[As months passed since the disappearance of Billionaire Philanthropist Bruce Wayne, Wayne Enterprises continues to defund various charitable organizations set-up by Mr. Wayne himself. Current-acting CEO William Earl claims that Wayne Enterprises is going to follow a new direction in order to continually grow the company in Mr. Wayne's absence...]
Somewhere in the streets of Vale, an old shopkeeper had begun closing up his little Dust Shop after a long day's work. The sun had set and the shattered moon hung high in the sky as many others began making their commute home. The shopkeep had already swept the floors clean and checked all the earnings he made for the day. All he had to do was wait for the young girl to leave before officially closing the shop for the night.
As the shopkeep flipped the sign on the window from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSE', he looked around for his last customer. He found her by the magazine shelf near the counter, reading 'Huntsman Weekly' while listening to something from her scroll. The young girl appeared to be wearing an outfit consistent with a sleeveless red jacket with the hood pulled up and black leggings with red rose highlights at the sides. What caught his attention off her ensemble was the red-cloak she wore that reached down to the back of her knees. The cloak flowed softly with the air and looked to have glistened if it were near light. The ensemble was bright and eye-catching to any passersby around her.
[...In other news, the crime rate of the city increases as more Dust Shops continue to be robbed of their supplies of different types of Dust. Many believe that this would be connected to the string of separate robberies regarding SDC shipping containers earlier this week. Authorities suggest that the ex-rights activist turned terrorist organization, the White Fang may be involved with such crimes…]
The shopkeep hadn't realized he made it behind the counter until he heard the sound of the front bell ring along with several other footsteps. Upon looking up, he was introduced to a neatly-dressed tophat man with several other men in black following suit. The older man already knew who the neatly-dressed man was, he was all over the news.
"P-Please...t-take the lien," His words fumbled as he raised his hands in the air. "..I-I don't w-want any-"
Roman Torchwick raised his hand and the shopkeep turned quiet. "Don't worry, we don't want any of your money." He assured the older man. Roman then turned to the crew behind him. "Grab the dust"
While the men busied themselves with looting the store of its Dust, the shopkeep had worried for the little red customer somewhere in his shop. His eyes glanced around the shop, only to find that the girl must've slipped away upon the criminal's arrival.
"Anyone else here?" Roman asked the shopkeeper, having noticed the old man's distressed search of the shop.
But before Roman could even gain a response, the power of the building was instantly cut, leaving the entire store in darkness.
Roman grit his teeth and looked over to his men. While the tinted windows prevented some light from entering the store, it was still bright enough to see the silhouette of the people he hired. "Gods be damned. One of you idiots, check the back for a breaker and turn on these damn lights!"
With new orders, the thugs then switched to their scrolls as sources of lights. Most had simply returned to their duties whilst one headed straight for the back to find a breaker.
For a small Dust shop, the place was actually quite spacious when it came to storage areas. There were various rooms filled with empty boxes, old equipment used to move shelves and crates, and spare parts such as Dust container lids, weapon parts, and old long steel pipes.
As the lonesome thug-for-hire searched through the backrooms, he noticed a strange sound coming from further down the hallway. It sounded almost like a voice. The further he ventured into the building, the sound slowly, but surely, grew louder. It wasn't until he saw a small light coming from the corner of one of the rooms. The closer the thug got, the brighter the light grew. But, upon further inspection, the light was nothing more than a fully brightened scroll with red-tinted headphones attached. That's when the thug understood what the voice was saying.
[...sightings of the criminal mastermind known as Roman Torchwick continues to grow around the city of Vale. Authorities and Huntsmen consider him armed and dangerous. Be advised that…]
Just as the report finished, the thug was swept off his feet, falling face-first onto the ground. Before he could move, a sudden pressure pushed him back down onto the floor while his arm bolted in pain as it was twisted behind his back. He struggled to escape the position, but soon stopped when his arm twisted further, intensifying the pain in his muscle. Someone behind him moved closer to his ear and whispered.
"You have 30 seconds to answer each of my questions. For every question you fail to answer, a finger will be broken. Do I make myself clear?"
