AN: Happy Halloween one and all! And of course, a happy birthday to a certain lovely young huntress that we all know and adore like nobody's business.
Ruby: [smiling giddily as she laughs cutely] Aw you shut your stupid face!
AN: How can I when I speak nothing but the truth? Especially when it concerns such delightful cinnamon rolls like you?
Weiss: Excuse me? Are you going to actually get this show on the road, or are you planning on making this whole meeting just be about you showering our dolt with compliments and statements like that the whole time?
Yang: Yeah, some of us would actually like to get going with this already.
AN: Sheesh! What's with you two? I mean, Weiss I can already draw some conclusions about, you know, being as she is the Ice Queen...
Weiss: Hey!
AN: But her AND Yang? What's up with that?
Blake: I'm pretty sure that they're just upset about how they didn't really get to do very much in this Meeting. Or even got that many lines now that I think about it.
AN: Well it's not like they didn't appear at all, unlike back in the Ben 10 Meeting where the only member of your team to show up was Ruby...But I do see what you mean about why they would be upset over having such minor roles, being a pair that are typically part of the main cast of characters. Anyways, today's Meeting, once again, takes place on Remnant, and for the most part, happens slightly before and during the beginning stages of Volume 1 of RWBY, with the last bit happening...well, I'm sure you'll figure out when it happens when we get to it. More on the exact details of this Meeting in the ending note, but for now, how about we roll the film, shall we? Take it away, birthday girl!
Ruby: AH! Oh boy! I can't wait! Oh, right...Today the heroes of RWBY meet the amazing, spectacular, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!
Blake: Wait, didn't we do this one already?
AN: Uh no. That was the MARVEL Universe, and while that does include Spider-Man, it was not entirely focused on just him. It was Spidey and several other MARVEL heroes. This one is more Spidey-centric, hence why it's his name in the title line. Swinging right along now.
Ruby: Don't you mean moving right along?
AN: I know what I said...
I do not own anything from any of the RWBY franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Spider-Man
The shadows of night rested over the Kingdom of Vale and the city of the same name as well. For some, it would be a time of calm and rest, while for others it served as just another time when you went to work. Sadly, the latter did not only apply to folks who worked night shifts or jobs that only became open at night; the night time also happened to be when the various types of criminal scum came out and about. Even if the world was in a time of peace, there would always be someone looking to cause more trouble than any decent person on Remnant wished for, in some places more than others, but recently something had changed, at least in Vale. Criminals had become a little more nervous about prowling around at night, in some places more than others, and many of the ones who did still find some courage to go out and cause trouble ended up being easily apprehended. The shocking thing was that it was not the police who had been capturing said crooks. They had simply been the ones to slap the cuffs on and cart the scum of Vale off to prison. No, someone else had started cleaning up Vale's streets, and while it could easily be a huntsman or huntress just doing their civic duty, the rumors and stories that had started flying around did not seem to paint that kind of picture for some people.
Those rumors and stories were the very reason why a certain pair of amber eyes currently scanned the city from the rooftops tonight, all while keeping both sets of ears open for any sounds that could lead to her quarry. Blake Belladonna had just arrived in Vale a few days ago, after she had…tended to her resignation from the White Fang. After getting here though, Blake had wanted to just lay low, keep to herself, and make sure that neither Adam nor anyone else in the Vale branch of the formerly peaceful activist group could find her. Yes, she still intended to do something that could help the Faunus and at the same time right the wrongs that the White Fang had committed, but it would be a lot harder for her to do that if any of her former comrades killed her, or worse, took her back to Adam. Her plans quickly started changing when she began to see and hear a lot of things about the Vale Branch of the White Fang.
Some of the things Blake heard had been about how peaceful protests would turn violent, which unfortunately was not too terribly uncommon, and others were about various businesses being attacked for mistreatment of Faunus. Again, not at all uncommon, especially in the cases of businesses either owned by or were extensions of the Schnee Dust Company. No, what stuck out to Blake was just how many of these violent acts had taken place, and had been clearly caused by the White Fang with little to no provocation. Worse still, it looked like the White Fang were actually stealing supplies of Dust from various stores. Blake knew that the organization needed to use the much needed energy source and ammunition as much as anyone else on Remnant, but she did not think that they would go to such drastic measures to get those supplies. Still, that did not pique her interest nearly as much as the other weird story she had started hearing about.
This one actually tied back to the rumors and tales that had been circulating about the mysterious individual who had been cleaning up crime on Vale's city streets, and Blake would not have given those tales a second thought had she not heard about how said person had also interfered in a few White Fang operations as well. Apparently whoever this individual was, they had skills that could be compared to most average huntsmen, but they only ever exercised those skills against the criminals in the city. What really got Blake's attention was that this person never seemed to use any weapons, and almost always left the criminals tied up in something that seemed a lot like spider webs. To Blake, that seemed to indicate that whoever this person was, they might be some kind of spider Faunus, or had a Semblance that granted them similar abilities. Hearing how there might be another Faunus going out of their way to stop the White Fang's more deplorable acts definitely grabbed her attention, but she was pretty frustrated over just how little information there was about them. Even the gender of this spider-person seemed to be in question, because while some stories said that it was a man, others claimed they were a woman. Luckily, Blake had at least some confirmation in that regard, even if she had found it due to a lucky, random accident.
