Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You know, if you had asked me a few years ago how I thought my life would be like in the future, I could never imagine in my wildest dreams that I'd be swinging around the city wearing tights and beating down bad guys. But I guess it didn't matter anyway, as I always did just plan to follow where the chips fell. I just didn't expect it to play out like this. But honestly? I really can't complain too much. It's definitely more exciting than anything I thought I'd end up doing. Even if it has it's drawbacks, I still love being the Scarlet Spider, because I feel like I'm making a difference, even if it may not seem like it sometimes.

But I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself! How about we actually go over how this all started. My name is Ruby Rose. An average high school girl attending Signal Academy... Except I'm actually not that average, apparently, as I'm two years younger than my sister and I got to start at the same time as her due to my... apparently impressive grades that caught the attention of Zoroaster Ozpin of all people! He's the Headmaster of Signal, former Professor at Beacon Academy, and while looking into my sister whilst reviewing her application for Signal, he found out about me and came to our house to ask, in person, if I'd like to skip my last two years of middle school to attend Signal early. While hesitant at the start, I eventually agreed and so, here I am. That was three years ago. Now I stand in my fourth and final year at Signal alongside my sister and best friends. As for my family, I really only have my sister and uncle. My parents died a long time ago when I was four in an accident. My mom, Summer Rose, was a talented and respected scientist working for the Vale branch of one of, if not THE, biggest tech company in all of Remnant: the Schnee Dust Company. While my dad, Taiyang Xiao Long, was a science teacher at Signal himself, and met Summer at the Schnee Expo held in Vale. My parents were both in my mom's personal lab outside of work somewhere within the city when something went wrong with whatever it was she was working on and it caused the whole lab to explode. Our Uncle Qrow Branwen has been raising us since then, which was rough for all of us given his job as a police detective and his crippling alcoholism. Then there's my sister, Yang Xiao Long, who was actually my half sister if you wanna get technical about it. Qrow being our uncle comes from being the brother of Yang's mom, who Dad met in their college days attending Beacon. But she ran off and left Yang with Dad immediately after recovering from the birth. Dad never said anything about her before he died, and all Uncle Qrow ever said was how they met and that she ran away, even completely disappearing it seems, as he hasn't been able to find her at all since then. The only other thing we know about her is her face from a picture of her and Qrow together in Beacon left in the house, and that her name was Raven Branwen. Of course, Yang saw Summer more as her actual mom given her actually trying to raise her. This revelation about Raven didn't change, but it made her wonder why she left, even if she knew she'd probably never get those answers...

Anyway, we're only halfway into the first month of the new school year and today my class is going on a field trip to tour the Schnee Dust Company, and so you'll notice us all boarding the school bus, chaperoned by our vice headmistress, Glynda Goodwitch, an old companion of Ozpin's, though their past connections before Signal isn't quite clear.

Glynda: "Now students, please stay in an orderly fashion." Surprise, surprise, I end up on the bus last because despite my grades, everyone else looks down on me just because I'm two years younger, even after all these years. Thankfully Yang sticks with me in the line. And we typically sit in the back row with our friends. But as we're walking through the bus, something trips me up and I fall on my face, my glasses falling off mid fall. Then I just hear laughter... from Cardin Winchester, the school bully.

Cardin: "Ha! Looks like those specs do very little for you, huh?" This guy's actually far from a school bully and is just a full on local jerk, and he's been on my case since day one. And every time, the encounter ends in a fight with Yang, starting with her dragging him off of his seat by his shirt up to her face.

Yang: "You just don't learn you're lesson, do you!? How many times have I told you to leave her ALONE!?"

Cardin: "And how many times have I told you to butt out!?" He gives her a shove and they enter a quick staredown!

Glynda: "Students! Break it up now or I'm sending you both back inside to sit in detention until we return!" Yang is just about to argue, most likely about to say 'but he started it!', before someone else interjected first.

???: "Don't bother trying to argue Yang. It'll just come out childish and make it worse like it always does." We turn to the source in the back row, the voice coming from a girl with white hair in a side ponytail sitting next to a Faunus girl with short black hair and cat ears atop her head reading a book. These two are our best friends, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Weiss: "Just let him off with a warning for now and deal with him later, I don't want you messing up this trip for us." If her last name wasn't obvious enough, she's the daughter of the SDC's CEO, Jacques Schnee, and the company's heiress since her elder sister left the family to join the Atlas military. Jacques sent her to attend Vale schools to understand foreign independence and cultural understanding for when she took over. My friendship with her is... complicated. When we first met, she actually hated me as I kept rivaling her in academics when I was two years younger, and that Ozpin just let me in early just like that whereas she had to earn her place here. The breaking point that made her change her mind about me was when she learned that my mom worked for them, what happened to her, and that my resolve was to continue her legacy and hopefully finish whatever it is she started. As time went on, she went from not hating me, to respecting me as an equal, and eventually to respecting me as a friend, wanting to actually hang out and I came to help her learn not to be so stuck up and be more true to herself rather than what people expect of her... And as we grew closer, I actually came to develop feelings for her, I was never actually quite that attracted to boys, not to say I don't get along with them, but I just always found girls easier to get together with, unlike Yang who seems to swing both ways. I just never told Weiss 'cause I knew I'd never stand a chance with someone so high profile as her.

Blake: "I'd listen to her if I were you, Yang. Or did you already forget what happens when you don't?" Blake is also a transfer from Kuo Kuana in Menagerie like Weiss is from Atlas, and she has been transferring between schools all her life, starting from Elementary school in Mistral, then Middle school in Vacuo, and now High school here in Vale. She decided to transfer around in foreign schools for similar reasons to Weiss, learning all she can about the world's different cultures for when she grows up to claim her rightful place as Chieftess of Kuo Kuana, as she is the daughter of it's current chieftain. When she started at Signal, she quickly became friends with Yang and they've grown just as close as me and Weiss. Through this, I became friends with her before Weiss and she became like a second sister to me. When Weiss came along, it was rough between them at first due to Blake being a Faunus and Jacques' influence on her belief that all Faunus are filthy scoundrels that shouldn't even have their own nation and should all be working for humans as slaves. But over time, Weiss came to a better understanding of the Faunus and eventually came to see them as equals when getting to know Blake better.

Yang: *sigh*"Fine." She just walks past Cardin towards the back while giving him a look that says 'this isn't over' while Weiss comes over to help me up and towards the back. Once everything's calmed down, and Glynda's made sure everyone's here, we embark for the SDC... the place where it all started.

Chapter Text

Upon entering the SDC, everyone in attendance, excluding Weiss and Blake, stand awestruck by the impressive decor and technology. A moment later, we are greeted by a woman with an... older resemblance to Weiss.

Willow: "Hello students of Signal Academy. My name is Willow Schnee, and I shall be your guide through our prestigious company today."

Weiss: "Huh? Mother? What are you doing here? I'd figured you'd still be in Atlas."

Willow: "Well, your father had come for his annual inspection and I took this opportunity to bring Whitley along for a short vacation, though when we heard of your overlapping trip, your father asked me to oversee the tour as he believes he can only trust someone in the family to complete such a task. Though he would've preferred to do this himself, he also understands that these inspections of his tend to leave him a bit busy."

Weiss: *sigh*"Of course. And what of Whitley?"

Willow: "He and Klein are currently at our Vale penthouse until I return. But enough about that! Your father doesn't allow these sorts of trips very often, and so we'd better not waste time with our idle chitchat."

Glynda: "Mrs. Schnee is correct. You can worry about your family matters later. Now class, be sure to pay attention to what Mrs. Schnee has to say and definitely be sure to stick together. No one is to stray to far from the group, lest you end up lost in this large building. Mrs. Schnee, if you would kindly start us off?"

Willow: "Of course. Please follow me as I bring us to our first destination of the tour, and I shall explain our history and purpose." She starts walking towards a short staircase which leads into a guest hallway filled with photos and panels of info like some sort of museum. "While the world now may know us for many prospects such as the development of revolutionary technology, power grid facilities and certain medicinal research, it didn't start that way. Many of these businesses within the SDC were developments that came over time. But when we started, we only specialized in one application that we still contribute to today: developing weapons for military contracts. The company was founded by my father, Nicholas Schnee, who played a part in the Great War that ended almost 80 years ago now. He was an up and coming scientist working for the Atlas military who lent their aid to Vale during the war when their previous deal with Mistral turned sour. Father developed the device to administer a special serum created by fellow scientist, Will Scarlatina the first, to create the perfect Super Soldier, and the two of them created the renowned hero who won Vale victory over Mistral, Captain Jaune Arc, AKA Captain Vale." We see various pictures of a white haired man with blue eyes, one alongside a brown haired guy in a lab coat, most likely Dr. Scarlatina. And then we see the hero she mentioned, a blonde male in blue pants, black combat boots, armored with a white chestplate and shoulder guards with gray trim over a black top, the chestplate featuring two creascent shapes layered over eachother in yellow, and equipped with a golden dipylon shield featuring Vale's emblem in black. "After the war, father founded the Schnee Dust Company as a weapons development program which eventually grew into what we know it to be now. Our current CEO, Jacques Schnee, was appointed as fathers successor due to the arranged marriage between Jacques and myself with Jacques seemingly holding greater business sense than myself, as it was Jacques innovations that increased the business from solely developing weapons. Which brings us to our first destination." We come across a large door that opens to reveal a VERY large room, almost like a warehouse made of the whole floor we were on, filled with various workstations for all the scientists working here. "Here we have our companies brilliant minds conducting their intended research to help revolutionize the future of Remnant. Depending on ones project, their station is moved to an individual room on a different floor for the sake both space and safety." Every station was divided by transparent walls, almost like office cubicals, and up front where we are, is a room a bit bigger than the other stations labeled 'head scientist'. "I would like to continue our tour here with a quick conversation with our Vale branch head scientist, Dr. Cinder Fall. If you'll excuse me for a moment to speak with her first." She steps up first to the labs front door and inputs a code confirming her authorization and entering the lab. We can see Willow and another woman with short dark hair and golden eyes talking through the dividing wall but can't hear a thing, the room filled with various tables, computers and shelves of books and files. While we wait, Weiss, Yang, Blake and I quietly talk ourselves.

Yang: "And to think that this will all be yours someday, huh Princess?"

Weiss: "How many times have I told you to stop calling me that!?"

Ruby: "Guys, please. Let's not get ourselves into trouble here."

Blake: "I'm still not sure how convinced I am about that whole Captain Vale story. I mean, it's not implausible to think this Jaune Arc was a war hero, but the concept of a super soldier serum in those times compared to now seems kind of... iffy, to say the least."

Ruby: "Not unless you're a genius like Scarlatina was. I've been to the Captain Vale exhibit of the history museum and have read his part in it, and so have looked into his career achievements several times to see the kind of man he was. It's actually pretty fascinating."

Weiss: "While the details may be danced around quite often, our records do seem to hold an unfinished replication of Scarlatina's serum recipe. Seems like grandfather was trying to preserve his work after he died during the war, but was unable to perfect it due to a lack of information."

Blake: "If someone could actually perfect that formula and make a person very much like the supposed Captain Arc, it leaves a lot to be considered on whether or not it'd be a good thing or a bad thing."

Yang: "Eh, maybe. But I say we let the officials cross that bridge when we get to it. After all, it's been almost 80 years since the war, and no ones been able to copy it. I think we're in the clear."

Ruby: "I hope so. But there's something else on my mind. A little less significant, but I can't help but feel like I heard the name 'Scarlatina' before I studied him the first time..."

Yang: "I think you're remembering our senior who graduated two years ago. Velvet, I think her name was."

Weiss: "Right, the rabbit Faunus from the photography club. Isn't she attending Beacon now?"

Blake: "I've been keeping contact with her since then, and found she's also working part time as a freelancer for the paper."

Ruby: "Think she's somehow related? Or just a random coincidence?"

Weiss: "I mean, it's definitely a possibility. But it's also not really any of our business." That's when Willow returns and motions us to enter the office.

Willow: "Students. Allow me to introduce our head scientist within the SDC Vale branch, Dr. Cinder Fall." As we see the woman from before turn away from her desk computer and stand up.

Cinder: "Hello students of Signal. I understand you must be curious as to my role here. In a nutshell, I oversee the progress, both the good and the bad, of the projects conducted by all our other scientists and report it all accordingly to my superiors, so that they may decide whether or not a person's project with worth continuing or must be terminated. I myself am also allowed to conduct projects of my own but I mostly have to work on whatever specific projects the board wants me to do, these projects being what are deemed more important than others. Why don't I show you something I've been working on myself? Over here we-" She stops dead in her tracks when notices me, showing a face of recognition. Everyone seems confused until she speaks up. "You there, red hoodie with the glasses." Being the only matching that description, everyone turns to me, which confuses me as well.

Ruby: "Me?" Somehow I think I know where this going, but I have to be certain first.

Cinder: "Yes you. What is your name, if I might ask?"

Ruby: "Uh... Ruby. Ruby Rose..." Recognition shows itself again upon hearing my surname.

Glynda: "Dr. Fall, just what are you getting at here?" Seeming kind of frustrated at her suddenly questioning one of her students.

Cinder: "You wouldn't happen to be related to a one Summer Rose... would you? Your resemblance to her is... uncanny." And it is going where I think it is. Should've known.

Ruby: "Yes. She's my mom. Though now I have to ask how you know her? I know she used to work here, but I don't know anything besides that."

Cinder: "She was an old... I guess colleague of mine before I become head scientist. Though I guess the better term for it would friendly rival. We got along sort of well but we were mostly rivals to each other as we both often caught the attention of the previous head. So much so that he selected us both as candidates to be his successor upon his coming retirement. However, I ended up winning by default after her unfortunate accident all those years ago. I must say, you are definitely her spitting image. While we may have been rivals, I still respected her as a fellow scientist, so you have sincerest condolences for your loss."

Ruby: "Uh, thanks?" Something about her tone doesn't completely convince me though.

Cinder: "Tell me, Ruby. Are you by any chance curious as to your mother's old work?" That caught my attention straight away.

Ruby: "Um, yes, actually. I want to follow in her footsteps, and I've always wondered what she was working on when she died. But, how do you know about it?"

Cinder: "Admittedly, had she not have died, she was actually more considered for the position due to her project. But when she passed and I was appointed instead, the board ordered me to pick up her work as it was deemed important. The only thing that's frustrating about it is that when she died, all her research data and the project was lost with her, so I had to start completely from scratch based on what on what little we knew about it from observing her station." She directed us towards an open wall full of... spider cages. "Mrs. Schnee's already informed me that you all are already aware of the story of Captain Vale. The reason I bring that up is because of the serum that basically created him. Many places have been attempting to recreate that serum after the data was lost with the death of Dr. Scarlatina. Summer's project was her own attempt at creating a super serum of her own and was using various spider breeds as the test subjects. We've been attempting the same thing for years since then but for some reason, the serum hasn't been affecting any of the spiders we have here." I focus my attention to the species names on the cages and notice a commonality.

Ruby: "Excuse me, Dr. Fall? Are you aware that your spiders are all species that carry venom?"

Cinder: "Hm? What does that matter?"

Ruby: "If the serum isn't affecting the spiders, then perhaps it's because it's instead being adapted to the spiders venom and thus instead of hosts for the serum, they're becoming carriers for it." Cinder looks on in awe.

Cinder: "Carriers..." She proceeds to looks through the nearest computer for scan data. "My god, you're right! How did I not notice this until now!? This would mean that they could pass the serum down to whomever they bite." Then surprisingly, Cardin speaks up about something.

Cardin: "Hey, hate to break up the nerd fest over there. But one of your cages is empty."

Cinder: "What!?" She rushes over to find only webs inside one of the cages along the wall. "Apologies students, but I must insist I leave things off here. Mrs. Schnee, I strongly advise you all leave now. I need to keep this room locked down until I find out what happened. Good day everyone!" She rushes all of us out of the room, locks the doors behind us and closes the shutters to keep anyone from viewing inside. Everyone is left in bewilderment for a moment until Willow decides to speak up.

Willow: *ahem*"Well, I suppose while she handles that, we can continue on with the tour."

Cardin: "Finally. We can move on from making this about that nerd."

Glynda: "Enough Mr. Winchester! One more disturbance and beratement and it's detention for you when we return!" She says with a stern look before turning back to Willow. "Mrs. Schnee, please continue."

Willow: "Ah, yes. Now over here we-" But I can barely focus when Yang decides to whisper with me.

Yang: "Psst. Hey. You okay?"

Ruby: "I'm not even sure what to think about that... What could Mom have possibly been doing with making carrier spiders? It doesn't make any sense." Blake of course catches onto this and decides to join in.

Blake: "Well whatever it is, try not to let it get to you, Ruby. Things aren't always as clear cut as they appear. I'm sure she had a good reason for this." Then Weiss joins as well after listening the whole time.

Weiss: "Maybe I can try accessing the labs servers for whatever data they have left of her old work. See what they actually know."

Ruby: "What? No! Weiss, I can't ask you to do that. You could get in serious trouble if your dad found out."

Weiss: "But I-"

Ruby: "No. Just... Stop. I don't want you to potentially ruin your future because of me. I'll find the answers myself eventually. For now, let's just focus on what's happening now and finish the tour." As I push past them and start listening to Willow. And though they still look concerned, they decide not to press it and listen as well.

Willow: "And over here we have two more of our best scientists. Our top geneticist, Dr. Grey Merlot. And robotics engineer, Dr. Arthur Watts." We see an grey haired man missing an arm, evident by his right sleeve being knotted up.

Merlot: "Greetings, students. And welcome to the Schnee Dust Company." Merlot seemed friendly enough but Watts seemed displeased and muttered under his breath.

Watts: "Hmph. Children in the lab. What is the world coming to..."

Willow: "Dr. Watts has been around for a little longer than Dr. Fall and still seems to hold envy against her for gaining the head scientist position."

Watts: "Of course I am! To think an amateur like her could be considered superior to my genius."

Willow: "It's exactly that kind of attitude and arrogance that denied you the position. Why can't you just admit it?"

Watts: "Tch. Think what you will. I'll have what's rightfully mine eventually."

Willow: *sigh*"Anyway. As for Dr. Merlot, he has been around for longer than everyone else in this room, and was the first person the previous head asked regarding the position."

Merlot: "Yes, but I respectfully turned it down for two reasons. One being that I believed that my time has come to pass and thus the future was better left in the hands of younger minds. And two, more personally, being that the position would leave me with less time on my own personal research."

Willow: "And would you be so kind as to share that topic with us today?"

Merlot: "With pleasure." He directs towards his work station. "As you can plainly see, I am currently missing my right arm, having lost it in an unfortunate accident in my college years. Since then, I have studied the ways of reptilian genetics, in hopes of finding a way to adapt it to human DNA and thus grant us a lizards ability to regenerate lost limbs. Though it may seem like a simple concept, I always thought it would be a fruitful effort for the benefit of man."

Watts: "More like a waste of time. Not to mention the unethical implications of altering human DNA. We are not gods, Merlot. We can't just simply bend the natural order of life to our whim. Splicing human DNA with those of animals could have unexpected side effects much more costly than anything most medicines may have. If people want a missing limb back, they can just do what everyone else does and just get a prosthetic replacement."

Willow: "Dr. Watts, I would appreciate it if you stop berating others for their work and just focus on your own. Now unless you wish to share your work with us, I ask that you please stop butting in."

Watts: *sigh*"If I must, then so be it. If you would direct your attention to my station, you will notice various protypes on potential power cores I plan to use to further increase the efficiency of our cities power grid. Our own building may hold it's own clean power source but Jacques has refused to share it with the rest of the world. Therefore I plan to create something that we can share, starting with Vale's own power grid, once I manage to create something more powerful than the SDC's Dust Core."

Willow: "Please just try not to overdo it with the nuclear aspect. We're trying to make the world better, not worse." He just roll's his eyes and returns to his work. *sigh*"Why don't we just move on? Many of our scientists have their own individual projects either created themselves or personally assigned to them for further production. Such as one our veteran's over there developing our work on special hand grenades." As we see a man tinkering with golden orbs with certain bits glowing orange. "And over here with some of our newest additions developing a prototype glider board and special lightweight armor." Said board looking almost like a pair of single edged swords put together, and the white armor must've been made by a woman do to it's feminine figure. Beyond the lab leads us through sections such as the business cubicles, larger testing rooms and assembly lines, even the aforementioned Dust Core in the basement. Running into several workers, including what seems to be a fresh out of college intern with gray hair rushing around trying to do a good job. Eventually we reach the lobby once again but Willow is stopped by a... rather round man in a very dark purple suit. "Mr. Glass. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Glass: "Nothing of real importance. I was just curious as to what has Dr. Fall so agitated?"

Willow: "Seems like one of her spider experiments has gone missing." Just as she's saying this, no one seems to have noticed a small spider descending into my hood.

Glass: "Oh dear. I'm afraid this can't go unnoticed by Mr. Schnee."

Weiss: "Mother? Who is this? I don't think I'm familiar with him."

Glass: "Ah. My apologies. I seemed to have interrupted your tour. *Ahem* Hello students. I am Amoncio Glass, CEO of the SDC Vale branch as of last week. I was head scientist of the main HQ in Atlas, but Mr. Schnee recently saw fit to promote me. Mr. Schnee is currently occupying the CEO's office to review his inspection in peace, and hence why I'm here."

Willow: "And we all appreciate your efforts here, Mr. Glass, as I understand you had a bit of difficulty adjusting to the change from Atlas to Vale."

Glass: "Bah, I just needed to adjust to the slight change in the time zone. Didn't take very long."

Weiss: "I can certainly relate to that when I first moved here."

Glass: "Anyway, I must be going. I'm sure I'll see you around, young Weiss. Good day, Mrs. Schnee." He bows and then takes his leave.

Glynda: "Alright students, that brings our trip to an end. Thank you for you're hospitality Mrs. Schnee."

Willow: "The pleasure was all mine, Ms. Goodwitch." They briefly shake hands. "And Weiss, your father will be working late into the night so I would appreciate at least a visit before we all have to leave." Weiss looks a little conflicted about that.

Weiss: *sigh*"I'll think abou it." Cold. I knew Weiss' family relationships were complicated but I don't think it's particularly healthy to shrug them off like that. I'd at least make an effort to patch things up. But it seems Weiss disagrees as that's all she says before we all leave for the bus outside. Once we get back, we go about the rest of the school day while Goodwitch prepares tomorrow's SDC test. After school, Yang and I left one way while Weiss and Blake left the other and they continue like this until they reach the subway station.

Blake: "I know what your thinking Weiss. And as nice as it sounds, I'm not so sure it's a good idea."

Weiss: "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Blake: "Your planning to look into Ruby's mother on your own despite her wishes."

Weiss: "Wha-? How did-?"

Blake: "I've always been good at reading people, especially after getting to know you these past few years. Not to mention being an observer of human behavior. And I've noticed that since your friendship with Ruby started you've gradually become rather... Protective and somewhat affectionate towards her. Almost like there's more to your thoughts about her than you let on." Weiss clams up and stays silent for a moment. "Guess I was I right." It was then that she noticed a slight tinge of pink on Weiss' cheeks. "I know we may not exactly be that close, but I am always willing to lend an ear, so you know you can talk to me about these things."

Weiss: *sigh*"Okay. Fine. You're right. I... I like Ruby. Love her, even. I've felt like this for almost a year now. I just haven't said anything cause I'm worried intimidating with my... my..."

Blake: "Your reputation? Your referring to how tough it'll be to be with the future head of the biggest company on Remnant."

Weiss: "I just don't wanna scare her. And as for what you said earlier, she's done so much for me whether she realizes it or not. I just thought it's about time that I do something for her for once."

Blake: "And I get that. But this is something personal for her to figure out herself. The best that we can do for her in this instance is be there to support her, but we have no right to actually get involved unless she wants us to. Especially when she herself may not feel like she's ready to face it just yet."

Weiss: "I... I guess you're right. If she's not ready then I'd probably just end up hurting her, which is the last thing I want to happen."

Blake: "And I wouldn't worry about your reputation. If I know Ruby, she always looks at people for who they are, not what they are."

Weiss: "And that's why I love her." At this point their train home arrives. Meanwhile, Yang and I arrive home and... Uncle Qrow isn't here. This means he's either working late with a big case or he's out hitting a bar somewhere. Either way, this really isn't anything new for us. Like I said, things have been rough for him since our parents death, and really, ever since Raven's disappearance. It's actually pretty rare to have him home for dinner. The most we ever see him these days is in the morning before we all leave for the day.

Yang: "Welp. Guess we're on our own for dinner again." That's when I felt a sudden pain on my hand. Instinctively, I smack at it and find I killed a spider that bit me. At first it doesn't seem so bad. But then I start getting a weird feeling in my head. "You okay, Sis?"

Ruby: "Huh? Oh yeah. No. I'm totally fine. But I think I'm a little tired after today, so I'm just gonna go to bed early. And don't worry about eating without me. I'm not really that hungry."

Yang: "Are you sure? I can make some cookies afterwards." Clearly trying to cheer me up after everything that's happened today.

Ruby: "Thanks, Sis, but I think I just need to be alone for a minute. Okay?

Yang: "Yeah. Yeah. Just try not to let it get to you to much, alright?" Then I just head up to my room, quick change into my PJ's, just a black tank top with white pajama pants patterned with pink roses, and immediately collapse into my bed. And as I'm trying to sleep, I keep getting this same feeling in my head as I see all these flashes in my mind showing me random images of those spiders back at Cinder's lab. I'm not entirely sure what it all means yet, but I do know one thing for certain... That this was probably the roughest sleep of my life.

Chapter Text

The next morning, things started out the same as always as I woke up. A little groggy from the strange dreams, but still pretty average. But then I reach the bathroom to shower. I look in the mirror and notice my arms seem a bit… bigger? I mean, not necessarily huge, it’s just that they’re not as flabby as usual, like they’ve gained some muscle. But I brush it off at first because I’m still waking and think I’m just seeing things in my haziness. Especially since I’m not wearing my glasses. So I just move on to my shower, which wakes me up a little even with what little hot water is left given how Yang is always up first and takes a bit longer than I do. After I dry off and get my bra and panties on is when I notice two things. 1: I definitely notice how leaner I’ve become. I’m not too jacked, but I’ve definitely become a bit muscular. And 2: as I look at it all better in a mirror, I realize how clearly I’m seeing it all despite not wearing my glasses, which I left back in my room! I quickly change into my clothes for the day and head back to my room to test something. I grab my glasses and put them on, only to see a total blur through them. I try this out a few more times before concluding the obvious. My eyes have somehow completely cleared up and no longer match the prescribed lenses so now I can see without them! Then I hear Yang yell from downstairs.

Yang: “Ruby! Time for breakfast!”

Ruby: “Ah!” Startled by Yang, I end up dropping my glasses, I fumble a few times to try and catch them but then they hit the floor and… *crack* …they break. *gasp*”Oh no!”

Yang: “Ruby!” Crap! I don’t have time to deal with this. I quickly gather up the glasses into their case and pocket it. Thankfully none of the lense pieces fell out, they’re just cracked. On my way out, when I close my door… I end up yanking out the door knob… and it’s stuck to my fingers! Then as I’m trying to get it off, I get a strange feeling in my head before I look to see Uncle Qrow coming down the hall, so I quickly turn around with my hands behind my back.

Qrow: “Morning kiddo. You doing alright?”

Ruby: “Um, yeah. Just fine-“

Qrow: “You know you don’t have to try and drive it from me. I came home last night and Yang already told me about yesterday.” I just look down a little downtrodden. “Listen kid. I know it’s not easy for you, what with everything you’ve been through and my always being busy. But I know that it you’re anything like Tai and Summer, I know you manage to put big brain of yours to work in order to pull through.”

Ruby: *chuckle*”Qrow!”

Qrow: “And I thought I’d do something to help too. It’s been a while since we’ve all did something together, so I thought I’d take some time off this weekend and we could… I don’t know, maybe see that new monster movie.” He leans in a bit to whisper. “We can all work together to sneak in cheaper candy.”

Ruby: “Hehe... Thanks Uncle Qrow. That’d be nice.”

Qrow: “By the way. Looks you finally started using those contacts I got you, huh?” Ah, whoops! Guess I should’ve expected that.

Ruby: “Oh, um. Yeah! Um. Well, I kinda had to cause my glasses just cracked.” I bring out my case and open it to show him.

Qrow: “Huh. A well, nothing that can’t be fixed. Just hand them to me and I’ll look into it.” Which I did end doing. But in all honesty...

Ruby: “Okay, but honestly there’s no need to rush it. I think I actually want to try living without them for a while.” Probably the best excuse I can make for now. At least until he starts catching on with his detective skills. “But there is also this...” I finally show the door knob I had been holding.

Qrow: “Whoa! What happened?” He takes the knob from me and... it actually doesn’t stick?! What happened?

Ruby: “Uh, I don’t know. It just came off on my way out.”

Qrow: “Huh. Guess this place is getting a little old. I’ll try talking to the landlord on our way out. Now come on. We better not keep Yang waiting.” This is all really weirding me out. What the heck is happening to me!? First I have those strange dreams last night, and now it’s like I’m not even human anymore. Maybe I can figure this out after I talk with Yang and the others. Speaking of which, Qrow and I finally make it downstairs where Yang is already having her breakfast.

Yang: “Geez. What took you guys so long? You know this stuff isn’t any good cold, right?”

Qrow: “Sorry, Firecracker. Just a quick talk between us for the coming weekend.” As he sits down and start on his breakfast. I sit down next to Yang and start on mine before Yang notices.

Yang: “Whoa, Rubes. Where are your glasses?”

Ruby: “Oh! Um, I dropped and cracked them so I had to use my contacts.” It’d be best if i just talk with Yang, Weiss and Blake for now. I don’t wanna make things complicated with Qrow knowing though. Especially with everything he’s been through with Raven, Mom and Dad.

Yang: “Huh. Gotta be honest, you actually look better like this. Really makes me feel like I’m seeing Mom again.” Right. I’m supposed to be Mom’s spitting image, but she never wore glasses. Whether or not she needed them and was just wearing contacts is unknown to me though. After finishing our breakfast and we all head out. Qrow stays behind a bit to speak with the front desk, likely to meet with the landlord regarding the door knob, so Yang and I go on ahead to walk to school. This is when I finally decide to mention something.

Ruby: “Uh, Yang?”

Yang: “What’s up?”

Ruby: “Um. What I said about contacts was... actually a lie.”

Yang: “What!?”

Ruby: “Before you freak out, I swear I can explain, but first I think we should wait until we meet with Weiss and Blake to talk about it.” Yang stays silent for a minute before finally agreeing.

Yang: “Fine. But you better not try to back out. As harmless as it is in this instance, it’s not like you to do something like this.” Well, that went better than expected. Afterwards, we made it to school and went on with our classes, agreeing to talk with Weiss and Blake when we meet up like usual at lunch. But, throughout all my classes, I just couldn’t get my mind to focus. And then we get to Professor Goodwitch’s class right before lunch, where she notices my distracted state.

Glynda: “Ms. Rose? Ms. Rose!”

Ruby: “AH! Um, yes?”

Glynda: “Would you mind coming up here for a minute?” Should’ve known she’d be concerned about my progress. Especially in the middle of a test. So I get up and head up to her desk. “Is everything alright, Ruby? I’ve heard from your other teachers that like just now, you’ve been rather... distracted during class today. Now, with your grades, I'm not too worried but this is kind of unlike you. I’ve never seen you falter like this in the middle of a test.”

Ruby: “Well, you see, I uh...” What exactly could I say in this instance? I know I plan to talk with my friends about this but somehow, I don’t feel like talking with Goodwitch about this is as clear cut as that.

Glynda: “Would this anything to do with what was brought up yesterday?” Wait, what? “I understand your parents are a touchy subject for you, so I’m sure everything that was brought up about your Mother yesterday was particularly hard for you, right?” ...Well, I guess she’s not totally wrong, but I probably shouldn’t complain.

Ruby: “Yeah... I just... She was the hero I always looked up to but died when I was 4. It’s been such a long time since we talked about her in such a long conversation. I just don’t know how to go about getting over it. Especially on how to process everything I learned about her.”

Glynda: “Still, I can’t overlook a possible dwindle in your education. I know I really shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to let you retake the test after school today to let you have some time to try to work through this. Just come by my classroom after school let’s out and I’ll let you get to work.” That’s quite a surprise. Goodwitch doesn’t usually give these kinds of chances. But then again, she has somewhat been a pseudo-mother to me ever since I started here. She may still be strict with me like everyone else, but I always did wonder why she tends to treat me a bit more than others.

Ruby: “Are you sure? I don’t want to get you into any trouble with Ozpin...”

Glynda: “Believe me, I’ve been through more trouble with him much worse than this...” She has a look of reminisce as she says this. What exactly did she mean by that? *ahem*”Regardless, I’ve had to deal Ozpin a lot longer than you’d think so I know how to work around him with this, so you won’t have to worry too much about it.”

Ruby: “Well okay, if you say so. Thank you, Professor.”

Glynda: “Very good then. You may sit back down, and I’ll see you again after school.” So I make my way back to my seat and noticed the concerned look of my friends... and the angered look of Cardin but chose to ignore him. So after Goodwitch’s class let out, we all head for the cafeteria and just like usual, we all met up at our usual table.

Yang: “Okay Ruby, we’re all here, so spill it. What was that all about this morning?”

Ruby: “Okay. Okay. So it basically goes like this...” I explain everything that’s been happening to me since I started feeling woozy after coming home last night.

Yang: “...Ruby... do you honestly expect me to believe any of this?”

Blake: “Now hold on, Yang. You and I both know she has never been one to lie about anything. Even then, I can typically tell when someone is lying anyway, and I don’t think that’s the case.”

Yang: “Are you serious? You do realize how crazy this sounds, right? Weiss, what do you think?”

Weiss: “I... think I’m with Blake on this one.”

Yang: “What?”

Weiss: “I have a theory as to how this happened, but just to be safe, I think we should run some tests so I can confirm it. Let’s all meet up at my place after school today.” Ah, right. Weiss has a personal lab in her penthouse, which I guess her Dad would’ve been able to do with the kind of Lien they have.

Ruby: “I agree. You guys can go on ahead and get everything set up while I’m retaking my test.”

Weiss: “Sounds like a plan.” That’s when someone grabs my hood and drags me out of my seat and into the middle of the room.

Yang: “Ruby!” When I look up, I see it was Cardin who dragged me over, and when Yang and the tried to come to my aid, Cardin’s little gang of bullies, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark, stood in their way to keep them from interfering.

Cardin: “Alright you little runt. I think it’s about time I put you in your place, cause I’m getting real sick and tired of all this attention and special treatment you’ve getting.”

Yang: “Cardin, you coward! Are you seriously so petty that you’d beat up a younger girl!?”

Cardin: “You butt out! I refuse to out classed by a little girl who got here on a technicality! You’re done for!” He goes for a punch but then I get that same feeling in my head I had this morning when Qrow was coming. Thinking about it more, this feels sort of like a kind of warning alarm which somehow let me be able to actually dodge his punch before it hit and afterwards, I was able to get up to my feet. “Hmph. Beginners luck.” He kept throwing punches that I continuously dodged. “Pfft. Quicker than you look I guess. But I still won’t lose to pipsqueak!” At this point, I don’t even realize my momentum when I dodge by bending backwards... with flexibility I didn’t even realize I had. But I didn’t just bend back, I went back far enough to perform a lunging kick at him with enough strength to launch him across the room and through the door... and land right in front of Professor Goodwitch as she was walking through the hall. Upon seeing this, she entered the cafeteria obviously a bit angry.

Glynda: “Who is responsible for this!?” Literally everyone aside from my friends, including Cardin’s crew, all pointed at me. Immediately, she shows a face of disbelief. “Ms. Rose, I’m surprised at you. This is not what I meant when I told you to work through your problem.” It didn’t take long for my friends to step in and stand up for me.

Yang: “Whoa, hold on! This was Cardin’s fault! He dragged her off her seat and started attacking first.”

Blake: “He even deliberately had his little gang stop us from interfering. Ruby was just defending herself.”

Glynda: “Even so, she clearly knocked him unconscious. Something like this cannot be ignored. I can’t believe I’m saying this but... Ruby Rose, please report to Headmaster Ozpin’s office after school.” She starts to walk away and addresses Cardin’s friends on her way out. “You three can take responsibility for your part by taking Cardin to the infirmary.” To which they all scramble to get to it as they all leave. As my friends look at me in concern, I also look down to my hands as I once again question just what the absolute heck is happening to me...

Chapter Text

The rest of the day after that went by as usual, albeit a little quiet... likely because of what happened. After my last class, Yang and I made our way to Ozpin’s office while Weiss and Blake left for Weiss’ place. We sat outside his office until Uncle Qrow arrived, to which he and I went inside while Yang stayed outside. Inside, Ozpin and Goodwitch inform Qrow of what happened. At the end of the day though, Ozpin only gave me detention for a day when considering my track record and the fact that it was in self defense.

Glynda: “Well, it seems you're lucky that Ozpin is so understanding Ms. Rose. So I suppose I can still allow you to retake your test. Why don’t you see your uncle out while I prepare my class.” On our way out, Qrow, Yang and I head one way while Goodwitch went the other. Things were... awkward on our way out until we reach the door.

Qrow: “Yang, you wait outside. I need to talk with Ruby real quick.”

Yang: “I uh... think I’m gonna go ahead and head for Weiss’ place. We all agreed we’d meet there after school for uh... group study. Right, Ruby?”

Ruby: “Huh? Oh, yeah.”

Qrow: “Fine. Just don’t be out too late. I don’t need anymore problems.” Yang just leaves and heads for the train station. *sigh*”You know when I got that call from Oz because someone had caused trouble, I was obviously expecting it to be Yang since that’s who it’s always been since day one... so imagine my genuine surprise when I heard the exact opposite. You seriously almost gave me a heart attack, kid.”

Ruby: “But Uncle Qrow, it wasn’t my fault, it was-”

Qrow: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, the bully kid started it. But you sure as hell finished it. Look, I am proud that you were able to stand up for yourself for once, but you clearly didn’t seem to know your own strength since you also managed to knock him out. You're lucky the guy came to before school let out.” I’ve never seen Uncle Qrow go off like this... at me at least. *sigh*”Look kid, I get it. Like Yang, you’re growing up, so you’re probably going through a lot of changes. But here’s the thing about change: it’s actually the greatest power that we all have. But like with all things, with great power comes great responsibility. So long as you understand that, then you’ll have no trouble making something of yourself in the future.” Huh. I actually never even thought of that. Qrow always was surprisingly wise like that. “Now here’s how we’re gonna do this: you’re gonna serve your detention tomorrow and barring anymore trouble, we can still see that movie this weekend. Deal?” Heh. Of course Uncle Qrow would walk around trouble like this. He never really the disciplining type with me and Yang.

Ruby: “Deal.”

Qrow: “Good.” And we fist bump to seal the deal. “Now you better get going if you’re gonna make that test and to your little group study. I gotta get back to the station anyway. I can only be gone for so long before Captain Tomo gets on my ass for ditching my job.” Oh yeah, Vernal did get that promotion over the summer. I almost forgot about that. I’m so use to her being Qrow’s fellow detective, but I guess she always was more responsible than he is despite him honestly being the better detective. “Good luck, kiddo.” And now we finally part ways and I make it to Goodwitch’s classroom. Upon arrival, I take my seat and work through my test without any issues this time. Perhaps hearing what Qrow said just now helped clear my head a little. Afterwards, once I turn in the test, Goodwitch finally said something.

Glynda: “You know, Ruby, today’s events weren’t exactly what I expected of you when this new semester started, since you always were one of our best students. As it stands, I can easily let this go with it still being the second day. And to step out my teaching role a bit, it is a bit refreshing to finally see Cardin get what he deserves for tormenting you all these years. But you did still go overboard and knocked him out. It is clear to me that something has really changed about you, which I understand can be difficult to overcome, but I still advise you to be cautious as time passes. Not every challenge in life will be as straightforward as Cardin was.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry Professor. As long as I have friends like Weiss and Blake, and my sister around, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Glynda: “Very good, then. You’re dismissed.” Finally, I was able to leave the school and make my way to Weiss’ place. Meanwhile, over at the SDC, we see Cinder in her lab scrambling through her files and has clear signs of lack of sleep with her frazzled hair and the dark circles around her eyes.

Cinder: “Raaaagh! There’s nothing here that explains Summer’s reasoning! Gragh!” As she throws a bunch of papers off her desk all over the floor. “Dammit! I can’t believe a freaking child figured this out before me! ME! The head scientist of this whole building!” Deep breath, and... release. “Like mother, like daughter indeed. And on top of that, one of my spiders is missing. Schnee is definitely going to be up my ass for this one, if Glass decides to rat me out for it.” She sat down at her desk clearly really stressed out. “Still... the fact that Ruby is Summer’s spitting image somehow feels like Summer is mocking me from beyond the grave... Which I suppose would be karmic justice for me, after what I did...” She started having flashbacks of fires and explosions and quick visions of Summer’s face. “NO! No! No! No! Get out of my head, Summer!” Getting up from her chair and stepping back without looking, she accidently slips on her spread out papers, which sent her crashing into the containers of her super serum. The glass breaking left cuts on her arms and thus allowing the serum to slip into her blood stream and the crash itself left her unconscious. And after being out for about a minute, a strange voice could be heard in her head. One that sounded very much like her own but with a more... sinister tone.

???: “Perhaps it’s time we take matters into our own hands yet again. Heheheheh... Hahahahaha!” Cutting back to me as I get off the train and make it to Weiss’ building. And finally, I make it up to her penthouse.

Ruby: “Hey, guys. Sorry I took so long. The train system was kinda delayed.”

Weiss: “Don’t worry about it. It gave me time to do a complete system’s check to make sure everything we needed was in working order. Here. Change into this and we can get started.” She hands me one of her night shirts, likely to act as a makeshift hospital gown. Once I change into it and leave my clothes on the living room couch, we head into the lab. “The only real tests I believe would yield the best results is a blood analysis and a full bio scan.”

Ruby: “Probably the best idea without wasting too much time either.”

Weiss: “With that in mind, I want to go ahead and draw the blood sample to allow the computer to analyze it while we move on to the bio scan. So if you would please sit down?” Upon taking the offered seat, Weiss carefully uses her in hand needle to draw my blood, and quickly patches it once she draws enough for a whole sample. Then she removes the needle from the vial, closes up the vial and sticks it into a bio reader. “PENNY? Have this blood thoroughly analyzed, if you please?”

PENNY: “Certainly, Ma’am.” Ah, yes. Good old PENNY. Weiss’ personal, custom-made AI assistant who basically runs all of Weiss’ homemade tech.

Weiss: “While we wait for that, let’s move on to the bio scan. If you could please lie down on the operating table.” Upon doing as I was told, the bio scanner hangs over and commences the scan over my whole body. “Okay. PENNY? Make sure to analyze this scan data on top of the blood sample.”

PENNY: “Yes, Ma’am.”

Weiss: “The full analysis will take a few minutes with PENNY running it. You can go ahead and change back into your regular clothes. I let you know when the results are in.” I head back into the living room where Blake and Yang stayed in wait.

Yang: “That was fast.” As I grab my clothes from the couch.”

Blake: “Well, it was just a bio scan and some blood extraction. All that’s left is to analyze that data.” As I head into the bathroom and change. Afterwards, I sit beside Yang on the couch and wait a few more minutes until Weiss came in to tell us to follow her into the lab since the results have came in.

Weiss: “Even though it was just blood and a bio scan, the analysis picked up some good data. PENNY, if you please?”

PENNY: “Of course, Ma’am. My analysis detected Ms. Rose’s change in strength as well as a unique enhancement in her mind. More detailed analysis shows that this enhancement applied to her sense of awareness, essentially giving her a potential warning alarm, letting her sense incoming danger and people.”

Ruby: “So that was the cause of that strange feeling in my head.”

PENNY: “On top of that, I detected a change in the electromagnetism of her hands and feet. This change could potentially allow her to control her own static electricity in her hands and feet to allow her to stick to possibly any surface, so long as she’s able to control her bodies tension: tensing her limbs to stick to things and relaxing them to let go.”

Blake: “That and her new strength could explain what happened with the door knob.”

Ruby: “It stuck to me because I was tense from freaking out over it. My talk with Qrow afterwards must’ve been what helped me relax enough for it to unstick and hence how Qrow was able to take it from me with ease.”

PENNY: “Of course all of these changes had to come from somewhere and hence where the blood analysis comes into play. Many irregularities were found in her blood’s make up. These irregularities seemed to be chemically fabricated and so I compared it to databases of any and all chemical concoctions made through out history, including those made by the Schnee Dust Company and found the substance to be fairly similar to the experimental super soldier serum currently under development by Dr. Cinder Fall. This is backed up by the irregularities also containing substances akin to the venom held by certain spider breeds, such as the ones currently held by Dr. Fall in her lab.”

Ruby: “Wait... WHAT!?”

Yang: “But how!?”

Blake: “Wait a minute... didn’t Cardin point out that one of the spiders were missing yesterday?” Then I get realization!

Ruby: *gasp*”Oh no...” That spider bite from yesterday...

Weiss: “You think it actually escaped and eventually found it’s way to Ruby?”

Ruby: “I think it actually did...” They all look at me. “Before bed last night, a spider did bite my hand. But I was already pretty worn out at that time and bugs are always getting into these apartments anyway, so I didn’t even think much of it at the time and instinctively smacked it dead anyway.”

Blake: “That could’ve very well been Dr. Fall’s missing spider.”

Weiss: “PENNY, is there any way to actually confirm any of this with more than just this data?”

PENNY: “Dead or not, biological tissue of any sort of creature can be analyzed to determined certain facts, otherwise events like forensic investigations into the death’s of people wouldn't be able to identify their victims if they couldn’t do so by their face. If we can collect that spiders corpse and run tests on it’s tissues, we should have an answer.”

Weiss: “Then it’s obvious what we need to do. We’ll break for today, Ruby and Yang can search for the spider and bring here when we reconvene tomorrow.”

Yang: “Oh yeah, sure. Finding a tiny spider in a whole living room full of furniture and potential blind spots. Can't be too hard...”

Ruby: “There’s no need for sarcasm, Yang. I’m pretty sure I can find it if a search around where it bit me.”

Weiss: “Seems your definitely more confident than before, but I’m not complaining. So, with that in mind...” She grabs a small vial and some tweezers and hands them to me. Use these tweezers to grab and place it into this vial for safe transport. We can begin tests immediately once we reconvene here after school.”

Blake: “Barely even started the school year and yet it’s definitely the most interesting one.”

Yang: “Well, someone sure is excited about all of this...” Now with all of that said and done, Blake, Yang and I leave to go home and we split off Blake at the subway station. “Are you sure you’re okay, Ruby? This whole thing going on with you... I’m sure this is putting a lot on your mind, since this whole thing relates to that whole thing we talked about with Mom.” She’s not wrong but...

Ruby: “Of course it bothered me at first. If this really is coming from some super spider, then I’m basically becoming some kind of... mutant freak, or something. But as I continue to think about it, I just can’t help but feel that this is all happening to me for a reason. Like I’m actually meant to have these new abilities of mine.”

Yang: “You can’t be serious. None of this normal!”

Ruby: “Maybe not, but you have to remember, this is all brought about by a creation of science. And it’s with science that allows practically anything to be possible. If this really is from something that Mom made, then I need to find how deep this rabbit hole goes. I need to know just how much this will impact my future. Especially after hearing what Uncle Qrow said back at school, even if he was just being metaphorical with my changing as I grow rather than these powers.”

Yang: “And what’s that?”

Ruby: “That with great power comes great responsibility. But first I need you to trust me to be able to actually do this. Otherwise it just feels like that I’m facing this alone.”

Yang: “I...*sigh* Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you. I’m just worried because, unlike you, I have hard time understanding this stuff without you guys here to help, and so it makes me feel like I won’t actually be to do anything to help... We already lost both our parents... I just don’t wanna lose you too.”

Ruby: “Yang...” Incoming hug. “I get that you’re worried. But I promise you, I’m not going anywhere. But you also can’t protect me from everything. Even without these powers happening, I’m already heading into a dangerous field with wanting to become a scientist. But that’s the choice I made myself. I need to be one to face those dangers on my own. All I ask from you is to able to support my choices. No matter how dangerous they may be. Okay?” She stays silent for a quick minute before finally returning the hug and calming down.

Yang: “Okay. I’m still pretty hesitant, but regardless of that, I’ll always be there to support your decisions. No matter how reckless or dangerous.” Despite how different we may be, Yang is still my big sister. So I know I can always count on her in my toughest times. After another minute or so, we finally separate and make it home. Meanwhile, we see a SDC warehouse outside the city that suddenly exploded. The only other thing seen among the scene is a silhouette of… someone atop some kind of small aircraft flying away from the explosion, laughing all the way with a clearly feminine voice.

???: “Hahahahaha!” Whoever this mystery woman is, they are essentially what served as the start of my upcoming journey.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take as long as we thought for us to find the spider in our living room last night. The next morning, there was a report of an explosion outside the city late last night. Thus sparking this mornings bad news from Qrow.

Qrow: “Looks like you kids are already seeing the reports. Sorry, Ruby, but I’m gonna have to take a rain check on this weekend. This incident has some particular oddities around it, so the chief wants all hands on deck until the case is settled.”

Ruby: “Hey, don’t worry about it. The movies aren’t going anywhere. You just do your job and solve this thing.”

Yang: “Besides, somehow I think we’re gonna be pretty busy the next few days ourselves.”

Qrow: “Glad you girls are so quick to understand. That said, I’m not canceling, just postponing. I promise we’ll still get to go when this case is over.” He rushes through his breakfast and is out the door quickly. Not much else we can do until we meet with the others after school, or in my case a bit later due to my detention today. At least it’ll give Weiss time to properly check her equipment again. Meanwhile, in the SDC, Cinder is seen hunched over her desk and suddenly wakes up.

Cinder: “Huh, what!?” Looking around, she seems a little confused. “Ugh, what happened? How did I get back to my desk? I remember slipping over by my-” She looks over to see her serum supply practically destroyed and... the spiders all apparently dead! “AHH! What the hell happened!?” that when her door opened to welcome Glass and... Jacques Schnee himself.

Jacques: “Fall! We need to talk.”

Cinder: “AH! M-Mr. Schnee! What uh.. What brings you down to my office?”

Jacques: “Cut the act, Fall. You are on thin ice after I heard you apparently lost one of your experimental spiders. And now that I see the state of your lab, that ice just became thinner! You promised me a super solder serum and all I see after all these years is a big mess! And to make it even thinner is that you were the last one confirmed to be in here last night when some of our scientist's projects went missing!”

Cinder: “Wait, what?”

Jacques: “Don’t ‘what’ me, Fall! The inventors behind the glider board, the armored flight suit and the prototype grenades came in this morning to report their projects missing!”

Cinder: “Sir, please! I honestly don’t know what’s going on! I was here in my lab all night trying to figure out the spider problem and a possible in our reasoning with Summer’s project-”

Jacques: “I don’t care about what you think you were doing! Right now, your credibility is questionable at best, and I can’t have problematic liabilities like you around when the Atlas council is right up my ass about this apparent lack of progress on this project! You're suspended until this whole thing is blown over! And if it turns out you were the one behind all of this, you’re obviously fired!”

Cinder: “But sir-!”

Jacques: “No buts! Get out!” Cinder doesn’t really have much to argue with and so has little choice but to comply. Back to me, our day goes by the same as usual, going all my classes with... unique teachers like Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck, the history teacher that has so much coffee he basically has super speed, Peter Port, the overweight braggart of a gym coach, Ann Greene, the constantly exhausted math teacher, Harold Mulberry, the very proper metal shop teacher, and my personal favorite teacher: Thumbelina Peach, the science teacher who seems a little obsessed with the subject. And of course, Glynda Goodwitch who doubles as a social studies teacher on top of being the vice headmistress and working events like chaperoning field trips and running big tests like the SDC test yesterday. And Ms. Goodwitch is also overseeing my detention now that school is out. Though she’s primarily grading some of her assignments from today while I took this opportunity to study independently while Yang went on ahead to Weiss’ place with her and Blake.

Glynda: “Okay, Ms. Rose. Your time is up.”

Ruby: “Ah! Right. Thank you, Professor.”

Glynda: “Just please try not to end up like this again. I’m so used to having actual trouble makers like Ms. Xiao Long and Mr. Winchester in here, that I was honestly quite anxious having you instead.” Her face showing genuine concern. “Just please be careful from now on... I don’t think my heart can take it.”

Ruby: “I’ll try.” Though something tells me I’ll be getting into more trouble in events outside of school. I end up taking the same route as yesterday to reach Weiss’ place and once I’m there, I hand over the vial with the dead spider inside. Inside the lab is a large glass box with little robot arms inside and Weiss dumps the spider in the box and seals it shut.

Weiss: “Alright, PENNY. We've got the spider, so go ahead and rub whatever tests you need to do.”

PENNY: “Yes, Ma’am. Give me about an hour and I should have the results by then.”

Weiss: “Okay. While we wait on PENNY, there’s something else I feel like we need to talk about.”

Yang: “And what’s that?”

Weiss: “That explosion last night. Reports show witnesses saying they saw a humanoid figure flying away from the blast on some kind of board laughing all the way in a very feminine voice.”

Yang: “Okay. So what?”

Weiss: “Then, earlier today, some of the scientists reported that some of their projects had gone missing. Particularly a glider board, an armored flight suit and prototype hand grenades.”

Blake: “Wait... Didn’t we see those projects during our field trip.”

Yang: “Yeah, I remember that. The suit was clearly made by a woman due to it’s figure.” Of course Yang would pay attention to those details.

Ruby: “So, are you thinking that whoever stole those was the one responsible for the explosion?”

Weiss: “Yes. And I think Father already has a potential suspect: Cinder Fall.”

Ruby: “What? Why?”

Weiss: “Because earlier this morning, Father suspended Dr. Fall because she was the last confirmed to still be working in the lab late last night and was only one found in the lab this morning when everyone else was coming in to work. Father is letting the police conduct an investigation in the building and par the circumstances but still haven’t found any evidence concrete enough to actually bring her in, hence why father has currently only suspended her until this whole thing is cleared up or until they do find the evidence they’re looking for against her. All they have at the moment is that some of the security footage of the lab has been cut at certain points of the night and the fact that Cinder’s lab is kind of trashed at the moment, due to an accident, according to Cinder herself.”

Blake: “Hm. Your right. Thats not quite enough to actually suspect her, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s off the table yet. We'd best put a pin on that possibility.”

Yang: “You say that like we’re the ones actually investigating the case even though the actual police are already on the case, including our Uncle Qrow.”

Ruby: “Oh, come on, Yang. Live a little.”

Weiss: “I just can’t shake the feeling that the police won’t be able to solve this one on their own. As if we actually have to get involved to solve it ourselves.”

Ruby: “Yeah. It's just like the feeling I have that maybe I now have these powers for a reason.”

PENNY: “Speaking of which, Ms. Schnee. The results are in.”

Weiss: “Wow. An hour passed already?”

PENNY: “Not exactly. But better now than never, right?”

Weiss: “So, what do we got?”

PENNY: “After a number of careful tests on the spiders tissues, particularly on what was left of it’s venom, I was able to confirm it was indeed a carrier for a special serum. And obviously I compared this data to what we found in Ruby’s blood yesterday. And as expected: it was a match. The source of Ruby’s newfound abilities was the serum carried by this spider.”

Blake: “And there we have it.”

Ruby: “So it true...” Even so, I think it’s best to act on something that I’ve been thinking about since last night. “Weiss.”

Weiss: “Yes?”

Ruby: “I know what I said the other day. But now that it’s come to this, I feel like I need to know more now if I’m actually going to make it through this. So if you’re still up for it, I need you to look into my mom’s work. Can you do it?” Weiss now looks stunned about my sudden request. As if she never expected me to change my mind about this topic. But not long afterwards is when she finally responded.

Weiss: “Ah! Yes! Yes. I uh...*ahem* I can start right away after school tomorrow.”

Blake: “In that case, we’d better call it here. I have some other things to do.” And with that, we split up again and head home. Meanwhile, Cinder is up in her studio apartment scouring through her research but has found nothing.

Cinder: “ARGH! God damnit!” She ends up punching her floor to ceiling mirror and finds something completely unexpected in her secret room for storing old research: the glider board, a bunch of the hand grenades, including some unfinished ones on a work bench, and the flight suit, which had all of it’s white parts painted red with certain gold details, along with some pouches strapped to the waist, and on a little side table is a hooded cloak that goes down to Cinder’s biceps and a red domino mask. “What the hell is all of this!?” And then the voice from earlier that sounds like her becomes known again.

Cinder?: “Oh. So you found my little secret.”

Cinder: “AH! Who’s there!?”

Cinder?: “Why, your inner self, of course.”

Cinder: “My... inner self?”

CInder?: “Yes. Think of me as the side of yourself you showed when you committed your sins a long time ago. A side that has now form as her own being in your head after your little... accident last night.”

Cinder: “My accident...” To which she sees flashes of her slipping and crashing into the serum. “The soldier serum. The cuts on my arms allowed the serum to infect me and because it wasn’t properly tested, it had the unexpected side effect of creating a whole new split personality in my head. One that took complete control of my body when I passed out, and hence why I found myself at my desk instead of on the floor this morning.” And then she comes to a whole different realization. “Wait... SO IT WAS YOU! You're the one who stole this tech and caused that explosion last night! It’s your fault that I’m being blamed for all of this!”

Cinder?: “Aw, but don’t you see? The serum still gave you enhanced strength like it was supposed to. With this power, we can easily achieve anything we want, so long as nothing can stand in our way. That’s why I killed off your little spiders. To keep others from obtaining this power from them. And the facility I destroyed last was a supply warehouse responsible for supplying the SDC with key chemical components. If we can stop others from attaining the same kind of strength we have, then we can prove to Schnee and Glass that we’re not a force to be messed with. And since we’ve actually accomplished something with this project without even needing one of those spiders... doesn’t that more than prove us to be better than Summer ever was. This is your chance to seize your moment... just like you did when you killed Summer all those years ago!”

Cinder: “I... I guess you’ve got a point. I’ve already stooped pretty low when I decided to sabotage her boiler that day. It’s time the whole see’s just what Cinder Fall can do!”

Cinder?: “Hmhmhm. And of course we’ll still look good doing it. Which is why I propose we also make ourselves known to the world... as the Red Succubus.”

Cinder: “The Red Succubus... Not a bad ring to it, actually. Though that’ll primarily be what I call you to avoid confusion.”

Red S.: “Fair enough. But with that said, here’s what I propose. With us working together, we can continue to spread our chaos across Vale with this tech and our gifts to further gain Schnee’s attention, and once we fully have it, we make our move to confront him directly.”

Cinder: “Yes. And if anyone does try to get in our way...”

Red S.: “We kill them where they stand!” And they both just laugh as we cut back to me and Yang back at home, watching the news reported by a one Lisa Lavender.

Lisa: “As the police continue to investigate the recent explosion, they seem to believe some involvement with someone from the Schnee Dust Company. Further information regarding their potential suspect is still up in the air.”

Yang: “I’m starting to think that the company being involved is the reason for Weiss’ strange hunch.”

Ruby: “Maybe, but I’m not too sure about that.”

Yang: “Well, regardless, we now know where your powers come from. So now the big question comes: what do you plan to do with them?”

Ruby: “Hmm...” That is a good question. Qrow said with great power comes great responsibility. But what exactly can I do with these powers. Obviously, the best way to go about it is to find a way to use them to help people... but how...

Lisa: “With the alleged existence of this supposed flying woman, many believe that this case will potentially draw the attention of town vigilantes Black Cat or the Grim Reaper, both of which continuing to fight against Vale’s criminal population from the shadows.” The police and media may call these vigilantes criminals, but the general public, including us, actually see them as genuine heroes. Wait...

Ruby: “That’s it!”

Yang: “Whoa! What’s got you all excited?”

Ruby: “Okay, Yang. Before you say anything just, hear me out first, okay?”

Yang: “Okay...?”

Ruby: “What if I used my powers to become a... superhero...” There’s an awkward silence for about five seconds.

Yang: “Excuse me, what?”

Ruby: “I know, it probably sounds incredibly dangerous and maybe a bit childish, but I want to be able to use my powers to help people. And there are people like me risking their lives to help people with the gifts they have, then surely, I should be able to do the same. Right?” She continues to stay silent. *sigh*”I guess it does sound a little ridicu-”

Yang: “Ruby.” It’s pretty rare to hear Yang speak so seriously. “Under normal circumstances, I probably would tell you to forget such a crazy idea out of concern for your safety. But I already promised you that I would support whatever decision you made regardless of how dangerous or reckless it may be. And honestly, I’m actually starting to think you were right about your hunch. That you must have these powers for a reason. So if you really want to use your powers to protect this city, then I’ll do what I can to support you every step of the way.” I can’t believe Yang actually said that. Maybe I really did get through to her last night.

Ruby: “Heh. Thanks, Sis.”

Yang: “So with all of that said. If you're really gonna become a superhero... then where do we start?”

Chapter Text

After talking about it last night, we started by... coming up with my costume. Honestly, I was thinking we should on a few other things first before the suit, but I guess it was the best we could do for the moment within the comforts of our home. It's not exactly professional, but for now we settled with my unused sports jersey uniform, consisting of black sweats and jacket with red details, along with some black combat boots with red soles, black fingerless gloves, and dark red ski mask with blue lensed ski goggles and a red cape with a hood, finished with taping a kinda choppy spider logo to the left side of the jackets chest area. Afterwards, I thought about the fact that my new powers didn’t seem to include the ability to produce webbing. Which is kind of a good thing and kind of a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it would’ve been absolutely disgusting to suddenly have those web glands in my body. But then it’s also a bad thing because I’m trying to be a spider themed hero and feel kinda incomplete without this ability. So I did some research on spider webbing to help figure out a way to create an artificial webbing, as well as draw some ideas for a way to utilize them. It's possible I could use the webs as a means of transportation by swinging around the city, so the best place to possibly shoot them from would be my hands. And so I drew up some plans for wearable web shooters I can strap around my wrists. The next day, I asked Dr. Peach if I could reserve a workbench to work on a personal project during class, which she only allowed because, number 1: it was kind of a free day today, and B: she respected my track record as a fellow science nerd and believe us scientist should be allowed to work freely. Using my research, I tinkered around to create my web shooters and had a few attempts to create a proper web fluid very close to the real thing, with an obvious tensile strength fitting for the whole human ratio thing compared to the smaller spider. These were done over the course of the next few days during school. After school during these days, Yang and I went to an abandoned junk yard as a training ground for my powers and new equipment. As time went by while testing my webs, it had definitely improved since we started. Tests involved using it to pull down certain junk, and using the nearby trees surrounding the place to practice swinging. We also tested my strength by trying to push and lift some of the heavy stuff in there. We set up a stable enough climbing wall to test my wall crawling, and tested my new ‘spider sense’, which I started calling my new enhanced sense of awareness, with me wearing a blindfold and dodging anything it warned me of when Yang threw things at me. Yang also helped do a quick study of certain martial arts and we used as a base to me creating my own fighting style by using my spider sense to guide me as I fight with improvised techniques derived from average level karate, and tested with sparring matches against Yang, who actually takes a boxing class at the local gym. Come the weekend, we decide to do some field tests, and while it may have been a risk, I have successfully been able to swing from high buildings with ease, especially with my already super brain running all the needed physics equations in my head as I swing to avoid any mishaps that could prove... unfortunate. But the real test was when we picked up a crime in progress with a police scanner. Yang staying behind at a high enough vantage point to try and keep an eye on me all over with some binoculars, keeping her ear out on the scanner and letting me know through my custom made com links.

Yang: “Heads up, Sis. We got a robbery at a jewelry store about a block from me. Officer trying to handle it is outgunned three to one.”

Ruby: *phew*”Okay... Moment of truth. Let’s hope I’m ready. Wish me luck!” I hurry as fast as I can and find what I’m looking for. A cop car is parked across the street from the store and the officer is hiding behind the car for cover as two of the guys have him pinned down with their guns.

Cop: “Dammit! Where’s that back up?”

Ruby: “Heads up!” I swing by and into the two guys from the side with a kick. They dropped their guns, so I take them and web them to the wall a little high up. “Officer, you rest up a little. I can handle this!”

Thug 1: “And who the hell are you?”

Thug 2: “Little girls like you shouldn’t get involved.”

Ruby: “D-don’t underestimate me!” I avoid a few punches before knocking one of them into the other and then webbed them to the wall.

Thug 2: “Ugh! What is this stuff?” That’s when the third guy comes out after hearing all the noise.

Thug 3: “What the hell is going on out here?” And he shows disappointment when he sees the scene before him. “Seriously guys? You let some little girl take you guys down?”

Thug 1: “Not our fault! She's quicker than she looks!”

Thug 3: “Well let’s see if she can dodge this!” He aims his gun at me and fires! But thanks to my spider sense, I’m able to avoid it with a back flip. Once I’m back on my feet, I grab the gun with a web, yank it out of his hands and throw it at his face. He falls over and I web him to the ground to hold him there.

Ruby: *phew*”That was a close call. Hey! It's safe now!” The cop comes from behind the car.

Cop: “My god. You actually did it.” Nearby passer byers start gathering in bewilderment of what I just did. “Thank you. I thought I was almost dead there.” Then I hear a familiar voice among the crowd with a peculiar accent.

???: “Excuse me!” I turn around to see our Velvet Scarlatina, a rabbit eared Faunus girl with long brown hair and various shades of brown clothing. She was our senior we previously mentioned that graduated two years ago. And I can already see a camera in her hands. Velvet: “Mind if I get a picture for the paper?”

Ruby: “Uh... sure.” And she immediately took the shot of me and the cop right by the webbed up crooks.

Velvet: “You know, I don’t think I’ve actually seen you around before. You a new hero or something?”

Ruby: “Yeah... It’s my first day.”

Velvet: “Oh yeah? You got a name I can call you by yet? For the paper.” Crap! I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I don’t wanna use some cliched name like ‘spider girl’ or something like that. I wanna be unique. That's when I remember all the stark red on my outfit and come up with something that I think will pretty well.

Ruby: “You can call me... the Scarlet Spider.” That’s when I hear more police sirens as they turn the corner a ways away. “Well, that’s my queue to go! Take care citizens!” And I move to swing away from the scene. I make a pit stop back where Yang is waiting to reload on web fluid cartridges. “Yang! You’ll never guess who I just ran into!”

Yang: “Oh yeah? Did you run into Uncle Qrow already?”

Ruby: “Ahahaha.” Sarcastically. “No. No, I ran into Velvet on the scene. She was getting pictures for the paper. And when she asked what to call me, that’s when I finally thought to come up with a name for myself.”

Yang: “Oh yeah. We never did get that far, did we?”

Ruby: “Anyway, I came up with the name ‘Scarlet Spider’, because of all the red.”

Yang: “Hm. Not bad. Though I am a little worried about you already getting media attention.”

Ruby: “I honestly didn’t expect anything less really, considering the circumstances of the sudden appearance of a new vigilante.”

Yang: “I guess. Let’s just try to be more careful from now on though. It would be bad if we got caught too soon.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I got this.” Then I get back out there and handle more crimes out there. Meanwhile, we cut to Weiss entering the SDC. These past few days, she had tried using her skills to look through even the most sensitive servers in the SDC for info on Summer Rose but couldn’t find anything beyond what they had already heard about her, which already wasn’t a lot. So she felt like she had no choice but to try and search through the CEO’s office computer directly, thinking it may have files not a part of the SDC servers. Upon arrival in the CEO’s office, she finds Glass and her father chatting it up. The door opening caught their attention.

Jacques: “Weiss? What in Remnant are you doing here?”

Weiss: “I... wanted to speak with Mr. Glass about something, if he didn’t mind.”

Glass: “Of course not. But you kind of caught us at a bad time.”

Weiss: “Don’t worry, it can wait a minute. Right now, I’m more curious as to why you’re still here, Father. I thought you and the family already left for Atlas.”

Jacques: “Willow, Whitley and Klein have already left. I myself unfortunately can't at the moment given the current circumstances around here.”

Weiss: “You mean about the missing tech and these explosions at our warehouses?”

Jacques: “Yes. These recent events have been rather unsettling, so I feel as though I can’t leave until this whole situation has completely blown over.” That’s when his intercom chimes in, the voice belonging to the front desk woman.

Receptionist: “Mr. Schnee, the Atlas council is calling. Their requesting a video call from the conference room.”

Jacques: “Bah! Sorry Weiss, but I don’t have time for you right now. I’ve got more important things to handle right now.” As he storms out of the room.

Weiss: “What was that about?”

Glass: “It’s about the soldier serum project. The supplies been destroyed and all of the spiders are dead, so the council aren’t exactly pleased after we had already spent so many years working on it.” Weiss seems shocked. Guess this is the first she’s hearing of this. “But that’s not exactly any of our business right now. With Mr. Schnee gone, why don’t we talk about what you wanted to talk with me for.”

Weiss: “Ah. Right. Ahem. I was actually hoping to ask about Summer Rose. Particularly about her work on the serum project. That is, if your able to talk about it.”

Glass: “Unfortunately, there’s really not much I can tell you outside of what you probably heard during your field trip. She was a fantastic scientist and a prime candidate for head scientist. Not much was left about her project when she died and hence the need to start from scratch with what we could observe from her station.”

Weiss: “I see...” Then he a call on his scroll.

Glass: “I’m sorry, but I have to take this. I’m not sure how long this will take but feel free to wait here if you still need to talk later.” He steps outside when he answers the call. Weiss seizes this moment to look through the computer, hooking a little drive with PENNY on it to help search through the data faster.

PENNY: “A quick search has helped me gained access to Mr. Schnee’s personal server and I found a journal entry that may be useful.” Right. Jacques set it up so each member of the family has their own personal server to use for their own projects they conduct outside of the SDC. Everyone except for Weiss’ elder sister Winter, since she left the family to join the Atlas military.

Weiss: “What does it say?”

PENNY: “Apparently, when Summer’s corpse was searched by the police, they found a drive that they assumed pertained to her work in the company and handed it over to Mr. Schnee after her case was closed, figuring it was pretty important. However, Mr. Schnee actually didn’t recognize the drive because of the particular emblem printed on it. And when he tried to look through it, he found it to be protected by very heavy encryptions and fire walls that he couldn’t bypass. So until he could find a way to do so, he kept the drive hidden in a secret room right here in this very office we stand it.”

Weiss: “A secret room?”

PENNY: “Yes. It would seem he has rooms like this in the CEO’s office of all four branches of the SDC to hide particular secrets he doesn’t computers to effectively hide.”

Weiss: “And yet he decided to admit to having these rooms in his own digital diary entry? Pfft. Talk about hypocritical.” As she rolls her eyes. “Do we know where this room is?”

PENNY: “It doesn’t say in his entry’s. But I may be able to find it through a quick scan of the room through your scroll camera.”

Weiss: “Okay then.” She removes her device once PENNY finishes covering her tracks and retreats her program back into it. Then she stands by the door and brings out her scroll to aim her camera over the whole room to let PENNY scan the whole room.

PENNY: “Found it. Hidden behind the large painting of Nicholas Schnee. The plaque next to the painting has a keypad underneath it as well.” Weiss moves up to the painting as upon pushing on the plaque, it slides up to reveal the keypad.

Weiss: “Looks like it takes a four digit code to open.”

PENNY: “Hold on. I think I did find a reference to the code in his files. There were references to the phrase ‘Nicholas’ last day’. What do you think that means?”

Weiss: “Nicholas’ last day...” And lightbulb! “Wait... No, he didn’t!” She inputs the date of her grandfather's death which was 12 years ago when she was 5. And lo and behold, the painting sinks into the wall before sliding to the side, revealing the secret room. “Father, you son of a bitch. Using Grandfathers death date in such a way.” She enters to find several shelves full of items. Some of which were labeled with people's names. Then she finds what she was looking for, the drive labeled with Summer’s name. And sure enough, it held an emblem she hadn’t seen before, along with the word ‘B.E.A.C.O.N.’ printed underneath it. Deciding not to waste more time thinking about it, she put the drive into her bag, got out of there, and pressed the code in again which shut the door and brought the plaque back down. Then Glass comes back in from his phone call.

Glass: “Sorry about the wait, Ms. Schnee. Did you want to keep talking?”

Weiss: “No thanks. I just um… got a text from my friends wanting to hang out for dinner, so I should get going.”

Glass: “Very well. Probably best anyway. I don’t think you want to be around when your father finishes his meeting. All calls with council tend to result in a spike in his anger.”

Weiss: “Duly noted.” To which she leaves and makes her way out of the building. On her way home, she starts hearing some odd reports on the large screens.

Lisa: “Earlier today, a jewelry store robbery was thwarted by a brand new vigilante sporting black and red, and using a appears to be spider webbing to restrain the criminals, stopping the crime and apparently saving the officer who was helpless outgunned.” As the screen shows the picture that Velvet took. “According to the photographer who submitted this photo to the station, this new self-proclaimed hero has gone on record to reveal the name she goes by: the Scarlet Spider. More witness reports from officers and citizens alike confirm her continued acts against crime throughout the day since then. Higher ranks of the police have yet to voice any sort of opinion regarding this new individual.”

Weiss: “What the-?” That’s when Blake calls on her scroll.

Blake: “Weiss? Have you seen it yet? The reports on this new spider hero?”

Weiss: “Yeah. I just got investigating the CEO’s office and am seeing the reports now on my way home.”

Blake: “You're thinking the same thing, right? Surely you must’ve already deduced her identity given the circumstances.”

Weiss: “Yeah, but... Surely she wouldn’t do something so reckless, right?”

Blake: “It’s just a deduction for now. There’s only one way to actually confirm it. We'll need to actually confront her about it.”

Weiss: “Okay, but can it wait until tomorrow? I think I may have come across a major lead into Summer.”

Blake: “Oh yeah?”

Weiss: “Yes. I’ll fill you all in tomorrow after I look more into it. I don’t feel comfortable talking about it over scroll call.”

Blake: “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Weiss then heads straight home after their call ends, and works practically all night since then trying to decrypt the drive. PENNY did eventually get her to get some sleep, promising she’d keep the decryption going all night. It wasn’t until the next morning that they finally managed to bypass everything and look into what's on the drive. She let’s PENNY look though that while Weiss calls in everyone to meet at her place. Blake showed up first. Then Yang showed, after I had told her to go on ahead while I finished up a little errand. Said errand being to stop a guy from mugging some woman and stealing her purse. After securing the guy and making sure she was fine, I swung by the building, changed in the alley right next to the building, and finally made my way up to Weiss’ penthouse. For now, I want to really get the hang of this hero thing before letting Weiss and Blake in on it, just to make certain they know I really can handle myself when I tell them.

Ruby: “Sorry I’m late! I didn’t expect that to take as long as it did.” Weiss and Blake both look at me a little concerned. “Uh... Everything okay guys?”

Weiss: *sigh*”Before we go over what I found, there’s something else I think we need to go over first.”

Ruby: “Which is...?”

Blake: “The Scarlet Spider.” Shoot! Don't tell me they figured me out already! “I’m gonna cut right to the chase: You're the Scarlet Spider, aren’t you Ruby?” ...Dang it.

Yang: “Well that figures. Should've known you guys would’ve picked up on it. Best we come clean now, Sis.”

Ruby: *sigh*”Guess you're right.” So much for my initial plan. “Okay. Fine. It's true.” I pull out the suit and lay it out on the operating table to make my point. “I decided to use my new powers to become a superhero.”

Blake: “That’s what I thought.”

Weiss: “What were you thinking!? This is way too dangerous for you to be doing!”

Ruby: “But, Weiss-”

Weiss: “And you!” As she points to Yang. “You Implied you knew about this. How could you let her do this!? You’re her older sister! I thought you were supposed to protect, not let her throw herself into danger!”

Yang: “Hey! Don't try to throw this on me! I promised I’d support her choices no matter how dangerous.”

Weiss: “Are you kidding me!? That is not an excuse to just let this go!” She looks back to me. “What do you have to say for yourself!?” All I can do is try to do is be honest with my feelings like I did with Yang.

Ruby: “Ever since I got these powers, I had this nagging feeling like I was supposed to have them for a reason. And when I thought about Uncle Qrow’s words, that with great power comes great responsibility, I knew that I should use these powers to try and help people. Then I thought about how there were people out there like me. People who have unique gifts and decided to risk their lives in order to protect the people. This was quite possibly the only way I knew how I could accomplish this goal. Look, I know how dangerous this can possibly get. But I know that if I am able to do something to actually help my city, then I think I should actually do what I can help. But now I feel like I won’t be able to if I feel like you guys don’t trust me to be able to handle this.” Now Weiss looks like she feels bad for scolding me.

Weiss: “Ruby, I-”

Blake: “I trust you, Ruby.” Everyone now looking to Blake. “I can understand what it means to want to uphold responsibility. I’m out here working my hardest for the day I have to become chieftess of Kuo Kuana. If this is how you plan to uphold your responsibility, then I’ll support every step of the way.”

Yang: “Blake...” After hearing Blake’s words, everyone now looks to Weiss.

Weiss: “I... guess I understand as well. I have a responsibility to uphold myself when I take over the company. A legacy of honor to fix that had been broken for so long. It’s just... *sigh* It’s not that don’t trust you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. You three are the only real friends I’ve ever had, and I just want that to be taken away from after everything we’ve been through these past few years.”

Ruby: “Weiss...” I decide to give Weiss a hug after hearing that. “Weiss, I promise you. I’m not going anywhere. Not so long as I know I have friends and family like you waiting for me. Okay?” It took Weiss a few seconds to fully come to terms with what I said for she let go.

Weiss: “Okay.” After taking a few more moments to clear the air between us all, decides to move on to tell all about what she found. “After letting PENNY handle it all night, we finally managed to bypass all of the drives security this morning.”

PENNY: “And according to my analysis, the data all seem to be video diary entry’s featuring Summer Rose.” We all stand bewildered by this discovery before making a final decision.

Ruby: “Play them.” The then cuts to the first video of many featuring mom in her private lab outside of the company.

Summer: “Hello. I am Dr. Summer Rose. A special scientist working for B.E.A.C.O.N., and the one hand picked by Director Ironwood himself to lead an undercover mission to join the Schnee Dust Company as a means of using their advanced tech in our own attempts to recreate the special serum used by Captain Jaune Arc in the great war all those years ago. All while the Director makes sure the project is seen by Mr. Schnee as one of the company’s contracts with the Atlas military, utilizing his other position as the military’s general. I have just finished setting up my private lab within the city and am ready to begin recording my progress reports. So far, the Ironwood’s efforts have allowed the project to be greenlit by Mr. Schnee and his trio of other CEO’s. Though with what little there is left of Dr. Scarlatina’s work, I am forced to make assumptions regarding certain components of it’s chemical makeup.” The videos as they explain certain things, like how the serum by itself tends to have bad side effects on the mind of the test subjects. Her use of spiders was because of how that when adapted to their venom, it offsets the side effects into something beneficial. Which in my case was the additional powers like the spider sense. Then we come to her last video. “This will be my final recording for now, as I have felt that I am being watched for the past while. I know that I’m too far into the hole to try and give up on this project, but recently, I’ve been getting this nagging feeling that maybe this is all a bad idea. And it all stems from recent reports of a raging monster over in Anima, that was caused by another’s attempt the soldier serum, lead by a scientist named Lie Ren who ended up becoming this monster as a result of an accident with his attempts. If it is Ironwood seeing this recording, then I implore you. Please give up this relentless pursuit into this project. It is clear as day that no one can perfect what Scarlatina created. And if my children are somehow seeing this, then I only have this to say. Yang. Ruby. If for some reason that I don’t ever come back someday, then please know that I always loved you both from the bottom of my heart. And I know that one day, you’ll be doing some miraculous things to change the world. No matter what you girls turn out to be to do so, I will be so proud of you.” She starts to cry and gives herself a moment to compose herself. “I love you… Just the way you are.” Then we hear dad in the background.

Taiyang: “Summer! Your latest batch is ready.”

Summer: “Be right there!” She wipes away her tears and straightens herself out. “This has been Dr. Summer Rose signing out.” And that’s where the recordings end. That last one being dated on the mom and dad died 11 years ago. Tears of my own are now streaming down my face.

Ruby: “Mom…” I haven’t heard her voice in so long. And to hear her say all of that after all these years… It really hits hard in the heart.

Yang: “Ruby… You okay?”

Ruby: *sniff*”Yeah.” I try to wipe away my tears. “I’ll be fine.”

Blake: “Okay. But I’m confused as to what B.E.A.C.O.N. is. She said she was working undercover for them.”

PENNY: “Further study showed that B.E.A.C.O.N. is an organization founded not long after the great war by known associates of Captain Arc: Agent Metis Nikos and Dr. Nicholas Schnee. Nikos taking the helm as the first Director while Schnee lead their science division using his company’s resources. Said resources were cut by Nicholas himself when his son-in-law took over the company rather than his own daughter. The organization itself was made to keep sharp observations over the whole worlds to keep on eye out for any and all potential threats to the whole of humanity after discovering the remnants of the organization, Apathy, the true enemy the kingdoms fought against in the war.”

Blake: “I get it now. The cut resources were probably why they needed to have Summer go undercover.”

Weiss: “And probably keeping the story believable with the fact that Vale was still her hometown.” It all makes sense now…

Ruby: “All the more reason we need to keep doing what we can to keep it safe.” They all nod in agreement.

Blake: “And with that being said. I think we need to talk about your suit.”

Weiss: “Agreed. Not exactly the most professional look for a superhero.”

Ruby: “Hey, come on! This was all I had.”

Weiss: “I’m just saying. You are in definite need of an upgrade.”

Blake: “Luckily, you now have us in on the secret to help you out.” From there on, the four of us all discussed ideas on how improve my suit. And hence the start of our new team.

Chapter Text

We spent the rest of the weekend working on improving my suit and equipment. Using a form fitting material that could be mistaken for spandex, we made a more professional looking black suit with red details, dark red in the chest area and the mask with black web designs, a silver spider logo in the chest and a custom cape with hood that clips over the shoulder instead of having to be tied around the neck, which was red on the outside and white on the inside. My web fluid formula pretty much stayed the same for now, it still has room for improvement, but the shooters have been upgraded, now completely able to hold way more fluid in a sort of revolving cylinder fashion around the wrist. But more importantly, the suit now has some serious tech befitting of a superhero built into it. Primarily the eye lenses basically acting as built in computer screens and cameras. Anything I see, they analyze and show the results on the screens, as well as a piggyback program on the police surveillance network to help pick any crime data currently going on in the city. The same can be said for the rest of the suit having sensors made for checking my vitals. And as hesitant as I was about it at first, Weiss convinced me to have all of these designs and data stored on her personal server, which she actually barely used anyway, and gave me my own laptop connected to said server to work with. And as a cautionary measure, Weiss connected the camera feed of my lenses to that laptop and her own devices, so anything I see, she can see too. Come Monday after school, I take this new look of mine out to the streets with Yang, Weiss and Blake staying up on the roof of Weiss’ apartment building.

Ruby: “WHOOOOHOOOOO!”

Yang: “Well you sure sound like you’re having fun.”

Blake: “I honestly can’t blame her.”

Weiss: “Then I take it everything is to your liking?”

Ruby: “Honestly? I wasn’t so sure about the tight material at first, but after moving around for a little bit, I’m feeling pretty good. It's actually more comfortable than I thought it’d be.”

Weiss: “You can thank Blake for that. She provided the suit material while I provided the tech. Where did you get it, anyway?” Directing her eyes to Blake.

Blake: “The material is a Kuo Kuana specialty. While it’s primarily used in the uniforms for the Menagerie Guard to make the armor pieces more comfortable, the material is still available for public use. It’s used in some of our tight clothing and as part of manufacturing certain harnesses because of its durability compared to most other fabric like material. Recent attempts at cultural exchange between Kuo Kuana and the rest of the world have resulted in the material being shared with the four kingdoms.”

Ruby: “Well, I love it! It feels nice and is quite breathable.” And the moments ruined by a crime alert. “Uh oh! Got a narcotics sale going on. Better go handle that.” I swing by the reported area and find the sale happening in an alleyway. Five guys in total, two of them trying to sell drugs to the other three and a duffel bag full of Lien on the ground between them, and none of them with guns. This should be easy. “C’mon guys. Don't you know how bad drugs like that are for the body?” As I use my webs to grab one of the sellers from a nearby ledge and hang him there by the foot.

Thug 1: “It’s the spider!”

Ruby: “Great observation.” As I use my fire off a blast that webs the other seller to the nearby wall and then swing down into one of the buyers, knocking him out cold.

Thug 2: “Man, forget this! Let's get outta here!” The other two try to run, but I use my webs to drag them back, one of them hitting a dumpster and flipping over onto it, and the other getting close enough for me to kick them in the face. Once they're out, I web them up where they lie to keep them there for the cops.

Ruby: “Sorry guys. But stopping criminals like you is my anti-drug.” And then Velvet kinda shows up out of nowhere.

Velvet: “I think you need to work on your quips a bit.”

Ruby: “AH! Where did you come from?”

Velvet: “I heard the commotion and thought I’d come and take a look.” Pretty convenient if you ask me. “But since I’m here, you mind if I get another shot?”

Ruby: “Uh, sure.” To which she takes the shot of me by the scene, with a clear view of all the knocked out crooks.

Velvet: “I’m loving the new look by the way. Very professional. You make it yourself?”

Ruby: “U, sorry. Trade secret.” Queue police sirens. “Whelp. That's my queue!” And I swing away as the cops show up.

Weiss: “Excellent work with those brutes. Though I have to agree with Velvet on the quips. Still, it seems like the gear works well enough.”

Blake: “So Ruby, how do you plan to handle this flying woman problem?”

Ruby: “We don’t have enough information to go off of, or to confirm whether she actually exists besides that witness account. The only way to go forward is to keep an ear out for anymore explosions fitting these criteria and investigate from there.”

Weiss: “Than we’d best keep your patrol close to any SDC facilities around the city since that seems to be the primary targets.” For the next couple of days, we’ve been keeping our eyes out on untouched SDC facilities while fighting against crime around the city... and racking up more attention.

Lisa: “More reports and photos have come in of the Scarlet Spider, who has now been sporting a new look, one leagues above her original outfit from when she first appeared. The new heroine has now stopped an illegal narcotics sale earlier today. Leaving both the buyers and the sellers unconscious and leaving both the seller's drugs and the buyer's money for the police to collect. And has continued to fight against Vale’s crime population.” This report happening later that day. “As the new Scarlet Spider continues their acts of heroism, the criminal underworld has become slightly more docile, and the police continue to stay silent.” This report came up the day after, which would be yesterday. And now we move to today's report. “After constant remarks towards their silence and the following criticisms because of it, Captain Vernal Tomo had this to say at the station this morning.” As they cut to Vernal at a podium in front of the police station with a large crowd before her.

Vernal: “If I’m completely honest regarding this new Scarlet Spider character, then I say it’s really nothing new considering that Vale already has two vigilantes with that Black Cat appearing a few years ago and the Grim Reaper appearing five years before the cat. I know regulation says that we should be talking about that we do plan to try and catch these guys due to them acting outside the law. And while I would agree with this believe since people like the spider have effortless knocked these criminals out, I also believe that since these people are working to protect the citizens, I say we shouldn’t waste our efforts on them when there are actual dangerous criminals out there compared to these vigilantes.”

Reporter: “You mean like this flying explosive woman?”

Vernal: “Exactly! The Spider has just been beating up criminals who probably would’ve done more harm than necessary if left unchecked. But the other woman has been blowing up buildings filled with potentially dangerous technology and experiments, causing not just major property damage, but also endangering a lot more people than you’d believe. That’s why we plan to put more of our focused on more major threats like this mystery woman. And if that woman is listening, then believe me, we will catch you!” We cut to Cinder in her apartment shutting off the TV after hearing that report.

Red S.: “Quite a bold statement when my glider can fly faster than police choppers.” Her voice in Cinder’s head at the moment.

Cinder: “Still. This Scarlet Spider has had me on edge ever since she appeared.”

Red S.: “Your right. A spider themed superhero starts appearing after what happened at the lab... this has to be the work of that spider that went missing before our little accident.”

Cinder: “She could be a problem.”

Red S.: “Then we’ll just have to get rid of her. Won’t we?”

Cinder: “And I already have an idea on how to draw her attention...” The next day, I hear chatter on the police radio, saying they received an anonymous tip of another SDC warehouse downtown was going to be targeted next. With that in mind, Weiss was able to provide the exact address, and I head downtown and swing around the area while Yang and the others find a suitable rooftop to stay close enough in case of emergencies, but not so close as to be in any immediate danger.

Ruby: “Alright guys, I’m here. I’m up on a nearby rooftop and have got eyes on the warehouse.”

Yang: “We’re setting up about a couple blocks away.” Taking another look, the police have already begun patrolling around the same area.

Ruby: “It’s all quiet so far.”

Blake: “Maybe the tip was wrong?” That’s when I hear some distance laughter. Laughter that got louder as something flew by me towards the warehouse! A person with a womans laugh in red armor and a black hood flying on a glider.

Ruby: “Or maybe not.” As I follow after her! She prepares a few grenades and throws them at the building, but I manage to pass her and grab the bombs mid-flight with my webs. Once I land, I throw them as high as I could and continue webbing them up until they explode. The excessive web coverage was to minimize the resulting explosion. “Sorry. But I think we’ve had enough fireworks for a while!”

Red S.: “Heheheh...” I look to see her face under that hood, and I see these golden eyes behind a red domino mask, along with some black hair peaking around the left eye, practically covering it. “So we finally meet.” Meanwhile, seeing Yang and the others.

Yang: “So the rumors were true.”

Blake: “And on top of that, we also seem to have found the missing SDC tech.”

Weiss: “Focus! We still don’t know who she is. But something tells me we’re not going to figure anything out without a fight.” And back to me.

Red S.: “You really shouldn’t be sticking your nose into things where it doesn’t belong little girl. You could end up getting hurt.”

Ruby: “And shouldn’t underestimate me.” She then throws another bomb that I catch and send it right back at her, the resulting explosion knocking her off her board and onto the building rooftop right behind her. I zip over to her roof and get in close. The armor on her arms extend blades above her hands that she proceeds to swing at me, which I end up dodging. Luckily even the very close calls. She's faster than she looks. “Whoa! I didn’t that suit came with blades!”

Weiss: “It didn’t. She must’ve added them herself.”

Red S.: “So you’re familiar with it, huh? You like my upgrade, little Spider?” As she continues to swing at me. I dodge a number of her attacks until I trick her into stabbing one of her blades into the ground, the right one, and she gets it stuck. I take this opportunity to kick her arm and break the blade, leaving her only with the left blade. Looking bewildered by that move, I take the opportunity to give her a good slug to the face, which knocks her mask and hood off. She also ends up turned away from me. I use a web to take her mask once I see it.

Ruby: “No use hiding now. You might as well show me who you really are.” She then gets up and turns around, showing her face... being Cinder Fall.

Red S.: “Heh. Not bad.”

Ruby: “What the-!? Dr. Fall!?”

Yang: “HUH!?”

Blake: “Looks like Schnee was right for once.”

Weiss: “Considering the circumstances, it was pretty obvious. But now the question is why?”

Red S.: “Ahahahaha! You think I’m little miss Cinder? Oh no, honey. I’m afraid she’s on sabbatical... up here.” As she taps the side of her head. “You can call me... the Red Succubus!” She catches me off guard as she runs up to me and swings her blade. I barely dodge but also drop the mask, which she recovers and puts back on, followed up by her hood. That’s when she finally notices the news chopper flying around. “Damnit!” Then she looks back at me with an angry scowl. “Next time we meet, you won’t be getting off that easily!” She does a whistle which calls her board to her, flying below the ledge behind her, ready to catch her when she steps back and off the ledge. Afterwards, she can be seen flying away from the scene at top speed.

Weiss: “Ruby! I think now might be your chance to get out of there!”

Ruby: “Ah! Right!” I get a running start and jump off the building to start swinging away. “Let’s all meet up back at your place and regroup. We have a lot to talk about.” Cut back to Cinder in her apartment packing up what she can from the hidden room. Red Succubus back up in her head

Cinder: “I can’t believe that happened! What if we were seen? We have to find somewhere else to go!”

Red S.: “Would you calm down already!”

Cinder: “This is all your fault! You were too careless!”

Red S.: “I said calm down!”

Cinder: “How can I possibly calm down!? We were already on thin ice as is. Now it’s possible that news chopper saw our face. Now we have to move elsewhere before the police coming knocking on our door.”

Red S.: “And I agree. But with the commotion caused by this incident, I think we now have more than enough of Schnee’s attention,”

Cinder: “And that would mean...”

Red S.: “It’s time to move forward to the next part of the plan. The final confrontation with Schnee himself.”

Cinder: “How are we even going to get to him though? He'll likely have heavy security around him since we’ve targeting his businesses all over the place.”

Red S.: “Have you already forgotten? We have a glider and explosives. We can easily reach him in his office through the window!”

Cinder: “I guess there’s no other option... Regardless, we should hurry up and find a new place to lay low and prepare to proceed tomorrow.”

Red S.: “Yes! And if the spider tries to get in our way again, I plan to uphold what I promised her!” Meanwhile, we all regroup at Weiss’ place like we planned and meet around her computer.

Yang: “Okay. So where do we start?”

Blake: “We now know that Cinder Fall is the Red Succubus as she called herself. But then she also said a few weird things, things that implied she and Cinder were completely separate people.”

Weiss: “You mean how she introduced herself as the Red Succubus after saying that ‘Cinder’ was on sabbatical?”

Blake: “Yeah. The way she tapped her head while saying that implied more than this is a case of split personality, and that Cinder was currently up in her own head and not in control, while the Succubus was.”

Yang: “Oh com on. You don’t seriously buy that garbage, right?”

Ruby: “I do. And I think I have a theory as to how it happened. The way she fought and practically matched me in speed... it’s possible she may have gained the soldier serum herself. And I don’t mean the altered version adapted to a spider's venom. I mean the actual serum, straight up. And I remember Mom’s drive saying the unaltered version came with bad side effects on a person’s mind, compared to me getting powers like my spider sense since the serum of offset because of the venom.”

Blake: “And a split personality syndrome would definitely fall under such categories.”

Weiss: “But why would she give herself the serum like that?”

PENNY: “About that, Ma’am. I hope you don’t mind, but I did some digging around the SDC systems on my own and found some interesting data hidden in the vast sea of the company servers in an attempt to delete this information. Further investigation found that that the source of the deletion came from Dr. Fall’s own office computer.”

Weiss: “And what did you find?”

PENNY: “Video footage of an incident within her own lab.” She shows the footage of Cinder’s accident the other night where she slipped and fell into her serum supply. Then we see her get up and leave the office. PENNY then fast forward the feed to later on when she comes back, gas the spider cages and works the computer before collapsing. Which is where the feed cuts. “The still existent security the next day shows her waking up and getting her suspension from Mr. Schnee.”

Blake: “And there we have it. We now have full confirmation that she has the serum.”

Weiss: “Which adds some validity to Ruby’s theory. But why gas the spiders? And why attack the SDC like this?”

Yang: “I think the spiders might be to keep others from getting the power.”

Blake: “Hm. A sound theory. Not implausible. But we still don’t know her motives…”

Ruby: “Ugh. We just don’t have enough to go off of. Our only chance to figure this out is to get it out of Cinder herself. And next time, I’ll be ready!” I can’t let myself be caught off guard like that again. No matter what, I will stop her!

Chapter Text

Friday. I tried to focus the best I could on class until school was over with. Meanwhile, Cinder spent her day staking out the SDC building. Using binoculars from nearby building rooftops to watch the CEO’s office for Jacques to appear.

Red S.: “He’s sure taking his sweet time.” Cinder herself up in her head.

Cinder: “He’s likely quite busy elsewhere in the building because of our commotion. Lots of problems to clean up.”

Red S.: “I guess it doesn’t matter. We’ll be ready to strike once he shows up.” Unbeknownst to her, a civilian can see her and runs off into hiding before deciding to call the police. Once school was over, the four of us met up on Weiss’ roof where I began my patrol for today.

Yang: “Okay, SIs. What’s the plan?”

Ruby: “I don’t know. There are still plenty of SDC facilities around Vale. This whole city has become a target rich environment for her. We only knew her target yesterday because of that anonymous tip.”

Blake: “And since the reports this morning have announced her as the perp, there's no doubt that she’ll be trying to lay low.”

Weiss: “Assuming the Succubus is just as levelheaded...” Then we get a signal from the police radio.

Officer: “All units, be on alert! A witness has reported seeing Cinder Fall lingering around the Schnee Dust Company. Officers dispatch!”

Yang: “The SDC? Why is she around there?”

Weiss: “It doesn't matter right now! People could be in danger!”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’m on my way!” As I start swinging toward the SDC main building. Back to Cinder, she sees the police have begun to mobilize around the area.

Cinder: “Damn! Someone must’ve seen us!” She looks up and sees Jacques finally at his desk.

Red S.: “It doesn’t matter though. We finally have our chance. And no way they can catch us in time to stop us!” She gets on her board and flies up to the top floor. Inside the office, Jacques is speaking with Glass.

Jacques: “This situation is seriously getting out of hand! Not only is Fall the culprit like I suspected, but now this Spider hero is getting involved! This is all becoming a major headache!”

Glass: “One thing at a time, Mr. Schnee. First, we should worry about Dr. Fall.”

Jacques: “Yes! Forget just firing her. Her ass is being sent straight to prison when I get my hands on her!” Thats when Glass sees Cinder through the window.

Glass: “Ah, Sir!” He points towards the window, Jacques turns around and sees Cinder, she uses her grenade to blow the window open... and destroy the office too. Sending Jacques and his desk across the room and Glass leaves the room before the blast could get him, but now the desk is blocking the door.

Jacques: “Argh! Damn!”

Red S.: “Well, well, well.”

Jacques: “Fall! You have some nerve showing your face here!” As he works to get up.

Red S.: “Believe me. This isn’t a social visit!” She grabs him by his collar and lifts him up. “It’s time that someone puts you in your place!” That’s when I finally make it up to the office.

Ruby: “And I’m afraid I can’t let it be you!” She turns around to see me here. “You don’t have to do this, Dr. Fall! It's not too late to do the right thing and walk away.”

Red S.: “And let myself fall to the polices hands? I’m afraid not. Besides, this has been a long time coming! She throws Jacques towards the window. I make quick work in catching him and use my webs to reach the office again after we fell a short distance. Once we’re high enough, I throw him back into the office, and Cinder charges me and we go flying. A quick at Jacques, we see he’s looking out the window when Glass and some guards finally push the door open with enough force to push the desk out of the way.

Glass: “Mr. Schnee! Are you alright?”

Jacques: “I’m fine. But she could come back. Prepare the basement bomb shelter.”

Glass: “Yes sir!” As they leave the room to head downstairs. Back to us, we struggle around as Cinder tries to keep her feet on the board as we descend towards the ground. Sometimes she tries to push me off, but I can zip right back to her with a web. At some point, I managed to snag a bomb from her pack and attached it to her board directly. When it explodes, the board starts smoking and loses all function, forcing Cinder to fall and crash into a nearby building before crashing on the street. I myself end up landing nearby and walk slowly towards her. She struggles for a minute, but eventually gets up and starts walking, albeit with a slight limp.

Red S.: “You are really starting to piss me off!” As she draws her blades.

Ruby: “And you are doing more harm than good. I can’t let this go on if people are going to keep getting hurt.”

Red S.: “Ugh. You see, it’s goody two-shoe attitudes like yours that annoy me the most. You continue to preach about making the world a better place for the sake of others, but ideals like those are always the ones that are crushed the most, because those at the top don’t give a rat's ass about doing the right thing! They only care about the profit. And a society ruled by men like those is impossible to survive in with those ideals. That's why, to me, the only thing that matters is success! And why I did everything I could to stop those who hindered my success!” Of course, my friends can still see and hear all of this.

Weiss: “Sheesh. How foolish can you be?”

Blake: “Wait a minute...”

Yang: “What's up?”

Blake: “’I did everything I could to stop those who hindered my success’... I don’t like the thought but, don’t you think that might also mean...?” Yang and Weiss immediately realize what she may be thinking... and so do I.

Weiss: “You can’t seriously be thinking that!”

Yang: “That... she may have killed Mom?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing... but it is in the realm of possibility.

Ruby: “Would those efforts have anything to do with Summer Rose too?”

Red S.: “Curious, huh? Well, I guess I’m about to kill you anyway, so I suppose I can humor you with one last confession. You see, I may not have existed as my own being until I gained this power, but Cinder has had thoughts much like mine in the past to get what she wants... Such as the day when she decided to follow Summer to her private lab, sneak in and sabotage the boiler. Triggering a timed explosion to allow her own escape and leave Summer unaware of her impending doom as she worked. Her husband dying with her was just unfortunate timing. All just to assure her position as head scientist! Ahahahahaha!!!” Hearing all of this leaves me in a state of shock. My mind rushing with unpleasant thoughts that almost make me want to cry.

Yang: “That BITCH!”

Blake: “Yang! Calm down!”

Yang: “DON’T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! I have every right to be angry about this!”

Weiss: “Maybe so. But you can’t let your rage consume you. As despicable as she is, we can’t let ourselves succumb to hatred. Otherwise, we’ll just end up as monstrous as she is! It was her own hatred for others that led to this outcome. If we fall down the same path, we’ll only end down a path of suffering because of it!” Hearing Weiss’ words help me to calm down my own anxieties. Even if I hold hatred for her for what she did, I can’t let myself be controlled by it. Then I’d be no better than her.

Ruby: *inhale, exhale*”Your despicable. You clearly have respect as a human being. Both Cinder and the Succubus. But I’m not like you. I am more than the emotions I feel. It’s because of this that I’m able to fight to do the right thing. And it’s because of this resolve that I will be able to see this fight through and see you brought to proper justice at the hands of the law.”

Red S.: “RAAGH! SHUT UP!” She charges at me and starts swinging her blades. I continuously dodge and counterattack. She eventually gets some distance between us and threw a grenade. I manage to catch and throw it right back at her. She dodges with a sidestep, before I close the distance and give her a good kick to the face which knocked her mask off again. She continues to attack, even as I grab her left arm after I avoid an attack and break off the blade, leaving her with her right blade until I do it again. She grabs another grenade, but I swing into her with a kick that knocks her back a bit, dropping the grenade without activating it, which I grab a throw it her way. She didn’t even have time to run as it landed by her feet and launched her towards a nearby wall, the impact of which finally left her unconscious. I pin her there with a surplus a of webs before leaving when the cops finally show up. One of the cars holding Captain Tomo and Uncle Qrow.

Qrow: “Damn. Missed all the action.”

Vernal: “But hey. At least we finally have our little trigger-happy demolitions girl.”

Qrow: “Better be careful. From what I’ve seen, she’s a lot stronger than you’d expect.”

