Once upon a time, humanity made the mistake of trying to conquer the stars.

Well, it was slightly more complicated than that, but the general gist of what I'm getting at is that even with, y'know, ALL OF SPACE, humanity still felt the need to go to war with itself for territory.

After a few centuries of on and off slaughter, the human race has split off not into nations as one might hope, but a menagerie of self interested corporations all vying for power. And by power, I mean Eridium.

The magic substance that makes faster than light speeds possible, and, well... has a tendency to lure the creature's of Grimm like fly's to honey.

And where there's Grimm... there's gonna be Bandits.

Poor lost souls who didn't have the good fortune to be killed by the monsters. Instead, they're taken to the Grimm's lair and... made to put on a mask that strips them of all their sanity. It warps them into something... no longer human. Best thing you can do for them is to put them down.

Anyway it's not entirely hopeless. Humanity soon learned that wherever there's Eridium, there's Dust. And where there's Dust, there's hope.

Hope... that comes in the form of the Huntsmen and Huntresses of the Interstellar Hunting Agency. An independent organization dedicated to protecting the human race from Bandits, Grimm, and in some sad cases, each other. The major corporations... kinda get along with the IHA to varying degrees depending on where you live. But one thing they all agree on? Anyone willing to go fight the forces of darkness are to be greeted with open arms. (Even if they try to skimp out on paying bounties. Bastards.)

So, that's the current state of things. Bad corporations, evil monsters, and those who are stupid or brave enough to keep the wheel turnin' for humanity.

And in the middle of all this, in far off corner of the universe, a deadly little planet named Pandora sings her siren call of an ancient alien Vault and the endless glory, riches- and maybe even a little hope- contained within...

But only fools believe that.

RED

With the grace and dignity of a rocket propelled brick, a small transport crashed into one of Pandora's many Hell deserts, creating a several mile long trench. Most of the ancient looking machine's fins and wings were scraped off as it screeched across the desert. Before it came to a halt, its weight flattened a four legged creature with a vertical mouth as it was innocently chewing on the skull of a hapless traveler.

As what was left of the ship's hull began to cool, a panel popped off, and a feminine figure clad in a bright red cloak emerged from the wreckage.

"So that's why they rented it to me for so cheap." She sighed as the one remaining wing fell to the ground. She reached back into the hole she exited from, and pulled a heavy red duffel bag to her shoulder. "Welp! No use crying over spilled milk, or the fifty dollars I spent on this! Time to kick-start this treasure hunt!" She cheerfully declared.

The young woman lowered her hood an shrugged her cloak to her back revealing a fetching young woman black and red hair, wearing a short red skirt, combat boots, and a sleeveless black tank top.

And on the left side of her body where the pale skin was exposed, blue tattoos glistened with sweat from the top her shoulder to all the way down to wear leg met boot.

RUBY ROSE as...

THE CRIMSON SIREN

Just as Ruby was about to pick a random direction to walk in, her scroll began to ring. She frowned as she opened it and saw it was from a number she didn't know. "Telemarketers? Even on Pandora? Sheesh." She said as she hit the 'ignore' button.

The scroll rang a second time. Same number. She pouted and hit ignore again.

She made it another few steps before something in her pocket began to beep. Confused, she pulled out a long rectangular device and unfolded it into some kind of tablet configuration. Upon it's screen were the words: 'PLEASE, ANSWER YOUR SCROLL! IT'S A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH!'

Ruby gasped. "I didn't even get past my lock screen! Yang was right! Hackerman is real!"

She shoved the device back into her pocket, and picked up her pace, trying to leave the hacker-haunted ship behind.

The scroll rang a third time, she didn't even bother checking it before she hit ignore.

Then another loud beeping sounded off, this time from her duffel bag. Horrified, she turned her eyes to the sound.

"No, no, no, no, no! Not my laptop! That's where my games live!"

Reluctantly she pulled the computer out, and read what was on the screen.

'I'M NOT KIDDING! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU! NOW, PLEASE. ANSWER. YOUR. SCROLL!'

The scroll once more rang. Ruby reluctantly answered it. "Hackerman?"

The panicked voice of a young woman answered. "I- what? No! My name's Angel, and you're in terrible danger!"

Ruby looked around her. There was naught but the wreckage of her rental and the empty desert. "Um, I don't know how to break this to you, but I already crashed."