It had been just a couple of nights after she first got into the city, and Blake had been trying her utmost to avoid anything and everything related to the White Fang, be it the Vale branch or in general. It was much easier to avoid them if you knew what signs to look for that would tell if you were close, and Blake had just spotted one such sign. She had been more than ready to turn around and head the other way, when she heard someone crying out. Whether it was in fear or pain, she had not been sure, but when Blake turned to the source of the cries, she instantly felt her cat ears flattening against her head beneath her bow while her eyes narrowed angrily at the sight of some White Fang grunts actually pushing around a human woman and her child. From what Blake could tell, the two were scared and completely harmless, so there should have been no point in doing anything to them. Apparently these goons did not get that memo and were now just roughing the mother and child up like a street gang looking for protection money or something. Seeing this made Blake forget about her desire to steer clear of the White Fang for a moment, if for no other reason than the chance for her to give these thugs a taste of their own medicine, and she had just started reaching for her weapon when someone else beat her to the punch.
Right when the White Fang thugs had started to close in on the mother and child, something snatched their weapons out of their hands with thin, almost unnoticeable ropes, until finally, the last weapon was snatched away right when the person responsible had dropped down between the Faunus and their targets. The man in question was decked out in a rather strange, skin-tight outfit, even by the standards of some huntsmen that covered him from head to toe, not leaving one single, physical detail about him exposed. The outfit itself was colored red and a very, very dark blue that could easily be mistaken as black, and on his back, Blake could see a large, silver spider-symbol. When the man stood up, she quickly caught sight of a second, smaller spider-emblem on his chest, this one in black, and thanks to her sharp eyes, she also managed to see that the red portions of his suit had a very clear web pattern running over them. The final thing of note was the eyes on his mask, namely how heavily tinted the white lenses of its eyes were, and how they seemed to open and narrow in a manner similar to an old camera shutter. Aside from his attire, the only other clues Blake gained about his identity were that, physically speaking, he was not only very fit but likely very young as well, and the latter was only made more apparent when he spoke.
"Hey fellas. Didn't your parents ever teach you not to pick someone smaller than you? It's a pretty important lesson, you know. Where do you think that saying about big things in small packages came from," the arachnid-themed man had quipped as he proceeded to fight the White Fang thugs. Then again, considering how not one single hit ever landed on him and how easily he managed to subdue the White Fang before trapping them in webs, calling it a fight may have been a little too kind. It did not help that everything was over in just a few seconds, and once he had ensured all the bad guys were down, Blake expected him to try being dramatic and swing away into the night like some comic book hero. He certainly looked the part of someone playing superhero.
She ended up pleasantly surprised when the masked man turned to the would-be victims, knelt down, and kindly asked, "Are you two okay?"
"Y…Yes," the mother nervously replied, holding her child close as if afraid of what this man might do to them. "Who…why did you…?"
"Why did I what," the masked man asked.
"Why did you help us? Aren't you…"
The masked man glanced over to the thugs he had just defeated and tied up when he noticed the woman looking over his shoulder at them, and soon put two and two together. "What, you think I'm with those losers," he asked with an obvious laugh in his voice. "No way! For one thing, I'm the good guy. You know, saving cats from trees, pulling people out of burning buildings, that type of person. And for another thing, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm clearly a lot smarter, at least when it comes to fashion sense."
"Um…what?" Frankly, Blake had to agree with the woman's thoughts, albeit with a little more offense. She may be a former member now, but she did still have a little bit of pride in how she had once been a member of the White Fang. The fact her choice of colors for her own attire was not that different had nothing to do with it.
"You're kidding right? You really don't see it," he asked. "I mean, just look at them! They wore white to a street fight, or whatever nighttime thing they were doing before ending up like this. White! An entire spectrum of colors, many of which would be so much better for any variety of nighttime activities, and they still chose to wear white. Not only does it stand out like crazy, even with the black that they paired it with, but it stains so easily! You can clearly see just how much dirt and grime they've been rolling around in."
Hearing this strange man go on like that about the bad guys' choice of clothing seemed to have the effect he had been aiming for, at least for the kid, as said child had started smiling little by little until he finally began chuckling. Of course, Blake would never admit it, but she had come pretty close to laughing a bit too, her previous feelings of offense now forgotten. She ended up having to fight a lot harder to keep her laughter in than she realized, because she missed a lot more of the conversation after that. She did still hear the most important parts though.
"Still, why did you save us," the woman asked.
"Why wouldn't I? Doesn't matter how big or small the problem is, or who or what's responsible for it. If I see someone in trouble, I can't just look the other way. If I can do something to help out, then I consider it my responsibility to at least try," the man had answered.
Hearing those words made Blake's eyes widen in surprise; she could hardly believe anyone that selfless really existed. For so long now, she had thought such people only existed in fairy tales and stories, while the real world was filled with people who usually just said things like that without meaning it. Granted, she had no idea how honest this stranger was in his proclamation of ideals, but judging by the tone of his voice alone, it did seem like he was being genuine. Then again, he had just been joking around like a child while fighting bad guys, and dressed up like a superhero, so Blake did have a hard time taking him that seriously.
