Remnants
Scatter 1-2
The new hero
Author's Note: Finally finished the entirety of Worm! That said, this chapter didn't have as strong of an ending as I would have liked, but it will do for now. I forgot to say this last chapter, but this story is slightly AU because of RWBY related butterflies. Now, if you find anything that doesn't make sense, I would love to hear about it from you guys.
Monday, for many it was a word meaning suffering and exhaustion. The start of another long week of work or study. I rather like Mondays. Sophia still attempts to make my day terrible, but the other two are much less likely to spend effort to search for me. Perhaps they are just a tired as normal people on Mondays, or they might want to catch up and socialize with each other after not seeing each other for a weekend.
Either way, I love Mondays. I actually have a chance to hand in homework without it being damaged, I can get to my desk without worrying about it being defaced. Of course, it was different today, because I was different. I was officially an independent hero. I've saved people, and now it feels terribly mundane to just be sitting in class.
Not to say that programming wasn't interesting, just that it was terribly normal after what I've done over the weekend. I finished early, like normal. So I took my traditional trip to Parahuman Online to prowl the message boards. Of course, rather than idle searching about tinkers, I was immediately attracted to the post that had my cape name in the title.
Oh wow. Over twenty pages of speculation already? I knew that Uber and Leet were popular, but to have this many people who watched their channel already talking about me felt like the ground itself was swaying bellow me. I opened a couple of my usual tinker discussions before braving the storm that was the Ruby Rose thread.
Let's see, they think I'm some sort of plant based changer? Neat theory. The comments raged from guessing my age to guessing my powers. According to the most popular theories, I was either a changer/mover or a shaker. Then I saw the more perverted comments. Most posters were outright banned, but I still felt my skin crawl at the thought.
It was humbling too, seeing so many people interested in me. Before now, I was always the nobody, the shadows best ignored. Once I appeared in front of Uber and Leet, I became a cape, one of the important people. Here were hundreds of people analyzing footage of my first appearance for just a clue as to who Ruby Rose was.
The bell rang soon after that, leaving me with only a little over half of the thread unread. Another new path to my next class and I made it without any hassle from Sophia. Again, I read ahead before hand, so I had very little to do as everyone else grouped up and worked through the reading assignment Mr. Gladly gave us.
Well, working was a little bit of a stretch. Most of the class was just chat about their weekends rather then doing any of the work. I couldn't really work on doing any tinkering while in class, but I could read ahead in the physics text book. It aside from being a naturally good learner, ever since I gained my abilities Kinematics and Physics in general have become a joke.
Of course, my academic success was noted by my tormentors. It only served to irritate them further. I was eating on top of the collapsed bleachers when they made their daily attempt. It was Madison and Emma. Their voice were steadily getting louder, although I couldn't understand what they were talking about. I quickly finished my sandwich, using a touch of my speed to ensure I was done before they could ruin my meal.
I was chewing my last bite when I heard the gym doors open. Thankfully I was out of direct sight of the entry way, so I still had a chance to hide before they found me. Hopefully they weren't looking for me, since I could sneak out of here with my speed if they didn't know I was here. No such luck, they were walking straight towards me, so they had to know where I was.
"Look at her, it's almost like she has no friends." Oh, that's sadly a very pleasant surprise. They're just talking.
"Who would want to be friends with a pathetic moron like her anyways." Yes, just like Emma to call me pathetic. Well, if they're just going to talk that's fine. I can just walk away. They were staying just in ear shot as I walked to the doors, only to find Sophia on the other side with a sadistic smile on her face.
That's odd, what did they think they could do to me without the strong one of them on this side of the doors. I didn't like hearing them going on and on about my faults, but they were just words. It felt terribly pointless to get upset about them demeaning me while I was helping people and stopping villains.
I was surprised by how much it still hurt to hear them insult me. Fine, if I couldn't fight back, it would simpler to just leave. I made sure I had all of my belongings, not wanting to lose anything more to the bitches. Satisfied, I left the side doors of the gym and made my way to my hidden workshop. Screw school, I wasn't going to fight to stay and suffer.
It was almost midnight, but my scythe was pretty much done. The entire mechanism was finished and I tested it out. It folding out into both it's rifle form and the full scythe form from the compact carrying form it started in. It was a beautiful red with black accents for the designs.
