Author's Note:

Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. But first, it's time to answer some reviews!

SulliMike23: Ruby's path to healing begins this chapter.

SuperSaiyanFever: The main thing Ruby needs is to talk to someone that's been through what she has. Luckily, a character like that will be showing up.

Blackmetalzane22: Fury has appeared before, way back in the first arc with the Avengers fighting Hydra. This chapter will answer your question as to where Ruby is at.

metroplex07: As long as it takes to tell the story. Based on my current plan, there may be well over 100 total chapters by the time this is all done. However, this plan could change.

Mobian: Yang's fate was shown earlier, in chapters 16-20. Definitely worth a look.

Ironchef13: Red Hood is definitely a name I've considered.

Brian.H.H: You'll have to wait to see who she's going to see this chapter. I have been thinking about adapting a Civil War style arc, but if I do decide to implement that, it will be a long while into the future.

Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the action.

Remnant HQ—November 1st

Ruby lay in her bed, the covers pulled over her. She didn't move much—she just stared at the empty wall on the other side of her room.

In the past week, she hadn't really found much strength to move or train or even do very much. Not after what had happened in the previous week. She couldn't bear to face her friends, no matter what they told her.

She had done the unthinkable: she had nearly killed her best friend. Yes, it had been under the control of someone else. She hadn't meant to do it. But that didn't matter to her. She could still see it happening.

She only remembered brief flashes of being under Mesmero's control, but it was still enough to haunt her. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see herself fighting Weiss. Stabbing her. Nearly killing her.

She sniffled, pulling the covers even more tightly around her. She would never be able to live with herself with what she had done. Weiss may have lived, but it only was thanks to Jaune. If not for him…Ruby didn't even want to consider that bleak possibility.

The fight with Mesmero had brought everything crashing back down for her. Until that moment, it was just business as usual. Fight the bad guys, save people's lives. Just like on Remnant. She may have been a long way from home, but that wasn't going to stop her from doing what she had to do. But now…being forced to perform unspeakable acts against her friends…it had snapped her fully back to reality.

Remnant was gone—completely conquered by Ultron. She and her friends may be the only ones left. And she had nearly killed her best friend because she wasn't strong enough to resist a villain.

She would never forgive herself for that. Never.

There was a small knock on the door. "Ruby?" Weiss' voice floated softly through the door. Ruby didn't answer. Even hearing Weiss speaking made everything worse.

"Ruby, I…" She heard Weiss paused. "Tony called. We may have found Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha. He's going to take us to them."

Ruby raised her head slightly. "Was it true?" she thought. "Is…Yang on Earth now? Blake? Pyrrha?"

"Do you…want to come?" Weiss asked.

Ruby set her head back down on her pillow. She didn't want them to see her like this. Completely broken.

"Ruby…please," Weiss pleaded. "I think this will do you some good. Seeing your friends back, I mean."

But Ruby remained quiet. She didn't want to go anywhere with Weiss. Not after almost killing her. It hurt her even looking at her. All she could picture was her body bleeding out on the ground…exactly where she had left it.

Ruby heard Weiss sigh. "Okay, Ruby. You can…stay here. We'll be back later. There's pizza in the fridge when you want to eat." Footsteps moved away as Weiss left.

Ruby didn't move from her spot. Was she happy that more of her lost friends may finally have made their way to Earth? Of course she was. But that excitement was lost in a sea of guilt and pain. How could she ever be able to face her friends—face Weiss again—after what she had done?"

After a few minutes, ensuring that the others were gone, Ruby rolled out of bed and sadly headed for the door. As she did, she passed by Crescent Rose, which was leaning against the wall. She stopped, turning her head slightly to stare at her weapon, its tip still slightly caked in Weiss' blood.

She slowly reached out towards it, but quickly saw that her hand was trembling. The closer she got to the scythe, the worse the trembling got. She tried closing her other hand around her trembling one, but that didn't seem to help. Eventually, she pulled her hand back, taking a few deep, shuddering breaths.

