Author's Note: Just a reminder – unless the individual Ruby has already been named and/or introduced, they will be little more than blatant parodies. You'll see what I mean.
(That means no Henceforward Ruby, sorry… but if someone could be kind enough to point me towards an online version of the comic, she might just appear later in the story…)
Most of the events that occur here take place within the span of about 3 hours – and since it's basically a war, lots of things will be happening at the same time. In other words, most of the battle scenes will seem to happen in a random order. Enjoy! :)
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1:50 AM, Sunday
City of Vale, Warehouse District, Unit 117
(Early Morning of Day 13)
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Roman Torchwick was in trouble again.
Just like old times.
Once his primary role in Plan B was finished, Roman felt both privileged and insulted that he was kept holed up in the gang's 'backup' storehouse. Most of the authorities didn't know about this one. And in case they did find it, Cinder was oh-so-gracious enough to leave him two squads of White Fang as defense. Or a distraction, as he would have called them.
As a bonus for doing so well, he was allowed to keep that one big White Fang lieutenant with him… that one with the chainsaw, Roman never did learn his name. He just called the guy Big Mask.
Much to his great irritation, Roman's remote position afforded him a wonderful amount of access to updates. In other words, he had no idea everyone else had gone down until about an hour ago. And now it was panic time.
"Priority cases first, those are the big ones, remember?" He didn't bother hiding how upset he was as he snapped at the various soldiers moving boxes into his waiting airship. "If we have time, then we take the small boxes. Keep things organized, for the love of-…"
CRASH!
Roman threw his cane on the ground in frustration at yet another interruption. Something had crashed through the upper windows and landed in the open area at the center of the warehouse. Something red.
Something… someone… that he knew all too well.
And just like that, Roman's mood lightened considerably.
The red kid groaned as she stood, groggily shaking the shards of glass from her cloak. Her oversized gardening tool had landed nearby, but she deftly grabbed it and folded it up. Still blessedly clueless, the kid gazed up at the window she'd fallen through, then down at the door mumbling to herself.
How clueless can you get?
"So…" Roman called suddenly, "…isn't it a bit past your bedtime, Red?"
His voice might as well have been a gunshot for the way she reacted. She jerked so hard she almost fell over, then whipped around and quickly spotted Roman amidst the darkness. Her silvery eyes nearly popped out of her head, a look that threatened to give the ginger-haired man a severe case of the giggles.
This was helped by the fact that the White Fang soldiers had already blocked all the exits. That damned kid had nowhere to go.
With a quick kick of his foot, Roman's cane shot back up to it's master's waiting hand. He gave it a twirl, then laughed as he said, "You know, I was just wondering what I could do to relieve some of this …stress…" He growled the last word.
The red kid gulped hard, then finally pulled her gardening tool out and got it ready. She did not look thrilled. It was pretty clear she had been knocked here completely against her will – and now she was in way over her head.
"You guys at the doors, keep an eye out – she stays inside. The rest of you, finish loading up. It's time for me to have some… fun."
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Chapter 19:
The Battle of 100 Rubys
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11:45 PM – 2:30 AM, Saturday – Sunday
Various Locations Around The City of Vale
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The layout was simple, but effective: The bulk of the enemy forces was coming from both north and south equally, while a smaller force approached from the mountains to the east. Divide the defenses up so that most of the Ruby Army took the north and south fields, the rest take the east and defend the mountains.
The city would not be left defenseless, however. A smaller contingent with strong ranged capabilities would be left within city limits to pick off anything that got past the outer defenses.
Carmine would coordinate the smaller groups to hit the bulk of the enemy forces. Ironwood would remain in command of the ground forces and the evacuation, continuing his defense of the city.
Go time. All or nothing. In essence, this was humanity's last stand against the oncoming tide of darkness.
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Yang was in her element: Destruction.
She had been firing Ember Celica so much that she was sure it was starting to overheat, and she'd designed it to withstand a lot of use. Well, Ruby did most of the designing… but that was beside the point. A good-sized trail of rapidly vaporizing Grimm lay behind her.
But there was still plenty more to go. According to what she overheard Carmine saying, there were thousands of Grimm out in force tonight. Lots of targets.
It would never be enough to work out her emotions.
Losing Ku still hurt too much.
In one quick motion, Yang tugged two more strips of ammo from her belt and tossed them up, deftly reloading in a single move. She was ready to go again when…
"Hey, you…"
She barely stopped her fist from breaking Red's face. He jerked back just as she stopped, obviously not expecting the move.
Her eyes continued to blaze with a crimson light as she growled, "If I were you… I'd steer clear of… me… until this is over…"
His eyes held a look of understanding as he simply said, "…Ku?"
Yang could only nod. She knew that if she opened her mouth, vile curses would simply spill out onto the ground.
"I'll be nearby if you feel like talking later," he said. It was clear he was trying to diffuse whatever had her emotions in a twisted knot, but that was more than he could handle right now.
Yang didn't want to deal with any of these other Rubys, not tonight. Any other time she would be joking and playing like normal, but right now… it still hurt too much.
With a feral yell, Yang Xiao Long ran forward into an oncoming pack of Beowulves. They never knew what hit them.
