Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)
Chapter 10: Sudden Shameless Multi-Cross Part 2
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In their attempt to find out exactly where Control Freak was hiding, Blake, Weiss, and Raven had gone through every studio building they came across. None of them recognized the movies Control Freak had turned them into, but by the time Blake had come across the current one, she felt that she had grown sufficiently genre savvy. The door had closed behind them when they entered, and nothing they did could force it open, which forced the trio to trek further into the dense foliage.
"Gods, I hate the jungle," Weiss complained, slapping at mosquitoes that kept buzzing around her. "Nightshade, Raven, how are you standing it?"
"Magic," Raven replied as she covered herself in a purple glow, repelling any bugs away from her. Weiss turned to Blake, who shrugged.
"I grew up in the tropics. You get used to it." Weiss shook her head at Blake's answer, only to stop when they came across an ancient statue of a face. The trio studied it for a moment; then the Remnantians turned to look at Raven.
The half-demon looked at them, arching her eyebrow. "What?"
"Well, do you know what movie this is?" Weiss asked.
"I don't watch movies," Raven answered and shrugged, then tried to study their surroundings more intently. "But, this does look familiar. I remember Beast Boy watching it a few times and trying to get me to join him."
"Well, that's unfortunate." Blake sighed and checked Gambol Shroud. The lack of information would impede their progress, not knowing what they could expect to find. Still, if she was correct, the only way to get out of this particular building was further in.
The Faunus pressed onward, Weiss and Raven following behind her until they came across the entrance to a long forgotten ruin. It was dark, even for Blake's enhanced eyes, and so she ripped a branch off a nearby tree and handed it to Weiss.
"Mind lighting this?" she asked, and Weiss nodded. Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster and shifted the vials to a flammable liquid. If she remembered correctly, the contents were based on the fuel for a flamethrower which belonged to a person calling themselves Firefly. It was highly flammable, although Batman had modified the formula to make it more stable. Even still, just as with the Freeze Gas, the fuel was hard for her to manipulate, but not impossible. When she finally ignited the torch, she handed it back to Blake, who nodded and led them forward.
"I can't help but notice you were having trouble there," Raven pointed out, and Weiss nodded.
"Back home, I used Dust with my Semblance. Dust was naturally conductive to our Aura, which made it easy to manipulate. Dust doesn't work here, so I've had to adapt. It's proving harder than anticipated."
"Hmm, we'll work on that back at the Tower after this."
"Thank –" Weiss was interrupted by a tingling sensation on her back, causing her to go still. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Raven go wide-eyed and take a step back, while Blake held out her hand in a calming gesture.
"Stay. Still," she spoke softly. Weiss felt a sensation crawling up her shoulder, and she slowly turned her head to look into the eyes of a brown and orange spider. Before it could do anything, Blake gently brushed it off with Gambol Shroud, then walked behind Weiss to see her entire back covered in similar spiders. They flashed purple as Raven got them, and then the trio fast walked out of the chamber.
"Gods, I hate spiders," Weiss finally got out and shivered.
"Guardian would agree with you," Blake said. She remembered how terrified Pyrrha was of spiders. It was honestly quite amusing to her.
They then came across a long hallway with sunlight beaming down in narrow slots. Weiss moved to press forward, only for Blake to stop her with an outstretched arm. The Faunus' eyes narrowed, then used her torch to wave through the beam of light gently. Suddenly, and without warning, the wall beside them opened and thrust forward a column of spears, a freshly decayed body of a man impaled on them.
"… Why do ancient people have light-based tripwires?" Weiss asked, clearly confused. "For that matter, why is this still working? This looks centuries old."
"I don't know; it's a movie. One that we're living in," Blake pointed out before carefully maneuvering around the beams of light. Weiss followed her, while Raven simply shifted into a shadow and crawled along the floor, appearing on the other side with a smirk on her face.
"Show off," Blake teased as she joined the half-demon. They waited for Weiss before pressing on. A vast chasm stopped them, a single outstretched root being the only platform. Weiss created a series of glyphs to jump across while Raven simply flew. Blake, meanwhile, threw Gambol Shroud at the root and turned it into a rope swing, using it to cross the chasm. Now on the other side, the trio pressed forward once more before finally stopping at what they could only assume was the central chamber. In its center was a large golden idol, and Blake pointed to it.
"That's our ticket out of here," she immediately ascertained, and Weiss and Raven nodded. Blake then took her torch and gently poked at the ground before them. Parts of it were firm, but another turned out to be loose and pressed inward. As it did, a poison dart shot out of the wall and embedded itself into Blake's torch, and she nodded to herself.
"You know I can easily get it, right?" Raven pointed out, but Blake shook her head.
"No, I'm pretty certain that if you did, things would go wrong immediately." Blake nodded to herself then began to gently bound across the room, avoiding all of the slots before finally reaching the idol. She prepared to take it, only to pause and rub her chin.
'This is too easy,' she thought before looking down and seeing a discarded cloth bag filled with sand. An idea popped into her head, and she reached down to grab it. Blake weighed it in her hand, testing to see if it matched what she thought was the idol's weight, then removed a handful of sand from it. As her friends watched with bated breath, she quickly grabbed the idol and replaced it with the sand. She waited a moment, and when it did nothing, she sighed in relief.
Blake turned around and began walking back towards the others, "See, I told—"
She was interrupted by the sound of grinding stone. Blake slowly turned around to see the stone pedestal descend into the platform, and the room began to shake. Once the first cracks started appearing, she abandoned all caution and sprinted. The darts began shooting at her, but she ran past them without issue. Weiss and Raven were already out of the room and past the chasm. Blake threw Gambol Shroud again and swung across, noticing how the ceiling was beginning to descend. Weiss was holding it up with her glyphs, visibly straining to do so, and Blake slid underneath. As she did, her bow briefly came off just as Weiss released her glyph, forcing Blake to quickly reach back out and grab the bow on the other side.
"Seriously!?" Weiss complained as Blake put the bow back on.
"Later!" Blake yelled as they ran past the corridor with the spear walls, nimbly dodging all of them. When they reached the other side, they heard a loud sound coming at them and looked towards it. They saw a massive boulder, expertly carved and smoothed into a sphere, rolling towards them, and without a second thought, the three ran towards the exit, through the cobwebs, before finally jumping through to the outside. The boulder impacted the entrance, releasing a massive dust cloud that covered all three heroes. They coughed the dust out of their lungs, while Weiss punched Blake in the shoulder.
"'Oh, no need to grab it, Raven! Doing it your way will only make things go wrong!'" Weiss mocked Blake. The Faunus turned to glare at her, only to stop and look around them. "What?"
Blake took a moment, staring outward in confusion and not making eye contact. "… Why are we in Egypt?"
"Huh?" Weiss asked then looked forward. True to Blake's word, they were no longer surrounded by dense jungle but instead the bustling streets of Cairo, judging by the Pyramids of Giza seen on the horizon. They rose to their feet and dusted themselves off before looking around. What appeared to be a market surrounded them, with merchants peddling their wares and people carrying wicker baskets atop their shoulders. Blake turned to the idol in her hand, only to see it had shifted into a small circular amulet with a ruby in its center.
"What just….?" Blake asked herself, only for the group to suddenly be surrounded by masked men wearing colorful robes. Blake, Weiss, and Raven readied themselves as more and more came in, several brandishing small weapons and firearms, then began to fire. Raven immediately erected a wall to block the bullets then ejected some nearby stones forward, striking the assailants and knocking them down. Blake, using her Semblance to absorb a lucky shot, sliced a man in the chest then fired into several more. Weiss created a glyph beneath a large group and sent them flying into the air, only for another glyph to send them all shooting back down.
The trio looked around to see if there were any more. When none were forthcoming, they relaxed and let out a breath. Weiss then inspected one of the submachine guns the assailants were using and frowned in disgust.
"MP40," she noted, having recognized the weapon from Earth's history. "These guys were Nazis. Great."
"First ancient ruins and booby traps in the jungle, and now Nazis in Egypt. Whatever this movie is, it clearly—" Blake was interrupted by a large man making himself known. He was spinning a large scimitar around his body, apparently trying to challenge her to a fight. Nonplussed, Blake merely aimed and fired, causing the enemy to disappear entirely. The bystanders around her then cheered excitedly, but Blake ignored them.
