Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter of Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen, and it's time to kick off Act II! But first, let's answer some reviews!
SulliMike23: Roman and Neo are certainly going to put a wrinkle in things once they start setting things in motion. I've always liked Roman as a character and a villain, and I can't wait to do more with him.
metroplex07: Unfortunately, I can't commission any fanart due to a lack of funds (curse you, student loans), so if fanart is to be made, people are going to have to be doing it on their own accord.
Blackmetalzane22: Now that all the characters are on Earth, I can definitely bring out even more heroes and villains for them to interact with. Just wait until you see who all will show up throughout this act!
dinocam3: For Roman to figure out that they're on Earth, that probably won't take long, especially when the media begin reporting on the exploits of RWBY and JNPR. As for the other way around, that won't happen for a while yet.
JThorpe5: Interesting idea. May not be able to work it into a main arc, but if I go forward with my one-shot ideas, might have that little scene be in there.
Guest: I definitely like having moments where Jaune's strategies get to shine. He may not be as skilled as the rest of the group, but he makes up for it in strategizing and figuring things out.
Deathwing: Boy, that's a lot of characters! I will say that some have already shown up (such as Storm and Beast), and others I do have plans for (such as Red Hulk). And then there are those characters that I'm really trying to come up with something for them. Blade is a perfect example of this. I really want to do something with him and vampires, but with the nature of vampirism, it's a bit troubling to come up with something concrete.
Ironchef13: I can confirm that Jaune still has that hoodie.
Guest: There was no intention for Yang to have an emotional breakdown here. In V3, it happens due to multiple factors: the Fall of Beacon, Pyrrha's death, losing her arm and nearly getting killed by Adam, Weiss being forced to leave, and Blake running away. Here, the only really bad thing to happen to her was her losing her arm, and in this case, she actually succeeded in protecting the one in danger. Not only that, but she still has all her friends with her.
Red Scorpion: The answer to that question will come when we return to Remnant, coming soon! As for Punisher and War Machine, I do have plans for both.
Ironchef13: Blake is probably going to be stuck with her current weapons for a bit, but will probably get a chance to modify them soon enough. As for the OG Gambol Shroud, it may or may not return by the end of the story. As for Kraven, while I currently don't have plans for him, that doesn't mean I won't use him at all! And you certainly have a point about Penny. It'll be interesting to see what's going on with her once we see Remnant again.
William Hoenicke: I did have an idea for Namor further down the line. As for Wakanda, well...you'll see in a bit.
Jimmy K.I. 7: I think it's pretty safe to say that these characters may be in trouble if they wound up against the Xenomorphs or the Predators.
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the action.
Remnant HQ—November 12th
"Initializing Training Scenario Delta 9."
The training room shifted and changed, the holo emitters transforming everything into a series of city ruins. Seeing the collapsing buildings and broken streets instantly put Ruby on edge. It felt too much like Vale after Ultron's invasion.
She clutched Crescent Rose more tightly as she looked around at the others. "What exactly did Logan say this training scenario was going to be?"
"He didn't," Weiss replied. "He just told us it would be a challenge."
"He always says that," Blake noted.
Jaune rolled his shoulders. "Can't be any worse than what we've been through already—especially with the last training exercise he put us through."
"No kidding," Nora agreed, cracking her back. "I hit the wall so hard I think I broke something."
"You laughed afterwords though," Blake pointed out.
"Because it was fun!"
"Focus," Ren ordered.
"Listen to the kid," Logan's voice crackled over the intercom. "This scenario you're about to run is tough. Even the X-Men have trouble with it."
"I've seen the holograms," Yang's voice piped through next. "You guys are in trouble."
"Step back from the control panel, kid," Logan ordered.
"You could let me go down there and take part in this simulation."
"With only one arm? No way."
"She still really wants to get back into training," Blake commented.
"Did you expect anything less?" Weiss asked. "This is Yang we're talking about after all."
