Avengers: Age of Remnant

by free man writer

There's always a story to be told. A story of heroism overcoming the most daunting of odds and challenges. A tale we've seen before and one that needs to be told to its end. The beginning of a new tale. A new age. An Age where Remnants paved the way for heroes. Reboot of Avenging Remnant, co-written/created with Jebest4781 and BulletStormX.

17. We'll have to do it differently

Good to be back, so let's not waste our time here.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

Avengers Age of Remnant Chapter 17: We'll have to do it differently.

"Things… have not gone as we had initially hoped it would." A sophisticated voice with an accent and matching mustache to boot remarked, a pondering posture on display for those at the table to see.

"Explain, Arthur."

"Come now, Hazel, it is not that hard to understand that we can no longer abide by the original plan." The scorpion Faunus cackled under his breath. "Dear old Wattsy has been having a headache that is never ending since our dear ember's spectacular failure."

Watts bristled at Tyrian's comment.

Cinder Fall glared venomously at the maniac and he just laughed in their faces.

"Tyrian," A serene and dangerous voice spoke up. "Now is not the time to be antagonizing comrades."

Tyrian slumped in his seat, a dejected expression like that of a kicked puppy as his fun was cut short. But he could never disobey his goddess so he abided by her will. "Forgive me, your grace."

Salem, having had her eyes closed, was seated at the head of the table. She appeared to be in a meditative state whilst attending this meeting of the individuals who made up her inner circle.

To her immediate right was Cinder Fall, the black-haired young woman holding a look of pure irritation at this time. Right across from her was Agatha Harkness, the witch having a more contemplative expression, casually moving her hands against each other, producing black wisps every now and then. However Agetha was seated more closely to the Grimm Queen whereas Cinder was placed a bit away.

There was a beat of silence shared by all within the large throne room of Salem's palace until its ruler spoke once more.

"Tell me, has there been anything new to report?" She quietly asked, eyes slowly opening to reveal her red irises to her inner circle.

Watts sat up, clearing his throat.

"There have been some new developments over in Atlas. It had come to my attention that a man by the name of Tony Stark had constructed a satellite and was able to bring it to our planet's orbit."

Beats of silence filled the room as all attention turned to the former Atlas scientist.

"A satellite?" Hazel quietly repeated, clearly unfamiliar with such a concept.

"A device that is untethered to Remnants surface, can literally orbit the planet itself, broadcasting messages, radio waves, a litany of possibilities like the CCT Towers I spoke of. But this is a CCT "tower" in the sky where none of the Grimm can reach it. Beyond their scope and grasp. What's worse is that more are on the way."

Salem absorbed this knowledge, her eyes narrowed. This was… certainly not what she was expecting to hear.

"With these satellites, the plans of working through Cinder's intended idea of chaos across the kingdoms is practically over." Hazel surmised. "Something that we can no longer disrupt."

"Precisely," Watts confirmed with a small grunt.

The scorpion Faunus practically spat. "Such a mockery to have it be beyond your grasp, my queen."

"I don't understand." Agatha turned to the former Atlesian scientist. "Didn't you all tell me that such a thing shouldn't be possible with Dust? Dust ceases to function when leaving-"

"You don't need to remind me, Harkness." Watts cut her off, grimacing to himself. "No, from what I was able to dig up, this Stark had used other methods to make it happen. Ones I am… unfamiliar with entirely. I have only seen experimental, if not radical ideas of such possibilities but to know it has been done…"

The mustached man released a small snarl a moment later.

"If that wasn't enough, my means of accessing the Atlas servers have… come to a roadblock."

"Getting rusty, Wattsy?" Callows mocked with his usual sadistic smile returning.

"I am not rusty, you imbecile." Arthur fired back angrily. "Someone is able to block my attempts to go through the backdoors. More so than that, it's as if their method of keeping me out is evolving. It keeps changing the algorithm so as to not fall for repeated attacks of the same field."

Such a thing was both frustrating and intriguing. Like he was facing off against an online chess player of another caliber. How every attempt he makes was predicted two moves ahead of his own.

"Is there a means to rectify this?" Salem inquired.

"It'll take a lot longer for me to construct something capable of breaching the systems undetected. Not to mention requiring to locate a viable access port so my program will remain undetectable."

"A headmaster's office, perhaps." Agatha suggested.

"It could work, theoretically."

"Theoretically?"

"I know who you have in mind to easily resolve this issue, but I doubt the port in that cowardly lion's office will work as intended. He may have been a part of Ozpin's own little rabble but he does not possess the trust individuals like Branwen and Ironwood have."

"So either Beacon or Atlas. For they are considered the major towers of the network."

"Unfortunately."

Tyrian cackled madly, clapping his hands together. "What fun~~! Perhaps assassination is in order?"

"Are you that stupid? Or crazy?" Cinder deadpanned, entirely unamused by the Scorpion Faunus' bloodlust.

"Likely both." Agatha remarked, the deranged killer paying them no mind. "Should've seen the ones back where I grew up in. They were worse."

The Grimm Queen simply observed all this in silence until the largest of the group turned his attention directly at her.

"Salem," Hazel spoke slowly, with measured cadence and respect. "I have… concerns."

The Grimm Queen of the barren wastelands turned to him with a raised brow, a silent query of "And what would they be?".

