Warning this chapter contains MAJOR spoilers for season 2 episodes; 21-23 (arrow)
Chapter 2: Under the shadow of the master:
It had been almost a month now, a month without friends or family, save for Oliver, felicity, and so on. Over the past month she had been vigorously training and researching, trying to find a new fuel source to replace the dust she once had on her. Unfortunately, what hadn't been lost in the event that brought her here, she had quickly expended, realising far too late that it was a limited resource where she currently was.
Ruby stared blankly at the ceiling, digging up the mental notes she had taken over the previous weeks of staying in starling. Her bonds with the secret crime fighting group had only improved as she had learned more about them, meeting their family's among other things, They had also gotten to know her better as well, as she had explained how she got here, and why she was doing what she was. After some clever button pressing and vigorous amounts of puppy-eyes, Ruby had managed to convince Oliver to let her fight with him on the streets, taking down murderers drug-lords and so on.
She however did need Oliver's approval before he would let her see how bad the streets of starling had actually gotten recently.
Before she could prepare herself for the day, a quick knock sounded on the hotel door. "It's felicity, can I come in?" Felicity asked, "Sure" Ruby quickly responded, bouncing up on her bed, her legs crossed.
"Hey Ruby, I was just wondering," Felicity started as she sat down on the edge of Ruby's bed, tablet in hand; "You told us about your past and your world, even your family, but you sort of glossed over what a semblance is, Mind explaining?" She politely asked, "Oops, hehe, I knew I forgot something. *Ahem* A Semblance is a special ability unique to every person in our world, it is fuelled by our aura, So The Grimm don't have a semblance, It is also means that we only have a limited use depending on how strong our auras are, at least until we recharge that is. Yang for example has an extremely strong aura, powerful enough that she can completely absorb almost any direct hit, redirecting the energy usually in the form of punches, There was this really good part in our first year right after the epic food fight, where she literally punched a giant mech so hard it shattered." Ruby confidently explained, "So in short Yang's Semblance is kinetic energy absorption and redirection?" Felicity asked, "mm-hmm" Ruby replied, nodding.
"What's your semblance?" Felicity asked. Ruby blushed, but quickly held out her hand, Felicity looked at it confused, unfortunately for her, every human has to blink once in a while, and as she did so, she quickly felt a tug at her back, she looked behind her, only to find nothing, but as she turned back towards Ruby, She quickly noted the Bra in Ruby's hands, It was her Bra, and it was covered in rose petals. She quickly blushed, a colour that would have matched Ruby's cloak, had it still been in existence, before she covered her breasts awkwardly, although her normal clothes were still on. "H-how did you do that?" Felicity shakily asked. "My semblance is speed, it manifests in every part of my body down to every atom of my body, so I can manipulate my body in as many positions as I please in a fraction of a second, I just have to watch out for atmospheric friction." Ruby once again explained.
"Wouldn't that make you age faster? If it's on an atomic level I mean." Felicity asked, still putting her Bra back on. "On the contrary, as you near the speed of light time begins to slow, relatively of course, so I actually age about 3% slower than the average human." Ruby stated proudly, "You are telling my that you can run around the earth's circumference, in less than five seconds?" Felicity asked doubt beginning to spread across her face.
"No no, of course not, I would, 1: burn up I due to atmospheric friction, 2: achieve escape velocity and fly into space reaching mars in just under eight hours, if I aimed correctly but that's besides the point. And, 3: I would drop dead from energy exertion within about a second, I can only run about 6000 Km's before I run out of aura, 7000 or more and I die. If you are wondering about the numbers it is because my brain is constantly working at the speed of my semblance, which is also coincidentally why I need to keep up a fresh diet of mainly sugar, milk, and some other basic proteins, most efficient way is just cookies and the occasional glass of milk." Ruby explained, as she started to ramble.
"Prove it, the speed I mean." Felicity blankly stated, "What can I get from only a certain place?" Ruby quickly asked. "Get me a Starbucks coffee, and treat yourself to some cake," Felicity explained, giving her some money.
Before Felicity could blink, she saw some rose petals briefly appear only to fade, as ruby handed her a cup of streaming coffee along with some change, holding a small, half-eaten cake in the other hand. "Alright, you win, I don't want the long explanation, it would confuse even me anyway." Felicity mused. "Thanks for the coffee though." She finished.
Later: Super-Secret-Crime-Fighting-Underground-Anti-Villain-Lair: (As Ruby had dubbed it.)
"So are you ready to prove that you are worthy to fight crime and take down criminals of all shapes and sizes?" Oliver asked, an amused smile on his face. "Hand to hand first, then we'll move on to weapons," He explained, "Ok" Ruby happily replied, a smile also present on her face.