The thug growled in response. Who do you think you are?! He thought bitterly. "Why you little-"
All he heard next was a crack coming from behind him and a sudden stroke of pain erupted from his right hand. A yelp of pain would've come out and alerted everyone else in the building, but sudden pressure onto the back of his neck prevented any sound from coming out. As the pressure lifted from his neck, the voice behind him moved back to his ear.
"You've got 9 other fingers and several other bones left in your body. Are you gonna talk or are you gonna have to learn to write with your feet?"
Before the voice could break another one of the criminal's fingers, he began talking.
"Alright! Alright! What do you want to know?" Was all he could muster. Nausea had begun rising into his head and he didn't want it to grow with more broken fingers. This job wasn't worth it.
The voice behind him smirked. "How many are you? I recognize that you guys are from Junior's club. So, mind telling me what Roman Torchwick is doing with hired thugs robbing Dust from Dust Shops? Seems pretty low for someone of his M.O"
"He hired 4 of us from the Boss. We don't know much, all that he needed us for a job," He gritted his teeth as more pain flared from his twisted arm. "That's it! That's all I know!"
"Thank you for your cooperation. Say 'Hi' to the prison doctors for me."
Last thing the criminal remembered was his arm being released and a swift blow to the face before everything turned black.
Roman was beginning to become anxious from all the setbacks. These hired neanderthals were moving at a snail's pace, collecting dust in the dark while one of them had yet fixed the lights. How hard was it to turn on a damn lightbulb!? Not only that, they seem to have an unwanted guest somewhere around the shop and could call the cops at any minute. They had to move quickly!
"Damn it, just pack as much as you can! Cops would be here any minute, or would you idiots prefer to be caught by a Huntsman?!" Roman called out to his men, taking a puff out of his cigar as he eyed the shopkeep in front of him. "Now, let me make me ask again, who else is he-"
Roman was cut off as he heard a variety of crashes coming from his right. That better not be the damn Dust! He angrily thought as he turned to face what those babbling halfwits had done now. It was a surprise to see that the crash was caused by someone else he didn't recognize.
As the henchmen continued packing up the final cases of Dust, they failed to notice a silhouette in the darkness monitoring their each and every move. The silhouette had been observing them, learning their patterns to determine how to intercept them without anyone noticing.
There were 5 men in the entire store: the Shopkeeper, Torchwick, and 3 other unnamed men. 4 of them were armed, but only one of them seemed to be carrying a gun. Torchwick had the shopkeeper as a hostage, while the other men finished packing the Dust. Time was of the essence, and it was running out fast.
It's been a while since I've done this. The invisible figure internally grumbled. I have to take them down silently before any one of these guys get an itchy trigger finger.
As soon as one of the men isolated himself from the group, the figure took immediate action. Using a pair of steel pipes that were found at the back, the hidden person quickly rushed behind the lone criminal and struck him to his knees. Before the guy yelled out in pain, the person crossed the pipes around his neck and began choking him out. Normally, this process would've been over in seconds but the individual overestimated their current strength. This allowed the criminal to thrash around to try to get free from the headlock, knocking over shelves and breaking some valuables. The seconds it took for the felon to finally blackout felt like minutes, but even then it was too late.
"Freeze!"
As the remaining Henchmen shone a light onto the scene, everyone around finally got to see who was causing all the commotion, much to the shopkeeper's dismay.
It was the young customer from earlier, but her outfit color seemed to differ. Instead of the bright red color scheme from earlier, her ensemble was now pitch black, almost as dark as the shadows that surround the remaining light of the room. But none of that mattered now, she was caught and they were both going to die.
The girl had to act fast before they had a chance to strike. She quickly threw one of her pipes towards the one with the gun, stunning him. Using that to her advantage, the lass rushed the stunned enemy and smacked his knees before knocking him down with a final swipe to the head.
While the last of the henchmen charged towards the young fighter, Roman was quick to grab as much Dust as he could and left the establishment in a flurry. He barely made it out the door before one of his henchmen was thrown through the tinted glass window and landed next to him.
