the Magic Number
Immediately afterwards, we find Velvet and Oscar sitting at the dining table at Oscar's house as his Aunt Em serves dinner with the news in the background.
Reporter: "...and we can confirm at least one person has been killed." Oscar is checking his phone for any sign of contact from me.
Velvet: "Still nothing?"
Oscar: "Not a thing." He just puts his phone on the table as Velvet slouches on the tables while looking at the relic, and it's clear what she's thinking...
Velvet: "I'm going to press it." He looks over to her in shock.
Oscar: "What? No!"
Velvet: "I know she told me to wait, but... I'm going to do it."
Oscar: "I just... I just wish that we could see her." He's still wearing Ozpin's ring, and he waves his hands around as he says this. Then some green sparks crackle by the kitchen entrance. They both look on a little confused on what just happened.
Velvet: "Oscar?"
Oscar: "Yeah?"
Velvet: "Do that again."
Oscar: "Right... I just wish we could see her." He waves his hands again and a small circle of sparks occurs for a second before it collapses. Then they get up and brace themselves for a third time. "Okay... I just wish we could see Ruby!" He holds his right hand out with the ring and he waves the left in a circular motion and opens up a full portal, leading to a back alley where they see a masked Scarlet Spider, but something seems... off.
Em: "Oscar... This is incredible..."
Oscar: "Heh. And Ozpin thought I was fibbing."
Velvet: "Hey, focus. Is that her?"
Oscar: "It has to be. Who else would wear that."
Velvet: "Ruby. Ruby!"
Oscar: "Hey, Ruby!" The figure heard them and starts coming towards the portal until she jumps through, only to find that her costume may look similar, but is completely different.(Enter the Scarlet Spider design of Bibipiano)
Em: "Whoa! Hey, who are you!?"
Ruby B.: "Hi. Hi! Hey, hey. It's okay! I'm a good person, I promise!" Em proceeds to throw a... throw pillow at her and duck behind the nearby shelf. Then the new Spider proceeds to lower her hood and remove her mask, but her face doesn't look exactly like me. "Okay..." Trying to calm the situation. They just look on in bewilderment and confusion.
Velvet: "Who the heck are you?"
Ruby B.: "I'm Ruby Rose..."
Velvet: "That's not possible..."
Ruby B.: "I'm the Scarlet Spider... in my world. But then yesterday... I was just..." They both still look a little confused. "I was just here." Em peeks from behind the shelf. This second Ruby starts backing away from the portal towards the wall to her right. "From what I can see, everything scientist have said about... string theories, multidimensional reality and matter displacement... It's all real?"
V and O: "Yeah."
Ruby B.: "I knew it." The two then whisper to themselves.
Oscar: "This has to be because of the spell, right?" But, she ends up hearing them.
Ruby B.: "The spell? As in like magic?"
Oscar: "I mean, well... Yeah, basically." Velvet still looks a little unconvinced, though.
Velvet: "Prove it."
Ruby B.: "Prove what?"
Velvet: "That you're Ruby Rose."
Ruby B.: "I can't really carry an ID on my suit, it kind of defeats the whole 'anonymous superhero' thing." Velvet proceeds to grab a dinner roll from the table and throw it at her, to which it bounces off her chest without flinching, much to her confusion. "Why did you do that?"
Velvet: "I was trying to see if you have the sense thingy."
Ruby B.: "I have a sense thingy, just not for bread." Velvet goes to grab another roll. "Okay, hold on. Just put the bread down. I get that you're a bit of a mistrusting person... which I can respect." Whilst keeping her mask in her left hand, she jumps up and sticks to the ceiling with her right one. Now Velvet looks like she wants to have a little fun with this... so she does.
Velvet: "Crawl around." She just looks in disbelief.
Ruby B.: "Why?"
Velvet: "Cause this isn't enough."
Ruby B.: "I say it's plenty."
Velvet: "No, it's not."
Ruby B.: "Yes, it is."
Velvet: "No, it's not."
