Author's Note:

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

SuperSaiyanFever: The designs for the Avengers at least will probably be mostly based on their gamma monster forms from the EMH Gamma World Arc. As for the RWBY characters, I still need to figure a lot of them out, although I've already settled mostly on Blake's design.

CRUDEN: Oh yeah, I'm sure I've totally tortured all these characters enough and won't do anything else bad to them. *wink*

dinocam3: That is a very interesting question. Would the auras protect them or not? If they did, it probably wouldn't be for long given that they would be surrounded by gamma monsters and beaten down almost instantly.

Noire12: Gamma World has always been one of my favorite EMH arcs-not so much for the plot and the easily reversable mutation concept, but mainly for the cool gamma monster designs. And of course, the teamup of Hawkeye and the Hulk, which was highly entertaining.

eliza styczen: Never say never!

Deathwing: Hulk would smash Hazel in about thirty seconds honestly. Hazel's strong, but that strength is nothing compared to the Hulk.

William Hoenicke: I have no plans for Thanos to be in this story. He may be mentioned a few times, but I don't plan on using him, as using him in any major capacity as a threat would undermine Ultron's role as the main villain of the story.

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

T'Challa's Private Jet—En Route to Wakanda—November 12th

Ruby couldn't help but marvel at the elegance of T'Challa's private jet. Unlike the Quinjets, which were bulky and felt a little cramped despite the amount of space in them, this jet was sleek and comfortable. She could get used to this—but had to keep telling herself that this was more than likely a one-time thing.

She looked over at Yang. Her sister was in the seat across from her, head leaned over slightly as she was slowly bopping it to whatever music she was listening to. Not long after she had arrived on Earth, Yang had added even more music to the MP3 player that she had found in space. She had apparently gotten quite attached to it.

Truth be told, Ruby was a little happy to get away from the others for a little bit. After being apart from Yang for over a month, she wanted to spend some time with her. Even if it was only for a day or two, it would be worth it. She sensed that they had a lot to catch up on.

But Ruby still had a tough time coming up with the words she wanted to say. She wanted to tell her everything she had been through on Earth—especially what she had been through at the hands of Mesmero. But she still couldn't figure out exactly what to say. What could she say that wouldn't stir up more of those horrible memories—or, even worse, make Yang feel badly about not being around for her.

Ruby knew that Yang was protective of her. She had made that even more obvious when she had sacrificed her arm to save her life. She knew that if she heard about the state that Ruby had been in following Mesmero taking control of her mind, she would throw a fit—and most likely destroy something in the process. She would have to approach the issue carefully—but she didn't know how.

She let out a sigh, turning away from Yang and glancing out the window of the jet as it began to slow. What she saw nearly took her breath away.

"Yang—Yang!" she called.

Yang jerked up. "What is it?" she asked, deactivating her helmet.

"You've got to see this!"

Yang got up and moved over to stand by Ruby. "What is…woah."

Before them, just outside the window, was a magnificent golden city more advanced than anything that Ruby had ever seen on Earth before. Everything looked sleek and strong. Nothing looked desolate or dirty like she had seen in areas of New York. She had never seen anything like it. Not even Atlas back on Remnant looked this magnificent.

"Is this Wakanda?" Ruby called over to T'Challa, who was sitting in the pilot's seat.

"Indeed," T'Challa answered. "That is Birnin Zana, our capital city. We are landing at the royal palace."

Ruby quickly identified the royal palace as being the large building flanked by a pair of massive panther statues. Yang noticed this too, it seemed, because she asked, "You guys really like panthers, huh?"

"We honor Bast," T'Challa explained. "The Panther Goddess."

"Ah." Yang nodded her head like that explained everything.

Ruby leaned in slightly. "Gods and goddesses exist off of Remnant," she whispered. "Thor is literally a god."

"Oh, I get that," Yang insisted. "Just…what kind of a name is Bast?"

"Uh…" Ruby decided it was best to not question a goddess. If Bast was anything like Thor, it was probably best not to make her angry.

