Hey, new chapter!

Sorry about being a few hours late, but fight scenes are ridiculously tedious to write. Pacing is a real issue here.

Every time I tried to write 'Shocker' I would accidentally write 'Socker' so... think of that as you read, I guess.

Enjoy the chapter!

Ruby Rose: Spidergirl

Chapter 3 – Great Responsibility

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With a mad scream, Shocker slammed his fists down into the concrete. Ruby watched as cracks spread out from his feet and checked her aura mentally. She could tank a few of those.

Probably.

She launched herself towards him. He thrust his fist forward, but she managed to duck under it. She slammed into him, beating him with her fists. He laughed, unconcerned. He grabbed her and threw her into one of the support pillars of the bridge. It cracked ominously. She looked around.

The civilians were all staring in amazement and shock. She waved her hands at them. "Run!" she yelled, jumping to her feet. Shocker sent another blast her way and she braced for it. She slid back, but nothing more.

The civilians seemed to get the memo, scampering away in fear. Shocker tried to blast a shockwave at them, but she leapt forward and swung her fists. They struggled against each other. Ruby idly wished she had trained against Yang more as she lost ground to the madman.

She headbutted him, sending him reeling. She tried to kick him, but he grabbed her leg and sent her flying into the suspension cables. She landed safely on the bridge. The cable behind her snapped, falling to dangle to the road below.

Ruby gritted her teeth and braced for another blow. Sure enough, a blast of wind slammed into her like a freight train, threatening to send her over the edge of the bridge. She looked around again. The civilians were gone now. Good.

The Shocker ran towards her, fists raised. She tried to block his blows, but felt her aura weaken with every hit. Finally, he landed the last blow.

He hit her. Hard. She flew back and slammed into an upturned car, the steel frame crumpling against her body. Her red aura crackled as it broke. She gave a shuddering gasp, trying to hold her head up. Shocker slowly walked up to her bruised form, grinning like a Mistralian mask. His head rolled as he laughed.

"It seems I am the victor. Hah! Nothing can withstand my shock gauntlets! And neither did you. Sadly, you won't get to live to tell the tale!" He laughed maniacally as he primed his gauntlets one last time.

And suddenly dropped as a piece of rebar hit the side of his head.

She looked up at her saviour; an old man stared down at her, breathing heavily. He smiled, offering a hand. She took it.

Once she had her bearings, she looked him over again. He wore a bomber jacket and looked civilian – and very old! – in a pair of indigo jeans. He dropped the makeshift rebar truncheon he was holding and laughed.

"Used to get them every time back in the army! Glad to see it's still the same in the wider world." He chucked, holding out his hand. "Ben Parker."

Ruby shook it. "Nice to meet you, Ben… What happened here?"

Ben nodded and put on a more serious face. "This nutcase walked out to the middle of the bridge and used those gauntlets of his to throw up these cars. I don't think he wanted anything; he was just 'testing out' his equipment." He shook his head in restrained anger. "I thought people like this had died out in the war, but I guess not."

"Is anybody injured?" When Ben shook his head, she smiled. "Well, that's good at least."

"Yeah. Thank the gods you got here when you did, who knows what he would- LOOK OUT!"

-DODGE-

Ruby was barely aware of Shocker weakly lifting his fist and priming his gauntlet before the two of them were launched back over the edge of the bridge. Ruby grabbed Ben's hand and gripped a cable, wincing at the ropeburn. She let out a breath when she saw the ground below – neither of them could survive the fall from there.

She felt the cable slip beneath her hand.

Ben looked up at her sorrowfully. "Let go!"

"What?" Ruby stared in shock. "No!"

"You have to – you can't hold the both of us for much longer!"

"But you'll die!" Ruby gripped Ben's hand tighter but slipped again on the cable, coming ever so closer to the edge.

Ben sighed resignedly. "Kid, I gotta tell you something." He looked her in the eyes. "My father always told me, 'with great power comes great responsibility'. And I live by that. You," he said, pointing at her, "have a responsibility to stop that maniac and save the others. I can see greatness in you. You can't die here!"

"But what about you!" Ruby felt tears sting her eyes. "I have to save you as well!"

"Kid, you need to let go – or we both die. I've got the responsibility to save your life…" His eyes hardened. "And I have the power to do it." He reached up suddenly and punched her hand as hard as he could. She let go involuntarily.

He fell.

"NO!" She screamed, watching his descent. He hit the road below with a sickening crunch. He stared back with empty eyes, his leg bent the wrong way and his head bowing unnaturally. Blood began to pool from the back of his head. She let out a scream of pain as her rope-burned hand slipped again on the cable, and she gripped it with both hands. Her tears fell silently to the ground below.

Laughter came from above. She looked up in surprise as Shocker stuck his head over the edge, head wobbling concussively.

