Author's note:

Hey everyone! Here is the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. But first, let's answer a few reviews.

superjoeyf721: I do enjoy looking back and paying tribute to the original comics. After all, the cartoons, the MCU-none of it would be possible without these original comics. In regards to Nick Fury, this story does use his original 616 design rather than the Ultimate design that's been in use in most Marvel media recently. I just really liked the OG Fury, particularly when he showed up in Secret Invasion with that gigantic gun that was just as big as he was. But he's one of the characters that won't be based around his EMH design. There will be others as well, either because I didn't like their designs in EMH or they simply weren't in the series altogether. For example, I don't think Fixer was ever in EMH, so his design is more akin to his design in more recent Marvel comics. There's another character coming up in the next arc that also won't be based around an EMH design-and this particular character is going to be a big one. I'll leave it at that.

keno02013: No, I don't have plans to give the RWBY characters separate, Marvel related powers. At least not on a permanent basis. Symbiotes may be a possibility, but even if I decide to go that route, it won't be for a long while. But, for the most part, they'll only have their Semblances.

Thank you all for your support. Now let's get back to the story.

Avengers Mansion

Ruby had been sparring with T'Challa for an hour when a shrill alarm started blaring. "Alert! Alert!" a pleasant female voice announced. "Unauthorized entrance to the mansion grounds! Hostiles detected!"

"What's going on?" Ruby cried, covering her ears.

"Someone is attacking the mansion," T'Challa realized.

"Who?"

Instead of answering, the hero sprinted out of the training room. Ruby hesitated, but followed, folding Crescent Rose up and clipping it to her back.

"This may not be a fight you will be able to be a part of," T'Challa warned in the elevator. "There may be supervillains up there that are well out of your league."

"If I can help, I'm going to help," Ruby decided.

The elevator doors dinged open, and Ruby was instantly met with the sounds of battle coming from outside. Through the windows, she could see laser fire coming from both defense turrets that were attached to the mansion and from strange green and yellow armored soldiers.

"Hydra," T'Challa realized.

"Those guys that the Fury guy was talking about?" Ruby asked.

"The same. Clearly, they aren't happy that we are on their trail."

Loud banging came from the door as someone began to try to bash it in. Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose again and extended it into its scythe form. T'Challa took a step forward, putting an arm in front of her.

BANG! The doors exploded open, splintering into pieces. From the outside came three different figures. Ruby could tell almost instantly that these were the supervillains that T'Challa had spoken of. Behind them were more soldiers, who all filed in and aimed their weapons at T'Challa and Ruby.

The leader of these three, a man wrapped in a purple cloak, stepped forward. "We thought we'd let ourselves in," he said in a rough voice. "I hope you don't mind."

"Grim Reaper," T'Challa growled. "You are foolish to come here."

The man chuckled. "If all the Avengers were here, I'd be worried," he responded. "But with most of them chasing down the trail Crossbones left in Virginia, it leaves your home vulnerable."

T'Challa extended his claws. "You will find that we are not as vulnerable as you think."

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed, pointing Crescent Rose at the intruders. "So get lost!"

"Stay out of this," T'Challa warned her gently.

"And who is this?" Grim Reaper asked. "A new sidekick?"

"She is none of your concern," T'Challa warned.

"I agree!" A new voice echoed through the foyer. Seconds later, the floor between the two groups burst open, and someone flew up, floating in the air. He wore red and gold armor, and had a glowing circle in his chest plate. "You just busted down my door, Reaper," the figure boomed in Tony's voice. "I hope you're willing to pay for damages."

One of the other two supervillains, someone that appeared to be made of pure energy, growled upon seeing him. "Stark!"

"Oh, hey, it's the Living Laser," Tony commented. "Back in one piece after last time we fought?"

"You shot me into space!"

"Hey, you made it back alive, didn't you?"

Living Laser yelled in anger. Flashes of lasers shot around him, eventually bouncing towards Tony. He dodged the initial barrage and lifted his palms. Twin blasts fired from them, hitting the villain and blasting him through a wall, closely followed by Tony himself.

"Tear the place apart," Grim Reaper ordered. The soldiers all began to open fire. T'Challa charged forward, claws flashing, but he was intercepted by the third of the supervillains, who had metal encased around his torso, most notably a large chunk of metal on his left shoulder. The metal around his arms had converted into blasters, which he used to shoot at T'Challa.

"Let's see how the King of Wakanda fairs against my Tech-Pac," he declared.

