AN: Ladies and gents, here's another update to RWBY Meetings, and this time around, we're changing it up, because it's a posting for one of our favorite huntress's birthday. Only this time, it's not Ruby.
Ruby: Well duh. That was last chapter, and you promised you would get something for this before my birthday had rolled around again.
AN: And now, I'm keeping to that promise. Ladies and gentlemen, before we go any futher, join me in wishing a happy birthday to the number one Faunus of RWBY, both in terms of the team and the series, Blake Belladonna!
[audience applause]
Blake: [blushing shyly] I wouldn't say I'm the "number one Faunus". That might be going too far.
AN: Ha! Who're you kidding? You've got all the others beat just by being one of the main characters. And even without that, I'm pretty sure you've still got 'em all beat.
Yang: Are you sure this was a good one to post on Blake's birthday though? It seems like something that'd be more my speed than hers.
AN: Oh trust me, you'll see the big reason for why I'm posting it today once you've read all the way through. Now, today's Meeting takes place during Volume 1 of RWBY, around the halfway point, to be exact, as you'll quickly figure out as you read the main thing, and post-series for the visiting heroes. And that's all I can really say right now. So, I'll turn it over to our introducer for today.
Weiss: You know, I feel like Blake should be the one to introduce this Meeting instead of me.
AN: I know, I know, but we've got to keep the pattern going. Ruby did the last one, so now it's your turn. We talked about this, so please?
Weiss: Alright, alright. Fine.
Blake: If it makes you feel better Weiss, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's going to end up introducing the Meeting he posts on your birthday at the rate he goes with this thing.
Weiss: A little bit, actually, yes. Thank you, Blake. Anyways...
Today Team RWBY meets Team Iron Man of Iron Man Armored Adventures.
AN: Oh yeah, Iron Man's pulling off the superhero landing on Remnant. So, let's get things rolling with the usual annoucements and disclaimer already so you can witness the action.
Also, if you haven't already, please check out our YouTube channel "Studio Fandom". It's the best place to get updates as to what I'm doing with my writing stuff at the time along with various other content. And if you want to look at some pretty cool artwork, we've also got a DeviantArt page "studiofandom", so check that out too, when you get the chance.
I do not own anything from any of the RWBY franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Iron Man Armored Adventures
It was now a few weeks into the semester and even less time since Weiss and Ruby had…somewhat buried the hatchet between them. Now, all four members of Team RWBY were more or less on the same page with things. Not quite to the point where they would say they were all the best of friends just yet, but Ruby had a plan to help change that all the more quickly: a camping trip! Weiss had scoffed at the idea at first, and Blake was surprisingly reluctant, but the second Ruby mentioned it would also double as both a team bonding event and a special kind of field training, the two ended up changing their tune. Sure, Blake still seemed reluctant about the whole thing for some weird reason, but given how infectious Yang and Ruby's excitement was, it was only a matter of time before she finally came around. Weiss on the other hand took a little more convincing along with Ruby promising to do everything she could to help Weiss enjoy her first ever camping trip, and while it was sweet how Ruby went to so much trouble to give her this experience; she was starting to regret mentioning that little tidbit to her partner.
"This is so stupid," Weiss groaned she tried to brush away some twigs that had gotten caught in her hair, along with the dirt she got on her dress after an earlier tumble down the slope. "Ugh! How can anyone even think of spending the night out here?"
"Oh, lighten up, Weiss. Not every mission is going to have us staying in nice comfy beds, you know. Might as well get some practice in now so that you'll be ready for it later," Yang waved the heiress off.
"Maybe not in most other parts of the world, but in Atlas, sleeping outside is far from recommended," Weiss informed her teammate in retort.
"All the more reason to practice outdoor survival skills. You never know when you might need to build some kind of shelter in order to survive the night on the off-chance you're unable to find any," Ruby pointed out to her.
This prompted Weiss to smile a little, as a part of her was glad to see Ruby was doing this for a practical reason and not just some silly, childish desire. It seemed this was yet another example of how Ruby was willing to go the extra mile in order to prove her worth as their team's leader. Now if only the dolt could have avoided knocking over the tent poles in her excitement, but alas, nothing was ever that easily resolved.
Blake on the other hand, found this to be pretty amusing, given the smile on her face when she spoke. "Well, as long as a few little spills and mishaps are the worst we have to deal with, I suppose this could be alright." Unfortunately for her, Blake's words ended up being the jinx that caused their day to start getting derailed, as a faint boom suddenly reached her ears. Or more specifically, the ears she was currently keeping hidden under her bow, even from her teammates. Not that she realized it right away, mind you. "Did you guys hear something?"
The other three all perked up, getting on guard after Blake said that. Even though they did not know the exact reason for her strong sense of hearing, they all knew Blake had an uncanny ability to hear or notice things well before the rest of them. After listening quietly for a few seconds and not hearing anything though, they had to wonder if she had just imagined things this time.