"Come on, let's get this over with," Blake droned, and the others agreed. They made their way towards what they could only assume was an excavation site, and as they surveyed, they couldn't help but wonder what other creations their friends had to deal with.
"Guah!" Ruby grunted as the massive, naked bodybuilder hurled her against the wall. Yang, Cyborg, and herself had wandered into what appeared to be 1980's Los Angeles, and quickly found themselves under assault by someone Cyborg had called the Terminator. For whatever reason, he had zeroed in on Ruby and began attacking her, causing her current predicament.
"Wah!" she screamed as the Terminator tried to punch her, only for Ruby to turn into a cloud of rose petals and escape the blow. The juggernaut's punch shattered the wall where her head once stood, and as he turned to face her, Ruby shot him in the face. The fifty-caliber bullet struck the skull, knocking him back before he slowly stared at Ruby. Half of its face was gone, showing the metal skull and glowing red eye underneath.
"You're like Penny's evil older brother!" Ruby exclaimed as the Terminator tore apart a nearby crate and pulled out a massive minigun. The weapon whirled to life as the cybernetic assassin began firing at Ruby, forcing the huntress to once again turn into petals to dodge. With mechanical precision, the Terminator followed Ruby with a stream of concrete-shredding fire, never once allowing her to take a chance to retaliate until it finally ran out of ammo, giving Ruby the opportunity to shoot it once again in the chest. The shot staggered it, and Ruby followed up by charging forward and slicing across its body with her scythe. The blows did nothing but allow the Terminator a chance to grab Ruby's weapon and rip it out of her hands, then toss it to the side. It glared down on her, and Ruby suddenly felt small.
"…eep," she squeaked, but before it could do anything to her, a yellow blur suddenly shot out towards it and sucker-punched the assassin across the street and into a nearby oil tanker.
"Hasta la vista, baby," Yang quipped, her eyes burning red, as she fired a single shot at the oil tanker. The fuel ignited and promptly exploded, showering the area with fire and debris.
"Y- Dragon! You're here!" Ruby exclaimed before rushing to grab her fallen weapon. "Where were you?"
"Fighting some big—" Yang was interrupted by a screaming Cyborg being thrown at them. Yang caught Cyborg, the mass causing her to skid back across the pavement.
"Thanks," Cyborg said as Yang gently let him down. Yang nodded and cocked her shotgun once more. Before them stood a shimmering figure. They couldn't quite make it out, but when it stepped onto a puddle, the invisibility tech malfunctioned and revealed the metal-masked visage of the Predator. It stared at them, making clicking noises before slowly removing its helmet with a hiss of pressurized air to show its bloodied face. Instead of jaws were two sets of mandibles, and Yang and Ruby stared at it. It was the first time Yang honestly got a good look at the creature, and only one phrase came to mind.
"You are one…ugly mother—" Yang began, but the Predator roared and extended out his wrist blades. The heroes readied themselves, only for a grinding noise to sound off behind them. They turned around to see the skeletal remains of the Terminator rise out of the flames and shuffle towards them.
"Ah, great," Ruby grunted before Cyborg placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You two focus on the Predator. I got this," he stated as he marched towards the robot, shifting his arm back into a fist. "Alright, Arnie! Let's dance!"
The combatants all charged at each other, Cyborg rushing to the T-800 while Yang and Ruby rushed towards the Predator. A clash of fist and blade soon sounded as the two sides squared off against one another. Cyborg fired a cone of compressed sound at the Terminator, only for the robot to barrel through and tackle him into a nearby car. The chrome skeleton then began to repeatedly punch into Cyborg's sides, just for Cyborg to grab one of the arms and twist it, freeing his other arm to punch directly into the chassis. The body stumbled back, and Cyborg shifted his arm into a plasma cannon and began firing, aiming for and hitting center mass. The intense heat caused the metal body to glow, but it didn't stop the Terminator from charging at Cyborg once more.
Cyborg met it head on, lowering his body to grab the T-800 by the waist and hoist it upwards. He ignored its powerful blows to his back then slammed it onto the ground. Not wanting to let it have a chance to retaliate, Cyborg immediately attacked it, repeatedly punching and stomping onto its head. Turning both of his arms into sonic cannons, he bombarded both sides of its head with intense sound waves. They rattled the inside of its metallic skull, and sparks began to fly, but before lasting damage could be done, the Terminator raised its legs and kicked Cyborg hard in the stomach, sending him flying.
"Oof!" he grunted as he flew back, skidding against the asphalt. He turned that skid into a roll and landed on his feet just as the Terminator rose off the ground. Cyborg took the chance to watch how Ruby and Yang were doing against the Predator, and from what he could see, they were holding their own. When the Terminator turned to look at Ruby once more, Cyborg's eyes narrowed, and ports on his back opened up.
"Oh, no you don't!" he yelled as he activated the jets on his body, rocketing him forward and slamming himself and the Terminator through a nearby building, away from Ruby and Yang.
At the same time, Cyborg was engaged in his robotic tussle, Ruby and Yang were squaring off against the Predator. Yang didn't know how strong the alien warrior originally was, but with how oddly even their fights had been going so far, she was suspecting that Control Freak had scaled the movie monsters to their superhuman strength. She was reminded of this when the Predator picked her up by the leg and slammed her onto the ground repeatedly before throwing her to the side and into a nearby parked car. Glass shattered and metal crumpled, but Yang merely smirked.
"That the best you got?" she rhetorically asked. The Predator responded by aiming his plasma cannon at her, causing Yang's eyes to go wide and force her to dive out of the way of a plasma barrage. She continued to run, the Predator following her every movement. The barrage only stopped when Ruby shot the plasma cannon right off his shoulder, allowing Yang the chance to change direction and attack the alien hunter directly.
Yang dodged a swipe from the alien and responded with a series of light jabs into his chest, followed by an uppercut. Not to be outdone, the Predator headbutted her and then punched a dazed Yang across the jaw, spinning her around. As she did, the Yautja grabbed her by the shoulders and kneed her in the stomach, causing Yang to bowl over briefly. The Predator prepared to stab downward, only for Yang to quickly recover and slam the back of her head into his lower mandibles. She heard a crack, followed by a roar of pain as fluorescent green blood spewed from the alien's mouth. Yang smiled proudly until she noticed her hair stained by the fluid.
"You got some on my hair, you jerk!" Yang yelled as she launched herself forward to give a flying punch. Her fist connected, and she followed up by another blow from the other side. Ruby joined her sister directly, slicing across the Predator's hamstrings and bringing the alien to his knees. Yang then grabbed the Predator's dreadlocked head and brought it down onto her rising knee, while Ruby stabbed her scythe into his shoulder. The alien roared out in pain, then grabbed Ruby and swung her into Yang, sending both flying back.
The sisters helped each other up to their feet and stared out towards their extraterrestrial foe. It glared at them angrily, then pulled out a rod from its belt. The rod expanded, showing itself to be a barbed spear, which the alien then twirled before charging at them. Ruby and Yang responded in kind, and the three descended into a brutal melee once they made contact. Both sisters attempted to punch, shoot, stab or slice at the alien's body, only for the Predator to expertly dodge with a quick turn or lean or block with his spear. The alien would, in turn, attempt to attack the sisters with its weapon, only for them to avoid the attacks entirely.
"This isn't working!" Yang called out as she jumped away from a spear thrust, firing Ember Celica as she did. Ruby burst into petals and reappeared next to her, shooting the Predator in the shoulder as she passed. Ruby thought for a moment then, with a confident nod, turned to face Yang.
"Chrysanthemum," Ruby ordered, and Yang smiled. Yang then grabbed Ruby's arm and spun her around as fast as she could. Ruby, keeping her feet off the ground, turned them both into a mass of red and yellow petals that further increased their speed. As the Predator stood confused, the petal cloud suddenly solidified, revealing Ruby standing still while a Yang-shaped blur launched forward at the Predator.
The alien had no time to react before Yang slammed into the creature with all of their combined momentum. The impact dragged him across the concrete, creating a trough of rubble. Yang refused to let up and repeatedly punched the Predator across the face, his green blood beginning to stain her fist. She only stopped to jump off once the Predator slammed into a wall, halting its movements. Ruby then followed up by turning Crescent Rose into a spear and surged across the lot to bury it into the Predator's chest. It roared and tried to rise to its feet, but its strength was fleeing.
