A/N: Greetings everyone! Welcome back to your weekly dose of Ben 10 RWBY Ultimate Omniverse! Now, this chapter WILL be a little different. I suppose you could call it a "filler" chapter, but at the same time, it IS an important event since it introduces the public to the Remnant teens and informs them about Remnant in general. But also, it's going to serve as a bridge between the last arc and the next big event that's gonna be happening. Not EXACTLY another arc, but still pretty big. With that being said, let's dive in, shall we? This is…
Chapter 15: Public Knowledge
…..
"Woo! That party was AWESOME!"
Sandra and Raven perked up at the sound of the shout as well as the front door opening up, the two craning their heads around to see none other than Ben and Team RWBY entering the house. It had been several hours since the two women had last seen them, with Blake having gone over to Gwen's house while Ruby, Yang and Weiss had gone to Plumber HQ with Ben. But what they hadn't counted on was the big mission that followed suit and the party that happened afterwards. In short, the group had been gone for most of the day, and it was now ten o'clock at night.
The duo smiled and Sandra set down a large binder to stand up. "Well, well, we were wondering when you all would show up!"
"Hey mom." Ben greeted. "Yeah, the party went on for a while…"
"Yes, you all were out rather late." Raven smiled and stood as well. "I take it things at the party went well?"
"Oh, it was great!" Ruby cheered as she zipped into the room and plopped down on the chair right next to Raven. "We played games, ate a lot of great food, Nora swung from the pinata…"
Sandra couldn't help but blink in astonishment. "…I'm sorry, I think you meant she swung AT the—"
"Oh no, she swung FROM the darn thing." Weiss assured. "Rex was NOT happy, I can tell you that." She deepened her voice and did her best imitation of her boyfriend. "He was all like; "Nora, stop! You're disgracing the pinata!"." She shook her head and laughed a little bit. "I would say that someone spiked her punch… but knowing Nora, she probably got wound up just from all the sugar in it."
Yang suddenly broke out into a laugh, having remembered something as she walked over to Sandra and Raven. "Haha! Oh, oh mom, Sandra, speaking of the punch, you will NOT believe what happened." She pointed over to Blake. "Okay, so Blake brought this card game from Gwen's house called "Uno", and she managed to rope us all into playing it…"
A wry grin came to Blake's face. "Oh hehe, yeah, THIS moment…"
Raven raised a single brow. "Why do I have a feeling this "moment" doesn't end well?"
"No, no, wait, I didn't even get to the good part." Yang laughed eagerly. "Okay, so we were playing this game and we all pretty much ended up getting wins… and Blake got most of them, believe it or not."
"What can I say?" Blake shrugged. "Apparently I'm the Mistress of Uno."
"Yeah, yeah, I still beat you a couple times." Yang waved off with a wink, to which Blake narrowed her eyes. "Anyway, so like I said, we all got wins… except for Neptune, who was just SO beside himself at that point that he stood up to storm off… hehe… hehehe… HAHAHA!" Yang held her gut as she waved her arm. "B-But then… he TRIPPED on the chair leg and fell RIGHT into the PUNCH BOWL!"
At that point, the teens had all burst into hysterics at the hilarious memory… and it took all of Raven and Sandra's willpower to abstain from laughing as well. "O-Oh my…" Sandra said as she kept her hand over her lips. "It sounds like Neptune had a… rather rough night."
Ben stopped laughing and let out a sigh. "Yeah, Neptune wasn't too pleased, needless to say." He wore a knowing smile as he recollected what happened next after that. "But hey, it wasn't a total loss for him…"
…..
"Man, you've gotta be FREAKING KIDDING!" Neptune snapped as he stormed off, the blue-haired boy now sopping wet and dripping with punch while his so-called friends all laughed at his expense. "This HAS to be the worst night ever!"
"N-Neptune, wait!" Pyrrha called after him, trying to stifle her own laugher. "W-We're not laughing at you, we're laughing at what happened to you!"
Sun piped up as well. "Yeah, man, big difference!"
But Neptune swung his arm and raised his hand. "I don't even wanna HEAR it, man! I'm freaking steamed and I NEED to dry myself off." He spun around and headed right for the door. "Just don't talk to me for a while, okay?" The automatic doors opened and shut behind him, leaving everyone to go completely silent in shock.
"…Wow, he took that WAY harder than I expected." Swift said with her Uno cards still in hand. "I mean, it's just a game."
Ben pursed his lips in thought. "Yeah… but I think Neptune just wanted to win more than any of us…" He stood up and went over to the door. "You guys go on without me, I'll see if I can get in a few words with him." With that, Ben went down the hall toward the nearest corner, where he knew the nearest washrooms were. But, much to his surprise, he didn't JUST see Neptune there…
"Ah! N-Neptune?!" Helen exclaimed as she exited the washroom.
"H-Helen!" Neptune took a step back in shock. "I… I-I didn't know you were here."
The Kineceleran girl smiled and rubbed the back of her head. She was out of her usual Plumber uniform and in more casual wear; a black tank top with matching shorts. "Heh, yeah, well… this IS kinda where I live, ya know?" Neptune wore a rather sheepish expression after hearing that. "I HAD actually heard that you guys were here having a party and I was about to join in…" Her eyes trailed up and down Neptune's drenched form. "But it seems like you guys are having a bit more fun in there than I expected…"
Neptune sighed and whipped his hands, sending fruit punch splattering to the floor. "If you classify "getting mad you're not winning a card game and tripping into punch in anger" as "fun", then yeah."
Helen's eyeridges furrowed at that. "A card game? What card game would make you do—it's Uno, isn't it?" Neptune nodded and hung his head low, leaving Helen to sigh. "Yeah, should've guessed. That game's a friendship tester, believe me. I've played it MANY times with Manny over the years." Without warning, she took Neptune by the hand and led him into the washroom. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up."
The blue-haired boy's eyes widened. "W-Woah, hold on, I-I don't—"
"There's a couple of spare t-shirts and shorts in here." Helen said as she opened up a cabinet and pulled one of each out, eyeing the nearby shower. "The shower's right there…" She then nudged her head over to a washer and dryer on the other side of the room. "And you can wash your clothes over there." She smiled as she handed him the clothes. "And here's a little advice from me… it's just a game. There's no need to get so riled up because of it. Win or lose, it's all about having fun. And who knows?" She gave him a wink. "Maybe if you keep a cool head about it, you may just win."
Neptune blinked as a blush came to his cheeks, a light chuckle escaping his throat. "Uh, hehe… thanks, Helen. That… that actually makes me feel a little better."
"Good to hear!" Helen smiled as she stepped out of the washroom. "I'm gonna go join the party now, and I hope I can see you back there."
"Y-Yeah, count on it." Neptune said before Helen gave him a wave and closed the door with her tail, leaving him to get cleaned up.
As she rounded the corner, though, Helen spotted Ben standing on the corner, the hero with his arms crossed and wearing a smile of his own. "Hey, Helen."
"Oh, Ben…" Helen's eyes shifted left and right before raising an eyeridge at him. "…How long have you been here?"
The hero gave a shrug. "Long enough. But that said, thanks for helping Neptune out. I was actually gonna give it a try myself, but it seems you had things under control" He sent her a single nod. "Thanks for that, by the way."
Helen simply raised her hand to him. "Ah, no need to thank me." She glanced back to the washroom, her grin increasing just a little bit. "After all, anything to help a friend, right?"
…..
"Aw, well that was really nice of Helen!" Ruby beamed. "I had no idea she had helped him out like that."
Ben nodded and folded his arms. "Yeah, I figured that she and Neptune wouldn't want everyone making a big fuss about it since he stormed off like that and all. But hey, I'm just glad that everything worked out in the end." He set his eyes onto his mother and Raven with a curious gaze. "By the way, where's dad and Tai? Haven't seen 'em since we got home."
The two women rolled their eyes as Sandra gave a laugh. "Haha, oh, they've been downstairs for most of the day doing some guy-bonding." She jerked a thumb over to Raven with a knowing smirk. "And, hehe… we've been doing some gal-bonding, too."
