Z.R. Stein
In Shades of Red and Gold – A RWBY/Avengers crossover AU fic.
I do not own the characters to either series in any way.
The votes are in, and wow. I did not expect that. Weiss was the second most popular pick to be paired with Ruby, edging out everyone else by a hefty margin. However, Weiss was utterly swamped by the vote count for Peter Parker. The webslinger pulled in a whopping 44% of the vote! Seriously! So, with that settled, the official Ruby pairing will be Ruby x Peter Parker. Someone come up with a ship name for that.
I promised to answer your guys' questions, so here goes.
Guest asked: Quick question: Will the events of The Avengers take place at some point, or is this story's main focus on Tony's relationship with the girls?
I don't see this story ending anytime soon, given its popularity, so yes, the Avengers storyline will take place eventually, though the focus of this story is always going to be on the Stark family.
Alternet RedSkys asked: Is Qrow going to throw another wrench in Obi's plan?
Hooooh yeah. Qrow is going to throw a big old monkey wrench in there. Pissing off a veteran Navy SEAL isn't the smartest move.
Gravenimage asked: why don't you make Tony beat the crap of Obadiah in his iron man suit that would be cool.
Wait...doesn't he do that in the movie anyways? Or did you mean when Obi doesn't have his suit on. That sounds painful.
theDarkRyder asked: Just one question, will you keep to the MCU timeline, and will events like Tony being kidnapped by the twelve rings, the Battle of New York, and Civil War still happen, or will you deviate from the timeline?
I'm trying to stick very closely to the timeline with this story, so the time gaps between movies will be present (and filled in with cavity inducing fluff). Which means Ruby will be twenty one by the time Civil War rolls around (if I ever get that far).
That last question brings up an interesting point. I really, really like fifteen year old Spiderman in Civil War. But if I stick to the timeline, Ruby will be much older than him (like, illegally old) when they meet. So, do you guys think I should bring in Spidey sooner? Maybe during the events of the Avengers? That would be two years from the events of Iron Man 1. So, they'd be the same age, and we can have the cuteness of Tom Holland's Spiderman and Ruby going on dates. The only downside is a slight break from the timeline with regards to Spiderman himself.
Well anyways, that note is way too long. On to the chapter!
The date was May 4th, 2010, and Yang Xiao Long was thanking every deity in existence that she was able to spend her summer in Malibu.
She was sprawled out on a beach chair, an orange and yellow bikini leaving her toned body exposed to catch some rays. The Southern California sun was out in full force, filling her body with a pleasant warmth from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. All in all, it was the perfect day to go the beach. Luckily for Yang, Tony just happened to have his own private stretch of sand and surf.
Thinking of her adopted father brought a small smile to his lips. He may have received his first strike yesterday after his fight with Obadiah Stane, but he'd bounced back admirably. After spending the night with them on the couch, watching a show that he clearly wasn't a huge fan of (to be fair, Yang wasn't either; if she did watch anime, she preferred something less weird, like Dragon Ball Z), he had tucked them into bed along with Pepper and left. The following morning, Tony had proposed that the four of them celebrate Star Wars day by marathoning all three original Star Wars movies (all of them agreeing that while the prequels had their good points, they didn't deserve a spot on Star Wars Day). Until then, Yang had advocated to spend some time outside while Tony and Ruby stayed hunkered down in the garage like some kind of technologically advanced mole people. Seriously, her sister needed to get some sun, she was starting to look like a vampire.
Shaking her head, Yang looked out towards the water. The waves weren't very large today, the perfect height for a nice dip.
"Mmm...maybe in an hour or so. Not really in the mood for a swim right now."
Laying back down and turning over, Yang took the pair of aviators off her face (swiped from Uncle Qrow) and settled down into her chair. The sun really was nice. It almost felt like she could just...drift...off…
Within a few minutes, Yang was snoring heartily away as she slept on the beach, the sun beating down merrily on her exposed back.
. . .
"OW! Ah cha cha, be careful with that."
"Yang, you're never going to get better if I don't put this on you." said Ruby as she rubbed aloe vera onto Yang's shoulders.
"Honestly, Yang, what were you thinking? You look like a lobster."
"I didn't plan on falling asleep out there, ok! It just kinda happened!"
"Yang come back in yet? I need to—woah, that is one hell of a sunburn."
Yang scowled at Tony until Ruby started rubbing again, her face twitching from the coolness of the cream and the heat of her skin.
"What did you want to tell us, Pops? Ouch."
Tony grinned at Yang's plight before clearing his throat.
