sees me.” Junior replied, picking the girl up with a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Has she...you know, ever talked?” Roman asked, making his way back to his seat.

“Not that I know of. I’m not sure if she can.”

Picking up the bottle now, Roman gave the girl another look. She looked back to him and smiled an even wider smile. “Well, do you mind feeding her? Put it on my tab.”

“Sure thing. Bottle of whiskey added to the tab.”

“What? That’s not what I said, Junior.”

“No, it’s what I said.” Junior smirked and walked off into the kitchen, carrying the small girl as he did so.

“Thanks man…” Shaking his head, Roman pulled out his scroll and found the twins’ numbers.

He sent the two of them a quick text. ‘Your street child is here and Junior is making her food. Told me you’re sick. Feel better. I’m paying him to let the kid live here.’

In less than a minute, he got two responses, one from each girl.

Melanie: “We’ll be right down! Don’t let her leave!”

Militia: “Why did you bring her here? Now she won’t leave!”

“Opposite responses from both of you. Perfect.” He sighed once more, skipping the shot glass and downing half the bottle as Junior and the child came back in.

“Something up, again? Not like you to skip the glass.”

“The twins. I let them know the kid was here.” Rolling his eyes, he tucked his scroll into his pants pocket and stood from the seat. “I’m heading to the hideout to sleep. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

The Next Day

The bar was alive and well, just like usual. Junior had clients getting lap dances as the twins sparred and danced on center stage, strippers roaming the floor and handing out drinks. Roman opened the door a bag in his other hand, listening as the bell rang on his way in. A few of the girls called out to him and waved before getting back to work. The twins outright stopped dancing and made their way over to the criminal.

“Roman, what’s in the bag, huh?” Militia asked with a teasing grin, trying to spy into the bag.

“Yeah, criminal. Whatcha got there?” Melanie prodded, on the other side of him with a smile.

“Nothing for you two. Where’s the girl? I want my coat back.”

“She’s upstairs, sleeping..” Militia answered, anger at him in her voice.

“Asshole.” Melanie added calmly, pointing to the stairs.

Up he went, heading straight for the room he usually slept in. The deal was she gets to sleep in there from now on. Knocking on the door, he heard Junior answer him. “Come on in. She’s just eating her snack.”

Roman walked in and say Junior holding her on his lap with one hand on her waist as the other was holding a container of neapolitan ice cream. The sight was enough to cause Roman to burst out laughing loud enough for the people downstairs to hear him. “Seriously, Junior? Couldn’t put her on the damned bed?!” He wiped the tears from his eyes as he took a seat on the bed. He let his laughter die down before digging into the bag. “I got her a few gifts so I could get my coat back.”

He watched as the girl reached for him and get out of Junior’s lap.

“Something about that smile…” He whispered quietly. Junior clearly heard him but he kept quiet about it. Out of the bag came a small white shirt with pink outlines on it and a pair dark grey, nearing black, jeans. He held them up in front of Neo. “Sorry if they’re a bit large for you, little one.” As he spoke, the twins gathered at the doorway and silently watched. “What do you say we get them on you? The girl at the store said they should fit or let you grow into them since you are still pretty young.”

Roman and Junior undressed the poor thing from her tattered clothes and his jacket before dressing her in the outfit Roman had bought her. “Ah. Just a bit too big.” Junior said with a smile.

“Yeah, but Neo will grow into them.” Roman said, giving her a name like she had been born with it.

“Neo?” All three spectators asked as Roman just happily smiled to the girl who clung to his leg with the biggest grin in the world.

“Neo Politan. Just like the ice cream you were feeding her.” The ginger answered, ruffling the little one’s hair.

“Really? Not even her hair or eyes. The ice cream?” Junior asked, face going blank.

“Well those too, but it was the ice cream for me. And I don’t hear her complaining.~”

The twins and Junior all fell to the floor, unable to stand with Roman’s carefree stupidity. “Roman, you’re an idiot. You know that?” Junior asked, getting back into his chair.

