Fanfic / CRME

CRME (Either pronounced "crime" or "chrome") is a RWBY Fanfic written by Snarky_SilverHaired_Sociopath. It starts directly after My Name Is Cinder and it details the efforts of Cinder to assemble a team that will help her take down Beacon Academy and attain the Fall Maiden’s powers. Cinder gets an apartment in Mistral from Salem's resources and she takes in Emerald and Mercury to live with her while she trains them and prepares them for her grand plan.

It is the final story in the series The Makings of Team CRME after Roman's Empire. All spoilers for the previous four stories will be unmarked.

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This story provides examples of:

• Adaptation Expansion: For "Beginning of the End." Several lines are pulled directly from the episode during the blacked-out segments and certain scenes are referenced by showing the beginning and/or end of them or (on one occasion) writing out the scene in its entirety. For skipped scenes, the writer usually directs the readers to the episode for context.
• Affably Evil:
  • Salem continues to be cordial to Emerald and Mercury. She is genuinely nice to them and she reassures Emerald that she doesn't need to be afraid of her. She also takes the time to listen to Watts' concerns about Cinder's instability. However, in-fighting between Watts and Cinder stresses this affability and she puts them in their place.
  • Neo is an Ax-Crazy maniac, but she can be genuinely nice to people. Most notably to Roman. When Mercury and Emerald reveal that they were sent on Roman's behalf, she goes from wanting to kill them to hugging them. But this is just after entering an apartment full of bodies.
• All Men Are Perverts:
  • Emerald deals with more harassment from some bar patrons. When Cinder steps up, the man only says they’ll have two girls for tonight.
  • Mercury makes some comments about Cinder's butt and Salem's Cleavage Window. He also makes some suggestive comments about the nature of Cinder and Emerald's relationship. Emerald implies that he was listening in on them having sex and he even takes a look at Emerald's breasts when she appears before him without a shirt.
  • Tank tries to solicit Cinder for sex when she comes to him for information.
  • Roman can't help but notice how good Cinder looks while she's walking away from him. He later is convinced to keep working with the White Fang when she offers to sleep with him.
  • Two men in the tour group talk about how hot Glynda is.
• Amazon Chaser: When Cinder beat up the perverts in the bar, Emerald thought it was pretty hot. Mercury also thought that Emerald breaking a girl's wrist was hot, too.
• Ambiguously Human: The ongoing debate in the story is whether or not Salem is actually human. Watts straight-up admits that he has no idea what she is. Emerald (justifiably) assumes that she's some kind of Grimm creature, as does Mercury when he finally sees her. He also continuously wonders about what she is before meeting her when people avoid calling her human.
  "Well, she's definitely not a giraffe."
• Anti-Villain: Emerald may be a thief and a murderer, but she’s not truly evil. Just far too devoted to Cinder.
• An Arm and a Leg: Mercury needs to get his legs amputated for his prosthetics.
• Asshole Victim: It's tough to say that Melanie Black didn't deserve to be strangled by Cinder. Especially after she threatens her son's life for not coming home with her.
• Back for the Dead: Melanie Black works as a nurse at the hospital Mercury was admitted to. She shows up in the chapter only to be killed by Cinder.
• Bad Guy Bar: Emerald recommends Cinder go to one to find an assassin. It’s apparently one that Marcus frequents. She even goes back there later.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Chapter 18 shows that Mercury and Emerald had a lot of it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The story makes it perfectly clear that Amber is about to murder Emerald after the ambush. And likely, she would've done the same to Cinder and Mercury had she not been shot In the Back by Cinder. She was kind enough to help a child who broke her bike, but she doesn't take kindly to people taking advantage of her. Especially after the aforementioned child was revealed to be an illusion.
• Big Bad: Cinder acts as a Villain Protagonist example. CRME is the story of her setting up actions that directly cause the conflict of the first three volumes of the show.
• Broken Bird: The story brings up this interpretation of Cinder. Her experiences have turned her into a damaged sociopath with a thirst for vengeance against the world and a desire to prove that she is better than everyone. Even Emerald pities her because of this. And it’s clear from Cinder’s interactions with Melanie Black that her mother’s abuse still has a lasting impact on her.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Emerald admits to being size D. One bar patron brings up Emerald's breasts and asks if they’re real. Another girl tries to cop a feel when Emerald is drunk and gets her wrist broken for it. Cinder used to feel jealous about Emerald being bustier than her.
