Last Huntress - Chapter 4

-Acting on Instinct-

Ruby slipped between two businessmen moving in different directions, the tall men both chatting away on their scrolls while they glanced her way in annoyance. She was still well into the Sunrise Quarter, a part of the human half of the District. It was a stark difference from the harshness of the neighborhoods she and Yang lived in. The streets were almost entirely populated by humans, most wearing clothing that were as crisp and clean as the day they had been bought.

Cars of varying quality occupied the roads, their engines idling in the midday sun as she kept to the crosswalk at a red light. Even with her hood up, she stood out in the crowds, and was very aware of it. She could sense the looks that were tossed her way as she turned a corner and quickly walked down the street that would lead out of the Quarter, all too eager to get away from the air of judgment.

There were easier ways to get back to Ember Heights, but none were faster than cutting through the Markets. Here, she would blend in with the crowds. Here, she wouldn't be worried about being so obviously out of place. It wasn't much, just a long, wide alley that had become home to quite a few merchants who came to sell their wares. Everything from basic weapons, knives and the sort, to hand-woven clothing made to personal specifications.

It also housed one of the many outlets for the Kingdom's thriving Black Market. Whenever the human side of the District wanted to buy drugs or other illicit contraband, they came here rather than risk crossing over into the slums. As Ruby weaved through a throng of people, she ducked away from those that were already in the process of trying to sell her something, slipping around the shoppers who meandered about with no sense of urgency to their steps.

Once or twice, she was sure she felt someone try to pickpocket her. It was either that or grab at her ass, but no attempt found purchase, as she reached out to slap the offending limbs away. After a busy few minutes of navigating the dizzying ocean of shoppers in the Markets, she broke through to the other side and ducked into a barren alley in order to catch a breath of air that wasn't tainted by the stench of the Markets.

Almost immediately, her ears twitched towards a sound that echoed down the alley towards her. A scream, deep, obviously male, and the source of it close. Ruby let out a slow breath as she pushed off of a wall and moved down the bleak concrete lane, her boots grinding chips of broken concrete into the ground as she slipped between the wall and a dumpster that smelled suspiciously like day old fish despite being empty. She raised an eyebrow as she reached the crossroads between three other alleyways, glancing between each of them until another yell reached her.

The person crying out was obviously in pain, probably the victim of a mugging, given the location. Ruby fully expected to turn the corner and see a man bleeding on the ground while someone rifled through his pockets, but what she found was enough to stop her in her tracks. The rough mohawk was ample evidence she had found her quarry, but there was so much wrong with the scene before her.

Instead of finding Russel Thrush drugged out of his mind, she had stumbled across him assembling what looked to be a military-grade sniper rifle. He also seemed to be the one screaming, as there was no one else to be found within the area. Her hand drifted down to the holster at her side, thumb flicking open the button that held the gun within as her fingers curled about the grip, drawing it quickly from its housing.

It was a thin alley that she had found him in, almost too tight for combat, and he was far closer than she would have liked. Hopefully, he was as not keen on fighting as she was. "Thrush, stand down! I'm here to take you in." Stepping fully from the shadows as she fixed the sights on Thrush's torso, she carefully observed the stiff way his back straightened. A tattered cloak hung about his shoulders, dark navy in color and doing a good job of hiding his hands. "Let me see your-"

The cloak spun and the blade of a dagger gashed through the lower part of her right shoulder, the realization of her mistake setting in quickly for Ruby as her aim went wide. She barely managed to not fire the weapon out of pure instinct, her left hand immediately moving to grip at the new cut that was leaking blood down her arm as she stumbled back with a surprised cry of pain.

In the meantime, her quarry had risen to his feet and spun to face her, revealing a few startling differences from the last time she had seen him. The first, and most obvious, was the red glow that pulsed across the surface of his skin. It was his veins, she realized, each of them lit up by the copious quantities of the Dust drug being pushed through them. As the cloak was displaced by his movements, she saw his other arm through the torn folds of the garment.