"Got you," Ruby declared triumphantly, only for the Predator to slowly grab his bracer and open it. It then punched in a few buttons, followed by a loud beep. Alien characters then appeared across the four monitors, and the two sisters eyed them curiously.
When the Predator began to laugh, Ruby and Yang realized what it was: a countdown. Ruby ripped her weapon free of the suicide bomber then grabbed her sister to burst away in a cloud of petals. They hid behind a large dumpster just as the bomb exploded, blanketing the area in bright light. It felt as though the world shook, and Ruby and Yang only dared to look once it finally stopped. What was once a nighttime cityscape was now a desolate wasteland around the immediate area of the Predator, and the two sisters looked out in horror.
"Well," Yang finally spoke, "glad we weren't caught up in that."
"Yeah…" Ruby nodded, then jumped when a sound came towards them. The two sisters turned to see a lone red eye stare at them from beyond a dust cloud, which began to walk towards them. Ruby and Yang prepared to fight, only to relax once they finally saw the rest of the smiling face of Cyborg finally come into view.
"Guess who's the better cyborg?" he asked while thrusting a thumb towards his chest. "This guy."
Yang began walking towards him, a smile on her face, "Cy, you son of a bitch!" Yang and Cyborg celebrated their victory by tightly clasping each other's hands while flexing their arms tightly. They smiled at each other, only for Ruby to cough and shuffle on her feet.
"We should probably get out of here," she pointed out, and the trio began walking out of the city and the building it was housed in. As they entered the bright of day, they looked up to see Starfire was still skirmishing with the alien fighters. More had joined the fight, but Starfire was effortlessly dodging and shooting any down any that dared to come near her.
"Should we…?" Ruby asked, leaving the end of her question hanging, but Cyborg shook his head.
"Nah, she's got this. Come on; my sensors are picking up something from that tower over there." Cyborg pointed towards a large tower several blocks away from them, and the two sisters nodded in agreement. Their destination set, the trio broke off into a sprint towards it, hoping that their objective would be there.
Following Beast Boy's bloodhound nose, he, Ren, and Nora found themselves entering another studio building. Beast Boy prided himself on his movie knowledge, but the jungle setting was so typical that it was hard for him to figure out exactly which one they had just entered. Whatever it was, the jungle environment was dark, raining, and the sounds of thunder echoed in the distance.
He honestly found it to be quite spooky.
"Hold up, I see something," Ren called out through the rain. Sure enough, just past the dense foliage, they saw a paved road, a track in its center. On the other side of the road was a massive wire fence, and Beast Boy studied it intensely. He recognized this road, but another rumble of thunder interrupted his thoughts.
"BB, that nose of yours got anything?" Nora asked him. Beast Boy shook his head before turning back into a human.
"Nah, nothing. I smell something rank, but I'm beginning to think it wasn't Control Freak," he answered, and Nora dramatically released a sigh. "Sorry, guys."
"It's no problem. Let's—"
"Guys, quiet," Nora suddenly commanded, and the two boys immediately complied. None of them said a word, and the only sounds they could hear was the pouring of rain and thumping of thunder. Ren turned to ask Nora why she asked them to be quiet, only to follow her eyes to a nearby puddle. Beast Boy, seeing how their gaze was on the puddle, turned to face it.
When thunder sounded again, the puddle rippled.
"Oh, no…" Beast Boy paled, "Guys, I know what movie we're in."
"Which one?" Ren asked, pulling out Stormflower. They then heard a creaking sound coming from the fence, and they slowly turned their heads to look at the source. They saw a two-fingered hand gently clasping the electric fence, not affected by it whatsoever, and then saw a massive head peek out over the foliage. It was large and blocky, chewing on the body of a goat with its banana-sized teeth, then turned to look out over the road.
"Stay still," Beast Boy ordered, "T-Rex's vision in Jurassic Park is based off movement."
Ren and Nora slowly nodded as they stared at the dinosaur. It was then that the wires came flying off the fence one by one with loud twangs and formed a gap in the fence. The tyrannosaur stepped through that gap, looked side to side for a moment, then roared. The sound was deafening, with Nora quickly covering her ears to try and block out the noise. The T-Rex began stomping off into the jungle, leaving them behind, but the teenagers refused to move.
"How much do you want to bet he increased her strength?" Ren rhetorically asked in a whisper.
Beast Boy, as quietly as he could, answered, "Very likely. We need to get out of here."
The others nodded at his suggestion and began walking backward, being sure to keep their eyes on the back of the T-Rex. It was sniffing around the air as if it was searching for something, which unnerved Nora greatly. Nora figured that, should the T-Rex decide to attack them, the three heroes could bring it down. That didn't mean she wanted to fight it right now.
When the T-Rex sharply turned her head to stare at the trio, they all stopped in their tracks. For a moment, they wondered if she saw them, only for the T-Rex to answer their question by roaring at the top of her lungs and charging at them. Nora responded immediately by firing several grenades at the incoming dinosaur. True to Ren's prediction, Control Freak had upped the creature's strength significantly as she merely barreled through the barrage, albeit not without a new stagger to her steps.
"Scatter!" Ren yelled as he ran to the side, Nora to the other, and Beast Boy turned into a hawk and flew upwards. The T-Rex tried to snap at him with her massive jaws, only for a well-shot grenade to explode across the side of her face.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Nora called out as she continued to fire grenade after grenade at the dinosaur. Bruises were beginning to appear on her body, along with a few open wounds, but for the most part, it seemed to be unaffected. The tyrannosaur roared at Nora and stomped towards her, forcing the huntress to step back while continuing to fire.
"Lightning!" Ren shouted as the T-Rex tried to chomp on her, only for Nora to spin out of the way and shift Magnhild into a hammer. She then swung, striking the dinosaur squarely on the jaw. She heard a crack and saw several chipped teeth fall to the ground and smirked triumphantly. It proved to be short-lived as the T-Rex, more angered than hurt, swung her tail at Nora and launched her into a nearby bathroom.
"Oof!" she grunted as the grass structure collapsed around her, leaving only a single toilet remaining. She shook her head and looked to see a wet man sitting on the toilet. He didn't seem to acknowledge her presence, instead forcing his shaking body to stare at the T-Rex, who herself was staring at the man with a tilted head. She finally lunged at the man, who futilely screamed as her jaws clasped around his waist, only to be silenced as the dinosaur shook her head violently from side to side. Nora gasped in shock, only for the man's body to shimmer out of existence soon afterward, telling her that the man wasn't real.
Didn't make her want to get out of there any less, though. As she got to her feet, the dinosaur once again acknowledged her presence, only for Ren to suddenly leap atop her back and begin firing point blank into the creature. The T-Rex roared in pain and tried to shake him off, only for Ren to backflip off her back just as a green T-Rex slammed into the dinosaur. Recognizing him as Beast Boy, the two renewed their attack. Beast Boy roared and chomped down onto her neck, clasping her with his small arms, while Ren circled her body and fired Stormflower non-stop. Seeing how it wasn't working, he ran towards her legs and tried to slice through the ankles, only to find her hide was too thick. Nora, meanwhile, continued to swing her hammer at the dinosaur, striking her head and allowing Beast Boy to continue his assault. Nora swung upwards, hitting the jaw just as Beast Boy headbutted the T-Rex, only for the T-Rex to, in turn, slam the side of her head into him. Beast Boy became dazed, which allowed the T-Rex to chomp down on his neck.
"BB!" Nora yelled as Beast Boy roared in pain, and she leaped up into the air and swung her hammer at the dinosaur's jaw. Magnhild made contact, the impact jarring the dinosaur and forcing her to release her hold on Beast Boy's neck. Rather than stay as a T-Rex, Beast Boy turned into a brachiosaur and used his whip-like tail to strike the T-Rex across the face, then used his head as a giant club.
"Lotus, this isn't working!" Nora yelled as she shifted Magnhild back into a grenade launcher and began firing. Ren looked around frantically, focusing on the electric fence. Getting an idea, he ran towards it and looked up through the pouring rain at the warning lights, only to see that they were off. Quickly, he scanned the area to try and find a way to turn them back on then stopped once he saw a path leading away. There was a sign with a lightning bolt on its face, and figuring that it led to the power room, he turned back towards Nora.
"Lightning, I'm going to turn the power back on!" Ren yelled as he took off. "When the lights turn on, grab the fence!"
