Neopolitan
-----
Neo was surrounded by dum-dums.
Taking the boys out for a drive along the winding cliffside of the most popular mountain range in Mistral Between, they rolled into none other than the most spectacular place ever.
The entertainment district.
Neon signs, electronic billboards, and enough lights of every colour and kind to keep the party going all night long. The catchy symphony of blaring tunes dancing in the big time facilities, carved into the mountain itself, eagerly opened their doors to lure in unsuspecting suckers and wring their wallets dry.
Casinos, clubs, bars, hotels, brothels, dueling arenas, and whatever else they could squeeze into that corner of Mistral was all stuffed better than a millionaire's bank account.
Neo parked the van and made exaggerated hand motions to show that they arrived at the best gaming centre around: The Perfect Shot.
Like children told they could do whatever they wanted, the devilish sides of Roman and Cooper kicked them out the door, and Neo had no choice except to follow their lead.
"Let me guess." Roman raised his voice over the boisterous mobs of players and the DJ's generic mixtape. "Darts?"
"Aye." Cooper warmed up his shooting arm. "Billiards?"
"You got it."
"Bait and switch?"
"Bait and switch."
They split off and went to town.
A burst of giddiness riled up Neo all the way to the food court, where she enjoyed an ice cream cone and the show.
It was a work of art.
Roman and Cooper gambled high stakes while playing like crap, fooling their blissfully unaware competitors into believing they were making easy money, and kept raising the bet until the real game started.
Unfortunately, no matter how much Neo wanted to ignore it, she couldn't help but notice a very glaring thing while they swindled themselves a fortune.
She brushed out the knots of envy tangled inside of her hair.
Why didn't she have a hat?
Being around those two made her perfect outfit incomplete, and she'd be damned to be the only one left out.
"Really gotta hand it to myself." Roman returned with a fat stack of lien that paled in comparison to his big head. "Talk about easy money."
"You can say that again." Cooper also returned with an equally thick stack. "Looks like I still got it."
A mischievous twinkle hit Roman's eye.
"Also, if it's not too much to add." He flourished a keycard from his breast pocket. "I lifted this neat little thing from the guy I beat. Turns out he works maintenance at Cloud Fall Mall."
Neo's breath caught, and Cooper wiped the disbelief off his face.
Cloud Fall Mall was the largest shopping centre in the city, and if they had a free pass there, then it meant Neo could finally get her hat!
A clash between uncertainty and disapproval wrinkled Cooper's nose.
"What's with that look, Stripes?" Roman squeezed his cane and narrowed his eyes. "It's ruining the mood."
"I mean, you didn't have to do that."
"So, what if I did?" Roman waggled the key card. "This is the ticket to another big score. Screw that guy. Seriously? What happened to the raccoon who'd take whatever he wanted whenever he wanted?" He eyed him up and down in disgust. "I don't even know who I'm looking at anymore."
Cooper blew out an exhausted breath.
Neo sucked her lips and glanced between them.
What should she do?
The moment was cut short when the man Roman hustled approached them while flanked by a two man security detail, shooting accusations of all kinds at them for stealing his key card.
Pocketing the key card in his sleeve, Roman locked eyes with Cooper, and the mood flipped back to business.
Neo prepared to use her Semblance for a quick get away, but the way Roman smirked stopped her.
Huh?
The guards escorted Roman and Cooper out of the main hall.
Neo followed them into a closed off corridor far from the public eye, and she was treated to another show way sweeter than her ice cream cone.
The accuser scrutinzed Roman and Cooper better than a high speed camera as the guards made them stand side by side and frisked them.
Roman flicked the key card from his sleeve and flipped it behind his hand, showing nothing except clean palms, and Cooper's tail snagged the key card from Roman, rolled away in the thick fur.
Slapping a hand over her mouth, Neo tried not to tumble over laughing.
Once the guards finished their search, they let them go despite the accuser's protests and walked right out the front doors.
"Colour me surprised, Stripes." Roman opened the passenger door to the van and gave a begrudging nod. "Didn't think you'd actually go along with it."
"Yeah, well, I didn't do it for you." Cooper slid open the side door and glanced at Neo. "Just making sure to hold up my end of the deal."
Aw. Good raccoon.
Roman poked him with his cane. "At least it's good to know you didn't get soft at that school."
Cooper poked him back with his staff. "Even if I did, I'd still be way better than you."
A vein popped on Roman's forehead. "Is that so?"
Cooper stuck his tongue out at him.
Neo stuffed them inside the van like canned tuna, dusted off her hands, and huffed.
Just when things were finally getting good. . .
What dum-dums.
------
At the crack of midnight, they visited Cloud Fall Mall in Mistral Above.
"Look at that." Cooper pulled in between the front seats of the van and whistled at the marble mall shining like a jewel. "Been a while since I've been here. Did it get bigger?
"If it did, then more for us." Roman handed over the key card. "Go do your thing."
