AN: Well, we are now four for four, because here's the latest update for RWBY Meetings, happening on the birthday of our favorite thrill-seeking, pun master huntress, Yang Xiao Long!
[audience applause]
Yang: Yeah! Woo! I love you guys!
Blake: Okay, hun. Try not to milk it too much.
Yang: Blake, I love you, but you know I'm gonna soak it up as much as possible.
Weiss: Well don't forget there are other things going on today.
AN: Yes, like this Meeting, and of course, the release of the RWBY Volume 9 Soundtrack.
Ruby: Have you downloaded it yet?
AN: And added at least some of it to my RWBY playlist. Now I just need to finish picking out the ones I'm gonna add to my favorites playlist.
Blake: Well before you continue doing that, mind telling us a little bit about this one?
AN: Sure thing. So, first off, this takes place around the finale of Volume 2 at the start, and things start going way AU from there. The only other thing I can say right now is...to ask Yang for our intro. Take it away, birthday girl.
Yang: Gladly. Today, the heroes of RWBY meet the Justice League Unlimited, aka the DCAU.
Weiss: Wait, is this really that big of a deal since there's now an actual crossover between RWBY and Justice League? Both in comics and in a movie?
Blake: With Part 2 of the latter coming out very soon, if I remember right.
AN: Well, yes, but this idea is one I had even before that came out. And this is actually crossing you guys over with the DC animted universe that first introduced me to the DC Comics heroes and such. You know, the one that included legendary series like Batman The Animated Series, Superman the Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock.
Ruby: That sounds pretty cool.
Yang: Enough talking. Let's get the show going already. I wanna see us teaming up with Superman again.
AN: You got it, Yang. Right after our usual annoucements and disclaimer.
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.
The Justice League Unlimited
(Alternatively the DCAU)
No one had been prepared for this moment, or at least, they had not been expecting it to happen after so many years without incident, and yet, it did happen. The Grimm had gotten into the middle of the city, and the Kingdom of Vale was now under siege by the soulless abominations. They way it happened was completely out there as well, because really, who would have expected a train loaded with bombs to crashing out from underground in the middle of Vale? And given just how many Grimm were pouring into the city, it seemed pretty obvious that the tunnel was not short by any means. Now, people were running for their lives in an attempt to get away from whatever Creeps, Beowolves, Ursai, Deathstalkers, or King Taijitu were charging out from the hole, praying that somehow, they would be spared.
Luckily, the Grimm were not the only things that came crashing out from the hole. Just the only things to act right away, as the young huntresses-in-training known as Team RWBY had needed a moment to get their bearings back after the crash. Thankfully, they were quick to recover, and the four girls immediately took action. Between Ruby's incredible scythe skills, Weiss's powerful Dust blasts, Blake's quick strikes, and Yang's powerful punches, the Grimm were soon dropping like flies in no time. Too bad for them the beasts seemed to be acting much like cockroaches today, because for every one they slew, another five seemed to be waiting in the wings to take its place. So when Team JNPR arrived to provide backup, followed soon after by Team CFVY, some of the students visiting for the Vytal Festival, and Professors Port, Oobleck, and Goodwitch, the girls all let out sighs of relief.
The relief was short-lived though, as a strange event suddenly erupted near where Team RWBY had been standing. All at once, the Grimm were not the only things to be concerned about, because now, there were strange machines rampaging through the city as well, all spouting strange gibberish about severing someone or something called Brainiac. None of the huntsmen knew what to make of it, but confused or not, they were not going to let an obvious threat go unchecked, and Ruby proved it when she lead the charge against the invading machines. Thankfully, the machines went down almost as easily as the Grimm, at least at first, but as time went on, it seemed clear that they were learning how the defenders of Vale fought and adapting just as quickly.
Seeing as she had been going almost nonstop since late last night, Ruby considered it a miracle she had not already collapsed from exhaustion. Unfortunately, adrenaline can only last but so long, and she was reminded of this very fact when she suddenly missed a step in her dance of slashes and blasts, landing her right at the mercy of both one of the robots and an approaching Grimm. Just when she was about to brace herself for the impending attack of either opponent, the sound of something moving really fast reached her ears. Being a source of such sounds meant Ruby was familiar with it but never experienced what it was like when something else made that noise, and she was even less prepared when she felt something scoop her up and whisk her away at high speed, another thing she was normally on the other end of. Then again, she did not remember ever being strong enough to do so with such ease, or doing it with a Yang-worthy joke.
"Yoink! Sorry fellas, but the adorable kid and her friends are all officially off the menu," Ruby's savoir had quipped as he raced them both away from danger.
Turning to look at him, Ruby was a little surprised to see she had been rescued by a rather buff man in a red suit with gold boots and lightning detailing, with a white and gold lightning bolt symbol planted smack dab in the middle of his chest. She could only see the lower half of his face, since the rest of it was hidden under a red cowl with heavily tinted white lenses and a pair of lightning bolts sticking out from where his ears would be, but considering the easy grin he had on his face, Ruby found herself a lot more relaxed than she had felt since this whole mess started. She was soon left awestruck after the man set her down and then proceeded to race around the city square so fast that he was little more than a blur, leaving destroyed robots and bashed Grimm in his wake.
When he finally came to a stop again, Ruby could not help but rush over to him to express her awe at what she had just learned. "You have a speed Semblance just like me," Ruby cheered. "That's so awesome!"
"Uh…Sure, I guess if that's what you call superpowers around here. I usually just call myself a speedster," the masked man shrugged, clearly thrown by Ruby's use of terminology. He then glanced around the battlefield as he saw Ruby's friends continuing to fight against the robots and Grimm before asked, "So weird question, but is everyone around here a metahuman, and do you all have crazy weapons that turn into guns?"
"A what-human?" Ruby asked in response, not really registering the second question. Before either of them could continue another robot tried to attack them, only for Weiss to intercept it with a fast jab of her sword.
"Ruby, do you think you and your new friend could have this conversation or after we've saved the kingdom?" Weiss demanded.
"Right. Sorry Weiss," Ruby hastily apologized before scooping up her scythe again. She looked back to the masked man and asked, "Oh, by the way, I'm Ruby, in case you didn't already figure it out, and that was my partner and BFF, Weiss."
"No," Weiss immediately denied almost like clockwork before rushing off. The masked man gave Ruby a look for Weiss's cold response to Ruby's words, but she just grinned in response.
"Hey, if she really didn't think of me that way, she would have said a lot more than that," Ruby shrugged. She then posed the question she had been leading up to. "So what's your name?"
"You're kidding right?" the masked man inquired, only to see Ruby was being serious. "I'm the Flash, the fastest man alive."
"…Yeah, never heard of you," Ruby replied, making Flash deflate in an instant.