"Got it!" Ren heard Nora's voice shout over the sounds of roars and explosions, but the further he got away the more muffled they became. The rain also began to let up, and eventually, he came across an open-air enclosure. At first, Ren was merely content to run past, only to stop once he noticed a section of the wire fence was chewed through, leaving a small gap. Looking down, he saw a series of two-toed footprints leading off into the jungle before him, as well as the entrance to the breaker room. Steeling himself, Ren sprinted through the jungle, past the wire fence, and slammed the door behind him.
Ren found himself in a dark room, pipes lining the ceiling over a catwalk. Unable to see, he holstered one of his pistols and pulled out his scroll to use it as a flashlight. Figuring that the pipes would lead him to where he needed to go, he slowly began walking forward with the second Stormflower pistol extended in his right hand. He heard nothing outside of his clanging steps on the metallic catwalk. Eventually, he came across a series of power switches and thought for a moment on how to turn them on. Finally, he dialed Beast Boy's number and called him. It rang for a few moments before the line clicked.
"Hey, dude. What's up?" Beast Boy answered, the sounds of battle behind him.
"I'm at the breaker room," Ren said, "How do I turn it on?"
"Why would I—" Beast Boy paused, allowing Ren to hear Nora shout indiscernibly in the background, "Oh, wait. I know what to do here. Okay, here's what you need to do."
Beast Boy began walking through Ren on how to turn on the power, which Ren dutifully did. He then started pressing every button, turning on the power for the entire park. As the lights turned on, Ren smiled and thanked Beast Boy, only to go still and jump back just as the head of a dinosaur thrust out of a wall of pipes next to him. Without missing a beat, Ren began firing Stormflower into the head, causing it to shriek and withdraw.
"Lotus, what's going on?!" Beast Boy, clearly worried, asked just as Nora shouted in victory upon powering herself up.
"Dinosaur, medium-sized carnivore," Ren answered as he turned to run out of the building.
"Dammit! That's a Velociraptor! As soon as we stop Rexy, we'll come to you!"
"Appreciate it," Ren acknowledged before closing his scroll and pocketing it. In its place, he pulled out his other pistol and began firing at the pursuing dinosaur. The nine-millimeter bullets bit into her scaly hide, but the raptor continued her pursuit, only to be halted when Ren ran out the door and slammed it shut behind him. The raptor snarled and attempted to break it down, only for Ren to merely run off and reload his weapons. Behind him, the Raptor stopped, only for the door handle to slowly begin to turn.
Ren continued to run down the jungle path, before skidding to a halt when a raptor showed herself in front of him. Without missing a beat, Ren aimed his pistols at the creature, just for another to poke her head out of the foliage right next to him. He glanced at it and realized what they had done.
"Clever girl," he muttered just as the Velociraptor leaped at him. Ren ducked underneath, grabbed the tail as it passed overhead, then hurled it into the second leaping raptor. The two creatures sprawled across the ground and began biting angrily at each other, allowing Ren the chance to escape. After a few moments, he looked back to see the raptors chasing him, to which he turned and fired Stormflower as he continued to run.
He eventually ran into the main building with a brachiosaur and T-Rex skeleton being assembled in the central atrium. Hearing the raptors chase after him, Ren leaped onto the brachiosaur skeleton just as the first raptor entered the room. It saw him and jumped onto the frame, shattering it. Unperturbed, Ren fired his pistol as the creature, the rounds striking its belly before the wire holding him up finally snapped. Ren jumped off the falling bone, landing on the ground gently just as the raptor lunged towards him. Ren sidestepped her, slicing downward with Stormflower. The raptor shrieked in pain, which only increased when Ren kicked her to the ground and stabbed her neck. She flailed, only stopping when Ren pulled out his pistol and shot it in the head, finally killing it. The raptor shimmered out of existence, and Ren allowed himself a chance to breathe.
His reprieve was cut short as the other two raptors entered the atrium, flanking him to his front and back. Ren stood up and aimed his pistols at both creatures, preparing to fire as one leaped towards him with a high-pitched squeal. It was cut short as a green tyrannosaur suddenly swooped in to chomp on the raptor, while an excited Nora fired at the other raptor from atop his back The grenade killed the raptor instantly in a ball of fire, just as Beast Boy threw the dying raptor's disappearing corpse into the assembled T-Rex skeleton, shattering it. Triumphantly, Beast Boy roared just as a banner reading 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth' fell to the ground in front of him.
Ren smiled at his friends as Nora jumped off Beast Boy to hug him. Beast Boy turned back into a human and smiled at him as well.
"Good job, dude. Should have seen her," Beast Boy pointed his thumb at a beaming Nora. "Rexy never stood a chance."
"She didn't need the power up. Just made it finish faster," Ren declared, much to Nora's pleasure. Beast Boy then turned back into a bloodhound and began sniffing the ground before leading them all out of the building.
"You know," Nora began as she reloaded her weapon, internally bemoaning the lack of pink in the grenades, "have to wonder what everyone else had to go through."
"I wonder that, too," Ren answered truthfully, hoping that the others had better luck than they did.
Jaune, Pyrrha, and M'gann crept through the dark hallways of the Nostromo, M'gann scanning for the Alien at every turn. Their hearts were beating loudly in their chests, and they could honestly say that they were terrified.
"Why did I choose this building?" Jaune muttered to himself as he kept his eyes on the motion tracker they had stolen from a room.
"You had no idea this was a horror movie, Jaune," Pyrrha responded while keeping Milo at the ready. Her weapon may not have been powerful enough to pierce the Xenomorph's exoskeleton, but it could at least drive it off long enough for them to lead it to the airlock.
"M'gann, are you sure that we have to kill this thing to get out?" Jaune asked, and Miss Martian nodded.
"Yes, quite. As soon as the chestburster appeared, the doors to the lot locked us in. Control Freak already made it impervious to our weapons, so throwing it out the airlock is the best bet."
"How did he do all of this with a remote?" Pyrrha asked, her hairs standing on end.
"This is a movie studio. It's not that Control Freak created space out of nowhere, more that this lot was already space themed. He just shifted it into what he wanted."
"Great…" Jaune muttered as they rounded another corner, only to stop when his motion tracker started beeping. They threw themselves against the wall just as the Alien dropped down from an overhead vent. Jaune had taken a glimpse at the monstrosity earlier, and its thin, black frame with an elongated head was genuinely unnerving. More than any Grimm he had ever come across, though granted that wasn't saying much. Its inner mouth slowly came out as it hissed, slime falling from its jaws while its eyeless face 'looked' down the other corridors, likely trying to find them. On the other side of the creature was the entrance to the airlock, which they needed to get the parasite into. As it stalked off, Jaune looked to M'gann and nodded at her. M'gann nodded back, then turned intangible and flew towards the airlock. Jaune looked towards Pyrrha, who nodded at him before the two finally began walking forward. They could see M'gann fiddling with the airlock's controls, and all Jaune needed to do now was find a way to get the creature inside it.
He stopped when he felt drool drip onto his shoulder. Slowly, Jaune looked up to find the black head of the Alien staring down from the shadowed bulkhead above. It hissed at him and lunged down, forcing Jaune to fall onto his back and expand his shield to protect himself as its weight bore him down to the floor. Undeterred, the Xenomorph tried to wrestle the barrier to the side as it prepared to stab him with its tail, only for Pyrrha to begin firing at it with her rifle. Most of the shots did nothing, but one managed to crack the exoskeleton and shoot out acidic blood, which boiled against the shield and began to eat its way through. The Xenomorph responded by pulling Jaune up and hurling him at Pyrrha, leaving both sprawled across the ground, but before it could do anything else, M'gann flew at it and drove it into the wall.
"Go, open it!" M'gann ordered as she wrestled with the monster, using her intangibility to protect herself from the Alien's teeth, tail, and claws. Not wasting time, Jaune and Pyrrha ran out towards the airlock, finding a pair of spacesuits resting on the wall. They immediately began inserting themselves into them, the sounds of M'gann's fight against the Alien spurring them faster. Only when they both sealed the helmets onto their suits did they afford to look at how the fight was going, and they could see that M'gann was struggling. She was trying to use her psychic abilities to destroy the creature's mind, but it was proving to be resistant. When she saw Jaune and Pyrrha were ready, M'gann grabbed the Alien by the shoulders and flew them both back into the airlock.
