Reputation: Book One

Tripp

What's Up Danger- Blackway

Bang bang- Jessie J/Ariana Grande/Niki Minaj

Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen

I knew as soon as we passed under that bridge something was up. Qrow, Autumn and I were just getting back from mudding in my truck, and coming back up under the nearly hidden railroad underpass that was now overgrown by ivy. A beautiful photography spot in the day, but who else goes out in a black suburban, sets out a silver table of assumed weapons dressed in black and stalks around beside a creek? That's not even something I would do, New Guard or not.

We came around the bend and I caught a dim light reflect off my windshield. I immediately pressed down on my brakes, furrowing my eyebrows. I skeptically glanced over at Qrow and back to Autumn as I slowly let off the pedal, creeping closer to the truck. Their car was reversed to face the water, the trunk popped open with a weird thingy dangling above a short, silver table that had been halfway pulled out. A few things were lined up on the table but the fading sunlight had just about swallowed everything right about now and I wasn't close enough to make out what it was. It was probably guns. The sudden silence made Qrow squirmy beside me.

"What are they doing?" I whisper, leaning over my steering wheel to study them. Qrow and Autumn both followed me, Qrow propping his forearms on my dashboard and Autumn on my center console to squint out at the suspicion. Autumn suddenly turned to me. "What all do you have with you right now?" She asks in a hushed voice. I press my lips together tightly. Damnit.

"Only a few handguns with like, three boxes of ammunition. I haven't restocked," I say, grimacing at the annoyed face she gave me. I totally forgot to put my AR back in my trunk box.

"Well, I don't know what you think of this, but I think those are guns," Qrow says flatly, pointing to the table with his index finger. "and they look like Myos."

Qrow did have a reasonable point. Myonaridans, or the group that was left of them, all wear matching black leather uniforms and black bandanas around their faces and never, I mean never, go anywhere alone. Jerzei had filled me in on some confidential information and showed me her old uniform when we were together. They're pretty stylish, not gonna lie. With the leather and silver zippers... I'd take that over my stupid vest, spandex pants and fingerless gloves any day.

"Target practice, you think?" He suggests. I study the scene warily, gripping my steering wheel tighter. How could he read this situation so well?

"Probably."

The what I assumed was the female suddenly snapped her head in our direction and froze, her long, red ponytail swinging around and hitting her in the face. I held the stare for a second too long, processing her face. I knew who that was. I filed through all my memories and found a match: Finch's girlfriend.

She was there when Elizabeth died. She helped Finch capture her. She stood there watching Finch beat and torture her. She deserved to die just the way Liz did.
My eyes narrowed as the thirst for revenge fueled me. She suddenly darted to her vehicle, throwing herself into the table and fumbling with the yes, definite guns, before slamming a magazine into the handle and pointing it right at us. Qrow shrieked and ducked below the dashboard like a coward as I stretched over him to open my glovebox, snatching my 9mm and .45 out, handing the smaller one back to Autumn.

"Get out, don't die, there's a 10mm under your seat," I tell him before kicking my door open and rolling out, hitting the ground and holding my pistol ready to fire when needed.

"What?!" He squeaks, examining the pistol and looking over the seat. I look over at him, jaw set in frustration. "You have a 10mm? Did Autumn give th-"

"Shut up!" Autumn and I both shout, a handful of shots ringing out into the air, echoing through the cloud-blanketed sky and hitting my front window, leaving a huge spider web dead center in the glass. I sat up, worried that one might have hit Qrow. Four more shots followed and silenced the peaceful evening. The locusts quieted, the grass stopped swaying, and the winged bugs that were mindlessly floating in the air sunk to the ground. I finally heard Qrow cuss loudly and cock his gun. I let out the breath I was holding and chuckled to myself.

"Tripp, I thought this was going to be safe," He snapped, crouching down into the dirt on the other side of my SUV. I looked over at both of their scuffed black boots from under my car, each right foot propped up to hold their weight on the ball of their foot and the left set back on their heel.

"That makes both of us," I shoot back, using my open door as a shield to avoid the next few shots. I peeked around the corner and blindly fired three shots back in their direction, desperately looking around for more cover. I didn't want to fall into the woods, but if I had to, I would. I hope they didn't fall back.

"Autumn!" I call, responding to their shots with my handgun. "I need my rapid-fire from under my back seat! Can you grab it?" I ask over the gunshots. I heard her make her way back into my car and fall into the backseat, my back passenger door opening behind me and my assault dropping out with a heavy clunk. I grinned and tucked my stupid pistol into the waistband of my pants, picking it up and wiping the dirt off of the slick black metal. I stood up, set my rifle in the small space of my door and rearview mirror and fired back. I watched the two people separate both to my right and disappear into the treeline. Damnit, that's cheating!

My heart sank and numbing fear crept its way up the back of my throat. With the dark clothes they were wearing, they were nearly impossible to see. I cuss and turn over my shoulder.

"They just fell back, keep it quiet," I order, lowering my head to make it less of a target. Qrow nods, raising the gun and pointing it out front. I hold my breath, waiting to hear some kind of sound that whoever was out there was closing in on us. My heart pounded in my ears as my eyes darted around, searching for any sign of movement. I made sure to stand as still as possible, knowing that Myonaridans were born and bred for hunting. Waiting. Stalking.

Last week for training, Jerzei had explained to us that Myonaridans 'hunt' at night using super high-tech machines, heat sensors and they all have a band that goes on their forearm that has a whole bunch of little, and I quote Jerzei, 'bells and whistles only thieves like those rats could afford.'.

Sadly, she didn't go into too much detail about that.

A sudden quiet click snapped me out of my thoughts and pulled me back down to this deadly situation I'd found myself in. Whoever was there was definitely close, possibly five yards at most.

"Suspicion at my far right," I whisper. Qrow slowly turns around to cover my back, the barrel of his gun sweeping past my face and pointing out into the trees. We make eye contact only for a few beats before Qrow tore away, staring out into the growing darkness behind me once again. I let my eyes linger on his expressionless face and the corner of my lips turn up. He really did look pretty hot when he was focused.

I reached down to grab my pistol, but before I could even slip my fingers around the grip, bullets hit the top of my car right beside my head and sunk into the metal, making me flinch. I spun around, yanking my gun from the rest and firing six shots back along with Qrow who had finally gathered the confidence to squeeze the trigger. I groan, searching for my shooter again. Where in the hell did they go?

I grunted in frustration and stood up, pushing my door closed and walking out in front of my car. If they wanted to kill me, now was their chance; I'd rather die trying to kill then being a coward and hiding. I was trained to find and sniff out my enemies, to end the battle quickly. I was sick of this Hide And Seek game they played. All these years the both of our teams have only gone around to find, so now here I was. Let's just hope we weren't too outnumbered.