"Muh… Motherfucker!" The scream rang out from behind me as I ran towards the fire escape. A wave of fire slammed into my back, illuminating the rooftop as I was sent skidding. Gravel ground against the spidersilk of my costume, and back slammed into the lip of the roof. Fingers quickly went to checking to make sure nothing had caught fire despite the aches from where she had gotten hit. Suit wasn't burning, and neither way my hair. Lucky, but I would rather have had the luck earlier.
Looking up, I spotted the giant person clad in silver scales slowly get to his feet. One clawed hand covered the part of his face I had gotten with pepper spray. The other uncovered eye was squinted shut, the bee I had stung him with earlier still affecting him. He started moving forward, his head slowly turning from side to side as he searched for me. Flinging a hand out, a wave of fire surged out and over half the roof. Pulling my head in, I curled up into a ball and let the flames go over me. Even through the costume, it still felt like I was being cooked alive.
"Cock. Sucker." He stopped and growled, head still swinging back and forth as he tried to hear me. His voice came out with a thick accent between ragged breaths, somewhere between Japanese and a rock in a washing machine. "Move. Give me something to aim for."
With no other option, I stopped moving and held my breath. The longer he didn't know where I was, the longer I had to come up with a plan. Current plan… stay there until he got distracted then bolt. He was Lung, a parahuman with superhuman hearing, regeneration, pyrokinesis, and the ability to grow more draconic as he fought. I was a teenage girl with a spider silk suit, a scattered swarm of insects, and a canister of pepper spray. I'd never win a straight up fight.
His hand came away from his face as he started blinking slowly, moving his head from side to side as he squinted out of both eyes. The pepper spray was wearing out, because of course it would. It was just my luck that something meant to have someone writhing on the ground for thirty minutes lasted maybe a minute tops. Why in the world did the Protectorate let this guy run free?
He suddenly moved with a roar, flames wreathing his hands, and I screwed my eyes shut.
The whoosh of crackling flames filled my ears, but none of the pain that came from being burned alive. Opening one eye, the other came open in a confused stare at him. He was sending twin gouts of flame towards the edge of one of the adjacent roofs, a three story office building. Straining my eyes, I couldn't see what he was attacking through the mixture of fire and gloom.
A thunderous crack split the night as a gun somewhere fired, punching through his scales with a burst of blood. A short figure suddenly landed between me and Lung, even as he stumbled and roared in pain from the shot, rose petals starting to float down onto the roof. There were only three discernable things from the angle I was at. A large vibrant red cloak that covered the person, the black combat boots that poked out from beneath it, and their weapon.
It was a ridiculously massive scythe, taller than the figure holding it. It was even taller than me! The blade gleamed in the flickering light of the flames, a line showing where it was divided into two separate sections. A red and black section ran along its spine, individual joints showing. Probably to retract the blade so it was less in the way. If the bit of metal sticking out from the back of the scythe's head was any indication, it doubled as a gun.
"I'LL ILL OU!" Whirling around to face the person who shot him, the giant roared even as he grew even taller. Even as he started to raise his arms to blast the newcomer with flaming death, the loud crack of brick and concrete shattering filled the air. Another person came hurtling from the rooftop he'd just been blasting with fire. The only things she noticed before the person slammed a fist into the back of Lung's head being a long mane of blond hair that burned behind them, and a pair of faintly glowing red eyes.
The impact between the person's fist and Lung's head created a shockwave as an explosion happened, scales and bone cracking while blood and fragments of scale flew. His head was smashed into the roof, pulverizing the gravel as the person continuing on past. Their feet struck the gravel, digging a trough as they ground to a halt. They came to a stop beside the short person in red with a loud whoop, a wide grin spread across their face. Those glowing red eyes met mine, and we stared at each other for a fraction of a moment as Lung groaned in the background.
She was about as tall as me, but unlike me, she actually had a figure. A figure that made my inadequacies feel like they had inadequacies. It put Emma, hell, it even put Brockton Bay's resident blond bombshell Glory Girl to shame! Unlike Glory Girl, it was obvious that she worked out. Her costume made it abundantly clear. A sleeveless light brown leather long coat with two long tails fluttering behind her, bright yellow showing on the inside. It wasn't zipped all the way up, allowing a bit of the yellow of her tank top to show through as well as an impressive amount of cleavage. Right over the left breast was a symbol of a burning heart in black on the tanktop. The coat was left a bit open at the bottom as well, allowing a bit of her six pack to show through. It made it seem odd that her face was more covered than the rest of her body, with everything from her nose down wrapped in a vibrant yellow and orange scarf and a yellow domino mask around her eyes. It matched the rest of the outfit, including the bright yellow gauntlets she had covering her hands and wrists.