Ruby B.: "It is."
Velvet: "Nuh-uh."
Ruby B.: "Then how am I sticking to the ceiling?"
Velvet: "Do it." She throws the piece she's holding and grabs another one.
Em: "Okay that's enough. I think I have an idea." She comes from her hiding place and directs her attention to this Ruby variant. "Excuse me? Do you mind getting the cobweb over there, since you're already up there." As she points to the left corner.
Ruby B.: "Okay..." She the puts her mask between her teeth and positions herself on all fours to crawl across the ceiling and gets rid of the cobweb just as asked.
Em: "Thank you." She comes down from the ceiling hoping that that did it.
Ruby B.: "We go-" Forgetting her mask is still in her teeth before grabbing it again. "We good?"
Velvet: "For now." And now turning her attention to Oscar.
Oscar: "Okay, so I opened the wrong portal to the wrong Ruby Rose." As the portal he opened finally closes.
Velvet: "Then I guess you just keep doing until we find the real one." They decided not to whisper this time and Ruby two heard them and faked offense.
Ruby B.: "Ouch."
Velvet: "No offense." Oscar then puts his hands up and trys opening another portal.
Oscar: "Find Ruby Rose..."
Ruby B.: "What's with the ring on his fingers?"
Velvet: "Shh!" She puts her hands up in surrender.
Oscar: "Find Ruby Rose... Find Ruby Rose!" A portal opens behind Oscar near the front of the house. Through the portal are the city rooftops and another Ruby Rose comes through, wearing a red v-neck t-shirt under a black hoodless jacket, with grey pants and black with red boots. All of this worn over her spider suit, to which the black hood of the suit passes as the jackets hood.(You guessed it: this is supposed to be the Scarlet Spider made by A5L-Legion) "And... it's just some random girl." The new Ruby awkward waves.
Ruby L: "Uh... Hi. Um, I hope it's okay, I just came through this..." She turns to look at the portal behind her, only for it to close on her before she looks back at them. "Huh. It just closed." Velvet doesn't look that surprised anymore.
Velvet: "You're Ruby?"
Ruby L.: "Yeah... Ruby Rose." She looks around and notices both Velvet and Oscar. "I've seen you two before-" Then she notices the other Ruby in the room. "Wait, she's... She's not your friend..." They stare each other down for a tense moment before they both shoot a web at each other and they both flip over it, with Ruby B. landing on the table. Ruby L. then shoots another web towards Ruby B. and covers one of her web shooters. Ruby B. nods in astonishment as Ruby L. smiles back before she jumps off the table.
Oscar: "Wait, so if you're a Scarlet Spider too, then why didn't you just say so?"
Ruby L.: "I typically don't go around advertising it. Kind of defeats the whole 'anonymous superhero' thing."
Ruby B.: "That's what I just said!"
Velvet: "Okay, I'm officially getting freaked out her."
Em: "Well, I'm glad you two have sorted that out. But I would appreciate it if you could clean up the webs you just shot."
Ruby B.: "Oh. Sorry, Ma'am."
Ruby L.: "Yes, of course."
Em: "I'm going to bed." As she proceeds to walk away to the stairs.
Oscar: "Goodnight, Aunt Em."
Velvet: "Goodnight, Ms. Pine." Ruby B. starts on cleaning up her side when Ruby L. gets down to business.
Ruby L.: "Now, not to sound kind of creepy, or anything, but, I've been trying to find this world's Ruby ever since I got here." The other Ruby looks over to her as if she's been having the same thought. "I just keep getting this nagging sense... that she needs my help."
Ruby B.: "Our help." Oscar and Velvet take a second to collect themselves before responding.
Velvet: "She does."
Oscar: "But we don't know where she is."
Velvet: "And if we're being honest... We're kind of all that she has left right now..." Then Ruby L. gets an idea.
Ruby L.: "Okay. Um... Does she have a place, that she would go that has meaning to her? A place to go and just-"
Ruby B.: "Get away from everything?" They say great minds think alike, but... can that phrase really apply here if we're talking the same person?