It was a cybernetic replacement for the one he had lost in the Breach, but something was different. Many of the maimed hunters, herself included, had been given one last favor from the government that had put them out of their jobs; however, the expenses of replacing so many missing body parts meant they got the very lowest quality of cybernetics that would allow them to function. The one now clenching its fist at Russel's side was anything but.

Smooth, gleaming, silver metal was supported by advanced hydraulics that hissed as the hand reached up to tear away the cloak that was wrapped about the man's torso. Now with the torn garment draped back over his robotic shoulder, she could see that even his brown eyes held a distinctly red glow, and Ruby's quick glance towards the ground revealed nearly a half dozen discarded needles. Someone had administered all of them to him, and now his screaming made perfect sense. His veins were quite literally on fire, burning through his body with abandon. Slowly, she returned her gaze to the man who held the bounty she had come to collect. "Well, shit."

The low growl that came from the man as he advanced on her was almost inhuman, and she knew that any attempt to get through to him wouldn't be able to breach the haze of the drug. She swung her pistol back up, but cried out as the metal fist slammed into her own, throwing it out to the side and sending the gun skittering across the ground. She raised her Aura for a split second to absorb the force of the blow, barely managing to keep her fingers from breaking beneath the raw power her opponent was bringing to the fight.

Ducking beneath a quick jab from his normal hand, Ruby spun as the sharp edges of metal fingers scraped across the back of her shoulder, generating a spark of red light as it scored into her Aura, her defense sloppy as she had completely missed the incoming attack. It had been too long since she had been in an actual fight, too long since she had used her innate energy for more than the most basic of things; healing bruises and small cuts in a matter of minutes.

Planting her foot as she came out of the spin, she pushed off the ground and led with a clumsy punch in his direction. Her fist never got close, being caught in the vice grip of a cybernetic hand. Immediately, her arm was twisted to immobilise her as she hissed at the pain shooting through her limb, expecting him to wrench it and shatter the bones at any moment.

There came no such movement, as she was held in place and his other wrist curled into a fist. It slammed into her stomach at a viciously knocking the wind from her lungs and causing her to whine in pain as that hand drew back and then snapped back into her ribs. She was released and allowed to double over in pain as Russel moved to grab a handful of her vest, using it as a grip to lift and throw her.

Ruby experienced a moment of weightlessness as she sailed through the air, right before pain exploded along the length of her back and she collapsed into a heap at the base of the alley wall. Her vision swam as she tried to catch sight of her opponent again, her brain processing only slight hints of him turning away and bending to finish the task she had interrupted. She watched as he slung the rifle over his shoulder and turned to her, a growl coming from him just as she reached her hands and knees.

A vicious kick to the ribs was all it took to send her back to the ground, gasping for breath as she rolled over to try and face her attacker. Confusion cut through the pain as she saw Russel stalking off, clearly more concerned with his objective than her. She tried to will her body to rise, to move after Thrush, but no response came as the fire in her limbs slowly died down and her lungs ached to fill with air again.

Ruby wasn't sure how long she lay there, coughing as she tried to take in air and releasing her Aura with a pained whine as it tried to mend her damaged lungs. Slowly, her control over her limbs returned, and she was able to reach out and grasp the grip of the revolver that lay a foot or so away. She groaned as she struggled to a kneeling position. Her left hand fumbled against the ragged tear through the flesh of her lower right shoulder, coming away wet with blood as she let out a low, dangerous growl.

It was obvious that Russel had some help getting out of that jail earlier this week, it was now obvious that whoever the mysterious man Junior had seen with the ex-Hunter in the club was this anonymous benefactor. And whoever it was that had broken Russel out and upgraded his arm had plans for him, plans that required a strict timetable and a high powered rifle. Anything involving the later couldn't be good, so she dug her boot into the pavement and forced herself to stand. Her pace was slow, her wounded arm kept close to her chest as she gingerly held on to bruised ribs that ached with each step forward.

Her pursuit of Russel Thrush began anew.

