Author's Note:
Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter for Earth's Mightiest Huntsmen. With NaNoWriMo now over, I can return more focus back to this story and kick off the next arc! And after having some higher stakes action and world saving shenanigans, I think it's high time we do something with lower stakes and more fun. But first, let's answer some reviews!
Guest: Technically yes, a case could be made for that and her being a Faunus that could point to her having permanent side effects from all that gamma radiation. I just don't see it as a strong enough case to give me a reason to go ahead with permanent changes for Blake.
Theheroneeded: I will say that I do have a plan for a variation of the Masters of Evil showing up at some point, but that's not until Act III with my current plans.
Deathwing: Yep, those were definitely A.I.M. guys. Salem certainly has a plan in the works, but it may not be what anyone expects it to be.
WildImaginator21: Venom is definitely one of those villains that I want to use, but I'm not sure how yet. He might end up in one of one shot story compilations I'm writing (which are coming soon, I promise, y'all!), but I don't know for sure.
Archdruid Gilneas: I will definitely say that I'm trying to figure out who the gods of Light and Darkness are for this story. I believe I heard that the other big Marvel/RWBY story floating around had them be Celestials, but I don't know for sure if I want to go down that road. I have 3-4 different possibilities I've been toying with, and I haven't really figured out what I want to do for that yet. Luckily, I still have a long time before we get to any sort of arc where that information would be revealed, so I have plenty of time to figure it out.
Guest: Yeah, I know it's called a magazine, it's just really hard to get out of the mindset of calling it a clip (especially from someone that spent years messing around with Nerf guns and calling those clips). I'm glad you enjoyed the Hulk vs Abomination fight. It's been one of my favorite fight scenes to write for this story yet. The EMH version of course couldn't go so hard because it's still a cartoon for kids. But given that I have no such restrictions, I could go a lot more brutal. As for Blade, chances are that if/when I use him (and I think I have finally found a way to use him, but not until Act III, sadly), it will be more based off the comic book version more than anything else. I've been generally trying to stay away from the movie adaptions of characters (mostly MCU versions) because a lot of the times they tend to undersell the full potential/power of characters. But who knows-maybe a little bit of the movie version of Blade will be there. It's been a long time since I've seen the Blade movie, so I wouldn't really know for sure.
Thank you all for your continued support. Now, let's get back to the action.
Remnant HQ—November 18th
Team JNPR raised their weapons as several red clad ninjas dropped into the simulated alley in front of them. "Who are these guys again?" Nora asked.
"Logan called them the Hand," Jaune reminded her. "Ninjas that worship some sort of demon."
"The Hand?" Nora laughed. "What kind of a name is the Hand?"
The ninjas all drew their weapons, consisting of katanas, daggers, and sais. "Uh, Nora?" Ren said slowly. "Maybe mocking the names of the demon ninjas isn't the best idea, even in a simulation."
Nora laughed. "Let's kick their butts!" She fired Magnhild into the ground, launching her straight at the ninjas. They scattered, but she still managed to smash one of them with her hammer.
Jaune let out a slight groan as the rest of Team JNPR moved in. Pyrrha blocked the twin blades of one ninja with her shield while smacking him in the side of the head with her javelin. Ren dashed past her, shooting down another ninja before flipping over his falling body and kicking another ninja in the chest.
Jaune dueled a third ninja before bashing him in the face with Crocea Mors. "Behind you!" Pyrrha yelled at him. Instinctively, Jaune ducked, allowing her to use Miló's rifle form to shoot a ninja that was about to stab him down.
"Thanks!" Jaune called to her.
Meanwhile, Nora was taking on another three ninjas at once, bashing one in the side with Magnhild before punching another in the face. When a trio of ninjas leapt in to slash at her, Ren flipped over her as she ducked, shooting all three of them down and allowing Nora to hit a fourth with her hammer.
"More coming down the alley!" Jaune warned as another group of ninjas appeared in the direction he had indicated.
"I got them!" Nora converted Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and fired a shot. The blast exploded in a shower of electricity, electrocuting all of the ninjas.