"What, is the old guy dead? What a shame. Looks like you'll be joining him!" He reared back his fist and sent a shockwave her way, but she used the momentum of the punch to swing back around and land under the bridge.

She let out a quiet sob, sitting in the dark. That man had been so… nice, and then he had just died. So easily, like snapping a wishbone, he had gone from alive to dead – and it was her fault. If she had been there faster, if she had been more prepared, if she had been more alert… She thought back to the moment he had hit them. A thought had rung through her mind, unbidden, even though she hadn't clocked the danger consciously yet: "DODGE." Was this one of her new powers? Some kind of precognition? If so, she had been woefully useless – even with an advantage, she hadn't been able to save Ben.

Were all civilians that fragile? She had been around huntsmen and huntresses so long that she had forgotten what normal people were like. Had they always been so… delicate?

Ben's words came back to her: "With great power comes great responsibility." She had the responsibility to save him – to save them all! What kind of superhero was she, what kind of huntress was she, if she let people die so easily? And now, here she was; hiding. Hiding from something more powerful than she to save herself. She should be fighting him, saving people like Ben had asked her – but fear had her frozen, unable to move. She was useless.

Voices from above the bridge wafted through the tarmac, making her eyes go wide.

"Woah, what happened here?"

Blake?

"It appears somebody is causing trouble. We should investigate."

Weiss?

What were they doing here? She idly remembered that they were also in Vale. They couldn't be here; if she hadn't been able to beat Shocker with her new resilience, they didn't stand a chance! They were going to die… oh no, oh no, oh gods, oh…

No. She would not allow it. She looked at her hand, closing it into a fist.

"Save people… Yeah. I can do that, Ben. I can do that." She jumped for the cable, using the momentum of the leap to throw herself onto the bridge. Blake and Weiss were already struggling against Shocker – but Weiss was out for the count, and Blake was barely standing. She stood tall.

"Hey!"

Shocker stopped just as Blake fell to the ground, aura crackling purple. He gritted his teeth in anger. "You just don't die, do you! You're like a cockroach!"

She flew forward, knocking the both of them across the bridge and out of earshot of her friends. She landed sideways on a pillar and grinned weakly down at her opponent. "I think I'm more of a spider, actually."

"Is that so?" He primed his gauntlets again. "Well, you know what they say… SPIDERS. GET. SQUASHED!" He leapt at her, but she span out of the way, giving him a swift right hook.

"Never heard that one before, actually. Thought it was, 'spiders are good for the ecosystem and take care of disease-ridden flies. Although…" She looked him up and down in an exaggerated manner. "I don't see your wings. Did some kid pull them off?"

Shocker growled as he swung again. They struggled against each other, both sides delivering blows to the other. She jumped up and kicked him in the head, knocking him back. He sent a defensive shockwave at her, but she stood her ground. She didn't move an inch.

He ran back towards her.

-JUMP-

She leapt over his head, flipping as she flew through the air. She grabbed a hanging cable, swinging around and tying Shocker up. She landed almost gracefully and gave him one last punch. He was out cold.

She let out a sigh, and quickly removed his gauntlets. She wouldn't make the same mistake as last time. She dropped them on the ground and looked up with heavy breaths.

Blake was staring in shock. Weiss was struggling to get up, but seemed equally amazed. Blake took a step forward.

"Who… who are you?" she asked, her legs shaking. Ruby froze. They couldn't find out. Not yet, anyway. Not until she'd thought about it more, at least.

It just seemed like a bad idea.

She looked away. A police car was pulling up. It was time to leave. She took a running jump off the edge of the bridge.

She barely heard Blake's gasp of surprise as she swung around and landed on one of the support pillars. She parkoured over to the nearest building, only then glancing back.

Her friends were talking with the police, who were taking notes. Another couple of men were carrying Shocker's body into the back of the car. She sighed.

She jumped when her scroll rang in her pocket. Weiss was calling her. She checked that it was only audio and then took the call.

"Hi-"

"Ruby Rose, where are you?"

"Wha- I'm shopping." She lied smoothly.

"Why are you – oh right, the weapons thing. Look, something has happened."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we came across – actually, it would be easier to tell you in person. We need to be picked up; our auras are down."

"What! Your auras are down? Why?" Ruby noted that it was way easier to lie when they couldn't see your guilty face.

"Look, we'll tell you later; meet us at the bridge near Coal Street. You know where that is, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I'll be right there."

"Good to hear." The line went dead. Typical Weiss.

She put the scroll back and stretched. She needed to get back to where she had left her clothes.

/-/

Ruby had been lucky that enough of her aura had come back by the time she had arrived that nobody had noticed. Pretending to have run all of the way explained her tiredness, and she blamed her lack of purchases on being interrupted by Weiss' call. All in all, the ride back to Beacon had been peaceful, and after being debriefed by Ozpin the girls had given her and Yang their version of the story. Ruby lay in her bed quietly as their story concluded, both seemingly shaken.

