Rooftop Rumble

??? POV:

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In a rush, I pulled the hood back up and put the mask back on. I then quickly check that there is no one walking on the sidewalk below, and seeing that there is none, I Jump off of the roof. With a landing that cracked the concrete but did no damage to me as the deep blue aura shielded me, and without a second though I quickly transition into a sprint, dashing in the direction of the commotion.

"Here we go..." I whisper while revving up my semblance.

I can sense the world around me slow, as I feed more aura into the starving beast. My body is slowly encapsulated by a vibrant dark violet lightning, and with a light push from my feet,

-Whooosh!!

I hear the wind rush past me as I utilize the boost in speed to reach my destination much faster than I would have without the use of my semblance. There truly nothing comparable to the feeling of the wind rushing past while running at speeds no normal person could ever hope to achieve, but, sadly, I do have to limit myself, as while I could push my semblance more and reach greater speeds, going much faster than I am now would only end up making me a danger to pedestrians.

Now that I'm up to speed, though, it only takes me a few seconds of the city whizzing by me to come upon a very noticeable piece of destruction on the road asphalt, in front of a dust shop with a broken window, and a bunch of dead…. not dead, unconscious people in matching suits.

"A robbery?" I ask myself before out of the corner of my eye, I see two figures one white and the other red hurriedly go up on a rooftop nearby.

'From Dust Till Dawn, Huh. Poor guy.' I silently sympathize at the owner's misfortune.

With my rudimentary analysis of the scene over, I walk up to the balding old man with very bushy eyebrows standing in front of the store, who I presume to either be an employee or the owner of the store as he is wearing what seems to be a work uniform, though it is rather simple, consisting of a maroon apron, some beige kakis, and a pale green polo shirt. He seems to be pretty shaken up, but I can't see any visible injuries, but it is always best to be sure.

I ask the old man in a professional tone of voice as a way of giving some reassurance, "Are you hurt anywhere?"

The man shakes his head and offers up a weak, "No"

The tone of his voice makes me skeptical, but given the shattered window and the trashed shop visible through it, I guess he wouldn't exactly be 'enthusiastic,' would he? Oh well, if he needs help, it won't take long for emergency services to arrive, and I have other priorities at the moment than to worry about weather this man is not being honest with me.

"Fine, I'm going to go follow those two, in the meantime, you should call the police if you haven't already," I say, and, without another word, I run over to the ladder and activate my semblance once again.

This time the effect is different, very different, as, instead of my body being wrapped in a menacing purple storm of electricity, a slight comforting green glow radiates from under my feet, and a gentle breeze flows upward sending ripples through my cape.

Without wasting another second, I leap up as high as I can, and, with my semblance, will the air beneath me to give me a strong boost, allowing me to scale the building rabidly. After riding the momentum up as much as I could, I grip the roof's ledge, that has now arrived within arm's reach, and use it to vault onto the roof in one smooth motion.

As I place my feet on the dark grey roof of this multi-storied building, I take in the tension filled scene before me. Some distance from the ledge that I just vaulted over, there are two figures both facing away from me; one toward the middle of the roof, and the other on the opposite end from me. The first figure, the one farthest away from me, is a man with relatively long orange hair. He is taller than me by a few inches, but he is lanky too giving him the illusion of being taller than he actually is. He is wearing a black bowler hat with a red stripe, a red-lined white suit with black pants and shoes, a grey scarf, and some black gloves. His outfit practically screamed 'mob boss,' but I have never seen him before; not that I pay too much attention to Vale's underground, and I haven't been here all that long either. Oh, well, I'll worry about that later, and there is still the other person to be concerned with. The other guest in this rooftop rendezvous is a short fair-skinned girl, a couple of inches shy of a foot shorter than me. She is wearing a short black and red dress with thick black stockings and heavy-duty combat boots of the same color scheme as her dress, but most of her figure is obscured to me by the billowing bright red cape attached to her shoulders. Though she does not have her hood up, so I am more than able to view her striking black hair that slowly fades into red at the tips witch barely reach her shoulders. The most eye-catching thing about this girl is neither her clothing nor her hair, though, as that title belongs to the massive red scythe she holds in front of her.

The scythe, it holds the ominous reputation of being one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed, but weather that is reality or an over inflated impression based on skilled famous wielders and folklore remains to be seen in my eyes. After all, I only know one person who wields it, and that is hardly enough to judge the weapon. Not that it maters very much to me either way, my skills lie in the sword and bow mainly. It wouldn't be worth the trouble of making such a drastic change regardless of how effective it may or may not be.

"Persistent….," The man frustratedly whispered from the opposite edge of the roof interrupting my observations of the two.