His gaze shifted back into the shop to face down the hooded girl. There she stood, her clothes back to their original color, glaring at him while her fingers spun a lone pipe on one hand. Both of them stared down at each other, waiting for one to move.
Roman reacted first, chuckling to himself before taking one final puff out of his cigar.
"Well, Red, I think we can all say that it's been an eventful evening. And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid that this," He dropped the cigar and aimed his cane towards the shop. "is where we part ways."
Crap! Without a second thought, the girl jumped behind the counter and covered the shopkeeper with her cloak.
The front of the shop bursted in flames as the flaming round went off, engulfing everything in an explosion. Much to the shopkeeper's shock, he felt nothing as the girl's cloak protected them both from the blast.
As the flames subsided, the girl uncloaked and checked over the old man. "Are you alright sir? Any burns?"
With a shake of his head, the girl sighed in relief before she turned towards the street. Roman was gone. But he shouldn't be too far.
"Do you mind if I go after him?"
After setting the store ablaze, Roman made his escape towards a ladder of a nearby building. He quickly climbed the handles at top speed to head towards the roof. His exfil was sure to be nearby, but would need an open space to pick him up.
Unbeknownst to him, someone else was closing in on him, scaling the building by climbing and jumping onto different ledges with finesse.
When he finally reached the roof, Roman sprinted towards the other end and waited for his ride to arrive. His attention, however, would change when a loud whistle called from behind. Turning around, he saw the girl from earlier, looking fine and lightly covered with soot. Just as he was about to panic, a bullhead lifted itself by the edge of the roof. His ride was here and he wasted no time in getting on.
Turning towards the girl in red, Roman tossed a red dust crystal onto her feet. "End of the line, Red!" He yelled before shooting the dust crystal.
The girl almost had no time to react. On instinct, she kicked the dust crystal away then covered herself with her cloak and waited for the blast. But she felt no such thing.
Uncovered from her cloak, she found that a tall blond huntress had swooped down and protected her. Eying the woman's chosen apparel, a curly-bunned haircut and spectacles with a neat white blouse and pencil skirt, it suggested that she must be a teacher from a local Huntsman academy. Although her choice in the weapon, a riding crop, would've spoken otherwise. But she digressed. Other than that, her posture and stance screamed authority towards anyone before her.
While the bullhead attempted to recover from the explosive attack, the blond huntress already retaliated with various Dust attacks, such as firing ice crystals and raining down more strong hale, to try to bring the ship down.
Upon regaining his bearings and seeing the huntress on top of the roof where he was, Roman yelled something at the pilot before disappearing into the cockpit. Out from the cockpit appeared another woman, who looked awfully familiar to the young girl, then fired bolts of flames to distract the pursuers.
The huntress and the young girl were forced to evade the attack, allowing the bullhead to escape with some cargo from the Dust Shop.
Damn it. The young girl mentally berated herself. Should've been more quiet back at the store. Or faster to have caught him before he got to the roof. Gods, I am out of practice.
It took the girl a couple more moments to have realized that the Huntress had been glaring holes through the back of her skull. Didn't need to be a detective to figure out that, boy, was she in trouble.
"If it makes you feel better, most of the damage wasn't caused by me"
It didn't.
For the last 30 minutes, the young girl sat in an interrogation room while the blond woman, Glynda Goodwitch, berated her for something about her carelessness and property damage caused by the incident. Honestly, she hadn't really been listening much to what she was saying. There were bigger issues to be taken care of at the moment.
Why would a high-end criminal like Roman Torcwick stoop to robbing stores of only Dust? Why Dust of all products? Not really something worth stealing just to sell it back on the black market, so that must mean he needs it for an operation. But for what exactly? And why such large quantities? There had to be a-
What are you doing? We don't do that anymore.
Roman Torchwick is up to something and whatever it is could put innocent lives in jeopardy.
Then let the Police or even a Huntsman handle it. We don't have the authority.
When has 'No authority' ever stopped us?