Before the Scarlet Speedster could say anything more, a green energy blast suddenly shot down from the sky, slicing up several Grimm at once before it transformed into a domed shield that protected them both from the robots that were about to attack them at the same moment. Looking to where the beam had come from allowed Ruby and Flash to see a dark skinned man with a black goatee, clad in a mostly black suit with a green collar, cuffs, and boots, and an emblem of his own standing proudly on his chest. His being in the shape of a green colored lantern. It seemed like the color was a big thing for him, because he even had a glowing green aura all around his body as he floated in the air above them. The man in question then gave both of them a look that Ruby could only associate with the one Weiss had when she was annoyed as he spoke, but Ruby got the impression he was mostly talking to Flash.
"Would you two focus? We've got stop these things before the situation gets any worse than it already is," the green glowing man practically scolded.
"Relax, John, we've got this under control. Besides, between the crazy nightmare monsters and out-of-control Brainiac drones, how much crazier can it get?" Flash asked his friend.
"I don't know. Why don't you waste more time in getting those drones disabled, and then when Brainiac himself shows up, you'll have an answer," John pointed out.
"Alright, alright. I get the picture, GL," Flash shrugged as he took off and proceeded to smash some more monsters. He did seem to focus more on the robots than anything else though, so Ruby figured she should put her focus on the Grimm.
John then turned his ring on several robots that were approaching Weiss, having seen her conversing with Ruby and Flash earlier and then second he landed beside her, he noticed her sparing him a look that showed she was impressed by his display of power and command. "Seems every group has a Ruby of their own," Weiss could not help but comment.
"Kid, I could tell you stories," John remarked, knowing Weiss was inferring a few things about Flash's character just as he had about Ruby's.
"My name is not kid. It's Weiss Schnee. Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and huntress-in-training, thank you very much," Weiss pointedly corrected him.
"Nice to meet you. John Stewart, Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and founding member of the Justice League, like Flash over there," John nodded in response. "Now, are we gonna keep trading names and titles, or are we going to kick some ass?"
Weiss may not have cared for his choice of terminology, but she still agreed with the sentiment, as her next few glyphs full of icy blasts proved. Blake was not left out on the fun of teaming up with interesting individuals, as she was soon receiving an assist from a red haired woman with large wings. Said woman had come in with a mighty battle cry and spiked mace swinging, and every Grimm or robot she struck with it went down in quite a variety of brutal fashions. It honestly amazed Blake at how viciously she was fighting, and yet somehow, she did not get the same sense from this woman that she got from watching her old partner fight. Even less so when the redhead floated down to stand next to her with a concerned look in her eyes.
"Hey, are you okay? You seem a little out of it," the redhead asked.
"Yeah, sorry, just…The last time I saw someone fighting like that is not really associated with fond memories," Blake admitted.
"Being a soldier fighting a war for most of your life will do that to you, kid," the redhead shrugged like it was no big deal, but Blake could somehow tell she did not take any pride in this fact. "Name's Shayera, by the way. And you are?"
"Blake," the cat Faunus nodded. She then gave Shayera another quick once over as she admitted, "I don't think I've ever seen a Faunus like you before, though."
"A what?" Shayera asked, looking confused as to whether or not she should feel insulted.
"You know, Faunus? Human's with like…like a tail, or extra ears, or wings," Blake tried to explain, never really thinking she would have to explain something so common place to someone like this. Before she could go any further she had to quickly dispatch a Creep that had tried to get the drop on her through the use of her Semblance and some easy slashes. She then switched Gambol Shroud into gun mode and proceeded to blast several approaching Beowolves, allowing Shayera the chance to charge in and bash them into mush.
"Maybe you could explain more about that later?" Shayera requested as she knocked away another robot.
"Good thinking," Blake agreed before switching Gambol Shroud back into sword mode.
While those two were charging back into the fray, Yang was continuing to punch and blast anything that came near her. Sure she took some hits, but that was better for her than it was the enemy given her Semblance made her stronger with every hit she took. Some would call it unfair, but Yang would argue that they were only saying that because they were also the type who would prefer to dish it out without actually taking it. Too bad for her none of those opinions could save her from being knocked back by one particularly large Ursa. She then had to use Ember Celica to blast away from the hail storm of deadly feathers a couple Nevermores started raining down on her position, but she did not notice she had been blasting towards a wall into she had already hit it, and by that point, she was already backed into the corner.
Just when the Grimm were about to strike, a blue blur suddenly shot through every Nevermore faster than a speeding bullet, and it then barreled through several robots like they were made of nothing. When the blur finally halted in front of her, it had done so right when an Ursa was bringing its claws down to strike, and Yang could only stare in wide-eyed awe as said claws actually shattered against the bare arm of the man who now stood in front of her. Said man was dressed in a red and blue suit with a red cape flapping in the wind, and when he turned to Yang, she was greeted with the sight of kind blue eyes which seemed to radiate with limitless power. Even more interesting was the symbol he wore on his chest, as while it was very fancy-looking, there was no denying it was a big red "S" set against a gold background.
"Are you okay," the man asked Yang, bringing her out of her silent appraisal of his person.
"Yeah…Yeah, fine. You?" Yang questioned in return as she stood up and brushed herself off, nodding to the Grimm that was currently cradling it's shattered claws.
The man just glanced at the beast for a moment before giving her an easy smile as he replied, "Didn't even tickle."
Before Yang could comment on that, several of the robots came stomping towards them, and the man immediately turned an angry look towards them. The next thing she knew, two red beams shot out from the man's eyes, completely destroying the robots and any Grimm that were unfortunate enough to be in his line of sight as well. "Whoa," Yang breathed. "I've heard of giving people looks that could kill, but this would be the first time it could be taken literally."
The man let out a sad sigh as he admitted, "That's not really something I like doing if I can avoid it. Killing, I mean, but those creatures…they just weren't stopping."
"Hey, don't feel too bad. The Grimm aren't even technically alive in the first place," Yang assured him, realizing he did not already know this just from that one statement.
"They aren't?" the man asked.
"Well, they're called soulless abominations for a reason, so…" Yang shrugged before turning onto a more important topic. "Anyways, thanks for the assist. My name's Yang. What's yours?"
The man just chuckled before he replied, "Just call me Superman."
As if his outfit did not already give him the cliché comic book hero look, the guy even went so far as to pose like a typical comic book superhero. Despite the situation they were still in, Yang could not help but laugh. "Seriously?"
Superman deflated a little bit upon hearing this before he sheepishly admitted, "To be fair, I wasn't the one who came up with the name. I just…never protested it."
Yang hummed in understanding of this. Given what little she had just seen, she could understand why someone would call this guy something so corny, especially since it did fit with the symbol on his chest. The sounds of battle quickly drew their attention once again, and the two shared a quick nod before rushing off to fight more Grimm and robots. They had actually just joined up with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Flash, Green Lantern, and Shayera when Team JNPR started getting some superhero assistance as well, starting with Pyrrha.