"I know we have spoken about them already but much is happening at a rapid pace that we could not have foreseen." The large, muscular man pointed out. "What happened with Cinder, those people with abilities we could never have predicted, this Stark person achieving a level of technology Watts and his former partner only had schematics for in a number of weeks. There's also what we have learned of these additional individuals being added to the staff at Beacon-"

"What are you suggesting, Hazel?" Watts interrupted the man.

The muscular man stroked his beard, deep in thought with his eyes narrowed and a visible frown on his face, contemplating his next words.

"Caution and remaining out of sight need to be our tools for the foreseeable future." He stated. "Too many anomalies, sudden shifts and changes. We had a plan in motion that was foiled in the most spectacular fashion. Cinder and her companions were caught completely off guard. I'm fairly certain a mind-reading Semblance that managed to gain not only her intentions but our leader's name was the last thing any of us would have accounted for them to learn. I consider ourselves lucky that this mind-reader only got the surface thoughts at the time instead of the in-depth layout of our operations. Your name and Cinder's intentions were a loss but we still have a chance to recuperate. Right now, however, our position is exposed and vulnerable. Any move on our part would be viewed as drastic and desperate, leaving us open to even more unseen events. We cannot make any public or even discrete movements that risk further exposure. Complete invisibility or proxies must be our avenue at this time."

Salem regarded these words for just a moment before nodding, a look of satisfaction and even appreciation directed at Rainart.

"We will proceed with Hazel's suggestion. Time to plan and prepare."

She was in no rush. She had all the time in the world, after all.

Most had got up to leave their queen, save Agatha and Cinder as they had been requested to stay behind as Salem wished to discuss some additional matters with the pair now that plans had changed.

During this discussion, the Necronomicon by Agetha's side began to fritz. Not in a noticeable manner, but like a subtle static shift like one would see on a digital screen. Before long it ceased as it appeared relatively normal. However, something else would be off about it.

It'll take time for Agatha and Salem to notice it after years of familiarity, but not now.

-Earth-

In the Headquarters of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the recently retrofitted warehouse turned Avengers base was severely lacking in said Avengers.

Normally, if this base were empty, it had to do with a mission or the Avengers taking a moment to themselves, doing their own thing, if you would.

But this wasn't either of those circumstances.

In fact, one might say this was the worst kind of circumstance. One they're still dealing with and have no proper means of rectifying. Those who had remained on Earth had already told the loved ones of those that have gone missing and their reactions were… sorta expected.

May Parker broke several plates on poor Vision and Rhodey had to deal with a fainting but also sick Pepper Potts.

Boy, was Tony in for a surprise whenever it was that he would come back.

But once that was all said and done, one Avenger began immediate moves to rectify the problem the team now faced. They were Earth's Mightiest Heroes, yes, but three alone wouldn't be enough to safeguard the entire world.

So, that was something that needed to be fixed sooner rather than later.

"Here she is." Rhodey said with slight exasperation, seeing Natasha not even turn her head to acknowledge him and Vision. She was completely absorbed in the set of holo-screens before her with a look of intense focus on her face.

The pair had been looking for her all over the base, finding her in a small conference room.

"Nat, we gotta talk about what happened earlier this week." War Machine said, getting completely ignored by her.

Rhodey did not look amused, waving his hand in front of her face with Romanoff placing a hand over his and lowering it.

"In the middle of something, Rhodes." She murmured.

"Clearly." He commented. "What are you even doing?" The Colonel asked in bewilderment, then noticing just what it was that had Widow's attention. "Wait, what are you doing?" He leaned in slightly, seeing that the screens projected individuals with suits, abilities and powers, performing superhuman feats and acts of heroism. "Who are all these people?"

"Enhanced, like the rest of us." Natasha answered, swiping through several, taking each one and placing them apart from the line of screens she had on.

She pulled one up in particular, enlarging the screen in front of Rhodey.

"Look familiar?" The redhead rhetorically asked, not minding the flat look she received from him.

"Really? You had a recording of that?" He said in a bland voice.

"Good audition, if I do say so myself." Natasha commented.

"Fascinating." Vision said aloud. "Who is this?"

"Whoever he is, he's connected to Hank Pym. That shrinking tech there? Only two people in history ever had access to such capability from what I found in the old SHIELD files. And one unfortunately passed away decades ago."

"He called himself Scott." Rhodey chimed in. "And got a face on him."

Natasha hummed aloud to herself before speaking up.

"Angus?"

What responded was the voice of a masculine AI with an Australian accent.

"Yeah, Red?" The AI cheerfully responded, the sound of a metal guitar being strummed in the background.

"Is there a file of candidates Tony had in mind?"

Rhodey gave Romanoff a bewildered look. "What are you on about, Nat?"

"Think for a sec. Tony recruiting Parker a while back was rather odd with his foresight." Widow explained. "Like he was keeping an eye on him for a while before approaching him. That's something Fury did when the team first formed. I feel he must've done the same for others, but didn't get the chance to for obvious reasons."

"At this point in time, only three are presently on file if you take Mr. Parker out of the listings." Vision noted.

"We'll be adding more at this rate." Natasha commented, holding up several screens and locked files. "This one is interesting. It says here I need authentication to access it."

"Authentication from who, ain't this from SHIELD?" Rhodey questioned.

"No, this is off the books. Or it was at least." Widow muttered, rubbing her chin. "The encryption is crazy and… Fury?"

"What?"

"It says here… The Unseen. That's one of Fury's old aliases before he became director."

