Ruby Rose's day was not going as well as she hoped. Between Signal and her sister leaving for Beacon, the Red Riding Reaper was having quite the mixed feelings. She thought she might as well discharge her emotions looking at the new weapon models that came out. She wandered the streets of Vale in search of any dust shops open. She tried a few already and was met with a closed sign, it seemed like today was really not her day.
Her drifting around the city brought her to a small dust shop called "From Dust Till Dawn". It was a very catchy name if anything. She exhaled with her nose, dropping any ounce of energy she might have had. These shops didn't always have weapon magazines since they were specialized in dust and not strictly weaponry. Still, if there was one shop that might have the slightest possibility of having what she wanted, it'd be here. She trudged inside and was met with an empty place. That was to be expected, typically every other dust shop was closed by now. It was already past 9 PM after all.
"Welcome," she was greeted by an old man with hair only on the sides of his head and a red apron uniform. He sounded his age and didn't seem very mobile despite his lack of cane. Ruby nodded in acknowledgement, then walked to the back, where she had seen some magazines with the corner of her vision.
Despite it being a small shop, open later than normal, and in the middle of a hard to walk past alley, it wasn't totally empty. There were two others near her… to her dismay. She could smell them all the way from there. They clearly didn't shower very often. She quickly glanced at the papers and grabbed the only one she didn't recognize (she happened to read every single one). She quickly backed away to the other side of the shop, where the smell was least concentrated.
Such a shame, she thought, looking at the man at the far back. He wore a red hood-vest and face mask, cargo pants with knee protection and a tool-belt. It was incredibly practical for combat, but also very worn, torn and in tatters. Had he just come from a fight? Could he be a huntsman, or one in-training like her? She looked at his equipment, he had two Pythons Revolvers and two Wakizashis… wow, he was carrying ancient equipment, in a weird way it made him cooler though. He was also tall, really tall. The bookshelf was 2.1 meters tall, the doorway two, and Ruby wasn't certain he could fit through either.
She glanced to the side and looked at the other, he was still tall, but clearly not as genetically gifted as his companion. He also wore rags, but on him it just seemed washed and in need of replacement. He wore mostly a traditional eastern outfit, and what made Ruby doubt his sanity the most… no shoes. He was walking bare-footed throughout the street, the bottom of his grippers had probably turned into one big disgusting callus.
She stared at him for a hot second, he was definitely the one who smelled out of the two. He carried one Katana on his hip, and while the other one seemed to elevate his grandiose appearance, in this case it made the man seem unprepared.
The man turned around, his blob of unkempt short black hair spun 180 degrees alongside his feet, that made an oddly satisfying sound when he slid across the tiled floor. Ruby looked down at her magazine.
"What is it?" The tall man's voice was deep and gravelly, but also smooth. It had an edge to it, a cool-factor that made him sound cooler than what she imagined in her head.
"Must have been nothing, I guess…" His voice seemed laid back, it was also smooth, but less deep, not gravelly, and if she had to give it another quality it'd have to be energetic. In comparison to his companion, it was nothing interesting or special, she expected a cooler voice coming from him because of his friend. Ruby glanced back at him, and she was met with his eyes, dark brown… aside from what he wore and his stature, Ruby had a feeling if she described him to someone, he'd be impossible to find, he held no presence either.
"... Hi…" She awkwardly waved her hand close to her chest, his eyes were quite round, but also had a slight sharpness to them… they felt incredibly average and unimposing… if he didn't smell so bad, he would probably not leave such a negative first impression. He nodded his head to acknowledge she was there.
"... Expensive…" The taller man exhaled, putting the dust vial back in place. "How do people from around here buy anything? It feels like I could pay for months off our place from the prices here." Ruby couldn't help but snicker at his comment. What a weird thing to say. They must not have been from around here if they said things like that. The old man was selling dust at great prices. He must not have changed them after the recent robberies, which showed he had more integrity than other businessmen around.
That being said, his comment made Ruby question why they were even there… She wished he could take his stinky friend and toss him in a bath somewhere, preferably with cold water so he could wake up. If they didn't have the money for this shop, they wouldn't have money for any other place. So that raised the question yet again, why were they here?
