Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY or the Spider-Man franchise.
Chapter 63 Skeletons In The Closet
After Fury's holographic image disappeared, the team thought staying cooped up in the tent was unbearable and walked out. Outside, the three Avengers could see that the bandit was almost done getting their tents fixed and rebuilt. Despite their rough and disgruntled appearance, the bandits seemed to have a good work ethic as they fixed their base of operations without a single one of them showing signs of procrastinating.
"SCREEE!" An ant screamed as it noticed one bandit, in particular, dropping a sack of rations, causing a reaction of other ants to go near him. Seeing the impending danger, the man who dropped the bag to catch his breath picked it up and returned to work. The insects stopped their charge and went back to roaming around the area.
"Huh, so that was something." Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head. "Wasp, you think perhaps you could shrink them back down now? Raven is on our side now, and I think having an ant army threatening her tribe isn't going to help us."
"I'll give it another hour or so until Raven opens up the portal to Haven."
"I like to think this is karmic justice." Iron Man brought up his opinion. "These guys use their numbers and strength to bully villagers for resources. Now, literal bugs use their numbers and power to bully these bandits. It's like that one movie with less family-friendly views, and the ants are more monstrous."
Spider-Man nodded his head at his friend's statements and turned when around when the sound of Raven's tent flaps moving.
"Well, I usually have to light a fire underneath their rear ends to make them do something productive, but I think this method suits me just fine." Raven looked at her territory and smiled as she saw her tribe fix their home faster than usual. "Perhaps this deal with Fury was a fine one."
'It's still so weird, but I can't deny it. The woman in front of me is Yang's mom.' To say he was conflicted was an understatement for the young superhero. Ruby and Yang were half-sisters, and it seems Yang's mom chose to be a bandit leader instead of being a mother. He knows he doesn't have the full picture as to why Raven was here and not a mother to Yang and Ruby. But he, as sure as heck, knows that he can't tell them that he found Raven. 'Does Yang know her mother is alive? Does she know that she kills people? It was already weird that I fought Qrow, but now I fought Raven too! Ruby's kind of, sort of mom! Man, this is not how I envisioned meeting an in-law.'
"Did I just think about in-laws?"
"What did you say?" Raven asked.
"I said I was thinking about the laws that you broke, Raven. Don't think we forgot about that village you were taking lien from those people. Just because Nick Fury wants you on this mission doesn't mean you can brush aside all those crimes you committed. Banditry, extortion, and murder, which you admitted earlier, will not be swept under the rug."
Raven sighed. "Fine, if it makes you feel better, I'll send one of my people to go back to the village and return what we took from them today."
"That's a start, but giving the village everything you took from them will be a better start."
Raven glared at Spider-Man's insolence only to turn away to save face, for she did not wish to be on Fury's bad side. While she knows she is strong even before being the Spring Maiden, Raven knows it won't be enough to handle Fury. After all, being the leader of a secret organization that is backed by all four kingdoms isn't something to be taken lightly.
"I'll send them the last three payments, and that's it." Turning her head, Raven signaled Vernal to order one of her men to do so now. As her young ward left to handle the task, Raven looked back at the Avengers. "Now, I recommend you get yourself comfortable for a while because I need to rest before I can take you to see Lionheart."
"Didn't you rest enough?" Iron Man asked.
"Though I may look fine, trust me when I say that I'm still feeling the lingering pain of an iron fist colliding with the side of my head." Raven smiled, showing some teeth to Iron Man. "Besides, I have already used some energy to create the portal to return to my home. The longer the distance, the greater the energy I use, so give me a couple of hours to rest, and I will be ready."
"She does have a point." Wasp used her hands to gesture to her teammates to huddle around her. "Iron Man, can you send a message to our ride to land here? I need to restock some particles for my suit."
Iron Man's eye slits flashed briefly.
"Sent a message, and the bullhead will be here in 45 minutes."
"If you guys plan to do a gear check, then by all means. While you guys do that, I'll see if I can pry a bit more on Raven." Spider-Man told them.