"Indeed we have." Raven folded her hands together with a wry grin. "And what better way to do that than…"
Ben became confused at the implying tone… but then he saw the binder on the sofa and his face grew pale. He snapped his eyes to his mom and uttered; "N-No, mom, please… tell me you didn't."
Sandra shook her head and sighed. "Ben, you knew it was going to happen eventually. So I thought it'd be best to rip the band-aid off early." Her son appeared to be absolutely mortified while Team RWBY just seemed to be completely baffled by what she was talking about. A chuckle escaped Sandra's lips as she moved back to the couch and picked up the binder. "Girls…"
"NOOOOO—"
"Would you like to see some of Ben's baby pictures?"
All at once, the sounds of uproarious squeals rang through the house, deafening Ben before he got mercilessly trampled past by the four girls, making him spin in place a little bit. In no time, Team RWBY had gathered around Sandra and Raven, with Yang in particular making a grab for the binder eagerly. "AAAAH! Yes! I've been WAITING for this!" the Blonde Brawler practically screamed.
Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Y-Yang, you can't be serious—"
"Sorry, babe!" Yang apologized with an ear-to-ear smile. "But this is what EVERY girlfriend looks forward to seeing."
"And the fact that WE get to see them is a big bonus." Weiss smirked, which made Ben retreat back into his hands. The former heiress and her friends all went back to the binder eagerly. "Okay, so where are those baby pictures?"
Sandra's hand instinctually went to a particular page of the binder and grabbed it. "Okay, ladies, prepare yourselves…" With that, the woman flipped all of the pages over at once, going right to the one she had wanted. "And here we are!"
There was a brief pause before a chorus of "AAAAWW's" echoed throughout the room, leading Ben to retreat to the nearest corner and enter the fetal position to try and disappear. Team RWBY couldn't help but coo over the sight of the infant in the pictures, its green eyes and light, brown hair making it quite obvious that it WAS Ben. The first picture they saw was of the baby being cradled in his mother's arms in the hospital room, with Carl and Max both in the picture as well. There were also pictures of Sandra bathing him in the sink, him and Carl sleeping in a recliner, and him and Max playing with large plastic building blocks. "OH MY GOODNESS!" Yang gushed. "Ben you were ADORABLE!"
"Leave me out of this!" Ben shouted back.
"Oh, Ben, come ON." Blake assured. "You were so cute! There's really nothing to be embarrassed about."
Weiss clapped her hands together. "Exactly! And as an aside… Sandra, you've aged INCREDIBLY well."
Sandra couldn't help but be flattered by the compliment. "Ah! Weiss, you're FAR too kind. But trust me, this is nothing." the blonde woman flipped to the next page. "Here's Ben and Gwen's first birthday. And as you can see… this is kind of where their little rivalry began."
The RWBY girls were quite surprised at what they saw in the picture. Obviously, the Tennyson family were all in these pictures, and there was even one of them all together with Ben and Gwen surrounding the massive cake. …And then, on the bottom right, there was a picture of what they assumed to be the aftermath of Ben having shoved Gwen's face right into the cake. The baby boy was laughing up a storm… but it was obvious that little Gwen wasn't too happy. …And then there was ANOTHER photo of BEN being covered in cake, the tot crying while it was GWEN laughing this time.
But from just viewing these pictures, the team could only come to one conclusion. "Wait a minute…" Ruby turned to the huddled-up Ben, with Yang, Weiss and Blake following suit. "Ben, THIS why you and Gwen were at each other's throats back when you were little?"
"Because you shoved each other… into your birthday cake?" Blake added.
Ben peaked out from behind his knees, the young man now a bit more composed. "Well… kind of, but not really." He pointed to the binder. "I mean, you COULD call where it all started, but as far as I'm concerned, the second year was actually where it got worse."
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it." Sandra flipped a couple pages ahead and Team RWBY were shocked to see a VERY angry Ben and Gwen arguing over a toy that was supposedly a gift. "And then the year after that…" She flipped again, this time showing a scene where Gwen had successfully wrapped Ben up in a bunch of wrapping paper and put a bow on top of him. "And then the year after that…" The next picture showed Ben having shoved a pinata over Gwen's head, the redhead crying her eyes out. "And I think you can get the picture."
"Wow… and all because you guys shared a birthday?" Blake asked.
Ben stood up and let out a sigh. "Yep, and the both of us wanted the day all to ourselves instead of having to share it." He rubbed the back of his head with a disappointed expression. "And from there, it just snowballed into us having to out-do the other in pretty much everything, plus we always got into arguments no matter what happened."
Sandra exhaled through her nose and sat back down on the couch. "Yes, thank goodness for that summer trip that Max took you on." She raised a brow in Ben's direction. "Which we NOW know as the summer where you all apparently fought aliens every week." The Omnitrix bearer let out a sheepish laugh as Sandra rolled her eyes, flipping the page to see another familiar picture pop up. "Ah! Ben! I just found your first tap dance recital!"
The hero's expression fell and he muttered; "Oh god…"
"Wait, TAP DANCE?!" Yang questioned as her eyes darted back to the binder… only to see a certain seven-year-old looking incredibly uncomfortable in his little tuxedo and black tap shoes. Still, Yang couldn't help but let out another; "AW! Ben, you're such a handsome little man in your tux!"
Ben planted his head in the couch cushions while ushering the Spring Maiden to him, pointing right to her sword. "Raven, do me a favor and end me right now." he muffled out.
"Sorry, Ben." Raven shook her head. "But I'm afraid I like you too much to kill you. And besides, Yang is one hundred percent correct, you are VERY adorable." She reached down and pulled on the back of his jacket, pulling him out of the couch. "Also, I didn't know you took tap dancing. That's an interesting talent to have."
"Yeah, that sounds really cool, actually." Ruby agreed. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Ben deadpanned as he explained. "Well, you guys might think it's cool, but seven-year-old me wasn't into it." He sent his mother a small glare. "Just goes to show that not EVERYTHING your child sees on educational television should be applied to their daily lives."
"Oh, come now, Ben." Sandra implored. "You LOVED seeing the tap dancing on Sesame Street whenever it was on."
"Yes, but I was FIVE then." Ben emphasized. "By the time I was seven, I had moved on to Sumo Slammers and Transformers."
Sandra simply shrugged. "Well, you can't argue that it was good for your school record." She sent her son a slight disapproving look. "Probably saved you from being held back a grade considering you were a straight B student."
Ben rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, lot of good THAT did me in the long run since I graduated early."
Yang raised a brow at her boyfriend. "Wait, I thought you said you dropped out of high school to become a superhero."
"Eh, it's basically the same thing. I mean, when you graduate at eleventh grade without putting in that final year, it's pretty much like dropping out before the finish line."
"Ben makes a good point." The group perked up and turned around to see both Carl and Tai come walking up from the basement, the former strolling up to his son. "In all honesty, though, I'd make a strong argument that senior year isn't exactly all that necessary for most people. I mean, most of the time, the seniors don't have that many classes at all and it's all just prep work for college." He glanced toward his son. "And while it WOULD have been nice for him to get a higher education… a part of me always had a feeling he wouldn't go that route."
"Heh, wow." Ben crossed his arms with a smirk. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, dad."
The older man raised his hands. "Hey, just being honest here, son."
Tai went up to his daughters and set his hands on their shoulders. "Well, in any case, it's good to see you all back. We heard that you had quite the experience today." He tilted his head to the side. "Not three days in and you guys are already discovering underground cities and chasing down alien criminals? You kids sure work fast."
"Heh, yeah dad, I guess you could say that." Ruby said before letting out a sigh. "But yeah, today was pretty awesome! We busted the plans of an alien gang, saw all kinds of sights underground…"
"Got hunted down by a transforming alien predator…" Yang added, causing all of the adult's eyes to widen at her. "…Yeah, that actually happened."
Raven furrowed her brow and locked her gaze with her daughter. "What do you mean by "transforming" alien predator?"
Ben cleared his throat and explained. "Yeah, so, apparently this… thing, whatever it is, has a device around its neck that looks like a collar. But it's actually a knock off Omnitrix that can transform it into multiple different alien predators. We're not sure where it came from, but we DO know that it has a master, thanks to Velvet hearing a high-pitched whistle that controlled the beast whenever she heard it."
