Chapter 1-

The Heist

Roman Torchwick was many things.

He was a gentleman, an aspiring criminal kingpin, and one of the best damn thieves in all of the kingdoms. While his reputation wasn't quite as notorious as he would've liked it to be, most of the criminal underground and public masses at the very least, knew that Vale was his turf. Now, even a punk with a ski-mask knew that there wasn't any honor among thieves, but he'd like to think that there was at the very least, etiquette. You didn't just barge into somebody else's turf without any warning whatsoever, not unless you wanted a bullet to the back of the head anyway.

And Roman really wanted to shoot the punk that had the balls to steal his spotlight, in his damn city.

"Look at them, Neo. Running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. What a joke."

Two different colored irises regarded him with a playful expression. Neopolitan, his vertically challenged partner-in-crime, let out a silent chuckle. After a couple of quick taps on her scroll, she held up the device in front of his eyes.

"You think he'll actually show up this time?"

Roman didn't reply immediately, choosing to continue scrutinizing Vale's joke of a police department instead. Police cars lined the street and there was at least one officer standing at every corner block all around the building. Some of them were undercover, but it wasn't too hard for him to pick them out from the civilians. It seemed that the Schnee Dust Company had been pulling some strings to beef up their security.

What a farce, as if a bunch of incompetent cops were going to stop the 'Phantom Thief of Vale'.

"Oh, he'll show up Neo. Someone with a flair for the dramatics like that guy wouldn't give this opportunity up."

From what Roman had managed to discover from his network, the Phantom Thief had a couple of strange quirks. For one, he seemed to only be interested in stealing from the Schnee Dust Company. That was the first odd little detail that stood out to Roman, for while the Schnee Dust Company was the 'go-to' when you needed a lot of highly refined Dust, they were also the ones with the most annoying security systems to deal with. For someone that was just interested in making money, it was simply better to target the smaller vendors instead, since it was less risk for more or less the same product, albeit in smaller quantities.

It wasn't as if the Phantom Thief needed tons of the goods anyway, from what he had seen, the guy only took a few crates of Dust at the most. If he were to only steal small amounts of Dust like that, wouldn't it make more sense to simply target the small-time stores instead of going after the company itself? Why would anyone willingly make a job more difficult than it had to be?

It just didn't make any sense.

That wasn't even the strangest thing though. No, it wasn't even close, because at the very least with this, Roman could say that the Phantom Thief simply enjoyed the thrill of the heist. There wasn't as much of a rush from a stick-up in some small-time shop when compared to stealing from the Schnee Dust Company itself after all. The Phantom Thief even left a calling card behind after every job, as if he just wanted to piss off the suits over at the company even more. That just screamed to Roman that the Phantom Thief was someone that enjoyed putting on a good show.

But then there was that other quirk of his...

There were some rumors running around on the streets that the Phantom Thief was actually giving away his spoils, and for free! Roman had laughed it off at first, but when he saw some of the Faunus in the slums walking around with brand new clothes and actual food in their bellies, he began to have second thoughts on the matter. Naturally, he went to investigate and personally interrogated one of those animals himself.

Oh, they didn't want to talk at first, but a little persuasion from Neo was all that they needed to spill the beans.

And what a can of beans they were. To his complete and utter disbelief, the rumors proved to be true. The Phantom Thief was actually giving away his spoils to those poor bastards in the slums. It was insanity. Roman just couldn't even wrap his mind around the thought process behind something like that.

Did the Phantom Thief fancy himself as some kind of Robin Hood or something?

Not only was Roman getting shown up in his own damn city. It was at the hands of some punk that thought of himself as some kind of hero of the poor. Just the thought of something ridiculous as that was driving him insane enough to want to rip his favorite hat in two.

"Roman." A nudge from his partner, "You see that?"

Roman turned his attention towards the direction that Neo was pointing at.

He had to squint, but he could see something perched on top of another building's rooftop. Taking out his binoculars, Roman zoomed in for a better look. And right there, perched on top of a nearby rooftop was the Phantom Thief himself. That white mask of his seemed to be almost glowing in contrast to the darker colors that he wore. An odd choice of colors, if Roman had anything to say on the matter, he had been expecting something a little more flashy.

"Heh." Roman chuckled, "It looks like our little friend finally came to play, Neo."

Neo just grinned in response.

Roman kept his sights locked on the Phantom Thief as the gears in his brain began to whirl. Now, just how was the guy going to make his way into the building? And then, as if the Phantom Thief could read his thoughts, the very next moment, he jumped off the rooftop.