Ruby hadn't been able to pick up Crescent Rose ever since that day. She had left it lying against the wall in her room ever since. She never would've thought that she would be scared of the weapon that she had built herself. The one that had saved her life time and time again. But here it was, tormenting her with the blood of her best friend staining it.

Leaving Crescent Rose leaning against the wall, Ruby slowly made her way to the kitchenette. With the others gone, she would have more than enough time to get some food and disappear back into her room before they got back.

As she grabbed the pizza box and turned around, she was startled by Logan standing behind her. She yelped, dropping the pizza box.

"Glad to see you up and about, kid," he said. She just hung her head sadly and turned to go.

"Hold it, kid." Logan stopped her. "You're coming with me."

"I—" Ruby started.

"It aint up for debate, kid. I've got someone that wants to talk to you."

Ruby tilted her head slightly. "Who?"

"Someone like you. Someone that's gone through the exact same thing you're going through now."

Ruby looked down. "Come on, kid," Logan told her, jerking a thumb to the lift. "This'll do you some good. Trust me on that."

Ruby rested her chin glumly in the palm of her hand, watching the cars go by as Logan drove his jeep down the New York streets. She didn't know where Logan was taking her, and didn't really care. The pain that she was going through…it wasn't the type of pain that she thought she could talk out.

Now more than anything, she missed Yang. In times like this, her sister would be there to comfort her. But she was gone, lost somewhere else in the galaxy if she wasn't on the Helicarrier. Her absence weighed heavily on her mind, along with everything else. It was all just…too much for her.

Eventually, Logan pulled to a stop outside of a small building that was probably a house. "This is it," he said, getting out of the jeep. Ruby hesitantly followed, pulling her hood low over her face.

"What…is this place?" she asked timidly.

"Harlem," Logan answered, walking up the front steps and knocking on the door. "Friends of mine live here."

"Friends?" Ruby repeated.

"Yeah."

The door soon opened, revealing a bald, dark-skinned man with a sturdy build and large muscles. "Logan," he greeted.

"Luke," Logan greeted back.

"This the kid?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah. This is Ruby." Ruby raised her head slightly, barely meeting his gaze.

Luke stared her down for a moment. "I can see why you called."

"Yeah. It aint pretty."

"These things never are." Luke gestured for them to come in. "She's waiting upstairs for you, Ruby. Hope she can help."

Logan led Ruby into the house and gestured up the stairs. "Up you go, kid. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Ruby gazed up the stairs silently. Then, she slowly made her way up them. She wasn't sure who she would find up there, or what she was going to do to help her. But it wasn't like she had much of a choice.

At the top of the stairs was a door. Ruby stopped in front of it, hesitated briefly, then lightly knocked. "Come in," a woman's voice said from inside. She put her hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

Inside was a small office, with multiple different bulletin boards that were filled with pictures, notes, and lengths of yarn that stretched all over the place. Sitting at the desk was a young woman with dark hair and a gray jacket.

"You must be Ruby," the woman said as Ruby closed the door behind her. She held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Jessica. Jessica Jones."

"I appreciate your wife doing this, Luke," Logan said as Luke handed him a bottle of beer, which he opened with one of his claws. "I know it aint easy with what she went through—even harder to talk about it."

"Just trying to help out, Logan," Luke answered. "From the way you were describing the kid, she seemed like a bundle of energy. One look at her and I could see that she's crushed about what she did."

"Yeah. Her world doesn't have mind control. She's never even seen it before, let alone experienced it. Talking with someone who's been through it all will do her some good."

Luke took a swig from his own bottle of beer. "You really seem to care about these kids."

Logan took a drink. "They're good kids. Their whole lives have been spent training to fight monsters. And all of it was for nothing. Ultron attacked their world and burned everything they knew and loved to the ground. They're lost, and as much as they don't want to admit it, they're scared too. Losing their home has been rough on them. I'm just here to make sure that they don't lose anything else."

"Or anyone else," Luke added.

"Yeah. That too."

Luke took another swig from his bottle. "This isn't just about keeping these kids safe, is it? It's about something else."

Logan pointed a finger at him. "Watch it, Cage. This aint a social call to talk about me. This is about the kid and getting her back on her feet."