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Carmine sat back in her chair and took a breath.
On the screen in front of her was a digital layout of the entire city. There were thousands of colored dots all over the outside of the border, most of them representing Grimm. The rest were the so-called Ruby Army.
She tried not to think about where Rain had gotten them all. Or how. The implications alone threatened to drive her crazy.
Thinking back to the way Ruby and the others reacted when they'd learned about the Grimm still made Carmine smile. They insisted on helping. They were so honest with their feelings, so direct… so innocent. It was hard to believe she had once been that way, herself.
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As the others made their way out to get cleaned up, Ruby stayed behind. She was giving Carmine's chair a look.
"Ah… I never did show you, did I?" Carmine nodded in understanding. She gave a sharp whistle and held out her hand. The chair rapidly flowed over to her and morphed into her own Omega Rose, the bigger and meaner-looking variation of Crescent Rose.
Ruby's eyes were sparkling brightly. She held out one hand, asking, "…May I?"
Carmine chuckled, "Certainly," as she handed over the weapon.
But then something odd occurred. As soon as Ruby's hand made contact with Omega's smooth, glassy surface, the weapon changed into the original Crescent Rose. There was no delay.
Carmine frowned. He wasn't supposed to do that.
"This is …incredible. It feels just like Crescent Rose." Ruby swung the all-black version of her sweetheart around, being careful not to hit anything. It moved naturally, like it belonged in her hand.
The scientist wiggled her fingers, a signal for Omega to come back to her. Nothing happened. Strange.
She raised one hand and snapped her fingers. That did the trick – Omega flowed back over to Carmine's hand and re-formed Omega Rose.
Ruby's eyes were still sparkling. "Now I see why the guys were so excited after they saw it. So cool!"
Carmine forced herself to smile again, saying, "Yeah, it's… it's cool. You should get going, kiddo."
As Ruby left, Carmine gazed down at the still form of Omega in her hand. Why had it disobeyed her?
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Blinking, an idea came to Carmine: Omega had never made physical contact with any of the other Rubys until that moment. It was possible that it would have done the same thing if one of the others had grabbed it. The nanomachine cluster was programmed to obey Ruby Rose's brainwaves after all. That had to be it.
Cricking her neck, the resident Mad Scientist leaned forward and got back to work keeping the battle organized. It was going to be a long night.
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He had seen some odd weapons tonight. Mostly scythes, but there were plenty of swords and good old-fashioned guns to go around. He tried not to think about that one kid carrying a gigantic goddamn key and hitting the Grimm with it. Too strange.
Swords were more his speed. Especially his broadsword.
There was nothing quite as satisfying as bringing down one of these monsters with a good thrust to the face. The feel of cold hard steel cutting into black flesh and bony mask, …it was exhilarating.
Almost as good as the Quickening. Almost.
Too bad there weren't any other Immortals here tonight. He could use the company.
As he brought another creature down, he spotted another red-haired swordsman off to one side. No, …it was another woman. There were certainly a lot of those out here. She was dressed like a man, though. Her most distinctive feature was a cross-shaped scar on her cheek.
She stowed her curved, single-edged sword in it's sheath, then met his eyes. A spark of understanding passed between them. They nodded to each other wordlessly, two warriors on the field of battle.
They returned to battle moments later, but he felt a bit better now. Suddenly it wasn't quite so lonely out here anymore.
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The warrior took another bear-creature in the throat with a single thrust. Such beasts were no challenge, but their numbers were proving to be a threat. She pulled it free, then let the beast fall to the ground, joining it's fallen brethren.
Battles such as this one were the lifeblood of Diana and her people. Warriors born, all of them. Yet not even Hades himself could have produced such monsters as these… Grimm, they were called? An apt name.
Hefting her shield, the warrior charged forward into another group of them. They struck at her, but their claws were no match for the steel of the gods. Her blade struck down many more before she paused to draw breath.
She considered the golden lasso at her side, but thought otherwise. If she faced one of those flying creatures, maybe then. Right now it was not needed.
A commotion drew her attention as she found another red-haired young woman fighting her way through more of the creatures. This one stood out, however, because the blade she carried seemed made of pure light. Diana stared at it in awe.
The newcomer took Diana in at a glance, then shook her head and muttered, "Strangest damn planet I've ever seen." She then pointed a finger at the great, golden stinger of another beast and gestured to the side. The stinger obeyed, tearing itself from it's mount and flying away, leaving the beast below shrieking in pain. The blade of light ended it's misery shortly after.
Though her form was that of an amateur, the girl's spirit was certainly of a warrior. Diana laughed. It seemed she was in good company after all.
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The gunslinger was one of the few assigned to patrol the rooftops of the city. She was tasked with taking out any fliers that decided to simply pass the rest of the defenders by way of the sky.
Flying monsters. Eh, no worse than back home.
She fired sparingly, every round striking her target. Every shot bringing down another of those godforsaken things. She kept careful count of her shells, too. No sense in running out in the middle of a firefight. Once was enough.
"I do not aim with my hand," she muttered her vows as she reloaded the chambers of both revolvers, "She who aims with her hand has forgotten the face of her father." Her fingers did their reloading trick and all 12 rounds were loaded in less than three seconds. Her eyes were hard and glaring into the night sky. More on the way.