Glynda had taken notice of the young girl spacing out of her lecture. Just as she was about to reprimand her, a voice was quick to interject and catch both their attention.
"Ruby Rose,"
Ruby broke from her thoughts and turned towards the voice. He knew my name.
From the shadows stepped out a tall grayed man who held a scroll tablet in one hand and a large plate of steaming cookies in the other. While he seated himself across from the girl, he laid the plate down in between them as a sort of peace offering.
"You have…silver eyes" The man had pointed out, almost as if he was reminiscing a memory.
Ruby made no effort to respond, her body stood still whilst her eyes continued going over his overall appearance. The older man returned her look with a warm smile before he started his lines of questions..
"What was a young girl like you doing in the middle of a store robbery?"
"Checking out magazines. I usually pick up a new edition of 'Huntsman Weekly' every month. Sometimes I even grab some beauty magazines for my sister. Funny coincidence that Roman Torchwick decided to rob the same Dust Shop I shop at"
Interesting. The man thought to himself as he eyed both Ruby and the video on his scroll tablet.
"So instead of calling the police and keeping yourself hidden, you decided to act upon this crime yourself?"
"Well, I am a huntress-in-training. It's in my training to protect the lives of everyone inside and outside of the Kingdom against those who threaten them."
Quite the typical line. Thought the Grayed man. However, he couldn't help but notice how forced and monotone she said the line. As if it had been painfully practiced in a mirror.
"Correct, but it's not every day you see a huntress-in-training stop the robbery of an international criminal with only their bare hands and a pair of steel pipes."
"I was very well-trained."
Both remained silent afterwards, but both took note how neither batted an eye at the excuse.
"Impressive clothing you have," He added. "Don't believe I've seen anything like it; able to camouflage within darkness and incredibly fire resistant."
"Gift from my Uncle. I have a, uh, sort of history with setting things on fire."
Ruby knew something was suspicious when she heard a quiet snort leave the man's nose. Her eyes squinted even more so. While she knew the man before her, she wasn't sure where this conversation was going to lead her.
"Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."
The Professor continued the warm smile he gave her. "Would you like to come to my school?"
Glynda was shocked at the suggestion of the headmaster and was about to give a piece of her mind until the young girl beat her to it.
"I feel honored, but I am afraid that I will have to kindly decline your offer, headmaster."
This surprised both faculty of Beacon. A once in a lifetime offer to attend one of the most prestigious academies in Vale, 2 years in advance, and she just denied it without a second thought.
"Ms. Goodwitch, would you mind giving Ms. Rose and I some privacy?" The Professor asked his headmistress, who calmly, and frustratedly, left the interrogation room.
That left only 2 occupants alone in the room away from prying eyes and ears. The room remained silent and still as both parties eyed one another. Both had several questions, but were merely waiting for whom shall land the first blow.
Ruby was the first to begin the game. "Would you like to know what I think, Professor?"
"Please, do enlighten me."
"I think it's quite odd how the Headmistress and Combat Instructor of Beacon Academy, who I am sure is very busy with preparations for the upcoming school year, had been in the same neighborhood of a yet-to-be-reported Dust Robbery. Now, to my knowledge, full fledged Huntsmen and Huntresses don't just patrol city streets, especially not for crimes regarding robbery or assault."
Ozpin kept silent during the explanation, and Ruby still continued on.
"The other intriguing detail was you, Professor. There's no reason for you to be here, and yet you showed up not even half an hour later to interrogate me. You were hardly surprised by my skills and situation, so it means you already knew my capabilities . It didn't matter if you asked me or not, you already accepted me into Beacon before you even walked through those doors.
The girl in question simply leaned back into the chair and crossed her arms. "I believe in many things, Professor, and coincidences are surely not one of them. So, what do you want?"
Ozpin was certainly impressed by her deductive skills. Coming to that conclusion within a short timeframe while also being lectured by Glynda? Her mentor had trained her well. It was well on par with his expectations of her and was most certainly qualified for what he had in mind. She will do perfectly. With that, he willingly passed the young girl the scroll tablet he held.
