*Happy, up-tuned, jingly version of Justice League theme*
Hunters of Justice Chibi!
A RWBY Red Halloween
Ruby skipped into the room happily, a bag in hand.
"Hey, Rubes," Yang greeted her as she entered. "Just use up some of your birthday money?"
"Oh, I almost forgot that was today!" Weiss said as she looked up from her book. The heiress opened up a drawer and pulled out a small bag of gourmet cookies. "Phew! I remembered this time." She then gained a proud look on her face. "I'm a great friend."
Ruby rushed up and pressed their cheeks together. "You most certainly are, Weiss," she told her while reaching over and taking the cookies. "Anyways, it turns out Earth has Halloween too, and it's on the same day and everything!"
"Wait, how is that even possible?" Blake asked from her bed.
"Batman said it probably has something to do with a universal spirit of Halloween or something called an Endless. Either way, doesn't matter. I looked up how Earth people celebrated and got myself a costume. One sec!" Ruby zipped into the bathroom to change. Moments later, she zipped back out. Blake jumped a little but settled right back down while Weiss quirked an eyebrow. Yang, however, jumped up to her feet and dropped everything.
"Ruby! What is that?!"
"It's a Little Bo Peep costume!" the younger sister answered. "I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I thought this looked cu-"
"Absolutely not!" Yang yelled with a stomp that shook the room.
"Whaduheck?" Weiss yelped as she fell over.
"Yang, what's wrong-"
"That is way too small for you!" Yang shouted while throwing a blanket over Ruby. "And it's showing way too much skin!"
"Is not!" the younger girl protested. "It's only showing my shoulders and my belly. Weiss and Blake do that all the time."
"Don't drag me into this," Blake objected.
"Those two are grown!" Yang insisted, but Ruby puffed her cheeks indignantly.
"I'm grown!" she insisted.
"You are not. Look," Yang took a breath and shifted into a pleasant smile and held Ruby close to her, "we'll go to a costume store and I'll help you find a decent one. I'll even buy it."
Ruby's face went as red as both her namesakes as she ground her teeth together and shook in rage. She ripped out of her sister's hold and then jumped up with a shout.
"I am not a child!" After a few calming breaths, Ruby glared at her sister, who she could tell was about to go back into her argument. "Fine! If I can't wear this, then I'll just go get another costume! On my own!"
Ruby zipped back into the bathroom, then left the building while glaring daggers at the blonde. Yang just sighed, but went back to her seat with a sad smile.
"It's for her own good."
"You…realize this is far from over?" Blake asked her friends. Weiss nodded sagely while Yang's eyes went wide with worry.
Their phones all dinged and the Remnantians took them out to see that they'd received an image from Ruby. They stared at it blankly, letting the picture and the situation sink into their heads.
"Well, that's just-" Weiss began, honestly perplexed more than anything.
"Ruby!" Yang screamed as she rushed out the door.
"Who even associates this kind of getup with bunny women anyways?" Blake asked.
"I don't honestly know. Earthlings are weird like that."
"Okay, Scarecrow?" Batman spoke into the Batcomputer, on the line with Commissioner Gordon.
"Arkham."
"Calendar Man?"
"Arkham."
"Harleen."
"House arrest."
"Joker?"
"Arkham."
"Hm, try to get them to make sure anything he could fit in a small hole is out of reach and sight."
"Will do, Batman. Will that be it?"
"For now. Thank you, Gordon. Let me know if you need anything."
"Will do. Commissioner out."
After the screen blipped off, Nora walked up.
"Wow! You have a really specific list for Halloween," She noted with a whistle
"You should see Christmas season's list," Robin spoke up.
"A lot of themed villains feel…obligated to cause mischief on certain holidays," Batman wearily replied.
"Bummer. That just ruins it for everyone else," Nora complained. "Well, at least it looks good for now. Let's go binge-watch black and white horror movies." She pulled out a DVD case. "I got stuff like Nosferatu, Dawn of the Dead, and like ten different versions of the Wolfman."
"I'll get the popcorn," Ren announced. Nearby, Pyrrha was looking forward to a night of watching movies with friends, but noticed Jaune shaking a little bit.
"Hey, if you're not fine with watching scary movies…" she started, but he just shook his head.
"What? Me? Scared? Hehehehe, nah! It's just…cold down here," Jaune said. And not a single person was convinced.
"All right," Pyrrha conceded with a light smile. "Just remember, no one's making you do anything."
"I'll be fine," he insisted.
"Hey, remind me to get a camera," Damien whispered over to Cassandra, who nodded.
Some time later, Team JNPR and the Batfamily were staring at the screen of the Wayne mini-theater. Batman was stoic as ever, but almost everyone else was either sinking into their seats, each other, or shivering in abject fear. Ren had used his Semblance so much that his Aura ran dry a while ago, and now nothing could protect him and Nora from the fear pouring out of the screen.
Jaune, on the other hand, was engrossed. Sometimes he was even in awe at the effects made so long ago or the stories that were being unwoven.
"Whoa! That guy really looks like he grew fur! You can see the follicles and everything!" he declared, amazement filling his voice.
Pyrrha buried her face into his side, wondering how he could be so brave at this moment.
After the movie was over, everyone else was trying to recover – in Batman's case, he was going out to recover the Joker, who broke out a minute ago – while Jaune was just exploring the place.