Her eyes crinkled in a way that could only be a smirk, before she winked at me and turned, one biker boot digging up more gravel. Pumping her a fist, a shotgun shell flew out from one as she looked over at the person in red. The two's eyes met as Lung struggled to his feet, and they gave a single nod to each other. Once he managed to get to a knee, they moved and my jaw dropped open.
Without a word the two split up, each one moving to one side of Lung. His head came up as he heard the movement and roared, hands coming up and sending waves of fire at the two of them. But he was moving slower, still trying to recover from having his skull almost smashed open by the blond's punch. The person in red crouched down before leaping up and over the wave of flame, rose petals and her cloak trailing behind her as she raised her scythe high. The blond turned, boot digging into the gravel for purchase let her launch herself head first into the wave of fire, one arm held up to shield her face.
Lung sluggishly turned to meet the charge of the blond, leaving himself open. The red cloaked person came down like a thunderbolt, the scythe's blade glinting in the firelight. A gunshot escaped the back of the scythe and sped it up even further, the blade catching his shoulder with a diagonal cut that resulted in his entire left arm being separated with a spurt of blood. Roaring in pain, he turned to grasp at the bleeding stump… and left himself open to the blond's charge.
The gauntlet found its mark in an uppercut, planting itself just below his ribs. Another explosion sounded out as the gauntlet released the shell along with the punch, the combined force sending the still unsteady Lung flying. The figure in red ducked low, allowing the silver figure to sail over head and off the edge of the roof. The blond charged after him, leaping over the figure in red as well while shouting back after her before disappearing over the side like a blazing comet. "Red, make sure the bug girl's alright!"
The reference to me managed to break me out of my stupor, and my jaw shut with a small 'click'. The person in red turned to face me and I shakily pushed myself up, almost falling over as a small tremor rocked the building. The lingering effects of fear and a surge of relief combined to make it to where I could barely stand on my own, lightly panting as the red cloaked figure walked towards me.
The first thing that I realized was the fact she was wearing a dress. A black dress gothic dress, the edges of the sleeves and the edge of the mid thigh skirt the same vibrant red as her cloak. A belt covered in pouches and sniper rounds hung off her hips, and a false corset decorated her stomach and abdomen. Tights covered the space between the bottom of her skirt and the top of her black and red boots, which went up to just below the cloak's hood was paired with a bandana to cover her nose and mouth, only leaving her silver eyes visible. If it wasn't for the insanely large scythe slung over her shoulder, her petite build mixed with the edge clothing would have made her look adorable. She stopped about five feet away from me, just staring at me as I stared back at her. She seemed pretty familiar as well. It took several moments with the only sound being the combat from below before one of us spoke.
"Um… A-Are you alright? I've got the stuff for first aid if you're hurt!" She asked, drawing an incredulous stare from me at the nervousness in her voice. I expected to be the one talking like that, not the tiny badass with a gun-scythe! The fact that it sounded like someone my age just made the situation even weirder. The girl pressed a button on the side of the scythe and the head folded up, leaving her with a bulky sniper rifle to sling across her back. With both hands free, she started digging through a pouch on her belt.
"You must be in shock, what do you do if someone is in shock… I learned this… Oh!" I jumped slightly as the exclamation, staring at her as she quit digging through her pouch and walked forward. "You need to lie down!"
"Wh-What?" I took a few steps back as she kept forward, blinking rapidly behind my mask. Out all of the things I expected tonight, being asked by another cape to lay down wasn't one of them.
"You're in shock! What you're supposed to do when someone is in shock is call nine one one so they can send an ambulance, then have the person lie down with their feet elevated a bit." She stopped and wagged a finger at me. What she said made sense, it just seemed so out of context with the fight happening on the street below.
"I-I'm fine." I quickly raised my hands in a placating gesture as her stance changed, head tilted slightly in what I could only guess was a confused pout. "Really, all he m-managed to do was clip me in the back with one fireball. My costume protected me, so nothing's burnt or broken. I'm just as surprised as you."
After a moment she nodded and looked like she was going to say something, before stopping and tilting her head the other way. After a moment I realized why. The sounds of combat had stopped and been replaced by the sound of the Blond's loud cheering. We both looked over to the edge of the roof, and then back at each other, before she started walking over. I followed after a bit hesitant, looking down at the street below. There was a lot of fire still lingering around, though none of the buildings seemed to have caught. In the middle of it all, in a small crater, was the blond doing a victory dance on top of Lung, who was unconscious and shrinking back to his human size.
I heard the silver eyed girl groan at the blond's antics, and I turned to look at her. That groan seemed really familiar, like I had heard it before… As she turned to look at me, our eyes met and I felt mine widen behind my mask as I recognized her. My head whipped over to stare at the blond as I finally made the connection, before looking back at the silver eyed girl. The process was repeated a few more times before I stopped on the silver eyed girl, my mouth moving before I realized what I was doing was a bad idea. "R-Ruby?!"
