As soon as I enter my car, I feel my semblance once again "vibrate", as if giving me a signal. It's the only way it gives me notifications, and I will admit, it did annoy me at first.
When I activate my semblance, a blue triangle appears on my inner map, and a well-known picture follows it.
'Remote Profiling Triggered - Crime Detected: Roman Torchwick.'
My eyes widen and I immediately pull away from the curve, speeding down the road.
Even without the name accompanying it, I would've recognized that face and orange hair immediately.
'Roman fucking Torchwick... I've been after that guy for some time now. A notorious criminal who I've connected to several robberies of Dust shops around Vale. He's a slippery bastard, that one, but eventually, the CCT will find you.'
I pull up across from the possible crime location, a Dust shop called From Dust Till Dawn. I turn off the engine of the car just as Roman swaggers down an alley, stops for a moment to take a drag of his cigar, then keeps walking. I narrow my eyes as I notice six thugs just behind him. Interestingly, they were dressed just like the one guy that Neo had taken out back at the stadium. I focus of one of the guys, and his personal information comes up.
One little titbit catches my attention.
'Member of Junior Xiong's Gang.'
I know the Junior mentioned. He's the owner of the unimaginatively named Junior's Bar. I suspected that he was running a gang with his hired help, but I wasn't able to find any concrete proof, even with the CCT. This guy I profiled must be a newbie.
Regardless, I watch as they enter the shop. When I'm sure they're all inside, I get out of the car and sneak my way to the front of the store, pulling up my face mask. I gather a few odd comments from the scarce amount of people around, but I pay them no mind. They usually change their note when I take down some asshole.
I look through the window and activate my semblance, my eyes glowing green as usual. My view changes to a camera inside the store, hanging just above the register.
As soon as its view comes focuses in my sight, the profiler immediately latches on to Torchwick's face. The audio soon follows.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?"
One of the thugs points a weapon at the old man behind the counter, who raises his hands helplessly.
"Please, just take my lien and leave," he says.
Torchwick shushes him nonchalantly. "Calm down, we're not here for your money." Turning back to the goons, he orders, "Grab the Dust."
'Time for me to intervene.'
I come back to my own body and sneak around to a side door in an alley, opening it without much difficulty. The goons had spread out a little, so I tiptoe in and focus on the closest one, watching him for a moment. When he's turned away and I'm sure that his buddies aren't watching, I rush him and wrap my arm against his neck, pulling hard enough to block his airway regardless of aura. He struggles for a few moments, but eventually stills. I pull him back and throw him outside, then close the door and keep moving.
The store is small, so I don't have many chances of silently taking out opponents. Thus, I wait until a three of them are close together before I rush out and extend my staff, clocking one of them on the side of the head and dropping him quickly. The other two are slow to react, so I take a step forward and spin my weapon around, sweeping his feet then slamming it against his face while he's in midair, knocking him out right there.
The third guy finally draws his gun, but I'm quicker with the draw. With my Focus ability, I pull out my pistol and point it at him, shooting him before he can pull the trigger. The shot hits right on his head, piercing through his weak aura and killing him. I turn to where Torchwick is, knowing I don't have much time left. Surprisingly, the guy's simply standing by the door, still dragging on his cigarette.
"So," he drawls, "you're the infamous Vigilante, huh?"
I glare at him in response, my eyes glowing green as usual as my semblance automatically pinpoints the vulnerabilities in the area around us.
"A man of few words, are you?" Torchwick smirks. "Well, man might be a charitable way of putting it."
Before either he or I can move, however, the sound of a crash draws our attention. By the window is one of Junior's goons, his glasses broken and his eyes screwed shut in pain. The last of the goons looks at Torchwick, who nods in the direction from where the guy had come flying. The goon runs between two shelves, with Torchwick and me keeping quiet out of an unspoken agreement.
"Freeze," the guy yells, and to the surprise of both of us, a grunt that sounds like it belongs to a little girl follows it. The goon flies right out of one of the large windows, a red blur following it. Looking back at Torchwick, I curse when I realize that he had run out of the store.
"Stay here, old man," I order to the owner, who nods quickly.
I run out of the store as well, noticing that Torchwick had stopped in front of the store and, to my bewilderment, is pointing his cane at what had been the red blur, which turns out to actually be a young girl. The profiler focuses on her and immediately brings up her info.
'Ruby Rose, fifteen years old. Currently attending Signal Academy. Has a possible addiction towards weapons.'
To further my surprise, the girl is holding a strange looking scythe that's nearly twice as large as she is, and if I'm not mistaken, has a scope near the middle of the handle.
"... I'm afraid this... is where we part ways." Torchwick's words pull be back to him as a target pops up at the end of his cane.
Before I can move, a glowing sphere shoots out of the end of his cane and at Rose, who twirls her scythe and places it parallel to the ground. A loud gunshot sounds and Rose flies upward, with Torchwick's round exploding against the ground and wrecking it.