Rest seemed to elude Raven as she could not relax in her tent for a moment. Despite knowing how these 'heroes' seem to follow a code not to attack her and her tribe, the Branwen leader still could not drop her guard.
'Of course, I wouldn't drop my guard. I don't even drop my guard to my tribesmen.' Sighing that sleep was not easy to obtain, Raven decided that the best way to relax was by having her mind busy with a task. 'Since I'm now obligated to help Fury, I might as well do my best in plotting a course of going to Salem.'
Walking to the small section of her tent that shows a large map of Remnant. Raven was using her experience in topography to mark certain areas that could be future spots that would assist Fury with the help of her semblance when she stopped as Spider-Man entered her tent.
"Is there something you need?" She asked.
"Yeah, I got a few. Starting with someone you know. Qrow Branwen, someone who I'm guessing isn't a person you don't want to meet even if he is your brother?"
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Raven tried to hide her disdain at hearing her brother's name.
"I mean," Spider-Man shrugged his shoulders. "You have a bird name, he has a bird name, though an incorrect bird name, but hey, it's close. He ever talks about his family, and you seem to be the type to avoid such notions of family. When I met him, I also met some people who are related to him, one, in particular, being very similar to you."
'Even when you are not around, you still find ways to make my life inconvenient, Qrow.'
"Yang," Deciding that denying what he was saying was pointless, Raven decided to speak up. "She is my daughter."
"So I didn't see things. Man, her dad must have some serious genes if it could give Yang a set of blonde hair. But anyway, I'm even more curious as to why she is back at Vale when her mother is here."
"I don't need to tell you my personal life, insect." Any formality she had was replaced with anger at the masked vigilante. How dare this stranger to try and pry into her past life. He has no right and no real benefit to know why she decided to leave her daughter and husband. "Did you expect me to just explain my life to you and then suddenly trust you? Sorry to hurt your feelings, but this is real life, not some show that gives inconvenient exposition."
"Worth a shot," Spider-Man and Raven stayed in silence for a couple of seconds, and when Raven was going to tell him to leave, Spider-Man talked again. "But since you are Yang's mom, I should tell you that Yang and Ruby are doing fine at Beacon. As for Qrow, he has been helping Ozpin to set his plans in motion with the relics, which involves Yang."
*TCH* "Qrow, you ignorant scycophant. Did you know why I left Ozpin's inner circle? Because of this," Raven waved her arms at the large map. "Ozpin might not see this, but he is just like Salem. Both do not need to worry about death; the only ones who are hurt are the people who follow them. We are just chess pieces that can be replaced, and Remnant is their chess board."
*Sigh* "Again, with the chess references." Spider-Man said under his breath. "Look, your right that you don't have to tell me your reasons as to why you left your family. But you need to know what's happening now more than ever. Especially now that Yang is the Fall maiden."
Raven felt an invisible weight drop in her stomach when she heard that Yang was now a Maiden. When? More importantly, why?! 'Qrow, have you finally become so desperate that you would have Yang have a target on her back for the rest of her life? No, it can't be just him. Did Tai also agree to this as well?'
"Yang had to take the Fall maiden power because no other candidate was there. She is doing fine and is trying to hone her new powers. But anyway, I wanted to let you know because even if you left, that doesn't mean you can fix that by helping. You don't trust Ozpin, and I don't either, so if you can help Fury handle Salem, then that means Yang doesn't have to deal with the dangers of being a Maiden."
Spider-Man's words didn't convince Raven, so he chose to try a different way to convince her.
"And I'm sure when all of this is settled with Salem; I'm sure Fury would handle Ozpin and his terrible actions. It would be quite the sight to see Ozpin behind a maximum security prison, wouldn't it?"
'If I can't appeal to her maternal side, then perhaps being spitful to her former boss would be the ticket.'