"I assure you that Wakandan science is far greater than anything you could imagine, Fixer," T'Challa replied calmly.

Ruby, meanwhile, had taken cover behind a pillar as the Hydra soldiers continued shooting at her. She quickly converted Crescent Rose into a sniper rifle, but quickly remember she had no ammo. She gritted her teeth and switched back to a scythe, peeking out from behind the pillar to gauge the situation. T'Challa was chasing the cybernetic man, Fixer, into the kitchen, there were ten different Hydra soldiers all aiming at her, and the man called Grim Reaper was calmly walking down the opposite hallway.

She winced as a bullet pinged off the side of the pillar. "Okay, I gotta take them out without killing them," she thought. "But they don't have Auras, and I don't know how tough that armor is. I can't hit them directly with Crescent Rose."

She quickly weighed her options, then had an idea. She put Crescent Rose into storage mode and attached it to her back. Then she slid out from the pillar and began running at top speed, using her Semblance to go even faster. She sped past the Hydra soldiers, creating a small tailwind that knocked many of them off their feet. Her momentum carried her a few feet out the door, where she spun and skidded to a stop, letting the soldiers that had been blown out the door fly past her.

As she readjusted, several bullets flew at her, hitting her directly in the chest. Luckily, her Aura absorbed all the shots, allowing her to focus on the two soldiers that were currently shooting at her. She pulled out Crescent Rose and ran at the two, converting it into a scythe and twirling it. The Hydra soldiers attacking her began to back up in a panic upon seeing the massive deadly weapon.

Ruby reached them in seconds, slamming the scythe into ground and using its momentum to flip her forward, kicking one of the two soldiers in the face. He cried out in pain and collapsed. The second soldier, perhaps a little braver than the other one, aimed his rifle at her and continuously fired at her. Once again, the bullets impacted her Aura, doing no harm to her. She delt with this soldier by swing herself over Crescent Rose's handle and kicking him in the chest.

A laser blast hit the ground right next to her. She yelped, looking up as Tony and Living Laser circled each other in midair. Tony was firing the energy blasts from his palms, while Living Laser was shooting actual lasers at the armored hero. As Ruby watched, the villain noticed her and directed a laser beam at her. The beam hit her in chest, sending her crashing through a window back into the mansion.

She fell to her knees, trying to get her bearings. As she did, she caught a flicker of a purple cloak out of the corner of her eye. She whipped her head around just as Grim Reaper disappeared around the corner. Mustering her strength, she ran after him, sliding around the corner. "Hey!" she yelled after him.

Grim Reaper stopped walking, not turning around. "Go home, little girl," he warned. "While you still have legs to walk home with."

Ruby twirled Crescent Rose, pointing it at him. "I'm not going anywhere."

The villain let out a slight chuckle. "Fine. Let's see what you're made of." He brushed his cloak back, revealing the small scythe that he had in place of his right hand. Without warning, he lunged at her, slashing at her repeatedly. Ruby responded by blocking the strikes with Crescent Rose. Eventually, she was able to force him back a few paces. He stood for a moment, wiping his mouth slightly.

"Not bad," he commented. "You certainly know what you're doing with a weapon like that." Ruby stared determinedly at him, ready for his next attack.

Grim Reaper attacked again, with even more furious blows than before. Ruby struggled to keep up, but found herself being pushed back from his relentless attacks. Suddenly, as he was striking with his scythe, the villain sent a foot flying into her face. As she stumbled back from the impact, he thrust the scythe into her torso. Her Aura took the blow, but the force knocked her into the wall.

The villain looked surprised that he hadn't caused any injury. "And you're tougher than you look. But you're in far over your head. The Avengers are going to fall to Hydra. It's only a matter of time."

Ruby got back into her fighting stance. She could feel that the Aura was weakening from the shots she had taken earlier. But she wasn't about to give up. "I don't know much about this world," she admitted. "But I know that villains always lose in the end, no matter where they are!"

Grim Reaper chuckled. "Idealistic, I see. You clearly haven't experienced much of the real world." He pointed his scythe at her, and it began to spin at an alarming rate. "Let me give you a lesson in reality."

Ruby prepared herself briefly before charging straight at the villain. No matter what, she had to take him down.

T'Challa leaped over the counter and tackled Fixer, pinning him to the ground. The villain raised his feet and kicked him off before firing on him again with twin blasters that had formed in his hands. T'Challa ran sideways to avoid getting shot before throwing three vibranium knives at him.