"No, I don't hear anything," Yang eventually informed her partner, only to back track when a louder boom echoed in the air. "Okay, now I hear something," she corrected herself as she turned her attention skyward, just in time to see some strange clouds forming in the sky. "I don't remember the weather report saying it would storm today."
"Because they didn't. I'm sure of it," Weiss told her as she studied the strange clouds with the other girls.
Seeing the way Weiss's eyes were narrowing on the clouds, Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and unfolded it into rifle mode so she could use the targeting scope like a telescope. What she saw ended up surprising her a little bit. "What the heck is that?"
Turning to Ruby and seeing what she had been doing, Weiss was compelled to ask, "What do you see, Ruby?"
"I'm not sure," Ruby admitted, still looking through her scope. "It looks kind of like lightning…only its acting weird…Whoa! And it looks like it's causing a hole to open up in the sky."
"Oh, come on, Ruby. A hole in the sky? That kind of thing only happens in movies," Yang brushed off. She was soon changing her tune again when the hole Ruby mentioned suddenly increased in size. In fact, it had become so big, they were sure that it could be seen all the way in Vale. "Okay, I take it back. That's definitely a big hole in the sky."
"It looks more like a tear than a hole to me," Blake commented.
"Does it matter, either way? Who knows what that thing even is?! We should find cover and try to call someone," Weiss told them, but just as she was grabbing her Scroll, she noticed that Ruby was still studying the sky through her scope. "Ruby, what're you doing?! Put your scythe away and let's get out of here!"
"Just wait a minute! There's something else up there," Ruby told them, much to their surprise. "Several things, actually. I think…I think something's coming through the tear, and…Oh my gosh! One of them is heading right for us! TAKE COVER!"
Without even thinking about, Ruby folded up and holstered her scythe, grabbed hold of Weiss, and pulled them both away from the clearing they were setting up camp in as fast as her Semblance could carry her. Blake and Yang did not need any more prompting to move either, as they both dashed or blasted to the side just seconds before the object that came out of the tear crashed right where they had all been previously standing. A huge cloud of dirt and dust was kicked up while several other objects lying around the area were sent flying about, prompting the girls to shield themselves against the debris as best they could until the dust finally settled.
Sensing that the danger had passed, Weiss soon found enough cause to push Ruby off her and angrily stated, "I can save myself, thank you very much. I didn't need you to grab me like some sack of potatoes."
"I know! I know! Sorry, but I just reacted. Besides, partners are supposed to watch out for each other, no matter what," Ruby said in her defense.
Weiss could hardly fault Ruby for caring about others, but she still felt it would be necessary to caution her partner against risking her wellbeing for everyone else too much. Before she could offer up any such advice though, Blake called out, "Hey guys! Maybe you could table your latest round of bickering for later? I'd like to know what we were almost flattened by."
"Oh trust me, Blake: you guys have definitely gotta see this," Yang told them all, and they all turned to see the fiery powerhouse was already standing next to the crater, looking down at whatever had made it. Hearing the awe in Yang's voice served as additional motivation for the girls to approach the crater, but not before ensuring they all had a secure hold on their weapons just in case. When they arrived next to Yang and looked down, none of them could help but let out gasps of shock or widening their eyes at the sight before them.
There, lying in the crater was what looked like a large, very bulky grey and white robot. Not like the current Atlesian Knights that were used for security guards by the SDC and various other companies though; this thing was much more human like in appearance, save for the extra bulk, and the large missile pods mounted on either shoulder. From the look of the shoulder blades and lower arms, the girls got the impression that something was stored inside of them. Out of everything about it though, the machine's most striking feature was the glowing circle of light in its chest, which matched the color of its eyes and mouth piece. It was pretty clear that was its primary power source, but for the life of them, none of the girls could figure out just what kind of power source it was. There was no way it could function without Dust, but at the same time, given the overall design of the robot, they had to assume it would probably require a small fortune's worth of Dust to keep it powered up. This probably would have explained its current inactive and prone state had it not suddenly started to move a few seconds after the girls had approached and begun studying it as best they could from a distance.
Slowly but surely, the machine rose from the crater it had made. Eventually, it managed to find a solid hold to start crawling up to them, and after that, a better footing on which to properly stand up, letting the girls see just how much it towered over them. Sure, it seemed like most of its mass came from its bulk and the obvious weapons mounted on it, but aside from that, it definitely had a very noticeable height advantage over all of them. For a moment, they all just remained standing where they were, neither one taking any action of any kind, until Weiss finally stepped forward to try and get some answers out of this machine.
"Identify yourself," Weiss ordered, making the machine turn to face her. When it said nothing in response, Weiss tried again, this time speaking as clearly and loudly as she deemed acceptable. "Robot, I order you to identify yourself and your place origin."