"Hey man, just making some observations. How long has it been since it all happened?"

Logan finished his beer. "Too long."

"I heard that you had a run in with Mesmero," Jessica said.

Ruby, sitting across from her, said nothing. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it was your first time encountering someone with mind control," Jessica went on.

"I'm sorry…are you some sort of psychiatrist?" Ruby asked.

Jessica chuckled slightly. "I'm a detective, actually. Alias Investigations."

"Then…why am I here?"

"Because Logan asked me to talk with you after your experience under mind control," she answered. "He believes that I can at least…give you some comfort."

Ruby raised her head. "How?"

Jessica leaned forward. "You're not the only one who has been forced to do terrible things while under someone else's control."

"Were you forced to almost kill your best friend?" Ruby asked.

"Close enough." Jessica stood up from her desk and crossed the room, putting her arm against the window and leaning her head against it. "I was like you, once. Young. Idealistic. Yearning for the superhero life. To be able to do whatever I could to help people. Even worked as a superhero for a little while. They called me Jewel." She chuckled slightly. "Kind of ridiculous looking back."

"What…happened?" Ruby asked.

"I went up against something I was wildly underprepared for…and paid the price."

"Mesmero?" Just saying his name brought flashes of Ruby's fight with Weiss back to the forefront of her mind, making her flinch.

Jessica's fists clenched slightly. "No. Someone far worse than Mesmero. Probably the worst, most twisted villain on the planet that has mind control capabilities."

"His name was Zebediah Killgrave," she continued, moving away from the window and sitting back down at her desk. "Or, as he's more commonly known as, the Purple Man. Just being in his presence gives him complete control over you. Of course, I didn't know any of that when I first saw him and tried to confront him. By the time I knew what was happening…I was his slave."

Ruby could see the hurt in her eyes as she spoke. The same hurt that still lingered in her own eyes every time she had stared at a mirror since that terrible day. "How long?" she asked softly.

Jessica folded her hands in front of her. "Eight long months. Eight months of being his slave. What he did to me…was unthinkable. Unspeakable. Terrifying for a young hero like I was."

"How…how did you escape?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

Jessica leaned forward. "One day, Killgrave got extremely pissed off about something. He ordered me to go fly out and beat the hero Daredevil to death. Actually, his exact words were to "go fly out there and kill the first superhero in red that you see." But he hated Daredevil immensely; he wanted him dead more than anything."

"What happened?"

Jessica brushed her hair back. "I found a hero…but it wasn't Daredevil. It was Scarlet Witch. I severely injured her…and then managed to snap out of it. You see, Killgrave's powers only really work in close proximity. The farther you are away from him for a longer period of time, the easier it is to snap out of it. Unfortunately, I did so right as the Avengers showed up. They didn't know any of what happened. They had never heard of Jewel before. They thought I was the enemy."

She sighed. "I was in a coma for months. After that…I quit the superhero life. I was cold, distant…unfeeling. What Killgrave did to me…was unthinkable."

Ruby was quiet. "What does any of that have to with me?"

"Because you have something that I didn't have: friends. A family."

Ruby slowly lowered her hood as Jessica continued. "My family had been killed years earlier. I didn't really have any friends either. I was alone. I was alone back then, and I was alone after Killgrave…until I met my husband. Luke…helped me through that trauma. I wouldn't have been able to do it without him."

Jessica stood up again. "Don't push your friends away, Ruby. They're there for you. They want to help you get through this."

"How?" Ruby asked. "How can I face Weiss and the others after what I did?" Her hands began to tremble. "I can still see it. Every time I close my eyes, I can see her body on the ground. Bloody. Dying. And it was all my fault."

"And that's something that you're going to have to deal with for the rest of your life," Jessica told her. "Other people will tell you to bury this pain. To forget all about what happened to you. But don't. This experience is a part of your life not. The next chapter of your story. But you can't let this destroy you. What happened to you is fucked up, and it's something that you'll never forget. But it will make you stronger in the end."