Technically, I didn't have the entire project completed, just enough to upgrade my arsenal with some dedicated close range weaponry. Unlike the collapsing mechanism, which could be completed with clever design alone, the firing chamber and related parts require much more specialized equipment. As it was, the pieces would serve, but until I got a proper anvil set up, it would have to be repaired constantly, and that was if it even managed to fire! I felt my jaw clench as I let out a terribly loud yawn.
I went to sleep early on most Mondays, but I couldn't sleep without finishing at least this much. Of course, I would have to clean up my workshop from the storm of petals that were still settling on the ground. Using my speed to work much faster did allow me to get a lot more done in short periods of time, but it made a huge mess. Look at me, I was complaining about having powers again.
By the time I was finished with the petals lining my workshop, it was time to dash home so that I could get enough sleep to recover my "soul" from the amount I used tonight. According to Uber and Leet's schedule, they had another show planned for Wednesday. Hopefully I wouldn't have to use my Crescent Rose on them. That would be messy.
Uber and Leet were wearing completely different costumes from the last time I saw them. One of them was in a red and blue outfit that looks vaguely like Mario. If you ignored the fuel tanks he had strapped to his back. The other was a large turtle that was spewing fire. I'm more that willing to bet that the "Bowser" costume was a set of armour for Leet, making the Mario look a like Uber. Fire actually works in my favour, since my current set up was essentially fire proof (Okay it actually was a thermal energy redirection, but close enough).
It looks like the duo were attacking a bank. I guess they were stealing "coins" for their show this weak. Uber had already burned down the reception area with his flames while Leet was forcing the blast doors open. This time, I loaded my Stormflowers with my electrocution rounds. I didn't want to take any chances with Uber this time. Crescent Rose was too big to effectively use in the small corridors of the bank.
If I let Uber stack to many skills, particular in guerrilla warfare, it would be nearly impossible to defeat him. Uber was a lot like Lung actually, the moment he stacks above a critical number of skills, he becomes monstrous to defeat. Greg told me something about that, saying that he was the Quadratic Wizard to Leet's Linear Warrior. I have no idea what that actually means, but hey, I remembered it at least.
I dashed from the roof I was hiding behind, landing without a sound behind the mint. I used the blades on my Stormflowers to cut around the locking mechanism. It was technically illegal, but I'm pretty sure no one will notice. The arid smoke was already wafting through the vents, thankfully it seemed to be mostly smokeless flames. The hallways were clear of people, the evacuation drills clearly helping. It was sad that every government business in the city had to have parahuman response drills.
My twin machine pistols were in their machete form as I ran through the building. The vaults were predictably in the centre of the building, but I had an advantage that my opponents didn't. The blast doors on my side of the building to the vault remain open for an additional ten minutes after the alarm triggers to allow employees to evacuate the building. Sure it doesn't leave the vault open for me to hide inside, but it does give me the chance to dash towards the intersection that Uber and Leet will have to go through to get to the vault.
I skidded to stop just as the doors behind be closed. No turning back now. The large clomps of Leet's enhanced footsteps echoed ominously around the small hallway. The stench of smoke was getting stronger, with wisps of some sneaking out of the vents around me. I took a napkin enhanced with green dust and placed it between the two layers of the cloak that covered my face. Ah, the smell of clean air was a relief.
The large doors of steel reverberated with a large thud as they were forced inwards about an inch. I quickly hid in an office as the heavy impacts continued. Taking the time, I flipped my Stormflowers into their pistol form. Another three and the blast doors gave in with a rather loud crash. My vantage point was clear from the vent, allowing me to clearly see the large turtle stomp into the hall.
"Uber, I found the vault. Follow the path I made for you." I heard Leet say out loud. So they were using normal communication technology. I had both my guns levelled at the doorway as time ticked by. The moment that Uber appeared, I let loosed eight shots, one at each limb, one at the head and three targeting the centre of mass.
The dust projectiles disappeared the moment they got close to Uber. I was forced back by the stream of fire that responded. Fuck, Uber was using Leet's energy shield. The giant turtle suit wasn't fast, so I released a couple of shots before being pushed all the way back into the office. Leet's machine let out a whine, but otherwise remained standing.
The sensation of being on fire while still at a comfortable temperature was surreal. My hands were tingling. Note to self; make proper gloves to protect my hands. A quick couple of slashes with my Stormflowers cut a sizable chuck of drywall out of the wall. I wasted no time in kicking the wall into the next room and escaping from the fire that was slowly filling the room.
I slammed head first into a metal rack, causing me to spin and tumble down the rows of computers. It took a couple tries, but I managed to get my feet under me and stand up before I could hit anything else. Uber was still filling the room I just left with the thick flames. From the sounds of metal impacts, Leet was probably opening the vault door.