Blake placed a hand to her chin. "I see. So it's a whistle that only that alien, other animals, and Faunus with enhanced hearing can pick up. I'll keep that in mind."
"And we'll be sure to make certain that this house is completely safe." Raven assured, placing a hand on Tai's shoulder as he nodded as well. "We'll set up some traps for this beast tomorrow."
Carl rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… you sure some simple traps will work?"
"Oh, they're FAR from simple." Tai said with a wave. "If this predator is anything like a Grimm, then these traps SHOULD be effective."
Sandra let out a sigh as she closed the binder. "Well, if you insist. But I'm just glad that everyone's alright. That said, I think you kids should all get some sleep." She pointed to the clock, which read "10:30". "After all, you kids have a pretty big day tomorrow with that press conference, remember?"
"Ah, yeah, right." Ben agreed as he gave his parents good night hugs. "Nearly forgot about that. Night, guys."
Yang let out a massive yawn at that moment. "Ah, now that you mention it, I AM pretty bushed after today." She went over to her parents and gave each of them a hug. "Night mom, night dad."
"Good night sweetheart." Tai reciprocated before Ruby came up to him for a hug as well. "Pleasant dreams for all of you."
"Thanks dad." Ruby said before making a move toward Raven… only to pause when her mind questioned what her body wanted to do. 'Would Raven even WANT a good night hug from me?' She began to stammer nervously in place. "O-Oh, I… I-I uh—huh?" Ruby was brought out of it, however, when Raven set her hand on her head and ruffled her hair a little, much to her surprise.
"Good night, kiddo." Raven smiled. "Sleep tight."
The Hooded Huntress slowly smiled back and nodded to her as her friends went down the hall. "Y-Yeah… good night, Raven." With that, Ruby followed her team toward their rooms, leaving the adults to themselves.
Tai eyed Raven with a smile. "You know, you could've gone for a hug. Wouldn't be the first time you gave Ruby one."
"I know… but I did what I felt came naturally." Raven reasoned. "She's still a little unsure about… well, us. And to be honest, I'm also in the same boat as her…" She put an arm around Tai and set her head on his shoulder. "But I'm sure that things will be easier for us as we move along. I… I want to be there for her, especially since… well…"
"I understand." Tai brought his arm around Raven's shoulders, bringing her closer. "Trust me, Rae, you'll get there. I can promise you that."
Meanwhile, Ruby, Blake and Weiss had broken off toward their own room, the former excited beyond reason as they entered. "Eeee! This is gonna be so awesome! I can't wait to share a room where EVERYONE gets bunkbeds again!" She went up and instinctively hugged Weiss and Blake, who both were not AS enthused as Ruby, but couldn't help but find her excitement infectious. "This is gonna be JUST like how it was at Beacon, only NO CLASSES!"
At that, however, Weiss' expression fell slightly. "Oh yeah… no classes." But then she shrugged. "Eh, well, I'm sure I'll still be able substitute those with learning more about Earth." But then she noticed that a certain blonde wasn't with them, leading her to set her eyes down the hall to see Yang still walking with Ben. "Uh… Yang? Where're you guys going?"
The couple turned around and Yang jerked her thumb toward the room at the end of the hall. "Oh, well since we never got the chance earlier, I'm gonna go see what Green Boy's room is like. Anyone care to join me?"
The three girls eyed one another before Blake shook her head. "Eh… nah, you guys go on ahead. We'll see you when you get back." She raised a single brow at Yang, almost as if silently asking "Right?".
Yang rolled her eyes and waved to her partner. "Heh, alright, if you insist. I'll be over in a bit." With that, the couple continued toward the door on the far end of the hall, with Yang taking a deep breath. "Alright, Green Boy, let's see what you've got."
"Alright… here it is." Ben opened the door, revealing his room to his girlfriend for the first time. And after seeing it, Yang had hoped it wouldn't be the only time. As she expected, the room was painted almost entirely green, which seemed to be a recent development since the paint didn't have all that much wear on it. There were several book shelves, a dresser with several pictures and knickknacks on it, a computer on a desk next to the window, a widescreen television on the far wall with several consoles placed near it, including Ben's PS3… and finally, his bed. It was a twin-sized bed with a green blanket… just what Yang was hoping for. "So… what do you think?" Ben asked.
Yang smiled and wrapped her arms around Ben's own. "Oh… this is cozy. I definitely think I can get used to this… if I ever get the chance to."
Ben sighed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Yeah, I hope so. Any luck in finding a way to convince our parents to let us sleep together?"
"Nope." Yang shook her head. "Can't think of a single scenario." She reached up and softly touched her hand to his cheek. "But hey, at least I'll still be able to come over and hang out with you during the day. Besides…" Her eyes set upon Ben's PS3. "I still have to finish Arkham Asylum."
"Heh, that you do." Ben chuckled. "But for now, I think we should turn in for the night." He pulled her into a full hug as their foreheads touched. "I'll see you tomorrow, Goldie Locks." Finally, he pulled her into a kiss, which Yang was more than happy to return. They separated and Ben whispered; "I love you."
"I love you, too, Green Boy." Yang said with one last kiss to the cheek. "Sweet dreams." And with that, the couple separated and went to their separate beds… with both of them feeling just a bit deflated that they wouldn't be sharing one with the other.
…..
Several hours later, at three-thirty in the morning, a certain man was making his way through an airport just a few towns away from Bellwood, a big, happy smile plastered all over his face. For the past several weeks, he had been on a victory vacation, one that he had spontaneously taken from his job in wake of a certain event. The day that Ben Tennyson had left this existence, having disappeared in a flash of light, was one of the biggest moments of his life, and he HAD to celebrate after all the years of tension the annoying hero teen had given him. Thus, he had went to the Hawaiian Islands to get some R&R.
In fact, he was still in some of his vacation clothes. A bright yellow Hawaiian shirt with green palm trees all over it, a pair of red shorts with blue flowers printed on them, a white bucket hat, a pair of sunglasses and a set of sandals on his feet… which he wore with long, white tube socks. He held a soft drink in his hand that he had gotten from one of the concession stands, sipping it through a straw.
"Ah, home sweet home!" William Harangue proclaimed as he set his luggage down and sat in a chair, waiting for his ride to arrive. "That vacation is JUST what I needed to recharge the old batteries." He reclined as best he could, all while envisioning what it would be like at his job the moment he got back. "Maybe now I can start reporting on some ACTUAL news for a change. Bet things have been pretty boring since I've been—"
"And in other news, cases of mysterious disappearances continue to plague the eastern United States." Harangue perked up and turned his head around to a large television on a nearby wall, broadcasting a news report being read off by a young brunette woman. "While no one knows exactly how this is happening, some are speculating that a large group of sinister people are behind these disappearances, with many even suggesting it's a recruitment tactic."
"Huh, well that's odd." Harangue noted before his grin widened. "Hm, but it'd also make for a good opinion piece. I'll get on that when I—"
"Fortunately, it seems that there IS some rather good news in light of these troubling reports." The brunette reporter smiled as new footage came up on the screen… and it was something that rocked Harangue to his very core. "Because three days ago, a certain hero made his grand return to Bellwood after having been missing for three weeks straight." On the television, the sight of a certain Methanosian, redheaded girl and delinquent rock man defending the people of Bellwood from gigantic robots made Harangue drop his drink in shock, the man removing his sunglasses and rubbing his eyes to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.
"No… no, no, no!" Harangue shook his head vehemently. "This… it CAN'T BE!"
"That's right, folks, Ben Tennyson is BACK!" The reporter's words made Harangue's face… as well as some parts of his body, involuntary twitch, his smile having disappeared into a very clear frown. "But that's not even the most interesting part…" In the footage, even MORE teenagers began appearing on the scene, each one of them with a special power, attribute and even WEAPONS that helped them take down the massive robots. "It seems as if he may have brought in a few new friends with him as well! And all of them seem to have special abilities and weapons… and a few have animal parts, too. Folks, Ben 10 might have just put together some special recruits to form one big teenaged super team!"