The robot glanced between Weiss and the other three girls for a second before it finally responded in a way none of them were expecting. "Are you talking to me? Because first of all, not a robot. And second, I don't know if it's different here, but where I'm from, usually when we ask somebody for something, we use this little word called please."
None of them missed just how natural the thing's voice sounded when it spoke, and Blake was quick to point it out too. "This thing sounds a little too human to be a robot."
"Maybe it was just programmed to be that way? You know, make it more approachable, or something," Yang offered.
"Um, I'm still standing right here, you know. I can hear everything you're saying," the robot reminded them, showing just how good its hearing appeared to be. Not that Yang and Blake had been whispering, mind you. "And again, I'm not a robot. Jeez, it's like you girls have never seen a guy in a high-tech suit of armor before."
"We've seen a lot of guys in armor, actually, but none of them look like you, Mister Robot, or Not-Robot-Guy," Ruby told him.
Hearing this prompted the "robot's" face to fold back, revealing it to be a face-mask, and allowed the girls to see some actual proof to his claims of being human. The young man staring back at them had dark skin and brown eyes, but his otherwise serious expression quickly broke in favor of a friendly smile when he greeted them. "See? I'm just a regular guy."
"A regular guy who fell from a tear in the sky and nearly crashed into us. And who is refusing to tell us who he is," Weiss pointed out.
Apparently, the boy could see Weiss's point, as he sheepishly shrugged in response. "Yeah…Sorry about that. I wasn't exactly planning on going sky-diving like that today, but then again, I probably should've expected things to go nuts the minute Tony said his satellite had detected a surge of Makluan energy. And of course, we just had to be the ones to check it out. We couldn't just call SHIELD and let them…"
"Ahem. Um, Mister? We have no idea what you're talking about right now, and you still haven't told us your name," Ruby interrupted, voicing the confusion they were all feeling with each passing second the guy had been talking.
"Oh, sorry. My name's James; James Rhodes. My friends call me Rhodey, and just about everyone else calls me War Machine," the armor wearing teen finally introduced himself.
"War Machine?" Weiss repeated with an arched brow. One that was shared by Blake. Ruby and Yang on the other hand just looked simply intrigued and a lot less suspicious.
"In fairness, I didn't actually pick the name. It came with the suit, and with good reason. This thing is literally built for heavy-duty offense," Rhodey shrugged. His words did not seem to have the desired effect on Blake and Weiss, but Yang did at least give him an understanding nod. It was Ruby's reaction though, that was the most noticeable.
"Does that mean your suit has more weapons in it besides the obvious ones?" Ruby asked. When Rhodey nodded, she immediately started zipping around trying to pick out every weapon on his suit. "What do you have in here? What do you have?! Rocket launchers? Shotgun gauntlets like Yang's? Oh! Maybe a minigun that folds into the back and is capable of rotating around to hit multiple targets at once if needed!"
Rhodey could barely keep up with Ruby as she literally zipped around trying to pick out every bit of artillery his armor had, but he could not say he found it strange. If you asked Weiss, it almost seemed like he looked a bit nostalgic and also a little worried for some reason. She could not really hear what he muttered under his breath as Ruby continued, but she could swear it sounded like he was calling Ruby someone's long-lost sister. She got a little more interested when he actually did answer Ruby's questions.
"No minigun, but I do have wrist-mounted gatling guns that can take out a helicopter and shoot lasers. I've also got a Bunker-Buster missile that packs some serious punch, the rocket launchers on my shoulders shoot both rockets and Sidewinder missiles, there's a laser cannon in the right shoulder, and of course, I've also got my repulsors and unibeam," Rhodey explained.
Every newly listed weapon made Ruby's eyes sparkle excitedly, but she put the geek-out fest on pause when Rhodey mentioned the last two. "What's a repulsor? And what's a unibeam?"
"Well, the unibeam is basically a really powerful version of the repulsors that fires out of my suit's chest, while repulsors…well, Pepper and I would call them laser blasts, but Tony would probably tell you…" Rhodey suddenly stopped short with a panicked look crossed his face. "Oh no. Tony! Pepper!"
Before the girls could ask what was wrong, Rhodey's mask had snapped shut again, and the thrusters on his back, thighs, and boots all flared to life, blasting him into the sky before their very eyes. Having not really taken notice of any of those features before, the girls were especially surprised to hear them coming online, almost as much as they had been when War Machine had blasted off into the sky, and eventually remained there, hovering above them as he looked around for something.
"Holy cats! That thing can fly too!" Ruby screamed with excitement.
"Okay, it's official. I've gotta get me a suit of armor like that," Yang declared in equal giddiness.
