Hunters of Justice

by trestwho

Remnant has fallen, its cities captured and its greatest defenders defeated at the hands of the alien conqueror, Brainiac. In the aftermath of his victory, the people of Remnant's last hope lies in the hands of two teams of students, whisked away to another world. A world where Gods walk among them.

74. Wild, Wild West - Part 2

Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC)

Chapter 56:Wild, Wild West – Part 2

It didn't take long for Jonah to get his belongings. He didn't have much, just a Colt Peacemaker revolver and Marlin Model 1881 lever-action rifle. Plus, he had a bag containing a selection of strange artifacts. Apparently, he had a trunk filled with such things that he'd collected over the years, stashed away somewhere else, but he wouldn't say where it was. Regardless, it was obvious that Jonah Hex had seen some things during his life, which made Ruby's excitement over working with him grow even more.

Once they all gathered their belongings, the group rode out of Sanctuary towards a good spot where, according to Jonah, they could see someone approaching the train for miles. They also managed to hit a stroke of luck on the way out when an escort Yang had saved from a nasty fall back at the saloon came to thank her. After a bit of chatting she revealed that Chronos had come through town not long before they arrived, with a small posse of men that acted strangely and kept their faces covered at all times. According to the woman, their eyes seemed artificial and lifeless. Chronos tried to solicit some services, but the matron kicked him out due to his poor manners. As he was leaving, he ranted about how everyone would know who he was very soon, then left without even paying for his tab.

It wasn't much to go on, but it possibly provided a motivation and confirmed that he was working with people. Strange people, by all accounts, and possibly even robots, if the 'lifeless and artificial eyes' were to be taken literally. He was from the future, after all. Yang and the others thanked the woman regardless of how useful her information would be, and then the woman started cozying up to Yang to try to keep her from leaving, much to the brawler's embarrassment.

Ruby still found it funny that Yang could shamelessly flirt with someone with no issue whatsoever, but as soon as she was on the other end from someone with a legitimate interest, she turned into a blushing mess. Blake got all stone faced for some reason, though, which Ruby didn't quite understand.

Now it was nightfall, and the group was seated around a campfire, cooking cans of beans and meat purchased from the general store. Ruby, cleaning her newly obtained Remington-Lee rifle, couldn't help but stare at the night sky in wonder. It was filled with stars, far more than anything she had ever seen. She knew why that was the case. Light pollution wasn't even a thing without any major cities nearby filled with electrical lighting. It was beautiful, in her opinion.

But as much as she would've wanted to, she couldn't stare at the night sky for too long. So Ruby instead returned her attention to cleaning her rifle, and as she did, she glanced at the others. When she bought the weapons for her teammates, she tried to find ones that both fit their general fighting style but also matched the important Western aesthetic that Ruby was going for. Luckily, Mr. Carver's poor gun sense aside, it wasn't hard to find something for everyone.

Yang was the easiest, getting a Winchester Model 1887 lever-action shotgun. Her older sister had already removed the stock and modified the loop for some unknown purpose. Ruby had a good idea for why she was doing it, though, and she approved. Qrow was also easy, with Ruby getting him a double-barrel Remington Model 1889 shotgun which he promptly turned into a sawed-off, one-handed weapon.

Weiss was a bit more complicated, considering she didn't use firearms as part of her regular fighting style. Luckily, Ruby was able to find a cavalry sword. It wasn't a rapier like Myrtenaster, but it would work, as Weiss once told them she'd started with trying to learn the saber like her older sister before discovering that the rapier was the weapon for her. And she was at least familiar with the firing action of a revolver, as demonstrated by her smoothly spinning the cleaned cylinder of her bandit-sourced pistol before pinning it back in place with her off-hand, trying to adjust to fighting with a gun alongside her blade.

For Blake, Ruby got her another Colt Single Action Army to go with the one she looted. She usually used two weapons at a time anyway, so dual-wielding pistols were along the same lines. She'd considered getting her a bullwhip to fill in for her chain-sickle, but then recognized the Catwoman comparison that the faunus probably wouldn't appreciate that much. Ruby didn't know what to get Imra, so she got her a Winchester Model 1873 lever-action rifle, despite what she told her, er, the other patrons about bolt-action being the future. Even if she didn't use it, Ruby liked buying the gun anyway, and she was looking forward to adding all of these to her collection.

"Ruby, are you still mad you can't bring this stuff with you?" Yang cut through the silence.

At least, she was until Imra told her they couldn't bring anything from the past to the future, which was a total buzzkill. It didn't matter if doing so might disrupt the time stream; she bought this stuff legitimately! It was hers.

"…Maybe," Ruby admitted, and Yang chuckled.

"So, Mr. Hex," Blake began as Jonah stirred the pot.

"Just call me Jonah," he cut her off, and Blake nodded in acceptance.

"Okay, Jonah… You said that you've run into time travelers before."

"That I have."

"Mind elaborating on that?"

"Only that every time it happens, it becomes a pain in my ass. Kinda like now."

"…I see."

"You're not a very friendly person, are you?" Weiss asked, and Jonah shook his head.

"Nope. I don't really like anyone, to be honest. People, in general, aren't that great in my opinion," Jonah declared, then shook his head. "But maybe I'm just jaded. Some are better than others, I have to admit. Like those Justice League characters you say you work with. I actually ran into them once a few years back."

"Really?" Ruby asked in amazement, and Jonah nodded as he took the wooden spoon filled with some beans up to his lips to test the heat. He smacked his lips a few times, then shrugged and put the spoon back into the pot to stir it some more.

"Yep. Was an accident or something, didn't particularly care to know all the details," Jonah admitted. "All I cared about is that I had to help send them on their way and deal with their future bullshit while doing it."

"They never mentioned meeting you," Blake pointed out, and Jonah shrugged.

Deciding it wasn't necessary to question it , Ruby shuffled in her seat to face the bounty hunter and asked, "So, Jonah…what's your story?"

"Why do you care to know?" Jonah asked while glancing up at Ruby, who shrugged and smiled.

"I'm curious, that's all," she admitted. "Besides, we already told you about us."

Jonah stared at her for a few moments and looked like he was about to pointedly refuse. But then he released a sigh and admitted, "Don't have much of one, really. My father was an abusive and alcoholic man who sold me into slavery to an Apache tribe. They worked me to the bone until I saved their chief from a puma. He then adopted me as his son in gratitude, but that made his actual son, a boy a few years older than me named Noh-Tante, angry. He hated me, especially since we both liked the same girl, White Fawn, and when I turned 16, he betrayed me and left me to die to a bunch of Kiowa. They were already gone by the time I recovered and tried to return to them."

He then pointed to the scarred side of his face and added, "Years later, after the War, when I finally caught up to 'em, I told his father what his son did to me. Noh-Tante denied everything, naturally, so it was decided we'd settle our differences in combat. But he sabotaged my tomahawk so it would break, and to save my life, I had to use my knife. The man I came to view as my father, who took me in and raised me… was enraged that I 'cheated' and killed his son, then branded me with a heated tomahawk to serve as 'proof of my wickedness.' He called it the 'mark of the demon.' They banished me without a second thought."

"That's awful!" Ruby said, and Jonah shrugged.

"Eh, they got what was coming to them. They ended up kidnapping a white woman a few years later, and when I came to rescue her, the chieftain killed White Fawn simply for trying to protect me. I killed him without a second thought, and most of the tribe when they tried to kill me, too. They're all gone now."

Ruby's eyes widened at the casual admission of the slaughter. She didn't quite know what to think about it. On the one hand, killing people was never a good thing. But on the other, it certainly seemed like at least the Chieftain deserved it, and the rest was Jonah simply defending himself. She also thought she saw what looked like remorse on Jonah's face, like he was trying to justify to himself that he had no other choice.

Deciding to move on, she asked, "You fought in a War? You mean the Civil War?"

Jonah's face warped into a grimace, and he admitted, "I did…for the South."

"You fought for the Confederacy?!" Blake shouted in shock and anger, and Jonah nodded.

"At first, yeah. Bought into their lies," Jonah clarified, causing Blake's following words to die in her throat. "They told us we were fighting for our independence and way of life against Northern aggression, but it was all a bunch'a bullshit. We were fighting for the right of rich landowners to own people. For slavery. Once I realized what we were actually fighting for, I left. I would've joined the North, but one of their commanders hated all Confederates, former or current, and imprisoned me then nearly starved us all. When we escaped, he gunned nearly everyone down, so I killed him. The North thought I was a murderer, and my former comrades thought I was a traitor and told everyone in the South such, so I went West to start over. Been here ever since."

He tasted the beans again, and now satisfied, he added, "So yeah, there's a reason why I think people are awful."

Qrow nodded sympathetically and said, "Sounds like you've lived a rough life."

"You could say that," Jonah replied, then began filling bowls with meat and beans before passing them to the others.

"You said you left after you realized what the South was actually fighting for," Weiss began as she gently blew on her bowl before eating. "How'd that happen?"

"My commanding officer told a bunch of us to capture some runaways," Jonah explained, briefly pausing to take a drink of whiskey from his flask. "I thought they were deserters. But when we caught up to 'em…."

"They were runaway slaves," Blake finished, and Jonah nodded.

"President Lincoln had issued something called the Emancipation Proclamation, and these slaves heard about it. Were try'na escape north to freedom," Jonah revealed. "When we caught up to 'em, that should've been it. But they weren't alone. They had help."

"What do you mean?"

"There was a woman with 'em. She was…different than any woman I'd ever seen before. While the runaways were terrified, she ordered us to drop our weapons and let them go," Jonah said, then shook his head. "I'm no damn slave catcher, so I complied, but the rest refused. They actually laughed at her and tried to gun us down. She killed them effortlessly. Bullets bounced right off her skin as she tore through everyone with a spear and a revolver. One man tried to run off on his horse, but she caught up to him on foot and then threw him through a tree. It was over in less than a minute, leaving me the only survivor."