The child that had just been saved did not seem to have that problem though. Instead, he just looked at the man with star-struck eyes as the costumed individual stood and prepared to leave. "Thanks for saving us, Mister," the little boy had called out.
"Hey! Whoa! None of that 'Mister' stuff, kid," the man chuckled after pausing in his departure. "The name's Spider-Man. You know, like your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. 'Cause that's who I am."
With that final piece said, Spider-Man leapt up and began swinging away on what Blake could only assume to be webs, making her even more certain that the guy might be a Faunus. How else could you explain away the fact that he could shoot webs like a spider? Sure, there was always a chance that it could just be his Semblance or a special weapon, but then how do you explain all the other things he was capable of? No huntsman that Blake had ever heard of could do as many things as this Spider-Man could, and every Faunus she knew of only had one animal trait. Regardless of this, Blake knew she could not get any answers about him just by thinking and wondering all on her own, so she knew what she had to do: she had to meet this guy herself.
That is why Blake was spending one of the last free nights she had before heading off to Beacon scanning the city for any sign of the mysterious vigilante. She had wanted to find him before making any big, life-changing decisions like that, but one could only survive for so long on the streets before they needed to start considering their options. At least by attending Beacon she would have a roof over her head, a constant source of food every day, and an entire school of huntsmen and huntresses between her and Adam should he come looking for her.
Then again, maybe hearing Spider-Man's words to that family had sparked something inside of her. After what happened, she thought that she had been done trying to fight for peace between humans and Faunus, but maybe there was still something she could do to make it happen. After all, she had the ability to be a huntress, and those people stood for honor and justice in the world, so who was to say that she could not achieve the dream of true peace and understanding between the two peoples by becoming a huntress herself?
Regardless of her situation, Blake had spent several nights searching for Spider-Man ever since that first time she saw him, and so far, she had very little to no luck. Yes, she had picked up on the sounds of him fighting bad guys, mainly due to how he never seemed to stop talking while he fought, but by the time she had arrived at the location, everything had already been wrapped up, and he was long gone. It did not help that he seemed able to help out all over the city with no specific area having more sightings of him than another, but Blake was determined to find him tonight. She just needed a sign to tell her he was close.
Her ears immediately perked up when she picked up on the faint sound that she knew to be Spider-Man firing his webs. Most people probably would not have heard it, but being a Faunus, and a cat Faunus at that, definitely had its advantages; namely in the area of enhanced senses. Turning to where the sound had come from, Blake caught sight of a flash of red, and she instantly raced over for a closer look. She did not have to go very far, as she soon saw Spider-Man spinning through the air with an acrobatic prowess she had only seen in professional performers and huntsmen. Come to think of it, Blake was pretty sure the few spider Faunus she had met were capable of such feats as well, and as she continued to watch, she started to become a little more convinced of the idea that Spider-Man may be such a Faunus as well. How else could she explain the way he not only ran along the side of buildings, but also changed direction to run straight up or down said buildings as well?
Whatever the case, it did not matter. Blake had finally found Spider-Man. Now she just had to get him to stop and talk with her, but given how fast he moved, along with the fact that he seemed to go even faster thanks to those webs of his, Blake doubted she would be able to catch up anytime soon. Thinking of the webs he swung around from gave Blake an idea. It was not likely to be a very nice idea, or even one that would paint her in a friendly light, but Blake did not really want to try her luck at simply yelling at him to the point where she would wake up the whole city, so she went ahead with it anyway. Drawing her sword, she quickly switched it into its gun mode, and took careful aim at the next web that Spider-Man had shot out.
"Sorry about this," Blake quietly muttered, promising to give him a better, proper apology later on, and then fired a single shot. For a minute she could have sworn that Spider-Man had turned in her direction before she fired, but it did not matter, since the Dust bullet still sliced through his web anyway, sending him falling to the rooftop just below him.
For a second, Blake worried that he would not land safely, but thankfully, she saw him spin around and land on his feet as she made her way over. By the time she had gotten close enough, Spider-Man was already standing and tensing up in preparation for an attack. Judging by his battle stance though, Blake figured he was self-taught, because his posture definitely did not befit someone whose training consisted of things that they had seen in television and movies. Then again, all the criminals he fought had probably made a similar mistake, and look where that got them: in prison.
Blake returned her focus to the situation at hand when she heard Spider-Man shouting. "Okay! Whoever it is that decided to play Shoot the Spider, can we hurry up and get this over with? I've had a pretty long night as it is, and I'm running a little late for an important meeting, so I'd appreciate it if we just skip the opening banter and just go right to the part where you try and fail to kill me."
"I'm not here to kill you. I just want to talk," Blake said, holstering her sword as she stepped out of the shadows, hoping that would be taken as a sign of good faith. When Spider-Man said nothing in response, and simply stared at her, Blake had to stop herself from fidgeting in place. Not that you could blame her; even with how expressive those eyes on his mask seemed to be, they still looked very blank. "What?" Blake asked, but Spider-Man did not answer. "Um…Hello? Spider-Man, sir?"
