2Roman stood there on the upper balcony of the club watching Neo with a fond smile. She was dancing with the Malachite twins to her favorite singer named Peaches. It was so hard for him to believe that she was the same girl, the same child he had found 9 years ago. She went from a broken, frail 6 year old girl to this happy hyper 15 year old teen woman. God the memory of when he found her still sent chills down his spine. No child should have had to go through what she did, it was sick and disgusting. Roman was a criminal who has done many things but even he had lines he wouldn't cross. One of those lines was abusing children, he found the act to be one of the most horrible things a person could do. Hell even Cinder who's a crazy psyco wouldn't abuse a 6 year old child.
Roman was the girls father, sure he might not be her real father but blood doesn't make family. Some might say he was unfit to be a parent and to an extent that was true. However he was sure as hell more fit than that thing that was supposed to be her father. He told himself that if he ever encountered that so called family of hers he would kill them for what they did.
9 Years Ago
"Uh Roman, why exactly are we robbing a house in the middle of nowhere?" Junior asked.
"Because Junior, this house belongs to a huntsmen." He smirked.
"So shouldn't we not be robbing it then?" He asked.
"He's not home, therefore all his huntsmen tools are ripe for the picking." The orange haired man said as he picked the lock on the door and opened it. "A huntsman's equipment goes for a lot of money, as does all the dust they stock up on."
They made their way into the house. The place seemed rather cozy and unassuming but also rather well lived in. Pictures hung all over the walls which was to be expected. Old but well taken care of furniture was spread through out the place. The home was a decent size, not to big but not to small, just the right size for a standard family. The pair moved from room to room taking whatever they found to be valuable. The only room they avoided was a child's room. They refused to steal from a child, an adult was one thing but a child didn't deserve that. The child's room aside it was easy picking and they would no doubt make a pretty hefty sum of money.
At the end of the homes hallway there was another door. A door that was thick and heavily secured. There had to be something very valuable in there for there to be this heavy of a security door. The only option Roman had of getting into it though was by blowing it open with a fire dust crystal.
They coughed as the smoke slowly disappeared. There was no light, natural or otherwise, so it was pitch black in the room. Turning on a flashlight Roman looked around the room. He noted how filthy and damp the room was. There was dirt, dust, and mold that caked the walls and floor. He was pretty sure there was urine and excrement all over the floor as well. The smell was horrific forcing them to cover their nose and mouth. Then he saw it or rather he saw her. In the corner of the room dressed in raggedy torn clothes was a small girl. She was covered in dirt and blood and was obviously suffering from malnutrition. Her bones could easily be seen as they stuck out from how thin she was. Her body was littered with scars both new and old with a few looking rather fresh.
The girl was terrified as she kept trying to push herself further into the corner. Roman had seen fear in people eye's before, but never had he seen absolute terror in a child's eye's. His heart sank in his chest at seeing this girl, but he also found himself being angry. He was angry that someone could treat a child like this. Roman approached the girl with her crying and closing her eye's expecting the worst. But nothing happened, instead she found herself being wrapped up in Romans jacket. After placing his hat on her head he gently lifted her up into his arms where he held her close. Silently and with out a word he walked out of the house and to their vehicle. He sat with her, not once did he let her go, not even when junior loaded the car up and got in the drivers seat.
Junior didn't say a word about it as he understood. Junior himself was rather horrified at the state of the girl. Having two daughters of his own Junior would kill himself before he let something like this happen to them. Neo had eventually calmed down and even fell asleep snuggled into Romans chest. It was strange seeing the orange haired man like this. He had honestly never taken Roman for the kid type. Before they even went to cash in their loot Roman had junior stop by a hospital. He wanted the girl to get checked out because it was obvious that she was no where near healthy. It wasn't a normal hospital though, it was a secret establishment that was used by criminals and others. For people like Roman you couldn't just walk into a regular hospital or Doctors office.
Aside from the obvious mental trauma the girl had she wasn't even close to being physically healthy. Like he had thought the girl was indeed malnourished. Her body was also mis-proportioned because of the malnourishment and physical abuse. She was undersized, her hips were slightly bigger and wider than they should be and her breast bones were slightly to small. X-ray's showed multiple bones were broken with several more having been broken in the past. Many of the healed breaks in her bones didn't heal right. Her body was covered in cut and burn scars. Several of the open wounds were infected and she was sick with a few different bacterial and viral infections.