"So you need Nick Fury's help to unlock this?"

"Seems like it." Nat said, crossing her arms with a thoughtful frown. "This is dated in the 90's. What the hell happened back then?"

"Perhaps I can try." Vision stepped forward, taking the holographic file in his hand and concentrated on it. The Mind Stone slowly increased in its glow and eventually, there was a small light arch that came out of him.

"Well?" Rhodey said in anticipation. "What did you get?"

"I…" Vision frowned. "Only an address and a name."

"Wait, what?" War Machine's disappointment was evident. "That's all?"

"What's the name?"

"Adam Brashier." Vision said, turning to his teammates. "Does that name mean anything to you?"

This actually caused Rhodey to squint for a moment, straining his memory.

"Hang on… Adam… Brashier…" James' eyes then widened, mouth dropping. "ADAM! He's still alive?!"

"Whoa, whoa, you know him?" Black Widow asked in surprise.

"Hell yeah I do, we served together during the Gulf War." The Colonel emphatically stated. "I remember when we were dragged around by Tony whenever we weren't on tour and… then he just," Rhodey's expression fell slightly. "He vanished."

Vision silently regarded the man, looking down at the holo file in his hand before back up at his comrade and offering it to him.

"Would you…"

Rhodey blinked at the offer, looking down at the file with a bit of conflict in his face.

"I uh…" His face winced. "I dunno."

"Is he not your friend?" Viz questioned.

"I mean, he is or… it might be in the past tense now." James was far more troubled than he realized. "It's just… this is the last thing I ever would have thought to find. I mean, I know this is outta nowhere but before Tony and me, it was Tony, me and Adam. And when he just dropped off the face of the planet, I remember Tony and I spent two years trying to put a pin on his location and we wound up with nothing."

Vision held a frown in all this and he slowly pulled the file back, Rhodey making no efforts of reaching for it.

"He's been hidden by Fury this whole time?" James muttered, looking at Nat. "Why?"

Widow only shrugged. "Ya got me, Rhodey. This is outside SHIELD, like Clint and his family. Fury's likely done this to a lot more people than we realized."

"His secrets have secrets." Rhodey quietly said, running a hand down his face. "Jesus, I didn't think this would bother me so much right now."

"This is rather… awkward." Vision said, unsure if he was using the right word.

"Yeah~ Quite the awkward reunion that will be." Nat remarked sympathetically, patting Rhodey on the shoulder.

"...Yeah… Honestly, I don't know how that will go." Rhodey groaned slightly. "I think I'm just gonna so see tiny dude. Have a sales pitch in mind already. Least I know him… recently."

"Er, uh…yeah… you uh, you go do… that…" Nat and Vision watched as Rhodey walked out of the room, the duo standing in silence until the latter cleared his throat.

"I do believe…" He held up the holo file that phased away a second later. "I opened a box of Pandora we weren't prepared for."

"You can say that again." Romanoff said with a sigh.

"Do you have any connotation or knowledge of this Brashier?"

The redhead shook her head in response. "If this was off the SHIELD databanks personally pulled by Fury, must have had a damn good reason in doing so."

"He must be special if Mr. Stark got his hands on this file."

"Or maybe Fury gave it to him." Nat quietly mused to herself, she and Vision walked towards the exit to the room. "Well, we won't figure it out standing around. Come on, we've got sales pitches to make. Who knows, maybe Fury can grace us with his presence so he could explain this Brashier guy."

"Brashier?" Said a familiar voice from behind, making the two Avengers whirl around to see the only man they know to rock an eye-patch, trench coat combo. "How'd you hear that name?"

"Fury?" Nat said, pleasantly surprised by the man's arrival.

"Natasha," He kindly greeted. "Vision. How are ya holdin' up?"

"Difficult, to say the least." The redhead freely admitted, getting a snort out of her old boss. "Why are you here?"

"Just checked on sleeping beauty in the lab. You found her back at that HYDRA base, right?"

"Yes. Any interest in why you're here for her?" Nat questioned.

"No, not her. She was just a passing curiosity that'll likely develop later on." The former Director of SHIELD stated. "I was gonna come talk to you about your lack of personnel but now I got questions of my own. And maybe even something to remedy the situation."

"We're all ears, director." Vision respectfully said.

-Scene Cut-

"How's it feel to be in Atlas?"

"Cold." Bruce said all so bluntly.

The billionaire, genius, philanthropist released a sigh, throwing his arm around his fellow egghead. He had been guiding Banner down a corridor within Atlas Academy, the halls being relatively empty.

"Figured. You're not in the tropical Menagerie climate and not with your girlfriend who keeps you extra warm at night."

The Gamma scientist gave Tony a bland look. "Tony, was it absolutely necessary that you come and drag me all the way out here?"

"It was the only way, Brucey." Tony stated as though that was the obvious answer. "I mean, that blond bombshell knockout wouldn't let you go unless you wore her out and-"

"Tony, for god sake." Banner interrupted, hiding his face in his hands to keep his embarrassment hidden.

"What?" Iron Man looked at his friend with a grin that conveyed nothing but pride for him. "Bruce, that lady is the knockout of knockouts. I mean if I weren't with Pep-"

"Don't let Pepper hear you say that." Bruce muffled through his hands that went completely ignored by his friend.

"I mean, seriously Bruce, how in the hell did you land a gal like her?" Tony shook his head with a look of pondering awe. "She's blonde. Rockin' body. Can cook. Can fight. Has huge… tracts of land."