Ruby L.: "For me, it was the top of Beacon tower."
Ruby B.: "The CCT. It's a better view."
Ruby L.: "That is a sweet view." Then something clicks in Velvet's head.
Velvet: "Actually, yes. I think I know where that would be." Said place, being Signal Academies rooftop. I'm up here sulking from Yang's loss when Oscar and Velvet come up to me and embrace me as I let it all out. And while it may be the best time to bring it, we're running out of time. "Um... Ruby, there's, uh... there are some people here to..." I don't need her to finish that sentence when my Spider Sense triggers. I frantically get up and look towards the top of the tower, where I see two silhouettes. They then jump down to my level, but I still remain cautious.
Ruby: "Whoa! Hey, hey, hey..." That is... until I recognize who they are. Other me's. But now that I think about it, I should've known that they would've been here too.
Ruby L.: "Sorry... about, Yang..."
Ruby B.: "Yeah. Sorry... If it's any consolation, I do know what your-"
Ruby: "No! Just stop. Okay? I don't want to hear anything like 'I know what you're going through'." She just stays silent in acknowledgement. "She's gone... and it's all my fault. And what's worse is that she died for nothing." There's only one thing left to do... before they do something even worse. "So I'm going to do what I should've done in the first place."
Ruby L.: "Ruby-"
Ruby: "Pleas, don't... You don't belong here. Neither of you, so I'm sending you home. All those guys I fought are from your worlds, right? So you deal with it. Okay, if they die or you killed them... Then that's on you... It's not my problem. And to be honest... I don't care anymore." And to think, I may have been on to something when I cured Watts... But now, I just feel... empty. "I'm so sorry that I dragged you guys here... But you have to go home now... Good luck." I go to grab the relic from Velvet, but she keeps it out of my reach and tilts her heads towards the other Ruby's in a way to tell to listen to what they have to say.
Ruby L.: "After Yang's mom left to take up crime, and after Dad and my Mom died, it was our Uncle Qrow taking care of us. But then he died afwter I got my powers... It was all my fault. And what's worse, is that earlier that day we had a fight... and we were never able to reconcile before it happened."
Ruby B.: "I went through that same story, but on top that... I lost... I lost Penny, my um... She was my Velvet. I couldn't save her, and it was all because I let her help. She was there because of me. I never going to be able to forgive myself for that... But despite all of that, I tried to keep going. Tried to keep being... the friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider, because I knew that's what she would've wanted... But eventually, I just... I just stopped pulling my punches... My heart is now just a void of rage and bitterness. And that's not what I want for you."
Ruby L." That night when Qrow died... I tracked down the guy who I thought did it... I didn't care how out of character it was me, I wanted him dead... And while I did get what I want... it didn't make it better in the slightest... It took me a long time, to escape the dark void it left me in." I get what they're saying but... I just can't bring myself to completely believe it.
Ruby: "I want to kill her... I want to tear her apart..." That's what's on my mind about Cinder. And then I keep hearing what Yang had to say. "Even now, I can still hear her voice in my head... Even after she was hurt, she said that we did the right thing... She said that with great power..." Ruby L. then shows a face of recognition.
Ruby L.: "Comes great responsibility..." She looks over to Ruby B. as they both seem to recognize those words.
Ruby: "Wait a second. How do you know that?"
Ruby B.: "Uncle Qrow said it."
Ruby L.: "The day he died." We all just look at each other now that I realize that these words contribute to all of our journeys as a superhero. "Maybe she didn't die for nothing, Ruby." Afterwards, we all head inside to the science lab, Ruby B. removes her red cloak and puts on a labcoat, and I empty out the bag, placing the broken devices on the desk and sort them out.
Ruby: "Okay, so Merlot, Black, Rainart and... Fall." Then I pick up Mercury and Hazel's cures. "Now, I think I can repair the devices for Mercury and Hazel, and while any of us can repair Merlot and Cinder's, the devices are just injectors. They require an anti-serum, and I don't even know where to start, since my first attempt at Cinder's failed and wasn't even able to make one for Merlot before the Succubus took over." With these factors in mind, I definitely won't be able to make these myself.