• The Cameo: Blake and Ilia show up for a short time near the end of Chapter 13. Qrow shows up in Chapter 14. Glynda shows up in Chapter 18. Yang shows up in Chapter 20. And in Chapter 21? Ruby Rose.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Emerald is caught masturbating after Cinder leaves her alone in bed.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Many of the lines in this story come from the blacked-out segments in "Beginning of the End". And several scenes are pulled from the episode. The author often says to watch it when coming up to a specific scene.
  • Many nods are made to the previous stories. Cinder and Mercury's Freudian Excuses are mentioned several times and Kincaid is mentioned with similar frequency after Roman's introduction. Emerald's backstory has fewer mentions and Silva is only mentioned once (and not even by name).
• Continuity Overlap:
  • It is directly tied to The Black Hearts thanks to the end of Chapter 4. It occurs at the same time as the final scene of Chapter 5 of the other story.
    Author’s Note: By the way, if you want to see the fight, go to The Black Hearts because you'll definitely have to have read it before going to the next chapter.
  • Chapter 20 also overlaps with the Yellow Trailer, showing that Roman spent some time in the club after Yang showed up.
  • The end of the fic overlaps with the beginning of the series.
• Control Freak: Cinder demands to be in control of things and expects people to follow her commands. When that doesn't happen, she's not happy.
• The Corrupter: Mercury acts as this to Emerald by telling her that she needs to stop feeling bad about what Cinder needs her to do. Chapter 16 shows him encouraging her to kill an innocent person to get over her remorse. And he's impressed when she chooses a child to be her victim.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Watts just can’t help but snark around Cinder and her associates.
  • Mercury also starts getting into this role as a result of his abusive upbringing.
  • Roman gets in on the action with his introduction and continues throughout his time in the story.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: This story deconstructs Cinder's appearance as the composed and sophisticated chess-master and shows that her egocentric nature and insatiable lust for power undermine it. She isn't naturally adept at being The Chessmaster and is more like a Psychopathic Womanchild. She isn't some powerful, enigmatic woman. Underneath it all is an egotistical brat who can't move on from the pain of her past.
• Dirty Coward: Lionheart is still as spineless as he was in canon, but not without good reason. He had personally witnessed how powerful Salem is and didn’t want to be on her bad side. It still fails to make him more sympathetic, but you see where he is coming from.
• Distracted by My Own Sexy: Cinder is so self-absorbed that she took the time to admire her naked body in the mirror.
• Domestic Abuse:
  • Cinder starts abusing Emerald and becomes more controlling near the end of Chapter 6. She later slaps Emerald twice for being jealous about Mercury taking Cinder’s time away from her. She is also emotionally manipulative by telling her that she'll throw her out on the street if she doesn't comply.
  • Blake and Adam show up and he is very emotionally manipulative during her short appearance. The abuse is subtle compared to Cinder and Emerald, but this is only due to lack of time.
• Double-Meaning Title: In the way that it’s pronounced. Someone asked how the title should be pronounced and the writer responded by saying that they use both “crime” (based on the team’s members) and “chrome” (based on the show’s rules) and you could go either way. While it still stands for the four member’s names, it’s pronunciations provide different meanings.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Emerald goes to a bar and gets drunk when Cinder tries to say that Cinder doesn’t love her after Cinder starts physically abusing her.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Emerald is deeply in love with Cinder. So much so that bringing Mercury along is enough to make her worried that Cinder will replace her.
  • Roman mentions that he and Neo have a mutual respect for each other. Neo is happy to know that Roman is finally ready to be bailed out of jail.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Played with for Mercury. While he seems to be against Cinder abusing Emerald, he only seems angered by her hypocrisy rather than the morality of her actions.
  • Even though Emerald has no problem being cruel, even she thought Cinder telling her to project images of his parents insulting him to torment him was going too far. She was also disturbed by how much Cinder was enjoying it.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The only thing Branden and Roman seem to agree on: Faunus are scum. Roman makes his prejudice clear through the many comments he makes while and about interacting with the White Fang. And after arresting White Fang members, Branden seems to imply that all Faunus are like the White Fang.