"I don't know what everyone was so afraid of," he wondered aloud. "I mean, we fought actual monsters. And guys in costumes. How were those things scary?"
Somehow, in his absentminded wandering, he entered a hall full of items on pedestals as though on display. Curious, he began looking at a few of them, reading descriptions that connected them to various ne'er-do-wells he'd heard of.
"Scarecrow's Fearscythe. Fries' Freeze Ray. Ivy's Carnivorous Vines. Sheesh, what a variation."
Suddenly, something reached out and swapped a plaque that read "Red Kryptonite: Keep Away From Superman" to one that said "Get To Superman ASAP". Jaune turned just after the switch was made and noticed the effervescent stone.
"Whoa, cool! Wait, 'get to Superman'…? Uh oh, Batman must've forgot!" Jaune took the stone and began rushing out of the manor while dialing up the man himself, not hearing the chuckles in the background.
"Hey Supes," Jaune greeted the superhero as he hovered down. "How's everything going?"
"Well, it seems all of the horror-themed villains are safely locked away at the moment, and Batman put the Joker back up with a mild concussion before he could even do anything," Superman relayed with a relieved sigh. "We might actually have a peaceful Halloween this year."
"Awesome!" Jaune replied, then remembered why he called Superman to Wayne Manor in the first place. "Oh, I found this weird thing that said-"
As soon as Jaune pulled out the stone, fur sprouted from Superman's skin all over him with an audible puff. The Man of Steel looked at his fur-covered hand, complete with claws, and sighed.
"Not again," he groaned.
"Whoa! What just happened?!" Jaune asked, slightly scared that he had harmed the Kryptonian in some way. Superman, however, merely groaned and shook his head before looking Jaune in the eye.
"Red Kryptonite is…weird," Superman explained. "It doesn't normally take away my powers, but the effects could be pretty much anything. That one, specifically, made me sprout fur and claws for about a week. I thought Bruce put that thing away."
"That's weird. The sign under it said to get it to you ASAP."
"Doesn't sound like anything Bruce would do. We'll let him know what happened and…put that thing away, please."
"Right, on it!" Jaune rushed back into the manor while Superman waited outside. As he wondered whether or not he might be able to shave down the fur on his face, the rest of JNPR exited the building and saw him.
"Oh, hey! Superman," Nora greeted him with a wave, "when did you-" All of them went stock still when they saw his furry face. He tried to raise a hand, ready to tell them to remain calm, but the three screamed and scattered in terror. He watched them go through lidded eyes, then sighed and hung his head.
"Darn it. That's going to get old real fast."
"Ruby! No!" Yang yelled as she tried to catch her sister. Weiss and Blake, at this point, were just following along for the entertainment value. Ruby laughed maniacally as she kept ahead of them with ease and looked back to taunt Yang.
"You'll never catch me! I'm-" Her words stopped as she ran into Jaune and the two collapsed into a pile, which finally allowed Yang to catch up to her.
"Ow, ooh!" Jaune groaned as he clambered to his feet. "Ruby, why are you ru- Ah! What are you wearing?!" he shouted while jumping to his feet, trying and failing to avert his eyes.
"My costume," the girl proudly announced while jumping to her feet.
"Costume? That's a bikini, red horns, and a tail."
"Don't forget the pitchfork!" she said while brandishing it.
"She's going through a rebellious phase," Blake explained.
"She's going to put on some actual clothes before I completely lose it!" Yang threatened.
"You're not my mom!" Ruby objected before throwing the gardening implement, catching her sister by the shirt and pinning her to the wall. "Whoops! Lost part of my costume. Guess I'll have to get another one."
"Well, you can't really get much more revealing than that," Weiss pointed out. "Here I thought you'd be embarrassed at anyone but us seeing you like that." Suddenly, Ruby realized who she was standing next to, looked at Jaune, then herself. She shrieked and pulled her cloak around her body before running away.
"Don't look! Don't look!" she screamed into the night, her face as red as her namesakes.
"Why did she wear that if she didn't want anyone to see?!" Yang raged as she pulled herself free.
"That stopped being the point a while ago," Blake explained. "Rebellion, remember?"
"She's not supposed to rebel against me, though," Yang whined as her face went downcast.
"You at least agree that the Bo Peep costume wasn't that bad now, right?" Weiss asked her.
"Maybe… Way better than the sheep costume."
"Seriously, what is it with Earthlings and fetishizing animal people?" Blake wondered aloud. "Eh, whatever. Let's go find her. She's probably red as Trigon after Jaune got a glimpse of her."
Red shone in Yang's eyes before she leaped at the young man, barely restrained by her teammates. Jaune, for his part, ran away screaming.
[~][~]
Hunters of Justice: Elseworlds
DCeased
Hall of Justice
Metropolis, Earth
7 Days Post Outbreak
"Bar the door," Lex Luthor ordered as he led teams RWBY and JNPR further into the bunker. Behind them were what remained of the Justice League, a paltry handful from an organization that once employed hundreds of superheroes and support personnel from around the world. Despite being their enemy for years, Lex couldn't help but feel distressed towards what happened.
After everything went to hell. It felt like an eternity ago, yet it had only been a week since the world ended. Not from nuclear war breaking out, or another alien invasion. It wasn't even something as outlandish as a fight between superpowered beings getting out of hand. No, instead it was a simple virus spreading itself across the internet. Of course, Lex couldn't call it a simple virus, not after it started implanting the Anti-Life Equation into its victim's heads, turning them into ravenous hordes of the undead.