"How long until she gets a replacement arm?" Jaune asked.
"I don't know," Ruby admitted. "Tony's keeping that news quiet."
"I wonder why."
"Let's stay focused on the task at hand," Pyrrha interjected, readying Miló. "The enemy should be appearing any minute now."
The moment she spoke, Phyllis announced, "Training Scenario Delta 9 commencing." Seconds later, several massive robots began to appear. They were massive, with light purple armor and red heads. And they all looked straight down at the group.
"Halt, Mutants!" the robots shouted in unison, raising palms that were glowing with power.
"Mutants? We're not mutants," Nora pointed out. Despite this, everyone took an uncertain step back.
"I don't think they care, Nora," Ren warned.
"What exactly are those things?" Yang asked as she watched her friends begin to spread out and fight against the giant robots.
"Sentinels," Logan grunted. "Robots designed to hunt down mutants and exterminate us."
"Why would they ever make something like that?"
"Because people fear what they don't understand," he told her. "They think mutants are going to slaughter everyone and take over the world." He took a drink from his bottle of beer. "Guys like the ones that created the Sentinels are why Magneto has so many followers."
Yang nodded slowly. From what she had learned over the past few days about Earth and its problems, Magneto and his mutants sounded a lot like the White Fang back on Remnant. Apparently, there were plenty of people that were willing to use violence to sow terror on the pretense of fighting for freedom and rights.
Her right arm throbbed with sudden pain again, and she instinctively moved her hand over to clutch it. Ever since she had gotten her right arm bitten off by the Grimm a week ago, she had been experiencing what Dr. Foster had called "phantom limb pains." It was really starting to irritate her, and she hoped that whenever she got herself a new prosthetic arm, the pain would stop.
"I can still fight with one arm, you know," she told Logan.
"Sorry, kid, but I aint letting you down there until you've got all your limbs," he responded.
"Oh, come on," she protested. "I'm getting bored just waiting around for Iron Man to weld together a few fingers."
"You may think you're ready to jump right back into the fire," Logan told her as Nora flew by the observation window, firing Magnhild rapidly at an approaching Sentinel, "but last I checked, it was that sort of attitude that got you into this situation in the first place."
Yang rolled her eyes. "So I lost an arm. I did it so that I wouldn't lose my sister."
"And you wouldn't have been put in that situation if you didn't try to take on a giant snake monster on your own."
Yang's fist clenched in frustration. "Why are you acting so protective right now? From everything I've heard about you, that's not really your style."
Logan's eyes narrowed. "I knew someone like you once," he explained. "About your age. Good kid, headstrong. Then she took on someone that she had no business fighting. Do yourself a favor and don't end up like her."
Yang looked down slightly. Logan must have sensed her frustration, because he then sighed. "Look, kid…you're a good fighter. I've heard the stories. But you tend to run straight into dangerous situations without any sort of plan. Your only plan is to just attack whoever decides to pick a fight with you. One of these days, you're going to run up against something you can't punch your way out of. Take my advice…when you go into battle, start using your head more than your fists."
Yang pondered this for a few seconds, looking back out at the training room, where her friends had taken down two of the Sentinels and were working together to bring down the third. A quick check on the Aura meters showed that all of them were still mostly fine, though Weiss and Blake's Auras were reading the lowest out of all of them. "They must have taken some pretty bad hits," she thought.
Still, she couldn't help but focus more on Logan's advice. Was he actually right? Had she been so focused on jumping straight into fights that she was doing more harm than good?
Yang shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. Right now, that didn't matter. All that she wanted to do now was get a new arm so she could get back into the fight.
And then she would give Ultron exactly what was coming to him.
Jaune let out a moan, holding his side as the group rode the elevator back up to the main floor. "Did you really have to program the simulation to be that hard?"
"Quit your whining," Logan answered. "That simulation is nothing compared to the real thing."