The wolf ears atop Ruby's head twitched in agitation as she leaned against the alley wall, her breath coming easier now, but still hitching on a rib that had barely managed to remain unbroken. Her nose had caught the scent of her prey, or rather of the drug that was flowing through his veins. It was distinctive, it burned at the delicate tissue of the nasal canals and forced her to rub at her nose in irritation as if she had just taken a long waft of a strong spice. Her other hand held her revolver, flipping open the cylinder on the weapon in order to check the rounds within. Drawing one from where it was held, she examined the tip, the light blue telling her it was exactly the kind of Dust she needed for this.

Replacing the bullet, Ruby snapped the cylinder back into place with a flick of her wrist, letting out a soft groan as she gripped at her wounded arm with her free hand. It was a pained glare she leveled toward the crowd that was milling about in the street, one that only increased when she took in a deep breath and smelled the scent traveling into the alleyway across the street.

Shoving off of the wall, she slid into the brief open window and began pushed her way across the sea of bodies, ignoring the rumbles that came as she stepped on feet or displaced another person. Even as constricted as she was, she could still follow that burning sensation, though it was now accompanied by a delightful mix of old sweat and bad cologne. Suddenly, the direction of the scent she was chasing changed, leading her to follow the flow of the crowd.

Confusion set in until she spotted that torn cloak that Russel had been wearing, further down the street from where she now stood. Her view became obstructed when a passerby slammed into her injured shoulder and shoved past her, causing lights to dance into her vision as she held at the gash and growled out. Once she managed to right herself, she began moving forward with a new and dangerous determination.

The man who had hit into her was pushed out of the way, sending him and his fine suit into the gutter as she stalked past. Another person was shoved, and a couple of yells of alarm joined a growing chorus, bringing her attention back to herself for a brief second. "The White Fang! The White Fang is here!"

Ruby spun to locate where the gangsters were, instead finding that everyone nearby was backing away from her. A moment of confusion was washed away when she realized that her hood had been pulled back far enough that it had fallen, revealing her wolfish ears that twitched their red tips about as panic set in. She was a lone Faunus, just over the line that separated the District, brandishing a weapon and looking like she had murder on her mind.

Fucked was a good way to describe her current predicament.

But more importantly, Russel had turned to view the commotion as well. Sparks of red glowed out from below the hood of a dark cloak, widening when he noticed that she was staring back at him. The ring of pedestrians that had recoiled in fear around her were also becoming an obstacle between her and her target, forming a wall of scared human faces all around her and limiting her options down to a series of very risky decisions, and only one that might result in her catching the would-be assassin that was now starting to run away from her.

"Fuck! Move, get out of the way!" Leveling her revolver at the people who stood between her and Thrush, they cleared a path at an appropriate speed, bringing to mind the fear that The White Fang commanded in the masses. A flash of a torn cloak was all the warning she received as the man ducked into an alley. Digging the edge of her outward boot into the ground as she turned the corner, she saw him jumping against a wall before spinning and kicking off to reach the higher wall on the other side.

Cries of panic still echoed from the street, and even as she chased after the ex-Hunter, Ruby mentally hit herself for being so careless. In one smooth action she holstered her weapon and jumped at the shorter wall. Her momentum held her to the surface for the instant she needed to spin and kick off, barely managing to reach the next wall and get her fingers on the edge as she slammed into the concrete.

Her muscles strained and her injured arm cried out in protest as the gash cutting through her lower shoulder tore further from the exertion, but still she persisted, pulling herself further up the edge. When she reached the height that allowed her to peer over, she saw the edges of a cloak disappeared into the covered bridge that connected this building with the one across the street.

Ruby kicked her feet against the edge as she scrambled to make it up, silencing her cries by biting down into her lower lip and forcing herself to growl at the pain until she rolled over onto her back, safely atop the higher ledge. Her chest heaved with each intake of breath, causing another spike of agony as the bruises forming over her ribs fought back against her efforts.

