The Spectacular Ruby Rose

by Matthewmatt14

Ruby Rose had always dreamed of becoming a hero. A chance encounter with a radioactive spider gifts Ruby with abilities straight out of a comic book! With powers she had previously only dreamt of and evil in every corner of Vale, Ruby decides to take the law into her own hands as The Spectacular Spider-Woman!

20. Making a Difference

Spider-Woman tugged on a strand of webbing to yank the legs of a criminal out from under him. His escape was halted when his face smashed into the ground, granting him a concussion and one less tooth. Any further attempts at escaping were destroyed when a net of webbing encased his entire body.

The spider swung her palm to the side to smack a knife out of a criminal's hand before driving her knee into his stomach. He crumpled to the ground in a groaning mess before he too was encased in webbing.

The last criminal had a sharp machete pressing against the neck of an innocent woman who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She looked like she might start to cry.

She was confident that her webbing was faster than the man's arm so she simply ejected a line of webbing to the machete and pulled it out of the man's hand before he could hurt the woman with it.

Spider-Woman was about to shoot a ball of webbing to his face to blind him before the captured woman stamped her very sharp heel down on the criminal's foot. The sharp heel managed to penetrate the cheap material the shoes were made of as well as a portion of the man's foot.

"GAH!" The criminal screamed in pain. "You BITCH! I'm gonna-!" He didn't get any farther when the woman launched her foot directly in between the man's legs. Spider-Woman was sure she heard a bell toll when her foot made contact.

The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he crumpled into the ground in a twitching mess, clutching his family jewels in pain. The vigilante encased him in a net of webbing to prevent escape.

"Damn," Spider-Woman whistled, impressed. "Y'know, I've been looking for a sidekick for a while now. You interested?"

The woman gathered her breath back before smiling and responding. "Thanks, but I've got kids to take care of. My husband can't do everything by himself."

Spider-Woman looked down to the groaning criminal. "I bet your husband never wants to get on your bad side."

The sounds of police sirens filled the air and Spider-Woman took that as her cue to leave. "Glad you're safe ma'am. The police will be here shortly."

Spider-Woman jumped into the air and started to make her way home. Yang should be home by now after what happened last night. She's smart enough to not keep their father waiting for too long.

She pulled out her scroll and started thumbing through some random notifications while trusting her Spider-Sense to guide her through the city. There was no traffic in the air unless she counted the pigeons so she wouldn't have to worry about swinging into anyone.

Everyone was talking about the highway incident but she already knew all there was to know about it. Hopefully Ozpin was having an easy time keeping the council away from Beacon. Yang would be devastated if she got expelled after that. She needed to be better.

I need to be better too. I barely managed to save everyone last night. I need to train harder. Maybe I should learn some proper CQC techniques. My unarmed fighting style right now relies on my overwhelming strength advantage to knock out opponents in a single hit. But I rely a lot on my Spider-Sense when dealing with opponents who can handle a few hits. I need to learn to fight properly without it.

She kept scrolling for a few minutes before her eyes widened. She released her web and grabbed onto a wall so she could focus her attention on what she just read.

"There have been multiple kidnappings reported in the northwest residential district of Vale in the past month, with all of the victims being children."

The scroll creaked under her powerful grip.

"There have been at least 20 kidnapped children that have been reported. Parents are urged to keep a close eye on their children and not let them out after dark. The police and Hunter population are working hard to bring them back safely."

Spider-Woman released her powerful grip on her scroll for fear of crushing the device under her digits.

Northwest residential district huh? I guess I know where I'm patrolling tonight.

Someone or a group of someones was kidnapping children. For what reason, she had no idea. She was gonna have a hard time keeping her composure in the face of such monsters when she got her hands on them.

What could they be kidnapping children for anyway? Ransom? If that were the case then why haven't they demanded anything yet? They were obviously only taking children because they were too small to fight back. It brought up the horrifying possibility of human and faunus trafficking.

Faunus trafficking was outlawed when the Great War ended. It was literally one of the first things that was outlawed. That and slavery. Human trafficking was never legal at any point in history. She knew that people still did stuff like that and it made her sick. To think that a bunch of people would use children for their benefit like that made her sick.

I'll put a stop to it. I swear it!

Spider-Woman swung back to her stuff and got dressed before heading home.

Surprisingly, her mask didn't ruin her new hairstyle in the slightest. Yang really knew what she was doing. Ruby would need to ask her for advice.

Ruby pushed open the door to her home and immediately regretted it. Yang was home, as she had correctly assumed. What she did not expect however was for Yang to be on her hands and knees begging for forgiveness. Zwei seemed happy at least, zipping around like a bullet, excited to see Yang.

"I'm sorry!" Yang cried. "I'm irresponsible! I'm foolish! I'm stupid! I'm reckless! Forgive meeee!"

Her father looked very disappointed in Yang, his arms were crossed and his eyes were narrowed. He was trying to look intimidating but really he just looked like a big teddy bear.

The door clicked shut behind her, drawing Yang's attention. Seeing the perfect distraction, Yang ran up to her sister. "Ruby! Perfect timing!" She tugged Ruby along against her will. "Dad! Look what I did to her hair! Isn't it beautiful?"

Yang was clearly trying to throw her father's attention in a different direction. Unfortunately, he was much smarter than that. His serious blue eyes stayed locked on Yang's shaking purple ones. Ruby took her chance to wiggle out of Yang's grip and run up the stairs to her room, abandoning Yang to her fate.

Ruby locked the door before stripping out of her clothes. It was necessary to wear her spider suit under her clothes in case she needed to change in a hurry, it wasn't the most comfortable thing but it was something she had to deal with. Wearing skin-tight spandex all day got annoying after a while. Not to mention it started to smell after hours of swinging and fighting crime. Being a superhero was sweaty work.

Ruby couldn't just throw her suit into her laundry basket in case her father saw it so she was forced to use her own bathroom to wash her suit. Washing her suit was actually something she quite enjoyed. She liked seeing all the splotches of dirt and grime wash away with the soapy water. Seeing her clean suit shimmer in the light would never not be satisfying.

Cleaning out the baby powder was a pain though. She needed it in the suit so it didn't chafe, especially in the joints.

Ruby hung her suit up to dry before hopping into her spare and covering it with her other clothes and running downstairs. Yang had finished begging for forgiveness from their father and was now playing with Zewi on the floor. The little fuzzball was still bouncing around with way too much energy.

Ruby approached her sister with her hands linked behind her back. "Soooo….what were you talking to Jaune about?" She asked, trying not to sound too interested in the answer.

Yang gave her the biggest shit-eating grin she had ever seen. "Oh, nothing important. Don't worry you're pretty little head about it," she teased.

Her Spider-Sense buzzed lightly, picking up Yang's lie instantly. She didn't need her Spider-Sense to catch it though. Yang wasn't even trying to hide her lie. Ruby really wanted to pry, scared that her sister was trying to seduce her best friend. She held back however.

Ruby pouted and picked up a ball that Zwei was bouncing around. The small pup started wagging his tail rapidly. Ruby tossed the ball for him to catch.

How am I going to catch these kidnappers? I can't exactly tail every suspicious person I see in hopes that I find what I'm looking for. I'm also not going to stoop so low as to use a child as bait to lure out the kidnappers. Maybe my best plan would be to just swing around until I find what I'm looking for.

Or I could just use myself as bait to lure them out, that might work.

…

Wait...that's a really good idea! They couldn't hurt me if they tried and if I let them kidnap me then they'll take me right to the kidnapped children. I just need to look like a weak and frail little girl!

Ruby pinched her arm and poked at her belly a few times. Her rock-solid muscles refused to budge an inch. It was like she had titanium skin.

Well...looking like a weak little girl won't be too hard. But feeling like a weak little girl will be harder. Maybe I should've stuffed myself with more fattening foods so I could be squishier. Whatever...Ugh.

Curse my incredible physique!

Hopefully they won't be paying that much attention. I guess I could always flare up my aura to make them think it's actually my aura that's hard as a rock.

Ok, I'll need to borrow some of Dad's old work clothes. The baggier the better. I need to cover up my body as much as possible. A hood is also necessary to cover my face.

I really hope they don't take me out of the city. I'd rather not run back if I can help it.

This is all assuming that I can get them to kidnap me in the first place. Wow. I'm going out tonight with the intention of getting kidnapped. Dad would kill me if he found out.

But the thought of all those scared children being taken away was more than enough to wipe away those thoughts. Innocent children needed her help and she wasn't going to sit around and wait for someone else to do something about it.

She would need to avoid that district of Vale until tonight. She didn't want the kidnappers getting cold feet.

Ruby tossed the ball around with Yang and Zwei for a little while longer before Yang had to head back to Beacon. She still had the school dance to organize, she couldn't play all day. Weiss would kill her otherwise.

Yang pet her sisters newly styled hair. "Great job kicking team CRDL's ass today Ruby." Yang stuck her thumb up. "But next time let me join in on the fun."

"Ruby did WHAT!" Taiyang yelled from the kitchen.

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked. "Yang!"

"Oops, ehehe. Sorry." Yang didn't sound very sorry. "Anywaygottagobye!"

Yang bolted before Ruby could protest any further, dooming her to be scolded by her dad for the next half hour. Ruby turned around to see her dads 'scolding' face. She only had one chance, one thing she could do to get out of this.

"What's that?!" Ruby pointed behind her father. She took her chance to spin around and bolt for the door. Her feet flew in front of her when Taiyang grabbed her cloak before she could complete her escape.

"Nice try. I'm not falling for that again. Now then." He pulled Ruby closer. "What's this I hear about you beating up an entire team?"

Gulp.

---

Ruby had some time to kill before she had to go out as Spider-Woman so she decided to continue modifying her web shooters. The small devices sat on her desk in pieces with Ruby using a pair of tweezers to lift the smaller components.

Ruby delicately added a new nozzle attachment into the device that could be swapped out using the neural transmitter in her mask. Her web grenade was incredibly useful but she didn't use it quite often. There weren't many situations where a bomb of webbing was necessary. It was useful when there were multiple bad guys in a single spot so the grenade could get them all at once.

The new nozzle would fire what she would call "bullet webbing." When she released a strand of webbing with the nozzle active it would cause her webbing to be discharged as multiple smaller balls of high speed powerful bullets of webbing. Similar to an automatic weapon without being lethal. It was much faster than firing a single ball at a time like she had done previously.