"I aim with my eye." The revolvers came up again, sandalwood grips fitted to her palms, and began firing.
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Cherry lunged over another building, landing right on top of another black monster. She easily ripped it's head off.
There were lots of these things around, none of them with any smell save death itself. They stank. Easy to find. But she was looking for another smell.
Ruby. Not the other ones, or even her friends – Ruby herself.
When Cherry first came out to the city, she had run into Ruby. Literally. The girl was jumping between buildings as Cherry's fully-transformed size knocked her flying. Now Cherry was trying to find where she went.
She really liked Ruby. Even though she looked and smelled like the other Rubys, Cherry felt… safe with her. She was afraid she might have hurt the girl. Cherry wanted to find her. She couldn't sleep in anyone else's lap like she could Ruby's.
Another dozen or so black monsters waited down the road. Cherry roared again, tearing into them.
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Ruby Rose, Magister of Light, was having a surprising amount of trouble. It wasn't that the Creatures of Grimm were hard to kill – they actually weren't – it was the fact that there were so many of them. She could tell that, given enough training, she could become much more proficient at slaying the beasts, but that was precisely the problem.
In her own world, there were no Grimm. At all. The Four Maidens had wiped them all out long before she was even born. As such, the woman was not accustomed to this type of battle. She had not trained for this.
By no means was she giving up, of course. She simply needed bigger guns.
With a wave of her staff, she produced two massive dog-like constructs – Canis Major and Canis Minor. She then created two identical female archers – the Gemini. Finally, she created the largest male warrior she could, the one and only Hercules. "Go, my children," she said.
They all went forth and laid waste to the Creatures of Grimm. Her smile faded slightly at the sight.
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Blake kept to the trees.
Guerrilla warfare was nothing new to the faunus – it was how she survived her first years of life among the White Fang, after all. Except that she'd never done anything on this scale before. She'd never seen so many Grimm in one place.
Thankfully she had a lot of good help. At least a full dozen of the Ruby army had been sent with her to secure the Emerald Forest. And they were good; four of them had some form of longbow, and two others were up in the trees like Blake was. They'd felled at least a hundred of the beasts in the first hour alone.
Another large group of Grimm were crashing through, this one mostly those Boarbatusk things. Blake scanned the nearby trees for help and found another Ruby, this one rather… obvious. She wore some kind of orange and blue jumpsuit. Not much good for camouflage.
Blake tried to use hand signals to tell this Ruby to cause a distraction and run the other way so they could surround the group, and it seemed to work. The Ruby nodded and grinned… but then she simply jumped down and landed right in front of them! Blake cursed under her breath and got ready to jump down and pull that idiot-
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
With a muffled explosion and a burst of smoke, Blake was suddenly looking at… hundreds of jumpsuited Rubys. What the actual crap…?!
And they weren't illusions – all of the clones jumped in and completely overwhelmed the Grimm in less than a minute. Once done, they all poofed away, leaving just one with the biggest, cheesiest grin on her face. Blake sighed, but couldn't stop herself from smiling as well.
This night was promising to be full of surprises.
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[Miss Stark?]
"What is it, K.L.I.N.E.?"
[A large group of tailed creatures is approaching our position from the west]
"I see them, thank you."
She fired her repulsors to the west, hitting quite a few things that looked like monster scorpions. Yuck. She hated bugs. Thankfully she knew where to aim by now.
She glanced at her heads-up display, taking in the state of her armor – integrity was down by only 3%, power was still hanging around 94%, and she still looked as good as ever. And why not? Crescent Rose Mark-20 was a sight to behold, no matter what world you were from.
The head of the Stark family shot herself forward, heading for another group of the wolf-type creatures. There was one of the 'Ruby Army' there who looked like she needed help. A few missiles from her shoulder-mount took out the closest creatures.
"Huh… that armor's a bit outdated, isn't it?" She couldn't help but smile at the girl before her – parts of a beat-up set of medieval armor, a rugged sword in her hand, and a beaten metal helmet with two curved horns on either side. She looked like a reject from an old-timey video game.
The knight wanna-be looked at Stark and gave a sneer. She then turned back to one oncoming group of creatures, opened her mouth, …and shouted.
"Fus… Ro… DAH!"
The last word came out as an explosion. There was no other word for it. The force of it was enough to blow almost a dozen of the creatures away like they were bits of trash.
If Stark hadn't been wearing a full-head helmet, her jaw would have dropped to the ground.
"The armor's only as good as the warrior inside it," the shouting knight observed as she trotted off to go annihilate more beasts.
"K.L.I.N.E…? Set a reminder for me. 'Never accept an offer from an inter-dimensional look-alike ever again' …okay?"
[Reminder has been recorded.]
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Weiss was glad she wasn't alone tonight. Sapphire had agreed to accompany her.
She had been sent east to help guard that side from the oncoming force. The two Schnees were standing just past the edge of Forever Fall, one of Weiss' favorite locations in Vale. From here it was open plains all the way to the edge of the mountains.
Of course, they were far from alone. Almost two dozen of the Ruby Army had come this way with them to help. But no matter how many there were, Weiss was not simply going to let them do all the work.