The plane landed on a landing pad in the back of the palace. T'Challa stood up and moved to the back of the plane as the landing ramp lowered. Ruby and Yang, exchanging a look, followed him out. As they stepped out, Ruby saw that the path leading away from the landing pad towards the palace was lined with multiple women in warrior armor, each of which banged a spear on the ground several times at T'Challa's arrival.

The woman in the center of the path knelt down as T'Challa approached. "My King," she greeted him. "Welcome back to Wakanda."

"Thank you, Okoye," T'Challa replied. "Please, show our guests to my sister's lab."

Okoye stood back up. "Yes, my King."

T'Challa nodded. Without so much as a glance back at Ruby and Yang, he walked off to the palace. The warriors all filed after him, leaving Okoye alone with the sisters. She stared at them coldly for a minute before turning around. "Come. Princess Shuri's lab is this way."

Yang leaned over to Ruby. "Well, she's friendly," she said softly with a small smirk.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the comment. Okoye twitched slightly, apparently hearing Yang's words, but offered no retort. Instead, she led the two of them into the palace and down a side hallway, eventually coming to a small elevator.

"Inside, please," Okoye ordered.

The two stepped in, and Okoye pressed a button on the side. "Good luck," she told them as the doors closed and the elevator began bringing them down.

"Good luck?" Ruby repeated. "What does that mean? Is the princess mean or scary?"

"Come on, Ruby," Yang insisted. "How bad could she possibly be?"

The elevator doors opened and Yang had to quickly tackle Ruby to the ground as a rocket-propelled projectile shot straight at them, bouncing off the back of the elevator and flying straight back into the room, where it slammed into a table, shattering into pieces.

"Okay…I think that answers my question," Yang added after a moment of silence.

As she helped Ruby to her feet, a young woman sprinted from the side towards them. "Sorry, sorry!" she called. "I don't know how that one got away from me."

"What the heck was that?" Yang demanded to know.

"A new project of mine," the young woman explained. "But it still requires some adjustments."

"Are you Princess Shuri?" Ruby asked.

She nodded. "Yes. And you must be the aliens that my brother as befriended."

"Do people keep referring to us as aliens?" Yang question. "It sounds a little insulting."

Shuri smirked. "Would you not use the term alien if people from our world showed up on your home planet?"

"We don't even have the word 'alien' where we're from," Yang replied. "We didn't even know there were other worlds out there."

"Ah. That would make sense. Well, come on, then. I have your new arm ready for you." Shuri gestured for them to follow and led them through the room.

As they walked, Ruby's eyes continued to widen in shock and wonder. The tables and floors and walls of the lab were filled with strange and amazing weapons and gadgets. "This is amazing!" Her excitement starting to get to her, she picked up one of the rifles and aimed down the scope. "How did you make all these?"

Shuri smiled. "I have a lot of time on my hands, and a lot of Vibranium to work with. Please be careful with that. It's the Vibranium sonic cannon that defeated Ulysses Klaue. It is powerful enough to blow your eardrums up instantly."

Ruby winced, then slowly put the rifle back down and cautiously backed away from it.

"Ah, here we are." Shuri reached a table and picked up a metal arm from it. The arm was sleek, and was painted golden to match Yang's color scheme, with the joints painted black. "I was informed of the color scheme you were going for, and decided to act accordingly."

Yang took the arm from Shuri and weighed it. "It's light," she noted.

"It's made from Vibranium," Shuri explained. "So it will hold up far better than any other kind of prosthetic other scientists could think of. But first, we need to perform a little surgery."

Yang paused. "Surgery?"

"Yes. We need to do some surgery so we can make sure you can use the arm. It won't take long at all."

Yang thought about it, then nodded. "All right then."

"I have already prepared a room for you." Shuri gestured to the side. "We have doctors inside that will take care of the procedure waiting for you."

Yang gave Ruby a comforting smile, then headed off to surgery room. But as Ruby moved to follow, Shuri blocked her path.

"You and I have our own experiments to conduct, Ruby," she told her.

