genessia | Action | Closed to Weiss

Entry tags:

Action | Closed to Weiss

Who: Roman Torchwick and Weiss Schnee
Where: Schnee Company HQ
When: 3/31
What: Weiss negotiates with terrorists.
Warnings: Probably some cursing and mentions/threats of violence and suicide. Roman being a douchenozzle.

It's a good thing that Roman is a gambling man; a more sensible criminal would never take this kind of bet. Even for Roman, it took several weeks of consideration and preparation before he made up his mind. He was effectively blocked out of half of Genessia and a sizeable chunk of business, on threat of permanent imprisonment and torture. He'd thought that things would change when Neo arrived, and to a point, they did. He felt more like himself again and it was good to have someone to bounce ideas off. But all the ambition and creativity was useless when all this scrutiny put him under such serious restrictions. He didn't feel free anymore, and if there's one thing Roman Torchwick doesn't tolerate, it's a lack of freedom.

Admittedly it had taken a smoke and a touch of whiskey before he built up the nerve-- his failsafe plan scared the hell out of him-- but once he crossed the threshold of the Schnee Company headquarters, his anxieties melted away into the larger than life showmanship of Roman Torchwick, King of Vale's Underworld.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!" His voice was loud in the sudden silence of the lobby. "As of now, I have an appointment with Weiss Schnee. So..." He spread his arms wide, palms up, in a gesture that suggested a shrug while also showing he was unarmed. "Who wants to take me to your leader?"

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The unannounced visits she was getting this week were starting to get on her nerves. At least the last one had been on the right side of the law, but the voice that was invading her office now... that was one she was significantly less comfortable with. Myrtenaster was planted at her side within seconds as she headed out to the lobby, eyes narrowed as her heels click on the tile.

"That won't be necessary. If he wants to go to prison that badly I'll gladly escort him myself, no fetching required."

Well, that's convenient. He meets her gaze and quirks an eyebrow, all cocky smile and confidence.

"My goodness Ice Queen. I know desk jobs can make you restless, but isn't it a little unprofessional to refer to your office as a prison?"

She does work here. It'd be weird if she couldn't hear yelling in her own lobby. She just happened to actually be in the office at the time of his visit, that's where luck came in. (Or lack thereof in Weiss's opinion.)

"You have a lot of nerve thinking I'm going to let you into my office just because you walk in here."

Edited 2016-04-04 03:24 (UTC)

"I do, thank you," he agrees, tipping his hat. "I've also got something that you'll want to hear."

He pauses, looking around the lobby. It's going to be a tough balance-- he needs enough bait to get Weiss interested, but the less that's publicly known, the longer it'll take Cinder to realize he's double-crossed her.

"I understand you might have some qualms, but as you can see..." He raises his hands as if surrendering. "I am unarmed and alone. You can even have one of your agents search me if you want."

He grins and winks at a particularly shy-looking young man.

"Especially if it's that one."

'He-he has something in his pocket, Miss Schnee.'

She may not be able to tell who's going through the door until the loudmouthed idiocy starts spilling out, but at minimum a scan for metals is basic security. There are plenty of things it won't catch, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its uses- even if what's in his pocket turns out to be harmless. The one he winked at had been the one to speak up, but Weiss didn't tell him to go toward Torchwick. She did that herself, approaching him with a stomp-inspired clack of the heel all the way there.

"Coat off, pockets emptied. Depending on what it is you're here to tell me, you might get it back at the end of the day."

Aww, she was trying to bluster at him. He can't decide if it's adorable or just irritating. Probably the former if he gets his coat back, definitely the latter if he doesn't.

He complies with a smile, taking his lighter out of his pocket first.

"This might be what you're looking for." He flicks it to demonstrate that it is just a normal lighter, then snaps it shut again and hands it over. "I'm trusting you to take care of that; it's one of a kind."

Other than that he's got his phone, a few stray bills, a pack of cigars, half a biscotti still in the wrapper... nothing interesting. She may note that the phone is a burner, though. He wasn't too keen on losing his real phone if the negotiations went south.

As long as this meeting of his doesn't ends positively, Weiss will keep her word. For now she folds it up neatly and hands it to the receptionist, who in turn puts it in a safe box. Once it's safe and secured, Weiss turns back to her office, though at any point she's got her back turned to Roman it's obvious that she's making sure there's a distance between them. When she actually gets into the office, she holds onto the doorknob.

Up until that point, there had been other people around. She had just been reacting and dealing with whatever was in front of her, but she wasn't alone with him then. The last time she was alone with him, face-to-face, was in that sewer. Weiss didn't want him between her and the door, even if that was how her desk faced. History had shown that short of a Grimm swallowing him whole, actually beating Torchwick was a difficult task. And Weiss didn't tend to do well in fights alone- she was very much a team player.

A quick text went from her phone to her deputies to let them know that she needed at least one of them near the office on standby, but she didn't explain why. When she realized the last word of the text actually had a typo in it was the first time she realized her left hand, the one he had scarred, was shaking ever so slightly. Weiss took a deep breath to try to calm herself, then moved over to her desk slowly- an effort to show she was calm, even if she clearly wasn't.