"I'm not talking about that! You have a Bandit war band closing in on your position! You have maybe three minutes!'

"Oh?" Ruby answered cheerfully. "That's great!"

"If you follow my instructions, I can guide you to a- wait. Did you just say 'great?'"

"Yep!" Ruby replied, setting her bag down and rummaging through its contents. "I don't suppose you could tell me what kind?"

"I- okay... satellite feeds show twenty-one Beowolves, three Ursas, fourteen Psychoes, seven Maruaders, and three Bruisers." There was a small pause as the caller let the words sink in. "Er, would you like to run away? I can get you to an escape route-"

"Pft, nah." Ruby said as she pulled out a blocky red contraption. With a gesture, it folded out into a heavy sniper rifle. "My Dad used to make me kill more than that back at home for training."

"Oh... cool. That must have been... nice?" Angel said awkwardly. "So, I presume you're here for the Vault?"

"Yep!" The young Siren replied, detaching the barrel of the sniper rifle, placed it into the bag, and retrieved a double-barreled replacement with the Vladof logo printed on its base. She popped it into place and replaced the weapon's clip with a drum. "How'd you guess?"

"Well, it's the only thing that's interesting about Pandora that really draws anyone in... and it's a known fact that all Sirens are drawn to the Vault in their dreams."

Ruby paused. "... Oh. I suppose you saw me with those satellite's you mentioned, huh?"

"They're pretty high resolution, yeah. Saw the tattoo's from miles away. Literally!" She answered with a somewhat forced cheerful tone.

"... I wouldn't say the dream thing is a 'known' fact. I had to do a bunch of reading on it." Ruby added, clearly uncomfortable. She pulled a small headset from her pocket, put it on her ear, and quietly connected it to her scroll so the conversation could continue while keeping her hands free.

"I-um, have a lot of time on my hand to research this. Speaking of time, you're almost out of it. Bad guys coming into view on your six."

The Siren turned to the trench her ship had left. In the distance she could now see dark figures on the horizon. "Well, it looks like I get to give Crescent Rose's new mods a work out."

"Crescent Ro-? Oh, right. Hunters like to name their weapons."

Ruby easily hefted the heavy weapon and peered through the scope. Sure enough, there was a small hoard of Grimm steadily charging toward her position, clearly following the wreckage of her ship. There were the expected monsters, completely black bodies bearing white masks, and baleful yellow eyes. But it was their riders that drew one's eyes.

Atop each Grimm were men and women hooting and hollering, the masks seared into the flesh of their faces bore a striking similarity to the beasts they rode. Their limbs longer, and in some unfortunate cases, twisted. A black miasma surrounded their corrupted bodies, a remnant of their dead Aura. As Angel had said, there were indeed fourteen of the thin limbed Psycho's wielding their traditional buzz-saw axes riding Beowolves, seven helmeted gun toting Marauders riding alongside them, and towards the back were three huge Bruisers clinging to even bigger Ursa's.

Ruby suppressed a wince. She always felt a little bad about having to kill Bandits. It wasn't their fault the Grimm decided they were good enough to fuse hellish white masks to their faces and make them into servants of evil.

She sighed and remembered what her father told her as they proceeded at rapid pace to her position. Bandits aren't people, we save what's left of them by killing them. Bandits aren't people, we save what's left of them by killing them. Bandits aren't people, we save what's left of them by killing them.

"FOR BLOOD, LOOT, AND PONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIES!" The lead Psycho yelled as they charged...

...directly into Crescent Rose's line of fire.

The twin barrels of the Vladof mod spun with each shot the heavy rifle shot. Four of the Beowolves were the first to fall, one even crushing its Psycho rider to death under its weight. Two of the Marauders followed in their demise as Ruby relieved them of the top half of their skulls. Ruby re-prioritized back to the Beowolves and took out an additional three with sustained fire. Eventually, the weapon clicked empty as it's drum ran dry.

The small hoard, undeterred by their losses, continued rushing forward. Ruby smiled. Pefect.

The Beowolf riding Psychoes in all their predictable bloodthirst, were the first to close the distance between them and their prey.

Three riders and their mounts died as Crescent Rose transformed into a gigantic scythe and cut them down like so much wheat in two slashes. Their bodies did not spray blood as one might expect from a baseline human, but a black oily substance that stank of rot and death.

