AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, recall back in Ch 6 of The Dark Phoenix that Washu mentioned a 'Remnant-2' to Ruby. Well, that wasn't just an off-handed remark, it was a mere tease of something that I've been building for a while now: A RWBY mirror universe AU. And to introduce this new, twisted universe we have here, I'll be writing four spotlights on here, each dedicated to Team RWBY's reverse counterparts in a manner similar to how Rooster Teeth had basically these small short films for Volumes 1, 5, and 6 to build up anticipation, going as far as to incorporate a song of our choice into them, in this case, Rotten To The Core...no, not that Descendants shit, the Overkill song. lol.
And to answer a question I'm sure some of you are asking since we did build up an Earth-2 back in The New Frontier, will this dark version of Team RWBY encounter or even join Drakkon's Syndicate?
...I'm not saying a word. ;)
Side note, my collaborator is actually working on a MAX Spotlight sent entirely on Earth-2 and focusing on one of the reverse heroes in the Syndicate, so be on the lookout for that.
DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.
Infinity Verse MAX
Reverse Ruby Rose: Rotten To The Core
It's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending
Every scene fades black, and there's no pretending
This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well
There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell
Deep within the Multiverse lied a reality similar to that of #62281, home of the world known as Remnant. However, universe #18226 was also different in many, many ways. It is the equivalent to what we call a 'mirror universe.' The heroes of the Remnant we all know were the villains and vice versa in what we shall now refer to as 'Remnant-2.' Now, you may be asking yourself 'but how did this reality turn out like this?'
All of this, believe it or not, was all thanks to one minor deviation in Remnant's past that carried a ripple effect like no other.
In this reality, Salem still managed to trick the God of Darkness to resurrect her deceased lover, Ozma, after being denied by his brother, the God of Light. After being informed of her deception, the God of Darkness still attempted to correct the error he had made. However, unlike in this reality's opposite, Salem made one last, desperate attempt to save her lover and pushed him out of the dark deity's line of fire. Unfortunately, the end result was catastrophic, as Salem had inadvertently pushed her beloved into the pit of which the Creatures of Grimm were spawned. What emerged afterward was not the man that Salem had loved, but a twisted, abominable human-Grimm hybrid that was driven mad in the process. After his emergence, the empowered Ozma seized control of the Grimm and, combined with his ability to utilize magic, managed to overpower the Gods, forcing both them and Salem to retreat from the God of Darkness' domain.
Afterward, unlike her alternate counterpart who damned the deities she sought assistance from, Salem fell to her knees in despair and groveled in guilt over what she had now wrought upon Remnant, begging the two brothers for forgiveness. The two gods, in the end, still punished her with the curse of immortality, but, realizing her want to right these wrongs, made her an offer before they departed this world. Should she manage to correct her mistake and put an end to her former lover, they will reverse the curse and allow her to die in peace. Of course, Salem wasn't sure if she could go through with going to war against the man she had previously wanted to spend the rest of her life with, but knew that it had to be done, and soon came to accept the terms she had been given.
With that, the deities departed like in the normal version of Remnant, the God of Darkness shattering the Moon in the process, as a war between Salem and Ozma erupted, lasting several centuries without a clear winner in sight. Since then, both sides had managed to gain several devoted followers, with Ozma eventually opting to open four underground training facilities in each of the kingdoms, each designed to craft for the twisted warrior his servants. The most dangerous killers on the planet: Huntsmen and huntresses.
It is here that we shall follow one such huntress in this twisted fairy tale: A devious, sadistic girl from Vale by the name of Ruby Rose.
"Oh, gods, hey, hey, hey, hey, R-Ruby, was it? P-Put the scythe down, please."
"Oh, see, let me let you in on a little secret, Lisa...it's also a gun!"
Before the newswoman could so much as react to this revelation, a gunshot echoed throughout the studio as a bullet exploded from the tip of the intruder's scythe, piercing her forehead and exiting the back of her head, blood splattering on the Vale News Network logo behind her as her corpse slumped down onto her desk and the screams commenced.
The girl that committed such an atrocious deed, especially for it being live on television, simply remained seated as she started to laugh in a sinisterly joyous manner. Five minutes ago, during a news report on a village that had recently fallen under attack by several unknown assailants, Ruby casually approached the set from within the currently ongoing news broadcast's crew and demanded that the camera's kept rolling as she spoke to Lisa Lavender as though it was a one-on-one interview. The petrified newswoman did all she could to keep herself alive in this situation, asking typical questions like 'How are you doing?' However, she couldn't have possibly expected such a response from a teenage girl.
