Ch 3: A True Huntress
"Whoa-ho-ho!" Roman laughed as he saw the twin disappear in a plume of smoke and fire. However, his celebration was short-lived. As the smoke began to clear, a purple light began to shine through, revealing a barrier in the shape of a magic circle made of purple light that had blocked the explosion.
The source of the barrier could be found standing proudly behind the energy shield with her black riding crop wand brandished before her. She appeared to be a middle-aged woman with light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. Her sharp eyes were a bright green behind her thin ovular glasses, and a pair of dangling teal earrings matched the pendent on her collar. She wore a white long-sleeved, pleated top with a wide keyhole neckline showing the tops of her breasts and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrists. Her lower half was wrapped tight in a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings leading into a pair of black boots with bronze heels. On her back fluttered a cape that was purple on the inside and black on the outside styled to end in arrows and flames with a row of diamond-shaped bronze beads across the middle just below an emblem of a purple tiara. She perfectly personified the "hot teacher with strict exterior and kind interior" image that she was rumored to exemplify.
The woman glanced back at the siblings crouching down behind her and raised one eyebrow, impressed that they had been able to get clear of the explosion by jumping backward even without her help, before pushing her glasses up and turning her attention back to the criminal with a short "Hmm". Roman immediately recognized the woman as Glynda Goodwitch, an elite Huntress and teacher at Beacon Academy.
[Today is just not my day.] Roman thought to himself as the huntress below him swung her wand, sending bolts of purple energy flying towards the Bullhead. Roman stumbled his way to the cockpit in a rush as the Bullhead shook under the impacts.
"We got a huntress!" he yelled over the blaring emergency sirens of the airship. The woman in the pilot's seat nodded as she quickly abandoned her struggle with the yoke to hold the airship steady and hurried back towards the still open cargo bay. Roman promptly took over the controls and steadied the airship. Seeing the airship steadying itself and shifting its jets to prepare for horizontal flight, Glynda released a bolt of icy blue energy into the sky above the airship.
"The hell… ?" Roman murmured to himself as black clouds began to swirl and gather above him in response to Glynda's move. His apprehension over what she was trying to do was quickly answered as with a downward flick of her wrist, a hail of sharpened icicles began to rain down from the clouds, embedding themselves into the frame. One of the shards even broke through the canopy glass and would have pierced Roman's head if he hadn't ducked in time.
At this time, the woman on the airship finally reached to open bay doors. Her red dress and long pale legs illuminated by the fiery markings on her arms and the moonlight shining down even as her face remained lost in shadows. She hurled a blast of fire at Glynda in retaliation. Glynda blocked the flames with a wave of her wand, causing the fire to splatter on the ground around her.
"Below!" Ray shouted, still holding his sister back to keep her out of the fight, as the woman in red swung her arm up, causing a geyser of flames to erupt from the ground beneath Glynda, shattering that area of the rooftop. Responding to Ray's warning, Glynda executed an elegant backflip to land safely beside the twins as she avoided the attack.
Taking advantage of the rubble created by her opponent's attack, Glynda gathered the shattered pieces of roof together into a giant spear and threw it at the Bullhead. The woman in red unleashed a string of fire blasts at the spear, trying to stop it, but she succeeded only in slowing it down. After being hit by the fire blasts, the spear paused for a moment to reform before continuing onwards on its trajectory. However, this brief pause gave Torchwick the chance to maneuver the airship into a 45-degree tilt towards the spear, causing it to ricochet off the roof of the Bullhead instead of piercing into its side.
Unwilling to stop there, Glynda dismantled her spear into three streams of debris and had them circle the Bullhead, preparing to forcibly pull it to the ground. Seeing this, the woman in red gathered her energy and released it all in a single explosive burst, turning all three streams of debris into ash.
Sparks began jumping between the studs on the back of Ray's gauntlets as he began to wonder if he should also start taking action at this point. In that brief moment, while Ray was calculating, Ruby broke free of his restraining hand. Thinking that the criminals were about to get away, Ruby shifted her weapon into its gun form and began firing rounds at the woman in red. Her Aura enhanced shots hit her target hard and pushed her back a step each time, forcing her to use both hands to block them. Unfortunately, driving her to take a couple of steps back was all Ruby's efforts were able to accomplish against her target. However, Ruby's actions did serve to distract Ray and Glynda, causing them to cease any offensive moves they might have been preparing to make, worried about any retaliation the woman in red might direct towards the young girl who had dared to challenge her.
And retaliate she did. Taking advantage of this momentary lapse, the woman in red summoned five fiery vortexes beneath the three. Glynda and Ray both immediately sensed the danger these vortexes represented but had distinctly different instinctive reactions. While Glynda's instincts told her to use her telekinesis semblance to protect the kids by pulling them back out of danger, Ray's, knowing that Glynda would protect his twin, drove him forward lest their retreat gave their opponents the chance to escape. In the end, though, Ray suppressed his battle instincts and allowed Glynda to pull him back.
[Now is not the time.] Ray thought to himself as a giant pillar of fire erupted from where the three of them had just been standing. The flames lighting up their faces and revealing the predatorial grin on Ray's face. A grin that was only seen by the woman in red as they flew away, leaving her with a deep unease. She quickly shook off the feeling. She was no longer prey, thanks to her Mistress, she was now a predator, and she would never go back. That boy was simply an ignorant frog in a well unaware of the true nature of the world they lived in. It wouldn't be until a year later that she would realize just how wrong she had been that night. But by then, it was far too late. She was prey, and she had been caught, collared, and tamed.
Ray stood with his back to Glynda and Ruby, watching the airship disappear into the night sky. Consciously ignoring his sister, who was fangirling hard all over the huntress who had just helped them, he turned his attention to the shattered moon that hung in the sky over the world of Remnant. It was said to have been broken when the gods abandoned the world long ago and shattered a quarter of it into pieces in their passing. Some of the fragments remained, to this day, locked within the moon's orbit.
[My pieces are all in place. We are strong, united, prepared, and well hidden. Now, we need only wait for the game to begin. I look forward to your first move, Salem. But don't take too long. The longer you wait, the longer I can train the team that will destroy you. We don't want the final fight of your immortal life to be boring now, do we?] Ray's grin widened into a sneer, and his battle intent shone brightly in his eyes as he reminisced over this new world he had found himself in. This world called Remnant.