Not long after, Ruby found herself sitting in a chair, a heavy set of goggles over her eyes. "Are you sure this is safe?" she asked, pulling on the goggles slightly.

"Of course," Shuri assured her. "Mostly."

"Mostly?" Ruby repeated.

"Well, there is a slight chance you could go blind."

"What?!"

"Don't worry, it's only a slight chance."

"How slight?"

Shuri tilted her head slightly, calculating the numbers. "About…25%?"

"That's not slight!"

"Just don't think about it too much." Shuri pressed a button, and suddenly, a bright white light shot from the goggles directly into Ruby's eyes. She yelped, shutting her eyes quickly and tipping back in the chair, falling flat on her back.

After about ten seconds, the light faded. "There we go," Shuri said.

Ruby yanked the goggles off her face, rubbing her eyes to try to sponge out the light so she could see again. Only by blinking rapidly could she finally start to see again, albeit still blurrily.

"Hmm…interesting," Shuri commented as she looked at a monitor.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, stumbling over and nearly tripping over a table. "What did you find out?"

"That's just it," Shuri responded. "There's nothing there."

"Nothing?"

She shook her head. "I naturally assumed that if this was something beyond your Semblance, that I would get a reading within your eyes. But from the results of the scan, your eyes are completely normal."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," Shuri answered, "we will have to find another way." She thought about it for a moment, then raced off to another part of the lab. Ruby quickly followed her.

Shuri grabbed an armband from another table. "Put this on," she ordered.

Ruby complied, strapping the armband on. "What does this one do?"

"It monitors your power levels for analysis," she explained. "If I can get a reading on your regular Semblance, I may be able to figure out how the power behind your silver eyes works."

"So, you want me to use my Semblance?" Ruby asked.

Shuri nodded. "Just try not to crash into anything."

Ruby returned the nod and stepped forward, lowering her costume's goggles over her eyes. She activated the Trajectory Tracker, and the goggles lit up with angles and trajectories to follow. She took a deep breath, got into a running stance, and began dashing towards the far wall. As she got close, she flew into her Semblance, sending a scattering of rose petals everywhere as she shot forward. The blowback from her sudden increase in speed knocked several gadgets and weapons off their respective tables.

She shot up the wall, dropped briefly out of her Semblance to run up the wall before activating Petal Burst again, swooping across the ceiling of the lab before dropping back down, landing right next to Shuri. "Did you get something?" she asked. She then saw the mess she had made and winced. "Sorry about the mess."

Shuri waved her off, focusing on her monitor again "I will clean it up later. These results are quite fascinating."

"Really?" Ruby looked at the monitor, but the technical jargon on the screen didn't make any sense to her.

"Yes. While your powers seem to behave like any ordinary super power, such as someone with the X-Gene or an Inhuman, there is something far more powerful buried within them. I imagine if I study the Semblances of your teammates, I would find similar results. It is quite fascinating."

"How does this relate to the power in my eyes?" Ruby asked.

"I am unsure. You didn't feel anything like you did when they first activated until that moment?"

Ruby shook her head. "I've never felt anything like it before. I don't even know how it happened."

Shuri thought about it for a moment. "Perhaps it is something triggered solely by combat."

"Maybe," Ruby admitted, thinking about it. "But—if that's the case, then why haven't I been shooting white light out of my eyes before?"

Shuri closed her eyes, seeming to think about it further. "There are two possibilities I can think of right now," she announced. "The first is that some element present on Earth that is not on Remnant has caused you to develop new abilities."

Ruby considered this. "But—wouldn't the others develop the same sort of powers? Why haven't any of them had light shooting from their eyes before?"

Shuri smiled, as if hoping that Ruby would catch that crucial detail. "That is why my other theory seems far more plausible. I believe that this power of yours is only active in certain situations."

"Certain situations?" Ruby repeated.

"Yes. Specifically combat situations."

"So…I can use this when I fight?" Ruby asked.

"If you can learn how to control it…then yes, I suppose you could."

"How do I do that? I don't even know how this power works."