"Right. I'm going to be leaving tomorrow morning, have to fly down to Arizona for a weapons test. Should be back in a few days. It was supposed to be fine, but the guy who was gonna present it backed out, and Pepper's been haranguing me to fill the spot since yesterday. So uh...don't burn down the house or anything while I'm gone."
Ruby rolled her eyes and said "Yeah, like that'd happen. Right Yang? We would never light something on fire just to watch it burn."
"Hey, I'm not like that!"
"Remember the time you nearly burned the garage down?"
"...I wanted to see what a gasoline fire looked like...I'm not a pyro, I swear!"
Ruby giggled and said "Mhmm. Right. Keep telling yourself that."
Tony flicked his eyes between the two of them.
"Should I be worried?"
Ruby shook her head, removing her hands from Yang's back. She saluted Tony crisply.
"Don't you worry Captain, I'll keep her in line."
Tony chuckled and clapped his hands together, saying "Ok then. If you two are done, why don't we get started on that marathon? After all, it isn't every day we celebrate the one truly auspicious America holiday. Plus...I might've gone out and bought costumes to wear…"
"Oh oh oh! I want to be Luke Skywalker!" Ruby yelled, her hand raised in the air.
"Not sure I can dress up with this sunburn." Yang commented as she stretched, wincing.
Tony stroked his chin before saying "Well...you could be Leia. We'd need to pin up your hair into the little—"
"I'm gonna stop you there. No. Just...no. No one touches the hair."
Tony raised his hands in surrender and said "Alright, alright. I'll just go get my Darth Vader mask and we can begin. Keep your pants on, firecracker."
As Tony left, Ruby noticed the melancholy look on Yang's face.
"What?"
Yang looked up, a small, sad smile on her lips.
"Mom used to call me that...firecracker. I know Uncle Qrow does too...but hearing him say it...I don't know. It feels nice, I guess, but at the same time…" Yang sniffed and rubbed her eyes before continuing "Never mind. Let's just...let's just get this started."
Yang moved to turn away, but stopped as she felt Ruby's hand on her arm. Her sister was observing her with soft silver eyes full of understanding.
"I miss her too. Don't think that I don't...and I understand. But you know what Mom would say."
Yang nodded, her smile still sad.
"Never stop moving forwards."
"Never stop moving forwards." Ruby agreed. In that moment Yang thought that, despite her age and general naivete, Ruby was stronger than she probably ever would be. She had the same light in her that Summer always seemed to have, a light that Yang could never quite emulate, that innocent glow that refused to be stifled. Yang was a flickering flame that grew and roared, then waned and whispered. She was heat and fire and embers, but Ruby was more than that; she was constant, unwavering, and a beautiful soul. Oddly enough, she didn't feel jealous of her sister, not begrudging her similarity to Summer; no, Yang was proud of Ruby, and more than a little mournful. If only Mom could see her as she grew up.
Ruby squeezed her arm and let go. Within a split second, melancholy was replaced by excitement, and Ruby was back to her normal exuberant, bubbly self.
"Come on, we've got Star Wars waiting! And we get to watch it on that TV that's like five hundred inches wide!"
Yang laughed and shoved her sister, a genuine smile gracing her lips.
"Race you there!"
"Ha, you can't beat me Yang! You don't have the Force!"
"Shut up, and Leia does have the Force!"
. . .
Tony Stark found himself at a bit of a loss.
Not even a week ago, he was a different man...an empty man, it seemed, if one compared that man to the one he was now. As his daughters (finally getting used to it, and damned if it didn't make his once hollow heart fill up every time he said it) cheered at the screen as Luke flew his way down the Death Star trench, he felt himself smiling. They really were something special, both of them. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy...well, actually, he could. It had been the day that Howard and Mom had left for a drive on Long Island and never came back. Funny how things worked out like that.
For the first time in his life, Tony was beginning to understand what being a father meant, and it terrified him. He knew how many scary people there were out there, some of whom were his enemies. People who would like nothing more than to tear his little family apart, for money, for revenge, or just for no reason at all besides amusement. Fear, apparently, was a very large part of being a parent.
Tony started slightly as the Death Star blew up, burying his feelings like he usually did. He was a grown man, damn it! Now was not the time to show weakness, especially not in front of his girls.
"Ok short stack, what say you put in the next disk? Daylight's a wasting, and there's another Death Star that needs to be blown up."
With a nod, Ruby sped over to the player and ejected the New Hope disk, switching it out within seconds. Yang gingerly leaned forwards and picked up a piece of popcorn out of a bowl set on the low table in front of them.
