Ruby trotted through the forest near Beacon, heading off towards the Cliffs with a piece of lined, crumpled notebook paper in both hands. Yang and Blake jogged along, trying to keep up with the quick huntress while Weiss lagged behind, the heiress strolling along with her arms crossed and a displeased look on her face. Weiss arms suddenly went flailing into the air to regain her balance, her right heel catching an exposed root of a tree and buckling to the side, sending the heiress sprawling in a puff of dust. "Ruby, how much longer do we have to look for this stupid treasure? You have no idea how hard it is to walk in heels through a forest! I, mean, combat footwear." Weiss demanded, pounding her legs and arms into the ground in her tantrum.
"Yeah, Ruby, can we maybe take five? We've been following you all the way here and we're not exactly as fast as you." Yang pleaded, doubled over with her hands on her knees.
Blake too was hunched over, one hand on the corresponding knee while the other was propped against a tree, while Weiss got back to her feet, patting the dirt off of her dress and skirt. Ruby skidded to a stop further ahead, turning and stating,"We're almost there, guys. Just a little way to go, I've got the map!"
"The map?" the trio inquired in unison.
"Yeah, I wrote the directions down when I was listening to the professors. Don't you remember me telling you guys that?"
The heiress, faunus, and brawler only stared at each other in confusion, Ruby declaring, "Well, quit wasting time, we have to go just a little further and we're almost done!"
With that, Ruby darted ahead once more, a puff of air and rose petals all that was left of the hooded huntress' presence. Groaning and tired, the trio pushed ahead once more, Weiss casually strutting ahead with her usual grace as she wondered aloud, "How much forest is left? We have to be near the Cliffs. Why in the world would they put it so far from campus?"
On the other end of the line, Ruby was nearing the edge of the forest, the clearing revealing the dense canopy going on beyond the Beacon Cliffs. Exiting the tree line, Ruby skidded to a stop mere feet from the edge of the cliff, her upper body leaning ahead of her for a moment before quickly snapping back as she regained her balance. She brought the piece of paper before her, her shining smile only growing as her eyes scanned it and she reached into her pouch, producing a pen. She feverishly scribbled out a line of text, signifying one of the many objectives they'd meet on this hunt had come to an end. She couldn't spare another moment, looking up and losing her breath as she was overtaken by the beauty of the view. The sun was at high-noon in the sky, the chatter of cicadas beating through the hot, humid air. A cool breeze slowly drifted over Ruby, the huntress closing her eyes and let it cool the hot sweat forming on her, the paper in her hands and her bangs fluttering rhythmically before her. She could feel herself teeter back and forth in the peace. She was no longer at a campus for students being trained to protect kingdoms with lethal force. She was no longer burdened with school work. She simply had what she had set out to have since that morning: a perfect day.
Her alone time was interrupted by a soft hand resting on her shoulder, Ruby reluctantly opening her eyes and turning to see her sister beside her, taking in the view every bit as much as her younger sibling. Soon, they were joined by Blake and Weiss, the faunus marveling at the view while Weiss stared on with disinterest. "Wow, it's beautiful." Yang commented.
"It is. I can't believe we didn't notice it earlier this semester." Blake responded.
"I only wonder why. It was almost like we were catapulted into the Emerald Forest. Oh, wait..." Weiss began.
"Oh, Weiss, don't you remember? That's exactly what happened! Come on, get with the program, silly!" Ruby interjected, running her hand so rapidly through Weiss' scalp that it nearly set her hair on fire.
Ruby ceased her unintentional assault on Weiss, the heiress holding her smoking head as Yang asked, "So, Ruby, where do we go now?"
"Uh, what?"
"You know, for the scavenger hunt prize, treasure, whatever we're out her for?" Blake added.
"Um...oh, OH, yeah! It says we have to go down to the Emerald Forest to find."
"Wait, we have to go into Emerald Forest?! Are you out of your mind?! It's crawling with Grimm!" Weiss cried out.