"What are we going to do?" Jaune asked as he helped Yang and Nora barricade several layers of doors with whatever they could find. Desks, furniture, crates, and whatever heavy objects that were present.
"We do what we set out to do," Lex answered, moving deeper into the bunker. Once he got to its deepest point, he took a look around and placed his hands on his hips. "It's ironic, really. I always tried to tear this place down, and now I'm trying to protect it."
"You're not protecting the Hall, Luthor," Mr. Terrific clarified as he began to pull apart electronics.
Luthor turned his attention to the world's second smartest man, stared him down, then nodded. "Indeed. I have to admit, I do find a grim satisfaction in this. But that's for later. We have bigger issues to deal with."
"Right," Mr. Terrific said. For as much as the hero despised the man, Mr. Terrific knew there was no one else in existence who could help them solve this crisis. It was a million-to-one shot, and they needed all the help they could get. He felt a hand gently clasp his shoulder, and Mr. Terrific turned to see Wonder Woman smiling at him comfortingly. There was dried blood on the top of her scalp, a bruise marring her left cheek, along with a healthy assortment of various cuts and wounds across her entire person. Her hair was frayed and split, and she was breathing heavily.
"It's going to work, Michael," Diana insisted, showing endless strength despite all the pain going through her body. Still, even with her optimistic outlook, he wasn't so sure.
"How do you know that?" he asked quietly. "We've lost John, Shayera, J'onn. The Titans were the first to go, Atlantis fell days ago, and…" Mr. Terrific sighed. "We lost Clark, Diana. Got infected stopping Barry."
Any other day, Lex Luthor would have been over the moon to hear Superman's long-fabled secret identity, but now he simply didn't care. When the Man of Steel fell to the infection, Lex felt a strange pain course through his heart, something that he didn't think he would feel. He had been trying for years to end the alien's existence, but now that it happened, he derived no satisfaction from it.
"His sacrifice won't be in vain," Lex proclaimed. Wonder Woman and Mr. Terrific turned to face Lex Luthor, not used to hearing the reverent tone in his voice regarding his archenemy. But, they figured the end of the world brought the best out of people. Even for someone as ruthless and selfish as Lex Luthor.
"Besides," Ruby added, walking up to them with a determined expression on her face, "we know it'll work."
"How?" Mr. Terrific asked, still not entirely convinced. Rather than respond, Ruby simply turned to the side and stepped back, allowing a cloaked figure to step out from the shadows. Mr. Terrific's eyes widened slightly at the man before him. There, with his cowl hanging off the back of his neck, showing his scarred face to the world, stood Bruce Wayne. Lex Luthor barely regarded his fellow billionaire with a passing glance before getting back to assembling the machine that would save their lives. None of them had time for sentimentality. He didn't care that Bruce had been infected and turned into a zombie, only that the silver-eyed girl in their midst somehow managed to cure him.
"Mr. Terrific, as much as I love working alone, and in all honestly I probably could do this by myself, I would appreciate some assistance. So, if you please?" Lex gestured towards the machine. Mr. Terrific composed himself then walked over, grabbing some tools and getting to work. Diana stepped back, allowing the two geniuses space to work, then walked over to Bruce. Despite him being with them almost the entire time, the man was quiet. Quieter than he usually was, and he had this haunted expression that was hard for Diana to describe.
She knew why he had that expression, of course. Having the Anti-Life Equation run through your mind, even if only for a few minutes, could not have been a pleasant experience. The Amazon didn't know what to say, and she didn't know that anything she could say would even help. So instead, she simply took his hand into hers, hoping it would comfort him. At first, Bruce did nothing, then she felt his hand gently squeeze around hers.
"…Thank you," he whispered. Diana looked at her friend and nodded. Behind them, both teams RWBY and JNPR watched as the last two League founders shared a touching moment. It was heartwarming, yet none of them felt the strength to smile. The events of the past week were weighing heavily on their souls. When Mr. Terrific said that the Titans were the first to go, he wasn't painting the full picture.
The Titans weren't alone in their home city when the virus erupted out of the mother box in Cyborg's chest. RWBY and JNPR were there too, spared from its horrendous effects by Weiss insisting that they spend a day away from computers to enjoy the outside world. Instead, they had to put their friends down while Jump City ate itself alive.
"You know," Yang whispered, "I thought that what Brainiac did to Remnant was the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Now I wish it was."
"Yeah," Nora quietly replied, her normal jubilance completely gone. Ren was quieter than usual, the events of the past week getting to him more than he liked to admit. They looked each other in the eye, and she could see that Ren was scared. So was she, but her gentle touch to his shoulder seemed to reassure him.
"Don't worry, Ren," Nora soothed her partner. "I won't let it happen to you."
Ren stayed quiet, then placed his hands on hers and leaned into her. She hugged him as tight as she could, as though this would be the last time they ever would. For all she knew, it would be.
Ruby, meanwhile, stood with Weiss next to a monitor, where they watched as mobs of zombies roamed the ruins of Metropolis. Their faces were still, trying their best to mask the pain they both felt. Metropolis was where they arrived on Earth, where they met Superman and the Justice League. They had spent countless hours prowling the streets, both as civilians and as heroes, and had come to find Metropolis to be a shining beacon of hope. Something they desperately needed after the destruction of their home.