It had not been quite the same spectacle as the others, and Pyrrha had not really noticed at first, being too swept up in the heat of battle and all, but it was still something to witness all the same. Pyrrha had been easily sweeping through the battleground, slashing and blasting Grimm left and right, dancing between teeth, claws, and blunt attacks, and even deflecting a few hits with her shield and weapon before landing a killing blow on more than one occasion, when suddenly, one particular Beowolf had been snagged by a golden lasso. The beast was then yanked away from Pyrrha and thrown into a charging Ursa by a woman that Pyrrha almost mistook for a swimsuit model. Not that you could blame her. If it were not for the boots, silver bracelets, and gold tiara this woman wore along with her red and blue one-piece outfit, she might as well have been.
Further observation of this woman would have to come later, as she quickly set to work fighting off more Grimm and drones, usually with her bare hands. Now do not misunderstand; Pyrrha had seen many incredible feats of strength in the past, be it from her own teammates and/or classmates or during tournaments, but she could not remember anyone taking down a Deathstalker and a Nevermore as easily as this woman currently was. Even more impressive was how she swiftly went on to take out a group of Creeps while deflecting blasts from the robots using her bracelets. Whoever this woman was, she was a very well-trained and strong fighter. When she finally caught a break in the action, Pyrrha had to wonder if the woman really was a model, because she was absolutely gorgeous.
She stood a bit taller than Pyrrha herself, but even she could have been considered small, her stance bespoke of one who held a great deal of strength in them. She was by no means buff, but she also was not a tiny little stick either. Add in her long, wavy raven hair, her sparkling blue eyes, and the almost dazzling smile, and Pyrrha had a feeling this woman turned many heads everywhere she went even when she was wearing something a little more common place. Even the way she wrapped up her lasso and fastened it onto her belt seemed to be done with an elegance and beauty that should have been beyond the capabilities of mere mortals.
"You fight well, young one," the woman praised Pyrrha, her voice almost sounding musical with every word. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were one of my Amazon sisters."
"Um…Thank you. I think," Pyrrha politely nodded, hoping she was not mistaken in taking this as a compliment.
The woman's smile confirmed it was as such, and she then asked, "What's your name?"
"Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos, ma'am. And you are?"
The woman struck a rather heroic pose, even it was simply just placing her hands on her hips, and said, "I am Diana, Princess of the Amazons."
"Princess?" Pyrrha repeated. It had been a long time since that type of thing had been around on Remnant. At least beyond it being used as any kind of nickname like with Weiss. "Should…Should I be bowing, or something?"
"No need. Especially not when there's still more enemies to deal with," Diana reassured her. She then gave Pyrrha a small smirk and asked, "Assuming you're still up for the fight?"
Pyrrha just smirked in return as she proceeded to almost lazily slash through a Beowolf that tried to pounce on her, before switching Miló into rifle mode and blasting several more Creeps right after. "You don't even need to ask."
Diana just smirked in return and the two then proceeded to rejoin the fight, right as Ren had been sent spinning through the air by a particularly nasty hit from a King Taijitu. If he believed Grimm could have family relations to one another, Ren would probably have thought this one was related to the overgrown snake he had killed back during the Beacon Initiation, given how fiercely it was fighting right now. He had just managed to spring backwards onto his feet again, narrowly avoiding being snapped up by the white head of the snake Grimm when something shot up from the ground and into its muzzle.
To Ren's surprise, the thing that hit the Grimm looked to be a large, red scaled dragon, and it did not stop with just slamming into the snake. It weaved about and coiled around the beast until it had a firm grip on the King Taijitu. Firm enough to lift it off the ground and send it flying into a Nevermore. The dragon then began to change shape into a strange creature with four arms, a pointed head, and a jagged jaw, and upon completing this change, the monstrous being proceeded to beat down both the airborne enemies and the ones that were closing in on him. When the last beast was defeated, the creature changed again, this time into something much more humanoid, but still clearly otherworldly.
The figured that now stood before him had pale green skin and orange eyes that almost seemed to be glowing, and looked to be just as well-built as Superman. His attire consisted of a long, blue cape that looked to be fastened on by a red, criss-crossing harness, blue shorts, and blue boots. As he slowly approached Ren, the boy could not help but feel a little intimidated. The man seemed even more stoic than anyone Ren knew. When the green man spoke though, Ren managed to relax a little bit.
"It's alright. I'm here to help just like the rest of my friends," the green man assured him, a small smile working its way onto his face. "My name is J'onn J'onzz."
"Nice to meet you," Ren nodded in reply. "I'm Lie Ren."
"A pleasure," J'onn nodded in return, he then spun around just as an Ursa was about to jump at them, and socked it in the jaw with a punch hard enough to send it crashing through the building. "I only wish it were under better circumstances."
Ren nodded in agreement before turning his guns on the approaching robots just as they had started firing on them. "Any ideas what these things are?" he asked in between shooting and slicing enemies.
"Unfortunately yes. They are a problem we had been dealing with before the event that sent us here, and unfortunately, some of them were brought with us," J'onn explained.
"Just sounds like there's more stuff for us to smash if you asked me," Nora suddenly shouted as she shot out from behind the two and slammed her hammer down hard enough to create a shockwave that somehow managed to demolish every robot surrounding her.
Nora smirked proudly, drawing the typical amused eye-roll from Ren until he saw several of the Brainiac robots suddenly jump on her and begin ganging up on Nora almost at the exact same moment as some of Beowolves had. He was just about to rush over to her aid when J'onn held grabbed his arm to stop him. "What're you doing?" Ren demanded. "I've gotta help Nora!"
"Relax. Our friend Static can handle it," J'onn assured him.
That made Ren stop short, turn back to J'onn, and ask, "Who's Static?"
"Yo, someone say my name?" asked someone who sounded much younger and more energetic than J'onn, and a second later, the speaker came zooming in from over their heads on an electrified disk. The dark skinned boy in question was clad in a black and blue outfit with a gold lightning bolt on his chest, matching coat, and a white mask that did not hide his wild dreadlocks or cocky smirk, with a set of blue sunglasses resting on his head. The electrifying teen then thrust both arms forward and blasted several robots off of Nora, shorting all of them out in an instant.
He then swooped in low to take a few swipes at several Grimm, chasing them away from Nora, and occasionally slicing through some with the disk he was flying on. A few more blasts finally freed Nora up enough to bash a few more with her hammer and then blast the remainder with her hammer's grenade launcher mode. She had just switched her weapon back into a hammer when she saw a particularly large Deathstalker coming towards them, and Nora was not in the mood to take it easy on this thing. Sparing a glance at the one J'onn had called Static, and seeing him continue to short out the various robots and even blast a few Grimm with electricity helped Nora to cement her next crazy plan.
"Hey! Sparky guy!" Nora called out, getting Static's attention.
"First off, please don't call me Sparky, and second, you need something Hammer-Time?" Static asked he flew a little closer so he did not have to yell as much.
"Yeah. I need you to blast with me with everything you've got," Nora ordered.
