"Hello, agent... Tex wasn't it?" The mystery woman said. "We have much to discuss."
"Oh yeah? Well who am I discussing things with then?" Tex asked.
"Raven Branwen." She introduced herself and then paused, like she was waiting for Tex to react in some way.
"Right, and how do you know who I am?" Tex asked, before continuing. "Also, Raven? Really? That is terrible name."
"I know who you are because I've been following you and Qrow for a few days now." Raven explained very smugly.
"Following us? Wow, stalker much?" Tex snorted, keeping her grip tight on her gun.
"Hardly, I merely want to see why my dear brother was passing through our territory." Raven claimed. "And imagine my surprise when I find he has someone else with him, someone who claims to be from another universe."
"Alright two things, first off you're Qrow's sister? I wonder why he never mentioned you. And secondly, why are you here? why reveal yourself and start talking to me?" Tex demanded.
"Like I said before, we have much to discuss." Raven said. "So why not put down your gun and let me sit with you?"
"Fine." Tex said shortly. "But you have to take off the mask."
"Very well." Was all Raven said as she moved to take a seat on the fallen tree trunk across from Tex, who went back to sit on a fallen tree trunk of her own.
There they sat in silence for a moment as Raven took of her mask, revealing her face and red eyes. They then both sat in silence before Raven broke it.
"Are you not going to take off your helmet, and extend me the same courtesy?" Raven asked.
"Nope."
"Very well then, as I already told you, I am Raven Branwen, leader of the Branwen tribe, a noble group of warriors. and I am here to warn you that if you continue following my brother, it will only end in tragedy." Raven declared grandly.
"What do you mean by that?" Tex asked curiously.
"Correct me if i'm wrong, but Qrow is taking you to see someone he has called Ozpin, correct?" Tex nodded. "You should not meet with him, as he will only indoctrinate you into his hopeless war."
"There's a war going on?" Tex asked surprised. Nothing Qrow had said indicated there was some kind of conflict going on.
"There is, a shadow war between Ozpin and the one who controls the Grimm." Raven explained.
"Huh, someone controls those fleabags? Why haven't they been stopped yet?" Tex asked as she absorbed this information.
"Because she cannot be stopped." Raven said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Ozpin's war is pointless, and my brother is unable to be convinced of it, and yet it is not too late for you Tex."
"Oh?"
"You see, I've overheard some of your stories, and the things you claim to have done would put you on par with my tribes toughest warriors. And if you could prove capable, I would be more than happy to induct you into my tribe." Raven offered with the smug tone of someone that knew the other person would agree to the deal. In a way it reminded Tex of the Counselor.
Tex hated the Counselor.
"Well that's a very interesting offer." Tex said sarcastically. "But first tell me, what exactly is it that you people do?"
"Survive. We are the strongest around, moving from place to place, keeping ourselves safe." Raven explained in a way that made multiple puzzle pieces click together in Tex's head.
"Oh is that right?" Tex said with an air of faux casualness. "Surviving? How? Like say ripping an crashed Atlas squad limb from limb?"
Raven's look of surprise encouraged Tex to continue. "Oh don't look so surprised, that weapon on your hip is a perfect match for the wounds inflicted on those poor bastards."
"It was for self defence for the tribe.' Raven defended stiffly.
"Oh right my mistake, clearly that act of tearing people apart limb from limb was in self defence, after all, the majority of crash landed soldiers first ideas are to look for bandits." Tex's words oozed sarcasm.
"I never said we were bandits."
"Yeah, but Qrow did, he said this was bandit territory and call me crazy but I don't think any warrior tribe would like to share territory with bandits, unless of course they were one and the same." If Tex had a face it would be sporting the worlds biggest smirk. "How am I doing so far?"
"I'm surprised that you were able to make those deductions, but regardless my offer still stands." Raven claimed. "In this world, the strong survive and the weak perish. And as of now my tribe is your only chance for survival, and if you were smart enough to make your deductions, then you should be smart enough to take up my offer."
"Well to start, i'm not going to take you up on that offer, cause honestly it sounds pretty fucking terrible and I have better things to do than be a fucking bandit." Tex said before a thought occurred to her. "But you did say that you like my stories, so why don't I tell you about the person you remind me of."
"Oh?" One of Raven's eyebrows was raised. "Do tell."
"You remind me an awful lot of Agent South Dakota, or South as everyone called her." Tex paused for a minute to laugh before continuing. "And oh dear lord, I've never met such a whiny, self entitled, little bitch in all my life. Let me tell you, she was a real piece of work, bitching and moaning when things didn't go her way, and even having temper tantrums like a fucking child." Tex gave a harsh chuckle as she delivered the next part. "And you know she had a brother as well, he of course was the better half, he was probably the only person that really looked out for and even loved South, they were twins after all. Not that it stopped south from shooting him in the back and leaving him for dead to save her own skin."
