August 15.

Dear Diary,

I know it's been a while since the last time I wrote in you, but things have been relatively uneventful for the past couple of months: Lindsay keeps catching criminals and failing to keep her quippy mouth shut when she does, Arryn continues to pine for her despite Lindsay not reciprocating, and the status remains quite quod.

The reason I'm writing in you now is that something is afoot that I feel needs to be documented for future reference.

You see, despite never being formally convicted of such my father is the crime boss in not just the Atlas, but in all of Remnant City (see my earlier dairies for more context on that) and as such he has his hands in many different business ventures, both legal and otherwise. Technology is one of his most significant professional interests and seems to be the subject of this series of entries. To be even more specific, it involves robots...but that's all I know about this at the moment.

The only reason I know about this at all is that, in a moment of uncharacteristic carelessness, Jason Schnee happened to leave some crucial files open on his personal computer when he had to take a call during my weekly "check-in" with him. I only saw the screen's reflection in the window behind his desk, so I didn't have time to make all that much out on the file itself, only what looked like a couple of schematics and the odd word or two I could make out that seemed to be related to either mechanics or biology. Of course, I'm hardly as adept at scientific topics like those as Lindsay's mother, so, once the "check-in" was completed, I made my way over to that dolt's house and relayed everything I saw to her.

You probably already saw this coming, but she barely had a clue about what this could be herself. However, she did promise to float the info around to her superhero friends to see if they could figure out its significance.

Why didn't I just ask Lindsay's mother what that was about, you ask? Well, it's a matter of security; the Superhero community of the City, while technically acting outside the law, isn't under my father's control, and so can act basically without fear of him catching onto them. Also, I don't want to involve Dr. Rose in this if I can help it; she already worries about her own daughter enough, I don't want to add on the burden of fearing for her personal safety as well.

In any case, all I can do wait to hear from Lindsay's friends if this information is something they should deal with before too long.

- Kara Schnee

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August 16.

Dear Diary,

Well, it turns out I was right: my father is involved in building robots. Why? I have no idea what for, but I plan to find out more if I can.

August 16, supl.

...I honestly don't know why my father picked an absurdly simple password like "swordfish" for his phone, but right now I'm not complaining about it. It turns out that someone at Atlas Tech is developing some kind of android technology that would give their robots more autonomy then they would normally have using conventional means. I don't understand all of it, since the report he received was littered with technical jargon that almost caused me to have an aneurism trying to process the terms that were used.

And since I know you're wondering how I was able to learn this without arousing suspicion from my father, he recently had a sauna installed in an unused room in our mansion (but that's a story for another time) and decided that today was the day to "break it in". His phone is quite expensive, so he left it on a shelve right outside the sauna with the rest of his clothes.

But getting away from my father's recreational proclivities, I plan on meeting with Lindsay and Arryn later to go over what I learned. Hopefully, Lindsay's Superfriends have learned something on the subject by now as well.

- Kara Schnee

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August 16, supl.

Dear Diary,

This is still on the same day as the last entries, but I felt that do to the nature of what transpired that it deserved an entry of it's own.

It turns out that Tiger Queen had requested Spider-Girl to meet her atop some building in the middle of the city to go over what she'd learned on what I uncovered, and I was summarily invited along when I contacted her to inform her of the details I'd learned myself. I quickly established that I would be having a "girl's night" and would be unavailable until the following morning, pack an overnight bag, and heading over to Lindsay's to maintain my alibi.

After a frankly delectable and filling dinner courtesy of Dr. Rose (and some of the best chocolate chip cookies I will even have for desert) Lindsay and I retired to her room for a bit to wait for Arryn to confirm she was on her way to the meeting location

Yes, Arryn had been invited too, I forgot to mention.

Anyway, it wasn't long before we received the call that Arryn was on her way. Lindsay then suited up, handing me a domino mask to wear for the trip.

"For your protection," she explained, "you never know who could be watching, right?"

A bit overly cautious, but better to be safe than sorry, as they say.

I clung to Lindsay's back as she swung throughout the city. This wasn't the first time she'd carried me through the city- the first time being an unfortunate construction site accident on an ill-fated Bring Your Daugther To Work Day that I'd rather forget the details of- so a small bit of the wonder was lost this time around. Still, the feeling of soaring through the air between buildings, that brief moment of free fall before catching yourself (well, Lindsay catching herself, technically), and just looking down on the cars and pedestrians below you...that is a combination of sensations I don't think can ever be easily replicated. I'll freely admit that I felt a bit jealous of Lindsay at that time, given how she has constant access to the abilities that make this possible.