"Shall we?" Sapphire asked from beside her. The woman was grinning slightly.
Weiss nodded, then began to concentrate. Sapphire mirrored the effort. Both women suddenly had large glyphs floating in the air behind them in the shape of the Schnee family crest – a large snowflake.
Two large, ethereal knights appeared, but they were not the same. Weiss' knight was tall and thin, and wielded a long sword. Sapphire's knight was shorter and built like a tank, and wielded a massive hammer. Weiss regarded the new knight with a raised eyebrow.
Both knights glanced at each other, then knocked their weapons together companionably. Then they charged into battle with aplomb.
Both Weiss and Sapphire, together, muttered, "Praise the sun…" before heading into battle themselves.
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Unit RTX-517 proceeded north as ordered. She was to help secure the northern border of the Emerald Forest and hold it until further orders.
Thus far there had been no trouble with that. The Grimm accosted her frequently, but she fended them off. Other red-haired warriors often came to assist or check if she was okay, then simply left again.
The presence of these fighters gave her pause. So many that looked like her. So many that turned out so… different than she did. Could she have become like them if she hadn't gone with Penny back then…?
No, there was no point to such thoughts. Better that she stay focused.
Capturing Emerald Sustrai proved to be a challenge, but not impossible. Once captured, RTX downloaded the database from their stolen hard drives and gave them a quick analysis. That was when something stuck out at her from the data – Penny's name.
It took 2.3 minutes of questioning before Emerald Sustrai confessed to her actions regarding Penny.
Her punishment took 1.7 seconds.
RTX's official report was that Emerald escaped capture; Carmine then had her relocate to the northern battlegrounds, as mentioned earlier.
No one would find Emerald Sustrai's body. She made sure of that.
Nobody hurts Penny.
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Red kept a wary eye on Yang while he fought. He didn't want her to get too far out of sight. He was genuinely worried about her.
The two of them had really bonded over these few weeks, and Red hated to see her suffer so much. Losing Ku had shaken everyone up (as far as he knew), but none more than Yang.
On the plus side, she had plenty of punching bags to work her stress out on.
Speaking of which, Red lightly dodged a Deathstalker tail before landing a punch to it's multi-eyed face. It shrank back after that.
There were still so many Grimm. Would this ever end?
All at once, something started to happen just to Red's right. Another massive group of Grimm, like a seething lake of pitch, looked …trapped by something. Red's earpiece buzzed with Carmine's frantic pleas of "Inverse! What do you think you're doing? I said to give me a few minutes before you-…"
Red's arms broke out in goosebumps. Someone was channeling a lot of power nearby, and it only took him a moment to find it.
Another Ruby, this one with long, flowing hair and two oversized armor pieces on her shoulders, stood on a nearby hillside looking over the trapped Grimm. She had a thick black aura of energy surrounding her. Red couldn't make out everything she was chanting, but what he did hear was enough to make him worry.
"…Buried in the flow of time
In thy great name,
I hereby pledge myself to darkness…"
Red glanced around rapidly, and found to his relief that Carmine's pleas had reached the nearby Rubys – all were fleeing fast.
That left only Yang, who apparently didn't hear it. Red shot himself forward without thinking, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat. The blonde yelped a bit as he grabbed her by the waist, but there was no time to waste.
"…Merge thy power and mine
To grant destruction equally to all!"
Yang finally got the hint, shooting her own weapon backwards in time with his. They barely heard the final words of the spell, since that was all it could have been.
"DRAGON SLAVE! ! !"
Everyone on the southern battleground clearly saw the massive fireball that swept that area clean of everything. Red and Yang missed the blast by a few feet.
As the two brawlers came to a rest, Red grunted, "Remind me never to piss off that Ruby."
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Garnett Rose kept himself in the corner of the northern battlegrounds, as far from the bigger group of Rubys as he could get. Less collateral damage that way.
The big man found himself fighting mostly alone (just the way he liked it) against mainly Ursai and the occasional Goliath. The big, slow enemies. Good. His 'fight' with that tiny girl proved that he still had a long way to go before he could fight quick enemies.
Before long, however, he found himself outnumbered.
"Oh, dear…" he stated sarcastically, "Whatever shall I do…? Heh."
It took all of a second for Garnett to locate the largest bulk of the Grimm, then center his face right at them. He then lifted his blindfold, but only off one eye. That was all he needed.
His vision went white. All he heard was the roar of unleased energy.
When it was over, there was still the sound of Grimm, but far fewer than there had been a moment ago.
"Next?"
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Sapphire was starting to become out of breath. That was rare.
This battle presented a unique opportunity for the Atlesian Specialist to devote herself entirely to the sword. She could have opted for heavy glyph use, or even chosen to send out waves of summoned creatures, but she needed to let her feelings out through the blade. Her mentor, Qrow, would have agreed with that sentiment.
As she decapitated an Ursa with a rather flashy move, someone to her side spoke up, "I'm starting to wonder if you actually needed my help earlier."
Magister Ruby was riding a large winged-horse construct. Pegasus, no doubt. "I did… but like you said, it's a long story. I'm not sure I believe it myself," Sapphire replied.