The first two hit the blasters, while the third hit Fixer in the chest. Each one exploded on impact, shattering the blasters and knocking him to the ground. "You are beaten," he declared, jumping on top of him and pinning him to the ground with his foot. "Surrender."

"Never!" Fixer growled. The Tech-Pac shifted, creating shoulder cannons that fired red energy blasts into T'Challa, blowing him back. T'Challa landed well, and as he readjusted, Fixer leaped back to his feet, his energy cannons charging back up.

"I can dream up any weapon I want with my Tech-Pack, Wakandan," Fixer declared. "Anything I want to use to kill you with, I can make!"

"Yet you cannot penetrate vibranium," T'Challa pointed out.

Fixer snarled. "We'll just see about that." Twin blades sprouted from his wrists and he jumped into the air, his feet forming a hover sled for him to float in midair. "Come on, Wakandan! Come and meet your doom!"

T'Challa's eyes narrowed, silently analyzing the situation. Fixer's power came from his so-called Tech-Pac, which he could bend and shape to his will. Therefore, he had to remove the Tec-Pac from the equation.

Fixer flew down at him, slashing with his blades. T'Challa raised his hands, blocking the strikes with his claws at each turn. When the shoulder canons fired again, he leaped up to avoid the beams, then threw several more vibranium knives at Fixer. As he threw up his arms to defend himself, T'Challa struck, kicking off a kitchen counter and slamming into him, slicing through the energy cannons and taking them completely off. The villain flew back, grunting in frustration.

"You think you're so smart?!" he yelled as his Tech-Pac sprouted mechanical spider legs, letting him stand on them again. "I've been building weapons since I was a kid! I've pulled off some of the greatest crimes of the century with my technology. And I—"

T'Challa sprinted, sliding under Fixer and throwing another vibranium knife into the Tech-Pac on his back. The pack sparked and began to smoke. Fixer's mechanical spider legs skidded on the floor as he tried to regain balance—an effort that failed when T'Challa grabbed him and threw him into the wall with a CRASH. Fixer slumped to the ground, out cold.

T'Challa stood over the unconscious villain's body. "You talk too much."

Tony let out a grunt as Living Laser let out another volley of lasers that he twisted and ducked to avoid. "What's the matter, Stark!?" he laughed as he zoomed back. "Afraid to fight someone that can move faster than the speed of light?!"

"I really didn't miss this guy," Tony muttered under his breath.

"Calculating countermeasures," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reported. "Estimated time until completion: sixty seconds."

Tony flew higher into the air and fired a volley of missiles from his suit. Living Laser braced his arms in front of his chest as they hit him. "Bah! That won't work on me, Stark!" he snarled. "You're going to pay for locking me up all those years ago!"

"You know, my tax dollars paid for your cell at the Vault, so technically, I already did," Tony quipped, firing several repulsor blasts at the villain. Living Laser snarled and shot several lasers at Tony. He spun around to dodge, but a few still hit him, pushing him back several feet.

"Thirty seconds until countermeasures are ready," F.R.I.D.A.Y. warned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Tony muttered, raising both his hands and firing another few repulsor blasts, which did very little more than to annoy Living Laser. He flew directly at Tony in a beam of light, slamming into him blasting him to the ground. He hit the ground hard, skidding several feet through the dirt before coming to a stop.

He groaned, crawling back to his feet. "Any time now, F.R.I.D.A.Y.," he said as Living Laser landed several feet away.

"Countermeasures ready," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reported.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Living Laser growled before he shot himself at Tony again. This time, Tony was ready. The instant he got close, Iron Man raised his hand as if he were going to shoot another repulsor beam at him. But instead of doing this, he fired a green beam that hit the villain in the chest. Instantly, he cried out in pain as he was covered in a green shell. He tried to break free, but it was hopeless. He was caught.

"What's going on?!" Living Laser cried. "What is this?!"

"It's an energy containment field," Tony explained. "Built to contain large amounts of energy. Or, in this case, you."

Living Laser tried to move to no avail. "Damn you, Stark!"

"Look on the bright side, Parks," Tony told him. "Your old cell at the Vault's just the way you left it."

A rocket exploded against his armor, sending him flying. He activated his thrusters to steady himself. "Oh, right," he said as several more Hydra soldiers got into position, all aiming at him. "These guys."

"Hail Hydra!" one of the soldiers yelled, and they all began to open fire. Tony activated his energy shield, deflecting the bullets and energy blasts in all directions.

While his shield held, Tony began targeting the Hydra soldiers with his weapons systems. Once he had them all targeted, his suit launched a volley of lasers at them, taking them all down at once.