A few more ninjas jumped down from the rooftops, throwing several shurikens at the group. While Jaune blocked most with his shield, Pyrrha used her Semblance to fling the remaining projectiles straight back at the ninjas, pinning several to the wall. The rest were quickly dispatched by Ren.
Eventually, they were down to just one remaining ninja, who held up his sword defiantly against the four young heroes. Nora simply skipped over to him and, ducking under his sword swing, belted him in the face, knocking him out cold.
"Time?!" she asked excitedly as the simulation ended and the room faded back its standard form.
"Oooh, yeah, sorry," Yang's voice came over the intercom. "But it looks like you guys just missed the record by about three seconds."
"No way!" Nora challenged.
"Way. Sorry Nora, but looks like Team RWBY is coming out on top for this one."
Nora huffed in complaint. "I think you guys cheated."
"How were we supposed to cheat?" Yang asked. "Ren was the one monitoring the simulation for us."
Nora looked like she was about to complain further, but Ren cut her off. "I think that's enough training for today," he decided. "It's almost time for dinner."
"Yeah, you'd better get back upstairs," Yang warned him. "Ruby decided to get started early."
Ren gave a curt nod and headed for the elevator, with the rest of Team JNPR following him. Yang then joined them, and the group rode the elevator up to the lounge together.
Instantly, Jaune could detect the smell of cooking food. "Are we sure Ruby was the best one to start cooking dinner?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," Nora insisted. "Besides, Blake and Weiss are probably in there helping her."
The group entered the kitchen to find Ruby lingering over a pan of food cooking on the stove. "Dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes," she reported.
Ren took a look into the pan. "You're going to overcook that," he warned.
"No I'm not," Ruby protested. "Shut up."
"It's going to burn," Pyrrha agreed.
"I got it," Ruby insisted...right as the contents of the pan went up in flames. She yelped, quickly turning off the stove. "Fine," she decided. "Take over."
Ren calmly put the fire out and examined the contents of the pan. "We're going to need replacements for this food," he announced.
"Way ahead of you." Weiss and Blake entered the kitchen, each carrying grocery bags filled with food. "We went out to get more food for when Ruby eventually burned what we had."
"Hey, I was doing fine," Ruby protested. "I'm just as good at cooking as I am flying."
Weiss rolled her eyes. "And we all know how well that's going."
"I'll take of this," Ren announced. "Just set it all on the counter."
"I'll help," Nora offered.
"No offense, Nora, but the last time you 'helped' in the kitchen, you ate about half the food we were trying to make," Jaune reminded her.
Nora folded her arms over her chest. "It was good food."
"Thank you, Nora," Ren told her, "but I can handle it."
"Are you sure?" Nora asked, putting on a dramatic pleading look.
Ren looked at her and sighed slightly. "Very well."
"Yes!" Nora pumped a fist and moved to help Ren. Weiss and Blake, meanwhile, set the bags on the counter and left with the others to give the two some space.
"I'm not that bad, am I?" Ruby asked.
"No—you're much worse," Weiss responded.
"You'll figure it out eventually, Ruby," Pyrrha assured her. "There's a lot that all of us will have to figure out sooner or later."
Jaune and Ruby exchanged a look at that. Both of them knew exactly what the subject that would be discussed during this dinner was. They just hadn't told the others yet.
"Wonder what's up with Ren," Yang noted, her gaze drifting back towards the kitchen. "Is it just me, or has he been acting a little weird these past few days."
"Technically, we've all been a little off since our...mutation," Jaune agreed. "Except for Ruby and Yang, of course. If it wasn't for them, who knows what might of happened."
"We did kind of kick your asses there," Yang agreed with a smirk. "Totally didn't take any pleasure in it though."
"Oh, I'm sure," Weiss commented with an eye roll.
"It's clear that there are still lots of things about this world that we still don't know about," Blake admitted. "Gamma domes. Alternate dimensions. Mutants—it's all so much, and we still don't know everything."
"Well, we do still have all the files that the Avengers gave us," Weiss pointed out.
