Disclaimer: Brotherhoof12 does not own RWBY or the Spider-Man franchise.
Chapter 66: Home
In the city of Vale, there was a random street that was mostly filled with apartment homes and mom-and-pop owned stores. It was an early morning, and people were starting to wake up to go to work or school. One set of people, a dad, and his young daughter, were midway crossing the street when they stopped when they hear the sounds of screeching tires. The civilians did not need to wonder what was causing the sounds as out of nowhere a speeding car made a sharp turn and drove into their street. Many people ran away to avoid getting hit, but due to how fast the car was going and how close they were to the dad and daughter it seemed as if they were about to get hit. Without hesitating the father placed himself between the car and his child in hopes that he can save her.
(TWIP-TWIP)
But his act of self-sacrifice was misplaced, as Spider-Man came to the rescue, shot webbing at the two, pulled, and saved them just in time. As the speeding car continued to burn rubber, Spider-Man landed by the sidewalk and placed the two back on their feet.
"You guys ok?" Asked Spider-Man in concern. Even though the car was driving away, the wallcrawler's most important rule was making sure no civilians would get hurt.
Still shocked at being saved by the hero who saved Vale were unable to answer and just nodded their heads.
"Cool!" Spider-Man shot a web line to a light post. "Hope you guys have a nice day!" He said before going back to the chase.
"Can't start today without getting my morning cardio!" Spider-Man said out loud. It didn't take long before the hero caught up to the speeding car and just as he was an arm's reach away, the teen hero can see that the driver and two other accomplices were sporting bowler hats and red-tinted shades. "Hey! It's been a while since I saw Roman have lackeys! How have you been?!"
"Crap!" The driver looked in his rear-view mirror. "He caught up to us! Dust him!"
Not needing to be told twice, the goon sitting in the passenger seat was the first to draw his gun and started blasting without hesitation or warning. Spider-sense flaring, the young spider evaded each bullet and chose to web swing to a higher elevation.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" The third goon, who was laying prone in the back seat repeated. "We are so screwed!"
"Shut up and shoot!" Said the driver as he can still see Spider-Man still on their tail. "Dammit! Shoot with a purpose! We can't get caught! Have still have to drop off the 'package'."
"Just focus on driving!" Said the one who was sitting in the passenger seat. Their reckless driving was already causing people to notice them, but now that they fired a gun out in the open would lead to the police showing up in a matter of minutes! "Only a mile before we reach the drop-off!"
"I know, I know!" Shifting the car to a higher speed, the driver made the insane choice of cutting through wide alleyways to make it harder for the police to catch up to them. People around the area were smart enough to make some distance to avoid getting hit and those who were either too slow or distracted with something were saved by Spider-Man's quick reflexes and web-slinging. "He is still on my tail! I don't see you shooting!"
"Reloading!" In his panicked state, the thug was having a hard time inserting a fresh mag into his gun. A sharp turn from the driver caused the man to drop his mag onto the car floor with some of the bullets falling out from the cartridge. "You have a gun too, so shoot!" He shouted to the third goon who was still laying down on the back seat.
"Gaah!" Shouting in desperation, the goon sitting in the back fired blindly. Bullets ricocheted off walls and some lights posts, but Spider-Man effortlessly dodged each round while also being aware of the trajectory of said bullets for some could hit a civilian by accident.
"No more of that," Spider-Man used a web line to take away the gun. "That's cheating." Pulling the line to hold the gun he used his super strength to easily dismantle the gun.
"Duck," Finally reloading his gun, the man from the passenger seat started to fire at the webhead. "We're almost there!?"
Not a moment after saying such words did the sounds of sirens come into earshot. One such cop car came from the rear and was tailing behind the car with the driver being a mature woman with short black hair.
"Stop the car!" She spoke through the built-in speaker.
She got a reply via a hail of gunfire.
The glass was holding up, yet she had to slow her car down giving more space between her and the robbers. Yet thanks to their attention being drawn to her, Spider-Man was able to land on top of the roof of the speeding car.