Ruby B.: "Don't worry, I've got Merlot. I've already cured him once, so I can do it again." As she grabs the sprayer.
Ruby: "Okay, great. I'll leave it to you then." She then heads off to another desk and Ruby L. takes the injector for Cinder.
Ruby L.: "I think I can make an anti-serum for Dr. Fall... I've been thinking about it for a long time, after what happened with her daughter." I can't help by side eye her when thinking about... 'her'. Then she eyeballs me knowing that I still might have some vengeance on my mind. "Gotta cure all of them. Okay?"
Ruby: "...Right."
Ruby L.: "Good. After all... it's what we do." She heads off to a desk of her own. I start to tinker with the devices when I catch Velvet staring.
Ruby: "What's up?"
Velvet: "There's... three yous." Yeah, it is pretty crazy to think about. And I just had a heartfelt moment with... well... me, myself and I. Over with the other Ruby's, they both put on safety goggles, rubber gloves and take the necessary chemicals and tools to create their cures. And Oscar comes over to them as they work, wearing goggles of his own.
Oscar: "So... do you have a best friend too?" They both stay silent in reminiscence before one answers.
Ruby L.: "I did..."
Oscar: "You did?"
Ruby L.: "Emerald Sustrai. Cinder's daughter and best friend for years. But after Cinder died, she plotted revenge. She ended up becoming her own version of the Red Succubus and tried to kill me. Eventually, I helped her come to her senses, and we fought together against Hazel and the Hound. But in the end... she died trying to protect me when the Hound tried to stab me with her glider... It was heart breaking."
Ruby B.: "It sounds better than what happened with mine. My Emerald is still alive, but her mother died of a genetic disease that she inherited. She believed that whatever was in the venom of the spider that gave me my powers would cure her. So after I defeated Mercury, she attacked me in armor and a glider herself. It was the fight with her that led to Penny's death, and Emerald went to prison. But, I'm not sure how much longer she'll last with her disease..."
Oscar: "Oh man..." He looks between the two before he moves on. I stop him for a second when he passes my desk.
Ruby: "Hey, can you run a diagnostic?"
Oscar: "Uh, sure..." Sounding a little down. He gives the computer in front of him a few taps and the program keeps a status on the devices as I repair them. As I keep working, Velvet comes to sit next to me.
Velvet: "Hey, are you okay?"
Ruby: "Uh, yeah. I'm fine. What about you?" She just nods yes. This is awkward, but more importantly... "You don't deserve this. I'm just ruining your-"
Velvet: "Hey. No. Don't start that. Okay? Just look at me." She grabs my face and brings me in close. "I'm here. Okay? And I'm not going anywhere. We're all getting through this together, like we always have... Okay?"
Ruby: "Okay..." Meanwhile, Ruby B. looks on at the scene between me and Velvet. Ruby L. notices this and decides to break the ice with her.
Ruby L.: "You have someone?"
Ruby B.: "Not really... The superhero gig doesn't really leave me enough time to be... well... me." Ruby B. used a school bottle to contain the serum and attached the sprayer to the top. "Do you?"
Ruby L.: "Well... It's kind of... complicated."
Ruby B.: "I can understand that. I guess it's just not meant for girls like us."
Ruby L.: "Maybe. But, I wouldn't. It took some time, but, we made it work."
Ruby B.: "Yeah?"
Ruby L.: "Yeah. Me and... Velvet." Ruby B. looks on in confusion. "Uh, my Velvet. She's... It does get confusing, doesn't it?"
Ruby: "You said it." Just then, Oscar calls when when he notices the computers diagnostic.
Oscar: "Ruby!" But, there's a problem.
All Ruby's: "Yes? Oh, sorry. Did you mean-?" As we all poing at each other."
Oscar: "Ruby-Ruby."