"Hey, Pops?"
Tony turned to look at her, grinning.
"Mmm?"
"How did you manage to get your hands on this version? From what I've heard it's almost impossible to find the original unedited versions...you know, Han shooting first and all that…"
Tony's grin turned to a smirk, and he said "Well...when you've got my resources, it's not all that hard. I was able to get my hands on the original VHS version and have JARVIS convert them to high def. Unfortunately, when I emailed George Lucas about them, he told to shove them up my ass...well, he didn't exactly say that, but the sentiment was there."
Yang rolled her eyes, grinning as well.
"Dumbass. If he released the originals he'd get fans off his back and make even more money. But...whatever. Ready, Ruby?"
"Ready!" Ruby threw herself back onto the couch, body flopping down and brown robe sprawling everywhere. She unclipped her lightsaber and began to make swishing noises with it.
Tony pressed play, and the familiar word crawl began, the three of them settling back to celebrate the holidays in earnest.
. . .
Tony Stark found himself in Arizona two days later, parading around in front of a herd of military men (what was the proper term for that, Tony wondered. Maybe they were called a gaggle. Or a murder...yeah, that sounded appropriate) as he showed them the the Accelerated Wave Explosion, or AWE. The weather in Yuma was stifling, which was multiplied by the crisp suit that Tony was wearing. Really, it was way too warm to be wearing a jacket here in May. Of to one end, he could see Rhodey standing at attention like as good little soldier.
"Gentleman...sometimes, manpower just isn't enough, and soldiers on the ground find themselves at a loss. Sometimes, the bad guys are well and truly holed up and nothing short of an orbital bunker buster is going to run them out of their fortresses. Or at least, that's the way it was until this was made." Tony rapped his hand on the shell of the cement block sized device. "THe AWE is the first of its kind. A portable explosive that is uniquely suited to making an entrance with more style than yours truly. With this at their disposal, no soldier will ever be without the tools necessary to penetrate a building."
Tony waved his hand, and the volunteer nodded. Placing the explosive on a wall, he pressed a button and activated the clamps that stuck the block of contained power to the stone. Withdrawing a few paces, the soldier activated a controller and pressed another button, beginning the countdown.
The sound was surprisingly quiet for an explosive, which told Tony that the thing had worked. The AWE actually wasn't all that powerful, especially for being so large. What made the bomb special was the method in which is destroyed. Instead of a chemical explosive, the AWE utilized directional sound waves that vibrated at such a high frequency that they turned any solids into dust. It was small and light enough to be carried by one man, and powerful enough to burrow through five meters of stone or two meters of steel in nanoseconds.
Tony however, felt no pride in it. He'd been questioning himself a lot these days, having kids did that to you, apparently. He wondered if this was really the legacy he wanted to leave behind for Yang and Ruby. Did they really want a butcher and murderer as a Father? Tony knew the names that some people called him; the Merchant of Death title had been circling around for years, spoken of in office hallways and passed around university classrooms. Could he really continue on like this, making tools of death and destruction while the rest of the world paid the price?
As the generals and politicians clapped and cheered, Tony tuned them out and walked away. He'd have to talk to Obi...and wasn't that conversation going to turn out well? Tony grimaced; there was no way in hell Obadiah would go for that. Stark Industries was built on weapons development. Over seventy percent of the company's products were sold to the US military and its allies. While Tony had diversified some,l it wasn't nearly enough to make such a radical change.
He supposed he could talk to the girls, see what they thought about it. Both of them hadn't mentioned anything about it, so they either didn't care that he made weapons or had been avoiding the subject. TOny hoped it was the former; he didn't want to lose points because of Obi's stubbornness...again. Tony sucked in a frustrated breath through his teeth. His dad's old business partner may have been his mentor, but that didn't mean that Tony was blind to some of Obi's less stellar aspects. Obi was all about the money and power. He wouldn't go along with shutting down weapons development unless Tony had something big to show him.
"Hey, Tony, what's up, you look like someone ran over your dog?"
Tony looked up to see Rhodey grinning lopsidedly at him, eyes twinkling.
"Nothing. Thinking about how damn hot it is out here. Why can't we have testing grounds in the Caribbean? Or better yet, Alaska. We can blow up some snowmen with military grade equipment. Shredding old Frosty with a rocket launcher sounds pretty fun, right?"
Rhodey rolled his eyes and said "Sure. Your presentation was good by the way. We still up for drinks tonight? It's on me."
Tony scratched the back of his head.
