"A Week on the Job."
PROLOGUE...
Downtown Vale, a week before GAS ARF: Recuperation...
The standard-issue VPD dust-resistant vest clung against her small form like a straitjacket, the mismatched pouches on the bottom bouncing slightly as Pandora rounded the corner. She threw herself against a wall as a black tentacle burst out of it, reaching for her. A quick glance behind her proved that the strange Grimm was still behind her, the weird Ursa-like mask molded to its humanoid face.
While the Grimm itself walked at an unreasonably slow pace, the tentacles that erupted from its back moved in an erratic fashion, unpredictable. The only reason why she was still alive was because of her quick reflexes, and those were wearing thin from too many close calls. She wouldn't last much longer in these alleyways, considering the damn network was built like a maze. Pandora tore off the long sleeves of her VPD uniform, throwing them to the side and parkour-ing up to a rooftop.
Careful not to spend too long in one place, Pandora hopped from rooftop to rooftop once she had caught her breath, occasionally seeing the Grimm below her. Each time she thought she had lost the son of a bitch it always managed to find her, every single time. Finally a loose brick managed to throw her back into the maze, Pandora managing to land on her feet and keep running.
This seemed like a redundant thought to Pan, but this was bad, very very bad. One moment Pandora was patrolling down an alleyway with Darvok and Quincy, and the next they were both dead and she was on the run. The way the two officers had died, that is by being swallowed up by a fog of darkness, gave her reason to believe that Grimm were involved, and being one herself gave her knowledge of every Grimm, old and new. But this...this was something she'd never seen before.
Pandora wracked her brain, taking a left down an ally and spinning around, drawing her standard-issue revolver. The fog had stopped chasing her.
"Where the fuck did it go?" she whispered under her breath, counting to five and spinning around. Her plan had worked- the fog was rushing her, a humanoid figure able to be seen within the mass. Pandora fired twice, both rounds being swajllowed by the cloud and doing nothing to the figure inside.
Pandora shook her head and jumped on to the wall, running above and away from the Grimm, if she could call it that. As she moved to jump off, a black tentacle grabbed her ankle and yanked her back to the ground, dragging her towards the humanoid. Having seen enough hentai to know where this was going, and not wanting it to go there no matter how much of a nympho she was, Pandora drew an obsidian dagger and plunged it into the limb. The tentacle let out an unearthly screech, drawing back into the darkness and taking her dagger with it.
Pandora immediately took off running, the Grimm right behind her no matter how many twists and turns she took. Reaching a dead end, Pandora threw her hands forward, a blast of dark energy tearing a hole in the wall and giving her a path to keep running. Once she passed through, a snap of the fingers closed the rift, sealing the Grimm off.
"You can run, little pup, but I will find you..." A voice said, sounding like three voices mangled together. Pandora shivered violently upon hearing it, a feeling of dread filling her bones.
"Go fuck yourself." she retorted, breathing heavily and sitting down at a coffee table. It was then that Pandora noticed she was in a house, that was also occupied. How did she know this? Well, the fact that three sets of eyes were on her seemed to tell her that she was being watched. "H-Hi there. Vale Police Department, Officer Ragnarök at ya service. Mind if I take a breather?"
"I suppose." An older female said, standing in front of what Pandora assumed to be her children.
"Thank you, Ma'am." Pandora said, resting her head in her hands. How could this have happened?
That morning...
It was her first day as a cop on the Vale Police Department, and she had been tasked to accompany two fellow officers in order to learn the ropes. They were both two days away from retirement, and one of them, Quincy, had a family back in Vacuo. Darvok was, obviously, a veteran, and the best of the best.
They had served twenty years on the force, and were glad to teach a rookie the ins and outs of being one of Vale's finest. Of course, if they had known this assignment would lead to their deaths, they probably would have reconsidered. But they hadn't. The three had been assigned to scout around the city, teaching Pandora as they went. But then one wrong turn and well...
And then Pandora was back in that cave she called home, her dead mother in front of her. She felt small and hopeless, the walls closing in around her. The grueling task lay before her once more, more real than ever. She leaned forward, her teeth sinking into the flesh and-
"Found you~" the voice called out with glee, bringing her back to reality. The Grimm was in front of her, its claws reaching for her face. The family that had welcomed her was dead, their eyes missing the sparks they once held. It seemed that it was all over...before an explosion of dust sent the Grimm flying out of the house and into the street.
"Don't worry, we've got you." Claudette said, placing a hand on Pandora's shoulder as the spider faunus crawled out of a hole in the wall. A strange harness was on her torso, the barrel smoking.
Petunia rushed forward, her hand on Surkov's hilt. The Grimm roared and charged her, with Petunia depressing a button. Surkov rocketed forward, her hand grabbing the hilt and bringing it across the Grimm's chest, sending it flying away into a neighbouring house. A helicopter descending from the skies, a dust-powered fifty-cal. rattling off in the Grimm's direction.
"Nice job girls, now get Pandora over here." I ordered, firing round after round into the black mass to the tune of Ride of the Valkryies. While it did no damage, it had the desired effect of keeping the Grimm in its place. When the helicopter landed Claudette, Petunia, and Pandora hopped aboard, Claudette climbing into the cockpit and taking the controls.
"W-Where am I?" Pandora asked, sitting down in a seat. Petunia wrapped a blanket around the Grimm girl's shoulders. I gave Claudette the thumbs up, still firing. The spider faunus nodded, easing back on the joystick and taking off. Once we were a safe distance away I removed my headphones and stopped firing, yet still keeping the barrel on the dust cloud.
"Welcome aboard, Officer Ragnarök. We've got a hell of a story to tell you." I quipped, my eyes never leaving the Grimm.
"T-That Grimm...wasn't natural. It didn't come from the moon." Pandora shivered, trying to calm her breathing.
"You have Xeno Fabrications to thank for that. Crazy bastards have been harvesting darkness from the moon." I turned around, looking at the Grimm girl. "I'll explain once we get home."
"A-And where is home?" I smirked, tilting my fedora back.
"We call it 'Sanctuary'."
END OF PROLOGUE
A.N. So, that's the beginning of my story, A Week on The Job. I'm going to estimate it'll be five to six chapters long, which is short, I know, but I wanted to work on something else for a change. Don't worry, GAS ARF is still going strong, but for now it's on the back-burner. I'm not entirely sure if that's a good idea, but, eh. Also, be prepared for things to get fucking dark as shit. I'm almost disgusted by myself because of the next chapter's ending. Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow if you like this story. You might not upon reading the next chapter, but, eh. Also, you may be wondering why Pandora can do parkour, and that's because in my story, every cop in Vale is a trained ninja. Why's that, you ask? Well, who would you rather have to deal with when breaking the law? A normal cop, or a fucking ninja?
Warning, there will be blood, gore, sexual tension/situations-off-screen, MGSR: Revengeance rip-offs, and I think that's it. Oh, and character death.