"Well, the professors weren't exactly concerned when they threw us down there, and we handled it pretty well before a semester of school. This should be pretty easy now." Blake retorted.
"But...but..." Weiss stammered.
"Oh, come on, Weiss, where's your sense of adventure," Yang asked, slapping Weiss' back and the air from her body, "Besides, we've got this, just like Blake said!"
Weiss had to swallow a scream of anger and instead let out a defeated sigh, unsheathing and aiming her Myrtenaster ahead. The revolver on the rapier abruptly spun around, giving off a white glow as a small white glyph appeared at the tip of the sword, many larger ones appearing before the team that descended down into the forest floor like a staircase.
A jarring crack preceded the Dark Knight soaring back into the wall of the meeting room, groaning for a moment before regaining his bearings. Batman barely got to his feet before he had to dive out of the way of a podium soaring at him, the wooden stand crashing through the cinder block wall and obliterating itself on impact. The man responsible for the assault reared back in his battle suit in laughter, the robotic hands rested against the hips of the bald villain. Luthor was sent sailing back as Superman nailed him across the jaw with a loaded punch, the suited crook sailing back into the wall, knocking a decent dent into it, and slid down to his seat. Acting fast, Luthor tapped a button on the cuff of his left arm, getting to his feet with a cocky smile and crossed arms. Superman flew at the mechanized menace, bringing his fist back and unloading on Luthor once more. However, his force only worked against him as a formerly invisible force field now glowed bright, vivid green, a surge of electric current hitting Superman. The Man of Steel flew back with a cry of pain, crashing down on the now empty collection of chairs. "What's the matter, Superman, can't take a little blast of Kryptonite?"
"He may not, but I can." Batman rebutted, on a knee as he hurled a blinking batarang at Lex.
The shuriken spiraled ahead at an undaunted Luthor, letting off a burst of blinding blue energy as it hit the overshield of Luthor, breaking it like glass in an instant. Luthor growled at his now useless defenses and barreled ahead at Batman. The Dark Knight bided his time before springing up at the Luthor, clasping a hand over the bald man's head before being knocked aside by a backhanded swing of the robotic suit's arm. Luthor took notice to a blinking just above his line of vision, a batarang stuck to his forehead and exploding moments after he took notice. The suit stumbled backwards as smoked billowed out of the open top, clearing and revealing a charred but mostly unharmed Luthor, his pupil's dilated and ears ringing from the blast of the close-proximity flashbang. Taking the opportunity, Superman flew into Luthor and took him over his shoulder and taking them both through the stone wall. An instant later, Superman came crashing back through another portion of the wall, tumbling to a stop as Luthor stepped back out of the hole he had sent the Man of Steel through. "Can you hit me with more than one opportunistic blow at a time, Superman? It's getting to be quite annoying when you won't even fight fair at this rate."
"Then let me give it a try!" Batman countered.
Lex turned as Batman came soaring down at him with the aid of his grapple gun, cannonball kicking the billionaire right in the center of his face and sending his mech suit stumbling backwards once more. Batman landed on his feet and let the momentum assist him as he sprinted at Luthor, leaping up at him and twisting in mid-air before nailing him across the jaw with a jump spin kick. Batman used the inertia of his spin to continue on and hit Luthor with a left hook as well, nearly dislocating his jaw. Before he could react, Luthor's leg shot up and caught him in the chest, sending Batman flying up into the ceiling, hitting it hard before crashing back to the floor. Luthor stood above the defeated Knight, raising his foot to stomp him until Superman flew into him once more, turning upwards and taking them both through the ceiling.
While the arch enemies duked it out, Deathstroke stood above an unconscious guard, peering maliciously through his one eye hole. His attention was brought back as he heard the charging of an electrified baton behind him, the terminator turning to see he and the room full of villains was now surrounded by armed guards. "Slade, drop your weapons and get to your knees, you can't take all of us!"
"You're right, gentlemen, I can't beat you all at once. So I'll dismantle your petty army, one piece at a time."