Roman's eyes went wide.

"What the hell is that guy doing?!"

Even Neo seemed surprised.

Roman kept his eyes glued on the Phantom Thief as he began free falling towards the ground. And then, just like that, the Phantom Thief suddenly disappeared into the shadows, as if he had merged with the very darkness itself. Roman almost cracked an eyelid from holding his binoculars too tightly against his face.

"Neo, am I seeing things, or did our guy just disappear into thin air?"

Another nudge from his partner brought his attention towards the SDC building. And right there, hanging from the dark side of the building, where the shadows almost obscured him from his vision, was the Phantom Thief.

Just how the hell did he get over there?

"A semblance probably." Neo typed out with a slight shrug. "Something to do with shadows I'm guessing."

The Phantom Thief moniker actually made sense now, how fitting.

"Great." Roman scoffed, "As if he wasn't hard enough to track down before. Now you're telling me he can teleport too?"

Neo flashed him a dangerous grin.

"It makes it more fun this way though." She replied, "Look, he's making his way into the building."

Roman watched as the Phantom Thief made his way towards the top of the building and picked open a door on the rooftop with relative ease.

"Seriously, that's just unfair." Roman grumbled, "That was way too easy for him."

Neo laughed in response.

"You act like it's going to be difficult for us."

Neo's aura flared a bit and then her appearance changed completely. She now wore one of Vale's police uniforms with a matching hat to boot. Her hair and eyes had changed accordingly as well. For an illusion, it was as real as it could get.

His partner-in-crime grinned.

"How do I look?"

Roman had learned early on that as long as you looked the part and walked around like you knew what you were doing, nobody would ever suspect a thing.

Neopolitan had done her job easily enough. The entire SDC building was now on high alert, having been tipped off by somebody that there was an intruder in the building. Roman kept his eyes focused on the rooftop of the building. Now that the whole place was locked down, the only way the Phantom Thief was getting away would be with that little fancy trick of his through the rooftop again.

He felt a little bad for selling out a fellow thief to the cops, but then again, the Phantom Thief had been one to break etiquette in the first place. After all, you can't expect to come into another guy's territory and steal his thunder without paying the repercussions. Roman could be real petty when it came to his reputation.

Sirens started blaring as more and more Vale P.D. began to arrive on the scene. It seemed that they finally managed to find the Phantom Thief. And right on cue, the door to the rooftop blasted open and the Phantom Thief ran out with a mixture of Atlas security personal and police hot on his trail. They chased him towards the edge of the building, and being the flashy bastard that he was, the Phantom Thief gave a brief wave before he leapt off the building in a flourish.

Roman had to admit, the guy had style if anything.

With bated breath, he watched as the Phantom Thief appeared to vanish into the very shadows themselves once again. The only question now was which direction he went. From what he had seen of the ability the first time, it seemed that his 'jump' distance was limited to other nearby areas with shadows.

Eventually, Roman was able to spot him running along another rooftop a couple blocks away from the SDC building. Roman frowned, before he quickly picked up his cane and began chasing after the thief. Reaching into his coat pocket for his scroll, he hit the speed-dial for his partner-in-crime and held the scroll next to his ear.

"Neo, our guy's headed down Main street on the rooftops. See if you can get a ride and hunt him down."

A 'click' on the other side was the only response he received, signalling that she had ended the call prematurely. Roman usually avoided phone calls with Neopolitan as they could hardly be called a conversation, but sometimes, it just couldn't be helped. Roman kept his eyes on the Phantom Thief as they both continued hopping over rooftops.

Eventually, the Phantom Thief ducked down onto an emergency fire escape and began to make his way into a back alley.

Roman followed suit, sending a quick message to Neo along the way. He knew these streets well, and if the Phantom Thief thought he could get away from Roman Torchwick, then the guy had another thing coming. Roman ducked into an alley of his own as he chased after the Phantom Thief. To his credit, the Phantom Thief seemed to have spotted him and only increased his pace in response.

Roman only smirked as he kept after the other thief, there was no way he was getting away now.

As they both kept running through the alleyways, a police siren started sounding off in the nearby distance. The Phantom Thief simply kept running until a police car cut him off, blocking off the only exit as Roman skidded to a stop. It was a narrow two-way alley and the only way out was through him or the police car.

The door to the police car soon popped open and his lovely little partner-in-crime slipped out with a grin on her face.

"Well, well." Roman began with a sneer, "Now look what we have here. The Phantom Thief of Vale himself!"

