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This... was a huge mistake.
Ray, upon boarding and settling – he used this term loosely – inside the giant airship, had almost instantly developed a bitter taste in his mouth.
Every single potential student had already made their way onto his shitlist. He hated them. Not quite with a fiery passion, but if Ray had to measure his level of hatred, he'd say he was pretty damn close to overriding the ship's flight systems and sending them all, including himself, straight to hell.
They were loud, obnoxious and naive. Completely clueless as to what they were signing up for.
It was sad, in a way. These children were all going to be armed with skills, knowledge, and equipment to become ruthless killing machines. Tools for the council to be used like toys. To be sacrificed for the 'greater good'.
They also served their purpose as propaganda too.
Huntsmen and Huntresses were the pinnacle of society, earning more respect and privileges than even veteran soldiers. Hell, the discounts they received alone were more than enough proof of that.
This was just the beginning of their professional lives as pawns protecting a governmental system and its respectful ideals that care so little about them. A system in which you have to serve, otherwise you were 'no better than the Grimm.'
Oh, boo hoo.
Ray sat down in what could have been considered as a quiet corner of the craft – as quiet as you'd expect when surrounded by hormone-fuelled, angsty combat trained teenagers – and pulled his violet beanie out from his inside pocket, sticking it over his head before he retrieved his scroll to kill time.
Using the device, he took the liberty of hacking into and downloading the contents of every other scroll on the ship.
Media, messages, bank account details, all of it.
It wasn't hard, in fact, hacking was just as natural to Ray as breathing. There were a few devices he couldn't hack into straight away, but Ray saw that as a sign of more technologically versed individuals and decided it would be in his best interest not to pry for the sake of safety reasons.
His safety, not theirs.
Regardless, he found nothing that really caught his eye, even the bank accounts were scarce in comparison to what he was used to stealing from. With another burdened sigh, Ray dismissed his scroll and slipped it back inside his jacket before leaning against the backrest and closing his eyes.
He granted himself the opportunity to let down his guard for a few restful moments, once more going over the plan he had set out.
Ly had graciously given him a reasonably accurate location to the missing piece of his father's weapon – assuming this wasn't a ploy to get him to join Beacon.
Unfortunately, it was in the one place he had been trying to avoid his entire life. This meant that despite his animus toward the huntsman lifestyle and the hazards to health that came with it, he would have to play pretend and infiltrate the school to locate the piece.
Once he finds the piece, then come the gruelling task of planning out a way to steal it. Heists were not something that Ray was knowledgeable in.
Hell, the boy could build an Atlesian spider droid from the ground up and simultaneously program it to dance. This would do him no justice here, however.
Pulling up a detailed map of Beacon and its respective grounds wouldn't be too hard, just crack open a server here, download a couple of files there and bingo! Instant access. Therein lies the problem though, it's all well and good knowing the layout of the school, but knowing where the piece is and-
Fuck.
How was he meant to find it if he didn't necessarily know how to look for it? He had no method of scanning the school and even if he did, it could be located in a separate location for all he knew.
Realistically, he was fucked and if he couldn't find the piece by himself, it would require the assistance of others and that required making friends and building trust and-
Ray opened his eyes and let out a groan. Things were not looking good for his situation and quite frankly, he was disgusted by the number of unknowns laid out on the table.
"You planned this, didn't you?" He questioned the open air in front of him, though it was directed at his father.
The boy merely shook his head. "Even in death, you still find ways to keep me on my toes."
Ray then tutted. "And piss me off..."
At some point, Ray heard a feminine voice that radiated authority waffling on about Beacon Academy and his brain reflexively tuned out the noise in response. He wasn't interested, he really wasn't, and the less integrated he was with the school, the better off he would be.
Ray spared a moment to scratch at the base of his skull, hacking into devices had the tendency to irritate his neural lace. He really ought to get that fixed at some point, but it was far too out of his way and he hadn't the time to mess around with it.
Sighing once more, Ray leaned his head against the wall of the ship and pulled his beanie over his eyes as he closed them.
He was not ready for this hellhole.
Lo and behold, he was correct once again, for as the ship came to an ever-so-smooth landing, he was instantly swarmed by the crowd of students and was forced to follow in the same direction to avoid becoming trampled.
When exiting the aircraft, he shook his head in disapproval as many of the students that stood in the courtyard gawked at the size of the academy.
Oh wow! Beacon is big! This is so incredibly interesting!
He continued to express his apathy as he aggressively shoved past many of the students that stood in his way, he wasn't here to marvel at the school, thus had no interest in staring in bewilderment.
Ray chose to follow the flock heading towards the school itself, either they only took mild interest in the school's architecture, or they had somewhere to be.