“Well, you three haven’t come up with anything. Besides…” His eyes narrowed slightly and for once had a hint of pure emotion in them. “...I need something to call her when I take her to my base.” He removed his hat and placed it upon Neo’s head, a silent but clear squeal showing as she grabbed the hat and twirled in place from happiness.

“You’re doing what?!” The twins both shouted at once. “Are you a fuck--”

“That smile...just reminds me of my mother...what can I say? I want to show her all I’ve accomplished. Even if she won’t remember it for awhile. I’ll bring her back in one piece, don’t worry.~” He looked down to Neo once more with a smile, as she looked up at him, another adorable grin on her face.

The room fell silent as Junior, Militia, and Melanie all stayed quiet in awe at the sight before them. Roman Torchwick, a maniac thief, and criminal mastermind actually showing care about something other than himself or whatever stripper was in his lap.

After a moment, the silence was finally broken by Junior clearing his throat. “Roman, at least let one of the twins join you. They wanna look after the girl too after all.”

“Yeah, but we all know if I take one, the other is going to have to come along and I’d rather not have 3 people have intel on one of my locations. Having Neo here know is enough, even if she can’t tell anyone.” He picked the girl up and tossed his scroll to the twins standing at the door. “Take a picture of the two of us. You two are far better at it than Junior is.”

“Hey! I take fine--” Junior tried retorting, only to be cut off by the flash of the camera. Roman Torchwick holding a small multicolored eyed girl in his lap while she was wearing his hat, both of them with large smiles on her face.

“Why have us take it?” Militia asked, actually smiling at the sight of the picture. She had to admit it was pretty cute.

“To show Neo when she’s older. The day she was given her name and her new life started by our side. I’ll be counting on you three.” He said honestly, taking a hold of his scroll.

“Why us?” Melanie asked, waving to Neo.

“Twins to train her to fight, Junior to keep her clothed and happy while I’m away at work. I’ll drop her off when I’m going to beaway for work.”

“You can’t take her with you?” Junior asked, sounding a bit annoyed that he was just going to be the girl’s babysitter.

“Oh yeah, Bartender. I’m going to take a six year old on missions with me where I lead a terrorist organization into theft, murder, and pillaging and sometimes rape. Sound like a wonderful thing to raise her in, the dangerous stuff.”

He watched Junior rub the back of his head, realizing his mistake. “Yeah yeah. I gotcha. But what now? You got her dressed and you said you wanted to take her to your base, right?”

“Yeah. It’s not hard from here. The directions if I ever need you to get here. Girls, get in here.” Roman spoke calmly, fatherly, tilting his head to gesture the girls to get in the room and close the door. Once they were in, he nodded and smiled, pushing his hat to cover Neo’s face. He watched her silently gasp and jump at the darkness before throwing a fist or two in the air. “From the bar, find your shoes and stumble on your right before crashing in an abandoned field.”

Both the girls were stumped from the ‘riddle’ Roman spoke. Junior just chuckled and smiled. “You got power running to that place? Damn man! Yeah. I gotcha, I’ll send the girls over if you need it.”

Roman moved his hat from Neo’s head to his own, chuckling as she reached for it and even tried to jump on his head for it. “This girl is going to be a handful.” He said with joy in his voice before leaving the room with Neo on his shoulder, his hat back on her head and his coat hanging from his other shoulder.

Once he was gone, the girls looked over to Junior. “How did you know where he was talking about?” They asked in unison, still confused.

“Easy. The only thing abandoned in this part of Vale is that abandoned factory about twenty blocks away. It’s also a bit to the right of that shoe store that’s closing down.” He gave a pause as he stood from the chair, making his way out of the room. “It’s also where he was forced to watch his mom be raped and murdered in front of him.”