"I can't believe it happened again," Weiss muttered mournfully, tearing pooling in the corners of her eyes. Seeing this, Ruby frowned then placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder.
"Hey," Ruby said, bringing Weiss' attention to her. The young girl then pulled her partner into a hug, which Weiss quickly reciprocated. "Everything's going to be okay. We can fix this."
Weiss didn't respond, instead merely holding Ruby tighter as tears fell onto Ruby's tattered cloak. The rest of their friends reacted the same way among each other, trying to catch a semblance of comfort. Any they found were fleeting, and all of their hopes rested on their last-ditch plan working.
"Ruby," Mr. Terrific called out from the inner chamber. "It's time."
Ruby felt all of her friends' attention fall upon her. She stepped back from Weiss and straightened herself, then turned towards the others. Their faces held a curious mixture of fear, trepidation, and oddly hope. The last bit of hope they had. Ruby knew it all rested on her, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. In fact, she was utterly terrified. There were so many ways their plan could go wrong, could go awry. But, as she locked eyes with Bruce, she knew that this was the only chance they had. If it could work on him, then just maybe it could be replicated.
"Alright," she finally replied, stepping towards Mr. Terrific and Lex Luthor. They were standing next a reclining chair with several tubes and wires connecting it to several advanced computers they looted from one of Luthor's bunkers. On the headrest was a tight band with a pair of round goggles outfitted with sensors which were lifted above the headband's rim, and similar constraints were found on the armrests and the bottom of the chair. Once again, Ruby felt nervousness creep up from within her, but she steeled herself and sat down on the chair. Almost immediately, Luthor and Mr. Terrific began to tighten the constraints around her head, wrists, and ankles, then Luthor turned to look her in the eye as he lowered the goggles.
"Normally, this would be when someone would tell you empty platitudes such as 'this will only sting a little,' or 'it will be over before you know it,'" he began as he inserted a needle into one of Ruby's veins. "Those would be lies. What you, little girl, are about to experience will be the most agonizing pain in your entire life. Every cell in your body will feel as though it is on fire, and you will want to die."
Everyone stared at Luthor in a mixture of horror and disgust. Ruby closed her eyes then stared back up at him defiantly.
"Oh, is that all?" she asked.
Despite himself, Luthor chuckled. "If anything, you have my respect." He then placed wooden sticks into Ruby's mouth, which she bit into as hard as she could. Luthor then stepped back and turned towards Mr. Terrific, who handed him the centerpiece to their entire device. Their whole plan, really. Ruby, along with the rest of her team and team JNPR, recognized it immediately.
It was hard, after all, to not recognize the very same Mother Box that teleported them to Earth. Mr. Terrific placed the Mother Box on a nearby desk, then Luthor walked over to it with two cables, one in each hand. He locked eyes with Ruby, who after a moment nodded once. He nodded back, then thrust the cables into opposite sides of the Mother Box. There was a spark as a connection was made.
Then, all Ruby felt was pain as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
One Hour Later
Ruby was still screaming, her cries muffled by the wooden planks in her mouth. Her throat felt constricted and dry, but still the screams came. Just as Luthor said, every cell in her body felt as though they were ready to explode.
"Shut it off!" Yang demanded, marching up to Luthor with red eyes.
"I can't," Luthor replied, checking his LexSuit for any deficiencies.
"The hell you can't!"
"Not if this is going to work," Luthor clarified, staring Yang down as Ruby screamed in agony. "Let me break it down for you. We are trying to brute-force calculate the entire Life Equation from the small fragment housed in your sister's eyes, then amplify that signal to broadcast across the entire world. That takes time, and if we stop for even a second, we would have start from scratch all over again."
Yang growled and clenched her fists tightly. Her blood-red eyes bored into Lex's green. He stared back at her impassively, confident that his assertion was correct. Yang wanted nothing more than to clobber him right then and there before ripping Ruby out of that machine. But, when she looked at her sister, she saw the corner of Ruby's eye staring at her. A silent conversation ensued between them, and after a moment, Yang sighed and stomped away towards a wall, where she stopped to lean her back against it and keep watch over her sister.
"Gods dammit…" she cursed, unfurling Ember Celica and chambering a shell. "How's it looking out there?"
"Defenses are holding," Weiss revealed, staring into the monitor, "but not for long. Mr. Terrific, how close are we?"
"Weiss, I can't even begin to guess. I can only pray to God that we're close," Mr. Terrific answered, running his hands along a keyboard as his T-Spheres hovered around him. Lex, however, scoffed from his station.
"Gods, or lack thereof, will have nothing to do with this. Either we win here because of our efforts, or we die because they were in vain," Lex insisted. "You'd do well to remember that."
Mr. Terrific looked at Luthor from the side while continuing to work. Despite his condescending tone, Mr. Terrific couldn't find it in himself to completely disagree. Granted, he never really was a believer of anything godly before, and the events of the past week hadn't helped make him one. But, even if he knew it was pointless, he'd take all the help he could get.
"Lois, how's your bunker?" Diana asked over the radio, her sword and shield resting by the table.
"We're secure and ready to broadcast as soon as you're ready," Lois revealed.