"Now!" she yelled as she let go of the creature. Jaune immediately pressed the button for the airlock, and the door sprung open. The air began violently ejecting from the ship, dragging M'gann and the Alien out with it while Pyrrha and Jaune held onto the wall for dear life. The Alien attempted to bite and claw M'gann to escape, but M'gann merely kicked it off before grabbing it with her telekinesis. She then threw it as hard as she could out into open space. With the danger passed, M'gann sighed and flew back to the airlock, finding that Jaune and Pyrrha had closed it behind her. Without missing a beat, she phased through the metal door and saw Jaune and Pyrrha had already changed out of the spacesuits, breathing heavily. After a moment, Jaune looked up at both of them.
"I hate horror movies," he declared, a sentiment both women could only agree with.
When Jaune, M'gann, and Pyrrha finally found their way out of the studio lot, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"First Nightmare, then Friday, and now Alien. I swear, was it just me or was every single lot we went into horror themed?" Jaune asked a paler than usual Pyrrha, who nodded. "Okay, good. Well, not actually good, but, uh…you know what I mean."
"I'm cleaning my mind with 'Hello, Megan' and Disney after this," M'gann added, and the two huntsmen immediately offered to join her. They continued onward, M'gann searching out for any signs of mental activity when Jaune's scroll began to ring. He opened it and saw the words 'Crater Face' over a picture of Ruby, and Jaune brought the scroll to his ear.
"R-Red Reaper, where are you?" he asked. "Did you find Control Freak?"
"We did!" Ruby answered over the sounds of gunfire. "Central Operations tower!"
"Where is that?" Jaune didn't wait to hear her answer as M'gann picked him and Pyrrha up then flew off.
"Just follow the big monkey!" Ruby's response puzzled Jaune greatly, and he went to reply, only for a roar to cut him off. He followed the source, just to stare slack-jawed at the largest gorilla he'd ever seen standing on top of the Central Ops tower. He could see Starfire flying around it, firing starbolts into his body while he, in turn, attempted to swipe her down.
"… What happened over there?"
"Well, we just got to Control Freak and were about to apprehend him when a giant hand reached through the glass and grabbed Golden Dragon."
Jaune stared silently for a moment at the battle before them. Sure enough, as they got closer a speck of yellow could be seen flailing against the hand clasping it.
"Did… Did Yang get kidnapped?" Pyrrha muttered to herself, and the shotgun blasts echoing out confirmed it. The Crimson Guardian let out a snort and shook her head; a sentiment Jaune echoed with a grin.
"Oh, we are so giving her grief about this afterward."
"I already called dibs on that, Vomit Boy."
"Star! Get me out of here!" Yang yelled as she continued to try and punch her way out of King Kong's grip. Despite his massive size, the great ape wasn't holding onto her all that hard, meaning that Yang's Semblance wasn't kicking in.
"I'm trying!" Starfire replied, firing green starbolts at Kong's face. The gorilla roared and swung its open palm at the Tamaranean, who squeaked before diving down underneath.
"Hey, ugly!" Yang shouted at Kong, who briefly looked down towards her. She responded by firing Ember Celica at his face, the attack doing nothing to the creature. Yang had intended the shot to merely voice her displeasure, but to her surprise Kong seemed to be shocked and saddened by her attack. Then, to her further surprise, it gently put her on the roof next to his feet before standing upright again. When Kong saw Starfire fly back towards him, he scowled and pounded on his chest, careful to keep himself between Yang and her friend.
"Oh, great. He thinks he's protecting me," Yang realized as Starfire shot a concentrated beam of ultraviolet energy at the giant ape, striking him in the face and staggering him slightly. Kong roared defiantly, jumping up into the air as Starfire banked upwards, swatting her with his open palm and sending her flailing body down.
"Ahh!" she screamed before righting herself. As she flew back up, Starfire could see Yang firing her weapons at Kong, retaliating for him attacking her friend. Kong, rather than fight back, merely shielded himself with his arm, allowing Starfire the chance to fly up and deliver a flying uppercut. The blow staggered it, and then Kong shook his head and roared.
"Star, keep at it! I have an idea!" Yang yelled as she began to scale Kong's fur. Starfire nodded then flew back, firing starbolts as she did. Kong got angry and tore a chunk of the building off to hurl as a projectile. Starfire fired a concentrated beam into it, the energy shattering it into rubble. She followed that up by staring intensely at Kong, her eyes glowing bright green before shooting beams of energy out of them. Surprised, Kong could only throw his hand forward to block the eyebeams, allowing Yang to continue unchecked. When she got to his neck, she turned to signal Starfire to fly towards them; a signal Starfire complied with. The Tamaranean flew as fast as she could, screaming at the top of her lungs just as Yang launched herself into the back of Kong's outstretched arm. Yang then rebounded off of it, boosting herself with a concussive shotgun blast, and the two women punched Kong's face at the same time. The dual blows knocked Kong off balance, and with a final roar he fell off the tower and crashed onto the street below. For a brief moment, Yang and Starfire looked down at him, only relaxing when Kong finally disappeared.
"I can't help but feel sorry for him. He was strong, and dangerous, but seemed so noble at the same time," Starfire noted with a sad frown on her face, a sentiment Yang couldn't help but understand.
"Yeah," Yang nodded as Starfire flew them down. "Still, he threatened you, and that couldn't stand."
"Yes, I agree. Oh! I just realized that friend Beast Boy would be upset if I didn't do this!" Starfire suddenly stopped and floated above the imprint where Kong had fallen, and cleared her throat. "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauties killed the beast."
Yang laughed and clapped. "Outside of there being no airplanes, thank you for the compliment, Star!"
"You are most welcome!"
On the ground below, Jaune, Pyrrha, and M'gann rejoined the rest of team RWBY, JNPR, and the Titans as they squared off against a veritable army of fictional soldiers. It was honestly quite an impressive display to Jaune. He saw white-armored stormtroopers working side by side with Nazis, orcs wearing iron armor firing arrows and charging towards them with their swords held high. He saw dinosaurs leaping towards his friends with their maws wide open and their talons swiping. A loud series of moans directed his attention towards a group of shambling zombies making their way towards them, their flesh visibly rotting and showing bone in several places. And serving as the main event, its arrival marked by dull thuds before revealing its massive white body, was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
"Well, there's something you don't see every day," Jaune duly noted as he stared at the ensemble before him, only for a stray shot to ricochet off his armor and snap him back into focus. Running forward, Jaune saw the head of a zombie explode from a single shot courtesy of Pyrrha, while M'gann flew through several enemies at once, disrupting their organs as she did. When he finally reached the frontline, he was met by a small group of snarling orcs. They swung their cleaver-like swords at him, only for Jaune to block the blows with his shield and push them away. Now stumbled, they were unable to defend themselves before Jaune swung Crocea Mors horizontally, bisecting them at the waist with a series of back and forth blows. Their bodies disappeared immediately, allowing the White Knight to continue onward towards his next opponent.
Pyrrha, meanwhile, ran across the lot, blocking oncoming fire from both stormtroopers and Nazis while firing her weapon in turn. Not burdened by movie logic, Pyrrha accurately shot at the center mass of the villains, only to shift her rifle back into a sword to cleave through a nearby zombie horizontally. Keeping up her momentum, she shifted Miló into a javelin and threw it through several zombie heads at once. At the same time, she threw Akoúo̱ like a discus into the neck of another zombie, quickly slicing through it like paper. Using her Semblance, she retracted Miló then manipulated Akoúo̱ to circle her, creating a razor-sharp barrier that sliced through anything that came near her. Any that managed to break through immediately met Pyrrha's undivided attention, and before long the sight of vanishing enemies became near constant.
Above them, Miss Martian focused her attention squarely on the marshmallow man. Its happy face unnerved her slightly, but she brushed that thought aside in favor of punching her problem in the face. The blow threw the giant's head to the side, and when it turned to face her, its face morphed into an angry scowl. M'gann briefly scanned its mind, only to find it filled with unmatched hatred towards her and all human life.
"I always thought marshmallows were warm and fluffy!" M'gann shouted as the ghost threw hot globs of marshmallow from its body towards her. "Not dark and evil!"