In Roman’s Base

The criminal watched with a smile on his face as the little multicolored girl in front of him ran around his base with a big matching smile. “Be careful, Neopolitan! I have some dangerous things in here and we don’t need you getting hurt!” He called out to her, trying to keep his eyes on her as he sat down on one of his couches that he had scattered around the area. Roman had converted the entire abandoned warehouse into a mini bachelor pad with the rest as a working office area for meetings with Cinder Fall and her gang of misfits. “Oh fuck.” He thought out loud, rushing to Neo’s side and picking her up with a hug. “I know you’re excited, Little One, but I’ve got a business partner coming by in about an hour. I need you to watch some tv or get some rest. Can you do that?”

The little girl nodded in his arms and rushed her way to a closed room with a tv in it. She sat down and fiddled with the remote until the screen flashed on. For the first few seconds, the screen showed a little girl flying through the air with an umbrella. Before she landed and sliced about a dozen people in half with a smile on her face. The smile on her face only grew as she planted herself on the floor and watched the scene before her.

Roman sighed as he saw the show Neo chose to watch. But he didn’t have time to worry. So he headed over to his office and got things ready for his meeting with Cinder. It was just a management meeting, nothing huge like a heist setup. Once the hour passed, Cinder walked into his office with her hands behind her. “Roman.~ It’s nice to see you again after so long. Though you usually have wine set out for us to drink as we talk.”

“Been a bit busy today. You can get the wine, you know where it is.” His eyes met with Cinder’s, making the woman sigh and leave the room to grab the wine. Once she was back, he looked to her and poured them glasses. “So, Cinder. You called for this meeting but never said why. Just ‘management’.”

“Well, yes.” The woman sat herself on the corner of Roman’s desk and smiled over at him. “We are here to manage the upcoming dust shipment in a week. We’re going to take your White Fang members and steal it. It’s a smaller shipment, so it won’t take much.”

“If it’s small, couldn’t you do it alone? I mean, I’m in but why does a woman such as yourself need grunts to help with something like this?”

“Maybe I just like being around you. Maybe I just want extra hands to make sure it’s done. Maybe I just hate being alone with you. Who knows?” She teased, finding a spot to sit and sip her wine. “Why is there a child on your couch?”

“Oh, her? That’s Neo. She followed me to Junior’s Bar a few days ago and he and the twins cared for her, but I wanted to bring her here. I’ll be leaving her here while we do our job though. Don’t wanna put her in danger after all. She’s only six.”

“Wait, this little girl followed you to a bar?!”Cinder cackled, covering her glass to make sure she didn’t spill any wine when she laughed. “Why?”

“Well, at first I thought she was going to try to kill me when I passed her in an ally. Wouldn’t be the first time someone tried. After that, I draped my jacket over her and told her I’d be back for it tomorrow-or I guess today- but she followed me to the bar and it turns out Junior and the Twins had already met and had been feeding her. After a night of drinking and paying Junior to let her sleep in their guest room, I brought her here to show her the place. She’s pretty smart for not having an education at the age of six.” Almost as if on queue, Neo came into the room, holding an empty plate in her hand. She was hungry.

“Oh, is she?~” Cinder asked, getting off of the desk and holding her arm out to Neo, gently touching her little cheek. The look of anger and hatred that flashed in Neo’s eyes was enough to even make her hesitate before ruffling her hair. “Well, she’s certainly got something we could use.”

“Oh no! She can’t even talk, woman! You’re not dragging her into our lifestyle and risking her life. Maybe once she’s older, but not now.”

“It’s fine. We can have the twins teach her how to fight in a few years and until then just give her an education. A basic one anyway. We don’t need a slow coworker.” Cinder said, smiling as she made her way back to her seat.