I guess they're just looking, she couldn't help but think positively of the taller man… the shorter between the two however… Ruby would have to watch out to see if he stole anything. For a second more, she looked at the taller figure as he chose all of the wrong ammunition, saying he'd never touched fancy shells like these… then she realized just how creepy she was being and put her hood and headphones on to drown out her embarrassment.
The heat on her cheeks had barely begun to subside when a shadow fell above her. She simply thought it was new customers that had appeared since this was the only store open. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around. Another tall man, they seemed to be quite common these days. He had red sun-glasses (weird fashion statement considering it was night-time), a black suit with a red handkerchief on his breast-pocket. He came in with a group wearing the same outfit, with one exception, a red-haired, bowl-hat and white-suit suspicious-looking gentleman. She took off her headphones.
"Yeah?–" A loud crash interrupted Ruby mid-sentence. She turned to the side and saw the oriental-esk boy, she would call him Grendel, like the large beast in one of the stories her mother read to her. The beast was tall, stinky and ugly. He moved first, she did not have the opportunity to see his strike, but it sent one of the men crashing through the window and into the asphalt outside. How uncivilized, as she expected. Not even Ruby would do such a thing, and her uncle called her hot-tempered.
"Gun to yo' head #**%*#-" The tall man had his Revolver out, she couldn't quite make out what he'd said in that second part of his sentence (he'd actually said lil' bitch). "-Spit a Mannie Fresh verse."
"Who?" A revolver went off, hand-cannons had such a distinct and elegant sound. His Python Revolvers seemed to be modified too, they had a heavier sound to them, the average person wouldn't be able to handle that level of recoil, but the taller man (she would call him Beowulf for now) stood there unphased. The impact of the bullets was such that the red-glassed man was pushed back. Wait… did he just shoot a person without aura?!!!
Ruby's eyes widened. The man she was talking about had been completely knocked out from the force of the bullets alone. They must have rattled his brain as they crashed on his body, which meant that he was using a modified bullet. Not only had he not killed him, but he managed to shoot every non-vital area somehow, were they real bullets, the man (since he attacked him it was probably a robber) he would be incapacitated but not dead, what a skilled and talented individual.
"... Did I just…" he seemed confused himself, looking at the revolver in his hands while knitting his eyebrows.
The other man could be heard from outside, laughing. "It's the clip on your sheathing hand Retardaded, Bitch Motherfucker (mongrel)!" First of all, what a disgusting mouth he had (That had been all in Ruby's head), and secondly who said sheathing hand anyway? What a weirdo.
Ruby finally shifted focus to the man in front of her, he stared bewildered at them.
"Ugh… " their boss (the only one in different attire) exhaled through his nose and began walking away. Ruby quickly grabbed the weapon on the back of her hip, with the press of a button, gears began turning and she swung it onto the henchman's neck as it transformed, knocking him out. She quickly made her way outside, jumping through the broken glass, expecting Grendel to have lost. She imagined him with a lost expression, teary eyed as he cried out to his friend… she really did not like someone who she'd just met… maybe she was the issue?
She made it in time to see him sheathing back his sword and sighing in complete disappointment as he walked through broken glass without his feet taking damage. They were so callused that the glass shards stuck to the bottom of them, then slid away on the rough asphalt…
"That was so disappointing…" The henchmen were bleeding from each of their limbs, not hitting any vital areas. In other words. No, Ruby wasn't the issue, this man who walked barefooted and clearly hit no vitals for torture was disgusting, she was right to distrust him. She prepared herself for combat, but before she could say anything, water covered her vision, a loud explosion rang in her ears, and in front of her, was the man she so much despised, with his blade unsheathed… SHE had been saved? HER??? Why? What was his goal? What did he want? Clearly he had a second motive! He probably was attempting to lower her guard into a false sense of security before backstabbing her. He got close and she felt nauseated from the disgusting smell. How did you have some kind of water-manipulating semblance and were still stinky???
