To Felipe1402XZA, there's only so-many "Cooking Utensils" I can use for Toriko-inspired moves, but it does help that Jane is a huge fan, yes. I made it kind of obvious with her blue-dyed hair thanks to the [Dye Berries], and unique hair colors in Toriko are hardly unique. As for Zonge, getting his name wrong for the running gag (and kudos to you for knowing about that little tidbit~) would've felt a little forced if it were anyone but Toriko himself. And while Zonge might be full of himself like Hercule Satan in DBZ, and everyone just assumes he's a bigshot because he hangs out with Toriko (in actuality, the guy is so self-absorbed he doesn't know he should be bowing at the waist in reverence), the man did have enough [Food Luck] for Midora to copy at the end of the series for his planet-spanning [Gourmet Spice]. But I digress.
As for anyone from RWBY or JNPR going to the Gourmet World… That's going to be a HARD "no". Capture Level 100 is the strongest you'll find in the Human World, and nothing but the strongest Sea Kings in One Piece would be able to compare to Capture Level 80, let alone Capture Level 100. Mind you, without some measure of their individual "combat prowess", it's a little tricky giving concrete numbers. The Sea King that ate Shanks' arm... I'd estimate that one to be a Capture Level 5-to-10 range. The Sea Kings summoned by Shirahoshi... I'd put them in the 45-to-55 range by merit of Size & Strength alone. Surume the "Kraken"... Possibly Capture Level 70 on its home turf and its own fighting prowess.
If you remember my World of Remnant chapter where Jack pointed out what "shape" the world was really in… Yeah, even with my "power re-scaling", RWBY and JNPR would never be able to become "superhuman enough" to survive the rigors of the Gourmet World without completely abandoning the path of the Huntsman altogether and giving themselves completely to the "world of flavor". Something I've alluded is quite significant.
For those of you not-in-the-know, I highly recommend giving Toriko a read, but that's beside the point.
To LoamyCoffee, I hate Jaune a lot less now than when I first started writing for him in this story, because now he's actually done "stuff" to earn his stay at Beacon. In the RWBY Canon, we kinda just forgot about his lack of credentials, and actual fighting ability, altogether. And you can argue with me on this point until you're blue in the face, but if Jaune actually did the one thing Ozpin directly asked him to do when it was most-important, the whole domino effect of Cinder killing Amber, Ozpin, and then Pyrrha wouldn't have happened because she only had the "one way" into The Vault.
As for Jaune flashing Pyrrha the goods, there's a lot of explosive muscle growth in Toriko that I passively reference here; when Coco ate Meteor Garlic and it resonated with his Gourmet Cells, he literally hulked out bigger than the Incredible Hulk, I kid you not. It was really fun to explain why Gourmet Hunters aren't going around insta-killing really strong Grimm, because as someone who has re-read Toriko in full paperback multiple times, the "power ceiling" is just completely ridiculous by the end of the series. I'm talking Infinite Stamina, FTL, Time Dilation, Jupiter-busting, and so-on.
Could Toriko beat Goku?
Yes. I'm leaning toward "yes". Because even 9 years after the end of Toriko's serialization, Toriko and his brothers are still among the most-powerful anime protagonists of all time. Hell, Tommyrod of the Gourmet Corps is still the most-powerful "Bug User" in all of fiction. If you show me proof to the contrary, I'm willing to amend that statement, but the fact is, "Bug Users" don't tend to be Continent Busters.
To Raidentensho, not sure why I put that Futurama line in since the tone was completely different, but I'm happy someone noticed. As for Soul Land 2, haven't touched XianXia for a while, but I don't plan on JJVNPR getting into any more shenanigans until their next actual adventure.
*NEW WORLD*
"Ugh, being fancy is exhausting!" Ruby cried as she hobbled into her room on one foot, trying to take her shoes off as she went.
"Ruby, it was only the one dinner; I think you'll be fine," Weiss deadpanned as Ruby carelessly tossed her nice pumps about.
"Oh, you're back," Blake hummed from behind her book. "How'd your dinner go?"
"Oof, I'm stuffed!" Ruby smiled as she rubbed her belly. "I'm beginning to understand why you turn up your nose at everyone, Weiss."
"Trust me, Ruby. All that glitters is not gold," the heiress deadpanned.
"Still, we should probably get to bed. We do have classes tomorrow," Yang hummed as she looked at the bed that'd remained unoccupied for the past week. "I still can't believe Jack threw hands with a legit dinosaur without me."
"Once again, not a dinosaur," Blake deadpanned.
*NEW WORLD*
*Knock*Knock*
"Delivery."
"This early in the morning?" Ruby blinked, finishing the buttons on her uniform and answering the door.
"Sign here, please," a deliveryman -dressed like a baker in predominantly white with blue trim- hummed with a clipboard in one hand and a white box in the other.
"Oh, uh, sure thing," Ruby nodded, scribbling her name on the clipboard and being handed the box a moment later.
"Have a nice day."
"Who's that from?" Yang blinked as the door clicked shut.
"Here's a crazy idea. You could try reading the card," Blake hummed pointing to a card taped down to the white box.
Ruby held back a pout as she set the box down on her desk and read the card.
"Ruby, I'd give you the world if I could, but all I can give is that which you already have; my heart. XOXO, Arthur," Ruby recited as she read the card.
"Awww~ That's so sweet~" Yang cooed at the sappy message as Ruby carefully opened the box, the scent of vanilla with slight traces of fruit wafting up to meet them.
"That's so cringe-inducing it actually is pretty sweet," Blake admitted.
"Arthur really went the extra mile with this cake. Put in the aorta and everything," Weiss hummed as she took in the intricate detail of said cake, which looked like an anatomically correct heart, only up-sized.