Jessica walked around the desk and stopped in front of Ruby. "You're a talented, spirited young woman, Ruby. Always remember that. Don't turn your back on the people that love you. They're there to stand by your side. And together, you can conquer anything."

She put her hands on Ruby's. "If you let this beat you—if you wallow in your guilt and sorrow, then that bastard's already won. Bounce back from this, show that you are far stronger than Mesmero ever could be. Prove to him that he hasn't beaten you. When you've done that…I think you'll be okay."

Jessica nodded to the door. "I've said what I've needed to say. You can go."

Ruby hesitated, but stood up, starting back to the door as she flipped her hood back over her head.

"And Ruby?"

Ruby stopped and slowly turned back to Jessica. "If you need to talk at all…my door's always open," she told her.

Ruby slowly nodded, and, without another word, took her leave.

"You okay, kid?"

Ruby shook herself out of her thoughts. "I…guess so," she said quietly, taking another bite of her burger.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Logan asked.

Ruby shrugged slightly. "Not really."

"At least you're talking again. That's a start."

Ruby poked at her plate slightly. Logan had taken Ruby out to lunch following their visit with Luke and Jessica. She had a lot to think about, pondering Jessica's words to her.

She still felt awful about what she had done—nearly killing Weiss. But to say that Jessica's story didn't help her would be lying. Hearing the experience of someone that clearly had it far worse than her had helped…but she knew the scars would never fade. What she had done to Weiss would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"Do…you think I'll ever forgive myself for what I did?" she eventually asked.

Logan sighed. "I can't answer that for you, kid. Being able to forgive yourself is a tough thing. I should know. I've done some pretty messed up things in my life. I've killed more people than I can count. And that's something I've got to carry with me until I die. But you're a tough kid. You'll find a way through this. Besides," he added. "You've got one hell of a team backing you up. They'd hate to lose you as a friend and a leader."

For the first time in a week, Ruby managed a small smile. A smile that was quickly dashed as she saw the sky outside darken. "Uh…Logan?"

Logan turned around, his eyes narrowing. Without a word, he got up, tossing some bills on the table to pay for the meal. Ruby quickly followed, the two running outside as lightning began to flash and some sort of hole began to tear open the sky.

"What's going on?!" Ruby cried.

"Nothing good." Logan popped his claws out as dozens of insect like creatures began to appear from the hole. They began spreading out over the area. In their hands were long rifles, which they began to instantly fire as they descended.

Wolverine growled. "Annihilus."

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"An all-powerful despot from the Negative Zone," Logan explained quickly. "Those are his minions: the Annihilation Wave."

Several of the creatures flew directly down towards Ruby and Logan. She instinctively reached back to pull Crescent Rose out, only to remember with horror that she had left her beloved weapon back at Remnant HQ.

The creatures flew down, firing their rifles at anything that moved. Several bystanders were struck, falling to the ground with holes through their chests. Logan rushed forward, taking a flying leap at the nearest creature and slicing it apart. The pieces of it fell to the ground around him as he landed, including its rifle.

Ruby, seeing the chance for a weapon, rushed forward to grab it. But several laser blasts struck the ground around her as more the horde tried shooting at her. She yelped, backpedaling to try to avoid getting hit. The bug creatures landed in front of her and quickly advanced, trying to attack her with the bayonets attached to the ends of their rifles.

Ruby dodged back, quickly activating her Semblance to get some distance. As they began to resume firing on her, she sped towards the fallen rifle. As her fingers closed around it, an energy blast hit her in the side. She stumbled back from the impact, her Aura flickering as it took the brunt of the impact.

The creatures swarmed at her, swiping at her with their weapons. She sidestepped left and right until Logan leaped over her, slamming his claws into the lead attacker before slicing through his sides to cut through the two attackers next to it. Multiple laser blasts from the back three hit him, but the man simply ran right through them, cutting them to pieces.

Ruby grabbed a fallen rifle and took aim at the last one on the ground, firing several shots that bore holes through it, killing it instantly. As she did, she heard a screech behind her. Spinning around, she saw another bug creature lunging right at her.