"Huh?" Spider-Man gasped at the sound of his name. He quickly shook his head and said, "Sorry, it's just…Normally when people shoot at me, it's not because they want to talk. Usually they're either trying to kill me or they want me to stop talking, so this is a first."
"I can't imagine why," Blake muttered sarcastically. As previously mentioned, she had heard just how much he talked during a fight.
"That and…well, you are a very huge step up from the usual riff-raff I find creeping around the city at this time of night. And much prettier too," Spider-Man quietly added on.
Blake could not tell you why, but she felt a very large amount of heat rising in her face when Spider-Man said that. Not that he seemed to notice, because he just pressed on. "Anyways, you want to talk, by all means…Let's talk, Miss…"
"Belladonna. Blake Belladonna. Nice to meet you, Spider-Man."
"Likewise, but you can just call me Spidey," Spider-Man nodded, and this time, Blake felt pretty confident that he was smiling at her from under his mask.
Sometime afterward…
Stop me if you have heard this before. What starts as peaceful night in Vale soon turns a little more exciting when one of the windows at a store called From Dust Till Dawn is suddenly smashed by a thug and a tornado of red rose petals. The tornado in question then materializes into a girl with silver eyes and black hair that graduates to red, decked out in a black dress and a red hood, and carrying a large, mechanical scythe that unfolds as she hefts it over her shoulder with ease. The girl then smirks at the criminals still in the store before making a show of dramatically spinning her scythe around and slamming it into the ground, striking a heroic pose at the end while throwing a challenging look at the thugs who were in the process of robbing the store she had just been inside. This was the moment that would forever stand out in history as the day when Ruby Rose met her very first archnemesis, Roman Torchwick, among other things. Only this time around, something different would happen as well.
Right when Roman had ordered his hired men to attack Ruby, two of them were suddenly snagged by webs and hoisted up and away from the scene. When everyone turned to where the thugs had been pulled, they ended up needing to shield their eyes due to a bright red light suddenly flashing on to highlight the area with the image of a red face with wide, white eyes and a web pattern stretching out over said face. "Ah! What the…" Roman snapped as he attempted to squint at the source of this sudden spotlight.
"So not only are you robbing a joint of something that people need for many different purposes, but now you're picking on old men and little kids too? Geez. And here I thought crooks like you couldn't sink any lower. There goes one of my hopes for the scum of humanity," a playful voice remarked. A voice that Torchwick had become painfully familiar with.
"Oh no. Not you again," Torchwick griped aloud.
"Yep. Again. What is this, Torchwick? The third time in two weeks?" the new arrival happily confirmed just before the spotlight he had shining down on everyone shut off and he flipped down to stand between Ruby and the criminals. No one really took much notice of how Ruby's eyes lit up like stars at the sight of the red and blue clad hero, but that may have been more out of the fact that he still had more to say. "Still, I gotta give you points for quick recoveries though. Even one of my most persistent of enemies doesn't normally make a comeback as quickly as you, but then again, he isn't really the brightest bulb in the room. Not only is he dumb enough to easily get caught, he's also stupid enough to go around wearing an outfit that makes him look like a walking quilt."
Roman was too angry at the newest arrival's interference to really pay attention to what he was saying. Then again, considering his men had frozen up a little after the hero had arrived, you could not blame him. "What are you idiots doing?!" he demanded. "Don't just stand there! Hurry up and kill both the girl and the bug!"
"Actually spiders aren't bugs. They're arachnids, but that is a common misconception. Not that any of you fools seem smart enough to know that," the spectacular Spider-Man corrected even as the thugs rushed both him and Ruby.
If he was at all concerned about the attacking villains, he did not show it, as he easily dodged and side-stepped every attack that was thrown at him. After sliding under one last thug, Spider-Man finally began to retaliate; starting by kicking the thug he just dodged to throw him further off balance, and then firing a web to pull him into one that tried to attack him from behind. Spider-Man quickly webbed up the two downed thugs before spinning over another one so he could punch him from behind as well. The next few thugs went down pretty easily, thanks to some quick punches and kicks from Spider-Man, freeing him up to finally help Ruby out once he had finished. Too bad for him, the little red reaper had managed to fight off her group of bad guys on her own, but he did get to enjoy the show of her speedily taking down the last couple of bad guys with her scythe.
"Whoa. Check this kid out with the moves," Spidey complimented, though he doubted that Ruby caught anything he said.
Torchwick was far less pleased with the results of this quickly ended fight. "Ugh, why is it so hard to find good help these days?" he grumbled before turning his attention to the two heroes that had started to close in on him. "Sorry kids, but as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
"Aw, so soon? But I was hoping we could sit down, grab a bite, and wait for the cops to pick you up," Spidey fake whined, only to tense up when he saw Torchwick aiming his cane at them. "Wha-uh-oh!"
Thinking quickly, Ruby and Spider-Man both jumped away from the blast Torchwick fired at them, and then proceeded to scan the area for any sign of the wanted criminal once the smoke had cleared. "There's our guy," Spidey shouted, being the first to spot Torchwick climbing a fire escape up to a nearby rooftop.
Ruby spared the old shopkeeper a glance as she asked, "You okay if we go after him?"
"Uh-huh," the old man grunted, and with that, the two raced off after their target.