*Sniff*Sniff*
"Ruby? Ruby what's wrong?" Weiss asked as her partner began to tear up.
"WAAAAAAAH!" Ruby blubbered as tears streamed down her face. "Arthur's too good for meeeeeee!" she cried as she clung to her partner.
"Ruby! Stop! Let go! You're getting snot all over my uniform!" Weiss pleaded as the girl sobbed openly, dampening her clothes with more than tears.
"As far as socially-awkward love notes go, this one's actually pretty nice," Blake hummed as he looked at the flowing cursive on the card, Ruby snatching it away from her and clutching it to her chest possessively.
A moment later her Scroll began to ring, Yang letting out an- "Ooooooooh~" -as Arthur's name came up on the Caller ID.
"Yang, shut your hole!" Ruby hissed as she scampered into a corner and answered the phone. "Hey, Arthur~"
"Hey there, Little Red~"
" . . . You aren't Arthur…" Ruby said in a haunted voice that immediately put her team on edge.
"And would you look at that! She can be taught!"
That same taunting voice was followed by raucous laughter from the background, echoing off what sounded like the inside of a large building.
"Aw, what's the matter? Have nothing to say?"
"How did you get this phone?"
"Why don't I give you a hint~"
The sounds of footsteps on concrete met the little red-head's ears, the trembling of her shoulders causing her teammates to feel an encroaching sense of dread.
"Oh, but how in-con-siderate of me! Let me put you on FaceView~"
Her hand moving her Scroll away from her ear on its own, Ruby looked down into her screen and almost dropped it at the sight that greeted her.
Still clad in the same suit as the night before, it was no longer pristine, but instead torn and tattered with one sleeve gone completely. Being held in massive yellow hands so-blocky they could only belong to a battle robot, the whites of her eyes grew and the pupils shrank as she beheld Arthur's bruised visage, one eye swollen completely shut, blood matting his white hair to his head, his lips split in numerous places.
"Ru…by…" the Faunus panted weakly, ears drooping limply as he struggled to keep his head up. "It's a trap-"
*CRACK!*
"Quiet, you," Torchwick said, all joviality gone as he cracked Arthur across the face with his cane.
"Torchwick, if you touch him one more time, I'll-!"
"You'll… what?" Torchwick asked with a cold gleam in his eye that shut Ruby up. "Oh, make no mistake, you're more than free to come over and pick up your little boy-toy, but I must warn you… This is the bad, baaaad part of town. Who knows what might happen to him~? Especially if you come by with too many friends~"
" . . . "
"Come alone," Torchwick said in a no-nonsense tone. "Let's you and I have a little… heart-to-heart."
The line cutting out with an angry press of Torchwick's thumb, Ruby's Scroll fell out of her hand through fingers that had gone completely numb. Her legs giving out underneath her a moment later, a terrified look filled Ruby's eye and she shook like a leaf.
"Ruby," Weiss said getting on her knees and pulling the girl into a hug. "I know what you're going through, but we'll… We'll get him back."
"Arthur… Torchwick took Arthur because of me…!" Ruby sobbed as silver eyes turned watery, the girl clamping her hands to her mouth as an agonized wail threatened to leave her, the girl nearly doubling over in a fit of agony.
"So… What's the plan?" Blake asked as her expression turned completely somber.
"Torchwick didn't ask for a ransom, so this is purely personal."
"And what makes you such an expert?!" Ruby rounded on her partner, the tears in the heiress' eyes making the wetness in Ruby's own redouble themselves. "I-I'm sorry, Weiss. I-"
"It's okay," Weiss said pulling the red-head back into her arms. "You're hurting, so you get a pass. This time."
"This is some heavy shit right here, and right as our heaviest hitter's out of town…" Yang said biting her thumbnail.
"We don't need a heavy-hitter. We need subtlety," Blake chimed in, her short-hairs standing on end. "Not only is there no ransom involved, but he's already put hands on Arthur; that makes the situation all the more volatile."
"This is all my fault-"
"Ruby don't you dare put this on yourself!" Yang and Weiss both said, the two exchanging glances before Weiss awkwardly gave her teammate the floor. "Ruby, this is all on Torchwick, not you. Don't ever get the idea into your head that what's happening now is any fault of yours. All Torchwick is doing is giving himself more to answer for later."
"So… *sniff* What happens now?" Ruby sniffled, girding herself for battle by asking herself- "What would mom do?"
"This may be a bit paranoid, but there's no telling how many spies Torchwick has, either in Beacon or in what's left of the police force, so it'd be best to keep the circle small," Blake began as she stated digging through Jack's desk, drawing out some keys before fishing some clothes from underneath his bed. "You take a shuttle to Vale, I'll go by a separate route. If anyone asks, Ruby had a family emergency in town and I'm down with bad food poisoning. And only spread it around if anybody asks. Best-case scenario, we only get a demerit for absence and Arthur comes home with just a split lip and some bruising."
"And the worst-case?" Yang asked worriedly.
"Torchwick already put hands on Arthur, so we're already approaching 'worst-case scenario' territory," Blake conceded. "Ruby, how-many people can you carry while still using your Semblance?"
"I could carry Yang no-problem, last time I checked," the team leader answered.
"Then that's what we're going to have to do," Blake nodded. "The most-important thing right now is getting Arthur medical attention in case there's more damage we can't see. That means when you have eyes on him, and you have a window-"
"What about a door~?"
"Yang not now!" Blake hissed.