Even thought she would not admit it out loud, Weiss did share Yang's sentiment. Already her mind was racing with ideas of what she could do if she had a suit of armor like that, or even better, what the SDC could do if they were able to develop suits like that for all the huntsmen of Remnant. Not just huntsmen either, but all different types of people from law enforcement, to security, and even the average citizen, under the right circumstances of course. Thinking of all this made her realize her father would probably be thinking along similar lines if he saw this, only for much more selfish reasons. Before she could start worrying about that too much though, Blake grabbed everyone's attention again when she suddenly shouted for them to get out of the way once more.
This time when Rhodey crashed down, it was because of the Nevermore that had rammed into him while he was in the air, and it seemed like it wanted to take more than just a few pieces out of him for invading its skies. Rhodey was not about to let that happen though, and the next thing the girls knew, a pair of energy blasts had shot out from his palms to send the bird-like Grimm flying off of him. The blast had ended up rendering the Nevermore very disoriented, apparently having not expected such a powerful attack, and that gave War Machine plenty of time to stand again and unload a salvo of missiles from the launchers on his shoulders. The missiles alone probably would have been enough, but War Machine figured it was better safe than sorry and immediately fired his Bunker-Buster at the where the Nevermore had landed after his first blast.
Seeing all of this unfold before them, the girls could only stare in awe before Blake finally said what they were all thinking. "I officially want my own armor like that."
"Sorry, but the guy who built this is very particular about who he builds and gives suits out to," Rhodey quipped in response. He got serious again as he turned his gaze towards the sky and added, "By the way, you may want to get clear. That wasn't the only bird up there, and my scanners are picking up on a lot more bogies heading our way."
Looking to where Rhodey had been, the girls saw that he was not kidding. There were in fact at least half a dozen more Nevermores circling over head, and from the sound of rustling leaves and branches, the girls knew that other types of Grimm were quickly approaching the area, too. None of them planned on heeding Rhodey's advice and running of course, as Yang proved when she unfolded her gauntlets with a grin.
"Sounds like a regular party if you ask me," Yang told War Machine while Weiss and Blake drew their blades.
War Machine would have protested, until he saw Ruby unfurling her scythe in all of its massive glory, and he quickly became more concerned with something else. "Uh, are you seriously going to try fighting these things with that…very, very large scythe?"
"Of course. I use Crescent Rose to fight all the time, and she's not just a scythe, either. It's also a gun," Ruby proudly declared as she loaded her trusty weapon for action.
War Machine did not have time to comment on this, as the Grimm finally made their move, forcing them all to go on the attack as well. With so many Grimm swarming the area, it was no surprise that explosions and gunfire soon started echoing all through the forest. Then again, no one would have batted an eye over this anyway, since the Emerald Forest was a typical training ground for Beacon Academy students looking for some practice outside of the school's sparring arenas. The only difference this time was the walking armory that was fighting alongside the huntresses, and War Machine had no qualms about showcasing just how much heat he was packing in his suit.
A small pack of Beowolves were blown to bits by missiles, several Creeps were eradicated by the laser cannon, some Ursai were gunned down by his gatling guns, and everything else that approached him was soon well-acquainted with Rhodey's repulsors. Of course, having Rhodey lay waste to the Grimm did not mean that Team RWBY were able to just sit back and relax, because even he could not take out every single target at once. So, the girls were able to get just as much action as their new, armor-wearing friend, and they figured he must have been impressed, given the number of times one of them could swear they saw him watching as he kept up his suppressing fire. Eventually though, something was going to get through their line, and the thing that ended up doing so turned out to be a Deathstalker that burst out from the tree line and swung at Rhodey with its claws and tail.
"ARGH! Geez!" Rhodey grunted after crashing into the ground for the third time now. Before he could even start to get on his feet again, the Deathstalker had swung its stinger straight at him, forcing him to catch the thing in his hands before it could impale his chest. "Oh hell no! I am not letting some overgrown bug kill me off after surviving fights with Magneto, Doom, Mandarin, and the Makluan."
"Technically, since Deathstalkers are like giant scorpions, they're actually arachnids," Blake called out as she cut down another set of Creeps. She then turned to take a few swings at the Deathstalker, hoping to weaken it enough for War Machine to get free, but someone else beat her to the punch. Literally.
One second the Deathstalker was bearing down on War Machine with its full strength, and then the next, it had suddenly jolted to the side like it had been hit by something really strong. The only problem was, there did not seem to be anything there, nor did there seem to be for any of the other times it jolted back more and more until it was finally off of War Machine. Blake did not question it. She just switched her Gambol Shroud into pistol mode and opened fire on the beast, driving it further back, and did not stop until something else ended up shooting it. Normally this would not be the case of course, but considering the laser beam that punched through the Deathstalker's shell looked a lot like one of Rhodey's and had seemed to come from out of thin air, Blake could not help but pause in shock.
A second later, several more blasts were fired at the monsters around them, some of them even clipping the wings of the Nevermores that were still circling above them, until finally, the shooter revealed themselves to the girls while shouting, "Eat hot laser grenades, ya pack of nightmare fuel rejects!"