"Sorry to interrupt Red, White" The bowl-hat man said, quickly tossing another dust crystal. She hadn't seen it before because she was too focused staring at this clearly ill-intending man. Also, white? The color of purity? Innocence!? WHITE? This man? The color Angels are depicted with? This sadist? No, he was clearly sickly green, the color of vomit, stench and snot.
Immediately after, the sound of cannon-fire originating from two revolvers rang in her ears. It was actually quite the beautiful symphony as they pierced through the disgusting water barrier, piercing hole in this evil curtain… but there was no way they could hit him, because the water was strong enough to stop dust, in other words at best it would be redirected –
"SHIT –" The bowl-hat man swore as he grasped his shoulder, he'd covered himself with aura, but the impact probably still hurt. That groan of pain only meant one thing. This man in front of her, this god of archery and marksmanship. This saint of gunmanship, master of the art of trajectory. Clairvoyant genius had predicted the exact redirection angle for the bullet he shot and hit Roman(Ruby ignored the fact it took him the use of 2 clips in order to hit anything with either gun).
"Bald!" Grendel revealed to Ruby the name of the perfect warrior before rushing toward the man with the bowl hat. To his disappointment, he had completely broken the staircase leading to the roof below the one he climbed, making it impossible to follow.
"Herc, Don't rush me." Bald, the god of marksmanship, shot three bullets, hitting precisely the screws on the side of the stairs of the building next to the one bowl-hat was climbing. Those stairs were tucked, but by shooting the front screws, Bald had managed to lower the stairs fast enough for… ugh, Herc to leap up twice, the first off the ground, and the second off the metal ladder. He could jump pretty high, Ruby supposed, not as far as her when she used her semblance though. The name Herc fit him, it felt incomplete and it came from the back of the throat, like puke.
He was so smelly, his stench stuck around where she was, he probably infected the king of all revolvers, Bald (typically Ruby would find this name incredibly stupid, but she currently found herself liking it)…
"Yo, you good kid?" He was such a kind soul, asking if she was alright. It was understandable, to him she looked tiny, and weaker than others (had any other punk said this, she would have been angry, calling them out for judging her capacity based on her appearance.) "You keep staring at my homie Alcides like he killed yer puppy or sum… Damn it, how much I gotta pay you to keep quiet?"
"I knew it!" she couldn't help but say. Alcides was… a less weird name, but it was still odd, and bad, and stinky. She knew he kicked, killed and slashed puppies. She was right! He was a horrible person.
"Gosh Darn it (God fucking damn it)…" He was so polite, even at times like these. Clearly, the swordsman Alcides was a bad influence. "If we catch the bowler-hat twink and rough him up for ya, water under the bridge about the puppy?"
"Puppy?" She knit her eyes in confusion for a second, had he done this before? Oh, and of course his friend had to make amends and make sure everything was alright, Bald was such an incredibly kind person. This disgusting, grimy, stinky, bare-footed hooligan was undeserving of such a kind, upright, talented, pure-hearted, loyal friend. You know who deserved all of that? Her. Not the Stinky Swordsman. If there were more people like Bald around, she would have hundreds of friends. "Whatever! We have to go after them!"
"Lead the way, young Blood." He was saying blood like her cape… he had such a way with words. She rushed past, going for the building Herc had just climbed, then looked up… the jump was far larger than she expected. If she used her semblance she might get there in time, but otherwise it would prove difficult. "Make way young lady (Move your Ass Bitch)" Bald somehow dug his fingers into the wall and used that as leverage to leap into the staircase, making it quite comfortably. She couldn't be left behind so she used her semblance to climb up.
"SHI–" Ruby arrived just in time to see Herc swing his blade, he didn't seem that skilled to her… despite that he alone was bringing the bowler-hat man into a corner… which meant that the bowler-hat man wasn't skilled in fighting. A few bullets ought to do it.
There was a flicker in light, followed by a loud, ear-ringing boom from behind her. Bald had made it to the top, and was shooting the bowler-hat with his modified revolvers. They sounded like fire-works. She had to activate her aura to prevent deafening, she wondered how it was possible for him to use it at all without the need of his own aura… maybe he was just that tough.