The following wave dismounted and ran to the side in hopes of flanking the young Huntress. When they descended upon her, they fully expected her to fall to their spinning buzz-axes, only to have her vanish in a shower of Rose petals. One of the Bandits was about to demand find her- (Or to comment on the baby skin teddy bear she had recently made- It's hard to tell with Bandits) only to have Ruby appear instantly reappear behind her. The Siren took the opportunity to separate the Psycho from her head.

The Bandits were caught off guard and practically tripped over themselves to be the first to kill their foe.

Ruby waded into the fray, jumping, skipping, and dancing as the scythe chopping through heads and limbs like that one Tediore blender your mother got you, but were too nervous to tell her that you had a superior Atlas model.

When the last Psycho fell, the Beowolves struck, moving much faster and striking much harder than their riders had, Ruby was forced not to just dodge but to block several attacks that jolted her from her arms all the way to her spine. She grunted as she flipped high into the air, used a Marauder's helmet as a springboard, and launched herself above two of the Beowolves and neatly scythed their heads off.

Feeling somewhat overconfident in herself, she almost didn't notice the Psycho running at her until she heard the whirring sound of her buzz axe coming at her head.

"I WANT TO BURN YOUR BABIES!" Screamed the Psycho as she brought her spinning axe down on the young Huntress.

Ruby deftly blocked it with Crescent Rose. "I don't have babies!"

The Psycho seemed taken aback. "Oh, sorry! Terribly presumptive of me! I WANT TO BURN YOUR UNUSED UTERUS!"

Ruby responded by caving in her mask-fused skull with an Aura-enhanced punch.

"Unusually polite for a Bandit." Angel remarked.

"Oh!" Ruby exclaimed as she cut a charging Beowolf vertically in half. "You're still on the line?"

"Um, yeah... I didn't know if I should have ended the call there, or..."

"Conversation with strangers is weird and hard." Ruby said with complete understanding.

Angel sighed in relief. "Exactly... er, I'm not sure if you're already aware of this, or if I'm crossing a line by pointing this out..."

"I welcome useful feedback!" Ruby assured cheerfully as she kicked the legs out from under a Beowolf and speared the pointy pommel of Crescent Rose through the back of it's unarmored neck and out through it's eye.

"The Ursa's and the Bruisers. They've been circling you the whole fight. I don't know what they're waiting for."

Ruby frowned and cast her gaze to the edge of the skirmish as she continued to massacre Beowolves and Psychoes. The big Grimm were indeed circling the perimeter of the battle, most likely waiting for her to tire herself out on the small fry. The Siren growled adorably. She hated dealing with the smart ones. It meant she wouldn't get to play around anymore.

Finishing a twirling dance of weedwhacker-esque death, Ruby suddenly noticed that there were no more of the buzz-saw wielding bandits their Beowolf mounts left.

Of course, the Marauders took the opportunity to open fire on the Huntress now that there were no more of their allies in the way.

Ruby squeaked as she was forced to use her speed to evade the gunfire.

"Er, I'd recommend getting more ammo, if you have any." Angel tentatively suggested.

"Yeah," Ruby replied. "Probably should!"

Launching out of the Marauder's line of fire in a stream of rose petals, Ruby made a beeline to where she had set her duffel bag down. She quickly yanked out a large clip with a 'Maliwan' logo printed on it with a small cartoon flame beside it. She ejected the Vladof drum and slammed the new one in just in time for the Maruader's to home in on her position and resume their assault. Ruby made an Aura-boosted hop out of the way, but it was not without it's cost...

The duffel bag slipped out of her hands and was shot out of the air by sheer chance. She watched as a case containing several hundred chocolate chip cookies tumbled out of her duffel bag, spilling out and crumbling in the Bandit-blood soaked dust.

"You absolute monsters!" She cried. "Those were supposed to last me for three days! I was going to ration them!"

Letting loose a high pitched war cry, she converted Crescent Rose into its sniper rifle configuration and launched into the air. She fired on the Marauders twice, and two died as the flaming .50 caliber rounds collided into them. This led to the delightfully horrific effect of setting the Beowolves they were riding upon also on fire.