"I know that you are trying to have me trust you by attempting to appeal to my malicious side, and I would be lying if seeing Ozpin in prison doesn't put a smile on my face." As much as she tries to hide it, Raven still holds some concern for her daughter. Even more so now that Ozpin has her being the current Fall maiden which means Raven had even more reason to get involved. "I will help you get to Haven and stop Lionheart, but not because of family or some other nonsense. I want to help because my tribe is more likely to survive siding with Fury. When this is done, I expect to hear news of Ozpin going to jail, including my treacherous brother."
"I'm beginning to think you have a problem with your brother. Vernal had the same response to hearing Qrow's name too."
"Why he is not welcomed to the tribe is simply due to him being a coward and running away from the tribe. Either way, Qrow knows never to return, and if he does, he will not be shown mercy, just like when the Branwen clan took over the tribe from the previous clan leader."
"Previous clan leader? I thought this whole tribe was Branwen."
"This camp was founded by a previous clan, whose rule was that the strongest would lead the tribe. Long ago, the leader had this insane idea of hunting this single goal that seemed to elude him. Long story short, my ancestor, who was part of that tribe, chose to usurp their authority and won, resulting in the tribe being known as the 'Branwen' tribe."
"And who was the previous clan name?"
Raven was quiet, either because it was long since someone asked or because such a name still held some power among the tribe.
"The name of the previous clan that led us was Kravinoff."
The bullhead arrived at the Avengers location, and Wasp and Iron Man repaired and restocked the necessary equipment. Vernal came near the open hatch of the aircraft and knocked on the metal hull to get their attention.
"Hey." She said.
"Hey yourself." Iron Man replied. Wasp nodded as a sign of acknowledging Vernal and went back to checking her gear.
"Don't mind her," Iron Man decided to talk, seeing as Vernal looked a bit uncomfortable near them. "She's just trying to get this mission over as soon as possible. What do you need?"
"I just wanted to talk, mostly to you." Vernal looked away to the side and used her hair to hide her eyes. "I can leave if you two are busy."
"It's fine," Iron Man moved from his spot and followed Vernal outside. "Wasp, I'll talk to Vernal and see if you can try and connect to the rest of our team while I'm gone."
"You got it; I'll let you and Spider-Man know as soon as possible."
Following Vernal outside of the bullhead, Iron Man sees that Vernal looks far more comfortable outside in the open compared to how nervous she looked just a couple of seconds ago.
"Don't like cramped places?"
"No, it just feels weird that you and I were fighting not just five hours ago, and now we are working together. Even more so, as I controlled your friend's mind and used her to kill you both."
"Meh, if you stick around with us, you tend to experience some weird things." He waved his armored hand in the air to show that he didn't hold anything against her. "I mean, I can't really be angry at you. Raven is the one that lied to you about your brother and has you guys be bandits."
"I know that!" Vernal snapped at Iron Man and then looked down at the ground. "But you don't know what Raven had to endure to keep this tribe together. While most people hid behind the large cities, the tribe had to fend for itself with Grimm and other bandits. This tribe is strong because it does not rely on mercenaries who call themselves 'Hunstmen.' Raven showed us a life where we don't have to abide by the kingdoms and their unnecessary laws, such as the registration act."
"You say your people are strong but are you sure it's not stolen strength because of the raiding you guys do to other villages?"
"We only take what we need, and if you think we do more than that, then you got it wrong. Raven makes sure her orders are clear and precise. And if those willing to take more for themselves or try to take Raven's spot as a leader..."
Iron Man's HUD sent out an alarm warning him of a spike of energy before the ground around Vernal suddenly shifted into spikes before moving back into the dirt.
"Then they have to deal with the witch."
"Didn't expect you to be her bodyguard." The readings he got from his HUD showed Whitley the same energy, similar to Raven and Cinder, making him ponder how Vernal could have such power.
"It's better for me to take care of any rabble that tries to act like the big dog. I at least scare them, and they fall back in line. Raven will just smite them on the spot and would make the tribe waste time cleaning the mess."
"And your just fine with that?"