He was willing to bet on the latter.
The hacker had half a mind to slip in his earphones as he momentarily glanced at his messenger bag. Listening to some music would probably improve his mood, but his better judgement told him it was more ideal to pay attention to his surroundings.
In any case, he continued walking towards the institute, mentally beating himself up over making such a stupid mistake.
Maybe he was in better company with his mother, but the thought of entertaining that idea was killed off just as quickly as it manifested.
'Yeah right, I'd rather spend the rest of my life living in Solitas naked than see her face again,' he concluded. The more he set his mind to reclaiming what was rightfully his and rebuilding his old man's fabled weapon, the more he consolidated his decision to stay well away from his mother and her tyrannical behaviour.
The boy could only pity his younger half-siblings at this point.
'Pity', an interesting word, not something Ray would use lightly. Given the circumstances, however, Ray honestly cared more for the dirt beneath his shoes than he did for those little abominations. Of course his mother had to sleep with a Faunus man, of course she did.
Make no mistake, Ray bore no ill-will towards the Faunus. In fact, he'd done more for them in the past month than the White Fang has done in 5 years, but when the woman that gave birth to him sleeps with one behind his father's back and bears children from the endeavour, that he has a problem with.
They were the by-product of a terrible act of adultery and Ray saw them as nothing more.
It didn't matter if they were his twin little sisters, they weren't enough for him to reunite with his gene donor.
No, fuck her and her new perfect little family. Ray already had enough on his plate.
He entered what was easily identified as an amphitheatre and Ray was slightly impressed by the detail that went into the construction of the building. Though his musing was cut off short by the stampede of students Ray had to duck out of the way to avoid.
"Gods, do these idiots have no spacial awareness?" The hacker murmured as he brushed himself off. "They're like fucking animals..."
Ray shook his head in reproach as he found a nearby wall to lean up against. It wasn't exactly concealed, but it helped to eliminate any undesirable attention being drawn to him, which was kind of the idea he had set out.
He wasn't in the mood for conversing with anyone, nor did he want to make friends, he just wanted that part so he could leave.
Ray gripped his right forearm, adjusting the gauntlet hidden beneath his jacket sleeve, his skin itched underneath the aluminium casing – another thing he needed to make modifications to. He would have taken the gauntlet off there and then, but the risk of it being seen was greater than the reward of scratching his arm.
As Ray stayed there up against the back wall, he watched as the rest of the first-years filed in, that, and he also hacked and gained access to all of their scrolls too. It was instinct, to hack others' devices – something his father had taught him to do when the man installed those damn cybernetics in his head in the first place – not to mention the potential insurance gains should he find himself under fire and in need of a deterrent.
Once again, he didn't even try to access the scrolls with a higher security encryption. From the initial scan of the devices, he could only gain a glimpse of some of the specifications, he was impressed, all of it custom hardware, some of it he recognised, most of it he didn't.
However, he left it at that and decided that playing a game on his scroll would be far more entertaining. Turning the volume down to avoid looks from the various students in his immediate vicinity, he loaded the game up on his scroll and linked it to the implants in his head, allowing the game to make use of his brain's superior processing power to provide himself with nicer graphics and a faster frame rate.
Hey, if it's there, you might as well use it, right?
Not to mention it wasn't a game designed for scroll use anyway, the fastest model scroll on the market couldn't hold a candle to the speed at which Ray's scroll could run at whilst using its symbiotic link to the boy.
Suddenly, Ray was jerked out of the undivided attention given to his racing game by someone nudging his right shoulder with their elbow. Instinctively, he flinched and sharply turned his head to the offending individual.
"What?" He snapped, glaring at the girl in question.
The girl shrunk under his intense gaze, her shoulders curling inwards and her arms raised in a defensive pose, despite Ray having no intention of hitting the frail creature.
He frowned when he looked at her scarlet eyes – pools of immense passion and love – and took note of how they avoided his; a sign of intimidation. Her hair matched the colour of her eyes as it's crimson locks covered the left side of her head and flowed down to just below her shoulders, partially concealing her somewhat frightened expression.
Isn't this girl supposed to be a huntress in training? Why the hell was she displaying signs of fear?
Sighing, his frown disappeared but his eyebrows remained furrowed as guilt tugged at his conscience like a small child.
"Uh sorry, I didn't mean to… snap," He hesitantly attempted to reconcile with the girl, despite not knowing her.
He wasn't the greatest at making conversation with strangers. To be quite honest, he wasn't good at making conversation in general.
"Can I... y'know... help you?" He asked, his eyes trained on hers in a neutral expression. Much to his dismay – and annoyance – she non-verbally gave him his answer by pointing toward the stage at the front of the amphitheatre.