"Ah, fine, fine, Lisa, just been a busy girl all day. Get up, eat some cookies, get dressed, go burn down a village and kill a bunch of people, you know how it goes."
Once the shock finally died down somewhat, the silver-eyed girl went into excruciating detail about how she and her team set practically everything within that village on fire after ransacking as many houses as they could and murdering the families cowering inside in cold blood. She seemed to be especially fond of the work she did to two families, in particular, the Blacks and the Sustrais, but expressed her disappointment that she failed to finish the entirety of both families off, as one member from each managed to slip her grasp, though she did manage to chop off one member's legs before he got away, so that was a plus in her twisted eyes.
"H-How could you be so casual about this?!" a mortified Lisa shouted. "You talk of the senseless slaughter of men, women, and children as though it was just a regular Friday night! What could they have possibly done to you and this team of yours to deserve something as barbaric as this?!"
"Oh, they didn't do anything to us, Lisa," Ruby truthfully answered as she placed both of her hands behind her head in a relaxed position.
"Wha-...Then why did you do it in the first place?!" Lisa demanded.
"...We were fuckin' bored, that's why," the scythe-wielding girl answered.
"...You..." a slack-jawed Lisa attempted to say as she attempted to find the words to respond with. "...You...cold-hearted, sadistic little bitch!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, we're on live TV, toots," Ruby replied with a smirk on her face. "You kiss your mommy with that mouth?"
She then pointed the barrel of her Crescent Rose at the anchorwoman's head, the blade piercing the table, leading to the horror that millions watching were unfortunate enough to bear witness to.
The crew could do nothing but scream out in terror, far too mortified to so much as move a muscle, something that the sadistic girl took notice of and raised an eyebrow in perplexment.
"What are you guys still standing there for? I said you could go once I was finished here!" she stated before motioning to her weapon. "I only loaded her up with one bullet anyway. Look!"
To try and confirm that she was indeed telling the truth, she pointed her scythe towards the nearby cameraman and pulled the trigger...only to result in another poor sap getting his brains blown out. The murderer jumped slightly in surprise whilst the rest of the crew finally went into a frenzy trying to head for the nearest exit.
"...Oooooh, must've let an extra one slip in there," Ruby said before inhaling sharply and motioning her eyes left and right. "Awkward."
Shrugging her latest crime off, the red-hooded girl got back on her feet and approached the now blood-stained camera, all with a seemingly innocent smile on her face. She then grabbed the camera and pointed it directly at her face.
"How 'bout a little poem before I go, Vale?" she asked as she grinned with murderous intent and cleared her throat. "Roses are red, violets are blue...look out, Torchwick, cause now I'm coming for yo-"
This ominous message was the last thing millions of Remnant's population saw before the transmission was finally cut off.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, guys, we needed to get the hell out of here five minutes ago!" a visibly panicking Roman Torchwick stated.
Having heard the message of impending doom on live television just thirty minutes ago, the notorious arms dealer wasted no time having his men begin vacating his hideout in Vale and storing as much of their merchandise into their stolen Atlesian Bullhead as possible. He knew that this life wasn't going to be an easy or even long one, being someone who tried to cater to both sides in a word at war, accepting deals from both Ozma and Salem, but his attempt to arm those villagers before Team RWBY arrived to commence their slaughter most definitely shortened his already dwindling life expectancy.
You see, like the Roman we all know from the main Remnant, this version still maintained his greed and will to accept most jobs and deals for the right price. However, he maintained a sense of honor and dignity to him and did have his limits. So, when his recent meeting with Ozma ended with him nonchalantly stating that his newest top Huntress was taking her team on a little killing spree, he couldn't help but try to at least do something to assist these innocent people in their crosshairs...at least for a discount that is.
Unfortunately, it seemed as though his efforts were for not as most of the village fell before the feared team of Huntresses and, even worse, they were able to trace their defensive effort back to him. As one could imagine, Roman wasn't exactly keen on dying just yet and continued to bark at his men to speed up their evacuation.
That was, until, they heard the sound of the door opening.
Instinctively, Roman spontaneously pointed his Melodic Cudgel towards the door, his men following suit with their own weapons, only to then spot a teenage girl with orange hair and green eyes, clad in a white blouse and a short gray pinafore dress, slowly approaching them.
"...Uh..." a bewildered Roman muttered as he slowly lowered his cane. "H-Hello?"
"Salutations, Roman Torchwick," the girl asked in a monotone voice. "...And farewell."
