Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 9: Sudden Shameless Multi-Cross Part 1
Ruby was running down a cold, metal corridor, her clothes shredded and Aura shattered. Crescent Rose had long been left behind, leaving her defenseless. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, beads of sweat pouring down her forehead and leaving her hair a wet, matted mess.
"No, no, no, no," she mumbled as Ruby continued to run, passing by several pods along the way. Each one was clear, easily showing the contents inside. Ruby stole a glance at them, and she quickly wished that she didn't. Each one, contained within a yellow stasis field, was a person. At first, she didn't recognize the people inside, but she could see they were from all walks of life. She passed human, Faunus, Remnantian, Thanagarian, Tamaranean, and many more she didn't even hope to recognize.
Ruby didn't cease her flight at any of them. Her legs burned, but blind panic kept her going, only to come to a slowed, horrified stop once she passed a door.
"Oh, Gods…" she gasped as she looked upon the wall before her. The entire wall, stretching upwards far beyond what she could see, was row after row of stasis pods, each one filled with someone she knew. She saw Sun, floating next to his team with tubes poking out of him in every direction, his golden tail shaved barren and shriveled. She saw her team, broken and defeated and with robotic drones probing each one of them and taking bits of flesh, hair, and bone. She saw JNPR in the same condition.
Next to them, she saw the entirety of the Justice League, each being experimented upon and probed as though their existence meant nothing. For a brief moment she saw Superman straining, trying to break free from his bonds, only for a shard of kryptonite to be stabbed into his shoulder, and he stilled.
"Penny…" Ruby wept when she finally saw the centerpiece of this horrible display. The gynoid was embedded into the wall, her body cut open and her internal mechanisms displayed for all to see. Her legs were nowhere to be seen, and half of her face was missing, showing only a metallic skull.
"I see you've found them," a toneless voice announced, causing Ruby's body to chill. Slowly, she turned towards a dark corner of the room, only to see two bright purple eyes staring at her. The figure slowly began to walk forward, each step sounding with a loud, metallic clang. After what seemed like an eternity, Brainiac emerged from the shadows and stared emotionlessly at Ruby's trembling form.
He studied her for a moment then turned to gaze upon the wall, "They put up a strenuous fight, but in the end it was futile. As it always is."
As Brainiac said this, a wall next to him slid open and revealed hundreds of glass spheres, each containing cities. She saw Moscow, Tokyo, Gotham City, Metropolis, and many, many more. Next to them, she saw the cities of Remnant, only for them to be burned away and replaced with yet another city from Earth. The sight horrified her, but she couldn't tear her gaze away. When Brainiac finally turned to face her once more, the wall slid back into place.
Ruby stared at Brainiac's emotionless visage, her fear turning into uncontrollable rage. She suddenly felt a weight in her hands and saw that Crescent Rose had appeared. With an enraged yell, she aimed her weapon at Brainiac and fired round after round, striking this chest and forehead with every shot. None of them phased him as he confidently walked forward, only stopping when he was a foot away from her. She fired again, only to have Brainiac suddenly grip the front of the barrel with his hand and blocking the shot. He violently ripped the sniper-scythe from Ruby's hands then, in a single, deft motion, broke it over his knee.
"Again, futile," Brainiac coldly declared, only to quickly kick Ruby in the chest and send her flying back into a wall. She struck it, knocking the breath from her lungs. Ruby tried to get to her feet, only for drones to suddenly appear and hold her down.
"Get…! Get off me!" she shouted, struggling to free herself, only to briefly go silent when Brainiac stepped in front of her. The drones forced her upwards, pulling apart her arms and legs and preventing her from moving more than a few inches in either direction. She only stopped struggling when metallic tentacles extended from Brainiac's back and began inching their way towards her face.
"I told you, before," he said coldly, his tentacles inching ever closer to her dilated pupils, "I will discover the secrets behind your eyes."
"No!" Ruby shouted as she jumped up from her bed, breathing heavily. Panicked, she looked around at her surroundings, only to find herself in a small, cozy room. Her breathing began to slow as memories started to flow back. Ruby was safe and sound in her room at Titans Tower. She and the rest of her friends had been staying with the Titans for the past few days, whom by now she considered to be among her best friends.
Ruby sighed into her hands, "Not again. I thought I was over those…"
She sighed again, then looked at the digital clock next to her bed. It read '6:00 A.M.', which was far too early for her tastes. Knowing she wasn't going to get any more sleep, she stepped out of bed and walked out of her room. Ruby looked at the other rooms in the hall to see that they were all closed. Assuming that no one else was awake, she reached back into her room and grabbed Crescent Rose, along with a few experimental rounds, then made her way towards the training room. The hallways were dark and silent, allowing her to ruminate on everything that had transpired. Despite the others not showing it, Ruby knew that the others occasionally woke up in a cold sweat, nightmares plaguing bad nights. She was thankful that the episodes were coming fewer and farther in between, but that didn't make the ones that greeted her any better.
As she neared the training room, with dark thoughts swirling in her head, she heard a clanging noise from inside that made her pause. Silently, she looked through a crack in the door and saw a single person whacking away at holographic dummies. It was Jaune, doing another round of training on his own. The amount of sweat on his body, coupled with his ragged breathing, told her he must have been doing this for quite some time. She moved to turn away, only for the sounds to stop and Jaune to look at her, surprised that she was up.
"Ruby…" he began, the holograms disappearing around him as the training session ended. Slowly, Ruby came forward and stepped into the room.
"Hey, Jaune," she called out, fidgeting with her hands, "You're up early."
"So are you," Jaune pointed out. An awkward silence descended between the two as they stared at each other. Finally, Ruby asked the question first.
"How long have you been up?" she asked.
"…About an hour," he admitted with a hint of shame. Ruby moved to reassure her friend, only for him to speak before she could, "You?"
"Oh, uh… I just woke up."
Jaune waited a moment, then asked another question, "Nightmares?"
"… Yeah," Ruby admitted, and Jaune nodded. He had woken up from them as well. Seeing a nearby bench against the wall, the two walked over and sat down on it, their weapons placed on the ground next to them. Another silence fell between them, an awkward cough coming from the young girl.
