Full Synopsis: [Hero Time Prequel] Her name is Tex and she's got a righteous fury to burn into her crappy neighborhood, whether the city wants her or not. Being a superhero, however, is never quite as simple as it seems, and only gets more complicated by her constantly in distress boyfriend and the beck and call of the premiere superhero team of the city whose leader seems intent on keeping her off the roster.

So by popular demand we are here! The prequel to Hero Time and a righteous romp all about Tex's early adventures. I have actually been looking forward to this and the to-come sequel of Hero Time since before I was even done with the first story. Everyone's excitement and enthusiasm about this universe and this take on our favorite characters has really fueled me beyond compare and I'm SO excited to join another adventure with all you guys.

I hope you all enjoy!

Special thanks to ashleystlawrence for always being so wonderful to bounce ideas around with me on this project and so many more! Also love out to every single one of you who have shown such tremendous support for the series 3 This is for you

Red vs Blue and related characters © Rooster Teeth
story © RenaRoo

Texas Time
Chapter One: Tex: Year One

She returned to Blood Gulch expecting a great, many things. But the expectation the city delivered on more than any other was that the more things changed, the more they really, truly stayed the same.

Muggings were one of those things. Muggins never really changed, and in an armpit of a borough like Blood Gulch they could be seen as common and expected.

Which was exactly what she had been banking on.

When the sun hadn't even set yet, she had pulled her bike behind a few well hidden garbage piles, changed out her dusty old tee for a bullet resistant vest, pulled her gloves underneath the blazoned leather jacket's cuffs, and pulled down the black mask over her eyes.

The trip back to Blood Gulch from the too small Lone Star town had been long enough for her to set some affairs in order. She had a mask, she had a name – and more than either of those things she had powers.

So when she stood over the edges of one of Blood Gulch's more popular late night avenues and she overheard the frantic shouts from below as a man took off with another man's wallet, she let her mouth pull away to a ludicrously large grin.

"Showtime," she said to herself before fading into the night air.

Her entire first day back in the city had been dedicated toward relearning the streets around her. Rather than hunt for apartments or hotel rooms, she scouted the gym where her old man had worked at, she mapped the back alleys, and she made a few appearances at the local bars to get a feel for the atmosphere she had come home to.

All for the moment where the mugger ran toward nearest shortcut, so that when he thought he had gotten away scott free, he ran headlong into her invisible fist. And he did so with enough force that he nearly flipped a full circle in the air before ultimately landing on his back, hard.

"Oh my fucking god," he whimpered from the ground, no doubt seeing stars in his vision.

"You don't have to be that formal," she said, slowly fading back into her own skin, letting the mugger see her towering above him. She wore a shit eating grin well as she popped her knuckles one by one. "You can just call me Tex."

Seeming to regain some facet of common sense, the man tried to push himself back up. He swayed with each attempt, a trickle of blood working its way out of his now very crooked nose.

"What the fuck – did you punch me?" he yelled.

"Actually you ran into my fist," Tex said, far too amused with it all. "You'll knowwhen I punch you."

Finally making it to his feet, the man swayed again. "Hey, fuck you!"

Tex just kept her grin. "Nah. You don't deserve it."

Boiling with anger and irritation, the man threw a full bodied swing at her. Tex merely side stepped the first and breezily ducked below the second. It was such a simple series of dips and dives, she almost felt like it was a dance they had well rehearsed.

"I'm thinking you stick to mugging because your moves with the ladies leaves something to be desired," Tex jested just before piloting under another fruitless swing, rotating behind the mugger. She smacked him between the shoulders with enough force to send him straight into a brick wall.

Even more dizzied, the man whipped around off balance, trying to keep his fists up. "Who the fuck are you!?" he roared.

Clicking her tongue against her teeth, Tex shook her head. "Asshole, do you not know how to pay attention? I told you, I'm Tex–"

Everything around them went deathly silent, allowing the hard SMACK made by the mugger's knuckles against Tex's cheek to reverberate against the walls. They stood in silence, the mugger's body shaking as he realized that little more than Tex's cheek had so much as twitched at the hit.

Her grin long gone, Tex ran her tongue over her teeth. She narrowed her eyes as the man slowly withdrew his hand.

"I'm sorry," she said darkly, "did you just lay a hand on me?"

Visibly shrinking back, the man recoiled. "Umm…"

Feeling a red hot rage, Tex roared in his face, "Motherfucker!" and threw a real punch at him with nearly twenty percent of her boiling over strength.

He was out before he hit the ground.

Tex glowered over her first apprehended criminal and shook her head angrily. "No more banter," she decided. "Shouldn't have even wasted time on some punk ass like him."

She huffed, putting her hands on her hips before nudging the mugger with the tip of her boot. When he gave her no resistance she squatted beside him and rummaged through his pockets, finding three wallets with three different licenses. None of them matched the mugger's features.

Welcome to the city, she thought, checking the cash and pulling out tens from each.

"So grateful for that Hero Tax," she joked to herself before standing up and throwing the wallets onto the unconscious perp. She stuffed the money into her back pocket and started back to the rooftops with a practiced ease.

She would put a call in to the police, let them know where to find the night's serial mugger. And after that, with officially thirty bucks to her name, she was going to check out the diner she parked her bike behind and maybe double up on meals.

She deserved it, for giving Blood Gulch its own hero for the first time.

After all, Tex was just the kind of hero Blood Gulch deserved.