"Nice save there."

"Thank you."

"I was being sarcastic, King of Swamp Castle."

"I clearly know."

"And it fits as your mind occasionally is in a swamp-"

"Getting off track here."

The two Avengers kept walking. The Gamma scientist observed the surroundings as it greatly reminded him of the SHIELD Helicarrier and other military bases he visited in the past.

"This is supposed to be an Academy?"

"Military one." Tony corrected slightly. "I mean, it is run by Ironwood but it's still a school. Just not your conventional one. I love it here."

Bruce 'hmphed' in amusement. "Of course you would. Then again, you were thrown to a boarding school before going to MIT if I recall correctly."

"Worst few years of my life." Tony dramatically sighed. "The pure boredom."

The Gamma expert simply shook his head at his friend's attitude. Despite that, Bruce was rather glad to be with his friend again.

When he ran into his friends and teammates again on Menagerie, it was quite a shock as it was a painful reminder of what he chose to run away from. But he still yearned to see them once more and now that they were here… he found himself conflicted.

He shook his head.

He'd rather not dwell on these thoughts at this time.

It's better to move on and focus on the present and future.

"I'm sure Viktor and Jayce would love another egghead to chat with on this project of theirs."

Bruce merely nods. "Hopefully it'll be better than the last joint project I took part in."

Tony exasperated a sigh. "Don't remind me. But trust me, you're gonna love it. We're making some headway and they think we can be reaching a breaking point in another few weeks. Just gotta get the crank down correctly."

"The Crank down?" Banner said in confusion.

"Something they call in their project, trying to get it to work." "

Bruce thought it over a little, shrugging soon after. "To each their own."

Further into the tour of Atlas Academy, the two Avengers came across an unusual sight around these parts. Not much for Bruce, given his unfamiliarity; but more for Tony.

They both saw the matriarch and patriarch of the Schnee family conversing with someone well-dressed, wearing a blue button-up shirt underneath a cream-colored jacket/pantsuit with gold-colored stitching and inlay on his sleeves, shoulders and interior of his coat and collar. His knee-high combat boots were finely tailored with gold-colored etchings as a ring around his boots.

The Iron Avenger quickly recognizes the man. "Councilman Aris, I believe I haven't had the pleasure."

Whatever conversation the Atlesian councilman had with the Schnee's were put on hold when he heard his name called out.

"Tony Stark. Heard a lot about you as of late." He soon turns over to Bruce. Aris gave the man a particular look until recognition dawned upon him. "Ah~ And I most certainly heard more about you."

The Gamma scientist gave him a questioning look. "You have?"

"From a mutual acquaintance of ours. All she ever does is fawn over her beloved "Brucey"." The councilman chuckled silently. "She's lucky to have you."

It took Bruce a few seconds until he connected the dots and sighed with exasperation. "What has Kat told you?"

"Quite enough," Aris grimaces, "and more than enough."

"I'm afraid to ask."

Aris emanates a sound from his throat before coughing in awkwardness. "Don't take it the wrong way, Mr. Banner. As… descriptive as she goes into… you-"

"Oh god."

"It is clear to tell that Kat is quite taken with you. I've never heard her speak about someone in a manner like that as she does when speaking about you. Very passionate, I quite say. You're one lucky man."

"You bet your ass he is." The teasing grin Tony held tempted Bruce into morphing his hand into the Hulk just enough to punch his lights out. He was enjoying this far too much.

"You mean to speak of such… words here, councilman?" Questions Jacque while giving a not-too-subtle glare at Aris.

"Pardon me, Mr. Schnee. I was merely addressing someone who earned a place in the heart of a close friend of mine." Aris respectfully said.

Jacque Schnee gave a derisive, if not insulted expression before giving Bruce a once over, clearly not impressed at what he saw. His expression changed upon landing on Tony, the Avenger giving off an amused, smug demeanor that successfully got under the skin of the Dust tycoon.

Jacque schooled his features and reigned in his annoyance toward the well-trimmed bearded superhero as he addressed him.

"Stark." Was his cool greeting.

"Schnee." Tony shot back, clearly enjoying how much he bothered the mustached Atlesian.

Bruce eyed the two billionaires, shifting thoughts to and from. He could practically tell they were rivals right out of the gate. The tension was palpable, to say the least.

'Clearly you made quite the impression here, Tony.' Bruce thought to himself. 'Already having an enemy here of all places and the head of a world conglomerate to boot.'

Banner's eyes wandered over to the white-haired woman standing next to Schnee Dust company owner and saw that her gaze constantly bounced between Tony, Jacque and Aris. This made Banner glance over at Aris seeing the indiscernible expression he held.

Bruce wondered if this woman hoped that this Councilman would intervene in this tense standoff between Tony and Jacque.

But in Bruce's observation, he missed the part where Jacque regarded him before he spoke up.

"Is there a reason why he is here?" Asked Jacque. "As a matter of fact, who even is he?"

"A good friend and associate of mine." Answered Tony, patting Banner on the shoulder. "He's here to help consult a pair of rising geniuses while here in Atlas before heading over to Vale on business."

"And what is it you do exactly?" Jacque asked, a clear display of challenge in his tone.

"I'm a scientist." Bruce simply responds with. "To be more specific in engineering, medicine and nuc-physics."