Not taking kindly to his words, a trio of guards charged at Deathstroke, the assassin bringing his staff diagonally before him, the top end aimed in the guards' direction. The first guard to reach him took a wild, horizontal swing at his head, Deathstroke easily ducking it and jamming the end of his staff right beneath the guard's sternum. The guard doubled over, sucking air as the assassin rolled over his back, clubbing the next guard over the head head with his staff held like a baseball bat in one hand. Using the momentum, the assassin spun around to the guard he used as a vault and swung up into his ribs, knocking him into the air. He turned his attention to the last guard, stepped up and hit him with a side kick to the throat, sending him sailing back and taking a few guards down with him. Deathstroke turned back one more time as the guard he knocked into the air came back down, winding up and slamming his stuff into his stomach, sending the guard flying into the stage, his back popping on impact. "Why me?" he murmured pitifully.
Deathstroke found more guards advancing on him, spinning his energy lance before him before balancing it against his lower back with one hand, beckoning the crowd forward with a gesture of his hand. Before more guards could descend on and subdue the assassin, Killer Croc barreled through the crowd of guards advancing on Deathstroke, guards being flung in all directions like ragdolls. The Joker, hitching a ride on the freak's shoulder, saluted to him as he said, "Thanks for the ride old sport! I'll be sure to tip you an extra strip of raw bacon at the feeding pit tonight."
Killer Croc growled in disgust, he would have crushed the annoying clown had he not lept off his shoulder and dropkicked the nearest guard in the face. Joker reared back on his shoulders and kicked back up to his feet, his fist brought up before him for a round of fisticuffs. One guard carelessly strolled at him, baton lowered as the Joker put a hand on his hip and the other on the flower on his chest. The mad man gave the flower a squeeze and let loose a stream of yellow liquid on the unwitting guard's face. The man's face instantly began to bubble and the flesh sloughed off, the guard throwing himself to his back and clutching his scalding face as steam rose off of it, much to the sick laughter of the Joker. Not being taken so lightly anymore, four more guards moved in to subdue the Joker. Delighted by the attention, Joker waited as one guard hacked down at him with his sparking club, only for the clown to catch his wrist, wagging his finger before his face and tisking him. "Come on now, sport, you have to follow through and keep your eye," Joker continued, jamming his fore and middle finger into the man's eyes, "on the ball!"
With that, Joker reared his leg back and threw it forward, nailing the man directly in the crotch. The guard collapsed to the side, holding his groin, and Joker turned his attention to the other guards spreading out around him. The guards convened on the Joker at once, the clown charging at the one in front of him and put his heel into his manhood, pushing off of him and flipping over a pair of simultaneous baton swings, landing on his knees before shooting his fists to his sides and jabbing both men in the crotch on either side of him. The guard he vaulted off of limped towards him, the Joker producing a playing card and flinging it at the guard. The playing card spun right for the guard's face, the razor-sharp edge tearing into his cheeks and cutting a grotesque rat smile from the corner of his mouth to halfway up his cheek, the disfigured man turning and stumbling ahead in shock, screaming. Another guard bounded past the wounded one the Joker had dealt with, swinging for his temple but the clown leaned back and narrowly avoided the blow, the baton millimeters from the tip of his nose. Without regaining his vertical basis, Joker shot his hand up and clasped his fingers over the guard's testicles, the joy buzzer sending a jolt through his body and making him spout of electricity-induced babble. "Quite a shock to the boys, eh?" the Joker laughed.
The Joker's death grip was broken and the clown was sent flopping to his back as a guard's foot swung up under his chin. The clown brought his hand before him to block the incoming swing of the baton, pleading, "Please, not the face!"
His prayer was met when a blast preceded a bright line of energy flying through the guard's chest, a perfect circle carved through him. The corpse collapsed down onto the clown, the Joker using holding it over himself like a shield as more guards charged past him and towards Deathstroke.
