Author's Note: Warning, I am posting this the same day (well night, it's 10 p.m. here on the East Coast) as I am posting Chapter 5! If you just scrolled to the bottom of the options on the chapter selection, hit the back button! Not only will you miss out, you might be confused by the location of this scene as well as it's ending. I am posting it this way because it always annoyed me whenever author's posted omake's instead of chapters, so I decided to post these two together.
If you have read Chapter 5, sit back, relax, and enjoy my very first omake ever!
Omake:
"Now, let's see, which one should I read today?" Ruby asked herself as she perused the comics section of the Rec Room's bookshelf. Ruby had a fondness for Hunters, superheroes, and the like. She'd already memorized the titles on the shelf and had read most of them. Still, she'd never had any problem with rereading stories before, and going over the titles helped her choose.
X-Ray and Vav: The adventures of a pair of idiots with highly advanced technology courtesy of their scientist friend, and highly underdeveloped brains courtesy of themselves.
Red vs. Blue: Two highly dysfunctional squads of soldiers fighting against one another, aliens, and robots. Supposedly it was based off some video game that Ruby'd never heard of but was apparently hugely popular.
Wildcat: A professional fighter-turned street vigilante-turned mentor of heroes? Tempting, but there were times when it just made Ruby think of Beacon and what might have been. Then, she just got a massive headache and now was not the time for such things.
Green Lantern: Dude gets a magical ring that basically did whatever the plot needed it to? Yes, there was a certain goofy charm to it, and Ruby had always loved the fact that Allen Scott was a lefty, like her.
Blade the Vampire Hunter: How'd that even get here? She occasionally wondered. The basic set up was a rouge Huntsman who specialized in slaying Vrykolakae. Ironically for a comic with a minority protagonist (in Vytal, anyway) it was really racist. Then again, nobody really liked Metas. The only interesting thing about the comic (as far as Ruby was concerned) was that Blade was some kind of Vampire-human hybrid. She'd asked Weiss about it once, but her Mistress had insisted such a thing was impossible.
Superman: the last survivor of an alien world, gifted wondrous powers beyond the abilities of Aura and Semblance by Remant's sun. Ruby liked the idea, but ever since the character had died and been resurrected, they'd abandoned all pretense of consistent limitations to his powers, which were even more incoherent than ring-guy's.
Batman: The orphaned son of a rich couple who used his family fortune, to battle gangsters, monsters, and supervillains.
Wonderwoman: The princess of the Amazons, a race of superhuman warrior women, leaves her island paradise to bring enlightenment to "Man's World." Good premise, but Ruby preferred the original stories
Aquaman: King of an underwater city. Dealt with Pirates, Aquatic Grimm, Sea-faring Metabeings, and Maritime supervillains.
Ironman: A billionaire weapons designer survives a terrorist attack and becomes a robot-suit wearing, smart-mouthed hero? Why not? It was interesting, at least in theory, to see a hero who relied solely on Dust and technology and not Aura and Semblance. Still, Ruby was a lover of Huntresses (and Huntsmen), so the invincible Ironman had never really been anything more than a curiosity. At least to her.
Hawkman and Hawkwoman: A pair of eternally reincarnating lovers, cursed to watch each other die again and again throughout history. Not a bad gimmick, if a little too tragic in the Rose child's opinion. On the other hand, they had alien stuff!
Guardians of the Galaxy: The adventures of a band of semi-heroic outlaws getting into and out of trouble in deep space. Outer space fascinated much of Remnant, especially one far away star that astronomers said was orbited by a planet capable of supporting life . . .
Sargent Rock: Pretty much the exact opposite of Guardians, a historical comic, focused on a made-up regiment who took part in Remnant's last war. It was more of a cult-favorite, given its somber and unflinching tone. Ruby was have surprised to see even a single issue in the coven's collection.
Captain America: A time-lost, idealistic soldier trying to make his way as a hero in the modern world, very much the opposite of Rock.