But then she said hello to a stone gargoyle (named "Jimmy") as she swung passed, and I remembered just how much of a dork she still is.

We eventually made our way to the roof we were meant to meet at, Arryn having already arrived, wearing one of her old rabbit masks.

"...why do you still have that?" Lindsay asked, her voice heavy with suspicion.

"It was leftover after my Lucky Rabbit costume was confiscated," she shrugged, "I thought it could be a part of some cosplay, but I haven't found the right character for it yet."

I rolled my eyes at the statement. Granted, it's been some time since Arryn's stint as a new "Super" villain (she was more akin to a cat burglar at the time), and she's promised on several occasions that she wouldn't "fall off the wagon" again, so I wasn't worried about that, but the thought of someone as darkly gorgeous as her acting like some basement-dwelling neckbeard in her spare time…

No, it's completely different from what Lindsay does, thank you very much!

Anyway, Lindsay shared some more of her mother's cookies with us while we waited, and before too long Tiger Queen arrived, looking for all intents and purposes like a large wildcat for a few seconds when she landed before standing even with her mask completely covering her face, I could tell by her body language that Tiger Queen didn't take kindly to our presence.

"I'd assumed we'd be meeting alone," she said, her tone just as tense as her posture. I also didn't need to see her face to know that she was glaring at each of us.

"I mean...they already know about the whole 'hero' thing I do," Lindsay sheepishly explained, "Plus Kara was the one who told me about the whole robots thing in the first place, and she also did some snooping of her own, so it kinda let weird not to include her.

I'd just like to point out, Diary, that I showed tremendous restraint in not smacking Lindsay upside the head for dropping my actual name like that.

Tiger Queen said nothing for a moment before nodding towards Arryn. "And her?"

"She just wanted to meet you."

Arryn gave a slightly timid wave. "...h-hi?"

"Well, I suppose I should explain what I found out first, then you can fill in everything else?" I suggested in an effort to both move things along and keep the incredibly dangerous woman before us from losing her temper due to Lindsay's stupidity. Thankfully, she seemed to cotton onto the idea, leaning against an exhaust chimney and gesturing to me.

For the sake of saving pages, I won't be recounting everything I learned a second time.

"That's...impressive," Tiger Queen said after I finished my explanation.

"I suppose it is," I said, trying to be modest, "it did present its own set of challenges."

Tiger Queen then proceeded to go over everything that she learned, which (again, for the sake of saving space) boiled down to someone at Atlas Academy developing a safer alternative to putting police officers in unnecessary harm. Which makes sense, what with the kinds of things SWAT teams and bomb disposal squads typically deal with. Of course, there's also a heavy military application for what basically amounts to metal soldiers, which explains why my father was interested; what better to guard your assets then something you know won't betray you, and you only have to pay for once?

Throughout the explanation, Arryn had been silent, content to just be in Tiger Queen's presence. (There was a moment where she took her phone out, only to receive a glare from the veteran heroine.) However, she apparently had thoughts she was saving until the end of the explanation.

"Why not just tell them to stop? The scientists working on the robots, I mean; if they don't make the robots, then the bad guys- no offense, Kara- can't use then to hurt anyone."

"It's never that easy," Tiger Queen countered, "I know plenty of idealistic scientists with more stubbornness than sense."

"Can confirm," Lindsay added.

"And even if you could convince the people actually building the bots to cease," she continued, "I'm sure the financial backers for the project would probably take umbrage with their money going up in flames."

"Also true," Lindsay said. "My mom has a few stories she could tell."

Arryn looked conflicted. "But...we have to do something! Otherwise, the whole city will fall under the heel of our robot overlords, used as living batteries after the all the death and destruction blot out the sun!"

"...wasn't that the plot of that movie we just watched last week?" Lindsay pointed out, to which Arryn had a look of exasperated betrayal on her face.

"In any case," Tiger Queen interjected, "it's past the time where we could have stopped this in the conceptual stage; according to my sources, there is going to be a live field test of a working prototype in the next few days. If we don't want the technology to fall into unsavory hands, our best course of action would be to help ensure the test goes smoothly. That way it will end up with people who actually care about protecting the innocent."

Thanks to the pliable nature of Lindsay's mask, I could see her expression morph to one of resigned disappointment. "I'm gonna have to cancel my plans again, aren't I?"

After that, the rest of the conversation revolved around a plan Tiger Queen had come up with for the day of the test, though at one point Arryn asked if she could take a picture of Tiger Queen as a cosplay reference, who refused. (Not that I blame her, necessarily.)

After Tiger Queen left we said goodbye to Arryn, Lindsay playing chauffeur to get both Arryn and myself back to the ground below, and we swung back to her home. The night proceeded in a more traditional manner, albeit with Lindsay bemoaning her now busy weekend.