Thwip! A web rope splattered on the creature's head and yanked him aside. "I'm going to need to see your license and registration," Spider-Man quipped as he slammed his elbow into the flying creature, smashing him to the ground.

"Spider-Man!" Ruby yelled.

"Oh, hey Ruby," Spider-Man answered. "Nice day for an apocalyptic invasion, isn't it?" As he spoke, another creature flew down behind him, which he quickly dispatched with a quick punch without even looking.

"Web-Head," Logan grunted as he rejoined them. "What the hell is going on? How's the Negative Zone able to get a portal open?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Spider-Man insisted. "I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Interdimensional portals are out of my jurisdiction."

"Incoming!" Ruby pointed up at another swarm of creatures were flying towards them.

"Man, of all the days to leave my bug swatter in my other Spidey-Suit," Spider-Man joked as he, Ruby, and Logan got into fighting stances.

Wham! A car flew up from the streets, smashing into the creatures. "Boo yah!" a gruff voice yelled. Ruby turned her head towards the voice and saw a huge…thing. He looked like a man, but his entire body was made up of rocky, orange skin.

"Grimm," Logan grunted. "Let me take a guess: this is Richards' doing."

The man walked towards them, brushing his hands together. "It's a problem Stretch is trying ta fix. I stayed down here to take Annihilus' goons as they land."

"How'd Annihilus manage to open a portal to Earth?"

"Once Reed contains that portal, he'll explain everything."

"Who is that?" Ruby whispered to Spider-Man.

"Ben Grimm," Spider-Man whispered back. "The Thing. He's part of the Fantastic Four. Big man with a bigger heart."

"I can hear you, Web-Head," Ben warned. "Who's the kid?"

"Right. Ben, meet Ruby Rose," Logan introduced her.

"Oh yeah, one of those alien kids!" Ben cracked a smile. "Nice ta meet yah, kid." He held out a massive hand for her to shake.

"Save the pleasantries until after we kill all these things," Logan interrupted.

"Right. Of course." Ben cracked his knuckles. "What do you say we stick together and kick their asses?"

Boom! A much larger creature landed in front of them. It looked like the smaller soldiers, which were now landing around it, but much bigger.

"Oh ho ho," Spider-Man chuckled nervously, taking a step back. "He's a big one."

"You know what they say," Ben replied. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." He began running straight at the bigger creature. "Okay, yah big monster. It's clobberin' time!" He landed a massive punch on the big creature, sending it flying. The others attempted to shoot him, but all their shots did absolutely no damage to him.

"Back at it, kid!" Logan rushed forward, followed quickly by Spider-Man. As Ruby did the same, she briefly wondered where her friends were. If Yang had really come to Earth.

"They're fine," she told herself. "They're strong and brave. They're all probably okay."

The Other Side of the Galaxy—November 1st (Earth Time)

"Hold on a moment," the bartender said. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

Yang leaned on the counter slightly. "Do I look old enough to drink?" she asked sweetly.

When the bartender didn't answer, Yang chuckled. "Just give me a water. Unless you have a Strawberry Sunrise."

"I have…no idea what that is."

"Yeah…" Yang agreed after a moment. "Neither do I."

As the bartender poured her a glass of water, a Kree man let out a laugh. "Are you telling me that you're a Guardian of the Galaxy, and you're not even old enough to drink?" he asked.

Yang turned to face him. "What makes you think I'm a Guardian?" she asked in response.

"That uniform," the Kree man answered, nodding to Yang's blue outfit. "That may not be the Guardian symbol, but I know the Guardian's outfit when I see it."

"Yeah, well, I thought the outfit needed some improvements," Yang explained, pointing to the symbol on her chest. "This was the symbol that was found on me when I first showed up on Knowhere. I figured it suited me more."

The Kree man laughed again. "I can see why the Guardians decided to recruit you. You're quite pretty, for a Terran."

Yang flashed a smile. "Well, thanks for that."

"Yeah. Such a lovely creature." The Kree man reached a hand out towards her hair. "And such beautiful ha—"

Yang caught his hand instantly, her eyes flashing red. Before the Kree could realize what was going on, she pummeled him so hard he flew straight out the door.