Yet another guard took a swing at Deathstroke, the assassin dropping down beneath the hit and, using his free hand as a pivot, swept his legs around and took the guard off his feet. Deathstroke spun a full 180 and sprung backwards on his one hand, flipping feet-first onto his chest. Deathstroke executed one more back flip, rocketing the downed guard into his rising ally by the stage, knocking them both through the weakened wooden wall. The assassin landed in the middle of a circle of guards in a three-point stance. The circle collapsed in on the assassin, Deathstroke leaping up and performing the splits in mid-air, each foot connecting with a guard's jaw on each side of him. Simultaneously, the assassin raised his staff over his head and slammed it over the crown of the skull of the guard before him. The lance suddenly fired off a beam back at Deathstroke, the beam going under his crotch and right through the forehead of the guard behind him, dropping the hollow-skulled guard instantly. Deathstroke landed on his feet once more and caught a swing of one guard in his free hand, booting him in the chest and sending him flying off as another guard swung down from behind him. Acting on instinct, Deathstroke caught the attack behind him with his staff, swinging it upward and catching the guard beneath his chin, the man taken off his feet and flopping on the back of his head. He turned to the last guard of the circle cowering in fear, dropping his baton and raising his hand to surrender. "The biggest cowards are always the one's who bruise the most easily, aren't they?" Deathstroke pondered.
Deathstroke held his staff horizontally before him, glaring his fearful foe down. He swung one side of his staff ahead and caught the guard in the ribs, the swung the other side and caught him in the other. The guard doubled over as the assassin held his staff vertically and repeated the process, quickly striking the guard over the head and up into the crotch. Still hunkered over in pain, the guard couldn't save himself as Deathstroke hooked the staff around the back of his neck before unleashing a savage knee to the nose. The guard collapsed and the assassin was once more being approached by a small militia of guards. His eye catching a point of interest beyond them, Deathstroke charged the guards and, just before contacting them, used his staff to vault over the guards. He tucked into a ball as he barreled back through the air, catching himself with one hand and balancing himself on the metal chair the incapacitated Bane sat at, dropping his staff as he grabbed a tube hanging limply over the back of his chair and plugged it into a port on the back of Bane's mask. Deathstroke dropped down from the chair and regained his staff, a semicircle of guards all around him and shoving chairs out of the way. To their surprise, the assassin raised his staff and free hand above his head, stating, "Alright, you've got me, I surrender..."
The men froze in fear, staring in horror as a monstrous shadow was cast over Deathstroke, the assassin pointing his thumb back and continuing, "As soon as he does."
With that, Deathstroke lunged to the side as Bane held a folded chair in each head, slammed them over the unfortunate guards to be in their path. The heads of the guards poked through the flat seats amidst the jagged metal all around their faces, collapsing forward as Bane clasped his massive paws over the heads of two more guards, throwing them head-first into one another and crushing them inward on the point of impact.
Amidst the chaos, Penguin, Two-Face, and Harley Quinn fiddled with a remote control for the portal, having no luck starting it and being easily distracted by the action behind them. "Oi, this tin can lid is a real crock that don't even work! The only thing Lex Luthor gave us was extended sentences!" Penguin protested.
"Kinda hard to extend a life sentence, don't you think, Cobblepot?" the disfigured Two-Face speculated.
"Kinda hard for you to to lend me a hand isn't it, you hideous bastard?! Cut the muckin' around and help me!"
"Will you two quit fightin' already! I haven't seen Mister Jay in a few minutes in all this, I hope my puddin's okay! I'll kill anyone who lays a finger on him!" Harley worried, hefting a purple and green aluminum bat over her shoulder.
"If he would have told us the bloody button we press to open the damn thing, we wouldn't be in this mess as long as we've been, now would we?"
"Just shut up, King of the Lollipop Guild, and keep hitting buttons."
"Whatever you say, Burnt Marshmallow."
"Hey, knock it off! One more spat between you two idiots and I'll beat you around a bit with this here bat."