"What do you want?"

Even if her voice was steady, something Weiss had taken a bit of mental effort to force, she was sure he could hear her heart pounding from the sudden panic she hadn't quite expected.

He followed her at a respectable distance and kept his mouth shut because he didn't want to blow his chances, but he watched her with a predator's unblinking stare and an amused smile. Coming into this, he wasn't sure how she'd react to seeing him in person after all this time. He welcomed her fear. Roman Torchwick should always be a name to be feared, sure, but he build up the reputation precisely for times like this. His proposal had equal give and take but failure almost guaranteed he would have to trigger his suicide spell. The emotional scales had been tipped in Weiss' favor; her fear put them back on equal footing.

He closed the office door behind him and when he turned to face her, his demeanor shifted. Backed up by real confidence instead of showmanship, he became calm and almost professional.

"I want to help you catch Cinder."

Better let her chew on that for a minute before he went on.

The shift in tone was almost unsettling enough to jar Weiss out of her extreme discomfort at him closing the door. The words themselves threw her off in more than one sense once his actual words got to her: for one thing, he knew she was going after Cinder, something she'd been trying to keep quiet save for a select few. Another that he wanted to help her when she could've sworn that he made it very clear whose side he was on. Would he be here unless he thought he actually could though?

More importantly, why was he choosing to? How wasn't going to matter if he didn't have a really good reason for wanting to do so.

"Why would you want to do that? I thought she was your leader."

That got a chuckle out of Roman.

"This might come as a shock, but I'm not big on company loyalty. And Cinder's not winning any 'world's greatest boss' awards either, you know? She's got no head for profit and let me tell you, your continued survival should not be considered a benefit package."

He gave a long-suffering sigh and shook his head. He wasn't about to volunteer that his untimely death had helped make this call, but she was obnoxiously smart. She'd probably catch it.

"I worked for Cinder on Remnant because it was in my best interests at the time. Turns out, that's not the case in Genessia."

She did catch it. Mostly because 'your continued survival' very much conflicted with what she knew about Roman's life expectancy should he leave Genessia. But more than that, despite Weiss's hesitance to trust anything that Roman said, the fact that he was here saying that working for Cinder wasn't his best option meant one thing: He thought that Weiss Schnee could possibly overcome her to give him a better shot. As much as she hated for it to come from Roman, that did provide a minor confidence boost. Someone other than her friends who would have her back whether they thought she'd fail or succeed actually thought she stood a chance. Talk about mixed feelings when it came to Roman Torchwick.

Still, Weiss seemed to relax ever so slightly.

"I have no intention of fighting Cinder."

That much was true- she was going to make sure she was asleep during any interaction. "But I happen to know of a prison with her name on it if I can get evidence against her to support tossing her in there. Crimes back home don't hold up with the general populace here whether she's a clear and present threat or not."

Edited 2016-05-04 04:51 (UTC)

If he knew that he'd paid her such a high compliment, he would be mortified. She's half wrong anyway. She's got the firepower, but Roman had little confidence that she had the leadership and tactical skill to outsmart Cinder. But with her army and his wits together, he was fairly sure they could manage. Probably. Lord, he hoped so.

He snorted and gave her a dry smile.

"So entrapment is your game, huh? I should've guessed."

That sort of thing didn't usually sit well with him. The people behind it tended to be means-justify-the-ends 'heroes.' But if Schnee could be honest about her dirty tricks, and if it would help him out, then he could swallow his disdain.

"Evidence aside, how do you plan on catching her without a fight?"

"It's not entrapment. It's normal trapping. That's why I've been working so hard to find evidence."

Unfortunately, not knowing your enemies were enemies the last time they were active made things rather... difficult. Weiss wasn't exactly keen on spilling the beans to Roman, either, but she did believe that he truly wanted out from underneath Cinder's thumb.

"You haven't noticed the massive guard in front of the Beacon Academy subarchway yet? It's been there for a while, considering that Emerald was right about what Ozpin had in the basement even if her presentation was heavily bias toward the story she wanted to tell. That massive power Cinder has? That's from her. So I assume at some point she'll be going to see if she can feed off of the replica in the subarchway, or whatever it is she does."

Cinder is clearly a power-sucking demon witch of some kind.

"Except I'm the one who opened that subarchway, so I'm the only one who can close it."

The rest is more specific, placing specific people in specific locations, sedating her- things that Weiss isn't exactly keen on sharing. But Roman should be able to figure out what she means to do based on that much, at least enough that she doesn't have to tell him all parts of the plan.

He'd noticed the massive increase in security. Pretty hard not to, and it was part of what tipped him off that she was interested in Cinder. But there was quite a leap between seeing a rise in security and guessing that she wanted to trap Cinder in the archway.

He was silent for a minute as he turned the plan over in his head. Much as he hated to give Weiss credit, it was pretty clever. She'll be sacrificing all those lovely security guards at the gate when Cinder came through, of course, but he could respect that sort of ruthlessness. If she slacked off and made it easy then Cinder would know something was up. Just one detail...