At those last three words, Harangue finally couldn't take it anymore. He fell to his knees and shouted; "NOOOOO!" at the top of his lungs He continued to shout the same word over and over as his hands clawed at his hair the man falling all the way to the ground in a series of nervous spasms. Needless to say, the people inside the airport took notice right away… and they were all quite uncomfortable at the scene.
One security guard even got on his radio and said; "Uh, yeah, we might need some EMTs, there's a man having a nervous breakdown in Terminal B."
However, the brunette reporter piped up on the TV again. "While we don't know about these new teens at the moment, we DO know that Ben and they themselves have gone on record to say that they're not of this world." Harangue's head snapped up at that little tidbit. "Rather, they're from another dimension entirely." A picture of a young Latino teen with a pair of goggles on his head popped up next. "This coincides with the explanation that the other new hero, Generator Rex, has given about HIS origins. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen, but given what the human race has learned over the past few years since discovering the existance of aliens as a whole, it would not surprise me, personally."
Harangue jumped right onto his feet, causing the onlookers to flinch in shock. "Fortunately, we will not have to wait long for additional information about these new heroes." The reporter went on as a picture of the whole team popped up next to her. "There will be a press conference held at Bellwood City Hall tomorrow morning to properly introduce these new heroes to the public, and you can be assured that we'll be there to ask some questions ourselves."
As the reporter spoke, however, a twisted, conniving grin worked its way onto Harangue's lips. His dark eyes were focused right onto Ben's, glaring at his personal nemesis with every ounce of abhorrence he could muster. "…And guess who ELSE will be there, too. Hehehe…" With that, he got his luggage and zipped right out of the airport, right as the EMTs had come in from the other end of the building. "Let's see how you like dealing with a fully refreshed Will Harangue, Tennyson!"
…..
Many hours passed before the time finally came for the press conference. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning, right when it was scheduled to begin, and pretty much everybody was ready to go out there. Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SN, along with Ilia and Penny, were all patiently waiting inside of city hall with Max, Gwen and Kevin alongside them. Ben, however, had taken up a different position. "Still not sure why Tennyson wants to make a grand entrance." Kevin noted as he peered out a nearby window, seeing the massive sea of people that were standing right in front of the stage that had been set up outside the front door. "Here I thought he wasn't big on the fame anymore."
"Well, think of it this way, Kevin;" Gwen began explaining. "If the hero you had been rooting for had suddenly disappeared for a month before reappearing just as suddenly, wouldn't YOU want him to make a big entrance for the public?"
"…Okay, yeah, good point." Kevin concurred. "I'd pop hard for that."
"I know I would!" Ruby cheerily said as she bounced up and down in excitement. "Ooh, but I can't wait to get out there, too! I hope the crowd likes us!"
Nora zipped right up the them, the Pink Dynamo unable to stay still. "I KNOW, so do I! I'm getting goosebumps just THINKING about it!"
Max gave a chuckle as he gave a nod to Nora. "I know how nervous you all must be, Nora. But please, try to keep calm out there. There's gonna be plenty of news people there, after all, and the last thing we want to risk is a bad impression."
"Good point, Max." Jaune concurred. "We'll try to keep this a little on the down low, then." The blonde knight glanced over his shoulder and jerked his thumb over to a certain someone slumped over in a chair in the corner. "But, uh… someone might wanna wake Yang up before we go out there."
The group immediately took notice of the Blonde Brawler, who was napping in her seat with her head lolled off to the side. Gwen steadily approached her and softly began shaking her shoulder. "Yang?" she whispered. "Yang."
A snore escaped Yang's throat, jostling her from her sleep as her eyes snapped open. "H-Huh?! Who?! What?! Where?!" She shot up out of her seat, nearly knocking Gwen in the head in the process. "Ah! O-Oh my gosh, Gwen, I am SO sorry! Was… was I asleep?"
Gwen tilted her head to the side. "Yeah, you kind of were."
"Is everything okay, sis?" Ruby asked. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"
"Oh, hah… y-yeah, of course I did!" Yang rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. In truth, though, that was a big lie. The young blonde had been up for several hours, trying to go to sleep but failing due to her constant sting of thought surrounding her boyfriend and the idea of sharing his bed. '…Goddamn it, I need to get a hold of myself.' Yang shook her head and took a deep breath, composing herself before placing her hands on her hips. "So, we ready to go?"
"Almost." Max said, getting everyone's attention. He was holding the front door open a bit, giving a nod and whispering to someone on the other side before going back to the teens. "The mayor just told me that we're gonna be going up in just a few minutes." He set his sights onto Gwen, Kevin, and Rex first and pointed to them. "Gwen, your group are up first right when Ben comes in." Max then shifted focus to the Remnant teens. "After that, you kids will be introduced. You'll know when you're up."
Penny clapped her hands together eagerly. "Oh my goodness, this is so exciting!" She whipped around to Ilia and grasped her shoulders. "Ilia, aren't you excited?!"
"Well… define "excited"." Ilia said hesitantly. "Because if we're talking "nervous beyond belief", then yes."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it, Ilia." Blake gave her friend a reassuring smile. "We'll all be up there with you. And remember, so far, the people actually LIKE us. So if you're scared or nervous, just keep that in mind and you might just feel better."
Ilia had to admit, her best friend DID have a point. "You know what? Yeah, you're right." She took a deep breath and placed a hand over her chest, relaxing herself. "Okay, let's do this."
"Hell yeah!" Sun pumped a fist into the air. "That's what I'm talkin' about!" He rubbed his hands together and exclaimed; "Let's go show that crowd what we're made of!"
The group couldn't help but give him a collective awkward gaze as Blake set a hand onto his back. "Maybe dial it back a little bit, okay, Sun?"
"Ladies and gentlemen!" All of a sudden, the voice of a woman started ringing through the door, being projected through a microphone. "Thank you all for coming today. As you have no doubt heard, a certain someone has made a big return to Bellwood recently…" At those words, the crowd outside began to cheer, a huge uproar being belted out throughout the entire courtyard. "Hmhm, yes, I feel the same way! And what's more, he's brought quite a few new faces with him. And today, we're going to be finding out just what's going on with them. So, why don't we get things started, shall we?"
Pyrrha set her gaze over to Gwen and the others. "Well, that sounds like your cue."
"Yep, seems like it." Gwen agreed as she, Kevin and Rex moved toward the door. "Alright, let's go."
…..
Standing outside on the stage, a blonde woman in her mid-forties stood behind the podium, addressing the crowd of citizens and press that had gathered for the event. She wore a black skirt suit with matching heels and she had the name "Strong" engraved on the nametag she had on her lapel. Mayor Strong smiled as the crowd cheered and belted out; "BEN 10!" several times over, their excitement to see the returning hero clearly off the charts. "Haha, well, it certainly seems you all know what you want, so here we go! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back… BEN TENNYSON!"
The mayor threw her hand up toward the sky… and zooming straight overhead came a fast, purple and pink blur. The crowd's cheers became deafening as they saw none other than Chromastone fly straight out over them before circling back around toward the stage, with multiple cameras going off as well. He hovered down right next to Mayor Strong and took a bow to the crowd before transforming into his human form, the young man extending his hand to the mayor. "Thank you, Mayor Strong. Always a pleasure." She shook Ben's hand and passed the mic off him, joining in the applause as she took a step back. Ben went to address the crowd, but as he went to speak, they all cut him off with even more thunderous applause, causing him to stop and simply grin out to the people of Bellwood.
Finally, after a few seconds and allowing the people to settle, Ben started to speak. "Hah, wow… what an ovation!" He raised his hand up as the crowd cheered again, shaking his head a bit. "It's so weird, because I've pretty much gone almost a month without hearing you guys. And not gonna lie… feels kinda good." Once again, the audience cheered his name and he let out a breath. "Admittedly, I DID want to take a break from doing this sort of thing for a while since I was feeling a bit constricted by the fame, but man… it just feels good to be back home."