The Fantastic Four: A comic about explorers getting mutated by weird space radiation. Classic idea. Yet, somehow, the world at large had never really given it the same love as say, Batman.
Dr. Strange: Magic. Now, there was something. Ancient peoples believed Aura, Semblance, and Dust were magic, but there were still authors today who liked to tell stories of occultists who mastered forces beyond the ken or mortal men to perform feats no act of science or Aura could reproduce. Yeah, fantasy was probably Ruby's third greatest genre-love.
So deciding she picked up the issue and lay down on the couch to read. Weiss occasionally worried about her being out and about without her, but Ruby didn't think anyone would be dumb enough to try to hurt the Master's pet. Besides, she couldn't go back to their room at the moment. Not while the noises coming from the room next door didn't seem to be letting up.
Four hours, Ruby thought. Who can do it for FOUR hours?
Author's Note: Yes, we will be discussing Team CFVY's lifestyle next chapter. Sit tight, you perverts (he said, hypocritically).
This chapter was basically a thought experiment on my part. Ever since "The Best Day Ever" I've wondered what content comicbooks (particularly superhero comics) on Remnant would be like in a world where Hunters exist and basically ARE superheros. I mentioned this to my Beta, who responded with "I believe they would be the same as the ones like ours from Superman, Batman and Ironman, Spider-man, etc. Kickass is another have no auras because if they had one then they would probably be seen as hunters and huntresses instead." I mostly agreed, but added a few more.
Batman, Ironman and their ilk (Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Blue Beetle, etc.) are obvious, although they might very well be trained in the use of Aura and Semblance. I view Aura and Semblance as being mostly psionic in nature, so anyone with very physical and/or genetic powers could also make the cut (Mr. Fantastic, the Thing, Aquaman and Wonder woman because they're not human or Faunus, possibly Wolverine and Beast although they might be more easily construed with Faunus) are also good. Magic is always good for stories where characters do things scientifically impossible (hint, hint, something to watch out for later). I could also hypothetically use the " feats no act of science or Aura could reproduce" line or "impossibly advanced Semblances" to include heroes like the Flash, but I figure that would be pushing it, and it's probably a technique that hypothetical writers in Remnant would use sparingly. Superman gets in because he's an alien, and he can do too many things for one Semblance and is too strong compared to "normal" Aura-users (basically because he's Superman). Since theme comics like Space or War stories exist in our world, so it's safe to say versions of them would exist in Remnant. Stories of Vampires Hunters could work because there are detective comics (Yay! a pun! Yang would be so proud!) and stories of urban vigilantes in our world and this is basically the same thing. X-Ray and Vav and Red vs. Blue get on the list because they're also Rooster Teeth productions Monty was involved with and because they already make cameos in the show.
Runners up for this list included the X-men (only a few of them fit the "physical mutations resulting in superpowers criteria), the Challengers of the Unknown (couldn't sufficiently distinguish them from Hunters, still a comic for them might exist), Ironfist (same reason, especially since the idea of a super-powered martial artist would basically be co-opted by Wildcat on Remnant) Daredevil (again, same reasoning as the last two) again might exist with the right writers the Suicide Squad (the World War II version of the team, nixed because I already had two war comics, three counting Red vs. Blue), Hellboy (I wanted to limit it to Marvel and DC, besides, I think a story about a demon would NOT go over well in a world where Grimm and Metabeings exist. Blade only gets by because he kills the things and has the more exotic angle of being half-Vampire).
Thanks for coming on this journey with me.
Fun fact, the reference to Earth in the Guardians of the Galaxy blurb is not my original idea. The idea of our sun being visible as a star to Remnant was taken from another story. I believe it was The Lonesome Road, by CakeLegends, but I can't be sure. Still, the Impossible Girl Series is another one worth checking out if you're interested. Also, while I'm shilling for my favorite stories, read TheDraigg's series starting with The Sounds of Vale. They're absolutely hilarious and genuinely touching.