"How about this one does it for you?" a deep, haunting voice asked.
The three villains turned in unison to the threat, the Dark Knight towering before them. Harley brought her bat back and swung it at Batman, who easily caught the weapons and wretched it from her grip. Angry, Harley tried to catch the Dark Knight with a slap to the face, only for her wrist to be caught in his intense grip. "Jerk."
Before he could begin interrogating, Penguin and Two-Face closed in on Batman. Without an ounce of trouble, Batman stepped towards Harvey's direction and kicked him in the side of the knee, making it buckle and sending him down on it before another kick to the side of the head sent him skidding down the stage. Batman turned to a waddling Cobblepot planted his boot directly in the diminuitive man's face, sending him flopping back and rolling over his shoulders, groaning into the wooden stage. "Jeez, some help Luthor hired."
Batman took Harley's other wrist and brought her in, face-to-face as he demanded, "What is Luthor up to and why are you helping him?"
"Ha, wouldn't you like to know, Bats? You really think I'm gonna tell you that easy?"
"No, I didn't plan on it, so I'll make you talk."
"Oh, sheesh, gag me with a spoon, Batman. Save us both the time and ask him, he knows all about it."
"She's right," a spine-chilling, hoarse voice hissed, a sharp pain jabbing into his ribs, "no need to be afraid of the unknown, Batman!"
Try as he might, Batman could not resist the potency of the fear toxins now coursing in his body, falling to his knees, weak from the poison. He looked up as Harley regained her bat, her feminine figure replaced with that of a dark being with glowing red eyes and needle-like teeth, bringing the bat over her shoulder and declaring, "Batter up!"
Harley let the swing fly right into the Batman's temple, echoing with a metallic ting and sickening crack, knocking him out-cold. "Nice work, Scare-Man, now help me help these bozos get us in that portal!"
"As you wish, clown." Scarecrow replied, assisting Cobblepot to his feet as Harley did the same with Harvey.
As they assisted their comrades, a thunderous crashed overtook all other noise that was going on throughout the room, large hunks of concrete exploding form the ceiling as a massive blast erupted in the center of the room, sending inmates flying onto the stage and guards to the opposite side of the room. A shadow loomed out of the smoking crater, Superman standing tall and unscathed before it, glaring at the intimidated group of villains before him. "Come quietly and we won't have any more problems, I might not even have to break bones if you're good enough."
Their collective gulps were held off as a stomach-churning slice hit the air, Superman crying out in shock and agony before falling flat on his chest, a glowing, green axe lodged in his back. Luthor stood tall over his foe, making sure to step on his foe and press the axe deeper into his flesh as he walked by him. "I have to admit, I actually felt that last little thing you hit me with, Superman. Driving me up into the atmosphere and ramming me back down to Earth, that would have put down a lesser man. But, all to no avail to be me as usual. Now, if you don't mind," he continued, hoisting himself up on the stage and taking the remote from Penguin, "I have a plan to complete."
Bruce Banner sat alone once more in his lab, slumped over against the wall in deep slumber. For once, he was not plagued by horrific nightmares, able to sleep peacefully and without a dream. His peace was broken as the door to his office swung open once more, revealing his wealthy ally in a suit, tie, and briefcase in one hand. The two met eyes as Stark froze in place, looking around the room and saying, "Well, I guess Peter wanted me here to get an intervention started on your hoarding."
Bruce only stared up at his comrade with exhaustion, blandly stating, "So Peter did come through and get a hold of you. Now I'm starting to regret that decision."
"Glad to see you too, Bruce, so what's the full context of this situation that may cost my company millions?"
The groggy scientist forced himself up to his knees, the lightness of his head making him rear back on his heels and nearly lose his balance. The scientist snapped back as Tony quipped, "Oh, Bruce, this takes me back to my drinking days. Only it was me realizing how much of a waste I was making my life."
"Tony," Bruce growled, "now is not the time for this. We need Peter to get back here before we start anything else."
"So, now what? Just sit here quietly and stare at each other?"