"Communications jammer located," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reported, and a targeting reticle on Tony's HUD focused on one of the armored trucks Hydra had clearly used to get to the mansion. He aimed a wrist rocket at the truck and launched it. The truck exploded in a shower of fire and steel.

"Communications restored," said F.R.I.D.A.Y.

Tony instantly opened a channel to contact the rest of the Avengers. "Cap, do you copy? We got a situation here."

Virginia—secret Hydra airfield

The airfield was a warzone. The shattered remains of the defense turrets lay where they had risen, sparking. Several Hydra agents that had come out from the base were also laying on the ground, unconscious.

Two more soldiers were shooting at a tiny, flying Janet, who weaved around the bullets and rapidly fired her stinging bolts at the soldiers, who both collapsed with twin cries of pain as they were hit. As she flew by, a massive foot came down next to another group of soldiers, courtesy of a giant Hank. More Hydra soldiers were shooting sporadically at him, but their weapons may have been dart guns when compared to his giant size.

On Hank's other side, Clint was sprinting while aiming his bow at a squad of Hydra soldiers. He launched an arrow at them, hitting one in the head. A second after impact, the arrow unleashed several strands of electricity that shocked the entire squad into unconsciousness.

Behind Clint, Vision was squaring off against a few more soldiers. Bullets were ricocheting off his metal body at a quick pace. The gem in the center of his forehead began to glow before it shot out a solid beam of energy that swept through the soldiers, taking them down one by one. Another squad ran up behind him and fired a volley of missiles at him. Vision simply altered his density, letting the missiles pass right through him before swinging around, firing his beam again to take down this squad.

At the other end of the battlefield, Steve and Natasha were standing back-to-back, fighting over a dozen Hydra soldiers that had surrounded them. Natasha was firing from her gauntlets and beating down any Hydra soldier that got too close, while Steve was using his shield to protect them both. As he spotted a trio of soldiers running at them, he threw the shield, bouncing it off all three of them before catching it once it had come back to him.

"Cap, do you copy?" Tony's voice suddenly came over the comms. "We've got a situation here."

"Not the best time, Tony," Steve warned as he punched another Hydra soldier in the face.

"Hydra's attacking the mansion," Tony explained quickly. "Grim Reaper's here, and he recruited Living Laser and Fixer to help him out."

Steve cursed. "Then this was a wild goose chase from the start."

"Well, I did manage to track down where Hydra Island is. Once we take out the trash here, I say we pay them a visit. They're wrecking our home, so we should wreck theirs."

"Understood," Steve answered, throwing his shield to knock down another Hydra soldier. "We'll be back as soon as we're done taking care of things here."

"Copy that. We'll take care of the stragglers here."

"Take care, Tony." Cap ended the call just as another Hydra soldier charged him.

"Die, you—" the soldier shouted, only to get bashed in the face with Steve's shield.

"Let's wrap it up, Avengers!" Steve shouted to his teammates. "We've got trouble back home!"

Avengers Mansion

Ruby swung again at Grim Reaper, who leaped back to avoid getting hit by Crescent Rose before lashing out with his own scythe, which Ruby blocked with her own. Their fight had been going on for some time, and the villain didn't look like he was going to slow down anytime soon.

His speed and ferocity had been surprising to her. He could even keep up with her Semblance, tracking her movements even when she was going at top speed before kicking her into the wall. She hadn't dared to use it again after that. Not with her Aura dwindling dangerously low due to all the hits she had taken over the course of the fight.

It didn't help that she wasn't trying to kill the villain. This wasn't just another soulless Grimm that she was used to fighting, or a White Fang member with an Aura that would keep them alive. One hit in the right spot and he would be dead. Ruby didn't want that. But that meant that she had to hold back, pick her moments to strike, and hope that she would be able to connect with a knockout blow.

"What's the matter, little girl?" Grim Reaper questioned as he began to force her back. "Getting tired? Sooner or later, I'll break that little shield of yours, and then we'll see if you bleed just like the rest of us."

Deep down, Ruby knew that he was right. Her Aura wasn't going to take too many more hits before breaking. At that point, she would be vulnerable for injury…or worse. She had to find a way to end the fight fast.

She quickly glanced around, taking in her surroundings. The hallway that they had been fighting in had been almost cut to ribbons thanks to all the wayward scythe strikes that had been hitting it. The ceiling was in ruins, and there were even a few steel beams dipping down from it.

Seeing the beams sticking down gave Ruby an idea. It was risky, but it might give her the chance to win the fight.