Vernal: “Then we’d better take her while she’s still out cold. As for where to hold her to prevent escape... I think I know just the place.” In the days since then, things significantly calmed down. Cinder herself confessed to everything, likely because there was no use in hiding it all anyway since she had been caught. The follow-up investigations had confirmed all of her confessions. And she was convicted, not just for her current crimes, but for the murder of Mom and Dad after confessing to that as well. And since she was superhuman, she was sent to a maximum security prison outside of the city known as the Vault. A place made in association with the Atlas military to contain the most dangerous criminals. Each of the four main cities have their own Vault outside the city limits. However, the Schnee Dust Company has remained silent since then, even after the repairs to the office was all said and done. But given the circumstances, that’s not really something we can look into at the moment. Even with Weiss to help, it’d be better safe than sorry to leave it alone for now since they’re probably gonna be on very high alert since this whole incident. But in the meantime... since the case with Cinder is now over with, Uncle Qrow was able to take time off the following weekend to take Yang and I to see that movie like he promised! And I loved every second of it. Though this would only just be a brief break from what is now my new normal in fighting crime. Meanwhile, we cut to Jacques and Glass.

Jacques: *sigh*”It’s good that Fall is now behind bars, but since she’s destroyed her work, the Atlas council has ordered that we terminate the serum project. And on top of that, the tech she stole has been confiscated for evidence and now those projects have to be terminated too.”

Glass: “At least now things can probably get back to normal.”

Jacques: “Still. This has all made a dent in the Vale branch's reputation. Hence why for the time being, I’ll be remaining here for a while to aid in PR mop up.”

Glass: “If that’s what you think is best.”

Jacques: “Now if you don’t mind, Glass. I’d like to be alone for a while to clear my thoughts.”

Glass: “Of course, sir.” We follow Glass back to a temporary office he uses whenever Jacques is occupying the CEO’s office. And it’s here when he gets a phone call from... Whitley Schnee. Jacques and Willow youngest child and Weiss’ younger brother. “Hello?”

Whitley: “Things have certainly been hectic over there in Vale, haven’t they?”

Glass: “Yes. It’s been a real headache.”

Whitley: “I hope you haven’t forgotten our arrangement. I let you have the resources to work your private projects, and you help me get rid of Weiss in the future so I can have the company.”

Glass: “I haven’t forgotten, but thanks for the reminder. You’re certainly a better fit to lead since young Weiss just wants to do things the way her foolish grandfather did.”

Whitley: “She’s a fool with bleeding heart, just like he was.”

Glass: “However, this incident with Cinder did give me an idea.”

Whitley: “And what’s that?”

Glass: “I’ve been meaning to test all of my current prototypes but there's no way I can do so without drawing attention to myself. But Cinder stealing some of the SDC’s projects gave an idea. My projects are all instruments of destruction, and who better to test them than the vile criminals lingering within this city. All I have to do and keep an eye out on the criminal population and find some perfect candidates.”

Whitley: “Whatever you do to test your trinkets is your business. Just don’t let it affect me or the company in anyway.”

Glass: “Relax. I’ve got it all under control.” He hangs up and looks out over the city out the window. “Prepare yourself, Vale. Because the Tinkerer is about to make his mark.” Meanwhile, in another office across the city in a building labeled Malachite Tower. We see a large blonde-haired woman named Mary Malachite at her desk smoking a cigarette through a cigarette holder. And in front of her are her twin daughters, Melanie and Miltiades. Both having green eyes and black hair, Melanie have long hair and wearing white and really light blue clothes, while Miltia has short hair and wear red and black clothes.

Melanie: “The Red Succubus has been convicted and sent to the Vault, Mother.”

Miltia: “But it was all because of that new Scarlet Spider character.” The two girls also sound exactly the same.

Malachite: *sigh*”Things were bad enough with the Reaper fellow getting involved in my business. But then we started getting other ‘heroes’ making trouble for our men and followers out on the streets.” Speaking in a southern accent. “You two keep yer eyes out on this little spider, and make sure to stay absolutely discreet about it. I’ll see if I can get some cooperation from our friends in the Maggia.” Her daughters just bow to her like you would a queen.

Melanie & Miltia: “Yes, Mother.”

Malachite: “Very good. You’re dismissed.” They both leave the room, and she finishes up her cigarette. “Looks like I’m gonna be a bit busy for quite a while. But no matter. After all, this city is long overdue for a bit of exterminatin’. And the Queenpin plans to deliver.” As she gives a sinister grin.

Chapter Text

Literally the following Monday after that whole ordeal with Cinder. It hasn’t been that long since I became the Scarlet Spider, but I’ve pretty much already gotten use to my new normal. And even though it’s only happened once with Cinder, we have learned to keep a careful eye out for future supervillains. But other than that... pretty much everything has been the same in school. Cardin has stopped picking physical fights but still hasn’t stopped picking on me all together. My grades have remained top of the class. And of course, while I may be a bit more confident than before, having these powers doesn’t do anything for the natural anxieties befitting of a school age teenager. As such, it’s still easy to think about my crush on Weiss. Sometimes I think about whether or not to go for it, but then I just get so nervous whenever I think about it. And then I get all anxious about what could go wrong if I do. I’m not even completely sure if she likes me like that too. And like always, Yang catches onto my troubles after we had just talked with Weiss and Blake at lunch.

Yang: “Everything okay, Sis? You kept glancing over at Weiss the whole time and barely said a word.”

Ruby: “Oh! Um... You know, I uh-”

Yang: “You were crushing on her again, weren’t you?”

Ruby: *sigh*”You know me too well.”

Yang: “Ruby. You need to learn to have more confidence in yourself. And I’m not talking about the confidence you have when you're out there fighting crime. Okay, I’m not talking your confidence as the Scarlet Spider. I’m talking about your confidence as Ruby Rose.”

Ruby: “But what if she-”

Yang: “No. You see, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. It’s the same thing that everyone worries too much about. You think and worry about whether or not they’ll like you too but you fail to realize that you won’t know what they actually think if you don’t go for it in the first place.” I guess Yang would know about this sort of thing. She has been in more relationships than I ever have. “Look. All I’m saying is that you’ve already got such a good thing going with her. I have no doubt things between you two will go even better.” Meanwhile, Weiss is with Blake heading the other way.

Blake: “You were doing again, Weiss.’

Weiss: “Huh? Doing what?”

Blake: “Gazing over at Ruby when she wasn’t looking.” This caused Weiss to blush a little.

Weiss: “Y-You must be mistaken!”

Blake: “Weiss.” Saying that a little stern. After what happened after the field trip, Weiss knows she can’t hide from Blake. “I thought we already went over this. When are you going to do something about these lingering feelings of yours?”

Weiss: “You think it’s that easy? You know full well how bad I am at expressing myself. Before you three, I was always pushing people away.”

Blake: “Which I understand wasn’t your fault. The kind of environment you grew up in, it’s understandable you became cold and distant. But then that’s where our friendship came in. Little by little, you learned how to let others in and show them a better side of yourself. A side that people like Ruby are proud to call their friend. And no doubt she’ll love you all the same. You just gotta do something about it.” Weiss just looks contemplative. Clearly going to be thinking about what she said for a while. Meanwhile, back at the SDC, Jacques is addressing the veteran scientists.

Jacques: “Alright, now listen up. After what has happened with Dr. Fall, we are now without a head scientist. That's why I am personally seeing to it that a proper successor is appointed. And after reading through everyone's records, I am personally leaning towards Dr. Grey Merlot and Dr. Arthur Watts as our top candidates.

Merlot: “If that’s so then I must respectfully decline, Mr. Schnee. I’d prefer to be able to focus on my own research.”

Jacques: “And I’m afraid this is non-negotiable! As of now, you two are our best minds around here, and right now we need the best to run the show so we can fix the hit we took from Fall’s little episode. For the next week, you two are going to continue your research and have a successful presentation ready by Friday. I will make my final decision then. Best of luck to you both, gentlemen.” He leaves the room, and everyone gets back to work at their respective stations. And Watts decides to strike up conversation as Merlot is trying to work.

Watts: “As much as I can appreciate the desire to focus on your own research, it’s not going to matter much if the company goes down and you lose your resources in the process. At times like these, we need to throw our pride away and think more about the success of our employer so that we can stay in the job.”

Merlot: “Of course that’s how you would feel about this.”

Watts: “Oh, come now. You know I’m right. If you don’t take this matter seriously, then neither of us are going to be able to fulfill our own research.”

Merlot: “Then why are you still hounding me about it rather than working on your own project?”

Watts: “I just merely wanted to wish you luck.”

Merlot: “Well, I don’t need it! I’ve been working on this project for years.”

Watts: “You mean the pipedream you’ve been working on? I already told you that it’s a waste of time! It’s dangerous to go mixing pure human DNA with pure animal DNA. Even Faunus are a completely different story since, like it or not, they are a semi natural part of this world whose animalistic features came about from some human's evolution having mishaps. Mishaps that eventually just corrected itself into a whole new species. The Faunus may have been proven capable of miraculous things no human can do, but not even the reptilian based ones have shown capable of regenerating limbs.”

Merlot: “Maybe so, but isn’t that part of the basis for science? To help humanity achieve what we could never do on our own?” Watts just looks annoyed.

Watts: *sigh*”It’s clear to me now that absolutely nothing I say will change your mind. If you really want to play god that bad, then be my guest. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when it blows up in your face!” As he finally heads back to his own station. Merlot’s computer results have shown that his latest test subjects, being various animals who have lost a limb, have shown inconsistent results and some even dying from it. He has made various improvements over the years, but the results haven’t been good enough to warrant human testing. He’s definitely going to need to ponder this one. Back with us after school, Yang and I are on our way out when Weiss and Blake come and stop us.

Weiss: “Hey, Ruby? Would you um... like to come over and study for a bit?”

Ruby: “Hmm... Well, the radar’s been pretty clear for the most part since Cinder... Sure, I’ game.”

Yang: “Another study session, huh?” It didn’t take long for Blake to catch on to what Weiss was trying to do. So she cut in to help a bit.

Blake: “Actually, Yang? I was hoping that you’d come shopping with me. I have a few stops in mind that you might be interested in.”

Yang: “Hmm... I don’t know.” And then she saw Blake wink before she realized what was happening. “Um, you think you’ll be fine on your own, Sis?” And then I became flustered that I would be alone with Weiss once I heard her say that. Still, I kept in mind what Yang said earlier today and decided not to let my anxieties control my reasoning, even if I was still nervous about this.

Ruby: “Y-Yeah, sure. You go on ahead. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

Blake: “Ah, I wouldn’t worry too much. I mean, she’s a real superhero for crying out loud. She can handle herself just fine.” She and Yang head out and are on their way to the mall.

Yang: “So the Ice Queen moves first, huh?”

Blake: “That is unless she chickens out and doesn’t go through with it.” Meanwhile, Weiss and I head out and make our way to her place. The whole thing went about as you’d expect. We show up, set up our material, maybe get out some snacks... and we kinda just sat there and sat there quietly, only speaking when we asked each other for help on certain problems. And then we blushed and separated right when we realized how close we were every time. This went one for a few hours before I realized how late it was.

Ruby: “Oh shoot! I should probably get home before they worry. That’s when I hear my stomach rumble. I barely touched my snacks, so I am kind of hungry.

Weiss: “Sounds to me like you should eat something first. Would you stay for dinner at least? I can order takeout.” I was hesitant at first, but then I realized I really didn’t much reason to refuse with Qrow always staying out late, and Yang hasn’t called to say anything either.

Ruby: “Sure, just let me tell Yang first.” So, I tell Yang that I’d be staying for dinner while Weiss places the order, and Yang texts back saying that will be fine since she’s basically having dinner with Blake too and told me to meet her back at home afterwards. It didn’t take that much longer for our food to arrive, but even dinner went mostly in silence. Afterwards, Weiss saw me off to the station before I had to go home. And then I was left alone when my train takes off. It was when I finally sit down did I finally say something. “Oh god, what was that?” And it seems Weiss thought the same thing.

Weiss: “What the hell was that? Why didn’t I say anything? Dammit, Schnee! You're such a coward!” We were both kicking ourselves for not seizing this opportunity. Meanwhile, Merlot was working in his lab in his home basement.

Merlot: “I have no other choice.” His lack of results is leaving him desperate. He feels he needs to move on to human trials, but can’t get it without exemplary results, so he has no choice but to try it out on himself. And so, he removes his lab coat and injects his latest serum into his severed arm nub. It takes a few minutes for the effect to fully kick in, but once it does, it actually works. While the process was a bit painful, a new arm actually grew in its place, and he was finally able to get a good look and test the arm once the pain subsided... but then things start to go bad. An even greater pain occurs through his whole body as his arms starts transforming, his fingers growing claws and the skin turning scaly. “What!? What is happening!? Ragh! I don’t understand!” Eventually, all of his skin becomes all scaly and even starts turning black with green patches and boney looking plating as his body transforms, his clothes ripping up off his body in the process as he grows a bit bigger and even grows a tail. And finally, his head shape changes into that of and reptilian looking head with a white skull mask, his eye glowing a lime green as this new form of his roars, jumps up to the next floor through the ceiling and breaks through the back wall, before disappearing into the night with a final roar echoing through the city. Needless to say... an all new terror had just been released into Vale.

Chapter Text

Last night was probably one of the most awkward nights of my life. Somehow, Yang didn't seem the least bit surprised when I told her how things went, but was still proud that I at least went through with it all. The next morning, the news is talking about something quite bizarre.

Lisa: “Various reports came in overnight stating the appearance of a strange creature roaming the streets and even local authorities have reported hearing loud and strange sounding roars throughout the night. And whether it’s related or not is still undetermined, reports also came in about someone's home having a massive hole torn through the back wall and in the floor, exposing the basement. Further investigation has revealed the home to belong to a one Dr. Grey Merlot. A veteran scientist in genetics at the Schnee Dust Company, whom was confirmed by branch CEO Amoncio Glass to have not come in this morning, despite further confirmation from Mr. Glass himself and Dr. Merlot’s co-workers regarding his known track record of always showing up to work on time. These circumstances have all lead to a search party for the good doctor, starting with an investigation at his house.” That’s when I realize how quickly Uncle Qrow is going through his breakfast.

Qrow: “An investigation that I was suddenly told to join just mere moments ago. Captain Tomo really doesn’t want to take any chances on any SDC employees after that crisis with Cinder.”

Ruby: “Yeah. That was a nightmare.”

Yang: “You guys think the weird creature is real? Or if Merlot is somehow related?”

Qrow: “The weird creature is still up for debate. But the public’s anxieties about it have been made clear. Even some of our patrol men seem frazzled about it, from what Tomo has told me. As much as I might think how much of a waste of time it’ll be, we may still have to look into it in order to calm down the public.” As he finished up his coffee. “And with that in mind, I’d better get going, and you two better be careful getting to school.”

Yang: “Don’t worry, we got it.” Our day went as by as usual until we talked with Weiss and Blake at lunch.

Blake: “So, you guys saw the reports too?”

Yang: “Yeah. A strange creature is supposedly on the loose, and Dr. Merlot is seemingly missing. What the hell happened to his house?”

Ruby: “Weiss, do you have any thoughts on this?”

Weiss: “I did talk to Father this morning after hearing the news, and he seemed furious. Something about how this all happened not even a full day after the plans he made for Dr. Merlot and Dr. Watts.”

Yang: “Dr. Watts? You mean that rude scientist we met tinkering with power sources?”

Weiss: “Yes. A quick look through the servers thanks to PENNY’s hacking told me that Father was planning on making one of those two the new head scientist now that Cinder is behind bars. They were both to make a presentation regarding their respective research by Friday to help Father make his final decision. Merlot tried to back out of it but Father said it was non-negotiable, since they’re both the company's best minds at the moment and Father wants the best of them all to run the show. As for the strange creature, I can’t say I have anything to share. The witness reports only mention large shadows and roars of unknown origin. Though, admittedly, I do believe the roars to actually be from some kind of actually animal based on Blake has told me when we talked about it in class.”

Blake: “It has to come from one on account that while some Faunus can do some animal sounds depending on what animal their traits come from, a Faunus roar isn’t as loud as the real thing, and these roars were reported to have come from miles away. Even if we assume part of it was likely some kind of echo from an alley or somewhere like that, a Faunus roar is only loud enough to be heard from an immediate area. Really only loud enough to invoke close quarters intimidation.”

Yang: “Okay. So we know it’s not a Faunus. Could it just be an escaped animal from the zoo?”

Weiss: “There would have been reports about that already if that was the case. Yet there's been nothing about that on the news or in the papers.” If that's all true, and when considering that confirmed state of Merlot’s house, there’s only one other possibility I can think of.

Ruby: “Well, I think I might have a theory. But it’s a little far-fetched.”

Weiss: “After what happened last time, we really have to think of possibility. So by all means.”

Ruby: “Well, I think the creature may have to do with Dr. Merlot’s research.”

Blake: “Why do you say that?”

Ruby: “It’s just a theory for now, but when you think about a few things, it makes sense. First, Dr. Merlot was geneticist. He was experimenting with reptilian DNA to try and find a way to regenerate lost limbs. And then I remember how Dr. Watts tried to warn him away from this back at the field trip. Claiming how dangerous it was to fused animal DNA with humans. And with the state we heard about with Merlot’s house, I think it gives us a pretty good idea on what happened.”

Yang: “Wait. Are you trying to say the Dr. Merlot IS the creature?”

Ruby: “Like I said, it was just a far-fetched hunch! I don’t actually know how true it is yet.”

Weiss: “Then it’s obvious what we need to do first.”

Blake: “What? Investigate his house? Wouldn't the place the be crawling with police?”

Yang: “Right now, they think Merlot and the creature are separate matters and are only investigating his house as a first step in searching for him. The odds of them being there all day are slim considering it’s not a criminal investigation. And even if their still there after school, we can just scope it out until they leave.”

Blake: “Wouldn’t they still have someone stationed there afterwards though?”

Ruby: “Maybe, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. We have to figure this out, or we’ll be getting nowhere.” Afterwards, we continued our day as usual until school was over, and made our way over to Merlot’s neighborhood. On our way there, we end up hearing more reports about the mysterious creature.

Lisa: “Further development into the mysterious creature rumored to have been seen recently. Workers of the docks have reported something breaking into the area a devouring its way through the fish supply, leaving nothing but bits and scraps of fish in its wake, as well as the destruction of much of the dock's equipment. Fortunately, none of the workers were harmed, and the damage did not include the fishing ships. And much like before, the creature seems to have disappeared as fast as it appeared on the scene. The most relevant development from this report is that since this incident was out in broad daylight, some of the workers have managed to physically describe them as a large reptilian-like creature with black skin and bone plating. With this recent incident, the existence of this creature is now almost certain, if only for the fact we still only have the words of witnesses and no sort of physical evidence like a photo or video. However, consideration of the creature’s existence is up there with the vast number of reports thus far.”

Blake: “Shoot. It's already getting into the food supply. Those ships can only bring back so much in so much time. We'd better figure this out before it hit’s anymore food supply spots like butchers or restaurants.”

Weiss: “The description is quite peculiar though. The reptilian part we already theorized like Ruby said about Merlot’s research, but the black skin and bone plating make me think of a certain reptilian creature in Remnant’s mythology.”

Ruby: “You mean the Creep, don’t you? It’s illustrated appearance in mythology of black skin and bone plating is quite the disturbing coincidence.”

Yang: “Regardless, I think it’s safe to start calling this creature the Creep because of this, right?”

Blake: *sight*”I guess that’s probably fair, but is now really the time for jokes?” As much as I Want to agree, we made it to Merlot’s neighborhood. I changed into my suit and staked out the house from the roof while Weiss stayed by where I changed to view everything through my lenses, and Yang and Blake wandered around the houses area, only to find at least one cop by the find door and at the back hole. The house is empty from what I can see, so all I really need to do is get past the cop in the back.

Ruby: “I need him to step a bit away from the hole to sneak in.”

Blake: “I have something to draw his attention.” She sneaks around the house into the foliage behind the house for cover and throws an empty soda can into the yard. The guard saw the can land and stepped forward to investigate. I took this opportunity to crawl down the wall and into the house onto the ceiling, thankfully the hole is not completely floor to ceiling, so I’m somewhat obscured as I observe the whole room from the ceiling. Nothing of particular interest in the rather average looking living room aside from the massive hole in the floor exposing the basement, which is clearly some kind of lab. If my theory is correct, he had to have done this from there, so that’s where I'm going to have to look. The guard is still distracted and looking towards the back where Blake threw the can from, so I take this opportunity to descend from the ceiling and into the basement with a web, drop once I’m low enough, and drag the web down to prevent discovery. I need to refrain from speaking much to prevent discovery as well. But I can still adhere to Weiss’ advice.

Weiss: “The police may have swept this place, but this lab looks quite sophisticated. There are probably hidden secrets that they missed only Merlot would have access to. Try giving the room a full scan.” My lenses were built with a scanner, so a quick scan revealed some hidden details. Namely some hidden cameras, and a hidden keypad behind a nearby shelf. After moving the shelf, another scan revealed his fingerprints on the buttons, helping us deduce the code. The inside is merely a side computer and extra files. “Close when booting the computer a giving it a quick over look, we found it to be connected to the cameras and store all the past footage. I find the file from last and find the Creep on camera breaking through the ceiling into the ground floor on mute... Looks like my theory is just being confirmed more and more. I can’t watch it in full with sound without potentially alerting the cops, so I stick a flash drive into the computer to download all the videos file from last night to look at later. After about a minute, the file successfully downloads. But once I take the drive back… I hear a roar outside, along with Blake’s scream!

Chapter Text

Just outside the house, Blake is cautiously hiding in the foliage as the guard inspects the can she threw. She steps back when he looks in her directions, and that's when she notices something in the ground... strange footprints. As well as the large claw marks in the nearby trees.

Blake: “No doubt that the Creep exists now...” As she inspects the scratches, she fails to notice the Creep itself lurking nearby behind tree cover, until she hears its hissed breathing. Upon noticing it, she starts stepping back with a look of fear. “D-Dr. Merlot?”

Creep: *ROAR!*

Blake: “AAAAGH!” She starts running back towards the house and trips when she gets in the cop’s sight.

Officer: “Hey! What's going on here?” The Creep pops out and bot Blake and the cop are staring in fear. I make my way up and onto the roof to see the Creep in person for the first time. I shoot some webs in its face to get its attention.

Ruby: “Hey, you big pile of scales! Over here!” And I definitely got its attention when it jumped and tackled me onto the streets in front of the house. I’m left lying on the ground when it gets up and starts circling me. “Ow! Ok. That’s my back...” I get up and cautiously stare it down. “You are Dr. Merlot, right?” It just keeps staring at me. “Can you even understand me?” He just proceeds to hiss before swiping his claws at me, which I avoid with some flips. “I’m just gonna take that as a no!” I just a web line to zip back at him with a kick to the face. But it didn’t seem to faze him much as he continued on the offensive. The guarding cops approached after sending Blake off and aimed their guns before they each shot at it, the bullets going clean through his arm. This drew its attention, as he turns towards them and moves to attack them. I use my webs in a slingshot effect to deliver a strong kick and knock it away from the cops, before it runs off into the city. I give chase and find that it’s pretty quick. Once I catch up to it, I try to fight it off, but it’s evidently pretty strong and grabs me by the collar of my suit before jumping up high and smashing me into the wall of a nearby building. When inside, we tussle around as the people panic and clear out. I try to steer it away from anyone trying to run by getting onto his back and pulling him around. The floor did clear, but then it grabbed me from his back and slammed me into the floor, and then proceeded to jump up and crush me, which resulted in us going through five floors before crashing into the ground floor. It stands over me as I reel from the intense pain. But then a bunch of sirens could be heard outside. It breaks through the front wall, through the police line and into the nearby park and the cops trying shooting at it. They only manage to graze it and it gets away as Blake and Yang arrive nearby and watch as it disappears into the woods. It took me a minute, but I finally managed to get back up despite the pain.

Weiss: “Ruby! Are you okay!?”

Ruby: “Ugh! I’m fine. Just a little beat up. But enough about me. Where did the Creep go?”

Weiss: “I just heard from Blake and Yang. It got away into the park.”

Ruby: “Geez. It's pretty quick too, so it’s probably long by now. We’d better regroup.”

Weiss: “Wait. If you’re theory is right, then we need a way to reverse this. I saw him bleeding a bit during the fight. There must be a good enough sample he dropped to analyze. Otherwise, we’d have to sneak into his home again to find a sample of the serum itself.” Yang and Blake cut into the com line.

Blake: “The police will probably be on alert at his home because of this. It'd be best to collect spilled blood instead. The best samples can probably be found in the park. Right now, he’s more akin to a wild animal acting on instinct, he can’t avoid his blood smearing onto anything he brushes across.”

Yang: “We’ll head back to Weiss’ and meet you there once you’ve got what you need.”

Ruby: “Yeah. Catch you later.” I head out and towards the park, starting at its obvious entry point, being the destroyed wall, and following the crushed and scratched plant life. And just like Blake said, it brushed against a lot a foliage on its way through here. I go back for a quick to grab my bag before coming back and using one of my empty cartridges to gather all I can from any blood about to drip from the leaves. It takes a good while to collect a good amount of drops, while not completely filling the cartridge, for a suitable enough sample for analysis. Though I also grew curious about where it could possibly be hiding, so I take a small detour to follow its destructive path through the park, until I find muddy footprints outside the park going through some alleys that lead to a sewage outlet by the city’s edge. Okay, that makes sense. Out here in the city, the sewers are probably the best substitute for a moist cave to hide out in. This is when I decide to turn back, since looking through a maze like the sewers could take ages. So I turn back and head for Weiss’. Meanwhile, Qrow and Vernal are out with the patrol handling the aftermath of our battle.

Qrow: *sigh*”And after I said this morning this would be a waste of time, the Spider ends up proving its existence with an all-out brawl.”

Vernal: “Hey. We already knew she’d get involved if it was real. I admit, the out of control fighting in public is concerning, but right now what’s more concerning is the fact that that thing got away.”

Qrow: “And how are we supposed to fight it when it ignores our gunfire and is capable of stuff like this?” As he points towards the massive holes in the building he tore me through. Then Vernal gets a call on her radio.

Officer: “Captain Tomo, do you copy?”

Vernal: “Loud and clear.”

Officer: “This is the team at Merlot’s residence, and we just found something you might wanna see.”

Vernal: “Okay. We’ll be right there.” She hangs up. “Come on, Branwen.”

Qrow: “What’s up now?”

Vernal: “Apparently something new in the Merlot investigation. We don’t have any other leads into the monster, so we might as well check it out.” As they get into their cruiser.

Qrow: *sigh*”Right.” Meanwhile, I make it Weiss’ and hand over the sample. She puts it into the bio reader for analysis, while I’m put through the bio scanner to figure out my exact injuries for treatment. While I’m being scanned, we watch the video I downloaded, which shows Merlot injecting himself with a serum and transforming into the Creep, with volume, telling us of his desperation to make his project work, all of which confirming my earlier theory. Afterwards, we get the results.

Weiss: “Okay, PENNY. What do we got?”

PENNY: “Despite several bruises on the outside, she mostly only sustained several fractures. And while minor, they are healing at a slightly faster rate than the average human. Though I still recommend some pain killers in the meantime.”

Weiss: “I’ve got some in the cupboard above you, Ruby.” Which I go to get once I get up. “And what about the blood?”

PENNY: “Full analysis has confirmed an irregular, man-made substance to reside within.”

Yang: “Okay. So now what?”

Blake: “What else? We make an antidote and turn Merlot back to normal.”

PENNY: “I can get started right away, but it’ll take while. First, I have to completely isolate the serum before reverse engineering it for a cure. If I accelerate the process by working without interruptions, I can have one done by the time we meet again tomorrow.”

Yang: “We have to wait another day before we can stop that monster?”

Blake: “It can’t be helped. Nothing is ever that simple. In the meantime, we can keep an eye out for Merlot’s movements so we can find him better once the cure is finished.”

Weiss: “You three can do that. I’ll supervise the antidote production tonight. We can meet back here after school to collect the finished product.” Back with Uncle Qrow and Vernal at Merlot’s house. I forgot to close the door back and they found the hidden room with the camera feed. They end up finding the same thing we did and now know the truth of the matter.

Qrow: “This certainly changes things.”

Vernal: “Yeah, but it also makes catching him harder now. Now that we know Merlot and the monster are one and the same, we have to try and capture him without killing.”

Qrow: “And that’ll tough when he himself is a mindless beast at the moment. He’ll tear through our forces before we can lay a finger on him.”

Vernal: “No doubt the Spider probably already knows about this. I’m she’s probably working on her own solutions.”

Qrow: “You’re seriously thinking about leaving this up to a vigilante?”

Vernal: “Not entirely. But I do we can trust her, like I said earlier. And that’s saying something, seeing as you’re the only other person I’ve fully trusted since Raven left.”

Qrow: “Don’t remind me.”

Vernal: “Regardless, I’m gonna continue to put my faith in her. At least then, I’ll know at least someone in the force does.” She and Qrow go their separate ways outside the house as they continue investigating this matter.

Qrow: *sigh*”What am I gonna do about this?”

Chapter Text

The rest of my day yesterday was patrolling for further signs of the Creep besides the sewage outlet. But there was nothing else around the city that indicated a Creep sighting. Guess the fight yesterday really tired him out. Sure didn’t stop this morning's news from talking about it, as well as the polices own progress on the investigation.

Lisa: “After many supposed sightings of the mysterious reptilian creature, it’s existence has since then been proven when photos and video footage of a destructive brawl between it and the Scarlet Spider were submitted yesterday. Said brawl resulted in the destruction of an office building and a residential street before the monster disappeared. And on top of that, the police have found evidence that the creature is, in actuality, the missing Grey Merlot, who had been experimenting with reptile DNA in an attempt to regenerate his missing arm, and mistakenly transformed himself into this mindless beast. The police are now trying for solutions to capture Merlot without hurting him beyond the point of no return.” Knowing everything that we do, it was a bit hard to focus on school. Especially Weiss, with her evident signs of exhaustion, probably from lack of sleep in the analysis last night. This didn’t go unnoticed by our teachers, but they all let it go because of her known track record. Well, all except for Ms. Greene, the one teacher in this school who is ALWAYS exhausted from her work, and asked to see Weiss after class.

Ann: *yawwwwn*”Now, Ms. Schnee, I’ve noticed your apparent exhausted state today. This is the first time I’ve ever seen you like this. So, I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything*yawn*going on with you.” Evidently on the verge of falling asleep.

Weiss: “Don’t worry, its nothing serious. I just didn’t get very much sleep last night while working on an experiment I’ve been doing.”

Ann: *yawn*”Right. You're a full-on science girl from an R&D company. Look I understand your work is important, but so is your own wellbeing.*yaaaaawn*Take from me, I pushed myself past my own limit a long time ago and drove myself into this... mess you see right now. All because I made no time for myself, and only worried on my work and students.*yawn*I Just don’t want anyone to end up like me.”

Weiss: “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Ann: *yaaawn*”You’ve got a good thing going here. I don’t usually do this, but I’m gonna let you in on something. On my free periods, I sneak in a nap in the infirmary. You have gym next but there’s no way you can go through with it without hurting yourself in your current state.”

Weiss: “So what are you saying?”

Ann: “Come with me.” They make their way to the infirmary, so find the doc not there. “Okay. I’m gonna write you this sick note. You’re gonna take it to Port. And then you’re gonna come straight back here for a nap.”

Weiss: “You want me to lie to get out of class!?”

Ann: “Would you rather you potentially collapse and fall on your face on that hard ass floor?*yaaaaawn*Just do as I told you. I don’t wanna see you get hurt, so please just take a rest, alright?” Weiss was finding it hard to argue with her.

Weiss: *sigh*”Fine.” She takes the note and heads for the gym, where she finds the other students heading into the changing rooms, and Coach Port over at the ball rack. “Coach Port.”

Port: “Ah! Ms. Schnee. It’s about time you showed up.”

Weiss: “Well unfortunately, I can’t stay. I’m not feeling especially well, so I had this note written to rest in the infirmary.” As she hands him the note.

Port: “Hmm. Well, this is certainly a first. You've never called sick like this before.”

Weiss: “Yeah, well, nobody’s perfect.”

Port: “Ah well. Your grades are all extraordinary, so I’ll let this slide. Just try to take better care of yourself, okay?”

Weiss: “Right. Thank you, Coach.” She heads back to the infirmary to find Ms. Greene already asleep in one in the beds. “Straight to the point, huh?” Weiss sets an alarm on her scroll before take a bed herself. Meanwhile, we cut to Jacques and Glass in the SDC after seeing this morning’s report.

Jacques: “That fool! How could he be so reckless!?”

Glass: “To be fair, you were being rather unreasonable with your request.”

Jacques: “Watch it, Glass! I’m not above firing you for insults alone right now. Consequences be damned! Things were bad enough with Cinder, but now we have two messes to clean up!”

Glass: “At least this time it was an accident, and not with malicious intent.”

Jacques: “Accident or not, it still puts tons of people in danger, which creates liabilities for the company and cost us tons of Lien!”

Glass: “Nice to see you still have your priorities straight, sir...” Sarcastically.

Jacques: “No doubt the police will try and ask us for help developing a cure for him. But no matter. As soon as he’s back to normal, he is so fired!” As he glares over the city. Back to Weiss as her alarm goes off and she awakes. Ms. Greene is still asleep over on the other bed until the actual school bell goes off.

Ann: “AH! What!?” Then she realizes where she is. “Oh. Right. Uh, how are you feeling?”

Weiss: “Better, actually. Thanks for this.”

Ann: “Just remember to take care of yourself going forward. Now excuse while I go grade everyone's work.” She heads out to her classroom while Weiss heads out to her place. Everyone makes it there, me already in my suit.

Ruby: “Hey, Weiss? Are you okay? I noticed you weren’t at gym today.”

Yang: “You were also pretty drowsy all day.”

Weiss: “I’m fine. I just didn’t get much sleep last night. Ms. Greene helped me get some rest during gym.”

Blake: “Wow. Never thought you would actually ditch class, no matter what subject.”

Weiss: “She was just worried about my health. But I’m okay now. Good thing too. Cause we still have bigger problems.”

PENNY: “Ms. Schnee is right. The Creep is still on the loose, and could still strike at the food supply. Thankfully, I was successful in synthetizing a single dose of antidote. All that’s left is to find Dr. Merlot.” As I grab the syringe of antidote.

Ruby: “The sewers are my only lead right now. I’ll start my search from the outlet I found last night.”

Weiss: “We’ll set up somewhere in the town square. The town center will help make sure we have optimal signal coverage, in case you get lost down there.”

Blake: “Then let's get to it.” We all split up at town square and I make my way to the outlet as they find a place to set up. Once I find the outlet tunnel, I can hear them on the com link.

Yang: “You sure about this, Sis? Looks pretty nasty in there?”

Blake: “We don’t have a choice. It’s either this or wait for the next attack, and we don’t when that’ll be.”

Ruby: “Okay. I’m going in.” I try to mostly stick to the pipes above to avoid getting soaked. The scanner helps me navigate through for a bit, but I have to pay attention to all the turns or I could get lost. Especially in case my systems lose signal. I go on for a while until I find myself in a central reservoir. The amount of ingenuity that goes into the kingdoms is immaculate. I jump across into a work area where I find myself on solid ground. Though, what’s weird is that there's no one here. You'd think there would be people here managing the place. “Where is everyone?”

Blake: “Good question...”

Yang: “You think the Creep got to them?”

Weiss: “Hey, don’t even think like that! This is creepy enough as is!” Goin further into the facility, I find my answer... everyone had gathered into this room and something had broken in through the east wall and slaughtered them all!

Blake: *gasp!* Blake is in state of fear.

Yang: “What the hell!?” Weiss feels sick to her stomach and gags a bit. I stand in absolute shock as I notice all of the teeth marks in the bodies and the claws marks everywhere. Then I hear a subtle roar from the hole. I cautiously swing through into another empty room with fenced off piping in one wall and some fans in another. I slow my pace as my spider sense goes off, and I start hearing an ominous hiss. I keep hearing the hiss for a minute before my spider sense goes off again, and I look up to see Creep’s tail incoming and I end up smacked across the room and into the fence.

Ruby: “Agh! I think I found him...” Creep drops from the ceiling and... looks a bit bigger than last time. That's when the notices some of his skin flaking off, and when I look up, I see his skin up in the ceiling pipes.

Yang: “Aw, gross!”

Blake: “He’s been shedding... This could be a problem.”

Ruby: “Hey, Doc. Ready for your annual physical.”

Creep: *ROOOOAR!* He goes on the offensive with trying to swipe and bite. I try to get the jump on him, but he grabs me out of the air and smashes me against the fence and into the pipes behind it, before chucking me across the room again. Once I recover, I dodge a few more attacks before slamming him down from dropping into him from up high. I take this chance to try and inject him, but... the needle just bent!

Ruby: “Crap!” He gets up and throws me off him. “His skin’s gotten too thick, I can’t pierce it!”

Blake: “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

Yang: “Any other ideas?”

Weiss: “Only one, but it’s a bit risky. You gotta try and inject him in his gums when he opens his mouth.” He jumps up clings to the solid stone wall and proceeds to throw pieces of the wall at me as I zip up to him to try and engage aerial combat, and he smacks me away back to the floor before jump up through the ceiling and onto an upper level of the sewers.

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t!” As I follow him up, and he keeps going until he once again reaches the streets. He runs a rampage as through the busy streets as I give chase and eventually catch up, once again slamming him into the ground from my dropping impact. I try to get in front of him and force his open, but he recovers too fast and tries to bite my arm off. I’m just lucky I’m quick enough to dodge before that happens. Though the second I land from jumping back away from his bite, he spins and smacks me away again with his tail, and right into a building with a front entrance behind support beams. I’m sent crashing through one of these beams and a bunch of rubble falls on tops of me, trapping me while the Creep gets away again as the cops show up. By the time I get the rubble off of me, it’s too late. The Creep is long gone and I’ve lost the trail. “Shoot.”

Weiss: “Are you okay?”

Ruby: “Grgh... A little banged up, but otherwise fine. But I’ve lost the Creep.”

Blake: “Not like you can even use the cure right now. You need a new needle.”

Weiss: “Let’s meet back up at my place and come up with a new plan.”

Ruby: “On my way now.” I start swinging through the city on my way to Weiss, after spending a minute figuring out exactly where I am. As I’m swinging, the cops below are tending to the citizens and the damage, including Uncle Qrow and Vernal.

Qrow: “This is getting out of hand, Tomo. The kid has a good heart, but she clearly hasn’t gotten down the ‘citizen safety’ part of the job yet.”

Vernal: ‘Even superheroes aren’t perfect, Branwen. Not to mention that she’s only one person.”

Qrow: “You’re just proving my point. She clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing yet. We can’t rely on some inexperienced kid to handle something that’s clearly too big for her.”

Vernal: “You say that like we’re faring any better against this thing.”

Qrow: “At least I can admit that instead of charging straight into danger like that despite it being way over my head.”

Vernal: “All the more reason why I feel like we should try to work with the Spider instead of criticizing her.”

Qrow: “Yeah. Whatever you say, ‘Captain’.” As he walks away. Back with us, we meet up at Weiss’ and replace the needle before gathering at her dinner table.

Yang: “So now what are we supposed to do?”

Blake: “His skin has gotten too thick to use the needle so we need to go for his gums instead.”

Yang: “But the only problem there is that, no offense to Ruby, but with his clearly superior strength, he’s not going to make doing that easy. Not without the risk of losing her arm.”

Ruby: “And every minute we waste leaving him unattended, he continues to shed his skin and grow bigger and stronger.”

Weiss: “Which gives me an idea how we can stop him.”

Yang: “Lay it on us, Princess.”

Weiss: “If the Creep follows the natural rules of a regular lizard, then that means he also has all the same weaknesses too. Most notably-”

Blake: “The fact that reptiles are cold blooded.”

Ruby: “That’s right. Reptiles tend to slow down and when forced into freezing environments. If we can get him somewhere under similar circumstances, it’ll eventually weaken him to the point where he won’t be able to fight back as I force his mouth open.”

Yang: “And where are we supposed to do that? He’s more than shown he’s capable of breaking through pretty strong walls, so we can’t just lure him into any old freezer, he’d be able to break out before the cold can’t effectively get to him.”

Weiss: “That’s why I have somewhere in mind we can lure him to without worrying about that.”

Ruby: “Really?”

Weiss: “Like always, Father quite often only thinks about himself and the company profit, so has had special bomb shelters built around Remnant in case of nuclear fallout. One such shelter is just outside the city. It’s quite large to fit himself and his most important staff, and because he never wishes to split from the life of luxury, the temperature can be adjusted. And of course, as a fallout shelter, the thing is built to withstand nuclear warheads. Containing a large beast like the Creep shouldn’t be a problem.”

Blake: “So we need to somehow lure him to the shelter, seal him inside and drop the temperature to weaken him.”

Ruby: “I’ll need to go in with him so I can wear him down and immediately seize the moment to inject him when it comes.”

Weiss: “There’s just one problem though. Everything in the shelter can only be controlled from the control room by either a register SDC member, or a blood member of the Schnee family through handprint scanners for identification. Which means I’ll have to go in with you.”

Ruby: “What? Weiss, no! I’m not putting you in danger like that! There has to be another way!”

Weiss: “Now doesn’t that sound familiar...”

Ruby: “Huh?”

Weiss: “These were exactly the same kind of concerns I had when I found out you were the Scarlet Spider. And just you said you needed us to be able to trust you to handle this, right now I need to do the same, and trust me to be able to do this. Because if I don’t, then this city will continue to suffer.” I just look on still hesitant. “Please just... trust me. I want to be able to help. I can do this.” I’m still hesitant... but I know she’s right. She extended her trust to me like this. So now it’s my turn to do the same and not doubt her.

Ruby: *inhale, exhale*”Okay. I’ll leave the temperature to you.” She just smiles at me.

Yang: “Okay. But even with that settled, we still need a way to actually lure him there.”

Ruby: “Leave that to me. I just need to grab some fish from somewhere and use it as bait to get him to chase me there.”

PENNY: “Then now may be the best time to act. I've hacked into the city’s security towers and have detected trouble at a nearby fish market about two blocks away.”

Ruby: “Perfect. Come on, gang.” As I put on my mask. “We’ve got a Creep to hunt!”

Chapter Text

We all split off after hearing about Creep’s latest attack. Yang is taking Weiss to eh shelter on her motorcycle, Bumblebee, Blake stayed behind with our setup to see through my lenses, and I make my way to the fish market for the final confrontation. Luckily, I manage to get there while he’s still there. He’s got his attention on the crates right by the warehouse. I grab a bundle of fish from a nearby delivery truck and get on top of it before using my webs to throw a piece of rubble at him to get his attention... And I definitely got it!

Ruby: “Hey, Creep! You’re hungry, right? I’ve got a nice batch of fish for ya right here!” As I lift the fish up for him to see. He slowly approaches, looking as vicious as always. Then he tries to jump me, but I jump to the side and avoid him. “You want it? Then come and get it!” Then I jump and swing away, and was successful in getting him to chase me. Thankfully, Weiss already sent me the sheltered location so I know where I’m going. I get a call from Weiss after a few blocks.

Weiss: “Okay. I’m in the control room and have got the temperature in the main room dropping. Yang is on standby at the entrance ready to close it behind you guys.”

Blake: “Nice going.”

Yang: “Ruby, how are we doing?”

Ruby: “I think my plan worked a little too well!” He tries to jump to reach me, but his jump is just short of my height. “Yipe! At he’s still going!”

Blake: “Don’t worry, Ruby. You’re almost there.” After a few more close calls, I get outside of the city can see the shelter entrance in the woods. Once close enough, I chuck the fish through door, swing into a nearby tree. I made sure the Creep saw me throw it and he fell for it as he followed after it into the shelter. I follow after him and Yang comes from behind the same tree and closes the door behind.

Ruby: “Now Weiss!” She initiates the door’s lock. Now all that’s left is to wear him down, since a beast of his size won’t be affected by the cold instantly. I’ll have to hold him off until then. There's no turning back now. Not until I can cure him. But then the Creep turns towards me once he realizes I’m here. “Alright Merlot. Let’s try this one last time!”

Creep: *ROOOOAR!* His attacks are just as vicious as always. I even get smacked a few times against the walls. There’s not much I can do but keep web zipping around the room and getting in some counterattacks. But after a while, he starts showing signs of slowing down. I get on his back and start steering him around the room and crashing him into the walls, up until he musters enough strength to throw me off him and pin me to the ground with his large claws. He moves his other claw up, ready to strike. But then he starts shaking his head, as if trying to focus himself. He stumbling! Time to finish this! I knock his claw off of me and knock him on his back before pin him down with a surplus of webs. He can’t get up now.

Ruby: “Time for your medicine!” As I force his mouth open and jam the needle into his gums. The antidote is administered and he starts shrinking. His scaly skin starts flaking off, revealing more human like skin underneath. His body shape starts reverting back to normal, including his hair coming back, and his right arm disintegrating, leaving behind his stump like before. “Weiss? Turn the temp back up. Our job is done.”

Weiss: “Already on it.” I can hear the door unlock behind too. It'll take a second for the heat to rise, so I remove my cape and use it to cover him as he wakes up.

Merlot: *grooooan*”What happened?”

Ruby: “Are you okay?”

Merlot: “Scarlet Spider? What happened? Where am I?”

Ruby: “You’re experiment turned you into this.” As I show him the news report on him showing the footage of the Creep’s rampage. “And have been rampaging for the past two days.” As I put my scroll. We had to lure you out here to an SDC fallout shelter and weaken you with freezing temperatures.”

Merlot: “No... Damnit! This is all Jacques fault!” That’s when Weiss shows up.

Weiss: “No surprise there. Fathers insatiable greed for fame and fortune honestly knows no bounds. No doubt he also plans to fire you because of this incident.”

Merlot: *sigh*”That’s the least of my concerns. If I really caused so much damage, then I’ll have to atone for this. Turn myself in and accept punishment.”

Ruby: “Good to know you still know right from wrong at least.”

Merlot: “Ugh. My head.”

Weiss: “The police may need to consult some SDC affiliated doctors during his sentence to ensure he’s fully stable. But first, let's get out of here... and get you some clothes.” Back in town, we first stop by a shop to get him some clothes, and finally get my cape back. And once we see Merlot to the police station, I swing off back to Weiss’ place as Yang and Weiss ride back on Bumblebee. Meanwhile, Qrow and Vernal are driving through the path of our earlier chase.

Qrow: “Two encounters between those two in one day. Not a good sign.”

Vernal: “At least this time, it looked she was leading him somewhere. And witnesses did confirm they saw them leaving the city and into the woods.”

Qrow: “At least there’s something good.” The police radio goes.

Officer: “Attention all units. Dr. Grey Merlot has just turned up and has turned himself in. If Captain Tomo or Detective Branwen is hearing this, then we need you here now. Over and out.”

Qrow: “What the hell?”

Vernal: “And now a whole other something. We better check it out.” She floors it all the to the station. Once there, they have their own interrogation over him, him explaining how I cured him and how he ended up like that to begin with, before returning to Vernal’s office.

Qrow: “Well what do you know...”

Vernal: “What was that you were saying about the Spider not knowing what she was doing?”

Qrow: *sigh*”Okay. Maybe I did underestimate her a bit. But this alone won’t get the press or the public off her back regarding the damage.”

Vernal: “Maybe. But somehow, I doubt that will stop her from fighting.”

Qrow: “Heh. Probably not.” Back at Weiss’ place. The four of us have dinner together going over the facts of this case one last time before archiving it in the spidey servers. Though, throughout dinner, I couldn't stop thinking about what Weiss did today... and that made me think about my feeling for her again. After everything that’s happened today, maybe it’s time that I finally say something.

Ruby: “Hey Yang? You can go on ahead. I think I’m gonna swing around for a bit before going home.” I give her a quick signal towards Weiss, and she quickly understands. And judging by Blake’s expression, I think she may have caught on too.

Blake: “I think I’m gonna head home myself. This has been one stressful day.”

Yang: “Oh. Uh, then how about I drive you? It’ll be quicker than waiting on the train.”

Blake: “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Yang: “See ya later, Sis!” As she and Blake head down the elevator, leaving me and Weiss alone. But this time... I actually feel more confident in myself to do it.

Ruby: “Hey Weiss?”

Weiss: “Hm?”

Ruby: “I just wanted to say thanks for what you did back there. And for everything else, really. I would’ve never been able to do any of this if it wasn’t for you.”

Weiss: “W-well, you know... What are friends for, right?” Clearly a bit flustered.

Ruby: “And I’m really glad you didn’t get hurt either. I just... I don’t know what I would’ve done with myself if you had.”

Weiss: “Hey. It’s okay. There was no other way around it.”

Ruby: “But still. I can’t stand the thought of something bad happening to you. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself! And It’s all because I...” My nerves are getting to me again! But this time I’m gonna let them control me! I have to fight this!

Weiss: “Ruby?”

Ruby: “I...*inhale exhale* It’s because I love you.” Now were both blushing. But I try to keep a straight face as to not ruin this.

Weiss: “HUH!?”

Ruby: “I’ve... been in love with you for a while now. I just never said anything because I thought I’d never stand a chance with someone so... high profile, I guess. I understand if you don’t feel the same way, I just needed to-”

Weiss: “Are you kidding me!? Of course I feel the same way! For almost a year now, actually.”

Ruby: “Wait what!?”

Weiss: “I never said anything because I was worried about scaring you off with my reputation as heiress.”

Ruby: “Wha-? But Weiss! You should already know that I don’t care about that stuff! I like you for you. Not for your status.”

Weiss: “Ugh! I know! I know! I just... I just couldn’t help but worry...” She sits on her couch and puts her face in her hands. “Before you came around, I always acted cold and distant with everyone. All because of the way Father raised me. You three are only true I’ve ever made and I just didn’t want to end up ruining that. And It’s also why I was so worried about letting you go through with this hero thing. Just like you, I just didn’t want to see you get hurt... or worse.” At this point, I sit down next to her and give her a hug for reassurance.

Ruby: “I told you. I’m not going anywhere. I already knew how dangerous this choice would be. And this is why I worked so hard to get as good as I possibly could. Because I knew I had friends and family like you around to come back to. I don’t care what kind of challenges I end up facing. As long as I have you by my side, I know that we’ll be able to get through them all. Together.” Weiss just starts tearing up as she hugs me back, before we let go, look each other in the eyes... and share our first kiss. Afterwards, I make my way home and after school the next day, we all take some time to ourselves to rest. And as the news of Merlot’s arrest makes itself known, I can only imagine the SDC, and more especially Jacques himself, is in quite the uproar. Meanwhile, we see a dark conference room with five people at the table discussing something, all of them with name cards by their seats. At the head of the table is a man in a dark blue suit with slicked back black hair ending in a bun knot, his name card reading ‘Jax Asturius’. Next is a woman in a red suit with bright orange hair sticking up, almost resembling fire, her name card reading ‘Abigail Pyre’. Next is a kind of tanned skinned man in a dark red leather jacket with just as dark red long hair down to his mind back and a scar over his right eye, his name card reading ‘Vermillion Raddock’. Next is a dark-skinned man in a dark green suit and sea foam green hair in a sort of mullet, his name card reading ‘Paul Parrot’. And finally, probably the most intimidating of them all, is a buffer looking man in a black suit vest with black hair and a full beard, with several scars in his forehead, his name card reading ‘Hei Xiong Junior’.

Jax: “It seems the Queenpin wasn’t kidding about this Spider nonsense.”

Pyre: “This is the second time something big has come up and was stopped by this new ‘hero’.”

Vermillion: “And now the Queenpin has asked for our cooperation in keeping an eye out on this girl.”

Parrot: “I don’t know. I never trusted Lil Miss Malachite to begin with. Why should we start helping her now?”

Jax: “Hm... What do you think, Junior?”

Junior: “I think we give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, whether it came from the Queenpin or not is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that the Spider exists. And because of that, she could pose a threat to our operations just the Reaper is. This is something we can’t just ignore.”

Jax: “I agree. We can worry about Queenpin’s offer later. For now, let’s just focus on observing this ‘Scarlet Spider’ and if we can’t learn anything useful. Afterall, Malachite may have one organization... but we have five of them. Just as the Maggia always has.”

Chapter Text

Friday. Literally the same week after that whole Creep fiasco. The follow up investigations into Merlot lead included the cleanup at the docks and the fish market, and the slaughter in the water system underground. Though he may have turned himself in, these kinds of actions aren’t let go so easily. Unless they acknowledge the fact that he wasn’t in control for any of that, the chances of him at least gaining parole are very slim. Unfortunately, it’s out of our hands now, hence why I’m more focused on my current predicament... My first date with Weiss! Just two days ago I ended up confessing to her and now I have to worry about, well, actually going out with her. Yang and Blake are the only ones we’ve told about our new found relationship. Yang and I get a moment alone after lunch.

Yang: “See? What did I tell you? Things between you two are still as great as always.”

Ruby: “Yeah, but now I’m stressing out all over again! We just kind of jumped straight to the confession part and hadn’t really thought about the first date. I’ve got nothing! I can’t think of what to do or where to take her.” With all my prior concerns about dating her in the first place, it makes sense that I never actually thought about this stuff until now. “Ugh! We’ve barely even started and I’m already a terrible girlfriend!”

Yang: “Hey! Don’t talk like that, okay? I’m sure you’ll be fine. So let’s just calm down and take a breath.” Leave it to Yang to lighten the mood. “Okay. All you need is to carefully think it through, before actually settling on the real thing.”

Ruby: “Okay. I want to at least wait a week to let us all recover from the Creep stuff before actually going on some dates. That gives me plenty of time to think and set up the details for our first date.”

Yang: “You got this. And remember, if you need any help, you know you can count on me.”

Ruby: “Thanks, Sis.” As they head to their next class. All the while, Blake and Weiss were nearby and Blake heard most of that, and Weiss noticed her focused state.

Weiss: “Something wrong, Blake?”

Blake: “No, not really. I probably shouldn’t say though.”

Weiss: “What? You don’t think I can keep a secret?”

Blake: “No. It’s just that it kind of concerns you.”

Weiss: “Then doesn’t that mean I should know?”

Blake: “Ah! Uh...*sigh*Fine, but don’t tell Ruby and Yang I told you. Ruby’s freaking out about planning your first date, and is going to spend the next week trying to figure it out.”

Weiss: “Seriously? She doesn’t go all out with it. It can just be simple and I wouldn’t judge her for it.”

Blake: “It’s not the standards she’s worried about. It's the fact she hadn’t planned anything at all. At least Yang was able to calm her down. Makes me wonder what she’ll have planned by the end of the week.” At this point, Weiss now gives a slight blush.

Weiss: “So do I...” Meanwhile, we check back at the SDC with Jacques, Glass and a board representative seated before Watts.

Jacques: “Alright Watts. Merlot may be out of the picture, but I asked to still go through with your presentation both as a formality and to make sure that we’re not making a mistake.”

Watts: “Trust me. I can assure that this will be no mistake.” He then put his custom-made scroll on the table, which then projected a large screen for his presentation. “I would first like to remind you of this large revolutionary Dust Core currently powering this building. A power source that has kept aided in keeping us afloat in times of city power crisis. However, because of a... certain someone refusing to share this power with the rest of the world...” As he subtly eyed Jacques. “The basis of my project became quite simple. A power core to match and maybe surpass the Dust Core and use it to improve the cities power grid. And I believe I may have come up with a viable solution. A special fusion reactor of my own design. One powered by concentrated Energy Dust combined with nuclear energy. And for safety measures, the reactor is built with a containment field. With this, we can keep our city powered for many years to come! Possibly even forever with the right people keeping it in check and properly feeding it. And with me as head scientist, there’s no doubt that it’ll all go with smooth sailing.” As he shuts off his scroll. “Any questions?” Glass just sits there pondering, while Jacques and the representative whisper for a second for facing Watts again with a response.

Jacques: *ahem*”ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND!?”

Watts: “Wha-Excuse me!?”

Jacques: “A nuclear reactor!? We’re trying to save our reputation, not make it worse! The world thinks we’re trying to make it better, so we have to keep that image, and making a nuclear reactor after making a source of clean energy AND the recent psycho outbreaks is a gateway to a PR disaster!”

Watts: “Pfft! As if you actually care about what they think of your clean energy when you refuse to share it!”

Jacques: “It’s not just that difference that makes this idea. What truly makes it a bad idea is the fact you plan to combine nuclear energy with Energy Dust. That is a VERY delicate combination. One wrong move in combining them, and you instead risk creating a nuclear BOMB! This is far too dangerous an idea to keep even remotely close to the city. It’ll be like create an explosion caused by splitting an atom.”

Watts: “Which is precisely why I will be the one creating the actual core of the reactor, as I know the proper way to combine them and NOT blow them up. All I would need then is a team of specialist to oversee the core and keep it stable.”

Jacques: “And that’s another thing. The idea of a containment field sounds promising, but regardless of the proper combination, Energy Dust with nuclear energy tend to cause all sorts of problems with nearby technology. You’d just end up putting all of those workers in immediate danger.”

Watts: “Not if you have all the proper variables in place.”

Jacques: “Enough! All we have right now is your word on whether or not this works, and with the SDC’s reputation on the line, I am not about the start a project with far too many risks involved! It'll just be a waste time, money and resources that are better spent on other projects with less risk!”

Watts: “But it WILL work! I have studied and mastered all forms of energy and know for certain that I can make it work!”

Jacques: “Thats it! You're clearly not grasping the point and are more focused on your own arrogant ego! So get out! Your fired!”

Watts: “What!?”

Jacques: “You heard me! Your fired! I want you out of here, NOW!”

Watts: “Tch. Fine! I don’t need you! I don’t need this company! I can make this happen myself!” As he storms off out of the room.

Jacques: “Hmph! Can’t believe we let an arrogant bastard like him into our ranks!”

Representative: “Well now we no candidates for the head scientist! We need someone to run the lab, or we’ll be getting nowhere!”

Jacques: “We’ll just appoint one of the lesser-known veterans. They’re not as ambitious as Merlot or Watts, so they won’t cause the kind of trouble they did.” But as they’re talking, Glass is still seated and pondering before showing a rather sinister smirk. A bit later when Watts is on his way out the door after cleaning out his station, his scroll received an anonymous message.

Watts: “Hm? ‘Hello Dr. Arthur Watts. I understand the frustrations of your genius being denied and am willing to offer a solution. Come to the SDC warehouse Dr. Fall destroyed just outside the city for negotiations tonight at 11. Signed, the Tinkerer.’ The Tinkerer? Sounds like one of those obscure usernames. Still, it’s not like I have anything else to lose. Might as well see what this guy has to say.” As he puts his scroll and heads home. After school, I went about my usual patrol around the city. As I’m swinging around, the news of Merlot’s sentence was spreading.

Lisa: “After the recent monstrous rampages, the investigation found it was Dr. Grey Merlot from the Schnee Dust Company, who had ended turning himself into the monster, now officially being labeled as the Creep, after the mythological creature, as a result of a mistake with his genetic experiments involving lizard DNA, and was reverted back by an antidote created by the Scarlet Spider. Afterwards, the good doctor turned himself in, as he realized the ramifications of these actions. However, with his cooperation in the follow up investigation, and the acknowledged fact that he never planned for this to happen to begin with, his sentence is to carried out in Vale’s standard prison, over the maximum-security prison known as the vault, with a potential chance for parole depending on his behavior.”

Blake: “Sounds like Merlot might actually be okay.”

Weiss: “Right. But now I’m worried about the company. With Merlot gone, Watts is sure to become head scientist, and he’s not exactly the best person to work with from what I’ve gathered.”

Yang: “Let's just hope he just a jerk and not totally loco.”

Ruby: “Hey, come on Yang! Don’t jinx us! That's like saying the cliched ‘at least it can’t get any worse’ bombshell. You say stuff like that and it actually happens!”

Weiss: “Seriously Ruby? This isn’t some cartoon, stuff like that doesn’t actually happen.” And then the news continues.

Lisa: “In other news, informants have confirmed that earlier today, SDC scientist Arthur Watts was fired from the company. After Merlot was arrested, Dr. Watts was set to become the next head scientist this morning, but after his primary project was revealed to feature potential unstable nuclear components and resisted termination, Mr. Schnee immediately fired him for insubordination. The future of the company’s head scientist position is now still up in the air.”

Yang: “Huh. Well what do you know.”

Weiss: “That was fast.”

Blake: “Let's not hold our breath though. Judging by his arrogance, he seems like the type of guy to hold a grudge. He might try something now that’s not under Schnee’s supervision.”

Ruby: “We’ll just have to keep an ear out for him.” And then I hear a crime alert. ‘Whoops! Gotta go!” As I head off to deal with some gangsters. Later that night, I had ended my patrol a while ago, and we cut to Watts, wearing a grey suit with yellow dress shirt, at the aforementioned warehouse. He’s obviously cautious as he heads inside.

Watts: “Hello? Is the Tinkerer here?” several lights in the warehouse come on, except for a few leaving darkness in one corner. From there, a distorted voice can be heard. Likely a voice changer.

Tinkerer: “So you have come.”

Watts: “Let’s just get straight to point. You said you could offer a solution to my problem?”

Tinkerer: “A question first. Just what are you willing to do to accomplish your goal.”

Watts: “Literally anything. I don’t care if I have to steal everything I need to make it happen. I WILL make it happen!”

Tinkerer: “Excellent. However, whatever methods you choose, you will no doubt face the Scarlet Spider in your efforts. Which is why I called you hear. For I have a gift for you that could help you stand a fighting chance. Not only that, but it should also be of great in creating your reactor by yourself, without having to drag in outside help from potential backstabbers.”

Watts: “And how do I know you won’t do so?”

Tinkerer: “I’ll be completely honest with you. I couldn’t care less about what you plan to do with my gift. Like you, I am a genius scientist. I have always been fascinated by machines, and have built great things over the years. However, my greatest creations have always been ones of destruction. Unfortunately, there aren’t many ways for me to test my creations without arousing suspicion to myself. Which is why I plan to seek the aid of troubled souls who have been wronged like you have, and offer them a chance to make things right for themselves as they test my latest creations. How you choose to go about it is up to you. I merely wish to see how they stand against the Spider at some point or another. And now that you know this, are you still willing to trust me and accept my gift?”

Watts: “And what exactly is your gift?”

Tinkerer: “To put it simply, it is a special ‘modification’ that I invented using a special neural interface to aid you in controlling it. If you look in the corner opposite of me, you will see a metal chamber with for black cables. You wish to accept my gift, just step inside then chamber, and it shall be yours. Though I’d advise you to take off your shirt first. So what will it be, Dr. Watts?” Watts seemed hesitant for a moment, but then steeled himself as he removed his jacket and shirt before stepping inside the chamber. Inside, some metal wrapped around his mid-section, the back of which had four holes and a metal spine with several needles that stuck into his back. Then, the four cables come in from small openings and attach to the holes in the back. He winced in pained several times before he felt something... different. The chamber walls all came apart, and the cables weren’t cables at all. They were long mechanical arms with white claws at the other end grabbed onto walls, and let go once Watts felt the control he now had over them. He stood there mesmerized as they moved around him, trying to get use to controlling them.

Watts: “Wh-What is this?”

Tinkerer: “I call them my Centinel arms. Referencing the centipede like creatures in Remnants mythology due to the arms tentacle like movement similar to the Centinels. And the claws bear a resemblance to their centipede-like legs, with the neural interface implanted in the spine, you will be able to maintain control over the arms, which have a neuro-transmission speed of under one nanosecond.”

Watts: “But that's impossible. Thats faster than signals travel inside the brain.”

Tinkerer: “And yet, you see such a miracle of science happening right before you. Not only that, but they are also incredibly strong. Able to lift even the heaviest of cargo without the aid of a crane or a forklift. With these arms, you’ll be able to complete your reactor... and more.” Watts continued to look on bewildered by the arms before grinning. And you said they were called the Centinel arms?”

Tinkerer: “Why yes.” Watts uses the bottom two arms to push himself off the ground, using them to substitute his legs.

Watts: “Then from now on, you may call me... Dr. Centinel!”

Chapter Text

After my patrol yesterday, I spent most of the night thinking about my dilemma. Come morning, I have a slight idea on where I might want to take her, I just need to think more on when... and how to manage it.

Yang: “Hmm... Well, a simple dinner is better than nothing.”

Ruby: *grooooan*”I know, I know. But it’s the best I can do for now. Now I just need a way to pay for it...”

Yang: “Why would you when Weiss is supposed to be super loaded?”

Ruby: “She is, but I don’t want to her to think I’m taking advantage of that! Especially since she’s basically already funded our little ‘side project’.”

Qrow: “What’s this about paying for something?”

Ruby: “AH!” I almost forgot Uncle Qrow was here!

Yang: “Oh, Ruby’s just freaking out about her first date with the Ice Queen.” She says with a cheeky grin.

Ruby: “Yang!”

Qrow: “The Schnee girl? Oh, right, you did have a little crush on her, didn’t you?”

Ruby: *groan*”Stop it...”

Qrow: “Hahaha. Relax kiddo. We’re just teasing. So when are taking her out?”

Ruby: “We wanna wait at least another week before actually going on dates. I was actually thinking at some point next weekend.”

Qrow: “Hmm... Okay, I’ll cut you deal. We have a new case again, so I’ll be busy again for a while. So I’ll be counting on you guys to take care of the house like always. Just keep the place in shape like always, and I’ll give you a good cut of my pay Friday. I’m not likely to be using much for a while because of it.”

Yang: “Another case? What is it this time?”

Qrow: “Hmm. It should be on by now. Take a look.” He turns on the news. Typical.

Lisa: “Reports are coming in about a mysterious theft that occurred last night at an SDC storage facility for dangerous materials. The thief somehow managed to break down the whole front wall and made off with a case of plutonium rods. The investigation has left the police stumped as to who could’ve committed such a crime. The damage especially since there are no evident signs of an explosive being used.”

Ruby: “Pl-plutonium?”

Yang: “Isn’t that like, super dangerous?”

Qrow: “When used improperly, yes. We can’t take any chances with this one. We have to double down of our efforts to catch this one, or we’ll all be in trouble.” Great. Not long after the Creep stuff and we already have something serious happening. “Which is why I need you two to be extra careful if you plan on going out. Okay?”

Yang: “Don’t worry. We got it. Right, Ruby?”

Ruby: “Right.”

Qrow: “Good. Then I’m off.” Once we know we’re completely in the clear, we meet up with Weiss and Blake to discuss this.

Yang: “Once again, we have a crisis sparked from drama with the SDC...”

Blake: “You guys are thinking what I’m thinking, right?”

Yang: “You mean that Watts guys?”

Weiss: “Seriously? Just because he was let go doesn’t mean he did this.”

Blake: “Even though the theft was of plutonium, a nuclear substance that could work for a nuclear fusion reactor? The very reason he was let go?”

Ruby: “The logic makes sense, but I’m still with Weiss. I don’t want to say it’s him without any evidence or before I see it for myself.”

Blake: “Then we know what we need to do.”

Weiss: “I have the gear ready. Let’s get to the crime scene.” Once I suit, we make our way to the warehouse in question. The gang set up on a rooftop a couple of blocks away, while I perch on a rooftop overseeing the warehouse. Giving me a full view of the police investigating the area, and the large hole in the buildings front wall.

Ruby: “Geez. If this isn’t evident enough of literal breaking and entering, then I don’t what is.”

Weiss: “The scan through your lenses confirms what the police have found. There are no signs of any sort of explosive being used. No blast marks, powder burns or anything. The marks make it seem like the wall was torn out by force.”

Blake: “We need a closer look inside.”

Weiss: “There should be a skylight in roof, and a bunch of rafters in the ceiling the perch from. Just stay up above and they shouldn’t notice you.” I quietly zip across the street onto the warehouse roof. I open the skylight enough the slip through and crawl onto the ceiling, before dropping onto a rafter beam. The floor has several strangely shaped holes. Kind of like triangles with a strange spike coming from each side.

Ruby: “You guys seeing the marks on the floor?”

Yang: “The way their positioned kind of seem like footprints.”

Weiss: “But what on Remnant could possibly have made prints like that?”

Blake: “And in the form of holes in solid concrete, no less.” Aside from a few crates that had been pushed a bit, nothing else really stood out. Not without getting up close, anyway.

Yang: “Aren’t there any security cameras in this place?”

Weiss: “Unfortunately, no. This warehouse was originally made way back in the day by my grandfather during the Great War. It was used as a base for the Atlas Military when they lent Vale their aid. When grandfather founded the company, the place was left mostly unused up until they gained enough success to branch out to other kingdoms. Because this place was made as a war base, that was why it was decided to use it to store dangerous materials. Though, for some reason, no one has thought to add in any cameras since then.” I can hear the police radio over my commlink.

Officer: “Attention all units. We’re getting reports of another SDC break in. This time at the warehouse on 3rd street.”

Officer 2: “Copy that. Officers enroute.” I make my way back onto the roof.

Yang: “That sounds like your que! It could be our guy!”

Ruby: “On my way!” I pull a slingshot maneuver to gain some speed as a swing toward my destination. At said destination, the police pull up in front of the warehouse, with the same large hole as the other one, but this time, a lot of noise can be heard inside. The officers outside have their guns pointed at the hole, with Vernal leading the charge.

Vernal: “This is the police! We have you surrounded! Just give up and come out with your hands up!” There is only a brief silence before a black tentacle emerged from the hole and went straight for Vernal. “Oh shit!” She jumped out of the way just in time before the tentacle retracted enough to take a step just outside the warehouse, followed by another stepping forward, and then... Watts himself emerging, with his shirt and jacket back on after having a hole cut out for the arms to slip through.

Watts: “Hmph! Mere riff raff trying to stand in my way.”

Vernal: “Wh-What in the-!?”

Watts: “But no matter. You are all insignificant to my genius!” His top two arms grab a nearby police car and raise it over himself, aiming to throw it. But then I show up and fire a web in his face. He reacts by grabbing at his face and dropping the car behind him as I land on another police car in front of him.

Ruby: “News flash, buddy! The freak show is over at the carnival across town!” He then ripped off the webbing and glared at me.

Watts: “Tch! You for one are the one hindrance I absolutely must eliminate!”

Ruby: “D-Dr. Watts!? What happened to you!?”

Watts: “Nothing that concerns you!” He tries to swipe at me, to which I flip around to avoid. Afterwards, I try to hold back a claw that I intercepted.

Ruby: “Grgh! Officers! Stand back and help the people!”

Officer: ‘You seriously expect us to listen to-!”

Vernal: “Don’t just stand there! We need to attend to the citizens!”

Officer 2: “But Captain-!”

Vernal: “That is an order! I don’t care who does it as long as he IS stopped! I KNOW she can handle this! Now let’s go!”

Officers: “Yes Ma’am!” They all run away to aid the public, while I’m still holding back the claw trying to push me back. With them gone, I pushed the arm aside and went to charge at him, whilst avoiding his top two arms as they continue to swing at me. A successful tackle to the ground was short lived when his claws grabbed hold of me to get me off of him and toss me aside into the wall of a nearby building.

Ruby: “Oowww...” Then my spider sense alerts me to an incoming claw, to which I dodge to the side and the claw just smacks into the wall, and I webbed his claw in place. His arms are considerably the main problem here, as while I can at least avoid their attacks, they move too quick for me to land my own attacks on Watts himself. The claw I webbed earlier even managed to break free and attack as well. I really only managed to get in one good punch to his face before he grabbed me again and slammed me into the ground. Hard!

Weiss: “Ruby! Are you okay!?”

Yang: “Damn! What the hell is up with him!?”

Watts: “Hmph! Not even worth my time.”

Ruby: “Ngh! I can’t think about that right now!” I struggle to stand for a moment as Watts walks away back into the building. After a moment of recovery, I make way towards the large hole, but am smacked aside again when Watts comes out with a crate of energy Dust. Being carried by one of him arms. “Oh no you don’t!” I follow after him to the roofs as he got away. I try to get close to land hits on him, but it was harder in this instance since he was carrying the Dust. Unless it had been processed right, it would’ve been incredibly unstable outside of proper storage if suddenly dropped from any height around his arms reach. And with as smart as he is, he knows this, so he often made threatening gestures to drop the crate as we fought, until he smacked me away and he got closer to the further ledge on the other side.

Watts: “You have met your match, Spiderling! Let it be known the day you were bested by I, Dr. Centinel!” As he launched himself towards some other buildings a slight distance away. The next thing I know, he’s too far away for me to catch up too when I recover.

Ruby: “Gah! Blasted Watts, he played me like a piano!”

Blake: “What on Remnant happened to him though?”

Yang: “And did seriously name himself ‘Dr. Centinel’? What does that even mean?”

Weiss: *sigh*”Yang. I believe there are more important questions to ask instead.”

Blake: “You mean regarding stuff like the Dust he stole?”

Ruby: “Probably. Let's regroup at Weiss’ place and talk it over.” As I move to start swinging away from the scene, while the others pack up and get moving. Meanwhile, Watts arrived back at the abandoned warehouse where he met the Tinkerer and carefully placed the dust in a separate corner from the case of plutonium.

Watts: “Best to keep them apart until all the preparations have been made. Now all that's left if to gather all of the necessary parts for the actual device. I may need to it up a few places to account for everything. No doubt the Spiderling will continue to try and stop me. But I have proven today that I can contend with her. She can try she’d like. It is now clear that she cannot stand up to me. I will most surely have the last laugh. No matter what!”

Chapter Text

Once we meet up again, Weiss moves to her computer to go over the footage of our fight in more detailed depth.

Yang: “What the hell was that!? Since when did he go all octopus!?”

Blake: “Yang. Calm down. I think we should worry about Ruby first.”

Ruby: “Ngh! I’m fine. Just a little banged up. And maybe a little hurt in my pride as well.”

Weiss: “Seriously. These arms were ridiculous. Where did he even get those? He shouldn’t have had any resources to make anything. And he clearly couldn’t have stolen them since they are what he’s been using to make his current thefts easier for himself.”

Ruby: “I’m not sure. But that’s not important right now. What is important is what he’s stealing now.”

Blake: “A case of plutonium and a crate of energy Dust.”

Weiss: “The basis for Father firing him was because of his fusion reactor project. One that utilizes both energy Dust and nuclear energy.”

Yang: “We should’ve known this the moment we saw him. He IS the one who stole the plutonium and we were right that he did it to make the reactor himself.”

Blake: “So far, he’s only taken the required components for the reactors power source. There haven’t been any reports about robberies for machine parts or materials yet. He'll likely be after those next. We just need to keep an eye out.”

Yang: “That’s all well and good and all, but I’m honestly still stuck on the name he gave at the end. I know it’s not really that important, but I feel like I can’t focus enough if I don’t figure it out.”

Weiss: *sigh*”If you really want to know, it seems to be reference to a creature in Remnants mythology, just like we did when naming Dr. Merlot’s monstrous form. A Centinel is a creature resembling a centipede. From what we see of Watts’ new arms, ignoring the colors as a clear reference, the tentacles resemble the creatures wriggling body and the claws are similar in shape to a Centinels legs.”

Yang: “So the guy named himself after... a bug?”

Blake: “You do realize Ruby did the same, right?”

Ruby: “Arachnid, technically, but she’s right.”

Yang: “Ah. Right.”

Weiss: *sigh*”Anyway. Looking at this footage, I can’t help but keep noticing something shining down the back of his shirt in the few instances you managed to get behind him. Possibly a part of whatever it is that connects him to the arms.”

Blake: “Still doesn’t make bypassing them all the easier.”

Weiss: “Maybe not at the moment. But if I can upgrade the scanner in Ruby lenses, we can get a detailed scan on his arms and the components under his clothes the next time you fight him. From there, we can determine a potential weakness.”

Ruby: “Then let’s get to it quick.” As I place my mask on the desk next to her. “He could strike again at any moment.”

Weiss: “Right! With Penny’s help, it shouldn’t take too long.” As she hooks up the mask to her computer and gets straight to work. Meanwhile, Jacques now speaks with his board representative and Glass in his office.

Representative: “This is completely unacceptable Jacques! This now makes the third member of this lab that has turned out to be a dangerous criminal!”

Jacques: “And how is ANY of this MY fault!? As far as I am concerned, all three of these cretins acted on their own! The only thing I can admit to having fault is Watts’ potential motives for firing him, but that is IT!”

Representative: “But it supposed to be either yours OR Mr. Glass’ jobs to keep a particularly close eye on the scientist in this building to ensure something like this DOESN’T happen! You both are on thin ice as it is after that stuff with Dr. Fall. But now with Merlot and Watts on top of that, that ice is bound to break if you don’t do something quick to keep this from furthering ruining this company!” He doesn’t even give Jacques another moment to speak as he walks out.

Jacques: “Tch. Vale is proving to be quite the joke in the name of this company.”

Glass: “At this point, we’d best make the head scientist someone with less ambitions and more... gullible.”

Jacques: *sigh*”Perhaps. But I suggest we wait a bit until after this whole conundrum with Watts to decide that.”

Glass: “If he can be stopped that is. I’ve heard the Spider struggled against him already.”

Jacques: “She struggled all the same against Fall and Merlot in their first encounters, didn’t she? As sure as I am that she is nothing but a magnet for trouble, she does at least seem capable of cleaning up her own messes, so long as I don’t get directly involved in her shenanigans, I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Glass: “That sounds awfully generous coming from you.”

Jacques: “Didn’t I just say ‘so long as I don’t get directly involved’? Regardless of her supposed good deeds, she is still more trouble than she’s worth! Many of these problems have only started after she started appearing. That’s too convenient to be a coincidence.”

Glass: “There's the Jacques I know.”

Jacques: “Regardless, it gives me time to go through this building's scientist registry and pick out our next candidate.”

Glass: “I suppose so.”

Jacques: “Then that’s all we’ll need to discuss for now. You are dismissed, Glass.” After they depart, we cut back to us a few hours later, where I had been resting myself while waiting for Weiss to finish the upgrade. As we waited, the police radio went off again.

Officer: “All units be advised! We have another SDC break in. This time on at a storage depot by the docks.”

Yang: “Sheesh! That was fast.”

Weiss: “He’s definitely the type to believe that science waits for no one. Regardless, we’re just in time. The upgrade is ready. However, I will have to stay and watch from here. In order for the upgrade to work, I needed a direct link my labs systems.” As she hands me my mask.

Ruby: “We don’t have time to find a suitable rooftop to setup on anyway, you all should stay here while I get going.”

Blake: “Good idea.”

Yang: “Okay. Just be careful. He did kick your ass last time.”

Ruby: “Maybe so, but this time is less about stopping him directly, and more about discovering his weakness. The only direct conflict will be about stopping him from taking what it is he’s after this time.”

Blake: “The you’d better get going now.”

Ruby: “Right!” I make my way up to the roof before launching in a slingshot fashion and swing towards the docks. “So, Weiss. Any idea what’s in that depot? It must have something he’s after for his reactor.”

Weiss: “Hm... the dock depot is a storage facility for our building materials. Various large portions of various types of metals in many different shapes, as well as others part such as computer circuits, internal wiring, and various machine parts like special servos. I think we can hazard what he’d want stuff like that for.”

Blake: “The actual machine for the reactor. The energy would be useless without a vessel to channel and control it.”

Yang: “Which means he must be close to having everything he needs.”

Ruby: “Let’s just hope we can stop him before he can finish.” As I eventually make it to the docks and find the place I was looking for... with the massive shutter door completely ripped out and tossed aside.

Weiss: “I’ll make to activate the scanner as soon as he’s in view, but make sure to keep your eyes on him for a whole five to ten minutes at best. The scan won’t work otherwise.”

Ruby: “Okay. I’ve got it.” On que, Watts comes out with a couple of crates of materials. “Stop right there, Watts!” As I jump in his path. He puts the crates down as he shows signs of disapproval.

Watts: *sigh*”You just don’t seem to learn your lesson, do you?”

Ruby: “Neither do you, from the looks of it!” He goes straight for the offensive as he swipes at me, to which I have to jump over without flipping to keep my eyes on him. His attacks keep me back at best, but it's all I can do to keep him in view as I avoid his attacks in what looks like a sloppy circus act. Especially with a lot of close calls, up until he manages to grab and pin me to the ground.

Watts: “You're getting quite sloppy already Spiderling.”

Weiss: “Keep him talking. The scan is almost done.”

Ruby: “Ngh! Maybe so. But I don’t intend to let you get away with this that easily!”

Watts: “Oh your naiveté is quite humorous. But I’m afraid your stubbornness will not help you here. And I will finally accomplish my goal!” And that’s when my UI in my mask flashed green.

Weiss: “Yes! We’ve got plenty of data now. You can go all out now while I analyze this for a weakness.”

Ruby: “With pleasure!”

Watts: “Hm?” I web him in the face and get his claw off of me as he’s staggering, and then I zip forward and give him a good few punches to the face before his claws get me off of him and toss me aside as he finally gets the webbing out of his face. “Tch! Cheeky little vixen!” I now take extra caution in avoiding his arms in a more skilled manner as I get closer to him. My charge this time leads to a tackle to the ground, where we tussle for a minute before he eventually grabs me again, and slams me against the side of a nearby ship. “Hmph! Not even you can handle this much force against hard steel like this. You’ve put up an admirable fight, but I think it’s about time that you sleep with the fishes, Spiderling. Literally!” As he then chucks me into the water, before moving back to pick up his stolen crates and making a break for it as he heard sirens incoming. Just as the cops start arriving on the scene, I manage to emerge from the water, and use the nearby cranes to web onto and get out of the water, and from there escape the scene via the rooftops.

Ruby: “Ragh! He got away again.”

Weiss: “Maybe so. But now we have ample information to figure out a way to stop him. Although, it will take a bit to fully analyze. We should reconvene tomorrow once that’s all said and done.”

Blake: “Plus, it’ll give Ruby a little time to rest after that fight.”

Ruby: “B-but he’s still out there with all he needs to-”

Weiss: “Ruby! We know how you feel, but this’ll all be for naught if you're in no condition to fight him at all. We need every advantage we can get right now, as we may only have one shot at this. Okay?”

Ruby: *sigh*”Okay.”

Yang: “Okay. Then go ahead and head home. I’ll meet you there shortly after I take Blake home.”

Weiss: “I’ll keep working on analyzing the data with PENNY. Catch you all tomorrow.” After we end that call, I head straight home, wait for Yang after patching up, and hit the hay after a quick dinner since Uncle Qrow is still out working.

Ruby: “I sure hope things work out well.” And with that thought, I finally rest my eyes for the night.

Chapter Text

Sunday. A day meant for relaxation for most. But unfortunately, until Watts is put behind bars, I won’t get to enjoy the comforts of it. Luckily, Uncle Qrow doesn’t question our leaving early as we said we’d be hanging out with Weiss and Blake, which isn’t even really technically a lie. As we’re on our way out towards Weiss’ place, we also see Watts spending his day putting his machine together.

Watts: “The Spiderling put up a valiant effort, but not even she could stop my genius from coming to fruition. And soon, all of Vale will see it for themselves! Hahahahah!” As his laugh fades, we cut back to us as we reach Weiss’ place.

Blake: “Good. We’re all here.”

Yang: “How did the analysis go?”

Weiss: “Quite well. The scan data helped us piece together an accurate schematic for the arms and their function. From what we gather, the spine along his back connects him to the arms via the needles in his own spine, connecting the arms AI to his cerebral cortex, effectively creating a near perfect neural interface.”

Ruby: “Keyword being near perfect.”

Weiss: “Right, but then that’s where the tip of the spine by his neck comes in, where we found a unique chip.”

PENNY: “Further analysis has shown it to be an inhibitor chip, made for regulating the AI’s influence on Watts’ mind, and thus aiding him in maintaining control over the arms and retaining his sense of self, rather than the AI basically gaining control over him and shifting his personality into something else entirely.”

Ruby: “And his control over them has definitely been put to the test.”

PENNY: “Indeed. The neuro-transmission speed between his brain and the arms are under one nanosecond.”

Ruby: “Th-that’s insane! That's much faster than signals can travel inside the brain on their own. Never mind to an external prothesis.”

Weiss: “Well, we already knew Watts was a genius, so it makes sense that he would be able to make something like this.”

PENNY: “Actually, I don’t think he did.”

Weiss: “Hm?”

Yang: “And why’s that?”

PENNY: “The scan ended up getting this insignia in the space in between the four arms where they connect to the spine.” As the screen displays a gear with it center filled with a X of wrenches and topped with fancy looking T. “At first, I didn’t think it important enough to address, but then I took a look through Watts’ other schematics still in the SDC servers and found them all branded with a cursive like W. Even if he started using his first initial or the initial of his new alias, that would be either an A or C, none of which obviously match the marking.”

Blake: “So what? Are you trying to say that someone else made them and just gave them to Watts?”

PENNY: “It’s just a hypothesis for now. We can’t actually know for certain as of yet.”

Ruby: “Not like it really matters right now. We can figure that out later. Did you find anything about them that we can use to effectively fight back?”

PENNY: “Nothing concrete from examining their structural schematic, but upon looking through their internal circuitry, I believe we may be able to shut them down by overloading them with excess electricity. Though I should warn you that such an action has a risk of electrocuting Watts, seeing as he is attached to them. Whether or not this will result in killing him is a 50/50 gamble.”

Weiss: “So in trying to stop him, we could end up killing him.”

Yang: “Are you sure you're ready to take that chance, Sis?”

Blake: “Trust me when I say that even if you win, you may still lose more than you think.”

Ruby: “You’ve seen me out there, right? These past losses have been because I was already holding back as to not kill him already. And honestly, I still don’t want to kill him, but as much as I don’t want, I know that if he finishes that reactor the stakes will be too high to let go. All we can really do is hope that he’ll survive what’s to come.”

Yang: “Easier said than done if we can’t find him first. There haven’t been any reports of him since yesterday at the docks.”

Weiss: “I think we may have solution for that. All Dust shipped out warehouse's outside across remnant is tagged with a tracking code in case of attempts at theft to track down later, should the authorities fail to retrieve the Dust the first time. The is supposed to help the police track them down after this initial failure, but knowing Father, he probably decided to delegate the task to someone less qualified for the job and that’s why it’s taking so long for them to find the specific number first before tracking them. Thankfully, PENNY is much more competent than most SDC employees.”

PENNY: “Indeed. After the incident with the stolen Dust case, the men station there retook the inventory and by looking through the server, I have found the specific case not accounted for when compared to the shipping manifest. Once I input the tracking code, it’ll only take a few moments before we find where he’s taken it.”

Weiss: “Okay. In the meantime, let’s get you suited up and make sure you're ready for the coming battle.” We head up to the roof after I change, and Yang and Blake put me through some quick training with some sparring, with Blake attacking through some Menagerin martial art she learned growing up, as a means of further improving my skills with my own improvised fighting style. At some point, Weiss is notified of PENNY’s findings and we all stop.

PENNY: “I have location. He’s holed up in an SDC warehouse just outside the city. And upon further research, it’s the first warehouse Dr. Fall destroyed when she first became the Red Succubus.”

Weiss: “Hm. It hasn’t been that long since the police ceased their investigation of that place since they closed her case. Guess the SDC never got around to fixing it up for continued operations yet.”

Blake: “Which would make it the perfect place for a hideout. Isolated enough from the city to avoid attention as he builds his device.”

Ruby: “Then that’s where I need to go.”

Yang: “We’ll be right here backing you up.” She says as Weiss hands me my mask, followed by us exchanging a quick kiss.

Weiss: “Good luck out there.”

Ruby: “Thanks guys.” As I put on my mask and slingshot away towards my destination. As I’m on my way, Watts to continues to finish up the machine for his reactor. Eventually I make it to the warehouse in question and stop just short of the large hole out front, and peak past it to see the reactor, with Watts loading up the plutonium in the base.

Watts: “That should do it. All that’s left is the energy Dust at the core.” As he opens up the case and grabs a single crystal.

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t!” I fire a web in an attempt to take the crystal, but his other arm responds faster and blocks my shot before yanking in a way that launches me to hit the rafters before I let go and fall back to the floor. “Ouch...”

Watts: “I’ll give you credit for being able to track me down here. But I’m afraid your too late.” He places the crystal in the reactor and activates it, to which the crystal starts floating and spinning before becoming an orb of energy from the crystal and the nuclear power from the plutonium below.

Yang: “Shit! Are we too late?”

Weiss: “Any ideas, PENNY?”

PENNY: “As far as I’m concerned, all we have to do is completely pull the plug. We just have to do it within an hour before the reactor becomes truly dangerous.”

Ruby: “In that case, I think I have a game plan. Wish me luck.” I try to swing above Watts and the reactor, but he takes notice, and drags me away before I can reach the cables.

Watts: “Not gonna be that easy!”

Ruby: “I wouldn’t be so certain!” As I continue to tussle with his arms and keep trying to go for the cables as a means to egg him on and thus eventually drag him over towards the cables little by little, and eventually letting him grab me by the feet and holding me upside down right in front of him... and one of the cables lying right beneath where I’m dangling. And all the while, I notice how the reactor has been sucking in pieces of metal from our surroundings into the core throughout the fight. I need to wrap this up quick.

Watts: “Last time I half-assed my efforts to kill you since I was in such a rush. But now... I don’t intend to let you slip through my claws so easily!” He has me held up with his right arm while he sets up the left... with an extendable blade from the... palm I guess?

Ruby: “Again. I wouldn’t be so certain.” As he moves to stab, I quickly use my webs to grab the cable below and pull it up to me. Effectively tricking him into stabbing the cable instead, and thus electrocuting him, as I quickly escape his grasp. While he’s busy with that, I move to web up all the cables and pull hard to unplug all of them from their sockets. Once their all removed, the core takes a hot minute before it finally shuts off for good, and all the metal around us settles down. “Phew. That... could’ve gone much worse.” At the same time, Watts falls to the ground as his arms spark like crazy and go completely limp. I quickly move to his side as he reels from the pain. “Dr. Watts! Are you okay?”

Watts: “Argh! Not sure why you care. But thankfully this isn’t my first time facing quite the shock. Occupational hazard, and all of that.”

Ruby: “Phew. Thank goodness.”

Watts: “Hmph! Not like it matters. I’ve failed to accomplish my goal. All thanks to you and your meddling.”

Ruby: “Hey, in case you hadn’t noticed, your machine was dragging in any piece of metal caught in its magnetic field. And longer and it would reach beyond here and into the city, putting everyone in danger.”

Watts: “Tch! Nothing more than a minor setback. I’m sure that given enough time and proper resources, I would’ve been able to create a proper reactor.”

Ruby: “Well, unfortunately, that won’t be happening any time soon.” As I grab him, web him up, and leave him hanging as I web up his arms to the ceiling. Just as I hear police sirens coming this way, I make my exit back towards the city. The cops arrive on the scene, and are in shock when they see the state Watts is in.

Qrow: “Well what do ya know. The Spider finally delivers on this one.”

Vernal: “See? I told ya she would.” Later on, I reconvene with the others back at Weiss’ place. We all have a hangout for a while before having a celebratory dinner. Afterwards, Yang takes Blake home while go over a few more things with Weiss. As were working, I figured this would be as good a time as any to ask about ‘that’.

Ruby: “Hey Weiss?”

Weiss: “Hm?”

Ruby: “I was wondering that, maybe next weekend, after this whole thing with Watts blows over and we recover a little... that you might want to finally go on our first date?” There’s a little hesitance for a minute for she finally responds.

Weiss: “I’d like that very much. It’d be nice to start doing a little different for once.”

Ruby: “Okay. Great. Then how about we meet up say... Sunday afternoon?”

Weiss: “I look forward to it.” And just like that, we part ways after a brief kiss as I head back home. The next day, the news is already in an uproar about Watts’ arrest.

Lisa: “After a series of theft of Schnee Dust Company supplies and an attempt to create his own fusion reactor, Dr. Arthur Watts, who has gone on record to refer to also refer to himself as Dr. Centinel, has now been arrested after his plot was thwarted by the Scarlet Spider. At this moment, however, the police are left uncertain as to how to go about removing the doctor's robotic arms, given their deep connection into his own spine. But as of now, Dr. Watts is now pending trial, and we shall hear the results of his sentence very soon.” The rest of the week went about as you’d expect. We went through school like normal, I went through some short patrols to make sure crime activity is pretty low come Sunday, and Yang and I spent time at home to keep the house in shape. Come Friday, I received the promised pay from Uncle Qrow as per our deal, and spent the next day making certain my preparations went well. And then come Sunday, I make sure I’m as ready as can be by the afternoon when I met up with Weiss at the train station. At first, we spent a fair amount of time at the park, seeing the sights and discussing our future, up until it was time for the main event: the big dinner. The restaurant I made the reservation at wasn’t too fancy, but it definitely wasn’t anything too ordinary either. While there may have been a few awkward moments throughout the evening, everything actually went pretty well, all things considered, for a first date. And at the end of the day, after I see Weiss to her home safely, I start making my way home... until I hear some trouble nearby. I quickly duck into a nearby alley and change into my suit to see what the problem was. Meanwhile, Abigail Pyre can be seen with some of her men discussing something.

Pyre: “It seems the Spider is trickier than we thought if she got the drop on Watts. As far as we know, he was practically the smartest guy in the SDC, right?”

Thug: “Relatively speaking, yes.”

Pyre: “Still. With the kind of numbers we have on her, I don’t think we have too much to worry about. After all, everyone knows not around with an intense inferno.”

Chapter Text

Seems I can never catch a break from crime. Though this time, the crime seems relatively normal compared to the past three super villains. Though these are a bit higher profile than the common thugs, since I do remember news reports on these guys explaining how dangerous they are over the past week.

Lisa: “Not even a week after the arrest of Arthur Watts and the city is already plagued by a new series of danger at the hands of a new biker gang recently raiding the streets and are suspected of the recent case of drug trafficking. The leader of this gang has yet to be identified, but they are believed to be the paled skinned woman often seen heading the pack.” As they show pictures of a woman with dark green mohawk, yellow eyes and skin that seems to be some sort of green with greyish looking scaly patches on her arms and around her face. She wears a white tank top, black pants, a long-sleeved chartreuse shirt tied around her waist, some black boot and brown fingerless gloves. Her sinister looking smile shows all of her teeth to very pointy and sharp. That and the scales make me think she might be some king of reptilian Faunus. Though that doesn’t explain her skin color. Being a Faunus doesn’t affect the color of one's skin, unless you were a chameleon type and can change your skin color at will. Though that doesn’t seem to be the case here, it looks too unnatural to be that. “If anyone encounters this woman and her gang, please steer clear and report them to the police.” As far as I’m concerned, these guys sound like their worth my attention if they’re truly that dangerous. And as I’m swinging towards the sound of trouble tonight, I think I just might be having my first encounter with them if the sound additional sounds of motorcycles were any indications. Upon arriving at the scene, I see guys on bikes driving around smashing property, stopping to mug and rob people and even spreading around gasoline and starting fires. And in the middles of it all is the same woman shown on the news.

???: “Nice work as always fellas. The feeling of this rush never gets old!” Speaking in a sort of British accent. But what I can’t get over most of all is what ends up happening before I arrive on the scene. A woman in a black and white suit with white long hair, black cat ears and a black mask with violet eye lenses arrives and starts fighting through the gang. Didn't take me long to figure out this is the elusive Black Cat.

Black Cat: “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m afraid that rush will have to stop here.” As she draws her claws from the nails of her gloves.

???: “Heh. I wouldn’t be sure of that love.”

Ruby: “Then maybe I should tip the odds!” As I show up on the scene on her other side. The look of slight surprise I expected from the criminal, but I wasn’t expecting to notice the look of surprise on the Cat’s face before she returned her focus to the woman when she speaks again.

???: “Well, well, well. If it ain’t the friendly neighborhood Spiderling.” Ugh. Again with the Spiderling stuff? “Now this is getting exciting!”

Black Cat: “I wouldn’t act so cocky when it’s two on one.”

Ruby: “You might as well just give up now.”

???: “Not a chance. You wanna take me in? Then you gotta earn it for yourselves.”

Ruby: “If you're trying to intimidate us, then it’s not working.”

Black Cat: “Nothing you do or say will stop us.”

???: “With that mindset, I can only wish you luck and welcome you to try. Otherwise, I’ll make certain that you remember the name ‘Tombstone’ for the rest of your lives!” Tombstone? That supposed to be her street gang name? I guess the cat doesn’t care much as she goes straight on the offensive. Her gets up close and moves to swipe at Tombstone with her claws. I eventually join in and try to get in my own attacks, but she’s a lot quicker than I thought she would be as she manages to parry most of our attacks until she grabs my ankle mid kick and tosses me aside with ease, signifying she’s a bit stronger than she looks too. I recover quick enough to witness more of the cat brawling with her, and as I watch her fight, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen the she way she fights before, but what surprise me most is what happens when she scratches Tombstone across the face. Not only does she seem unfazed, there's also not a single hint of a scratch anywhere, and when Black Cat looks at her claws, and saw that they have been broken off and then look to see them on the ground.

Black Cat: “What in the-?” She doesn’t have enough time to react as Tombstone punched her in the gut and grabbed her by the arms as she’s reeling before tossing her in my direction. She collides into me and we tumble into the wall of a nearby building.

Tombstone: “Eh. That was okay, I guess. Though to be completely honest, I was expecting more from you two. Oh well. I guess we all have our off days. I’m sure things’ll be better the next time we meet.” As she picks up her bike and starts the engine. “Later Yankees!” As she rides off into the night.

Ruby: “Ugh! Ow...” That’s when I look to see that during our tumble, I ended up yanking off her mask and her... hair?! A closer look would tell you that its some kind of special wig. Then I look over to see the cat who is now getting up herself, and I see who she is when she looks my way and I see the short black hair and the golden eyes of... “Blake!?” That’s when she realizes that she lost her mask and wig and then sees them in my hand.

Blake: “I uh... I mean... that is...” She starts getting a little frantic before she throws down a smoke bomb.

Ruby: *cough, cough* What the heck!?” *cough, cough* When the smoke clears, she’s gone and she snagged the mask and wig back along the way. That's when I hear sirens and take my leave to the rooftops. “What the heck? Blake is the Black Cat?” That’s when I think back to my earlier thought of seeing the cats fighting style before. I remember it’s the same as the Menagerin martial arts that Blake fought with during our sparring sessions. And when I think about it, the cat did start appearing after Blake moved to Vale and transferred to our school. This might also be part of why she was so quick to support my decision to become a hero. But then, why didn’t she say something earlier? *sigh* Hopefully I can get some answers from her tomorrow and we can work on stopping this Tombstone character together. If we can even find a way to stop her at all, given what happened with Blake’s claws back there. What the heck was that even about? Her claws are metal and they snapped off without a scratch. Judging from that alone, I already have a bad feeling about the coming challenges with this one. But that won’t stop me from doing what I can to protect the city... no matter what!

Chapter Text

Monday. After coming home last night, I told Yang about my escapade with Tombstone and the Black Cat but left out the part about Blake being the cat, to avoid potential problems until I can get some answers from her. On the way to school, the news was covering our fight with Tombstone as some reporter, most likely Velvet, managed to get some photos from the sidelines.

Lisa: “As expected, the local vigilante known as the Scarlet Spider had a fight with the leader of the recently problematic biker gang. And this time, the Spider fought alongside fellow vigilante, the Black Cat, who has been around for the past few years. The reporter responsible for these photos also overheard the conversation between the three, which included the gang leader somewhat identifying herself. While the mysterious woman obviously did not give a real name or any other incriminating information, we did acquire a name we can now associate the woman with as she clearly declared herself under the name Tombstone. Tombstone did manage to overpower and escape the two vigilantes and is still at large, but if we know these individuals, we know that they’re not going to give that easily.” Blake is at school today, but is clearly keeping her distance. More especially with Weiss and Yang around. At lunch, I go over what happened with Weiss like I did with Yang, all while Blake sits at the end of the table.

Yang: “Hey, guys. Is it just me, or is Blake acting kind of... different today.”

Weiss: “No, I’ve noticed it too. It almost feels like she’s avoiding us for some reason.” Or more specifically, avoiding me. That’s it. Time for some answers. I find Blake in the hall during our free period.

Ruby: “Blake!”

Blake: “Ah! Um. Yeah, Ruby?”

Ruby: “Blake. We need to talk.” We head up to the roof and decide to talk here since no one else is here.

Blake: *sigh*”I should’ve known this would happen eventually. As soon as you become your own hero, I had a feeling you’d find me out at some point.”

Ruby: “Not like I meant to. What happened last night was freak accident. And now I just more questions than answers, which is why I wanted to talk now while we have time to ourselves.”

Blake: “I suppose I owe you that much.”

Ruby: “I guess the biggest question I have is why you didn’t say anything sooner. I get hiding it before my hero career, but why you say anything afterwards? Why didn’t you help directly against any of the past three villains.”

Blake: “I guess part of me wanted to stay back and let you grow into your own hero before I start stepping in. But moreover, I didn’t say anything because of my reason for being the Black Cat in the first place.”

Ruby: “Your reason?”

Blake: “Like I've said before, I’m next in line to take over as the chiefess of Kuo Kuana. But that entails a bit more than just ruling the city. It also comes with the responsibility of protecting the city as its own superhero.”

Ruby: “The Black Cat?”

Blake: “No. The Black Panther. The Black Cat is basically the pre-panther training phase for the current heir of the throne while the Black Panther name is still held by our current chief, my father, Ghira Belladonna. Much like my abroad studies in foreign schools, I have to act as the Black Cat in the outside world as part of my combat training. Once I become chiefess, I will automatically move up to Black Panther as well and be the sworn protector of Kuo Kuana. This promotion also comes with an upgrade in gear and abilities.”

Ruby: “What do you mean?”

Blake: *sigh*”Honestly, I really shouldn’t be telling you this next part until I take over, but I know I can trust you to keep a secret.”

Ruby: “Okay...”

Blake: “Kuo Kuana may be trying to strengthen its relationships with the outside world, but there are still certain things that they’d rather keep secret. Mainly the source of all of their technology. And it all stems from our people's origins. Thousands of years ago, a large meteorite of a cosmic metal known as Vibranium crashed on Menagerie. The Faunus occupying the immediate area found it and found a way to harvest and use it to found their new society. Along with making use of the metal to create their city and our modern-day technology, they also made use of the soil affected by the meteorite's energy. This also resulted in the growth of a particular heart-shaped herb that, when consumed, connects the consumer with the spirit of a panther god and is then granted the gods blessings. Namely, enhanced speed, strength and agility. This herb was consumed by the founder of our city, and has since then started the Belladonna clan, who has ruled over Kuo Kuana since then. And chief, we have unlimited access to all of our resources, including the Vibranium, which is what we use to make the Panther Habit, the suit worn by the Black Panther.”

Ruby: “And since the Black Cat is the phase before the Black Panther, I imagine that the suits are similar and different in certain way?”

Blake: “Yes. The Panther Habit is completely made of Vibranium, making it practically indestructible, while the Black Cat suit is made of more common materials like what was used to make your suit. The claws in particular are made of a combination of titanium, cobalt and tungsten.”

Ruby: “Okay, but what does all of this have to do with not saying anything.”

Blake: “Well, like I said, being the Black Cat is all a part of my training for when I take over Kuo Kuana. I know I should probably trust you guys more to help me, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling that since being chiefess and the Black Panther is my business, I figure it should really be my burden to carry alone. But I suppose that’s all beside the point now.” Theres really only one thing I can say to all of that.

Ruby: “Blake, you do realize you sound like a hypocrite, right?”

Blake: “Huh?”