It came as no surprise to her that Ruby managed to catch up with Torchwick first, but Spidey did seem a little stunned she had beaten him there. Just by a few seconds mind you. Ruby on the other hand never let her focus waver from the villain they were pursuing, and quickly shouted, "Hold it!"
"You're not slipping away this time, Torchwick," Spider-Man added on.
Torchwick huffed in response, but his annoyance turned to a devious smirk as he remarked, "Don't be so sure, Bug."
An instant later, a Bullhead rose up from behind the alley below them, and Torchwick quickly stepped aboard, while pulling out a Dust crystal that he had stashed away in his jacket earlier on, thinking something like this might happen. Ruby barely heard Spider-Man mutter something under the noise of the airship's engines, but she definitely heard Torchwick cackling as he tossed the crystal up and shouted, "End of the line for both you and Red, Spider-Man!"
Luckily for both heroes, the crystal never even reached the roof, thanks to someone blasting it out of the sky, much to everyone's surprise, and a moment later, another individual had dropped onto the scene with the same grace as Spider-Man. This time, the person who intervened was a young woman with long, raven hair, while only the lower half of her face was visible beneath her mask. The outfit she wore was mostly red, and also included yellow gloves and boots. On her chest rested an upside-down, yellow triangle, while a yellow, arrow shape covered the area from her stomach down to her waist. The eyes of her mask were very similar to Spider-Man's, and there was another upside-down, yellow triangle resting on her forehead right between the eyes. Rounding out the outfit was the pair of wings under her arms that had a very distinctive web-pattern.
"You know, I distinctively remember you saying you could handle this alone," the new woman remarked to Spider-Man with a teasing smile.
"In case you hadn't been paying attention, I wouldn't exactly say that I've been handling this alone, Spider-Woman," Spidey retorted. "Or did you not see Little Red Riding Reaper over here tearing it up along with me?"
"Well I guess that's a good point," the now identified Spider-Woman shrugged, not noticing how Ruby's eyes had begun to sparkle again. Torchwick on the other hand had a much different reaction to the young Huntress-in-training.
"Oh great, now she's here too?!" Torchwick snapped before turning to his partner in the cockpit. "Hey! We've got both Spiders here!"
Said partner immediately jumped up from her seat, leaving Roman to take the controls, and then proceeded to start throwing fireballs out at all three heroes, along with an impressive display of other fire-based attacks. With so many fires being shot at them, none of the three seemed like they were able to get off a shot at the villains' escape vehicle, and that seemed to be the opening that Torchwick needed to start steering them away from the scene. Spider-Man had other plans though.
"Oh no. He is not getting away this time," Spider-Man declared after flipping clear of another fiery explosion. He then rushed towards the Bullhead, firing a web-line at it as he went, and immediately pulled himself up to the airship once his web had connected.
Torchwick's partner attempted to blast Spider-Man again, but this time her attack was intercepted by a blast of what looked like green electricity, courtesy of Spider-Woman. The female spider-hero proceeded to fire more blasts of energy at the Bullhead and the woman in question, prompting Ruby to switch her scythe into rifle mode so she could help out as well. While the two girls' attacks ended up being intercepted or deflected by the mystery woman, thanks to their efforts, Spider-Man was able to swing himself onto the airship and proceeded to rush over to the nearest engine, intending to gunk it up with his webbing.
The mystery woman must have noticed this, because she soon turned her attention away from the girls and proceeded to send some more fire blasts out at Spider-Man. Since he was currently clinging onto a moving airship, Spider-Man could really dodge as well as he normally would; not without taking the risk of falling off the ship, so he had to resort to just ducking or leaning from side to side in order to avoid getting extra crispy. Spider-Woman did not take too kindly to seeing her partner being attacked like this, and immediately shot up into the air after spreading her web-wings, giving the impression that she was gliding. While Ruby mentally complained about being stuck on the ground while the other two heroes were able to fly up to the airship, she managed to get into a position where she had a clear shot, and proceeded to open fire on the bad guys' vehicle once again. She could swear that the heroes were shouting something either to each other or the bad guys, but between the sounds of Crescent Rose being fired, the Bullhead's engines, and the fire blasts that were flying around, she could not tell what. She decided to just assume it was some kind of joke or really just anything funny.
Ruby was so busy focusing on her targets and the heroes that were battling them that she did not notice the woman on the Bullhead turning her attention towards her and prepare to let loose another fiery explosion, right beneath her feet. Thankfully, the Spider-Heroes did, and Spider-Man did not hesitate to throw himself towards Ruby with a sling-shot maneuver, allowing him to push her out of the way before shielding her from the blast with his body. Ruby had closed her eyes on instinct when she felt Spider-Man collide with her, but ended up pleasantly surprised when she did not feel any heat aside from that of the web-head's body. This seemed to have caught Spider-Man off guard as well, because he had slowly released his hold on her and turned to where the explosion should have been to see what happened.