A groan accompanied the movement onto her hands and knees, shaking her head at the mess this bounty had turned into. She honestly had trouble remembering the last time she had been forced to work this hard to bring someone in, her targets were usually the lowest of the criminal ladder, those so unimportant it was easy to get their location from their friends and take them down by surprise. Not many had been outfitted with advanced cybernetics and an overdose of a drug that enhanced strength.

Not many had been trained at Beacon.

The anger in Ruby's chest only grew as she stumbled into a run and chased after her bounty. It surprised her, this fury that grew as she reached the bridge, the burning pot of molten emotion that churned within her chest growing more and more with each footfall. It had been a long time since she had felt something so strong, and it was brought on by a sense of betrayal. Russel and her had never been exactly friends, but they had fought together, all the students had fought together at the end of their third year at the Academy.

When the Hunters were disbanded, many turned to similar walks of life. Some became mercenaries, selling their skills to the private security firms that guarded the social elite of Remnant, a preemptive move now that those who were poor had the time to look upwards and wonder what could be. More still joined the police force, ironically enforcing the law that had turned them away from the path they had originally intended. But she only pitied those, she did hate them.

And Gods did she hate Russel right now, to have fallen so far. It couldn't have been helped that a few of her classmates had stooped down to criminal ranks, some even joining the gangs that ruled the dirty underside of Vale. But to become an assassin, to throw everything that they had once stood for away? To use the knowledge gifted to a protector to become nothing more than a greedy killer?

Ruby found her resolve strengthened by such thoughts, and beneath the leather glove that covered her hand, knuckles turned white from the pressure of her grip on the massive revolver. She rose to her feet in one swift actions, pain and exhaustion forgotten as she stalked towards her target, towards the bridge that groaned under the weight of the man now hidden within.

Coming around the side of the opening, the canopied length of the long metal contraption became visible. It was one of thousands of catwalks that littered Vale, connecting the rooftops of the buildings together and providing a different means of transport. The idea had been to allow the rapid response of the peacekeeping mechs during times of civil unrest, but the lack of maintenance had caused the whole system to fall into disrepair in such a short time. After all, it wasn't part of the Barricade program, it wasn't a priority for the government to get fixed. Catwalks didn't stop the Grimm from entering the city.

Luckily for Ruby, she was counting on the instability of the bridge as she stomped onto the smooth surface, placing as much weight behind it as she could. Russel was aiming out over the street with the rifle he had assembled, clearly having found his target; however, his carefully aimed shot mattered little when the ground beneath him was suddenly shaking.

Ruby didn't know if her actions had spared his target as the muzzle of the sniper rifle flashed and a deafening crack sounded out through the air, but the feral look that her bounty tossed her way was more than clear enough for her. She had interrupted, again. Now Russel, his mind overwhelmed by the massive dose of the drug, was going to kill her. Only a large weapon was hard to fit through the small windows of the bridge, whereas her revolver only needed to be lifted a few inches.

The hammer slammed back as her first shot fired, shattering a round against the stock of the rifle and instantly freezing the assassin's hands to both the weapon he held and the wall behind it in a case of solid ice. The next shot trapped a foot, and the third impacted his chest, creating a inch thick sheet of ice on his shirt that set him to howling as his aura did little to protect from the instantaneous drop in temperature on his body.

The heat of the fire Dust he had injected into his veins reacted poorly to the ice Dust she had shot into him, and what had begun as pained yelps from the sheer impact of the non-lethal rounds quickly climbed into panicked howls of agony as she spun the revolver into its holster and slowly approached her prey. When she got near, the feral animal that Huo Zai Mai had temporarily reduced Russel to started biting at her, even with no hope of breaking the bonds that now constrained it.

"Shut up.." Her tired words did not match the swiftness that she pulled back and then punched the would be assassin in the side of the head, sending his eyes rolling back as his body collapsed for a brief moment. That dead weight was all that was needed to cause another worrying groan that shook through the metalwork of the bridge. It was all the warning she received before the center of the walkway beneath them gave out, and the entire structure came crashing down.