Right after the attacker had shouted that, a pair of the mentioned weapons had struck several Grimm at once, turning them into ash, and allowing everyone a chance to breathe. While doing so, the girls took a moment to observe the newcomer, and quickly figured that they must be a friend of Rhodey's. An understandable assumption, given they were wearing a suit of armor very similar to War Machine's, only with a lot less bulk and fewer weapons. Not to mention the suit was also much more colorful, being colored purple and white as opposed to the simple white and grey War Machine's armor held, and considering how it seemed to materialize out of thin air, it was not hard to reason that this suit was capable of more than just blasting things.
Apparently seeing this new arrival was a big relief to Rhodey, as he let out a huge sigh as he said, "Man, am I glad to see you, Pepper."
The new armor-wearing hero turned to their friend and opened their helmet's mask, revealing the face of a young woman with red hair, a small bit of freckles, and hazel eyes that were currently narrowed at her friend. "Come on, just because my secret identity got exposed a lot sooner than either of yours did, doesn't mean you can just forget I have a hero name too. You could at least try to remember to call me Rescue when we're all suited up and on a mission, War Machine."
Before Rhodey could say anything in reply, another Grimm had lunged for the two of them, only to end up being cut down by Ruby's scythe. The two were then treated to the spectacle of Ruby speedily taking out several more Grimm with some fast swings and twirls of her scythe, often times made all the stronger when she fired a blast for an extra punch. Another quick flourish of her weapon, and Ruby had switched to blasting several more Grimm into ash with some easily-placed shots, leaving both armor-wearing heroes stunned with the small girl. Though not quite as much as Pepper ended up being when Ruby quickly rushed over and started with some rapid-fire questions.
"That was so cool! And your suit is so pretty too! How'd you just appear out of nowhere like that? Does your armor let you teleport? Or maybe have a camouflage mode? How many other weapons do you have in it? Oh, and what's your name, Miss?" Ruby rapidly questioned.
For a second, Pepper just stared at Ruby in wonder, only to eventually mutter, "Huh. So I'm guessing that's what it feels like when I talk to people." She then smiled brightly and replied, "My armor has a stealth mode, the weapons are the repulsors, unibeam, and laser grenades, which you just saw in action, and my name's Pepper Potts, or you can call me by my hero name: Rescue. Who are you, and please tell me that awesome scythe of yours has a cool name."
"Would you consider Crescent Rose to be a cool name? I mean, I think it's a cool name, so I'm not gonna change it anytime soon, even if you say otherwise. Oh, and my name's Ruby. Ruby Rose," the young team leader answered. She then waved to the rest of her teammates, who had just been drawn back into battle with some more Grimm as she proceeded to introduce them as well. "Over there are my friends, Weiss and Blake, and…"
A sudden explosion cut Ruby off just seconds before a Nevermore could drop down on her and the two armor heroes, signaling the blazing arrival of Yang as she proceeded to pummel the bird into paste. When she finally finished, there was now one less Nevermore to worry about and two sets of dropped jaws and wide eyes staring at her in awe, even as Ruby finished her introduction.
"Yeah, that's my sister, Yang," Ruby told them.
"Well, she definitely knows how to throw a mean punch," Rhodey commented.
"You have no idea," Ruby told him.
"Hey, it's like I always say: in with a bang, out with a Yang," the blonde huntress joked, earning groans from everyone who heard her.
Pepper and Rhodey both turned to ask the same silent question of Ruby, to which she replied, "Yes, she does that a lot. Did I mention we're actually half sisters?"
"Yeah, around the same time you explained what was up the demonic petting zoo that's trying to eat us," Pepper told her, her helmet snapping closed again as she proceeded to blast another Grimm that just lunged at them.
War Machine was quick to open fire again, only to suddenly get hit from below as a King Taijitu suddenly came bursting up from the ground. Luckily, he was able to get his jets fired up again, and used them to help blast free of the overgrown snake's grasp before he returned fire with Pepper joining in just in time to save him from the snake's second, white head. Now though, there were Grimm crawling all over the area and the smaller ones were making it very difficult for any of them to get a firm foothold in the fight, while the King Taijitu made certain to keep the armor heroes too occupied to assist their new friends in fending off the others.
"What is with all these Grimm anyway?" Blake shouted over the gunfire, explosions, and repulsors. "This area was supposed to have been cleared out for the most part, save for a few small packs here and there!"
"There must have been a few nesting grounds nearby that were disturbed when someone came crashing down from the sky," Weiss suggested as she unleashed an icy blast to freeze several Grimm in place long enough for Yang and Ruby to smash them apart.
"You know, just because we're all the way up in the air, and there are a lot of explosions and weapons fire happening around us, doesn't mean we can't hear you," War Machine shouted down to her as he fired another load of rockets at the King Taijitu and a Nevermore that tried to get him off guard.