RWBY and Qrow's eyes widened, then Imra leaned forward and said, "That woman sounds like an Amazon."

"She was. Apparently, she'd been freeing slaves as part of the Underground Railroad for years," Jonah admitted. "They called her the Wonder Woman."

"You met Diana?" Ruby asked in surprise, not knowing she fought in the American Civil War, but Jonah shook his head.

"I did later, but that wasn't Diana. For one, this Wonder Woman was Black," Jonah revealed. "Said her actual name was Nu'Bia. They were related, however. Her niece, apparently, and born on the same day, believe it or not."

"Nu'Bia…" Ruby softly repeated the words. "How come Diana never mentioned her?"

"I understood that Nu'Bia and Diana hadn't met yet when I ran across her. I only know they're related because, if I understand my Greek mythology correctly, Nu'bia's father is Diana's brother."

"Brother? Diana had a brother?"

"Zeus had a lot of kids, remember?" Weiss pointed out, and Ruby paused for a moment before nodding.

"Right, yeah…" she muttered, then looked at Jonah. "Who'd Nu'bia say was her father?"

"Ares. Didn't believe her at the time, but after everything I've seen since, I believe her now," Jonah nonchalantly answered, stunning the group into silence.

Ruby was utterly shocked. Not only did Wonder Woman have a niece, but she was also the daughter of Ares. Was that the reason why Diana never mentioned her? Or was something else going on? Ruby didn't have an answer, but rather than jump to conclusions, she decided to wait to ask Diana when they returned to the present.

The campfire fell into an uncomfortable silence, with no one wanting to say anything. Instead, they focused on finishing their meal and, once they were finished, settled in for the night. Only Qrow and Jonah stayed up to keep watch, content to keep the silence going.

As Ruby drifted off to sleep, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a hectic experience like nothing she'd ever done before, she couldn't help but wonder how her friends in the present were faring. Metropolis was getting quite chaotic by the time they left. Hopefully everyone at least had a handle on things. Then her mind started wondering about how much time actually passed for her friends while they were time traveling, so she stopped before she could give herself a migraine and let herself fall to sleep.

---

By the time dawn rolled around the next morning, Jonah and the time travelers were already awake, had their campsite packed up, and had taken a position overlooking the railroad. They didn't know, exactly, when Chronos would make his move, but they knew it would happen at this spot. From atop a wide, flat, rocky overlook, with a clear blue sky overhead, and the sun rising to their backs, they got a grand, unobstructed view of the dry desert. To the east, everything was flat, pockmarked by grand escarpments and buttes. To the west laid a deep, windy canyon that reminded Ruby of a snake. A single railway line cut through the expanse, and on the horizon they could see the smokestack of the locomotive making its way westward. Ruby honestly thought it was beautiful, like something out of the Western movies she had come to adore, but she couldn't let herself focus on that while she looked through the scope of her rifle.

So far, though, they hadn't seen anything interesting. Ruby did spot a coyote a few hours before, and a small herd of cattle being driven, but otherwise the only things that were moving out there were tumbleweeds and vultures. It created a tranquil yet boring atmosphere which almost made Ruby doze off a few times. But she persevered, unwilling to let something as simple as boredom wear her down. Besides, she was about to thwart a train robbery. Ruby was barely able to stop herself from shaking in her boots from the anticipation.

Beside her, looking through a pair of binoculars Ruby had purchased for them, Qrow asked, "You know, Jonah, I'm surprised you haven't tried asking about the future and all. If I met someone from the future, I'd be curious."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Qrow, but I could not give less of a shit," Jonah gruffly replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "I already have enough headaches."

Qrow was silent for a moment, then he chuckled and replied, "That's fair. Besides, I get the feeling that Saturn Girl wouldn't like us talking about the future all that much."

"You'd be correct," Imra confirmed, looking into a holographic projection coming from her wrist. "Now focus. My chronological stability sensors are picking up a disturbance in the timestream. Chronos should make his move any time now."

Everyone nodded at the declaration, prompting Ruby to pull back the action on her rifle and chamber a round. Beside her, she could hear the others chamber rounds into their rifles, shotguns, and revolvers as well. The horses were tied up to the hilt of Weiss' calvary sword which they had stabbed into a rock to serve as an impromptu hitching post, and they whinnied slightly under the sun's harsh rays. Luckily, there was a soft wind keeping them cool, and they were in the shadow of a large butte which also helped.

Several more minutes trekked by. How many, Ruby couldn't say without a watch or scroll to keep track of time. Part of her wished that Penny was with them, both to take part in this grand adventure but also to use her built-in atomic clock to tell Ruby what time it was. But she figured there was always next time. Hopefully she and JNPR weren't having too much trouble dealing with the temporal cascade, as Imra called it.

It was only when the train fully entered their view, allowing Ruby to see that it had several cars displaying the U.S. Army insignia, and was making its way towards the entrance of the canyon that Ruby spotted something out of place. From behind several outcroppings and the canyon itself came large clouds of dust. It was hard to make out, exactly, what was inside those clouds with just a primitive 19th Century-scope, but she was able to catch glimpses of what appeared to be men riding on horses. Dozens of them, in fact, converging onto the train from all sides like sharks coming in to feast on a whalefall.

"That's them!" Ruby announced as she shot to her feet, the others already running to get on the horses. Disappearing into a cloud of rose petals, Ruby took her seat behind Weiss on the saddle.

"Hi-ya!" they heard Yang call out as she reared her horse back onto its hind legs.

Then, as one, the group rode down a nearby gully towards the train robbery in progress, leaving a cloud of dirt in their wake. As they approached, the dust kicked up by Chronos and his men had died down somewhat, allowing them to see what was going on more clearly. The trains' guards were valiantly attempting to fight the robbers off, but already several had boarded. It was only a matter of time before they would be defeated, allowing Chronos to make off with the Apache war shield and begin his series of heists across time. They had to stop this now, before he had a chance to cause any more damage.

Gunshots could be heard echoing across the desert, the sound amplified by the canyon as though it was a natural amphitheater. None of the robbers noticed their approach at first, allowing Ruby to aim her rifle at one's head. Trying to do so on top of a galloping horse proved easier said than done, but thankfully Ruby was able to keep a bead for the most part. All she would have to do was fire a single shot, and the robber would be down. But she hesitated, keeping the scope trained on the robber while her hands clenched tightly.

"What are you waiting for? Take the shot!" Jonah shouted as he held up his revolver.

"I don't want to kill him!" Ruby replied. Even though the escort back in Sanctuary told them how Chronos' posse appeared to be lifeless, that was far from confirmation that they were robots or anything of that sort. For all Ruby knew, Chronos could've just recruited a lot of emotionally stunted people.

"Oh for God's-!" Jonah hissed in irritation, then kicked his spurs into the sides of his horse to make it run faster.

Before anyone could react or tell him to stop, he already closed the distance with a robber on horseback. Like the others, the robber was dressed in all black, firing a revolver with one hand as he ran alongside the train. He was so focused on his prey, he didn't even notice Jonah until the bounty hunter was right on top of him. He barely had time to react before Jonah Hex leveled his revolver at the man's head and, without even so much as a flinch, fired a single bullet.

Ruby gasped in shock as she looked through her scope, but to her surprise saw that, as the robber's lifeless body slumped over and fell off of the brown horse he had been riding on, the spray of viscera coming out of his head was a deep, oily black. His subsequent tumble on the rocks below tore away much of his clothes and part of his skin, exposing the mechanical wiring underneath.

"They're robots!" Ruby shouted, and she saw Imra focusing on the fallen body as she rode past.

"I recognize that model! It's a synthetic worker drone from the 2070s! Cheap and lifeless!" she announced, and Ruby let out a sigh of relief.

Thankful that she could now fire upon the robbers without any fear of causing a mass slaughter, Ruby had already taken aim at another robber's head and pulled the trigger, causing its head to explode in a black spray of oil, metal, and sparks. Part of her wondered why such an advanced robot could so easily be taken out by 19th Century firearms, including revolver handguns no less, but she figured that was a byproduct of them being so cheap. Either way, she wasn't going to complain.

"Hah-hah! This makes it so much easier!" Yang remarked as she began firing her weapons into the robbers, who now noticed their presence and began to retaliate. Bullets whizzed by their heads and horses, kicking up small puffs of dirt as they struck the rocks around them. It quickly became obvious that the robbers' true strength lied in numbers, with accuracy not much of a factor.

"Hey, did you know he was a robot?" Qrow asked as Jonah rejoined the group, firing two shots from his revolver that dropped two robots.

"No," Jonah gruffly confirmed, expertly ejecting the spent bullets from his Colt Single Action Army and loading new ones in its place while continuing to ride his horse.

Qrow shrugged in acknowledgement then went back to firing at the robbers attempting to swarm them. A few bullets managed to hit their mark, but thanks to his Aura they felt like light punches more than anything else. Weiss was using her glyphs as shields, blocking most of the oncoming fire while leaving more than enough room for her and the rest of the team to accurately shoot back. Blake, holding on tightly to her and Yang's horse with her legs, was firing both of her revolvers akimbo, only pausing to reload each one. Ruby was letting Weiss worry about their horse and defense as she popped heads left and right thanks to her bolt-action rifle, swapping in new magazines whenever she needed to reload.

Yang was also firing her lever-action shotgun, which for whatever reason she was wielding one-handed, flipping the entire gun between shots to pull the lever and chamber new shells in while steering the horse with her other arm.

"Every goddamn time…," Jonah grumbled at the apparently all-too-familiar sight. If Yang heard the bounty hunter over the chaos, she didn't show it as she loaded new shells into her shotgun and cock-flipped the entire weapon with one hand before firing again, a victorious smirk on her face.

"Hang on, I wanna try this!" Ruby called out as she and Weiss ran up behind another robot. Pulling a coiled lasso from off the saddle, she shouted, "Yippi-kay-yay!"