He grumbled, snatched the key card, and jumped out the van.
Roman lit a cigar. "I'll give him fifteen minutes."
Neo flashed ten fingers.
"Okay." He held out his fist. "Bet a hundred?"
She bumped his fist.
Close to ten minutes later, Roman received a call.
"I disabled the security systems," Cooper said. "The lights are on and the doors are unlocked. Feel free to let yourselves inside."
Neo opened her hand, and Roman reluctantly slapped a hundred lien on it.
Everything after that was a blur.
Neo skipped along the freshly waxed tiles, prancing and waltzing as she soaked in the mouth watering buffet aroma of whatever she desired, yet the limitless menu wasn't enough to satisfy her starving palate.
Good thing she added some extra lien to Chihaya's basket before they left.
Neo swooned at the wide selection of appetizers inside the display cases serving colourful jewellery hor d'oeuvres.
Cooper exited a Dust shop and burst out laughing as Neo helped herself to enough trinkets to become a walking disco ball.
Frowning, she swiped his hat and nestled it on her head.
"Oi!"
Neo winked and ran off while Cooper gave chase.
Leaping from a set of inactive escalators, she slid along the rail, launched herself at food kiosk, floating over it with her parasol, and picked out a donut. She didn't have the chance to get another bite before tossing it when the raccoon caught up.
The donut unintentionally smacked Roman's face as he came out of a liquor shop with a collection of bottles piled in his arms.
They rounded a giant fountain.
Cooper slipped at high speed, shrieking like a little girl, and he bowled over the counter of a small popcorn shop, buried alive in a variety of tasty looking flakes.
"Ugh." He grimaced. "Hope the butter doesn't leave any stains."
Neo picked a popcorn flake out of Cooper's hair and flicked it into her mouth, happily savouring the tasty crunch.
Cooper pelted enough popcorn seeds at Neo to pop a fabulous idea out of her.
Grabbing his hand, she dragged him into the best clothing store full of her favourite designer brands.
Neo sampled the menu of clothes from the mannequin servers and stacked whatever she fancied on Cooper, mixing and matching a meal garnished in the perfect blend of black, white, and pink seasonings, and once it was complete, the most perfect gourmet entree was hot and fresh on her plate.
A saucy-white strapless crop top resembling a button up vest made up the meat of the outfit. The nicely charred gloves that went past her elbows paired well with the heaping dollop of creamy trousers on the side, and the juicy medium-rare accents got her chomping at the bit.
Neo threw herself in the nearest dressing room and drooled at her own reflection.
A lot more skin showed than what she was used to, but after stepping out of the dressing room and receiving Cooper's impressed nod, she grew a liking to such an extra fine spice.
However, there was one last thing missing from this perfect three course meal.
Dessert.
Neo tackled the section of the extravagant hats to satisfy what her sweet tooth craved, but before she could get started, Cooper already had something for her.
"Here you go, darling."
A derby hat, same as Roman's but with a big difference.
Overlapping white and black ovals glazed the crown like vanilla-fudge icing, and an orange band added a zesty hint of citrus to the base of the hat and the chocolate cake suede brim.
Neo cringed.
Ew.
"Stay still." Cooper swiped his flat cap back, stuck the derby hat to Neo's head, and tied an orange neckerchief similar to Roman's red one on her. "Perfect!"
Neo deadpanned and finger stabbed the horrible additions that ruined her entire get up.
"Trust me." He held his hips and proudly puffed his chest. "It's quite lovely on you."
Neo typed away at her scroll to give him a piece of her mind.
Cooper hummed and pursed the side of his mouth. "Do you want to learn how to whistle?"
The question locked her thumbs in place, and she blinked at him several times to make sure her ears got that right.
"Think about it," he said the same way a merchant peddled snake oil. "It'd make things a lot easier."
Cooper whistled a note.
"Come on, give it a shot!" He puckered his lips and slowly showed her how to do it. "Like this."
As much as she wanted to slap that goofy grin off his face, she would be lying to say the idea didn't intrigue her, so with that in mind, why not?
Neo mimicked his face and gently blew air, only for nothing to happen.
Cooper chuckled. "Try again, darling."
Ignoring the pinch of heat on her face, Neo tried several times more and got nowhere, leaving her out of breath and embarrassed by how silly she must have looked.
How the heck did he do it so easily?
In the nick of time, Neo's scroll rang, and she answered, putting Roman's voice on speaker.
"I'm done here. Let me know when you are too, and tell Stripes to hurry up and get whatever he wants. We overstayed our welcome long enough. Meet at the front gates after you're finished. There's one more place I want to visit before we call it a day."
"It's been fun, but you heard the lad. Time we get going." Cooper dusted off his clothes. "And don't worry about trying to whistle. Just keep at it, and it'll eventually come to you."
Whistling a merry little tune and twirling his staff, Cooper left the shop.
