CHAPTER 7: DARKNESS DESCENDS

Jaune Arc loved superheroes and comic books since he was a kid. He used to dream of being one himself, like his great grandfather who fought through the Great War long ago. He recollected those days fondly where he would sit in his room reading many comics of different superheroes – sometimes the same character for a whole night. To this day he treasured those memories in both mind and heart.

But now, standing not too far from him and the group was a superhero. A real life superhero! Jaune couldn't stop gawking in amazement. Just now it was near impossible for his companion, Pyrrha Nikos, to fight off Deathstalker alone. He thought if he and the others gathered together, they might've stood a chance in taking it down.

But as soon as Spider-Man appeared, he took out the scorpion Grimm in one blow. Jaune didn't know whether to be impressed or scared that such a simple punch worked on such a strong creature. It made him wonder exactly how strong Spider-Man actually is? It made him curious but terrified him at the same time.

"Holy crap! Did you guys see that?! I've never seen that kind of brute strength!" Jaune remarked.

"That was amazing!" Nora was breathless.

"Indeed. I couldn't even keep up with that tremendous strength," Ren added.

Ruby stared in awe at Spider-Man's assumed stance. She couldn't believe her eyes; there was no way this hero was real. But there he stood! She had read millions of comics of different kinds of superheroes before, but not like this. Never in real life, never before her eyes.

Spider-Man straightened himself and turned around to face Ruby. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head with amusement to Ruby's shocked expression.

"You know, you have a knack for getting in trouble." Spider-Man remarked, chuckling at Ruby's gawking expression.

Ruby got up on her feet in an instant.

"And you have a knack for saving my life," Ruby retorted with a giggle. "Are you sure you're not a superhero stalker?"

"Nah, I was just in the neighborhood," Spider-Man replied, scanning his surroundings. "Or forest—woods, you know what I mean."

"You are so childish."

Ruby rolled her body around in time to see Weiss approaching her and Spider-Man. The Heiress stopped before them whilst placing her hands on her hips. Her eyes briefly narrowed at Spider-Man but softened when she redirected her gaze at Ruby.

"And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss glanced at the ground then looked back at Ruby. "And I can be a bit... difficult, but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together." She smiled slightly at Ruby. "So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."

Ruby frowned. "I'm not trying to show off. I just want to show you I can do this."

"You're fine." Weiss reassured her.

Ruby sighed in relief. "Normal knees..." she whispered to herself.

Spider-Man slowly retreated backwards from the girls.

"Well, I'm glad to see you guys have made up. I'll just take my leave and—"

Weiss's eyes narrowed at Spider-Man and pointed at him.

"Stop." She marched towards him and crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, if you must know; I came here because my spider-sense detected there was danger around this area, so I thought I swung by, literally, to check out what the danger is." Spider-Man replied.

Weiss turned away from Spider-Man and reached for her pocket. Ruby blinked in surprise when the Heiress pulled out her scroll, typing her fingers on numbers that appeared on screen. Ruby stepped towards her with a worried expression.

"Weiss, what are you doing?" Ruby asked, her tone laced with worry.

"I'm calling security." Weiss replied without looking at her.

"Huh?!" Ruby was baffled by what she heard. None more so than the group behind her.

"Come on Weiss, you can't be serious." Yang said, standing by Ruby's side with her hands on her hips.

Weiss turned her gaze at Ruby and Yang. "You heard what Captain Stacy said: we report either the police, the Huntsman, or the Huntress immediately, and that's exactly what I'm doing."

Blake marched up to Yang's side. She crossed her arms and glared at the heiress. Disapproving the unfairness she was treating to the web-hero. After all, he is a member of her people…

"What is your problem with him? He saved her life." Blake asked, narrowing her amber eyes at the heiress with disapproval.

"Doesn't change the fact that he's a vigilante." Weiss retorted matter of factually. "He's going against the law and we were strictly told by our superiors to report him. Besides, I would've saved Ruby in time with no problem if he hadn't shown up."

Weiss shifted her gaze back to Spider-Man and paused when she noticed him looking down at her skirt. She briefly gazed at her skirt then back at the vigilante. Her brow arched at him in bewilderment.

"What?" Asked Weiss, a bit bewildered.

Spider-Man pointed at Weiss's skirt.

"You're not actually fighting in that dress, are you?" Spider-Man asked. Pink dusted Weiss's cheeks and she turned her head away from him with a huff.

"It's a combat skirt." Weiss corrected him.

"Aww, what a cute outfit; did your mother make that for you?" Spider-Man quipped with a hint of humor.

"What the-the audacity-," Weiss sputtered over her words at Spider-Man's question. Ruby and Yang couldn't help but giggle at the web-head's quip.

Spider-Man's eyes widened as his spider-sense began to buzz intensely. Weiss was about to speak, but Spider-Man swiftly leaped towards her, Ruby, Yang, and Blake, swiftly bringing them to the ground and creating a distance of ten feet from their original positions. Suddenly, a resounding thud reverberated through the ground, capturing the attention of everyone present.