Looking back at Torchwick, I once again curse when I realize he once again used that as a distraction, noticing him a few yards away and headed towards a ladder on a building's side. I immediately run after him, reaching the ladder just as he was nearly at the top. I climb up quickly, and just when I reach the top, I hear another loud gunshot, which is followed by the sound of Rose landing right next to me on the rooftop. We glance at each other for only a moment before looking back at Torchwick, who was running to the edge of the building.
"Hey!"
"Stop!"
Surprisingly, he does. I just barely hear him mutter, "Persistent," before something else grabs our attention.
A bullhead suddenly flies up, making all our clothes flap around in its wind. A searchlight focuses right on Rose and I as Torchwick climbs into its open side.
'Where the hell had he even been hiding that?!'
"End of the line, pals!" Torchwick crows, holding up and throwing towards us a red object. When it lands, I realize just what it is.
A Fire Dust crystal.
Looking up, I process the image presented to me: Torchwick pointing his cane at the crystal.
"Shit, look out!" I react immediately, moving in front of Rose, who looks at me in bewilderment but braces herself regardless.
It's too close to use Focus against it, so now all I can do is pump my aura around my body, hoping I can tank the explosion.
When I hear the explosion, however, I'm surprised when I don't feel anything. Turning to look behind me, I realize why.
Someone is standing just in front of us, and in front of her, what looks like a floating circle of runes and lines is acting like a shield. She looks back to make sure we're alright, and in that moment, the profiler acts and my brain I immediately memorizes the information.
'Glynda Goodwitch, teacher at Beacon Academy. Yearly income: $52,465. Secretly into BDSM.'
Interesting as that is, I turn around, ignoring Rose's awed look towards Goodwitch, and focus back on the bullhead. At my side, Goodwitch waves what I assume is a wand, though it looks more like a riding crop, and the purple rune breaks into several purple energy bolts that fly to and strike the bullhead, making it jerk around and Torchwick lose his sense of balance. He runs inside, and in the meantime, Goodwitch casts what I'm assuming is one of her spells, making clouds appear just above the bullhead. When she lowers the crop, a rain of frozen, sharp icicles fly down, striking several places on the bullhead.
Before she can continue, however, another person appears at the bullhead's open door, making both of us focus on her. The person's face is annoyingly hidden by shadow, but the automatic profiler focuses on her anyways.
To my shock, however, the profiler has nothing.
Error. Facial Recognition Failed.
"Impossible," I mutter, just as the woman gestures with her hand at us. A red, glowing circle appears just under us, making both of us jump back to dodge the sudden explosion. My eyes widen at the power behind it. That could've knocked down at least half my aura in one unblocked hit.
Goodwitch gestures with her wand, and the rubble thrown up by the explosion glows as Goodwitch's magic-like semblance pulls it together into a large, makeshift spike. The spike flies at the bullhead, but the woman inside fires several fireballs at it. It breaks apart for a moment, but then pulls together and continues anyways. The bullhead suddenly lurches and tilts towards us, making the spike grind off the top. Goodwitch frowns and gestures again, and the spike splits into three, all of them flying around to strike at different areas. A glow from inside catches my attention, and in a moment, a wave of fire bursts out from the woman, turning the rubble into dust.
I look to the side, locking eyes with Rose. We nod at each other, and I see her scythe close up. She aims the large end at the ship and pulls the trigger, shooting several rounds of what I recognize as .50 calibre sniper rounds, once I use Focus. To both our surprise, the woman holds up her hand and deflects the rounds. She holds up her hand and even from this distance, I can feel a build-up of energy. Thus, with the last of the energy I'd set aside for my Focus, I focus on the bullhead before she can fire, narrow my eyes, and disrupt its internal connections.
A small explosion rips through the bottom of the bullhead, making it jerk wildly and causing the woman to lose her focus. The explosion instead happens just in front of us, but it's still enough to blow us back enough.
When the rubble clears and we look forward, the bullhead is far enough that none of us can reach it, leaving a quickly dissipating smoke trail.
The three of us stand there silently for a moment, then Rose breaks it with a single, "Whoa... You're a huntress?"
When Goodwitch looks at her, I realize that this is my chance to get away.
"Can I have your autograph?!"
Rose's fangirl-sounding question covers my silent jump backwards, just far enough that I can flip backwards and grab onto the side of the ladder I had used earlier to chase Torchwick. I place my feet on the wall to halt my momentum, ignore Goodwitch's exclamation of "Hey!", and drop, using my grip on the ladder to slide down to the ground. I immediately stick close to the edge and turn the corner into an alley, staying in the shadows. Looking up, I notice a camera on the side of a building that overlooks the rooftop we were standing on. I focus on it and its feed enters my mind's eye.