She remained on her mount as she said, "With skills like that, the young man should have been no challenge… but I understand what you mean. I, too, have issues with certain foes. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
The Schnee woman nodded. "How goes the battle?"
"Well enough. Our forces seem to be holding the advantage, but they're wearing down. I've shifted my focus to support. Here…"
With a wave of her scythe-staff, the Magister produced an odd sight: a tall construct that resembled a woman with a jar. Andromeda? It then tilted the jar and something that looked like water flowed out and over the specialist. Within moments, she was fully refreshed and renewed. Aquarius, then.
"Fight well," the Magister declared as she rode Pegasus back into the sky. Sapphire smiled up at the woman – they could probably hold a long discussion about the stars – before taking up her sword and plunging back into the fray.
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She stood on a high peak, watching the battle with one glimmering silver eye. She did not come to fight. She came to observe.
Two strong arms sat folded beneath her breasts. Two feet planted like oak trees in the rocky ground beneath her. The breeze ruffled her blood-red cape, but it could not have moved her, even if it churned to hurricane force.
Wind could not move a true General.
The forces were well laid and spread evenly. She gave a half-smile as she watched the two forces collide across four distinct battlefields. It was marvelous. Very well-planned. Whoever this Carmine was, she was good.
Others would find the sight boring, but not her. She loved things like this. Organized movements of troops, careful planning and coordination of battles – it was what she lived for. She could tell so much about the enemy commander from the way they moved their troops that it was almost scary.
A beeping noise barely drew her attention, but she looked anyway. A message from that woman. It was time to meet again. So soon? She looked back over the field of battle once more, taking in the spectacle with her one silver eye, then turned to leave.
She raised her robotic left arm, opened the control panel with her right hand, then hit the button combination. A portal opened moments later and the woman stepped through.
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Qrow took the head of a Griffon before pausing for a breath.
He stood on a rooftop near the medical tent, nearly at the heart of the city. Even with the significant defenses, the Grimm were still getting pretty far inside. There were a few other fighters helping defend the city, many of them those freakish Ruby Rose look-alikes, but Qrow still stepped up to help.
And he wasn't alone. Good 'ol James was also out in force – after about an hour of battle, the man had already claimed a hefty toll from the Grimm. Glynda Goodwitch had also stepped out to assist, mostly to defend the medical tent. She claimed that Port and Oobleck were also in the city, though in other areas. That left most of the rest of Beacon's staff back at the school, thankfully.
Qrow could have stayed in the tent, but his own brand of bad luck would have made things harder than they needed to be. Vernal was pulling through, thank the gods – Raven actually would have claimed his head otherwise. Qrow made up his mind to ask that kid what their relationship was later on – anything that made his sister defend her like that was worth knowing about.
After catching his breath, Qrow turned to patrol another street when he came face-to-face with a rather odd sight.
"And, um… who the hell are you supposed to be…?"
The figure in question was certainly one of the Ruby Army… but she looked like a mistake. Shorter than his own niece, wearing a plain one-piece black jumpsuit with red gloves and boots, and a simple red cape. Not even a hood. That and she looked incredibly bored.
"Oh, me? Eh… I'm just a 'hero' for fun. Name's Lindsey," she replied glumly. The girl was sitting on a park bench, drinking from a soda can. She was practically twiddling her thumbs.
"A… hero…?" Qrow blinked. If ever a label didn't fit… "Then, um… why aren't you… I don't know, helping us?"
"The glasses girl was really specific. She said I was not to do anything until she gave me the go-ahead. Apparently I'm only here to kill one monster. Can you believe that?"
Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. He was certain he hadn't been drinking today, and not near enough for this bullshit. "Whatever, just… stay out of the way so you don't get hurt, okay?"
All she did was shrug before taking another swig. Qrow turned and left before he said something he'd regret.
Where do they dig these freaks up?
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Just at the edge of the southern battleground, on the edge of the city limits, another warrior gazed over the killing fields. His face was shrouded in red and black, loaded guns at his side, and twin katanas at his back. In his hands he held a piping hot chimichanga-
Wait a freaking…
"What up, homie?" he declared to the sky.
What the hell are you doing in my story, Deadp-
"WAITAMINNIT! If you use my name, then you gotta mark this as a crossover story…"
Fine. I'll call you D.P. But seriously, why the hell are you here?
"Hey, you left the door open twinklefingers… I just walked in to enjoy the show."
Beat it.
"I can't… not without a bit more fanservice…" *wink wink*
I could end you right now. No lie.
"You're just jealous that I'm bigger…"
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Yang blinked as an unexplained blast rocked a small section of the city limits near where she was standing. There had been no Grimm there, so the cause was uncertain. It was enough to pull her out of her battle trance, though. She could have sworn she saw …someone flying away from the blast with his rear end on fire, screaming something like 'Maximum effort!'
She sighed as she returned to the battle. This whole night was like a lucid dream – there was no point trying to make sense of everything.
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Rose was currently pissed. Carmine didn't bother to give her time to re-apply her medicine, and she didn't bother to mention that the spray was a concentrated version of her pheromones.
Even the goddamn Grimm were acting funny around her, now.