I peaked out the door and watched as Leet's robot/power armour had trouble getting through the brute class platting that protected the vault. Uber's tanks didn't have anything that would indicate a fuel capacity. From the way he was spraying the room liberally with fire, he didn't seem to worry about a fuel limit. His energy shield probably covered thermal energy too, as he wasn't wearing any projection on his hands while shooting out flames.
Inverted burn dust would solve this problem, but I had only just managed to make some yesterday. I could use the uncut crystal I brought with me, but that was temporary at best. My hands felt warm, and looked an unhealthy pink. I had surprise the first time I fought the duo, but my hands were already damaged, if only slightly, and it didn't look like I had any weapons to really hurt them.
Of course, I only brought by shock ammo and the brute concussion rounds. If only I had brought all my prepared magazines instead of only my non lethal combat rounds. Even the useless flare rounds would have given me something to work with! I had a bunch of crystals with me, but they were selected to help me make my escape.
It was becoming increasingly clear that Leet had designed today's gear to counter me. The fire wasn't going out, instead lingering behind to hinder my movement. Of course I was largely immune to it, but I still didn't want to risk running head first into the flames. The energy shield and power armour prevented my electrical rounds. The brute rounds weren't going to work on armour, and Uber would have already added "Bullet Dodging" to the skills he had mastered. Oh, it, probably, wasn't a sure thing that he was going to dodge, but if he did I was screwed. Hell! I was screwed even if I hit because I couldn't get rid of Leet.
If Uber's power was only a single skill at a time, then I might have had a chance, or if their was a delay between adding skills. Actually, the robot might be easier to get rid of at this point. It didn't have a "soul" so my dust blades would be that much more effective against it. I put away one of my Stormflowers and pulled out a force crystal. Hopefully, the purple gem would create a large enough disruption that I could get something done.
My shoulder complained when I imbued my speed into my throwing arm. Huh, non-uniform applications of my speed hurt me. I brushed the rose petals out of my face as the dust crystal bounced once between Uber and Leet before my "soul" managed to activate it. On the bright side, I now had confirmation that my delayed activation technique worked. The shell of energy crushed the robot into the vault door, while Uber was thrown into the wall. Of course, he absorbed the shock with his knees and minimized the damage, probably from a parkour skill.
It did give me a chance to dash by and slice important looking bits of the Bowser suit though. I had to spin away in a cloud of petals as Uber ran up behind me, likely with mastery of at least three different martial arts. I used my free hand to pull out a pair of heavy brute concussion magazines out of my left most pouch and load them into both of my Stormflowers. The purple sun on these rounds had a black eight in the middle of the design. While it was a large degree of overkill to use them on Uber, Leet's power armour needed to be taken down before I made my escape.
"Time on repairs?" Uber's voice called out.
"Two minutes for full repair, function in thirty seconds." Fuck, it had self repair capabilities. That changed things. Even if I thrashed the suit, it would remove it from Leet's arsenal or even delay them that long. I placed my Stormflowers back in my sleeves, reaching for my uncut inverted burn crystal. It should absorb the thermal energy to the point that the fires will be unable to continue producing heat.
"Switching to metal Mario." Uber informed Leet, followed my the sound of metal plates unfolding and locking together. A very similar sound to my transforming weapons. Had Leet been inspired by my Stormflowers? That didn't make sense, as he never saw me unfold them. Then how did he make a suit using my technology.
The loud metal footsteps brought me back to the real world. I was on the opposite end of the blast doors they had smashed open, with the exoskeleton of Uber creeping closer to me. The 'tanks' on his back seemed to have disappeared, but that wasn't a priority right now. The inverted crystal hit him square on the forehead and rapidly turned from the green with red core it was before to a solid red crystal. Then the flames began going out as the crystal began to expand slowly, feasting on the offered energy. It landed on the ground roughly and began to expand faster as it consumed even more energy.
Uber slowed as the metal in his suit began to contract. I dashed by, stopping only a moment to grab the still growing dust crystal, and left the hallway. The dust began to consume the flames that the flamethrower had left behind, growing marginally with all of the flames in the building releasing thermal energy. By the time that I managed to get out of the building, the dust had grown to twice it's original volume.