"An interesting story." Raven sneered coldly.
"Oh but I haven't even got to the best part!" Tex declared, enjoying this far too much. "Now I wasn't there personally, but from what Delta told me in the Meta, South's career of betraying people eventually got her backed into a corner where injured and alone, she was killed by agent Washington of all people."
"A pointless story." Raven corrected, but Tex could feel the barely concealed venom in her tone.
"Whats wrong? Touch a nerve did I?" Tex mocked.
"If you value that tongue of yours so much, then keep it silent lest I rip it out." Raven threatened, putting her hand on her sword as she did so.
"Was that a threat?"
"A statement of fact."
"I'd like to see you try." Tex threatened.
"Is that a challenge?" Raven asked. "If so, it's very brave but ultimately foolish. It is most likely one of the most terrible decisions of your life."
"I make terrible decisions all the time, why stop now?" Tex asked rhetorically.
A smile appeared on Raven's face. "why indeed?"
With that declaration, Raven and Tex both burst into a flurry of action, Tex raising her rifle, only for raven to disarm her of it in less than a second, using her sword to send the rifle flying across the camp site. Without her weapon, Tex jumped back to avoid another strike that would have decapitated her if she hadn't moved.
"Impressive reaction time." Raven remarked, sword primed for another assault. "Let's see how fast they can go."
To call Raven's next string of stabs, slashes and attacks a flurry would be an insult. It was more akin to a flood of attacks, each one building on the momentum and speed of the previous. It was supernatural and dangerous, no human could hope to avoid, much less survive it.
But Tex wasn't human.
Using her enhanced robotic reflexes, Tex ducked, dodged and weaved around the assault, which unfortunately backed her against a tree, which was cut in two by Raven's next strike that Tex barely ducked under in time.
Figuring that it was time to go on the offensive, Tex grabbed Raven's arm after one of her slashes went just a little too wide, and dashed forward to delver a thunderous punch to he bandit queen's face. She quickly followed up with a flurry of punches to her stomach, attempting to knock the wind out of her.
But rather unfortunately for Tex, Raven had a key advantage that the freelancer didn't posses yet.
Aura.
As a result Raven was able to tank the damage and counter attack with a horizontal slash of her sword, causing Tex to duck under and grab her right arm again, this time using the momentum of Raven's own slash to physically throw her across the camp site and into another tree.
"That fast enough for you?" Tex taunted as raven got up and dusted herself off.
Raven never replied, but instead raised her sword and Tex heard the familiar sound of a gun reloading.
Mere moments later several colourful shots came from the sword which Tex barely dodged, slightly confused and shocked that the sword was also a gun.
But Tex didn't have time to be even slightly confused as Raven immediately leaped into face stabbing range, releasing another flood of attacks that Tex was forced to contend with. And rather than being content with staying limited to just melee attacks, Raven also fired some rounds around Tex to keep the freelancer on her feet.
But fortunately her reflexes remained as sharp as ever, keeping Tex safe from attack, but not really letting her counter attack, due to the shear intensity of Raven's blows. But this was fine with Tex, as all she needed was for Raven to run out of stamina before she could lay down the ass kicking.
then Tex's plans for a battle of attrition were suddenly bought to a halt as Raven fired a dust round into Tex's feet, causing her to stumble and leave an opening for Raven to exploit.
And she did so in brutal, spectacular fashion, as with a clean vertical slash, Raven cut Tex's left arm clean off, causing the freelancer to fall to her knees.
Tex looked at her severed arm and then at Raven who had already sheathed her weapon and was walking away.
Her vision went red as rage filled her heart.
Grabbing her own severed arm, Tex used it as a make shift baseball bat as she charged Raven and surprised her with a swing so powerful it sent Raven flying into a tree that cracked and splintered apart on impact.
"How?" Raven near muttered, before her eyes went wide as she looked closely at the sparking wounds. "You're a robot!?"
"That's right." Tex said calmly. "Now i'm going to rip out your skull, AND BEAT YOU TO FUCKING DEATH WITH IT!" She finished slightly less calmly.
Raven drew her sword once more and charged at the same time as Tex, sword meeting severed arm in a clash of raw power.
And now that she had a melee weapon of sorts, Tex was able to deflect what would have been critical hits and launch small counter attacks here and there, mostly small punches and kicks, but they soon added up as a kick directly to Raven chin finally broke the bandit's Aura, causing her to break off the assault, and leap a short distance away.
"You, are very lucky agent Tex." Raven claimed.
"And why's that?" Tex couldn't help but ask.
"If my brother was not nearly here, I would have killed you." Raven said coldly, putting her mask back on as a portal opened next to her.
"Do tell him I said hello, would you?" Was all Raven said before leaving through the portal which vanished, leaving Tex alone with several destroyed trees and a severed arm.