Goodwitch is standing just on the edge, looking around fruitlessly. She makes an odd 'tch' sound and looks back towards Rose, who's just staring at her.
"Who was that?" Rose asks Goodwitch.
"I have an idea," Goodwitch mutters before looking at Rose sternly. "Now, come with me, young lady."
When I see both of them get off the roof, I get out of the alley and follow them to a building nearby, where they enter. I don't see any easy way in, so I look around and find a path up the side of the building next to it. Once I have a good sight of a window on the building, I reach into my jacket and pull out a scope that I rarely used anymore. I usually sneak into any places I needed to go, but before, I used to use a sniper rifle to clear out my opposition before entering any place. When I had to get rid of it, I decided to keep the scope, and it's become quite useful.
I look through it and notice a camera just at the edge of the window. Thankfully, it was still enough for me to watch its feed.
Once the image focuses, I see Goodwitch walking towards a room to the right of the camera, her scroll in her hands. Rose follows behind her, looking like a kicked puppy.
'I hope they're not hard on her. I could see it when we looked at each other; she's a nice girl, just fighting evil because she wants to. She's almost like me, though infinitely more innocent. If they try anything, I'm sure I can distract them enough for her to get off light.'
Realizing they were almost out of my sight, I focus on Goodwitch's scroll and transfer my thoughts to its camera, the feed moving about before focusing on it. The feed stops as Goodwitch opens the door, ushers Rose in, and commands her to sit down. As Goodwitch brings up her scroll, I see Rose sitting at a table, which was just under a light, looking like a stereotypical questioning room.
"I hope you realize how much trouble you're in, young lady," Goodwitch starts to berate her, walking around her with her scroll and riding crop in hand. "You put yourself and others in grave danger."
"They started it, and it wasn't just me!"
"If it were up to me, you'd be sent home with a pat on the back..."
Rose smiles, a smile that quickly becomes a yelp of surprise when Goodwitch suddenly slaps the table near her hand with her riding crop. It seems like she's focusing on Rose and saving the questioning about me for later.
"... And a slap on the wrist! But... There's someone here who wishes to see you."
As Goodwitch moves on, I notice a lone security camera at the corner of my vision. Quickly focusing on it, I transfer to it, getting a better viewpoint of the room and the newcomer.
'Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. Possibly addiction to caffeine.'
'What the-? His first name can't actually be Professor, can it?'
"Ruby Rose," Ozpin says as he enters, bringing with him a plate of cookies that Rose's eyes immediately latch on to. He walks a bit closer to the table and leans over, looking at the girl. "You... have silver eyes."
I noticed Rose deflate a little, and honestly, I was expecting something bigger myself. I note his pause before he said the silver eyes part and store it for later thought.
"So," Ozpin suddenly straightens, nodding towards Goodwitch's scroll, which is playing a recording of Rose dodging Roman's shot and then later firing at the woman on the plane. "Where did you learn to do this?"
"S-Signal Academy..."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons known to man?"
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see."
Ozpin then slides the cookies over to Rose, who looks up momentarily for confirmation but eventually grabs one and eats it... Then another... And several more...
'Damn, this girl loves her cookies.'
"It's just that I've seen one other person wield such a weapon before. A dusty, old crow..."
"Oph, phat'sh my bhuncl!"
Ozpin's eyes narrow momentarily, and Rose hurriedly swallows and wipes her mouth.
"Heh, sorry. That's my uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage until he took me under his wing, and now, I'm all: whoa, whatchaaa, hyaaa!"
I raise an eyebrow at her ninja-like air chopping motions when she exclaims those last words.
'This girl's a total geek...'
"So I've noticed," Ozpin says with a smile, taking a seat. "And what is an adorable young girl doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well... I want to be a huntress."
The conviction in her voice surprises me.
"You want to slay monsters?" Ozpin questions.
"Yeah. I only have two more years at Signal, then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a huntress, and I'm trying to become a huntress because I want to help people! And our parents always taught us to do the right thing, and I thought, well, why not make a career out of it? The police are cool and all, but hunters and huntresses are just so much cooler and awesome and- gyahhh, you know?!"
I stare at Rose, bewildered.
'Geek may have been an understatement...'
Judging by Goodwitch's facial expression, I'm not alone in that thought. Ozpin, however, keeps smiling calmly.
"Do you know who I am?" he asks.
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon," Rose responds without preamble.
Ozpin chuckles under his breath. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you," Rose says with a little bow.
Ozpin now becomes serious, placing his hand on the table. "You want to come to my school?"
"More than anything..."
Once again, the conviction in Rose's voice surprises me a little, but I will admit it's nice to hear.
Ozpin apparently feels the same, for after a sheepish look at Goodwitch, who groans lightly and looks away, he smiles at Rose and says, "Well, okay."