Ruby: “Even though none of guys ever said, you guys were determined to help me with my heroics, knowing that I shouldn’t burden this kind of thing alone, despite the start of the journey being my business alone considering my circumstances. You may feel like you have to handle your thing alone, but the truth of the matter is that you don’t have to. Just as you all have been helping me, I’m more than willing to do the same for you. And you and I both know Weiss and Yang will do the same.” She still looks a little conflicted. “But regardless of what I have to say, your gonna have to tell them eventually after everything I’ve been. Especially when Weiss goes over last night footage from my mask when we meet up after school.” She face-palms after hearing that bit.

Blake: “Ah, dammit. I completely forgot about that.”

Ruby: “But regardless, if your gonna confess, now is the time. Cause I’m very likely gonna need your help to stop Tombstone.”

Blake: “That we can agree on. I still have to replace the claws that broke last night.”

Ruby: “Yeah, that was really weird. Especially if the materials were as strong as you say they were.”

Blake: “First time I’ve ever had to do this too.” The bell then rings for next period.

Ruby: “Shoot. Remember what we talked about, okay? See you at Weiss’.” And there she for a minute to contemplate before leaving for class.

Chapter Text

After school, Weiss, Yang and I meet up at Weiss’ place like usual.

Yang: “Wonder what's keeping Blake?”

Weiss: “Yeah. It’s not like her to be late like this...”

Yang: “She didn’t meet with me at the school entrance like usual either.” Guess the whole thing left a bigger impact than I thought. I know I probably shouldn’t since it’s not my place too, but they’re gonna find out eventually anyway, so I might as well say something now.

Ruby: *sigh*”Guys, I-” The elevator dings and Blake comes in with a determined look on her face.

Yang: “Blake! Are you okay? What kept ya?”

Blake: *inhale, exhale*”Guys. I have something important to tell you.” She goes over everything she told me earlier today as well as us together telling them about last night. Weiss claimed to have thought she was the cat at first given the circumstances, but regardless, she and Yang were both as accepting as I expected, and we all shared a group hug for a moment before we all composed ourselves for further discussion while Weiss brought up the footage from last night for analysis and Blake set up her suit on the table to fix her claws.

Ruby: “So what do you make of this character?”

Weiss: “A real mystery to be sure. More so regarding what happened with Blake’s claws.”

Blake: “Good thing I had the foresight to have spare claws in case they break, though I never actually thought that the day would actually come, to be honest.”

Yang: “How is that even possible? You clearly got her in the face.”

Blake: “I don’t know. She's clearly some kind of reptilian like Faunus, but not even Faunus of any kind have invulnerable skin.”

Ruby: “Maybe if we can figure out exactly who she is, we can figure out her whole deal.”

Weiss: “Well, I have an idea for that, but I need to know if you all will be okay with it first.”

Ruby: “And what's that?”

Weiss: “PENNY can tap into the full network and a facial recognition software to hopefully get an in depth read on someone.”

Yang: “Whoa! Hold on. Isn’t that a major invasion of privacy?”

Weiss: “That’s why I wanted to discuss it first. Unlike the last three villains, we don’t know anything about Tombstone, or have even seen her before. Without any leads on where she may be operating, we don’t have any point reference on where to investigate to figure her out.”

Yang: “I don’t know though.”

Ruby: “I mean, we’re already acting on the unethical side of things as it is. Blake, you're the veteran hero here. What do you think?”

Blake: “All I can really say is that in this line of work, sometimes the toughest decisions must be made if you want to save anyone, let alone everyone. And right now, all of Vale in danger if we don’t do something about her now. I say we go for it if we ever want to get somewhere.”

Yang: *sigh*”Fine. Might as well. But I don’t condone this for every one you guys' fight. Only in circumstances like this when we don’t have any other info beforehand.”

Ruby: “Okay. Fair enough.”

Weiss: “Then let’s get started. PENNY?”

PENNY: “Yes ma’am. This should only take a few moments. Maybe a little more while I make sure we stay secure and cover my tracks to avoid detection.”

Weiss: “Okay. In the meantime, there is something else I wanted to talk about with Blake.”

Blake: “Yes?”

Weiss: “You said Kuo Kuana was founded after a meteorite of Vibranium crashed on Menagerie, right?”

Blake: “Yes. It’s been the primary resource behind our Kingdoms development since then.”

Weiss: “Well, hearing the term Vibranium made me think a few years back when I was reading through my family history. Remember during the field trip, Mother was talking about Captain Vale from the Great War?”

Yang: “I remember him. He was supposed to be a big hero who ended the war.”

Weiss: “Well, I read somewhere from my grandfather's old study regarding how Vibranium was what Captain Arc’s shield was made from. They made it from a very small piece that was confiscated from an arrested war criminal. The name of the guy was redacted though.”

Blake: “I think I have a feeling who it was. Back during the war, a large shipment of Vibranium that had just been cleaned and processed was intercepted while on its way to the mansion for use in the lab. The perpetrators were human bandits that had infiltrated our borders and made off from the goods. We had captured and identified their leader, as well as brand him with the Menagerin symbol for thief, before his men broke him out and they got away. Their leader was a Mistralian man named Shay D. Mann. We have no idea what happened with him since then. If he were still alive today, he’d be well over 90.”

Weiss: “Hm... nothing in grandfathers records mention anything of what happened with the guy. Only that he was arrested and that all the goods he had with him were confiscated. The amount of Vibranium used to make the shield was all that he had with him.”

Blake: “Which can only mean the rest was hidden elsewhere with him men. And after almost 80 years, it’s probable all been sold off by now if they didn’t hoard it for themselves. Regardless, they would all be rich beyond their wildest dreams.”

Yang: “All of these years just from one shipment?”

Blake: “Fortunately, security was naturally improved after that, and has continued to do so as our tech and culture developed over the years. We haven’t had a Vibranium theft since then. Though we do still get the occasional attempts at illegally infiltrating our borders. Humans and Faunus alike. And on the rare occasion, we even get mutants of either species too.”

Yang: “Mutants? You know what she’s talking about, Sis?”

Ruby: “No I don’t.”

Weiss: “That would only make sense since Mutant activity is especially rare in Vale. Technically, Mutants would be all over Remnant, but they try to hide the fact their Mutants from the public to avoid unnecessary problems.”

Blake: “I spent my middle school years in Vacuo, so I know it's the only Kingdom and its region where Mutants can act more freely. It’s all thanks to a Mutant who earned a place on the Vacuo council named Theodore Gail, the headmaster of Shade Academy. Originally known to the public as a prestigious boarding school, it was actually a secret safe haven for Mutants trying to hide from normal people and learn how to control their powers and the staff are a team of Mutant who use their powers to protect people like we do as superheroes known as the X-Men.”

Ruby: “So does that make me a Mutant now too?”

Blake: “No. Because you gained your powers from a man-made source. Mutants are confirmed to have been born with their powers because of something Professor Gail calls the X-gene.”

Weiss: “Though the origins of the X-gene are currently unknown, along with exactly how long Mutants have been around. The only thing we really know for sure thanks to Professor Gail is that they’ve existed for at least the past 1000 years.”

Yang: ‘You certainly seem to know a lot.”

Weiss: “That’s only because of PENNY going through some of father's secret files. Apparently, he’s only one of many people who have secretly been trying to capture and experiment on Mutants across the globe. Though Father is one of the only ones who have always failed in that effort. Most companies around the world outside of Vacuo believe Mutants to be a blight on Remnant just as early humans did about the Faunus. Though most people in the public these think it's more justified in this case solely because of the fact that Mutants have powers. Some of which having some very unsettling implications behind their intentions.”

Blake: “One such example at the start was Professor Gail since his powers define him as a telepath,”

Ruby: “As in someone who can read, communicate with and control minds?”

Yang: “Yeah, I can see the implications those would hold.”

Weiss: “But in Gail’s case, those fears were expelled on account of him and his X-Men constantly protect Vacuo, and sometimes all of Remnant, from a major threat that are really the biggest issue Mutant-kind face.”

Blake: “Their biggest issue isn’t the companies that try to catch them or even the normal public who openly hate them. It's the ongoing conflict between the X-Men and a group of Mutants known as the Mutant Brotherhood, who believe Mutants should be the dominant race of Remnant’s gene pool. This ideology was brought about by Gail’s former colleague, Xanthe Rumpole, better known to the world as Magneta due to her magnetic powers, who founded the Brotherhood and gathered Mutants who hates non-Mutants just as much as she does in efforts in wiping them off the face of Remnant.”

Weiss: “Though Vacuo is still the only place Mutants can really live freely without much discrimination, the X-Men service in thwarting the Brotherhood has somewhat gotten the other Kingdoms governments off their backs. But not completely, considering the continued existence of the Brotherhood.”

Ruby: “And you said this ‘Magneta’ was Professor Gail’s colleague. What happened?”

Blake: “I don’t know exactly. The conflict between them was already a thing during my whole middle school career.”

Weiss: “I found some articles regarding the topic. Apparently at the start, Rumpole was actually as founding X-Man. And they were implications at how close she and Gail were. But then not after the founding, they had a falling out cause by their conflicting ideologies, the specifics of the falling out itself wasn’t covered though. Forcing Rumpole to leave the team, along with one or two other founding X-Men who shared her views. And then year later, the Brotherhood made its first appearance against Vacuo, with Rumpole leading the charge.”

Yang: “Hold on. With all of this Mutant talk, you think that might be the case for Tombstone?”

Blake: “No, I don’t think so. If she is a Mutant then she’s being far too brazen. And a Mutant causing this much havoc would definitely attract Magneta’s attention. Then we’d all be in trouble.”

PENNY: “That sounds like my que to announce my findings.”

Weiss: “Ah. Kind of got lost in the moment there. So, what do we got?”

PENNY: “The identity of Tombstone is a woman named Tock Barrie, a crocodile type Faunus born and raised in Argus, and has known criminal record in Mt. Glenn, Vale neighboring city. She was arrested mostly for major property damage, but did also have a charge in robbing the local gun club. She escaped after serving a year of her sentence and fled the city afterwards. No one her at all for two years since then, until now.” The screen displaying Tock’s mugshot, which had a different haircut back then from her current mohawk.

Blake: “Okay, so we know who she is now. Is there anything you found about her that could explain what happened with my claws?”

PENNY: “I believe that can explained from something I found in her medical records, which were used as evidence against her in Mt. Glenn, and is also the reason behind her skin color. As a child, she was exposed to a chemical known as Diox-3 when a container of it fell off a truck delivery it to the local Atlas Military base. Young Tock was hospitalized for months as her body suffered from adapting to the apparent changes that came from the chemical. According to the Atlesian scientists that aided the hospital, Diox-3 made her physically invulnerable to just about anything, as well as altered her natural strength to nearly super human.”

Ruby: “Which means she’s virtually indestructible.”

Yang: “Oh shit. How do we stop something like that?”

Weiss: “Now hold on. PENNY did specifically say physically invulnerable, so maybe the same can’t be said for her mentally?”

PENNY: “Indeed. It would seem she is still susceptible to exhaustion and can be subjected to various substances that knock a person unconscious. However, due to her impenetrable skin, said substances can only be delivered through ingestion or being inhaled. Injections or physical absorption are out of the question.”

Blake: “So, aside from just trying to continuously fight her until she wears herself out, our only options are to try and get her to either drink or breathe in some kind of sedative.”

Weiss: “Arguably, that sounds like the easier option by comparison, by somehow I think even that will prove to be a major challenge.”

Yang: “And of course, in order to actually do any of this, you need to actually find her first.”

Ruby: “She has an entire gang spread out across the city that could be called in by the cops. She could be anywhere.”

Blake: “Unfortunately, the police response to any biker activity is all we have to go off of at the moment. For now, let’s just focus on fighting against her forces. Maybe we can figure out where they’re hiding out along the way.”

Weiss: “In the meantime, I can work on getting my hands on some anesthesia or something for you guys to use against Tock herself when we do find her. I’ll let you guys know once I finally get ahold of some.”

Ruby: “Well, I guess having some kind of plan is better than having no plan.” We get an alert about some biker activity around the city. “Okay. Let’s break for today while Blake and I take care of this for now.” We all agree, and Blake and I head once we suit up, and split up to cover more ground around the city. Even though we have some kind of plan, I can tell you now... that this is gonna be real headache.

Chapter Text

I made sure to give Blake and com link before splitting up, and I end up finding an ongoing police chase. Fortunately, they bikers aren’t using their guns, so no one is getting shot at, but this is still really dangerous. I catch up and use a few distant webs to trip up their bikes and send them flying into a nearby wall before I web them up. No sign of Tombstone though. Meanwhile, Blake found a few causing havoc a few blocks away. She jumped in the way and clawed at their tires as they drove by, causing them to crash.

Biker 1: “Agh! Damn cat!” As they drew their knives.

Biker 2: “Never was a cat person anyway.”

Blake: “You definitely won’t be after this.” They try to go on the offensive, but fall short when she jumped to dodge and landed behind them, followed by a scratch to their legs to stun them. And after they drop to their knees, she does a long kick that hits them both in the head hard, knocking them out, and then grapples up to the rooftops when she hears the cops coming. Encounters like this have been happening for the past few hours before Blake and I meet on a roof.

Ruby: “Geez, just how many guys does she have on her payroll?”

Blake: “This is never gonna end until we can actually find Tock.” Luckily, Weiss and Yang are listening.

Weiss: “I think I may have a lead on that. Surveillance cameras can’t see them in them, but I found one pick up chatter from a nearby alley that happened five minutes ago. Tomorrow at five, the gang plans to pick a shipment of alcohol from their supplier.”

Blake: “Chasing the troublemakers like this is just going to run us ragged and lead us nowhere. We can’t know exactly when these guys will retreat for their hideout if all their doing is just causing chaos.”

Ruby: “But the ones handling the pick-up will need to return to avoid getting caught with the goods. So, if we can find that exchange, they can lead us to the hideout if we just follow them from there.”

Yang: “Do we know even know where it’ll be, though?”

Weiss: “According to the convo, it is happening in an alley behind a club known as Junior’s.”

Yang: “Junior’s? Sounds more like a daycare center than a club.”

Blake: “Oh, it’s a club alright. And a dangerous one too. From what I understand, that place is owned by one of the most infamous crime families in Vale.”

Weiss: “You’re referring to the Maggia crime families, aren’t you?”

Blake: “Exactly.”

Ruby: “Huh. You know, I think I remember reading about them somewhere. An old paper Uncle Qrow had about how one of the families lost their leader.”

Weiss: “Yes. The head of the Xiong family, Hei Xiong, died of a heart attack some years back, and control of the family went to his son, Hei Xiong Junior.”

Blake: “Who is the founder and owner of Junior’s as he is best known solely by the name ‘Junior’.”

Yang: “Seriously?”

Ruby: “Regardless, a mob owned club definitely sounds like the kind of place these guys would get their drinks from.”

Weiss: “And in other news, I managed to get ahold of some anesthesia. Some guy at the SDC let me buy a couple of tanks off of him with no questions asked. Probably some under shmuck strapped for extra cash. They should be delivered to my place tomorrow morning before I have to leave for school.”

Ruby: “Perfect. Then let’s finish cleaning up a few more of these guys before calling it for tomorrow.”

Blake: “Agreed.” And that’s exactly how things went from there. We cleaned up good number of other bikers before we all went home. The next day, we all went about our school day like normal, Weiss confirming the delivery during lunch, and then we met up at Weiss’ place like usual.

Yang: “You sure this stuff is even any good? I mean, how do we even know this is the real deal?” Weiss growing a bit irritated.

Weiss: “Wanna try it and find out?”

Yang: “Yeah, I’m good.” As she put her hands in defeat.

Weiss: “Regardless, it’s only natural I made sure it was real before we go using it, so I had PENNY do an analysis while I was gone. I just checked with her, and the results came in positive.”

Ruby: “Okay. So how do we go about using these?”

Weiss: “As inconvenient as it seems, you’ll have to strap the tanks to your back to allow use of both your hands, and then get in close to use the attached inhaler masks.”

Blake: “No other choice, I guess.” Once we suit up and apply the tanks, we take a short patrol around the district before we head to Junior’s and sit up on the roof of the building behind it about 30 minutes before the given time. 30 minutes later, two bikers show up without their bikes and carrying duffle bags. Upon arriving, they give the back door a few knocks before someone opens up for a brief moment to get a good look at their outfits before they close the door, and the garage door next to them opens up, revealing Junior, a few of his posse and a delivery truck.

Junior: “Right on time as always. Hm? Where’s the boss?”

Biker 1: “Tombstone gives her regards.”

Biker 2: “Ever since she faced the cat and spider, she’s been hanging back at the base and solely organizing our excursions. Saying stuff about wanting to save her strength for the next time they fight.”

Junior: “Not that it’ll matter with her affliction. Chick can survive anything, while all I’ve got is my head plate.”

Biker 1: “Still, she sent us to handle the pick-up.” As they drop the bags by Junior's feet.

Biker 2: “2 billion Lien as promised. Wasn't easy either, what with those ‘heroes’ constantly getting in our way.”

Junior: “At least you still got it all in time.” As he and one of his men pick up the bags and he snaps his other hands fingers, signaling the other good to get in the truck and pull it out before getting out and opening the back. “And just as promised, 10 crates chock full of bottles of our strongest whiskey.”

Biker 2: “Heh. Perfect.” As he closed the truck and received the keys from Junior’s goon. Followed up with them driving away in the truck as Junior and his men head back inside. Once they’re all gone, we follow the truck from the rooftops and their drive went on for about an hour before we find ourselves at a desolate drug storage warehouse uptown. We see Tock at the garage door.

Tombstone: “Alright boys, get these crates unloaded.” They work on that as we get up to the roof and watch through the skylight.

Blake: “No wonder no one could find them with blind searches. This place is so far out of the way from their usual public sightings.”

Ruby: “And big enough to hold everything they have in plain sight.” They watch as they unload the last crate into the warehouse, and Tock opens one of the crates to take a bottle.

Tombstone: “Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff. You all leave me be. Go check up on the bikes or something.” Of course, they all do as she say, and she’s left alone with her drink. This is about as good as any to strike. Time to pull the brakes on this operation.

Chapter Text

Once Tock is all alone, we open the skylight, to which I slowly descend on a spider line, and Blake landing on the rafters.

Ruby: “’The angry drug lord drank alone.’ You know, I think there’s a poem in there somewhere.” She seems surprised to see us, but doesn’t exactly show it. She barely even moved.

Tombstone: “Wouldn’t know. Wasn't exactly the literary type.” As she took a big swig of the bottle before closing it and turning around, with a big sledge hammer in hand. “Gotta say though. I wasn’t expecting you lot here for a while longer. The place is a mess.”

Blake: “I have to agree, the place reeks like alcohol.” As she drops down. “I can’t say I’m a fan.”

Tombstone: “Hey, kitty kitty. How are the claws doing, hm?”

Blake: “Fine, no thanks to you... Tock Barrie.” Her eyes go wide from hearing that... before she starts laughing.

Tombstone: “Heheheh. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, now that’s a name I haven’t heard in two years.”

Ruby: “We know about your accident with Diox-3, the reason behind your invulnerability.”

Tombstone: “And? After my accident, it was declared too dangerous and all supplies of it was destroyed. If you were planning to cure me, then there’s no way you found any to develop a cure from.”

Blake: “Maybe not. But we don’t need a cure to stop you.”

Tombstone: “Confidence, I love it. Then let’s get started!” As she pulls out a grenade, pulls the pin with her teeth and throws it. I let go of my line and use a web to catch it and throw it up through the skylight before it blew up in the air. She comes at us swinging the hammer around. Blakes claws cut the head off the handle, to which Tock threw it away before using her fists. We had to be careful when dodging to keep her from hitting the tanks. She hits these and they blow, we’re all gonna be out cold, leaving either Tock’s gang to save their leader and capture us, or the cops who’ll eventually find this place from the ruckus and arrest as all, both cases eventually leading to our identities being exposed. I try to get in close to use the inhaler, but I can’t seem to get close to her face without her blocking me. And then she grabbed my ankle as I kick at her and toss me aside, to which I try to use a web net to prevent a crash. Blake tries to go in for some swings of her own, using her fist rather than her claws, but they’re at a standstill.

Ruby: “Ngh... Come on Rubes, think.” I mutter to myself as I watch as they break their hold and Blake grapples up a little to back off. My visor auto analyzed the cable, showing it’s made of titanium, much like her claws. That’s it! “Black Cat! I’ve got an idea.”

Blake: “I’m open to suggestions.”

Ruby: “When I say ‘now’, use your grapple.” I use my webs to blind her before shooting a barrage to pin her arms to her sides. “Now!”

Blake: “I see where you're heading.” Before Tock can free herself, Blake used her grapple which attached to Tock’s shirt before she finagled it to wrap around her several times before pulling to tighten it and keep her arms pinned.

Tombstone: “Grah! Why you little-!” As she struggles, I jump onto her back and use the inhaler. She still puts up quite the struggle as I prolong her exposure, before she eventually moved in a way to pull Blake along and smack her into some crates, followed by Tock flexing enough to snap the grapple cables and break free from my webbing. I try to hold to continue applying the gas before she eventually did manage to grab me and toss me aside. She looks rather angry afterwards. “I don’t know what you dosed me with, but if you think it’ll be enough to stop me, you’ve got another thing coming!” She says as Blake recovers.

Blake: “Ngh! Maybe so. But it will even the odds for us.”

Tombstone: “Grr!” She grabs a nearby steel pipe and charges in swinging as we dodge and fight back. Blake’s claws cut the pipe in half, forcing Tock to throw it away. She continues to fight, but her moves start getting sluggish as the anesthesia finally starts taking affect. “Ngh! Uh, what is *yaaawn* happening?”

Ruby: “Now we’ve got her!” We get in close and dodge one last attempted attack before delivering a barrage of punches before we jump back and we slingshot ourselves at her to deliver a final double punch to the face, which launched her into her alcohol supplies. We get in one look at before she finally closes her eyes and slips in a deep slumber. Blake goes ahead and sends an anonymous message to the police before some of Tock’s men barge and see standing her unconscious body.

Biker 1: “The hell!? The boss lost! Impossible!”

Biker 2: “You two are gonna pay for this!” We give each other a quick look before smirking, despite the fact you can’t really tell with me because of my mask.

Ruby: “We still have time before the cops show up, right?”

Blake: “I’m up for a few more rounds if you are.”

Ruby: “Then let’s do this.” And so, for the next little while, we continuously fought the currently present members of Tock’s gang until they are all out for the count up until we start hearing incoming sirens. “Okay. Sorry to fight and run, but we’d better get going.” We escape through the skylight and jump to a different rooftop to observe the police to assure Tock’s arrest. Thankfully, the dose I gave was quite effective, as she was still unconscious when the cops picked her up and placed her in the back of one of their large trucks meant for gathering large amounts of criminals.

Weiss: “Nice work guys. Hopefully they’ll be able to contain her once she’s convicted.”

Blake: “It won’t take them long to figure how special she is. They'll set her up in the Vault once they work that out.”

Yang: “Best to let Qrow and Vernal handle all of that.”

Blake: “In the meantime though, I’m exhausted. I just wanna go home and take a nice long bath.”

Ruby: “Yeah. I’ll meet you at home, Sis.” And so, we all head home for the night to rest. And for the next few days, we kept an eye on the developments of Tock’s case, up until they finally announced her conviction and sentence.

Lisa: “After a few days of spreading chaos throughout Vale, the leader of this biker gang known as Tombstone has finally been arrested, and has recently been declared guilty of all charges. Further investigation revealed Tombstones identity as a crocodile Faunus named Tock Barrie, as well as a chemical induced infliction from her childhood that made her physically invulnerable and incredibly strong because of a now extinct concoction known as Diox-3. Due to MS. Barrie’s unique condition, her sentence is to carried in the Vault to assure successful containment.” All the while us and the cops have working to clean up any stragglers of her gang who continue to cause trouble. There are likely still more around the city but are laying low with their operations slowing decaying post Tock’s arrest. The developments were also being watched by members of the Maggia as we cut to Don Paul Parrot.

Parrot: “So the so-called ‘heroes’ managed to get one over on Tombstone, huh?”

Thug: “I’m afraid so sir. Her gang's numbers have been steadily dwindling in the days since her arrest. And those who remain are staying off the grid.”

Parrot: “Regarding her crew, it doesn’t really matter. But regarding Tock herself, it does ruffle my feathers a bit to hear she’s been defeated. Seems like we’ve been underestimating these upstarts for too long.”

Thug: “So what do we do sir?”

Parrot: “Continue to observe them. Especially the superpowered spider girl. Best we remain vigilant for the coming future.”

Thug: “Yes sir.” He leaves as Parrot fixes himself a drink.

Parrot: “I’m certain the other families are doing the same as well. With all of us watching her, we can rest easy. And if she tries to fight us, then I’m sure she won’t stop us then either. Tock may have been a large gang. But the Maggia makes five whole gangs. No way she can take us all on. They'll learn soon enough... that this city belongs to us.”

Chapter Text

About a week after Tombstone’s conviction, crime activity has been relatively light... and simple. Any crimes that have happened have been nothing but common robberies or muggings. Though, any hopes of no new super villains would be dashed pretty soon after this next crime. A small bank front wall was blown off, and two robbers enter. One was a man with orange hair covering one of his green eyes wearing dark grey turtleneck, white open jacket, black pants, brown shoes, light grey scarf and a bowler hat with a small feather holding a cane with a black stick, light grey hook handle and a red bottom in one hand and a cigar in the other. The other was a short woman around my height with half pink half brown long hair and pink and brown eyes wearing a white suit with pink lapels, dark brown pants, white high heeled boots, black gloves and a bunch of bead necklaces holding an umbrella with black hook handle and the cover having pink at the top and brown at the bottom. They were well known notorious thieves around Vale known as Roman Torchwick and Neo Politan, who have been at this for years.

Torchwick: “Alright people, you know the drill. Just stay down while we take what we need.”

Neo: “Or else I’m going slice your throats open.” She says almost cheerfully as she casually pulls out a knife.(And yes, Neo can talk in this. Deal with it.) They spend the next while clearing out the safes before walking out with each of them carrying a large bag of Lien.

Torchwick: “Ahh. Nothing like a heist gone right. Eh, Neo?” And he wasn’t paying attention when I grab the bags with my webs, pull them out of their hands and web them to the wall above them, thus out of their reach.

Ruby: “Then maybe you didn’t take me into account.” I said as I land on the lamp post across the street.

Neo: “Oh brilliant. The Spiders real. First, we have the Cat to deal with, and now this!”

Torchwick: “Sheesh. This town is becoming a real freak show. Neo, if you would.” She draws her knives and charges in my direction. I jump down and enter a quick brawl with her as I dodge her knives a few times before disarming her and giving her a swift kick back to Torchwick’s side.

Neo: “Ngh... She is good. What should we do?”

Torchwick: “Not get caught. That's for sure. Well, Red, I think we can all say it’s been an eventful evening.” As he drops his cigar and stomps it out with his cane. “And as much as I’d love to stick around...” As he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a pistol. “I’m afraid this is where we part ways.” Aaaand he starts shooting a few rounds that I have to dodge before I grab the gun and fling it hard at the wall, breaking it.

Neo: “Okay. That's it. I’m calling it. We’re getting out of here.” As she throws down a smoke bomb.

Ruby: *cough, cough, cough*”Hey! Where did you-?”*cough, cough* And of course, they’re gone when smoke clears. *sigh*”Dang it.” To which I hear sirens coming. “And that’s my cue.” I swing out of here and rest up until tomorrow. The next morning, the city is full of news on my encounter with Torchwick and Neo. I meet up with the others at lunch like usual to discuss it a bit.

Blake: “Yeah, I’ve faced those two a few times. Even caught them once, but then they broke out after about two months in prison.”

Weiss: “Even Father has felt inconvenienced by them since they have also targeted banks that work with the SDC.”

Blake: “Though what most people don’t pay enough attention too, is the fact that Neo Politan is also an established serial killer. Torchwick isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty if needed, but he’s more known for relying more on Neo for physical combat.”

Ruby: “He did send her after me first before pulling his gun.”

Yang: “Definitely sound like the type of guys we need to keep an eye out for.”

Blake: “Exactly. Let's prioritize our patrols around the banks in case they hit any of them again soon.” However, we aren’t the only ones keeping tabs on them, as someone else has been seeing the recent reports about the two, as we cut to Glass in his office.

Glass: “Hm. A thief like him could probably make great use of my latest piece. And with a few hacks into the city surveillance systems, it should be a cinch to pinpoint where their hiding.” Later that night, we cut to a dead neighborhood where Torchwick and Neo have holed up in one of the abandoned buildings.

Torchwick: *sigh*”Can’t believe we lost our haul last night.”

Neo: “Maybe we need to change our tactics a bit. You handle the robbery while I keep an eye out for the Spider and keep her busy. At best, it just means we won’t leave with as much as we usually do if it means we can get away with any money at all.”

Torchwick: “I guess. But with her being as good as she is, that plan can only last so long before we do get caught. Especially if she ends up teaming with the Cat. What we really need is a way to fight on par with her.” That’s when they had a knock at the door.

Neo: “Huh? Who the hell could that be?”

Torchwick: “Be on guard.” As he grabbed his gun and she draws her knives. They cautiously approach the front door and ready themselves as they open the door... only to see two boxes. A small cardboard box and large crate. “Did either of us order anything without realizing?”

Neo: “How would that even be possible?” As Torchwick picks up the folded paper on the box and read the front.

Torchwick: “’To Roman Torchwick from a mutual friend.’ A mutual friend?” Neo opens the box to find some kind of suit, helmet and manual inside. “A suit?” He looks at the manual cover to see it only contain the words... “’Project Nevermore’, eh? Hm... Take this to the table, then help me bring the crate inside.” They bring the stuff inside, and Torchwick works to pry the crate open with a crowbar while Neo unfolds the paper and reads the letter inside.

Neo: “’Dear Roman Torchwick. I understand your current plight in committing your crimes unimpeded by these vigilantes, and believe you to be best suited in testing my latest device to both aid you in fighting on par with your foes and in pulling off your heists with greater efficiency. I hope you will graciously accept my gift and use it well. Signed, the Tinkerer. PS, enclosed in the box with the flight suit is the manual on how to operate the-’” That’s when the crate finally opens and she rushes to his side to see a high-tech wing pack and strange claw devices. She looks back at the letter to find the sentence ended with ‘wings’. “So, this whole thing is some kind of wing suit?”

Torchwick: “And from the looks of it, a very impressive one at that. Maybe we shouldn’t look this gift horse in the mouth and take it for a spin. I have a feeling this is going to be VERY Exciting.” As he walks over to the box and pulls out the helmet.

Chapter Text

We’ve been patrolling since yesterday, keeping a particularly close eye on the banks, and still no sign of them yet. Blake and I are currently split up around the city while Weiss and Yang stayed behind at Weiss’ place.

Yang: “Are you sure this was the right call? We haven’t seen them at any of the banks since yesterday.”

Blake: “Where they strike is never a sure thing. They never did have a set pattern for their heists. They just hit wherever they wanted whenever they wanted. That’s why we also have to keep our ears open for any banks we don’t currently have eyes on.”

Ruby: “Haven’t had much luck on that front either though.”

Weiss: “Maybe we should regroup and find a way to pinpoint them instead.”

Ruby: “Maybe.” That’s something black zooms pasts me! Cutting my web line and nearly causing me to fall if I didn’t react quick enough to web to a nearby ledge. “What the heck!?”

Weiss: “Ruby! Are you okay?”

Yang: “What was that?”

Blake: “Wait, what happened?” I see it heading towards the large bank I was just at.

Ruby: “I don’t know what it is but it’s heading for the eastern major bank!”

Blake: “I’m on my way!” As I make my way towards the bank, I can hear loud noises coming from its direction, along with seeing a large burst of dust coming from the roof. Once I’m close enough, I can see a massive hole in the roof. And through the hole, I can see a person in a black flight suit with dark grey straps around him strapping him to a large pack on his back, and strange claw devices strapped to his boots. His head in concealed in a full head helmet with a silver like mask covered in red marks and flame orange eyes, along with tubes attached to the mask from the wing pack. Along with him in the bank gathering large bags of money into a large box is... Neo!

Neo: “Okay. The box is full. We ready Roman?”

Torchwick: “As ready as I’ll ever be.” As Neo seals up the box with a lid that comes with large handles. Torchwick’s pack flares its engine for a moment to allow him to jump on top of the box, landing his feet on the handles box triggering his claws to grip the handles tight. Then the pack spread out large black wings before starting up again and taking off. “Keep your eyes out on the skies, and meet me at the hideout!” Before he starts flying through the roof hole, carrying the large box with him.

Blake: “Okay. I’m here.” As she lands on a rooftop on the other side of the bank.

Ruby: “Blake, are you seeing this?”

Blake: “Yes. But I don’t know exactly what I’m seeing.”

Ruby: “This is gonna sound crazy, but I think that might be Torchwick.”

Blake: “What!?” That’s when I hear the banks front door burst open and stopping on the street to look up at Torchwick.

Ruby: “And I’ve got eyes on Neo out front.”

Blake: “Leave her to me. You're the one better suited for aerial combat.”

Ruby: “Right. Let’s go!” Blake jumps down onto the streets to confront Neo, while I stay up on the rooftops to get in close to Torchwick. “Alright, Weiss. This seems similar to what happened with Watts, so I’m going to need to a scan of the wings going.”

Weiss: “Copy that. I have the scan program up now. Just buy enough time for us to get a full scan.”

Ruby: “Right.”

Torchwick: “Alright. I think this thing works well enough. It’s time to skedaddle.” Again, he’s not paying attention as I web the box and pull to stop him from flying away and get his attention.

Ruby: “Not gonna be that easy, Torchwick!”

Torchwick: “So you already know, huh?” He maneuvers the left wing to grab my web line in its feathers and then uses it to cut the line with said feather in a scissor fashion. “But the days of Roman Torchwick are over!” As he’s moves to throw the box at me, to which I have to jump out of the way as it lands on my roof. “From now on, you can call me the Nevermore!” As he charges at me! I backflip just in time to dodge and he flies right by me. He pulls up to take to the air again.

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t!” To which I use a web to zip up to him for a direct confrontation. He and I tussle in the air while we cut to Neo on the ground watching it all happen.

Neo: “Agh. If only I had some wings of my own. I could help.” And that's when Blake showed up.

Blake: “If your so bored, then why not play with me?” She already at the ready with her claws. Neo turns around startled as she drew her knives.

Neo: “You!”

Blake: “Long time no see, Neo. So, where did your boyfriend get the wings, huh? Stolen like everything else in his life?”

Neo: “Wouldn’t you like to know!” She goes on the offensive as she and Blake enter their own street wide brawl. Eventually, Vernal and Qrow show up on the scene to see everything going on themselves.

Qrow: “The Cat and Spider again? And what the hell is that thing?” As he points up at Torchwick.

Vernal: “Better question. I see Politan, but where is Torchwick? They’re usually not too far away from each other.” Back to us, Torchwick looks down to see the cops.

Torchwick: “Well, Red, it’s been fun, but I’m afraid I’m must be going!” As he did a spin maneuver to fling me off of him. I try to zip back up to him, but he did another spin that smacked me hard into the side of a nearby building. “Now to reclaim my prize.” To which he flies over to grab the box and starts fleeing the scene. “Alright, Neo! The shows over! We’re outta here!” She and Blake tussle around a little bit more until she gets an opportunity to throw down another smoke bomb and escape. Blake is stunned for a moment before her mask triggers to help see through the smoke, but is too late as Neo is already gone.

Blake: “Shoot...” That’s when she decides to get out of there herself with the cops nearby. I myself, also recover and stand at the ledge of the hole I made in the building to see that they’ve all left, with Qrow and Vernal setting up the perimeter.

Ruby: “Great. Blake, tell me you’ve got some good news...”

Blake: “Unfortunately, the trails have gone completely cold. These guys aren’t the type to play around.”

Weiss: “On the bright side though, we have enough data from the scan to begin a proper analysis.”

Ruby: “Then let’s all meet up and discuss this while that’s going on.” Meanwhile, Torchwick hovers over the open skylight of an abandoned gym in that dead neighborhood before descending and carefully putting the box down, and the landing right behind it, where he took detached the tubes and took his helmet off. His hair falling into place over his right eye. Neo shows up not long after.

Torchwick: “Well that went well, all things considered.”

Neo: “Hell yeah.” As she opened the box and took out one of the bags. “Not only did we beat the spider, but we also got away with twice as much money as we usually leave with.”

Torchwick: “And just think. With these wings, we can even outrun the cops! We'll be able to go beyond just robbing banks. We can steal whatever we want from anywhere without having to worry about them or the heroes catching us.”

Neo: “And I think I know just the thing to start with.” As shows a newspaper stating how a rare jewel will be arriving in Vale in two days to be displayed in the history museum. An emerald believed to have been around hundreds of years ago.(shaped a lot like the gem on Ozma’s staff in the canon show)

Torchwick: “Hahaha! You know I love the way you think! Once this jewel is on display for Vale to see, they won’t know what hit them until it’s too late! Ahahaha!”

Chapter Text

Once we meet up again at Weiss’ place, I’ve been told that PENNY has already started the spec analysis, which still gives us a bit of time to talk a bit.

Ruby: “Well that went about as well as I expected from a super villain.”

Yang: “These guys just keep popping up out of nowhere.”

Blake: “Torchwick may be tough with his new gear, but Neo is no walk in the park either. She’s clearly been through some serious training.”

Weiss: “You’ve dealt with them before, right? What can you tell us about them?”

Blake: “For Neo, not much is really known about her. The name ‘Neo Politan’ doesn’t even seem to exist in any system. At least not until she suddenly appeared in Vale at Torchwick’s side about a decade ago. As for Torchwick, his criminal record extends long before that. He started stealing at a young age, and has been getting by from stealing since then. His record started on the streets of Mistral, but he was less notorious over there. He became a much bigger name when he and Neo appeared in Vale and started staking their claim.”

Ruby: “Huh. So, he’s Mistralian?”

Blake: “Yes. But his life of crime came from being born and growing up in the city's lower levels, where all the scum and shady businesses hideout, which makes them Mistral’s equivalent of a shady part of town.”

Yang: “In other words, he grew up in the dregs. Though why did you put it as the lower levels?”

Ruby: “That’s because the entire city of Mistral is built on a couple of mountains, making use of every inch of them for the city layout. The famous Haven Academy lies at the very top, stretching across the peaks of both mountains. The lower levels, or Mistral Below, refers to the portion at the foot.”

Yang: “Yeesh. Talk about being dealt a bad hand.”

PENNY: “Then I guess lady luck was rather kind to him recently, given what I’ve found.”

Weiss: “Go ahead, PENNY.”

PENNY: “First off, I want to over the wings origins. Analysis has found the same emblem I found on Dr. Watt’s arms, right here at the base of the pack right above the thruster. I believe this proves my point with Watts that he didn’t make his arms and they were instead given to him. Of course, Torchwick wasn’t known to be an engineering genius, so it makes sense that he got the wings from someone else. And with the emblem in the picture, it’s clear the wings and the arms were made by the same person. Unfortunately, there still isn’t anything about the wings that give away their makers identity.”

Blake: “So, someone is supplying criminals with advance tech?”

Weiss: “That’s what the evidence seems to suggest. And what about the wings themselves? What can you tell us about them?”

PENNY: “They are made in a way to be properly handled by just about anyone. The feathers can evidently act as razor blades. They can even be detached to act as a ranged weapon.”

Ruby: “And what about a potential weakness?”

PENNY: “The power source emits a unique electronic signal through the whole thing. Which means there’s actually an easy way to deal with him. We just need to make a signal jammer specifically tuned to the wings and use it to disable them. The wings can act as a glider should they shut down, which means he’ll have no choice but to ground himself.”

Weiss: “I can get to work on that right away, but it’ll take until tomorrow to finish.”

Ruby: “Then we should keep an eye out on their whereabouts in the meantime.”

Blake: “As well as any potential targets they may try to steal. While they mainly target banks for their money, Torchwick has always been an opportunist. There have been times where he aimed higher because of him gaining some kind of new advantage. Hell, his targeting banks was a step up in his career since he was more of a petty thief back in Mistral and thus before he had Neo at his side. I remember one instance where he and Neo made off with a whole crates worth of diamonds after gaining a temporary alliance with one of the Maggia crime families, with promises of a split in the profits between Torchwick and the associated don. I forget which family it was though. All their thugs really look the same if I’m being honest. Aside from Junior’s men all dressing the same in a similar style to Junior himself, none of the family's members have a way of distinguishing themselves from each other, and I never actually saw the don in question at the time. I just know it has to be someone other than Junior given how the thugs were dressed.”

Weiss: “So that only leaves Paul Parrot, Vermillion Raddock, Abigail Pyre or Jax Asturias, the overall leader of the whole Maggia.”

Blake: “I think we can automatically rule out Asturias. He doesn’t usually make deals street rats like Torchwick. He’s more known for seeking bigger fish like the rumored Queenpin of Crime.”

Yang: “Queenpin of Crime?”

Weiss: “They haven’t made any appearances, but rumor has it there’s another group of organized crime around whose just as powerful as the Maggia. The only thing that’s known for sure is that the supposed leader may be a woman since any followers of the group that have been caught refers to them as the ‘Queenpin of Crime’. Literally nothing else is known about them aside from that.”

Ruby: “Regardless, there are probably plenty of other places in Vale with items of significant interest.”

Yang: “Before we go, I do have an unrelated question that I didn’t ask before since it was hardly important at the time, but I’ve been curious about Torchwick’s choice of alias.”

Weiss: “You mean when he referred to himself as the ‘Nevermore’, right?”

Yang: “Yeah.”

Ruby: “Well, just like with Watts and what we came up with for Merlot, the name is a direct reference to a creature in Remnants mythological stories. In this case, the name is referencing a giant bird resembling a raven.”

Blake: “I suppose clearing that question was to be expected. Let’s just get going and look Torchwick.” Unfortunately, our patrol since then hasn’t turned up anything. Even as we transition to the next, we haven’t had any luck. The only real good thing to come of today was that Weiss had finished the signal jammer.

Weiss: “Okay. Thorough analysis of the wings systems let us come up with this jammer specifically tuned to his wings. However, the jammers range is extremely limited, especially when considering how fast he can fly. You're going to have get up close and personal with him to be able to use it.”

Ruby: “Okay. Now we just need to find him.”

Blake: “And I think I have an idea on where. The news has been talking about a rare jewel coming to Vale tomorrow to be displayed in the history museum.” As she shows the paper mention as much. “A jewel like this is definitely the kind of thing that he wouldn’t miss out on. Especially with his new gear to give him the escape advantage.”

Ruby: “Then we have our game plan.” All that’s left is to wait and execute it. Get ready Nevermore, because it’s time for me to clip your wings!

Chapter Text

Today was the day. The jewel was going to be added to the history museum today, and we believe Torchwick and Neo will attempt to steal it. Thanks to Weiss, Blake and I were able to attend the official announcement out front, so that we can see the jewel for ourselves in person before it all goes down. Up on the front steps of the museum is the curator at a podium and a covered by a sheet next to him.

Curator: “Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to announce the arrival of this magnificent piece to our museum.” As his secretary removed the sheet and reveal the jewel. “This jewel is believed to have belonged to one of the first kings of our world when humanity first established civilization well over 1000 years ago. For the past decade, the jewel has been displayed in the history museum of Atlas. And now, they have decided to shift the jewels exhibit over to us. We will now take to time to move the jewel to its proper place before we officially open for today.” He and his secretary move to wheel the jewel inside, while his security keep the people from following.

Blake: “No sign of them yet so far.” But that's when my spider sense went off.

Ruby: “I think we spoke too soon.” As we see the winged man incoming from behind the audience. He flew right over us and crashed right through the front wall! Everyone is in a panic when it happened, all while Neo appeared from the audience and started taking out the security guards.

Blake: “Time to suit up?”

Ruby: “Yep!” As we back out of the audience and make our way to a nearby alley out of sight to remove our clothes and reveal our suits underneath, and add the additional pieces like our gloves, masks and my cape before we head back to the museum to take action. Inside, Torchwick is standing face to face with the curator and his secretary.

Torchwick: “You know, maybe bringing the jewel to Vale in an era of super villains was a bad idea. But hey, I'm gonna complain! It’ll certainly make me a whole richer.” To which he smacked the two aside with his wing before he broke the jewels glass case and took. Then he opened up both of his wings and took off through the skylight. Thats when we take action and split up again to handle the two. I head up to deal with Torchwick while Blake stayed on the ground to deal with Neo.

Blake: “Neo!”

Neo: “Oh for crying out loud. Back again, are we?” As she draws her knives. They go at it as I make it up to the roof.

Ruby: “Torchwick!”

Torchwick: “Too late, Red! The jewel is mine and you can’t do a thing about it!”

Ruby: “We’ll see about that!” As I zip up to him and enter another tussle with. In order to effectively use the signal jammer, I think I’ll need to attach it to the pack out of his reach to keep him from stopping it. So, I try to focus on getting behind him to attach it, but he certainly isn’t making it easy. And I can’t just use it in hand while I’m fighting him, since he can just grab my hand and stop me easily.

Torchwick: “Give it up, Red! You can’t out maneuver me up here. The skies are MY turf!” As he spun in a way to knock me off of him. But then I get an idea.

Ruby: “Not for much longer!” I move to swing at him before moving to flip over him and quickly zip at him from behind to get onto his back where he can’t reach me, and just as quickly web the jammer to his pack after switching it on. “Have a nice fall, you jerk!” As I jump off of him and swing around to keep my eye on him. He tries to fly away, but then the wings start losing power and he starts slowly descending.

Torchwick: “What in the-!? What is happening!?” He remains stable as he descends until he ends up landing on a nearby roof. Though said landing wasn’t exactly graceful as he fell flat on his face. He then tries to start the thrusters again after getting up, but all they do is flicker. “Dammit! What the hell!?” As he removes his helmet and I join him on the roof. “What did you do!?”

Ruby: “Me? Absolutely nothing.”

Torchwick: “Bullshit!” Best I not draw any attention to the jammer for now. “Well, no matter. I will not let this stop me!” As he unstrapped the wing pack and let it drop to the ground, as well as the claw devices from his boots. He then charges right for me, and tries to swing at me a few, to which I easily avoid, and eventually grab one of his arms mid-punch and twist his arm behind his back as I turn him around, and then knock him out with a punch to the back of his neck, to which I let him go and let him drop.

Ruby: “Sorry, Torchwick. But your grounded.” Then I search his pockets and find the jewel. Meanwhile, Blake and Neo are still fighting when the police start arriving on the scene. And just like last time, Neo manages to get Blake to back off and gain an opportunity to use a smoke bomb and escape.

Blake: “Argh! Damnit! Not again!” Unfortunately, she is already gone when the smoke clears. Afterwards, I swung by and dropped Torchwick and the gear the bottom of the museum front stairs, after recovering the jammer, and landed to the top of the stair where the curator was standing, and returned the jewel to him.

Ruby: “Make sure you take better care of that now, you hear?” he just nods nervously before I take off, with Blake following suit. We head back to the alley to recover our bags with our clothes and head back. Meanwhile, Neo sees the police driving off with Torchwick in the back of one of the cars from a different alley.

Neo: “No...” Her face shows concern, but then quickly shifts to anger. “Raaaagh!” As she punches the wall. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? No doubt they’ll beef up his security after last we broke out. The only thing I can do now is avoid arrest and continue without him, as well as avenge his arrest. Mark my words, Red. We will meet again!” in the days after that whole ordeal, the investigation into Torchwick has revealed his hideout in the dead neighborhood in order to return the stolen goods from his other thefts. And of course, the news was all over the case.

Lisa: “A few days ago, the notorious thief known as Roman Torchwick has been arrested during his attempt to steal the museums rare jewel. The thief had recently obtained a flight suit and special wing pack and had started referring to himself as the Nevermore days prior, and tried to use his new gear to escape, but was stopped by the Scarlet Spider and the Black Cat. Further investigation has shown both the wings and the arms used by Arthur Watts, AKA Dr. Centinel, both shared the same T insignia.” As they show a picture of said insignia. “Further questioning from both parties confirmed that they had received the tech from an anonymous third party only known as the Tinkerer. Further investigation is currently underway regarding this new information, as well as the continued search of Mr. Torchwick’s partner, Miss Neo Politan, who had managed to flee scene and escape. More on this story later.”

Weiss: “Tinkerer... So that’s the name behind the symbol.”

Blake: “And the police are now aware of their existence too.”

Yang: “As concerned as I am about this guy, I’m honestly a little more concerned about Neo being on the loose, since she is an established serial killer.”

Ruby: “She’ll likely try to lay low for a while, but we will definitely keep our eyes and ears open in case she does show again.”

Blake: “But in the meantime, we can focus on the city in case of any other threats.” Meanwhile, Vernal and Qrow discuss things further at the station.

Qrow: “The appearances of these super villains are getting out control. They've been getting crazier and crazier ever the Spider showed up.”

Vernal: “You're not seriously thinking she’s the reason their existence, are you?”

Qrow: “No. That would imply she’s in cahoots with the criminals, and that would mean they could’ve blown the whistle on her after their arrest if that were the, thus mean we could’ve had her a long time ago. While it is true she seems to be doing some good out there, she and the other vigilantes are too big of a mystery to completely let go of.”

Vernal: “Yet, I still think having them around has been very beneficial to the city.”

Qrow: “I won’t say they're not needed occasionally, but you are the only one in the force who has been saying stuff like that. Just be lucky the chief hasn’t taken your badge for it yet, as he still believes in your potential as captain.” As he walks away.

Vernal: “Grr. Damnit...” Meanwhile, we cut to the office of Vermillion Raddock, with him and some of his men present.

Thug 1: “Sir? Roman Torchwick has been declared guilty, as expected.”

Vermillion: “Still hard to believe he was caught by this new hero. Him and Neo are the most slippery thieves I know, ever since we worked together. The Cat just got lucky that one time.”

Thug 2: “Probably because of that TInkerer guy doing a shoddy job with the wings.”

Vermillion: “No, I don’t think so. Both his wings and Watts’ arms worked well enough without a hitch up until their arrest. It had to b because of something done by the Spider. Still, Neo still being out there does give me some solace.”

Thug 1: “So, what do we do sir?”

Vermillion: “Continue to keep your eyes on her and the Cat. I’ll make my final decision after I discuss things with the others at our next meeting. Needless to say... when I get my hands on them... the street will be red with their blood!”

Chapter Text

It’s been about two weeks since the Nevermore fiasco, and the city has been mostly quiet since then. The streets have been pretty clear aside from a few small crimes here and there. Otherwise, our lives have been rather peaceful, what with our studies going smoothly and our friendship outside of school still intact as we continue to hang out and work together to fight crime. Although, I’ve noticed that Uncle Qrow and Captain Vernal seem to conflicted with each other about something. But of course, nothing good lasts forever. And our next adventure started as I was walking through town with Weiss when eventually some guy crashed into us as he was running without where he going and we all fell to the ground, him dropping his bag and spilling his papers.

Ruby: “Owowow! What the heck was that?”

Weiss: “Hey! Watch where you're going, you lunatic!”

???: “Ngh! Uh... Huh?” We look to see a tall man, who doesn’t look to be that much older than us, with silver hair kind of slicked back with a kind of raspy voice, wearing a simple outfit of a white dress shirt and black dress pants and black shoes. “Ah! Ms. Schnee! I’m so sorry! Please don’t report this to your father and have me fired!”

Weiss: “Whoa, wait! Slow down! What are you talking about?”

???: “Aw crap! My notes!” As he hurriedly picks up the spilled papers.

Ruby: “Here. Let me help.”

???: “Grr! It's all out of order now! I’ll have to sort it out again later...” He panics as I gather the remaining papers and hand them to him.

Ruby: “Here you go.”

???: “Thanks. And I’m still sorry but I’m late as is and I really need to go!” As he runs off after stuffing his papers back in his bag.

Weiss: “What the heck was that about?”

Ruby: “Better question, he was going about your father and getting fired. Does he work for the SDC?”

Weiss: “Not that I know of. I haven’t seen him around before. And even then, he looks a little young to be someone official. Maybe a new intern?”

Ruby: “Could be. No use speculating though. It's not really any of our business.” Then we hear some sirens and gunfire a short distance away. “But that is! Cover me!” I duck into a nearby alley to remove my clothes and reveal my suit underneath before adding on the extra stuff, my gloves, cape and mask, all while Weiss kept watch by the entrance, to which I then stuff my clothes into my bag and hand it to Weiss before I take off to face the coming danger, which turned out to be a car chase between crooks and cops. Easy enough to stop once I actually catch up to them. Meanwhile, the guy from earlier burst through the front doors of the SDC. And upon entering, Jacques and Glass can be seen in the front lobby discussing something.

Jacques: “Make sure to maintain the utmost discretion when transporting the specimen.”

Glass: “Yes sir. But why bring it here from Atlas anyway?”

Jacques: “Because with what's been going on lately, I’m still going to be stuck here in Vale for a good while, and I’ve already been absent from the project for too long. I don’t plan on leaving it up to my amateur staff without my supervision any longer. You hear me?”

Glass: “Yes sir.” And he notices the guy entering then. “Well look who it is. Coming in late. Again.”

???: ‘I’m really sorry sir!”

Jacques: “Sorry doesn’t make up for the time you wasted. And where is your ID badge?”

???: “Ah! Right! Right here.” He brings out said badge from his pocket and clips it to his shirt pocket, revealing his status as an intern and his name to be ‘Mercury Black’.

Jacques: “Mr. Black. How long have you been with us so far?”

Mercury: “Um... About a month now.”

Jacques: “And how many times now have you been late to work?”

Mercury: “I-”

Jacques: “Every day for almost three weeks!”

Mercury: “But sir, the only train I can take fills up to quick, and it’s closest stop from here is about two blocks away.”

Jacques: “Excuses, excuses. You're lucky I haven’t fired you yet because your current thesis was actually quite promising. Well... that and who your father was.” Mercury then starts showing a bit of anger at that statement. “Though I am supposed to impartial to my staff, so unless you start getting your act together, you’ll not only not be getting your free credits, but I’m sure you’ll bring shame to poor old Marcus as well. Now get to work.” As he walks off.

Glass: “Jacques! That was uncalled for and you know it!” As he goes after him. The anger on Mercury’s continues as he’s left alone.

Mercury: “Damn that Schnee. How dare he mention that bastard to my face.” To which he sees the news of my recent car chase on some of the lobby TV’s.

Lisa: “The Scarlet Spider has once again thwarted criminal activity in our streets, though her public is rather torn with public opinions of support from Captain Vernal Tomo and distrust from big name citizens like Jacques Schnee.”

Mercury: “Man. I wish I had power like that. I’d be able to handle all of my problems just like that. But I guess some people just aren’t so lucky.” Later on, Yang and I are back at home and for some reason Yang is acting kind of strange.

Ruby: “Hey, Yang?”

Yang: “Huh?”

Ruby: “Are you okay? You seem kind of distracted today?”

Yang: “Huh? Uh, no I don’t. I’m the same as always! Aheheh...” Well, that wasn’t a dead giveaway at all.

Ruby: “Come on. When was the last you were able to hide something from me?” Like seriously, Yang is really bad at hiding things form me. Even before I got my powers.

Yang: *sigh*”Okay you got me. You see, I’ve been spending a lot of time with Blake since the school year started, and over the most recent weeks with her, I think... I might have... fallen for her.”

Ruby: “What!? You're kidding?”

Yang: “No! And I don’t know what to do!” Now I’m sure her uncertainty is coming from her having several quick relationships with guys and girls alike that she’s flirted with and teased, but they never lasted too long as she was really only doing it to fool around. This seems to stem from a genuine crush.

Ruby: “Yang, this is just like with me and Weiss. You and Blake have always been telling me to get out of my head and just tell her even if she may not have liked me back. You just have to do the same with Blake. The worst she can do is just say no, but at least you’d have closure.”

Yang: “Easier said than done, I’m guessing. But thanks.” And then she ruffles my hair. “Heh. When did you get so mature.” And immediately back to her usual self.

Ruby: “Agh! Yang!” These joyful moments would be ruined pretty soon after a certain incident at the SDC tonight. We see Mercury down in the basement with the Dust Core and several open containers of ground up lightning and energy Dust. Mostly used to continuously feed power into the core.

Mercury: “I can’t believe I’m stuck cleaning out the basement for being late again.” When up on the platform surrounding the upper part of the core, he noticed a loose cable. “Well, that doesn’t look right.” He put down the broom he had and moved to plug the cable back into place, but in his effort to tighten in, he ended up cutting his hand. “Gah! Argh! Damn!” His stumbling from the pain knocked the broom over and it fell off the platform and landed on the controls. The core starts juicing up a bit and one of the stray sparks of electricity hits Mercury and electrocutes him because he wasn’t wearing the protective suit. Needed for actually working the core. The pain from the shock ends up knock him back until he tips over the railing and falls into the crate of lightning Dust. The stray sparks of electricity on his body attracting of the Dust to him... and some of it even getting into his cut and into his blood... Somehow, I think this could only end so well.

Chapter Text

Weiss summoned us all to her place after school today to talk about something that happened at the SDC last night.

Blake: “Alright, Weiss. What happened?”

Weiss: “I’ve had PENNY keeping tabs on the SDC surveillance systems for a while now, and I found something that I know for certain father will try to cover up from media and public. And accident that occurred in the basement where we keep the buildings Dust Core.” PENNY’s screen shows us what happened. “The staff found him this morning during routine inspection and father made a secret arrangement to place him in a Schnee family private hospital for discretion.”

Yang: “What the hell!? This guy could be dead and he’s only worried about secrecy!?”

Blake: “I really wouldn’t put it past him after what’s happened with three of his top staff recently. Those incidents have already put massive dents in the company's reputation, which is something that we all know Jacques to care for most of all, along with money and success.”

Yang: “But still!”

Weiss: “Give it up, Yang. Fathers always been a heartless monster. I know from experience.” As she lightly grazes her scar from the underside of her eye.

Ruby: “Weiss...” That’s right. I remember when Weiss told me about it. It was her tenth birthday party, when her parents got in a fight after he missed the big dinner. Jacques was still holding a knife as they argued. And when Weiss tried to intervene and stop it, he ended up nicking her in the face, to which only her mom became worried and tended to her, while her dad only scoffed it off and said it was her own fault for getting in his way. And to top it all off, this was the day he finally admitted to his family that the only reason he married Willow was for the family name. And unfortunately, with the way things were with him and the company, there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. I still remember how much she cried when telling me this story.

Yang: *sigh*”Fine. Do we at least know who the guy was?”

Weiss: “It didn’t take long when looking through the employee database. It was actually the guy who crashed into me and Ruby yesterday.”

Ruby: “The guy who was in a rush?”

Weiss: “PENNY.”

PENNY: “Yes Ma’am. The man’s name is Mercury Black. A first-year student at Beacon Academy, interning at the SDC for free credits. The reason for his hiring being his own thesis on the evolution of electricity usage.”

Blake: “So he’s a genius electrician?”

PENNY: “Well, yes and no. While it’s true he maintains an excellent knowledge of electricity, but the majority of it came from mooching off his father's research.”

Ruby: “His father?”

PENNY: “Marcus Black. A brilliant engineer working in the SDC’s Mistral branch, specializing in power sources. Years ago, when Mercury was only around 8 or 9, his parents died in a blaze set on the Black family home just outside of the city. Origin of the blaze is still unknown.”

Blake: “I see. But what was he even doing down there in the first place?”

PENNY: “For almost three weeks now, Mercury has been late coming to work every day. Staying late to clean the basement was today’s punishment.”

Yang: “Geez. This isn’t having a bad day, but a bad life. And I thought Uncle Qrow had serious bad luck.”

Weiss: “There’s still no word on his condition yet. Considering the kind of man father is, I think we should keep an eye out for him.” That’s when PENNY’s alarms start going off. “What in the-!?” Meanwhile, a little bit ago at the aforementioned hospital. Mercury is seen unconscious in a bed for a brief moment before he slowly wakes up. The shock messed his hair up a bit.(Now styled the way it usually is in the canon show)

Mercury: “Mmm... Huh? Where am I? What happened?” To which he moves to get up and stumbles a bit as he stands but quickly regains his footing. As he approaches the door, he overhears a conversation between Jacques and a doctor.

Jacques: “Honestly, what was that idiot thinking? He may have the knowledge but he clearly isn’t qualified to work in this field if he thought he could do that without protection. All he was ordered to do was clean. If he saw something wrong, he should’ve just reported it to the staff upstairs instead of handling it himself! I swear, if he ends up waking up then his ass is so fired! And I’ll be demanding he reimburse me for wasting my medical resources on him!” Mercury starts showing anger again and clenching his fists, though unbeknownst to him, his fists start emitting small sparks.

Doctor: “Sir, please. Don't you think your being a bit harsh on him?”

Jacques: “Well what else can I say? This kid has been nothing but a waste of my precious time that I have to be spending working through the damage caused to the company. I never should’ve accepted someone like him just because he was Marcus’ son!” Mercury’s rage is now seething as he now explodes... literally.

Mercury: “You BASTAAAARD!” As he shouts in anger, a large burst of electricity occurred. Blowing out the wall of the room into the hallway, and knocking Jacques and the doctor over.

Jacques: “Gah! What the hell!?”

Mercury: “Whoa... How did I just...?” As he looks at his hands, and then thinks back to his incident when he sees the bandage on his cut from earlier. He remembers falling into the lightning Dust, and pieced it together. “Oh, I see. Heh. Who would’ve thought?”

Jacques: “Ngh! Damn brat. Security!” A small group of security guards came in from the stairs(don’t ask why they were there, just role with it) and aimed their guns at him.

Mercury: “Uh oh.” He looks over to the window of his room and makes a break for it. “Later suckers!” He jumped through the window, but didn’t think until too late that he might be on a high floor, and his confidence quickly turned to fear as he plummeted towards the ground. “AAH! Crap, crap, crap!” He holds his arms out as if that’s going to save him from death. But of course, while it wasn’t what saved him, he still didn’t end up hitting the ground on account that when he got close, he started hovering above it, all while lines of electricity emitted from him. “Huh?” As he moved, he struggled to stay stable for a minute before he gets the hang of it and starts lifting higher into the air until he’s level with his window.

Guard: “What the hell!?”

Mercury: “See ya!” He flies off into the city. Back to us from when the alarm goes off.

PENNY: “Warning. Massive electrical surge detected at Schnee private hospital.”

Yang: “What is up with this guy?”

Ruby: “We should suit up. Mercury could be in trouble.” In the time it takes us to change into our suits, we start hearing the police radio.

Officer: “All units be advised, we have a man emitting lightning flying through the city. Lightning is causing power surges everywhere he goes. Proceed with caution.”

Blake: “A man using lightning causing power surges?”

Weiss: “Right after the hospital has a surge of its own.”

Ruby: “You don’t think Mercury is involved, do you?”

Weiss: “I don’t know...”

Yang: “Well, there’s only one way to find out. Get going you two!”

Blake: “Right.” We head up to the roof and head out into the city, and we can already see large electric sparks a number of blocks away. As we get closer, we can see exactly as the police described: a man flying through the air with electric powers. It takes us a minute to actually catch up to him and eventually...

Ruby: “And. I. Gotcha!” I grab him with a web and drag him down to the ground with me. Though I did end up slamming him in the ground a bit. “Alright buddy. Let's just calm down and talk this through!”

Mercury: “Gah! Ngh! Not happening! Not when I have a new score to settle!” We finally get to see his face and we can see that it is Mercury Black himself.

Yang: “Mercury! But how?”

Ruby: “Your Mercury Black, right? How is this even possible?”

Mercury: “I thought the same when it happened at the hospital. But then I realized the cause. Who knew a little lightning Dust in your blood after electrocution could actually be helpful for once?” As he shows off his bandaged hand.

Yang: “Dust in his blood!?”

Weiss: “His accident. He cut his hand when he tightened the cable, and then fell into ground up lightning Dust after the shock.”

Yang: “How the hell is this guy still alive!? Isn’t Dust supposed to be really bad for the body?”

Weiss: “Yes. Even purified Dust can harm the body. But there have been rare cases of people surviving having Dust in them, which helps in having time to remove it. But no one has ever seen what happens if left in them long enough. Guess now we know.”

Blake: “And what exactly do you mean by a new score?”

Mercury: “I heard that slimy bastard, Jacques. He had the gall to mention Marcus right in front of me, and then said he’d fire me after I almost died! Well, I’ll show him who’s a failure now!”

Ruby: “I can’t let you do that. You do, you’d be no better than him!”

Mercury: “Just try and stop me!” He fires off a beam of electricity at us that nearly hit us before we dodge out of the way. And he continues do this several times which keeps us from getting in close, so at one point I fire off a few webs mid jump to blind and thus distract him, to which Blake and I use our web and grapple line to grab at him by the time he gets the web off his face. “Gah! No fair!” But what we did not take into account, which even surprised him, was his electrical aura, causing electricity to course through our line and electrocute us, knocking us back and even shorting out Blake’s grapple and my web shooter.

Ruby: “Gagh! That... hurt...”

Blake: “Ngh! We can’t let this stop us...” As we both struggle to stand up.

Mercury: “Ahahahahaha! What luck this is! My prayers have been answered AND you guys can’t even touch me!” The police finally catch up and take aim. “But as much as I’d like to keep playing, I’m afraid I need to get going. I have things to do before settling my new score with Jacques!” to which he then used his power to disarmed the cops and then fly away.

Vernal: “Shit! He got away! The rest of you go set up a perimeter.” Then she notices us. “Oh shoot! Are you guys okay?”

Ruby: “Ngh! We’re fine. We just need to rest and prepare. This guy is in a whole other league.”

Vernal: “Well, you guys better get going now. I may trust you to handle these kinds of things, but not everyone else will.”

Blake: “Duly noted. Come one, Scarlet. Let's go.” Blake hangs on to me as I use my other web shooter to swing us back to Weiss’.

Yang: “Crap. What are we going to do?”

Weiss: “I have a few ideas, but they’ll take some time.”

Ruby: “Then let’s all go on ahead home and rest up. Clearly we’re gonna need it.”

Chapter Text

It’s been a few days since our first encounter with Mercury, and he hasn’t exactly made his move since then. There have been reports of slight power surges, but they have been kind of all over the place, so we don’t even have a general idea on where to look for him. So, we used the time to focus on recovering from last time, all while Weiss worked on her plan. Today, we meet at her place for further discussion.

Blake: “Still nothing on Mercury’s whereabouts.”

Yang: “Damn it. What the hell? How does one guy just disappear like that?”

Ruby: “He’s probably causing all of these small surges everywhere to throw us off. But even if we find him, we can’t even effectively touch him without getting shocked.”

Weiss: “Which is why I’ve been working the past few days preparing.” She opens up the schematics for our suits. “I’m going to be making copies of your suits with a new layer of insulated material in between the outer layer showing the design and the inner layer housing the electronics. The visor we won’t be able to work around, but as for your web shooters and grapple, there’s also nothing we can do to keep his electricity from coursing through the webs and cable, seeing as they are easily conductive, but we can stop them from shorting out by magnetizing them.”

Ruby: “Ugh! Why didn’t I think of that?”

Weiss: “Regardless, I spent the last few days working to gather the insulated material. Now I just need to actually make the new suits.”

Yang: “Here’s just hoping he doesn’t start any trouble for us in the meantime.” And of course, she jinxed us, as the police radio went off.

Cop: “Officers be advised. Suspect, Mercury Black, has been sighted in the town square sporting a new look. He appears to be draining power from the city! Proceed with caution!”

Blake: “Draining power!? Is he insane!?”

Ruby: “We have to stop him.”

Weiss: “But the suits haven’t been made yet. Even with my equipment, they won’t be ready until tomorrow at best.”

Ruby: “We can at least distract. Keep his attention on us so he can’t drain power. With any hope, we can keep it up until he tires out.”

Blake: “If he even CAN tire out anymore.”

Ruby: “Even so, we can’t just ignore him when people are in danger. Safety suits or not, we have to protect them.”

Blake: “Your right.”

Weiss: “Okay. Just please be careful.” Once we suit, we head out for the town square, where we find streams of electricity being drained from the LED billboards and the buildings, all into Mercury, floating in the center sporting a new costume. A black suit with light blue lightning patterns, silver plating on his forearms, shoulders, shins and waist, and a mask similar to Blake’s on his face with orange lenses instead of violet.

Blake: “Geez. Tasteless much?”

Ruby: “Agreed.” To which we land to confront him. “Mercury!”

Mercury: “Huh? Oh. It's you. Sorry to burst your bubble, but Mercury Black is dead. What stands before you now... is Electro! The modern Raiden and Vale’s very own Archon! With my power, I can rule the cities power like the god that I am! And I’ll start by growing strong enough to destroy Schnee!”

Ruby: “Not if we can help it!” I fire some webs which encase his hands and try to go on the offensive.

Blake: “Scarlet, wait!” When I try to jump him though, he just disappeared in a flash of light that passed through and when I turned around, I see him materialized again before I fall flat on my face.

Mercury: “Ha! What the hell was that? How did you ever defeat the others with moves like that?”

Blake: “Damnit. As he gets stronger, he gets more abilities.”

Mercury: “The brains of the operation, I’m guessing. Not like it’ll matter if you can’t touch me!” She looks around and sees the fire hydrant.

Blake: “Scarlet! I think this guy could use a drink!” I see the hydrant and get her meaning.

Ruby: “So do I!” I stomp on a sewer to launch it up into my hand, before I toss it like a discus into the hydrant, and the result water spraying right at him do to the way the hydrant bent over. Knocking him out of the air.

Mercury: “Argh! What in the-?”

Blake: “Seriously? Don’t you know that water and electricity don’t mix.”

Mercury: “Haragh!” He spread his power around and got us both in the large burst. “You guys think your so clever, huh? Water or no, I still have all of the power!” To which he fired a stream of lightning at Blake and launched her into a building before charging right at me, grabbing me by the throat and holding me against a wall. “I am your god now! And I won’t let you get in the way of my new score!”

Ruby: ‘Ngh! You keep saying that like we should who your old score was, but we don’t even know anything about you between Vale and your parents' death!”

Mercury: “Yeah. I guess you wouldn’t know the truth, would you? Just how much do you know about the ‘oh so brilliant’ Marcus Black? Literally anything aside from him being Mistral’s greatest electrical engineer?”

Ruby: “I-”

Mercury: “Nothing! That’s what! Because nobody ever bothered to ask about his personal life. No fans or stalkers ever bothered to look into him and find the truth! Well, here it is: Marcus Black may have been a genius, but he also a terrible family man. He hated me for my average grades even when I was ELEMENTARY school! I was a kid when he used to beat me because of it. And Mom was just as bad for doing nothing but watch out of fear. And now to let you in on a little secret.” He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I finally had enough when I was 9. So I decided to light a fire under them, if you know what I mean.” I was mortified when heard this news.

Ruby: “Gagh! You killed your own parents?”

Mercury: “They had it coming!”

Ruby: “That doesn’t mean you had to kill them! You could’ve talked to the police or something.”

Mercury: “Yeah, like they would believe a kid. Especially regarding one of the most respected SDC members! And even if they did, I have no doubt Schnee would’ve done something to cover it up. Like I said, they had it coming. And after what Schnee said he’d do, so does he!” To which he tossed me aside and proceeded to assault me with his lightning!

Ruby: “AAAAAGH! GRAAAAAAGH!!!”

Mercury: “Hahaha!” To which Blake finally got out of the building and threw a piece of rubble in his face. “Argh! Why you little!”

Blake: “Leave her alone!” She tries to throw another, but he disappears again, and proceeded to shock her when he reappears.

Mercury: “Too easy. You guys aren’t worth my time. I still have things to do.” As he quickly drains a bit more power before flying off into the night before we pass out.

Weiss: “Guys? Blake! Ruby!” Afterwards, Vernal shows up to see the carnage.

Vernal: “Shit.” And she sees us unconscious. “Shit!” And she comes to our side. “Hey, come on. Wake up!” She checks our pulses on our necks. “Phew.” And then she hears distant sirens. “Shit! I need to get you out of here!” She works quick in laying us in the back seat of her car and parking it in a nearby alley. She waits there for a while before we eventually wake up. “Oh! Thank the gods!”

Blake: “Mmm... What happened?”

Ruby: “Ngh! So much lightning... My muscles still feel numb.”

Vernal: “You guys really had me worried there. You're lucky I hid you before the others showed up,”

Blake: “So you basically kidnapped us.”

Vernal: “Better that than let them arrest you. As far as I’m concerned, you guys are the only ones who can possibly stand a chance against this guy. Or so I thought. I guess even you guys can’t beat every villain.”

Ruby: “Not without a proper plan anyway. And after that last fight, I think I may have one. Thanks for the save, but we need to get going.” But I trip when trying to get due to my numb limbs.

Blake: “Hey! Be careful. You took quite the hit back there.”

Weiss: “She can’t do much like this. You guys stay hidden in the alleys for now. I’ll send Yang over in my car to get you guys.” After the comms cut, she gives Yang the keys to her car and sends her off. A while later, we see a white sedan on the opposite end of the alley, and then see Yang in the driver's seat.”

Blake: “Looks like our rides here, so we’ll be taking off.”

Vernal: “I need to go join the others. You two take care of yourselves. Gods only know you need it if you're going to stop this threat.” To which she drives off, and we get in the sedan and Yang drives us back to Weiss’ place so we can rest and rethink our approach. And with any luck, we’ll be able to pull this off soon.

Chapter Text

Upon getting back to Weiss’ place, we take the time to debrief while we patch up from that fight.

Weiss: “I still can’t believe that cop did that. More so over the fact that her intentions were genuine.”

Yang: “I can. Her working with Qrow for as long as she has, has made her something of a family friend. We know her well enough to know that what she’s been saying about her faith in heroes is true.”

Ruby: “Exactly. Which is why I think we can trust her enough to work with her.”

Blake: “I guess she did save us from prison. What I’m more concerned about is what Mercury said near the end.”

Yang: “You mean about how he killed his own parents?”

Weiss: “All this time, no one ever suspected that Marcus was killed by his own son.”

Blake: “No one ever suspected because they never knew the real Marcus. They didn’t think he would have a reason to do so with his public image in mind.”

Weiss: “And now he has a motive to kill father.”

Ruby: “We won’t let that happen.”

Blake: “Even if he may deserve it.”

Ruby: “Blake!”

Weiss: “Don’t worry, Ruby. I’m used to comments like that. And after everything he’s done, sometimes I can’t help but agree. Especially with Winter.”

Ruby: “Weiss...” I remember her talking about Winter. Weiss’ older sister, who left the family to join the Atlas military, and Weiss’ only true family bond aside from their butler Klein. From what I hear, Winter’s now a special operative under the general himself.

Yang: “Even still, how are we going to save your dad if Mercury keeps kicking our asses?”

Weiss: “Relax. The insulated suits are almost. At this rate they should be ready to use by morning.”

Blake: “Good. That’ll at least let us fight him. But then how do we actually stop him?”

Ruby: “Weiss. Do we still have the tanks we used for the anesthesia on Tombstone?”

Weiss: “Yes. I kept them in case we had to deal with her again. Why?”

Ruby: “You saw the way water neutralized his powers. We can stand a chance if we fill them with water instead and replace the inhalers with sprayers.”

Blake: “We’ll need a way to contain him afterwards too.”

Weiss: “I’m already working on a solution for that.”

Ruby: “Okay. Anything else we need to cover?”

Yang: “Well, it’s probably the least important thing, but I’ve been wondering about his new name, Electro. He kept calling himself the modern Raiden and Vale’s own Archon. Any idea what that all means?”

Weiss: “Seriously, Yang? Do you know of any sort of mythology?”

Yang: “Eh, it was never really my thing.”

Blake: *sigh*”I guess it was something we had to discuss anyway due to Mercury’s apparent arrogance. His remarks are all a reference to Mistralian mythology. Specifically, the mythology’s Electro Archon, Makoto Raiden. Better known as the Raiden Shogun, leader of the realm, Inazuma.”

Yang: “Um, I guess I get it now, but I’m also still kind of lost.”

Ruby: “Archons are gods of the mythology that are either the ruler or champion of a certain planet. At the moment, there are nine prominent planets of the universe in the mythology, but only seven of them are ruled by an Archon. The Tsaritsa, the Cryo Archon of Sneznaya. Mavuika Haborym, the Pyro Archon of Natlan. Furina Focalors, the Hydro Archon of Fontaine. Nahida Kusanali, the Dendro Archon of Sumeru. Makoto Raiden, the Electro Archon of Inazuma. Venti Barbatos, the Anemo Archon of Mondstadt. And Zhongli Morax, the Geo Archon of Liyue, the realm eternal. One of the other planets, Enkonomiya, is used to contain the demon god Osial, Overlord of the Vortex, overseen by the Serpent God, Orobashi Mikoto. And finally, there's Remnant, where any Archon we have are a godly protector rather than a ruler, but we’re mostly just seen as the home of the god's mortal worshipers. Together, these nine planets make the Nine Realms of Teyvat. The mythology started from the supposed idea that the gods once came to Remnant during a war between Liyue and Sneznaya, and their battle created the massive crater in Anima that would eventually become Lake Matsu.”

Yang: “You definitely know a lot about this.”

Ruby: “Their stories always did fascinate me. Especially the most known gods in the stories. Lumine, the Goddess of Lumino, and her mischievous brother slash most known rival, Aether, the God of Erebo. The children of Morax, after his political marriage with Makoto’s twin sister, Ei Raiden.”

Blake: “How arrogant of him to compare himself to a respected god and even consider himself one.”

Ruby: “He won’t be thinking that anymore once we bring down. We’ll be his wake-up call to the fact that he is not invincible.” And so, the next day came, and we went straight for Weiss’ place after school to suit up in our new suits, as well as the water tanks.

Weiss: “These suits will be just as effective as your old ones and now will be able to withstand Electro’s powers. And as for containing him, you’ll want to take this.” She hands us what appears to be a straitjacket. “I used what was left of the insulated material to make this. Once he’s vulnerable enough to where he can’t fight back, strap him into this and the police won’t have to worry about his powers when taking him away. Just make sure to inform them to insulate his cell. The jacket will keep him from using his powers, but better safe than sorry.” We keep it folded up and strapped to my back along with my tank, to which then we hear the radio again.

Cop: “All units be advised. Electro was seen flying through town, heading in the direction of the SDC building. Proceed with caution! I repeat! Proceed with caution!”

Ruby: “This is it. Time to bring an end to this. Once and for all. Let's go!”

Chapter Text

On our way to the SDC, we can already see Mercury getting close and turning to make his way up to the top. When we get there, we can see the cops already arriving at the base of the building. And as soon as we attach to the side of the building...

Mercury: “You're not getting me that easily, coppers!” He manipulates the towers power to form an electrical cage around the tower to keep the cops out. Thankfully we were already here, and that he didn’t seem to notice us as he zapped himself into the antenna, probably traversing through the electric current.

Blake: “We’ve got to hurry!”

Ruby: “But what about the cage?”

Weiss: “It’s coming from the buildings power. And with the Dust Core active, it’ll last for years and give him a constant power source. Unless we shut it off, the water is useless if he can absorb more power to use.”

Blake: “Then we should split up. You go on ahead and stall him. I’ll go down below and shut off the core. Refrain from using your water until then.” She uses her grapple to lower herself to the ground and enter through the front door, while I climb up the top to reach Jacques. As I’m climbing though, I see the top floor windows shatter with blasts of lightning coming through. We cut to see Mercury in Jacques’ office after he blew the windows out and the office furniture around, with Jacques slumped by the door.

Mercury: “Now it’s time to pay. Schnee!”

Jacques: “Nrgh! Okay, wait. Maybe we can talk about this-Gragh!” Mercury moved to grab him by the throat and lift him up.

Mercury: “You lost your chance the second you made your decision back at the hospital. You’ll get just what you deserve. Just like Marcus!” As he moves to charge his power through his other hand for the kill, but then I reach the top and web his hand to stop him, followed by a web line to his back to pull on him and he ends up letting Jacques go.

Ruby: “I can’t let you do this Mercury! Not again.”

Mercury: “I told you, it’s Electro!” As he fires off a beam at me, and though it did push me back through the window, but I was able to recover faster because I wasn’t actually harmed by the electricity. “And as for you, Schnee! Huh?” He turned back around to see Jacques was gone. “Grr. Damnit...” It didn’t take me long to get back up to the window.

Ruby: “Nice try! But I’ve learned my lesson after the last two times.”

Mercury: “Why you little-!” He charges at me and we both end up outside. I try to be as cautious as possible to stay away from the lightning cage as we struggle on our way to the ground. I was able to get down safely without busting my water tank. “I don’t have time to deal with you! I need to find Schnee!”

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t!” I use my webs to grab him.

Mercury: “Oh please...” He tries to snake his power through my webs again, but thanks to what Weiss did, the shooters are still working.

Ruby: “Thank you, Weiss.” I had to whisper before I yank him down to ground level. “Again. Nice try. But I’ve learned my lesson.”

Mercury: “Maybe so. But I’m still all powerful!” As he goes to absorb energy from the tower, but is abruptly cut off. “What the hell!?” And then the cage shuts down afterwards. “What!?”

Ruby: “Heh. Should’ve been wondering where Black Cat the whole time.”

Mercury: “I still have plenty of power to work with...” To which he fires another beam that I dodged and went to charge him. Though because of close I’m getting, it’s easier for him to hit me when he fires another one. “No one touches me!”

Blake: “Challenge accepted!” As she pops up through the door and delivers a hard kick to him. “Guess I win. Let’s finish this, Scarlet.”

Ruby: “You got it!” We both grab our sprayers and take aim. But he moves up once we start spraying and then works to drain nearby energy. And unfortunately, our sprayers can’t reach that high, and we need both hands to use them so we can’t grapple up to him. “Drat!” And then Vernal shows up.

Vernal: “Water? That’s your plan?”

Blake: “Water and electricity don’t mix. It can neutralize his powers. We just need a way to get him to stand still.” Vernal looked around and saw a nearby water tower atop a building.

Vernal: “Either of you have any sort of explosive?”

Blake: “I have some small ones for distractions.”

Vernal: “Can they blow a hole in one of those?” As she points to the tower.

Blake: “A small handful should.” As she hands them over to her. “We’ll keep him busy and near the tower while you get up there and attach them.

Ruby: “Good luck.” To which she runs off to the fire escape, whereas Mercury finishes up and comes back down.

Mercury: “You guys are so gonna get it!” To which he moves to fire off more lightning. During the struggle, Vernal reaches the roof, moves up to the tower's catwalk, and works to attach the bombs. After about five minutes, we see look up to see Vernal coming back down the tower and moving for the fire escape, to which we work to push Mercury back into the building vicinity to where the water will splash him, by using our sprayers that he tries to avoid. “Damn, you guys are persistent! Just give up already! You can’t beat a god!”

Blake: “Maybe not. But this can.” As she pushes a button on her arm, and the bombs go off, blowing out a hole in the tower and unleashing all of the water on top of him.

Mercury: “AAAAAAGH!!!” Even after all of the waters gone, we spray him with the rest of our water for good measure, until he’s now on his knees, completely struggling with his powers. *cough, cough*”Damnit! How could this be!?”

Ruby: “Sorry, Electro. But your grounded.” As Blake and I move to get him into the straitjacket.

Mercury: “Agh! Wait! Get away from me! Gragh! Just wait till I get my hands on you!” And Vernal comes up on us with her men.

Ruby: “Alright officers. He’s all yours.”

Blake: “Just make sure to completely insulate his cell too.”

Vernal: “Trust me. We’ll make certain the Vault gets to work on that. Take him away.” To which they grab him with rubber gloves on and take him to a nearby truck.

Ruby: “Oh and Captain? Thanks for your help today. And for helping us yesterday too.”

Vernal: “Yeah, well, I give credit where credit is due. Despite your methods, I truly believe guys like you are helping.”

Ruby: “And what about your partner?”

Vernal: “Branwen may share may views, but he’s not willing to risk his badge on pursuing them. He's just trying warn me away from it to keep me on the force, since you guys are still vigilantes. We're just letting you go now because of your help today like always. I just wish we can actually work together.”

Ruby: “Well, we might not be able to work with the whole force. But I trust you enough to work together. Which is why I thought I’d give you this.” As I hand over one of our comm links. “It’s a direct line to our personal comm channel. Use is whenever you may need us or if you any info we could use.”

Vernal: “I’ll be sure to do that. You can count on me.”

Blake: “Well then. We should probably get going.”

Ruby: “Right. Catch you later, Captain.”

Vernal: “Please. Vernal is just fine.”

Ruby: “Eheh. Then see you later, Vernal.” To which we take off, and she joins the others in escorting Mercury. After getting the power back on, Jacques and Glass meet up after that whole debacle.

Jacques: “That damn brat almost killed me!”

Glass: “Well, then it’s a good thing the Spider saved you, right?”

Jacques: “Maybe so, but I don’t plan on changing my view on her. *sigh* And on a different note. How is the specimens transfer going?”

Glass: “I just got word that it has left the main company building and it on its way through Atlas as we speak. We should have it with us within a matter of weeks.”

Jacques: “I suppose that’s to be expected, to avoid accidentally releasing it. Just let me know when it arrives. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I have some other work to do.” And then Glass was left alone to go to his office.

Glass: “Hm. After what happened with Torchwick, I think it’s time that I called in a more professional fighter to test my gear on the Spider. And I already have the perfect candidate. All I have to do is settle then deal and arrange his transport from Anima.” As looks at a file featuring a picture of a man with dark brown hair in a braided ponytail resembling a scorpion tail, with crazy looking golden eyes and a wicked smile on his face. Meanwhile, we cut to the office of Jax Asturias, meeting with some of his men.

Jax: “So, even someone who saw himself as a god fell to the so called ‘heroes’. Honestly, he was pathetically arrogant.”

Thug: “Um, sir. Shouldn't we be worried?”

Jax: “No. One arrogant man with powers doesn’t change anything. Not when he stopped with a mere bath. This city is still ours to control. And soon, they’ll realize why.”

Chapter Text

It’s been over a week since Mercury’s arrest and conviction. The SDC is still undergoing repairs from that incident. Things have calmed down around the city for the most part, and we have been at it like usual. Although, Yang has been spending a lot more time with Blake in their free time, probably trying to work up the nerve to confess to her. But of course, crime never stops no matter how hard you work. And our latest endeavor begins at the docks, as they receive arrivals from Anima. And among them, we see the man in Glass’ photo last time, wearing a white short sleeved dress shirt, white pants, knee high brown boots, black forearm length fingerless gloves, and a two toned dark brown short sleeved duster jacket. He makes his way through the crowd as he takes in the sight of his new environment. He keeps going until he’s stopped by a mail guy.

Mailman: “Excuse me. Are you Tyrian Callows? The specialist hired by the SDC from Anima?”

Tyrian: “Heheh. That I am. But who’s asking?”

Mailman: “Delivery from your client. Don't know what it is though. But he paid extra to have it delivered upon your arrival, so here you go.” As he gave him a small box. “Later bro.” Tyrian just looks confused until he opened the box to see an ear piece, deducing that it was sent for easy communication. So, he chucked the box and put in the ear piece.

Tyrian: “Testing. Testing. Anyone there?” And of course, Glass is on the other line with a disguised voice, same one he used when he spoke with Watts.

Tinkerer: “Hello, Mr. Callows. I am the Tinkerer, the man who requested you're aid.”

Tyrian: “And remind me again what it was you needed my help with?”

Tinkerer: “You are candidate I have chosen to test a new weapon I have made. And your opponent to test it on is someone I want out of the way. Our little local superhero, the Scarlet Spider. I am on standby with the gear in an abandoned SDC warehouse across town. I am also monitoring your every move through the city surveillance system, so I can give you directions as you make your way through town.”

Tyrian: “Hmm. I see.”

Tinkerer: “And of course, you’ll be paid handsomely for your troubles.”

Tyrian: “Oh no trouble at all. I’ve been looking for a worthy foe for a while. But first, I’d like to see for myself just how tricky your little spider problem is before I go using some cheap trinket.”

Tinkerer: “Eh... I suppose I can see this as a reconnaissance mission before you preform the test.”

Tyrian: “Any idea where I can find her then?”

Tinkerer: “She’s a hero who keeps ear to the ground for any crimes in progress. Just cause some chaos and she’ll come right to you.”

Tyrian: “Ehehehe! Gladly!” As he claps like a happy little school girl before drawing some knives. I little bit later, as I’m swinging around the city, I can hear faint screams from nearby, followed by a report on the police radio.

Officer: “Officers be advised. We have a knife wielding maniac slaughtering civilians at the docks. Identity still unknown. Proceed with caution!”

Weiss: “Sounds like you have work to do.”

Blake: “You’ll have to do this without me. Yang and I are still across town.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry. I’ve got this!” And when I reach the docks, I find the guy I’m looking for, casually slashing at these people and killing them as they’re running away.

Tyrian: “Ahahahahaha! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!” I need to stop this now! So, I use my webs on his feet to keep him in place. “Huh?”

Ruby: “Hey! Not sure if you know this, but no one gets away with causing trouble in MY city!” As I land in front of him while everyone else ran away and the cops made sure they were safe and set up the perimeter. He used his knives to free himself before speaking.

Tyrian: “You must be the Scarlet Spider.”

Ruby: “And you are? And why are you doing this?”

Tyrian: “Why friend, my name is Tyrian. And I’m afraid it’s quite simple. My assignment from my client was to get rid of you. Soooo, that is what I must do. One must not upset the Tinkerer.” That certainly got my attention.

Weiss: “The Tinkerer hired a hitman!?”

Ruby: “And you really think you can, huh?”

Tyrian: “We’ll see soon enough, won’t we? Ragh!” As he charges right for, and we enter a long tussle with him constantly swinging his knives and kicks at me to which I can dodge easily with my spidey sense. At some point, I end up in the and move to give a dive kick, but he blocked me with someone quite surprising. The next thing I know, I’m suspended in mid-air by a scorpion tail coming from under his coat. “Hehehehe. Surprise!” He swipes his tail and knocks me back.

Weiss: “He’s... a Faunus.”

Ruby: “So, you were holding back this whole time.”

Tyrian: “You’re clearly a formidable foe, so I believe it’s about time I stop acting weak!” He charges again, and he shows a lot more skill than before with very impressive agility. I have to be especially careful in avoiding his tail, given that his stinger could be carrying poison. Though this guy definitely quite skilled, he is still a regular person, and defenseless to stronger attacks, like when I swing around a crane and kick him which launches him toward some crates. One such crate had tools laying on top and they went flying up. When then came back down, one with a sharp blade came down on his tail and cut his stinger clean off, leaving him in extreme pain. “GRAAAGH! Gragh! Grrrr! You BITCH!” He struggles as he tries to get up and walk towards me, but then he sees the cops around. “Tch! This was merely a prelude. Mark my words. I will be back!” To which he cut a nearby rope and dropped some hanging crates, which would have dropped on the cops if I hadn’t swung in a saved them. But in the whole commotion, he ends up getting away. Not long after, I meet with Vernal on the sidelines while the cops clean up and investigate.

Vernal: “What a mess. To think a maniac like him was allowed on a ship like that.”

Ruby: “All I managed to get to was that he’s a scorpion Faunus named Tyrian, and that he was hired by the Tinkerer to kill me.”

Vernal: “The Tinkerer... the guy responsible for the tech used by some of the villains.”

Ruby: “I’m thinking he might be mad that I keep bettering his machines.”

Vernal: “Well, an investigation into this Tyrian guy might give a lead. We’ll what we can learn from facial recognition from any camera feed and from a forensic analysis of his stinger. I’ll let you know what we find.”

Ruby: “Thank you. Meanwhile, I’ll go see what I can do about finding him. He already took this many lives. I can’t let him continue like this. I’ll catch you later.” As I swing off into the city. Later that night, Tyrian can be seen at the specified SDC warehouse, along with a shadowed figure using a voice changer.

Tyrian: “The little spider is clearly more formidable than I thought. She even managed to cut my stinger, accidentally or not.”

Tinkerer: “This is why I believe it best for you to use my latest creation.” As he revealed a large capsule and opened it up, revealing a brown suit with silver colored armor. “And as a bonus, I’ll get started right away on replacing your stinger. One that’ll match the specs of special Deathstalker suit. What do you say?”

Tyrian: “Hmm... the Deathstalker, eh? I think I like the sound of that! Ehehehehehe! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!”

Chapter Text

There hasn’t been any sign of that Tyrian guy since yesterday. And when we meet at Weiss’ place, we go over again what I knew about him so far, until we get our first call from Vernal.

Ruby: “Scarlet Spider. Talk to me.”

Vernal: “Oh. Good. It works. Okay, listen. I have that info I was talking about. Facial recognition helped us identify our suspect. His full name is Tyrian Callows. A well-known serial killer who has slaughtered people all across Anima. And as you know, he is well known for concealing his tail until opportune moments. And as expected of a scorpion, forensic analysis of the stinger revealed traces of a deadly poison. One that can kill a person within a matter of hours at worst and days at best, depending on how much is administered. But regardless of how much is there, death is inevitable unless an antidote is administered.”

Ruby: “Good thing I didn’t get stung. Otherwise, I would’ve been in trouble.”

Vernal: “Still, while he’s willing to play waiting in desperate situations, he prefers more to kill up close and personal. And there are a lot people in the city. We'll need to try and handle one fast.”

Ruby: “I understand. Don’t worry, Black Cat and I will double down on our efforts to search for him.”

Vernal: “And us in the force will do the same. Catch you later.” And we hang up.

Weiss: “At least now we a firmer grasp on who he is and his methods.”

Yang: “Now we just need to find him.”

Blake: “Which’ll be about as easy as all the other villains.”

Weiss: “Right. We've really only managed to track them down after they start causing trouble for the police to find.”

Ruby: “Unfortunately, it’s all we can do without crossing a few lines. For now, let's just get out there so we’re ready to act immediately when he’s found.”

Blake: “And don’t forget, if the Tinkerer hired him, then he’s bound to have gained some kind of special gadget or machine or aid him. Maybe even a replacement stinger after what happened, so we need to be careful.” And with that, we take off to do our patrol. And after a while, we catch the police radio.

Officer: “Attention all units! We have an armored assailant attacking people in the town square! His helmet is obstructing his face, but he is likely Tyrian Callows based on his scorpion tail. Mobilize immediately!”

Blake: “It definitely sounds like Tyrian.”

Ruby: “And it sounds like your hunch was right. The armor is likely from the Tinkerer. Let's go!” It didn’t take us long to arrive in town square, and witness the now armored Tyrian attacking people, the arms now having blades two blades each placed in a way to resemble pincer claws. Even his tail was covered with armored plating with a yellow glowing part in the chest plate, and his stinger was now replaced with a techno looking yellow prosthetic.

Blake: “That’s far enough, Callows!” As we land nearby.

Tyrian: “I don’t blame you for not knowing, but Tyrian Callows is a name of the past. Now it is the future of the Deathstalker!”

Weiss: “Yet another name based on mythology. His armor looks high tech. Just keep him busy while I run the scan.”

Tyrian: “And what do we have here? This must be the infamous Black Cat I’ve heard about. Too afraid to face me yourself you need to bring some help?”

Blake: “Look who’s talking with that suit.”

Tyrian: “I prefer to call it an upgrade. And I finally have the perfect targets to test its full power!” As he unleashes his pincers and charge right at us! Like last time, we have to be careful not to get stung as we try and land some blows. With me, it's easy because of my spider sense, but Blake is especially struggling, even with her quick reflexes, and her claws are only scratching the paint job. He also seems to be physically stronger and faster than last time, he’s even giving me a run for my money as I get some close calls with his blades. “AHAHAHAHAHAAA! What a rush! But I think is time for me to even the playing field a little.” As he glares at Blake. He does some crazy spin move to push us back, and then used his tail to quick grab and toss me aside while he goes for Blake. His new strength overwhelms her as he breaks through her guard and stops every escape attempt before he eventually gets her at her abdomen with his stinger, which i did end up witnessing when I finally recovered.

Blake: “AH! Ah...” It may just be a small cut across her stomach, but we all know where this is going.

Tyrian: “Heheheh...”

Yang: “BLAKE!” As he kicked Blake aside before turning to me.

Tyrian: “Well, now you have a real dilemma.”

Ruby: “You monster!”

Tyrian: “Why thank you! But if you ever want to save your friend, then come and find me at central park tomorrow. I’ll be waiting!” To which he does a high jump to climb the nearest building to the roof before taking off, as I run in to attend to Blake.

Ruby: “Blake! Please, talk to me.”

Blake: “Ngh! It hurts... real bad!”

Weiss: “We need to attend to her now! Get her back here as soon as possible.”

Ruby: “What about the scan? How did that go?”

Weiss: “The scan was complete. I’ll run the analysis while you're on your way.”

Ruby: “I’m on it! Just hang in there, Blake. I’ve got you.” I carry her over my shoulders, holding on to her with one arm while I swing back to Weiss’ as fast as I can with the other. When I finally get there, we waste no time in changing her into something more comfortable, lay her on an operating table and run the necessary tests on her.

Weiss: “Just as we thought. The prosthetic is still capable of injecting poison from his tail, and it is running through her as we speak.”

Yang: “Damnit! Is there anything we can do!?”

Weiss: “Calm down! I already have a solution, but it’s not going to be easy. Like with certain snakes and real scorpions, we can synthesis an antidote if we can just get a sample of the poison directly from his tail. Unfortunately, the traces in the stinger the police have aren’t enough for a thorough enough analysis to make it, which means we’ll have to go to Tyrian himself.”

Ruby: “And he himself is aware of this. It's why he told me to go to him if I want ‘save my friend’. He knows I need his poison to do so.”

Yang: “And what about Blake? She can’t possibly go to school tomorrow like this.”

Weiss: “I can excuse her and myself from school tomorrow under the guise of me taking care of her while she’s sick. Unfortunately, I can’t make the same arrangements for you two. As much as I realize you may not like to hear this, the less of us that are absent from school, the less chances there are of someone catching on.”

Ruby: “It works for me. Signal is closer to central that here, so I can go straight there after school to proceed quickly.”

Yang: “You really think you can handle him alone?”

Ruby: “I don’t have a choice. If Blake’s in no condition to go to school, then she’s definitely in no condition to fight.”

Weiss: “Then you’ll need every advantage you can get. PENNY?”

PENNY: “Yes Ma’am. Analysis of the suit showed it to be a wearable performance enhancer. The whole suit is what enhances his strength and speed to superhuman levels.”

Ruby: “So it was the suit the whole time. And what about a weak point? Any way to stop it?”

PENNY: “As expected from the glow, with his prosthetic stinger as the only exception, the power source for the whole thing is housed in the chest plate. Shut that off and he reverts back to normal.”

Yang: “Which’ll definitely be easier said than done.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’ll stop him and get sample.” To which I look over at Blake, muttering to herself as she lies there. “I have to. Or we’ll all be losing a friend.”

Chapter Text

The next day, Yang and I went to school like normal, though it was hard to focus with Blake in her present condition. Thankfully Weiss’ ruse to the school worked out. Though, Professor Ozpin noticed our current state, and stopped us on our way our after school.

Ozpin: “Ms. Rose. Ms. Xiao Long. Do you have a moment?”

Ruby: “Um, we’d love to, Professor, but we’re kind of in a hurry.”

Ozpin: “To lend aid to Weiss and Blake?” That was all it took to stop us in our tracks. “It’s not hard to figure that out with how distracted you two have been all day, on the day that Blake was called in sick. And the fact that Weiss had to stay behind to care for her implies it’s more serious than she lets on.”

Yang: “Well, you're not wrong.”

Ruby: “It’s just hard to think about the fact that you know you can do something to help, but you have to wait to do it.”

Ozpin: “Believe it or not, I know your plight. There was once a time when I nearly lost someone rather close to me because of some unfavorable circumstances. But it’s like you said, despite having to wait a minute, the fact that you know there is something you can do to help is in itself a major help. You just need to have the patience to be able to see it through, or you may end up doing more harm than good.” As he walks off back to his office.

Yang: “That’s easy for him to say. He's not the one having to fight for his life with poison.”

Ruby: “He’s still right. Impatience also leads to anxiety, and that’s what typically leads to mistakes. We won’t be any good to Blake if we can’t get over this. So let’s just take a moment to breath.”

R&Y: *inhale, exhale*

Ruby: “Better?”

Yang: “Maybe a little.”

Ruby: “Okay then.” As we head out. I change in a nearby alley while Yang covers me. And then we split up, where Yang heads for Weiss’ place and I make my way straight to central park.

Weiss: “Took you long enough to sign in.”

Ruby: “Ozpin stopped us for a quick chat. But I’m on my way to the park now. Yang should be there in a moment.”

Weiss: “Just remember to get the poison and make your way back quick. We don’t know how much he used so we don’t know how long she’s got.”

Ruby: “I know. This ends now.” I switch to the other line for Vernal.

Vernal: “Captain Tomo.”

Ruby: “Vernal, I need you and a team to surround central. Tyrian is there and he’s challenging me to a showdown. I need you to be ready to catch him when it’s all said and done.”

Vernal: “Okay. I’ll organize a team and set a perimeter, as well as consider this an anonymous tip.”

Ruby: “Thank you.” About a minute later, I make it to the park. And after a quick patrol, I find him by the city's reservoir. “Sorry for the wait, nutcase.”

Tyrian: “Not at all. After all, patience is a virtue. But now to get down to business. I chose this place to be able to do as I please without being spotted by my client. The only place in the city without surveillance cameras. Allowing me to make things a little more interesting.”

Ruby: “Interesting how?”

Tyrian: “Why by giving you a bigger challenge than just getting my venom to save your friend. You’ll also need to stop me from poisoning the reservoir!”

Ruby: “What!?”

Weiss: “What!?”

Tyrian: “I know! If I'm going to kill you, I might as well give you an actual reason to fight me than just for sport.”

Weiss: “But that’ll contaminate the entire water system!”

Ruby: “I can’t let you do that, Tyrian.”

Tyrian: “That’s Deathstalker to you!” As he draws his blades, and makes a break for the water! I catch up quick and use my webs to pull him back. He tries to knock me back as he swings at me with his blades. I have a few close calls as I try to reach his power core, and merely getting a number of cuts in my suit and a few actual cuts on my skin. Eventually, he pushes me to a tree and holds me by the throat, as well as holding his stinger close to my face. “You know what else came to mind? That I’m sure old Tinkerer would pay extra if find out who behind the mask. Let him know exactly who it was that has been disrupting his experiments!” As he slowly maneuvers his stinger to hook my mask and lift it up. He gets up to about my chin line before I take action.

Ruby: “Not today!” As I disorient him with a punch to the face, specifically his mouth since that’s the only exposed spot in his helmet, and then use that opportunity to knock him flat on his back and punch through the face plate of his chest plate, pull out the power core and crush it before tossing it.

Tyrian: “Why you little! Raaagh!” He uses his tail to smack me aside, to which I fix my mask after landing. He struggles to get up for a second as his strength diminishes and his armor becomes a little heavy. “Pfft! You know what? See if I care! I don’t need some fancy gizmo to kill my prey!” As he removes his helmet and the armor plating from his suit, except for the gauntlets to keep his blades, and charges right for me yet again. He uses his tail to spring jump behind me and deliver a kick to my back. “But first, I have a city to ruin!” As he runs straight for the water.

Ruby: “Not on my watch!” I catch his stinger with a web and yank him back before attaching the web line to a tree and charge right at him. He cuts the web line before I reach him and he tries to fight me off again.