"And we definitely need to start reading them more," Pyrrha added. "We don't want to be taken by surprise like we were with the Leader."
The group let out a small shudder at the memory of being mutated into gamma monsters. Jaune knew that no one would admit it, but the experience had shaken everyone up. Even Yang, who hadn't even been transformed, had seemed a little off over the past few days due to her having to actually fight everyone, mostly by herself.
Jaune knew that, while they would all put this behind them eventually, it would still take some time. He now knew exactly what Ruby had went through when Mesmero had taken over her mind. Now he knew exactly why she had completely shut down over it.
"We're just going to have to train harder and be ready for anything," Ruby decided. "We're not going to be taken by surprise like that again."
Jaune really hoped that Ruby was right.
In a building across the street, someone had set up a telescope and had pointed it right towards Remnant HQ. The young man that had set it up was watching the Remnantians talk through the window. He smirked slightly, sipping on a glass of wine.
A small robot with a spherical body and a square head floated its way to him. "Sir, all the targets are in the building," it reported. "Shall we prepare the operation."
"Not just yet," the man responded. "We'll let them settle in more first. We'll strike when the sun goes down."
The robot paused. "Are we sure we're not just waiting to make sure that the Wolverine won't come back unexpectedly."
The man scowled. "Shut up. You know I can just scrap you and bring in another droid just like you."
"My apologies, sir."
"Just go make sure the package is ready for deployment, you stupid robot."
"Of course sir." The robot floated off as the man turned back to the telescope, looking back through at the kids in the building across the street.
"Your time has almost come," the man thought, rubbing his hands together gleefully. "Soon the games will begin...and all of them will be dead."
"Hey, where's Logan?" Blake asked as the group sat down at the table.
"He decided to go out to his favorite bar tonight," Ruby explained. "Which is probably a good thing," she thought, "Given what we have to talk about."
Ren and Nora then appeared, beginning to carry out trays of food from the kitchen and bringing them to the table. "Ren, this all looks amazing," Yang commented.
"Hey, I helped out too," Nora protested.
"Sorry. You did a good job too, Nora."
Nora gave a satisfied nod and smile. "That's more like it."
As Ren lowered the tray slightly to try to get the plates off easier, Yang got up. "Here, let me help you with that," she told him, reaching out with her metal arm and helping to steady the larger tray.
"Thank you, Yang," Ren thanked her.
"I still can't believe how well Yang's new arm came out," Weiss said. "And it's just as strong as the old one?"
Yang flexed the arm. "I think it's even stronger."
WHAM! Nora slammed her elbow on the table and held her hand up towards Yang. "Wanna bet?" she challenged.
"Nora, please," Weiss said. "We're about to eat dinner. Now's not the time to—"
But Yang was already grasping Nora's hand, and the two instantly began to arm wrestle. All thought of dinner was momentarily forgotten as everyone instantly began focusing on the battle, with Yang's teammates cheering for her and Nora's teammates rooting for her.
"Come on, sis!" Ruby exclaimed. "You can't lose to a girl in a skirt."
Weiss gave her a pointed look. "You wear a skirt, Ruby."
"Weiss, you're not cheering loud enough!" Ruby responded, shaking Weiss' shoulders. Weiss gave her an annoyed, yet satisfied smile in response.
"It certainly feels like the real thing," Nora grunted, still grinning with determination.
"Maybe so," Yang responded. "But it does come with a few extra features."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
Yang smirked. There was a click, and Nora was suddenly launched back, tipping her back in her chair and causing her to fall flat on her back.
The rest of the group went silent. "Did she...win?" Ren questioned.
With a groan, Nora sat up...and then quickly realized that Yang's metal arm was still gripping onto her. She let out a yelp, tossing the arm back to Yang, who caught it and reattached it to herself, laughing her head off.
"Okay, I'll admit it—I did not see that coming," Blake said after a moment.
"Now that that's settled, can we finally get started with dinner?" Weiss asked. "It's going to get cold."
"Weiss is right," Jaune agreed. "Besides...there's some things that we have to talk about."