"Well, I suppose that the best way to do that would be to train to use them in controlled environments," Shuri suggested. "Specifically in training simulations or in sparring matches."

"Is that even safe?" Ruby asked. "I don't want to accidentally vaporize my friends."

Shuri smiled slightly. "I do not think that will be an issue. In fact, I believe that this power, whatever it is, may only affect the creatures from your world."

"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned.

"Based on what I have heard about the incident, your sister was right next to you when this power activated," Shuri explained. "Yet she was not hurt at all by it. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that this power only affects the Grimm."

"Why though?" Ruby was still confused. "And why me?"

"I don't know," Shuri admitted. "I was hoping to potentially find new evidence with these tests to either prove or disprove my theories. But I have found nothing. And without live Grimm to help test my theory, we will be unable to confirm whether or not it is true."

Ruby slowly lowered herself into an empty chair as she tried to process this. "I'm sorry, Ruby," Shuri apologized. "I know that you were hoping to get more answers about this power."

"It's fine, Shuri," Ruby told her, raising her goggles again. "I just hope you're right and this won't hurt my friends."

Shuri paused. "You're worried that an incident like the one that happened with Mesmero will happen again."

Ruby flinched slightly. "Of course I'm worried. But I can handle it." She briefly looked towards the room at the other side of the lab that Yang was in. "I…haven't told Yang about what happened yet. I…don't know how."

Shuri shrugged. "Simply find the right time and place to tell her. She's your sister; she'll understand it's not your fault."

"It's not that," Ruby admitted. "I'm worried that she'll overreact and do something stupid."

"Has she been known to overreact before in situations like this?"

Ruby winced. "She can be…a little headstrong at times."

"Ah. I can see your dilemma then."

Ruby looked down at her hands. "She's always been there for me. If she learns I went through…all that and couldn't do anything to protect me…she might blame herself and throw a fit."

"Do you believe she will?"

Ruby sighed. "I don't know. We've been through a lot these past few weeks, and we've only been together for a part of that time." She flexed her fingers slightly. "We haven't had much time to…talk."

"Well," Shuri suggested after a moment. "I suggest you find a moment where you and Yang can spend some time together alone and…catch up fully. Use that time to fully come to terms with what happened to both of you. And I think that being together here, far from the rest of your friends, is the perfect opportunity."

"I know, I know," Ruby insisted, "but I just don't know what to say to her."

"I suggest you find the words soon." She then offered her a comforting smile. "I suspect it will not be nearly as hard as you may think."

Before Ruby could respond, a beeping sound came from a monitor. Shuri moved over and checked it. "Your sister's surgery is complete," she announced.

"That was fast," Ruby commented.

"The surgery is simple, as I said," Shuri explained. "And we have machines specifically designed to replace missing limbs. All the doctors had to do was make sure that the machine was properly calibrated."

She stood up. "Come—let us go and see how she is adjusting to her new arm."

Yang moved her arm around, twisting her wrist and flexing her new metal fingers. The surgery had gone off without a hitch, and she was surprisingly feeling…normal. Though the arm felt a little weird, at least she felt whole again…or at least as close to whole as she could.

Ruby, of course, was marveling over the arm. "That thing looks great on you!" she exclaimed, lifting it up.

Yang smiled at her sister's enthusiasm. "It's no replacement for the real thing," she admitted, drawing her arm away. "But I'll be sure to make good use of it."

"And you have weapons built into it?"

"She does," Shuri confirmed. "Try it out. It should be as simple as a thought. Think about your gauntlets."

Yang tilted her head, but raised her arm slightly and thought about Ember Celica. Almost like magic, a gun barrel popped out of her metal arm. She stared down at it and smirked. "Sweet."

"That gun is energy based," Shuri explained. "But can be equiped with the ammo that you recieved from the Guardians of the Galaxy. But even without ammo, you can still use it for energy blasts-as long as you don't walk into any EMP fields. They'll short out your arm entirely, and you won't be able to move it at all."

