It was nearing midnight in an isolated part of town. The roads were lit with dull lights of streetlights and lamps shining from behind a few curtained windows, though a majority of the town seemed to be asleep.
When a trio of identical black vans hummed quietly down the road, the sound was relatively deafening in the empty streets.
When they arrived at their destination, a small gang of identically dressed men, wearing the same black suits and red ties, marched out of the three vans, wearing scowls that promised violence and red tinted shades that hid whatever their eyes suggested.
As the last of the men stepped out, they waited for a moment in front of the vans, engines still running, until seemingly out of nowhere, a small girl appeared in front of them. With her multicoloured hair, heterochromatic eyes, and garish parasol that would have seemed out of place even if it wasn't night, it was impossible not to notice her, and yet she acted like she had always been there.
They knew to expect it, and yet many of them couldn't hide the way they flinched away.
The small girl grinned at them openly, as if to mock them for their reactions, but was quick to turn her attention to the small shop that they stood in front of. Without any hesitation, she pushed open the door and walked inside, her entrance accompanied by the soft tinkle of the bell that hung above the doorway, and echoed by the footsteps of the identically dressed men that now held their hatchets openly.
When the man at the cash register, and the only employee in the shop, looked up at the approaching gang, he did so at first without much fear. After all, the types of individuals who typically used his shop were of the huntsman variety. While they did look a little less friendly than the typical huntsman, his first assumption was that they were simply a themed team, and that they would be looking to buy some of his wares for their upcoming mission.
That was until he noticed the girl that lead the charge.
Despite being nearly half the height of her companions, Neopolitan had crafted a name for herself. The Whisper Bandit, the diminutive crime lord of Vale. With a smile and a casual gesture, one of the armed men shoved a briefcase in front of the shopkeeper, with several empty slots that were designed to hold high quality dust crystals.
The meaning was clear, and the threat behind the man's raised hatchet was more so. The shopkeeper couldn't help but let out a whimper, which he quickly stopped by clasping a hand over his own mouth.
Neo couldn't help but roll her eyes and grin at the sight. As the so-called Whisper Bandit, a rumour had been spread around about her very fitting M.O. of never harming any of her heist victims as long as they stayed silent. She had no idea where the rumour came from, but she didn't mind it so much, as it made heists so much easier to pull off.
Neo lazily waved her hand, and the armed men dispersed, combing the shop for any sign of other witnesses as the shopkeeper continued to empty his entire stock into the thieves' briefcases.
As the men combed through the shop, one of them spotted a small girl clad in red, whose attention seemed to be completely absorbed in a small pamphlet that she held in front of her face. After a quick scan, the armed man sighed in relief. As far as he could tell, the girl was unarmed and completely harmless.
As such, it was without fear that he walked up to her. Even as he approached, the girl didn't seem to notice him. When he got close enough, he raised his weapon and tapped her on the shoulder with the flat of his blade.
The girl tensed up and turned towards the armed man with an incredulous expression on her face.
"Excuse me?" the girl said, her voice echoing slightly in the silent din of the shop. The man's face paled as the rumoured rule of the Whisper Bandit was broken.
Either not noticing or not caring about his reaction, the girl continued to speak, her tone landing somewhere between annoyed and confused.
"If you wanted to get my attention there are better ways than touching me with your weapon. I know Grimm blood fades away, but would it kill you to maintain your weapon once in a while?" she asked, gingerly pushing away the blade with a single finger.
The man couldn't help but feel a deep sense of dread when the girl treated the hatchet pointed at her face as if it were a minor inconvenience. Though this girl barely stood tall enough to be at his chest-level, with who his current boss was, he had no misconceptions about how size meant anything when it came to how dangerous a person could be.
The girl scoffed, and sighed before shaking her head.
"Well, you got my attention, even if the way you did it was pretty rude. What did you want?"
The man had thought the hatchet pointed at her face sent a very clear message, but when the girl failed to understand it, he had no idea how to respond without speaking. It was his first time working with Neopolitan, and he had no idea if the rule of "getting to live only if you stayed silent" applied to him as well.