Ruby landed in a roll and snapped a triple burst into a third Maruader and his mount. As they thrashed about in their death throws, Ruby saw an opportunity. She smirked. She'd always wanted to try this.

"FOR THE COOKIES!" Ruby yelled, transforming the weapon into scythe mode and running directly at the Beowolves. Lining up her attack just right, she fell into a slide and decapitated not one, but two of the Grimm with a single stroke.

"... Ow."

"Oops! Sorry!" Ruby apologized sincerely as she used the resulting chaos to slaughter the Marauders and their mounts with terrifyingly effective slashes and cuts. "Kinda didn't think about shouting while I had my headset on!"

"It's alright. Do you have enough Aura left to deal with the big ones? Because I still have that escape route plotted. See, there's this old DAHL mining tunnel that leads to-"

"It's fiiiiine! While I am running a bit low, I have other gifts I can count on!" She smiled as the Bruiser and their Ursa finally decided to join the fight.

"GONNA MEET YOUR MAKER!" The center Bandit cried.

Ruby didn't respond, she merely focused on every single wisp of rose petal shaped Aura she had left behind on the battlefield. And as the blue tattoos on her body began to glow, every single one of the petals responded and flowed in a humongous stream to her outstretched hand. With a gesture, she sent the storm of spent Aura directly into the path of her large foes. Once they were fully engulfed, she squeezed her fist...

And the rose petals exploded.

The Ursas howled in outrage as they were badly burnt from the assault, and one of the Bruiser/Ursa pair was even outright killed.

"Oh... Cool. I guess I'll just... set you up with a Catch-a-Ride subscription while you finish."

"Sure thing! Thanks!" Ruby replied as she took the opportunity to rush forward and slash the hind legs off a wounded Ursa. As both it and it's Bruiser tumbled to the ground, she proceeded to take the beast's head off with an efficient downward slice.

It's rider attempted to exact vengeance for his steed and fired a heavy shotgun at her, only to scream in frustration as she cartwheeled out of the way. While he reloaded, the other remaining Bruiser attempted to get a bead on her with the heavy machine gun he carried. Ruby put a stop to that by lining up Crescent Rose and putting an incendiary round directly into his forehead. That left only one Bruiser and one Ursa...

Speaking of which, Ruby readied Crescent Rose and turned to face the sound of heavy running footsteps closing in on her. Badly burnt, the last Bandit howled as he charged. To her surprise, the Bruiser's shotgun shifted and transformed into an chainsaw. Ruby winced hard. He must have been a Huntsman once...

She deftly sidestepped the Bandit... and groaned in sympathy as he tripped and fell into the sole surviving Ursa as it was gettng back into its feet. The chainsaw plunged into the monsters neck.

"MAMA BEAR! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He cried as pulled out the chainsaw and whirled back in on Ruby.

The Bruiser howled sorrow and charged once more. He brought his empty axe in with a heavy swing, meaning to cave his foe's head in. Instead, Crescent Rose came down, collided with his shoulder and just pushed right through his torso and out his hip. She sighed in both relief and disappointment, for the oversized Bandits had been the last.

Ruby sidestepped the two halves of the now dead Bruiser, and continued her conversation on her scroll.

"Wait. Angel? What's a 'Catch-a-Ride?'"

Angel sighed. "I'll explain as you go, but your final destination will be to 'Grandma's House: The Bed and Breakfast.' I'll meet you there. I think I have a job offer for you, if you still want to look for the Vault."

Ruby shrugged as she picked up her damaged duffel bag. "To Grandma's House I go, then."

AN: This idea has been banging around in my head for a while now. Oh, have some profile-y bits:

NAME: Ruby Rose

CLASS: Siren

WEAPON: Crescent Rose (Sniper Rifle/Scythe)

AGE: 18

HEIGHT: Laughable

WEIGHT: Throw-able

SEMBLANCE: Class 5 speed, leaves behinds wisps of spent aura resembling rose petals

SIREN POWERS: Able to utilize 'rose petal' Aura remnants as ablative shields, explosives, or harden them into lethal blades

WANTED: ALIVE

CRIME: Siren

BOUNTY: $750,000,000,000.03

Next chapter: Surprise! Your family's company just got taken over by your enemies, you assets are frozen, and your stuck on a one way trip to a Hell planet! Happy Birthday, Weiss!