Jacque didn't pick up the slight slip on the last scientific field, but Willow and Aris did. While the former was slightly curious, the latter understood more given Kat informed him of Bruce's history… quite extensively.

"And what do you think your expertise will accomplish?"

"Helping the next generation of geniuses instead of crushing their hopes and dreams like some." Stark cut in with a tone that said 'that's why he's here, duh'.

"I wasn't asking you, Stark."

"Jacque." Willow Schnee quietly said, silencing herself at the glare her husband directed at her.

There was a barely audible sharp inhale that went unnoticed by all save the armored Avenger.

Stark glanced at the Councilman out of the corner of his eye, seeing the man appearing to be bothered by the means by which the Schnee couple conducted themselves.

During the conversation, Tony had been eyeing Willow and picked up something in particular. Of how her cold blue eyes seemed to warm up slightly when going in a certain direction. The subtle change of posture as she began conversing with one person in particular.

If that wasn't enough, a similar string of actions was done with Aris.

And now a clear sign that there was a clear sense of anger radiating from the man, the anger directed at Jacque which went unnoticed by the egotistical business owner.

'Curiouser and curiouser.' Tony internally mused.

"Whelp," He spoke up, clapping his hands on Bruce's shoulders. "This has been a fun time to annoy you like always, Jackie."

"Jackie?" Jacque squawked. "You mean to imply me with such a childish name?"

"Why of course, Mr. Snowman." Tony remarked, already walking away with Bruce in tow.

"You dare!"

Tony stopped in his tracks and playfully pondered. "You know, Mr. Snowman ain't a good name for you. Rather insulting to the jolly ol' snowman I knew as a kid." He turned back and smirked. "I think Old Man Winter suits you more perfectly."

Jacque felt a vein pop in his forehead.

Why was it that whenever this foolish jester of a genius made fun of him, it always seemed to get on his nerves? Jacque had been dealing with ridicule and mockery for his entire life.

The Schnee patriarch was not one to be so easily angered and riled up. As a ruthless businessman, he had accrued a veneer of total dominance and control of any given situation. Few ever bothered him and any that held unflattering opinions of the man kept it to themselves due to the nature of his status and personality.

Unfortunately for him, Tony wasn't afraid of the man as he dealt with worse adversaries in his life as a corporate conglomerate head.

What truly bothered Jacque was how low effort Stark put into his mockery of him. The childish nicknames and taunts felt as though the man wasn't even trying to make fun of him, he just was.

Jacque could only fume silently, watching Tony Stark with his companion walk away from him in a clear manner of disrespect.

'Just you wait, Stark.' Schnee internally raged. 'Your disrespect can only go unpunished for so long.'

-Scene Cut-

"Ha~~~" Came a long exhale from a teenager from Queens.

Peter sat alone near a window in the corridor of his dorm. He gazed out beyond the glass, eyes upon the city of Vale in the distance.

Classes were over with for the day and the weekend began. Much can be done now for relaxation for many of the students if they aren't preoccupied with homework and studying.

However, the Queen's Avenger was preoccupied with different thoughts.

One of a growing sense of restlessness.

He had been feeling fidgety and he just couldn't explain why that was.

Maybe if he looked out this window he could-

"Peter?"

The familiar female voice broke Parker out of his thoughts, making him turn to see a familiar face.

"Hmmm? Oh, hey Yang." Peter greeted the blonde brawler with a kind smile. "What's up?"

"Feels like I'm the one who needs to ask you that question." Yang retorted in a friendly manner, taking a seat in front of him. "What's eatin' you? You look like the cover of those books Blake always reads."

Peter gave her a small, unsure smirk. "Mind being more specific, cuz she has a whole plethora of books she has in your dorm room."

Yang put on a comedic, solemn face, throwing the back of her hand to her head, throwing her cranium back dramatically.

"The lords of the edge, broody and damaged, wallowing in darkness as the rain cascades around them, the drops being their only friend as they contemplate just how they can sharpen themselves further."

"Are they good-looking?"

Yang reached forward and clapped his knee. "No."

"Curses." Peter said in faux-bitterness.

There was a moment of silence between the teens before they devolved into laughter, lightly bumping their legs together. They were like this for a few more seconds, quieting down with small smiles directed at each other until the brown-haired teen directed his gaze back out the window for a brief instant.

Yang tilted her head at this. "So… what is bothering ya, hero?"

Peter snorted at hearing this moniker, shaking his head.

"Just…" He looked uncertain about how to respond and even if he should answer. "I dunno. I guess I'm feeling a bit... Restless? Can't sit still, maybe? Just… yeah, I'm a bit fidgety."

"And…" Yang rolled her hand. "Any idea why that is exactly?"

Wordlessly, Peter gestured out to the window, making Yang turn and see that his eyes were set upon the city of Vale.

"You wanna go out on the town?" Yang asked, seeing Parker give a so-so motion. "Feelin' like going for a drink?"

Peter snorted, shaking his head. "God no, I wouldn't go that far. My aunt would kill me. And Mr. Stark would encourage me. Unlike you, I'd rather go out and explore."

Explore was a bit of a stretch. With him, he'd wanna go out and help people in his web-swinging ways.

"Unlike me?" Yang arched her brow. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Peter silently stared at her with a blank expression. Yang didn't know how to respond when she gaped.

"Are you judging me?" She said in a false tone of incredulous disbelief.

The Queens native bobbed his head from side to side, a face that made Yang puff her cheeks out.