"Well, I for one am looking forward to being able to rest after that fight," Weiss decided. "Rest and continuing to study the different people and cultures of the world."
"Or we could do something fun," Nora countered.
"Learning about Earth is important," Weiss told her. "If we want to continue to be living here while we wait to find a way to go home, we want to be sure we're doing the right thing. We don't want to embarrass our entire world."
"Yep—figures that's why you want to really study Earth culture," Yang commented.
"Weiss is right," Ruby declared, turning around to face her teammates as the elevator door opened on the main floor. "We need to keep working on learning everything there is to know about Earth. That way we can—" As she turned back around, she yelped in surprise, jumping back into Weiss' arms as she got startled by the silent figure that was now in the room.
"It's just T'Challa, kid," Logan told her, moving past the others to leave the elevator.
Ruby blushed with embarrassment as Weiss, rolling her eyes, dropped her on the floor.
"What brings you by?" Blake asked T'Challa. "I thought it was Iron Man or Captain America that visits for the Avengers."
"I have come for two reasons," T'Challa explained. He motioned to two cases on the table. "First, Wasp wanted me to deliver these. They are new uniforms designed for Miss Belladonna and Miss Nikos."
"You finally get your super suits?" Nora asked with delight. "Awesome!"
"And the other reason?" Weiss asked.
T'Challa directed his attention to Ruby and Yang. "I would like to extend an invitation to both Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long to travel with me to Wakanda."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Wakanda?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Yang asked.
"For you, Miss Xiao Long, we have prepared a new arm for you," he explained.
She raised an eyebrow. "You made a new arm for me? Is that why Stark didn't say anything?"
"I believe he wanted to make it a surprise."
"What about me?" Ruby asked, getting back to her feet and dusting herself off.
"We would like to take a closer look at your physiology using Wakandan technology," T'Challa explained. "Normally, we would allow Doctor Richards to conduct the experiments, but his methods tend to be a bit…unwise at times."
Ruby understood almost instantly what he meant. "You want to try to find out more about what I did to those Grimm."
The Avenger nodded. "Correct."
In the few days since she had woken up and been discharged, Ruby had thought a lot about this strange power that was apparently inside her. The more she thought about it, the more questions she had. Where did this power come from? Why didn't it activate before now? Did anyone else have power like this? So many questions, and absolutely no answers.
But if T'Challa and the Wakandans were offering a way to figure out this power…then she was willing to do whatever it took to get her answers.
"When do we leave?" Ruby asked T'Challa.
"As soon as you and your sister are ready," he answered.
"Are you sure about this, Ruby?" Weiss asked.
Ruby looked directly at T'Challa. "Do you really think we can find out what I can do?"
"I do not know for sure," T'Challa admitted. "But Wakanda is the most highly advanced country in the world. We are better equipped to figure out more about this mysterious power than anyone else."
"Why can't we all go?" Blake asked.
"Wakanda is…hesitant to trust outsiders," T'Challa explained. "The fewer brought in, the more…comfortable certain groups will be."
"Then we'll do it," Ruby decided. "I want to make sure that whatever power I had that killed the Grimm…can't hurt anyone else." Her eyes flickered briefly to Weiss as the horrifying image of her lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood returned to her mind.
Yang's eyes narrowed slightly at Ruby's expression, and Ruby didn't blame her. She didn't know about what had happened to her at the hands of Mesmero. Ruby had wanted to tell her multiple times, but just couldn't find the words. How could you talk about one of the most traumatizing experiences in your life to someone you were that close to?
However, Yang didn't question Ruby at all. All she said was, "Okay. Let's go get me a new arm."
"How long will they be gone?" Pyrrha asked.
"No more than a day or two at the most," T'Challa answered.
Ruby looked at the group. "Jaune, you're in charge until I get back," she ordered.
"I won't let you down," Jaune assured.
T'Challa gestured to the elevator. "If you are ready, then let us depart."