Assuming the device worked, it would be a very useful addition to her arsenal. There were other things she wanted to try, like a splitter web that would split a single web like in two. She used to have an electric web option in her web shooters that utilized electric dust but ever since she got her venom powers she didn't need to waste the money on the dust. Her webbing was conductive anyway so she just pulsed her own venom through the webbing instead. It was a real money saver.

Her notebook was brimming with ideas but Ruby's wallet wasn't full enough to make good use of those ideas.

Ruby reassembled her web-shooters and softly clipped them around her wrist. She wasn't going to test her new webbing in her room again. She made that mistake once with her web grenade. She twisted her wrists rapidly and her web-shooters folded away nicely into small compact bracelets. Perfectly inconspicuous.

She had a pretty solid plan for that night. Borrow her father's old clothes, go to the northeast residential district of Vale, look like a scared little girl without her parents, get kidnapped and get taken to the other kidnapped children, kick some major ass, and save the day.

What could possibly go wrong?

She wasn't sure why but she could've sworn she felt her Spider-Sense buzz as she thought that.

There was just one more thing she really wanted to do before going out as Spider-Woman again. Up until now, she had to pull her scroll out of the pocket she had sewn into her suit if she wanted to answer calls. That was both tedious and dangerous, swinging one-handed was not the greatest of ideas, not to mention fighting. That was one hand that was occupied with something else while the other did all the heavy lifting.

Ruby grabbed her mask and pulled it inside out. The interior of the mask was pretty simple all things considered. It was lightly padded to provide a more comfortable wearing experience. There was also a muffler by the mouthpiece to muffle her voice slightly so no one would recognize it. Lastly, there was a neural transmitter inside that was connected to her web-shooters so she could change the dust and nozzle type with just a thought.

Pretty simple.

Ruby reached into her desk and pulled out a cheap scroll that she had bought previously. It wasn't anything special, there was no touch screen or complex applications. All the device did was make scroll calls and display aura. It was perfect for what she was planning.

Ruby grabbed a small screwdriver and began disassembling the scroll. She had worked with devices like this before so she would have no problem handling it. After carefully pulling the innards of the device out of the body, she began arranging them perfectly before placing them in the padding of her mask. If this worked then she wouldn't need to use her scroll to answer calls anymore. She could simply use her neural transmitter to answer the call with a thought.

It took the better part of 30 minutes to arrange the wires perfectly in the mask. The microphone had to be close to the mouthpiece so she could speak to callers. The speakers had to be close to her ears so she could hear them as well.

One last thing. Ruby grabbed the copy of her SIM card that she ordered online and inserted it into her mask. And with that, it was complete. If her new invention worked properly she could answer calls with just her mask.

Oh! She almost forgot.

Ruby removed the classic bug eyed lenses from her mask and tossed them in the garbage. She wouldn't need them anymore. Instead, she grabbed new lenses that looked completely identical to her old ones. At least from an outside perspective. In reality, these new lenses were capable of displaying images straight into her eyes. It was like those video games where the character would be wearing a helmet or something that granted them a heads-up display that showed them their health or ammo capacity.

Obviously, Ruby didn't have a finite amount HP to display, but she did have aura. These new lenses displayed her remaining aura reserves by connecting to the aura detector that was installed into the scroll she placed in her mask. They also connected to the neural transmitter in her mask which in turn connected to the neural receivers in her web-shooters which allowed her lenses to also display her dust levels. It would be much easier to ascertain her ammo levels with these new lenses.

And the very best part?

She never needed to charge them!

Well...kinda.

It was a mystery for a while why her web-shooters never seemed to run out of battery. At first, she thought that she was just such a genius that she mistakenly invented a device that never needed a charge but that couldn't be further from the truth.

In actuality, the web shooters were charging every second she was wearing them, she just didn't know it at the time.

Yep, without her knowing, her web shooters were feeding off her own bio-electricity and charging all by themselves! Even before she discovered that ability!

Incredible!

If her theory was correct then the tech in her mask would charge the exact same way. It was super cool and convenient.

Ruby clipped the new lenses into her mask and was greeted by a satisfying blue light from the lenses.

She slipped the mask over her cheeks and adjusted the lenses so she could see through perfectly. Some text was running across her eyes, indicating her new HUD was booting.

SYSTEM LOADING.

SYSTEM SETTINGS UPDATING.

NEURAL DEVICES DETECTED.

CONNECTING...CONNECTING…CONNECTING…

SUCCESSFULLY CONNECTED TO NEURAL DEVICES.

ADJUSTING VISION SETTINGS.

AURA DETECTED.

CONNECTING...CONNECTING...CONNECTING…

SUCCESSFULLY CONNECTED TO AURA.

READING SIM CARD.

SYSTEM UPDATE REQUIRED. PLEASE STAND BY.

…

…

SUCCESSFULLY UPDATED SYSTEM.

LOADING...LOADING...LOADING...

WELCOME!

And with that, her new mask was complete. Her full aura was displayed beautifully in the top left corner of her vision, the bottom right and bottom left displayed her reserves of dust as well as what was currently loaded into her web-shooters, and a tiny little scroll icon was visible on the right, indicating that the sim card was successfully loaded into the mask.

Just to test it, Ruby grabbed her screwdriver and jammed it into her palm. As expected, her aura sparked and the little aura meter in her mask dipped slightly. Next, she used her thoughts to switch the dust that was loaded into her web shooter. Her HUD changed accordingly, displaying ice dust loaded into her left web shooter. Aiming at the wall, she fired a small ball of webbing infused with ice dust. The meter on her HUD dipped slightly and the ball of webbing encased a small portion of her wall in ice. It would melt in time.

"Perfect. This will be a big help," she said out loud. "I'll add some other things in time. I really want to add a map of Vale to the HUD as well."

Maybe if things go really well then she could add her own artificial intelligence to the mask as well. Though, she didn't think she was anywhere near smart enough for that. AI's were complicated. She couldn't make her own, at least not a very smart one.

Maybe one day.

---

Yang dragged her sorry almost carcass through the halls of Beacon. She wasn't really physically exhausted, though that was part of it. Her exhaustion was really from having to deal with Weiss for hours. She loved the girl, truly, it was when she got seriously into something that she became hard to deal with.

Weiss was really strict when it came to the dance preparations. It was like that girl was born to be a party planner. Just about every idea that Yang had was shot down in an instant. In Weiss' eyes, the dance had to be absolutely perfect. But her idea of perfect was skewed by the events that she had attended when she was younger.

Her idea of perfect was everything being totally boring.

Plain colors, slow music, white lights, dress code, UGH!

She even wanted to replace the snack selection with hors d'oeuvres. Hors d'oeuvres! What the hell are hors d'oeuvres?! Sounded like a word made up by rich assholes to make themselves sound smart.

Stupid Weiss and her stupid hors d'oeuvres.

Yang, Penny, and Blake made a few compromises though. Yang managed to force Weiss to add more upbeat music that someone could really dance to. The food selection would be much more varied than the crap Weiss wanted to serve. The dress code wasn't as strict as Weiss wanted it. Yang even barely managed to convince Weiss to add a disco ball!

All in all, it was looking like it could be a success.

Yang blamed her exhaustion and lack of motor function when she collided with a taller figure as she rounded a corner. She nearly toppled over on her butt but managed to steady herself at the last second. She shook the dizziness away and slapped herself awake.

"Sorry," Yang mumbled. "Wasn't paying attention."

"You okay?" A masculine voice asked. Yang looked up for the first time and saw it was Jaune who she had bumped into. Pyrrha was right next to him with her weapons ready. They were probably going training. "You look like crap."

"Is that any way to talk to a beautiful maiden such as myself?" Yang teased, though her heart wasn't in it. "Sorry. Yeah, I'm exhausted. Been a long day."

"You should head to bed early," Pyrrha suggested. "We've got classes early tomorrow."

Yang grunted in acceptance. She would head to bed right after a short shower. She made to walk to her dorm before she remembered something.

"Pyrrha, go on ahead. I need to talk to Jaune for a minute."

Jaune's eyes were immediately flushed with fear as he knew exactly what this was about. Pyrrha seemed to notice and got a little defensive.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nope," Yang replied. "I just want to make out with him and I thought it would be rude to do it in front of you."

Jaune and Pyrrha both flushed red. Jaune waved his hands in Pyrrha's face to squash any false thought. "I-It's not that! It's…something I can't get into right now," Jaune muttered, much to Pyrrha's disappointment. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up in a few minutes."

Pyrrha clearly wanted to argue but an instant look from Jaune coupled with Yang wiggling her eyebrows and making kissy faces was enough to get her to walk along ahead.

Jaune didn't say a word, he didn't even move a muscle. Perhaps he was hoping if he stood perfectly still then the blonde predator would forget he existed. He could slither out of Beacon, grab a bullhead, go to Vacuo, and start a new life free from conflict. He only needed to stay perfectly still to avoid Yang.

"So, Jaune."

Whelp...there goes that plan.

Jaune swallowed the lump in his throat and released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He forced his shaky blue eyes to remain locked on Yang's unrelenting lilac ones.

"Yes?" Jaune asked with much more confidence than he felt.

"Have you asked Ruby to the dance yet? What did she say? Are you a couple yet? Did you get married while I wasn't looking? Is she pregnant? I told her to use protection!"

Perhaps it was the absurdity of her teasing but Jaune couldn't help but laugh. Yang's puns were awful but she at least knew how to cheer someone up with her crazy sense of humor.

"Thanks, Yang, I needed that. And no, I didn't ask her yet. I'm still trying to work up the nerve. I'm hoping getting my ass kicked by Pyrrha will be enough."

Yang hummed. "Using adrenaline to boost your confidence? Not a bad idea, even if there's no point. Didn't I tell you that she's going to say yes?"

Jaune fidgeted with his fingers. "Y-Yes...but I'm still not sure…" Jaune continued before Yang could interrupt. "These things are a lot harder when it's you who's involved, Yang. My sisters have had crushes on guys in the past and I always thought it was the most obvious thing in the world. But the guys never once even suspected that they liked them."

The blonde brawler twirled her hair in her fingers. "I see your point. These things are complicated and it's not like I have a lot of experience anyway."

Yang leaned against the wall. "Alright, I'll let it go, but you have to tell me what she says as soon as you ask her, alright?"

Jaune knew there was no escaping that so he readily agreed. "Of course. Not like I could keep it hidden if I wanted to, but you'll be the first to know."

"Good," Yang smiled. She turned her back to Jaune. "Good luck Lover Boy. Just don't make me an aunt so soon."

Yang laughed as Jaune blushed. He gripped the hilt of his sword and wiggled his fingers. He felt the weight of the weapon comforting on his hip.