After a bit more cheering, Ben extended his hand to the curtain of the stage. "But hey, I'm not the only one who should be welcomed back, guys. My team got blown to Kingdom Come WITH me, so let's give Gwen and Kevin a little love, huh?!" At his words, Gwen and Kevin emerged from the curtain, to which the audience applauded even more, much to the couple's surprise. They both politely waved back to them before taking their places next to Ben. "Yeah, that's just what I wanna hear… but I ALSO wanna hear a big pop for the guy who helped keep the peace around here with his team while I was gone! Rex, come on out!"
Right on cue, Rex practically sprinted out from behind the curtain and stopped just before the edge of the stage. He shot up dual peace signs and called out to the crowd; "WOO! What up, Bellwood?!" That got the crowd to REALLY pop, with the camera flashes going off once again, too. "Oh yeah, that's right! You know you've been WAITING for this!"
Once the audience began to settle again, Ben chuckled and stepped right up to Rex, setting a hand to his shoulder. "Hehe, yeah, I can't blame you guys for that reaction." He pointed over to the EVO and went on. "Because I owe this guy and his team a WHOLE bunch. If it weren't for them, we might not have made it back home." He faced Rex head on and extended his hand. "And I know I've already done this in private, but now, I want to publicly thank him for what he and his team have done for Bellwood in my absence." Rex happily accepted the handshake, which got the crowd going once again.
"Hey, not a problem at all, mi amigo." Rex said into the mic, glancing over to the audience with a knowing grin. "But, uh, as good as it feels with you hyping us up like this… I don't think WE'RE the ones the people of Bellwood wanna get to know…" He raised a brow to the audience and they quickly caught on, once again cheering in approval. "So, what do you guys say, huh?! You wanna hear about the new kids on the block?!" The cheers became louder at that, so Rex decided to make a joke out of it. "I hope you don't mean the boyband, because you all are gonna be sorrowfully disappointed."
The audience all began to laugh at the quip as Ben shook his head, facepalming a bit before moving on. "Ah, man, these are the jokes, people. But Rex is right, I think it's about time we get down to just what the hell happened over these past three weeks." The hero began pacing back and forth as he explained. "Okay, so long story short… Kevin, Gwen and I, along with my grandfather and our friend, Cooper, were caught up in a huge explosion that was caused by a bolt of lightning striking a portal to the Null Void, a dimension that acts as a jail for some of the most dangerous alien criminals. But what we didn't expect was for the explosion… to blast us all the way to a new dimension entirely. To a world called… Remnant."
The crowd began murmuring amongst themselves at this new bit of information as Ben continued. "Of course, to our surprise, this world had humans, along with another race of sentient beings known as the Faunus. And, during that attack a couple days ago, you guys got a little peak into just what this dimension's humans and Faunus are capable of doing." He placed a finger to his chin with a faux-perplexed expression. "But you're all probably wondering; "why the heck were they all wielding weapons and had special powers?". Well, we'll get to those answers in a minute, but first, I think it's about time we bring out the teams so that you can meet them, what do you say to that?!"
At the crowd's thunderous approval, Ben grinned and gave a nod. "Hah, well alright, then. Let's go through the teams and let you guys get to know them…" He pointed up to a massive screen that was placed right over the stage as it turned on, showing the word "RWBY" on it. "First up, allow me to introduce Team RWBY! Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long!" The girls all came out one by one as their names were called out, and as they walked out from behind the curtain, they were met with even more uproarious cheers than they were expecting.
"Hah… wow!" Ruby said as she waved to the audience. "I didn't expect THIS big of a turnout!"
"Hm, well, can you blame them?" Weiss said as she waved as well. "We're the hot new thing in town, after all."
"I'm just glad that they're all pretty accepting of us." Blake noted. "And here I was thinking that at least a few of them wouldn't like us when we first came here…"
"HA! You kidding? They LOVE us!" Yang shouted before shouting out the people; "WOO! HOW'S IT GOING, BELLWOOD?! Team RWBY's in the house!"
The crowd was invigorated even further by Yang's energy, though Ben couldn't help but notice that there was a certain section toward the back of the audience that didn't appear to be so enthused. They were a group of young women in their late teens and early twenties who were noticeably giving Yang the stick-eye… and he also noticed that they were all wearing green. '…Crap in a handbasket, those are my fangirls.' Ben winced as he mentally prepared himself of having to eventually confront THAT problem before moving on. "Hehe, quite the intro there, Yang." She sent him a wink as she sat down with her team, which Ben immediately noticed that the girls in the crowd took issue with that. "Ah, heh, well then, onto the next team!"
Up on the giant screen, the word "RWBY" faded out and in its place, the word "JNPR" appeared, leading Ben to wave his hand toward the curtain. "Next up, we have Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. Together, they form Team JNPR!"
Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren all stepped out in single file just as Team RWBY had, and once again, the crowd applauded their arrival. The four of them began waving to the crowd, with Nora zipping around the stage in her usual way to make sure that everyone had their eyes on here. "Goooood MORNING, Bellwood!" Nora announced with her arms spread out wide. "How're we all feelin' today?!"
Several cheers and whistles came from the people in response, leading Pyrrha to let out a soft laugh. "Hah, wow, they sure do love Nora."
"Heh, can ya blame them?" Jaune asked as he jerked a thumb to their pink teammate. "People always go for the ones with the highest energy."
Ren simply kept waving out the crowd, all while keeping an eye on Nora to make sure she didn't overdo anything. "Well, what's important is she's having a good time and she's letting the people have a good time, so who're we to deny that, huh?" After the crowd had calmed down again, Team JNPR took their seats next to Team RWBY, allowing Ben to move on.
"Okay, so these last few aren't exactly in a "Team" together, but for simplicity's sake, I've grouped them up into one." Ben pointed up to the screen where "JNPR" faded out and was instead replaced by the letters "SN" and "IP", grouped up separately. "Now, allow me to introduce Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias of Team SSSN, as well as Ilia Amitola and Penny Polendina, who're respectively from the continent of Menagerie and the Kingdom of Atlas!"
The crowd gave yet another ovation for the next four to come out… especially since they actually came jetting over from behind the stage via Penny's jetpack. The redheaded android landed in the middle of the stage and her friends jumped off her back, allowing to address the crowd; "Salutations, people of Bellwood!"
The people were all practically on their feet at the display, which took the other three aback slightly. "Woah… they're REALLY into Penny, aren't they?" Sun noted.
"Well, the people know what they like, I'll give them that much." Ilia said as she waved to the crowd, albeit a bit apprehensively. She saw everyone's smiling faces, and heard all of the supportive voices, but still, it was hard for her to be in front of a massive group of people like this without thinking back to… her past negative experiences with crowds. "…I just hope that they like ALL of us…"
"Hey, you kidding?!" Neptune asked. "They LOVE us!" He began making finger guns and started winking out toward the audience… specifically to the same group of women that Ben had seen earlier. "And hoo-boy, I am VERY much liking the people of Bellwood."
Ilia couldn't help but roll her eyes before taking Neptune by the back of his collar, dragging him over to where the others were sitting. "Alright, Casanova, let's reel it back a bit before you embarrass yourself or end up getting hurt. …Or both, we all know that's an option."
Neptune pouted as he took his seat with the others, with the TV screen up above them switching to the live feed of the press conference. "Okay, that should be the whole team!" Ben said before he, Gwen, Kevin and Rex all sat down in the row of chairs with the rest of the team. "Now, if the press or any of the fans have a question, any one of us would be happy to take them." Immediately, a ton of hands went up… including those of all the women in that one particular group. Thankfully, Ben was wise enough to start out with a brunette reporter. "Yes, you ma'am."
The woman stood and addressed the hero. "Ben, this question is for you… weren't there a whole bunch of others who were with you during that attack a couple days ago? Like, there was a girl with a machine gun, a girl with bunny ears, a really tall guy and a blind boy who fought off the robots as well, along with a blonde boy and another white-haired woman. What about them? Who are they?"
"Oh, you're talking about Team CFVY, Cooper and Winter." Ben immediately answered. "Yeah, they opted to stay behind at the Plumber base. They didn't want to have things feel overcrowded on the stage and such."
"I see, and what's your relationship with these people?"