He had the type of voice that, while it wouldn't stand out all that much in a large crowd, it was more than recognizable. It was higher pitched than I was expecting, but not too much higher, plenty within reason for a male. I wasn't able to pick up on any foreign accents either, but the information that offers is dubious at best; either he's local, he's lived here long enough to pick up the local dialect, or he's good at faking it, regardless, I have no way of verifying any of those assumptions at the moment, so I'll shove them to the back of my mind and move on.

-WHIIIIIIIIIRRRRRR!

Once again, my thoughts are interrupted as I hear the high pitch screeching of a jet engine whirling to life, and almost immediately after, in front of the orange-haired man, the familiar grey metal of a Bullhead rises from over the roof's edge. Blinding spotlights shine from the bullhead forcing me to reflexively squint my eyes in response to the bright light, and the orange-haired man deftly jumps onboard as the hanger door slides open.

The man then turns around and glares with his vibrant green eyes, though his right is covered by his bangs, at the girl in front of me. He takes no notice of my existence even though I am still very clearly illuminated by the blinding spotlight. Tunnel vision, I guess, but I thought I would have been immediately noticed, as there is nothing subtle about a figure dressed in all black in such bright light. It's not like I can't move, as between the skylights or the air-conditioning units, there is plenty of cover, but any quick movements now would only serve to draw the man's gaze.

"This just got a decent bit more troublesome" I thought to myself, "Best case scenario, he just leaves, but I doubt he will if the arrogant grin on his face is anything to go by."

Suddenly, the man yells out, "End of the line, red!" and chucks what seems to be Crystal Burn Dust on the ground in front of the red-caped girl. As the red crystal clattered on the ground, I saw the man raise his cane-like weapon, point the barrel at the crystal and fire.

"Shit!" I exclaim hearing the familiar whistle of a flare-like projectile, the same one I heard earlier.

As soon as the the guy fired, I ran toward the red-caped girl. I wasn't prepared for the situation to escalate so quickly, and that left me with limited options. Either I do not intervene at all and let the situation play out as it may, I attack the orange-haired man and his bullhead; leaving the red-caped girl to her fate, or I defend the red-caped girl; quite possibly letting her avoid a gruesome death.

Of course, I chose the third option, I couldn't in good conscience let this young girl die while I could have done something, I just couldn't...

Though, even then, what I can do is severely limited. My semblance would take too long to charge something capable of defending against a blast from such a large chunk of dust, and I don't have enough time to get her out of the blast radius physically, so I have to do this the messy way. I would take it myself. It was a risk yeah, but I was willing to take it, and I would trust my odds fare better than that of a total stranger's. Additionally, I more than likely could tank the blast with limited injury, though, it would end still up causing some damage, so I clenched my jaw in slight dread as I rushed to the girl, tightly griped her left shoulder with my right hand, and forcefully ripped her into my embrace while turning away from the dust crystal. I didn't even get half a second before a loud "BANG!" and the laughter of the orange-haired man sounded off behind me, but instead of the weighted impact and the searing heat I was expecting to receive, all I felt was an aggressive breeze blow against my back as a cloud of dust blanketed my vision as I released the short girl from my arms.

Quickly turning around as the dust settles, I see something unexpected, a new arrival to this rooftop stand-off. A figure, a woman, with a uniquely stylized purple cape that is flame-like but the crests of the flames are shaped like arrows. Above this, on the cape, is a semi-curved horizontal line of bronze beads sitting below an emblem of a tiara. She has long blond hair tied up into a bun with a curl hanging down on the right side of her head as well as thin, ovular glasses that sit in front of her bright green eyes. She is wearing dangling teal earrings that match the pendant hanging on her collar, a white long-sleeved pleated top with a large keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleated at the wrist, black pencil skirt with bronze buttons, stockings that fade from black to brown, black knee-high boots with tall bronze heels, as well as the previously mentioned cape. She is holding out a riding crop at a purple magic circle-looking thing that quickly fades as I observe it. After the purple construct fades, the woman unhesitatingly proceeds to volley brightly glowing purple, missile-like attacks at the bullhead one after the other, but all she accomplishes by doing so is knocking the aircraft around a bit, dealing no significant damage. Still, should this continue, she will bring it down without much of an issue. Bullheads aren't unimaginable sturdy after all.

Just because she can likely handle this on her own doesn't mean I will just sit on the sidelines though, so I slink back into the shadows of the rooftop using the new arrival as a very effective distraction, no one the wiser.

With the newfound freedom of not risking immediate exposure with any sudden moves, I retrieve my bow from its clip on my back and give it an aggressive shake, unfolding it so it is ready to fire.