"Right, sorry, too soon…"
"As I was saying… When you have a window of opportunity, you grab him and run. Don't try to have your cake and eat it too. Don't try to live out your juvenile superhero fantasies. We'll deal with him another day if circumstance allows us; preferably when Team Ruby is at full strength."
"That doesn't sound very fair…" Ruby hummed without realizing, the idea of rallying so much strength against some small-time crook chaffing against all the fairy tales of 'heroic' heroes she'd been raised on her whole life.
"If the world were really fair, Torchwick wouldn't have gone after your boyfriend," Blake said with a role of her eyes that made Ruby feel condescended-to.
"Do you at least have a location?" Weiss asked.
The next moment Ruby's Scroll pinged, the girl looking down to see a text message coming in through Arthur's line.
"Looks like he's giving me KPS coordinates," Ruby hummed as she stared at an overhead map with a red thumb tack sticking up out of it on an unassuming warehouse.
"Then it's time to move," Blake nodded, everyone blinking when they realized Blake had changed into a baggy (on her) black hoodie and beige cargo shorts while they weren't looking, a sick mask obscuring the majority of her features. "Ruby, I'll be right behind you every step of the way. Synchronize your Scroll to mine so you don't get lost."
*NEW WORLD*
As Ruby speed-walked through campus, her Scroll chimed insistently. At first she was content to ignore it, thinking it were Torchwick attempting to further taunt her, but when she saw the Caller ID register the name Delamain, her interest was piqued, but not enough to stop wholesale.
"Y-Yes?" she choked out, trying to keep it together.
"Ruby Rose."
"Who is this?"
"I am Delamain, acting CEO of the Delamain Corporation," a smooth but undoubtedly artificial tone replied.
"W-Why are you calling? I'm in a bit of a rush, here."
"I am aware. Last night, one of my cabs was intercepted by a third party, and regrettably, my client, Arthur Asimov, was absconded with before the distress signal his driver activated could be responded-to."
"Gee, let me put that memo in a folder titled 'Shit I already know!'"
"What you may not be aware of is the fact that Arthur Asimov has been signed onto the Excelsior Package by his guardian, which includes the standard service package plus complete health coverage, active passenger medical scanning, Combat Mode, and free corpse disposal in the event of the client's death."
"Well Arthur isn't dead yet, so you can forget about that last one!"
"I am aware. As I already suspected that personal animosity was the motivation for this kidnapping, I have been monitoring your Scroll until the kidnappers revealed themselves, and was able to back-trace the signal of my primary client's Scroll."
"Why not monitor Arthur's Scroll instead?"
"A signal jammer was in effect."
"Oh..." Ruby hummed. "Why go this far for a client that isn't in your cab anymore?"
"Were I human, I would consider what happened a personal slight; in this case, it is just business. Were it to get out that someone under the purview of my Excelsior Package were killed, I would lose face as a premier transportation provider. As such, it is in my best interest to expediate his rescue. Transportation is inbound to the Beacon Skyport and should be there upon your arrival."
"If you already know where Arthur is, why not call the police?"
"As Torchwick back-handedly implied, 'no cops'. Not to mention, Vale's own law enforcement is hardly in a state to render aid. Recruitment dropout rates have more than doubled in the past weeks since the 'Rat King Incident'. At present, you are his best hope for rescue, though once his safety is secured, I can coordinate rescue with Atlesian Spec Ops, as there is suspected Robot Master involvement after I salvaged footage from the taxi's body-cam."
Ruby felt a thrill of terror wash over her. While she hardly knew the technical specs of all the Robot Masters, that there was such involvement, implied further that Torchwick was involved as well. In which case, it only explained why a pseudo-indestructible armored taxicab couldn't protect Arthur.
Not that she was going to turn away the aid.
*NEW WORLD*
The Rayfield Excalibur was an ultra-sleek, ultra-futuristic aerial vehicle, the most-expensive street-legal vehicle available on the planet in its size, with only a hundred having currently been manufactured. The interior was also ultra-chic, but Ruby Rose couldn't be bothered to care as she chewed on the fact that Roman Torchwick had pulled such a dick "nemesis move" of taking a loved one as a hostage to get to her.
After-the-fact… No, not even after-the-fact could she consider herself flattered. Instead, she was completely pissed. Pissed, and afraid, and upset, and having a complete psychotic break.
The only solace to be found was that Delamin, whoever or, whatever he was -assuming he wasn't putting on an act because he was an eccentric nutter,-wasn't letting her go in alone. Apart from the implied future aid from Atlesian Spec Ops, the cabin of the Rayfield was also stocked with LOKI mechs, these colored in all black with white checkerboard stripe patterns with the Delamain insignia on the torsos, light SMGs in their hands.
She still remembered them from that one… incident… but given the police were really as-corrupt as rumored, it was entirely possible that maintenance costs were being shortchanged to line someone's pockets. As such, it was entirely possible the LOKI were a respectable platform as long as they were given frequent system updates and programmed by someone who actually gave a damn.
"Sparkling water, Ms. Rose?" Delamain's artificial dulcet sounded as a side panel slid outward revealing a cooler filled with premium beverages.
"Just regular, if you have it…"
"Of course, miss," Delamain replied, one of the LOKI's face-screens flickering before it reached into the cooler and handed her a Gucci brand of mineral water. "Can I also interest you in some in-flight snacks?"
"I'm not really hungry," Ruby answered sourly, her forgotten breakfast less than an afterthought.
*NEW WORLD*
Elsewhile, Blake scrambled to keep up with the Rayfield Excalibur that had inexplicably picked up Ruby from the skyport.
While she did have Ruby's live-feed for location through her Scroll, getting a high-end sky-cab was not, a part of the plan, and she could only hope that this wouldn't incense Torchwick into further punitive action against his hostage.
