Chapter 41
After that whole debacle with removing the Symbiote, the others had to help me out of my suit and into my pajamas before I immediately collapsed on my bed. I ended up sleeping though the whole next day, Yang staying behind to watch over me while Weiss and Blake covered for me saying I was out sick. Yang even made sure Uncle Qrow believed this lie as well. I didn’t wake up until the next morning.
Ruby: “Mmm...” I can see the bright morning sun shining through my window. I then get and head into the front space of the apartment, where Yang is at the table and Qrow is cooking breakfast.
Yang: “Ruby!” As she got up and gave me a strong hug.
Ruby: “Agh! Yang! Can’t breathe...”
Yang: “Ah! Sorry.”
Qrow: “Hey there kiddo. Feeling any better?”
Yang: “You’ve been sick all day yesterday, so we need make sure your fine.” She says in way that makes it obvious she’s trying to tell me something.
Ruby: “Uh, don’t worry, I’m fine. Great even.”
Qrow: “Good enough to go to school today?”
Ruby: “Not a problem.”
Qrow: “Okay. Then hurry up and eat some breakfast. I need to hurry up and get going myself.”
Ruby: “Something wrong Uncle Qrow?”
Qrow: “We don’t know what yet, but something new has been rampaging in the city recently. So far, it’s only been late into the night, but they still want all hands-on deck in case it starts getting bolder. And we’re only certain it exists because of several witness calls saying they saw something monstrous attacking the park.”
Yang: “Could it be that Merlot guy again?”
Qrow: “That’s what we thought at first. But when we checked after the first few calls two nights ago, we found him still in his cell. We even had constant surveillance around him since then, and more calls came in last night, so Merlot checks out.” Two nights ago? But that was when we removed and lost the Symbiote... crap! “Well, I’m off. Get to school safe you two.” As he leaves after grabbing his bacon and toast sandwich.
Yang: “You picked it up too, right?”
Ruby: “Yes. We need to tell the others soon.” After breakfast and changing, we went to school as usual and ended up meeting with Weiss and Blake at the front entrance.
W&B: “Ruby!”
Blake: “You're okay!” As Weiss came in for a hug and kiss.
Ruby: “Of course I am. I just needed a good sleep. And with that in mind, for now I just want to say thanks for getting that thing off of me. And that I am so sorry for my behavior these last few days. If it hadn’t been for you guys, things probably would’ve gotten much worse.”
Blake: “Don’t worry so much about it, Ruby. The Symbiote was responsible for everything. I’m just we were able to get it off before it was too late.”
Weiss: “Even then, there was no way we were going to leave you like that. We're all practically family. It's what we do.”
Ruby: “Thanks guys.” To which we all group hugged for a moment before the bell rang.
Yang: “Shoot! We need to get going!”
Ruby: “Okay, but we need to meet up again after school. There's something important we need to talk about.” We all agreed to this and went on about our day like usual before meeting up at Weiss’ place, and I told them everything Uncle Qrow told us this morning.
Blake: “The timing most definitely means this monster must be the Symbiote.”
Weiss: “And if it really is in such a monstrous form, this means its already found another host. One with no powers and thus unable to resist its temptations.”
Yang: “At least for now, no victims have turned up. Reports have just said it’s been attacking the park.”
Weiss: “But why just attack the park?”
Ruby: “Only one way to find out. I suggest we stakeout the park tonight.”
Blake: “Agreed. We needed to get after Symbiote either way since it managed to escape us.” We suit up and keep our patrol close to the park, handling any crimes that occur nearby until nightfall. We both perch on building at opposite ends of the park and keep eyes peeled. Blake having natural night vision helps a lot, and my mask lenses can switch to night vision mode if needed. Eventually, we hear some slight roaring coming from the woods. Followed by some trees moving, one of them even falling over. “We’ve got movement.”
Ruby: “Copy that.” We jump down and meet up as we move in on where we can see the commotion. As we swing through the tree, we can see the large monstrous looking dog like form of the Symbiote that we kept seeing in the recordings. “Stop right there, you monster!” It looked in our direction before turning to face us.