"I have a nephew, you know," he finally talked, directing her complete and undivided attention. "His name is Adrian. Adrian Cotta-Arc, son of my older sister Saphron Arc and her wife, Terra Cotta. He had just learned to walk before I left for Beacon, and we were all so excited for him."
Jaune chuckled to himself, while Ruby remained silent. "That little kid loved Atlesian ships. Living in Argus and seeing them flying around all over the place always made his day." Jaune then went silent and looked down at his feet.
"My family… My family couldn't make it to Vale for the Vytal Tournament, so they went to Argus to watch it over the CCT with Saph and Terra. They called to congratulate my team and me after we beat Team BRNZ. That was…the last I heard from them before…" Jaune couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't need to. She had recognized the city inside one of Brainiac's bottles. The question of whether or not they were still in there was still unanswered.
Jaune's shoulders then began to buckle up and down as tears began to fall, a few drops hitting the matted floor below. "I miss them so much."
Ruby stayed silent throughout all of this, watching as her friend wept, then surprised him with a hug. The action caused him to stop, and he stared at her with teary, bloodshot eyes, then returned the hug. No words needed to be said, and the two silently comforted each other in their pain and sorrow. After a while, they separated and stared at each other, and a faint smile came to both.
"Jaune, I know that things are hard, but I also know this. No matter how bad things seem right now, I know, without question, that as long as we keep moving forward, nothing will stop us. We will see our friends and family again; I promise you that," she declared with absolute conviction. Jaune smiled back at her.
"Thank you, Ruby."
"No problem, Jaune." Ruby smiled back. The two then stared out over the training room, each thinking about what to do next, only for Ruby to gently lay her head against Jaune's shoulder. He looked at her, wanting to ask why she did that, just to hear a faint snore come out of her mouth. Smiling, Jaune allowed her to continue and laid back against the wall.
After a few moments, sleep finally came to him, too. By the time the others were roused from their slumber and entered the training room, they came across the scene of two friends sleeping soundly next to each other, taking comfort in the other's presence.
By the time the two young leaders had finally woken up, the others had already begun the task of making breakfast. Garfield and Victor were working the stove, Nora watching over them with drool dripping out of the corner of her mouth while Ren calmly read the latest edition of the Daily Planet. He was reading an article written by a man named Clark Kent about the situation in Gotham City. It had improved somewhat, but he couldn't help but feel uneasy about the entire thing. Something about it seemed off to him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He also thought that the picture the Daily Planet had provided of Clark Kent seemed familiar, but he didn't know why. Something about his face, but with the glasses, he couldn't quite tell.
Raven and Blake were currently sitting at the table, reading a pair of books from Raven's library. The half-demon was reading an ancient tome of magic, straight from the archives of Azarath, while Blake was reading the Lord of the Rings.
"Gandalf, no," she mumbled as she read about the wizard's stand against the Balrog. If there was one thing Blake had to admit about her current situation, it was that Earth was in no short supply of outstanding literature. The works of J.R.R. Tolkien were only the latest she had taken to reading, having already gone through several of Steven King's works.
"So, what's on the docket for today?" Yang asked while sprawled across the sofa, still wearing her pajamas.
"Well, assuming nothing comes up," Victor began while flipping some bacon on a sizzling skillet, "was thinking about getting some training in, working on the T-Car, and other maintenance. You'd be surprised how much work goes into making sure this place stays top notch."
"I'll bet," Yang replied through a toothy grin, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Titans Tower is your baby."
"Titans Tower is my home. The T-Car is my baby," Victor clarified, causing Yang to laugh. Pyrrha, sitting across from her and cleaning her weapon, smiled at the exchange, only for her and the others' attention to be directed towards the sound of an opening door.
"Well, look who finally woke up! You two get some good sleep?" Yang teased an embarrassed Jaune and Ruby's arrival.
Whether they were embarrassed that they had woken up next to each other or that Yang was teasing them about it, Pyrrha didn't know. It was, admittedly, quite a cute scene to behold. The two looked so peaceful to the point where Nora had joined Yang in taking pictures, even adding little filters to spice things up. Yang was already teasing Ruby with them, causing her and Jaune to blush from embarrassment. Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at their expense before finally calling out to Yang.
"Alright, Yang. That's enough," she said, immediately earning a look of thanks from her partner. "You can tease them later."
Jaune shot her a look of betrayal while Yang smiled and mock saluted from the couch. Pyrrha merely smiled at her partner as he threw his arms into the air in exasperation.
"Sadists, all of you," he accused, causing his team to laugh. They knew he didn't mean it. He poured himself and Ruby a glass of milk then moved towards the cooks. "Need a hand?"
"Nah, we got this," Garfield stated as he continued to cook some hash browns, "Almost done, anyway. Grab a chair, make yourself comfortable. Be ready in a few minutes."
"Okay," Jaune nodded then sat down on the bar next to Ren and Nora. He stole a glance at the article Ren was reading and nodded to himself. "Hope they get things squared away soon enough."
"Same," Ren replied, flipping to the next page as did, "Still, I can't help but feel something's off."
"Yeah," Jaune agreed, sipping from his glass, "Nothing about this is right. First, the worst psychopath I've ever seen brings an entire city to its knees, causing a League founder to take off to do damage control, and then, just a few days later, nearly the same thing happens to Themyscira."
"You think they're connected?"
"I don't think that, Ren. I know," Jaune stared pointily at his teammate, who stared right back and, after a moment, nodded in agreement.
"Have you mentioned this to the League?" Ren asked, and Jaune nodded.
"I told Superman, and he told Batman," Jaune answered, "He told me Bats thought the same thing and was having Oracle look into possible culprits. Right now, it's a waiting game."
Ren moved to answer, only for the sliding door to open and reveal an excited Koriand'r flying towards them. She was still wearing her purple pajamas, and her hair was a mess, but everyone was instead focused on the bright smile on her face.
"Everyone! It's Dick!" she called out, causing the Titans to stop what they were doing and crowd around her immediately. RWBY and JNPR followed after them, and Kori activated the circular Titans Communicator's speaker function.
"Dick, you're on Speaker. How's it going, man?" Victor called out.
"Hey, Cy," Dick Grayson replied in a tired but jovial tone, "Just wanted to check in. How are our guests doing?"
"We're doing great!" Ruby answered. "Titans Tower is amazing! There's so much to do here!"