A quick pulse of my "soul", and the dust stopped it's consumption of energy. Honestly, I knew that dust had an incredibly large energy density, but only doubling the volume from all of that heat? I placed the newly grown burn dust in my pouch as I dashed on top of the rooftop opposite from the bank. Thankfully, it was sufficiently windy to blow the petals away.
PRT response was about a block away, alarms and lights on full blast. It was only a couple minutes since Uber and Leet had broken into the building. Suddenly the air behind me was displaced. I spun around to see a rather tall man wearing streamline white armour with blue decal and a blue visor, Assault of the Protectorate.
"Hey, your that new hero that fought Uber and Leet right?" Assault asked, his lips curved in a wide smile. Well, I wasn't planning on meeting the Protectorate, but I had a persona already decided for such an eventuality.
"Yup, Ruby Rose. It's a pleasure." I forced my voice to be bubbly while I gave a polite curtsy.
"So, what happened here?"
"Uber and Leet are doing Mario, Leet is in a set of power armour that repairs itself and Uber can both launch fire and cover himself in a folding set of metal armour." I looked away as I continued, "I couldn't really stop them though."
Assault didn't say anything for a moment, before he broke off laughing. "So you bit off more that you could chew huh. Well, let me give you a hint. Tinkers are complete bullshit. Anything you can do? A tinker can do better." With his imparted wisdom, he jumped off the building a disappeared into the bank.
I sure as hell wasn't going to wait for him to get back so he could bring me in. He appeared to be kind, but his bosses weren't going to let me just walk. So I ran to the edge of the roof before sinking into my speed. The world turned to a blur as I move faster then the eye could follow. The feeling was amazing, almost beyond description really. Nothing could make me upset or even bring down my mood as I felt the air blasting across my face.
Sadly, I reached one of my hidden entranced to the abandoned tinker tech sewers. I forced my "soul" out into the air in front of my and away from my body as I slowed down. My boots skidded across the ground as my motion was arrested. The door opened smoothly, and I was down in the unused sewers once again.
Crescent Rose was finally finished. I had to steal some rather larges pieces of metal from the boat graveyard to make the anvil, but now was the moment of truth. I placed all of the individual pieces into the frame I had already completed and tightened the necessary pieces. If this work, it would need to be opened for a long time.
The final plate was slotted with a heave and I was ready to test it out. I held the scythe at my side and retracted it to it's rifle form. As the heavier ends of the scythe collapsed, I held the bar on it's side to help brace the weight. I pulled the bar back to chamber the "bullet" that would normally have been there.
So far it was going well. I collapsed the sniper scythe into it's carrying form. It complied without any hesitation or problem. From there it went back to its full length once more. Then I did a basic twirl and a couple pulls and slashes with the weapon. It was heavier than the dummy scythe, but the balance was about the same.
A couple days of practice and I should have adjusted to the new and finally completed Crescent Rose. The magnetic carrier for her wasn't yet complete, but I was working on it. For now, the clasps and wooden frame would have to due. I pulled off my costume and removed the contact lenses I was wearing. Once they were out of my eyes I replaced my glasses.
It took five minutes to make it to my basement from my lair, using the abandoned sewers once again. I moved silently up to my bedroom, but was cut off by Dad. He was sitting in a kitchen chair outside my door with a rather cross look on his face. I didn't manage to duck back behind the wall in time.
"Taylor" His voice cut through my resolve like a knife through butter. He was so worried, I could see it in the wrinkles on his forehead and the way he clenched his hands.
"Hi Dad."
"It's rather late." Not now! I was so close to becoming a real hero!
"Yeah, I just had to go for a run." Crap, what a lame excuse. I knew he could see through my lies.
"Taylor, I know about the bullying."
Come on, how did he know I was Rub- wait what? This was about the bullying? Oh, that makes this incredibly less awkward.
"How did you find out?" I always tried to keep my problems away from Dad, but now he found out on his own.
"The school called to let me know that you've been skipping class. It wasn't hard to figure out that you weren't being treated well anymore. I THOUGHT you said that it wasn't happening anymore." Dad's voice was hard and didn't give me a chance to refute his claims. "Taylor, I need you to be honest, what is happening at that school that you resort to lying to keep it hidden?"
The way he saying that, it was odd. Did he think that I was part of a gang? I guess that made sense from his point of view, if it was slightly wrong.
"It's not a big issue, I just needed to get outside." I knew I was lying, and I knew he knew I was lying, but hopefully it was enough to get him to stop asking.
"You didn't answer the question."
"Just some mean gossip. I couldn't stand to be there anymore so I left for the day."