Before the arms dealer could question what exactly she meant, the fingers in her right hand splayed outward and one of his thugs flinched slightly, blood starting to drip onto the razor-thin wires that pierced his skull and lodged themselves into his brain. The girl then moved her fingers as though she was controlling a marionette's control bar, causing the thug she was controlling to suddenly turn to his fellow men, opening fire on them. Three dropped dead in an instant as the others, along with their boss, immediately scattered about to try and find cover. The girl's victim managed to take down another two before his body went completely limp. Her newest puppet now of no more use, the girl harshly pulled the wires back to her, tearing a large chunk of the man's skull and brain out in the process as the corpse fell to the ground.
Then, just as Roman and his men were about to try and take this girl down, the sound of glass shattering from above caught them off guard and the sound of a certain someone's maniacal laughter nearly caused Torchwick's skin to turn white in horror. One of the thugs could just barely see Ruby descending down towards him before Crescent Rose, in its war scythe formation, speared him through the chest. His eyes widened in pain as his blood began to pour from where his heart once was, but before he could scream, Ruby had already landed in front of him and grasped her weapon, pulling a trigger to allow its blade to form back into its scythe formation. She then proceeded to fire a shot from its barrel, propelling the blade backward, resulting in the man being completely sliced in half.
"Ah, nothing like the sweet aroma of death and misery, right Penny?" the deranged girl commented as the nearby thugs began to flee in terror.
"I would not know, master," the girl referred to as Penny answered. "I do not possess a meatbag's scent detecting capabilities."
"Aaaaand you ruined it, nice job," Ruby dejectedly responded.
"Thank you, ma-" Penny was about to say.
"Yeah, yeah, less talking, more killing!" Ruby interrupted, that sadistic smile returning to her face.
"As you wish, master," Penny replied.
With that, a compartment opened on the girl's back, revealing several blades as they seemingly started to float above her, all while Ruby instantly had her own weapon compress into a sniper rifle.
"Kill them!" Roman shouted as he pointed his cane back at the terrifying duo. "KILL THEM!"
His men then proceeded to point their guns back at their targets, only for one of Penny's blades to spin towards them, decapitating three of them while Ruby fired a shot from her Crescent Rose that went through the heads of two more. Finally, the thugs opened fire, only for Penny to rapidly spin her blades to deflect every shot while her accomplice utilized her Semblance to dash at an inhuman speed towards them as her weapon transformed into a scythe once more. Once she reached her targets, she sliced off one thug's left arm before making a swift cut at his neck. She then lept upward and roundhoused his head off of his body, causing it to slam against the head of one of his fellow men. Taking advantage of his disorientated state, Ruby proceeded to slice a deep gash at his gut, disemboweling him, all while she had that same, crazed look of bloody murder in her silver eyes.
I HAVE GOT A SECRET, HIDDEN BEHIND MY EYES
A VIOLATION TRAGEDY OF VIOLENCE, HATE, AND LIES
LOCKED DEEP WITHIN A CHAMBER, DARK RECESSES OF MY MIND
A TRIBUTE TO INSANITY THROUGH HOURS DAYS AND TIME
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
Meanwhile, Penny was busy dispatching several goons that had attempted to get the drop on her by pointing the tips of her blades at them at every direction she could and firing several laser blasts that took them down with one precise hit to the heart or the brain, sometimes even managing to blow massive holes in their chests or blowing their heads clean off. She had turned her body in ways no ordinary human ever could, twisting her arms about and turning her torso completely backward so that she could target her enemies with her weapons the instant they came out of their holes. Suddenly, one stray bullet managed to hit her dead in the eye, causing her head to veer backward sharply. Thinking he managed to slay her, the one who made the shot then turned his gun towards Ruby, who was busy swinging the blade of her weapon up her latest, screaming victim, crotch first.
He didn't so much as get one shot, unfortunately, as one of Penny's blades suddenly flew towards him, slicing his right hand completely off. Blood started to spurt out of the stump as the thug yelled out in agony and tried desperately to stop the bleeding. He then turned to the one who threw the weapon and was shocked to see Penny approaching him, the wound in her head revealing not flesh underneath, but metal. Before he could so much as utter one word, the android swiped her hand to the side, five wires slicing her newest victim horizontally. The man's eyes widened as he let out one final gasp before the five pieces of his body fell to the floor in a bloodied mess.