To Ruby's surprise and slight relief, someone else had arrived to help save the day, and that person was a blonde woman dressed in a manner that gave the vibe of a sorceress, holding a riding crop in one hand as she glared up at the fleeing airship carrying the villains away from the scene. Ruby could not help but wonder what had happened to Spider-Woman, until she saw the hero in question land nearby and check on her male partner. Seeing the two heroes together reminded Ruby of what she considered the most amazing details of this whole event, and since the fight was finally over, she no longer saw any reason to hold back the excitement that had been building up since the fight down on the street.
"You're Spider-Man. The Spider-Man. And you're his partner, Spider-Woman," Ruby gasped as she approached the heroes, who had just taken notice of her and how her eyes had started sparkling like stars with excitement.
"Yeah, that's us," Spider-Man needlessly confirmed for Ruby, his voice full of confused wonder. Confusion that quickly cleared up when Ruby spoke again.
"Can I have your autographs?"
Both heroes' eyes widened at this question, almost as though this was the first time someone had asked this of them, but before any of them could say anymore, a rather angry cough caught their attention and made them turn towards the last member of this rooftop party. "You need to come with me right now," Glynda Goodwitch demanded. "All of you."
"Yeah, love to, but we're busy arachnid-themed superheroes, so we're gonna have to take a raincheck," Spider-Man quipped in response, and he then raised his arm up to fire another web. To everyone's surprise, the only thing that came was a small, rather pathetic sounding squirt. "What?" Spider-Man gasped before trying his other hand, only to get the same results. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. Of all times to run out of webbing…"
Spider-Woman looked ready to grab her partner and fly them both away when both heroes suddenly found themselves caught in some kind of telekinetic bubble, courtesy of Goodwitch. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" Spider-Woman demanded.
"That wasn't a request," Goodwitch stated coldly, scaring Ruby a little bit.
Hearing that, Spider-Man let out a reluctant sigh, and said, "Well, it's not like we seem to have much choice."
Later on…
Of all the things she had not expected upon arriving at Beacon Academy, a run-in with the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company definitely ranked pretty high on Blake's list. She probably should have tried to avoid it for many reasons, but seeing her picking on that girl who had literally exploded made Blake feel like she had to step up and say something. It did not hurt that she got to knock Weiss off her high horse a little bit, and seeing that girl in a red hood smile a bit after being all nervous and sad felt pretty good too. She just hoped things would not get any more exciting than that. Too bad for her it would not stop there.
"Hey, did you see what happened just now? I thought I heard an explosion," someone asked from behind Blake. The secret Faunus turned to the speaker and found herself face-to-face with a young man who looked to be her age, with messy, brown hair and hazel eyes. His outfit was rather plain, at least by most huntsmen standards, as it consisted of brown jeans, black boots, and a blue jacket that he wore over a dark red shirt. Blake could not see any signs of a weapon or armor on him, but then again, it was not like she could talk, since she did not wear any armor herself. Still, given how skinny he looked, this guy probably needed to consider it.
Realizing that she had been staring a little too long, Blake quickly snapped out of her musings, and answered the boy's question. "I didn't really see much. Just that some girl had exploded and was getting yelled at by Weiss Schnee."
"Schnee? Like as in the Schnee Dust Company," the boy questioned.
"Yeah. Looks like the 'esteemed' heiress herself is attending Beacon," Blake muttered.
"Weird. I would've thought someone like her would attend a fancy prep school at the very least, or really just any school in Atlas," the boy mused with a smile, not noticing how Blake had smiled at hearing someone had the same thoughts as her. He then turned his smile on her and finally introduced himself. "I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Parker. New student, but you probably already knew that, since I got off the airship with all the other new kids."
Blake did not know why this guy was still hanging around her, but for some reason, his steadily growing awkwardness did seem kind of cute in a weird way. Realizing that her thoughts had just gone there gave Blake even more reason to speak up; she did not want to get into that kind of thing right now after what happened with Adam. "Blake. Nice to meet you," the secret Faunus cut in before Peter could continue rambling.
"Yeah…Likewise," Peter nodded, hoping Blake did not notice how he had sighed in relief at being saved from embarrassing himself. At least, not anymore than he would already have to. "So, I don't suppose you know where we're supposed to be going right now, do you? They didn't really include anything about first-day instructions in the brochure. Or a map for that matter."
Another smile found its way to Blake's face, this time due to the light joke Peter had made at the end, and said, "Auditorium. I was just heading there myself. You can follow after me if you want."
"Oh thank you so much," Peter sighed in relief, this time more noticeably. He then turned to look over his shoulder and called out, "Hey Jess! Over here!"
Turning to where Peter had been shouting, Blake saw a woman about the same age as both her and Peter rushing over to them. The woman in question had fair skin, long raven hair, and green eyes that were currently hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. Her outfit consisted of an off-white long-sleeved crop top over a red tank-top, black pants, a brown belt, and red and black boots. All-in-all, she seemed to be the kind of beauty that most girls would be jealous of just by looking at her, and the way she smiled at Peter only reinforced that idea, given that her teeth seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.
"There is no way you figured out where we're supposed to go that fast, Peter," the raven-haired woman stated, though Blake got the impression that it was equal parts teasing as it was accusatory.
"Well I wouldn't say that you're entirely wrong. I just found someone that can lead us there," Peter explained as he waved to Blake. "Jess, this is Blake, our impromptu tour guide. Blake, meet Jessica Drew. She's like the sister I never had, or wanted some days."