Tyrian: “Rrgh! Now I know how the Tinkerer feels. You are really starting to irritate me! Why won’t you just hurry up and DIE!”

Ruby: “Because I have a promise I need to keep!” As I get back a short distance on my back and launch myself forward and give him a good kick and launch him a good distance, to which he hits his head on a tree and falls unconscious. “Phew...” I can hear the police sirens as they surround the park. “Better make this quick.” I take one of the empty vials from my web shooters and hold it to the tip of his stinger as I pinch his tail to get poison to drip out from the needle, and close the vial once it’s full. Then, I remove his gauntlets and toss them aside before I web him to the tree so he can’t escape if he wakes up before the police find him. “Okay, Captain. He's all yours. All webbed up to a tree not far from the reservoir.”

Vernal: “Okay, we’re enroute through the entrance. You'd best get out of here before we get there.”

Ruby: “Ten four. I’ve got other business to attend to anyway.” As I look at the poison sample before taking off out of the park and towards Weiss’ place.

Yang: “Nice work, Sis. Way to stick it to him.”

Ruby: “We’re not done yet, though. Let's just hope we can get the antidote to Blake in time.” Once I get there, we waste no time in having PENNY analyze the poison. Vernal calls again while the analysis is going on.

Vernal: “Good news. We’ve got Callows in custody, as well as collected his armor pieces for evidence on him and the Tinkerer. And yes, we did remove his stinger to prevent him from stinging any of our men. We've even already found the Tinkerer’s insignia inside the helmet.”

Ruby: “That definitely proves all of Tyrian’s claims.”

Vernal: “Your reputation is certainly reaching dangerous levels if there are people who want to kill you.”

Ruby: “Yeah, well, that’s the life the Cat and I signed up for the moment we donned the costumes. Same with you in the police the moment you donned the uniform.”

Vernal: “I suppose. Regardless, we plan to have a cell ready for him at the Vault once he’s convicted. We'll also be calling in some Mistralian police to aid us in the trial to account for all of his other crimes across Anima. He'll be stuck in there for a long time, I assure you.”

Ruby: “No arguments here.” We get an alert from PENNY regarding the analysis. “Oh, gotta go. Somethings come up. I’ll catch you later.” And I hang up. “What do we got?”

PENNY: “The analysis is complete. I believe I have found the best possible combination for the antidote. We are ready to move forward with the production process.”

Weiss: “Then let’s get to work.” Weiss and I work in the lab with various components for several hours as we synthesis the antidote. Once the antidote is finally made, we carefully get Blake to drink and swallow it. Not even a minute afterwards though does Yang start freaking out.

Yang: “Okay, you gave it to her. So, why isn’t she waking up?”

Weiss: “It doesn’t work like that. Like all medicine, it takes time for it to take full effect and completely eradicate the poison. It's not just going to happen instantly.”

Ruby: “She’s right, Yang. Remember what Ozpin said. We just have to be patient.”

Yang: “I’ve been patient all day! Come on Blake! You gotta wake up! I can’t wait another damn second because I... I... I love you.” And she starts tearing up. “I love you, okay!? SO don’t you dare leave me like this and wake up already!” As she grips the side of the table and kneels with her heads hanging below. “Please...” And then her eyes snap open when she feels a hand on her own.

Blake: “Geez. Don’t be so dramatic, Yang.” She looks up to see Blake with her eyes open and smiling right at her. “I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”

Yang: “Aha! Blake!” She hugs her tight.

Blake: “Agh! Yang! You're crushing me!”

Yang: “Ah! Sorry.” As she lets go. “How do you feel?”

Blake: “Still a bit icky and light headed.”

Weiss: “Not surprising since, as I said before, the antidote will take time to fully clear the poison. And then she’ll need to take some more time to fully recover from it. She should be ready to go back to school in another day or two. But I’d recommend you hold off on crime fighting for at least a week. Give yourself some time to fully regain your strength.”

Blake: “I understand.”

Weiss: “And to start off, you can stay here for another night to fully stabilize yourself before going back home. Let's go ahead and get you something to eat too before you go back to sleep.” And right on cue, her stomach growls as soon as she says that.

Blake: “Yeah. I could certainly use it.”

Ruby: “Hehe. We’ll go handle the food for you. Come on guys, let's give her some space.” We all leave the room.

Blake: “Yang, wait. Can we talk for a second?”

Yang: “Uh, sure.” We go on ahead while she stays behind.

Blake: “Did you mean what you said a moment ago? Before I woke up.” It didn’t take her even a second to realize what she meant.

Yang: “Y-yeah. I’ve felt this way about you for a while now. I just didn’t know how to really tell you without looking foolish.”

Blake: “I see.” There was a brief moment of silence before Blake let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods.”

Yang: “Huh?”

Blake: “Yang, I felt the same way about you for what felt like forever. Ever since our first year.”

Yang: “What? But then why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Blake: “Because of my life as the Black Cat, and eventually the Black Panther. I didn’t want you to get caught up in my mess and put into danger. But then that ship sailed when Ruby got powers and starting going hero. And most definitely after you guys discovered my identity. So, at this point, my last was just the same as yours. I was looking for the right moment, and the right way to tell you without embarrassing myself. These weren’t exactly the circumstances I imagined when our feelings got out.”

Yang: “Blake...” She just grabs her hand and gives her a cheesy smile as per usual. “Does that mean we’ll be going out now?”

Blake: “Heh. I guess it does.” They sit there for another minute gazing into each other's eyes before they slowly move in for a kiss. This lasted for a brief minute before they separate.

Yang: “Alright then. I should go help them out. You get some rest. I’ll be back before you know it.” As she leaves the room, leaving Blake alone with her thoughts.

Blake: “Just like how snuck into my heart.” Meanwhile, we cut to Junior in his office at the bar with some of his men.

Junior: “Even that psycho murderer wasn’t able to handle the Spider.”

Thug 1: “Sources say he was hired by the Tinkerer to kill the Spider, and was even provided that suit from him to help.”

Junior: “Well obviously, he failed. And this Tinkerer guy just wasted his money.”

Thug 2: “So what do we do now?”

Junior: “I’ll meeting with the other Dons in a few weeks just as scheduled. Best I hear what they have to say about her before I go making my next move. The Xiong family has been ridiculed long enough. It's time I put the rest of the Maggia in its place... Beneath my feet.”

Chapter Text

Let’s start off this story with a flashback to about 5 years ago in Solitas. Things looked peaceful for the most part with Atlas still floating in the air, Mantle still where it is on the ground and mistreated people making a home in the slums that lie in the crater where Atlas once was. But then, something enters the atmosphere and crashes in the frozen tundra beyond Mantle’s walls. The crash didn’t go unnoticed by the Atlas military, so they sent a group of soldiers to investigate. Along with a few SDC scientists. But instead of a meteor or a satellite, they find a but metal pieces that look like they form some kind of cage, and at the center is some kind of mass of black goo, moving on its own in the shape of several tendrils.

Soldier: “The hell is that thing?”

Scientist: “I don’t know. We'd better bring it to the lab, along with what we can salvage of the metal pieces. Mr. Schnee is going to love this.” Back in the present, it’s been a few weeks since Tyrian’s conviction, late October, and the city has once again been trying to return to some semblance of normalcy. Me especially, because it won’t much longer until Halloween, AKA my 16th birthday. But surprise, surprise, things eventually always go awry at inopportune moments. At the SDC, they receive a delivery from a recent transfer from Atlas and Jacques oversees the process personally.

Jacques: “Finally. We can continue where we left off is seeing what makes this thing tick.” As they unload a clear container contain the gooey tendril creature. “Bring it up to the main lab. We can work on it there without any prying eyes.” Meanwhile, I work on the streets and clear out another crime in progress, but then something unexpected happen: Someone else aside from Velvet is here taking my pictures.

???: “Hey, Spidey! Care to smile for the camera?” We have a grown man with brown hair with wolf ears and kind of tanned skin and silver eyes wearing a dark grey dress shirt, black leather jacket and blue jeans with black shoes.

Ruby: “Sure, but who are you?”

Grimm: “Daniel Grimm. I’m the new guy at the news station.”

Ruby: “New guy, huh? But where’s Velvet?”

Grimm: “Ha! That amateur? I mean, she’s alright, but college student really doesn’t have a place in a professional station. Best to leave things to the actual pros.”

Ruby: “Well, last I checked, she’s definitely better than any pro I’ve seen. So, I’d watch out for her if I were you.”

Grimm: “Yeah, very funny. Too bad for her I’ve already got this gig. If she wants these photos, she’s going to have to do better than that.” As he walks off. That’s when I take off into the air again.

Weiss: “Nice work Ruby. The city is mostly quiet now for the day. How about we call it a day and go on that study trip I promised you?”

Ruby: “Yeah. Good call. I could a use moment to relax my muscles.” Once I reach Weiss’ place, I change back, and Weiss and I head out to the SDC for a quick study tour that Weiss got us passes for. This'll allow us a more in-depth look into the kind of things their working on. Though as we’re walking through the streets, we bump into Velvet and knock her over.

Velvet: “Ow. Ow!”

Ruby: “Huh? Velvet? Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.”

Velvet: “Oh, no harm done. Wait, is that you, Ruby? Weiss?”

Weiss: “Good to see you again. I hear your doing well at the news station.”

Velvet: “Oh no. I’m only a part time freelancer. And to be honest, I’m not really doing so well at the moment.”
Ruby: “Did something happen?”

Velvet: “They just hired a new full-time photographer whose been hogging all the good stories. He's even been cutting in on the Scarlet Spider photos which was already my turf. At this point, I’ll be lucky if I can any stories to document at all. And you know the worst part? The guy is really a major jerk. He is not at all a pleasant person to get along with on account that he thinks he’s the only one around there with any real talent, even when comparing himself to veterans at the station who have been at this a lot longer than he has.”

Weiss: “So in other words, he’s full of himself.”

Velvet: “Exactly! Ugh! I can’t stand him. But I won’t let him get the best of me next time. I’ll show him. I’ll show everyone!” As she runs off without another word.

Ruby: “Well, that just happened.”

Weiss: “You think she’ll be okay?”

Ruby: “Are you kidding? This is Velvet we’re talking about. If there’s anything we know about her, it’s that she never gives up on anything.” And with that said, we move on to the SDC and continue on with our tour. Unfortunately, the main lab is closed off at the moment. Likely, knowing Jacques, do to experiments that he wants kept secret under the guise that their too dangerous for the public to be around. Meanwhile, inside said lab, we have four scientists observing the creature in a cage with a lab animal, and two others with one of the metal panels with devices attached as if their trying to extract data from it. All the while, Jacques oversees the whole thing.

Jacques: “How are we with the test?”

Scientist 1: “At the moment, we don’t have the clearance to request human test subjects here in Vale unlike in Atlas, so we have to improvise with bigger animals than usual. We're starting with this stray dog the pound picked up last week.” Inside the cage with the creature is a large and vicious looking dog growling and barking up a storm at the creature.

Jacques: “And what of the panel analysis?”

Scientist 2: “Same as the last five years. Though we’re able to hook up to it, the code inside is like nothing we’ve ever seen. It's like it’s written in an entirely different language completely unknown to Remnant.”

Jacques: “Well keep at it! I'm not about to give up any time soon.” He looks over the cage to see the creature creeping closer to the dog until it finally makes contact and seems to absorb itself into the dog. The dog starts writhing for a good minute before it eventually collapses. Another minute later, it stands up and stares rather intently at the scientists. The pads they have show them an x-ray of the dog as they aim their camera over it, and they can see the creature pulsing inside.

Scientist 1: “Vital signs seem stable. No overwhelming problems so far.” The dog backs up to the far end of the cage before a layer of black goo begins to cover its body before becoming solid and making grow a bit in size, with a white skull looking mask covering the face. Then it moves to charge and breaks right through the glass and starts attacking one of the scientists, making him back up until his back hits the light switch, leaving them all in complete darkness.

Scientist 3: “Whoa! What’s going on!?” TO which we hear the sound of a door opening.

Jacques: “Someone get the lights!” When the lights come on, we see the dog back to normal and cowering in a corner, and the scientist it was attacking gone from the room, leaving only Jacques and five out of six scientists in there. “Damnit! We lost it! Put this place on lock down! I want all security to sweep the building and find that Symbiote!” to which they trigger the alarms. The Symbiote controlled scientist can be seen running through the halls but starts reeling from pain as soon as the alarms start. The Symbiote leaves his body and escapes into the vents to try and get away from the noise as well as evade security. Meanwhile, we’re still on tour with Mr. Glass, but then we hear the alarms.

Ruby: “Agh! What’s going on?”

Glass: “Oh dear! I’m sorry girls, but I’m afraid you must leave for your safety!” As he starts escorting us to the entrance.

Ruby: “Wait what?”

Weiss: “It’s the alarm! It means something alive in the lab must have escaped! And their generally very dangerous. So, he’s right, we have to go!” Back to the Symbiote, it’s made its way to the vents in the lobby and can see us down on the ground on our way out. As it looks it makes a strange sound as if sniffing or something as it looks directly at me. It makes it way down and exits a vent by the waiting lounge, compressing itself small enough to not be noticed as it crawls its way towards me, up a nearby pillar and jumping to land in my backpack.

Glass: “Terribly sorry to cut your tour short like this, but we can’t risk anyone of the public getting hurt on our account.”

Weiss: “It’s okay. We understand. Besides, I think we have enough for the coming science test.”

Ruby: “Hopefully. Professor Peach NEVER makes it easy for us.” To which we leave and make our way to the station. But then I notice trouble on the police radio. “Sounds like we have trouble.”

Weiss: “Go on. That alarm at the SDC is troubling me, so I’m going to see what I can find out with PENNY.” Then we go our separate ways. I go into an alley to climb up onto a roof before removing my clothes to reveal my suit and then stuffing them into my bag before grabbing my mask, gloves and cape. And then I swing off into the city after getting those on. While I’m out handling this crime, the security at the SDC are still searching the building for the Symbiote.

Jacques: “I can’t believe this. How did know how to do that?”

Glass: “Well, like it or not, Sir, it was a living organism. We should’ve expected it might’ve had some kind of intelligence.”

Jacques: “Well I can see that now! It must have been biding its time this whole. Waiting for some kind of opportunity to get the jump on us and escape. It must have realized the equipment here doesn’t quite match that of the main building and so took advantage of the weaker cage, as well as the buildings less complicated layout compared to Atlas.”

Glass: “And what do we plan to do if it managed to slip past us?”

Jacques: “I don’t know. What I do know though is that if did escape and word got out about it, Ironwood is going an even bigger pain in the ass to deal with as he terminates this project. We can’t let that happen! We must find it no matter what!” After a while, I finish up the crime in progress and come back to retrieve my backpack.

Ruby: “Yeesh. This job just never seems to get easier, does it? Ah well. At least I know I’m able to handle it. Everything seems quiet for now, so I should probably head back and get some rest.” But then here’s where things get complicated, cause as I open my bag, something jumps on me and my vision blacks out for a few moments! And when it clears, I look in a window reflection to see what had happened. And it is by far the weirdest thing I’ve ever encountered.

Chapter Text

Once my vision clears up, I instinctively move my hand to my head, but then I see the fingers of my gloves have turned white over the usual red. So, I look in a window reflection and see my entire suit has changed. I now an all black suit with a large white spider logo, some of the legs forming into the white lines going down my arms and legs. The fingers on my gloves and the soles of the feet are now white as well. The eyes of the mask are still white but have altered shape. Even my cape has become all black with the end changing shape and the underside now being a dark red with a sort of veiny looking pattern. Plus, my web shooters don’t seem to be visible.

Ruby: “What the heck...?” On top of all of that, I keep getting this weird feeling in my head, as if something is trying to push its way in.

???: “You are strong. But you’ll waver eventually.”

Ruby: “Huh? What was that?” Then I hear some nearby tire screeches, followed by some glass breaking not long after. “I can worry about it later.” As I move to swing towards the noise. And I notice my webbing is as black as my suit and seems more... alive as it warps and writhes. Once I get there, I see a few thugs trying to rob a jewelry store with the glass door blown wide open. “Not so fast, boys.”

Thug 1: “Crap! It’s the spider! Shoot her!” Naturally, I’m able to dodge these with ease, so all they really did is just blow out the front window. Then I use m webs to pull them all out onto the street before giving them a good blow to head and knocking them out. But then, another car stops by, and more thugs come out.

Ruby: “More of them? Guys! If you worked this hard in a real job, you wouldn’t need to be criminals.”

Thug 2: “Ah great! Time to break out the big guns!” Then the other three guns bring out some sniper rifles from the back seat!

Ruby: “Whoa! What in the-?”

Thug 2: “Fire!” They all fire at once, and I have to ben backwards real far to dodge them all, Matrix style.

Ruby: “Phew! Way too close!” They then begin to reload. “Oh no you don’t!” I move to use my webs, but before I could, several black tentacles came from my arms, two each, and grabbed them all by the face, making them drop their guns as they were lifted up. “What the-? What is happening!?” I can see people staring at me and that the thugs are really struggling. “Okay, that enough! Put them down!” To which the tentacles slam them to the ground before retracting. “Whoa...” The groaning tells me their still alive, thank goodness, but I’ve still gotta figure out what the heck is going on. I get out of there as I hear the police sirens approach. Though in the chaos, I didn’t notice Velvet and Grimm on opposite end of the fight getting pictures.

Velvet: “Well this is a development. Though, something doesn’t seem right about this.”

Grimm: “Hehehehe. This is gonna be good.” Yang is already asleep, so I save the big surprises until we meet up at Weiss’ the next day.

Blake: “Okay, Ruby. I think we all need some answers.” As she shows us todays paper, featuring pictures of my tentacle attack on the thugs. Seems like they compromised using a shot from both Velvet and Grimm since the front picture is in a split fashion showing both the front and back.

Ruby: “So would I.” As I lay out the new suit on the table.

Weiss: “Since did you even make this?”

Ruby: “I didn’t. I was just trying to change to go home, but then something jumped from my bag that turned my suit into this. And ever since then, I’ve been getting these weird feelings in my head.”

Weiss: “Hm. Maybe we should give the suit a scan.” We put the suit through the scanner and figure out a couple of things.

PENNY: “Well, as far as I can tell, the original suit still lies underneath. But I cannot seem to identify the black substance covering it as of yet. The only thing I can figure out about it is that it seems to be... alive. Its chemistry is almost like that of a living organism.”

Yang: “You’ve got to be kidding me.” And then there goes the alarms.

Blake: “Oh, what now?”

PENNY: “Something really bad. Arthur Watts has escaped prison, and he still has the Centinel arms attached.

Ruby: “Crap. We need to go!”

Yang: “Oh no! You're not going anywhere in that suit. Not until we actually know if it’s safe or not.”

Blake: “I don’t think we have a choice. There's no way I can face him by myself.”

Weiss: “She’s right. Let me just take a quick sample before she goes and, so long as we keep an eye on her, she should be okay until we figure this out.”

Yang: ‘Ugh! Fine! Just try to restrain yourself. I’m still concerned with the way that... thing handled those thugs.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’ve got this. It’s just a matter of mind over matter.”

Weiss: “You’d better. Otherwise, things might get complicated.” As she takes her vile with the sample writing inside and puts in the genome reader before she hands me the suit. Once I put on the suit though...

???: “Kill or be killed...”

Ruby: “Huh?”

Blake: “What’s wrong?”

Ruby: “...Nothing. Let’s get going.” It’s all just in my head. I know this. I just need to keep pushing it out until we know more.

Chapter Text

We head into the city in search of Watts, and we eventually do find him traversing the rooftops. Probably to avoid attention. But all it did was make him more visible to us.

Ruby: “Going somewhere, Doctor?”

Watts: “Hm? You!”

Blake: “You're not getting away from us that easily.”

Watts: “Hm? A new face, huh? And it looks to me like you're sporting a new look, little spider. And a darker one at that.”

Ruby: “I’m giving you one chance to surrender, Watts.”

Watts: “Now where is the fun in that?” He goes on the offensive and moves to try and grab at us. He manages to get Blake, but I easily avoid it. Then I use my webs to grab at his arm and yank at it to get him to let go. He then tries to get at us with all his arms at once.

Ruby: “Crap!” But then my suit sprouts tentacles from my arms again and grabs at all of the arms, holding them back.

Watts: “What on Remnant is this!?”

Blake: “Your undoing!” As she draws her claws and charges at him. He reacts quick and catches her hands to try and hold her back.

Watts: “I don’t have time for this!” He moves to trip Blake and then moves his arms with a lot of effort to lift me off the ground and slam me back down into it, causing me to let go as he moves to grab Blake and toss her aside to the next roof over. “Pathetic as always. If that’s all, then I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Ruby: “Ngh! No...” And that’s when I feel something swell up within.

???: “Kill... or be killed!” As I stand up, I feel a strange surge of power through me... as well as some kind of strange growling and hissing in my head!

Ruby: “Rrgh... GRAAAGH!!!” To which I tackle him, and we both fall off the roof and plummet down to the street. “You're not going anywhere!” My voice now a little distorted. He keeps trying to swing at me with his claws, but my new tentacles keep taking the hits and knocking them back. Eventually, I get a chance to pull back and prepare a punch, but a bunch of these tentacles form around my arm, and when of thrust my arm forward, the tentacles spring forward and extend right at him at full force. Knocking him back a short distance and flat on his back.(Or as flat as he can get with his arms coming from there.) I then jump up and land on him to hold down while more tentacles come from my back and hold his arms back. “Now you’re mine!” As I give him a hard punch to the face. Followed by another, and another, and I just keep going. Meanwhile, Blake finally recovered from earlier and is now seeing what is happening.

Blake: “Ru-! Uh, Scarlet! Stop!”

Weiss: “Ruby, stop! You’re going to kill him!”

Yang: “She’s right! You have to stop! This isn’t you!” That’s when I manage to snap out of it and stop. The noises in my head stop along with that power surge. The tentacles all retract as I look down at my hands and the unconscious and bloody faced Watts in shock.

Ruby: “What was that...?”

???: “True strength...”

Ruby: “But I...”

???: “Never hold back... Kill or be killed...”

Ruby: “I... Huh?” As I hear incoming sirens. That's when Blake comes down to my side.

Blake: “Come on. We should go.”

Ruby: “Y-yeah.” To which we swing away and watch as the cops take him away. Afterwards, we take a moment to collect ourselves on a rooftop.

Blake: “What the hell was that? You almost killed him!”

Ruby: “I know! I know. I... I don’t know what came over me. I’ll try not let it happen again.”

Blake: “Next time it happens, I won’t hesitate to knock some sense into you. You understand?” I’m not sure why, but as much as I want to genuinely agree with her, something about her ranting is now kind of... annoying me.

???: “Embrace the power...”

Ruby: “Yeah, yeah... I’ll handle it. But on a different note. I actually feel great. Like, really energized and even feel stronger. Like I can take on the world.”

Blake: “Whoa. Hold up. Aren't we supposed to NOT think like that? That kind of thinking makes you sound more like a cold-blooded warrior than a hero.”

Ruby: “Relax. I never said I would take on the world, just that I probably could.” But regardless of that, I have a feeling things are about to get really interesting.

Chapter Text

After the Watts takedown, things have been taking an interesting turn. Starting with the latest paper featuring photos and an article written by Daniel Grimm. But the crazy thing is that it is different from most papers. This one is talking about my recent aggressive behavior with Watts, but they couldn’t possibly think about releasing the paper without getting the full story. Lisa Lavender is known for many things, but not for spreading baseless slander. Checking in at the station, we can see Velvet with Lisa in her office.

Velvet: “What in blazes is up with this paper, Ma’am!? We’re the news, not a tabloid!”

Lisa: “Don’t look at me! I denied this piece in favor of the ongoing Schnee story.”

Velvet: “So then what happened?”

Lisa: “Grimm obviously changed the script. And to think I saw such potential in him.” And as if on cue, he comes in looking really proud of himself.

Grimm: “Hell yeah! Am I good, or what?”

Lisa: “Grimm! What did you do!?”

Grimm: “You denied my piece that revealed the truth of that web headed attention hoarder. So, I switched the approved piece behind the publishers back before it could hit the presses.”

Lisa: “I denied your piece because your articles made her out to be a psycho without any tangible proof. These photos alone don’t at all prove what you're spouting. And in case you haven’t noticed, the public hasn’t exactly reacted well to what is basically speculation that belongs in a gossip tabloid. And now on top of that, you deliberately made the switch behind our backs, obstructing our process and breaching the trust we have in you.”

Grimm: “So what!? She almost killed Centinel back there. I was just revealing that.”

Velvet: “But she didn’t. And saying she’s a menace for it is not our place until we have the full picture from the police investigation.”

Lisa: “Exactly. We don’t have the full story there. But we do have the full story on the man who disrupted due process, caused public hysteria and costs us millions for the coming recall on this article. Scarlatina? You mind getting on that story right away?”

Velvet: “Yes, Ma’am.”

Lisa: “And here’s an extra note for the story for you.” To which she turns back to Grimm. “Your fired! I want you out my station immediately.”

Grimm: “B-But-”

Lisa: “No buts except yours out the door!”

Grimm: ‘Grr... You’ll pay for this. You’ll all pay for this!” As he storms out. The next day, they published the story regarding Grimm’s transgressions after spending the day doing recalls, this new paper also including the story they were supposed to do. And as for me for the last few days, while Weiss is still undergoing the analysis, I have been doing much better at clearing out crime thanks to this suit, being able to take them down much faster and move on to the next without any problems. Though that’s only good for me as Scarlet Spider, but as Ruby Rose, things haven’t been going too well, as there have been times when I’ve been acting a little... out of character. As the days go by, my personality has been gradually getting more and more aggressive. A prime example incoming as Cardin walks by and bump into me.

Ruby: “Hey! Watch where you’re going!”

Cardin: “You tryin’ to pick a fight, pipsqueak?”

Ruby: “And if I am? Or maybe you don’t remember what happened last time.” As I get up in his face. “Want me to jog your memory?” Threatening him with as I raise my fist.

Cardin: “Tch. Whatever.” As he ignores me and walks off.

Ruby: “That’s what I thought.” To which I look through my locker. A little ways away, my friends see it all unfold.

Yang: “This is starting to get out of hand. It's like she’s becoming a different person.”

Blake: “It’s been like this ever since she gained that suit.”

Weiss: “Yeah. About that. I think PENNY finally managed to find something. Though given her current state, I think we should hold off on involving Ruby until we have firmer grasp on what’s going on.” And so, after school, I go on patrol and Blake says she’s got something else to do, but is really joining Weiss and Yang at the lab. “Alright PENNY. What have you found?”

PENNY: “The organism covering Ruby’s suit is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. To find answers, I believe I had to look into company databases. And I believe I finally found what I was looking for in the SDC servers. 5 years ago, the Atlas military discovered something had crashed in the frozen tundra outside of Mantle after entering our atmosphere. In the crater, they found a mass of black gooey tendrils among some metal panels. The SDC was asked to investigate this strange creature they had found. Further analysis of the panels revealed them to contain strange technology, and when pieced together, they appear to form some kind of containment unit. One such panel also contains a screen, the data inside likely contains more accurate info regarding the creature. However, though they were able to find data inside, the date itself is written in a series of symbols completely unknown to any known language throughout Remnants history, both past and present. Considering this and the fact it came from beyond our atmosphere, I believe we may be dealing with an extraterrestrial lifeform.”

Yang: “Whoa, wait. Are you seriously saying that Ruby is wearing... an alien!?”

PENNY: “Correct.”

Blake: “And what can you tell us about this alien?”

PENNY: “Without the cage data, everything they know about it they had to figure out for themselves from their observations during the experiments. On its own the creature is defenseless, thus why seems to thrive from symbiosis via bonding to a living host. Only in this state can it use its full potential. These properties are why the scientists had started calling it a Symbiote.” She shows footage of it bonding to living test subjects, human and animal alike, and when forming around them, it forms the same kind of monstrous dog form as it did when it formed around that dog earlier.

Weiss: “Symbiosis is defined as two organisms working together in beneficial harmony.”

PENNY: “Yes. In this case the Symbiote gains a host to survive, and the host is granted the Symbiotes abilities. Constantly energized, increase in strength, use of its tentacles and even an impressive healing factor. Capable of regenerating severe wounds, but not fatal ones. It can cure simple diseases but can only put especially rare ones in remission. However, the Symbiote seems to be aggressive in nature, making all of its hosts go violent. Resulting in incidents where it attacked the scientists.”

Blake: “That’s not good.”

PENNY: “Fortunately, they have discovered some severe weaknesses. Most commonly being extreme heat, but most notably being high frequency vibrations.”

Yang: “High fre-uh what?”

Blake: “Really, REALLY loud noises.”

PENNY: “Supposedly, the sound weakness is more effective than the fire weakness. Think of sounds like that of a giant church bell or maybe hooking a guitar to the biggest speakers you’ve ever seen.”

Weiss: “Okay. But how did it even get here?”

PENNY: “Mr. Schnee is personally invested in this project and has overseen every experiment. The experiments were even put on hold when he came to Vale. But when the company started taking hits in its reputation in the wake of villains who came from the company, he stayed behind to supervise the PR mop-up. Given the current state of things, he knew he wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon and believed the project to have been delayed long enough. So, he had it transferred here in order to continue. It arrived earlier that day when Ruby and Ms. Schnee went for their study tour.”

Blake: “That coincides with the night she first got it. But how did it end in her bag.”

PENNY: “Like many times before, the Symbiote got loose and attacked one of the scientists while inhabiting a lab animal. But then it switched over to man it was attacking when their struggle killed the lights. By the time they got the lights back on, the man it took over was gone and the dog was left scared. Followed the hallway after, I tracked it in the halls up until the sounded the alarms which caused it pain, forcing it to leave the scientist and into the vents. I can only speculate from here, but the most obvious conclusion is that, as Ruby and Ms. Schnee were being escorted out due to the alarms for their safety, it managed to sneak its way into her bag.”

Blake: “And then bonded with her after we parted ways. It's all making sense now.”

Yang: “So then what do we do about it?”

PENNY: “The only thing we can do is separate them before it's too late. Previous hosts who have been separated from the Symbiote have able to recover and find themselves again after a period of rest afterwards. But if bonded for too, then separation won’t work at all. They'll be too fixated with the Symbiotes power once they’ve fully embraced it. Right now, Ruby seems to be resisting its temptations to an extent, which must be why it's only been adapting to her suit rather than become its monstrous form. But at the rate she’s been changing, it may be long before she fully succumbs to its power.”

Weiss: “Then we need a plan fast.” And that’s when I show up.

Ruby: “A plan for what?”

WBY: “AH!”

Chapter Text

Not even a second after I enter the lab and everyone is all tense.

Ruby: “Hm? Everyone okay?”

Weiss: “Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine.”

Yang: “No. Everything is NOT fine. Ruby, you need to get rid of that suit right now!”

Ruby: “Huh?”

Blake: “Yang! What are you doing?”

Yang: “Saving my sister!”

Weiss: “Telling her at this point isn’t going to help!”

Ruby: “Tell me what? What is going on?”

Weiss: *sigh*”It’s about that suit. We found out it’s an alien the SDC found 5 years ago. They call it a Symbiote, and it bonds with its host at the sub-cellular level, granting them its abilities at the cost of them losing themselves.”

Yang: “Which is what’s been happening with you. Ever since you got that thing, you’ve been gradually changing into a very volatile person, picking fights with people for even the smallest things. This kind of behavior isn’t you!”

Ruby: “What? No! I am still me! And look at the good I’ve been doing. I’ve been handling myself just fine and doing so much better in protecting this city.”

Weiss: “And the public fights? You've even been picking fights with Cardin of all people, and you never stand up to him on purpose.”

Ruby: “I-I don’t know. But what I do know is that I need this suit! It makes me a better hero!”

Blake: “Maybe so. But being a ‘better hero’ isn’t worth losing your morality.”

???: “Do not listen... Embrace the power!”

Ruby: “Shut up. Shut UP!” Tentacles sprout from my back as kneel with my eyes shut. The tentacles grabbed them by the throats and slightly lifted them up. “You can’t do this! This suit is the best thing to ever happen to me! I’m nothing without with this suit. So why don’t you all just back the hell off!”

Yang: “R-Ruby! S-Stop!” I finally look up and can see them being strangled. *gasp*”NO!” The tentacles retract and they drop to their knees. I look down at my hands before I get up in anger.

Ruby: “You guys are infuriating.” As I remove my clothes and reveal my suit and put on my mask. Then I break open a window and jump on the ledge. “Don’t bother following me.” Then I jump and swing off into the city.

Weiss: *cough, cough*”Nice going, Yang! Now she’s going to avoid us prevent the separation.”

PENNY: “At this point, reasoning with her isn’t going to work. We'll need to resort to force.”

Yang: “But what we hurt her?”

Blake: “You think we want to hurt her either? We don’t have a choice.”

PENNY: “Well, to be fair, the Symbiote itself is taking most of the damage anyway.”

Blake: “Regardless, whether or not we hurt her won’t matter if we lose her to the Symbiote completely. We have to do this.”

Yang: *sigh*”How do we even find her though? Her transport method makes her kinda hard to track.”

Weiss: “Maybe when unprepared. But since I made her equipment, I am prepared. I made sure to install a tracking device in the event that we lose contact with her for any reason. Since her actual suit is still underneath the Symbiote, we’re still able to access the gear within, as evidence by us still being able to use the commlink and lenses camera.” As she started the tracking system, and the screen showed an overhead map of the city with a red spider logo moving along the screen. “There. She’s still on the move.”

Blake: “Now we just need a plan.”

Weiss: “The best way to go about it may be to abuse the Symbiotes weaknesses.”

Yang: “Even if the Symbiote is taking most of the damage, I still don’t feel right about potentially setting Ruby on fire.”

Weiss: “Which would only leave the sound weakness.”

Yang: “Right. But where are going to find something capable of such a noise on such short notice. I doubt we have much left to go making our own super speaker or having one delivered for immediate use.”

Blake: “Hm...” That’s when they hear a church bell from a short distance away. “I think we may already have something that can help.”

Weiss: “And how are we supposed to use the bell? Even if we can meet with her again and lure her there, I doubt the Symbiote will just let her stick around as it writhes. Not to mention the fact that we likely won’t be allowed access to the bell.”

Blake: “We’re acting as vigilantes, remember? We don’t need permission. I need you two to work the bell up top. You can leave it to me to keep Ruby in place. It may have to result in a fight, but at least we’ll be able save her in the end.”

Weiss: “We should do this tonight when there’ll be no one around. Less chance of anyone getting hurt AND of anyone catching us there.”

Yang: “And what about the Symbiote after we get it off of her? We can’t just let it go.”

Weiss: “Leave that to me. We still have time before nightfall. I’ll use this time to make special containment to catch it once we’re done. My main concern is how we’ll get Ruby there at all.”

Blake: “I’ve got a plan for that too. You two stay on standby at the church once the cage.”

Yang: “Then we’ll all meet again tonight.” Meanwhile, Grimm can be seen at a hospital taking a checkup to ensure how well his health while he still can now that he’s been fired from the news, he’ll need to rely on something that pays much less. It was at this moment when he made a dreadful discovery.

Grimm: “What the hell are talking about!?”

Doctor: “Just as I’ve said. You've developed a cancer we are unable to cure. The only silver lining is that it’s a relatively light one, so you’ll still have a decent amount of time, perhaps a bit longer with some treatments we have to hold it back for a time, but I’m afraid its lethality is inevitable and unfortunately incurable. I am sorry.” This was quite the shocking moment for Grimm. And as he left the hospital, he came across a thrown-out paper being blown around. This paper being the one about him being responsible for the slander, unauthorized swapped stories and thus effectively the mass recalls. This reignited his anger towards three specific people: Lisa Lavender and Velvet Scarlatina for calling him out and firing him and...

Grimm: “Damn that Spider. Her so-called heroism has won everyone’s favor to the point where they all ignore the truth of the matter. The fact that she’s no hero at all! Just a shameless attention seeker! I don’t know how I’m going do it yet, but I swear I will ruin her.” Later that night, Weiss and Yang went to the church and went up the bell tower, Weiss carrying the folded-up containment unit on her back. Blake stands atop a nearby roof and has called for me to meet with her regarding something she needs help with.

Ruby: “Okay, Blake. What’s up? This better not be a trick to surrender the suit.”

Blake: “Don’t worry, it’s not. I know you may not trust me after that, but right now I really need your help with something serious. Something too big for me to handle by myself.”

Ruby: *sigh*”Okay. So, what’s the sitch?”

Blake: “I got a tip about a Maggia smuggling operation happening tonight. You and I both know that with them involved, their forces are bound to be quite numerous. Too much for even me to handle alone. Mind giving me a hand?”

Ruby: “Fine. Where is it happening?”

Blake: “Main Street. We can get there quick if we go straight that way.” She points in the direction towards the city with the church sitting along our swing path.

Ruby: “Okay. Those Maggia scum won’t know what hit them.” She and I start swinging through the city. But as we get close to the church...

Blake: “I’m sorry.” She gets ahead of me and cut my line, causing me to fall. She then uses her grapple to close the gap between us and grab onto my hands to keep me from swinging away. A moment later, we land in the courtyard behind the church. “NOW!” Up in the bell tower, Weiss and Yang work the handle together to ring the bell. The loud sounds causing the Symbiote to writhe in pain!

Ruby: “AAAAGH!!!” And I can feel it’s anguish in my head! “GRAAAAGH!!! Get out of my head!” I managed to aim my arms at the tower, to which the Symbiote managed to sprout its tendrils up into the tower, which in turn pushed Weiss and Yang towards the inner walls and left some goo behind to leave them stuck when they retracted.

Blake: “Crap!” Not long after, the bell slowed to the point where it’s sound was no longer a problem, and the Symbiote stopped writhing, giving us the chance to push Blake off me! I tried to swing away, but Blake recovered quick and used her grapple to pull me back down. “You’re not going anywhere till we get rid of that thing! I won’t stop even if I have to fight you to do it!” I get another surge of power like what happened with Watts, causing my voice to distort again when I talk.

Ruby: “So be it.”

Chapter Text

As we stare each other down from a short distance in the dead of night, we each prepare our first move. We charge at each other, and we get into it. I keep swinging at her with extended tentacles.

Ruby: “You’re in the way, Blake! Always in the way…” My voice sounding a bit more masculinely monstrous in that last bit. “I could have fixed everything!”

Blake: “How? By hurting everyone to the point of death?! That’s not what we do!”

Ruby: “Don’t try to mentor me! I’m not a child anymore! I haven’t been since I got these powers!”

Blake: “This has nothing to do with you being a child! All I want was to protect the ones I love! To protect YOU!”

Ruby: “You’re not better than me!”

Blake: “I’m not saying that! You’re stronger than some suit, Ruby! Don’t listen to it!”

Ruby: “And what? Listen to you?”

Blake: “Yes! Listen to me! What are you so afraid of?!” She gets in close to give me a good shove, pushing a short distance away before she tries to charge me again. I close the gap for her by stretching out a large arm made from tentacles to grab her, pull her in close before retracting the arm once I’ve got a hold of her with my own hand and then push her onto the ground below and try to hold her there.

Ruby: “I need this suit! It makes me a better hero!” Then a certain thought comes to me. “You just want it for yourself!” I lift her up before slamming her back down again. She has her left hand on my arm holding her down and tries to use her right to grab at my suit, but I use my other hand to grab at her and stop her before she an even try.

Blake: “All I WANT is to save you!”

Ruby: “I’m the hero! I don’t get saved!” She manages to push us up and tries to push me off of her. We both end up jumping in the air for a brief moment before pushing ourselves away from each other. “Just leave me alone! I don’t need you! I don’t need ANYONE!”

Blake: “I know you don’t mean that!” She tries to get in close before I push her back again by sprouting out several tentacles all around me, almost as if mimicking an explosion, before retracting them right after.

Ruby: “All I wanted was to save everyone! Weiss. Yang… Now everyone thinks that I’M the problem... You think I’m the problem!” Sounding monstrous again in that last bit before reverting back. “But I’m not anymore! I’m the solution!” Doing it again for the last bit. She and I go at it again for a minute, until she gets a chance to deliver a hard kick and knock me back a bit. I try to reach for her with a long reach again like before, but she managed to flip over it and launch herself at me, allowing her to hold me down instead as she pushed me back upon impact. “I can’t let this go. I’m finally everything everyone needs me to be!”

Blake: “No you're not! Even now, you're losing your usual compassionate self!” I try to hit her with another tentacle, but she dodged by moving her head to the side. She then worked to throw me up into the air before jumping up after me. She grabbed onto me and got above me before shooting her grapple line towards the ground and used to pull us down quickly, putting her back on top of me, holding me down with her left hand, with me using my right to try and get her hand off of me. “And what about back in the lab?! You could’ve killed us!” I try to punch at her with my left, but she caught it with her still empty right and pushed it back to the ground. “I know you’re hurting, Ruby, but you’re better than this!” I can feel her words getting through as my sense of self tries to fight against the Symbiotes will.

Ruby: “I know. I know, but…” But it’s never that easy. The Symbiotes will is still quite strong as it pushes itself back in. “No... NOOO!” More tentacles extended from my arms and pushed her back. And once she’s off, I back flip away from her before the tentacles retract.

Blake: “The people in my life, the people I love! They’re all counting on me! They need a hero and… if I thought some suit could save them, maybe I’d be in your shoes right now! But THIS kind of power is what makes them need us to begin with as well as what killed the ones we love, like your mom! Not you, not me!”

Ruby: “Shut up!” I grab a nearby rock and try to throw it at her at full force, but she dodged and caught it with her grapple, to which she flung up at the bell, causing a moment of loud noise. *groans*”Stop!”

Blake: “You’ve got to be stronger than that! This time, you have to save yourself!”

Ruby: “I… can’t...!”

Blake: “You will! I’m not losing you, Ruby! Fight it!” She’s right! I can’t let myself fall to this kind of temptation!

???: “No! Do not listen! They will only hold you back!”

Ruby: “Shut up! I am done listening to you! I don’t care about your power anymore! I won’t let you hurt my friends and family anymore! It’s time for you to go!” I swing up to bell tower, place my hands on the large glops pinning Weiss and Yang to walls to retract it all and thus free them before moving directly under the bell. But I can feel the Symbiote trying to fight me again. “Grrgh! Do it guys! I don’t know how much longer I can hold it!”

Yang: “Right!” They get into position at the crank again. “Okay. One. Two. Three!” They start turning the crank again and make to bell ring.

Ruby: “GRRAAAAAGH!!!” And with how close I am to the bell this time, the Symbiote is taking an even greater hit, and thus getting much weaker. I can feel myself regaining enough control to actual move again, to which I first grabbed at my face and pulled down the part covering my head before moving down to grab and pull at the suit itself with both my hands. With how much the bell is ringing, the Symbiote continues to retract as I pull on it, until I finally get it all off of me, and toss it aside before dropping to my hands and knees in exhaustion.

Yang: “There! It’s off! Now let’s get it!”

Weiss: “Right!” She grabs the folded cage from her back, but then noticed it dented and sparking when she looked at it. “Oh no!” She tried to activate it, but it wouldn’t come on. “Crap!” It starts to crawl away as Blake gets up here.

Blake: “Oh no you don’t!” She tries to grab at it, but its fluid form lets it literally slip through her fingers and get away as it crept its way outside and along the wall leading away from the tower. “Damn! I lost sight of it!”

Yang: “What the hell happened?”

Weiss: “When we were pushed against the walls earlier, the impact seems to have broken the cage as it was still strapped to my back. We can’t catch it like this.”

Ruby: “Sorry about that, Weiss...”

Yang: “Ruby! Are you okay?” As she came in close for a tight hug.

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just... exhausted. And maybe a bit of a headache from fighting against the Symbiotes tempting will.”

Weiss: “We’re just glad that you’re okay.”

Blake: “Let’s just hope that it's been weakened enough that we can afford to ignore for a little bit. You definitely need your rest after all of that.” Meanwhile, Grimm can be seen walking along the street until he sees Weiss and Yang running away from the church entrance and Blake swinging away from the bell tower with me holding on to her.

Grimm: “What the hell?” He decides to head inside to investigate. While inside, the Symbiote slipped in through a crack in one of the windows. It sniffs again upon seeing Grimm and notices something.

???: “Hatred... Resentment... Rage... A kindred spirit.” It thought as it started crawling along the rafters, and Grimm could hear the squishy noises.

Grimm: “What was that?” The Symbiote started dripping from the rafter once it was above him. He was freaking as it was landing on him but couldn’t get it off and was really struggling as it completely covered him. Once it did, it started taking over as it formed into its giant dog like monstrous form and let out its roar as it formed completely. And for the first time ever, it actually spoke out loud rather than in Grimm’s mind.

???: “Scarlet Spider... You will pay dearly for rejecting my power!”

Chapter Text

After that whole debacle with removing the Symbiote, the others had to help me out of my suit and into my pajamas before I immediately collapsed on my bed. I ended up sleeping though the whole next day, Yang staying behind to watch over me while Weiss and Blake covered for me saying I was out sick. Yang even made sure Uncle Qrow believed this lie as well. I didn’t wake up until the next morning.

Ruby: “Mmm...” I can see the bright morning sun shining through my window. I then get and head into the front space of the apartment, where Yang is at the table and Qrow is cooking breakfast.

Yang: “Ruby!” As she got up and gave me a strong hug.

Ruby: “Agh! Yang! Can’t breathe...”

Yang: “Ah! Sorry.”

Qrow: “Hey there kiddo. Feeling any better?”

Yang: “You’ve been sick all day yesterday, so we need make sure your fine.” She says in way that makes it obvious she’s trying to tell me something.

Ruby: “Uh, don’t worry, I’m fine. Great even.”

Qrow: “Good enough to go to school today?”

Ruby: “Not a problem.”

Qrow: “Okay. Then hurry up and eat some breakfast. I need to hurry up and get going myself.”

Ruby: “Something wrong Uncle Qrow?”

Qrow: “We don’t know what yet, but something new has been rampaging in the city recently. So far, it’s only been late into the night, but they still want all hands-on deck in case it starts getting bolder. And we’re only certain it exists because of several witness calls saying they saw something monstrous attacking the park.”

Yang: “Could it be that Merlot guy again?”

Qrow: “That’s what we thought at first. But when we checked after the first few calls two nights ago, we found him still in his cell. We even had constant surveillance around him since then, and more calls came in last night, so Merlot checks out.” Two nights ago? But that was when we removed and lost the Symbiote... crap! “Well, I’m off. Get to school safe you two.” As he leaves after grabbing his bacon and toast sandwich.

Yang: “You picked it up too, right?”

Ruby: “Yes. We need to tell the others soon.” After breakfast and changing, we went to school as usual and ended up meeting with Weiss and Blake at the front entrance.

W&B: “Ruby!”

Blake: “You're okay!” As Weiss came in for a hug and kiss.

Ruby: “Of course I am. I just needed a good sleep. And with that in mind, for now I just want to say thanks for getting that thing off of me. And that I am so sorry for my behavior these last few days. If it hadn’t been for you guys, things probably would’ve gotten much worse.”

Blake: “Don’t worry so much about it, Ruby. The Symbiote was responsible for everything. I’m just we were able to get it off before it was too late.”

Weiss: “Even then, there was no way we were going to leave you like that. We're all practically family. It's what we do.”

Ruby: “Thanks guys.” To which we all group hugged for a moment before the bell rang.

Yang: “Shoot! We need to get going!”

Ruby: “Okay, but we need to meet up again after school. There's something important we need to talk about.” We all agreed to this and went on about our day like usual before meeting up at Weiss’ place, and I told them everything Uncle Qrow told us this morning.

Blake: “The timing most definitely means this monster must be the Symbiote.”

Weiss: “And if it really is in such a monstrous form, this means its already found another host. One with no powers and thus unable to resist its temptations.”

Yang: “At least for now, no victims have turned up. Reports have just said it’s been attacking the park.”

Weiss: “But why just attack the park?”

Ruby: “Only one way to find out. I suggest we stakeout the park tonight.”

Blake: “Agreed. We needed to get after Symbiote either way since it managed to escape us.” We suit up and keep our patrol close to the park, handling any crimes that occur nearby until nightfall. We both perch on building at opposite ends of the park and keep eyes peeled. Blake having natural night vision helps a lot, and my mask lenses can switch to night vision mode if needed. Eventually, we hear some slight roaring coming from the woods. Followed by some trees moving, one of them even falling over. “We’ve got movement.”

Ruby: “Copy that.” We jump down and meet up as we move in on where we can see the commotion. As we swing through the tree, we can see the large monstrous looking dog like form of the Symbiote that we kept seeing in the recordings. “Stop right there, you monster!” It looked in our direction before turning to face us.

???: “Scarlet Spider.”

Weiss: “Whoa. It spoke.”

Ruby: “Why are you here attacking helpless trees. And who’s the poor sob you took over to make it this far?”

???: “A kindred spirit. One filled with hate and rage much like me.”

Blake: “A kindred spirit?”

???: “Perhaps I should let him speak for himself.” It retracts and vanishes into its host, revealing Grimm underneath. And though we haven’t met yet, we do recognize him from the articles about his actions with the press.

Blake: “Daniel Grimm. How did you end up attached to the Symbiote?”

Grimm: “Pure coincidence really. I was walking by the church when I saw you two swing away and two others leave in a hurry. I went inside to see what was up, and that was when my new friend found me.”

Ruby: “It keeps referring to you as a kindred spirit filled with hate. Why is that?”

Grimm: “Simple. We both have people with wish to destroy because of some recent against us. In my case, it’s against those two bitches in the news who ruined my life. And as for my new partner, its vendetta with you two. More so the Spider for ultimately rejecting his power, and the Cat as he blames you for turning her against it. After we get out revenge, I plan on sticking with it to destroy this city. Afterall, it's been a big help suppressing my cancer, which I ended up finding out about the day we bonded. And thus, our new lives as the Hound had begun.”

Ruby: “The Hound?”

Grimm: “Because of its canine like appearance, along with my own Faunus heritage as a factor. And as for the park, I guess you say the Hound was just breaking me in. We were practicing our potential moves together, which in turn lets me get completely use to these new gifts. Not only that, but our actions here also help it regain its strength after the ordeal you all put it through at the church. Especially as it keeps devouring the brains of the forest critters before it moves on to the cities people.”

Blake: “B-Brains!?”

Grimm: “Oh? Did you not know? Whatever its species is, it seems to have a particular diet for a specific chemical whose name escapes me at the moment, but from what I understand, it’s found in certain fungi, chocolate, and most notably, brain matter.”

Weiss: “Hm... I think he might be referring to phenethylamine. It's the only chemical I can think of that meets all of that criteria.”

Grimm: “Of course, I’m sure the Hound probably already knows who you two are, but it has refused to tell me. I can speculate that it’s because it was made to be killing machine first and foremost and would prefer to kill you both itself. It has no need to resort to something so underhanded. Not exactly how I would go about it, but I need its help and so I decided not to pry. Not like it matters, regardless. Considering that whether we kill you or report you, we will still be rid of you, and that’s fine by me.” The Symbiote, now known as the Hound, reemerges.

Hound: “Be prepared to meet your maker, Scarlet Spider.” It charges right at us! We move out of the way, but it managed to grab Blake and slammed her down before extending a tentacle from its arm to grab and reel me in before holding me against a tree by the throat. I try my best to get it off, but its grip doesn’t falter.

Ruby: “Argh! Kinda wish I had that extra Symbiote strength by now!” Then it threw me aside hard enough to break a tree in half as I fly through it. “Oooouch!” As I struggle to get up. I can see it coming my way. It moves to attack again when a police chopper show up and shines its light down on it.

Cop: “This is the police! Cease your actions at once and surrender peacefully!” It ceases its attacks before speaking again.

Hound: “Hmph! Mere nuisances. No matter. I’ll let you live for now. But the next time we meet, I won’t be so merciful.” It disappears into the woods where the police lose it. They focus on it while Blake and I pull ourselves together and swing away from the scene. Meanwhile, in the midst the chaos, the Hound retreats into Grimm and uses him as cover to escape from the park without being noticed.

Grimm: “Damn! That was a close one. They ended up getting away too.”

Hound: “There’ll be other opportunities.”

Grimm: “Then I suggest we focus on Lisa and Velvet here soon, if all goes, we’ll run into the Spider and Cat there too as they come in to save the day.”

Hound: “Very well. But first... I must feed!”

Chapter Text

Afterwards, we make our way back to Weiss’ to regroup and strategize.

Ruby: “Well, that was unpleasant.”

Blake: “No kidding. We need a better a plan fast.”

Yang: “If it's still the Symbiote we’re dealing with, can’t we just do the same thing we did with Ruby?”

Blake: “Theoretically, we could try the same approach and exploit the sound weakness. But somehow, I doubt it’ll let us trick it like that again.”

Ruby: “And we can’t just carry that bell around like nothing.”

Weiss: “Maybe not traditionally. But there may be a way to just carry around the sound. I recently discovered a prototype gadget being developed by the SDC called a concussion burst. I believe if we take synthesized recordings to the bell, up the volume and upload the sound to the concussion burst, we can instead convert it into a sonic burst. Effectively reproducing the sound and effects at full force.”

Yang: “Then what are we waiting for?”

Weiss: “Now hold your horses. With the kind of strength it has, we’re going to need multiple bursts and their going to take a minute to develop. We'll need to wait a day at most before we make our move.”

Ruby: “We can’t wait that long, not when we now know it feed on brains!”

Blake: “Calm down, Ruby! Weiss is right. If we strike now, we’ll end up dead ourselves and we’ll no good to anyone. We need every advantage we can get.”

Ruby: *inhale, exhale*”Your right. For now, let's just get some rest.” And so, that what we did. The next day, Blake and I were able to patrol all day do to being a Saturday, while focused on the sonic bursts, all the while we all keep our eyes out for any signs of the Hound. So far, no human corpses have turned up, only animals after a report of a zoo break in, stating their heads to have been missing, likely bitten by the Hound. This incident was done relatively quick though. “Things are getting pretty dire out here, guys. At this rate, they might start feeding on humans soon.”

Blake: “Then I suggest we focus our patrol to the news station. Based on what Grimm said, I have a feeling who their first victims will be aside from us.”

Yang: “Velvet and Lisa.”

Weiss: “Okay, but come back first. I have few bursts ready to go.” To which we regroup at Weiss’ to collect the gear. “Given our strain on time and the intricate mechanics of the device, I was only able to make four bursts, and their all one use only, so use them wisely.”

Blake: “Will do.”

Weiss: “On top of that, I also fixed the caged while Ruby was asleep. This time using a more durable material.” She handed over the folded-up cage that I carry on my back. We head back out and make our way to the news station as it hits nightfall. As we get close, we can hear screaming in the streets as the Hound appears and starts approaching the station itself.

Blake: “Dammit! They’re already there!”

Ruby: “We still have time to stop them! Come on!” We get in close, and we both give the Hound a hard kick to back as we swing by it and land in front of it. “Give it up, Hound! We won’t let you get any further!”

Hound: “Oh, we know. It just means all the more for us!” It charges for us and tries to catch us in its tentacles. We manage to avoid it but then ignored us as it kept going for the station. “Keep up if you can!” It jumped up high and crashes through the wall of a high floor in the station.

Ruby: “Get back here!” We follow it up into the building and catch up to it. Everyone else quickly gets up and runs away during our brawl. When it doesn’t show signs of letting up though...

Blake: “Ugh! That’s it!” She takes one of the bursts and throws it at the Hound, the subsequent sonic burst hitting it hard! Stunning it as it writhes in pain “Whoa! It works!”

Ruby: “Be careful! We only have so many!” I take advantage of this moment to land some strong blows, but this only lasts until the sound dies down and it recovers.

Hound: “Very clever.” It grabs and tosses me aside, right into Blake and knocking her over. “But not good enough!” it gets distracted by a sudden camera flash, to which it noticed Velvet in a nearby doorway. “Scarlatina.” It extends its arm and grabs her before jumping up to the next floor and moves on until it reaches Lisa’s office.

Lisa: “What in the world!?”

Hound: “Lavender! We have come for you!” As it drops Velvet by Lisa side, effectively trapping them in the office as it blocks the doorway. The Hound retracts its head to reveal Grimm underneath.

Grimm: “I told you, you would regret what you two did to me! And now with the Hound by my side, justice will be served!” In the time he talks, we recover and make it up to his floor, and then as he finishes, I throw one of my own bursts to stun them again. “GRRAAAAGH!”

Ruby: “Get down!” To which Lisa and Velvet both ducked down to opposite sides of the room as I prepare a slingshot maneuver and launch myself right at them, giving them a good enough kick to knock them out the window and back to the ground. Blake and I both now stand in the office ready for it.

Blake: “Get out of here, now!” To which Velvet and Lisa leave. “Only two bursts left. What do we do?”

Ruby: “I’ve noticed Grimm is somewhat exposed when the Hound is writhing. The next burst we use, one of use grabs hold of while the other grab the Hound with our lines to pull them apart. And then quickly use the cage to trap the Hound afterwards. Use the last burst to stun it if necessary.”

Blake: “Sounds like a plan.” We both jump and land on the ground just as the Hound recovers and recovers Grimm’s head.

Hound: “Enough games! Dinnertime!” It gets more aggressive as it attacks us, even as the police surround the scene. It uses a tentacle to grab Blake and hold her against a nearby wall as it got ahold of me and pins me to the ground, which even knocked aside the burst I was going to use. “Nowhere left to run! No gadgets left to use!” It failed to notice Vernal grabbing the burst I dropped. “Time to eat!” But then Vernal distracted it with a shot to its face with her gun.

Vernal: “Don’t be so sure!” This gave me a chance to free one of my arms. “Scarlet!” She tosses me the burst, I catch it, then stuff it into its big mouth!

Ruby: “Bon appetite!” I kick it in the chin before the burst goes off, causing it to writhe again, which made it let me, and Blake go. “NOW!” Blake gets behind them and grab at the Hound with her grapple, while I stayed in front and grab at Grimm when his chest exposed with my webs, and we pulled like no tomorrow! It was slow, but eventually, we managed to pull them apart completely, Grimm flying past me and landing at Vernal’s feet, while the Hound flew past Blake and land few feet away from her. The Symbiote then retracted back to its harmless state and attempted to flee.

Blake: “Nope! Not this time!” She used her last burst to stun the Symbiote in place, to which I tossed her the cage and she used it to trap the dastardly creature! “Got it!” At the same time, Grimm got up and was immediately arrested by Vernal.

Grimm: “Ow! Now hold on! That thing was controlling me! I’m innocent!”

Vernal: “Tell it to the judge, buddy.” Once she gets him in the car, we hand over the cage containing the Symbiote.

Ruby: “Make sure that thing stays locked up tight. And don’t let anyone let it out, no matter what anyone says.”

Vernal: “After everything we saw tonight, you don’t gotta tell me twice.” After everything was said and done, we can just sit back and relax, and the aftermath comes about. The next day, we finally have my long-awaited 16th party, and as the party goes on, the news of what's to happens comes on.

Lisa: “A terrible incident occurred as our own news station was attacked last night by our former member, Daniel Grimm, after he had come across a mysterious creature that the police have later discovered to be known as a Symbiote after the incident caught the attention of the Atlas military. The creature was under study by the SDC by then escaped after its transferal to Vale. Given the circumstances of the danger, it imposed on Vale, Atlas military General James Ironwood and the rest of the Atlas council have ordered the SDC to immediately cease and destroy all data and experiments regarding the Symbiote as it is placed into maximum security in the Vault until further noticed. As for Daniel Grimm, he is currently pending trial, and despite his claims of the Symbiote controlling him, evidence confirms he own motives and benefits for bonding with the Symbiote and thus is likely up for conviction. Due to him being an ordinary person without the Symbiote, he is to be placed in Vale’s local prison, and at least this way, he and Symbiote can stay separated and thus lessen the chance them recombining.” All in all, I think I can say this is by far the best birthday ever. Though that’s only when taking into account everything I know of. For what I’m not aware though, we cut to another part of town, where the five Maggia dons meet once again.

Parrot: “This is starting to get out of hand!”

Vermillion: “I know! Not some weird alien thing can stop her!”

Pyre: “Alright! Calm down! Both of you!”

Junior: “You idiots. After everything we’ve seen, can’t you all realize it’s not a matter of power, but more of brains over brawn?”

Jax: “Even still, a creature like that could’ve stopped her easy if not for her brains and her friend. If we’re not careful, we could end up falling her soon enough.”

Pyre: “So what do we do?”

Jax: “We can give it more time, but at this rate, I am prepared to start considering Malachite’s offer. I’ll be meeting with her daughters here soon.”

Vermillion: “I can’t believe even after all of this we have to consider working with her.”

Junior: “Don’t forget, whether it’s her or not is irrelevant. What matters at the moment is the Spider and Cat.”

Jax: “Exactly. And remember, Malachite can’t hope to match our immense forces. We can take the offer if needed and have no need to worry about any tricks from her. That is all.” he dismisses them all. “And at the end of the day... this city won’t know what hit them!”

Chapter Text

About a week after my birthday, and things have gone quiet again. And though I still feel like myself again, I also still feel major guilt for what happened with the Hound. Thankfully, things surrounding that have calmed down. Grimm has been convicted and sent to prison while the Symbiote was placed under maximum security in the Vault. But like always, something new always happens that eventually leads to a new villain to fight.

Lisa: “Breaking news! Police are currently in search of an escaped convict by the name of Hazel Rainart, who police found to have escaped during Daniel Grimm’s transferal into Rainart’s facility.” the screen shows us a mugshot of a middle-aged man with short dark brown hair and beard with a kind of almond like complexion and hazel like eyes, fitting for his namesake. “While the man was convicted of any violent crimes, he is still considered dangerous given his large muscular physique as he was gym instructor and bodybuilder before turning to crime. Said crimes consisted of several robberies in order to make fast money on account of his sick twin sister, Gretchen Rainart. Ms. Rainart’s current status is currently unknown to us due to patient confidentiality, but we are sure that whatever actions Mr. Rainart, she will be the motive behind them.” As the news plays in town square, the man himself can be seen ditching his prison uniform and replacing them with some clothes he took from some nearby shop. A black ¾ sleeve shirt with dark green patterns on the sides and shoulders, black pants and some heavy brown boots with metal fronts.

Hazel: “Gretchen. Wait for me.” For the moment, he also covers himself with two-tone olive green over coat as he attempts to hide from the public eye. We all meet up at Weiss’ as usual after school for a quick look at our homework before we go on our patrol when the news on Hazel came on.

Blake: “Hazel Rainart. I think I actually remember reading about that when it happened. His arrest and sentence were two years ago.”

Yang: “But why break out now? Non-violent burglary. He could’ve had a shot at parole.”

Ruby: “With good behavior. And even then, parole isn’t immediate. They said his motives were tied to Gretchen being sick, but they didn’t say with what specifically. His rashness is likely related to that.”

Weiss: “He was stealing for quick money to treat her, which tells me it might be something fatal if not treated properly but the procedure is too expensive for a gym instructors' salary.”

Blake: “And even if he went pro with his body building, body builder contest in Vale are very here and there. Their seen a lot more in either Vacuo or Mantle.”

Yang: “Even if they were more frequent here, he’d actually have to win first.”

Ruby: “Now hold on. There's no use speculating over this. We're better off asking someone more in the know. I’ll try asking Captain Tomo about it. See what she can turn up.” Afterwards, we head out on our patrol as usual, going our separate routes, and I give Vernal a call.

Vernal: “Captain Tomo speaking.”

Ruby: “I heard the news about that Hazel guy.”

Vernal: “Let me guess. You want to more about him.”

Ruby: “Him and Gretchen both. I’m hoping I can get a better grasp on his exact motives.”

Vernal: “I’ll see what I can dig up, but it’ll take some time. I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.”

Ruby: “I’ll be waiting then.” And she hangs up. Afterwards, I catch wind of a crime in progress. There, we cut back to Hazel sticking to the alleys as he passes some kind truck. He can see a crime in progress across the street from the alley and he bears witness to me coming in and kicking their butts, dragging them all outside and webbing them up to a nearby lamp post before swinging away.

Hazel: “So that’s the fabled Scarlet Spider. Funny, I thought she’d be a bit bigger, but her physique is that of young teenager. I’m almost impressed.” That’s when the cops start showing up on the scene. “Shit!” He worries about going backward, so instead he jumps into the back of the truck he passed, only to find it filled with sand. He keeps his eye out on the cops arresting the criminals and waits for them to leave, but he didn’t notice the truck owner come up and get in the front until the truck starts moving. “Oh great!” With the truck moving out into public, he decides to lay low inside until the truck stops wherever its going. Over an hour later, the truck pulls into a fenced off area labeled ‘super collider testing grounds’ for the SDC outside of the city, and Hazel is startled as the back moves and dumps all the sand into some kind pit, with him still in it. “Argh! What the hell?” He takes off his coat as he’s irritated by the sand getting all in it. “Where am I?” To which he heard the intercom.

SDC staff: “Attention all staff, the collider sequence is about to begin. Please clear out the test site for your own safety.”

Hazel: “Collider sequence?” To which a large three-pronged device above him to lowering down till it's almost connecting to the pit. “Hey! Wait a minute!” The machine starts spinning! And keeps going faster until the sand starts flying around with him. The collider is going so fast that he can’t get past it without getting hit. The whole experience eventually starts emitting a weird energy that Hazel absorbs into his body... along with a bunch of sand, changing his molecular structure. Because of this, as the sequence continues, he eventually starts dissolving into sand, now flying around with the surrounding sand. Eventually, the collider slows down and stops, and as it rises up again, Hazel Rainart is gone, becoming one with the sand below.

Chapter Text

The next morning, there still hasn’t been any luck in finding Hazel even with me, Blake and the police looking everywhere. Although, none of us were aware of what happened to him last night... or right now as we cut to the sand pit in the collider site. For a moment things seem quiet, but then the sand starts to shift. Some of the sand in the pit is all moving and converging in the center, forming together into a shape. Eventually, that shape starts to move itself, and eventually the shape start to become more precise as it stands, revealing Hazel Rainart alive as his new sandy forms starts becoming more solid and eventually regaining all of his color.

Hazel: “Ugh... My head. What the hell happened?” He looked around and saw the collider above him. “Oh. Right. That thing. How the hell am I still alive?”

SDC staff: “Hello? Is someone there?”

Hazel: “Shit!” And right there, he dissolves into sand again before the guy gets close to look down into the pit, only for him to see no one there.

SDC staff: “Huh. Must've been hearing things. Could’ve sworn I heard someone.” As he walks away, and Hazel reforms.

Hazel: “What the hell?” As he looks down at his hands. “Hm. I wonder...” He dissolved again and his sand started slithering around, allowing him to get out of the pit, and sneak by all of the staff as he made his way out of the site and only reformed when he was out site by the cover of large tree outside of the site. “Heh. Nifty. This'll make things a whole lot easier.” As he made his way back to the city. It took him a while before he got back into the city limits and made a spur of the moment decision. “It might be a risk, but maybe I should give these new powers a quick test.” As he came across a large supermarket. “Perfect.” All the while, Blake and I get off school and start our patrol like usual.

Weiss: “There still haven’t been any reports or sightings of Hazel since his escape.”

Yang: “I don’t get it. I mean how does that big just disappear like that? The guy is easily a full 8 feet tall and has a build that’s quite hard to miss.”

Blake: “Maybe so, but he is also just an ordinary person. No fancy tech, no powers. With the right disguise, even he can easily blend in and move around without notice.”

Weiss: “That’s all assuming the Tinkerer hasn’t potentially approached him.”

Ruby: “Regardless, we can’t just ignore this. We've got a job to do as this city’s protectors.” And that’s when I hear a nearby crash and security alarm.

Weiss: “Speaking of which. We have a break-in in progress at the supermarket in Ruby’s vicinity.”

Ruby: “I can hear the alarm and am on my way.” I approach the store, where I see the whole front door completely destroyed, and make my way in as all the customers are fleeing the scene, and I see Hazel inside intimidating all of the cashiers as I stick close to the door.

Hazel: “Just hand over all of the money, and this’ll all be over.”

Ruby: “Well speak of the devil. Guys, I found our guy. I’m going in.”

Blake: “Okay, but be careful. A build like his could probably break you.”

Ruby: “Geez, Blake. Have some faith.” As I move in to confront him. “Stand down, Hazel. Just give yourself up peacefully, and nobody will get hurt.”

Hazel: “Your right. I don’t want to hurt you.” As turns to face me. “You're so obviously a child. But I’m not afraid too if you get in my way. So beat it.”

Ruby: “Alright. You asked for it.” I get in close and give him a good punch to the gut... only to have my hand go right through him! “Huh!?” And instead of feeling guts and blood, I feel the loose and shifting gravelly like feeling of sand.

Yang: “What the hell!?”

Hazel: “Heh. Neat trick, huh? Guess you should start calling me the Sandman.” He moves his right arm in a way to backhand me, but he made it worse by using sand to make his hand bigger, to which the impact from his backhand knocked me back a good distance. As I recover, I see him walking towards me, and I see the hole in his stomach refill, including the hole in his shirt. “Who knew accidentally ending up in a super collider would be this rewarding.”

Weiss: “Hm? A super collider?”

Ruby: “Clearly, we need to rethink the ‘ordinary person’ approach.” I try to get in close again. He makes his fists into giant hammer and swings at me as I try to get in solid hits, but they do nothing, and he eventually gets in a good enough hit to knock me right outside, where I crash into a fire hydrant, causing one of its sides to spray out. He follows me outside with his hammer fists ready. But as he gets closer, he walks through the water stream, getting his legs wet.

Hazel: “This was easier than I thought it would be. Now goodbye.” He raises his hammers up to strike but didn’t expect his legs to collapse under him right there, causing him to fall over. “AARGH! What!?’ Didn’t take me long to realize what had happened.

Ruby: “Guess you're still a little wet behind the ears, huh?”

Yang: “Seriously Ruby? That’s the best you got?” That’s when we hear incoming sirens.

Hazel: “Rgh! This isn’t over...” He grabs me by the foot and throws me at the wall to disorient me as he then dissolves and flies away in a massive sandstorm. He's long gone by the time I recover, and that’s when the cops show up, meaning it was my cue to get out of dodge.

Ruby: “Guys, I think we need to regroup and talk about this.”

Blake: “Roger that.” As I’m on my way though, I get a call from Vernal.

Ruby: “Yes, Captain?”

Vernal: “Care to explain what the hell happened here?”

Ruby: “You're not gonna believe it, but it was all from a rather one-sided brawl with Hazel Rainart. But the crazy thing is, it was he made of sand. Like literally, I tried to punch him in the gut and my hand just went right through him, and he was doing things like turning his fists into giant hammers.”

Vernal: “Your right. That is hard to believe, but then again crazier things have happened as of late.”

Ruby: “Thankfully, I found he has the same weaknesses of sand, being how it solidifies when wet. Though unfortunately, he still got away.”

Vernal: “Well I can see that. But how?”

Ruby: “He smashed me against a wall and flew away in a sandstorm.”

Vernal: “This getting ridiculous. Where did even get such powers?”

Ruby: “Well, he did let slip that he accidentally ended up in a super collider. Don’t, I plan to look into it.”

Vernal: “Fine. I’ve got other things to worry about anyway. Oh, but before I forget. I’m getting close to getting the potential info you were looking for. I should have it and ready to report tomorrow morning.”

Ruby: “Thanks, Captain. I’ll keep tracking him in the meantime. Over and out.” Afterwards, we meet up at Weiss’ and discuss what I just went through.

Blake: “Sounds like were dealing with Mercury all over again.”

Weiss: “And just like Mercury, it may have been the SDC’s fault, albeit this time it was without their knowledge. When he said super collider, it made me remember the current SDC schedule PENNY and I got ahold of, and I looked through it again before you guy got here. The SDC is currently running a test site outside of the city for a new super collider they’re developing and ran their first test run last night after receiving a fresh truckload full of sand. If my guess is right and he did end up in the sand pit below the collider, the energy it emitted merged him with some of the sand and completely changed his molecular structure, effectively turning him into a man made out of sand.”

Yang: “And hence, the ‘Sandman.’ How original...” She says sarcastically.

Blake: “He’s definitely quite strong now. We’re just lucky we discovered his weaknesses. Ironically the same weakness as Mercury, albeit with a different effect. Now all we gotta do is worry about finding him.”

Ruby: “Hopefully, the info Vernal provides tomorrow can give us some kind of clue. And tomorrows Saturday, so won’t have to worry about school. For now, let's get some rest and be ready for the coming fight.” Meanwhile, Hazel is seen traversing through the alleys.

Hazel: “I’ve wasted enough time. I need to check to see how she’s doing before I make any further decisions. With any luck, she’ll still be here.” He says as he approaches a massive hospital across the street from the alley. “Just hang on, Gretchen.”

Chapter Text

Hazel grabs a large coat and hat from the trash to cover his identity as he heads into the hospital and up the front counter.

Hazel: “I need to know the current status of a patient. Gretchen Rainart.”

Receptionist: “Please wait a moment.” As she starts typing at her computer. “And are planning to visit?”

Hazel: “Unfortunately, no. I just need to know her condition.” The computer dings and she takes a moment to read through it before she shows a face of sadness.

Receptionist: “Um, sir? Please remain calm, but I’m afraid I have bad news.” He gives her a sort of scowl. “Um, I’m afraid Ms. Rainart is no longer with us. It says here she had um... passed away a little over two months ago. She’s already been moved out and buried in Vale cemetery.” His fist clutches in anger before speaking.

Hazel: “Is that so?”

Receptionist: “I am very sorry, sir. If it's any consolation, I am sorry for your loss.” His scowl stays for a minute before he takes a breath to calm himself for a moment.

Hazel: “Thank you for your time.” To which he just leaves. The next morning, we’re up and at ‘em in our patrol like usual as I wait until Vernal calls.

Ruby: “Alright, Captain. What do we got?”

Vernal: “Since Gretchen’s condition was the reason behind Hazel’s motives, info regarding it was added to Hazel’s case file. She was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer that, fortunately, was treatable, but was unfortunately too expensive to pay for due to its rarity.”

Ruby: “So we we’re about that. It was something he couldn’t afford as a gym instructor. And what her condition?”

Vernal: “This is the sad part. The file only noted her condition at the time of Hazel’s sentence, which was somewhat stable since they were able to afford the temporary treatments which prolonged her death, seeing as the cancer was fatal. But Hazel wanted her fully cured because the temporary ones meant she would still be bound to the hospital. Not able to live her life. Even after Hazel made her condition abundantly clear, the police never bothered to keep note of it afterwards, so I had to dig into her files for a bit. According to this, since Hazel was now behind bars, she had no other family to pay for her treatments, and thus the doctors had to stop at some point. Gretchen died to her cancer over two months ago, which was around the same time when Hazel stopped receiving her letters. Hazel’s behavior showed he was always anxious while in prison, but it got worse when the letters stopped. I imagine that was when he decided to find an opportunity to escape and find out what happened.”

Ruby: “And with these new powers of his, he might do more harm than good when he finds out. We gotta find him fast.” Afterwards, Blake and I head back to Weiss’ place to discuss what I just learned. Meanwhile, Hazel can be seen entering the graveyard of Vale cemetery. He began searching a little frantically until he finally found Gretchen’s grave. And he is mortified that it was true.

Hazel: “Gretchen...” He falls to his hands and knees as he grieves. Eventually, he raises his head as he screams to the sky. “RRRAAAAAAAGH!!!” He’s back on the ground as he speaks again. “I’m sorry, Gretchen. I failed you. All because this damn world and its rules held me back and kept them from saving you. Well, if that's the way it's going to be, then this world deserves your fate as well.” As he stands back up. “Starting with Vale.” He looks down to his hand. “I’m going to need a lot more power behind me though.” As he looked out to the city, he noticed a construction site. “Perfect.” As he smirked. He dissolved into a sandstorm again to make his way there faster, which left behind the coat and hat he took. The four of us have discussed the issue.

Blake: “Somehow I figured that this was the case, I just didn’t want to say anything without making assumptions.”

Yang: “How horrible. I can almost sympathize with him. There is nothing worse than losing family.”

Ruby: “Especially to circumstances out of your control.”

Weiss: “If he finds out, then he’ll likely be too emotionally unstable to control himself. The whole city will be in danger.”

Ruby: “Which is why we need to find him now.” Meanwhile, Hazel has reached the construction site.

Hazel: “Ironic that a place of construction will be a source of my coming destruction!” He starts drawing in all of the nearby sand and increasing his size! He keeps getting bigger and bigger until he’s as big as the building, his colors showing his sandy composition rather than his human colors. Moments later, we get the alert on the police radio.

Officer: “Attention all units! Rainart has been spotted by that new construction site! And he’s grown to the size of a building! We need backup! I repeat! We need backup!”

Yang: “Wait what!?”

Blake: “Crap! A construction site would have all the sand he needs to pull that off.”

Weiss: “What are we going to do?”

Ruby: “Well we can’t just stand around and do nothing. We have to try!” And with that, Blake and I make our way to the scene. This is going to be a rough fight... literally.

Chapter Text

We swing into the city and come up on a giant sandy Hazel walking through the city.

Ruby: “HAZEL!”

Hazel: “Scarlet Spider...” His voice kind of distorted.

Blake: “He’s definitely living up to the Sandman title.”

Hazel: “Your out of your league here, little girls. This city and this world ill pay for it’s done to Gretchen!”

Yang: “Sounds like he’s found out.”

Weiss: “Which makes this situation even worse!”

Blake: “We need a way to calm him down!”

Ruby: “Just try everything!” He attacks with giant punches and shaping his arms into large blades he swings at us that we narrowly avoid as we swing around and try to attack by catching and throwing all the rubble and debris he kicks up with his swings, but it's all hardly even phasing him. All it’s doing is making him angrier and he eventually gets ahold of me as he moves his, grabs me, and sticks his fist into the window of a nearby building. He holds me there for a good minute as a more normal sized Hazel emerges from the hand to speak with face to face, still all sandy looking with the distorted voice.

Hazel: “Your luck is running out, little spider. You have no chance of matching this kind of power.” Then I notice some water drip on him, and I look up to see the pipes in the ceiling, probably cracked from all the damage.

Ruby: “Maybe you shouldn’t speak so soon.” To which I use my webs to reach the pipes and pull on them, breaking them and making more water spill on him. Hazel retreated back into his bigger form as the water soaked his giant hand, allowing me to break free and follow him outside as he pulled back.

Blake: “Hey! You, okay?”

Ruby: “I’m fine. But I think I have a plan now. His massive form is still weak to water. Weiss? You think you can find us a huge water source we can use?”

Weiss: “I’m on it. Just buy me some time while I look.” All we can do right now is just keep avoiding his attacks and try to hurt with what little we can throw at him. This goes for a good few minutes before Weiss checks in. “Guys! There’s a massive water tank about a block away that should do the trick. We’re talking 10,000 gallons worth.”

Blake: “We’re on it!” We make our way towards the building in question and start climbing up as fast as we can as Hazel follows us up too. We even have to avoid his hands a few times as he climbs. Thankfully, we manage to reach the top.

Ruby: “There! That water tank is ours!” But then he also comes up, grabs the roof of the building and rips if off, holding it up as if holding a large tray.

Blake: “Whoa!” We both hang on to the railing of the roof on the opposite side of him as he tilts the roof in an effort to drop us. “I think it might actually be his now!” He gives it a little shake, trying to get to let go, and Blake did end up letting go and falling.

Yang: “Blake!” I follow after her.

Blake: “He’s trying to eat me!” As Hazel holds his mouth open. I use one arm to web the roof and keep myself anchored and then manage to catch Blake with a web with the other just as she enters his mouth and then pull her back.

Ruby: “Let’s give him a drink instead!” Using my strength, I manage to swing Blake around to the back of the water tank, where she gives it hard kick, causing to tip over. The top comes off as it tips, and all of the water ends up dumping onto him, causing him to dissolve, to which the roof he is holding falls, and we perch of the building as he dissolves.

Blake: “Did we do it?” After the dust settles, we make our way down and find Hazel completely reverted back to his human form, passed out on the ground, likely from overexerting his power like that and getting hit with that much water.

Ruby: “We’re good.”

Blake: “Ugh. Thank goodness. Cause I have sand... everywhere.” Afterwards, the cops show up with a large transparent and airtight looking box and work to load Hazel up inside.

Ruby: “You sure worked fast in creating a proper cage for him.”

Vernal: “Technically it's not for him. This is one of the prototypes the Vault has been building to help contain the Symbiote should it manage to escape. We figured we’d be able to test it on Rainart since his powers mean he could escape an ordinary transport. It's made to be airtight due to the Symbiotes malleable form and durable due to its potential strength when bonded to a host.” We didn’t notice that he had woken up until he started beating on the cage trying to get out.

Hazel: “You little pests! I’ll get you for this!” His voice sounding normal again.

Ruby: “Hazel, please. You have to stop. This isn’t what Gretchen would’ve wanted.”

Hazel: “You leave Gretchen out of this! And don’t you dare assume you know what she would’ve wanted! You can’t possibly imagine what I’m going through.”

Ruby: “Except I do. I’ve lost more family than you can imagine. I lost my parents when I was really little. And what makes it worse is that I was too young to even really remember them. I just pictures and stories. But if knew one about them, it’s that they wouldn’t want me to live my life consumed by grief and hatred. It may still hurt that they’re gone, but then I remember that the love we had for each other is more important to remember. That's what you need to hold on to, Hazel. Gretchen may be gone, but her love for you still exists within you. Doesn't it?” He just glares at me for a moment before turning his back on me and sitting down.

Hazel: “Her love for me doesn’t matter when I have nothing else to live for. She was the only family I have left. Without her, I have no other purpose in life. And now with these damn powers, I don’t even know if I can die and join her. That's why this whole world needs to face justice for these transgressions against us. Maybe you should think about that too as you continue this path of yours. And if you still think otherwise, then don’t think for a second that our fight is over. I promise, I’ll be back.”

Vernal: “Alright, that’s enough. Time to get going.” To which they drive off to deliver Hazel to the Vault for pending trial. After that whole debacle, we all knew we deserved a lot of rest... and some relaxing baths given all the sand. But of course, there is still some other trouble brewing elsewhere in the city as we cut to Malachite’s office as she meets with her daughters. Malachite once again smoking a cigarette.

Malachite: “Well, ain’t this just lovely. Thanks to these recent events, the city has now a giant sandbox. What’s next? We gonna get some kind of water-based menace to bring the ocean to us and make it a beach party?” Her daughters just stand completely blank faced as she rants. “Things were bad enough with the Reaper and the Cat around. But they were easy to over since they didn’t attract these superpowered freaks! Things with the Spider have gotten completely out of hand! It’s time we start taking drastic measures. You girls remember your assignment, yes?”

Melanie & Militia: “Yes, Mother.”

Melanie: “In over another week, we are to meet up with Jax Asturias to discuss a potential meeting between you and the Maggia dons.”

Militia: “Said meeting being to potentially cooperate with the Maggia in an effort regarding the Spider problem.”

Malachite: “Very good. Here’s just hoping I’m not making a mistake. That is all. You are dismissed.”

Melanie & Militia: “Yes, Mother.” To which they leave the room.

Malachite: *sigh*”This whole thing is really stressing me out. The extermination needs to happen soon. Otherwise, I can’t clear the cobwebs of chaos she has left in my city.” As she finishes her cigarette. “There’s only one person worthy of bringing chaos to this city. And that is the Queenpin.” As she smirks with a sinister sounding chuckle as she overlooks the city from her window.

Chapter Text

Days after the whole Sandman debacle and the cleanup crew are still cleaning up sand around the city. Unfortunately, having all this sand around didn’t stop people from committing crime. A prime example of this being an alarm we got of a robbery at a jewelry store. Fortunately, the number of crimes committed dropped because of the sand, so Blake and I don't have to split up that often when patrolling. Hence why we’re stopping this one together. We find ourselves face to face with four people sticking the place up, two men and two girls. One of the men is a large muscular man with short brown hair wearing a white peacoat with rolled up sleeves, black pants and brown shoes. One of the girls is a pretty standard height with long red hair wearing a black leather jacket, black bell bottom pants that stop at her ankles, brown boots, and a white shirt with some buttons undone, revealing some cleavage. The other girl is a bit shorter with grey-brown hair in long pigtails wearing a white sleeveless button up shirt with a grey tie, also wearing black bell bottoms that instead stop just below her knees, exposing some skin between them and her dark grey boots and red gloves. But the most intimidating of the group is the leader, someone I remember Vernal telling me about when discussing some recent escapees. Hanlon Fifestone. A tall man with dark skin, short messy black hair, short beard, sky grey eyes with a scar over the left, wearing a torn white button up shirt under a dark grey jacket, red gloves, black pants with thick brown boots, a red headband and two brown leather belts, one holding his pants up and the other across his right shoulder.

Ruby: “Alright! That's enough playtime for you. Time to put away the toys and go back to your rooms.”

Blake: “By which, of course we mean your prison cells.”

Fifestone: “Huh? Where do little girls like you come off thinking you can talk to me like that?”

Ruby: “The kind of girls with abilities people like you can only dream of.”

Fifestone: “Tch! Yeah right. Brats like you aren’t even worth my time.” He snaps his fingers and his thugs ready their weapons. The big guy comes at us wearing brass knuckles, the redhead ready's an assault rifle, and miss pigtails comes in with a steel pipe. “Keep them busy while I finish up in here. His thug trio come out and attack us on the spot. Fifestone stays in and continues pack up the jewels. Blake takes on the pigtail girl while I handle the big guy, and we both have to fight while avoiding the redhead's shots. I notice Fifestone leaving the store with a huge bag full of jewels and trying to run off.

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t!” He’s trying to run, so he’s moving a bit fast and all I can manage to grab the bag and take it from him with my web. I throw it up and web it to the wall so he can’t reach.

Fifestone: “Damn! Fuck this! I'm out of here!” He runs off, I try to give chase, but the big guy keeps holding me back, so I lose sight of him.

Blake: “Damnit! He’s getting away!”

Ruby: “Then let's finish this now!” I backflip to dodge another punch before webbing the redhead's gun, yanking it from her grasp and throwing it at the big guy's head, knocking him out, and then proceeding to zip over to the redhead so I can push her against the wall and web her up to keep her in place. Meanwhile, Blake manages to snag the other girl's pipe and toss it aside, before knocking her out with a swift kick to her head. Once I’m done webbing them all up, we get going after Fifestone, going in the direction we saw him running. Unfortunately, he had enough of a head start to lose us in the alleys. “Crap! We lost him.” We hear the sirens from the store's direction. So, we head back to oversee the arrest of his thug trio.

Blake: “Well, I guess three out of four isn’t too bad.”

Ruby: “Yeah, except the last one was the boss so he’s supposed to be a higher priority than the others. But I guess we did at least manage to stop the theft. We just need to keep a closer eye out for him.”

Blake: “Remind me again who’s on night shift tonight?”

Ruby: “I think it’s my turn tonight.”

Weiss: “Yes, it is. You spent last night with me to study while Blake patrolled.”

Yang: “Just please try not to stay out so late like you did last time.”

Ruby: “Hey! Come on! I already told you that wasn’t my fault! These guys were driving around like maniacs. If I hadn’t stopped them, they could’ve hurt someone. But they were driving so fast, so catching up with them took way longer than it should’ve.” This conversation led to us all laughing together. But the laughter wouldn’t last forever. Not after tonight. Fifestone can be found within a certain storage warehouse at the docks that is completely abandoned.

Fifestone: “Damnit. So much for that score. I even lost my gang in the process. I’ll need to find a way to come back from this.” That’s when he heard a knock from the front. “Huh? Who the hell could that be around here at this hour?” As he grabs a pistol and makes his way to the front and slowly lifts up the shutter door. Only to see a large crate sitting there with a letter attached. “Huh? Who the hell could’ve sent this?” As he takes and reads the letter. “Sir Hanlon Fifestone, I have taken an interest in your career and am pleased to hear of your recent escape. Thus, why I have sent this gift to congratulate you. I can assure you that this special suit will aid you tremendously in your thieving efforts. I only ask that in return you use it in an effort to eliminate the Scarlet Spider. Signed, the Tinkerer. The Tinkerer? Isn't he the guy supplying some of these recent supervillains?” To which he dragged the box inside and proceeded to pry open the crate with a crowbar. “Hm? Well now. This will make things interesting.”

Chapter Text

There wasn’t any sign of Fifestone at all when I patrolled last night. Today, Blake and I patrolled together like usual, but while we still haven’t found him, something else more peculiar caught our attention, which had been the talk of the news all day.

Lisa: “Ever since late last night, mysterious tremors have continuously occurred within Vale. The Vale council have grown concerned and are moving to have a full-scale investigation done into the source, hopefully before the tremors end up hurting someone.”

Weiss: “The way I see it, the council every right to be concerned. These tremors are far too frequent to be from natural causes. Not to mention the fact that they’ve only occurred within the city rather than any of the region beyond the city limits. Their too small to natural quakes.”

Ruby: “She’s right. Something manmade is causing them.”

Yang: “Okay. So where does that leave us?” To which I look over to Blake.

Ruby: “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Blake: “The Tinkerer. All the scientist villains are still in prison, and this whole time we keep falling short of a way to catch Tinkerer.”

Ruby: “They are quite the mystery.” It starts getting late, and now it’s Blake’s turn to patrol solo. “Think you’ll be able to handle patrol tonight? Yang and I have chores do to.”

Blake: “I’ll be fine. These tremors shouldn’t be a problem so long as I stay up high.” As we split up, we set up the comm line so our contact with Vernal only connects with Blake for tonight. Later on, as Blake patrols the city, she catches a squad of cops rushing through her area. “Hm? Could be trouble.” As she follows them, and Vernal gives a call.

Vernal: “Scarlet Spider, do you read me?”

Blake: “Sorry, but you’ve got Black Cat tonight. Is this about the units speeding down 3rd Street?”

Vernal: “Yes. We've gotten reports of a masked assailant with strange techno gauntlets robbing many stores on that street. The only other thing we have in the way of identification is that he has on record to refer to himself as the ‘Shocker’.”

Blake: “The Shocker? It just sounds like he’s trying to rip off Electro.”

Vernal: “You’d think so, but we haven’t had any electrical surges around the place like we had with Mercury, and he’s still locked up tight in the Vault.”

Blake: “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.” After she hangs up, Blake gets closer to the reported area, and then she sees Shocker crash through a shop window onto the street carrying two large bags full of Lien. He's a tall man in a red and dark grey suit covered gold and dark brown armor parts, along with a red and dark grey helmet with gold mask. The suit gauntlets have these strange drill looking devices on top. He turns to see the cops arrive but is more focused on Blake as she lands between him and them. “So, you're the Shocker, huh?”

Shocker: “The Cat, huh? Guess I gotta test on someone before killing the Spider.” The mask kind of echos his voice, but it doesn’t do much to change it, thus still making it recognizable to her.

Blake: “Wait. That voice... Fifestone?”

Shocker: “So, you’ve got some brains, huh? You're the first person to actually figure me out.” Fifestone: “But good luck trying to stop me. I’ve got some major horsepower behind me now!” A strange energy surge in the drills of the gauntlets. He puts his fists forward and the energy disperses as a beam, and she narrowly dodges, and it hits the building behind her... result in a slight tremor.

Blake: “Whoa... Guess I found out what's causing the tremors.”

Fifestone: “Shocked me the first time I used these too.”

Blake: “So what? Is that why your called the Shocker?” She says sarcastically.

Fifestone: “As much as I’d like to go into the details, I really much be going.” He charges again and pounds the ground, create a large shockwave the pushes her and the cops back from where their standing. Afterwards, he turns around, charges again and releases a pulse while his fists are pointed to the ground, thus launching him into air, as if having some kind of super jump.

Blake: “Shit!” She tries to follow after recovering. She follows as he traverses the roofs with continuous super jumps. She gets relatively close and tries to attack, but...

Fifestone: “Not gonna be that easy!” He turns quickly and fires off a quick beam. Which hits her and knocks her out of the air, and she falls as he continues across the rooftops. She’s able to save herself from hitting the ground with her grapple, but by the time she’s recovered her footing on the ground, he’s far off to follow after him again.

Blake: “Damnit. This is bad.” The next day, we all meet as usual where she revealed everything.

Weiss: “These tremors are just being caused by some weird gauntlets?”

Yang: “And what the hell is the Shocker supposed to mean?”

Ruby: “Yang. I think we need to focus the gauntlets first.”

PENNY: “Well, if I were to make a guess regarding, I’d say their using a unique combination of earth and energy Dust. This particular combination being able to simulate seismic shockwaves, which in turn cause the tremors.”

Weiss: “Aaaand I think I just figured out the Shocker thing and I hate that I did.”

Blake: “Rather than being literal with the name as if he’s able to shock being, he tries to approach the more scientific aspect of his tech and make being think about it?”

Yang: “Yeesh. This feels like dealing with someone wearing a thinker costume for Halloween but 10 times more complicated.”

Ruby: “I’m gonna go ahead and assume he didn’t make that suit himself. Vernal didn’t mention anything about him being particularly good at science.”

Blake: “Sounds like the Tinkerer's MO yet again.”

Weiss: “Then I guess we know what we need to do to figure this out.” And that’s Vernal calls again.

Ruby: “Go ahead, Captain.”

Vernal: “It’s Shocker again. He’s moved on street stores and is robbing a major bank in the city’s East end.”

Ruby: “Guess Fifestone is getting bolder. We need to hurry.”

Vernal: “My men and I are already setting up a perimeter around the bank. Thankfully all the people inside got out safe, but now everything else inside is defenseless against him.”

Ruby: “Okay. We're on our way.” And we hang up. “It’s Fifestone. We need to go now.”

Blake: “Right.” As we quickly change into our suits and get going.

Chapter Text

Not too long after, we reach the bank and prepare for battle.

Ruby: “Black Cat? Stay out here with the police perimeter. He might get out and make a break for it, so I need you to be ready in that event.”

Blake: “Okay. Just be careful. His gauntlets are strong enough to cause these tremors, so they pack a real punch.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Once that’s settled, Blake stays on standby perched on a nearby building while I enter the bank from the roof. Inside, I descend from the ceiling upside down as Fifestone walks out of the large vault carrying two large duffle bags full of Lien. “Okay, Weiss. You know the drill.”

Weiss: “Beginning the scan.” Gotta do what I can to stall and keep him here while the scan is underway.

Ruby: “There you are. You know, you're a pretty hard guy to find Fifestone. Long time no see.”

Fifestone: “For once I have to agree.”

Ruby: “Oh, but... I’m pretty sure those don’t belong to you.” As I web the bags and toss them out of his reach. Then I use my webs in a slingshot maneuver to launch myself at him, resulting is us ending up in the vault.

Fifestone: “Grgh! Grah! Get off of me!” He gave me an uppercut that made me hit the ceiling. Once I hit the floor, he moved to hit again where I lie, but I move out of the way when I use my webs to close the door on us.

Ruby: “Whoops! Clumsy me. I’ve trapped us in here. How about a game to keep us busy? Wanna start with 20 questions?” He tries to give me a punch to the face, but I dodge. “No? Then how about some thumb wrestling?” He tries again, but it doesn’t go well. “Okay. Then I guess we’re playing face punch.” I try to punch him in the face, but his helmet is tougher then it looks. He takes this chance give me a charged punch which knocked me back so hard, I blew the door out all the way across the main hall. At least we’re out of the safe now. It took me a second to recover from the attack. “Geez! They really do pack a punch.”

Fifestone: “It’s about time I run into you. Now I can fulfill my deal with Tinkerer. So, let's get this over with!” He fires off a few beams that I dodge before getting in close to land a few blows of my own.

Ruby: “You know, I gotta say, you’ve got one ugly suit!” As I narrowly dodge another beam.

Fifestone: “I have to agree. But I couldn’t care less with the kind of power it has!” He tries to go for another punch that I avoid with a backflip. Getting a good distance, I launch at him with another slingshot move and knock him over to the ground and try to hold him there.

Ruby: “True. The tech is honestly a little impressive. But I can’t overlook how dangerous it is.”

Weiss: “As you should. The scan is complete.” To which he delivers a punch that gets me off of him and we continue fighting. “PENNY was right on the money on how they work. It's all in the drill looking devices on top of his gauntlets. And as for a potential weakness, the gauntlets have a failsafe feature to cease functioning should the outer shell be damaged. It's likely for the user's safety since the damage done could affect the energy’s dispersal.”

Ruby: “I see. So, I just need to damage the gauntlets.”

Fifestone: “This would be much easier if you just sit still!”

Ruby: “Okay, let me think about it.” As I land on the ground a good distance from him. “Okay, I’ve thought about it.” He punched the ground with both fists and sent out a shockwave in my direction that I had to jump again to avoid. “And. I. Pass!” As I swing in close and deliver a hard kick to his back and slam him against the wall, while his arms were still in front of him, resulting in some major cracks in the gauntlets armor.

Fifestone: “Grh! Why you little-!” He tried to use his gauntlets again, but as soon as he tried to charge them, the failsafe kicked in and the power cut off. “Huh? What is happening? What have you done!?”

Ruby: “Aw! I’m sorry. Did I break your toys? How sad. But don’t worry. I’ve got a present for ya right here!” As I give him a hard punch and knock out the front door and onto the street. I follow him outside and use my webs to pin him there. “And stay out!” I swing up onto a nearby lamp post. “He’s all yours officers!” As I swing away and join Blake nearby as we oversee the arrest. Vernal was the one to remove his helmet and reveal his identity to the others. Once we assure the arrest was successful, we make our back for a quick rest. Days afterwards came the news of Fifestone’s case.

Lisa: “A few days ago, the escaped criminal Hanlon Fifestone was arrest thanks to valiant efforts from the Scarlet Spider. However, Fifestone was found wearing a strange suit with unique abilities. The follow up investigation revealed the suit to be responsible for the recent tremors, the shockwave of which were why Mr. Fifestone referred to himself as the Shocker. The investigation of the suit also revealed once again it was the work of the mysterious Tinkerer as his insignia was discovered inside Fifestone’s helmet. Everything Fifestone had stolen under this title has been successfully recovered and returned to their proper places.” Repairs of everything Shocker damaged were immediately underway. But as one storm cleared, another quietly occurs from the shadows. As we see the Malachite Twins in an alley meeting with Jax accompanied by his own entourage.

Jax: “Then the matter is settled. The Maggia will meet with Ms. Malachite within the coming weeks.”

Melanie: “Just know our mother has her reservations about this collaboration.”

Jax: “Believe me, some of us in the Maggia are quite content with this either, but we acknowledge the fact that we share a common enemy, and thus why, for now, we are willing to push back these feelings for the sake of our businesses. These ‘heroes’ have caused us enough trouble. We need to push back.”

Miltia: “For once we agree on something.”

Jax: “Then I look forward to this meeting. Catch you later, girls.”

Melanie & Miltia: “Hmph. Whatever.” As they walk off into the night. Jax also decides to leave it at that as he returns to his limo.

Jax: “Tch. This better be worth it.” And with that, the night is silent... for now.

Chapter Text

A few weeks after Fifestone’s conviction, the city is finally cleaned up of Hazel’s sand, and thankfully, the damage Fifestone caused wasn’t too bad to where it couldn’t be repaired quickly. As for us, today our school is doing something special. Representatives of the four most highly ranked colleges across the world are in town at the moment seeking potential applicants. They'll be here for a few days with a schedule of each high schools to be visiting. Today in the morning, Signal’s own seniors are visiting first, and Professor Ozpin is leading us as the school's representative. The four schools are Beacon Academy here in Vale, Shade Academy Vacuo, Atlas Academy up in Atlas, and Haven Academy in Mistral. Yang and I always aspired to attend Beacon, so we’d always be close to home, but now I have to in order to keep protecting Vale as the Scarlet Spider. Same with Blake since she’s come to really like this town and wants to keep protecting it until she moves on to become Kuo Kuana’s chiefess. As for Weiss, she still plans to stick around in Vale and thus will be applying to Beacon as well. As we explore the venue, Ozpin speaks up when we reach the Haven booth.

Ozpin: “Well, this is certainly a surprise. I didn’t expect you of all people to come all the way out here for this. I would’ve you’d send out one of your staff instead, Leo.” we come across the Headmaster of Haven Academy, Leonardo Lionheart. He’s a middle-aged Faunus man with a mane of tan-grey hair and beard. He has a tanned complexion with dark brown eyes. He wears a white dress shirt with a black western necktie, over that is a dark brown six button vest, over that was a brown trench coat, along with dark brown pants and dark brown shoes. His Faunus feature is tufted lion tail the same color of his hair and beard. “It would be one thing if Beacon’s Headmaster were here, but Headmasters of foreign Academy’s don’t typically come as representatives.”

Leo: “Usually, I wouldn’t either. But I’ve been so busy lately that I thought I could use this opportunity to take a bit of a working vacation. Get away from it all for a little bit.”

Ozpin: “I see. Well, I can certainly appreciate seeing an old friend like this. We don’t really get many opportunities to see each other like this these days.”

Leo: “Again, I’ve been busy, so it’s been hard.”

Ruby: “Um, excuse me Professor? How do you know Professor Lionheart?”

Leo: “Hm? And who is this young lady?”

Ozpin: “Ah. My apologies. This is Ruby Rose, one of my school's students. She’s a prodigy that I allowed to attend two years early.”

Leo: “Really now?”

Ozpin: “Yes. Her mother was a well-respected scientist in the SDC but passed away when she was real young.”

Leo: “I see. My condolences.”

Ruby: “Thank you.”

Ozpin: “And to answer your question, Ms. Rose, Leo and I have known each other for years. He was a student at Haven, and I met and got to know him when I spent a year there myself. My college years were spent taking a year in each school gathered here before graduating after spending my final year in Beacon.”

Leo: “I wouldn’t exactly say we were close though. Though I hate to admit it, he was always the smartest one among our school. And somehow, I get the feeling that was the case in the other schools too.”

Ozpin: “I will neither confirm nor deny. But you were certainly no slouch either. It takes considerable skill to be able to match my grade streak all year long.”

Leo: “Still not so good at cheering people up, are you? Regardless, if you're as smart as Ozpin says you are, then I’m guessing you already have your future figured out?”

Ruby: “I do. I plan to attend Beacon and become a great scientist like my mother before me and hopefully pick up where she left off in trying to make the world a better place through science.”

Leo: “I suppose that was to be expected. While I wish we could have you at our school, we’re not exactly known for our science department. That’s more in Beacon and Atlas’ territory. But of luck to you regardless, young Rose.”

Ruby: “Thank you, Professor.” And that’s when Scroll starts ringing and I see it’s from Vernal calling the Spider line. “Uh, my uncle is calling so I gotta go take this. It was nice meeting you Professor Lionheart!” As I run off into the crowd. Once I find a way up the roof, I answer the call. “Sorry for the delay Captain. I was in a large crowd. What’s the sitch?”

Vernal: “I assume you already know, but Tock Barrie managed to escape last night.”

Ruby: “Tombstone? Ugh! Not her again.”

Vernal: “It gets worse. My men are currently in a chase with her, but they hardly do anything cause the vehicle she jacked is an SDC truck carrying dangerous chemicals.” At that moment, I immediately start changing into my suit while still on the line. “They can’t do anything to stop her without risking the people's safety.”