RECITE THE TESTIMONIAL, TRUTH AND NOTHING MORE
ACCUSATIONS NOMINAL FALL ROTTEN TO THE CORE
SO TAKE A LOOK, READ A BOOK, REACH A NEW PLATEAU
BUT STAIN THE SOUL A LIFE YOU TOOK, YOU KNOW NOT WHAT I KNOW
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
Ruby continued to mince her victims to pieces as they tried in vain to fight back, blood, body parts, and the occasional organ flying everywhere as she continued to cackle like the lunatic she was. The truth was, there were few things, if any, that brought her such unbridled joy like murder and mayhem. The carnage and devastation she brought upon these people gave her such a warm, tingling feeling in her black heart that could only be matched when she was with a certain, special someone that doubled as her favorite partner in crime...and even then that usually still lead to someone getting their head chopped off at the very least. You might be asking yourself 'Good lord, what brought this version of someone who's normally so sweet, righteous, and determined to help others in need, no matter what?'
That's the thing. No one truly knows what caused her to take such a sharp turn.
She just suddenly snapped one day a few years after her mother vanished after embarking on an attempt to gain intel on Salem per Ozma's command.
Fortunately...or perhaps, unfortunately, in this case, Yang was spared, managing to evade her psychotic step-sister's wrath, only losing her right arm in the process. Their father, however, wasn't as lucky. Soon afterward, Ozma took the two girls into his school and molded them into two of the most dangerous killing machines on the planet. Of course, Ruby didn't exactly care much about the war between the two immortal former lovers, but accepted in a heartbeat when she heard the main benefit to be at the devil's side.
She was allowed to kill whoever he targeted however she wished.
The hooded girl then snapped out of her bloodthirsty trance when she realized the screaming had stopped and that no one was rushing towards her to try and bring her down.
"Awwww, I wasn't done yet!" she complained, pouting like a child as she did so. "Hmph!"
"Master, if it is any consolidation, our main target is still alive," Penny informed.
The android pointed one of her blades towards said main target, causing Ruby to slowly turn to Roman, who stood nearby the doors that Penny had melted shut with her lasers, glaring at the two killers. A sadistic smile slowly crept up Ruby's face when she saw him.
"Oh, goody!" she cheered. "Now, how do I go about dealing with you, Roman? Oooh, decisions, decisions. Personally, I'm leaning towards strangling you with your own intestines like I did to daddy."
"Oh, I wouldn't count your chickens just yet, Little Red," Roman retorted, his normally suave demeanor returning as his face put on a smile of his own. "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeves."
Before either perpetrator could question him, the arms dealer let out a whistle and, not even a second later, Penny immediately looked upward at something descending towards her accomplice.
"Master, above you!" she informed.
Heeding her robotic ally's words, the psychotic girl looked upwards just in time to see a small woman descending down towards her, an umbrella in her hands ready to smash her skull in. Reacting just in time, Ruby managed to quickly collapse her Crescent Rose and block the offensive, only for the woman to seemingly shatter into tiny pieces. Upon this revelation, the girl smirked with delight.
"That you, Neo?" she asked.
Seemingly in response, the woman referred to as Neo landed behind the horrific duo, prompting the two of them to face her as her currently brown and pink eyes glared daggers at the two of them, her umbrella, Hush, positioned over her shoulder.
"Sooooo, this is where you ran off to, huh?" Ruby asked, her smirk never fading. "Gotta say...bit of a downgrade."
The pink, brown, and white-haired woman gritted her teeth angrily in response.
"So, whatcha been up to, hanging with this prick?" the hooded girl asked, pointing her thumb behind her towards where Roman stood.
Silence was Neo's only reply, causing her enemy to sigh to herself.
"Right, right, 'language of violence' and all," she said, air quoting those three words, before continuing onward with this one-sided conversation. "Y'know, Ozzy was furious when he found out you escaped. Loosing one of his top three tends to do that to someone...well, okay, top two now given what happened to poor 'Invincible Girl.' Pfft. Wasn't so invincible after all, am I right?"
Again, silence.
"Ugh, you were never any fun, Neo," Ruby chided. "You're almost as boring as this blank slate over here."
She pointed towards Penny as she said that.
"'Fun' is not in my primary programming, master," the android replied.
"Oh, really? Ya don't say," Ruby muttered before turning her attention back to Neo. "Anyway, sorry for that little tangent, where was I? Oh, right! Ozma's still plenty pissed at you...so I bet I can climb even further up the ladder if I hand him your corpse!"
The mere thought caused a haunting chuckle to escape her lips, causing a chill to run down Neo's spine.