As she gleefully yelled, Ruby threw the lasso overhead in an attempt to twirl it. But, despite her efforts, all she got was the lasso getting caught by the wind rushing past her, slipping out of her hands and sailing into the air.

"No!" Ruby wailed as she watched it go, only for Yang to deftly catch it with one hand.

"Don't worry, Ruby! I got it!" Yang remarked as she holstered her shotgun and regathered the rope, then expertly twirled it overhead and threw the expanding lasso loop towards one of the robbers. Pulling it tight, she yanked the robot off of the horse, dragging its body behind her for a few yards before it slipped out of the rope.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ruby shouted angrily.

Before she could say anything else, Weiss chastised, "Ruby, focus! We're approaching the train now!"

"Ugh, fine! This is so unfair…," Ruby complained but otherwise wrapped her arm around Weiss' waist as they pulled up to the side of the train where two cars were interconnected.

Using her Semblance, Ruby pulled herself and Weiss into the gap between the cars in a cloud of red and white rose petals. Weiss was momentarily disoriented but otherwise was perfectly fine. Chocolate Hooves, meanwhile, pulled off to the side as he ran without his master, eventually coming to a stop at a bend in the canyon.

"I'll head towards the engine! You go the other way!" Ruby ordered, pulling the bolt of her rifle back before sliding open the thick metal door.

"Got it!" Weiss responded, opening the door to what appeared to be a passenger compartment. As soon as she did, she was greeted by the cold, lifeless visage of one of the robbers, its face nearly completely covered by a dark navy blue bandana except for its eyes, which she now saw had a slight glow to them.

The robot immediately fired his revolver from the hip into Weiss' chest. The blow at this range felt like a heavy punch, but Weiss immediately retaliated by pulling her calvary sword out of its scabbard and, in one motion, sliced its blade through the robot's neck. She immediately regretted that decision as hot oil sprayed out from the wound, covering her face and staining her white vest black.

"…Urgh, why does such a futuristic robot run on so much oil?" Weiss groaned in disgust as she tried to wipe the liquid off of her body, to little success. Releasing a sigh, she then muttered, "I bet Jaune and the others don't have to deal with anything this dumb back in Metropolis…."

---

"Guys, I keep telling you, I'm not a superhero!" Jaune declared as he stood in front of his campers back at the Camp Campbell Daycare and Child Learning Facility.

After their close encounter with the utahraptor back at Centennial Park, they gathered up everyone they could into the bus and drove back to relative safety. The Quartermaster was already a reckless driver, in Jaune's opinion, but this time he was driving like a bat out of Hell through the crowds of knights, Vikings, samurai, 1930s mobsters, and Gods knew what else. Jaune was fairly certain that he ran over a few people while doing so. Once they got back, they immediately locked all the kids inside, along with a few civilians who were trying to get to safety.

Luckily, ever since the Darkseid War, along with suffering through years of regular supervillain attacks, Metropolis had invested billions of dollars in the construction of what were basically fallout shelters, with one on nearly every block. They saw scores of people being ushered inside by the Metropolis Police Department, who were joined by the National Guard and a few heroes from the Justice League in keeping people safe. By now, the entire city was on lockdown, with most of the populace either inside the shelters or taking refuge in their homes. Thanks to the radio, they were able to get a constant update on exactly what was going on, with Mayor Brown proving a calming voice to everyone. Overall, Jaune felt things were going well.

Not that it stopped everything from trying to get inside the learning center. Jaune had already fought off dozens of Vikings and dinosaurs, along with things he didn't quite recognize in the chaos of it all.

"If I was honestly a superhero, wouldn't I look more composed than this?!" Jaune pointed out, his hair disheveled and his eyes wide and bloodshot from the stress of constantly fighting for several hours straight. His clothes didn't even match anymore.

"I don't know, you're sure looking the part to me," Max replied, gesturing to the fact that Jaune's outfit was now comprised of varying pieces of armor he had pulled from different time-displaced warriors. His chest piece came from a medieval knight, his shield from a Viking, his sword from a Roman legionnaire, and his helmet from a samurai.

"Ugh…," Jaune groaned, hanging his head forward. He then heard a rustling from the side, and he turned his head to look at the source. He then immediately shouted, "Nikki, get down from there!"

"No! His name is Yoshi and he's my friend!" Nikki wailed from atop a green-feathered utahraptor that she had, somehow, inexplicitly tamed while a far-too-large Viking helmet jostled back and forth on her head. Or, rather, their platypus mascot tamed the dinosaur. Honestly, that thing was terrifying. The utahraptor had gotten into one scrap with the monotreme just out of everyone's sight, and was immediately subdued. Even now it stiffly stood at attention under the platypus' blank-eyed stare, while Nikki clung to its neck.

Jaune released another sigh then looked back at the others, noticing all the awe-struck looks the civilians were giving him. Frankly, he was just grateful that the mothers of the children who normally attended Camp Campbell weren't there to see this. He could only imagine their reactions to his display of valor and heroism, as Nerris called it. Although he was fairly certain that he and his friends wouldn't have to cook for a week, regardless.

He heard something flying overhead, and Jaune looked up to see Penny and Superman subduing several flying creatures and military aircraft. Blasts of lightning and beams of laser vision zoomed across the sky, making several of the people below cheer in celebration. Jaune couldn't help but smile and nod towards his friend, wishing that he could truly become the White Knight and help his friends more directly. But, right now, he was needed at work, and he was confident that his friends would be fine without him.

Still, he couldn't help but say, "I hope Pyrrha and the others are alright."

He then ducked underneath the swing of an incoming Viking's hammer and, with a wordless yell, suplexed the raider with a bone rattling impact just like Yang taught him.

---

"AAAH!" Whitley screamed in terror as a large stegosaurus attempted to break into the bus he, his mother, and at least a dozen other people were taking shelter in. The only reason why the vehicle wasn't destroyed by the dinosaur's spikey tail was because of his mother, who was able to use her glyphs as a shield that the thagomizers bounced right off of.

He had long since lost track of what was going on. The entire city had fallen into complete chaos, with the Metropolis Police Department, the National Guard, and the Justice League fighting off against dinosaurs, futuristic robots that reminded him far too much of Brainiac's yet were still distinctly different, Vikings, Romans, and more that he didn't recognize. It was taking all of his willpower to keep himself from having a nervous breakdown.

What was even worse was everyone else's reactions. While there was still an atmosphere of terror inside the bus, half of its occupants were livestreaming the spectacle. One even had the audacity to say that she was happy she could finally experience something like this since she 'missed the last one.' He tried his best to ignore the prospect that timelines crashing into each other was a somewhat common occurrence on this planet, but it was proving to be a fruitless endeavor.

Then there were the people he found himself living with. While his sister and her team, along with Ruby's uncle and that time traveler, went back in time to stop the 'temporal cascade' at the source, Penny took the time to escort them to JNPR's location before taking off to help elsewhere, conjuring a band of green crystal over her eyes as an impromptu visor to shield her identity. Occasionally she'd fly by along with Superman or some other flying superhero, blasting enemies on the ground or in the air with her magic and lasers, but those moments were fleeting.

Jaune was nowhere to be seen, apparently stuck at work during all this, but the rest were able to be found in short order. From his position near the front of the bus, Whitley could see Pyrrha standing on the remains of a tank, firing Miló at any enemy that crossed her line of sight or directing her Semblance onto the pieces of scrap metal strewn across the street, turning them into impromptu restraints that immobilized her victims. Ren, meanwhile, was in the thick of the action, becoming a green blur of limbs as he punched, kicked, and shot his way from one target to the next.

Then there was Nora, who emerged out of a side street holding a red stapler for some reason. With a determined and excited look on her face, she held the stapler above her head and clicked it a few times. A moment later, dozens of velociraptors emerged out of the street she just came out of, and they followed her finger directly towards the rampaging stegosaurus. The chicken-sized dinosaurs snarled and hissed as they ran towards their prey, which diverted its attention to the new threat. It knocked away several, but there were too many. Soon the larger creature was covered with velociraptors who slashed their claws and dug their fangs into its flesh. It roared in pain, then turned around and ran away as fast as it could.

"Go! Go, my pretties!" Nora proclaimed her order as she laughed maniacally, which the velociraptors immediately followed as they took off after the stegosaurus.

Part of Whitley wanted to ask her how she was able to tame those dinosaurs so quickly, but the rest was scared of the answer so he didn't say a thing. Nora, meanwhile, pulled out Magnhild and jumped right into the fray alongside her partner and boyfriend, laughing the entire time.

"Ah-hah! Whitley, come on! You're missing out!" Nora yelled as she swung Magnhild back and forth, sending time-displaced bodies flying.

"I'm good!" Whitley yelled, flinching as a body was hurled into the bus and bounced off another of his mother's glyphs.

"Your loss!" Nora replied, continuing to swing her hammer.

Amidst the chaos, Nora's mind raced over the entire situation, particularly at the sight of Willow and Whitley Schnee. From the pair they learned what was going on, about how some thief named Chronos had stolen an Apache war shield in the past along with a bunch of other stuff which subsequently messed up the time-space continuum. More importantly, they learned that team RWBY and Qrow were trying to catch him along with a time-travelling superhero named Saturn Girl, who belonged to something called the Legion of Superheroes from a thousand years in the future. They had gone back in time to stop Chronos before he could successfully steal the shield, and until then everything was going to be quite messy.

Nora was honestly jealous. Going back to the Wild West sounded like a blast. But, at the very least, having to face off against some of history's greatest and most famous warriors and beasts was incredibly fun in its own right. Plus there was the matter of who they were fighting at that moment – a Nazi SS division, complete with tanks and soldiers. She'd speculated with her fellow heavy-hitter on what it would be like to bring incredible harm to such infamously deserving targets, and now low and behold, here they were. It felt fantastic, as if it needed saying.

