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"Now approaching New Glenn City Memorial Station, please stand clear of the doors."
Ruby Rose squeals in barely contained excitement, squirming in her seat and itching to get out with a large suitcase behind her and luggage in hand. When the doors part she nearly shoves aside other passengers to get out first, her eyes widening as she glances around the sleek white underground maglev station.
This was one of the stations that was used as bases for when they took back Glenn! There was even a plaque listing out the names of every pilot who took part in the operation made out of brass from shell casings. She had to take a photo!
Whipping out her Scroll she quickly snaps a few shots of the plaque, the station, and a few selfies as well before she continues on her way. The entire station was bustling with people, something that would've been impossible just a few years ago but in less than a year they've managed to create a metropolis from the ruins of a broken city.
She dashes through the hallways, heading through the customs and lining up before it is her turn.
"Papers please." a bored customs officer asks and Ruby quickly hands her passport as well as declaration forms for Crescent Rose and any ammunition she has with her while the luggage and weapon case was searched carefully by another officer, "Purposes of your visit?"
"Oh I'm a tourist. Here for the NEST Expo!" Ruby exclaims excitedly as the officer nods,
"Of course you are." he says as he hands back the papers, "Remember to keep your weapon concealed and unloaded when in public. Discharging in a public area without cause will count as a criminal charge."
"You won't be hearing any trouble from me, sir!" Ruby says confidently as she is waved through the customs and takes the elevator up to the main station, her excitement only growing. Her jaw then drops the moment she steps outside, two MTs in slick gray-white armor standing at attention with rifles the size of cars in their arms.
She immediately recognized the specific model of the rifles being from one of NEST Inc.'s subsidiaries, IronForge Technologies. Bullpup stun rifles for MTs that were favored by security personnel in urban zones, capable of firing stun bolts that could disable vehicles from getaway cars to Bullheads, and even a small airship if enough were fired from multiple MTs!
The MTs were the latest in Urban Security frames, being sold worldwide in many large cities. Jump packs that can easily maneuver around city blocks and buildings, loudspeakers and siren lights across the frame, lightweight armor that can stop anything up to anti-material rounds, as well as core-mounted tear gas launchers and machine guns that fired rubber bullets.
She squeals as she runs up to one of them with her Scroll raised, "Can I take a photo with you, sir?"
The security officer looks at her through the tempered glass window of his MT's core and shrugs, which she took as a yes, quickly snapping a selfie with them behind her and fingers raised in a peace sign with both the pilots and MT mimicking her gestures.
"Thank you!" She waves goodbye and rushes towards the next stop on her list, the Memorial Flame located directly opposite of the Memorial Station. In the park, there were several walls erected surrounding the flame acting like a sort of maze, with the names of every pilot, soldier, Huntsman, and civilian that died or went missing in the Fall of Mountain Glenn and its Reclamation plastered on it. Besides her there were a few other people at the location as well, paying their respects to possibly those they knew.
She admits that walking through the wall of names was intimidating, like they were staring down at her which she assumes was the intent. To make sure no one forgot, and everyone knew the weight of the loss.
In the center of this was a burning flame and a red circle marking the threshold for visitors, and bundles of flowers surrounded the threshold. Words were engraved in the marble, encircling the flames and written in all capitalized format.
"This memorial was erected in 913 A.G, in memory of the brave souls that lost their lives in both defense and reclamation. May they never be forgotten. May such a tragedy never happen again." she reads softly in awe before taking her Scroll out to quietly take a photo of the flickering flames.
There was so much she had to do before the Expo started, a whole day for herself in the City of Progress! So many places and attractions to go to! The famous Museum of Mechanical Technology with various AC and MT frames on display, with even a virtual simulator of piloting one being an attraction! The dozens of weapons shops owned by NEST Inc. that sell the latest technology that dishes out death to Grimm, who knows what kind of mods she can get for Crescent Rose? And then there's NEST HQ itself, built on top of the old Merlot Industries building that helps supply power to the entire city!
This was going to be the best day ever!
"Ah, New Glenn City. The City of Progress." Roman Torchwick smiles as he takes a breath of fresh air as he walks down the streets of the city that are lined with shops and shrubs, wearing a scarf worn around his neck covering the lower half of his mouth while wearing a green coat in contrast to the usual white. The most feared criminal mind of Vale can't exactly be seen walking in public of one of the most secure cities in Remnant without a disguise, could he?