"Now you be a good little girl and stay right there for me, kay sweetie?" Ruby said in the most sickly sweet voice she could muster, slowly turning around as she did so. "I'll get to you once I'm done with this treacherous assh-"
She stopped mid-sentence when she turned to where Torchwick was standing...only to see that he was gone.
"...Well, shit."
Then, without warning, a loud crashing sound was heard from behind her. She swiftly turned to see an Atlesian Paladin-290 marching towards both her and Penny, Roman no doubt being the one who was piloting it, all while Neo gave the duo a mocking smirk.
"Shit, shit, shit!" the psychopath cursed.
The mech-suit pointed its weapons at the two of them, Neo leaping up to its left shoulder, before opening fire, prompting Ruby and Penny to quickly run towards a stack of dust crates.
"Penny, up, up!" Ruby shouted, pointing towards two thugs on the second floor aiming their guns at them.
In response, the android pointed two of her gun-blades directly upward and shot two laser blasts that caused their heads to explode upon impact. The terrifying duo then jumped above the crates, hiding behind them as the barrage of bullets finally stopped, but the heavy footsteps of the Paladin got closer and closer.
"Master, it appears we are trapped," Penny informed. "Shall I initiate self destruct sequencing?"
"No, NO!" Ruby quickly answered. "Do not self destruct, you hear me, you dumb bag of bolts?! DO! NOT! SELF! DESTRUCT!"
"Protocol dictates I cannot be captu-"
"Yeah, I know, I know, I heard you the last twenty goddamn times we got in shit like this!"
"Actually, I count twenty-seven times we were involved in 'shit like this.'"
"Ugh, why didn't Ozma send Weiss with me instead?" Ruby groaned before regaining what little composure she had and lowering her voice. "Okay, okay, I think I have an idea, but keep quiet, okay? We don't want those two hearing this."
"This is correct," Penny answered, whispering as well. "What is your plan, master?"
"What type of dust's in these crates?" Ruby asked.
"Scanners indicate it is a type of steam dust."
"Yes, perfect! Okay, I'm gonna set these crates off. Go for Torchwick once I do so and do not let him see you. I'll go for Neo."
"Understood, master."
With the plan in motion, Ruby stood back up and pointed Crescent Rose towards the crates, firing one shot that caused the dust inside to burst out, engulfing the area in a thick cloud of steam. Though stunned by this sudden action, Torchwick immediately countered by activating the laser sights in his suit's weapons and scanned the room for his adversaries, all while Neo continued to stand atop the suit's shoulder.
"Come out, come out wherever you are, Red," Roman called out. "Gonna paint this dump red once you do."
"Ooooh, red you say?" Ruby's voice questioned...from above. "Like roses!"
Before either Roman or Neo could react, the psychotic girl burst from the steam, having been standing on the suit's right shoulder, swinging her scythe towards the multi-colored woman, who managed to block the offensive, only to fall off the suit with her enemy. Once Ruby landed on the floor, Torchwick guided his suit to point its weapons down on her, but before he could fire the first shot, Penny's blades flew from within her cover, jabbing themselves into the suit as the android utilized the strings at the end of them to force it back towards her, allowing Ruby to keep her deranged focus on Neo.
MISGUIDED YOUTH, THE BITTER TRUTH, NOTHING LEFT TO CHANCE
FALLEN ANGEL SEEKING ADVENTURE, NEW ROMANCE
HOW DARE YOU TOUCH, YOU TAKE THE SOUL OF ONE SO PURE, SO WHITE
THE VIOLATION TRAGEDY TOOK ALL SHE HAD THAT...NIGHT!
The hooded, blood coated girl swung her scythe like the madwoman she was, all while Neo continued to use Hush to quickly block each and every one of her attacks. She kept her multi-colored eyes focused on her enemy, trying desperately to find an opening to take advantage of, but it seemed like it was a fruitless endeavor at first, as Ruby was far too quick for her to counter.
Then, just barely noticing an opening, Neo quickly unsheathed the blade hidden within the parasol of Hush and lunged it at the deranged killer's side, jabbing it into her body. Ruby's silver eyes widened slightly in pain, causing her to slow her attacks just enough to allow Neo to roundhouse kick her in the face. She stumbled backward, dropping Crescent Rose as she did so, before noticing her adversary charging towards her, likely in an attempt to reclaim her weapon and finish the job.
