*Story Start*
Inside From Dust Till Dawn, Ruby stood at the counter discussing with the owner/shopkeeper.
"Can you send the materials to this address? I mean I could transport it myself but somethings telling me that the pilots probably won't like that."
The older man in a green shirt and red apron seemed to think it over, before nodding.
"Fine, I'll get them sent off. But I'm not a postal worker so there's going to be an additional fee. Next time, just say that you want me to send them there instead of changing your mind last minute."
Sighing, Ruby nodded and set the material cost plus about 5% to cover transport.
"Here, sorry for dropping the ball. I happened to be in the city when I saw the message that the shipment arrived, and I hadn't had the time to grab a cart or a transport ticket for it."
Pausing for a second, she adjusted the straps of the backpack and looked around the store.
"Do you have a washroom I could use? I have a tag that is rubbing and I want to fix it."
The shopkeeper knelt behind the counter and rummaged for something beneath the counter. Standing back up, he handed her a key attached to the top of a broken broom handle before he pointed to a door down the back hall.
Taking the key, she entered the room and locked it behind her. Turning on the tap, she splashed her face and stared at her reflection.
"At least we finally got the new parts for Crescent Rose. She's been needing a good servicing." Looking at the right side of the mirror, a separate Ruby in her usual dress and with a large silver rose pin leaned against the wall.
"Yeah, but you saw how expensive those parts were. We could've bought a crate of military surplus and modded them until you were happy. If it weren't for the docks, we'd be a good few liens short thanks to the latest price spike." On the left was a spiky, blue-eyed blond wearing the identical dress, except for the large ruby-coloured spiral pin and the edges of the sleeves and skirt being slightly tattered.
"Speaking about the docks, what the heck was that, huh? 'Ninjas are supposed to keep their cool regardless of the situation.' " Ruby sat her bag down and walked over to the blond.
"Really keeping it cool huh?!" Staring up at the taller blond, she jabbed her finger into his larger chest.
Trying his best to not look embarrassed, he avoided looking down at the annoyed rose, while the other Ruby just stared smugly at him.
"I'll admit that we may have lost my cool on that SCUM, but he deserves worse. You saw those ledgers. Gunrunning, trafficking illicits and people. There's enough there for the police to see him strung up several times over." The other Ruby decided to chirp in on that last part.
"Key word being the police. I doubt that they'd be too happy for us to show up and hand them a bunch of incriminating documents about Silvers' dirty dealings. 'Here you go officer, don't worry about how I got it, just take them and arrest him.' That would definitely go over well and not end up with us getting investigated."
"Then we just need to give them the dossiers without them knowing it." Naruto stated as if it were the simplest thing. This notably caused a glimmer to appear in Ruby's eyes while the other her started jumping with joy.
"So we're going to be stealthy like a ninja? Kicking ass, sneaking, dropping off the evidence and disappearing like a shadow!" The other Ruby was practically drooling at how cool the situation sounded to her.
"Probably not exactly like that, but yeah. Reminds me of my academy days."
This earned an eye roll from both Rubys. Talking about his academy days like that made him sound like a grandpa reminiscing about the good old days.
"Yeah, well we need to leave here first and try to get it to them." Putting the backpack on, she unlock the door and tried to step out.
Immediately she was greeted with the muzzle of a pistol in her face. Instincts flared and her semblance kicked into overdrive. A wave of aura flowed through her muscles, reinforcing them, while the rest coated each nerve in her brain. Lastly, her eyes gained a blue silver hue as she mentally dismantled his stance.
'Arms overextended'
'Crummy stance'
'Suit limiting range of motion'
Focusing on enhancing her muscles and her movements, she gripped his wrist before twisting it as much as it could handle.
Naturally, they let go of the pistol, allowing Ruby to snatch it out of the air. Delivering an enhanced kick to the back of his knees, she brought the barrel of the gun down on his neck. Focusing on her one arm, she threw him wheezing towards the till.