  • On the flip-side, Adam has a distinct disdain for humans. He’s angry that he is even working with them in the first place and thinks that all humans are Faunus-hating scum. Even when Emerald points out that she lived in Vacuo (a place free of Faunus prejudice), he says it does not excuse her.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • Cinder shows off her tendencies. Here's one line after she punishes Mercury.
    "Just remember that if you follow orders and cooperate, I can be your best friend." Then her face became a cold death-glare, "But if you defy me and try to question my authority, I can be your worst nightmare."
  • Watts pulls this off in Chapter 17 when talking to Lionheart. All his sarcasm thinly veils very clear threats.
• Flipping the Bird: Emerald drunkenly does this to Mercury in Chapter 9.
• Foil: Cinder and Mercury. They're both sadistic sociopaths who became that way because they were abused by their parents. They also ended up killing their respective abusers and taking on many of their behaviors. However, their ways of dealing with it are directly opposed to each other. Mercury just wants to forget his past and live in the moment, not caring about what happens. Cinder refuses to let go of her past and is fueled by a desire to conquer the world that allowed her to suffer from it. She considers herself to be a leader and he simply follows whatever directions he is given. He accepts that he has very little control over his life, while she does everything to attain control and power over everyone else. There are other notable points. Because of the last point, Cinder fancies herself as a leader while Mercury is fine with being a follower. They also deal with the similarities to their parents differently. Mercury seems to acknowledge that he has taken after his father (aside from the drinking problem). Cinder refuses to see any similarities between her and her mother other than sadism and good looks while still decrying her mother. While he sees an abusive relationship for what it is and rightly calls it out, she is so hypocritical to the idea that she is emotionally abusing Emerald.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: The story goes to some great lengths to show that Cinder's Freudian Excuse is completely irrelevant as her ego and lust for power grow.
• The Ghost: There is some Leaning on the Fourth Wall about Ozpin being this. The tour of Beacon and the CCT tower is usually led by him, but Glynda takes the position instead. Causing one member of the tour group to wonder where he is.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Emerald, as much as she may deny it, she is jealous that Cinder is spending more time with Mercury.
• Groin Attack: Cinder burns a man's crotch using the Dust in her dress.
• Hotter and Sexier: There's a lot more sexual content compared to canon (especially regarding Cinder and Emerald's relationship). There's nudity mentioned, several sex scenes (or the beginning of them), as well as a scene of Emerald getting caught masturbating. Even compared to the other stories in the series (even Roman's Empire with Violet Kincaid featured^note It's mostly sexual dialog and references to her sex-life rather than seeing any of it. The fic outright shows Cinder and Emerald just before they have sex.), this has more. Even Roman's introduction includes a lot of blatantly suggestive dialog (admittedly, it was to distract the jail guards while talking to Cinder while he was in custody). They later have sex so that Roman will keep working with the White Fang. And Mercury and Emerald also have sex.
• Immaturity Insult: Cinder gets this leveled against her twice. Once by Mercury saying that she has the temperament of a middle-schooler, and the other by Watts saying she's just an egotistical brat with delusions of grandeur.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Neo thinks this is what she's doing when she walks in on Roman and Cinder. And the writer admits that this isn't the first time this has happened. It happened a few times when Roman was still married to Chloe.
• It Amused Me: Mercury decides to defy Watts’ orders and go into a dead sprint through the hospital hallways to test his new legs just before slipping at the end. Overall, he is rather defiant to orders. He also likes messing with Emerald. Chapter 16 shows that he gets bored easily when not being involved in Cinder's plans, so he has to find ways to amuse himself for the time being.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk:
  • Melanie Black comes back just as abrasive as ever, but then she reveals that she wants to take Mercury home to keep him from being an assassin like Marcus. This would be the first time that Mel has shown genuine care for Mercury... only slightly undercut by the fact that she threatens to kill him if he doesn't come with her.
  • Cinder seems to show a modicum of empathy towards Mercury by killing his abusive mother Melanie. Melanie reminded Cinder of her own abusive mother. That being said, Cinder was more taking out her issues on Melanie than actually protecting Mercury. The utter glee she takes in the doing the deed doesn't help either.
  • When Roman brings up Kincaid's advice about going in and shooting your lover if they're held hostage to Cinder, she says she'd never do that to Emerald. Her Semblance is too useful to let go.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Threatening to kill your son if he doesn't come with you? Yeah, real mother-of-the-year material there, Melanie.
