Cards of Remnant

Chapter 16: Aftermath - End of Volume 1

"You know, if I never see another teenager, it'll be too soon," Torchwick groaned, the bullhead's engines whining as the squadron of airships rose into the sky.

Next, Neo tilted her head with a sarcastic smirk.

"Yes, yes, I know the boss lady's minion duo makes that impossible. Let me cope," Roman snarked back, though their usual repartee couldn't stop his hand from shaking as he deactivated Melodic Cudgel.

He hated it. He'd had jobs go south before, like the night he'd met Red, but he'd always been able to walk it off with a roguish wink and twirl. Heck, even as pear-shaped as things had gotten, the operation was still relatively successful. They hadn't nabbed all the dust before the police sirens had gotten too close, but they'd loaded a sizable chunk of it onto the bullheads before they'd had to split. Even the boss lady wasn't gonna get all flame-happy on him for this haul.

Yet, he couldn't get that stupid Atlas Obelisk Blue out of his head. Her Link Monsters. Her Fusion Monster. How utterly she'd overwhelmed him. Red, he could handle, but that redhead? She was clearly not an ordinary student. She worked for whoever the boss lady was actually up against. And she was a terrifying reminder that whatever game that golden-eyed dame was playing, he was way out of his depth in it.

Neo came forward and pressed a hand over his arm, stilling its fearful shivering. Roman turned to catch a rare look of concern on his partner's normally flippant face. He found that he was able to manage a charming smirk if it would get her smiling again.

"Sorry about that. Got all mopey there for a second," he said, patting the back of her hand to reassure her. "Thanks for the save back there. Your timing is perfect as usual. Hope I didn't tear you away from anything too fun."

Neo excitedly hopped up with an impish smile. Pink glass shards swirled around her hand, her semblance forming a transparent image of an exceedingly famous card.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" Torchwick said, his eyes flickering towards Neo's stored duel disk Hush, a custom model modified to analyze and record the dust formula of any card played on it. "You stole the dust formula for the Blue-Eyes White Dragon?!"

Neo's smile grew as she took a gloating bow. Honestly, she deserved it. The Schnee Family had jealously guarded the dust formula for their signature monster for decades, unwilling to allow anyone outside the family to acquire their own versions. Which meant whoever finally succeeded in acquiring the recipe would not only be a legend in the criminal underworld but, more importantly, could easily make a fortune!

"Nice work, partner!" Roman grinned. "Looks like we'll never have to worry about retirement ever again–"

Neo interrupted him with a pleading pout, the construct in her hand shifting to show a new card, one Torchwick had never seen before. But he was more than familiar with its ilk. One of Neo's favorite tricks was to steal rare cards and then mess around with their dust formulas to craft her own versions more suited to her deck.

"Are you telling me that you want to forgo the biggest score we've ever gotten and not sell a hundred new Blue-Eyes White Dragons into the wind… just so that the Toon version you're gonna make and keep to yourself will be even more valuable?"

Neo gleefully nodded.

"Ugh. You learned my economics lessons too well," Roman groaned. "Fine. Whatever. Your score, your call."