"This place has its ups and downs, but deep down, it holds people who look out for their tribe. Remnant is cruel, and no matter what, people say that it's because of the Grimm. It is all of humanity that makes life crueler for others."
"Only humanity? If you forgot, Faunus also lives on this planet, preaching to the choir if you don't take account of the White Fang."
"They fall under the same tree," Vernal balled her fist in anger. "Faunus or human, both are the same down to their DNA, with the most common trait being ignorance. I lived my life in fear because of both races, but being here, protected by Raven, made me realize that this is my haven. And I would always protect this place no matter what."
"Your brother didn't seem to have the same idea." Iron Man's head shifted as he remembered something Pietro had told him. "He told me this once, he said-'Yeah, I'm no saint. I've lied, cheated, and robbed more people than I care to admit. But I'm nothing like you. I steal people's stuff, but you steal their lives!' That's what he told Raven, and seeing her and how she acts, I agree."
"He just doesn't understand," The witch told Iron Man. "Pietro must have forgotten how Remnant treats those who are different." Before she could go off tangent, Vernal calmed down and looked at Iron Man with a neutral look. "I apologize for my attitude earlier. I went off course, but I just want to know how my brother is doing."
"Won't Raven be mad that I'm talking about someone who decided to ghost the tribe? I mean, Qrow did the same thing."
"The difference between that sack of trash and my brother is like comparing a diamond to a piece of a broken beer glass." Vernal placed a hand on her chest. "Pietro is special, just like how I'm special. We are here because our father entrusted Raven to take care of us. Because Humans and Faunus are afraid of who and what we are. As for Qrow, he has the skills like Raven and could have been a chief of this tribe if he didn't decide to cage himself under the callous rule of that wizard! Now, the once dangerous and feared Qrow, a walking 'calamity,' is a drunk now."
"Your father chose this place as your haven? Well, I've heard of bad daycares, but Raven being your wetnurse, must be a different form of hell." The joke seemed to have made Vernal giggle at the image of seeing Raven being a dotting caretaker making Iron Man smile underneath his helmet. 'Guess this witch isn't so wicked.'
"You know, this kind of reminds me of how I met your brother."
For the moment, Vernal and Iron Man set aside their different perspectives and just talked about the golden Avenger's adventures. Meanwhile, Vernal was giving all her attention to him and couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity about Remnant. Her early childhood memories had many dark moments, yet hearing what Iron Man does and what her brother experiences made her glad he was doing alright.
"Ant-Man, can you hear me?" Wasp talked through her commlink built into her helmet. "Please answer me."
"..."
Either because of the distance or due to a problem being caused on Ant-Man's end. Wasp could only hear silence making her worry that Ant-Man and Black Panther were in danger.
"Please..." She whispered as she waited in silence.
"...-ello?" Wasp was jolted from her depression as he heard a faint voice cut through the radio silence. "...-ello! Hello! Hello! Wasp, you hear me?!"
"Ant-Man," Wasp looked outside to ensure no one from the Branwen tribe was nearby. "Scott! I'm so happy to hear your voice!"
"Same to you," The shape-changing heroine can hear Ant-Man was also sharing the same feeling of dread just like she. "I'm so happy that you are ok. How are you and the others doing?"
"Things are doing well here now that we found the Spring Maiden. Turns out that the Maiden we thought was being held captive by the bandits was actually the bandit leader herself calling the shot."
"Seriously! Wow, a magical girl with a penchant for murder. Not the type of combination I would expect in real life."
"You don't know the half of it," Wasp wanted to talk about Raven's little helper, Vernal but chose to go for the essential parts of her mission. "Get this, Raven, the bandit leader and current Spring Maiden has known Fury all this time. They even used to work with Ozpin before they split."
"What a twist! It does make sense how Fury knows so much about Ozpin and his past lives."
"Yeah, so since both know each other, Nick and Raven gave her an offer, and now she is helping us get to Haven to reach Lionheart. And you? How are you guys fairing?" She asked.