Because for as much as she disliked the extremist arm of the White Fang, at the very least they avoided damaging the merchandise when looking for a ransom. If you were willing to put hands on the hostage before the phone call, you could hardly be taken at your word.
*NEW WORLD*
The Rayfield Excalibur set to take Ruby to the farthest, most-decrepit reaches of the industrial sector, the scythe-wielder once again checked over her primary implement, ensuring that everything was in its place in the likely chance that it would all come down to a fight.
Of course, she'd only fight for as long as it took her to put hands on Arthur. Once she had her boyfriend in hand, she was going to do as Blake said; run like hell.
This wasn't about the self-satisfaction she'd feel for bringing in Torchwick and his gang, and she wasn't even properly deputized, so as much as it irked her, everything aside from her boyfriend was not her responsibility.
Her stomach pressing up against her diaphragm as the Excalibur Rayfield began its final descent, Ruby checked her ammo reserves one final time, smoothed down her hair so Arthur would only see her at her very best, and muttered a small prayer to whatever gods were listening that past tragedies wouldn't repeat themselves.
"Mom… I can be strong like you… right?"
*NEW WORLD*
For Arthur's sake, Delamain dropped Ruby off a block away and to the side of Arthur's current location in the decrepit part of the Industrial Sector. The factories in this area had been replaced by more-modern facilities elsewhere, either in Vale or in other settlements similar to Rockwell, but because it cost money to tear them down, they were instead left to the homeless, the luckless, and Vale's criminal element as well.
Her intention was on Arthur and little else, but it didn't stop her from feeling depressed by her surroundings.
Sure, no-one was fool enough to attack a Huntress, let alone a Huntress-in-Training, but to be confronted with those who weren't as-fortunate as she and hers, left a sour taste in her mouth. One she had to set aside because there was nothing she could do for the wretched around her, and she had bigger priorities besides.
Torchwick's hideout, if the tracker in Arthur's Scroll was any indicator, was one of the smaller automobile factories that had been rendered obsolete since the advent of yet newer manufacturing methods. And point in fact, many businesses were beginning to make new settlements just to skirt the taxes levied on those that chose to operate in Vale. The whole thing was stupid in Ruby's opinion, trading safety for profit, but it was hardly like she could do anything about it. Sure, she could decry this or that all she wanted, but without a politician in your back pocket, or the accolades of being a war hero, what could she herself ever do about this sort of thing?
What told her she was in the right place, was the thug dressed like a less-fancy Torchwick guarding one of the doors. Flagrantly armed, that even Dominic and his cronies were more-intimidating was telling in of itself, but it didn't stop her from holding Crescent Rose all the tighter.
"Name?" the thug asked like a night club bouncer.
"Ruby Rose," the girl bit out.
"Right this way," he said waving her inside.
The interior of the defunct factory looked like the backdrops of many an action movie she'd seen. In fact, she was almost positive this was the same factory as in one of the Annihilator movies. That or one of the Swift & Savage sequels; of which there were many.
Letting herself be escorted deeper in, after rounding a partitioning wall, she was greeted by dozens of Torchwick Gang members if their attire was any indication. It was predominantly men, late-teens to late-twenties with the occasional thirty-something, but there was a smattering of women about who looked only slightly uncomfortable by all of the cat calls being sent her way.
Of course, her eyes weren't on any of them. Clutched in the massive yellow hands of something wearing a tarp big enough to cover a mobile home like a cloak was Arthur, head bowed and looking worse than he had before.
"Arthur…!" the red-head muttered at the sight of him.
"Ah! Ruby Rose! So kind of you to join us!"
Looking up, Ruby beheld Roman Torchwick sneering down at her from a catwalk, looking like the thing that'd caught the canary.
"Let Arthur go! Your fight's with me!"
"Hah, I told you!" one of the gang members snickered, another begrudgingly handing over a few bills after her declaration.
"Red, Red, Red~" Torchwick tutted dismissively as he stepped through a gap in the railing and landed on the giant robot's cloaked shoulder, its head rising up revealing a massive squared jaw in the most-literal sense. "You don't honestly expect me to give this little money-maker back for free, do you?" he asked holding up one of the Faunus' heavily stylized soda cans with his fingertips, turning it appraisingly in his hand.
" . . . What do you want?" Ruby forced out.
"Ah, now that's more like it~" Torchwick smiled. "Strip."
"What?" Ruby blinked, a similar confusion spreading through the other women in attendance.
"Did I stutter? Take it off. All of it," Torchwick ordered with narrowed eyes. "Maybe put on a show while you're at it. The boys here haven't really gotten any in a while, and a baby Huntress like you's just the thing to tickle their fancies~"
Ruby's stomach sank at the order, but then her eyes turned to Arthur. His blood-matted hair shifting as he weakly looked up through a bruised eye, red met silver, and the decision was made.
Letting her Crescent Rose fall to the floor with a *clack* that echoed through the defunct car factory, the sneer on Torchwick's face only grew as Ruby unclasped her hooded cloak, letting it fall just nearby before angrily undoing the buttons on her blazer.
"Ah ah ah ah!" Torchwick chided with a waggle of his finger. "Slow…ly…~"
Ruby bit back the growl threatening to rise in her throat, slowly undoing the last buttons on her blazer. Dropping that article to the ground, the gathered men hooted and hollered, flooding the air with catcalls as she slowly undid the buttons of her button-up. A modest red bra revealing itself along with much pale skin, right as she unhooked her pleated skirt and let it fall down her black tights, a familiar voice called out-
"Does someone want to explain what the hell I'm looking at?"