Rose's eyes grow in size, as does her smile, before she jumps up and asks, "Really?!"
"Yes, Miss Rose, but please, do try to contain yourself," Goodwitch admonishes.
Rose immediately sits back down, but the smile can't leave her face.
"I think that will be all for tonight, young lady," Ozpin said, standing up. "I believe you have a sister to share the good news with."
"Yes, sir! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
And without further ado, Rose runs out of the room at a blinding speed, leaving behind a trail of flying rose petals and a door banging against the wall.
"Hey, slow down!" Goodwitch tries to reprimand her, but Rose is long gone.
"Don't worry, she's still just a child. Let her be for now," Ozpin says, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Why didn't you ask her about the Vigilante?" Goodwitch asked him.
"Do you honestly think she knew anything about him?" Ozpin asks.
Goodwitch hesitates, but eventually shakes her head.
"She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, though to her it will likely be the right place and time. The Vigilante, however... I have that covered."
I immediately retract from the camera and to my own body. That can't be good. I need to get away from here.
I exit the building and head down the sidewalk, planning to walk to my car as inconspicuously as possible and get away from here. However, my luck seems to have run out, because I hear a loud voice behind me.
"Hey, you! Freeze!"
I stop, noting that there's no one else around this area.
"Hands where I can see them."
I put my hands up.
"Now turn around. No funny business either."
What kind of line is that?
Regardless, I turn around, face mask still in place. As soon as the police officer looks at my face, he pales, while I scan him.
'Jason Ember, 24. Just recently passed the exam for the Police Force.'
Another newbie, huh? Maybe my luck isn't that far gone.
The young man scrambles to pick up the radio attached to his belt, but as he does, I raise my aura slowly and calmly, connecting to the CCT in the area and planning to use two of my best distractive abilities.
Just as he pulls the radio up to his cheek, I pull both mental "triggers".
Almost immediately, a loud static shoots through the radio, making the young man cry out in pain. As he does, everything goes dark around us as a blackout occurs, hiding me from immediate view.
I quickly run forward before he can recover and aim a punch at his throat, making him choke on his momentarily blocked windpipe. I pull out my staff and twirl it, slamming it on the nape of his neck and knocking him out.
Now left alone in the dark, though I know it's not for much longer, I run to a nearby alley between two buildings, planning to cross through and then run to my car.
"That was commendable, young man."
I immediately pull my pistol out, aiming it in the direction of the voice. To my surprise, I recognize the face leaning by the wall to the left of where I came in.
"Ozpin..."
"Oho? So you know who I am?"
"Let's be honest, almost everyone in Vale knows who you are."
"Fair enough."
"Why are you here?" I narrow my eyes, remembering what he had said earlier. "Are you here to bring me in?"
"Now why would you think that, young man?"
"Why else would someone stop to talk to me?"
"I suppose you have a point, though it isn't all bad. Many of Vale's citizens approve of your actions, though as you can guess, much of the police doesn't."
"Is this going anywhere? I don't have a lot of time left."
I had been keeping an eye on the CCT's efforts to restore power to the area I'm in, and its halfway there already.
"Yes, I suppose you don't. I came with a proposition, but it isn't for the Vigilante... It's for Jaune Arc."
I freeze. It couldn't be...
But just by looking at his eyes, I can tell that Ozpin knows exactly who I was.
I slowly reach up and pull my facemask down, exposing my nose, mouth, and jawline.
"Ah, there he is."
"So you know who I am? How?"
"I've been keeping track of you, Jaune. Your father and I... We go a long way back. I knew him when we were both in Beacon, and I can't tell you the sorrow I felt when I heard the news of his demise. But when I heard that three of his children had survived, I made it my mission to keep an eye on them, as a favour to my old friend."
Hearing the regret and sadness in Ozpin's tone caught me a little off guard, but I couldn't help but relate to him. It seems that, just as I had been keeping track of my sisters, he had been keeping track of me.
"So why are you here?" I ask.
"To extend to you an invitation to attend Beacon Academy."
My eyes widen. "Are you serious?"
"Completely, Jaune."
I stare at him, confused. "But why?"
"Because, like Miss Rose, who you fought alongside earlier, you show a righteous spirit, Jaune. Yours may have been marred by what happened to your family, but it's still there. And I can't ignore talent such as yours."
I stay silent, thinking it over. The CCT is almost done restoring power to the sector.
"You don't have to give me an answer now," Ozpin assures me. "Tomorrow, the airship that takes the new students to Beacon will be leaving from the port west of here. If you come on that day, and pass the initiation test, I will enrol you in my school."
He turns, and it seems like he's about to walk away, but he tosses me one last thought.
"Please, Jaune, think about it. What you're doing now... With proper training, you can help many more people."
And with that, he walks into the shadows and disappears.
Damn that man... Throwing my thoughts into chaos like this...
...
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