Volume 1 Chapter 1: Arrival
AN: Well, if you're reading this, congratulations for making it this far. Sorry you had to go through that Introduction chapter, but after several months and a half dozen failed rewrites, I've more or less written it off as a failed project. However, I did want to bring the quality of the rest of the story up to par with some of my recent work in the first Interlude, so I took the time to rewrite pretty much everything from here to V1C24. If you're already familiar with this part of the story, don't worry – nothing actually changed plot-wise. This is all just to make it easier and more pleasant to read. And now, with that out of the way, let's get to the part of the story you guys actually care about.
(Perspective: Kassidy)
Alright. I'm not dead yet, which means the air is breathable and the pressure is good. I'm in the middle of a city, facing a storefront. Apparently English is spoken here. Kassidy's eyes darted about as she tried to get her bearings as quickly as possible. It's nighttime out in the city, and most of the storefronts around the T-junction she found herself in seemed closed; the shop in front of her, however, was an exception. The sight of a guy in a white coat leading about a half dozen men in black suits, taken through the picture window, was enough to make Kassidy grind her teeth together. Alright, I can recognize a gang when I see one. Seems even in a different universe, I can't escape these trigger-happy, bloodthirsty punks. Don't even need to see the gun being pointed at the storekeeper to know there's trouble here.
"Is the iris cam malfunctioning, or are those men robbing this store?" A voice in her ear provided external commentary for her train of thought. "Heh, thirty seconds in and we've already run into trouble. Why exactly do we always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"Stuff it Bob, I need to focus. Now, if I –"
A thud jolted Kassidy from her argument, and she looked up just in time to see a man tumble into a row of shelves, along with another man being shoved towards the window by a flash of red. She had to sidestep the crimson blur that exploded out of the window with the henchman, which turned out to be a girl that couldn't have been more than twelve years of age. They tried to rob a little girl?!
Kassidy turned back to the store. Apparently the man in white had told his lackeys to go after the little girl, and the four men came charging out with swords drawn. She didn't even think to question why they drew swords instead of guns as six years of instincts kicked in. Reaching to her shoulder, Kassidy drew her rifle and found herself standing off against four different henchmen. Letting Bob project her voice through the suit's faceplate, she growled, "Not even a minute here, and I drop onto the scene of trouble. Now I'm sure you totally have a very valid reason why four grown men are attacking a little girl, but I really don't care right now. I'd advise you put your flashy red swords down and start backing off slowly, or we're going to have some trouble."
The kid behind Kassidy protested, "Hey, I'm not a kid!" She ignored it, however, in favor of focusing on the man in the white coat walking out as if to greet her. She decided that, in lieu of a name, the man with a bowler hat and mascara was now known as Mister Roaring Twenties.
"Well, well, well, it seems I have more unwanted guests. Ugh, how I hate unwanted guests." Mister Roaring Twenties took a final puff from his cigar, then dropped it to be crushed under his cane. "Look, miss, I don't know what you're doing here, but my perfectly planned night out has had enough setbacks that I'd really not deal with this. How about you keep Little Red there busy, I'll just take this Dust, and we'll both be on our ways. No harm, no foul. Sound good?"
Kassidy stood unmoving for a few moments as she contemplated her options. Alright, option 1: fight this guy. Would be able to gain some goodwill with the local authorities, and I might even be able to help myself a bit to the spoils, but attention isn't a good thing to have. Option 2: join him, fight this 'Little Red' girl behind me… yeah, I'm many things, but a child murderer isn't one of them. "No deal," she barked back. "I've done plenty of bad things, but attacking children isn't one of them. And I really, really don't appreciate you and your boys threatening little girls."
"Oh for the love of – fine! I guess if you're so eager to get yourself killed, who am I to stop you?" Mr. Roaring Twenties raised his cane at her, the tip opening to reveal a set of crosshairs. Kassidy contemplated her options, then decided the guy on the far left with the machine gun was the largest threat, and aimed accordingly.
They both squeezed triggers at the same time. Kassidy put a shot into the man on the far left, then swung her body around to dodge around her opponent's shot. Or, she would have if it weren't for about 100 pounds of scrap iron that she called a suit of armor. An explosion filled her vision, and she got knocked back several feet. It took a few moments to make her head stop swimming.
Alright, so Mr. Roaring Twenties' cane is a grenade launcher. Because reasons. Glancing down, her suit reflected the shoddy workmanship. It was worse than useless, the scrap offered nothing further in protection and only served to weigh her down. Well, better the suit than me. Once she could see straight, Kassidy tried bringing her pistol up, but was incredibly confused by what she saw.