Since the other Rubys all found her smell to be repulsive, Rose found herself somewhat alone on the eastern battlefield. Somewhat, in that she did find an ally in the form of a Ruby with an orange karate outfit and spikier hair than normal. She also had an odd symbol on the back of the outfit, but Rose didn't recognize it.
The kid was definitely a martial artist, though. Rose doubted even Yang could easily take this one.
"You sure you're okay here? I know I don't smell that great," Rose asked between bouts. She was starting to get winded, though her friend looked to be just getting warmed up.
"Ha! That's nothing! You should smell some of the guys I hang around all day… makes you smell like a bouquet in comparison!" She seemed rather upbeat for being surrounded by monsters.
Rose considered a few comebacks to that, but decided against them all. "This is taking forever, huh?"
"Not for long, it ain't… watch this!"
The martial artist put her hands together at her waist, then started to yell something. Soon, there was some sort of blue energy gathering in her palms. After a few more moments, she raised her hands and shouted even louder.
The energy shot forward like a cannon, firing a blue beam of light into the oncoming Grimm. They were blown away with relative ease.
"Oooooh-kay… um, how?"
"Lots of training with an old turtle hermit. And rice balls, can't forget those."
Rose was ready with a sarcastic reply, but it soon died on her lips. The ground had started trembling, and not because of nearby Grimm. Even the occasional Goliath didn't make this much noise.
"That doesn't sound good…"
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A warning light started flashing on the side of the monitor. Carmine paled as she saw it.
"Attention all units, attention all units. Dragon has been confirmed and is heading for the eastern battleground. Lindsey, that means you. Diana, give her a lift to the target, would you? Delta team, be ready to engage target on my mark…"
No matter how certain Rain was that this 'Lindsey' weirdo could handle the Dragon Grimm, Carmine was not taking any chances. Delta team consisted of the strongest dozen or so Rubys, so they could surely take it down.
"Stark, bring a team to the west and engage a group of Goliaths that just appeared. Weiss, a flock of Nevermores has just appeared to your south, take care of them. Alpha team, report…"
…
… … …
…
Cinder was breathing hard. Good.
Rain was not.
They had been battling for about an hour by this point, though Cinder likely felt like it had been far longer. She wasn't used to the Maiden Powers yet. She was strong, there was no denying that, but Rain had had far more time to get used to it.
"To think… … hah… … that you were the Winter Maiden the whole time… …" Cinder gasped during a lull in the fight, "… …She would never forgive me… … if I didn't kill you… …"
Before Rain could form a reply, her gaze turned to an unusual sight just past the floating form of the Fall Maiden. A giant Grimm, larger than anything she'd seen before. It looked a bit like a…
"Dragon," Rain breathed in awe. She had heard of it's size, but to actually see it…
Cinder turned to look as well, her own eyes wide with shock, and then she started to cackle. "Ah-ha-ha! There he is! Just as she foretold! You see, bitch?! You had no chance! Summon all the armies you want, nothing can defeat that beast! We've won!"
Rain merely hung her head and sighed. "Why is it that every time you open your mouth, you get things wrong?"
Blazing yellow eyes glared daggers at Rain.
"The army was solely for the other Grimm. That one is being handled right now…"
A tiny, almost infinitesimal speck of red could be seen hurling through the air towards the mammoth beast. It could have been a tiny bird for all it stood out. Whatever it was quickly made it's way towards the Dragon's face.
The Grimm exploded in a slow shockwave, it's entire body liquidating in a ripple that travelled all the way to the tip of it's tail.
Cinder very nearly fell from the sky.
"One punch, and done," Rain declared quietly.
…
… … …
…
Everyone on the ground had to pick their jaws back up off the floor.
What just happened? The single biggest Grimm anyone had ever seen had just… blown up? How? Why? Who?!
Well she certainly didn't know. The most she'd ever learned before coming here was how to bend the other three elements. This was way over her head.
The Creatures of Grimm were about the only thing this world had in common with her own – and they didn't seem phased by that little show at all. She quickly bent the earth beneath her feet, sending large boulders hurling into them.
Before she even had time to register what else could happen, a black rain fell over most of the open battleground. Large swaths of land were suddenly covered with black …stuff. They had been right beneath that monster when it disintegrated, so maybe it was that?
Then hell itself broke loose.
The blackness spawned new Grimm. All of it.
There had to be millions of them now.
Before her stomach dropped to her shoes, she opened her staff into it's glider form and bent the air to quickly fly away. Numerous other red-haired warriors followed suit, pulling back to regroup.
One drew near, seemingly made out of metal. Numerous bits and moving parts gave her an organic look, but there was no doubt that she, …it, was no human. She cried, "R.B. didn't sign up for this crap! R.B. gettin' out of here!" The metal human then landed and… changed. She transformed into some sort of vehicle and rode away on two wheels.
The airbender glanced back down at the writhing sea of monstrosities and shook her head. "We need to let the rest know! They'll overwhelm us in minutes!"
…
… … …
…
Omega rippled beneath her as Carmine blanched at the footage. Even the initial wave of Grimm had not been so …insane as this.
"Attention everyone. Attention everyone. We have an emergency," Carmine spoke over the radio, her voice close to cracking. "Anyone who can get to the eastern battlegrounds without compromising your current position, do it now! Anyone who has been holding anything back up until this point, go full out! We are drastically outnumbered, people!"