Ruby took one last look at her team, offering them a confident smile. "I'll be back," she announced before stepping back into the elevator with Yang and T'Challa. Without another word, the doors closed in front of her, with the last view in front of her being her friends looking straight back at her.
"You two look fantastic," Nora declared.
Shortly after Ruby and Yang had left with T'Challa, Nora had insisted that Blake and Pyrrha try on their new superhero outfits. The two had complied, mostly to prevent her from pestering them over the matter for the next several hours.
Blake's outfit was very sleek, covering her entire body in black, including a black mask that covered her mouth and nose and a hood that covered her head, with holes in the hood for her cat ears to stick out of. Her hands were covered with clawed gloves, which she was currently flexing. "I'm…not sure how I feel about this," she admitted.
"I think it will be fine," Pyrrha told her. Janet had apparently designed for her armor that made her look more like a warrior from straight out of Earth's history. She had a golden chest plate with armored sleeves, knee-high boots, and a helmet with a golden faceplate that concealed her face, showing only a pair of glowing green eyes.
"Did they really have to continue the cat look with me?" Blake asked, flexing her clawed fingers again.
"I think those make you look even more awesome," Nora assured her.
"You all look the part now," Logan told them all, taking a long drink from his bottle of beer. "But you still need codenames in the field.'
"I already know mine!" Nora piped in. "Call me Shockhammer! And Ren's name's going to be Quickstrike!"
Logan nodded in approval. "What about the rest of you?"
"Yeah, we really haven't thought about that," Jaune admitted.
"Well, you look like a knight," Pyrrha noted, approaching him. "Maybe your codename can have something to do with that."
"With knights?"
"Or perhaps paladins," Ren spoke up. "Guardians of virtue and honor."
Jaune tilted his head, smiling slightly. "The Paladin," he decided.
Logan cleared his throat slightly. "Technically there's already a supervillain named Paladin out there," he announced. "But he aint really well known. So I guess it will be okay."
"What about the rest?" Blake asked. "It's not like we have any names that would work for how we look."
"Lot of heroes base their names off what they can do," Logan explained. "Maybe start there."
"Logan's right," Nora agreed. "Like, you can create shadow images of yourself, Blake. Maybe you can be called, oh, I don't know…Shade?"
Blake shrugged. "If you say so."
"Why do I get the feeling that you've already come up with names for everyone?" Weiss asked.
Nora grinned. "What? It was fun! Like for Pyrrha—she's got powers with magnetics—so I gave her the name 'Polaris."
"Sorry, kid," Logan interrupted. "That name's taken by another hero."
"Oh. Then, uh…" Nora thought about it for a moment. "Polarity?" She looked at Logan for approval.
"Think you're good to go with that one," he answered.
"Nora, please," Weiss said with a slight eyeroll. "These names—"
That only made Nora turn her attention to her. "And I figured you can be called—"
Alarms began blaring, cutting Nora off. "Alert! Alert!" Phyllis reported. "Supervillain detected in the area!"
Jaune immediately jumped into action. "Who is it, Phyllis?" he asked.
On the main monitor in the room, Phyllis displayed an image of a bald man in a white tank top. "Carl Creel," the AI explained. "AKA, the Absorbing Man. Able to absorb the physical properties of any material he touches. He is currently robbing a bank nearby."
"There's a bank nearby?" Nora asked.
"We're on it," Jaune decided, starting for the elevator. But he suddenly skidded to a stop. "I mean—if that's okay with you, Logan."
Logan nodded. "Yeah—I think you can handle Creel. Good luck out there."
"Thanks, Logan." Jaune gestured to the others. "Come on, guys. Let's go get this guy."
Manhattan, New York—November 12th
"We have got to find a better way to get places," Jaune huffed as he and his team finally arrived at the bank being robbed by the Absorbing Man.
"Have you seen what you have to do to get a driver's license here?" Nora asked. "They take these things so seriously."