Ruby Rose was no stranger to bad days. She would actually admit that most of her days could be classified as shitty, on the basis all that she really remembered was drinking until she could stop remembering. She missed such simple activities, as she came to after blacking out for a few seconds on the ground of the alleyway she had just been thirty feet above.

Parts of her body screamed out for relief. Her leg, where that old scar cut across her thigh. Her arm, where what was going to be a new scar was busy letting even more of her blood drip away. Her right eye, oddly, ached as if it was still present, like a headache was applying pressure to an organ that was no longer there. But the more pressing concern of where Russel Thrush had landed kept her mind focused on what truly mattered right now.

Pushed herself up from the wreckage of the bridge, she found her quarry not too far away, only a foot or so to the right and as unconscious as she had been. However, the man was free of the thick ice she had used to bind him before, meaning that if he woke up he was still a threat. She was in no mood for another round.

It didn't take much effort to throw the scrawny man over onto his back, and pull his cybernetic arm over as her other hand worked to free a different bullet from her belt. Filled with gunpowder and tipped with fire Dust, the round she now held could do serious damage to an un-Aura'd target, but more importantly the limb that would give that target an advantage in combat. Sure, it was a little unethical and not at all playing fair in matters of battle.

But Ruby was a bounty hunter.

The round was loaded into the cylinder and spun into place in the space of a heartbeat, and she pressed the barrel of her revolver to the area just below the shoulder of the robotic limb and fired. The sound of the gun firing echoed through the relative silence of the streets, as bits and pieces of metal scattered all around her immediate area. When the smoke from the miniature explosion cleared, there was a gaping hole in the cybernetic arm that leaked lubricant all over the ground.

Her weapon was replaced at her side soon after, and she worked to gather up both of Russel's hands and keep them close together. So engrossed with her task of handcuffing the assassin, Ruby missed that she was being surrounded by half a dozen other figures, instead focusing on mumbling out curses about the bruises that wouldn't heal for weeks because of this job.

No sooner had she finished clicking the last cuff into place than a black blade was placed at her throat from over her right shoulder, the threat of that weapon alone more than enough to get her empty hands into the air. "Whoa! Whoa, guys. Bounty is yours if you want it."

There wasn't much that could have been done anyway, Ruby slowly realized, as her gaze raised up to find a man walking toward her. Even if she had her gun in hand when the blade touched her skin, she wouldn't have been fast enough to get the one in front and the two that she saw on the side. Not to mention the one with the sword on her and whoever else might be out of her field of view.

The one who stood before her was dressed in an asymmetrical black suit, it's shoulder and lower right side decorated in elaborate red petal designs. More importantly was the bone white mask with stylized markings on the face of that the man wore, identifying him as a member of The White Fang, a ranking one if she had to hazard a guess.

The way he was looking at her didn't afford her a good view until he crouched down on the other side of the prone man she had captured. The new angle afforded her a good look of the bull horns that started just above his forehead and curled up, blending well into the swept back look of his brown and red streaked hair. Her fear was clear to him as his lips broke into a wide and disconcerting grin. "Well, well.."

Author's Note: Definitely don't need to point out who that is, do I? I don't think so, after these last few episodes. Anywho.. Thank you so much to those who left reviews, I really appreciate your feedback and it's awesome that you aren't missing any of the breadcrumbs I'm leaving. As I said when I started this story, it is an AU, so how and when the Breach happened is completely different.(Not to mention the 'Fall of Beacon' being a whole lot less about battles and more about a court room). Just, you know, if anyone was confused about that at this point.. A more combat heavy chapter, sorry if that's not your speed but the next will be all development and dialogue if you like that! Thank you to all the followers, the favoriters, and especially my reviewers. Love you all and I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! Please feel free to let me know what you think! -Fox

Update(2/21): Reviewed, edited and updated by my Beta! Quality and tense corrections throughout, nothing too big but overall I am much more satisfied with this chapter.