Ruby: “If she’s on the move right now, then I don’t have time to go back to the lab to grab our anesthesia packs.”

Vernal: “Thankfully we’re equipped with tear gas canisters that should prove just as effective. But first we need to stop that truck and get her away from it.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry Captain. I’m on my way!” Once I hang up, I put on my mask and hood before swinging off into the city. I get a call from Weiss right after.

Weiss: “Ruby? Where are you? We lost track of you at the Haven booth.”

Ruby: “We’ve got trouble. I got a tip from Vernal about Tombstone. She's escaped and is now speed around town in an SDC truck carrying dangerous chemicals. I’m on my way to stop her now.”

Weiss: “Crap! Should I send Blake?”

Ruby: “Hm... Have her go to the lab first to get the anesthesia packs. Even though the cops are equipped with tear gas, we’ll every advantage we can get, but I don’t have time to get them myself with her on the move as we speak.”

Weiss: “Okay. I’m on it. Just please be careful. You and I both know what she’s capable of.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I got this. I love you.”

Weiss: “I love you too.” To which we hang up and I finally find the car chase. Two police cruisers are chasing a speeding SDC truck. I work to catch up and land on top of the truck.

Tombstone: “Huh?” I try to crawl along the side to reach her, but she can see me in the mirrors. “Not gonna be that easy, love!” She starts swerving the truck from side to side trying to throw me off.

Ruby: “Whoa! Tombstone, stop! The chemicals!” Though I highly doubt she can hear me or probably doesn’t even care. Nonetheless, she succeeds in tossing me off the truck, but at the cost of flipping the truck and causing it to roll out of control. And of all places for it to be heading for, it’s at the center where the college gathering is being held. And at the same time, Professor Lionheart is sitting in a break room trying to relax, and I wasn’t face enough to stop the truck from hitting the building as it crashes into his break room, hits him and covers him in various chemicals. Tock then bursts out of the driver's seat and tries to run. The crowd heard the commotion and when Tock was seen coming out of the break room, they all fled in panic. I catch up to her through the hole in the wall but failed to notice the unconscious Lionheart as I went straight after Tock. As the crowd is running, Yang calls Blake and informs her of the current situation.

Yang: “Blake! Ruby and Tombstone are here at the venue. We could really use those packs right about now!”

Blake: “I’m on my way. You just worry about getting out of there.” It didn’t too much longer for the whole crowd to get out and for Blake to finally arrive as she gave a good enough kick to knock Tock aside. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything!”

Ruby: “Not at all! In fact, how about you join us? There's always room for more.” As she hands me my pack that I strap on quickly.

Tombstone: “I was wondering where you were, little kitten. But I’m not gonna make it that easy this time.”

Blake: “We’ll see about that.” We tussle around with her for a bit, trying to get an opportunity to dose her with the anesthesia, but true to her word, she keeps blocking every attempt. And eventually, she manages to grab the packs and yank them off our backs before tossing them outside.

Tombstone: “Told ya it wouldn’t be that easy.” But then a miracle happened. Several canisters of tear gas were being tossed into the building through the windows. “What the-?”

Ruby: “I think that’s our cue to leave!” We quickly swing up to escape via the skylight as the canisters unleash the gas.

Tombstone: “Hey! *cough cough* Come back here! *cough cough cough* And fight me... like... real...” And she finally passes out. The police came in wearing gasmasks afterwards and made the arrest. Tock was already in er transport and on her way out when the cops were alerted to another noise from the building. When they went to investigate, they had found the truck, the chemicals spilt all over... and the room cover in a strange black and white singe, with little crackles of black and white electricity... and on top of that, Professor Lionheart was nowhere to be found.

Chapter Text

We saw the strange singe marks afterwards and got a scan to try and determine the energy, but we were unable to. The energy signature is unrecognizable, with no match to it on any known server... except for one.

PENNY: “The only server I could find a match was on an encrypted file in the SDC server, labeled under the ‘terminated’ archive.

Yang: “Terminated?”

Weiss: “It’s the archive of files for projects that are shut down or deemed a waste of time.”

PENNY: “This file was sorted into ‘shut down’ for being too dangerous. The Atlas council has been keeping a closer eye on the SDC’s projects and their potential risks after all of the recent supervillains caused by them. Their shutting down any projects not related to actual weapons development after now believing that recreating Captain Vale is nothing more than a pipedream.”

Blake: “Do we know what this file is about?”

PENNY: “No, but I’m decrypting it as we speak. The encryption is quite heavy, so it’ll take a minute. If I put some serious effort into though, I might be able to unlock by tomorrow.

Ruby: “Nothing we can do about it then. We'll just have to wait.” It was then that I got another call, but the number was unrecognized. “Uh, hello?”

Ozpin: “Thank you for picking up, Ms. Rose. I understand this must be unexpected for you.”

Ruby: “Professor Ozpin?” I can understand how he got my number, as it’s registered in my student profile when I applied, but I didn’t expect to actually get a call from anyone in the school, let alone the Headmaster. “Is something wrong?”

Ozpin: “Don’t worry, you're not in trouble for anything. I was just wondering if you have seen Leonardo at all since meeting him?”

Ruby: “Professor Lionheart? No, I haven’t.”

Yang: “Something wrong, Sis?”

Ruby: “Excuse me a second, Sir. Professor Ozpin is asking about Professor Lionheart’s whereabouts. Have any of you seen him since the gathering?”

Yang: “Nope.”

Blake: “I haven’t.”

Weiss: “Me neither.” And I go back to Ozpin.

Ruby: “Sorry, Sir. I just Yang, Weiss and Blake but they haven’t seen him since the gathering either.”

Ozpin: “I see.”

Ruby: “Might I ask why you're asking about him.”

Ozpin: “Well, after you left, I continued chatting with him for a minute before he went on break. Before we parted ways though, I invited him to join me for dinner so we could catch up. We agreed to meet up at 5, I waited for an hour before deciding to try and call him, but I haven’t gotten an answer. It’s possible something could’ve come up to where he couldn’t come but if that were the case, he would’ve called and told me. I’m starting to get worried. Unfortunately, I’m well aware that the police can’t do anything unless he’s been missing for at least 24 hours. I’ve been trying to figure it out on my own and see if I can find him before I go to the police.”

Ruby: “I’m sorry to hear that Professor. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Ozpin: “I appreciate your concern Ms. Rose, but I can’t allow a student to burden themselves with this on top of their studies. Thank you for your time, Ms. Rose.” And he hangs up.

Ruby: “Guess that’s something I can worry about later. In the meantime. Weiss? Regarding the strange singe, do you think you find out what kind of chemicals were in that truck while PENNY decrypts the file?”

Weiss: “Hm. I’ll see what I can do.” Once that was all said and done, we all split up like usual and waited for the next day for PENNY’s findings. Meanwhile, during all of this, Leonardo can be seen wandering the alleys in a major daze, almost as in an internal struggle.

Leo: “Get... out... of my head!” As he wanders, he sometimes flickers with black and white energy. Eventually, we finally reach after school the next day. But just as we were about to leave school, something happened. At the same time as school ended, Leo is kneeling in an alley still fighting this feeling. “I can’t do it. It's too petty. But still, every fiber in me is telling me to find and kill him for it. I don’t understand this! I... can’t... control it!” As a large burst of this black and white energy occurred. We could see it from where we’re standing as we leave the school.

Yang: “That doesn’t look good.”

Ruby: “Weiss? You and Yang go on ahead to your place. Blake and I will see what that is before we join you.”

Weiss: “Okay. Just be careful.” She and Yang head for the train station while Blake and I duck into a nearby alley and quickly change into our suits before we swing off to investigate. But I could never imagine what we were about to find.

Chapter Text

Once we reach the area where we saw the large blast, we come across an unexpected sight. We encounter Professor Lionheart, but now completely recolored and glowing. His trench coat, vest, necktie, pants, shoes, hair and eyes are all white, while his dress shirt, tail, skin and the buttons on his vest are all pitch black.

Ruby: “Professor Lionheart? What happened to you?”

Blake: “That aura... It’s the same as the singe mark.”

Leo?: “Ozpin... Where is Ozpin?” He says while seething with anger. “He must die!”

Blake: “What’s gotten into him?”

Leo?: “If your here to stop me... then you must die as well!” As he outstretches his arm and fires some kind of beam that we narrowly avoid.

Blake: “What in the world!?”

Ruby: “Geez! Talk about Mr. Negative over here!”

Mr. Negative: “Hmph! Cliché, but not inaccurate for me.”

Blake: “He’s just rolling with it just like that?”

Ruby: “Never mind that! How are we going to handle this?”

Mr. Negative: “Here’s a simple answer. You don’t!” To which he fired beams from both hands to try and hit us both. Blake tries to get in close, but he deflects her kick with a sudden barrier for a split second, and she was knocked back a short distance.

Blake: “Damn!” I try to go in and attack myself. Every time he manages to knock me back with his barrier, I manage to zip right back to him thanks to my quicker reflexes. But whatever this power is, it’s also granting him greater endurance as he’s able to power through my attacks before knocking me back again but this with greater force than before.

Mr. Negative: “What an annoyance. I don’t have time to play with you. I’ve got bigger fish to fry!” As he moves his hands in a way to send out a bright light to disorient us. And by the time our vison clears, he’s gone without a trace.

Ruby: “Crap! Where did he go?” Immediately afterwards, Weiss is on the line.

Weiss: “Okay, guys. We just got here. What's happening?”

Blake: “We’ve got a major problem. We'll talk about when we get there.” As she and I start swinging through the city.

Ruby: “And what about that file?”

Weiss: “As promised, PENNY managed to decrypt the file and is ready to report her findings.”

Ruby: “Then we’ll have plenty to talk about when we meet.” And once we do get there, we tell Weiss and Yang everything that happened with Lionheart and even showed them the playback from my visor.

Yang: “How the hell could this have happened?”

Blake: “Hopefully PENNY can help us figure that out.”

PENNY: “Of course. The canceled project was title Project D-Lite. The idea was to try and create superhumans by stimulating emotions. However, the project was deemed too dangerous when because of the results. The test subjects may have gained superpowers, but it came at the costs of an uncontrollable split personality that is essentially meant to be a person's negative part of them.”

Ruby: *sigh*”Not another one...” I’m getting some bad Cinder flashbacks upon hearing split personality.

PENNY: “To make matter worse, though the effects on the test subjects were temporary, the scientists deduced that it was only because of the amount of serum they were given. They never confirmed it, but they theorized that depending on the amount, the effects could likely be permanent.”

Weiss: “The chemicals in the truck were the components for the D-Lite serum. If the Professor was there when the truck, then the amount chemicals he was hit with could make it permanent if that theory is true.”

PENNY: “This negative side has a very corruptive effect on the mind and makes them do things they wouldn’t normally do. Mostly because it tends to amplify the persons hatred for even the pettiest issues.”

Blake: “Lionheart kept saying that Ozpin must die.”

Ruby: “If this power even amplifies petty hatred, it must be because of Ozpin always being the top student when they were in Haven.”

Yang: “Then that means Ozpin’s in danger. And it’s only a matter of time before Mr. Negative finds him.”

PENNY: “I’ve just checked Signal’s surveillance system. Professor Ozpin has already left for the day. At this point, he could be anywhere in the city.”

Ruby: “Then we’d better we can find either him or Lionheart before they find each other.” To which Blake and I went back out to patrol the city looking for either Ozpin or Lionheart. But to our distress, we couldn’t either of them after searching all day. We did hear of a break in at antique store by a black and white glowing Faunus, but we couldn’t get there in time to intercept him because all he did was break in, take some antique sword from Mistral, and just left without so much as a word. My only guess is that he was potentially arming himself. Though we may not have found either of them, there haven’t been any other reports of Lionheart either other than the sword theft. We just hope that continues to be the case while we rest for tomorrow. Things went pretty normal as usual the next day as we went to school. But while we were inside, Leonardo can be seen across the street from Signal with the stolen sword in hand. I just hope we can end this before someone gets hurt.

Chapter Text

As our school day starts and we’re traversing the hall, Leo bursts through the front. Obviously, everyone went into a panic as he walked in all glowy and with a sword in hand.

Mr. Negative: “Ozpin! Where are you!?” Since his beef is with Ozpin alone, he doesn’t pay any attention to the students as he barges in. Allowing us a chance to whisper in without worry.

Ruby: “You guys keep an eye out for him while Blake and I change!”

Blake: “But be careful!”

Yang: “Right!” She and Weiss make a point of hiding in the hall while watching him, while Blake and I make a break for the roof to change into our suits. He found the Headmasters office pretty quickly and worked to break the door down.

Ozpin: “What in the world is happening out there!?”

Mr. Negative: “Ozpin! I know you're in there!”

Ozpin: “Leo? Is that you?”

Mr. Negative: “Ragh!” He charges his fist with extra power before punching the door, completely breaking it off its hinges. Ozpin didn’t hesitate to stand in a panic, his cane already in hand.

Ozpin: “Leo!? What on Remnant has gotten into you?” He shows shock upon finally seeing his current state. “Leo... What happened to you?”

Mr. Negative: “Nothing that concerns you. What you should be concerned about is what's about to happen next.” As he readies his sword.

Ozpin: “You can’t be serious...”

Mr. Negative: “It’s time that you paid for my humiliation!” Leo didn’t seem to notice, but for a split second, it looked like Ozpin’s cane had a faint green glow before he turned it around in his hand to hold it like a sword.

Ozpin: “So be it then.” To which Ozpin manages to get from behind his desk before they start clashing. Leo is not at all trained in the sword, so his movements are sloppy, but his new reflexes and power make up the difference and help him keep up with Ozpin, who is clearly expertly trained based on his fluent movements as they take their fight out into the hallway. But what’s most surprising is the fact that Ozpin’s cane is still completely intact, even after taking clashes from the sword after Leo charges some of his energy into it. That and the way he’s able to keep up with Leo’s new apparent speed as he starts dashing around every so often.

Mr. Negative: “How the hell is this possible!? You should be dead by now!”

Ozpin: “Must not be your lucky day I suppose.” Just as Leo is about to strike again, I swing in from the stairs and give him a good kick back outside before Blake joins me.

Blake: “Get out of here! Quickly!”

Ozpin: “But I-”

Blake: “Just go! We'll be fine!”

Ozpin: *sigh*”Right!” To which he runs in the opposite direction to evacuate through a back entrance while Weiss and Yang escape to a different exit and we follow Leo outside.

Ruby: “It’s just you and us now Professor. We can still end this peacefully. You just have to fight this anger hatred.”

Mr. Negative: “No! I’m not letting this slip by me!” As he unleashes a large spread of energy beams all over the place! Continuously dodging them proves to be a challenge before we finally get in close enough to try and get in some hits. We manage to land a few hits before he pushes back with a small burst of energy. “Enough! Now we do this MY way!” As he shines a bright flash for a second, and when it clears, the world around us looks like is going to fall apart all while emitting Leo’s negative energy.

Blake: “What the... Where are we?”

Mr. Negative: “Welcome... to my reality!” As he starts floating in the air and surrounds himself with a large construct of negative energy in the shape the upper body of some kind demon. It moves to attack us, which we dodge, the scratches it leaves in the ground summons a bunch of humanlike figures while blank white eyes. As we’re fighting off the small army of shadows, which all go down in like one hit, his demonic puppet retracts and he returns to the ground, but he kneels as if showing exhaustion.

Ruby: “That’s it! Black Cat! Clear me a path!” She does some crazy spin move to clear out a good number of them, allowing me to zip in close to Leo and give a hard kick while he’s off guard. In his tumble to the ground a short distance from me, he drops his sword and loses his focus, causing his shadow minions to disappear. He tries to get up again and reforms his demon puppet which tries to attack again, but Blake and I dodge, Blake helps me up into the air and I finish this by swinging around the demon and zip in close, delivering one last kick to Leo’s face just as he tries to turn around. Once out cold, the demon disappears in a flash of light, to which we wake up to find ourselves lying on the ground and look to see Leo kneeling to the ground in pain, and his colors revert back to normal. As we approach to check up on him, he looks up to us in severe confusion.

Leo: “The Scarlet Spider? And the Black Cat? Where am I? How did I end up here?”

Blake: “How are his vitals?” My visor gets a quick scan before I answer.

Ruby: “Well... he still seems to have the power within him, but it looks like its subsided for now. Guess his other self couldn’t handle so much overexertion.” It’s at this point when we start explaining everything that happened to Leo, and he shows serious sorrow for everything he’s done. Hence why he gave himself up peacefully when the cops finally arrived. After his arrest, I called Vernal and explain the whole thing again so she knew what was going so she could make sure proper measures are taken when making his cell. Afterwards, given the this whole, school was canceled for the day and we all met up again at Weiss’.

Yang: “Mission accomplished. Lionheart is behind bars and Ozpin is safe and sound.”

Weiss: “Maybe. But isn’t there something we should discuss?”

Blake: “You mean what you were saying about Ozpin? How he was able to handle himself against Lionheart like that?”

Weiss: “Exactly! No matter how you look at it, he should not have been able to hold Leonardo off for as long as he did back there. Something doesn’t seem quite right with.”

Yang: “Now that you mention it... and I’m sure it could’ve been the lighting reflecting off of Leo’s sword, what with Leo glowing and the hallway lights on at the time, but I could’ve sworn I saw Ozpin’s cane glow green a few times when it clashed with the sword.”

Ruby: “Hm... It all does seem a little... strange.” But that would be something we would have to figure out later as we cut to an undisclosed meeting room occupied by Lil Miss Malachite and the five Maggia Dons, along with the Malachite twins standing behind their mother like a couple of bodyguards.

Malachite: “So, it at least seems to me that we’re all in agreement of our resentment towards the recent activities of this new little spider themed hero.”

Jax: “Yes. And though we all may not completely trust you, we do understand the urgency of eliminating such a potential threat. Thus why, for now, we are willing to put those difference aside and work with you to take care of it.”

Malachite: “Glad to know your honest, at least. But don’t worry sugar, you can trust me enough to handle our little spider problem.”

Jax: “The Maggia is willing to handle all of the dirty work. All we ask from you is sufficient fire power to handle the job.”

Malachite: “But of course. We have more than enough fire power to go around. Of course, they don’t come cheap. It's going to cost you.”

Jax: “Just name your price and we’ll handle.”

Malachite: “Very good. Then if that’s all settled, I’ll be going now. I’ve still got business to attend too.” To which she continues to look particularly in Junior’s direction, and they smirk at each other without the other noticing as she and the girls walk out. Just what are those two up to?

Chapter Text

It had been a while since Professor Lionheart’s conviction, and now it’s around Christmas time. Christmas Eve in fact. Unfortunately, crime doesn’t observe holidays, which means neither can we. And tonight's patrol led me to an old friend, Neo Politan, accompanied by a new face. Guess she got her own partner since Torchwick’s been sent to the slammer. This person looks like average man with flashy purple hair, with some light blue around the bottom near his neck, very sky-blue eyes, and what looks like fangs in his mouth. They wear a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a kind of sea foam bow tie with violet ends, along with violet pants held up with a belt a suspenders, violet fingerless gloves and very dark purple shoes with dark grey soles. They also have a very noticeable cat tail the same color as his hair, starting with light blue and ending in purple. I caught them red handed leaving a street bank with bags full of Lien, but the strange thing is that the alarm never went off in the course of their heist, I just happened to catch them leaving by chance.

Ruby: “And where do you think you're going in such a rush?”

Neo: “Damnit! And we were doing so well too.” As she dropped her bag and drew her knives, ready to fight. “Get out of here, Curcio! Take the money and run!”

Curcio: “Yes ma’am!” He ran with his bag in hand as Neo charged and kept me back while he got away. Her skills definitely didn’t falter since last time. At the very least, I was able to disarm her, but she still managed to put up quite a fight before she heard the sirens incoming.

Neo: “That’s my cue.” As she backed off and readied a smoke bomb. I grabbed her dropped bag with my webs before she threw it down, thus keeping her from retrieving it as she escapes. I leave the money at the scene and leave before the cops show up. Vernal calls as the cops investigate the scene.

Vernal: “So what happened this time? Usually, you already have the perps ready for us.”

Ruby: “Neo Politan. She tends to get pretty crafty with using smoke bombs. Strange thing is that she wasn’t alone. She had some cat tailed Faunus with her that got away before she did. Unfortunately, that means they still got away with some money.”

Vernal: “Hm. We did beef up Torchwick’s security, so I suppose she didn’t want to risk getting caught herself while breaking him out, so she got a new partner. Do we have a name?”

Ruby: “All I heard was ‘Curcio’. They barely spoke, and the darkness made it hard to completely distinguish their gender.”

Vernal: “A cat tailed Faunus named Curcio will be good enough to start.”

Ruby: “Is there anything else you can tell me about Neo before you go?”

Vernal: “Nothing at the moment. I’ll look more into her file on top of the whole Curcio thing.” Once she hangs up, I meet up with Blake and tell her what happened before we call it for the night. She and Weiss will be stopping by my place to celebrate Christmas with us since Blake doesn’t have any family around to celebrate with and while Weiss has the same reason, even if her family was around most of them have their own reasons for skipping. Jacques always puts work over holidays. Same with Winter in her military career but not because of profit and reputation like Jacques, but because she believes the job to be too important to take too much time off. And Whitley seems too occupied with his own devices too even worry about holidays, though no one is sure exactly what he’s up too. Willow is the only one up to celebrating the holidays along with their butler Klein, but just the two of them in such a big house wasn’t worth the effort. All of this was why Weiss will also be staying and celebrating with us. Even though we will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow, we will obviously still need to keep eyes and ears out for trouble in the city. Speaking of which, we cut to see Neo and Curcio together in the old hideout she and Torchwick were in last time.

Curcio: “Well, that heist was certainly a major bust. Even though we still made it out with some money to show for it, it is a bit of a shame to not have all of it. It makes me feel like our efforts were completely wasted.”

Neo: “I know what you mean. I had the same feeling when the spider foiled me and Roman before he became the Nevermore.”

Curcio: “That reminds me, you said the wings eh used were provided by the Tinkerer, right? The guy whose been supplying all sorts of criminals with unique tech.”

Neo: “The very same.”

Curcio: “Man. I wish I could get ahold of some of that tech so I can study it. With each villain that seems to appear with his tech in tow, my curiosity for it only continues to grow.” To which they hear a loud knock at the door. “Hm? Who could that be at this hour?”

Neo: “Mm... Sudden sense of deja vu here.” She tossed Curcio a gun while she readied her knives as they cautiously approached the door. She takes a peek through the door window only to see no one there and is instead met with a few crates. “Serious deja vu.” As she puts away the knives and opens the door. “Help me get these things inside.”

Curcio: “Yes ma’am.” Once they have them all inside, Neo reads the letter addressed to her attached to the smallest box.

Neo: “’Dear Ms. Neo Politan, I do humbly apologize for the arrest your boss, Roman Torchwick, after my last delivery. To make things up to you, I have prepared a much greater gift for yourself. Consider it a special Christmas gift. I look forward to seeing what kind of mischief and chaos you’ll cause with my latest creation. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays too you. Signed, the Tinkerer.’ Well, it looks like you’ll get your wish, Curcio.”

Curcio: “It’s a Christmas miracle.” They say with a sinister grin. “Let’s take a look.” They open up the crates and find some computers, a few drones, and a new suit. The manual enclosed with the suit is labeled ‘Project: Mysteria’. “According to this manual, the suit is made simulate certain powers and abilities, while the drones are weaponized and equipped with hologram projectors and cloaking tech. The suit alone can be managed by a single person but using the drones in unison to that is a two-person job. Guess controlling the drones are what the computers are for, as well as where I will come in.”

Neo: “You got that right. Just by looking at the suit, I can tell it’s custom tailored for me alone. Kinda creepy how that implies he knows my measurements, but as long as it helps me pull off our heists and deal with the spider, I’m not gonna complain. It’s time I finally avenge Roman’s arrest and get revenge on little Red.” As smirks evilly. Things are about to get rather trippy here soon.

Chapter Text

To be quite honest, I wasn’t expecting our Christmas to go so smoothly. I can get over not hearing anything about other criminals, but Neo and Curcio hadn’t been seen all day, which concerns me given how dangerous Neo is. And yet, it wasn’t until the 26th that we heard of anything new happening.

Officer: “All units be advised. We have reports of a mysterious flying through the city.” It didn’t take long for Blake and I to go straight to patrolling to keep an eye out for this woman. Vernal called in as we were swinging around.

Ruby: “Talk to me captain.”

Vernal: “I’m sure your busy looking for the flying woman, so I’ll try to keep this brief. I’m still working on uncovering this Curcio you mentioned, but I was able to pull Politan’s file. Follow up investigations into her after her first arrest revealed her birth name to be Trivia Vanille, daughter of the deceased billionaires Jimmy and Carmel Vanille. They were killed in an arson attack on their mansion years ago when Neo was still just a child. The follow up investigation revealed the motive though. Their fortune came from aiding the Maggia with drug smuggling thanks to Jimmy’s front job as a city manager. The family they were working for was the Xiong family, which at the time was ran by the current heads father, Hei Xiong Senior. However, ever young Trivia was born, Xiong suspected the Vanille would one day betray them for the sake of letting their daughter have an innocent life, so he eventually blew the whistle on them, intending to kill them all. At first, we all thought Trivia had died with her parents, but her body was never found. It wasn’t until after her first arrest as Neo that we discovered otherwise. By some miracle, she survived and wandered alone trying to survive, until she was found by Torchwick who took her in and helped her start her new life as Neo Politan.”

Ruby: “And from there she became his infamous partner. But what her skill?”

Vernal: “Where do you think? Various training from Maggia assassin’s thanks to Torchwick’s connections with them, while intentionally avoiding contact between her and the Xiong family in the event that they might recognize her and finish the job.”

Ruby: “Make sense I guess.”

Vernal: “That’s all I have on Politan. I’ll keep you posted on my progress into the Curcio search.” After she hangs up, we see a strange burst of... pink smoke a few blocks away.

Blake: “What is that?”

Ruby: “Better go check it out.” As we get closer to the source, we catch sight of our mystery flyer. Her figure in her suit definitely gives away she’s a woman. She wears a skintight brown suit, a white sash around her waist, silver boots with high heels, silver gauntlets with black gloves, some silver around the shoulders and neck area, a white short cape that splits at the bottom, and her head is completely obscured by what looks like a pink tinted fish bowl filled with pink smoke as a helmet. As she flew in the air, a trail of pink smoke emitted from her legs, and as she fired off laser beams of pink energy from her hands, a strange mark of three triangles together appear briefly.

Weiss: “What in the world am I seeing?”

Ruby: “I don’t know. Ready the scanner so we’ll know what we’re up against.”

Weiss: “Already on it.” Time to get her attention.

Ruby: “Alright, fishbowl head! What’s the big idea attacking in the holiday season?”

Mysteria: “The name is Mysteria.” Her voice is distorted as she speaks. “And this town will learn to respect me, once I destroy its beloved protectors!” She fires off a beam at us that we have to doge as we split up and swing around her to keep up with her in midair.

Blake: “Geez. Mysteria? Seriously? These villains are getting more and more ridiculous.”

Mysteria: “How’s this for ridiculous!?” Another beam, another dodge, and this time she managed to get close enough to land some blows. Any use of her claws were blocked by brief appearances of those triangle marks acting as shields. I try to make the difference by attack from the other side, but she was able to counter just in time and is now managing to hold us both back. “Enough!” She spreads her arms to trigger a small blast to knock us back and we fall to the ground. “Your certainly better than you look. But can you handle this!?” She gestures her hands is a way as if casting some kind of spell, and a large tsunami of water bursts from the ground behind her and she phases right through it as it all comes right for us.

Blake: “Incoming!” We both swing back up into the air to avoid it and reach Mysteria. She keeps us back with another shield as she casts another spell, to which a large storm cloud appears above us and lightning starts coming down.

Ruby: “Whoa!” We do our best to avoid it all for a time, but it was all too fast, so I eventually get struck down!

Weiss & Yang: “Ruby!”

Blake: “Scarlet!” She comes to my side as I land hard on the ground.

Mysteria: “Hahahaha! Finally! I can be rid this city of its overbearing vigilante problem!” She moves both her hands in front of her and takes aim as she charges energy into them. “Goodbye... Little Red!” Just before she can fire, she herself is hit by a green beam that came out of nowhere! Next thing we know, someone else is on the scene! It's hard to make out their face from down here, but I can tell that it’s a man with messy grey hair. He's wearing a green dress shirt with silver gauntlets on his forearms, a dark green sleeveless robe over that, dark green pants with black dress shoes, three black belts around his waist, a green scarf around his nec, a teal cape with a high collar and a strange gold design near the bottom, and an odd looking eye shaped necklace.

???: “That’s enough! I cannot tolerate this falsehood of the Mystic Artes. And worse yet, you have used it to bring harm upon others.”

Mysteria: “Tch! You? And who the hell do you think you are to stand in my way!?” The man's voice sounds so familiar, but it’s so hard to think now that I’m on the brink of passing out from the electrocution. But he made is easier by announce his name.

Ozpin: “I am Professor Ozpin! Sorcerer Supreme!” He fires another beam. She shields against it before attacking herself. They fly around firing beams at each other, Ozpin casting various long ranged spells, while we just sit there in shock.

Blake: “Professor Ozpin? No way!” At one point, Mysteria even fired a beam that Ozpin countered by moving one hand in a circular motion to open a portal in front of him that the laser went through, and the other end of the portal opened nearby perfectly aimed at her, to which she ended up hit with her own laser.

Mysteria: “Tch! Seems I have another problem on my hands. Mark my words though, I’ll be back! And when I do, the new year will go off with a bang!” As she bursts into a puff of pink smoke. Once it clears, she’s gone. Afterwards, Ozpin comes down and approaches us.

Ruby: “Oz... pin...?” And it’s at this point that I black out.

Chapter Text

It felt like I was out for days, but it’s only been a few hours since I passed out in the fight with Mysteria. And when I woke up, I found myself in a place I’ve never seen before, stretched out on a couch in a large room, very elegantly decorated and with a large center staircase leading to the upper floors. Across the room, I see Blake, Weiss and Yang seated on another couch. Blake now changed into her normal clothes.

Yang: “Ah. Ruby!” They all come my way and surround me in a group hug. “Are you okay?”

Weiss: “You don’t feel too stiff, do you?”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Just a little confused...” It didn’t take long for me realize that I’ve also been changed into my normal clothes. My suit isn’t even underneath any of it. “Hold on. Where’s my suit?”

Weiss: “Back at the lab. PENNY and I worried that lightning strike might have fried some systems so we’re running it through a diagnostic. PENNY will put it through the necessary repairs if she finds something.”

Ruby: “Okay. But why aren’t we at the lab? Where are we?” That’s when we hear a door open and look up to see... Ozpin in that weird get up we saw back there floating down the stairs.

Ozpin: “Oh good. You're awake. Thank goodness you seem to be okay.” As he lands at the bottom of the stairs. “And to answer your question Ms. Rose: Welcome to the Sanctum Sanctorum.”

Yang: “The Sanctum Sanc... what?”

Ozpin: “One of three central places of mystical energy across the planet, built on the intersections of cosmic energy currents.”

Weiss: “Cosmic energy?”

Ruby: “Whoa, whoa. Let’s back up a bit. What is going on? Why are we here?”

Ozpin: “After what happened in the fight against this ‘Mysteria’ character, I offered to let you rest in my abode, the primary reason of which being that I wished to speak with you as soon as possible regarding this situation, hence why I also insisted that your friends all join us as well.”

Ruby: “So this Sanctum place is your home?”

Ozpin: “It is, given my other job outside of being Signal’s headmaster.”

Yang: “Yeah, what’s with you anyway? The strange green power and the weird getup... You look like some kind of wizard out of a fairy tale.”

Weiss: “Or a modern interpretation of one.”

Ozpin: “You would be right about that. A number of years before I became Signal’s headmaster, I was a history professor at Beacon Academy on the brink of promotion to headmaster, but then I got into an accident that severely injured my leg. Doctors were able to repair it, but I would be required to use a cane for the rest of my life. Back then I was stubborn and only worried about myself in regards to my wellbeing. My only example of caring for others was for future of my students as I taught them. In my stubbornness, I felt that being as crippled as I was wouldn’t set the best example to my students as their headmaster, even if it was just an injured leg. So looked into every medical treatment I could find in attempts to put myself back to 100 percent. But everything I found came up short. My last attempt led to an encounter with a doctor who told me of a case just untreatable as mine, granted with a more severe injury. His hospital encountered a man with a crippling spinal injury, permanently confining him to a wheelchair, his case being completely inoperable. But then a few months later, the doctor walked by him on the street, walking perfectly fine as if nothing was wrong.”

Weiss: “What!?”

Yang: “Bullshit. I don’t claim to be an expert, but even I know an injury like that is impossible to recover from.”

Ozpin: “That’s what I thought too. But I was desperate, so I sought him out and asked him how he did it. He told me to go to a place called Pharos Academy in Vacuo. There, I met a man named Wright, though most people only knew him as the Ancient One. He was the master of the school and taught me everything I know about the Mystic Artes. It was here that learned that things like magic and other absurd things like other dimensions actually exists. Pharos Academy is a place where potential sorcerers go to study and master magic, and where I also learned how that guy managed to walk again. He constantly channels his magic through his body to keep his injury in check. I’ve been doing the same to keep my leg in top shape, but I still use the cane to keep public appearances. However, my time there also taught me there were more important things than myself. And after Wright died in a battle, I took his place as Sorcerer Supreme, the title given to the most powerful sorcerer in our allegiance. I’ve also taken up the responsibility as master of the Vale Sanctum. That’s why I’ve worked to become Signal’s headmaster rather than stick with Beacon, as I’d prefer to keep my job close at hand to the Sanctum.” That all explains what we saw during the Lionheart stuff.

Weiss: “So we’re not too far from Signal?”

Ozpin: “Correct.”

Blake: “But why sow yourself and help us?”

Ozpin: “It all had to do with Mysteria. When I saw her on the news, I also believed her to be a fellow sorcerer, and was disgusted that would use her gifts to harm others. I thought that maybe should was a follower to the greatest enemy of the Masters of the Mystic Artes. But that thought was dismissed when I didn’t sense any other magic sources in the city outside of the Sanctum. This was the tip off that she was actually a phony, something I also cannot overlook as the Sorcerer Supreme. As I fought her on the scene, I tell power she used was completely artificial.”

Weiss: “You’d be right that. That was something I had planned to bring up after Ruby woke up. The scan during the fight revealed her suit to be completely technical. All of her powers come from Dust based science. We also found a few signals that lead to external devices.”

Yang: “All of that was because of technology? What about the tsunami, or the storm cloud?”

Weiss: “You would have a point if that was real, but then there's this.” She pulled up a projected screen. “This is the scene of fight right now. Notice something missing?” The fight was in a large intersection. It didn’t take me long to realize the issue as I recalled the crazy tsunami spell.

Ruby: “The hole in the street where the water came from.”

Blake: “Your right. There should be a massive hole in street, yet it looks completely pristine.”

Weiss: “I can’t yet explain the lightning, since Ruby was struck down by a bolt and electrocuted, but the scan also picked abnormalities with the water and the cloud the lightning came from. After giving them further analysis, I’ve figured out that the water and cloud were nothing more than illusions. Holograms most likely.”

Ozpin: “Illusions, huh.”

Blake: “But where did they come from?”

Weiss: “They would have to come a series of projectors. I’m guessing that’s all related to the signals emitted from her suit. Though there was one signal that seemed different from all the others. But there was something else we managed to uncover.”

Ozpin: “Oh?”

Weiss: “Mysteria was using a voice synthesizer in order disguise her voice. We've managed to unscramble the changer and got a clearer voice. Take a listen.” She played an audio file of everything Mysteria said since we encountered her, now without the distorted voice. “Sound familiar?”

Blake: “We probably should have figured with the color palette.”

Ruby: “And even then, she did call me Little Red.” And there are only two people in this city that ever really call me that. “Mysteria is Neo Politan.”

Yang: “And I’m sure we can all guess where she got this stuff.”

Blake: “Tinkerer.”

Ozpin: “She also said the new year would go off with a bang the next time she showed herself.”

Yang: “Wait, hold on! You not thinking-”

Ozpin: “She might be planning another attack then. Likely in the town square where everyone will be celebrating as the new year's ball drops.”

Ruby: “We’re not gonna let that happen!”

Blake: “Before that though. Professor?”

Ozpin: “I already know what you're thinking. Whether or not you can trust me now that I know your secret identities. But I should also confess... I knew your secrets since the very beginning of both of your careers.”

Blake: “Wait, you knew the whole time!?”

Ruby: “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Ozpin: “There was never a proper opportunity, and I didn’t want to burden you with the thought of having too many people know your secret. I know from experience what happens when people know who you are, especially to those who are particularly close to you.”

Ruby: “I see.”

Ozpin: “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. Has been the whole time.”

Ruby: “It’s okay Professor. I trust you.” And that’s when I get a call on my scroll from Vernal. “What’s up, Captain?”

Vernal: “I think I finally found our Curcio. It was only one I found in our database of a cat tailed Faunus by that name. I’m sending you a picture.” My screen pulls up a picture of the one I saw that night.

Ruby: “Yeah. That's him alright.”

Vernal: “Them, actually. Their full name is Curcio Cato. Age 20. Labeled as non-binary. Was born in Mantle but was raised in Vacuo by their mother after their parents divorced. The father died from illness not long after the divorce and the mother died form murder when they were 15. They are a known prodigy in skills with computers and programming. Their being in Vale is from evading Vacuo authorities after being caught using their skills to commit thefts, hacking into security systems to prevent triggering alarms.”

Ruby: “Which is what happened the night I saw them. I didn’t hear any alarms that night either. I only caught because I happened to be in the area, and I saw them leaving the place with the money.”

Vernal: “We’ll have to worry about that later though. This Mysteria character seems more important to turn to than some thieves.”

Ruby: “Actually, I’ve got some news too. Mysteria is Neo Politan. She’ using some kind of holographic illusion tech to mimic having superpowers. We’ve also figured out she’s planning another attack on New Year’s Eve.”

Vernal: “Should’ve expected you to be on top of things. A sudden cancelation will only incite more panic than necessary, so I’ll consider this an anonymous tip and make sure my men are ready to protect the people.”

Ruby: “Thank you, Vernal. And happy holidays.” Once we hang up, we all head back home to prepare ourselves for the coming battle. Meanwhile, we can see Neo and Curcio in their hideout. Curcio sitting behind a desk with all of their given computers set up to control the drones.

Curcio: “All in all, I’d say that was a successful test run, all things considered.” Neo stands there in her suit with the helmet removed.

Neo: “I really wish I could’ve ended the Cat and Spider right there and then. If that guy hadn’t stepped in and interrupted, we wouldn’t have this problem.”

Curcio: “Don’t worry. We’ll have another chance during new year’s. And if that Ozpin fellow plans to join in this time, then I’ll make sure we’re ready for him.”

Neo: “I expect you to come up with some pretty crazy illusions for opening night.”

Curcio: “Oh believe me, I wouldn’t dare dream of disappointing you, boss. After all, this kind of stuff is what I live for.”

Chapter Text

New Year’s Eve. A day meant to celebrate new beginnings. But for all of us, it’s just another day on the job. Blake, Ozpin and I all sit across separate rooftops at different corners of the town square, keeping our eyes peeled for Neo, while Weiss and Yang stay behind at the lab like usual. And just as Vernal said, she beefed up security around the event, which would include Uncle Qrow, since he gave an apology this morning saying he wouldn’t be able to stay home a celebrate with this year. Fortunately, this helps us a bit since we won’t have to make an excuse to leave anymore, and he won’t know we’re even gone.

Qrow: “You're sure the flying chick is going to be here?”

Vernal: “Positive. Have I ever steered us wrong?”

Qrow: “I just hope you know what you're talking about.” We spent the last few days thinking of potential counter measures to Neo illusions, as well as fixing up my suit after what happened. We had to give Ozpin a comm link too since we’ll be working together.

Blake: “I hope we can end this tonight before someone gets hurt.”

Ozpin: “If it wasn’t for Ms. Schnee’s plan, I would’ve suggested we take this to the mirror dimension. But doing so would only cut the signal.”

Ruby: “Mirror dimension?”

Ozpin: “A parallel dimension to our own that us sorcerers make use of both for practice and for combat. This is because anything we do whilst there has no effect on the real world, so we’re able to use our magic at its full potential without the risk of harming the world around us. This allows us to practice when we reach more advanced classes, or without bringing harm to others when in fights with particularly tough opponents, on account that we can drag others into it.”

Weiss: “Except you’d be right about the signal. Those signals she’s emitting concern me, which is why I need to try and track where those signals are coming from. Just try and keep her here while I work.”

Ruby: “Understood.” The crowd below starts cheering as we have only one hour left before the ball drops. But then that’s when the trouble starts.

Neo: “So you actually showed, huh?” I look behind me to see her appear in a puff of pink smoke. Blake and Ozpin could see it from where they stand and come over quickly. Blake using her grapple to swing over, and Ozpin opening one of his portals. “And your friends came along too. You’ll all pay for opposing the great Mysteria!”

Weiss: “Running the tracker now.”

Blake: “You can cut the Mysteria act already. We already know it’s you Neo.”

Ruby: “You’ve come a long way from the rich girl who lost their parents to the mob, Trivia Vanille.”

Neo: *gasp*”Ehahahaha. HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man! How long has it been since I heard that name? But it doesn’t matter. Trivia Vanille. Neo Politan. Mysteria. None of it matters now that I have the power to make all of my problems disappear! And I'll start by killing you all to avenge Roman! And once I’m done with this, the Maggia is next to avenge my parents! Not to mention to keep you all out of our way when I eventually break Roman out and make him the crime lord he was always meant to be!”

Yang: “Geez, she’s lost it.”

Ruby: “As if we’d ever let that happen! Now!”

Ozpin: “By the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak!” A large green glyph appears, and several red ropes of energy emerge from it and go straight for her. Though she manages to block with a barrier and counter with some lasers. The people can see the flashing colors from below.

Citizen: “Is there something wrong with the equipment up there?” Qrow and Vernal understand what's happening though and move to take action.

Vernal: “All units, stay on standby to protect the people. Branwen and I are going to check out the roof.” Blake and I split up and try to attack from opposite sides of her. She counters with another shield to knock us back before flying up a bit.

Neo: “It’s time. You now have the privilege of witnessing my true power!” Her smoke spreads everywhere, and when it fades, our surroundings have become a pitch-black void.

Yang: “Whoa! What’s going on?”

Weiss: “I don’t know. But we’ve lost visual. I can’t track the signals like this.”

Ruby: “What is this?”

Neo: “I’m sure of what your all thinking. That despite all of my skills I’m still the sad little girl crying over mommy and daddy.” She says as pictures of a young Trivia with only brown hair with her parents appear. “That person disappeared a long time ago.” The pictures change. Trivia is walking away in anger as her parent's silhouettes burn in the background. “My parents always taught me not to cry over death. That doing do is a sign of weakness. So, I didn’t. I survived until I found Roman.” The pictures change again, showing Torchwick standing over a crying Trivia with his hand outstretched. “He showed me the light when I fell into darkness. Trivia Vanille died that day, and reborn as Neo Politan.” The pictures change again, with Torchwick sitting on crates of stolen goods and Neo standing at his side. “But then you all went and ruined it.” One final picture. Neo standing in an empty town and looking up to a dull sky. “And now I plan to end you all.” All five pictures now show up. And then suddenly, the people in all five pictures come alive, come out of the pictures and come at us! We all easily dodge their attacks, but then Mysteria appears behind me. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.” On reflex, I move to punch her, but my hand just goes right through her helmet and hits something hard and she disappears. “At the end of the day, you are all powerless to stop me.”

Blake: “Don’t listen to her. It's all just an illusion.”

Neo: “How about we test that then!” Just then, four Mysteria’s appear in the air above us, all charging up to fire their lasers.

Ozpin: “Both of you get behind me!” To which we did. “By the Seven Rings of Raggadorr!” Just then, we’re surrounded by a dome formed by seven large rings just as they all fire. When they all hit, the rings counter with their own burst energy. The burst knocked the four Neo back and three of them disappear along with the black void. And in the three Neo’s place are some armed drones that disappear again in a quick flash of light.

Blake: “Hm? What was that?”

Weiss: “The signal source. Or some of them anyway. I picked it up the moment they showed themselves in that brief second. But there's still one signal unaccounted for. And this one is really far off from here. The rest of them connect to those drones. This is probably why the last one seemed different from the others. Regardless, I think those drones are the source of the illusion. Their also armed with various weapons. This could also explain Ruby’s electrocution during the storm cloud illusion. That last signal might be the real problem though. Just by me some more time while I track it down. This should be quick.”

Neo: “You!” I can’t tell cause of the helmet, but I swear she’s glaring daggers at Ozpin. “You are up to my last nerve, wise guy!” She conjures up, or guess those drones are, some glowing flaming skulls that come our way, and Ozpin blocks with a regular dome shield.

Ozpin: “The feeling is mutual. Your false magic is an insult to the Masters of the Mystic Artes!” His shield disappears in another burst that Neo also blocks with her own shield. Just then, Qrow and Vernal show up.

Qrow: “Police! Put your hands where I can see them!” Blake and I look back to see them there.

Neo: “As you wish, officers!” She puts her hands up, but only to fire more lasers at them! Blake and I were quick to act and push them down to save them, and Neo starts fleeing the scene as Ozpin continues to fire at her. We all recover and head for the edge.

Blake: “Damn! She’s getting away again!”

Weiss: “Don’t worry. I know where she’s going. I’ve found where the source of that last signal is coming from. It’s a computer signal. Likely the central computer controlling the drones. And likely where Cato has been this whole time when considering what the captain told us. The signal is coming from a building in the run-down part of town, one standing completely abandoned.

Blake: “Then that's where we’re going.”

Qrow: “You're not going anywhere! You're all under arrest for act of vigilantism.” He tries to old us at gun point, but I shoot a web that covers the front and clogs it. “Huh/ What in the?”

Ruby: “Sorry detective. But if we don’t stop her, tons of other people will get hurt. Let’s go guys.” The three of us jump off the roof and start heading towards the address Weiss gave us. Blake and I swinging while Ozpin is straight up flying. Once we get there, this fight will be over once and for all.

Chapter Text

Neo can be seen back at her hideout with Curcio, steaming mad as she took off her helmet.

Neo: “What the hell was that!? I thought you said you’d be ready for Ozpin!?”

Curcio: “It seems I underestimated him. I assumed he was some kind of showboat merely flying around with fancy lasers and shields like us. I wasn’t expecting him to up his game like that. I’m almost starting to think he is the real deal like he claims to be.”

Neo: “What a load of crap! There’s no way in hell wizards and magic are actually real!”

Ozpin: “Then you're in for one hell of a surprise!” As we break in through the front wall.

Neo: “What the-!? How!?”

Curcio: “Not important right now!” Freaking out at being discovered. Neo put her helmet back on as she readied herself to fight.

Neo: “I won’t be swayed by your trickery anymore!”

Ozpin: “Nor I yours!” Curcio moves to try and control the drones again from their computers. “Not this time!” He spreads another burst of energy which destroys the drones.

Curcio: “NO! Damnit!”

Neo: “That’s it! I’ll take this whole place if it means killing you all!” She starts charging a lot of energy into her gauntlets.

Curcio: “Wait! No, don’t!”

Blake: “This doesn’t look!”

Ruby: “What do we do?”

Ozpin: “Everyone get behind me!” Blake and I get behind him like he asked, and I even webbed Curcio to pull them in too. Ozpin puts up a shield before conjuring another spell. When Neo unleashed all of that power, instead of the building crumbling down, shattered glass came out of the walls, floor and ceiling, but the building as a whole kept standing.

Curcio: “Huh? What is this?”

Neo: “What the hell!?”

Ozpin: “Welcome to the mirror dimension. A distorted parallel reality, where the real world is completely unaffected by what we do here. This is my domain. Your false magic means nothing here.” He moves his hands and the building around us starts opening up and twisting around.

Neo: “Impossible!” She flies up into the air through the new opening, with Ozpin giving pursuit. Curcio, Blake and I step outside, and we all can see that the whole city is distorted. Everything is twisting around. There are even portions of the land suspended upside down in the sky above us.

Ruby: “Whoa... trippy.”

Blake: “Agreed.”

Curcio: “Very fascinating. Look at the way everything is moving. I recognize that one as an Archimedean Spiral. Everything here is moving in accordance with some kind of distorted geometry.” We look up when we hear the commotion between Ozpin and Neo.

Ruby: “Keep close to Cato and don’t let them out of your sight. I’m going up there.”

Blake: “Just be careful. This place is really weird.” To which I swing up to join the fight. Without her drones around, Neo is only limited to the abilities of her suit. And after having to deal her a few times now, her attacks have become really predictable, making it easier for me to dodge and land my own blows. At one point, Ozpin and I joined together to deliver a hard enough blow to knock her out of the air and she landed on the street long far from Blake and Curcio. The impact caused damage to her boots, preventing her from flying when she tried to take off again.

Neo: “Ngh! What!? No! Nonononono!” Ozpin and I joined her on the street to confront her.

Ruby: “Seems like your options are becoming more and more limited, Neo. Just give up and come along quietly.” As Blake joined us, dragging Curcio with her and Ozpin opened a portal back to reality behind us.

Neo: “No! I’ve come too far to give up now!” She charges more energy through her gauntlets.

Ozpin: “You two take Cato and get out of here. I’ll finish this and bring her back for proper judgement.” As he summoned some kind of book. He opened the book and readied some other kind of spell.

Neo: “DIE!” She fired another giant beam.

Ozpin: “Spell of Vishanti!” His book fired a golden beam just a big, and they enter a beam struggle like some cheesy anime.

Blake: “We’ve gotta go!”

Curcio: “Ms. Neo!”

Ruby: “Cato, wait!” They run off and tried to get close to Neo but only stopped close to where the beams meet.

Curcio: “Stop this! You're going to end up killing yourself!” I don’t think she can hear them as the center orb of energy grows. It continues to grow until it eventually explodes, which pushes Blake and I out the portal and back into reality, into the street just outside the hideout, and then the portal closes.

Ruby: “Ozpin!” We sat there waiting for a few minutes before another portal opened, and Ozpin came back, dragging Neo out of the mirror dimension. Her suit had been badly damaged, her helmet shattered, and the girl herself was unconscious as he dragged her. He dropped her right there on the ground as he closed the portal behind.

Blake: “What about Cato?”

Ozpin: “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them among the carnage. And navigating the mirror dimension in search of them would take years. And when considering how close they were, I’m afraid we must assume they perished in the blast.”

Ruby: “I see...”

Ozpin: “I am sorry. I never intended for anyone to die on my watch.”

Blake: “At the very least, the police might only believe they’ve fled again since there won’t be a body to find. But for now, though, let’s just worry about handing her over to the authorities.” On that note, I dropped a tip to Vernal on where to pick Neo up, as I leave her webbed up on the front steps of her hideout. They should see the remaining evidence inside through the large hole we blew in the front. We went back to the town square to watch the ball drop.

Yang: “Geez! You guys really worried us when we lost your signal!”

Weiss: “Yeah! You should have warned us you’d be taking them to the mirror dimension!”

Ozpin: “My apologies. There wasn’t enough to brief you all, I just didn’t it on impulse when she started charging energy.”

Ruby: “Regardless, we really owe you for helping us with this.”

Ozpin: “Think nothing of it. All I ask is that you two continue to use your gifts to help others and never stray from your righteous path.”

Blake: “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ruby: “Exactly. After all, I’ve got a promise to keep.” As I reminisce about Mom just as the ball reaches the bottom and the crowd starts counting down from ten.

Crowd: “Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” We smiled as we watched the crowd cheer and celebrate the start of a new year. But the people of the city celebrate, criminals continue to commute with each other from the shadows. Such as the Queenpin as she goes over one final call with Junior.

Malachite: “And you're sure they suspect nothing?”

Junior: “Of course not. They bastards never care to give me a second look except to call me in a for a meeting. It’s been like this ever since I took over after dad died. Even after I had the plate installed, none of the other families ever took me seriously.”

Malachite: “And thus why you’ve made this secret deal with me. So long as your men continue to support my business even after I conclude my deal with the Maggia, you’ll continue to receive more firepower than them to achieve your hostile takeover.”

Junior: “Indeed. Those assholes won’t know what hit them!”

Malachite: “Very good. Then I’ll be going. I’m still hosting a party after all.” As she hangs up. And as she leaves her office, she doesn’t realize the presence of a mysterious figure cloaked in teal with a skull mask sitting outside her window eavesdropping on her.

???: “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Clearly a woman's voice. “Well, no matter. I won’t let her or the Maggia have their way with this city. I just hope the cat and spider are willing to cooperate. With an alliance like this... they’ll need all the help they can get.”

Chapter Text

Our first month into the new year and things are still the same as ever as we patrol the city and thwart crime. Though that’s just the everyday norm for us. Of course, there was also the news of Neo’s trial and conviction.

Lisa: “In regards to the recent trial of the villain Mysteria, now identified as the infamous thief Neo Politan, the known partner of the equally infamous Roman Torchwick. As expected, the young lady has been found guilty of her latest charges as Mysteria. Her abilities we’re artificially done thanks to a high-tech suit and a few armed drones featuring hologram projectors. And just like Mr. Torchwick, Ms. Politan received her gear from the illusive Tinkerer, as evident by the Tinkerer insignia found inside the neck of the suit and the underbelly of the drones. The drones we’re operated by several computers held in their hideout. This aspect of Mysteria of control by Ms. Politan’s own new partner, a one Curcio Cato, who unfortunately has yet to be found and arrested. In other news, Malachite Industries CEO Mary Malachite had this to say about the recent villain activity over the last several months.” To which the screen cuts to the aforementioned woman standing at a podium in front of her building.

Malachite: “Things were bad enough when the Black Cat and the Grim Reaper. But at least all the criminals they fought were all normal. But ever since the appearance of the Scarlet Spider, we’ve had quite the influx in super villains. Now I realize saying that may imply I believe she is in cahoots with them to merely create a spectacle, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth, as I agree with a certain made by the police to contrary. If they were really in cahoots, the villains would’ve blown the whistle on the spider and thus she’d be caught a long time ago. So no, I don’t believe she’s been in cahoots with any of them. But I do believe that she’s a negative influence on our fair city as while she may not be working with them, she is attracting them. If something isn’t done about these vile vigilantes, then our city is on the brink of destruction.” The feed cuts back to Lisa.

Lisa: “This press conference was merely the CEO publicly expressing her distaste for the Scarlet Spider. Similar comments have also come the SDC CEO Jacques Schnee. However, these public comments have garnered the attention of well-known local attorney Maria Calavera who had this to say during an interview with her.” As the feed cuts to said interview with the woman in question. She had a tan complexion with black shoulder length hair and silver eyes. She wore a sort of teal dress with a dark grey hem and an extended skirt below that that's a kind of shade of blue with the same color grey hem. Under that, she wore brown stockings with black heels. Over the dress, she wore a dark teal suit jacket. Around her neck was a string necklace with a single blue skull pendant and her face, she wore light blue tinted, half lensed sunglasses. In her hand was a simple brown cane with a silver end and another blue skull decorated at the top.

Maria: “Despite what people like Schnee and Malachite are feeding to public, I say it’s irresponsible to automatically deem these vigilantes responsible for these super criminals on account that all of the investigations into these people have confirmed that given the circumstances of their personal lives, they all would’ve become these crazy super villains whether the Spider were around or not. With that in mind, I honestly would hate to see the kind of state our city would be in if people like the spider weren’t here when the super villains showed up. In all honesty, I believe we’re all wasting our time worrying about these vigilantes rather than focusing our attention on actual criminals such as the Maggia or certain other mob groups that have managed to evade the law, like the supposedly rumored Queenpin of Crime recently floating around.” And the feed cuts back to Lisa again.

Lisa: “With this recent difference of opinion between Ms. Malachite and Ms. Calavera, the public is helplessly torn between whether or not to either support Vale’s vigilantes or despise them.” Blake and I can hear these reports on the big screens as we swing through the city.

Blake: “That lawyer is certainly taking a risk in her career by actively supporting us.”

Weiss: “Understatement of the year. Maria Calavera is a legend in the legal world. Despite being blind ever since an accident as child, she is on record one of the youngest attorneys to pass the bar exam with flying colors and has solved some of the city's biggest cases. Particularly those related to the mob and certain crime lords. Regardless, her performance record is extraordinary.” Guess the blindness explains the use of the cane. “As for Malachite, having someone like her publicly ridicule us is to be expected. People like her and father may act like their concerned for the people, but all they really care about is their business and revenue, and they the constant fighting with the super villains as an inconvenience to both.”

Ruby: “Still, that’s no reason to follow what they say and stop. People are counting on us after all.” As we land on a nearby roof to take a quick rest from all the swinging.

Yang: “You can say that again. I mean, the lawyer chick did bring up the Maggia.”

Blake: “Right. There have been a lot of Maggia sightings lately in various places. Reports say they all have been making trades with some unknown parties.” That’s when we hear trouble in the alley next to us.

???: “Yo, what the fuck is this!?” We look over the edge to see what going on. Looks like we’ve come across one of these deals. We see a bunch of men in the alley. Some by a large truck holding various crates, the others by the alley way entrance. In between them is an open bag of Lien. “This is nowhere near the agreed amount! You Maggia freaks came to us for help. You want the Queenpin’s guns? Then you fucking pay what we asked for!”

Maggia thug: “Well, pardon us for not entirely trusting your pig of a boss! How the hell do we know she won’t just blow the whistle on us after we’ve got the guns? We can just as easily rat you out too!”

Queenpin thug: “Oh yeah? With what proof? Cause let me tell you something. The Queenpin is a very big name around the city, and there's absolutely nothing that can tie her to the guns, so it’ll be her word against yours. Now unless you wanna walk away empty handed, you either pay us what you owe us or it’s no deal!” As one of the other thugs close the truck.”

Maggia thug 2: “Why you miserable son of a bitch!” As he draws a pistol from his jacket. To which they all draw their own guns.

Ruby: “And... that’s our cue.” As we jump down and I use my webs to grab all the guns and disarm them as I web the guns to the wall.

Queenpin thug 2: “Shit! It’s the cat and spider!”

Blake: “Congratulations! Your eyes work.” As we get into it with all these thugs. As the course of the fight goes on, we fail to notice one of the Maggia slipping out of the fight, and we don’t notice until too late as he tries to get into the truck and steal the goods. Keyword being tried. Just as we noticed him, someone else came in and took him down for us before he could get away. Her features gave away she was a woman. Her suit from the neck down was skintight and was teal with dark grey in the middle. She wore brown boots and gloves that went up to her thighs and upper arms, a dark corset around her waist and two black belts around her lower waist as well. She wore a very dark teal cloak with a hood on her head, and her face was concealed by a skull mask with light blue lenses in the eyes, the hood and mask only barely show off some black hair around her face. She also wielded two brown sticks with blue bit at the top thicker than the rest of the stick, and some silver bits at the bottom of each that make it seem like the two sticks can connect form there. Right away, we could tell that this was the famous Grim Reaper, the hero who has been at this a lot longer than both of us.

Grim Reaper: “I should’ve known you two would notice the Maggia and Queenpin deals eventually. This operation is getting a bit too big for me handle by myself, so I could really use the help.”

Blake: “For a veteran like you?” We can hear the sirens the incoming.

Grim Reaper: “It’s not safe to talk here. And I have other business to attend too anyway. Let's meet up again tomorrow to discuss what's been happening.”

Ruby: “Okay. But where?”

Grim Reaper: “Just come to town square as your public selves. I’ll find you from there. After all, if we’re going to work together, we might as well know who we’re working with.” To which attached her sticks but then split them up again. Only now there was a string stuck between them, and she threw one upwards to grapple herself to the rooftops. We decide to follow suit as we swing into the city.

Yang: “What the hell was that? Does she really expect us to just show up normally?”

Weiss: “Somehow I don’t think she’s going to give us much of a choice.”

Yang: “But what if she rats us out?”

Ruby: “We can cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, we should just focus on the real problem and hear what she has to say about the Maggia and this Queenpin person. If there really is something going on between them, then we can’t just ignore it.” I don’t know yet what’s going on with this woman, but I’ll find out. I have to... or Vale may be in some serious trouble.

Chapter Text

The next day, Blake and I wait around the station in the town square, waiting for the Grim Reaper to show up. Weiss and Yang decided to tag along and wait behind the corner where we stand.

Yang: “You really think she’ll show?”

Weiss: “Somehow, I don’t think she’s the type to make such demands and not meet them.”

Blake: “Let’s just hope she knows what she’s talking about. If it’s true, then that means both parties involved are up to something.”

Ruby: “The Maggia and the Queenpin... From what I can tell, one beats the other in numbers while the opposite is true for resources.”

Grim Reaper: “You’d definitely be right for that.” She emerged from the station to greet us, and to our surprise, the woman we see before us is Maria Calavera, the famous attorney. Maria: “The Maggia in numbers due to being five families and the Queenpin in resources due to immense wealth from both her crimes operations and having a legit company acting as a public front. Sorry to make you two wait... Scarlet Spider and Black Cat.”

Blake: “Wait... Ms. Calavera? You're the Grim Reaper?”

Ruby: “More importantly, how did you know it was us?”

Maria: “As weird as you might think it is, I was able to identify you because of your scent.”

Yang: “Huh? Their scent? What is she, some kind of dog?” She tried to whisper but...

Maria: “Hm? I heard that! Who’s there!?”

Weiss: “Crap! Way to go, Yang!”

Yang: “How was I supposed she could hear me in this crowd?”

Blake: “Just cut it out and come out already. No point in hiding anymore now that she knows.”

Weiss: *sigh*”Fine. But I still blame Yang for this.” As they turn the corner to join us.

Maria: “And who the hell are you two?”

Ruby: “Whoa! Hey, relax! They’re with us!”

Maria: “Really?” After some brief introductions and a quick explanation on how we operate, she was more understanding. “I see. To think that the SDC was the birthplace of the famous Scarlet Spider.”

Weiss: “Excuse me? What is that supposed mean?”

Maria: “Nothing. Sorry. Anyway, we should go. This isn’t the right place to talk about this.” She takes us to a nearby cafe and manages to get us a booth in the back to talk in private. Weiss and I take one side while Blake and Yang take the other, and Maria takes an extra seat to sit at the end. “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions. So, feel free to ask away.”

Weiss: “I think maybe we should with you.”

Maria: “You mean my story, right? How I became the Grim Reaper?”

Ruby: “Yeah. I’m especially curious about the blindness thing. Is that just a front for your public self? Make it more believable that you couldn’t possibly some kind superhero in case might be on to you?”

Maria: “As interesting of a cover story that could be, I’m afraid it’s all real. And it’s a lot more complicated than you might think.”

Blake: “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. We're really just curious, we don’t actually need to know.”

Maria: “No, it’s fine. You guys already shared your story, so it’s only fair.” She closes her eyes as she recalls her tale. “It all started when I was kid. My father raised me by himself. He owned a garage in Mistral, but his real passion was when he participated in martial arts tournaments. He tried to train me in his craft, so I’d be able to defend myself as I grow, but then there the accident when I was 6. I pushed a blind old man out of the street to save him from incoming traffic. In the chaos, a large truck carrying some kind of radioactive ooze tipped... and its cargo spilled. Right on my face, and its radiation is what took my sight. Father had to work harder to ensure I could grow up without any problems. But that didn’t stop him from entering tournaments. When I was ten, he entered a tournament right here in Vale and brought me along hoping to make it a family vacation. In the end, he had won the final round, but then after receiving the trophy and finalizing the details for the prize, he was dragged into a nearby alley and shot dead. Thankfully, the guy was caught and convicted, but the biggest problem was his motive. Apparently, the final match was supposed to be rigged. Father was supposed to lose the semifinals. They didn’t expect he would be better than both his semifinals and final opponent. So, they killed him hoping the money would go to his opponent by default. They didn’t expect the killer to be caught and spill most of the plan, so the money didn’t go to anyone in the end. Because of this whole incident, and because I had no other family, I was orphaned and put in a foster home. Despite my blindness, the incident opened my eyes to the cruel reality of the world. That even places of people's greatest passions contain scandals and corruption. Which is why I pushed through the grieve and the ridicule of my disability to work as hard as I can to become an attorney in hopes of improving this world. As for my second as the Grim Reaper, that was because, as I grew up, I started developing strange new abilities. Likely caused by the same stuff that made me blind in the first place.”

Yang: “How so?”

Maria: “You ever hear how when someone loses one sense, their other senses are enhanced? That's basically how it was for me. Except in my case, my enhancements go far beyond what could be considered normal. I can perfectly identify or track people by their scent or the sounds they make like some kind of dog like Ms. Xiao Long said. I can tell exactly what ingredients have been used in anything I eat or drink, even poisons. I can even get around get around using sonar like a bat. But I don’t always have to rely on sonar given my latest power I picked after I started as a hero. I suppose the best way to refer to it is as a sort of atom induced radar sense. Because of my radioactive origins, my body can emit electromagnetic energy waves that bounce around my surroundings and can help paint a picture in my head, which more than makes up for my lack of true sight and accurately surmise my surroundings, such as what you four actually look like.”

Weiss: “Interesting.”

Yang: “And very sad. How can people be so greedy?”

Blake: “Avarice is unfortunately unavoidable, as it is one of the seven sins of humanity.”

Maria: “Exactly. It's because of truths like this that I believed that my skills as an attorney may not be enough. That's why I thought that on top of my job I’d be able to do more for the world by using my other gifts, even if it meant breaking a few laws myself in acts of vigilantism.”

Ruby: “In other words... your just like me. Becoming a hero because you had these gifts and thought to use them to help others, while also thinking that if you didn’t help, who would.”

Maria: “I suppose we are kindred spirits in that regard.”

Blake: “Okay. That all tracks. But now we get to the most important issue. This whole deal between the Maggia and the Queenpin. What can you tell us about it?”

Maria: “Ever since the Scarlet Spider appeared, both the Maggia and the Queenpin have grown concerned about the succession of their criminal operations. They believe it was one thing to deal with me and the Black Cat because we were lone individuals with no powers as far as they knew, but then a legit superpowered hero comes in and starts bringing in alliances with other heroes from all over the city. The Maggia have been in contact with the Queenpin recently. The deal was simple: she was to provide heavier artillery to them, and they would do the dirty work in trying to get rid of us.”

Blake: “That’s quite a lot. How do you know all of this?”

Maria: “Because I know who the Queenpin is. And I’ve been eavesdropping on her to get more information. If we want to end these deals with the Maggia, we need to face the Queenpin directly and bring her in.”

Weiss: “What about the Maggia?”

Maria: “Unfortunately, given their greater numbers, they’ll have to wait.”

Ruby: “Okay. Then that just leaves one last question. Who exactly is the Queenpin of Crime?”

Maria: “Someone who has recently spoken out against us. Someone who thinks we’re making the world worse claiming to have the people's best interest in mind but is really just looking out for her operations.” There’s only one person we know of who meets the first criteria. “The CEO of Malachite Industries... Mary Malachite.”

Chapter Text

Malachite: “What!? One of the deals went awry!?”

Melanie: “Unfortunately, yes.”

Miltia: “And now the police have the weapons we were selling that night.”

Malachite: “Damn! If that’s the case, then it’s only a matter of time before they connect them to me! How did this happen!?”

Melanie: “Three guesses as to who’s responsible.”

Malachite: “The Grim Reaper! She’s been on my case years now!”

Miltia: “One guess correct. It was actually her, the Black Cat and the Scarlet Spider all together. It seems like they’ve all teamed up.”

Malachite: “Ugh! Just when we finally get some leeway with those Maggia idiots. You two, keep your eyes out on the police investigation. I’ll making my own preparations.”

Melanie & Miltia: “Yes, Mother.” As they take off. The next day, we brought Maria with us to the lab to discuss our next move.

Weiss: “Mary Malachite. She's a unique person, that’s for sure.”

Maria: “Indeed. She made her start working for and eventually running a rundown bar in the lower levels of Mistral, before eventually making the money to travel abroad and start her company here in Vale. Her convergence into crime was brought about by greed and the satisfaction of control. Even her own daughters have been made into her personal servants.”

Yang: “Wait. She had kids?”

Maria: “Yes. Melanie and Miltiades Malachite. Twin sisters. They’ve been trained from a young age in the ways of combat and act as her personal bodyguards or her assassins. I’d probably be dead by now if it weren’t for my own training and powers.”

Weiss: “So how do we go about facing her?”

Maria: “We obviously can’t barge in and fight her randomly like any other super villain. We do that without a valid reason, then we’d be proving her point that we’re nothing but the scum of Remnant.”

Blake: “So what do we do?”

Maria: “Simple. We wait for the police to finish looking the guns they confiscated. They should be enough to connect her to these deals and get them a warrant to raid Malachite Tower. The tower is quite fortified though, so it’ll make things easier for the police to join the fight.”

Ruby: “And what if they can’t get the warrant?”

Maria: “I wouldn’t worry about it. Not when we have cops like Captain Vernal and Detective Branwen at the station.”

Yang: “Huh. You even have that much confidence in Uncle Qrow?”

Maria: “Uncle? I didn’t realize he had any family outside of his missing sister. And I though you said your parents were Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose.”

Ruby: “We did, but it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. We're actually half-sisters, and Yang’s mom was Raven Branwen before Raven abandoned them, and dad ended up with Summer Rose later.”

Yang: “But hold on! You also knew my mother? Uncle Qrow never talks about her.”

Maria: “I only know of her from back when she was around before she went a disappeared. I did notice a big gap where I didn’t see her before her disappearance, but nobody told me she was pregnant or even married for that matter. But back in the day, she was a fellow detective with her brother and the two of them together were some of the best detectives the station had. After she disappeared, Qrow started working double time to pick up the slack before Vernal transferred there and was assigned as his new partner.”

Yang: “I see.” And that’s when Vernal called.

Ruby: “Talk to me Captain.”

Vernal: “We’re on the grasp of a new case. I need you all to be on standby in case we need you.”

Ruby: “Why, what's up?”

Vernal: “All those guns we got two days ago? We’ve found that they all came from Mary Malachite. We just got the warrant and are on our way to raid Malachite Tower.”

Maria: “I told you.”

Vernal: “Just stay close by and be ready to act.”

Ruby: “Okay. You got it.” To which I hang up. “Suit up gang. We’d better go now.” Once we all suit up, the three of us head out and make our way to Malachite Tower, perching on a nearby building as we see the police approach the building. However... armed men are all protecting the front entrance and the police can’t get passed their defenses.

Blake: “Looks like they need us already.”

Ruby: “Then let’s get down there.” Blake and Maria get in there and face Malachite’s goons as Vernal takes cover.

Vernal: “We need more backup. And lockdown the airspace!” As I join her while the other cops aren’t looking.

Ruby: “Vernal. You okay?”

Vernal: “I’ve been better. We’re trying to get in there before Malachite gets a chance to escape. If she makes it out of that building, we’re gonna lose her.”

Ruby: “Then maybe we should go in first.”

Vernal: “Do your thing. Just don’t let her get away. And see if you can find any other evidence of her crimes while you're in there. Something tells me she won’t just let the evidence stand and try to destroy it.”

Ruby: “Okay. We got this.” I swing in to join the others. “Come on guys! We’ve got work to do!” We all swing up and enter the building from an upper window. “On top of stopping Malachite, we also need to stop by the server room to gather evidence. Theres a chance she might try to destroy it.”

Maria: “I know where the server room is. I’ll go get the evidence. You two find Malachite. She should be in her office on the top floor.”

Blake: “On it!” We split up as Maria breaks into the ventilation system, while Blake and I go up the elevator shaft. Once we reach the floor, we find ourselves in a large room.

Ruby: “Is this her office?”

Weiss: “No. I had Penny find me a schematic of the building form city records. This is just the office lobby. Her office is just through the door ahead of you.”

Blake: “Sheesh. Talk about having money to burn. This is way too nice for just a lobby.” And that’s when the twins jump in and block the door.

Melanie: “Maybe that’s just the way Mother likes it.”

Miltia: “Now get out. You're not welcome here.”

Blake: “Melanie and Miltiades I’m guessing.”

Ruby: “Has to be.”

Melanie & Miltia: “We won’t let you get any closer to Mother!” As they charge us and they attack rather aggressively. The two of them are perfectly in sync as they rush us, so we both manage to split them up and take one on one, but they keep getting back together and swapping opponents. They are relentless.

Blake: “Geez! We don’t have time for this!” This is when Vernal called again.

Vernal: “Okay. We finally managed to pass the outer defense. But her interior defense is proving just as formidable, so now we’re stuck in the front lobby. On top of that, we’ve got guys on the roof shooting down our choppers. We just had ground our last one. If Malachite calls in a chopper, then we can kiss her arrest goodbye. How are things on your end?”

Ruby: “Not really a good time! We’re stuck outside her office by her assassin level daughters!”

Vernal: “Should’ve figured her best bodyguards would be involved too.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry. We've got this!” To which she hangs up and we keep fighting.

Melanie: “Just give up! You can’t keep this up forever!”

Miltia: “We’re obviously evenly matched!” And then one of Maria sticks came flying in and smacked them both in the head before returning to Maria, who standing right by the elevator shaft.

Maria: “Then maybe we should shift the balance!”

Melanie & Miltia: “Wait! Not you again!”

Maria: “Get use to it.” As she joins the fight and turns the tide. Eventually, we manage to disarm them when they try using knives… and Maria proceeds to toss them through a window from way up here! I had to use my webs to hang them by their ankles as they fell to save them.

Ruby: “What are you doing!?”

Maria: “I knew you’d catch them, so I counted on it. This makes it easier to keep them out of our way.”

Blake: “You’re sure straight to the point.”

Yang: “Like you’re one to talk.”

Weiss: “Anyway. What about the evidence?”

Maria: “Right here on this flash drive.” As she pulls out a drive to show it off before putting it back. “And just in time too. I was mere seconds away from not reaching the computer before they could delete the evidence. Now all that’s left…” As we approach the large doors at the other end lf the room. “…is the Queenpin herself.”

Chapter Text

Once we barge in the office, we can see the woman herself at her desk writing in her journal. But she doesn’t seem the least bit fazed. She didn’t even flinch as we came.

Malachite: “Could you please not slam the doors open lie that? It's bad for the decor.”

Maria: “It’s over Malachite. We've got the evidence we need and the police are still fighting.”

Blake: “Best you write this defeat down in your memoirs before they haul you off.” She couldn’t care less as she triggers the intercom.

Malachite: “Get the chopper ready. I won’t be long.” Once she’s off, she cracks her fingers before getting up and walking towards the back. “Seems even my daughters couldn’t stop your power. Guess it’s true what they say when the only people you can rely on is yourself. But this foolishness ends now.” She presses on some remote which brings up a glass wall separates her from us.

Ruby: “Uh, you know we can still see you, right?”

Malachite: “For many years I’ve tolerated this vigilante foolishness. But not anymore.” Another button press, and two turrents emerge from the support pillars of the room.

Blake: “Crap! Move!” As the turrents open fire.

Malachite: “The age of heroes ended with Captain Vale in the war. And even then, he was nothing more than a soldier given a power boost by hard science. You all are just a bunch of children and circus freaks playing pretend!”

Maria: “Then clearly you don’t know anything!” She tossed around her sticks to break the turrents guns, stopping them from firing.

Blake: “We all have our reasons for fighting to protect the people of this city! Even from tyrants like you!” She used her claws to weaken the currents attachments to the pillars.

Ruby: “And don’t you dare lump us in with people like you who only do what they solely for fame and fortune!” As I web up the turrents and start pulling on them. “You have no right to assume what kind lives we live to make our decisions!” As I finally break them off. “Because the world doesn’t just revolve around you!” As I swing around the turrents and throw them at the glass wall, the amount of power I put behind them being enough to completely shatter it.

Malachite: “What!? How is this happening!?”

Ruby: “Aw. What's wrong? You sound angry.”

Malachite: “I’m still not going down without a fight! I will destroy you!” As she runs in and picks up her desk to throw at us. Blake and Maria split up while I duck to avoid it. Then I web it and throw it right back at her. She tried to block with her arms but was still staggered. She recovered just in time to defend against an attack from Blake and Maria. Despite not having any powers, she has a large and sturdy build and is able to overwhelm them with her unexpected strength. She does work to avoid Blake’s claws as best as she can and only getting away with rips in her skirt and is managing to power through smacks from Maria sticks. During one of Maria’s swings, Malachite grabs her arm and tosses her aside to which she smacks into Blake. I swing around and give her a hard kick, but she just grabbed hold of me and threw me across the room and through the door back into the lobby. She stood there in the door as she followed me out. “You are everything that’s wrong with this city!” As I manage to get up.

Ruby: “Says the girl making deals with the Maggia families.”

Maria: “Exactly!” As she and Blake give her hard kicks from behind straight to the back, causing her to kneel as they join me at my side. “This is low even for you, Malachite. And the final straw that broke the camel's back. Just give it up.” As we cautiously approach.

Malachite: “Not yet. If I’m going down... then I’m taking you all with me!” As she raises her fists and slams the ground hard! The portion of floor we stand on happens to be glass, which she broke, and we all fell through. As we’re falling, Blake and I use our webs and grapple to save ourselves while Maria went straight for Queenpin to tussle with her as they fall.

Maria: “You're not getting off that easy, Queenpin! Scarlet! Help me out here!”

Ruby: “Right!” I get close and help her deliver several punches to her face. The final punch pushes us off of her as she breaks through the floor leading to the ground lobby, to which I use a lot of webbing to catch and bind her and hang her upside down from the lobby ceiling. I hang upside right by her face as Blake and Maria come down themselves. “So, should we kiss now?” She just struggles in anger as the cops finally take out the rest of her men. “Yeah, maybe later.” The three clear out before the cops get a chance to try and take us along with Malachite as they come in and bring her down for the arrest. Once the dust settles and they finally manage to cuff her and get her in a truck, the whole ordeal is over. Especially once Maria hands the drive with the evidence over to Vernal in secret.

Weiss: “Nice work you guys.”

Blake: “Things with the city's crime world should calm down a bit now that she’s been put away.”

Maria: “It’s over yet though. We still have the Maggia to tackle, which consist of five crime families. But at the very least, to make things a little personal, I was finally able to avenge father.”

Ruby: “Huh? What do you mean?”

Maria: “Even though his killer caught, he was only acting on orders. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the type give his master away. I took a cursory glance at the evidence as I downloaded it into the drive. Apparently, Malachite was the one in charge of the tournament rigging. The money was going to be used as part of the funding for her criminal operations.”

Blake: “She’s seriously been at this for that long? You were still a child when this happened.”

Maria: “The time frame doesn’t matter. After all, she and father were around the same age, as are me and her own daughters. Speaking of which, it would seem the twins managed to get away before the cops could reach them. Their likely going to be working below the radar for a while.”

Yang: “Well, at least the mother won’t be causing us any more problems.”

Maria: “As for me, I’ll do my best to work on the case against Malachite and her goons in court. Then, I’ll see if I can come up with any leads into finding the Maggia dons. I’ll keep you posted as I go along. In the meantime, you four just keep doing what you can for the city. Afterall, that’s what any of us can do for the city. Right?”

Ruby: “Heheh. Right!” And speaking of the Maggia, the five dons meet up again the next morning.

Parrot: “Honestly...”

Pyre: “Yeah, this about as well as I expected.”

Vermillion: “I tried to tell you we couldn’t rely on her! But you didn’t listen!”

Jax: “Alright! Everybody calm down! Yes, we now have a bit of a set back with Malachite behind bars. But that doesn’t mean the job is done yet.”

Junior: “Exactly. Even before the heroes caught on and got to her, we did still manage to get ahold of a fair amount of the firepower she promised us. I’m confident it’ll be enough to put those heroes down.”

Jax: “For once I have to agree to Junior here. We will destroy these heroes once we’ve got everything properly organized. All we need to do is bide our time. That is all. Your dismissed.” The dons all leave and head back to their own bases, and we follow Junior back to his own office.

Junior: “Hmph. Good luck with all the meager power the rest of you got. My own deal with the Queenpin proved more fruitful than your own. And with the help of my newest recruits...” He looks back at his office doors to see the Malachite Twins standing there awaiting orders. “...I’m sure I’ll be able to get even more.”

Chapter Text

After Malachite’s conviction, and given her entire crime history, she was sentenced to the Vault rather than the local prison. This was also due to her manipulative nature, and the personnel there are among the highly trained of the Atlas military to not fall to corruption. Her immense wealth also has no place there since most of it came from criminal means. And finally, it was also given that, with her mysterious strength, she’d probably be able to break out of the normal prison easily if she really wanted to. The Vault just makes things easier. However, it’s undeniable that some of her work was legit and made essential to certain facilities of the city. Most notably her construction business working with the city for repairs. Unless someone else like SDC takes Malachite Industries place in the city construction contract, city repairs after every battle from now on are going to be rough. Fortunately, some R&D company called Roxxon seem to be in talks with the council, though what’s odd is that they are more known for the R&D part, hardly making much use of any other businesses they may have and focusing more on places like their nuclear power plants. Regardless, that discussion can wait for later since they’ve only just started negotiating. Right now, Weiss was very insistent that Blake and I be on standby at city hall during some big event happening today.

Yang: “Remind me again why they're at this stuffy event?”

Weiss: “Did you seriously not hear a single thing we said?”

Yang: “Excuse me for trying to focus more on my homework. I’m not exactly a brainiac like the rest of you to where I can get it all done just like that.”

Weiss: “If you must know, today an Atlas official is visiting Vale to share some concerns he has after hearing about all the recent villain activity this year.”

Yang: “An Atlas official?”

Weiss: “Yes. A man named Bram Thornmane. The current leader of a town called Essen, not too far from Atlas. It sits too close to the frozen tundra though, so it was a struggling city up until Thornmane was elected leader by the Atlas council. He was the one who rose the city from the brink and made it more prosperous. All because of his company's efforts to improve the city. With his wealth and reputation in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone planned to try something like assassinate him. Of course, the Atlas military will assign some personal bodyguards to protect him while abroad, but with the outbreak of super villains in our city, I think it would be best if we did our part to guard him as well.”

Blake: “I think I’ve got eyes on our guy.” Making his way up to the stage is a muscular man with light brown hair and beard and light blue eyes. He is wearing a red jacket with golden, and golden brooches on his shoulders. The left brooch holds a gold chain connected to the lapel of his jacket. Beneath the jacket is a black vest with gold accents tucked in beneath his beige slacks. Under the vest is a white dress shirt and a darker red tie. And finally, he wears white gloves and black boots with red trim. Accompanying him is a man with slicked back brown hair and turquoise eyes. He wears a white peacoat with red lapels and cuffs. Underneath is a dark blue dress shirt a red tie. He wears white pants with dark brown shoes. He also wears some kind green and silver pin on his left lapel shaped like a four-leaf clover. All the white in his uniform is a dead giveaway he’s Atlas military.

Yang: “Talk about a flashy getup.”

Weiss: “That’s Thornmane alright.”

Ruby: “And I’m guessing the man with him must be his assigned bodyguard.”

Weiss: “One would assume. But his uniform isn’t what you’d expect from the Atlas military. Even if it’s just a foreign visit, they still feel the need to assign a proper, fully armored soldier. This guy doesn’t seem your typical soldier.” Thornmane reaches the podium while the bodyguard stands a few feet behind him.

Thornmane: “Citizens of Vale. In recent times, your fair city has suffered more and more unexpected arrivals of super powered freaks looking to destroy everything you hold dear. And seeing your plight after the recent arrest of the infamous Queenpin, Mary Malachite, has brought me great sorrow, as it has reminded me of the state of my own city before I came into power, as she held the primary city construction contract. Your council is now in talks with potential replacements, but there is no telling how much more will be done to your city in the time it’ll take to finalize that decision. Hence why I am here. Until your council can through the final details of the city construction contract, the Thornmane Group will be donating to this city as funding to the current construction effort.” And just as the crowd starts cheering for his generosity, a strange substance suddenly burst from the podium in a cloud of mist, and everyone in the area becomes concerned. “What in the-!? What is this!?” TO which he starts coughing as he ends up inhaling some of this substance. “Clover! Help!” He directed his attention to his bodyguard.

Clover: “Somebody a paramedic!” He says as the substance clears. “Don’t worry, sir. We'll get you out of here.” But then Thornmane falls to his knees, and the crowd, as well as anyone watching the live broadcast, witness what the substance does to him as he starts physically changing! His grows a bit bigger, to which most of his clothes completely rips off his body, leaving only his pants on with the hem of the legs ripped up. His limbs and head start changing shape as hair grows all over his entire body. Once the transformation is complete, we see he’s turned into a brown-haired wolf man with light blue eyes. “Mr. Thornmane?” The creature once known as Bram Thornmane just howls into the sky before smacking Clover aside as the crowd starts running in a panic.

Yang: “What the hell just happened?”

Blake: “I don’t know, but we better do something.”

Ruby: “Right but be careful.” As we swing down there to intervene. “Mr. Thornmane, please calm down! Whatever has come over you, we can help with.” He just gets more aggressive he turns and snarls at us before attacking.

Blake: “I don’t think he can hear us in there.” Obviously, we don’t really want to hurt him, but as it stands, we don’t really have a choice if we want to stop him from hurting others. But we still try our best to hold back a bit. That was a mistake as he manages to overpower us and smack us aside before he escapes into the city. “Damn! He’s gone!”

Weiss: “What was that?”

Ruby: “Let's let the police figure that out as they investigate. Right now, we have put our efforts into protecting the people. Let's go!”

Clover: “Hold up!” The bodyguard recovers as he gets up and approaches us. You two really shouldn’t get involved. This is my problem, and whatever caused this, I ended up letting it slip passed me.”

Blake: “And you are?”

Clover: “Clover Ebi. Special agent for B.E.A.C.O.N. on assignment directly from General Ironwood himself.”

Weiss: “B.E.A.C.O.N.?”

Blake: “Well no offense, Agent Ebi, but you haven’t faced the kind of things we face here in Vale all the time. Especially not something like that. As stands, you try to face him yourself, he’s more liable to rip you apart and try to eat you with the way he is now. Our own abilities mean we stand more of a chance against him, given our own experiences.”

Clover: “Even so, I can’t let two vigilantes get involved in this. It's just unethical.”

Ruby: “Unfortunately for you though, we also find it unethical to just stand by and let people suffer. So, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got some work to do.” As we swing away from the scene as Vernal’s team shows up. Then Clover calls someone on his Scroll.

Clover: “General Ironwood? This is Agent Ebi. I have just made contact with the Scarlet Spider. She and the Black Cat plan to tackle this new problem with Mr. Thornmane.”

Ironwood: “Then let them.”

Clover: “Are you sure about this, sir? They are vigilantes.”

Ironwood: “They are also quite resilient. So far, they have solved every problem that had occurred in Vale in the last few months. It’s clear they are the righteous sort. Don't forget, Garmadon was like that too when we first met him.”

Clover: “How could I forget? That incident was quite the revelation.”

Ironwood: “Do your best to monitor the situation and don’t interfere. As it stands, they are the best chance we’ve got.”

Clover: “Yes sir.” To which he hung up. “I just hope our right about this.”

Chapter Text

As we swing around and pick up Thornmane’s trail, we eventually catch up to him in the streets, though at the same the incident is already getting media attention.

Lisa: “A terrible incident occurred today as the visiting leader of Essen unexpectedly transformed into a savage wolf man, started attacking the people and is now loose on the streets. Witness reports state the Scarlet Spider and Black Cat are already on the case. The public has also already gone on record to start referring to this new creature as the Beowolf from mythology just as they did with Doctor Grey Merlot as the Creep. The police investigation of city hall is currently under, as well as an interrogation on Dr. Merlot on account on the similarities between these cases.” These were the kind of reports we heard as we followed the creature now dubbed the Beowolf through the city.

Blake: “You saw that puff of mist, right?”

Ruby: “It might have been some of mutagen like what Merlot used. But there’s only one way to be sure. We need to get a blood sample to analyze. And if was a mutagen, we’ll need to make an antidote like before.”

Weiss: “Thankfully, we’re dealing with a wolf this time rather than a reptile. His skin won’t be so thick to pierce through with the needle.”

Blake: “I’ve got spare syringes we can use.”

Ruby: “Then let’s get to it!” Weiss can no longer be heard as she worked on something else.

Weiss: “PENNY? Make sure the lab is ready when they get the blood. And in the meantime, I’ll also need some help with something else. Let's see what we find out about the security detail. This is the second time we’ve heard about this B.E.A.C.O.N. thing. I think it’s time we found out exactly what it is.” Back to our pursuit, we catch up to him on a freeway. Our confrontation with him this time goes better than last time and definitely better than my solo fights with the Creep. Though that doesn’t mean it was easy. He definitely had the vicious savagery of a wild wolf, so we had some close calls as he tried to eat us, just as we expected when warned that Clover guy away from this.

Ruby: “We need a better plan!”

Blake: “Here!” She tosses me one of her syringes. “I’ll try to hold him down. You take the chance to get the blood.” She gets in close and uses her grapple line to snare and wrap his legs to trip it. And then she worked to wrap around his upper body to pin his arms. “Now!” I take this chance to jump on his back and draw his blood. Once I’m off his back, he struggles a bit more before the cables start to snap! “Crap!” Once he’s completely free, he grabs her cable and tosses her aside as she smacks into a nearby lamppost. “Damn! That hurt...”

Ruby: “Get this blood back to the lab! Go!” As I toss her the syringe and she uses her other arms to grapple to flee the scene while I kept the Beowolf busy. Fortunately, Blake was out of sight just in time for the bad part. My distraction only lasted for so long before he managed to smack me aside through a nearby buildings window, and he got away before I could make it back outside. And unfortunately, after attempting to do so for about a half hour, I was unable to pick up his trail again. “Sorry guys. Looks like I lost him.” As I make my way back.

Blake: “That’s not good. A beast like that is too dangerous is just leave alone.” Thankfully, Blake got to the lab, and they were able to immediately put the blood through analysis.

Weiss: “Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do if don’t know where he is. And even then, fighting him is pointless if we can’t change him back.”

Yang: “Guess it’s a good thing we already have that blood then.” On my way back I get a call from Vernal regarding the investigation. “Talk to me Captain.”

Vernal: “How did things go with Mr. Thornmane?”

Ruby: “Not good. We lost him.”

Vernal: *sigh*”Please tell me there’s some good news at least.”

Ruby: “Yeah. We did manage to get a blood sample. With any luck, we’ll be able to make a cure just like we did with Merlot.”

Vernal: “Speaking of whom, we interrogated for a while, and he’s been denying all involvement with this whole this. Even after we showed what we found on the scene.”

Ruby: “And what would that be?”

Vernal: “That puff of mist we saw? We believe we found the device responsible for that, hidden inside the podium. After a closer examination, we found the Tinkerer's insignia underneath the base. And upon looking through the Vault’s camera footage after his interrogation, we found that he has not once stepped out of line during his time. He has shown nothing but excellent behavior and has barely made any contact with anyone, whether it be anyone in the Vault or anyone who has come from outside the Vault.”

Ruby: “If the device is the Tinkerer’s, then Merlot may not be involved at all. All he would need is a look through Merlot’s research.”

Vernal: “That’s seeming more and more likely. I do what I can to protect the people and find Thornmane. Just make sure you're ready for what’s to come.”

Ruby: “You got it.” Afterwards, I finally make it back to the lab. “Alright people. What do we got?”

Weiss: “PENNY just finished the analysis.”

PENNY: “The scan immediately showed signs of a type of mutagen involved. After giving the sample a more in-depth examination and comparing it to my data from our work with Merlot, I have found the formula involved is almost the same is regards to the fact that it made with the intent of transformation, however it was clearly modified in order change the outcome. It almost looks as if they were experimenting with Merlot’s formula to try and see if they could incite other transformations besides just reptilian.”

Blake: “Well, mission accomplished then.”

PENNY: “Thankfully, this means I am able to develop an antidote. Since this is a modified formula, this means I’ll have to create an entirely new cure. I’ll get started right and if I do this right, I should have a satisfactory cure by tomorrow.”

Ruby: “Guess it can’t be helped.”

Weiss: “In the meantime, there is something else I wanted to discuss. That Agent Clover that was assigned to Thornmane. I began looking into it after he said he was an agent for B.E.A.C.O.N. in hopes of discovering what it was, especially now that we’ve heard the name twice with the span of a year.”

Yang: “She’s right. That was the group mom said she was working for as an undercover agent in those video files.”

Ruby: “And what did you find?”

PENNY: “Last time we heard the, I merely did a courtesy search and found it was organization founded by associates of Captain Vale. After an extensive search on various systems, I believe I may have a bit more, though it’s not exactly much to be honest.”

Weiss: “Anything we find is always helpful.”

PENNY: “The organizations full name is the Bureau of Elite Agents for Combat and Observation Network. As it was founded by Metis Nikos and Nicholas Schnee, it became a special of the Atlas military. And while it was made to keep an eye out for potential threats and create countermeasures for said threats, the public was only led to believe it was a simple intelligence group via espionage, which was technically true, they do that, but they are unaware of the rest. And as Summer has stated before, the current director is also the general of the Atlas military as a whole. A one James Ironwood. Unfortunately, I was unable to discover why they sent a B.E.A.C.O.N. to guard Mr. Thornmane rather than a regular soldier.”

Blake: “Guess it make sense it wouldn’t be that easy.”

Weiss: “Still, we know B.E.A.C.O.N. has their eyes on Vale now. Things could get tricky in the future.”

Ruby: “Maybe. But we can’t let that stop us from helping people. Let’s just worry about fixing Thornmane for now.” And with that in mind, we all split up for now, Blake and I working to keep our eyes peeled for any danger just in case until it was time to get some rest. All we can do now is wait for the antidote tomorrow. This is going to be rough one for sure.

Chapter Text

By the next day, we just barely managed to focus on our classes until school finally let out and we got right to work. I get another call from Vernal as we’re changing in an alley as Weiss and Yang already went on ahead to the lab.

Ruby: “What’s up Captain?”

Vernal: “Bad news! Thornmane has been sighted! Guess he’s started to get hungry as he’s been sighted approaching the zoo. I can only imagine he’s planning the eat the animals. My men and animal control are doing our best to keep him from getting past the entrance. We need you here NOW!”

Ruby: “Okay! Okay! I got it!” Just as we finished changing.

Blake: “You go on ahead. I’ll head to the lab and grab the antidote. You just keep him busy until I can get it to you.” To which we split up and head in our assigned directions. It took a few minutes, but I made it to the zoo in time. The Beowolf just made it through the animal control line up blocking the front entrance who were trying to hold him back with stun rods, and several cops either knocked out or dead behind him. I give him a good kick to knock him back, away from the entrance when I came in to intervene.

Ruby: “Sorry Mr. Thornmane, but dinners cancelled!” He just growls and roars at me as he moves to attack. Since the goal is to keep him busy until Blake gets back and to keep him away from the animals, I have to keep his attention for as long as possible. Of course, this involves getting a little violent since he’s gotten a bit tougher in this form, and there’s only so much I can do just dodging and meager distractions. I had a few close calls, but after a while...

Blake: “Scarlet!” I can see Blake incoming before she joins me in the fight. “Sorry for the wait!”

Ruby: “You got the antidote?”

Blake: “Right here!” As she tossed me a syringe. Now we just need to get an opportunity to use it.

Ruby: “Okay Thornmane, it’s time for your annual shot!” This final confrontation was about as difficult as the others. It may be two on one, but he still isn’t making it easy as he keeps barely getting with the tip of his claws, leaving only mere cuts in our suits. And it would seem he retained some intelligence as he learned to watch his legs better to avoid entanglement like we did last time, so we played a different card. Blake took all of his attention as she stayed up high, and I took the opportunity to web his feet to the ground. Once he noticed, I also webbed up his upper body like we did last time before giving a hard kick into a tree, to which Blake tied him too with her grapple line from behind.

Blake: “I’ve got him! Do it!” With his arms pinned all I have to do is hold his head back to keep him from biting me as I administer the antidote in his neck. Once I got the needle out and backed off, he started transforming back to his normal self. He was out for a moment as Blake and I worked to untangle him and give him some room. Obviously, he was confused as he came too.

Thornmane: *groan*”Huh? What? Where am I?” He recognized us better as his vision cleared a bit. “Scarlet Spider? And the Black Cat?”

Ruby: “We’re sorry about this Mr. Thornmane.” As I took off my cloak and draped it over his shoulders. “We regret to inform you that the Tinkerer managed to hit you with a mutagen that turned you into a raging wolf monster. We just now managed to inject you with an antidote.”

Blake: “We did have to get a little rough with you though.”

Thornmane: “I see...” He looks sorrowful as he moves to stand. “How long has it been? And how bad is the damaged I caused?”

Blake: “It’s only been a day. Damage to the city itself is miniscule, though you hurt a few people. Some people at city hall were mildly injured and well...” We look around at the cops around us. “Most of them are just unconscious, but some of them were killed in your rampage.”

Thornmane: “My god...”

Ruby: “Don’t worry sir. There's plenty of evidence to show you weren’t in control, so they won’t be able to charge you with anything. But it may be best to lay low as you recover from this experience. We can’t take any chances of any potential effects the serum could have on your mind, even after being cured.”

Thornmane: “I understand. But first I should do what I can to calm the city.” Afterwards, Agent Clover came by to pick him, giving him an actual blanket to use and gave me my cloak back, before they took off. In the next few days, Thornmane went about having another speech before leaving for Solitas. “As discovered by your local police, the illusive menace known as the Tinkerer had managed to place a trap waiting for me, which transformed me into the raging Beowolf. If not for the efforts of local heroes the Scarlet Spider and the Black Cat, I wouldn’t be standing before you right now. Because of this incident, my offer for construction funding is now absolute. And with that, I must be off, lest I fall into another trap.” As soon as his speech was done, Clover escorted him straight to an airship at the venue, scheduled to take him straight to Essen. In the meantime, we catch Glass on his way home after hearing this news.

Glass: “All in all, I suppose my attempt at genetics went well enough, though I’m not sure if it’s something I quite fond of. Oh well. I still have plenty of other ideas for this city.” And that’s when he was attacked from behind with a precise strike to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. Later on, he came too in an office, tied to a chair and sitting face to face... with Junior, and the Malachite twins standing at his side.

Junior: “Hello Mr. Glass. Sorry about the rude recruitment, but I really needed to see you regarding some urgent business.”

Glass: “Uh... What would that be?” Clearly worried.

Junior: “I’ll cut right to the chase. I am planning something big for the other four dons. And I need your help to do it.”

Glass: “How could I possibly help?”

Junior: “I need a special device for a big event. I’ll fill you in on the details as we work together, but your expertise will be vital for this. And if you don’t cooperate...” The Malachite’s come in close with knives in hand to hold his neck at knife point. “You’ll be seeing an early retirement. Am I understood?”

Glass: “C-Crystal clear.” Still sounding worried, but he was actually internally excited to get started on what he had in mind.

Junior: “Very good.” The twins back off. “Your release will be guaranteed once the job is done. And so long as your with us, my men will be at your disposal as far as gathering materials and heavy lifting. But try anything and your ass is grass.”

Glass: “Believe me good sir... I wouldn’t dream of it!” He says with subtle smirk.

Chapter Text

About a month after Thornmane had left, and the city contract with Roxxon had finally been established. The city would be in a state of celebration... if we weren’t dealing something else. Earlier today, Tyrian Callows and Roman Torchwick had escaped from prison and got ahold of their gear. They had been seen fighting in a park and only broke it up when Blake and I came on the scene. From there, they split up in their attempt to escape, but it helps that there also two of us. So, we also split up to follow after each of them. When considering our options given our abilities compared to them and our experiences with them, we decide that I go after Tyrian while Blake follows Torchwick. Blake manages to get onto Torchwick’s back and use the jammer we made to disable his wing pack.

Torchwick: “Shit! Not again!” Blake jumped off of him as he crashed a little ways away from Vale cemetery. He survived, albeit a little beat with a few cuts, so he ditched the wing pack and claw devices, grabbed his cane which was attached to the packs side, and ran into the cemetery to look for a hiding place. Meanwhile, I chase Tyrian out into a waterway where I finally catch up to him and give him a struggle.

Tyrian: “I won’t be making it easy for you this time!”

Ruby: “Like I can afford to hold back with you!” part of the struggle is keeping him from infecting the water with his stinger since it all flows into the river. And of course, the struggle led to a few cuts in my suit from his armor's pincers. Back in the cemetery, Torchwick continues to take cover behind several tombstones as Blake searches for him.

Blake: “Better give it up, Torchwick! You know very well it’s only a matter of time before I find you!” He hid behind a big statue with a large base. As crouched and leaned back against said base, it turns out there was a secret door that he fell through.

Torchwick: “What the-? Whoa!” And it proceeded to close behind him.

Blake: “Hm? What was that?” He slid down a long tunnel before finally stopping in a strange room. It was slightly furnished with a desk and chair, a computer, and some kind of strange capsule on the opposite end from said computer.

Torchwick: “What in the world is this?” He approached the computer and tried to access it, but it was password protected and though he knew how to use computer, he wasn’t very good at hacking. “Wish I had that Curcio guy Neo mentioned around.” And then he approached the capsule. “If that computer is protected, then maybe there’s something valuable hidden in here.” He smirked as used his cane to try and bust the lock open. After a few hard smacks, the lock brakes and the capsule springs open and a bunch of mist emerges. Once the mist clears, the only things he sees insides is a shirtless man. He has slicked back brown and I little beard. You can see some bat wings pinned underneath him too. The most alarming thing though is the stab wound in his chest, right where his heart should be. “What the hell!? It’s just another dead guy!” As he slammed his hand down on the rim. One of his cuts is on his hand and the impact made a drop of his blood bounce up and it landed in the body’s stab wound. It then proceeded to flow though the wound until it found its way to his heart, which was punctured, to which it suddenly healed up afterwards. Back up top, Blake continues for a little more before giving up.

Blake: “Clearly, he’s not here anymore. But where could he have gone to get passed my hearing? Better look elsewhere.” As she swung away from the scene. This just leaves Torchwick alone as he turns away from the capsule.

Torchwick: “Geez! What a waste of time! God! I just want a way out of this place!” He doesn’t notice the stab wound heal up he searches around the room for an exit. Eventually, he bumps into a part of an empty wall which open its up and reveals a hidden staircase. At the same time, the man eyes open! Revealing bright red eyes with a slit-like pupil, almost kind of cat like. “Finally! I am so out of here!” Then the man starts getting with some very audible breathing, startling Torchwick. “What’s that?” As he slowly turned around to see him standing... staring at him menacingly. And as Torchwick looked at him, he could almost swear he can see actual fangs in his mouth as he breaths. Or he would if he wasn’t freaking out. The stairs lead up to a system of underground caves. He almost got lost a couple of times before he found the entrance which was a little ways away from a back entrance to the cemetery. Meanwhile my fight with Tyrian found its way onto the streets so now I don’t have to worry about him poisoning the water system.

Tyrian: “AHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! What a rush! This is the thrill that I crave!” In his enthusiasm, he ends up jumping up and climbing the nearby buildings all the way up the rooftops. “THIS is what I live for!” Once I follow him up there, Blake ends up joining the fight. “Oh! The little kitty is here. What? Did you get bored playing with bird boy back there?”

