Hello! It's me, again. And I brought you all the prologue of the First Arc: The Hunted! And if you haven't already heard from one of my other stories, then let me introduce Jessica, my newest editor/current roommate!
Jessica: Hi.
Now, I'm somewhat excited for this chapter, mostly because it will get a glance at the criminal underworld of BR, some insight at Roman's role, and the reveal of the current enemy of this Arc. But this is a rather short chapter because a) prologue, b) introduction to some elements into the story, and c) I need a starting point somewhere, and after numerous (yes numerous) tries, this is the best I got.
J: I'm starting to like this gig. But before we get started, I want to reply to a few reviews from the last couple of chapter:
Anko4Life (Chp. 1): Aww, you're making me blush here, dude. Come on, high-five for not caring about relationship types and only caring about love! *raise hand up high*
AkiraTKGW (Chp. 1): You got MOAR! =^.^=
SHMANDER (Chp. 3): I'm glad that we have your attention. We aim to please.
GuestHina (Chp. 3): Holy... Jesus that's a lot for one review... Alright first, yes, originally Vin was going to follow the canon story line. But he decided to do something else entirely. Thanks for the compliments, and he's doing well. And before anyone asks, while it does weird me out a bit, I, to put it in other words, could care less on what partners you choose. So when I comes to Enabler/Orange/Strawberry Sunrise, I personally like it, it's like Romeo and Juliet, a forbidden romance. Just without the death of both partners o.o.
There's also something else that I want to address... I've been watching the story information, you know, the thing that keeps track of how many views, how many people follow and how many favorite the story... And so far we have... 5,000+ views, 110 follows, and 68 favorites already... Jeezus, I knew I was going to hit it sometime, but to hit it with only 4 chapters in?! Wow... Maybe I should do a small special for the occasion ... Maybe a talent show stand alone Fic... But enough of that, onto the story!
~Linebreaker~
"The most dangerous creation in society is a man who has nothing to lose."
-James Baldwin
~Linebreaker~
The night was young in the city of Vale and relatively quiet, except for a warehouse nearby the docks. There, a large gang of men and women, some faunus, were moving boxes filled with Dust next to stack of them. They all had a similar dress code. The men had a black tuxedo-looking suit on themselves, a red tie wrapped around their collars and black gloves and hats. The women had a similar clothing on, but without the ties and white gloves instead of black.
On the one side of the warehouse a door opened as two men walked in. One stood out more. The smaller of the two has slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair. His hair had long bangs that covered his right eye. He wore a red-lined white suit and a small gray scarf, with black gloves with rounded sleeves, as well as long black pants and black shoes. To top it off, he had a black bowler hat with a red band and a small feather. He might also wear black eyeliner. He was Roman Torchwick, renowned criminal of the underworld.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen of all ages," Roman said as he entered. "The boss wants an inventory on all the collected Dust. Apparently, one of you has been 'stealing' small bits of Dust here and there."
That put some of them nervous, as Roman walked with his right hand man. He was a tall fella, a Rhino Faunus, standing at 6'5". He dressed differently than the grunts. Looked like any other person walking through the streets of Vale. A black t-shirt that showed off abnormal muscles, jeans, running shoes. His skin had a bit of a grey hue to it. His hair, which couldn't cover up his front horn (not that he wanted to anyways), was a natural grey. Unlike his hair and skin, his eyes were a light blue color.
"Is that so boss?" The rhino faunus said, in a gruff voice.
"Terribly so, Alec." Roman answered. "Now, I like you all. You seem like very respectable men and women, given our occupations. But the big man doesn't like it when you steal from our union. I certainly wouldn't like to end up like Warren... What ever did happen to him, Alec?"
"They found him out in public, hung up on a lamppost by his own intestines." Alec bluntly said, causing many of them to shiver. "They say he was there for nearly 12 hours."