Yang twisted her arm slightly, and a metal blade popped out. "And it's all Vibranium?" she asked, popping the blade back into the arm.

"Yes. So don't lose it, or the Dora Milaje will hunt you down."

Yang let out a laugh, but Shuri remained stone-faced. "Oh…you're not kidding."

"We take Vibranium very seriously in Wakanda," Shuri explained. "In the wrong hands, it is devastating. And we have seen it in the wrong hands more than a few times. You are fortunate that my brother and the Avengers convinced the Council to give you even this small amount."

"So…don't lose the arm, or Wakandans will use me for target practice," Yang concluded. "Got it."

Shuri was handed a data pad, which she began tapping on. "Arm functions look normal," she announced. "Any pain when moving the arm or hand?"

Yang flexed her fingers. "Everything feels right," she said.

"No sparks at all? No freezing of the limb?"

"Not yet at least."

Shuri nodded. "Energy readings look normal. No glitches in the circuitry. I'd say this was a successful surgery. But we won't know for sure until we run it through its paces."

"Meaning?" Yang asked.

"Meaning that the best way to test the strength of this new arm is to see it in combat."

Yang flashed a grin. "Now that's something that I can get behind." She had been itching for some combat for days. Logan keeping her out of training because of her one arm had been annoying as hell, and she was dying to punch something.

"We have a training arena perfect for you," Shuri told her. "We can proceed there now if you'd like."

"I'm afraid that that will have to wait." Yang whipped her head to the door. Okoye, the guard that had escorted them down, was standing there. "King T'Challa has requested your presence in the throne room immediately."

"What's up?" Yang asked, standing up.

Okoye, while stone-faced, seemed a little concerned. "There is trouble back in the United States. Trouble that could threaten the entire world."

Wakanda Throne Room—November 12th

T'Challa sat on his throne as Ruby and Yang entered. "We have a situation," he announced as a hologram of the Earth appeared through a projector before him.

"What kind of situation?" Yang asked.

"Observe." The hologram zoomed in on the United States. Yang was quick to notice the small green dome that was slowly growing out to the west.

"What's that?" Ruby asked. "What's going on?"

"There was an incident at the supervillain prison known as the Cube," T'Challa explained. "Details are sketchy at the moment, but what we do know is that both the Avengers and your friends were on site at the time."

Ruby's face paled. "Are they okay?" she asked worryingly.

"I do not know. We have been unable to contact anyone within the dome."

Ruby activated her comm. "Phyllis? Do you copy?"

"Affirmative," Phyllis answered.

"What's going on?"

"Your teammates were escorting the villain known as the Absorbing Man to the Cube. Upon their arrival, the prison issued an alert. An inmate had escaped custody. A few minutes later, a dome of gamma energy appeared and began to grow."

While Ruby talked with the AI, Yang raised her own arm, checking on the Aura meters for the others. Unfortunately, all she got was a "No Connection" message over the screen. Whatever that energy dome was, it was blocking any signals from her friends' trackers.

"What prisoner escaped?" Ruby asked Phyllis.

"It was the villain—" Phyllis' voice suddenly cut off into static. The holo projector's image of Earth frizzled out as well, replaced quickly by a large, green skinned head of a man with dark hair and a thin mustache.

"Attention, humanity," he announced.

"Who the hell is that guy?" Yang asked.

T'Challa leaned forward. "Samuel Sterns. A villain known as the Leader."

"Why does he look like a Skrull?"

"He was exposed to gamma radiation," he explained. "Making him one of the smartest people on the planet while also giving him green skin."

"I come to you with a message," the Leader continued. "And that message is: do not be afraid. The gamma dome that has formed in the southern United States is no threat to you. It is a promise that will change the world for the better. Humanity, as a whole, suffers from small minds and fragile bodies, and has plunged the world into darkness and chaos with your faults and failures. But I am here to save you, for I will remake the world in my image. And I will remake you in my image."

"That's a scary thought," Yang commented. Everyone ignored her, transfixed on the Leader's message.