The blade which had felt so alien in his hands not too long ago. It was only thanks to the efforts of a cute silver-eyed girl that he was able to further his progress in mastering the blade.

The blade sang from its sheath. It's brilliantly sharp edge shimmering in the artificial light. The weapon hadn't gotten lighter since joining Beacon but he had gotten much stronger. The sword wasn't as uncomfortable to hold anymore.

Jaune smiled.

Maybe getting beaten up was exactly what he needed right now.

---

She felt stupid.

Who wouldn't feel stupid in her situation?

She was a goddamn superhero for fucks sake. She could carry 20 tons on her back, travel at super speeds, feel a bullet coming her way before it was fired, and react quickly enough to stand clear.

Which was why she felt really stupid for dressing like a homeless little girl, standing on the street, and waiting to be kidnapped.

Her dad would kill her if he found out.

She found a large hoodie in the attic that her dad hadn't worn in years. It collected dust in that time and gathered an unusual smell. It was perfect for her goals. Having old tattered clothes that smelled weird was pretty common for homeless people. It was large enough to cover her spider suit and the hood would obscure her face.

She also found a simple pair of sweatpants as well. She had to roll them up so they didn't drag on the ground though.

She had been walking around for the better part of 30 minutes now. Just trying to look sad and helpless. A few vehicles passed her but none of them set off her Spider-Sense. It was gonna be a long night, she could feel it already.

I hope wherever they're keeping the children isn't too guarded. Oh, who am I kidding? Knowing my luck, it's gonna be locked up tighter than General Ironwood's airship.

Ruby cracked her knuckles loudly. I love a good challenge.

I hope those poor kids are alright. I'm sure they're all alive but I'm more worried about their mental state. Being torn away from your family like that has got to be traumatizing.

Ruby gazed up at the shattered moon. It was quite beautiful at this time of night. No one really knows what happened to cause it to shatter. Some suggested that it was once a part of Remnant before it was struck by something and flew away from the planet and never put itself back together.

Ruby passed by some homeless faunus gathered by a burning barrel to keep warm.

"Hey!" One of them called out. "Bit late for a youngster such as yourself to be out and about."

Ruby paused mid-step and turned to see who addressed her. It was an older man, probably in his early 50s with a long lion tail wrapped around his waist. He waved her over to the group.

Ruby approached the roaring fire. She felt its warmth fight through the cold breeze of the night. She rubbed her hands together and held them close to the flames.

She eyed a female mouse faunus to her left holding a baby in her arms. He was sleeping peacefully in the warmth of his mother's embrace. She almost felt jealous.

"You hungry?" The man asked, offering her a stick of what looked to be beef jerky.

Ruby shook her head and politely declined. "No thanks, I just ate." She smiled at the kind man. "Thanks for offering though. I can tell you don't have a lot to spare."

He smiled sadly. "Yeah... times are tough these days. Gets even harder during the winter."

Ruby reached into her shoe and pulled out a small handful of lien. It wasn't much but it could at least buy a few meals or some warmer clothes. "Here. Take this." She handed the money to the lion faunus.

"Hmm?" The man glanced at her hand before widening his eyes. "Oh no. I couldn't! A young lass such as yourself must've worked hard for that. I can't in good conscience take that from you."

She didn't work that hard for the money. All she did was take pictures of herself and sell them to the Daily Bugle. It was amazing how much she could profit from doing little to no work.

Still, this might be the perfect time to gather some information.

"Then how about a small trade? I'll give this to you if you can help me out."

The man quirked an eyebrow curiously. "Oh, what kind of trade?"

"I heard that there have been some kidnappings around here recently. Can you tell me if you saw anything? If you can help me out then you can take this without feeling bad about it."

The man eyed the money hungrily before turning to the woman across from him. She looked down at her son and pulled him closer to her. "Yeah. We've seen 'em," she spoke for the first time.

The man pointed across the street. "Right over there. Pulled up in a black van and snatched a pair of faunus right off the street. I didn't even have time to move before they drove off. Happened about two days ago."

The woman looked like she might start to cry. "We tried to tell the police but they ain't take us seriously. Bunch of racist cops if you ask me."

How dumb would someone have to be to completely ignore someone just because of their race? She didn't know.

"Did you see their faces? Or anything that might make them stand out?"

The lion shook his head. "Apart from the black van, nothing. I'm guessing they use black to blend in better, makes them harder to see."

At least I know what they drive.

Ruby handed the handful of lien to the man. "Thank you, sir, ma'am. You've been a big help." She turned to walk away.

"W-Wait!" The woman called out. Trying to be quiet so as to not wake her baby. "Please be careful! There's a reason they haven't been caught yet. I think they're bribing the police to look the other way."

Yeah, that made sense. The kidnappings have been going on for a month after all. It's a wonder I haven't heard about it sooner. I bet the corrupt police are trying to bottleneck information in exchange for money.

Ruby gave the woman a thumbs up. "I promise. I'm tougher than I look. Don't worry about me." Ruby turned around and waved behind her. Turning a corner, she waited until the coast was clear before building power in her legs and launching herself up to a rooftop.

Okay. Black van. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

She rolled up her sleeves to expose her web glands and fired a web line to the corner of a building before swinging off.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her mask. The HUD flared to life when she slipped the mask over her face. She swung for about ten minutes before her mask started ringing and displaying the name Jaune Arc on her HUD. Perfect, time to test this out, she thought to herself. With a simple thought, she sent a signal to the neural transmitter in her mask which answered the call with an audible click.

"Um...Hello?" She answered.

No one answered for a few seconds. At first, she thought she had assembled the mask incorrectly.

"H-Hello?" Jaune answered back. Indicating that her new scroll mask was successful.

Yes! She cheered in her head. Success!

"Hey, Jaune. Wassup?" She asked calmly, hiding her excitement.

"U-Umm...Sorry. I-It's nothing. I just...d-do you have a minute?"

She was about to respond before her Spider-Sense rang. Looking down, she spotted a suspicious-looking black van driving eerily slowly through the city.

"Umm... no actually. Sorry, but you couldn't have possibly called at a worse time. Can I call you back later?"

She wasn't sure why but Jaune sighed with relief when she said that. "Sure, no problem. Sorry to bother you, Ruby."

"Not at all Jaune. Call you soon." One more thought and her mask hung up the call.

Showtime.

Spider-Woman swung around the corner and landed on the sidewalk. She rolled her sleeves down and pulled off her mask. She shoved her mask in her pocket and flipped her hoodie back up to cover her face. With any luck, the kidnappers wouldn't try to pull it off. She didn't want the kidnappers to try and steal her web shooters so she clipped them onto her ankles instead. They wouldn't look for anything down there anyway.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and tried to look defenseless. She walked nervously down the sidewalk with her head locked in one direction. Her Spider-Sense buzzed louder when the van rounded the corner. She didn't dare turn around, afraid that she might scare them off. She felt her muscles twitch under her clothes. Begging to bash their faces in. She resisted though.

The van got closer and closer. Her Spider-Sense got louder and louder, telling her to be careful.

She heard the side door of the van slide open and the thudding of two sets of footsteps rapidly approached her.

Her vision was obscured when a thick burlap sack suddenly engulfed her head. A massive hand covered her mouth to prevent any screams while the drawstring of the bag was tightened.

Ruby squirmed in the grip of the kidnappers, trying desperately to look like she was trying to escape. She kicked her legs around wildly and managed to nail one of the men in the leg. It didn't do any damage considering she wasn't trying in the slightest.

Her wrists were tied together and her legs were wrapped in rope.

"MMPHH!" She yelled into the man's hand.

"Got her! Throw her in."

Ruby was slung over a shoulder before she was thrown into the van with zero gentleness. She landed with a thud. She wriggled in her restraints for a few seconds before the door slid shut with a loud bang and the van took off once again.

Phase one successful. Now for phase two. Sit around and do nothing for a little bit.

Ruby flexed a small amount of her strength and shredded the ropes around her wrists with terrifying ease. She did the same with the restraints around her legs before ripping the burlap sack off her face.

The van was about what she expected. Dented walls and writing scribbled around in various places. But it was clean at least, she hadn't been expecting that.

Ruby made to grab her web-shooters before she heard the faint sound of crying. She turned slightly to see a little girl who couldn't be older than ten years old tied up in the corner with a burlap sack over her face.

Ruby almost drove her fist straight through the cabin right then and there.

Ruby slid her mask on her face before shuffling over to the bound girl and gently laid her hands on her shoulder. She intended it to be a soothing gesture that would put the girl at ease. It had the opposite effect as the girl immediately started thrashing in her restraints, desperate to escape her captors.

Spider-Woman reached for the bag around the girl's neck and gave a light tug to the drawstring, snapping it clean in half.

"No...p-please don't hurt me," the girl said through her tears. "I...I want to go home…" Her shaky voice was filled with so much fear. That only made Spider-Woman angrier.

Spider-Woman gently pulled the bag from the girl's face. She was greeted by a girl about eight years of age, with brown hair, brown eyes, and an adorable pair of small bunny ears. The tear tracks on her cheeks left a small trail through the dust on her face. There was a small bruise on her cheek, likely due to her trying to fight back her captors. Spider-Woman made a mental note to punch them extra hard.

Her eyes were wide with pure terror when Spider-Woman pulled the bag off her head. Those fearful eyes filled with hope when they saw the friendly neighborhood web-slinger.

"S-Spider-Woman?" She croaked out in between sobs.

Spider-Woman smiled under her mask. "Hey there. Sorry I'm late." She reached behind the girl and began untying the ropes that bound her wrists together. "Let's get you untied."

"Y-You... You came to save me…"

Spider-Woman undid the last knot and pulled the rope away. She gently held the girl's hands to see if she was injured. Her wrists were a little red from struggling in her restraints. But apart from that, she was fine. "Yeah, I did. You're very brave."

Spider-Woman undid the ropes around the girl's legs and had to brace herself to catch the girl when she threw her arms around the hero.

"I...I...I was...so scared!" The girl cried into Spider-Woman's shoulder. "They took me from my mom!"

The vigilante wrapped her arms around the young girl and held her tight. She slowly ran and traced circles along her back with her palm to soothe her.

"Shhh…It's okay now." Her voice was as soft as silk. "I'll save you. I promise."

Spider-Woman gently ran her fingers through the girl's hair and between her bunny ears. She tried to emulate how Yang used to comfort her when she was a kid.