As Ruby and Oliver prepared their stances Ruby flinched for a moment, before asking; "Can I use my semblance, or do you want a fair fight?" Felicity quickly interrupted before Oliver could approve; "I think that the fair fight would be the better option." "Ok," Ruby happily beamed. If I can't help people on remnant by being a huntress, I might as well help people here instead, only one thing in my way…
Ruby was quickly circling Oliver, waiting for him to make the first move. Unfortunately, Oliver had opted for the exact same strategy. Probably thinks I will attack first due to my personality, unfortunately for ruby, as Oliver had predicted; her personality got the best of her, and she quickly dashed forward, bringing her fist forward.
Oliver quickly dodged, lashing out a strike of his own. Ruby quickly ducked, having anticipated the move as soon as he had started it. As she landed in a crouch, she swiped her left leg forward intending to trip her opponent.
"Ugh what happened," Oliver asked picking himself off of the ground, bow in hand. "You did say I should go all out in out next fight," Ruby replied.
"Huh, I guess that's one mistake I won't be making again," He said, groaning as he slowly rose from the floor. "Did we do weapons, cause I really don't remember everything. Also, I look ridiculous with this icepack strapped to me head don't I?"
"Yes, and tehe yes," Ruby responded, "Well, how'd I do?" "I really do need some backup on the streets, and since Roy is still in training, I think you would do nicely. Something big is coming, and when it does, it won't be pretty." Oliver quickly walked to the desk, before sitting on his chair, spinning it around to look at Ruby. "First though, you will need an alias, and a uniform."
"Well, since my sweetheart, is already called Crescent Rose, I think it would be fitting if my alias would be Wilting Rose." Ruby responded
Hmm that could work, although won't it be suspicious if your last name is the same as your alias?" Oliver inquired.
"Relax, it'll be fine, no-one suspects a sixteen year old, to wield a massive 60kilo scythe that shoots custom high explosive bullets at Mach3 powerful enough to take out an entire engine block with a single shot." Ruby explained, "ooh, and speaking of; I am running out of bullets, I only have the clip I came with, which has 12 bullet's left, can I have some plastic explosives, some moulding and forging equipment, and a bunch of those microchips that you put in your explosive arrows, I would also appreciate some oil, and maintenance equipment for Crescent Rose."
Oliver quickly chuckled, before turning to the computer behind him, "I guess it can't be helped, oh well, I am going on a trip to the local hardware store tomorrow anyway, feel free to tag along, we can order the rest of what you need from online shops." He quickly turned back, a small piece of folded paper in his hand, and a smile on his lips, "I had felicity draw up some designs yesterday, based on what your old combat outfit looked like."
Ruby quickly thanked him before turning to the piece of paper she had been given, what she saw was a numerous number of different designs, all of them reminding her of her time at beacon, one even looking similar to the one she wore at signal.
The first design, had a pair of black leather trousers, with red accents going up the sides, ending in an ammo belt, which would rest loosely on her hip, though still clipped to her aforementioned trousers, the top was also black leather, the sleeves extended to her wrists, and there were thin nylon gloves where her hands would rest. The boots were sturdy combat boots, extending from her heels to the middle of her calves, a zip going up either side, clearly designed for both comfort and protection. Most importantly however was the red hood and cloak that adorned the figure on the paper.
Seeing as none of the other designs even came close to looking this badass, or had her cloak and hood, she simply chose the first one.
"The first one looks nice, I have some minor issues with it, but it's nothing that can't be fixed within a few minutes." Ruby stated, pointing at the first design.
"Very well, please make the preferred changes, and I will have felicity make it for you." Oliver said, pulling out a pencil, handing it to Ruby.
Ruby had almost instantly sketched up the design using her semblance, to draw the designs as fast as possible. "Here," She stated handing Oliver the note, "I want to hand sew the cloak myself, From scratch, please order about six hundred kilometres of reinforced red nylon thread, Don't worry about completion time, if I use my semblance, I can sew twice that within a week."
After about 3 days, the outfit was finished, Ruby having incessantly both sewed her cloak (which faintly adorned her family's symbol across the back), and annoyed felicity until she allowed ruby to finish the outfit herself; adding small crosses where the cloak would pin onto the jacket, and adding her family emblem to her belt, She had later shown the group that she had received a tattoo of the same symbol on her shoulder blade, saying it was a worldwide tradition to have ones family crest marked somewhere on their body.
The tattoo was a dark crimson, lightening slightly at the tips of the flames.
In that time she had also finished her first batch of bullets, the second batch currently waiting to be assembled.
The bullets were made with a timer set to 0.0025 seconds after the tip was impacted, the core of the bullet was C4, and the rest was aura infused hardened steel, she didn't bother tempering it as 1; it would take to long, and 2; it would be best to send the hardest possible material through the target, to hell with it splintering if it was already inside the target. Finally the bullet's had a custom made full-copper jacked, the shells, bore an ANFO charge large enough to send a person flying 20 metres, in the air (if they were Ruby).