And that was how Qrow found her several minutes later.
"What happened here?" Qrow cried.
Tex gave a deadpan look.
"Your sister is a bitch."
"So... you see that new film everyone keeps talking about?" Sally asked as he passed Jeremy, having just finished his shift.
"You mean Ninja Mime?" Jeremy asked critically. "Sally, you know I don't watch that shit." And contrary to what the name would suggest, Sally was in fact a male Faunus that had the misfortune of being named Salad at birth, he just stuck with Sally instead.
"Whatever, just enjoy your night shift mate." Sally yawned out before leaving, letting Jeremy get into the elevator and up to the CCT tower.
You see, Jeremy was a night guard in charge of watching the interior of the CCT every night when it was closed, when the Atlas troops arrived there was a brief fear he'd lose the job, but apparently Professor Ozpin himself argued to keep the night guards on.
With a pleasant ding the elevator arrived at the main floor where hundreds of computers all sat in darkness.
To be honest it was kinda creepy, but still the money was good and the most he usually had to worry about was if a student had accidentally locked themselves in.
As he made his slow way to the security office, he stopped by the coffee machine and got himself an espresso and took a sip from it.
And as he drank from his coffee, he noticed something odd. One of the terminals was still on.
This was very particular as usually a technician would turn them all off before he or Sally even got close to the building.
Then he saw someone.
Who it was, wasn't very clear as in the dark the majority of them was obscured. All he could tell was that they were massive and huddled over the still on terminal.
Definitely someone Sally would have noticed on his shift.
Now more awake than ever, Jeremy contemplated his options, he could go back down the elevator and alert the Atlas guards posted just outside the building, but by then whoever it was might be gone.
The only other option he had was to try and deal with them by himself, and that was ultimately the option he chose, readying his electric dust taser Jeremy started to stealthily walk towards the intruder.
But then, as he drew close, the intruder suddenly straightened up, somehow making them even more massive, utterly towering over Jeremy, causing the night guard to step back and blink.
Then the intruder was simply gone.
No sign that he had even existed apart from the computer that they had been hunched over, which was still glowing an ominous fiery red colour.
Cautiously, Jeremy made his way to the terminal and was confused to find a strange symbol in the centre of it, completely white while the rest of the screen was fiery red.
Then the terminal next to the on he was at turned on, bearing the very same symbol. Then another one turned on. then another one, then another one. Until the room was engulfed with fiery red light, the same white symbol in the middle of every screen.
Jeremy stood there unable to comprehend what exactly was happening, until a few minutes later all of the computers turned back off, engulfing the room back in darkness once more.
He quickly came to the conclusion that he needed to report this and fast.
But before he could react, Jeremy felt something at his stomach.
Looking down, he saw the there was a large blade sticking out from his stomach.
And the last thing he heard was a low inhuman growl, before everything went black.
Notes:
And that's the end of that chapter.
During the writing of this chapter, I really went back and forth on who'd ultimately win in Tex vs Raven. On one hand, Raven seems like a clear winner with her maiden powers, but on the other there is no way she'd use them when Qrow is in the general area. At least in this point in the timeline. Tex also suffers form the fact she currently doesn't have an unlocked aura so in theory any of Raven's attacks could take her out and on top of that Raven is more used to fighting using swords while most of Tex's experience was against people using their fists.
But on the other hand, I believe Tex would be able to easily match Raven's speed and being a robot, Tex doesn't need to stop for a breath or regain any stamina. Tex is also stronger than Raven from what I can tell, able to flip over Shelia and match Maine punch for punch.
So ultimately I settled on the fight being interrupted as i'm genuinely unsure who would actually win, but who knows they might have a rematch in the future with more equal footing, and feel free to let me know who you guys think had a better chance of winning.
As always i'd like to thank everyone for reading and give extra thanks to those who review/comment as you guys all make my day.
The next chapter will be out in a few day's time, so stay tuned for that. But till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.
review replies:
ReaderWarrior: Well, i'm very glad to see that you're enjoying the story so far! And to answer your question, yes the red and blues can all go off and view things on their own, and as for if ruby can prove she isn't crazy, well wait and see my ggod fellow, wairt and see. thanks for reading!
Brain.H.H: Well dude, i'm sorry to hear that your not really liking the Ladybug stuff, but i am a very firm believer in each to his own, so keep on grooving dude. But I am very happy to see that you like the Tex and Qrow stuff, so you'd probably have fun reading this chapter. have a good day and thanks for reading.
TheSilverUmbreon: Something tells me you'd like this chapter then.
AnonamousElphent: Great to hear from you again! You've given a lot of interesting theories and all i'll say is that one of them is half right. And let me assure you I will not be rushing out this fic as i really want to get it right, but fortunately I have far too much free time on my hands. Stay groovy and have a good day!