"Why don't you go to the Principle? They could put a stop to this nonsense." Dad's voice was slow and steady, carefully enunciating every word.
"I've tried before and nothing ever changes. I don't want to give them an excuse to escalate this anymore then it already has." I had to cringe when Dad pinched his nose and took several deep breath.
"How could they possibly escalate this any further? They shoved you in that GOD DAMNED LOCKER!" I flinched as he shouted. His face was a deep red and was practically growling.
It took several minutes of uncomfortable silence before Dad calmed down. "Why don't you tell me anything? How am I suppose to help you if you shut me out?"
I felt my heart wrench as he leaned forward and held his head between his hands. He was so tired and here I was, going off and playing hero. Ever since Mom, he's been distant but he always cared. Even now he was worrying about me for my safety and happiness. It hurt me so much to continue to lie to him, but I couldn't risk him forcing me off my path.
"They didn't do anything that bad, I just need to get away from it all."
"Look, I've done the required paperwork to allow you to take online courses. If you wont tell me what's going on at school, at least take this chance and leave." I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I wouldn't have to go back to school! I don't know how he did it but now I will so much more time in my workshop.
"Thank you!" I just barely held back from using my speed as I jumped at Dad to give him a hug. Of course, tinkering counts as studying. If anything I owed it to tinker in return for the Physics knowledge I gained. Yes, so it was completely fair for me to spend my time tinkering instead of studying.
Maybe I should have trusted my Dad a little bit more. He did do all of this by just knowing that I cut class the other day. I had to wonder why he chose to allow me to take online courses over sending me to a different school, but I think this worked out better.
"It's not just online though, you have to meet up with he other local student. I met one of them as he applied for a job at the docks. I think you'll like him."
The demonic gloves stared back at me. The tips of each extension their were scarlet crystals coming to wicked points. Inscribed on the back of fabric were glowing an eerie yellow in a runic script. I tore the glove from my bench and threw it in the pile of similar gloves that I rejected. This one was number fifty nine.
No matter how many times I attempt to make the gloves, I always end up created deadly gloves. Why the hell couldn't I make normal gloves. Instantly I felt my mind fill with details of claws, shock plates and other weapons I could place in gloves. I shook my head violently as the details tried to drag me deeper.
Why was it that I could only make dust weapons, when before I could make my boots and the rest of my costume. My boots filled my vision as I saw how the plates were layered to create harsh edges that condensed the force of my kicks into a concentrated area. Were they had opening to place crystals of dust for even more damage.
This time I pitch my leg to stir my mind from the tinker thoughts. So okay, my boots were actually weapons. Moving on, my long sleeved dress and corset had placed to hide or store weapons. That might have been enough, but why could I make the cloak? I can't even imagine how that might be a weapon.
Oh hey, my tinker thoughts were strangely silent. I pulled my cloak from my hanger and stared at the stitches. They weren't as uniform or strong as the other stitches in my costume. Maybe this was my own skills? Something independent from my tinker library? That was the only way that any of this made sense.
Well lets see, according to google it was pretty easy to create gloves. If I used my hand to cut out the cloth in the shape of my hand with a little bit of give, I could stitch the edges together to make it. Well, I took the cloth knife I had made. It was actually green enhanced to cut through the tougher cloth.
It was a little nerve wracking to pass the ridiculously dangerous blade around my hand. A single slip would completely remove a finger, or three. Thankfully I didn't even nick my left hand and I gathered the needle and dust enhanced thread. This time, instead of allowing the tinkering to take me over, I forced it down, drowning it under a sea of useless garbage.
It took twenty minutes to connect the edge of the two pieces of fabric. I actually had to stop four times as my fingers tried to part from my plans to create a weapon rather than normal gloves. The final product was a hand covering that was rather loose but at least it was completely functional. Honestly, the work was pretty substandard, but it would serve until I got better at sewing.
The alarm on the wall went off, signalling the end of my tinkering time. With a sigh, I left my hidden workshop and travelled all the way to the library. It was Friday, and all my tinkering was caught up to my expected schedule. Now I had to study as per my agreement with Dad. I still didn't think it was that easy, but he said all I had to do was study. Apparently he had it all taken care of.
I sat down at one of the computer consoles and logged into the online course website. Apparently superheroes need to study too, and I couldn't bring myself to complain. The history and language was tedious, but I found myself getting absorbed into the sciences like a fish to water. The only problem was that I had to actively prevent my tinker thoughts from using this information and dragging me down into another tinker trance.