Sprinting forward, she found a second armed suit hauling out crates of Dust. Two other men were loading the crates up into a shipping container in the centre of the street, while a third kept his gun aimed at the shopkeep kneeling behind the counter.
Hurling the broom bathroom hey at the gunman by the shopkeep, the rounded tip bashed into his chest, causing him to fold like a beach chair.
Seizing the chance before the other goons could react properly, Ruby delivered an enhanced drop kick to the delivery goon's head, sending him straight down.
Taking up the other fallen gun, she charged the remaining two, deliberately using the first goon's face to launch herself out of the store.
Taking care to aim for non-vital areas, she fired off close to 2 dozen rounds. Each hitting a shoulder, the gun in their hands, feet or any area that could subdue them. Before she could move in, instincts screamed at her and she leapt back to avoid a massive Dust round fired at her.
Aiming up to fire at the source, clicking from the guns was heard. Letting out a sound of dissatisfaction, she leapt to the side to avoid a second shot, while also giving her a closer view of the two goons behind the crate.
Hurling the empty pistols at them, each were stuck in the head by the mag base, rendering them unconscious.
Staring down the area where the shots came from, a swirl of rose petals spiralled around her, before launching herself towards the roof like a missile. Cracking the road as she took off.
Roman was a smart man. To run in the circles he did, you had to be. Those who didn't were caught, or disappeared.
A key to avoiding being caught was to know when and where Huntsmen and Huntresses were. Thanks to a teen creating a gap in the 4 Academies systems so he could fudge transcripts to Haven, Roman was able to get an up-to-date record of each mission taken by each of the four kingdoms.
Poor kid probably didn't even know what he helped him do.
It was thanks to that record that he knew where to hit, how long he has to work until leaving and what direction to take. Each step relied on the record being accurate, and it always was. Until now.
Whether she was an off-duty Huntress or just taking the longest path back to the Academy, she was proving to be a pest.
Pulling out a small device, he clicked the red button three times before pocketing it. Hearing the sound of concrete deforming, he turned around to distract the Huntress. Upon seeing her, he let out an audible sigh before aiming his cane cannon at the teen in red.
"Look kiddo, this ain't the Land of Make-believe. Run on home to mommy and daddy, crawl into your bed and dream about gumdrops and unicorns. Alright?"
"Otherwise you're going to shoot me... correct? That is what you are implying?"
The cold, almost unfeeling tone she asked him was unnerving. Keeping his weapon aimed at her, he steadied himself.
"Obviously, so unless you want some poor schmuck to have to scrape you off the pavement, then I recommend you walk away. I don't like repeating myself."
Seeming undeterred by his statement, she took a step forward. Then another, and another. Each step lacked any kind of hesitation or doubt.
"Alright then, if you wanna pay hero, I'll show you what happens." Firing the cane gun, the bullet neared her before she took a step to the side. Allowing the bullet to explode on the wall of the building behind her.
Firing again, she took a sidestep to avoid the bullet while also not breaking her stride.
"Do you know what the purpose of a firearm is?" Approaching him, she seemed to be deliberately making any major move to attack him or to avoid his shots.
"It is designed to kill wild animals, Grimm, and people"
Seeming to ignore her, Roman made more and more shots with each being just slightly off from hitting her. Until finally
click* *click* *click*
"That means that any time you point your gun at something, you should be ready to destroy it." As the words left her mouth, Roman found himself flying backwards toward the wall with his cane held firmly in her hand.
The sound of metal crumpling seemed to echo across the roof as her faintly glowing hand dropped the gun, leaving clear indentations of her hand in the crushed barrel.
"So that leaves me with one question. Had I not been faster, would you have destroyed me?"
Roman had seen the fact that he was up against an opponent that he couldn't beat with his usual tactics, so he had to improvise.
Grabbing a roof brick that had been loosened from their stint, he hurled it at her face. Naturally, her hand flew up and caught it before it could touch her.
"I'll take it as a yes." Before she could walk over to him, a powerful spotlight from a hovering ship appeared on her. Shielding her eyes, she turned to look at the hovering cargo Bullhead. Four steel cables shot from the underside and attached themselves to the container before raising it up. Notable about it was the large, seven-barrel rotary cannon aimed at her.