"I'll make sure nothing happens to her, father," Damian relayed, knowing that Bruce, although silent, was listening in. Bruce said nothing, but Diana could tell that he was grateful to hear Damian's voice. To hear any of his children's voices again. The Wonder Woman didn't really know what was worse for the Batman to bear: the fact that he himself turned, or that he had to put down his own children who had turned before him. Only Damian had managed to escape, but that did little to ease the pain on Bruce's soul.
"Weiss, how're we looking out there?" Blake asked, walking over to the former heiress. Weiss' stark white hair was now torn and frayed, any semblance of its usual care thoroughly destroyed, and she was focused squarely on the security monitor before her. She didn't even notice Blake standing right next to her, until the Faunus lightly shook her.
"Huh?!" Weiss started, reaching for Myrtenaster while whipping around to face Blake. There were dark, heavy bags under her eyes, the effort of several days of little to no sleep, and her eyes were dilated in fright. When Weiss finally registered that it was Blake, not another zombie, she slowly calmed herself down and relaxed.
"Sorry," she said, feeling deep shame rise within her.
"Don't be," Blake insisted, gingerly rubbing Weiss' shoulder. In the background, both girls could hear Ruby's muffled screams, and they were doing everything they could to block it out and stop themselves from stopping it. Both were proving to be quite arduous tasks.
"Anyway," Blake stated, "how're we looking out there, Weiss?"
Eager to keep her mind off things, Weiss shifted her attention back towards the monitor. "I'm seeing more of them out there. It won't be long before they realize what's going on in here. I can only hope the defenses last long enough for the calculation to finish."
"We will," Blake declared, tightening her grip on Weiss' shoulder in a comforting gesture. Weiss, tired and weary, flinched at first, then took her hand and clasped it over Blake's. After everything that had befallen them, she needed all the comfort she could get.
Jaune, meanwhile, couldn't tear his gaze away from Ruby's thrashing and screaming body. He didn't want to watch his friend be in this amount of pain, but he also felt as though it was his duty to be there for her. Pyrrha was leaning against the wall next to him, joining her partner in an uncomfortable silence. Like him, she kept her gaze focused on Ruby, forcing herself to not look away no matter how much she wanted to.
For her part, although Ruby could barely comprehend their presence, she was grateful they were there.
One Hour Later
"Bulkhead integrity down to fifty-percent!" Weiss shouted as the incessant banging grew louder and louder. As she had feared, the hordes of undead outside their secure bunker finally noticed what they were doing. Whether they simply wanted to devour their flesh, spread the Anti-Life Equation, or possibly even stop what they were doing, Weiss didn't know. Nor did she care, for that matter. Right now, all she cared about was keeping them out long enough to finish the calculation.
"How much longer?!" Diana asked as she placed herself at the front of the survivors.
"Just a few minutes!" Mr. Terrific answered, furiously typing away at several keyboards. He took a brief moment to glance at Ruby, who was no longer screaming but her body continued to thrash. Occasionally, flashes of silver light pulsated from beneath her goggles, telling him they were close.
He heard more bangs against the bulkhead, which was now beginning to dent and buckle. A trickle of sweat beaded down his brow, and he typed faster.
"Twenty percent!"
The assembled survivors aimed their weapons towards the door, flicking their safeties off.
"Ten percent!"
Nora and Ren looked at each other, silently declaring the same thing. Jaune gulped nervously then raised his shield up, Pyrrha resting Miló on its top.
"Five percent!"
Weiss tore herself away from the monitor, pulling out Myrtenaster and rotating the revolving chamber to Firefly Gel. The banging was now overwhelming, each sound punctuated by a deep dent in the thick metal. From behind them, they heard Lex's heavy footsteps as he marched over, now wearing his LexSuit. Batman was wearing a similar costume, bulky with armor plating and internalized servos. They looked at each other, then each nodded.
Then, the door's integrity finally failed, and it was violently hurled off its hinges. Almost immediately, Weiss activated a Glyph in the freshly made hole, combining it with the fuel and sending a column of flame into the mass of zombies. Flesh melted and boiled away, but still the undead bodies hurled themselves forward with reckless abandon. Gunshots and explosives filled the hallway, the survivors aiming for the heads. Limbs, guts, and gore flew out with each shot, but it still wasn't enough.
The first zombie, wearing the tattered remains of a businessman's suit, was cleaved in half by Wonder Woman's sword. The next, a female cheerleader, was similarly cut down by Jaune's. Yet more came, clambering over the fallen bodies without care and forcing the survivors to step slowly back.
"Almost there!" Mr. Terrific shouted out, sending his T-Spheres to assist his fellow survivors while continuing to calculate the final bits of the Life Equation. The sounds of battle filled the bunker, yet Mr. Terrific forced himself to remain focused on the task at hand.
But, despite giving it their all, the zombies continued to advance. The doorway was practically barricaded by all the dead corpses falling on top of one another, yet the freshly fallen were clawed aside to make way for more. Batman threw Batarang after Batarang into the horde, an angry snarl marring his face as the thoughts of his fallen family filled him with rage. Once again, this cruel world took what was precious to him away, and he used that feeling of powerlessness to push him onward.
"For Richard," he declared as he threw a Batarang into the head of a zombified police officer. "For Jason. For Stephanie! For Barbara! For Cassandra! For Tim! For Katherine! FOR ALFRED!"