"The beginning was fine. We snuck into the White Fang stronghold and stopped Adam from killing the leader of the WF. We thought it would be over and the WF would attack Adam for a mutiny. It turns out he already took over the Terrorist group, and we had to escape the place as soon as possible."
"Glad you all made it out alive."
"So am I. There was this guy with Adam, a human, I might add, who was an absolute unit! The guy just couldn't stay down! Thankfully, Fury's agent was a crack shot and was able to give us the needed cover fire to escape. You should have been here; that bow guy was taking shots that make professional snipers look bad."
"Glad he was of help. So, are you guys getting a ride to leave yet?"
"Nick is already sending us a ride to take us back. For now, we are just keeping low, and a nice married couple is letting us use their place to hide and take care of the now-dethroned leader of the WF."
"Isn't that a bit dangerous to allow them to keep you guys safe?"
"Oh, I'm not saying they're defenseless. Some heavy security guards their house. Get this, the married couple that took us in is none other than Ghira and Kali Belladonna, who were part of the old White Fang and is also the leader of Menagerie!"
"Looks like today is just full of coincidences for both of our teams. Do you have an ETA on when you will leave?"
"As of right now, the priority is ensuring that VIP, Sienna Khan, is secured and she is still unconscious and recovering. Our third man on the team didn't get an answer when our ride shows up, but Ghira and Kali were nice enough to let us stay until Sienna was in full health. They said this was their way of thanking us for stopping the Grimm invasion at Vale. After that, we will take our VIP to somewhere safe, and then we will make our way to Haven to stop Adam from attacking the school."
"If that's so, then I hope you guys stay safe." A metal 'THUNK' noise made Wasp look to see that Iron Man was back from talking to Vernal. "Iron Man, glad your back. I got Ant-Man, and he's telling me how things are on his end."
"That's great that you're on a call with him, but I just got word that Raven is recovered enough of her strength to make the trip for us to reach Haven Academy."
"Guess you guys will beat us there," Ant-Man chuckled. "I should probably check up on Sienna. It's already my shift to watch over her. Stay safe, Wasp, and good luck."
"You too, Ant-Man." She said before the call was cut, leaving her and Iron Man. "What did Vernal want to talk about?"
"Just some backstory about Pietro, her brother. You know, when you peel away the layers of her creepy witch persona, Vernal is a pretty decent person. After talking to her, it left me with more questions about who she is." Iron Man shook his head to get back at the task at hand. "Spider-Man is waiting for us at Raven's tent. If you are ready, we can head over and get this mission over before they can even know what hit them."
"Now that we all are here," Raven eyed each member of Nick's team. "I can now get the portal that leads to Lionheart."
"Question," Spider-Man raised his hand. "Since your semblance can take us to him, won't that mean he will catch us in the act and try and inform Salem that we are at Haven?"
"My semblance is less constrictive than you think. I can go to a person I have a 'connection' to, but I can also appear within the vicinity of said target. Meaning, I don't have to appear right next to Lionheart." Raven looked to Iron Man, who stepped forward and used his gauntlet to produce a holographic map of Haven Academy. "Nick gave Iron Man the map of the school. I can take you all to a location close to Lionheart without him noticing."
"Fury's spy implanted inside Haven is also on the nose about our arrival and has already marked a space to show up." Iron Man spoke while the 3D model created a small red dot on a specific location. "This part of the school is the storage room underneath Lionheart's office. It will be wide enough for all four of us, and the spy should also be there to brief us on what he knows."
"Once we all know what Lionheart knows about Salem. We set a trap, spring it, and take down Lionheart and his accomplices, and then while using the commotion, sneak below the school to where the vault is and unlock it to retrieve the relic." Raven made a quick play-by-play for the plan, and as the hologram died down, the bandit queen looked to Vernal. "You will not be on this mission. While I'm gone, I need you to watch the rest of the tribe."
"I understand," Vernal nodded her head, as this was the usual routine that Raven placed on her. "Should I have them pack up?"