"That's exactly what we should do."
Tony took a deep breath and let out a sigh, placing his briefcase down before seating himself on a stool behind him. The two stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity, Bruce's gaze zombie-like while Tony was wide-eyed and attentive, alternating his view to the scientist and his twiddling thumbs. Their bond of silence was ended as a sudden burst of light erupted between them, both men shielding their eyes as the blast left five costume-clad men before them, one's back radiating with metal arms while another in green floated above the rest on his signature glider. "Nice work, Spider-Man, would have been right on cue about five minutes ago." Tony jabbed, checking his platinum watch.
"Always a pleasure to do business with you too. Now, let's sit down and hammer out exactly what we have to do before we do anything else." Spider-Man responded.
"Wait," Bruce erupted, "Why is he here?!"
The group turned to look at what Bruce was distressed at, finding Deadpool jamming away on glass beakers with a pair of long stirring rods like he were a drummer, making cymbal crash and drum beating noises with his mouth. He brought his arms high overhead and slammed the glass rods down onto a pair of beakers, snapping the rods and shattering the beakers as he exclaimed, "Hello, Houston! OW!"
Bruce doubled over and vigorously rubbed his temples, muttering, "Why did you bring him?! You shouldn't have brought him here!"
"Bruce, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. But he wouldn't leave me alone, plus he got all of us out of Ravencroft. If I could have made him leave, I would have."
"Hey, are you guys talking about me," Deadpool inquired, appearing behind Spider-Man and the menagerie of villains, "I know, great drum solo. Hot for Teacher, if you couldn't tell. Hey, Brucey, what's up big guy?! Long time no see, how's the cucumber hangin'?"
Deadpool skipped to the scientist and lifted him up in a strong embrace, nuzzling his cheek against his chest as Bruce wheezed for air. "Deadpool, stop! Don't make him mad just yet, we have to figure out what we're going to do." Spider-Man ordered.
"Great plan so far, Spider, bringing him along for this. The world as we know it is already doomed." Goblin hissed, arms crossed as he stood tall on his glider.
"I can already tell this is going to end badly." Taskmaster added.
"Will you all shut up and get that idiot off of Bruce before he does something even dumber?" Tony demanded.
"Hey, that sounds like a challenge," Deadpool shouted, dropping Bruce and continuing, "If you thought that was dumb, wait until you see this!"
With that, Deadpool shot his head forward and drove the top of his head into Bruce's nose, the scientist flopping back with tears filling his eyes and holding his broken and bleeding appendage. "Deadpool, you idiot, stop!" Spider-Man screamed, a stream of web hitting the merc in the back and hauling him into the Spider.
The Spider hoisted the merc up by a fistful of Deadpool's costume over his chest, continuing, "Do you have any idea what you've just done?! You've opened Pandora's Box!"
"Oh, please, Spidey, we have more to worry about than music streaming, look." Deadpool replied turning and pointing back at Bruce.
The men looked on in horror as Bruce was on all fours, heaving and letting off primal growls as every vein in his body was forced to the surface. His eyes shot open as he looked up at men before him, his irises bright green, blood vessels bulging out of his neck as he pleaded in an inhumanly deep voice, "Help...me!"
Soon, the scientist's skin turned greener and greener, growing in size as he did so until his lab coat was nothing but shreds on the ground, his jeans now barely functioning as shorts on the giant that had appeared. The Hulk slowly rose to his feet, his face furrowed in fury as he lurched forward and let out a titanic roar. The heroes and villains were petrified in awe, Deadpool putting the back of his hand to his cheek and whispering to Spider-Man, "So, did anyone else where their brown pants today?"
The Hulk barreled ahead at the unmoving beings, Otto snapping from his trance and shooting his top tentacles ahead at the giant. The behemoth didn't even flinch as he caught the clawed ends in both of his massive paws, retching them forward and sending the genius flying at him. Hulk brought his bulky foot and caught the soaring Octopus directly in the chest, sending him sailing back into the crowd and taking the Goblin off his glider, the duo collapsing in a winded heap on the ground. "Spider-Man, come with me, I've got a plan!" Taskmaster instructed.