Lex said nothing to the Batman as he fired Kryptonite-powered lasers into the horde. Even if the Batman's anger was driving him forward, Lex couldn't allow himself to do the same. Despite the world ending, Lex Luthor still had personal standards to abide by.
Then a new corpse entered the fray, and Diana's eyes widened as she recognized the tattered green costume of an old friend.
"Ollie…" she muttered mournfully as the former Green Arrow charged towards them with a wordless, snarling roar. Before he could get too close, however, Pyrrha shot him right between his eyes, and his body fell like a lead brick. Still yet more zombies poured through, and to their regret, they began recognizing them.
A zombified Black Canary cried towards them, the sonic waves aimed squarely at Jaune and his raised shield. His ears, even with the protection of his helmet, rang and threatened to burst, but he gritted his teeth and stabbed the former Leaguer in the heart. Dinah, seemingly unaffected, reached towards his head to bite into it, but Jaune had already ripped out his Crocea Mors and stabbed her again, this time in the mouth. Her blank eyes rolled into the back of her head, and when Jaune pulled his weapon free, she fell to the ground lifelessly.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, but forced himself to continue hacking away at the fresh zombies. Briefly, he saw Pyrrha cutting down a turned Hawkgirl, but soon the zombified Vixen lunged towards him and knocked the White Knight to the ground. With animalistic fury, Vixen began clawing at Jaune's armor, scratching it deeply, but then Nora swung Magnhild into her chest. A loud crack followed as the hammer blow shattered Vixen's ribcage, sending her flying into the opposite wall. Her spine snapped, and she fell to the ground in a heap. Yet, despite the damage she endured, the zombified Vixen snarled and dragged her body forward with her hands, only for Blake to cleanly shoot the back of her head and put the woman out of her misery.
"Blake, watch out!" Yang shouted as she fired Ember Celica into yet another zombie. Blake turned just as Catwoman leaped towards her with her mouth opened wide, only for her semblance to take the blow for her. Out of danger for the moment, Blake shot Catwoman in the eye, blowing apart the undead thief's head and killing her instantly. A pang of regret crossed her mind, but she shook it out. She'd have time to ruminate on that later. Hopefully.
Ren fired Stormflower in bursts, splitting apart rotten heads before turning to the next. One zombie after another fell, and any who got too close were sliced apart by his weapon's blades. His body winced, and even without checking his gauge, he knew his Aura was running low. Dangerously so. The Verdant Lotus didn't know how much longer he could take, but as he ducked underneath zombie Starfire's emerald blasts to shoot her in the head, he vowed to last as long as she could.
"Terrific, status!" Lex shouted over the chaos, crushing a zombie's head with one hand while firing a laser into another.
"Just a few more minutes!" Mr. Terrific announced, a smile making its way onto his face. "I don't believe it! We're going to-!"
As though the world answered his unspoken challenge, the roof of the bunker caved in. Time seemed to slow as Mr. Terrific turned in abject horror towards the fresh hole, where he saw Superman glaring at him through the smoke with burning red eyes. His flesh was rotten, and long, freshly made claw marks etched down his face.
"Oh, shi-"
Michael Holt never had time to finish his sentence as the former Man of Steel flew into him with great speed. He didn't even feel his body crash against the concrete, killing him instantly.
"Michael!" Wonder Woman shouted as she leaped towards Superman, engaging with the Kryptonian in a great brawl. Lex Luthor joined her, firing Kryptonite lasers into Superman's back while the rest of the survivors were pushed further back. They desperately fought on, trying to keep their hope alive despite all odds.
It wasn't enough.
Yang was the first to fall, Ember Celica clicking empty as the undead corpse of Aquaman fell to the ground. As she reloaded, zombies swarmed her, and her screams were drowned out by more zombies crashing through freshly made holes. Then Ren's Aura finally failed, and he, too, fell against the endless hordes.
Nora, screaming at the top of her lungs, fired grenade after grenade, only for an undead Killer Frost to strike her from behind. A thick coat of ice consumed her, and she could only frantically squirm in a desperate attempt at freedom as the zombies overwhelmed her, despite Jaune and Pyrrha's attempts to hold them at bay.
"NO!" Jaune shouted, hacking away as he attempted to save his friends, but Pyrrha forced him to retreat. She knew it was too late for them, now.
Blake had already disappeared in the sea of bodies, and Weiss was hurling Glyph after Glyph with reckless abandon. Tears were streaming down her face, but then she felt a hand grip her shoulder. Weiss turned around, only for her eyes to widen as she recognized Blake's face boring into her own. Only now it was vacant, filled only with needless hunger. The Ivory Mage tried to stop her former teammate, but the blow merely hit a shadow clone, allowing the real Blake Belladonna to pin Weiss to the ground and sink her teeth into Weiss' neck.
It was only Jaune, Pyrrha, Batman, Lex, and Diana now. The latter two were still tussling with Superman, but the rest were focused on the horde before them. Miló had long since run dry, and Pyrrha using her Semblance to turn Akoúo̱ into a flying buzzsaw while using Miló itself as a sword. Jaune was right beside her, but then he saw the Martian Manhunter phase up through the ground behind her. He barely had time to scream as J'onn J'onzz bit into her neck, breaking her Aura and transferring the Anti-Life virus to her. Enraged, Jaune threw an incendiary grenade into the former League Founder, causing the zombie to flail back as his skin melted. Pyrrha, meanwhile, steadily rose to her feet and looked at Jaune with fear-filled eyes.