"And what happens when you close a subarchway with someone inside?"

The security guards were all robots. If robot forces were good enough for Ironwood, she had no doubt that Cinder would buy they were good enough for her- especially with her being the daughter of Schnee Company, and all. But they weren't robots in the way that Penny was, they didn't have a soul or friends or personalities, they just existed to do their job and make sure people didn't die while they did. Ruthless wasn't what Weiss saw it as- quite the opposite. Robots could be repaired or rebuilt. This was wasting money instead of lives.

"If they don't get out before it's gone, they die."

That part she was less comfortable with, but given how Genessia worked.. well, dying wasn't exactly the end-all option. Weiss held out her hand in a rolling motion, the so-on-and-so-forth gesture.

"Unless Genessia changes it's rules for no reason, it's just a matter of making sure we find her before she wakes up. Zero confrontation. She won't even know who was involved besides me unless they want some of the credit, which I'll happily give or omit."

"Hmm."

Well, that was about as bad as he'd imagined. It was generous of the Powers That Be to let them revive in Genessia. Granted, he'd be a lot more impressed if that generosity was benefiting someone other than Cinder...

He absently reached for where his smokes would be if he still had his coat, then made an irritated noise when they weren't there. How was he supposed to hatch a plan without a ritual cigar? He crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at Weiss.

"So, I'll make sure she gets into the archway at the right time, and make sure you know exactly when it happens. Is that satisfactory?"

"Agreed."

Weiss felt a small victory at him not having his cigars. She wasn't going to have her office smelling like him for the next 48 hours, no thank you. Weiss stepped away from the desk, looking through a drawer for a notepad. She wanted to make sure they got everything they discussed here in writing, signed. Pulling a pen out of her desk, she scribbled something down and then looked back to Torchwick.

"Is that it? I've still got plenty of things you might want. When you first got here, you said I couldn't afford to make a deal with you, but I didn't know what I wanted yet. I do now and since you don't strike me as the type go cooperate for free like Mercury, I need to know what you want so I can decide how much it's worth to me."

Ah, now this is was favorite part of the conversation. He chuckled.

"See? I knew we could work together. We already know each other so well."

Now that he'd got his foot in the door, he may as well make himself at home. He flops into a chair, reclining as far as it will go, and puts his feet up on her desk.

"I want a full pardon for Neo and I. Charges cleared, penalties on our associates removed, and the ability to travel freely. We'll also collect a consulting fee, though we'll give you a discount considering the situation."

"I'll lift the charges and penalties and allow free travel within Nova City, but if you're not planning on stopping being a criminal, that's not going to matter much."

That's at least a starting point for talking. She's willing to at least try to compromise, but she wants to see exactly what he thinks he's going to be doing. As for the fee, they'll worry about that in a moment. If throwing money at a problem can solve it, then it's not a problem unless you don't have money. So she'll worry about that later.

Weiss moves over to the desk as well, though she grabs a tissue to put over her hand while she shoves his feet off of her desk.

"Keep your feet on the ground or this conversation is over."

"So touchy!"

He chuckled, but complied with her request. He knew when to antagonize and when to cooperate.

"You can't seriously expect me to risk my skin just for temporary freedom in one measly city though, can you?"

He leaned forwards, propping his elbows up on the desk and holding her in a steady gaze.

"You're asking me to give up my career and my life's work, Ms. Schnee. That's to say nothing of what would happen if Cinder caught me, and let me tell you, it would be a pleasure to die and stay dead if that happened. I understand that you look down on my kind of business, but I'm sure we can come to a compromise.

How about this: I leave you and your household alone, and you make sure I don't end up in prison."

"That sounds more like a threat than a compromise."

The alternative statement was easily that if she didn't cooperate he'd go after them. Weiss was a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

"How about I let you continue your.. business, provided that you avoid all violent and traumatic crimes? If you happen to make unlawful business dealings or get your wares from the black market, I'll look the other way, but if you make a big fuss about it or have witnesses who want to be heard, I can't just let you do as you please. I'll also provide protection against Cinder and if you happen to have someone who's in your way who's done anything illegal, just let me know and I can make the problem go away while making myself look good for catching other criminals."

He grinned and nodded, conceding the point. You couldn't blame a guy for trying, right? Similarly, you couldn't blame Weiss for using decidedly vague language, but he was having none of it.

"Define 'violent and traumatic', Miss Schnee."

"As in if you traumatize, injure, or kill anyone, I'll happily take you into custody. If you break and enter while someone's there to be terrified, that counts as traumatic. If you kill someone in any way, that's both violent and traumatic. If you kidnap someone and torture someone, that's-"

Weiss took a deep breath, pausing for a moment to calm her voice. She'd gotten a little shaky again. Weiss roughly throws the tissue she'd touched his boot with away and sits down slowly, her eyes closing as she collects her composure, reopening when she speaks more calmly. "That's violent and traumatic. Don't mug anyone, no assault- normal or sexual. No sex crimes whatsoever. If you create a gang and they commit any violent or traumatic crimes on your orders, it still counts. Do you understand or do I need to continue?"

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Action | Closed to Weiss

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