Thankfully, before the girl's scrutinising glare could threaten to burn a hole through his skull, one of his fellow gang members turned the corner and raised his own weapon towards her.
Whether it was because he was somehow more threatening, or if it was simply the fact that she was now outnumbered by two men raising their weapons at her, the girl clad in red seemed to understand the situation.
But rather than react with fear or shock, her expression morphed into one of understanding.
"Oh, I get it now," she said calmly, reaching behind her back for the inconspicuous metal box that clung to her belt.
Before he understood what was happening, the man was sailing out of the window of the shop, his body crashing through the glass as he tumbled onto the pavement outside.
Ruby Rose couldn't help but let a small smile through her facade of professionalism as she spun her scythe in a wide arc, knocking a hatchet out of her second attacker's hand. The weapon flew out of the man's hand and Ruby took the opportunity to swing her scythe back around, hitting the gangster with the shaft of her weapon. When she felt the familiar resistance of aura-clad skin, pushing back to defend its user, Ruby felt it was safe enough to slash at him without risking permanent injury.
As the second gangster flew out of the window to join the first, Ruby rushed out of the store and onto the streets, hoping that the rest of the robbers inside would take the bait and follow her out in the open, where she would be free to swing her weapon in wide arcs without having to worry about knocking over the potentially dangerous dust crystals that lined the shelves.
It didn't feel right to be so happy about seeing a dust robbery happening in front of her, but at the same time, she'd been itching for more opportunities to prove herself as a capable Huntress in training. Not that these gangsters seemed to be trained beyond having their auras unlocked.
When Ruby turned around, a small part of her lit up in delight as she recognized the iconic crime lord of Vale. Neopolitan. Any qualms she had about beating up untrained gangsters disappeared at the prospect of being the one to take down someone who had been such a thorn in the side of the Vale for so long.
Though Neopolitan sighed in annoyance, she didn't seem to be too concerned at the sight as she waved her umbrella towards Ruby. If any of the gangsters under her command were intimidated by the sight of the scythe wielding girl, then they didn't show it, charging towards her with their weapons raised.
Ruby smirked at the sight, but was quick to wipe it away along with the assumption that it would be an easy fight. From the way that the eight goons were charging her with seemingly no plan, she doubted that any of them were better trained or stronger than the two goons she'd already dispatched, but she also knew from her Huntsman training that any wrong assumption was liable to get you hurt.
So when the first armed gangster came within the range of her scythe, she swung it cautiously, wary of any counterattack that could come flying at her in response. When none came, she quickly hooked the thug around the waist and swung him around, gently enough that she could trust that she wouldn't break through his aura and accidentally bisect him, and tossed him towards the oncoming horde of his identically dressed teammates.
Ruby was surprised when attack incapacitated both the goon that she threw and both of the two goons she tossed him into. She danced back quickly to dodge a weapon flying towards her head, but couldn't help but wonder if she should bother being so cautious.
In a split second, she decided that she needed to hurry if she wanted to catch Neo, who she noticed was casually climbing up a ladder on the side of a nearby building.
Activating her semblance, Ruby rushed forward at breakneck speeds and slammed the shaft of her scythe into the throat of the goon closest to her. Even before he made a strained choking sound and dropped his weapon, she was already onto the next goon, sweeping his feet with her scythe, the force of it flipping him over thrice before he finally landed on the hard pavement.
The final four goons were either much slower than their companions or had held back for other reason, but Ruby had wasted enough time to be tangling with them and she could just barely see Neopolitan climbing up over the top of the building.
Twirling her scythe and stabbing it into the ground, Ruby quickly shot off four rounds at the legs of each of the remaining gangsters, using the grip of the scythe's blade in the ground to absorb the recoil of each shot.
The remaining gangsters all fell with a cry, clutching at their legs despite their aura having blocked most of the damage.