Instead of doing as Nora asked him, Static stopped blasting things all together and turned to her like she had lost her mind. "Girl, are you tripping?" Static demanded. "Why would I do a whack thing like that?"
"Because I can get stronger by absorbing electricity for one thing, and for another, it'll lead to something awesome," Nora explained.
Static was still not convinced though. "No way," he refused. "As cool as that is, I'm not gonna blast another good guy without knowing if they can take my full power."
"Relax. I can take it. Besides, it's either blast and power me up, or we waste more time trying to take down that Deathstalker slowly," Nora pointed out.
"No! I'm not risking it, and that's final," Static insisted.
Nora then glanced between the Deathstalker and Static for a few more seconds before giving him a deadpan look and pointing out, "You do know the Deathstalker is that giant scorpion over there right? Or maybe you might've noticed how I'm the one with a giant hammer that turns into a grenade launcher?"
Static considered both of these things for a few minutes before deciding, "Good point." He then raised a charged up hand to Nora as he added, "I'm still not giving you my strongest blast though. I'd rather not take the chance of finding out I can hit limits you didn't even know you had."
Normally Nora would argue, but she could see they did not have the time, so she just accepted the caveat Static gave and braced herself for the upcoming blast. When it hit, she learned Static had not been exaggerating, because if he was giving her even a small fraction of his full power, then she probably would have been pushing her Semblance past its limits. She felt like everything was getting overloaded at once, and to an extent she never even knew she could achieve. It did not bother Nora though. If anything, it just made her more excited as anyone could tell by how much wider and maniac her grin had grown as a result.
When Static finally let up on his blast, Nora had used her hammer to rocket forwards with a loud, wild battle cry, and had reached the Deathstalker almost as fast as Ruby could move when using her Semblance. Lucky for her she was already winding up her big strike, and everyone soon witnessed Nora crushing the Deathstalker with just one single blow of her hammer.
"Whoa. Okay, yeah, that's pretty cool," Static admitted, and he then turned his attention back to the fight at hand just in time to save Nora's team leader from a few more robots.
Jaune had to agree with Static's assessment of Nora's latest feat of strength, but right now, he was a little more preoccupied with the various Grimm gunning for his head. He was just glad the robots seemed to consider him a low-priority threat, because he did not think his sword and shield were going to do much against them. What Jaune did not realize was that there was a reason he had not dealt with any robots in this fight so far. In point of fact, Jaune had a guardian angel sneakily taking out any robots that tried to get him, either by pulling them away into the shadows or some other unseen location, stealthily destroying them from behind, or even just disabling them from a distance. He never even noticed this was happening until one robot eventually got lucky and grabbed him.
Jaune tried his hardest to shake or force the robot off him, but the machine's grasp was just too strong. Eventually, he could feel his consciousness slipping, seeing as it had him in a sleeper hold, until suddenly, the sound of something spinning through the air reached his ears, followed by the sound of metal striking metal, and then the robot finally released him. Turning around, Jaune was a little surprised to find a strange, bat-shaped object embedded into the robot's head, and even without seeing it there, he could tell the thing was very sharp. Right when he was about to wonder where the thing came from, his silent protector made his presence known in a very dramatic fashion.
Some robots were moving to grab him again, prompting Jaune to raise his shield up protectively when all of a sudden, a large black shadow shot up into the air and spread its arms wide, the flapping cape giving him the appearance of a large bat descending from the sky. When the figure landed, Jaune was both awed and terrified of the man who stood before him. Much like his cape, the man's outfit was almost if not just as equally dark in color, save for the belt he wore around his waist and the heavily tinted, white lenses of his cowl, which seemed to narrow like a dangerous predator eyeing its next victim. When the robots suddenly raised their weapons, the man threw more of those bat-shaped objects at them, disarming several of the machines and removing others from the fight entirely.
The figure did not stop there, but instead, leapt forward to pounce on the nearest machine and proceed to tear it apart with his bare hands. Other robots were quicker to react and attack, but the black-clad figure merely weaved around their strikes, retaliating or just straight up countering their attacks with a speed, precision, and brutality unlike anything Jaune had ever seen from anyone. He was well aware he may have been comparing the guy to his closest friends, who were all just students like him, but somehow, he got the feeling even the professors would have been outclassed by this one man who was easily tearing apart several, highly advanced machines with nothing but simple gadgets and impressive martial arts skills. Of course, calling the exploding throwing weapons and grapnel gun he used simple probably would have been generous, but considering his best friend had a giant mechanical scythe that was also a gun, Jaune would think calling the stuff this stranger used was appropriate.
When the last machine had fallen, the figure finally turned to face Jaune, and even though he could only see the lower half of the man's face, his mouth pressed in a hard, thin line that almost bordered on being a frown, he knew the man was not glaring at him. Or at least, he was not glaring at him as harshly as he would have been an actual enemy. The bat-symbol on his chest definitely garnered Jaune's notice, but only for the few brief seconds he had before the man had stalked right up to him, startling Jaune a little when he did.
It was only after a few brief moments of silence that the man finally spoke in a deep, almost frightening voice. "You shouldn't keep your focus on just one enemy at a time," the man advised, though part of Jaune could not help but feel like he was being scolded at the same time. "It's a mistake that could prove costly to you and your allies since it would leave you open to other threats around you."
"Uh…Right. I'll uh, keep that in mind, Mister," Jaune stuttered out. He was a little too scared to think of anything else.
The man nodded in response before marching off to an alleyway near them. When he came back, Jaune was a little surprised to see Roman Torchwick not only tied up but badly beaten as well. "By the way, who are the proper authorities around here?" the man asked as he hauled Torchwick along. "I believe I have the supposed mastermind of at least half of this insanity."
"How the hell…did you even…?" Torchwick groaned, only to be roughly dropped onto his face a second later.
Jaune could barely process what was happening right now, and that ended up being a mistake as another Ursa suddenly came out of nowhere and slammed right into him. Luckily, he still had his aura up, and was just able to get his shield around so he wouldn't take too much more damage than that, but he still ended up pinned down beneath the massive beast. The bat-man was just about to rush over and help him when a certain tornado of rose petals suddenly shot past him. A second later, Crescent Rose's blade had hooked onto the Ursa's neck, and a simple pull of the trigger was all Ruby needed to finish it off in one fell swoop.
Looking around helped make it clear to Ruby how that Ursa was the last Grimm left, seeing as the Atlas forces had already moped up most of the rest, and she could not help but giggle proudly at getting the last hit on the final enemy. Jaune gave Ruby a wide smile of thanks while their friends let their praises for the young Rose be heard loud and proud, but the eight strangely dressed heroes could only stare in shock at the impressive display they had just witnessed. Eventually, one of them did approach the young huntress and even offered her a hand up, and he did so as quick as his name.
"Not bad, kid," Flash praised once Ruby was on her feet again, tired but triumphant. "But I thought you said you were a speedster."