Dick laughed, "I'll bet. You guys head into the city yet?"
"Not yet, no," Yang called out, "but we're itching to go out there."
"You guys will get your chance, don't worry," he reassured them. They then heard a sigh, and for a brief moment, they saw Kori's smile falter.
"You're not coming back yet, are you?" she asked, and Dick was silent for a moment.
"… Yeah, not for a few more days. Things are getting better, but Gotham's still a mess. More than usual. Sorry, guys," he answered, causing Garfield to groan.
"Seriously, man? Batman still needs you?" the Beast Boy asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I want Gotham to get… Better is a strong word…"
"I heard that. Not inaccurate, though. Still, Batman needs me here. You all know how he is. Gotham is his city, and if he says that he needs help, then he needs it."
"Don't worry about it, man. We understand perfectly," Victor declared, the rest of the group nodding along with him.
"Thanks, guys. I promise you, just a few more days. Then I'll be back in Jump City before you know it."
"We'll hold you to it," M'gann chuckled. "So, overall, how have you been?"
"Pretty good, all things considered," Dick admitted, "Nice to see Alfred again, Damian's still a little shit, and Batman's still dark and broody. Could be a lot worse. At least Joker's still locked up in Arkham."
"Thank God for that," Garfield shuddered, and a chill went down RWBY and JNPR's spines. They had read about the Joker, archenemy of the Batman. He didn't have any powers whatsoever, and yet the Clown Prince of Crime terrified them more than nearly any other villain they had read about. The number of atrocities he had committed was far too many to count, and he made Crane look positively sane.
Flash once said that other supervillains tell horror stories about the Joker, and most of them were true. Down to every last, twisted detail. All of Gotham was thankful that he was still locked up, and everyone prayed he would stay that way.
"My thoughts exactly. With him on the loose, things would have gotten much, much worse," Dick cleared his throat then moved on, "Anyway, onto more important things, Batman asked me to ferry you guys some information. Training programs, equipment schematics, and more. Sending them over now."
"Just got them," Cyborg announced as he pulled up a holographic interface, the files and schematics rushing past far too quickly for the others to comprehend. Given how he was part machine, Victor wasn't fazed, and once he finished looking them over he whistled, "Damn, this is some good stuff. I'll get to work on making these right away, but it will take a few days to finish getting the suits ready."
"Oh?" Blake wasn't all that surprised, figuring she knew whom Batman intended the information and suit schematics for, but she had to make sure. "Let me guess: They're for us?"
"Yep," Dick replied with a pop, "Say what you will, when it comes to training and designing stuff, Batman knows what he's doing. I looked it over as well, gave some input, and I expect the others to help you guys out."
"Oh, yes! We've been doing that a lot over the last few days! Training with teams RWBY and JNPR has been very exciting!" Kori exclaimed, having bounced back from her earlier disappointment.
"Much better than training with Artemis," Jaune muttered, causing the other teenagers to snicker. "Hey, you try learning anything after getting thrown around like a rag doll for thirty minutes."
Dick laughed sympathetically, then a noise in the background caught his attention. After a moment, he spoke back into the communicator, "That's my cue. Going back on patrol again. Some drug dealers have been trying to take advantage of the chaos. See you guys in a few days. Remember, if you go on patrol, keep your identities secret. They are your greatest weapons, so keep them close to the chest."
"Don't worry, we will," Ruby answered. The Titans had already made that clear to them when they had first started training at the Tower. They even gave RWBY and JNPR small domino masks to cover their eyes and upper face. Weiss had questioned just how such a small disguise would protect their identity, and Ruby had to admit it did seem questionable, but apparently, it was enough. It was all Nightwing had, and it seemed to work out for him. It probably helped that, for the most part, a superhero's two lives didn't interact all that much. In any case, the Titans maintained that the masks also distorted camera feeds around their faces, making it hard for anyone to get an accurate look at them.
"See ya, man!" Garfield bid his leader goodbye, as did the other Titans. As Dick said goodbye and shut off his communicator, everyone stared at it in silence.
"He seems like a good leader," Jaune pointed out, and Kori nodded with a smile.
"He is," she noted with a content sigh, and at once Jaune knew precisely what kind of relationship the two had with each other. Smiling to himself, he turned to say something, only to pause as a strange smell wafted into his nostrils.
"Is something burning?" he asked plainly, causing the others to look up sharply and sniff the air. Garfield's eyes then widened in panic as he hastily turned towards the stove.
"My hash browns!"
"It's okay, BB. There, there," Yang comforted a despondent Beast Boy. He was more embarrassed than anything, but at the very least the others didn't seem to hold it against him.
"At least everything else turned out okay," Victor pointed out as he continued to pass out waffles and scrambled eggs. Outside of a visibly disappointed Nora, everyone was quite happily digging in.
"Still, man," Garfield sighed and shook his head, "the hash browns would have made things better."
"Pancakes would have made things better," Nora grumbled as she nibbled on her breakfast, causing the Titans to turn and look at her. They were a little confused as to why she seemed disappointed, only for Garfield's face to warp in understanding.
"Oh, I see now," he began, smiling accusingly. "You're a pancake-loving heathen!"
"I'm not the heathen! You are!" Nora shot back, causing everyone to stare at the two of them with wide-eyes, "You and your firm and crunchy waffles!"
"That's the best part about them! Waffles are firm, strong and powerful, not flimsy and weak like your pancakes!"
Nora gasped dramatically, "How dare you!"
The two continued to argue over which breakfast pastry was best while the rest of the teenagers watched from the sidelines. It was getting quite animated as time went on when Jaune finally whispered over to M'gann and Raven.
"Hey, uh," he began, "he isn't actually…?"
"Oh, they're both just playing around," M'gann answered, "At this point, it's a game."
"Ah, good," Jaune smiled in relief. As the play-argument continued, he chuckled to himself, "I swear, it's like watching a dog bark into a mirror."
M'gann thought for a moment, pursing her lips, before she chuckled as well, "Yeah, kinda."
"Still, I think we both know who's going to win this," Jaune began, and M'gann nodded.
"Yes, Garfield can be quite persuasive when he wants to be," the White Martian replied, only for Jaune and now the rest of JNPR and RWBY to stare at her.
