I honestly have nothing to say.

Dante POV

I shook my head vigorously, trying to clear the cobwebs encroaching on my brain and focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Ugh. What happened to me? I winced and growled angrily as my knee collided hard with the metal shaft of a streetlight. Pain lanced up my leg and my vision sharpened a bit. A light bulb went off in my head and I grinned. Bingo. I drew back my fist and proceeded to punch the pole until I could think clearly again.

"Geez." I sighed, shaking the pain out of my hand. My hand. . .I looked down at my palm, expecting to see an inky black smudge, and found nothing but skin. I sighed in relief, feeling as if a huge weight had lifted from my mind. I smiled wide and continued my walk down the street, intent on finding 'shit to do'.

I'd taken about four or five steps when I heard an explosion above me. I jumped backward and dropped into a defensive crouch, my eyes scanning the rooftops. On a nearby rooftop, I saw a silhouette holding what looked like a long tube, and another silhouette running towards me.

The end of the 'tube' flashed and I caught a brief glimpse of the man and what he was holding. The tube just so happened to be a rocket launcher (as you probably guessed by now) and the man holding it was a tall, broad guy sporting a trim beard and a crew cut and wearing a disheveled vest with a ripped white shirt, slacks, and a red tie.

The missiles arced from the muzzle of the launcher and streaked toward the fleeing figure with a chorus of angry whistles. The running guy half-turned to track the progress of the missiles, then poured on more speed, racing toward the lip of the roof, the tails of his coat flapping behind him.

When he was close to the edge, he whipped around and crouched, his momentum causing him to slide backwards. The missiles screamed closer and closer, until he flipped backwards off of the building, his fingers catching the lip of the roof as the missiles whistled past.

"Ha!" He yelled exuberantly as he got his feet between himself and the bricks of the wall. "You missed, fucker! And by the way, your club sucks!" Then he glanced over his shoulder and saw the missiles arcing back towards him. "Oh, well that's just great." He muttered. Then he waited for the missiles to near again before he let go and slid a ways down the wall and kicked off, aiming for the shaft of a light pole.

He yelled something unintelligible as the explosion resulting from the impact of the missiles against the building sent him tumbling off course and toward me. I watched him careening toward me dumbly for a moment, then I sidestepped and watched as he slammed into the ground where I had just been.

". . ." I stared at him for a moment, then nudged him with my toe. "You okay?" He groaned and rolled over onto his back, purple eyes glaring up at me angrily.

"Oh, I'm just dandy, I only fell off a freaking building and landed on my face!" I smirked.

"Good to hear." I held out my hand to help him up, but when he went to take it, he winced and I saw that his arm was bent at an unnatural angle. "Geez, are you okay?" He nodded, air hissing out through clenched teeth.

"Give it a second." I watched, slack jawed as his arm began to straighten slowly. When it had returned to normal, he grabbed my hand and I pulled him up. We stood for a moment, looking at each other and he said, "Hi." I raised my eyebrows and lifted his recently injured arm.

"Hi. Should I ask?" He shook his head.

"Probably not." I nodded and gestured to the rooftop.

"So who was your friend?" His eyes widened and he pushed me back with one hand, whipping out a blue pistol with the other. Oh, that's nice, I thought idly as I landed flat on my ass. A hunter. He fired a single shot, seconds before the man on the roof did.

Now, I'm not quite sure what the hell happened. But I'm assuming that his shot went into the muzzle of the launcher and hit the missiles before they exited, tearing the rocket launcher apart in the explosion and knocking the man back.

"Dammit, not again!" He cried as he flew backwards out of view. The guy returned his gun to his coat and helped me up.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded, waving off his concern.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine." He hesitated, then he held out his hand.

"I'm Spencer. Spencer Stone." I grinned and shook his hand.

"Well, nice to meet you Spencer, I'm Dante Stryker." His brow furrowed.

"Isn't Dante a guy's na-Aaaah! Sorry! Sorry!" He squealed as I crushed his hand. I sniffed and let go.

"Well yes, traditionally it is, but as far as you're concerned; no, no it's not." He nodded, nursing his hand gingerly.

"Got it. You've got a really strong grip, you know." He commented. I laughed.

"Or maybe you're got really fucking girly hands." He ignored my comment and experimentally clenched and unclenched his hand, which had also miraculously healed. I peered at it, amazed. "But seriously though, I've got to know how you do that." He shook his head, stuffing his hand into his trench coat's pocket.

"Sorry, no." I sighed and stepped around him.

"Oh, all right. I suppose there's no real reason for you to tell me." Halfway down the street, I realized he was walking next to me. I turned raised an eyebrow, he blinked.

"Oh! Uh, I'm new here, I don't know where I'm going." I laughed.

