Hey folks!
So sorry for the prolonged wait, but a bunch of stuff came up and I just ended up not finishing this chapter for a long time. It's not worse than Doctor Ruby, which hasn't been updated for like, over a year now, but these things happen and I apologise for making you all wait for so long before a new chapter. I'm thankful for the comments you guys leave, and I am so sorry about the wait.
Still! Though I am trying to get back on track, uploads may still be spotty for a while because I'm about to go into exam time for A Level here in the UK. The exams are gonna be a little weird, due to the legislation made up by the government to try and offset COVID problems, but I'll still need to study and it'll be pretty stressful. Don't worry though, I'm not just going to dissapear again - I want to try and focus on Spidergirl for a bit while putting the other stories on the backburner so I have more time for studying and making my youtube videos.
Speaking of which! Again, make sure to check me out on YouTube at XaosDiscordial, where I just released the first of a new series where I chronicle my attempt to create a game with basically no experience. I'm trying to get my YT of the ground a little, so I would really appreciate the extra support.
With all that said, enjoy the long awaited chapter!
Ruby Rose: Spidergirl
Chapter 5 – The Rhino
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"BRING! ME! SPIDERGIRL!"
Ruby launched herself at the wall of muscle, using her webs to pull herself into a kick. Her opponent stumbled but didn't budge, reaching out to grab at her. She leapt back, landing on a lamppost.
"Well, here I am. Did you need something, or is the suit just for fun?"
The brute growled angrily, grabbing a large metal bin and throwing it at her. The jumped onto a nearby ledge, wincing as the lamppost came crashing down behind her.
The man was breathing heavily, eyes locked. "Come down here and fight me like a man!"
Ruby turned her head comically. "What part of 'Spidergirl' says 'man' to you?"
He screamed in fury again, jumping at her. She dodged just in time, his fist pulverising the small red-brick ledge she'd been perched on. She grabbed him with a shot of webbing and pulled him back down to the street, slamming his face into the ground and giving him a kick for good measure. She suspended herself upside-down from a street sign before he got up again.
"Stop playing around!"
Ruby smiled under her mask as she dodged a fist, throwing herself into the air. "Not a chance! Also, what's with the grey spandex and horn? You some kind of rhino?"
"I care little what you call me, girl, so long as you die!" He jumped up higher than she had expected and grabbed her by the throat. Before she could react, he slammed her into the asphalt and ground her face into it. She reached up and twisted his arm, pulling him off balance and forcing him to the ground with her enhanced strength.
"Rhino it is then." She kicked Rhino across the street, webbing him to a wall. He struggled against the bindings, pulling them off as she kept firing. Suddenly, he came crashing from the wall into a run, charging at her.
She met his fist with her own, the force directed downwards cracking the asphalt below. There was almost a shockwave, a cracking sound as her knuckles just barely survived intact. Her arm wavered from the force, but she swept a foot out and knocked him over again.
"For a man of your size, you don't have a ton of balance! Though I suppose that makes some sense." He roared, throwing himself up from hands and knees and batting her aside. She tumbled to the floor as he stomped on her, her aura hitting half as he chuckled.
"I shall squash you like spider then!"
Ruby groaned, trying to push herself up on hands and knees. He kept pressing down and her aura depleted slowly. She managed to reach an arm up and push herself sideways, rolling out from under him and wincing as his heavy foot pinched her gut before slipping off and shattering the road surface. She kicked up, pulling herself with webs towards him and sending him to the ground.
She kicked him repeatedly, keeping him down as she spun webs. His aura crackled and failed as the webs hardened around him, and he groaned in pain while closing his eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief as she dusted her hands off, stretching her sore body.
'Time for you to go back to the zoo." She looked around. All of the civilians were gone now, but for some reason the police hadn't arrived. This surprised her – She had been fighting fairly long, and surely someone in the crowd had called them? Her body began to relax, the aches revealing themselves as her adrenaline wore off. She needed a nice, warm shower and a long sleep to work this off. Now that, she was looking forward to.
-LOOK OUT-
She felt her spider-sense before she heard the webs snapping. She turned to see Rhino, freed, barrelling towards her. She was too late to dodge his grasping hand as he grabbed her and threw her into the air like a tennis ball, sending her flying with a punch to the sternum. She crashed through a brick wall as she flew high, coming out the other side of the building and slamming into a pile of bins the next road over. The contents of the bins spilled, covering her in trash as she gasped in pain she hadn't been braced for.
She tried to get up and move, but the pain was too much for her to bear. She lay there as Rhino's roar grew closer. Suddenly, he crashed through the wall of the building opposite and jumped onto her.
He clobbered her, pummelling her with her fists as she lay limply. He grabbed her by the legs in one meaty hand and with a swing wrapped her around a lamppost. Her eyes bulged behind the mask as her aura broke, a scream passing her lips. She fell to the floor when he let her go, falling face-first into the concrete pavement. He laughed darkly as she groaned, rolling over to look up at him. Her vision blurred as he did… something, leaning over her before pulling back and kicking her in the face. She rolled across the road, catching herself as her world stopped spinning. She was aware of a new, sharp pain in her leg, a spot bleeding on her thigh. She shuddered as she stood up.
"What did you just do?" she said, her legs wobbling beneath her. Adrenaline pushed her past aura-drunkness, holding her upright as she forced herself to stay standing.
He laughed. "Nothing to worry about, little spider. What, you having trouble standing? Perhaps you should go home, run away."
She blinked in surprise. Telling her to run, after seeking her out? Regardless, she gritted her teeth. "Not a chance!"
He laughed again, rolling his shoulders. "Alright then, little spider, but be warned – I won't stop until you are squashed on the pavement!"