"Uh, no? Nora's right, pancakes are better," he declared, his friends nodding. Nora suddenly reappeared next to her leader, a confident smirk on her face as she slapped Jaune's offered palm with her own, then went back to Garfield. By this point, Victor had joined in on the debate, pulling out an intricately detailed slideshow on just why waffles were superior to pancakes. He appeared to be just as passionate about the subject as his best friend.
Slowly, as the debate continued and more and more got dragged in, it appeared that the already lively discussion threatened to turn into something else, only for a red alarm to suddenly yell out and halt everyone in their tracks. Then, after a moment's pause, everyone rushed to their stations.
"Cyborg, talk to me. What's going on?" Beast Boy, now wearing his purple and black jumpsuit, asked as he walked inside the Titans Tower control room, a now combat-ready RWBY and JNPR following alongside him and putting on their masks. It was similar to the one on the Watchtower, only much smaller and more heavily focused on Jump City. A detailed map of the city itself was displayed on a large central monitor, a big blemish over the targeted area.
"There's a disturbance going on over at Jump Studios," Cyborg announced, continuing to type away at his computer, "Hostage situation. Someone broke in a few minutes ago and had taken the studio head hostage in his own office."
"Motive?" Weiss asked, fidgeting with Myrtenaster. The Titans had already told them that, should Jump City come under attack, the eight of them would be allowed to join them. While the lack of Dust vials would be a hindrance, it wasn't as though she couldn't adapt. Besides, it would be an excellent opportunity to test out the new upgrades Ruby had designed for her weapon.
Cyborg sighed, and Jaune began to spout out guesses, "Money? Political?"
"Eh…" Cyborg shook his head, "No."
"Then what's the motive?"
Cyborg paused for a moment then answered, "Apparently, the night you guys arrived, the head of Jump Studios canceled the critically acclaimed Wonder Twins show before a satisfying ending could be reached due to low toy sales. The hostage-taker took offense to that."
Everyone paused, staring at Cyborg blankly. Finally, after a moment, Yang tilted her head in confusion, "…Seriously? He kidnapped a guy for canceling a show?"
"Yep," Cyborg replied, clearly exasperated.
"Well," Yang paused, "outside of that being a complete overreaction, why are we being called in? I'm pretty sure the police could handle this."
"You'd think that, but no. The police apparently can't get to them."
"Why?" Starfire asked, an inkling suspicion growing as to who was responsible.
"The entrance to Jump Studios is heavily guarded," Cyborg answered while bringing up a security feed from across Jump Studios, "…by stormtroopers."
The Titans and the huntsmen teams stared dumbfoundedly as the Jump Police Department exchanged fire with a large group of white-armored soldiers, their helmets completely encasing their heads. Instead of bullets, the stormtroopers were firing red blaster bolts at the police, none of their shots hitting their mark but spraying close enough to force them into cover, while the police's weapons did nothing to their futuristic armor.
"On a side note, Imperial Marksmanship is in full swing, as no one's been hurt yet," Cyborg announced with relief, while the rest of the Titans all sighed.
"This is Control Freak, isn't it?" Beast Boy guessed, and Cyborg nodded.
"Yep. He's even live-tweeting this." Cyborg then pulled up another tab to a nearby monitor, this one displaying the Tweeter feed to an overweight redheaded man with pimples marking his face. He was unshaven, with his hair reaching past his neck and drooping over his chest, and his outfit appeared to be a mish-mash of various movies and TV shows.
Yang immediately pegged the man as a colossal geek.
"Yikes," she said as she read his tweets. They were written in all caps as the man continued to rant and rave about how canceling Wonder Twins was a travesty, that the studio head was greedy, incompetent, and didn't know a good show from complete trash. His latest tweets were maintaining that he'd only release the hostage once he got a written, legally binding contract to bring it back for a sixth and final season, not the currently planned kid-oriented spin-off.
"Have you faced this guy before?" Jaune asked while checking on his sword. "What can we expect?"
"A few times," Raven answered, "Mostly he just sits at home and manages his Youtube channel, but whenever something happens that sets him off he goes ballistic and overreacts. He's never really hurt anyone, so he mostly just gets thrown into jail for a month or two then put on probation."
"How does he have those…stormtroopers? Aren't they from a movie or something?" Blake noted. She hadn't watched the movies before, but she knew that stormtroopers were the minions of the Empire in Star Wars. They were supposed to be fictional, but as she watched a medium-sized bipedal walker materialize in thin air, she was reminded that these were not.
"Control Freak made a reality-altering remote a few years back," M'gann replied, "With it, he can do anything he wants. Send a person into a TV show, bring a favorite character to life, and much, much more."
"Wait," Weiss dryly stated, watching the footage with complete confusion, "you're telling me that this guy made a reality-altering remote, capable of bending the universe to his whim, and he uses it to…lash out against studio executives? Why hasn't he used this to do…anything that actually matters?!"
"Honestly, we have no idea. We've asked," Cyborg answered with a resigned sigh, "All we know is that he hasn't patented this thing and whenever the remote is too far away from him, it self-destructs. Whenever he decides to be a supervillain again, he makes another."
"Ah, geez," Ruby shook her head, "Okay, so what can we expect once we get there?"
"Who knows? Probably something movie related, and a lot of it too. Still, don't let your guard down around him. Control Freak, when he puts his mind to it, is still very dangerous," Raven cautioned, and everyone nodded. Cyborg's eye then flashed red as the information was downloaded into his brain, and he pulled up a holographic interface in front of him.
"Mapping out the quickest route now," he told them as the interface disappeared. An elevator door then opened on the far side of the room, and without needing further instruction, everyone piled inside. The elevator descended, the wheels grinding against the cables as it did. When the car finally stopped, it opened to a large garage built into the island. The walls and ceiling, when not covered by metal railings and walkways, was solid stone, while the ground was paved cement. Multiple driveways shot out like a star, each one ending on a separate vehicle. They saw a plane, a car, a submersible, even a black motorbike.
"So, this is the T-Car?" Ruby guessed as they stopped in front of the car itself. It appeared to be based on a large van, albeit one heavily modified. Its body was pure white with light-blue trim. Circuitry and electronics marked the entirety of it, which only made itself more apparent as the doors finally opened. For a moment, they were all worried that there wouldn't be enough room, but their worries were alleviated as they saw the car's seating had been carefully arranged to allow for everyone to sit inside.