"Yang is going to be so jealous when she gets back!" Nora remarked as she swung Magnhild like a golfclub to send an SS officer flying into the air, allowing Hawkgirl to grab him like an alley-oop to slam the Nazi down into the hood of a nearby car.

"Pink Lightning, focus!" Hawkgirl advised the young girl. "I'm having fun, too, but we need to concentrate on keeping the people safe."

"I know, I know," Nora replied, shifting Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and firing a trio of gas grenades into a group of Nazis who were attempting to set up an MG42 nest. The gas flushed them out as coughing messes, allowing the accompanying MPD officers to subdue and arrest them.

Overall, things were remarkably calm, all things considered. It certainly helped that any Viking who saw Hawkgirl thought the Thanagarian was a Valkyrie and subsequently did whatever she told them to do. Nora had seen many amazing things in her life, and Vikings fighting Nazis ranked among the most entertaining of them.

"You know," Nora began as she prepared to charge towards a Panzer, shifting Magnhild back into a hammer, "we've never gotten to hang out with you outside of the Watchtower before now, huh?"

"That's my fault. My duties take me all over the place," Hawkgirl admitted while she prepared to fly out towards a Stuka attempting a divebomb. "If you want, on my next Grimm patrol I can bring you and the others along."

"That would be great!" Nora declared as she charged up from her suit batteries, then released an energized roar as she ran towards the Panzer.

Jumping up high into the air with Magnhild reared back, she swung down as hard as she could into the turret, crumpling it like wet paper. Overhead, Hawkgirl broke apart the wing of the Stuka with her Nth metal mace, causing it to spin out of control before Pyrrha was able to catch it with her Semblance. The Crimson Guardian guided the broken aircraft to the ground, allowing Ren and several National Guardsmen to order the pilots out and place them under arrest.

"I wonder how Hawkman's handling all this?" Hawkgirl asked herself as she broke the ribs of a Nazi soldier with the pommel of her mace. "One of his past incarnations fought the Nazis in the Second World War as part of the Justice Society. This must be a major case of déjà vu for him."

"I've been meaning to ask about that. What's with you and him? Are you two together, or together-together? What's going on there?"

"It's very complicated," Hawkgirl admitted, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head while sending someone flying back with a blow from her wing. "I'll tell you about it later when things are calmer. Just know that he and I are friends."

"Ah, I see," Nora said as she nodded in understanding. Her discerning eye could pick out a love-triangle from a mile away, and one that involved reincarnated lovers with only one of them remembering their past lives made it extra juicy. Glancing behind her, Willow and Whitley just looked confused, but she could bring them up to speed later.

Just then, they heard a man scream in terror, followed by thundering footsteps. Turning their heads to the source, they saw a middle-aged man wearing a black suit, with a balding head and a thick beard running for his life with a large Tyrannosaurus Rex right behind him. The T-Rex was hot on his heels, but was far more concerned with snapping its powerful, bone crushing jaws at the stampeding triceratops beside them. Whitley and Willow weren't astonished at that sight, however. Rather, they were surprised none of the officers nor superheroes were so much as lifting a finger to help the man.

"Ah, there goes Mayor Brown," Nora remarked with a smile on her face.

"Aren't you going to help him?!" Whitley called out in an offended tone, only for Nora to shake her head.

"Nah, look at him. He's having a blast," Nora answered, pointing at the man who was screaming at the top of his lungs while the T-Rex roared over the fresh corpse of a triceratops. Whitley wanted to respond to that, but found that he was unable to do anything other than release a heavy sigh.

---

Leaping from atop his horse onto the moving train, Jonah gripped one of the side-mounted iron bars as hard as he could to keep himself from falling over. At the same time, one of the robots standing on top of the train car took aim with its lever-action repeater, but before it could take a shot he fired a pair of bullets from his revolver. The automaton fell over like a sack of bricks, dropping the rifle which clattered against the iron floor before bouncing off and disappearing behind the speeding train.

With his footing secure, Jonah reloaded his revolver before holstering it in favor of his own repeater. He took a moment to lean out the side to see how everyone else was doing, and watched as the last of the time-travelers jumped off their horses to board the train at different spots. Nodding to himself, he slid open the door to a passenger compartment, but was almost immediately beset by gunfire.

"God damn it!" Jonah cursed as he threw himself behind the steel wall, glass shattering around him. Further up and down the train, he could hear the sound of fighting. He imagined most of it stemmed from Ruby and her gang, along with the occasional soldier who still had his wits about him.

Taking a quick peek inside, Jonah noticed that the train car appeared to be a barracks of some kind. The walls were lined with bunk beds, the straw mattresses and pillows torn up by whatever fighting had occurred previously. Bullet holes had torn through the thin iron plating, and there were some bloodstains on the ground. More importantly, he saw three soldiers tied up, their hands and legs bound behind their backs and their heads hung low. They were flinching with each gunshot, telling him that they were alive.

Jonah bit back a curse. The fact that there were hostages made getting inside that much harder. He was going to simply light a stick of dynamite and throw it in, but now he couldn't do that. Looking around, he noticed a ladder that would take him up to the roof of the car behind him. An idea began to take root, and he quickly placed his repeater behind his back before jumping across the small gap onto the ladder. Pulling himself up as fast as he could, he briefly paused as yet another robot that had been on the roof noticed him. It quickly aimed its weapon at his exposed head, but before either he or the robot could do anything a lasso flew in from behind it and wrapped around its waist. The robot was yanked back, allowing Yang to uppercut the robot's head clean off its neck.

"Howdy, par'ner," Yang called out as she tipped her hat in Jonah's direction, making him groan he pulled himself up.

"We got a group of Chronos' men held up in that car," Jonah announced as he gestured with his head to the car in front of them.

"Would they really be men if they're robots?" Yang couldn't help but ask herself.

"Don't care. The problem is that they have three soldiers tied up as hostages, and they're dug in," Jonah revealed, causing Yang's demeanor to shift into a more serious expression.

"Want me to take 'em from the front? I am bulletproof," she offered, but Jonah shook his head.

"Unless you're speedy like your sister, those robots might take out one of the soldiers if you tried pulling a stunt like that. Too risky," Jonah pointed out, causing Yang's frown to deepen.

"What do you suggest we do?" Yang asked, and Jonah pointed to a skylight at the roof of the traincar.

"Gonna try and see if I can take 'em by surprise. If you wanna help, distract them," Jonah told the time-traveling brawler, and Yang smiled before pulling out a revolver.

"If Blake has told me anything, it's that I can be incredibly distracting," Yang remarked, then ran over and jumped down from the roof of the car right in front of the open door.

"Hey, boys!" Yang announced then fired a bullet from the hip. She hit one of the robots in the chest in what appeared to be a non-vital area, causing the other robots to begin firing on her. She let a few of the bullets hit her before taking cover and returning fire, taking care to avoid hitting any of the hostages.

Jonah, meanwhile, took off in a sprint and jumped across the gap between cars, landing with heavy thud on the roof. The simple-minded robots were so focused on Yang that they didn't seem to notice Jonah as he ran towards the skylight, pulling his repeater off of his back holster as he did. From the car in front of him, he noticed a pair of robots firing at something beside them. He took aim and fired at the one closest to him, the bullets cutting though its chest and causing it to fall off the side of the locomotive. The other, meanwhile, was taken out by a telekinetic blast, telling Jonah who, exactly, they were fighting.

He couldn't help but shake his head in irritation. He had had plenty of experience with the Legion of Superheroes over the years. They were good people worthy of praise and respect, something a man even as cynical and jaded as him could recognize. But with God as his witness did his interactions with them lead to more headaches than he could count. This was just another one to add to the pile.

Stopping in front of the skylight, Jonah looked around to see if there were any more threats. There were none as far as he could tell, but he did notice an odd sight on top of the canyon. There he saw what appeared to be a lone man atop a horse staring down at him. He was wearing a light-brown vest that left his broad chest exposed, with a red sash wrapped around his waist that matched similar bands on his wrists and forehead. At first Jonah was surprised at the sight of the man, only for him to be joined by others who emerged from behind him. They were all wearing similar outfits, except they didn't leave as much skin exposed as their apparent leader.

Realizing what was going on, Jonah muttered to himself, "Should've figured they'd want to get what was theirs."

Shaking his head, Jonah peeked down through the skylight where he was able to spot the exposed heads of all five robots currently firing on Yang. Shouldering his repeater, he quickly lined up the shots he would have to take in order to put them all down before they could react, and after taking a quick breath he opened fire on the first one. The glass window shattered as the bullet passed through, with the projectile continuing through and hitting the robot's head. Its hat was knocked off as a spray of oil was ejected from the hole, which Jonah ignored as he shifted his aim onto the next. In a matter of seconds, all five robots were eliminated, falling lifelessly to the ground. As the still tied up soldiers recoiled in fear, Yang ran up and began to untie them.

She looked up at Jonah, flashed him a smile and a thumbs up, then declared, "You go on ahead! I'll get these guys to safety!"

Jonah nodded in agreement, then moved forward and climbed down the next ladder. But as he did, he suddenly felt a large, heavy shudder that rolled through the entire locomotive, accompanied by a large fireball that came from the engine compartment.

"What the…?" Jonah asked himself, only to nearly be thrown from the train as it suddenly picked up speed. Holding the ladder rungs tightly, Jonah was able to stay on, although he noticed a few robots weren't so lucky. Knowing that something had gone wrong, especially since the train continued to accelerate, Jonah forced open the door and ran inside, where he saw Imra poking her head out the window.

"What's going on?" Jonah demanded to know. "That came from the engine car."

"I don't know," Imra admitted, then added, "I'll ask Ruby; she was the one over there."

"Mind including all of us in whatever psychic conversation you're about to have?" Jonah requested, and Imra nodded. A faint tingling sensation passed over his mind, but lasted for only a moment.