"Right, okay..."
Ray stood there awkwardly before taking a few evasive steps to the left away from the girl, before fixing his eyes on the two individuals standing by the microphone.
Ray studied them thoroughly.
The male, a man whose age was unknown to Ray, had tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. Sharp facial features were apparent and he possessed a light complexion, almost looking as if he hadn't seen the sun in months.
He wore a black suit paired with a forest green cowl, dark green pants and in his hands rested a cane, perfectly perpendicular to the floor. The man gazed out into the crowd of students neutrally through small circular glasses.
Ray felt that he knew the man, outside of the usual Beacon propaganda; this was Headmaster Ozpin, you would've had to have been living under a rock to not know that. The familiarity Ray felt went much deeper than that and the boy froze when he thought that the man's eyes met with his own for a brief moment.
Ozpin was droning on about something to do with wasted energy and potential. Potential energy? Who knows? Ray wasn't listening, merely observing the man, analysing him. If he had a scroll, Ray's mind didn't detect it. It was either off, elsewhere, or extremely well protected.
Finally losing interest in the Headmaster, he turned his attention to the middle-aged woman next to him as she began issuing out orders – sleeping arrangements, tomorrow's events etc.
All of that garbage went straight through one ear and right out the other.
The woman in question had very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her eyes - hidden behind a pair of ovular shaped glasses perched on the bridge of her nose - were tinted an emerald green colour and they held that type of no-nonsense approach as she addressed the students. She wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top that had a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that passively flared in pleats at the wrist.
The woman was either completely oblivious to the cleavage she displayed or simply just didn't give a damn.
Her lower body was covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and around her neck hung a black cape with a violet interior – something Ray actually liked about the woman's attire. He couldn't see the back of the cape entirely, but if Ray had to guess, there would most likely be a symbol of some kind.
A special trinket all Huntsmen wore to differentiate themselves from the others.
Ray's father owned one, one forgotten to the boy and time itself.
And, since Ray never intended on attending this godforsaken hellhole in the first place, he never truly designed one for himself either.
He hummed to himself as he mulled over that thought. In order to better blend in, he may have to design something to symbolise himself.
He dismissed that train of thought as it arrived and departed. Turning his attention back to the stage.
Ray noticed something; the blonde woman was the same one the hacker had tuned out as he sat inside the airship, the one that practically emitted authority like radiation. Her name was Glynda Goodwitch if his memory served him correctly and Ray knew from the get-go that he would not see eye-to-eye with her.
After the student body was dismissed, Ray found himself lost in terms of what he should do or where he should go. Curfew was at 9, and the clock on his scroll informed him that it was only 2.
This begged the question; how was he meant to occupy himself for 7 hours?
Ray sighed for what was possibly the twentieth time in the span of an hour and decided that maybe some wandering around the grounds would keep his short attention span occupied long enough to prevent boredom from settling in and driving him crazy.
"I hate you so much, Lylac." He grumbled as he aimlessly walked along a cobblestone path flanked by a wide variety of fauna.
He mindlessly kept walking whilst fiddling with his scroll, subconsciously however, he felt like he was being watched.
At first, he ignored it, but the sensation only grew more niggling over time. Eventually, as Ray found himself more and more distanced from the vast majority of the students, he began to hear a pair of footsteps ever-so-slightly out of sync with his, directly behind him.
A smirk crossed his face as he knew what he was going to do, his feet hit the floor following the regular pattern of left, right, left, right.
Then he suddenly stopped, his left foot hovering just above the ground and as luck would have it, whoever was masking the sound of their footsteps beneath his own did not expect him to stop so abruptly and the sound of scuffling could be heard as whomever was tailing him was confused.
Not to mention very bad at trying to stay inconspicuous.
"You're good," Ray complimented them, his eyes still fixated on his scroll and his back still facing the stalker. "But in order to tail someone as close as you have been for the past five minutes and forty-two seconds, you'll have to get better."
Subtly, he scanned the individual's scroll using his own and got an identity almost immediately. The boy hummed in curiosity before spinning on his heel and facing the one who followed him.
"So, Scarlet Rubine," He stated bemusedly as his eyebrow raised. When he met the crimson eyes of the same girl from the amphitheatre, his lips curled up into a smirk.
"Care to tell me what you want?"
Author's note:
Surprise! I actually uploaded this week!
Anyway, seems Ray has a stalker, huh? I wonder what this Scarlet wants from Ray?
You can find out next week though. Possibly the weekend.
Nevertheless, Follow, Favourite and Review. It helps me sleep at night, honestly.
Have a good one!
-Hydra