His shots cornered the bowler-hat man with precision, skill and incredible foresight, and Herc obviously went in to steal the lime-light and steal the glory by taking advantage… and somehow he'd fail at that. Ruby thought about not helping out, after all, it seemed well resolved… but then her sense of duty called, she had to catch the bad guy… so yes, she helped the stinky, unskilled swordsman. Her scythe morphed into a sniper-rifle and she began shooting bowler-hat as well as she could… but that swordsman kept getting in the way.
"Shigure Soen Ryu, hachi no Kata –" Quickly, he slashed twice in a cross-shape, was he stupid? All the bowler-hat man had to do was dodge backward or side-ways. As Ruby predicted it's what he'd done, and yet the bowler-hat was sent back flying in force as torrents of water sprung from the ground and were then sent at the criminal, "Shinotsuku Ame!" What was he even saying anyway?
"Show-off" Bald continued shooting, hitting the bowler-hat mid-air, pushing him back further with the impact of his cannon-like pythons. He was right too, that sword-wielding skunk was just showing off…And even then, he remained as his friend, Bald was such a kind person in general.
"Hado Ichi-go –" Herc stopped mid-attack, crouched down and pointed his index finger at the bowler-hat. "Sho!"
"NO!" This wasn't something that came from the enemy team, but rather from Bald himself, who screamed out as a sudden burst of shockwave travelled toward bowler-hat. Just as it seemed it would hit, it curved mid-path, missing by a hair's width. ""Why would you use something you can't aim with?!? (Are you actually for real, you retard? You couldn't hit the toilet with your piss with that aim!)"
"Shit," as expected, Herc had a potty-mouth, he was probably the kind of child that ate their own boogers too, "I should've used Bakudo."
"Of course, it would've been better that way, keep up dude, they're trying to escape! (No shit you shit shoveling, sword swallowing cumstain! Move your ass! They're getting away!)" He was of course as eloquent as ever (Ruby most likely required some kind of ear-repairing therapy).
The small frame of time bowler-hat given by the most untalented marksman of this generation was enough for the criminal to jump inside a bullhead. He quickly rushed inside, and as soon as he was up there, he tossed a small cut dust crystal. It was red, meaning only one thing. Ruby braced for impact. Water began surging in an upward cross.
"Shigure Soen Ryu, Ni no kata –" Water sprung from the blade, creating a barrier as the dust exploded, turning it to steam, once again she'd been protected by the stinky samurai wannabe. Ruby was more so upset that he tried protecting her in the first place, she could have dodged that with her own semblance. "Sakamaku Ame" He was kneeling down again, with his blade upward as he touched it… was he trying to act cool? It looked dumb. Even dumber than that, Ruby glanced down to his hip… there was a pistol right THERE why didn't he use it???
"Hmph!" A soft grunt came from in front of Herc, it was a soft voice, and it sounded feminine, too bad Ruby couldn't quite tell with precision because a torrent of water making a wall was in her way.
"Herc." It was a singular word, but upon hearing it, the stinky swordsman dropped the wall, and the incredible, best marksman of the century pulled the trigger three times. They all landed hits, that was for sure, but whoever was in that aircraft was skilled enough to block them with their bare hands. Each time she did, her hand was sent backward from the impact, so she'd use the other.
The mysterious woman snapped her fingers and an ear-piercing screech rang out from under them. Herc tried jumping out of the way, but he was probably too busy controlling the water to do anything, she exploded. Meanwhile, both Ruby and Bald were pulled by some invisible force… had Herc not been seen because of his water attack? Deserved, Ruby thought.
Something cut the smoke, Herc, looking quite damaged, with several burns on his traditional-esk outfit. He smelled even worse now that it was burned. He breathed out and exhaled a bunch of smoke.
"Drat." Even though his method of cursing was uncreative and boring, could there ever be a singular person on this earth who had the capacity to enjoy being near this dirty hooligan? Truly, Bald was a saint.