Ruby's eyes widened upon reading the contents. Countless articles and news headlines from Atlas and Mantle plagued the screen. While the majority were from years ago, all clippings had similar topics; 'Wayne housing new kids?!', 'Batman's New Sidekick: Robin, the Girl Wonder!', 'Joker's Final Act: Batman and Robin KIA?!', 'Billionaire Philanthropist disappears yet again!'
"Ms. Rose-"
"No"
"I haven't even-"
"Whatever it is, I decline the offer. Robin hasn't been seen for many months and would most probably continue doing so."
Ozpin raised his eyebrow at her statement. "Tonight spoke otherwise."
"Tonight was the act of a huntress-in-training offering their services for the community. So unless I am being charged with something, I am free to leave."
She wasn't asking. It was a demand.
The Headmaster sighed at the result of their meeting and merely nodded to the young teen.
The young teen wasted no time to stand and headed straight for the exit. While not many have noticed, few took note of the girl's stiffness as she walked towards the entrance of the police station. Far too many memories had been brought up, and like hell was she gonna deal with them now.
She hadn't reached the front desk when the familiar voice of a blonde buxom teenager was heard arguing the Police Sergeant. It would've been one hell of a scene had the blonde not already been there countless times. Cops were already familiar with her and her family.
"Yang, please. You're causing a scene."
"Frank, it's been more than an hour! She should've already been released the moment I got here!"
"There were some people who were interested in meeting her. So, of course it's gonna take long-"
"For what!? Doing your jobs for you?! Well, if you people weren't lazing about then she wouldn't be in this mess!"
More than a couple officers had turned their heads at the statement, but none spoke their thoughts aloud. Although, that hadn't stopped them from giving her the stink eye. Sergeant Frank could only sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He looked almost relieved when he finally spotted Ruby making her way towards them.
Yang followed the Sergeant's gaze before it stopped at her approaching little sister. "Ruby!" She called out before she rushed towards her and gave a back-breaking hug. "We were so worried! You should've seen Dad's face when he got a call about YOU being at the Police Station instead of me."
While Ruby may have matched her sister in height now, there was nothing she could've done to match her strength, which in turn caused her to be squished and suffocated by her sister's deadly grip. She barely mustered a straight sentence. "Y-Yang...P-lease...st-op"
"Whoops, sorry sis," Yang apologized as she released her younger sister from her impending doom. "So, what was this about you being interrogated?"
"That would be by us, Ms. Xiao Long"
Both sister's eyes widen as they face Professor Ozpin, who was just about to leave the police station. While Yang was shocked to find out the headmaster of her soon-to-be academy, Ruby simply glared at him, unsure of what his next move would be.
"You see Miss. Xiao Long," He said before directing a smile towards Ruby. "Ms. Rose and I were discussing her early enrollment to Beacon Academy. Ms. Goodwitch and I saw a lot of skill and potential she had and decided for her to come to my school, 2 years in advance."
"Is this true!?" Yang turned towards her sibling with wide eyes.
Ruby couldn't say anything. Her eyes had constantly shifted between Yang and Ozpin, the latter hid his smirk behind his cup of coffee. Her old identity was on the line and she wasn't sure if the headmaster was willing to keep her secret. But then again, being a Huntress proved to be a better alternative than being a (murderer) vigilante.
"Y-Yes?"
Yang's shock was quick to turn into unyielding joy as she picked up her sister and began cheering for her 'achievement'. "I am so happy for you, Ruby! My little sister is coming to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!"
The youngest sibling made no vocal response as her attention was fully on Ozpin. Many thoughts roamed in her head while she eyed the man. What the hell are you planning?
Sorry for the long wait. I have re-edited almost the entire story (Omakes included) by fixing some errors, rewrote some scenes, and even adding more scenes to enhance aspects of the story. Volume 1 of the story is almost about to wrap up so I hope ya'll enjoy this in the mean time. I would like to thank you all for the support, please leave a review or a comment on the story, and I hope you enjoy.
I do not own any of the characters. All characters and names used are owned by either Rooster Teeth and Detective Comics (DC).