However, a sinister grin overtook Ruby's face as she looked downward so as to hide her expression and give Neo an illusion of her own doing. One of her being overtaken by pain. Once Neo was within an arm's reach, Ruby, with lightning-fast speed, grabbed the blade by its handle, pulled it out of her body, and swung at her enemy, landing a deep cut on her own side. Now Neo's eyes were the ones that were overtaken by pain as she grasped onto the wound, which began to bleed moderately. In her distracted state, she was unable to notice Ruby swinging her boot towards her, making contact with her face. The multi-colored woman fell harshly to the ground, her nose now also starting to have blood running down it, as she looked over to see the red-hooded psychopath slowly make her way towards her, holding both her blade and Crescent Rose in her hands.
"Y'know what they say, 'eye for an eye,'" she said, her devious smile stretched ear to ear.
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
While that was going on, Roman was firing his suit's weapons at Penny, only for said android to quickly dash out of his line of fire, shooting several blasts from her blades as she did so. Fortunately, the shady arms dealer was able to deploy one of its mechanical fists so as to block itself from the barrage of laser fire. As he did so, the other arm attempted to fire its weapons, only for one of the blades to fly towards it and lodge itself into one of the barrels, causing the dust round it was about to fire to explode prematurely and blast the mech's arm right off. The suit tumbled backward as its now sole arm swung outward, exposing the rest of it to Penny's onslaught.
The android then lept upward, landing on the suits back and beginning to use her weapons to try and slice through it to collect her latest victim. In a desperate effort to take her down, Roman had the mech sprint backward towards a wall, hoping that the force would crush his robotic adversary into bits. But this Penny, like the one we know, was more than combat ready and easily slipped off the mechanical exosuit's back, causing it to crash into the wall and put Torchwick into a state of disorientation, all for nothing. With the man inside distracted, Penny launched her blades at the suit, causing them to pierce right through before pulling the wires outward to rip a massive hole in its cockpit, revealing the weapons dealer inside.
"Master, meatbag incoming!" she informed as her wires began to wrap around Torchwick's waist.
Said psychotic teen was still approaching the downed Neo when she heard that, a gleam of murderous joy overtaking her eyes as she swiftly turned towards the source of the voice, which, in turn, revealed to Roman the state of his partner, much to his horror.
"Neo, run!" he shouted, right before Penny hurdled him out of his suit and into the air.
I HAVE GOT A SECRET, HIDDEN BEHIND MY EYES
A VIOLATION TRAGEDY OF VIOLENCE, HATE, AND LIES
RECITE THE TESTIMONIAL, THE TRUTH AND NOTHING MORE
ACCUSATIONS NOMINAL FALL ROTTEN TO THE CORE
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
ROTTEN! TO THE CORE!
With her target in sight, Ruby dropped Neo's blade and collapsed her weapon into its sniper mode and took aim, the traitor in full view of her scope.
TO THE CORE!
Her weapon aimed itself right at Roman's back...
ROT, ROT
ROT ROT, ROT
ROT ROT, ROT
ROT ROT, ROTTEN, ROTTEN...
...and pulled the trigger.
...TO THE CORE!
A single bullet exploded from the barrel, speeding through the air before finally piercing through Roman's spine. The arms dealer's eyes widened as his legs went numb before smashing harshly to the ground, sliding through the floor on his back before finally stopping right against Ruby's boots.
"Bullseye!" the red-hooded girl cheered with glee.
Seeing the one who was clearly sent to end his life standing before him, a petrified Roman tried everything he could to get away from her, but it was to no avail thanks to his now paralyzed legs. As he did so, Penny turned to face her master and her victim, noticing something behind Ruby.
"Master, the other meatbag," she stated.
"What? What about her?" Ruby nonchalantly asked.
"She is gone," Penny answered.
Her silver eyes widening, the mass-murdered swiftly turned around to see that, in fact, Neo had vanished, much to her chagrin. Meanwhile, Roman, still trying to drag himself away from these two, couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief that his partner was safe.
"Oh, fuck me!" Ruby cursed as she slapped a hand on her forehead. "I was gonna see if my fire dust rounds could make that bitch melt!"
"Highly doubtful, master, since you meatbags have a tendency to be burned with fire dust instead of-" Penny tried to inform.
"It was a joke, Penny!" Ruby snapped.
"...Oh," Penny replied.
Rolling her eyes at her robotic partner-in-crime, Ruby then turned her attention back to Torchwick, who was attempting to reach for Melodic Cudgel as he continued to crawl in desperation.
"Oh well!" she shrugged in a chipper tone. "Guess I'll have to have fun with you instead!"