"This is ya'lls stop." Using his powers over the weak force, Spider-Man flattened his right palm and made and stabbed the roof like a can opener. Opening the roof wide enough, Spider-Man can see all three robbers who looked up at him with wide eyes. They were too slow to stop Spider-Man so he punched the driver with the right amount of force to knock him out. He then jumps off the roof and lands on the hood of the car making the car flip forward. Surprised by the force, the three robbers were still moving forward and their bodies leaving their seats which made Spider-Man's job all the easier as he used their small moment of being airborne to cacoon them and suspend their mobilized bodies by using the walls to hold them up. As for the car, Spider-Man used the strength in his legs and momentum of tipping the car to flip above him and lifted it with ease. "Hope this wasn't a rental."
Using one arm to take out the keys off the ignition, Spider-Man laid the car sideways and can see the cop car that was being hit by the bullets stop in front of him. Exiting the car, the woman pulled out her sidearm and aimed at Spider-Man.
"Hands up," She ordered. "I want those hands high in the air where I can see them."
"Come one?" Abliging to her demands, Spider-Man had his arms raised. "You think saving Vale would give me some leeway? I just stopped the robbers and made sure to keep collateral damage to a minimum."
"Are they all alive and conscious?" She asked, her gun still pointed at the hero.
"Well, they're fine, but not one out of the three is knocked out."
"..." The officer stared at the hero for a bit before putting back her gun into its holster. "Don't think you off the hook. You could have stopped them sooner than later. Why didn't you?"
"I wanted to get my steps in," He joked before answering truthfully when we sees her getting her gun. "Ok, ok, I was hearing that they were nearing the drop-off. Look see, I'm not lying." Spider-Man moved one arm and pointed at a bag that was behind the driver's seat.
"Take a step back and don't do anything funny." She warned him.
"Hey, I made my quips, so I'm good." Doing as ordered the young hero looked over her shoulder as she opened the sack to see its contents.
"This is Officer Watanabe," The now-named Watanabe pulled out her walkie-talkie from her belt and spoke into it. "I got the perpetrators all in custody. We have one currently unconscious while the other two are restrained and disarmed. I am in an ally between 49th just five miles from where they stole lien from a small local bank. Need to get an ambulance with to check the driver for any internal injuries."
After saying her piece static came from the communicator when a voice came from it.
"That is a copy, an ambulance has been dispatched. We have had some officers already en route and will arrive at your location." Static then after before the walkie-talkie became silent.
"So, am I going to... you know," Spider-Man held his hand in front of him. "Get my rights read?"
"No, you can leave if you want." The cop shook her head. "I won't lie and say a lot of our guys are indebted to you and your friends for preventing Vale from falling. I was just following orders from my boss that we still have to treat you as a vigilante. The use of your semblance without being registered is against the law, no matter the justification. But I can put in my report that I only arrived after you settled all this nonsense."
"Thanks, I mean it," He nodded his head in gratitude. "If everything is settled, then I need to head back now. Who knows, maybe we'll meet again."
"I doubt it. But before you go, can you check to see where their drop-off is? There might be some clues that can lead me to any future operations they have."
"Already on it," Without saying anything else, Spider-Man made his way to where the thugs were supposed to head. It helped that the spiders in the area were able to lead him to a specific section of an alley where a lone dumpster was. "This must be where they were going drop the goods."
Opening the trash container, Spider-Man can see that it held trash bags that looked way too intact compared to the other trash beneath them. Opening one of them he can see that inside were clean clothes making him conclude that they were supposed to dress out into a new set of clothes to throw off the police and blend in with regular civilians.
"Doubt whoever was going to pick this up is coming, but just in case," Spider-Man took a spider tracer from his costume and placed it underneath the dumpster. "This should let me know if this thing moves."
Regardless of his ability to reach out to other arachnids makes his spider tracer look useless, Spider-Man knows that the spider tracer was a long-term solution. Its built-in frequency can alarm any arachnid nearby and then that spider would alert others until it would reach him. That way, Spider-Man can rest assured and can place his focus on other things.
