Author's Note:

Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter of Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. But first, some housekeeping.

First, the poll on my profile regarding my decision on writing one shots/what if stories to go along with this one is still up, and will remain up until the end of this arc. As I mentioned before, I'll only invest time on this if there's enough interest from you guys. So if y'all want me to do this, make your voices heard in the poll!

And now, let's answer some reviews!

triscythe59: It's certainly possible, except that Jean died prior to the story and I haven't really introduced Emma Frost yet. As for magic, I already have plans for Doctor Strange coming up soon.

Cbrandes17: A psychic helping Yang out would be a bit too obvious...and y'all definitely know I like a good twist, which is why I'm especially excited for this arc's conclusion.

SuperSaiyanFever: I definitely wanted the Grimm to show up at some point, mostly to see how the Avengers would react to fighting them...although let's face it, Thor would probably smash just about every type of Grimm out there.

Blackmetalzane22: With all the action and battles going on, it's always nice to take a moment to relax and really have characters bond with each other. But it's about to get really wild with the Grimm now in play.

Brian.H.H: Don't blame you for missing a chapter given that the email alerts were down. And yeah, I'm pretty excited about having the Grimm here, especially since, as you said, the characters wouldn't have much information about them at this point since this started before they really knew what was going on. All they know is what certain types of Grimm are, what they can do, and how to kill them. They don't know their origins (which means they'll miss a key clue in that coming up this chapter) or anything about Salem. It should make things really interesting.

Noire12: Weiss' summoning is certainly difficult to be able to write for. Previously, she could only summon Grimm, but I'm not entirely sure that her Summoning would work on other creatures.

Ironchef13: At this point, I'm not planning on having any of the big, super powerful Grimm on Earth. Maybe later on, but not this early.

Deathwing: Hulk is set to make his smashing debut very soon.

Crossovernaru: Definitely glad you enjoyed it. I've been looking forward to writing this arc since I first started planning this story a year ago. Expect several moments that may or may not be referencing some fun and big moments from RWBY canon.

Guest: I do have a plan for Doctor Strange, but it'll be a little while longer before he shows up.

Red Scorpion: There is a very specific reason why the Grimm are on Earth. You'll get a bit of that reason in this chapter, but further revelations are going to be coming down the line.

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

Remnant HQ—November 5th

Yang set the last crate down on the roof of Remnant HQ. "I guess that's the last of it," she said, turning around to face the other Guardians.

"You sure you want to stay on this mudball?" Rocket asked.

"Rocket," Star-Lord warned. "Her family is here."

The raccoon shrugged. "Aint mean she gotta stay with them."

"Aww, I going to miss you, fur face," Yang told him with a smirk.

Rocket scoffed. "Yeah, well…if you need an ammo resupply, we'll keep a line open for you."

"Like we did when the Avengers tried to call us about Yang and her people?" Flash asked.

"I already told you, it was a technical glitch!"

Yang laughed. Out of everything, she was probably going to miss the banter between the Guardians the most. She then looked down at her uniform. "I guess I should give you this back," she said.

Star-Lord waved her off. "Keep it, Yang. You may have only been on the team for a few weeks, but you're still a Guardian. Once a Guardian, always a Guardian. Which reminds me…" He pulled a comm link out and tossed it to her. "If you need us for any reason, any at all," he told her, "give us a call."

Yang took the comm link and pocketed it. As she did, Star-Lord held a hand out for her. "Good luck, Yang," he told her.

Yang shook his hand. "Thank you," she replied. "For taking me in. You didn't have to do that."

Star-Lord smiled slightly. "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy. We help people that need help."

"See you around, Yang," Flash said to her. One by one, the Guardians turned around and boarded the Milano. Once the landing ramp had retracted and the ship had been sealed, the engines powered up and it flew away, vanishing through the clouds.

"Was that the Guardians?" Ruby asked as she stepped out onto the roof.

"Yeah," Yang confirmed. "They just left."

Ruby looked up at the sky for a moment. "I'm glad you decided to stay, Yang."

"Of course I decided to stay," she answered. "My family is here. It's what I've been searching for all this time. Sure, running around saving the galaxy is fun…but it's more important to stay here and make sure that my memories come back."