The skull and spider flanked the Hulk, Taskmaster beginning, "Alright, first we..."
The villain was cut off by the Hulk back hand him across the head, sending Taskmaster flying into the wall with a ear-popping thud. Spider-Man now stared down an enraged Hulk by himself, bringing his fists before him and saying, "Alright, Bruce, let's do this."
The Hulk swung first with with a massive slap of his right hand, Spider-Man folding backwards, avoiding the blow and hitting the Hulk under the chin with a backflip kick. He was caught in mid-air by the shin in the Hulk's massive hand, the Hulk slamming him about like a ragdoll as Deadpool charged in with swords drawn, crying, "Hey, get off my buddy, you fiend!"
Hulk took notice to the charging merc and brought Spider-Man overhead, using him like a hammer and slamming him down on Deadpool, crushing them both into the floor as Deadpool groaned, "Hey, buddy, get off me!"
Hulk stepped over them both and advanced towards the opposite end of the room, a slate white, concrete wall all that was there. Before the Hulk could take a half a dozen steps, a familiar voice cried out, "Bruce, stop!"
The Hulk froze in place, slowly turning itself around step-by-step to find Tony pleading with it, "You can't do this. Peter and I are your friends. You have to fight this and help us help you. I know you can hear me in there."
The Hulk crept towards Tony, breathing heavily through his nostrils down on the billionaire he towered over, his expression seemingly calm. He slowly brought his fist up before Tony's face, instantly shooting his forefinger out and flicking Tony back like a fly into a metal cabinet, denting it in. The Hulk let off another victorious roar before turning and charging at the wall. As he neared it, the behemoth of rage reared back on one foot with a boulder-sized fist cocked and throwing it forward. Several things coincided with this action. The air around the Hulk ignited, encasing the giant in an inferno like a meteor. A shockwave of energy was emitted from him as well, throwing everyone behind him against the walls in a heap. In the middle of it all, Tony was screaming and holding out a hand to stop him in vain, "NO!"
The moment Lex pressed the correct combination of buttons, all Hell broke loose. The machine's lights lit up far brighter than he expect, the glass bulbs exploding in seconds. The black, swirling vortex that was the wormhole appeared in the metal ring but, instead of being contained, it grew in size until it appeared to be a large rip in the fabric of reality itself at the end of the stage. It had now radiated an intense blue light, alternating striations of blue and black appearing within it in a traceable pattern. Luthor reared back and tried with all his might to avoid the immense force sucking him in, throwing himself to his stomach and digging his fingers into the wooden floor of the stage. It was all for not as he was sucked back, his body raised off the ground and fingers tear four long, deep channels in the floor until he was ripped off the ground, tumbling into it and screaming in fear. He vanished instantly upon contacting the void, the other villains sucked helplessly in along with him. The vortex only steadily grew in size with its new victims, shattering the stage and sending a crack straight down through the floor and into the earth. The chasm dug its way down until it hit an air pocket deep within the Earth's crust beneath Arkham, light shining down on a dark gray figure, a pair of piercing red eyes breaking through the rest of the darkness.
Back in New York City, the Hulk had torn an identical rift into the space-time continuum, the infuriated and ignited giant absorbed into the vortex immediately. The room now basked in the eerie near-darkness, the room barely illuminated by the seemingly intense blue light coming from before them. "What the hell is that?!" Tony cried as he and the rest of the group reconvened a safe distance away.
"That's one of the things Bruce was afraid of," Peter shouted, the men barely able to hear him over the tornado of sound before them, "He said punching wormholes into reality like this was two weeks away then said it may be sooner. But one day?! Jesus!"
"Everybody, get back!" Tony ordered.