  • Cinder's abuse of Emerald.
  • Mercury encourages Emerald to do this to help her to get over her remorse about what Cinder orders her to do. And what they do is find a child and lure him out to the middle of the woods to kill him. However, the chapter ends just as she prepares to take the shot, so we don't know if she went through with it yet.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • The inclusion of Melanie Black in this story results in one of the darkest moments in the fic. She’s also the only antagonistic character in the story. While she doesn’t fight, her hostility towards Mercury and Cinder makes her an antagonist. And she triggers Cinder into causing a very brutal act of violence.
  • Mercury’s introduction to the team has this effect. Things start to change with Cinder and Emerald’s relationship once he comes aboard. She starts being more willfully cruel to her and Mercury notices this. He also starts driving a wedge between them that makes the relationship more strained. He has the opposite effect later starting with the latter half of Chapter 10. And then he jumps back into this role in Chapter 16.
  • Inverted with Roman. His introduction to the story has a lot more jokes compared to the rest of it.
• Laughably Evil: Roman's appearance provides no shortage of snarky and witty comments. One of his lines includes calling the White Fang "the Lunatic Furry Brigade."
• Large Ham: Roman starts hamming it up during Chapter 20.
• Left Hanging: The end of Chapter 16 cuts out before Emerald shoots the child, and we don’t get confirmation until Chapter 18.
• Lingerie Scene: Cinder bares herself wearing black lingerie in front of Roman.
• Love Martyr: Emerald starts showing signs of this trope in Chapter 8. She is unwilling to leave Cinder even though the latter is abusive. In Chapter 10, she states to Salem that she'd do anything for Cinder if necessary.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Cinder tries to have sex with Emerald in a store's dressing room, something she is completely aware of and something that makes Emerald nervous about getting caught.
• Male Gaze:
  • Cinder (particularly, her butt) seems to get subject to a lot of it. (And not without good reason.) She even gives it to herself in Chapter 17 when she admires her naked body in a mirror. The description of what she thinks of herself shows that this trope is in effect.
  • Mercury brings up Salem's Cleavage Window.
• Manipulative Bitch: Cinder starts using Emerald’s infatuation with her to keep her on board with her plans. Roman lampshades her manipulative behavior even stating that she only sees people as tools or obstacles.
• Might as Well Not Be in Prison at All: Roman isn't to terribly let down by being left in jail. In fact, he notes to Cinder that he could've gotten himself bailed out at any time.
  Branden: Well, well, well. The infamous Roman Torchwick. I hope you've been enjoying your stay because you'll be here for a long time.
  Roman: That's what you think, Branden. I'll be getting out of here scot-free.
• Mind Rape: Cinder has Emerald do this to Mercury to keep him in line. She makes Emerald project images of his father insulting him to overwhelm him.
• Mr. Fanservice: Mercury starts getting some recognition for his chiseled figure when Emerald first sees him shirtless. He later spends an extended amount of time shirtless later.
• Ms. Fanservice:
  • Cinder has grown into this role ever since her time in My Name Is Cinder. Both Emerald and Mercury think she's hot. (And Emerald is lucky enough to have sex with her.) Even Roman and Neo agree that she has a nice butt.^note Really, the fact that she has a nice butt is almost used to the point of a Running Gag. She even takes the time to admire her naked body in a mirror.
    Mercury: I'm Just wondering why you decided to hook up with her. That’s all.
    Emerald: She took me off the streets and promised me a new life. I'm grateful to be working with her.
    Mercury: Yeah, and I bet her ass looks pretty nice under that dress, too, doesn’t it?
  • Emerald’s fanservice factor gets less focus in this story, but it is still prominent.
• Mundane Utility: Cinder used her powers to cook a meal after Emerald broke the oven (somehow).
• Named by the Adaptation: Fall Maiden Amber is given the last name "Coleman."
• Narcissist:
  • Cinder starts displaying several traits of the trope in this story. With her sociopathy and sadism, she'd fit under the category of malignant narcissism. She only sees people in the way that they relate to her, is desperate to get recognition and praise for her powers, loves to be praised for her prowess, and reacts negatively to criticism. She even takes the time to admire her naked body in the mirror. And she takes offense to the idea that Glynda is hotter than her. She refuses to believe it.