Everyone's eyes snapping around to a side door, Ruby felt her eyes go wide as Roman Torchwick angrily strode forward on his cane. Her silver-eyed gaze snapping up to the giant robot's shoulder in a double-take, her head whipped back and forth as she tried to process what was going on.
"B-B! B-B-B-Boss!" the gang leader holding Arthur hostage stuttered from his perch. "Um… You're back so soon!"
"That didn't sound like an answer to my question," the second gang leader said glancing Ruby's way before looking up at the man with a face matching his. "Are… Are those my clothes? And my spare cane?" he asked angrily. "Seriously, if someone doesn't explain what's happening, I'm shooting at least three of you," he said twirling his cane.
The formerly-hooting men's eyes all turning on the higher up Torchwick, that once-condescending expression on the man's face melted away like soggy clay, as did his face itself, revealing a much plainer looking visage with a line of freckles, red hair bleeding into run-of-the-mill brown.
"I just… you know… figured I could help you get some payback," the plain-faced man said in reply.
"Payback…" Roman aspirated carefully like he were rolling an unfamiliar morsel on his tongue, glancing at Ruby and her state of undress, the beaten Faunus, and then back at his impersonator. "Do you really think my ego is so-fragile that I need to harass a pair of thirteen-year-olds to feel good about myself?"
"W-We're fifteen!" Ruby said crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hush, Little Red. I'm speaking for you," Torchwick, the real one, replied without even looking at her. "Now then, Jimmy," he said angrily up at the impersonator. "Mayhaps you'd want to explain why you're performing a hate crime?" he asked lazily gesturing at Arthur with his cane.
"I-I am not racist! And my name is Jeremy!" the brunette protested.
"Dunno. Seems pretty racist to me, Jimmy," Roman scoffed, twirling his cane before leveling it at the gang member in the stolen clothes. "Move along, Little Red. Papa Torchwick needs to… clean house a little."
"I'd like to see you try…!" aforementioned impersonator growled, 'mud' slathering itself over his features before he twisted Roman's face into a rictus snarl. "In fact, I think it's time this gang fall under new management."
"And yet, you just re-slathered my face on," Torchwick scoffed. "Why the hell're you pulling this shit anyway? We had a good thing going."
"Yeah, sure, we're stealing Dust, but where's the money-"
"GUTS MAN ATTACK!" Torchwick suddenly shouted with wide eyes.
The giant robot disengaging from its current task to swat at the man on its shoulder, Ruby was swift to don her cape, whirling into a storm of rose petals. Zipping across the factory and catching Arthur up in her arms before his bloodied form could hit the ground, she threw her body over his as Torchwick and his impersonator exchanged fire, stray bullets from confused gang members catching on her Aura.
Adrenaline surging as she whirled into action, snatching up her Crescent Rose and Arthur's Amazing Grace from a nearby table, right as she dropped behind a crate for cover, the skylight overhead exploded. Landing in the midst of the tumult with a deafening three-point landing -that shattered concrete- and momentarily abating it was a slender figure with modest feminine curves in an all-black catsuit with glowing neon green "Tron lines" at the joints, their helmet sleek like a futuristic motorcycle helmet with a glowing V-shaped visor on the front.
"Salutations, fellow humans!" a peppy digital voice chimed like a ringing bell as an array of floating swords began to orbit around them. "I am combat ready!"
An instant later, and adding to the chaos was the arrival of a familiar Rayfield Excalibur crashing through a bank of side windows, depositing both its stored troops, and a payload of micro-missiles that battered Guts Man. Massive hooded cloak ripped to shreds, revealed an archaic frame clad in curved armored plates of red, black, and yellow armor.
"AAARGH, I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just jill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" Torchwick -or maybe Jeremy since Ruby lost track- cried out.
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH OF YOU IS REAL SO I'M SHOOTING YOU BOTH!" Ruby blurted out, popping out of cover and popping both Torchwick with her Crescent Rose before scooping Arthur back up in her arms and swirling out of the factory. Re-materializing in mid-flight to double-kick the door she came in through, as soon as the daylight hit her, Ruby let loose with her Semblance once again in a storm of rose petals, the cacophony of bullets, blades, and crashing machinery a white noise on her mind until her stamina wore out.
"Ruby…" Arthur slurred drunkenly. "I can't feel my toes…"
"You're just in shock," Ruby soothed as she hugged his head to her chest. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be fine."
"RUBY!" Blake cried as she swung around the corner in Jack's car, a horrified look on her face as she drank the two of them in.
*AN*
Funny story, but in the original draft of this "arc", this was going to play out way differently.
For one thing, it was actually Roman behind the kidnapping; up until I chewed on it and decided Roman isn't that petty. For another, it wasn't only Guts Man, but Star Man was in attendance as well, and I think there was something about Ruby's love-life being messed with that would've let Star Man break free of the "Queen Virus" because even though he's a Robot Master, he still loves romance novels; that's Canon.
Of course, in yet another case of my work taking on a life of its own, I decided that a "2nd-in-command-type" with a face-changing Semblance doing the deed to try and get on Roman's good side, was way more entertaining, so I went with this final draft.
Of course, those 2K words I put into those scenes felt too good to go to waste, so here they are in some Deleted/Alternate Scenes.
Enjoy~
*Deleted/Alternate Scene(s)*
[…]
"Hey uh, boss, your robot's acting up," one of the thugs said as the star-themed Robot Master began to spasm.
"Well find his dongle and flip it up and down. I'm trying to enjoy my revenge scheme here!" Roman bit back.
[…]
"That you would spit in the face of romance like this… is unforgiveable!" the star-themed Robot Master scowled angrily before he leapt up, throwing his arms wide and shouting out- "Star Crash!" -, his star-shaped chestplate lighting up and unleashing a flurry of golden stars into an orbit around him.