"Next time, we get Phyllis to remote fly our Quinjet," Weiss suggested.
The front door to the bank suddenly burst open. Through a cloud of dust, a large, bald man appeared, carrying a massive duffel bag full of bills in one hand and a large ball and chain in his other hand.
Jaune drew Crocea Mors and pointed it in the criminal's direction. "Stop right there, criminal!"
The villain looked up, seeming surprised to see the group of costumed heroes before him. Then he started to laugh. "What is this?" he asked. "A bunch of Power Pack wannabes?"
"Power Pack?" Nora whispered to Ren. He shrugged slightly in response.
"Surrender, Absorbing Man!" Jaune ordered. "You're outnumbered!"
The villain laughed again. "Tell you want, shrimp. You get out of my way, and I might let you live." He started marching forward again.
"Shockhammer," Jaune ordered.
"On it." Nora fired a shot from Magnhild, which exploded in a crackle of electricity. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to do too much to Absorbing Man.
"Fine," he growled, dropping the bag. "You asked for this."
He got down on one knee and put a hand on the sidewalk. Instantly, a swath of stone washed over him until he was completely covered. He stood up, his skin now completely covered in stone.
Jaune brought his sword forward. "Take him down!" The team moved in, surrounding the villain and beginning to attack.
Absorbing Man threw his ball and chain at Blake, who darted out of the way to avoid getting hit, leaving Pyrrha time to dart in and slice at his chest. However, her javelin didn't seem to do any damage to him, and she was forced to retreat when he took a swing at her.
Weiss summoned a Boarbatusk, which charged straight at the villain, but he caught the beast by the tusks and lifted it easily into the air, throwing it right back at her. When Blake tried to launch her own attack with her chain blades, Absorbing Man caught them and yanked, pulling Blake in where he pummeled her in the face straight into the ground. He raised his foot and tried to stomp her flat, but she quickly used her Semblance to escape, leaving a shadowy image of herself in her wake.
Ren moved in next, delivering multiple quick strikes to Absorbing Man's chest. However, his blades simply pinged off his rocky skin. With a laugh, he swatted him aside, sending him crashing into a leaping Nora. "Is that all you've got?" he laughed.
Absorbing Man launched his wrecking ball at Jaune, who raised his shield to protect himself. As the ball came flying in, Weiss saw her chance and activated the flame on Myrtenaster, bringing it down straight on the chain and cutting through it with ease. The villain pulled his chain back in, but the ball dropped harmlessly to the ground.
"You brats are going to pay for that!" he bellowed, charging forward and slamming into Weiss like a battering ram, knocking her off her feet. As he stomped forward, Nora leaped in, blocking him and gripping his hands tightly, stopping him in his tracks.
Absorbing Man grunted and tried to push forward, actually moving Nora back a few paces, but then she activated her armor's electric generator, charging herself up with electricity and increasing her strength further. With a triumphant grin, Nora shoved him back before swinging Magnhild straight into his chest. The impact launched the villain straight into a nearby building, where pieces of the ceiling proceeded to cover him.
Nora pumped a fist. "Got him!"
Absorbing Man emerged from the rubble, picking up a large chunk of stone and rebar. "Catch!" he roared, flinging it directly at her. She withstood the impact, her Aura flashing briefly before he ran straight into her. Caught off balance, she was sent flying into a parked car, denting it significantly.
"You brats think you can take me?!" the villain yelled.
"We don't just think—we know!" Jaune sliced at his stony back, causing it to crack slightly as he tried to hack into it. Absorbing Man grunted and swung his arm back. Jaune ducked and rolled away as he tried to pummel him.
"Fine then!" Absorbing Man grabbed onto another nearby car. As he did, his skin quickly changed into metal. "Let's see how your puny sword holds up to this now!" He ripped the car door off and threw it like a frisbee at Jaune. He raised his shield to protect himself, the door smacking into it. As he lowered it, Absorbing Man was suddenly there, knocking his weapons aside and grabbing him by the throat, lifting him into air.