'Ruby, what happened? Why are we speeding up?' Imra asked, her telepathic voice having a brief echo in Jonah's mind.

'We have a problem!' Ruby announced, making Jonah frown as he looked out the window and watched the canyon fly by.

"Yeah, I can see that. Mind telling us what?" Jonah irritably asked, and he heard Ruby awkwardly chuckle.

'Well, I managed to find Chronos in the engine car,' Ruby began to explain. 'I got into a bit of a gunfight with him and his bodyguards, then I noticed he was using a Krag–Jørgensen.'

"…the hell's that got to do with anything?"

'It's a gun that shouldn't be in the States yet, that's the problem!' Ruby shouted in obvious anger. 'Yes, it was made in 1886, but it won't enter the US for another three years! I called him out on how it wasn't period accurate, and he started getting all huffy about it still being a 'cowboy gun', so it was 'good enough!''

There was a brief pause as everyone absorbed what Ruby just said, then Jonah heard Weiss' strained voice say, '…Ruby, if you tell me that you let Chronos get the better of you while you were distracted by a historical accuracy argument, I swear to the Gods I will-!'

'No, no! I'm not that stupid. Give me some credit, Weiss,' Ruby countered in a hurt tone. 'No, instead I accidentally kicked one of his drones into the engine furnace when it charged at me. All its oil went up, and now the train's out of control and it won't slow down, and Chronos ran away when I tried to fix it.'

Jonah could feel his eye twitching, and a quick glance at Imra told him that she was feeling the same thing he was. He then heard Qrow mutter, '…You didn't even have my Semblance there to excuse that, Ruby.'

'I'm sorry! Please help me!'

Hearing the wheels shriek underneath his feet, Jonah snapped back into focus and yelled, "We need to get everyone else to the back of the train while we slow it down!"

Sprinting towards the front of the locomotive, he saw the door in front of him open as Blake ushered several wounded soldiers away. He let them pass him by before continuing to move forward. As he did, he noticed that the wheels on several cars had come alight as Weiss formed black glyphs over them, trying to use her Semblance as impromptu brakes. There were a few more drones that were still attempting to fight them off, but Jonah quickly gunned them down with a few shots from his repeater, otherwise refusing to stop.

Assuming that Chronos hadn't simply jumped off the train, Jonah had to assume that their paths would meet so long as he kept moving forward. The time-travelers getting everyone else to safety made his progress somewhat slow, but he was able to weave through the crowd without much difficulty. He did glance out the window a few times, where he noticed that the train was heading towards a wooden bridge that spanned a wide chasm.

A bridge that had been blown in half for some inexplicable reason. His eyes widened and Jonah shouted, "The bridge is out!"

'Yeah, I noticed!' Ruby cried out. 'It won't stop!'

Letting out another curse, Jonah then asked, "Forget about that! Can you cut the engine loose?"

'Not without Crescent Rose!'

Jonah had no idea what a 'Crescent Rose' was, but he got the sentiment regardless. He considered having one of the others come up and cut away the engine, but then he realized that was impossible given just how far back they were on the train. By the time they got up there, it would be too late.

He then ordered, "Just get out of there! The rest of you, as soon as everyone is in the back of the train, cut them loose!"

'I can do that!' Yang declared. 'What about you?'

"I'm going to have a word with our…tourist," Jonah replied through a deep scowl, shaking his head as he grabbed the door to a large steel car that had a white U.S. Army insignia painted on it. Figuring that this had to be a cargo container, he forced it open with one arm while using the other to pin his repeater up to his shoulder.

He carefully entered the car's dark interior, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of danger. So far, all he could see was the obvious signs that someone had been here. Crates had been broken into, items discarded and scattered around the floor. There was a surprising amount of Native American artifacts being stored, much to his confusion. He was only expecting the war shield.

As he approached the lone crate that hadn't been broken into, he felt something hard press against the back of his head, followed by the ominous click of the hammer of a revolver getting pulled back. Jonah then heard someone order in a soft yet menacing voice, "Drop the guns, now."

Realizing his predicament, Jonah frowned but otherwise complied, dropping both his repeater and his revolver. The voice then continued, "Kick them away, put your hands in the air, and turn around slowly."

Doing as he was asked, Jonah turned around and was finally able to get his first look at who he knew was Chronos. Much like Ruby and the others, he was clearly not from this time nor place. His skin was far too smooth and lacked the wear and tear that true life on the frontier would give to a man, and underneath his black jacket he could see a light green and white skintight suit. Chronos himself didn't appear to be all that menacing; a scrawny man who was trying his best to look as intimidating as possible. But he couldn't even hold up his revolver steadily as it constantly wavered in his hand.

"Well, I'll be. If it isn't the legendary Jonah Hex," Chronos said in an almost reverent tone of voice but otherwise kept his gun trained on the bounty hunter. "We learned about you in grade school. I have to say, I'm a fan."

"Can't say I'm feeling the adulation," Jonah admitted as he eyed the handgun pointed at his chest. "Now, let's say you put down the gun and you and I have a much needed conversation."

"No, no. You see, I can't do that. Too far in now," Chronos said as he walked forward, forcing Jonah to step back before they approached the unbroken wooden crate.

"Open it," Chronos ordered, kicking over an iron crowbar. He was tempted to take the tool and swing it at Chronos' head, but at this range doing so would only get him killed. So, despite Jonah's instincts screaming at him to fight back, he did as he was told and used the crowbar to force open the crate.

"Ah, there it is. Isn't she beautiful?" Chronos declared as they beheld the Apache war shield in all its glory. "Perfectly preserved and intact, spared from the ravages of time. With this in my possession…my name will be known."

Jonah merely shrugged and admitted, "I've seen better."

"I bet you have, given your history," Chronos replied as he carefully pulled out the war shield and stowed it away underneath his arm. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must make my exit! Don't make any moves."

As the time traveler began to back away, Jonah suddenly asked, "Tell me, Chronos. What do you need that for?"

"Hmm?" Chronos muttered, stopping in his tracks.

Happy that his ploy seemed to be working for the moment, Jonah continued, "Why take just the war shield and not any more of this? I know there's a market for all this stuff out East, and I assume the same goes for your time. There's plenty of stuff in here that'll fetch you more money than just a simple war shield, and I've seen enchanted artifacts before. That ain't one of 'em, so if you're hoping for some magical powerup, you're better off lookin' elsewhere."

"Oh-ho! No, no. I'm not doing this for the money. Well, not entirely," Chronos admitted. "This will get me quite a lot in the collector's market back home, especially when all of these other artifacts disappear from history. That'll raise the price substantially more."

Jonah's frown deepened, and he said, "So you're willing to wipe out an entire people's history just to make a quick buck?"

"Oh, don't talk to me about cultural genocide after all the Native Americans you've killed over the years," Chronos rebuked, shaking his gun angrily. "You know, it's people like you that just…piss me off, no offense. Again, I am a fan."

"You and I just met, boy. Aside from try'na stop this heist of yours I ain't done a thing to 'ya."

"No, you haven't. Not directly, at least," Chronos replied, then he let out a laugh. "You know, in my time you're a legend. Everyone knows of the fantastic adventures of Jonah Hex. The most famous bounty hunter in the West. People idolized you, made movies about you. People wanted to be you."

He then pointed at himself with his free hand and added, "Then there's me. Meek and unassuming Professor David Clinton. No one notices a physics professor, even after I devise a working theory for time travel. In fact, they mocked me for my theories, called me a crack pot. A kook! But after this…no one will call me that. In fact, when I'm done I'll be known all across history, in every time period. I'll be the man who stole some of the most famous artifacts in world history! I'll finally be a legend, just like you! More of one, even!"

Jonah narrowed his eyes then said, "So, that's what this is all about. Fame."

"And money, but mostly the fame," Chronos clarified as he smirked wickedly. "But that's all the time we have. There's a lady in a lake I have an appointment with back in ancient England, and I can't miss it."

Chronos prepared to turn around again, only for Jonah to call out, "Wait!"

"Oh, what now?! I already told you my motivations, what more do you want?!" Chronos angrily asked, only to shoot his head back in surprise at Jonah's hardened expression.

"If you want to be a legend, simply stealing stuff won't be enough. Any man can do that," Jonah pointed out. "No, you need to prove that you're better than other legends at their own game."

Chronos looked confused at first, then his eyes widened in excitement as he said, "Oh… Oh! Yes, you're right! Are you…are you seriously suggesting that we… Because if we are, I would be so honored!"

"Yeah, that's right. Just give me my gun and we'll do it right here," Jonah requested, praying that his ploy would work.

To his relief, Chronos looked absolutely ecstatic as he placed the war shield in an open crate. He was practically shaking as he grabbed Jonah's discarded revolver and said, "Here, here! Take it! Oh, this is going to be amazing!"

"Yep, it sure will be," Jonah growled as he settled into a stance opposite Chronos, holstering his revolver then keeping his hand hovering over it. Chronos copied his stance, leaning forward with a wide grin on his face.

"On the count of three," Jonah began. "One…two-oh, there you are."

"Huh?" Chronos asked in surprise, briefly turning around to see what Jonah was looking at. Jonah immediately took the opening and dashed towards the time-traveling thief, throwing a powerful haymaker into Chronos' jaw just as he turned around. He crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes, with Jonah breathing heavily and standing over his unconscious body while keeping his fist clenched.

"…Dumbass," Jonah muttered while shaking his head, then straightened up. Taking a few deep breaths, he turned around to the other door and asked, "How long have you been there?"

As he suspected, he saw Ruby Rose awkwardly standing in front of the open doorway, her rifle pressed to her chest. She fidgeted for a moment, then admitted, "…For a few minutes."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"You looked like you had it handled. Also…I wanted to see the duel," she answered. "I can't help but feel robbed."

Jonah rolled his eyes, then said, "Never mind that. Help me get this idiot out of here."