"Well don't just stand there! Shoot him!" Roman shouted, he and the surrounding Torchwick Gang members going for their firearms and shooting at the "rogue" Robot Master, only for the stars orbiting it to deflect the shots expertly.
"You shall pay for your misdeeds, vile cretins!" Star Man shouted bombastically as he threw out his arm, the stars orbiting him flying out, violently detonating at the feet of the Torchwick Gang and sending them flying.
"AaaaAHHHHuhhhh!"
"Don't worry, boyfriend! I'm a-coming!" Ruby shouted over the din of chaos as she rushed forward, gathering up her discarded scythe and shooting herself off towards Guts Man who, bereft of instructions, remained completely motionless. "Hey!" she shouted, the robot's head panning up towards her as her shadow descended upon him. "Get your hands off my boyfriend!"
"Guts Man! Cru-AAAUGH!" Before Roman could finish his sentence, Star Man fired off a shot from his arm-cannon into Torchwick's chest, the man's Aura soaking up the hit as he was thrown clear off his feet, bowling over a few of his own goons.
"Go forth, young lady, and save your abducted love interest!" Star Man proclaimed boldly as he once again conjured up his Star Crash, covering the girl's approach toward the captured Faunus.
"Suck on this!" Ruby shouted as she fired her sniper rifle into the roof, the recoil sending the girl spinning like a buzzsaw of death as she descended on Guts Man, her bladed weapon severing his forearms clean in half, the captured Faunus freed as the hands' hydraulic systems began to fail.
"Do something you useless hunk of junk!" Torchwick shouted at his remaining loyal Robot Master, the reprogrammed robot delivering what would've been a powerful haymaker had he not been prior disarmed. "Oh, sonofa…" the red-head grumbled as the girl slashed her scythe across the Robot Master's kneecaps, felling him like a large tree. Hoping beyond hope that the skirt-wearing girl had accidentally doomed herself, those hopes were soon dashed as the girl slotted in a magazine of Gravity Dust round into her weapon, firing it point-blank into the Robot Master's chest with a deafening *BANG* as it was thrown through the air, an enormous gaping hole in its torso. "Well… That's unfortunate," he said as he watched the once-mighty Robot Master soar through the air before it hit the ground with an earth-shaking *THUD!* "How could things possibly get any worse?" Roman asked exasperatedly as the girl took to a knee beside her boyfriend, blasting anyone who tried getting close to her.
That question of course was soon answered as VPD with riot shields began to pour into the building, a collection of young Huntresses and a white-garbed medic in a flightsuit making their way into the chaos as the tide turned.
"Fuck this shit, I'm out," Torchwick growled as he withdrew a cylinder from his coat and threw it forward. The object clattering across the ground, a few seconds later it began to belch out an enormous cloud of smoke, Roman and a few of his gang getting the fuck out of dodge while police apprehended those who were presently incapacitated.
"Arthur, Arthur speak to me!" Ruby pleaded of the Faunus at her knees once the cavalry had arrived, the wounded Faunus staring up at her with half-lidded eyes before he coughed up a glob of blood.
"Everything… hurts…" he said weakly, coughing harshly as blood stained his teeth.
"Shhshhshhshhshh! It's okay, it's okay! You're going to be okay!" Ruby said shakily, tears trickling from her eyes as she held his hand, even as she beheld his mangled form.
"This is not your time," Dr. Ziegler said as golden feathers of light sprouted from the wings on the back of her suit, carrying the woman through the chaos words them as she took a knee, leveling her long mechanical staff at the injured Faunus. "Healing stream activated," the doctor said as her Caduceus Staff flared to life, the ends of her implement whirling around the shaft as a stream of golden particles spilled out of it and into Arthur's body. The Faunus' body suffused with a golden glow, the black and purple bruising beneath his ruined clothes slowly receded until the swelling had all but completely disappeared, the agitated veins dilating as splintered bones slowly knit themselves together, bent and mangled limbs straightening until no evidence of his abuse remained. "Ah, much better," the woman sighed, the visual prognosis of her patient much better than when she'd first arrived, the woman beyond satisfied with the good her Caduceus Staff was capable of.
"Arthur, did you hear that? You're okay, you're going to be okay!" Ruby choked happily as the Faunus shakily rose into a sitting position.
"Ruby… My DataPad… Do you have… My DataPad…?" Arthur asked weakly as he breathed deeply for the first time in hours.
"Y-Yeah! Your cousins told me to give it to you," Ruby said fishing the data storage device from her pocket. "But… Why do you need it now? The fight's over."
"No… Not yet…" Arthur said raising up a shaky hand to the device in Ruby's hand. "This fight… is far from over," he said with an angry lilt in his voice as he snatched the device from her hand.
Cue RWBY OST – I May Fall
The white light of his Aura spilling through clenched fingers into the device's screen, the Faunus angrily slapped it against his chest, motes of energy spilling out of the creases in the DataPad's casing and forming the wireframe for a heavy-duty mechanical harness around his torso. A pair of mechanical actuators sprouting from behind his shoulders, the ends connected to his elbows, mechanical gauntlets coming to be down his arms to his fingertips, similar actuators forming around his hips and running down his legs to his knees before mechanical greaves and boots were formed over his feet.
"Incredible… He's using his Semblance to generate a hard-light construct turning the ideas in his DataPad into real physical matter," Dr. Ziegler awed as the form of a powered exoskeleton visible on the DataPad's screen was weaved into existence around the once-injured Faunus.
"Arthur, stop, you shouldn't be getting up yet!" Ruby pleaded as she grabbed onto the tail of his shirt.
