A tall lean young man stood atop a high-rise building, his beige trench coat fluttering in the cool nightly breeze. Bullheads, dropships and other transports soared above blinking lights their beacon lights in the lonely ocean of the sky.
Below it was a plethora of lights and shadows, it could have been the largest concert in the world from his perspective, but this man was on a mission, and luxuries had to be sacrificed.
He wore a matching fedora, complete with black band that wrapped round, blonde hair the colour of hay swayed gently beneath its cover, tubes wrapped around his neck, fastening into a breather mask obscuring his youthful face from view, his eyes however were blank the lustre of the sky that once graced his eyes was gone.
The most striking feature about his entire appearance though was the beginnings of a saxophone that stuck out his back; the sides were adorned with valves and keys similar to that of brass instruments.
His voice was youthful and deep but held a slight electronic echo, one could hear it every breath he made as he surveyed the city of Vale below
'Remnant's a dangerous place, from the highest Atlesian general to the poorest faunus slave worker, even for me. Just a kid fresh out of college, wandering and weaving in the grand maze of life.
'I used to be a cop, always tried to do the right thing wherever I could'
And all it took was one act of goodness, to save a life'
'It took my own instead'
'I used to think that the police were supposed to catch the bad guys'
As if in a Noire film, a group of young men and women, draped in police garb were seen handcuffing and escorting select individuals, all of Faunus heritage. One young man skinny in figure could be seen leading the arrested onto an armoured van.
'I found out that the world don't work that way, I learnt the hard way'
Beneath the lamplight of an empty street lay the body of the same young man before slumped against the closest building, his uniform saturated with blood, the honoured navy blue colours a twisted black-purple, His eyes blank and lifeless splotches of blue and black decorated his once handsome face, blood leaking from his cracked lips and crushed nose.
His legs were twisted in ways it should not, his shirt torn by bullet holes and entry-wounds from numerous stabs.
To say that his death was brutal was an understatement.
'I bled out that night, gutted like a pig'
Kneeling beside his body was a young lady only a year or so younger than him, her hair was raven black that flowed down her back resting just above her waistline, her skin was pale with only a few bits of pink in her complexion but her eyes were bright ruby red like blood.
'I'll always remember that girl, my ironic saviour. Filia was her name. Filia Medici Noire'
'To think that the relative of a notorious crime family boss was taking pity on a cop like me?'
'Funny how the world works, but I owe her that much she wasn't a bad kid, she tried to save me, but it didn't work out in the end'
'I'd like to find her one day, and tell her…Thanks, but time's a wasting, and I'll cross that bridge when I get the chance'
She held onto the young cop's bloodied hand, her other applying pressure to his chest, her eyes were filled with tears.
'I thought I truly died that day, but it turns out I was full of surprises myself'
He lay on an operating table this time, a woman dressed in a classic nurse's outfit stood over him a series of heavy-duty scalpels in hand the mental image fading to black.
'These days I walk a different beat, pardon the pun'
Back to the present this young man walked the streets of Vale on ground level, passers-by glanced at him briefly confused by his out of the ordinary appearance in particular a group of girls/
He detached his face from his breather mask, pulling a simple smile. A robotic arm primitive compared to the robotics of Atlas popped out of one of the keys on his trench coat and doffed his fedora.
'M'lady' he greeted suavely
The troupe of girls giggled their cheeks tinged a slight pink
He continued to smile, the little robotic digit placing his hat atop his head again as he continued his stroll.
'I work with a secretive little motley crew'
'We work to protect Remnant from 'other' threats, and I ain't talkin' about Grimm'
His eyes scanned over to a nearby dust store, a trio of men dressed in matching suits. Black with red undershirts and ties, complete with sunglasses in the dark of all times of the day and fedoras.
Classic gangsters, Junior's bunch no doubt about it
'A man once said: The greatest threat to mankind. Is mankind. Those are the kind of people I work for now, protecting mankind from itself'
'Y'see we have Huntsmen to deal with the Grimm, My group we deal with people, people who want to see what left of us burns'
'We call her the Queen, like us she too works in the shadows, trying to tear us apart from within, like a disease'
Crossing over the busy city street, and ignoring the internal hypocrisy of his values he followed the squad of suspicious persons into the store.
'My job? Well it is not glamorous but I was told to go see something about a girl, one with silver eyes'
Hiding amongst the aisles of assorted dust phials and weapons magazines, items that would only interest those of the Huntsman profession, standing in that same aisle was a girl younger.
His first instinct was to look at her eyes, and sure enough they were silver.
'Well this is her' he thought to himself
Acting like another customer his robotic arms once again retracted his eyes sampling a variety of phials, filled with powder.
'I myself am a friend of the gravity and wind variants of dust, they work with my 'parts' anything else wouldn't do'
Nodding to himself in approval, he took the phials into a basket, before moving on to the other aisles.
Using his enhanced height from his legs, he peaked over towards the counter, where none other than Roman Torchwick himself was harassing the poor shopkeeper.
'Heh, resorting to basic thievery oh great criminal mastermind? How they mighty have fallen'
The comic book section was a favourite of our friend; X-ray and Vav were necessary, stashing some new additions into a basket he had been carrying the whole time he continued to the counter.
However a she passed by the same aisle where the 'silver eyed girl' was he was not surprised to see one of the thugs threatening the young girl, who had been ignoring him the whole time, her ears blocked by a set of admittedly stylish headphones.
'Damn should I get involved?' he thought
His stance tensed, he hunched slightly preparing his arsenal for whatever move would come next.
In a burst of speed, the girl shoulder threw the thug over towards the counter with enough force to leave cracks in the walls
His eyes widened briefly.
'Huntsman in training, check'
His eyes narrowed as the other two of Torchwick's goons ran towards the source of the commotion, he needed to get out of sight, fast.
That plan promptly crumbled in an instant as his 'mark' stared at him
'Umm you didn't see that right?' she asked
He chuckled both out of exasperation and in amusement, there was no use trying to hide now
'I'm afraid so kid' he smiled
'I'm not a child!' she whined stomping her foot to 'emphasize' her point
Their idle banter was interrupted as a goon lunged toward the girl from behind, his mecha-shifting bat
Taking a leaf out of a cool dude's book, his robotic arm retracted once more it raised up to his fedora, sliding the brim with its two appendages.
'Stand back' he said stoically
'Wha-'the girl tried to say
Her eyes widened in awe as a gigantic fist burst out of his trench coat, made of polished bronze and other shiny materials it carried the same aesthetic as his coat, the knuckles reminiscent of the keys of brass instruments, it surged forth with a mighty bang.
The thug could not even react in time, throwing his arms up in terror as the oversized fist clocked him cleanly in the face, there was a satisfying hiss of steam as used wind dust and hydraulic action blasted these wastes out of its elbow joint, quickly retracting back into his trench coat.
He popped her a reassuring smile
"The name's Jaune Arc, short and sweet it rolls off the tongue"
"Woah!" she breathed in awe
"But most know me as….." he finished off
'Big Band'
Play Song: Skull girls Encore OST: Unfinished Business (Under the Bridge)
See ya later….Space Cowboy