Fortunately, he also has Neo beside him, projecting her Semblance to keep them both incognito. Unlike her usual trio of colors in her hair it was now a pale brown color and her usual suit replaced by a plain white one with what appeared to be a normal parasoul in her arm, and a neon popsicle, one of Glenn's signature treats, in the other, licking her lips in anticipation.
"You have to admit, if we weren't here on business, this isn't exactly the worst vacation spot. You wouldn't think to find air this fresh in cities." Roman smirks, pulling down his scarf to lick his own popstick, "And speaking of business…"
The two approach one of the many outside tables of a cafe where a man in a t-shirt with sunglasses and a cap on his head is waiting with a coffee, looking nervous.
He and Neo sit down with him, "Careful there pal, don't look too nervous or people start wondering."
"What the hell took you so long?" he asks in a hushed angry tone.
"Ah apologies, but she was insistent on trying out the famous neon popsticks from that shop on Steele Street. I gotta hand it to them over there, they know their stuff." Roman says in approval as he licks his own treat.
"Are you serious?" the man in sunglasses asks looking frustrated beginning to stand up, "Shit maybe this was a bad idea."
"Sit down or I have Neo here slit your throat so wide it'll only hang on by a thread." Roman says as casually as one would talk about a chore, gesturing to his partner who innocently continues eating her iced treat, "Trust me when I say this, everyone here won't even notice you're dead until we're long gone."
"You want to keep it down?" he asks looking around frightened,
"Worried about being overheard?" Roman chuckles before speaking loudly, "Hey everyone! Me and my friend are criminal masterminds planning to commit grand larceny tonight and the girl sitting next to me is a trained assassin."
Roman bursts out laughing and Neo gives waves at those who stared at them before shrugging and carrying on with their business.
"You see?" Roman smirks, having made his point, "Now, have the arrangements been made?"
The man sighs, "Yes. They have. All we need now is for you to hold up your end of the bargain."
Roman smirks and holds out his hand, where Neo hands him a thumb drive.
"Here, use this and you'll create a delay in the silent alarms. We only have thirty minutes to make the exchange so make sure every last bolt is ready for shipment." Roman says, "And relax, this goes off well we get away as rich men, with NGSD scratching their heads wondering what the hell happened. Got that?"
"...Yeah. Got it." the man nods and takes the thumbdrive, "See ya tonight."
"Pleasure doing business with you." Roman tips his fedora before standing up with Neo and leaving the man, "Awfully jumpy isn't he, Neo? I've met a better class of criminals in Vale, but that's New Glenn Security Department for you. You don't get the lowest crime rates in Remnant without being competent. Honestly, just forging IDs to get here was challenging, let alone this whole op."
He says, sounding annoyed before smiling, "And I love it. The challenge, the thrill, the rush, you just don't get that anywhere else nowadays. Cops that aren't incompetent security guards sitting on their asses, waiting for their stipends and chewing on donuts. You can almost respect them. Almost. I haven't had this much fun on a job since that Atlas gig years ago. Ah, that takes me back."
As he reminisces with Neo paying more attention to her cone, he suddenly feels something run into him at full speed, falling over and dropping his cone. Acting in a flash, Neo uses her parasol's hook to snag the popstick before it falls, licking into it with a satisfied smile as Roman groans in pain.
"Ugh…I don't remember that in Atlas…" Roman groans, winded as he pushes off whatever ran into him.
"I am SO sorry!" a girl with black and red hair exclaims apologetically as she helps pull him up, "I wasn't watching where I was going, are you alright?"
"Just got the wind knocked out of me." Roman grunted as he got up, dusting off his coat before looking at the girl with black clothes and a red cape, "You should be more careful, Red."
"Red? Oh, because of the cape?" she laughs awkwardly, "My name's Ruby. Ruby Rose."
"Remus." Roman quickly uses the name from his fake ID and passport to get into New Glenn, "That over there's my kid, Jane. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Oh, I'm just trying to find my way to the Museum of Technology and Engineering." Ruby explains holding up a map, "But I keep getting lost. Do you two happen to know how I can get there?"