"Ruby…" Arthur said lowly as he turned to her. "That bastard leveled half of my family's shop, traumatized my cousins, and made you cry," he said narrowing his eyes. "He will not be getting away with this, not until I get my pound of flesh out of him," he said as he bent to a knee, the hard-light exo-suit around him whirring before the Rabbit Faunus suddenly shot up into the catwalk above them, bolting after Torchwick as the last of his goons disappeared from view.
"Arthur, wait!" Ruby cried as she ran for the stairs after him.
*[...]*
The plan had been flawless. Kidnap Little Red's boy-toy, ransom him off to get her alone, roughhouse him a little to show he was serious, and then horribly scar the girl for getting in his way and dropping his rep in the shitter. The perfect revenge scheme.
But then everything went to shit when one of his Robot Masters broke the control program and started attacking all of his men because it just had to be the one with a love for romance novels. Seriously, what the shit?! How the hell did a mindless robot even do that!?
It was one thing having to abandon a hideout because everyone knew where it was. It was quite another to run off with his tail between his legs while the cops flooded into the place. He and his crew scrambled into the Bullhead parked on the roof, the last folds of the tarp hiding it from border patrol falling away and the engines began to spool up.
"C'mon, get this bull off the ground already! Do you guys want to go back to prison?" Torchwick demanded angrily of the pilots.
"Sorry, but we need to do our pre-flight checklist," the pilot said before Torchwick struck him across the head with his cane.
"I don't give a shit about the checklist! Get this thing off the ground or you'll be the one locking the door behind us!"
At the same time, one of the goons had locked the door to the roof with a key and was trying to barricade it. Before he could prop a large industrial-grade drum under the knob, the door suddenly exploded outward as a hardlight mechanical boot kicked it clean off its hinges, the goon sent flying as he was struck in the face. A moment later and the livid form of Arthur Asimov stepped through the door's ruined frame, his crimson eyes murderous as he stepped around the corner into view right as the Bullhead began its ascent.
"HEY TORCHWICK!" he shouted as loudly as his bruised lungs would allow.
"Oh, what the hell's going on now?!" Torchwick raged as he looked out the side of the Bullhead, the Rabbit Faunus he'd beaten up before somehow on his feet once again, an exo-suit made of light cradling his body.
"I HOPE YOU CALLED YOUR MAMA, 'CAUSE YOU'RE GOING TO NEED A NEW RIDE HOME!" the Faunus shouted as he raised his left forearm. A rocket pod mechanically rising from his left bracer, a smoke-like plume of light particles exploded out a hole in the end before a wireframe of a rocket began flying through the air towards them, a contrail of light left in its wake as it screamed towards the Bullhead's right engine.
"DODGE YOU IDIOT!" Torchwick shouted, the pilot pushing the right pedal forward causing the airship to yaw to the right. "No! Not that way you-SHIIIIIT!"
Instead of striking the Bullhead's right engine, its attempt to dodge had instead allowed the rocket to fly unabated into the passenger compartment. A bright explosion of light blasting out the belly of the Bullhead, those unfortunate-enough to be at the hardlight rocket's epicenter were scattered like bloody fireworks, the shield of human effluence being all that prevented the Bullhead from being ripped completely in half. A deluge of meat chunks raining down on the warehouse's back lot, cockpit instruments beeped incessantly and klaxons blared unabatedly as the airship went into a tailspin.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL COME BACK FROM THIS! I SWEAR IT!" Roman shouted angrily at the Rabbit Faunus who'd doomed his escape to failure as the Bullhead spun out.
"And the next time we meet, Ruby and I will make it two for two," Arthur said flipping the man the bird as the centrifugal motion of the spinning aircraft suddenly sheared the Bullhead's tail clean off the fuselage.
Both lateral and vertical control now completely lost, the tail-less Bullhead then listed towards Vale's wall, its right Vernier slamming into the reinforced walkway. Metal groaning loudly and bolts failing in a way that only a Faunus could hear at-range, the right wing of the Bullhead suddenly snapped in two, the ruined wing of the Bullhead dropping down inside Vale's borders while the rest of the Bullhead tumbled completely over, disappearing from sight. Ruby and Dr. Ziegler were not privy to the bulk of the chaos, but they were able to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Bullhead before it went completely over the wall, followed by the deafening *BOOOOOOOM!* of the airship exploding and the mushroom cloud that accompanied its destruction.
"Hasta la vista, motherfucker," Arthur said coldly as he turned his back to the explosion, the pressure wave of the discarded Vernier exploding causing his clothes to ripple as he walked away.
END OST
"HOLY CROW!" Ruby gawped as she witnessed the Bullhead's final moments of flight, her jaw completely dropped as a secondary explosion sent chunks of metal into the air like something out of a high-end action movie. "Since when could you do-Arthur!?" she cried as the exo-suit around the Faunus' body shattered into shards of light and her boyfriend dropped to the ground. "Arthur? Arthur speak to me!" she cried as she slid over to his side. "ARTHUUUUURR!"
"Please, do not shake him like that," Dr. Ziegler said as she ran up to them. "Whatever he was doing before is gone now. He's still very injured, and will need to be air-lifted."
"Doc, please, is he going to be okay?" Ruby pleaded, tears trickling down her eyes, Roman's possible defeat and/or incineration the furthest thing from the murder-happy girl's mind.
"His vitals appear to be stabilized," Dr. Ziegler said as she scanned him with her Scroll. "He still has a few small fractures, but nothing we can't fix with additional treatment."