"Ah, yes. Well, we wouldn't want that, now would we?" Roman said directly to the crowd. "Now, I put in a good word, saying that none of you would ever do that. But let me be clear, should he hear word of one of you continuing stealing for him, well, I can't protect you. Now, get back to work."
They all nodded as they divided to go back to their workload.
"Was there an actual loss of Dust, boss?" Alec asked silently as they watched the mobsters work.
"Of course not. If there was someone here stealing the Dust, they'd already be dead." Roman answered quietly as well. "This is just so they don't get any ideas. Poor Warren, though. I actually liked that fella."
There was shouting come from outside before two gunshots were heard. Roman and Alec turned their attention to the only door leading in and out of the place, as the mobsters raised their weapons at the door. At first, nothing. But then the door opened as a voice spoke out.
"Roman, get your boys on a tight lease before you lose more of them." A voice with a western-like accent spoke.
Roman's eyes widened as he gave a chuckle.
"Relax, he's an old friend everyone." Roman called out as they all lowered their weapons. "So, you finally got out, Jim?"
A chuckled ranged out as the stranger walked in. He looked as if he was a modern day cowboy. He had a brown sleeveless vest over a blue button-up shirt. He had a pair of skinny jeans held up by a belt with a fairly large belt buckle. On his head was a black cowboy looking hat. On his belt were two gun holsters that held a revolver each, though not much else was shown about them. He also wore brown leather boots. He had a trimmed beard and sideburns, but most notable was the grey eyes he held. He stood about the same high as Roman, but significantly more buffer, though less then Alec.
"Roman Torchwick." The man, Jim, greeted as he held his hand out. "Nice to see ya again, pal."
Roman gave him a smirk as he shook his hand.
"It's good to see you, too, Jim Hardin." Roman said as Alec perked up at the name.
Jim Hardin, leader of the Wild Coyotes, a group of renowned robbers that were, at their time, the most elusive of the bunch. They worked for the same man as Roman and Alec, but worked much more in the open then the shadows. The last anyone had heard of the gang, they had been wiped out on mission by a couple of Huntsmen in training, with Jim the only survivor. He was promptly handed over to the authorities and sentenced to 60 years in prison, though now it looks like he escaped.
"So what brings you back here, Jimmy?" Roman asked as Jim reached into his vest pocket. "I assume it isn't for old times sake."
Jim chuckled, and nodded. He took out a photo of a girl with long black hair and red eyes.
"I want information about her family." Jim said as he gave it to Roman. "I tried tracking her down, but I could never find her. So, I'm going after her family in the hopes that she comes to me."
Roman nodded as he looked at the photo. He scanned it for a moment, before handing it to Alec.
"I'll see what our information brokers can dig up." Roman said. "But what's the big interest in her?"
"I had a gang of followers, a loyal brother, and enough dough to make three lifetimes worth of retirement." Jim said coldly. "Because of this bitch here, I lost all my men, my brother's six feet under, and I'm penniless. Naturally, I want some pay back."
Roman Ah'ed as he nodded.
"I see, I see. In that case, I'll help anyway I can." He said as he gave him a smirk. "After all, you don't mess with the Crooked Man's men and not walk away unscathed, now do you?"
~Linebreaker~
V + J's Box of Author Notes
I'm not going to lie... I'm a little pissed at how this chapter turned out. It seemed a little... Off for me, mostly because of how short it is. But, I needed a starting point for the arc, and this is, as far as I'm concerned, pretty good. Now, concerning Alec and Jim Hardin, both are OC's obviously. I based Alec off of The Rhino from Marvel Comics. Jim Hardin is an actual outlaw that I learned about once in my high school. I don't remember much about what he did, but I didn't want to rip off Billy the Kid, because that seems a bit like a cop out.
J: As for why we choose the Crooked Man for the Kingpin/Crime Boss here, well, I played a bit of The Wolf Among Us. And well, it sticks when you think about it.
But that all we have for you here. Thanks for reading.
See ya around,
Vindex + Jessica