Jaune felt the hairs on the back of his head rise, and he turned to see the rest of his friends and teammates bearing down on him with open maws. They piled onto his shield, trying to break him down as his body was pushed back to the edge of Ruby's chair. He turned his head to see Ruby, the light of her eyes glowing brighter and brighter by the second. Steeling his gaze, he yelled and threw his friends back.
"Come on! You want her?! Then you'll have to get through me!" Jaune declared as his zombified friends all charged towards him. He stabbed Ren in the heart, bashing him away with his shield as he sliced into Yang's belly. She continued forward, allowing herself to be stabbed, but Jaune headbutted her away while bashing the edge of his shield into Nora's head. Blake lunged towards him, only for Batman to tie her together with a heavy bolo while he threw Batarangs into the others' heads.
"Jaune, stand back!" Batman ordered, pulling out several Batarangs in each hand, held in-between his fingers. Jaune compiled, allowing Batman to throw the explosives onto their friends, sending them flying back with loud cracks. The White Knight then allowed himself to look down, where he saw Pyrrha had already begun to claw at her head in a desperate attempt to get the virus out.
"Pyrrha…" he muttered, knowing what he had to do but not wanting to do it. As he heard his friends begin to rise back up, however, and the zombie horde grow louder outside, he turned his attention away for a moment. It was long enough for Pyrrha to fully turn, then jump onto Jaune's back and sink her teeth into his neck. He screamed in agony, then fell to the ground thrashing.
"Jaune!" Batman yelled out, trying to rush to his defense, only to see a broken Diana hurled against the wall. She didn't get up, and with wide eyes, Batman turned to see Lex Luthor futilely trying to fend the undead Superman off. Faster than he could even blink, Batman saw Superman rip the LexSuit apart, pull Lex Luthor out from it, then rip the billionaire's heart out.
Once again, Batman was all alone. He forced himself to stand before Ruby's thrashing body, holding a Batarang in hand. His last one. The horde bore down on him, and he knew that defiance was futile. But, if this was to be his last gasp, he'd go down fighting. Just like they did.
Then, the world turned white.
Despite the pain, Ruby knew what was going on around her. She heard her friends fight, heard them fall one by one as they turned. She knew that only Batman was protecting her now, and great despair filled her.
She'd failed them. She'd failed them all. Their hopes of salvation, of life, were resting on her, but she failed utterly. Now, all of her friends were dead, and here she was strapped to a stupid chair. Yet, despite how hopeless everything was, Ruby saw Batman stand before her protectively, even as the zombies rushed towards him. He was still protecting her, even after they all but failed.
Something she couldn't describe finally clicked in Ruby's head.
Companionship plus Understanding plus Assurance plus Joy plus Altruism divided by Respect divided by Sympathy multiplied by Innocence multiplied by Dignity multiplied by Success multiplied by Acceptance. Y equals N where Y equals Despair and N = Caution, Love equals Truth, Death equals Rebirth, and Self equals Light Side.
Just as the first zombie reached Batman, Ruby's eyes exploded as wings of white light engulfed the room. The Mother Box worked to amplify the signal, allowing the wings to embrace the world.
Batman had to shield his eyes from the blinding light, but even with his hands covering his face, he could still see it. The light permeated throughout his entire soul, and it felt…soothing. Calming, really. When it finally subsided, a strange silence filled the air.
With wide eyes, Batman turned to face the rest of the room. To his shock, there were no longer undead zombies standing before him. Instead, he saw bodies lying on the ground, unmoving but shockingly alive. In a daze, he walked to the nearest one, seeing that it was Ren. Where there should have been a stab wound, there was nothing. Only torn clothes and a faint scar. Ren was shallowly breathing, but otherwise alive. So were the rest of Team JNPR, and Team RWBY.
"Oooh," Batman heard a faint groan, and in shock, he turned around to see Mr. Terrific pull himself off the cratered wall. He was about to fall to the ground, but Batman was on him almost instantly.
"Michael. Michael, it's okay," Batman soothed him, lowering him gently to his knees. Mr. Terrific breathed in and out heavily, looking at the battle-damaged room around him. With wide eyes, he looked at the crater where his body was previously pancaked, and he couldn't turn his gaze away from it.
"I… I should be…" he muttered disbelievingly. They heard a gasp for breath and turned to see Lex Luthor moving his hands around his chest, as if he was both searching for wounds and checking to see if it was all real.
"I don't…believe it…" Lex muttered, sliding back against the wall as exhaustion overwhelmed him. A series of groans rose from the crowd before them, and they watched in amazement as the formerly undead zombies stirred themselves back to life. True life. From behind them, they heard Superman pick himself off the ground, breathing heavily as he looked around the room in a daze. As with the rest of the former undead, his face and body bore faint scars. Diana stood up as well, and one by one the members of the Justice League rose.
"Okay," Green Arrow spoke up, resting on one knee, "I don't know if this is a dream, a nightmare, or possibly both. But, tell me this is real. Please?"
"I… I think it is, Ollie," Dinah replied, clutching her heart.
"This headache certainly feels real," Catwoman complained. One by one, Batman, Lex Luthor, and Mr. Terrific looked at each other. Despite seeing the results first hand, they still couldn't believe it.