They remained like that for a few minutes. The little girl feels safe in Spider-Woman's arms. It wasn't until the driver hit a particularly large pothole that they separated. The little girl's watery hope-filled eyes looked up at the hero.

Great...I can't bust her out of here yet because I still need them to lead me to the other kidnapped children.

"Can you tell me your name?" Spider-Woman asked. The question was more to distract her than anything.

The bunny faunus nodded. "M-My name is Linen."

Spider-Woman pat Linen's head. "Linen. That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Linen flushed bright red and leaned into Spider-Woman's palm. Ears pressed flat against her head.

"Linen," Spider-Woman began, resting her hands on the girl's shoulders. "These bad men that took you also took a lot of other kids away from their moms and dads. They are cold and alone right now. You understand right?" Linen looked like she might start crying again. But she nodded regardless. "Okay, good. Now, I don't know where those kids are yet but the bad men are taking us to them right now. That means that we can't leave until we get there."

The small faunus started trembling. "I...I know." A small spark flared in her eyes. "We...We need to save them!"

The masked vigilante smiled beneath her mask. Spoken like a true hero.

"Yes, we need to save them," Spider-Woman confirmed. "Do you think you can help me? I can't do it without you."

The young child clenched her fists tightly while looking down at her scuffed-up shoes. It only took her about three seconds before she made her decision. Her eyes snapped upward.

"Y-Yes! I'll do it!"

Perfect. She's very brave for someone so young.

Spider-Woman pat the girl's head. "Thank you, Linen. I'm proud of you for being so brave. All I need you to do is hold on for a little while longer. Can you do that for me?"

Linen wiped the tears from her eyes. "I... I think so."

Spider-Woman nodded. "Good. We'll get you to your mom soon. I promise."

Spider-Woman gently pushed her away and began removing her clothing that was covering up her spider suit. She slid her gloves on and snapped her web shooters over her wrists. She rolled her shoulders a few times to loosen up her muscles and ready herself for a fight.

"So, Linen," she started, taking a seat next to the child. Trying to think of something to talk about to distract the girl. "Can you tell me about yourself?"

Linen took the bait and sat on Spider-Woman's lap with a big smile. Her bunny ears tickled the hero's nose. "I wanna be a Huntress when I grow up! I wanna be big and strong like my big sister!"

Perfect, a distraction!

"Your sister huh? Is your sister a Huntress?"

Linen nodded rapidly. "Uh-huh! Big sister Velvet is training at Beacon to become an awesome Huntress! She's so cool! I wanna be just like her."

So cute…

"You're sister sounds awesome. I bet she's super proud of you already," Spider-Woman praised.

Linen beamed brightly as her cheeks heated up. "Y-You think so?"

"No, I know so."

Linen giggled softly. "I still don't have my aura. Mom says I can get it when I'm ready." She pouted. "S'not fair... I need aura to be a Huntress and I can't train like big sister Velvet without aura."

True enough. Spider-Woman had her own aura unlocked on her fifth birthday. Waiting to unlock the aura of a future Huntress was a recipe for disaster. All that time could be put to use training. The longer they waited, the less training the girl had. She couldn't train as effectively without aura. Sure, she could still get stronger, but repairing muscles would take much longer and aura also helped make muscles even stronger as well.

There was a reason why becoming as physically strong as a Huntsman was impossible without aura. It was because on top of aura healing muscles faster, it also healed them better. Say for instance someone without aura starting at level one. If they work out for an entire week then they might advance to level two. However, someone with aura starting at level one and working out for the same amount of time might advance to level five.

This was because aura was just that much better at healing the body. That's why her spider healing stacked on top of her aura healing was so amazing. She had effectively doubled or even tripled her training efficiency while cutting her recovery down significantly.

"I'm sure your mom's just worried about you," Spider-Woman said with a light chuckle. "She'll make sure you get your aura when the time is right."

Linen pouted while fidgeting with her fingers. "I-I know. I just don't like waiting."

Spider-Woman pulsed her Spider-Sense outward to scan for any threats. There wasn't any immediate danger around her so they would be fine for now. Waiting was starting to get annoying. She wasn't very patient and she was itching for a fight.

"Um...S-Spider-Woman?" Linen started bashfully. Her cheeks started glowing red again. "C-Can...um...c-can you show me your webs? P-Please? T-They're so c-cool!"

Spider-Woman smiled. Not that the girl could see it. "Of course!" Spider-Woman removed her glove and web shooter from her wrist and displayed her bare arm to the girl. "See this?" Spider-Woman pointed to the small flap on her wrist where her webbing was discharged. "My webs come out of here. All I gotta do is press two fingers on my palm and I can shoot lots of sticky webbing. Very useful for swinging around the city."

Linen's eyes were sparkling in wonder. "Woooow. So cool…."

Spider-Woman smirked as she got an idea. "You wanna try?"

Linen's head spun so fast it was a wonder she didn't snap her neck. "Can I?" She asked with all the excitement an eight year old could muster.

"Sure! Just push down two fingers right here. Just make sure your arm isn't in the way of my wrist."

Linen placed two fingers in the center of Spider-Woman's palm while the hero took aim. Linen pressed lightly on her palm. When nothing happened, she pressed harder and harder until eventually...

Thwip!

A line of sticky spider silk rocketed from Spider-Woman's wrist and latched onto the back door of the van.

"Wooooow!" Linen stared in awe at the sticky line of spider silk attached to her wrist. She plucked the webbing like a guitar string, watching it wobble back and fourth.

"Pretty cool right?" Spider-Woman asked, proudly. She loved showing off her powers to children. Watching their faces light up when she swung through the city was one of her favorite things about being Spider-Woman.

She didn't hear Linen's reply on account of her Spider-Sense tingling lightly in her skull. She tensed up and clenched her fists tightly. Her venom tingled in her muscles, threatening to burst out.

She released her web line and held Linen tightly. "We're here…" She whispered to the girl. She could hear the young faunus' heartbeat rise suddenly as she started to shiver. Spider-Woman gently pushed Linen off of her. She actually had to pry her fingers open to get her to let go. The girl was clearly terrified. The van slowed and came to a complete stop. They weren't driving for too long so Spider-Woman assumed that they were still in the city of Vale. Maybe just farther away to avoid the police. It didn't really matter at this point. All that was left was for her to kick ass and save the children.

She heard faint mumbling from outside but she directed her attention to the shivering girl beside her. "Okay, Linen. You ready to be a hero?" She said in a cheery voice to make the girl less scared.

Linen clenched her fists and nodded. "Good." Spider-Woman stood up straight and cracked her knuckles. She slipped her gloves back over her hands and made sure her web shooters were secure. This was gonna be fun.

"Here, I got something for you," Spider-Woman said as she sent a mental command to her web shooters. The mechanical devices shifted slightly before echoing a satisfying click. Spider-Woman pressed her fingers to her palm and watched the webbing form a ball in the palm of her hand. Once she was satisfied with the size, she handed the ball of webbing to Linen.

"This is a web grenade. It will explode into lots of sticky webbing once you throw it at something. Use it if you get in trouble. Just make sure you don't squeeze it too hard or it will explode in your hand."

Linen cautiously took the ball and rotated it with her fingers. The ball was lumpy and uneven, about the size of a baseball, maybe a little smaller. It was definitely heavier though considering how densely filled with webbing it was.

"T-Thanks, Spider-Woman."

The echoing of footsteps from outside told her that her time was up. Still, she had one last idea. If this girl was dead set on being a Huntress then a little training wouldn't hurt. "Let's try that grenade out right now. Okay?" She knelt down and pointed to the door. "Those bad men are going to open that door in a few seconds. When that happens I want you to throw that grenade at them. If you can do that then I can handle the rest."

The bunny faunus nodded past her fear and made her decision. "O-Okay. I can do it!"

The jangling of keys sounded from outside. "Okay, get ready little hero."

Linen nodded and reeled her arm back. Spider-Woman made sure to ready herself as well just in case the girl missed. This small bit of training wasn't really intended to improve her skill, it was more intended to improve her bravery. In that aspect, it was already working.

The click of the door unlocking echoed in the van. Linen's arm was moving the second she heard the door starting to open. She gave a small grunt of effort before releasing the grenade. Her aim was off a little, Spider-Woman was expecting that. The masked vigilante would've aimed straight for his head. Still, the web ball found it's target in his chest.

It was more than enough.

The web fibers started straining against the increased pressure of the liquid webbing inside the grenade before eventually tearing open. The smallest tear started a chain reaction that shredded the web casing and sent sticky spider silk flying in every direction. The grenade housed a lot of webbing and it was more than enough to blind not only the man it hit, but also a few surrounding men on top of restraining them by binding their arms to their bodies.

"What!? What the fuck is this!?" One of them screamed. Trying in vain to remove the webbing from his eyes.

That was her cue. With the element surprise now gone, Spider-Woman kicked herself out of the van and delivered a devastating haymaker toward the first man who got in her way. He was knocked out cold in an instant.

In an amazing show of strength, Spider-Woman grabbed the man by the chest before he could hit the ground and chucked him toward the next man she saw. It failed to knock the man out but it was more than enough to send him to the ground where he was promptly webbed up.

"It's Spider-Woman!" One of them yelled. "You idiots kidnapped Spider-Woman! How could you mess up this badly!?"

Spider-Woman covered her mouth with her palm and shook in silent laughter. "Hey, I play the homeless little girl character pretty well huh? Either that or you're just stupid." Spider-Woman loudly cracked her knuckles for all to hear. "Now, I'm not going to waste your time here so I'm going to give you two choices. You either tell me where those children are or I'm going to give each and every one of you the worst beating of your lives. You have five seconds to decide before you catch these hands."

Apparently, three seconds was enough time to make their decision when one of them pulled a gun on her and fired. Spider-Woman didn't move an inch. The man completely emptied his magazine into the hero, each and every bullet bounced harmlessly off her aura. The bullets didn't even do much to her aura because they had no elemental dust in them.

The last bullet bounced off her skull and dropped harmlessly onto the asphalt. Spider-Woman stood strong against the man who dared try to harm her.

"Alright, just remember, I gave you an out."

A thin web line ejected from Spider-Woman's wrist and latched onto the man who fired at her. Spider-Woman pulsed a small amount of her venom through the web and watched in smug satisfaction as the electricity zipped up the web and turned the criminal into a convulsing mess on the ground.

The masked spider leapt into the air to avoid a barrage of bullets that nearly slammed into her aura. She fired a web line toward the ground and pulled with all her might. She cocked her fist back and slammed it into the ground as she made contact. The resulting impact was enough to send spider web cracks in every direction and cause multiple men to stumble.