"We have a hit, on the snowball assassin." Felicity quickly stated, everyone at the table quickly gathered around, and saw the so-called 'snowball assassin' leaning into position, his sniper raised.
"Well ruby, are you ready for your fist mission on the streets of starling, try not to kill anybody." Oliver stated, earing a fierce glance from Ruby, "I have never killed anybody, and until I have to, I never will, though Cinder Fall is one person who truly des deserve to die."
"Why do you feel that?" Diggle asked, "She killed my mother, my farther, twelve close friends, sent two of my friends into a torture induced coma, incinerated an entire village with a population of 785, and took me away from my family." Ruby snapped back, anger in here eyes.
She quickly calmed and walked over to the latest rendition of her combat uniform, slipping it on as she spoke, "She just brings up some bad memories."
Snow quickly lowered his sniper rifle, in anticipation of his next target, unawares of the camera that was currently pointed directly at him.
As his target cam into view, he tightened his finger, only to release the tension building in his itchy trigger finger when he saw a single red rose petal float down in front of his scope, covering it. Snow quickly looked up from his scope, seeing nothing. Deciding that it would be best to recheck his surroundings he quickly saw a red cloak flowing in the wind behind him, a hood covering the offending figure.
The cloak, he noted, had an intricate design of a burning rose, it was faint, but it was definitely there, he quickly dropped his rifle, pulling out his favourite pistol; a SIG Sauer P226, it was silenced of course, as he was an assassin.
He quickly aimed at the figure, "Get out of here" he spat. The figure stayed in place as if he wasn't even there, "fine then, DIE" he yelled, before unloading three shots directly at the figure, only they never impacted, as the figure simply emanated petals, and moved instantly to the left a few metres. He quickly took aim and shot again, only for the same thing to happen again.
He holstered the pistol, and took aim with his sniper, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU, NO HUMAN CAN DODGE BULLETS LIKE THAT," He was scared and visibly stirred, sweat dripping from the parts of his face that weren't covered, "I am what your would call The Reaper." The voice was distorted, venomous, and though decidedly being feminine did not however lessen the overall shit scaring potential of the figure. " And this;" The figure reached behind it's back pulling out a small metal box, unfurling it into a massive 2.4 metre long scythe. "Is my Crescent Rose." It said spinning it with ease.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU," The assassin had long since lost his shit, and quickly took aim with the sniper, shooting a round, only for it to be sliced in two by the massive scythe. "I am the Wilting Rose, and I am giving you the last choice you will have for a long time. Death or imprisonment?" The assassin quickly pushed backwards as far as he could, before pushing up against the ledge that his sniper had originally rested on. "P-Please don't k-kill me," He whimpered, his body and mind a total snivelling mess, this only worsened as the figure pointed its scythe towards his neck, "I-I-IMPRISONMENT."
"A shocking interview was leaked by the police today, by possibly one of the most shaken criminals put away by vigilantism to date, Let's have a look." The TV blared quickly switching feeds to the still snivelling snowball assassin.
"What caused toy to literally come crying to the police station begging for arrest, confessing your crimes to the first officer you saw?" The interviewer asked.
"I-It was during a job, I-I'm an assassin you see, I was about to pull a trigger when a saw a rose petal in front of my scope, w-when I looked up there was nothing there, until I turned around, a-and saw it," snow quickly began to sob violently, until the guards came to hold him down.
"Don't worry, no-ones going to hurt you in here, Can you describe the vigilante for me?"
"I-It wore a red cloak with a burning rose design on the back, and it had it's hood up so I-I couldn't see the face, I gave it a large amount of time to leave, but after it didn't I shot at it. I-It instantly dodged the bullets I shot at it. Its voice was disguised, but was definitely female. I-It called it's self The Reaper, and Later said that it's title was The Wilting Rose, I-It had a massive scythe, clearly over 50 kilos, and it spun it with ease, it even cut my sniper bullet cleanly in half. After wards it held the blade to my neck, and gave me a choice." He began sobbing again, still shaken by the previous event.
"A choice?"
"Y-Yes, it said; I am the Wilting Rose, and I am giving you the last choice you will have for a long time. Death or imprisonment?"
"Thank you for your co-operation, MR. Snow,"
The TV quickly switched back to the news reporter, who was also looking visibly shaken, "Well, it seems we have a new vigilante in town, identifying herself as The Wilting Rose, or The Reaper. Remind me not to get o her bad side. That's all for tonight folks, have a good one."
Ruby quickly turned off the TV, smiling at her handiwork, perhaps this world wasn't too far from home after all.
Well that took longer than i expected, however it is up all the same, well school starts today, so i will probably be ignoring homework, and other stuff, and probably write more.
i will try to write new chapters for each story consecutively, but nothing is certain
january 5th 5:04 AM
That's ll folks hope you enjoyed,