She ran at Grim Reaper, only this time she quickened her pace, tapping into her Semblance to run up the wall. She swung Crescent Rose at the ceiling, slashing several times at the spot right above him. As she had hoped, several large chunks, most of them metal, fell right on top of him, burying him.

The debris didn't keep Grim Reaper down for long. In a second, he spun his scythe fast enough to cut himself free. But Ruby was ready for him, spinning around as she landed on the floor again and skidding to a stop before launching herself again at him, slamming her feet into his back and launching him into the wall.

"Had enough?" Ruby asked, pointing her scythe at him as he crawled back to his feet.

He let out a raspy chuckle. "Not just yet." A gun popped out of the top of his scythe, firing an energy blast directly at her. Taken completely by surprise, Ruby was thrown back down the hallway, her Aura shattering as she slid down the floor, stopping just a few feet away from the far end of the hallway.

Grim Reaper ran at her, sliding his scythe across the wall for dramatic effect. Ruby was barely able to roll out of the way in time to avoid his weapon, but was unable to dodge his real hand, which seized her by the throat and lifted her into the air.

"You've got a lot of spirit, kid," Grim Reaper said as he choked her. "But that won't get you anywhere in the real world. In the real world, spirit only gets you killed."

Ruby struggled to breathe, throwing her fists weakly at her captor. Flashes of her fight with Ultron began to run through her head. It was happening all over again. Yet another villain had gotten the upper hand on her. Only this time, she didn't have her team with her to get her out of trouble.

"Reaper!" T'Challa's voice rang out. "Put the girl down." From behind Grim Reaper, Ruby could just barely make the Avenger out as he stood behind him.

Grim Reaper's stance shifted slightly. "As you wish, Avenger." He suddenly twisted around, throwing Ruby directly into Black Panther, knocking both to the ground. The next thing Ruby heard was the sound of glass shattering. She raised her head to see a large hole in the window.

"Are you all right?" T'Challa asked her.

She wearily put a thumb up, rolling off the man and crawling to her feet, grabbing the fallen Crescent Rose at the same time and converting it back to storage mode.

There was a whooshing sound as Tony arrived, still in his armored suit. "Hydra's pulling out," he reported. "And Cap and the others are on their way back." He stopped, taking in the scene of the practically destroyed hallway.

"What the hell happened here?"

Steve and a helmetless Tony watched as the surviving Hydra agents were loaded onto a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison transport. While many of the soldiers had been able to get to the cyanide pills in their mouths, some had been knocked out long enough for Tony and T'Challa to rip them out. They would be sent to the Vault for interrogation, along with Fixer and Living Laser. The latter was currently being wheeled up to the prison transport, still stuck in the containment field Tony had set up.

"You'll pay for this, Stark!" the villain was raging. "I swear you'll pay for this! I'll get out, and when I do, you're a dead man!"

"Something tells me I won't be getting a Christmas card from Living Laser this year," Tony joked.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Tony," Steve warned.

"Come on, I'd say that it's been a really productive morning for us," Tony pointed out. "We took down a Hydra base and a bunch of Hydra soldiers, Fixer and Living Laser are on their way back to the Vault, and we know where Hydra Island is."

"It doesn't make sense," Steve told him. "Why would Hydra attack the mansion? They know that it's a suicide mission, even if there's only two Avengers here."

"Zemo probably just got overconfident."

"No. Zemo's a lot of things, but he's no fool." Steve thought about it for a moment. "I think he's trying to get us to come to him. He wants us to find Hydra Island."

"Which means he's probably perfected Adhesive X, meaning that he'll be waiting with a trap for us the moment we launch," Tony concluded. "But since when has that ever stopped us?"

"It also means that he's going to be more ready for us than we first thought. We're going to have to be careful, especially since S.H.I.E.L.D. never cracked the code on Adhesive X."

Tony nodded. "What about the kid?"

"Ruby?"

"She had a run in with Grim Reaper, Cap, and got her ass kicked. She's probably not feeling too great. First big fight she's been in on Earth and she couldn't finish the job."

"I'll talk to her," Steve decided. "In fact…I may have an idea."

Ruby was sitting on the edge of her bed when a knock came on her door. She hesitated, but got up and opened the door. Steve was standing on the other side. "Hello, Ruby," he said.

"Hey, Steve," Ruby said back. "Er—Captain—er—"

"Steve is fine. May I come in?"

"Uh…okay." Ruby stepped back to allow Steve in.