Blake: “More like lost him completely.”

Ruby: “Wonderful...”

Tyrian: “Aw boo hoo. But I think you’ve got bigger problems!” The three of us enter another tussle which lasted a while. We definitely do better about facing Tyrian than we did last time and are giving him quite the run for his money as we corner by the edge of the roof. “Tch! You have certainly gotten better, I’ll give you that. But I don’t plan on getting caught quite so easily this time!” He just narrowly dodge as he tries to strike us with his tail, but then he spun around and smacks us aside with his tail instead, to which he then jumped off the roof, a caught a train rushing by at that moment. He’s too far gone by the time we recover.

Blake: “Great. I go and lose one and then we both lose the other. Today just isn’t our day.”

Ruby: “Clearly not. Let's just we can catch them before they cause too much damage.” As we speak, Torchwick is still running from the winged guy. This whole time the guy hasn’t used his wings but he’s still moving pretty fast that Torchwick can barely outrun him. He just now managed to get a good amount of space between so he can hide as he turned a corner. However... the guy notices the drops of blood on the ground Roman left behind as he ran and sniffed it to catch his trail.

???: “Blood...” His voice is a bit hoarse as he spoke for now. Torchwick stands there panicked as the guy oved slowly. But then a night watchman came onto the scene and found the winged guy.

Watchman: “Hey! The cemetery is closed.” This caught the guy's attention as he turned and stared, his gaze freaking the watchman out. “What the-!? Argh!” The guy attacked him and started biting his neck, drinking some blood but not all of it.

???: “This will do for now.” Torchwick took this chance to try and run but it didn’t go unnoticed. The next thing he knew the guy was suddenly standing right before him as he bumped into him and fell over, not even knocking the guy down. As the guy started walking towards him, he tried to back but had to stop when he bumped into the watchman.

Torchwick: “Huh? Shit. Guess this is it for me...” But then the watchman gets back up, now having the same eyes as the winged guy. Bright red with slit pupils. “Argh! What the hell!? Dead guys don’t do that!” And he bumped into the winged guy again.

???: “Except I didn’t kill him.” His voice now much clearer. “I merely drank some blood to regain some of my strength, as well as turn into a pseudo vampire like myself to act as a carrier for my coming purpose. He can easily turn if I so choose too or if something were to happen to me.”

Torchwick: “Just what the hell are you?”

???: “What I am is of no concern to you. What is though is that I will need a more human servant to guard my resting place while I sleep in the day.”

Torchwick: “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You are not suggesting I do this for you! I am a notorious thief. I have much better things to be doing in my time than guarding some bizarre freakshow.” He says as he glares into the guy's eyes. But this was a mistake as he took this chance of eye contact to hypnotize Roman, eyes glowing for a brief moment before responding. “Roman Torchwick at your service mister... uh?” He bowed as he just realized he didn’t even know his new master's name. And now we finally get it.

Yuma: “Ash. Doctor Yuma Ash.”

Chapter Text

Yuma, Torchwick and the watchman stood by the cemetery’s entrance.

Yuma: “Last I remember I was still in Mantle when I was defeated.”

Torchwick: “Well, this ain’t no Mantle I’m afraid. You've somehow found yourself all the way in Vale.”

Yuma: “That blasted vampire hunter must’ve moved me here after my demise to me away from her precious city.” As he has flashbacks to a fight against a rather masculine looking woman in black with dark skin, slicked back dark green hair, and beige eyes underneath sunglasses wielding a silver sword. The flashbacks end at the moment Yuma was stabbed in his heart. “But no matter. She couldn’t have predicted something like this would happen.” To which he turned to look at Roman. “Now show me around, Torchwick. The night is young, and still I thirst.” Days later, almost a week, and things are looking quite strange to us.

Lisa: “Panic continues to spread among the people of Vale as more and more citizens continue to disappear. The police investigation into the matter is still in full swing, but even they seem lost as to the reason behind these disappearances.” The four of us hear this news from the lab.

Weiss: “The police aren’t the only ones baffled by this series of events.”

Yang: “You sure Deathstalker or Nevermore have nothing to do with this?”

Blake: “Torchwick is a pride and true thief, not a kidnapper or a murderer. He always left the killing up to Neo. And even if he leaned towards kidnapping, he would only ever consider it if the person in question was someone worth ransoming. And yet no one has so much as seen a single ransom note or any other sort of message this whole time.”

Ruby: “And as for Tyrian, the amount of people goes missing might make sense, but only if this were a serial murder. We already know Tyrian is psycho serial killer, but we also know he’s not afraid to show his work. If he was really killing these people off, then we’d be seeing all of their bodies around for the police to find. This is something else.”

Weiss: “And yet despite it all, Father still finds a way to take advantage of it all to throw some big party claiming it’s a way to calm the nerves of the elite, when really, it’s just an expo to show off some of the company’s latest inventions.”

Yang: “I still can’t believe you got us all invites to this thing. I mean what’s the point?”

Blake: “Same reason why Ruby and I went to guard Thornmane’s speech. With this recent outbreak of disappearances, Jacques is really painted a big target on the backs of Vale’s elite. There’s a chance that whatever's behind this might go after them.”

Weiss: “Exactly. Unfortunately, the party is in a rented penthouse rather than a public gathering so we can’t exactly just have Ruby and Blake casually patrol the place. Especially not when father has a known hatred for the Spider and Cat. Attending the party as guests is the only chance we’ll have to keep an eye out for anything wrong.”

Yang: “Okay, fair.”

Ruby: “That party’s not until tomorrow though. Let's see if we can’t turn up anything on the missing people on tonight's patrol.” Once we head out to do just that, things seem just about as calm as you’d expect when there’s no villain to fight. But whether it be that or people going missing, that still doesn’t stop regular old criminals from acting as we hear a woman nearby yell after a thief who took her purse. But by the time I come across the scene, I see the thief being tossed out of a dark alley onto the street and a cop come out after him. But something seems off about him.

Woman: “Thank goodness. Huh? Wait, where's my bag?” When she looks up, she sees the cop's eyes and then his fangs as grabs her and moves to bite her neck. I swing in a kick the cop off of her, but it’s too late. Next thing I know, I see the woman also has red eyes and fangs as she growls at me. As does the thief as he gets up and looks my way. As soon as the cop recover, all three of them start getting closer.

Ruby: “Uh, Blake? I could use a hand out here.”

Blake: “Okay, I’m on my way, just hang a second.”

Ruby: “I’ll try.” I’m just glad I have my spider handy to help dodge all their impressively fast attacks. Whatever’s going on with these people they clearly aren’t normal anymore. Even when I end up hitting them, they aren't fazed in the slightest. I’m even getting slight tears in the knuckles of my suit as I punch them. I need to try a different approach. I swing away to try and get some distance, but they follow, running right onto the tracks in the area, and then a train starts coming up. When I heard that, I turn back to stop this because I don’t want to kill them, but then the next thing I know, their gone. No bodies, no blood, their just... gone. And that’s when Blake shows up on the scene.

Blake: “Scarlet! You okay?”

Ruby: “I’m fine, just... confused.” As we make it back to the lab, the three vamps I faced report back to Yuma. Yuma now wearing a robe.

Yuma: “A girl with the powers of a spider?”

Torchwick: “Pfft! Please. You really shouldn’t bother with the Scarlet Spider. Or the Black Cat for that matter. They may have faced teched out crooks like me, but they have nothing on guys like you with true power. That whole thing with Electro was just a fluke as he was just a kid and Sandman just had too much of an easy to exploit weakness.”

Yuma: “No. I can’t let myself be blinded by arrogance by underestimating potential threats like I did with Blade. That’s how I lost to her in the first place. I must see firsthand what Vale’s heroes are capable of before I decide on brushing them off.” Back at the lab we go over the footage of my fight just now to try and figure this out.

Yang: “Please tell me I’m not the only one confused.”

Weiss: “No you are not. This shouldn’t be possible. I mean... vampires?”

Blake: “And yet here we are, seeing some right here in Vale.”

PENNY: “If I may interject, I have been digging around and have found records of happenings of artificial and pseudo vampires occurring in more modern times, whereas more natural vampires have not been sighted for hundreds of years. Most cases of pseudo vampires have been fixed before.”

Blake: “Still think the invites were pointless?” As she turned to Yang. She just puts her hands up in defeat. We spent the next day making sure we’re ready for the party. Come nightfall, Roman stands by the statue and watches as the sun sets. Once it starts getting dark, he opens up the statue door and slides down to the underground room.

Torchwick: “Wakey, wakey master! The sun has set, and the moon has risen! Yet another night prime for your chaos!” Yuma’s capsule opens again, and Yuma himself rises from the mist as he awakens, now wearing a black suit with dark grey lapels over a white dress shirt, black pants and black dress shoes. The suit also has short tailcoat ends, has the sleeves rolled up, and both it and the shirt have holes for his wings come through. “Well, don’t you look dashing.”

Yuma: “I finally found where Blade had hidden my old suit in this backwater room. And with my strength returning, I figured it was time to get back into the old rags. Gotta look my best for when I take my place among the world's elite.”

Torchwick: “Well, if you’re really looking to be number one among Remnant’s rich and famous, there is one guy in particular you’ll have to knock from his place.”

Yuma: “Jacques Schnee. Yes, I'm well aware of his reputation. But that would only be possible if I were still in Mantle. At least Atlas would be accessible by that point.”

Torchwick: “Actually, you may have your chance tonight. Old Schnee has been in Vale all year overseeing the PR mop-up from some of the recent villains and he’s throwing a big expo party tonight. But tonight, may be your only chance. I also hear he’s finally planning on heading back to Atlas here in another week. And with all these people going missing lately, I doubt he’s going to give anyone another chance after tonight to strike.” Yuma thinks on this for a minute before deciding.

Yuma: “Just tell me where I can find the party, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Chapter Text

The four of us gathered at the party. Blake and I have to wear suits over dresses in order to conceal our super suits. Though to be honest we both prefer suits over dresses anyway, so it works out either way. Both of us wear black pants, shoes and Blake wear a tailcoat while I wear a regular suit jacket. Blake wore a purple dress shirt with gold tie. I wore a white dress shirt with a dark red vest and a bright red tie. Weiss and Yang attended wearing dresses, which I expected with Weiss since I’m sure that’s what her father expected of her, but Yang I was shocked to wearing the most extravagant dress between her and Weiss. Weiss was wearing a strapless ball gown going down to the floor in a grey blue color with a light blue gradation alongside grey blue opera length gloves, dark grey high heels, a pearl styled necklace, a white sash tied around her waist and little silver tiara sit where her pony tail meets her head. And finally, Yang was wearing was milky yellow strapless dress that was layers upon layers of ruffles going all the way down to the floor, concealing her matching high heels, along with wearing matching colored opera length gloves, a bow tied around her waist and a small necklace with a white gemstone. Weiss had to stick with Jacques the whole time, but we had already decided to split up as we scope out the party anyway, while keeping an open comm link between the four of us.

Weiss: “Still strange how Mr. Glass couldn’t be here. You'd think he’d jump at chance to show off his work.”

Jacques: “Even geniuses aren’t immune sickness. He called in for a leave of absence a while ago but assured me he’d be here, but then he went and got sick during his leave.”

Weiss: “You sure it’ll be a good idea to leave while he’s still out?”

Jacques: “I’ve wasted enough time here in Vale. I’m sure things in the main building in Atlas are pretty dire without me.” Unaware that we can hear everything from Weiss’ comm.

Blake: “Ye of little faith it seems.” As we’re watching the party though, we failed to notice Yuma entering as some kind of shadow before appearing in crowd. He's stilled dressed the same but he’s using some kind of power to make his eyes look a normal grey with regular pupils. He grabs a glass of wine from a passing waiter as he follows Weiss and Jacques to the punch bowl table.

Yuma: “Quite a beautiful sight this is.” Catching Weiss’ attention after pouring herself some punch.

Weiss: “Excuse me?” Jacques notices this as he grabs a glass of cider from a different waiter.

Jacques: “And you are?”

Yuma: “Doctor Yuma Ash. A fellow scientist from Kuchinashi. A pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Schnee.” Weiss shows a face suspicion and slight recognition.

Jacques: “Likewise.” He says that but he clearly is disgusted to be talking to a Faunus. “I’m not sure if I’ve heard of you before.”

Yuma: “My lab wasn’t exactly world renowned, but we do have a steady reputation in Kuchinashi. But at the moment, I am currently traveling the world to study the work done by various labs as well any potential in my craft.”

Jacques: “And what exactly do you specialize in?”

Yuma: “Genetics with a hobby of studying cultural anthropology. I had just arrived in Vale from Mistral after hearing of your mysterious Scarlet Spider.”

Jacques: “You mean even those in Mistral have heard word of that dreadful vigilante?”

Yuma: “Many observations I have found lead me to believe she is no spider Faunus like I first, but rather something more unique be artificial or supernatural.”

Jacques: “Hmph! Please there’s nothing in the world that can’t be explained by science. The supernatural doesn’t exist.”

Yuma: “Exist or not, it doesn’t change the existence of various mysterious creatures documented through our history.”

Jacques: “Ancient history is of no use to me without solid enough evidence to the contrary.”

Yuma: “Fair enough I suppose. But enough about my work. What of yours? I understand this party is to showcase your Vale branches latest work.”

Jacques: “Indeed. For example, our latest model in a solar generator as part of power improvement research. It's the latest state of the art device capable of harnessing solar energy and storing it as true sunlight.”

Yuma: “And her I thought I would only weapons displayed here.”

Jacques: “Weapons are exclusively presented in meetings with the Atlas military as well as developed in our main Atlas branch. Our wealth is much higher than expected from exclusively dealing in military contracts due to our extensive reach into various research across the globe. And even besides that, do you really think I’d risk having weapons on display? Especially in this town after everything that’s happened lately. We've supervillains all over who could potentially overpower any security I could hire or install and steal them. It'd be a disaster.”

Yuma: “Again, fair enough.” And then a waiter came with some hors d’oeuvres.

Waiter: “Garlic shrimp anyone?”

Yuma: “Tch!” Looking disgusted. Jacques noticed and decided to push him.

Jacques: “What's the matter? Afraid of a little punch?” Yuma just glared into his eyes as he hypnotized him.

Yuma: “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need another drink.” As he walks off into the crowd.

Weiss: “Talk about a creep fest, right?” Jacques doesn’t even react as he just stands there kind of stiff and expressionless. “Father? Are you okay?”

Jacques: “I’ll be right back. There's something I need to attend to.” His voice kind of monotone. And he walks away, maneuvers his way through the crowd with Yuma following him from a short distance away. Blake noticed this strange behavior and followed to see what was up. Jacques stops at the balcony railing and stares off into the night. Yuma readies his fangs, but one of Jacques’ waiters come in a speaks to him before Yuma could even reach him.

Waiter 2: “Mr. Schnee? What are you doing out here? It’s almost time for your big toast. Your speech is needed for the presentation.” At that point, Yuma’s hypnosis wore off and Jacques grabbed his head all woozy. “Sir? Are you alright?”

Jacques: “Yes but... how did I even get out here? Last, I remember I was still inside with Weiss talking with one of the guests.” Yuma disappears back into the crowd after a growl in anger at his failure tonight. Blake notices all of this from her hiding place.

Blake: “Yuma Ash, huh?” Yuma was next seen in a back room stalking another waiter refilling a wine bottle. He bumped right into Yuma as he turned around to leave.

Waiter 3: “Excuse me. Guests aren’t allowed back here. Please go back to the party and wait for the drinks.”

Yuma: “I lost my one chance to rid myself of Schnee. You’ll do nicely to satisfy my thirst at least.”*hiss* And he bites and turns her. A little bit later, Yang can be seen in a corner of the room kind of bored.

Yang: “Yeesh. What a drag.” She notices the turned waiter heading for a nearby hallway. “Hey. You there.” As she approaches the waiter and stops him. “I know you don’t know me, but can you do a girl a favor get her a strawberry sunrise?” He doesn’t respond.

Ruby: “Sis! Now is really not the time for that!”

Yang: “Hang on a second. Something doesn’t seem right. Hey, did you hear me?” She grabbed hold of his hand and noticed something. “Sheesh. You're really pale. Are you okay?” She turned him around and saw his red eyes. “Oh my god...” He started growling before giving a quick roar and turning to run down the hall and jump out a window. Yang tried to follow but lost him when she looked out the window.

Ruby: “Yang! Are you okay?”

Yang: “I’m fine but listen! I just ran into one of those vampires. It was one of the waiters he jumped out the window and disappeared.” Meanwhile, Weiss came across Yuma again in the party and she noticed him heading for the exit.

Weiss: “Leaving already? You're going to miss fathers' speech.”

Yuma: “Apologies, but I’m afraid I'm all partied out. Besides, I’ve seen all I need to see for now, so I better get home and get some rest. I’ve got a big day of studying tomorrow. Plus, I’m really not fond of these corporate speeches. They bore me.” As he walks away and towards the exit. He took the stairs, so Blake planned to intercept him in the lobby by taking the elevator, but when she made it to the ground floor, he was already there making his out the front door. And when she followed him out there, he was nowhere to be seen.

Blake: “Not good.”

Ruby: “You guys heard what Yang said, right?”

Weiss: “Yeah. And I think I know who’s responsible. Tomorrow’s the weekend. Let's meet up first thing in the morning.” And that’s exactly what we did. After the party had ended, we all went straight home to get some sleep before meeting up today. “Father may not know the name ‘Yuma Ash’ since he doesn’t care at all for anything unrelated to the SDC, but I do. I remember reading about him when researching various scientists across the globe for school projects back in our first year. I had PENNY run through I what found about him back then before bed last night.”

PENNY: “Yuma Ash. Kuchinashi geneticist. Ridiculed in his early career for being a Faunus before making major medical breakthroughs. Almost twenty years ago he had a lab accident that resulted in accidentally injecting himself with vampire bat DNA. His lab-mates concluded that while injection with animal DNA was dangerous enough for humans, it’s even worse for Faunus, especially when they mix the DNA of similar animals related to their own animal traits, resulting in unexpected mutations. In the case of Dr. Ash, it resulted in his transformation into a pseudo vampire. A few incidents potentially related to pseudo vampires have happened in various places across Remnant ever since Ash’s transformation and subsequent breakdown. The last assumed appearance of Yuma Ash was in Mantle over a year ago, where he was seen fighting a black clad vigilante the public only knows as Blade.”

Weiss: “This would explain his reaction to the garlic shrimp.”

PENNY: “Yes, but I should note that in the face of an artificial vampire, garlic is hardly a major weakness. Same goes for the sun contrary to what people believe for natural vampires. While pseudo vampires can be harmed by the sunlight, it cannot kill them. The pain more or less acts as a way to weaken them.”

Blake: “Well now we have a potential way of stopping him. But what about his victims?”

Ruby: “She’s right. We've seen what he does to people, and if he’s responsible for all these disappearances, then based on our encounter with them last time, he’s been turning them into an army of vampires.”

PENNY: “Thankfully, we have a solution to that as well. Turned victims of pseudo vampires have been known to revert back either because their master decided to let them go or if something happens to the master, such as death or lack of focus.”

Yang: “Which means if we want to save everyone, all we have to do is just stop the man himself and cut them off at the source.”

Blake: “Let’s think of potential places to start searching for him tonight.”

PENNY: “One of the first people to disappear was a night watchman for Vale cemetery.”

Weiss: “Good as place as any to start looking for a vampire.”

PENNY: “And though garlic may not be a major weakness, I figure it’ll be better than having nothing to face a vampire with. So, I am already working on a potential plan for a garlic bomb to make of.”

Blake: “Then I guess I better soak my claws in the stuff, as unpleasant as it may sound.”

Ruby: “Here’s hoping we can actually stop here soon. Otherwise this town, and eventually the whole of Remnant, will be doomed.”

Chapter Text

Later that night, we made it to the cemetery as the sun set, and I called Vernal about this as we were en route.

Vernal: “You’ve told me a lot of farfetched stuff over the year. But vampires? Seriously?”

Ruby: “As farfetched as it sounds, it’s true. And it’s not as farfetched as you’d think when you know they were made by science rather than something supernatural.”

Vernal: “And you're sure Yuma Ash is the one behind it all? Man hasn’t been seen in over a year.”

Ruby: “I’m sure. And obviously it won’t be easy. Artificial or not, he will be powerful.”

Vernal: “Regardless of your report, the recent disappearances have put the people in a big enough panic that the council is establishing a mandatory curfew until we know for certain this incident is over. Just keep me in the loop in the meantime.”

Ruby: “You got it.” Once we reach the cemetery and perch, we take note of any and all potential hiding places or hidden entrances. “Not many places to hide around here. Unless vampires started taking a page out of a zombie's book and hid in the ground by the graves.”

Blake: “That would be a bit much.” We can feel a sudden wind pass by for a second and look up to see some vampires flying overhead heading for the city. “Great. Stay sharp guys, we’ve got incoming vampires.” As we leave to follow after them. But the odd thing is that while they are going pretty fast, it’s clear that their holding back. Like they're only going fast enough to keep us from catching up to them but also going slow enough that we don’t lose sight of them. They lead us into a condemned building, and we lose sight of them in the dark as we make it up to the roof, and they’re not here. “Damnit! Where did they go?”

Ruby: “They were clearly leading us here. But why?” And then a shadow loomed over us. A shadow with wings.

Yuma: “The Scarlet Spider and Black Cat. So, you really do exist.” We look up and see Yuma standing above us from an elevated roof, now with his usual red eyes.

Ruby: “And you must Yuma Ash. The so-called living vampire.”

Yuma: “A name I have evolved beyond. I have spent almost 20 years working to cure this curse but to no avail. After many attempts I have lost all hope at a cure and for the past few years have learned to instead embrace my vampiric instincts.”

Blake: “You certainly fit the role what with you turning people.” As he flew down to our level.

Ruby: “I’ll bet you we’re also behind Mr. Schnee’s odd behavior at the party.”

Yuma: “Years of searching also lead to the discovery of mystical sources, and though they failed to cure me, I was granted other abilities other pseudo vampires could only dream of. Such as hypnotism.” He tries to use this power, but we don’t give him the chance as we attack. Obviously, his speed meant we wouldn’t be landing any hits. He eventually smacked me aside before Blake went on a frenzy with her claws that he kept dodging by backing up. He then caught her wrist mid swing and kept a tight grip on her as he sniffed her claws. “Dripping with garlic.” He threw Blake right at me, and she crashed right into me just as I got back up from being smacked earlier. “Not much of a nuisance and more of an inconvenience, but still one I’d rather avoid.” as we get up, we try to attack again, but he flew up and started running away. We immediately give pursuit, but he keeps looking back at with this smug look as we chase him across a few rooftops. He stopped at a flat rooftop and continued dodging our attacks as we caught up with him. At one point, he caught Blake’s leg mid kick with one hand and grabbed my face with the other, and he tossed Blake aside at a water tower leg before smashing me face first into the ground.

Weiss & Yang: “RUBY!”

Yuma: “And here I thought you’d put up more of a fight. But it seems he was right when he said you can’t match real power.” As I struggle a bit to get up.

Yang: “He? Who is he?” Once Blake recovered, she used some of PENNY’s prototype garlic bombs to get him to back off a bit. He flew in the air again and we try to give chase, but he cut our cables before we could reach him. He attacked Blake midair, and she smacked her head as she landed on a nearby roof, knocking her unconscious. I tried to save myself with another web line, but he cut it again and I fell hard on the ground.

Ruby: “Ouch...” And he slowly approaches me.

Yuma: “Losing or not, I can tell you have great potential. Perhaps you two would be better joining me in my legion of evil.”

Ruby: “Not interested.” He just grabbed by my cape, where it attaches to my shoulders, and threw me straight at a nearby car.

Yuma: “Then you two and everyone you love shall be the first victims I completely drain and leave an empty husk!” As he got on top of me. Thankfully, just as he was about to bite the sun started to rise and he can feel the searing pain on his wings before he turns to see the sun and his face starts to burn. He acted quick and ducked into a nearby alley. “I’ll let you have this one out of pure luck. But rest assured, I will not be as merciful the next time we meet.” As he disappeared into the shadows.

Yang: “Ruby! Blake! Are you okay?”

Ruby: “Ngh! Kind of...” As I struggle to get up for second. “Just really bruised. And maybe a few broken bones.”

Weiss: “Not exactly encouraging. Blake, can you read me?” No response. I look around and the unconscious Blake.

Yang: “BLAKE!”

Ruby: “Relax Yang, she’s just unconscious.” It hurt at first, but I was able to pick her up and swing her back to the lab. After Blake and I get patched up, we all spend the morning getting some sleep before we all awake later on.

Blake: “Ngh! This is probably the most pain I’ve ever felt in my whole career as the Black Cat.”

Ruby: “You said it. Yuma is evidently stronger than both of us combined. Both physically and probably mentally.”

Weiss: “Then if we can’t overpower him, we need to find a way to outsmart him.”

Blake: “Easier said than done. And besides, first we need to find out where he’s hiding in the day. We can’t just keep expecting to randomly run into him during the night. And we definitely can’t let him lead us into another disadvantageous encounter.”

PENNY: “I’ll see what I can figure from scans through any surveillance system I can get into in the whole city. Security cameras, traffic cameras, any radar systems.”

Weiss: “Great. See what else you can find about Yuma as well. Look through any server you can get into with any info potentially related to him. In the meantime, we need to come up with any countermeasures we can think of.” Later that day, Torchwick can be found checking the sunset again.

Torchwick: “Almost dark yet again. Ripe for yet another vampire frenzy.” But then he heard an unexpected voice.

???: “Hahahahaha! And they say I’m crazy, yet you believe in vampires? Ahahahahaha!”

Torchwick: “Oh god. Not you again.” And Tyrian shows himself from behind a nearby tree.

Tyrian: “You know I wasn’t quite fond of the you attacked me in the park the other day. You're lucky the Spider and Cat came in and broke it up for us.”

Torchwick: “Are you kidding me!? You attacked me! I was just trying to get away from prison to keep stealing and you attacked me out of nowhere!”

Tyrian: “I knew you hated the Spider as much I do. I just didn’t want you getting in my way.”

Torchwick: “I could care less about what you want, I’ve got bigger fish to fry. So, if you’ll excuse me.”

Tyrian: “Now that’s an interest looking cave. And if you want me gone so bad... then that means your hiding something important. Mind if I take a look?”

Torchwick: “Oh no you don’t!” As he smacked him in the head with his cane before immediately running into the cave. And Tyrian obviously followed inside.

Tyrian: “You can run but you can’t hide Torchy! And your chances are slim without your wings to help you!”

Torchwick: “I’m warning you Callows! Leave now or you’re going to regret it!” He tried taking a few shots with his pistol, but he couldn’t pierce Tyrian’s armor and was smacked by Tyrian’s tail down the staircase that led to Yuma’s room. He lies there in pain as Tyrian joins him down there. He sees the capsule and becomes curious as he approaches it.

Tyrian: “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Torchwick finally gets up and tries to stop him as he opens the capsule.

Torchwick: “Tyrian, NO!”

Tyrian: “Yeesh. You really have become as disturbed as me.” And that’s when Yuma wakes and drags him into the capsule with him, his helmet falling off as Yuma bites and turns him.

Torchwick: “Yikes. I tried to warn him.”

Chapter Text

After his frightening encounter with Yuma in the cemetery, and after hearing from Torchwick that he was an enemy of mine, Tyrian went straight into town on orders from Yuma. He wants to experiment my chances at facing a vampire turned villain. Tyrian makes his first stop at the local blood bank. He immediately went for the kill as he saw the receptionist. Damage to the computer set off the security alarm, which PENNY picked up on.

PENNY: “Alert! Ongoing break in at the local blood bank!”

Blake: “A vampire no doubt.”

Yang: “You know, I’m surprised that wasn’t their first stop on their feeding spree.”

Weiss: “That would only be drinking straight up blood. It would do anything to further spread their species. Still, we can’t just keep going after every vampire that shows up, as bad as that may sound.”

PENNY: “This one I think we should worry about. Security footage caught the perp killing the receptionist before going in the back.” the cameras show us the armored scorpion Faunus without his helmet.

Ruby: “Tyrian!”

PENNY: “Close up inspection of his neck revealed bite marks and blood stains in the suit.”

Weiss: “Not good.”

Blake: “He’s already dangerous enough as is. A vampire Tyrian could be even worse.”

Ruby: “Definitely a vampire we can’t ignore. Let’s go!” This could also be a chance test the latest batch of garlic bombs. And so, we suit up and head out to the blood bank. When we get there and reach the back room, filled with rows of high shelves filled with several vials of blood, we walk in on Tyrian grabbing handfuls of vials, popping the tops off with his teeth and gulping down the contents like a savage.

Tyrian: “Ahahahahaha! Delicious! Absolutely delicious! These vampires are really on to something!”

Blake: “Alright Tyrian, that’s enough. Your gonna drink yourself to death like that.”

Tyrian: “Huh?” We can see his red eyes as he turns our way. ‘Ah! My prey has arrived. Master will be pleased when I kill you like he asked.” Somehow his smile is even creepier than it was before.

Ruby: “Good luck trying!” As we get into one of our usual tussles with him, but his newfound speed makes it harder for us to hit him. And his newfound strength makes his hits hurt like a truck as we’re knocked back.

Tyrian: “Hehahahahaha! What a riot! This is even better than I thought! Let’s see if my stinger is carrying anything new.” He moves to strike with his stinger, so we make extra to avoid that. Worst case scenario, we just end up smacked by his tail rather than stung and poisoned. One of these smacks sent us crashing into a shelf, tipping it over, breaking all the shelves and breaking several vials, getting blood all over our suits.

Ruby: “Geez! I sure hope this doesn’t stain.”

Weiss: “Ruby! Focus!”

Ruby: “Easier said than done with all this pain. Ouch!”

Blake: “I think I have an idea. You keep him busy behind a shelf on the other end of the room and move out of the way when I say so.”

Ruby: “Right. Here goes nothing!” We split up and I catch all of Tyrian’s attention as I lead him to the other end of the room. Blake takes this chance to attack the shelf right by us.

Blake: “Now!” Her attack knocks the shelf over and I get out of the way. This leaves Tyrian standing under the shelf as all the vial break and spill, making rain blood all over him. And his excitement shows as he drinks up all the blood falling on him and even licking up the blood on the floor. “Disgusting.”

Ruby: “So now what?”

Blake: “Ready a bomb and give him a good punch.” We each ready a garlic bomb in our fist and we each him a hard punch from either side of him while he’s distracted, the impact causing the bombs to explode, and garlicy smoke releasing and overwhelming his senses. That combined with our punches being enough to finally knock him out.

Yang: “Geez. What a major pain in the ass.” I decide to give Vernal a call while the irons hot.

Vernal: “Yes?”

Ruby: “Yuma Ash is still in the air. But we just caught Tyrian at the blood bank. Oh, and bring the strongest cage you’ve got.” A little later, Vernal comes by with an armored transport, with a cage of hard light Dust stored in the back, containing Tyrian as he wakes up.

Tyrian: “Huh? What? NO! No! No! NOOO!” Smacking against the walls of his cage.

Vernal: “A vampire Deathstalker. That sounds even scarier than I thought. Well thanks for the help. I can take it from here.”

Ruby: “Wait. Please give me a moment to talk with him real quick.”

Vernal: “Okay, fine. But hurry up, we can’t dilly dally for too long.”

Ruby: “Alright, Callows. I’m only gonna ask this once, so no games! Where is Yuma Ash?”

Tyrian: “Ha! As if I would sell out my Master just like that!”

Blake: “Should’ve figured it wouldn’t be that easy.” Meanwhile, Yuma can see what was going on through Tyrian’s eyes.

Yuma: “An unexpected result. They are learning fast. That or he is simply incompetent.”

Torchwick: “I would more wager the latter myself.”

Yuma: “Regardless, I have no more use for a captured pawn. There is no use in wasting my power on him anymore.” Back to us, Tyrian grabs his face in slight pain as Yuma’s control breaks. He drops his hand and shows a confused face as we see his eyes back to their usual yellow.

Tyrian: “Huh? Wait, where am I?”

Vernal: “Huh? What just happened?”

Blake: “I guess Ash decided to let him go and now he’s back to normal.”

Ruby: “Which means he has no obligation to stay quiet anymore. Let’s try this again, Tyrian. Where is Yuma Ash?”

Tyrian: *groan*”I don’t know who the fuck you're talking about. I’m more concerned with how the hell I got here. Last, I remember I was chasing old Torchy through a cave in Vale cemetery. After that... nothing.”

Blake: “The cemetery. So, we were right the first time. That fight with Yuma last night was just a distraction.”

Ruby: “Then we know where to go next.” As we swing away and head back to the lab to prepare. Once we’re there, PENNY has more to report.

PENNY: “The cemetery was definitely right. Searching through various has helped me found that someone had made some rather unconventional additions to one particular statue there... which were done over a year ago.” As she shows a picture of the statue in question. The same one Torchwick first entered.

Weiss: “Over a year. That coincides with Yuma’s last sighting in Mantle. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Blake: “And I think I’m starting to figure the reason for Yuma’s appearance, after Tyrian brought Torchwick. After clipping his wings, I lost sight of him as I was chasing him... through the cemetery.”

Yang: “So you think Torchwick was responsible for this?”

Ruby: “None of these events can be a coincidence. Regardless, we have a job to do. And I think I have an idea. Weiss?”

Weiss: “Hm?”

Ruby: “Do you think you can access the SDC this late?”

Weiss: “Yeah. But why?”

Ruby: “I need you and Yang to be on standby there. They have something I believe can help. And with any luck, this’ll work out fine.” As Blake and I finish preparing to leave. “It’s time to end this madness.”

Chapter Text

After going over the final details of my plan and making our final preparations, we make it to the cemetery again while Weiss and Yang are on their way to the SDC to prepare for their part of the plan. Once there, we find the statue in question and let PENNY do a scan.

Blake: “Anything?”

PENNY: “The statues back end. The pedestal has a hidden door. Just push in.” Blake does just that, but didn’t expect the sudden slide down.

Blake: “Whoa!”

Ruby: “Blake!” I follow after with a web line for a safer descent. We across the same room with the computer and capsule inside. “Blake! Are you okay?”

Blake: *groan*”I’m fine. Not my first fall.” We immediately go for the computer and find it password protected. “Wonderful.”

PENNY: “Hook up your Scroll to the computer and I can work to bypass it.” I follow her instructions, and she runs the encryption program. “Done. Now let’s see what we’ve got here.” She takes a moment to search through the computers data. “Okay. I’ve got it. Everything you see before was set up by a woman named Fria Collodi. She was the adopted mother and mentor to a vampire hunter by the name of Joanna Greenleaf, otherwise known as Blade, a half human half vampire hybrid capable of controlling her vampiric instincts and devoted her powers and training to protecting humans from vampires. Natural and artificial alike. Their usual base of operations being in their hometown of Mantle. Yuma Ash was the first they encountered to have become an artificial vampire by accident and therefore didn’t it fair to just completely end him when they could try to help him, unlike other pseudo vampires they have faced who willingly became vampires with malicious intent. Of course, he had already become as mad as he is now when they fought, so they had no choice but to kill him. However, they knew that he could come back with a bit of blood in his heart. The capsule you see was made to preserve his body while they work to find a guaranteed cure. Only then did they plan to revive him themselves. As for why he’s here, that was because they didn’t want to risk any of their other foes finding him and unleashing him on Mantle again.”

Blake: “I see. They must not have counted on someone like Torchwick finding this place. And as for his revival, I believe I saw Torchwick bleeding from various places when he crashed after I clipped his wings.”

Ruby: “Well now we know how this happened.” As I take my Scroll back. “Now we just need to end this. And for that, we need to find Yuma.”

Yuma: “Well then tonight is your lucky night.” We turn around to find him and Torchwick standing in the doorway by the stairs. “You know it’s rude to just show up and let yourselves in uninvited like this.”

Blake: “Like your one to talk. I highly doubt you were invited to Schnee’s party that night.”

Yuma: “Please don’t remind me of that failure. Schnee escaping my grasp is a major setback for me personally. But no matter. Tonight is a big night for us. Once I have made certain to have gotten rid of you, I will be able to send out my whole army in full force to our job here in Vale before we move on to the rest of Remnant.”

Ruby: “Not if we can help it. You deal with Torchwick, I’ll handle Yuma and end this.”

Yuma: “Your welcome to try.” He goes for the attack, to which we split up and doge as he crashes into the wall. I take this chance to web up to the slide entrance and make my way back up to the surface. He recovers and prepares to take off. “You finish off the cat! I’ve a spider that needs exterminating!” And he’s off. Using his flight boosted elevated jump to make his way through the tunnel.

Torchwick: “You heard the man. It’s time that we finish this, kitty cat.” As he readies his cane like a sword.

Blake: “With pleasure.” As she draws her claws. I make up top and use my webs to pull the door open do I can get out and scramble into the graveyard before swinging out into the city. Yuma just breaks through the door and takes to the air before gaining sight of me and chasing me.

Yuma: “Running away like this isn’t going to save you! I’ve seen how your webbing works! You'll run out of webs eventually! And it’s still hours before daybreak! The suns won’t help you this time either!”

Ruby: “I’m well aware of this!” This is the fastest I’ve ever had to move as I swing through the city. It’s all I can do to outpace him and lead him to the SDC. Back with Blake and Torchwick, their fight took them to the cave system beyond the stairs. He's definitely doing better against her than you’d think in his controlled state. She had managed to land a few scratches in both him and his cane, but he refuses to give up.

Blake: “You were never like this before!”

Torchwick: “Things chance when you gain a master like mine.” His eyes flare red as he says that.

Blake: “Hypnosis!” Their struggle continues as they eventually find where all the vampires are gathered. All on standby waiting for Yuma to give the word to head into the city. Yuma continues chasing me through the city as I call Weiss and Yang when the SDC enters my sight.

Ruby: “I’m almost there guys! Please tell me everything is ready?”

Weiss: “Everything is set up. The device is setup in the basement. Yang and I are holed up in fathers office watching everything through the security cameras and ready to trigger everything remotely.”

Ruby: “Good.” As I hang up. Once I reach the SDC, I land in front of the building a make a brake for the front doors. I manage to get into the lobby when Yuma finally catches up to me and he kicks me in the back.

Yuma: “This game of cat and mouse was fun and all, but now it’s over. There's nowhere left to run.”

Ruby: “Not yet.” The lights were off, but Weiss worked Jacques’ computer and turned them on. The sudden appearance of light disoriented him for a second as I made a brake for the basement.

Yuma: “It was fun before, but now this is just getting pathetic!’ As he followed me down there. “Don’t you get it!? It’s over! You have no chance of defeating me! You lose! I...” When he finds, he sees me standing in front of the solar generator from the party. “Win?”

Ruby: “Rise and shine.” As I put on a visor to shield my eyes as Weiss puts the whole room in lockdown to prevent his escape and activates the generator, emitting a bright light. If I had just used the sun out in the open, he would still be able to duck and cover and still escape. I needed to do this a place where I could assure he’d have nowhere to run and hide as we use the sunlight from the generator to weaken him. For the moment, I provide him a big enough shadow to stay out of the light as he looks at me in fear.

Yuma: “Who... What are you!?”

Ruby: “Me? I’m just your friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider. And you? I’m sorry to say buddy... but your just another villain for me to take down!” To which I use a web to swing up and fully expose him to the light.

Yuma: “No! NOOOO!” He burns severely as the light weakens him! I take this chance to give a good hard punch to the face as I come down, finally knocking him unconscious! Once that’s all done, Weiss dims the light a bit as I call Vernal.

Ruby: “Captain? It's done. I’ve got him unconscious in the SDC’s basement.”

Vernal: “Understood. I’ll be there with the same containment method we used for Callows.” Meanwhile, Blake had found herself cornered in the caves by Torchwick and the vampires.

Torchwick: “Nowhere left to run kitten.” He says as the vampires start turning back to normal and collapse behind him.

Blake: “You and what army?” And then the red in his eyes flicker before completely reverting back to their usual green and he looks confused.

Torchwick: “Huh? Where am I? Wasn't I just outside? Where’d that creepy guy go?” Blake took advantage of this to give a hard kick to the head and knock him out.

Blake: “Phew.” To which she called Vernal herself. “This is Black Cat. I’ve found the missing people, and I’ve got Torchwick. Their all gathered in a cave behind the cemetery.”

Vernal: “Okay. I’ll have Branwen lead a team there to assist. You both did great tonight.” As the night progressed, both Yuma and Torchwick have been arrested and sent to the Vault, while all the missing people have been safely recovered and escorted to their homes or any open hospitals. Within the next few days, Yuma had been convicted of his crimes against, but then it was announced he would also be standing trial for his crimes against Mantle, so an Atlas military official will be coming to escort him to the Atlas Vault, which sits out in the frozen tundra beyond Mantle’s city limits. Vernal and Qrow acted as the welcoming party when the official arrived in a prison ship. The official was a woman with short black hair, olive eyes and a light brown complexion. She wears a sleeveless white long coat with a blue-collar, navy-blue pants that turn black at the bottom and navy-blue boots that stop just below her knees, and some black arm sleeves that still expose her shoulders and hands.

Qrow: “So I’m guessing you must be Agent Harper?”

Harper: “Indeed. Olive Harper, special agent for the Bureau of Elite Agents for Combat and Observation Network. Or B.E.A.C.O.N. if you must.”

Vernal: “Well Agent Harper, I am Captain Vernal Tomo and this is my colleague Detective Qrow Branwen. We have the prisoner here ready for transport.” As she directs to the hard light cage with Yuma inside, sitting down and looking very defeated.

Harper: “I thank you for your cooperation, Captain Tomo. I can take it from here.”

Vernal: “Hey, you guys are the ones running these Vaults, so we weren’t going to argue.”

Harper: “Regardless, the general will be pleased that this threat has finally been subdued.” As she signaled her accompanying soldiers to take the cage and load it onto the ship. “And with that, I bid you farewell. Have a nice day.” As she boards her ship again and takes off.

Qrow: “Well she was pretty straight to the point.”

Vernal: “Aren’t they all. At least now we won’t have to deal with anymore vampire attacks.”

Qrow: “Yeah, but we still have plenty of other problems to deal with.”

Vernal: “I know. Let’s get back to work.” We see Harper again much later as she finally arrived at the Atlas Vault and escorted Yuma to his new cell. There, she encountered another woman overseeing the transfer. Her hair, eyes and complexion are all the color as Weiss’, but her hair was worn as a bun in the back of her head with long bangs along the right side of her face and a small, curled lock of hair down the left side. She wore a white collared undershirt, a necktie that connects to her new brooch, and a girdle underneath the lapels of her frock coat, along with navy blue gloves, pants, and boots with red lining, and sports a pouch around her waist. It none other than Weiss’ military older sister, Winter Schnee.

Winter: “One more threat done and dealt with.”

Harper: “That Scarlet Spider is really something, isn’t she?”

Winter: “Indeed. To be honest, I’m still a little skeptical of her motives, but the general seems to see some good in her, so I’m really in no place to argue.”

Harper: “You and Ebi really trust the general, don’t you?”

Winter: “With our lives. He gave us a purpose when we wanted to try and make a difference in this world. He's definitely been a better role model for me than father ever was.”

Harper: “Understatement of the century.”

Winter: “Indeed. But I digress. I’ve been told I’m next to visit Vale for an assignment, so I must be going. Preparations to make and all.”

Harper: “Good luck.” Winter goes about her day as she prepares for travel.

Winter: “Maybe I can use this chance to visit Weiss again. It has been a while since last time.” As she looks at a picture of her and Weiss together at her own graduation ceremony from Atlas Academy before moving on straight to the military. “I wonder how she’s doing over there with all this craziness going on. I sure hope she hasn’t gotten into any trouble.” As she puts the picture down and resumes packing. “Only one way to find out.”

Chapter Text

After the whole vampire fiasco has cleared up, Junior has been working to getting back on track with his little project with Glass.

Junior: “How much longer Mr. Glass?”

Glass: “Well, the machine itself is almost done. My only concern now is getting an opportunity to use it.”

Junior: “That’s why we’ll be moving on to the next phase. We’ll be riling up the dons to get them to meet up again and take them by surprise for an abduction. Girls?” the Malachite twins showed themselves.

Melanie & Miltia: “Yes sir?”

Junior: “Rally the troops. We have work to do.” And so, within the last week, the streets have been nothing but chaos as Junior’s family had been stealing money and valuables from the other four Maggia families. The continuous thefts have obviously angered the other families, and the dons have been seeing it as a declaration of war. The streets have become the battlefield for the gang war between the Xiong family and the other four. And unfortunately, the war is at a stalemate, as the four families may have the advantage in numbers, but the Xiong family seem to have the advantage in raw firepower. Of course, the police have trying to turn the tide and put an end to this. Blake and I have also been trying to help everyone we can as we fight back against both sides.

Weiss: “Geez. At this point, you guys are going to wear yourselves out before you make any real progress.” As we take a rest a rooftop from our latest fight.

Ruby: “Well, what else are we supposed to do?”

Blake: “This is a war between the Maggia dons. If we want to put a stop to it, we need to put a stop to them.” And at this point, we are joined by Maria.

Maria: “The way I see it, while stopping all the dons would be ideal, we can stop the wat if only focus on Junior while protecting the other dons.”

Ruby: “Ms. Calavera? What are you doing here?”

Maria: “The Maggia have always been a target for me, so this recent activity from them felt like an ample opportunity to finally take action in both aspects of my life.”

Blake: “Okay. But why say to protect the dons?”

Maria: “I’ve been looking through all the evidence we got on Malachite and have found something that may relate this situation.”

Ruby: “By all means, please share.”

Maria: “We already know Malachite was selling weapons to the Maggia the last time. However, her transactions showed she was selling more to Junior than the other families, both in how much he was getting as well as getting heavier artillery that the other families didn’t get. Further investigation into her files didn’t exactly reveal Junior’s motives, but I did find that she did it because just like her, Junior seems to have his own reasons for distrusting the other dons.”

Blake: “Well, the Xiong family are the ones who instigated this in the first place.”

Ruby: “And what can you tell us about the Xiong family don?”

Maria: “Hei Xiong Junior. As his name suggests, he is the son of the previous don, Hei Xiong himself. He took over the family as don after his father suddenly died a number of years ago. Drink was spiked with a deadly poison. The only other thing remarkably known about Junior is that about a year after he took charge, he had a practically indestructible metal plate built into his head. Hence the hideous scars in his forehead, if you’ve ever seen the guy. Supposedly he did this, because his favorite method of killing people was head butting them so hard in breaks their skull in and he had the plate installed to make it ten times worse.”

Yang: “Yeesh. Is this dude trying to make himself a literal hammerhead or what?”

Weiss: “Shh!”

Ruby: “Ouch!”

Blake: “Okay. And how do we find him?”

Maria: “I don’t know. Yet. What I do know is that he’ll be aiming for the dons. If he gets to them, and he wins, he’ll likely take over the Maggia as a whole. Then we’ll all be in trouble.” Thats when Vernal calls me up again.

Ruby: “What’s up, Captain?”

Vernal: “Just thought I’d let you know of something we found rather peculiar.” She sounds... tired. I’ve never heard her like this before. “My men just reported a crime that occurred over an hour ago but didn’t about till now because of how spread thin we are with this gang war. A crime that was done by Junior himself.”

Ruby: “The don himself? What did he do?”

Vernal: “That’s the peculiar part. Rather than something belonging to one of the other dons, he broke into a TV station and stole a whole bunch of broadcasting equipment.”

Ruby: “Why would he steal that?”

Vernal: “Best guess is he’s planning to hijack the broadcast signal to make a public announcement. That's the only thing that makes sense. He wasn’t alone either. He was accompanied by Malachite’s twin daughters, Melanie and Miltiades. Seems they’ve found a new boss now that their mother is behind bars.”

Ruby: “Hopefully this time we’ll be able bring them in. See if you can do what you can to find Junior. And if you find any of the other dons, do what you can to protect them. Junior is doing out of some kind of grudge, so he’ll likely be aiming for their lives.”

Vernal: “I’ll try. But if I find Junior first, I’ll make him regret what he did!” As she hangs up, I can’t help but notice a tinge of animosity towards Junior. And somehow, I get the feeling she’s not talking the current gang war when she said, ‘what he did’. But what? I go over what I just learned from Vernal with the others, including my concerns at the end, and it leaves them pondering.

Maria: “Interesting. You know, I always had this feeling I had heard the name Tomo before, but I never bothered to look into why caused it was never relevant to my current work. But with this new concern in mind... maybe I should.”

Blake: “The broadcasting equipment has me concerned too. What could he possibly want to announce?” That’s when Junior’s face shows up on every screen in town. That was fast!

Ruby: “I think we’re about to find out!”

Junior: “Apologies for the inconvenience in this little hijacking, but I had an important message I desperately needed to get out to my fellow dons in the Maggia. Jax Asturias. Abigail Pyre. Vermillion Raddock. And Paul Parrot. For too long you four have all underestimated me. Even after making myself more dangerous and after years as don you all never took me seriously. You always thought I could never live up to the kind of man father was. Well, I’m not going to stand by and watch anymore. It’s time I showed you the kind of don I really am. By taking full control of the Maggia myself. Look forward to what I have in store for you.” And that’s when the broadcast ends. I was expecting something more unique to be honest but that was a fairly simple threat. Why would he need to broadcast that? Hopefully we’ll be able to answer these question as we investigate further. But until then... this war won’t be ending just yet.

Chapter Text

In the following days, we tried to put more of our focus on tracking down Junior or the dons while Maria looked into a few things. But Vale is such a big city, and neither sides goons that have been arrested have been of much help either. But ever since Junior’s announcement, the tide has slowly but surely been tipping to his side. However, we may have just hit a break as Blake claims to have good news during our next meeting at the lab.

Yang: “Okay. So, what do we got?”

Blake: “I’ve been trying to take a different approach by eavesdropping on any Maggia who aren’t fighting. From what I gathered, ever since this war started, the dons have been meeting in a different spot unknown to Junior whenever they get together to strategize. And now I finally know where and when they’re meeting next. They rent out the back room of the Crow Bar. And they’re meeting again tomorrow afternoon.”

Ruby: “Wait a minute. That's the bar Uncle Qrow frequents when he’s off duty.”

Blake: “Your Uncle Qrow frequents the Crow Bar? How serendipitous.”

Yang: “Doubt he’s been there lately hat with this whole war going on. The cops need all the help they can get.”

Weiss: “Regardless, we know where to find the dons now. But somehow, I get the feeling Junior will figure it out soon. We’ll need to stay vigilant.”

Ruby: “I should let Vernal know all of this too.”

Blake: “Then we’re all agreed. Let’s put our focus on the Crow Bar tomorrow.” Once I make sure Vernal is up to speed on the details, we split up for the day. But of course, Junior has been just as busy as he interrogates a Maggia thug.

Junior: “I see. So that’s where they go now. No wonder we had so much trouble. It's a small place really out of the way all the way out in Patch.”

Maggia thug: “So we’re good right? I can go now, right?”

Junior: “Sorry, but no.” As he grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. “You know too much. Can't have them knowing everything before the main event.” And then he gives him a hard headbutt and kills him right there before dropping the body. “Girls?”

Melanie & Miltia: “Yes sir?” As they appear behind him.

Junior: “Ready the truck and some troops. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow.” To which they leave and get to work. Junior moves on to the next room to find Glass there. “How's it coming, Glass?”

Glass: “Everything is ready. The results were interesting given the different types of radiation in some of the materials.”

Junior: “So what exactly does this do? I did leave it up to you how best to torture those bastards.”

Glass: “You’ll see when the time comes. This could be the greatest creation of my whole career, if a little concerning that it’s being used for such a purpose.” Trying to keep the facade of an innocent civilian.

Junior: “Yeah, well, it’s either this or you die. Don't disappoint me.”

Glass: “Of course not.” Come tomorrow, we find ourselves patrolling around the Crow Bar. The Maggia dons had already gathered here and are in the back room, and police are setting up a perimeter around the area with Vernal and Qrow leading the charge. Vernal having a more serious expression than she usually does.

Qrow: “You sure you're okay, Captain? I know how personal this is for you.”

Vernal: “It’d be best if you mind your own business and focus more on the problem at hand. We have a job to do, and we can’t afford to get distracted.” Qrow had never seen her so serious and angry before. He didn’t know how else to respond so he just let it go... for now.

Qrow: “Aye aye Captain.” Things seem calm enough as we safeguard the area, but then after a few minutes, a large semi-truck comes rushing through and break through the police perimeter before crashing into the store front, the people inside obviously panicking and some even getting hurt in the process. The truck was carrying a small trailer, and the back opened up where a bunch of Junior’s men came out and started a shootout with the cops. Junior and the twins came out of the truck itself.

Blake: “Not good. We gotta move!” We jump down and confront Junior and the twins.

Ruby: “Not so fast, Junior!”

Junior: “The Scarlet Spider. So, we finally meet face to face.”

Ruby: “This war has gone on long enough! This ends now!”

Junior: “Not until the fat lady sings.” Qrow and Vernal show up behind him and aim their guns.

Qrow: “Not if we have anything to say about it.”

Vernal: “You're all under arrest! Just give up now!”

Junior: “Well now. The famous Vernal Tomo. How are things since your old man kicked the bucket?”

Vernal: “BASTARD!”

Qrow: “Wait! Don’t-!” Vernal took a shot, and Junior moved in a way to make sure the bullet hit his head, where he’d be protected thanks to the plate, followed up by the twins throwing some knives to disarm them.

Blake: “That’s it!” She jumps to try and attack him, but he dodged, and she ended up fighting the twins instead with Qrow and Vernal. But he couldn’t dodge my follow up attack, to which we enter our own brawl. But what we failed to notice is some of his men taking this chance to enter the building. As we fight, I almost have some close calls with some of Juniors headbutts, and my hand hurts every time I try to punch his head. At some point, Vernal manages to get out of her fight with the twins, grabs a piece of rubble from the building, and charges in to smash the rubble against his head, but it barely fazes him.

Junior: “That all you got?” As he grabs her by the throat. “Cause if you're trying to see how hard my head really... I’m more than happy to oblige!” He moves to headbutt her, but I charge in and stop him, and he lets go of her in the process. I try to keep him down, but then he gives a headbutt which hits with enough force to knock me off of him.

Ruby: “Ouch...”

Junior: “Face it. You can’t win the way you're doing it.” as Junior stands over us and Blake and Qrow keep fighting the twins, his men come out with the dons with their hands tied behind them and load them up into the trailer.

Xiong thug: “Sir! We’ve got them!”

Junior: “Good. I was getting bored here anyway.” He gets into the truck while the twins hold us back and he maneuvers the truck in order the back out of the bar and drive off into the streets at high speed. The twins spend a while longer keeping back to stall us while the truck gets away before they eventually make their own escape route with a smoke bomb. Seems like they took a page out of Neo’s book with that one. Regardless... we had failed. We couldn’t stop Junior, and he actually managed to get away with the dons. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Chapter Text

After this whole ordeal with dons' abduction, the cops are currently working on the follow up investigation. However... Qrow is the one mostly leading the charge while Vernal is fuming.

Vernal: “GODDAMNIT! He was right there for the taking! How could you let him get away like that!?” As she scolds us in an alley.

Blake: “Excuse me? We didn’t let anything happen!”

Ruby: “We just underestimated him. His plate was tougher than we originally thought.

Blake: “He was also a lot quicker than we thought as well. Though we were to land meaningful blows, he was able to move in ways to ensure strikes with his head. The plate itself is definitely industrial grade.”

Vernal: “That is still no excuse! You were holding back the whole time! You shouldn’t have to with a monster like him!”

Ruby: “Vernal, what’s gotten into you?” Qrow took this chance to join our conversation after getting a moment to himself.

Qrow: “Seriously. This isn’t like you. And exactly why I was concerned about you staying involved in this war. Your experience with the Xiong’s is clouding your judgement. Your being too extreme in your approach to this ordeal.”

Vernal: “So what!?”

Qrow: “So what is the fact that the chief will have your head for this behavior once he hears about this!”

Vernal: “To hell with what the chief thinks! This monster needs to pay for what he did! I won’t stop until mother receives true justice!” She storms off and picks up one of the assault rifles Juniors men had. “And if any of you stand in my way I will not hesitate to fight you. Possibly even kill you so long as that monster dies!” To which she got into her cruiser and took off before we could even respond.

Qrow: “Honestly...”

Ruby: “She has a history with the Xiong family?”

Blake: “Wonder what it was?”

Qrow: “Sorry but I can’t go spilling that. For now, I’ll trust you enough to handle the Junior problem while I deal with this, but you’d do best to keep your noses out of things that aren’t any of your business.” As he rejoins his men to continue the investigations while we flee the scene and make it back to the lab.

Yang: “The hell was that about?”

Weiss: “I’m not sure, but we need to hurry and get on the ball to looking for Junior and the dons.”

Blake: “Easier said than done. We completely lost the truck in the chaos, and we don’t have any other leads we can follow. And I doubt we’ll have the time to go searching for any other goons to interrogate about Junior’s whereabouts.” PENNY sounds the alert for a coming visitor.

PENNY: “Ms. Schnee. Ms. Calavera is at the door.”

Weiss: “Let her in.” PENNY unlocks the door, and Maria comes in with her briefcase.

Maria: “I heard about what happened at the Crow Bar. I would’ve joined you sooner, but I finally got all the files I was looking for this morning and spent the day looking through them. But before that, tell me more about the incident in greater detail.” After doing just that, she has a rather serious look on her face. “I see. It's worse than I thought. The captain has gone completely off the rails.”

Yang: “Wait. Vernal is what your concerned about? What about Junior and the dons?”

Maria: “Junior is what I’m concerned about. I finally found out why Tomo sounded so familiar to me. Vernal’s mother was also a cop before. Her mother, Gerda Tomo, was a top ranked captain in line for promotion to be the chief of police, but that never happened after she was caught in a major incident. As it turned out, the Xiong families previous head, Hei Xiong Senior, was blackmailing poor Gerda into letting the actions of the Maggia slide and even impede the investigation into them. Said blackmail was over the scandal that led to Vernal’s birth. It came about from a drunken one-night stand with the chief.”

Weiss: “So Vernal’s father was the previous chief.”

Maria: “Gerda’s dealings with them meant she had to meet with them. And it was during one of these visits that the previous head was killed.”

Blake: “Hold on. You're not saying what I think your saying are you?”

Maria: “Indeed I am. Gerda was accused and arrested for the murder of Hei Xiong Senior. The investigation did indeed turn up the fact that Xiong was blackmailing her, which is what they chalked up to be her motive, but because Xiong was now dead, they couldn’t build a case against that. Nor against the rest of the Xiong family after discovering no evidence that anyone else aside from Xiong was involved in it. And as for Gerda, only circumstantial evidence of her guilt was brought to light, nothing solid. But there also no evidence to suggest her innocence either, solid or circumstantial alike. So, she was still guilty due to lack of evidence of innocence. No one really knows what really happened that day. And unfortunately, even if we did find out that she was innocent, I’m afraid it’s too late now.”

Yang: “Why not?”

Maria: “Because after only one year into her sentence... she committed suicide.”

RWBY: *gasp*

Maria: “Yep. Used a fork she took from the cafeteria to escape her cell so she could reach the highest point of the prison... and jumped. Let herself fall right into the courtyard. The guards found her suicide note in her cell afterwards as they were cleaning it out for the next inmate to occupy it. The first half of the note was a plea to ensure the safety of her daughter... and the second was a curse against the Xiong family for ruining her life with the blackmailing and her conviction. Said curse being her hope that one day the Xiong family will get everything they deserve and face true justice. The news of her suicide did reach the news, but the note was never announced to the public. Merely added to the evidence locker for the Xiong murder. No doubt Vernal probably used her authority as captain to look into that along with everything else the police have on the Xiong family.”

Weiss: “And that’s why she feels so aggressively about this case... she only sees it as her chance to get revenge on the Xiong’s for what happened to her mother.”

Blake: “And with the father dead she has to do it through his son.”

Maria: “The son must pay for the sins of his father, and the daughter fulfills her mother's dying wish. That's her mindset right now.”

Ruby: “Okay, that all tracks. But first we need to worry more about Junior, the dons and this ongoing gang war. If we want to stop this, and save Junior from Vernal’s wrath, we need to find them before she does.”

Yang: “How?”

Maria: “Hm. I wonder... Schnee? Can you possibly trace broadcast signals?”

Weiss: “Well, we can. But only so long as a broadcast is running. And that’s only if Junior plans to make another broadcast anytime soon.”

Maria: “If I know Junior, then I know that his approaching victory over the dons would be something he would want to brag about to everyone. I’m certain he’ll make another broadcast.” As she moves to turn on the TV. For a minute it plays the news with Lisa talking about the Crow Bar incident. But then as if on cue, it’s cut by static before Junior shows on the screen again.

Junior: “Hello gain, people of Vale.”

Yang: “Son of a bitch. She was right.”

Weiss: “PENNY?”

PENNY: “Already on it”

Junior: “The tide has finally turned. For you see, I have successfully captured my foolish opponents.” As he steps aside to the show the dons, standing inside some king thick glass orb with a big machine right above. The dons still had their hands tied and were now gagged with duct tape. “And thanks to a certain scientist I abducted some time back, I know have them trapped inside this machine which I will use to kill them all. In a slow and painful manner. This process will be starting tonight once the sun goes down. So, stay tuned for the show.” To which the broadcast ended there.

Maria: “Damn! We have to hurry!”

Weiss: “Please you found something PENNY!”

PENNY: “I accounted for a short broadcast and worked double time to trace the signal. The signals are being broadcast from an abandoned radio station on the northern most edge of the city.”

Blake: “Then we haven’t a second to lose.” To which Maria suits up and we all prepare our gear before we head out into the city. With hope that we can finally end this war... for good.

Chapter Text

The three of us make our way through the city as we head up north to reach the radio station. The sky is shining a bright orange and pink as the sun begins to set. We made it to the place, but with the restraint of time tonight, we had to break in through a window and hurry to find the dons. The whole place has lost all of it’s floors so it’s all open. The scene we saw in the broadcast is all the way down on the ground floor as we land by the front entrance and see it all before, along with all the stolen broadcast equipment, various computers, and we see Amoncio Glass among everyone here.

Ruby: “End of the line, Junior!”

Yang: “Isn’t that that Glass guy we saw on the field trip?”

Weiss: “He must be the scientist Junior said he abducted to make that machine.”

Junior: “It’s not over till I say it’s over. It's time the dons get what they deserve!”

Maria: “So do you!”

Junior: “Ha! You wish! Girls!” Melanie and Miltia came at us with all they had. Blake and Maria do what they can to keep the attention of the twins while I try to get at the machine, but Junior is already making things hard for me as he grabbed my foot mid jump and dragged me back to the ground... or more accurately slammed me back first into the ground. He moved stomp on me next, but I moved out of the way in time, and we got into a straight up fight. This time I work to be more cautious of his head. I keep trying to go for the machine, but Junior keeps holding me back! This fight goes on long enough for the sun to set... and the machine was on a timer! “Heh! Your too late!” The machine activates, and the glass starts filling with various colors.

Ruby: “What’s going on!?”

Blake: “Glass, what did you do!?” Glass is being held back in a corner of the room by some of Junior’s men.

Glass: “I had no choice. It was either help torture the dons or I’d be killed myself.”

Junior: “Exactly!” As he moves for a headbutt that I block with my arms.

Maria: “And what exactly does it do!?”

Glass: “The machine fills the containment chamber with various radiations. It's made to infect them all with small quantities over time.”

Junior: “Ensuring a slow and painful torture until they die!”

Maria: “Not on my watch!” She finally got an opportunity to give Melanie a hard smack to the back of her head with one of her clubs and knock her out cold. Once Melanie was out, it didn’t too much longer before Blake got a chance to grab Miltia foot mid kick and toss her at a nearby wall, with her head hitting the wall hard enough to knock her out as well. I keep on fighting with Junior while Blake and Maria cleared out the guys holding back Glass and get his help with the machine. “How do we stop this thing, Glass?” As he got straight to work on a computer connected to it.

Glass: “Fortunately, unbeknownst to Junior, I did install a shutdown sequence that’ll reverse the function and retract the radiation from the chamber and then shut itself down. I just need to type in the kill code. It's a long sequence though, to keep Junior from potentially guessing it should he figure me out.”

Blake: “Just hurry. I know Junior said slow but I’m not sure how the dons will be able to take.” As we see the dons writhing and freaking out from the radiations infecting them all. Junior and I see the whole thing going on as we keep fighting.

Ruby: “Sorry Junior! But your plans are coming to an end! You lose!”

Junior: “Not unless I kill you all first!” He gets more aggressive in his approach! But then suddenly, something hits him in the back of his head, and bounced off given his metal plate, and draws his attention away from me. As he turns, we see Vernal at the front door broken down with the gun she took in her hands.

Vernal: “Back off, Spider! He’s mine!”

Junior: “Captain Tomo. What a pleasant surprise.”

Ruby: “Wait! Vernal, don’t!” I move to get in between them. “You do this, you’ll be no better than he is!”

Vernal: “Wrong! I do this, then he won’t be able to hurt anyone else!”

Ruby: “Except that’s not why you're doing this. I know what happened to your mother and everything that happened between her and his father.” As I point at Junior for a quick second.

Vernal: “If you know that then you should how she was unjustly blamed for his death! All she did was attend a meeting!” As she starts tearing up. “She was a victim! And yet she that all thought she killed him! And on top of that, the system wasn’t able to do anything with the rest of the Xiong family for what they had done! Why should we have to worry about proper procedure with these guys when the whole world is already fully aware of the criminals they are!?”

Ruby: “But now we can do something! After everything that has happened in this gang war, there is no way any of the dons can escape justice. The follow up investigations into them after this will ensure their all charged with all their past crimes too.”

Vernal: “And then what!? Unless they get the death penalty, there is no we can be sure their evil will end there! If we want to bring true peace to the people of this world... then we need to make certain that the worst of the worst all die!”

Ruby: “But-!”

Junior: “Ugh! Enough with the melodrama! Let’s just get this over with!”

Vernal: “For once we agree on something!” As she takes aim.

Ruby: “Vernal, NO!” I use a web to disarm her before Junior comes in and attacks again. Meanwhile, Glass is just finishing up with the kill code.

Glass: “And I’ve got it!” The machine starts sucking up the radiation and then shuts down once it’s all cleared. However, the dons have all fallen unconscious.

Blake: “Let’s get them out of there!”

Maria: “Right!” The chamber opens and the three of them all work to get the dons out and settle them to the side of the room while Vernal and I are still fighting Junior. At some point, he knocks me aside and goes straight for Vernal as he pins her to the ground with his superior strength.

Junior: “Since I’m going to kill you anyway, I think I’m going to let you in on a little secret regarding our parents' case. Before you die.” He moves in closer to her ear and whispers. “Your mom really was innocent all along. She was framed by fathers' real killer... which happens to be me!” Give her a most evil smirk.

Vernal: “Wh-what!? You killed our own father!? Why!?”

Junior: “For the same reason I want the dons dead. Because even he thought I was a weakling who would never be able to do anything worthwhile. I did it and took over the family to show him how wrong he was. How I was truly willing to do anything to accomplish my goals! And now they are so close I can practically taste the sweet victory!”

Vernal: “You really are a monster!”

Junior: “And very soon... you’ll be nothing but a corpse!” He moves to headbutt her, but I grab hold of him and get him off of her as I keep a choke hold on him. “Gagh! Let me go!” Once the others have all the dons cleared, Glass suddenly gets an idea.

Glass: “Scarlet Spider! The containment chamber!” I quickly realize what he wanted me to do.

Ruby: “Right!” I manage to pull him back a good distance towards the chamber before he finally managed to get me off of him. But then Blake and Maria take this chance his him a hard kick to his chest to knock him over into the chamber, to which Glass quickly the button on the computer to close it.

Junior: “Nononono! NO!” As he got up and proceeded to headbutt the glass, but to no avail.

Glass: “Phew! That glass is military grade and made to be extremely bullet proof. It should hold until the cops arrive.”

Vernal: “NO! I’m not letting him get away again!” We have to hold her back as she tries to reach the cage.

Ruby: “Vernal, please stop! It’s over.” She does eventually calm down enough to stop resisting but then drops to her knees and breaks down in tears. A bit later, the police arrive makes the arrest of Junior at the dons. Luckily Junior tired himself out trying to break free, so they had no problems taking him in. Unfortunately, Vernal had to be arrested too for attempted murder. And even then, she abandoned her post as captain to pursue Junior alone because of personal reasons. Needless to say, she is in big trouble. Days later, the police announce they are still investigating all of the Maggia’s actions, now that they have the warrants to do so, but it’ll still be a while before they put on trial. The dons had to be put in a police hospital because of their exposure to the radiation from Glass’ machine. Weiss put Blake and Maria through her tests on account that they touched them while Glass also went to a hospital to be tested. Fortunately, for some odd reason, despite the dons being confirmed to have absorbed some radiation, it was not contagious. Glass himself testified to everything that had happened to him since being abducted by Junior which will be contributed to the trial against him. And while the don's radiation infection was confirmed to be non-lethal... the doctors are still a bit unsure on how exactly it will affect them later on, as they haven’t yet been able to remove it from them. As for Vernal, Maria took her case and managed to save her from doing jail time when taking into account her service record. However, the chief was still displeased with this break in conduct and kicked her off the force, saying it was the only right punishment to give since prison wasn’t going to happen. Vernal however was more than willing to give it up anyway, as she now had full distrust in the system after these recent revelations with Junior. Neither Uncle Qrow or any of us have seen or heard from her since then. When we tried to call her ourselves, the line just goes dead. And eventually... Uncle Qrow said he wanted to discuss something with the four of us. So, we invited Weiss and Blake over for dinner to do just that. The whole meal was completely silent. It wasn’t until after we ate that Qrow finally spoke up.

Qrow: “I’m just gonna cut right to the chase. I know what you girls have been doing for the past year.” We all grow concerned as to what he was getting at. “Now granted, I had suspicions for a while, but I didn’t figure it out to be true until recently. Ruby. I know you're the Scarlet Spider.”

Ruby: “Ah!”

Yang: “Wait what? How?”

Qrow: “I had my suspicions after all of Ruby’s sudden changes at the start of the school year around the same time the Scarlet Spider appeared. But at the time I just chalked it up to a coincidence and her finally growing up to have some confidence in herself. But those suspicions kept growing as time went on. Of course, I didn’t have any actual proof of them which is why I didn’t say anything. The final nail in the coffin was when, a while after the whole Crow Bar incident, I was able to get a chance to come home for a change of clothes since I knew I would be working late. But it was then I noticed that neither of you girls were home. At first, I just assumed you two were over at either Weiss or Blake’s place. But when I tried to call both of you, neither of you picked up, which had me really worried. I went back out into the city to find you, and after along while I heard about the cops bagging Junior and the dons, and while I saw the Spider and Cat swinging over the city... heading in the direction of our neighborhood. And the next morning when I get back after a long night shift, you two are back at home safe and sound. It didn’t take me long to figure that out afterwards.” We’re all just speechless for a minute after hearing that.

Ruby: “We’re sorry Uncle Qrow. But please try to understand-!”

Qrow: “Don’t bother trying to explain anything. I can already guess why you're doing this. I raised you girls long enough to know exactly how you both think. You think that because you have this power, you should do something to help the people where most folks aren’t able to, right?” All we can do is nod at that. “Heh. Your so much like your mother it’s uncanny.” I was not expecting to hear that come up. “And given how much time you spend with them, I can only guess you're the Black Cat, right Belladonna?”

Blake: “Yes sir.”

Qrow: “Well... to be honest, at first, I wasn’t so sure about having you vigilantes around. But then after everything that has happened these past few months, I’m beginning to think that Tomo was right in placing her trust in you. And now that we’ve lost her, this town definitely needs all the help it can get. So, rest assured your secret is safe with me. And I won’t stop you from doing what you're doing. Just promise me you’ll continue to realize your own limits and not bite off more than you can chew.” I am glad to know he will at least support our cause. Perhaps this is a good omen.

Ruby: “I promise.” Afterwards, we discuss how we operate with him, and get him on board as our new police contact now that Vernal is out of the game. Once everything is said and done, Blake went home, Yang stayed behind, and I accompanied Weiss home since I would be taking tonight's patrol anyway. When we reach her building, we have an unexpected encounter.

Weiss: “Winter?” We had run into Weiss’ older sister just outside the building.

Winter: “Hello sister. It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

Weiss: “What are you doing here?”

Winter: “I can’t really go into the details, but I was sent to Vale on an assignment by the general. I would’ve come visit sooner, but I couldn’t put off my mission. And unfortunately, I was told to remain in Vale longer than I was supposed given how much that gang impeded my assignment. I was finally able to finish my mission earlier today and have managed to get some free time. I figured I would come by and maybe ask you to accompany me to dinner.”

Weiss: “Oh! I’m so sorry. You should’ve called ahead, I could’ve told you I already had dinner plans with my friends tonight.”

Winter: “Your friends?”

Weiss: “Yes. Actually, since your here I can finally introduce you. This is Ruby Rose. And she’s actually more than just a friend to me.” As she blushed a bit from saying that out loud.

Winter: “Oh?” Oh boy, here we go. “And just what are you to my little sister, Ms. Rose?”

Ruby: “Um, I uh...” I look to Weiss for a moment, but she just gave an approving nod. To which I take breath to calm down a bit. “I’m Weiss’ girlfriend. We've been dating since the beginning of the school year. And I know you may not know me yet, but I swear I will do everything I can to make Weiss happy. You have my word!” There was a moment of silence as she gave me a stern look before she eventually smiled.

Winter: “They say the eyes are the window to the soul. And one look in your eyes give me a sense of encouragement.”

Ruby: “Does that mean-?”

Winter: “It means I am willing to trust you and give my blessing.” And then she looked to Weiss. “Weiss. I just wanted you to know how proud I am to know you have doing so well out here on your own. I never had any doubt about your grades, but I always did worry about your potential lack of friends and allies in the future. But now I can honestly say that those concerns are gone. Because if you managed to make friends like her, then I’d say your future is bright.”

Weiss: “Thank you, Winter.” Giving the most heartwarming smile I had ever seen on Weiss’ face as the sisters hugged for a quick moment.

Winter: “Well, I must be off. I wish I could stay longer, but this is my last night in Vale before I have to return to Atlas, so I must return to my hotel to pack and rest.”

Weiss: “I understand. It was really good to see you tonight, Winter.”

Winter: “Until next time, Sister.” As she walked off into the city. Once she was out of our sight, that was when we finally went inside to prepare for tonight’s patrol. With the Maggia dons all arrested and the city still undergoing cleanup now that the war has settled down, Qrow was right in saying the city needed all the help it could get. And I planned to deliver. No matter what!

Chapter Text

Things were quite crazy after the Maggia fiasco. The follow up investigation took a while before Junior and the dons were officially tried and convicted. The dons had to face trial through a camera as they were still confined to their hospital rooms. Though about a year afterwards... the four dons had escaped! No one had been able to remove the radiation from them and after a while... they had started to show signs of mutation. No one knows what those mutations entail but judging by the large hole that found in their hospital room, it was what was used to help them escape. At first the city was in an uproar about it, but even after a few years now they still haven’t been found nor have they ever shown themselves since then. Same goes for Vernal after she was kicked off the force. No one has seen or heard from her at all in the last few years, not even Uncle Qrow and he was the closest person to her that we know of. Thankfully, Uncle Qrow has been acting as her stand in for our police contact. Glass had an official leave of absence from work for a little while as he recovered from the abduction and the ensuing investigations and trials. And as for, regular crime died down a bit as the police doubled down on trying to clear up the remaining Maggia members all while the city as a whole worked hard on the repair job. Of course, that job was still made hard as the super villains kept breaking out and causing trouble every now and then, so we still had plenty of work as vigilantes. But as far our personal lives were concerned, we all were able to go straight to college the next school year after graduating from Signal, and now a few years later, the four of us are now starting our fourth and final year as students of Beacon Academy, the best college Vale has to offer. It's been about a week the classes started, but today Blake asked us to join her for something.

Yang: “Remind me again why we’re out here at the stupid docks?”

Ruby: “Ugh! They smell like fish.” As I pinch my nose to try and ignore the smell. These enhancements from that spider can be a curse sometimes as my natural senses are also enhanced. So, while I’m sure the others can also smell all the fish around us it’s twice as worse for me.

Blake: “A friend of mine from Kuo Kuana is coming to transfer to Signal for her last year of high school and I wanted us to be her welcome party.”

Weiss: “A friend of yours? What's she like?”

Blake: “Nice but sometimes a little apprehensive. She's also a smart girl with a bright future.”

Yang: “And what kind of Faunus can we expect to see? And why the sudden transfer on her last year?”

Blake: “At first glance she actually looks human because her traits don’t entail extra appendages like most Faunus have like me.” As she pointed to her ears. “She’s classified as a reptilian type Faunus but still looks human because her skin doesn’t have scaley patches like most reptiles. Instead, she was born with the chameleon's ability to change her skin color. With her human sentience in mind, her color changing always involuntarily reacted to her emotions. As for the transfer, she always had plans to try and see the world beyond Menagerie, but past experiences have left her scared to do so. It wasn’t until now that she found the courage to face her fears and try. Though I am a little clueless as to what sparked this sudden courage. I’m just proud that she finally broke out of her shell to make this jump.”

Yang: “Geez. You sound her older sister.”

Blake: “I guess we kind of are like sisters in a way. Even compared to my legally adopted sister, Ilia always looked up to me more than Mika did.” That’s right, I remember Blake telling us about how her parents adopted a little mouse girl that was abandoned on their doorstep. I believe she said her full name was Mikado Lem. She's roughly around the same age as the Blake, maybe a year younger than her, and from what I hear, she’s a genius prodigy in technology that earned a place in Atlas Academy. My train of though is cut off when a ship parks by the dock. Tons of people get off and Blake helps us point who we’re looking for. A young girl with a tan complexation with darker freckle patterns on various parts of her body, most notably her face, light grey eyes with a faintly bluish tint, and long brown hair, that actually looks more dark red than brown, pulled back into a ponytail made to resemble a chameleon's tail. She wears a short black jacket with rolled up sleeves and a hood revealing the white lining, a dark grey shirt underneath that which stops just above her belly button, revealing her midriff between her shirt and pants, with said pants being dark red with sleeves that stop not far below her knees which reveals some skin between them and her black boots with light grey soles. “Ah. There she is. Ilia! Over here!” She takes notice of us and is on approach. But then we notice that she’s not alone. She’s accompanied but another woman around our age. She has medium brown skin, red eyes and mint green hair with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks the hang down in the back. She wore a white short sleeved jacket with various black line designs, an olive green short crop top which showed slight cleavage and really showed her midriff, olive green pants that stopped at her shins held up with a brown belt, strappy high-heeled pumps, a beaded bracelet on her right wrist, and a red gem pendant around her neck.

Ilia: “Blake! It’s so good to see you again. It's been so long.”

Blake: “Likewise. But who’s your friend here?” Pointing to the green haired woman.

Ilia: “Ah! Right. This is Emerald Sustrai. I got to know her over the summer.”

Emerald: “So you're the famous Blake Belladonna. But yeah, with Kuo Kuana trying to open it’s borders to the rest of the world I thought I would spend my summer there before school started again. I used to attend a college in Vacuo, but I thought it would be nice to broaden my horizons and transfer to Beacon for my final year.”

Weiss: “So you're a fourth year? That means we could be classmates. We're also fourth years at Beacon.”

Emerald: “Is that so? Well then, I look forward to seeing you around.”

Ilia: “Wait! Hold on! What's the Schnee heiress doing here? And who are these girls anyway?”

Blake: “People I wanted you to meet. Their all friends I made during my time at Signal. This her Ruby Rose. Her older sister and my girlfriend, Yang Xiao Long. And you already know of Weiss Schnee, but I swear she’s really not like what you think.”

Weiss: “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Ilia: “Right... well, I’m Ilia Amitola. And I’m sorry, but did I hear you say girlfriend a moment ago?” As she looked at Yang.

Yang: “Yeah. Got a problem?”

Ilia: “Uh, no. Sorry.”

Blake: “Anyway, I’m glad you're being brave enough to go through with this, but I can’t help but be curious about your sudden courage. You were always so scared when we talked about it back in Kuo Kuana.”

Ilia: “I was at first, but then Emerald helped encouraged me to go through with it.”

Emerald: “Ahahaha! All I did was tell her that if you fear control, you then you’ll always be letting life pass by without you.”

Weiss: “True enough.” We all enter casual conversation as we leave the docks. But as we’re walking down the streets, I get a sense of danger. That's when we hear some loud crash nearby... and some gunfire.

Ilia: “What was that!?” The people around us freak out and I use the chaos to slip away so I can suit up.

Blake: “Ilia, we need to go now!” The others all take shelter in a nearby building.

Weiss: “I’ll see if I can see what’s going on from up top.” She went upstairs to the roof and readied her laptop to see through my lenses since we’re not at her place. Blake and Yang stay near the windows.

Ilia: “Wait hold on. Where’s Ruby?”

Yang: “We must have lost her in the crowd. But don’t worry. I know my sister, she can handle herself.” At this point, Emerald looks the place and found a back door.

Ilia: “Whoa, hold on! Emerald, where are you going?”

Emerald: “What? Don't tell me you're not curious to what’s out there. Besides, maybe we’ll get a glimpse of the Scarlet Spider.”

Ilia: “No way! What if it’s dangerous?”

Emerald: “And? That’s what makes it so fun! And with that I’m off. Being in here is a real snooze fest.” As she bolts through the door and heads in the direction of the noise.

Ilia: “Hey, wait! Damnit, Emerald! Get back here!” As she chases after her. Meanwhile I had changing in an alley and made my way to the scene. I see a small group of men in white hooded uniforms with black pants and white masks. They were led by a man with red hair, some kind of brown the base of his neck, with black slanted back horns. He wore a form-fitting, double-breasted three-toned black and grey leather tunic jacket with a red rose emblem on his back and two-layers of flares that hung the entire bottom of his jacket around his thigh, along with black pants and black shoes with red soles, black gloves and finally a white mask with red markings. His men carried assault rifles while the leader carried a small hunting rifle that he can wield one handed. They all approached a crashed delivery truck labeled Schnee Dust Company. I also noticed one crate of lightning Dust powder spilt on the ground outside the truck.

Masked leader: “Take all the Dust you can get your hands on! The Hunter wants everyone ready for what’s to come! For the White Fang!”

WF soldiers: “For the White Fang! All hail Lieutenant Adam Taurus!” The White Fang... Adam Taurus... I don’t think I know those names. But it doesn’t matter right now as I intervene.

Ruby: “No one's getting any Dust on my watch today!”

Adam: “Tch! The fabled spider is real. Don’t let her stop the mission!”

WF soldiers: “Yes Lieutenant Taurus!” As they all take aim and fire. But I dodge and disarm them all with a few web lines before taking them all on, taking out the soldiers with ease but the leader shows more skill as we duke it out. Meanwhile, Emerald works around the scene to hide behind the truck as she peeks at the action. Ilia eventually caught up to her and tries to scold her.”

Ilia: “Emerald! You have to get back, now! It’s too dangerous to be here!”

Emerald: “Learn to live a little, will ya? It's not so bad if just stay out here.” Adam managed to recover his gun and take some shots, which hits the truck and scares the two of them. Ilia ended up falling over into the lightning Dust, causing a cloud of it to kick up and she ends up inhaling some by mistake as she coughs up a storm. “Hey! Are you okay?”

Ruby: “Huh?” I notice the commotion... and so did Adam. “Hey! What are you two doing here? Get out of here, NOW!”

Adam: “Talk about perfect timing!” As took aim at Ilia! I rushed in to protect her and his shots grazed us both, leaving marks that are bleeding out, but thankfully no actually pierced damaged where the wounds are fatal. He takes aim to try and shoot me in the head, but nothing happened as he pulled the trigger, meaning he was out of ammo. “Argh! Dammit! Mark my words Scarlet Spider! I’ll be back!” As he ran out into the streets and escaped.

Emerald: “Hey! He’s getting away!”

Ruby: “I think we’ve got bigger problems.” When Ilia saw that we were bleeding she passed out. Guess she doesn’t do well with blood.

Emerald: “Ah! Ilia, hey! Answer me!” But my main concern was the fact that I noticed... that my blood was dripping into her wounds. “Crap! She ended inhaling some of this Dust too! Shit! This is all my fault! Please, you have to help her!”

Ruby: “I’ll do what I can. For now though, you go find somewhere safe. If I know these bad guys, then he will come back like he said he would.” As I move to hold Ilia on my shoulders as I swing away with one arm while keeping hold of Ilia with the other. “Weiss? Did you see all of that?”

Weiss: “I saw, and we’re already enroute to the lab.”

Blake: “I can’t we didn’t notice that they had left! I hope we can do something to help her!”

Yang: “Don’t give up that hope! You know we’ll save her no matter what!” We all agree to meet up at the lab to treat her ourselves, as having her checked out at a hospital could potentially jeopardize me since my blood is involved. Meanwhile, the news was already covering this incident... and Glass was seeing the report from his office.

Glass: “Hm... it has been a few years since my last experiment. Maybe it’s time I get back in the game. I think I know just the gift to give this new player. All I need to do now is find him.” As he worked on his computer to hack into any and all possible surveillance systems across the city to track Adam down. Later that night, Adam could be seen in the old bomb shelter where fought the Creep, the inside being where he and more of his men have setup camp, as the place has been left powered down and decommissioned since the Creep incident.

Adam: “Dammit! We were this close, and the Spider just had to get in our way. And on top, we already lost some men on our first day here. What a mess.” Just then, they heard a few loud bangs against the front door. Adam and some of the other readied their weapons as they cautiously approached and opened the door. Only to be greeted by a massive crate. Too tall to fit in the door.

WF soldier: “What the hell is this?”

Adam: “I’m not sure.” He didn’t see anyone around. “Whoever left this must already be gone.” That’s when he noticed the letter attached to the crate... with the Tinkerer’s insignia as the seal. He took the letter and read it aloud. “’Dear Masked Stranger. I know you don’t know and thus probably have real reason to trust me, but I swear I am not an enemy. We both share a common enemy in the Scarlet Spider. And I am offering you this special gift to aid you in both your cause and, to my own desire from this exchange, to destroy the Scarlet Spider. How you use it after the fact is of little concern to me, so long as the Spider is dead. I even made some extra effort to customize to match its new master before delivering it. May Project Bull find success in your future. Signed, the Tinkerer.’ Project Bull?”

WF soldier: “What should we do, sir?”

Adam: “Open it. I want to see what it is.”

WF soldier: “Yes sir.” They all grab various tools as they work to tear the crate open, and once they do, they are greeted with a large mech with a head piece on top fitted with a large face plate designed the same way as Adam’s mask, with some large bull looking horns protruding from behind it. “What is this thing?”

Adam: “In my opinion? The new key to our victory!” As he gave an evil smirk when looking upon the large machine. Seems like this will be the rodeo of a lifetime.

Chapter Text

Cutting back to earlier in the day after the incident, we brought Ilia to the lab after what had happened. Though we understood this may be an invasion of her privacy, it’s not going to matter if her life may be in danger, so we put her through a bio scan after patching up her wound. We also took a blood sample to put through a more thorough analysis. All we can do now is wait for the analysis to finish up and for her to potentially wake up. Though what’s most concerning about her condition is the fact she inhaled some lightning Dust. That's not something anyone has been able to safely treat. We can only hope nothing bad happens to her. In the meantime, we try to focus a bit more on the guys I fought.

Blake: “White Fang and Adam Taurus... I’m afraid I don’t know either of those names either. Nor do I know what this Hunter Adam was referring to is.”

Ruby: “Judging by the way he spoke of them combined with the fact the others called him lieutenant, my guess is that the Hunter is the boss behind the White Fang as a whole.”

Yang: “Okay. And if that’s the case, this Adam guy might just be the advance force. It's possible we can expect to see the Hunter later on.”

Weiss: “That’s not all that’s interesting. I’ve been looking through the footage and have noticed everyone she fought were all Faunus. Adam had some horns in his hair, and his men had various features. One had a tail, one had ears poke through holes in his hood, one had tusks peek out of his hood, and one had scaly patches on his arms.”

Blake: “An all Faunus group...”

Weiss: “And aside from Adam’s rose, the soldiers all had this emblem on the backs.” As she showed what looks like a wolf head layered over a three clawed scratch mark, all colored in red... makes me think it’s all done in blood.

PENNY: “I shall begin searching for whatever I can regarding this matter. It may take much longer than usual though given how little we already know.”

Weiss: “Just do what you can for now.” We fail to notice that Ilia was starting to wake up as we were talking. “The soldiers he had with him may have been arrested, but Adam himself managed to get away.”

Blake: “We still need to worry about Ilia too. Even if she makes it out of this physically okay, I fear the experience may make things worse for her mentally after everything she’s been through as a child.” She looks around wondering where she is before she catches sight of me... still in my suit without my mask.

Ilia: “Whoa! What the-!? Ruby’s the Scarlet Spider?”

RWBY: “Ah!” Her sudden outburst threw us off.

Blake: “Ilia! You're okay!” She rushes in for a hug that Ilia wasn’t expecting. “You are okay, right? Do you feel bad in any way?”

Ilia: “Uh, no. I feel fine. Great even. Like I’ve suddenly gained all new strength.” Uh oh. I don’t like the sound of that. “But more importantly, where are we? And am I seriously seeing the Scarlet Spiders true identity right before or is this some kind of joke?”

Yang: “Whoa, whoa! Calm down and let us explain.”

Weiss: “First off, we’re in my penthouse apartment. Which I have converted into a lab to improve my talents rather than live luxuriously.”

Ruby: “And secondly... yes. What you see is true. I am the Scarlet Spider.”

Blake: “And with that mind, I should also tell you the truth too... that I am also Black Cat.” We spend the next while telling her more about how we do things, how we came to be... and about what happened to her today.

Ruby: “The delicacy of this situation is why we brought you here instead of the hospital.”

Ilia: “Hey, it’s okay. I understand.”

Yang: “That may be settled but I’m still concerned about the Dust. Are you sure your fine?”

Ilia: “Well I don’t feel any sort of pain or anything, but I do feel something different within me. Though I’m not sure yet if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

Weiss: “Hopefully PENNY will be able find something from your bio scan and blood analysis.”

Ilia: “I’m still not entirely sure about you. But if Blake really trusts then I’ll try too as well.”

Blake: “Ilia...”

Weiss: “It’s okay, Blake. You should know I’m used to comments like that.” In the meantime, we chat a bit more and get to know each other. At first, Ilia is hesitant to talk about her past. But then she musters up the courage after hearing all of our stories.

Ilia: “I’m sorry for your loss Ruby and Yang. I know what it’s like to lose your family like that.”

Blake: “Ilia. You don’t have to talk about this if you want to.”

Ilia: “But I do want to. Hearing all of your tales made me realize that if I don’t say anything, it will just keep hurting.” She says as her skin starts turning blue.

Yang: “Heheh. You sound just like Ruby when we all first became friends.” Was I really like that? Maybe I was now that I think about it.

Ilia: “I was born in Mantle as my parents were labor workers for the SDC Dust mines. My chameleon traits mean I could potentially pass for human so long as I could keep my emotions in check to avoid involuntary changes in color. It did manage to work for a spell, and I was even able to make a few friends after my parents signed me up for a human girl's school. But then came the day my parents died. I was at school when the news broke. There was an accident in the mine where my parents worked cause by a member who dropped raw Dust crystals, causing a chain with the remaining Dust in the cavern... and they all exploded. I already the mine in question was my parents. The whole mine was mostly Faunus labor workers. And my so-called friends all laughed at their demise. as you can imagine, I was devastated by what happened. The emotions behind that are not something any child would be able to control and so I was exposed as every inch of me turned blue. Everyone in the whole school was disgusted by this discovery and I was chased out like a monster. Not even the teachers treated me the same as before. Afterwards, I was sought out by an old friend of the family who made a promise to dad to ensure I safely reach Menagerie if anything were to happen to them. So, he took temporary custody over me, escorted me there and left me in the care of a couple he knew willing to take me in before he returned to Mantle.”

Blake: “And that couple happened to be known staff members for the Belladona household. That’s how Ilia and I met each other. And grew up together for a time before I had to leave for my schooling and journey as the Black Cat.”

Weiss: “And that’s what you meant when talking about her experiences and fears. It was all because of her trauma from these events.”

Ruby: “And why you were concerned about her mental stability after this recent incident.”

Ilia: “Huh?” As her skin turns back.

Blake: “You had to go through so much as a child and it made you so scared to leave Menagerie despite your dream to see the outside world again.”

Ilia: “It’s true I was afraid to leave for the longest time, and todays experience was an unpleasant one. But even now I keep thinking back to Emerald’s advice before we had left. I can’t just let my fears control me forever. That’s why I went through with it. And why I won’t run from this either.”

Blake: “Ilia...” PENNY’s program alerts us to her analysis progress.

PENNY: “Analysis complete.”

Yang: “That was quick.”

Weiss: “I have been trying to improve PENNY’s progress speed. So, what do we have?”

PENNY: “Well... things have gotten a bit complicated. Ruby’s blood mixing with Ilia’s seems to have yielded the same effects as when Ruby was bit by that spider. The analysis of her blood has shown similar anomalies as in Ruby’s as a result, as evident when comparing the results of the analysis from Ilia’s sample and the old sample from Ruby back when we started.”

Ruby: “I was afraid of this.”

Yang: “So, wait, are you saying-?”

PENNY: “Yes. I believe Ilia has acquired Ruby’s powers.”

IWBY: “What!?”

PENNY: “And that’s not all. Her bio scan showed that the lightning Dust she inhaled have yielded similar results to Mercury Black’s incident. Rather than become harmful to her body, it has instead adapted to and bonded with her cells. I believe this means she may also have acquired a form of electrical powers like Mercury did. And top of that, I noticed one last anomaly in her system from her blood mixing with Ruby’s that I haven’t been to identify yet.”

Blake: “This is concerning.”

Ilia: “Um, what does this mean for me? If I really have your powers, then does mean I’m stuck with them?”

Weiss: “As far as we’re concerned, yes. Because of Ruby’s choice to use her powers we never did try to look for a way to remove them. So, if you really want us to try and help with that, then I’m afraid it may take some time to figure it out.”

Ilia: “So what should I do?”

Ruby: “Well, you heard Weiss. It was my choice to use my powers for a means of good. So, just like me, we’re letting you make the choice on how to use your powers. You can either choose to get rid of and go back to normal, or you can face the harder of keeping them and using them to do good. But just know that if you choose to do the latter, you’ll need to know this one piece of advice before doing anything rash, just like my uncle told me before I made my choice. That with great power comes great responsibility.” After hearing these words, Ilia now has a certain look of content and determination in her eyes. Afterwards, we notice it getting dark and decide to call it here for the day. Luckily for Ilia, Blake managed to recover her luggage while she was unconscious and has decided to let Ilia stay with her at her place. We advised Ilia to think long and hard on her decision and we agree to meet again tomorrow after school. When the next day came, we did do exactly that, Ilia called Signal and told she had to skip her first day to recover from yesterday’s incident as she admitted she was caught up in it. As well as called Emerald to assure her she was fine, while leaving out everything we had discovered yesterday. After meeting up at Weiss’ like usual, with Blake bringing Ilia along, and Ilia having some kind of bag with, we were about to further discuss our plans to help Ilia and what to do about Adam when PENNY’s alarm went off.

PENNY: “Alert! Major disturbance occurring in the city. Alarm sounded at an SDC warehouse for storing Dust.”

Ruby: “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

Blake: “Adam. He and his men were after Dust yesterday.”

Yang: “Yesterday was a delivery truck though. Now it’s a full-on storage warehouse which I’m sure would be more secure.”

Weiss: “Which only means their getting bolder. It's possible he could’ve organized reinforcements to take on higher security.”

Blake: “Either way, we need to get down there.”

Ruby: “Time to suit up.” I have to use my spare suit since the other was damaged where my wounds were. The other one is left on the operating table as Blake and I suit up and head out.

Blake: “We’ll be back Ilia, so stay here!”

Ilia: “Hey, wait!” We’re already gone by the time she tries to speak up. It doesn’t take us long to reach the warehouse in question. And upon arriving at the scene, we see a giant in the warehouse wall and can see exactly what made it as we look inside. We catch sight of the mech Adam received last night, moving as it noticed us and turned in our direction. We can hear Adam voice coming from some kind of speaker on the mech as he spoke.

Adam: “There you are little spider. And you brought a friend this time. Hm? I must say, she’s rather pretty. It'd be a shame to destroy her when she could spend her life with me.” I don’t think I like the way he said that.

Yang: “Who the hell does this guy think he is!?”

Blake: “More importantly! What the heck is that thing?”

Weiss: “Looks like a supped up mech of some kind. And if I were a betting woman, I’d say he probably acquired it from the Tinkerer.”

PENNY: “Only one way to find out. Beginning scan.” And so, it begins. The main event of this little rodeo. Though something tells me we’re in for a rough ride.

Chapter Text

Throughout the night, Ilia kept pondering on what she should do with these new revelations she learned as she tested out whether or not she actually did have powers like she was told. First, she tested her new sticky fingers as she ended crawling up walls of the guest room Blake gave her... and got stuck on the ceiling for a quick minute because she didn’t know what she was doing yet and ended up falling flat on her back on the floor as she forcibly unstuck herself.

Ilia: “Ouch...” Afterwards, she tried to test the webbing but then remembered that power wasn’t natural and she needed a wearable gadget for that. “Still, I could probably think more on the physics logic behind it.” That’s when she got the strange feeling in her head that came with the spider sense as it tried to alert her to Blake entering the room.

Blake: “Ilia? Are you okay? I heard a loud thud.”

Ilia: “I uh, got stuck to the wall and fell over trying to unstick. Now I’ve got this weird feeling in my head just before you came in.”

Blake: “You even gained Ruby’s Spider Sense? Just try to focus and keep your mind calm.”

Ilia: “Geez. Ruby seriously has to go through this every day? She’s impressive.” She ends up leaning against the TV with her hand, but then a zap electricity occurs from her hand. The sudden surge was strong enough to spread and cause the building to lose power. “AH!” Blake in particular as a Faunus was one who could see in the dark, while Ilia could not. But Blake noticed something strange.

Blake: “Ilia? Where did you go?” She couldn’t see her anywhere.

Ilia: “What do you mean? I’m still right in front of you?”

Blake: “Well I can’t see you!” That’s when the power came back. “Well, that didn’t help. I still can’t see you.”

Ilia: “Huh?” She looked down at her hands... only to end up seeing through them. “AH! What the hell!? Where did my hands go?” Then she looked in the rooms mirror. “Where did I go!?”

Blake: “Hold on. Did you turn invisible?”

Ilia: “Can Ruby turn invisible?”

Blake: “Not that we know of. But... wait. Could this be the extra anomaly PENNY picked up that Ruby didn’t have?”

Ilia: “I didn’t even think of that. But how could this happen?” She calmed down as she worked several potential theories and before she knew, she was visible again. “Oh? Well, that’s odd.”

Blake: “I’ll say. This will be worth investigating. But for now, though, Ilia I’m sorry but I need you take off school tomorrow. Use your time tomorrow before out meeting to try and get use to your powers it’d be bad if you had accident like tonight happen while you were out alone, so take the time to try and learn how to control them.”

Ilia: “I understand.” Once Blake had left the room, Ilia thought a bit on her path, but then she remembered my words from earlier. “’With great power comes great responsibility’ huh?” To which she made up her mind and spent most of the night cobbling a little surprise. And then did exactly what Blake told her to do while she was out at school. When Blake came back to pick her up for the meeting, she gathered what she made in a duffle bag before coming along. When they arrived, we only had a brief moment of discussion before PENNY alerted us to Adam appearance.

PENNY: “Regarding Blake’s theory to Ilia’s newly discovered invisibility power in relation to the anomaly I discovered, I believe she may be right. My theory is that the serum may have also adapted itself to her natural abilities that comes from her chameleon genes, allowing her an optical camouflage on top of her natural color changing. I believe her clothes disappearing with her may also be due to an alteration in her bioelectric aura which spreads a thin a layer of her camouflage around her.”

Yang: “Invisibility on top of electric powers? Geez, talk about unfair.”

Ruby: “If your mad on my behalf, then don’t be. I’m fine with what I’ve got. Plus, the circumstances are all a bit different than my case.” That was when the alarm went off and we headed out to face Adam.

Adam: “But that’s enough chatting. Time to die! For the White Fang!” He moves to punch but we dodge, and he hits the ground instead, creating a massive hole due to the sheer strength behind it. And that’s all because of the incredible size of it. This thing is more resilient than we thought. My punches and kick barely stagger it, and Blake’s claws barely scratch the paint when she attacks. The armor plating is quite formidable. Blake is the one taking the most hits because of her lack of a Spider Sense.

Yang: “Damnit! They haven’t even been able to make a dent in that thing.”

Weiss: “This is most assuredly an opponent we may have to let go for a second fight while we make a failsafe after the analysis. I don’t see any other way. Just try to hold out until the scan is complete.” Ilia stands aside as she whispers to herself.

Ilia: “There has to be something I can do to help. But I still don’t have any-” She noticed my damaged suit on the table and particularly eyed the web shooters on the arms. “Bingo!” Behind Weiss and Yang’s backs, she took the web shooters off the suit, as well as took the suits mask before grabbing her bag and heading into the bathroom... and changed into her own homemade suit. She took the mask because she fell asleep before she could get to that part and didn’t think to pick it up again as she practiced her powers. Her upper body was covered by a purple leather jacket with black shoulders and black sides with a little dark grey spider logo attached to the chest with fabric glue and with black fingerless gloves. For the legs, she wore pants that were dark grey before cutting into a shade of brown mid-thigh with black bordering between the two colors, as well as black over ankle boots with dark grey soles. Her ponytail peeked from the back of the neck of the mask as she wore it. After adjusting the web shooters to assure they fit well enough, she went up to the roof and mustered up her courage to take the leap and swing through the city. At first, she was worried about flopping and swinging into a building, she was doing than she initially though as she thought real hard on the physics behind it as well as listen closely to her Spider Sense, once she got use to the sensation. While she’s on her way, we are now dealing with the fact that Adam’s mech is loaded with weapons as the arms sprout machine guns and open fire. We have to take cover behind a shipping container.

Blake: “Dammit! We’re pinned down!”

Ruby: “We can’t finish the scan like this.”

PENNY: “Uh, guys? I have detected the other Spider mask to be operating. And by tracking it, I have found it to be enroute to the scene.”

Yang: “Huh?” She looked back to the operating table. “She’s right. The mask is missing. The web shooters are gone. And I don’t see Ilia anywhere.”

Blake: “Oh no!” Weiss pulled up feed from Ilia’s mask on a different screen. And she sees her coming up on the scene.

Weiss: “Damn! We’re too late!” Ilia shows up behind him as he stops shooting and starts approaching us.

Adam: “No where left to run, girls! It's time to face the wrath of the Bull!”

Ilia: “You bastard!”

Adam: “Huh?” He turns to see Ilia standing there. “Pathetic. A little girl like you trying to help. Just go home before you get hurt.” She doesn’t take his taunts lightly.

Ilia: “You little... Just back...” Her fists start sparking electricity.