"Yep, it's my baby," Cyborg proudly proclaimed, slapping its hood. "100,000 horsepower plasma turbine engine, nitro booster, hover jets, and top of the line electronic surveillance systems compatible with myself. The Batmobile's got nothing on this!"
"Nice," Yang nodded appreciatively as she and the others strapped themselves in. It was admittedly tight, but they were able to make it work. "After this, mind helping me with remaking my bike, Bumblebee?"
"Sure!" Cyborg answered as he sat down in the driver's seat, hooking himself into the car's systems. A moment later, the plasma engine roared to life, and the garage door opened. As soon as it did, with sunlight beaming inside, the T-Car rocketed forward and raced down the bridge into Jump City.
They heard the fighting well before they saw it. At first, it was the odd explosion-peppered gunfire, along with loud twangs of blaster fire. As they got closer, the sounds of combat grew louder and louder, until the T-Car itself was beginning to vibrate. Hordes of civilians were watching the exchange from the safety of the nearby buildings, a few even filming the battle. Any that managed to stray too close were quickly dissuaded of that by police officers working the outer perimeter. From what they could tell, none of the bystanders sported any injuries.
"I've been looking at the Tweeter feed," Weiss stated as she messed with her seat's holographic interface, "Police are urging everyone within a few blocks of Jump Studios to evacuate, so the area should be clear of any civilians."
"That's good to hear," Ruby noted as she chambered a round into Crescent Rose. As none of the enemies, outside of Freak himself, were real, she and others felt confident in going all out. Ruby hoped that the armor-piercing rounds she based off of Red Hood's pistol rounds would be enough to punch through their armor. If not, she could always aim for the gaps.
"You guys all good?" Jaune asked as he checked his armor. The rest of the teams nodded or flashed a thumbs up, and Jaune nodded back. Before he could say anything else, the T-Car rounded a corner sharply, the tires squealing along the pavement, and brought the fight into view.
One of the bipedal walkers noticed their appearance and turned its blocky head to fire at them, only for Cyborg to activate the T-Car's onboard defense system. Rocket pods extended outward from the side of the vehicle and fired several rockets. The munitions, leaving behind a trail of exhaust, impacted each of the walkers and exploded violently. The legs, now shredded, were unable to support the walkers' weight and the vehicles immediately collapsed, crushing a few stormtroopers unlucky enough to be caught underneath.
"Titans, go!" Starfire yelled as the T-Car slid to a stop, the side doors opening and allowing the occupants to spill out.
Stormtroopers immediately focused their fire onto the superheroes, allowing the police to return fire accurately, but the heroes were unfazed. Starfire, flying overhead with her eyes glowing green, began throwing green starbolts down into any stormtrooper in her sights. A few times she shifted into forming a massive beam of energy, creating smoking holes in their armor. M'gann, careful to avoid the heat of the blaster bolts, turned intangible and struck the Imperials' internal organs, disrupting them and causing the soldiers to collapse. Cyborg shifted his arm into a plasma cannon and fired shot after shot into the armored chests, sending each fictional soldier flying back. He noted that, upon their defeat, the figures became distorted and blinked out of existence.
"Sergeant, get your men and any civilians out of here! We got this!" Cyborg ordered, and the police officer nodded.
"You got it!" he shouted over the fire. He had long since put aside his misgivings towards letting a superhero take control of the situation, as had the rest of the JPD. "Everyone, fall back to the perimeter!"
"Yes, sir!" the assembled officers obeyed and retreated, SWAT teams firing their rifles to cover their comrade's retreat before they, too, withdrew. A quick scan of the area told him that there was no one else around, and he nodded to himself.
"Raven, now!" Cyborg ordered the half-demon. Raven's eyes flashed purple and threw a purple orb into a seemingly empty space, only for the air to distort and reveal RWBY and JNPR fighting some of the stormtroopers. Yang was pummeling several at once, hurling others into larger groups while Nora was busy knocking down any surviving walkers by caving in their legs with her hammer.
"You know," Jaune shouted as he ducked under blaster fire, "have to say, I saw this movie after Flash recommended it to me. Kinda geeking out right now!"
"Same here, dude!" Beast Boy, a wild smile on his face, exclaimed as he turned into a green rhino and charged into a group of soldiers, sending several bodies flying. As the stormtroopers recovered, he shifted into a snake to dodge oncoming fire, only to then turn into a gorilla and pummel more into submission.
"Focus, you two can geek out later!" Raven shouted as she fired telekinetic bolts at their enemy. A few tried to shoot her, only for a domed barrier to block any shots. Raven half-heartedly picked them up and threw them away, one of the stormtroopers screaming in a distinctive yet annoying way.
"That was the Wilhelm Scream!" Beast Boy exclaimed as he turned into an elephant and knocked several away, crushing more underfoot.
The battle was beginning to die down, with the odds clearly in the superheroes' favor, yet the stormtroopers refused to surrender. A scout trooper moved to shoot Weiss, only for Ruby to snipe him in the head. She chambered another round into Crescent Rose as the scout trooper disappeared from reality then turned to Weiss and nodded. Weiss nodded back at her leader and rotated Myrtenaster's hilt to a vial containing pressurized Freeze Gas. The heiress breathed deeply and shot forward on her glyphs, expertly striking at the exposed under-suits and skewering them. Before the troopers even had a chance to disappear Wiess was already onto the next, boosting herself with her glyphs before finally stabbing her rapier down. Her glyphs gathered the Freeze Gas and, with considerable strain, Weiss erected a massive block of ice that froze the remaining soldiers completely solid.
Weiss, breathing deeply, wiped away a sheen of sweat from her brow. Although not as effective or easy to use as her old Ice Dust, the gas worked. Still, Weiss figured she would have to work on reducing the concentration needed to use it in the future. It was a surprisingly tricky balancing act to manipulate such a volatile substance, which was no more responsive to her Aura than any other ordinary material. Before she could ruminate further, a gunshot rang out from behind her. She turned sharply to see a trooper she had missed fall and disappear on the ground while Blake reloaded her pistol.
"Missed one," the Faunus said, and Weiss nodded.