  • Roman still displays some narcissistic traits. When he wonders why someone is coming to meet him pretending to be his wife, he thinks he's getting groupies. He also implicitly refers to himself as attractive. When he mentions that Cinder probably goes around hooking up with attractive people like Kincaid, this is after she just finished having sex with him.
• No Love for the Wicked: The tags describe Cinder as asexual. She only uses sex as a way to manipulate others. While she regularly has sex with Emerald and shamelessly engages in PDA with her, she states that sex never holds her interest. She also has no problem seducing men if it gets her something she wants. She attempts to do this with Roman and later sleeps with him. Roman says he doesn't believe her consider the fact that she has sex regularly with Emerald and showed much enthusiasm while having sex with him, but she admits that if she's going to do something, she might as well be good at it. That includes sex.
• Noodle Implements: When Cinder whispers to Emerald, the latter mentions having something that the former would've saved for Emerald's birthday.
• Noodle Incident: Emerald somehow broke the oven, but Mercury cuts her off before she explains how.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: While Roman notes that Cinder is attractive, she's not letting that blind him from any scams that she might pull on him. Subverted when she promises to have sex with him to make him keep working with the White Fang.
• Not Helping Your Case: How does Cinder react to Watts' insult about her being nothing more than an egotistical brat? By attacking him, threatening to kill him, and rant about her superiority over him. Good thinking, Cinder! That'll show him how mature you are.
• Nothing Is Scarier: How does Chapter 16 end? The one where Emerald prepares to kill a child? By leaving us on a cliffhanger. It cuts out just before the point of Emerald pulling the trigger, leaving the readers to wonder if she actually did pull it. It takes two whole chapters to find out what happened.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Watts notes that Mercury and Cinder are quite similar with their abusive upbringing and anger at the world because of it. They have also become arrogant, sadistic sociopaths as a result.
  • Roman compares Cinder to Kincaid a few times. And he's not wrong since they're both sadistic, power-hungry, manipulative, sexy sociopaths. The only difference is that Cinder is disinterested in sex and Kincaid was a notorious pervert.
• Not So Stoic: Cinder isn’t as composed as she lets on. Overall, she is prone to throwing tantrums when things don't go her way:
  • The first time that Cinder loses her composure is around Melanie. The narration says that everything about her makes her blood boil. The scene in which she kills her is an impulsive act on Cinder’s part and she brutally beats up Melanie before choking her with a deranged expression on her face. She even starts having a Slasher Smile as Melanie panics and struggles to breathe.
  • The other time she loses her stoicism is when she is yelling at Emerald for being upset that she spends more time with Mercury. She starts shouting at Emerald and slaps her twice.
  • She absolutely loses it when Watts throws a "The Reason You Suck" Speech her way.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Cinder does this a couple of times:
  • She gives this to a Roman when he's in jail. He notes how he is someone who should know how to stay ahead. So, when she summons a Grimm beetle and tells him that her associates have powers infinitely vaster than that, he knows that this may be an offer he should consider if he wants to survive.
  • She also says that Adam will work with her if he knows what's good for him.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Neo scares the crap out of Emerald and Mercury at first. Emerald has this moment when she sees all the bodies and Mercury starts having this moment when she attacks him.
  • Emerald is terrified when she sees that Amber is about to murder her for the attack.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: Something that both Cinder and Emerald have to dish out occasionally.
  • While Emerald is about to do this to some lecherous bar patrons, Cinder steps in and does it for her.
  • Emerald also does this to a girl who tries to cop a feel of her breasts.
  • Cinder burns the crotch of a man who tries to solicit her for sex when she asks for information.
• Pet the Dog: While he does make fun of Emerald, he also does give her some valuable advice about how Cinder's true nature. He still tries to let her know that she shouldn’t deal with Cinder’s abuse when he notices it. Like his mother, she’s too stubborn to listen. Though for more sympathetic reasons than Melanie refusing. He also tells her that she shouldn't let emotions get in the way of doing her job when she starts expressing doubts. While it seems a bit cruel to be encouraging a Lack of Empathy, Emerald is otherwise distressed about doing this job. So she either has to deal with it and stay with Cinder or leave her for good.
• Power Perversion Potential: Cinder uses her Fall Maiden powers during sex to make the sensations more intense.