"Then follow me, kid, I know every part of this town, including the so-called 'seedy underbelly'." His brow furrowed and I laughed. "Strange saying, I know, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. He might've been about to reply, but I wasn't listening, I'd heard a very disconcerting pair of sounds. A pair of sounds that I hated to hear together, under any circumstances.

Pleading and laughter.

It was coming from a nearby alley. I flattened myself against the wall near the entrance and peered in. What I saw made scalding fury wash over the entirety of my being. There were four men, each wearing ski masks and hoodies, and one woman, her clothes ripped and eye swollen shut.

Spencer touched my arm.

"Wait-" I swatted his hand off me and darted into the alley.

I sprinted straight down the alley, my footsteps light and soundless, and leapt high into the air, reaching about ten feet. I flipped forward and came back down, delivering a bone crushing axe kick to the back of one of their necks.

The man dropped like a sack of bricks and his partners all stared at me dumbly. My foot shot out before any of them could react, connecting solidly with another man's crotch and causing him to scream like a soprano opera singer. His feet left the ground and I planted a right hook on his jaw, sending him cartwheeling away like a rag doll. I glanced at the woman.

"What did they take?" She trembled violently and struggled to speak.

"Th-they t-t-took my p-p-pocketbook, a-and my j-jewlery." Her voice shook and tears poured down her face. "Th-they said they'd. . ." She didn't need to finish, I swiveled back toward the remaining thugs and they flinched.

They finally came to their senses and pulled out guns. The woman whimpered behind me and I heard Spencer say something, but I was refusing to regard any information besides information that would win me this fight.

Thug 1 is leaning a bit, favoring his right leg. Old injury? Thug 2 is sweating like crazy, and his hands are shaking like there's an earthquake going on. Faking? Or is it his first job?

I had a plan of action, but I needed a bit of a distraction. The sobbing woman behind me provided just that.

"Get outta here!" I yelled over my shoulder. "Wait on the next street, and you'll get your stuff back." She smiled gratefully and scrambled away.

"Th-thank you!" Thug 2's eyes shifted to follow her, and I struck. I dashed low, covering the distance in 3 seconds and knocking his gun skyward with my forearm before slamming my elbow viciously into his sternum.

"Think rape is funny, asshole?" I snarled, grabbing his arm and spinning around him, flipping him onto the ground. I leaned back and dodged a shot from Thug 1, then stomped on Thug 2's wrist, making him scream and release the gun.

I quickly kicked it, but not before Thug 1 shot again, grazing my left arm. I cried out and dove, just as the gun I'd kicked smashed into Thug 1's left knee, bending it backwards with a sickening pop. I rolled and came up on my feet, snatching both guns out of the air and aiming them at the downed thugs. My fingers tightened on the triggers, ready to spray the brains of these fuckers across the ground.

"Dante! Look out!" Spencer's voice broke through my bloodlust and I started to turn, but was stopped by cold steel on the back of my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Spencer fumbling to get his gun out of his coat, but I knew that I'd be long gone by then.

"Drop 'em." A high pitched, nasally voice commanded, which would have been funny if not for the gun pressed to my skull. "And no funny business." I struggled to keep my cool, cursing myself for having underestimated them.

"Alright, alright, whatever you say." I twirled the guns like a gunslinger, then let them drop onto the ground. "Say, aren't you the one I emasculated?" The gun pressed harder against my skull and the laugh died in my throat.

"Tell your boyfriend that if he moves, you're dead." I snorted, but called out anyway.

"You probably shouldn't move, Spence, unless of course you'd like to be stuck without a tour guide." The man grunted.

"Now turn around, I wanna see your face when I kill you." I turned, slowly at first, then faster, sweeping out my hand to disarm him. . .but I missed. My hand swept inches above the gun and he jerked it downward so I couldn't get it.

The gun bucked in his hand, but the gunshot sounded muffled and far away. The air seemed to grow colder, the alleyway seemed to grow darker, and I felt something warm and wet spreading on my shirt. Damn you, I thought, maybe even said out loud, This was my favorite shirt. Before my eyes closed, I heard a semi-familiar voice, twisted by rage.

"DIE YOU FILTHY PIG."

Ruby POV

Yang turned around and stared down the street.

"Did you hear that?" I shrugged.

"No. Hear what?" She frowned, looking at me.

"Sounded like a. . .a gunshot." I shook my head.

"Really? I didn't hear anything like that."

"It was a gunshot." Said a voice beside me. I jumped and looked up, way up. A tall guy stood beside me, looking the same way we were. With a start, I realized that his eyes were different colors. He fixed his blue and green eyes on me. "Someone's been shot."

Yes, I know, I'm an asshole, but everything has its purpose. So, yay! I introduced Spencer! And sort of introduced another, who shall not be named yet. ;D I won't be updating until next week, guys. So now you have something to look forward to! Ja ne. ;3