Ruby's smile faded a little. "Has there…been any change?"

Yang shook her head. "Sorry, Silver Eyes. But it's still pretty much a big blank for me."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe…you could start by not calling me Silver Eyes?"

"Sorry," Yang apologized. "Force of habit. For weeks, all I could really identify you by were your silver eyes. What's with that, anyway?"

"My…mother had silver eyes," Ruby admitted.

"You mean Summer?" Yang had been told by her friends about the somewhat complicated manner of her family. That her own mother, Raven, had left, leaving her father to eventually have Ruby with Summer. Apparently, Yang didn't even know that Summer wasn't her biological mother until after her death.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I guess it was just a family trait on her side."

"Probably." Yang picked up one of the remaining crates on the roof. "Mind helping me get this stuff down to my room?"

Ruby smiled. "Sure, Yang." She picked up another crate and carried it into the elevator with her. They rode it down to the main floor, where Ren was busy cooking something on the stove and Nora was on the couch watching the news.

"What's in the crates?" she asked, hopping off the couch and moving towards them.

"Just some extra ammo," Yang explained.

"What kind?"

She grinned. "The kind that blows stuff up."

Ren looked up from the stove. "I thought we agreed that we were trying to avoid killing people."

Yang shrugged. "Didn't seem to bother anyone when we carved through the Annihilation Wave."

"They were not sentient in the same way that humans are," he told her. "Creatures like that, bent on nothing more than the destruction of humanity, cannot be reasoned with. The only thing you can do is stop them by any means necessary. For humans, they have a chance to surrender, to avoid casualties. Killing should only be a last resort."

"If you say so." Yang looked at Nora and Ruby. "Is he always this deep?"

"Pretty much." Nora placed an arm around Ren. "But we like him all the same."

Ren gave her a look before gently extracting himself from her grip and going back to his cooking. Yang and Ruby, meanwhile, carried the crates into Yang's room, which was already filled with several more crates, these ones containing even more ammo and a few outfits aside from her Guardians uniform. Her helmet sat on the bedside table next to the lamp.

"You can set that down with the rest," Yang told Ruby as she set her own crate down. Ruby nodded and did the same with her own.

"How much ammo did you actually bring?" Ruby asked.

Yang thought about it for a moment. "If I had to guess…enough to take down a small army?"

"Seriously?"

She shrugged. "What? Rocket said that Earth was crazy. I wanted to be prepared."

Ruby chuckled slightly. "You're taking advice from a raccoon?"

"He's technically not a raccoon."

"Still, that's like me taking advice from Zwei."

Yang tilted her head slightly. "Who's Zwei?"

Ruby's face fell slightly. "He's…our dog on Remnant."

"Oh…" Yang turned red slightly. "Sorry—I don't remember him."

She knew it wasn't the answer that Ruby was looking for. She knew that it absolutely frustrated her sister that she couldn't even remember that they were siblings. But there was nothing she could do about it. Professor X was still on Muir Island, and there weren't any other psychics around to unlock her past for her. She was stuck without her memory for now.

"Hey, don't worry," Yang eventually said to Ruby. "I'm sure when I get my memory back, I'll remember him to be the best dog ever."

That brought a smile to Ruby's face. "He really is. He helped us take down Roman Torchwick when he and the White Fang tried to lure the Grimm into Vale."

"Really? Does he have his own weapon?"

"Uh—well, no."

"Then how did he help?"

Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Luckily for her, she avoided having to answer when a soft chime echoed through the room. "Excuse me, Miss Rose," Phyllis announced, "But Mister Stark and the Avengers have just landed on the roof."

"The Avengers are here?" Ruby asked.

"Affirmative."

Ruby frowned. "I wonder what they want."

"Whatever it is," Yang said, cracking her knuckles. "Chances are there's going to be a fight involved."

And that was the thing she was really looking forward to.

As soon as Ruby saw that the entire Avengers roster was exiting the elevator, she knew something serious was going on. Normally, it would've just been Steve or Tony. But all the Avengers here at once? Something was definitely up.

"We have a situation," Steve announced.

"What? No 'Hi, kids?' No 'how's it going?'" Nora asked.

"What kind of situation?" Pyrrha asked.