• Precision F-Strike: There are four f-words in the fic so far. Surprisingly, resident Lady Swears-a-Lot Melanie Black doesn't drop any of them.^{About the spoiler}Well, an illusion of her does, but that doesn't count.
  • Chapter 7: Mercury says that he and Cinder are "both products of [their] fucked-up childhoods."
  • Chapter 9: When Cinder threatens Mercury, she ends the threat by saying, "Do not fuck with me."
  • Chapter 10: The aforementioned Melanie illusion that Emerald creates drops one f-bomb.
  • Chapter 16: Emerald tells Mercury to "shut the fuck up" after he tries to expose Cinder.
• Properly Paranoid: Roman is less trusting of Cinder after getting betrayed by Dwight. And he has good reason to since she only works for herself.
• Psychopathic Manchild:
  • The story displays the Type C interpretation for Cinder.^note Interestingly, this wouldn't be too out of line with her canon personality with her egomania and need to be feared by all. Sophisticated and elegant as she can be, she's still not above this. Watts seems to imply that she is emotionally stunted since she cannot move on from her desire for vengeance against the world. The fact that her attitude hasn’t changed much from when she was fifteen lends to this idea. Mercury lampshades it by saying that she has the temperament of a middle-schooler. Watts also lampshades it by calling her an egotistical brat with Mommy Issues.
    • One of her threats to Watts in Chapter 6 is to tell Salem that he isn’t complying with her request to assist her by erasing Melanie from the hospital records after murdering her. Basically, she was going to tattle on him because he isn’t doing what she wants. It’s no wonder he makes a remark about her (lack of) maturity.
  • Melanie also acts rather childish when confronting Cinder.
  • Roman has some childish qualities in this story. He starts taunting the police commissioner when he's in jail and does so again when as he gets bailed out. And when she starts working with the White Fang, he continuously taunts them in rather prejudice ways and bullies them while using Neo to bully them into compliance.
  • Adam Taurus starts showing signs of this when he's confronted by Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury. When Mercury points out (in a bit of a dickish way) that he is in no position to refuse to listen to them, Adam loses it and threatens to cut his head off for insulting him.
  • Roman and Adam get into a rather childish argument about working together that Emerald and Mercury must smooth over on Cinder's orders. Adam yells about being superior to a human such as Roman, and Roman (in his natural fashion) makes many immature remarks and insults out of retaliation. Both of them escalate to threats of violence. Mercury and Emerald really put it best:
    Mercury: How are we the two most mature people in the room?
    Emerald: Considering that you’re one of them, it's a surprise to me, too.
• Sex for Services: How does Cinder convince Roman to keep working with the White Fang? By showing up to his apartment in nothing but a robe and lingerie. Roman knows exactly what she's offering when she drops the robe and admits it's a pretty good offer.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Used often for Cinder and Emerald's sex sessions such as in Chapters 2, 7, and 15. It is also used for the one between Cinder and Roman. And it is later used for Mercury and Emerald.
• Shame If Something Happened: Roman does this to the police commissioner when he brings up his wife and daughter. When the commissioner tries to threaten him by extending his sentence, Roman tries to make it ambiguous to say that he isn't threatening them just by saying that it would be bad if something did happen to them. He's not really implicating himself in his logic. Later when he's released, he mentions Branden's wife and child by name to taunt him.
• Ship Tease: While Cinder and Emerald are an Official Couple, there seems to be some teasing between Emerald and Mercury during the beginning of Chapter 12. There is some later during the beginning of Chapter 16. They finally hook up in Chapter 18.
• Shirtless Scene: Cinder and Emerald one notable one at the end of Chapter 2 with several more scenes of their toplessness later. Mercury has one in the opening scenes of Chapters 12 and 16.
• Shout-Out: The title of Chapter 15 is "Aggressive Expansion." As the writer admits, this is a reference to The Dark Knight.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Melanie sees Mercury again in chapter 5 and she downplays it this time. She doesn't use any f-bombs, but she still swears up a storm even in her short appearance. The illusion of her that Emerald makes is still incredibly profane. Literally, almost every sentence she says has a swear word in it. (And the illusion also drops an f-bomb.)
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Emerald and Mercury get into a violent fight just before she initiates sex with him.