Is that girl carrying… a giant scythe? Where the hell did that come from? And how is she using it? It's bigger than she is! Whatever the answers, the red-haired girl obviously knew how to use it, planting its blade in the ground and using the handle for added maneuverability and leverage. Glancing over, Kassidy saw a seventh black suit come ducking out of an alleyway, taking aim with another machine gun.
The guy dropped like a sack of bricks. Her pistol smoking, Kassidy found Mr. Roaring Twenties dashing across the street and tried to take aim. She was foiled, however, when her armor caught on itself, keeping her arm pinned and unable to make the full traverse. She tore at the armor that was keeping her stuck on the ground, but suddenly noticed that her pack had went flying. She spoke into her earpiece, panicking that her computer might have been damaged.
"Bob, status report."
"All systems nominal and undamaged. Judging from the view of the camera, I'm only counting one hosti-"
"Hey, are you okay?"
The sudden interruption made Kassidy snap her head up. The kid – red and black hair, black blouse, black and red skirt – had her head tilted to one side, her eyebrows drooping and lips a frown.
"I'm – agh! Fine. Did you see where the guy in the white coat was going?" Kassidy hissed again; looking down and patting her stomach with her free hand, she quickly figured out that shrapnel had made its way into her gut.
"You don't sound fine. And he went over that way. Don't worry, I'll get him." With that, Scythe Girl sprinted in the direction of what looked to be an apartment building.
"Hang on!" Kassidy tried shouting at the little girl, but it was too late. Damn, that kid is fast. And… are those flower petals trailing her? The hell? Alright, need to go after her. No chance in hell a kid's going to do anything against a guy with a grenade launcher, even if she has an oversized gardening tool with her. Finally, she was able to pry off the bent metal around her stomach and pull herself out of the mangled remains of her suit, before picking up her rifle and taking off towards the apartment building's ladder.
The ladder was excruciating, the metal in her gut complaining very adamantly every time she took a step. But reaching the top of the building made Kassidy completely forget the pain. White Coat just clambered into a helicopter - Is that an Osprey? – and had thrown a red thing at Scythe Girl, preparing to shoot her. Sprinting forward as quickly as she could, Kassidy came skidding to a stop behind the girl, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled for all she was worth. The little girl went flying behind her, but it left Kassidy a sitting duck for the grenade shot. She took a knee, curled up as tightly as she could, and waited for the pain to start.
The pain never started, as the explosive detonated on a circle of purple appearing out of nowhere. Kassidy uncurled and looked behind her to see what was going on. Front and center stood a woman that looked in her early- to mid-30's, wearing what could only be described as a school teacher's costume and holding out some sort of stick that had a purple glow dissipating. Where did she come from? And… did she make that circle come out of nowhere? The fuck?
Whatever was happening, Kassidy decided that she had enough of it. She took aim at Mr. Roaring Twenties and almost laughed at how easy this shot was, squeezing it off right at his head. Unfortunately, the helicopter ducked slightly and caused the shot to merely separate the bowler hat from his head. Suddenly, the woman's stick brightly glowed purple, and purple streaks of light manifested out of thin air and started bombarding the helicopter. Wait, what was that? Energy bolts being summoned out of thin air? The double fuck?
Before she could get over the physical impossibility of what she just saw, White Coat disappeared to the front of the craft. A few seconds later, a fourth contender for strangest person ever stepped into the open door. Wearing a ridiculously short red and gold dress along with a pair of heels that were almost comically out of place, she arrived just in time to see Wand Woman shoot… a storm cloud? and, with a flick of her wrist, cause shards of ice to come crashing down on the helicopter.
"Umm, is the camera faulty or did that woman just-" Bob tried to comment, but got interrupted.
"No, it's not faulty. I'm starting to think reality just got thrown out the window here." Kassidy couldn't believe what she was seeing. Things were getting more ridiculous the further time progressed.
"If you don't mind keeping your comments quieter, I'm trying to focus here." the older woman shot back, glaring daggers. The outburst surprised Kassidy, but the message was clear. Breathing deeply, Kassidy took aim at Red Dress, but then had to dodge from a freaking fireball that appeared out of thin air. Wand Woman made another purple circle appear to block it, but then the roof beneath her started glowing and screaming. She and Kassidy were both just able to roll out of the way as a pillar of fire came tearing up from beneath, sending shards of debris flying.