"I don't remember the last time somebody beat me so easily." Blake rubbed her arm nervously. "It was kind of terrifying."

Yang nodded. "But at least that weird girl showed up, right? She must have been a hell of a huntress to have beat the guy so easily."

"She didn't seem like a huntress to me." Everyone looked at Weiss in surprise. "She wore a mask and ran away from us. The innocent never run! I think she was some kind of vigilante, maybe a part of the White Fang."

"Why does every criminal have to be in the White Fang to you!"

"I didn't mean it like-"

"Hey, stop fighting! You're just getting angry at each other for no reason, and I'm getting sick of it!" Weiss blinked, shocked at Ruby's outburst, before looking away guiltily. Blake did the same.

Yang let out a sigh, hugging the monochrome pair. "Well, if she is some kind of vigilante, she's an okay one in my book; she saved you both."

Blake nodded lethargically, and Weiss feigned annoyance at the hug. The makeshift TV, on silently in the background, suddenly switched to the news.

"Breaking News!" Said the anchor. "A terror attack in Vale inner city has been thwarted by a masked vigilante. Witness reports say that the culprit Herman Schultz, who called himself 'Shocker', walked onto the bridge and set off some kind of explosive weaponry, resulting in multiple cars being upturned and extensive damage to the bridge. He was distracted by a masked girl in a jumpsuit while the civilians escaped. Two huntresses in training, who have asked to go unnamed, entered the fray later, but it was the masked vigilante who struck the final blow before fleeing the scene."

"Why'd you ask not to be named?" said Yang in confusion.

"We were beaten badly." Said Weiss, cradling her side. "Naming us would merely hurt our reputation."

Blake nodded reluctantly, but Ruby got a strange feeling that she was hiding something. Before she could vocalise her suspicions, however, the TV continued.

"Despite the incident being less than a day old, dustnet forums are already speculating as to the identity of our city's new protector. The nick-name 'Spidergirl' has taken hold, a name used by Herman Schultz himself during interrogation. Here is an excerpt we were allowed access to by the police."

The voice of the Shocker played over a picture of his mugshot. "So I'm just testing my new tech out, no big deal, right? An then swoosh! Here comes this f*BLEEP*ing 'Spider-girl' chick, and she starts f*BLEEP*ing fighting me."

"Heh," said Yang, "Spidergirl ain't such a bad name."

The picture returns to the anchor sitting professionally behind her desk. "The public opinion of Spidergirl at the present is overwhelmingly supportive; here's Sandy at the scene."

"Thanks, Lisa!" said a blonde reporter, standing with her microphone on the bridge. "We managed to get some interviews from the general public as well as the witnesses and the results are clear: 'We love you, Spidergirl.' It's terrifying to see the damage caused by Shocker here today; just here next to me, one of the support pillars is cracked – a cylinder of concrete. And rebar almost 5 feet across. Who knows what would have happened without Spidergirl here? Nobody, it seems, but one thing is clear; the city is happy that she was. Back to the studio."

"Thank you, Sandy. Now, that is not to say that Spidergirl has no detractors. Just two hours ago J. Jonah Jameson, editor-in-chief of the Daily Remnant, publicly declared his distrust of the new vigilante."

An old looking man appeared on the screen. His expression was stern, as if everything in the world disgusted him especially the microphone in front of his face. "Spidergirl is a danger to our city! Look at her; she's wearing a mask! And the way she ran away from police – remember folks, the innocent never run!"

"Ugh," said Weiss, "Hearing it come from somebody else makes me see the flaws in that rhetoric. Wait- is that what I sound like?" Yang gave an awkward expression and Weiss groaned in response.

"Who knows; maybe she was WORKING with the Shocker! That's right, folks – you could be flinging praise at a costumed criminal. I cannot trust somebody who refuses to show herself publicly. Can we really entrust ourselves to somebody with something to hide? I'll tell you, folks – NO! We can't. Spidergirl is a menace!"

Ruby shrunk in on herself on the top bunk, unseen. Why did he feel that way? Was it her fault? It couldn't be – all those people had said they liked her…

All those people were dependent on her…

She returned her gaze to the screen, conflicted. Lisa was back on again.

"Sadly, it isn't all heroics today; beloved in his community, family man and war veteran Ben Parker died today at the attack. The police believe he attempted to stop the Shocker and helped Spidergirl in the fight before being blown off the side of the bridge. He will be sorely missed by his family- oh." She pressed a finger to her earpiece, listening carefully. "I see. Right; *AHEM*. We have the honour of speaking to Ben Parker's nephew, Peter. To you, Sandy."

"Thank you, Lisa! State your name to the camera, please?" The blonde woman from before was holding a microphone out to a brown-haired young man with glasses. The boy had a somber expression on his face.