• The Sociopath: Cinder, Roman, and Mercury all fully transition into this trope. Emerald calls Mercury a sociopath, Mercury calls Cinder one, and Roman notes that Cinder sees people as things and says that he does think similarly. Adam also shows this side of himself with his anger issues and the fact that he views Blake as a possession. Melanie also shows no concern about her husband being killed and threatens to kill her son for not joining her.
  "Oh. I see here. People are tools to be used and obstacles to be crushed. Is that how you [Cinder] think? [...] I mean, I'm not saying that I've got a problem with it. I have a similar mindset." - Roman discussing his and Cinder's sociopathy.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Cinder is rather formal in the way that she speaks, but she has a Precision F-Strike and talks about herself having a great ass.^note Roman comments on it and she literally replies, "If you really think my ass is nice, I know something else you might have coming."
• Supermodel Strut: When Cinder first meets Roman in prison, she does her best to look alluring in order to get in attracted to her so she can better manipulate him in the future. What finally gets him is the way her walking out of the room with a sensuous strut.

Roman watched her sway her hips and looked back as she blew a kiss. Maybe I should ask for her number once I get out of here, he thought.

• "Take That!" Kiss: A proxy example. Cinder kisses Emerald in front of the lecherous bar patrons that she just defeated to let them know that Emerald belongs to her.
• Team Title: Like the show it's based on, the title refers to Cinder, Roman, Mercury, and Emerald. The "Team CRME" referred to in the name of the series.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: It's a miracle that these people get anything done with how much this trope shows up.
  • Watts is less than pleased to be working with Cinder and her associates. Cinder explicitly states that he doesn’t like him at all. He constantly snarks around her and belittles her, but she can just as easily send it back his way. He is also very worried about her unstable nature after she kills Melanie.
  • Watts gets aggravated with Mercury’s defiant behavior during his physical therapy.
  • Mercury doesn’t make it easy for Emerald to work with him.
  • The same thing happens when Mercury starts antagonizing Cinder and trying to expose her true intentions for Emerald. And he starts to be a bit more skeptical of Cinder when she has Emerald Mind Rape him.
  • Roman doesn't like the idea of working with the White Fang. Something that strains his business relationship with Cinder. Though, the promise of sex with Cinder helps ease the tension (innuendo not intended).
  • Adam is equally frustrated working with Roman and the other human associates he must deal with.
• Title Drop:
  • Chapter 11 is titled "Ask the Rats." This is the chapter in which Mercury mentions his father's advice about how to know a city.
  • Chapter 14 is titled "Hunger." This is when Cinder talks about the desire for power that she has now that she has absorbed half of the Fall Maiden's powers.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed for Emerald, she may be a thief and a murderer, but she's not a self-absorbed, sadistic sociopath like the rest of Team CRME.
  [in reference to the Mind Rape that Cinder forced Emerald to inflict on Mercury]
  Emerald: Like I said, it was on Cinder's behalf.
  Mercury: I figured. You're nowhere near sadistic enough to conjure that idea up.
• Vague Age: Averted for the title characters unlike in the show. Currently in the fic, Cinder is twenty-two, Emerald and Mercury are eighteen (with the former turning nineteen in a few months), Roman is thirty, and Neo is twenty-five (though she looks like a twelve-year-old).
• The Vamp: Cinder starts using her body to manipulate people.
• Villain Protagonist: There is no question that the title characters fit this trope in this story.
• Virgin-Shaming: Subverted when Emerald makes fun of Mercury for being a virgin. She just knows it would annoy him. Even after hooking up with him, she mocks his lack of experience.
• Walking Spoiler: Melanie Black's appearance in this story is obviously meant to be a surprise since she left The Black Hearts after chapter three and didn't come back, implying that would be the last we'd see of her since she didn't seem to be in the picture during the show. However, she shows up as a nurse in Chapter 5 of this story. And the other spoiler is the fact that she only comes Back for the Dead since Cinder strangles her.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • This is implied with Roman when he threatens to kill Branden's eight-year-old daughter. Since he has no problem killing a fifteen-year-old in canon, it's not unreasonable to think that this wasn't an empty threat.
  • Mercury actively encourages Emerald to kill a child in cold blood to help her get over her remorse during the job. He states that he doesn't have much of a problem with it when she suspects that he does when he wonders how she'll be able to do it.

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