"One that we believe the eight of you are uniquely qualified to help deal with." Steve looked around. "Where's Logan?"

"He said he had to take care of some 'personal business'" Blake explained.

"Well, this can't wait. We'll have to move on without him." Steve looked at Vision. "Vision?"

"I was going through planetary readings over the past few days following the Annihilation Wave," Vision explained, "when I picked up an anomaly from three days ago."

"The day of the invasion," Jaune remembered.

"Correct. Upon further analysis, I discovered that the energy readings from these anomalies matched the same type of energy that took all of you from Remnant."

Ruby froze. "From Remnant?"

"Wait," Weiss spoke up, "are you saying that there are other people from Remnant here?"

"That's what we first thought," Tony explained. "The anomalies took place in an area of New York that hasn't gone under the repairs needed after the Annihilation Wave yet. A S.H.I.E.L.D. team went in this morning to assess the area…but they were attacked."

"Attacked?" Blake repeated. "By who?"

"Not who. What." An image appeared on the monitor in the room. "Only one agent managed to get out alive," Tony explained. "This was the only image that he managed to recover."

Ruby stared in shock and horror at the beast on the screen. "No…" she thought, "it couldn't be…"

"Is that…a Grimm?" Jaune questioned in shock.

"A Beowolf," Pyrrha confirmed.

"How?" Blake asked. "How could the Grimm be here?"

"We were hoping…you could tell us," Steve admitted.

"The Grimm are soulless creatures," Ren explained. "It's unlikely that they would be able to find a way here on their own—especially using the same manner that we did."

"By that, we mean Ruby smashing a magic crystal," Nora piped in.

Hank rubbed his chin. "Is it possible that Ultron could be sending these creatures to Earth?"

"Maybe," Blake admitted. "After he started his attack, the Grimm seemed to vanish entirely. No one saw any sign of them since. Ultron could have captured them for his own purposes."

"That's not normally Ultron's style," Tony pointed out. "He mostly just wants to destroy everything in his path."

"How and why the Grimm are here doesn't matter," Ruby spoke up. "They're too dangerous to be left alive. We have to stop them."

"If there's one Grimm, then there's bound to be more," Jaune agreed. "A lot more—especially if they really did get here three days ago."

"Correct," Vision confirmed. "I detected two different anomalies resonating in this area. One above ground within this district. The other underground."

"Underground?" Weiss repeated.

"Most likely the subway tunnels," T'Challa guessed.

"How many more Grimm are we talking here?" Clint asked as he went to the fridge and grabbed an apple. "A dozen? A hundred?"

"Hey! That's mine!" Nora yelled, snatching the apple away from the archer.

"To be honest, it's hard to say how many Grimm are out there," Ren admitted. "There are some mysteries about them that even we don't know. There could be any number of Grimm and different types of Grimm out there."

"If they are as dangerous as you say, we will need to move fast to eliminate them," Natasha said.

"Aye," Thor agreed. "We cannot allow people to repopulate that area until we are sure that these monsters are no more."

"How can we help?" Ruby asked.

"Kid—" Tony started.

"I know, I know," Ruby interrupted. "We're still just kids. But we know more about the Grimm than any of you. We know the different types of Grimm and what they can do. You need us."

"Ruby," Tony said gently. "Why do you think we're here in the first place? These monsters are from your world—of course we're going to work with you to stop them."

"Oh…right." Ruby chuckled awkwardly, blushing with embarrassment.

"We need two teams," Steve decided. "I'll lead one team into the subway tunnels, and Tony will lead the other team to keep to the streets. Our objective is to eliminate all the Grimm."

"Thor, Hank, Vision—you're with me," Tony ordered. "Everyone else, go with Cap." He looked at Ruby. "Divide your team up as you see fit."

"Right." Ruby turned to her friends. "Okay guys. I'll take my team into the subway with Cap. Jaune, you take your team and stay with Tony."

"Sounds like a plan," Yang declared, giving her a thumbs up.

"Get suited up then," Steve ordered. "Wheels up in five."

The Remnantians exchanged confused looks. "Uh…what does that mean?" Jaune asked.

Steve sighed slightly. "It means we're leaving in five minutes."