Spider-Woman took advantage of the opening she created and switched both web shooters to her brand new bullet webbing nozzle. She aimed both wrists and let loose her webbing. Instead of a single web line being ejected, the web line was split into dozens of smaller balls of webbing that traveled at a much higher speed.

She slowly dragged her hand through the air and let her webbing do it's thing. It was like a machine gun firing. Each web ball made a dull thumping noise when they slammed into the men. She made sure to aim for their more... ahem... sensitive areas. She felt like they deserved it.

She webbed up one of the men's weapons and tore it out of his hand before spinning it around and slamming it into his temple, dropping him like a sack of bricks.

"Are you men or punching bags?"

She blurred forward and buried her fist into a criminal's gut, causing spittle to fly passed his lips. When he dropped to his knees, she brought her knee straight up into his chin, snapping his head back. For good measure, she dropped her fist straight into his face, slamming him into the concrete.

"Walk it off."

She leapt into the air to avoid a knife that almost slashed her aura. A web line found one of their backs and she pulled him straight into the air with her. She had the overwhelming advantage when it came to mid-air combat because she could change her direction with her webs. She used both feet to kick him in the sternum and webbed up his foot before swinging him high in the air and bringing him straight down into the concrete.

There numbers were dwindling and they all knew it. One of them made a mad dash to escape but was thwarted when Spider-Woman grabbed his leg and slammed him into the hood of one of their vehicles, denting the hood.

She really wanted to bring the car down on the rest of them but knew without a doubt that they couldn't survive it. So she held off.

Her Spider-Sense directed her gaze to a small spherical device soaring through the air and multiple criminals ducking for cover. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was a grenade.

Thinking fast, Spider-Woman fired an endless stream of webbing into the grenade, trying to pad it as much as possible to dampen the explosion. When the grenade finally detonated, the webbing ballooned outward for a second before shrinking back in. The noise was dampened significantly too.

Deciding to fight back in a similar manner, Spider-Woman changed her web-shooters to their web grenade setting and began building up two massive grenades packed with webbing.

When she was finished, they were easily larger than her hand. She could feel the liquid webbing sloshing around inside. Reeling her hands back, she tossed the massive grenade behind the cover the criminals were hiding behind.

Webbing sprayed upward when the grenades hit the ground, covering the entire area in sticky spider silk and trapping the rest of the criminals who were hiding.

"Looks like crime really doesn't pay... unless you count hospital bills!"

Spider-Woman dashed over to the van and slowly opened the door. Linen was still inside, huddled in the corner, hiding from the bad men. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the masked hero.

"Spidey!" She yelled, running into the hero's arms. She buried her face into the hero's shoulder. "Did you win?" She smiled.

Spider-Woman smirked under her mask. "Of course! It's tough being unbeatable, but someone's gotta do it." She pulled Linen out of the van and placed her gently on the ground. "Now, let's find those children."

Linen's ears perked up. "Right!"

Luckily for them, a lot of the criminals were still conscious, they were just restrained by her webbing. She took a quick minute to web up the unconscious criminals that she hadn't restrained before walking over to the conscious ones. They had given up struggling in the webs. Their strength proved no match for the spider silk. They glared at her with nothing short of pure rage.

Linen hid behind her back while she approached them.

"I've got school tomorrow, so let's make it snappy, shall we? I'll cut you guys a deal: the truth for a shorter chat. Your call."

One of the men spit at her feet. "Fuck you bitch! We ain't saying shit!"

Spider-Woman walked over to him and drove her foot into his face, knocking him out in a second. "Spiders can be patient, but let's not test my patience today." Spider-Woman deepened her voice and warped it slightly by pulsing her venom through her vocal cords to sound intimidating. "Where are those kidnapped children?"

The men flinched and shrunk back at her tone. Some of them even started shivering.

"Come on, spill it! Otherwise, I might have to start singing bad guy nursery rhymes!"

None of them spoke a word. Ugh...great. I guess I should take a look around. I just wish they would put a big sign saying 'kidnapped children here' for me to find. That would make my life easier.

Hmm, I wish my Spider-Sense could help me find people easier. That would make this a cinch.

Spider-Woman tapped her foot on the ground while trying to come up with an idea. She could feel the vibrations of her incessant tapping traveling up her legs.

…

…

...wait... vibrations?

Her head shot up.

"That's it!"

Linen flinched slightly at her volume but Spider-Woman was too excited to care.

Spiders are the second most vibration sensitive creatures on Remnant, second only to the cockroach. Spiders have very poor eyesight and have to rely on sensing vibrations to catch their next meal. They can further enhance their vibration sensing capabilities by using their webs.

Spider-Woman looked to the ground. "I hope this works."

Linen looked at the hero with her ears flicking curiously.

Spider-Woman shot a thin strand of webbing at the ground and made sure to pull it up tightly. Okay, if this works like it does with regular spiders then I should be able to find those children here.

Spider-Woman closed her eyes and focused on the vibrations coming through her webbing. She could feel the heartbeats of Linen and all the webbed up criminals. She could feel the tires of cars speeding down the road. She could even feel the rats in the sewers scurrying about.

I know what the vibrations of heartbeats feel like, I need to feel for a lot of them in a single location.

She kept a tight grip on her web while pulling it more taut to make it more sensitive. Her range increased accordingly. It wasn't until she felt one location with an above average amount of life did she open her eyes.

I found them! Now, all I gotta do is find a way to get to them.

She stomped her foot on the ground a few times to send vibrations in every direction so she could map out a path to the children. They were in a basement, that much was obvious considering how much the vibrations were dampened.

It only took her about 30 seconds to figure out exactly how to get to the kidnapped children.

Her webbing snapped to the ground with a loud slap when she released it. "Found them. Guess I didn't need you guys after all." She petted one of the kidnappers on the head. "Don't worry, the police will take you to your new home soon enough."

The man scoffed. "You're bluffing! There's no way you know where the are!"

She pointed to a building across the street. "In that building, in the basement, down the hall, last door on the right, through a hidden trapdoor under the carpet, down one more hall, in a cell. That about cover it?"

His face drained of color and his jaw practically hit the floor. The color came back with a vengeance as pure rage covered every inch of his face. "You bi-" A glob of webbing clogged the rest of the words in his throat.

"Alrighty then! You ready Linen?" Spider-Woman asked while handing her another web grenade for her protection.

Linen took the grenade and held it close to her chest. The small child steeled her nerves and nodded at the hero. "Y-Yes! I'm ready!"

Spider-Woman pat her head. "Good. Let's go!"

The door was locked for about two seconds before Spider-Woman kicked it off it's hinges. The cheep door split down the middle and splintered into a hundred tiny pieces. It could've been made of steel and it would've been no problem.

All things considered, the abandoned building was pretty inconspicuous. There was a distinct lack of furniture anywhere apart from a few folding chairs laying about. There were some playing cards on a folding table and some old cigar stubs in an ashtray. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. She hated the smell of tobacco.

She could see a faint wisp of smoke wafting off the cigar. It was used recently. She would have to be on her guard in case there were still people around.

"Linen, stay behind me, okay?"

Linen nodded and stepped behind the hero.

Ok, the kids are in the basement. Let's get them out of there.

Spider-Woman and her temporary sidekick made their way through the building, following the path that Spider-Woman had already mapped out. Surprisingly enough, they didn't run into a single guard on the way there. Spider-Women kicked the rug out of the way to expose the hidden trapdoor built into the floor. It looked to be made of steel and was of course locked.

"Stand back."

Rather than spending 30 minutes looking for a key, Spider-Woman gripped the door with her sticky fingers and pulled with all her might. Cracks started to spread in all directions and send chips of stone flying up. The steel door started to warp, bolts popped out of the steel and pinged off the walls and her aura. The metal groaned loudly, straining against her super strength. Cracks spread out from the heels of her feet as she pulled even harder. Her muscles bulged from her spandex, threatening to tear it.

The door gave one final screech before a loud clang sounded and the door tore up the floor as it was torn from it's spot. The final few bolts shot out of the hinges and bounced around the room.

If there was anybody else in the building then they would've been sure to hear that. So she just tossed the door over her shoulder and listened as it shattered the floor further. The sound was awful. She clapped her hands free of dust before turning to Linen. "Piece of cake."

The two peered down the hole. Linen was a faunus who was sure to have night vision while Spider-Woman was a human-faunus hybrid who also had night vision so neither of them would have a problem seeing in the dark. Spider-Woman really wanted to leave Linen here as to not put her into further danger but she couldn't be sure that someone else wouldn't show up. Being next to her was just safer.

The silver-eyed spider offered her hand to the bunny faunus who took it without a second thought.

Spider-Woman held her tight as she jumped into the basement. The fall only lasted around two seconds before she hit the ground and released Linen. It was damp and hard to breath, the walls were dripping with water and there was moss growing around her feet. The smell was another thing entirely. The air was really cold and heavy too. Looking up, Spider-Woman spotted a few flashlights along the walls. A few of them were dim and flickering while others were blown completely, with shattered glass beneath them. Her boots were thin enough to stick to surfaces but strong enough to not injure her feet if she ever stepped on anything so she wouldn't need to worry about the glass.

"Hey," Spider-Woman placed her palm on Linen's shoulder. "Are you okay?" The girl was trembling beneath her hand.

Linen nodded. "I-I'm fine. But those kids need our help. We have to save them!"

This girl really is something else. I can tell she's scared but she's trying to be brave. She'll make a great Huntress one day.

"You're right, they need our help," Spider-Woman smiled, petting her head. "Are you ready to be a hero?"

Linen nodded enthusiastically. Spider-Woman took that as her cue to start walking. She could already feel the vibrations of multiple heartbeats just a short distance ahead. She could only imagine how scared they all were.

Linen grabbed Spider-Woman's hand and held it tightly. Spider-Woman returned the geasture and lightly squeezed her hand back. This girl really was the cutest.

She still had no idea why these children were kidnapped in the first place but she supposed that didn't really matter at this point. All that mattered was that they were kidnapped and she needed to save them. She had a feeling that a few of the criminals would speak to the police anyway when they showed up.

It got harder and harder to breathe the further they traveled. The poor ventilation was causing a buildup of dust, moisture, and carbon dioxide. It was like trying to breathe at extremely high altitudes. It wasn't impossible, she just had to take deeper breaths to get more oxygen in her lungs.