"You will be perfect, like me," he went on. "And your thoughts will become my thoughts. I will think for you. The gamma dome will grow to blanket the entire globe. And you will be transformed. Your power will become my power. Accept this as your one and only future, for already Earth's Mightiest heroes have fallen before my might and intellect. Accept your destiny. Accept me as your Leader." He finished off with a grin. "Welcome…to Gamma World."

As quickly as the message had started, it ended, leaving everyone in the room in a state of shock. Or at least Yang assumed everyone was in shock. It was hard to get a read on the expressions of T'Challa and his guards.

"What…was that?" Ruby whispered.

T'Challa leaned forward, lacing his fingers together. "A problem."

"What did all of that mean?" Yang asked.

"The Leader has created a dome of gamma energy," T'Challa explained. "Anyone within that dome without protection or immunity to gamma radiation is…mutated."

"Mutated?" Ruby repeated.

"Transformed into a gamma creature, to be precise," Shuri explained, already tapping furiously on a data pad. "Transformed and placed under the Leader's control."

"What does that mean?" Yang asked.

"It means that our friends have been mutated into monsters and are being controlled by a villain," Ruby said, her words unnaturally sharp for some reason. As Yang turned to look at her, she saw that her fists were clenched, and she looked like she was breathing a little heavily.

But before Yang could ask her about it, T'Challa broke the silence. "Shuri, how fast is the dome expanding?"

"Based on the current rate of expansion, I'd say…the entire planet will be covered in forty-eight hours," Shuri guessed.

"That doesn't give us much time to respond," T'Challa muttered slightly. "What has been the reaction from the world thus far."

"Panic, mostly."

"And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s response?"

"Nothing as of yet. Several of their higher ups will call for air strikes on the area. Hopefully, Director Fury will be able to keep things stable." She looked at her brother. "You know who we have to call in to help."

"That will be…problematic," T'Challa told her. "We do not know where he is at the moment."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. may be able to track his whereabouts. And you know that he's the only one available that can get into that dome without mutating."

"Convincing him to help will be the real challenge."

"Uh, excuse me," Yang interjected. "Who exactly are we talking about here?"

Both Wakandans turned to face her. "The foremost expert on gamma radiation on the planet," T'Challa explained. "Dr. Bruce Banner."

Yang didn't know who she was talking about, but evidently, Ruby did, because her eyes widened. "Are you saying—" she started.

T'Challa nodded. "We must find the Hulk."

And so our heroes have learned of the threat of the Gamma Dome. And the only one that can stop is...well, let's just say he's got a bit of an axe to grind with the world and the Avengers. Yep-next chapter we're going to learn just why Hulk left the team! It's been hinted at a little bit before-but now the truth will finally come out. And the impact it may have on Ruby and the others may be greater than you might think!

Yang finally has a new arm! I know it's only been like, two chapters since she lost her real one, but this one is new and fancy and made of Vibranium! Originally, I was thinking of having more weapons built into the arm, but decided against it. This isn't supposed to be a Tony Stark built arm with every conceivable weapon imaginable built in-it's supposed to be an arm that pays homage to Yang's metal arm in canon. So as cool as it would be to see Yang shooting out energy nets from her hand, it's not going to happen.

I hope y'all enjoyed seeing Wakanda and a few of the characters that hail from it. I know we're not going to be spending much time there (for now), but it was still fun to use. Especially when it came to Shuri and her tests to see if she could figure out how Ruby's eyes worked.

Speaking of those tests, I hoped you enjoyed them. I wanted to add a little bit of the lighthearted humor that RWBY is known for with that first test. But for the knowledge behind the silver eyes, there wasn't a ton that Shuri could learn from any experiment she conducted. Yes, I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that she could guess that the Silver Eyes only work on Grimm and are only activated when fighting Grimm, based on the information she has gathered already, but as to the origin of the silver eye power and why Ruby has it, well...there's no way she would be able to figure that out right now. Without knowledge about Remnant's past or more information about silver eyed warriors (the latter of which Ruby wouldn't know yet), she would not be able to put together those details.

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