Ruby took two seconds to look at the scene and decide that they probably wouldn't be getting up any time soon, and judging from the chaotic shouts and sounds from the surrounding buildings, she guessed that the police would be arriving soon. Neopolitan's goons were almost guaranteed to be arrested at this point, but Neopolitan herself was not.
Instead of climbing up the ladder like Neopolitan had, Ruby sprinted up the ladder, using the rungs like footholds and firing off a few high calibre rounds from her rifle to keep her balance with the force of the recoil.
Scaling the building in a near instant, Ruby launched herself over the top of the building and scanned her surroundings for any sign of the diminutive thief.
Her eyes widened when, instead of a woman shorter than her, she found herself looking up at the guns of a small gunship.
"Eep." It wasn't quite the sound she typically let out, as a Huntress in training, but the sound escaped her mouth without any input from her.
Sitting in the cockpit, Ruby caught a brief glimpse of Neo, grinning wildly as she pressed down on a button.
Before she could react, the roar of gunfire filled the air. Though she was too slow to react, Ruby felt herself tense up at the sound out of instinct, ready to take the impact against her aura. She knew that even if it might not kill her, there was no way she was getting out of this unhurt.
It took a second for Ruby to realise that even while the gunfire continued to roar, and the sound of heavy impacts echoed around her, she wasn't being buffeted by metal like she expected.
Gingerly, she opened her eyes, only to have them widen immediately when she noticed the glowing purple sigils that surrounded her. Her eyes darted to the right to see a disciplinary-looking woman raising a riding crop towards the gunship in the sky.
Ruby gasped at the sight, but didn't have the opportunity to admire the sigils any more when the woman dropped her riding crop and they faded away. But before her attention could fade, the woman raised her weapon once again and sending a barrage of purple energy, hail, and lightning at the aircraft.
Barely visible in the now-retreating cockpit of the bullhead, Ruby could barely see Neopolitan's shocked expression as she feebly tried to outfly the approaching attack and brace herself for impact.
Only for the blonde huntress's attack to fizzle out right before reaching the bullhead.
Ruby's eyes darted towards the humanoid figure standing in the open door of the bullhead. Though she could vaguely tell it was a woman, she had trouble making out anything beyond the orange glow that ominously surrounded the figure.
The same orange glow intensified in a split second and shot outwards, creating a large ball of fire that hurtled towards the blonde huntress.
A quick backflip away saved her, and without a single wasted movement, the huntress flicked her wrist to gather the debris loosened by the fiery blast and sent it flying violently towards the bullhead.
The unknown figure was quick to respond in kind, fiery circles expanding from her wrist and melting the flying debris before it came close to impacting the Bullhead.
It was at this point that Ruby realised that she'd only been staring in awe during the exchange. Quickly, she raised her rifle and fired off a shot. She didn't expect it to do much damage, but she hoped at the very least it would distract the unknown assailant long enough for the huntress to get a solid blow in.
Ruby's heart dropped when the figure raised a hand casually, barely expending any effort in disintegrating her bullet before it reached her and in the same motion, sent a swarm of small fireballs streaking towards them.
Before she could even react, a dull purple glow encompassed Ruby and she felt an invisible force push her out of the way of the blast. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Ruby glanced up to see the bullhead flying away, quickly getting smaller as it faded into the horizon.
She heard a soft scoffing sound coming from behind her, and when she turned around, she saw the blonde huntress grimacing at the sight of the escaping bullhead.
Gulping internally, Ruby gave a slight curtsey in greeting to the woman.
"Hello, Miss Goodwitch."
Finally, for the first time since she'd appeared, the woman's hard gaze darted down to meet Ruby's own. Ruby fought hard not to wither under the gaze.
—-
Ruby wasn't sure how to feel. When Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress of Beacon Academy, pulled her into an interrogation room in the nearest Valean police station, she had expected to be berated for allowing Neopolitan and her new ally to get away, so when Goodwitch actually began to speak to her, she couldn't help but be surprised.