Her head shot up when her enhanced hearing picked up on the muffled sound of crying coming from just ahead. Linen clearly heard it too because her ears perked up and twisted in the direction of the crying. They exchanged one quick look before running ahead. Spider-Woman made sure to keep a hold of her hand in case she was running into a trap. Her Spider-Sense would warn her if such a thing were to happen.

Please be okay.

Her eyes widened when she found a single metal door at the end of the hall. She almost threw all her body weight on it before she remembered who was inside. She skidded to a halt and gripped the iron bars on the door to look inside.

As expected, there were 20 children trapped behind the door. Most of them were injured in some way, some of them had bruises and cuts, while others looked sickly due to poor living conditions. There were a few empty food trays scattered about so at least they were fed. Though Spider-Woman would've rather starved than eat whatever food they were served.

Their clothes were filthy and torn in places, dirt caked their hair and skin. Some of them were trying their best to sleep through the night but were having little luck.

Spider-Woman felt an unholy amount of rage bubble up in her stomach. Her heart started to illuminate as it pumped venom throughout her entire being. Lighting crackled in her retinas and zipped between her fingers. Linen actually had to step back for fear of being zapped.

How could somebody do this to all these innocent children? How sick and twisted would someone have to be to even get an idea like this, let alone actually go through with it?

It didn't matter, they would be safe soon.

Spider-Woman placed one hand on the left and right of the door. The door immediately started to crumple like an aluminum can as she brought her hands together and compressed the metal. The screeching metal was agony on her ears. Like throwing shards of steel in a blender. The screech of bending metal echoed through the room as the door resisted, the walls quivering under the sheer might being exerted upon it. Bits of stone were torn from the wall and pelted her aura.

Her muscles bulged and her throat growled when – with one final roar of effort – the door groaned, hinges screeching in protest as the door yielded to the incredible force. Ripped from its fixings, the door was torn from the wall with an ear-splitting clang, leaving behind shattered remnants of masonry and twisted metal.

For good measure, Spider-Woman twisted the steel in her hands and – with great effort – ripped the door in half with a growl. The two halves of the door slammed into the ground, kicking up even more dust, making their breathing situation worse.

There, it's done, now there's only one thing left to do.

Spider-Woman stepped forward through the dust, Linen not far behind her. Most of the children were huddled up in the corner, trying to protect themselves, while one brave boy was stood in front of them all, ready to protect them at any cost.

That same boy's eyes widened as tears started streaming down his face when he saw her. His legs turned to jelly and buckled beneath him. Spider-Woman caught him before he could hit the floor. "Hey, easy there," she whispered into his ear. "Are you alright?" Spider-Woman asked, checking for injuries.

The boy just sobbed into her shoulder. "S-Spider-Woman… you… you came for us."

The hero nodded. "Yeah...yeah I did." She looked up to the rest of the children, hope returning to their eyes. "Don't worry everyone. I'm here now. You're all going home."

She sat the boy on the floor and gently pried his hands away from her arm. Spider-Woman stood up with Linen at her side. "Hey everyone. My name is Spider-Woman and this is Linen," she said, gently pushing the girl forward. "We're here to get you out. If anybody is injured then please step forward."

A lot of them were injured. But most of the wounds had scabbed over already. She had to remember that a few of them had been stuck in here for a month. Still, she wrapped all their wounds in webbing, regardless of the state of them. She could tell that a few infections had already set in but none of them looked too bad. Some antibiotics would kill the bacteria in no time. None of them had any broken bones thankfully. Though every single one of them was malnourished. They weren't getting enough food for all of them. Some likely had to go without meals a few times.

Spider-Woman reached into her utility belt and pulled out a couple protein bars. The children started salivating at the sight of actual nourishment. "There isn't enough for everybody," she said. "So you're gonna need to share."

She handed out the food to the children and watched as they greedily dug into their meal. The food didn't last 30 seconds before all of it was gone.

"Okay," Spider-Woman said, standing up. "Let's get out of here."

---

The trip back through the hall was slow and painful. The children had lost a lot of weight and muscle and Spider-Woman couldn't carry all of them. There was no way she was gonna leave them down there and wait for the police to arrive. They spent enough time down there.

She had to be patient so everyone would make it out safely. Linen was putting on a brave face for the kids but Spider-Woman could tell she was scared. The air slowly got thinner and easier to breathe as they made their way up. She could see the light shine through the ceiling where they had entered.

Spider-Woman started helping children up the ladder. It was a slow ordeal but it had to be done. Those that were too weak to climb were simply carried up. They felt so small and fragile in her arms. She had to be careful to not aggravate any injuries. She felt sick to her stomach feeling how light they were. Those monsters would pay for their crimes.

After Linen made it up the ladder, her Spider-Sense started firing off in her head. She was immediately on guard with her venom ready to fire in a second. She didn't want to startle the children anymore so she leaned down to Linen. "I'm going to go make sure it's safe. Stay here and don't make a sound. Okay?"

Linen's eyes widened with fear. "I-Is everything okay?"

"Yes," she lied. "I just want to double-check, you still have that grenade right?" Linen nodded and held up the grenade. "Good." She stood up to address the children. "I'll be right back, stay with Linen, and don't make a sound."

Spider-Woman closed the door behind her and made her way down the hall again. She almost webbed up the door so they couldn't leave but she wanted them to be able to make a break for it if they needed to. The sounds of her footsteps were the only company she received as she slowly made her way down the hall. That and the buzzing of her Spider-Sense.

Did those criminals manage to break out? No, they aren't strong enough to break my webbing. Unless one of them had a knife. Even if they did break out, I'm sure they would make a break for it instead of trying to take care of me.

I'm sure the police heard all the commotion from earlier. I bet they're outside right now. They just don't know that the children are in this building. I bet they would've never been found unless one of the criminals had loose lips.

Spider-Woman rounded a corner and felt her Spider-Sense buzz harder.

She was close.

A loud bang echoed somewhere in the building. It sounded like metal being slammed against another piece of metal. It was almost deafening. The sound immediately put her on guard. She heightened her Spider-Sense and clenched her fists tightly.

Another bang sounded, but this time it was accompanied by the building shaking and the lights flickering. She wasn't sure why but she could've sword that the air in front of her was distorted, kinda like it was vibrating.

Actually, upon taking a closer look, the air was definitely vibrating. It was hard to describe what vibrating air looked like but this definitely fit the description. It was like she could see the air. It was weird.

She was so distracted by the vibrating air that she almost missed the roar of her Spider-Sense in her skull. She reacted just in time to spin around and lean back from a gauntlet-covered arm that almost blasted into her aura.

The gauntlets were pitch black with bits of yellow thrown in. They were very bulky and looked almost impractical to wear. The gauntlets didn't even extend to cover the fist to provide any protection, they stopped at the wrist.

Still, she successfully dodged the attack. So why was her Spider-Sense still roaring in her skull?

She got her answer about one-fifth of a second later when the gauntlets started glowing and distorting the very air in front of her. She could feel her skull start to vibrate, though it wasn't because of her Spider-Sense this time.

Everything in her vision warped and twisted to the verge of snapping. She couldn't tell which way was up, like a caged insect being played with by a child. She could feel her last meal bubbling up in her stomach.

And then…

A devastating streak of distorted space slammed into every inch of her being. She was sent flying through multiple walls, obliterating masonry and drywall with her tiny body. The blast tore up the floor with little resistance, ripping up tile and hardwood in equal measure. The ceiling wasn't spared either. She ruptured a few water pipes too, sending clean water spilling onto the now-destroyed floor. Her skull blasted through one final wall before she skipped along the floor and crashed into an empty bookshelf, obliterating it in an instant.

Her aura flickered and strained to keep her safe. She probably lost a little less than half her aura with that one blast. Though most of the damage had been from smashing through those walls. If she had been more prepared then she would've stuck her feet to the ground to stay in place. Though, the floor was ripped to shreds too so it wouldn't have helped too much.

Her spotty vision slowly became clearer when she forced herself to blink. The distorted ringing in her ears was slowly subsiding as well.

An agonized cough escaped Spider-Woman's throat before she spoke.

"O-Ow…" She wheezed through the dust.

"Damn bug. You actually survived that? Color me impressed," a robotic voice spoke.

Spider-Woman forced her arms underneath her and pushed herself into a sitting position. Her arms were shaking way too much and she had no idea why.

What the hell did this guy hit me with? It's like my entire body is vibrating.

Spider-Woman pushed herself up enough to get a good enough look at her attacker. The man was dressed head to toe in thick padded armor. The color scheme was entirely black and yellow, not unlike Yang. The armor was mostly padded fabric rather than the traditional metal. The only exceptions being the helmet, shoulder pads, knee pads, and boots. Everything else was some type of thick fabric. It didn't look like it would provide very much protection.

Spider-Woman coughed up a cloud of dust. "Who...who are you?" She pushed herself up to her feet, wiggling her fingers to get her feeling back.

The man pumped his fists, causing his gauntlets to distort the air around them. "Me? You can call me Shocker. The last name you'll ever hear."

Oh great.

Spider-Woman dropped to her knees to avoid a blow that would've surely thrown her through more walls. Now that she had a better look, the gauntlets actually seemed to use a vibration-based attack. It made sense considering that her entire body was shaking and the gauntlets were causing the air to shake as well. It was quite fascinating. She would've been fangirling super hard if he wasn't trying to kill her.

His armor made more sense now. It wasn't made to protect him from physical attacks but instead made to protect him from his own vibration attacks. That's why his armor was padded so much. That material must've been resistant to vibrations.

Her spider suit was not.

Spider-Woman kicked herself to the side, avoiding two fists that almost crashed down on her head. She took the opportunity to shoot a few massive globs of webbing that encased the gauntlets and fastened them to the ground.

She charged a large amount of venom into her fist and launched it at the Shocker. The Shocker used his vibrating gauntlets to weaken the molecular structure of the webbing and broke free just in time to throw his own punch at Spider-Woman.

Their two fists collided in a magnificent dome of scattered blue electricity and dancing vibrations.

She could barely feel her arm with how much it was shaking. Still, she didn't need to feel her arm to push it forward. Her physical strength was still vastly superior to the Shocker. Her fist knocked his gauntlet to the side and crashed into his chest. Her fist sank into his padded armor and smashed into his skin.

She didn't stop there.

She took a step forward and dug her knuckles further into Shocker's chest, venom coated his entire body before a thunderous crack echoed from her fist as he was launched through a wall. A couple of lights flickered when the arcs of venom zipped between the bulbs. Taking a second to catch her breath, Spider-Woman pulsed a large amount of venom through her entire body to shock her muscles back to life. She regained all feeling after a few seconds, allowing her to move her muscles freely but also feel all the pain she was in.