The Phantom Thief kept his back to the wall, eyes darting back and forth for a brief moment as if searching for a non-existent escape route. When it became apparent to the guy that there wasn't any, his shoulders slumped a little and he simply leaned against the wall.

"You're Roman Torchwick."

Roman was surprised at how young the Phantom Thief sounded, but kept his surprise to himself.

"Oh, so you've heard of me? Why I'm honored." Roman replied in a mocking tone. "How about you then, Mr. Phantom Thief? Got a name for me?"

"Joker."

Roman raised an eyebrow at that . An alias, more than likely.

"You were the one that tipped off the police." Joker simply stated, annoyance evident in his voice. "Why?"

"Why indeed?" Roman smirked, "Y'see, I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now, and well… I'm sure even the police can attest to how hard it is to get a hold of you." Roman chuckled to himself, "The cops are a bunch of idiots, but they served their purpose this time."

"Fine. I'm here." Joker crossed his arms over his chest, "Now talk."

"Yeesh, you're a prickly one aren't you?" Roman quipped with a grin, "You mad I ruined your heist or something?"

Joker didn't reply and just stared. Roman had a feeling that the Phantom Thief wasn't someone to get riled up easily, but it was worth the attempt. It was difficult to get a good read on the guy, and that was starting to bug him a bit.

"Well, whatever. I'll get straight to the point then." Roman said, his eyes narrowing. "See, I'm sure you know but, this is my city and I don't appreciate punks coming into my turf unannounced."

"So that's what this is about?" Joker asked, a little exasperation seeping into his tone. "You're worried that I'm taking your marks from you?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Roman simply shook his head, "Even a hundred of us couldn't steal all the Dust from the Schnee's. What I'm pissed about is that you're stealing my spotlight." Roman continued as he brought up Melodic Cudgel and held a finger over its trigger. "Sorry to the bearer of bad news Joker, but there's only room for one master thief in this city, and it ain't you."

Joker only sighed in response.

"I'm guessing that asking you to let me go is out of the picture then?"

Roman just laughed before he pulled the trigger.

His laughter however, only died in his throat when a strange hand shot out from the shadows behind the wall that Joker was leaning against. The hand then proceeded to catch the Dust bullet in mid-air, crushing it into tiny little pieces with a sick crunch. Blue flames seemed to have suddenly sprung to life all around and the white mask that the Phantom Thief wore had begun to glow with an eerie blue as well. The hand then began to move out of the shadows, dragging along more dangly limbs before revealing a strange winged-creature draped entirely in red.

It's pitch black face seemed to be almost smiling at him, although that made the creature no less menacing in his eyes. If it weren't for the fact that that thing looked like a humanoid Grimm that wanted to tear his face off, he would've laughed at how absurd the whole situation was. Blues flames danced about under the moonlight as Joker reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife along with a pistol.

Roman Torchwick suddenly had a sinking feeling that he had screwed up.

Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug as he put down his newspaper.

It seemed that Vale's newest criminal superstar was on the move once again. The Schnee Dust Company was the target as per usual, and judging from his latest press conference, it seemed that Jacques had finally had enough. Ozpin had a feeling that the president of the Schnee Dust Company would be complaining to General Ironwood soon enough.

And while that wasn't any of his business, he knew that James would try to leverage the opportunity as a way to bring in more Atlas troops into the city, which was the last thing that Vale needed right now. The general was stubborn that way, and ever since he had been appointed as the head of security for the next Vytal festival by the council, he had been lobbying for more Atlas forces into the city for weeks now.

Ozpin preferred to not get involved with small-time criminals like the Phantom Thief or Roman Torchwick, even if they were rather infamous, but with the recent developments, he wouldn't have much of a choice in that regard if he wanted to keep the status quo.

Bringing back Qrow would put a dent into his plans, but he simply couldn't afford to have the General barreling into the city with his troops just because Jacques was throwing a fit. He'd have to nip this Phantom Thief problem in the bud before it made things worse. And perhaps, he just might be able to leverage the Phantom Thief into another piece on his side of the board. He would need all the pieces that he could get against the Red Queen after all.

Reaching for his scroll, Ozpin punched in a familiar series of numbers.

"What do you need Oz?" The voice that came through the speakers was a bit muffled, but still understandable nonetheless.

"Tell me Qrow, what do you know about the Phantom Thief of Vale?"

Author's Notes- Roman my boy, you done goofed. I'd like to imagine that if Akira couldn't steal hearts anymore, he would take a more Robin Hood-esque approach to things on Remnant. Enjoy the story and let me know what you guys think.