"Besides, it's not like we planned on being here. We were just going to investigate a possible return of the Mandarin, and the next thing we know, we're getting blasted out into the middle of the woods with you guys and these things. By the way, out of curiosity, how far away from here is New York City? Or maybe even the USA, assuming we're in a different country altogether?" Rescue added on as she fired a few blasts of her own at both the snake and another bird of her own. The girls did not answer either of her questions though, as one of them seemed to be a bit more focused on one of the earlier details she had mentioned.
"I'm sorry. Did you just say you were fighting a mandarin? Like a fruit?" Yang questioned aloud.
"No, not that mandarin. The Mandarin. Really powerful, super bad guy…Kind of. It's complicated," Rescue corrected as best she could, only for her moment of distraction to end up knocking her out of the sky via the King Taijitu.
"Pepper!" War Machine shouted, only to suffer the same fate shortly after, leaving both heroes pinned down beneath the snake and the Ursai that had jumped on top of them the second they hit the ground.
Not one member of Team RWBY was able to do much more than watch while shooting or slashing at the Grimm around them, as every time they tried to get close to help War Machine and Rescue, another monster would suddenly jump into their path. Seeing few other options, Ruby quickly pulled out her Scroll so she could try and call for help. Right when she had opened up the device though, a loud blast of static rang through the speaker followed by a voice she had never heard before.
"Well how do you like that? You guys started the party without me," a boy's voice commented through Ruby's speaker, and judging by the expressions on her teammates' faces, they had all received the same message as her. A second later, all of their Scrolls suddenly started blaring an unfamiliar song through their speakers, just in time to announce the explosive arrival of another new combatant, and Ruby had a pretty good idea of what his name might be.
"When he's backed into a corner of uncertainty, he takes the heat to the next degree. He's more than a hero, believe what you see. He's Iron Man! Iron Man!"
Right when the last couple of lines had been sung, a red and gold blur had swooped down from above and blasted the Ursai off of Rescue and War Machine. When the person had landed, they did so in the typical superhero landing, but somehow, seeing this guy do it made Ruby feel like he could easily have been the one to start the trend. Upon standing again, the girls were met with the sight of yet another person in high-tech armor; only this one seemed to outshine both War Machine and Rescue to huge extent. It was rather simple looking in overall design compared to War Machine, and its colors also stood out a bit more than those of Rescue's suit, being a brilliant mixture of red and gold. The glowing chest piece was also triangular in shape, and while one could tell it was probably the basis for the other two suits in some way, somehow the girls got the sense that this particular suit was better than the other two both in terms of its designs and the person wearing it. Something about the way he stood right now just gave off a sense of heroism none of Team RWBY had ever seen before outside of a few select individuals.
The red and gold hero then looked around the area, seemingly studying the situation as it currently stood, before shouting out orders to his friends. "War Machine, do what you can to keep Scaley over there in one place. Rescue, knock those birds out of the sky. I'll help our new friends with thinning out the herd. Once we've got enough breathing room, form up and hit the snake with your unibeams on my signal."
"You got it, Tony," War Machine nodded before blasting off to carry out his assignment.
"I'm on it! Go Team IRON MAN!" Rescue cheered as she blasted into the sky, opening fire on the Nevermores as soon as she was in range.
Team RWBY would have questioned this stranger, who they could only assume was Iron Man, but he was already blasting off and taking out Grimm before they could say anything. He was definitely proving himself to be the best of these three, given how he easily dispatched several Beowolves with only two blasts from his repulsors, and then a small group of Creeps by firing micro-missiles from the launchers hidden in his shoulders, but more than that, he was jetting, dodging, and rolling all along the battlefield like he had been doing this his whole life. Maybe not in the same way a trained fighter would, but there was definitely some clear experience behind his moves, and some tactical planning as well. With every new challenge he was confronted with, it seemed he had a trick in his armor to even things out.
At one point, some Grimm tried to overwhelm him in a mad rush, but he discouraged them from doing so with a blast from a flamethrower in his wrist, followed by a powerful sonic blast that turned both those Grimm and the ones nearby into ash within seconds. When an Ursa lunged at him from behind, Iron Man barely even glanced back before several flares were launched from the back of his suit's torso, disorienting and weakening it just enough for Iron Man to spin around and land the final blow with a simple, yet powerful punch. Eventually, Team RWBY found themselves just sitting back and watching as the fight turned one-sided, all in favor of Team Iron Man, both because they were doing so well on their own, and because they just wanted to see what other tricks the three armor-wearing warriors had up their proverbial sleeves.
They did not have to wait long, because the second Rescue had destroyed the last Nevermore, she landed in a position behind the King Taijitu, and shouted, "Okay, I'm all set to turn this snake into a nice pair of boots."