The ghost roared in response, expelling enough air to ruffle M'gann's hair and send her slightly back. She merely frowned in response before flying forward. When the ghost threw a punch at her, she phased through the fluffy fist and into its head. For a moment, it stood there in stunned surprise, only to begin wailing as M'gann solidified and started tearing everything around her apart. The ghost punched its head as hard as it could, trying to force the White Martian out, but M'gann remained steadfast. She even tore a chunk out and ate it with a smirk on her face, grimly satisfied at the action.
She continued to rip and tear the ghost apart from the inside out until she finally flew upwards as fast as she could. Her ejection created an explosion of white fluff around her, and for a moment the giant marshmallow man stared forward numbly before falling backward onto the ground with a loud thud. Soon after, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man flickered out of existence. She smiled proudly as she looked out over the battle below, seeing how the rest of her friends had rejoined the fight, and promptly flew down to join them.
"M'gann!" Nora called out to the White Martian while firing her grenades into a group of orcs. M'gann flew down to her, psychically reaching out into a group of orcs as she did and destroying their artificial minds.
"Where's Red Reaper?" she asked, turning intangible just as a Nazi tried to shoot her. M'gann then lashed out and threw him into a crowd of soldiers, where Nora shot a grenade into them. The soldiers were engulfed in a fireball, then Nora turned her head to face M'gann.
"She's still up at the tower!" Nora answered, pointing her finger at a pane of broken glass. The sounds of battle could be heard coming from inside, but the heroes were blocked from the tower entrance by Control Freak's army of movie villains and monsters.
"We have to get to Reaper!" Jaune shouted as he decapitated a nearby zombie, followed by slamming the front of his shield against another. Nora, fighting alongside him, lobbed several grenades into a nearby horde, sending an assortment of body parts flying apart that quickly flickered away. Cyborg then rejoined the battle, announcing his presence by slamming into a Nazi soldier and crushing him. He then shifted his arm into a sonic cannon and fired it into the army before him. Scores flickered out of existence, and as a small group of orcs charged him, he merely grabbed the nearest one's swinging arm and swung the orc into his companions. They fell to the ground in a heap, but before they could rise to their feet, a black aura surrounded them. The orcs were floated into the air before a series of psychic waves lashed out and dissected them.
"Raven," Cyborg noted as he continued to fire his weapons into the now significantly reduced army. In the distance, he saw Beast Boy running throughout the enemy forces as a green velociraptor, mauling and clawing anything that he ran into. Ren was running alongside him, firing his pistols into the crowd, while Weiss combined her Glyphs with fire and ice to destroy her targets. The final enemies were taken out when Starfire and Yang flew in from above, the Tamaranean throwing Yang into a crowd of stormtroopers while she herself spun around and fired wide beams of energy from her hands. When she finally stopped, all that was left was fire, smoke, and small piles of rubble.
"Everyone good?" Blake asked as she finished off the ninja she was fighting. She received a series of affirmative shouts and thumbs up, and the Faunus rejoined her comrades at the front door of the tower.
"Alright, I already got the hostage to the police. All that's left is Freak up there," Cyborg said while reloading his plasma cannon. The others nodded at him, and then Cyborg opened the door.
They only made it a few feet before they registered their surroundings. Instead of a hastily evacuated reception area, the room held a distinctive science fiction look. Dull-grey metal with white running lights covered the walls and ceiling, with one hallway at the far end encased in shadow.
"I don't like this," Pyrrha whispered as she kept her eyes focused on the hallway. None of them did, and their hairs were standing on end, but before they could take a few steps forward, they were stopped by the distinctive sound of mechanical, labored breathing coming from the hallway. The rhythmic wheezing continued as heavy footsteps grew closer, the silhouette of a large, helmeted man with a cape becoming visible to Blake. The Faunus aimed her pistol at the figure, the others copying her action as the breathing grew louder and louder.
When the echoing exhalations became unmistakable, Jaune's, Cyborg's, and Beast Boy's eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, shit…" they muttered, knowing exactly who was making that sound. The others moved to ask, only for a blood red beam of light to shoot out from a small, black hilt with an iconic hiss.
"OPEN FIRE!" Jaune yelled as the heroes began firing their weapons and powers at Darth Vader. The Sith Lord, unconcerned, merely moved his lightsaber to intersect the attacks, reflecting the energy-based weapons at the heroes and disintegrating the bullets. Nora fired a grenade at him, only for Vader to grab the projectile with the Force and throw it back at her where it exploded on impact. The explosion shot Nora back into a wall, denting it, but she rose to her feet quickly.
Yang rushed to punch him, only for Darth Vader to seize and pin her to the ceiling with a disembodied grip, never ceasing his advance. As he passed her, he quickly swiped his lightsaber upwards, the intense heat breaking against her Aura and sending her flying to the side. Seeing how directly firing at him wasn't working, the heroes split apart, shooting at him from all angles. Vader merely spun his lightsaber around him with expert precision, blocking most of the shots before a white Glyph appeared below him. He looked confused for a moment before the Glyph suddenly erupted into a column of fire.
"How tough is this guy?!" Weiss asked as she strained to keep the fire going, Raven and Starfire joining her in attempting to pin the Sith Lord down.
"Very!" Cyborg answered as he combined his arms into a giant sonic cannon, joining his friends in their assault, only for a red lightsaber to be thrown from the fiery vortex and stab into Cyborg's shoulder. "AAGH!"
"Cyborg!" M'gann shouted as she quickly tended to him, only to promptly turn intangible as the weapon was pulled out of Cyborg's shoulder and through her back towards its wielder. As it did, the fire began to twist and turn, forcing Weiss and Raven to visibly strain themselves further, before a powerful shockwave sent them flying back. Jaune and Pyrrha dove for cover, a swath of fire washing over them. When they finally looked back, they saw a smoking Vader staring them down, otherwise wholly unharmed.
"How?" Blake muttered, and Vader turned to face her.
"You don't know the power of the Dark Side," Vader mocked before throwing his hand towards her. Blake then felt her throat being constricted and her body being lifted off the ground, and as she gasped for breath, she saw Yang charging towards Vader with her fist held high.
"RAAGH!" she screamed as she threw a punch, only for Vader to throw Blake into her, sending both sprawling to the ground. Ren and Beast Boy, taking the form of a rhinoceros, charged at him, but Vader merely redirected Beast Boy's charge to slam into Ren, sending the Mistrali into the wall. Beast Boy immediately turned back into a human, allowing Vader the chance to rip a light out of its fixture and throw it at his head. Nora slapped it away with Magnhild, but Vader quickly responded by ripping the floor panels out from under them and wrapping them into a metal cocoon. He then moved back towards Blake and Yang, only for M'gann to suddenly fly forth and psychically grab him, throwing him back. Vader stayed on his feet and glared at the White Martian, just as Jaune and Pyrrha rushed him from the sides and swung their swords. Vader turned his lightsaber up to block both strikes, a loud hiss and sparking noise sounding off as the blades made contact. Jaune and Pyrrha glared at the Sith Lord, who merely leaned into their efforts and stared right back through the impenetrable gaze of his mask.
"Impressive. Most impressive," he spoke as the two huntsmen pushed with all their might, Vader merely rotating and keeping them back. "Now, give in to your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me."
Jaune and Pyrrha said nothing as they separated from Vader and swung their swords again. Vader merely deflected the attacks with his lightsaber, and as Pyrrha and Jaune continued their assault, he expertly blocked all of them. After a few more moments of this, Darth Vader then grabbed Jaune and slammed him into Pyrrha's side, throwing her across the room and then started to crush Jaune's chest plate.
Jaune began to scream in pain, only for M'gann to fly into Vader and slam him into the nearest wall, breaking his hold on the White Knight. The wall buckled under the blow, and Miss Martian began to throw powerful punches into Vader's helmet. After a few strikes, dents began to appear before M'gann shifted tactics and tried to destroy his artificial mind. Vader merely rebuffed her attempts with the Force, causing M'gann to step back in pain and grant the Sith Lord an opening. When he swung his lightsaber at her, M'gann quickly turned intangible, allowing it to pass through her harmlessly before following up with a quick jab to the head. Vader caught her fist, then flung her to the side dismissively.
"Guys, this isn't working!" Beast Boy shouted as he regrouped with the others.