The men all tried their best to escape, Taskmaster turning to hightail it before he was arched backwards by the force of his cape being sucked back. Eventually, the skull was taken off his feet and sent flying into the wormhole, vanishing instantly upon contact. Doc Oc shot his tentacles back behind him, the spear-like appendages skewering the stone wall and opening inside it, anchoring him in. Stark tried to sprint for his briefcase, reaching out for it and being a narrow fingertip out of his grasp before it flew back and nailed him between the eyes, sending him tumbling through the air and into the rift. Spider-Man shot a web back at the wall and held onto it for dear life, the webslinger flailing madly in the Gale sucking force while the Green Goblin put his glider into overdrive. The fire exiting its reared burned massive, bright, and hot, barely moving him forward at all under the extreme forces pulling it back. Deadpool, however, darted towards the rifts, shouting at the top of his lungs, "LEEROY JENKINS!"
The merc lept into the air, slapping his hand together and maintaining a straight posture as he dove into the rift. "What an idiot." Spider-Man muttered.
"Only a fool calls out the fools, Spider!" Goblin declared.
Spider-Man looked over his shoulder to find the barely advancing madman hefting a metallic pumpkin with bat-like wings. Before he could utter a plea, Goblin hurled the razor bat at Spider-Man's web just before his hands, slicing it in two and sending the shocked webslinger flying back towards the vortex. "Oh, no, I'm not going down without you two!"
In one last effort, Spider-Man shot his hands forward and unleashed a pair of weblines, one sticking in the Goblin's lower back and the other in Doc Oc's chest. His backward advancement was ended with a snap has he was held in place for a moment by the super villains, Goblin unable to control his glider's movement as it spun around, rocketing him straight into the portal and ripping Otto free as a result, he and the Spider plummeting into the wormhole, leaving it only to steadily expand larger and larger.
The scene was split between two different universes. In one, a towering, red demon sit atop an equally massive throne, the sky a dark crimson above his resting head. The demon's eyes, all four, shot wide open as gust of wind began to blow up on him. The overlord looked up and his confusion turned to an absolutely evil grin as he saw a portal growing rapidly above him, his eyes alone being able to see a land that once nearly belonged to him. Jump City was now in his sights.
Meanwhile, a dark cell was abruptly illuminated by another, smaller portal, revealing a man clad in metal armor from head-to-toe, a green hood over his head and extending down his back like a cape. His mad, bloodshot eyes were greeted by the sight of a large T-shaped tower just beyond the wormhole. Suddenly, four glowing red eyes appeared in the portal, a deep, demonic voice beckoning, "Victor von Doom, fulfill my destiny and you will have whatever it is a heart like yours desires."
Team RWBY wandered towards the ruins deep within the Emerald Forest, Ruby looking over her directions once more with a gleeful smile as Yang and Weiss stared on at the magnificent ruins. Further back, Blake's faunus ears were perked up high as she looked towards the heavens, calling out, "Hey guys, we've got company."
The trio turned to see what their comrade was talking about, only finding her looking straight up and pointing as well. The girls tentatively turned their eyes to the sky to find dozens of bodies growing larger and coming closer to the ground.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to A Vale between Worlds! I have to agree with everyone and say it has been FAR too long but I hope it is worth the wait for all of you! I'm really sorry I couldn't get this up sooner. Work, school, and other events kept me pretty preoccupied and I was trying to make this as good of a chapter as possible since it's the first big fight scene of many more to come! No need to worry about a Merc with a Mouth crashing our party, he's currently trapped between dimensions at the moment and unable to interrupt.
*Muffled* What are you talking about you idiot?! You locked me out of your room.
Hey, this is my office!
Oh, yeah, an office where you write bad FanFiction and watch porn, how convenient!
Whatever, I'm not getting into it any deeper with you. See you guys for four more updates on this and then we switch gears to GTA: Vale! See you all next time and thank you all so much for your support, I can't express how much it means to me.
HA, GAAAAAAAY!
Ignoring that, leave a little love here, on my other stuff, and with my friends, and don't forget to cite your DAM sources!