Their plan, their last-ditch, Hail Mary of a plan, had worked. Not just worked, it worked better than they had expected. A fierce hope began to rise in Batman's heart, and he almost pulled out his Batphone to call his family. To see if they were somehow, miraculously resurrected. But, the groans of a rejuvenated RWBYJNPR broke him from that course of action, and he immediately helped them to their feet.
"Easy, easy," he gently said, helping them up alongside Diana and a still-recovering Superman. For the Remnantian teens, their heads were dizzy, and their bodies were sore all over, but to their amazement, they were still alive. Yang couldn't help but let a smile break out across her face as she took stock of the room, but then her attention zeroed in Ruby's unmoving body.
"Ruby!" she shouted, trying to rise to her feet but her legs gave way underneath her. The rest of the heroes shot into action, rushing as fast as their bodies would allow then moving past those limits as they surrounded her.
One Month Later
Ruby felt the darkness around her slowly lift its veil. Her eyes blinked slowly, her vision going from blurry to clear after a few moments. She took stock of her surroundings and found herself to be in a concrete bunker. The ground beneath her was soft, and a quick glance revealed it to be a hospital bed. An IV was hooked into her arm, and the faint beeping of a heartbeat monitor was the only sound she heard.
"Ruby," a calm voice called out to her. Slowly, Ruby turned her head to see Superman sitting in a chair across from her, his attention never leaving her side. She took stock of the Man of Steel and saw that he was alive. His skin was its normal, healthy tone, and only faint scars told the tale of his infection.
"Superman… You're…" she croaked hoarsely, feeling tears well up the corners of her eyes. Superman calmly walked towards her, resting his hand on the edge of her bed.
"I'm here," he told her. "It's okay, Ruby."
The dam broke, and Ruby couldn't help but let the tears fall free. Superman remained quiet, allowing her the moment she needed. Gently, Superman reached down and took the young girl into a gentle hug, which Ruby tried to return, though her muscles were so stiff and weak that she could barely wrap her arms around him. He felt tears stain his costume, and at the same time felt his own tears fall down his cheeks and onto her hospital gown.
"Thank you," she said through the cries, but Superman shook his head and pulled away.
"No, Ruby," he replied, staring her in the eye. "Thank you. For saving us."
[~][~]
Happy Halloween, everyone! We felt that it would be appropriate to celebrate this year's All Hallow's Eve with some lighthearted fun and good old-fashioned zombie apocalypses. Best of both worlds! Now, in case you didn't know, DC had a very recent (in fact, it literally just ended) comic miniseries called DCeased. The premise there is the same as to this one, where the Anti-Life Equation turns into a computer virus that spreads through the internet and turns people into the undead, with Cyborg being the person the virus spread through initially. In the comics, he wasn't infected, whereas here it's deliberately ambiguous. Whichever you want to prefer.
Now, onto the Q&A:
MadTitan9: The Joker will, as with the rest of this story, be a hodgepodge of various Jokers. Hamil, Ledger, Phoenix, Nicolson, and the comics. There's a lot of material for me to use for the Joker.
edinosaur25: Nope, Grundy isn't gone for good. That's his curse, and it's tragic. Something that we wanted to emphasize.
meeyaargh3412: Pyrrha really overacted there, didn't she? But, it was certainly believable to the audience, which was what she was going for. So, her horrible performance was so bad it looped around to being good.
Steelrain66: We have a plan for Jaune and whether or not he'll get a gun. Stay tuned for that. As for Arkos, it's something that we felt we had to address with respect. Arkos, especially on Pyrrha's side, is canon, and as such it necessitated at least some attention being drawn to it. Same with Renora. What comes of this development, you guys will have to wait and see.
Jacob9594: Yeah, Two-Face is too interesting to only use once. And you are correct in thinking that how Pyrrha brought Grundy temporary peace was similar to the JLU episode. The DCAU is a huge inspiration for our interpretation of Solomon Grundy, after all.
RandomName3064: We felt that contacts were easier to disguise than glasses, and that Bat-tech is certainly a believable explanation as to why they work. Glad you liked the fight, it was a blast for me to write as well. Plus, it was a chance for Pyrrha to shine. As for next chapter, you guys are going to like it.
I Am The Prophet: You'll have your answer regarding who sent the imposters soon enough. As for GOthCorp, you'll see.
Jackalope89: True enough on both of those points. You can expect to hear the others never let them hear the end of it. And yes, Poison Ivy is extremely dangerous. We have big plans for her. Same with Jason's callousness towards the fate of Sionis. We couldn't really touch upon it here, due to the time and place, but it'll come up. Also, I know that Deathstroke is slightly powered. Still, my point stands. There are very few obviously superpowered beings on Earth that can take on RWBYJNPR and win, and Deathstroke is one of them.
Vein Bloodborne: As I mentioned above, Arkos is something we felt we had to address with tact and respect. Plus, we figured a trial date was something that was in character for both Jaune and Pyrrha. Glad you liked the intercepted transmission. We thought it was funny, too, plus something that Ruby would end up doing.
Unsettling-A.I.R.: Yeah, this chapter was a bit wholesome, if you think about it. Dark, too, but still wholesome. As for Arkos, read my responses above. I won't say how it will go, as that would be spoilers, but again we felt that, given the characters and history with said characters, Arkos was something we needed to address. How it will go will be revealed as the story progresses.
That's it for today. Happy Halloween, everyone!