- Kara Schnee

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August 18

Dear Diary,

A lot happened, so apologies for a slightly delayed entry. Suffice to say, things happened that prevented me from having a free moment to record what happened.

But I'll get to that in due time. It all started the morning after our clandestine meeting with Tiger Queen, when I received a text message from my sister Elisabeth. To quickly reiterate, she's a cop in the city police force (which really irritates our father, by the by), and as such we rarely get to see each other when she's on duty. And according to her text, she was tapped to provide security at Atlas Tech during the demonstration, so she would have to miss our brunch this month. I'm ashamed to say that I forgot that was happening.

Also, to clarify, she did not actually specify this was for the robot test, I simply put the pieces together.

Of course, that didn't technically mean I couldn't see her; I could always just happen to be at Atlas Tech at the same time as the demonstration was going on, and coincidentally run into her while making my way around the campus. (I realize now that this was a remarkably stupid decision, but at the time I wasn't about to miss out on one-off the few times I actually got to see my older sister.)

I left the Rose house after a delicious breakfast, calling the school to set up an appointment for the next day. I needed to throw around some of my family name's clout to do so, but it was a means to an end I felt necessary at the time.

The next day, I elected to wear a fashionable light overcoat over my usual ensemble- in order to more look the part of a prospective future student- score heading off to Atlas Tech approximately an hour before the robot demonstration was meant to start. (It would have been a bit suspect if I'd arrive right as it started, you see.)

I'll skip most of my meeting with the dean since it was merely a smokescreen. The only relevant part is when she offered to give me a tour around the campus, which would give me an excuse to pop in on the demonstration to see Elisabeth. Fortunately, another member of the faculty ran into us on the tour, so I made an excuse of needing to use the restroom, allowing me to slip away and head for the auditorium where the demonstration was taking place.

I'd expected to need to sneak past some guards outside the entrance, but there were none when I got there. Which was odd, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Inside, there were various stations set up on the stage, clearly meant to help showcase the abilities of these new robot defenders. There was also a group of people in lab coats milling about in the aisle just in front of the stage, along with a few who were in normal clothes. I also saw a few cops holding what I can only describe as "taser rifles" standing by the stage, presumably there in case something happened to go wrong.

Still no sign of Elisabeth, though…

Before too long, one of the scientists (why else would they be wearing lab coats?), an older man with dark skin and short, fuzzy white hair, called for everyone's attention, getting up on the stage. Everyone else began sitting down, so I did the same. He then proceeded to list off statistics about how often officers were injured on the line of duty...which caused a twinge of worry in me, I won't lie. Thinking about how likely it was for Elisabeth to get hurt doing what she did on a daily basis…

I more or less zoned out of the rest of the presentation until a young-looking girl walked up on stage. Actually, "walked" is underselling it; she leaped onto the stage, aided by jets coming from what I thought were just a pair of ugly looking boots. (Don't judge me! No one actually wears Uggs anymore.) It turns out that she was the prototype for the robots meant for the police? I can only assume, I was still in a bit of shock from her flashy entrance that the fantastical revelation was taking a moment to process.

Now at this point, you may be wondering if anything requiring Lindsay and Tiger Queen's intervention actually takes place. Well, I was thinking the same thing right up until the lights started going haywire, which was followed by what looked like a swarm of mechanical bugs began pouring into the auditorium.

While I was fortunate enough to notice this happen, I was unfortunately unable to reach the door I came in from before it was covered by the bugs.

Suddenly, I'm glad Elisabeth was elsewhere while this was happening.

Then a man seemed to melt through one of the curtains of bugs that were cloaking the exits and made his way over to the scientist on stage. I'm sure you can imagine the monologuing he did, so I won't be writing that down verbatim. The gist of it seemed to be that he used to work with the scientist who made the robots (I caught the name "Polendina" thrown around) and they had a falling out some time ago over ideological differences. Like I said, fairly typical as far as supervillains go.

And then, right in the middle of stating his ultimatum, Lindsay swung down from the rafters and kicked him right in back of the head, shouting some quip as she did.

While the fight was going on, I made my way closer to the stage; I'm not a huge fan of bugs at the best of times, and I didn't want to find out whether these things had a taste for human flesh or not. Also, I wanted to be closer to the scientists to help lead them to safety if the opportunity arose.

While Lindsay and Watts (the man controlling the bugs) fought, I noticed some movement in the shadows in stage right that was probably Tiger Queen. My hunch proved correct when she moved in such a way that I could make out her cat-eared silhouette. She was also holding what looked like a laser rifle from those pulp serials from fifty years ago. However, unlike those devices, this one apparently fired some kind of concussive blast that somehow distorted the air around the shot with a shimmering effect.