"Bakudo!" Bald called out, rolling forward as he aimed his revolvers. Every single hit with his bullets clearly left some damage. It seemed as though the enemy had some kind of heating semblance. Sparks would appear every time she blocked one, and the fire that appeared under their feet was another hint. The fact Herc managed to get hit by that and not lose all his aura meant he had around as much aura as her… and Ruby wasn't comfortable with the fact they shared any similarities.
"Yeah yeah!" He lazily, and unskillfully, and dimwitted, and unelegantly rolled sideways with his sword in-hand, then began schizophrenically drawing nothing mid-air. "Bakudo Ichi-go!"
"SAI!" He shoved his grimy fingers forwards and pointed at the woman. Just as the woman was about to block one of the shots from the dazzling and remarkable Deadeye, Bald when her arms suddenly tightly wrapped behind her. Was that his semblance? I thought it was water manipulation… this made Ruby think he was even more creepy, a semblance meant to tie people up? Just what she'd expect from a disgusting person like him, he probably used it to rob people.
"Why in the twin gods' good name did you use a ranged attack when you cannot aim well, dumbass! (YOU FUCKING RETARDED MONGROLLING CUNT WEAVER! I TOLD YOUR SWORD SWALLOWING ASS NOT TO USE RANGED SHIT CAUSE YOU SUCK AT THAT MORE THAN YOU SUCKED DICKS IN MISTRAL!)" Even Ruby couldn't block out all the insults this time, but she didn't blame Bald, it was clearly that no good miscreant's fault he made him this angry!
"Hmph, mind your tongue." The blonde woman that had just appeared had an intense air around her, she pushed her glasses up with the hand she held a black riding corp, She used it as a wand, waving it like one, she made her surroundings glow pink, then fly straight at the woman in the bullhead. The bowler-hat man tilted the bullhead just enough to have both Bald's shot miss (something Ruby thought impossible) and the rubble bullets hit the top of the aircraft to keep himself safe.
"Ugh… I'm out of my element." The disgusting, useless, waste of space, Herc said. "COME DOWN HERE!" He had a pistol on his waist, right on his belt. It looked like a modified M1911. Ruby stared at it with a blank expression, was he stupid on top of being stinky? Herc grabbed it, finally attempting something of use, then stepped forward with his gun-hand back… he was going to throw it?!?! He WAS stupid!
He threw it, then pointed his hand at it. At first the gun looked as though it would miss because it wasn't thrown hard enough (was he a damn child? Ruby was definitely younger and could throw further… as to be expected of this loser). However, just as it was about to fall, a miracle happened.
"Hado Ichi-go!"
"HAJIME!"
"SHO!" The small shock-wave struck the gun and made it travel faster, the binding from before still seemed to be in effect, and as such, the woman in the aircraft couldn't dodge or block it. The gun struck her on the face. He had somehow done more damage than Bald, Ruby and even the professional huntress. Ruby didn't care about that however, she was still suspended in disbelief. Why didn't he just shoot the damn bullets? Was he not right in the head?
The bullhead began to gain distance. Ruby rolled back onto her knees and began shooting at it again, but it was too late, it had gotten out of range that was when it sank in. She had done less damage than this primitive, stinky, bare-footed, hooligan and barbarian. Typically she would fawn all over the huntress, but she was too busy looking at the ground wide-eyed, too bewildered to say anything.
"You three…" The tall woman had to look up to see the tower that was Bald.
"Sup" Bald greeted, popping the P.
"Hmmm" Herc drooled from the corner of his mouth. He got on a lower stance while grabbing his sword. He looked like a rabid animal waiting to go off. His hand trembled in excitement, and his disgusting eyes shook, darting short distances.
"Al, buddy, No. We might die. Not right now."
"It'd be tough, but I would win." He was delusional.
"We will definitely die."
The woman got tired of waiting and swung her riding corp and a pink energy surrounded all of them. A bubble that carried them. Why was she also being treated like this??? She had done nothing wrong! It was all Herc's fault! "First you should take a bath… how long has it been since you three bathed?" Why was she being lumped together with Herc? Her cheeks flushed as she covered her face, how embarrassing.