The bartender slid her glass of water to her. "For that, miss, this one's on the house," he said.

"Thanks." Yang picked the glass up, but didn't drink. "Actually, I was wondering if you could give me some information."

"Sure," the bartender said with a shrug. "What kind of information."

"Well, I'm looking for a Xandarian gangster," Yang explained. "He'd be about your height, your build. In control of about two dozen or so thugs wanted for murder, armed robbery, destruction of property…" She counted on her fingers as she spoke. "And I was told that he and his gang were hiding out at a bar like this one." She leaned on the counter and smiled again. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that, would you?"

The bartender, obviously nervous, casually reached under the bar. "Uh…I don't think I…" He suddenly grabbed a shotgun and brought it up to aim it at Yang.

But by the time he was raising it, Yang had already aimed her gauntlets at him. His eyes widened as she fired a shot that knocked him straight into the shelves behind him, causing them all to collapse and rain down bottles on top of him.

Yang turned around to face the rest of the bar patrons, all of whom were drawing rifles and pistols and aiming them at her. She grinned again, marching forward and cracking her knuckles.

Flash winced as the sounds of fighting and screams reached him outside the bar. "Damn. Almost feel bad for those guys."

"I don't," Rocket responded, chuckling.

"Remind me again why we sent her in alone?"

"Because it was funny. Besides, she can easily handle it." As he spoke, a Kree was blasted out a window, landing a few feet away.

Flash shook his head. "You are something else, Rocket."

After several more minutes of fighting, the criminal they had been looking for, the bartender, was blasted out the door, landing in an unconscious heap at Rocket and Flash's feet. Seconds later, Yang stepped out, disengaging her yellow-eyed helmet to reveal her face behind it.

"One Xandarian gangster," she announced.

"Not bad, kid," Rocket told her. "You're really fitting in with the Guardians."

"Always happy to beat up some bad guys," she said with a smile.

The comm links buzzed. "Rocket, are you guys done down there?" Star-Lord asked.

"Keep your shirt on, Quill, we're just wrapping things up," Rocket answered.

"Good. Because we've got bigger fish to fry."

"What's up, Pete?" Flash questioned.

"You remember those Negative Zone detectors that we set up around the galaxy to make sure Annihilus couldn't come back?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"Well, we just got a hit. We've got a Negative Zone incursion on our hands."

"Where?" Yang asked.

"Pack your bags, Guardians," Star-Lord answered. "We're going to Earth."

The Earth is under attack, and it's time for the Guardians to swoop in to help save the day! And you all know what that means for a very special moment that I've been looking forward to for this story.

As I was writing this chapter, I was going back and forth about whether or not to include this tease that the Guardians were coming to Earth or make it a surprise in the next chapter and add a following chapter that would've shown Yang's side of things up to that point. Ultimately, I decided to tell things essentially as they happened without branching off too much to other scenes. I felt like an entire chapter right in the middle of the carnage telling us what Yang was up to on the Guardians' way to Earth would break the narrative a little bit. So, here you go: Yang's on her way to Earth.

With Ruby out of sorts from what happened with Mesmero, it seemed very logical that Wolverine would bring her to see the hero that had a far more traumatizing experience under mind control: Jessica Jones. I didn't go into too much detail with Jessica's story, but I think she made her point. And, for those of you wondering, don't expect her or Luke Cage to have much more influence in this arc than from this chapter. However, I will say that I do have a Defenders arc lined up in about 4-5 story arcs from now (give or take) where they will return. Stay tuned for that!

And we also get a return of Spider-Man this arc! He's one of my favorite characters and I love the friendly relationship he's already built up with Ruby. Having him around will definitely make things easier for her. And of course, we also get The Thing here too. While the rest of the Fantastic Four will turn up next chapter, I wanted to throw him in first just for fun.

Next chapter will have a lot more combat as the heroes of Earth battle against the unstoppable hordes of Annihilus...and maybe one or two other surprises along the way. But until then, this is Guest 1138, signing off.