Vale Interlude: Always a Bigger Fish (Patreon)

Roman Torchwick was a simple man, with simple wants. Namely, that of having people to rob blind, to become filthy rich and perhaps to be around to enjoy all of it? Oh, and Neo too of course, that went without saying. His little partner in crime might had been more fucked up than an entire hospital worth of crazies, but she was his crazy. But alas, the problem of being as incredibly good and handsome as he was, meant that he was the defacto person to be approached for anything nefarious.

And for a moment, things had actually been really interesting. Up to the point he realized his new employer had been a few straws short of a house, not to mention her little pet psychopaths. He was a gentleman thief, a simple rogue of means. If you wanted to rob someplace blind, he was your man but being recruited for grunt work and worse grated at him and his sensibilities.

Oh, and the imminent death to him and Neo was really shitty, but what could you do? So here he was, enjoying one of his cigars in a rare, quiet night. Must have been a school night, because his usual pain in red had been curiously absent, which only left the cops of this fair city and if he ever let himself be caught by them, he'd eat his hat. Neo herself would be dressed casually unlike him, in shorts and a tank top as she ate ice cream right from the container, Roman knowing better than to ask if she could share. Both of them would be watching the news, something about Patch being sold off and a volcano or something forming. Roman didn't really care and he sighed out, taking out his cigar as he turned to his partner.

"Nothing about us. You'd think we were all but invisible! Any channel requests?" Neo pondered, then rapidly signed something and Roman sighed. Long immune to her attempts to embarrass him, Roman said simply.

"If you want to switch to those channels, you're going to have to pay for them. I can't have my name down for some cheesy, third rate porn! My reputation would be ruined!" Neo grinned back, her eyes flicking from pink to brown in the way she knew made him dizzy before she suddenly frowned and looked about.

Roman sighed out, inhaled from his cigar deeply and held it in before speaking.

"So much for a quiet night."

And exhaling out, the cigar smoke blew out and parted around what had been an invisible figure, before the thief slammed his knee between their legs. As he fell down, Neo shattered into glass as a dagger stabbed for her chest from another assailant. Roman cursed, rolling over the couch as he grabbed his Melodic Cudgel, another invisible figure slashing out as Roman struck out blindly, rapidly as he growled and spat his cigar out. As it bounced off a chest, glass shattered again as Neo, clad now in her usual garb vaulted over Roman's shoulder, heel first into his opponent's throat as she rolled and popped her umbrella open. Darts impacted and bounced off, as Neo closed the umbrella, rushing forward and hooked it around where their throat would be, flipping and spinning as Roman yelled out.

"NOT THE TV!"

Too late, as she flung the assassin into it, the glass shattering as all was quiet. Roman sighed out, taking a new cigar out as he cut it and lit it in a practiced motion. Normally, this sort of thing was a compliment. If you weren't annoying the crime families and having them send hitmen, then you weren't a very good thief. But recently, he didn't think he had been pissing off anyone, so who...?

Neo, curious crouched and raised an eyebrow. They were wearing cloaks, one's that seemed to take on the appearance of the background. But it was what was beneath that was strange. Two regular humans and one, extremely dark-skinned humanoid with white hair and pointy ears. Neo looked at him and Roman could only shrug. Semblances were weird and varied, but the whole dagger and cloak thing was somewhat new. This ninja bullshit stunk of Lil'Miss and her side of the world, but he'd thought bygones were bygones there. Especially after what he and Neo did, to discourage coming after them.

At any rate, this safe house was written off as a lost cause and he ran with Neo downstairs, heading for a car. Neo briefly faltered, looking around and Roman despite himself was worried. In turn, Neo looked at him and shook her head. Roman relaxed, heading for the garage. If Neo said she was fine, that was all he needed and then as they entered the place, they heard.... Clapping?

The duo froze, the lights turned on and two people were there who shouldn't be. One of them looked like a Xiong thug, clad in a black and red suit right down to the red shades. He exuded casual violence and leaning by his side was what looked like a cello case. It was the other person however that Roman was confused by. Some dandy looking fop, with a wide brimmed feather hat and eyepatch, but more importantly the same skin shade and hair color of the one above. And he seemed to be excited, clapping his hands as he spoke.

"Bravo, bravo! That took you only eight minutes to overcome my killers! She told me you were cunning, she didn't say you were also tough." Roman flashed a smile as he gestured magnanimously.

"Always nice to meet a fan, truly. Unfortunately, we got places to go, things to do. Bye bye!" Neo grabbed him and then suddenly... Frowned. Her eyes widened, for the first time Roman saw panic cross her features as the chuckling pirate looking thing spoke.

"First time, experiencing the effects of a Forbiddance spell? It's quite disconcerting, but my partner wanted to ensure you both were unable to run. She has plans for you after all and thaaat sounded far more ominous than I had hoped for. Apologies!"

Roman laughed and suddenly growled, his weapon up as the targeting reticule flipped up as he pointed at him. "None taken! I hope you don't take it amiss that I blow your heads off, before Neo and I skip our way out to freedom!"

The creature suddenly seemed much more sinister now. His grin suddenly seemed to have more teeth as the Xiong thug stepped forward to intercept. A walk, that Roman noted was entirely silent as he slipped off his shades and stored them in his pocket. Roman found himself absorbing much more details now, as he stared at the man.

His skin was tinged a pallid gray, like a corpse from the morgue had gotten up and walked. To further add to this, the eyes were incredibly devoid of emotion or life, better fitting the corpse in his imagination. He cracked his neck and then against Neo and himself, a single weapon flashed in his hand. A dagger, an odd looking one with emeralds in the handle and hilt as the dark creature spoke.

"What a shame. Still, I don't think my friend here would like that at all. This is my good friend, Artemis Entreri."

Neo's eyes were flickering rapidly between pink and brown, like recognizing like as she drew her blade and began to walk protectively in front of Roman who would have none of it, the thief growling as the dark being spoke.

"And he's much better at killing, than I am."

And then he suddenly moved and Roman and Neo had no more time to quip further.