"I'm ready too! On your signal, Tony," War Machine shouted as he landed on the King Taijitu's other side to keep it from slithering away.
Iron Man quickly came up from another angle, boxing the snake in with a triangular formation, while the light on his chest started glowing brighter, and even seeming to spark with an unfamiliar energy to the girls. "Alright, on three, full power to unibeams," Iron Man ordered. "Ready…THREE!"
All at once, three large, powerful energy beams shot out from each armored warrior's chest, Iron Man's being blue, War Machine's red, and Rescue's in purple, and they all slammed right into the King Taijitu, making it howl and hiss in agony as they turned it into ash. When the dust finally cleared, it quickly became clear that if any Grimm were left after that last attack, they had all been scared off by the sight of the snake being so completely destroyed. Seeing this prompted everyone to relax and holster their weapons, and Ruby took this as her chance to finally race over and start bombarding the newest arrival to the party with questions.
"That was amazing!" Ruby cheered, startling Iron Man a bit with her sudden appearance. "And your suit is so cool! The colors, the weapons, and everything you just did! How hot can those flamethrowers get? Can that sonic attack get any more powerful? Did you shoot flares out of your back? Is there any other weapons in there that we haven't seen yet?"
Iron Man just stared as Ruby continued listing her questions, before he finally turned to War Machine, who felt it necessary to open his helmet's mask again so he could fully show his tired, exasperated expression. "Yep. Definitely like dealing with two of Pepper," Rhodey said.
"I'm taking that as compliment," Pepper informed her friend as she opened her own mask.
"Me too," Ruby quickly agreed while between questions.
Before her partner could get started again, Weiss immediately stepped forward and asked the big question they were all wondering. "Who are you people?"
The leader of Team Iron Man looked around them for a few seconds before finally opening his mask to reveal the face of a young man with blue eyes and a wide grin, and said, "Well, I'm guessing you've already met Pepper and Rhodey, aka Rescue and War Machine, so I'll just skip to my intro. My name's Tony Stark and I am Iron Man."
AN: So, there you have it. This is bascially a rough draft of how I envision a crossover would go between RWBY and Iron Man Armored Adventures. Not bad, right?
Ruby: Um, not to sound like Weiss or anything.
Weiss: Hey!
Ruby: But I'm still not seeing why this is the best idea for a story you would post on Blake's birthday. Heck, me or Yang would probably have been the better option, or even Weiss, seeing as she and Tony are both rich kids, so why post it for Blake's?
AN: Oh! Right! I almost forgot. Sorry, you guys will have to wait a little bit longer for the full explanations as to how this one would unfold. Firstly, why would I go with this for Blake's birthday present? Well, here's one good reason coming up in this chapter's post-credits scene.
POST CREDITS
A few months later, Team Iron Man had gotten settled in both at Beacon and in Vale, and of course, that meant criminals now had even more to worry about than before. As such, Roman Torchwick and the White Fang ended up bringing some very heavy artillery when they hit a huge Schnee Company shipment at the docks, leading Blake and Sun to be incredibly overwhelmed when they tried to stop them that night. Luckily, Iron Man, Rescue, and War Machine had arrived pretty quickly and were able to keep them from dealing with the heavy artillery, but the two huntsmen-in-training were still struggling against Roman Torchwick himself. A struggle that did get easier when Ruby and Penny arrived at last, but they would not be the last ones to show up to save the day.
Right before Roman could fire on an unsuspecting Ruby, Blake had rushed in to divert his blast, saving her friend but also causing a huge shipping container that was suspended above them to be cut loose. Roman managed to get away only by using Blake as a relative springboard, and the poor girl could only stare up in horror at the large metal container about to crush her. Lucky for her, she had a guardian angel come to her rescue, only he did come flying in on any wings. No, he actually came swinging in to save her, and like a streak of light, he arrived just in time to pull Blake clear before the container hit the ground. Clear and all the way over to another stack of containers, where they were soon perched on the side of as opposed to being on top of the stack.
When they saw the figure who saved Blake, Ruby, Sun, and Penny were all completely stunned, and the same could be said for Torchwick and the White Fang, but only because of the person's appearance and what he was currently doing. Team Iron Man on the other hand were probably the most surprised out of everyone, because they quickly realized just who it was that just saved Blake, if only from the many stories they had heard.
"I don't believe it," War Machine gasped from where he was currently standing after downing the first airship full of backup for Roman's forces. "I'm seeing it, but I just…I don't believe it!"
"You better believe it, because it's real. It's actually him! AAAHHHH!" Rescue cheered. She ended up back tracking on her excitement a little as she looked to Tony and asked, "I mean, it is him, right? And not some Remnant local version."
"Scans indicate he's Earth-born, same as us, so yeah, I'd say it is," Iron Man confirmed, the awe in his voice too palpable to go unnoticed, showing he was just as excited as his best friend and girlfriend were.