"Aw, you know you love me," Jessica cooed as she gave Peter a light punch in the arm. She then looked to Blake and said, "Nice to meet you, Blake."
"Likewise Jessica," Blake nodded.
"Ah just call me Jess. All my friends do," Jessica insisted. "And sorry if Peter here bothered you too much. He's kind of a wallflower that's trying to break out of his shell."
"Am not!" Peter insisted, albeit with a faint, red tinge in his cheeks.
Blake could feel the corners of her mouth turning upwards again, but did not ponder on the reason as to why for very long. She just waved for the two to follow after her as she proceeded to lead the way to the auditorium.
One exciting, yet crazy semester later…
Team RWBY's investigation of the White Fang and Roman Torchwick had gone off the rails a lot more quickly than they would have expected, but then again, they all knew that they were more than likely to end up fighting someone at some point. Every time they so much as caught a glimpse of Torchwick alone, a fight always seemed to follow. Besides, they were huntresses-in-training; being prepared for a fight at all times was a good mentality for them to have. Granted, they were not expecting their opponent to be a giant robot, but things had turned pretty exciting since they started at Beacon and became a team. One big reason for that actually turned out to be some of their new friends and fellow first years.
As the Torchwick moved his stolen Atlesian Paladin closer to smash the girls, a number of webs suddenly snagged the machine from behind and started trying to pull him back, while a blaze of electric blasts suddenly rained down on him from in front. The webs did not hold for long, but they did serve to help the person who had fired them to get up close to the Paladin, and subsequently kick off of it once he was close enough.
"Excuse me! Coming through," Spider-Man shouted as he spun over to Team RWBY, with Spider-Woman flying down to stand alongside him afterwards. "Sorry we're a little late, girls. Had to make sure no one up on the highway was hurt in the crossfire of Torchy's little case of road rage."
"That and the other half of our team isn't really used to that kind of high-speed encounter yet," Spider-Woman added.
Speaking of the other half of Spider-Man and Spider-Woman's team, something fell on the other side of the two with a hard thud, and the individual let out a groan of pain as he stood up. Said individual was wearing a black shirt with a red spider-symbol spray painted on it, along with black pants with red lining, and red sneakers, while over it he wore a dark blue jacket with a red hood and lining. "Ow…Spidey, how do you do this web-swinging thing so easily," asked one Miles Morales, the spider Faunus member of Peter and Jessica's team.
"Practice and Spider-Sense, kid. Practice and Spider-Sense," Peter answered simply.
At that point, another person dropped in, this one being another young lady, who wore a suit that was almost all black, save for the white spider logo that stretched out over her chest, a bit of purple detailing with white web patterns under her arms and inside of her hood, and the purple lining of her mask's eyes. Like Spider-Woman, she had web-wings that extended out from beneath her arms, but unlike Jess, this girl's wings were completely retractable. "Too bad we can't really practice that well without everyone in the city thinking he's you, huh Spidey," the new girl asked.
"Ah the drawbacks of having a famous team leader," Peter playfully complained as he just repressed a small shiver at the sight of the girl's suit. "In all seriousness though, Gwen, we really need to change the design of that suit if you ever feel the need to join us on something like this again."
"What? Too sexy for you," Gwen Stacy, the final member of Peter and Jessica's Beacon team playfully asked.
"No, it's just a little too reminiscent of…something I'd rather forget," Peter clarified, not wanting to really get into the conversation about Venom right now.
"Would you all please focus," Weiss demanded. "If we're going to stop this criminal, now would be the best time."
"Ice Queen isn't wrong," Yang agreed.
"Hey!"
"…Besides, I want to pay him back for any scratches my bike might've gotten from chasing after him."
As one, Team RWBY and their spider-themed allies dropped into battle stances. They did not realize that this scene would also serve as a preview to what would serve as the beginnings of the best team of heroes to ever exist in all of Remnant, and there was no doubt that they would all be spectacular.
AN: Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it...I think this one was probably the shortest Meeting thus far, but if I added in anymore than what we already saw here, I'd be giving away a whole mess of spoilers for this story, and considering how likely it is that this one is going to come out very soon, I'd like to avoid that.
Weiss: Wait, what do you mean "this one is going to come out very soon"?
AN: Honestly, the ideas for it have been coming in quite a bit and very frequently, to the point where I've been considering starting it as soon as I completely finish Enter the Spider-Verse: A Code Avengers Story. Which by the way [SPOILER ALERT] may end up including its own special sneak preview of this little crossover world in a future chapter.
Now let's talk details about what all is going down, or more accurately, how the idea came about. Obviously, I had a few ideas come to mind here and there for a RWBY&Spider-Man crossover, but the ideas themselves did not solidify until a short time after I got to talking about such a story with my follower and fellow writer, "Spiderfan626" (shout out of thanks for said ideas and this story in general to ya buddy!). After hearing so many good ideas, and feeling them spark some fires of inspiration within my mind, how could I possibly refuse the idea of pushing forward with this story as soon as possible? Moving along to the actual factors about this story.