???: “Scarlet Spider.”
Weiss: “Whoa. It spoke.”
Ruby: “Why are you here attacking helpless trees. And who’s the poor sob you took over to make it this far?”
???: “A kindred spirit. One filled with hate and rage much like me.”
Blake: “A kindred spirit?”
???: “Perhaps I should let him speak for himself.” It retracts and vanishes into its host, revealing Grimm underneath. And though we haven’t met yet, we do recognize him from the articles about his actions with the press.
Blake: “Daniel Grimm. How did you end up attached to the Symbiote?”
Grimm: “Pure coincidence really. I was walking by the church when I saw you two swing away and two others leave in a hurry. I went inside to see what was up, and that was when my new friend found me.”
Ruby: “It keeps referring to you as a kindred spirit filled with hate. Why is that?”
Grimm: “Simple. We both have people with wish to destroy because of some recent against us. In my case, it’s against those two bitches in the news who ruined my life. And as for my new partner, its vendetta with you two. More so the Spider for ultimately rejecting his power, and the Cat as he blames you for turning her against it. After we get out revenge, I plan on sticking with it to destroy this city. Afterall, it's been a big help suppressing my cancer, which I ended up finding out about the day we bonded. And thus, our new lives as the Hound had begun.”
Ruby: “The Hound?”
Grimm: “Because of its canine like appearance, along with my own Faunus heritage as a factor. And as for the park, I guess you say the Hound was just breaking me in. We were practicing our potential moves together, which in turn lets me get completely use to these new gifts. Not only that, but our actions here also help it regain its strength after the ordeal you all put it through at the church. Especially as it keeps devouring the brains of the forest critters before it moves on to the cities people.”
Blake: “B-Brains!?”
Grimm: “Oh? Did you not know? Whatever its species is, it seems to have a particular diet for a specific chemical whose name escapes me at the moment, but from what I understand, it’s found in certain fungi, chocolate, and most notably, brain matter.”
Weiss: “Hm... I think he might be referring to phenethylamine. It's the only chemical I can think of that meets all of that criteria.”
Grimm: “Of course, I’m sure the Hound probably already knows who you two are, but it has refused to tell me. I can speculate that it’s because it was made to be killing machine first and foremost and would prefer to kill you both itself. It has no need to resort to something so underhanded. Not exactly how I would go about it, but I need its help and so I decided not to pry. Not like it matters, regardless. Considering that whether we kill you or report you, we will still be rid of you, and that’s fine by me.” The Symbiote, now known as the Hound, reemerges.
Hound: “Be prepared to meet your maker, Scarlet Spider.” It charges right at us! We move out of the way, but it managed to grab Blake and slammed her down before extending a tentacle from its arm to grab and reel me in before holding me against a tree by the throat. I try my best to get it off, but its grip doesn’t falter.
Ruby: “Argh! Kinda wish I had that extra Symbiote strength by now!” Then it threw me aside hard enough to break a tree in half as I fly through it. “Oooouch!” As I struggle to get up. I can see it coming my way. It moves to attack again when a police chopper show up and shines its light down on it.
Cop: “This is the police! Cease your actions at once and surrender peacefully!” It ceases its attacks before speaking again.
Hound: “Hmph! Mere nuisances. No matter. I’ll let you live for now. But the next time we meet, I won’t be so merciful.” It disappears into the woods where the police lose it. They focus on it while Blake and I pull ourselves together and swing away from the scene. Meanwhile, in the midst the chaos, the Hound retreats into Grimm and uses him as cover to escape from the park without being noticed.
Grimm: “Damn! That was a close one. They ended up getting away too.”
Hound: “There’ll be other opportunities.”
Grimm: “Then I suggest we focus on Lisa and Velvet here soon, if all goes, we’ll run into the Spider and Cat there too as they come in to save the day.”
Hound: “Very well. But first... I must feed!”