She started to skip her way to her target, humming a happy little tune as she did so before intentionally landing her foot onto Roman's right hand, the sound of his bone's cracking echoing throughout the empty warehouse. The shady weapons dealer screamed in pain, clutching his broken hand before both Ruby and Penny made their way to him, the android picking up his cane as she did so. The psychotic, silver-eyed girl then bent down to grasp Torchwick by his chin before pulling what appeared to be a bullet from one of her pockets.
"Aura. Piercing. Dust," she stated, that same devious smile creeping up her face. "Courtesy of my little snowflake up in the SDC. Ain't it just the dandiest thing?!"
To emphasize her point, she placed the bullet on the ground while forcing Roman's left hand onto its tip before hammering Crescent Rose down onto it like a hammer, causing it to pierce right through his hand. The arms dealer let out another cry of agony as blood started to trickle down the freshly made hole in his flesh and his enemy started to giggle to herself in a deranged manner.
"Ah, music to my ears," she sighed happily.
"Hey, hey, hey, listen, Red, you got it all wrong here," Roman pleaded as he tried to fight the immense pain he was in. "Th-those weapons we sent to those townfolk, I-I had them bugged! Thought you guys might-"
His words were cut short, however, when Ruby swung her scythe's blade onto the hole in his left hand and pulled it towards his shoulder, slicing his entire arm vertically in half. This, in turn, caused him to let out a bloodcurdling scream as he clutched the now exposed bones where his arm once was and he began to bleed profusely. Not wanting to break her newest toy so soon, Ruby grabbed some fire dust from another of her pockets and dropped them on what remained of Torchwick's arm, causing the flesh, muscle, veins, and bones to burn to ashes after several, grueling, agonizing seconds, as well as causing the wound to be cauterized and the bleeding to stop.
"My, my, Roman...what a shiny silver tongue you have," Ruby darkly remarked as her victim clutched the stump where his arm once was.
"...I do not detect any traces of silver in this meatbag's to-" Penny attempted to state.
She was interrupted, though, when her master turned her head towards her's, glaring irritably into her green optics.
"...Oh, this is another of your jokes," Penny corrected. "...Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha-"
"Penny..." Ruby gritted. "Go...go guard the door."
"Yes, master," Penny responded.
With that, the murderous android began to make her way to the door, all while Ruby couldn't help but hit her head onto Crescent Rose's handle a few times.
"Fuckin' robots..." she muttered to herself before turning her attention back to Roman. "Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah!"
She then raised her scythe upwards.
"Mincing you to pieces, you treacherous dipshit!"
"Whoa, hey, Ruby, hey, wait!" Roman pleaded once more. "Listen, how about we settle this in a more...professional manner, huh? How bout you tell ol' Ozzy I'll give him a discount on gravity dust rounds if we just let bygones be bygones, eh?"
"Yeah, keep begging for your life, Torchwick!" Ruby shouted, her left eye twitching slightly as she did so. "It'll only make me wanna cut you more!"
"C'mon, Red, think-!" Roman cried out, only to be cut off by his attacker's scythe being jabbed into his chest.
The deranged girl proceeded to pull her weapon towards her, slicing Roman's body open from his heart to his stomach. He tried to scream once again, only for him to start coughing mounds of blood out of his mouth as Ruby started to slice his organs out one by one, loudly laughing like the psychopath she was as several splatters of blood started to coat her black and white outfit red. She then collapsed her weapon into a sniper and lodged it into the hole she had made, pointing the barrel towards the head of the just barely alive weapons dealer. With one pull of the trigger, the entire top half of Roman's body detonated, leaving a mess of blood, mangled flesh, and pieces of his brain spattered on the floor.
With the deed now complete, still chuckling to herself, the silver-eyed girl had Crescent Rose go back into its scythe mode and brought the blood-drenched blade of her weapon to her mouth, licking off some of her victim's blood when it was close enough.
Then, without warning, the doors to the warehouse practically exploded off its hinges and flew into the unmanned Paladin, knocking it onto its back upon impact. Penny, having caught the brunt of the impact, slid on the floor before stopping right in front of Ruby, who was readying her weapon for what she believed was enemy reinforcements of some kind. However, the instant she saw a patch of blonde hair emerge from the smoke, she couldn't help but groan to herself.
"Yang, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked while her robotic accomplice got back on her feet.
Sure enough, the brawns of this twisted version of Team RWBY and Ruby's stepsister casually strided towards her leader/sister with a smirk on her face.
"Nice to see you too, sis," she sarcastically answered. "Anyway, Ozma thought you were taking longer than usual so he sent me to check up on you two. Make sure you didn't bail or something."