Roman pulled out his phone and made his way over to Neo as he dialed Junior. “Hey, man. Your kitchen still open? Neo’s clearly hungry and I’m gonna bring her over since I don’t keep this place stocked.” He paused as he listened to Junior, nodding to what he was saying on the other end of the phone. “Got it. I’ll bring her in twenty minutes then.” He hung up and sat Neo on his desk. “Ready to go, Neo?” The little girl gave a happy nod and held her arms up for Roman to carry her. Roman looked over to Cinder and smiled. “You can either come with us or stay here. But I’m taking Neo to the bar.”

Rolling her eyes, Cinder sighed and nodded. “Guess I’ll go to. I could always use a drink when working with someone like you.”

“Very funny.”

Twenty Minutes Later

Roman and Cinder walk into the bar with Neo between them, both of them holding her hands as they all walked side by side. “Thanks again for making Neo dinner, Junior. I’ll have to remember to stock the base when I get the chance.” He said, picking Neo up and setting her on the counter.

“I can send the twins to do it. They’ve always wanted to go. Plus, letting them care for Neo would be a plus.” Junior spoke up, looking from his glass and smiling to Neo the best he could. “I’ll even pay for it. One month’s worth of food for her.”

“Why would you go so far for me and this street child?” Roman asked, sitting beside her and lighting a cigar. With a quick puff, he blew the smoke away from Neo. “Don’t tell me you and the twins have fallen for her that hard.”

“Coming from the one who is giving her a home.”

The two men just stared at each other in silence for a moment before bursting out laughing, smiles plastered on their faces.

Cinder stared at them in awe, shaking her head before she sat down at the bar, gently playing with Neo’s hair. She had nothing better to do while the two laughed and talked, after all. “You know, for street urchin, you have pretty soft hair, Neo. I think I’m starting to like you.~”

Neo silently giggled as Cinder spoke to her. She reached her hand out to gently play in Cinder’s hair, just like the older woman was doing to her. Her hair was soft as well, but she had no way of saying it, so she just smiled and continued playing in it.

“Is this girl mute, you two?” She finally asked, looking to Roman and Junior, who were still laughing with each other. “She seems able to understand us when we talk, but you said she couldn’t speak.”

“Yeah. I think that’d be the proper word for it. We aren’t sure if she can speak and chooses not to or if she just can’t.” Junior started. “When the twins found her, they swear she made a few noises that sounded like she was happy, but I’ve never heard anything.”

“Same for me.” Roman added. “I’ve never heard a noise from her, but she reacts to what I say most of the time. Though, that’s fine. Just worries me once she learns to sneak around.”

“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.” Cinder smiled back to the girl, gently blowing on her face. Feeling the heat, Neo rolled her head back and almost fell backward off the counter. Luckily, Cinder grabbed her and pulled her back. “Oops.” She giggled to herself and set her back. “I wonder how long until your food will be ready, Neo.~”

Hearing the mention of food, Junior sighed and stepped back into the kitchen. A minute later, he came out with three plates, one for each of them. “For Cinder, we have made flame roasted chicken and a side of mac and cheese, in case Neo wanted to steal a taste. For Roman, the twins have made something special.” He put special sarcastic emphasis on the special. “Hot wings with a side of celery.” Junior looked at Neo and smiled, setting down a decorated plate with crispy chicken fingers and apple fries. “Crispy chicken fingers and apple fries.”

“That sounds oddly good and unhealthy for her.” Cinder said, taking a bite out of her chicken.

“And isn’t it weird that we all got something chicken related?” Roman asked, setting his hat on the counter.

“We’re a bar. We don’t do fancy for drunks.” Junior smirked, sliding Neo a glass of water. “What can I get you two to drink?”

“Whiskey.”

“Red wine.”

“Coming right up.” Junior poured everyone their drinks and started turning off the lights to the bar. “We’ll be closing soon, but you three are welcome to stay as long as needed.”

“Say thank you, Neo.” Roman suggested, giving her a little nudge.

The little girl looked over to Roman and nodded, holding out one of her fries for Junior, offering it to him. Her silent way to thank Junior.

He nodded and took the fry, eating it. “You’re welcome, Neo. Enjoy the food.”