Balls of jealousy inflated her cheeks.
Making sure he was for sure out of sight, Neo went over to a mirror and practiced whistling again, looking like a straight dum-dum who had no clue what in the world she was doing.
This was gonna take a while, wasn't it?
Wait a minute.
Neo checked herself out and carefully examined her newly bought attire, specifically the hat and scarf Cooper picked out for her, and for some odd reason, it didn't seem so bad all of a sudden.
Whatever.
Neo shrugged it off for later and skipped out of the mall, twirling her parasol while trying to figure out how to nail down that raccoon's whistle.
-----
Tannum "Cooper" Oakwood
-----
"Say, why are we doing this again, Roman?"
"Seriously, Stripes? It's for the hideout. Neo keeps talking about how we need to decorate the place, so I thought why not this? Would definitely give the place some style and all that."
"I know, it's just. . ."
"Just what?"
Cooper gulped at the red hot laser grid he was about to be torturously suspended above.
"Do I really have to do this?" The golden frame of the prized painting they came here for dared to shimmer past the lasers. "Couldn't we have gone to, oh I don't know, a cheap knock off instead? It'd be much easier than this."
"And desecrate the shrine with something unworthy to grace its hallowed walls?" Roman scoffed into the earpiece. "Besides, we're professionals. Breaking into an art gallery and nabbing ourselves the best painting money can buy is more of our speed anyways. Isn't that right, Neo?"
Next to Cooper, Neo nodded to herself while haphazardly tying the rope around his waist to the mezzanine railing.
"Fine." Cooper prayed to Chihaya to give him the best luck. "Shut off the security systems already."
"Keep your tail on." The clacking of terminal keys popped in the speaker. "Almost there. Got it."
The laser grid vanished, and the entire gallery floor went dark.
"You got five minutes, Stripes. Make it count."
"You ready, darling?" Cooper checked the rope one last time. "Try not to drop me."
Neo pretended to snip the rope and dramatically feigned a look of shock.
As Cooper climbed over the railing, Neo held the rope, lowering him little by little until he was right above the loot.
Cooper tugged the rope to signal Neo to stop.
The gallery floor was completely pitch black, but thanks to his Faunus eyes, the lights might as well be on.
Inside the display case was the city of Mistral propped on a pedestal, perfectly represented by the flawless brush strokes and perfect harmony of oil blends to colour the wide canvas, and it was about to find a new home.
Almost made him feel bad for taking such a priceless and cherished artifact, but Roman and Neo were right about it adding flair to the shrine.
Cooper fiddled open the lock, and the creak of the display case hinges shrivelled his skin.
Easy does it.
He plucked the painting and tugged the rope to receive a not so smooth lift out of there.
"Nice work." Copper clambered onto the balcony. "Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you."
Neo shook out her hands and played it off with a dandy smile and flex of her arms.
The laser grid and lights snapped back on and so did the alarms.
The mind numbing bell joggled Cooper brains to mush, forcing them both to cover their ears, and Neo was already running for the closet window.
"The security system reset!" Roman's shouts did no favours to Cooper's eardrums. "Get to the van!"
Cooper followed Neo and passed off the painting to her. "Take it!"
Clutching onto the painting, she leaped out the window and opened her parasol, parachuting to the empty night streets far below.
Cooper nocked a rope arrow on Merry Outlaw and aimed for a good spot to stick it.
An all too familiar blare of sirens echoed nearby, and the red and blue lights drifting around the corner at the end of the street was a big enough sign to run for the hills.
Why do the bloody cops always have such an insane reaction time?
"Roman. Neo. Take the van and get out of here." Cooper hastily figured out a last ditch plan of escape. "I'll stop them."
There was a brief pause.
"Keep them off our backs, Stripes." Roman didn't care to sound concerned yet the shaky breathing on the other end told otherwise. "Meet us at the rendezvous point."
Neo sent him an image of a thumbs up.
Cooper chuckled and launched his rope arrow at the building directly across from him, pinning it to the side of the slanted roof, and he secured the other end to the windowsill.
Stepping onto the rope, Cooper sauntered to the middle.
Roman and Neo scrambled into the van underneath him, and when they turned on the engine, a swarm of police cruisers flooded in from the other side of the street.
Out in the open with the moon directly behind him, it'd be impossible for any of them not to look up and miss Cooper's silhouette floating in the sky. However, if they did, then he had a sure fire way to earn their undivided attention.
Cooper pulled up his scarf, and Neo and Roman floored it out of there.
Showtime.
Hitting the green button on his magazine, he lobbed an arrow in front of the incoming cruisers and set off a tornado.
The swirling force of wind twisted the leading cruisers sideways, jamming the streets and persuading the other cruisers to hit the brakes or else risk plowing their poor fellas in blue.
Tipping his hat and fleeing from the fight, he admired the wonderful sight, knowing full well nobody was catching him on this starry night.