"I heard about what happened," he said after a moment. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ruby answered. "Though…I wish my bad guy capture rate was a little higher. I think I'm, like, 0-5 now?"

Steve chuckled. "From what I hear, you at least gave him a run for his money. Not many can say they've done that."

"But he got away."

"We'll get him, Ruby. We know exactly where Grim Reaper is going, and we're about to head out to apprehend him and his associates before they can use their Adhesive X doomsday weapon."

"Who was he?" Ruby asked. "And what's Hydra?"

"That's…well, a long story," Steve admitted. "But to put it plainly, Hydra is an elitist organization that wants nothing more than world domination. They've been around in some form or another for hundreds of years, but the most recent version was headed by a madman known as the Red Skull decades ago. I stopped him back then…but, as they say, if you cut off one head of Hydra, two more take its place."

Ruby stared blankly at him. "Sorry," Steve said. "I guess you don't know Greek Mythology yet."

"Wait…if you fought them decades ago…how old are you?" Ruby asked.

"Well, that's also a bit of a long story. Technically, I suppose I'm close to a hundred years old."

"But—how's that possible?" Ruby asked. "You look like you're in your twenties."

"I guess it's partly thanks to the super soldier serum."

"Super…soldier serum?"

Steve looked down at her. "Tell me…did Remnant ever have wars between its kingdoms?"

Ruby nodded. "Well, our world has had to go through the same thing," Steve went on. "One of the most brutal wars was World War II. I was a young man at the time. I wanted to help…but I had several underlying medical conditions that preventing me from enlisting."

Ruby stared at him. "You look fine to me."

"And that's because the super-soldier serum," Steve told her. "I was recruited for a top-secret experiment to make super soldiers. The experiment worked—but the remaining formula was destroyed, along with the man behind it. I was the only one that ever received the serum. This is how I became Captain America—a symbol for peace and freedom against tyranny."

"And…this serum…it stopped you from aging?" Ruby asked.

"No…but it saved my life. On my last mission in the war, I wound up frozen in ice. The super-soldier serum kept me alive until I was unfrozen two months after the Avengers formed."

"In a way, I was like you back then," Steve admitted. "A lot had changed since I went under the ice. I was confused with all the advancements in technology. It was like I was on a completely different planet. Which is why I have an idea that can help you."

"An idea?" Ruby repeated.

"It may take some time to locate Remnant," Steve explained. "Our space resources and allies aren't completely reliable. You could be stuck on Earth for a while. You're going to need to learn how things work here. With that in mind, I've asked an expert in Earth culture to help you out."

"I guess that's my cue." Ruby turned to the door and saw the red and blue suited Spider-Man there.

"There's no one better to teach you about Earth than Spider-Man," Steve told Ruby. "He'll start showing you around New York while the mansion gets repaired and we go take down Hydra. If that's okay with you, that is."

"Well…if I can't go with you…then I guess it's better than sticking around the mansion," Ruby decided.

Steve smiled. "Then I'll leave you to it." He walked out of the room, nodding at Spider-Man on his way out.

"So, Ruby," Spider-Man said. "Ready to get out of here?"

"Lead the way," Ruby answered, grabbing Crescent Rose from where it was leaning on the wall.

"Yeah, uh…here's the thing," Spider-Man told her. "First thing about Earth that you should know is that they generally don't like it when you carry around giant sniper-scythes around. It's probably best if you leave it here."

Ruby hesitated, looking between the young hero and her weapon. Then, with a small sigh, she set the weapon down again. "Okay," she said. "I'm ready."

There's a lot to talk about with this chapter, so here we go.

When choosing villains to attack Avengers Mansion, I didn't want to go with anyone too crazy. So I decided on Fixer, who has had ties to Hydra in the early comics; Living Laser, mostly because of his inclusion in the Masters of Evil in EMH and his amusing interactions with Iron Man; and, of course, Grim Reaper, simply so we could get a scythe vs scythe fight between him and Ruby. Don't worry, though-this won't be the last time the two square off.

The next chapter starts the Hydra Island raid, as well as the start of a build-up of a friendship between Ruby and Spider-Man. I personally think the two get along really well. But I can say right now that I will not be shipping them. Spider-Man will be with Mary Jane Watson, as he was always meant to be.

With the Hydra Island raid coming up, that means that this arc is almost at its end...which means it's almost time for the second arc to begin, where we'll find out where another RWBY character has ended up! I can't say what the arc will be about, but I can tell you that I am really excited for it and the characters I get to bring into the story.

But anywho, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.