'Should tell her what I found,' Spider-Man made his way back to Officer Watanadbe and can see her talking to one of the goons he caught. "Hey, found where they were going to do the drop-off. Turns out they were going to dump the funds into some dumpster and then change their clothes to lay low. Do you think you can have someone get in contact with the waste management to see the worker who drives around here? That person might be in on this little heist though that's only a theory."
"I'll consider it, but lien isn't what you should be worried about. These guys here were just told to cause a ruckus. The theft was just a way to cause you to get their attention and the chase was to lead you away from something."
"And that something is?"
Watanabe looked pissed. "They don't know. All they were was just told to cause enough trouble to have you chase them."
"Meaning that whatever the real target was could already be long gone." Spider-Man frowned underneath his mask. He didn't expect this to go any further just a routine bank robbery that needed to be stopped. 'And in my own complacency, Roman might have already gotten his hands on something important. Looks like I might need to pull an all-nighter tonight.'
"Do you need my help with these guys?"
"No, you already did enough. Right now, you need to go before my guys show up. We all know you are a hero, but at the end of the day we are still cops, and you're an unregistered Hunstman. So do me a favor and get the heck out of here."
"Right, thanks for this." Web swinging away, Spider-Man created enough distance between himself and the crime scene. "As much as I want to help, I can't go around like a headless chicken. I'll just wait until nighttime and see what I catch. For now, I need to go back to what I was doing."
"You are not getting better as I have hoped." Maria Calavera, also known as Madam Web, said to her student who was flailing uselessly in a large pool. "You had the concentration earlier, but now after returning from stopping a heist you can barely stand for less than a minute."
Swimming to the edge of the pool, Jaune lifted himself up and shook his head to get rid of the water in his ears. This pool was from a local gym and the owner of said gym is friends with Aunt May and Uncle Ben. So it was just a bit of persuasion and promising to clean up after themselves that the two were now able to use the pool to train Juane and his spider abilities.
One ability that Jaune is trying to learn is how to stand while on water.
"You know, it never ceases to amaze me that your powers are continuing to grow and show more surprises. The ability to walk on water is not unheard of with some Hunstmen who has a semblance to allow them to do what you are attempting to do." Madam Web said to her student.
"It's a common fact that spiders can crawl on water thanks to a phenomenon known as surface tension." Taking some breaths, Jaune placed on foot on the surface of the pool and applied some weight. Instead of sinking into the water, Jaune's foot was not breaking the surface of the pool making him place his other foot in the pool too. "Basically, surface tension is the property of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force, due to the cohesive nature of its molecules. A spider can walk on water due to the surface tension balancing its weight."
Taking four to eight steps, Jaune notices his feet were starting to sink making him push forward where his hands met the surface of the water which made the same effect as his feet. Now on all fours, Jaune began to move similar to when he wall crawled on walls.
"Of course, I like to think that the hairs I have on my body are hydrophobic making it easier for me to remain dry and also keeping me from sinking into water. I kind of felt this when Ant-Man and I did a team-up some time ago. At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but now it has become more noticeable when I did normal things like taking a bath or when I was washing my hands."
Now as he was in the middle of the pool, Jaune lifted his legs up performing a handstand on the water.
"You have yet another skill you must hone and for that, I believe this is the best way to make you master it." Madam Web used her webbing to create a spear with the end having a web line. Not saying any other words, Madam Web hurled the spear at Spider-Man who quickly dodged the attack. Water began to ripple as the spear dived into the water making Jaune's body move along with the waves. Pulling the line back, Madam Web caught the spear and repeated the process.
"You have the dodging down," Se threw the web spear at Jaune and then pulled it back causing a ripple effect in the water. "Yet can you try anything else other than evading?"
"Can't really do much with so much open water. I need to focus on how to have proper footing while on 'uneven' terrain. It isn't easy, to try and stay on top of the water while also balancing your weight to not sink, you know."
"True," The blind spider started to twirl the spear by using the web line attached at the end. "Yet, I think you are forgetting an important thing."
"And that is?"