"Alcides has not showered for two weeks and a lifetime, ma'am." Bald laid back with his hands behind his head and relaxed.
"... RAHH" Herc didn't even listen, he resisted with all of his non-existent power, swinging and kicking inside the bubble. He sounded like a crazed animal grunting and growling. As for that explanation from Bald, it all made sense now.
"You would win, right? That's what you said… Right?" Bald raised an eyebrow at the stinky man, and Ruby could hear the mocking undertone, it was the same one Yang used to tease her!
"..." Herc narrowed his eyes, "Damare yo, Barudoru, yakutatazu no kuzu ga![1]" He was having a stroke now?
"Oh, we are using that tone now? Jibun no kotoba ni sekinin o moteru yō ni nattara, hanashikakete koi[2]"
"Ima omae ni hanashiten da yo, kono kuso yarō[3]" He replied sharply. The blond woman waved her riding corp and smacked it against the ground.
"Enough gibberish." She slapped it against her hand, once again Ruby was being blamed for Herc's nonsense. She hoped he got a prison sentence while she was let go.
"That wasn't gibberish, you are just racist." Baldr shrugged.
"Do you have a code-language?"
"You don't?"
"You're coming with me to the police station." She ignored the question altogether, not entertaining Bald… or Baldr's (such a cooler name, Ruby knew Bald couldn't be it) question.
"Police!? Oh Hell no! Herc! Taikei "Nigerundayo" hatsudō[4]!"
"Karada ga ugokanai... Kono ba de bakudō ga kiku ka wakaranai kedo, tamesu beki ka...?[5]" Herc and Baldr went back to speaking in their weird code-language. Herc probably said something stupid.
"Hai! Tora no senzo o uragiru na! Samo naito, omae ni haji o! Omae no ushi ni haji o! Soshite, omae no shūkaku ni mo haji o![6]"
"Panther, cunt." He pointed his hand at the woman in front of them. Sensing threat, she immediately swung her wand/riding corp and made him fly around her in circles at high velocities.
"Herc!" Baldur was now actively fighting back against the bubble trying to break free. Somehow, he managed to walk out of the bubble, maybe it was because the huntress was too focused on Herc, or maybe Baldr was really that strong(Ruby believed the latter).
"Kuso! Iikagen ni shiro, kono yarō! Bakudō ichiban, Shō![7]" The woman's arms wrapped behind her, and she fell forwards thanks to her heels. Herc got down, but he dizzily rolled his head, motion sickness, probably. Her semblance deactivated and Ruby fell on the ground… they'd be in real problems now.
Baldr looked down at the woman on the ground, before slowly turning and looking at Herc. "I thought maybe I should beat her up, but this looks wrong dude."
"Hurghhh" Herc gagged, making Ruby look at him in disgust.
"Totally agree, she fully deserves it."
Soundless, and precise darts hit both Baldr, Ruby and Herc. Ruby turned her head, and the first police officers appeared. They probably neared them from all of the fighting and explosions. After they bound a huntress they probably acted. They used tranq darts to catch people, and the dosages were tweaked for huntsmen and faunus. They'd be out in seconds. They waited for them to turn off their aura, and were far enough to not be sensed.
"You are not catching us alive…" Baldr actually had his guns in his hands before he lumberd forward.
"Ha!" Herc tripped over his own feet, unconscious. Ruby was the last one to go, probably because she was lying down. She felt her eyelids get heavier, and heavier until she finally closed her eyes.
*0*
[1] Shut up, Baldur, you useless piece of shit!
[2] Come talk to me when you can take responsibility for your own words
[3] I'm talking to you right now, you piece of shit!
[4] Activate Formation "RUN AWAY!"
[5] My body won't move... I don't know if Bakudō will work here, but... should I try it?"
[6] Yes! Do not betray your Tiger ancestors! If you do, shame on you! Shame on your cow! And shame on your harvest too!
[7] Damn it! Cut it out already, you bastard! Bakudō #1: Shō!