Avengers Quinjet—En Route to Grimm Incursion—November 5th

Ruby was beyond conflicted as she and the others rode with the Avengers towards the area where the Grimm were last seen. On the one hand, she was excited. She and her friends were on a mission with the Avengers—the greatest superhero team on Earth! Not only that, but they were fighting the Grimm, an enemy that she actually knew how to fight!

But on the other hand…the presence of the Grimm on Earth was troubling. Did Ultron send them? What other explanation could there be? But why? And what did that mean for everyone else that was left on Remnant? Was there nothing left but Ultron's drones and Grimm?

"Stop thinking like that, Ruby," she scolded herself silently. She had been going through these thoughts and worries for weeks. There was no point in continuously worrying about what was going on back home. She just had to hope that everyone left there was still alive and kicking.

She looked around at the rest of her friends. All of them seemed a little on edge about what they had just learned. All except for Yang, of course, who was sitting at the back of the Quinjet, her helmet closed over her face and her head leaning against the side of the vehicle. But then again, Yang didn't have any memory of having to fight the Grimm or Ultron in the past. And even then, she always had the swagger to laugh in the face of danger.

While it was comforting that Yang was still more or less herself…the lack of any memory about her past still bothered Ruby. It was going to be tough to keep up until she could get her memories back.

"You okay, Ruby?"

Ruby looked over at Steve. "Huh?"

"You look like you have a lot on your mind," he noted.

She hesitated briefly. "I'm...just worried," she admitted.

"About the Grimm? Or about your sister?"

Ruby thought about it for a moment. "Both, I guess."

Steve nodded slowly. "We're going to figure this out, Ruby. But first, we need to focus on the Grimm. They're the bigger threat right now. We'll worry about how they got here later."

Ruby took a deep breath and nodded. "Right."

"We've got something on radar," Natasha reported from the Quinjet's cockpit.

"I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. was supposed to keep the skies clear," Clint noted.

"Whatever it is, it's big…and heading right for us."

Ruby exchanged a look with Weiss. Both of them realized almost instantly what it was.

"Evasive, Nat!" Steve yelled. The Quinjet lurched as Natasha spun the vehicle around. Something huge rushed past them, shaking the entire ship.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is," Jaune said aloud.

"Natasha, what the hell was that?" Tony asked.

"It looked like a giant bird!" Natasha responded. "Hold on, it's coming back around for another pass!"

"A Nevermore," Pyrrha confirmed.

"And from the sound of it, it's a big one," Blake added.

"We need to get our fliers out there," Hank decided.

"Too risky," Ren informed him. "Nevermores are dangerous. The last one we faced that was this big took all of us working together to finish it off."

An alarm suddenly rang out in the Quinjet, followed by a rush of air. Ruby whipped her head around to see that Yang had opened the landing ramp of the vehicle. "I've got this," she declared, giving them all a salute before falling backwards off the ramp.

"Yang, wait—" Ruby tried to yell. But she was already gone.

Panic overtook her. Without thinking, she unbuckled herself from her seat and dashed to the ramp. "Ruby!" Steve yelled. But she was already jumping out into thin air.

She fell quickly, and as she twisted around, she saw the Nevermore, almost just as big as the one she and the others had fought on their first day at Beacon. It was swooping down towards Yang, who had also flipped around. She fired twin blasts directly at the Nevermore, hitting it directly in the chest while also propelling herself down towards the ground. She quickly turned around again and fired again, blasting herself back up towards the Grimm, which spun around, allowing her to sail right past it.

Ruby lowered her goggles over her face and drew Crescent Rose from her back. She fired a shot to propel her forward and quickly activated her Semblance, bursting through the air straight to the Nevermore. She shot straight above it and brought herself down, slamming her weapon's point straight into the Nevermore's back and hanging on for dear life. Yang landed right next to her a second later.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled.

"I'm okay!" Yang yelled back with a laugh.

"Yang, you can't just throw yourself out of Quinjets!"

"Relax—we'll be fine!"

The Nevermore spun around again, trying to shake them both off. Ruby clung to Crescent Rose, holding on as best she could. Yang, meanwhile, began climbing up towards the head of the beast, stabbing the blades within her gauntlets through the creature as she moved up its back.

"Be careful Yang!" Ruby yelled.