Maria didn't answer and without warning she took a step into the water and sank like a bag of bricks. Some air bubbles were coming to the surface of the water, but soon less and less surfaced leaving Jaune worried.
"Teach?" Unsure if this was a test or not, Jaune wasted after the last air bubble popped before deciding this was not a test. "Hold on! I'm-"
A familiar tingle warned him that danger was about to befall him and without taking a moment to think, Jaune's body automatically dodged the surprise attack that came from under the water.
"Woah!" Jaune was about to land on his back, but thankfully his super reflexes stopped him by having his limbs move behind him. His moment of peace ended when multiple strikes came after him not giving him time to try and retaliate.
Each attack was dodged, yet with the constant motions of the water it became more and more difficult for Spider-Man to remain afloat. Dodging yet another attack that was aimed at his head, the young spider was attempting to make some distance, but when he tried to move his left foot did he start to notice he was sinking.
'Dang it, all this moving water is making it hard for me to use the surface tension!' Was what Jaune thought before he inhaled some air and sunk into the pool. Opening his eyes, Jaune can see the line that was attached to the spear was in front of him and so he grabbed it, tugged twice, and held on tight as his teacher, who was now back at the surface, pulled him out of the water like he was a prized fish.
"A step in the right direction, yet two steps back once meeting a challenge."
"How did you stay under the water?" He asked her. "I didn't see any more air bubbles rise and was worried."
"I appreciate your concern, but remember I have similar powers as you. I held my breath and before you ask how I remained underwater, it was not because I was sticking to the bottom of the pool floor." Demonstrating her work, Madam Web weaved a web that was five feet wide, placed it on the water, and placed her whole weight on the web that was able to hold and remained buoyant.
"While you can remain on the water, I use my webbing as a flotation device. It can also be used as a form of diving bell to retain some oxygen for me to use while deep in water."
"Cool," Jaune moved his head side to side to view each angle of the webbing. "Will you be able to teach me?"
"In time, you will learn, but for now. I believe a break is in order," Jaune's teacher helped him back onto the tile floor. "After what you have learned when encountering Jinn, I think you deserve the rest of the day."
"Thanks, Ms. M," Jaune pulled his ear lobe to shake some water out. "I think I would take the rest of the day for a break. After all, I do need to rest for tonight to do my nightly patrols."
Walking past his teacher, Jaune when to the pool bleachers where he had his backpack that held clean clothes and a towel.
"Indeed, I also wouldn't want you to smell like chlorine when you have a certain someone you wish to see?" Just as Jaune was wiping his face with his towel, the teen froze and looked at his teacher who had a knowing smirk. "Did you forget that I am also a fortune teller? I can tell that a certain someone will make your day better. Plus, having spiders scattered around the city telling you what is happing helps too."
"So this is what it's like on the receiving end," Jaune grumbled. "A friend of mine is back in the city and I just wanted to see how she is doing."
"OH? So it is a she!"
"What!? Didn't you say you had spiders spying on me?"
"I said I know you are meeting a certain someone. And since you admitted it is a girl makes it all the more fun to tease you."
'What are you, my sister?' Mentally rolling his eyes, Jaune threw his towel at her only for the blind fortune teller to effortlessly dodge the telegraphed throw.
"Go on now, Jaune," She motioned her hand to shoo him away. "Enjoy your time with her. One of the things about being Spider-Man is that you need to take moments like these to keep you grounded. After all, it's not every day that the Relic of Knowledge tells you that you will defeat an evil thought to be impossible to stop."
It was warm out today and with the time already four o'clock, the number of people and cars milling about to go home was loud enough for Jaune to not hear himself think.
They decided the best place to meet was where they first met. Jaune's old job at the dust store. He arrived a bit early to get himself prepared, yet as the minutes ticked by, Jaune's nerves started to get to him.
"She should be here by now," Jaune checked his scroll and then looked around the sidewalk. "I wonder what I should say to her?"
Jaune was mumbling to himself about what he should only stop when the small chime from the store made him turn around to see his old boss, Mr. Mcarren.