"Yes, after the commotion we made, I know this place will have someone or something come around to investigate."
"But you people just finished putting things back to normal," Wasp argued. "Shouldn't you let them rest a bit?"
"This isn't the first time we had to move right after setting our roots. Besides, now that I'm working with Nick, I'm sure he would want to have my people be put to some use. Besides, I make it a policy to be prepared to move if I ever deal with a critical situation."
"So you're the kind of person that believes in the 'Hope for the best, but expect the worst.' I can understand that." Spider-Man said,
"No, I'm more of the 'if things can go wrong, it will go wrong.' As much as I agreed to help Fury, I at least need to make sure my tribe is prepared to leave if things go south. We may be dealing with Lionheart, but don't forget that Salem controls him. Now that she has lost some pieces, Salem will be more active on her side. So I advise we make sure that we keep our presence less known."
"You do know that our suits are the exact opposite of 'stealthy,' right?" Iron Man waved his arms at his metal suit. "I can also hope Haven Academy doesn't have metal detectors at the doors too."
Raven stared at Iron Man, inhaled from her nose, and exhaled from her mouth.
"If there are no other interruptions," Raven turned to her table and picked up her signature helmet. "We can get this ov-"
"Oh hey, you got yourself a replacement bird head," Spider-Man spoke up as he saw Raven's bone mask. He then realized he had cut her off and chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry, continue, please. A-and also sorry for, you know, breaking in your first one."
"WE CAN GET THIS OVER WITH," Unsheathing her blade and swinging it in a cross slash, followed by some angered growling with each swing, Raven opened a portal and was the first to enter. "God, I can't believe these are Remneant's only hope."
Have you ever experienced going through a portal? No? Well, neither did Spider-Man, but the only thing he can compare it to is as if he was walking underwater. One moment he was entering the window's screen saver that was Raven's portal, and just as the feeling washed over him, it soon dissipated when he exited on the other side.
"Woah!" Spider-Man's compound eyes widened in surprise as he was now in the storage room, just like Iron Man said they would. "Looks like I can be called the Friendly 'international' Spider-Man under my belt now."
From the corner of his eye, the webhead can see the portal shift as a familiar silhouette begins to form. The next person to exit the portal was Iron Man, who seemed to share the same amazement as Spider-Man did not five seconds ago.
"Woah!" Iron Man, who was out of the portal but was still close to it, looked around his surroundings. "This beats the regular commute. Wonder who- Wah!"
Since Iron Man was so close to Raven's portal, the young Schnee did not notice Wasp emerge out of the portal.
"Woa- OW!" Wasp didn't notice Iron Man, and the two collided with a 'TINK!' and both groaned and shook their heads.
"Geez, Iron Man, you couldn't take a step forward?"
"Sorry," Iron Man rubbed the back of his head. "Got caught up in the moment. Hey, where is Raven?"
"Yeah, your right," Spider-Man didn't see her when he arrived. "Now that I think about it. I don't see the spy either."
"That's because we are behind you."
The portal closes, and Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wasp sees Raven and another person standing next to her. Out of everyone in this room, this agent wore formal clothing that Spider-Man could compare to what a librarian would wear. Still, most notable was that she had long scarlet hair and long, pointed furry ears.
"A fox Faunus?" Whispered Spider-Man. "You must be the spy, right?"
"Yes, I'm the spy that has been keeping tabs on Lionheart." She walked the Spider-Man and raised her hand for a handshake.
"My alias in Haven is Kushina, but S.H.I.E.L.D knows me as Natasha Romanoff, callsign Black Widow."
I'm sorry.
This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I filled it with more character background development and more easter eggs. I'm sure most already know who the agents that Fury sent are so I can get to the main point of my AN.
This chapter is short because some family situations are so important that I had to use my vacation days to not be at work. It is so important that I will also not be posting a chapter in February because I need to be with my family as they go through some hardships.
I can't go into further details about it, but I will start posting again in March and close this arc as well. Thank you all for understanding, and I thank you all for reading this story.