Picking the unconscious Chronos up by his shoulders and stowing the war shield into his bag, Jonah began to drag him out of the cargo car. Ruby then reached down and slung the thief over her shoulders, and together they began to run through the now empty train. Several cars down, they finally met up with the rest of Ruby's team, with Yang already gripping the connecting rod with both hands.

"Finally! Was about to come get you two!" Qrow admitted as they passed the heroes. As soon as they entered the car where all the other rescued hostages were being secured, he yelled, "They're clear!"

"AARGH!" Yang grunted as she pulled the connecting rod apart with her bare hands. The iron groaned and creaked before snapping completely in half, causing the engine car and the following cargo containers to continue speeding off towards the broken bridge. Their part of the train, however, immediately began to grind to a halt under Weiss' Semblance. Sparks shot off in all directions, and a loud whine could be heard throughout the cars as the train violently shook. Part of Jonah feared that it wouldn't be enough and that they would be derailed, but to his relief found that they were coming to a stop.

The same could not be said for the engine car, which was only increasing its pace. Jonah could only watch with sad eyes, knowing that all those Native American relics were about to be destroyed and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It made him want to put a bullet between Chronos' eyes, but he stopped himself.

"Look!" Blake shouted as she pointed to a new dust cloud coming in from the northern side of the train.

Pulling out his binoculars, Jonah peered through the lenses and, to his surprise, saw the Apaches from earlier now converging on the locomotive. Their Chieftain, he could only assume, was at the front of the war band, racing towards the tracks in front of the oncoming train. Leaping from his horse, he stood directly on the train tracks, refusing to move even as the train bore down on him.

"Get out of there, you idiot!" Jonah yelled, feeling Imra telepathically reach out and connect his mind to the Chief's.

But the Chief, rather than feel surprised at the mental intrusion or fear towards the train, appeared calm and collected. He then declared, "Inuk chuk!"

To everyone's shock, the Apache Chief suddenly began to grow, quickly reaching fifty feet in height. He towered over the train and reached out, causing the runaway locomotive to slam into his hands. The attached cars derailed, and he himself was forced back slightly as his giant feet dug trenches into the dusty earth. But he was able to remain standing and kept his grip on the train itself. Soon both he and it ground to a halt just before the broken bridge, and as smoke rose high into the air, the Apache Chief stood tall and proud over everyone.

"…Huh. You know, that isn't the weirdest thing I've seen since I got here," Qrow couldn't help but admit, and Jonah nodded in agreement.

---

With the situation now fully under control, Ruby and the others got to work tending to everyone. Most of the soldiers had been inflicted with non-life threatening wounds by Chronos and his gang, along with a few civilian passengers. The time-travelers focused on tending to them first, gathering all of them under the shadow of the canyon to protect them from the sun's harsh rays. The majority of the thwarted train robbery's victims were too shaken to say anything, but those who were able to keep their wits about them offered plenty of thanks. It made Ruby's heart swell, even if it was kind of her fault that the train got derailed in the first place. She preferred not to think about that.

Apparently, several nearby towns including Sanctuary had taken notice of the train robbery. Local law enforcement had arrived not too long afterwards, having been tipped off by Apache runners. Several deputies were disappointed that they weren't able to be a part of the action, and confused that there weren't any robbers to throw in jail, but otherwise were relieved that no one was killed. Every so often they would see Sanctuary's sheriff glance in their direction, and Ruby found it hard to tell whether he was giving them looks of approval or exasperation. Probably a bit of both, if she was being honest.

Jonah, meanwhile, was standing in front of the Apache Chief, handing him the war shield while saying, "I believe this belongs to you."

The Apache Chief nodded, still in his giant form while letting one of his war band take the offered relic. He then said, "Thank you. This was taken from my people years ago. To have it back is a tremendous relief."

"I'll bet," Jonah replied, watching the other Apaches gather the remaining Native American artifacts from the train. Aside from the war shield, none of them were Apache in origin. Jonah recognized some Navajo, Comanche, and Kiowa among others. How the United States government came into their possession wasn't quite known, but given all the Indian Wars going on, it wasn't hard for him to make an assumption.

"Hey, those are property of the United States of America! You can't just-!" an Army officer attempted to protest, only to immediately cower as the massive Apache Chief stared him down. He gulped loudly, then muttered, "Nevermind, you can take 'em…"

The Apache Chief chuckled, then shrunk down back to normal size. Blake then asked, "What are you going to do with the other artifacts?"

"I intend to return them to their rightful owners, the tribes who made them," the Apache Chief declared.

"Can't help but find it suspicious that you happened to be here just in the nick of time," Qrow couldn't help but point out. "How'd you know this train would be carrying all this stuff?"

"A vision came to me in a dream. It told me what the train would be carrying, along with who would be on it," the Apache Chief answered as his horse was brought over to him. Pulling himself onto its saddleless back, he then said, "I must depart. May the spirits watch over you and bring you fortune."

With that, the Apache Chief and his war band took off, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake. As Jonah, team RWBY, and Qrow watched them go, they heard the snap and bang of a picture being taken. Looking to the side, they saw a photographer holding a flash lamp and standing behind a camera mounted on a tripod, taking numerous photographs of the scene, which included them.

Ruby suddenly realized that their position was oddly familiar to something she had seen before, and she gasped, "Oh my gosh, we were in that picture!"

The rest of RWBY and Qrow were confused at first, then Weiss released a groan as she came to the same realization as her leader. Soon the others did as well, with Qrow muttering, "Yep, I'm going to need another drink after this…."

Figuring that Imra would be happy that this whole time traveling escapade was, indeed, something that was supposed to happen – even if the thought kind of made Ruby's head hurt thinking about it – Ruby turned to find the Legionnaire. She was standing off in a nook away from prying eyes and especially the camera man, a handcuffed Chronos by her feet. There were four people talking to her, both sporting Legion rings on their fingers. One was a short, overweight boy wearing a light blue and white striped long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The other three were girls, identical triplets all wearing the same outfit consisting of a black skin-tight suit with a white stripe down the center and a dark gold cape that merged with a thick collar wrapped around her neck.

Deciding to make their acquaintance, Ruby made her way over and said, "You must be part of the Legion. Hi, I'm Ruby!"

The boy was the first to respond, giving Ruby a smile while offering his hand and saying, "Hello! Names Charles Taine, but you can call me Bouncing Boy. This is my teammate and girlfriend, Luornu Durgo. You can call her Triplicate Girl."

"A pleasure," Luornu replied, giving Ruby a quick nod while her two sisters finished gathering the broken robotic bodies of Chronos' posse.

"Pleased to meet you! What are your sisters' names?" Ruby asked, only for Luornu to chuckle.

"They're all me," she revealed, causing Ruby to tilt her head in confusion. Chuckling again, Luornu clarified, "I'm a Carggite. We have the ability to split into three identical bodies since we have three suns. Hence the name 'Triplicate Girl.'"

"…That doesn't make any sense. The number of suns you have shouldn't give you the ability to split into three," Weiss pointed out, and Luornu shrugged.

"I'm not a biologist, so take it up with them," she remarked, and Weiss let out a sigh.

Yang, looking up and down at Charles then asked, "So, why do they call you 'Bouncing Boy'?"

"I can inflate myself like a balloon and bounce around after I accidentally drank a super-plastic formula I thought was a soda," he revealed. "I know it might not sound impressive, but I'm mostly invulnerable and don't lose velocity while bouncing around, and my mass stays the same. You can imagine how it would feel getting hit by a 250-pound boy going over a hundred miles per hour."

Yang was silent for a moment, then nodded and winced while saying, "Yeesh, that would leave a mark."

Charles smiled and laughed, then noticed Jonah approaching them. He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head while one of Luornu's bodies said, "Apologies for the trouble, Mr. Hex. Once again, the Legion is grateful for your assistance in this matter."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Jonah grumbled as he pulled out a cigarette and began to smoke. He then asked, "Isn't there anyone else in this time period you can bother with this crap, Luornu? And I told you to call me Jonah."

"We do, but none have anywhere near the experience you do," Luornu pointed out, and Jonah released a sigh.

"Ain't that the problem," he muttered to himself.

Looking at a holographic projection coming from her wrist, Imra announced, "Looks like we did it. The temporal cascade has dissipated. All of the displaced beings have been pulled back to their homes and the timeline has stabilized."

"So, does that mean none of it ever happened or… What's going on there?" Qrow asked, and Imra shook her head.

"No, it still happened. Particularly since it's obvious now this was a stable time loop," Imra answered. "We just stopped it from spiraling completely out of control. Everyone who went through it are still going to remember that it happened."

Qrow released another sigh, feeling a headache going on. Weiss then looked down at the downtrodden Chronos and asked, "What about him?"

"The Legion has a prison outside of space and time exclusively for people like Professor Clinton here," Imra revealed. "We'll be taking him there to serve out his sentence before he'll be returned home. Based off the severity of his actions, I imagine he'll be spending at least ten years, but to everyone else no time will have passed."

"Oof, remind me to never break the laws of time," Yang remarked. She then folded her hands behind her head and asked, "So, when are we going home?"

"Just as soon as you change back and leave that stuff behind," Imra replied, gesturing with her hands to the cowboy gear that Ruby had painstakingly purchased, causing the young girl to groan and hang her head.

"Aw… Do we have to?" she tearfully asked as she clutched her guns protectively to her chest, as if they were children about to be taken from her arms, and Imra nodded.

"I'm sorry, but we can't take something out of one time period and put it in another. That's what caused this mess in the first place."

"…Darn it," Ruby said as she took off her hat and poncho, with the rest of her team and Qrow already doing the same.

"What should we do with these, by the way?" Qrow asked, and Jonah grunted.

"Give 'em to me, I'll take care of it," Jonah offered, and Weiss nodded in thanks.