"Miss Rose," she said, with a warm smile. "If I'm being honest, I probably should be berating you for putting yourself in danger by facing off against a dangerous criminal on your own, but with how well this whole situation turned out, I'm tempted to commend you for your actions. What you did was incredibly brave, and I cannot be happier that a student such as yourself will be one of my students in the near future."
Ruby fought hard not to preen under the praise, but failed miserably.
"I can't say it was anything special," she said, hoping the humility would hide the blush that appeared on her face. "I just did what any other Huntress in training would do."
Goodwitch laughed openly, a delighted sound that Ruby could help but smile along with.
"If that's half true, then I have high hopes for our upcoming generation. What you did, Miss Rose, was very brave and I thank you on behalf of Vale for keeping its citizens safe."
Ruby didn't know how to react, but decided it would be rude to keep insisting that the Vice Headmistress was wrong so she held her head high.
"I'm glad I made you proud, Deputy Headmistress."
"Please. That title must be a mouthful," Goodwitch said. "You're free to refer to me by my name, if you wish."
Ruby paused for a moment, before nodding. "Of course, Miss Goodwitch."
Goodwitch smiled again, before nodding at Ruby.
"In addition to myself, there is someone else who wishes to speak to you," she said, right as Ruby heard the slow creak of a door in the dimly lit room.
It wasn't long before another blonde woman appeared in the light of the single bulb that lit up the room. Unlike Miss Goodwitch, who remained standing the entire time they talked, this woman sat down casually, as if she had just arrived at a diner to have lunch.
To accentuate the image, the woman carried a tray with two cups, a small pot and two smaller cups that seemed to contain sugar and cream respectively.
"Ruby Rose," the woman said, as she sat down in front of her. Casually, she picked up one of the cups, placed it in front of Ruby and poured her a cup of aromatic tea, and poured a cup for herself.
"Feel free to add as much sugar or cream as you like," the woman said pushing the two small containers forward with one hand.
Ruby didn't quite understand the strange situation she found herself in, but ultimately decided that it would be rude to deny such an obvious offer to drink.
Gingerly sipping the tea, she kept her eyes fixed on the woman sitting in front of her, even while the woman didn't care to do the same, closing her eyes and sighing blissfully as she drank from her own cup.
"I'm sure that Glynda has given you nothing but praise for your actions, despite my wishes."
Ruby fought back a surprised cough as the woman continued to sip at her tea.
"I didn't believe that such an action deserved to be punished, Ma'am," Goodwitch said.
"You misunderstand, Glynda. I would never dare to suggest that attempting to protect others should be met with punishment. I simply believe that one should take more caution when faced with such a potentially dangerous situation, regardless of how skilled they are. What do you think, Miss Rose?"
"Umm," she said, unprepared to be called on so suddenly, but was able to gather her wits quickly enough to set her cup down and stare directly into the woman's eyes. "I was confident in my skills, Ma'am. And even if I wasn't, I believe that it is my duty as a Huntress to do my best to protect the citizens of Vale."
Glynda nodded silently while the woman smiled kindly and set her cup down on the table.
"You really are your mother's daughter, Miss Rose."
"Thank you, Ma'am."
The woman laughed into her hand. "I was referring to how ambitious you are, to the point of impatience, but I suppose you are correct to interpret my words as a compliment. Summer Rose is one of the best Huntresses that Beacon has ever produced, and I have no doubt that you will prove to be the same, but not even she applied to enter Beacon Academy two years earlier than usual."
"Signal is great, but I think I'm ready to advance, Ma'am."
"As do I," the woman said, pausing for a moment to sip her tea again. Ruby mirrored the motion, though she silently regretted not putting more sugar into her drink. "I'm sure you're already aware of my decision."
"Yes, Ma'am," Ruby nodded. "I got the acceptance letter in the mail."
"Of course," the woman said. "But now that I have you here, I'd like to have the honour of welcoming you in person. Congratulations on getting into Beacon Academy, Miss Rose."
Ruby gave a slight bow, as far as her seated position would allow.
"Thank you Professor Salem. I hope to make you proud."
"I'm sure you will."