Given Tiger Queen's reputation for always having the right tool for the job, I could only assume it was meant to either incapacitate or fend off Watts in some way. Though with how much Lindsay was swinging around, she couldn't get a good shot at him, and when she did he always managed to form part of his swarm into a shield that deflected the blast.

I also noticed that the longer the fight lasted, the more collateral damage was inflicted on the auditorium. Granted, it all seemed to be a result of Watts's attacks, but it was a small consolation when the roof continued to get less and less stable.

I must have bumped into the ginger-haired girl without realizing it because suddenly hearing "Sal-u-tations!~" right next to me almost gave me a heart attack.

"I'm terribly sorry," the robot apologized? The girl? ...I'm just going to use "girl" for simplicity. "I did not mean to startle you; I understand that there is a lot going on right now, but if you can keep calm then I know we can get through this!"

...it was a bit unsettling how chipper she sounded throughout all this. I don't recall exactly how I responded, probably because I was trying to come up with some way to hamper or distract Watts so Lindsay and Tiger Queen could take him down before he took down the roof.

"I don't suppose you can fire the same type of shots that Tiger Queen is?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

I received one all the same when I felt more than heard the girl beside me do just that, my head reflexively turning to locate the source of the sound.

I instantly wished I hadn't; imagine the way a snake is able to unhinge its jaw, and that's basically what the girl was doing with her mouth, only with some mechanical apparatus sticking out of the opening is made. "Grotesque" is a safe way to describe the impression it gave.

Anyway, the show the girl fired must have hit its mark, because when I turned back to watch the fight, Lindsay was already in the process of webbing Watts up, with Tiger Queen keeping her own weapon trained on the former scientist.

It didn't dawn on me that the mechanical bugs were rendered inert until we were all being escorted outside.

- Kara Schnee

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August 18, supl.

My apologies for cutting my last entry off so abruptly, Diary; Elisabeth called, and I wasn't going to miss the chance to talk with her after the events of yesterday.

To briefly sum up what happened once Doctor Watts (as he insisted on being addressed as), Tiger Queen attracted a device to him that prevented him from summoning more mechanical bugs, Lindsay noticed my presence and berated me for acting recklessly, I then introduced her to the robot girl ("Taylor" was her name, apparently) which sent Lindsay into "geek out" mode, I got reprimanded by Tiger Queen while that was going on, and eventually, I was allowed to leave after giving my statement to the officers on the scene.

On a side note, I don't think I'll be attending Atlas Tech: too much focus on academics and not enough on the Arts.

Anyway, father was predictably upset when he found out what happened, but he agreed that (as far as he knew, anyway) it was just an unfortunate coincidence that I was nearby when the assault went down. Though to be honest I think he was more upset that his Alma Mater needed renovations after this.

Oh, and that phone call from Elisabeth I mentioned? That was to let me know that she was able to negotiate taking a different shift so as to be able to meet with me in the evening.

My foot was firmly planted in my mouth for the rest of the conversation, I can assure you.

I'm writing this supplement after a lovely dinner at her loft downtown, and a rigorous fencing spar afterward. Yes, I still attempt to keep my skills sharp, and how could I not with superpowered villains running around the city? It's like to at least be able to defend myself long enough for Lindsay or one of her super-powered colleagues to show up.

There's not really much left to say aside from that- Oh! Lindsay just sent a group text. One moment…

Apparently, Taylor Polendina is going to be attending school with the rest of us from now on as a sort of publicity move to help the public at large get used to the idea of robot defenders. At least, that's what I assume Lindsay's excited "drunk texting" translates to.

It will definitely be interesting to see how this will play out for the rest of the school year.

Kara Schnee.

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And thus concludes Kara's anecdote of a typical occurrence in the Spider-Ruby universe. It's a bit of a departure from the last two SR one-shots I wrote, so I hope you all enjoyed reading this as I did writing it. [Insert typical YouTube sendoff here]

Also, a bit of an announcement about these Spider-Ruby stories: I'll be compiling them into a single fic just for convenience sake, and new stories will be added to the anthology there as opposed to being standalone fics, which should make things easier for y'all to keep up with.

As for my other two ongoing fics, those are going on a semi-hiatus for now. I'll still update them when I get ideas, but Spider-Ruby is going to be my primary writing focus for the foreseeable future.

Anyhizzle, make sure to do the things you do to fics (Fav, Follow, Review, the whole shebang), be sure to stay safe out there in Real Life, and as always, be Excellent to each other.