Staring it down, her eyes became a solid azure as a hurricane of rose petals swirled around her. Her entire being seemed to vibrate as she prepared to make her move.
But the violet glow which surrounded the barrels stopped her from moving. The motor sputtered and groaned as it attempted to spin up, unsuccessfully as the purple aura stopped it from moving before it crushed the barrels.
"I'm not waiting to see how this plays out, so long Red." Suddenly realizing that Roman was still there, he hopped off the roof and landed on the crate. Which was now flush to the underside of the Bullhead, allowing him to climb up into the open side door.
Inside the purple aura was Glynda Goodwitch, a professional Huntress and teacher at Beacon academy who just landed on the roof. It seemed that she noticed Ruby too as her expression shifted from irritation to angry teacher.
"I have no idea what you think you're doing, but stand aside and allow me to fix this." Turning back to the ship, the purple aura began to slip into the engines and cause thick black smoke to bellow out of it.
"You can yell when there are fewer guns aimed at us. But be careful they're stealing a full crate of Dust." Hearing her, Glynda switched from crippling the ship, to forcing it to land by killing the engines.
Not willing to go down so easily, the side door opened to reveal Roman on a fixed-point machine gun while someone in a red dress stood to his side.
Taking action, Ruby took the assorted debris on the roof, stones, cans, and anything with a decent weight behind it and hurled them towards him. Though despite not hitting him directly, they proved enough of a pest to keep him from taking a clear shot. The gun met the same fate as the previous one as Glynda crushed the barrel.
"I said I have it, so go away and wait for me to handle this." Clearly annoyed and slightly strained from trying to hold back a ship with its engines at full power. This reprimand knocked the wind from her sails and caused the azure to drain from her eyes, rendering them their usual silver.
"But-"
"I said GO. I will handle this."
Turning to leave, Ruby caught a glimpse of something glinting as it flew out of the ship. Glynda seemed to be more focused on the ship and was unaware of the projectile. Using her semblance to enhance her eyesight and mental processing, the single projectile turned out to be a fine mist of obsidian glass needles.
They continued their approach towards the huntress unabated by her ability. Their natural black colour and seeming quiet launch allowed them to draw closer to their target undetected.
Deciding to act instead of waiting to see if she'd notice them before they struck. Deflecting them would be incredibly difficult as there was nothing large enough to stop their approach. Tanking it with aura likely wouldn't do much better as all it would take is for one of them to slip through the aura to create deep lacerations. That left moving her out of the way.
Kicking off the rooftop with enough force to cave in that section, she extended her arms to wrap around the huntress's waist. Planting one foot to add better control, she forced the duo into a controlled roll away from the area.
Just in time as the obsidian projectile exploded on contact, tearing up the rooftop.
"What are you do-"
Glynda was interrupted by Ruby grabbing her and rolling them again, as a second and then a third bolt of obsidian exploded on the roof.
Pulling herself up and fixing her attire, the huntress turned towards the ship which had already managed to limp up to a decent altitude. Putting it outside of her operational area without some assistance.
"While I thank you for your assistance in avoiding those projectiles, I'll advise you to use some tact next time. Now we, and by that I mean you will have to head to the police station to explain what a minor was doing engaging a group of criminals in physical combat." Saying that while holding her riding crop in hand made Ruby feel like it was less and less just for decoration.
"Well for one, it was self-defence, and two I just walked out of the bathroom to see a gun in my face so I beat the crud out of them. There are about five guys down there that need to be tied up before they escape. Also, I might need some help with standing up as my muscles are screaming. Heheh."
"Very well, but we are heading to the precinct and you will be explaining yourself to the authorities." Not bothering for a response, Glynda waved her crop and the purple aura encased the duo as they descended from the roof to ensnare the incapacitated or unconscious goons left by Roman.
Thank you so much for reading, please let me know what you think and anything else you might want to add.
See you next time, review, and let me know what you think or would like to see.
*End*