Chapter Two: Little Red
Rapture couldn't believe this man's stupidity. She had been discharged from hospital a few days ago, so now she was walking to a Dust store open at the time as Connor had recommended. Now she found herself in a back alley painted with pale moonlight, in full combat gear, with a gun to the back of her head. The voice had been decidedly male and demanded that she hand over her valuables. Her helmet registered two more thugs somewhere behind her, so she had to be smart about this. One bullet, one stab could mean her death.
"Did you hear me?" The thug repeated. "I said, hand over your-" He was interrupted by Rapture's exoskeleton-enhanced foot slamming into his gut. Not enough force to outright kill the man, but enough to ensure that he wouldn't be getting back up. Almost instantly, she activated her cloak and jumped to the wall, flaring the jumpkit on her back to gain height and latch on. Two shots impacted where she once was, confirming her suspicion that all three had guns. In the space of a few seconds, Rapture silently manoeuvred behind the two and slammed their heads together. Seems they weren't very bright, staying together like that. Needless to say, they both dropped like bricks.
The smashing of glass caused Rapture to whip around. She was met with the sight of an unconscious thug on the street, smashed glass, and a young girl clad in red and black. This was certainly intriguing, to say the least. She watched as a massive mechanical scythe unfolded in her hands, and the engineer in her practically screamed. She decided to hang back as the other girl engaged more hostiles.
Soon enough, the one who appeared to be the leader came forth. Nice suit, complete with a hat and cane. Rapture pulled out her Smart Pistol Mk6 and creeped up behind him. "Don't move." She hissed, pressing the barrel to the man's head.
"There's always a second." He muttered, raising the cane off of the ground slightly. A cap on the bottom flipped aside and she dove away just as some form of explosive projectile came out of the cane gun. She avoided the worst of it, but a shard of concrete embedded itself in a gap between armour plates and caused her to hiss with pain.
Her new opponent looked no worse for wear, though, dusting the suit off after standing. The small girl in red aimed the scythe at him, cocking back a bolt on the shaft.
Is everything a gun here? Rapture thought, looking on as she, too, stood. The criminal backed up, aiming the cane at the other girl. "Well, little red, it's been fun. But isn't it past your bedtime? I'll let you sleep." He said before firing and turning to run. The one clad in red wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and so she took a direct hit. Rapture sprinted over, instantly concerned. "Can you hear me?" She asked before the dust settled and the other girl was left relatively unscathed. Rapture breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm fine. What about you?" The other asked, leaving Rapture to wince with pain as she felt the pain again.
"I'll live. We need to catch that guy." Rapture looked to the rooftops, where the criminal was currently attempting escape.
"But how? We can't get up there fast enough." The red-clad female asked.
"I can. Find another way up, I'll delay him until then." Rapture took a few steps back to get a good run up to the adjacent building.
"How are you-" The other girl stopped talking when Rapture activated her stims, utilising her Pilot training and parkour prowess to ascend the building quickly. The red-clad scythe-wielder was in awe at the sheer speed and height Rapture could reach in such a short time. Then again, her own Semblance was faster.
"Stop or I'll blow you to kingdom come!" Rapture called when she reached the top, a few metres behind him.
The cane-toting criminal sighed. "You just don't quit, do you?" He said, twirling the cane. The low rumble of a jet engine could be heard in the distance.
"Get on your knees, hands behind your head. I'm taking you in." She ordered, pulling out her R-201 rife and pointing it at him.
"You're police? Wow, my informants neglected to mention that." The man turned.
"Military. Do as I say or I'll put a bullet in your head before you can come out with a witty retort." Rapture was both lying and being truthful. She wasn't affiliated with any military on Remnant, but the Militia counted.
"Sorry, but I don't take orders from the army." He raised the cane to her, but before he could fire another gunshot rang out. This time, it was the recently-nicknamed Little Red using the recoil of her scythe-rifle to propel herself onto the roof.
"Brilliant. They're both here. Two birds with one stone." The man said before a VTOL aircraft rose from beneath the edge of the roof and the roar of its engines caused the younger girl's hair to whip backward, as well as her cape. The man embarked before pulling out a red crystal. "End of the line, rats!" He said in a loud and threatening tone before tossing it. It began to glow as soon as it made contact with the roof, a sign which Rapture knew instinctively. "It's gonna blow!" She called, pushing the red girl back. As she raised her arms, the crystal about to detonate, another woman dropped in front of her and raised a riding crop. The crystal blew up moments later, Rapture reflexively turning her head away and squeezing her eyes shut in preparation for the end.
When she realised that she was still alive, Rapture slowly opened her eyes to be met with the sight of a shimmering purple symbol hanging in the air, a few inches in front of the riding crop. As intrigued as she was, Rapture didn't have the chance to further study it as the blonde woman dispelled it. She took initiative and ran to the other edge of the roof, where she had pushed the scythe-toting girl to protect her. "Are you hurt?" Rapture questioned.
"I'm fine. What's your name?" The red-clad combatant questioned out of the blue. Rapture wasn't expecting it, and so nearly gave her true name. She just managed to catch herself before she spoke.
"Rapture. Well, it's not my real name, but it's what others call me." She responded, resisting the urge to remove her helmet.
