Barry was running down the street with the wind running through his hair and was prepared for more monsters of all shapes and sizes. What he didn't prepare himself for were the robots firing their weapons on defenseless people. This made Barry angry. Angry that someone would deliberately program things to attack innocent people. His heart started beating faster and sparks began to fly off of his body. Gradually, these small sparks turned into full-fledged lightning bolts.
"Leave them alone!" Barry shouted as lightning rushed from his body, targeting every robot in the area. Each bolt struck through a robot's chest, before traveling to the next in a series of electrocutions.
Exhausted, Barry fell to the ground along with the burnt robots, trying to steal back his breath. After releasing all that lightning from his body, he felt as though he had run a marathon before he'd gotten his powers. Slowly, Barry forced himself back on his feet, ignoring the drums beating in his head. Starting off again, Barry raced around the unfamiliar city, stopping only to destroy robots and kill monsters, and taking care not to uncage the lightning again. As he rounded a sharp turn around a corner, Barry almost ran straight into a bullet. Flicking the bullet out of his way, Barry's eyes focused on the massive robot that was approaching what he believed to be soldiers who were shooting at it to little effect.
The large robot brought its foot up and it brought it down on top of the soldiers but Barry carried them out of the way before the metal foot made contact. Barry turned around to face the robot that towered over him. It tried to hit Barry with its massive arm but missed completely as he backed away. Seeing the bolts on the robot's arms, Barry had an idea. Dashing towards the robot's arm, Barry unfastened the bolt and pulled it out. Running around the robot, Barry repeated the process numerous times until he couldn't find any more parts that he could pull out. Stopping in front of the robot, Barry dropped all the parts he pulled off the robot. The robot stood still for a moment then collapsed into a pile of parts. As Barry was about to race off to find others in need the ground started shaking. Barry heard sounds coming from a mountain. As bits of the mountain started crumbling away, Barry felt dread in his heart. After a few more moments the mountaintop exploded, a monster larger than any of the others emerging from the ruins.
"Oh no," Barry whispered.
As the dragon-like monster flew towards the city, Barry started panicking, his breathing started to accelerate. Suddenly, everything stopped.
"Ohgodohodohgod," Barry panicked, "How is anyone going to stop that thing?"
Pacing around, Barry dragged his hands through his hair. After a few minutes relative to him, Barry resolved to follow it. Racing directly underneath the monster, Barry destroyed every other monster that spawned from its body and hostile robots. Eventually, Barry was confronted by a cliff. The dragon flew over the cliff, leaving Barry's sight. Barry did a few laps around the cliff to find a way up but his search bore no fruit. Finding himself in front of a vertical cliff face, Barry had an insane thought. Running as far back as he could, Barry bolted forward, approaching the cliff face. When Barry was about to collide with the side of the cliff, he planted his right foot on the side before doing the same with his left foot, then doing it over and over. Before Barry knew it, he reached the edge of the cliff and shot into the air before he landed on solid ground.
"Holy crap I did it," Barry said, looking down the cliff he just ran up. Taking a look around, Barry found himself on what almost looked like a college campus, except most college campuses don't have teenagers armed to the teeth fighting monsters, robots, and massive towers in the center. As Barry was about to run off to help, he saw a lone figure walking towards a building. Barry assumed that they would be able to protect themselves but what drew his attention was that the robots and monsters weren't attacking them. Bolting towards the figure and hiding behind a building, Barry saw that it was a woman with black hair wearing a red dress with gold trim. Being a police officer, this was suspicious to Barry.
'Where are you going and why aren't you being attacked?'
Barry began to follow at a distance but decided it was too risky to stay in plain sight. Trying something new, Barry forced the atoms making up his body to vibrate at a higher speed than normal. If he did it right, he'd be rendered invisible to the naked eye. Following the suspicious woman down a corridor, she turned to an elevator. This was the real test of his new ability. When he entered the elevator with her, she didn't react. It was working. The woman pulled something white and rectangular out of her pocket and held it up to the elevator's control panel. It took a moment to scan and then she pushed a button.
The elevator started going down and Barry found himself staring at the woman and wondering, What is she up to? Once the elevator stopped, the woman walked out but Barry kept his distance. Then particles started forming around her hands. In moments she was holding a black bow in her hand with an arrow drawn before letting it fly. It took Barry a moment but he saw what she was aiming at. It was an unconscious woman encased in a pod. Barry took off. Running after the arrow, Barry's fingers grazed the fletching but it was no use. The arrow punched through the glass and into the other woman's chest.
He was too late.
The woman awoke briefly and gasped for breath before falling limp. Dead. It was only now that Barry realized she was glowing. Suddenly, light burst forth from the woman and passed through Barry before going into the other woman he had been following.
Barry's eyes diverted to the old man and teenage boy standing beside him and another girl in a separate pod. What caught his eye was the boy. The boy looked exactly like Barry did when he was younger. The only difference between seventeen-year-old Barry and the boy was the choice of attire and the fact that he carried a sword and shield. The woman started rising with energy circling around her. The boy sprang into action, raising his sword and holding his shield in front of him.
"Stay back!" the old man shouted.
The boy didn't listen and charged at the woman but was immediately blasted back.
"Jaune!" Barry heard a muffled voice cry. It was the other girl in the second pod.
The girl was banging on the door to the pod and it flew off, encased in a black glow it rocketed towards the woman but was knocked away.
The girl then leaped out of the pod and a sword and shield flew into her hands. As she charged the woman the old man held his arm out, blocking her.
"Take Jaune and get out of here!" the old man said, "Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Bring them here right away. The tower cannot fall."
"But I can help," the girl said.
Looking back at the girl, the old man said, "You'll only get in the way."
The girl ran to the side and picked up the boy before running past the woman and towards the elevator.
"I don't know who you are, but I'd advise you to leave as well," the old man said to Barry.
Turning for the briefest of moments possible for someone without Barry's abilities, the man didn't see him because Barry had already turned invisible.
"This whole time, right beneath our feet. She was right about you," the woman said as the old man flipped his cane around, "Such arrogance."
I want to thank Whiskey Weeb for editing this chapter. I'd also recommend reading my previous fic, Rogues in Remnant because this is a sequel.