"Jaune," He smiled at his former employer. "I'm happy that you decided to meet your girlfriend here, but I think you should have chosen a more romantic setting than a place that sells dust and weapon parts. Maybe come inside and enjoy the A/C rather than staying outside and sweat until you get pit stains."
"She would be too uncomfortable with a place like that," Jaune replied.
'I would be too since we never asked each other what we would want out of this. I mean, we have been hanging out and also dealt with two city-ending events, so maybe a place that shows I'm interested in moving the 'friendship' to a higher level?'
"Also, she is my friend and not my 'girlfriend.' Totally different." Jaune looked at the sidewalk and waited. "I just, don't want to make things weird between us if I chose to ask her. It's already tough since she is a Huntress-in-training and I'm a-"
'Superhero, vigilante, a biological anomaly.'
"A what?" Jaune's former boss asked.
"Civilian," Jaune frowned. "I don't want to think how out of league I am with her. Like, when I talk to her and hang out with her, I forget what her profession is I also forget what I do and just... enjoy being near Ruby. After what happened at the Vytal festival, I realize how much I missed our talks face to face. Seeing her now is already making me anxious because I hope after being apart when Ruby sees me and we hang out, she would still be interested in me and not just ghost later."
"Jaune," Mr. Macarren placed his calloused hand over Jaune's shoulder. "I can tell you right now, that as much as it is adorable you are acting with your crush. Your pessimism is really grating ever since you left my shop. You're a teenager going through the beginning of love, don't twist it into thinking that the reason Ruby enjoys your time is that she is wearing rose-tinted glasses."
"Yeah," Jaune nodded his head in agreement. "Your right, I shouldn't think Ruby to be so shallow. Ruby isn't shallow, she is courageous and smart, and I... don't want to just be friends with her. I can't keep tip-toeing away from what I feel, because If I wait any longer someone else will try and ask her out.
"There ya' go! See, keep that positive attitude up! Now, how about you finally go inside, yeah?"
"Right," Jaune's former boss opened the door and the blonde entered. "Thank you, Mr- Guh!"
Jaune froze midsentence when he sees none other than Ruby Rose standing in front of him. He sees her standing there, but upon a closer look, he can see her legs were moving side to side and her face was half covered by her good showing the bottom half of her blushing face.
"H-h-hey, Jaune!" Ruby's lips sputtered making her look to the right in embarrassment. She didn't want to look at Jaune after her small stutter, as she didn't want to make her look even more dorky.
If she did, Ruby would see Jaune was also red-faced as he was equally mortified that Ruby was here and also seeing her act so cute.
"Yeah, I wanted to have you enter, because Ruby was here inside waiting for you." Mr. Mcarren, held a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. "Instead, you decided to pour your heart out outside my store with Ruby here hearing everything you said. Congrats, Jaune, you had the confidence all along."
I know that this is a very short chapter, but there is a reason. I had to split this chapter because I don't have time to really look it over, so the other half will be out next month in July. But since I already had the other typed up, I just need to look over it, change some things, and then publish it.
I will also like to apologize in advance that I don't have an Omake in this chapter, but will have it ready in July.
My work is currently at a certain point where it is causing me to have a much slower time typing, but I am thankful that you all are loving my story. Especially with how this story now has both 3K Follows and Favs!
Anywho, you all have read the previous chapter with Jinn giving the Avengers the answer that they will beat Salem. But I wanted to do a bit of a time skip, in order to make some filler chapters to show some of Jaune's outside life that is not a hero. Sure you all know who the cop was that talked to Spider-Man, but she will be somewhat of a side character that will not hold anything for the main story.
The new power I gave Jaune is just one for utility's sake, as I wanted to show a bit more diversity to Jaune's power set compared to regular Spider-Man. Not to mention, I did make a small hint way back when Ant-Man first appeared, so it was high time I finally close that small easter egg.
I finally also chose to get the ball rolling on Jaune and Ruby, as I feel like after going through two kingdom-ending fights, several fights, and some face-to-face conversations, I decided it is time for them to really go up the level that is above having a friendship.
Please feel free to PM me with questions, as well as follow and fav. Thank you all for your time!