"I...I don't know. I've been trying to cut back."
Rhodes' eyebrows rose and he asked "Woah, you're really going all out with this parenting thing." Tony started to protest but Rhodey cut him off "Oh, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just surprised is all. Never thought I'd hear the day Tony Stark would turn down drinks for someone else. If you don't want to drink, we can just hang at the club. I've got some Air Force guys I'm with who can tag along."
After a moment's thought, Tony nodded, his usual Stark Grin™ on his face.
"I can drink one or two. Just telling you now, Cabbage Patch, I'm buying the most expensive thing on the menu. You're paying, you promised, no take backs."
"You are the worst date, Stark."
"I feel offended. I am the best date. I'm worth at least four stars on Yelp."
Rhodey pursed his lips, confused.
"Isn't that for restaurants?"
"...shut up."
"Excuse me, gentleman!"
Tony and Rhodey turned, seeing a general approaching. One whom Stark was familiar with, unfortunately.
"General Ross."
"Sir."
Thaddeus Ross saluted Rhodes and nodded to Tony.
"That was a very impressive demonstration there, Stark. Very impressive, I'll be requesting an order or two of those for my boys. I look forwards to the unveiling of the Jericho on the 18th, as I know quite a few of my colleagues are as well. Will you be showing that off too? "
Tony's smile turned a little forced.
"...why of course, General. Why wouldn't I?"
Ross smiled as well, a knowing gleam in his eye. Tony felt a powerful urge to wipe that smug look off of his face.
"Will you be there? Last I heard you had a little green problem you've been chasing."
And just like that, the smile was gone, and Ross looked borderline apoplectic. Mission accomplished.
"How did you find out about that?"
Tony smiled nastily, bowing his head just enough to be mocking.
"I have my sources. Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be."
Tony and Rhodey turned away, Rhodes forgoing to salute to catch up with Tony. Ross glared at their backs before he too turned to go, muttering under his breath.
"You better have a damn good reason for making me do this, Stane."
. . .
Back in Malibu, Ruby and Yang were putting the finishing touches on their shared room. In only four days, the space had been fully painted and filled with a bevy of new furniture, ranging from a massive array of bookshelves (filled up with all of Ruby's new books) to a race car bed modelled after a Ferrari (Yang had insisted. Hey, if she was rich now, why not splurge a little?). Both of them had large desks and shiny new Stark Industries computers, complete with rolling chairs that moved up and down that Ruby had spent several hours playing with.
Grunting, Yang heaved upwards as she placed her old boombox down on her side of the room, sticking it on top of her desk.
"Anything else?"
Ruby skipped out of the room and called back "Nope! That's the last of it. We are officially moved in!"
Yang groaned and flopped down onto her mattress, tired from moving everything too large for Ruby to handle.
"Thank Oum. Why did we get such large furniture?"
"Because the bigger it is, the better it is!"
Yang smirked at Ruby and asked "Really, didn't know you thought that way Rubes."
Ruby scrunched her eyes, confused, before she flushed red.
"Ew, Yang, gross, get your mind out of the gutter!"
Yang chuckled, in her element.
"Oh Rubes, you should know by now that my mind never leaves the gutter. And don't think I haven't caught you looking at my Captain America comics, raking your virgin eyes over that fine set of abs."
Ruby managed to stutter out "I-I'm not...I didn't...um."
"You weren't? And you also totally weren't ogling Leia when we watched Return of the Jedi two days ago, I suppose."
Ruby didn't respond, doing her best impression of a fire hydrant.
Yang laughed for quite some time at the expression on her sister's face before finally deciding to let her off the hook.
"Don't get too worked up, Ruby, I don't mind. It happens to everyone. And I'm totally ok with whatever way you decide to swing. I can see where you're coming from though. It is very hard for me to choose sometimes too. Although I am a sucker for some nice, hard—"
"Yang!"
"I was gonna say muscles! Get your mind out of the gutter, Ruby."
Ok, so maybe she wasn't quite ready to let Ruby go that easily. Her sister was just so adorable when she was flustered.
Right, there we go. Chapter 6 is done.
Yes, part of Obadiah's plan to make sure Tony is in Afghanistan involves Ross talking to him. This is only one part though.
And yes, Ruby will most likely be bi in this story. For that one reviewer that didn't want to see yuri, don't worry, there are only going to be references to it every now and then. She's going to be with Peter and Peter alone, though not for a while.
Who do you guys think is worse: Obi or Ross? Drop a review and let me know. Until next time, I've been Z.R. Stein, and you are awesome.