Several repulsor blasts shot against the Nevermore side. Ruby looked up to see that Tony, in his full armor, had left the Quinjet and had joined the fight. "Need an assist?" he asked.

"Careful, Tony!" Ruby called. "Watch out for its feathers!"

"Its what?"

At this, the Nevermore spun around, shooting a barrage of razor-sharp feathers at the hero, hitting him in the chest and sending him spiraling away.

"Feathers!" Ruby repeated.

Tony righted himself quickly. "Right—feathers." He flew straight back towards the Nevermore, firing a volley of missiles at its underbelly. At this point, Yang had reached its head and had swung down so she was hanging off its neck. "Open wide!" she exclaimed, trying to wrench open the Nevermore's beak.

"Is she insane?!" Tony asked as he flew alongside the beast next to where Ruby was still hanging.

"This is just how she is!" Ruby shouted back.

Yang finally managed to force the beak open and stuck her arm directly into it. "See you later!" She fired a shot directly into the Nevermore's mouth, blasting a hole straight through the back of its head.

The Grimm shrieked as it began to fall towards the ground. "Time for you to get off!" Tony grabbed Ruby and pulled her off the Nevermore as it continued its descent. Yang, meanwhile, hopped off the dying creature and fired twin blasts to slow her descent until she landed on the ground. The Nevermore slammed into the ground behind her with a CRASH before it disintegrated.

"Nailed it!" she declared as Tony landed, setting Ruby down in front of him. The Quinjet, meanwhile, landed a few yards down the road, and the rest of the Avengers and the Remnantians filed out.

Ruby folded Crescent Rose up and slipped it back onto her back. "Yang, that was—"

"Pretty cool, right?" Yang interrupted.

"That was reckless," Tony told her. "Both of you."

Ruby's face flushed red with embarrassment. Yang, however, stood her ground. "I know what I'm doing," she insisted.

"Yang," Ruby said slowly. "That Nevermore could've killed you."

Yang shrugged. "I knew I could take it down. I thought you said I was the toughest of the group."

"That doesn't mean you can go jumping out of Quinjets whenever you want!"

Steve, having made his way over to them, put a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go, Ruby," he advised. "We've got bigger problems."

Ruby hesitated, but relented. "What's the plan?" she asked.

"The sources of the disturbances are in this direction," Vision reported, pointing down the street.

"We're going to need an access point to the subway tunnels as well," Natasha added.

Janet shuddered in disgust. "Yay. We get to go walking around through the creepy, dark tunnels. Just a typical day of being an Avenger."

"Over here!" Steve called the others, pointing towards a staircase in the middle of the sidewalk that led straight down.

Weiss looked down and instantly wrinkled her nose at the horrendous smell coming from it. "Yeah, I don't know about this," she commented.

Clint shrugged as he came over. "I've smelled worse." He drew his bow and nocked an arrow as he descended down the staircase. Natasha soon followed him down.

"Come on, Weiss, it isn't that bad," Ruby told her. "And we have to take care of the Grimm before they hurt anyone else.

Weiss let out a huff. "Fine." She drew Myrtenaster and walked down the staircase. Blake, Yang, T'Challa, and Janet soon headed down after her.

Ruby turned towards Jaune. "We'll take care of the Grimm underground," she said. "You take care of the ones up here."

Jaune nodded. "Good luck," he said. "Be safe."

Ruby smiled and gave him a quick hug. "You too."

Steve gestured to staircase. "After you, Ruby."

Ruby took a deep breath, drawing Crescent Rose once more. With one final look at Jaune as he and his team followed Tony, Thor, Hank, and Vision down the street, she stepped down the staircase and into the subway station.

Clint and Natasha had already moved up through the gates to the subway station, scanning the area for any sort of movement. "All clear," Clint reported. "No sign of any Grimm activity."

"Did you really think that they'd just be hanging out right at the bottom of the stairs?" Weiss asked.

"Move out," Steve ordered. "Hawkeye, Widow—take point."

The two superheroes hopped down onto the tracks and began moving down the tunnel. Yang quickly moved up to join them, followed by the others. Ruby herself brought up the rear, walking side by side with Steve.

The tunnels were getting darker as the progressed, with the lights flickering weakly. "Watch your step, ladies," Clint warned. "You don't want to accidentally step on the third rail."