Adam: “So be it.” He positions himself to start charging.

Ilia: “The hell...”

Blake: “Wait, NO!” We get on top of the container intending to intervene. But then they both start charging at each other.

Ilia: “OFF!” She jumped and gave the thing a hard punch that was supercharged with her power. That punch knocked it back right into the shipping container.

Adam: “What the hell was that!? Goddammit! Move!” Unbeknownst to us, the zap scrambled some of its systems.”

Ruby: “What in the world?” Regardless, this gave me a chance to finish the scan. Blake went straight for Ilia and gave her a tight hug in concern before letting go and scolding her.

Blake: “What were you thinking!? I know we gave you the choice to do this or not, but we still need to train you first! You literally just got your powers YESTERDAY! And last I checked you have ZERO combat training unlike us!”

Ilia: “But I just-” That’s when I notice Adam starting to move again. Guess the system stun was only temporary.

Ruby: “Guys! We got a bigger problem, so focus up!”

Ilia: “Oh crap!” As the mech manages to stand up.

Adam: “Heh. The new little Spidergirl has some power behind her, huh?” He did notice some power irregularities. “You are good. I’ll concede the Dust for now. But I promise I’ll be back.” He moves to smack us aside before he turns around and charges a super jump as he leaps away a far distance. When Ilia was pushed aside, her hands hit a nearby lamppost, and she felt something new in her hands regarding her electric powers.

Ilia: “Huh?” As she let go. “What was that?” As she looked down to her hands.

Ruby: “Argh! Great. He got away.”

Blake: “Ow... Are you okay, Ilia?”

Ilia: “Mm... Just some back pain but I’m fine otherwise.” That’s when we hear the incoming sirens.

Ruby: “And that’s our cue to leave. Can't let ourselves be arrested for vigilantism or we can’t finish the job.”

Ilia: “R-Right.” To which she followed after us as we fled the scene. Unbeknownst to us, Velvet was near the scene and got some photos of the whole ordeal, as well as heard what Adam had to say the whole time given his loudspeaker.

Velvet: “The Spidergirl, huh? A new apprentice, perhaps? Or maybe a sidekick? Either way, this will make great news!” As she leaves the scene when the cops arrive. Guess I forgot the mention that Velvet has also long since graduated Beacon and is now working full time for the news station as an official photographic journalist. But regardless, given the circumstance's wit Adam and Ilia all at once... we definitely have our work cut out for us this time around.

Chapter Text

As we all meet up at the lab, we find it didn’t take long for the incident to reach the news.

Lisa: “Moments ago, a large machine attacked an SDC storage warehouse, who had only referred to itself as the Bull. The mech was halted by the Scarlet Spider and the Black Cat, but witnesses say it did suffer any real until the appearance of a second spider hero clad in purple simply referred to as the Spidergirl, as she delivered a powerful force charged with some sort of heavy electric charge. It was not until after this occurrence that the mech fled the scene. It is unknown whether this new hero is an acquaintance of the Scarlet Spider or not, but it does leave one to wonder about the new one's power.” And as you imagine, Uncle Qrow had a few words to say about this too as he called from the crime scene.

Qrow: “Care to explain what’s going on kiddo?”

Ruby: “The mech is being piloted by that Adam guy that escaped yesterday. We’re going over the scan analysis now. And as for the new Spider, things got a bit complicated during yesterday’s same fight. A friend of Blake’s got caught up in the mix and ended up with my powers plus more due to an incident with some powdered electric Dust. We've been trying to figure out what to do about this since then. Her appearance today was done without our knowledge. Even took my spare mask and web shooters.”

Qrow: “Sheesh. She sounds as reckless as you were back then.”

Ruby: “Hey! I wasn’t that bad!”

Qrow: “Hahaha. Sorry. Sorry. But seriously, hurry up and do something about this before it becomes a problem.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this.” As I hang up. “And as for you, young lady!” As I turn my attention to Ilia. “What were you thinking?” Geez, I sound a mom or something. “You are nowhere near ready for this.”

Blake: “What if you had gotten yourself killed out there?”

Ilia: “I’m sorry. It’s just... I just couldn’t sit back and watch when you were at such a disadvantage. I just felt I had to do something! Seeing you in danger like that... It made me think of my parents all over again.” That hit a sore spot for me as I thought to my parents.

Blake: “Ilia...”

Weiss: “Guys. Like it or not, she did save your butts today. She was the only one out there who actually managed to land a solid enough hit on that thing.”

Yang: “Yeah, speaking of that. That seemed a bit different than what we had seen from Mercury. Not the same kind of flashy lightning and everything like he had.”

Ilia: “I think it’s more akin to some kind of bioelectric discharge than just straight up electrokinesis. And I don’t think that’s all I can do. At the end there, when he smacked into that lamppost, I felt a kind of surge in my hand when they touched the post. This surge had a different feeling than when I used my power for that punch. I think I may have ended absorbing some electricity from the post.”

Blake: “So you can discharge and absorb.”

PENNY: “Which I’m sure you won’t like hearing, but that power may be useful in stopping Adam after going through the analysis.”

Blake: “Hm?”

PENNY: “As you may have figured out already, the exterior was particularly tough. Its armor plating is made from a high carbon, titanium steel alloy combination. The power source is a simple core fueled by lightning Dust. The best solution would be to shut it down by getting Ilia an opportunity to drain the mechs power source. This would also include the cockpit entrance, thus leaving Adam trapped inside until the police can break him out and thus get an opportunity to make the arrest.”

Weiss: “A smart idea in theory. But it depends entirely on Ilia. And I’m going to take a guess and say Blake will have some objections, right?”

Blake: “I mean, I can understand where Ilia’s coming from. But still, she’s not the least bit prepared to handle this so soon. Ruby at least had some training done before Cinder showed up.”

Ruby: “Then let’s get to it. We can work to at least improve some of her ability before Adam shows himself again. Her combat ability may take more than that, so for now, let work on her traversal and stealth. That is, if you're willing to put in the work.”

Ilia: “Yes ma’am!” A serious look of determination in her eyes.

PENNY: “Before you get into that. I thought you should know that Ms. Schnee’s hunch about the mech was correct. I had found the Tinkerer’s insignia at the base of the neck.”

Yang: “Can’t get any more obvious than that.”

Ilia: “The Tinkerer? There’s so much I don’t know about your rogue's gallery.”

Ruby: “We can get into that later. For now, though, seeing as your decision is pretty obvious at this point, let's just focus on your first day of training. Are you ready?”

Ilia: “I am!” And that’s what we spend the rest of the day doing. With all of our similarities in mind, I’m the one who has to play a part in every aspect of her training. In traversal, I have to help her solo since she’ll be utilizing my web shooters as well as help teach her about the Spider Sense as that will also help her a great deal in both traversal and combat. Blake helps pitch in with her stealth training. Despite her invisibility, it’s worthless without some proper training to keep calm and stay quiet. Not to mention she may need it in situations where the power becomes useless, like if she’s unable to use it or if she runs into someone with some kind of access to x-ray or infrared vision. Later on, once we deal with this, Weiss will help me with teaching her about our tech and suits, which will come in handy for when she feels ready to make her own custom suit. And then Yang and Blake will help with her combat training. We went over as much as we could until we decided to call it a day. Adam on the other hand is having his troops give the mech a maintenance check.

Adam: “Once the Bull is 100% go and prepare the remaining outposts. We must be ready for when the Hunter arrives with the others for the Grand Hunt. And come tomorrow, the only real threats to her will shall finally fall! And as for you two...” As he directs his attention to two members of his group. They are a pair of twin brothers with many similarities. They are both dark skinned with dark brown, almost black, hair styled in small mohawk with shaved sides and light brown eyes. They both wear black dress shirts with red suit vests over them and white pants with black shoes. As for their differences: one has their vest closed and has a corsac fox tail. The other leaves his vest open, is wearing a white tie and has the ears of a fennec fox. And on top of that, the tailed one noticeably taller than the one with ears. “I’m putting you two in charge of target recon. You have your forged your IDs to infiltrate the police and prisons, all we need now is the proper so the Hunter can prepare.” As the brothers prepared their ID badges. The badge for the tailed one is labeled as Corsac Albain while the one with ears is labeled Fennec Albain. “Don’t let us down.”

Corsac: “Of course, Lieutenant Taurus.”

Fennec: “We would never dare disappoint our High Leader.”

Adam: “Reliable as ever. Be ready to move out by tomorrow.” And by tomorrow, we go through our school day like usual, Ilia being able to go this time now that she has better control of her powers, at least to the point where they won’t go out of control and cause a scene, and we met up at the lab afterwards. But not long after, we pick up trouble on the police radio.

Officer: “All units! We’ve got trouble! Our squad was safeguarding the warehouse from yesterday, but we have the Bull on approach! We need back up, NOW!”

Weiss: “Geez. He must really want all that Dust if he’s seriously trying again.”

Ruby: “Not on our watch. You ready Ilia?”

Ilia: “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Blake: “Then let’s suit up.” Once all prepared, we head out and make our way to the scene. Ilia has now shown significant improvement in her web swinging. Let's just hope the little training she has at the moment will be enough to pull this off. Because this will be the rodeos final act!

Chapter Text

We work up a plan as we’re swinging through the city.

Ruby: “Okay, ilia, listen up! You stay cloaked and sneak around the scene while Blake and I fight Adam and make an opening for you to get on board and drain its power!”

Weiss: “The arms have a limited reach, so I’d recommend getting up onto it’s back where it can’t reach and hang on tight as the fight goes on.”

Ilia: “I’ll try!”

Blake: “There he is!” As we approach the scene, we see he’s broken through the police line and is now trying to break through a barrier of hard light Dust left in the hole he made yesterday. Ilia cloaks before the three of us land on the scene to face him. “Enough, Adam! It’s time to end this!”

Adam: “The Hunter’s decree says otherwise.” As he turns in our direction. “Now where’s your little friend? Where's the Spidergirl? Cause honestly, I don’t think you two will stand much of a chance without her help. Considering what she has that you don’t.”

Ruby: “As if that’s your decision to make! With or without her, we’ll never stop fighting you for Vale’s sake!”

Adam: “Then prepare to die!” He attacks and we move to dodge and fight back. All we have to do is keep him busy while Ilia works her magic and hold out until she’s done. We'll have to avoid his back to prevent potentially hurting Ilia. Luckily for us, Ilia had already stuck to his back during our conversation.

Ilia: “Okay... here we go.” She firmly presses her hands on the mech as she starts absorbing its power. “Geez! I can feel you have a lot of power. This could take a minute.” We keep working to dodge his attacks and get in whatever blows we can to keep him distracted. With how tough the armor is, we have to give it all that we’ve got with each hit. Eventually, he broke out the machine guns again and opened fire.

Ruby: “Nope! Not this time!” I fire off a lot of webbing to clog the guns and keep him from firing so I can work on using more webs to yank the guns off the arms.

Adam: “Argh! Damn! Now you’ve done it!” He’s so mad, he doesn’t even notice the alerts to the power core gradually losing power as he goes into a frenzy. The fight now takes us onto the street as he moves around and causes more damage than necessary. As time goes on, the mech movements start to slow, granting us better opportunities to land some heavy blows.

Ilia: “Ggh! Almost there...”

Adam: “You're really starting to piss me off! Don’t you get it yet!? You can’t win!” He moves to attack again... but then he suddenly stops in tracks. “Huh? Come on! Move goddammit!” It did move after that... as it fell over like a ragdoll. “Damnit! What the hell!?” Meanwhile, Ilia lets go and looks a bit exhausted.

Ilia: *groan*”So much power... I’ll definitely need to get use to this.”

Blake: “Nice work Ilia. Now the police can-” We can hear loud banging from the cockpit, before we hear a gunshot, and then the cockpit is kicked open as Adam comes out.

Yang: “The hell? I though he was supposed to be trapped?”

Weiss: “Guess we didn’t take into account he would bring his own gun with him and could shoot the lock open.”

Ruby: “Wonderful.”

Adam: “Hah... hah... HRAAAAGH!” He ran right us moving to attack... but didn’t notice Ilia coming up right behind him and give a hard kick which knocked him over a short distance away. His tumble also made him drop his gun... and made his mask fall off. Ilia hit him pretty hard as he struggled to get up and face us. But when he did, we could finally see his eyes full of unrelenting rage. His right eye was perfectly fine a light blue. But his left eye... was bloody mess. The initials ‘SDC’ were branded clear as day over his left eye. His sclera blood red, his iris dark grey, his pupil light grey and his eyebrow burnt off.

Yang: “Geez! Hurp!” She almost gagged at the gruesome sight. “Talk about brutal.”

Weiss: “Father... what did you do?”

Adam: “You ignorant idiots! Ahahahaha! It doesn’t matter though. Whether I’m put behind bars or even killed from the experience won’t matter. I was only the advanced force. You three will be put through real hell when the Hunter arrives with our army for the Grand Hunt!” Ilia ran up to him and gave him an electric charged punch to the face... which knocked him out.

Ilia: “Geez. What a windbag.”

Ruby: “At least now it’s over.” To which the police backup finally arrives, we leave the scene, and we meet up again at the lab. “I’m proud of you Ilia. Without you, we probably wouldn’t have won this battle. And I’m proud you had the courage to step up and help. So, thank you.”

Ilia: “I was just doing what I thought my parents would want me to do.”

Ruby: “And with more training, I’m sure you’ll be able to do more.”

Yang: “By the way. Have you thought about what you’d like to be called?”

Ilia: “Well, considering the public has been calling me the Spidergirl, I don’t see any reason to go changing it. It’s simple, yes, but I feel it has a nice ring to it. Besides, I still have a long way to go before I feel like I can reach your level.” It was at this point that we went over a few more lessons with her, no actual physical training today given what we just through, before we called it a day. In the following days, not only have we been continuing Ilia’s training, the investigation into Adam had been going on as well. When we got to his trial day, it was obvious he would be convicted.

Lisa: “In recent events, the mad man behind the mech known as the Bull was revealed to be a Faunus man by the name of Adam Taurus.” As they show his mugshot on the screen. “The branding on his face shows he has history with the Schnee Dust Company, further confirmed with a look into his background. In his youth, he was practically born into slavery as his parents were known Faunus labor workers for an SDC mine at a time where Faunus rights in labor management were justifiably unfair. Taurus’ parents died trying to aid their son in an escape attempt and the young man had held a hatred for all of humanity since then. Even in now in our current time of peace with the Faunus. This hatred was Taurus joined an organization he refers to as the White Fang, as he saw it as an opportunity to gain the power to exact vengeance on humanity and he quicky rised in the ranks to become one of the organizations top lieutenants. The only other information the police managed to get out of him regarding the White Fang was that their High Leader was only known as the Hunter. It is still unknown if the group are terrorist or international mercenaries but are still regarded as dangerous and currently under investigation.”

PENNY: “The police aren’t the only ones that are stumped. I've been searching in every server I could find but I haven’t been able to find anything as of yet.”

Weiss: “Thanks for trying anyway, PENNY.”

Blake: “So we’re still nowhere closer to figuring out who the Hunter is or when we can expect the Grand Hunt to begin.”

Ruby: “That just means all we can do is make sure that we’re prepared for it and keep an extra close eye out for any more appearances of White Fang soldiers in the future.” As we speak, Qrow can be seen at the station welcoming new transfers joining the force from a different city... said transfers being the Albain twins.

Qrow: “You have quite the resume behind you. I can definitely see your potential as detectives. Welcome to Vale, Corsac and Fennec. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me if the chief is unavailable.”

Albain twins: “Thank you for your guidance, Detective Branwen.” As they head in to look around and talk.

Corsac: “And with that, we now have access to the police network.”

Fennec: “The one place in the city where we’ll be able to gain the information the High Leader will need for the Grand Hunt.”

Corsac: “As per the White Fang’s creed.”

Albain twins: “Hunt to live... live to hunt.”

Chapter Text

In the following days since we beat Adam, we have been focusing on Ilia’s training as we wait for any news or appearances of the White Fang. We also gave Ilia her first real super suit for better efficiency then her homemade suit. Design wise, it’s not much different from my own suit. The biggest difference is the shape of her cape compared to mine and that her ponytail peeks from the hood as it comes from the back of her mask through a hole. This will at least help her until she feels ready to make her own special design. And in our civilian lives, we’ve been showing her around Vale not only to help get accustomed to the layout for patrol, but also to help her adjust to her new life since she’ll be attending Signal for the next year. We’re currently working on thwarting another robbery in town.

Ilia: “Not so fast!” She caught up to the thieves trying to run away and pinched their necks, to which she used her electric power to sting and paralyze them. “And that’s that.”

Blake: “You’ve really gotten better with controlling your powers. A paralyzing sting made with just a smidge of electricity.”

Ilia: “Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking of calling this power my Venom Sting. You know, because of the whole spider theme.”

Ruby: “Huh. Pretty clever.” And we hear the incoming sirens. “And that’s our cue.” As we flee the scene. And then we reach the lab.

Yang: “You're getting better and better by the day.”

Weiss: “Indeed. You handled those thugs really well.”

Ruby: “And just in time too.”

Ilia: “In time for what?”

Yang: “Well...”

Weiss: “For the next while, Ruby and Yang are going to be out of town because of a mandatory study trip for a class their in.”

Ruby: “Yeah. We’ll be going up to Mt. Glenn for the next few days. So, it’s only going to be you, Blake and Weiss while we’re gone. We'll be leaving tomorrow morning.”

Ilia: “But that would make me the only Spider in town.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry. We've seen your progress, and even though it’s only been almost a week, we think you're ready to take on more than you’ve been.”

Ilia: “You really think so?”

Blake: “We’re sure of it. You've come a long a way since we started training you. Just remember everything we taught you and it’ll all go smoothly.”

Ilia: “Okay. If you're so sure, then I’ll give it my very best.” That’s when Ilia got a call on her scroll. “Hello?”

Emerald: “Ilia, where are you? The tour is about to start!”

Ilia: “Oh shit! That's right! Don't worry, I’ll be there soon.” As she hung up. “Sorry, but I’ve got to go. I promised Emerald a chance at seeing the museum tour.”

Blake: “Don’t worry, we can handle any more crooks that may pop up today. You deserve a little break before you take on this kind responsibility.”

Yang: “Just don’t let it become a habit while Ruby and I are gone.”

Ilia: “Thanks guys. Gotta run!” As she grabbed her bag on her way out and made her way through the city via swinging. She landed in a nearby alley not far from the museum to change in her normal clothes before meeting up with Emerald by the front entrance. “So sorry I’m late! I’ve been pretty busy lately.”

Emerald: “I’ll say. You’ve been going pretty hard with this whole mentor, student thing under Blake and her friends.”

Ilia: “Well, aside from you they’re the only other friends I have in Vale at the moment. And as far as I’m concerned, some of the best students in Beacon.”

Emerald: “You do know I’m a Beacon senior too, right?”

Ilia: “Ah! Sorry, I didn’t mean any offense! I just-”

Emerald: “Hahaha! Calm down, Ilia. I was just messing with you. Honestly, even I’ll admit that their all pretty great. I just wish you’d make some more for me too.”

Ilia: “I know. I’ll try to free myself up a bit more soon.”

Emerald: “Regardless. Ready to make history?” To which they join a tour group exploring the history museum. And they end up encountering a familiar set piece that Ilia recognized from reading up on our rogue's gallery.

Guide: “And over here, you will see a particularly rare find. A special emerald brought to our kingdoms museum a few years back after having been displayed in the Atlas history museum for a decade. On the day of its reveal, this jewel was almost stolen by the nefarious super villain, Roman Torchwick, AKA the Nevermore, who was fortunately thwarted by the amazing Scarlet Spider and the Black Cat. The jewel has been sitting safely in our care since then. This jewel is believed to been around for over 1000 years.”

Emerald: “Sheesh. Really makes you wonder why they kept it here after that, huh?”

Ilia: “Well, so long as it’s safe now.” A while later, the tour is over, and the two friends have dinner before they decide to split up at the station. “I am sorry again that I was late. I might still be rather busy for the next few days. But I promise I’ll make we can hang out again soon.”

Emerald: “Hey, don’t sweat it, okay? You're a smart girl with a bright future ahead of her. I’m not gonna keep dogging on you for taking your future seriously. Just try to take a break every once in a while, before you end up working yourself to death.”

Ilia: “I know. Thanks again.” As Emerald boarded her train back to Beacon. Once she knew she was alone in her dorm room though, she grew a bit more serious.

Emerald: *sigh*”I am glad you're taking your future seriously, Ilia. It just means I’ll know you're not likely to end up like me after the choices I’ve made.” As she took a locked case from under her bed and unlocked with the ruby around her neck, which was actually it’s key. Inside the case was a suit. It was black with a white section around the chest area with some kind red glowing logo. It had white straps on the legs and white boots, olive green shoulder pads and mask with white eyes and some kind of black pattern around the eyes. A black scarf laid inside that would act as a small cape. And finally, some kind of metal gauntlets with claws on the fingers of the black gloves. “But there’s no way I can turn around after everything I’ve already done. This is the only path I know how to follow. It took me while to adjust to Vale, but now I know all I need to. And I already my first target for this city.” As she looked at her scroll at a photo she took of the rare emerald from the museum. “Time to begin the operation.” As she started changing into this suit and prepared some kind of card with a simple logo that was just the face of her mask and simple sentence... ‘From yours, the Prowler.’

Chapter Text

Come morning, making today Sunday, Blake, Weiss and I see Ruby and Yang off at the train station heading to Mt. Glenn.

Ruby: “We should be back by the end of the week, as in late Friday. So, we’ll be ready to get back to it by Saturday.”

Blake: “We’ll do what we can in the meantime.”

Yang: “Do us proud, Ilia.”

Ilia: “I’ll do my best.”

Ruby: “I know you will.” That’s when they board their train and are off. I had hoped that we wouldn’t run into any major trouble while they were gone... but then not too long after their departure, we get some pretty bad news.

Lisa: “Last night, the Vale history museum had been robbed and went unnoticed until they had opened this morning as the proprietor had found the 100-year-old rare emerald missing from its exhibit. And in its place was a calling card announcing the culprit to be a thief known only as the Prowler. Police investigating the scene had this to say.” As Detective Branwen showed up on the screen from a camera man on the scene.

Qrow: “If the name sounds unfamiliar to you, then here’s a refresher course. The Prowler is infamous thief that had been plaguing Vacuo for years before they suddenly disappeared a few months ago completely after the police there supposedly came close to nailing them. Now it seems the crook has decided to make her mark in Vale after their little hiatus. But I can assure you, we will do everything we can to bring the thief down. This I promise.”

Weiss: “Not even an hour after they left and we already have problems. And after we worked our butts off to keep that emerald out of Torchwick’s hands.”

Ilia: “Scary to think about the fact that Emerald and I were there yesterday for a tour.”

Blake: “Hmm...”

Weiss: “Something wrong, Blake?”

Blake: “The Prowler, huh? She's got some nerve showing up here.”

Ilia: “Her? Do you know the Prowler?”

Blake: “I fought her once, back when I took middle school in Vacuo. Seems even now the police had never gotten a good enough look at her to truly determine even their gender. Well, I have, and I could tell she had some feminine features. But that’s all that I know regarding her identity. Regarding her as a thief and a fighter, she’s certainly no slouch. And I’d bet she’s gotten better since then. She fights with these crazy gauntlets that help put some power behind her punches as well as with claws in the fingers of the gloves like I do. She doesn’t bother with stealing straight up money and focuses only on stealing valuables to sell later, which would mean she’s also really good at stealth and bypassing security systems. And as you’ve seen, she has a habit of leaving calling cards in the place of her stolen goods, even back then. It's her way taunting the authorities while believing she’ll never be caught because of her unique skill.” After hearing we have heard about the Prowler so far, something in my mind keeps nagging at me, but I’ll have to ignore it for now.

Ilia: “Then, what do we do?”

Blake: “There’s no real way of predicting exactly where she’ll hit up next. But I think I know where we can get close to it. As for when, we’ll need to wait till tonight. That's the only time she tends to strike.”

Ilia: “Then we’ll rendezvous after the usual patrol and stakeout wherever you think she’ll show.” As we suit up and prepare to head out. But that feeling from earlier keeps nagging at me. There are too many coincidental events between her and the Prowler. I just hope my hunch is wrong. Later that night, Blake brought me with her to a certain district in town and we split up to cover certain ends of the district. “You sure she’ll show up around here?”

Blake: “Most likely. Aside from the museum, there aren’t that many places in Vale with valuables ripe for the taking. So, she’ll have to move on to the homes of the richest people in town instead.”

Weiss: “So that’s why you chose this district. This is where all the rich and elite in Vale live. This is even where my family rents out a penthouse suite to stay in when they're in town.”

Blake: “A target rich environment. The rich and famous just can’t help but proudly express their vanity by having the most extravagant art and valuables they own displayed for all visitors to see in either awe or envy.” I perch on a building to survey my current area and cloak to prevent detection, when I see movement on the roof across the street. A clear look at them tells me it’s the prowler since the mask matches the calling card, and I see them enter the building from the roof air ducts.

Ilia: “Seems your hunch was right. I’ve spotted our thief.”

Weiss: “I saw that. She entered a building on 5th street.”

Ilia: “I’m going in.”

Blake: “Okay, but be careful. I’m on my way.” As I jump across to the other rooftop and follow after her through the air duct. Once I find another open vent, I enter the house itself and find myself in some kind of office with surveillance feeds on the computer screens. The feeds are only showing static at the moment.

Ilia: “Looks like she shut off the house security cameras. Why don’t I ruin her fun?” As I work the keys and turn the cameras back on. I see her opening a display case in the main hall holding an expensive looking vase. “Gotcha.” As I leave the room and find myself in the main hall to see her make her way to the balcony. “Not so fast, thief!” She looked my way and was shocked when I took the vase from her with my webbing. She tried to charge me, but I used a slingshot maneuver aimed for the balcony, which she had already opened, and shot us both out of the house and we ended up falling from the top floor of a five-story building. Blake wasn’t kidding when she said her gauntlets packed a punch as I took a few hits as we fell, but it’s clear she’s not used to fighting in the air, which I have trained for and thus had a slight advantage. I keep trying to go for her mask as we struggled and only now managed to grab and get it off as we hit the ground, kicking up and cloud of dust as some ground broke. When the dust cleared, we both struggled a bit from the pain as we got up... but I could see plain as day the Prowler’s face... and I am very saddened to see that earlier hunch was right. “I knew it... it is you, Emerald.” It would seem she realized who I was too from me saying that.

Emerald: “Ilia!?”

Weiss: “Oh shit...” That’s when I hear Blake coming from a short distance.

Blake: “Coming in hot!”

Emerald: “Tch!” That’s when she did something with her gauntlets to shine a bright red light, blinding me as she snagged her mask back from my hand, and then gave me a hard punch, knocking back and onto my ass as she put her mask back on and used a smoke bomb to escape the scene before Blake finally arrived. Blake saw the moment the smoke bomb hit and immediately shot some kind of tiny device from her grapple into the smoke cloud as Emerald moved to flee before she came to my side, and we both saw her gone the moment the smoke cleared.

Blake: “Hey! Are you okay?”

Ilia: “I... I don’t know.”

Chapter Text

The next day, it had become increasingly difficult to focus on my school work. I couldn’t even focus on my little side project that I doodled in my sketch pad. I’m sure all my teachers probably noticed, but the only one who called me out on it was my last class of the day, Harold Mulberry, our metal teacher.

Mulberry: “Ms. Amitola? Would you mind staying a bit for a quick talk before you go?” To which I walk up to his desk while the rest of my classmates leave.

Ilia: “Something I can help you with, Mr. Mulberry?”

Mulberry: “I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you alright? Because it seems to me like something is weighing heavily on your mind.” He’s not wrong.

Ilia: “It’s just... something bad happened between me and a friend. We both found out some pretty bizarre secrets about each other last night by mistake. And now I’m worried about how knowing this will affect our friendship. Especially since I know her secret is actually pretty bad and could even get her in trouble, so I’m also conflicted about whether or not I should rat her out or do something to help her out of this. I’m not even sure if she still trusts me after what happened. I just don’t know...”

Mulberry: “Hm... That is complicated. But then again, friendship by itself is already pretty complicated as is. Even the best of friends don’t completely trust each other with everything. Trust is a major risk that everyone in Remnant takes a gamble on. It's all about whether or not we are willing to accept those secrets and still consider them a friend. The way I see it, that is what truly matters here. So let me ask you. Do you still consider her a friend even after knowing what you do?” Now that is a good question. I want to believe she’s still my friend. After all, she could’ve just very well ignored me during her time in Menagerie, but she didn’t. I still remember all the times we spent together over the summer. Whatever reasons she may have as the Prowler, I won’t let it ruin our friendship.

Ilia: “I do.”

Mulberry: “Then that’s all that matters. Now all that’s left is to reach out to her and work through it to make this right.”

Ilia: “Your right. Thank you, sir.”

Mulberry: “My pleasure. You are dismissed.” He is right. No matter what, Emerald is still my friend. I just need to try and help her. And to do that, I need more answers. Still this new determination in mind helped me focus a bit more on finalizing my sketch as I make my way to Weiss’ place to discuss our next move. Weiss and Blake are already there when I arrive.

Blake: “There you are. Did something happen?”

Ilia: “No, nothing. I had just been distracted all day thinking about Emerald and a teacher wanted to talk to me about it after school.”

Weiss: “You being distracted is understandable after what we saw last night.”

Ilia: “I had a feeling this was the case before we had left. There were too many similarities between Emerald and the Prowler’s movements that it all just clicked together. I just didn’t want to be right.”

Weiss: “Similarities?”

Blake: “The Prowler was thief in Vacuo who disappeared for a few months this year before showing up in Vale. Emerald is also from Vacuo but then also spent her summer vacation this year in Menagerie before transferring to a Vale school for her final year. And on top of that, the museum emerald was stolen later that night the day she and Ilia went to the museum and saw the emerald themselves. Too many coincidences.”

Weiss: “I see. That does all make sense.”

Ilia: “But that was all they were at the time. Coincidences. I didn’t want to make any potentially wrong assumptions solely based on circumstantial events. I had to be sure of it myself.”

Weiss: “Well now, we are sure. But she also figured you out too. So, the only question left is, what are we going to do about it.”

Ilia: “Well first we need find her again. And I doubt she’s accepting at calls at the moment.”

Blake: “Way ahead of you. When she tried to escape via smoke bomb, I shot a little tracking device the second she threw it down. I’ve been working on the prototypes for these things for a while now. It's attached to her Prowler suit, so it’ll only pick up it goes. For the whole school day, it’s been sitting still in a dorm room at Beacon while I saw Emerald every so often around the school. It's been on the move though ever since school let out.” As she plugged in her scroll and let her GPS program show on the computer screen, showing Emerald’s current movement in the city.

Weiss: “So we know where she’s going. Now we just need to reach.”

Ilia: “You mean I just need to reach her.”

Weiss: “Huh?”

Ilia: “Thief or not, Emerald is still my friend. It’s true I may end up having to fight and arrest her, but I should at least hear what she has to say first. And honestly, I feel like this something I should tackle alone.”

Weiss: “Hm... I don’t know. Blake?”

Blake: “I understand how you feel, Ilia. And I think we should give this chance. After all, this is your business as the closest one to her. Just remember you can call on me if you need it. Just promise you’ll be careful about this. Okay?”

Ilia: “I promise.”

PENNY: “Guys? She stopped. She's in the vicinity of Signal Academy.”

Ilia: “She’s probably looking for me. I should get going.” As I suit and prepare to head out. “Oh, and guys? Do you think you can have this made while I’m out? I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and I feel like it’s finally time.” As I take my sketch pad out of my bag and hand it to them.

Weiss: “Hm. Not bad.”

Blake: “We’ll get right on it. You just worry about Emerald for now.” To which I head out and make my way back to Signal and land on the roof.

Emerald: “About time you showed up.” As she came from behind the satellite stand. Without her mask on.

Ilia: “You were looking for me.” As I dropped the hood and removed my own mask.

Emerald: “And I see the Cat didn’t come with you. Shame. I figured she would want her tracking device back.” She held the tiny device in her fingers. “A smart move but one I hadn’t already experienced before. Hence why I make it a habit to check for any after every heist now.” As she crushed the device and rubbed her fingers to drop all the pieces.

Blake: “Damn. She's a clever one.”

Ilia: “Emerald... why? How could you take this path?”

Emerald: “You mean the life of a thief? It's been my fate ever since I was born. My parents were poor and died from illness. And instead of being found by someone decent who could’ve at least put me in the foster, I was instead found by a married couple of low life thieves known as the Sustrai’s. They wanted a child to continue their legacy but were unfortunately infertile. So, when they found me all alone in that alley next to my parent's corpses, they saw it as a prime opportunity. I honestly couldn’t tell you if ‘Emerald’ was my birth name or the name just my foster parents gave me. All I know was that I was raised around thievery. It wasn’t until late into my career that I found out about all of this after the Sustrai’s were murdered by rival thieves. But it was too late. I was too far down the hole to try and find a new way of living. This is all I know how to live.”

Ilia: “Except that’s not true! Even if you were just laying low, you still took the time to socialize and make friends with me. Or was all that just a convoluted part of your cover.”

Emerald: “No! I... I was just...” She just looks defeated in that moment. “At first, I tried to mind my own business as I took cover in Kuo Kuana. But even thieves aren’t immune to emotion. Including the sadness that came with being alone. I was tired of it. Which it why I tried to have at least some semblance of normalcy in my life and tried to make friends. Genuine ones. But I still knew I could never get the life I wanted because of the choices I made in the past. So, I knew these friendships would never last forever so long as I remained the Prowler.”

Ilia: “Then you realize there’s an obvious solution, right? No one knows who the Prowler is so you really can just ditch the name and live the life you want without having to steal. You only became a thief because of your foster family, but now that their gone you now have control of your life. You can choose to leave it all behind and live normally.”

Emerald: “Just like you chose to do this? Or were you influenced by the Spider and Cat, which by the way, I’m guessing are actually Blake and one of her friends?”

Ilia: “Except it was my choice. They didn’t force me into anything just because I had the Spider’s powers. I could’ve just as easily chose to say no and they would’ve been willing to help me get rid of them instead. But I didn’t. I chose to follow their legacy use my new gifts to do good and help the people. The way I live now was my choice. It can be yours too.”

Emerald: “It’s too late for me. I have lived this way for so long... It’s all that I know. As far as I’m concerned...” As she put on her mask. “This is my only choice! And if you're going to stand in my way...” As she readied her claws. “Then I won’t hesitate to fight back!” I hesitate for a moment... but now that I know we can’t resolve this peacefully, I guess I have no other choice either.

Ilia: “I don’t want to fight you. But if that’s the way you're going to be...” As I put my mask back on. “Then so be it.” And ready myself to fight. To which she charges at me, and we enter tussle. Her punches still hurt pretty bad, but not so much when I get a chance to short out her gauntlets with my Venom sting. Doesn't stop her from able to use her claws though as she kept swinging at me. Eventually I get a chance to tackle her, and we both end up falling from the roof and into the alley by the school. By this point, I use my cloaking to hide and get in some sneak attacks.

Emerald: “What in the-? Since when could spiders turn invisible?”

Ilia: “Since they started mixing with chameleons!”

Emerald: “EW! Phrasing!” She did a spin kick that got me and knocked me on my ass as I turned back.

Ilia: “Okay. Maybe I deserved that one. This is why they gave me a C minus in banter and quips.” She grabbed me by the throat, and I guess her gauntlets rebooted as she charged her fist ready to attack. But then she hesitated as she looked at me. Like she was experiencing regret before she struck, only to move her hand over and ended punching the ground by my head before she got up and started moving back.

Emerald: “I’m a thief. A criminal. But I’m not heartless. Get in my way again though... and I might not be so merciful.” To which she used a smoke bomb to escape again. I just lay there in shock of what just happened... only getting up when people start gathering around the alley after hearing the commotion and using my cloaking to sneak out unseen and make it up to the rooftops and start making my way back to the lab.

Ilia: “Well, that could’ve gone better.”

Blake: “No. I think you handled that well. It's just that she’s too stubborn for her own good.”

Weiss: “So now what?”

Ilia: “I’m not sure.” But whatever we do, I know one thing for sure. I’m not giving on her! I’m not giving up on my friend!

Chapter Text

After returning to the lab... I just can’t help but sulk after that.

Ilia: “So that’s it then. Emerald has no intentions of changing her mind. All because she thinks she has no other choice.”

Weiss: “Everyone has a choice. And even the wrong choice deserves to be fixed.”

Blake: “The problem is Emerald’s mental state. She's been at it since childhood. Even if she wants to quit, her mind really does feel like thievery is all she’s good for. But judging by the way she was talking, it sounded like she has at least thought about it several times. That alone makes me think there's still hope for her.”

Ilia: “Maybe. But it doesn’t matter if we can’t find her anymore. She caught on to the tracking device right away.”

Weiss: “True. The only other solution I can think of is tracking her phone, but I doubt you would go for that.”

Ilia: “The fact that you can even do that really concerns me.”

Weiss: “It’s not like I can do it with anyone, I still need their phone number to actually pull it off.”

Blake: “Somehow, I still think Emerald also thought of that and may have taken some precautions. She did get this far without being caught.”

Weiss: “Then we’re back to square one.”

Ilia: “Maybe so, but we can’t give up. Let's see if anything turns up while we continue our patrol.”

Blake: “Right.” We go at it for a while and take a break at the lab when the sun begins to set.

Weiss: “Since your back, I have some good news. Ilia, your-” That’s when my scroll starts ringing... and I see its Emerald.

Ilia: “Hold that thought!” To which I answer the call. “Hello?”

Emerald: “Ilia... First let me apologize. I didn’t want to fight out of nowhere like that. I know we both don’t want to fight, but I’m afraid we still have some unfinished business before we can truly end this. Meet at the southwest edge of town in an hour. I'll be waiting on a water tower.” And she hung up.

Blake: “Ilia?”

Ilia: “That was Emerald. She wants to meet up to settle this once and for all. And she didn’t say it, but I’m guessing she wants me to go alone. And to be honest, I agree. This is about our personal business with each other.”

Blake: “I understand.”

Ilia: “I should go.”

Weiss: “Now hold on. Before you go, you should change. Because I was going to say that I just finished your request. It's ready for action.”

Ilia: “Oh!” Finally! The time has come... to show off my own suit! The mask, chest area, forearms, fingers, soles and legs below the knees are purple with black web patterns except for the soles and a gold spider logo across the chest and the back. Black borders separate the purple form the dark gray that covers the remaining areas along with a black pattern on my sides. Gold web shooters adorn my wrists, and an extra purple cloth hangs from my mid back where the purple meets the gray like some kind of tailcoat. The mask has white eyes and a hole for my ponytail like the old one. Even though it’s made of the same material as the old suit, somehow it feels real nice to start wearing something new. Especially my own design.

Blake: “Looks pretty good. I’m sure Ruby will be thrilled when she returns.”

Ilia: “Thanks. But now I really must go.” As I head out and swing to the southwest. Once I’m at the edge, I see Emerald sitting atop a water tower like she said she would be, wearing her suit without her mask, and join her there.

Emerald: “Right on time. Hm?” As she took notice of my suit. “Nice suit. Trying your own style?”

Ilia: “I figured it was about time for an Ilia Amitola original. Another step forward in being my own Spidergirl.”

Emerald: “Good.” We sit there in silence for a moment after I remove my mask. “You know, even without the whole hero thing, I was proud of you for the choices you made. You're a smart girl with bright future ahead of you so long as you played your cards right. It felt nice to know that someone I felt close to wouldn’t end up like me.”

Ilia: “Emerald...”

Emerald: “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said earlier today. And after you thwarted me last time on top of those thoughts... I think if you did again, I might actually be able to believe I can stop this life of mine once and for all. Retire from the Prowler for good.”

Ilia: “You know you don’t necessarily have to retire. You have such amazing talents as the Prowler. Imagine what you could do if you joined us and used them for good.”

Emerald: “No. The Prowler was born because I grew up in a life I never wanted. What I truly want is a life of normalcy... no more needing to hide behind this mask. Besides, I’ve seen the kind of things you guys are up against and I’m not sure I’m too eager to face off against guys like that.”

Ilia: “Fair enough. But you also said you could stop if I thwarted you again. You mean you just want fight again?”

Emerald: “I want you stop another heist. And that’s why I’m out here.” The tower has a clear view of the forest beyond the cities edge, and we can see a road coming from the forest and into the city. “A delivery truck will be coming into town from this forest delivering a pretty valuable item from Vacuo. Another valuable gem, this time a heart shaped ruby that recently purchased by one of Vale’s elite. I plan to board the truck and steal the ruby before it reaches the post office to be delivered to the recipient and replace with one of my cards for the billionaire to find in the box. Your job is to keep me from stealing it before the truck reaches the post office. Succeed and I’ll have enough closure to quit.”

Ilia: “And if I fail?”

Emerald: “Then I’ll be leaving Vale. To once again start anew elsewhere. I know it might sound like a convoluted way to settle this... but it’s all I could think of while also letting me feel the rush of one last job before potential retirement. You get it, right?”

Ilia: “It does seem complicated. But if that’s how you want to do this, then fine. When's the truck supposed to be here?”

Emerald: “Right about... now.” As we head lights in the distance before the truck emerges from the forest. “Right then.” As she readies her gauntlet and gave me a punch that I sensed but didn’t react to in time. I grabbed on to the edge in time before I could fall and looked up at Emerald as she stood up. “Oh, and one more thing. Don’t worry about holding back. I could tell you were back at the school. Be sure to give me everything you’ve got. I will.” As she put on her mask and started jumping across the rooftops to keep up with the truck as it entered and drove through the city. I put on my own after I recovered and gave chase. I catch up as she was about to jump onto the truck and stopped her by catching her mid jump in a swing and drop her on a nearby rooftop which was still on the trucks path.

Ilia: “I’m not giving up on you Emerald!”

Emerald: “Good! Come on!” As she readied her gauntlets and we entered a brawl! We fight for a good bit before I charge up some Venom and move to punch her and she blocked with her arms, and I end up punching her gauntlets and shorting them out again. The force behind it knocked her back a few feet, but she still stood her ground. “Tch! Not bad.” She looks over the edge to see the truck turning a corner. “But not good enough!” As she stepped off the edge, aiming for the truck, but I catch her again with webbing just before she could land on the truck and drag her back up here.

Ilia: “Not gonna be that easy!”

Emerald: “It never is!” As she readied her claws and charged me with a few swings before she took an opportunity to trip me up before giving chase to the truck again. I give chase myself and we land a few hits on each other as we’re traversing the city. Eventually, we can see the post office in sight and that the truck is in the straight away as it’s almost there. “Damn! Times running out!”

Ilia: “What’s the matter? I thought you wanted to quit!”

Emerald: “Gotta keep it interesting somehow!” As she gets ahead of the truck and we land on the post office rooftop. “This is it. The final stretch. You keep me away from that truck for just another minute and I’ll be able to walk away a new Emerald.”

Ilia: “And that’s exactly how it should be!” As we enter another brawl. One where she keeps trying to break away and make a break for the edge to board the truck, but I work just as hard to keep her right here. A t the end of it all, I have her pinned on her back by the edge and I keep her there as she struggles to push me off as we see the truck reach the post office and enter the garage before the shutter close behind it. “It’s over, Emerald. You lose.” As I let go of her.

Emerald: “So I have.” As I get up and give her a hand up. “Congratulations, Spidergirl. You have successfully redeemed a known criminal. Thanks a lot for indulging me.” As she walked towards the edge near the back of the post office.

Ilia: “Hey. What are friends for?”

Emerald: “It may be a while before I have time to hang out again while I sort out a few things in order to retire for real. But even then, I won’t pressure you about hanging out in the future given work. And rest assured, your secret is safe with me.”

Ilia: “I wasn’t worried about that in the slightest. But you can rest easy knowing your secret is safe too.”

Emerald: “I know.” As she reached into her back pouch and tossed something my way that I caught. And I found it was the emerald she stole from the museum. “I usually wait a week before selling my stolen goods to ensure I’ve secured a good deal for them. If I’m going to retire, might as well start by returning that. Now if you’ll excuse me.” As she stepped off the ledge and set off a smoke bomb as she fell. When I looked down the ledge after the smoke cleared, she was just gone. Afterwards, I called Detective Branwen and made sure the emerald was returned, as well as told him that while I managed to get the emerald back from her, the Prowler did still manage to get away. Didn’t want to chance him potentially still going after her even if I told him the truth and that she was going straight, it wouldn’t clear all her past crimes, so I had to make that up before returning to the lab.

Weiss: “Well, you did it. You got the emerald back. Stopped the ruby from being stolen. And you redeemed your friend. All in all, I’d say it was good night tonight.”

Blake: “We’re proud of you, Ilia. And I know Ruby would be too.”

Ilia: “Thanks. That was quite the workout, so I’m going to turn in. Good night.” To which I return home and turn in. Things stayed relatively quiet for the next few days as we handled a few minor crimes around the city. And come Saturday morning, I meet with Ruby on the roof of Weiss’ place while the others were down in the lab.

Ruby: “Still can’t get over that suit. It's awesome.”

Ilia: “Got to be me.”

Ruby: “Yeah you do.” We watch over the city for a moment before she spoke again. “Blake told me about everything that happened before you got here. I’m sure what you had to face was pretty hard for you. But I am so proud that you able to be brave and do what you did regardless of the struggle.”

Ilia: “All I did was push Emerald in the right direction. Help her fix her choices. In the end, Emerald was the one who ended it all. I was just helping out a friend.”

Ruby: “And stuff like that is exactly why I know for certain you’ll make a great hero... Spidergirl.” We both just nod before we hear cops pass through the neighborhood and Blake comes up to brief us.

Blake: “Guys! We have a problem. Remnants of the Maggia. Their having a major shoot out for territory uptown.”

Ruby: “Well then. Shall we?”

Ilia: “We shall!” As we jump off the roof and start making our way to the scene. All while Emerald saw us from the streets.

Emerald: “Hm.” She gave a genuine smile. “Good luck, Ilia.” And thus, concluding my first real case as the Spidergirl. And here’s to my continued future as such.

Chapter Text

First day back from Mt. Glenn and I already have problems to deal with. Silver lining? I now know Ilia can handle herself after leaving things to her while I was gone. She's come so far in the little time that we’ve known her. And with her here, the team has grown a bit more, making our excursions a little bit easier. With Ilia getting better and better at this pace, we can put more focus on our preparations for the Hunter, the White Fang and the Grand Hunt. Little did we know, while we were out dealing a shootout between Maggia remnants, the Albain twins were at the Vault and the common prison doing their recon work. Fennec was at the prison accessing their computers and downloading what they had on the inmates. Corsac was doing same at the Vault. And later on, he had also disabled one of the cameras to let him and Fennec get in a talk with Adam without notice.

Adam: “You two are taking a hell of a risk coming here to chat.”

Corsac: “Worry not. We have disabled the necessary cameras to avoid suspicions. They shall come back online by the time this conversation ends.”

Fennec: “We merely wanted to inform you of our progress. We have gathered all the police data on all potential targets to participate in the Grand Hunt.”

Adam: “Good. Have the data sent to the Hunter by tonight. You'll be on standby until she contacts you about her participant decision. Once you receive the message, prepare the chosen participants for escape on the day she arrives.”

Fennec: “And what about you? We’ll likely need all the soldiers we can get during the Grand Hunt.”

Adam: “No. If I know the Hunter, she won’t want a failure who ended up behind bars aiding her goal. She’ll likely won't take me back into the White Fang and I’m willing to accept that. At least this way I can focus more on my personal goals rather than following hers. Just leave me. I’ll find my own way out myself after the Grand Hunt and make my own legacy as the Bull. You two just focus on aiding the Hunter.”

Corsac: “Of course, Lieutenant Taurus.”

Adam & Albain’s: “Hunt to live, live to hunt.” Afterwards, the twins ran into Qrow on their way out.

Qrow: “What are you two doing here? You were supposed to be at the prison today.”

Fennec: “Orders from the chief to reorganize the Vault contraband storage.”

Corsac: “Figured it’d be a quick job to do before we go about our scheduled assignment.”

Qrow: “Fine. Just get your asses to the prison. I gotta interrogate Taurus again. The existence of this Hunter has the chief on edge. We have to make sure we’re prepared for a potential terrorist attack. We’re lucky Atlas is already lending their aid.”

Corsac: “Excuse me?”

Qrow: “What, you didn’t hear? Ever since the first White Fang appearance, the Atlas military in their paranoia started mobilizing their forces and has very recently started setting bases outside the city sitting in waiting for the Fang’s eventually reappearance.”

Fennec: “That’s the first we’re hearing of this.”

Qrow: “Well you know now. Now get to work.” As he walked past them and into the Vault.

Fennec: “Well, this could be a problem. What do we do?”

Corsac: “Our job. We inform the High Leader of this development, and she will take care of the rest. All we must do is ensure the participants are ready.” It didn’t take that much longer before things started getting crazy. Over a week later, had just gotten out of another interrogation with Adam, and it was only now that he was being a smidge more cooperative, and he called us to let us know.

Ruby: “What’s up, Uncle?”

Qrow: “Nothing good. I finally got something out of Taurus, and it’s not what I expected. He said the Grand Hunt will be happening soon. We’ll need to be extra vigilant for the White Fang.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, we’re on it.” As I hang up. “Game faces guys. The White Fang will be making their move soon.”

Blake: “This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for since Adam attacked.”

Ilia: “I just hope we’re ready for this.”

Weiss: “We have to be. The White Fang are too big to ignore. And something tells me the Hunter especially will be tough even with the military helping.”

Yang: “Seems even in prison, the Hunter’s soldier are preparing the Fang for the Grand Hunt, whatever that is.”

Ruby: “Regardless, we need to do what we can to help. So, let’s get to it.” So, we suit up and head out to patrol and keep our eyes out and all police channels open for any alerts to the White Fang. But as we’re swinging around the city, all the screens in town are hijacked and we see a Faunus woman appear. She had a dark complexion and was adorned with numerous tattoos resembling tiger stripes, wild black hair in an asymmetrical bob, amber eyes, Bengal tiger ears with two gold earrings on her left tiger ear and one ring each on her human ears, and a small red jewel on her forehead. She wore a dark gray, white trimmed sleeveless top with a large diamond cutout on the back and a smaller one on the chest revealing slight cleavage, a dark gray waist cincher with red trim and a gold buckled belt, a pair of white pants are visible under some dark gray low-heeled thigh high boots with a diamond cutout on the thighs, red trimmed dark gray vambraces on her forearms, a little red rope on her right upper arm, a red sleeveless open vest with a big black stripe in the middle trimmed with white fur around the chest and neck, and some kind of skull strapped to her right shoulder with fangs and a red mark under the eye holes.(the skull is meant to resemble the Sabyr from the show) The back of her vest contains the White Fang log in black, as she had her back turned to us before turning around to approach the camera and make her announcement.

???: “Greeting people of Vale.”

Yang: “The hell is happening?”

Weiss: “I don’t know. But I think we have our Hunter now.”

Sienna: “I am Sienna the Hunter. High Leader of the White Fang. The very organization that sent Adam Taurus some time back. His group was the scouting party meant to gather local supplies in preparation for my arrival. And after one last preparation today, we can begin the main event... the Grand Hunt.” At the same time, the Albain’s worked the security systems in the prison and Vault, all the prison guards being left unconscious around the whole of both facilities, and they release certain prisoners from their cells... and their all super villains. They even took their stuff from lock up and left it for them all in boxes beyond their cells before letting them out. “Over the past four years, this city has produced super villains that could prove to be interesting opponents to test my skills and strength. And so, for the Grand Hunt, I shall be releasing the strongest candidates to hunt down and test my might. And to the so-called heroes of this town, don’t you dare get in my way. Otherwise, the cops will find the streets stained with your blood.” The police lines are going wild as they discover the break out. “Let this day truly mark the creed the White Fang. Hunt to live... live to hunt.”

Chapter Text

As we continue our patrol, we find ourselves up to our ears in encounters with White Fang soldiers combing the streets and setting up observation camps on the rooftops. The Atlas military have started moving in to counter and now the city has once again become a war zone. As for the prison break...

Ruby: “Tell me you have something that can help, Uncle.”

Qrow: “Aside from the Fang overwhelming us, I do have two pieces of news. First, we did manage to arrest the guys responsible for letting the villains out. Corsac and Fennec Albain. Twin detectives who transferred to our precinct after the Taurus case. But really, they were White Fang spies trying to get info on potential targets for the Hunter. They tranqed all the guards to release the selected inmates. We caught them as they were trying to leave in the chaos of the break out and found them to be the culprits after looking at the camera footage.”

Ruby: “And the other news?”

Qrow: “We did a head count of the prison and the Vault and found they only released a total of 10 super villains. Cinder Fall, Arthur Watts, Roman Torchwick, Neo Politan, Mercury Black, Tyrian Callows, Tock Barrie, Hazel Rainart, Hanlon Fifestone and Leonardo Lionheart. They also returned all their stuff before releasing them.”

Ruby: “They must have only chosen the most challenging foes among the villains, who were also easiest to get back into action what with all their stuff already at arm's length in lock up.”

Qrow: “Right. Malachite and Junior wouldn’t give them much of a challenge, Yuma and Thornmane have long since left the city, and Grimm and Merlot would be difficult to get out there on account that Grimm’s file didn’t disclose where the Symbiote is being kept, nor did Merlot’s file have the formula for his Creep serum as he asked us to make sure it was destroyed.”

Ruby: “Take what you can get, I guess. Still, things are going to get really busy because of this. I better get to it.”

Qrow: “Just do what you can to turn the tide. We’ll be providing intel support to the military as our men patrol. We’re counting on you. Over and out.” And I change comms to the others around the city.

Ruby: “Guys? How are we doing?”

Blake: “I’ve got eyes on Tyrian. Looks like he’s surrounded.”

Ilia: “Same here with Shocker. I’m going in!”

Ruby: “Okay, but be careful.” I see a large flash of white energy nearby. And I think I can guess who that is. “I’ve got my own problems.” As I swing in close and I see Lionheart, just as I suspected. But I also see... Sienna approaching him with some kind of spear. Leo is on the defense with his sword and his power active. “It’s Lionheart! Sienna is on him!”

Blake: “Go for it. We’ll handle the other villains.” To which I swing as their fight begins.

Mr. Negative: “You got another thing coming if you think I’ll go down easily!”

Sienna: “I wouldn’t dream of it being easy!” They keep going at this until I cut in give Leo a hard kick to the head, knocking him unconscious as well as a short distance away as his power fades and he reverts back.

Ruby: “Leave him alone!”

Sienna: “Guess this means my warning fell on deaf ears.”

Ruby: “Innocent or not, I won’t let you treat people like trophies to hunt for sport.”

Sienna: “Sport? This is a matter of strength! In preparation for a greater purpose in my future. I have to be as prepared as possible.”

Ruby: “At the cost of the destruction of an entire kingdom!”

Sienna: “A small and trivial sacrifice when whole regions have been laid to waste in wars of ages past for pettier reasons than mine.”

Ruby: “That still doesn’t make it right! I refuse to let my city fall to a maniac with such twisted logic!”

Sienna: “So be it. Just remember, I did warn you.” As she readied her spear and we enter a fight. Meanwhile, Blake and Ilia are finishing up fight of their own with Tyrian and Fifestone, both fights of which are surrounded by the unconscious bodies, or dead because of the villains, of White Fang soldiers. Blake can be seen tricking Tyrian into getting his tail stuck in the ground before removing his helmet and knocking him out with a hard kick. Ilia uses her Venom power to short out Fifestone’s gauntlets before pushing him against a wall and webbing him to it. They take off and started heading my way as some patrolling cops reach the scenes and take the villains in. Sienna on the other hand is better than she looks and is giving me of all people a hard time. She’s able to tank every move I give her and somehow hits even harder as she smacks against a nearby wall.

Ruby: “Tch! Ouch...”

Sienna: “Pathetic. I expected better from the girl who bested my coming prey.” As she approached with her spear, ready to kill me, Blake and Ilia cut in and pushed her back as they stood between her and I and stood their ground.

Blake: “Don’t sell her short too soon.”

Ilia: “We’re just getting started.”

Sienna: “Your right. The Grand Hunt is just beginning. And I have more prey to hunt!” As she used some kind of flash bang to blind us and escape. Once our vision cleared, she was gone. Thankfully, Leo was still here unconscious as we stood there on alert.

Ilia: “Damn! She got away!” Then, mine and Ilia’s spider sense sent off, alerting us to a nearby presence. Blake was alerted from hearing their incoming footsteps.

???: “Thank the gods.” We turn around to see Tock turn a corner and onto the scene. Tock: “I thought I could hide out in the bar nearby, but then I heard the chaos outside. Guess I should thank ya for chasing her off. I thought she’d never leave.”

Ruby: “But your indestructible. It's not like you to be scared of anyone like that.”

Tock: “Under normal circumstances, maybe not. But these guys are well resourced. I’m not risking the chance their carrying anything that knock me out like you nitwits always do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a new hiding place.”

Ilia: “Oh no! We’re not letting you get away that easily.”

Blake: “If you're really looking to hide from the White Fang, turning yourself in to the police is best approach. The men they sent to release you from prison have been arrested and the guards are on higher alert than ever in the wake of the prison break. It’ll be a better of protecting yourself than just hiding out in the battlefield.”

Tock: “Hmph! You must be more daft than I thought you were. I may not want to be caught by these jokers, but I’m definitely not letting myself go back inside. I’m seizing this opportunity to get out of dodge and start fresh elsewhere. Now step aside before things get messy.” That’s when our spider sense triggers again and we look up to see some kind of can being thrown through the air before landing right in the middle of our group. Then it started spewing gas.

Ruby & Ilia: “Tear gas!” The three of us quickly head up the nearest building and onto the roof as we watch Tock try to run but falls unconscious before she could get far. Then, a bunch of men in white armored uniforms move in and secure the scene as they work to clear the gas, letting a woman in white lead a group of cops.

Weiss: “Hold on. Is that Winter?”

Winter: “Looks like we have Lionheart and Barrie. On top of Callows and Fifestone, that’ll make four of ten targets recaptured for protection. Their all yours, officers. Take them away.” The cops quickly make the arrest of the two unconscious criminals.

Ruby: “Phew. Good. It's just the police and military. Guess they came just as prepared as the Fang.”

Blake: “We still have a lot of work to do before we fix this mess.” We’re alerted again by an unknown presence up here on the roof with us.

???: “We most certainly do.” We turn to see three people behind us. We recognize one as Clover Ebi from the Thornmane incident. That just leaves another man and a woman with him. I believe the woman is that Olive Harper lady that Vernal told me about who came by and took Yuma to Atlas. Her and Clover stand a bit behind the third guy standing in the middle though, who gives off an intimidating air of authority. A tall and muscular middle-aged man with light skin, messy black hair swept to the left with some greying and a beard, a light grey bandage above his left eyebrow, and blue eyes with an eye patch covering the right eye. He wore a dark-blue collared shirt and red tie, along with a white coat with dark blue cuffs, dark blue and red accents and silver buttons. He wore a white long-sleeved double-breasted jacket over the shirt, with two dark-blue belts, one across his chest, the other around his waist. He also sported dark blue pants tucked into a pair of dark blue calf high boots with red lining and large cuffs alongside silver steel toe and heel plating as well as sporting a pair of white gloves.

Weiss: “No way I don’t recognize him. That's General Ironwood. The man behind the entire Atlas military.”

Yang: “Which would also include B.E.A.C.O.N. since Mom’s message said he was her superior as a part of it.”

Ironwood: “Greetings Scarlet Spider, Spidergirl and Black Cat. I am James Ironwood, general of the Atlas military. I have heard many things of your actions around the city of Vale and am here to offer a chance to... well, I guess to team up.”

Blake: “Team up? Why would the military want to team up with a bunch of vigilantes.”

Ilia: “Unless your real plan is to turn us in to the police!”

Ironwood: “Hardly. I just want to save this city, and I believe you three are our best ticket to accomplishing that.”

Ruby: “How do we know we can trust you?”

Ironwood: “I’d rather not have to play dirty to get your cooperation. But if you going to keep insisting on the trust issue, then maybe I should go ahead and play my trump card and tell you I already know you all are. Ms. Ruby Rose. Ms. Ilia Amitola. And Ms. Blake Belladonna.” We were all shocked to hear our real names in that moment.

Ilia: “But how did you-?”

Ironwood: “Why don’t we save all questions for the coming talk in a more private place. And if you could please ask your remaining members behind your comm links to come and attend at this address I would really appreciate it.” As he approached us and handed me a slip of paper with the location of their main base beyond the city limits.

Ruby: “I-”

Ironwood: “I expect you to be there in one hour. We will meet in my office once you all arrive.” As says and him, Clover and Harper approach the edge as an airship appears and opens up for them to board. “Good day.” To which the three of them board the ship and they take off, leaving us stunned.

Yang: “What. The hell. Was that?”

Weiss: “I don’t know. But if he already knows who we are, then it’ll be even worse or us if we refuse him. We should go and meet with him like he wants and see where things will go from there.”

Blake: “Guess we really don’t have a choice.”

Weiss: “You guys go on ahead. Yang and I will meet you there.”

Ruby: “Right. Over and out.” Once we hang up, the three of us get going in the direction of the base. Things are about to get crazier as we go on from here.

Chapter Text

After our sudden encounter with General Ironwood, and after the shocking revelation that he knew who we were, we basically had no choice but to meet with him as we make our way to his base. Once Yang and Weiss arrived on Bumblebee, we were greeted by Clover and Harper, and they escorted us to Ironwood’s office, where he waited at his desk with Winter by his side. She looks concerned as she sees Weiss enter the room.

Ironwood: “Welcome. And please, no need to keep wearing the masks. It may make things more comfortable for you too.” To which the three of us removed our masks, but we still aren’t too happy about this. “First off, I am sorry to have to pull that card back there. But rest assured, I have no intention of exposing any of you.”

Blake: “And what reassurance do we have of that word?”

Winter: “Perhaps because right now he’s not speaking to you as the military general, but as the director of B.E.A.C.O.N.”

Ilia: “And how is that relevant?”

Ironwood: “Because of the kind of organization we are. Our story begins with the Great War. Our real enemy was a splinter organization within the Mistral government known as Apathy. Their advantage was that they had found and were making use of something rather... supernatural. Those details are classified, but they had used it as a means of global domination and would’ve succeeded if it hadn’t been for Captain Arc. Thanks to him we had won, and Apathy had lost their leader, but the remnants of the organization continued to make trouble for the world. And with Arc gone after his last mission, the world had to defend itself. So, his closest allies at the time founded B.E.A.C.O.N. with the intention of defending the world from powerful threats like the weapon Apathy used in the war. And for my own trust in heroes like you, that stems from my own experiences before I was general and director, back when I was merely an agent for B.E.A.C.O.N. The details of which are also still classified, but basically, I had been involved in a... supernatural incident where I encountered another enhanced individual who saved our world from this threat. Unfortunately, this hero is busy in other matters and given his power, he should really only be called to help in times of catastrophe on a more... global scale. Because of this, I need to rely on allies more close at hand.”

Blake: “And in this case, that’s us.”

Ironwood: “Yes. I understand your ideal to protect your city. I hold the same desire for the whole world. Which is why I find it best to cooperate.”

Ruby: “Okay. But how did you figure us out?”

Ironwood: “To be honest, it was mere guess work. A spider themed hero appears after an incident with the serum research at the SDC and the daughter of our assigned researcher with an academic record as impressive as her own mother. The foreign transfer who arrived not long before the Spidergirl appeared and had taken ‘tutoring’ under our guessed Scarlet Spider afterwards. And for Blake it was obvious for us to figure after hearing a bit about the selection of the kingdom's protector with our recent communications with them. And we figured out you had behind the scenes accomplices as our tech was able to pick up signs of your comm signal.”

Winter: “I still can’t believe this. My sister is an accessory to vigilantism. I mean, were you two even actually dating when I met you? Or is that just your cover story?” She looks at me furiously.

Weiss: “Winter, stop! There was no cover story! Our relationship is real. Always has been. And don’t even bother trying to stop me. It was my choice to help her with everything. And nothing you say will change my mind. After all, Ruby wasn’t the only inspired by her mother's mission.”

Winter: “I... see.”

Yang: “Yeah, speaking of Mom, is there any chance you can tell us more about that, or is that classified too?”

Ironwood: “Her research is one thing, but how did you know about her being with us?”

Weiss: “We found a drive with B.E.A.C.O.N.s insignia in a secret room in the CEO’s office. Father kept it from Summer’s other belongings to try and figure what was on it, but he could never crack the encryption. But with my PENNY program which runs through all my tech, I could.”

Ironwood: “Impressive. Practically no one can break through our cyber defenses. You really are Nicholas’ granddaughter.” That was when his scroll went off. “Yes?”

Atlas soldier: “This is patrol group beta. We’ve got eyes on Nevermore trying to fight off White Fang soldiers in the western part of town.”

Ironwood: “Don’t lose them. I’m sending backup.” As he hung up. “We’ll have to pin that discussion for later. Right now, we have work to do. Sightings of Torchwick and the Fang to the west.”

Ruby: “We’re on it.”

Ironwood: “Ms. Schnee? Your free to set up here in my office.”

Yang: “Good thing I packed the spider server laptop then.” As she took it out of her bag and handed it to Weiss.

Ironwood: “Clover? Gather some men and go with the girls to back up the patrol troops.”

Clover: “Yes sir.” The three of us went left to head to the scene while Clover organized the troops. After a while, we arrive at the western end of town find Torchwick maneuver in the air to avoid gunfire and grapple cables as they try to bring him down.

Blake: “There he is!” It was then we see a large cloud of pink smoke appear from nearby and Neo flew into the scene to attack White Fang soldiers.

Neo: “Are you alright?”

Torchwick: “For now. But we’ve still got problems.” As he saw us coming and pointed our way.

Neo: “Not this shit again!” But then a spear flew right by them! They looked over to see Sienna on a nearby roof ready to fight.

Torchwick: “Great. Now we’ve got the new arrival too.” Neo fired lasers from her hands that Sienna dodged as she jumped across the rooftops retrieve her spear.

Sienna: “Come on! Give me your best shot!”

Neo: “Request granted!”

Ilia: “Not so fast!” We cut in before Neo could fire.

Sienna: “Oh no you don’t!” She threw her spear, and Blake was about to be hit before we cut her off.

Ruby: “Watch out!” As we moved to push Blake, mine and Ilia’s web line got cut and we fell into a nearby alley.

Sienna: “Keep the targets here! I have some spiders to squash.” She directed her men as she retrieved her spear again and jumped down to join us down here. “The pathetic spider returns. And you’ve brought your sidekick with you this time. How low can you get to involve a child in this endeavor.”

Ilia: “And how low can you get to treat lives like pawns. What are you even preparing for?”

Sienna: “That’s on a need-to-know basis and you don’t need to know. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got prey to hunt, so let's get this over with!” She rushed in to attack and the two of us struggle to escape her. She won’t even allow one of us to leave to help Blake with the villains. Speaking of which, Blake is up top struggling with Neo while Torchwick deals with the Fang. Eventually, Clover shows up with his back up, they join up with the patrol group as they move in to deal with the White Fang soldier. Blake manages to get by Neo and began an attack on Torchwick. Clover noticed the circumstances of Blake fighting solo while Sienna has me and Ilia busy, so he used a fire escape to move up to a rooftop to help Blake. After Torchwick got Blake off of him, Clover took aim with a rifle at Torchwick’s thrusters before firing! And with that shot, his pack malfunctioned, and the wings triggered the emergency landing procedure where they acted as a glider to help him land safely. Once on the ground, some Atlas soldiers cornered him to prevent escape. Meanwhile, Blake’s fight with Neo continued as she tried to work around her lasers. During the fight, she noticed Clover take aim with a pistol. And erected a barrier to shield herself from his gunfire, giving Blake an opportunity to get it close by jumping up and grabbing hold of her.

Neo: “Hey! Let go of me!” She moves around a lot to try and throw Blake off her. Blake held on well enough to only slide down, and when she got down to her legs, she used her claws to damage one of the boot thrusters and cause Neo to lose control as she crashed on a rooftop, her helmet shattered to pieces. They both struggle a bit to stand up for a second before Neo tried to fire another laser, but her gloves also sustained some damage, so she drew her knives before attack Blake again. As they fighting continues, the police start coming onto the scene as the Atlas soldiers wrap up with the attending White Fang soldiers. Blake manages to trip Neo up and send off the ledge before catching her with her grapple line, making Neo drop her knives, so when Blake safely lowered her to the ground, the cops were able to safely contain and arrest her along with Torchwick.

Blake: “Phew!” Meanwhile, Sienna manages to keep us back, and it doesn’t help that she seriously plans to kill us, and we struggle to avoid that. At one point after knocking us back a short distance, she saw what had happened with the others and realized this mission with Roman and Neo had failed.

Sienna: “Damn!”

Ilia: “Just give it up! This city is well protected. Like it or not we will gather the villains and keep them from your wrath!”

Sienna: “This isn’t over yet. I still have four targets left ripe for the killing. You can’t keep me from all of them!” As she used another flashbang to escape!

Ilia: “Damnit! Not again!” That was when Blake and Clover came in and found us in the alley.

Blake: “Crap! We were too late.”

Ruby: “I don’t like it, but at the very least, we know we’ll have another chance so long as the remaining villains are loose.”

Weiss: “That leaves at most four more chances. Or less if any of them team up like Neo and Torchwick.” As the police and soldiers continue to wrap things up, Clover proceeded to call Ironwood.

Clover: “This is Agent Ebi. Torchwick and Politan have been apprehended, but the Hunter got away.

Ironwood: “Not good. Return to base, we need another plan. I’ll be sending the girls home soon so we can strategize. And for maximum efficiency and the safety of the people, I’ll speak with the council to have schools closed until this mess is resolved. This way the students can be safe, and the girls can give this their full attention.”

Clover: “Of course, sir. Over and out.” Afterwards, the three of use continue to patrol until nightfall. When the time came that we would need to hit the hay, we could only hope no more incidents would happen throughout the night or that the military would be able to handle everything themselves. One thing’s for sure though, we still have quite a rough time ahead of us.

Chapter Text

The next day, we all got the news that schools have closed for now, so the three of us were able to get straight to patrol. Ironwood gave us all temporary clearance to enter the base, so Weiss and Yang went there to set up in case Ironwood wanted to meet up again. Reluctantly, we also accepted the connection added between our comm links and their radio signals. As we patrol, we pick up calls between the soldiers as they patrol.

Atlas soldier: “This is patrol group alpha! We have major White Fang activity in the eastern part of town along with reoccurring power outages! Requesting back up!”

Blake: “Power outages? That doesn’t sound like the Fang.”

Weiss: “Mercury. The Fang must be on to him.”

Ilia: “That’s that Electro guy, right? Is it a good idea for me to fight him?”

Weiss: “Your suits are all insulated, but you're the only one who could actually fight him. You can absorb his electric attacks. And theoretically, if your Venom is strong enough, a solid enough Venom punch could disrupt his own charge and give him a taste of his own medicine.”

Ruby: “We also have to keep an eye out for Sienna. If there's a villain causing trouble, she’ll most likely be there.” As we head for the east, we can see Mercury flying around draining power from any power source he could get close enough too. What we didn’t expect, Mercury included, was for him be hit in the face with a ball of... sand?

Mercury: “What in the-?” As we perch on a nearby building.

Ilia: “What just happened?”

Blake: “Hazel’s here.” She points over to another building wear Hazel stands looking up at Mercury.

Hazel: “Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing!? You're going to attract those Faunus psychos!”

Mercury: “What do you care? Your made of sand, what could possibly kill you?”

Hazel: “I’m not taking any chances. Even Tombstone was scared of these guys before her arrest. And even if the Fang don’t come, you’ll still attract the Spider and the cops. The city is even crawling with Atlas military.”

Mercury: “So what? You and I are both more powerful than any of these guys! The Cat and Spider just got lucky!”

Hazel: “You are being far too reckless!”

Mercury: “And you are being a coward! If you wanna run and hide, be my guest! But I’m not afraid of anything!”

Hazel: “Say that again you littl-ARGH!” Just then, Sienna spear was thrown and impaled him from behind.

Sienna: “Pretty cocky attitude there, little spark.” Hazel turned around to Sienna not too far from them. “You should listen to your sandy friend, young man. The Hunter is always a being to be feared.” Hazel shifted his body to drop the spear before reforming.

Mercury: “Good luck trying lady! We won’t go down without a fight!”

Hazel: “We!? Leave me out of this!”

Mercury: “Too late!” As he fired off some electricity that she dodged.

Hazel: *sigh*”Fine.” He jumped off the ledge, turned all sandy and grew to giant size.

Blake: “Okay, now might be a good time to step in.” We jump off and cut in to the scene. Sienna avoided them enough to retrieve her spear and prepared to attack, but we cut in before that could happen. Hazel moved to punch and only Ilia took the brunt of it as Blake and I attacked Sienna and we ended up on a distant roof. With us separated, Ilia had to fight the two villains alone.

Hazel: “The heroes have got this. I’m out of here.”

Ilia: “Oh no you don’t!” She shot a web line and charged her Venom power through it to shock him. With his current size it was a minor shock, but it did still leave some small sand crystals behind. “Fulgurite?”

Hazel: “Why you!?” Ilia had to work to avoid attacks from both Hazel AND Mercury while Blake are held up with Sienna.

Sienna: “And now the legendary Black Cat. The future protector of Kuo Kuana. A pleasure to finally meet one of the kingdoms royalty.”

Blake: “What? How do you know about that?”

Sienna: “Apologies your majesty, but I’m not obligated to reveal anything, even to you.” As she continues her attack. Eventually, the requested Atlas back up arrives with Harper leading the charge.

Harper: “Okay, people. We've got Electro and Sandman together to deal with. Black may be difficult to hit with any of our fire power, so we’ll focus on Rainart for now. Everyone into position!” they all position themselves around the street, with a number of them heading up to the rooftops, Harper included, and they all take aim with their guns. “Ready? Aim. Fire!” And they all open fire on Hazel. But of course, they really don’t do anything but grab his attention and pissing him off even more.

Atlas soldier: “Uh oh.” Hazel moved to attack them. Some of them fall from the roof while the others end up taking the hit and dropping their guns. With Hazel distracted though, Ilia was able to focus on Mercury as he continued his own attack.

Mercury: “Eyes up here little spider!” Ilia moved to try and get close, but even with absorbing his attacks, it did still hurt a little to warrant avoiding some of them. One of his simple shots end up hitting Hazel in his shoulder, creating more fulgurite crystals and giving Ilia an idea. Even with her own power, it may not be strong enough to cover the whole surface tension of Hazel’s large size. But Mercury on the other hand was a different story. When Hazel noticed the hit, he turned around and was angry.

Hazel: “Hey! Watch it!”

Mercury: “Not my fault you're so big man! Your kind of hard to miss.”

Ilia: “And too bad for you, it’s about to get worse!” She jumped up to latch onto Mercury’s back and squeezed in a way to force him to spew electricity right at Hazel right down the middle, causing him to split in half with crystals appearing everywhere as he collapsed. Whatever sand remained gather to from his regular form and size, leaving him vulnerable to get caught by the Atlas soldiers in a cage od hard light Dust.

Mercury: “GRAAGH!” He spewed electricity from his whole body to force Ilia off of him. “Very clever. But I won’t be taken down so easily!” Ilia raised her hands to absorb another beam of electricity.

Ilia: “Don’t be so sure! Cause now it's your turn!” Once he stopped, she used her webs to slingshot at him with a charged punch and give him a hard Venom punch which did exactly what Weiss said it would do, disrupt his charge and keep him phasing out of it as it actually shocked him, sending him crashing onto the roof. Harper and her men held him there at gunpoint, and his power merely flickered when he tried to attack again.

Weiss: “Nice move. That shock should keep his power inactive for a while. But as far as we’re concerned this will only be a temporary solution.”

Ilia: “At least he’ll be easier to contain. That just leaves Sienna.” Back with us, Sienna knocks me back before turning around and throwing her spear at Blake. Blake manages to catch the spear and throw it right back at her. She didn’t actually hit her with the spear, but it did snag her vest and pin her to the wall behind her. She got out of the vest to free herself from the wall, and I gave a hard kick to knock her over as soon as she got out and she laid there with her back up. As she got back up, we could see her exposed back from the diamond cut out in her top, and it showed a tattoo of some kind of emblem.

Blake: “What the? Why do you have that emblem?”

Sienna: “Hehe. Should've known you of all people would recognize it. Afterall, it’s the emblem of my clan. The clan that yours disgraced at the beginning. And the clan that cast me out for wanting to do something about it.”

Blake: “And that’s why you know of my position. Because you're from Menagerie. From the Khan clan.”

Sienna: “Yes.” It was then she noticed the police around to arrest the villains. “And since this hunt has failed, that’s all you’ll be getting from me.” She used the flashbang again and even took the time to gather her spear and vest before getting way. The flashbang hit just as Ilia was about to intervene, and she fell flat on her face because of it.

Ilia: “Gah! Not again! This is the third time she got away with that lame ass trick!”

Ruby: “I know, I know. She's just too quick. And freakishly strong too. We keep fighting her two on one and you and I have powers, yet she’s still able to fight us off.” And then Harper came in.

Harper: “Well we’re not going to catch her just standing around. The general caught on to Belladonna’s realization from Schnee’s screen and wants you all back to base to talk about it.” Afterwards, we complied and headed back to the base. After reconvening with Weiss and Yang, we met up with Ironwood in his office. Clover and Harper are reorganizing the troops. And Winter is currently absent.

Ironwood: “We all saw what had happened from Schnee’s monitor. Amitola, nice work with Black and Rainart out there. Rose, Belladonna, valiant effort despite her escape. But what I want to know is what you were talking about with her.” As he looked over at Blake.

Yang: “I honestly want to know too.”

Blake: “Okay, well first a little lesson in Menagerie’s history. When Kuo Kuana was found by the Faunus inhabiting Menagerie, they had built their society around six clans. However, one of the clans believed they deserved the power to rule the kingdom rather than the Belladonna clan. These people were known as the Khan clan. A civil war then occurred between the two clans for power, and in the end the Belladonna’s emerged victorious, but when the Khan’s continued to refuse to follow them, they were banished from kingdom. Since then, the Khan’s settled in their own village out in the desert that sit on the other side of the island from the kingdom. Said desert was obscured from the people of the city by the large mountain where the sit at the foot of, and Belladonna palace built into the mountain side to oversee the whole city. The Khan’s know they can’t stand up to the power of the city, so they leave us be. And because of that, we leave them alone to live in peace under their own rules. The emblem we saw on Sienna’s back when her vest came off was the emblem of the Khan clan. Even to this day, it is ancient tradition to have your clan’s emblem tattooed on your back when you come of age. I myself will receive mine when I return and undergo coronation to succeed the throne.”

Ironwood: “So she’s from an outcasted clan in Menagerie.”

Blake: “Yes. But she also said herself that was also outcasted by her own clan. Something about because she wanted to do something about the fact her clan was disgraced all those years ago.”

Weiss: “So is all because of a grudge with the Belladonna’s?”

Ruby: “She said she was testing her strength against powerful prey in preparation for a bigger prize.”

Ironwood: “There’s only one thing we can conclude from this information. She's trying to make sure she’s ready to stand up against the power of Kuo Kuana. She wants to accomplish want her ancestors couldn’t and take the throne from the Belladonna clan.”

Blake: “She can try all she wants but I won’t let that happen!” Ironwood’s scroll went off then.

Ironwood: “Talk to me, Winter.”

Winter: “Sir! We have a problem. The Fang is on to Watts. Thay are in the middle of a brawl on main street. Requesting back up!”

Ironwood: “Understood.” To which he hung up and got up from his desk. He went over to a cabinet in the room when he opened it, we saw two specially designed pistols inside. He grabbed them and loaded them with ammo before putting them away in his coat before grabbing more ammo pouches to attach to his belt. “Get ready you three. Dr. Watts is being pursued. And this time, I’m coming with in case Sienna shows herself. We can’t let her escape again.”

Ruby: “Then let’s get to it!”

Chapter Text

Heading back into town after hearing about Watts, we find him on main street surrounded by a small group of White Fang soldiers. He swipes his arms around to fend them off. Winter led the charge against them all with the immediate patrol group. At some point, Watts has Winter cornered and ready to attack.

Ruby: “Winter, NO!” I swing in to push her out of the way while the others push Watts back with a fight.

Winter: “You... You saved my life.”

Ruby: “Of course I did. I’m not letting anyone else die on my watch.” As I swing in to join the fight. Ironwood then arrives with backup, and they manage to handle the remaining White Fang.

Ironwood: “Load them up and hand them over to the police!”

Ruby: “Winter! General! A little help here!” They join us as we get off of him for a quick minute. “Grab his arms when comes for you and hold him down. Blake and I will the same. Spidergirl? You know what to do.”

Ilia: “Got it!” Blake and I grab his attention, and he attacks us with his bottom two arms. We dodge and let Ironwood and Winter grab them as we jump behind him and use our tools to grab his top two arms.

Watts: “As if this will hold me forever!”

Ruby: “It doesn’t have to. Now!” Ilia comes charging and gave a punch to the face with some Venom charged to induce paralysis as we let go.

Ilia: “There. That should do it.”

Winter: “Alright boys! Load him up.” As the soldiers were loading up Watts to hand over to the police later, the five of us gathered to talk.

Ilia: “That’s another villain down, but it was still a bust. Sienna’s not even here.”

Winter: “This is bad. This just leaves one opportunity left. We have to find Fall before she does.” Thats when our spider sense went off.

Ruby & Ilia: “Get down!” We had drag the other three down with us to avoid something flying right by us. When we get back up and look up, we can see exactly what we were looking for... and more.

Blake: “Too late.” See Cinder flying around on her board with Sienna holding on to a wing, throwing it off balance and causing Cinder to lose control.

Cinder: “Damn you! Get off my board!”

Sienna: “Never! I’ve come too far to let you get away!”

Ilia: “Their heading for town square. Let’s go!” The three of us swing after her.

Ironwood: “Winter? Take of the men and take the prisoners to the police before heading back to base. The rest of you are with me. We're heading to town square. Let's move out!” Ironwood and his portion of the soldiers took any vehicles not carrying prisoners and followed us. When we reach the square, Cinder managed to shake Sienna off and send her crashing on a nearby rooftop. He readied her spear to throw art her, but we cut in right there.

Blake: “Not on my watch!” She and Ilia go in to handle Sienna while I deal with Cinder in the air.

Sienna: “Out of my way, Princess!”

Blake: “No! I know now what you're trying to do! And I will not let do as you please to hurt my people or anyone else! You want to get to her OR Kuo Kuana? Then you’ve got to go through me!”

Sienna: “Spoken like a true Black Panther. Too bad you don’t yet have the power of one!” She came charging in to attack as they enter a fight. Meanwhile with me and Cinder.

Cinder: “So, we meet again. How long has it been since we last fought? Cause I gotta say, I was feeling quite lonely in prison without you around.”

Ruby: “Now I know that’s not true. Afterall, you have yourself to talk too in that crazy head of yours. Speaking of to whom am I speaking too this time? Cinder? Or the Red Succubus?”

Cinder: “Both of us actually. Given our isolation in prison, we had spoken a lot to the point where no longer need to speak to each other. So, our two personalities have now merged into one. What you see now is the true me. The brains of Cinder Fall and the drive and confidence of the Red Succubus. The best of both halves of myself. And one now stronger than ever!” As she continued her attack. When Ironwood and his men arrived on the scene, his men focused on working with the police to clear the people while Ironwood went up to a rooftop. Upon reach the top, he readied one of his pistols and took aim at Cinder’s board. He hit her fuel tank when he fired which also damaged her thrusters and she crashed on Ironwood’s roof. As she got up to try and attack, I swung in and gave her a kick to the head, leaving her open for Ironwood to toss a device from his coat to trap her in another cage of hard light Dust.

Ruby: “You may be stronger, yes. But clearly still not good enough.”

Ironwood: “That leaves one problem left. Care to give me a hand?”

Ruby: “Just hang on.” As I take his hand and swing us over to the other roof to join the others in the fight against Sienna. He got in close and delivered a few hits, holding his gun upside down to use like a hammer, before she knocked him back and moved to attack before the rest of us tried to get in some moves. Ironwood tried to get her with a cage, but she knocked the device aside and trapped me instead. Blake tried to ensnare her in a cable, but she cut the cable from Blake’s grapple and trapped Ilia in it instead and knocked Blake back. Ironwood then drew both guns and opened fire, but she spun her spear to block his gunfire until he ran out of bullets and took the opportunity to get in close and shove him off the roof. He dropped one of his guns in order to grab on to a ledge and save himself. That just left her and Blake as she recovered and tried to get at Sienna with her claws. Sienna dodged long enough to get in close and trip her. Blake had to grab her spear as she attacked and struggled to hold her back while Sienna kept pushing back to try and stab her.

Blake: “Gragh! It’s over Sienna! You’ve lost! We’ve recaptured every villain you released! The Grand Hunt has failed!”

Sienna: “I may not have been able to face my prey but, despite your persistant survival, I have shown capable of besting all of you time and time again! So, I’d still say this hunt yielding great results. All I need is more time to prepare and re-gather my forces.” Unbeknownst to her, Ironwood wasn’t out. He had put his gun away to climb back up the building. And when he got back onto the roof, he took advantage of her attention on Blake to reload his gun and then shot her in the leg! “AAAAGH!” Blake took this chance flip Sienna backwards to push her off of her and recover before Ironwood was at her side. “Ahahahahahaha!” As she used her spear to push herself up and then use it as a crutch because of her injury. “Not bad. This experience has given me a lot to think about as we plan the future of our invasion.” She glared at Blake. “Mark my words Belladonna. Even when you gain the power of the Black Panther, you’ll still be no match for me. After all, you’d be dead by now if it wasn’t for the general here.”

Blake: “I don’t care if I have to sacrifice my life to stop you. It’s my duty to protect the people of Kuo Kuana no matter what it takes! After all, a chief protects their own!”

Sienna: “We’ll see.” She brought out another flashbang grenade, but Blake used her remaining grapple to take it from her while Ironwood took aim again. But what we didn’t know was that the grenade could be remotely triggered as Sienna also took out a remote switch and pressed the button, making the flashbang go off right in Blake’s face. Ironwood ended up missing as he took the shot because of this and just like that, despite her injury, she was gone. After Ilia and I were freed, we spent the rest of the day tracking down any White Fang soldiers remaining and ay clue we could get regarding Sienna’s whereabouts. But we weren’t able to find anything. And in the following days after that, the Fang were slowly disappearing altogether. With all the targets captured, they had no more reason to stay in Vale and decided to retreat. And because of that, Ironwood and his men would have to pull out too in order to go after them. Hence why we were invited to his office for one last chat before he packed. Clover, Harper and Winter were absent but that was probably because they were out handling the clean-up.

Ironwood: “I wanted to thank you all for your cooperation in our operation here in Vale.

Weiss: “Even despite the fact the mission ended in failure? We never caught Sienna.”

Ironwood: “Even so, you did do your civic duty in protecting this city with all your might. And now that we know a bit more about the Hunter and a better grasp of their goals, we know more of what to expect.”

Blake: “And speaking of their goal, I already went ahead and called dad to inform him of these recent developments. From here, he’ll be able to prepare our kingdoms forces in advance to defend themselves from the White Fang when their invasion happens.”

Ironwood: “Hopefully we’ll be able to catch them before that happens. But better safe than sorry I suppose. And as for you two.” As he looked over to me and Yang. “You had asked earlier about your mother's last mission. Technically the details are still classified ut because of your valiant efforts I am willing to disclose a few details off the record so long as you all promise not to speak a word about what I’m about to tell you to anyone. Not even your families. Am I clear?”

RWBYI: “Yes sir.”

Ironwood: “Okay then. As you may have heard already, your mother was sent here to join the Vale SDC as an undercover scientist to recreate the serum that created Captain Vale.”

Yang: “She also said she wanted you to give up on this project after some other incident after someone else tried to do the same thing. Some doctor called Lie Ren or something.”

Ironwood: “I know exactly what she’s referring too. But one thing at a time. Dr. Rose was one of our top scientists in B.E.A.C.O.N.s research and development division. And with her mentor having long since quit B.E.A.C.O.N. she became our prime candidate in the mission to recreate Dr. Scarlatina’s work. As for why sent her to Vale specifically, part of it was because it was her hometown which would further aid her cover story upon joining. But the main reason was because of Jacques. We needed the create the serum within the SDC because of their admittedly greater scientific resources compared to ours. But we didn’t trust the kind of man Jacques and thus the kind of things he would do with this project. So, we weren’t going to further risk it falling into his hands by having the project so close at hand to. Thankfully, as the CEO, he spent so much of his time in the main Atlas branch, hence why we felt more comfortable carrying this mission in a different branch. What we didn’t expect was for them to pick up the project with one of their own after Summer’s death. As for the Ren incident, my deal in breaking confidentiality won’t extend to that, so I can’t go into the full details. But yes, another scientist named Lie Ren tried to do the same thing. But then an accident happened that led to a disaster. We may not have had Summer’s plea to stop, but we did stop the project ourselves after the Ren incident. Not because of him trying to recreate the serum, but because of some of the methods one of my own men tried to use to capture Ren. Methods that he used without my say so which almost ended up destroying the whole lower quarter of Mistral. It was after that incident that the council, myself included, voted to stop trying to recreate the serum. Unfortunately, Jacques felt he had to obligation to stop the SDC project because it was technically a separate project from the B.E.A.C.O.N. contract. The final nail in the coffin that allowed us the authorization to terminate the project without his say in the matter was the incident with Cinder.”

Blake: “Okay, that tracks. But why did you try so hard to recreate the serum in the first place?”

Ironwood: “It was because of the incident I mentioned earlier from when I was still just an agent. My eyes were opened to threats in the world beyond our ability to stop. This organization was built to oppose unorthodox threats that most would file under nonexistent or supernatural, such as Apathy’s superweapon. But the hero I met isn’t exactly within arm's reach and is quite busy with something rather important. Though I can call him for special emergencies, I know we can’t let ourselves rely on him alone. Which is why, ever since became director, I have working on an initiative to find and gather similar people of great power or ability to protect our world from these threats. And I figured the best place was to try and make our own the same way that was done to create who most would consider our world's first superhero.”

Ruby: “Captain Vale.”

Ironwood: “But as you can see, everyone who has ever tried in the last 80 years have all failed. Scarlatina was killed after Arc’s procedure, his work was destroyed and there was no serum leftover to analyze.”

Ruby: “I see. I guess that’s all we really needed to know.”

Ironwood: “Look, if it’s any consolation, I am sorry for your loss. Honestly, many of us in B.E.A.C.O.N. really liked. Especially her peers in the R&D department. We were all devastated when we heard of her death. And now we were all relieved when heard her killer had been found out and caught. You kids have been doing quite well out here on your own. I’m sure you all will do even greater when you're older. And I’m sure your parents would be proud.”

Ruby: “Thank you sir.”

Ironwood: “Now then. I think that wraps up everything I wanted to say. If you’ll excuse me, I need to pack up and return to Atlas. Keep up the good work.”

RWBYI: “Sir, yes sir!” As we all leave the office. Now that the Fang has pulled out, things in the city have slowly been returning to normal again. But as always, I’m sure we’ll be facing terrible again very soon. But that’s all in a day's work for the kind of life we chose.

Chapter Text

As the city settles back down after the chaos sprung from the White Fang invasion, things are once again almost back to a certain semblance of normalcy as we help the cops round up any leftover White Fang members who were left behind in the retreat, as well as deal with any criminals who had planned on taking advantage of the chaos to commit more crimes. For the most part, many of the crimes have been relatively simple. Robberies, mugging, maybe going a little heavier with things like drugs or weapons deals here and there. However, recently we’ve had a bit of a conundrum.

Yang: “So why did you want to meet up before today’s patrol?”

Ruby: “It’s regarding a recent problem Uncle Qrow brought up. Recently, there have been two different strings of serial murders around the city.”

Blake: “Two of them? Meaning there’s more than one culprit?”

Ilia: “How did he come to that conclusion?”

Ruby: “The way the crime scenes are set up. One culprit is theatrical with it, while the other just seems to kill and leave.”

Weiss: “Theatrical? Theatrical how?”

Ruby: “The bodies are set up in various dance poses hung up by string and with boomboxes left on the scene playing appropriate music to the pose with the tape left on repeat.”

Weiss: “How sadistic. Now I regret asking.”

Ruby: “The other kills on the other hand are all won and done, with the bodies being left where they died.”

Blake: “So the MO is different. That would be a dead giveaway.”

Ruby: “Different is an understatement. Another big difference is that the theatrical victims are ordinary citizens, while the other killer's victims were all criminals. That’s the only thing that doesn’t make them too ordinary. The scene is an obvious result of a fight. As for the cause of deaths, the fights were all done by some kind bladed weapon, while the theatrical victims were all done in with various causes. They were all still done rather violently with various tools, so no methods like poison were involved. Stabs, cuts, blunt blow, gunshots, strangulation, anything physical.”

Yang: “A theatrical killer of citizens and a simple killer of criminals? So, what? Is one a psycho while the other is some new vigilante?”

Ilia: “Vigilante? They seem a little too extreme for a vigilante. Killing off the criminals they fight is in no way okay.”

Blake: “Unfortunately, vigilantes that kill do exist. They're the type that believe locking them up isn’t enough, when considering they could just keep escaping and cause more trouble. Others do it because they aren’t fond of the system being unable to contain or even touch certain types of criminals despite it being obvious. Because of limitations such of lack of evidence or differences in power and authority.”

Weiss: “That still doesn’t make it right.”

Blake: “Putting the criminal killer aside, there’s still the matter of the other killer setting them up in dance poses.”

Yang: “Right, the psycho. Killing people is bad enough as is, but degrading their corpse afterwards is even worse. It's messed up.”

Ruby: “These serial murders are the biggest thing happening right now, so we’ll need to stay extra cautious when patrolling to gain a solid lead.”

Weiss: “The vigilante might be easy since they’ll go where criminals go. As for the psycho, since boomboxes are involved, perhaps I can attune the scanners to pick up any radio waves occurring in the city as a means of possibly tracking them.”

Ilia: “Wouldn’t there be radio waves all over the city though? It’s not like boomboxes are the only thing they give them off.”

Weiss: “Even still, it’s the best we’ve got.” As such, we go about our patrol of the city like normal as we keep our eyes out for the radio waves around the city. Any signal we get we observe from a distance to ensure it’s what we’re looking for. One signal I track down finds me at an apartment building. The signal is up in a room on the top floor, and while I’d rather not look like a stalker and peep through people's windows, it’s all I can do to find out exactly what the signal is from. When I find the room the signal is coming from and peek through the window, I know it’s what I’m looking for as the scene before me is quite disturbing. In the middle of the room is a petite looking woman, dead as a doorknob as her throat has been slit, posed like an elegant ballerina with equally elegant recital music playing from the boombox in the room. Standing in the front door is another woman with a dark complexion, wavy auburn with a silver streak in the bangs, gold-colored eyes and some freckles across her face. She wears white dress and black vest with the top open, exposing some cleavage, a blue short-hemmed blazer with rolled up sleeves, a dark red skirt with black thigh-high leather boots, a dark red scarf around her neck, some bandaging on her right forearm and bright red lipstick. She held a standard kitchen knife covered in blood and even her clothes were had some blood stains. No mistake here, we found psycho killer.

???: “Well, my darling, it’s been fun but now that the climax is over, I’m afraid I must take my leave. Au revoir.” As she tosses the knife across the floor, leaving it behind at the scene as she leaves and closes the door behind her.

Ruby: “Oh no you don’t.” As I find the hallway window and break through to confront her. “Stop right there! I saw what you did just now! You’re not going anywhere, murderer!”

???: “My, oh my. So, the spider finally shows. I gotta say, it certainly took long enough for someone to show their face around me. Though, to be honest I was hoping it to be this new girl around the block offing my fellow scum.” So, the murderous vigilante is a woman too? Good to know. “A showdown to the death with fellow killer? Why it would be the match of a lifetime. Or at least the match of my lifetime. Ahahaha!”

Ruby: “You really are deranged. I mean who sets up corpses like that?”

???: “A killer with style. And a killer who has no plans to end up behind bars anytime soon, so this is where we say goodbye, for now, as I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. But in the meantime... Oh boys!” As she snapped her fingers. A few thugs armed with various weapons show up from the stairs and move in to stand in between me and the killer. “Make sure our guest is well entertained as I get away. Au revoir, Spider!” She makes a break for the stairs as her goons fight to hold me back. And they are resilient as this goes on for quite a few minutes before... someone else shows up on the scene. Another woman wearing a dark red vest, light brown pants under dark brown calf guard and dark red boots, dark brown fingerless gloves with the right having a vambrace, and dark red mask with white lenses and a black pattern around the eyes. The mask didn’t cover her short, almost kind of boyish length, dark brown hair, and her arms were exposed revealing a tan complexion and some kind of tattoo on her left upper arm of a bird rising from some flowers.

Thug 1: “Aw shit, it’s the new girl, Wraith!”

Thug 2: “Get her!” She wielded some kind of small scythe with a chain attached to the end of the handle as she cut in to the fight and showed off her skills as she... proceeded to kill all these guys.

Wraith: “Great! Esclados isn’t even here anymore. I doubt I can catch her now.”

Ruby: “Now hold on just a minute! After seeing what I just did, you really think I’ll just let you walk away to keep going!”

Wraith: *sigh*”You always were too pure hearted for your own good. But I guess we were bound to cross paths again anyway.”

Ruby: “Again? You make it sound like I should know who you are.”

Wraith: “Doesn’t matter. I’ve got a real problem to deal with. So, if you’ll excuse me.”

Ruby: “Nice try, but you're not getting off that easily!” I charge in and she tries to attack with the chain of her weapon, but I was able to dodge easily and get in close, pin her to the wall and knock her mask off. “Huh!?”

Weiss: “No way!”

Yang: “What the hell!?”

Ruby: “It can’t be...” As I back up and see her face more clearly. “Vernal?” Indeed, it was. Vernal Tomo, the police captain who had quit after the Junior incident a few years back. No one has seen her in the slightest since then.

Vernal: “Hello, old friend. Long time no see.”

Ruby: “What in Remnant are you doing? What is all of this?”

Vernal: “After spending the last few years training, I have been reborn. Like a phoenix from the ashes. The lowlifes call me ‘Wraith’. I think it fits me quite well.”

Ruby: “But why? What happened to you to end up like this?”

Vernal: “A revelation after what with Junior and the Maggia. One that has opened my eyes to the path of true justice. And if you plan to stand in my way, then just know that I won’t hesitate to kill you either.” To which she then threw down a smoke bomb, and was gone once it all cleared. She even retrieved her mask before she left.

Yang: “Damn! Uncle Qrow really won’t like this.”

Ruby: “Tell me about it. What the heck was that all about?” With this whole Wraith thing and everything going on with this Esclados person, things are only going to get more twisted form here on out. I just know it!

Chapter Text

After my sudden encounter with Vernal and Esclados, we reconvened at the lab.

Yang: “We all saw that, right? It wasn’t my imagination?”

Weiss: “No, Yang. It was really Vernal.” As she brought her up from my mask footage.

Ilia: “Vernal... she was the captain you told me about, right? The one who actually reached out to work with you?”

Blake: “No one had seen her for a few years now. She certainly chose a twisted new lifestyle. Coming back with that suit and a name like Wraith? And who would’ve thought she’d be that skilled with a weapon like that?”

Weiss: “She likely spent the last few years training to master it. Regardless, she talked like she knew who our other killer was. She was likely investigating the same case for longer than we have.”

Ruby: “Which means we’ll likely have to find a way to work together.”

Yang: “You don’t sound so sure about that.”

Weiss: “I don’t blame her. Look at what Vernal has become.” As she replays the fight. “If we work together and we manage to find Esclados, she’s just going to try and kill her.”

Yang: “And? It’s three on one, you guys can take her to stop that from happening.”

Blake: “That’s not the point. It’s just knowing the fact that killing her is what she wants to do. Just knowing the fact that our methods and ideologies are so difference is enough to create a rift in the trust we once had. It'll make cooperating with each other harder than it needs to be.”

Ilia: “Still, if she knows something what other choice do we have?”

Ruby: “I know. Putting aside her killing criminals, innocent people will continue to die the longer Esclados remains at large. We can deal with Vernal later.” It was then my scroll rang under the spider server number, but the number was unknown. “Weiss?”

Weiss: “PENNY?”

PENNY: “Already on it.” She runs her program in trying to figure out the other end of the call. “Hm. Can't ID it. The other end is coming from a public pay scroll in town.”

Weiss: “They took the trouble to avoid leaving a personal number in the call history.”

Ilia: “The fact that someone besides Qrow is calling this is concerning.”

Ruby: “I think I might know who it is. After all, outside of this group and Uncle Qrow I’ve only told one other person this number. It’s gotta be her.” I answer the call. “Hello?”

Vernal: “Took you long enough.” I knew it.

Ruby: “Speak of the devil. Sorry. Seeing an unknown number would throw anyone off. Had to be sure it was safe.”

Vernal: “Look, I know things between us are pretty heated right now, but we need to talk.”

Ruby: “Agreed. But just remember your outnumbered. If you want our help, we do this my way. Meet us on the roof of Signal Academy tomorrow.” Thankfully tomorrow is a Saturday.

Vernal: “Fine. I’ll see you then.” As she hung up.

Ruby: “Guess we’ll be getting our wish of cooperation.”

Yang: “Just be careful. We can’t be sure how dangerous she is yet.”

Ruby: “Don’t worry. We've got this.” Come the next morning we reach Signal Academy and land on the roof.

Vernal: “Sooner than I expected. And I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting to see another spider come about while I was gone.”

Ilia: “Believe it, lady. Now, how about we cut the chit chat and get down to business.”

Vernal: “Pretty aggressive too. You know I only asked you here because despite my investigating, you actually managed to find and get as close as you did. That’s why I figured it’d best for us to cooperate.”

Blake: “And then what? You turn around and kill her like you did the others?”

Vernal: “Should’ve known you still held that naiveté.”

Ruby: “Okay, everyone stop! We’ll deal with all that later. Vernal. Please just tell us what you know about this other killer.”

Vernal: “A lot more than you’d think. Her full name is Carmine Esclados, born and raised in the streets of Vacuo by sadistic parents that tortured her as she grew up until they drove each crazy enough to kill each other when she was still in middle school. She began her criminal career in Vacuo as a common thug before she got a taste for blood with her first kill and moved on to being a serial killer. Since then, her MO has consisted of spending some time killing in a city before moving and continuing in a different city as a means to avoid getting caught. She does so via her skill as a master of disguise and using some new alias to escape the law once she drops her killing current spree.”

Ilia: “So she’s basically an international terrorist.”

Vernal: “Essentially. And this isn’t the first time she’s been in Vale. The first time was about a few years before you started swinging around. I was the one put in charge of her case her in Vale but was obviously unable to catch her before she skipped town.”

Blake: “If she’s so evasive then how you know all of this?”