"Uh…I am?" Ruby replied, a little confused at what Flash was implying. She did not have to wait too long for him to clarify.
"Ruby, I've seen a lot of guys moving at super speed, but that was the first time I'd ever seen someone do it by turning into a tornado of flowers. I think there might be a bit more going on than you realize with that ability of yours," Flash explained with an excited grin.
Ruby's eyes widened a little upon hearing that. She always believed her Semblance was just simply being fast, but if what Flash said was true then just what else could she be capable of? Already her mind was buzzing with ideas of things to try out during the next Team RWBY training session, or really just any training session in general, but she quickly turned her focus back to the here and now when she spotted Ironwood approaching the group. Or more accurately, he was approaching their colorful last minute allies, and something about the way he was looking at them put Ruby a little on edge.
"Who are you people? I've never seen huntsmen like any of you before. Or in some cases, abilities like yours," Ironwood demanded.
"Geez, this guy's an even bigger hard case than Batman," Static muttered. When he and others near him felt a chill run up their spines, they turned to see the Caped Crusader giving Static his signature glare, prompting the high-voltage hero to quickly mutter, "Uh, no offense."
Batman did not say anything. He simply turned his attention back to the conversation at hand as Superman stepped forward to address the general. Before he could, Shayera ended up giving her own little comment about Ironwood's manners. "Is that how people say thank you around here? Or even introduce themselves? Even Thanagarians have some form manners."
"And that's saying a lot," John could not help but mutter, prompting nods of agreement from some of his teammates, including Shayera.
Ironwood quickly realized his mistake, and cleared his throat a little before backtracking a bit. "My apologies, but having such a serious Grimm incursion such as this leaves everyone a little uneasy after the fact. My name is General James Ironwood of Atlas. I'm here in Vale for the Vytal Festival."
Superman nodded in return before shaking hands with Ironwood. "A pleasure to meet you, General. I'm Superman. My friends and I are members of a group called the Justice League, and I believe we may be a long way from home."
"I'd say that would be an accurate assessment. As I said before, I've never heard of or seen any of you before in my life, and I think the same can be said for everyone here," Ironwood stated bluntly.
"And here I thought we'd be the talk of the galaxy after how we beat Darkseid and all the rest of his cronies from Apocalypse," Flash remarked.
"After you beat who and what from where?" Yang asked, voicing the confusion everyone now felt.
Now it was the Justice League's turn to be a little surprised. It almost seemed like they could not believe these people did not know about this previous enemy of theirs. Eventually, Batman found he could only say one thing in response to this new bit of information. "We're going to need a lot more help than we thought."
Normally things in Menagerie could be considered pretty calm. Sure, the place was cramped, everyone was always doing something, and the only time true quiet ever came about was at night, but all-in-all, it was a calm kind of active. All that was disrupted so very suddenly and not in a way anyone would have expected. Then again, who would expect strange robots to suddenly materialize right in the middle of Kuo Kuana and begin attacking wildly. They did not seem to have any specific target, but there were still plenty of people getting caught in the crossfire all the same. Ghira and Kali had been taking a nice stroll when it happened, so they were both quick to start evacuating people while assisting Menagerie's defense forces in trying to fight the machines, but they were not able to do nearly as much as the other folks who had appeared and started fighting the machines without a second thought.
By far only three of them seemed to be somewhat normal, and this is while taking their choice of outfits into account. The first of the three, and most likely the oldest, was a young man with long, dark hair, in a black suit and domino mask, with a large, blue bird on his chest. The second boy appeared to be the youngest, and was clad in a red and black outfit with a black, yellow cape, and domino mask. On one side of his chest, one could also see a symbol on him, this one looking like a stylized letter "R". The third one, and the only girl of the trio, was a redhead clad in a black outfit with yellow gloves, boots, and belt, a yellow bat-symbol on her chest, and had her red hair flowing out from the back a black cowl that helped with completing the bat-like appearance her outfit gave her along with her cape. These three were all fighting the machines with nothing but their bare hands for the most part, but they also seemed to possess a wide variety of tools as well. The two boys both fought with some type of staff, with the older one using a pair of batons while the younger just went for a basic staff, while the girl mainly seemed to go for the strange bat-shaped throwing disks that they all utilized when she needed to use a weapon. Of course, at one point she drew a pair of staffs as well, but only when the machines got too close for comfort.
Moving along to the stranger folks, Kali and Ghira easily noticed the other red haired woman first. Not that she made it difficult for people to notice her even without flying around shooting fire blasts from her hands. She was incredibly beautiful, and her outfit purple did little to hide this. In fact, even with orange skin and eyes that seemed completely green, one would think she could make anyone stop and stare for hours on end just by standing still. Speaking of folks with strangely colored skin, one could not help but notice the boy with green skin even without the way he seemed to transform into every creature from the animal kingdom you could imagine. In fact, there were even a couple that Kali and Ghira could not imagine, as they witnessed him transform into a massive, lizard like creature with a large head, razor sharp teeth, and little arms. When the boy turned creature let out a ferocious roar, some people had to cover their ears to ensure they did not go deaf.
"Beast Boy! Maybe don't go turning into dinosaurs when we're trying to save the people who live here? We don't want them just as scared of us as they are of the killer robots," the man with the blue bird on his chest chided.
Beast Boy immediately turned back into his human form, even said form was still green and had pointed ears, and sheepishly chuckled in response. "Sorry about that, Nightwing," Beast Boy apologized. "I think it's become a force of habit to turn into a T-Rex at least once per fight."
"Well there are worse habits to have," the caped boy shrugged as he tossed a bola at one robot, tying it up long enough for it to be blasted a powerful sonic blast.
Said blast came from a man who looked to be part machine. In fact, very few parts of him looked to still be human, as even half of his head looked to be robotic in nature. Not that it stopped the guy from charging forward to either fight off the attacking robots or save as many people as he could either with his cannon arm or his impressive strength.
"Hey Robin, maybe don't give BB any ideas. He may start thinking it's okay to eat disgusting amounts of tofu in front of us again," the half-machine man suggested.
"Yeah, that's probably a good call, Cyborg," Robin admitted.
Even though they lacked the full context, Ghira and Kali could not help but wince in disgust a little bit, especially since Beast Boy let out a wide, mischievous grin that suggested he was thinking of doing just that later on. A sudden shower of arrows reminded everyone of the situation they were in, and the archer behind them soon dropped in to attack as well, either by shooting more arrows or by using his bow as a staff. The archer in question was clad in a red and yellow outfit that seemed pretty similar to Robin's, right down to the letter "S" on the left side of his chest and the mask he wore, but he clearly possessed a very different fighting style, given how he seemed to prefer keeping his distance and shooting more arrows.
"Speedy! Watch out!" the redhead in black shouted as she vaulted over the archer's head and landed a hard kick right into another robot's chest. A second later, she ducked down just in time for Speedy to land another arrow right in its head, disabling the machine completely.