"Aint so easy now, is it?!" the villain mocked as Jaune struggled to breathe. But then, he was suddenly pulled backwards by an invisible force, forcing him to drop Jaune. As he coughed, trying to catch his breath again, he saw that Pyrrha had a hold of the villain with her Semblance and was lifting him into the air, keeping him suspended from any other surface for him to touch and absorb.
"Hey!" Absorbing Man shouted. "What's going on!"
"You were foolish to become metal," Pyrrha told him in response. "And you made an even bigger mistake: you messed with my friends."
She thrust her hand forward and Absorbing Man flew face first straight into the ground again and again and again. She then slammed him into the ground one final time, where he gave one final yelp of pain before lying still with a groan.
The group surrounded him cautiously as his skin slowly reverted back to flesh. "Did we get him?" Blake asked.
"Looks like it," Weiss confirmed.
"Yeah! Go team!" Nora cheered.
"What do we do with him now?" Blake asked.
"Take him back to jail, I suppose." Jaune turned on his comm, trying to contact Logan. "Logan, we got him."
"Not bad, kid," Logan answered. "I'll send a Quinjet controlled by Phyllis in to pick you up. She'll take you all to the Cube."
"The Cube?" Jaune repeated.
"It's the prison designed to contain radioactive and Gamma irradiated supervillains," Logan explained. "The S.H.I.E.L.D. team there should already know who you are and let you land."
"Why is it called the Cube?" Nora asked.
Logan grunted in annoyance. "Because it looks like a cube. You'll understand when you get there."
"So it's just called the Cube because it looks like a giant cube?"
Jaune ignored her. "Thanks, Logan," he told him. "We'll bring this guy in and be back soon."
Logan grunted again and ended the transmission. Jaune looked back at his teammates. "Make sure he's secure," he ordered. "We're taking him to the Cube."
The Cube—November 12th
Logan had been right. The Cube really did look like a giant cube. A giant cube that stood on one of its corners. Several turret emplacements stayed trained on the Quinjet as it landed on a landing pad. "Now arriving at the Cube," Phyllis reported.
"Thanks for flying us here, Phyllis," Jaune told the AI.
"My pleasure."
"One of us really needs to learn how to fly," Weiss commented.
"Isn't that what Ruby is doing right now?" Blake questioned.
Weiss gave her a look. "Do you really want to trust Ruby with flying us to wherever we need to go?"
"Hey! I could learn how to fly!" Nora suggested.
Weiss shuddered. "That's even scarier than Ruby."
Jaune stood up. "Let's get this guy into lockup."
"On it!" Nora stood up and practically skipped over to where Absorbing Man was sitting dejectedly. His entire body was completely wrapped up in metal, courtesy of Pyrrha. This was so he couldn't physically touch any other surface and absorb its properties. The only thing he had contact with was metal, which would make him vulnerable to Pyrrha's semblance.
"Let's go, bad guy!" Nora pulled Absorbing Man to his feet and down the ramp as it lowered, with the others following close behind them. Outside the Quinjet, they were met by a dozen armed guards and a large, muscular man with long green hair that ran down his shoulders.
"Welcome back to the Cube, Creel," the man greeted the villain. "We kept your cell nice and warm for you."
Absorbing Man scowled. "Laugh now, Samson. When I get out of here, I'm coming for you first."
"We'll see about that." The man held a beefy hand out for Jaune to shake. "Leonard Samson. Director of operations here at the Cube. You must be the new aliens I've been hearing so much about."
"Uh…yeah," Jaune said, shaking his hand.
Samson directed the guards to Absorbing Man. "Get him back to his cell."
"With pleasure, Doc." The guard captain grabbed Absorbing Man by the shoulder and led him away.