Everyone turned to look at him. "What is it, Jaune?" Blake asked.
"We'll explain," Ruby told her. "Just...sit down and start eating."
The others exchanged questioning looks, but did as they were told. Once everyone was seating and had begun eating, Ruby looked at Jaune and nodded. "Okay, guys," she said. "We...need to talk about our next step."
"Our next step?" Nora asked.
"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "It's been almost two months since Ultron attacked Remnant. And so far, we haven't made any progress in finding a way back home, let alone a way to kill him."
"Aren't the Avengers working on that?" Weiss asked.
"They are," Ruby confirmed. "But...given how much time has passed, it might be a good idea for us to start our own research into it."
Yang tilted her head. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened to Doctor Banner, would it?"
"Huh?" Nora asked. "What does that mean?"
"I know that Bruce has every reason to hate the Avengers for what they did to him," Ruby admitted. "And I know that they wouldn't do anything to harm us. But..." she looked down. "I just feel like there's something they're not telling us."
"What would that be?" Pyrrha questioned.
"I don't know." Ruby looked back up to the others. "But what I do know is that every day that goes by here means another day that our friends on Remnant have to survive against Ultron. We have to find a way back, and we have to find a way to stop him."
"I thought you liked playing superhero here on Earth," Weiss pointed out.
"I do. But I haven't forgotten our mission. We have to get back home."
"It's been almost two months now," Jaune repeated. "Our friends need us."
"Assuming it's been two months for Remnant like it has been for us," Ren noted.
"What do you mean, Ren?" Ruby asked.
Ren calmly cut into his meal as he spoke. "From what I've gathered, time on one world doesn't always mean the same thing on another world. For example, a single Earth day is twenty-four hours. Can we say the same about Remnant?"
Everyone paused at this. "I just...assumed that a day was...a day," Weiss admitted. "I didn't really think of how many hours would be in that day."
"Exactly," Ren told her. "So, can we be certain that the length of time that has transpired on Remnant is the same amount of time that has transpired here on Earth?"
"Ren's got a point," Blake said. "Which is why it's even more important that we get back to Remnant with a way to destroy Ultron."
"How do we even do that?" Nora asked. "It's not like we know much about how Ultron works other than what Tony told us."
"Adamantium armor, energy blasts, counters to magnetic attacks—and a laser that fries your brain," Yang chimed in.
"Well, I was thinking...we should try to figure out how Ultron was created in the first place," Jaune suggested.
"How Ultron was created?" Weiss repeated.
"It makes sense," Blake mused, her ears twitching. "If we figure out who built Ultron, maybe we can find blueprints for him. If we find those blueprints, there might be a weakness we can exploit."
"But who would build Ultron in the first place?" Nora asked. "Who would be crazy enough to build a psychotic AI?"
"Probably some egotistical villain that bit off more than he could chew," Weiss guessed. "From what I've seen of Earth so far, there's a lot of villains with big egos."
"Sounds like a certain Ice Queen we know," Yang joked.
"Hey! I don't have a big ego!" Weiss protested. "You make it sound like I'm terrible."
"Nah. Just a lot to deal with at once."
The table chuckled a little. Weiss rolled her eyes, but didn't complain further.
"So...are we all in agreement?" Ruby asked.
"It sounds like a plan," Pyrrha agreed.
"Do we still get to beat up bad guys while we search for answers?" Nora asked, her mouth full of corn.
"I don't see why not," Jaune replied. "We don't know how long it's going to take to find these answers. Even though we want to get back home soon...I don't know if we can."
"Speaking of getting back home," Blake spoke up, "do we even know how we can do that?"
"Can't we just take a ship and fly back?" Nora asked.
"We would have to find where Remnant is located out in space first," Ren reminded her. "Not to mention finding a way to actually fly the ship."
"I could fly it," Ruby offered.
"Yeah, straight into the ground," Yang joked. Ruby shot her sister a look as the rest of the group chuckled.