"We did meet in a bar, you know."

"Oh and what, you somehow absolved yourself of all sin?"

"More like I had never been touched by such foul thoughts of temptation." Peter remarked, a joking expression of stoicism, one hand over the chest and the other raised up to his head. "I remain a steadfast beacon of light within Beacon itself."

"Har." The blonde bombshell dryly said, nudging her knee against his. "You're missing out."

"You say that as if you'd happily welcome the hangovers along with the other messes that come with it." Peter deadpanned.

"Don't knock it till you try it."

"I think I'll pass." Peter dryly said. "Besides, I'm certain my metabolism doesn't let me get drunk."

Yang looked at him quizzically. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Complicated."

Yang gave him a flat look. "That's lame."

The young Avenger merely shrugged.

He knew Mr. Rogers had such a passing trait due to the Super Soldier Serum. Him testing that out back in WWII, especially when he was trying to get wasted from Bucky's apparent death.

When comparing it to the young Queen's native, well, Peter didn't want to press his luck given his enhancements.

"So, Watcha gonna do?" Yang questioned, seeing Peter glance down in contemplation.

"I… don't know." Parker admitted. "Head and gut are kinda bumpin' against each other. Gut's winning right now and…"

"Why do you even wanna go out there? Something waiting for you?" Yang questioned with a curious expression.

There was a pause until the webhead found his answer.

"Yeah, people." Peter said with a straight face, eyes locking onto Yang's, making the blonde tilt her head back slightly. "People who need help."

The intensity he now held actually threw her off at that moment as it came from nowhere.

She wasn't certain about how she felt but… there was a moment of swelling in her chest as in that instance, despite knowing how dorky he is, Peter looked rather dashing when holding such a look of determination.

A small smile wormed its way onto her face as she stretched out her leg, the tip of her foot tapping against Peter's side.

"Ya know, ya looked kinda cool just now."

Peter brightened up slightly. "Really?"

And like that, the cool factor vanished and he was back to his usual nerdy self. Yang found that rather endearing. Her sister was like that all the time but with Peter, this felt different.

"Yeah, and now you're back to your default dork face." Yang teased, laughing at Peter flicking his tongue at her and in response, she flicked his tongue.

"Argh, ew, Yang, really?" Peter complained and she added to it by wiping her fingers on his shoulder. "Oi!"

Yang continued laughing, patting his shoulder. "Come on Peter, you're a fellow clown."

Peter now gave her a flat look of his own.

Xiao-Long kept her hand on his shoulder, smiling at him. "Whatever ya wanna do right now Petey, I say go for it. That's my motto."

"Reckless abandon?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Parker shook his head in amusement.

"Don't come back too late, Peter." Yang said, walking away from him.

He heard her footsteps moving away from him, the New Yorker turning in time to see her reach her dorm room door. She glanced over at him, sending him a friendly and mischievous smile and he chuckled in response.

"Don't stay out too late, hero."

"Ever taken that advice yourself?" He shot back.

"Of course. Just don't always follow it." Were her last words before going into her dorm room.

"Of course." Peter repeated to himself, turning back to the window.

His eyes stayed there until he placed a hand on his chest. Frowning slightly, Peter lifted his shirt up, seeing the spider suit he had on at this time. He sometimes wore it underneath his clothing, especially during days of physical training and would keep it on for the rest of the day.

Some might call it weird but sometimes, Peter found himself in a more comfortable feeling when having his suit on.

He sat there for a few more seconds before making his decision, quickly getting up from where he sat, and breaking into a run to the nearest staircase.

A few minutes later, in the dorm room of team RWBY, the girls were all doing their own thing.

Ruby was looking over her scythe, Weiss was studying, Blake was absorbed in her current book -which was not smut, due to them being confiscated by her roommates- and Yang was enjoying a nice can of alcohol she snuck in for herself.

Yang heard the telltale signs of a thwip outside her window and she looked out in time to see Spider-Man launching himself at full force toward the city of Vale.

'Huh, would you look at that? Didn't think he'd go in that style.' She thought before a smile graced her lips. 'But still. Real cool.'

"Yang?"

The blond perked her head up to see her sister holding up a controller.

"Up for the usual?"

Yang grinned. "Always a pleasure to thrash my sister."

"Victory will be mine!" Ruby declared, the sisters quickly seated themselves in front of a holo-screen with a fighting game on display.

Their two teammates only looked at the siblings with half-lidded eyes before resuming what they were already doing prior.

It didn't take long for Peter to reach Vale, quickly discarding his school uniform and the first rooftop he reached, he tossed them at the top of it, webbing it down a moment later.

Slipping his mask on, Peter landed on the edge of the roof where his uniform was, surveying the city of Vale.

He felt a sense of adrenaline starting to build up, his eyes darting around, trying to figure out just where to go first.

The tell-tale sounds of police sirens in the distance made that decision for him and he jumped from the rooftop into a web swing, heading straight for whatever it was the police of Vale were responding to.

It didn't take long for him to reach a crime scene, seeing that the police were chasing after a group of criminals speeding off in a getaway car.

"Ah~ a classic." Peter said to himself, firing two web lines to slingshot himself ahead of the cops and criminals and dropping in time to land on the hood of the car with the crooks.

"What the-" One of the men inside yelled out.