"Thank god…" Ruby cried as she wiped her tears from her eyes. "Thank god you're alright…" she said with a smile even as tears continued to stream down her face, the girl happily cradling the Faunus against her bosom as the fires of the Bullhead crackled, and police sirens wailed.
* Deleted/Alternate Scene(s) Author's Note*
And here we finally get to see what Arthur's Semblance is. Similar to Velvet's [Infinite Blade Works] as named by the Fandom, Arthur's Semblance utilizes hard-light to create "wireframes". While Velvet's is reliant on photographs, photographs which expire after each use if Coco's words are to be taken literally, Arthur's seem to be derived from completed, comprehensive blueprints.
As for Arthur's final middle finger to Torchwick, since I'm working with a written medium, I wanted to do more than say "the Bullhead crashed", hence why I went into detail about how the Bullhead began to fail, why it failed in the way it did, and what caused it to fail in such a spectacular fashion. Tell me what you think of this in the Reviews, if you'd be so kind.
*AN*
And here's an excerpt for what was going to come NEXT.
*Deleted/Alternate Scene(s)*
When recovery teams arrived at the downed Bullhead, while the pilot and copilot were definitely killed on impact -tree branches and metal shrapnel through the body and/or head would do that to you- and there were a trio of blood-soaked bodies in the passenger compartment, none of them belonged to Roman Torchwick.
There was a trail of blood and broken branches leading deeper into the woods, but whatever Roman had been doing the past few hours had generated enough negativity to get the nearby Grimm into a tizzy, so it was too dangerous for Border Patrol to go after him. While it was preferable he be taken in alive and judicially prosecuted before a jury of his peers, no-one was going to risk their necks hunting down a criminal who was either Grimm-food or had bled out from the crash.
True to Dr. Ziegler's word, Arthur had to be airlifted out. When Ruby asked why she couldn't just use the Caduceus Staff on him like she had before, she said that at that point in its development, she could only feel confident using it as a stopgap measure, to prevent a person from dying of life-threatening injuries. She still felt like there could be long-term health consequences for fully healing a person with nano-medicine, so instead she opted only to fix him up enough that he wasn't in any immediate danger of dying, and then use conventional medicine to do so.
Of course, the whole incident itself raised another complication. What was Atlas going to do to remedy the situation? The Robot Master were all outmoded tech, at least on paper, but the fact of the matter was that the stolen hardware had become a very real threat, with a criminal perpetrator willfully using it for their own gains. That it was a Valian citizen who was hurt had caused the Vale Council to pressure Atlas into making amends for what had happened; especially with the Vytal Festival drawing closer with every passing day, not to mention the Olympian Games happening just before.
With that being said, the Atlesian Embassy was swiftly converted into an FOB; or Forward Operating Base.
Initially, the processing of insurance for any collateral damage caused by the rampaging Robot Masters was funneled through the Atlesian Embassy offices since it was their rampant tech which had caused the damages; the international community at large was concerned that high-end hardware was going to be used within their borders next. However, with what had happened to Arthur explicitly being caused by Atlesian hardware, the Embassy was now being converted into a treatment center for those injured by Robot Masters.
There were of course the employees there who raised a stink about a Faunus being given treatment on what was contextually Atlesian soil without being a citizen, but credit where credit was due, while Dr. Ziegler's Valkyrie First Response suit made her look like an angel, she could be a real demon if someone got in the way of her providing treatment to someone.
They say that a thirst for revenge could turn a man into the demon and bring the dead back to life. In Arthur's case, with Guts Man crushing him with the force of a vice he should've expired from the pain if not flat-out passed out, but seemingly his desire to get his "pound of flesh" out of Roman gave him just enough strength to get to the roof with his Semblance and fire off a Semblance-borne rocket that swatted his Bullhead out of the sky.
At present, Arthur was being wheeled into surgery, the multiple fractured ribs and the damage to his skull as well as his arms requiring immediate surgical attention. And apparently Atlas had a real hard-on for flaunting their latest tech, because the Atlesian Embassy had a state-of-the-art Clean Room that was just what the doctor ordered.
"Please be okay, Arthur…" Ruby pleaded as she held the Faunus' hand, the operating room doors growing closer by the second.
"Don't worry, Ms. Rose, you boyfriend is in capable hands," Dr. Ziegler assured her, the woman now clad in surgical scrubs. "However, I need space to work, and you'll have to wait outside."
"Can't I stay with him? Please?" the girl pleaded with large innocent eyes. "I can go to the decontamination chamber and change into scrubs, it won't even take a minute."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Rose, but even the smallest distraction or nudge of his body could prove extremely detrimental, if not outright fatal," the doctor ordered, the girl's head hanging shamefully as she looked at the sleeping form of her boyfriend. "If it helps… don't say goodbye. Quite personally I hate goodbyes. If you don't say goodbye, then you aren't really gone, you just aren't here right now," the woman hummed, thinking back to one such case of her own.
" . . . See you later… BFFL…" Ruby choked out a sob as the gurney was wheeled away from her, and she let Arthur's hand slip through her fingers.
Her boyfriend for life vanishing behind the surgical doors, it was only when the locks engaged and the syringe-shaped light above the door shone red that the girl dropped to her knees, sobbing into her hands as her body was racked with grief.
*AN*
And I think that should about do it for the Alternate/Deleted Scenes.
Like I said, it just seemed like such a waste to throw it away, so treat this like a "What If…?" scenario. A peek behind the scenes to how my works can evolve so-drastically. Sometimes a scene is so-vivid in my mind at the time I think of it, that instead of waiting, I put it to digital ink even if it's months or even years in advance of the then-intended publishing date.
Anywho, next up is Vigorous Vitality, so until next time, hope to see you in the Reviews column.