"Yeah, I noticed!" Yang responded while reloading her gauntlets. Cyborg, clutching his sparking shoulder, shifted his other arm into a sonic cannon and aimed it at Darth Vader, while Starfire and Raven hovered over him with green and purple Auras covering them. Jaune, looking over the top of his shield, watched as Vader slowly walked towards them, struggling to think of a way to successfully beat the movie villain.
'Think, Jaune. How did Luke do this?' he thought as Vader suddenly leaped towards them, his jump turning into a glide. When he landed, the heroes jumped back to avoid his swing. The plasma blade cut through the air with a loud hum. They then heard a loud explosion come from above. At once, they understood that Ruby was still fighting Control Freak, but with Vader in their way, they wouldn't be able to help her. Not that they felt she needed it, but they wanted to get to her all the same.
Jaune's mind raced as he thought of ways to bring the Sith Lord down. As he did, his friends began firing their weapons at Darth Vader, who effortlessly batted them away with swings of his sword and the Force. When Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at Vader, he held his lightsaber forward to absorb the compressed soundwaves, somehow, while continuing to advance. Starfire, her eyes glowing neon green, flew around behind and began throwing starbolts at his back, only for Vader to sharply turn around and redirect the green orbs into the wall and, for a split second, allow the sonic waves to strike Vader's back before he, in turn, pushed them back towards Cyborg.
'Wait a second,' Jaune thought as he studied the battle. Nora and Yang had recovered and were about to fire their weapons at Vader, only for Jaune to raise his hand and stop them.
"Knight, we do not have time to-!" Yang began, but stopped when Jaune turned to look her directly in the eye.
"I figured it out," Jaune declared, causing the heroes around him to direct their attention towards him. "Attacking him head on isn't going to work."
"Yeah, we figured that!" Weiss yelled, but Jaune continued.
"Yes, but if we focus his attention onto a single target, it would allow everyone else to attack him from all sides! He won't be able to defend himself!"
The others thought over his proposal, hearing Cyborg and Starfire continue their battle with the Sith Lord behind them. They then nodded in agreement.
"Okay," Yang announced while cracking her neck, "I'll go in and—"
"No, I'll do it," Jaune countered, immediately raising everyone's protests. He shut them off with a raised hand while checking his equipment. "In case any of you forgot, I'm the only one here without a gun or the ability to fire energy blasts. All I got is a sword and shield, that's it."
"And unlike Beast Boy, your Aura can take his hits," Raven realized, and Jaune nodded. The rest of his friends looked at him with a frown before reluctantly nodding. Jaune nodded back, then turned to face Darth Vader.
"As soon as I got him occupied, hit him with everything you got. Don't worry about me." Before the others could protest, Jaune charged forward with his shield raised high just as Cyborg and Starfire were flung back by Vader. This allowed Jaune to momentarily catch him off guard and slam him to the side with his shield. Vader slid back slightly before swinging his lightsaber at Jaune, who moved to block it with his shield. The shield sparked from the heat of the blade, which only intensified as Vader brought his saber down more and more. The red tip of the lightsaber was barely a foot away from Jaune's face, beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow as Vader stared at him through his opaque mask.
Suddenly, Jaune released all tension and dropped to his back, allowing his friends an opening to fire a few rounds and energy blasts at Vader. Most were redirected, but a few managed to make their mark. Vader attempted to retaliate, only for Jaune to jump to his feet and swing Crocea Mors towards Vader's waist. Vader blocked the strike with his lightsaber, only to grunt in pain as Raven quickly fired a swath of psychic energy at his back. She was joined by Ren firing both of his pistols and Starfire throwing more starbolts from opposite sides, buffeting the Sith Lord with their attacks.
When Blake began to pepper her shots towards Vader, he merely blocked the forty-five ACP rounds with the palm of his hand, then used his lightsaber to redirect one of Cyborg's plasma shots towards her. Blake's shadow took the shot for her while she continued to fire on Vader's position. Weiss then created a black glyph underneath Vader's feet, and he suddenly felt a great pressure holding him down. Jaune took the opportunity to swing Crocea Mors towards his shoulder, earning a grunt of pain from Vader and a shot of sparks from the opened wound on his arm.
"Keep at him!" Cyborg shouted as he continued to run and fire. M'gann took the opportunity to phase through the cascading fields of fire towards the now dueling Jaune and Vader. Although their friends were careful to avoid Jaune, their proximity meant it was impossible to miss him entirely. He was wincing from the pain, but to his credit, he continued to press on. The heroe's efforts were beginning to wear Vader down, and his movements were more sluggish.
It was then that Vader scored a hit across Jaune's knocking his blade away and causing him to shout in pain as his Aura flickered dangerously. Vader then grabbed Jaune and by the throat and held him in front of himself, forcing the other heroes to hastily cease their fire, lest they harm their friend. M'gann kept going and as she neared them, she screamed and threw a punch. Jaune's eyes widened in shock, only for M'gann's arm to phase through his skull and emerge out the other side, her fist solidifying just before contact with Vader's helmet. A loud crack sounded, and Jaune felt Vader's grip release. Immediately, Jaune turned around and slammed his shield into Vader, knocking him back.
"You okay?" M'gann asked as Jaune checked himself. Seeing how he was unharmed, he flashed a smile at her, only for his expression to turn serious.
"Never do that again, please," he said, and M'gann sheepishly nodded.
"Yeah, sorry about that."
Jaune didn't have a chance to respond before Vader shakily rose to his feet. His mask was noticeably cracked, with one lens now completely shattered and exposing the pale skin underneath. A single yellow eye stared back out towards them in its place, and his breath was now noticeably more labored. Without saying a word, the heroes all charged towards the Sith Lord. He attempted to halt their advance with the Force, but Raven merely pushed it aside. She then formed psychic chains that bound themselves around Vader's arms, preventing him from halting Yang's wild charge and punch to his head. Cyborg followed her up with a solid haymaker to his jaw, then stepped back as Beast Boy, now a rhinoceros, charged Vader straight into a wall. As the Sith Lord began to slide down, Beast Boy quickly changed into a gorilla and punched him several times with his heavy fists, which Nora followed up by bringing Magnhild down onto Vader's chest. A loud crack followed, and Pyrrha took the opportunity to throw Milo into his arm.
Vader roared in pain, then forcibly flung them back with a wave of power. As one of the few fighters far enough away to stay on his feet, Jaune rushed in with a desperate yell and his retrieved sword held high to strike down the Sith before he could recover. Breaking the chains off of himself, Vader faced Jaune with absolute hatred and raised his hand towards the White Knight.
"Be careful not to choke on your convictions," Vader declared. Jaune then felt his throat constrict, and stumbled to his knees as he found it suddenly very hard to breath. It was then that Weiss created a series of glyphs around their foe and bounced across them, slicing Vader's body with each pass. Ren, firing his pistols as he ran towards the distracted Vader, jumped high and delivered a solid kick to Vader's head, shattering what remained of his helmet and releasing Jaune from his grip. Jaune fell to the ground and began to wheeze as he felt air reenter his lungs, his face noticeably reddened as Pyrrha rushed to check on her partner.
"I…didn't think that…through, did I?" he coughed out, and Pyrrha nodded. Jaune rose to his feet and watched as his friends finished Darth Vader off. Blake wrapped her ribbon around his neck and held him in place with Yang on one end, while Ren and Nora pulled on the other in a bizarre form of tug-of-war. At the same time, Weiss pinned his arms and legs with glyphs, holding him firmly in place. Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg charged up their attacks and aimed towards his head. Vader seemed to realize what was about to happen, and his eyes widened.
"NOOOO!" he shouted dramatically as the three attacks made contact, completely enveloping his body. When the trio finally finished, all that was left of Vader was a twisted mess of scarred flesh and sparking wires that quickly flickered out of existence. The room descended into silence, broken only by the sounds of labored breathing. The Remnantians could feel their Aura healing their wounds, but each movement still made them wince.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Cyborg smiled smugly and nodded.
"Booyah."
Ruby whirled around Control Freak in a cloud of rose petals, avoiding his double-bladed lightsaber. Despite his large stature, the villain proved to be surprisingly nimble. His swordplay was more akin to a dance, spinning his lightsaber in a dazzling fan of crimson beams and distinctive hums to ward the Huntress away.
"Real quick!" Ruby shouted as she shot a rubber bullet towards Control Freak, who leaped to the side as he noticed her aiming at him. "That laser-sword is awesome!"
