Chapter 1
"Hey Rich, can you restock the fire crystals?" A man called out from below Richard.
"Ya you got it Travis" Richard called back. He went downstairs to the store. He walked over to the closet and got some fire crystals. He opened the display and placed them inside. After he was done he noticed a beautiful woman at the register. He walked up to her. "Welcome to The Dust Bowl how may I help you?"
Richard looked at the woman features. He looked at her smooth skin that flowed into her red and gold dress, her wonderful ash black hair, and her golden eyes. 'Wow she is gorgeous. Hope she wants to be a valued costumer'.
The beautiful woman looked at him. "I am in the market for some fire dust and crystals."
"Well you are very lucky I just put some more out." Richard responded.
"Well if you put them out I must be"
Richard blushed at the statement not being used to treatment like that. "How many crystals and how much dust?". Richard asked as he turned to get a bag ready.
"Oh shit" the woman said. "Pardon my speech. I forgot my lien at home."
"No worries ma'am. I can hold your order till you come back."
"Are you sure you won't run out."
"No, we won't we have a fully stocked closet full of dust and crystals of all elements."
The woman perked up at hearing that. "Well okay then. I need two pounds of the burn dust and 5 crystals of fire."
Richard rung it up on the register. "That will be 837 miss"
"Perfect" She almost squealed. "I will be back later tonight."
"Okay. We lock up at 11 so just be here before that and you will be fine"
The woman leaned over the counter and whispered "Lovely, I might see on bringing you a tip as well". After that she turns around and walks out the door.
Richard leaned back 'What did she mean by that'.
Richard, Travis, Mitt, and David sat upstairs in the common area of their apartment/dust store. "So, Rich how about that looker you were talking to earlier?"
Richard blushed "Well she told me her order, but then forgot her lien at home. So, I put it on hold for her she should be back soon." He got up to go back downstairs to the store.
"Rich take your dads pistol. With all these robberies, you can never be too safe." Mitt pointed towards the desk drawer.
"Yes sir" He got the gun out and tucked it into the back of his jeans.
He went back downstairs to the register to wait for that woman. Richard peeked over a display to see a small girl in a red cloak looking at an X-ray and Vav comic book. He looked at the clock and it read 10:45. 'Damn I thought she show up'. Right then the door opened and a man dressed in white, a bowler hat, and orange hair covering half his face.
The man walked up to the counter Richards at. "Do you know how hard it is to find a dust store open this late?"
"Pretty late I guess" Richard retorted.
"Funny man huh." He gestured towards the thugs he was with. They drew their weapons and pointed towards Richard. "Dust. Now."
Richard laughed nervously "What can I get you guys?"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" One of the thugs went flying out the window.
The man turned towards his goons "Well get her" The goons ran towards her.
Richard pulled the gun out of his waist band and pointed it towards the orange-haired man.
"Oh, my my we have a brave soldier here don't we." The man said looking dead at the gun pointed towards his face.
Richard pulled the trigger but nothing happened just a click. 'What the hell! Mitt told me my dad used this on every mission'. His thoughts were interrupted by a metal cane getting smashed against his head.
"Come on kid at least load your gun" The man walked out of the store and fired a dust round of some kind his from his cane at the red girl.
Richard got up and sees the man going up a ladder on a building. 'Get back here' Richard screamed in his mind. He spun the gun on his finger to draw it and the trigger glows green. Richard pulled the trigger and a green streak fired from the barrel striking near the man's left hand. The man quickly got on to the roof of the building.
"Want to go after him?" The small girl asked. Richard nodded. The two ran towards the ladder the man went up.
Richard let the red cloaked girl go first. He looked back at the store and sees Travis and David running to catch up. "You two go back inside I got this". The two don't stop running "Guys stop". Richard spotted a dark-green pauldron in Travis's hands and he spotted a holster wrapped around David's shoulder. Travis and David run up to Richard and hand him the two items.
"Put this around your shoulder" Travis tells Richard placing the pauldron in his left hand.
"And put this on like a belt and make sure the holster is on your right side" David added putting the holster in his right hand. Richard gave them a nod and the duo ran back to the store "Good luck" they both said.
Richard quickly suited up and starts to climb the ladder to the top of the building. When he gets to the top he sees that cloaked girl fighting the criminal. Richard drew the gun like before spinning it along his finger, he caught it and fired the gun. The green bullet strikes the man in the side. The man grunted and continued to slam his cane against the giant scythe that the girl is using. 'What? A bullet should have penetrated his skin.' He tried again and the man dodged the bullet.
"Look kids I love to stay but I have a ride to catch." After he said that a bullhead appears from below the wall of the building. It turned on its headlights which blinded the two teenagers. When they could finally see again the man is stood in the bay door. "Heads up" He threw a fire crystal and shot it as it landed by the teenager's feet.
Richard opened his eyes after the explosion. He was on one knee. Richard must have rolled out of the way out of instinct. He looked to where he was to see a blonde woman attacking the bullhead with purple shards. He looked at his hands and sees one is normal and the other his metal. He looked to his shoulder. Richard's eyes widened at seeing the pauldron has turned his whole arm into metal. He gazed up at the bullhead and sees that gold and red dress. 'That bitch was scoping us out.' Richard concluded in is head. He draws his gun again and opened fire. After each pull of the trigger spinning it to load another. The woman Richard talked to earlier was blocking every bullet with her hand. She finally got annoyed and summoned her these weird rifts below her attackers. Richard heard a screech, then felt heat, then he blacked out.
The last thing he heard before completely going unconscious is "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder; protect thee."
"Ow my head" Richard said as he woke up from his unconscious state. He looked around and saw he is in a chair across a table from another chair, its empty. He went to stand up, but that blonde woman from the roof storms in from the door.
"Sit down" she commanded. Richard complied hastily. He stared at her and sees she is holding a tablet. She was furiously moving things around on it. She looked up at him and Richard looks away in fear. "Your actions tonight" She started "were very brave" Richard perked up a bit "but that does not excuse the recklessness you exhibited" Richard deflated back down into his chair "You fought against a well-armed criminal and a huntress without aura. You could have died young man." The woman stared at Richard waiting.
"Sorry" Richard mumbled.
"What was that?"
"Glynda leave the poor boy alone he has had enough tonight" a mysterious voice called from outside the door.
Richard looked at the man walking in; tall, white hair, brown eyes, and has a cane. The man sat in the chair across from Richard and took the mug that was sitting there. He took a sip and set it back down. He grabbed the tablet from the blonde woman and read "Richard White, son of the hunters Emerson and Ella White, currently seventeen, orphaned at three years old, six foot even, brown hair, and green eyes" The man looked at Richard wanting confirmation and Richard nodded. The man started up again "Seen fighting Roman Torchwick alongside a Signal student named Ruby Rose" Richard nodded again. "You had no aura when you went up there. Now I have a couple of years under my belt, but I would never fight someone without aura."
"I have a question." Richard spoke up "What is aura?"
"Well aura is the manifestation of one's soul. It can protect us, heal us, and help us attack our enemies."
"Is that how Torchwick survived my gunshot?"
"Precisely"
"So, if I didn't have any how did I survive?"
"I unlocked yours for you"
"What?!" Richard looked baffled and angry.
"You would have died if I didn't do it. Do you remember anything from the roof?" The man says calmly.
"I remember fighting that Torchwick guy and then that woman" Richard trailed off at remembering that woman "then I remember a lot of heat." He looked up at the brown-eyed man who was taking a sip from the mug. "You... you said somethings about being unbound by death and releasing my soul." Richard looked down at his body and it was glowing green. "My aura"
"Exactly. Now, do you know who I am?"