"The Museum? Yeah, we do know, just went there actually. A lovely place." With plenty of easy pickpocket victims, but he kept that to himself before giving some pointers toward the destination,
"Thanks so much, are you two tourists too? Here for the Armored Expo?" Ruby asks and Roman restrains a chuckle. At the Expo, security will be heavy, with some forces diverted to maintaining security at such a crowded event where the CEO of NEST herself and other technological companies in the AC business will be at with plenty of experimental equipment to showcase.
And if he's right, there should be additional security at the event, conveniently away from the ports.
"I suppose you can say that." he smirks under his scarf, "But no, not tourists sadly, we're here on business. It's a shame, this is a lovely city."
"You're telling me, I just got here and I can't wait to see everything!" she exclaims with excitement before running off, "It's nice to meet you two. Maybe I'll see you next time."
"Weird kid." Roman mutters before turning to Neo, "Now, that's my ice cream young lady."
Neo however huffs and holds back the two neon popsticks away from him.
"Neo, I paid for that now- Hey! Get back here you brat!"
"Oh…my…gods…" Ruby exclaims as her jaw drops at the sight of the magnificent devices in front of her, dashing through from display to display.
"That's the first General Purpose AC! The first of the Gen 1 ACs!" Ruby shouts to herself as she leans against the railing surrounding the gray frame of a LOADER model, "First of its kind and first on the market! A top speed of 330mph! You rarely find them anywhere nowadays except for training grounds!"
Quickly she snaps a selfie before moving towards the next frame that caught her eye, a sleek reverse-jointed model with what looks like a jetpack on its back with two wings sprouted outwards, "And is that a ZEPHYR model?! That's one of the later Gen 2 models! They're capable of using External Flight Packs making it one of the frames that are capable of competing with Sentinels in the air!"
Another picture for her collection as she nearly trips over her own two feet reaching the next, a boxy-looking biped model with a single red camera on its head for a eye looking like a cyclops, a rectangular metal shield and shotgun in hand with Atlas military markings on its frame,
"That's the BREACHER model…The first mass-produced Vanguard AC in service before it was replaced with the STRIKER." she gushes in awe, "They're not as customizable as their successors but they're still favored by veterans for a reason! They say you can leave it unattended in a desert for decades and it can still run as long as it has power."
She was almost out of breath. This place was practically heaven. Yang was so going to regret not coming with her once she showed her the photos! Where was the Weapon Units section of the museum? She needed to get there as quickly as-
She slams into something hard and falls over. Gods, what was with her and running into things today? She groans and rubs her sore head before looking down, eyes widening at the sight of a redhead girl in a black, white, and green dress.
"Oh my gods are you okay?" she asks hurriedly, rushing over and offering a hand up, "Stupid, stupid me, I really should watch where I'm going."
"Oh, do not worry, my physical frame has not received any sufficient damage." the girl says while waving from where she was lying down, "Salutations."
"Uh, hi?" Ruby says confused before helping her back on her feet, "Again, really sorry about that. I'm just so excited to be here. It's my first time in New Glenn City!"
"Truly? This is my first time as well. As you say I too am very excited to be here." The redhead girl says with a beaming smile, "My father and I even came up with an itinerary to maximize my enjoyment for the duration of my stay before my return to Atlas."
"Yeah, I've made my own plans as well." Ruby nods, flashing a notebook for all the things she planned to do while in Glenn, "I spent a whole week thinking of every possible thing to do, and how I can cram it all in one day ending it with the NEST Expo!"
"Fascinating." the girl looks at her notes, "This is astonishingly efficient, quite similar to mine. I too plan to end the day at the Expo."
"Yeah, it's the most anticipated event next to the Vytal Festival!" Ruby agreed before realizing something, "Sorry, but I don't think I got your name?"
"Ah, apologies, I've overlooked introduction protocols in my excitement." she salutes, "Penny Polendina at your service!"
"Ruby Rose. A pleasure to meet you." Ruby introduces herself,
The girl's smile widens, "Introduction protocols executed. Names exchanged and bonding has been initiated. In conclusion, we are now best friends! Initiating friendly gesture!"
"...Eh?" Ruby blinks at the abrupt declaration before Penny puts an arm around Ruby's shoulders, but to her, it felt like a vice grip chokehold, "ARGK!"
"Come new best friend!" Penny says as she continues dragging a confused and increasingly oxygen-deprived Ruby, "We have the whole city to explore before the Expo! Onwards!"