"Thanks…Nightshade." Weiss internally groaned and shook her head. They were in the field now, so whether she liked it or not, the use of their hastily made and indeed not final codenames was essential to keeping their identities safe. That didn't mean she had to like it, though.
"I think we're clear!" Ruby called out from atop a parked trailer. The heroes, seeing how she was correct, regrouped at the front entrance to the studio proper then began walking inside.
"So, Cy, where to first?" Yang asked as she reloaded Ember Celica.
"There's a security station not too far from here," he answered while leading the way, "From there, I can tap into the security feeds. Find our men and end this quickly."
"Good," M'gann said as she mentally scanned the area, "I can't detect anyone else here. Control Freak has somehow managed to block his location from me, so I can't find him."
"Great," Raven droned as they came across the building in question. Jaune fumbled with the door, only to see that it was locked. He grunted, then after taking a step back, kicked the door in and knocked it off its hinges. The others filed in, their weapons raised and quickly scanned the room. There was no one inside, yet they couldn't let themselves relax.
They followed the stairs upwards a few flights before coming across a door marked 'Security'. Cyborg quickly tapped into the door's security systems and easily bypassed them, finding it to be child's play. He then opened the door to reveal a standard security room, several static-filled CCTV monitors displayed on the wall. A hastily turned over chair and spilled coffee mug was all that was left by the previous occupant.
"Hmm, looks like someone left in a hurry," Yang noted as she looked around the room for any signs of struggle. She could see none, so she had to assume that Control Freak merely had him escorted off-site.
"Okay, and here…we…go." Cyborg's announcement was met with the static disappearing on the monitors, replaced with feeds from around the studio lot. The external feeds appeared to be normal, an occasional patrol of soldiers notwithstanding, but the inside of the lots themselves was something else entirely.
"What…the…hell?" Jaune asked as he looked at the inside of a studio building. He had expected to see a half-destroyed studio lot with shredded greenscreens, not a verifiable jungle with a road running through it. One side had a massive electrical fence along it, and he could faintly see a giant creature walking beyond it.
He took a glance at the other monitors, only to see that they, too, were changed entirely. He saw desert villages, ancient ruins, the insides of entire spaceships, and much, much more. It boggled his mind, but seeing how the rest of the Titans were squarely focused on their objective made him refocus in turn.
"Find him yet?" Ruby asked as she warily took note of a few troopers walking near their position. Ren, anticipating this, took up position near the door in case any came too close.
"Just did," Cyborg answered and pointed towards a monitor. They saw the unharmed studio head tied to his chair. They couldn't hear what he was saying to a person offscreen, who they assumed must have been Control Freak, but his expression was a mixture of exasperated, annoyed, and pleading.
"Where is that?" Blake asked.
"Looks like an office in Lot HA," M'gann answered, pulling out a studio map from a nearby drawer. Taking a pen as well, she quickly plotted a route from their location towards the captive, and Ruby couldn't help but wince. The quickest route they could take appeared to take them through many of the lots themselves, and she couldn't figure out precisely what lied within them.
"Alright," Miss Martian declared, "this is the fastest route we can take. We'll have to go through a few sets, but this way we can avoid the more heavily armed patrols and get there as soon as possible."
"Sounds good to me," Beast Boy announced while stretching his arms. The heroes prepared to move out, only for the monitors to suddenly turn to static. Alarmed, everyone stood upright and stared at the tv screens, readying themselves for whatever revealed itself.
When the screens finally turned back, they were greeted by the smirking face of Control Freak, and the heroes all scowled.
"Greetings, Titans!" he haughtily announced, "I knew you all would come to try and stop me, but you're too late! I, Control Freak, have taken control of the entirety of Jump Studios, and it now bends to my whim!"
"Certainly a dramatic guy, isn't he?" Blake mumbled under her breath, and Yang nodded in agreement.
"Give it up, Freak!" Beast Boy shouted, having grown used to the villain's antics, "You won't get away with this!"
"Oh, believe me. I think I will. Still, I am not heartless. Simply leave now and I assure you that you will remain unharmed. All I want is for the Wonder Twins to be brought back for one final season. To give an end to their stories. Is that too much to ask?"
"It's too much to take a guy hostage for," Ruby argued, causing the villain to bring his attention towards her, "Look, I get it. You loved the show and are angry to see it get canceled for a stupid reason. I'd be angry, too, but that's no reason to kidnap a guy and take over an entire studio."
"Oh, new recruits I see?" Control Freak smiled. He appeared to be excited, only for Ruby's comments to finally register, and he frowned, "You think I haven't tried other options? I sent letters, emails, phone calls, got my followers to create a petition! None of the executives even pretended to respond nor care! The furthest I got was a canned reply from the receptionist about how they were taking the Wonder Twins in a bold new direction! As if a Flash-animated kids show is a bold new direction! It's stupid and a disgrace to their legacy!"
Control Freak continued to rant about the injustice of it all, causing Ruby to sigh in exasperation. It was clear that this guy wasn't going to listen to reason just yet, but that didn't mean she couldn't try. She moved to speak again, only for Weiss to beat her to the punch.
"I don't really care about your reasons!" Weiss declared, halting Control Freak mid-rant, "That's no reason to overreact like this! Either you let him go and turn yourself in, or we make you."
"Hah! I see you're the arrogant one of the bunch!" Control Freak laughed, causing Weiss to gasp in offense and the others to chuckle at how accurate that description was. "It doesn't matter. You think that you can stop me, Control Freak, archenemy to the Titans?! They have tried many times before, and they-!"
"Uh, dude?" Beast Boy interrupted, "We've been over this. You aren't our archenemy."
Unlike the others' comments, Beast Boy's clarification seemed to catch Control Freak off-guard. He almost seemed upset, but he quickly shook his head and continued.
"Well then, how can you hope to stop the Titans' second greatest-!"
"You aren't that either, man," Cyborg cut in. If he wasn't upset before, Control Freak was now, but with a stubborn scowl, he continued.
"Third!"
"Nope."
"Top five!"
"Dude, you're starting to make this awkward."
"Oh, come on! What do you mean I'm not!? How can I not be your archenemy? We've fought so many times now I can't even count!"
"Yeah, we get that, but…" Starfire pointed out with a sheepish smile, "You haven't really…risen up to that level. Sorry…"
"Okay, name one villain who's better than me!"