Blake had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was not dreaming before she finally turned to face her savior, right when he had spoken to her. "Not that I don't enjoy holding a beautiful girl in my arms, but you really should be more careful when fighting bad guys in a shipyard, Miss."
Blake could feel the blush spreading across her face when this masked marvel called her beautiful, especially given how he was currently holding her so close, yet not too tightly as if afraid of crushing her. Given how his skin-tight, red and blue suit made it clear he was really ripped, Blake probably would not think it would be a stretch if he could crush her in his arms, but she was a little more focused on other things at the moment. "Who…Who are you?"
The man clad in red and blue tights with a web pattern on the red portions and a small, black spider-emblem had to have been smiling when he next spoke. Blake could hear it in his voice when he proudly announced his identity to all. "Why I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, of course. Here to save the day and hopefully find out what happened to a certain trio of fellow heroes from my neck of the woods. I don't suppose you know them? One of goes by the name Iron Man."
AN: So, everybody getting a good idea now?
Yang: Yep. This is totally another chance for you to ship Blake&Spidey.
AN: Bingo. What can I say? We need more stories with that ship in it.
Blake: But wait, I thought Spider-Man wasn't ever in Iron Man Armored Adventures.
AN: Technically, he didn't make an official appearance, but they did allude to the fact that he does in fact exist in said universe. I'm of the mind that Armored Adventures and The Spectacular Spider-Man do in fact coexist as part of the same universe, or that it's very likely they do, so this would also kinda double as my own version of a crossover between the two series, while simultaneously crossing over with RWBY.
Ruby: So, it's basically a triple-crossover.
AN: Exactly. Now then, onto the matter of details behind this story idea. As I said, this would take place after the events of Iron Man Armored Adventures Season 2, so Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper have had their secret identities exposed, they went through the Makluan invasion, and Gene Khan, aka Mandarin had gone off to try and save the world instead of being the mega supervillian he nearly became. Speaking of which, you know that tear in the sky that dropped Team Iron Man on Remnant? Yeah, that would be Gene's fault.
Weiss: How so? I thought you said this would be at a point when he had given up on being a villain.
AN: I did, but I never said he opened that tear intentionally. Here's how it goes down, the Makluan energy surge they mentioned in the story, it was actually Gene's attempt at calling for help after being captured by Doctor Doom. Yeah, the old ruler of Latveria definitely isn't too happy with Gene for what he and Iron Man did to him in the series, so obviously, he's going to want payback while furthering his own agenda. Team Iron Man arrives to help, only for the machine Doom had hooked Gene into to malfunction, and cause the Makluan Rings' energy to surge uncontrollably, sending the heroes, Gene, and a few other old foes of theirs hurtling into Remnant.
As you've no doubt realized, Team Iron Man would join Beacon after their encounter with Team RWBY, and a few months later, they would learn their friends and family back home were working their butts off trying to get them back via Spider-Man. Apparently, Howard Stark would reach out to the web-swinger for help, thinking the highly-experienced superhero would stand the best chance of getting his son and his friends back, thus leading to Spidey jumping over to Remnant in the first test run of the portal tech they would need to get everyone home.
Blake: Would it work like they're hoping?
AN: You really think you'd be able to develop so much as feelings for him let alone a relationship with Spider-Man if it was that easy? Not a chance. I did say Spidey would be the subject they use in the first test, didn't I?
Weiss: Speaking of Spider-Man, if he really is the most like the one from Spectacular Spider-Man, would that mean...
AN: Yes, it takes place after the events of that show's second season as well, so no worries about Blake competing with Gwen or anyone else for the position of Peter's girlfriend.
Blake: [blushes at the thought of dating Spider-Man]
AN: I sincerely hope she's keeping it PG, or at least PG13 over there. Ahem, as for Gene, he'd end up stuck with Cinder's faction, and being forced to help them, if for no other reason than because they claim they'd be able to help him get back home if he does. Now, he doesn't join right away of course, but as time goes on...well, you can't blame him for breaking down after being left with people like Cinder and Roman Torchwick for so long.
That's about all I can say on this topic for now, so if you want to know more, please, let me know when you leave your review if you'd like to see this story bloom into a full thing, or if you'd like to use this idea to write your own version of the story.
Yang: Wait, what other Iron Man villains would we see?
AN: Well, I haven't really settled on all the options just yet, but Madame Masque would definitely be one of them. I mean, why wouldn't she be after how she had escaped SHIELD custody like that? Okay, now I think that's everything on this one for now, so until next time...
Once again, be sure to check out my YouTube channel "Studio Fandom" and the DeviantArt page "studiofandom" if you haven't already. Always looking for more followers and subscribers on both. And as always...
Please read and review, Happy Halloween, Happy birthday Ruby, and I'll see you again in the next colorful adventure!