"Thanks Batgirl," Speedy waved in gratitude.
"Don't thank me yet. We've still got more of these things to deal with," Batgirl reminded him, only to end up being caught in the grasp of a particularly large robot not even seconds later.
"Then how about I even the odds a little bit," a new voice suddenly called out.
A second later, the robot holding Batgirl had its head melted by a pair of fiery red beams, and it was forced to release its prisoner even more quickly when something slammed into it from behind. Batgirl's first response to this was to look over at her fellow redhead and say, "Thanks for the assist, Starfire."
"That was not me, Batgirl," Starfire called back, prompting Batgirl to realize the orange skinned woman was too far away to have been the one to help.
Before Batgirl could question who had helped her out just now, a blue and red blur suddenly raced through several robots at once, until it finally destroyed one last big one with a powerful uppercut. When she saw who this fast moving hero was, Batgirl's eyes immediately widened in surprise. Not that Ghira and Kali could entirely understand why. This newly arrived blonde in a blue top, red skirt, cape, and boots seemed no different from the rest of her team save for the fact she looked much more human than Starfire. Sure, she clearly possessed incredible strength and speed, and was currently hovering in the air with a dazzling smile on her face, but still looked pretty normal overall. When she turned around, the two leaders of Menagerie saw that she wore a symbol on her chest that looked like a very stylized letter "S", and their minds immediately went to a recent news report they had heard from Vale.
This train of thought only grew stronger when she landed alongside of Batgirl, prompting the redhead to finally break out of her stupor and grin widely as she gave the blonde a big hug. "Kara! It's so good to see you."
"Good to see you too, Batgirl," Kara replied happily. "But maybe you could tell me what's going on around here? One minute I was on a date with Brainy, and the next thing we know, we're suddenly here."
Batgirl was about to respond when a bluish-green skinned boy in a purple and black outfit suddenly dropped down and slugged several robots as hard as he could. One thing that did not escape anyone's notice though was the set of three circles on his head that lined up perfectly with the ones these machines all had. Batgirl had just started reaching for her belt when Kara sped into her path to stop her, only to pause when the boy waved her off. "It's alright, Kara. Given the circumstances, I'd be more worried if that wasn't someone's reaction," he said. He then offered a hand to Batgirl and said, "Brainiac 5, at your service. Supergirl's told me a lot about you."
"Yeah…Hi," Batgirl nodded as she accepted the handshake. "Sorry, this is just a little weird after everything I've heard about regarding…"
"My ancestor? Believe me, I'm used to it. Supergirl actually punched me when we first met for similar reasons," Brainiac 5 shrugged.
"Would someone please explain who you people are or what is going on around here," Ghira demanded, finally feeling like he had enough of the craziness happening around him.
Just before anyone could answer him, another robot was demolished by a sneak attack. This time the attacker shot up from under the ground, and not in the way you would typically expect either. No, this person had literally shot up through the ground like a ghost, and only the fact you could not see through her kept anyone from thinking she was one. Of course, like most of these other people, she had a rather strange appearance, but Ghira was quickly beginning to think strange was becoming a new normal at the rate they were going. The woman had green skin and short, red hair, and appeared to be dressed in an all-black body suit with a large red harness stretched over her torso, while a dark blue cape hung from her shoulders.
Supergirl regarded this newcomer with a look of curiosity before commenting, "J'onn?"
"Nope. I'm Miss Martian. My friend's call me M'gann," the girl gently corrected. She then floated over to Kara and added, "And can I just say it's a huge honor to meet you. I mean, you were one of the first of us younger heroes to join the League after they expanded, and that's without mentioning…you know, the obvious stuff."
"Oh, well, thanks," Supergirl smiled in return while shaking M'gann's hand.
"Um, excuse me, ladies," Kali interrupted, gaining everyone's attention. "I'm sure this is a very important moment for you all, but do any of you have an idea on how to deal with that?"
Turning to where Kali had pointed, the collective group all went wide-eyed at the sight of the very massive robot now towering over Menagerie and slowly stomping up onto shore. Starfire and Cyborg both opened fire on it without any second thought, but their attacks ended up doing nothing besides revealing the invisible barrier surrounding its body. In response, Supergirl and Miss Martian flew up to attack the machine directly, only to be blasted back by the same shield and then swatted out of the sky like a pair of flies. Seeing this prompted Ghira to order Menagerie's troops to open fire on the massive beast, only for them to have just as much like as Cyborg and Starfire had.
When the robot finally got within striking distance of them, everyone had either tried to make a run for cover or just duck their heads, bracing for impact until someone shouted, "NO!"
In an instant, a green dome materialized over the group, shielding them from harm, and they all turned to see a young woman in a black and green outfit with long white gloves hovering above them. Even at a simple glance it was clear this girl was the one generating the dome protecting them, but from what Kali and Ghira could see, the girl was struggling quite a bit to hold the machine back. They could feel their concerns for the girl growing when the robot struck again and the dome began to crack. Those same cracks grew in size and numbers with every blow the deadly machine landed on the dome, until the woman ended up kneeling down on the ground, grunting in an effort to maintain her shield.
"Hey, if you can make an opening in this dome for us to escape through, then you shouldn't strain yourself trying to keep this up," Kali suggested.
"No, I can do this," the girl insisted. She could not help backpedaling soon after though when more cracks were pounded into her shield. "I think I can, at least."
"Hey, now's not the time to be doubting yourself, Jessica," Nightwing admonished, and while it got him a nasty look from Kali, Ghira was able to recognize the tone of voice he used when doing so. It was one he himself had often used back when he led the White Fang, and used now as the Chieftain of Menagerie: the voice of a leader. "You can do this. So long as you have the will, there's nothing you can't do. Just focus."
Jessica took Nightwing's words to heart, as she raised her head to glare at the robot. When she did, the image of a lantern appeared over her right eye while both of her eyes started blowing a bright green color. The same shade of green light that appeared to be coming out of the ring on her right hand and creating the dome around them, and that light only grew brighter as she spoke a simple yet powerful mantra.
"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight," Jessica recited, her voice growing stronger and more confident with every word, even as she slowly stood up and began to hover before the group again. "Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power, GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"
The moment Jessica finished reciting this odd poem, the green light from her ring grew to blinding levels of brightness, and everyone had to look away less they risk being blinded themselves. They could still hear perfectly fine though, and the most notable sounds they heard aside from an explosion of energy, was the sound of something being overpowered and shattered. At first they all thought it meant Jessica's shield had failed, only to gasp in awe at seeing it was actually the robot's shield going down, as evidenced by how it stumbled back while the last fragments of energy surrounding it faded away.
Seeing they now had their opening, Starfire, Cyborg, and Speedy all opened fire on the metal beast once more, with Supergirl joining in via her heat vision, Jessica adding a blast from her ring, and Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin all throwing out several of their explosives as well. Miss Martian and Beast Boy ended up landing the finishing blow when M'gann flew the younger shapeshifter into the air and he transformed into a massive whale, landing right on top of the robot when he did, and crushing it beneath his weight.