"But on that topic," Yang went on. "I could always call the Guardians and see if they could fly us to Remnant. They said that they would keep an eye out for any signs that would point to Remnant and let me know if they find anything out."
"There is another option," Ren spoke up. "We get back to Remnant the same way we left."
"What, that gem thing?" Ruby shook her head. "I smashed it to pieces, and all of those pieces are on Remnant."
"True. But there could be more like them. And the pieces on Remnant are clearly still operational. Ultron had to have used them to send the Grimm to Earth. There's really no other explanation for how they got here."
"So—if we find more of those crystals...we could go home?" Weiss asked quietly.
"If we can find them," Pyrrha confirmed. "And then figure out how to use them."
"We could just smash them again," Nora guessed. "Worked well enough last time."
"Yeah, and it also scattered us across the galaxy," Yang reminded her. "We're lucky none of us ended up in the vacuum of space, or a lava pit. We got lucky that we all landed safely."
"Yeah...safely." Blake's cat ears flattened as she looked down, flinching.
"Oh—uh-what I meant was—" Yang stammered, clearly embarrassed about forgetting just what Blake went through.
"It's fine, Yang," Blake mumbled.
"But Yang and Pyrrha are right," Ruby agreed. "If we find any more of these gems, we need to figure out how they work before we just start smashing things."
"Sounds like we've got ourselves a plan then," Jaune decided. "We get the answers we need and then we find our way home."
As the others nodded in agreement, a chime sounded. "Excuse the interruption," Phyllis announced, "But a package was just delivered to the front door."
"I'll get it," Nora said, standing up and heading off to the retrieve the package.
"Hey, Phyllis," Ruby asked, "Do you know any villains of villain groups that would have been able to build Ultron?"
"The villain organization that prides itself in advancements in technology is known as Advanced Idea Mechanics," Phyllis reported. "Otherwise known as A.I.M. They would certainly be capable of building an android like Ultron."
"Where are they based at?"
"Strangely, A.I.M. forces have not been seen in months. Laying low in such a manner generally means that they could be planning something big."
"So they've been missing for months—conveniently right before we showed up?" Jaune asked.
"Affirmative."
"That can't be a coincidence."
"We'll have to start looking for A.I.M. agents when we get the chance," Ruby decided. "Right now they're our only lead."
Nora soon returned, lugging a large box. "I think we've got fan mail!" she announced, setting the box down.
"Fan mail?" Jaune repeated as everyone crowded around the box.
"Yeah, see?" Nora pointed to large black letters scribbled on the top of the box. "From your biggest fan."
"How do we already have fans?" Weiss asked. "We haven't even been around much."
"We did kind of save the world a few days ago," Ruby reminded her.
"That was just you and Yang," Blake told her. "I don't like this. Something's wrong."
"What could be wrong with fan mail?" Nora asked, starting to tear at the box's lid to open it.
"Nora, I don't think that's a good idea," Ren tried to say. But that was when a blue pulse suddenly erupted from the box, spreading out over everyone.
The group backed away in alarm as the lights quickly shut off. Yang let out a yelp of pain as her arm began to spark rapidly before freezing up.
"What the heck was that?!" Nora exclaimed.
"An electromagnetic pulse," Ren guessed.
"An Emp?"
"It's pronounced EMP, Nora."
"Really?"
"Guys," Jaune interjected, drawing his sword. "Someone sent that EMP to us. That means that someone's trying to attack us."
"Phyllis! Activate defense mode!" Ruby ordered.
Nothing happened.
"The EMP must have shorted her out," Blake realized. "We have to—"
Several nozzles suddenly shot out from the box, breaking through it. Instantly, a thick white gas began to shoot from them, enveloping the group.
Ruby began coughing furiously as her lungs burned. Around her, she could hear the others in similar situations. "I—I can't breathe!" she thought as she sank to her knees. Panic was starting to overtake take her as she struggled to suck in gasps of air. But it was no use. The gas was overpowering everything.
She fell on her side, trying in vain to breathe to no avail, as her vision slowly faded away to black.