Once all of their 19th-Century gear was taken off and replaced by the clothes they initially wore at the beginning of this adventure through time, they gathered around Imra and the other Legionnaires.

"Bye, Jonah! I hope we meet again!" Ruby announced with a wave and smile.

"No, you shouldn't," Jonah bluntly replied, prompting Yang to laugh.

Soon they felt an ethereal pull on their bodies as the world around them shifted and turned. A moment later, they found themselves back in the same alleyway they left Metropolis from. Charles and Luornu were nowhere to be seen, along with Chronos. Ruby figured they must've gone to that prison they talked about. They immediately noticed that the street was covered with broken glass. Streetlights had been knocked over, cars burned and shattered. It looked like the aftermath of a warzone, which given what they had seen when they left, that wasn't too off the mark.

"We're back, and only a few hours passed for everyone here," Imra announced, and Ruby sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank goodness that's over," Weiss said.

"We should probably go find JNPR and figure out what happened while we were gone," Blake suggested, and the others nodded.

"Good idea," Yang said, then looked at Imra. "What about you?"

"Going to talk to Superman and give him a debrief," Imra answered.

"Why, because he's a Founder?"

"Yes, but also because he was a member of the Legion when he was younger. He called himself Superboy back then, mostly doing small acts of heroism around Smallville."

"No kidding? How'd that happen?"

"An assassin from the future tried to kill him with kryptonite. We had to bring him to our time to save his life. He hung around for a few months before heading home."

"Huh, neat," Yang muttered, then gave Imra a more serious expression. She was quiet at first, then she said, "Hey, Imra. I just wanted to say that, well…."

"It's fine, Yang. You don't need to say anything," Imra replied, giving the blonde brawler a soft smile. "Telepath, remember?"

Yang blinked her eyes, then laughed to herself and added, "Yeah, yeah. Still, hopefully the next time we run into each other it'll just be getting some lunch and not…whatever you call this."

"Hopefully," Imra agreed while chuckling.

Ruby smiled at the scene, happy that Yang was able to get over her hurt feelings from the day before. Or would it be a few hours ago? The thought made her head hurt, so she stopped thinking about it.

"Good idea," Imra remarked, making Ruby slightly blush in embarrassment. Smiling at the young leader, Imra turned around to walk away while giving them a wave goodbye. No words were spoken as none needed to be said.

Team RWBY and Qrow watched her leave, and once she was out of sight they turned around and exited the alley in the opposite direction. Pulling out her scroll, Weiss dialed Pyrrha's number and held it up to her face. A moment later, Pyrrha's face appeared on the screen as she answered the call, and she immediately smiled in relief.

"Oh, thank goodness you're all back. Willow and Whitley let us know where you all were. Or when you were, as I imagine it would be," Pyrrha spoke. "Don't worry, Weiss. They're fine. When everything started going back to normal, I figured you all managed to stop Chronos. I hope it wasn't too difficult."

"Not at all. He was kind of a pushover, really," Yang revealed, with Ruby pouting next to her at the reminder of her missed chance of witnessing a true Old West duel. "How about you? Anything crazy happen while we were gone?"

"We had to deal with Vikings, dinosaurs, mobsters, knights, samurai. It was a mess," she admitted.

That was when Nora poked her head in from the side and cheerfully added, "Oh, and Nazis, too!"

"…What?" Yang flatly asked, and Nora nodded.

"Yeah, a whole SS division! We and Hawkgirl had to take them down, along with a bunch of Vikings who thought she was a messenger of Odin! It was awesome! You should've been here!"

Yang fell disturbingly quiet, and Ruby quickly noticed that her eyes had gone red and her hair began to smoke. After a moment, she forced herself to calm down and muttered, "…Dang it, I wanted to punch a Nazi…."

"Oh, don't worry, Yang! There's always next time!"

Yang merely sighed in disappointment, prompting Blake to pat her on the shoulder in an effort to offer some comfort. Shaking her head, Weiss then asked, "Where are you?"

"Jaune's stuck at work. Had to look after the kids when all this went down."

"Understandable," Weiss admitted, giving the Crimson Guardian a quick nod.

"Ren and I are at Centennial Park. Mayor Brown's going to give a speech here in a few hours to thank everyone who helped protect the city, apparently."

"Perfect. We'll meet you there," Weiss declared. "See you then."

Pyrrha returned the sentiment, then the call was mutually ended. As Weiss placed the scroll back into her pocket, she stated, "We should probably get going. Centennial Park is on the other side of the city from where we are."

"Should we change into our costumes and help clean up?" Ruby asked, but Blake shook her head.

"No, I think everyone else has it handled. Besides, we did our part," she pointed out, watching as Doctor Fate and Zatanna used their magic to repair the structural damage to a nearby street. She found it oddly reminiscent of Professor Goodwitch cleaning up the aftermath of some of the bigger student escapades on Beacon's campus, especially the ones they were personally involved in.

"Fine by me. I've had enough craziness for one day," Qrow remarked, only to stop as he noticed an odd sight coming towards them. "Oh, what now?"

It was a girl riding a motorcycle with a mounted sidecar, wearing a grey Stetson hat, brown long-sleeved shirt under a leather vest that had red, white, and blue stripes near the shoulders, and a pair of dark blue jeans that partially covered a pair of leather boots. The state of Texas was engraved on her silver belt buckle, what appeared to be a lever-action repeater strapped to her back, and a pistol that looked like a toy ray gun was holstered on her hip. Placed inside the sidecar was a large wooden trunk with studded iron binding it together. Normally seeing a girl riding a motorcycle wouldn't be too out of place, but given how she was clearly coming towards them it was some cause for concern.

The girl slowed down as she approached the group. Looking down at them, she asked in a thick Texan accent, "Are y'all Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen?"

"…Yes, why?" Ruby asked as the girl got off her motorcycle and reached into her vest.

"I have something for you," she mysteriously declared, then pulled out a leather-wrapped parcel envelope. "A letter."

"A letter? For me? Who would do that?" Ruby questioned as she took the letter and began to unwrap it.

"Who are you?" Blake asked while narrowing her eyes, and the girl smiled.

"Virginia Hex, but you can call me Jinny," she revealed. "I received explicit instructions from my great-great-grandfather to deliver this to you in Metropolis at this date and time."

"Your great-great-grandfather? You mean…," Yang began, and Jinny nodded.

"Jonah Hex. You may know him," she revealed as Ruby finished opening the letter.

"'Hey, girls. Hopefully you're getting this from my descendant and not me. Don't get me wrong, I liked 'ya, but if I see you again it'll be too soon,'" Ruby read the letter aloud, her eyes widening in surprise. She then continued, "'Either way, I know this stuff belongs to you lot. You bought it fair and square, so I took the liberty of keepin' it for 'ya. It's only right. Do with them as you wish, I don't really care so long as you never try to come see me. Take care – Jonah Hex.'"

Ruby was silent for a moment, then cooed, "Aw, he did like us!"

Jinny, meanwhile, had already opened the trunk and, to Ruby's glee, began pulling out the neatly folded and tied up clothes and weapons she had purchased for their Wild West incursion. As the young girl happily took her poncho back and held it up to her chest, Yang eyed her gear up and down before looking at Jinny with a raised eyebrow.

"You've been waiting for this for a long time, haven't you?" she asked, and Jinny nodded.

"Yep, ever since I found that trunk. You'd be amazed at how many things Jonah collected over the years," she announced, then tapped the ray gun on her hip. "This, for instance, is a Rannian Ray Gun. There's also this Apache necklace that lets me alter my size or multiply, and a bunch more. It's pretty neat."

"I'll bet. Also, don't think I didn't notice what you were doing," Yang remarked with a smile. "Back to the Future: Part 2. I approve."

"Thanks. I've been trying to figure out how, exactly, this was going to go down. Pulling a Marty McFly just felt natural," she said as Yang smiled and chuckled. Jinny smiled back, then looked Yang up and down with an appraising eye. After a moment, she leaned up to her motorcycle and mentioned, "Hey, so, I'm gonna be in town for a few days before heading back. How's about you and I see the sights, just the two of us?"

Jinny followed up her offer by making a clicking sound with her tongue and pointing a finger gun at Yang, who immediately realized what was going on. As before, the shameless flirt was unable to take it in kind and fell into a blushing mess as she stammered, "Oh, um… I'm sorry, but we just met and don't get me wrong, you're very pretty but… I'm not looking to date anyone right now."

"Fair enough. Figured it was worth a shot," Jinny replied while giving a nonchalant shrug before taking out a piece of paper and scribbling a number on it. As she handed it to Yang, she added, "If you ever change your mind or just want to ride bikes and shoot guns, here's my number."

Yang focused on cooling down her blush while Ruby and Qrow snickered and Weiss merely rolled her eyes in exasperation. This sort of reaction was still a novelty for Ruby, given how deft of a hand her big sister normally was at fending off attempts to hit on her. She supposed the fact that it was coming from charming superheroes and smitten damsels lately instead of creeps made all the difference.

Blake, for some reason Ruby still couldn't quite figure out, looked irritated, her bow twitching sporadically while she hunched her shoulders and tightly clenched her fists around her retrieved waistcoat. Jinny seemed to notice this and looked between the two partners, then smirked and nodded as if she understood something Ruby clearly didn't.

"Well, I gotta go and make sure my hotel wasn't trashed by any dinosaur or something," Jinny Hex announced as she got back into her motorcycle. "See y'all later!"

Revving up the engine, she turned around and took off, the wheels squealing under the pressure. The Remnantians watched her go, then Qrow leaned over and teasingly whispered, "I'm so proud of you."

"SHUT UP!" Yang shouted in embarrassment, causing Qrow to laugh.

---

True to Pyrrha's word, Mayor Brown's assembly began a few hours later. It was a testament to the skill and expertise of Metropolis' civil services that everything was brought back to working order in such a short amount of time. There were still plenty of broken or damaged cars, windows, and more lining the streets, but everyone had every confidence that everything would go back to normal in no time at all. Hundreds of people were gathered in Centennial Park from what Whitley could see, along with dozens of various media outlets all pointing their cameras and microphones towards the podium as the Metropolis Mayor spoke.

