Chapter 37
We head into the city in search of Watts, and we eventually do find him traversing the rooftops. Probably to avoid attention. But all it did was make him more visible to us.
Ruby: “Going somewhere, Doctor?”
Watts: “Hm? You!”
Blake: “You're not getting away from us that easily.”
Watts: “Hm? A new face, huh? And it looks to me like you're sporting a new look, little spider. And a darker one at that.”
Ruby: “I’m giving you one chance to surrender, Watts.”
Watts: “Now where is the fun in that?” He goes on the offensive and moves to try and grab at us. He manages to get Blake, but I easily avoid it. Then I use my webs to grab at his arm and yank at it to get him to let go. He then tries to get at us with all his arms at once.
Ruby: “Crap!” But then my suit sprouts tentacles from my arms again and grabs at all of the arms, holding them back.
Watts: “What on Remnant is this!?”
Blake: “Your undoing!” As she draws her claws and charges at him. He reacts quick and catches her hands to try and hold her back.
Watts: “I don’t have time for this!” He moves to trip Blake and then moves his arms with a lot of effort to lift me off the ground and slam me back down into it, causing me to let go as he moves to grab Blake and toss her aside to the next roof over. “Pathetic as always. If that’s all, then I’ll be taking my leave now.”
Ruby: “Ngh! No...” And that’s when I feel something swell up within.
???: “Kill... or be killed!” As I stand up, I feel a strange surge of power through me... as well as some kind of strange growling and hissing in my head!
Ruby: “Rrgh... GRAAAGH!!!” To which I tackle him, and we both fall off the roof and plummet down to the street. “You're not going anywhere!” My voice now a little distorted. He keeps trying to swing at me with his claws, but my new tentacles keep taking the hits and knocking them back. Eventually, I get a chance to pull back and prepare a punch, but a bunch of these tentacles form around my arm, and when of thrust my arm forward, the tentacles spring forward and extend right at him at full force. Knocking him back a short distance and flat on his back.(Or as flat as he can get with his arms coming from there.) I then jump up and land on him to hold down while more tentacles come from my back and hold his arms back. “Now you’re mine!” As I give him a hard punch to the face. Followed by another, and another, and I just keep going. Meanwhile, Blake finally recovered from earlier and is now seeing what is happening.
Blake: “Ru-! Uh, Scarlet! Stop!”
Weiss: “Ruby, stop! You’re going to kill him!”
Yang: “She’s right! You have to stop! This isn’t you!” That’s when I manage to snap out of it and stop. The noises in my head stop along with that power surge. The tentacles all retract as I look down at my hands and the unconscious and bloody faced Watts in shock.
Ruby: “What was that...?”
???: “True strength...”
Ruby: “But I...”
???: “Never hold back... Kill or be killed...”
Ruby: “I... Huh?” As I hear incoming sirens. That's when Blake comes down to my side.
Blake: “Come on. We should go.”
Ruby: “Y-yeah.” To which we swing away and watch as the cops take him away. Afterwards, we take a moment to collect ourselves on a rooftop.
Blake: “What the hell was that? You almost killed him!”
Ruby: “I know! I know. I... I don’t know what came over me. I’ll try not let it happen again.”
Blake: “Next time it happens, I won’t hesitate to knock some sense into you. You understand?” I’m not sure why, but as much as I want to genuinely agree with her, something about her ranting is now kind of... annoying me.
???: “Embrace the power...”
Ruby: “Yeah, yeah... I’ll handle it. But on a different note. I actually feel great. Like, really energized and even feel stronger. Like I can take on the world.”
Blake: “Whoa. Hold up. Aren't we supposed to NOT think like that? That kind of thinking makes you sound more like a cold-blooded warrior than a hero.”
Ruby: “Relax. I never said I would take on the world, just that I probably could.” But regardless of that, I have a feeling things are about to get really interesting.