Without missing a beat, Raven began to list them off, "Deathstroke, Trigon, Blackfire, Brother Blood, Puppet King—"
"You only fought him once!" Control Freak angrily pointed out.
"Being turned into puppets for a day and having your bodies hijacked leaves an impression on you," Raven countered, causing Control Freak's face to fall. He looked at the other Titans to see them nodding along with Raven's words, all the while the huntsmen and huntresses wondered just who the Titans had faced off against previously. Jaune and Pyrrha honestly felt that being turned into puppets sounded horrifying. Ruby, meanwhile, continued to look at the now sad Control Freak, and a pang of pity coursed through her.
Control Freak's sad expression faltered and was replaced by one of anger, and he snarled, "You know what! I don't care about being your stupid archenemy! What do you think of that?!"
"What did this turn into?" Ren asked himself, the sanity of this situation having long since passed. Jaune, equally confused, could only shrug.
Weiss, irritated at the pointlessness of the entire conversation, finally shouted, "Can we get on with this!?"
The Titans and Control Freak all looked at her then each other, before suddenly snapping back to face each other. Control Freak moved to taunt them once again, only to sigh and shake his head.
"Ehh, the moment's gone. I'm outside your building. Just…come out and fight me already."
With that final declaration, the monitors shut off completely. For a moment, everyone just stared at the monitors without really looking at each other. No one knew what to say before Nora finally crossed her arms and began shaking her head at the Titans with admonishment.
"I think you hurt his feelings."
True to his word, a quick look out the window showed that an impatient Control Freak was waiting for them, tapping his foot against the pavement. They couldn't see any more enemies with him, but that didn't mean they could afford to relax. His remote was clenched tightly in his hand, and Ruby focused her eyes on it.
"We need to get that remote away from him," she declared. The heroes all nodded at her statement, but before she could burst out to confront him, Raven held out her hand and stopped the Red Reaper in her tracks.
"Wait…," Raven said, "Something's not right."
"Yeah," M'gann agreed, her brow furrowed, "Why is he just standing out there in the open?"
Jaune thought for a moment, watching as Control Freak appeared to grow more and more irritated.
"Oh, come on!" he finally shouted towards them, "Am I not even worth you all coming out to fight me?!"
The heroes stared at the villain blankly, all except for Nora who was giving the Titans a deadpan stare.
"Told you so," she chastised them. Starfire's expression briefly fell from guilt, but she quickly shook her head and refocused. The group studied him for a few more moments before finally Yang had enough and popped her knuckles.
"Well, we ain't getting this solved stuck in here," she declared while popping her neck. The rest of the heroes agreed and, after one last pause, burst forth from the security station and surrounded the villain, aiming their weapons and powers upon him.
Control Freak, rather than appear alarmed, sighed in relief, "Finally! I was starting to get bored."
"Give it up, Freak," Cyborg called out, shifting his arm into a sonic cannon. Control Freak wasn't even phased and began waving his remote around haphazardly.
"I mean, I guess since I'm not your archenemy, I don't get the honor of immediate confrontation, but it's no big deal," Control Freak attempted to downplay his emotions, but it was clear to everyone that he was lying. For the life of them, Raven and Blake couldn't find it in themselves to care. As far as they were concerned, Control Freak was a man-child throwing a temper tantrum, one who needed to be put in his place.
"Dude, seriously. Let it go," Beast Boy gently advised, "Just give us the remote and end this, before someone gets hurt."
"Oh, please. No one's getting hurt," Control Freak waved them off. "Why do you think I had stormtroopers guard the place? I made them powerful enough to stop the police but not enough to actually hurt anyone." His expression suddenly looked panicked, and he briefly looked towards the entrance. "No one was hurt, were they?"
"No," Cyborg tersely answered. "If you had, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"Oh..." Control Freak muttered, taking Cyborg's threat clearly before shaking himself out of his stupor. "Anyway, it's not like I wanted this! All I wanted was a chance to talk to the studio head, to make my case, but no! They had to call security on me! They left me no choice but to do this! Just like all of you."
Blake narrowed her eyes and aimed Gambol Shroud at him, not buying his excuses. None of the other heroes did either, as they merely reacted by readying themselves for a fight. Raven's eyes glowed as a dark purple aura surrounded her body, causing her to gently float upwards and join Starfire and Miss Martian. Beast Boy shifted his form into a gorilla and pounded on his chest. Cyborg continued to aim his sonic cannon at the villain, only for him to sharply turn his head to the side. He looked out towards the open air, slightly confused as to why his sensors were picking up something, only for his eyes to go wide when several black objects appeared.
"Oh, shit…" he muttered, recognizing the iconic frame and sound of TIE Fighters. The other heroes turned towards the source, all while Control Freak smirked and flickered out of existence.
"MOVE!" Jaune yelled as the fighters began firing towards them. Unable to escape the laser blasts, Raven immediately erected a psychic dome around them. The blasts shook the dome violently, Raven straining to keep it up, but none of them were harmed. As soon as Raven dropped the barrier, Starfire flew out and began firing starbolts towards them, downing one and causing it to crash onto an empty street.
"Go! I got them!" she yelled out as more TIE Fighters converged on her, firing their weapons at the Tamaranean. Starfire watched as her friends ran out of the open air and into a nearby building, away from the threat of aerial bombardment, and she smiled. Starfire then took a second to look at how many enemies she had, counting five in total.
The TIE Fighters flew towards her, each firing their weapons in an attempt to shoot her down. She dodged each of them, spinning and braking in mid-air to avoid the deadly blasts. Whenever she had a chance, she retaliated by shooting starbolts of her own, most of her shots missing but a few finding their mark. One bolt shredded a fighter's wing, causing it to spin out of control and crash onto the ground below in a ball of fire, but Starfire couldn't let herself rest. Seeing how more and more were converging onto her, she flew off and forced the four remaining TIE Fighters to chase after her.
"This," she yelled as she dodged another blast, briefly turning around to fire a retaliatory star bolt into one's cockpit, causing it to explode, "this was far more entertaining in the movies!"
With Starfire keeping the aircraft at bay, the rest of the heroes ran into the nearest studio building. Once inside, they shut the door behind them and allowed themselves a chance to think things over.
