Chapter 1: The Red Reaper

It was a quiet night in the city of Vale. Well, quiet relative to this particular city. The night was teeming with criminal activity. Liars, cheats, and thieves of all kinds owned the darkness covered streets.

Unfortunately, this was ordinary.

So it was not at all unusual for the man in the bowler hat and his thugs to nonchalantly stroll into From Dust Till Dawn, a Dust shop owned by an honest and good old man.

"How may I help you?" the old man asked nervously.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this time of night?" the group's leader said sarcastically. His men, adorned in black suits with red ties and shades, stepped forward and raised guns to the old man. The leader himself raised his cane, popping the sight on the end with the old man in its crosshair.

"Please," he pleaded, "take my lien and go."

"Relax, we're not here for your money." The leader gestured to his men. "Grab the Dust."

The men spread throughout the shop. The leader and another stayed with the old man, weapons trained on him. The Dust crystals in the display cases were transferred into secure cases the men were carrying. The tubes to the Dust vats on the side were emptied into several smaller tubes. The shelves were cleared of their packages and boxes. None of the men stopped until they were carrying all they could carry and more.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the leader teased. "Now, once we're gone, feel free to call the cops. Just know that - " He stopped, catching sight of something red fluttering down one of the shop's aisles. "You," he gestured to one of the men, "go check that out."

So he did. The sight was not what he was expecting.

"Hey you!" A woman adorned in what appeared to be a red cloak stood with her back to him. "Take off the hood and turn around. Slowly."

Slowly, she turned around, but she did not take off the hood. It obscured her face, but the man could make out a small smirk.

"You got a death wish? Take off the damn hood and put your hands in the air!"

He was sent flying through the store window. He landed hard on the street, out cold.

The leader heard his scream along with the sound of breaking glass. He gestured to another two of his men. "Whatever that was, put it out of its misery." Then he turned to the shopkeeper again. "You have any helpers in here? Any rogue individuals you conveniently forgot to mention?"

The old man shook his head vigorously.

"Then what the hell - "

He was interrupted by the sound of the two men screaming, meeting the same fate as the first.

"Okay, I've had just about enough of your - "

Another interruption, but this one had the added effect of knocking the wind out of him so he couldn't finish even if he had wanted to. There was an explosion of red petals and the leader found himself out on the street on top of a newly formed pile of his unconscious men. Making sure his hat was still atop his head and his white suit untarnished, the man gathered his breath and slowly crawled off the pile. When he felt pavement, he stood up properly and took another moment to straighten himself out.

This was not how he thought the night would go.

He could now see the cause for his current situation. A woman stood before him wielding a giant scythe and wearing red and black. She lifted her head slightly and he could just make out the mask beneath the hood, silver eyes peering out of it. She still wore that smirk.

"Well, I'll be damned." He leaned forward on his cane. "Pleasure to meet you, Red!" His sarcasm faded into a more grim expression as he raised his cane. "But this will also be goodbye. It's me or the old man." He fired, causing an explosive round to rocket towards the Dust shop.

She realized immediately what was happening and moved to intercept it. In a whirlwind of rose petals, she stood in its path. When it hit her, she was prepared. A small explosion propelled her back into the store, body slamming into the shelves. Her aura took the brunt of the explosion and her impact, but it still hurt like hell.

"So long, Red!" came his voice as the leader made his escape.

The woman stood up as quickly as her aching body would let her which, even with her speed, was not very quickly. He was going to get away, a fact she would kick herself for later. At the very least, he didn't seem interested in trying to run away with any of his friends. Hell, he even left most of the Dust.

She shook her head, trying to bring everything back into focus. Things could've been a lot worse. He could be apprehended, but the store would've been a smoldering wreck and the old man gone with it. She could've been unconscious, unaware as the cops arrived and they revealed -

She froze. Was her mask still on? Yep. Hood? Check. She breathed a sigh of relief. Yeah, could've been MUCH worse.

Sirens sounded in the distance. If only that bastard hadn't fired...She shook her head again. Just wait, she thought, I'll get you next time.

"You okay?" she called out.

The shop owner peeked his head up from behind the counter. He nodded.

"Good."

And in an explosion of petals, she had disappeared from inside the shop and was looking down upon it from a nearby rooftop, crouched at the edge. She could see the blaring lights of the police cars as they made their way towards the scene, slowing as they closed in. This time, there was a credible witness, but she was sure the cops still wouldn't believe him. She chuckled to herself. Surely, they must've figured it out by now, but no one ever seemed to believe she was real. Yet she had been doing this for two years. Hell, someone even wrote an article about her.

She lowered her hood and hung her mask around her neck.

Ruby Rose took a deep breath and in another shower of rose petals, she was gone.