Because of the malnourishment and infections her immune system had been compromised. The room she had been in didn't help either since there was plenty of mold in it. The fact that the girl was even able to move and breath was a miracle. It took several months of surgeries and other medical treatments before she was finally getting better. Most of that time she had to be on a respirator just to help her breath.
There were moments where they thought she wouldn't make it but somehow she did. She was a tough girl, a fighter, she was a survivor. A miracle had come when her aura had unlocked, which had probably saved her. Fortunately during this time they had found no signs of sexual abuse which made Roman at least have a bit of relief. When she was healthy and healed enough to move and speak they had found out that she couldn't talk. However it wasn't that she was physically incapable of it. They believed she couldn't talk because of the mental trauma which isn't an uncommon thing. It was quickly discovered though that the girl couldn't read or write which meant she had no way of really communicating. In terms of learning she was far behind overall, unable to do even the basic of things.
Roman took the girl in and spent much of his time and money helping her. Medical treatments, education, clothing, pretty much everything she needed. As it turned out though the girl was a quick learner. Honestly he thought teaching her how to communicate would be hard but boy did she prove him wrong. Once she learned how to read, learning sign language was a breeze for her. She was a freaking genius and had not only caught up on her education but also went beyond it. Not to mention she became very fond of engineering and tailoring. She had made her own umbrella and her clothing was homemade to, with her preference being that of an older 18th century fashion style. Her clothing was even made to match her hair and eye's.
Speaking of her hair and eye's they weren't always pink and brown. It wasn't to long after he took her in that that her semblance had unlocked. She had been having a nightmare and woke up in a panic. Her aura flared as her eye's and hair changed colors with her skin turning a little pale. It was all a result of her now unlocked semblance. Her semblance had permanently turned her hair and eye color to a mix of pink and brown. It was suspected however that the color change wasn't permanent and was simply a subconscious choice on her part. Someone's mental health can indeed affect certain aspects of their semblance. In this case, Neo's color change was more likely from this.
Neo rather liked it and it even helped her come up with a new name. When Roman officially adopted her she wanted a new name and the name she chose was Neopolitan Torchwick. She wanted nothing to do with her old life, her old family, those people were not her family. Roman was her family, he was her father and she loved him. He saved her and she would forever be grateful.
Over time Neo was able to open up more to people and the nightmares didn't happen as often. Slowly but surely she got better, she even started to smile and laugh. Neo became very playful as she loved playing practical jokes on others. Her semblance made it very easy for her to mess with people. There were a few times where she made him piss himself by appearing as Ironwood or some other figure of authority. When she would get into trouble she would use it to hide from him as well. It wasn't to hard to trick her into coming out, all he had to do was lay out some tasty treats. The fact that he could catch an intelligent child with treats under a box being held up by a stick dumbfounded him. In all honesty he faced palmed every time she fell for it, which was everytime.
She had come to like sugary treats like cookies, cake and ice cream a lot. Coincidentally her favorite Ice cream was Neapolitan. Aside from treats she came to like fruits such as strawberries, bananas and peaches a good bit to. Neo came to love tea and coffee, but Roman always had to fight with her to stop her from drinking coffee. Coffee would make the girl so hyper she would practically be jumping off the walls. She was hyper enough without the caffeine rush, so he didn't need her hyped up like an addict on speed.
Her smile was infectious and had became so infectious that it made Roman and others often smile. A friendship was struck between Neo and the Twins which was nice to see. The twins became like protective older sisters to the younger girl with Junior being like an uncle. However Neo took a liking to picking on the poor man on a regular basis. Junior just never seemed to be able to catch a break.
Then a time came when she wanted to learn how to fight and do the things he could. He had no problem with her learning how to fight, but learning to be a thief was out of the question. With fighting he figured it was a good idea anyways. With who he was, some people might try to get to him through her. So her being able defend herself was a good idea. Not to mention that it might help her with her self confidence issues. To say that she excelled at her training was a drastic understatement. She caught on quick and turned out to be a true strategist. During her training the girl discovered that she was double jointed along with being naturally very flexible. The way Neo could twist, turn and bend her body sometimes made Roman feel sick.