"Well, Cooper's actually a really old friend of ours." Ben explained. "Like I said, he got blown to Remnant along with us, so he's been along for that ride since the very start. In particular, he's actually really close with Team CFVY. And while they're not exactly part of our team, we consider ourselves pretty close allies." Just then, he turned around and extended a hand over to Weiss. "And Winter is actually Weiss' sister. She, along with Yang and Ruby's parents and their uncle, actually came back over to Earth with us."
Weiss smiled proudly as the crowd began to murmur in surprise. "Yep, that's right!" she spoke into the mic. "And if you couldn't tell, my older sister is quite spectacular."
"Hah, I'll say." A random guy spoke up in the crowd. "I saw that same woman help save my home town just the other day along with those Team CFVY guys!"
"Yeah, they're pretty awesome!" another agreed.
Ben nodded and gave a chuckle. "Yep, and they actually should be watching this press conference right now, so…" The hero set his gaze upon the broadcast cam and gave a cheeky wave. "Hi guys! How's it going?!" The audience and the rest of the team got a laugh out of that. "Okay, next question, please!" Once again, the first hand that Ben saw go up belonged to a reporter, so he selected him. "Yes, you!"
"Ah, yes." A man with raven black hair and glasses stood up. "This question is for any one of the Remnant natives here." Said teens all perked up at that as he spoke his inquiry. "Earlier, Ben said that you all have different sets of abilities, along with unique weapons that the world has never seen before. Why is that?"
Ben glanced behind him and offered up the mic to any of the Remnant teens… to which Ruby took it from him and stood up. "Oh, well, that's actually a REALLY good question. You see, the abilities that we all have," she pointed out to the audience, "and the ones you've all seen us do the other day are called "Semblances". They're special powers that we have thanks to our respective Aura, which is a type of defensive energy that all of us naturally have." Ruby reached behind her and pulled out Crescent Rose, keeping it collapsed for the time being. "And the reason why we have these kinds of weapons… is so that we can protect ourselves from the Grimm that inhabit our world."
Once again, the audience began to murmur amongst themselves before a random person asked; "And a Grimm is… what, exactly?!"
Yang got up and brought the mic over to her. "Imagine one of the most vile, horrid, nightmare-inducing monsters you can think of. Make that thing five times worse and bring it into reality and you've got yourself a Grimm." A collective gasp was heard throughout the crowd at her words. "Yeah, they're pretty awful monsters, and that's basically why we have these weapons. In our world, people learn how to become Huntsmen in order to defend the populace against the Grimm, and that's basically what WE'RE all trying to do."
The crowed mumbled again before more hands raised up, to which Ben pointed over to another person. "Yes, you!"
"So… is there any danger of these "Grimm" coming over to our world?" the man asked.
"As far as we can say, no, there isn't." Ben denied. "We left Remnant with the only means of crossing over into our world, so as far as we're concerned, all of the Grimm and any other enemies we made in that world have been left behind." He noticed yet another hand pop up and immediately pointed to it. "Yes, you sir."
"What exactly do you mean by "enemies"?" the reporter asked.
"Well, over the course of our time there, we've made some… pretty powerful enemies." Ben answered. "Namely a group which we like to call "The Ministry of Darkness". They're a group of pretty powerful bad guys led by… and I'm not making this up, by the way… an immortal witch named Salem, who's actually able to control and create the Grimm that we've been talking about." Once more, the people went into a furor over this news, with Ben even hearing a few concerned questions in the crowd being thrown at him. He raised his hands in reassurance and called out; "Now, now, everyone please calm down. Like I said before, there's no plausible way for them to get here. We have the only means of going back and forth between Earth and Remnant, so there's no need to panic." The people settled before Ben saw another hand go up, recognizing it as the first reporter. "Yes, you ma'am."
The brunette woman stood up and pointed her pen at the teens. "While that IS reassuring to hear, Mr. Tennyson, I still have to ask… why are you all here then? Shouldn't you be defending Remnant from this witch if she's that big of a threat?"
Ben was taken aback by the question, recognizing the woman's well-founded point. "…You do make a good point, ma'am. Remnant DOES need help, and that's actually part of the reason why we're here." He extended a hand to his team. "These guys are some of the best teammates that I could ask for, and we've beaten the Ministry several times in the past. But when it comes to Salem herself… I had one encounter with her, and I got my butt handed to me." Another collective gasp came from the audience and Ben nodded. "Yeah, she's that powerful. And that's why we're here; to do train ourselves for the next time we go up against her while also recruiting more allies to help us."
Gwen stepped up to the mic to add in her own two cents. "And in addition to the Ministry, several of our own villains from this world ended up getting transported to Remnant with us, so we had to round them up and bring them back here so we could imprison them again."
"Plus we've got a lot of stuff to worry about in THIS world, too." Kevin jumped in. "Don't know if you've heard, but there's some seedy stuff goin' on recently, and we're in the middle of investigating it."
Another reporter raised his hand and he immediately asked; "You mean the disappearances that've been happening? Have you any idea what's going on with that?"
"We have a pretty good idea, but we can't make it public yet." Gwen quickly said, remembering that Six had told her to dodge questions like those should they come up. Now was not the right time to make the Collective known, should people start flying into a mass panic. "It'll probably be sometime soon, but for now, we're still in the middle of our investigation."
All of a sudden, Nora bounced right up and piped her voice into the mic as well. "Also, we all wanna see what your world is like!" She turned to her friends and pumped a fist. "Isn't that right, guys?" She received rousing approval from her friends instantly, leading her to smile back out to the crowd. "And don't you all worry! While we're here, we're gonna be doing all the hero work we can with Ben and everyone else, so you can expect to see more of us all the time around here!"
The audience all smiled and applauded at Nora's words, leading another woman to raise her hand. Ben pointed to her and she asked; "Well, if that's the case… then what do you guys call yourselves? Do you have a team name?"
"Oh, uh… a team name… y-yeah…" Ben's eyes darted around, desperately trying to think of any good team names off the top of his head. In his search for an answer thought, his sights went to the Omnitrix… and then up to the team of Hunters behind him. It was then… that inspiration struck. "Ah, y-yes! We're the… Omni-Hunters!"
The crowd seemed quite pleased with the answer, but the team all eyed one another in confusion. "The Omni-Hunters?" Penny asked. "I do not remember us agreeing to call ourselves that."
"Well, yeah, Ben just came up with it on the spot." Ren noted. "Kind of odd…"
"Eh, I don't know." Jaune shrugged. "I kinda like it."
"So do I." Pyrrha agreed. "Simple and effective." The Invincible Girl moved her gaze back to the audience when she heard several indignant shouts, leading her to see several young women come storming up through the aisle, all of them appearing to be rather angry… while also wearing green shirts. "Hm? What's going on?"
The group of women were being led by a lady with bleach blonde hair, who had her eyes focused squarely onto the stage. It was at that moment that Mayor Strong stepped back up to the front of the stage. "Um, excuse me, ma'am, but would you and your… friends please take your seat—"
"NO!" The woman said, with her entourage echoing her sentiments. "We will NOT be ignored anymore! We've had ALL of our hands raised several times, and not ONCE have any of us been called on for our question. So maybe, if we moved to the FRONT, we'll finally get noticed."
The mayor furrowed her brow at that as the crowd began shouting at them once again. "Ma'am, you're causing a scene. If you don't return to your seats, I WILL have to call security—"
"Miss Mayor, it's fine." Ben assured. "I'm pretty sure I know what they want." He stepped up and took a deep breath, focusing on the lead woman. "What is your question miss…"
"Karen." the woman answered
'Why am I not surprised?' Ben deadpanned in his head before moving on. "…Karen, what is your question?"
Karen's lips twisted into an evil smile. "Thank you. My question, or rather…" She gestured back toward her army of fellow green-clad woman. "OUR collective question is this; a few days ago, after the attack, you told many of MY friends that you were in a relationship… with THAT girl." Karen snapped her finger right toward Yang, making the blonde's eyes widen. "Miss Yang Xiao Long. But what we ALL know is that you actually broke up with your ex-girlfriend, Julie, only about a week before that whole explosion incident. So what we're asking is how in the HELL did you rebound so fast…" She sent an accusatory glare straight at Yang. "And is this relationship as genuine as you say it is?"