This building is coming down at this rate. I have to get him outside.

Spider-Woman pursued the criminal through the broken walls and found him pushing himself up off the ground. His aura had absorbed all the damage from her blow but he still had the wind knocked out of him.

Spider-Woman ran up to him and dodged a punch before kicking him in the face. It wasn't meant to cause much damage, her goal was just to anger him into following her.

"Is it just me, or are you shockingly bad at this whole villain thing?" She taunted the downed villain. "Getting your ass kicked by a little girl in a skin-tight red and blue suit isn't a good look for you."

She bolted as soon as she felt her Spider-Sense flare up in her skull. She kicked a door off its hinges and bolted for the exit with the Shocker hot on her heels. She jumped to the side to avoid a vibration blast that nearly slammed into her aura. The blast continued forward and destroyed another few walls. Spider-Woman took that opportunity to make a mad dash for the exit. She could hear the building creaking as the rubble rained down.

She could feel the cold air of the outside world as she jumped to freedom. She immediately flattened herself against the ground as another vibration wave warped the air above her. The police that were outside managed to duck for cover to avoid the vibration blast as well. Though all of them had their guns pointed at them as soon as the blast had subsided.

She pulled herself onto a building with her webs before another wave could hit her. She latched herself onto the building before turning to Shocker. "Hey, you call yourself Shocker but your attacks aren't electric based. Should we call you Vibrator instead?"

The police as well as herself laughed at her lewd joke. Shocker on the other hand was not as amused. "Shut up!" He roared, throwing another blast toward her. The blast tore out a large chunk of the building when she dodged it. She sent a mental command to her web-shooters and took careful aim before letting loose a barrage of web bullets toward shocker. Her aim was spot on for the most part. Most of the bullets slammed into Shocker's body and various parts of his equipment. A few of them slammed into his mask and blinded him.

She took advantage of the distraction and used her venom to propel herself toward the blinded Shocker. She delivered a devastating venom-infused kick toward his head, covering him with electricity and knocking him to the ground. She unleashed a thick web net onto Shocker which prevented any further attempts at escape.

"Thanks for the fight, but I've got school tomorrow. Have fun in prison."

Shocker relaxed his muscles and started giggling to himself. Her Spider-Sense started buzzing, putting her on edge. "Fight? Heh… Fine, I'll give you a fight."

Her Spider-Sense warned her but she wasn't prepared or fast enough to jump out of the way in time. Shocker's gauntlets released a massive wave of energy that spread out in every direction. A dome of distorted energy slammed into her body at incredibly high speeds.

Getting hit with vibrations was something that Spider-Woman never thought would happen to her. It was also very difficult to describe how it felt. It was like all her atoms were shaking violently, trying to atomize her body.

The wave of energy blasted her backward into a police car. The vehicle crumpled under her weight and slammed into the building behind it. The officers managed to get out of the way in time, which was a plus.

The vibration was so intense that it was hard to tell if it was her Spider-Sense or not. Every atom of her body was in pain.

Her eyes caught the Shocker getting to his feet and using his gauntlets to weaken the webbing covering his arms. "Still wanna fight bug?"

Spider-Woman slid down the crumpled car. Her butt hit the cold hard concrete with a thud. Her spotty vision slowly came back to life and the ringing in her ears subsided. "I-I'm... an arachnid… Not a bug," she coughed out.

"Fire!" One of the officers called out. Every officer in the vicinity began unloading their magazines into Shocker. It didn't really do much. Once the first few shots bounced off his aura, he activated his gauntlets and created a vibration dome around his body. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the shield.

Great…

Spider-Woman got to her feet in time for her Spider-Sense to buzz loudly. She looked at Shocker in time to see him flip a police car with one vibration-enhanced punch. She dashed ahead and caught the car with her bare hands before it could crush a police officer.

She growled under the weight of the car. The metal buckled beneath her grip before she pushed ahead and launched the destroyed car back at Shocker. The car slammed into Shocker and continued ahead before smashing him against a building and dealing massive damage to his aura.

Shocker unleashed a burst of energy and threw the car off him. Spider-Woman didn't let up. She coated her entire body in venom and rushed ahead to the costumed villain. Shocker summoned a force field around him in an attempt to protect himself. Spider-Woman grunted in pain when she came into contact with the barrier. She ignored the pain and pushed through. She reeled her venom-coated fist back and drove it straight into Shocker's face.

His mask cracked under her knuckles and his head slammed into the building behind him. Her powerful fists rained down on the man. Each punch was coated with venom and filled with her unrelenting rage. "Raaaghh!" She roared, burying her fist into his abdomen. She shot a web onto his face and pulled it straight down while driving her knee up into his mask. His mask cracked further and his aura flared to protect him.

Her Spider-Sense warned her but she was unable to dodge the punch shocker threw at her. His punch was weak, pathetic, and sad. It met her abdomen but wasn't even enough to damage her aura.

His punch might've been weak, but the massive blast of energy that exploded out of his gauntlet and into her chest was not.

Air exploded from her lungs as she folded over his fist. Her body became airborne a second later as she was blasted through an entire building. She skipped on the ground a few times before her head bounced off a parked car, sending her skidding to the side.

She slid to a stop, aura dangerously low and her entire body in agony. She forced herself to her feet, knowing that lying down would guarantee her death. She stumbled and had to hold onto a light post to support herself and stop her world from spinning. She heard gunshots sound from ahead. She had to go support the police. The children were still inside that building too. She needed to get them out as soon as possible.

I just gotta keep going. I'm stronger than him, faster than him, smarter than him. The only advantage he has is ranged power. I can't afford to hold back like I usually do.

Spider-Woman pulled herself into the air with a web and swung back to the chaos. Her Spider-Sense helped guide her even though she didn't need it.

Spider-Woman shot two web lines on either side of her and pulled herself high above the buildings. She positioned herself above shocker and ejected two web lines toward the ground and pulled with all her might. The result was her being rocketed toward Shocker at insanely high speeds.

She extended her legs right into Shocker's back, creating a ditch into the concrete and burying him. His aura flared and flickered to protect him. She jumped away in time to avoid another vibration blast that emanated from his wrists. She didn't give him a second to breathe when she latched a web line onto his foot and forcefully yank Shocker from the ground. Small chunks of asphalt were torn up along with him.

I have the advantage in the air!

Spider-Woman pulled Shocker close to her and drove a right hook straight into his cheek. She pulled back and buried her left hook into his nose. His aura desperately trying to protect him from harm.

Shocker attempted to fire a vibration blast into Spider-Woman's chest but she flipped over him at the last second and avoided the attack. She countered by launching her foot into his back, folding him over her foot, and sending him crashing into a wall.

Can't let him recover!

Spider-Woman fired a web line at the wall and pulled herself with all her might. She crashed into Shocker and kicked him through the building. Sending masonry and drywall in every direction. Spider-Woman pursued the villain. She grabbed a piece of masonry that fell off the wall and chucked it at the villain, nailing him right in the face. His cracked mask cracked even further, exposing the right side of his face.

His aura is running low. I can't let up.

Unfortunately for Spider-Woman, she had failed to account for the fact that Shocker had the advantage in an enclosed space due to her not being able to dodge his attacks. Shocker took advantage of this and threw both of his fists forward, projecting a massive vibrational wave toward her.

She could only throw her arms and aura up to protect her before the blast slammed into her body. Masonry was reduced to dust, the air was distorted and warped, and Spider-Woman's tiny body blasted through the wall and slammed on the asphalt.

Her aura was just about gone at this point. Her mask told her that only 13% of it remained. She tried to move her arms to push herself up but her muscles were twitching so badly that she could barely move. Shocker's armored boot stomped onto her chest, holding her in place. She felt her Spider-Sense buzz but couldn't stop the barrage of vibration-enhanced punches that Shocker threw at her. Each punch sent agony lacing through her skull. She could feel the bruises start to form and the blood leaking through small cuts that her low aura failed to prevent.

Her aura meter displayed 5%. She brought her hand up and caught Shocker's fist but the vibrations sent agony down her arm, damaging her aura even further. Even breathing was hard because of his weight on her chest.

Shocker threw one more punch into her face. Sending her skull crashing down onto the asphalt and draining the last of her aura. Shocker stood victoriously above the beaten hero. Breathing heavily but smiling all the same. His gauntlets started glowing brighter and brighter. The air around them distorting.

"I'll admit it, you're strong," Shocker praised Spider-Woman. "Shame I gotta kill you now," he said, raising both fists above his head, preparing to bring them down on Spider-Woman.

Her Spider-Sense buzzed, not that she needed it to know what was about to happen.

Please don't notice.

Spider-Woman took careful aim with her wrist and prepared to shoot a glob of webbing right at the man's exposed face. His mask was mostly destroyed so all she needed to do was get his eye.

Before she could fire her web. Something round and white hit the side of Shocker's face. Spider-Woman recognized it immediately and covered her face to protect her vision. The ball of webbing ripped open and splattered sticky spider silk all over Shocker's face and even bound his gauntlets together. A few smaller globs hit her but she was more than strong enough to break free.

Spider-Woman snapped her head to the side to see Linen with her arm outstretched and tears streaming down her face. Seems she put that web grenade to good use after all.

"Nice shot!" Spider-Woman yelled praise toward Linen. She took major advantage of the distraction and shot a web at Shocker's face and pulled him down right into her fist. The loud bang of contact was music to her ears. The rest of his mask fell away, exposing his features for everyone to see.

She kicked Shocker in the groin, sending him to the ground in a groaning mess of flesh.

Without the added weight on her, Spider-Woman flipped herself to her feet and shot a web line toward the Shocker's gauntlets. She pulled them close to her and wrapped her tiny fingers around them.

She felt the metal buckle and crack as soon as she put pressure on them. Her fingers dug deeper and deeper into the metal before she wrenched her hands to the side, tearing the gauntlets into pieces and sending Shocker to the ground.

For good measure, she sent a massive amount of venom through the gauntlets destroying any electrical components as well as making them completely unrepairable.

She tossed the destroyed gauntlets to the side and stood victoriously over the battered and beaten Shocker.

One more punch to his unprotected face knocked him out cold and unable to harm anyone.

It was over.

She had won.

Her costume was still in one piece apart from some small cuts here and there. Her costume-making skills had improved greatly since she started. This version was much harder to tear.

A small weight collided with her body. Linen wrapped her arms around Spider-Woman and buried her face into her dirty costume. Spider-Woman returned the hug.