The style of fighting Neo developed was rather unorthodox and unique. It was fast paced and acrobatic allowing her to quickly overwhelm her opponents. Because of her size, joints and flexibility she could easily dodge and out maneuver most people. The odd movements and addition of hidden blades made her even more deadly. She had even reinforced her umbrella and added a hidden blade to the tip of it. With her semblance she could avoid most fights if she wanted. How easy it would be for her sneak up on someone and slit their throat before disappearing. It sent shivers down Romans spine thinking about how truly deadly Neo was.
Eventually Neo became more and more insistent on learning the tricks of his trade. He caved and eventually taught her everything he knew. He still didn't want her committing crimes like him, but she was going to do it one way or another. So he decided that if she was going to get involved then it was safer that she do it as his partner.
Present Day
Roman smiled to himself as he reminisced about raising the girl. He continued to watch her dancing around down below. She had become an amazing dancer over the years. In his opinion there was no one that could match her move for move. Then again most people weren't double jointed with natural flexibility. He always loved watching Neo have fun. It was like no matter how old she would get, she still retained much of her childishness. Although he often wondered if that had anything do with her spending the first 6 years of her life as someone's punching bag. Mentally she would probably always retain some the childishness, no matter how much she matured.
Neo had eventually looked up from the dance floor at him and waved with a happy smile. He was glad she had finally cheered up, as she had been depressed the past two months. Yet another romantic relationship of hers had ended. Ever since she was old to start actually dating she was constantly involved with some girl. It always ended the same way however with the other girl breaking up with Neo. Neo was self conscious about her body and didn't like being seen naked. All the scars from the abuse and surgeries, had her not liking her body. Roman and the doctors are the only ones to have ever seen her with out clothes. As you can imagine,when your sexually active, hormonal teens this can cause a bit of a problem.
Neo had no problem sexually pleasing her partners, it was when they wanted to return the favor that things would start to go sour. Most of the girls were patient with her, but when you won't confide in those that care about you, you end up pushing them away. Pushing them away is always what ended up happening. And then she would sit around depressed for a few weeks or months. He hated seeing her like that but here was only so much he could do. He tried convincing her to see a psychiatrist, to help deal with her mental health but she always refused. What had him worried the most was that she had developed a bit of a sadistic streak. She needed help, he knew it and she knew it.
He also kind of wished Neo would keep her hands to herself sometimes. He had lost count of the amount of times the girl has been slapped, punched or thrown across a room. It was always because she had grabbed a woman's butt or breasts. He still remembers when she smacked Cinder on the ass. Obviously Cinder was furious and all Roman saw was a blur of pink and brown flying across the room. Cinder had hit her with a giant fire ball which threw her across the room. Cinder liked the girl well enough but did not appreciate being groped. She grabbed Emerald to but surprisingly the girl was receptive to it. Neo and Emerald dated for awhile but obviously it didn't last.
He made his way down to Neo passing a blonde girl on his way. The girl was vaguely familiar to him but he couldn't place it. Maybe he was just having deja vu, honestly though he didn't care right now. Him and Neo had an appointment to keep and they intended to not be late.
"Neo it's time to go." He told her as he came to stand next to her. "We have places to go, people to see and dust to steal." He smirked.
Neo skipped happily in front of him with her umbrella in hand and resting on her shoulder. This robbery should go smoothly and be easy to pull of. It's not like many small shops like this had much in the way of security. Roman just hoped that Neo would contain herself for once and not get overly dramatic. Sure he was guilty of showing some theatrics but Neo would just go overboard.
He smiled and chuckled as he watched her skipping forward while eating a cookie. Thinking about the past, her life was filled with so much pain but he was able to give her a better life. He had never thought about having children before, but when he saw her, it was like a fatherly instinct had kicked in. Not once has he regretted taking her with him that day. When he saw that door he had thought that there was something truly valuable behind it. Turns out he was right, behind that door had been a precious gem.