As something purple happened and more ridiculous things unfolded, Kassidy felt a nudge on her left shoulder. Turning around, she found Scythe Girl kneeling next to her, the oversized and overly lethal farming implement balanced on her shoulder. "Wow, so… awesome…" she shuddered.
Is this kid ogling over a very lethal and reality-defying situation in front of us? "Whatever it is, I'm kind of ready for it to stop now. It's time to end this, and fast." In response, Scythe Girl made her weapon somehow collapse into a fraction of its original size, now resembling something like… A sniper rifle? Did her scythe just turn into a sniper rifle?!
"Yeah, let's get 'em!" the girl said quite excitedly, cocking her gun. Wand Woman just stepped back towards them, as a ring of fire just exploded around the helicopter. This time, Kassidy didn't bother with deciding which eye she wanted to put the bullet in. Volume of fire was going to be the order of this engagement. Riding the edge of her rifle's trigger, Kassidy was able to squeeze out her remaining six shots in two seconds, while Scythe Girl's sniper rifle started cracking away as well.
As Red Dress held out her hands, Kassidy noticed a dim orange glow as every projectile sent against the helicopter was blocked by absolutely nothing. She swapped the empty clip with a fresh one on her vest and was about to send more fire against the copter when something glowing under them caught her eye; her fears were quickly confirmed when the roof started screaming again. She was about to roll to the side when something unceremoniously shoved her forward. Recovering quickly, she saw Scythe Girl get shoved onto the ground next to her by a small circle of purple, while Wand Woman rolled forward with them as the roof erupted into pillars of flame. Kassidy looked up to see the helicopter starting to fly away. The Garand cracked like mad as she sent another volley of eight shots chasing after it, a last futile effort to bring down the antagonists in tonight's events.
Letting out a breath, Kassidy spotted her earpiece had tumbled out next to her. Putting it back in, she decided to consult with her AI. "Bob, do you have even the slightest idea of what just happened?"
"Yeah, a fight."
"Smartass. Did you manage to record everything?" As Kassidy shouldered her rifle, she caught Scythe Girl bug-eyed and apparently asking Wand Woman for her autograph.
"Duh."
"Then it'd probably be best to get going while the going's good. We can worry about those people some other time. I think I've had enough excitement for tonight." Walking briskly back to the ladder trying not to be seen, she almost made it before…
"Stop right there. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to ask you to come with me." Kassidy stopped and turned around to see Wand Woman holding her stick out at her.
Every instinct she had told her – no, screamed at her – to start throwing lead and leap down the ladder. Wand Woman may have just helped her with the fight, yes, but she was still an unknown, and unknowns were what got you killed. Shooting first and asking questions later was how you stayed alive. Her left hand reached for her pistol at her belt, and then stopped when she saw the little kid right next to the woman, head tilted to the side with an inquisitive look on her face.
Goddamnit, am I really about to gun down a twelve year old kid? Her eyes flickered back to Wand Woman, obviously not pleased with how her hand reached for her gun. Her stick had started glowing purple. She's not aggressive, but defensive. She apparently isn't trying to kill me. Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, she moved her hand away from her pistol. No need for fights that aren't necessary. Don't think I could take them with my gut as it is, anyway. Finally getting the courage the courage to speak, Kassidy asked, "Did I do something wrong? Because that whole incident was kind of self-defense."
Wand Woman harrumphed, before shooting back, "Indeed it was. But I don't think you realize just what you got yourself into. I still insist that you come with me so we can talk."
"We can talk just fine right here." Kassidy let the words trail off as her brain ran a mile a minute. After a few seconds, she inquired, "How do I know I can trust you?"
"Because she's a Huntress!" Scythe Girl blurted out. "You can always trust a Huntress! Right?" She turned her gaze onto the woman.
"A… huntress? Is that some sort of law enforcement around here?" Kassidy was now thoroughly confused, and extremely wary. She knew what it was like to be hunted.
Wand Woman adjusted her glasses, and although her wand was still held out it had stopped glowing. "In a broad sense, yes. And it is with the honor and reputation of my profession that should let you know you can trust me."
Kassidy kept her eyes flickering between the two before her as she weighed her options. Alright, either pick a fight with a little kid and a woman who proved on no fewer than six separate occasions that the laws of physics don't apply to her, or go with her to whomever she answers to, wherever she works, for whatever they have planned for me. No good options... but one keeps me alive significantly longer than the other. Hopefully long enough to come up with a better plan. Sighing and relaxing her stance, Kassidy resigned herself to her fate. "I need to go down and get my gear. Where to from there?"