The map seemed to glow red as the new mass of Grimm displayed itself like a bloodstain. Without a miracle, Vale was doomed. Hell, the whole world was screwed.
…
… … …
… … … … …
2:20 AM
City of Vale, Warehouse District – Unit 117
…
Ruby had been beaten. There was no other way to say it.
It had been going just fine at first. She danced around him, swinging and parrying like usual. She even got close to hitting that stupid hat off his head once.
But then Roman Torchwick got one lucky hit on her leg, cutting her mobility clean in half. Everything went to crap after that.
"You know, Red, I gotta say…" The man never did get her name right, even after all this time, "…we've been through a lot together. Robberies, highway battles, lots of good times. And now here we are, at the end of the road…"
Ruby was only listening with half an ear to his rambling. The man certainly loved to hear himself talk. Her mind had gone numb about five minutes ago – that was when he landed the true, final blow on her spirit.
Crescent Rose had been destroyed. She sat on the concrete floor, gazing upon the broken pieces in a state of shock.
"Things have gone rather downhill around these parts, wouldn't you say boys? Of course they have. I think it's about time to relocate… start fresh, wipe the slate clean. I hear Mistral's nice this time of year…"
He had taken an opening so wide you could have flown an airship through it, firing a shot from his cane at point blank range. It was one hit too many for her sweetheart. A single tear slid down her cheek as Ruby remembered the scene. She knew that image would haunt her for quite a while, no matter how easy it would be to rebuild her beloved weapon.
Ruby laughed a bit as she realized something – this was probably close to how Yang felt when Ku was taken from them.
"Oh boy, I think she's broken…" Roman leaned down and waved a hand in front of Ruby's face, but got no reaction. Nothing mattered to her anymore. She had lost in the most spectacular fashion.
The man in the bowler cap stood up and gave Ruby a look that was close to sympathy. "If I was just any old bad guy, I would simply leave you here and be on my merry way… but hey, I'm in a good mood right now, so I'll do you a favor…"
His face grew hard as he motioned to one side, "…I'll end it quickly for you."
Roman began to walk away, a distinct strut in his step, as he passed a line of six White Fang soldiers who were quickly loading their rifles and lining up. Within moments, they were loaded… and aimed every one of their barrels right at Ruby.
With her Aura gone and her leg still injured, she was a sitting duck. With no weapon to block the shots or fire back, it was a shooting gallery.
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears to fall. Her throat tried to seize up on her, but she forced it to swallow.
This was not how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to win… she was one of the good guys… how could this have happened…?
Carmine, Sapphire, Cherry, Red, Rose, …and Rain …I'm so sorry…
Six mechanisms clicked into place, ready to fire.
Yang… Blake… Weiss…
…
…Mom…
…
…I've failed you…
…
…
A glimmer of light caught her attention. It came from behind the soldiers. She didn't notice that they no longer seemed interested in shooting her… or moving at all.
The light compressed, shrunk, focused… into the shape of a person. It floated like a ghost for a moment, phasing right through the people in it's way. A face hovered just out of focus, but she could still see that whatever this thing was, it was looking right at her.
Ruby's breath caught. She knew those eyes.
The thing… the person… stopped right in front of Ruby and knelt down to the floor, putting her face level with the redhead's. The shape became more focused, and for the first time in more years than Ruby could remember, she found herself looking at a woman in a snow-white cloak and hood… a woman who meant more to her than any other human in the world…
Summer Rose. Her mother.
Ruby choked out a sob, muttering, "Mom, I… I… *hic* I lost… I let everyone… Yang… Dad… *hic* …I'm …I'm so sorry…!" The tears began flowing like an open tap, hitting her wounded leg with loud splashes. She simply let them come, knowing it was all over anyway… why hold back now?
The ghostly form of her mother reached out and took Ruby into an embrace… a warm embrace. She actually felt those two arms encircling her, protecting her from everything that could ever harm her. On pure instinct, she hugged right back and held on tightly, wailing into her mother's shoulder.
Ruby could not have said how long they stayed like that. It could have been hours or seconds. But when Summer released her hold on Ruby, it was too soon. The face beneath that white hood was the picture of love and gentleness as she gazed into Ruby's eyes. Silver locked with silver.
Summer's mouth moved, but no sound came out. Ruby didn't need to hear the words to know what was said:
"I am so proud of you, my little rose."
She placed her hands over Ruby's eyes very gently.
Rather than black, Ruby's vision went fully white. A gentle warmth enveloped her, surrounding and penetrating the layer of pain that seemed to be drowning her. She didn't even feel the floor underneath her anymore… it was like she was floating in a white abyss, becoming one with the light.
She felt, rather than saw, her mother holding her again.
The light pierced into her head with the intensity of an explosion, but there was no pain… only peace. Contentment.
Everything was going to be alright.
…
…
…
Eventually, Ruby took it upon herself to open her eyes again. She was saddened to find her mother gone, even if it was just a ghost. The world was a little darker without her smile.
But then Ruby looked around herself… and sadness soon turned into pure awe.
She could… see!