He charged, swinging wildly. She barely dodged with a web blast, guiding him into a wall with his momentum. He fell through it, and she tried to web him up. He shrugged the webbing off and pulled himself up. He spun and caught a string of webbing, pulling her close and punching her in the gut. She flew backwards into the other wall as he rushed over and slammed his fist down.
She caught it in her palm, struggling against his massive weight as he pushed her into the concrete. He pushed down and she let out a scream as her arm flared up in pain from the stress, threatening to buckle completely. She swung her legs into his, trying to knock him off balance, but he stayed standing as he just pushed and pushed.
He scoffed. "I thought it squashing you would be harder, but you are weaker than I was told. Tsk. I was hoping for a challenge."
She gasped in pain, before forcing a smile beneath her mask. "What, was getting into the spandex not hard enough for you?"
He growled deeply, frowning as he pushed harder. The extra force unbalanced him for a moment – long enough for her to slam her feet into his legs. He fell on to her, and she grunted at the sudden weight before she kicked him upwards. He flew upwards high enough for her to slip out from under him, getting to her feet just in time for him to land beside her.
She kicked him relentlessly, webbing him up as much as she could. Again, he seemed to shrug off the webbing with ease – but this time, he struggled with it more, giving her time to jump up onto a wall and set up some webs before he stood up.
He growled. "When will you stop with that? You can see it isn't working."
"I'll stop when I've got you on the floor, Rhino!"
The name and the jab made him growl again, and he jumped up to catch her again. She'd anticipated this however, and she was prepared.
With a tug of her wrist, a web suddenly swung out from above and wrapped around his head as his momentum carried him up. He spun, the rope detaching before his head could slip. He fell, head bound, into another hidden web that spun him around again as Ruby compounded it with shots from her web shooters. She stopped when he was near-totally mummified by the webs, wriggling around with muffled yells as struggled against the thick webbing.
She sighed, dropping back down to the ground. Thank the gods she had made the webs breathable, otherwise she couldn't have tried this in good conscience. Even still, she pitied the man – it must be very warm and uncomfortable in there.
"Oh hush, it'll wear down in a few hours."
She looked around again. This street, like the last one, was empty. Where were the police? There must be some hold-up, there was no other way. She tried to stretch and cried out as her body screamed at her, almost collapsing as the injuries, the broken aura and the fatigue all caught up with her at once. She almost struggled to breathe from the sudden onslaught of pain as she found herself kneeling in the middle of the road, body totally locked up.
She heard webbing rip.
With horrified eyes, she turned her weary head to see Rhino climbing out of his webbing. His brute strength had been greater than she had thought, tearing through the webs like paper now that he had any leverage. He turned towards her, with a grin that barely hid his true fury.
"Well, little spider, looks like your time has run out." He stomped towards her, his teeth grinding. "I'll squash you into paste!"
She braced against his foot as he stomped down, pushing her into the asphalt with insane force. If she had been standing, her legs would have bucked; she could feel her knees digging into the hot road surface, her bones creaking and popping from the strain.
And then it stopped.
She looked up in surprise to see his own surprised face, feeling at his throat. There, sticking from his thick neck, was a large dart. His face smoothed out as his eyes went glossy, and he fell to the ground.
She turned. The police! They had arrived, and one of them was holding a massive dart gun. They had saved her! But, before she could rejoice, the officer turned the gun on her.
"Freeze!"
Well, that sucked. She sucked in a breath to brace for the pain as she shot two webs into the air. The dart narrowly missed her as she flew up past the trees, past the buildings, and began to swing her way to freedom.
A few buildings away she began to slow. The pain was back again, worse due to her movements, and her mind was starting to dull. The adrenaline that had kept the aura drunkness at bay was gone, and the intoxication of a broken aura began to suffuse into her, dulling her senses. Her head was spinning when she finally came to a stop, ducking into an alleyway to stay hidden.
It looked like the place was empty – there was an old dumpster, nearly empty, leaning against the wall. They didn't collect these anymore, opting for the more modern designs – but some lurked in Vale's darker recesses, forgotten by city ordinances during the replacement program. Nobody came to collect anymore, and they stood as monuments to the days come past. A mural, decades old, decorated the rusting green metal, uncleaned since the discontinuation.
To Ruby's tired and intoxicated mind, this was the perfect place to hide. No risk of being investigated, no danger of being collected – she climbed in and promptly passed out, the lid slamming shut behind her.
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Ruby awoke to the sounds of the city, muffled by the thick metal walls of her current location. She groggily sat up, wincing as she slammed her head against the roof of the dumpster. She gagged as the smell finally made itself apparent, throwing the top open and jumping out.
She regretted this decision immediately, crying out at the sudden shock of pain in her… everywhere. She stood slowly, appraising her surroundings.
Gods, her suit was ripped to shreds. The workout clothes underneath had been pretty badly messed up too, but they at least were physically intact. She gave herself a smell and gagged profusely. The dumpster, somewhat unsurprisingly, had not been the best idea.
Her eyes widened suddenly. How long had she been asleep? She pulled her scroll out of a hidden pocket and winced at the cracked screen before her eyes bulged at the time.
It was nearly the end of the day, and she'd been out for hours! She winced as she pulled herself up. She had to get back to school now, before anyone noticed how long she'd been gone. She jumped into the air, pulling herself along on a web string. Gods, did she need a bath.
Well, that was quite the fight. Ruby is gonna be feeling that one for a while...
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Again, sorry for taking so long. Next chapter will be out at some point next week.
Make sure to check out my carrd at xaosdiscordial . carrd . co which has links to my Patre0n, Kofi and more!
Thanks you for reading, and see you dreckly!