Elsewhere—November 19th
Ren groggily regained consciousness lying on the ground. With a slight groan, he sat up, examining his surroundings. He was sitting on the ground, surrounded by hedge walls. A single path led down from his position, with what appeared to be several branching paths coming off of the first one.
"A maze," Ren realized instantly. "I'm in a maze."
He heard a soft groan next to him. He looked to his right and saw Ruby lying face down on the ground next to him. "Ruby," he prompted, gently shaking her shoulders.
"Mph," Ruby groaned, still not waking up.
"Ruby," Ren repeated.
Ruby's eyes flew open. "Ah! Where are we!" she yelled, sitting bolt upright.
"Some sort of maze," Ren explained. "Whoever attacked us must have taken us here."
He got to his feet and held a hand out to help Ruby up. "But—where are the others?" Ruby asked, taking his hand and letting him pull her to her feet. She then reached back to Crescent Rose only to freeze. "And where are our weapons?"
"I don't know," Ren admitted. "But whoever kidnapped clearly doesn't want us to have our weapons."
Ruby looked around. "Why a maze?" she asked. "Why not a cell? And why not just kill us?"
"Because where's the fun in just killing you?" a voice suddenly boomed. "It's a lot more entertaining to see you play for your lives!"
Ren and Ruby instantly entered fighting stances, looking around for the voice. "Who are you?!" Ruby demanded to know. "Where are our friends?!"
"Your friends are placed in other locations across the arena," the voice explained as a small probe flew over the hedge walls. A blue beam shot from the probe and projected a hologram of a young man with red hair. He wore a white suit coat and pants and a green bow tie. He almost looked like—
"As for who I am," the man announced, "I am—"
Ruby gasped. "Roman Torchwick?!" she cried.
"What—no—who the hell is that?!" the man sputtered before regaining his composure. "I'm Arcade!"
"Who?"
"Arcade? Greatest hitman on Earth? Hello?!"
Ruby frowned. "Sorry...I've never heard of you. You look like a bad guy we helped stop a while back though."
"Well I'm better than whoever this Roman Torchwick is!" Arcade exclaimed. "I have captured these supposedly super powered beings from another world! And now, if you're want to survive my genius traps, you're going to have to play my game!"
"What game?" Ren asked.
"Your first challenge will be to escape my Murder Maze," Arcade told them. "There is only one way out, and the longer you stay in, the more dangerous it becomes. If you survive, you'll be able to find your weapons at the exit of the maze. If you fail to escape the maze...you die!" He let out a loud cackle.
Ren's eyes narrowed as Ruby stepped forward. "We will escape this," she warned. "And we will stop you."
Arcade smirked. "We'll see about that, Little Red Riding Hood. Good luck! You're going to need it!" The hologram vanished, and the probe floated away, vanishing over the hedge wall.
As Ren and Ruby tried to process the situation, Arcade's voice added one final thing to them. "Oh, by the way—welcome to Murderworld!"
Yep, that's right! Welcome to the Murderworld Arc! Be honest-did any of y'all have 'Arcade shows up' on your bingo cards for this story?
I wanted something far less intense than the previous few arcs, so I figured I might as well have an arc featuring Arcade. He's one of those mostly obscure villains that not very many people know about, but also has a lot of entertainment value. And, coincidently enough, he does look a little like Roman Torchwick-which of course will bring no small amount of jokes and humor at his expense. Because as comic book fans will know-Arcade's not really that effective of a villain. His only real great success to my knowledge was the whole Avengers Arena incident.
But how this is going to work is simple: RWBY and JNPR have been divided into pairs and will be faced with different challenges throughout Murderworld. And to make it more interesting, I decided to make the pairs based on characters that we haven't seen a ton of interaction between in canon, while also factoring in who may not work as well together. And there are going to be a few more twists that will be revealed pretty soon.
As you can also see, the group is also planning to investigate themselves to find a way home, figure out who built Ultron, and then figure out how to kill him...which may lead to some...issues given who actually built Ultron. And yes, the name drop for A.I.M. here is intentional.
But anywho, that's all from me. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, signing off.