The moment Ben felt an intense heat near his back, he knew that Karen had made a fatal mistake. 'Shit.'
The whole team had backed away from Yang as her chair nearly caught fire, her aura flared up beyond belief as her eyes became even redder than they usually were. She grit her teeth and began stomping toward the edge of the stage, even making all of the fangirls cower in fear. "Oh, you did NOT JUST SAY THAT! Come up here and say that to my FACE you BIT—"
She was cut off when Ben suddenly hugged her, the hero putting his arms securely around her as she was met with his chest. This definitely came as a shock to Yang… but his reassuring touch was enough to calm her down a bit. "It's okay." Ben whispered. "I'll handle this. No need to start something."
All at once, Yang's aura disappeared and her eyes returned to normal, returning the hug immediately. "…Give her hell for me, please."
"I'll do that in the best way possible." Ben assured before both of them turned back to the mob of fangirls, their eyes focused down to Karen in particular. "Miss Karen… I realize that this must come as a big shock for all of you. I recognize that I have a… particularly large female fanbase, and I know just how much you all admire me. And while it IS flattering, THIS is unacceptable." He gestured toward Yang as he set his other hand on her shoulder. "Yang Xiao Long is the nicest, funniest and most genuine person that I've ever met, and yes, while I DID enter a relationship with her pretty quickly, I've grown to love every single thing about her over the past three weeks." He furrowed his brow at Karen disapprovingly. "And I will NOT have you besmirching her good name before this crowd."
His expression softened as he met Yang's gaze, her own smile having returned as she blushed a bit. "Ah, Green Boy… you're too nice."
"It's what I do, Goldie Locks." Ben gave her a small peck on the lips, which surprisingly elicited an "AAAAW!" from the fangirls. He also heard Karen groan and say; "Whatever" before storming off, but at that point, he didn't care. At that moment, he was just happy for two things; the love of his life… and the fact that he had gotten things back under control. He faced the crowd again as the fangirls took their seats. "Okay, so now that I've made it known in no uncertain terms how much I love my girlfriend, let's continue, shall we—"
"Woah, woah, wooooaah there, cowboy!" At that moment, everyone's heads snapped around in surprise at the sound of another voice being projected through the courtyard, and they saw the source of it approaching fast. It was a large news van that had pulled up to the side of the curb, and someone was speaking from inside it through the large sound system on the roof. "Let's not get too hasty here, Tennyson! You've still got a LOT to answer for!"
Slowly but surely, Ben's eyes widened and his lips parted in utter disgust. "No… you've gotta be kidding…"
"Oh, I kid you not, young man!" On the side of the van, a sliding door opened up and out came a middle-aged man holding a news camera attached to a tripod in one hand and a mic in the other. He had greying brown hair, wore a pair of glasses, and was also decked out in a black suit with red tie. The man gave a rather malignant smirk toward Ben as he extended one of his arms. "Guess who's back, Tennyson!?"
Ben's left eye twitched in irritation. "Harangue!?"
Yang and the rest of the team were shocked at first… but then they remembered that name and immediately glowered at the man. "Wait, THAT'S Harangue? The guy who's been badmouthing you on his talk show?!"
"The very same." Ben sneered as he moved across the stage so that he was closer to the reporter. "What do you want, Harangue? If you hadn't noticed, we're kind of in the middle of an important press conference, so—"
"Oh, I know, Tennyson." Harangue placed a hand on his chest. "My apologies for showing up late, but I wanted to make sure that I had all of my questions ready. So if you don't mind…" He set up his camera and reached onto his jacket pocket and pulled out a small list. "I'd actually like to get started."
Mayor Strong went up to Ben and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I can still always get security if you want me to. Trust me, I know that you and he don't exactly see eye-to-eye."
Ben glanced toward her and gave her a nod. "It's okay, I've got this." He set his focus back to Harangue and spoke into then mic. "Alright, Harangue, you've got questions? Well then, fire away!"
Harangue wore a victorious smirk as he readied his paper. "Gladly. Now, first off, after going through that whole bit of footage with you and your… new team fighting off those robots, I've taken a LOT of issues with what I've seen."
"Lemme guess, you don't believe they come from another world?"
"Oh no, I believe that." Harangue said with an eyeroll. "Ever since you popped up two years ago, I don't think we can rule ANYTHING out at this point. No, the issues that I've got is with the legality of these kids even BEING here." He pointed an accusatory finger to Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team SN, Ilia and Penny. "I don't care if they're human or not, if they're from another world, that quite literally makes them aliens. And not just ANY aliens, but ILLEGAL aliens who've crossed over onto U.S. soil. Did you even THINK of applying them for U.S. citizenship?"
This question took Ben by surprise… and the fact that he didn't think of that left him stunned. "I… I-I…"
Harangue's smirk increased further. "I see. How do you like that, Bellwood? Your hero put absolutely no forethought into putting his team in for United States citizenship the moment they came over." He raised a brow at the group as well. "Also, about those VERY dangerous-looking weapons they all have, I'm betting they don't have U.S. PERMITS for those either, do they?"
'Crap, crap, CRAP!' Ben's gut did a flip as Harangue piled on the questions, his mind searching for a good excuse for why none of that had been done yet. "Uh, heh… w-well, yes, those admittedly ARE good points… th-though to be honest, we HAVE been kinda busy…"
"So busy of a schedule that no one on your team can take the time to apply for citizenship and firearm permits?" Harangue questioned. "I find that a bit hard to—"
"Hold it RIGHT there, Harangue!" The crowd let out a collective gasp as a new voice came through the sound system. From behind the curtain, Max stormed onto the stage with a mic in hand, as well as an envelope in the other. "I happen to have your answers RIGHT here."
Ben blinked in surprise. "G-Grandpa? What's going on?"
The old Plumber smiled to his grandson reassuringly. "Don't worry, Ben, I've got this." He held the envelope aloft and made sure that Harangue could see it. "You see, I actually had EVERYONE on the team fill out the forms for their Green Cards last night. And since the Plumbers are good at fast tracking that process…" Max opened the envelope and produced a small plastic card with the Statue of Liberty on it, as well as a bald eagle and the American flag on it. This particular card also happened to have Ruby's face and information on it. "We've got their U.S. Citizenship all handled. I also had them fill out the paperwork for their firearm permits, which should be going through right now."
Ben and Harangue were both shocked by that revelation, the hero turning to his team in shock. "Hold on, you did all that last night?! When?!"
Weiss sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. "Before the party. We wanted to wait and surprise you today, but…" The former heiress narrowed her eyes at Harangue in contempt. "I suppose THAT is out the window now. Are you happy, Mr. Harangue?"
Harangue stammered a bit as his eyes shifted from left to right, trying to think of something to follow that up. "Er, uh… well, I suppose, but… but that doesn't change the fact that those weapons are CLEARLY too dangerous for public use!" He thrust his hand toward Ruby and Nora. "I mean, a scythe that's a sniper rifle and a hammer that's a grenade launcher? Are you KIDDING me?!" He then pointed over to Penny. "And what about her?! She's an android for god's sake! She could hurt practically ANYONE with those weapons of hers!"
Penny gasped and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, excuse you, but I happen to be FULLY in control of my own weapons, thank you!"
Ruby pursed her lips and hugged her weapon close to her chest. "Yeah! And you leave my darling Crescent Rose out of this!"
Nora pulled out her hammer and glowered at Harangue. "And if you wanna mess with Magnhild, we're gonna have a problem!"
"Was that a threat, young lady?" Harangue said with a perturbed look. "Because if so, I CAN call the police."
"ENOUGH." Ben jumped in, raising his hand up to Nora and Ruby. "Girls, lower your weapons. This is exactly how he gets to you; by playing games and pushing your buttons."
The two reluctantly put their weapons away and Max faced Harangue once again. "And as for you, Mr. Harangue, rest assured that everyone on this team is a professional. They've been handling these weapons for years now, so they know how to handle them."
Harangue scoffed at that. "As sad as it is that teenagers are carrying around bazookas and swords, there's also the fact that accidents ARE viable to happen. What if someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time when one of those weapons goes off, huh? What then?"