Now with the bow readied, I draw back the string with my right hand, and feed aura into my semblance. Rapidly, violent arcs of electricity form themselves into a shape somewhat resembling that of an arrow, as I aim steadily at the bulkhead. I do not let the chaos of the battle effect my concentration, as doing so while charging an arrow so heavily would lead to explosive consequences.

As my lightning takes shape, the woman, presumably a huntress, summons a storm onto the bulkhead and actually does quite a bit of damage, although again nothing crippling.

With my Concentration brought back to the hanger of the bullhead, I notice a different person standing there. A woman in a red dress and a pilot's helmet that is obscuring her face stands where the orange-haired man once did unafraid of the blond huntress volleying attacks her way. This new woman immediately went on the offensive sending what seemed to be molten glass toward the blond woman, but luckily she still seemed unaware of me.

Her presence gave me a bad feeling, but I put it aside and concentrated on gathering the violent energy of my semblance to finish the arrow.

-ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

The arrow menacingly arced as if to signal its completion, and I release the bowstring. This action doesn't go unnoticed though, as the woman in the red dress immediately spots me in the shadows, but as she is occupied with her magic-like battle with the blond lady, she is too late to do anything about my attack. My shot flies true even through all the chaos, and smashes through the glass of the cockpit landing on the bullhead's controls directly in the front of the redhead man, who is now piloting, sending large amounts of electricity directly into the sensitive electronics of the control panel. The Bullhead, of course, immediately loses control and begins to fall. The blond woman, seizing the opportunity, uses what I assume to be her semblance to control the debris accumulated throughout the fight to attack the bullhead to keep the lady in the red dress from retaliating.

Just when I believe we've won though, the red dressed woman quickly crosses her arms, and dark orange, magic-like rings of different sizes encapsulate her torso, and to my shock, the rings explode out into shards of glass dispelling, not only the blond woman's attack, but also the lightning arrow that was lodged in the control panel.

"Shit," I silently exclaim at the ease in which she delt with my arrow.

-Whiiiiiirrr!

I hear the engines whirl up once again, but this time it doesn't stick around to fight, It immediately turns to flee with it's occupants.

The red-caped girl, having finally broken out of her daze, turns her scythe into a gun-like configuration and fires upon the unknown lady, but, to her shock, the lady easily blocks every shot aimed at her with her hand. She failed to even hinder their retreat.

Unwilling to let them disengage unscathed, I attempt to charge another arrow, this time though I abandoned the idea of using lightning again. It would simply take far too long to charge to the level of the previous one, so I attempted air this time as it is the fastest charging ability in my semblance. A green glow gathered on my right hand as air rushed in from around me to form an almost invisible arrow-like construct on the bow.

The seconds felt like hours, as I continued charging the arrow, but the unknown woman in the red dress was wary of me now, and there would be no way she would allow me free reign like I had before. She immediately noticed my actions and waved her hand. In response flat eye-like constructs that seem to be made of fire appeared on the floor beneath me and gave off a noise that almost sounded like screeching. I assumed that attacking again would be difficult, but now it seemed that even the ground was betraying me as the constructs spurted out pillars of flame and molten glass, forcing me to dodge. I continue to charge the arrow as fast as I can, but the attack sent my way slowed the process, and by the time I was almost ready to fire another shot, the bullhead had already gained plenty of distance. I wouldn't have been able to charge the shot fast enough before they left my control range.

Still, hoping I was wrong, or that the other two would somehow be able to keep them here, stall them somehow, I continued charging. Unfortunately, the lady in the bullhead sent out one last attack that targeted a wide area of the roof and forced the the blond huntress and the red-caped girl to dodge. Giving the bullhead opportunity to escape without contest.

"Shit, they got away! Fuck!!!" I frustratedly exclaim as I watch the flying ship rapidly disappear from view.

Boiling with frustration, I approach, the two I had assisted in the fight, and called out to them.

"Any injuries?" I ask my despondence still noticeable in my voice.

Red, as she was called by that orange-haired guy, having not heard me or simply didn't register what I said, immediately turns to face the blond woman.

"You're a huntress!?!... Can I have your autograph!?!?!" Red said almost bursting with enthusiasm and in response, the huntress, if this girl's words are to be trusted, gives Red a glare that promises pain and misfortune.

"I know that look, I should go before she remembers I'm here," I thought to myself before immediately attempting to jump off the roof.

I say attempting because, almost immediately after my feet had left the roof, a vibrant purple glow surrounded me. I was caught by the huntress' presumed semblance, and, facing a glare that promised double what was previously implied, I did the only sensible thing. I secretly charged a small amount of aura into my semblance, so as to avoid the glowing effect, and I stunned her by freezing her feet to the ground before used the opportunity to lightning dash away.

"I'm sorry," I muttered under my breath. While doing so, "I-I don't think I should go with you."