"It was a trap the whole time," Jaune noted, clenching his fist in anger at not noticing it sooner.
"Yes," Weiss scowled, "It appears that, for whatever concern he has for noncombatants, he clearly doesn't have that for us."
"Because he knows we can handle it," Miss Martian pointed out.
"Doesn't make it any better."
"We need to focus," Raven called out, causing the heroes to redirect their attention onto her. "It's obvious that he's using his remote to hide, so we can't rely on Miss Martian to find him for us."
"And we won't be able to stop this until we get that remote away from him," M'gann noted, trying to mentally reach out and find the villain at the same time. After a few moments, she sighed and shook her head. "I've lost him completely."
"It's okay, sis," Beast Boy comforted her, patting M'gann on the shoulder. Jaune took a moment to poke his head out the door, watching as Starfire continued to engage in her dogfight against the TIE Fighters, then glance around the studio itself.
"Okay," he began, closing the door behind him, "as much as I don't like this idea, I think we need to split up. Cover more ground."
The heroes all looked at Jaune incredulously, "Are you sure about that? I mean, he's already brought out an army of Star Wars characters. Who knows what else he has cooked up for us?" Yang pointed out, but Ruby stepped up next to him.
"No, I agree with J- White Knight," she said, "Not that we all go alone, but by splitting up into smaller groups, we can cover more ground and find him. Put an end to all of this."
"They have a point," Cyborg spoke up, agreeing with their logic. After a few moments, the rest of them nodded in agreement.
"P- Guardian, M'gann, I say we take the west side of Jump Studio," Jaune suggested, the two red-heads nodding in agreement.
"Dragon and I can take the north," Ruby followed up.
"I'll join you two," Cyborg interjected, then turned to Raven, "Rae, mind taking Snow Angel and Nightshade east?"
"Sure," Raven answered while Weiss sighed at how Yang's joke suggestion seemed to have stuck for the moment.
"Guess that leaves BB with Lotus and me," Nora finished, loading a few grenades into Magnhild. Beast Boy smiled at her with a toothy grin, which Nora responded to with one of her own. Jaune and Ruby nodded at them, then looked back out towards Starfire. She was still engaged in a massive dogfight, dodging laser blasts left and right, and keeping their attention squarely on her.
Without saying a word, the heroes took the chance and ran out of the studio, splitting off into different directions. Unbeknownst to them, Control Freak watched them from above, twirling his remote in his hand and a deep frown on his face.
"I can't believe I'm not one of their archenemies. I mean, sure, I get Deathstroke, Trigon, Brother Blood, and Blackfire, deep and personal connections and all, but we have history! I was one of their first villains! Don't you think it's messed up?" Control Freak asked, turning towards the tied up studio head, The balding man stared at him, unamused and looking quite bored.
"I honestly do not care," he replied. "Can I go home now? I already promised you—"
"Oh, like I'm going to trust a verbal agreement," Control Freak interrupted and waved his finger. "You and I both know that isn't legally binding."
"Oh, so now you care about the law?"
"Hey! All I wanted was to talk to you calmly! Do you think I wanted to tie you up? You're the one who forced my hand!"
"You broke into my office and nearly gave my assistant a heart attack," the studio head pointed out, but Control Freak shook his head.
"Eh, she was fine. Anyway, back to what we were doing before." Control Freak then turned back towards the wall and pressed a button on his remote, bringing the screen before them back to life and showcasing an intricately detailed presentation on the merits of a proper finale to The Wonder Twins. A number on its bottom right corner read '100/250'.
As Control Freak continued his spiel about just why a season six was needed, the studio head sighed and hung his head, hoping for the Titans to get to him soon.
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! Sorry for the long wait, this month was busy for me. This chapter was a blast to right, but it ended up getting too long, so we had to split it into halves. Part 2 will be up in a few days.
Now, onto the Q&A:
Bruce USSR: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Guest: You actually misinterpreted that scene. It was meant to show the exact opposite. Jaune and Pyrrha are not getting together just because Pyrrha's feelings are out in the open as neither of them are emotionally ready for such a committment.
1968: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Jessessanman, NaanContributor, and myself strive to make sure that everything we talk about does indeed make sense. If something doesn't right away, know that it will most likely in the future. As for Dakota and Static Shock, I have no comment. He might show up, he just as likely might not.
doom2099: Yeah, BBxRae for life! I kid (mostly) but I do enjoy writing their interactions. And yeah, Blake does miss Sun. He was a good friend to her, after all, and BB reminded her of him immensely.
Sr. Red: I probably won't be doing Batman Ninja. As for JL: Doom/Tower of Babel, I do love the story told there, but know that I'm not going to do a carbon copy of already told DC stories already told by writers much better than me. So, I can't comment on that further.
NRF: You'll have to wait and see who the traitor was.
Zander2212: Yeah, had Marvel not had Shadow Cat as an iconic character, I'd probably go with that. But, they did, so I had to think harder.
guestee: You'll have to wait and see on both of those fronts.
Althea Sirius: Thank you! I really enjoyed those Chibi chapters, they were a lot of fun to write. As for JNPR, they are around the same age, but we are operating under the assumption that they don't have the same birthdays. We're actually using the birthdays created for Dragon Rose, keep things internally consistent for all three of us.
LifeByTheCreed: Yep.
GXY-2013: The Titans here are kind of a mix. Young Justice was merged into the Titans, as you can see, while the Titans themselves were based off both the original TV Show as well as their DC Animated Movies interpretations and Young Justice.
meeyaargh3412: Yeah, I took elements from all three sources, except for TTG. As you can see, yes. Team Remnant will start calling each other by their codenames while in the field, but not all of them are finalized even now. It was just sudden, to they had to take what they got.
xhope14x: Shipping will not be a major focus of the story. There's only a limited amount of screentime I can do, and we feel that there are other, more interesting avenues to explore than who gets together with who. Should I do decide that showing that avenue is worthwhile, it will be a mixture of canon ships and crossover ships that feel natural to me, as well as interesting and respective of the characters themselves.
Steelrain66: Yep, color is an important part of RWBY and Remnant culture, so we felt it was appropriate that they use color in their superhero names. It just fit, you know? Now, know that not all of those names are finalized. Some are, but not all of them. Weiss especially, given her personality.
That's all for now! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!