"Good evening, gentlemen." Peter cheerfully said. "I'll be your guide for this evening. If you could just pull over here, we can get you in cuffs for your first tour of a clean jail cell waiting for you."

"Who is this freakshow?" The driver shouted.

"I don't know but just get him off already!" One of the goons in the back yelled.

"Get off?" Spider-Man jokingly parroted. "Certainly."

Peter jumped from the hood of the car, attaching a web line to it.

The car suddenly flipped over in the air, the occupants inside all screaming in fear and shock when all of them were yanked out in rapid succession.

Down below, the Police cars all screeched to a halt. The officers inside all stepped out of their vehicles, looking up at a bewildering sight.

It was the car they were pursuing hung in the air with several web lines attached to it, stretching out to nearby buildings and lamp posts.

Beneath the car hung the criminals they were chasing, all encased in webbing save their heads, looking like cocoons.

"What in the world?" One of the cops said, rubbing the top of his head in complete and utter bewilderment.

"How did-What's that?" Another officer suddenly said, pointing above them.

The cops and many bystanders that were nearby all snapped their heads in the direction where the officer pointed and many blinked and gasped slightly at the sight of a man in a red and blue suit swinging away from the scene at full speed. Many tried their best to capture footage, let alone photos of the web-slinger, but were unsuccessful.

This soon became a recurring occurrence in the city of Vale and soon the Vale police department began getting notifications across the city of many crime scenes and criminals being knocked out, apprehended or both, usually strung up in that white ropey substance this vigilante utilized.

In that time, Peter Parker was having the time of his life.

He felt relatively free with the adrenaline coursing through him. The wind hitting him as he swung in the air, the exuberance of him doing good in helping out others all while letting his enhanced physiology perform the flips, kicks and everything in between.

Eventually, he returned to the first rooftop he had landed on, seeing the webbing that held his clothing already disintegrating. Now that he had his rush and responsibility done, Peter changed into his uniform, having his blazer over his shoulder as he merely wandered about the city. His spider suit was under his clothing in case anything else popped up that would make him immediately need to change into it.

'What to do. What to do.' He mused to himself, now walking at the street level of Vale.

The teen was feeling a bit peckish after that rush. Maybe a food stand or…

*clack*

He felt something connect with his foot, hearing a mild metallic scrape that followed on the pavement. Looking down, he saw some metallic object that had neon spray paint coating most of its surface, a dog-like top with jagged sharp teeth and small stubby legs at the bottom.

He picked it up just as someone spoke up some distance away.

"I was looking for that."

Peter looked up and saw some girl around his age approach him.

"Hiya." She waved excitedly at him.

"Uh, hello." Peter greeted, finding something odd about her.

Peter wasn't usually the best at reading people having always been a bit socially awkward growing up but… this girl here… something was… he couldn't say off or unusual.

Actually, maybe unusual was the right word.

He just didn't know why.

The girl was oddly dressed, a punkish attire for the most part, some light blue cloud tattoos here and there with her long blue hair divided into two braids. She is slender, sinewy and light-skinned, almost pale.

On her person was a mini backpack. And coming from her ears were a pair of headphones connected to her scroll which was flaring some punk music from what he was able to pick up on.

Peter saw that she had pinkish-purple eyes that held a manic gleam to them and something… something else. Something that made the New Yorker give pause.

On top of all that, there was something about her features that was unusually familiar. She looked different enough but at the same time, there was a strange sense that she reminded him of someone else.

He just couldn't pinpoint it.

"You said this was yours?"

"Yeup." She said, nodding vigorously.

Peter hummed aloud, now taking a moment to get a look at the device. His eyes quickly picked up on the odd layout of this little gadget, spotting a concentration of Dust in the center with several wires strapped around it.

"Interesting little bomb here." He notes, giving her a pointed look, seeing her blink in surprise at him being able to deduce what the device was. "Planning an armed robbery here?"

The blue-haired girl chortled slightly, biting her lower lip with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah~ how'd you know?"

Peter assumed she was joking, but it was hard to tell from her mannerisms.

"Nah, nah, don't worry about it." The blue-haired girl waved off, doing a little spin before pulling out a card from her belt. "I'm a Huntress in training who's a bit of a demolition expert. Help clear out crap that gets in the way."

He took the card from her hand and blinked slightly, not expecting it to be metallic. It seemed pretty legit for the most part, with an ID number, base of operations and a specialized academy, judging by its name.

"Jinx." Peter said aloud, seeing her name on the card. "That's your name?"

"It is." The now-identified girl said with a wide grin.

"And you made this?" He asked, holding up the gadget that she dropped a few moments ago, holding her card out for her to take.

"That I did." Jinx said with a smug smile.

"It's rather nice." He said, taking a look at the explosive a bit more. "Like the dog design."

She saw him fiddle around with it and expertly dismantle it in the process. Her eyes widened slightly, silently impressed at how he appeared to do so rather easily.

"Nice construction of it. Don't know about the amount of charge in this, but it looks enough to…"

Muttering came soon after as the wallcrawler began fiddling around the explosive, not paying attention to the reaction of the girl before him.

Said person blinked upon seeing how Peter quickly dismantled her bomb in a few seconds, going over its structure before he began pointing out how she could cross certain wires for a more concentrated explosion with less splash damage.

"I mean, if I'm gonna be clearing debris, wouldn't want it to go flying everywhere, ya know?" He said, all the while reassembling the device in his hands.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense." Jinx slowly murmured, taking her device back and looking it over. "How'd you do that?"