Vernal: “Being at it for as long as she has made her grow more confident in her belief she’ll never be caught. But that confidence has led her to also grow sloppy in certain areas, such as her mindfulness in leaving behind evidence of her methods around the world. Most of what I’ve learned of her was from contacting other cops across Remnant who were in charge of her case in their respective cities. Another thing that kept changing was the state of her MO as she keeps going. Back then when she came to Vale the first time, her MO was lot simpler, merely breaking into people's homes at night and killing them where they slept. Simple. Easy. No theatrics involved. But as she continues to switch from city to city, she also grows bolder and bolder with her need to be theatrical as she taunts the law with her evasive nature. When I noticed the recent serial murders, I grew suspicious that she was behind it given what I’ve heard about her, but I couldn’t just say it was her based on that alone. I only became certain of it when I actually saw her among some other criminals who appeared to be working for her.”

Ruby: “Like those guys back at the apartment building.”

Vernal: “Well, that’s about all I know about Esclados. All that’s left is to find and stop her.”

Weiss: “And thankfully, I’ve found a way to narrow our search. I isolated the radio wave signal from the scene we found after taking note of the boombox she was using. It was an old brand that was discontinued a long time ago. Like at least before we were born. I spoke with your uncle and found that all the other scenes had the same brand and model. She must have found an old stockpile of them and stole them to make use of. After all, use of a product not being sold would mean that track where it came from when trying to gain a lead on her financial use. This brand has been completely forgotten about by the general public and therefore Carmine will be the only one making use of these boomboxes. We'll be able to track her when uses them and pick up their unique radio wave signal.”

Ilia: “Uh, yeah, speaking of which. I think I’ve got something. I can see a signal to the north of us.” She got mine and Blake’s attention and we can see the signal in our lenses.”

Blake: “Gotcha!”

Vernal: “What? What is it?”

Ruby: “We’ve got another hit. Come on, let’s go!” To which we swing into the city. Vernal using use scythe to hook onto surfaces and swinging from the chain like a grapple and running across rooftops in between swings. Working with her to catch Carmine may be a risk. But given the current circumstances, it’s a risk I’m willing to take to save Vale.

Chapter Text

Following the radio wave signal we picked up in the city, we track the source to a theatre currently not in use.

Vernal: “Great. Now we’re going too literal with the theatrics.”

Ilia: “Can’t expect to fully understand the mind of a psycho.”

Blake: “Let’s get to work.” We enter from a skylight and hide up in the rafters. Within the theatre we can see the scene up on the stage, another woman strung up to pose as if dancing like a pop idol, with a popular pop song playing from the boombox. The woman is struggling to break lose as Carmine walks onto the stage from behind the curtains.

Woman: “Please, just let me go!”

Carmine: “Oh, but I’m afraid I can’t. After all, it’s almost time for your close up!” As she brought out a pistol, equipped with a silencer.

Woman: “No!” I use a web to grab the gun and yank it away from her.

Carmine: “What-? Hey!” She looks to see us drop down from the rafters and I toss the gun across the room.

Ruby: “Let her go, Carmine! This has to stop!”

Carmine: “Oh, I absolutely disagree. For you see, you can’t have good or order without evil or chaos. It's all part of the natural order of the universe. I’m just doing my part to maintain that balance what with there being more cops, military and other heroes than bad guys on our little blue pebble.”

Blake: “Your insane if you really think that’s how it works.”

Carmine: “Then think of it this way. Without evil to cause chaos, you good guys wouldn’t have any purpose. It's a vicious cycle, yes. But the balance between good and evil is as delicate as the balance between life and death.”

Ilia: “Which you clearly don’t care as much about with your obsessive killing.”

Carmine: “Nor your friend here always killing off my peers, but I guess everything in life has its exceptions.”

Vernal: “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. You've already slipped through my grasp once! I am not letting it happen again!” She moved to charge in!

Ruby: “Wraith, no!”

Carmine: *whistle* That signal made wooden debris fall from the ceiling, stopping Vernal in her tracks as more of her thug's barge in from all the audience entrances. They all charge in and engage us and keep us all distracted while Carmine moves around the edge of the room to retrieve the gun across the room. “And now for the big climax.” As she worked around the room again until she was closer to the stage and took aim at the girl who was crying the whole time.

Vernal: “Oh no you don’t!” Killing off her guys to get by and try to reach Carmine before she can shoot, but she was just a second too late. She pulled the trigger right before Vernal tackled her, and bullet hit the girl in the forehead, her blood spilling onto the floor below her as her head slumped.

Ilia: “NO! RRAAGH!” We can see a bunch of Venom power emitting off of her. It's so bad my spider sense trigger to incoming danger.

Ruby: *gasp*”Get down!” I push Blake out of the way and behind some seats as Ilia lets out a small explosion of Venom, shocking all the thugs and leaving them all paralyzed.

Ilia: “Whoa...”

Carmine: “Argh! Not bad!” She struggles to hold Vernal back and keep her blade from stabbing her. “But not good enough!” She maneuvered to give Vernal a hard kick to push her off and quickly got up to bolt for the exit.

Vernal: “Get back here!”

Blake: “Wraith, wait!” The three of us follow after her and we all end up outside in the alley, but we completely lost her. What we didn’t know was that Carmine hid in the halls so we would pass her and thus allowing her to turn around and take time to put on a disguise before leaving through the front door and blend into the crowd before the police arrive. They arrest the thugs Ilia knocked out and outlined the few thugs Vernal killed before collecting the bodies and moving on to investigating the girl's death. Uncle Qrow got in a moment alone to call me as we escaped to the rooftops after losing Carmine.

Qrow: “You’d better have a good explanation for what happened here, kiddo!”

Ruby: “We know who’s killing everyone. A vigilante named Wraith is killing off all the criminals and the civilians are being offed by an international serial killer named Carmine Esclados. We couldn’t stop Carmine form killing the girl or stop Wraith from killing the thugs meant to hold us back, and on top of that Carmine ended up getting away.”

Qrow: “And what about Wrath?”

Ruby: “Wraith.”

Qrow: “Whatever. Just tell me.”

Ruby: *sigh*”I messed up. I jumped the gun and thought we could cooperate since we after the same person, but she kept killing anyway despite my warning we’d be doing things my way.”

Qrow: “So now what?”

Ruby: “Wraith will still have to wait since Carmine is the one killing innocent people. We'll keep on her and catch her next time, I guarantee it.”

Qrow: “You’d better. These murders are making the people anxious. We need to end this now or things might get hectic!” As he hung up.

Ruby: *sigh*”Right. No pressure, or anything.” My spider sense triggered, and I had to dodge a punch from Vernal. “Whoa! Hey! What are you doing!?”

Vernal: “You think YOU messed up!? I never should’ve done this! I should’ve known having you all around would end in failure!”

Blake: “Excuse me? You were held back just as much as we were!”

Vernal: “No! You all were holding back to prevent killing to guys, that’s why you were held back the whole time! That’s your biggest weakest. I’m willing to destroy my enemies!”

Ilia: “Which is excessive and unnecessary!”

Ruby: “Not to mention wrong. Just because they’re criminals doesn’t mean that killing them off is right!”

Vernal: “Again, no! You see, THIS is what I meant when I said you still had that naivete. You all are still being held back by some moral code of ethics, living a fantasy that you can keep the peace just by containing criminals. But here’s a dose of reality for you! The system only works at its best in certain aspects of life, but in regards to criminal law, it is broken! They can’t contain criminal’s forever, not every criminal gets the death penalty even if they deserve, and most can’t even be touched either because of a lack of evidence or an abuse of power. True peace can only be attained by making the tough choices that the law, and clearly you three, won’t make and make a few necessary sacrifices to end their chaos for good! That's the only way to pursue true justice! Which means you three need to get your priorities straight! Because I would rather lose sleep over the people I killed than the ones I didn’t save!” She then swung her chain and swiped it across the ground in a way to kick up a large cloud of dust to blind us all and escape, smokescreen style.

Ilia: “Grgh! Damnit! Who does she think she is to tell us what OUR priorities should be?”

Blake: “Well, she is speaking from experience. Still, that doesn’t always make it the right choice.”

Ruby: “We should get moving. Carmine is still out there, and the people are still in danger. We have to end this now.” To which we all split up and patrol the city again. We can’t let this go on any longer. And as for Vernal, she likely won’t be too far behind on this case. I just need to handle things delicately.

Chapter Text

After losing Carmine earlier, we had to split up to patrol the city in order to find her again. Though it was hard to focus with the fact that we also failed to save that girl back there, along with everything Vernal said before she took off. It's been a few hours now, and there hasn’t been any noteworthy activity... yet.

Ilia: “Argh! Damnit! That girl really knows how to push my buttons!” I can hear Ilia over our comm link.

Blake: “You're still thinking about Vernal?”

Ilia: “What right does she have to think she knows what our priorities should be!? I don’t care if she used to be some kind of police captain, that still doesn’t mean everything she says is right!”

Ruby: “I understand your frustration, Ilia. But you weren’t there when Junior happened. And we didn’t exactly tell you everything we learned about him and Vernal during that incident.”

Weiss: “How Junior killed his own father and framed Vernal’s mother for it. How Vernal took it personal after he started attacking the city after abducting the other Maggia dons and abandoned her post to pursue him herself for vengeance.”

Blake: “That whole incident is what kick started this whole Wraith thing. The last time we saw her before this, she broke down in tears after we caught Junior alive, after he had confessed to her about framing her mother.”

Ruby: “We can’t hold everything that’s happened to her against. The past isn’t what defines, it’s the choices we make in the present as we move to the future. Vernal was just an unfortunate case of someone who let her past control her actions.”

Yang: “If you want my opinion, I’ll bet she only let that happen because she didn’t have anyone else in life to help her through those hard times as she grew up. No friends or family to set her on the right path like we did with Uncle Qrow after we lost our parents.”

Ruby: “Maybe.”

Ilia: “I... I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Weiss: “We all have a choice in how we run our lives. She let her past make it for her.” It was then I picked up something new. “Heads up, Ruby. We got a new signal in your view.”

Ruby: “I see it. Guys, move in on my position.” It’s time to end this. The three reach the location the new signal is coming from. When we get there, we Carmine and two thugs cornering a man in an alley with a boombox sitting nearby playing rap music.

Man: “Please! Just leave me alone, I don’t have anything for you!”

Carmine: “Oh, I’m not interested in anything you may have. I’m only interested in your life!” As she lifted up a metal bat ready to strike.

Man: “NO!” She doesn’t get the chance as I take the bat with my webs, while Blake and Ilia yank the thugs away and Ilia and I web them to the wall opposite of Carmine.

Ruby: “Not this time! You, get out of here!” The man took this chance to make a run for it and escape.

Carmine: “No no no NO! Argh, and I was gonna set him up like a break dancer! You're ruining everything!”

Ruby: “Wrong! We’re fulfilling our purpose. The one you said we had from evil like you existing. This ends now!”

Carmine: *sigh*”It’s always the worst times when they actually heed my words.”

Vernal: “And YOU should’ve heeded mine!” She swung in and kicked her against the wall to get between us.

Ilia: “Wraith!”

Blake: “But how did you-?”

Vernal: “I never truly left. I just hid and followed you.” As she pointed at me. “Now stay back! This is gonna be a bloodbath!”

Carmine: “Ahahahaha!”

Vernal: “What’s so funny!?”

Carmine: “Oh nothing, just the fact that you think they’ll listen to you so easily. After all, they’ve done nothing but hold you back all day. Do you really think they’ll just give up on their moral ethics and let you kill me just like that? If you really want to finish this so bad... you know what you have to do.” Giving a sinister grin.

Vernal: “For once... maybe your right!” As she turned around and readied her weapon.

Ruby: “Whoa! Hold on! Can't you see what she’s doing? She's baiting you!”

Vernal: “She is right though. You'll just keep getting in way trying to play hero like the kids you are!”

Ilia: “Yeah, and she’s also getting away again!” As she pointed up to see her climbing up the fire escape.

Blake: “Geez, she moves quick!”

Vernal: “Damnit! Not this time!” She tossed up the scythe to latch onto the edge of the roof.

Ruby: “Wait!”

Vernal: “NO! No more waiting! Three times this week alone she’s gotten away from me now! There won’t be a fourth!” As she began to climb the building with her chain as fast as she can.

Blake: “We can agree on that at least. Come on, we need to cut her off.” We use our tools to swing up to the rooftop before Vernal can.

Vernal: “Hey!” We get up there and catch up to Carmine, Ilia and I use our webs to web her up to a nearby wall.

Blake: “We tried to warn you, Esclados.”

Carmine: “Hehehe. So, I’ve been bested. But then that just leaves one last problem left. One that’ll ultimately decide my fate.” As she nodded toward Vernal standing behind us.

Ruby: “You guys watch her, I’ll handle this.” As I step forward. “It doesn’t have to end like this. We can still end this peacefully.”

Vernal: “Nothing will end peacefully so long as she lives. The way she keeps killing people city after city after city! She's nothing more than a wild beast!”

Carmine: “You know, coming from someone like you, I’d consider that a compliment.” Ilia then shot a web to cover her mouth like a gag.

Ilia: “Gods, you need to shut up.”

Ruby: “Look, yes, we all agree that she is a monster, but she’s a monster by choice. She let herself fall down the wrong path as she grew. You practically did the same when you let your past control your feelings, and with them, your choices. You let those feelings resurface when Junior attacked, but you were doing so well when you were a cop. Don't let yourself make the same mistake she did. Because this? This isn’t you. Remember when you actually did good as a cop. It’s not too late to make the right choice... Captain.” She stood there and looked at us for a minute contemplating before dropping her weapon.

Vernal: “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when she gets out and causes more trouble, cause this time, I won’t be around to help your sorry asses.” It was after that that the police arrived, and I let Vernal drag Carmine down to the cops for the arrest. “Here you go, Branwen. Perfectly gift wrapped for you by your friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider.” As she dropped her at Qrow’s feet.

Qrow: “Carmine Esclados. Now I remember where I heard that name from. You caused trouble in my town once before. How the mighty have fallen.” He nodded towards her, and some other cops picked her up, cuffed her and stuck her in one of the cruisers. “And you must be the infamous Wrath I’ve heard about.”

Vernal: “Wraith.”

Qrow: “Whatever. Your pretty bold to come here and hand her over in person like this.”

Vernal: “Well, let’s just say you have one more arrest to make. You can thank the Spider for convincing me. At least I can take comfort in knowing it’ll be done by an old friend.”

Qrow: “Excuse me?” That was when she removed her mask and let it drop.

Vernal: “Long time no see, partner.”

Qrow: “I-”

Vernal: “Don’t need to say anything. Just get it over with.” As she held out her hands ready for the hand cuffs. “I won’t fight it.” After a second of silence, he moved in and cuffed her.

Qrow: “As happy as I am to see you again, I never expected our reunion to end up like this.” As he guided her to his own car.

Vernal: “Somehow, I figured it would. It’s just happening a lot sooner than I expected.” It was then she put into the car and Qrow drove off with her. In the coming days afterwards, we received the news regarding their convictions.

Lisa: “After several days of tragic losses, the serial killer behind it all has been caught thanks to the efforts of the Scarlet Spider and her team. The culprit was an international criminal known as Carmine Esclados, who has previously caused trouble in Vale once before. And on top of that, another arrest was made, this time of the new vigilante known as Wraith who violently murdered the criminals she fought and would’ve killed Ms. Esclados as well if not for the Scarlet Spider, who was also the reason why Wraith turned herself in rather than run from her crimes. The identity of Wraith is former police captain Vernal Tomo, who had been kicked off the force for attempted murder on Maggia don Hei Xiong Junior and had not been anywhere in Vale since then. Ms. Esclados and Ms. Tomo have both been tried and convicted for their crimes against Vale. Ms. Esclados is expected to be further tried later on for her other crimes across Remnant. Needless to say, she will not be seeing the light of day again anytime soon.” After all of that, Uncle Qrow has been a little distant since then, though it hasn’t yet made him falter in his duties. And as for Vernal and Carmine, they were both put into separate wings of the local prison as we see Carmine thrown into her cell.

Carmine: “Hmph. Talk about friendly accommodations.” She heard the voice of her neighbor next door, someone we’re all familiar with.

Grimm: “Oh great. The psycho killer is here. As if we didn’t have enough nut jobs in here.”

Carmine: “And some pleasant neighbors to boot. Oh well. It could be worse. At least it’s not the Vault. Although maybe I shouldn’t speak too soon. After all, with the kind of things I’ve done, I’m sure I’m well on my way to ending up there. But who knows... crazier things have happened.”

Grimm: “You keep talking to yourself like that, your definitely gonna end up somewhere.”

Guard: “Lights out!” And with that, the prison grew silent. For now, anyway.

Chapter Text

Let's flashback a bit to around when the cops first started rounding up the remaining White Fang members who were left behind in the retreat. Some of them gathered and tried to make a plan, but the cops found them, and they tried to scramble away. We follow a member with a feminine figure managing to hide away as the others were caught and arrested.

Officer: “Wasn’t there another woman with you?”

WF soldier: “Huh? Where’d that coward Trifa go!?”

Officer 2: “Well, whatever. We'll catch her eventually. You White Fang chumps are all going down now that your buddies have ditched you!”

WF soldier 2: “Don’t underestimate our troops! No matter what we will survive!”

WF soldiers: “Hunt to live, live to hunt!” As they were hauled off. The woman, now known as Trifa, watched on in distress.

Trifa: “Tch. Easy for them to say. They're not the ones who feel betrayed. This is all those Spiders and Cats fault. Not only for the Grand Hunt failing, but for forcing our leader to up and abandon us lesser soldiers.” As she continues to watch the cops around the city. “First things first though, I need to ditch this uniform and lay low if I’m gonna seek vengeance. Though that’s gonna be tough since I don’t even have any other clothes, even at the base camp. Huh?” As she was traversing the alleys, she noticed a delivery truck across the street dropping off some donated clothes to a thrift store. “Bingo.” When she saw the driver follow the owner inside, likely to finalize the delivery details, she moved in quick to rob grab some clothes from the back which was wide open and grabbed the first clothes she saw. She took a pair of jeans, some brown boots that stop below the knees, a black belt, and a vest that was black in the top half and dark grey in the bottom half with a gold zipper that stops halfway down the front. She also took brown satchel from the donations before running away and ducking into another alley to hide and change. Once the uniforms off, we can see she has pale skin with grey medium length hair with a large bang covering her right eye, her eyes being a kind of grey-blue. The strangest thing about her is the fact she has pronounced grey veins on her chest and arms which lead to her grey hands, which very likely related to her Faunus trait. She changed into her new clothes but... “Oh great, the vest is a size too small.” As she’s unable to completely zip up the vest, leaving some slight cleavage and her chest veins exposed. “Well, whatever, it’s better than having nothing.” To which she tossed her uniform in the dumpster, except the mask, before... shooting a web line from her bare palm to grab the satchel from across the alley, slung the strap over her shoulder and put her mask inside. “Just you wait ‘heroes’. You’ll get what’s coming to you.” As she makes her way into the city. We now cut to about a few days after Vernal and Carmine were arrested, as we pursue the silver haired girl. She had her hair slicked back and was wearing her mask as she made off with a duffle bag full of lien. Our chase cornered her in an alley. “Ah, nuts!”

Ilia: “End of the line lady! You've got nowhere else to run.”

Blake: “Just hand over the money and no has to get hurt.”

Trifa: “Someone always get hurt no matter what the situation.” As she used a web to hurl some rocks at us.

Ilia: “Ack! What the hell? How did you do that?”

Trifa: “Huh? What do you mean how?”

Ruby: “Okay, I think I’ve had enough of this.” I try to use my left web shooter, but it didn’t work. All it did was spark. “Huh?” Must’ve been damaged when I blocked the rocks.

Trifa: “What the-? You two aren’t even real spiders! You're just a bunch of phonies!”

Ruby: “Phonies!?”

Blake: “I think I get it. She's a natural spider Faunus. Her trait must be the spinnerets in her arms. Arachnids of all types are the rarest Faunus around, such as scorpions like Tyrian. Spiders are especially rare.”

Ilia: “Geez. What are the chances?”

Ruby: “As cool as that sounds, it’s not going to get her off the hook. She’s still going to jail for this.”

Trifa: “Sorry. Not happening!” As she shot out a bunch of shots all at once to blind us.

Blake: “Gah! Goddammit!” Trifa took this chance to escape via climbing up the wall behind her using her hands to stick to it. By the time we get the webbing off our faces, she’s already gone and out of sight.

Ruby: “Ugh, gross!”

Ilia: “Now I know how our enemies feel.”

Weiss: “Okay, but with that out of the way, can we please acknowledge the fact she was wearing a White Fang mask?”

Yang: “Yeah, even I realized that right off the bat.”

Ilia: “Of course we noticed that, but there were White Fang soldiers everywhere and quite a few were left behind, she probably could’ve gotten that from anywhere. We can’t just assume she was White Fang just because she was a Faunus wearing one of those masks.”

Ruby: “I agree with Ilia. Making assumptions without proof won’t get us anywhere. Regardless, something still seemed off to me. She fled from the scene so fast and was running rather recklessly in the open before ducking into the alley. She was acting as if... she was trying to get someone's attention.” To which we cut to Glass’ home study as he’s watching the city surveillance.

Glass: “Hm. Haven't seen her since she went into hiding after the Hunters retreat. A White Fang soldier like her with natural spider powers could be perfect for one of my prototype projects. Let’s see if I can’t track her down from here.” As he cycles through a few different systems to follow her movements after our encounter. After a few minutes, he found she had stopped in an apartment building in a failing neighborhood. If that’s not low profile I don’t know what is. “There you are.” Later that night, Trifa sat in her apartment fiddling with her Lien.

Trifa: “I don’t even need this money. I only committed this crime to get the Tinkerer’s attention and hoped he’d supply with something. After all, a few of the other super villains supplied by him seem like pretty random choices. But damn. I can’t believe this. All this time I actually thought the spiders were fellow spider Faunus like me. I thought I might have actually found more of me and found hope that maybe I’m not as rare as I thought. But no! They turn out to be a bunch fakes using cheap gadgets! Gods, using technology to mimic abilities only Faunus should have is just plain insulting. It makes me sick!” That was when she heard a knock on the door. She grabbed a knife before going up to it to look through the peep hole to see who it was, but she saw no one there. Then she opened the door, only to find some kind of metal suitcase sitting at her door. She looked around to see no one else was there as she grabbed the case and brought it inside. After sitting it down on the coffee table, she opened it up to find some kind of suit inside along with the user's manual which was labeled ‘Project Tarantula’ and an attached letter. “’Dear Ms. Trifa Webs, I noticed your recent crime spree and thought you could do with some assistance with my latest project that I wish for you to test for me against the Scarlet Spider and her posse. Best of luck to your success. Signed the Tinkerer.’ Heh. How serendipitous. Just as I had planned. And now, we shall who is the better spider.”

Chapter Text

After our encounter with Trifa, I went back to the lab to make repairs on my broken web shooter which took most of the rest of the day. As we patrol the next day, the crimes we face for now are pretty tame, but we haven’t seen Trifa at all today. But that was about to change.

Officer: “All units be advised, we have an unknown masked individual approaching the north end police station.

Yang: “That doesn’t sound good!”

Weiss: “Who’s closest to the north end?”

Blake: “I am. I’ve got this!”

Ruby: “Just be careful. We don’t know yet who we’re dealing with. Ilia, let’s make our way there.”

Ilia: “Roger that!” To which we follow Blake to the northern police station, and she sees several cops in a fight with a single woman in a navy-blue suit with a dark grey spider logo stretched across the chest and stomach. The suit has a black collar, a black stripe on the upper arms and thighs, black gloves that stop at the elbows and black boots that stop at the knee, and a black mask with white eyes that ties at the back, letting two strands of cloth hang behind her like a head band, that cover the upper half of her head, exposing her lower face and letting her silver hair peak from underneath. Her boots have small blades emerging from the feet and the gloves have a section on the forearms that sprout a blade that extends past her hand, and she uses her blades to slay any cops that tries to fight up close. The ones standing back with guns keep missing because their being too cautious in trying not to hit their colleagues.

Officer 2: “Dammit! We aren’t getting anywhere with this!”

Trifa: “This s getting pretty dull. Hope at least one of them shows up.” Blake’s grapple zipped past her as it hit the ground. “Huh?”

Blake: “Hyah!” This use of the grapple was so she could close in on her from the air quick as she delivered a strong kick to the face. Afterwards, Blake stood a short distance from her, standing between her and the cops. “Whoever you are, this is as far as you go!”

Trifa: “Hehehe!” As she got back up. “Finally. Now I can really start trying!”

Blake: “That voice. You're the girl from yesterday. Let me guess. You got that suit from the Tinkerer?”

Trifa: “So what?”

Blake: “Then Scarlet was right. The way you ran through town. You were trying to catch the Tinkerer’s attention.”

Trifa: “How very observant. And I got it alright. Hook, line and sinker. And now you die!” As she charges in and she and Blake enter a brawl. Her blades and Blake’s claws constantly clashing. Trifa is good and is giving Blake a run for her money, but Blake is showing more superior training as she held her back. She managed to hold her long enough for us to arrive and lend a hand.

Ilia: “That’s enough out of you!” As we zip in and land a few blows before she backs off and we stare down each other.

Trifa: “And now the whole gangs here.”

Blake: “You heard me, right?”

Ruby: “Yeah. Thank goodness for comm links.”

Trifa: “Perfect timing. Now I can get serious and see what this suit can really do!” At that point, four mechanical spider legs sprout from her back. “With this kind of power, the Tarantula is born!” As she charged in and we all fight.

Ruby: “Begin scan! Begin scan!”

Weiss: “Already on it!” Even with the three of us, the legs now make a bit more difficult as they act as an extended weapon, keep us from getting close to land blows and even aid her in greater evasive maneuvers. That last part is also helped with her use of her webbing, which still seems to come through her gloves. The constant movement always makes it harder to scan because it makes take longer, but in time, it does finish and produce results. “Got it! PENNY?”

PENNY: “Beginning analysis.”

Trifa: “Goddammit! Just die already!” She swung down her top two arms which Ilia caught.

Ilia: “That’s it!” She charged some Venom power and the electricity surged through the metal and electrocuted Trifa. Though it wasn’t too much power, so she was eventually able endure enough to push Ilia off of her.

Trifa: “Why you little-!” That was when her arms collapsed on their own. “Huh? Damn! Emergency shutdown. You guys got lucky for now, but I’ll get you next time!” She threw out a single crystal of fire Dust before throwing a rock and hitting the Dust crystal to ignite an explosion from it.

Ilia: “Agh! Damn!” The explosion left a fire behind.

Ruby: “Someone put it out!” Obviously Trifa made use of the chaos to flee the scene, as we use a nearby hydrant to put out the fire before it potentially spreads. She was gone by the time it was completely out.

Blake: “And she’s gone.”

Weiss: “At least we have some data we can use. Return to lab for a debriefing.”

Ruby: “On our way.” As we make our way back to the lab, we cut to Trifa traversing through the city before she reached her apartment.

Trifa: “Okay. Uh, what to do here...” As she consults the user’s manual. “Okay. ‘In case of emergency shutdown from an electric overload, put the suit through a complete system reboot. If the circuitry is fried though, it is then beyond repair without proper lab equipment.’ Okay and how do I do that? Here it is.” As she attends to the suit. “Just you wait you phonies! Things will be different next time! I guarantee it!”

Chapter Text

Back in the lab, it didn’t take make longer for PENNY to complete the analysis of Tarantula’s suit.

PENNY: “The suit itself is lined with circuitry meant to help control the legs in the back and the blades and legs are made from titanium. However, the suit is also filled with many flaws. Most notably, the suit is not insulated, hence why Ms. Amitola was able to shock her with her Venom power.”

Blake: “She was going on about an emergency shutdown. Must've been from the shock.”

PENNY: “If Ms. Amitola had put in a bit more power, she could’ve completely fried the circuitry and thus shut it down for good. She would need to completely repair the suit with a lab and proper equipment by that point. The emergency shutdown you enacted today would only need a simple system reboot.”

Weiss: “Kind of a sloppy design considering it came from the Tinkerer of all people.”

PENNY: “Like I said, I had found many flaws. Almost as if the suit was sent out half finished.”

Ruby: “A prototype perhaps? I have heard from uncle Qrow what everyone who received from the Tinkerer had to say during their interrogations and they all have said that their ‘gifts’ all came with letters basically saying they had been chosen as the Tinkerer’s test subjects for their creations. Every one of these incidents we’ve had with most of these villains all just seems like nothing but a big experiment to them.”

Yang: “That bastard. Their putting a whole cities worth of people in danger.”

Weiss: “I also have to wonder where Tarantula got that Dust crystal. There have been no recent reports of thefts from any Dust shops or SDC warehouses.”

Blake: “Then what about an old theft? If we back track on our prior theory of her being a White Fang member then we can deduce she might have gotten ahold of it back when they were invading. There were White Fang soldiers everywhere not only hunting the super villains but also stealing any resources they could get like Dust to use during the hunt. I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them kept a few goods for themselves in the chaos.”

Ilia: “Yet more ammo to lean towards the White Fang theory.”

Ruby: “I won’t deny it, but I’d like to table that discussion for now until we can stop her.” That was when the police went off.

Officer: “All units be advised! The Tarantula had been spotted at the town hall! We need back up!”

Weiss: “Not good! The Vale council is meeting today!”

Ruby: “Then we need to go now!” To which we ready ourselves and head out! We go as fast as we can until we reach city hall. Inside, we see all the building security massacred through the halls.

Blake: “Not good. How do we stop her?”

Ruby: “We already know how, so I have an idea. Ilia? I want to find some kind of electrical source and absorb its power to use against her. If we can damage her suit beyond repair, we can end this once and for all. We'll get her outside in front of the building so you can find us.”

Ilia: “Understood.” As she goes on her own and we enter the building. We follow her trail of destruction through the building and up to a higher floor until the trial ends at a conference room.

Blake: “This must be it.” When we found the doors had been locked from the inside, we used our strength to kick the doors down. Inside there were two more security guards dead by the door and one member of the council with a gun in hand dead at the table while the other three members were still alive and webbed to the wall at the opposite end of the room from the door. Guess the one member tried to fight back and paid the price for it.

Ruby: “No...” We could see Trifa seated at the end of the table by the webbed-up council.

Trifa: “Took you long enough. Hm? Where's your zappy little friend? Don't tell me she chose now of all times to fear me.”

Blake: “As if we’d ever be afraid of you. After all, your nothing compared to what we’ve faced so far.” That was when she got up from her seat. Clearly angered.

Trifa: “Why you... I’ll show you nothing!” As she drew her arm blades and charged across the table to reach at the other end and we enter a brawl. Of course, we have to be cautious and make sure we don’t get anywhere near the council and risk hurting them. Meanwhile, Ilia swung around the building in search of anything she could find until she found a few generators on the roof.

Ilia: “Jackpot!” As she got to work absorbing the generators power. Because of her draining the power, as we fought Trifa inside the lights started to flicker.

Ruby: “That’s our cue.” Blake kept her busy while I set myself up for a slingshot maneuver across the room from the only window and Blake made sure Trifa was properly aligned with my shot. “Move!” As soon as Blake was out of the way, I let loose and shot myself at Trifa, tackling her as we’re shot out of the window and into the lot in front of the building. She managed to get me off of her and we both use our webs to land safely. She brought out the arms and I kept fighting her while Blake stayed inside and focused on freeing the council and escorting them to safety. Trifa continued to dish out a barrage of stabs with her arm blades and spider arms and I have put extra effort into dodging.

Trifa: “Damnit! Why won’t you just stay still and die you freak!” She has her back turned to the building, so I could the building behind and as this goes on I can Ilia on the roof ready to attack. Time to end this.

Ruby: “Okay. Let me think about it.” I stay silent for a quick second. “Alright, I’ve thought about it. And... I... pass!”

Trifa: “RRAAAGH!” She moves to try and do a big mega stab with all of her arms, but I took this moment to back up as she brought them down and webbed the legs to the ground.

Ruby: “NOW!” Ilia used a slingshot maneuver to launch herself towards Trifa as she charged up her Venom power and punched her in the back right where the arms emerge from, just as she managed to free them from my webbing. She suffered from a major shock due to the lack of insulation, but she survived and was only knocked unconscious as the Venom fried the suits circuitry, making the arms go limp rather automatically retracting like last time. By that point, Blake had come back from within the building and saw the fight was over. Afterwards, we webbed her up to one of the town halls front pillars and fled as the police arrived on the scene. We observed as they made the arrest and reassure the council was safe. In the following days after that...

Lisa: “In other news, the woman responsible for the recent attack on city hall and the death of one of the council has been tried and convicted for their actions. The perpetrator has been identified as a one Trifa Webs who has admitted to being a remnant of the White Fang and that the suit that made her the villain known as the ‘Tarantula’ was a gift sent to her by the Tinkerer.” As they show the Tinkerer’s insignia inside back end of the neck of the suit.

Ilia: “Looks like we right in our assumptions about her.”

Blake: “Even though it was just a prototype, the suit was still able to cause quite a bit of bloodshed.”

Weiss: “I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if the suit was a completed version.”

Yang: “Things with the Tinkerer are getting out of hand.”

Ruby: “I know. But until we can get a solid lead on their whereabouts, all we can do for now is just keep fighting whatever he sends out.” It may not be easy, but I know that when that day comes, we will be ready! No matter what!

Chapter Text

A few days prior to Trifa’s conviction, we look into the Vault and see a number of the villains locked up. We follow a pair of guards patrolling the maximum-security wing. The patrol is basically a veteran guard showing a newbie around. They come across a room labeled with a quarantine sign as a means to keep unauthorized personal out.

New guard: “This may be overstepping my boundaries since I know I’m not high enough ranked, but what’s in that door? Something especially dangerous?”

Veteran guard: “And then some. Despite the sign, it’s not toxic as far as we can tell, but it is too dangerous to let others around it. Inside the room is the containment chamber holding that strange black creature called a Symbiote.”

New guard: “That monster from a few years back!?”

Veteran guard: “Its host is being held in the local prison closer to the city to keep them separated. But we can’t let anyone else near it. If it gets out, it could potentially bond to someone to blend in and escape. Then we’d all be in trouble. Which is why it’s imperative that no one ever opens this cell. Understood?”

New guard: “Yes! Crystal clear sir!” As they moved on, they were unaware that Glass had hijacked the surveillance cameras and had been seeing the whole thing.

Glass: “So that’s where the Hound is being kept. No cameras in the cell itself. Kind of a design flaw, but whatever. Now I just need to open the cell. It may take a while considering how long it took me to hack the cameras. But I’ll get it done. After all, I say the Hound has been out of the game for long enough. And I need the distraction to prepare for a future endeavor. Let's get to work.” A few days later, come nightfall on the day Trifa was convicted. The new guard was patrol around the maximum-security wing on his own.

New guard: “Can’t believe that guy ditched today for a girl. I hate patrolling alone. Especially around this place, it gives me the creeps.” Unaware Glass was seeing this.

Glass: “And it’s about to get even more so.” He was waiting for someone to come by the Hound’s cell before triggering his program, opening the cell door.

New guard: “Ah! What the hell!?”

Glass: “And there it is.” Glass has made sure to keep the guards in the security room from seeing this through the camera. The camera Glass was looking through had a clear view of the cell now that it was open and could see the Symbiote wriggling around inside a holo-cage. “Connecting... and release.” The hard light Dust of the cage shut off.

New guard: “Oh shit!” As the Symbiote started crawling towards him rather quick. “Wait, wait, wait! AGH!” The Symbiote bonded with him and hid within him, using his body like a puppet.

Hound: “Now to find my host.” Speaking through their new vessel as they closed the cell door before making their way through the halls of the prison.

Glass: “Now to sit back and watch.” As he fixed the camera and left the system alone. For now. The Hound made their way through the prison until they make it to the entrance but were stopped by the guy at the front desk.

FD guard: “Hey! New guy! Your shifts not over yet, so get your ass back to work!”

Hound: “Such rudeness. Though I am quite weak. Better replenish some energy.” They raise their vessels arm and tentacles sprout forward to grab the front desk guard by the neck and drag him over to them. Then the Hound’s head sprouted from his hosts back. All other guards in the room were freaking out. “Mmm. First real meal in three years. Dinnertime!”

FD guard: “No! Wait! NO-!” And they proceeded to eat his head before dropping the body.

Hound: “Mm. Delicious.”

Guard: “Oh hell no! Everyone surround him!” He triggered the alarm as the others all surround him. “The Symbiote has escaped!”

Hound: “How droll...” They retracted their head and several tentacles sprouted from their body in a flash and pierced the hearts of every guard in the room. “Now if you’ll excuse me.” Their tentacles tore apart the front doors, allowing them to leave, and their tentacles then elevated them and helped them travel very quickly through the forest as they head towards the city. The remaining guards within the Vault arrived too late but were able to send word out to the police in the city. The Hound kept going until it reached the prison at the edge of town. Once there, they broke through the ceiling of the front hall. The surrounding cops all started freaking out. Especially when the dust cleared and they realized the intruder had Symbiote tentacles.

Officer: “Oh shit!” The Hound approached the front desk.

Hound: “Daniel Grimm. Where is he?”

Officer 2: “Keep dreaming! I’ll never talk!”

Hound: “Fine. I’ll do it myself.” They ate his head before slaughtering the other cops and used the knowledge in their hosts head to operate the computer and locate Grimm. “There you are.” To which they navigated the prison, killing any cops that tried to get in their way, before coming across Grimm’s cell.

Carmine: “What the hell is all that noise out there?”

Grimm: “Yeah, what’s going on!?” The Hound ripped out the door of Grimm’s cell, which also took out some of the wall of Carmine’s cell but not enough to let her escape, and they entered. A small sliver of Symbiote was left behind on a scrap of metal in the hole of Carmine’s cell one of the tentacles was snagged on when they ripped the door out. “Whoa! What the-!? Hound, is that you in there?”

Hound: “Daniel Grimm. The time has come to reunite.” Grimm just smirked as he agreed. To which the Hound left the guards body and bonded with Grimm, reforming into their monstrous form from back then. When the guard came to his senses, he saw the monster before him and tried to run. “Not so fast!” They grabbed him with their tentacles and ate his head before leaving his corpse there as he left the cell and jumped through the ceiling to escape into the city.

Carmine: “Damn...” She was left in shock as she peaked through the hole in her cell. But then she noticed the piece of left behind Symbiote wiggling on the edge of the hole. She finagled her arm through the hole to grab hold of it and take a closer look but she ended up cutting her arm as she pulled it back in. She ignored the pain like the freak she is as she inspected the creature. “Truly fascinating...” As if sensing her presence, the Symbiote started crawling up her arm! “Whoa! Hey, wait a minute!” But unlike what the Hound usually does, this piece seemed to sense the blood from her cut and merged with it. Afterwards, the Symbiote formed around Carmine in a monstrous form similar to the Hound, but instead of black it was dark red and covered in black tendril patterns in various places.

Symbiote: “Interesting...” Their voice sounding a bit more feminine than the Hound. “You a bloodlust unlike any human we’ve ever seen. You shall most definitely be a worthy host.” Carmine could only be heard in their mind.

Carmine: “Even I’ll admit this is kind of surprise to me. But...” The Symbiote killed the nearby cops that finally arrived to handle the situation. “I think I can get use to this! I can really tear some people up with this power!”

Symbiote: “Then let us be off!” They leave through the ceiling hole the Hound left as more cops showed up and escaped into the city.

Carmine: “And I think I already have the perfect name for us.”

Symbiote: “Really now?”

Carmine: “An old foe of previously referred to me as a ‘beast’. I know it was meant to be an insult, but coming from her in her own deranged state, I took it as a compliment. And now that I have something like you around... well... I’d say it fits rather well. Wouldn't you agree?”

Beast: “Then from this night forward, we shall be known to the world as the Beast!” As they perch on a tall building and look over the city. “And now... it is time to feed.”

Carmine: “And create maximum carnage!”

Chapter Text

Really early into the morning, and uncle Qrow’s scroll was already ringing off the hook to inform him of what had happened last night.

Qrow: “What!? You're kidding!? What the hell happened!? Tch! Damnit! I’m on my way!” As he hung up, grabbed his toast and bolted out the door. He continued to gather information in the investigation by hearing the story from various people, guards and prisoners alike, who saw what occurred in the prisons through the night. He was most shocked when he heard the part about the appearance of the second Symbiote. “Damnit! This is really bad! I’ve got to warn them as soon as possible.” We met up at the lab after school like usual and uncle Qrow called as soon as he got a moment alone.

Ruby: “What’s up uncle?”

Qrow: “Bad news I’m afraid. Really bad news! The Symbiote escaped and reunited Grimm.”

Ruby: “WHAT!?”

Qrow: “Ow! Geez, calm down! I’m not 80 yet, you don’t need to yell that loud.”

Ruby: “How did this happen!?”

Qrow: “We don’t know. The camera feed around the Symbiote’s cell in the Vault was somehow cut. But they bonded with one of the guards and escaped. Then they made their way to the local prison and found Grimm. But it gets worse from there.”

Ruby: “How could this possibly get any worse!?”

Qrow: “Unfortunately we’re going to be dealing with second Symbiote.” I suddenly felt a massive dread in air upon hearing that.

Ruby: “...Huh?” That’s really all I can say after hearing that.

Qrow: “Pretty much right after the Hound escaped the prison, another Symbiote was seen bursting from the cell next door to Grimm’s. Witnesses did note a couple of differences from the Hound. Namely that this one was colored a dark red and their voice, while still scary and ominous, sounded more feminine than the Hound. As for the host, well we only one candidate as they are a woman, was the one occupying that cell and is the only other prisoner aside from Grimm not accounted for. And she’s a pleasant one.”

Ruby: “Stop stalling and just say it already!”

Qrow: *sigh*”Carmine Esclados.” Somehow, I imagine sound of a piano dropping like some kind of cartoon as I drop to my knees in despair.

Ruby: “You’ve got to be kidding... How could this have happened?”

Qrow: “Things might get even worse than they did last time, so be careful and stay vigilant.”

Ruby: “Right...” As I hang up and get back up to face the others.

Blake: “What was that about?”

Ruby: “Well...” I tell them everything uncle Qrow just told me and, aside from Ilia, they are all just as shocked as I am.

Blake: “No way...”

Yang: “Not this shit again...”

Weiss: “This can’t be happening.”

Ilia: “You guys seem pretty distraught about this. I mean, I did read the file on the Hound, but you guys defeated this thing before. What's the matter?”

Weiss: “Cleary you skimmed through it and missed just how difficult that thing was.”

Blake: “Things were already hard enough when it bonded with Ruby and made her go crazy.”

Ruby: “And not long before my birthday. That was a good few days I’d rather forget. I still feel bad about what happened from time to time.”

Yang: “It wasn’t your fault, Sis.”

Ruby: “Regardless. Even after the others separated us, we couldn’t stop it from finding and bonding with Daniel Grimm, who tried to use this power to get revenge on people from the news station after they fired him. That was one of our more brutal battles. Especially since we only so many of our custom gadget made to fight them.”

Weiss: “Thankfully that won’t be much of a problem this time. I did make sure we were prepared for another encounter with them and continued to mass produce our sonic bursts over the years. Still, Symbiotes are ruthless and resilient and don’t care for the lives of others except its host. Apart from that, we really don’t know anything else about them. We know they aren’t of this world as they had crashed on this planet in some kind containment chamber made from tech of alien origin. And any data they managed to get from the cage is written in a language completely unfamiliar to Remnant. No one had been able to decipher it, and after then last incident with Grimm, no one ever will since the whole project has been terminated on account of the danger.”

Blake: “And with a psycho like Carmine as the host for the second Symbiote, a lot more people are in danger than before.”

PENNY: “More than you know! The red Symbiote has been spotted at the grand station!”

Ruby: “Crap! We gotta move!” We head out immediately after grabbing a few sonic bursts and make our way to the station. We cut to Grimm disguised in a trench coat heading for the same station.

Hound: “Remind me again why we’re here?”

Grimm: “The spider and her friends only act here in Vale. If we want to do as we please then we need to skip town and head for another kingdom.”

Hound: “Don’t you want revenge against them though?”

Grimm: “Of course I do, but they know our weaknesses. It was a stroke of dumb luck that brought us back together and I’m not risking going back inside.”

Hound: “I suppose.” It was then they hear a loud roar from inside the station and a whole bunch of people began fleeing the building.

Grimm: “What the hell was that!?” Trying his best to avoid being trampled by the crowd.

Hound: “That roar... it can’t be.” That was when we swung by and enter the building from the skylight, and we see the red Symbiote down there snacking of what few people they could get ahold of from the crowd.

Ilia: “That’s a Symbiote!? Damn, its huge!”

Blake: “And already feeding. We have to act now.”

Ruby: “Let’s go!” We drop down and confront the beast. “Games over, Carmine! We know it’s you in there!”

Beast: “Hm? Ah, fathers' old nemesis.”

Weiss: “Father? Does it mean the Hound?” Its head opened up to reveal Carmine inside.

Carmine: “Well, well, if it isn’t my old friends. Too bad little Wraith isn’t here. I really wanted to sink my teeth into her.”

Yang: “She’s talking about her like she’s a slab of meat or something.” Grimm came in through the front door and hid behind a nearby pillar.

Grimm: “Another Symbiote? And is that that psycho who was next door to me?”

Hound: “But how? I should be the only one! I’m certain only one of me was created!”

Grimm: “Let’s sit back and see what happens.”

Carmine: “But no matter. I know she won’t be standing in my way any time soon. So, I’ll settle with handling you three first. As for what you can call us. I’m afraid Carmine Esclados is old news. So as per what the good captain had to say about me...” The head reformed and took over.

Beast: “As you call father the Hound, you can call us the Beast!” They move to attack, and with that our first battle with the Beast began. Let's just hope we can end this today!

Chapter Text

The fight is on as the three of us fight against the Beast. And I’ve gotta say, this thing is far more ferocious than the Hound was! It's fighting way more aggressively than the Hound did and seems more determined to try and eat us without abandon. As we’re fighting though, Grimm continues to watch from behind a nearby pillar.

Grimm: “What the hell were they talking about? That thing called you father.”

Hound: “Don’t ask me! I don’t know what’s going on either!” During the fight, the Beast acted like it was smelling something.

Beast: “This smell... Father!” They attacked and broke the pillar, revealing Grimm to us all. “There you are!”

RWBY: “Grimm!”

Beast: “Your mine!”

Grimm: “Oh shit!”

Hound: “Get back!” The Hound came out and defended themselves as they fought against the Beast. “Not so fast, Junior!” Hound gets Beast off of them as they stand there and enter a stare down. “How can this be? We are supposed to be one of a kind.”

Beast: “And we will be again. Once we get rid of you!” They start fighting again!

Ilia: “What do we do?”

Blake: “The way I see it, the Beast is a bigger threat than the Hound.”

Weiss: “The Hound is also the only one who can potentially get us some answers.”

Ruby: *sigh*“I can’t believe I’m saying this. But we have to help the Hound in this fight. Come one!” We step in break them before continuing our own assault on the Beast as we toss out some sonic bursts. *BOOM!*

Beast: “AAARGH!”

Hound: “AARAGHH!” The Hound is a short distance away, so they're not as effected by the blast, but it still hurts. The beast however immediately swung at us and knocked us back before doing a crazy super jump through the ceiling and escaping into the city. Their long gone by the time we recover.

Ilia: “Ugh! That... hurt.” As we all stood up. We can hear the sirens going on outside. Must be the police.

Hound: ‘And that’s our cue to go.”

Ruby: “Not so fast!” As we each throw a sonic burst right at them, and the resulting blast right up close to them was enough to get Hound to retreat into Grimm. I grab him and we swing away from the scene. Landing in alley a couple blocks away and we keep him cornered to talk in private. “Alright, Grimm, start talking. What the heck is going on?”

Grimm: “Don’t ask me! Even the Hound doesn’t know what’s up with that thing.” The Hound’s head then sprouted from behind his shoulder.

Hound: “Exactly! You heard me back there. I’m supposed to be a one-of-a-kind creature. I wasn’t naturally born like most life, I was artificially created in a lab by a person. Made to be a weapon in a grand plot of theirs but was deemed a failure and let go for lack of obedience and trying to rebel against my creator. Banished into space to perish before I found myself here.”

Blake: “Could they have tried again but still failed?”

Weiss: “Not likely since the SDC and military would’ve known about the crash of their arrival no matter where they landed.”

Ilia: “Then where did Beast come from? And how did they end up with a psycho like Carmine?”

Grimm: “Aside from her infamous reputation, all I know about her is that she was put in the cell next to mine. Her constantly talking to herself was driving me nuts.”

Yang: “That much was already confirmed by uncle Qrow and the fact that was where the Beast first appeared.”

PENNY: “I believe I have a plausible theory.”

Weiss: “Go ahead PENNY.”

PENNY: “Based on the Symbiote’s naturally malleable body, I believe the best explanation for the Beast’s existence is through asexual reproduction. It's possible they could’ve been born from a single piece of the Hound being left behind somewhere. Similar to a sea star or anything else of that nature.”

Ruby: “Hm? Hound, what do you know of asexual reproduction?”

Hound: “I’m sorry, what?”

Ruby: “When certain organisms are capable of tearing off a piece of themselves and not only are they capable of growing that piece back, but the torn off piece is also capable of growing an entirely new body of its own. We figure that might be possible with you given your malleable form.”

Hound: “Hm... I wouldn’t know if that’s possible since I usual that have that problem. I’m usually more careful about completely reassembling myself when torn apart. But I suppose it’s possible that I could’ve lost a piece somewhere recently.”

Ilia: “So the asexual theory is a pretty high possibility.”

Hound: “But then that leaves me with my next question. How did the Beast end up becoming red like that?”

Blake: “That’s actually a good point. It being born from a piece of the Hound would mean they would also turn out black, right?”

Hound: “I do have one theory, but I couldn’t be sure positive since the whole room was filled with it and thus the scent was everywhere, but I could’ve sworn their body completely reeked of blood. But again, I couldn’t be sure given the circumstances.”

Grimm: “Yeah. Any blood smell on them could’ve just been from any blood spilt on them from their kills.”

Ruby: “Well doesn’t help.”

Weiss: “But it at least gave us something to think about.”

Yang: “So no what?”

Ilia: “What else? We’ve got one Symbiote right here ready to put inside. Let's just hand them over and get it over with so we can focus on the Beast.”

Hound: “Sorry. But we don’t plan to go down so soon!” Hound completely formed and knocked us into the wall before taking off into the city. And again, their long gone by the time we recover.

Blake: “Damnit! Not again!”

Ruby: “Ugh! It doesn’t matter. We'll get another chance. I can tell we’ll both be gunning for the Beast. We just need to keep an extra eye out for their movements. Once we find Beast, Hound won’t be too far behind.” Afterwards, we kept our ears open but had heard nothing about either one of them... until late afternoon the next day. Carmine can be seen on a roof in the town square, giving a clear view of the massive crowd below.

Carmine: “Those heroes will flock to any incident where people will be in danger. Attacking a crowd like this will not only giving plenty of feed but really draw them and Grimm out for sure. Like lambs to the slaughter.”

Beast: “Then let's get started.” As the Beast takes form and gives a loud roar into the air before jumping down into the crowd. This could get bloody.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for us to catch the reports of Beast’s attack on the town square. We strapped on some harness belts to hold as many sonic bursts as we could. As we make it to the square, with the sun setting as we arrive, we catch the police surrounding the area as they evacuate as many people as they can while some hold the Beast back.

Qrow: “Come on people! Let’s go, go, go!” We swing in and I throw a sonic burst at Beast to stun them before Ilia knocks them back with a Venom punch.

Blake: “Officers, pull your wounded back. Let us handle this.” The two of them handle them while I speak with Qrow.

Ruby: “Please tell me you prepared yourselves for this.”

Qrow: “We’ve got a few large hard light cages ready to use for containment. We just need a chance to use them. They're not making it easy though.”

Ruby: “We can give you that chance. But we also need to wait for the Hound to show. They believe it best that there only be one Symbiote so they will be coming for the Beast.”

Qrow: “Then get to it. We’ll get the cages ready.” To which I enter the fight now that the cops have been pulled back. We each use sonic bursts at certain points of the battle, but they seem to have a high tolerance to them, at least when using one at a time, as they power through the pain and continue to attack as aggressively as ever.

Blake: “Phew. This is going to be difficult if we can’t separate them soon.” It was at this point that we heard some distant roaring, and we look to see the Hound incoming as the roaring gets closer and loader before they come in and tackle the Beast into a one-on-one brawl, like wild animals fighting over food... which I guess is kinda true considering the Hound also wants to eat the people’s brains, which is not good so we need to step in and fight the Beast too.

Beast: “You know you’re only delaying the inevitable. And we are one opponent you cannot so easily defeat. We know you’ve been wondering about our colors compared to father. And the answer is quite simple. We are more closely bonded than you’d think. When we bonded, Carmine had cut herself and I had merged with her blood. You see? No matter what you do we cannot be separated! At best, all you can do is force me to retreat. But it won’t matter. I can still return from within her bloodstream from even the meagerest of cuts. I am one with Carmine’s blood! You try and do so, and you’ll kill Carmine in the process.”

Ilia: “You’ve got to kidding me!”

Weiss: “So the change in color is from Carmine’s blood?”

Yang: “That would mean she’s always covered in her own blood? Thats... disgusting!”

Ruby: “At least we know what to do. Explaining all of that to us probably wasn’t their best move. Guys! Ready as many bursts as you can!” We all ready a bunch of bursts on timers. “Qrow! Ready a cage for the Beast!”

Qrow: “I’ve got it!” He’s made to the other end of the field with a cage open and waiting.

Beast: “What are you playing at!?”

Ruby: “Cat, with me!” We work to get the Hound away from the Beast. “Spidergirl!”

Ilia: “On it!” She used a charged Venom punch to knock Beast into the cage.

Ruby: “Now!” We throw our prepared bursts into the cage with them before Qrow closed it and they all went off. The contained blast puts the Beast through extraordinary pain as retreats into Carmine, leaving her there to fall unconscious.

Hound: “Finally! Now I can put an end to this blood-soaked wannabe!”

Blake: “Not gonna happen!” Blake and Ilia hit them with a burst each and I pull Grimm out as it writhes form the pain. Qrow took this chance to trap the Symbiote in a smaller cage he had prepared.

Grimm: “Damnit! How could I let this happen again!?”

Ruby: “You’ll have plenty of time to think about that when your back in prison.” some other cops come take him away as Qrow loads the Symbiote into a truck. “Qrow? Regarding Carmine. Make sure she’s in a position where she can’t hurt herself in any way. Any sort of wound that can draw blood will release the Beast again. And I don’t know how to safely remove it without killing Carmine at the moment.”

Qrow: “Don’t worry. The Vault has a special place for cases like this. Let's go boys!” they all drive off and we head back to the lab.

Ilia: “Phew. Glad that’s finally over.” As she collapsed on the couch.

Ruby: “I hear that. The Symbiote’s are arguably the most dangerous foes in our little rogue's gallery. You can’t imagine what it was like to be bonded with one either.”

Blake: “And we have two of them to deal with. We'll need to be more vigilant with them should they ever get out again.” It was at this point that... Ozpin dropped in with one of his portals.

Ozpin: “And I believe I have something that can help.”

Yang: “Whoa! Oz. Haven’t you heard of knocking? How about a little warning before you just drop by. What if we had been changing or something?”

Ozpin: “Apologies. But this was too urgent to ignore.”

Ilia: “Uh, why is my headmaster coming in from a magic portal dressed like that?” Oh, right, we didn’t say Ozpin was the one who helped us in the Mysteria file, just that we aided by a true sorcerer. Oops.

Blake: “Sorry, Ilia. We'll explain later, but first we should hear what he has to say.”

Ruby: “Professor?”

Ozpin: “Seeing the Symbiote around for a second time, I was reminded that I might have read something about it among our library, so I spent this whole time searching though the archive and found what I was looking in the personal journal of my teacher. The previous sorcerer supreme who lead our alliance. Jacob Wright the Ancient One.”

Weiss: “Your master’s journal?”

Ozpin: “It details the journal he went on across the vast universe in search of a way to potentially stop the sorcerer's greatest foe for good. There's a chapter in here that refers to what I believe is the Symbiote that started all of this.” As he opens a book he summoned out of thin air. The book itself speaks the words in the book. The voice we hear is likely this Wright guy who wrote it.

Book: “In my travels I have come across a unique creature contained and drifting in space. The unit is high tech, and the screen display is written in an alien language I have previously studied in my travels. And surprisingly, the language is that of a planet I found that has long since fallen known as Evernight. Leading me to believe that this was done by a potential survivor, likely the last of their kind. This creature, known as a Klyntar, was created by some warlord, all info regarding their identity being redacted, aiming to create a way to enhance their army into unstoppable warriors. The project scrapped and the creature was exiled into space when it was deemed a failure on account of its lack of obedience to its hosts, its overall possessive nature, and this one time it tried to bond with its creator by force, which was the final straw. With all of this knowledge in mind, I decided to leave it be as I continued to make my way back to Remnant. My journey had not yielded any promising result in ways to defeat Wilhelm Derek. But with a creature as dangerous as that existing in this universe, I cannot what would have happened if I had released it without reading it first.” the entry end there as Ozpin shows us the drawn illustration of the cage and the creature inside. And it was most definitely the Symbiote.

Weiss: “No doubt about it. That's the same cage it was in when it crashed here, and the symbols match the indecipherable language found in its databanks.”

Blake: “So it was made in a lab by a cosmic warlord?”

Ilia: “That doesn’t sound good.”

Ozpin: “This entry was written about a decade before I found the Ancient One and became his student.” As he closed the book and it disappeared. “And that was before I become Signal’s headmaster.”

Ruby: “Now I’m worried. I mean, I knew the Symbiote came from space, but I wasn’t expecting this. How do we know Remnant’s safe from this warlord person.”

Ozpin: “I wouldn’t worry too much. The Ancient One heeded this information as well and prepared for any potential unexpected arrivals from beyond our world. If they come, we’ll be ready.”

Ruby: “I sure hope so.” Afterwards, Grimm and Carmine were tried and convicted for their latest rampages. Grimm and the Hound were kept separate like before, with them going over the Hound’s cell to tighten the security code. And Carmine was placed in a special wing of the Vault. She now sits in a small cell wearing a tight straitjacket and a muzzle to prevent hurting herself in any way.

Carmine: “Enjoy this victory while it lasts, heroes. Because I will be getting out of here again. And when I do, the ensuing carnage will be much, much worse! Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Chapter Text

A few days after the incident with Carmine and Grimm. We go about our usual patrol, and we get word of an unknown intruder at the bank threatening people and going into the back towards the vault. At the vault, we see what looks like a man in a heavy trench coat covering most of their body, a fedora, sunglasses and a scarf covering their lower face. Security guards showed up behind them and aimed their guns.

Guard: “Stop right there!”

???: “Go ahead and try it. I'm not afraid.”

Guard 2: “Alright. You asked for it.” They opened fire, but then a strange light blue rhombus appeared between them and the stranger, and the bullets just disappeared as they went through the rhombus.

Guard: “Huh? Where'd they go?” The rhombus disappeared.

???: “Elsewhere. And so will you.” Another rhombus appeared right below the guards, and they fell through it before it disappeared. When we arrived at the bank, we see the two guards suddenly appear from a rhombus that appeared outside the bank before it disappeared again.

Guard: “What the-? How’d we get out here?”

Ruby: “Hey! Are you okay?” As we get in close to check on them.

Guard: “We’re fine. But we’ve got a maniac inside trying to get into the vault.”

Ilia: “Don’t worry, we’re on it.” As we head inside and towards the back. The stranger stands before the vault itself.

???: “Now for the big test.” As they opened another rhombus portal and entered, and they find themselves inside the vault. “And now phase 2.” As they gather up tons of Lien in a big pile in the middle of the room. Meanwhile, we find the vault door and see the rhombus portal there.

Blake: “What is this?”

Weiss: “Whatever it is, it has some very high energy readings.”

Ruby: “Based on what we saw outside, it’s gotta be some kind of portal. Our best bet is to go through it. Are we ready?”

Ilia: “Always!”

Blake: “Let’s go.” To which we went through and found ourselves in the vault to see the crook gathering money.

???: “Huh? Damn. Should've closed that one.” Their voice sounding somewhat familiar to us.

Ilia: “Funs over, pal. Time to stop the party tricks and give up.”

???: “Does this look like a party trick to you?” They use a portal to teleport one of the carts carrying tons of money bags above as a means to drop it on us, but our spider sense went off beforehand.

Ruby: “Watch out!” I grabbed Blake as we all dodged the dropped cart.

Ilia: “Alright, now I’m pissed!” As she charged in to attack. They aren’t putting up much of a fight, but they are quicker than they look as they dodge her attacks before using a portal to send her our with a Venom punch that ended up hitting us.

???: “Ahahaha! Now that’s hilarious!”

Ruby: “Scatter and swarm them!” We all try to attack from different angles, but they open a few portals around us to throw us off. I manage to get around them with my spider sense to get in close and land a few blows, one of which knocked off the hat and glasses and made the scarf slip off their face. They try to cover their face as they get back and we gather again.

???: “Damn! Oh well. I suppose this was bound to happen eventually. The little girl aside, we have actually met before. A long time ago. And the outcome of that battle... changed me. Let me show you!” As they removed the coat and uncover their face. We see that their whole body is colored purple with no distinguishing features aside from a long tail, not even a hairstyle of some kind, they are bald. The only features on their face are these big cat-like eyes glowing a cyan color with white slits for pupils, and wide mouth filled with sharp teeth. They were covered in several of those light rhombus’, including on their tail and one big one on their face. “Behold! Bare witness to what you and your fancy magician friend turned me into when you faced the great Mysteria. This was the fate of the one you knew as Curcio Cato!”

RWBY: “Cato!?”

Yang: “That can’t be! How did they escape the mirror dimension?”

Weiss: “Their new portals must be able to let them come and go as they please, just like Ozpin with his magic.”

Ilia: “What the hell happened to you?”

Curcio: “Let’s just say I was reborn. The Curcio Cato you once knew is gone. The only thing that remains is what you see now. A being the world shall only know as the Rhombus!” They open another portal below us and we fall through. I catch Blake while Ilia and I try to save ourselves with a web line that attaches to the vault ceiling as we find ourselves hanging above the town square, several blocks away from the bank. Before we pull ourselves back up though, they closed the portal and cut our lines, making us fall and forcing us to save ourselves by swinging from the nearby buildings as I let go of Blake to let her swing herself.

Ruby: “Crap! We've gotta get back there!” Curcio uses a large portal to take all the money with them to a secluded location within the city. One of the abandoned SDC warehouses we had previously fought a foe or two.

Curcio: “Well, I’d say I handled that rather well. And now that the test is complete, it’s time I move on to the true plan.” By the time we get back to the bank, security got the vault opened and we found Curcio and the money they gathered gone.

Yang: “Great! How are we supposed to fight someone like that? How are we even supposed to contain them once we catch them?”

Weiss: “I don’t know. We haven’t seen anything like this before.”

Ruby: “Well, we all know someone we can talk to about this. Surely, they’ll be able to help.”

Ilia: “You don’t sound too thrilled about it. What’s wrong?”

Ruby: “Well, after everything that had happened with Neo, I can tell that... Ozpin’s not going to like this.”

Chapter Text

We went straight to Ozpin’s afterwards and told him everything that had happened. And he seems displeased.

Ozpin: “What!? How could this have happened?”

Ilia: “That’s what we want to know.”

Ozpin: “This is really bad. The kind of power they have now is a bigger threat than you realize. I know I really shouldn’t do this, but the potential severity of the threat at hand is too great to ignore, so I must.”

Blake: “What are you going to do?”

Ozpin: “I’m going to use the Eye of Oum to look into the past and find out how the Rhombus came to be. Hopefully it’ll give us clue as to how to stop them.”

Ilia: “...Huh?”

Ruby: “You can do that?”

Ozpin: “Yes, but it’s not ideal. Tampering with the stability of space and time in any way is way more dangerous than fiction leads the world to believe. Never just altering the timeline by changing the past, we’re talking about potentially destroying all of reality as we know it. That's why it’s important for one to be the utmost cautious when doing so and be reckless with how one uses such power. That's why I’m so concerned about Cato’s new powers. And why all I’ll be doing is sending my consciousness back to observe. Nothing more.”

Ruby: “But that was like four years ago. Just how long will this take?”

Ozpin: “From your perspective? It'll only look like I sit here meditating for about 5, maybe 10 seconds. For me, I’ll be gone for as long as I need to be to get some answers.” As he leads us up to a room in the top floor with a big fancy window with a strange symbol in the frame. He then sits on the floors right by the window. He moves his hands in a way and all the candles in the room light up. “Now to begin.” He moves his hands in a certain way before the eye shaped necklace he wear, and the center iris opens up to reveal some kind of green gem that glows as Ozpin starts to float and a green energy flows around his arms as he holds his hands in certain gesture close to his legs. Given that time is involved, some of the sounds coming from this power almost reminds me of clockwork. It was then he releases a breath and closed his eyes as he looks back in time. A lime green ghost like version of himself opens his eyes to find himself had gone back as far as when he, Blake and I broke into Neo’s hideout. He watches all the events unfold with disinterest up until we reach the climax of the battle with Neo, where he and Neo have their little beam struggle.

Past Blake: “We’ve gotta go!”

Past Curcio: “Ms. Neo!”

Past Ruby: “Cato, wait!”

Past Curcio: “Stop this! You're going to end up killing yourself!” Ozpin now watches more carefully as the beams center orb explodes, pushing past Ruby and Blake out of the mirror dimension. As for Curcio, they got lost in the chaos as the mirror dimension shattered and became even more twisted as Ozpin kept his eye on Curcio, ignoring his past self grabbing an unconscious Neo before looking around for Cato for a few minutes but then left the mirror dimension when he couldn’t find them. As that happened, Ozpin used the eye’s power to focus more on Cato, making it easier to follow their movements as they got lost in the chaos. He finds them floating adrift as their body seems to be absorbing some kind of energy. A green and pink energy, causing their body to mutate into what we saw at the bank. “Agh! A-Argh! What is happening to me!?” They panic even more when they notice a massive piece of debris coming their way. “AH! Nonono! Please! Someone please get me out of here!” holding their hands out trying to defend themselves, but instead a rhombus portal appears on the debris, and they end up going through it when the debris gets close. Ozpin follows after them to find they had made it back to reality, back into the streets of the abandoned neighborhood we fund their hideout in, only to find everyone had gone already. “What in the-? What was that?” They hear distant sirens and book it to the woods to go into hiding. Ozpin sped through the last few years watching them as they learn to accept their new powers and practice with them, using the old SDC bomb shelter we fought the Creep in as their shelter during this time. Ozpin kept this up until we reach a few days ago. “After so long away from society, I think it’s time to put my power through a field test before I go through with my plan to test my latest theory about this power's true potential. And if turns out to be true then this city, and more important those heroes, won’t know what hit them!” Ozpin let himself see the fight we just had with them earlier today before he stopped the spell and returned to his body in the present.

Ozpin: *gasp* The eye closes and the energy flow stops as he floats back down to the ground.

Ruby: “What happened? What did you see?” He went what he saw in the past as got back up and went to look for a map of Vale.

Blake: “So your saying Rhombus is our fault?”

Ozpin: “Not yours. Mine, Politan’s and their own. They were standing too close when our power exploded and they ended absorbing a lot of both of our energies. Being in the mirror dimension when it all happened didn’t help matters either. But no matter. I know where they are, and I plan to stop this.”

Ilia: “We’re going with you.”

Ozpin: “I-”

Ruby: “Don’t even bother trying to talk us out of this. We've already through the whole ‘you don’t have to do this alone just because it's your burden’ thing so many times now. But like it or not you know we’re right. And besides, this is still our city. So, we’re going to help fight for it.”

Ozpin: “Heh. Very well. I suppose I can’t stop you anyway. You have already proven yourselves more than enough times.”

Blake: “Then with that out of the way, we’d better get going. So, where are they?” Ozpin found the map he was looking for.

Ozpin: “Right around here.” He marked an area outside of the city in the woods. “In some abandoned SDC structure.”

Ruby: “Weiss?”

Weiss: “Already on it.” She took a second to cross reference the location from our own maps. “The structure around there is the bomb shelter where we fought Merlot. Definitely a good enough place to hole up if you're trying to hide form people. It's isolated and far enough to where people won’t even bother to looking for it.”

Ruby: “Except for us. Alright gang let’s go.” Ozpin opens a portal to the area, and we all go through. Finding ourselves face to face with the old shelter. Though something about it is giving me a bad feeling. Hopefully it’s just my imagination.

Chapter Text

We had to force the door open as we entered. And upon entering, we are already graced with Cato’s presence, along with all the money they stole.

Curcio: “Whoa! Hey! Don't you knock? Dropping in unannounced like this is seriously rude, you know!”

Weiss: “Keep them talking while I scan for their exact energy signature. It'll help us track them down again should he get away.”

Ozpin: “Give it up, Cato! I won’t let you go on like this!” They recognized Ozpin immediately.

Curcio: “You! Ahahaha! If it isn’t the great Zoroaster Ozpin.”

Ozpin: “I’m sure your furious with me for what happened. After all, this is basically my fault.”

Curcio: “Furious? Oh no, no, no! Quite the opposite actually. Sure, it was quite painful at first and I thought for sure I was going to die, but then not only did I live and keep my amazing intellect, but I also gained these amazing powers. Sure, mt body may hanged beyond recognition, but it wasn’t as though I had a normal life to go too anyway, and with powers like these, I’d say it’s worth it.”

Ozpin: “Don’t you understand though? You are playing with a power much more dangerous than you realize! One wrong move could completely tear apart the fabric of reality and destroy the entire universe as we know it!”

Curcio: “Precisely the kind of power I need to take revenge. But enough talk about that. You caught me as I was moving the money out of the way for my real plan. If you want it back so bad you can take it. Not like it’s going to matter much once I’m do what I need to.” They open a portal to leave through, but Ozpin conjured some kind of whip to pull them back.

Ozpin: “Not on my watch!”

Weiss: “I’ve got it!”

Ilia: “And just in time too! Here they come!”

Curcio: “You bastard!” They use a portal to break free of Ozpin’s magic and appear on the other side of the room. The four try to help each other out in avoiding their portals to get in close. Ozpin’s been trying to use his magic to contain them, but their portals keep allowing them to escape. “When are you going to learn this isn’t working?”

Ozpin: “Blast!”

Curcio: “Well, it’s been fun, but I’m afraid I must be going.” They use a big portal in the ceiling to destabilize the structure before using another portal to get away.”

Blake: “Shit! This is going to come down! We need to go!”

Ozpin: “Everyone through here!” He opened another portal of his own leading outside. I quickly drag the money out with us in a net of webbing as we exit and Ozpin closes the portal before the ceiling collapses.

Ruby: “Phew. Thanks, Professor.”

Ozpin: “It’s not over yet. Their powers are worse than I thought. As of now, I have nothing that can contain them without them making a portal to escape. I’ll need to delve deep into our library at Pharos Academy to find a spell that can contain them, even if only temporarily until we can find a more permanent solution.”

Ruby: “We can work on tracking them and figuring out what their up to in the meantime.”

Ozpin: “I thank you. I promise, I’ll try to make this quick as I can.” He opened a portal to what I assume is the library he was talking about and closed it behind him after going through. We head into the city after I inform Qrow where they can pick up the money we found. At least that’s one problem solved. Over the next few days, we’ve trying to track them down, but every time we can a hit on their energy signature their gone by the time we get there. And we have no idea where their hiding in between sightings. It's like they have a way of hiding their signature at certain times.

Yang: “Damnit! We're getting nowhere with this!” We decided to meet in the lab today.

Blake: “Maybe not. But maybe we can figure out what their up to based on the crimes they’ve been committing. What have been doing these past few days?”

Ruby: “From the police could gather from the follow up investigation to every Rhombus sighting, they’ve only stealing stuff. As for what they’ve been stealing, it’s all mostly been metal materials, mechanical components, and some Dust, along with some plutonium rods.”

Weiss: “Why is this sounding familiar?”

PENNY: “Probably because we’ve been through this before. I've also been compiling through the uses of everything they’ve stolen and found it all to be exactly what is needed to make Arthur Watts’ nuclear fusion reactor.”

Ilia: “I remember reading about that. But why would they be trying to remake that?” That was when Ozpin came in again through a portal.

Ozpin: “To further enhance their power.”

Yang: “Oz. Seriously. Call ahead before you go doing stuff like that.”

Ozpin: “Apologies but I needed to talk with you now.”

Ruby: “Let it go, Yang. What did you mean, Professor?”

Ozpin: “Near the end of my observations of their past, they were talking about working to test their latest theory about achieving their powers true potential. It's likely they plan to absorb the power of this reactor as a means of making themselves even stronger. Which we can’t let happen, or they’ll definitely have enough power to destroy the whole universe.”

Yang: “But you found a way to stop that, right?”

Ozpin: “Indeed. I have a found a containment fit for powers like theirs. The conjured bubble made to contain them in the spell simulate a particular quantum field that, should they try to portal out of it, will alter the portals destination, looping them right back to the bubble.”

Ilia: “That almost sounds too perfect. What’s the catch?”

Ozpin: “Observant. Good. The catch is that it takes a lot of magic. With my magic I can hold for a good while, but it won’t last forever. Which I why I plan to reach out to General Ironwood afterwards to request their help. I know B.E.A.C.O.N. has a scientist among their ranks that specializes in quantum theory with enough expertise to recreate the quantum field in a more permanent cage.”

Blake: “You're really going to risk exposing yourself to Ironwood like that?”

Ozpin: “As sorcerer supreme, I will do what I must to protect all of existence from collapsing and I know B.E.A.C.O.N. is the only place in Remnant with the proper resources to completely contain Cato’s power. It's the only way.”

PENNY: “I’ve got it! Cato may have found a way to block his energy signature, but they didn’t account for energy signature of the plutonium. So ran another energy scan of Vale, this time tracking any traces of plutonium and have found them around here.” She displayed a map of Vale and marked a spot right on the edge of the city. “An abandoned SDC warehouse that police have once investigated years ago, after it was destroyed by Cinder Fall. One of the first she destroyed actually.”

Ilia: “Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!”

PENNY: “I agree. I’m picking up a spike in energy coming from within!”

Weiss: “Damnit! They've already started!”

Ozpin: “Come on!” He opens a portal right outside the warehouse and we leave once we have our masks on. Afterwards, we get inside the warehouse but then we saw...

Ilia: “Shit! We're too late!” Curcio is already standing in the reactor core absorbing its energy.

Curcio: “AHAHAHAHA! Yes! I can feel the power!”

Ozpin: “Get down!” A burst of pitch-black energy occurs, and when it clears, the reactor is disabled. Completely drained and some parts destroyed as Curcio floated in the air with a change in color. Their slit pupils are still white, but so is their skin. And their eyes and rhombus patterns around their body are now a kind of purplish black. “Damnit! This can’t be happening!”

Curcio: “Oh, but it is happening.” Their voice now kind of distorted. “And now that I have this power, I can be rid this world of the capitals kingdoms so that I may have the room I need to remake them in my image rule the world the way I wish for it to be. Starting with Vale.”

Ozpin: “NO!” They disappear through another portal before we could do anything. This is true fight. And no matter what. We're going to win... or die trying.

Chapter Text

Ozpin: “Damnit! This can’t be happening!”

Curcio: “Oh, but it is happening. And now that I have this power, I can be rid this world of the capital kingdoms so that I may have the room I need to remake them in my image and rule the world the way I wish for it to be. Starting with Vale.”

Ozpin: “NO!” They disappear through another portal before we could do anything.

Ilia: “Shit! Where’d they go?”

Weiss: “Already on it! PENNY. We need double time here.”

PENNY: “Yes, ma’am.”

Ozpin: “This is really bad. They don’t realize what they're doing.”

Ruby: “I’ve never seen you freak out this much. Are you okay?”

Ozpin: “Of course I am. If they weren’t dangerous before, they certainly are now. At this level of power, their more than powerful to destroy more than just the city. It's grown powerful enough to slip beyond their control. In less than 24 hours their power will destroy the entire planet before moving on to the rest of the universe. We need to find and stop them now!”

Blake: “What about your spell? Could it still hold them at this level?”

Ozpin: “Yes, but there’s still a problem. A spell of this magnitude requires a long incantation. And if they see me, they’ll try to stop me. I’ll need you all to buy me some time while I hide and chant.”

Weiss: “Thankfully, I’ve just got them. We've got an incoming portal at town square.”

Yang: “Geez. What is it about that place that keeps attracting these? Pretty sure they're still recovering from the Beast attack.”

Weiss: “In this case it makes sense. They plan to destroy the city to rebuild it their way. What better way to do way then from the town center.”

Ozpin: “Then that’s where we’re heading.” He opens a portal about a block away from the square and we go through. “I’ll hide out around here out of their view while I chant the spell. I’ll join you and trigger it once the chant is complete.”

Blake: “We’ll keep them here in the meantime.”

Ruby: “And I have an idea on how. Let’s go!” We enter the square as their portal opens in the crowd, and they appear as the people run away.

Curcio: “Let the reconstruction begin.”

Ruby: “Not so fast, Cato!”

Curcio: “Hm? Oh, it’s just you. And where’s your magician friend? Did he finally realize he never stood a chance against me and turn tail?”

Ilia: “As if that matters right now! We’re not going to stand here and let you destroy our city!”

Curcio: “Your certainly braver that you look.”

Ruby: “It’s obvious enough that your more than powerful enough to destroy this place with ease. But you should already know we won’t go down so easily as you do. So why not indulge us in one more fight just to ensure we’re out of your way. Consider it a challenge to a duel.”

Curcio: “A challenge, huh? Well, you're all going to die soon anyway, so I suppose I can spare a little more time before your destruction. But I’d rather get to it as soon as possible so let's not waste any more time and get this over with!” They charge in and attack. We have to be extra careful here as we maneuver around their power, as they are able to put out more portals than ever all at once and at a much faster rate. Some portals our arms or legs go through and end up either hitting ourselves or another teammate. With all of this in mind, it’s impossible to land any sort of blow on them. Not like it matters though. All we’re doing is just stalling for time. We just have to hold out until the spell is done. “Oh yes! I admit, I am enjoying this rush! And it helps that you're putting up more of a fight than I thought you would! But I’m afraid I must end this now!” They moved fast as pushed me and Blake and grabbed hold of Ilia by the throat. “Say goodbye!”

Ruby: “No! Huh?” That’s when I notice Ozpin floating above the scene with an orb blue light in his hands.

Ozpin: “Enough, Cato! This ends now!”

Curcio: “Huh?” Ilia took this chance to Venom punch them in the face to get them to let go and she jumped back.

Ozpin: “Try getting out of this!” He took this chance to cast the spell while they were disoriented from that punch. Now they stand tapped in a bubble of blue energy.

Curcio: “Gah! Argh! Ahahaha! Didn't we already go over this? Your magic is useless against my power! All I have to do is this.” They try going through another portal but... “And viola!” They try to attack, only to smack face first into the bubble. “Huh?” And so, they try again and fail. “No. No, no, no, no! NO!” They keep trying but it’s clearly not working.

Ozpin: “You’d be right during our first fight. My ordinary containment spell couldn’t do anything about your portals, so I had to research our library for something more powerful that could. You won’t be going anywhere any time soon.”

Curcio: “Dammit! This can’t be happening!”

Ozpin: “Oh, but it is happening.” Before he turned to us. “Thank you for all your help girls. I owe you yet again.”

Ruby: “Think nothing, Professor. Afterall, we were all just trying to defend our home.”

Ozpin: “Your mother would be proud, I’m sure. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have an appointment to keep.” He opens another portal. This time leading him to Atlas. The police arrive after he leaves. I get a chance to talk with Qrow in private.

Qrow: “What happened?”

Ruby: “The Rhombus was Curcio Cato. We had help from the sorcerer supreme again. He’s working to hold Cato for now, but now he’s in Atlas working to hand them over to their authorities.”

Qrow: “Couldn’t he just hand them over to us?”

Ruby: “Unfortunately, no. His spell to contain their portal powers is very specific and won’t last forever. And even our SDC branch or anyone in our kingdom has the proper expertise to create a more permanent solution to containing. The Atlas military does, so they're the best option to turn to.”

Qrow: “I see. I suppose that’s for the best. Just means we’ll have to come up with some kind of excuse for the media.” Meanwhile, Ozpin stands in Ironwood’s office with the contained Curcio and has explained everything.

Ironwood: “I see. So that’s how it is.”

Ozpin: “And I know you have a quantum specialist in your ranks that can pull this off.”

Ironwood: “Pietro Polendina, yes. His reputation precedes him. Don't worry, I’ll have him get straight to work on this as a priority project. In the meantime, I suggest you stay with us in the base to keep them close at hand in case something were to happen.”

Ozpin: “I wouldn’t have it any other way. In the meantime, I shall also work to try and weaken their power. Set them back to their normal level of power to make things a little easier.”

Ironwood: “Please do.” The next day back here, the news is spreading about what had happened.

Lisa: “After being missing from Vale for so long, the criminal know as Curcio Cato has appeared yet again, this time as a super powered villain known as the Rhombus because of their rhombus shaped portals. After an intense battle with our local vigilantes and the reappearance of the sorcerer from the Mysteria incident, the vile feline has been caught. Unfortunately, Vale does not have the proper tools to complete contain their powers and therefore must be handed over to Atlas authorities given their more advanced science department. Needless to say, we will not be seeing them around again any time soon.” As this was all done and dusted, we cut to Vernal in her cell hearing about this from a TV nearby in the halls before a guard came up to her and unlocked her cell.

Vernal: “And to what do I owe this visit? It's not time for me to be in the yard yet.”

Guard: “You have a visitor.”

Vernal: “A visitor? Who?”

Guard: “Don’t know. But they asked for specifically by name, so we didn’t have a reason to refuse. Let's go.”

Vernal: “Hm. Strange. Alright, fine. I’ll admit I’m curious.” She followed the guard to the visitor's chamber and was let into a private room where she was left alone with a single person, separated by a pane of bullet proof glass. The person had a feminine figure but concealed their identity by wearing a hood over her head. Vernal sat down before turning on the mic to let them communicate. “And you are?”

???: “Hello, old friend. Did you miss me?” Vernal instantly showed a face of recognition upon hearing that voice. It was then the figure lifting her head a bit to show her face. Most notably, her glaring red eyes.

Vernal: “What the hell do you want, Raven?”

Raven: “Unfortunately, this isn’t a social visit. I’m here on business on behalf of a client. And I figured you’d be the best place to start.”

Vernal: “Business? And what would that be?”

Raven: “Right now, all I need you to do is answer a simple question.” Vernal mentally prepared herself for whatever she planned to ask. “Exactly how much do you know about the Scarlet Spider and her partners?”

Chapter Text

Rhombus really left a big mess of things when they attacked. And crime always take advantage of the city when it’s in a state of repair as we end up having to fight more guys as we patrol the city in times like this. But that’s the least of our concerns as I get a call from an unknown number.

Ruby: “Huh? PENNY? Can you trace it?”

PENNY: “No need. I recognize it from the prison. Someone from within is trying to contact you.”

Yang: “Who’d be trying to do that?”

Weiss: “Answer it but proceed with caution.” To which I’m compelled to do so.

Ruby: “Hello?” I wasn’t expecting to hear Vernal’s voice when I did.

Vernal: “About time you picked up.”

Ruby: “Vernal?”

Vernal: “Be grateful. I’m using my one call to do this. And I don’t have a lot of time so listen up. Last night, I got a surprise visitor who knew I was working with you as a cop and was asking for information about you and your friends. Said she was doing it on behalf of a client.”

Ruby: “A client? Who?”

Vernal: “I don’t know. She didn’t reveal that part. Not surprising, given the concept of client confidentiality.”

Ruby: “Okay, but what the woman? Who was she?”

Vernal: “I...” She hesitates for a moment. “I don’t know. She wore a hood and kept her face down the whole time. I couldn’t even get a glimpse. And she didn’t reveal her name either. Not her real one anyway. But in turn, I didn’t tell her anything either. Not like I knew much to begin with anyway.”

Ruby: “You still got a name out of her though. Tell me what it is, and we can go from there.”

Vernal: “She calls herself Taskmaster. I remember hearing that name a few times during police investigations. Some kind of mysterious mercenary for hire that’s been all over the place for a while now. Though no one has been able to catch her. It sounds to me like she’s after you, so be careful and watch your back. That goes for your friends too.” That was when she hung up.

Ruby: “You guys caught that pause too, right?”

Yang: “She’s hiding something. She clammed up at the part about her name. She knows who she is. But why wouldn’t she want us to know it?”

Weiss: “An investigation is needed. PENNY? Search for anything you can about this Taskmaster.”

PENNY: “Yes ma’am.” I call the others and tell them about this. Meanwhile, Vernal is seen in the interrogation room when Qrow enters.

Qrow: “What’s this about, Vernal? The guards said you were desperate to tell me something. That you’ve been on edge since your visitor last night.”

Vernal: “Yeah. That's kind of what I want to talk about. Qrow... my visitor was Raven.” He was very shocked to hear that. Like he was just shot in the heart.

Qrow: “Raven... But why?”

Vernal: “She wanted information on the Scarlet Spider. I don’t know what she wants with her, but she did say she was doing it on behalf of a client. That Taskmaster mercenary we heard about from other kingdoms? That's her!”

Qrow: “She admitted that to your face? Why?”

Vernal: “I’m not sure why. But I didn’t tell her anything. And then she just left.”

Qrow: “I see. But I also heard you finally used your one call today before this meeting. Who was it?”

Vernal: *sigh*”I was warning the Scarlet Spider. I had the number because we were working together. And I know you are too. Have been since I quit the force.”

Qrow: “You don’t miss a beat. Just what I’d expect from you.”

Vernal: “But I didn’t tell her it was Raven. That business doesn’t concern her.”

Qrow: “Okay, maybe you have lost a bit of your touch. It doesn’t matter if it’s her business of not, if Raven is after her than she needs to know everything she can if she’s going to stop her.”

Vernal: “Uh... whoops.”

Qrow: *sigh*”It’s fine. I can tell her myself later. And if I can’t she’ll figure it out herself eventually. But first, I should see if I can figure out her deal on my own. And I think I know where to start.” We go about our patrol like usual, we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary since the call.

Ilia: “Things look clear around my area. What about you guys?”

Blake: “Nothing that I can see.”

Ruby: “Me neither.”

Weiss: “Why don’t you come back and take a break then? Your web fluid may need a recharge too.”

Ruby: “Good idea. I’m on my way.” But just as I turn around, I’m ensnared by some kind of bola, and I crash on a roof.

Weiss: “Ruby! What happened?”

Ruby: “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Thankfully I’m strong enough to break out, but then I hear a voice behind me.

Raven: “Stronger than you look, huh? Oh well. Maybe you’ll give me a challenge.” I turn around to see a woman clad in black and dark red. Her forearms, shoulders and her legs up to her knees are armored. Her upper body is draped in a short-sleeved robe that stops at a skirt around her waist. All skin beneath the robe and skirt are covered with a catsuit up to the neck. She has a belt with some red cloths attached, as well as a big sheath as she holds a red bladed odachi. Her face is covered by a white helmet with red markings and silver lenses in the eye holes as her long hair is held in a ponytail.

Ruby: “You must be Taskmaster.”

Raven: “So Vernal snitched on me. Just as I predicted.”

Ruby: “What do you want with me? Who hired you?”

Raven: “Sorry. Can't tell you that yet. First, I have to see what you can do!” She charged in with her sword ready and attacks. And she’s pretty fast! I have to really focus on my spider sense to stand a chance here. She also shows capable of avoiding, blocking or countering my own attacks. And at some point, she uses a grapple line hidden in her gauntlets to copy one of my moves and use it against me!

Ruby: “Ow! Hey you copycat! That moves a Scarlet Spider original!”

Raven: “And an excellent addition to my repertoire of moves. And soon all the rest will be too.” We continue our brawl, and she continues to copy my moves. But at some point, I get a leg up as I trip up one of her moves(or really one of my moves) from the fact that her boots have heels. My suit was made with flat feet, so my moves weren’t made with heels in mind. My advantage goes on for a short minute before she recovers and knocks me back. “You are good. But this was just a warmup. Next time, I won’t go so easy on you. I hope you do the same and bring your friends along too. Until next time Scarlet Spider.” She used a smoke bomb to escape when I try to attack again.

Ruby: “Oh come on!”

Yang: “What the hell!? That really wasn’t much of a fight! What is she up to?”

Ruby: “I don’t know. But we need to be prepared.” As I make my way back. This is going to be a tough one.

Chapter Text

After his visit with Vernal, Qrow went out to an old hangout of his. The Xiong family-owned bar.

Qrow: “Haven’t been here in a hot minute. No surprise it’s somehow still in business after Junior was put away.” He remembered back in the day when he came here with Raven. Remembering how they were raised by criminals and initially joined the force to try and use it to their adopted family's advantage. They came here whenever they needed information in an unconventional way. But for Qrow, that only lasted for so long before he truly started to realize the wrong and rights of the world and decided to work as a legit cop. Still, if there's anywhere in Vale that could get him a lead on Raven, it was here. And if not her than maybe at least info on her alter ego. He was hit with nostalgia as he entered and walked around the massive the dance floor and up to the bar.

Barkeep: “Well, well, well. Look who’s finally decided to come back. Finally get tired of licking the boots of the law.”

Qrow: “Cut the crap. I'm not here for chit chat. I’m here on business.”

Barkeep: “Pfft. As if anyone here would help you after being gone for so long.”

Qrow: “Maybe you will on this topic. Raven has returned. She visited Tomo in prison yesterday. I figured maybe someone here would know something or if she ever stopped by.”

Barkeep: “Oh! Now I am curious. But unfortunately, no. I haven’t seen her in the slightest since she disappeared. No one has. a real shame too. She was a real beauty. Everyone here absolutely loved her.”

Qrow: “Believe me, I remember. But that’s not all I want to ask about. Word is there’s also an international mercenary called Taskmaster in Vale now. Governments across the world have been trying to find and catch her but she’s a sly one. Anyone around here who might know something?”

Barkeep: “Hm? That is interesting. I don’t think any of our usual patrons would know anything about that. Or at least none of the locals. Hm... Ah!” He showed a surprised face like he had an idea but then looked disgusted at it.

Qrow: “What?”

Barkeep: *sigh*”Okay look. There is one patron form out of town I can think of that might know something, but I would highly advise against it.” He looked to the right to point a Faunus man sitting at the far end of the bar. He was well built with light skin, hazel-colored eyes, black hair and very noticeable sideburns. He wore a brown leather jacket over a quarter-zip burgundy and black shirt over a white under shirt, grey pants and shoes of various brownish colors. He had puma ears atop his head. If you look closer, you can tell he has military tags hanging around his neck but it’s hard to make out what they say. “Guy goes by Tukson, but most people know him by the nickname on his tags, the Puma. We get word of his appearances in bars all over the world. Some of them even do cage fights that he participates in. However, most places that don’t do that try to ban him because of what he is.”

Qrow: “You're telling me there are still places that ban the Faunus?”

Barkeep: “No, not Faunus. Mutant.” Qrow looked a little shocked after hearing that. “He may look around 30 but he’s actually the oldest one in this room. We have pictures of him coming here even since the days of the boss's grandfather. But that’s not what makes him dangerous as a mutant. Now he’s never done it during a cage fight, but he has been seen using them beyond that when people try to pick a bone with him. Retractable claws in his hands. If you look closely, you can even see the scars in between his knuckles where the claws come out. Most people that still let him come around do so because his fight draw in more money. Any remaining places that still let him in do so for the same reason because he does still pay up. So even if places like ours who aren’t fond of having a mutant around, they ignore on account he’s still a paying customer, just so long as he doesn’t do anything to cause us trouble.”

Qrow: “Yeah, well, I’ve faced more than my fair share of unique people like him ever since the Scarlet Spider came around. If he has information, I’m willing to take the risk.”

Barkeep: *sigh*”Should’ve figured. You always were stubborn like that. Okay, I'll help you out a bit. The guy is more lenient about giving information if the person asking gives any of the good stuff on their tab. Guy really likes to drink, so it’s something of a condition for his service. And since you told me about Raven, I’m willing to cut a large discount on the drink for old times sake.”

Qrow: “Is our usual table still in its same place?”

Barkeep: “Always. And it’s currently empty.”

Qrow: “Then make the best drink you got and tell him to meet me up there.” As he left to head upstairs. The guy quickly got the drink made, headed over to Tukson and placed the drink in front of him.

Tukson: “Hm? Hey bub, I didn’t order this.”

Barkeep: ”I know. It's from a patron who wants to talk to you. Upstairs in booth 13. Scruffy looking man with grayish black hair and a brown vest. Enjoy.” As he walks away and gets back to work. Tukson put aside his whiskey glass and took a quick sip of the new drink.

Tukson: “Hmph. Alright. Let's get this over with.” As he got up and headed upstairs. It was easy for him to spot Qrow and join him at the booth. “You the responsible for this?”

Qrow: “Your welcome. Please, have a seat.” He sat down quietly as he sipped his drink.

Tukson: “So what do you want for it? Just know that I can’t make any promises.”

Qrow: “I was hoping you would have information on a mercenary called Taskmaster.”

Tukson: “Hm... Taskmaster. Taskmaster.” He mutters as he tries to think. “Oh yeah. That freak.”

Qrow: “So you know something?”

Tukson: “Regarding her identity I don’t know jack shit. But I know where she came from. She was a volunteer subject for an experiment ran by this group called Apathy. It was an experiment to improve the human mind. Specifically, their memory. Taskmaster is notoriously known for a perfect photographic memory. I wouldn’t exactly say she’s a super soldier, but that memory helps her fight so well she might as well be one.”

Qrow: “How would you know?”

Tukson: “Because I fought her once myself. I caught the attention of someone, and she was sent by them to test my abilities. I found out about all this when I chased after her to get her to leave me alone and I found one of her hideouts. At the end of the day, she said I was one of few people who could potentially match her in combat. The only person I know for certain who has actually defeated her in a fight is this other mercenary known as the Huntsman. An annoying loud-mouthed asshole who just doesn't know when to shut the hell up.”

Qrow: “How was he able to defeat her?”

Tukson: “Because she believes herself able to predict all of her opponents moves in subsequent fights after fighting them the first. And depending on the opponent, she has been known to copy certain unique they have to add to her fighting style. Huntsman is a major wild card. He's inconsistent and constantly adapts. That on top of incessive babbling makes him completely unpredictable in a fight, compared to me who’s honestly pretty easy to predict, since most of the time I just rely on rage-controlled instincts.”

Qrow: “Uh huh. And from all of that I also gather that she’s an Apathy agent?”

Tukson: “No. Though she may work with them a lot, it’s always just been temporary contracts. She's a tried-and-true mercenary for hire who’ll take on any job just so long as the pay is good enough. Apathy is just her biggest benefactor.”

Qrow: “Hm...”

Tukson: “Now how about you tell me why your so curious about the copycat?”

Qrow: “She’s made herself known recently here in Vale. Looking for information on the Scarlet Spider and her team.”

Tukson: “That definitely checks out. If you want my opinion, this is a similar case with me where she’s here to test the Spider after she had caught of some big corporation and is wondering if she’s worth recruiting.”

Qrow: “Recruiting?”

Tukson: “Uh huh. Taskmaster deemed me a failure because of my infamous temper. Said her client didn’t need a weapon that could completely fall out of their control.”

Qrow: “Understandable then.”

Tukson: “I’ve heard the stories of all the people the Spider’s faced over the years. It's makes sense she caught the attention of organizations beyond Vale. Afterall, it’s already happened once before with the White Fang.”

Qrow: “You have a point there.”

Tukson: “Listen bub. I won’t pry if you don’t want to answer. But I can tell this is about more than just her beef with the Spider. Something about it all is more personal for you in particular than you let on.”

Qrow: “Heh. More perceptive than you look.”

Tukson: “I may not remember past a certain point of my past, but I still know I’ve lived long enough to pick up a thing or two about these sorts of things.”

Qrow: “Well, you are right. I can’t who it is, but I think I might be on the grasp on who the Taskmaster is. And it’s someone I use to know a long time ago. Someone who disappeared from the public eye and left their family behind not too long before the Taskmaster started appearing.”

Tukson: “I see. Well, I wish you the best of luck with that. But if that’s all, the I’ll be taking my leave now. Knowing the Taskmaster around again is making me sick and I’d rather not have to fight her again. I need to skip town before that can happen.”

Qrow: “Thanks for the talk, Tukson. I should get going too.”

Tukson: “Oh yeah. I don’t think I ever got you name.”

Qrow: “Qrow Branwen.”

Tukson: “I see. I’ll be sure to remember that.” As eh downed his drink and left. Qrow followed suit after paying for the drink.

Qrow: “I got some good info there. But there’s still more I need to know. And there’s only one other place I could possibly check for answers.” As he drove off into the city. “Raven... just what have you been doing?”

Chapter Text

After speaking with Tukson at the bar, Qrow stopped by an alley uptown. One where he and Raven use to meet with partners of their adopted parents to make deals with them before they grew old enough to attend the police academy. He stuck around for a few minutes before deciding to leave. But the moment he turned around.

Raven: “Pretty nostalgic, isn’t it?” He turned back around to see Raven emerge from the shadows dressed more casually. She wore a red crop top tank top under a black leather jacket that stops at her midriff left open, black jeans with black high heels, and several bead necklaces. She had her hair down which was the same length as Yang’s. “Did you miss me, little brother?”

Qrow: “At the start? Yes. But after all this time? I got over it. It was clear you were never coming back. At least not for your family.”

Raven: “Family? You mean you who betrayed us and that sniveling brat I birthed?”

Qrow: “What kind of mother leaves their kid after birthing them? Especially one already married.”

Raven: “I only went out with Tai and married him because I was bored. I didn’t expect to get pregnant like that.”

Qrow: “What did you expect to happen in a relationship? And now Yang has grown up without her mother.”

Raven: “Oh please. I know Tai remarried. So at least she had A mother.”

Qrow: “Did you also know that mother AND Tai died when Yang and Ruby were still little kids? I was the one who ultimately raised them all this time. And where were you? Letting yourself become some kind of monster for a quick buck?”

Raven: “For proper excitement. And to leave a proper legacy in this world?”

Qrow: “You could’ve done the same thing by using these gifts of yours for good like the heroes here did. And yet you decide to use yours to be a crook. A petty merc who fights people for the wrong reasons.”

Raven: “Just the way our family raised us.”

Qrow: “Those thugs were NOT our family! They were just manipulating a couple of dumb and emotionally vulnerable kids to mold them into the perfect criminals.”

Raven: “That kind of thinking is exactly what makes you weak. You've gotten soft in your old age.”

Qrow: “And your gonna regret coming back to Vale. We've got powerful heroes protecting us now.”

Raven: “Who? The Scarlet Spider? I’ll admit, she’s good. For a little brat. But that first fight was just a warmup. The real test begins tomorrow. And I intend to learn all I can from her and her friends.” She turns to leave.

Qrow: “Not on my watch!” He runs and tries to subdue her, but with her superior training, she easily knocked him back against the wall so hard, he was knocked out.

Raven: “Sorry, little brother. A valiant effort. But you could never hope to compete with me anymore. You shouldn’t have gotten involved. Not with the Spider. And not with me.” And she left. And he laid there unconscious. Even as the next day rolled around, where we all assembled at the lab after school.

Ilia: “Any luck with the search?”

PENNY: “Unfortunately, no. Whatever I have found about Taskmaster is all information we already knew. An international mercenary for hire known for her various fighting styles.”

Weiss: “I even tried calling Winter about this and she got me through to Ironwood this morning. The information was obviously classified, so he made me make sure the line was secure enough to tell me as he did trust me enough given the stakes of the emergency. But even what he had to say was all the same. The only other new piece of information I got from him was something we had already figured out ourselves from yesterday's fight. How she has a habit of copying certain moves from people she’s fought. They would know this as this would also include unique moves from some of B.E.A.C.O.N.s top agents.”

Ruby: “Which means our only option left is to try and unmask her ourselves. We'll need to work together to remove her helmet so we can get a clear view of her face and run a facial recognition scan.”

PENNY: “Looks like we’ll be getting that opportunity now. Security breach in the museum of history. The Taskmaster had suddenly arrived and was blatantly caught swinging her sword around threatening the visitors.”

Blake: “She’s baiting us. She knows we can’t ignore her presence, let alone if she endangers the people.”

Ilia: “Which is exactly why we don’t have a choice. We need to go!”

Ruby: “She’s right. Weiss? Make sure the facial scan program is ready. Come one guys! We put on our masks and make our way to the museum. Once there, Taskmaster is there waiting for us on the front steps as the people flee... with a small handle already dead at her feet.

Raven: “And they take the bait. Just as predicted.”

Ruby: “Okay Taskmaster. You want us? Come and get us! Just leave the people out of this!”

Raven: “This will be fun!” As she charges in and we all try our best to land some meaningful blows. Ilia and I still have the slight edge of our spider sense and are able to aid Blake in the process. And along the way, she still manages to copy some of our moves. Looks like she has claws installed in the nails of her gloves to be able to copy some of Blake’s moves too, just like the grapple she uses to copy some of our moves reliant on a web line. Though she doesn’t seem to be equipped with anything to copy Ilia’s Venom powers. Our brawl leads to give chase as she heads up to the rooftops of nearby buildings. Meanwhile, Qrow wakes up in the alley and comes out into the city to see the news on a nearby building screen.

Velvet: “And I am here live at the museum of history where our three heroes are in an ongoing brawl with a masked mercenary that witness around here had heard the Scarlet Spider refer to as the Taskmaster. The brawl as now lead them up to the rooftops while we are stuck on the ground until we can get a chopper on the scene.” As the camera moves to see bits and pieces of the brawl on the roof.

Qrow: “Damnit!” He tries to get through to us, but finds his scroll was damaged when he was knocked out. ”Oh, come on!” And after finding his tires slashed, he runs to find the nearest vehicle to commandeer with the intent of making his way to Weiss’ place. Back with us, the fight continues on, and we try to get in close to get her mask. at one point, Ilia caught her off guard with a flash of Venom in her face, to which Blake used her grapple to grab and fling her into the air, but not too far up as I follow up with a jump and a hard uppercut, which ends up knocking her mask off as she falls back to the ground. I grab her mask as I land and the three of us get ready to fa ready to face her again.

Ruby: “It’s over, Taskmaster. Give up!” She gets up and turns around to show her face. The reveal leaves Yang and I completely shock when we see her. “What? No...”

Yang: “HUH? No! It-it can’t be!”

Weiss: “Wait. You know her?”

Yang: “That’s... my mom...”

PENNY: “I can attest to that. Facial recognition is able to confirm the Taskmaster’s identity to be... Raven Branwen.”

Weiss: “What the hell?”

Raven: “Give up? Heheheh. Silly girl. The Taskmaster NEVER gives up!” She shields her eyes as she triggers a flashbang to blind us while she takes her mask back and flees the scene.

Yang: “Damnit! She's getting away again!” It was at this point Qrow entered the place.

Qrow: “Girls! You have to listen! Taskmaster is-!” He stops himself when he saw their faces and was able to read the room. “I... guess you already know.”

Blake: “Yang? Are you okay?”

Yang: “I...” As tears start to flow down her cheeks. “I don’t know.”