"Thank you!" Control Freak genuinely returned as he aimed his remote at a nearby pile of rubble. The rubble stirred and fused into a giant golem, and Ruby couldn't help but marvel at the display.
"That is so— EEP!" Ruby ducked as the golem threw a punch towards her. Bursting away onto a catwalk to gain distance, she switched to explosive rounds and began firing at the golem, the shots destroying significant portions of its body, only for another click of Control Freak's remote to repair the damage. Ruby frowned at it from above, knowing that the only way to stop this was to remove it from play.
"Hope this works…" Ruby muttered as she loaded a single custom round into Crescent Rose, aimed at the golem's center mass, and fired. The round burrowed its way into the center before violently exploding, sending chunks of rubble flying everywhere and forcing Control Freak to dive behind a collapsed pillar to protect himself.
"Yay, it did!" Ruby cheered.
When the rain of rubble finally stopped, he peeked his head out from behind cover and marveled at the destruction before him.
"Holy crap, what kind of round was that?" he asked.
"Very high explosive," Ruby answered with a smirk only to see Control Freak aim his remote once more. Not willing to entertain another creation of his, Ruby quickly chambered a bullet and fired at the object, shattering it into thousands of pieces.
"No!" Control Freak yelled as he clutched his hand in pain. The remote sparked erratically, and all around her Ruby saw his constructs collapse and flicker out of existence. He stared despondently out the window as Ruby hopped down to approach him, seeing all of his creations disappear one after another, before sharply turning around to swing his lightsaber at the Reaper. She deftly dodged it, hooking her blade around the hilt and tearing it from his hands, deactivating it at the same time. Ruby then kicked the villain in the gut, holding him down and aiming her weapon at him.
"Give up, please," she politely asked him. Control Freak glared at her for a moment, before finally sighing and nodding his head. Ruby nodded at him, then pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her belt pouch and cuffed the man to a nearby pole. It was only then that Ruby allowed herself a chance to sigh in relief, happy that it was all over.
"Hey," Control Freak suddenly asked, bringing Ruby's attention towards him. "I have to ask, but… Is it true that you eight are the new aliens that were in Metropolis?"
Ruby briefly looked taken aback at the question before nodding, "Yeah, we are. We were staying with the Titans when you, you know, did your thing."
"Heh, just my luck," Control Freak chuckled to himself. "The first time in years that I lose control and I just so happen to square off against the League's newest trainees. Poetic, I suppose."
"What gave it away?"
"I've been following you guys on message boards," he answered plainly. "Even theorized that the people who helped bring in Scarecrow were one of them, but it wasn't until after I started watching you guys fight that I put two and two together."
"Hmm," Ruby hummed to herself before staring back out over the studio. She could hear police sirens closing in on them, but remained where she was. She then looked at the shattered remote, and a question popped into her mind. "May I ask you something?"
"Does it look like I have anywhere else to be?" Control Freak stared at Ruby before sighing and nodding.
"Why did you do it?" At Ruby's question, Control Freak seemed surprised before frowning.
"That jerk you and your blonde friend freed before the fight canceled my favorite show. I just couldn't—"
"You're not answering my question," Ruby interrupted him, staring him down firmly. "I mean, why did you do this? Any of this? You made something amazing, brought all of these fantastical creatures and creations to life, and you chose to use it like this. Why?"
Control Freak stared at Ruby for a moment before replying with a grin, "Well, like I told the Titans years ago, being a villain is cooler! Way more interesting than being a stuffy hero."
"And I get that, but there are so many other, better ways to use that thing," Ruby said, throwing her arms wide before sitting down. "Do you want to know what my main thought was for this entire experience?"
"Let me guess: terror, desperation, panic, anger?" Control Freak declared, only for Ruby to shake her head.
"Wrong. It was about how much fun I was having." Ruby smiled brightly, much to Control Freak's surprise. "I was having a blast fighting off all those movie villains. Sure, some got a little hairy, but it wasn't anything me or my friends couldn't handle."
"You… had fun?" Control Freak quietly asked, and Ruby enthusiastically nodded.
"Loads of it. If you ask me, that's a much better use of your remote than attacking stuck up studio execs," Ruby added. "You want people to share the love you have towards these characters, right? Then show them just what makes you love them with your remotes. Bring them to life and allow people to live out their favorite worlds, your favorite worlds. These characters should bring joy and excitement to people's lives, not fear. Heck, if you wanted, you could even be the 'villain' of the entire thing. Make it into the greatest show on Earth. Doesn't that sound better than getting your butt kicked?"
Control Freak stared at her for a moment, running the thought through his head. "… Huh. I can honestly say that I've never looked at it like that. In hindsight, seems obvious, now that I think about it."
Ruby smiled at his answer, only to stare at a piece of broken rubble. Control Freak turned his attention to where she was looking, then sighed.
"I'm still going to jail, aren't I?"
"Oh, yeah."
Moments later, Ruby disappeared in a purple flash, leaving Control Freak alone. Police officers soon entered the room he was in and promptly arrested the villain while reading out his rights. Control Freak numbly listened along, having already memorized the speech by rote, but said nothing.
Instead, he preferred to think about the future, and what he was going to do next.
By the time RWBY, JNPR, and the Titans returned to Titans Tower, they were all thoroughly exhausted. A haze of sweat and body odor surrounded them, and they couldn't get into their showers fast enough. By the time they were all done, none were willing to do anything else for the rest of the day, and so the teenagers were content to laze around the living room.
"So," Weiss began, nursing a hot cup of tea, "outside of how pointless that entire thing seemed to be, I can't help but admit that it was…kind of fun."
"Same," Garfield echoed her statement. "Well, to be honest, most of our fights with Control Freak are kinda fun."
"I think 'annoying' is the right word," Raven interjected as she read a book next to Blake. The Faunus nodded as she turned to the next page in her book, only to pause when her ears heard the dull sound of Disney songs emitting from M'gann's rooms, coupled with Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ruby singing along with the Martian.
Everything was peaceful, and even if it only lasted for a moment, it was all Blake could have asked for.
"By the way, Yang? How did you enjoy your time as a damsel in distress?"
"Oh, screw you, Schnee!"
That peaceful moment was broken by the sounds of uproarious laughter from all parties within earshot, yet despite herself, Blake couldn't help but smile.
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! I hope you guys enjoy reading this. We certainly enjoyed writing this. We have no shame.
Now, onto the Q&A:
xhope14x: I'm glad you enjoyed Part 1!
meeyaaargh3412: Yep, it doesn't hurt to transition from time to time. I actually had written that lore piece before Chapter 9, but had been waiting to post it until another lore entry was made. I then decided to simply post it standalone. Didn't want to leave you guys hanging.
Steelrain66: Thank you! I can't answer your question, as that would be spoilers, but rest assured that myself, Jessessanman, and NaanContributor have a lot in store for all of you.
1968: Yeah, we wrote Control Freak that way purposefully. He is, at his core, kind of pathetic in terms of motivations and actions. Its the primary reason why the Titans don't consider him an archenemy, even though they've fought numerous times. So, him being seen as bratty was the intended reaction. Yet, unlike say Scarecrow, he was still capable of being redeemed because of how pathetic his motivations as a villain were. They just had to be redirected, which Ruby hoped to achieve.
crawforddarius7: First, I do not know Akame ga kill at all, so even if I was writing a Mortal Kombat crossover, which is a franchise I do know, it would not be with Akama ga kill. Second, I'm going to have to say that I am not taking any suggestions for story ideas. I have enough on my plate as is, what with Of Elder Scrolls and Huntsmen: Dragon Rose (RWBY/The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), Outsiders (Pokémon/Familiar of Zero (reverse summon)), and Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC). I simply do not have the time to devote to another story, nor am I looking for suggestions to do one.
TheOkWriter: I chose the name "Darkseid War" as I figured that, realistically, that would be the name that stuck after the dust settled. Other options could have been Apokolips War, Earth-Apokolips War, That Time We All Almost Got Killed Before Superman Rose Up to Kick Darkseid's Ass, and many more. Plus, I did base part of the conflict off of the original New 52 version of how the JL came to be formed, so I felt the name was appropriate.
Jacob9594: There will be other comedic villains for our heroes to face. Not every villain is a Scarecrow or Joker. Others are much more comedic, but that doesn't mean that they won't be a threat.
That's it for now. See you all next time!