"I want to take this moment to thank the brave men and women who valiantly defended our city against those that wished to do it harm," Mayor Brown declared, his gruff voice echoing across the crowd. "With me are members of the National Guard, the Metropolis Police and Fire Departments, and our beloved Superman to personally accept our eternal gratitude. Although I must say that I did enjoy myself. It brought back pleasant memories of a simpler time, as I'm sure you can imagine."

The crowd laughed and cheered as the representatives stood up and graciously accepted the gold medallions that Metropolis had made for them. But Whitley wasn't particularly focused on what was just an awards ceremony. He had seen plenty of those over the years. He wasn't even focused on the details as to why the ceremony was happening in the first place.

No, he was focusing on the fact that Mayor Brown was the T-Rex he had seen earlier, and the balding man he thought was the mayor was actually just his assistant. In fact, Brown was wearing a comically large top hat and monocle, complete with a black suit vest that wrapped around his upper body.

"So, uh, Lois was it?" Qrow asked the brunette next to them.

"Lois Lane, Daily Planet," Lois Lane confirmed. "By the way, we're having an interview after this. Both about your time on Remnant and with Brainiac, and your trip to the Old West."

"Right, right," Qrow said distractedly as he nodded. "Mind, uh, explaining how a dinosaur is Metropolis' mayor? I thought all the dinosaurs went back?"

"They did, but Mayor Henry Brown had nothing to do with this time crisis," Lois revealed as she smiled at the memory. "What happened was that, a few years ago, S.T.A.R. Labs was running an experiment with a supercollider that accidentally brought a T-Rex into the modern day from the late Cretaceous. It just so happened that, in an adjacent lab, they were also working on a ray that could make an animal gain sapience and the ability to talk. The T-Rex got hit with the ray when it went on a rampage, which calmed him down. He ended up naming himself after two of the paleontologists who discovered and classified his species."

"I see. And how does that lead to him becoming the mayor?"

"Well, while he may have become as smart as a human, he was still an apex predator with an instinctual need to be at the top of the food chain. To him, that meant political office, and when the last mayor was forced to resign early due to a corruption scandal that I uncovered, he ran for the position," Lois clarified. "He won, because who wasn't going to vote for a T-rex? Then it turned out he was actually good at his job and couldn't be bribed – you imagine trying to get a T-rex to do something he doesn't want to do – and won reelection against Lex Luthor."

The reporter closed her eyes and sighed at the happy memory while saying, "I really enjoyed writing that article."

"Mayor Brown currently has an eighty-percent approval rating!" Penny gleefully added. "Many in political circles believe he's planning to run for President once his term is over. Either that or Governor."

Whitley gave Penny a sideways glare as he asked, "Why aren't you surprised about this?"

Penny just looked at the youngest Schnee in confusion and pointed out, "Mayor Brown's species is publicly available knowledge, both on the internet and on the news whenever he makes a statement, which happens often. I'm surprised neither of you noticed."

Whitley wanted to counter that statement, but realized Penny was right. Letting out a groan at his lapse of judgement, he overheard his mother asking Weiss in an irritated tone, "So, Weiss, what's this I hear about you starting a bar fight?"

"You said you wouldn't tell her!" Weiss chastised Yang, who merely smiled without an ounce of regret.

"Oh, but Weiss! How could I not tell your mother about how you valiantly defended my honor against those brutes!" Yang declared as Willow listened intently. "They were saying all those horrible, nasty things, and you showed them why that was wrong. By screaming bloody murder and beating them to a pulp with a glass bottle. Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you, and I have never been prouder to call you my teammate than I am right now."

As Whitley openly laughed at the declaration, more than happy to see his older sister be put in such a predicament, Weiss blushed in anger and embarrassment. She growled in rage and was prepared to fire a retort, only for Willow's dry voice to cut in and say, "Is that true? Is that why you started the fight?"

The former heiress was silent at first, then she quietly admitted, "…Yes."

Willow stared at her daughter with a hardened expression, then she smiled and declared, "Well then, I'm glad you were there to defend your teammate!"

"…Huh?"

"I mean, aren't Huntresses supposed to do that? If what Yang is saying is true, then you were doing the right thing. I'm not going to chastise that. If anything, you should do it more often."

Yang almost immediately began to laugh hysterically while Weiss simply looked at her mother, completely mortified. Whitley wanted to join in, but then he looked back at the podium and saw that Mayor Brown was using a pair of large gripping arms, held in his own proportionally tiny two-fingered hands, to place a medallion around Superman's neck before doing the same to the police sergeant next to him.

The outlandish sight brought Whitley back to reality, or whatever reality was in this place, and he began to mutter, "What is…oh, never mind."

---

Lex Island

Atlantic Ocean, 50 nautical miles off Eastern Seaboard

"Ah-hahahah! I love this place!" Tyrian cackled as he watched the Lex News broadcast that summarized the temporal cascade that had gripped the city of Metropolis, briefly spreading into Gotham City before it was finally brought to an end by a group of time-travelling superheroes. He was the only one who found amusement in the situation. Watts had practically gone catatonic at the blatant disregard for the laws of physics he was seeing, and while Salem wasn't overtly showing any emotion it was clear that she was just as bewildered as the rest of them.

Lex, meanwhile, grumbled, "Damn it, I'm going to have to pay so many insurance claims because of this…."

"…Your insurance policies cover events like this?" Watts asked, and Mercy Graves nodded.

"Lex Insurance covers all manner of damages, from mundane sources like arson and natural disasters to the esoteric like rampaging spirits or, in this case, a temporal cascade," she revealed. "This isn't even the first time it happened."

"Yes, and last time we lost millions! I know for a fact that this one is going to cost a lot more," he complained, then let out a sigh. "Have all the workers on call for the next week. We're going to be swamped in claims for a while. Have them do whatever they can to minimize the payouts to what is legally allowed. Also, make sure they get their overtime pay."

"Yes, Mr. Luthor," Mercy remarked as she was already typing his instructions into her tablet computer.

Part of Salem wanted to comment on how something as outlandish as literal timelines crashing into each other was common enough to be included in an insurance policy, but she decided against it. Particularly since Watts looked like he was about to suffer an aneurysm whereas Tyrian continued to laugh hysterically. She did wonder how Hazel was handling everything. He was in Metropolis when all of this went down, so he might be able to offer a different perspective when he returned.

A few minutes later, she heard the door open followed by heavy footsteps. Realizing that Hazel had arrived she turned to look at him as she said, "Hazel, you're back. Would you mind—"

Her words stopped in her throat as she finally took in his appearance. Gone was the calm and composed warrior who had loyally served under her for years. In his place was a mentally broken man whose hair was completely disheveled, his clothes torn and shredded, and his body covered in mud, grime, blood, and Gods knew what else. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and he was just staring out into space.

"Well, looks like you had all the fun," Tyrian remarked, clearly disappointed that he wasn't there in Hazel's place.

Hazel glanced at the faunus for a moment, then looked back at Salem and all-too-calmly asked, "Ma'am, may I be excused to clean myself up?"

Salem looked at him for a moment, then nodded in agreement and replied, "Yes, you may. I'll want a full report of what you experienced tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, ma'am," Hazel murmured tonelessly, then he turned and walked away without saying a word.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Hunters of Justice! Special thanks to Jesse K and NaanContributor for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

The temporal cascade has been averted by our brave heroes, and we got a Wild West adventure to boot! Let me tell you, I had a blast writing Jonah Hex. His personality and perspective adds a lot to the chapter, which was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this chapter as Qrow's introduction to the world of DC Comics. Not only that, but we also managed to learn a bit more about the world, including cameos of other famous heroes.

As for the woman who set Jonah Hex on the path he now walks...don't worry, you guys will find out more about her in the future.

Now, to answer some of your questions:

I'm really glad you guys love my world building so much. We take great pride in making sure that the world our characters inhabit both take full advantage of both settings while also making it feel real and lived in. While the DC Universe might be fantastic and outlandish, it should still feel believable. Happy to hear that our efforts are paying off.

I will not be doing any specific one-shots just because you guys ask me to. Any Elseworlds or Chibis will be done because I had an idea and I wanted to do it.

Please don't ask me about specifics regarding future plans for either characters or the plot itself. You guys will just have to wait and see.

Glad you guys liked the last chapter. Yeah, putting everyone through the Wild West, with all its anachronisms and values dissonances was a highlight. As was Weiss starting a bar fight. Our thought process was that we felt a bar fight was obligatory, but having Yang or Qrow start it was too obvious. Weiss starting it, on the other hand, is hilarious since it's the last thing you would expect. Hence why we went in that direction.

This is not the place to talk about the future of RWBY canon or whether you think RWBY canon sucks or not. I've had to bring this up in my Spacebattles thread and I figured that I would mention it here. To answer the question, I don't believe RWBY is actually at risk of getting cancelled. It's too much of a consistent money-maker. Do I think RTA will continue to make it? That remains to be seen. My prediction is that, if it does happen, WB is going to fold RTA into WB Animation just like Cartoon Network Studios and production of RWBY will continue through them, but again I'm not an insider by any means. Do not take that prediction as gospel. Should RWBY not be renewed, which I doubt, my plan is to continue this story regardless. I'll make the necessary OCs to fill in the characters canon will unfortunately never properly introduce, and continue with the plan I already have.

We do intend to incorporate elements from other RWBY media, such as Ice Queendom and Volume 9. But, as with Ice Queendom, we're waiting until Volume 9 finishes airing to fully figure out what all we're going to do, if anything. That way we understand as much of the rules as possible.

That's it for now! Let us know what you all think! If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the page would be greatly appreciated. We hope you enjoy and see you all next time!