Ruby: "We're all called Ruby, Oscar."
Ruby L.: "Yeah."
Oscar: "Ruby... Ruby Rose?" I just put my hands and Ruby L. just gives up.
Ruby B.: "Same logic. We're all Ruby Rose." Oscar just stops trying and gets to the point.
Oscar: "The computer!" Then I realize he was trying to get my attention.
Ruby: "Oh! Yeah, right." I move to the other side of the table. The devices are fixed, the diagnostic says they're fully operational. So I'd say we're good to go. "Okay. I'm ready."
Ruby B.: "And so am I. Which means that all there's left is to lure them someplace, and try to cure them while they try to... kill us, and then send them, and the two of us, home." She and Ruby L. come over to my desk with the completed anti-serum filled containers.
Ruby L.: "Using a magic box?"
Ruby: "That about sums it up. Yeah." Mercury's device now has a black handle looking thing on top and is meant to be an upgrade. The idea is to hopefully speed up the draining process. Ruby B. then faces Ruby L. with a question, as she takes off the lab coat.
Ruby B.: "So are you just keep wearing that when we go into battle? Or do you have your suit?"
Ruby L.: "Clever trick. The hood you see here is actually the hood of my suit under these clothes."
Ruby B.: "Okay. Cool." Oscar comes over with my spare web fluid.
Oscar: "Here are your web cartridges."
Ruby: "Ah. Thanks, Oscar." I grab them I start loading them up into my shooters.
Ruby L.: "What is that?" Huh? That's a bit of a bizarre thing to ask. I thought she was a Scarlet Spider.
Ruby: "It's my web fluid, that I use with my web shooters. Why?" She then proceeds to shoot a web at the nearby wall... but the thing is: she clearly isn't wearing a web shooter on her bare wrist! So everyone is startled by this. Velvet looks at her with a serious look.
Oscar: "That came out of you!"
Ruby L.: "Yeah. You can't do that, huh?"
Ruby: "No." Ruby B. starts staring in curiosity.
Ruby B.: "How on Remnant does that even-"
Ruby: "Anyways! We're getting sidetracked!" I manage to get everyone's attention back to show them the map I have of the city. "Look. This is where we're going to do this. At this time at night, it's completely isolated, which means no one will get hurt. And we'll draw them there with the box, since it's the one thing they'll all want." Everyone but Hazel will want it to stop us from sending them home. Hazel will want it to send them home, but the problem there is that he doesn't care if he's cured or not, but I can't in good conscience send him home like that. "The only problem is how were going to get there."
Oscar: "Oh, we can portal there."
Ruby: "Huh?"
Oscar: "I'm magic now."
Velvet: "Yeah, he's right. It's how we found these two."
Ruby L.: "Mhm. We saw it."
Ruby B.: "He really can." Am I going crazy now?
Ruby: "Wait, really?"
Oscar: "Dude, I've got Professor Ozpin magic."
Ruby: "What?" Now I'm just completely shocked.
Oscar: "Yeah!" Then he takes off his safety goggles and looks at me a little seriously. "And I promise you, I won't turn into a supervillain and try to kill you." Ruby B. then puts her hand on his shoulder while I just look at a little confused AND concerned by what he meant by that.
Ruby: "Okay... Thank you...?" There's an awkward silence before I get on back on topic. "Alright, um... What's that thing your mom says? If you expect disappointment then-"
Velvet: "What? No, no, no... We're gonna kick some ass." Whoa! Rare to hear Velvet curse like that. But she's right. Now's the time for action, not expectation.
Ruby: "Right."
Ruby L.: "Well, kind of. But at the end of the day, we're just trying to cure them all."
Oscar: "Yeah. But, 'we're going to cure some ass' doesn't sound as cool if I'm being honest."
Ruby: "Okay, can we cool it with the language, please! All that matters, is that we can get through this!" Once everything is said and done. We make the final preparations we need before we make our way to the final battlefield. And once we get there, I already have a plan on how we can get the word out to them.