Standing before the group was a pale, balding man donning a mechanical green exo-suit. His eyes were narrow, with small brown irises, accompanied by relatively long lower eyelashes and petite eyebrows. Prominent steel wings extended from his back, while his mouth was concealed by an armored black plague mask, adorned with intricate gold embroidery. On each foot, he wore steel-like talons resembling those of a bird, sharpened to a fine point. Additionally, his metallic green gloves featured black claws affixed to the joints of his hands.

"What in the world..?" Weiss couldn't comprehend what she was seeing.

"Well, this is something you don't see everyday." Spider-Man remarked. "So you must be the guy that caused my spider-sense to go off."

The man was silent.

His head slowly shifted towards Ruby before taking one step forward. Right arm raised along with his claw, pointing his finger directly at Ruby. This action caused everyone to briefly turn their gaze from Ruby to the mysterious armored man.

"Ruby Rose," he spoke coldly. "You're coming with me."

Ruby parted her lips to say something, until Spider-Man stood in between them and blocked her view.

"Oh no big bird, she's not going anywhere with you." Spider-Man interjected, crossing his arms. "Why don't you tell me what you want with her?"

The mysterious man glared at Spider-Man. "None of your business."

"Oh, so we're playing that card now, huh?" Spiderman inquired.

The masked man took another step towards Spiderman.

"I'm only going to say this once. Move aside." He demanded.

"You see, I could but… the way you looked at her gives me some bad vibes; sorry buddy but that's just not gonna happen." Spider-Man responded with a shake of his head.

"I couldn't agree more." Yang stepped up to Spider-Man's side. "I don't know who you are, but you need to leave my sister alone. She's not going with you. Not while I'm around."

The armored man's glare slightly deepened.

"Fine… have it your way."

The wings flapped once with a tremendous whump of air as the armored man propelled himself towards Spider-Man. Spider-Man's spider-sense went haywire, quickly jumping over the man while Ruby and the others immediately leapt out of the way. The armored man ascended high in the air then rolled around to gazed down at the web-head. He redirected his gaze back at Ruby and dived head first towards her with incredible speed.

"Oh no you don't!" Spider-Man retracted his foot. With a forceful kick from his heel, he propelled himself to great heights, leaving in his wake a diminutive crater as both feet made contact with the ground. He swiftly ascended, leaving behind a gentle breeze.

Spider-Man pounced on the armored man in midair, changing the villain's course of direction. The two exchanged blows and dodged one another while Ruby and the other members of the team stared on with shock. Spider man and the armored villain eventually descended back to the earth, crashing into the ground. Wind whipped around the area, causing dust particles to fly everywhere.

When the dust cleared, Ruby watched with worry as Spider-Man struggled to keep the man pinned to the ground. The man's exo-suit pumped him with enough strength to throw Spider-Man off of him. Spider-Man rolled on his back then planted his palm on the earth before propelling himself back to his feet. Spider-Man shifted his gaze to the stunned group while assuming a fighting stance.

"You guys got an exam to complete, right? You go on ahead," Spider-Man said, turning his gaze back to the villain. "I'll keep this guy from coming after you."

Ruby hesitated. "Spider-Man, we can-"

"Ruby Rose."

Spider-Man pointed his hand towards Ruby, briefly silencing her. He then turned, winked at her and donned a reassuring thumbs up.

"I got this!"

With the reassurance from Spider-Man himself, Ruby deduced that he must have a plan to take the villain on. Nodding in agreement, she began to turn and sprint. The others followed behind her towards the abandoned castle. Blake halted for a moment, then looked at Spider-Man with a worried expression over her shoulder before turning away and trailed back to the group.

The armored man leapt up to the air with the support of his wings. They flapped twice to keep him balanced as he hovered in the air, glaring down at his assailant. Right claw raised up to his ear and lightly tapped his earpiece.

"The girl is heading to the abandoned castle. You know what to do." The armored man said.

"Yes sir." The person on the line responded.

The armored man redirected his gaze towards the web-head.

"You know, bad guys like you have names for themselves." Spider-Man's eyes narrowed at the villain. "What should I call you before we begin our little rumble."

The steel feathers morphed to sharpen points. He reached over his back and pulled out a metallic object. Spider-Man's eyes blinked in surprise as he felt his heart leapt to his throat. The man carried a weapon that was as big as its torso, with three long sets of barrels, each set having three barrels stuck together in a triangular formation.

"The man who will bury you six feet under."

The barrels began to slowly spin.

"Vulture."

With a great flap, Vulture descended towards the web-hero.

A/N: And that was chapter 7 young readers! Originally this chapter was supposed to be longer but I decided to make it short so I can focus my attention on other stories I hadn't been back on for a while. Though I haven't decided it yet but next chapter may or may not feature Team RWBY and Team JNPR to aid Spider-Man taking down Vulture. Only time will tell. With all of that said, I'll be taking my leave.

See you all in the next chapter!