It was then that Blake stepped in. "Well, I can tell you right now that we always make sure that the area is cleared out before we start using our weapons, and—"
"Yeah, yeah, listen little lady, the adults are talking now." Harangue said as he shooed her off. "If I want your opinion, Miss Furry Ears, I'll ask for it, thank you very much."
Silence. There was nothing but utter silence for the next few moments. Anyone could've heard a pin drop it was so quiet. Blake stood there with an expression that could only be described as dazed and confused, with tears beginning to well up in her eyes. But then, her lips slowly began to curl up into a vicious snarl, showing off her sharp incisors. "…What did you say?" Blake's irises became slits as her aura flared, her rage building exponentially as her tears fell down her cheeks. "WHAT did you JUST SAY?!" Much to everyone's surprise, a harsh hissing mewl escaped from Blake's mouth before she went to leap at Harangue… only to be stopped by Sun and Ilia. "YOU MYSOGYNISTIC, CONDESCENDING, BIGOTTED PRI—"
"Blake, please calm down!" Sun said as he desperately tried to soothe his girlfriend.
"As much as I want to kill him, too, Sun's right!" Ilia said as she shot Harangue a red-eyed glare, her skin becoming red as well. "This isn't the time and place."
"Ha!" Harangue laughed. "Well, seems like I was right. Folks, these teenagers are CLEARLY too dangerous for this world. If you ask me, they should be sent right back to where they—" BANG! "GAH!" Harangue ducked as a shot rang out through the area, making everything pause, including Blake.
The cat girl's eyes snapped toward her partner, who's gauntlet was smoking. "Yang, what'd you—" She saw Yang point directly in front of her and she followed her finger… to see the now ruined remains of Harangue's camera.
"AGH! My camera!" Harangue shouted before glaring back at Yang. "Why you little—do you know how much that thing COSTS?!"
"At this point, I don't fucking care!" Yang barked back as her eyes flashed red again. "You just insulted MY best friend with your gross, insulting slur. And I will NOT have that! Everyone has been so nice to us since we got here, and the last thing that ANYONE wants is for someone to come along and ruin that." She stuck up her middle finger and declared; "As far as I'm concerned, Harangue, everything that comes out of YOUR mouth is a boatload of TRASH." The Blonde Brawler's lips curled up into a smirk. "In fact, that's what I'm gonna call ya from now on; Trash Boat! C'mon everyone, say it with me! TRASH BOAT! TRASH BOAT!"
Almost immediately, the whole crowd of people began joining in on Yang's chants of "Trash Boat", leading Harangue to back up to his van. "Uh… u-uh… w-well, as far as I'm concerned, all of YOU are the—"
BOOOOOM! Right then and there, a huge explosion echoed throughout the area and everyone went to duck and cover, with multiple screams being heard from the crowd. A few seconds afterward, Ren stuck his head up and began shifting his eyes around to see where the blast had came from. "What in the world WAS that?"
"I don't know, dude." Neptune shrugged. "But if I were to guess, I think we're in for some action…" CCCHHHH! "Huh?" The blue-haired boy heard what sounded like static coming from up above him, seeing that the large TV that was projecting the live feed of the conference was beginning to change to something else. "Hey guys! Look!"
The team all craned their heads up just in time to see the feed being taken over by a different one, with a man in his early fifties popping up onto the screen. "This is Channel 9 News reporter Willis O'Grady reporting to you live from downtown Bellwood, where a scene of utter chaos has just erupted!"
"What?!" Harangue exclaimed. "O'Grady?! Get him off the damn television, he's the reason my ratings are dropping—" BOOOOOM! "AGH!"
Following that second explosion, a huge plume of smoke could be seen rising over the city skyline, and Willis O'Grady had stumbled forward and landed against the side of his own news van. "Ugh! I-It's unbelievable! These… these people just came out of nowhere and started attacking everything in sight!" He peered directly into the camera with a desperate look. "Ben Tennyson, if you're watching this, I implore you, please come and—" THUNK! "GYAAAAUUGH!" The crowd all gasped in horror as a black arrow suddenly flew right into O'Grady's shoulder, his hand clutching it in pain as he fell right to the ground in agony.
But just then, everyone heard a series of footsteps approaching, causing the camera man to let out a fearful cry. "N-No! P-Please don't hurt me!"
The next voice that the team heard, however, sent a chill through all of them. "Oh, we won't hurt you… much." It was a woman's voice, one that was somehow both ice cold yet burning with emotion. "Just so long as you do what we say, you won't suffer like he is."
"Yeah, so put the damn camera on us!" Once again, there was another woman's voice that made the team's jaws all drop, the shock hitting them all at once. "Do it or the old man gets it." The camera man could be heard letting out a sob as he slowly panned toward his new objects of interest… and the moment they saw them, the team could feel the blood drain from their faces.
Standing in the middle of a ruined, burning street, were five very familiar people, all of them smirking toward the camera. Standing in the middle was a beautiful young woman with jet black hair tied up into a ponytail, wearing a red dress with gold designs on it, along with matching heels. Her eyes were bright amber and they appeared to be burning with power. On her right were two people; a woman with dark skin and green hair, wielding two sickles, and a silver-haired young man that had large, metal boots on his feet.
To her left, however, were two other ladies; one tall, the other short. The taller one had a pale completion that was contrasted by her bright red hair, and she was wearing black, spikey armor with a skull on the breastplate. The shorter one, meanwhile, had long half-and-half pink and brown hair, which was also the same color as her heterochromatic eyes. She was in a white and black outfit and had a black bowler hat on top of her head. And in her hand, she wielded a pink umbrella, which was slung over her shoulders.
"No… no, it can't be." Ben uttered in disbelief.
"How?" Ruby whispered. "How can they be here?"
"I… I-I don't know." Jaune shook his head. "But I do know one thing; we're in a LOT of trouble."
The team could only watch on as Neopolitan, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Rojo and Cinder Fall all approached the camera, the five villains setting their gaze straight on it as the Fall Maiden placed a hand to her hip. "Greeting, heroes. Have you missed us?"
…..
A/N: To be continued… Yeah, I know, I'm a tease, but hey, how ELSE could that reintroduction have gone? Indeed, our favorite villains are BACK baby! Cinder, Rojo, Emerald, Mercury and Neo have FINALLY made their reappearance and it looks like they're already up to no good with all that destruction. Just what are our heroes gonna do about this?
But of course, that isn't the ONLY thing that happened in this chapter. We also saw the aftermath of Swift's party last night, leading to a little moment with Team RWBY seeing Ben's baby pictures (hehe). Plus, we actually had a little snippet of something that happened DURING said party between Neptune and Helen. Those two are becoming quite chummy with one another… But hey, the press conference overall went pretty well… at least until the whole fangirl debacle and Harangue showing up. Yep, you knew he had to show up eventually, and here he is. I think I definitely succeeded in making his as big of an asshat as possible, but what do you guys think? Did I nail him?
Also, I gotta give some people credit for a few things in this chapter as well. For one, special thanks to Toy2711 for the idea of Sandra showing off Ben's tap dance recital. Not everyone remembers that boy took tap dance, surprisingly. And I once again gotta give credit to HarryBuilder for suggesting the name "Omni-Hunters". I was really struggling to come up with a name for this whole team, but when he suggested that one to me, I thought; "Huh, actually that's pretty good." Also, credit to ZeroTheOne for suggesting having Yang call Harangue a "Trash Boat", that one is just brilliant. And finally, credit to Brachydios904 for suggesting the running gag of Yang destroying Harangue's camera. I'm gonna get a LOT of milage out of THAT one (MWAH-HAHAHAHA!).
Alright, so now that the Ministry has made themselves known, one has to wonder… just where the HELL have they BEEN for the past three days? What've they been doing that constitutes their absence? Well, we're gonna be finding out… NEXT TIME! Get yourselves ready for a flashback chapter as we take a look at just what Cinder, Rojo and their team have been up to since they came to Earth! And here's a bit of a teaser; it involves bounty hunting. Thanks for readying guys and I'll see you all next time! And, as always, stay safe out there!
P.S. If you don't know who I based Bellwood's mayor off of… ah, who am I kidding? You ALL know who I based her off of.