"Peter Parker."

"And Ben was your uncle, correct?"

"Yes, my uncle Ben. I… should have been here tonight."

"Well Peter, it wouldn't do to blame yourself for what you can't change." Sandy smiled at Peter. "You had a message for Spidergirl you wanted to say, I believe?"

"Oh yeah, uh…" He turned to the camera. Ruby felt strangely as if he was looking right at her. "Spidergirl, right? So, my uncle… he always used to feel so bad about his time in the army. Said that the Faunus war was a disgrace, wished he had never joined… All Ben Parker ever wanted to do was help people. And, as much as I wish I had been here today in his place… I'm also proud that he finally got his wish, that he died doing what he always wanted. So, thank you Spidergirl – don't listen to the hate. Keep on helping people." He began to tear up. "Thank you for not letting my uncle's death be in vain."

"Thank you for your heartfelt message, Peter. Back to the studio."

"Thank you, Sandy, and a special thanks to Peter Parker for his personal message there. This is a contentious time, and more information is being released by the minute, but the stats don't lie – only one death and a few injuries in an attack that should have been far worse. The city needed Spidergirl today – and she delivered. We'll keep you informed. Now, back to your scheduled programming."

And so the TV switched back to the drivel it had been playing, and the other three members of Ruby's team began to talk amongst themselves. Ruby looked down at her mutant hands – the hands that had lost Ben Parker his life. She should have been able to keep her grip. Where had the stickiness gone?

She wouldn't let it happen next time. If the city thought it had a superhero, well, it hadn't seen nothin' yet. She made a fist, watching the strange hairs flex. Peter was right – she had to keep saving people.

No matter what.

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Ruby looked at herself in the mirror. It was complete.

It had taken day to procure and work the materials, but she was done. She stared in amazement at her new outfit.

It covered her whole body, primarily black but with red streaks like spiderwebs. A large, stylised red spider adorned the back and the chest across her breasts – if she was to be a spider-girl, she would be a spider-girl. The eyes were covered with two large white chevron-like shapes, which she could see through perfectly but concealed their colour. Her upper body was covered by open-fronted red hoodie with the spider emblem also on the back.

Finding fabrics that would let her new hairs pass through was a nightmare, but she had managed it – and with some high-friction sneakers built in, she could climb up any wall.

Her wrists bore a pair of web-shooters; she got the idea from an internet forum. Some genius had noted that she had 'swung around' on the cables like a spider on the day – and the idea had stuck. She now had her own web. The testing faze was over – leading to some very embarrassed showers after being covered with web fluid – and she knew that they worked.

She slid the suit off, revealing her workout clothes underneath. The suit had in-built shrink-fit technology (usually only seen in the Atlas military) which had been a nightmare to source, but it was worth it. Now she could put it on over most any clothing – which included her usual combat uniform, she had checked.

She admired her handiwork. Soon, Vale would meet the new Spidergirl.

-HIDE-

She had only just put away the suit and feigned boredom when Yang walked in, grinning broadly. She had decided to keep her new 'hobby' secret from her team – they wouldn't understand, for one – but that didn't mean she couldn't use them to train with.

"Hey, sis!" Said Yang, swaggering over to her. "You ready to train hand to hand?"

Ruby looked up defiantly. "You bet!"

The two of them left the room, chatting idly about the training ahead.

Meanwhile, across the city…

/-/

"Okay, first little Red and now this? When will Vale ever give us a break?"

Neo nodded in agreement as Roman paced back and forth, whispering to himself.

"At least she hasn't fought us directly yet, but what if she does? Speaking of, who'da though old Herman would go full supervillain, huh?" he looked thoughtful for a second, and Neo mirrored him. Herman, going full evil. Who'da thunk it?

Roman returned to his pacing. "Gods, I hope Cinder doesn't want us to deal with her, I ain't sure we can handle it… Well, maybe she- HELLO, Cinder!" He suddenly yelled, giving a false smile. Neo stared in surprise as her new boss walked up to them, her eyes glowing ominously.

"Hello, Roman. I assume you've heard about Vale's new… vigilante?"

"Of course, Cinder." His eye twitched. "Do you want us to do anything about it?"

Cinder hummed thoughtfully, feigning indecision. "No, not unless she becomes a problem. A word of warning though; the city is changing." She looked away into the warehouse, where White Fang members were carrying dust around in crates. "I think our plan might be set back by these developments; new players are appearing on the scene in response to Spidergirl's appearance." She turned back to Roman, an evil smirk on her face. "I suggest you try to keep up, Roman, lest I pick a new champion to sponsor."

With that, she walked away, leaving Roman to his thoughts. He sighed.

"What have I got myself into?"

RIP Ben Parker - who would have expected it?

A moment of silence, please.

Ruby is now ready to rock as the brand new Spidergirl - but trouble is looming...

See you dreckly!