Details she never imagined were suddenly clear and crisp before her, as though her eyes had never fully worked before now. Colors were brighter, shapes more defined. The world was almost alive with color.
As she focused, however, the walls soon faded as her vision found it's way through them and into the city beyond. Past that, into the plains to the south. She saw the battle as it was happening. She saw Yang, still fighting her heart out, her eyes still a blazing crimson. Around Yang, Ruby saw a faint dark-blue light, like an Aura, and knew it for what it was – grief. Yang was still distraught over losing Ku.
Was she seeing …emotions?
Ruby turned her gaze to the east, quickly finding her way to the edge of the mountains and locking onto Weiss. The heiress was easily holding her own alongside Sapphire. They fought like old partners, or even sisters. Both Schnees had their own colored Auras, these of a bright red with orange flecks – determination. They would fight until the end.
How could she see through walls? And so far away?
Turning again, Ruby found Blake heading away from the Emerald Forest to the north. The faunus had a blue-green Aura around her, this one mixed with sparkles of gold and yellow. She was concerned about everyone else. At least none of them had been badly injured, but if the fight went on too long…
What the… what is this?
Six muffled explosions pulled Ruby's attention back to her current situation… only for her to find no immediate danger. The bullets that had been fired were in no hurry – she could actually see them slowly leaving the barrels, rotating lazily through the air towards her.
In fact, the bullets seemed to have thin laser lines preceding them. Ruby could follow where each one was going to go. She easily stood up and out of the way as they went by, watching them go with fascination.
The White Fang soldiers had not moved, only continued holding the triggers to fire on full-auto. Ruby watched each shell slowly careen away from the guns, leaving a lazy trail of steam behind them.
One bullet sauntered close to her face, and Ruby casually reached out and plucked it from the air. She held it close to her face, wondering if it was real or not – it certainly felt real, that was for sure. But would a real bullet simply hang in the air when you let go of it? Because this one did.
This had to be a dream. Her wounds were gone, too… this was just too strange.
Well, if it was a dream, then she could at least have some fun…
…
… … …
… … … … …
Roman only made it seven steps past the gunmen when he heard the first odd noise: clattering metallic parts. He turned back to find a strange sight.
The kid was just fine. One of the soldier's guns had been fully dismantled in the blink of an eye. The others were just staring at it. The kid was grinning, too.
The most bizarre part was her eyes. They weren't silver anymore – they were glowing white. Almost like two light bulbs in her face.
"Are you freaking-… Do I have to do everything my-…" He never got the chance to finish his sentence. That damned kid just… blinked away. More clattering followed. Now all of the guns were lying in pieces on the floor. "…-self?"
Roman's jaw dropped. This was getting ridiculous.
He started raising his weapon, now tired of this, and began to say, "I declare bullsh-…" but then he blacked out for a moment…
…Only to find himself several feet in the air and flying backwards, having already crashed through another of the warehouses windows. Luckily he was heading right for the water of the docks. It would hurt, but he'd live.
Surviving was what he did best, after all.
…
… … …
… … … … …
Ruby Rose stared in disbelief. It was official – this was definitely a dream. There was no freaking way she could have done all that in reality.
She suddenly found herself moving so fast that time around her seemed to slow down. Way down.
She could see through walls and across great distances with ease.
She could see colored Auras that told her the emotions of who she was looking at.
And her injuries were all gone.
It was surely a dream.
"I. Am. So. OP! Woo!" She couldn't resist doing a little dance at the thrill of such a one-sided win. Her mirth quickly faded as she looked back down at her shattered weapon, but an idea struck her – she was dreaming, so that meant she could just fix it… with her mind… right?
Unless it was broken in real life, and the rest that followed was a dream…? In that case, it would stay broken. In that case, when she woke up, she'd still be wounded and facing death.
The tears returned as the possibility of such a reality hit home. "No… I don't wanna wake up…"
Slowly but surely, her world faded back into white. As before, she felt the strong arms of her mother wrap around her, the warmth and comfort of the best shelter in the world engulfing her. Sleep came over her slowly.
For the first time in years, Ruby heard her mother's unmistakable voice. It rang clear in her heart as well as her ears.
"Sleep now, little rose…"
As she faded away, Ruby sensed her mother nearby. It was similar to sensing someone standing over you while you laid in bed sleeping. But then… she sensed others. Many others.
She heard a few more words, then knew nothing more.
"…We'll take it from here."
… … … … …
… … …
…
A/N: So that happened. Yeah. In short, my version of the Silver-eye Powers will be similar to the Avatar system (from Avatar: The Last Airbender). You can deduce what that means on your own.
As a side note, the knights summon thing was meant to be a reference to the Dark Souls series (Ornstein and Smaug), in case you couldn't recognize it. I probably misspelled those names… Also, R.B. was meant to be a parody of Arcee, from Transformers.
(Update: I confess - I haven't even played Dark Souls, so just… ignore the whole knights thing. I have no idea what I'm doing. :P)
Disclaimer: Deadpool belongs to Marvel, not me.
So how many of the 15 parodies (plus one cameo) did you figure out? Most of them should have been easy. Please don't fill the review space with a list of the parodies you did find, though…
=^w^=