"Hey, thanks for the assist there. Your aim is pretty impressive," Spider-Woman praised the little girl. "You're already shaping up to be a great Huntress."

Linen's eyes poked out from her costume. "Is...Is it over?"

Spider-Woman giggled and pat Linen on her head.

"Yeah...It's all over."

---

The police had thankfully decided to ignore her in favor of arresting Shocker instead. Something she was quite grateful for. She even helped by wrapping his entire body in a cocoon of webbing. Spider-Woman led them through the destroyed building to where the children were still hiding. The paramedics rushed to attend to the children who were injured.

One of the paramedics had even given her a water bottle. She slowly sipped the bottle, wanting to savor the refreshing taste.

Of course, parents had been contacted that their children were found and a few of them had already shown up. Crying while holding their children tight. Moments like these made the job worth it.

Linen sat beside her, eagerly munching on some salted crackers that the paramedics had given her. She was even kind enough to share.

Spider-Woman watched the police haul all of the criminals into multiple armored cars. Each of them would have to pay for their crimes.

"Hey, Spider-Woman?"

She turned to Linen. "Hm?"

Linen's bright brown eyes stared up at the hero with a cute smile on her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner, but thank you for saving me. You're my hero!"

Spider-Woman was incredibly grateful for the mask at that moment, otherwise, Linen would've seen her start to cry.

Hero...that's all I ever wanted to be.

Spider-Woman pulled Linen into a hug. "Y-You're...You're welcome. I'm glad I could help."

Mom...are you watching? I'm keeping my promise. I'll never give up.

"Linen!" Two exhausted female voices yelled. Linen's head snapped to the side. Tears immediately started pooling in her eyes.

"M-Mom! Big Sis!" Linen scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Linen slammed into her mother and sister and wrapped her arms tightly around them. "I... I... I was... so scared!"

"I'm sorry!" Linen's mom wailed. "I'm sorry! They took you before I could stop them! Forgive me!"

"It's okay! You're safe now! We're going home!" Velvet cried into Linen's hair. Spider-Woman actually recognized Velvet from Beacon. She's seen her a few times wandering the halls and in the cafeteria.

Spider-Woman stood to her feet and examined the area. Paramedics were tending to the children while the police were hauling away the criminals. News crews were also reporting on the incident. All in all, it looked like everything was just about wrapped up.

Guess I should go home. I have school tomorrow.

Spider-Woman finished her water and tossed it in the recycling before heading off. She barely made it three steps before someone grabbed her hand.

"Hm?" She turned around to see Linen's sister clutching her hand tightly. This girl was definitely a Huntress if her grip was to be believed.

"S-Sorry... I-It's just... T-Thank you so much!" She bowed to Spider-Woman. "You saved my sister's life. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Spider-Woman rubbed her neck bashfully. "A... aha... I-It was no trouble at all... I was in the neighborhood," Spider-Woman shook Velvet's hand. "You're sister really looks up to you y'know. Says she wants to be just like you when she grows up."

"I'm not sure being like me is the best thing for her," Velvet admitted. "I want her to be happy but I also want her to be safe. Can she really have both when she wants to be like me?"

Spider-Woman shrugged. "Beats me. But I do know that believing in her would be more effective than any training could give. She looks for your approval more than anyone and I think that says a lot about how good a big sister you are. So... keep it up."

Velvet looked like she might cry again. "R-Right!"

Spider-Woman walked past Velvet and approached Linen who had just finished her reunion with her mother. "Thanks for all your help today Linen." She pat the girl on the head. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Linen flushed and leaned into Spider-Woman's hand. "Thank you for saving me."

Spider-Woman got down on her knee. "You're going to be a fantastic Huntress one day. Can you promise me that you'll work hard to make your sister proud?"

Linen clenched her fists tightly to her chest. "Yes! I promise!" She turned to her big sister. "I'll make you proud Big Sis! I swear!

Velvet looked down lovingly at her little sister. "Oh, Linen. I'm already so proud of you."

Spider-Woman held her hand out to Linen. "I'm glad to hear that Linen. Now, there's one last thing I want to give you. Come here please."

Linen looked curiously at her outstretched hand but eventually took it in her own. Spider-Woman pulled Linen into a hug and gently coaxed what little of her aura she had recovered into her hand.

She whispered softly enough so only Linen could hear her voice.

"From the deepest recesses of your soul, where power lies dormant and untapped, I beseech you to awaken. Let the aura within you shimmer and surge, casting away the shadows of doubt and fear. Embrace the untamed flame that burns within, for it is your essence, your strength, your will. Unleash its brilliance upon the world, a beacon of light in the face of darkness. With every breath, let your aura ignite, radiating resilience, courage, and boundless potential. Rise, as the guardian of your own destiny, and let your aura illuminate the path ahead. By my hand, I grant thee this great power and this greater responsibility."

A blinding wave of beautiful orange light shone from Linen's heart. Her newly awakened aura flowed through every inch of her body, empowering her beyond her own limits and solidifying her destiny.

Linen flexed her fingers as she felt her new power fill them. "Woooow...Is...Is this...aura?"

Spider-Woman staggered for a moment before catching herself. Her aura had completely drained with that stunt, but it was worth it. "I used my aura to unlock yours but the energy that protects you now is your own. You have a lot of it."

It was nowhere close to the aura that Jaune had but it was about equal to her own, maybe a little more.

"Good luck Linen, I look forward to working with you someday."

Spider-Woman stood up and looked at the girl's mother. "You're a good mom who raised a wonderful daughter. The life of a Huntress is dangerous but I know she can do it if you believe in her."

The mother grabbed Spider-Woman's hand and shook it enthusiastically. "I make sure she's ready. I'll make sure she's strong enough, I promise! Thank you for saving my little girl."

Spider-Woman nodded. "You're welcome."

The masked hero made her way down the street, prepared to swing off. She stopped when a small figure collided with her leg. Then another, then another, then another, then just about 20 different figures pushed her to her knees. She turned around to see every single child that she had saved hugging her and thanking her for saving them.

They were all cheering her name.

"Spider-Woman!"

"Spider-Woman!"

"Spider-Woman!"

I love my job.

---

Spider-Woman crawled through her window and collapsed on the floor. She was monumentally exhausted. She peeled off her mask and tossed it to some random corner of the room. Ruby took multiple deep breaths and exhaled them slowly.

What a night.

Ruby made her way to the bathroom and stripped down to nothing before hopping in the shower. Her suit had protected her from dust but she still sweat a lot under the spandex.

And the baby powder would clump up with the sweat too. Disgusting.

The hot water washed all the dirt and grime away after a hard night as Spider-Woman never got old. She stayed in there for a good 20 minutes before hopping out and throwing on a pair of pajamas.

Ruby grabbed her scroll and started thumbing through various notifications and checking the news. It would likely be another hour or two before she was on the news after tonight.

Oh yeah, Jaune called earlier. Guess I should call him back. It wasn't too late, Jaune should still be awake.

She pressed the call button and held the device to her ear. The scroll rang about six times before A click echoed from the device.

"...H-Hello," Jaune greeted.

Ruby smiled, not that Jaune could see it. "Hey Jaune, sorry about earlier, I was busy. What did you want to talk about?"

"Um... h-hold on."

Ruby heard shuffling through the scroll. Likely Jaune moving somewhere else to talk to her. It must've been important or private.

"O-Okay," Jaune said, satisfied with his location. "Sorry about calling you so late and while you were busy."

Ruby waved his concern away. "It's no problem, I'm always happy to talk to you." She heard Jaune choke for some reason. "Anyway, was there something you wanted?"

Jaune didn't respond, at least not immediately. It took him about fifteen seconds to say anything.

"Um... yeah... Sorry to spring this on you out of nowhere but…"

Jaune was clearly anxious about something. Ruby really hoped that nothing had gone wrong. "Is something wrong?" She asked when he didn't continue.

"N-No...it's just…" Ruby heard Jaune take a deep breath. "Y-you know… The Beacon dance is just around the corner."

Every ounce of exhaustion in Ruby's body evaporated in an instant. Her heart rate sped up and her face went beet red. She grabbed one of her stuffed animals and clutched it tightly to her chest.

No... there's no way he'd ask me that. Hahaha... silly Ruby.

"Y-Yes!" Ruby managed to squeak out. "I remember." No one said anything for about ten seconds. "W-Why do you ask?"

Ruby wasn't going to assume anything until she had all the information. It was better to let Jaune take the initiative this time so she didn't risk assuming something and making a fool of herself. Still, her cheeks just got redder and redder the longer Jaune took to respond. It was hard not to assume anything! Jaune had just asked her about the Beacon dance! What else could he want other than to ask her to go with him?

"Umm... I-I just wanted to ask you. I-I mean it's totally cool if you don't want to or if you're busy! I'd understand."

Ruby stayed silent. More out of fear she wouldn't be able to speak than anything.

"Do...do you want t-to go? Y-You know...with...me?"

…

Ruby's brain was about to shut down. Panic mode was firing on all cylinders.

Oh my god! He just asked me out! A cute boy just asked me out! W-What do I say? What do I do?!

Ruby had to suppress a happy squeal before it burst from her lips. She didn't want Jaune to think she was crazy.

"R-Ruby?" Jaune stuttered, afraid of what she was going to say.

"Um... Y-Yes. I-I'll go… You know... with... you." Ruby forced her words out through her smile.

She heard Jaune gasp from his end. "R-Really?"

Ruby laughed due to how flabbergasted Jaune sounded. It was like he never expected her to say yes. "Yes! I...I want to go...with you."

"Oh...wow. Um, o-okay. Great! Yes! That's great! Thank you!" Jaune squeaked. "The dance is at eight on Saturday! I-I'll get you from team PWBY's room!"

"O-Okay! I-I'll see you then! Bye!" Ruby hung up before anyone could say anything else.

Ruby stared at her scroll for five minutes, just trying to come to terms with what happened.

After she came to her senses, Ruby threw her scroll on the charger and shut off the lights. She belly-flopped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillows.

I have a date. Ruby Rose has a date to the dance. Reality is imploding!

Ruby kicked her feet happily.

Things were looking up for this little spider.

---

Yang opened the door to someone's incessant knocking, ready to punch someone in the face. She refrained when she saw Jaune's beet red cheeks and happy smile.

"She said yes!"

---

AN: Ruby saves a bunch of children and gets a date to the dance. Things are looking good.

I feel like this chapter dragged on way too long. But whatever, I had fun writing it.

Review if you want.

Or don't.

I don't really care.