"Good work capturing Creel," Samson told Jaune and the others. "He can be quite dangerous when backed into a corner."
"We're just happy to help," Jaune answered back "We may be separated from our home, but that's not going to stop us from keeping people safe."
"Good to hear." Samson smiled. "Creel's the second Cube inmate to be brought in today."
"The second?" Pyrrha asked.
He nodded. "The Avengers are also here. Abomination was tearing up Chicago. They just brought him in a few minutes ago."
Jaune frowned. "Two Cube inmates trying to commit crimes at the same time?"
Pyrrha frowned as well. "What are the odds that that would happen?"
Samson rubbed his chin. "I'll admit that the odds of that are slim. But I don't think it's anything to worry about now that they're locked in the Cube. Our cells are specifically designed to negate the powers of each of the inmates."
The words were barely out of his mouth when a siren started blaring from the Cube. "What's going on?!" Nora yelled, covering her ears.
Samson activated his comm. "Report!"
"Doc, we've got a problem!" a soldier's voice answered. "The Leader's not in his cell! He's escaped!"
Samson cursed. "Search the prison! He couldn't have gotten far!"
Jaune wasn't sure who the Leader was, but from the look on Samson's face, he must have been a serious threat. "How can we help?" he asked.
"Go in and make sure the Leader or any other supervillain can't escape," Samson ordered.
"On it." Jaune motioned for the others. "Let's go, guys!" The group charged for the prison, passing by more mobilizing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
Inside was a madhouse. Agents and guards were running around the halls, and the prisoners in their cells were banging against the bars. "Which way?" Weiss asked.
Jaune thought quickly. "This way!" He led the group deeper into the prison, passing by multiple different inmates. He didn't take time to study them. There was work to be done.
As he rounded the corner, he ran smack into someone else, bouncing off him and backing straight into Pyrrha. "What are you guys doing here?" a familiar voice asked. Jaune righted himself and saw that he had run straight into Steve, who was standing with the other Avengers.
"We just caught Absorbing Man and were bringing him here," Jaune explained.
"Absorbing Man tried something today too?" Tony asked.
"Worry about that later, Tony," Steve ordered. "Right now we need to focus on finding the Leader."
"Who exactly is this guy?" Weiss asked.
"A very dangerous, highly intelligent supervillain," Steve explained.
"With a name like the Leader, how can he be that scary?" Nora questioned.
"This isn't a time for jokes, Nora," Ren told her gently. "You can joke once we catch him."
Tony suddenly whipped around. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh?" Clint repeated. "What's 'uh oh?'"
"I'm detected a massive build up of strange energy coming from the center of the Cube." Tony directed his attention further down the hall. "And it's coming right for us!"
Even as he spoke, a wave of green energy was flowing quickly down the hall, engulfing everything in its path. There was no time to run, or even think about running. "Brace yourselves!" Steve ordered.
The last conscious action Jaune was able to do was plant himself in front of the team, raising his shield in a desperate, yet futile attempt to protect them all.
And then everything went green.
Well...that happened. Those of you that have been reading a few of my past review responses as well as those of you who know your Marvel cartoons know exactly what's to come next and what I'm adapting for this story.
So now Pyrrha and Blake finally have their superhero outfits. Once again, designing such costumes is not really my strong suit, but I think I did a decent enough job with them.
For the fight that would get the group to the Cube itself, I originally considered using Zzzax, but then I realized that, while a fight like that would be cool, there's not a whole lot the other characters could do to stop him apart from Nora. And there was also the matter of containing him. Absorbing Man seemed a little more grounded, and a little easier to contain-especially when it came to Pyrrha's Semblance.
Next time, we're finally going to visit Wakanda! And while we won't be spending a ton of time there this arc (for obvious reasons), it'll certainly be an interesting experience for Ruby and Yang as they work to try to figure out more about Ruby's silver eyes...and, you know, give Yang a new arm.
But anywho, that's all from me! Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.