I quietly slipped into Mr. Gladly's class, the first one out of all the students. Walking to my desk, I sighed in relief as I noticed it completely clear of glue or juice. Madison couldn't do anything if I got here before her, so suck it. Settling myself into the seat, a piece of paper and pen found its way onto my desk as I got ready. Or at least, made it look like I was ready for class. The pen nervously tapped against the desk as I focused on trying to listen for Madison.
Students trickled into the room from the hallway, idle chatter slipping by me as I focused. Only a few bits and pieces managed to register, a few of the popular girls talking about a couple new girls, Greg telling Sparky about Space Opera. None of it managed to really managed to grab my attention until a voice suddenly came from right next to me. "Excuse me, urm… Is this seat taken?"
I totally didn't jump at how close the voice was, not at all. Turning, somehow a girl had managed to get right next to my desk without me even noticing. I needed to pay more attention, it could have just as easily been one of the trio's lackeys. At the very least, there was no way this girl was one of them. Short dark red hair that turned lighter near the ends, a baggy black sweater with a few skulls sewn on it in red, black shorts that she could barely see past the edge of the hood, tights, and a pair of black boots with red laces. A goth punk wouldn't be able to even get close to them.
Noticing her fidgeting, I realized I hadn't answered her at all. Working up the courage, I finally looked up to meet her eyes. They were the most noticeable thing about her, a type of grey that seemed far closer to silver for their luster. What took me back was the obvious nervousness in them. An overheard comment managed to slip back into her mind, a couple new girls having started, and it all fell into place. Shaking my head, I made a small gesture to the desk. "It's open."
Turning my head away from the girl, the response didn't register as I went back to listening for Madison. It didn't take long for her and her small group of hanger ons to slip into the room, for once ignoring me in favor of talking about the new girls. Apparently the new junior had left a pretty strong impression, having snubbed a junior member of ABB pretty hard. There was already a small betting pool to see how long it would be before she got jumped.
"So… What's this class like? Is the teacher any good?" The new girls voice, despite its whisper, managed to draw my attention. Mostly do to proximity, as I glanced over and noticed her leaning over the side of her own desk to look at me. A few moments passed where I considered not answering, but they passed. If I kept just to the facts, there'd be nothing that could possibly be used against me. If she was trying to dig for info to get in good with the trio, she'd get nothing.
"It's… alright, if you've got a group of friends. Mr. Gladly gives a lot of group work, and larger projects like debates. He usually ends class a little early, give people time to talk or get to their lockers before lunch." There, an entirely true answer that didn't contain anything that could be used against me. The response was very expressive, a groan followed by slumping forward onto her desk.
"I hate group-work… It's so much easier when you're by yourself! No having to try and work around other people…" The grumble and pout the girl was making could definitely give Madison a run for her money in terms of cute. The empathetic nod came as I looked at the girl again, more closely. It took a lot of effort not to laugh as a realization came. This new girl managed to pull off what Madison tried her hardest to do seemingly unintentionally. The dark, slightly edgy clothing contrasted with her petite size and innocent face to just make them stand out more. The awkwardness just helped drive it home. This girl was cute.
My response died in my throat as I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Madison and her cronies had stopped talking. Glancing back over my shoulder, fears instantly confirmed. They were all looking towards us, Madison eyeing the new girl with a squint. An uneasy feeling rose up in my stomach, as I already guessed what was to come. The new girl would learn very quickly why associating with me was a bad idea. As Madison's eyes shifted to me, I quickly turned my head back around and sighed silently.
Mr. Gladly finally decided to enter at that moment, sparing the new girl a curious glance as he got to his desk and started sorting everything. A bit of movement out of the corner of my caught my attention, and I blinked to see the new girl holding her hand out to me. "My name's Ruby Rose, by the way."
The hand hung there for a few moments as I thought it over. Something about the gesture seemed… important. Like it held a lot more weight than what was normal. The temptation to snub her came, and then went as she caught the hopeful look in her eyes. Reaching her own hand out, she took it and gave it a weak shake. "Taylor Hebert."
AN: Alright, I am back from a long hiatus with… this. Why this? Why a crossover in this way? Well to be entirely honest, the idea's been bouncing around in my head for a while. I noticed Yang and Victoria shared a lot of similarities in terms of personality, and my mind went from there.
Anyway, some important information before people have to ask. Ruby and Yang aren't the ones from Remanent, these are versions of them that were born on Earth Bet. They're basically a Parahuman AU version of the pair. The only other characters from RWBY that will be important will be their direct family. Weiss, Black, Pyrrha, Jaune, as much as I love them, won't be making appearances besides the occasional reference or passing appearance. Putting all the characters in would steal screen time from Worm characters, and the different setting would mean the characters wouldn't be exactly the same anyway.