With the danger finally passed, Ghira and Kali deemed to it safe enough for everyone to come out from wherever they had gone to hide, and they all did so with excited cheers for the group of heroes before them. The young heroes merely smiled and waved back in response, even as Ghira approached them.
"It would seem we owe you our lives, young friends," Ghira informed the group. "But before that, who exactly are you? Are you part the Justice League that we've heard had appeared in Vale a few weeks ago?"
"Some of us are, yes, but for the most part, we're our own group," Nightwing replied as he stood at the forefront of the team. "You can call us the Titans."
When Winter and the Ace-Ops had first heard about this Justice League, they all thought Ironwood had finally snapped under the stress he so regularly put himself under. This was of course before they saw the general's reports, their accompanying videos and images, and of course, the various news stories that had flown out of Vale shortly afterwards. Needless to say, they were all very intrigued, but at the same time, most of them could not help but share a bit of Ironwood's suspicions of these so-called heroes from another world. Marrow, of course, thought the League were the heroes they claimed to be and were pretty cool, and while she might not admit it out loud, Elm was of a similar mindset. Then again, this was probably more due to her new desire to test her strength against some of the League's stronger members. Harriet's only interest was in Flash and Superman, mainly because she wanted to see if she could beat either of them in a race, while Vine was decidedly neutral on the whole thing for the time being.
Clover and Winter were probably the only ones who kept their opinions completely quiet, but the Ace-Ops had worked with their leader long enough to know when something had caught his interest, and the Justice League had definitely done that. Winter on the other hand was harder to read, but some of them could swear they had caught glimpses of her gazing at the images of the League with narrow eyes. When they heard about another similar group appearing in Menagerie calling themselves the Titans and claiming to be associated with the League in some capacity or another, they all quickly began to wonder if any other places in the world would end up being visited by a group from the League's world. They did not have to wait for long, as Atlas and Mantle soon found themselves being met with their own contingent of strange visitors.
It had actually started out with some less than reputable individuals who called themselves the Injustice Gang, and their members were comprised of some rather unique individuals with incredible abilities. One was a woman whose body was almost like water or even oil, and called her Inque, another was a man who looked like he grew up in the jungle and called himself Stalker. Yet another was a man dressed up like the king on a playing card, and then there was the man in a black and white suit who used some kind of sound manipulating technology for various attacks. These two were King and Shriek. Rounding out this gang of crooks was a man who looked to be made of mud that called himself Clayface, and they also seemed to have a few extra foot soldiers of their own in the form of various crooks dressed up like clowns. The only reason the Ace-Ops were able to take the clowns as serious threats was because one of the pies they threw melted a hole in the wall it had hit, and all their other little gags had just as if not deadly effects.
Winter was hardly in the mood for dealing with such individuals, even after most of them had overpowered Clover's team. Still, she stood her ground, now back-to-back with Robyn Hill of all people in defending the city from these…people, for lack of a better word, but her strong stance only seemed to make most of them laugh. Especially in the case of the clowns.
"Come on, pretty ladies. Ya got nothing left to give at this point," one the clowns remarked.
"Let's put a smile on their faces," a bigger clown remarked as he whipped out a knife.
"Just try it, you little delinquents, and I guarantee you won't like the results," Winter dared.
"Ooh! Big talk, girlie, but you clearly don't know who you're messing with," the lead clown grinned. "Even without the newest Injustice Gang, we'd have you beat. After all, we're the Jokerz."
"As a certain old man I know once said, sure you are," a new voice quipped right after, prompting everyone to turn around just as a red and black, bat-shaped throwing weapon came flying through the air to disarm the nearest clown. Another pair of these weapons soon flew down right into Shriek's weapons, disabling the sonic devices and forcing the criminal to discard them as quickly as he could. Too bad for him, it was not fast enough to avoid being kicked in the head by the one who had launched the attack.
At first glance, Winter believed this to be the famed Batman the general had told her about, but a second look made her rethink the theory. Sure, his suit was bat-themed, but there were a number of easily spotted differences. Firstly, the symbol on his chest not only looked slightly different but was colored red, making it stand out against the all-black suit almost as much as if not more than his silver belt did. Secondly, the ears on his cowl were longer than the ones on the man in the images and videos she had seen, and most notable was how this man did not have a cape. Instead, he had a set of red, retractable wings that folded into his arms and back. Not to mention he did not appear to be as muscular as the Batman her superior had encountered. Taking all this in made Winter think this might have been someone associated with Batman or just heavily inspired by him, but the villains she and her companions were fighting seemed to think otherwise.
"Batman's here?! Someone kill him!" King ordered as he pointed his sword at the black-clad man and fired an energy beam from it.
"How the mighty have fallen. From the Royal Flush Gang to any old crooks? And here I thought you held yourself to higher standards, King," the young "Batman" quipped as he spun away from some Jokerz that had been foolish enough to charge him. He easily began dispatching the various clowns but had to pause when Inque suddenly lunged at him in an attempt to drown him with her body.
Inque's attack did not go through, as a green barrier barred her path, courtesy of what looked to be a child in a uniform that matched that of the Green Lantern the general had informed them of. "Please, let us make this fight a little more fair," the young boy calmly suggested as he proceeded to entrap Inque in a cage made of green energy. The liquid villainess easily slipped out between the bars, but that did not seem to deter this young Lantern. "Ah, like water. Very good."
Recognizing the needed change in tactics, the next thing the Green Lantern created to contain Inque ended up being a corked bottle, leaving Clayface and Stalker. Neither of them lasted long though, as a man in black and silver armor with wings soon came swooping in to knock Clayface out of the fight, while Stalker was suddenly being bombarded by blasts of water, courtesy of a woman with long, aqua-green hair who was dressed in what looked to be a one-piece swimsuit. When some Jokerz tried to run, they found their path barred by a woman in strange, almost alien armor and a man in black and red who grew to the size of a small giant.
"Just couldn't wait for us, could you, Batman?" the armored woman remarked as she bashed in the skulls of some jokers with her weapon.
"Can you blame him, Barda? Most of these guys are some of his usual villains," the size-changer pointed out. "It'd be like asking you to hold back when we deal with anything that comes from Apocalypse."
Robyn and Winter would have offered up some remarks of their own as well, had they not been caught up with some of the other Jokerz. One even nearly got the drop on Robyn had the winged man from before not intervened to block the attack with his arm. After slugging away the offending clown, he turned to her and asked, "You alright?"
"Yeah. I had that under control," Robyn waved off good-naturedly.
"Clearly," the man smirked in reply, seeming to like her attitude. "Name's Warhawk, Justice League Unlimited. We can take it from here."
"Appreciate the offer, but I'm not just going to sit back and let some clowns attack my home. Literal or figurative," Robyn waved off as she turned her crossbow on the next nearest Jokerz and fired several arrows at them.