"The third rail?" Blake repeated.

"An electrified rail that gives power to the subway," he explained.

"Hit that rail, and you're fried," Janet added. "So watch your step."

"Great," Weiss huffed. "Another thing to worry about."

The group continued in in silence. Eventually, Steve said to Ruby, "That was a very brave thing you did before."

Ruby lowered her head slightly. "I—I just wanted to make sure she was safe. I know she can handle herself, but—" She swallowed. "I don't want to lose her again."

"I understand perfectly." Steve gave her a comforting smile. "When we see our loved ones in danger, we'd do whatever it takes to make sure they're safe—even jump out of Quinjets to fight giant monster birds."

Ruby relaxed slightly at Steve's words. "If you ask me, I don't blame you for jumping out after your sister," he finished. "Don't let Tony bring you down. In the end, when it comes to your team, it's your call. You know your limits better than we do." He the put a hand on her shoulder. "You're a good kid, Ruby, and a good hero. Do what your heart tells you to do."

Ruby was about to thank him when Natasha held a hand up. "Something's down there," she announced, pointing down a dark side tunnel. "I hear growling."

"We need some light down there," Steve ordered. "Clint?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it." Clint pulled his bow back and fired a shot down the tunnel. Upon impact, the arrow erupted in flames, illuminating the tunnel just in time to see something scampering away down another side tunnel.

"What was that?" Yang asked.

"Nothing good, I imagine." T'Challa calmly drew a series of Vibranium daggers.

"Grimm?" Janet asked.

"Probably," Weiss agreed.

"Approach with caution," Steve ordered.

The group entered the side tunnel slowly. Ruby felt her heart begin to pound. They were being watched by something. She was sure of it.

Suddenly, Janet let out a shout. "Eww!"

Everyone whirled around. "What happened?" Steve asked.

Janet shook her foot in fright, shaking off flecks of some sort of dark liquid. "I stepped in something!"

T'Challa knelt down and examined the black pool that she had stepped in. "Interesting," he noted. "This does not appear to be water…or any other substance I have encountered."

"Something left over from the Annihilation Wave?" Steve asked.

"I am unsure."

"Whatever it is, it's gross," Janet declared, wiping off the last bits of it from her boot with her glove.

"Let's keep moving," Steve decided. "We'll come back for a sample later."

A low growl suddenly came from the smaller side tunnel that the creature they had briefly seen had run down. Everyone quickly pointed their weapons at that tunnel. Squinting her eyes, Ruby could just make out something moving in the darkness.

"Light it up, Clint," Steve ordered, readying his shield.

Clint nocked another arrow to his bow and fired it straight down the tunnel. When it hit, it once again illuminated it with an explosion of fire…revealing that the entire tunnel was infested with dozens of black creatures with red eyes, all of whom turned around, staring straight at the assembled heroes.

Ruby's eyes widened in shock. She hadn't seen a grouping of this many Grimm since Roman Torchwick's incursion into Vale.

"Oh my…" Janet breathed.

Natasha let out a muttered curse in Russian.

"This is it!" Steve crouched into a fighting stance. "Avengers, assemble!"

The creatures of Grimm surged forward, ready to tear them all to shreds.

Let the battle between the Avengers, Teams RWBY and JNPR, and the Grimm begin!

First and foremost, the method used to get the Grimm to Earth. It is indeed the same way that Ruby and the others got off Remnant. However, I'm still not saying what was exactly used. But this secret will be revealed later on in the story.

Second, I'm going to say this right now: no, the Apathy are not going to be down in those subway tunnels. As cool as it would be for them to be there, I'm putting most of my focus on the Grimm types that the RWBY characters would reasonably know, like Nevermore, Beowolves, and a few others. So if you were getting your hopes up for a Vol 6 reference...sorry.

As for how the teams are split up, I wanted to give some focus on Team RWBY and JNPR apart. While this will only be for a chapter or two here, there is a plan in place for a larger arc coming up where both teams will be acting separately to combat different, but connected threats. Stay tuned!

A lot of cool stuff coming next chapter. Big fights! Lots of carnage! Shocking moments! And maybe even a surprise cameo or two! But for now, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.