As I'm sure you've probably figured out, this story would feature both Peter Parker and Jessica Drew as Spider-Man and Spider-Woman respectively, but in point of fact, they would not be from Remnant. They end up there after a small portal incident that occurs during a battle with one of Spidey's enemies. One thing I really must point out is that in this continuity, Peter and Jess are in fact the same age, and Peter has only been Spider-Man for a couple of years, hence why they are both going to end up as students at Beacon. I know that this makes things a lot more AU by having Jessica be the same age as Peter, but if I were to go with something closer to her normal age in most media, it would've just made her presence as a student in Beacon more than a little weird. Plus, I feel like making them the same age would really help with showcasing and enhancing the sibling relationship I'm planning for them to have in this story.
I'm sure some of you are probably going to start thinking about what the two will use for weapons and things like that, so let me try to put some of those thoughts to rest. For starters, the two will be keeping their spider-themed alter egos a secret at first, with Team RWBY and some of their friends slowly finding out over time, but they will develop weapons that they can use as Peter Parker and Jessica Drew. For Peter, I'm thinking of something like a modified version of his web-shooters, but in terms of Jessica...I'm actually still brainstorming at the moment. I'm thinking something like a simple handgun or something as a nod to her time as a SHIELD agent in the comics, but feel free to shoot me some ideas in your reviews of this Meeting if you have some.
Another thing to bring up, that I'm sure you all took notice of was the presence of Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy. In this case, neither of them are from Earth of any kind. These versions of Miles and Gwen will be one hundred percent Remnant-born.
Weiss: They will?
AN: Yep. While they do start out as just regular huntsmen-in-training and the other two members of Peter and Jessica's team, I can confirm that they will eventually become Kid Arachnid and Ghost-Spider as the story goes on. Though in at least one case, that will be a little more likely to happen sooner than the other.
Blake: Does this have anything to do with mentioning that Miles was a Faunus?
AN: Try everything, because in this case, Miles is in fact a spider Faunus. We all know that such Faunus do exist ever since we saw Trifa in Volume 5, so I think it's only right to have someone who could prove to be a more heroic representation of said Faunus. Like Trifa, Miles's Faunus trait will be a pair of spinnerets in his arms, and he'll consider Spider-Man to be a huge inspiration to him. Gwen on the other hand is still human, but does make herself a costume that has a spider theme to it after hearing Miles basically fanboy over Spidey, and hearing about Spider-Woman's exploits in Vale. Speaking of costumes, the ones you saw them sporting at the end there are basically what I like to think of as the prototype versions of their suits. In the case of Miles, his is most similar to the suit he wore in Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse, while Gwen's draw inspiration from one of the suit designs I've seen for Gwenom (you know, Spider-Gwen with Venom symbiote).
Yang: So when would they become official spider-heroes?
AN: That...is a little too far into spoiler territory to be answered, actually. Oh, and before I forget, for those of you who are wondering if the two will be dimension-hopping to get to Remnant, well, I'm leaving that up in the air for the moment. When the story starts out, I'm going to leave it a little ambiguous as to whether or not Remnant is an alternate version of Earth, or just another planet that exists in the same universe, but as far as the final confirmation goes...well, I'm not gonna say just yet.
Ruby: Are you just saying that because you haven't decided yet, or because you have and don't want to give away spoilers?
AN: I'll leave that up to your imagination. [smirks teasingly]
There's not really much else I can mention about this story without giving away some pretty big spoilers, but I will say this much at least: one of the main pairings for this story would be Peter&Blake.
Blake: Wait, what?! Why me and not Ruby or something?
AN: Because for one thing, most RWBY crossovers I've seen don't really have you deviating from the pairings you're normally involved in all that much. Another thing is that we've seen Ruby getting paired with Spidey a few times before as well, and at least a couple of stories where he gets together with Yang. Or at least, I have, and I want to mix things up a little.
Ruby: [giggling mischievously] And there's also the fact that it would be a call-back to his relationship with Black Cat, right?
AN:...Well, maybe just a little bit.
Blake: [stares with a deadpan look] Really?
AN: What? It's not like it's without reason. Moving along, I'm still working out a few other details, like the weapons that Miles and Gwen would use, as well as what their Semblances would be and how much closer they would put the two to their superhero identities without the need for the famous and always iconic spider bite, but rest assured, like I said at the end of this Meeting in that little showcase scene (which really was more for show than it was an actual scene for the most part), it does indeed promise to be spectacular. Pun totally intended.
Yang: Say, why didn't you include a few more scenes, like moments that would have me and/or Weiss doing a solo encounter with Spidey?
AN: I felt like it was starting to drag on a little for one, and for another thing, as of this moment, I haven't really thought of a way for either Spidey or Jess to have a one-on-one encounter with Weiss before their arrival at Beacon, or at least nothing that hasn't already been done at least once before.
Now then, I'd say that's a wrap for now.
Ruby: And it's also my cue to give you another hug for another awesome birthday present [hugs lyoko Prime tightly with a bright smile]
AN: Annnnnnd we're back to this again. Well, at least it's not a suffocating hug like some of the ones she gave me for her present last year. [hugs Ruby back with a smile] Now, it's send-off time!
Please read and review, Happy Halloween, Happy birthday to Ruby, and I'll see you again in the next colorful adventure!