Before anyone could say anything more, even captured or defeated villain was suddenly whisked away by a red streak of lightning and then deposited in a huge pile-up. Recognizing what this must mean, Winter quickly used her Semblance to summon various Grimm to act as sentries, while the Green Lantern formed a sphere of energy that would better contain them. When the streak finally came screeching to a halt, it was revealed to be a young woman dressed in a red suit with a familiar lightning bolt emblem on her chest.
"Sorry I'm late. Had to finish rounding up those Kobra troops who got dragged here with us," the woman apologized.
"Just glad you showed up when you did, Flash," the size-changer shrugged off.
Seeing as the threat was dealt with for now, Winter took the time to check on the rest of the Ace-Ops, only to see Clover had already gotten his team back on their feet and was now leading them in slapping some cuffs on the villains. Turning to the first of the heroes to show up, Elm walked over and gave him a congratulatory slap on the back and said, "Not bad, kid. You're pretty tough for someone who's dressed up like that Batman guy who appeared in Vale."
"First, don't call me kid," the black-clad man growled. "And second, I am Batman."
"Right, and your friends over there are Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman?" Harriet scoffed, thinking the kid was just acting tough.
"Please don't compare me to my mother's ex," Warhawk insisted.
"Technically, yes, I am a Green Lantern, and this is the Flash. You may call me Kai-Ro, if you'd like," the young boy clarified.
"Seriously? How many Green Lanterns are there? Because you're the third one we've heard about now," Marrow remarked.
"There is an entire Corp of Green Lanterns," Kai-Ro explained as simply as possible.
"Okay, I'll let you have that one, but last I checked, Flash is a guy," Harriet pointed out.
"The original Flash, yes. I'm actually the second Flash," the lady speedster laid out as simply as possible. She then smirked a little as she added, "Starting to catch up now, or do I need to slow the explanation down for you a little more?"
Seeing how upset this was making Harriet, Clover felt it might be wise to step in when a large, snake-like man suddenly jumped at him. He never reached the lucky Ace-Op, as a sudden bolt of electricity suddenly struck him and sent him flying until he was pinned to the nearest wall. When Winter, Robyn, and the Ace-Ops looked to see who had done that, they were all shocked to see what they did, for there, descending from above on his saucer was a man who looked a lot like someone they heard about from the general. The only difference was he appeared to be much older than the general had described him to be.
"And who are you?" Vine asked.
"The name's Static, and even after all these years, I still put a shock to your system," the man replied.
"But…But that's impossible," Clover stuttered. "The general said Static was just a kid."
That got Batman's attention and he asked Winter, "Care to explain why your friend would think that? Or even how you people seemed to know about Batman at all when as far as I can tell no version of me or the original should even exist here?"
Winter's response was to open her Scroll and show him one pictures of the Justice League that Ironwood had sent them in his reports. "This image is one of many taken by our allies and superior who are currently in Vale for the Vytal Festival, as well as several locals from said kingdom. Anything look familiar?"
"Yeah. Static's younger self, Warhawk's parents, and the old man being just a few," Batman replied. He then let out a groan as he added, "Slag it, this just keeps getting more and more complicated by the minute."
"I don't know. I think this could be pretty schway," Old Static smirked, and while most of the folks from Atlas and Mantle may not have known the exact meaning of the word, they did get the sense it meant something good.
AN: I'll be honest, I'm still a little iffy on ending things there, but at that point, I figured I'd gotten everything I wanted to showcase for this one out there. Yeah, every part of the DCAU would be showing up in some way, including stuff that we only saw in tie-in comics. The Batman Beyond Flash, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg you saw here were all in fact part of that continuity, and if you've seen Justice League vs the Fatal Five, you would know the same is true for Jessica Cruz and Miss Martian.
Weiss: I feel like having Jessica Cruz in there might cause a few ship wars to start.
AN: Let's not tempt fate like that, shall we?
Anyways, yeah, a lot of cool stuff happened here, including some stuff I figured some of us would have liked to see happen in the Justice League x RWBY movie. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to see Wonder Woman and Pyrrha teaming up? That's a tag-team that just begs to happen even if only for a few moments, ya know? And yeah, I had Flash tell Ruby that her Semblance isn't actually superspeed, because who would be a better expert about such powers than the Scarlet Speedster himself?
Ruby: Does it also act as a little way of you getting back at Harriet for every bad thing she said and did to us during the events of Volumes 7 and 8?
AN: I can neither confirm nor deny such a thing. Also, yeah, I've got both young Static and his older self from the Batman Beyond timeline in here. One thing I always notice about many different fanfictions that either take place in the time of Terry McGinnis or feature him and his pals as the stars is that we never hear about him interacting with any other big name heroes without them being someone like Superman or Wonder Woman. I mean, come on, the crossover episode in Static Shock stated that Static had become one of the world's greatest heroes by Terry's time, so why not show a little more love for the High Voltage Hero?
Ruby: By the way, why have the Titans appear in Menagerie? That seems a little random, doesn't it?
AN: Well it was either that or putting them in either Mistral or Vacuo. Vacuo we haven't really seen too much of outside of secondhand accounts in the main RWBY Series and the stuff that takes place in the spin-off novels, so I didn't want to push that idea, and Mistral...well, the only person they could have run into there would have been Lionheart, and we all know why that would be a bad thing. Honestly, Menagerie seemed like the best bet just because it had more characters there who have had a decent amount of screen time and are also a pretty big deal, namely Blake's parents.
Oh, and before I forget, this would all take place post Justice League Unlimited, as you've probably figured out from when they mentioned Darkseid and Apocalypse.
Weiss: But then why are all these Brainaic drones here?
AN: The League had been investigating a rumor about Brainaic possibly making a come back when they got zapped to Remnant. The Titans had gone along as backup, and the whole thing was going down in Static's Hood. The thing that brought them there would be similar to the device used by Chronos, so that's why all the Beyond characters are here too. Any other questions?
Ruby: Yeah, where did Yang go? She should be giving her own opinion on this since this is technically her birthday present.
AN: Huh? [looks to see both Blake and Yang have vanished from where they were sitting, and then gains a deadpan expression] Somehow, I get the feeling Blake is giving Yang a special birthday present.
Weiss: If by present you mean make-out session, then yes. [notices how Ruby and AN both look at her weirdly] They left me this note before rushing out of here right after the story ended.
AN: [looks over the note to confirm that it is in Blake's handwriting which says she would be doing as Weiss said, with a bit of script at the end that's clearly by Yang] "Loved the Meeting lyoko. Thanks so much. Ruby, don't worry, I'll make sure to get my birthday hug from you as soon as Blake and I finish. Love Yang."
Well, at least she didn't bail right at the start, or even bail because she hated it. Anyways, that's a wrap on the Meetings for a while. 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 birthday Weiss, and I'll see you again in the next colorful adventure!