"Oh, uh, I'm a bit handy with homemade stuff myself." Peter said with a friendly smile. "And a bit of a junker too."

"Junker?" Jinx scoffed dramatically. "I'll have you know I utilize only the best of scrapped metal and garbage."

"Very impressive." Peter remarked with a small laugh. "I usually go dumpster diving myself for a lot of my supplies a while back."

"Same here. Explosives?" Jinx abruptly said, glancing down at her gadget, Peter quickly picking up on her unspoken question.

"You can say adhesive solutions."

"Sounds lame." The blue-haired teen admitted.

"You say that until you're on the receiving end."

The bluenette hummed, playfully pondering on the idea before appearing to accept it.

The punkish inventor then leaned forward, getting right up in Peter's face with the teen leaning back slightly.

"Uh…" Parker wasn't sure what to do here right now.

He had been around a lot of girls lately but none who had come so close like this before. Only Penny did this and he had gotten used to her style.

This felt extremely different. A bit more invasive.

"What's your name?" She abruptly asked, getting another centimeter closer.

"Er… uh… Names Peter. Peter Parker." He awkwardly said.

"Jinx." She said with a toothy smile.

"Yeah, I know." Peter said, waving his hand slightly, his index and thumb taking the shape of a round-angled half of a rectangle. "Your ID, remember?"

The bluenette blinked before gazing at the aforementioned item. She playfully slapped her head and muttered "De-Doy". She resumed her intense scrutiny of the brown-haired boy who now held her attention, actually making him back up into a wall behind him and touching the tip of his nose with hers.

Peter was nearly blushing now with how close she was to him. Actually, he was. With the distance between them, he all but felt her breath on him. And he could see more of her eyes which gained a certain shine in them.

"You're interesting." Jinx commented a pout of pondering on her face.

That was certainly not what he was expecting to hear. "I am?"

"You are." There was a glimmer in Jinx's eyes. "Reeeeeeally~ interesting. You're smart and you have a nice face and smile."

There was an awkward moment of silence, more for Peter than Jinx when she spoke again.

"I like you." She abruptly declared.

"Uh… what?" Peter said, now completely bewildered, eyes widening as Jinx pressed her forehead against his, her eyes just an inch from his.

He really didn't know what to do right now cause this was far beyond any situation he had ever dealt with. Not even Penny was this invasive of personal space.

"You have nice eyes." Jinx happily said, a slightly crazed grin appearing. "I like looking at them."

"Er, yes, thanks, you… you also… I like your eyes too. Very pretty." Peter uncomfortably said.

He could tell she greatly enjoyed hearing that, the way she smiled and how her eyes widened with glee and in that, Parker found himself now caught staring intently into the eccentric teen's eyes.

It took him a moment to see it but though this girl appeared to display a manic sort of expression that gave off the air of aloof lunacy… hopefully the good kind, there was another layer hidden beneath it. Peter was surprised that it took him so long to recognize it but when he did, his memory momentarily flashed back into his bathroom mirror back in New York.

The day after the biggest mistake of his life.

The day he lost Uncle Ben. All that guilt and self-loathing that was staring back at him in the mirror. And right now, he could see it in Jinx, despite how much effort she appeared to be putting into hiding it.

"Ah~ Why thank you~!" Jinx preened, finally pulling back, apparently missing the deductive assessment Peter had inadvertently done on her.

She twirled around, her two braids swirling about with her.

"Not a lot of people compliment my eyes." Jinx said, putting her fingers into a peace sign on her left eye and winking at him with her right.

The New Yorker got serious anime vibes from her just now.

"How come?"

"They used to be blue years ago. A lot of people don't like 'em now."

Peter tilted his head. "Weird. I think they're pretty."

That appeared to only further endear Jinx to Peter, the girl's smile widening upon hearing this.

"What you doin' today?" She asks him, suddenly changing the subject, getting right up in his face again.

Well, he was gonna go out and do more web swinging was what was his internal response. As for his verbal… "Uh, just wandering about. Got nothing in mind."

She flashed him a smile upon hearing that. "In that case." She wrapped her arm around his and began dragging him. "Let's go see the town!"

"What now?" Peter dumbly said.

"Come on, come on." Jinx jumped about, pulling him forward. "This town's our oyster."

"This place has that saying?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Exactly!" Jinx cheerfully said. "Let's go leave our mark on the town!"

Peter found himself unable to pull away, the blue-haired teen's excitement being a bit infectious.

AN

And we are back folks.

After another prolonged time away, we're back at it again with a not-too-long, relatively simple chapter here. We just finished Infinite Wars Season 3 recently so we're gonna be taking time away from that story to work on this and our other works we've neglected for far too long.

Bet you guys weren't expecting a certain someone for the Avengers on Earth to find in their files, were ya?

But we'll touch on that later.

Think I've said this before but the reason why this story has more gaps in between is because we still haven't fully fleshed out the story as a whole as well as our characters and the arcs we want them to take.

We already made our thoughts and feelings on how crappy RWBY is in handling their characters quite clear and wish to avoid that path. So we have been meticulously discussing and breaking down just about every character we have on paper and what their arcs and growth and such shall be.

To us, it's very important that we do this otherwise, we'll not fully realize the potential this story has since it's only in its beginning.

Regardless of that, thank you all for your patience and we're getting back into the swing of things with this story.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.