"Well, Rapture, I'm Ruby. Can we be friends? You're really cool!" She offered her hand for a shake, which Rapture did. Her grip was a little tighter than a normal human's, owing that to the exoskeleton that Pilots used to enhance their strength. When their hands parted, Rapture turned back to the VTOL ship with rifle in hand. "Cover your ears." She said shortly before unleashing burst of fire at the cockpit glass. Upon seeing that her ballistic assault did little more than leave marks, she lowered the rifle and sighed. "Bulletproof."
The new arrival began an assault, to which both Rapture and Ruby began firing at the ship. After a pilot switch on the part of the criminals, a clearly female combatant began a counterattack. The three women's assault didn't let up, however, and after a blast of concrete shard from the older woman the craft turned tail and left. Said older woman then turned to Ruby and Rapture, clearly displeased.
After Ruby practically begged for an autograph, the two younger girls found themselves in a holding cell in the local police station. They had confiscated Rapture's rifle until she was released, but the Smart Pistol and data knife went unnoticed. She was now sitting two feet from Ruby on a cold bench, awaiting questioning. During that time, Rapture decided to make conversation. "So... how did you find yourself fighting criminals with a mechanical scythe which also happens to be a rifle?"
"They tried to mug me while robbing a Dust shop. What about you?" Ruby was happy to answer.
"Three of them tried to mug me in an alley not too far from there. Then, you kicked that guy out the window and, well, you know the rest. Why do you even have that thing anyway?"
"That's my baby, Crescent Rose! I'm going to go to Beacon as soon as I'm old enough, which shouldn't be too long. I'm training at Signal, to become a Huntress."
"Huh. I'm going there too. Hopefully I'll see you there when you're old enough." Rapture didn't notice the trickle of blood dripping from her arm to the bench, where a shard of concrete pierced her suit and skin during the fight.
"Yeah, in about- you're bleeding!" Ruby was instantly concerned for her new friend.
"It's nothing. I've been through worse." She covered the wound, preventing the blood from dripping.
After a few minutes, Ruby and Rapture were escorted to the interrogation room. They stopped at a medical room halfway so a doctor could extract the shard in Rapture's arm, disinfect and dress the wound. When they finally entered the interrogation room, the blonde-haired woman from the rooftop was wearing a stern expression, sitting across from the two younger girls. As soon as the door shut, she gestured to two seats in front of her. "Sit. We have a lot to discuss."
They did so, and as soon as they did, she began reprimanding them. "Do you have any idea how many people could have been seriously hurt, Miss Rose? That weapon of yours is not only dangerous to your opponents, it's dangerous to you too. Imagine the consequences if one of those men didn't have Aura. And you." She turned to Rapture, who sat up straight. "Yes, ma'am?" She addressed her formally.
"You could very well have killed those three men tonight." She said.
"So I didn't." Rapture responded. She purposefully didn't use her full strength.
"Even if you didn't, your victims sustained severe injuries. They'll be in the hospital for weeks, if not months. Granted, they'll be in prison after being convicted for armed robbery for much longer, but that's beside the point."
"I recognise that those thugs have been severely injured. However, I would like to point out that they had intent to kill me."
"How do you know that?" Their 'interrogator' questioned.
"Because one of them had a loaded gun against my head, and the other two aimed for my head when they fired after I neutralized the first."
"I suppose, but that in no way excuses-"
"Glynda, please." The voice of Ozpin rang out through the room. The man himself came into view, holding a plate of cookies along with a coffee mug emblazoned with the crest of Vale. "Rapture has had much experience with this kind of thing. Likely more than you have, I daresay."
"What does experience have to do with this? This Rapture character was arrested with identification from an organization nobody has ever seen or heard of, coupled with the fact that their armour and weapon are advanced beyond anything even Atlas has produced! I'd say we have plenty reason to suspect here."
"Glynda, you have trusted my judgement for years now. My judgement is that Rapture is trustworthy." He set the plate of cookies down on the table before looking closely at Ruby. Something had caught his eye. "You... have silver eyes." He looked at the masked face of Rapture, slowly piecing something together in his head. "A rare trait nowadays. Rapture, you are free to leave. I trust you'll be coming to the Academy tomorrow?"
"Indeed." Rapture stood, pushing her chair in after stepping aside.
"Your rifle is in Confiscated Goods, first right after leaving here." Glynda stated. Rapture nodded in acknowledgement. "I assume I'll see you tomorrow?" The young Pilot asked, receiving a nod in return.
She then exited the room, picking up her rifle on the way. The fresh-faced recruit manning the Confiscated Goods area complimented her on her choice of gun, saying that it had a smooth magazine release and good calibre. She thanked him, promising to talk more if ever she ended up there again.
Rapture then exited the police station, sighing heavily. It was stifling in there, but cool outside. Her wound stung a little, but she had experienced much greater pain. It didn't bother her. She was actually excited to go to Beacon, to meet new warriors and to give this new life of hers some meaning.
Well, this chapter came rather quick, but in my defence I had A LOT of free time. Plus I actually like writing this for you peoples. Hopefully you don't find my writing too mediocre, and I guess I'll see you all in the next chapter!