She then glanced over Ruby's shoulder, noticing the blood-stained walls and the piles of mangled corpses scattered throughout the building.
"...Well, guess you didn't," she stated. "Nora's gonna be eating good today."
"Yeah, we better grab a few of 'em while we're at it," Ruby replied. "You know how pissed she gets when we don't come back with something for her to eat."
"I'll begin the collecting process immediately, master," Penny said as she began to make her way to the corpses.
It was at that moment that Yang noticed Neo's blade on the floor.
"Looks like you missed one, though," she pointed out.
"Like how I missed your other arm?" Ruby remarked.
The blonde countered by raising her robotic right arm up and flipping her deranged sister off.
"Ah, she'll come back to us soon enough," Ruby stated as she bent down to reclaim her enemy's weapon, her silver eyes staring down at its blade as she did so. "She seemed to care about that asshole, so something tells me when she finds out what happened, she's gonna want our heads for it...but we'll be ready, of course."
Her thoughts drifted to what she was planning to do to that woman when they meet again, causing her to go into yet another psychotic giggling fit, one that even caused Yang's normally boiling blood to run cold.
She shouldn't have left him.
That was all that Neo could think as she continued to trudge through the empty alleyways of Vale, clutching her still bleeding wound as she did so. Even though it was what he wanted her to do, so that at least her survival could be ensured in the end, it still pained her to just up and abandon the man who took her under his wing once she finally escaped the hellhole that was Beacon Academy, where she had spent most of her life being trained to be one of the deadliest assassins at Ozma's disposal. The mere thought of what that psycho bitch, Ruby, was doing to him right now was enough to cause her to collapse against a wall, tears flooding down her face as she began to sob quietly, finding herself in the exact same position she was in when she left.
Scared, wounded, and most of all, alone.
That was, until a figure suddenly landed in front of the small woman, causing her to flinch slightly in fright as she raised her multi-colored eyes towards this stranger. Despite being covered by the shadows, Neo could make out that this person was female, wearing a kevlar-lined, red suit with orange highlights on her arms and legs. Gripped in her right hand was a red, metal bow and strapped to her back was a quiver with a series of various arrows. Her face was covered by a hood, though Neo could just barely make out a brief, orange-ish glow where her right eye would be. Even shrouded in shadows, Neo's eyes widened slightly in fear, for she knew exactly who this was.
The Huntsman Slayer.
A mysterious vigilante that, as her title implied, hunted down and killed the barbaric Huntsmen and Huntresses of the four academies. She had been a thorn in Ozma and the other headmasters' sides for a few years now, her biggest rise to infamy being when, after a brutal, year-long rivalry, she had slain the notorious 'Invincible Girl,' Pyrrha Nikos, formerly regarded as the most feared Huntress on the planet.
The mere sight of the one responsible for such a feet sent shivers down Neo's spine, fearing that she had been in the Slayer's crosshairs thanks to her time as one of Ozma's attack dogs. She started to breathe heavily in panic, believing that her time on this world was coming to an end when the Slayer did something unexpected: Drop her bow.
"Please, don't panic," she requested. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The Slayer then reached up for her hood, pulling it down to reveal the face of an amber-eyed woman with short, black hair and a patch where her left eye should be. She looked down at the multi-colored woman before her with pity and slowly began to approach her. Still not believing her words, Neo attempted to make a run for it, only for the pain of her wound to overtake her and cause her to slide back down. Once the Slayer reached her, she knelt to her level.
"What's your name?" she asked.
Neo simply continued to breathe heavily for several seconds before finally starting to calm herself down. However, rather than answer her, she simply pointed to her mouth, shaking her head as she did so.
"You...You can't speak?" the Slayer asked.
The small woman shook her head once again in response.
"Okay...uh...here," the Slayer responded, pulling out her scroll and activating it as she did so. "Type your name onto this."
She handed Neo the scroll, who typed her name onto it before showing the vigilante what she had written on it.
"Neo," she read before giving the multi-colored woman a small smile. "Well, Neo, I think I know someone who can help you out with that."
She proceeded to get back up, extending her hand towards who she hoped would become her friend.
"Come."
Neo mulled over her options for a few seconds before she reluctantly grabbed onto the Slayer's hand. The vigilante then assisted her back onto her feet before turning to walk away with her in tow, only for her to hear the sound of the small woman typing something on her scroll. She turned back to her, noticing that the scroll now read 'Name?' Knowing what she was requesting, the Slayer nodded once before giving her answer.
"Cinder."